The Awesome and Cool Poll Thread - Poll #131: Would you pay more taxes if it meant receiving a pension when you retire?

[Greengoop]

despite one unfortunate choice of insult that hasn't aged well.

I honestly wouldn’t say it “hasn’t aged well”, I just consider it to compliment the nature of the song

[The Jonster]

Maybe a better question would be, "What's your favorite part about Christmas?" Although that might also have a number of answers, but lemme know what you guys think!

[Greengoop]

The only plausible answers in that are eating food and opening presents, so that’s too few (then again, the only plausible answer in the song one is Fairytale of New York so that’d be another lost cause)

[The Jonster]

Again, I don’t know what Fairytale of New York is.

[Greengoop]

Is the song not popular in America? I expected it to be since it has New York in its name

[DaveRattlehead]

Astro Bot got the GOTY award, but surprisingly it doesn't have a big support here!

There are different songs in different languages, so I don't think it's a good idea. Since it wasn't clear, I decided to go for this one... We're participating in a forum about a specific game, but I'm very sure you all have played more games than Rayman this year. We're reaching the very end of 2024, so the last poll of the year is... Have any games surprised you this year?

[Greengoop]

Well, if we’re counting older titles we played during the year, I’d say Astro’s playroom was a really pleasant surprise. They literally released one of the best platformers I’ve ever played (easily better than any 3D Mario except maybe Odyssey) for the price of absolutely nothing. I really hope Astro Bot goes on sale soon because I personally wouldn’t pay the full £60 for it

[PluMGMK]

Well the remaster of BG&E definitely surprised me, both with how good it was, and with how easy it was to get running on my machine! I must replay it in the next few days…

[Adsolution]

I have not touched a single video game this year outside of League every few days

edit: Wait that's a lie, I forgot I played Sons of the Forest for like two months straight lol. I guess that game surprised me with how much it made me smile from beginning to end, what an adventure.

[ChronicTraitor]

I could probably just say Evil Twin and leave it at that, but that wouldn't be fair to everything I'd played in this past year or so. Far too many to list though, I'd be typing forever if I got into every game I played this year, though I didn't expect to like Arthur and The Invisibles so much. I'd heard of the movie growing up and never saw it, though I loved the idea of tiny people in decorative little worlds made of everyday things. So the movie game is sort of my way of making things up to my younger self. Psychic Force has to count too, that one was expensive but also really cool. (I'd finally found a fighting game I'm actually good at! ) I could keep going, but there's just so many. I never thought about how many games I play from year to year! So I voted yes. I think every game has something to offer, even the bad ones, no matter how overlooked it may be by others.

[Pirez]

I only played six games in 2024 : Overwatch 2, Binding Of Isaac, (currently a way too heavy dose of) Stardew Valley, Disney's Atlantis for PS1, German with Rayman once on stream and the demake of Megaman X8.

But I have to say : that demake rules. Not perfect of course, and there are a lot of intricacies of the original game that were lost in translation but it has been done with care and love and it shows. When the game features one of my favorite character from the whole franchise as a hidden boss while still remaining lore accurate, you know you're dealing with a fan who cares.

(And then modders added Axl before Zero but modders can't be choosers, I guess...)

[EdgyRabbid]

Rayman Brain Games purely BECAUSE THAT SHIT HAS BEEN TEACHING MY BABY BROTHER HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

[Magelin]

Hmm, games i played this year? Let’s see…

• Stardew Valley

Actually, i played this one back in 2023, but i dropped it immediately. And in 2024, i picked it up again and played quite a lot! Quite good, all i gotta say.

• Miitopia

This one was very fun to play! I played it with a entirely Rayman cast, and damn it was worth it lol (i remember when Andre “gifted” a silver ring to Globox and i just couldn’t help but laugh like crazy )

• Super Mario 64

This was also pretty good, i almost finished it but then i just stopped for some reason. Maybe it was that penguin race that took me out

• Monster prom/camp/roadtrip

I liked these ones, as well. Though, i think i would’ve enjoyed it way better if i had any friends.. It’s a competitive dating sim, after all! Also Vera, pls stop rejecting me

• Rayman games

Specifically Rayman 2 and Rayman 3. Also pretty good… I’m running out of words, help

• Ace Attorney

Worst game franchise ever

Rayman Brain Games purely BECAUSE THAT SHIT HAS BEEN TEACHING MY BABY BROTHER HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

I myself learnt English from games . Well, not games purely, but mostly games.

[DaveRattlehead]

I think it was a very interesting year from my side in terms of gaming. You see, I have been playing the same kind of games for years, which made me lose a bit of motivation. Last year I played different, fantastic games of that same genre, but still, it wasn't enough for me to bring back the motivation that I had many years ago. But, this year I found out that trying something different is probably what I needed. Tunic and the souls games were incredible, and I enjoyed them a lot. Thanks to these games I had again that will of playing after coming back from work, like the one I had when I wanted to come back from school when I was younger. Tunic was probably the biggest of the surprises, it was amazing to see an indie game full of details, easter eggs, secrets... Definitely a must have. It's available in all of the platforms, so make yourself a favour and give it a try.

With this experience, I'd like to try different games, different genres that I wouldn't have played (or that I abandoned!) years ago. I don't think it's bad to recognize that I got to that point because I enjoyed playing a few specific games a lot. In the end, games are made for enterteinment, and they did a good job, but at the same time it's sad that I missed the opportunity to play other games. Better late than ever, I guess.

[Master]

I think if I had a New Years Resolution for this year, it'd be to start trying to branch out in gaming, as it stands about 70% of the games I completed were ones I'd played and beaten before already. I've only outright beaten 2 new releases (Astro Bot and SxSG), and the other remaining games were older games that I'd finally gotten round to playing and finishing, though I will admit I do regret leaving so much time to beating some of those (see my little ramble on Skyward Sword in the Zelda thread).

I'll try to summarise the titles I played this year that left some mark I suppose:

Rayman 3D
Of the games I'd replayed, some were games I class as "old reliables," ones that I know pretty well and are like comfort food, no surprises that would include Rayman 2 and Rayman 3 no doubt. Though I did do something slightly different last year (still getting used to that) and played the 3DS version of Rayman 2 instead. I'll be honest, I found myself somewhat affronted by that game. It's serviceable, but I found myself annoyed by the fact that there seemed to be some graphical touchups, and yet so, so many graphical errors and issues - from nonscrolling textures (lava and water), to fog and transparency issues (have fun getting the lums in the first area in the Iron Mountains), the game was fine and I finished it 100%, but I would be loathe to play this specific version again. I guess I was surprised that I found myself as irked by that game as I was, but I don't know if that would count as it being surprising?

SM64 DS
I found a mod that added support for the 3DS circle pad to Super Mario 64 DS, and I ended up liking the game enough to do a basic finish on the game, but I definitely found myself a little burnt out by the time I'd gotten there and I don't think I'd ever want to 100% it. I have tried the original in the past but it doesn't really do it for me either, I respect the game and what it represents, but I find I can't really do any of the 3D Mario games pre-Galaxy, I don't seem to graft to them.

OoT 3D
OoT 3D, now that was interesting, cause I don't remember much of my playthrough of it now, funnily enough. I had enough drive to want to finish it and this was despite struggling with final Ganon, and I recall having to refer to guides. But all in all, I did finish it and it was motivating enough that I did want to carry on going through the 3D Zeldas (a prospect that I should probably pick back up this year actually). I did falter and give up on Majora's Mask, and I don't really want to go back to it, which I suppose is probably what led to me playing Skyward Sword HD instead. I think this year I should try playing Windwaker and Twilight Princess.

M&L Dream Team
I also played Mario and Luigi Dream Team. I'm a big fan of Bowser's Inside Story and I decided since I was going all in 3DS games at the time to go for Dream Team with it being the game's sequel. I'm not used to playing RPGs that are longer runnners, and I remember starting to get a bit fatigued near the end, but in general I think it was pretty solid. I remember having to use a guide for a portion in the seaside town so I think perhaps there might have been some conveyancing issues at certain points, which is ironic given the amount of tutorials that game did have, but eh. I don't know if I'd class this game as a surprise as it felt like a good sequel to BiS.

Metroid Prime Hunters
Heh, funnily enough, this was actually the year I finally finished Metroid Prime Hunters, having tried to play it on/off for years. Apparently getting a mod to give it twin stick controls using the 3DS did the trick. I admit, I think this game did genuinely surprise me. I don't think it's as solid as the mainline console instalments, but as a portable incarnation it's pretty spot-on. Even if I did find the structuring of the game not to my taste, and I did fall foul to instant-gameovers from falling into pits (annoying considering Prime 2 and 3 simply respawned you on solid ground with a health penalty, but different studio so I guess different approaches but eh). But the fact that it is more-or-less a Prime-lite experience on handheld that actually manages to capture the feel to a sufficient degree was a genuine surprise.

Astro Bot and Shadow Gens
Yeah I'm not gonna put these separate because they're very much scratching a nostalgic platforming itch. I will say Shadow Gens turning out to be a new baseline in the boost formula was unexpected, I felt that Forces and Frontier's attempts at boost levels were far less intricate and well done compared to the boost levels of Unleashed and Generations, so for them to not only be on par, but arguably surpass those titles, was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

I'd already played Astro's Playroom so I wasn't expecting too much different for Astro Bot, and I think on that basis I can't say it was anything I wasn't really expecting. But it was still a very fun game to play, and definitely a game that gave me a lot of joy to play though, even if it was fairly standard as far as platformers go.

In closing...
So yeah, I suppose I was surprised by some games. Here's hoping for some good surprises this year. I was pretty surprised to see that Prime 4 is finally coming this year...so I hope that game turns out to be a good one cause I've been waiting 7 years for that now...

[Greengoop]

For the next poll, how about “which decade do you feel the most nostalgia about”?

[DaveRattlehead]

It's another way of asking "how old are you", don't you think?

I'll think about it and I'll post the next poll asap.

[Greengoop]

Not really, if you lived through multiple decades, you might feel more nostalgia for a later one

[Pirez]

Or you can be one of those people that felt that they were born in le wrong generation and you are nostalgic of a generation you didn't witness.

Or you can be a alt-right grifter but I don't think any of us is a trad-wife.

[Greengoop]

Or you can be one of those people that felt that they were born in le wrong generation and you are nostalgic of a generation you didn't witness.

Those people really annoy me tbh, like I’d like to have experienced other generations but seriously don’t make being a “90s kid” your whole personality when you were born in 2012.