Backlog 2022

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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simside
Wacky Weed Puller
Wacky Weed Puller
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I BEAT LABYRINTH OF REFRAIN! YES!!! I think my final playtime was around 90 hours. -_-; I really did consider beating the last optional bosses, just so I could see what happened different with the final boss. But when it came time to go back through and get the last chests, the first boss I tried wasn't there. It was the one that required 100% quest completion. I only had one quest left, and I could not face grinding the drop for it - this game is actually really good at drop rates, but I Absolutely Could Not, so I skipped it. I finished with the normal ending.

Was debating whether to start My Time at Portia or Pokemon BD, then got the urge to play Darkening of Tristram too hard, and decided to do a seasonal character in Diablo III instead. ^_^; I beat the Darkening of Tristram and filled in about half of the first four pages of seasonal challenges, so I don't think I'll be doing this longer than a week. I'll probably start Portia then, because I'll need something light. Annoyingly, my Switch activity log wiped my D3 playtime since I'm playing it on my OLED Switch. -_-; I hate that.

I've mostly been playing Cupid Parasite since my surgery on Monday. It's absolutely perfect! I fall asleep a lot, which this game forgives, and it's cheery, upbeat, colorful, and has that awful sense of humor, ha. I'm near the end of Shelby's route, and will probably do Gill's next.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
Huggy Chickens
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Joined: Apr 07, 2016 7:45 pm

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Congrats on beating Labyrinth of Refrain, simside! :) It's always satisfying beating a long game like that. Like overcoming something, as much as anything else.


--
Mostly popping in to share a thing my Switch taught me tonight... :| A bad thing, but ya deal. It was starting to rev up the jet engines, and Builders 2 has started having lag issues, so tonight I popped open the kickstand to give the SD card some air... and that helped. Throttling calms down, less lag.

I have ugly words for Nintendo. I know I'll eventually get whatever underpowered hunk of plastic they churn out next, but I really, really do not want to invest early. I'm so tired of this « Cow Poopoo ». :lol: Underpowered, walled garden, capitalist « Male Cow Poopoo ». SO tired. I honestly wish I had just gotten Builders 2 on PC, and played it on there. It would run better, I wouldn't worry about losing my save, and building would be much, much easier. But I don't want to buy it again... and I'm already dreading playing Moonbrooke a second time. le sigh.
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FarmingForDaysMan
Snazzy Sheep Sweeper
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I FINALLY got my Switch! I was supposed to get my brother’s old Switch after it was repaired, but on Monday he was told that the cost of replacing the motherboard wasn’t worth it. I’ve been anxiously waiting a month to play Animal Crossing, so on Monday night I ordered an ACNH Switch from GameStop and got it the next day. I’m really enjoying the game, but I’m seriously struggling with my desire to time travel :lol: (I was always time traveling in New Leaf). My first two islanders are Renee and Hamlet, and yesterday I traveled to my first Mystery Island and invited Tutu to my island (I think that’s her name); inviting her to my island was an impulsive decision, and now I’m regretting it xD

Question: Am I able to move my museum? I thought I read that the spot I chose for Blather’s tent would be temporary, and then I would have to choose a permanent spot for the museum. I really hope that this is the case because I chose an awful spot for Blather’s tent. I have my house, Renee’s tent, Hamlet’s tent, and Blather’s tent (I gave him the 15 donations on his first day on the island, so when I play today the construction on the museum will be finished) lined up in a horizontal row in front of the Resident Services tent. I know I can move my house and my islanders’ houses, but I’m going to be so annoyed if I can’t move the museum :lol:
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Kikki
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Yep, Days; you can move ANY building, excepting only the Town Hall or whatever it's called. Resident services. (That's why the starting position of Town Hall was what I reset the game's opening over and over until I got one I liked.) The only other thing you can't move or change is river mouths, iirc. The body of the river you can change, but the inlet from the ocean into your island, you can't.

Congrats on your new console :)

~

I'm a bit twitchy lately thanks to life shifts incoming in a few weeks. Don't know what I want to do with myself even when I'm sitting around with time on my hands and no chores pressing. I do not procrastinate. Any time I have a job coming up, I jump on it to get it out of the way so I have to think about it for the least amount of time possible. Anything else is too stressful. Knowing a major task is on the way but being unable to get started on it may be what's causing all this twitchiness. I can't seem to settle down with a game right now. I may feel like picking DQXI up again later today, though. I was at a good grinding point...which makes an easy place to go back into the game.
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yzafre
New Seedling
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For some unknown reason, I've decided to subject myself to the RNG hell that is the Casino side-quest in DQXI. This was a mistake, but I'm committed now.
EDIT: Oh, WOW. Okay, that went so much faster than last time I played. Last year I spent days trying to get the RNG to behave - this time it took... a couple hours yesterday, an hour today? Jackpot! Amazing.

In the mean time, I'm watching a lot of Legends Arceus streams/videos while I work. I'm really curious about the game, but the truth is I don't... really like the core pokemon game-play loop. I'm not big on the battling system - it's got all my gripes about turn based combat.
HOWEVER. I heard it's possible to catch pokemon without battling in Legends, and that the game-play loop is a bit different. I'm skeptical, but I'll watch some videos and see if it's different enough that I think I'd enjoy it. If not, well... seeing other people enjoy games is still fun.
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Harvest Moon kawaii
Tubular Turnip Farmer
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Currently playing:

Pokemon Legends Arceus (Switch)
The Expression Amrilato (Steam)

Recently beat:

Pokemon Shining Pearl (Switch)

So, in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, I made it to early Summer Year 1, and have tamed my first sheep, and built the horse stable and tamed the brown horse. :) I'm putting this (and probably other games) on hold while I play Pokemon Legends Arceus.

I also played Pocket Card Jockey on the Nintendo 3DS a bit and made more progress.

I got my copy of Pokemon Legends Arceus from Gamestop (along with a pre-order bonus). I'm about an hour into the game. After I finished the first trial, I took a nap, watched 2 episodes of a new Korean drama with my mom (All of Us are Dead) (on Netflix), and then had dinner.

I plan to play more Pokemon Legends of Arceus tonight. It's really different from other Pokemon games.
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Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
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Finished Act 1 of DQXI. *sigh* Oh well. Anyway, I was...possibly a few levels high? 37. The monsters in the Arborian Highlands had just started running away from my party, which made it too annoying to keep grinding, though I wanted to keep at it to level 40 at least. The scripted battle...I clearly could have won it, if it weren't for the act that you're not ALLOWED to win it. That's always annoying. Also, another Japanese trope that ruins things for me is characters with either very slitted or perma-closed eyes. There's only two ways to go when you have a character with eyes like that, and it's usually pretty clear which of two ways it'll be almost as soon as you meet the character.

I do like the gameplay shift, so far, but the cheap trick made me mad, which tends to make me want to quit. (I'm not the type who gets fired up to beat a game when it does something unfair...I'm the 'Fine, then let's just quit' type.) It's fortunate that Sylvando is cute.

Confirmed: I'm moving back to my parents house on Feb 15, for at least 4 months, to look after grandma, unless the home takes her in, but that's been on hold for many months already...it doesn't look good. I am NOT looking forward to it because my parents' house is high-tension (my dad's that kind of moody-broody guy and he and mom can both be short tempered with grandma's weirdness when my dad in particular thinks she's doing it on purpose and keeps trying to explain why her behaviour is not okay and...there's no point, Dad! Her brain doesn't WORK that way any more, you have to just let it go.)

The one good thing is that it's actually easier to be physically active at my parents' house. A lot easier. I may finally return home in better shape than I left, though it's possible I'll be less healthy in other ways, lol.

EDIT: I don't speak Japanese but...it sounds like they're calling Sylvando 'Sister Sylvia', to me.

EDIT 2: They're treating Jade's character shamefully again. :evil: Please show this amazing woman some respect, damn you, DQ devs! But what's confusing is...how much time has passed? I didn't think ANY had, but it's as though it's been months...or weeks at minimum.

EDIT 3: I was expecting things to be very quiet in the Backlog thread for a week or two, but...they're really quiet in the Pokemon thread, too? Hmm. I hope that means the game is so fun that everyone's too busy playing it to think about stopping to post about it.

EDIT 4: Man, that's a cute fish!

EDIT 5: Dear lord...Lev is the best sport in the entire world! I wouldn't do that for anybody. Infuriating how it keeps me from sprinting, though! Lev, dolly...I really, really need you to stop dancing and start dashing.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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Watched a stream of Legends Arceus yesterday and I am legit surprised at how fun the game looks. Still not QUITE enough to get me to buy - if it was a $30 game instead of a $60 game, I think that would do it. It seems kind of to the quality standard of My Time at Portia, I think? Story is generic, graphics are a bit meh, but the gameplay is enough to carry the experience. Maybe I'll get the next Legends game! For now I'm having more fun watching someone else play.

Edit: 2 minutes into today's Pokemon stream. "is this game free?" in chat. I can't even... :shock:

--
I sucked it up and started the Moonbrooke plot in Builders 2, finally. Too many monster mobs coming through destroying what I've built. :| I'm trying my best to speedrun it. The plan is to try leading monsters into Malroth's cell to see if I can make anything happen. It'll at least make me feel better to try.


Been playing a bit of Genshin in the evenings. It was a bit of a week. The day my car got clobbered I spent way too many primos wishing to make myself feel better. :lol: Took until basically hard pity but I got Ganyu! I've been trying to play a bit on keyboard/mouse because gamepad aim is awful but it's hurting my old lady brain. I've spent too much time playing on gamepad, I think...
Last edited by Mikodesu on Jan 30, 2022 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
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Five edits is enough! New day, new post :) Looks like everybody must be having loads of fun with Arceus right now, but hey...I've never had a problem carrying on a conversation all by myself.

Right now I'm busy being angry with games that cheat characters of their very hard-earned EXP when they are incapacitated in battle. They should get experience even if they pass out! Passing out doesn't negate the ability to learn! In fact, a harsh battle that wiped you out would probably teach you more than most. Mr. Macho CARRIED that Lizi-thing fight, and he got NO experience for his trouble because the entire main party was wiped by a big attack when my multi-healer was out of commission. Then my two loser extra characters came in, did a few points of damage, and Lizi went down cuz he was already at less than 100 HP remaining. GRR.

Dumb mechanic. Never made sense.

But I've progressed a lot, I think. I've only got two more people to find and then it's all back together. Though I hate when games do this...basically force you to play a second part of the story as a remixed version of the first part. I nearly gave up on Ever Oasis because it pulled that nonsense. (Horribly cute game, though. Unspeakably cute character design.) Oh well. They didn't do it badly, for what it is. In fact they did it well. I just don't like when games do this repeat thing. I have a lot of likes and dislikes, lol, and they're not overly flexible.

I feel a little more invested in the characters in this arc, though. I've had to give up on Jade since the devs showed her no respect. They took a very serious, driven, dignified woman and made her into a complete farce that in no way suits her personality. I really liked her! But she's too cringy for me, thanks to all that. And her abilities are more focused...I like broad-utility characters more.

This is a long game. I can't be bothered with side quests, and yet my playtime is already 45 hours. I'm at the part with "Gold Fever". Which made me wonder briefly why everyone was suddenly wanting to strike it rich via panning or mining for gold, but...apparently that is not what it means, in-game.

Playing Farm Together again too, cuz of the current event. Though all I really wanted from it is the event crop...a flower. Edelweiss. And you get that as soon as you start. I've unlocked 3 of 4 of the other prizes too, now, just from signing in a couple times to gather milk. (I'm trying to max out the warehouse storage, and it keeps wanting cheese. More and more cheese!)

I'm thinking I may completely scrap and restart my main ACNH town when I go to my parents place. Grandma MIGHT find that game interesting. Not likely...but maybe, and it's something both me and my cousin could use around her, without upsetting her. (A lot of TV shows confuse or disturb her, now.) Plus I am so done with it anyway...I don't think I'll ever play my town again so does it even matter if I were to restart it and get a few dozen more hours out of it that way? And I may need extra mental and emotional insulation for the next 4-5 months, so...might do that. We'll see, I guess.
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yzafre
New Seedling
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Kikki, you and I seem to be at about the same place now. I just finished the Gold Fever bit, it's one of my favorite mini-stories. I love Erik, so obviously, but also there are some fantastic Sylvando line-reads. Now to wrap up all available side-quests before the next story-beat. Still deciding if I'll progress into Act 3. It's got a lot of fun challenges - that's where all there really challenging boss fights are hidden - and also a good third of the character costumes, which I love to collect. But there's other games to play.... hm, we'll see.

I'm also playing bits of KH2 as well. It's my first time playing the final mix version, so it's been interesting seeing the subtle changes. Also: puzzle pieces. I don't remember those being a thing and I'm going crazy for it.

After watching a ton of streams, I think I will pick up Legends Arceus at some point. Maybe if there's time between finishing my two current games and March?

Every time someone brings up re-starting a ACNH town I think about it.... and then remember I'd have to completely re-start on flower breeding. That puts a stop to that real quick. :lol:
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Kikki
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The early part of ACNH is the most fun, for me. Planning what to do, seeing the new things unlock every day...best part. I love the villagers I have, but other than Raymond I could get all of them back, and I don't care about Raymond that much. He's got a great design, but otherwise, he's not special to me, and I don't like the 'smug' personality as much in NH as I did in NL...they were more gentlemanly in NL, to my way of thinking.

Though I doubt grandma could be interested in ACNH. Even watching a gardening show confuses her. she wonders how it can be summer in there when it's winter here, and she says the people are being 'foolish' if she doesn't understand what they're talking about. She understands if I tell her it's pre-recorded and that it was summer when they filmed that episode, and that they actually take place in England, not in Canada...but she only remembers that for about ten seconds and then she's forgotten and is confused again. Sometimes she doesn't care enough for her confusion to bother her, and then it's fine, but some days she's very irritated by things that she can't make sense of. In some ways I think she'd like watching a game more (I doubt she could PLAY the game, though I'd be very happy to have her do so if I thought she could get comfortable with the controls.) than television. Plus that'd be more social and more mentally stimulating. But it may not be an option.

I can't decide who to roll with as a party, this time. Rab isn't negotiable for tougher fights at this time due to 'multiheal', though I think I can swap him out when I get the last bit of this reassembly over with...I need to review who has what ability and spell. But Mr. Macho is so useful...he's a massive damage-dealer even without a buff; he seems to be able to put the hurt on basically every enemy, regardless of type. He's very boring to play, though...Erik and Sylvando are more interesting. But I can't have all 4 of them! I think...uh...MC, Veronica, Serena...Erik? Ugh, I can't decide! Sylvando's really useful, too, though I quite like Erik's self-sufficiency with sleeper hit followed by persecuter. I always get confused when trying to use Sylvando, too, and Rab, so...I think MC, V, E and S are probably my best team...I'm remember their skills better. Though my current team is nice in that every one of them can heal at least a little.

Though Erik doesn't work well on AI, and I do almost entirely auto battles. Argh.

Games always give out too many party members. I'd rather have just the required amount and get to know them well without worrying about switching them up and keeping them all up to date with gear.

I've been interested in Arceus since I saw the similarities to BotW (though they're light) and it sounds like almost everyone's totally loving it, unlike the very mixed opinions of sword and shield, but I'm trying to go with fewer purchases this year, so I'm not going to get it until I have a month with no other releases in it. February has Variable Barricade, and March has RF5. Got nothing after that this year, though, not for certain. But then again, if things are stressy while I'm living at my parents' place, I may need an extra game. But really, I should try to get back into crafting rather than spending more time gaming, so...we'll see. If I have it in me to put effort into being constructive (and in WINTER) rather than just filling my personal bubble with escapism.
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yzafre
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Kikki wrote:I can't decide who to roll with as a party, this time. Rab isn't negotiable for tougher fights at this time due to 'multiheal', though I think I can swap him out when I get the last bit of this reassembly over with...I need to review who has what ability and spell. But Mr. Macho is so useful...he's a massive damage-dealer even without a buff; he seems to be able to put the hurt on basically every enemy, regardless of type. He's very boring to play, though...Erik and Sylvando are more interesting. But I can't have all 4 of them! I think...uh...MC, Veronica, Serena...Erik? Ugh, I can't decide! Sylvando's really useful, too, though I quite like Erik's self-sufficiency with sleeper hit followed by persecuter.
If you can get the Hustle Dance ability unlocked for Sylvando, he becomes a very capable healer as well. Then you have a combined healer+buff person. Having him use oomphle on Erik on top of the sleeper hit/cobra strike + divide + persecutter/victimizer combo... You can end up with 1000 damage in one hit, it's so fun.
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Kikki
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They're no good on auto, though, with the stacking interplay of buffs and attacks...they're great if you're going to use 'follow orders'. MC, Veronica and Mr. Macho are the best AI battlers, imo. Not sure who would be the best fourth for the AI battles.

I need one more point before I can unlock Hustle Dance :) That should make him an easier choice.

Ah, secret of Gold Fever revealed. Uh...saw that coming from a mile away, unfortunately.

EDIT: Argh! DQXI spoiler...
Spoiler:
Veronica was my favourite, damn it. I always felt she was the most heroic. She always focused on what needed done, no matter what it cost her, and never complained. Not even when she was reverted to a child form and got her powers back but was stuck as a little kid...only the powers mattered because they're what she needed to do her job. That she died proving me right actually made my eyes well up. (I also tend to wibble a bit when anything involves best friends or sisters, so this was a double-whammy.) Funnily though, what I'm so used to JRPGs not letting anyone actually die that I was 50/50 about whether she was really dead or not. What convinced me was serena cutting her hair, lol. Though then she got all Veronica's abilities so she could do double-duty as a party member and that clinched it even tighter.

Man. Veronica...

:(
Last edited by Kikki on Jan 30, 2022 1:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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simside
Wacky Weed Puller
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Thank you, Mikodesu! For sure, beating LoR felt like overcoming it/weathering a challenge, and the satisfaction was so sweet.

I started playing My Time at Portia! 3D games are a challenge for me, because I have a lot of visual cognition issues that make camera-controlled games humiliating to play. I usually need my partner's help for 3D, but I am on my own for simulations. XD It took me most of the first in-game day to find the commerce guild, and I was infuriated when I realized it was basically right next to your house. But aside from the 3D and its general jankiness (it only crashed once so far!), I am SO ADDICTED. I'm glad I read up on the anti-Higgins sentiments here, too. I'm not completing very many requests so far, but I'm actively blocking him from taking the best ones in the mornings, which is a level of pettiness I can absolutely get behind. XD I'm glad they made him unlikeable as a character, too. What a great detail.

Also still chugging along on Diablo III and Cupid Parasite. I'll probably wrap up D3 before I go back to work in a week, as it's more of a comfort recovery game. I've played it so much over the years that I don't have to think too hard about it. Cupid Parasite continues to be a blast, though I'm not positive I will finish all the routes. I love pretty much everything about it, including the (intentionally) awful guys, though they are so awful that I have trouble sitting through the stories.

EDIT: No Arceus for me, as I can't play games that are remotely 3D open-world. As much as I love seeing something so positive out in the world, it's also super-depressing to watch yet another franchise I love transition to something I can't play, and breaking up with Pokemon will be the hardest yet. I still haven't played SwSh for fear it's a little like this, though I will eventually... BDSP is giving me hope that there is a 2D path still open, though it seemed so poorly received that I worry Arceus will trump it. Happily, most game coverage now is via streams and gameplay videos, and the same cognition problems make watching someone else play a game near-incomprehensible to me. So I'm not seeing most of the coverage anyway. XD
Daikon boy
New Seedling
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Post  Posted:

@simside

Swsh is only like that in the wild area, and that's almost completely optional, so, hard if you want to do things there, but otherwise it's only crossing the area
Spoiler:
I think Only twice.
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