I'm curious how many of you have ever just
watched a friend or significant other play through a game?
Would you let someone watch you play? Having another body in the room does have it's uses.
After all, when you're defeating the last boss of the internet, how
else are you gonna get that bag of chips in the kitchen? Or when you tag in a friend to level you up while nature is calling. Having friends over and showing them your new game can be truly... awesome?
So have you or your friends ever "watched" a full game from start to finish? Or maybe just a few levels/chapters? I've "watched" quite a few games. Does this mean I have a valid opinion on the gameplay and story?
I think for story, yes. Watching the story unfold and characters develop does not need the use of the controller. For gameplay, that can probably be debatable depending on the game, I think. You could probably understand the combat in a Kingdom Hearts game rather than the controls in Halo. The game could also just be pretty to watch, but a pain to play.
Friends can also contribute to to whether or not you put the title in your "Complete" pile. Going through puzzles or minigames, sometimes having an extra set of eyes can be a great asset. (I helped someone through the demo of Portal because they were stuck and didn't notice the importance of the moving platform.)
And besides, gaming has
always been a social event, despite what the media says. From arcades - watching your friend beat high scores - to MMOs - in watching a large group of people downing a boss. We have LAN parties and Tournaments - even watching finalists battle on a huge screen for all to see. We look forward to events like E3 - where we get our first looks at gameplay and stills from games of the future. (And is this using the same concept as just 'watching from afar'?)
Some Examples:
Age of Empires
I never really played this game, but I saw it played probably a few
million dozen times. I had never seen the RTS genre before this game, and it intrigued me. It was interesting how you had to build up your empire through the 'Ages', and thought it was insanely cool.
But I had never actually played it, and it wasn't until I got Age of Mythology that I realized... I really suck at RTS games. :D I play way too defensive/slow in general, and I don't keep up with all the various elements of the games well. (bad micro, hurrr) I was even worse with Warcraft 3, I just suck at paying attention to what to do with all my different peasants and building up an army efficiently.
Of course, with practice I got a lot better, but I never understood the controls or how it worked until I sat down and tried it myself.
FFXII / Final Fantasy 12
I watched this game from start to finish, enjoying the story as it happened. But some of the characters irked me, including the main character, Vaan. I just didn't understand why he was even
there half the game. As soon as you have Ashe in your party, your mainly helping her as a lackey and following her around on this grand adventure. You didn't even make that many decisions or shared thoughts in cut scenes, except maybe to make a bad situation more positive, even if Vaan was a bit naive. But for the most part I felt like Vaan was in my shoes - watching stuff happening but not having much part of it.
As far as gameplay, it wasn't too hard to pick up the controller and continue farming some mobs. The gambit system was easy enough, and "seeing monsters on screen" is something familiar from MMOs. But overall, it wasn't that difficult to be 'tagged in' at times.
This is a game I'd like to replay myself sometime though. I do like to replay RPGs even if there isn't much replay value. Whether I wanna do it because I didn't actually play it the first time around or not, I don't know. Might be because while playing Revenant Wings, I'm getting tired of the cutesy sprites. D; But seriously, I think some characters turned out better in Revenant Wings, with some characters having more motivation. But I'd like to see those personalities again before it, because I seriously just didn't see it the first time around.
~
So, does game experience always matter? Or does being the Snack Slave sometimes work?
I get bored out of my damn mind if I watch someone else play. It's like watching constantly watching porn. I mean it may be great and all, but after a while you just want to stop watching and just join in and have fun. Er.. or something like that.
The only game I like watching is skate., because I love laughing at people when they fall down.
While I hate watching people play (it often makes me jealous and makes me wanna play), my roommate often watches me play. He watched me play through King Kong, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, some CoD4, Super Mario Galaxy, the list goes on. He doesn't have the money for his own 360, so he lives vicariously through me most of them time. Doesn't bother me, but it also makes love to grab co-op games so he can actually join in 'cause I feel bad, haha.
Yeah that's the thing I hate most. When others watch me play. It's like uh "excuse me wtf r u doin".
I pretty much had to watch my gf play through all of Kingdom Hearts 2....which is good because it's definitely more entertaining to sit there and shit on the overstuffed plot than it is to "play" that thing.
Being one of the peanut galary rules
My friend watched me play most of God of War, didn't seem to mind. He tried to help me with the mini-games and puzzles too... help I didn't need.
@B-Radicate - haha sounds like me when I am at my brother's house or they bring the Wii over. He has everything except the PS3, and i always just watch the shiny things from afar ;( Good idea on the coops though~
goddamnit @ mouse spazzing.
I watched Kingdom Hearts 2 as well. I think I only helped with farming stuff, and the Atlantica minigame, haha.
I saw some God of War 2 at my cousin's house and it looked really cool and was even considering buying the games from what I saw. of course my cousin had played through it like 5 times already and probably just made it look super easy.
Yeah, I watched almost all of my retro RPGs. My brother played and I read all the text in different voices and such. And helped solve puzzles.
My wife likes to watch me play. She says she hates it, but then she gets sucked in and starts telling me what to do and that I fail when I lose. Then when I stop playing she gets sad.
I've watched my brother play through FF7-10. He's watched me play through both God of War games and nearly ever fighting game I played, he keeps saying he'll play against me sometime but never does.
@Pixel
Thats awesome! it's like the geek's story time. hehe
@Surf
LOL I know what you mean. And i'm pretty sure I do that kind of stuff even though I don't mean to be a pain about it.
My significant (matter of opinion) other has watched me play pretty much all the Resident evils, Metal gears, and silent hills.
While i have watched retards play final fantasy games, i cant be bothered to play them...
i love to watch my boyfriend play j-horror games like fatal frame. i still remember watching him play through silent hill 2 and i even had nightmares from watching. i admit those games scare the shit out of me, and i've never been inclined to pick up the controller since i figure i'd be too freaked out to make rational decisions/moves. but really, for me, watching is just as fun and sometimes we even yell at the same time "omg, wtf, aahhhh!"
@superflossy
OMG YEAH. i always scream when weird stuff happens!! so funny, it's like synced freakouts.
@ogo
any reason why you dont play them? do you still enjoy watching them?
If the game has constant dialog and keeps it interesting then I have no problem watching it. From last year my best friend would want to see me play The Darkness and Overlord because she liked the movie like scenes and the sense of humor.
I actually watched my roommate beat COD4 on his computer. I basically used it like a demo, because I liked the atmosphere and look of the game so much i went out and bought it for my Xbox once I had an Xbox.
thats really cool. =) yeah I have totally checked out games my friend's have played and raved about~
I've watched my roomate play many games, but perhaps most notably is the Metal Gear series. I've never played a single one, but I've watched him play through all 3.
From this I've come to the conclusion that the Metal Gear series is both A. great at telling interesting stories with it's several long cutscenes and interesting characters, and B. awesome in almost every way. I even kinda liked 2 and Raiden.....kinda.