It’s funny how the internet and search has changed gaming, when I was 10 I discovered this game (was fairly new at the time), ran into lavos way too early where you’re not really supposed to beat him but it feels tantalizingly within reach. Tried leveling all my characters and every cheese imaginable but still failed. concluded that I just couldn’t beat it and put it down til my 20’s, lol. a simple google search had it been available would’ve told me what was going on. back in those days if you didnt know how to beat a game you had to ask a friend, buy a game magazine, or hope to get lucky.
Around 2014 when I was doing full-time business development I got a Playstation Vita and became a real JPRG addict and GameFAQs was my wingman.
By 2020 or so it had been displaced by video walkthroughs on YouTube and today I would not expect a new game to have a good walkthrough (almost bought Visions of Mana on sale last weekend, turns out it has a text walkthrough but it isn't comprehensive like the old ones.)
Generally I don't like video walkthroughs, I mean who wants to scroll to the right point in 40 hours worth of videos for a 40 hour game? (There was one case in Megadimension Neptunia VII where I just couldn't figure out how to get through a certain world, turned out there was a place where it was possible to make a jump but it wasn't obvious to me that it was possible and the video made it clear.)
I somewhat miss those days of endless time I could dump into gaming. Nowadays if I’m stuck for 5-10min I google because my playtime is limited and I don’t want to spend it looking for the wrong thing or headed in the wrong direction.
I feel this wholeheartedly. I remember booting up games like Morrowind just to walk around towns I like, explore the wilderness for hours, spend absolutely unreasonable amounts of times on quests and just generally not give a damn about how efficient or optimal my build/skills/gear or way of doing things was. I'd just pick what sounded cool and bumble my way through things.
Now when I do find the time to play games I feel like I'm always beelining between any two given points, not stopping to take in the sights or enjoy the atmosphere, worrying about doing things "right"." It's definitely diminished my enjoyment of video games. If I could I'd find a way to trick myself into viewing games the same way I did back then regardless of the fact that I'm not putting in anywhere near as much, or as frequent, amounts of time into a savefile.
But you formed a memory and a story around that experience, practiced the skill, and stretched your mind trying to achieve a goal.
I don't know if you're making the point that a search at the time would have been a better or worse experience. Either way it shows that internet search has come at a cost. I don't know if it's actually best for us to further optimize and streamline it.
I think search has killed experiences like this but enabled other areas that have made it better, such as allowing communities to figure out things years after release (like speedrunners for instance). It only takes self control not to search, so I don’t see it as a problem or a black/white thing. It’s just way different.
I had a very similar experience with Castlevania's Symphony of the Night. Bought it when it came out, but quickly got one of the bad endings and that really soured me on the experience. Was years later when I found that I had literally missed over half of the game.
First time playing chrono trigger I was playing on an emulator, exclusively using a single save state. Went into the early lavos area, saved, got my ass beat. Discovered I couldn't go out again, save bricked :( took years until I gave the game another go
I bombed early on in links awakening and sat it down for years. When the first Pokémon came out I did the wildest things. So glad my mom would let me buy gaming magazines.
