[POLL] HUMOROUS OR SERIOUS - WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

I am not that much into games, so when I play one, it better be humorous.

For me, I prefer humorous, light-hearted games with just enough seriousness to feel normal. Basically, 99% of what Nintendo makes. I don't typically like joke games, because a lot of the humor feels completely forced and isn't that funny as a result. It's fine to have a humorous situation occur here and there for comic relief, but ham-fisting in dialogue or moments that are just for the lulz comes off as campy and bland. Depending on your taste and maturity level, a supposed-to-be-funny game can fall to pieces.

I also can't stand serious games, though. I can tolerate a certain ratio of serious to humor, and the latter can even win out sometimes, but for a game to be all serious all the time, I grow weary of it. It's not as easy to write well, at the very least. I'd say Cave Story's a good example. It starts out fairly light-hearted, but gets kinda heavy post-Sand Zone and onward.

I find that there's not enough good humourous games. Though I always like my comedy with a fair amount of dark. Like the excellent Portal games that I guess everyone is aware of by now. But they perfectly balance comedy writing. Parodies I'm less fond of because they tend to only be the "reference as comedy" style and I tend to find that pretty tiresome. (Though Saint's Row the Third was pretty good as reference comedy)

So I want more humourous games (but comedy is not good without seriousness). But this doesn't mean I don't also enjoy serious games.

But serious games also need comedy. What is worse thanthese military shooters that takes themselves too seriously or games like Dear Esther that are so inredibly dry and boring that you just want to kill yourself (though in Dear Esther's case that might be intentional)

Hi Rave I was just thinking that what I said about that Gulpy Gulpy game that you like might have come across as a little insensitive. Part of it is cause its hard to get a sense of emotion through in typing but also I should have worded my response better. So, I just wanted to apologize. There is nothing wrong with liking Gulpy Gulpy it just not my style. Hopefully that's worded a bit better again I'm sorry buddy.

author=RyaReisender
Everybody here considers Portal a humorous game while I found it dead serious (with humor).

Portal has INCREDIBLY black humor, so it can be rather hard to tell if it's serious or not. It does have some inklings of seriousness, though.

I prefer humor with a touch of seriousness. Though sadly, there aren't that many out there that can bring out a good laugh out of me without breaking the fourth wall in the process( which I don't find too funny at all). Good humor often comes from some form of tragedy from the writer or comedian that gives it more of an edge to its humor in a general sense. Although, too much humor would leave some scratching their heads if not enough time is given for them to collect their thoughts between jokes. Adding in a few serious or mellow scenes here and there help flesh out the mood for more thought provoking and hopefully gut chuckling scenes afterwards.