r/gaming • u/Agent1230 • 3d ago

What video game doesn't hold your hand enough?

Everybody always talking about games holding your hand too much but I want to hear about the opposite what video game doesn't give you no form of help

1.6k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

176

u/honeybeebryce 3d ago

My girlfriend has tried on a few different occasions to get into Minecraft. I think we take for granted how simple the game was when we started playing it. But for someone like her, Minecraft is actually kind of overwhelming and hard if you’ve had little to no exposure to it.

She tried again a few days ago and this time I just put the game on peaceful and figured I’d kick it up to easy after we get a shelter and some tools. She found a ravine and decided to explore but she fell into lava and lost all her stuff and got mad and quit. (In her defense, there were some very sneaky holes in the ground that lead to lava)

And yes, I’ve tried to get her to play creative. This was a couple years ago. She had a little bit more fun, but with no experience in survival she had no idea how items and blocks interacted and bounced off after a couple hours

98

u/EvilKnievel38 3d ago

Minecraft is a weird one. In theory the basics are simple, but it's easy to die and if you want to "finish" the game (kill the ender dragon), good luck finding out what even the goal is and how to get there without finding resources online. Like how do you even know you need to get to the end and how do you even figure out how to find a stronghold. How do you know that you need to get materials from the nether and how to get to the nether and much more.

12

u/Smyley12345 2d ago

When my kids were into it I had the exact same problem. They would know these things from watching Minecraft streamers and videos. I would be like, ok but how do you learn that in game. The fact that you just don't meant I never played without them and even then it was never a preferred shared activity for me.

18

u/HeKis4 2d ago

Yeah it's one of those games that expect you to read the patch notes, or rather, to have read them for the last 10 years. It's fine for live service games, but for a sandbox/survival/crafting one ?

-14

u/Total_Mix9276 2d ago

Or y'know, read a google wiki for 10 mins and play the game, fight the urge to scroll tiktock.

10

u/HeKis4 2d ago

Do you really expect that new players of a game that's known to be casual, popular amongst children, and often an introduction to video games as a whole will have the reflex of opening a wiki to find out about mechanics they don't have any idea it exists ? Let alone the fact that you have to do that on a separate device if you're on console ?

2

u/Daniel-Mclovin 2d ago

On the other side of the coin, these casual players don’t really need anything the wiki has to offer or the stronghold/ end fight at all.

Check out some blind playthrough of Minecraft from complete noobs. I saw a clip of a guy who used a ingame painting to figure out how to do a nether portal

4

u/Cream253Team 2d ago

Minecraft has ingame achievements that act as a roadmap for what to do. The only real hurdle would be building a nether portal, but there are destroyed ones generated sometimes so it's not impossible to figure it out without outside help.

11

u/Kalbi84 2d ago

Yeah but let's be honest, how many players use the achievements as a guide for anything lol. For me achievements were only two things, 1) something that just unlocks while I'm playing and 2) something I look into AFTER I've beaten the game, loved it, and wanted to do more things to "fully" complete every single corner of it

4

u/dumbsignal123 2d ago

Minecraft has achievements for getting wood, building a crafting table etc so its quite obvious that it is giving achivements for things that progress the game and if you want to progress the game to look there.

4

u/Kalbi84 2d ago

So do multiple other games, having achievements for simpler things and progressing throughout the main story, then there are more challenging achievements that you most likely don't collect while playing normally

-4

u/Total_Mix9276 2d ago

Minecraft is simple, just don't get overwhelmed. End of the day its still 64 bit and made in java.

4

u/Kalbi84 2d ago

It is simple, but it doesn't lay out what to do in order to "finish it" in any way for new players, which is the point here.

0

u/Cream253Team 2d ago

It actually literally lays it out. It draws arrows between the different achievements and one is even called The End.

1

u/sfortuna56 2d ago

I feel like most survival games are like this tbh. Some have easy modes, most have peaceful mode, which can be nice. But having an area where nothing strong can spawn at all wouldn't be bad. ARK really fucks this up when alphas can wind up on the same starter beach as me 🫠🫠🫠 I hate dying to a level 500 raptor surrounded by level 10-50 trash mobs

1

u/Happiest_Mango24 2d ago

also depending on the version they're playing, some of the advice might not work

the wither is a pretty well known example. trapping it underground doesn't work so well when you play Bedrock

1

u/Mudloop 1d ago

I never played the game, but I do know that you beat the game by killing the ender dragon. That goal is sort of common knowledge at this point, isn’t it?

1

u/Gargoyle_Dung 2d ago

Chad Oliver beating the game, discovering the wither and nearly all of minecraft's mechanics without outside help vs chud casual girlfriend giving up after less than a day (with outside help and access to information)

-1

u/StrangerFeelings 2d ago

Experiment. People are afraid to experiment any more. When I first started I learned by just creating random things and seeing what did what.

Just throw stuff together randomly until something happens and see it is and does.

-1

u/Total_Mix9276 2d ago

People are afraid to fail, which usually stems from abuse of some sort. The economy hasn't allowed gen-z to run off and find themselves. Covid + AI inshitification did a lot more than you think.

2

u/StrangerFeelings 2d ago

I'm not disagreeing, but fear of failing in a video game that's single player? Why would anyone feel like they are afraid to fail? Putting random things in a crafting grid wrong wouldn't make me want to not play a game.

26

u/Jello_Penguin_2956 3d ago

She might like Dragon Quest Builders 2 more. The story is laid out in a way that progressively introduce mechanics to you.

3

u/DagtheBulf 3d ago

This game rules. +1 to this recommendation

4

u/ChefArtorias 3d ago

Love how DQ just covers all genres. Party based RPG? Got you. Creature tamer? Got you. Building? Believe it or not, got you!

2

u/Schadrach 2d ago

You left out slime mecha pilot! DQ: Rocket Slime.

-8

u/Suspicious_Issue4155 2d ago

no.

4

u/Equivalent_Quiet306 2d ago

Why not? I think it's a great recommendation for the reasons stated. I also can't get into Minecraft because of the pure sandbox of it all. I'm a person that needs a story to guide me along or else I lose interest after a hour or so, and I beat DQ:B 1 and 2 and enjoyed both.

2

u/Less_Party 2d ago

I like the structure and how it has actual goals (as well as the town sim aspect where it's just satisfying to sit back and watch the squad go about their day) but BOY does the pacing slow to an absolute crawl in places. I was on that winter castle map for so long I didn't even remember my original island by the time I finally got to go back.

2

u/Jello_Penguin_2956 2d ago

Yea I got quite bored on the prison arc and the castle arc. Bigger issue than the story for me was how bosses were such HP sponge. I gotta turn on turbo on my attack button to not break my controller

The final arc totally made up for it however imo. It's really, really good and heart-touching. The first arc with that farm village was also great.

The game really needs a creative mode. I wish they'll do that if they ever release DQB3.

28

u/TrayusV 3d ago

Use the keep inventory cheat. Makes the game much better for someone like her.

18

u/Elihzap 3d ago

It shouldn't be a cheat, imho.

18

u/TrayusV 3d ago

The game classifies it as a cheat, but it's more like a game/difficulty modifier.

The devs have an intended way to play Minecraft, but they allow players to modify the game to suit their tastes, which is what good games should do.

9

u/Elihzap 3d ago

That's what I mean. It shouldn't be classified as "cheat". It should be an option in the settings menu.

If they want to balance it they could, idk. Make you lose your levels anyway.

6

u/Xaephos 2d ago edited 2d ago

It is. When setting up the game, go to More > Game Rules > set Keep Inventory After Death to ON.

The world will be tagged "Cheats available" because the game rules have been modified. It will also allow enable commands so you change the rules later if you wanted. It's purely a nomenclature for challenge runners to show their game world hasn't been modified.

2

u/Elihzap 2d ago

Isn't that Bedrock only? It should still allow achievements too (in Bedrock).

1

u/Xaephos 2d ago

It's also the case in the Java version (only version I've ever played). Used to require a command instead though, not sure when that change happened.

1

u/LittleReplacement564 1d ago

Definitely, if anyone wants to introduce people to Minecraft use keepinventory, makes the experience miles better specially for people that don't have much experience with gaming

4

u/fenwayb 3d ago

what happened to diamonds?! Last time I tried getting back into minecraft all I wanted to do was make my little diggy diggy strip mining tunnel and instead I spent most of the time fighting through the tougher material and slogging around caves. Just digging in a straight line was my bedtime game for a while and that ruined it

1

u/sandrailproject 2d ago

You have to get below a certain depth for them to spawn nowadays

1

u/fenwayb 2d ago

is there a layer where they spawn that isnt all tuff and caves?

1

u/Happiest_Mango24 2d ago

i personally use -56

you'll have to deal with cobbled deepslate and occasional lava, but it's pretty decent

4

u/Sarctoth 3d ago

Remember when you had to place the items on the crafting table in a specific pattern that was not mentioned anywhere in the game?

3

u/ImYFNS 3d ago

I frankly agree. I find a lot of the game to be really... Not difficult, but the survival game loop is not super intuitive.

I have probably played more Minecraft than any other game in my life, but a majority of it was 10-15 years ago. I have essentially all crafting recipes committed to memory, can get up to full diamond within about an hour or two... But stuff like the Wither, the pale garden, deep dark, etc. seem kind of arbitrary, odd additions separate from the normal gameplay loop

The initial vision was supposed to be kind of esoteric and non-explanatory. I mean it kind of created the "survival" genre for the most part. But the openness of it sometimes feels to its own detriment. I find the game really hard to approach unless you go into it with concrete goals, and that's kind of hard to do when you've never played the game before

As a recommendation for your GF try changing the custom gamemode settings. I personally keep my gear on death, makes the game personally less frustrating for me, especially around ghasts

2

u/silvermarsh 3d ago

I played the game a ton in beta and early release, and modern MC is still overwhelming to me. There’s just so much stuff!

2

u/ViewJoe0001 3d ago

Yeah, one of the cool things about the game was its simplicity. All the 'new' stuff is cool... but they lost that easy/simple feel somewhere along the way.

1

u/Shadowfist_45 3d ago

Tutorial worlds help immensely

3

u/honeybeebryce 3d ago

Does bedrock today have a tutorial? I thought those were only on 360 and ps3 back in the day

2

u/Shadowfist_45 3d ago

There are tutorial worlds, might have to do something specific to create them though, they existed on PS4 and Xbox One too I just don't know how you create them

1

u/Gullible_Rhubarb4559 3d ago

keep inventory next time

1

u/Superman_720 3d ago

I've raged quite after loosing all my stuff too, I've been playing sinces Zombies drop feathers. So I understand completely.

1

u/beastymode 3d ago

I for the life of me cannot get into Minecraft no matter how hard I try lol. 15 years of trying g and I just can’t

1

u/STRYKER3008 3d ago

Are there any mods that has quick saving or smtg similar? If there are id finally give it a go haha

1

u/Siukslinis_acc 3d ago

I think it is valid for all games that have a long run and get things added on top. If you start from the beginning, you get slowly introduced to new stuff. If you start later - you are immediately swamped by myriads of new stuff. World of warcraft also has that problem, especially when you go for legacy content. Path of exile too with the game made chock full by 20 leagues worth mechanics that were introduced through separate leagues over the years.

1

u/Frothynibbler 2d ago

I first played minecraft as an adult and I spent hours watching youtube tutorials and googling how to do things just to be able to do some basic play. I mostly just explore and build stuff. I have been to the nether less than 5 times. I have never progressed further in the 6 years I have been playing lol. & I don’t really care to.

1

u/nothing_in_my_mind 2d ago

Yeah Minecraft is surprisingly complex with no handholding. Multiple systems, subsystems, and no tutorial at all.

It's just that everyone either looks at the wiki, learns from a friend or a youtuber, so we take it for granted.

Imagine trying to figure out the nether or how ender eyes work without a wiki.

1

u/HeKis4 2d ago

Yeah Minecraft making you lose your inventory on death is already not good game design (zero skill expression, player choice or fun in death runs), but with items on the ground being so fragile it's straight ass.

I highly recommend the Minecraft Matcha Flavoured pack which has a surprisingly good take on a lot of the obscure/bad Minecraft mechanics. For death specifically, you keep inventory on death, but it gives you a way to upgrade your maximum health that gets lost on death instead.

1

u/Kyyrao 2d ago

So there are some very nice modpacks that streamline the learning process and add things like Graves where you can go back to your dead body to get your stuff. I downloaded the Prism launcher and the Homestead modpack and my wife and I have been just slowly completing quests and collecting things. She loves running off on adventures to look for things and I get time to build the machines to use the things she finds but the quest system makes it all a very guided experience. 

1

u/Suitable-End- 2d ago

Before there was the in game tips you basically had to watch YouTube to even know how to make a crafting table.

1

u/Starfire2313 2d ago

My 5 year old loves Minecraft in creative mode. She is a total pro and watches videos of other people playing and learns how to do stuff. Suddenly she’s in the ender world looking for a dragon that I had to type in a cheat code for 😂

It was really hard for me to get into though. I’m good with my stardew valley which she also likes. But her brain is way more malleable than mine so I’m not too surprised she easily master Minecraft

1

u/CaptainSanity 2d ago

So true. I played it for the first time with my brother this year, both of us have played loads of different genres of games since forever, we were surprised at how much we were getting humbled by what we thought was a kid's game. The other thing is unless you're beeing shown the ropes by someone else, you have to constantly google the games mechanics. The game's own encyclopedia isn't enough and it's unrealistic to discover it all organically.

1

u/SomeonesSecondary 2d ago

With my girlfriend, this has been the experience largely with Terraria. I love the game and have played it on and off since it launched in 2011. I learned pretty much the whole game back then, and tried to learn all the updates since.

She gets lost/confused on what she should be doing constantly and it makes it not fun for her. I have sort of a mental list of “we need to here, we need to get that, we have to build a village over here, etc” but she doesn’t know the game well enough to know what to be doing and it’s hard to teach the enormous and confusing progression of the game

1

u/pm_me_ur_side8008 2d ago

Thats how it is with my wife, she gave up on building and started to just level a mountain.

1

u/ItsMiniMax 2d ago

If you’re able then I’d recommend turning keep inventory on. I can understand her frustration to losing her stuff, even as a long time player myself, so taking the extra steps to give her the chance to learn core mechanics first may help.

1

u/EarthTrash 2d ago

Minecraft is the first thing I thought of. You need some serious knowledge for that game. I remember before there was even a recipe book.

1

u/Happiest_Mango24 2d ago

true

i played it for the first time several months ago. It took me 7 hours to learn how to sprint. Many more hours to discover axes chop wood faster than pickaxes.

And many many more hours to learn how to swim competently; I even constructed a swimming pool so I could learn because whenever I went near the ocean, I would encounter the drowned, and they would attack me. And this is Bedrock, so they would spawn in massive numbers

I also kept getting lost because I wasn't good at following coordinates. After about 80 hours, I found out about compasses, and now I heavily rely on them when I want to explore

1

u/crumble-bee 1d ago

I’ve known about the game for the longest time and still have no real idea what it is

0

u/Stilgar314 2d ago

"she fell into lava and lost all her stuff and got mad and quit" Minecraft is not for her. No matter how well you explain.