Still consider the situation where one does not have or even know that you need something like Acid and Fire weapons to finish off trolls?

To use a similar case people hate this opitional boss in the WOW Classic Raid Anqi'rahj where the only way to kill the Boss is with Frost Damage spell or weapon. Its one of the most bullshit things to happen to non Mage players that WOW later removed "Elemental" Damage to avoid bullshit like that. (Also it was not a fire monster or any monster that looks like it can hate Frost)

Divinity: Original Sin. I played it with a friend in co-op one evening, but I was blown away by how advanced it was. We also got killed in one hit by everything we encountered after we arrived in the first city. I gave up and haven't played it again after that :/

I've played a lot of similar games (BG, IWD, Fallout, Wasteland 2 and so on), despite this I just couldn't get into Divinity at all, although it probably is a damn good RPG.

I'm awful at RTS and Fighting games but I am not necessarily quaking in my boots.

Alpha Centauri. I even asked for tips here recently. I know that if I can get into it I will love it but the damn thing is so alien...
I own both the original on CD and the GOG version.

Bioshock: I'm too afraid to go in after swimming to the island.

All horror games I own: Variation on Bioshock. Why do I still buy (or pick in GA) that type of games then? Because I want to beat that phobia of mine one day and I do love horror movies. That phobia manifest itself in a lighter form in every FPS I have ever played. Even replaying the original Doom, which I have done a few times, is better than a high fiber diet as far as I am concerned.

Complex strategy games: I own several of those as well but I have trouble justifying the time needed to learn to play them.

Mostly all of the above is due to my current mental health, my fear of failing is even invading virtual reality.

Strategy games never bothered me. I always liked playing them. For me it's atmospheric horror games. Amnesia comes to mind. I have it, and I've played a bit of it. But I've never finished it and every time I try to conjure up the courage to play it, I change my mind and play something else. I think it has something to do with the fact that you're in a haunted castle with no weapons or way to defend yourself. Just puts you at unease.

In the past: games like Megatraveller were quite complex. I was afraid of overcommiting time and ending on an expensive (time-wise) deadend. I never knew if I was doing something terribly wrong.

Currently: I'm waiting for the free time to try Dwarf Fortress. We'll see what comes out of that.

One day: Paradox games! EU in particular. Does anyone NOT feel intimidated by them? :-S

My advice is to work through it and conquer it. There are probably numerous ways to do this. My thought is that it has more to do with the anxiety induced by playing the games you mentioned more than anything (not actually being afraid, but getting anxious), and if you can start to work on the anxiety that rises up, you should be able to conquer it. Actively remind yourself that it is just a game (of course you *know* this already, but say it outloud and repeat it in your head to yourself), and that no matter what happens all will be okay. Rely on your save slots to reinforce this: "no matter what happens, I will be right back alive and well and sure I might get some adrenaline rush and a little devastation from what happens, but it is all artificial and I can undo it easily."

Try and pick some games that only do it slightly, or less-so than some others. Maybe try a few adventure-thriller/horror titles (7th Guest, Phantasmagoria, Zork Nemesis, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, The Gabriel Knight games, The Last Express, Harvester, Shadow Man) before moving into survival-horror or simply scarey titles/FPS Horror (Realms of the Haunting, System Shock 2, Pathologic, Chornicles of Riddick, Alien VS. Predator, etc.) which build up the intensity a bit from the adventures.

Also, a bunch of people tell you. And an NPC or two can, given the right circumstances, even give you unlimited fire arrows to do the trick.


Crusader Kings 2 is a hard game to grasp. I put hours into it and still learned nothing except "Holy Crap! You can pick who tries your food?!"

I've heard X-Com is super-hard to win, so it's been sitting in my Steam library untouched for a long while. I should play it some time. But it really comes down to what kind of time I have at any given moment. I don't think I'll have the time I need to enjoy X-Com for quite some time.

This is actually my main issue with this game. Not that I need a lot of time to learn the game, but the possibility I might waste so much and yet not learn anything (which is itself is learning but that's another matter).

I've read a whole Strategy Guide for Dragon Age Origins.

I would rather read Twilight with my nuts stapled to the chair.

I was recently intimidated by King of Dragon Pass. A very promising game, but the reviews warned that I should study the manual carefully and preferrably complete the tutorial multiple times to grasp at least the basic functionalities. I only completed the tutorial once and set out to "wing it" in the game, but found it too difficult. So many sliders to tweak and decisions to made, while I didn't even know what consequences they would have. Sadly, I don't have enough time to study a game thoroughly before even attempting to play it.

I remember being intimidated by 'Dragon's Lair' in the arcades when I was a kid - it looked great but I was afraid to give it a go - my instincts were correct, turns out!
I've been playing the original X-Com on beginner, I've getting towards the end of my playthough - I'm fairly confident I'll win eventually and am probably ready to start think about braving 'Normal' difficulty - It's taken 60+ hours to get this far though!

All the f'ing time. I have a number of games which look really cool, everyone is saying how good they are, so I bought them only to find out I'm too stupid for them. Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion, X-COM Jagged Alliance, SimCity, Strike Commander, Wing Commander Privateer... You'd think I would learn my lesson and stop buying these games. Maybe instead of an age rating we need an IQ rating.