I finally beat one of the story modes for Sonic Heroes! The Team Sonic final boss fight was one of the jankiest battles in the whole game (which is saying a lot for this game) - I kept dying by hitting the boss whenever I boosted over the ramps to chase after them! It happened so often that I literally took a video of the TV to send to my friends. Very frustrating in the moment but I finally beat it after many tries. Then I went and quickly finished Team Rose as well since it's basically an easier version of the story (I just wanted to finish Team Sonic first). Now I just have two boss fights and two levels each for Team Dark and Team Chaotix, and then I think there's something I have to do to get the true ending that's probably going to be really hard. We'll see if I make it there! Feels like I'm finally getting close to starting the Shadow the Hedgehog game which I'm so unbelievably excited to play.
Other than that I've been playing a ton of Stardew Valley. I'm near the end of the first fall now and I've gotten to the bottom of the mines, upgraded my barn and coop once each, upgraded my house, and gotten a gold watering can (which makes watering sooo much easier since I still plant in 9x9 squares out of habit). My two big goals right now are to plant fruit trees before winter begins so I'll have them for Year 2 (I think? Well they'll be started anyways) and to make a bunch of money to unlock the bus to the desert so I actually have something to do during winter. I have five kegs going already so I hope I'll be able to manage both of those soon enough.
I've taken a bit of a break from Animal Crossing since it was starting to get tedious, but I just bought the DLC since it was on sale so I think I'll get back into it with that to look forward to. I really like designing houses so hopefully it scratches that itch for me.
I've been pretty efficient since getting into a somewhat lax style of bullet journaling (the really tightly organized, pristinely pretty style is beyond me.) I even put in the games I mean to play, as well as 'take a nap at X o'clock!' and so on. It looks like a very wimpy to-do list sometimes, but seriously...it helps, both productivity and rest. I can't believe that I need as much rest as I do, but without it, everything goes down the tubes.
But now that I'm doing this quasi bullet-journaling, I really have no use for Spirit City. I did get all three of the new spirits, though! I think I'm level 18.
I keep pushing my trophy run of CSII forward. I think I'm awake enough to do some more tonight. Oh! But I should also get back to Pikmin 4. I've been away from it long enough that I might be able to get back into it. I keep forgetting about it until I look at my game list. (I have lists for EVERYTHING. I have no actual memory, so I have to store my thoughts externally, lol.) I had just the ending left of Ys VIII replay as well, iirc. I left a bunch of things hanging to go off and play ACNH. I've already completed 13 games in 2024, though.
Oh, I remembered my other villagers! My player character villagers, that is. My original town was Windfall, and when I got a Switch Lite, I made a new town. Eventually, I loaded Windfall's three other player characters with everything I could...all my best stuff and money...and sent them over to my Lite Town (I don't even remember it, though!) Then I forgot about them for quite a while. Then I remembered! And I sent them back to my original Switch's NEW town.
Then I forgot about them again, lol. BUT...I remembered them a few days ago, and unloaded the main one (Scirocco) of much of her stuff...all that great stuff from my original town, mostly really nice clothes, which Illusion is still sadly lacking in. Now her wardrobe is MUCH better. Now I just have to open the game as Zephyr and Mistrelle, dump their goodies out for Illusion to scavenge, and I'll have taken back years-old treasures. I have LOADS of the wedding stuff, which is beautiful in the 'garden' style. I need to set something up with that.
I'm not bored yet. I still have to get Kitty into Wodewyrd, and Elmer, too. Then I'm done. 5 more days and I'll have my perfect cast of really ordinary, forgettable villagers. I absolutely love Blanche, though, and Peggy is also pretty great. (I have Twiggy as well at the moment but she's on her way out as soon as Kitty is on her way in! I can't stand having two peppies in town at once! I'll have 2 snooties and 2 lazies, and just one of every other type. My best mix to fill all 10 villager spots.)
Coffee Talk was a new completion, as was Fabledom. Pikmin 4 will be a new completion, too and I hope to do it within June. It's actually going pretty well in spite of all my replay time! I will probably have finished 15 or even 16 games within 2024 by the time June is over.
There's been a lot more people online lately in FFXIV. Not like, staggering amounts, but my queue has gone from singular numbers to double digits in the past week. It's nice to feel like the game is going to be living and breathing again instead of just handfuls of people here and there. And yeah, if there's a queue at all, then the server is full, but I so rarely bump into large groups of people unless I'm in Limsa (which is THE hangout spot that I avoid like the plague). In just over 20 days, the game will be hopping again - but here's hoping the queues don't go into the thousands again, haha. There's really nothing quite like playing an expansion at its peak, and I'm really looking forward to it.
As for actual gaming things I've been doing in FFXIV, not much besides collecting minions (pets). I am missing 18 of the marketboardable minions, and they're all very, very expensive. I have around 15 mil gil sitting in my pockets that I'm pretty much saving for my inevitable music scroll grind in Dawntrail - but whenever I get around another 500k, I've been buying minions. Now in the home stretch, some of those minions ARE 15 mil+! I don't think I'd ever spend that much on a minion. I've honestly never gone above 600k because usually they're not worth more than that. Still though, I check the prices daily - sometimes you get a deal from an undercutter!
Whew, it's been a while. Been crazy busy with life, so most of my gaming has been puzzles or stuff I feel like replaying (like BOTW, missed my infinite bombs). I've actually added a few more things to the backlog rather than taken off because of deals, releases, and lack of time. Most significantly, I started the Paper Mario Remake with my kids and we are only in the second area, and I started Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes. In Hundred Heroes, I just got to the point where the "town building" aspect begins, which for me was about ten hours in, but I also paused and explored a lot. It seems to be shaping up to be very fun.
In other gaming plans, I think I ought to try logging in to FFXIV before the mad rush to keep my account active so I can go back to it eventually. I also am keeping an eye out for news on a physical release of the new Fantasy Life.
Switch FC: SW-8584-8673-8689
(Polliwog)
Palia Character: Patrice Nova
I know some people didn't like the look of it but I'm very excited for the new Dragon Age game. The graphics and gameplay never mattered much to me, I'm just invested in the story - Inquisition is my least favourite of the games so far, so I'm not expecting the fourth installment to be much better, but I still want to find out what happens. Plus, my brother just got a PS5 and we're going to be living together again next year, so I'm definitely going to be able to play it...
Anyway, in other news, got My Time at Sandrock for the Switch for my birthday. I put hours into Portia on the Switch and have been waiting to make sure the Sandrock port is at least playable (unlike early Portia builds lol) before getting into it. I find Portia less fun on PC for some reason, I really need to be comfortable in bed to play it. I'm excited to start playing later tonight.
Been slowly working my way through Hollow Knight. I almost quit over the weekend, which I never do, because I ran into a miniboss that spawned infinite aerial enemies and couldn't beat it, then moved on and ran into another boss that made you fight multiple at once. Couldn't beat either of them, and the second one was not near a save point. Went back to the first one, bought some badges and a new notch (after farming some money, because I lost 2k in currency at the first boss -_-), then changed my setup. Managed both bosses, along with... Notch? Something? The spider boss that spits acid, who was terrible but at least wasn't spawning multiple enemies. Before that cluster, also beat the boss that gives down-dash, and a few minibosses before that. Which was a bit more of a rush than I like, but I've been doing a lot of exploring and was wondering where they were. Still have no idea what my progress is. A bit less than 20 hours in. It's not super-gripping me, and currently has a bad taste due to the bosses, but at least I didn't leave off with a battle to fight.
Have been sticking to my goals with Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star. Daily workouts for 2 weeks! Whoo! I've actually got 91% of the achievements, and vaguely want to complete, but I don't know what that will entail. I think there's around 20 left, but it hides most until you earn them. But I've completed most of the content (just about finished completing Battle Mode on all difficulties, and only have a few Free Workout to complete on hard as well). I'll probably finish the last two achievements on the final trainer this weekend, then buy the DLC. That won't add trainers, achievements, or anything like that, but at least I won't be playing battle mode again.
Finally won a triple crown in Pocket Card Jockey! This still isn't the final King's Gate challenge... maybe someday I can play a different puzzle game. Also still making slow progress on SoS:AWL. Just about finished with Chapter 1, I've been trying to get the last few heart events. I've been getting a bit discouraged with a lot of the content being time-gated, which is this game's thing, so it may just not be my flavor. I do like the remake, like, a lot better than my attempts at the originals, but I guess I'll see how I feel when it opens up farming and ranching a bit more.
I'm feeling fairly done with ACNH again, but I do still have a few projects in mind. The villager's side of the island (the east) is largely done as it's pretty full. The ravine takes up most of the space and you can't place anything on it as it is permanently landscaped with shrubs, flowers and pathing (and a few trees). I still have to do the courtyard behind Nooklings'. I should probably also put the surfboard collection up there, and a more populated northern beach.
On the player side of the island, the singing cliffs are complete, but I still need a DIY area, a new campsite, and a long outdoor flower shop/greenhouse. I already have two garden wagons made since I thankfully went to a fall island via Kapp'n and there were COSMOS on it! Plus my own bloomed today. But still, I only had enough to make 2 wagons, and then I can make 2 again tomorrow or the next day (not sure how long it takes flowers to re-bloom). I must have all 4 colours.
~
But really, I'm onto Cold Steel now. I only have the final dungeon left to do. I can largely ignore the monsters there and just fight, what, five of the game's toughest boss battles. Meh. But even on nightmare, I'm very high level and very well-equipped, so it should be okay. Have to remember to wait for the boss' summons. That's the only thing I have left to do to get the platinum trophy. (Well, that and actually finish this Nightmare run, but that's coming up fast.) Gotta make sure not to S-Craft bomb the bosses! I WANT to, but I need to let two of them fight long enough to get out their summons so I can scan them. In previous runs, I killed them so fast they never got a chance to call their summons, but I need to finish off this bestiary.
This series is SUCH a monster. SO long and detailed, by the time you get to the end of CSII, you want to go back and replay the first game, because the details from it feel like they happened YEARS ago, and there are just so many of them to sort through. If you like lore and world-building, Falcom's your guy. Ys is like this, too, though not as heavy-handed...lore is more lightly sprinkled and more found by exploring than by exposition dumps.
I'm super into it right now, though. Weirdly, this replay is making me want to run out and get Reverie and Daybreak, though I haven't been wanting them at all, before. Gotta calm down! I have 2 more games to replay for platinum before I'd even get to Reverie, and I'll probably be burnt out on it by then and go back to not particularly wanting Reverie or Daybreak.
~
This 'help me write' option in my browser is freaking me out.
Spoiler:
I feel like I could be talking entirely to a form of AI before long. As if, in ten or twenty years, no one will be choosing their own words any more. Maybe it doesn't work that way, but just seeing it is freaking me out, like when my email client offers to rewrite my emails for me in whatever conversational tone I choose. No thank you, dammit...writing is one of the few things I need no help with!
To me it's like some little voice in your head is asking if you want to sound friendlier while talking to Joe-across-the-street, and if you DO, it will step in and tone up your vocal chords to a certain pitch and intonation, and write the script for you to speak in that chosen tone. Then if you want, you can choose to speak to Susan-in-the-office in a formal tone. New words will be chosen for you, and your voice will automatically be pitched a little lower, to make you sound more serious and mature.
I've been trying to pull Sethos in Genshin with the pittance of primos we're getting, ...and I pulled Chevreuse, who is not only not on the banner, but is also the only other 4* character I'm missing. Now I'm just missing Sethos and I have a feeling I won't manage to pull him in time, but, whatever, if Chevreuse can randomly come home months after her focus, so can he.
Chevreuse? Poor girl! (If that's a girl. Or a woman.) WHY did they basically name her goat cheese? Her name is Goat Cheeser (fem). I mean there's a French commune by that name, too, but in English at least, communes tend to have odd or fanciful names.
~
ACNH is going fine, of course. Today will be my second day inviting Elmer to be a camper, which means that tomorrow, I am DONE with all of this villager juggling for good. Woo! I think I have as close as I can get to the perfect set of villagers for what I wanted...relatively natural-looking villagers who could primarily be described as forgettable.
~
Otherwise I'm TRYING to finish CSII. Progressing well, but I'm at the very, very end, now...and the Loa Luciferia fight on nightmare is...well, it's a nightmare. I get frustrated if I even try to describe why, but he continually spawns about 8 helpers, most of whom buff and heal him every turn, and he is very hard to damage and is continually wiping your whole party out. It's...yarg. I'm going to have to set everyone up differently. Fie must have Shining on her so I don't have to worry about her at all and can concentrate on protecting the others...let them cluster together so that buffs can cover them all.
Yep, gonna have to spend half an hour or an hour going through acccessories and orbments, and even when perfectly kitted, I'll probably have to try half a dozen more times. Yaaaay...
Stupid nightmare achievement. But it's the only one left.
EDIT: I know some people hate the end of CSII, since the ending isn't really even story-related.
Spoiler:
You could watch the final boss battle and it wouldn't even story-spoiler you...all the story content is already done by then. But I think it's actually really uniquely done. First you see Rean from the other side in the Divertissement, which I think is eye-opening...and then you get to spend the very end just enjoying the final days/moments of your student life. The last tiny dregs of Class VII's carefree youth, before they all have to switch to adult mode for good in CSIII and IV. You could see that as pointless. It doesn't further the story at all. But as the whole heavy-handed friendship schtick was my jam, I appreciate that they gave us a moment to glorify it, even though it doesn't further The Lore.
But I hate Loa Luciferia. It was frustrating even on easy difficulty.
I've played a few hours of My Time at Sandrock over the past few days and it's REALLY cool to see the step-up since Portia. You can really see where they've learned and improved and how they've used their bigger budget this time around. There are a few things I don't like as much (a lot of mechanics feel like they've been complicated for no reason INCLUDING the UI) but aside from that I really like it.
My main problem is it's so STRESSFUL. Portia was always the type of game I'd play in bed while half asleep - it was complicated but once you knew what you were doing you felt like you were handling a lot with very little effort. I'm fighting for my life in Sandrock. I'm running around trying to find someone in the maze of a town and suddenly my machines are out of water and I forgot to collect morning dew and I have no wood or stone because I used all my stamina killing a cow for its horn. I remember early game Portia being similar but this is really ramped up. I've also seen that some of the later quests have time limits which is insane to me. I'm currently writing this putting off playing it because I'm tipsy and want to sober up before commiting to a day at my workshop.
Kikki wrote: ↑Jun 14, 2024 3:14 am
Chevreuse? Poor girl! (If that's a girl. Or a woman.) WHY did they basically name her goat cheese? Her name is Goat Cheeser (fem). I mean there's a French commune by that name, too, but in English at least, communes tend to have odd or fanciful names.
I have no idea LOL. She's from the 'France' of the game, and a lot of characters (mostly NPCs) have really silly French names. It's kind've the same in all of their regions - lots of characters with names that directly translate into food, colors, ect.
Wow, midnighttherabbit, that's surprising! I found Sandrock so much LESS stressful than Portia. I had to wind down before bed to be able to fall asleep after a session with Portia. It gave me palpitations, trying to keep up with the deluge of carbon steel bars that everything required, and keeping ahead of that cheater, Higgins. I found Sandrock's layout easier to memorize, and I found I was fighting deadlines much more in Portia, and hardly ever in Sandrock. Juggling multiple commissions felt so much easier and I was coming first over all my rivals by the second season. Perhaps you're missing some essential equipment or something. Or the systems don't suit you as well.
~
I got Elmer. Savannah's on her way out. And I got my FINAL FOSSIL, too. As I thought, I was only missing a stego skull. So my roster of villagers is complete, and the fossil wing of the museum is complete. I feel pretty done with ACNH, but no doubt some day the game will insist I come back yet again.
I don't want to go back to Loa Luciferia. I'm TRYING to convince myself just to go in and re-equip my main party, see if I can give them enough arts and accessories to make them all immune to the worst status effects. I won't let myself start CSIII until I finish this nightmare of a nightmare run. (It was fine until this very last fight, though!)
EDIT: Woo, got it! Loa Luciferia is a goner. Only took one try after re-equipping. Thank goodness. Nightmare run complete. And that is my platinum trophy for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II. Oh, btw, those mirror objects you can buy at the very end of the game for a terrifying price...they carry over to NG+ and some of them are particularly effective against LL, even on Nightmare.
Once again...I'm dropping Animal Crossing. It was fun for a while, but the more time I spent with it, the more it felt like I was playing an abandoned mobile game. Mobile games ime are generally only fun because you know more content is coming. Repetitive grind with some stated, eventual goal. Like if there was a reasonable way to get all the DIYs, I think I'd stick it out. But there's not, and a lot of the soul of the older games is gone, and so too shall I be.
I think at this point if I pick up any Animal Crossing content between now and the next game it'll either be popping into my New Leaf file or...ironically, going back to Pocket Camp.
Ran through the Genshin RTS event yesterday. I wish there was a way to make those more difficult. They're fun, but you can tell they were designed with the "Genshin is my first videogame" set in mind. Sigh. So in the meantime I'm going back and cleaning up exploration. It works. Found a few chests I missed back in Enkanomiya. Leveled up a couple of weapons.
In Star Rail, I've all but decided to wish on Firefly on my alt account. It sounds fun having a character I know I won't use on my main account. And if I get her, then I'll for sure run through the main story again. Main account is just grinding up mats to tick over a few more talents to 10.
One more game...! I started a new file in Elden Ring tonight! It's been 4 days short of 2 years since I played the last time, and I don't know WHY but I was really nervous about starting the game up again. Would it be too difficult, would it melt my computer (Fromsoft CANNOT make a PC port, to this day)? No to both! My only complaint so far is forgetting the controls repeatedly. I've forgotten how to get around, but I remember the jist of things early on: major landmarks, what bosses were in what dungeons, etc.
I'll probably play my new file until the day the DLC drops. Boy I hope we get access to Torrent in the DLC area. I'm not sure we do, because the VERY little footage I've let myself watch, I've yet to see anybody ride on Torrent, but... We shall see. Maybe you just have to go get him again...based on the announcement art with Miquella (?) riding him.
Even in the likely event that I get my « Cow Poopoo » kicked in and don't finish the DLC, I'll get to experience most of it before it's spoiled. All with a cohort of strangers who gratefully can't jump into my game to gank me. Whee
They dropped ACNH way too fast. They gave the impression on release that they'd be updating it for 'years'...iirc, they even tweeted exactly that...but they only did so for one year, then dumped a bunch of new items on us and called it quits. AC is a game that's meant to be played regularly from release to the end of the console life, imo. It needs quarterly updates to keep the island feeling alive. They don't need to be big 2.0 things, just new one-day festivals, or surprise monthly items like New Leaf, or...anything that makes the game not feel abandoned, like something unexpected could still happen.
The villagers are the worst they have ever been. I was looking at an AC website, at things like villager quotes, and the amount of dialogue for each villager type has shrunk to about 30% of what it was in New Leaf. Seriously: worst they have ever been. The most boring, repetitive, and samey. And the festivals are less unique than ever. Everything felt...is 'phoned in' the term? ACNH did not feel like it was made with love. It felt like it was made under obligation, and maybe duress as well. It's well-made, and it looks good and runs smoothly, but the content is flat and dry and without flavour.
But it's pretty okay as a daily dose of collect-a-thon. And if you're just going on ten minutes a day to see what 3-4 new DIYs you get (one from the beach, one from a crafting or cooking villager, one on the beach of the archipelago, and one from the restaurant on the archipelago. And maybe one from a boat or plane tour, if you have the patience do do all of those things rather than just run around your own town to see what two cards you can acquire there.) and a few months go by, sometimes you'll find that you've acquired enough recipes and items to finally make that surf shop, or construction area, or *insert project idea here*, and then for a few days you'll play a bit longer.
But that's about all there is left. Going back in to collect items you missed, and maybe trying out a new idea that caught your fancy. There's no content left to explore, no surprises to encounter. But it can still be nice as a little daily checklist item, just to see what your daily DIYs and visitors and items are.
Much more interested in my CSIII trophy run. I can't remember who or what the final boss of this game is, at the moment, but I hope they're not as cheap as Loa Luciferia. Not that I don't have some sympathy for old LL, but I don't ever want to see a boss who spawns 8 healing and buffing helpers every other turn. I don't know if I could have beaten him on Nightmare without the Witch's Mirror. I'm glad I'm on to a new entry! The graphic upgrade is strange, now that I've gotten used to looking at I and II again. And Rean looks so much more mature in just one year. Well, I guess it would have been the kind of year that would age a guy like him a lot, especially without, er...spoiler.
Though I doubt anyone here who hasn't already played the game is ever going to, at this point.
I may be too tired to play, today. I have things I need to do, and it's going to be hard to get THEM done, without anything additional stuck into the schedule. I think I need to go back to bed more than get in some trophy-run time.
Somehow, without having an account for BackerKit, I have a Switch key paid for, for SunnySide. I appear to have backed for that on: 09/07/21.
I did keep getting Sunny Side Backerkit update emails and vaguely thought I had signed up for something in regards to it, but I checked, and I didn't have an account at Backerkit. I was getting emails from them, yet my email wasn't registered with them, so I thought maybe I just imagined it, or misremembered, or had signed up for a newsletter, which might only need your email address without a need to sign up for an account. But...no. I kept getting emails, and I just got an email that said keys are going out for the release (for Steam) and told me all the steps I would need to follow, suggesting that we might need to sign up for Backerkit first. So I signed up on Backerkit, which still had no record of my email, even though it was sending me emails to the email it did not have recorded. Sure enough, Sunny Side was saved under 'Your Surveys', and there was a receipt with that date on it, for something like £22.
HUH. So...I own SunnySide on Switch? I won't be getting my key until August, but apparently I already own it, paid for three years in advance. What a peculiar little surprise I have sent my future self! I mean, my present self. This dazed and confused me that is talking right now.
Huh. Seriously...what? When'd I do this? No, I KNOW when, don't I? July 9th of 2021! (Or is that September 7th?) But...what? I did? Huh. I guess I'll be playing SunnySide this year! Jeepers, I don't even know if I'm interested in SunnySide any more. It looked super cool when it was first announce but felt like it was getting weirder as time went on and I started to lose interest.
I'd better actually play the demo on my Deck, lol. I tried it but quit because it glitched out as soon as I completed my character customization, and I never went back. I'd better try again, since apparently this is a game I already own! (Except on Switch.)
Seriously, what the heck, me? Also, what did I pay? What was £22 worth in CAD three years ago??
Gotta go out and clean the rain gutter, now, before my sister wakes up and freaks out at seeing me climb a ladder. (She gets stressed seeing me on a step-stool, guys. Sure, I'm a bit wobbly, but that's ridiculous!)
Kikki wrote: ↑Jun 16, 2024 5:04 am
Somehow, without having an account for BackerKit, I have a Switch key paid for, for SunnySide. I appear to have backed for that on: 09/07/21.
Hey Kikki, just a heads up, Sunnyside devs have changed their minds on the switch port. I think it was something about them not being able to get it to work properly, I'm not fully sure, but on their socials they have confirmed that they will not be going through with the switch port anymore, so I'd reccomend trying to see if you're able to get that swapped to a steam code or if you have a ps5 to see if they can swap the switch code for that!
Very frustrating in the moment but I finally beat it after many tries. Then I went and quickly finished Team Rose as well since it's basically an easier version of the story (I just wanted to finish Team Sonic first). Now I just have two boss fights and two levels each for Team Dark and Team Chaotix, and then I think there's something I have to do to get the true ending that's probably going to be really hard. We'll see if I make it there! Feels like I'm finally getting close to starting the Shadow the Hedgehog game which I'm so unbelievably excited to play.
I'm TRYING to convince myself just to go in and re-equip my main party, see if I can give them enough arts and accessories to make them all immune to the worst status effects. I won't let myself start CSIII until I finish this nightmare of a nightmare run. (It was fine until this very last fight, though!)
