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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Ronin19
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Well, Cozy Grove isn't exactly what I thought it was gonna be. I actually want to say it's more like some of the Harvest Moon games (Grand Bazaar, Tale of Two Towns, and A New Beginning) in terms of progression as opposed to Animal Crossing. Yeah, it uses the internal clock, but in a way that's more so, "You can't continue the story until tomorrow, soooooo see you then!"

I only played it for about an hour and I got to that point. And the campfire suggests that I fish and collect seashells while I wait. I get that the developers didn't want people to sit down for 8 hours, but you can have this mechanic in place while being allowed to do other things. Animal Crossing has the museum thing where I can catch monthly bugs and fish and that kept me busy.

I'll keep at it though because the premise is still interesting. I was expecting more than just fetch quests though, but we'll see how far I go.
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Kikki
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Awwww man, it's an RTC game? I can't stand real-time clock games. Animal Crossing is the only one I've ever managed to get into, and I get sick of it faster than the average AC fan, I'd say. (AC fan, lol.) That's disappointing. I still think it looks really darling and am interested, but knowing it runs on RTC makes me significantly less optimistic about my chance of enjoying the game. I did wonder, when reading the game description, why it listed itself as being 40+ hours of content, 'designed to span months of playtime'. Spanning months of real life is NOT spanning months of playtime, game description writer.

I want to play all day one day when I have time time and the motivation, and then be able to set it down and not look at it again for a week until the mood strikes again. Feeling forced to play AC each day to stay in the loop or not miss out on opportunities is one of the things that makes me feel frustrated with it to the point I occasionally think of deleting it from my console and never looking at another AC game again.

Well, good to know, though!
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Ronin19
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The fact it's an RTC game is what made me curious about it, but, from the initial day/hour I've played it, there's not a whole lot to do other than fetch quests and crafting for the ghosts. The campfire even says, "I don't sense anymore spirit logs. Why not check tomorrow? Until then, go fish and collect seashells." There's no incentive to do that.

It's also why I compared it to Grand Bazaar, Tale of Two Towns, and A New Beginning; you start out with minimalistic stuff but are forced to wait until later in the game to get said stuff. Difference is those three games we can control the time and Cozy Grove is real time.
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Kikki
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Well maybe there'll be a more to do when you get further in and have more spirits around to do tasks for each day. Kinda thinking though that, cute as it is, it's probably not the game for me. Oh well, I'm already overserved when it comes to games already out and games upcoming that I'm interested in, even though none of them are top-tier, gotta-have-it games.

I do really want one of those gotta-have-it games to get me excited again. I'm trying to think of when my last one was, but I can't recall. I mean, there was XenoDE, but that's a remaster, not a new game. RF4S is the same. I guess ACNH and Cold Steel IV were my only top-tier games in 2020, and none so far in 2021.

Of stuff upcoming...hrm. Well, Rune Factory 5 is top-tier, and Xseed is still saying it's coming out in 2021. Tales of Arise is possible, too, though I don't know if I should believe it's coming out in 2021. Unless Nintendo shocks me and brings BotW 2 out at the end of this year, that'd be it for top-tier games for me in 2021. So probably one game.

Eh. Better than none!
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Arcy
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I love Cozy Grove. Thematically it reminds me a lot of other games like The Last Campfire and Spiritfarer, which deal with things like mental illness, loss, and grieving. No idea how deeply this game goes with any of those themes of if it is just the set dressing, but I feel that sort of intent. I really like the fishing, gathering, and achievements system in the game, and the sense of humor on display is up my alley. Also, it isn't really breaking any new ground for me but it is a unique and fresh combination of themes and play styles that I already like. I don't know if I have played any game where the main character is a merit badge earning scout before! It is a spooky/cute game, which I'm coming to appreciate the aesthetics of more recently. And the look of the game has gotten me to call it "a watercolor painting that you can play", so I think it is simply beautiful.

It took me roughly 2 hours to run out of story progression in Cozy Grove, so that's plenty of playtime for me. I'm very interested to see where the story goes as time passes. Unfortunately it doesn't run terribly well on the Switch. I'm not the best at detecting frame rate drops, but even I can tell when the game just freezes for a couple of seconds at a time, hopefully they will figure things out and patch it. It isn't a huge issue now, but it feels like it might become one if I decorate the campsite area fully.

Other than that, I cleared the story of Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC chapter, Cindered Shadows, so now I can obtain all my edgelord chain children in the other story paths. I think I like Hapi the most of those four, but I'm not a fan of her secondary design. (Since the main game lumps literally everyone you recruit into the Student relationship mechanics, I call them all "my children" no matter how old their in-game profile says they are. :lol: )
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It's funny, because I didn't think the sky games looked very good graphics wise from the videos I'd seen before I played them. Then I played them and they were much better in person, especially after I got used to the older style. I also played on my nice big computer screen so I think that made a difference too. The models weren't too small, but they also weren't weirdly stretched or anything. It's a good computer for gaming except the keyboard I think. I don't like how the top can fall down sometimes. It has a stand thing attached to keep it up, but it's happened before because I was moving things around while I was playing a game.

I definitely prefer sky's combat more, but I think that's because it's even more pseudo tactical looking than anything else really. I really like strategy games, at least when there's enough story involved, so me liking something that's a little similar to that makes sense. I also kinda wish there were more sidequests available. I really do like cold steel, (I just also played xanadu before I played cold steel, so It feels more similar to xanadu than sky, in a lot of ways, which is a game I also like.) I've already played 25 hours and I can't wait to get the rest of the games, so I definitely love it. It's just weird how different the two games can be sometimes.

Really feeling like having some chai, but I already had a cup earlier, and two cups yesterday...don't have any other teas in the house though. I need to restock.
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Bluie
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I hit Monster Hunter Rise pretty hard the past few days. I unlocked Village 6* quests, which are apparently optional content, and they're actually slightly difficult! Like, I actually go through some of my potions before the quest is over! I plan on eventually doing the rest of the (surprisingly small) batch of quests on my next day off, but right now, I need a small break to refresh myself. A few days of work will defs get me ready to smash some monster heads again.

FFXIV. More beast tribe shenanigans that I'm doing daily regardless of work days. I'm also S L O W L Y working on the shared FATEs in Shadowbringers, as you NEED to complete them if you want all the orchestration scrolls (either that or buy them for exuberant prices on the market board). Dabbled a bit in Stormblood NG+ and wow, I forgot how slow this expansion starts. I mean, the eventual payoff is great, but I really don't have a ton of fun in the Ala Mhigo sections of the game. I so glad once I made it to Kugane, because it really picks up from there. I forgot how funny / how much I missed Hancock. He's such a minor character, but he pops up in SO MANY random side quests and is such a conniving little « Cow Poopoo ». I love him unironically. The next patch release on the 13th and it's on one of my rare days off! WAHOO! I LOVE doing all the content patch day! Everyone runs around like headless chickens and it's just so much fun! I think I'll do the NieR raids first, because I am dying to see where Yoko Taro's crazy ride ends. Too bad my Hrothgar can't rock the 9S hairstyle they're advertising, because I would wear the hell out it. I also can't wait to get my chicken suit for Hatching Tide. I wonder if that other player I keep running into named 'Funky Chicken' is going to have it as a permanent glam lmao.

I bought and tried Cozy Grove, and I'm putting it in the pile of 'cute, but not my thing atm' along with Littlewood. Honestly, the only simulation games I want to play is Rune Factory 5 and Pokemon Snap, probably because I'm anticipating them and know the gameplay loop will snag my interest. However, I have been playing with getting PSNow for a few months, but for only 2 games. I never got to play Rune Factory Oceans and Ar Nosurge, and I defs want to. Playing RFO before RF5 might be a nice way to tide me over, and I have little faith in the Ar Nosurge remaster getting released over here, so I just may as well play it.
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Mikodesu
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(Only Genshin talk.)

THE BABY OCEANID IS SO ADORABLE I LOVE THEM. :heart: *squee*

The quest is actually pretty fun, too! Very silly. Feels very similar to the seelie quest but with a different spin on it. It doesn't cease to amaze me the creativity of Mihoyo's devs. I would love to see some of these people on a more focused project. Iirc it's been over a year since the beta started and they still can't seem to figure out what they want their game to be. (Or the entire focus is on retaining existing customers...sigh.)

I will say, for anybody anxious about the Rhodeia (Oceanid) fight, it's not NEARLY as bad as the real thing. (And you can still fight in multiplayer to stomp on the poor thing. :lol:) The water sprites don't hit nearly as hard as they do in the regular fight either. I'm sure it'll get harder as time goes on, but for now. I was curious - and it's not so bad. :D
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Riesenraddieb
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Mikodesu wrote: I will say, for anybody anxious about the Rhodeia (Oceanid) fight, it's not NEARLY as bad as the real thing.
To bad it wont drop Cleansing Hearts I guess? XD"
After Childe eating all my CH Xinqui now needs to wait until I'm done farming artifacts and burning through me resin - which also means Diluc can chill on the bank a bit more! >D
Tried to fully upgrade the Skyward Harp for Childe yesterday but I was out of Abyss Mages. Maybe I can get it tomorrow? Would have been nice if I'd managed it for today because a friend and I want to farm artis today and she runs a DPS Zhongli while I currently main Childe. It would have been perfect XD"
Besides that I'm sitting at AR50 - don't want the next World Level update - and trying to get my characters at a comfortable level to deal with everything the games throw at my direction (excluding Oceanid because taht thing is just pure horror for me ...)

Besides Genshin I mostly playing MH Rise, doing a few quests here and there, testing a few weapons or learn them and having fun in singleplayer.

The rest of my freetime I'm reading and get back into world building or practice my drawing skills! :>
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Kikki
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Finally picked Littlewood up for real. I had played just the first two days about two weeks ago trying to figure out what there was to do and what the game is about...and I didn't know yet, so I didn't get into it because thinking about or learning how to play a game appears to be beyond me, at the moment, but it's taken off, now. It's FUN. I can see why it's called addictive. It's all this continual opportunity to upgrade, unlock and level up. EV.ER.EE.THIIIING.

On day...3, I think, they ask you what title to give you, with Mayor being the default. I chose 'Fussbudget'. Now I see screens that say "Oh, you're Cricket, the Fussbudget of Littlewood!" Or 'You're the famous Fussbudget!' I love it, lol, so glad I chose that 'title'.

The whole your-stamina-is-the-clock concept is neat. There's no pressure; you can stand around forever, or rearrange the town endlessly, and time will NEVER PASS. You can double your stamina (energy, whatever) via 'wishes' at the My Office building. Well, add 95% more anyway...5% per wish, up to 9 times, afaik. Anyway, days go fast while you're doing stuff, but it doesn't matter, since days passing doesn't seem to have any consequence except that your farming items produce faster that way. So I kinda want my days to pass quickly. It's always under my control, when time passes, so I'm fine with it.

I'm gonna get my first animal soon...unlocked Deluca and I can get a piggie. I quite like visiting the places to harvest new trees and stuff, though I need to hit level 15 in...I don't know if it's farming, or gathering, actually. I love the continual unlocking and upgrading of things! I'm upgrading buildings and leveling up skills continually...it feels like you accomplished so much each day, lol, even though you just tootled around, doing whatever you wanted.

Anyway, I really like it, though I'd LOVE it if the graphics were snazzier. I'm pretty visually-oriented, and Littlewood can never be more than just 'cute', with these blobby little pixel graphics. I think they're nice for being so simple, but yeah...not really my thing, visually.

I was going to try to make myself play Fenyx last night, but I just couldn't. I remembered how aimless Littlewood felt, so I wandered into that game instead and ended up having fun just chopping trees and selling weeds and putting my dewdrops into upgrades and seeing more stuff unlock. I'm a bit annoyed that all the villager I've unlocked have been female, though. NO new guys, just Dalton and Dudley. I think Bubsy is supposed to be male, but he's a BIRD, so he doesn't count. Nope, I got Laura, Lilith and Zana, and I think I may be about to place the house of one more girl now. Mel?
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Mikodesu
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Riesenraddieb wrote:To bad it wont drop Cleansing Hearts I guess? XD"
After Childe eating all my CH Xinqui now needs to wait until I'm done farming artifacts and burning through me resin - which also means Diluc can chill on the bank a bit more! >D
It DOES drop more level up books than a leyline though, which is something? :o Glad you're enjoying leveling up Childe! There's almost too many characters at this point, but at least after you hit AR50 the world stops leveling up.

--
This may not be worth a post but for those playing Genshin, if you haven't tried capturing enemies in bubbles yet...DO IT. I haven't gotten to try Abyss Mages yet but aside from them you can catch ANYTHING. Even Lawachurls! Which was honestly hilarious.

It's really fun revenge, just wandering around them and putting them in a bubble over and over again. :lol:
Daikon boy
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I'm almost at the end of chapter 3 of cold steel with 32 hours put in. I think it'll probably be a couple more hours before I actually finish it, but I'm right around the end of it. Also got to chapter 6 in 3rd and am finishing up a door before I move on to the next spot. I played a little bit more of ys the other day too. Just enough to get a new party member (temporary or not) but stopped there, right after.

Cold steel made me want to go back and play red dead redemption 2 a little bit. I'm not, but it made me think about that game and how they have the best horses I've seen in a video game. Kinda tired of traveling now a little, but I never get bored of that in red dead 2.

Just really hope that cold steel 2 goes on the right sale, right on time, so I can play that when I finish the first game. (That + grandia are my next definite purchases, whenever they DO go on sale. I still want to get tales from the borderlands and I want the darkside detective sequel when that comes out, but I'm going to have to wait on those until a better time.)
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Kikki
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You're neck-deep in heavy stories, Daikon boy. Must be fun :)

~

I just had my first date with Dark (my townsfolk of choice). I have pretty much every building in town at 6 stars or more, with only stuff I don't care about as an exception. I have unlocked both the card and the pet shops in Deluca, I have the office completely maxed and about 75% of town wishes activated, too. Finished a few pages of house requests, gotten almost every traveller to come at least once...and I have 3 townsfolk left to move into Littlewood (I JUST got Max's house, so only 3 houses left to acquire and build, now). One is locked to Winter, which is another week or so away. I should have the one that requires selling a lot of fish soon...maybe even tomorrow? (Game day, I mean.) And the final one is a huge pain in the butt that requires about 80% completion of the Grand Library, which I'm nowhere near.

I own all the pigs and cows and have started on sheep, now. At least, I think that little blobby was a sheep... The cows and pigs have their proper enclosures, too. All I've got left is one sheep and two chickens, and the enclosures for each of those animals, and then I think that's it for livestock? To my surprise, I found a wild 'fluffy bunny' in the forest and it came home with me. I'm going to start looking for other wild ('lost') pets, now. They don't do anything, but they look cute hanging around town.

Most of my skills are 40+ now, with some at 50+ and merchanting at 65. My least-used skills are 25 minimum. So in general, I've had a lot of progress. It's so fun to continually have a dozen things to unlock or upgrade.

I don't know when I should consider this game complete. Maybe marriage? Or all the villagers in town?
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Ronin19
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I have been busy with work, so I haven't gotten a whole lot done with my current games. I still check in on Animal Crossing New Horizons and Cozy grove every day at least, but that's probably it; I've made no additional progress in Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town or Golden Sun Dark Dawn.

Animal Crossing - I had Grizzly move out and went villager hunting this morning. Apollo will be moving in tomorrow!

Cozy Grove - I've unlocked the baker bear. Each session is about 30 minutes long and the tasks aren't that bad, but I don't feel any real connection with the spirits.

SoS PoOT - I fixed the hydro plant! I like that I don't have to worry about watering my crops and I have a space to put crops in for more money. I'm still waiting for my kid to fully grow up and trying to get 10 star products for my animals.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn - I made it to the Konpa Ruins and have no idea what to do next; Golden Sun loves their puzzles.

I really hope to complete these games before New Pokemon Snap comes out.
Daikon boy
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I usually try to be. I have even more games than that that I do play (usually around a dozen at least that I'm actively-semi actively playing, a few more besides that that take me longer.) I usually have fifty shows going on at any given time. It's just how it goes. I have no trouble keeping track of it all so it works.

I've also got a couple tales games I'm playing, though one of those is on pause, and i've got another waiting to start at a later date. It's good fun having so many good games I can pick between depending on what I'm in the mood to play, and with trails I just never stop apparently.
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