How do I enjoy a game a second time?

[TheWolfLord]

I have trouble watching movies or reading books or playing games more than once.

Can someone give me some sound reasoning to help me enjoy doing something again so I don't feel like I'm just wasting my time? This is especially in my thoughts for long-RPG type games.

I legit want to be able to appreciate something more than once if possible.

Thanks friends.

 

[Chary]

The best advice I can think of is to give yourself a lot of time between each playthrough. This will let you forget a lot of tiny details, and though you probably won't forget the general story, it might make things feel a little fresher rather than if you jumped right back into it after beating it the first time.

For games that have it, maybe look up some cheats? Older games had input codes that'd unlock special characters, or different modes.

You can inflict self imposed runs like what people do with Pokemon Nuzlocke runs. (If a party member falls in battle, they're gone forever, use only one element of attack the whole game, etc)

Play the game to 100% with a guide so you can experience things you might have missed the first time around.

 

[Taffy]

Try to out-do yourself in games. Go for speed! Or for score. Or just play around. Or explore a bit, if you can do that.

There's always a secret hidden somewhere, you never know!

or if there isn't, just play the game again for kicks. a good game is a good game.


For movies...no clue. I don't really watch movies.

 

[Taleweaver]

Seeing your analogy to books and movies, I'm going to assume that with "games" you mean the more story-focused onces with little to no branching. That way I don't have to point out what you already know ("make different choices in these games", "play to beat your score", "go for speedruns", and so on). In fact, I'm going to talk more about books and movies that I've seen more than once, because those same principles apply to games (with heavy story-focus) as well...

What is it really that draws you into a story (be it in a movie, book or video game) ? Discovery is certainly among the reasons, and that obviously diminishes once you've seen all the medium it's presented in has to offer. It is, however, not the only reason.

I've reread my favorite books three or four times. Why? Not because I didn't know what was going to happen, but exactly because I did know. I liked the characters, liked the atmosphere, the pace, how things were presented...it's like revisiting friends (I hope you don't get tired of them ).

Movies are the same, but perhaps with some twists. Parts of movies can be entertaining or exciting even though you've seen it before. If the movie has a plot twist in it (you missed the first time), see if you can see it coming now.
And if a film is truly, TRULY great, then it not only has you engaged in an entertaining way but has given you something to think about. Which you can use when you look at it again. Fight club, for example, has all sorts of anarchistic/anti-social messages that are pretty deep if you really think about it. It provides means where you wouldn't really expect it the first time around.

And games? I can't speak on behalf of all games, and TBH I don't even want to talk about most RPG's*. But here are a few I replayed, even though I've got plenty of games in my backlog:

* New Super Mario Brothers Wii: okay, this one's not really fair: I replayed it with my (former) girlfriend. Co-op is a totally new experience. And she went from "how do I jump ON a koopa?" to "okay...I can hold my own".
* antichamber: as mentioned earlier: leave some time between the playthroughs. I love this game so much that I almost wish I can just erase my built knowledge of it, just to be able to experience them again. But luckily for me, I had forgotten quite a bit, and happily went through it relearning those (it helps that the ones I did remember were never a chore)
* limbo: this one is purely for the mood. It's amazing how much the game tells without actually using words. Oh, and also...the second time I was puzzled by the fact that the game had, in fact, puzzles (I had forgotten just about all of these).
* Braid: this game is actually much better the second time: the story makes more sense and the puzzles are less hardbitingly frustrating (though still pretty hard, unless you've got an extremely good memory).




*just a personal preference...quite some RPG's treat the story as a means to string a bunch of fancy-schmancy cutscenes together

 

[TheWolfLord]

Seeing your analogy to books and movies, I'm going to assume that with "games" you mean the more story-focused onces with little to no branching. That way I don't have to point out what you already know ("make different choices in these games", "play to beat your score", "go for speedruns", and so on). In fact, I'm going to talk more about books and movies that I've seen more than once, because those same principles apply to games (with heavy story-focus) as well...

What is it really that draws you into a story (be it in a movie, book or video game) ? Discovery is certainly among the reasons, and that obviously diminishes once you've seen all the medium it's presented in has to offer. It is, however, not the only reason.

I've reread my favorite books three or four times. Why? Not because I didn't know what was going to happen, but exactly because I did know. I liked the characters, liked the atmosphere, the pace, how things were presented...it's like revisiting friends (I hope you don't get tired of them ).

Movies are the same, but perhaps with some twists. Parts of movies can be entertaining or exciting even though you've seen it before. If the movie has a plot twist in it (you missed the first time), see if you can see it coming now.
And if a film is truly, TRULY great, then it not only has you engaged in an entertaining way but has given you something to think about. Which you can use when you look at it again. Fight club, for example, has all sorts of anarchistic/anti-social messages that are pretty deep if you really think about it. It provides means where you wouldn't really expect it the first time around.

And games? I can't speak on behalf of all games, and TBH I don't even want to talk about most RPG's*. But here are a few I replayed, even though I've got plenty of games in my backlog:

* New Super Mario Brothers Wii: okay, this one's not really fair: I replayed it with my (former) girlfriend. Co-op is a totally new experience. And she went from "how do I jump ON a koopa?" to "okay...I can hold my own".
* antichamber: as mentioned earlier: leave some time between the playthroughs. I love this game so much that I almost wish I can just erase my built knowledge of it, just to be able to experience them again. But luckily for me, I had forgotten quite a bit, and happily went through it relearning those (it helps that the ones I did remember were never a chore)
* limbo: this one is purely for the mood. It's amazing how much the game tells without actually using words. Oh, and also...the second time I was puzzled by the fact that the game had, in fact, puzzles (I had forgotten just about all of these).
* Braid: this game is actually much better the second time: the story makes more sense and the puzzles are less hardbitingly frustrating (though still pretty hard, unless you've got an extremely good memory).




*just a personal preference...quite some RPG's treat the story as a means to string a bunch of fancy-schmancy cutscenes together

Everyone is giving good responses.

I like the way you especially approached the mentality behind a story-focused piece of media. Perhaps I need to think in such a way as to believe that no two experiences/perception of will be the same even if I already have viewed it once?

 

[The Catboy]

Honestly a good RPG is often packed with side-quests and countless random items to collect. If you ran through the story than chances are that missed something along the way, which is often how I end up finding myself re-visiting a game. Personally I am also one for finding secrets in games and if I can't find secrets, then I find glitches.

 

[Issac]

Everyone is giving good responses.

I like the way you especially approached the mentality behind a story-focused piece of media. Perhaps I need to think in such a way as to believe that no two experiences/perception of will be the same even if I already have viewed it once?

I look for details I have missed, try to see connections that you wouldn't get if it's you first playthrough or the first time watching a movie. Do you see the bad guy in the background throughout the movie? is there a song playing early that ties in to the ending?

I also view movies as an art form like other. I listen to a music album several times, and enjoy it every time (and experience different things depending on mood and such). Why can't I watch a movie several times, and experience different things?
It's not an instructional video, or a video with facts. It's not just to tell a story and that's that. It's art. It should provoke feelings.

That's how I see it

 

[TheWolfLord]

I look for details I have missed, try to see connections that you wouldn't get if it's you first playthrough or the first time watching a movie. Do you see the bad guy in the background throughout the movie? is there a song playing early that ties in to the ending?

I also view movies as an art form like other. I listen to a music album several times, and enjoy it every time (and experience different things depending on mood and such). Why can't I watch a movie several times, and experience different things?
It's not an instructional video, or a video with facts. It's not just to tell a story and that's that. It's art. It should provoke feelings.

That's how I see it

That's a good take. I suppose it is similar to playing a sequel before it's original game. Even if you 'know' things ahead of time when you visit the original, the fact that you already have that information could provide a unique experience on it's own merit that you wouldn't have been able to enjoy had you not already acquired said knowledge.

 

[Sakitoshi]

For me the sensation of fun that the game left on me when I was playing it returns when I remember it some time after I finished it and that alone makes me wanna replay it at least a little.
There are also some games that makes you take a choice that changes the outcome significantly (infamous second son, tales of xillia), offer different characters with its own mechanic (borderlands, diablo, odin sphere, muramasa, dragon's crown, shmup in general) or are made around replayability to truly complete it (mostly visual novels/puzzles, 999, virtue's last reward, zero time dilemma), thinking about what I missed has made me replay those games multiple times.

I sometimes just remember how good a game was and boot it up, find a finished save file and go beat the final boss again (have done this with tales of phantasia and tales of destiny too many time I think, dhaos and kronos don't even pose a treat anymore).

 

[Taleweaver]

Everyone is giving good responses.

I like the way you especially approached the mentality behind a story-focused piece of media. Perhaps I need to think in such a way as to believe that no two experiences/perception of will be the same even if I already have viewed it once?

But that is exactly what it is. The old wisdom says that you can never step into the same river twice, because the second time, both the river and yourself will have changed.

The games (the river in this analogy) doesn't change that much, but more now than before. Patches, remasters, a different difficulty, other controls, cheat trainers, another platform...these all change the way the game can be perceived (in addition to the obvious "take other choices", obviously).

Both more drastic and more subtle is the "you" in the analogy. Games teach you skills. Even if you stay within one subgenre (say RPG's), you adapt to the way the way the specific game handle things (what's the best way to equip your party? What can you teach? Who is best in what?). Through trial and error you learn and adapt. But you'll see that if you restart, then these little things can give different outcomes.

Raph Koster had a hilarious cartoon on this in "a theory of fun in game design", but I can't find it online. It showed a beginning gamer first attempting to jump over a river containing an alligator. At first he constantly fails and becomes frustrated. But as he gets better, his vision on the problem shifts. It becomes less a challenge and more an enjoying activity (that is until he "groks" the ability, after which the activity becomes less engaging, and ultimately boring). All in all, games tend to slowly up the difficulty curve* to make you familiar with the mechanics. But the really good games have mechanics that are good even if you know what they are.


*okay: nowadays you often get a spike in the first minutes, to make sure the audience isn't getting bored before things start out for real (you know...that flash forward that turns out to be a dream of the main character...those first minutes where you play with all the powers until you lose them to the end boss...these sorts of tropes).

 

[Deleted-355425]

If you cant get through a 2nd play through you haven't found the right game for it yet. I find Fallout games amazing on a 2nd play through even a 3rd or 4th time lol.

 

[Reploid]

If you can't enjoy it, just don't. There are (close to) infinite number of other gaemz.

 

[matthi321]

try playing it on the highest difficulty

 

[pasc]

By starting to play games that are actually good.

If you can't enjoy it, just don't. There are (close to) infinite number of other gaemz.

However... that number plummets quickly when you weed out the crap.