Look, many of us have been there. Many of us have stared down a huge backlog and felt an apathetic, motivationless void. Many of us have burned ourselves out in loot shooters and ultra long RPGs. Many of us have failed to rekindle the flames of nostalgia and found modern offerings to be lacking substance, unable to move us. Many of us have wondered why we struggle to find joy in what was once a haven of escapism.

I see so many posts here of broken hearted individuals wondering what is wrong with them. Why can't I have fun playing games anymore? What am I doing wrong?

The answer? Nothing. You are doing nothing wrong.

Sometimes things change. Sometimes hobbies you used to love just grow cold in your heart for no reason at all except the passage of time and the ever shifting motivations and priorities as one grows older. It happens.

If this has happened to you and gaming is no longer what it used to be, if you stopped having fun and gaming now feels like an obligation, if you're grinding out games not because they bring you joy but because you feel like you owe it to yourself to finish what you started or whatever...

Just stop playing. Put the controller away for a while, find something that you do enjoy and pursue it. There are many more things in life than just video games, many far more important. Talk to friends you haven't talked to in a while, visit your grandparents, go experience the beauty of nature, read some books, exercise, whatever. Just put gaming on hold for a while. Because you aren't doing yourself any favors by forcing yourself to play.

And one more thing that I think is hugely important: if you are suddenly finding that many of the things in your life that once brought you joy aren't bringing you joy anymore, and that everything feels apathetic and motivation has left you? You might be struggling with depression, and you should seek help. Take it from someone who has lived in denial a long, long time... If it feels like it is crippling depression? It probably is. Get help. Don't wait. Don't put it off. Don't just accept it as a fact of life. Don't try and face it on your own.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I hope you all continue to find joy in your hobbies and that these bouts of apathy towards gaming are temporary. It's a great hobby that can be satisfying in ways that no other medium can. But sometimes it's worth stepping away from the controller for a bit, ya know? Get some perspective, remind yourself that life is more than escapism.

If anyone here just needs someone to talk to, someone to listen, I'm here. PM me.

Incredibly Late Edit: Thank y'all so much for my first Reddit golds and all the support!

The fact you could import personal MP3 tracks into GTA IV and make your own radio, blew my mind.

Edit: Never expected this thread to blow up as it did. Thanks for the gold, merry xmas!

On the Persona 5 subreddit there've been posts on this topic about people feeling depressed after beating P5 because there is nothing out there like it and once it's over it's over.

I was curious if others have experienced similar things for other titles. Ever finished a game, and loved it so much, that after beating it you were depressed since you could never have another first playthrough of it and there were no other games on its level?

EDIT: Thanks for the gold kind stranger! And darn, over 2500 comments. Glad to have started such an interesting discussion :)

I was revisiting Alan Wake in light of the latest news and while I'm not over the moon about the game overall, I can't help but be impressed at least by the concept of using the flashlight - commonly only used simply to light up dark areas - as integral to the gameplay.

So for those who aren't aware (minor spoilers ahead) aside from being a standard light source, the flashlight also acts as a weapon in this game in that it weakens enemies with "a dark presence" so that you can finish them off with your standard weapon. Aside from that, it also ties in to the exploration and puzzle-solving of the game in that certain evironmental elements, clues, and messages only appear when you shine the light on them.

Aside from this, does any other game come to mind where there are uses of cleverly designed gameplay mechanics that revolve around concepts or objects that are usually trivial, mundane, or innocuous and then the game sort of flips it on its side and is able to reappropriate it to an interesting part of the game design?

Nowadays you only get the safety manual and opening box is not that charming anymore. I remember back when I was in school my mother used to lock our consoles somewhere so we would focus on studying so I used to go through the manuals and get hyped thinking about what to do when I play the game once the school vacation starts.

Frankly enough I was introduced to some great games because of those manuals (for example I knew about Tales of Symphonia from the manual of Skies of Arcadia). So what about you guys?

I'm an old man and I get cranky.

Something that upsets me about this sub is the constant fixation on reducing one's backlog. This makes me sad. I picture all these poor people, cramped over their displays, fingers spasmed into painful claws, desperately trying to finish just one more game in order to feed the great Demand.

Don't do it!

When you reach your desk at work and there's a stack of shit nobody would deal with for free, yes. That's a backlog. It's a burden. Stuff piled up that needs to be addressed.

When you reach your gameatorium and see stacks of unplayed games piled up... Bonus! you're living the childhood dream! Your very own candy shop with an infinity of delights, more than any one child - no matter how determined - could consume in a lifetime! What a fucking treasure!

Don't turn that haven into work. Don't walk into that candy shop determined to methodically consume each and every unit of candy in the store. You'll get sick. Eat your fill and leave. That's the marvel of this store - it's always waiting for you to walk back in and start munching.

That's all I had to say. Get off my lawn.

Anyone else play games on the easiest setting?

I was never a good gamer even during my teen years, but now I am 37, kid, job etc etc I have hardly no time for gaming but a big backlog. Please tell me I am not the only one that plays on easy setting? Sometimes I will move it up to the next setting if it is REALLY easy, but normally I still have fun and die and stuff, because I suck.

I just don't have the time to get good or die over and over and over.

Anyone else do the same? Or shall I just goto the corner on my own and wallow in my self pity at having little free time and being a bang average gamer.

This keeps happening to me, and just happened again on Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, so I felt like talking about it with folks. This is an old person rant, so feel free to skip it. Just wondering if anyone feels the same way.

I was stuck on how to get past some bosses. I tried to just Google the bosses directly and could not find any write ups. Back in the day, you could usually find a wall of text you could just ctrl+f to locate the section you need, get the low-down on how to beat it, and then jump right back to the game and use the info. In this case, as with many others in recent years, all I could locate was YouTube videos.

I sighed, and reluctantly clicked one that seemed to have a relevant title. It was labeled a "walkthrough" so I thought, all right, at least it will jump to the point I'm at. Holy shit, it was a fucking mess. First of all, it was not anywhere near the boss. I had to jump around the video 50 times to realize it's not even in this one, it's in the next one. OK, then I jump around the second video a bunch of times and finally find the battle I'm on. I take note he is a few levels higher than me, so I closed it and resolved to go find a way to grind and come back, because I couldn't take one more second of this video.

It was not even a walkthrough! It was just the streamer's feed, with his terrible panels full of logos and other bullshit, and of course a panel for his own face, because that's essential. It was literally just a film of this random dude experiencing the game for his first time. So he is just flailing around as much as I was and had no idea how to beat it either. All while listening to him narrate his inner thoughts to himself about all this, which is the worst part, and the main reason I don't watch streamers in the first place.

I realize it's becoming out of fashion to take the time to create a detailed write up, and it's a lot easier to just film yourself. But this style simply isn't helpful as a game guide, and people need to stop labeling them like they are. I would have rather just found nothing than have that experience.

Over the last week we have gotten many messages requesting that we go dark with the other subreddits and join the protest. Being the subreddit we are we took the long wait and see approach, expecting things to start moving once Reddit had time to react to the overwhelmingly negative sentiment of the community.

Based off the AMA its clear Reddit values their investors more than their users. It was their opportunity to fully address the situation directly to the Reddit users and they put in such little effort, it was not just pathetic but insulting.

We only mod this subreddit because we love gaming and game discussions. Its really satisfying to finally finish a game and come here to read what others thought about it and their own experiences or write about our own. We know you are here because you value the same thing.

r/patientgamers is not the subreddit of its mods but of its users, its creators, commenters, readers and lurkers. If Reddit does not value its users and content creators they have no right to monetize your free content.

After the 48 hour dark period has ended we will reassess the situation. At that point it will be the communities decision on how to go forward and what to do from there. We are patient, Reddit cannot just wait us out and get what they want.

For the meantime for all posts about games over one year old we have started a discord for discussion. We are also open to moving the community to other hosts as well so we are not purely reliant on Reddit as a platform.

https://discord.com/invite/EJ6bXaz

I almost would rather just start over but then that means doing a lot of things I already did. Something about coming back into a large, open RPG is really difficult to settle in to. Lots of games on the backlog due to this

As an older gamer, I've found I have very, very little time to play games. I've been finding myself more attracted to "short-format" games, which can only take 1 - 20 hours to beat, and I actually prefer this. I enjoy smaller games that can give a concise amount of content, and don't subject the player to unnecessary bloat.

Games being too long seems to be the reality of being an adult though. When I was younger, I had nothing to do most of the time, and only games could really fill that time. It feels that modern games still aim for that younger demographic, while older gamers are left with fewer options for games.

EDIT: I just want to make it clear that I see nothing wrong with longer games. I loved them when I was young and I can still enjoy them when I do finally get time to play them. I think I just wanted to see how much this issue impacted me and others, and what others make of it.

Having got back into console gaming I recently played AC Origins and I'm towards the end of Odyssey on PS4. Both have their weaknesses, especially that they drag on for too long and are bulked out too much, but one of their main strengths is building a rich version of the ancient world with a main character that I actually cared about, especially Kassandra. I have learned a lot about ancient Egypt and Greece.

But in each game there are various points where the player is pulled out of their immersion in that compelling world, and is reminded that actually they're playing a reconstruction of that world in some device called an Animus in the modern day. There's lore about some organisations I don't care about and an ancient race of superhumans I don't understand. It all refers back to individuals and incidents I've not heard of and never come across in the game, and the information is presented in the most boring way possible, through emails and voice notes.

Presumably if you've played some of the earlier games this stuff makes more sense. I hated it. It feels like they're taking a good story based on the real world (albeit a version where gods and mythological creatures are real) and slathering their made-up bullshit over the top of it.

Apologies if this isn’t typical for this sub, but I found something about myself and wanted to get it off my chest. I know a lot of you are older gamers with lots of real-world responsibilities, and thought maybe it will apply to some of you.

Recently I had the notion that games were “wasting my time,” and I recognized that my time is finite and I’m going to die one day. With that thought in mind, I could no longer indulge in video games and only sought to improve myself in one way or another.

I also made a transition from reading fiction (mostly fantasy) into hardcore non-fiction / history books to supplement my “self improvement.”

I have a very stressful job and I support a family with my income alone.

VERY slowly over the past months / year I’ve been growing increasingly stressed out and anxious. My began having more and more trouble sleeping. I was growing irritable. Angry. Unhappy.

The culprit probably seems obvious to you, but it was so gradual I didn’t really notice (my wife and kids sure did).

Turns out that “wasting my time” with video games and fantasy books are absolutely intrinsic to my mental health. I started gaming again and picked up a sci-fi book, and I feel amazing. Stress is melting away.

Anyway, if you’re feeling bad about gaming because you’re “wasting time” stop feeling bad. This hobby can be important.

A few disclaimers before everyone grabs their pitchforks:

• This post contains major spoilers for NieR: Automata

• Yes, I did play the entire game, all the way to ending E, and I did all the story-relevant side quests

• I already know a hefty bunch of people will look at this post and go "oh, you just don't get it". I'm pretty sure I do, as I've watched and read several essays and critiques on this game, so don't bother with the gatekeeping.

So I'm not looking to hate on something just for the sake of it. But I do want to share my experience with this "philosophical masterpiece" of a game, as I'm very sad that I didn't enjoy it. The internet (and even some of my friends) have been showering this game with praise, and as a fan of philosphy, I was looking forward to playing this. Though after seeing 2B's overtly sexualized design, I had my worries which were, unfortunately, confirmed in the game's introductory sequence.

The opening sequence perfectly encapsulates everything I dislike about Automata. 2B's very first line is some vague remark about "killing God". We've got uninspired button-mashy combat, giant robots pretentiously alluding to popular philosophers, cringeworthy voice-acting (I can't stand 9S' constant gasps), and downright inexcusable game design. Get this; the entire opening is about an hour long, and you can't save anywhere. So if you die toward the end (like I did), you have to play the entire thing again. That's right.

NieR: Automata seems intent on wasting my time. The game is structured into three different parts, with the first two taking up the majority of my 38 hour playtime. But the second route, "route B", is remarkably similar to the first one. The story is basically the same, but now you see it from the perspective of 9S. There are a few additional snippets of lore, and the combat system is now a repetitive shoot-em-up instead of a repetitive beat-em-up, but that's pretty much it. I didn't feel like it added to the experience in any way (at least not enough to justify essentially being 13 hours of recycled gameplay and cutscenes). In terms of the gameplay, I also wasn't a fan of the side quests, which were incredibly unoriginal and just felt like even more padding, while containing vital world building. The RPG mechanics were utterly pointless since the combat is action-oriented, the world felt empty and boring to explore, and was also littered with invisible walls which destroyed every bit of immersion.

As for the visuals, they're... fine. I guess the low-quality textures and janky animations are somewhat excusable, as the game was made with a smaller budget, and some areas (like the amusement park) actually look really good. I also have to praise the soundtrack. The way it's meticolously incorporated into the gameplay, the powerful orchestration and focus on lyrics, the memorable melodies - it's all phenomenal. Truly one of the few highlights of my experience.

But what about the story? You know, the supposed masterfully emotional and philosophical narrative. I personally thought the story was very inconsistent in its quality. It certainly had some legitimately touching and great moments, namely when Pascal's memories are erased, and I'd say that the final ending, ending E, certainly lives up to the hype for being so creative and smart. Sure, the plot twists was predictable as hell, and it was nothing new in terms of the themes (many books and movies have explored existentialism and the idea consciousness much better and more thoroughly), but it had some interesting ideas that are exclusive to the medium of video games. I just hated the way it was told.

So the characters are supposed to act as vessels for the story. Unfortunately, I couldn't care less about the them, and therefore wasn't moved by their struggles and experiences. Listen, I get it. 2B gives 9S the cold shoulder because she doesn't want to get attached only to kill him again (which raises the question of why he's immediately head over heels for her). But every single conversation feels like a rehash of the last:

9S: "Hey 2B, why do these machines *insert human activity*?."

2B: "Emotions are forbidden"

9S: "*Anime gasp*. Alright, let's kill it!"

Machine: "Oh no. Don't kill me"

9S: "Hey 2B, are we really better than these machines?"

2B: "Stop talking"

9S: "Yes, of course"

It's the same thing every damn time. The characters are bland and poorly written. 9S has a cliche, anime-esque psychotic breakdown and over-emotes all the time, 2B is your waifu character, Adam and Eve have the typical anime villain personality - I simply cannot fathom how people think these one-dimensional characters are any better than the cast of the last Final Fantasy game. It also doesn't help that the writing is extremely exposition-heavy. The characters say how they fell but don't show it (aside from the over-the-top screams and cries). It asks ask the same philosophical questions that other media has done for decades, but almost never dives deeper than surface level, making everything feel shallow and contrived. I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, understand what it was people were praising so much about this game's narrative.

In conclusion, I don't think NieR: Automata is an inherently bad game. Many people have enjoyed it, and I applaud Yoko Taro for taking an unconventional direction in a world where AAA games often feel like they play it too safe. And I did genuinely enjoy some parts of the game, like the score. But in the end, it just didn't do it for me. It may have been due to my high expectations, I don't know. But I rarely see people critisise this game, so I wanted to offer an alternate view than the standard ol' "10/10, masterpiece" I constantly see thrown around.

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you have a great day.

Edit: Just want to say thank you for all the positive feedback to this critique. It truly shows how people in this sub are mature and respectful.

Salutations,

We're going to be (temporarily) disallowing posting topics about Hogwarts Legacy. Every thread has been a train wreck and we have had trouble keeping up with them.

To be clear this isn't an attempt to censor you guys or prevent discussing politics in gaming, nor the reality of shitty people being involved in game development. This is a discussion sub and we absolutely want to allow you to talk about these sorts of things. Normally this isn't an issue (IE: Disco Elysium).

The problem is Hogwarts Legacy itself is a lightning rod for assholes. If a post goes up there's a good chance the next time I check mod queue it has 100+ comments that have been filtered or reported. It gets cross-posted into ~those~ subreddits and we get a flood of people who are only interested in being pricks that infest other threads.

Like many of you I have 27 kids and 3 jobs so I then have to choose between spending my afternoon with my family or reading a hundred hateful comments. As much as I like banning Nazis, I'd much rather play some Deep Rock with my progeny.

Hogwarts Legacy posts will be auto-removed until one of the following occurs:

• Reddit gives us the anti-brigading tools they promised a decade ago

• The world finally stops being dicks to trans people

• JK Rowling drops dead so she stops getting money from the game

• We figure out a better way to do this

Previous threads will stay up and you will still be allowed to comment about it in the bi-weekly threads, for now at least.

Edit:

To address a few questions/concerns:

"Why not use curated modes?"

Those typically require manually flaring or approving thousands of people. If we were a more contentious place dealing with this often, it'd make more sense. The good folk of this sub understand why this is being done and that's good enough for me.

"Do you really wish JKR was dead?"

I'm a gen-X that was raised on British humor. Make of that what you will.

"Why not get more mods?"

It's something we've considered, but honestly you regulars are pretty great. The work load is manageable with the biggest chore being maintaining the impatient game list. You guys make this a wonderful place to share gaming thoughts with.

"Aren't you supposed to be unbiased?"

If you have a shitty hot take on Hollow Knight? Sure. I'm not going to ban you because you didn't enjoy Gabriel Knight and I think it's one of the best point and click adventure games of all time.

"Isn't this censorship?"

We block a lot of things. OnlyFans bots, AI nonsense, scammers trying to post phishing links. All that jazz. They take it stride really.

"You do you really have 27 kids?"

No. I only have a few and that's enough as is. I can only take so many "Would you rather..."'s in a day. Right now I'm pondering if I'd rather be cursed with always entering my passwords wrong twice, or if I'd rather the last bite of toast always tastes burned.

Earlier today it was brought to our attention that a new user had made a number of curiously generic posts in our subreddit over the course of several hours, leading us to believe it was all AI-generated text. After running said posts through AI-detection software our suspicions were confirmed and the user was permanently banned. They were kind enough to respond to their ban notification with a confession confirming our findings.

This is a subreddit for human beings to discuss games and gaming with other human beings. If you feel the need to "enhance" your posts by letting an AI write it for you you will be permanently banned from this subreddit and advised to reflect on the choices you made in life that lead you to conduct this kind of behavior.

Rule 2 has been updated with the following addition to reflect this:

- Posting AI-generated content will result in a permanent ban.

The Report options have also been expanded to allow users to report any content they believe to be written by AI:

- Post does not promote discussion or is AI-generated

If you see any content that you believe might be breaking our rules, select the Report option to let us know and we'll check it out. If you'd like to elaborate on your report you can shoot us a modmail.

If you have any feedback or questions regarding this change please feel free to leave a comment below.

Edit: We've read all your comments, though I can't reply to all of them. We'll take your feedback to heart and proceed with care.

I was watching a review of the original Dark Souls from 2011 and the reviewer Kevin VanOrd said this:

"Has a game ever consumed you to the point that it invaded your mind? Have you ever woken from dreaming of this game only for that dream to turn into your waking thoughts and cravings?"

It's actually a pet peeve of mine when reviewers exaggerate how good a game is, and normally I would find this sort of language excessive. But eight years later I am playing Dark Souls for the first time, and this quote perfectly encapsulates how I feel about the game. Kudos to the reviewer!

I'm taking history classes so I thought it'd be fun to play Civ with all the knowledge on ancient history I now have and I can confidently say this was a terrible idea.

I started playing at 6 in the morning and when I took a break to save, the clock read 1 PM. An alarm went off for an assignment that's due. I quickly ctrl+c, ctrl+v my way to an underwhelming mark and proceed to settle new parts of the map.

My phone buzzes, a call from a friend that I forget to answer. I assure myself I'll get back to them. My phone buzzes again but I truly cannot sacrifice my time to entertain this person while the Nordic meance prepares for war in the East. The sun sets and the moon rises while concerned messages pile up in my inbox until the frequency of the buzzing dies down and eventually ceases. Peace at last.

After several days of play, my Mother apologetically cracks open the door to my room. She asks me if I'd like to watch a movie together sometime and I tell her no, my eyes never leaving the screen. Our interactions have been limited to her leaving food by my door. I hear he crying most nights. Low happiness, she should've built more amenities.

Fun is not something I've thought about while playing for a long time. I will keep going till my weak laptop's AMD A9 processor melts from overuse. The advisor recommends this course of action.

Edit: the comments confirm civ should be a controlled substance. I am fine this game does have me by the throat. Thanks for the awards!

It seems like ever since 4k became mainstream most people treat it as an absolute standard or else you're not getting the full experience of the game. Even more for oled. Though I gotta say personally 1080p looks good to this day.

Ofcourse when I play more story based games on my ps5 I prefer to have it hooked up to my 55 inch 4k. Though when I play games on my pc my 1080p monitor still gives me the full picture quality I want.

Another thing is it seems like game developers are so quick to cap a game at 30fps just to support a 4k resolution. More so from the last gen of consoles. But I would be perfectly fine with a 2k (not sure if I said that right) or even a 1080p resolution if it means I get a smooth 60fps.

Ive been playing Battlefield2042 on my 1080p monitor and it still looks fantastic. I feel absolutely immersed in the games chaotic setting and have had tons of fun with it. As long as my monitor keeps chugging along I'll keep using it.

Let's wait a few months to see if the hype dies down before deciding whether or not to join in

Ok. Can we collectively agree to stop making posts like this? Do they gloss over important aspects of the game, they’re just incredibly obvious and self evident, to the point where the post is just redundant.

So you played a 10-year-old game and found it “clunky” or “ugly?” compared to something more modern? Or you played a game with that was the first to incorporate a unique story twist but were underwhelmed because you’ve played later games that copied it?

This is the weirdest kind of snobbery. I get that it’s fun to criticize stuff but this kind of criticism is so misplaced. I’m picturing some hipster art snob at a museum of anthropology looking at 10,000-old cave paintings and making a comment like “hmm, I find the technique just so... primitive”. Or purchasing an antique car and complaining about a lack of power steering.

I see this all the time with older games. Super Metroid, Ocarina of Time, MGS, Bioshock, Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil, Halo... massive games that made an impact on the industry have their value ignored in favour of petty, misplaced gripes.

Ok rant over