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What are your de-stressing games of choice?

P

purseowner

Member
I am Christina Aguilera said:
Kind of obscure, but for me, it's probably Mario's Super Picross, the Japan-only Super Famicom game. For whatever reason, the specific movement mechanics, soundtrack options, and puzzles click for me to get into a relaxed state in a way that Picross DS and the 3DS Picrosses never quite have for me.
Click to expand...

Is this on the JP 3DS eShop?
 
Thebonehead

Thebonehead

Banned
Flying in Dcs world in VR.

Currently learning to fly the huey with Creedence Clearwater revival songs playing though my headset.

The immersion is on another level.
 
Cracklox

Cracklox

Member
In the last few years a good isometric ARPG does the trick for me. Diablo 3, Marvel Heroes and Grim Dawn have all proved great for putting some tunes on and mindlessly killing stuff and farming for upgrades. Warframe is another go to, but I'm not sure that's always a stress reliever as such
 
J

JDH

Member
Fez

2187794-fez_2.jpg
 
BibiMaghoo

BibiMaghoo

Member
NullPointer said:
Unless you're trying to nail gold in each and every event I don't see how its frustrating at all. What is it thats getting to you?

If it was I certainly wouldn't be playing it to chill, which I do, and have, the past few nights while listening to a hardcore history podcast. Just go your own way, without doing events, and its pure downhill goodness. Run the events when you want to test yourself. Some are easy, some are frustratingly difficult, depending. But even then the instant restarts and instant teleportation anywhere across the mountain helps a lot.

Basically, what I do is find an event that starts just about as high up as I can get for a particular side of the mountain. Then I just avoid going through the circle that starts the event and see if I can find my way down, at speed, until I reach some frozen lake far below, or else I reach the edge of the map. If I run into any problems - like blind cliffsides filled with jagged rocks (pretty much a setup for the basejumping and gliding events) I just hold down the triangle for 2 seconds and whoosh, I'm back up at the top where I might see whats to the left, or right, or behind, or whatever. You can find some nice, long runs and slip into a smooth zone.
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It's the events specifically, after a couple of hours I'd done all the nice easy and chilled events and that was maybe 25% complete, the difficulty then goes postal. Some of the wingsuit events are so difficult I had to wonder if I was just suddenly really bad at video games. I'm not the greatest, but man....forget gold, finishing them at all is a feat beyond me.

I tried over days to learn and improve, but it seemed that either you had to have an incredibly precise path planned out from 50+ failed attempts or the reflexes of a godlike being to finish them. I say this knowing full well that many people have smashed the game, it just stressed me out a lot lol. Games very rarely do that to me.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
BibiMaghoo said:
It's the events specifically, after a couple of hours I'd done all the nice easy and chilled events and that was maybe 25% complete, the difficulty then goes postal. Some of the wingsuit events are so difficult I had to wonder if I was just suddenly really bad at video games. I'm not the greatest, but man....forget gold, finishing them at all is a feat beyond me.

I tried over days to learn and improve, but it seemed that either you had to have an incredibly precise path planned out from 50+ failed attempts or the reflexes of a godlike being to finish them. I say this knowing full well that many people have smashed the game, it just stressed me out a lot lol. Games very rarely do that to me.
Click to expand...
Oh we completely agree when it comes to doing the events. I wouldn't play many of them to de-stress at all. Some of them require so much precision that you'll end up having to restart them a ton of times.

But just finding your own way is very chill. And just playing it casually in this way leveled me to max and got me skilled enough in the game to where forests and barriers aren't really the gamestoppers they used to be.
 
S

sungahymn

Neo Member
Certainly NOT Everybody's Golf.

Back in the day, I would play through Hotel Dusk for the dozenth time and have a grand ol' time. Not much chill games for me now.
 
N

Nohar

Member
Final Fantasy: Theathrythm Curtain Call. Just playing Beginner to Ultimate field songs, especially the Final Fantasy XI ones, as I find them to be the most relaxing of the franchise.
 
T

thelatestmodel

Junior, please.
All of these get played pretty regularly:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - always fun to see if you can get a good run going for a couple of hours. Only beaten it twice so far but IMO it's the best roguelike.

Beatmania IIDX - the best rhythm game. Nothing comes close if I want to zone out and get into a "flow" state.

Dark Souls 1 - perfect world design, perfect combat, endlessly satisfying to replay.

Skate 2 - just skate and chill. Wish it were a little harder / more realistic but it's close enough.

Thebonehead said:
Flying in Dcs world in VR.

Currently learning to fly the huey with Creedence Clearwater revival songs playing though my headset.

The immersion is on another level.
Click to expand...

Hell yeah. I think this will be me when DCS F/A18 comes out - I just love that plane so much. It'll be my killer app for a headset purchase, got the HOTAS already!
 
R

RdN

Member
Minecraft.

Even if I'm not in the mood to build stuff.. I just walk around what me and my friends built and chill for a while.
 
R

RandomHopeInc

Member
LordOfLore said:
I still turn on Shadow of Mordor every once in a while when I just need to calm down or get out of a rough spot. The game really helped me with my depression before I got my pills and a time with a therapist to help with the daily fight. Hoping Shadow of War can take its place. Actually debated picking up Destiny 2 because just watching streams helps call me down and gets me focused.
Click to expand...

I honestly came to post about this game, near the end of the game, you get so overpowered to the point where its just so much fun rip and tearing through a horde of orcs. Especially when you gather enough familiar named enemies you can go after.
 
Head of Vengarl

Head of Vengarl

Banned
Manu said:
Dark Souls.

Yeah really.
Click to expand...

Same with me for Dark Souls 3. My first time playing it was definitely not relaxing, but now I love popping in every now and then, putting down a white soapstone near a tough boss (like Pontiff, Twin Princes, SoC, or NK), and helping people with my sorcery build. It's pretty easy since all I have to do is keep my distance and spam Great Heavy Soul Arrow, and it makes me happy knowing I'm helping someone who might have been struggling to beat that boss.
 
S

Shizza

Member
For me it's anything where I can let my mind wander while I'm playing:

Tetris
Mario Kart - when I've played each track hundreds of times it's all muscle memory
Pokémon Go - spinning stops and catching trash pokemon
Exploration in games like Breath of the Wild, Journey, Abzu
Grinding away in RPGs
Shmups - especially if they have a really good soundtrack

Edit: the THPS games back in the day. I wish I still had them :(
 
S

salaciousdrift

Member
A little quiet time doing murder on the Amalfi Coast always helps me. Hitman is my current stress tonic with special attention to Sapienza, Hokkaido and Bangkok.
 
N

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
Elite Dangerous used to be that game but honestly I don't really have a reason to hop on anymore which is a shame.

It's probably warframe for me. Or some game I can just chip away towards a goal while watching a movie or something in the background.
 
K

kc44135

Member
Resident Evil 4. It might seem like an odd choice considering how stressful and tense was for many (myself included) on the first go-around. However, after countless playthroughs, it's just pure fun to me now, and I still feel like (even with it's functional but admittedly dated feeling controls) it does many things better than most modern games. It's just a timeless masterpiece that's fun for me however many times I go through it, and whenever I'm feeling sad, stressed, or just plain bored, RE4 is my first game of choice to fire up.
 
A

AyaisMUsikWhore

Member
Manu said:
Dark Souls.

Yeah really.
Click to expand...

I want to say WHHHAAATTTT?!?!!

But I guess I'll say, I'm sorry and I understand.

___

For me, NBA 2k or GTAV. If not that, anything thats not scary and not hard, like a harvest moon or Phoenix Wright. Or something creative like Cities Skyline or Sims 4
 
P

pswii60

Member
Peggle. I really miss the XBLA version and the Peg Party online mode with the leaderboards. Peggle 2 just isn't the same.
 
S

supernormal

Member
This might seem like an odd choice, but I really like fast-paced arcade games for de-stressing. Stuff like Resogun, Geometry Wars, Thumper, and recently Nex Machina. I like the pick and play nature of games like this and how little compromise there is to it all. You play in these little 2-3 minute segments over and over the point where you just "get in the zone" and forget all external stimulus.
 
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