cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37932218
Yesterday I played the demo of the new game Dispatch and it is all beautifully written, but at some point, while presenting the team in-game, there was a casual funny line, pronounced by a voice off-screen, so without graphical support and I just burst out laughing (I was alone at home, so not pressed by social influence of any kind).
When I stopped, I realized how uncommon this has become lately. As a kid, I found LucasArts games extremely funny and I laughed more than occasionally, but this aspect of video game entertainment has been dying out.
When was the last time you actually laughed out loud while playing a game for something that was actually designed as funny (no Fortnite or CoD shenanigans stories please)?
Indiana Jones and the great circle: npc walking around on Gizeh and the clothes of one being in T-pose.
Oh, Bethesda.
There were actually good, written gags in that game, too. Plus the general “Indy found himself in a place where needed to improvise and punch some Nazis” sort of gameplay that the game did so well. I can’t even recall a single bug from my playthrough.
Yeah that was nice. The whole game was nice albeit too much promise and left far behind by any uncharted (>1) which came long before.
That at a premium price is too little. (not saying anyone should share this highly subjective opinion!)
But that’s not the point I was teing to make. I literally laughed at that typical Bethesda T-pose.
I was a big fan of Uncharted 2 and 3, but Uncharted 4 stopped giving me control of the action and started making it barely interactive or just a cut-scene, and I found The Great Circle to be an excellent counter to that, personally. Even if you saw a T-pose, it doesn’t seem right to call it a typical Bethesda thing. There’s a big difference between Bethesda, the developer of Elder Scrolls, and Machine Games, the developer of Wolfenstein and Indiana Jones; they don’t even use the same engine between them.
Portal/portal 2
“Run smarter, not harder!”
I can’t remember the last time a game made me intentionally laugh. I laughed my ass off about situations, bugs, but… scripted comedy?
Maybe a smile, a faint giggle, but actual laughter? I can’t remember.
That’s exactly why I was so surprised by Dispatch! It has stuff at the same level of Sam & Max: Hit the Road whose the next door shop from the office I will never forget: “Bosco’s Guns, Liquors, Baby Needs”
Witcher 3, which I played like 3 months ago. There was this one goofy quest where you had to save a mage by getting a magic book with a weird name that you could abbreviate to GOG. You needed a spell from it to disable the mage’s tower defence and regulatory management system (something along those lines), or DRM for short.
Baldur’s Gate 3, quite often
Just yesterday, when I told the great wizard Lorroakan
spoiler
that the Nightsong is dead. “That always happens to me!”
Saints Row (2022) had some of my flavour of silliness.
Weirdly - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Despite whole game’s emotional atmosphere being pretty heavy, I think it had very good humor moments in it, I actually laughed out loud few times. Maybe a part of it is that it took me by surprise but I appreciate wittiness of these lighter moments.
Great writing overall by the way.
Acts 1 and 2. 3 was sad.
I really want to try it, also because I am studying French and it has full voice over. Problem is, I never managed to play JRPGs, so I am afraid I would be throwing money away.
You can play at low difficulty to make it less frustrating while still enjoying the beautiful story!
I’m playing it right now. When Verso tries to recruit Monoco to go to old Lumière, Monoco is like “No thanks, after last time I made a promise to never follow you again”, to which Verso responds “There’ll be lots of fights…”, and Monoco is like “I’ll follow you anywhere!”. The delivery is a lot better obviously.
Monoco: It’s time do defeat her.
to Verso Please help me.
Exactly the scene that came to my mind when responding to this thread, delivery was perfect - especially that you don’t know the dynamic at that point yet. Didn’t play with french voice over but they did a stellar job with english one. They also must’ve had a lot of fun recording these scenes.
Small suggestion though - I’m not sure if I wouldn’t hide this behind a spoiler, you never know which detail might affect someone’s experience.
I still need to start this.
But I know the feel - games that expand their emotional range often get the best reactions because moving to an extreme of seriousness, sadness, or even humor, can shock the player.
Another thing I loved about the game is how much of unapologetic nerds Lune and Gustave are.
Last night, playing PALWORLD. Such a funny and silly game.
It was last night, I was playing Windblown with a friend and we were on our fourth endless loop. Everything was melting, it got very silly. Watching a boss healthbar just drop instantly was hilarious.
Hollow Knight Silksong.
Spoiler
The trap bench in Hunters March. After the absolutely grueling effort it took getting there, the relief of finally coming upon a bench, only to see the trap come swinging down. All I could do was laugh.
When playing Split Fiction. The poop/pig extra level where your power is to double jump by farting got the inner child in me.
It actually happens fairly frequently, but almost entirely as reaction to unexpected gameplay moments as opposed to any deliberate comedy written in by the designers. Some of that can be funny too, but only really to the point of a grin or light chuckle.
I remember a moment playing BG 3 when one of my characters just got yeeted into lava literally at the start of the fight. I laughed my ass off then went on with what ended up being probably a much more difficult than intended fight.
Sometimes it can be something as simple as the physics or an NPC bugging out.
Disco Elysium had me laughing out loud a few times.
Disco Elysium is definitely the most memorable one with the level of absurdity it throws in your face. Thinking about the “Dios Mio, a LIBERAL” still cracks me up.
Been playing Midnight Club 3 lately and some of the songs are very silly. “Can you make your fatty roll like a 24? (24)”
