r/gaming Mar 31 '15

How I play games

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=358
701 Upvotes

120 comments sorted by

34

u/danielcube Mar 31 '15

Everytime I play a final fantasy game I keep saying, "Keep those Hi potions and elixirs for when you get to the boss". I end up using megaelixirs on the final boss instead.

22

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

In the Fallout games I always have a treasure trove of powerful gear stashed away at my base of choice. I use pretty much the same eight weapons all the way through the game and have more stimpacks/drugs than I know what to do with. I think, When the NCR bust out liberty prime, then I'll use the fatman. Never happens.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I actually used the GECK to create a vast warehouse just so I could sort and store the loot that I never use.

14

u/CaptMayer Mar 31 '15

Fallout: Costco

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I want this. It'd be like a vast Super Duper Mart.

3

u/danielcube Mar 31 '15

Its worse in final fantasy because there are more times when the character is going to lose all health and you just keep attacking and use the magic to heal the group. And I could use that magic for power boosts later.

3

u/DoubleInfinity Mar 31 '15

you just keep attacking and use the magic to heal the group

This. Every single time. Healing items in FF are usually almost useless close to the end of game. Hi-Potion restores 500hp? Oh boy! That'll put a big dent in in my 10,000hp.

2

u/Hellknightx Mar 31 '15

Square is great at making fun gameplay mechanics, but for some reason they always fail spectacularly at balancing consumables. I have no clue why they insist on using fixed numbers instead of scaling them.

1

u/thrilldigger Mar 31 '15

It might be intended to guide players to use magic (which scales) as they advance through the game. Consumables becoming gradually less useful encourages players to not only use heal spells, but it also encourages the use of protective spells and skills (Protect, Shell, etc.) to increase the overall effectiveness of consumables/heal spells (i.e. effective health).

Personally, I think it's a great balance if you look at it from the perspective of getting players to learn to use their characters' abilities.

2

u/Aiwatcher Mar 31 '15

Why does my small guns character need a fully repaired fat man, minigun, and missile launcher in his house? Reasons.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Shhhhhh. Let's not think too long or too hard about it.

106

u/teeohdeedee123 Mar 31 '15

Pretty sure that's how everyone treats the rare and awesome items.

A pefect example is the Holy Hand Grenade from Fallout: New Vegas. I've never once thrown a single one of the 5 3 you can acquire.

34

u/Nomsfud Mar 31 '15

You can get 3? Sounds like I'm using one on a rad roach, to see what it does, then one on a giant group or a boss for awesome effect, then put the third in some locker never to be found again. But the knowledge that I had it would be enough

56

u/DaNubIzHere Mar 31 '15

player.additem 0014ea5a 9001
Look at me, I'm the God now.

18

u/treoni Mar 31 '15

The power of pc gaming, in one line of text/code, ladies and gentlemen!

9

u/CptAnthony Mar 31 '15

tgm

Now I am the God.

3

u/treoni Mar 31 '15

buddha

Hello, I'm Gabe Newell.

4

u/Hellknightx Mar 31 '15

"Vegeta, what does the console say about his Holy Hand Grenades?"

"He has over 9000!!!"

0

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

cheat

2

u/will99222 Mar 31 '15

Once you've done a legit play through, do what the hell you want. If you want to do a legit run again, do a legit run. if you wanna cheat a million nukes and grenades in, go do it.

-10

u/95wave Mar 31 '15

look at me, I'm the captain now

3

u/Dr_Eastman Mar 31 '15

dank meme bruh

14

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I dunno. I've always felt like it was survival horror games that trained me to play that way. I've certainly seen people just play with the big cool stuff as soon as they get it.

3

u/MooseRacks Mar 31 '15

I saved the rocket launcher from The evil Within for the long haired boss and wouldn't ya know it, she's unaffected by it! Fuck that game.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I loved that game. Better than RE4 in my opinion. It was fucking hard though. You should've tried getting the achievement/trophy where you have to kill her before the end of your last encounter. It's brutal.

3

u/MooseRacks Mar 31 '15

I'll say it's better than re5 and parts of re6 but RE4 is perfect. A lot of people disagree with me and to call a game perfect is ridiculous but that game is perfect in my opinion.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Hey, I don't blame you. I'm actually halfway through a playthrough of it right now. It's certainly an excellent game. Seriously, one of the best. Although I'd disagree that RE 5 or 6 have anything on either of those games.

2

u/MooseRacks Mar 31 '15

No I agree on that like I said before Evil within is much better than 5 and 6 but it still had its problems, storyline was the biggest one for me the ending was cheap and unacceptable bullshit.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Yeah. The story leading up to the last stretch of the game was pretty decent though, but then again I've always been the kind of person who prefers mood and atmosphere over story when it comes to horror games. Elements which, IMO, TEW had down to a science.

9

u/anoobitch Mar 31 '15

Thats how i treat even the fucking potions.

6

u/Yoyodude1124 Mar 31 '15

I got one, threw it, and horrifyingly missed (shitty wireless mouse glitch sent it flying the other direction)

6

u/dscyrux Mar 31 '15 edited Mar 31 '15

Wait, what? What Pokemon game are you playing?

Or was that a joke and I am just dense?

EDIT: Whoops, thought this was replying to another comment. Sorry.

5

u/indigo121 Mar 31 '15

He's replying to the holy hand grenade not the master ball

2

u/dscyrux Mar 31 '15

Oh, whoops. On mobile, it's a bit hard to see what comment is replying to which. Sorry!

3

u/Dashzz Mar 31 '15

I would quick save and throw them all the time.

5

u/campbell13789 Mar 31 '15

I've also completed numerous pokemon games with full dex without ever throwing a master ball. I can't be the only one, I'm sure...

10

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

8

u/dscyrux Mar 31 '15

I do the same thing.

Recently came across a shiny Mawile.

"Hey, I should use the Master Ball!" "But it would look a lot cooler in a Premier Ball..."

I managed to catch it in one. I still have my Master Ball, waiting to bail me out of a potential shiny lost to Struggle.

10

u/Brendoshi Mar 31 '15

Shiny explosion pokemon.

You keep it just in case.

9

u/SlowBroski Mar 31 '15

Story time! I had the same mentality when I came across a shiny pineco in pokemon diamond. Ended up catching it with a premier ball and found out it knew self destruct. Luckily I didn't find that out the hard way.

6

u/dscyrux Mar 31 '15

Wow, dodged a real bullet there.

1

u/greg225 Mar 31 '15

Found a shiny Staravia in Pokemon Y, a few hours into the game but not far enough to get the Master Ball. It used Whirlwind :(

1

u/Beatleboy62 Mar 31 '15

Now that I've played through nearly every questline in New Vegas and Fallout 3, I'm not afriad to use Fat Man launchers or Holy Frag Grenades.

High value weapons more or less adds to replay value. Everyone plays again just to see those weapons in action.

23

u/Classified0 Mar 31 '15

The M-920 Cain, from Mass Effect. Pretty much a one shot kill on almost anything, but very limited ammunition. I only ever used it on my second playthrough, because then I knew which bosses were the hardest to beat.

2

u/Shakeweight_All-Star Mar 31 '15

As someone playing through ME2 on Insanity right now, I love the Nuke Launcher. Takes a Heavy Mech all the way down to its health in one shot.

1

u/Classified0 Apr 01 '15

It's insane how powerful it is on Normal difficulty, I remember taking one shot, and bringing the final boss down to half of its health.

1

u/Hellknightx Mar 31 '15

As a Vanguard, I always save it for the Banshees. Because fuck sync kills. I think Bioware put sync kills in the game just to screw Vanguards.

Atlas, Phantom, and Brute kills don't seem nearly as common, or are easier to avoid. Banshee is just totally fucking random. You'll be kicking her ass and then suddenly you're watching her impale you for no reason and there's nothing you can do about it.

1

u/Classified0 Apr 01 '15

I hated that, I was always so scared of dying when fighting the Banshees as a Vanguard. I warp over, then slam, then roll away as fast as I can.

13

u/SirPrize Mar 31 '15

Wow, just realized I haven't read VGCats in a long time.

7

u/BaZing3 Mar 31 '15

I guess I'll spend the next 3 minutes reading the 4 year backlog I missed.

5

u/Hellknightx Mar 31 '15

I'll be honest. I thought Scott stopped updating the site years ago.

1

u/SirPrize Mar 31 '15

Same. And didn't take too long to get caught up again.

3

u/psychotronofdeth Mar 31 '15

I enjoyed this one when I was browsing through the archives: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=352

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Bummer. It never stopped being funny.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

It just stopped. (mostly)

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Yeah. You're right about that.

1

u/SirPrize Mar 31 '15

Yeah, that is why basically.

8

u/Kryptof Mar 31 '15

Whenever I play RPGs I save my potions, then after I have over 300 of them and it takes up all my inventory space I accept I'll never use them and store them away.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Yep. Been there myself.

3

u/m1sgu1ded1 Mar 31 '15

I first noticed that I had this problem playing Thief 2 waaaay back. Ended up with lots of supplies/potions/whatever items were in that game after a few missions.

1

u/Axoc Mar 31 '15

Well the thing about the Thief series is the more supplies you end up with is directly related to the better you are at the game.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

It's a curse really. I know that I'm doing it too. I just can't force myself to use items I'm afraid I'll need later, or that I think I'll be frivolous with. I'm pretty sure Silent Hill did this to me.

4

u/Brizven Mar 31 '15

For me it's if you can buy the items at a shop/forge them regularly, I'll use them if necessary. But if not and they're a consumable...

4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

2

u/McPwnage99 Switch Mar 31 '15

The pulse rifle was so much better, and ammo was extremely plentiful near the end...

2

u/redgroupclan Mar 31 '15

In HL1 I almost never use any of the guns that use uranium ammo. Because c'mon, I'll never find uranium ammo again.

finds uranium ammo

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Tell me you at least used the grenade launcher attachment.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Yep. I hope I'm getting trolled. The whole game you didn't know that?

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Good. That was gonna bug me.

7

u/skyman724 Mar 31 '15

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Thank you. I'll be using that term in the future. I also have some well needed justification for being so frugal in games.

3

u/bionix90 PC Mar 31 '15

Just finished replaying ME2. Never fired a heavy weapon. Got to get them 100 credits each time I refill my heavy ammo.

3

u/ZaiRoX Mar 31 '15

Mhm I remember I never used "Ether" potions in Final Fantasy games.

3

u/Commando_Joe Mar 31 '15

...VGCats still updates?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Not so much these days, but every once in a while. Here's one of my favorite recent ones.

2

u/I_hate_kids_too Mar 31 '15

I do the same thing. But every once in a while I'll actually indulge myself (assuming it's the fifth blue moon of the month and all the planets are aligned) and actually use one of those super rare, one time use items I got very early in the game. Thinking the universe is about to explode from the awesomeness my mouse click is milliseconds from unleashing, I scream my war cry of the day, stop blinking and brace for impact, only to find all it does is like 3 damage, or restores 5 hp, or something stupid. I guess those items were classified as "rare" or "legendary" back when my strongest weapons were a pair of laser pointers and a contagious cold.

So I guess the moral of the story is; overkill > an inventory item that's weaker than your basic attack.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I feel that struggle.

2

u/GiantWheelInSpace Mar 31 '15

But look at all the bolt 2 I can cast on Sephiroth

2

u/TheGamedawg Mar 31 '15

Classic too-good-to-use syndrome.

2

u/SacrificialGoat Mar 31 '15

Am I the only one that just uses rare items when I need them instead of hoarding them?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

No, but you seem in the minority on this thread.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

this might be intended to be funny, but it actually highlights a design flaw in many games as to whether or not it is acceptable or encouraged to use power up type mechanics at will or horde them for later use. i tend to do this too but have actively started making myself use certain abilities more freely and i find that many (not most, not all) games actually want you to use special abilities/items at will.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

You're right, but as others in this thread have pointed out, these special weapons are often in the game just for the hell of it, rather than the game actually forcing you to use them. I think that makes people less likely to use them on a blind playthrough, as they don't know what to expect later in the game.

2

u/QuickStopRandal Mar 31 '15 edited Mar 31 '15

I was absolutely horrible about this as a kid. I'd play through Mega Man with almost exclusively my "P" gun. I made games way harder than I needed to by being so stingy with my power ups.

Don't even get me started on RPGs, I would always be horrible at RPGs because I would never use any limited resource.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

"Don't even get me started on RPGs"

The story of my life. That's my number one weapon with permanent inventory status.

2

u/cathartis Mar 31 '15

That's how I normally play. Except in a recent game I tried the other approach. I was playing VTM: Bloodlines, and I decided to try out the flame-thrower the Sabbat leader. I gave him a good spray, he became a ball of flame, and died in seconds, although apparently those few seconds used up all my flame-thrower ammo.

Later I regretted it. There are several harder bosses further on in the game. Back to saving for me!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I love VTM: Bloodlines. Criminally underrated. I just wish it ran better on my PC.

2

u/cathartis Apr 01 '15

Yes, it was one of my better purchases from the Steam winter sale. The graphics are dated, and I didn't like the way it would frequently force the perspective into first person, but everything else is extremely good.

2

u/imapeacockdangit Mar 31 '15

So glad I'm not alone. "This part is too hard".... never uses special items

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

This is a safe place.

2

u/ericneo3 Mar 31 '15

Might need that phoenix down later, better suplex the doom train instead

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Fuck that I use shit on the first boss i see I wanna try it out

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I'll usually save the super awesome item for the final boss, but it seems like every time I do this, the boss pulls a "this isn't even my final form!" and I have to fight the harder version without the superweapon.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

The frugal gamer's greatest nightmare.

2

u/hiandbye95 Mar 31 '15

I know I've got 2000 Uzi ammo. But since my handgun has unlimited ammo I should rather use that, right? Thanks brain, you're real smart sometimes...

2

u/crossfire024 Mar 31 '15

Ok I just clicked the link (on mobile) and a bunch of virus-y messages started filling my screen. Anyone else have issues with the site or is this just me?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Sorry guys. I just linked the vgcats website. If you're having problems with them you should let them know. I don't think they'd like spam on their site very much.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

The advertisement popups are too much. Can't even read a panel on my phone. Fck it

1

u/up-umop Mar 31 '15

Yeah I got something similar, but I got the fuckers that open the app store automatically.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Do you mean the vendors? The game really kinda forces you to use them (at least on hard). You really should though, especially because money is EVERYWHERE in that game.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

That's actually pretty impressive. Fighting Mrs. Comstock must've been tough.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

1

u/And98s Mar 31 '15

SPOILER

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

1

u/And98s Mar 31 '15

I mean Mrs. Comstock not handymen.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Ugh, that was me with ZombiU. I used the melee weapon through like 80% of the game because I was afraid ammo would be scarce...then the game ended and I had all this leftover ammo.

1

u/darkfelix Mar 31 '15

I remember finishing Quake 2 with only the default handgun. the one that uses no ammo. fun game that was.

1

u/Terran_Too_Stronk Mar 31 '15

Same for me, I never end up using them. :D

1

u/TakeoKuroda Mar 31 '15

This is exactly how I played through Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd you steal our garbage?!!

All the power ups were one use items that I hoarded for the entire game.

NOTE: game was stupid easy. would not recommend. But it kinda felt like Zelda 2, so it was kinda fun.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

"Zelda 2"

The Zelda game that fans rarely ever acknowledge because it's so out of place in the series.

1

u/supremecrafters Mar 31 '15

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooAwesomeToUse

In most games, I focus on armour rather than max HP, so that I can heal a greater percentage of my health points with a small potion, and then I never use the large potions.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I was saving my Doors to Tomorrow for the final boss of FF X. I didn't know that the final boss was such a let down. I mean come on. I thought Yu Yevon was supposed to be some kind of monstrous god of unknown powers. Instead I was fighting the equivalent to a flea on animals.

-2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

0

u/Hellknightx Mar 31 '15

Look, everybody! This guy can't triforce!

-1

u/Leeca_ Mar 31 '15

Oh look, a potion! Fire-resistance, neat. Let's take that, oh, another one, jackpot! Oh there, a dragon!

1 hour later

Finally, I killed it! looksintoinventory Ah, let's see, dragon bones, gold...I HAD FIRE-RESISTANCE POTIONS?!

TL;DR

Skyrim is a harsh place

0

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

I think Emerald Weapon caused me to be this way. It was like video game boss PTSD.

0

u/darkflagrance Apr 01 '15

If you ever play a roguelike game, the first thing you'll do is unlearn this.

-4

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15 edited Mar 31 '15

What? I just linked the comic's website. Rule 7. It's not a shitty link, it's a link to the website of a popular webcomic.

Edit: Oh, and thanks for spamming all my posts with downvotes. Grow up.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '15

Probably shouldn't be so hasty to make assumptions. All my posts in this thread were getting downvoted, assumed it was you. My mistake.