Hokko Life Official Thread!

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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K8sMum wrote: Sep 27, 2022 4:54 am Kikki: I've heard there can be problems placing items using controllers on the Switch version. Let us know when you further in the game, please. You got a great deal! I just don't know if the shallowness is worth $20 to me.
So far I'm having no problems placing items on Switch. There is ONE spot where I haven't been able to place something...but I don't know if I'm supposed to be ABLE to place it there. (It's a bridge, over a gap between cliffs.) I'm pretty sure I am supposed to be able to, but being able to place it may be locked to quest progression or something. In short...I dunno if this is an error or if I'm just not supposed to be able to do this, yet.

My impression is that the characters and everything abotu the game except building yourself a nice town are meaningless. I don't think there's any reason to buy this game unless you love to forage and collect items, and build, craft, and customize a town and houses. If you want a story or fun character interactions, Hokko Life is not worthwhile. I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can customize the houses I'm building on the exterior. I can't colour my furniture yet, either...but I've unlocked paint, so I may be able to try it soon.

If you just want to build yourself a cute town and don't care about socializing, this is a nice game.

Three BIG edits worth of talk about Hokko Life and problems that were cropping up:
Spoiler:
EDIT: There seems a decent chance I have a major glitch. It doesn't make the game literally unplayable, but it does make it so miserable to play that I just don't wanna. What's going on is...I can't get any additional storage beyond the miserable amount that will fit in my backpack.

I looked it up, and all info is old and based on the early access period on Steam, so I have no idea if it's even valid since I'm playing on Switch. But if it IS, then I was supposed to get a quest from Moss to plant 16 seeds, then I'd get one from Oma to fix her stool, and after that, Sally would start selling blueprints. Well, I did get 8 seeds from Moss (not 16), and I planted them and harvested them...but nothing happened after that. Moss has nothing further to say to me. Oma has already told me that she's happy I'm so awesome and she can leave the town up to me and she has nothing further to say to me, either, just like Moss. Sally is the same. Sally's shop is supposed to have FOUR tabs in it, for different things you can buy. I only have the tab where she sells recipes for crafting ingredients. (Such as ingots and glass and fabric.) I don't have the blueprints tab, the pieces tab, nor the...I guess it's a customize/colour tab.

I know this stuff initially unlocked after Oma gave you the stool to fix up, but that quest never happened to me. So I seem to be permanently locked out of building any blueprints or custom furniture. No idea what's going on...but if the Steam experience is anything to go by, it looks like an essential start-up tutorial quest step is just not triggering for me. Though I can tell the tutorial is different now than it used to be, too, so...impossible to know what's going on!

EDIT 2: Okay, this is important. Hokko Life doesn't work properly with a controller attached to Switch. And by that I mean any controller other than the joycons (I don't know if a pro controller works or not, but I know anything third-party doesn't seem to.) If you're using anything else, the game doesn't recognize when you press the buttons in certain modes. For example, in editing mode...you can't zoom in or use the resizing arrows and etc because it has NO idea when you're pressing the ZR button (for example.)

I took my Switch out of the dock and tried to use it that way, and then it was fine. But if you typically use anything other than the joycons (or possibly a Nintendo Switch pro-controller) it won't work properly. My controller is third-party, but it's licensed by Nintendo, not some fly-by-night weird thing that I shouldn't be using.

It's possible that this is complicating some of my other issues.

I don't really recommend this on Switch right now. They haven't ironed out the fine details, imo.

EDIT 3: The tutorial is very long...you just don't realize you're still doing it for many game days after the original NPCs say they have nothing more to tell you. Quests from ordinary villagers, totally unmarked as tutorial, are actually tutorial that unlocks menu features. Even though this is the second table I've made...the first one didn't have the same features.

This game is actually quite buggy on Switch...the creation editor is very fiddly, and it works...but you can tell it was designed for a mouse, not a controller. Which is fine for some things but the creator is so fiddly, it's too frustrating for me so far. I like making things but I think I'd rather buy pre-existing designs in this game.
Summary of my experience: the tutorial quests are badly organized. (You can't actually tell which requests ARE part of the tutorial.) The bugs this game has are minor if you're using it handheld or with the joycons (in the grip or not) as the controller, but the issues become quite burdensome if you typically use even a licensed third-party controller. Also, the game was not originally designed for Switch and that shows overmuch in the controls of the crafting editor. I find it so awkward that I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get into the game or not, but I've heard from others t hat love it on Switch, soooo...YMMV, obviously!

Character graphics are ugly, but the much more important landscape and item graphics are really nice. You can definitely make yourself a very cute, very unique town, much moreso than you can in ACNH, imo, where everybody's town looks pretty samey even if they customize to the hilt.
Last edited by Kikki on Sep 27, 2022 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Nintendo of America just put out a trailer for Hokko Life on the Nintendo switch. Kikki, hopefully they'll patch the many bugs in the Switch version soon.

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The biggest thing for me is that it doesn't fully support third party controllers (licensed ones, I mean.) which buggers up the creation editor. THat you can make your own constructions, piece by piece, in your own design, is the game's major selling point...it's what makes it worthwhile even if the characters have little to no personality. But being unable to use my controller of choice is dampening. (I can slot my joycons into the grip, of course, and use that as my controller, and I will, once I feel like playing again...but it's so small, it's not as comfortable for me as my PDP controller.)

It also sucks that you can't tell when you're doing tutorial quests that unlock new features. I got TWO quests to make someone a table. The first one did nothing, so I didn't think much of hte second...but when I finally went to do it, the second quest turned out to be to DESIGN a table, not just make the one whose design was given to you already. That unlocked the 'pieces' tab at Sally's. (Though there are still two tabs left to be unlocked for me, as far as I know.) It was extra confusing that those tabs DID appear in Sally's shop for a split second whenever I opened it...and then disappeared again. That made the feeling that my game was just glitching on me a lot stronger when paired with the fact that you have no idea if you're done the tutorial quests yet or not.

If you try out the creation editor and like it, then I think you'll really enjoy this game. But if you're like me and try it and find it hard to use, then it's gonna be more difficult to have fun. I did have it freeze on me once, though, and had to quit and go back in. But I do think they'll patch it...the developer seems dedicated.
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Shan O 123
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I just bought it for 16 bucks. So I’ll play it later.
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(HOKKO LIFE NINTENDO SWITCH GAMEPLAY!! | IS IT WORTH IT? by NintenTalk) (livestream; last 5 and a half hours)
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Wow, I mean I half expected some bugs, but that's really disappointing, especially about the controller issues. Guess I will be waiting for some bug fixes and a steep sale.
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I watched NT's steam on and off. I know he ended up pretty much recommending the game but I think he was being generous. There were many times when he either looked bored or like he just wasn't enjoying the game. There were parts he liked but over all I felt it was a lukewarm endorsement.
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The building/decorating/customizing via that piece-by-piece editor is really unique. Every single bit can be stretched in any direction, positioned anywhere, coloured individually...etc. You could have a table with three legs, each one a different shade of red, and the top could be a three-foot thick slice of orange. You can make some very interesting stuff with that thing, something that'll make your town look genuinely unique, which Animal Crossing can never truly do. It deserves a recommendation on that alone, imo. Problem is, that alone doesn't guarantee it's fun to play, just that it's got a very interesting mechanic. If the way it was executed suits you, then this is a great game, but if the ways in which it isn't all that smooth (though it probably is pretty smooth on PC where you can use a mouse) bother you, then there's too much aggravation, ime.

Oh and you have to be able to coast by on the interesting town-building alone, imo, cuz the socializing is notably less interesting than Animal Crossing. (And I consider AC socializing to be very barebones and dull.)
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I’m loving this game! There’s no stamina and the days are REALLY long. I’m still at the beginning but it’s worth it to me.
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I really didn’t want to double post but…….




I’m loving this game! The slow pace is perfect for me and the controls are easy to understand. I just unlocked the fishing rod and fishing is really easy.

I can’t wait to unlock my city and once I can build custom stuff I’m going to be even more hooked.
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I've watched quite a bit of the game play and it's too dead feeling for me. The residents seem like zombies. Whilst I like the item placement options etc it's not enough for me to invest time and money into it.
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So, I ended up buying Hoko Life on the Switch. I haven't played it yet, but am looking forward to it. I'm so glad the game isn't a real-time game, so that I have even more daily things to do/daily commitments.
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So, I need help. I unlocked mining and pickaxe and made the basic pickaxe. With some trouble, I was able to mine enough iron ore and coal (I think?) to make steel. But, when I tried to complete the request (I made the steel and headed back to Sally), nothing happened. I advanced to the next day, and haven't tried on that day yet. But, what do I do? Sorry if Kikki or someone else already answered/figured it out, but I'm lost.
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I'm afraid I have no answer, as I'm not actually playing this game. I gave up on it for a bit, and find that I have no desire to return to it. I do think the very unique item creator is worth a good look, but I didn't enjoy my time with this game and am not feeling any urge to get back into it. I have such great games right now, and despite how unique the editor is in this, I find the game to be overall clunky and un-fun.

I do remember, though, that 'tutorial' quests were totally unmarked and ended unceremoniously, with no real acknowledgement that you had done so. Keep playing...you'll probably keep getting more quests that will continue to unlock new features.
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Shan O 123
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Harvest Moon kawaii wrote: Oct 04, 2022 7:26 pm So, I need help. I unlocked mining and pickaxe and made the basic pickaxe. With some trouble, I was able to mine enough iron ore and coal (I think?) to make steel. But, when I tried to complete the request (I made the steel and headed back to Sally), nothing happened. I advanced to the next day, and haven't tried on that day yet. But, what do I do? Sorry if Kikki or someone else already answered/figured it out, but I'm lost.
I just completed this request too lol let me see if I remember…. After you make the steel, you have to craft something else but I can’t remember. But there is a quest board in your menu.
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