Best ways to recapture the magic of your first playthrough?

[StaceyPowers]

I often wish I could play games “for the first time” repeatedly. It is hard to recapture the magic on a repeat playthrough. So far, aside from taking long breaks between playthroughs, I have not really found any good techniques. Has anyone else?

[The Blackangel]

It would all depend on the game. For some I would need to be dodging things like my sperm donor swinging boards and fists at me.

For others, I would need to have a game guide in front of me, so I could know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.

[m76]

Making different choices, and taking different routes. The only games that are worth re-playing are those who offer these anyway. For example in ME, saving the other guy on Virmire, playing another class, gender or romancing another character. Taking different squadmates on missions. Etc. I think Mass Effect has a lot of potential to replay.

[The Blackangel]

1 hour ago, m76 said:

Making different choices, and taking different routes. The only games that are worth re-playing are those who offer these anyway. For example in ME, saving the other guy on Virmire, playing another class, gender or romancing another character. Taking different squadmates on missions. Etc. I think Mass Effect has a lot of potential to replay.

Wrong.

[killamch89]

If I want to recapture the nostalgia of my first playthrough, I typically either don't play the game for a while and revisit some time after or I play the game in a completely different manner (that's if the game gives you options and doesn't force you down a path).

[m76]

12 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

Wrong.

The only way it can be wrong if it is not truly my opinion. You might have a different opinion but that does not make mine wrong. Don't be offended by different opinions.

[The Blackangel]

Who said I was offended? You said in one sentence that any game that doesn't offer multiple choice routes isn't worth playing, essentially making them unworthy of even being made. Making a statement like that is not just an opinion. It is an attempt at discrediting linear games that have the same path every time. Open world games are not the only ones worth playing, and I know I'm not the only one here that sees that. You don't have to like linear style games, but completely discrediting them as worthless for multiple playthroughs is what is wrong.

[Crazycrab]

19 hours ago, m76 said:

The only games that are worth re-playing are those who offer these anyway.

 

You could argue that their really is no such thing as a game that has zero player choice. Even in linear games the player has some degree of influence on the narrative even if its limited to something as trivial as "which enemy dies first" or "which direction does the main character go in".

 

That argument aside I agree with @The Blackangel.  There are tons of games that offer little to no player choice that I replay simply because I enjoy the experience.  Having the choice to do something differently in replays is definitely welcome but it certainly doesn't strike the game of replaying if it doesn't.

[Reality vs Adventure]

A new theatre system maybe. Or big tv. Make it more intimate with lights out, tea; candle light. Smoke ganja. Try a different play setting. Rearrange your play room. Play in a different room. Play in the attic or basement. Play in winter where it's really cold, and cuddle up. Play it on Halloween if it's a scary game and get in the holiday mood. With decorations!!! Scary pumpkin head and witches and goblins and scarecrow. Decorate for whatever occasion Get flowers and hearts if it's a love story. Glass of wine. Get a fogger so they it looks foggy in your room. 

[The Blackangel]

Back when I was good with electronics, one Halloween I was able to set up a system for a haunted house that had things like clowns and skeletons that walked around and moved as if they were real people. It also had actors, but the skeletons couldn't exactly be an actor. It was fun.

I also got a few voice actors to record moans and screams. I also got some to use as disembodied voices. I really went all out for this. But Halloween has lost its charm nowadays.

Edited April 25, 2021 by The Blackangel

[Reality vs Adventure]

1 minute ago, The Blackangel said:

Back when I was good with electronics, one Halloween I was able to set up a system for a haunted house that had things like clowns and skeletons that walked around and moved as if they were real people. It also had actors, but the skeletons couldn't exactly be an actor. It was fun.

I love Halloween stuff. One year I got all decorated inside with a bale of hay to sit on. Next thing I leave it there and gets all scattered. I slept on the hay here and there and it was just fun. Smelled fresh like outdoor sunshine. 

[Heatman]

On 4/24/2021 at 12:22 AM, StaceyPowers said:

I often wish I could play games “for the first time” repeatedly. It is hard to recapture the magic on a repeat playthrough. So far, aside from taking long breaks between playthroughs, I have not really found any good techniques. Has anyone else?

It's a cold fact that the very first play is always awesome and more thrilling then when you replay it again. I don't think the subsequent playthrough would be at the same level of excitement. 

[Empire]

Playing the game for first time and streaming or recording it 😛 5 years later watching the Vod and enjoying it even more and thinking to yourself I can do this in so many differnt ways.

[Reality vs Adventure]

For me, my first play through I try to take everything in, take pics, take my time, and all that. The next play through I will go through faster and not worry so much with pics or finding items, just constantly progress. And play it on a harder difficulty setting. That is another level of immersion. Cause I don't think you can get back your immersion from the first play through without waiting a number of years. But you can change the immersion by how you play. 

[killamch89]

14 hours ago, Heatman said:

It's a cold fact that the very first play is always awesome and more thrilling then when you replay it again. I don't think the subsequent playthrough would be at the same level of excitement. 

Because you can only have one first time - once you get used to something even after visiting sometime later, you still won't ever get that exact feeling again.