Backlog 2024

[Bluie]

Back from my mini vacay. It was honestly kinda exhausting, but I had fun. Hubs and I ended up staying at a Margaritaville resort which I honestly expected to be a dive for some reason? But no, it was a really well put together place - and walking into our rooms to have our TV personalized and playing 'Margaritaville' was so freaking funny it put me in a fantastic mood. RenFes was fun, I dressed up on day one, but the heat was unbearable, so second day I just went as myself. Definitely got a little sunburned on my face, which I'm sure all my coworkers will tease me about.

Anyways, gaming while I was away. I played a combo of Model Debut 3 and Rune Factory 3 in the evenings while winding down. I'm almost through year 1 in MD3 and I got to Death Wall in RF3. I almost killed Death Wall, he was in his low level rage, but he drilled me to death. I need to do a little grinding before taking him on again.

And it turns out I might need to prioritize Palworld, because Nintendo is on the war path: https://gematsu.com/2024/11/pocketpair- ... on-company

They don't just want damages, they want the game shut down (injunction). It's very likely they could succeed, but it's also likely some of these could be thrown out by the judge. Like, « Snuggly Bunny »'s sake, Nintendo, you don't own the right to mounts in video games. You'd better be ready to sue all the MMOs too if you're pulling this « Male Cow Poopoo ».

[Kikki]

A streamer just called Xenoblade Chronicles X XENOBLADE CHRONICLES TEN.

It made me cringe all over, lol. It's EX, not TEN. It's not a Roman numeral, it's the letter. The default name of the player character is 'Cross', or 'X'. Like 'X' marks the spot. Like...completely anonymous. It's a splotch of amnesia, a blot on the void of space. It's the tiny speck that all of humanity together now makes. It's an X. Ex. Ecks. The lonely obscurity of it is kind of the theme of the entire game.

It's not ten. No.

~ANYWAY!~

Nintendo and Palworld. It's...upsetting. It's not like I believe that any major corporation can really be 'good' or 'nice'. Sure, there can be some genuinely good and nice people in high positions in almost any company, but as a whole, big groups like that are cold and professional at best. They look out for the bottom line, and that's that. If they didn't, they'd probably go under. It's something to be wary of, but not to villainize, in my opinion.

But the Palworld thing just seems PETTY. Plus Nintendo doesn't own such basic gameplay mechanics such as using horses or vehicles to transport characters. Of all games ripping off Pokemon (and there are a lot!), Palworld comes across more as satire or parody than straight-up copy. Feels like Nintendo's only picking on them because they actually made a big success of it, so they're making an example of them.

I don't object to companies protecting their patents, if those patents are legitimate. But Nintendo should NOT be allowed to lay claim to basic mechanics. Especially ones they didn't even invent, now or earlier!

~

I finished The first AI game, and now I'm onto the second one.

I really need to get back to Ys and WANT to, but my neck is nooooot in good shape for all that urgent button-mashing. Will have to just set a time limit. But playing one hour of Ys would be a horrible tease.

ACNH is going well, but of course, I'm past getting KK to perform, so I'm done the 'story', which means I'm getting bored again lol. Meh, temporary diversion, good enough. Got all my villagers; now I just need to gift Tex and talk to him a lot to get him to bubble more so one of these days he'll suggest moving out, which I will jump on.

Was I working on something else? Oh, you know...I left Pikmin 4 at 50% complete quite some time ago. But that's not what I'm thinking of. I'm sure there was something else. Maybe it was just a replay, though.

I'm still not happy I lost my One Note. I'm going to have to comb back through this whole thread to even recall which new games I played this year, for our Annual thread.

Oh! It was Coral Island. Hmm, I still need to go back to that. The problem with games developed this way is that later content feels tacked on like DLC instead of a true part of the game. I opened up the whole sea and got to...what, just B level in town? But it feels like the game is done now, even though it's not.

[midnighttherabbit]

I got my results from my Master's degree and found out I passed with distinction :3 very happy and relieved.

Still playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it's not BAD, it's just not great. I think I'm honestly not cut out for modern AAA ARPGs, I'm having fun but not £50 worth of fun, you know? I enjoy games for unique storytelling or RPG mechanics and this just doesn't have them - the only thing I'd say is unique is the trans mechanic they've added and even then I'm not so into it :/ I want to see an indie game do something like this though.

Kind of off the beaten path from what I usually play, but my mum and I are currently working through Mario Odyssey (she plays the hat). I played it years ago but I've never played it co-op before - my sister moved out recently so she wants to spend time with us and I'm not doing well with being unemployed and depressed so it's nice not to hole myself up in my room 24/7. We're good at it and are obsessed with collecting the purple coins lol, we need to find a new game when we're done with it. We have the new Mario bros which we'll probably do, but I kind of want to see if she can handle BG3.

[Kikki]

I got my results from my Master's degree and found out I passed with distinction :3 very happy and relieved.

Congratulations, that's wonderful; you must have worked really hard. Having a final result may make it easier to land a job! The market is bad where I'm from, right now. High unemployment, so even crappy fast food jobs are highly competitive. Guess where you are, too.

~

In the last two days I got two bridges built, and two vendors unlocked in Avalon, my boringly-named ACNH island on my Lite. Got a good turnip price today, too, though I only had a single stack, so I made almost nothing. (The price was 405.) I can probably unlock another vendor and another bridge tomorrow, too, even if I just play fifteen minutes or so.

Pretty productive day. In ACNH, anyway, lol. Did Ring Fit, too, but was too tired to squeeze out a good session.

I think I can go back to Ys, soon.

[midnighttherabbit]

I got my results from my Master's degree and found out I passed with distinction :3 very happy and relieved.

Congratulations, that's wonderful; you must have worked really hard. Having a final result may make it easier to land a job! The market is bad where I'm from, right now. High unemployment, so even crappy fast food jobs are highly competitive. Guess where you are, too.

Thanks! And yeah it's the same here, I can't even get something at minimum wage right now hopefully something will come up soon though

[Kikki]

Thanks! And yeah it's the same here, I can't even get something at minimum wage right now hopefully something will come up soon though

You have a master's degree! You're so overqualified to work a minimum wage job, they'd never hire you, knowing you'd be moving on as soon as you got any other opportunity. It doesn't serve you well to have impressive qualifications if you're applying for a minimum wage job with little to no prospect of advancement. Though I bet it takes a lot longer for a job you can actually use your qualifications on to turn up, and I don't know if your career is highly competitive or not. But yeah, it's a fierce market out there. It's hard not to take it personally, even though it's nothing to do with you (general 'you') that you can't get a job.

~

I really need to get back to Ys because I am starting to forget the story! Stupid neck. I'll have to chance it and play an hour tonight, just to refresh the story in my mind.

ACNH is going well, lots of new bridges and inclines and vendors. Walt is moving out, but sadly, not quite in time for me to get my camper, Elise, to move in She was neat! Love her beauty mark, and snooties are my favourite of the female personality types.

I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for, game-wise. I keep jumping around. I think I want to play Sun Haven for a shot at an old-fashioned farming sim, but then I think I really just want another JRPG. Then I'm sure I want a murder mystery. So I guess I just don't know what I want. I should just get back to Ys in short sessions and wrap that up, then maybe I can decide what to move on to. Can't afford anything new, but I still have a bunch of unplayed games as well as lots of great games I could replay.

EDIT: Nope. Having trouble using even a mouse, today, and this keyboard. Poo. Guess I shouldn't have done a workout? I did less time, though! *grumpy*. Well...no Ys today.

[Kikki]

If anyone's been scrimping for sales, the next week is definitely the time to haunt your eshop wishlists! Anthos is stubbornly NOT going on really good sales, but it is on -30% right now, which is not bad. Jack Jeanne is on -50%, which is really tempting. Minecraft Legends is on for -75%! (Story-driven Minecraft...actually a little tempting!) The whole Dusk trilogy is on for -35%, Pentiment's on -40%, Terra Nil is -40%, the second Ace Attorney collection (Games #4, 5 & 6.) is on -40% too. Plus a bunch of others, just on my own wishlist.

Not a lot of Nintendo stuff is on sale, but the Xenoblade games are, and Tears of the Kingdom is, too.

It's a lot of games already, and they may keep adding more through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There's no hurry; most of the games on sale (at least on Switch) look like they'll continue on sale for about two weeks.

~

Got strangely lucky yesterday and came across HAMLET on an island. He's the one and only AC villager who feels like they're 'mine'. So I had to grab him while I could. Now I can let Biff leave without any problems. Though I should have held off on unlocking cooking, as now every time a villager is crafting, it's stupid cooking recipes, and I want DIYs! I rarely bother with cooking. I prefer to sell my produce, since the cooking isn't worth any more than the base ingredients and I don't often need to break rocks or dig up trees.

I don't have much left to do in Avalon, though.

Maybe today I can finally get back to Ys?

[Bluie]

I have not played squat in days, unless we count my daily/weekly quests in FFXIV. They added the new Society Quests (previously known as 'Beast Tribes') so I hit those daily and then I do bingo with Khloe and the current newest raid. I've also been working on role quests and I'm now just one combat class away from finishing the questlines, meanwhile I've barely touched the crafter/gathering ones - but they're next!

This year has really been less about gaming and more about pursuing another hobby. I've mentioned it here and there, but I've been working on a colossal 4 arc fanfic (a 'longfic') with the first arc finished and the second a few chapters away from its climax. 41 chapters deep so far with a clear ending in mind, but it takes time to write - a lot of time. I started in January and I'm trying my damndest to get the second arc done by the fic's 1st year anniversary. I'm almost there, I can see everything that needs to be written in my head, but once I finally get going on a chapter, I inevitably make things longer than intended while fleshing out characters. I've been limiting myself to 10 pages a chapter as to not overwhelm readers (and to stop myself from going overboard), but in being in the 'end game' of the current arc, I've been going over my limit more and more to get scenes wrapped up before moving onto the next chapter. Like, I'm right there, I'M RIGHT THERE, but I know I'm actually not. But, anyways, once I finish the second arc, I may take a small break to catch up on some games. I always finish writing my fics, the motivation does not wane until I've completed my work, but I may need to decompress regardless. I honest to « Harvest Goddess » think this might be the last fanfic I ever write, because I kinda hate how it's consumed my free time, plus I really think I ought to work on my original work too. I may rewrite some older fics I've done in the past, but those at least have a skeleton to them that I can work around.

Anyways, right now the only gaming thing I have planned is trying out Infinity Nikki when it drops. It looks like a fun time and I have no gachas in my life currently. It's funny, I thought I'd miss Star Rail and Genshin, but I kinda don't. My tune may change down the line, but I am remaining firm on not getting back into Genshin until the current region is fully released while I refuse to get back on Star Rail until Screwlum is released.

[Harvest Moon kawaii]

It's way too long since I updated things here. I thought for a bit that maybe I should wait until I beat another game (my sixth game of the year, hopefully, since I beat The Complex by Wales Interactive in the last few months - my fifth). However, it's taking a while to play some otome games since they're pretty long visual novels. So, I thought I'd update things, and I was shocked to realize I haven't updated since late September.

I took a break from Sympathy Kiss because the plot is very simplistic, and the game is mostly character driven with not much happening yet.

Since I last updated, I played Stitch, The Complex (and beat it once through), a tiny bit of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Nintendo Switch Sports, and attempted to play Howloween Hero (but lost interest). I can't remember if the last time I updated on Radiant Tale if I let everyone know I beat Zafora's route completely and I went through Paschalia's Route Completely. (for both Zafora's and Paschalia, I did both the Happy and Normal Ends). Ion's up next on Radiant Tale. I played a bit of Pokemon Violet, too.

I also bought and started 9 R.I.P. last month in October. I have 3 routes done. Kureha, Hibiki, and Sena. I'm on Koyo's route now.

Spoiler:

Currently Playing:

1) 9 R.I.P.

2) Pokemon Violet (hope to play again soon for the upcoming Shiny Rayquaza event)

Finished:

1) Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons (Nintendo Switch)

2) (Special Mention) Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Beta Demo (Story mode) (Nintendo Switch) (special mention since it to me 8 hours to beat the Story Mode in this demo in one sitting)

3) Pokemon Violet DLC (both parts of the DLC and Mochi Mayhem/The Hidden Treasure Area Zero epilogue)

4) Virche Evermore: Error Salvation (Nintendo Switch) (Major Content warnings and Trigger Warnings for this) (The fandisc, Virche Evermore: -EpiC:lycoris-, is already out.)

5) The first game in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (The Great Ace Attorney Adventures) (Nintendo Switch)

6) The Complex (by Wales Interactive)

[Kikki]

Sympathy Kiss is a little too simple for me. It's nice, but it's pretty much pure office-lady romance, no real story. I like otoges that lean hard into story, even to the point of people claiming romantic moments are few and far between. My first otoge was Hakuoki. The second was Nameless. Both have stories where all routes wind together and you get the story in thin, intriguing layers. SK is completely separate routes that don't intertwine at all. What you learn about one guy in his route doesn't carry over to the facts about the same guy in another guy's route. I don't like that. The characters are decent, though. But yeah, not exactly an intricately-crafted story. Barely a story at all. Voiceless character that doesn't even get her own speech bubbles and never gets her face shown. I don't like that type of MC. I want an MC with a compelling story.

Boy are events happening with me right now. I got hired for some seasonal work. (December only, and just the very last day of November, which of course is this Saturday.) I also got a therapy consultation scheduled for this week. Both are horrifying. But it kind of works to tell myself these nerves are excitement. It's a lie, but the feelings are so similar that you can fudge it. And I'm finally getting this awful hair cut into a proper style this week, too. At least the haircut isn't scary!

No Ys X yet. Still doing Ring Fit. Mostly dropped Avalon (ACNH). Had game night with family on Saturday but the game was a bust, though we had fun otherwise. Great food.

[Bluie]

Somehow, for some reason unknown to me, I played an absolute crapton of Astlibra yesterday after my 8 hour shift. I made it to the 'Final Chapter' as labeled on my save, but I have been warned by a friend with a 'wink-wonk' that it's probably not the actual last chapter. Anyways, don't know when I'll get back to, because after three bosses in a row my healing items are all gone and I'll need to grind some more.

I also bought another game I have no plan on playing any time soon - the third Voice of Cards game. It and all it's cosmetic DLC were on sale for 15 bucks on PS5. I loved the first game, liked the second until its ending, and then never got into the third. Well, at least I have it now for eventual playing.

[Kikki]

Decided to take a small risk and get Pentiment while it was 50% off. (40% on Switch but 50% on Steam.) I still feel like solving murder mysteries. It's not overly expensive to begin, about $25 ($12.49 on sale!), so the money isn't much of a risk, but it's a very odd style, a tiny bit like Plum Grove, but with a 'medieval woodcut' look. No idea if the content will be to my taste or not. I don't think I can get anything else this sale season.

No idea what state I'm going to be in for December. I'm worried, but hoping for positive change. Even if the events turn out to be no good, it may jar some kind of mental shift. Here's hoping!

[greensara]

Been busy, looking forward to Christmas break, but I have been playing some here and there, though not enough to finish anything. However, I thought I would pop in to celebrate an actual completion: last night I cleared LOZ: Echoes of Wisdom! Yay! It was fun and super cute. If anyone is curious and hasn't checked it out yet, it is a traditional style Zelda (vs the recent open world games) with of course the exception of getting to play as Zelda this time. I really liked using the echoes to solve the puzzles, didn't have to go online to get unstuck even once. Plus collecting all the echoes is so addictive! I didn't explore all the extras but I didn't plow through the storyline either and it took me around 30 hours according to my Switch to give some idea of length.

Unless I get to finishing some others after these last semester projects are done, this may be my last completion for 2024, lol. My kids are getting into multiplayer recently so I will probably end up doing more of that than anything during break. I do intend to try to log into Palia too to check out the new stuff that got added since I last played forever ago.

[Kikki]

I believe today is the last day to take advantage of the majority of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales on the Nintendo eshop. Probably on Amazon, too. Perhaps pretty much everywhere, since this is Cyber Monday!

I am so tired and crunchy, I don't want to hold a controller, today. I did try Pocket Camp Complete, though. Tons to do when you first boot it up. Does play almost entirely like the original Pocket Camp, but now there are Leaf Tokens instead of Leaf Tickets and you earn them a lot faster, as far as I can tell. There's some kind of holiday gardening event going on now where you harvest...cyclamen, maybe? (That would be a holiday flower, at least where I'm from.) And you can use tickets and flowers to claim this series of sparkly white wintery items like tall candles and white couches and toy sets and so on. They don't look that Christmassy, more wintery, which I prefer by a long shot.

The way you interact with friends is definitely different, too. And you can access Shovel...er, whatever the quarry is...you can go to it easily, now, by just clicking on three friends in-game.

So it feels pretty different and really the same, at the same time. As I suspected, I prefer this new version. I don't like gacha mechanics AT ALL and taking a game to paid means that some of the gacha stuff gets replaced with different mechanics. Plus all time-limited items are now permanently available, though only via claiming with event-related tokens. Still, it takes away a lot of FOMO, another thing I heartily approve of. Basically, it removes a lot of what I hate about mobile gaming, so I definitely prefer it.

Now I gotta go back to sleep...

[Code_Name_Geek]

I don't think I've played a single game since my last post, not including the small amount of mobile games I still check on regularly - I've just been way too busy with schoolwork and the new job. But I'm posting anyways because there is light at the end of the tunnel: in just over a week, if all goes according to plan, I will be done with most of my schoolwork for the term (other than my one break-spanning class) and I can finally start the game I've been saving as my end of semester reward. Sonic X Shadow Generations!!! It's been downloaded on my laptop since it released and I keep opening Steam to look at it longingly when I need more motivation to keep working on schoolwork. I can't remember the last time I anticipated playing a game like this, but it was probably last time I was in school lol. I played three other Sonic games this year in anticipation for this game so it seems like the perfect end to the year for me. I can't wait!