Some weeks ago, I wrote a post called Life is a Big Game, in which I described some lessons I learned from playing the video game The Witcher. Some time has passed since then and my “journey” in the game has also progressed; hence I find a couple of more things from doing quests in the game that I would like to share. The thing I wanna talk about today is how (and why) to tackle “big monsters”, i.e. the kind of game’s monsters that are over your league, which you’re advised to only fight when you’re at a higher level, or not to fight at all.

Why facing “big monsters” when there are smaller ones out there?

The first thing comes to my mind whenever I think of (trying to) defeating a big monster is “Why do I have to do that?”. It’s a very natural (and valid) question to ask: as mortal human being we shouldn’t throw ourselves to any kind of challenges, especially if that challenge may literally kill you. However, as I experience, sometimes we (I) take that question as an excuse to choose the easy way, and in the long run choosing the “safe” option all the time is likely to take us nowhere. Here are some of the reasons I normally remind myself when the question “Why?” pops up in my mind.

If the physical (or, well, visual) rewards is what you’re after, then challenging yourself with big monsters will suit you very well, since most of the time, the game has very big rewards for those who dare to fight monsters over their leagues and win. Even if the absolute value of the rewards (in XP, money, etc.) doesn’t depend on the player’s level, the fact that harder tasks give more rewards and that at lower levels, you need less additional XP (and other resources) to increase your levels, than when your level is already high, means that the relative value (i.e. the value you are rewarded compared to your current value) is still much higher when you are at a lower level.

If, on the other hand, you feel like playing for “the fun of it” rather than the rewards, then it’s still a reason to follow the big goals. You will find much more satisfied dodging from the opponent’s attach knowing that you would definitely have died should that attach hit you, than if it doesn’t make any difference whether you dodge or not. In other words, there’s no winning if you cannot lose, and where’s the fun without some risks?

Of course, to beat a monster of a higher level than yours is easier said than done. As the risk increase, the pressure is gonna be much greater. You will have to be careful while keep being fast so that the opponent can’t touch you; one mistake may easily get you killed, and even if you manage to find a way to not be killed easily, it will take a lot longer time and more effort to win such “impossible” fights. I normally find my fingers, hands and arms all deeply sore after one of those hard games: you’re not likely to have a chance of being an underdog if you don’t give it your all; but together with that is the happiness of achieving the impossible victory with intensive focus and great efforts, together with the joy of “growing up” feeling. Even in case I give it my own and still fail (hence no XP points in game), most of the time it gives me real-life experience, together with the I-can-do-it-next-time kind of feeling.

At this point I have to give a disclaimer: playing video games isn’t good if you do it too much: you’re going waste a lot of time, and may get some health problem related to your eyes and your postures. However, if you know a little bit about me, you may have noticed that what I have discussed so far may not be all about video games’ big monsters, despite the fact that I started writing this post after playing some video game.

Now, If you’re motivated to beat some big monsters but not sure how to, here are some of my advice:

Preparation is key

The first thing you have to do before facing any monster, especially the big ones, is preparation. Sometimes, it is required by the game that you have to have acquired some conditions before you can find that monster you want to face, sometimes it’s the optional, but crucial preparation that can help you win. Better weapons, stronger shield, more information about the opponent, etc. all help increasing your chance of winning. Besides the certain things you can do as you prepare for a particular match, there are other stuff that are good to build on at all times, which can help you win in several situations. For example, if the fight gets long and your energy and vitality levels start to drop, certain food/portion/drink might save you. Therefore, storing as many of those as you can is a good way to make sure that you don’t die before killing the monster. Good preparation also makes sure that you will get better chance to survive even if you fail in killing the monster. If you die immediately after getting one hit, you won’t have a second chance (actually in the particular game I play, you can reload the game, but that’s of course not considered “second chance”), but if you just almost die after getting that hit, you might be able to retreat, restore your health and wait for better opportunities. I discussed this point on a more general scope (i.e. not game-specific) in the post Prepare for failures.

On the other hand, you also need to make sure that you don’t over-prepare. Sometimes, preparing too much may decrease you winning change (for e.g, you have too much stuff and become slower when you fight) and hence you will know when you should stop your preparation phase; but at other times, the boundary might not be visible: you might be tempted to keep on storing more stock or looking for better gears, but keep in mind that time is also important. Though almost everyone plays video games for fun, most of us won’t want to spend a too long time to play some game without winning it.

You have higher chance of success if you can find critical points

I’m sure that you’ve at least once heard of the so-called Pareto principle, a.k.a the 80/20 rule, which states that “for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”. While I’m not really convinced of the static number of 80 and 20, I find it true that in most of difficult tasks, there are critical elements, which if you succeed mastering/solving, will make the rest of the task much easier.

As we can’t simply attach blindly and hope that the monster will die before we do, facing a strong monster kind of forces us to find and focus on those critical points that bring out the biggest winning chance. Of course, again, it’s not easy to find those points (hence we wouldn’t do it if we had any other way), but you’ll get better with practices.

Focus

Doing any difficult job requires an undivided attention, and from personal experience I can say that that is not a very easy thing to master, at least not for everyone. Our mind was designed to be scattered, as our ancestors were more likely the monkeys who noticed sounds made by a nearby tiger and run than the ones who focus intentively on doing something no matter what. Inheriting those genes, we tend to be pulled out of focus by any change in the external and internal environments. The good news is that focus can be trained, though it might take some time.

We also have to take care of our feelings in order to be able to focus. We are not robots, so feelings might be a natural thing to have, but on those moments when you need extensive focus, you might need to forget about any feelings that may pop up (I’m sure you know how often they pop up on those “important” moments). Be steady and calm, focus on what you have to do to win, not on the winning (or losing) itself. That’s easier said than done, of course, so you won’t likely to master your feelings immediately; however, paying attention to it is a start.

Sometimes, you have to accept that you can’t beat the monster at your current level

Last but not least, sometimes reality might be brutal, and you might have to accept that no matter how well you prepare or how much efforts you put into it, you are just not ready: you need more resource, or more experience, or the monster is simply too difficult to handle that you will never be able to beat it. That’s fine and a part of life, it doesn’t mean you cannot beat another monster at a similar or even larger size, it just means you lack of something. Think about your defeat, analyze it and try to find reasons for your defeats, and come back when you have covered those weaknesses. That’s how you grow up, and that’s why people say “Failure is the mother of success”.

Wish you well!