Get Out of Your Comfort Zone for 2016

[Johnny Novgorod]

I agree with Yahtzee, but doesn't Undertale belong to another kind of comfort zone? The little indie game that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency?

Maybe, but being crowdfunded kinda sets it apart (even if it got only about $50,000). About a year and a half ago, the creator made a demo and basically told to the Internet: If you like what you see, donate and I'll do more of it. Needless to say, people liked it. That's a lot more than it can be said about other little indie games that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency, like... uh... do you know any them?

The Stanley Parable, The Beginner's Guide, Only If, Homesick, Dream, Proteus, Potatoman Seeks the Troof, Thomas Was Alone, Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist... I'm gonna get tons of replies telling me how I'm wrong, but you asked.

 

[mysecondlife]

This means more JRPG ZP in 2016. You heard it here first.

 

[CaitSeith]

I agree with Yahtzee, but doesn't Undertale belong to another kind of comfort zone? The little indie game that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency?

Maybe, but being crowdfunded kinda sets it apart (even if it got only about $50,000). About a year and a half ago, the creator made a demo and basically told to the Internet: If you like what you see, donate and I'll do more of it. Needless to say, people liked it. That's a lot more than it can be said about other little indie games that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency, like... uh... do you know any them?

The Stanley Parable, The Beginner's Guide, Only If, Homesick, Dream, Proteus, Potatoman Seeks the Troof, Thomas Was Alone, Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist... I'm gonna get tons of replies telling me how I'm wrong, but you asked.

Good, thank you. I hate when people describe a group of games, but don't give names. I'm not sure about Thomas Was Alone, but I see what you're talking about.

 

[Zydrate]

I'm still trying to figure out what the whole deal is with Undertale. The screenshots make it look one step above the old text adventures I had on those complex calculators my school let students borrow specifically for their math classes and everyday use. My Tumblr dashboard has had nothing but Undertale on it for weeks.
I don't get it.

I put it on my wishlist and I await another sale.

 

[hentropy]

I agree with Yahtzee, but doesn't Undertale belong to another kind of comfort zone? The little indie game that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency?

Maybe, but being crowdfunded kinda sets it apart (even if it got only about $50,000). About a year and a half ago, the creator made a demo and basically told to the Internet: If you like what you see, donate and I'll do more of it. Needless to say, people liked it. That's a lot more than it can be said about other little indie games that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency, like... uh... do you know any them?

The Stanley Parable, The Beginner's Guide, Only If, Homesick, Dream, Proteus, Potatoman Seeks the Troof, Thomas Was Alone, Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist... I'm gonna get tons of replies telling me how I'm wrong, but you asked.

I think mentioning all those games might illustrate a bit why Undertale is considered THE MOST PERFECT GAME EVAR by some and a great game by many others, because it's not JUST a game about player agency and breaking the fourth wall. Most of the games you mentioned, while maybe having cool messages, are walking simulators or games with simple mechanics, where Undertale is more of a "real" game experience by having a dynamic and interesting gameplay system that does more than just bullet hell, a real narrative arc that spans at least a few distinct outcomes, a not-short cast of lovable (maybe not to all, but still) characters, a setting and world that is interesting and has its own backstory, and on top of it creates an open-ended story that allows people to build on it.

As good as some of the games you mentioned were, they weren't Undertale, in either form or function. I liked the Stanley Parable (back when it was just a free mod at least, shows how hipster I am), but it never felt like a game to me. Not because of a lack of "failure state" or whatever arbitrary thing people want to define games as, but because it wasn't created to be a game in any traditional sense. Undertale was made to be a game first and foremost, and works on its own merits as one, which is why it's GOTY material by some, rather than just an hipster indie message game.

 

[The Enquirer]

SNIP

So wait, when it comes to games we should be playing, we need to step outside of our comfort zone and play games/genres we normally wouldn't to better expand out horizons, preferably those Yahtzee already likes.

But when it comes to games/genres Yahtzee doesn't normally play, its "What part of he doesn't do RTS don't you understand?!"

Don't you think that's kinda an absurdest attitude to take? I'm sure he would love some individual RTS games if he gave them a chance, but reading his little piece it seems to me he won't be expanding his horizon. Rather we need to expand our horizon to include games he likes.

Wow, it's almost like you didn't read my post at all.

While a game genre such as rts may be outside of one's comfort zone, there is an important distinction to be had between a genre you don't like, and something totally new. Again, now for the second time, I believe that's what the article is touching on.

 

[Transdude1996]

The people I can't stand are the ones who preemptively dismiss it largely because its fans can be a bit weird

Um, isn't that a huge reason why people hate the Sonic and the Star Fox series (Despite how good the games are).

 

[Ishigami]

I have no issue at all to buy new IPs. I demand them on a regular basis just as I damn CoD and AssCreed.
But what's not my coup of tea are indie games. If you like indie games, more power to you.
I also stay away from art movies and low budget flicks. Most of them are simply not to my taste.
That's not to say that there isn't something like Clerks. I too have Transistor or Velocity.
But honestly I usually get exposed to them by PS+.
I do not seek them out.
If you have something like Life is Strange, Hunted - Demons Forge or Infinite Undiscovery yea that's more to my liking. New entertainment for the big screen.
Or in movie terms: I watch some Pacific Rim but stay away from Glen or Glenda.

 

[marioandsonic]

I've probably relied on being in my comfort zone for a while. Despite all the stupid mistakes over the last few years, I still enjoy Nintendo's games and systems, and Nintendo is basically Comfort Zone: the Company.

That said, I tried out Saints Row 4 after Yahtzee reviewed it, and sure enough, I loved it.

 

[K12]

I agree with Yahtzee, but doesn't Undertale belong to another kind of comfort zone? The little indie game that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency?

Comfort zones vary by person because people are challenged by different things. They are far more that something that feels nice. It's something that doesn't challenge you or surprise you and you can basically go through the motions of watching it without having to think too hard. I'd be surprised if Undertale is this to many people though since there just isn't enough like it... and if retro JRPGs are your comfort zone then it's probably even less comfortable to you.

I've found a bizarre number of people who want a lot a reassurance that they'll enjoy Undertale before playing it, to the point where you'd have to ruin it for them before they'd make the decision to buy the damn thing... and it costs less than what people spend on their lunch. I think this is the epitome of being stuck in your own comfort zone.

 

[Lightspeaker]

The people I can't stand are the ones who preemptively dismiss it largely because its fans can be a bit weird, or because they regard it as 'hipster bait', whatever the hell that means. I'm almost certain these are the same kinds of people who will call me a pretentious neckbeard for not agreeing that The Force Awakens is the motion picture event of our generation. Who stay in their comfort zone throwing out phrases like 'guilty pleasure' and 'turn your brain off' but never seem to want to turn the thing back on and take a risk.

I have to protest this paragraph to be honest. Its a rather broad brush being waved around. What I thought of The Force Awakens? It was decent, was alright. Enjoyed it but...well...I've not gone rushing out to see it again yet. In comparison all those years ago when Jurassic Park first came out I saw it four times in about three weeks.

As for "comfort zone"...well, over the past year a handful of the things I've been playing extensively include Hearts of Iron 3, Car Mechanic Simulator, Cities: Skylines, Hand of Fate, Kerbal Space Program, Sunless Sea, War for the Overworld, Subnautica, Bloodborne and Omega Quintet. There are more of course but we'd be here all day if I kept going. So I'm not entirely sure anyone could make that accusation stick honestly.

And yet I'm someone who has preemptively dismissed the game through sheer fatigue of it. Without even playing. Its got absolutely nothing to do with taking risks in my gaming (which, frankly, I do all the time) and everything to do with being tired of seeing nothing appealing about the game at first glance but hordes of people yelling that you should play it but they can't say why. What little I HAVE had explained made it seem overly smug, if a game can be smug, at its own cleverness. Maybe I'll buy it in a year or two when its on sale and the craziness has blown over but honestly right now my backlog is incredibly long and I need a seriously good reason to add anything to it. Better than "no just play it!" at least.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

This is something similar to what I was feeling just before the Force Awakens came out - realising that no matter how good the movie might be, it would never recapture that initial feeling of discovery when I first watched Star Wars as a kid. It's only natural of course - I'm not a kid for one anymore and my tastes and interests have diversified considerably since then all as part of expanding my horizons. The movie came out and my initial reaction was mixed probably because of how derivative it was of the OT but it was still a highly enjoyable movie with plenty of room to grow in the future.

My favourite game of 2014 was Brothers for many of the same reasons Yahtzee's was Undertale this year - because it did something truly different I'd never experienced before. The same goes with the movie Boyhood last year, which was my favourite movie of the year over Star Wars, a franchise that, no joke, was my life for so much of my childhood and adolescence. Thing is, Episode VII will be some kid's first experience of a Star Wars movie and it will, I feel, resonate with them as much as Episode IV did with me, so I think this has as much to do with perspective as anything else. Getting older and set in one's ways, in one's comfort zone, applies to all aspects of life not just one's choice of entertainment and its something every adult could do with being more wary of. It simply takes a willing and open mind to try new things of course, to be more like a kid in many ways that hasn't got a whole litany of preconceived notions holding them back because they're simply living life in the moment.

 

[Eric the Orange]

I agree with Yahtzee, but doesn't Undertale belong to another kind of comfort zone? The little indie game that breaks the fourth wall by addressing player agency?

The Idea of a "comfort zone" is dependent on the person. If Undertale was new and different to Yahtzee then he's saying it was outside his comfort zone. It may be completely done and boring to someone else.

 

[Mike Richards]

No matter how much the installments improve, no matter how much a seventh sequel boasts of 'recapturing' the original, there can only ever be one moment of discovery.

Even if Yahtzee doesn't like television, the same can be said there. For any sequel series, you already know the world, and have certain expectations of what will be delivered, so unless you do a really good job, you end up with good to meh at best(The Legend of Korra)

See, I almost feel like Korra serves as an example of the opposite problem. Korra isn't a sequel so much as a counter-argument, a mirror-face that's trying to almost entirely deconstruct the kind of classical heroic narrative that the original series played much more straight. And because of that, coupled with all the other changes in the world, it manages a rather fantastic sense of discovery all it's own.

While I'll always love TLA I think Korra just edges it out because of that. It's a riskier, perhaps one could even say bolder show because it's trying to pit itself at odds with its predecessor and a lot of the expectations of the genre on a whole, delivering a much more atypical structure and arc for its protagonist. Was it always %100 successful? No, but then again neither was TLA. And I appreciate the effort, and have nothing but love and admiration for it's not-insignificant successes as well.

But I've always gotten the feeling like that just wasn't what a lot of people were looking for. Which is fine, I'm not saying they're wrong for preferring something more classical or that there's anything wrong with classical, but I'm less okay with the idea of criticizing the show for not being something it's clearly not trying to be. And it's clearly not trying to be just TLA-Again. It blatantly didn't try to recapture the original but more bounce off it instead and a lot of people slammed it for that. So I'm not sure where one exactly draws the line as far as any of this goes.

On the other hand, I am one of those people who thought Halo 4 had the best campaign of the series, specifically because of it's story, so maybe my opinion is just a big pile of shit.

 

[IrisNetwork]

I went to see Star Wars VII with some people who never seen the previous ones. They got very confused.

I went to see Mad Max Fury Road with no knowledge of the franchise and was blown away.

The problem with Star Wars VII is that they just wanted to make a "Star Wars Movie" in mind while Mad Max was made with the idea of making a great action movie in mind. Old franchises can make new and exciting things if they detached themselves from the franchise and simply think to create a great product instead of just referencing the old

 

[Thanatos2k]

I'm still trying to figure out what the whole deal is with Undertale. The screenshots make it look one step above the old text adventures I had on those complex calculators my school let students borrow specifically for their math classes and everyday use. My Tumblr dashboard has had nothing but Undertale on it for weeks.
I don't get it.

I put it on my wishlist and I await another sale.

It's $10. It's practically on sale already. You can buy 6 Undertales or 1 Star Wars Battlefront.

So does this mean Yahtzee is going to be playing RTS games, Smash Bros, and Space Marine? Or by 'leave our comfort zone' does he mean for us to come join him in his comfort zome and just sit quietly while he explains why his views are inherently correct and that he need not take any risks of his own, because that might ruin the facade of expertise he cultivates?

Also I went ahead a watched an Undertale Lets Play after the vitriol I received when I said Yahtzee was just baiting Indie gamers in his Top 5.
And I will admit if my only experience with RPGs were the Pokemon series and Skyrim, then yeah Undertale does a lot of new things. If on the other hand I had played FF6, FF7, Chrono Cross and maybe half a dozen other 90s RPGs...then no. No, Undertale doesn't really do anything unique or new that hadn't already been done 20+ years ago.

And here's an example of one of the people Yahtzee was talking about who refuses to leave their comfort zone. They didn't even play the game but are sure ready to tell you about how much they don't like it!

Worse, they ruined the game for themselves by WATCHING it. A game about making your own choices and reacting to the unexpected they watched someone else make choices and then are criticizing the game.

 

[Weasker]

I'm still trying to figure out what the whole deal is with Undertale. The screenshots make it look one step above the old text adventures I had on those complex calculators my school let students borrow specifically for their math classes and everyday use. My Tumblr dashboard has had nothing but Undertale on it for weeks.
I don't get it.

I put it on my wishlist and I await another sale.

Glad you're giving it a try and hope it's down your alley. It's mostly a funny game and the tutorial purposely hand-holds you, but I think most people realize that.
It's mostly about the story, so don't be put off by pixels, please, at least it doesn't sink into the uncanny valley.

 

[Amaror]

Well I will join the other posters saying that it's more than a little bit hypocritical to urge others to leave their comfort zone, while refusing to play certain genres entirely yourself.
As for Undertale: It's ok.
I played it and I can see why people like it, but I wasn't nearly as blown away by it as everybody else seems to be. Still a good game, though. Even though I found the gameplay, mainly the combat, to be very very boring.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

To this end I will buy a mattress stuffed with golf balls and refuse to play anything but crappy simulator games(only crappy ones, nothing good). Even still I could see possibilities in there, I could invite friends over to stay the night and insist I sleep on the couch(Before they see the bed) and possibly create a youtube channel dedicated to breaking down and breaking shitty simulator games.