Gaming Styles

[Deathosaurus Wrecks]

Mumbo, perhaps. Jumbo, perhaps not.

forgot to add that I'm a huge fan of support classes in RPGs. if no one else will be one, i'll take on the roll of healer or buffer myself.

[Kaelus]

Yeah, I feel much better as the healer in RPGs. It's good to feel needed, trusted and self-sufficient. Especially for people who seek perfection and always fight at their best condition, using up all your potential (including items). I hate to be defeated without first trying every single possibility of victory. It feels somehow... shameful.

Aside from that, I also don't like to be in the heat of battle. I'd rather stay in the back with cleric or archer characters. If that's not possible, my second choice are stealthy, agile ones, but always making the battle easier for those in the frontlines.

[Lockeownzj00]

Ah, can't believe I let this thread pass me by.

Fifthfiend, great post as usual at the beginning--loved the 'grunt' comment. Almost an aphorism, basically.

FPSes, I tend to use reverse pscychology--AI is textbook, usually easy even on very hard modes for me, and it's just a matter of learning their patterns and such. Real people, that's my specialty. Especially in a game you're good at--the double back, the double double back, thinking so fast on your toes that you do things you didn't even know you could do; jumping down the ladder, rounding the corner, backwards jumping upwards and waiting above the arch, while he's still rounding the corner or some shit like that--that's where I'm at. In games like CS, that are absolutely relentless in regards to Hit Points, these methods can be perfected and fine tuned to become a very capable strategy.

RTS (Well, I'm mostly a TBSer)-wise, I tend to think things out but still fail; I lack the ability to manage a huge sprawl like that (yet).

RPG-wise, it depends. I tend to play physically-alt characters (in dnd type games, chaotic good is about my alignment), with fighting capabilities, but other, unique ones as well--thieves, rangers, that sort of thing. In games with total freedom, if I'm not just seeing how far I can go with it (*ahem* KOTOR), if I actually play the game like I would be as a person, I tend to treat people fairly well, but I'm very stern and such.

Items-wise, I always feel like I'm never fully capitalising on the mechanics of any game. Well, in linear RPGs like FF4, I may not have the best equipment sometimes, but it's more of a structured level of what weapons/armor are good and what aren't. With more open-ended games, all the way up to full ADnDs like Planescape: Torment, the variety is so aqesome and humbling and ridiculous that you feel completely lame for in the end using a very few select pieces of armor for mass amounts of time. In linear RPGs like Final Fantasy I usually have a crude 'armor/weapon hierarchy,' where who I consider the 'best' character (these days it's decided for you--but in games like FFVI, it's up to you) gets the best equipment, and every time I re-equip them in any way, their old stuff goes to the next best guy.

PS, I always have too many throwable swords by the end of the game that I know I could've used. Every once in a while I do and I'm like, "whaat? 8,000 dmg?!"

In genre-busters like Metal Gear Solid, I feel the same way about not fully utilising it. I always have way too many encounters--I'm (eventually) fundamentally good at the game, it's just I end up with too many 'ah, fuck it,' encounters, which considering, is a shame; the real skill is being able to stop yourself, breather and sneak on through. Games like PS:T can be played without killing but 3 NPCs of the thousands that present themselves.

Fighting games, I'm good enough that (this differs in the arcade--much more brutal, no button layout, modifiers, actual arcade setup, but still similar) I figure out moves for the characters within a few seconds from the start of the fight (note--I'm not good, usually not at all, but I can fend for myself). I don't mash like some people do, I think that's a shame. I do this combination of fending off the opponent while I try to discern the patterns for the character. Often I'll sacrifice a round or a lot of hit points, once, and then from then on I get it.

Smash Brothers? Samus. Done.

Platformers, I'm fairly good at, I tend to run-and-gun, but it's not that hard for me to just take my time and *get* there, to the 'top,' or the 'end.'

Although in all of these, especially the FPSes, I tend to get myself in 'quick-save situations,' where I saved basically in the middle of a moment where I was fucked. In certain FPSes, this means like, 1.5 seconds and the fatal bullet hits my head. But I've almost always managed to mechanically reload and try to figure some workaround, so I usually find *some* way out.

Miscellany:

However, it must be noted that, quite often, I'm something of a gambler - I can and will take incredibly stupid-seeming risks if the potential reward is large enough.

Yeah, agreed. The payoff is sometimes fantastic.
Final note: I hate that I had to partial-skim this thread, but I was interested in everyone's style, phenomenal thread, CelesJessa, I commend you. Was particularly interested in people like Nova.

forgot to add that I'm a huge fan of support classes in RPGs. if no one else will be one, i'll take on the roll of healer or buffer myself.

Note on this: I agree, to a point. I don't like just being a 'meat shield,' or 'the healer,' but my experience as a medic in Enemy Territory...suffice to say that I mention it in every possible situation I possibly can (still a crime I haven't played Battlefield 2...). I am totally fine with both completly prawning the opposition and supporting my team mates. I will find you. I will come to get you, I will drop in from the fucking sky and revive you. The oath of the medic or some shat like that. I love making people happy in that way, it gets their game pumped up.

Plus, regen is a quirk I'll never grow out of. Yeah, you may be bleeding against the wall there, but if I sit here long enough, I'm good as new. Absolutely perfect for (ET specifically) double back situations--lead em somewhere, hide, recover any damage, and own that suqqa.

[Buddha Fett]

With an RPG or an RTS, I focus on defence.

With an FPS, I always play co-op with my brother jake. He is a more reckless fighter, so he always charges forward and I cover his ass with a sniper rifle (my one skill that translates well into real life-I got the turkey for thanksgiving last year, if ya know what i mean)

[CrazyBen]

In FPS's, I usually go with what I call the "Front-Row Sniper" - I'll take a sniper rifle (or scope-less rifle,where available) then basically just walk around with it always at the ready. I'm a pretty good snap-shot, but get tunnel vision when I do this, so it works best in singleplayer or as part of a small squad.

In RPG's, I'm a packrat and exp-whore of epic proportions. I usually get most of the way though any RPG without using up ANY items (besides keys and equiping weapons). In online, I usually go for a healer/tank mix.

In RTS's, I turtle first, climb the tech tree, and have a love of artillery bordering on the unhealthy. I HATE losing troops, even useless ones like spare builders.

[neyo the king]

In... well, pretty much all the genres of games I play, my startegy is to play by ear the whole time.

In a FPS, I scan the area, choose a location, asses the situation, then take the best course of action. But every plan I've ever made had one simple goal. Get from point A to point B. Then, at point B, I do it again. Scan, choose, asses, run, rinse repeat.

In RTS, I build up my defenses, and start my "foundation armies". That's my name for the two armies that I make. They can be either a run-'n'-gun steamroll army, or a hold-no-quarters defensive army.

Then, I wait whilst building up my resourses and defenses for them to amke the first move. If nothing happenes for a while, I assume they're a steamroll army and focus on my defense. If they come knockiong first, I deploy my steamroll army. A very flawed system that rarely works, but when it does, it's a specticle to behold.

RPGs? I like to level to godly levels before I even fight the first boss. Then, I can run through the land looking for goodies and have to worry only passivly about the well-fair of the group. I also pack many of get-out-of-dungeond items and get-back-to-town items. Just in case.

[mauve]

I'm a packrat. If I find some magical weapon that you can use only once to inflict massive damage, I'll hoard it for the entire game. Then, by the time I reach the final boss, I forget I have it. Either that, or I use it on some big nasty boss and I realize that this item WOULD have been useful about 24 levels ago, but now my character inflicts more damage on his own. Then the screaming starts.

I'm also a pretty firm anti-leveler. In most games, I hate having to run around for three days leveling up in order to beat the next boss. I like a good storyline, and taking time to level interferes with said storyline. The only exception to this rule is DragonQuest 8, which for some reason is still appealing after spending three days leveling up just to defeat a minor boss. Because then, you can beat the living daylights out of said boss and cackle wickedly as he fails miserably. I mean, the jerk DID kill me eight times in a row. Now it's payback time. Don't mess with my Hero.

[Raerlynn]

RTS - Turtle; massive defensive structures; elaborate bases that make enemies break upon them like water on a beachhead. In Multiplayer; it tends to get me killed.

TBS - Two or three massive armires that ride around and crush everything

FPS - I prefer to use heights to my advantage to disorient my enemies and attack them from all sides. I also favor short range weapons and tend to flank enemy teams from the sides or rear.

RPG - I always always always go for a melee/spellcaster hybrid. In D&D it means taking a few levels of Fighter before going Sorceror, before moving on to Spellsword; in Morrowind it translates into me joining the ifhgter's guild long enough to train up my long blade before heading over to the mage's guild to load up on cool damaging effects. In terms of combat I tend to favor opening with a barrages of magic and following up with straight swordplay.

Fighting - Swift, chainable hits. Not nessecarily damaging, but chainable. Throw in some abusive counter-attacks, and you've got Raphael!

[Great Cartoonist]

In most cases, no matter what, I try to have at least one healer or healing ability whenever possible. I like to have a big, beefy overall defence in RPGs.

In first-person shooters I'm a sniper. Even in Duke Nukem 3D I try to make it so that I can barely see the enemy behind the corner and shoot them without the enemy reacting to my presence. The only exceptions to my case are those really old FPS games ala Wolfenstein 3D where sniping is not possible, in which case I tend to bring out the biggest gun I find and mow down everything as soon as I open the door whilst using strafing and hiding techniques.

[Fifthfiend]

Oh yeah, one thing -

In RTSs, nothing makes me happier then slipping like two units behind enemy lines and slaughtering the other guy's resource-gathering units.

It's best when you attack him with a proper force at the same time. Sometimes people won't even realize you've hacked them off at the knees, until all of a sudden they're like oh shits, didn't I used to have gold reserves?

Originally Posted by Locke

Fifthfiend, great post as usual at the beginning--loved the 'grunt' comment. Almost an aphorism, basically.

Thanks, that's what I was going for.