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- Gamer-Sense
- Posted 3 months, 4 weeks ago by Ubrasaur
I've noticed something in people who play a lot of games, I've come to call it gamer-sense (kind of like Spiderman's spider-sense). This is what lets a gamer feel when they are about to face a boss, so they know they should stock up or find a safe point. This is also what lets gamers know which will be the shorter branch in a maze, so they know to explore that area first.
Sometimes I'll be playing a game, and I start to get a feeling like I know whats comming up. I've been paying particular attention to what kinds of clues I'm paying attention to, which more casual gamers might not notice. In the case of boss battles, if you walk into a big empty room, and the music stops as soon as you enter the door, you can be pretty sure if you take another step the door is going to lock behind you.
As far as exploring mazes (usually in RPGs), I think my general rule is to explore the places that seem more out of the way first. Like when I come to a house, instead of just going in the door I'll go around back and check the backyard first. I like it when people are watching and I'll find something hidden like that and they'll ask me how I knew that was there. It was just my gamer-sense!
What kinds of things can you sense with your gamer-sense? What kinds of clues do you think you are using?
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Comments
Haha yeah I know what you mean FemJesse. They should keep it to stuff that makes you more awesome (or feel more awesome) but not crucial to continuing the game.
I think most games make incoming boss battles clear nowadays. Old platformers often have a small clearing with no enemies before a big boss battle.
Castle Crashers actually rewards this gamer-sense you're talking about, as there's lots of items hidden and buried behind buildings. It makes you feel smart in a sense that you knew a thing was there and nobody had to tell you. Its interesting because i feel that there aren't a lot of bonus items hidden in games anymore, that aren't crucial to the plot. When an item that is crucial to the plot but is hidden, its counter-intuitive and seems frustrating when you find it (even if you find it quickly).
You think: I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't been playing video games for years and years and then I'd be pissed.
and it just makes you pissed.
You know?
There's definetly a "path less traveled" dynamic in alot of games. Yeah I can see where the game designers are leading me. But what will they reward me with for going this way instead?
**spoiler** phat lewts!
Personally, I use a combination of an internal clock (boss fights seem to happen every hour or hour and fifteen minutes) and the earlier-mentioned method of keeping an eye out for caches of weapons or health.
I also totally agree with what LionHead said about this being a topic that I would never have come onto myself, but once I read it I thought to myself, "Ah yes... I do do that..."
LOL, i totally wanted to comment on this earlier, but I really got a nice laugh out of this when I first read it. Pretty true. Especially if you were a gamer during the Genesis/SNES days. The tried and true cliches were bred during that era.
To be clear, gamer-sense isn't JUST about knowing when bosses will arrive, it is also used to find the phat lewt among other more subtle things.
Any game that has a map screen is usually pretty transparent in that respect. Any room on the exterior of the map with a long hallway out to it and no additional way out...boss room. The furthest room away from the start point.....boss room. Any time a large room is surrounded by tiny rooms.....eventual boss room.
Any room with a big skull door marking the entrance........
I am a Shoot'Em'Up player, and I can tell you I know as well when the boss is coming...
It's written in capital letters on my screen "HERE'S THE BIG ONE" or "NO REFUGEE" or others things like that xD
A save point after about an hour into a dungeon.
I love in Final Fantasy VI (aka III if ur a n00b) how they make you think the game is ending half way through. It gives you all the usual game-is-ending cues.
I'm running through Infinite Undiscovery and I'm currently storming a castle with a save point after every room. I'm still on disk one, but I have a feeling this is the end.
The worst (or best) is when you get bombarded by a ton of weak bad guys. The kind that don't do much damage and are easy to kill, but the challenge is their shear numbers. Then always a slight clearing, empty room, etc......Boss Fight!
this is one of those topics that you don't really think about often until someone mentions it and you're like "yeaaah! i know right!?" Sometimes (not often though) there aren't any enemies around. like there is a clearing... either that or when things seem to be toooooo calm... or tooooo quiet. ya know?
Generally, I'm wary whenever I get a new weapon, or find a cache of ammo and health. Big open rooms are another giveaway, as are save points. It's more about pattern recognition, I think, than anything else.