Petting Dogs In Games is Cool?

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I feel like this is just a really overblown meme at this point, but I’m not sure. I’m not sure where this trend started, but after more gameplay was shown of Persona 3 Reloaded, a feature that SO MANY people love, has been finally added. Time to show Koromaru your appreciation in the most gratifying way.

That’s right, a feature that the OG Persona 3 was missing, and desperately needed, was the ability to pet Koromaru. Now everytime people are given the ability to pet a dog or animal, people go nuts over it. I’m pretty sure at this point, it’s just a meme and people don’t really think this enhances the gameplay experience. But I can be wrong. Some of these people enjoy some crazy things.

Recently I’ve played Fate/ Samurai Remnant, and Ghost of Tsushima. Both games included petting animals. Hell, in Ghost of Tsushima, you can pet a FOX!!!

But does it excite my experience? No, not really. Hell, I sometimes forget to pet the fox after it’s done helping me. It’s just a little extra thing that doesn’t gain you anything. So I wouldn’t even be sad if the feature wasn’t even in the game to begin with. But, I guess it being in the game doesn’t hurt either, it adds to the world I guess. But if the game is shit, it’s shit. I know petting the dog feature isn’t going to save it, so focus on that first.

I'm looking at you Final Fantasy 16.

Do you like petting dogs in games? Is petting animals in games just a meme? Do you think the gameplay experience is more immersive with dog petting? Tell us in the comments.

Anon - thelittlethings 1 year ago

9/10 games can be the funnest most well designed things to me
10/10 games have small touches like this, things that arent only fun but make me smile even in off moments.

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Anon - SomeGuy 1 year ago

No mention of good boy Scratch from Baldur’s Gate 3?
Jokes aside it’s a nice feature to have and showing affection to an animal does give even a little emotional depth to a character. There’s a reason the trope “pet the dog moment” is a thing.

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WM-R 1 year ago

Like you said, it's one of those "it's nice to have, but not exactly vital". But I think it also depends on how it's utilised as well. In Transformers Fall of Cybertron, there's this bit where you can pet Laserbeak. If you're playing as Soundwave, Laserbeak practically coos into his hand. As Megatron, Laserbeak lets him stroke his head once, then nips at his fingers. That shows the relationships.

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EatsBush 1 year ago

It adds immersion and escapism elements. Since it's a meme now, developers will be encouraged to add it because it creates exposure for the game. There's websites and forums that sort games by, "Can you do X?", with petting various animals as a popular filter. Not saying anyone will buy a game just because it has this feature, but it will make more people aware the game exists due to such lists.

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raijinhai 1 year ago

The fact that you can pet Koromaru in this game already makes it GOTY of 2024.

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BootyHunter 1 year ago

I remember Link can Pat the Kitties on the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Don't recall patting any Dogs on the Game, but it's been too long to remember everything since I last played the Game. I haven't played it since the ending to the GameCube Era.

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