Coint and Plick 2021, a casual/low-commitment discussion thread

No, it's strictly 1st person. The movement speed is also pretty quick. Might not be great if you're prone to motion sickness.

I was interested in this, but first person is a dealbreaker bc yeah motion sickness sets in within 20-30 min. Same with Sea of Thieves, which I tried but just couldn't physically play. Which is weird bc I def didn't have this problem when I was younger

Maybe not such a bad thing if it helps whittle down game choices though

love the title of this thread

My Playstation Wrapup finally compiled and my most played games of 2021 were:

Subnautica, 87 hours
Very engrossing survival crafting game, also pants-wettingly scary at times. I sort of stumbled into 100%ing this.

Disco Elysium, 40
I ended up liking it eventually, but I'm kind of done with the game for a good long while.

Civ 6, 31
I think I only played this for couple weeks before I realized I had a problem.

Chicory, 19

Frostpunk, 17
Resource management x survival, strangely more forgiving than Civ.

Spider-Man Miles Morale: fun, breezy if slightly insubstantial jaunt, made me want more

Oops, I forgot we played this. Definitely enjoyed it. Thought it was interesting that there are next to no boss fights throughout, but didn't really find myself missing them. Super minor thing, but I liked how Miles' bedroom becomes a bit more personalised as the game goes on, just as he gains more confidence and recognition as his own Spider-Man through the story, a nice little touch. Generally felt Miles' personal life/day-to-day existence was a lot more filled out than Peter Parker's in the first game.

Guardians of the Galaxy: looks pretty, story stays engaging, fairly likable/organic depiction of constant banter between vaguely annoying people, a hard tightrope to walk

Pretty much this. Drax's lines do most of the the heavy lifting on the banter/humour; I'm actually surprised that his literal interpretations of everything have stayed amusing throughout the game. I really appreciate that the game doesn't divert with side quests and unnecessary item collection. Voice acting is pretty good on the whole, Mantis stands out in particular here. Big arena-type fights can drag on for too long, but the team coordination aspect seems to work okay.

I've also been playing Death's Door, which I really like - love the music, monster variation, level design, Zelda callbacks/ripoffs, the Spirited Away-ness of the urn witch, and just whole overall vibe - but I'm anticipating a point where it becomes too difficult for me (probably sooner rather than later). I've made it through the bosses/minibosses after 3-5 tries in most cases but it doesn't seem like level-ups will be offered at a fast enough rate to make up for my lack of skills/patience and propensity to panic when facing bucketloads of monsters at once

Some more things that start with G:

Ghost of Tsushima Iki Island DLC: okay C&P purists might balk at putting DLC on the list but this is half-assed/casual C&P so idc, and also this DLC is substantial. The new island is fairly large with some really incredible landscapes/vistas. Was a bit disappointed that it doesn't have the same level of bond-building with allies as the original/full game, but the dynamics/tensions between Jin and the new characters are compelling enough.

Genesis Noir: a couple weeks ago I wrote this:

The graphics are unlike anything I've seen in a game, really stunning imo. Gameplay is I guess what is called 'gentle', but mixed with a lot of disorienting or trippy dream-like movement: camera zooms in or out, things get bigger or smaller, scenes or objects morph from one thing to another. I don't know if the story will amount to much but it's so nice to look at that I can give it a pass on that, probably.

The 'story' is basically tracing the big bang through to the end of the universe, sort of, I guess? It kind of works up until the last 'level', which is too disjointed from the rest of the game's style and story and drags on way too long. Enjoyed it on the whole though, and still recommend it (or at least watching a couple video walkthroughs) purely for the style/art direction

every time C+P comes around i wish ILG would do rolling (year) threads for new releases instead of sequestering all new game talk to the whatchu thread or the console threads.. idk if people would use that but. it would be cool imo

yeah i considered making one in '18/'19 when i was keeping up with new releases but now i'm back to being 2 years behind again. i could post about stuff that looks cool but i haven't played yet..

everyone likes all yr posts cider, you should just do it!

Having a baby left me a lot of time to play games. Have a toddler has left me... probably more time to read ILG than to actually play games.

My fave new(ish) game this year was A Short Hike, which seems to the only game learned from BOTW and done **something different** with it. It's lovely. I want to recognise how wonderful the tone is, too, and how difficult it is achieve to the "right tone": it's cute but never twee, funny but never arch, elegant without being pretentious, and there's a clear story, but it never gets in the way of the gameplay. It's an impressive balancing act.

My main gaming realisation this year was: I will never enjoy games with too much dialogue, even if the inbetween-dialogue bits are good. (Thimbleweed Park might be a recent exception.)

My main disappointment was: still no Wind Waker on the Switch. But I wouldn't have had time to play it anyway!

I've also been playing Death's Door, which I really like - love the music, monster variation, level design, Zelda callbacks/ripoffs, the Spirited Away-ness of the urn witch, and just whole overall vibe - but I'm anticipating a point where it becomes too difficult for me (probably sooner rather than later). I've made it through the bosses/minibosses after 3-5 tries in most cases but it doesn't seem like level-ups will be offered at a fast enough rate to make up for my lack of skills/patience and propensity to panic when facing bucketloads of monsters at once

The endgame does get frustrating at times but generally is doable. Note: I haven't reached the true endgame yet.