Games that don't allow pausing

[Eschaton]

A good reason to make a real pause is to stop the music. As AVGN said, just in case you need to talk on phone or something. In fact, some of AVGN rants simply involve a game pause that doesn't stop the music.

It sorts of make sense pause and menu would be assigned in different buttons since they are whole different things. You pause the game to temporary stop the whole process, while you access the main menu to rearrange your party members or check your status, so .technically. you're still playing the game, as seen from that the clock's still ticking.

Pausing reminds me of FFIX and the whole Excaliber II quest, where you have to play the game against the timer. Pausing the game won't hurt your progress if you suddenly need go to have a dinner while in-game, you're miles away from a save point, or you're stuck in a battle.

YMMV.  If you can pause the timer, what's the point of the timer running during the menu?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

I think on that game, if you pause it (the game, which also results to pausing the timer), you can't access the menu too...

 

[arekpowalan]

that is a game dependent thing... XD... there are games that stop the clock when ur on menu, some doesn't... even time stopping during a "pause" is game dependent, though most would surely go the pause time too...

My bad, sorry.

YMMV.  If you can pause the timer, what's the point of the timer running during the menu?

This is just my opinion, but if a game require you to play against the clock, the clock that runs even in the main menu (status screen and such) will ensure that you have to do everything fast. Some games do require you to spend a lot of times in the menu, such as rearranging class jobs or assigning skill points to your actors.

And yes, pausing naturally wouldn't allow you to access the menu.

 

[Eschaton]

Challenges like that are for people who don't have lives, though.

 

[kerbonklin]

Challenges like that are for people who don't have lives, though.

Lies! It's called uninterrupted free-time, and its available from 11pm ~ 3am. =)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

that's a lie, gamers have many lives... XD

 

[Necromus]

Especially, when the timer is 11 hours, or was it 12? Doesn't need to be done in one sitting, so hardly has anything to do with "having no life".

Besides that's such a stupid phrase anyways.

 

[hiromu656]

Dark Souls and Demon Souls don't allow you to stop game time through menu access. You simply find a safe zone where you won't be attacked while you're away. Personally, this is not an "immersive" feature, I believe it's there to serve as another bit of the games' challenge. This isn't an appealing feature at all, it's a bit annoying when something important happens outside of the game and you get killed while addressing it. However, the feature is justified in these games' since you can be invaded by online players in most areas of the game, and pausing wouldn't be fair. Then you could say that when you're playing offline you should be able to pause, but that's not the case. Don't know where to go from here...

Simply put, its not an immersive feature, if it serves no purpose, don't do it.

 

[Chaos Avian]

Many of the ABS I've played have pauses; Tales of games, Ys games and some Phantasy Star games. It's convenient for when something unexpected happens, though I'm usually left to my own when I start gaming so it really isn't much of an issue.

@himuro656: I don't think it was ever Dark/ Demon Soul's intention to make the game convenient for us in any way, shape or form... Like Atlus games the game doesn't care whether you win or lose~

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Dark Souls was made to be a challenge... XD

 

[hiromu656]

That was kinda my point, that it served a purpose in those games, it just wasn't enjoyable in any way.

 

[Zoltor]

No ability to pause the game, is a prime example of "bad" game design, no matter what genre the game is, with the exception of MMOs, and diablo/FPS type multi player online games(however even then, the single player modes should allow pausing), it should have a pause feature period.