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What’s better: becoming overpowered, or a chunky manual?Vote now!
Vote now!
Becoming overpowered
I’m always pleased when a game lets me become overpowered. I’ve figured out a weird niche combination of skills or items, and my reward is to run rampant. Or I’ve nailed the perfect party composition. Or I’ve turned my brain off and grinded power for a few hours while listening to podcasts. Or I’ve found a super-rare item which is just plain daft. Or the latest patch simply made something super-strong. Or, likeVampire Survivors, the game is all about becoming overpowered. Or… there are many ways to become overpowered, and I’ve enjoyed them all.
I understand a desire for balance in competitive multiplayer games. I understand the satisfaction of constantly being challenged. But in many games, ah c’mon, what’s the harm of me running wild every once in a while? I’m always sorry when singleplayer roguelikelikes in particular decide that some rare item or synergy is too strong.
A chunky manual
Joined grizzled PC gaming veterans around their burning barrel of AOL trial CDs (they still have hundreds of ‘em stockpiled between old graphics cards they’ll never need and old hard drives they’re sure they will) and they will, inevitably, talk abouta really big manual. Maybe Falcon 4.0, the flight sim whose hundreds of pages pretty much teach you how to fly a warplane. Or the hundreds for Civilization andSimCity3000, games complex enough to warrant explanation. Or… ah, so much information!
Plus, chunky manuals were often full of great pictures, stories, in-universe colour, and other goodies.
Much like feelies (which you decidedare inferior to RULES OF NATURE), chunky manuals are mostly over. What game even gets a physical release these days? But if enough of us consider them viable candidates for the best thing, maybe we can turn the tide.
But which is better?
Some of my favourite Binding Of Isaac memories involve forming builds so powerful that they would either one-shot a boss or crash the game. That’s what I call power. As much as I enjoy a well-written manual properly explaining a complex thing, I can’t resist becoming ridiculous. What do you think, reader dear?
