Comfort games, replayability and experience
Thursday, December 21st, 2006 - 9:41am
I've been thinking a lot about "comfort games" recently. Why are there particular titles I go back to time and time again? What do they have in common that makes them so enduring? After pondering this for a bit, two distinct patterns emerged.
First, there are some games that are perennial for me because of their replayability. That could come from varying difficulty settings, multiplayer modes, divergent plot-lines, character options, etc. There are loads of factors that can contribute to a game's replay value, but the important effect is the potential for a sufficiently different experience. This shouldn't be surprising, especially in this community.
What was more interesting to me is the second pattern; that there are games that get played repeatedly despite their lack of offering a different experience. It's this category that seems most appropriate to call true "comfort games". For me, simple gameplay is a factor. They're usually platformers tending towards item collection, but nostalgia is responsible a lot. Sometimes it's memorable level designs. Sometimes it's the memory of the joy of playing it with my wife (we'd take turns in most single player games). Most often it's both.
My comfort games:
Spyro series (Insomniac - PS1) - the wife and I have played through each of them at least 3 times.
Sly Cooper 1 and 2
Psychonauts
What are your comfort games, and why do go back to them despite their lack of what's typically responsible for replayability?
Master of Magic comes to mind. Then Operation Flashpoint. I like sitting down with my flight simulators as well: Il2 Sturmovik, and Falcon4: Allied Force and Lock on:Modern Air Combat. Civilization 4 is a tight little package as well. The music, graphics, and gameplay all mesh so very well.
Each of those games is just as engaging as the first time I played it.
You can't do this!
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For me, its been Fable for some reason. I can play through that game multiple times and just love it.
Ulairi wrote:
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At least one of the first three US Final Fantasy's gets played every year or every other year (whether I hook up the old system, play a new Gameboy version, or a Rom). Megaman would probably rank up there, too. It's a little hard to pick "comfort" games since any game I play is a comfort.
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Wow... comfort games (the qualification that they don't really change on replaying) for me, there's a lot of them. I guess the main ones would be these:
Final Fantasy 6 or 9 - depends upon my mood; I've finished both of these several times, but I've started them uncountable times
Chrono Trigger - ditto
Banjo-Kazooie - partly because it always is fun, and partly because it's unrivaled as (imo) the best traditional-style 3d platforming game yet released
Icewind Dale
Zelda - A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time - My two favorites of the series, and always great as comfort gaming.
There's tons of others I replay, but they tend to have a lot of replayability features.
That's the one, and I can get it to run beautifully if you don't mind missing out on the sound. (which, honestly, wasn't a big selling point for the game). Send me a PM about it if you want and I can give you the details.
I forgot Chrono-trigger, but that game is definitely comfort food for my brain.
Soul Calibur 2 is good for that as well... as long as I'm winning.
You can't do this!
Of course I can, I'm Will Wright, bitch! - The Simpsons Game
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I would say that for me a better term would be nostalgia games. Every once in a while I will remember how much fun I had playing "x" game. Normally I will pop it in and an hour or two later be done, having gotten my fix. There are a few though that once I start, must be completed:
Zelda 1
Zelda - A link to the Past
Final Fantasy 6 ( I could watch the Edgar/Sabin backstory event a million times and never get tired of it. I love that coin flip. Ohh and the Cyan backstory as well. Crap I see myself playing this over the holidays)
Chrono Trigger
Torment (Doesn't get pulled out much, but once it does I am stuck to it)
Other games I replay are generally multiplayer, SNES Mario Cart, Command and Conquere: Generals, Starcraft, Warcraft 3. The last 3 are always on my PC ready for a quick game with a roomate or my little brother.
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Excellent thread, Crouton.
I find myself often returning to old RPGs. Just recently I replayed Earthbound for the SNES, and it was possibly my fifth time. Chrono Trigger often gets the same treatment, and I go through that at least once a year or two.
Castlevania: SotN is often a game I goto, and I never seem to get tired of it.
I tend to be big on replays, particularly after a few years have past. I believe I've replayed more of my games then I've not. Oh, the original Pirates! is another great one, although that was supplanted by the excellent remake recently.
Every year or so, I fire up my old copy of Myth II: Soulblighter. There are some fantastic levels, and playing it on legendary is still very challenging. I usually play with the goal of getting each of my units as much veteran status as possible.
I also have played Vampire: Masquerade a few times over the years. In spite of its flaws, it's an enjoyable RPG.
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Back in the day, it was Daggerfall for me. I loved rolling up new characters and picking random towns to visit. That game blew me away when I first played it.
I also give my stamp of approval to Master of Magic. I liked to focus in the sorcery school of magic so I could make my cities float, making them nigh impossible to attack.
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I find myself drawn back to Starcraft on a fairly regular basis.
It's ancient... and it still rocks.
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It's almost always RPGs for me. It's the same thing as re-reading a beloved book, you know?
Of course, whenever I go playing with my emulators, for some reason I can't resist the urge to fire up Super Offroad for the SNES at least for a few minutes. I'm not sure exactly why it is, but I just love that game.
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I come back to the different Sim games all the time, and to Civilization. Starting from a blank slate every time that makes the game feel very refreshing.
Big props on your choice of Castlevania: SOTN, DrunkenSleipnir. That's one I play through at LEAST once a year. Sometimes it's tough not to use the 99 luck name, just to get those rare drops even faster.
I also really enjoy LoZ: LttP, Ratchet and Clank (any), FFIV (such a FUN opening sequence!), and the original Half Life (Black Mesa: Source, please be awesome), and Angband (so awesome).
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Hm, I don't know. Every year or two I run through Fallout and Fallout 2 again. A little more time goes between my plays of retro classics like Dungeon Master and Alternate Reality: The Dungeon.
But for something I can go back to regularly... Well, there's the "Dead Man Walking" playmode of Max Payne 2. And Civ4 draws me back in every once in a while. Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast used to be. I just got SC3, so we'll see if that takes its place.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Mario 64's the only old game that gets much replay time with me, and that's only because good 3d platformers are so far and few between.
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Once a year, I'll dig the Nintendo out of the closet and play some Contra. It's getting to be about time for me to fire up Contra once again.
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I still play Bionic Commando (NES) once in a while. Also Civilization 2, Thief 1, Unreal 1, and Baldur's Gate 2. I swear, something new happens each time in BG2. Weird, huh.
The other day I found Zork 1,2, & 3. Took a few minutes to remember all of the commands, but that made for some good reading too.
I'm still waiting to get inside something, so for the moment, it's been very much "poke around the ravine." - rabbit
I'm sure PXA and I are going to have another go at that rediculously hard PS2 contra game. I'm not sure why we keep going back to it, but dammit, it will be defeated!
You can't do this!
Of course I can, I'm Will Wright, bitch! - The Simpsons Game
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Deus Ex
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
I'm wanting to retry Grim Fandango.
Though GTA fits roughly into Crouton's category of fundamentally-unchanging gameplay, I have a favourite one that definitely does. Orbz 2 rocks on toast. I think I referred to it elsewhere as "an arrow of pure gameplay shot straight into the heart of fun."
Which, now that I think about it, could apply to Mex, too.
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Talk about excellent timing. I just discovered today that one of my all time favorite games, You Don't Know Jack, is back on the web. That's definitely a comfort game for me.
I have very few video games I consider "comfort" games, ones that I go back to over and over: Wipeout (2 or 3), any Silent Hill, Rez, Frequency, and Intelligent Qube. Even then, I don't often go back and play them.
For me, the games I feel are better defined as "comfort" games are board games. I never get tired of playing Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne with my friends.
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Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
Yoshi's Island for the SNES. It's so calming and soothing to play it, it's definitely comfort gaming.
Metroid Prime and Prime 2 are holding good spots for that, I keep replaying them to get the elusive 100%. I've ha 99% on hard on both of them, not quite gotten perfect scans. Sigh.
Oddly, Half-Life 2 has been a huge comfort game. I have replayed it 15-20 times all the way through, and each time it seems to affect me emotionally in a different way.
Mystic Violet wrote:
These are all great comments.
There are a bunch I go back to like the Civ series (including Alpha Centauri), Starcraft, assorted RPGs, but I don't put them in the same category as the one's I've listed above because they play differently every time.
My intended purpose was best distilled here:
I think the term "comfort games" might have been a mistake on my part because it could be pre-loaded with differing connotations.
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kaostheory wrote:
Those are both games I always meant to play but never got around to. It's good to hear that they still hold up. Now if I could only find the time.
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kaostheory wrote:
Staats, you might like the Ratchet and Clank series. Very solid.
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kaostheory wrote:
I know the topic was about oldschool stuff, but I have to say, the one game I know I will pick up again in 5 years just to chill out is Guitar Hero.
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Yup. I am waiting on the second and playing TLC for like the fourth time. There is no rush, and lots to get.
(This thread has been edited to show I went to an english class once back in the early 90's.)
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I rarely replay a game after I've completed the objectives I want to complete. Even my favorites. I have fond memories of Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, yet I don't see myself ever replaying it.
There's just too many games out there to live in the past. Move on!
Maybe Guild Wars will change that. But I'll have to stop playing it first before I can test that theory.
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For me it has to be Master of Orion 2. I will also start a game of Alpha Centauri, and then just leave it after 1 sitting.
I think I'd play starcraft more, if I didn't have to hunt down the damn disks everything I got the urge to play it.
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Same here.
Sadly, I went to play Guitar Hero last night and was greeted with a message that the memory block was corrupt and would have to be overwritten. This came only days after completing Hard. I'm not so sure I can re-summon the abundance of luck needed for me to eke out a non-failure at Bark at the Moon.
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kaostheory wrote:
Civ (X), whatever's installed on my computer at the time. I've done Maddens and Smash Bros, too. Occasionally some of the old text adventures. Stupid grues.
Games I try to reinstall almost yearly but get too frustrated before I get them to work right:
[*] Ultima VI and VII
[*] Eric the unready
My brother tends to reinstall Kings Quest V and VI with some regularity.
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