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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Wow, the forced bad ending on your first play through of Buried Stars is GRIM. I feel like it horrifyingly showcases the toxicity of sites like Twitter. (In the game, it's called Phater.) The way only you know what is really going on, on the inside, yet the whole world outside feels free to speculate and draw conclusions and make accusations and slander. It's really grim. And a bit gory, too, though at least you don't see any detailed gore, even if the game makes it very clear what happened.

I'm not totally sure why the game forces you to have a bad ending, though. Just to MAKE you see how bad it can get? Cuz I was doing fine. Sanity was pretty good, rapport was maxed with everyone. But on your first go, you have no choice...the game doesn't give you the good option once you get to a certain point...you must go down the bad route.

Not at all clear what really happened with the collapse even after finishing this route, though. You find out some bad stuff about several contestants, but nothing that suggests who the guilty party is, or even if it's someone outside of the group.

I want to see what really happened, but that was too disturbing to leap into another playthrough right away. The hateful nature of humanity was a little too crisply displayed, in a way that I found pitifully realistic. I'm going to need to wander around Makna Forest for a while, picking up glowing blue orbs and getting a more comfortable state of mind back, first.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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Gotta say, they took a great system with Subnautica and just kept pushing it. The beginning area might be a little too littered with vehicle fragments, but the rest is 100% up to you. Be brave, rely on ingenuity. Get it done. Got a bunch of stuff built today, the best thing actually being the rebreather. The depths are my oyster now. Rebreather helped me unlock the other half of the game's story too, so that's cool! :)

Sorta nervous about going back to the island, but I have a feeling there's still stuff there I need.


For better and worse it's disconnecting me from Genshin. I'm taking the night off so I'll have time to go and play today.

Genshin is still entertaining to watch though? Watched a streamer play the hide and seek event a few times and it was AMAZING to watch. Playing just feels tedious, but watching is hilarious. Highly recommend.
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Bluie
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Panda Parfait wrote:I've never seen the 9S minion drop :( I really want it!
Yeah, big mighty need for me. He's got the same drop rate as the 2B and Grey Pod before they updated the raid drops, so he's very, VERY rare. To add insult to injury, the Stubby minion didn't show up in my run, and I also need it, so I guess the rare 9S replaces Stubby if he manages to drop.
Mikodesu wrote:For better and worse it's disconnecting me from Genshin. I'm taking the night off so I'll have time to go and play today.

Genshin is still entertaining to watch though? Watched a streamer play the hide and seek event a few times and it was AMAZING to watch. Playing just feels tedious, but watching is hilarious. Highly recommend.
I'm really lukewarm on Genshin lately because I'm tired on constant events and just want the next explorable area. I get that it's being worked on and these events are here to tide us over, but I am just sooooo disinterested. I only want a grindy game when there's more for me to experience, and I've practically picked all 3 areas clean at this point. Do we know if this new ice girl continues the story or is she just yet another commission key story?
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Ronin19
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So I tried the Zero Escape series, bought it during the Golden Week sale. Didn't really enjoy it, so I returned it.

I'm almost done with Mass Effect 1; I'm on Feros after finishing up Noveria and rescuing Liara. After Feros is going to be a LOT of side quests and then Virmire.

Meanwhile, in Animal Crossing, I'm slowly getting all the DIYs I'm missing; I think I'm below 20 that are needed. I'm also trying to get 20 blue roses so I can have 2 in each of my villager's plots. I need one more. Cranston has packed his boxes and is leaving tomorrow, so I can go villager hunting tomorrow!
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Kikki
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I'm no longer following ACNH news since I don't play it any more, so I juuuuust found out that starting on May 18th, the stamp rally has a new prize...now that the art wing is in full function. So probably the symbol depicting it...the head of a lady that looks like something you'd see on a cameo necklace...will be on another plaque for your wall. I have the other thre already, of course, from last year...but that cameo-looking one is the nicest and I always wished they had it, and now they do...so I'll probably go on tomorrow to grab that in my original file. Haven't picked up my new file at all either, and don't really care. Guess I'm just done with ACNH entirely unless some new little thing crops up that I'm willing to pop on for two minutes to play for.

Playin' some stuff. Nothing worth talking about though, I'd say, since completing the first run of Buried Stars yesterday. I did grab Deponia while it was on 75% off, as it reminds me of The Secret of Monkey Island, that my sisters and I all had so much fun playing when we were kids. I don't think I'm into that type of game any more, but the nostalgia factor is hard to resist, especially when it's on a big sale.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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Bluie wrote:I'm really lukewarm on Genshin lately because I'm tired on constant events and just want the next explorable area. I get that it's being worked on and these events are here to tide us over, but I am just sooooo disinterested. I only want a grindy game when there's more for me to experience, and I've practically picked all 3 areas clean at this point. Do we know if this new ice girl continues the story or is she just yet another commission key story?
Oh no, ice girl is just more waifu bait with no connection to the main story. Inazuma is approaching though, I feel like. Youtube has started recommending me 'leak' videos of electro MC, so maybe that's something? Wonder if anyone will be brave enough to spoil Inazuma before it drops. Can't remember that happening for Dragonspine, so maybe not?

I could see Mihoyo announcing Inazuma an update before it releases, though. So it might still be a while...sigh.
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Code_Name_Geek
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I haven't updated here in forever. I haven't made a ton of progress on games either though, thanks to exams and general end-of-year stuff (and wanting to do nothing but lay around and play Love Live, which isn't really productive backlog-wise). I still haven't finished Persona 5 Strikers, despite really liking the game - I think I'm dragging my feet because I don't want it to end at this point, rather than not finding it interesting or compelling. I will finish it though, just need to keep working at it.

Other than that, I've picked up PoOT and I'm liking it a lot! The complaints I saw had me skeptical but the dialogue and makers haven't really been bothering me much. I also started Persona 3 Dancing since I've been in a rhythm game mood lately, so that's fun. It's making want to go back and improve my scores on the other two dancing games though, which is again, not backlog productive. Ah well, might as well chase my whims for the moment since I'm properly out of school for the first time in 18 years.

Finally, I picked up Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and the Scott Pilgrim game on sale. Blazblue was mostly to play with friends, but since it has a story mode I figured I might as well play through that as well. The story is... average at best so far, but it has Persona characters in it so that's enough to keep me from getting too bored. I've been playing Scott Pilgrim with my siblings, which is nice since we haven't had a fun multiplayer game in a while and we all loved the books. It's kind of exciting to play a game that uses Canadian currency as the money for once!

I bought some other games too... Too many probably, with the rate I've been finishing games, but I'm not too concerned about being strict with that right now since we're back in lockdown here and there's not much else I can do. Hope all the rest of you are doing well wherever you are!
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Kikki
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It's been quite some time since I ordered a physical copy of a game. I think the last one I did that for was Xeno...no, wait. I didn't even get THAT in physical. Hrm...what was the last game I bought in physical? It wasn't ACNH...basically since covid I have gotten everything in digital, and even before that I bought more than half that way, so I can't remember what the last physical copy I got was.

But in the last few weeks, I did order a physical copy of Tales of Arise (I prefer to save as much memory on PS4 as I possibly can), and a copy of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. It's not for any special reason, except that I realized that I don't care when they arrive. I don't care if they don't come until 2-3 weeks after release, so...why not? Plus I really like the cover art for GAAC. I may start buying more games in physical again, now that I find I really don't care when they arrive. (Well, within a reasonable frame. If they take so long I think something's gone wrong with the order, that's no good.)

Also, I got Cozy Grove. I don't remember when, but it was cheap. I think it's always cheap, though? I guess I didn't get it on sale, it was just indie pricing. It's a bit dull, but it's nice as an 'idle' game where you just kind of...wander around and sort through piles of leaves and sand and dig holes, to see what you find, then use the stuff to fulfil requests. I was annoyed to find that you don't keep the coloured sections of island...you have to re-colour them almost every day. I find that aggravating. Once I get a bear to give me their colours, I want those colours to stay and not have to do a new quest every day to get them back again. I thought it'd be unlocking NEW residents each time to colour that new section, not re-colouring the same sections over and over. Oh well, it's still an okay game. I think I might like that I don't feel invested in or compelled by it, so no need to force myself to play every day for fear of missing something like there was with ACNH.

Speaking of which...I'm going to get that art-wing plaque today on my original island today...Windfall. I might as well do it while I'm waiting for the baked egg tomato cups to finish cooking, since I only plan to take five to ten minutes at it.

July is looking busy, game-wise:
  • :lala: Legend of Mana remaster (June 24...I am probably getting it Day 1.)
  • :?: Scarlet Nexus (June 25...probably won't get, but will try demo for sure.)
  • :?: Monster Hunter Stories 2 (July 9...probably won't bother getting this one, since I didn't like the first one enough to finish it.)
  • :lala: Skyward Sword HD (July 16...WILL get this eventually, but maybe not on release since I played it only a year ago.)
  • :heart: Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (July 27...Day 1 purchase.)
  • :lala: Bustafellows (July 30...probably Day 1? Or maybe later since I'll already be busy.)
EDIT: Feel like I got lucky. Went on and grabbed the art plaque in stamp rally, and the mother's day carnations were still there...got a pair. And Redd was at the beach, too! He even had one of the six remaining pieces I don't have yet...the Basic (boy in blue) Painting. So now I only need 5 and I'm done having to look for Redd. Mind you, I already quit playing and only went on cuz I wanted that cameo plaque. There were cockroaches in my house. I squished 'em, even though they'll just come back again.
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Simply Unknown
Growing Garden Gnome
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Ok, just finished the main story of Pokemon Snap! Really enjoyed the game; very soothing to play! Now I have about a week to just catch up on the requests I can complete (one of them is bugged which means I can't complete it) before Nocturne is sent to me. Really glad I finished it and I think afterwards, I'll just take my time and try to complete my photodex.
Daikon boy
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Reached chapter two in ys viii and beat a dungeon in zwei. I still have a lot left to do in that game, both now and later. I have to gather some materials in ys and gather a lot of food in zwei so I can get better food so I can level up and also heal myself. I'll probably try the next dungeon I need to hit in a couple of days, and play ys and probably cold steel too the next time I turn my ps4 on. Not really sure what I want to play right now...I know I want to play something and there are several games I will probably enjoy if I turn them on...not my ps4 games though because I want to rest right now, not have to sit up or something or else I would want to play them.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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Gaming was really nice tonight. The TLDR is that no doctor has ever told me that you need to up your magnesium intake when you do heavy exercise. I just had to figure that out as my body started to decay. I'm not in good shape right now but...figuring that out is the first step to recovery, so. One day at a time I guess?

For actual backlog related news, I needed chill and thankfully Subnautica decided to be nice. I got brave and went back to the first island today and boy was that necessary. Spent most of the rest of my night building and collecting materials for building. My base is getting pretty comfy.

I love the Sea Monkeys now. They're precious and I feel terrible for chasing down the little « Cow Poopoo » that stole my seaglide.

All that leaves me set for a big scary deep sea expedition. When I feel up to big and scary.
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Kikki
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The more I play it, the shallower Cozy Grove feels. It has loads of tiny things in it...hundreds of types of fish, shell, cooked dish, essence, etc, but even so, all you're ever doing is going around and whacking bushes, leaf piles, sand piles, and cracks in the ground, and taking whatever you get out of them to distribute to ghost bears to get spirit logs for a very greedy Calcifer. I mean..."Flamey". The characters aren't interesting, perhaps because the dialogue is also uninteresting. I can't really even remember any of them...they all blend together in my memory, as rectangular bear-things with different hats on, who all want this or that. Give me back the grog I just gave you, gimme some green leaves, find me my paper, burn me some potatoes. There's nothing to get invested in. But at least that makes it easy to set the game down. Play for ten minutes and leave without thinking about it again unless the icon happens to catch your eye next time you're on Switch.

Went on ACNH for 2-3 minutes this morning to grab my new painting (Basic) to donate, as well as the two carnations I ordered yesterday. I donated the painting, put the carnations in place, and quit. The sights and sounds of ACNH make me nostalgic for the game itself, lol, yet I find no fun in continuing to play it. From now on it's just luck if a new item (since that's the only thing updates ever seem to add...new frickin' items to take up moremoremoremoooooooooore storage space) catches my eye enough to make me want to go on for a minute or two to secure the it. The carnations now flank my front door because they look better with my Spring house than the mini Festive Trees did.
Spoiler:
I seem to have stopped my idle replay of XenoDE. Still intending to get a proper ending (more than just the forced bad ending you have to get first, which I already got) in Buried Stars, but the story is very unwholesome. Kind of depressing, loaded with the kind of sniping and ill-will you often see on Twitter. But it's also very interesting, wondering exactly what's going on, so...gotta keep going to find out what the true ending is. That's going to take a while, as I need to do at least two more play-throughs to get to that. I think.

Well, gotta head off to do work-stuff fairly soon, so I should go shower. I wish there was a notepad in there. Why do the best ideas always arrive in the bathroom, when you're not in a position to make note of them?
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Ronin19
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Well, my computer is probably dead due to age, which means no PC games or Mass Effect until I build a new PC, which won't happen until maybe tax season with a refund.

In the meantime, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne Digital Deluxe Edition unlocks either tonight or tomorrow, so I can start that up.

In Animal Crossing New Horizons, I grew enough blue roses for my island and I've come up with a better list of villagers I want on my island: Celia, Goldie, Apollo, Rooney, Marshal, Keaton, Raymond, Amelia, Ankha, and Olivia. Still missing about 20 DIYs and some paintings, but I'm getting there.
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Kikki
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I'm a big, fat quitter.

Since I so recently got the Basic (boy in blue) painting from Redd, I decided to recycle his day to complete my art collection. It's the only thing I have left to do in the game, because all the bugs, fish and fossils have been collected and donated, the town is arranged as I want it and I have no desire to reorganize it again, I don't care about the villagers, I've experienced all the events and them adding a couple of new items each time is not at all inspiring, so completing the art wing is the only reason I have to go on, any more. Figured I might as well try. I only had 6 left in art...5 once I got Basic naturally on Tuesday. So I recycled the day.

Immediately got the Proper (a bar at the folies) painting, leaving only 4 pieces for me to collect...2 paintings ('warm' and 'mysterious') and 2 sculptures ('robust' and 'gallant'). Tried for a third time...and got just repeats.

Promptly gave up, lol. I was okay with rerolling the day while I was getting new stuff on my first go, but apparently my resolve withered to nothing the instant I rerolled a day to no effect. Oh well.

Just tried cooking something with the Baker Bear in Cozy Grove, and I can't believe how annoyingly this system works. You cook something...and she tells you she'll MAIL YOU the results sometime later, 'when they're done'??? Also, the whole no-crafting-from-inventory deal suuuuucks. In all games, that sucks. I hate continual inventory management. I was okay with this game while it just felt like an idle thing to do for ten minutes a day, but it's become rather aggravating. I also get very irritated by being able to walk through most things but getting 'stuck' on random ones...walking around has become another source of irritation, and everything blends together so much, I can never remember where to go for anything. Like, look for skulls on stakes? But there are at least four areas with that, and I don't remember where ANY of them actually are.

Plus today the Baker Bear gave me a prize for a quest, and my inventory was full so it was auto-dropped...and then SHE WOULDN"T MOVE, which meant that A would only talk to her, I couldn't pick the prize (a tree) up even when I cleard my inventory! Then when she finally left, the tree was under a table, and I STILL couldn't pick it up. I had to jigger about for quite a while before I could eventually get that stupid tree. I'm frustrated!

I dunno, but I think I dislike more about this game than I like. It's a game I want to be EASY, since it's not very exciting.
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Bluie
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I'm sorry your gaming experiences haven't been fantastic lately, Kiki. :(


Its rainy/stormy (and flood) season in Texas right now, so our internet has been kinda spotty lately. I played some more FFXIV and I'm down to two more items from the event that I want to get - the ring and an emote that totals up to 180 moogle tomes. That's 9 more Praetorium runs if I'm in the mood, BUT, back to the weather, I'm often dropping out of runs. People are really lax in Prae runs because it's kinda just a joke dungeon these days (you have to TRY to die, nothing hits hard and everything is pretty much dodgeable) so I'm usually still in the party once I get back in, but still, it sucks to just keep disappearing. I did two 3rd NieR raid before I decided to log off and both times I was having major lag that almost killed me several times. So, yeah. I saw the 9S minion again! Rolled a 27 on it. PAIN. Also saw the 9S+2B plushies drop for the first time, and that's also a mighty need for me as I have a plushie display in my FC apartment, but rolled a 47 on them. Big oof. At least they can be sold on the marketboard! You know, if I get real desperate... and I might.

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to play some Ar Nosurge, you know, the PSNow game that has to be STREAMED? The game almost booted me out 3 times and became potato quality, so I quickly saved my few hours progress and turned it off. As all my PS4 games right now require internet to play (FFXIV, Genshin, PSNow), I guess I'm just gonna have to wait for some better weather to play them reliably. Soon it'll be drought season and I'll have few worries over dropping in and out.

So I decided to pay my Switch a little attention. Dragon's Dogma sorta-kinda requires the internet, so I passed on it (and World End Economica because I have a pile of books to read rn and I'd rather get to them first). I ended up starting Spiritfarer and I might very well be hooked. I went in thinking 'I really don't want a resource management game right now' but the gameplay loop is so FUN I don't even really notice.


Honestly, Spiritfarer is succeeding where Littlewood failed with me. Littlewood becomes an absolute grindfest and a pain to try and please everyone in your town to the point that I didn't want to do mental gymnastics while playing a game that's supposed to be relaxing. Spiritfarer just oozes charm and the 'town' system is easier and quite frankly more fun to manage. Nobody cares where I put their house in Spiritfarer, they're just jazzed to have one! Littlewood is more like "I want my house 3 spaces away from the plaza, 20 squares away from the bazaar, and right next to the player's house, so have fun rearranging your entire town just to please me and mess up some other NPC's preferences!". With Spiritfarer it's more of a 'tetris' situation as you try to fit as many buildings on your boat so you can manage your passengers and resources, and I really dig it. I'm also in love with the animations, wow they're so fantastic. I haven't been this overly impressed with an indie's animation style since Battle Chef Brigade because they're both so fluid and a joy to watch. Every new passenger has such unique designs and animations. I LOVE seeing how everyone reacts to Stella hugging them and they all have their own special sleep animations once you build their houses too! It's very clear a lot of love and effort went into this game and I'm glad to be playing it.

P.S. - My favorite thing to do in the game is play music to my plants to help them grow. Not because it's a rhythm game, but because I get to see/hear Daffodil, Stella's cat, sing along. I'm meeeelting from the cuteness...!
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