Happy Farm'n Friday! A little bit more waiting has rewarded me with some carrot sprouts. I didn't expect any carrots at all, but there are little sprouts growing where the seeds were dumped, so I'm assuming that they're carrots! Even this year's mystery crop is stirring in its felt bag. The ground here is not terribly great for growing vegetables, so everything in the backyard is in either a raised garden box or in 15-gallon black felt bags.

The pond lily is also beginning to bloom. It used to be confined to an underwater pot, but it really needed space to spread out before it would show off its flowers. I just have to keep the little wandering rhizomes in check, as they like to break off from momma lily and implant themselves in other areas of the pond.

I'm still playing My Time at Portia, trying to woo Pinky the kitty into my house. I'm hoping the Ps4 patch released this week will allow me to check out the last level of the Sewage Plant, as every monster would fall through the floor whenever I'd enter the level.

I also discovered I can simply make a Cheap Bracelet to give to Wells in Rune Factory 3. Handed it over to him and he finally left his bedroom. I then helped Kuruna with a cactus flower and got beat up by a skeleton dragon. Zaid was no help at all! We eventually triumphed though. Now Sakuya wants me to hunt down a lunch-thieving shadow that was seen headed towards the fall area, Oddward Valley. Onward I go!

Doraemon SoS Demo

On Wednesday, Bandai Namco released a demo of their Doraemon Bokujou Monogatari game on the Nintendo Switch eShop in Japan. The digital-download demo is 541 MB in size. The demo starts out with protagonist Noby starting his first day helping Lanch at the old farm outside of Seizen Town. The demo skips over the introductions that will be part of the main game, so a short movie plays at the beginning to summarize what happened up to the point when players beginning their adventures as Noby:

After the summary and being awoken by Doraemon and Lanch, players can go through a farming tutorial on how to till and sow seeds (Noby wanted to plant Watermelon, but Doraemon reminds him that's a summer season crop). Mayor Yamei will stop by and request that Noby grow some Turnip, but he needs it in 3 days; a Turnip takes 5 days to mature! Luckily there is a special fertilizer in the storage box that gives a super growth boost. While waiting for the Turnip to grow, Noby is free to wander around the area. You can learn about the mine, run into a little dog who needs help, bump into cute little cut scenes, and so on.

I'm still tinkering around with the demo ('cuz it is oooh so cute), but so far...

• The seed bags are colored to reflect the season they grow in: Spring is pink, Summer is green, Fall is yellow, and Winter is blue.
• Friendship level is indicated by a colored heart next to the villager's name on the conversation boxes. There's also a list of villagers in the game's main menu with their friendship indicated by hearts, with a maximum of 10 hearts of friendship. This relationship screen also tells you where the villager currently is located.
• Noby's current stamina level is located in the game's main menu. The amount of stamina points remaining is clearly indicated and is maxed at 100 points in the demo. These points decrease as you use tools, and can be restored by eating food. Naturally, going to bed is the easiest way to regain full stamina.
• You've to stand close to someone to hand them a gift using the X Button. No running around carrying an item above your head in this game.
• Doraemon handles the shipping bin pickups at 18:00.
• The unnamed characters from the blog update a few weeks ago include Heren, Chuck, and Ken (the poultry farm family); the blacksmiths Smick and Brass; and the Knick-Knack grocery store owners Edy, Neral, and Tiral;
• Springtime social events are a Spring Harmony Day on the 14th, a horse race on the 18th, a crop festival on the 28th, and a target shooting game on the 30th.
• Villagers will eat lunch, so you've to wait until they finish eating before you can give a gift.

Famitsu.com has revealed a new character named Veena, a woman who lives alone at the great tree. The villagers of Seizen Town don't know she's there. Looks like she's DoraeBokuMono's equivalent of a magical goddess. I think the hair gives it away, wouldn't you agree?

Difficulty wise, the language used in the game is easy to understand if you've some Japanese background. More difficult Kanji include the furigana characters to help those who are still learning such as Doraemon's target audience in Japan. Or those of us who are learning too! So it's a great starter game for Japanese students. If you are interested in testing your language skills, and because the Switch is region friendly, you can play this game using your Switch even if you aren't in Japan.

To download the demo to your Nintendo Switch, you'll first need to have a Nintendo account that is associated with Japan. Creating a Jp Nintendo account is free. To get started, visit https://accounts.nintendo.com and then...

• Select the Create a New Account button at the bottom of the page;
• Enter your date of birth (Nintendo is checking to see if you are over the age of 18), and then click Submit;
• On the account profile page, type in a nickname for your JP account, a unique email address, a password you decide on, and in the "Country/region of residence" menu, select JAPAN;
• Finish the form by checking the agreement box and select Submit;
• Nintendo will then send a verification pin code to the email address typed in during account creation; and
• Type this four-digit code into the Verification Code field on the Create a Nintendo Account page and select the Verify button.

The next step is to associate the Japan account with your Nintendo Switch...

• Go into the Switch System Settings, then to Users;
• Add a new user to your Switch, then select the Link a Nintendo Account button;
• Select the "Sign in using an e-mail address or sign-in ID" option;
• Enter the email address and password for the Japan associated account and click the Sign In button;
• Confirm the association with the Switch profile by selecting the Link button.

Next, select the eShop button on your Switch menu. You may see a warning that the eShop will display in its native language instead of what your system is set for. Another message will appear that asks for the JP account password; you can check the box above the 入力する button to not prompt for a password the next time you access the JP eShop. Press the 入力する button, type in the account password, and then submit. You're now ready to practice your Japanese reading skills in the Nintendo JP eShop!

The もうすぐ発売 menu is where the upcoming digital releases can be found. In there you'll find Doraemon Bokujou Monogatari and the demo download button (体験版ダウンロード). Any of your Switch accounts can play the demo; once downloaded, it doesn't have to be associated with your JP eShop profile.