Cozy Games Need Better Mechanics
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2024
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Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video. Go to strms.net/hellofresh_koramora, use my code KORAMORAAPR16, and receive 16 free meals + free dessert for life while subscription is active.
Just wanted to mention HelloFresh is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and abuses their workers including using union busting techniques to avoid accountability for their abuse and to avoid having to let their workers have breaks, so maybe reconsider if you want to be sponsored by them
Your voice is cute
Maybe a hot take but idk I feel like a lot of AC veterans will agree with me: New Horizons, unlike all prior games in the series, doesn't feel like a cozy game to me. There is almost a pressure in this game due to its lack of life simulation elements that made the series so special in the first place, and New Horizons has a money sim aspect that wasn't so prominent in last games, as it's more of a building simulator rather than a life simulator. New Horizons constantly has you grinding for bells just to do the most basic things (moving buildings, etc.) The money making aspect doesn't feel organic like previous games whatsoever. For me, I don't find this cozy nor relaxing. What made Animal Crossing so cozy and relaxing was the fact you moved INTO an established town in which your primary goal was to live in harmony with the animals and take your time venturing into shops, gardening, exploring, etc. where the building and creative elements in the TOWN itself (not to be confused with your clothes or house, which are certainly relaxing activities) were secondary to living and breathing within it. In New Horizons, you breathe over it, insofar as the town is completely yours to control, so much so you dictate the lives of animals rather than living harmoniously with them. This is a grave flaw and mistake in New Horizons' design as a sequel leaving it lacking in loyalty to Eguchi's (the founder of Animal Crossing) vision for the games in the first place, that being fighting loneliness by being part of a COMMUNITY - Eguchi's direction is noticeably absent in New Horizons, which says a lot. Overall, Animal Crossing needs to return to its roots to be cozy again, by learning from the deeply embedded problems with New Horizons' direction, and being loyal to its previous entries, which were absolutely cozy games for a reason that New Horizons didn't have.
ACNH was more like Crossing to me becuase the Animals were just sooooo boring, basically on the level of a sign
100%! It also results in there being little emotional engagement which is why NH doesn’t hit as hard. NH is just a game. WW, CF, NL etc, were so much more.
I bought it because it brought back nostalgia since I used to play a ton as a kid on the game cube. But I barely was able to put 10 hours into it because I got bored, and I was confused, I expected more out of it. I think you just explained why it wasn't as fun as the older games. I also feel like animal crossing really fails to have things to do and explore outside of it's forced main questline, and it really pushes it's main questline (and the museum as it's main side goal). I don't care for the main questline, so I finished exploring and was done with it.
tbh you’re comparing an established *town* to a barren *island* which are completely opposite.
I think you may just have a problem with choice anxiety man. Just because you can make and change things all the time doesn't mean you need to
the coziest game i can remember was mysims.. cause nothing really mattered. yes build the town but also theres no pressure. you’re not timed, you’re not stuck behind the money system, theres no grinding, its just mini games, customizing and getting to know the silly town.
One of the things I noticed the most when it comes to why I stop playing games, it 100% comes down to goals. I stop playing a new world in minecraft once I set up my main base. I stopped playing animal crossing once I got most of the easy beginner stuff unlocked. These games shouldn't force you into any goal or questline, but a good game should have many questlines with a variety of easy, hard, quick and lengthy. Especially if they are sandbox. There's only so long you can enjoy running around and exploring. The game needs to give you stuff that you have to unlock, or discover, or stumble onto. Stardew does this so well. My first playthrough, I played 24/7 for 2 weeks straight, there was just so much to do, it was so fun. Interacting with villagers, fishing, mining, farming, crafting, clearing my farm, the festivals, new seasons with new crops, unlocking inventory space, unlocking skull cavern, unlocking ginger island, 100% friendships with villagers, getting married, getting the good tools, decorating my farm, community center, junimo huts, the which. Everywhere I looked there was something that hinted at an area to unlock and a skill to get better at so I can unlock these areas and these items.
Minecraft barely has unlock areas, the end and the nether are the main ones, and it has temples and such to explore, but after the initial, it really doesn't have many other mechanics to explore and grind. It's almost too easy to start up and have a beginner base in like 5 hours of play, and I think they are starting to expand on that, but they are expanding more of the combat than on the explore and survivability portion. Animal crossing really fails at this. It has a main questline but horribly weak side quests. Stardew has a main questline too, but you make progress on it while you are also making progress on the side quests and you are always doing 3 things at once. Grinding the same lengthy questline with each single minor quest, gets boring. Animal crossing always has 1 thing to do and it takes so long and so much effort many get bored before they complete it. They need more smaller things, more unlock areas, more places to explore to get materials to finish the main quest line, without feeling like a main quest line. Minecraft has too little direction to go, and animal crossing doesn't have enough things to do.
TLDR I guess what I'm saying, in most games, once I'm set up to survive, I'm bored because the next thing to do is either unnecessary or / and takes too much effort. There needs to be more unlock areas, and goals to stumble upon. Mini quests with decent rewards (maybe to unlock areas or help with main quest). To keep the exploring vibe. Especially if there are multiple "main quest lines" and stuff that can be done simultaneously not linearly.
If you're looking for a fun and fresh game I'd highly recommend Cattails: Wildwood Story. It's a cozy game with stakes! But you take the stakes at your own pace and it's great. There isn't really any crafting (unless you count making seeds) and you run around as a cat and catch your own food and forage for herbs and berries. You build relationships with the cats living in your colony and I adore a lot of the NPCs. It's honestly my favorite cozy game right now, it's 100% worth the 20 USD, so wholesome, try the demo if you want to, it's very fun
For the new leaf coffee minigame, it actually does kind of work like coffee talk but in a much simpler way
For normal villagers the amount of milk will always correspond to the amount of sugar
No milk = no sugar
A little bit = one spon
The regular amount = two spons
Lots of milk = three spoons
However there are a few special characters that do not follow the rule and those you have to memorize. Like how Tom Nook likes lots of milk but only one spoon of sugar
graveyard keeper the story is really intricate and as it progresses you gain more abilities so it doesn't get stale same with Stardew Vally they introduce things but not all right away to keep it interesting
Yeaaa, I have hope that they’ll take community feedback about mechanics for the next Animal Crossing game. I like the quests that happened in the original Animal Crossing. For example, tortimer leaves to go on vacation and asks you to look over the lighthouse. If you successfully turn on the lighthouse every day you get a prize. I think more “cozy” quests from special NPCS or villagers in the next game would be so cool.
This video just showed me how primal Acnh is compared to the other cozy games
i had the same thought , but i think nintendo also really makes sure it has their high-quality standards met, and the real-time progression is still a unique feature that changes the game's dynamics drastically
Speaking of "improving decoration," something I liked about Happy Home Paradise was being able to easily decorate _outside_ the house. So on top of all the improvements you suggested (including stacking items atop each other, a more lenient grid-system, etc.), I'd say let us use that same system to decorate outside on our own island.
Also, if terraforming does come back (which I _really_ hope it does; figuring out and creating my own vistas and landscapes is one of my favorite parts of NH), let us use the same system to easily craft our vistas. In fact, you could even have that mechanic be a reward for quests/jobs.
There was a Mashable interview with project lead Aya Kyogoku where she confirmed Mr. Resetti no longer worked at the Reset Surveillance Center due to the Switch's auto-save feature. Well, have Resetti in charge of terraforming now. Let's say he started his own terraforming and construction company (he's a mole dressed in construction equipment after all!), and you can go work for him as an employee (like you did with Brewster at The Roost back in the day). Complete enough jobs for him and you unlock terraforming features. The more jobs you complete, the more you can accomplish on your own.
This could potentially take care of several birds with one stone. You have a goal to work towards which you can do at your own pace. You have more unique NPC interactions with Resetti and his construction crew. This takes the terraforming aspect of NH, streamlines it, and takes it to the next step. The possibilities are there and waiting to be implemented!
Wow! I’m early!! I just wanted to say that kora.. your channel bacically saved me from putting down Acnh forever! But you inspired me to make my island MY ISLAND instead of following a theme. I now have my forever island and I owe it all to you! Loved todays video! Maybe you could do Nookazon vids?
Wow! This is the most likes I’ve ever got!
I think the problem with a lot of "cozy" games these days is that their definition of cozy is 0 stakes and mundane tasks, and to keep with that they don't over complicate mechanics such as crafting, cooking, decorations etc. They keep it streamlined, almost to a fault, it's just basic gameplay with some kind of lofi music theme half the time with minimal end game feel.
As weird as this will sound, I think World of Warcraft CAN be a very cozy game, if you play it that way, just doing professions, farming transmog and mounts, and you can still do daily quests throughout the many zones to build rep with many factions as well as doing achievements. Plus there's a shit ton of events year round, it's weirdly a great blueprint for a cozy game in those particular activities and areas.
I wonder if you played the My Time series? Its pretty good! There's two games (plus one in development) that takes place in the same continuity, all with solid NPCs, storylines and fun events in the cities you live in :3
I want more cozy games with ROMANCE OPTIONS I like my romance choices!!!
We need less button mashing and more accessibility features like auto fishing or hold to spam because I’m disabled and have developed wrist sprains just from playing for a few hours then cannot ply for weeks to rest
Harvest Moon: the light of hope had some pretty flat NPCs, but one thing I felt it did great was the different farming areas were actually unique biomes, with different soil quality, and different varieties of crops would grow from the same seed based on when you planted it and where, unlocking new seeds. You could also crossbreed crops like how you breed flowers in AC:NH. It's probably the most in-depth farming of any cozy sim I've played, actually doing something interesting with it and justifying farming being the focus of the game.
I’ve never noticed I got the heeebie jeebies at the phrase “nighttime beetles” 🥴
I don't care about beetles. Nothing's creepier than nightcrawlers.... Slimy worms crawling from the pits of the underworld to blindly slither and slide around aimlessly in the cold damp night littering your whole lawn and driveway. Disgusting and disturbing.
I think that Dave the Diver is a good example of doing things right. Two main game modes, different biomes, and minigames. I dare anyone to try to feel bored playing that game!
I think a lot of the time recent cozy games are hit or miss- they have a mechanic that's great in one area (ex. decoration in DDV or Palia), but sucks in others (ex. bland NPCs in Fae Farm that ruin the immersion); it's just a matter of balancing "enough fleshed out mechanics to be engaging" and "not too simple or too many that the player feels like they're chores instead of something fun to do in the game."
do my eyes deceive me or did we get a peek at 3 hour land bridge?? that's what every cozy game needs tbh
Wake up baby, a new koramora video just dropped 💅
One of my favorite mechanics is upgrading and unlocking stuff. Upgrading tools, weapons, armor, houses. It gives you a goal with the reward of being able to do things better/easier.
Hii thanks so much for actually talking about the games honestly instead of just getting sponsors
i was one of those who asked 😅 glad you made this video! i was running out of good mechanic ideas. i know players are sick of farming (as am i) but i hope to create a cozy game that will give you many options of things to do with farming included just cuz it’s an easy starter mechanic for a new player.
The boing sound effect when jumping over things with your horse in the original harvest moon was peak. That's all.
(speaking as a game dev) I agree when it comes to cozy games, developers have to look a lot deeper than just animal crossing and harvest moon. Part of why cozy games feel stale is because devs look at the same two games and remix and rehash them (without always understanding how the originals aimed to function)- but the ideas in cozy overlap farther into different types of adventure and simulation games.
Stuff like early dating sims (tokimeki memorial), or even investigation games (yuuyami doori tankentai). the whole life sim genre (MOON, UFO day in the life, chulip), unique jp adventure games like Sakura Momoko's Ukiuki Carnival or Sennen Kazoku, or Boku no Natsuyasumi. These all have different kinds of "exploration" - social, the internet, etc.. and could be worked in to other games with cozy loops.
I think devs need to both take inspo from their life and other media, but also more deeply understand what makes adventure/cozy/social-ish games work! That'll let them break new ground. Games like 24 killers or short hike are proof of this fact imo. Otherwise you get games that are just piles of uninspired boring minigames and flat writing..
Good cozy games are fun until they're not. Great cozy games, however, stay fun for a long time, maybe even forever for some people. At least, that's the way I see it after watching this video. (It's only an opinion.)
I definitely agree that games should take inspiration from games like Phasmaphobia and Lethal Company. I’ve seen so many hilarious clips from them and although it’s supposed to be scary I feel like it’s also about making hilarious moments with friends and other people! Great video as always Kora!!
I like the cooking in Moonglow bay and the flower breeding in Fae Farm too!
Cozy Games are cool, but I still think they should add guns
I don't know about straight up cozy games and guns like games with animal crossing vibes and innocence. I do however think simulation like the sims at least need one M rated version where instead of getting missions like in GTA and overly crazy violence, instead you're playing the sims but with actual alcohol in it instead of them calling wine "juice", have adult jobs for the characters, us being able to play in dingy crusty cities and seeing prostitutes for that authentic feeling, them adding burglars back and having more types of criminals than just them things like that, a touch more adult.... I'm frikin tired of literally every single life sim pandering to have 12 year olds, it's taking away potential and making grown people who like these games bored out their mind. These games wont grow if they're always trying to keep them child friendly.....
They can keep the dry 12 year old friendly sims games for all i care, but make adult versions too!
Tbh feel like cult of the lamb did (atleast my kind of) cozy game the best, like, sure they have farming for the gremlins who like farming, but you get to commit murder, and on those crusades of murder you can get food and other resources! Plus customization for your follows and just, MM. THE STORY. DELECTABLE.
ok thats it
So i guess in cozy games we just need more murder
I got the fortuneteller shop within the first month of playing new leaf back in 2013 I ended up creating four characters from the very beginning and each had my fortune read within one month she recommended that I make the shop and then another month later of saving up the funds for it I got it
While it's not a "cozy" game, Crosscode does almost everything right. Gameplay is intense but there are always more and more layers slowly added over time so that the player never feels like it's overwhelming. It's such an engaging experience and the vibe matches it's aesthetic PERFECTLY. Every Npc, every character, even the character you play as. It's so comforting and it's so easy to become immersed into the game that the characters feel real. All the small interactions are just so good!!! Which i feel like more cozy games need. Better small interactions. If I walk up to a random character, I want to know if they have anything interesting or a certain emotion they are feeling.
I don’t cook in Palia. I only grill. I’m glad I don’t have to. I can even buy cooked meals
oh flower breeding? yeah my island did that for me without me even noticing one day i just realized that all my uncontrolled flower patches have hybrids and purple pansies
“Are you really not going with us to your nanas funeral?”
Nah can’t do it KoraMora just dropped a new video.
Ik it's a joke but it's only a 13 minute video so you could watch it on the car ride there lol
@@Medusa_The-Bard boooooo
Difficulty/accessibility variations, always
Story and quests and puzzles with variable difficulty levels (either through actual puzzle variations or through progressive hint systems, so you don’t have practically an auto solve as your first, second, or third hint). Characters and stories make games good. And I love fetch quests and slightly grindy quests that help you get better at the game and make you remember things (like where you saw x thing that might solve y riddle). If it’s the kind of game where you might want to write things down or consult a wiki regularly though, they should make that clear so you’re not kicking yourself later for all the things you messed up in this save file.
Hello Fresh: usually fails to deliver on the right day and it's more like Hello Limp.
WE NEED A POKEMON COZY GAME
I just play pixelmon, or cobblemon. It's minecraft with the pokemon mechanics. You get the cozy game from minecraft while still having the ability to catch them all, or get the legendries. You can even play multiplayer with friends.
@@piperpanda6587 i totally forgot about that, it was nice but what i'm missing is the pokemon interacting with the world, like i want a farm sim where your squirtle waters the crops and you need a big pokemon to dig, or a game where you play as a nurse in a pokemon center and have to tame and heal pokemons, and so many more other ideas (like a cooking sim where you cook pokemon meat but maybe it's too early for that...)
@@gaelle1724 oh that would be so cool! Contact the cobblemon team, they seem to be making a second Minecraft Pixelmon mod that has the pokemon be much more interactive with the world. It's a mod still under development right now. I feel like they would love to add that in if they can
On the subject of cooking, Immortal Life has the coolest cooking mechanic. It does have the fast cooking but you must cook the recipe at perfect level first then you can quick cook but you can always do the mini game. The decor grid is annoying too. Palia is awesome indeed. The new games like Chill Town has this awful grid and I really hope the devs update that as the game is early access. Witch of Fern Island has a pretty awesome one too but one annoying thing is that outside, the grid for crops is different from the grid for furniture.
There needs to be some kind of challenge to make a game fun. I played through harvest moon 64 soooo many times trying to get the party picture (before anyone had figured it out), I was trying to do everything perfect, get all the other pictures, all the recipes, etc etc. Meanwhile, I have an embarrassing number of hours sunk into stardew valley, but i have not once played all the way through to grandpa's evaluation. I try to get the community center finished as fast as possible, and after it's done I get bored and stop playing.
Hot-take but Stardew valley is not a cozy game, you have to concentrate and fight monsters to progress and get your daily tasks finsihed with a time limit and energy limit and it’s stressful especially when you are new to it
This! Just tried again because so many people recommend it including people I respect the opinion of (at least for gaming, I don’t know their opinion on much else). I do not like short days and trying to keep my eye on both the stamina and the time and remember what my goal was for the day in order to actually progress.
I like Stardew Valley, but I have to agree - it is quasi-cozy at most. To me, there is nothing cozy about combat. Running through the Skull Cavern to try to obtain resources in a limited time while under near-constant attack from strong monsters is stressful.
U don’t have to play that way tho 😂😂
@@gabby222themoon I’ve tried to but sadly it’s very hard to progress without the mines
I find don’t starve like a cozy game with more to it
Personally I find the Lego games to be cozy, specifically Skywalker Saga. Doing sidequests that don't always involve fighting in an open world galaxy is something not done since KOTOR. there's also Donut County although it's short, Unpacking, and as mentioned, Coffee Talk. I guess the term "cozy game" is just really subjective
I love exploration and foraging in games, but in order for it to be a good mechanic, it usually needs to be introduced slowly, one small(ish) area at a time, and just as slowly introducing mechanics/tasks/quests for what you can/should do in each area. Slowly, because most gamers will binge/grind new interesting things until the dopamine is gone and then be bored. Big areas with nothing of interest is disappointing, big areas with lots of interesting things is a LOT of work, which equates to money gamers need to fork over to access content so devs can afford their bills and wages.
hot take? but the island setting is SO refreshing. started mine in 2020, still working on my island. 3k hours spent so far :)
I've been so bored with cozy games recently (ie. the last few years). I discovered Snacko over the weekend and yes, it's yet another life/farming sim and it's buggy as heck because it's in early access, but i've not been this engrossed in a life sim since New Leaf. I think their mix of mechanics and objectives means there's more to strive toward. I sunk over 15 hours into it over the weekend (which, as a very busy person, is astounding) so i'd definitely rate it.
You should try playing The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind like you would play a cozy game.
Woooooooot!!!!!
That, K, Knarf?
I just want to marry my favorite AC villager. Is that too much to ask?!
I do not understand why everyone loves Palia now. It did not work well in my computer (its very good one tho) and had bugs even in tutorial! Is there someone else like me?
As someone who made a quick throwaway character for the Palia open beta, and then found out I was stuck with it forever, I'll say that mechanic makes the game a big failure for me.
:D
16 MINS AGO YES IM EARLY
Imagine an Animal Crossing but with Mario Party styled mini games and Go Carts lmao
From boxing to racing to hitting targets to fighting with swords to golfing with Tom Nook.
And a feature like dungeon crawling with a rogue like gameplay and going adventuring in animal crossing! And your villagers help you! Do quests and special events!
As much as I love the content on this channel, it's become nothing but complaining all about New Horizons not updating anymore or all of its various shortcomings for the past several months. And I've kinda had enough of the negativity. The focus to other cozy games has been great but it always has that undercurrent of "we're finding another way to stick it to ACNH again"
While this is not a bad critic of some cozy game mechanics feel like your asking for a depth of development in a game that is only possible if the intial breakout of the game is successful. Games like starwdew valley and animal crossing have only been able to achive the depth of game play that they currently have because of updates to the games. Aspects which were probably not even in development until after the successful launch of the game and subsequent resounding success. That is not to say that games like New Horizon could use better decorating mechanics that were initially 'in the box' and had been tried in previous versions. If you really want to look at what is possible in a cozy game right out of the gate look at what stardew valley was when it first launched. No multiplayer, fewer events, fewer areas, it was all down to the mechanics of basic farming gameplay with some monster hunting and good character scripts. Cozy games are not ment to go on forever unless you have the resources to make them do so like Nitentdo or Disney otherwise that is your studios only game.
Animal crossing now feels tedious and boring as far as the villagers because people whined about the villagers supposedly being mean in the early games.... That's why i always say a gaming franchise shouldn't build their game around the fragile feelings of people who go out of their way to be offended by every damn thing. Every time they do, video games get more and more boring, lack drama, feel empty and robotic. I don't care if it's animal crossing, world of warcraft, or GTA, all games become dry and lifeless because everyone keeps abiding by whiny kill joys.
If those people feel like crying about video games, books, tv shows offending them so damn much then why wont they try out other hobbies that meet their PG bureaucratic needs rather than entertainment developers ruining their art and making the fan community having to deal with it over a few kill joys 🙄
may be an unpopular opinion, but what most of these games lack in my opinion is PUNISHMENT. if you forget to do something, just turn the clock back and you can replay the day or event. didnt play during christmas time? well tough luck, you now miss out on the 2024 exclusive christmas items in game. there's little to no reward for continually playing all these "cozy" games, or playing since day one. i want "oh yeah i got this item during the cinco de mayo event from 2022" and no one can get it anymore unless someone wants to trade you. thoughts?
Ugh the last thing games need is more fomo so they end up being like an actual job instead of something fun to do when you have free time.
i agree that there some higher stakes would be good, but exclusive holiday items aren't what i would personally choose to add higher stakes. i think things like (in animal crossing's case) animals moving away without permission or being able to harm your relationship w an NPC via the wrong dialog choice.
Mmm… yes and no. It might actually be what some people are (subconsciously) looking for. But I like cozy games because my life has enough consequences. My escape from the real world doesn’t need it’s own consequences besides the real world ones of realising I forgot to set a timer/alarm while I was gaming and now I’m running late/need to re-wash my laundry/etc. Even the amount of games that only let you save a whole day’s progress annoy me because I don’t always have that much time.
It's not perfect, but I really like the way Dinkum let's you explore and decorate. It's got the vibe of a down under Animal Crossing, mixed with the mining and exploration of Stardew. You can also place things next to each other and still sit on chairs, etc. It's a single dev and there's some polish that could happen, but it really scratches the itch for cozy games with more in-depth exploration. 🦘