got to be earthbound innit
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it’s always city planners for me? very relaxed and hot beverage friendly
i think i got simcity (snes) one christmas when i was a kid and i remember being obsessed with it for months after
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this always gave me cozy vibes
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this one too
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i don’t even have to know which song it is to agree, they’re all so good.
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This is a good idea. In that spirit, I’ll be playing Panzer Dragoon Orta, cuz I got and played that game as a Christmas present in uhhhh maybe 2005???
it was The Year It Snowed. instead of having christmas at home in bay city texas we were a few hours inland at my rich ass uncle’s house. i forget which rich ass uncle—my dad’s two much older brothers made mad buxx in Business while he went to seminary and became a preacher man like a god damn Chump, which is why i as his biggest failson am the only true heir—anyway we were at one of the rich ass uncles’ house with the other uncle and the aunts and cetera, we had fucking Pheasant for dinner!??!?!!?? it was delicious. and also went on a Boat on a Lake, crazy what money can buy
but i didn’t care what money can buy because turns out you only need twenty of God’s own dollars to buy your kid a used copy of panzer dragoon orta for the xbox which we DID bring with us on the trip because we NEEDED to play halo naturally. i wanted that game so bad and in retrospect it’s the worst panzer dragoon game but it’s still really good and i wanted to be orta
the forecast back home had suggested snow and my sister was BIG mad that we had the audacity to be Elsewhere for god damn Christmas i mean what if it SNOWS, Mom!?? and we miss it!!! anyway she was right, it snowed and it snowed and it was like two god damn feet of it back in bay city while we were Elsewhere and the uncles place on the lake only got a light dusting. my parents realized we needed to go home immediately to spare their youngest child from a trauma not unlike that ray bradbury short story where the kid on Venus gets locked in a closet and misses the one day a year of precious sunlight so we did and were amazed and awed to see such fat stacks of sweet sweet flakes piled shin deep, but it was by then in the 40s or even 50s fahrenheit and the snow was already well on its way to gettin melty and it was still pretty cool but not as cool as it would have been 6 hours ago.
in conclusion my sister never forgave my parents and she never will and she’s right
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i only recently discovered that this is the common fan consensus re: orta and i’m shocked!!! what an incredible game, alltime top 10.
it’s gotta be shenmue though. or mgs2. both of those games are perfect cozy ritual replays. i also had a great time playing breath of fire dragon quarter on a crt with covid in winter of 2022.
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I got Orta for Xmas too, or a birthday, can’t quite remember. I was such a big PDS fan as a child my Dad got me the Xbox just to play it. We went out and got Halo the next day cuz it got 10/10 in Edge. Good times.
Anyway bit of a SEGA christmas this year for me, I’ve got loads of Yakuza to get through
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confirmed (by me) comfy games for wii:
Endless Ocean
Fortune Street / Boom Street
Safar’Wii / Animal Kingdom
Eledees / Elebits
Opoona
Wing Island
We Love Golf
Fishing Resort
Super Paper Mario
Little King’s Story
Kororinpa (okay that might be stressfull)
We Ski / Family Ski & Snowboard
Another Code
Zack & Wiki
DQ Swords
Dog Island
there’s also a Lost in Blue but I don’t know if it’s any good or comfy so unconfirmed
and if we include wiiware then:
NEVES Plus: Phanteon of Tangrams
oh and there’s Illust Logic and Oekaki Logic but Japan only
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soooo jealous of this
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the games i got with my ps1 in 1998
pocket fighter (it even has a chrsitmassy stage!)
resident evil
excalibur 2555ad
and the pal demo disc that had playable demos of tekken 3, gran turismo, medievil, and kula world
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I might recommend Cursed Mountain for cosy potential. I think a new year’s resolution is to make a thread about this game like I’ve been meaning to since I joined SB
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RPGs and nostalgic titles come up consistently from a sense of settling in and getting familiar with a game’s world and systems. For me that includes games with a strong atmosphere, where you have to think spatially: Symphony of the Night, Tomb Raider 1, REmake.
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what a beautiful tunnel
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is monhun a comfy winter game. i have monhunwo
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Gonna say that my single sitting Save Room play was surprisingly cozy. Moody piano tunes, some rain noises, just rotating stuff and putting it where it goes.
Probably would apply to games like Unpacking, too, had I not already played that.
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my replay of Dragons Dogma has been quite comfy so far. it’s a familiar game (and familiarity can make just about any media feel comfy) but it also has a specific mix of snappy action mechanics you can sporadically engage with, + a warm blanket of mushy open world & AI partner combat that you futz with at your leisure. Its compelling when you want it to be and comfortably boring when you don’t
Actually taken together with Monster Hunter (which DD is an eccentric laid back stoner cousin of) neatly describes “comfort games”, to me. MonHun rewards more meticulous prep and slower play, but menu-tweaking and peering at guides/wikis and taking 30+ minutes to plan your decisions can also provide a comfort. its why i think Divinity and FF Tactics and the like can fit this milieu too, Board Game Energy. turning over strategies & preparations in your head on a day where you have nothing more important to ponder
Just Musings: i think to not be comfy, a game has to be both twitchy paced & not easily mastered. If it stimulates your hypothalamus that’s not comfort gaming. but i like how subjective that is; i wouldn’t treat most fighting games as comfort games, but someone with confidence in the mechanics and love for the vibes could get a lot of relaxation out of playing a fighting game. and like i could boot up Sekiro and challenge Sword Saint Isshin just for kicks while listening to a podcast – its not objectively a calming experience at all, but i know the entire shape of it, its drawing a warm bath in game form to me
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I think so, certainly a good snow day play
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Oblivion
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