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"Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Fri 3 Apr 20:02:post reply

I was wondering what y'all have been playing during these crazy times. I know a lot of this is already covered in other threads, but I'd like to start one specifically about the kinds of games you go to for comfort. The gaming equivalent of comfort food. What games do you crave during times of trouble?

(i figured it'd be good to start a new thread instead of working this into the other COVID-19 thread which is more about airing our sorrows--don't want to mix the two cos I figure you get enough of that in other platforms!)

For me I've found myself really drawn to PSOne era games. I have a switch with Breath of the Wild and the latest Fire Emblem. I could be playing Death Stranding or the latest Resident Evils. I could be on Steam playing all sorts of amazing indie games, but something in me just craved the comfort of PSOne era games, particularly RPGs and platformers.

I finally got my hands on the PSX GeGeGe No Kitaro 2d game and its AMAZING. It's one of the most beautifful games I've ever seen. One of the last gen PSX games and it absolutely pushes the systems underutilized 2d capabilites to the max! The sprites are fairly big and gorgeously animated. It does a very smart thing of breaking up the levels into small exciting chunks too, so they feel pretty varied without overloading the system ram. Graphics aside, the gameplay is pretty fun and the sound design is STELLAR. It harkens back to Ghouls and Ghosts. It's fun, a little cute, but also actually spooky! Especially the sound FX!

I also finally started playing Persona Innocent Sin. Someone made a fan translation patch years ago. I do actually own the game on PSP, but never actually played it as my PSP was broken by then and i just bought the game on pure principle (also got that rad OST CD!). It's a fun game! The Kazuma Kaneko characters are so damn cool, the writing is good and there's something so deeply comforting about navigating this tidy, lofi but highly convincing world of nice clean sprites on top of very nice low poly environments that are essentially 3d sprite art.

I also started playing Final Fantasy Tactics again. I have no insight to offer there. That game is just incredible across the board. Sometimes the UX may feel a little dated, but that's fine by me. The art direction, sound design and story are stellar. And I feel the gameplay holds up! Every single action counts! And the size of the playing field is so perfect. It has a real intimate feeling to it. It's also a game where luck plays a bigger role than most newer games. I found myself failing some missions simply cos of bad luck on myy part and enemies scoring criticals. I don't mind this!

Also been booting up the ol Tobal 2. That game's still as beautiful as teh day i first laid eyes on it. It's another one of those titles that maxed out the system in terms of what it's actually good at. The low texture, goraud shaded, hi-rez (for its time) 60fps style still tickles my brain. The animations and gameplay still totally hold up too! To this day I think it's got the best grappling system out of any game I've seen, including the UFC games (that Dream Factory in fact went on to make!) How did Dream Factory peak so hard and so early with the Tobal games? Anyway, I don't mean to throw shade, Tobal 2 is still my fav 3D game of all time. Always fun to pickup and mess around and very intuitive. And my god, that adventure mode where you can capture over 200 playable monsters!!! OOF. Best fightingh game feature (outside of versus mode of course) ever.

I think what appeals to me bout these PSOne games is just how rich and fertile and creative they still feel to this day. There was magic in the air. These devs had honed their skills during the 8bit and 16bit eras, and were approaching 3d with a lot of experience and unique perspectives. The rules for 3d games were not so set in stone yet! That's how you got stuff as bananas as "hey guys, now that we have access to a mocap studio, let's record some dancing!" "YES! And then ... let's apply the dancing data ... to the lizards and dogs!!"

That's the kind of energy I crave in games! Also the kind of energy i hope to bring to my own games.

Anywayy, yup, games are a deep source of comfort right now. This is perhaps, the best time in history to catch up on games.
So ... what are y'all's comfort games?






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[this message was edited by nobinobita on Fri 3 Apr 20:03]

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"Re(1):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sat 4 Apr 01:29:post reply

Great report, Nobi! I'll unilaterally extend this to board games since we haven't gotten a Switch yet (I was finally ready to get the Switch I've been meaning to buy for two years, but apparently several million other people in the US and Japan had the same idea).

Mostly we play a LOT of Carcasonne, which was the first of many mostly European resource-management PC-esque strategy board games my group got into back in 2006. Somehow my original copy was lost, so we had a local toy store toss a copy in the back of the car for contact-free purchasing. The default set has added a new job, the abbot, which is kind of interesting.

PS1 is no doubt full of great creative items, and I'd like to get back to FFVIII (remastered) after stopping shortly into Disc 2 just where things get really good. The timing of when I played that game in high school, and my own personal preference for it above all others besides VI, makes it a relaxing place to return.

Bu while there's some great, rough-around-the-edges Famicom-like creativity to the PS1 library (Tobal 2 forever), I might go for the more refinded but marvelously creative PS2 library (it's the Super Famicom in this metaphor). I wish I had my PS2 from the family home...we've been wanting to play Katamari Damashii again, which I think would be a great comfort game. It would also be nice to go back to Wander and the Colossus, merely because I think it's one of the most important games ever made.

I would also like to play Flower again! A purifying wind seems very appealing now. Luckily, I have the soundtrack, at least, which has been relaxing in all kinds of situations over the years.





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[this message was edited by Maou on Sat 4 Apr 07:21]



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"Re(2):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sat 4 Apr 05:29post reply

A very 2020-era game is "Kind Words", in which strangers bare their hearts in 14 lines and you can choose to anonymously reply to them in 14 lines. The game has a button that links you to an emergency service if you think a person's message indicates they are in immediate danger (e.g. suicide). It is very not a game if you are already emotionally drained. However, the act of comforting TOTAL STRANGERS you will never see and never get replies from can wind up being a reassuring experience. You can communicate life experience and perspective to others, some of which are clearly younger than you, or less experienced than you, or less fortunate than you. I also make a point of writing in complete sentences with punctuation and proper spelling, in order to test my composition.

Death Stranding is great for the feeling of being able to go on long, adventurous hikes.

Nioh 2 is a very hard game in which all you have to do is kill everything and make your numbers go up. It's kind of reassuring in that way.

Playing fighting games with other people through modern internet powered software is really great, because you can talk with voice to your gaming group and talk about how life is in their part of the world along with talking about the game. It's a very comfortable place to experience, because you have a little thing to collaborate and compete on while also having the larger frame of life to discuss. Having voice chat together with text chat vastly enriches the communication experience.







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"Re(3):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sat 4 Apr 08:26post reply

I thought this time I was finally going to learn how to properly play Crusader Kings 2. I have time, I know Stellaris well, it's going to be easy this time, I'll go and finally establish the kingdom of Provence all across from Savoy to Portugal.

Almost immediately after starting, my character decided he was going to bang the wife of his own spy master.
While I was trying to prevent him from getting a well-deserved shiv through the neck, I discover my daughter is plotting with my brother to poison me. I was not even one hour into the game.

OK, back to RE3. Nemesis is much less stressful.





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"Re(4):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sat 4 Apr 09:47post reply

Phantasy Star Online 2, without a doubt. I spent hundreds of hours on the original PSO with my friends and family on Dreamcast and Gamecube, but couldn't get them into PSO2 between the hassles of signing up for Sega ID and installing the english patch. But now the barrier of entry is only finding cheap, used Xboxes and we've been questing for hours on end. The Ragol Edition nostalgia pack that Sega released with classic costumes/music/etc probably contributed quite a bit as well!





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"Re(5):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Mon 6 Apr 00:48post reply

During my confinement I've been goofing around with Ninja Warriors Once Again. It's a good game but it's running time is a bit too much of a good thing. Luckily, that overly long playtime is well suited for when I'm unable to leave the house. All five characters are great fun but the newcomers Yaksha and Raiden are so complex, fiddly, and weird that I'm not certain I know how to clear the game with these two. It's times like this that I wish I could look up a large text file on GameFAQs that would explain the characters in numbing detail. ASCII art would also be a plus.

This time of isolation might also be a good time to re-play Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara. Then again, there's never a wrong time to play those two games.





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"Re(6):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Mon 6 Apr 04:25post reply

quote:
During my confinement I've been goofing around with Ninja Warriors Once Again. It's a good game but it's running time is a bit too much of a good thing. Luckily, that overly long playtime is well suited for when I'm unable to leave the house. All five characters are great fun but the newcomers Yaksha and Raiden are so complex, fiddly, and weird that I'm not certain I know how to clear the game with these two. It's times like this that I wish I could look up a large text file on GameFAQs that would explain the characters in numbing detail. ASCII art would also be a plus.

This time of isolation might also be a good time to re-play Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara. Then again, there's never a wrong time to play those two games.


Been thinking for a while to give my point of view of comfort games and what I would considered them to be for me. Having trouble trying to figure out what games. Are we looking at something not difficult? Less fustrating? Soothing story? Satisfying gameplay after perfection? Been trying to wrap my head and which games, I may need to explore this again and study on my own.

I am currently still playing Prometheus but put it on hold and playing the MegaMan Zero/ZX collection. Geez, Zero One was really an agitating little piglet of a game there. I have the Panzeer Dragoon Remake I plan to play. As well as Luminous Avenger X. I would really like to dig into the Turbo Graphix Mini. I never played any of those games so this will be a good time. Just have to find one.





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"Re(7):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Mon 6 Apr 10:06post reply

quote:
Been thinking for a while to give my point of view of comfort games and what I would considered them to be for me. Having trouble trying to figure out what games. Are we looking at something not difficult? Less fustrating? Soothing story? Satisfying gameplay after perfection? Been trying to wrap my head and which games, I may need to explore this again and study on my own.


I think it really will be very different for each person, and what you gravitate to as a comfort at this moment may well not be something you gravitate to in a later year, or in previous years!

I find it interesting how sometimes what is "soothing" for me is diametrically oppposite. Sometimes it's a more unstructured, undirected experience like just roaming around in Breath of the Wild where I just move towards whatever catches my eye. Other times, it's something very linear and directed with a lot of progression mechanics where I can just settle into the groove of always having a very specific goal and seeing the numbers go up as I move towards it. Sometimes it's a little bit of both, like going into training mode for a familiar fighting game and doing combos I've done hundreds of times before.







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"Re(8):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Wed 8 Apr 08:11post reply

Stardew Valley on Switch is my preferred chill game. Such an unprecedented amount of freedom that not even Animal Crossing has. It's probably the only game that has me begging for more in-game time during the day because it's so easy to get sidetracked.

Besides that, I usually dip into puzzle games or the occasional VR outing.





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"Re(9):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sat 11 Apr 15:25post reply

quote:
Stardew Valley on Switch is my preferred chill game. Such an unprecedented amount of freedom that not even Animal Crossing has. It's probably the only game that has me begging for more in-game time during the day because it's so easy to get sidetracked.

Besides that, I usually dip into puzzle games or the occasional VR outing.



Tokyo was just declared a state of emergency starting this week and so it looks like many people will be playing FF7 than going out. This week was oddly busy in part because of that!

The concept of 'going comfort from style' came to my mind since this thread came up and so I dug out my Famicom Mini and the nostaligia is pristine. While the Japanese version unfortunately doesn't have "Punch Out!", it has Tecmo's Sumo game "Tsuppare Ozumo" that lets you finish off the opponent with wrestling moves and even pulling off their fundoshi underwear, pixely private part completely uncensored.





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"Re(1):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sun 12 Apr 08:34post reply

One Piece: Warriors 4 has been really good for the times. Split-screen coop that runs without wrecking the game's performance, some nice customization in terms of skills and special moves, and numerous hilariously overpowered characters that absolutely wreck house.

The giant-size characters are especially fun. While most Warriors games can give you the relaxing feeling of effortlessly cutting down peons like blades of grass, using Kaido and turning into a screen-filling dragon is effectively giving you a turbo-charged luxury riding mower with all the latest bells and whistles.

There are a lot of fun characters in here. Could use a few more stages, but overall it's one of the best warriors games we've played.





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"Re(2):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Sun 12 Apr 12:13post reply

quote:
One Piece: Warriors 4 has been really good for the times. Split-screen coop that runs without wrecking the game's performance, some nice customization in terms of skills and special moves, and numerous hilariously overpowered characters that absolutely wreck house.


Koei even managed a decent PC port this time. Not quite perfect, I don't know if Tecmo Koei are capable of a "perfect" PC port. It is honestly weird how Koei finds different ways to mess up PC ports. (Koei started using Steam's own API for controller support for PC ports. With DW9, they managed to botch the analog sticks. With OPPW4, the game won't even recognize an Xbox controller unless/until you set it as the default controller for Steam, which itself breaks proper support for *other* games including OPPW3.)

One thing that I've noticed is that the more I play, the more it feels like a Warriors/Musou game. At the same time, it might be hard to go back to traditional Warriors/Musou mechanics. Having four selectable specials is just so much more useful than the traditional Musou system.

The larger characters do feel powerful. Omega Force is ever so gradually getting a grasp of how to handle much larger than normal characters within the same engine.







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"Re(3):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Mon 13 Apr 07:28post reply

I finally got around to playing through Gunhouse in its entirety on Switch, and it was a good time! I think the sinewave is by far the best when it comes to just playing, but not just because of it being the most powerful but because it lets you interact with every mechanic in the game in a way that is very rewarding. However, it is probably the least aesthetically delightful of the weapons.

Final Boss thoughts


Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
I was very delighted that the final boss of the game, the thing which is consuming children to make itself more powerful, is an adult. Not only that, in much the same way that adults seem to not play by the same rules as kids, the final boss continuously attacks you even during the time when you are normally safe (playing the matching game) and even during times when you feel kinda powerless (like the last moments of when the shutter is closing).

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"Re(4):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Mon 13 Apr 09:22post reply

Also, an extremely relevant tangent to go along with me playing through Gunhouse last night is that throughout the evening and into the late hours of night (we're talking like 3am and later), there was somebody outside who would occasionally shout "DOGS ARE DISGUSTING!", and I have no idea to who or why. There were no audible dog sounds.







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"Re(4):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Mon 13 Apr 22:15post reply

quote:
I finally got around to playing through Gunhouse in its entirety on Switch, and it was a good time! I think the sinewave is by far the best when it comes to just playing, but not just because of it being the most powerful but because it lets you interact with every mechanic in the game in a way that is very rewarding. However, it is probably the least aesthetically delightful of the weapons.

Final Boss thoughts



The sinewave is effective, sure, but in Gunhouse there is the penguin gun and then there is the rest of the game.







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"Re(5):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Tue 14 Apr 02:37post reply

quote:
I finally got around to playing through Gunhouse in its entirety on Switch, and it was a good time! I think the sinewave is by far the best when it comes to just playing, but not just because of it being the most powerful but because it lets you interact with every mechanic in the game in a way that is very rewarding. However, it is probably the least aesthetically delightful of the weapons.

Final Boss thoughts


The sinewave is effective, sure, but in Gunhouse there is the penguin gun and then there is the rest of the game.



I was disappointed that the penguin gun was not the most powerful of all weapons, but maybe that's only in the Iggy Special Edition.







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"Re(6):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Tue 14 Apr 06:31post reply

quote:
I was disappointed that the penguin gun was not the most powerful of all weapons, but maybe that's only in the Iggy Special Edition.

I... admit I stopped playing when the penguin gun stopped being enough to solve all my problems.







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"Re(7):Comfort Gunhouse while self isolating" , posted Wed 15 Apr 11:12post reply

quote:
I was disappointed that the penguin gun was not the most powerful of all weapons, but maybe that's only in the Iggy Special Edition.
I... admit I stopped playing when the penguin gun stopped being enough to solve all my problems.

If I hadn't already made it past day 100 (it's true!), Gunhouse would probably be a comfort game rather than a Way of Life or an intense long-term experience I'm not sure I could mentally handle again, like Evangelion, Xenogears, or Nier Automata. That said, I am here to prescribe a steady regimen of the penguin gun, skull gun, and powered up dragon gun that will get you all the way past Exodus and Juan's freaky Peter Molyneux moon boss ten times, I guarantee it.





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"Re(8):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Fri 17 Apr 14:12post reply

quote:
Been thinking for a while to give my point of view of comfort games and what I would considered them to be for me. Having trouble trying to figure out what games. Are we looking at something not difficult? Less fustrating? Soothing story? Satisfying gameplay after perfection? Been trying to wrap my head and which games, I may need to explore this again and study on my own.

I think it really will be very different for each person, and what you gravitate to as a comfort at this moment may well not be something you gravitate to in a later year, or in previous years!

I find it interesting how sometimes what is "soothing" for me is diametrically oppposite. Sometimes it's a more unstructured, undirected experience like just roaming around in Breath of the Wild where I just move towards whatever catches my eye. Other times, it's something very linear and directed with a lot of progression mechanics where I can just settle into the groove of always having a very specific goal and seeing the numbers go up as I move towards it. Sometimes it's a little bit of both, like going into training mode for a familiar fighting game and doing combos I've done hundreds of times before.



I see. I ventured a little more with this topic on my end. Because I thought of different aspects of what really soothes me or comfort me in a game or even for other people, could it be the challenge of a difficult game where as you progress you feel satisfied? Playing a game that only bring great memories of the past outside of the game itself? Running through the game to enjoy the soundtrack that you love to hear?

Those three come to mind for me. It's good to have one game that does all three. That I will need to explore more and search for. For now I would say the music. Was hoping to find a game not as popular but Streets of Rage 2 is the game that would comfort me. I chose this over Megaman X4 and Ikaruga. The OST for SOR2 just mellows me out into a good mood.

I want to find that game that covers all three items mentioned above. I know there is one out there but I can't think of it now. I will find you! Lol





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"Re(9):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Thu 23 Apr 02:12post reply

Sadly I don't have any console in my apartment, and my computer is too weak to run games, so I'm not playing anything since the quarantine started.

I am, however, watching some game playthroughs on YouTube. Just finished watching the Mother series, and I'm still impressed: I've read many good things about these games before, but watching them made me realize how original they were and still are, even by today's standards. Itoi should be very proud of what he accomplished.

(and Ninten should be playable at SSB Ultimate, even if just as an Echo Fighter of Ness. Or Pippi; who would know that a little girl could be a real destruction machine?)





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"Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolating" , posted Fri 24 Apr 09:35post reply

I just downloaded Fighting EX Layer today. I've been playing a little bit of it. I wouldn't say it's my comfort game just yet, though.

But I've been keeping busy with KOF XIV, SFV and Samurai Shodown 2019. I try not to play games too much, though. I tend to go into rage mode at times when I encounter cheapness.







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"Re(2):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Fri 24 Apr 18:43post reply

Musou games.

I mean this in the most maniacal way possible.

I played through Spirit of Sanada recently, and oh my lord is that game a musou. Somehow there's nothing quite like grinding and grinding in a game until the weakest enemies in the game die from hearing your footstep several meters away. Although, my real enemy in that game became what's called the "exploration zones." Each zone has 4 sets of goals, one of which is such infuriating but ever-so-Omega-Force design where you have to fight 10 of a rare enemy. Each zone has 3 areas where the enemy can spawn, but the kicker is that the enemy doesn't always spawn, so trying to complete this goal requires you to enter the map, visit the three spawn areas (which you only know about after having found the enemy there, otherwise there is no hint at all) and praying that they actually show up at least once. And when they don't, it's back to the map screen to try again. There are 20 of these exploration maps in the game, all with copy-pasted areas for maximum confusion, and I went and did this on EVERY SINGLE ONE. The enemies are not difficult to beat. There was no achievement for doing this. Even the in-game reward is just some measly experience that's barely enough to raise a level. So why did I do it? Because I HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS AND THAT'S WHAT MUSOU DOES TO YOU, IT MAKES YOU WASTE YOUR TIME DOING SOMETHING THAT MEANS NOTHING BECAUSE IT'S JUST... FREAKING... THERE

Otherwise I'm emotionally stable and staring daily at the FF7R icon on my PS4 without touching it until the pandemic is over. Because frankly I didn't like the demo and I wasn't going to install the game but my PS4 decided this for me and now the feelings of "I might as well play it since it got installed" and "I don't want to play it even though I own it" are at war in my brain. For a similar reason, Shenmue 3 has been installed on there since January but don't let any of this distract you from the fact that I have more musou to do.

So in the meantime, Pirate Warriors 4. PW4 is meaningful enough to me as a property that I actually care what's not in it. I never knew that Omega Force was capable of removing characters from their games these days. I mean, even Spirit of Sanada is supposed to be focused only on the Sanada clan adventures and ignoring everyone else, and yet they somehow found a reason to include the 60+ other characters from the series in there just because it would have been more boring without them. Meanwhile, PW4 excludes nearly half the cast of PW3 precisely because of their lack of overall story importance, while doing a hack job to include a whopping three PTS arcs without a single new character to set them apart from previous entries. But hey who cares, look at me just trying to get S rank in every mission because I don't know why? Once again, it's not an achievement and the rewards are pretty trivial, but I gotta do it because ugh those A ranks just hurt to look at with the big obnoxious font.

Now I'm nearly done with PW4 and when I finish it I theoretically could play Shenmue 3, or I could play FF7R. Or I could play Gravity Rush 2, which I also have. Or I could play Xenoblade Chronicles for more than 5 minutes. Or I could get back into Bravely Second which I keep abandoning. Can you guess which one? That's right, the answer is WARRIORS OROCHI 4 and I'm going to max out all 100+ characters. Hit me with another musou, bartender. SHUT UP, I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH

And when I'm done with that? Surely then I can-
Oh hey I also have Hyrule Warriors, what do you know







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"Re(3):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Sat 25 Apr 00:31post reply

quote:
That's right, the answer is WARRIORS OROCHI 4 and I'm going to max out all 100+ characters. Hit me with another musou, bartender. SHUT UP, I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH


I hadn't played a mainline musou since... Samurai 2 I think?
The combination of Confinement + the announcement of a new Sengoku BASARA game + the dread that the game will probably be as bad as the last few ones + the WFH situation will probably mean the game will be shelved to have more hands on projects that really matter (either RE or MH) threw me in a despair spiral that led me to install Musou Orochi 4. I thought I knew what I was going into, a silly crossover with mindless button mashing.
I didn't expect though that the first mission will start with Ii Naotora in my team. That was my first exposure to the Musou version of the character. I strongly disliked her in BASARA, so I was curious to see what Musou did with her... and boy, I had forgotten how Musou treats its female characters in general. It felt so gross to have what is basically a DoA character without having time to properly prepare myself that I ended up refunding the game.
I ended up hunting back my PS3 and my copy of Sumeragi to have Matsu wack fools with a bear, a gang of seaguls, a wolf and a husband.

I did like Zelda Musou a lot back on WiiU, though. Maybe I should get it on Switch and waste time on that.





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"Re(3):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Sat 25 Apr 01:26:post reply

quote:
Musou games.

I mean this in the most maniacal way possible.

I played through Spirit of Sanada recently, and oh my lord is that game a musou. Somehow there's nothing quite like grinding and grinding in a game until the weakest enemies in the game die from hearing your footstep several meters away. Although, my real enemy in that game became what's called the "exploration zones." Each zone has 4 sets of goals, one of which is such infuriating but ever-so-Omega-Force design where you have to fight 10 of a rare enemy. Each zone has 3 areas where the enemy can spawn, but the kicker is that the enemy doesn't always spawn, so trying to complete this goal requires you to enter the map, visit the three spawn areas (which you only know about after having found the enemy there, otherwise there is no hint at all) and praying that they actually show up at least once. And when they don't, it's back to the map screen to try again. There are 20 of these exploration maps in the game, all with copy-pasted areas for maximum confusion, and I went and did this on EVERY SINGLE ONE. The enemies are not difficult to beat. There was no achievement for doing this. Even the in-game reward is just some measly experience that's barely enough to raise a level. So why did I do it? Because I HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS AND THAT'S WHAT MUSOU DOES TO YOU, IT MAKES YOU WASTE YOUR TIME DOING SOMETHING THAT MEANS NOTHING BECAUSE IT'S JUST... FREAKING... THERE

Otherwise I'm emotionally stable an

-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --

After reading this I think I will finally start up my Berserk Musou game i purchased years ago.





Long Live I AM!

[this message was edited by neo0r0chiaku on Sat 25 Apr 01:27]



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"Re(2):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Sat 25 Apr 07:09post reply

quote:
I just downloaded Fighting EX Layer today. I've been playing a little bit of it. I wouldn't say it's my comfort game just yet, though.



Speaking of FEXL, I recently came across an arcade that had FEXL in one of the cabinets. Although I found the FEXL demo to be one of the silliest games I have played in recent memory I was interested in seeing how the final product turned out. However, I didn't have time to try the game but promised myself I would get back to it later. Instead the city shut down. Oh well, if I ever leave my house again I'll eventually give it a shot.

quote:
Musou games.

I mean this in the most maniacal way possible.

Is there any other way to approach Musou games?







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"Re(3):Re(10):Comfort Musou while Musoing" , posted Sat 25 Apr 09:05post reply

quote:
Open up my tab and keep the musou coming


For those of you who would like a change of pace from Musou but not too big of a change of pace from Musou, in the fashion of having a Tom Collins as a change of pace from the 23684328th Gimlet you've downed, I highly recommend EARTH DEFENSE FORCE.

You can find Earth Defense Force 5 on the PC via Steam and on the PS4. You can find its contemporary gaiden with different design perspective Earth Defense Force Iron Rain on both platforms as well. Both are highly recommended games which can be as easy or as difficult as you want, and are unparalleled in the world of 3D games as games in which the 3D environment is paramount to how you interact with the barbarian hordes. Like Musou, if you wish to grind for hundreds of hours, there are tons and tons of weapons for you to acquire, each of which is hand-designed and has sometimes amusing descriptions. There are four extremely unique character classes, and the game becomes enormously better with friends.

I can also wholeheartedly recommend Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair on PS4 or Steam, which is the vastly improved version of Earth Defense Force 2025 or Earth Defense Force 4 (seriously, don't bother with vanilla EDF4 or EDF 2025). EDF 4.1 introduces the single greatest innovation in the EDF series: a song which you can play verse by verse as a voiced chat callout, which all of your allies will respond together with the next verse of. Frankly, Musou games should have this feature so that you can lead your army in a heroic song as you march towards the enemy. It is worth noting that the song in EDF4 is better than the one in EDF5, so EDF4 may serve as a better introduction to the series. However, both games are terrific.







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"Re(4):Re(10):Comfort Musou while Musoing" , posted Sat 25 Apr 13:18post reply

quote:
For those of you who would like a change of pace from Musou but not too big of a change of pace from Musou, in the fashion of having a Tom Collins as a change of pace from the 23684328th Gimlet you've downed, I highly recommend EARTH DEFENSE FORCE.


I quickly found myself burnt out with EDF5, and never even bothered to get Iron Rain.

The various Musou games are somewhat unfairly criticized for being the same repetitive game released over and over, but Musou games are shining beacons of uniqueness and variety when compared to EDF.







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"Re(5):Re(10):Comfort EDF while Musoing" , posted Sat 25 Apr 13:51post reply

So what I find extremely delightful about EDF is how varied the weapons are and how important the 3D environment is to how everything interacts. The presence of destructible buildings means things that route the insects in particular ways, but sometimes that means that it blocks your line of fire. Very few weapons hit instantly, so even though enemies are gigantic the spaces between are so great that the act of shooting requires a lot of manual control. The weapon variety results in extreme variation in how you tackle a given mission. And so on. If you suddenly find yourself with some really cool weapon for another class, you might decide to use that other class, and again your strategies and tactics change. Because you get drops for other classes and armor is distributed to other classes now, the others don't fall TOO far behind.

But it is also 100% entirely true that in EDF, there exist only two mission types: kill everything, and survive until time runs out.

And once you've played enough for a little while.... hey, that's fine! You can put it down and come back later! It's not going anywhere. There's no timed banner event for you to rush or any bonus ending you're going to get for beating the game fast. Just enjoy playing it until you've had enough, and then do something else. Just because chili is a comfort food doesn't mean I need to eat the entire pot of it I just made!







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"Re(6):Re(10):Comfort EDF while Musoing" , posted Sat 25 Apr 23:02post reply

quote:
So what I find extremely delightful about EDF is how varied the weapons are and how important the 3D environment is to how everything interacts.


The issue for me may be that I've played EDF2, 2017, 2025, 4.1, and 5. 2017 was a remake of EDF1, to the point that it didn't even carry over the new character from EDF2. EDF3 was an enhanced handheld port of 2017. 2025 was a remake of EDF2. 4.1 was an enhanced port of 2025. EDF5 is another story reboot, while mechanically it is a tweaked 4.1.

Weapons are varied, but weapon types range a bit too much in usefulness. Some are too specialized, even if useful, to justify burning an equipment spot when facing hordes of enemies. Many honestly aren't that useful, or have otherwise utterly crippling issues. And the level-based loot drop system means that the weapon list is quite padded with same-but-better "numbers-go-up" entries.

The levels get larger, but that isn't always a positive. At times levels in later entries feel needlessly big for the sluggish-on-foot characters. I'm guessing that visual variety is a low priority since half of a location is going to be leveled by the end, and the game is built around the idea of being able to recycle its locations for different missions, but the visuals really start to run together long before you make it through a game, and don't necessarily change that much between games.

Mechanically, the game does implement tweaks that are generally for the better. (Much better than Omega Force's two-steps forward, one-to-three-steps-back pattern.) At the same time, said improvements can feel like they are years overdue when they do happen. Worse, some elements likely never will be improved.

The repeated reboots are annoying for another reason, in that you keep getting new "beginner" levels to play through. Worse, these levels are getting longer. EDF5's first few levels were a painful slog of non-action, and you've got four different classes to play each of them with for "completion".

For its many faults, Musou games feel like largely smooth action. EDF has fun action, but it is hard to call it smooth.







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"Re(7):Re(10):Comfort EDF while Musoing" , posted Sun 26 Apr 02:26post reply

quote:

The issue for me may be that I've played EDF2, 2017, 2025, 4.1, and 5.



Hooray, a fellow EDF nut! I've played EDF 2, 2017, 2025, 4.1, 5, Insect Armageddon, and Iron Rain, and the mobile idle game (which is horrible), and the Wing Diver shmup (which I also do not recommend)!

100% agree on the intro levels getting longer and more obnoxious. The 4.1 "walk very long distances between trivially easy groups of big ants" was bad enough. That said, I think it made the stage where the pylons are revealed (after you finally walk out of that accursed base) a real standout, and the stage where you return there really glorious.

For me, part of the delight of EDF is finding uses for weapons that seem useless, as well as getting shocked at how useless/stupid certain things are! I really enjoyed trying to figure out how to make a helicopter equipped with flamethrowers (which are bizarrely well-articulated in their pivoting mechanisms...) work, or feeling that what I had with one class totally didn't fit a level and then discovering that another class I never thought would be able to handle the level could handle the level.

I agree that the constant rebooting is a little weird, and in terms of humor consistency I'm not really thrilled with how competent HQ is in EDF 5 where it's hilarious incompetence led to a lot of laughs with my friends in 2017.







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"Re(8):Re(10):Comfort EDF while Musoing" , posted Sun 26 Apr 09:29post reply

quote:
Hooray, a fellow EDF nut! I've played EDF 2, 2017, 2025, 4.1, 5, Insect Armageddon, and Iron Rain, and the mobile idle game (which is horrible), and the Wing Diver shmup (which I also do not recommend)!


I tried to like the Wing Diver shmup, but the forced scrolling format only exacerbated the weapon usefulness issue.

I don't count Insect Armageddon as an EDF game. I'm not trying to be elitist; it is EDF in name and setting only, arguably more of a different game than even the Wing Diver shmup. It isn't as janky as EDF, but it also lacks the elements that made EDF fun. Instead, it is just a generic bland Western FPS/TPS where you travel from waypoint to waypoint fighting handfuls of enemies as they spawn in to attack in waves.

As for modern EDF level sizes, I can only see EDF5 as confirming that the devs are fully committed to increasingly large levels. After all, EDF5 not only gave the foot-slogging Ranger class a Sprint function, Rangers also gained the previously Air Raider exclusive ability to summon their own vehicles for faster movement. Which is hardly an optimal solution when you consider that vehicles have always been on the franchises weaker elements.





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"Re(3):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Tue 28 Apr 11:09post reply

quote:
I just downloaded Fighting EX Layer today. I've been playing a little bit of it. I wouldn't say it's my comfort game just yet, though.


Speaking of FEXL, I recently came across an arcade that had FEXL in one of the cabinets. Although I found the FEXL demo to be one of the silliest games I have played in recent memory I was interested in seeing how the final product turned out. However, I didn't have time to try the game but promised myself I would get back to it later. Instead the city shut down. Oh well, if I ever leave my house again I'll eventually give it a shot.



Was the arcade by chance a Round One? I noticed a huge selection of fighting game arcade cabinets in the one in my town.







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"Re(4):Re(10):Comfort Games while self isolati" , posted Tue 28 Apr 23:19post reply

quote:

Was the arcade by chance a Round One? I noticed a huge selection of fighting game arcade cabinets in the one in my town.


That's right, it was a Round One; the elephants' graveyard of old Japanese arcade cabinets. Some really strange games are floating around in there, especially in the fighting game section.







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"Katamari Comfort Gaming" , posted Sat 9 May 07:28post reply

I'm here to cerfify that Katamari Damashii is still the greatest, and also a great comfort game for trying times! Still the most artistically interesting thing on the very artistically interesting PS2, Katamari has all the fun and joy and music you need to stay cheerful, even if you lose. I think that gets to orochiaku's early question about how you relax: one way here is to have a game that's fun to play around in, that you can't really botch, but that still has a sense of progress. ... ... ... are Katamari and Flower secretly the same game?!?!?





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