Gaming rituals or habits

So, you've got yourself a new game, what's the first thing you do?

Is there a certain way you play a game that you do in all games? (where applicable)


A couple of personal examples I can think of.

Starting a new game: I always go through everything in the options screen for every game! 

Playing games: If a game as in-game currency that I can spend on things, I'll avoid spending any of it on equipment etc. unless absolutely necessary. Much like real life I guess! 

When I first play a game, I will always watch every single cinematic as the game loads up.And then never watch them again

I have to explore every nook and cranny of a new game to make sure I don't miss anything!

naughtyrobot wrote:I have to explore every nook and cranny of a new game to make sure I don't miss anything!

Same!!

The first thing I always do when I open a new game is out the disc in the console! Happens every single time!

I remember the good old days of reading the manual first. Usually on the way back from the shops.

Wolvieware wrote:The first thing I always do when I open a new game is out the disc in the console! Happens every single time!

And we wonder why people don't post!

I couldn't really think of anything else!

MarkySharky wrote:

Wolvieware wrote:The first thing I always do when I open a new game is out the disc in the console! Happens every single time!

And we wonder why people don't post!

I actually laughed at the post.

In response to the original question I too go through all the on screen options despite them these days pretty much being pointless.

Also spend the bare minimum, first time I played through Resi 4 I only upgraded the case, handgun and shotgun. Didn't even consider anything else until the second play through where I upgraded pretty much everything.

I have to kill an enemy if they have hit me even if I'm about to leave a section, if for example someone shoots me from the other side of the screen I'll go all the way back to kill them.

In the olden days, when I a) bought games in shops and, more importantly, b) didn't have a car, I'd read the manual on the bus home.  These days, if the package arrives during the week, I'll probably have to wait until the weekend until I get time to play it .

Often these days, the first couple of hours I'll mostly be trying to get to to grips with the controls, until I feel really comfortable with them (i.e. when I can make the move/press the button without consciously thinking about what I'm doing).

New game routine: make a coffee and have a smoke whilst waiting for the game to install, shortly followed by another smoke whilst having to enter a shit-load of codes and wait for the inevitable massive day-one patch and assorted pre-order DLC crap to download and install. I guess this has taken the place of having a coffee and smoke whilst reading the manual, I miss those days.

Starting a game: always watch the opening cinematics etc, check every available option

Playing any game: pretty much always increase the difficulty, usually set to the second hardest difficulty settings and sometimes the most difficult, try to avoid default at all costs. Always try to explore everywhere and investigate every possible conversation branch (if available), in the case of RPG's etc I also spend far too much fucking time in the menus equipping and micromanaging my party (whether I need to or not).

Well I used to have a good sniff of the manual, loved that brand new, inky smell, then read every page. Sadly manuals are a dying breed these days, if you're lucky you might get a single piece of paper showing the controls or a code for some DLC. I don't really have any particular rituals with a new game these days, maybe I've been gaming too long and become too cynical but the magic of playing an eagerly awaited game for the first time seems to have gone.

My main gaming ritual involves buying a game and then finally playing it about a year later 

Others include: 
Always going to the settings menu and making sure subtitles are set to Off because far to many games have them on by default! 

If I am playing an RPG, I spend far to long in the character creator and then promptly put the character in some sort of hat/helmet that obscures the face I have spent hours crafting. 

I have also recently tried breaking a few of my gaming habits mainly out of having a lack of time to play. The main one being trying to get as many collectables as possible while playing a game. Especially open world games because seriously, fuck that pointless filler shit. A recent exception to this is Shadows of Mordor because it wasn't too ridiculous when it came to collectables.

I am also trying to always break my hoarding cash and/or items habit in RPGs which has had some interesting results.

I can't believe I forgot my most important ritual of all - invert the Y axis!

sorenlorensen wrote:I can't believe I forgot my most important ritual of all - invert the Y axis!

That is just plain wrong!

I just can't play a game with the Y axis inverted, pushing up on the stick to look down simply doesn't work with my brain. lol

I'm the same with it not inverted!

sorenlorensen wrote:I can't believe I forgot my most important ritual of all - invert the Y axis!

Same!! Can't believe I forgot that!

One for megablast...

Haha! I do invert for flying games but nothing else.

Wolvieware wrote:Haha! I do invert for flying games but nothing else.

Aren't flying controls already technically inverted? As in up is down and down is up?

Possibly but that video reminded me that while I don't like inverted controls, I can't play flying games without them.

sorenlorensen wrote:One for megablast...

That is brilliant!

I tend to like inverted controls for swimming sections.  No idea why as, like others, I can never use them elsewhere!