I’ve just uninstalled and removed Balatro after yet a near, very close 8/8 ante finish. I have been failing and failing, I’ve only ever seen and gotten to 8/8 ante twice, this being the second time. Every other run has been just insulting me to where no strategy has ever worked, I feel like a lot of it is RNG and pre-determined outcomes based on seeded runs.
And I hate that way of playing. It always feels like I’m getting smacked down by a troll bully who I can never overcome. They’d kick me down every failed run I’d have, then they give me a false sense of security the further I get. “Awwww, getting tired of being owned? Here, let me help you by giving you a few seemingly lucky breaks. SMACK Oh! OWNED YOU AGAIN! FUCK YOU! LOLLOLOL! I BANGED YOUR MOTHER, GIT GUD, NOOB!1”
I just don’t understand why these kinds of games are around, even when I have a good idea who it is for.
Gran Turismo 7 was the worst offender I’ve had in a long time. It was very pretty and very well put together but it just wasnt fun.
But a few years later and a YT rabbit hole or two and I decided to give it a go on a very basic simrig setup and… yep, theres the fun.
I had fun in the online races, especially in VR.
Oddly enough I found GT7 far far too hand-holdy. There is absolutely no way to pick the wrong vehicle for a race.
The non PP limited races are a joke, IMO those should have the payout linked to the PP of the car. You take a 450 into a 550 race, double payout. Take a 650 in, half payout. Also maybe dont call it PP because it makes talking about it sound like a dick joke.
IMO if you turn the difficulty up to hard and turn all the drivers aids off its plenty challenging for people new to sim racing, I see how veterans might find it a bit simple.
If I recall correctly, I turned off all the driving assist aside anti-lock brakes and still breezed through… simply because they don’t let you buy the wrong car for a race. It felt like the game lost an entire aspect to it. The restaurant menu or whatever system it was only let you buy exactly the cars it took to win the next race, with everything else locked.
Back in one of the previous GTs (4?) I accidentally bought a Prius as a starting vehicle. It was, in theory, everything you’d need for a beginner car… but yikes was it bad. And I quickly learned about sunk cost fallacy trying to upgrade it. I made a similar grievous error in GT2 buying a Daihatsu Mira as my beginning car during a second run. I was targeting the K Cup and didn’t think beyond those requirements. So I was stuck with something like 78hp going into the Clubman Cup, which didn’t work at all.
Another mistake was buying a Chevy Nova (or maybe Camaro?) in GT6 for the legacy races, only to find out the heavy weight and rear-wheel drive made it impossibly difficult to turn without losing traction and having the tires kicking out from underneath. It was even too heavy to compete in a basic FR race. There was no fixing it. My driving style was too aggressive and I had to choose another vehicle.
All of those errors were learning moments that I brought forward in choosing my future cars. Learning what was in my budget, what upgrades I targeted first, and adapting when I got it wrong… all of that seemed gone in GT7. I don’t even remember money being a consideration.
It’s possible that I could have unlocked more of the “game” when I finished those tutorial-esque menus, but I had rather boot up the older games and just jump into a Sunday Cup with a fresh Silvia Q.
In all honesty single player GT7 is pretty much a training ground and sandbox for going online for real races. Which is fine if thats what you’re there for but would probably piss you off if you werent.
Money does become a limiting factor once you start trying to complete the car collection menus or make sure you always have the meta car for the daily races.
Ok yeah I feel you, I do miss that to a degree.
Some of the single player is still pretty challenging until you figure out how to cheese the AI. Running race hard tyres and a super lean fuel map so that I’m 2 seconds a lap slower than the fastest car but dont have to take 45 seconds to pit in a 10 lap race.