Gaming can be a wonderful hobby. It offers escapism, can encourage socialisation through certain types of games, and can encourage lateral thinking and problem-solving, among many potential benefits. But it can also be frustrating: especially if you keep getting beaten by the same game.
Once upon a time, getting help to beat challenging levels or difficult games meant talking to friends, reading walkthroughs in magazines, or buying official guides. Today, there are videos and websites dedicated to gaming strategies, and there is also a growing number of gaming podcasts that can prove beneficial.
General Strategies
Podcasts can offer general gameplay strategies. Some games, like slots, don’t necessarily require much strategy. That’s why progressive jackpot pokies are trending in New Zealand and other countries. They are simple to play and offer access to some of the biggest available jackpots.
But, according to gambling expert Vlad Grindu, even slot machines have special features and more advanced gameplay at modern online casinos. Podcasts can provide general strategies on how to play these and any other types of games. In the case of iGaming, this can help minimise financial losses. For other video games, it can maximise XP gains.
Gameplay Tutorials
Tutorials take you by the hand and walk you through the steps required to play and beat games. Walkthroughs provide every step required to beat a game, achieve total completion, and how to do so most efficiently.
Tutorials are essential for general enjoyment, and that’s why most games have guided tutorials at the beginning of the game. Listening to tutorials from experienced gamers can help you pick up tips and master the game you’ve just bought.
Specific Tips
Some games are designed to be hard. Soulslike games are a specific subgenre of games that get their name from Dark Souls. Dark Souls was designed to be difficult. Players died regularly, and the game was designed to seemingly challenge a player’s mentality as well as their gaming skills.
Even if that’s your type of game, the Maliketh boss battle in Elden Rings may still be a difficult level too far. Fortunately, you can find podcasts that cover this gruelling battle and other specific and very difficult areas of games.
Gaming Communities
There is, in most cases, more than one way to beat a game. Games like Deus Ex are especially known for this. Different players create different builds and take on areas in various different ways.
Listening to podcasts or reading guides from individual players means you can enjoy guides and tutorials on how to beat games in specific ways, but only by listening to gaming communities can you really hope to get a clearer, broader picture of a game and the possible way to combat it.
Many gaming podcasts invite guest presenters and they also build communities of listeners and participants around those podcasts, which can give you a clearer all-round picture.
Get Under The Hood
Sometimes, getting to know how the game is designed can help you work out new ways to beat the game. If you know about how the NPC AI systems work, it is a lot easier to predict the Metal Gear Solid antagonist movements.
It can be very difficult for game guide writers to predict AI movement and actions, making walkthroughs less effective for titles that rely on AI mechanics.
But, if you know that NPCs hear movement from within 10 feet and will investigate that movement, you don’t necessarily need a detailed walkthrough. Getting under the hood of how a game works can help more than a guide.
Developer Interviews
Another effective way of getting under the hood of games and helping to learn effective ways to play and beat them is to listen to developers. Some clues can be found in magazine interviews, but podcasts tend to be more candid.
Once developers start to talk about their creations, they can get carried away, and this means listeners are privy to more in-depth information that they wouldn’t otherwise hear or enjoy. Podcasts enjoy guest discussions and interviews with a host of different people from within and around the gaming industry including developers as well as pro gamers and others.