Learning or Comprehending in Video Games
I found myself playing Ace Combat 7, a game added not long ago on PS Plus Extended and Premium.
A few years back, I remember this game being reviewed by journalists, complaining a bit about its difficulty, and how badly the checkpoints were spread. Failing a mission basically means to restart from a very long save point.
You could well be fifteen minutes into a mission, die, and have yourself repeating the whole stint.
My mind traveled to the past as I was downloading the game; I remembered the complaints, not only game journalists, but other people had of the game as well.
The competitive side of me took over and reassured me that it could not be that bad. I recalled all the ‘hard’ games I beat in the past. After all, I secretly boast about beating every From Software game out there; descending into the madness of Dark Souls, entering the dismal town of Bloodborne, climbing the mountains of Sekiro, and finally arriving to a whole new continent in Elden Ring. Oh, and the last journey I had was on Demon Souls remake for the PS5.
That journey took me years and years. Each game is more difficult than the last, in its own way. Dark Souls 1 is unforgiving. It forces you to strategize and learn from your mistakes, which will cost you dearly.
Losing souls is part of the learning process. The game play loop is so perfect in this game that you will be led into a trap, feeling that you have improved, and become better at the game, only to be overwhelmed by enemies, and lose your precious souls.
The game entertains your false sense of confidence, or how arrogant you become. Trying to barge in and slay everyone like a madman will end up costing.
Dark Souls 2 and 3 are the perfect sequels. The mechanics have been improved, and the scenarios are even more conniving than before. You are put in far worse situations that the developers specifically design for you to fail.
It is impressive how much they learn about human psychology to design the levels and place the enemies in very specific parts of the level. They might be hiding behind a wall, or lurking from a blind spot. The game punishes your foolish bravery.
Playing games like these marks you for life. You are not the same as you were before drowning into the sorrows of the ‘Souls Borne’ games. You learn to cope with frustration, anger, injustice, hardship, and any other apparently insurmountable mountain of dread.
Bloodborne and Sekiro are a little bit different. They demand precision from you. Timing is crucial to exploit the enemies’ weaknesses, especially the bosses. Parrying is a core mechanic in these two games.
These games will let you fool yourself; let me explain further. You can start the game, and advance a fair amount, without dedicating yourself to perfecting the parrying technique. You will be thinking it is not that necessary to be the absolute master of parrying.
But alas! Enemies and bosses further into the game will be so hard to beat without having a proper parrying technique.
In the end, grinding is what will help you finish the games. You need to perfect your technique, perhaps learn where enemies will be placed, and how they will attack. You sort of learn how to think the way developers and level designers do, or did, when they designed these games.
As a gamer, you become more resilient, more patient, you approach each problem with caution, analysis, and learn to prepare beforehand.
There are other games out there that will demand perfection from you. Another situation I remember is beating Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 Remake; for some reason the fight you have at the platform with the containers gave me a hard time.
The Callisto Protocol is another game from another developer/publisher that will challenge you with situations that are unfair, and difficult. Perhaps you will lack ammo, health, or will be outnumbered by enemies.
As mentioned before, beating ‘Souls Borne’ games prepare you for situations like these. You learn to grind; you learn to be resilient and never give up.
Booting the game (and a small rant)
Finally, the game was ready to play. I was excited to play one of the most underrated gems on the PS4. People really don’t do justice to how amazing this game is.
A few weeks back, I watched Top Gun, and Top Gun: Maverick, in a sort of movie marathon, just before the latter was released on stream. The movies are so good that I watched both of them a few times, in a span of a couple of days.
The movies are an ode to fighter jets, and all the fighter pilot ‘culture’. The music is on point, an anthem with guitar and synths by the music genius Harold Faltermeyer. They also feature rock gems like Highway to the Danger Zone and Jerry Lewis’ Great Balls of Fire!
Top Gun is such an incredibly well-made movie, and its sequel definitely honors its legacy and brings the action sequences to the next level. Tom Cruise wanted the actors to be able to sustain high G-forces to be able to record the scenes in the fighter jets. No green screen this time.
It is refreshing to see someone that actually cares on how to make a proper action movie. The garbage that Disney is spewing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe is simply abhorrent. Those huge, heaping piles of manure are filmed behind a green screen all the time, and guess what, a lot of times the actors are not even in the same room when filming a dialogue or a conversation. Disgraceful.
That cookie-cutter format is the standard in Hollywood these days. Who wants to win an Oscar these days? Everything Hollywood makes is mostly unworthy of your time. They are popcorn flicks to watch on a lazy Sunday once they are on streaming services. Who wants to go to the theater to watch Shang Shi, or Ant Man? Generic as they can be.
Finally, booting the game this time
Back to the game, apologies for the rant, and deviating from the subject.
All that preamble was necessary to convey the feeling once the game started. Its cinematography, camera work, and music are truly outstanding. I felt that I was playing Top Gun, or at least I was in the movie.
The game truly captures the fighter pilot culture. The jets are amazing, you get the MiGs, F-15s, F-22s and much more! The game even has a skill-tree that you periodically unlock to get new jets, weapons, and improvements.
You are really forced to strategize on how you approach the mission. Ace Combat 7 is a gem. Besides you can play this game in VR and truly feel like you are in the cockpit, engaged in a tense dogfight; dodging missiles and trying to stay in the air.
The first missions serve as a tutorial, and familiarize you with the controls and mechanics. Once they are over, you are put into the real thing.
17,000 points in 15 minutes
I stumbled upon a mission that was truly frustrating. I finally understood the discomfort and strong opinions everyone had about this game. It felt like I was playing an old Nintendo game, perhaps Mega Man or Contra. Very sparse checkpoints, and there is a lot to do in the middle.
This mission required you to get 17,000 points in fifteen minutes.
You are constantly dodging missiles, and avoiding enemy jets; destroying AA guns and SAMs, tanks, warehouses and such. Each of these grants a certain number of points that you add to your tally.
I found myself repeating the mission over, and over again. Each stint meant 15 minutes ‘wasted’. Each failure cost me dearly. The game demands you to try, and learn through failure. After repeating it a few times. I started to concoct a strategy on how to approach the mission.
I was playing late at night and in my second to last attempt, I did such a perfect run. I traced a route on what enemies to approach first, which bases to go to, and how to make the route even more efficient.
After all, you have limited ammo, and you only get time to fly back to the base and resupply once. Time is always running.
I failed the mission; I was 500 points shy of the mark. I went to sleep feeling frustrated at first. As I laid down on my bed, staring in the dark, I recalled everything I mentioned previously about Dark Souls and all the games I beat. I recalled the difficulties and frustrations. The silver lining here is that it is a learning process.
I realized that every failure in this mission in Ace Combat 7 was a learning process. Each time I tried again, I got closer and closer to the goal. I became aware that I was strategizing, not only trying the level again for the sake of it, like a mindless husk.
You start to think outside the box, you begin to ‘see the Matrix’.
The next day, I gave it a try, and completed the mission on the first attempt. I even had a few seconds to spare. It was not that I crushed the mission. I barely made it with a little time left. I remember not being tense at all, it felt like a repeat of my last attempt.
I was Zen the whole time; I knew the route I had to take, which enemies to engage and which ones to leave alone. I learned to economize missiles. It was a true strategy. Very few games evoke that kind of feeling.
As I said before, you are not mindlessly attempting another try. After failing, you sit back, rethink, strategize, and become better. You learn, you improve, you start to read the game. It is a little bit like learning a new music piece.
Learning or comprehending
You can approach music learning by 2 fronts: You learn the piece note by note, verbatim; divide it into sections you can tackle, and put them all together once you perfect them.
The other way is to learn music theory, the notes in the pentagram start to make sense. You begin to see the Matrix. It’s like the piece is talking back to you.
That is how I felt when I attempted the mission in Ace Combat again and again. I was not merely learning from my mistakes, I was comprehending.
Very few games evoke that kind of feeling. Don’t get me wrong, some hard games I have played, I simply quit. Perhaps the strategy factor provides a sense of freedom to the player. There are many ways to approach each mission.
That kind of design makes the player feel a certain amount of freedom and control over the game. Other games like The Callisto Protocol simply put you at odds with little to no options. It can be discouraging to feel that you have been led into a trap just for the sake of it.
What are some games that have put you in similar situations? Do you like the freedom to strategize certain games provide? Do they motivate you or overwhelm you? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy Gaming.
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