Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 119
- 3
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I need a co-op game to play with my son.
My son has finally started gaming. He's always loved watching Dead Cells gameplay videos and is having an absolute blast now running and jumping through the levels himself. The combat is too complex for him, but he's still enjoying the game a lot. While I enjoy the resulting peace and quiet myself, I kinda want to play together with him, especially since he's not good at other forms of play.
So, I'm looking for a casual 2D platformer with good graphics that supports co-op play. I have never played anything other than single player, so I have no idea if some game like that even exists.
Yoshi's Crafted World has a great co-op mode. My son and I played it a lot when he was around 4, and he then moved onto just playing by himself. There are also good Kirby co-op games, like Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Basically, a Nintendo Switch is going to get you pretty far.
Oh yeah, and if you like crafted world definitely check out Kirby's epic yarn. Like crafted world, epic yarn is a fantastic platformer even if you don't like outrageous cuteness everywhere - in both games the controls are almost as tight as super meat boy, the level design is constantly surprising without being jarring and the gimmicks stay fresh from start to finish. Depending on how you define a game though, epic yarn might fall short - there's no real fail state.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Try Elden Ring
Yeah, right, or Battletoads.
character development > having fun
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
My friend's 5 year old loved TMNT:Shredder's Revenge, and it's nostalgic for millennials.
Thanks, I'll try it. I've never been a fan of beat-'em-ups, but perhaps it might work.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Epic Megagames’ Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Party Mode. Gameplay video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=C8oXr-lsrqs
More options
Context Copy link
Mario! Galaxy or Odyssey - both have co-op, and in both games it was designed for precisely your situation. The second player isn't another mario or luigi, instead they play a little sidekick guy - a star in galaxy and a hat in odyssey. Their character can't die, but they can collect things, control the camera and attack monsters. So you start off with you playing as mario and your lad playing as the hat, and once he's gotten the hang of playing switch roles, so you can help him out when he's having trouble. The Lego games are good to play with kids too, they are also quite forgiving.
Oh, this does sound just like what we need, thank you! I'll try them out.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I'm usually not big on platformers.
But Terraria, was a 2D co-op game I loved. It's a bit of a mix of a platformer, survival game, crafting game, builder, tower defense, and RPG.
Thanks for the suggestiion, I also loved Terraria and played through it several times, but it's too complex mechanically and probably also too simplistic graphically for my son.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Seconding Trine. That game is basically made for coop.
More options
Context Copy link
Is it worth skipping Trine 1? My youngest kid loves that one, but her siblings don't, so she rarely gets to play. Is Trine 2 enough of an upgrade that non fans of the first might enjoy it?
More options
Context Copy link
I feel fairly confident that the exact game you are looking for is Rampage Knights - it's an absolute blast in co-op, with great humor and fairly simple combat that retains all the great roguelike elements of Dead Cells.
Another strong candidate in the vein you describe is Enter the Gungeon. Again, the co-op here has everything you're looking for, but I will note that camera management is a bit more of a pain point than in a game like Dead Cells or Rampage Knights because of the top-down viewpoint.
You can't go wrong with either of these games, and if your son likes Dead Cells, he'll love these too.
Pushing back a bit on Gungeon. I've been playing it a lot with my fiance and although we have a lot of fun, in some ways it's actually more difficult than single player (for me) because she's not very good, which means she dies a lot. This means she spends a decent amount of time as a ghost and not a normal player, and also the way to resurrect a dead ally is by using a chest. Although it doesn't cost a key, it also uses up the chest so you don't get a weapon from it, meaning by the late game after she's died and been resurrected 4-5 times we are significantly underpowered.
OP does not specify the precise age of his son, but it's implied to be young, so I suspect the kid would spend the majority of time as a ghost given the difficult gameplay. There are easier co-op games out there.
Very fair point, Gungeon might be a bit high up the difficulty ladder for a child.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Thanks, I'll try Rampage Knights.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Isn't that more of a metroidvania? Terraria maybe? It's more minecrafty, not a lot of coop metroidvania though.
Mario is more platformer, the new one coming to switch soon, wonder? is co op iirc. Maybe Bread and Fred for heavy emphasis on the platforming and co op elements.
More options
Context Copy link
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
I'd strongly second the New Super Mario Bros series, but with the warning that it's easy for players to get in each others' way, so you always want at least one of the (up to 4!) players to be both skilled enough to compensate for this and patient enough to put up with it. If not? Penny Arcade called the multiplayer "Divorce Mode". I could play with my kids for years before they could play with just each other without fighting over who messed up whom.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link