It’s Monday ! ~ Deception
There are days like that here you spend some time on something you expected to be a good, and then you’re getting disappointed as it’s not at all how you were expected it or simply because your expectations were so high that nothing could match them.
RiME
Months ago, I bought RiME and let it take the dust in my library, that is until I decided to give it a try and was mesmerized by everything I could find.
RiME is set in a gigantic island where you have to solve puzzles and discover secrets to progress and understand what is happening. You’re playing a young boy without a name whose boat got caught in a tempest and wakes up on the shore of an unknown island. In the middle of it can be seen a massive tower which is your ultimate destination.
You begin the game not knowing anything else than that and you can spend 99% of the game not knowing what the story is about, even after discovering secrets and toys hidden within the island. I won’t spoil anything as this game is worth playing, but even though I played it full three time, I cried at the end the three times and would certainly cry another time would I play again.
GRIS
I knew I would adore the game the minute I saw the trailer. My best friend gifted it to me and it was nothing but an amazing adventure.
GRIS (which means grey in French) is a bit hard to explain without spoiling those who would like to play it. To put it simply, you’re playing a character without name (once more) whose dress changes form depending the actions used. Like RiME the world has a lot of puzzles and secrets you need to discover to disclose the full story. On contrary of RiME it’s not set in an open world and is a platformer, but the aquarelle style is absolutely stunning.
AER Memories of Old
AER was a game recommended for me both on GRIS and RiME’s store so I thought I would certainly enjoy it as I really really love exploration games and the possibility to turn into a bird was enticing. Of course, my expectations were high after having watched the trailer and read a few reviews.. And I was honestly super disappointed by the game.
First of all the world is amazing, if you want to explore a game and fly as a bird, it’s a game you will want to try, even though the controls can get really really annoying when you’re a bird as landing where you want is a pain (you can accelerate, not decelerate so don’t even think of trying to be precise about anything).
My problem comes from the lack of content. There are only 3 temples to visit and to do so you need 3 keys. All the puzzles are so simple that they shouldn’t be called puzzles anymore. You just run around and activate any button you find and you’re done. I’m not joking it’s this simple, even the more complex puzzles are only about doing simplistic actions such as copying a symbol you see on the floor by moving pillars with a switch.
Like for RiME and GRIS there are hidden area, but none of those will teach you anything about the story, you’ll see cute crabs singing, carcass of animals and such thing, but nothing that will reward you with a bit of story.
Speaking of story, you’re given tidbit of lore as your character progress, but nothing to tie those together. You learn about the world and gods and great divide and.. And that’s all. Why are there so few Humans left alive ? Why is there is such an advanced technology in a specific island ? What is AER as apparently you can collect it ? What were the wars about ? What are those griffin like creatures which apparently don’t work anymore ? It’s like the story wasn’t actually written, only a few events and a bit of legends, which leads the game to be dull and boring.
What a disappointment for a game which has so many positive reviews :| !
What game did you have high expectations for and ended to disappoint you ? Was the problem about gameplay or story ? What game do you intend to play and are afraid to be disappointed with ? What do you think of dramas related to people’s expectations (i.e. Tifa’s boobs size drama) ?
PS: Almost two months and my application to the group hasn’t been accepted yet, do you think I’m doing anything wrong i_i ?
I loved AER, but then I was challenged to beat it to join someone’s whitelist so I didn’t go into it expecting anything specific. It would have been good if it had more puzzles, but the lack of them didn’t bother me personally. I just loved flying around and exploring the scenery.
How difficult is GRIS as a platformer? I’m hopeless at them and almost always dislike them, but story-wise GRIS looks really good and is currently on my wishlist.
GRIS isn’t hard platform wise and you can easily return back where you were (once finished you can even replay chapters to finish what you missed), it’s more a puzzle game than platform one.
If you loved AER you will enjoy RiME there is a lot to explore and the puzzles are well made. Of course you don’t fly, but for that you have AER.
Good to know, thanks. Added RiME to my wishlist, it does look really interesting.
RiME has been bundled not long ago, I bet there are people still giving it away. I really loved it, finished it 3 times, once streamed for my RP partner to enjoy the story.
I liked both AER and RiME…I think they’re both worth playing if you like exploration for its own sake (AER) and a nice combination of casual story/puzzle/platforming (RiME). If you care about achievements/completion, AER is easy and RiME requires dedication.
What game did you have high expectations for and ended to disappoint you ?
Shadow Warrior 2.
I played Shadow Warrior (the 2013 one) and loved every minute of it, the gameplay, the pacing, the jokes, even the story… everything was nearly perfect (save for the bullet-spongy enemies). Then Shadow Warrior 2 was given away for free on GOG so I was very excited about that, but that game turned out to be a disappointment.
It’s often the case though. When I’m looking forward to something, I often end up not enjoying it as much as I thought I would (be it a game, a movie or a book). But when I expect something to be mediocre and hesitate to play/watch/read it, it often turns out just fine :D
You now need to train your mind for not expecting stuff you’re expecting to be amazing to revert the tendency x)
I’m mostly already trained to that. And yet, I still get disappointed sometimes, that’s the tragedy of it :D
I’ll be crossing my fingers for you then, both for having amazing games experiences AND winning giveaways !
When I’m looking forward to something, I often end up not enjoying it as much as I thought I would (be it a game, a movie or a book). But when I expect something to be mediocre and hesitate to play/watch/read it, it often turns out just fine
Aw, that makes me a little sad. :( It sounds like a learned behavior, to lower one’s expectations so as not to be disappointed (and not necessarily just in diversions). But it’s certainly something I can relate to! With games, I just try extra hard only to play games I’m almost certain to enjoy (unless they’re really short, or sometimes I’ll make an exception for a monthly theme).
In the case of Shadow Warrior, yeah, sequels can be tricky if you loved the first one. But hey, at least if it’s going to be a disappointment, it might as well be a free disappointment! :3
if it’s going to be a disappointment, it might as well be a free disappointment! :3
Haha, indeed!
I mostly only buy games that have a high chance of being to my liking, don’t have a disposable income so buying blindly is not something I can afford. But of course, every once in a while, I misjudge a game and end up disappointed.
I intend to play Torment: Tides of Numenera and The Bard’s Tale IV someday (both of which I backed on Kickstarter), but am afraid of being disappointed. I’m pretty sure that the negative reviews are from people who loved the games upon which they were based when they were young and didn’t like that the new game wasn’t a clone of the old game (I exaggerate), but since I never played the predecessors, I don’t have to worry about that. The bigger problem is finding time to play them, as I can’t manage to play a full-fledged RPG is less than 100-plus hours, which is several months of gaming for me.
As for the BLAEO Steam group, please try not to worry about it. It really confers very little except for a few more Steam topic notifications. I’m not completely sure why the group still exists, tbh. I guess it gives us discussion forums, and a way to post bug reports to Mandrill (the site creator), but very little else. As for creating giveaways, a better way is to create a private giveaway and announce it on the site here in one of your updates! Although you might need to work to get at least 5 entries if that matters to you).
Thank you for the Spoon link. I learned something. I try to remember as often as I can (and remind my kids) how lucky we are and how much we take our health for granted. It’s easy to do, until it’s compromised. Be well and keep writing updates and discussion topics! <3.
I do understand your worries regarding games which are both long and you expected for some time, I’m a bit in the same situation regarding Hallowed Knight, that’s why I picked it as one of my “side dish” so I can go slowly without feeling bad and enjoy the game. The medication I take has a lot of secondary effects, including on my focus, which leads me to not be able to play for really long when the game isn’t “easy” or when the story is complex. I do regret the time when I could binge in a game for 9 hours in a row without feeling even slightly tired.
I thought of sharing my JIGIDI giveaways here but I didn’t think people would like it to be honest. It’s always a little complicated to know what people enjoy and what they dislike, thus my personal questioning regarding the update I’m posting which aren’t always game related.
The good thing with knowing what is a spoonie is you can share the explanation with people who have limited energy but have no idea how to explain to others. It’s not a medical term at all, it’s mostly a good way to explain to your relatives and friends why you can’t do everything like before.
I suggest just posting your profile down on the group if you haven’t and just ask again to join anyway even if you have. With all the people who keep trying to join despite some not even posting on this site has probably made them just skip over people until they get notified again about joining.
For the question games are completely going over my head right now. I generally don’t play alot of games that most people do so thinking of games that I have and didn’t like is kinda hard. I mean I can easily say stuff like oh fnaf wasn’t good or dark souls but considering they aren’t my types of games I cant really give an opinion on it whether I just watched them or actually did play them.
I can at least say I agree on aer. I got picked to play it but it wasn’t great. I ended up getting all the collectable achievements before I even found out what I was suppose to do and yeah the puzzles were a whole lot of wonder around until you find the buttons to push
I don’t really have any games I’m afraid to play and be disappointed in but I guess I would say resident evil 4. That is a very loved game which is apparently the best. Now I love number 6 but I know people hate that game so it just makes me wonder will that mean I’ll be the opposite and hate re4 or will it just be normal.
I really hope you’ll enjoy Resident Evil, I don’t play those games myself but heard a lot of good about them.
Well I wanna try to play them in order as best as I can so be a while before I get to them but I also hope I enjoy them. Ive only played 5 and 6 which people didn’t really likr both and number 5 was a weird one. Felt more like angry people then zombies
If people qualify at the time of posting their profile, they get invited pretty much instantly, that’s why it’s best to wait with applying until some proper activity is shown. I still regularly check all the old applicants every once in a while to see if they’ve participated enough to join the group, though. It’s not a “check once, then forget about it” sort of situation.
Asking to join over and over again does not actually lead to a quicker response, it does the opposite.
Ive been in the group for a while so this info is kinda useless to me but its good to know. I didnt think at any point it would ever be left but its good to know that you are going through old requests which I’m sure must be annoying finding their profile but then I don’t really know how you guys do all that. Tried finding my friends in your group and I see them absolutely no where so I gave up trying
Oh and since you do go through requests and stuff do you ever go through group members to see if they are active enough to stay or is it like once you in just stay there situation
Yep, figured it might not be useful to you, but wanted to clear things up for anyone who’s not in the group yet and might be reading this. :)
As far as I know no one has been kicked from the group for inactivity so far. It would make more sense if activity was also required to stay in the group, but that’s not something that’s going to be implemented any time soon.
The thing I don’t understand it they request people to be active to be invited after around a month. Then when I posted the links asked about it since I got no answer, I was told that my activity has been noted but they won’t invite me because other people have been active for a month then inactive later.
I’m still active and progressing, it’s been 2 months now and still no invite or whatsoever. I have no idea if I’m doing anything right or wrong, because nobody contacts me to tell me anything, so I keep feeling like I’m doing something overly wrong since they keep advertising the group as “invite in around a month” and it’s been two months for me.
So uh. If a moderator comes to read this. It would be nice to update people so they know what is happening for their application and to change the description on Steamgifts if one month isn’t enough anymore so people don’t expect to be invited at some point ?
I would like to know if I’m doing anything wrong, I got no answer on the Steam group beside being active there and here (but I don’t see the point on double posting here and on the group, especially as there is no on-going discussion on the group). I think I’m active, I think I’m working properly on my backlog, so why am I not invited ? I have no idea and it does begin to feel wrong, especially as I have no pointers.
I know what you were told, it was me who responded to your message. And I know what the description in the SG thread says, I’m one of the people who wrote it.
I am the admin in charge of Steam group invites, but if you want a moderator to come talk to you as well, I can send someone your way. Don’t expect their response to be any different, though.
Everyone else in the past was fine with not getting personalised updates on their application so we don’t feel the need to change that. It would mean a lot of extra work for us and wouldn’t benefit anyone.
You keep mentioning how you didn’t get any updates or answers, but I really don’t know what you expect us to do. This is not our full time job, we can’t keep in touch with everyone who applies for group membership and constantly give them feedback on what they’re doing right or wrong and how long it is going to be until they get invited to the group
The SG recruitment thread does not mention that people will be invited to the group after a month. We might need to rephrase this part, though - “Please do not add group admins/mods or post on their Steam profiles to get invited to the website or the Steam group!”. It was meant as a “If you applied properly and you’re are active on the website, you’ll eventually be invited to the group. Please don’t keep asking for group membership.”.
Please read my response here if you haven’t yet. There’s no benefit to being in the group; you can already use all the website features, you can post in Steam discussions, you can subscribe to the Steam group announcements… There’s nothing you’re missing out on so just be patient and you’ll eventually be invited.
Actually, it’s said “for some members it can take a month and for others it can be longer” and the way it’s worded, if it’s not the case, it’s you’re not active enough, haven’t update the profile regularly, aren’t involved in the community etc. Maybe you should indeed reformulate this part.
I’m not native speaker and I read that part several times to see if it’s me who has a problem there with the formulation, but I keep reading it the same way: Invitation depends on the activity, if you’re not invited, you’re not active enough.
Am I not active enough ? It’s a serious question because I simply can’t more and I rather prefer dropping the idea to be part of the group now than expecting several months without knowing what is wrong and eventually being told that I don’t fit in.
I’m aware that the whole thing might be silly for you, but I am unfortunately a spoonie, something as simple as working on my BLAEO profile (aka writing some updates, answering to people, etc.) costs me some spoons and if it’s pointless, then I better use those spoons somewhere else.
Maybe I should have said that right away, I hope you’ll understand my concerns a little more ^^” .
I didn’t check who spoke to me on Steam, it was weeks ago and you didn’t explain at that point who you were, now I know :) ! Of course there is no need for a moderator if you can answer, thank you for that by the way !
So we don’t keep going around in circles, I’ll repeat the most important stuff again and then that’s the end of this discussion from my side since there’s really not much else to say.
Regarding your question about the weekly updates - it’s entirely up to you what your posts are about (as long as they’re related to gaming), no one else can decide that for you. People seem to be responding well to your posts so just write about whatever you’re most comfortable with since that seems to have been going well for you so far. :)
Thanks for clarifying, that month mention on the thread really was bugging me.
PS: if you’re interested or I’d you think it can be interesting, I could write a weekly update about chronic illness and gaming? I’m all for awareness!
PS’: sorry for the double post, I had to lie down and I definitely can’t edit on phone as the incremented messages effect has it showing 1 letter per line, not the best for editing!
Just for clarification: We have kicked people for inactivity in the past, but as far as I remember only those who joined giveaways on Steamgifts while not having been active here (which is why we implemented the activity rule in the first place, people who posted giveaways to the group complained that complete strangers with empty BLAEO profiles kept winning them, i.e. people who only joined for giveaways). We only checked the activity of people joining group-exclusive GAs, not that of random members.
Thanks for the more detailed explanation!
Oh! I learn new things!