Gaming Outside your Comfort Zone
 

No, the thread's not about playing a game anywhere but in your living room or bedroom.

Okay so, working in a video game store I see what the customers are buying, obviously. A lot of them buy the same type of game every single visit, for example there's a customer of mine who pre-orders every sports game coming out soon and never anything else -- I've never seen him buy any action, RPG, puzzle, FPS, etc. game since I've known him.

That being said, there are a lot of people who label themselves "RPG gamers" or "sports gamers" or what have you, but occassionally I will see people buy a game completely outside their comfort zone. I for one enjoy mostly, but not limited to, RPGs, though ocassionally I'll get a craving for a sports title and pick one up, or play NFL 2K5. RPGs are what I mainly play, but sometimes I'll slip away and play some football.

Discuss. What are your scape goat games, if you have any, and what's the genre you're escaping from?

I beta tested NFL 2K2 :D Actually, I'm quite the opposite from you, as the buying of RPGs would be outside my comfort zone. I guess I would label myself a "fighting gamer," though the genre is starting to get repetitive, or has been repetitive, from a different POV. I'll probably start looking into action/adventure less apprehensively. I'm definitely looking forward to Okami, though. ^^

My tastes are so varied, that there isn't much outside of my "zone" to escape to. The main games I don't play are sandbox games, sports, and Baldur's Gate/Diablo style hack n slashers (although I've liked some arcade-style sports games in the past, and will play a hack & slash once every 2-3 years).

- WraithTwo -

There are some genres that I will always despise but sometimes I just need to change things up and will play them. RPG's will always be my favorite genre but sometimes I actually like to play games instead of watch them.

I don't like sports. At all. So I try to avoid sports games as much as I can. But I have to admit that once in a while I may play some matches against my cousins with any iteration of hockey game. I suck so much, but I have fun anyway.

I usually don't play racing game either, but there are exceptions like mario kart and f-zero, maybe I subconsciously find something more interesting in those games than the generic racing games like NFS.

And finally, the fighting games. I don't know how people can spend so much money on Tekken. Really. The exception ? Super Smash Bros Melee. It's still fighting game, but the desigh is so innovative for the genre, that some may not considered that game a fighting game anymore.

I'm not sure which genres I don't play. I play a lot of RPGs, a lot of platformers, music games, puzzle games. I used to play a lot of sports and racing games, but only somewhat now. I play fighting games with my friends a lot, I play the occasional beat-em-up and shoot-em-up and RTS game... I think MMORPGs and 1st person shooters are the only things I really don't care to play much. I don't have the time or money necessary to devote to most MMORPGs, and I just never liked/was good at first person shooters.

I tend to pick up RPG titles for the most part as well. Whenever I happen to purchase a different game outside that genre, I either get a fighting or action/adventure game. I own several sports games as well, but I only enjoy the older releases.

I avoid the following genres:

FPS-Never saw the appeal of them and most are indistinguishable to me anyway. You control a hand attached to a gun and shoot stuff...Boring.

Sports-Sorry, but videogames will never be able to reproduce the skills needed to play anything and most "innovations" that try to compensate just feel pointless. Some exceptions arise and make up for it by being just plain fun: Tecmo Super Bowl, the RBI Baseball series, Virtua Tennis and NES Ice Hockey about make up my list.

Survival Horror-I never quite bought into the idea of watching movies to be scared, so when I saw games that tried to do the same at the expense of playability (see: Resident Evil control mechanics), I decided to stay far away from this genre.

MMORPG's (or Pay-to-Keep-Playing ones, since some people don't consider PSO to be an MMORPG)-I just paid $50 for the game and I can plan on paying how much to keep on playing it online? Might not be so bad if there weren't so many other viable forms of games/entertainment that demand my time and money.

Stealth/MGS-style games-Eh, MGS just didn't work for me, so the various knock-offs don't carry much appeal. Same deal with FPS...

Driving (sim)-No fun. At all. Give me Burnout, Outrun or the older Ridge Racer games anyday.

3D Fighters-I eat 2D fighters for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive and Tekken would be lucky to be considered a light snack. I see the potential of Soul Calibur, but haven't felt much of a desire to get better at it yet.

I tend to lean towards games with decidedly old-school mechanics: 2D fighters/platformers/shooters, puzzle games, arcade-style racers, plus RPG's. Most of the "genres" that have emerged since around the start of the PS1 era haven't really done a thing for me. Not surprisingly, I'm quite a big retro gamer.

I only play RPG's, shooters/fighter, and sports games. I get bored with anything else, especially platforms.

There are two different zones for me:

(1) Computer - I stick nearly exclusively to FPS, and I've played pretty much all of them. The ones worth buying I do. The only times I leave the genre are the occasional racing game (I loved NFS:MW) and Stepmania, which for some reason I enjoy although I completely suck at DDR.

(2) Console - Admittedly, I haven't owned one most of my life. I got an original Nintendo in 1997, an original Playstation in 2003, and a PS2 a couple of months ago. I have done extensive emulation of SNES/Genesis, however, which I include here even though it's technically done on a PC. I've stick primarily to RPGs (Dragon Warrior/Quest Series, Final Fantasy Series, Chrono Series, Xeno*) and Sidescrollers (Metroid/Mario/Sonic), but I also have a wide mix of other games - A couple of Fighter Games (Mostly Street Fighter), some Racing Games (Burnout Revenge, GT4), and a few others (Tetris, Tetris Attack, God of War, etc.) I use Console for Game Experimentation a lot of the time. The only genre that I truly avoid completely is sports games - I just plain don't like them, probably because I don't care much for sports in real life either.

In a strange twist, I own the entire Metal Gear Solid series (never owned the original Metal Gear, however) but I just can't bring myself to finish any of them. I can see the value in them as games, but I just don't enjoy them as much as everyone else seems to.

I mainly only play simulations, RPGs, turn-based strategies and RTS games, but I'll occasionally crack open something like Halo or Counter Strike just for the sake of mindless fun. I also occasionally play about with fighters - I'm a HUGE fan of the Guilty Gear series, and I'm quite enjoying Tekken: Dark Resurrection.

I'll even play sports games if I have someone to play 'em with.

Yeah, sports sims are stuff I tend to avoid. The workers at my EB know me as one of the people who would buy pretty much ANYTHING, cept I avoid sports titles like the plague, unless it's something like Mario Baseball or something similarily arcadish. Unfortunately nothing of that sort has come out in some time. (NBA JAM needs an update. Why lie.)

Other than that, I really am completely fair game for pretty much anything.

Have you played Super Mario Strikers? I normally don't like any sports game (arcadish or not), but the multiplayer in this game is great.

- WraithTwo -

Aye, I have, but have not purchased it. It's a fun game, that's for sure.

I should rephrase what I meant. No arcadish sports titles outside of the Nintendo Sports line really gets released anymore. We don't have any more good Blitz games (that last one was shit), no more NBA Jam, no more Mutant League Hockey or anything of that sort. Which is a shame because that stuff is ALWAYS a riot when friends are over.

i never stick with a certain type of game, i like all of them. the only kind i've never bought are sports games

I mostly buy RPGs or some sort of action game... I really don't know what I escape to... I'm a pretty well rounded gamer for that matter.

I guess i'll escape to racing games or horror games every-so-often. I'm not much of a racer since most of them are sim racers. I prefer arcade style. Speaking of which, I have to get the Jax: Combat Racing game soon. As for horros, I do not a have a good stomach for horror. Regardless of how scary, it would take me a while to get used to the scare factor. The last horror games I bought were Resident Evil: Deadly Silence and Resident Evil 4. I wanna try Condemned on the 360 or the PC.

Yeah, I guess it's those.

RTS games are definately outside my comfort zone. I find macro and micro managing squads and individual units far too complicated. The whole idea of gathering resources and building up a base and units, while sort of fun, never really appealing to me. I always found the difficulty curve a bit sharp aswell. It's like okay you learned the basics in the first mission or two, time to DIE. Since I turtle in every RTS game I play it's frustrating when the enemy send waves of full powered units to crush my tiny army I've managed to build two minutes into the mission. And yet, despite not finding much enjoyment from the genre, I still play the odd RTS here and there. For instance the new C&C Tiberium and Company of Heroes both look delicious.

Hmm... Well, I like "story" games whether RPG or 3d platformers or FPS like HL2 that actually have a story. So, my departure would be schmups I guess, such as Einhander or R-type Final or Gradius V, etc.

There's 4 genres I play: Fighting, RPGs, Sports and Survival Horror.

Strategy Role Playing Games and anything that uses a strategic battle system to it, is my escape from my regular genres. For example FM3/4, Suikoden Tactics, FFT.

If you love that game, and as a retired PSO vet I know you do, I know one private server you can get on. No one in thier right now pays to play PSO(PSOBB > PSO being the exception). PSU may just be the only 'true' MMO that players will be willing to pay for.