Backlog 2025

[Kikki]

I was frustrated and disappointed with myself, but the Gold Cup was too difficult to win. I mean, I would have EVENTUALLY, through sheer repetition and a lucky run, but...I couldn't stand one more try.

And unfortunately, that was the LAST quest available to me that would give FP with Tifa. I believe it would have put me over the edge and given me her ending since her colour popped to a lighter blue right AFTER the final (?) relationship event where every member of your party gets a little FP boost.

But as it is, I believe I got the generic or default ending, where the one who shows up for a date is

Spoiler:

Barret, lol. Now, I don't KNOW this. Maybe my initial confusion was correct and Barret really is a romance option, but tbh, I wasn't picking up that vibe between them. So I'm more inclined to believe that was the ending you get when you didn't qualify for any other ending than that I achieved a romance between Cloud and Barret, lol. It was still a cute ending since I think Barret's reluctant affection for Cloud and Cloud's, er...brattiness? Tsundere-y-ness? Both?...make for a cute display.

But I WANTED the Tifa ending. I wanted it so much that I spent HOURS qualifying for the Gold Cup, and then trying and retrying it. But...nope. I'll have to wait for post-game and then replay that chapter, I guess.

A thing I still don't quite get about Cloud is why he is so stopped up.

Spoiler:

He's undergone MASSIVE trauma since leaving Nibelheim, so maybe you could chalk most of his disconnect in current times to it, but why, since he was little, has he been unable to express his feelings or what he wants? Why couldn't he say he wanted to hang out with Tifa and/or any of the others? It's unrealistic (since children are nasty little beasts more prone to bullying the awkward than being kind to them and inviting them to hang out) but the other kids and Tifa were apparently always asking him to join them, and he WANTED to...at least with Tifa...so why didn't he?

And he still can't reach for things he cares about now, either. When Tifa told him that she was told he was the one who caused her accident (when the other children lied to cover their butts since they all abandoned her and only Cloud stayed), he just made a noise of distress/struggle...and instantly gave up, like it wasn't even worth trying to say that that wasn't true. The only reason Tifa knows it wasn't is because she had that revelation when swallowed by the Weapon. Cloud wasn't even going to try to clear up the misunderstanding, even though he obviously hated it? WHYYYYYY??

So yeah, I don't get that part of his personality. Does he think he won't be believed? Did he ALWAYS think that? Why?

In Chapter 14, now. Must be very close to done. I don't FEEL done...this game still feels very unresolved and I bet finishing is going to be painfully unsatisfying.

Spoiler:

And I basically know that all the multiverse stuff (not sure what else to call it) is showing deviations in fate after Cloud & Co broke through it at the end of the first game, though I don't know why they've added this to the game. We all know that reality could have been different if people acted different, but...why did they add another reality we can actually watch, and in some parts, play? And why did they show it all splintering into three different realities at the end? And did Zack just bust through reality himself, as well? I don't get it. I don't know where the alternate reality stuff is going.

FINISHED THE GAME EDIT: Well, a few hours later...I'm done. And confused.

Spoiler:

Is Aerith dead, or not? The party, excepting Cloud, seems to believe she's dead, and she's clearly GONE. I don't know if the Aerith Cloud is seeing/talking to is real but in another dimension/reality, like Zack, or if Cloud is just still that mentally broken and seeing things. I'm inclined to think Aerith never belonged in the same reality as the others and has simply left, perhaps to the same place Zack is (since he's also dead in whatever reality Cloud is physically in). But I don't know. Maybe EVERYTHING in these other worlds is just a traumatized Cloud, avoiding reality. Unless the devs are making these alternate realities real, then...Cloud didn't really fight alongside Zack at the end, and he only imagined himself saving Aerith...well, I KNOW he didn't save her because she's gone and only he can see her...and that he just left her behind at the end to stop the comet or meteor or whatever, while he goes and stops Sephiroth with all the others.

So, so...I guess that's it? Cloud knows she's dead, he just can't accept it and his mind had created an alternative reality for him. Unless the alternate realities are REAL. But...I kinda think they're not. Though all the stuff with Marlene and Elmyra is pretty weird if it's just something in Cloud's head.

Of course, now I'm sad. Cuz I really like Aerith. (Just not as a romantic option for Cloud. That's not the same as not liking HER. I do like her!) I want her to be with her buddies. I don't want to have her to myself as the Player, so even if I get to play her later, if she's not really THERE, it will just be sad. Even if she heroically went off to stop some 'meteor' on her own. She'll stop the world from ending while Cloud stops Sephiroth from continuing to push for any ending he can get, I guess. Separately.

Well, I suppose Aerith was never supposed to be there this far in. But still. I grumplous and unsatisfied. And somehow for some reason I thought Cloud would get his head straight by the end of this, but he clearly hasn't.

Would things be different if I'd achieved something other than the default ending? I wanted the Tifa ending, dammit. Ooo, so grumplous! Rebirth, I REALLY resent you for these millions of stupid mini-games, every one with different control schemes and timing and skills, almost all reliant on having actual physical reflexes.

I need to play something warm now. Something cuddly. Something that doesn't rumple up my brain and my feelings, but balls them up in a comfy way. Maybe some DQB2, or maybe I'll find a farming sim...

[Kikki]

Gonna jump back into Crisis Core Reunion after months away, but it crashes as soon as you launch it (Literally, aka: not figuratively. It tries for a minute to load, but then says it encountered a fatal error, and shuts without ever getting to the title screen.)

So I've deleted my save data and the game itself and am currently downloading. That'll take long enough that I won't be able to see if it worked before I'm headed back out for the day, but we'll see when I get home.

Will smuck all FFVII Rebirth talk into a spoiler just in case, even though I don't know if anyone here CAN be spoiled on this stuff.

Spoiler:

Also, I finally saw Tifa's 'ending' (really just a date in Ch 12, not an 'ending') in my game and it was unnatural and not very good. Watched Aerith's online and it was sweet. Phooey.

BUT...glad I saw it, because it confirmed what I thought. BOTH things. Aerith really was looking through Cloud, for Zack. She said it herself! And that's why she rubbed me the wrong way as a romance option for Cloud, because that's what it felt like she was doing, to me, and I didn't like it. But then, as I eventually suspected, all her pushing and pulling at Cloud wasn't because she was trying to make him act different...she just wanted to pull HIM out. Get him to...act natural, I guess. Be himself? Stop holding so much in? Because she started out looking for Zack, and ended up wanting to find Cloud. So I'm okay with her, now. She can be with Cloud if she wants.

Except she can't, cuz she's dead. Even if she's more alive than most dead people by being a Cetra and perhaps retaining more of herself after she returns to the planet (aka the lifestream), she's still physically dead. That's how I'm currently seeing it, anyway.

And her song was absolutely gorgeous. The lyrics were stellar.

At this point, I feel like rooting for any particular romance is just people self-inserting in one way or another, because it's not Cloud's preference we're rooting for. He's interested in both of them, in different ways and for different reasons, and we players are the ones who decide which suits us better, which says nothing about which Cloud himself would actually prefer or be better for him.

By the way, if Cloud wasn't at Nibelheim with Tifa and Sephiroth on that mission they showed where she was their guide...how'd he know about her scar? Her specific wound, even the position of it. I don't think anyone would have told him such specific details as exactly where she was stabbed, so...how'd he know, if he wasn't actually there and is somehow imagining it?

Well, I've gotta go now. I sure hope this shoddy game will launch after a fresh download and new game data. Guess I'll find out in about ten hours, though I'll probably be too tired later on to do more than just launch it to see if it works...probably no actual playing.

But I'm having a good time sorting my thoughts with some writing, anyway. If I don't just fall asleep, I'll probably do that, this evening.

[PSI_Nightshade]

After a few years of playing the game during transit time (which is to say it didn't have much time for a couple of years), I finally finished Persona Q2. I liked both the game and its prequel, bringing in a blend of Etrian Odyssey gameplay with the Persona formula. I had a good time. However, one of the big drag is unless you plan to neglect some party members, trying to keep everyone to level is a massive drag. 3 games worth of party members is a LOT of characters. In the end, I kind of burned out on finishing every little things so I just went to the final boss to end it. Still liked it overall.

I'm using transit time to work on my 3DS/handheld backlog. I think I'm going to get back and play through Project X Zone 2 next.

[Bluie]

Finally had a moment to play something and I've hit my days off, so I'm definitely going to play more Echoes of Wisdom. But the game I played was some ZZZ. I did the new story and now I'm working on the New Years event. Gotta say, I really like how out of trio of Hoyoverse games I've played, ZZZ is the least Chinese wankfest this time of year. And I get it, they're Chinese games, of course they're going to celebrate their most prolific holiday, but it's freaking exhausting. In Genshin, Lantern Rite is a beautiful yearly event that takes us back to a finished nation storywise (outside of like, one more expansion that who knows when we're going to get), but I'm honestly tired of it. For a game that advertises its open world and goes to great lengths to make holiday events, they over-favor anime China to the point of it being annoying. All of my favorite characters are in a nation that have been ignored for a year outside of a few cameos in the last summer event, and it's super annoying. Meanwhile, Star Rail keeps finding reasons to throw us back into Space China and I've had enough. No, I really don't care about these characters who're in one of your many jails and fridged. I'd rather move on then watch them flounder around more.

Thank « Snuggly Bunny » ZZZ just keeps it to Chinese inspired embellishments. The whole point of the setting in ZZZ is a blend of cultures into one big city, so it's nice to see it not devolve into another wankfest. I think that Hoyo really hit their stride with ZZZ as it's by far the most well regarded game by them at the moment. I wonder if we'll hear more about their apparent Animal Crossing clone that got leaked last year...

[Milo]

And I get it, they're Chinese games, of course they're going to celebrate their most prolific holiday, but it's freaking exhausting. In Genshin, Lantern Rite is a beautiful yearly event that takes us back to a finished nation storywise (outside of like, one more expansion that who knows when we're going to get), but I'm honestly tired of it. For a game that advertises its open world and goes to great lengths to make holiday events, they over-favor anime China to the point of it being annoying.

Eh. In Western-made works, it seems like almost all "completely original fantasy cultures" celebrate Fantasy Christmas and Fantasy Halloween (with approximately 50% of Christmas specials being A Chrismas Carol ripoffs with an "anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas is evil" moral), so it's not like it's just the Chinese who have myopic calendars. I would find seeing more of a different culture to be a refreshing change of pace. I suppose I haven't actually played enough Chinese games for their tropes to start getting old (and dislike the concept of gacha games anyway), but I can see how it'd happen eventually.

[Bluie]

Yeah, that's fair enough - it's more just my personal gripes anyways. I'd say the best combo of both our thoughts would be how Final Fantasy XIV does their holidays. There's a good mix of western and eastern holidays while mixing in a few originals. They're also quick and done with rather than being stretched out to force players to come back daily to get more rewards/story. It's one and done in FFXIV, takes 20 min tops as opposed to the literal hours you have to sit through in some Hoyo games once the needed days have passed by. I'm definitely in a honeymoon period still with ZZZ (and it still irritates me in other areas), but so far, this one holiday feels 'done right' as opposed to the other entries in their catalogs.

Speaking of FFXIV, I need to go do the Valentines event lol.

[Kikki]

It would be nice if they covered something other than US or Japanese or Chinese stuff in games, for sure. Well, Indonesia is producing more games these past five years or so...I guess we're starting to see a little of that? But where all the games with, I dunno...Spanish culture? Italian? Hungarian? Estonian? Morrocan? Icelandic? I have no idea what holidays are unique to those those countries, for the most part.

I guess those countries aren't making enough games, or those games aren't getting any coverage outside their own regions? Very few would be ballsy enough to make a game about someone else's culture. They'd probably be accused of appropriation. So I think the problem is that other countries simply don't have enough home-grown games, or at least not enough that have managed to garner international notice.

Aaaaanyway...

~

I'm playing Crisis Core Reunion. I am in Chapter 7, and I think I've gotta be at least half done, given the kind of events I've seen take place. It's very fun! I really like the mission system, but there are too many, lol. ANd I seem to be missing two mission sections entirely since the bottom two are still listed as ??? But I've been all over Midgar and there don't seem to be any left to trigger, so I dunno.

I'm currently comfortable doing level 4 missions but some of them need to be redone because I get Zack killed, so they're about as tough as I can do. Zack is only level 23, maybe I am under-levelled?

But the combat system is cool. Very simple, but being able to load up such interesting materia is nice. I really like this one that seems to give me high Crit, as well as whatever gives me this super strong Fatal Slash or Fury Slash or whatever it is...I did two big bosses in with that one, both went critical at exactly the right moment, which was very nice since both times, Zack was about to die. Plus it's an easy system to learn, even for me.

I still have questions, though. I'm starting to feel like I'm still going to have questions about how things worked with Zack and with Cloud, even at the END of this game. Darn it, I was trying to slip ahead of having to wait another 2-3 years for Part 3.

Also, Zack's rather happy-go-lucky, isn't he? Cloud, your impression of a 1st Class SOLDIER is dweeby kid stuff, my lad. Starry-eyed hero-worshipping teen stuff. Oh, but you're cute, though. And Zack's a sweetheart. So it's okay.

Except I think everyone's gonna be dead, alternate reality shenanigans aside. If that's what those are. I want to save everybody.

Except Hojo and Corneo. I hope they both die in an explosion of gore and everyone just shrugs. Or they can be sucked into outer space. Or chewed up by a Weapon. Anything that just wipes them out unceremoniously and without fanfare or notice. Elder Shinra can stay dead, too. Not sure about Junior Shinra.

[Milo]

But where all the games with, I dunno...Spanish culture? Italian? Hungarian? Estonian? Morrocan? Icelandic? I have no idea what holidays are unique to those those countries, for the most part.

A lot of holidays, barring stuff like Independence Day and such (when have you last seen that one in a video game?), are religious rather than national. Spain probably has some unique holidays that you don't get in the US, but most of them are just the same Christian ones. From your list, Morocco (yeah, it's hard to remember which letters are supposed to be doubled...) would be the most interesting since they're mostly Muslim.

Though I think Christians might be somewhat unique in how... secularized their holidays have gotten. Even irreligious people in Christian-majority countries still commonly take Christmas, or at least Santa Clausmas, for granted, despite it having Christ right there in the name.

Very few would be ballsy enough to make a game about someone else's culture. They'd probably be accused of appropriation.

I don't like the "all appropriation is evil" mentality that has been going around, but it makes sense that it'd be difficult to accurately represent an unfamiliar culture without missing the deeper nuances, so most people don't bother trying. Reading the Wikipedia page on a culture doesn't give you the same knowledge as actually living there for years.

Still, especially when your holiday isn't actually a real-life holiday but a fantasy one that resembles it, people could stand to take more varied inspiration (with a ready-made excuse for any inaccuracies). Or even come up with something completely original.

[Bluie]

I had a very lucky and lucrative play session in ZZZ yesterday. It was the day of banner flips, and I wanted Qingyi - but had literally no pulls from grabbing W-Engines (the game's weapons) last banner(s). So, while I had around four hours until the banners switched, I did a bunch of event stuff and managed to gather a little over 30 pulls. I also grabbed some pulls for the standard banner because I was getting dangerously close to my free five star (that you get after 300 pulls - you get to pick which character you want). Plus, I had a ton of pulls for the Bangboo banner (the bunny dudes), so off I went. I ended up pulling two 5 Star 'Boos within 20 pulls of eachother, which is crazy lucky. I then started feeding the standard banner and it gave me Nekomata at 0 pity out of freaking no where. Nekomata is my first five star, and this is the third time the game has given her to me. I have her built, so I'm always up for more copies to bulk up, it was just surprising that she was my third 5 star that day. ....And then I got Grace's W-Engine within five more pulls - that's FOUR 5 star pulls (WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON??? DO I GO BUY A LOTTERY TICKET!?). To top it off, I hit the 300 wish goal and picked Von Lycaon, who I've wanted since before the game launched.

So, with all this luck, I expected nothing from Qingyi's banner. I mainly wanted her because the police faction is by far my favorite group of characters in the game. I still think Qingyi's design is... pretty dumb looking, but her playstyle is fun and her personality bounces off everyone really well. I wanted to pair her up in a team of Seth, Zhu yuan, and their Bangboo for all the buffs, and wouldn't you know it, 30 pulls and she came home. The gang's all here and I've been building her alongside Seth. They're almost ready, but the equipment system, as it is in EVERY Hoyo game, is mad frustrating when you need a specifc drop and it just WONT.

And thus, I ended my day six more 5 stars richer. I've probably used up all my luck for a good while. It's fine though - I'm satisfied now. All the upcoming characters are not my cup of tea. There is ONE character I'm interested in, but she doesn't exist in-game yet and has only been leaked/teased via artwork. She looks like a Medabot and I just adore that series. I stg though, if they make her 'human form' her permanent look, all interest will evaporate. The same thing happened in Star Rail when I found out who was inside Sam. JUST LET THE ROBOTS BE ROBOTS, HOYO. NOT ALL OF THEM NEED TO BE CUTE/HOT GIRLS.

[Kikki]

Back from the dentist, groceries purchased, drugstore shopped, gassed up the car and tidied the kitchen...ready to make spaghetti. Things are smooth today, so far...going into three tough days starting tomorrow.

Started Chapter 8 of Crisis Core. Working on some 7 wonders thing, hooray...this chapter feels scary, though. (Sephiroth unnerves me even when he's not acting more peculiar than usual. I always feel like he looks human on the outside, except when I look at his eyes, and then I see reptile. HE GIVES ME THE WILLIES, I TELL YOU.)

Before exiting 7, I made Aerith TWO wagons and oh, how she wishes she had THREE, but...no. You'll make do with 2. I made you the cute one, girl, and you loved it and it was a big success, so you don't need the third wagon. I watched the cutscene for the third wagon and it's cute and funny but NOT worth having to get perfect scores on the squat thingy (which messes up every time he gets 'pumped' and the camera swerves to the side for one squat) TWICE. I did it twice and got through but I can't do four times.

Aerith seems to be the type of girl who likes to act spoiled with her boyfriend. I can kind of appreciate that, with what I know of Aerith. Or maybe she's only like that with Zack, but...no, it feels like she was leaning that way even with Cloud, though she had to try a lot harder with him. Zack's an easy mark. Cloud's a lot more work.

Also, I think I know how things are going in Remake/Rebirth, now. This is my OPINION, obviously, since the third part is yet to be out. But honestly...I believe the big surprise is going to be that the game plays out exactly the same way it did the first time, and that in fact, nothing was changed, except they showed some more detail. As for all the new stuff, with what I'm thinking of as this multiverse effect that happened when they defied fate...

Spoiler:

Right now, I'm betting that it turns out that there wasn't anything to it. That Zack really is dead, and Aerith really is dead, and everything strange about this is just Cloud, being hideously traumatized and unable to deal with reality. Sure, the storytelling is strange if he's really just IMAGINING all of it. I mean, we even got to play as Zack. But it often seems to happen when Cloud is sleeping, and he wakes up as though from a dream of Zack, or memories of Aerith or whatever.

And he's obviously still talking to Aerith and acting like she's just going on a necessary solo mission while they continue on their path, but the girl is dead, even though he imagined himself saving her, and her 'waking up' on demand. It was very sad. It made the song she sang and the way she broke down into tears after her performance quite painful. Guess she basically knew she was soon to die, to leave all these lovely friends she finally made, and the fun future she might have had, and that she can't do anything about it if she wants to save them (or the planet.)

I'm still more of a Tifa fan in the romance department, as I find Aerith's romantic personality kind of...bratty. Though I forgive her, since she's had a pretty raw deal and does deserve some spoiling.

Trails through Daybreak II (stupid name, why didn't they call translate the Crimson Sin part?) is on a -20% pre-order/new release sale. I'm going to get it, but I thought I'd wait. But 20% off is a pretty decent early purchase bonus. It's on for another 5 days, I think. I'm not sure I want to wait long enough for another sale to pop up, and I WILL get it, sooner or later, so...might just snap it up now rather than wait. Haven't 100% decided, yet, since I'm not hankering to play it atm.

[greensara]

Had a bit of extra time with the holiday and all the snow days so I was able to get ahead on homework and have more free time. I think the kids are hoping to get back to school soon. I guess snow days are less fun when you have to stay inside to avoid frostbite. They don't seem to mind the extra sleep though, lol. Wearing my super warm Zelda Christmas sweater today because I can.

Anyway, lately most of my game time has been working on fulfilling the game pokedexes in Pokémon Home to get the special award shinies. I just finished the BDSP Dex in Home and got the shiny Manaphy! Yay! It's going to be a while for the others though. Realistically, Hisui would be the next with only about 6 or 7 left, but some are ones from the time bubbles that I evolved before putting them in Home, so I need to catch new babies.

Backtracking to freetime because of snow days, I picked up the newly released on Switch, Echoes of the Plum Grove, with what was left of the gift card my brother gave me for Christmas. I have played to about the middle of fall now, so I feel like I can go ahead and share a few of my opinions.

Pros: Super fun and addictive gameplay loop.
Between talking and gifting, friending and wooing are easy.
Farming not just for money, but survival.
Canning and drying food for storage.
Looking forward to the generation system, though my character is still living.

Cons: Unfortunately the game is crashtastic, error crashing randomly nearly every 30-60 minutes. There are auto saves each game morning, but since you can loose a lot of progress in a day, I save after each significant chunk of progress, just in case.
Besides the "reliable" crash cycle, I have had it freeze a couple times too.
Presently, hiring the carpenters to build something, like a barn, on the Switch causes the save to corrupt and be unplayable. This is fixable by going back to a save before commissioning a building project, in my case one of the auto saves. Make sure to delete the corrupted save files so you don't pick the corrupted save.

Mechanics: Typical farming, with added elements, like food preservation.
Sickness and epidemics possible, though I have only gotten a cold. You can also get vaccinated for smallpox if you have the money.
Biological or adopted children. Adoption without marriage too if there are orphan kids in town.
Marriage is not gender-locked. Side note, I married a non-binary character and our kids call them Ren instead of Mom or Dad.
Rival marriages and other kids being born.
Pregnancy is not gender-locked. I guess this is to guarantee biological offspring, but I found it funnier than I probably should have.
The survival/generation aspect.
There is an underlying story that you eventually uncover which *spoiler free version* includes collecting and contributing items similar to the community center in Stardew Valley.

Despite the cons, which I hope will be patched soon, I am really enjoying the game. It kind of reminds me of when Portia was new and crazy glitchy, but so addictively fun, I had to keep playing.

[Kikki]

I'm stuck on Crisis Core for now since the final battle is too difficult for me. I'll have to either level a little or re-equip and level up different materia to see if that'll help. I dunno, I just need high stats for this since the enemy has no specific weaknesses and doesn't do any special attacks, mostly just physical damage. This is one case where straight-up leveling might do some good.

I don't really want to, though. This weird roll-of-the-dice level-up system is bizarre and frustrating. You can do hundreds of fights and fail to level up even once. Not sure how I'm going to beat this battle, but I guess I'll get it sooner or later.

Not feeling like slogging through right now, though. I want a life sim. Farming or otherwise.

And I was wrong about Daybreak II. It's actually the first Daybreak came that's on sale right now, not the new one. So my desire to buy it evaporated. I'm not into another JRPG right now, especially turn-based and with fussy questing and collecting. I'll just let it moulder for a while. I'm not even into doing the demo atm. I played the opening of it but I don't want to actually DO anything with it yet, so I just saved after seeing the beginning and am leaving it there.

Yep, I want a life sim of some kind. Something...yeah, okay, something 'cozy'. I've been making money and haven't been spending it, so I can afford whatever game I want, if I find a good candidate, though probably I should make a proper list of what unfinished (or even unstarted) games I already have. But I'm pretty sure I don't have any notable life sims on the backburner. (Or in the crockpot, I guess.)

Maybe Anthos? Even not on sale, it's $13 (CAD) less than a standard AAA game. Or I could go even cheaper and get something offa Steam, buuuut...the games I want most are all in early access, and I don't want to deal with that.

Well, I've got choices, anyway. Lots of them. I'll have to reorganize my lists according to current desires. First task should be to make a backlog list, though.

[Bluie]

I finally started working on the Dawntrail shared FATEs. Finished the first area in ehhhh 2-3ish hours? I basically muted the game's audio and then played Youtube videos in the background. A lot of the YTers I follow tend to make long essay videos, so this'll be a good way to get through the pileup. Though, I have no idea when I'll get to the next one. Monster Hunter Wilds; literally my most anticipated game this year, is here in a week. I SHOULD finish Echoes of Wisdom, but I have no idea if I can get to it. If I can get myself to stop writing for a few moments, I might try to see if I can binge the rest of it on Monday.

[Kikki]

I still had some money on my GC balance from sis, and I got another $2.61 off from gold points, so I got Anthos -$11.50. Not huge, but I wanted it anyway.

And as always, it feels sweet and wholesome, which is lovely. (And I have to add after playing another hour that the gameplay is lots of fun.) But at the same time...this game is really stupid. The writing feels like it came from a six-year-old.

I mean, okay. This isn't a game where you're new in town! This is the place you've lived YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. You and all the others have been entirely trapped in this town for at least ten years. And yet, you are surprised to hear that your friend's brother was separated from her during the calamity, just like your other friend's dad was? You lived there then, too! You know her now and you knew her then! You knew her brother! WHAT THE HECK??

Also, you don't have a kitchen. In this house you've lived in your whole life! And your friend's dad went missing way back then and had a signature dish of turnip stew...but you're only NOW attempting to remake your restaurant's signature dish, simply because the player character asked about it after a decade? (AND WHY DOES TURNIP STEW HAVE PINK ROSES IN IT? THAT WOULD BE DISGUSTING.)

Seriously. I'm appalled by how stupid this storytelling is. They made NO effort to make things make sense. You're just supposed to turn your brain off and enjoy farming and fetching chores. Don't think about why you're doing them, just DO them!

Well, I think I'll like lots of the game, but yeah. The storytelling is just embarrassingly bad. I find myself sighing a lot, reading the dialogue. And you fix up your friend's kitchen with Doc Jr (well, you fetch the materials and he fixes it)...and apparently seeing Doc Jr fixing it up makes you want a kitchen too? How on earth did you survive in this village your whole life with no kitchen??????? YAaaaarAargh lol ouuuch.

Ack, it's just so ridiculous, it hurts. PLEASE put at least token effort into a story that makes sense, Natsume. I mean, I'd prefer serious effort, but if we can only get token effort, at least that'd be something.

I only have some of this morning to play since I've got a later shift today but I suspect that an hour or two of playing will fill my painfully stupid nonsense quota for the day. Nothing wrong with the gameplay so far, thankfully, but ouch. My second job starts up again on Monday. I am already tired, lol...I barely get anything done outside of work. Concerned a bit, I guess. Well, it's just for this last week of Feb and for March and April, so...it should be okay. No customer service for this one, anyway, and no dusty shelves to stock. Gaming time goes down again, though. And I'm so far away from being able to incorporate regular exercise, as things are! Poo. But when it gets warmer out, even going for walks will be MUCH more doable, no prep needed.

[fuulatatata]

i'm much later to this than usual. i got sidetracked by university and other work, and i've been in a huge gaming slump since last year. too burnt out to pick up anything new, too unmotivated to finish what i started... it's kind of frustrating that something that brought me a lot of comfort and pleasure in the past would wear me out now i don't wanna be a huge downer here, though..

the only game i managed to pick up this month was legend of mana. i wrapped up the dragoon arc, and finally activated the capella side-arc that eluded me for a while. i've filled out most of my world map but i haven't gotten to the pulp of the jumi arc yet... i'm not vibing with the combat of this game and i find myself pressing any combination of buttons at random. it doesn't help that it's already an easy game so i don't feel to encouraged to switch between weapon styles. the counterguard move is so broken

aside from any other games i couldn't beat being carried over to this year's backlog, i really wanna try beating either disco elysium or legend of mana sometime, hopefully. and continuing my megaten streak from last year, i want to pick up soul hackers 2 in earnest i don't have any anticipated games for this year. nothing's really caught my eye... if i ever have extra money to spare, i might blow it on the romsaga2 remake or emerald beyond (when either of them are on sale... )

since we're close to february's end, i hope to pick up dqiii or ffv come march. both games are patched with the arabic fan translation. it's a complete translation with arabicized (is that even a word..?) words for combat and gameplay terms. it's real cute, and super fun to have a quality opportunity to immerse in my native language ^__^

i guess my current goals for the year is to not rush anything. i dunno if i could even make time for myself this year cause i have a lot on my plate in the coming months. but anyhoo... happy backlogging, everyone <3