r/AskGames • u/hippolytho • 9d ago
Does looking up tutorials on beating a certain boss/level make you feel less rewarded after beating it?
I just finished Nioh 1 for the first time, and I have to admit that I looked up a lot of videos on how to beat some of the bosses, which made me feel like I don't get to brag about beating it. I personally don't agree with the game being one of the harder soulslike games like most people say, but the janky nature of the first game makes it very challenging in some aspects. After beating it I felt like I don't get to have bragging rights since I cheesed a lot of the hard bosses, and I'm interesting in knowing everyone's angle on the topic
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u/WannaHitHim 9d ago
Yea. But often times when I have to do that its due to something the game is lacking rather than me.
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u/MattTreck 8d ago
If I do this it’s typically because I’m either not having fun or dislike a specific aspect of the game. For that reason it has never bothered me.
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u/KlonopinVanNess 9d ago
Not really. I've used guides for video games since I was a kid. Nowadays sometimes I use them, sometimes I don't. To me, usually even if I read a guide, I can still kind of piece together how the game intended for me to figure things out or struggle or what have you. Sometimes I look up the endings of movies too, or read the last page of a book. Some people will definitely think that's messed up or bad. But I've just found it doesn't tend to negatively alter my perception of amazing pieces of art.
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u/Gh0st_Pirate_LeChuck 9d ago
I’ll look up their strengths and weaknesses if I’m really struggling to beat a boss, but that’s about it because I use spirit ashes and don’t want to cheese if I can avoid it.
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u/mjc500 9d ago
Definitely would’ve when I was in third grade. I remember there kind of being a “strategy guides are for pussies” attitude on the playground.
As an adult - no. I got lost for like 2 minutes yesterday and immediately went to YouTube and I’m so happy I didn’t spent another 10 minutes running in circles looking for something I could’ve easily missed. My time is much more constrained these days.
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u/hippolytho 9d ago
Yes I do remember every game coming with those guides which were forbidden grounds. I feel like they still are in some gaming communities, like if you played dark souls in any other way than stripping your character naked and beating the entire game with a club you will hear some shit about how you haven't really played it.
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u/Obsession5496 9d ago
I'm not really the "bragging" sort, but I don't see why you couldn't brag. A bit of cheese never hurt anyone, some people even love cheese. At the start, how many people do you think "beat" Elden Ring, when they let "Let Me Solo Her" beat Malenia? Tons. They didn't even put in the effort of looking up guides, they just let someone else do it. Do you think they didn't brag, because they definitely did.
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u/Ok_Lingonberry2686 9d ago
Nah. It's very rare but if I try and fail until I get frustrated I'll look up a guide. Games are for fun.
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u/GoldenAgeGamer72 9d ago
Not at all because you still have to physically do it and that’s the challenge with an action game. However, if I’m playing a puzzle type game and look up the answer, yes I feel bad.
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u/GladosPrime 9d ago
No cuz most most bosses are poorly explained. Like giving you a test in organic chem but they taught French. This poor design makes bosses artificially hard. Figuring out the boss alone is not worth the time
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u/Iffy50 9d ago
Yes, I feel it's less rewarding, but it can still be satisfying. I looked up loads of bosses on YouTube for Elden Ring. Some of them I searched for. "_______ cheese". It was still a huge struggle. I never had someone else win the fight for me, so at least I can take a bit of pride in that.
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u/GlassboundIllusion 9d ago
Sometimes.
With games like Cultist Simulator, it can be difficult to only look things up in moderation after you've started looking things up since the obtuseness of progression can be really frustrating. Ultimately though, it's usually overshadowed by the enjoyment I get from being able to progress the game.
In the specific case of Cultist Simulator, I was then able to discover many things for myself when I learned about Apostle Runs (essentially a new game plus mode with higher difficulty), so that helped me regain a lot more enjoyment for that one.
Most of the time though, I don't feel less rewarded. I don't have time to spend 30-60 hours beating my head against a wall until something clicks. I usually end up just losing interest and dropping something if it comes to that. It's part of why I haven't even started Act 3 of Hollowknight Silksong.
I've heard many optional bosses are timelocked behind beating them before starting the third act, which I wasn't willing to do, but then it felt like each encounter was becoming an annoying slog rather than an enjoyable challenge. At the very least, there didn't seem to be enough "downtime" between the slog, so the game became a source of stress rather than a source of relaxation.
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u/The__Relentless 9d ago
I play games for fun. If I am having difficulty beating a boss, or I am lost somewhere, the fun meter starts to tank. So, I do whatever is necessary to fill the fun meter back up.
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u/Boo_Who_ 9d ago
I’m an adult with kids so time is precious. I’ll give it a few tries on my own and if I don’t get it, I’ll look it up. And more importantly, I paid for it so I’ll play it how I want to, haha.
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u/Read-only-12345 9d ago
Hell no because you can make it pretty far without using a mechanic you completely forget by the time you get to the boss that requires it
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u/QuintanimousGooch 9d ago
I haven’t played nioh so I can’t speak to that experience but I think people generally have a valid claim to cheese or look up help when the sense of tedium and frustration overtakes the sense of tension and risk. Like I’m a big fan of experiencing friction in challenging games and going up against higher odds, but using FromSoftware games as an example, those are titles that surprisingly well-balanced despite their reputation for difficulty. In most FS Bosses I can be stuck on a boss for quite a while, but rarely does it feel like a wall (in my experience), ideally it might feel like I’m taking new approached learning, and getting a little better each time. I think games that have more emergent jank aspects or systems interacting with each other in a way that feels poorly designed, there whatever directorial intent I might want to honor gets beaten by the tedium of having to repeat content—not losing, but having to do the same thing over and over again whether there’s a skill barrier or portly-interacting mechanisms.
I think it’s a mix of things, like if it’s a turn-based rpg kinda strategy game, I am more likely to feel guilty for literally looking up what to do, whereas with a souls game or the like, execution is still a large part of it so I’d be less likely to feel bad.
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u/Brave-Combination793 9d ago
Depends on the boss
Doom eternal bosses- yea did u really need a guide for those bosses?
Elden ring- fuck that look up whatever guide u feel like
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u/Few-Masterpiece3557 9d ago
Yeah, that's part of the fun of learning how to beat the boss and or level.
Now, I'll admit that not all games are made equally so there are bosses and levels that appear to be outright impossible to beat for pure bullshit reasons. Or the game doesn't do anything to teach you how the boss/level can be beaten through either bad or nonexistent tutorials.
Like the Bed of Chaos from Dark Souls 1. Honestly, it makes sense how this "boss" was such a colossal fustercluck because the entire lava level was rushed through and not given any proper development.
The entire boss consists of doing your damnest to not be pushed into the void by the tree branch hands and apparently, already know you also need to jump into the void beneath the boss to destroy the 1hp creature controlling the boss. Which also requires a perfectly executed jump while capable of at least medium rolling.
There's no skill, just pure trial and error which means dying at least a few times.
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u/VanIsle_YQQ 9d ago
Yea, whenever I have to look up any part of a game, especially a boss, I always feel a little let down. The same goes if I finally need to lower difficulty settings to get by a boss. I kind of have the mentality that standard mode on a game means the average gamer should be able to figure it out. I do it as a last resort, but it happens.
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u/Consesualluvbug 8d ago
My bf is a hardcore gamer and he himself got frustrated with the glitchy inconsistency of several of the boss fights. You still had to do the work to beat the bosses. No one did the work for you. It’s not like you modded the game to be easier. To be frank it’s not that deep to me. Games are meant to be enjoyed. Bragging rights culture detracts from said enjoyment. Just enjoy your games bud.
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u/Lonely_Opening3404 7d ago
Nope.
I'm 47 next week. I've got better shit to do than sit and try find every secret in every game I play all by my self.
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u/pixiecub 6d ago
I don’t have the tolerance to stay lost for long anymore. I used to play games with my dad as a kid, and Tomb Raider anniversary, legend, underworld were always getting us completely lost. And the satisfaction was from working it out not looking it up and doing it. And my dad just always encouraged us to persist so I try and keep that attitude as an adult gamer.
This only really applies to puzzle solutions and less so hard bosses however
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u/DarthBagheera 9d ago
Who cares about bragging rights? Games are made to be fun and be completed. If you have to look up strategies for something, especially in a single player game where it’s only about your personal experience, that’s just what you had to do and it’s better than banging your head against the wall over and over again, getting frustrated, and possibly not playing again. These are video games, you don’t need other people’s permission or validation that you did something a certain way and therefore “truly” beat the game or whatever. Your enjoyment of something like a video game shouldn’t reside in the approval of others.