Not Giving Up, Just Resting

Ack, out of the loop again with my posts. Lemme think something up.

Ahh, yes. Time away from a game.

It's a simple principal. When playing a game though the first time, one often comes up against obstacle that will puzzle the gamer on how to complete. The solution I often find useful is that if such a situation happens, to leave the game alone for a while, usually at least overnight, before returning to it.

Now at first this seems silly. Wouldn't removing yourself from the game cause you to lose the skill and precision that you had been developing over the course of this challenge?  Well, if you remove yourself from it for a very long time, like I did with Ratchet and Clank recently, then yes, it can. However, removing yourself from it a day, or even a week, probably won't really cause you to lose the general feel of the game.

This strategy works best on games that heavily use puzzle elements, as it's main result is a fresh take on a situation. One of the problems you may be facing is a poor strategy, one that maybe works in theory or maybe even in game-play, but is to slow or ineffective to solve the problem before, well, it solves you. By taking a fresh look, you may be able to notice a pattern that you hadn't before, a much easier one or faster one. This worked wonders on a Metroid:Fusion boss battle recently, and hopefully it helps with this next one...

Another thing to augment this is you may actually lose a tad bit of skill during your 24 hour prohibition of your challenge, which seems like a bad thing. But it can make you feel more like you're encountering the challenge for the first time, and allow you to see things that you didn't focus on the first time. In Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, I would often focus on recently acquired items to try and solve puzzles, but the game does a great job of incorporating all of the acquired items into its puzzles. A break or two later, I discovered my issue and proceeded to have a blast finishing the game.

So, if a game is frustrating you to no end, take a break. Play something else. Come back to it later. You may find it was for the best.