Aging Gamer: Purchasing Day One

<p>There was a time when you bought a game you were on your own when you played it&period; You had no walkthrough&comma; no Internet to help&comma; if you were rich maybe you had the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Strategy&lowbar;guide">strategy guide<&sol;a>&period; When I was younger I was lucky enough to get the game&comma; but never had the funds for the strategy guides&period; I would have to sneak peeks when we went to the local Wal-Mart or glance a peek when we went to the mall&period; If I ever got stuck on a game that would basically be my &&num;8220&semi;game over&&num;8221&semi; screen&period; It was rough back in the day&comma; even thinking back it was also hard in the PlayStation 2 and GameCube era&period; The Internet had just begun but video games weren&&num;8217&semi;t as prevalent on the web as they are now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I has been probably about 15 years since I felt the feeling of absolutely no help during a video game&period; The last time I felt it was when I was probably playing <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;shadow-of-the-eternals-revealed-as-eternal-darkness-sequel&sol;"><em>Eternal Darkness<&sol;em><&sol;a> on my <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;top-ten-gamecube-games-needed-on-switchs-vc&sol;">GameCube<&sol;a>&period; That game was hard back then and I still need to beat it&comma; most likely with the help of a walkthrough&period; Flash forward to August 30 when I downloaded <em>Blair Witch<&sol;em> on day one thanks to my Game Pass subscription&period; I was super excited to play this title&comma; I had been waiting since E3 to get my hands on it and now&comma; finally was the time&period; I sat in my chair and enjoyed my little hour or two walk in the woods&comma; when suddenly I didn&&num;8217&semi;t know what to do or how to proceed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;146938" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-146938" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-146938 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;09&sol;01021732&sol;strat-guides&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Prima Strategy Guides were a gamers best friend&comma; if you could afford one" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"359" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-146938" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Strategy Guides &&num;8211&semi; Prima&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>My trusty tablet was sitting next to me so I fired it up and tried to find the spot where I was on YouTube or in a walkthrough&period; Nothing greeting me&period; It was like I was eight again playing <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;injustice-2-reveals-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-gameplay&sol;"><em>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<&sol;em><&sol;a> on my NES and having no idea where the final bomb was in the water&excl; I panicked a little bit then decided to calm down and play another game for a little bit&period; When I was younger a break in gameplay somehow granted me the power to beat it the next time I fired it up&period; Luckily that happened after I played <em>Astral Chain<&sol;em> for about an hour or so&period; Bullet and I were on our way once again to find young Peter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was weird feeling so helpless all of sudden while playing a game&period; Like I said before if I ever get stuck I would just fire up my tablet&comma; but this time I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t find help and had to do it on my own&period; The past two generations have babied us a lot&comma; not only do games hold our hands for awhile but we have access to countless walkthroughs&comma; YouTube videos and help overall&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m beginning to wonder if this is a bad thing for gamers&comma; I remember when I was 8 or 9 I could beat <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;megaman&period;fandom&period;com&sol;wiki&sol;Mega&lowbar;Man&lowbar;2">Mega Man 2<&sol;a> with no help at all&comma; but now I can&&num;8217&semi;t even figure out which boss to take on first&period; I wish games would be more like <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;kotaku&period;com&sol;what-dark-souls-is-really-all-about-5874599">Dark Souls<&sol;a>&comma; with little to no hand holding and with some punishing but fair difficulty&period; Every now and then I do like to just play a game for the story&comma; but sometimes I do like a little challenge to make sure I&&num;8217&semi;ve still got it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>Like what you read&quest; Check out more of my <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;tag&sol;aging-gamer&sol;">Aging Gamer<&sol;a> series on BagoGames&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;