Coming back to a game, after a long Hiatus

[Mega1X]

Hello Everyone,

I am sure this has been mentioned before, but I mean, it would be amazing if Developers do something like this. I haven't played Ghosts of Tsushima in a long while, ever since I platinumed it. I decided to go back and relive the amazing story campaign, but I forgot all the special controls. Parry, dodge, heck, I have to remind myself what stance to choose and How to change it, LOL. Same thing with Horizon. I played and died instantly, even with me getting a platinum trophy. It's crazy how I have forgotten a lot of the important defence/offence controls.

So my question to all of you is, how do you remind yourself of a game you have put in the backburner for a while and get the controls refreshed in your mind? Do you use youtube, Twitter, Reddit, here, etc.?

I think developers should put a tutorial arena in the controller settings, and you click on a button to run through a refresher tutorial. The game takes you to an arena or something and just gives you all the skills and controls you have learned, again, and gets you to practice with it, like parry 3 enemies, or dodge roll, or something similar.

It would help, in my opinion, instead of starting a whole new game, playing it to the middle of it to get all the skills and instructions/tutorials. Or am I just stupid and consider my brain fried and give it up? Haha.

 

[Leo]

I can't, I always have to start over. So unless the game is really worth it, I usually don't go back.

 

[Stoney Mason]

I mean it's an issue but I don't think it's one most developers are gonna spend time on. You could arguably just go back to an earlier save and practice there but I don't think most single player games are gonna put in a dojo just to practice on.

 

[deltabreak]

I just struggle with the controls until I finally have a feel for them again. Takes like 10 minutes at most for me. I've had this like 5 times with Sekiro but that game also has a guy who you can train moves on.

 

[Discontent]

I find that a lot of games do have at least moves listed in menus so it's not that hard imo

 

[egg]

I honestly just start a new game. I know the first 10 hours of FF13 like the back of my hand because of that lol.

 

[TheMadTitan]

I play and reacclimate myself to the controls. Whether or not I do a full restart of the story depends on the game, how long it's been, and how the game notes the story. Some games have such detailed quest logs that even if you forget, a couple of minutes will remind you of everything and others will keep you befuddled.

 

[JustinH]

I can't, I always have to start over. So unless the game is really worth it, I usually don't go back.

Click to shrink...

Same here.

I probably won't start over whenever I get back to Dragon Quest 7, though. I played that for like 55 hours and it seems I'm only about halfway done. I just don't want to do that first half over again.

 

[Outlaw]

I last experienced this with Sekiro. I was a solid 70% through with the game when I stopped playing it (time reasons). I revisited the game earlier this year and had to start over. Finished it this time around.

 

[KujoJosuke]

I somehow did this with Utawarerumono: Mask Of Deception. I put 29 hours into it 3 years ago, and then just stopped for some reason. I picked it back up where I left off and ended up finishing it this weekend.

Thankfully the game is a VN so it's easy to just jump back in, and it has a huge glossary of characters/terms/locations that I was able to refresh my memory with.

 

[Deleted member 2533]

Everytime I go back to MHW I start with a new weapon, lol.

 

[Zeal543]

I started playing dota 2 again after like a 4 year hiatus, it's almost a different game. I tend to just do normal all pick

 

[Classybro]

I came back to RDR2 after a year long hiatus with all the patches I was confused but it's a story based game and after a few hours I was right back at and it has become probably my favorite game of all time.

I find long hiatus to be more of a issue with multiplayer games. I tried to get back into Destiny and I'm literally so confused I don't Know what to do. Tried the latest expansions and I'm way under leveled don't even know how to get up to the right level.

 

[brinstar]

Games just kind of get programmed into my muscle memory so I've never really had this issue.

 

[SpotAnime]

This happens to me A LOT. Like, years between gameplay sessions on same games. Generally as soon as I start playing it the story comes right back to me and I catch right back up to where I left off. I even amaze myself sometimes with this, since I frequently forget what I did yesterday lol.

I picked up and finished Shenmue II ten years between gameplay sessions, on the same save. Crazy.

 

[HououinKyouma]

The worst is Stardew Valley for me. I'll come back and have a million odd items in my inventory, knowing I was building towards...something. But lord knows by the time I return I can never remember.

 

[anariel]

The worst one for me was trying to come back to an Ace Attorney game mid-case after not playing for months.

It was pretty rough trying to figure out what the hell I was doing.

 

[Diogo Arez]

I usually don't have problems, then I played Kakarot again because of the DLC, for the first time in a long time I was completely lost and getting destroyed until I practiced the controls a bit

 

[Stencil]

Ugh it's the worst. Every game should have a short journal entry as a refresher, like Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed had. How hard would that be to implement?!

That, for story beats, or as OP mentions some kind of practice mode/area for more control-intensive games.

 

[MrBS]

After getting the platinum I don't think I got back into the groove of Horizon Zero Dawn with the DLC until I had just about finished the DLC. I forgot everything, had to go check out google/youtube to know how to do basic stuff.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

For me it depends on the type of game, how long I played and how long it's been. I usually restart, but some stuff like CoD or WoW for example I've put so much time in I can come back easily and pick it back up. FF 14 which I usually only play a few days before stopping I've restarted 7 times I believe.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

As long as the game has multiple save files, I just start a new game and refresh myself until I feel comfortable enough to go back to my main save.

If the game has a single save file, I usually just go on YouTube and check out some videos.

 

[AngryPuppy]

I've been meaning to get back to The Witcher 3 for years, and I'm dreading looking through my inventory full of stuff that I'm sure I was keeping for some reason or another.

 

[Saturday]

This being said despite constantly going "I have no memory of this place" though I do find I begin to remember plot beats amazingly quickly. Controls is what gets me. I can't skimp on a game like Yakuza/Souls, if I take a break and get to it I lose all the momentum I've gathered and I might as well play from the beginning otherwise I'm gimped from thereon in.

 

[SirNinja]

The one feature that I want a videogame — any videogame — to implement, and which I'm unsure if any game has ever done, is automatically re-enabling tutorials if you haven't played it in a certain amount of time. It would help so much, as I'm always coming back to various games that I haven't touched in months/years.

Has any game ever actually done this? (It doesn't count if, e.g., save/options data gets deleted, reverting the options back to default when you load it up again. I'm talking about a game that can detect that it's been a long time since you last picked it up, and re-enables on-screen tutorials automatically if it's been too long.)

 

[ss_lemonade]

I thought I was an expert by the time I finished Doom Eternal (PC with keyboard/mouse). I started playing Ancient Gods 1 after not touching the game for several months and man, I had a rough time.

 

[Adder7806]

This is me right now with RDR2. Left off over a year ago in chapter 3. Picking back up I don't know how to do anything. Had to look up how to get back on my horse.

 

[Noema]

Nioh 2 is the one game I can actually pick up and play even after months of not having touched it. That's what happens when you put 400+ hours into a game series.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

I can't just go back to where I was in a game if I put it down. If I put it down for whatever reason and take weeks or months off of it I have to start it again from the beginning.

 

[HoodedSoldier]

I start all over and that is pretty much why I do not finish most of my games.

 

[HorseFD]

I usually have to start the game again.

I have found it easy to pick up a Souls/Bloodborne save after a long break because you can warm up by doing a run through an early game area to remember everything.

 

[cdm00]

The one feature that I want a videogame — any videogame — to implement, and which I'm unsure if any game has ever done, is automatically re-enabling tutorials if you haven't played it in a certain amount of time. It would help so much, as I'm always coming back to various games that I haven't touched in months/years.

Has any game ever actually done this? (It doesn't count if, e.g., save/options data gets deleted, reverting the options back to default when you load it up again. I'm talking about a game that can detect that it's been a long time since you last picked it up, and re-enables on-screen tutorials automatically if it's been too long.)

Click to shrink...

Pokémon Firered and Leafgreen sort of do this I guess? Every time you boot up the game, it shows you four screens of the last things you did, like if you beat a gym and then saved the game stopped playing, the next time you booted up the game, it would show you with text that you just beat a game.

 

[SirNinja]

Pokémon Firered and Leafgreen sort of do this I guess? Every time you boot up the game, it shows you four screens of the last things you did, like if you beat a gym and then saved the game stopped playing, the next time you booted up the game, it would show you with text that you just beat a game.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that little recap feature was neat. I wish the series had stuck with it, as sometimes I'll boot up a Pokemon game I hadn't touched in years and will have next no idea what I was doing.

Dragon Quest XI does this really well too. The quick story recaps whenever you load up a file are great, especially since I've played it on several platforms now.

 

[PancakeFlip]

Hello Everyone,

I am sure this has been mentioned before, but I mean, it would be amazing if Developers do something like this. I haven't played Ghosts of Tsushima in a long while, ever since I platinumed it. I decided to go back and relive the amazing story campaign, but I forgot all the special controls. Parry, dodge, heck, I have to remind myself what stance to choose and How to change it, LOL. Same thing with Horizon. I played and died instantly, even with me getting a platinum trophy. It's crazy how I have forgotten a lot of the important defence/offence controls.

So my question to all of you is, how do you remind yourself of a game you have put in the backburner for a while and get the controls refreshed in your mind? Do you use youtube, Twitter, Reddit, here, etc.?

I think developers should put a tutorial arena in the controller settings, and you click on a button to run through a refresher tutorial. The game takes you to an arena or something and just gives you all the skills and controls you have learned, again, and gets you to practice with it, like parry 3 enemies, or dodge roll, or something similar.

It would help, in my opinion, instead of starting a whole new game, playing it to the middle of it to get all the skills and instructions/tutorials. Or am I just stupid and consider my brain fried and give it up? Haha.

Click to shrink...

I read the tutorial section if its provided, or if its been so long I can't even remember the main story beats, I complete restart the game.

 

[AppleBlade]

I agree 100% OP. I wish all games had a controller/gameplay tutorial that takes a couple of minutes to go through. I think Gears 5 has something like this and it is accessible from the main start menu.

 

[Chemo]

I always just start over. If I'm coming back to a game I left for a long time, I'll just start a new playthrough. Don't have enough room in my brain to retain all that shit, and it's just easier getting ramped up into the game with a fresh playthrough instead of jumping into the deep end with a middle-aged recollection of the order of things.

 

[signal]

Not looking forward to resubbing to ffxiv

 

[xir]

Games need story free tutorial sections rap with moves and mechanics unlocked later.

 

[mausterhunter]

I came back to Sekiro a couple days ago after a year. I had just beaten Lady Butterfly(?) When I stopped. I managed to beat that dude with the massive spear after a couple hours of dying and get to the abandoned dungeon and ashina depths, but now I don't know what I'm doing and I'm getting destroyed by some gun toting bastards. I do kind of feel like I should just start over.

 

[Pyro]

I just bumble my way through until it comes back, doesn't take long save for some not often used mechanics that makes me go "Oooooh right, that thing!"

As for the story, I just make a mental note of what's going on. Might not be able to rely on that as I get older though…

 

[Nerun]

Sometimes it is the controls, sometimes the story or what the heck did I do last or wanted to do next? So either I start a new save or well I just exit the game again. I played the first 60 hours or so of Persona 5 twice...guess if I go back a third time, I'll somehow end up with another break around that mark and probably never finish it...

But I have that issue with totally different games, for example Anno 1800, I just take brakes, sometimes several month, I restart the game and I'm like...ok I have no idea what my plans were at this point and I start a new game...somehow I still buy the DLC, which makes things even more complicated.

 

[TheBiInBilingual]

If it's a year or more I usually look at the controls menu in the game itself, but with most games muscle memory kicks in a lot faster than I'd thought

 

[terminaljeremy]

Bought the DLC for Control recently and found I had completely lost the idea of how to do anything.

 

[Rhaknar]

I always have to restart

 

[seldead]

I rarely restart, usually soldier on after a quick wiki of the the start of the story and flail with the controls.

However, am planning on returning to Sekiro after finishing up my first play through of DS3. I was stuck at Genichiro at the top of the tower and am quite sure returning after a year I'll be infinitely more hopeless than I was while I was stuck. The start over seems likely.

 

[King Kingo]

Games just kind of get programmed into my muscle memory so I've never really had this issue.

Click to shrink...

Same, I worked too hard to start from scratch all over again.

 

[Midnight]

This is something I've thought about too, and I 100% agree. I wish games would implement some sort of tutorial for these situations, so you can get the hang of the controls quicker.

 

[Rikster]

I literally keep doing this with Xenoblade Chronicles Remastered. Love going back and then I get burned out lol.

 

[mudai]

It depends on the game. For some games I need one or two sessions to get back into them. For RPGs it's obviously the most brutal, because you need to re-learn what each skill does, where you're supposed to go, what each character can do, which side quest threads I was following etc. Staring anew though because of that? Never did that. Normally, I still remember what happened before I had to drop the game for various reasons at least.

 

[JimNastics]

I came back to Grim Fandango earlier this year after a 22 year gap :D Obviously picking up the controls wasn't a problem.... but it was very surreal playing all the way up to where I stopped when I was 16, then a very cathartic experience solving the puzzle that I bailed on back then!