I figured I needed some hate energy this morning so I decided to re-read. Surprise! The way I remembered your points was wrong! I agree with you! (Mostly)
It's totally valid to find cozy games boring. As long as you understand that liking them doesn't make one a simpleton. (Not saying you do, just pointing it out.) The knockoffs are getting stale for sure. Fae Farm is such an atrocious cash grab that it's amazing that you picked it as an example, unknowingly, because it truly signifies the worst in the cozy game genre. Kudos!
Enjoy your morning! And thanks for coming back here to give this prehistoric article a read.
I think at the time of writing this we were fresh off a Nintendo Direct that was 2/3rds farming and cosy games and my mindset was "God everything coming out looks so shit. I can't be the only one tired of all these fucking farming games."
I'm joking about hate energy, by the way, I truly wanted to read your post again.
Ah, you know, that's interesting, because I have a similar reaction to many directs that include tons of FPS and war games. Not that I think they don't have an audience but they all look the same to me. To each their own!
I felt the same way about FPS games for a while too: especially in the early to mid 2010's, these days it seems there are less (or maybe I tune them out.)
I appreciate it :) When this post got popular I was afraid I would be seen as the Substack equivalent of those obnoxious YouTube channels that post nothing but doom and 'Sony Is FINISHED' type videos but I'm glad you saw it had some merit enough to give it another go
I know this is a bit late but I think the ease of “cozy games” is the point. People care more about the vibes the game gives off. I think most people know that cozy games aren’t exactly mechanically rich but they just like the feel-good nature of being in a cutesy game with cutesy art and cutesy characters.
If I could jump in on the appeal of cozy games to female players, at least for me, I prefer the games I play to reduce my stress, not add more to it. I think men and women just look for different things in games.
Great article by the way, I’m happy seeing more gaming content on substack!
I really appreciate you hopping back in time to give this one a read :)
I'm probably a bit too jaded to enjoy most of them, that and I'm somebody who's idea of relaxing is to be really deeply absorbed in an experience. When I want a game to relax with my first choices are strategy games; reading relaxes me too but not due to the comfort or 'cosiness' if the experience, it's more the sensation of my mind and consciousness being taken elsewhere.
I think the secret to the success of 'cozy' games is in targeting a totally different 'progression' appeal from most games. The fact that most games are so obviously male-coded is an often belabored point, but I think one of the big reasons is the incentive structure - almost all of them involve a gradual progression of 'ability,' whether through player experience or, more often, through the linear dynamic of 'loot and numbers going up.' Critics point to the 'power fantasy' without addressing what makes the fantasy so near-universally appealing - you compare your numbers over time and they go up and there's a green arrow that means you're better now.
When it comes to more female-coded games, I think the real difference, at least for the ones that actually succeed at capturing their intended audience, is that they appeal to a different sort of progression - one of increasing aesthetic appeal. You aren't making your little village or house or family a STRONGER one, you're molding them more and more into your ideal image. Not only are chaos and challenge discouraged in this structure, you also never need an 'end-point' because your aesthetics shift day-to-day. Once you've finished one refurbishing or room makeover, you can make up a new project to spend your time on and then in a few weeks you hate it and want to do it over. It's another endless-progression treadmill, just with slightly different goals than someone grinding in Diablo would have.
As for why they're currently the golden children of gaming journalism, I'd say that it's because the gaming journalism industry is becoming just as risk-averse as the major publishers, and lauding quiet, peaceful, unobtrusive games as the standard-bearers of the industry just seems like a safe harbor to anchor in. You don't need to grapple with the appeals to ableism that very popular but mechanically challenging games receive, you don't need to deal with a culture of toxicity and anxiety that popular multiplayer games induce, you don't need to square depiction and endorsement in any game with a narrative that isn't pastel, saccharine, and soft. You can just write another article about falling asleep watching a dog play a ukulele or whatever. They've spent the better part of a decade painting themselves into a corner where the only games they can come right out and talk about without stepping on thorns are 'cozy.' Sometimes they can't even manage that.
What bothers me the most on this kind of game is the fact that there's no interesting or compelling objectives. I kinda understand the appeal of this kind of slow grinding to someone who grew up playing The Sims or Harvest Moon, but I don't fancy to wander around doing meaningless stuff for hours on end just for the sake of it.
If I want to relax, I play a Kirby game. At least, I know the thing will end as soon as I blast King Dedede away for the 145th time.
SDV is one of my all-time favorite games, yet I cannot stand to look at any of the knock-offs. There’s a soul and freshness that SDV has that none of the competition can capture. And with games like Disney Dreamlight Valley, it’s only going to get cheaper and more soulless. Stardew Valley was lightning in a bottle; you can’t just replicate it.
I feel similarly. I'm not an enormous SDV fan but I enjoy the game and I think it deserves to be celebrated as the absolute gold standard in its genre and for indie devs as a whole. I know Harvest Moon is the original technically but it's still laughable to see how many companies try and fail to capture with Stardew achieves.
Harvest Moon was long-since dead when SDV came around. Concerned Ape basically single-handedly re-invented the genre. The modern Harvest Moon games aren’t even made by the same studio, it’s a different studio that acquired the rights and used them to churn out shovelware. The original studio rebranded the series as “story of seasons,” and it still doesn’t hold a candle to SDV.
Yeah SDV was created as a response to the decrepit Harvest Moon games, to provide and enhance that classic experience that made games like Friends of Mineral Town so delightful.
My main gripe with SDV is that there are basically no consequences, and you can do absolutely anything in one save file. Old school Harvest Moon had time limits. The game ended after a set number of seasons, and the ladies would marry other bachelors if you didn’t pursue them. SDV kind of exists in an awkward stasis where you are the sole moving agent of the universe. I’d like a world that’s a little more lived-in.
That makes me appreciate SDV a bit more, I'm glad you shared this.
That's a gripe I have with a lot of different games, especially with a certain series involving scrolls and dragons but I will leave that post for another time
Nice write-up and good discussion topic. I think the main appeal comes from the idea of games being an escape from the grind of daily life. The chance to do something else or be someone else different from the norm seems especially appealing with the cozy genre where the pace is throttled back and the stakes aren’t so drastic.
Part of it could be gender perspectives, but some of it could also just be the desire for less frustration. As I get older, Souls-like games tend to irritate me more than entertain, so I avoid them. I still like a good old fantasy RPG, but finding decent ones these days is a struggle.
I didn’t have the patience for Stardew Valley, but I did for the two My Time games (My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock). The focus of those games is more on crafting, fulfilling contracts, and forming relationships with quirky characters. They have combat and RPG elements, but they’re pretty simplistic. Maybe it’s because I’m an engineer by trade but creating items that people around town needed combined with the town physically improving over time (especially in Sandrock) really hooked me in.
Different strokes for different folks as they say, I do have my own set of relaxing games I play but they tend to be games I'm veery familiar with like Ocarina of Time and Knights of the Old Republic, seeing these characters and environments again feels like checking in on an old friend.
I also don't play Souls-likes much these days but that's more from a feeling that the genre is very stagnant; I've been playing since the original Dark Souls and I found myself very bored with Elden Ring when I realised it wasn't anything new.
Thanks for reading! I like responding to comments like this the most and I may check out those games you mentioned to see if they hold more appeal for me too.
So, I'm going to push back a little bit. When I was a preteen, my mother couldn't understand why my siblings and I loved video games. My sister loved them, my brothers loved them, and I loved them. We loved all of them. Age of Empires 2, Lego Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, SSX 3, Fortza, Tie Fighter, Sonic Adventure Battle, etc. If it wasn't rated M we played it, and we loved it.
Then for Christmas, my Grandmother got us a Wii and Animal Crossing New Leaf. And mom said she didnt get it. So we sat her down and had her play for a little bit. That night, she played from 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM, with the only stop being to go to the bathroom. In two weeks, she had all her debts to nook paid off, and had for all intents and purposes, beat the game. For the first time in her life, she understood. Animal Crossing gave her a sense of control that she didnt feel like she had in real life as a stay at home mom. It fulfilled some of her needs. All of the sudden she joined us playing Wii sports, and SSX. She never became "A Gamer" but she understood.
Now, let's switch over to my wife, who is very much "a gamer." She plays a lot of cozy games, but also has jumped into Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, Witcher 3, and a lot more besides. Our next game that we will play together is probably Baldurs Gate 3. But for all of that, she prefers "Cosy games." The reason? She works as an accountant at a large firm. Her days are filled with a lot of work that feels meaningless, and when she gets home she feels exhausted. She doesn't want to have to weigh the morality of a given situation, or have a feeling where people rely on her for their lives, she wants a sense of progression and control over her life. Because even when she is good at something, it doesn't always feel like she's good at something. Cosy games, allow her to feel powerful.
Sure it isn't powerful in the Dark Souls sense, or the Mass Effect sense, or the Assassins Creed sense, but it still feeds into her fantasies.
You grew up with some real classics there, KOTOR remains in my top 10 even after almost 20 years since my first playthrough.
I see the appeal for some (and god knows I sometimes just cannot stomach the Castlevanias and Dark Souls of the world) it's just more my personal preference and some things I notice about the genre that I think aren't the best or could be better. Whatever brings people together that isn't war or disaster is usually good, I hope your wife continues to find games she likes in the genre.
I think this may be the first time I’ve heard anyone voice an opposing opinion regarding cozy games like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, etc. I’ve never played SDV, but I have played AC Wild World on the DS.
While I liked the overall premise of the game, the thing that killed me was the fact that time still “passes” when you turn off the game. I’d return after a few days of not playing and my town would be in disrepair and I’d have to start over.
It irked me because the game has such a nice leisurely vibe, but it’s designed to keep hooked and checking in daily to see what’s going on. I just didn’t have the time to dedicate like the game expects you to.
I have similar qualms. I find the game generally a little boring but besides that, I like games to have a definitive end point; in the past, I used to impulse buy games a lot so now I will literally jot down 5-6 games I want to play that month and not stray too far outside of that and not start any more until I'm finished, these games defy that kind of structure.
I'm a Kazuya and Lee Chaolan player, I've not played in a few months (the toxicity gets too much) and I bounce between Migh ty Ruler and Flame Ruler. I'm generally optimistic but it's always a mixed bag with Tekken 8, I think I'll wait for a little while longer before I jump back in, some patches of Season 1 were absolute torture to play.
Baller. You have my respect for picking up a character as technical as Lee. Those perfect frames are like insane to me. I'm a Fujin rank Eddy main with a pocket Lidia and Claudio.
Big respect for your rank, I know Eddy is pretty weak in Tekken 8 and I respect anyone who picks up a weaker character.
My Kazuya is miles better than my Lee (I've held my own against high blue rank in customs before and actually beat a few Raijins) but I love the technicality of both of them.
I've had a look and it seems like Season 2 is a disaster so far, I'll return to the game in a few months and see if I can't finally escape the Purple rank tartarus.
Best of luck. That Flame Ruler to Fujin stretch is just a killing field. There's a reason I've been playing pockets since I hit blue. S2 feels like it'll need a 2.5 patch to placate some people but I don't hate the macro ideas behind it. Just a lot of bizarre choices at the individual level.
Eddy is in a weird position where he's definitely mid to low tier but not in a way that matters until you hit purple/blue. Until people start knowing the matchup you can really just run through em. He's a fantastic scrub killer.
If you want sets feel free to hit my line. My group could use the Kaz practice.
None of it is helped by the sheer vitriol of the Tekken community. The pro players, streamers etc. tend to be good people but whenever I join a Discord or try to set up lobbies 9 times out of 10 it's an absolutely miserable experience; the good players were treated like crap years ago so they feel the need to carry on the cycle. This is why fighting games have been so niche for the past 25 years.
Honestly? I feel similar about Lee. He's very complex to play but until Purple 80% of people will fall for your cheese and spam and even at Purple, it's not a match up anyone who started with Tekken 8 knows well unless they've played him.
I'll definitely do that once I get back into the game.
Yeah the FGC can be very caustic. I'd probably have dropped the game if I hadn't started going to my local. It's harder to get mad at a guy when he's sitting right next to you. Need to rediscover that "community" aspect to keep the grind from getting too miserable. Helps to have a group to just play friendlies with.
I think I can enjoy all games if they're good games but I just feel most of these games have an unpleasant, amateurish quality to them, though I do enjoy Stardew Valley a fair bit.
Don't take it too seriously, I don't care what other people play, just that people are playing stuff they enjoy.
Good read. I enjoyed the apologetic, no-take-backs take! Your personal taste is really showing, but that's okay! I too tried and ultimately gave up trying to like Animal Crossing.
As to who's buying these games... Well it's the indie field's worst kept secret that actually very few people are. It's the rare teenager who's managed to so completely devour everything Stardew has to offer and is desperate for MOAR but who also has the pocket change to then buy this other game that's basically Stardew Lite.
I appreciate it! I've actually noticed a strong correlation between the amount of engagement I get and my level of bias; the more honest and personal taste-led my posts are the better they seem to go down which is really gratifying.
I don't think it fully came through in the post but Stardew is actually a game I enjoy and I have to admit it, even putting in probably in the realm of 200 hours over the years across a few different platforms, I've not gotten anywhere near the end either.
I literally just saw a note saying "write like you're sending drunken texts at 3am, not like you're applying for a job", or something to that effect. The timing is appropriate
I love the idea of a relaxing low-stakes game but WHY do they all have to take the form of menial chores?! I don't need more chores. this is to say, love your take here
You actually wrote it in a way that I don’t feel should offend anyone. It didn’t feel like you were punching down. More just viewing a commonly understood concept in a different but comedic light.
I'm glad it comes across in that way. In truth? There's no real 'hatred' for them there but 'I Have Slight Misgivings About Cosy Gaming' wouldn't have had the same ring to it
I think every genre/franchise/company deserves a little fun poked at it every now and then and if that's enjoyable to read then I'll 100% do more
The iridium that powers the computer you wrote this on? A gamer girl risked her life on level 110 of the mines for it. Have some respect.
This made me chuckle
I figured I needed some hate energy this morning so I decided to re-read. Surprise! The way I remembered your points was wrong! I agree with you! (Mostly)
It's totally valid to find cozy games boring. As long as you understand that liking them doesn't make one a simpleton. (Not saying you do, just pointing it out.) The knockoffs are getting stale for sure. Fae Farm is such an atrocious cash grab that it's amazing that you picked it as an example, unknowingly, because it truly signifies the worst in the cozy game genre. Kudos!
Keep hatin', my friend 😉
Enjoy your morning! And thanks for coming back here to give this prehistoric article a read.
I think at the time of writing this we were fresh off a Nintendo Direct that was 2/3rds farming and cosy games and my mindset was "God everything coming out looks so shit. I can't be the only one tired of all these fucking farming games."
I'm joking about hate energy, by the way, I truly wanted to read your post again.
Ah, you know, that's interesting, because I have a similar reaction to many directs that include tons of FPS and war games. Not that I think they don't have an audience but they all look the same to me. To each their own!
I felt the same way about FPS games for a while too: especially in the early to mid 2010's, these days it seems there are less (or maybe I tune them out.)
I appreciate it :) When this post got popular I was afraid I would be seen as the Substack equivalent of those obnoxious YouTube channels that post nothing but doom and 'Sony Is FINISHED' type videos but I'm glad you saw it had some merit enough to give it another go
I know this is a bit late but I think the ease of “cozy games” is the point. People care more about the vibes the game gives off. I think most people know that cozy games aren’t exactly mechanically rich but they just like the feel-good nature of being in a cutesy game with cutesy art and cutesy characters.
If I could jump in on the appeal of cozy games to female players, at least for me, I prefer the games I play to reduce my stress, not add more to it. I think men and women just look for different things in games.
Great article by the way, I’m happy seeing more gaming content on substack!
I really appreciate you hopping back in time to give this one a read :)
I'm probably a bit too jaded to enjoy most of them, that and I'm somebody who's idea of relaxing is to be really deeply absorbed in an experience. When I want a game to relax with my first choices are strategy games; reading relaxes me too but not due to the comfort or 'cosiness' if the experience, it's more the sensation of my mind and consciousness being taken elsewhere.
I think the secret to the success of 'cozy' games is in targeting a totally different 'progression' appeal from most games. The fact that most games are so obviously male-coded is an often belabored point, but I think one of the big reasons is the incentive structure - almost all of them involve a gradual progression of 'ability,' whether through player experience or, more often, through the linear dynamic of 'loot and numbers going up.' Critics point to the 'power fantasy' without addressing what makes the fantasy so near-universally appealing - you compare your numbers over time and they go up and there's a green arrow that means you're better now.
When it comes to more female-coded games, I think the real difference, at least for the ones that actually succeed at capturing their intended audience, is that they appeal to a different sort of progression - one of increasing aesthetic appeal. You aren't making your little village or house or family a STRONGER one, you're molding them more and more into your ideal image. Not only are chaos and challenge discouraged in this structure, you also never need an 'end-point' because your aesthetics shift day-to-day. Once you've finished one refurbishing or room makeover, you can make up a new project to spend your time on and then in a few weeks you hate it and want to do it over. It's another endless-progression treadmill, just with slightly different goals than someone grinding in Diablo would have.
As for why they're currently the golden children of gaming journalism, I'd say that it's because the gaming journalism industry is becoming just as risk-averse as the major publishers, and lauding quiet, peaceful, unobtrusive games as the standard-bearers of the industry just seems like a safe harbor to anchor in. You don't need to grapple with the appeals to ableism that very popular but mechanically challenging games receive, you don't need to deal with a culture of toxicity and anxiety that popular multiplayer games induce, you don't need to square depiction and endorsement in any game with a narrative that isn't pastel, saccharine, and soft. You can just write another article about falling asleep watching a dog play a ukulele or whatever. They've spent the better part of a decade painting themselves into a corner where the only games they can come right out and talk about without stepping on thorns are 'cozy.' Sometimes they can't even manage that.
What bothers me the most on this kind of game is the fact that there's no interesting or compelling objectives. I kinda understand the appeal of this kind of slow grinding to someone who grew up playing The Sims or Harvest Moon, but I don't fancy to wander around doing meaningless stuff for hours on end just for the sake of it.
If I want to relax, I play a Kirby game. At least, I know the thing will end as soon as I blast King Dedede away for the 145th time.
SDV is one of my all-time favorite games, yet I cannot stand to look at any of the knock-offs. There’s a soul and freshness that SDV has that none of the competition can capture. And with games like Disney Dreamlight Valley, it’s only going to get cheaper and more soulless. Stardew Valley was lightning in a bottle; you can’t just replicate it.
I feel similarly. I'm not an enormous SDV fan but I enjoy the game and I think it deserves to be celebrated as the absolute gold standard in its genre and for indie devs as a whole. I know Harvest Moon is the original technically but it's still laughable to see how many companies try and fail to capture with Stardew achieves.
Harvest Moon was long-since dead when SDV came around. Concerned Ape basically single-handedly re-invented the genre. The modern Harvest Moon games aren’t even made by the same studio, it’s a different studio that acquired the rights and used them to churn out shovelware. The original studio rebranded the series as “story of seasons,” and it still doesn’t hold a candle to SDV.
I didn't realise Harvest Moon had fallen off that badly, that's a damn shame
Yeah SDV was created as a response to the decrepit Harvest Moon games, to provide and enhance that classic experience that made games like Friends of Mineral Town so delightful.
My main gripe with SDV is that there are basically no consequences, and you can do absolutely anything in one save file. Old school Harvest Moon had time limits. The game ended after a set number of seasons, and the ladies would marry other bachelors if you didn’t pursue them. SDV kind of exists in an awkward stasis where you are the sole moving agent of the universe. I’d like a world that’s a little more lived-in.
That makes me appreciate SDV a bit more, I'm glad you shared this.
That's a gripe I have with a lot of different games, especially with a certain series involving scrolls and dragons but I will leave that post for another time
Nice write-up and good discussion topic. I think the main appeal comes from the idea of games being an escape from the grind of daily life. The chance to do something else or be someone else different from the norm seems especially appealing with the cozy genre where the pace is throttled back and the stakes aren’t so drastic.
Part of it could be gender perspectives, but some of it could also just be the desire for less frustration. As I get older, Souls-like games tend to irritate me more than entertain, so I avoid them. I still like a good old fantasy RPG, but finding decent ones these days is a struggle.
I didn’t have the patience for Stardew Valley, but I did for the two My Time games (My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock). The focus of those games is more on crafting, fulfilling contracts, and forming relationships with quirky characters. They have combat and RPG elements, but they’re pretty simplistic. Maybe it’s because I’m an engineer by trade but creating items that people around town needed combined with the town physically improving over time (especially in Sandrock) really hooked me in.
Anyway, thanks for the article.
Different strokes for different folks as they say, I do have my own set of relaxing games I play but they tend to be games I'm veery familiar with like Ocarina of Time and Knights of the Old Republic, seeing these characters and environments again feels like checking in on an old friend.
I also don't play Souls-likes much these days but that's more from a feeling that the genre is very stagnant; I've been playing since the original Dark Souls and I found myself very bored with Elden Ring when I realised it wasn't anything new.
Thanks for reading! I like responding to comments like this the most and I may check out those games you mentioned to see if they hold more appeal for me too.
So, I'm going to push back a little bit. When I was a preteen, my mother couldn't understand why my siblings and I loved video games. My sister loved them, my brothers loved them, and I loved them. We loved all of them. Age of Empires 2, Lego Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, SSX 3, Fortza, Tie Fighter, Sonic Adventure Battle, etc. If it wasn't rated M we played it, and we loved it.
Then for Christmas, my Grandmother got us a Wii and Animal Crossing New Leaf. And mom said she didnt get it. So we sat her down and had her play for a little bit. That night, she played from 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM, with the only stop being to go to the bathroom. In two weeks, she had all her debts to nook paid off, and had for all intents and purposes, beat the game. For the first time in her life, she understood. Animal Crossing gave her a sense of control that she didnt feel like she had in real life as a stay at home mom. It fulfilled some of her needs. All of the sudden she joined us playing Wii sports, and SSX. She never became "A Gamer" but she understood.
Now, let's switch over to my wife, who is very much "a gamer." She plays a lot of cozy games, but also has jumped into Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, Witcher 3, and a lot more besides. Our next game that we will play together is probably Baldurs Gate 3. But for all of that, she prefers "Cosy games." The reason? She works as an accountant at a large firm. Her days are filled with a lot of work that feels meaningless, and when she gets home she feels exhausted. She doesn't want to have to weigh the morality of a given situation, or have a feeling where people rely on her for their lives, she wants a sense of progression and control over her life. Because even when she is good at something, it doesn't always feel like she's good at something. Cosy games, allow her to feel powerful.
Sure it isn't powerful in the Dark Souls sense, or the Mass Effect sense, or the Assassins Creed sense, but it still feeds into her fantasies.
You grew up with some real classics there, KOTOR remains in my top 10 even after almost 20 years since my first playthrough.
I see the appeal for some (and god knows I sometimes just cannot stomach the Castlevanias and Dark Souls of the world) it's just more my personal preference and some things I notice about the genre that I think aren't the best or could be better. Whatever brings people together that isn't war or disaster is usually good, I hope your wife continues to find games she likes in the genre.
I think this may be the first time I’ve heard anyone voice an opposing opinion regarding cozy games like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, etc. I’ve never played SDV, but I have played AC Wild World on the DS.
While I liked the overall premise of the game, the thing that killed me was the fact that time still “passes” when you turn off the game. I’d return after a few days of not playing and my town would be in disrepair and I’d have to start over.
It irked me because the game has such a nice leisurely vibe, but it’s designed to keep hooked and checking in daily to see what’s going on. I just didn’t have the time to dedicate like the game expects you to.
I have similar qualms. I find the game generally a little boring but besides that, I like games to have a definitive end point; in the past, I used to impulse buy games a lot so now I will literally jot down 5-6 games I want to play that month and not stray too far outside of that and not start any more until I'm finished, these games defy that kind of structure.
I do enjoy a good rant! Nice work.
> Ranked Tekken Mentioned
Gimme the skinny, bossman. Who ya playin? What ranks? Are we feeling optimistic about season 2?
I'm a Kazuya and Lee Chaolan player, I've not played in a few months (the toxicity gets too much) and I bounce between Migh ty Ruler and Flame Ruler. I'm generally optimistic but it's always a mixed bag with Tekken 8, I think I'll wait for a little while longer before I jump back in, some patches of Season 1 were absolute torture to play.
Baller. You have my respect for picking up a character as technical as Lee. Those perfect frames are like insane to me. I'm a Fujin rank Eddy main with a pocket Lidia and Claudio.
Big respect for your rank, I know Eddy is pretty weak in Tekken 8 and I respect anyone who picks up a weaker character.
My Kazuya is miles better than my Lee (I've held my own against high blue rank in customs before and actually beat a few Raijins) but I love the technicality of both of them.
I've had a look and it seems like Season 2 is a disaster so far, I'll return to the game in a few months and see if I can't finally escape the Purple rank tartarus.
Best of luck. That Flame Ruler to Fujin stretch is just a killing field. There's a reason I've been playing pockets since I hit blue. S2 feels like it'll need a 2.5 patch to placate some people but I don't hate the macro ideas behind it. Just a lot of bizarre choices at the individual level.
Eddy is in a weird position where he's definitely mid to low tier but not in a way that matters until you hit purple/blue. Until people start knowing the matchup you can really just run through em. He's a fantastic scrub killer.
If you want sets feel free to hit my line. My group could use the Kaz practice.
None of it is helped by the sheer vitriol of the Tekken community. The pro players, streamers etc. tend to be good people but whenever I join a Discord or try to set up lobbies 9 times out of 10 it's an absolutely miserable experience; the good players were treated like crap years ago so they feel the need to carry on the cycle. This is why fighting games have been so niche for the past 25 years.
Honestly? I feel similar about Lee. He's very complex to play but until Purple 80% of people will fall for your cheese and spam and even at Purple, it's not a match up anyone who started with Tekken 8 knows well unless they've played him.
I'll definitely do that once I get back into the game.
Yeah the FGC can be very caustic. I'd probably have dropped the game if I hadn't started going to my local. It's harder to get mad at a guy when he's sitting right next to you. Need to rediscover that "community" aspect to keep the grind from getting too miserable. Helps to have a group to just play friendlies with.
I mean maybe you just aren’t the target audience? I know some people who really like these genres
I think I can enjoy all games if they're good games but I just feel most of these games have an unpleasant, amateurish quality to them, though I do enjoy Stardew Valley a fair bit.
Don't take it too seriously, I don't care what other people play, just that people are playing stuff they enjoy.
Good read. I enjoyed the apologetic, no-take-backs take! Your personal taste is really showing, but that's okay! I too tried and ultimately gave up trying to like Animal Crossing.
As to who's buying these games... Well it's the indie field's worst kept secret that actually very few people are. It's the rare teenager who's managed to so completely devour everything Stardew has to offer and is desperate for MOAR but who also has the pocket change to then buy this other game that's basically Stardew Lite.
I appreciate it! I've actually noticed a strong correlation between the amount of engagement I get and my level of bias; the more honest and personal taste-led my posts are the better they seem to go down which is really gratifying.
I don't think it fully came through in the post but Stardew is actually a game I enjoy and I have to admit it, even putting in probably in the realm of 200 hours over the years across a few different platforms, I've not gotten anywhere near the end either.
I literally just saw a note saying "write like you're sending drunken texts at 3am, not like you're applying for a job", or something to that effect. The timing is appropriate
I love the idea of a relaxing low-stakes game but WHY do they all have to take the form of menial chores?! I don't need more chores. this is to say, love your take here
I couldn't agree more and very happy to hear you enjoyed reading!
I love how a lot of the Infinity Nikki discourse early on was, “finally, a game with actually good gameplay is marketed to women!”
The minute I saw the title I knew this was going to be a bit of a contentious rant.
Then I read the opening line “ Not since Stalin have we seen so much collectivised farming.” And I was on board. This is art.
Great read. Literally paused my cozy farming game to read this. Love your work.
This made me really happy to read, glad you enjoyed it :)
I knew it had the potential to rub some people the wrong way but I'm glad you took it in good faith
You actually wrote it in a way that I don’t feel should offend anyone. It didn’t feel like you were punching down. More just viewing a commonly understood concept in a different but comedic light.
I'm glad it comes across in that way. In truth? There's no real 'hatred' for them there but 'I Have Slight Misgivings About Cosy Gaming' wouldn't have had the same ring to it
I think every genre/franchise/company deserves a little fun poked at it every now and then and if that's enjoyable to read then I'll 100% do more