The games you can't play anymore.

[wonko the sane?]

Now, I don't mean titles you can't play for technical reasons like the console died, or you suck at configuring emulators, or you lost the cartridges (unrelated note, am I the only one that misses cartridges?) or something.

I mean the titles you cannot play because you can't stand them anymore. Either you overplayed them way back when and can't stomach it anymore, or subsequent sequels subtly (or grossly.) changed the game mechanics to the point where you don't enjoy it, or the graphics or sound just get on your nerves.

Mine will catch some flak I think: basically all the besthesda RPG's before the current generation games. Especially the fallout games. I love fallout: the lore, the story, the vastness. To a similar extent, it's the same for oblivion and morrowind. But I don't have the patience for a top down, isometric game anymore, and the first person titles are just... ugly (now, and in comparison anyway.) and the controls are thick and slow. Before skyrim dropped, there was a point in time when I was so hard up for more elder scrolls I was seriously tempted to buy oblivion AGAIN, and now I just... can't... And consequently I don't have the drive to mod the old titles to a more modern state.

 

[Zephyr]

I'm in the same boat, trying to go back to Bethesda stuff before FO4 and Skyrim is just...too rough, even if I do love New Vegas, I just can't get back into it after the steps forward we've taken tech-wise.

Also similarly, I also don't have the patience to learn the original Fallouts. I didn't have any experience on the genre growing up, so I don't have any nostalgia for the difficulty - my only real exposure has been through Pillars of Eternity, and having the option to swap to a story difficulty really made the experience a great deal better for me.

As for ones that aren't echoing already mentioned, titles, pre-3DS Nintendo handheld games on original/most compatible hardware. Just can't bear trying to endure the tiny screen anymore, but that's where collections and emulation pick up the slack. (Or in a few rare cases, remakes.)

 

[Thefakelink]

Rhythm games.

 

[NovaSaber]

I thought this was going to be about all those mobile games that they discontinue like a month after they stop adding new content.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

I picked up the Mega Man X Legacy Collection and just can't play it. I don't have the reflexes for it anymore. Haven't even tried the Zero/ZX Collection, but I expect more of the same.

 

[Caldwin]

GoldenEye: I played it all the time in college and loved it. But the N64 controller, button mapping, muzzle drift with manual aiming and strafing mechanics...I just can't even.

 

[MEDdMI]

I picked up cartridges for Q*Bert awhile back, and I have a player that's compatible, but I can't even get past the first stage b/c I get too frustrated XD

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Not exactly the answer this thread is asking for, but RPGs.

I WANT to, but I just do NOT have the time...

 

[wonko the sane?]

Not exactly the answer this thread is asking for, but RPGs.

I WANT to, but I just do NOT have the time...

Perfectly viable answer. You can't do it anymore, that's all that needed.

 

[Anonymous X]

GoldenEye: I played it all the time in college and loved it. But the N64 controller, button mapping, muzzle drift with manual aiming and strafing mechanics...I just can't even.

It’s not just the controller, it’s the low frame-rate and (very) low resolution graphics that ruins that for me these days. Was genuinely astonishing in 1997, but a blurry, jittery mesh now, sadly.

Another game I don’t like any more? Secret of Mana. Was my first JRPG type game (of sorts), as none of the Final Fantasy games were released here in the UK until FF VII on the PlayStation. SoM left a big impression on me, as I’d never played anything like it before, and the presentation was superb. More recently… it’s just not fun to play, very repetitive, tedious and grind-y, and the story is paper-thin. Still happy to own it on cartridge and the soundtrack CD for old time’s sake, though.

 

[Anonymous X]

Oh, games I can’t play any more? Anything on the ZX Spectrum. I grew up playing games on that computer (the most popular game system in Britain during the 1980s – the NES was completely unknown here in the UK). The system’s lack of hardware sprites and scrolling is just too apparent.

 

[Rust]

Yeah, the RPG genre is one I used to dive in with my whole heart and soul, and I just...can't...anymore. My Steam Library is a graveyard of RPGs I've bought because they looked fantastic and intrigued me. And within six hours, I'm just spent with them. Whether it's because the stories take too long to get going, the "Role play" in it is locked behind a handful of pregenerated options, or I just can't be bothered to get immersed in the world presented...

Look, it took me nine years to slog through finishing the main quest of Skyrim having owned it from Day One. Dawnguard and Dragonborn are still not finished and at this point I doubt I ever will. And this is from the guy who got all the achievements available in Oblivion on a single character. The spark for them is just...gone.

Along a similar track - MMOs. My last foray was into Final Fantasy XIV...and I was getting anxiety from the prospect of doing group content.

 

[Caldwin]

I can still play and love things like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Save files make it easy for me to dedicate time here and there towards them just like any other game.

I also can't really say I can't play games like Skyrim. I still love Breath of the Wild and Cyberpunk after all.

But Skyrim itself? I played it 3 times (PS3, PS4 and Switch). And even after finishing it, I kept playing it for the longest time.

But honestly, Breath of the Wild does everything Skyrim did only better. Cyberpunk (in a different setting) does everything better. Yes, Cyberpunk, on my PS4...fully patched I rather play Cyberpunk than Skyrim.

 

[wonko the sane?]

I keep skyrim at this point for mods. And even then: I prefer fallout 4's world, environment and lore over the elder scrolls. I'm even at the point where I'm questioning whether or not I'll even bother getting TES 6 at all.

 

[Caldwin]

Well, I don't play X-Box, so I'm not likely to play it in any case. But I know what you mean.

It feels like Bethesda milked Skyrim so dry that my interest in ES as a franchise just dried up with it.

 

[Rust]

I'm even at the point where I'm questioning whether or not I'll even bother getting TES 6 at all.

I wouldn't worry overmuch about it.
With Covid and Todd Howard being an incompetent hack, I don't forecast TES6 arriving any time before 2025. And given how Todd loves his cutesy launch dates, we might not even see it until March 3rd, 2033.

 

[Caldwin]

And nothing of value would be missed.

 

[Thefakelink]

Not sure if this would count but I picked up New Vegas on Steam after hearing all the praise it got. $10 for the game and all DLC sounded good. I’ve tried on three separate occasions to get into it and I just can’t. I haven’t found a hook or anything to get me to come back to it.

 

[wonko the sane?]

At least you didn't pay over much. I feel the same way about cyberpunk 2077 and paid full price.

 

[Zephyr]

That reminds me that I can add FTL, Nuclear Throne, and Dark Souls into the "I bounced off of these because I absolutely do not have the patience or necessary dedicated interest" pile.