Backlog 2021

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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Kikki
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Played some Kitaria Fables, and if I'd been able to play what I've already played in advance of purchasing it, I wouldn't. Purchase it, I mean. It's not a life sim, imo...it's really an RPG where you happen to be able to do some farming for money and side quests, and there is no social scene. Though unlike most RPGs, you don't level up...you never become any stronger. YOu can only improve your abilities by buying weapons and armor, and they all require you to have not only the money, but the MATERIALS, which is what makes this game an utter grind fest. Fortunately the combat is rather fun...but not fun enough for this much grinding, imo.

I finally have enough orc tokens (and money) to make the first weapon upgrade. I even have just enough money that I could also get the first armor upgrade, but I'm going to have to go fight a whole bunch of shroomies first to get the toadstools I need for it. I'm not sure but I think they might be the enemies in the first dungeon. I did get one part of the bridge quest (main story) done, as fortunately while grinding out those 30 orc tokens, I managed to scrape up exactly 10 ironstone. I also finished Kiki's second quest (she immediately gave me another, but oh well, it's about farming, so that's okay) and the second bakery quest. Or possibly the third.

I don't know if I should or shouldn't recommend this game. If *I* was the one asking for a recommendation, then I'd say NO. But there are plenty of people who'd like this, imo. I'm just not one of them...it's just too grindy, and the story and characters are too simple for my tastes...this feels like baby's first RPG, to me. (There haven't been any plot twists yet, though, so maybe it'll get deeper later?) It's also very irritating that time continue to tick away even when you have a menu open! That even applies to when you're shopping, or reading a quest description. Fortunately, time doesn't matter, as far as I can tell, since there are no penalties for never sleeping...seems like it's just there for a day/night cycle.

I'm probably going to end up dropping it. The characters, story and farming aren't fun, imo (story could pick up, though) but the combat is cool, and the graphics are really, really sweet. (Adorable characters, if you're okay with animals, and beautiful environments.)

More greenhouse-building and gardening tomorrow, if I'm not broken from today.
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Bluie wrote:I also did a bunch of the world quests, specifically ones that are connected to unlocking areas in Inazuma. Whoever thought/designed the Sakura Cleansing Ritual questline; I just wanna talk lmao. My brain is waaaay too smooth for the puzzles and the last battle was stressful as heck.
That was a...special quest. I ended up doing that pretty soon after Inazuma unlocked because it was related to another quest I wanted to do, and had to have the Wiki up for most of the puzzles. The idea is good, but the lack of teaching was...mmm no. For whatever reason, by the time the final battle rolled around the whole puzzle mechanic clicked... maybe they were easier at that point.
simside wrote:Quick question for My Time at Portia on Switch - I saw a persistent bug report that it crashes when you enter desert mines, and that the main quest is unbeatable as a result. Has anyone run across this, or had success going in and out?
A number of us on the forum beat at least one playthrough of Portia so we must have gone in and out somehow... I just tried searching 'desert' on the big OG Portia thread and didn't find anything, but there were a couple of bad game breaking bugs that we discussed when the game first came out on Switch... I can't remember for sure if that was one of them. If you can try searching for the exact name of the place in the OG thread you might have more luck. :/

--
More Genshin tonight. I resisted the urge to do more wishing... Unless it's a limited character that I REALLY want I don't really need more characters right now, I have too many as is. I'm sitting on 6 different 4-star weapons that I've yet to raise, too. Most of them are catalysts though, and I don't use many catalyst users, so they're less useful... but there's a couple I still need to raise.

I'm still not even through the first half of the Inazuma story... For a hint, when last I main quested, I spent time with Ayaka. :D VERY long quest but... for how important/favored Ayaka is by some higher up at Mihoyo, it makes sense for her to be given so much focus. So much talking that it gave me time to get up and do chores while the cutscenes were on autoplay.
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I don't think there are any game-breaking bugs left in Portia, just smaller, more inconsequential stuff. Here a bunch of us played on release and most of us finished it even then, afaik. I did. I never got stuck in Ingall's Mine. But if you go to Steam, you can look at all the updates that have been done (except the one from August of this year)...all those bug fixes are now in the console version, too.

~

It's 6:25 AM, and it's dark. I feel like I'm slipping down a well. Gives me a panicky feeling, lol. The days are still gorgeous while the sun is out, mind you, but the increasing hours of darkness are what do me in. Thank goodness my greenhouse is more than half built, now!

I don't think I have much time for gaming today, and if I DO, I hope Arise comes a day earlier than they're predicting with how slow the mail is, now, but honestly I should work on AoC and stay away from Farm Together, which is an endless time sink. It always grates to say it, but I'm just gonna give up on Kitaria Fables, even though the combat and the environments are so nice...the whole rest of the game is of no interest to me. They made the farming a chore with how fiddly it is to get your hitbox on your crops when watering, and it's not like there's any depth, such as increasing quality or entering festivals or anything like that. You just grow stuff to make money, or to take to a shop to have someone else make healing items with. (It makes no sense to me that they didn't include a kitchen in your house so you can make your own items. But then, all the quests in this game seem to be about unlocking one more shop item, so if they gave you a question, it would eliminate every quest in the game other than main story stuff. Like, okay, you do this quest, and I'll let you grow your own stuff and pay your own money to have me make cookies for you in my shop! Uh, no. Awful.)

EDIT: I want ACTIVE LIFE Outdoor Challenge. The more options for exercise right on my Switch, the better.
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Gonna apologize for my « Baaaa *glomp* » last night, I think I needed to get it out of my system. Not gonna delete it, it's on old page now anyways, but my thoughts are more or less the same, but not coated in my overworked jaded state.

Anyways, it's Albedo's birthday today in Genshin so ima' log on to get the free stuff. IDK if I ever mentioned this, but I actually like Albedo as a character and playing him. I think it's really funny how much the playerbase did a 180 this year on him, because he did not rake in the dough for Mihoyo (no one wanted him) and it seemed a lot of people just weren't into his story. AND THEN THE SUMMER STORY HAPPENED and now everyone wants the smug Klee babysitter with no repeat banner in sight. I wasn't even pulling for him when his banner was up (I think Sucrose was on his banner and I was trying to max out her constellations) but I got him and sat on using him for a long time (until earlier this year when I dragged my husband to the Geo Hypostatus countless times). I got his sword to max during said event and him+that sword is major DPS for my party. Plus I have him (and my entire party) to have their element cool down within second so it is just a really great set up. But yeah, Albedo's cool. Happy Birthday, my dude!

I realized this morning that I will be dedicating the next few days to grinding for the event items in FFXIV. The FFXV event is back, maybe even for the last time ever (we've really only been getting these repeat crossover events thanks to covid as the FFXIV devs don't have enough to to devote to new events and work on the new expansion). There's music scrolls, a car mount, and some more stuff I should grab. It's a lot of Gold Saucer grinding, which I wish I could have done during Make it Rain, but I was too busy to get on much when it was happening. If anything, the Gold Saucer is a ton of fun when there's a lot of people participating in events. Maybe I'll finally pass one of the events on the main stage! Hahaha, not likely. :(
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I don't think you need to apologize for it, Bluie. It's not like you were cussing at us, lol. Sometimes games are frustrating! Either through some fault within them, or because that's the state we're in as gamers at that time, but either way, this isn't the 'happy-fun-gaming-times' thread. You don't always have to be having a time of pure, unfettered delight. :)

~

Tales of Arise IS going to arrive today, woo! According to my bro-in-law (I gave him a digital copy so he's already started playing) the demo was misleadingly boring. I kind of figured...they picked a very sterile section of the game that only allows you to see the combat and the graphics, and also get a look at how camping/cooking/skits work, but without ANY story element or any awareness of who each character is, so you feel unnaturally detached while playing the demo. Well, here's to ripping off the bandaid! One good thing about Canada Post is that they always deliver to my house by noon-hour. I skipped my chiro appointment, which gave me extra time, so I went out around 8AM and got to work...finished by 10:15. The fall garden is completely planted now. I still have to work on the greenhouse this afternoon, but probably I can only do about an hour because I'll be alone, so the only thing I can do is put the studs up.

Long explanation to say that I actually will have time to play Arise today, when it arrives. :)

EDIT: Arrived at 12:30 on the dot :D Here we go...!
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I managed to push through Chapter 2 of The Great Ace Attorney. I really hope Sholmes grows on me; don't think I can go through 8 more chapters with him as he is.

Anyway, for today I'm thinking of picking Tale of Two Towns up again to see if I can get my kid so Mikhail can name them. I'm itching BAD for a new farming sim. I'm really looking forward to Coral Island, My Time at Sandrock, and Roots of Pacha, but those aren't coming out until next year. I've tried Graveyard Keeper, Gleaner Heights, and World's Dawn, but I didn't really like them.
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What about Garden Paws (not Garden Story) and Grow: Song of the Evertree? Not sure how much farming is in Grow...haven't seen that yet...but it's definitely one where you get to improve and/or create a community.

~

Wow, Tales of Arise is gooooorgeous. I thought it was pretty in the demo, but it's even better now, the motion and the way characters move is great. Also, I'm liking Alphen (haven't gotten to do anything with him to her than talk to people yet, though) a lot, so that's a great sign...having a protagonist I love is almost a guarantee of me being able to get into a game.

It's definitely running on Tales tropes, but this is actually more intense. In other Tales games, the worst of the world's problems aren't instantly apparent, but in Arise, they hit you right in the face with them from the first two seconds, lol. Things are BAD. So bad that you can't help but wonder how they could be made better, and how Alphen can possibly get out of his situation. Kinda figured it'd have to be sort of the way it happened, but that level of predictability isn't a big deal, it just blends in.

Really wondering how each of the other characters is going to end up joining the crew. And some of the DLC costumes are really great...I want them. I can find them on the Playstation Store separately, but if I use the in-game option to shop the DLC, it shows none available.
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Kikki wrote:What about Garden Paws (not Garden Story) and Grow: Song of the Evertree? Not sure how much farming is in Grow...haven't seen that yet...but it's definitely one where you get to improve and/or create a community.
I remember trying the demo out for Garden Paws (or saw the Kickstarter, don't really remember) and wasn't impressed by it. Seeing the trailer now after the game has been out for a while, I do like the improvements, but I'm not sure the game is for me.

Grow looks intriguing. I've put it on my wishlist for more information.
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Sun Haven's devs say they're hoping to release to Switch after 3 or 4 more updates. They've been doing one update per month so far, though no way of knowing if that'll stay true. Though of course, it's already on Steam, if you use it and don't mind being in the alpha or beta stage. (Not sure what you'd call it.)

~

Pfft...I just saw two skits in a row. One has Alphen saying 'you're surprisingly nice, aren't you?' to Shionne. And the next one had Shionne saying 'you're a truly awful person', to Alphen.

Why funny?

Because Alphen is a sweetheart and Shionne is horrible. I'm sure she's been through awful hardships, perhaps more than what you'd think, but to me it doesn't pardon her complete lack of empathy, whether that is real or only a seeming. She sees truly horrific things happening right in front of her and she only cares if it inconveniences her. That could be partly being a tsundere, and I usually like tsunderes, but she's horrible, I hate her. Her tsundereness makes her too condescending for me to find palateable. Please hurry and make her more likeable, game! I know it's in there somewhere, because this is Tales.

So far Arise is a quite good, though it's making me want to play Xillia so, so much. I never expected Arise to take the crown, but I didn't know it would quadruple my already-present yearning to replay. I don't want to bring my PS3 back up here, but...well, maybe I will, when I'm done with Arise.
Last edited by Kikki on Sep 13, 2021 5:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Kikki wrote:Sun Haven's devs say they're hoping to release to Switch after 3 or 4 more updates. They've been doing one update per month so far, though no way of knowing if that'll stay true. Though of course, it's already on Steam, if you use it and don't mind being in the alpha or beta stage. (Not sure what you'd call it.)
I backed Sun Haven and am looking forward to the release on Switch!
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Erm, I can't for the life of me remember, but...did you play Dragon Quest Builders 2, Ronin? It has to be 2...1 doesn't satisfy any of that farming feeling, imo. But 2 really does, especially the first chapter and all the intervals at the Isle of Awakening, though of course it doesn't have relationships (unless you count Malroth...which I do, lol. My buddy!) Oh...and Staxel is coming out on September 23rd on Switch. People really seem to love it, but I don't know if I can get past the horrible character graphics. It's Minecraft level of ugly. (I love DQB, but I hate Minecraft, lol.) That's all I can think of right now...I may have forgotten one or two that are coming out in the next half year, but I've wracked my brains for a while now and nothing's getting shaken loose.

~

Arise stuff. Probably not a spoiler, but some people can pull spoilers almost out of thin air, so let's hide it to be safe.
Spoiler:
Okay, I know what they're doing with Shionne, now, and even though her inability to learn or be flexible is aggravating, I get it. Of course, this inability to pick up on subtleties seems to be an issue for all the characters. I guess the story wouldn't be complicated enough without misunderstandings. (I do feel like it's a weak crutch for books, movies, games, etc, to rely on continual misunderstandings and lack of proper communication to draw a story out. In Arise it's only a side issue, but it still reminds me of the many manga I've read that should have lasted about 50 chapters but instead swelled up to 400+ thanks to the characters' complete inability to understand each other.) I guess this voice actress is doing a good job. She annoyed me SO MUCH in the demo, I thought I'd have to play in Japanese, but she really got Shionne's character across. I dislike Shionne less now that I know where she's coming from, even if I think she's being a dope.

I don't really like the combat, tbh. Maybe I need to unlock more artes? But I don't like the R1 button as the regular, non-arte attack button, it's still really throwing me off...I can't coordinate my attacks into proper combos. Had enough time to play another hour or so, but I quit instead, as the combat burned me out. I'm level 10 in an area where I should be level 15, and I can't stand the idea of grinding to get there, atm. Hopefully I'm refreshed tomorrow. My gardening is all done until late October (except for daily watering, of course) and I don't think I'll be able to do any work on the greenhouse tomorrow, either...got the front studs up today and drove all the screws in to make the beam ready for the peak, but my dad is required for the ground anchor, and I think for the support pieces he decided he wants me to add. So I'll have time to play. Gotta psyche myself up for some EXP grinding!
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Kikki wrote:Erm, I can't for the life of me remember, but...did you play Dragon Quest Builders 2, Ronin? It has to be 2...1 doesn't satisfy any of that farming feeling, imo. But 2 really does, especially the first chapter and all the intervals at the Isle of Awakening, though of course it doesn't have relationships (unless you count Malroth...which I do, lol. My buddy!) Oh...and Staxel is coming out on September 23rd on Switch. People really seem to love it, but I don't know if I can get past the horrible character graphics. It's Minecraft level of ugly. (I love DQB, but I hate Minecraft, lol.) That's all I can think of right now...I may have forgotten one or two that are coming out in the next half year, but I've wracked my brains for a while now and nothing's getting shaken loose.
I definitely appreciate your suggestions Kikki. I did play and beat Dragon Quest Builders 2 and loved every second of it.

I tried Staxel on my computer when it first came out, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much.
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Sorry I can't come up with any good ones. I have ooooone more, but it's probably useless. I've talked about Farm Together lots so you're likely already aware of its existence and have either already tried it or decided you don't like the look of it. It's not social...it's pure farming, cute but not cutsey, and the farming is so, so fun, because you're constantly running profit possibilities in your head while considering what crop you want to try to unlock next, which animal, flower, fish...etc. Plotting out ways to become very rich while unlocking everything and levelling up your farm and your crops (each have a maximum level of 250.) Also, there's no social stuff, but you can build a house (you can have four houses on one farm) and populate the interior with your choice of flooring, wallpaper, and furniture, and you can arrange them and decorative houses and trees and other stuff in an area to create a town for yourself, if you're into that idea. Even though there are no other characters in the game, unless someone joins you in multiplayer.

~

I'm a bit annoyed by how difficulty modes work in Arise, now that I need to grind. You are heavily penalized for playing in Story Mode. You earn HALF the amount that normal mode gets in points, so it takes you literally twice as long to gain new skills. How does that make sense? Story Mode is stated right in-game to be there to let people concentrate on story and characters without worrying about combat, but combat has already gotten too difficult at my level (Shionne kept getting one-shot killed by those Deceptive Whatevers, for some reason)...I have to grind up, or get more skills...I'm not sure which matters more, but probably the skills since you can gain higher defence and higher critical damage and stuff like that, that way.

But it'll take me twice as much fighting as someone on normal to GET more skills. (Three times as long as someone on Hard mode.) WTH, that's counterintuitive, isn't it?

I'm not enjoying Arise's combat since I find the R1-attack really throws me off. I hoped I'd get used to it, but that doesn't seem to be happening, so I'm not at all into making it any harder since I can't afford to waste CP or healing items, at least not at this point in the game. But I'm near a campsite, so I could at least put the difficulty up to Normal to do my grinding, since I can renew my health and all right there. (I don't *think* difficulty level affects XP, just points that go into unlocking abilities, but I'm not completely certain.)

Fortunately, I do actually think the characters are quite good, even the ones who bug me, and the story is very, very Tales, so I don't anticipate much in the way of big surprises in plot, but they've made it a little edgier, or something, so it feels different even while it's the same. Sorta.
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Kikki wrote:Sorry I can't come up with any good ones. I have ooooone more, but it's probably useless. I've talked about Farm Together lots so you're likely already aware of its existence and have either already tried it or decided you don't like the look of it. It's not social...it's pure farming, cute but not cutsey, and the farming is so, so fun, because you're constantly running profit possibilities in your head while considering what crop you want to try to unlock next, which animal, flower, fish...etc. Plotting out ways to become very rich while unlocking everything and levelling up your farm and your crops (each have a maximum level of 250.) Also, there's no social stuff, but you can build a house (you can have four houses on one farm) and populate the interior with your choice of flooring, wallpaper, and furniture, and you can arrange them and decorative houses and trees and other stuff in an area to create a town for yourself, if you're into that idea. Even though there are no other characters in the game, unless someone joins you in multiplayer.
It's not your fault, I'm just kind of picky when it comes to games. I really do appreciate your recommendations. I think your posts are the first I've heard about Farm Together and, looking at it, it looks like a lot of fun!
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It's just that I figure you'd already know most of the games anyway, Ronin :) I mean, I think all or almost all of them are in Bluie's stickied thread, and this community is pretty aware of farming games in general.

There are several more than I've mentioned already available on Steam, usually in some form of beta phase, but I don't play those and I'm not sure if you do, either. Hundred Days is one coming to Switch within about the next half year ('winter 2021') but it's probably not on your radar, as it's not at all a life sim. It's purely about growing grapes, making wine, and selling it. Apparently in a very realistic and accurate way.

~

Too bad that I have time to play today, but apparently no inclination. I want to play Arise in theory, but in actuality I feel more urge to clean the kitchen. Well, once the dishwasher is running I won't have anything else to do and will probably get back to see if I can gain 5 levels and unlock a few more skills while I'm at it. I wish Tales didn't make you use all the characters yourself to fully develop them; I really prefer sticking with one character and getting good at just their skillset...it's hard enough to do that, let alone getting good at several.

EDIT: Okay, I'm goign to play on Normal from now on, and will switch to Story if something is difficult, like a boss battle. Also, I bought the 'Boost' pack DLC. Probably the single most useful thing, I believe, since it gives you 1000 SP for each character and also gives you permanent double CP bonus, double EXP bonus, and double SP bonus. That one pack alone is the best one for sure, I think, if you want to fully develop your characters without focusing that much on combat.

I like being overpowered in these games, thanks. It's fun.
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