Am I the only one who can still have fun while dialing it back a bit? Just “fumble” a few times, fall behind intentionally, and then use your skill to catch back up. If you can’t catch up, your friends win and have fun. If you do catch back up, your friends think it was a close game. Either way you get to flex and nobody thinks you’re a sweaty tryhard and we all get to have fun.
This is part of why super smash bros is so good. Playing against friends who are decent but not as good as you? Play one of your secondaries. Friends are bad but learning? Play a low tier/a character you don’t ever play. Friends are casual gamers/don’t know how to play smash? Spam b moves as a low tier. No matter how good you are you can sandbag pretty hard without your opponent feeling like you aren’t trying/not having fun.
This is how we used to do it with SF2 on SNES.
One of us is constantly beating the crap out of everyone else with a particular character? Switch it up.
Or learn to counter whatever they’re doing to win.
Dhalsim’s endless string of “Tiger!Tiger!Tiger!Tiger!Tiger!Tiger!TigerUppercut! You! Win!” was eventually conquerable with the right combination of moves and that wasn’t even player skill, it was a shortcoming in the game’s internal timing (that was bad enough that it overwrote the existing playing sound effect while you were doing it).
It’s Yoda fire! And Yoda flame!
Yeah, oops, I was thinking Sagat and somehow typed Dhalsim.
Dhalsim was YOGA fire, which is I think what happens when they schedule the chili cook off at work on the same day as beginner’s downward-facing-dog practice.
Dad mode activated
On behalf of the dads: We used to let you win all kinds of shit and you never knew! Then one day we couldn’t beat your anymore… and we had two choices while you gloated: convince ourselves we let you win or let the mid life crisis begin.
I’m not big on fighting games, don’t they usually have a handicap setting? How do they work? I’m guessing good ones do stuff like break guard easier and do more damage, right?
This is exactly what I’ve had to end up doing in a few games. Some games I don’t mind. Like Battlefront 2. I used to play, and win, tournaments in it so when friends call me in to help them with a game or something it’s great because you get a ton of praise and hype. Your friends going “FUCK THEM UP DUDE! YEAH! GO FOR IT!” Or the thanks for helping a friend. But that same prowess meant that (even if there was easily accessible invite pvp) I can’t fight any of my friends. There are ways you kind of can and everytime I’ve suggested it it’s always a resounding and hard no. I’ve had similar levels of skill in other games that I actively tone down around my friends because I want to be able to play against them and not just play with them. I don’t give a shit if I win or lose. I give a shit that I’m hanging out with people who I like and playing games I enjoy.
I have this problem with the board game Go.
It has a perfect handicap system, and the game sucks if you don’t use the correct handicap, but I simply can’t get people to play me with a handicap because they think it’s shameful. They want to play me without a handicap, then I mop the floor with them.
But we can have a really good game that’s really engaging if we use a handicap.
This is the way! Group games are about everyone having fun, not winning.
One of my biggest disabilities is my inability to throw a game I’m playing. I just can’t do it
I would do this when I was still playing Elden Ring. Signal a fair fight, trade blows a bit, make a few “mistakes” that made it seem like I was playing bad. Then score a “lucky hit” that’d finish them off. That way, they hopefully come out of it feeling like it was a fair fight. If I actually mess up and die, that’s fine too. It’s all in good fun. My goal was just to draw the fight out into something amusing and satisfying for both of us, compared to the 10 second hack and slash, Rivers of Blood/magic spam tryhards you’d get all the time. Those I didn’t hesitate to flex on.
God, I miss that game…
It’s also like this for many hobbies. I can run further and cycle faster than almost everyone I know, but would probably barely even be mid-pack in a local race for either.
Just set your own goals.
I relate with this one. I cycle further and faster than my friends, so it feels like I have to slow down when I cycle with them, however I’m nowhere near professional level.
Can’t you let them attach themselves to your bike that way you’ll always be the same speed? taps forehead
This was FPS games back in the day for me.
There’s a VR version of Quake 3 Arena and I played that against a friend recently. We never played against each other on flatscreen, but each of us played the game a fair bit back in the day. I absolutely demolished him. Then some more people joined the server and wiped the floor with both of us. I managed to score a few frags but I was still totally outclassed. There’s always a bigger fish.
For me, it’s pinball. None of my friends will play me because I crush them, but I know if I played in a tournament, I would be the crushed instead.
But that’s a single player game… 🤔
Yes, but people compete with high scores
Actually, you can do multi-player games. On real machines you pay for credits, and then you have to use one credit per player. But, the first player plays their first ball, and after the first player drains (loses) their ball, the second player plays their first ball until they drain it, then the third player, etc. Once everyone has played their first balls, then Player One returns with their second ball, and play continues like that through all three balls.
The amount of trash talking during play varies depending on who you’re playing, but as with most things, trash talking your buddies while they’re playing is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the game.
So uh, what’s your favorite table?
Don’t think I have just one. But, you know what they say, you always remember your first one fondly, and my first was Black Knight. How about you?
Black Knight is really good, a top 5 for me. Attack From Mars is my favorite. Other notables: Medieval Madness, Champion Pub, and of course the ubiquitous Addams Family and Twilight Zone.
Nice. You have good taste in tables.
All my friends stopped wanting to play guilty gear with me, I feel this
I’ll play with you toomanypancakes
me in tetris. none of my friends will fight me anymore after i kept beating them even when drunk and high. but i am nothing compared to professional players
This is me in racing games. This is why I like to play games like Forza. I can play a private lobby where I can take less powerful cars and race my heart out against friends in more powerful ones.
Spent most of my time making liveries and tuning my cars to make them ridiculous to drive.
Love me some Forza. Been playing 5 lately for the first time. Feels lonely not having friends to play with anymore but I gotta start messing with this Horizon Open shit.
What model of car is that in the pic? Sweet livery on it!
It’s the Nissan IDx from 2013. Sadly, it was only ever a concept car, but I loved the design.
And thanks for the compliment; I can lose many hours designing the liveries on these things 😂
Ah cool! Yeah in my mind it looked like some modern reimagining of like a 70s Holden.
The point of games should be that they are fun without being productive. If not, it is job
I really genuinely enjoyed learning to get better at super smash bros. But then I fell into the awkward zone described in a meme. It sucks.
That’s why I love co-op games. Couch co-op games are the absolute best and they are going extinct for shitty online co-op.
But you need friends for that.
Well if you don’t have friends, the OP doesn’t apply anyway…
But when the game’s mechanic is beating a singular person who’s sitting right beside you, skill matchups dictate the fun. But this is probably why I play Third Strike alone lmao
Me at the arcades in the 90s with my friends. After a while we all just go home kinda bored.
Eddie Gordo wins again!
This is me at ranked, competitive sex vs casual.
God I wish I could do ranked sex, and always be placed with opponents my own level.
You and me, baby. Bronze 3 division.
Me on soul calibur
Lmao this is me 😅
Playing random characters can help. Picking someone I’m not familiar with for casual play gives me exposure to other styles and helps me become more rounded, while tipping the less experienced player a balanced playing field.
Cut my life into pieces…
