Backlog 2024

[Mikodesu]

In that case I would bet dream addresses get deleted for lapsed subscriptions, because the game acted like I'd never made one before. Well, whatever. It's just a game. The "stuff" can be collected again, and it's not as if villager AI is deep enough that I'm losing anything but time. I have some screenshots, some videos, that's plenty. (In fairness to Nintendo, we were warned before release day about the whole one island per console, no manually backing up saves problem.)

Yes, I would prefer to have access to my favorite furniture and clothes, but ime games are more fun when you have some limitations to work past. Making due with what you have. If I want to decorate with everything in the kit, that's what the DLC is for.

As for NSO, I'm not saying an online fee isn't fair for server hosted games, but most of Nintendo's online is peer to peer connections, which requires NO infrastructure on Nintendo's part. P2P is the software in your system connecting directly with the software in someone else's system--no server involvement. So in those cases Nintendo is pay gating your internet connection, which imo should be illegal. (I know it's not a Nintendo problem, it's a console problem. But in relation to Animal Crossing, it is a Nintendo problem.) And actually, unless the server game is a first party game, I don't think the servers would be bought/maintained by the console seller... Which begs the question of who should be getting these fees in the first place.

The same as outright shutting off online rather than specifically enabling P2P on 3DS and WiiU. It's ridiculous. Probably a hole Nintendo dug so long ago it's not financially feasible to dig themselves out now, but I don't have to like it.

In the case of cloud saves, imo console manufacturers should be forced to either give their customers direct access to saves so they can be backed up or moved around, or do free cloud saves. If Steam can afford it with their games library, I would bet it's not all that expensive. I'm not as well versed on mobile gaming but I BELIEVE Google and Apple do free cloud saves as well, and mobile is a SUBSTANTIALLY bigger market.

--
Edit: Gonna be doing a bit of ACNH time traveling. NO idea how this happened, but my Switch was set to 2022? I turned on the game earlier and got the wrong day of the week and had to double take, then checked the date. So far the only thing that's driving me nuts is not having a slingshot yet...which I just looked up and remembered the stupidity of tabs in the damned shop........

Sigh. I will say that the flow of gameplay in ACNH is NOT as good as I remember it being. (And I remember being very annoyed with the lack of crafting from storage.) Visually though, it's honestly better than I remembered. The doll-like gleam on player character eyes in certain lighting, rain storms and cloud animations are just bliss. Really makes me look forward to the next game.

[Kikki]

In that case I would bet dream addresses get deleted for lapsed subscriptions, because the game acted like I'd never made one before. Well, whatever. It's just a game. The "stuff" can be collected again, and it's not as if villager AI is deep enough that I'm losing anything but time. I have some screenshots, some videos, that's plenty. (In fairness to Nintendo, we were warned before release day about the whole one island per console, no manually backing up saves problem.)

I'm sorry. I didn't think of the NSO thing at all tbh, as I've always had it. Well, not always, but definitely always ever since New Horizons came out. I'm not really even aware of when it does or doesn't work because I've never had to test out what happens when it's not available, though I do remember that even mail to others doesn't work with no NSO. (Which I suppose makes sense since it has to use the internet to do it.)

I don't really know what Nintendo should be charging for, tbh. I just know that their service is cheaper than other the other console kings' services...but they also have dramatically inferior benefits to subscribing. I ONLY subscribe because of ACNH and to have access to vouchers. I'm probably really going to want those when the new console comes out! I'll buy some in advance, once I know a little more, as I suspect prices are going to go up to $90 as the standard AAA game price. But maybe the voucher prices are also about to increase. I'd buy some NOW, but I want to make sure vouchers will be eligible for Switch 2 games, first.

Well, I'm off to do physio now. In gaming, today I plan to continue on with more Wodewyrd reconstruction (ACNH), and I'm going to pop into Farm Together to see if it yet has info on the next festival date, as it should be coming up at the end of May. The Blossom Festival and Cog Festival are quite close together.

Ugh. Middle age means always waking up stiff and achy, even when you've done everything right.

[Harvest Moon kawaii]

Currently Playing:

1) Virche Evermore: Error Salvation (Nintendo Switch) (Major Content warnings and Trigger Warnings for this) (also its Fandisc/Sequel game is coming West this Fall)

2) Pokemon Violet DLC (second part) (The Indigo Disk)

Finished:

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

I've played a lot of games lately (pausing when some games took a bit too much out of me, or whatever I was able to play at the time, or what I felt like).

Spoiler:

I've played 5 more hours of Virche Evermore: Error Salvation (it's now at 80+ hours), played a bit more of Animal Crossing: New Horizons again (so much I still want to do in the game) and started playing Piczle Cross Adventure again from where I left off years ago. I think I might be able to finish it sooner than I thought. (I'm farther in than where I previously thought, I think. Possibly halfway through or so. )

Also, I actually progressed to the next chapter in Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (Nintendo Switch), but I think I accidentally made it harder for myself. At the very beginning of the next chapter, you have to fight a boss battle, and there are no save points in the room(s) you're stuck in. (This would help to get more healing items and revives, and I saved over my only save data) I currently have no healing items or revive items against that boss The last time I saw I could get to a save file to save and get healing items and revive items and everything. I'll be so sad if the healing items and stuff can be carried over/shared between characters. Because I can only take 3 hits or so before I die. And I have to do a small section every time afterwards. (I feel a bit of hope since the last time I battled this boss I not only made her bloom/got into the second phase of the battle, but I'm pretty sure I almost beat her with only a few more hits needed to defeat her.) I at least memorized her attack pattern, and how to avoid most of her attacks, hopefully. (I don't want to have to start the game over. I'm about a third of the way through. Unfortunately, even the normal difficulty [default difficulty] is too difficult for me since it's the first Fatal Frame I played on the Switch, even though I bought the Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water remaster on the Switch as well. [I played and beat Maiden of Black Water on the Wii U, but still wanted it on the Switch]) Also, I guess I since I never played Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Clipse before. (It was Japan-exclusive and released on the Nintendo Wii.)

Note: The game series is called Fatal Frame in North America, Project Zero in Europe, and as 零・ゼロ (Zero) in Japan.

Also, I think I forgot to mention last time that I played a bit more of Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories (Nintendo Switch). I was wondering if it was a me-problem that I couldn't figure out how to progress past a certain point, but a video game review video on YouTube said that the game doesn't tell you where to go/how to do something clearly enough, so a walkthrough is needed. So, I feel a bit better about that.

Lots of games I'm interested in have come out already or, are going to come out soon in the rest of May and beyond (for 2024 onwards).

I'm still super excited to buy Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on the Nintendo Switch. (Haven't played it since I was kid on the GameCube. First, I need to play through the original Paper Mario on Nintendo 64 vis Nintendo Switch Online.) I can't wait to pick it up tomorrow, but I won't be able to play it yet. I still have to play the original Paper Mario (first time since I was a kid) on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion pack, and then this weekend I'm traveling to go to my older brother's house for my second niece's high school graduation and will be gone for a few days. So, I can't take my dock with me. (It might be too hard to play Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door via handheld mode for me.)

[Mikodesu]

Kikki, I promise it's okay! I may miss my stuff a little but it doesn't replace the fun I'm having now. Tedium or no, the game is still fun. And that's all that matters!


--
Played a little Genshin tonight--trying to get used to mouse+keyboard with that game is a lot harder ime than Star Rail. There's a lot fewer buttons. WASD for movement, shift for sprint, space for jump/jump up walls/glider activating or deactivating, X for dropping down walls, Z for gadgets, T for warps, and that's not counting combat, switching between characters and cycling skills and ultimates WITHOUT getting my group killed. (Or hotkeys for menus, but I tend to left ctrl + mouse on that one, just like Star Rail. ) Way easier with a gamepad.

So I'm using exploration time as practice--though I'd like to try Abyss. If I can at least master floors 9/10 w/ mouse+keyboard I'll be all set. Doing better than I did pre Star Rail, for sure, but I still flail a bit. The Nahida mouse trick is hilarious though. Kinda worth the cost of entry on its own.

Comments on the livestream announcement were saying something about a Natlan preview. Which I guess isn't out of the question, since probably update after next will be the between regions thing again. (Golden apple archipelago prayge.) Probably good that I'm playing more again, I've got a lot of catching up to do. About 70% through Chenyu Vale, and I haven't set foot in the new area yet.

The good news is I am completely set for when Genshin drops a character I want. 400 wishes saved up; did the math tonight. Couple more ten pulls w/ the gems from when I was doing 5 dollar passes, but I'd rather save those for an outfit... I really need to learn to save more in Star Rail, it feels much better knowing you can have whatever character you want, plus the signature weapon if it's worth while.


ACNH I'm just doing the materials grind. There's a lot of stuff to unlock, but I'm trying not to do much island hopping until I need to go villager hunting... Since that tends to chew through tickets, and points.

[FarmingForDaysMan]

Long time no see, folks. I hope everyone’s been well!

I’ve been on summer break for two weeks now, so I’ve been doing a bit of gaming. I finished the main storyline of Rune Factory 3 Special (I married Sofia). I was surprised by how short the story was, but overall it was a great game. Micah’s so sweet, and he might just be my favorite Earthmate.

Around Christmastime, I bought Animal Parade and Tree of Tranquility; I’d been gifted both games together many years ago (I think for my 7th birthday maybe?), but my original copy of ToT unfortunately glitched within the next couple years when the first of the rival children were being born, and I gave my copy of Animal Parade to a cousin in 2020. Having said that, I started playing replaying Animal Parade this week, and I’m playing it right this time (as a kid, I just bought clothes and didn’t ring any bells until after I’d already had children).

I got as far as day six; on the first day, I met everyone and even bought some seeds. The day didn’t start until 10:00, and it takes about TWO HOURS to get from one part of the island to another, so I didn’t finish greeting everyone in Harmonica Town until after 5:00, meaning that I wasn’t able to get Bo’s toolbox from Hamilton until the second day. On the second day, I bought the strawberry and milk that Bo asks for. I used the remainder of my money to buy fodder and afterwards triggered the event in which you get your free calf. Then I gave Bo what he’d asked for and used the rest of my stamina to fish. The Garmon Mine district was accessible on day three, so I met everyone there, visited the H.G., and mined my way to Allen’s Bell frame since I already knew what I would need to collect. On the same day, I found Collin’s Bell. I wasn’t able to trigger the event in which Chloe is playing with the bell, and the moon stones for Collin’s Bell weren’t lighting up at night, and I was perplexed. But then I looked at Cher’s handy dandy guide and read that sunny weather was a requirement. So I was like, “okay, I’m sure I’ll be able to get everything done the next day.”

NOPE. Days 2-5 were all rainy, which I thought was so weird. It was a blessing and a curse However, I was able to pay off my 5000G loan by Day 5 (a first for me; I can’t remember if I ever payed that loan off in my original game) and have another 1000+ G left over. I was also able to get access to Fugue Forest.

I saved and ended my game on the morning of Day 6, which is finally a sunny day! :D So I’ll have Alan’s bell rung by the end of the first week, and I’m sure I’ll have made some progress on Collin and Daren’s Bells. In my original game, I—having played Tree of Tranquility first (ironically, since I got both games the same day and didn’t know that AP was a sequel)—married Chase because I didn’t want to wait until I had unlocked Gill. Chase is great, but this time I’m definitely going to be marrying Gill

Rune Factory has changed the way that I farm (just recently in RF3, I had grown way too many crops and couldn’t stop—to the point that I barely talked to anyone in the spring of Year 2 and had 3,000,000+ G by the end of that spring; my ACNH island is also covered in crops ;u;), so I’m already wanting those extra plots of land that are located around the farm in Animal Parade. I’m so excited xD

I’ll be playing more today, so I’ll see how far I get.

[Kikki]

Placement in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is INFURIATING. Some of the rules seem arbitrary, as they make no sense, such as when something does versus does not require an extra space (such as a full additional space in front of your entire house front, beyond just door-opening space. Is that for the mailbox? Because I can put the mailbox wherever I want!)

It also drives me mad how things don't line up. Paths, for example, with doorways. And how a couple of things are an odd width while others are an even, so...well many things just can never be placed to LOOK RIGHT. It's just so aggravating.

I also would really like if they'd offer us, at the very least, colour swaps for official buildings. I mean, I'd LOVE if they offered us multiple design options for Able Sisters, Nooklings', the Museum, Town Hall, etc. And they DID give us a few options in New Leaf, dang it all. But even if they didn't give us style options, it would be SO nice if they at least gave us colour reskins. I also want more bridge and incline styles, and the housing options feel like they are way less than they were in New Leaf. Good old Nintendo. Always a step forward and another step back. Or sideways. Or something else that's just weird.

I'm sure they'll continue to allow us to terraform and so on in the next game as almost the entire fandom would jump ship if they didn't (almost all ACNH streamers are all about designing, or at least about touring other people's islands to see THEIR landscaping and designs.) I hope they add a load more options. Colour reskins for official buildings. More terrain options. More exterior housing options, especially for the player's own house. And the ability to actually USE the third level of cliffs. And to be able to place bridges over gaps in land rather than solely over water, such as to bridge cliffs.

Sometimes it feels like Nintendo couldn't be bothered to really flesh out that game. When you consider what NH has over NL...it is ONLY better graphics and the terraforming/outdoor decorating. Everything else is arguably worse. The villagers were more interesting in New Leaf and the story progression was, too, and the events calendar was fuller and more unique.

Hit the next one right out of the park, okay, Nintendo? We don't need another game that feels like one huge step forward paired with two medium steps backward. Dodos.

Getting my villagers in order bit by bit. I have just secured Peggy. I was wrong about the 'neutrals' thing. I wasn't supposed to choose by colour! What I MEANT was that I wanted all ORDINARY villagers. Villagers who are all common-looking, or plain, or bland or boring or dull. No one with extremely vibrant colours or notably unique looks. Like...no Pietro. No Merengue. I've stuck to having NO villagers who tend to be in the Top 50 most popular characters, though I don't want any hideous villagers, as those are too unique in their own way. I want very forgettable villagers who blend in. They don't all need to be white or black or brown, they just need to look relatively ordinary. No weirdoes! Peggy looks like an ordinary pink pig (well except that she's got hair and is walking bipedally, but I do mean normal for anthropomorphized animals.)

The changes I made to life with the whole No Gaming thing have stuck so far and are super helpful, but I'm still figuring out new little things as I go. Change one thing and a whole ripple of them follows, like baby ducks waddling one-by-one out of the water behind mama.

[K8sMum]

I've been having so much fun with TTYD. The game just makes me happy: the colors, the snarkiness, all of it.

One of my credit cards had a deal with Amazon so points could be used as cash. Amazon also had RF4 on sale for $19.99. I have it on my n2dsxl so I didn't get it on the Switch. I understand there are some QoL changes. Since it was free, I figured why not. I may not get to playing it til Autumn but it's a good game for that time of year. Be interesting to see it on the tv.

I won't play Animal Crossing for months then become obsessed and play everyday, all day. My one villager I can't do without is Marshall. I've gotten so I don't really care about festivals etc but more in the day to day stuff. It's weird, I guess.

[Code_Name_Geek]

Surprised to see how many people are playing ACNH again! It's what I've been spending the majority of my gaming time on this month as well, and I've been making good progress. I paid off my final loan and finally got the max number of villagers on my island. So far I haven't done much terraforming or outdoor decorating, but I have a theme in mind for my island - I want to decorate it like a national park/campground kind of vibe. But I already feel overwhelmed by the amounts of options and especially the terraforming; I think I might need to watch some videos of similar islands for inspiration. Does anyone know of online island planners like there are for Stardew Valley and similar games?

Besides ACNH, I've been spending the most time on Sonic Heroes. I'm getting near the end with all the teams, but I think I'll need to replay at least one of them and do the special stages to get the true ending? Something like that, I'll see if I actually feel like it when I get there. I'm more excited than ever to finish this one because I finally got my hands on a copy of the Shadow the Hedgehog game, which I'm looking forward to playing after Sonic Heroes. But it will probably still take quite a few more sessions since these last levels are pretty hard.

Other than that, I've played a bit of Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons here and there, but not much else. Thinking of starting a new Stardew Valley file to play all the new updates, since it's been quite a while since I played anything other than multiplayer - maybe since 1.3? I honestly can't remember. My mom has been playing it on her new Steam Deck so I've been hearing the music and it's getting me in the mood to play. I definitely want to do the new farm layout that's optimized for animals, but still need to decide on some stuff like farm name and who to marry.

[Kikki]

I don't think that's weird, K8sMum The big draw of ACNH is the routine.

~

Yeah, Code_Name_Geek, there are planners...I see this one recommended a lot, but there's a 3D one, too. I don't use planners, though, as they confuse me, lol.

~

But I do use an ACNH app. It isn't free! The app costs...uh I think it was $3.99 or $4.99 CAD. But with it you can track every fossil you find, every bug, fish, critter. Every villager. And every DIY and recipe, which is what I wanted it for. I give it a poke and tap the DIY I just found and add it to my list that way. Probably most people wouldn't care about that but I love the thing. It's called ACNH Travel Guide. Great for people with trash memories like me.

[Mikodesu]

Switch is at it again... I was doing my daily ACNH stuff this morning and the fan is juuust barely starting to act up. >:| « Harvest Goddess » dammit, Nintendo, why can't you make decent hardware? From the reading I've done a whole bunch of things can trap heat in this little goblin console, possibly including the railings for the joycons? So I'll start by cleaning the exterior of the thing, and if that doesn't do it I'm gonna get some compressed air and crack it open. Might be worth a try anyway, since that does seem to help, and I could at LEAST try with my older Switch, since that one is otherwise a gonner, so who cares. Use it as the test case.

If I could remember all of my OG Gamecube AC villagers I'd love to have them back. (Unless it was 6 back in the day, I'm missing one...) But they're missing the personality of the original game now, so maybe it's better not to. I remember finding Fang's particular brand of cruelty especially funny... no idea why. Back when Nintendo still had a little edge to them. Festivals were more fun then, too.


Tonight was a Genshin night. Got Chenyu Vale exploration from the 60s up to the 80s-90s percentage wise and got all the spirit carp, so I'm calling that region done. I don't have the time/stamina for hunting down those last few percent when the treasure compass is completely worthless for it. Next up it's back to the last Sumeru region, and then there's several big story quests in Fontaine I've been avoiding. And THEN I'll unlock the newest area, and go through that. If I have the strength.

Hard skipping next update's banners. Gonna be hard to convince me a character is worth building from here on out, I think. Gotta pick something to throw a couple of ten pulls at, though, to make sure I can get June's starbit trade-ins.

[FarmingForDaysMan]

@Kikki I feel you on the placement thing. You can’t plant flowers too close to a house (the first block in front of houses is off-limits), and it’s really annoying.

Yesssss ACNH gang unite. If any of y’all have NSO, y’all should come visit my island :D Or I could share my island dream code once I remember how to get it. Anyways, back around Easter time, I finally finished revamping my island. My island has three tiers (the top one is very small), so the top two tiers consist of a neighborhood surrounded by about four garden areas of varying sizes. The bottom tier/mainland has the campsite and all of the other buildings, plus two orchards—one on each side of the land.

Speaking of, I decided to finally check in with Isabelle to see what my island rating is. I was surprised to learn that the rating is still three stars…until I was provided with suggestions, that is. The first suggestion, which is to decorate my island with more furniture, is definitely plausible. The second one, though? I have an over abundance of trees. My islanders have put in complaints because they feel like they’re gonna get lost in the woods or something. I cracked up when I read that. Too bad for them, because I’d rather be a bellionaire than have a five-star island. My island is beautiful, anyways, and I’m satisfied.
————————
As for progress in Animal Parade, I’m now on day 21 of my first spring; Alan, Collin, and Ben’s bells have been rung; my future husband Gill has been spotted (but not yet officially unlocked); and I should have Daren’s bell rung during the first week of summer. Then Gill will be unlocked, and I can grow tomatoes and gift him with tomato juice the whole summer.

In my original file, I never took the time to befriend anyone besides my targeted future spouse and my children, so I’m not sure how long it will take me to ring Edge’s Bell. Perhaps by Autumn or the end of the year at the latest? I’m planning on attempting what I did in Harvest Moon DS, which was to simultaneously raise the friendship levels of all the rivals and trigger their rival events close enough together that they all have back-to-back weddings. I’ll be sure to squeeze my own wedding somewhere in between the others so that we can all have children at the same time (though I think the rivals have children a lot quicker than you do) xD I have yet to decide on what older/younger, boy/girl combo I want yet. In my original file, I chose to have two girls. I prefer the looks of the older siblings, but you can’t have both; I think I’d probably choose a younger sister over a younger brother, so maybe I’ll do older brother, younger sister.

Anyways, while I’m trying to save up some money for the upcoming festival, I’ve been trying to gather some ore to upgrade my tools with. I’d forgotten what a pain mining is in this game. It’s really annoying when you bring Mira a large amount of ore to refine and then get what seems like 90-100% scrap metal back. I always have the hardest time avoiding the bad gases in the mine, too xD I stayed in the mine way past midnight (I kept pushing through and told myself not to look at the time) and caught a cold for the first time after running into sickness gas, then immediately afterwards ran into sleeping gas. I’d forgotten about the affects of sleeping gas, so I thought I could keep going, but a few seconds later I fell asleep in the mine xD Thankfully I feel asleep before 6 AM, so I was able to get the money that I had earned from the day before and was able to buy some cold medicine from the clinic.

Hopefully by the end of spring I’ll have some upgraded tools, have the second rucksack upgrade, and only need Good Cornmeal to ring Daren’s bell.


Oops, I rambled xD Years ago, there was a topic specifically for AP chat. I miss rambling with the other people who’d also been in that chat

[Code_Name_Geek]

Yeah, Code_Name_Geek, there are planners...I see this one recommended a lot, but there's a 3D one, too. I don't use planners, though, as they confuse me, lol.

Thank you! These both seem useful in different ways. I probably could have found some by searching but it helps to hear which ones are often recommended too.

[Kikki]

I'm currently infuriated by placement of my brick bridge and Nookling's shop when I tried to connect them via a brick path. The colours look great, and WITHOUT the path...it looks pretty nicely lined up. But when I put a path down, lined up with the bridge...it ends up a full space off from being lined up with the Nooklings' entrance! The museum is horrible to try to line up with bridges, inclines or paths, too. Everything has a slightly different width, so nothing perfectly matches up. And the gaps in things! Half spaces left empty between this and that when the game insists that you are using that whole square and can't move any closer...ARGH. Ugly.

Honestly, ACNH is a badly-designed game in many small details, imo. It always feels to me like there is no one on the AC team that loves the game. No one who plays it themselves. Because if anyone DID play it, there wouldn't be so many of these irritations where the game just doesn't work the way you want it to. If any of the dev team played the game themselves, things would at least line up, dang it. And the repeating text and animations wouldn't be so burdensome! Just look at turning in Nook Points for bell vouchers and you know that no one on the team plays themselves or they would never have made it take so long to redeem a stack of ten of them. ONE. BY. ONE. And there would be some batch crafting and crafting-from-inventory options. And buildings would not get in their own way when placing them. You wouldn't have to move a house to an entirely new spot and then move it BACK later, just to move the house over the one space you wanted.

Nintendo has skilled development teams, no doubt, but there often doesn't feel like there's any love there. Games somehow have that extra layer of fun when you can feel how much the devs loved making it. When it feels like they too are lovers of the genre.

The game is good, but there's so much wrong with it, too. So much that could have been great, but misses the mark because it feels like Nintendo doesn't play their own games to realize how cumbersome they've made things. Playing sometimes feels like dealing with the government. It's wrapped in red tape and defined by all the things you can't do, more than by what you can. These are the kind of things that bother you the most because you DO love the game, imo. If I didn't like it, I'd drop the game and not care about it. But I do like it, so the irritations that decrease my fun really pick at me.

The terraforming and outdoor placement is fun, though, if you don't get hung up on the little mismatched gaps and spaces that feel like they shouldn't be there.

(But I do!)

Well, I have stuff to do, that I should already have started on, but I do plan to get back to moving new villagers in sometime today. I think I'll try to replace Reneigh with Shari first. Peggy should be moving in today

Or maybe I'll move on to something else. Haven't decided! But I probably won't drop ACNH again until I've finished getting my new set of villagers and done the construction projects I have planned. And I REALLY want more DIYs. I restarted a year or two ago and I've hardly collected any DIYs yet. I really miss the garden wagon!

[Mikodesu]

Switch overheating confirmed. Cleaned, waited to dry, and played a couple of hours of ACNH to confirm. Fan did kick on, but never high enough to audibly hum, even with an ear pressed to the vent. (Switches are SO hyper sensitive, it's genuinely annoying.) BOY I have a long way to go to get even settled in. Museum isn't open, one section of beach is too full of fish/bugs so it's started to spill onto land. Trying not to look things up, but I still don't have the 'flimsy shovel' recipe, so when my shovel breaks I have to go island hopping and buy one.

I wonder if Pocket Camp is the reason New Horizons has so many odd quirks to its gameplay loop. It does feel very 'mobile game'. Built in tedium, repetitive, addictive. Hm.


Speaking of... More Genshin tonight, finished the final Sumeru area and the Fontaine fairy tale quest. Honestly, that quest chain was better than Fontaine's MSQ. (Filled out the world's lore better, characters involved were more likeable, MUCH shorter, better gameplay, better final gimmick boss. Just better.) Makes me wonder how writing is done in Genshin, because the Fontaine story was just...SO boring. Got a couple more quest chains to power through, and then I'll let myself open up the new area.

Next day edit: The two things I remember really clearly from everyone's Animal Crossing escapades in 2020 is the long, long time it took to get just the right villagers, and the long, long time it took everyone to terraform. Not sure if I'll get to the terraforming stage, but I'm having decent luck with villagers so far. I'd really like different villagers, ones I've never had before, at least at first.

On the very first island I visited, I got Shino--had never seen her before, interesting design. Kinda a similar feel to Audie. Not my usual aesthetic, but we're rolling with it. Few more islands in, I got Cranston. Too similar visually to Shino, but I love him so I couldn't say no. Now we have the long fight for the third addition.

[simside]

Took some time off, but didn't wind up doing much gaming. So everything is about the same!

I've been trying to split the daily workout in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star to do early before work, then the 2nd half after I get home. I hate sitting through the full 40+ minutes, and it helps a bit to do some exercise before and after sitting in the car for my hours-long commute. The 20-minute segments feel more approachable. I had a good routine going until I traveled last week - I didn't have a good enough setup to play there, and then had trouble getting back into the groove when I returned, lol. I did beat the final boss of Battle Mode, which was... uh, weird. Raoh is my trainer now, and he sounds like a drill sergeant (as opposed to Thouzer, the guy before, who sounds like Phil Hartman). I'm almost out of game parts to play, I kinda put off playing them to keep me coming back. I'm still grinding out the achievements, I'm at about 80%. I'll clear out the Raoh and final trainer achievements, and maybe try the (expensive! $25) expansion.

Been (trying) to play Hollow Knight on weekends. Maybe... 7-10 hours in? I have the dash, the super dash, the wall hooks, the soul shot, and... something else I just picked up, the weapon that lets you cut trees? I spent most of today in the crystal cave area, I nearly melted down when I had to negotiate the laser maze several times to beat the boss camping over the save point.

Also put aside SoS:AWL when I traveled, which was sad! I was really hoping to progress through that. Currently in Autumn 1, I'm putting off proposing for as long as it'll let me, lol. Upgraded to copper tools at the end of summer, and slowly filling up my barn (debating just saving up and filling it entirely with the best cow, or getting the ones between). Pretty sure I'm marrying Lumina.

Still plugging away at Pocket Card Jockey, too. The game forced me to retire my last horse (weird! I'd only lost one race, and it was because I attempted a distance race with a sprinting horse, which I shouldn't have done), so I picked one of the horses from the eyepatch doctor guy, the robot horse. This'll be the first of his horses I use, so I get to see his story, but I also picked this one because it was a peak 5 horse, which I haven't tried yet. Oddly, he seems to act like a peak 2 horse (basically, a sprinting horse) in his first couple races, and I'm hoping it doesn't send me through the sprinting circuit again.