Is It Possible To Make Feeling Weak Fun?

Comments · 1.3K

• AR

  @ArchitectofGames · 4 years ago · pinned

  Why yes, I did make up the word &quot;gribbly&quot;! No, you are not allowed to use it unless you&apos;re a patron: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames">https://www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames</a><br>Follow me on twitter to slightly dilute the horrible takes on that site with my dumb videogame shitposting: <a href="https://twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot">https://twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot</a><br>Also here&apos;s a big list of charities for you to choose from: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/s6g5un/want_to_support_ukraine_heres_a_list_of_charities/">https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/s6g5un/want_to_support_ukraine_heres_a_list_of_charities/</a>

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• BE

  @benzur3503 · 4 years ago

  Your calling untitled goose game a soulslike ingnited a spark of inspiration in me. Like most souls likes, you awaken in a land ruled over by horrific monsters who wish to impede your every move, and in order to progress you must overcome the unique challenges several of those monsters lay in your path. And at the end you may topple the false facade of stability in a stag anting empire, only to discover that this subversion and attempt to disrupt the unfitting rule of the so called gods is part of the cycle itself.

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• PD

  @pdreding · 4 years ago

  Animal Crossing games are all about having the time and energy to enjoy being outside, making friends as an adult, and paying off your debts. How is that not the ultimate power fantasy?

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• GO

  @goldenwarrior1186 · 4 years ago

  For masochists, being weak is always fun

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• JA

  @jacks1368 · 4 years ago

  The thing about Dishonored is that being Good is PART OF the power fantasy for a lot of people; check the achievement ratio for good and evil runs completed for any game that does it, WAY more people do the good route only. Making the Evil route easier makes sense in that context, because what you&apos;re giving up for a much easier time is being able to think of yourself as the good guy. Which might not translate to game mechanics very well, but is still more effective than you&apos;d think despite that.

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• LA

  @LadyViolet1 · 4 years ago

  For me while I initially felt weak playing Sifu; it eventually became a power fantasy as I got better at it. You really start to feel like a kung-fu god by the end of it.

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• SA

  @sator_project · 4 years ago

  I never quite liked discussing Dark Souls in terms of empowerment or disempowerment. It looks like an obvious angle, but my favorite part of Dark Souls 1 was that it seemed entirely disinterested in my happiness, at least at face value. It felt incredibly liberating that I could choose how I feel about every death and victory, rather than a game admonishing me or encouraging me to carry on.<br>I&apos;m sure other people have a different take, because Dark Souls is such an open ended experience, but those are my two cents.

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• TO

  @topwaifu2104 · 4 years ago (edited)

  First two witcher games did it right. It&apos;s power fantasy on a gameplay level, but choices are more complicated than generic &quot;sacrifice something to be good&quot; vs &quot;pick an easy path and be bad&quot;. It makes you think about how world works and how it will react. <br>In a first game your very first choice is to spare or turn in an elf terrorist. Your rpg experience tells you something like &quot;yeah, I&apos;ll spare him and get more content later, maybe a quest or something&quot;. Then a terrorist does a terrorist thing and kills important character, so you get less content.<br>Game forces you to think like someone living in this world, not a player. It rewards for acting in character, not doing annoying things and having less fun.

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• OD

  @oddtail_tiger · 4 years ago

  I think, like with many things that seem opposed to each other, that &quot;power fantasy&quot; and &quot;feeling weak&quot; are often a false dychotomy.<br><br>Just like Batman seems badass <b>because</b> he&apos;s just human and because he can accomplish so much without any superpowers, a game that sets you up as weak can give you the greatest sense of power that more traditional &quot;look you&apos;re so strong&quot; games can&apos;t deliver on.<br><br>My two most memorable moments in Disco Elysium were: (very mild spoilers I guess?)<br>.<br>.<br>.<br> roundhouse kicking a fascist in his stupid head, and getting some begrudging acknowledgment from a colleague that I have not been drinking or taking drugs in the past few days.<br><br>A game where you&apos;re a self-admitted f*ckup makes those moments incredibly meaningful. You will never be this proud of yourself by kicking someone in a fighting game. For obvious reasons.<br><br>And this extends to the whole &quot;feel&quot; of the game. When you make a genius deduction, when you save someone or help someone, when you make a difficult shot with your gun - all those things, in a world that&apos;s designed to grind you down, are big wins. In a world where even assuming you could win sets you up for failure and pain, the occasional small triumph is empowering and heroic.

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• DA

  @daystyrfer7887 · 4 years ago

  I think making the player character feel fragile and having a healthy amount of pushback for mistakes is integral, and even in the games that can be labeled as “power fantasies” don’t feel good if the challenge is non-existent or trivial.

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• PA

  @Paranoia806 · 4 years ago

  Something that I want to add is the power that comes from knowledge and tools instead of bigger numbers you can put out. The rush and feeling of being able to take down bigger enemies due to knowledge is incredible. When you can deal with low-level enemies with your sharp wit while they can still pose a threat is the perfect combination of power fantasy and tension. Being able to get a bunch of upgrades that make you deal significantly more damage or save you from punishment multiple times can make the game boring.

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• SC

  @Schraiber · 4 years ago

  I think I actually disagree with you about Dishonored. One of the most common complaints about the first game is that the good route is so much more boring and difficult than the chaos route, but the game gets so mad at you and shames you so much if you have fun on the chaos route. But I think that&apos;s exactly the point: being good is difficult and there&apos;s so much temptation to be evil, because it&apos;s just frankly more fun. So I actually think the game really achieved what its going for imo

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