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Poot Poot Poot! A mainline Bokumono game set in a resort town that wants to be more resort-y. Available for Nintendo Switch, Steam/PC, and Ps4/5. [ Game Guide ] JP release = Feb 2021. NA = Mar 2021. EU = Mar 2021.
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GiodeTheTall
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Post  Posted:

Hello, I know this is likely a pretty popular type of question but I wanted to ask now that there have been several patches and DLCs to the game. This is the only HM/SoS game I've refrained from buying since ToTT due to all the bad reviews. I don't think there's been a game I disliked except for ANB (but I got the cute preorder cow so it's worth imo :) ). I heard people were very frustrated with the dialogue and maker machines, which are supposedly fixed or at least improved. I guess I'm just wondering if it's genuinely worthwhile now, since it's easy to talk about the failings so I hear less about the good parts of it.

I've also gotten similar vibes from this game as I got from ANB, but it's hard to describe. It felt like that game was more testing out different types of features/gameplay which was a hit or miss, and I really didn't like all the building and resource hoarding. I feel like I could get irritated with constantly using/waiting for maker machines. I would have gotten tired of using them in SoS, but I loved the conquest system so it felt worthwhile (golden yarn all day :twisted: ). Does the game offer good reasons/motivation to put up with all of this, aside from just completing things to complete them?
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JustABeautifulGuy
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Post  Posted:

As a person who has purchased all of the mainline titles in the series, I had least amount of enjoyment with this one sadly and it is the motivation to do objectives. I genuinely felt no drive to complete the objectives. The end result just ended up feeling unsatisfactory no matter what. Maximizing, completing my crop list, progressing with skills, farm work and crafting felt purposeless to me. The only time I felt I was being rewarded was doing the scenarios and mini scenarios. Doing the objectives would lead to a series of events which was nice to see.

Your fears are actually somewhat true, there are some new features (which aren’t unique to the life sim genre) but they have not been developed properly. I would use an example of furnitures, we have tons of furniture to buy but we can’t place it as we freely want to for some reason.

Nevertheless, the patches have actually improvised the socialization aspect atleast. Added dialogue really adds depth to the characters that felt really shallow at a point. Now with the 1.0.7 update, added facial animations and zoom will def enhance the experience even more.

If you have lots of free money and time to spend, go ahead with this title. But if you don’t, don’t. It’s not a title that one should take an extra step to get it no matter what.
MADHATTER
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Post  Posted:

despite how much of a drag it was at launch i've had a lot of fun with it and i personally think it has good replayability value. if your interest is primarily dlc character-based, you're going to be disappointed.

the makers are still a big mark against it, they're big and ugly and you still need at least 5 of the ore and lumber ones apiece, but the dialogue is fine and i'm having fun taking things at my own pace. sospoot doesn't... demand a lot from you, i guess is what i'd say is its biggest selling point.

so, having played it, i'd buy it again, but that's just me personally.
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Burning Spear
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Post  Posted:

I'm closer than ever to jumping into this one but still deliberating. It's a difficult decision with games such as this one because the time investment is so great. We're all big fans of the series and will get hooked for a good while even if the game is not up to the usual standard of quality. There are so many good games out there, so it's difficult to justify sinking hundreds of hours into one if I fear I may be disappointed. Somebody talk me down!!!
Alnosha
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Post  Posted:

I like this game, but it is almost too easy. There is not a lot of challenges, and I like that. I don't feel overwhelmed when caring for 3 barns/coops of animals, plus tending crops/bees/mushrooms, talking to villagers, etc. The other HM/SOS games almost had TOO much going on and would get tedious after awhile. The pace is more laid back with this one. I actually have enjoyed the updated dialogues, but I've never really cared that much about what the NPCs had to say in other games. The upgrade to the makers is VERY helpful. You have lots of space to spread things out, plus seasonal gardens that act like greenhouses (no suns required). Everyone is different and every game is different. I absolutely HATED grand bazaar and IOH was way too hard, but others on here love them. If you really want to get the game, wait until it might go on sale.
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

Yeah; it's the type of game that'll go on sale a couple times a year, most likely, being niche and by a smaller company like Xseed, who puts all their stuff on sale semi-regularly (not quite as often as Natsume, though). I think we'll probably see it on sale again for Black Friday or some other holiday-season sale. If you're not sure you'll like it, getting it on a decent sale should make the risk more worthwhile. I'm hoping to get it on sale, too, since I'm okay to wait until winter to start playing. I'm not someone who likes more placid games...I like my games absolutely packed with things to do, which is part of why I could never get into the older HM games...I like the millions of things they added with more recent games (ANB, SoS and Trio in particular.) I also really loathe inventory management, so the storage system is a big no-no, in my books. So there's a good chance that even with all the improvements, Olive Town may not be great for me. Though I'm glad they did all the improvements anyway. All of this may mean a game where the mostly-new dev team uses all the feedback they got from Olive Town.

I'll get it eventually for sure. At this point I'll buy it the as soon as I see it on a good sale. (Though I'm going to leave it for fall or winter to play even if I somehow end up buying it before that. I need to have more farming/outdoorsy games in fall/winter, since I'm buried waist-deep in snow by January.
queen_b
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Post  Posted:

I mean I'm really enjoying it! I bought it on sale after the makers patch, which I think has helped. What I like about it is that I can do each objective one after the other; so unlock areas, complete mines, get treasures, photos, fish, get married, raise 10 star crops and animals, complete the food challenges...
There's a lot of fun stuff if you are prepared to take one thing at a time I think. It is easier than easrlier games, but it does make for a more relaxing experience lol x
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iloverainbow
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Post  Posted:

I would say go for it tbh after all these patches and updates (update 1.0.5 has improved the game significantly for me). I have put in like about 100 hours into the game and I am still enjoying it. Probably going to play another 40 to 50 hours?

Let's hope this will be a lesson learnt for them and the next game will be released in a much better condition and without the need of all the patches.
Last edited by iloverainbow on Aug 02, 2021 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RodCopper Fishin
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Post  Posted:

I’m going to be getting it after the last dlc is out this month. We can hold hands as we dive into this game, Giode lol! If there are any more patches planned, I’d like to wait for those as well. Although I’m not sure there are.
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K8sMum
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Post  Posted:

I'm putting it away til Autumn when I'll start a new game. I've got quite a few hours in but want to re-start with the patches that have been added. I think taking a break will let me play with newer eyes, so to speak.
Rancherita
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Post  Posted:

queen_b wrote:I mean I'm really enjoying it! I bought it on sale after the makers patch, which I think has helped. What I like about it is that I can do each objective one after the other; so unlock areas, complete mines, get treasures, photos, fish, get married, raise 10 star crops and animals, complete the food challenges...
There's a lot of fun stuff if you are prepared to take one thing at a time I think. It is easier than easrlier games, but it does make for a more relaxing experience lol x
Pretty much the same thing for me, bought the bundle (game+DLC) on sale right when version 1.0.5 (the one that improved makers and dialogue) released, and am liking it more than I thought. The villagers seemed a bit on the bland side on paper, but I've grown attached to them (improved dialogue probably helped there), so much that I haven't sought out the DLC characters. But I like the costumes and "detective" storyline quite a bit. It's a pretty easy title, good for winding down after work in my case. I'm getting My Time at Portia kind of vibes from it. I've encountered a weird bug where I sometimes can't harvest crops/tree crops in the summer garden, but saving and then restarting the game has fixed it so far. Maybe worth waiting for a sale though, but a pretty chill game overall.
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

Another thing that gives the game some extra value is that it is apparently very easy to select your language...I was told it's an in-game menu option, that you don't have to change the language of your entire Switch to be able to try the French, German or Spanish. Even before all the patches, I considered getting the game to play in French. I know just enough of it to muddle by (particularly since Google can translate French almost flawlessly...or close enough that if you even know basic French, you can spot when there's a little bit of an inconsistency easily enough.)

For a while I considered it worth buying the game on the language options alone, as more of a learning option that you can squeeze a bit of fun out of than as a game. Being continually forced to use a language practically rather than attempting to dissect and reassemble it with textbooks is a much better learning experience, after all.
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