OCD Breaking Through Videogames?

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So, it's kind of hard for me to play videogames. Not at technical or physical goal. I've been posting on this thread about wanting feedback from y'all , finally feeling having it right, and the entire circle reverses. I've lost so many hours of gameplay and won't touch certain games because they feel wrong, and I really love the damn Witcher. It's the closest thing to perfection I've found

I was just wondering how ya'll get started with your build and stuff? I know this stupid for me to do as most people can ust play the game straight out of the box, but I cannot .It might be some of my OCD tendencies showng through or my need for perfection even in videogame.

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm tired of researching, comparing the builds to one another, finding out what level I shold be at spot X, and finally just not knowing what to do.; I mean I have a general idea fo what I want my build too look like but ugh...

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?
 

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Well, sort of... I remember doing the research in order to optimize the build of my character and the party when I was playing Baldur's Gate or Torment for the first time.
Never felt like doing the same for any Witcher game. In case of TW3, the only question that ever mattered is: "Is the enemy 5 or more levels above Geralt?"
That said, I did 2 runs of the game where I've cleared every single point of interest on the map, so I probably do have some OCD tendencies.
 
I go a little further than repair. I'll probably do more time researching something than I would if I were to just jump right in and get going. It eventually beomes all I think about as well unless my mind is busy with wife, my work, our families, our brilliant dog, or my terrible health.
 
I have that in most RPG games I play these days, but the mahority of them are party titles (like BG, PoE, etc.). I usually try to find out the best main character/party compositions before playing through them in ernest. Before the internet was as readily avaiable for looking up stuff, I usually just played male warriors as my first characters in all such games and made up my mind along the way, sometimes even starting fresh mid game if I noticed the character choice was "bad".

With single character games (especially when they have open classes in some way) like Elder Scrolls or Witcher, I might look up builds, but I usually just end up building my characters along my playstyle... for instance: With TW3, I noticed I used fast attacks, Aard, Igni and Quen most in battles, so that's what I built for. In Skyrim, I usally end up with a sneaky spellsword character, since that's how I play.
 
I have that in most RPG games I play these days, but the mahority of them are party titles (like BG, PoE, etc.). I usually try to find out the best main character/party compositions before playing through them in ernest. Before the internet was as readily avaiable for looking up stuff, I usually just played male warriors as my first characters in all such games and made up my mind along the way, sometimes even starting fresh mid game if I noticed the character choice was "bad".

With single character games (especially when they have open classes in some way) like Elder Scrolls or Witcher, I might look up builds, but I usually just end up building my characters along my playstyle... for instance: With TW3, I noticed I used fast attacks, Aard, Igni and Quen most in battles, so that's what I built for. In Skyrim, I usally end up with a sneaky spellsword character, since that's how I play.
I agree with a lot of that. I remember though they used used to have the videogame guides they were kind of like magazines. Anyway, I had a whole shelf full of them. I still do all this research and stuff even though I don't play multiplayer. Ever. It has no appeal to me. I used to play WoW back when it first came out until WotLK, but I was always a healer.

EDIT: I shold probably make it public knowledge that I do infact have OCD. I was officially diagnosed in my sophomore year of college. Symptoms began the summer before my sophomore year of high school. I went through two years of hell and didn't know why I was feeling the way I was and doing what I was doing. I just wanted this out there because I know some people find those "sillly little remarks" offensive.
 
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Well, there are ways to reset all skills once you find out that you made a big mistake. So at first you can focus on very basic things and later during the game you can try out a different built.

But usually in games a lot depends on the difficulty setting. On medium or easy difficulty even the worst possible built should be playable.
 
Hey man I feel you, nowadays I don't feel like playing cRPG's as much (despite RPG being my favorite genre) because I need to do everything perfectly. I am the kind of person that reloads a save to replay battles until everything turns out perfectly with zero deaths or resource waste. In games like Baldur's Gate I always ended up hoarding an immense amount of health potions because I always tried to optimize their use. Shopping for anything major like a new GPU or a new guitar is a pain in the ass, I need to feel like I got the absolute best deal in existence with the budget I have.

But look, from a formal perspective it is impossible to find optimal solutions in a reasonable amount of time with only partial information (and depending on the problem, even with full information). Playing video games, especially something like The Witcher 3 which is not that tactical or "stat-dependent", is a great way to apply that principle. You make decisions based on the limited amount of information you have, and that is simply the best you can do. Unlike in real life, there is no real threat or danger and you simply get to experience different outcomes. Try and play games like TW3 with a different mindset: there are no mistakes, you simply make choices. No matter what you do, Geralt will still be a badass witcher. You want to know how to build Geralt on TW3? Choose something that looks good, and then forget about it. By the time I finished TW3 I had at least a dozen unused points because I also couldn't decide how to use them, and the game was still perfectly playable on Blood & Broken Bones.

The only reason you can compare outcomes and choices (and therefore regret choices) in computer games is because they are scripted and limited. If you were playing a tabletop RPG you would simply make choices and never know whether something else would have turned out differently, and the truth is it doesn't really matter because the point of a game is to be enjoyed. The only optimal character is the one that allows you to enjoy the game. Some people think they have to play the strongest/fastest/sexiest/whatever character and then tell others their characters are "suboptimal", completely neglecting styles and preferences. Basically everyone wants to be some sort of Superman... isn't that boring?.

I do not claim to have experienced anything like the difficulties you might have with actual OCD. You can't simply change how you experience things but maybe you can adapt your concept or your understanding of games from something that needs to be a certain way, to something that simply is and can be enjoyed. Think of it like music or food: there are no wrong choices, only different experiences.
 
*Thinks back at all those 1000s of reloads in classic Baldur's Gate to get max hit points on level, up on every character...*

...anywho. I think things get labeled as OCD far to hastily these days. Perfectionism isn't automatically a disorder.
 
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*Thinks back at all those 1000s of reloads in classic Baldur's Gate to get max hit points on level, up on every character...*

...anywho. I think things get labeled as OCD far to hastily these days. Perfectionism isn't automatically a disorder.

Sure there is "perfectionism" but there are also clinically recognized disorders that can genuinely affect a person's quality of life. Being able to address them can make the difference between "reloading a game for max points" or being simply incapable of even starting the game in the first place. Not acknowledging these things is an issue, like pretending people cannot be deathly allergic to shrimp or peanuts.

How to play cRPG's (often complex games) with something like OCD is a perfectly valid and quite interesting topic, in my opinion.
 
I am the kind of person that reloads a save to replay battles until everything turns out perfectly with zero deaths or resource waste.

This was so me when I was younger. I would play through potentially hours of the same stuff until I got exactly the result I thought I needed.

Nowadays, I hardly ever go back (unless I'm specifically trying to learn how to do something). A lot of that has to do with the structure of games changing over time. I just started playing through the original Kohan again, and man, the campaign is a reminder of how far we've come. Basically, there's little chance of winning many campaign levels unless you already know what you're facing. While there is some level of overall strategy that can be used to "react" to the AI, the game will normally let it cheat like crazy with the economics. This forces the player to play through maps numerous times, until they sort of "know what to expect". More trial and error than actual strategy and tactics. (And, I remember Kohan feeling amazingly balanced when it was released. :p The random maps still mostly are.)

Thank the gods games got away from that formula. It simply bred the mindset that you have to do things a certain way or you'll fail.


Try and play games like TW3 with a different mindset: there are no mistakes, you simply make choices. No matter what you do, Geralt will still be a badass witcher. You want to know how to build Geralt on TW3? Choose something that looks good, and then forget about it. By the time I finished TW3 I had at least a dozen unused points because I also couldn't decide how to use them, and the game was still perfectly playable on Blood & Broken Bones.

Exactly. I encountered a few balance issues, but nothing that ever made me feel like I was being funneled into a certain playstyle or outcome.


The only reason you can compare outcomes and choices (and therefore regret choices) in computer games is because they are scripted and limited. If you were playing a tabletop RPG you would simply make choices and never know whether something else would have turned out differently, and the truth is it doesn't really matter because the point of a game is to be enjoyed. The only optimal character is the one that allows you to enjoy the game. Some people think they have to play the strongest/fastest/sexiest/whatever character and then tell others their characters are "suboptimal", completely neglecting styles and preferences. Basically everyone wants to be some sort of Superman... isn't that boring?.

That's been true for a while, too. Yes, there are sometimes over- / underpowered skills when compared to other game aspects, but that rarely invalidates the other playstyle. Perfect example: there was a rifle called "The Warden" in Planetside 2. Almost universally lauded as "the worst @#$%!ng weapon in the whole game OMG -- LOL!!!" Since I'm a total glutton for punishment, I decided to test that. For about 2 years. Just stubborn.

I admit, the gun was a royal pain in the bleeping bleep. Semi-auto, small clip, middling damage. THEN...I discovered something. Optimal range. Perfect for supporting roles. At ranges that were too close for effective sniping / too far for assault rifles to be effective...The Warden was king. The only big challenge was finding a good position. I became lethal with that thing.
 
...anywho. I think things get labeled as OCD far to hastily these days. Perfectionism isn't automatically a disorder.

I agree. Although in my case I am diagnosed Aspergers and OCD. I do get frustrated with the unmarked quests on W3. I wonder if I have missed any and get a little stressed over it. The joys of OCD...
 
That said, I did 2 runs of the game where I've cleared every single point of interest on the map, so I probably do have some OCD tendencies.
Skellige too ? Is there any trick to manage those sirens, boat health and carrying capacity without getting frustrated? I tried clearing skellige map once, quit half way through it. It's so annoying that it helped me get over my ocd about clearing all maps in my games.
 
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Wait what's a Hornwall Horn ?

edit: nevermind found it. I wonder what else there is I don't know about in the game... wow Now I can try to clear all those question marks, see how this horn works..
 
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