(I'd like to go on the record as saying that I bought the Fear & Hunger games before the video essayists got to it.)

It's oft said as a maxim, "To steal from one is plagiarism, to steal from many is research". A common thread amongst many retro throwback indie games you see come out is a slavish devotion to a single game, or some dubious rose-tinted era that never really existed. Indie devs who's only real creative aspirations are "What if I made Chrono Trigger again?". Fear & Hunger 2: Termina at a glance could easily be thrown under this umbrella as well: it's plot is a whole-sale reference to Majora's Mask (if you couldn't already tell from the title alone). There's an enemy in-game that's just Art the Clown from Terrifier. Silent Hill, old internet urban legends, H. P. Lovecraft, Hellraiser, the list goes on and on. Termina could easily be filed under this umbrella of unfocused & derivative pop-culture worshipping games, but despite being outwardly familiar, Termina's greatest strength is it's sense of mystique and magic; it's ability to feel like a truly unknowable black box of psychosexual Eurojank horror.

Termina uses its myriad base of familiar inspirations and influences as a jumping-off point, a way to set your expectations before it pulls the wool over your eyes and shows you what it truly wants to accomplish. With a cast of 14 unique characters (8 of which are playable, each with unique ways they affect the core gameplay loop) and a 3 day time limit, there's a sense of wonder as you try (and die) again over and over, with each playable character & NPC having some kind of obscure interaction with other characters or the world that you can stumble upon multiple hours into your 5th or 6th playthrough still. It's structure of a large and relatively static world map, coupled with a downright sadistic and unfair difficulty almost lends Termina the air of a masocore game a la I Want to Be the Guy or Kaizo Mario. It's about venturing head-first into a challenge and getting your ass handed to you in a way so insane and out of left-field you almost laugh at the sheer absurdity of it if you weren't so pissed about your last save being an hour and a half ago.

Saving your game at a bed advances time and causes characters to move around, potentially die, and limit your ability to explore, yet is also the only reliable way to access the game's leveling mechanic to improve your character. Powerful enemies can randomly show up around town and deliver total party wipeouts. While enemy positions and item boxes are static in each playthrough, their appearances and contents are otherwise completely random and up to chance. This risk and reward throughline forces a different approach each playthrough with enough variety that it always feels like you're never truly in control of the situation, no matter how many shotgun shells your carrying around or how many people you have in your party, and it manages to keep up the incredibly tense horror even after you've been desensitized to the horrific monster designs & nightmare scenarios with the constant looming threat of losing progress.

Termina is a dubiously tactful psychosexual nightmare of a game that I can't get enough of. While it will no doubt be picked apart down to its very cogs in the future, I'm enamored by it's mystical black box nature and I hope the future updates this game is planned to recieve flesh it out even more. I can say with confidence that Termina is a cult classic in the making, and a bold new entry into the RPG Maker Horror canon.

F&H2 Termina makes me question how the indie horror scene has managed to completely eclipse whatever the AAA scene has put out in the past decade. With a distinct art style and innovative gameplay it impresses even further by being a mish mash of genres that have no business working this well together. A turn based RPG survival horror with team building mechanics is such an avant garde idea. Combat that is usually replaced with insta-kills in the RPG maker horror subgenre is what gives Termina its identity. Even notable exceptions like Peret em Heru heavily dumb down the combat and give the player items to circumvent the tedium of combat. Termina however doesn't shy away from item starvation and RNG, It is a survival horror game through and through and one that is executed to perfection.

Its relationship with its prequel F&H is also one that I've rarely ever seen before, the prequel is used like a loose historical event that twists and turns depending on what source you get your information from, which is a fascinating depiction of how time corrodes and perverts stories and people that once were very real have now been reduced to mere retellings of idealized characters.

What Is Going On In Finland.

I just love loving stuff. it's been a long time since I actually liked a game man
I thought games were boring nowadays but this... this literally changed my mind

i don't know how lil old me managed to remotely enjoy this cruel, hard to feast on, AND HARD TO FUCKING PLAY or even to comprehend mess of a game this is. but i did, and I'm glad i did.
because this is probably one of the best games I've ever played. I don't even know what genre this game is considered but..
Play it yall, it's good I promise.

yea i know it's 'hard' and yea i know the story is a bit complicated since it requires MUCH of your time replaying it over and over and over and it's told through notes and books that are hard to find/understand or through encounters that you'll never know they existed till your third playthrough but Ion got no problem getting smart solely for the purpose of understanding this ON MY OWN -or on a 4 hour YouTube explanation video 🤔🤔🙄🤞🏻-

to make a long story short, I don't say this lightly, but this is one of the best video games ever made.
like seriously this even literally made me motivated to draw again OH MY GOD
i stopped being an artist like 2 years ago for many unknown reasons but the growling setting and the vast cast of characters this game has with their fascinating designs and frantic backstories HAS MADE ME WANT TO START DRAWING AGAIN
AND ACTUALLY LIKING IT.... AGAIN!!!!@@@.... I CANT BELIEVE IT
AND on top of all that. It was made by only ONE guy. ONE. HOLY SHIT.

i cant WAIT for future updates, I'll draw everyone and everything that's related to this game. i’ll replay this so many times and tell all my friends about it
I LOVE LOVING STUFF

my message to anyone whos reading this, just fuckin, like, play the game bro why are you still reading this

Also, what a cool title seriously I can't stop saying it
side note: I like calling this 'Tirmeena' :P ترميييناااا


AND YEA RIGHT MIRO PLEASE RELEASE AN ARTBOOK AS A DLC IM BEGGING YOU PLEASE I'LL GIVE YOU ALL MY MONEY IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT

TERMINA IS UPON US!

Fear & Hunger 2: Termina feels a lot more melodramatic than the first Fear & Hunger, the characters seem more like real people instead of larger-than-life literary figures, which lends more nuance to what they all go through. The setting creates a more character-driven game while also putting more of an emphasis on the story of the world. Unlike F&H the story itself doesn't have a somewhat disjointed quality, It’s straightforward with its themes and still has a lot to chew through.

I was genuinely amazed that despite all the praise I've heard about Fear & Hunger 2: Termina, no one has mentioned how it successfully creates an open-world horror experience. While there are some locked doors, a significant aspect of the horror comes from the decision of where to go next at your own pace.

The main difference between the two games is the difficulty level. Fear & Hunger can be quite unforgiving, even on the easiest setting. A single unlucky coin toss can ruin an entire run. That's why I prefer the “Easy(er)” mode in F&H Termina, as it makes the game more accessible without the constant frustration.

F&H Termina is light years better than F&H but the original has a charm that no game can ever replicate. It's one of the most creative and coolest games I’ve experienced and I'm so glad I got into this series. It’s a must play RPG everyone should at least experience this game once.

Plus you don’t get raped in this game so trying it wouldn't hurt...

In its renowned sequel, Fear & Hunger 2: Terminus maintains the foundations that defined the success of its predecessor, but now enhances the experience through improvements in gameplay, map design, mechanics, and characters.

The story presents a completely different proposition, where 14 characters are forced to participate in a macabre Death Game to achieve their individual goals. The plot remains well-written/complex, and its difficulty continues with the challenging level that characterizes it, as it is not a simple, let alone an easy game. Progression is built through trial and error until the player becomes accustomed to the dynamics of the objectives to be completed, thus the game continues to playfully disregard the player, being intentionally cruel and stressful.

Its oppressive atmosphere creates an immersive experience for those seeking a game outside the so-called traditional standards, even though it may not please everyone due to the more graphic themes and content presented.

The compelling characters are part of the game's greater essence, each with a unique story, attractive personalities, notable charisma, and sensational interactions with each other.

Fear & Hunger Terminus does an excellent job of combining elements of horror, turn-based RPGs, and survival in its grotesque style. Although it still has some technical issues, such as general bugs, the fact that it doesn't crash on its own like the previous one is already a major differentiator.

For me, this second game has solidified its place as one of the best titles on RPG Maker, by far my favorite on the platform.

I started this and felt maybe it was a little more forgiving than the first Fear and Hunger. I got loads of healing items out the gate, wasn't immediately attacked by giant trolls while getting my bearings and the first few enemies I encountered were easily beatable with my initial melee build. Then I wandered into an area with a massive, naked lumberjack whose penis detached from his body and choked me to death because I messed up a coin flip.

And that was just the first in a long line of reminders that there's nothing quite like the relentless trigger-warning city that is Fear and Hunger. This time around, I spent 20 hours being chased by a clown named Needles who wanted to shoot opium into my veins, met an 8ft cat man that violently stuffed a child into a sack when we saw each other and faced off against monstrous mutations of my former friends, one of which was a giant elephant lady that could crush my head in two seconds flat. Basically, what I imagine a day out in Birmingham is like.

Regardless of the fact they're definitely not for everyone, Miro Haverinen is undeniably cooking with these games. I think the reams of exposed monster genitalia and endless list of ridiculously grotesque ways you can get disembowelled veer a little too heavily into edge-lord territory at points, but there's no denying that these are some of the most unique RPGs out there right now. They have such a fascinating, almost meta way of approaching the genre, providing this twisted mishmash of Berserk's story, Undertale's reinvention of the old-school RPG and Final Fantasy's battle system. But we knew all that from the last game. What's impressive here is how Miro didn't just make more Fear and Hunger; he changed the formula significantly and offered a whole new perspective on the systems he built.

Aside from the time jump changing a lot of the weaponry and resources available, Termina is also a much grander, more open game that really rewards players exploring, learning and restarting runs to perfect their strategy. It's almost like Fear and Hunger's take on Majora's Mask, setting the conflict over three days and asking you to perfect what you do in those days to get the best ending possible. Considering your main objective is to fight 13 other people to the death, many of which are your allies, it creates a very interesting moral dilemma, especially as teaming with these people is essential to surviving most of the game's hardest battles. If I'm honest, it didn't click with me quite as well as the original, especially as the game's obtuse relationship with guiding the player combined with the strict three-day time limit leaves you confused at so many points. But I have to respect that this is wholly different and has so many new ideas and mechanics.

Ultimately, like the first game, it's a fantastic example of how letting go of the player's hand creates the best experiences. Exploring this world is haunting, and that's partially because Miro is so good at telling stories using the horror fantasy genre. But it's also because you have no clue what's around the next corner and the thrill of adventure makes this another memorable RPG that I'll be thinking about for months and months to come... I mean, it's pretty damn hard to forget a game where you get choked out by a lumberjack's genitals regardless, but still...

This game is just the best designed RPG ever, isn't it? No levelling up, no intrinsic growth, even your EXP bar is repurposed into a burden to manage (hunger). Death is a natural consequence of knowledge acquisition, but saves are part of a grand web of interconnected mechanics so deeply integrated into every facet of gameplay that you're always on top if you're sharp enough, but it's never quite enough to feel safe or satisfied. Sort of takes hints from the Foddy school of thinking in that the challenge is always, to an extent, “real”, and progress is a sort of “you know it when you’ve made it” kind of thing - always under threat of going south after a couple bad turns, however. Everybody else using RPGMaker should give up honestly, there's no more up from here

Simply put, an unforgettable experience. Another one of those games that just blows you away once you sit through the credits contemplating everything you just played through and witnessed. I am so in love with this series and I am a little funked up individual to say the least!

After playing through the first one twice I was so pumped to dive in as my brother watched me complete my first playthrough by me screensharing through a discord call so we both got to witness all the bizarre insanity and horrific situations that ensued. After getting my ass beat time and time again in the first game I managed to have an incredible first run with this one! Albeit, mistakes were definitely made and I had to learn, but I felt more seasoned going through the ringer a few times up to this point. Decided to go with Marcoh for my character and damn was it a good choice (the good ol' 2 piece and biscuit combo for the win!).

Nearly improving from the first in everyway especially when it comes to each character's own exposition and backstory you can choose to hear from the beginning and how they get to this point. Love how many references/inspirations to other games and horror culture they have in this too! There is so much interesting lore and things happening around this crazy town of Prehevil with so many characters it is impossible to take this whole game in with one playthrough with many paths to take and people to meet and recruit. All characters have a unique playstyle and the edition of using firearms before a fight is such a game changer.

Ended up getting a full party all the way to the end and felt so damn powerful with some good gear pickups even though I lost most of my coin tosses (shittiest luck, story of my life lol). First run I managed to get Ending A and the last boss music gave me chills especially at that one part in the song that gave me PTSD flashbacks, if you know...you know...

I know they are working on another one and apparently adding even more content to this one and that just makes me so happy. I love the OST in this game and the way they bring about horror is so different then how some other games do it with jump scares, never knowing what you will run into or what they will throw at you next always makes you feel on edge and gives you that spine tingling feeling. Definitely wanna do some more runs in the near future and get the other endings, I am so damn addicted! Everyone should play this game if you are a fan of horror games and want an unforgettable experience. How did they come up with this stuff?! I love it!

Starting my "replay" of Termina I did not really expect to glean much more than I had from my first playthrough of this game. I absolutely adored the game more than I have most other games and I've viewed as much content as I could find online for it. I thought I knew every inch of this game, every single intricate mechanic, character interaction, etc.

And this couldn't be any further from the truth.

My most recently completed run was with Abella, I got endings B and C on the same save file and I have so much more to appreciate this game for in this run now that I've seen all of the general endings firsthand. The sheer level of labour put into this game is inconcievable to me. Just the quality put into an rpgmaker game alone leaves me dumbfounded. Building upon the world, mechanics, and systems present in the first game in such a splendid manner. I have spent many hours merely thinking about this game and truly I cannot find anything to complain about.

Diversity in this game just breathes so much life and uniqueness to the world of Fear & Hunger. Just within the 8 playable characters, there's so many attributes that give each character their own distinict feel. In design, combat, and even just how you go about the navigating the world. Every playthrough feels magnitudally different just by the starting character alone. The soul absorbption mechanic adds on to this and creates so much depth for the progression system and understanding of the lore and game world. I've poured so many hours into perusing the wiki and watching too many a video covering unique interactions between the cast members and how they interact with the world. Mind Read, Diagnosis, and the Party Talk are all so intricately created it genuinely breaks my fucking mind to think that this game was produced by one person.

Combat once again follows in the foundation established by Funger 1. Though remaining more-or-less the same, the new REV system brings so much more depth to combat and I love it. The already complicated puzzle that is within each encounter now has an additional layer of which has heavy impact on the outcomes. Management of REV points could be the make or break for an encounter, and being so limited on how many you can store in your backend at a time PLUS being forced to commit to REV point usage adds so much stress to the gameplay itself. It really does wonders for establishing the brutal and ruthless resource management that this game has.

Style is something that I will infinitely praise this game for. I've watched some of the speedpainting videos, listened to every track (some hundreds of times over), and read through just about all of the dev's comments to other people regarding the music. Thematically the game never falls short and everything feels just so perfect. Again, it's so fucking mindblowing to me that this game even came to exist.

Funger's in-game world captivates me the most. All of the textbooks, flyers, papers, diaries, newspapers, everything. Nothing feels cheap in its delivery and nothing feels superfluous in its inclusion. I've read all of the pocketcat tales, all of the bibles, I cannot understate just how much I love how everything ties together both from the prior entry and from this one. Dialogues aside, the actual spritework and level design for the game itself is so magnificent and beautiful. Environments are put together and tracks are paired together like a match made in heaven. I cannot recall a moment where I've felt underwhelmed with the music and environment or annoyed with the design of an area. It's beautiful through and through. Character's and their relations to the world also do much to add depth and vibrancy to the characters themselves and those surrounding them. Again, the Party Talk and Mind Read mechanics are so perfectly executed and insanely deep. Nearly 3 hours of party talking paired with the mind reading ability (spoilers for obvious reasons). There's so much that you will miss out on sheerly because you don't play the game a certain way or don't unlock whatever skill. Characters in your party are also important because the Party Talk has unique dialogue based on those present/absent from the party. Words cannot express how much I love this system and how quite frankly fucking insane you have to be to put together all of this dialogue singlehandedly knowing that 90% of the playerbase won't even read a fraction of the interactions.

Miro has done a wonderful job with putting together such a game nearly singlehandedly. It's this game and Metal Gear Solid 2 that I believe are truly works of art. I'll admit I'm cranking out this "review" as something of a obligation because I want to write something of much grander scale but I lack the first-hand experience to do so. Think of this as something of a prelude if you would.

I'm currently 43 hours in and starting another run as Marina. This shit is crack. Help me.


STEAMDECK ADDENDUM:
I played this game on Steam Deck and it runs pretty OK. I'd suggest playing this on windows if possible. Unless you are running the latest protonGE version & the protondb fix for the game, you'll be fighting against massive fps drops very often.

Early this year I played Fear and Hunger for the first time and loved my time with it. I praised its worldbuilding and gothic dark fantasy aesthetic while also acknowledging that some of the challenges the game presents can be extremely offputting to new players. I originally felt the difficulty was something you have to push past initially and then the game becomes immensely easier. When getting into Termina, my first thought was how this game was going to tackle difficulty compared to the first game given its larger scope, larger array of mechanics and completely different setting.

Termina takes place roughly 400 years after the first game and is now adopting a more modern European gothic look rather than dark fantasy. What I find cool is how seamlessly this updated setting creates a more character-driven game while also putting more of an emphasis on the story of the world. The plot centers around a battle royale between 14 different characters, 8 of which are playable. I don’t think I've ever seen this concept used outside of a multiplayer setting and it is utilized to great effect to create a hopeless setting where at some point you will have to kill companions or characters you enjoy. What makes this situation harder is how good the writing is for each of the characters as they all have their own comprehensive backstory that makes you feel sorry for them. The inclusion of all these characters also makes progression more interesting as I valued discovering new interactions and set pieces with the characters over finding new items.

The new mechanic Termina includes that works hand in hand with the large roster of characters is the new three-day mechanic. The three-day time limit the game sets up at the start sets a tension to make the most of your time between each save as well as to discover all the hidden events that take place during each day. Each of the 14 contestants can be located all across the map during each day, with their locations changing almost every time you save and the day progresses. This is a fascinating mechanic as you can potentially miss out on recruiting or killing other characters as well as witnessing events where other contestants kill each other or encounters where contestants turn into horrible Silent Hill monsters. These events all have the potential to occur each day and there appears to be more on the way in future updates that will hopefully make this mechanic even more comprehensive to all the characters.

Now the main point of comparison for the two games is how Termina handles difficulty compared to the first entry. The starting hours were near identical as I was plagued with frustrating enemies and mechanics that forced me to restart the beginning section of the game over and over again. Knowing now that I had limited saves put more stress on me initially as I didn’t want to waste one on a run where I lost a limb or gathered crappy resources. But just like the first game, once I finally started to grasp what the game allowed me to do and get away with the game became infinitely easier. Some examples of this include finding an infinite health farm, learning how to regrow my limbs, and utilizing my party to kill every enemy during the first term. The amount of customization on offer is pretty incredible as you can build your character and party in a way that accounts for almost every encounter. The inclusion of numerous additional skills, items, and equipment makes it hard pressed to find players that had the exact same build as you. With each playable character having unique skills, starting items, and interactions in the game, there is a lot of replayability and mixing and matching if one finds playing as one character difficult. The tools are all there to help you maximize your experience and when I finally reached that point it was incredibly thrilling to backtrack through areas that once gave me a challenge and instead become a walking god of death.

Fear and Hunger Termina is the ideal sequel where it greatly adapts and expands upon the original designs and mechanics of the first game. The art and aesthetics are much stronger and more realized culminating in a very disturbing and ethereal horror RPG experience. The amount of details and secrets on offer is mind-numbing that is simply impossible to encounter them all in one playthrough. With the game also continuing to receive updates that promise to add more events encounters and maybe even endings, Termina is a smorgasbord of content. I can already tell this game will adopt a cult following as there is truly nothing else like it. I am so excited to see what fans and creatives will do with the ideas and mechanics this game presents hopefully culminating in a new era of horror-themed RPGs.

My first playthrough clocked in around 19 hours, with 8 of those hours being counted by the in-game clock. So much of my playthrough was trial and error as I wanted to see what was possible in this sandbox and how I could maximize my experience. During my time with Termina, I couldn’t help but be astounded by all the creative designs, locations and story beats that just made me so happy that I chose video games as one of my favorite hobbies. One of my favorite details is how the entirety of ending A correlates to post World-War in a way that I feel is one of the strongest depictions of how the whole world changed. Just like the first game, Termina is not for everyone as it is so heedlessly cruel, especially on the higher difficulties. But I think if you are someone who appreciates it when a medium accomplishes something wholly unique to its genre you need to do yourself the favor and try it out. It’s one of the coolest games I’ve ever played and I am so happy I got into this series.

Better setting than the first one for me!! I love all the characters although I couldn't exploit their individual abilities a lot :(
It's great that this game is bigger than the first one but it's too much for me, I activated the teletoscopes but I don't think I can achieve the ending I want so whatev
I may play again in the future who knows

Edit: right after writing this I started another run with Marina and this time I managed to take more advantage of the mechanics and the game in general and I got ending A :-)
It's been ages since I had so much fun and commitment to a game tbh so here's that

I'm leaving this review having only done one ending (Ending A) and the Easy difficult.

This game is really something else. The intro and early game is soaked through with incredible vibes. I think the mid and late game suffer (at least for me on easy) where I got so powerful that nothing felt particularly threatening and I was able to fundamentally clean most areas of any threats, but I can't knock the game here because I was playing on the lower than intended difficulty setting. The experience overall to be found though is chilling. My first couple attempts ended in failure, but that feeling of making my way into the city, being surrounded by horrors I didn't understand and fighting tooth and nail for every inch felt so raw and visceral.

There's so many little microdecisions you make in this game without even realizing it. The day system especially (though again kind of spoiled on easy by it's abundance of available free saves) is incredibly well thought out. The way the characters move around and the world state changing is incredible. I don't want to get too much into spoilers, but the things that happen to the characters are so cool and interesting.

I probably won't dive into another playthrough immediately, but I'm definitely very interested in exploring another character (I played Marina) and seeing how things shift and change.

Sometimes you stumble across games and they really surprise you! Fear and Hunger Termina is a hybrid Survival Horror/RPG with great emphasis on the former. The game is all about resource management, and makes no bones about your first playthroughs falling into guaranteed failure states. Learning the game is a blast though and once you get the hang of things it's very exciting to see the various approaches you can take for every situation in the game. With 8 playable characters with a host of different skills between them, along with 3 endings that have fairly different requirements for reaching them, the game has excellent replay value too! The atmosphere is rich and there are a host of spooks and thrills to keep you on edge most of the way. Particularly note goes to the sound effects and dissonant soundtrack.

On the downsides, as you'd expect of an open world game made by one person, the game is RIFE with bugs, particularly for recruitable characters who are notorious for breaking horribly and just disappearing from the game altogether. It's unlikely you'll complete a playthrough without seeing at least one bug. While I don't consider this a negative, the game is also big on disturbing content and imagery, from drug based to sexual to of course violent. If these things are a bit much for you to stomach, I wouldn't really recommend this game. Lastly, and once again I don't consider this a downside but some might, the game is VERY punishing. Enemies outclass you immensely, so you really need to know what options you have to declaw them for the inevitable encounters you WILL have to fight. Plus, the game has extremely limited save opportunities, so you can see a lot of progress go up in smoke if you aren't cautious. If that doesn't sound like a fun time to you, you'll probably want to pass on this.

All said, if you're a fan of the the horror genre and resource management games, I'd highly recommend this, I had a blast getting through it.

imo this is an almost perfect game. it is just absolutely fascinating and one of the best sequels i've ever played. this game has one of the coolest settings to a game imaginable: 14 people forced into a battle royale in a post ww2 silent hill inspired town, with a 3 day time limit similar to majora's mask.

despite being a pretty short game, most of the characters are very well developed and likable. the city of prehevil where the game takes place is also very fun to explore. there is just so much to do, so many scenes and character interactions littered across the city which combined with the somewhat roguelike aspects of the game mechanics makes it very replayable.

termina, like the first game, is extremely graphic and disturbing, but handled in a much better way. there is significantly less of the icky scenes that fear and hunger 1 had, but the game is still genuinely disturbing. so even if you dont like fear and hunger 1 i would still recommend giving this game a shot.

the only reason this game isnt perfect is because of the sheer amount of bugs. some glitches are understandable because it was made by 1 guy in rpgmaker which is a huge accomplishment, but this game definitely needs some bug fixing and polishing. theres a lot of typos and weird bugs littered throughout the game (such as being able to saw off infinite heads from certain enemies). some items and skills also literally dont do anything, like the yellow vial and levi's executioner skill. i also personally had crashing issues that i could never figure out how to fix but that seems like a rare thing as i could never find anything about it.

all in all, as someone who has played rpgmaker games their whole life, this is the single best rpgmaker game and one of the best indie games i've ever played. despite that it is not for everyone because it is extremely difficult, graphic, and buggy. if you are interested in playing it though, go in as blind as possible, one of the most fun things about this game is progression you feel with the trial and error of figuring out the mechanics and areas, and becoming a better player because of it.