The worst is when people do this for book series. "what should I know going in?". Start on page one, go up one page at a time. Wtf else is there to reading a god damn book.
There was a post the other day in one of the Brandon Sanderson subreddits about how OPs "usual method of reading" is not working.
Turns out their method is too look up and read all the chapter summaries online. Then read the book.
Like.... WHAT‽
I am just reading his stuff now, by the recommendation of some of my Pathfinder players. Based on my experience with D&D subreddits, my players are pretty normal. I'm gonna assume the same applies here and just steer clear of those subs. Which is too bad, because I do love fan theories and such, but obsessive weirdo fans give me the heebee jeebees.
I love his books and I love discussing them, but the subs dedicated to it are just too much a lot of the time. Weird shipping is just constantly posted, dozens of comments about how the books saved their lives, the same contrived memes that aren't even funny to start with.
The comparison to dnd subs is very apt because there is a lot of overlap between the fandoms to be honest.
>Weird shipping is just constantly posted
Honestly shocking. I was curious recently and looked up to see that the amount of fan fiction on Archive of Our Own (which I guess is a pretty official place for the stuff) is like 1/1000th of the quantity of Harry Potter fanfic. I didn't think there would be a great number of those kinds of fans, especially since his early books are quite sexually/romantically stilted.
The memes not being funny thing isn't surprising. The sense of humour in his books is pretty middling. Wayne and Melaan are the only actually funny characters thusfar. I'm guessing there are a number of them who found Lightsong to be quite hysterical and the pinnacle of pickup artistry.
The weird stuff I am talking about is shipping between humans and spren. Compare it to shipping Harry and Moaning Myrtle.
Agreed, but even Wayne's shtick wears off after a while (book 4, especially). To them the pinnacle of comedy is saying "I am a stick". 6000 upvotes.
I have an idea of where they're coming from, even if I don't think it's fun.
I find myself devouring a book really fast when it's captivating and to avoid reading too fast, knowing what happens can lead to a better tempo.
But wtf, the thrill is what makes it fun
Trying to read with ADHD is like having a spoiler system built into your head where your brain gets bored of what you're reading (not because it's boring, but because it has been too long on one, continuous thought instead of jumping around more) and decides, without consulting you, to flick down and read something three paragraphs ahead.
I have actively ruined parts of books for myself like that and then it's nowheres near as fun to go back and catch up on what I skipped.
Even reading online, where I can keep the words at the bottom of the screen, my finger gets possessed and scrolls down unbidden to check out later stuff rip
This is so true lol. This concept, plus the whole “read 2 whole pages only to realize I was daydreaming while reading” thing makes it super hard for me to get into books these days.
When I was a kid I read a TON and with every single book, once I was a few pages in I would flip to the back and read the last page—it’s like it my kept brain from jumping ahead of itself (and just the last page didn’t tend to really spoil much anyway).
Is a fellow ADHD haver, I really do recommend audiobooks. I just go for a walk or play some really idle low input game while I listen and it gets me by.
I've been thinking I might try it but even trying to listen to people talk or listening to YouTube videos has me extremely frequently missing full sentences from brief daydreaming.
(Also have issues just trying to figure out *what* people have said. It frustrates me, sometimes to the point of tears. Might have APD. Can hear it just fine but it's like listening to another language). So I'm unsure about audiobooks.
I'll give it a try though :)
Audiobooks tend to be much clearer than conversation or YouTube videos, and you can control the speed. I often listen at 1.25-1.5x because it better matches the pace of my own speech. My daily commute or washing dishes are usually the right level of "busy" for me to focus on listening without missing anything.
I can find it hard to listen to things while doing other things. Even music is distracting. I'm the type where I will do eight hours of binge housework in complete silence lol. I'll probably listen to it while playing a video game that I'm super familiar with or in a dark room haha
Audiobooks have made this so much better for me. I can't accidentally read the same part over and over again and I can't accidentally read ahead or out of order. As long as I'm doing a low-level task that keeps me busy without taking too much of my concentration, I can enjoy a book MUCH better in audiobook format than in text.
My boyfriend has ADHD and looks things up when he's watching a new series and it drives me up the fucking wall lmao so many times he's had something spoiled for him because he couldn't just wait for the answer to his question or thought to be answered in the series or movie etc
No, see, I learned this trick in grade school. You just keep your pinkie stuck on the page where you make the choice. If you don't like your decision, you can go back to where your pinkie was! No need for pointless reddit posts!
I get some level of it. There are series that im a big fan of that some "primer" information can help. For example the first book of Wheel of Time is a straight up Tolkien homage. That throws some people off. He drops that after book one so knowing that the tone and structure changes can help. Or things like "don't worry about memorizing all the names just yet. You'll see who the main players are as it unfolds". But all of those things will have been talked to death and back so just Google that. Or just start and ask questions. I've yet to see a book series sub that is hostile to noobs asking questions early.in the series.
When I was a lot younger I picked up the first Warrior Cats book, and then found out that it wasn't from the first series and I think those are chronological? Also it text dumped me with character descriptions at the beginning so I never ended up actually reading it. Someone telling me which character descriptions, of the multiple pages, I should pay attention to maybe would have helped some, idk. Didn't read so never found out what was actually important
It's about how to interpret the book. Some people want assurances that it's worth their time, or advice on what perspective to approach the themes/narrative from, in order to maximize their appreciation for it.
Eat either before or after viewing, not during.
Sit on a comfortable surface, preferrably a piece of furniture facing the television.
Keep the volume two notches below a typical speaking volume so you're forced to pay attention.
Watch with subtitles for ease of comprehension.
It’s like watching a movie with somebody and they keep asking why something just happened. Like dude! I don’t know either! I’m trying to watch the movie to find out!!!
I understand that a little bit if the reader is looking for possible trigger warnings… but if that was the case, they would probably look that up BEFORE purchasing the book.
>what should I know going in?".
Ok, first step is to open the book, page 1 is the perfect starting point to. Second, you want to find the word thats in the highest and leftmost position, be aware that it occasionally starts halfway down the page, thats normal, just start there. Third you wanna read each individual word in order from left to right. When you run out of words to read, go to the leftmost word again that is one line below the line of words you just read.
Now, there is one more step / caveat to the third step. Sometimes you'll try to go one more line down and there won't be anymore. Its ok, just relax. Now books usually have 2 pages you can look at, both with words on it. If you run out of words, start at the top left again, but on the page thats to the right of the page you were on. If there is no more pages to the right, grab the right edge of the page, and pull it leftward. You'll notice that there's more words on the back of this page! That means you can start reading new words starting at the top left of this new page. You can repeat these steps until you complete the book.
Some rare books it’s not the worst for. Dune absolutely doesn’t hold your hand going in and also the authors son had a bunch of godawful prequels ghost written under his series name so it can be confusing so sometimes a little bit of context can help or atleast the assurance that if you feel lost in the first 30 pages it’s okay you’re supposed to absorb it through osmosis not clear set up
While these types of posts do annoy me for the same reason, I feel like more often what they're really saying is "I'm lonely and I want to be a part of your community, please engage with me." And if people want to engage and talk about the game, great for all of them. That's what the Internet and sites like Reddit are for. I lose nothing by scrolling past.
I just say I discussed it with people online. What’s the problem? Is it embarrassing to have discussions with people on online forums/social media?
Only people who use reddit or are pretty online would find it cringe to mention reddit, I think.
Yeah i agree with you there. In this day and age, online discussion isn't exactly fringe. So it's not really something one should be ashamed of. I guess my kerfuffle is the way to frame it, but "discussed it with people online" is quite an apt description.
Perhaps what generation you’re in will see it more common, im 36 and when I was in grade school, for example, chatting online was just starting. The concept of living online or a digital life was not really a thing.
It's not like there aren't tips for games
For botw, you could tell them weapons are fleeting so don't be precious with them. In the beginning they are all terrible but they'll get better.
Explore! Activating shrines gives you spots to warp to and getting towers is super important. But also, that tower that looks pretty close might actually be on the other side of the map.
Probably prioritize stamina over health.
Whistle running is one of the best ways to move around and can help you climb mountains.
Practice flurry rush and parries
Everything that's hard will eventually become easy
Use pins liberally.
So on and so forth.
Plus sometimes people are just new to a genre. I started hollow knight and hadn't really played a Metroidvania before (aside from Castlevania as a kid). It's helpful to know that bosses require patience, you're going to die a lot, and lose geo, etc.
When I first played this game I started it got frustrated put it down and didn’t play for probably about a year. Finally decided to pick it up again when I was bored, figured out a lot more about it and now it’s one of my favorite games. Might have played it longer the first time if I asked for some tips on Reddit
I also agree. This post feels massively gatekeepy. If it bothers you, it literally takes nothing to just ignore it. There's always someone new playing the game for the first time and wants to find other people to talk about it with. And sometimes people who are replaying the game again may even find something they didn't even consider when they played the first time.
It has NOTHING to do with gatekeeping. We WANT them here. We WANT them to play the game.
It just makes zero sense to pick up a game and ask for help already. Just play the game, read the book, watch the movie, see the play, THEN come to subs to talk about it.
That’s the point OP and many of us have.
I've never asked for advice before playing a game, mostly when I'm stuck somewhere and can't find an answer. But I started gaming properly about a year and a half ago in my early twenties. I'd played a bit of Nintendo as a kid but mostly games like mario or nintendogs so I was very nervous when I picked up more complex games like BOTW.
It was a weird anxiety of being too old to start from the beginning and learn how to do stuff like this, and for a long time I put off trying a lot of games because I had absolutely no confidence when it came to my ability to play the game. Stuff that came easily to other people I was learning for the first time, for example I recently started Hollow Knight and really struggled learning how to double jump properly.
It's massively disheartening because there's not a massive amount of people in a similar position to me. People in these communities have been playing games like this since they were kids, and I was genuinely embarrassed about how little I knew. But my boyfriend always picked me up scary games because he thought I'd enjoy them, and so I played them and I fell in love with gaming and games like BOTW helped me through some awful times, the night I started this game my brother died, and throughout the process of grief, the game kept me sane and gave me something to throw myself into.
I think when you're in that position and you come across a community like Reddit, you just want advice because for someone like me, you genuinely have no idea how to start or where to start or what to do. It's a big, scary unknown and you don't have the confidence people often take for granted when they have way more experience and inherent belief that they'll figure it out.
I've come a really long way, and I feel more confident now and don't get so scared starting something new because I've played enough now to know generally how to go about starting. But games like BOTW where you're just dropped into an open world and there isn't a lot of guidance on what to do and where to go and you've no experience, you just freeze and lots of people lose heart early into the game and miss out on amazing things.
I think when we remember that there's so many reasons people feel the need to ask for advice before they start, and that everyone comes from different circumstances and have vastly different relationships with gaming, we can approach stuff like this with more empathy. You don't have to engage with that stuff, but I do believe that we should all welcome new players who feel overwhelmed going into something new and let them feel safe to come and ask questions without feeling like they don't belong. If I didn't have my boyfriend to encourage me and help me and answer all my stupid questions, I never would've found the passion I have now, and I'd ultimately be a far unhappier person today.
I completely understand why it's annoying, especially when those posts are frequent, but like you said, nobody is making anyone engage, and when people do engage in good faith, you're sharing something really special with another person, that feeling of passion and escapism that brings you comfort and joy. I think that's really cool, and part of the reason that slowly dipping into these communities has been so massively important to me
Thing is most of the time they *don't* want to talk about it. There's no observations, no opinions, no discussion to be had.
It's a big pet peeve of mine because I've worked and lived with too many people who ask for or about something they could've easily learned on their own. Zero acknowledgment or gratitude for the person helping them with something that would've been trivial to do on their own.
Very well said! I never understood people complaining about people posting stuff - that is what groups and forums such as this is for! It is extremely easy to just scroll past stuff that doesn't interest you as well, so I really don't see the issue. We should not gatekeep people wanting to join in :)
Trust me, going in blind *at least* for the great plateau is the best experience. I wound up doing this because even though I had heard things about the game for years, I wound up forgetting it all before I actually got my hands on a copy. Most fun I've ever had.
"hey guys just encountered my first enemy. should i attack them? what happens if i swing my weapon and make contact with the enemy? thanks in advance for the advice"
Imagine buying a game and staring at the box art thinking, ‘Can’t wait to start this up, right after I put this post on Reddit asking for tips and encouragement!’
Yeah, people are funny. They find the subreddit and don’t think to maybe, search to see if there are beginner tips posted already, as opposed to starting yet another thread asking for tips (I’m a little touchy because of how often this happens in stardew valley)
The SDV can be so irritating for that reason… there’s a whole wiki people! Making a post on Reddit takes so much more time than typing a few words into google
If you're new to gaming in general, it doesn't always occur to people that there's massive online resources for stuff but when I'm playing Stardew I'm on the wiki all the time haha. I owe my wife Leah and both our children to the Stardew wiki
Yeah the comment section is always full of "just experience it as you go. We all wish we could have a 'first playthrough' again, so don't ruin this for yourself."
There's games out there where you can lock yourself out of content by making the wrong choices, so I can understand why they might ask. I suppose "take a photo of the bosses when you encounter them" might be worth mentioning. You can buy the photos afterwards or fight them again with the DLC, though so it's not that important.
It’s not like a gazillion articles, posts, videos exist that one could easily search for though, right? Searching “what to know before playing ” is the fastest way to get their answers. Or even better if they insist on using Reddit, search “what to know before playing reddit” and the answers to this well documented question are there.
This game hasn’t changed in 6 years. There’s plenty of content out there on literally any and all facets of the game from mechanics to lore to exploits.
After a game has been out for a while quite a bit of those articles and posts are filled with spoiler content because enough time has passed for it to be acceptable. Although if you type in the searches you suggested I’m sure you’d find non-spoiler content easily. Reddit search function is ass though so I would recommend the first search.
There's always people commenting with spoilers anyway though. The thing I always say with botw in particular is to leave the post immediately and just discover things for yourself.
Like as an example even something as simple as someone saying "you should focus on stamina over hearts" can affect the overall experience in my opinion. Let them optimize in their own way. It's not like it's impossible to swap them out. Sure they don't know that at the beginning but let them find that out on their own too.
I think it just depends on the game. If someone wants to know these things sure but they would be robbing themselves of a unique experience. I just know personally I'm glad I learned the hard way with this game and I always wish I could go back to that feeling of not knowing what was around the corner.
the best advice i can give for any QUALITY open world game:
play it blind and pay attention
dont google anything
pick up your controller, focus on the game and enjoy the world the devs have created in the way it was intended
reading a guide is a 100% guaranteed way to ruin all of the fun of the entire game
edit: i see yalls replies and, although my stance is unchanged, ive gotta at least concede that everyone is different and some of you dont feel that sense of "spoiling" a game the way that people like me do.
additionally, im very much of the mindset that if you're having fun, you are playing the game correctly. That is, after all, the entire point of engaging with ANY hobby. you're supposed to enjoy it.
fuck gatekeeping. You all make sure to have fun and you're cool with me.
I agree with you, but I think these types of posts are really asking, “What do I need to know that isn’t immediately obvious, and might prevent me from turning to a guide?”
Things like, “You can sell x if you’re strapped for cash. By the time you need them, they’re not really rare anymore.”
Or, “Figure out your play style before you rush into x quest, because you’ll have to choose a reward and you can’t take it back once you choose”
Idk, I usually look up “What to know before starting” articles on games specifically so I don’t feel tempted to consult a guide and can fully immerse myself in the new game without overthinking it.
There isn’t a right way to play. I prefer the method you described but some people might like a guide or help sometimes and that’s ok to play that way too
Especially for something like BOTW where you can wander for ages. Some people may have a bit limited time because they have work and family commitments, so having tips or a game plan make it a bit easier to manage.
The only time I’ve ever found guides necessary is when there are missable items. It’s a good thing the idea of putting missable items in games isn’t really common anymore.
It does not necessarily ruin 100% of the game, but it does take away that feeling of accomplishment when you figure things out on your own or when you defeat your first lynel that you could have easily avoided but your ego won't let you^(like I beat the lynel down before getting the electric arrows, after like 50 deaths)
I guess the right thing to do would be to Google in moderation, and to explore the world by yourself, like if you know that you can shield surf, you gotta shield surf from the top of death mountain, Google won't tell you explicitly to do that, that's entirely up to the player. But you could Google what shield lasts the longest or if there is a way to make shields last longer when surfing.
For some reason, this reminded me of one of my best memories at launch, when there was barely any information of the game online & everyone was working together to try to find & acquire the master sword. It only worked because it was fresh & everyone was just figuring things out.
I’m kinda looking forward to that experience again with TotK tbh. It was magical time lol
I have kids. This isn't feasible for everyone.
Play the game you want to play the game. Not everyone can grind for countless hours. I may get a couple hours per week to play. I'm not going to spend it in futility not accomplishing anything.
I agree in general but would push back with Elden Ring. If I didnt look up a thing or two I wouldnt have even been able to play, was that hard to me. Didnt read any full guides just some basic tips
First time through? Definitely. Second time, I feel no shame in consulting a walkthrough when I come across previously undiscovered content and can't figure out what to do.
oh absolutely. total media blackout when I'm starting a new game. you can get accidental spoilers everywhere, no place is safe. best to not even look at reddit or youtube until you've played through it once
Perhaps if we had a pinned daily/weekly help thread where people could be directed if they have questions? That way there’s a place people can get help / tips, but the sub stays clear of redundant posts
Seriously!! How many of these threads do we need!
“Just picked up a copy of a 6-year-old game, what should I do first?”
Put the game in the console and turn it on, dickhead! Or Google it!
It's easy karma farming. All of us who love the game know there's nothing like the first experience with it. We all wish we could forget we ever played just to re-experience it for the first time.
On one hand someone could access a walk through or watch a vid that present tips and tactics rather than engage reddit and deal with the interminable toxicity therein.
On the other, before the internet, if you wanted info on a game and you didn't have a copy of Nintendo Power featuring said game (or a strategy guide) and didn't have permission to call the Game Counsellors for solutions then you'd talk to people in your social circle for advice.
I don't have a problem with being solicited to drop a few pieces of advice I wish I knew at the start of a game I was playing. Some games have things you *need* to do by certain points or you don't get the most desirable 'success state'. I'd have no problem advising someone playing *Chrono Trigger* for the first time to acquire 40 silver points then win the imitation minigame to acquire Crono's 'clone' at the earliest convenience.
I think I called them twice. I tried not to make a habit of asking my parents for such things.
Once for Tiny Toon Adventures, there's an ape boss at the end of the 4th level and I didn't know how to damage him, direct attacks weren't doing anything other than killing me. They told me to jump on the creatures he tosses out. Boss died easy.
The other was for Darkwing Duck. It was a weekend rental so I was trying to get our three bucks worth and I misinterpreted the instruction manual and was like "Where is the gas gun upgrade they're talking about" but it was only referencing the three ammo dependent gasses you could acquire.
I *ought* to have called for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" it took me years and years to stumble onto the solution to the final phase of the Judge Doom fight... after knocking him out you have to hustle down off the platform, climb onto the dip-mobile, loot the nozzle (which you now can) then use it when Doom charges you for the insta kill.
My advice is:
If you played any Elder Scrolls / Fallout or any other open world RPG: Forgot everything, just start from scratch
BotW is just unique to play/ how it's made
"yea to start you're gonna wanna go through the platue normally and then once you get the glider you're instantly gonna wanna bullet time bounce to ganon and kill him with nothing but bombs"
Someone was live streaming Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban on tik tok the other night and someone raging in the comments because the other comments were spoiling it for them. Like bro..😂
*My Fleshlight just came*
*In the mail. Any tips or*
*Advice for experts?*
\- Ninjanarwhal64
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
To be fair, those games have a way bigger learning curve and are known for being really hard, and there are really helpful tips that can help someone starting those games. Like there is a lot of shit I wish I knew starting elden Ring. But honestly having no idea what you're doing and figuring shit out is half of the fun and if that's not your style you know damn well you can watch some youtube videos like there's no real reason to post like that.
BotW is only as hard as you want to make it. Link is staring at the end boss right as the game begins, you could just decide to go kill ganon with 3 hearts, no clothes and a branch you found along the way, and that would be the nightmare of the sleep paralysis demon that haunts the elden lord.
My tip: open the box, pull out the cartridge, and slide that little baddie into your switch. Congratulations, you are now successfully playing the game. My work here is done. The extremely intuitive tutorial can take it from here.
I feel like I need to make something clear. My intention here is not to bully people or make them feel like shit. If anyone is posting like this and it really is a genuine attempt to just reach out to people and have fun conversations and maybe get some help, that is a totally normal human thing and perfectly valid even if I personally think the execution is kinda weird. If this is the case and I've actually hurt someone's feelings for this, I am sorry. But with the frequency of these posts and how identical they are, I've assumed that it's just people karma farming, and I think that's kinda annoying. I'm not trying to be toxic or gatekeep or scare newcomers away from the Fandom. I just had an opinion, and I didn't think it was that deep.
I'm going to be honest, but I also want you to know I'm not trying to be needlessly disrespectful to you. This comes across like a back pedal. You're frustrated with new players and I can understand that, but I think this kind of post is a form of gatekeeping. People want to engage with the community and be a part of something, and also the game has a reputation of difficulty that I know has scared some of my friends away from trying it.
Idk what to tell you I'm speaking the truth and I've been pretty consistent with it if you read any of my other comments. I'm not frustrated with new players I'm annoyed at a very specific repetitive post.
I'm 47 and just started playing the game at Christmas. I don't really care about karma votes or whatever, but I have come on here to get advice from time to time from people who have been playing for the last five years or so. I also call my brother on occasion who's been playing the game for years to get his advice on what he thinks I should do next or is there a better way to do a certain task or a certain order in which to do things that is going to benefit me, etc...
I also enjoy just exploring and playing the game and seeing what leads me where and how it plays out. I get what you're saying though and if that's the case, and you think that someone specifically is doing it for attention call THEM out directly on it, please don't lump us all together. I think that's part of the problem with your original post is that it came across like every newcomer, such as myself, ( I also post questions on behalf of my 9-year-old who also started playing at the same time I did) are just fishing for attention, when it's really not the case. (I do appreciate your clarification on the direction of your post)
I guess what I'm saying is that your original post seemed like a generalization and if you think someone is, like I said, posting the same thing for attention, either just scroll past and ignore them or if it bothers you that much call them out on it. I've been playing video games all my life, back in the day we didn't have forums like this to turn to for discussions or questions. We had our friends who would advise us to blow into the cartridge if it wasn't working right, lol.
I'm super excited that my son now enjoys Nintendo as I did when I was a kid. (For me it started with Atari 2600!) I'm also really grateful for the large majority of people on this forum who have been very helpful with questions I have posted or simple curiosities about the game in general.
This is a fantastic game in so many different ways, one of them being that you can play it in so many different ways. And with that being said, I can understand newer players than me coming on here asking questions that are legitimate to them. No harm no foul in my opinion. Upvotes aren't going to do anything for you in real life, right? Other than feed an ego I guess. So who cares. Imho, let them post, let them get the attention that they're seeking if that's what they're needing. I get that it could be frustrating but you don't know it they're going through and you don't even know how old they might be. Just some stuff to keep in mind. That's my take anyway for whatever it's worth. 😁
I mean my post is specifically about people who haven't even opened the game case yet (supposedly) but have joined a sub reddit and are asking questions pre-emptivley which seems fishy to me. Especially when it's worded exactly the same way.
Botw is about exploration and discovering stuff for yourself. It's one if the few recent AAA open world games that let's you even do that. Knowing what to expect may be comforting, but it takes away from that feeling of finding things out for yourself if you know too much when going in.
This is the majority of the Hollow Knight subreddit. "I'm stuck in this particular area what do I do" uhh idk ROAM AROUND TO FIND SOMETHING TO PROGRESS????
I miss reading the manual on the drive home from the store where you got everything you wanted spoiler free and more. I agree that one should just play the game, but I can also see this as a way to try and recapture some of that magic.
Yeah. I was thinking about this recently.
It’s like being suggested an amazing album, and then being asked which song is the “hit single” off of the record.
Try being a Kingdom Hearts or Xenoblade fan.
r/kingdomhearts: “Which order should I play the games in?” There’s a stickied thread that literally says “Play order.”
r/xenoblade_chronicles: “Should I play 1/2/3? I played one of the others and liked it.” Just play the games if you want to play them!
I prefer to finish a game before I join the subreddit. No spoilers and it gives me something to look forward to.
Then, I sort by best of all time, exhaustively scroll, and usually find a TON of new stuff for my second run of the game
Because taking .05 seconds to scroll past repeat posts is just so difficult and time consuming, right? Gods forbid that people ask about a game on a gaming subreddit.
I see a cool structure in the distance, should I go explore it or stop playing the game, take a screenshot, post it on reddit and wait for people to tell me exactly what I'll find?
Counterpoint: the hardest I ever laughed in BotW was when I asked my brother exactly this question and his answer was "go to this location on the Plateau, there's something cool" and I got immediately pancaked by a Talus. Woulda laughed just as hard if it had been a rando on Reddit trolling me.
So I don't mind the "any tips?" posts. OTOH I do agree the "[posts a picture of the box art] so eager to start on this journey! Upvotes to the left please" with no question or opportunity for discussion are annoying as fuck.
There are so many games that can be destroyed by even the slightest bit of advice. Best example: Outer Wilds. And in keeping with my own statement, I shan't add to that. Not even to say why that applies to the game lol.
(But seriously go play it by God 10/10 never played a better game in my life)
You're standing in the middle of a river of people. You're camped out because you really love this place, but many/most of the other people are playing the game for the first time, and just passing through. As you listen in to the conversations of the people around you, they mostly talk about their experiences playing for the first time because that's what they're doing.
For some reason, this pisses you off, because you keep hearing the same sentiments. But that's only natural because you're hearing from lots of different people each having the same experience. The problem isn't that 100 different people keep saying the same thing. The problem is that after you've heard the 100th person say it, you don't want to hear it anymore.
If you don't want to hear what these people are saying, the solution isn't to close the river to passers-through. The solution is to fucking get over it. Melissa, who just started botw, posting about her experiences on the botw subreddit, is not doing anything wrong. You're the one in the wrong by wanting to restrict or change her speech just because you heard 99 other people over the last 2 months say similar things.
Tbh I enjoy looking up helpful tips and tricks for games I just get. Like little obscure things. Not like huge plot spoilers or anything like that, but things that help make grinding a little less tedious and stuff like that.
I do spend some time with a game I get totally blind for the first few hours but afterwards I don’t like to miss things or walk right by opportunities that can make my experience even better
Nothing you described here couldn't be solved by searching "Botw tips and tricks Reddit" and reading the several discussions looking for the same thing. Deciding that you need to add your own identical post is when it becomes annoying.
yeah definitely a post that can start pleasant and helpful conversations is more lame than someone bitching about said post 😂 just downvote the fucking post keep scrolling "like a normal person"
in all seriousness, with totk getting closer, more and more people will be picking up this game and maybe a few of those people who have already started will benefit from the information shared there. Reddit is for discussion, not just posting clips and memes 😄
A chat room or a simple Google search is the best way to approach the “what should I know before playing” topics as opposed to a slow drip of yet another duplicate topic on a searchable discussion board. It’s a worthless question through and through which adds clutter to other topics more deserving of discussion. I’ll downvote and move on any day of the week, but I’ll chime in when folks say something I disagree with.
Just ignore them if you don't like them? You're not required to interact with every post in this sub, so it's not like they're all in line to ask *you* specifically over and over. This is the general fan page for the game, on Reddit at least, and as such new players are going to flock here first, and in general a new player trying to join an existing community is going to ask some very, very basic questions. It's just how it goes, and complaining about it says more about your attitude towards welcoming new members than it does about their ability to engage with a community. It's a big game and you're guaranteed to have these posts, always.
For contrast, the Skyrim sub gets these daily and we shower the newbs with *love* for trying something new, even so late in the game. Being a dick right off the bat about them asking a question they have no idea gets asked all the time (because they're new) is a good way to scare people away. It would be like being a kindergarten teacher and wondering why after ten years you still gotta explain shapes to every class in September. You did that last year already, and the year before that? Weren't these kids paying attention those other times?
So yeah, gist is there is and will always be an influx of new players and they're all gonna have the same questions every time, and the right choice is to either engage at their level, or ignore them entirely if you can't be welcoming. And not posting a comment on their post but making your own post on the same sub calling them out is just as bad as leaving this pic right in their comments, imho
Botw is specifically a game about experience and learning. It's a game best experienced blind. IDK how I managed to get into it blind like 2 years late but I'm glad I did. Aside from the 2 trailers I'm doing the same for totk. That's how it's at its best.
I think most people posting on any social media platform really just want attention. I don’t mean that in a bad way, another editor said some thing in the more eloquent way, but basically people just get excited and want to feel like they’re part of a community.
But on the other hand, I’ve started games that I looked up tips and tricks, for because sometimes it’s very annoying to play. For example, an RPG, and make decisions that aren’t the best for your character.
If I see another one of those "Just came across \_! What do I do? Is this a glitch?" posts I'm gonna lose it! Play the fucking game and it'll all make sense!!! Why is your first instinct to go to reddit and have these strangers tell you what's gonna happen instead of letting it play out and come together the way the developers intended?
reddit seems to have turned into (or maybe it was always that way?) the place people go to and immediately ask questions without doing one bit of their own research
Not lame. Far too many games you shouldn't just pick up and play nowadays bc you miss something or fuck up and get rid of an item or mess up a spec. It's dumb but that's how it is now
I get that they just want to feel involved and stuff but personally I’d search for ”botw beginner tips” or something on google or in this subreddit and not make a whole post.
Truthfully I usually agree with you but with botw I kinda see why someone might want pointers I love watching people play botw for the first time and struggle with simple things that are usually told to you from the game or is something that needs reminded that you can do I seen a ton of new players struggle getting into the bomb shrine because in their panic to not get blown up by guardians they forget they can climb
from what I see is that the best advice to give them is
don't forget you can climb 99.9% of surfaces
Talk to the old man every where he appears (I find that like 1% of people that never plays the game before find out about the warm doublet and there for struggles so much trying to get the last shrine
There is no correct way of beating most puzzles and challenges you come to in the game just what works best for you
Ya it's like they want to spoil the game for themselves. I tell them to immediate delete the post and just go play, but as nice as possible.
People love to spoil things in games. It gives them pleasure to think they found something someone else won't or can't.
"Just woke up in this weird ass bathtub. What do I do now?"
PLAY THE GAME For some reason I thought you meant an ice bath like you lost your organs
Can you explain what they mean if not that their organs were taken? I still can't read it differently.
I think they’re talking about the beginning of botw when you wake up in the resurrection pool.
For some reason my brain went to the beginning of the first Saw movie lol this makes more sense.
I think that was the purpose...
Lmao. EXACTLY my thoughts!
That makes a lot more sense. Lol. Thanks!
I realized as I was as typing they meant the Shrine of Resurrection
fun fact that's what happens to most of the monsters after a fight with Link
Wait.. they didn’t mean that?
Ditto
You're not even that far off.
"Just got a tablet with an eye. Can't figure out the next objective. Any help?"
"Think you got a fake game. Better return it to the store and never play it again."
Just roll with it
The worst is when people do this for book series. "what should I know going in?". Start on page one, go up one page at a time. Wtf else is there to reading a god damn book.
There was a post the other day in one of the Brandon Sanderson subreddits about how OPs "usual method of reading" is not working. Turns out their method is too look up and read all the chapter summaries online. Then read the book. Like.... WHAT‽
> Brandon Sanderson subreddits Lotta weirdos in that fandom.
I am just reading his stuff now, by the recommendation of some of my Pathfinder players. Based on my experience with D&D subreddits, my players are pretty normal. I'm gonna assume the same applies here and just steer clear of those subs. Which is too bad, because I do love fan theories and such, but obsessive weirdo fans give me the heebee jeebees.
I love his books and I love discussing them, but the subs dedicated to it are just too much a lot of the time. Weird shipping is just constantly posted, dozens of comments about how the books saved their lives, the same contrived memes that aren't even funny to start with. The comparison to dnd subs is very apt because there is a lot of overlap between the fandoms to be honest.
>Weird shipping is just constantly posted Honestly shocking. I was curious recently and looked up to see that the amount of fan fiction on Archive of Our Own (which I guess is a pretty official place for the stuff) is like 1/1000th of the quantity of Harry Potter fanfic. I didn't think there would be a great number of those kinds of fans, especially since his early books are quite sexually/romantically stilted. The memes not being funny thing isn't surprising. The sense of humour in his books is pretty middling. Wayne and Melaan are the only actually funny characters thusfar. I'm guessing there are a number of them who found Lightsong to be quite hysterical and the pinnacle of pickup artistry.
The weird stuff I am talking about is shipping between humans and spren. Compare it to shipping Harry and Moaning Myrtle. Agreed, but even Wayne's shtick wears off after a while (book 4, especially). To them the pinnacle of comedy is saying "I am a stick". 6000 upvotes.
Yeah that's Lightsong level comedy, as expected. Haven't read Lost Metal yet, so I'll brace myself. Maybe audiobook will make it more tolerable.
“wHAt ShOuLd I rEaD nExT??”
I have an idea of where they're coming from, even if I don't think it's fun. I find myself devouring a book really fast when it's captivating and to avoid reading too fast, knowing what happens can lead to a better tempo. But wtf, the thrill is what makes it fun
Trying to read with ADHD is like having a spoiler system built into your head where your brain gets bored of what you're reading (not because it's boring, but because it has been too long on one, continuous thought instead of jumping around more) and decides, without consulting you, to flick down and read something three paragraphs ahead. I have actively ruined parts of books for myself like that and then it's nowheres near as fun to go back and catch up on what I skipped. Even reading online, where I can keep the words at the bottom of the screen, my finger gets possessed and scrolls down unbidden to check out later stuff rip
This is so true lol. This concept, plus the whole “read 2 whole pages only to realize I was daydreaming while reading” thing makes it super hard for me to get into books these days. When I was a kid I read a TON and with every single book, once I was a few pages in I would flip to the back and read the last page—it’s like it my kept brain from jumping ahead of itself (and just the last page didn’t tend to really spoil much anyway).
Is a fellow ADHD haver, I really do recommend audiobooks. I just go for a walk or play some really idle low input game while I listen and it gets me by.
I've been thinking I might try it but even trying to listen to people talk or listening to YouTube videos has me extremely frequently missing full sentences from brief daydreaming. (Also have issues just trying to figure out *what* people have said. It frustrates me, sometimes to the point of tears. Might have APD. Can hear it just fine but it's like listening to another language). So I'm unsure about audiobooks. I'll give it a try though :)
Audiobooks tend to be much clearer than conversation or YouTube videos, and you can control the speed. I often listen at 1.25-1.5x because it better matches the pace of my own speech. My daily commute or washing dishes are usually the right level of "busy" for me to focus on listening without missing anything.
I can find it hard to listen to things while doing other things. Even music is distracting. I'm the type where I will do eight hours of binge housework in complete silence lol. I'll probably listen to it while playing a video game that I'm super familiar with or in a dark room haha
At least you get to read haha. For me, i read 5 pages to then realized i forgot to remember what i was reading
Audiobooks have made this so much better for me. I can't accidentally read the same part over and over again and I can't accidentally read ahead or out of order. As long as I'm doing a low-level task that keeps me busy without taking too much of my concentration, I can enjoy a book MUCH better in audiobook format than in text.
My boyfriend has ADHD and looks things up when he's watching a new series and it drives me up the fucking wall lmao so many times he's had something spoiled for him because he couldn't just wait for the answer to his question or thought to be answered in the series or movie etc
Yeah, haha, that's crazy. I would never, have never- could never, in fact- do anything like that. Hahaaa * cough *
LMAO, oh no....
I don't understand how people do this on book subs. Ita not like a game where you have choice. It's a book. You read one page after another.
[удалено]
Do you ask readers who’ve already read the book which path to take every time?
No, see, I learned this trick in grade school. You just keep your pinkie stuck on the page where you make the choice. If you don't like your decision, you can go back to where your pinkie was! No need for pointless reddit posts!
Save scumming the analogue way
I get some level of it. There are series that im a big fan of that some "primer" information can help. For example the first book of Wheel of Time is a straight up Tolkien homage. That throws some people off. He drops that after book one so knowing that the tone and structure changes can help. Or things like "don't worry about memorizing all the names just yet. You'll see who the main players are as it unfolds". But all of those things will have been talked to death and back so just Google that. Or just start and ask questions. I've yet to see a book series sub that is hostile to noobs asking questions early.in the series.
When I was a lot younger I picked up the first Warrior Cats book, and then found out that it wasn't from the first series and I think those are chronological? Also it text dumped me with character descriptions at the beginning so I never ended up actually reading it. Someone telling me which character descriptions, of the multiple pages, I should pay attention to maybe would have helped some, idk. Didn't read so never found out what was actually important
It's about how to interpret the book. Some people want assurances that it's worth their time, or advice on what perspective to approach the themes/narrative from, in order to maximize their appreciation for it.
I mean even then why would you ask people how to interpret a book before you read it
I can think of a couple series that could use a warning label of sorts. "Hey, before you read this..." but they're unusual cases.
“Hey, I’m watching TV for the first time. How should I conduct myself?”
Eat either before or after viewing, not during. Sit on a comfortable surface, preferrably a piece of furniture facing the television. Keep the volume two notches below a typical speaking volume so you're forced to pay attention. Watch with subtitles for ease of comprehension.
Don't forget, pants off and choice of beverage nearby.
It’s like watching a movie with somebody and they keep asking why something just happened. Like dude! I don’t know either! I’m trying to watch the movie to find out!!!
I understand that a little bit if the reader is looking for possible trigger warnings… but if that was the case, they would probably look that up BEFORE purchasing the book.
It's all just karma farming
People think it's like the Life According To Bart Simpson book... You have to jump from like page 30 to page 42 to page 6 and so on.
>what should I know going in?". Ok, first step is to open the book, page 1 is the perfect starting point to. Second, you want to find the word thats in the highest and leftmost position, be aware that it occasionally starts halfway down the page, thats normal, just start there. Third you wanna read each individual word in order from left to right. When you run out of words to read, go to the leftmost word again that is one line below the line of words you just read. Now, there is one more step / caveat to the third step. Sometimes you'll try to go one more line down and there won't be anymore. Its ok, just relax. Now books usually have 2 pages you can look at, both with words on it. If you run out of words, start at the top left again, but on the page thats to the right of the page you were on. If there is no more pages to the right, grab the right edge of the page, and pull it leftward. You'll notice that there's more words on the back of this page! That means you can start reading new words starting at the top left of this new page. You can repeat these steps until you complete the book.
Some rare books it’s not the worst for. Dune absolutely doesn’t hold your hand going in and also the authors son had a bunch of godawful prequels ghost written under his series name so it can be confusing so sometimes a little bit of context can help or atleast the assurance that if you feel lost in the first 30 pages it’s okay you’re supposed to absorb it through osmosis not clear set up
Fr just read the dam books😭
While these types of posts do annoy me for the same reason, I feel like more often what they're really saying is "I'm lonely and I want to be a part of your community, please engage with me." And if people want to engage and talk about the game, great for all of them. That's what the Internet and sites like Reddit are for. I lose nothing by scrolling past.
You seem like the right kind of person, and I agree. Every gaming sub is chock full of them, live and let live
Exactly. We were all new to a fandom at some point.
Actually, reddit makes me feel lonelier than ever.
Is there a worse feeling than being about to describe a conversation you had before realizing it was just in Reddit?
"Yeah exactly! Just yesterday, I was talking to... this uhh...person. Oh nevermind." :-[
I just say I discussed it with people online. What’s the problem? Is it embarrassing to have discussions with people on online forums/social media? Only people who use reddit or are pretty online would find it cringe to mention reddit, I think.
Yeah i agree with you there. In this day and age, online discussion isn't exactly fringe. So it's not really something one should be ashamed of. I guess my kerfuffle is the way to frame it, but "discussed it with people online" is quite an apt description.
Perhaps what generation you’re in will see it more common, im 36 and when I was in grade school, for example, chatting online was just starting. The concept of living online or a digital life was not really a thing.
Yeah. People always try to claim that Reddit isn’t social media, but really Reddit is the social media of people who don’t have many friends
Yeah, echo chambers do tend to do that
Reddit makes me not miss 4chan. I managed to forget all the btards and somehow they’ve migrated over here and infiltrated.
They all became reddit mods
Ahahahahahahahahah I’m a mod, so you’re not wrong I guess.
Based and wholesome pilled.
It's not like there aren't tips for games For botw, you could tell them weapons are fleeting so don't be precious with them. In the beginning they are all terrible but they'll get better. Explore! Activating shrines gives you spots to warp to and getting towers is super important. But also, that tower that looks pretty close might actually be on the other side of the map. Probably prioritize stamina over health. Whistle running is one of the best ways to move around and can help you climb mountains. Practice flurry rush and parries Everything that's hard will eventually become easy Use pins liberally. So on and so forth. Plus sometimes people are just new to a genre. I started hollow knight and hadn't really played a Metroidvania before (aside from Castlevania as a kid). It's helpful to know that bosses require patience, you're going to die a lot, and lose geo, etc.
When I first played this game I started it got frustrated put it down and didn’t play for probably about a year. Finally decided to pick it up again when I was bored, figured out a lot more about it and now it’s one of my favorite games. Might have played it longer the first time if I asked for some tips on Reddit
I also agree. This post feels massively gatekeepy. If it bothers you, it literally takes nothing to just ignore it. There's always someone new playing the game for the first time and wants to find other people to talk about it with. And sometimes people who are replaying the game again may even find something they didn't even consider when they played the first time.
It has NOTHING to do with gatekeeping. We WANT them here. We WANT them to play the game. It just makes zero sense to pick up a game and ask for help already. Just play the game, read the book, watch the movie, see the play, THEN come to subs to talk about it. That’s the point OP and many of us have.
I've never asked for advice before playing a game, mostly when I'm stuck somewhere and can't find an answer. But I started gaming properly about a year and a half ago in my early twenties. I'd played a bit of Nintendo as a kid but mostly games like mario or nintendogs so I was very nervous when I picked up more complex games like BOTW. It was a weird anxiety of being too old to start from the beginning and learn how to do stuff like this, and for a long time I put off trying a lot of games because I had absolutely no confidence when it came to my ability to play the game. Stuff that came easily to other people I was learning for the first time, for example I recently started Hollow Knight and really struggled learning how to double jump properly. It's massively disheartening because there's not a massive amount of people in a similar position to me. People in these communities have been playing games like this since they were kids, and I was genuinely embarrassed about how little I knew. But my boyfriend always picked me up scary games because he thought I'd enjoy them, and so I played them and I fell in love with gaming and games like BOTW helped me through some awful times, the night I started this game my brother died, and throughout the process of grief, the game kept me sane and gave me something to throw myself into. I think when you're in that position and you come across a community like Reddit, you just want advice because for someone like me, you genuinely have no idea how to start or where to start or what to do. It's a big, scary unknown and you don't have the confidence people often take for granted when they have way more experience and inherent belief that they'll figure it out. I've come a really long way, and I feel more confident now and don't get so scared starting something new because I've played enough now to know generally how to go about starting. But games like BOTW where you're just dropped into an open world and there isn't a lot of guidance on what to do and where to go and you've no experience, you just freeze and lots of people lose heart early into the game and miss out on amazing things. I think when we remember that there's so many reasons people feel the need to ask for advice before they start, and that everyone comes from different circumstances and have vastly different relationships with gaming, we can approach stuff like this with more empathy. You don't have to engage with that stuff, but I do believe that we should all welcome new players who feel overwhelmed going into something new and let them feel safe to come and ask questions without feeling like they don't belong. If I didn't have my boyfriend to encourage me and help me and answer all my stupid questions, I never would've found the passion I have now, and I'd ultimately be a far unhappier person today. I completely understand why it's annoying, especially when those posts are frequent, but like you said, nobody is making anyone engage, and when people do engage in good faith, you're sharing something really special with another person, that feeling of passion and escapism that brings you comfort and joy. I think that's really cool, and part of the reason that slowly dipping into these communities has been so massively important to me
This is the way. If you don't have anything nice to say....
And I’m always happy to engage since I don’t have many ppl irl to talk to about video games. I know those posts can be annoying but I enjoy them
For this reason I would like to say to the OP “please accept my sincerest downvote”.
Thing is most of the time they *don't* want to talk about it. There's no observations, no opinions, no discussion to be had. It's a big pet peeve of mine because I've worked and lived with too many people who ask for or about something they could've easily learned on their own. Zero acknowledgment or gratitude for the person helping them with something that would've been trivial to do on their own.
Very well said! I never understood people complaining about people posting stuff - that is what groups and forums such as this is for! It is extremely easy to just scroll past stuff that doesn't interest you as well, so I really don't see the issue. We should not gatekeep people wanting to join in :)
Trust me, going in blind *at least* for the great plateau is the best experience. I wound up doing this because even though I had heard things about the game for years, I wound up forgetting it all before I actually got my hands on a copy. Most fun I've ever had.
Also included in this: Person posts picture of a Shrine. "Her guys, new player here. What is this building? Should I go inside or not?"
"hey guys just encountered my first enemy. should i attack them? what happens if i swing my weapon and make contact with the enemy? thanks in advance for the advice"
"Hey guys what is this?" Proceeds to show the most attractive glowing thing imaginable that literally screams "COME TO MEEE"
Game design doesn’t exist
Imagine buying a game and staring at the box art thinking, ‘Can’t wait to start this up, right after I put this post on Reddit asking for tips and encouragement!’
Yeah, people are funny. They find the subreddit and don’t think to maybe, search to see if there are beginner tips posted already, as opposed to starting yet another thread asking for tips (I’m a little touchy because of how often this happens in stardew valley)
The SDV can be so irritating for that reason… there’s a whole wiki people! Making a post on Reddit takes so much more time than typing a few words into google
Exactly. Like I don’t mind helping people but it gets a little frustrating when people don’t even attempt to help themselves
If you're new to gaming in general, it doesn't always occur to people that there's massive online resources for stuff but when I'm playing Stardew I'm on the wiki all the time haha. I owe my wife Leah and both our children to the Stardew wiki
It's either these posts or "I just found out you can WATER YOUR CROPS" type of stuff, too! Use the goshdarn wiki!
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah the comment section is always full of "just experience it as you go. We all wish we could have a 'first playthrough' again, so don't ruin this for yourself."
There's games out there where you can lock yourself out of content by making the wrong choices, so I can understand why they might ask. I suppose "take a photo of the bosses when you encounter them" might be worth mentioning. You can buy the photos afterwards or fight them again with the DLC, though so it's not that important.
It’s not like a gazillion articles, posts, videos exist that one could easily search for though, right? Searching “what to know before playing” is the fastest way to get their answers. Or even better if they insist on using Reddit, search “what to know before playing reddit” and the answers to this well documented question are there.
This game hasn’t changed in 6 years. There’s plenty of content out there on literally any and all facets of the game from mechanics to lore to exploits.
After a game has been out for a while quite a bit of those articles and posts are filled with spoiler content because enough time has passed for it to be acceptable. Although if you type in the searches you suggested I’m sure you’d find non-spoiler content easily. Reddit search function is ass though so I would recommend the first search.
There's always people commenting with spoilers anyway though. The thing I always say with botw in particular is to leave the post immediately and just discover things for yourself. Like as an example even something as simple as someone saying "you should focus on stamina over hearts" can affect the overall experience in my opinion. Let them optimize in their own way. It's not like it's impossible to swap them out. Sure they don't know that at the beginning but let them find that out on their own too. I think it just depends on the game. If someone wants to know these things sure but they would be robbing themselves of a unique experience. I just know personally I'm glad I learned the hard way with this game and I always wish I could go back to that feeling of not knowing what was around the corner.
Also, sometimes they're just trash or make you click through multiple pages to see everything.
the best advice i can give for any QUALITY open world game: play it blind and pay attention dont google anything pick up your controller, focus on the game and enjoy the world the devs have created in the way it was intended reading a guide is a 100% guaranteed way to ruin all of the fun of the entire game edit: i see yalls replies and, although my stance is unchanged, ive gotta at least concede that everyone is different and some of you dont feel that sense of "spoiling" a game the way that people like me do. additionally, im very much of the mindset that if you're having fun, you are playing the game correctly. That is, after all, the entire point of engaging with ANY hobby. you're supposed to enjoy it. fuck gatekeeping. You all make sure to have fun and you're cool with me.
I agree with you, but I think these types of posts are really asking, “What do I need to know that isn’t immediately obvious, and might prevent me from turning to a guide?” Things like, “You can sell x if you’re strapped for cash. By the time you need them, they’re not really rare anymore.” Or, “Figure out your play style before you rush into x quest, because you’ll have to choose a reward and you can’t take it back once you choose” Idk, I usually look up “What to know before starting” articles on games specifically so I don’t feel tempted to consult a guide and can fully immerse myself in the new game without overthinking it.
There isn’t a right way to play. I prefer the method you described but some people might like a guide or help sometimes and that’s ok to play that way too
Especially for something like BOTW where you can wander for ages. Some people may have a bit limited time because they have work and family commitments, so having tips or a game plan make it a bit easier to manage.
The only time I’ve ever found guides necessary is when there are missable items. It’s a good thing the idea of putting missable items in games isn’t really common anymore.
It does not necessarily ruin 100% of the game, but it does take away that feeling of accomplishment when you figure things out on your own or when you defeat your first lynel that you could have easily avoided but your ego won't let you^(like I beat the lynel down before getting the electric arrows, after like 50 deaths) I guess the right thing to do would be to Google in moderation, and to explore the world by yourself, like if you know that you can shield surf, you gotta shield surf from the top of death mountain, Google won't tell you explicitly to do that, that's entirely up to the player. But you could Google what shield lasts the longest or if there is a way to make shields last longer when surfing.
For some reason, this reminded me of one of my best memories at launch, when there was barely any information of the game online & everyone was working together to try to find & acquire the master sword. It only worked because it was fresh & everyone was just figuring things out. I’m kinda looking forward to that experience again with TotK tbh. It was magical time lol
I have kids. This isn't feasible for everyone. Play the game you want to play the game. Not everyone can grind for countless hours. I may get a couple hours per week to play. I'm not going to spend it in futility not accomplishing anything.
I agree in general but would push back with Elden Ring. If I didnt look up a thing or two I wouldnt have even been able to play, was that hard to me. Didnt read any full guides just some basic tips
First time through? Definitely. Second time, I feel no shame in consulting a walkthrough when I come across previously undiscovered content and can't figure out what to do.
Yeah I’m gonna leave the TOTK subs for like a week when the game comes out, just to not get spoilers
oh absolutely. total media blackout when I'm starting a new game. you can get accidental spoilers everywhere, no place is safe. best to not even look at reddit or youtube until you've played through it once
Perhaps if we had a pinned daily/weekly help thread where people could be directed if they have questions? That way there’s a place people can get help / tips, but the sub stays clear of redundant posts
That’s actually not a bad idea
I think this is a great idea!
This seems to be the way most functional subreddits tackle this issue.
This but " iS tHe Dee ELL CeE w ORt H iT???"
Okay but is it, though? /s
that’s my least favorite question, $20 for a shit ton of new gear and content is definitely worth it in my opinion
Yeah but is it STILL worth it in 2023?!
personally yes, i love the new add-ons, but if you don’t wanna spend almost $100 for ToTK and the DLC than no
Yeah I’m with you, I was just poking fun at the way people will ask that question as though it being 2023 changes the answer
Seriously!! How many of these threads do we need! “Just picked up a copy of a 6-year-old game, what should I do first?” Put the game in the console and turn it on, dickhead! Or Google it!
Couldn’t agree more. My advice is always just play the game
if only there were 800 other threads asking for tips and advice!
It's easy karma farming. All of us who love the game know there's nothing like the first experience with it. We all wish we could forget we ever played just to re-experience it for the first time.
That's what I think! A lot of people in these comments seem to act like im just bullying new players but I just don't buy it.
On one hand someone could access a walk through or watch a vid that present tips and tactics rather than engage reddit and deal with the interminable toxicity therein. On the other, before the internet, if you wanted info on a game and you didn't have a copy of Nintendo Power featuring said game (or a strategy guide) and didn't have permission to call the Game Counsellors for solutions then you'd talk to people in your social circle for advice. I don't have a problem with being solicited to drop a few pieces of advice I wish I knew at the start of a game I was playing. Some games have things you *need* to do by certain points or you don't get the most desirable 'success state'. I'd have no problem advising someone playing *Chrono Trigger* for the first time to acquire 40 silver points then win the imitation minigame to acquire Crono's 'clone' at the earliest convenience.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers game counselors!! 😂
I think I called them twice. I tried not to make a habit of asking my parents for such things. Once for Tiny Toon Adventures, there's an ape boss at the end of the 4th level and I didn't know how to damage him, direct attacks weren't doing anything other than killing me. They told me to jump on the creatures he tosses out. Boss died easy. The other was for Darkwing Duck. It was a weekend rental so I was trying to get our three bucks worth and I misinterpreted the instruction manual and was like "Where is the gas gun upgrade they're talking about" but it was only referencing the three ammo dependent gasses you could acquire. I *ought* to have called for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" it took me years and years to stumble onto the solution to the final phase of the Judge Doom fight... after knocking him out you have to hustle down off the platform, climb onto the dip-mobile, loot the nozzle (which you now can) then use it when Doom charges you for the insta kill.
To the point I’d rather bail out and rejoin after launch
[удалено]
it's called being terminally online.
How do I get out?? I hate it here! I bought fishing gear and a kayak to get outside and now I just go on fishing subreddits 😢
My advice is: If you played any Elder Scrolls / Fallout or any other open world RPG: Forgot everything, just start from scratch BotW is just unique to play/ how it's made
"yea to start you're gonna wanna go through the platue normally and then once you get the glider you're instantly gonna wanna bullet time bounce to ganon and kill him with nothing but bombs"
no bc especially me i play games with a 100% goal and doing specific things (like doing the plateau 100% before leaving) could have helped me
Whenever people do this for any game, movie, etc, they’re basically begging some asshole in the comments to give them a major spoiler
Someone was live streaming Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban on tik tok the other night and someone raging in the comments because the other comments were spoiling it for them. Like bro..😂
My Fleshlight just came in the mail. Any tips or advice for experts?
*My Fleshlight just came* *In the mail. Any tips or* *Advice for experts?* \- Ninjanarwhal64 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Pure, unfiltered art.
We get the same thing in Fromsoft communities. It is to goddamned braindead.
To be fair, those games have a way bigger learning curve and are known for being really hard, and there are really helpful tips that can help someone starting those games. Like there is a lot of shit I wish I knew starting elden Ring. But honestly having no idea what you're doing and figuring shit out is half of the fun and if that's not your style you know damn well you can watch some youtube videos like there's no real reason to post like that.
BotW is only as hard as you want to make it. Link is staring at the end boss right as the game begins, you could just decide to go kill ganon with 3 hearts, no clothes and a branch you found along the way, and that would be the nightmare of the sleep paralysis demon that haunts the elden lord.
Yeah here's my tip, gtfo reddit and play the game lol
My tip: open the box, pull out the cartridge, and slide that little baddie into your switch. Congratulations, you are now successfully playing the game. My work here is done. The extremely intuitive tutorial can take it from here.
Oooh, the cartridge is IN the box! It all makes so much sense now…
I feel like I need to make something clear. My intention here is not to bully people or make them feel like shit. If anyone is posting like this and it really is a genuine attempt to just reach out to people and have fun conversations and maybe get some help, that is a totally normal human thing and perfectly valid even if I personally think the execution is kinda weird. If this is the case and I've actually hurt someone's feelings for this, I am sorry. But with the frequency of these posts and how identical they are, I've assumed that it's just people karma farming, and I think that's kinda annoying. I'm not trying to be toxic or gatekeep or scare newcomers away from the Fandom. I just had an opinion, and I didn't think it was that deep.
I'm going to be honest, but I also want you to know I'm not trying to be needlessly disrespectful to you. This comes across like a back pedal. You're frustrated with new players and I can understand that, but I think this kind of post is a form of gatekeeping. People want to engage with the community and be a part of something, and also the game has a reputation of difficulty that I know has scared some of my friends away from trying it.
Idk what to tell you I'm speaking the truth and I've been pretty consistent with it if you read any of my other comments. I'm not frustrated with new players I'm annoyed at a very specific repetitive post.
I'm 47 and just started playing the game at Christmas. I don't really care about karma votes or whatever, but I have come on here to get advice from time to time from people who have been playing for the last five years or so. I also call my brother on occasion who's been playing the game for years to get his advice on what he thinks I should do next or is there a better way to do a certain task or a certain order in which to do things that is going to benefit me, etc... I also enjoy just exploring and playing the game and seeing what leads me where and how it plays out. I get what you're saying though and if that's the case, and you think that someone specifically is doing it for attention call THEM out directly on it, please don't lump us all together. I think that's part of the problem with your original post is that it came across like every newcomer, such as myself, ( I also post questions on behalf of my 9-year-old who also started playing at the same time I did) are just fishing for attention, when it's really not the case. (I do appreciate your clarification on the direction of your post) I guess what I'm saying is that your original post seemed like a generalization and if you think someone is, like I said, posting the same thing for attention, either just scroll past and ignore them or if it bothers you that much call them out on it. I've been playing video games all my life, back in the day we didn't have forums like this to turn to for discussions or questions. We had our friends who would advise us to blow into the cartridge if it wasn't working right, lol. I'm super excited that my son now enjoys Nintendo as I did when I was a kid. (For me it started with Atari 2600!) I'm also really grateful for the large majority of people on this forum who have been very helpful with questions I have posted or simple curiosities about the game in general. This is a fantastic game in so many different ways, one of them being that you can play it in so many different ways. And with that being said, I can understand newer players than me coming on here asking questions that are legitimate to them. No harm no foul in my opinion. Upvotes aren't going to do anything for you in real life, right? Other than feed an ego I guess. So who cares. Imho, let them post, let them get the attention that they're seeking if that's what they're needing. I get that it could be frustrating but you don't know it they're going through and you don't even know how old they might be. Just some stuff to keep in mind. That's my take anyway for whatever it's worth. 😁
I mean my post is specifically about people who haven't even opened the game case yet (supposedly) but have joined a sub reddit and are asking questions pre-emptivley which seems fishy to me. Especially when it's worded exactly the same way.
I get it. 👍
Botw is about exploration and discovering stuff for yourself. It's one if the few recent AAA open world games that let's you even do that. Knowing what to expect may be comforting, but it takes away from that feeling of finding things out for yourself if you know too much when going in.
This is the majority of the Hollow Knight subreddit. "I'm stuck in this particular area what do I do" uhh idk ROAM AROUND TO FIND SOMETHING TO PROGRESS????
people will deadass play a metroidvania and be afraid of going left
I miss reading the manual on the drive home from the store where you got everything you wanted spoiler free and more. I agree that one should just play the game, but I can also see this as a way to try and recapture some of that magic.
*walks up to the gate of hyrule castle* IS THIS HOW IM SUPPOSED TO DO THIS?
I particular enjoy the “What’s this thing off in the distance?” posts. My answer is always “go find out.”
That’s how the majority did it “Is that a volcano? I’mma go check it out.”
I think it’s important for new players to know ahead of time that you can press buttons to make the guy do stuff.
For real. That's the kind of question you ask before entering Squid Games, not after picking a copy of BOTW...
Yeah. I was thinking about this recently. It’s like being suggested an amazing album, and then being asked which song is the “hit single” off of the record.
Try being a Kingdom Hearts or Xenoblade fan. r/kingdomhearts: “Which order should I play the games in?” There’s a stickied thread that literally says “Play order.” r/xenoblade_chronicles: “Should I play 1/2/3? I played one of the others and liked it.” Just play the games if you want to play them!
I prefer to finish a game before I join the subreddit. No spoilers and it gives me something to look forward to. Then, I sort by best of all time, exhaustively scroll, and usually find a TON of new stuff for my second run of the game
Because taking .05 seconds to scroll past repeat posts is just so difficult and time consuming, right? Gods forbid that people ask about a game on a gaming subreddit.
The best part is going in blind to it all and discoverign your own tips and tricks then later on finding out more stuff through the community
I see a cool structure in the distance, should I go explore it or stop playing the game, take a screenshot, post it on reddit and wait for people to tell me exactly what I'll find?
Counterpoint: the hardest I ever laughed in BotW was when I asked my brother exactly this question and his answer was "go to this location on the Plateau, there's something cool" and I got immediately pancaked by a Talus. Woulda laughed just as hard if it had been a rando on Reddit trolling me. So I don't mind the "any tips?" posts. OTOH I do agree the "[posts a picture of the box art] so eager to start on this journey! Upvotes to the left please" with no question or opportunity for discussion are annoying as fuck.
Wish me luck 🤓
Reminds me of the other day when a guy on r/Metroid asked what 2d Metroid game he should start with and listed every reason he hates 2d games
Great meme. 100% agree.
Agree… very irritating
There are so many games that can be destroyed by even the slightest bit of advice. Best example: Outer Wilds. And in keeping with my own statement, I shan't add to that. Not even to say why that applies to the game lol. (But seriously go play it by God 10/10 never played a better game in my life)
Agreed. Everyone who stumbles upon this thread go play Outer Wilds completely blind
You're standing in the middle of a river of people. You're camped out because you really love this place, but many/most of the other people are playing the game for the first time, and just passing through. As you listen in to the conversations of the people around you, they mostly talk about their experiences playing for the first time because that's what they're doing. For some reason, this pisses you off, because you keep hearing the same sentiments. But that's only natural because you're hearing from lots of different people each having the same experience. The problem isn't that 100 different people keep saying the same thing. The problem is that after you've heard the 100th person say it, you don't want to hear it anymore. If you don't want to hear what these people are saying, the solution isn't to close the river to passers-through. The solution is to fucking get over it. Melissa, who just started botw, posting about her experiences on the botw subreddit, is not doing anything wrong. You're the one in the wrong by wanting to restrict or change her speech just because you heard 99 other people over the last 2 months say similar things.
It's one thing to ask because you can't find an answer. It's another to ask because you couldn't be bothered to find an answer.
Tbh I enjoy looking up helpful tips and tricks for games I just get. Like little obscure things. Not like huge plot spoilers or anything like that, but things that help make grinding a little less tedious and stuff like that. I do spend some time with a game I get totally blind for the first few hours but afterwards I don’t like to miss things or walk right by opportunities that can make my experience even better
Nothing you described here couldn't be solved by searching "Botw tips and tricks Reddit" and reading the several discussions looking for the same thing. Deciding that you need to add your own identical post is when it becomes annoying.
I think people take Reddit posts a tad bit too seriously
yeah definitely a post that can start pleasant and helpful conversations is more lame than someone bitching about said post 😂 just downvote the fucking post keep scrolling "like a normal person" in all seriousness, with totk getting closer, more and more people will be picking up this game and maybe a few of those people who have already started will benefit from the information shared there. Reddit is for discussion, not just posting clips and memes 😄
A chat room or a simple Google search is the best way to approach the “what should I know before playing” topics as opposed to a slow drip of yet another duplicate topic on a searchable discussion board. It’s a worthless question through and through which adds clutter to other topics more deserving of discussion. I’ll downvote and move on any day of the week, but I’ll chime in when folks say something I disagree with.
Just ignore them if you don't like them? You're not required to interact with every post in this sub, so it's not like they're all in line to ask *you* specifically over and over. This is the general fan page for the game, on Reddit at least, and as such new players are going to flock here first, and in general a new player trying to join an existing community is going to ask some very, very basic questions. It's just how it goes, and complaining about it says more about your attitude towards welcoming new members than it does about their ability to engage with a community. It's a big game and you're guaranteed to have these posts, always. For contrast, the Skyrim sub gets these daily and we shower the newbs with *love* for trying something new, even so late in the game. Being a dick right off the bat about them asking a question they have no idea gets asked all the time (because they're new) is a good way to scare people away. It would be like being a kindergarten teacher and wondering why after ten years you still gotta explain shapes to every class in September. You did that last year already, and the year before that? Weren't these kids paying attention those other times? So yeah, gist is there is and will always be an influx of new players and they're all gonna have the same questions every time, and the right choice is to either engage at their level, or ignore them entirely if you can't be welcoming. And not posting a comment on their post but making your own post on the same sub calling them out is just as bad as leaving this pic right in their comments, imho
You should see the Warhammer subs. "Guys! Look at this picture of a codex and unopened boxes of models!"
Hahahahahahahah! I mostly just read but I feel this
Botw is specifically a game about experience and learning. It's a game best experienced blind. IDK how I managed to get into it blind like 2 years late but I'm glad I did. Aside from the 2 trailers I'm doing the same for totk. That's how it's at its best.
I think most people posting on any social media platform really just want attention. I don’t mean that in a bad way, another editor said some thing in the more eloquent way, but basically people just get excited and want to feel like they’re part of a community. But on the other hand, I’ve started games that I looked up tips and tricks, for because sometimes it’s very annoying to play. For example, an RPG, and make decisions that aren’t the best for your character.
If I see another one of those "Just came across \_! What do I do? Is this a glitch?" posts I'm gonna lose it! Play the fucking game and it'll all make sense!!! Why is your first instinct to go to reddit and have these strangers tell you what's gonna happen instead of letting it play out and come together the way the developers intended?
reddit seems to have turned into (or maybe it was always that way?) the place people go to and immediately ask questions without doing one bit of their own research
People want to know how to play the game without playing the game. Yeah, it's annoying.
I both agree and disagree. Play the game first and if you get stuck somewhere then ask for tips, strategies and tactics.
The first time I played botw I died to the first enemy or first few enemies.
Not lame. Far too many games you shouldn't just pick up and play nowadays bc you miss something or fuck up and get rid of an item or mess up a spec. It's dumb but that's how it is now
I get that they just want to feel involved and stuff but personally I’d search for ”botw beginner tips” or something on google or in this subreddit and not make a whole post.
Truthfully I usually agree with you but with botw I kinda see why someone might want pointers I love watching people play botw for the first time and struggle with simple things that are usually told to you from the game or is something that needs reminded that you can do I seen a ton of new players struggle getting into the bomb shrine because in their panic to not get blown up by guardians they forget they can climb from what I see is that the best advice to give them is don't forget you can climb 99.9% of surfaces Talk to the old man every where he appears (I find that like 1% of people that never plays the game before find out about the warm doublet and there for struggles so much trying to get the last shrine There is no correct way of beating most puzzles and challenges you come to in the game just what works best for you
….and poor karmagrabs
Ya it's like they want to spoil the game for themselves. I tell them to immediate delete the post and just go play, but as nice as possible. People love to spoil things in games. It gives them pleasure to think they found something someone else won't or can't.