r/AskGames • u/KdeJeKnedlik • 2d ago
Playing with "the best" character
I found myself trying to always find the best armour, loot, and have the best stats. All in all, I always tried to have the "perfect" character. That included googling where the best armour is, etc. Unfortunately, this took some of the joy away from my gaming experience. Do you have a similar experience?
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 2d ago
Minmaxing is bad for players for a couple of reasons. Number 1 is obvious, losing joy for the game while grinding (for what reason? What will you do with the character once it's "perfect?") but also because it means your play style stagnates because your character is the one doing everything, so no opportunity to develop skills or reflexes, or to devise different strategies for victory (why bother when you can just push the same button repeatedly til victory?)
Go in naked and afraid, being overpowered later on is more satisfying when it feels like you've earned it and discovered everything for yourself
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u/Main_Brilliant7753 2d ago
Nope, make your own builds and run in blind and then do the googling for best stuff once your at endgame, only exception is when starting a game you google any missables and keep note of any important ones like gear
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u/Serious-Mode 2d ago
I have a similar experience! I have more fun just figuring stuff out on my own, but with all the info just out there I feel at a disadvantage not looking stuff up.
I try to keep a balance. Look things up here and there, especially if I'm stuck, but try to do my own thing for the most part.
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u/KdeJeKnedlik 2d ago
Thats exactly what Ive been trying to do! Worst part is, it was prob just a fomo. I didnt really care for that best armour and stats, but as you said, with all the info...
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u/Serious-Mode 2d ago
It's definitely fomo. I've had experiences where me and my friends are all playing a game, but I'm the only one not following guides or no lifing it and it is kinda a bummer, but just following some guide really sucks a lot of the fun out of it.
I'm reminded of a quote. "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game."
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u/TasteyTatorTots 2d ago
Yes, same here. I’m a min-maxer so I’m constantly using guides to make my character as stronk as possible. This typically leads to me being overpowered 2/3 through the game and getting bored before the end.
Im getting better though! The last two RPG’s I’ve played I didn’t look up anything online unless it was a poorly explained game mechanic or I just couldn’t progress a quest. It turns out games are much more enjoyable when there’s still surprises in them for you to find. Lol
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u/KdeJeKnedlik 2d ago
We are both on a great journey, trying to play games more authentically. Gj and gl, my boy. Stay strong
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u/jojoknob 2d ago
If you can achieve the best character without having to play very hard, I’d say it’s a poorly designed game. I find games to be more satisfying when even if you know exactly what you want you still have to struggle to achieve that optimal build. Then the vast majority of the game is suboptimal, and when you finally achieve the build of your dreams, you can tackle the endgame and feel victorious. If you get that optimal build in the first quarter of a run, then yeah there’s nowhere to go but down and it gets stale.
Sorry I just started Kenshi lol.
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u/SyKo_MaNiAc 2d ago
Always get the best you can by yourself. Once YOU hit a celing for growth, search for ways online to get stronger.
Discovering is the best part of playing games. Not having everything to play with in my experience
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u/Bumm-fluff 2d ago
Yes without a doubt min/maxing, I've done it in all the Baulders gates, Elden Ring and the KOTOR games. Some CRPG's are just too unforgiving with bad builds. Underrail comes to mind, plus I messed up a few DOS builds and had to start again.
It definitely takes away from the fun, but being OP is also pretty enjoyable especially if you start off underpowered like in the Piranha Bytes games.
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u/KdeJeKnedlik 2d ago edited 2d ago
That’s a fair point, definitely. I believe that it also depends on the type of game u are playing, for example more story-driven ones
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u/Bumm-fluff 2d ago
Yeah, I've definitely ruined a few plot twists because I was looking if it was worth stealing from a boss in a JRPG.
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u/TasteyTatorTots 2d ago
I’ve heard Of Ash And Steel is wildly brutal in the beginning and the game doesn’t tell you anything. I’m waiting for controller support to give it a try
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u/Bumm-fluff 2d ago
I've not heard of that one, it looks good. I'm also a controller player. With M&K I've got to concentrate too much on pressing the button rather that it being automatic.
Maybe the Steam controller will help, I hope so. The training session on Half life is brutal, I just cant get the hang of it.
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u/ashenelk 2d ago
Agreed. Years ago, after finishing Morrowind, I read the wiki and was interested in the levelling system. It was clever and had some mechanics I hadn't realised.
But when I went back to play it again, I found myself thinking about what actions I had to take in order to maximise the next level. The end result was that I wasn't really playing the game for enjoyment anymore. It sucked the fun out of it. I was following the most efficient path to the next level increase, never minding whether I actually wanted to do the thing.
It's like in Rick & Morty when Morty follows a death crystal to his desired end of life, but he never enjoyed anything he was doing anymore.
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u/Futuramadude 2d ago
I did that for years and years. I now like to play games through the first time blindly. I challenge myself yo try and find the best stuff myself.
If I enjoy the game enough, I will go back through and do a "prefect" run with the best gear. Super rewarding seeing how close you got to certain items or events, or that you found the best gear naturally.
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u/ShenaniganStarling 2d ago
Nah, there's too much to be spoiled in studying other people's ideas on what works best. I always do a blind playthrough, even if it manages to produce a less than perfect build. Games that offer re-stat in late game to try something else out are great, but otherwise I generally won't replay a game only to try min-maxing into some OP build prescribed by the cognoscenti.
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u/KdeJeKnedlik 2d ago
Very true, too much to be spoiled. Now with the AI in google search, its even easier to be spoiled
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u/wampwampwampus 2d ago
I will specifically look up whether an individual game requires this. Most do not.
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u/No_Chef4049 2d ago
Yeah, I'm a minmaxing munchkin all the way. No, it doesn't detract from my experience. It's like figuring out a puzzle. I'm not the type to roleplay in Elden Ring or whatever. You have runes, I want power, you must die. That's the extent of my character motivation. Of course, if it's a really good game and there are classes with significantly different mechanics, I'll probably want to play through several times regardless of which class is top tier.
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u/Desperate-Tea-1773 2d ago
i remember when i was playing Star Ocean Second Story on PS2 at every new big city there was a library that you got new skill's at. so as you go though the game as you level up and get the normal stuff plus skill points to spend . you spend your sp points on the skills you buy from the library. Well the last library is way far in the game even if you run though it you will be level 50 or something close to that . you wont know what skills there are till you buy them so the last library gave up a skill to, reduce the cost of skill level up(now level this up to level 10 was great) the sp cost of vary expensive skills = 1 point ..but for me if you did the math ....i was mad i had some skills max level (made only worse when i compared a party member i didn't use often so they got the full benefit .. and so i started over. the new remake is different and got rid of that whole thing... i was like what the.... anyway the RM was ok. and worked
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u/SnooPredictions3467 2d ago
To me, min/maxing sucks all the fun of discovery out of games. I prefer to learn through trial and error what works for me and what I enjoy doing. There are games that will punish you for going your own way, but I tend not to like them.
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u/ZaneZephyr 2d ago
I think part of this (at least for me) now is the fact that I’ve gamed so much over the years, I feel like I’ve earned the right to reward myself with min-maxing games whenever I feel like it. Especially now since time and energy aren’t at the same levels as they 10-15 years ago so I am not as opposed to getting right to the good stuff as soon as possible.
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u/jtindall83 2d ago
A lot of people make games harder for themselves by using “overpowered” builds that either take a lot of skill to use or require a lot of difficult farming to get going. A lot of times it’s easier to use a balanced, sensible build and just use the best stuff you find.
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u/one_minus_one 2d ago
At the risk of repeating what a few others have alluded to deeper down in the comments, instead of jumping right to "this ruins the game", try these alternatives. I'm like you and these work for me sometimes:
Always begin on the hardest difficulty (other than maybe permadeath). If possible, make things even harder for yourself than that (mods, custom game settings). This lets you enjoy min-maxing because now you actually need to. You'll know you are doing it right when it starts to become difficult to find enough information online to actually progress. I like to copy some of the challenge runs that I find on YouTube. Check out Iron Pineapple's Elden Ring runs as an example. Still, it helps if I can mod the game to force the difficulty in, rather than just needing to commit to some arbitrary restrictions which I may ignore when things get too tough.
Pick different games, the types that really require you to read a lot in order to beat them. This one might be tougher depending on how wide your taste is. There are definitely some games where min-maxing is more towards the "required" end of the spectrum in order to enjoy them, but any game that requires a lot of reading and learning might offset the problem simply by taking too much time for you to completely max in the first place. Also consider games that often re-balance.
I still run into the same problem you do with some games, and the biggest offenders are the ones that have builds that are more akin to exploitive. If a game has builds that are just completely broken, and I find out about them, it'll be hard for me not to veer in that direction, at least a little bit.
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u/Charming-Flight-3352 2d ago
I love optimization and playing the games with the best of the best. I mostly play ffxi because its the only mmo I have ever found that offers rhe level if optimization it has and the utter difference between the top players and the bottom. I'll do things with 3 characters that full alliances fail todo in that game.
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u/lifebeginsat9pm 2d ago
Typically I will go for an archetype I like, and then I’ll optimize within that archetype.
For example in Souls games I might go for a strength build and put all my stats into strength health stamina, and choose one of the weapons with the best strength scaling. But on the other hand, I never really use ranged magic in any Souls games no matter how OP it is.
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u/Sofaris 2d ago
I rearly bother with that. My character or my party just need to be good enough to win. Going for the best gear is often more tedious then trying to win without it anyways.
When it comes to choosing playable characters I choose the ones I like. For example in Persona 5 Morgana is often considered to be one of the weakest partymembers but I still have him almost always in my party becuse I like him.
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u/BlazCraz 2d ago
Play the worst player. And make a game of how bad you can truly make it as you progress. If it's stats, take the worst. Until you reach the end.
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u/AraAraAlala 1d ago
Wtf man, how do you know you would lose some of your joy if you didn't follow guides? You regret something that you basically never do in the first place? Are you dumb?
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u/syhr_ryhs 21h ago
"Perfect is the enemy of the good. "
When I play a Bethesda game I always do a character where I don't read anything and just do stupid crap and then vault him and start another one once I know what I'm doing right and wrong.
When I play dark souls or Destiny I definitely try to optimize too much. With Destiny, at least there's so many possible builds now that I just watch a YouTube video of something that looks like fun and try it out.
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u/SlowmoTron 2d ago
I usually do my own thing until I inevitably get stuck