Not playing the game "right"...

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Are there any games you play...where you don't play the game as it was intended?

I don't mean using cheats and stuff...I mean, focusing on different parts of the game than most people?

Maybe it's just me but I found that i tend to do that with some games.

For example, the Sims. When I used to play the Sims, I'd spend most of my time planning and building the houses, and deciding on the furnishings (and downloading more), and when i finally finished the house, and moved my Sims in (which is supposed to be when the game really starts) I got bored and moved on to building the next house.

NWN is similar in some ways to me. I do play a lot of mods, but I also spend a lot of time just creating new characters and thinking of new characters ideas to try. I like reading old Dragon issues and trying to create new races and classes based on them. (Ghost Elf, Half-Ghoul, Solar-infused Paladin, etc.) With the flexibility of the toolset (and some creative item making), I can try all kinds of goofy PCs.

These are just 2 examples of "not playing the game right" that I could think of...I'm sure there are more. (The GTA series is practically built on this idea.)

Is it just me? or do others do this too?

-D

 

I have hours of fun making Warcraft III maps, but when it comes time to play them I get board and start working on a new one. Does that count?

 

I think that counts. Anytime you spend more time getting setup to play the game, rather than playing the game, I think it counts.

Of course, in the case of the Sims, it was originally going to be just house building...the life sim part was added later...so technically I WAS playing the game...the original one at least.

 

I roleplay cRPGs to some extent. I have unorthodox strategies in strategy games. I often reload to achieve a better result or to check out a different route. As for the right or the wrong way, I have issues with the way some people play competitive multiplayer RTS games - targetting the player himself rather than his virtual army with psych-warfare and annoyance tactics.

 

I've been known to stall the main quest from time to time to replay a cool battle if that counts...

Here's something I got criticized about with the Sims though: I would start with a vacant lot and then buy the stuff I needed and build the house around it as I could afford it...

 

Not often. Some RPGs have mini-games that you could play instead of actually getting the RPG iteself. For example, I got really into the Blitzball tournament in Final Fantasy 10 once, and the adventure became training up my blitzball team rather than beating the RPG. But does that really count? The game makers DID put that mini-game in there for that purpose, complete with tournaments, prizes, and signing free agents, so it doesn't feel like it counts.

Most puzzle games have build-your-own-map tools, even back to my Apple ][ days. I don't think that counts though, because once you've finished the levels that came with the game, there's not much else to do. The editor is there for that purpose.

I think my best example of playing the game the wrong way was when when I played NHL 2001 or 2002. I didn't actually play the hockey games! I just fiddled with the fantasy draft, created players and tried to develop rookies into superstars over several seasons. It was like playing as the manager of the team.

 

Any game where I can reasonably play a collector I just play as a collector (no PS:T reference intended)

Games such as baldur's gate (potions, arrows, spells, gems), Fallout (stims, ammo, rocks) Final Fantasy series, Diablo etc

The one game that absolutely shines with potential is Morrowind. I always download a nice house near Balmora and just go treasure hunting, displaying my armor on mannequins, putting weapons in displaying cases etc etc. Completely forgetting about the main quest.

Diablo II is also great in this aspect but there is so little space in that damn trunk. Thankfully there is always ATMA for single player.

 

Morrowind does shine in that respect, Apeman. I always play it like that too. In fact, I created my own hideout so that I would have enough storage room to display all of my armor and weapons and such, both on mannequins and in displays. I've started Morrowind with 6 or 7 different characters, but I've only finished the main quest once. I'm not sure that anything you'd do in this game could count as 'not playing it right' though, since it is based on freedom to play the game however you want to. In this respect, it would fall into the same category as GTA, I'd think.

In NWN, I also tend to spend most of my time planning a character, or thinking up new themes and builds to play, rather than playing the game itself.

In BG2, you're not really supposed to solo, but, like a lot of people on these boards, I did solo the game a few times, which was great fun.

And occasionally I will speedrun a game, i.e. get through a game in the fastest time possible. Which can often lead to using routes which you were not even supposed to be able to take, using shortcuts, and generally ignoring anything that resembles a story.

 

The new Pirates: go around and get rich like in the old ones instead of this "finding your family" crap.

 

Hardly. My one MAJOR complaint about Morrowind is how it expects you to do the main quest before anything else. My first time through, I found the faction quests much more engaging and did those alongside the main quest. Didn't really stall the main quest, but it was kinda "while I'm here". So I get to a certain point in the game, and suddenly everyone's (okay, not everyone, but about three different important people, and then there are three more I didn't ask) telling me "OMG, you've done something wrong, go see [this guy] immediately to sort it!!!111!"

Naturally, I freaked the hell out and went running to him. And he instead acts like I'm farther along in the Main Quest than I was. So now I'm even more freaked out, thinking I've destroyed the game somehow and it's bugging up. But then I look in the Construction Set and it turns out this is just a shortcut if you're at a certain level and rep. But all the people who clue you in to it sound like they're saying "You've screwed up horribly!" It's a damn mean trick.

 

Giles: I agree with you about Pirates. I really should throw it on for a run when I need something less serious...

Fel: I could never get far enough along the main quest for that to matter. I've started again recently, and am still level 2. Maybe I could try to stall the main quest longer. But I do enjoy raiding the Dwenmer ruins, so I may do the first quest for the Fighter's guild guy then stall the main quest...

 

@Fel: I think the designers wanted that so you wouldn't use the shortcut immediately


Oh god Morrowind and Oblivion. Forget the main quest, I just get a house (in the case of Morrowind a stronghold) and collect every book and rare weapon I can find then put them on display. I'm a bibliophile in games like that (never ever given away or sold a book )

 

In the Red Alert series I usually spend most of the time building forts (walls & turrets) that take 1/5 of the whole map, and only afterwards concentrate on building mammoth tanks and killing people.

In Oblivion I usually lower the difficulty, pimp out my character with expensive clothes, make the meanest possible weapon imaginable and go kill ogres with one hit (they fly ridiculously in the air when you charge attack).

In NWN2 Toolset, I've been trying to make an island campaign with mostly talky-puzzle-talky-useskill-talky, but got bored. Still, they're pretty cool maps to just wander around.

 

The Sims? I built 1X1 squares of wall in the corners of the estate for the purpose of placing alarms on them.

 

With cRPGs the first time I play I usually 'go by the book'. But if I replay the game I will try different things. My last game in Oblivion I went to Kvatch before going to Jaufry. I was surprised to find the developers had anticipated this and Jaufry sent me back to get Martin.

In Morrowind I met up with the bad guy before I was supposed to and he just sent me away. to the developers.

In building games I get more interested in the building then the game story. If there is an editor I get side tracked making things. Currently in Oblivion I'm spending more time decorating houses and collecting companions then in playing the actual game.