Ushi No Tane Forum

I decided to take a break from Vesperia. I just finished the Blade Drifts of Zopheir. For whatever reason, I can't play more than a couple hours at a time. I still love the game, but I'm sure over the last ten years since I last played it, the multitasking most of us have become accustomed to has really killed my ability to focus on just one thing. Plus since this is my fourth playthrough (2nd time for the content contained in the definitive edition), in the back of my mind I know I don't have to pay attention 100%, so that doesn't help

I popped in Animal Parade last night, and was pleasantly surprised. Yet another game I haven't visited in ten years. I barely remember anything about it, so it was almost like a new experience for me. Of all the things to be impressed by, I found the inside of houses to be very detailed for such an old game LOL. Actually, I think there's quite a bit of detail in the environment where there are people living that surprises me. It was just a nice, relaxing experience. Got the red bell rung, currently growing Good Lettuce to finish off the yellow bell.

ryume wrote:Ehppy (and anyone else that needs help navigating the dumpster fire that is KH story), here are a couple different resources if you're interested:

Gamespot's text summary, with a tl;dr at the end of each section AND the very end of the entire article.

A very good YouTube summary that's about 40 minutes long.

Shoot, I didn't see this before, but thank you very much!! I might have to grab a snack and watch that video. It'd be really cool to be actually up to date before diving into KH3. Thanks!

Also, glad to hear you're enjoying Animal Parade again. It's probably my favorite HM, and it's just a super relaxing and pleasant experience. I've been wanting to go back and replay it sometime as well.

I finished Tales of Vesperia! Was a nice trip down memory lane + had some nice new surprises mixed in. Patty is a really great addition, both in story and gameplay.

Now i'm back to Labyrinth of Refrain! I really missed these characters~ However, i've been starting to feel a tad bit of burnout with JRPGs(and indies) lately. I plan on playing through Captain Toad Treasure Tracker after this as a palate cleanser before Caligula drops in March, but I might alternate to it if I get too tired/frustrated with Labyrinth of Refrain.

February is a dead month for me, nothing releasing until Remilore on the 26th. I've certainly got time until then, so i'll just be sloooowly working through my games.

I'm looking into picking up Go Vacation for some much needed 'downtime' gameplay, but it is out of stock EVERYWHERE. I'd like to avoid the overpriced eShop version if I can.

Okay, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daylight: Special Gigs (I'm just gonna call it Tokyo Twilight from now on, as that's too much finger work to use every time) is really cool. Right now I'm basing that statement simply on the fact that it's really different. The art is nice, too. Quite anime, yet with a more hand drawn or painted look. (Example image shown below!)

I don't know about the whole thing, but just the way it works in the most basic way is cool. For every question someone else asks or response that is needed from the main character, you first get to choose a way to respond emotionally...to be friendly contemplative, show love, show anger/aggression, or show sadness. Then you get to choose an action/sense to use: to touch (in the beginning this seems to mostly mean to offer to shake hands...I'm only at the start!), to look, to ...smell?, to listen, or to taste (or kiss, apparently).

So you could meet someone and respond in a friendly way...and then try to lick or kiss them or in some way use your mouth on them, lol. It's not always clear what to do. I mean, if someone is offering you a candy, then to use the mouth/tongue icon does something not at all weird...it takes the candy and tastes/eats it. But in most cases you're probably not going to go around using your mouth on people or objects, ya know? But you can still choose it!

I thought this was just a visual novel with some mystery and/or suspence, but it seems there is strategy and/or battle in here somewhere, too. I really don't know what to categorize this game as, right now. It's neat...though I do completely hate the music and wish I could figure out how to open a menu or settings to turn it off!

Example image. See? Quite 'anime', but sorta looks hand-painted, to me. I'd love to see Bokumono use a style somewhat like this.

Recently beat:

None

Backlog:

(3DS, Nintendo Switch, and PC) = A lot (over 50 games)

Currently playing:

Chaos;Child

Games I have pre-ordered:

Steins;Gate Elite (February 19th, 2019)
Yoshi's Crafted World (March 29, 2019)
Animal Crossing Switch (2019)

Games I want:

Kirby Star Allies (Switch)
Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
Town of Light Deluxe Edition (Switch)
Little Dragons Cafe (Swich)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)
Yo-kai Watch 3 (3DS)
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)
Pokemon 2019 (Switch; will pre-order as soon as possible)

Okay, I bought some games today! I bought Chaos;Child which released on PC/Steam yesterday. It currently has a 10% discount bundled with free DLC/OST for the first week of release only. Also, I bought CAFE 0 ~The sleeping Beast~ which is on sale currently for 40% off on PC/Steam. (I bought the second game in the CAFE 0 series nearly 2 years ago, but I haven't played either entry yet.)

I started playing Chaos;Child and love what I've played so far. Also, I'm proud to note I've now bought 50 games on Steam.

Also, I've decided to put Death Mark and Katamari Damacy Reroll, both for the Switch in my backlog, as I would like to focus on just Chaos;Child for now.

My Gudetama tamagotchi has died 2 times by now. I'm putting it to the side for a bit. It's constant need for attention, and the late-night wake-up calls when you accidentally set the time incorrectly is annoying.

Also, it seems I've only been using Steam [buying games on the website] since 2017. I can't believe it's only been 2 years.

I downloaded the demo for Piczle Colors, launching on the Nintendo Switch on January 31, 2019 at just $12. I haven't played it yet. I hope I enjoy it. But I'm not sure if I'll buy it, because the other Piczle Lines games for the Switch got rather difficult and I got stuck. I might want to play those games more first before I buy a third in the series.

On a side note, my relaxation time will have to be severely cut down starting in February, because I need to study Russian again. I'm taking Intermediate Russian I (one) in late April. I'll post here when I buy new games, or make any significant progress in, or complete, the games I'm playing. My Russian class is online only and lasts from April to July.

Finished Ch 2 of TTGH and it still has a lot of interesting mechanics, but unfortunately it has become absurdly convoluted and the game provides little to no instruction so you have to figure out this semi-nonsensical system by yourself or by combing Google for help from others who managed to figure it out. Honestly, I wish they'd kept it simple and just stuck with the story and not added all these weird mini games and the seemingly random strategic battle sytem. Though at this point I'd say the story is pretty weak and not able to stand for itself.

I think you could complete this quite a few times to get different results, but I'm guessing I'll only want to complete it once. :/

Recently beat:

None

Backlog:

(3DS, Nintendo Switch, and PC) = A lot (over 50 games)

Currently playing:

Chaos;Child

Games I have pre-ordered:

Steins;Gate Elite (February 19th, 2019)
Yoshi's Crafted World (March 29, 2019)
Animal Crossing Switch (2019)

Games I want:

Kirby Star Allies (Switch)
Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
Town of Light Deluxe Edition (Switch)
Little Dragons Cafe (Swich)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)
Yo-kai Watch 3 (3DS)
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)
Pokemon 2019 (Switch; will pre-order as soon as possible)

Sorry for an update so soon. But, I pre-purchased a game on my Switch. Actually, I already have the game on Steam/PC, but the one on the Switch is the HD remake. The game is Planetarian: Reverie of a Little Planet. It's just $10. I haven't played this one yet, either. LOL

On a side note, my relaxation time will have to be severely cut down starting in February, because I need to study Russian again. I'm taking Intermediate Russian I (one) in late April. I'll post here when I buy new games, or make any significant progress in, or complete, the games I'm playing. My Russian class is online only and lasts from April to July.

Gonna put this here cause it really doesn't need it's own thread, tbh. Just some thoughts/musings.

I saw an article about how a lot of game companies are releasing demos/betas early and release dates are becoming more subjective, especially with subscriptions to full releases early and said demos.

On one hand, betas are good for feedback (assuming it is a beta and not just in name [like Fallout76], and they can implement changes) and demos are good for people on the fence to decide if they want to commit to the full purchase or not.

However, I feel like its' still part of this pre-order culture and with the whole paid subscriptions getting early access to demo releases, I don't know how healthy that is for the gaming community is in the long run. Especially since the one company in reference for the article was EA. A lot of games going on different consoles (and planning it early on) often release PC first, get feedback and once consoles are released, they correct the bugs on launch and maybe down the line PC will get the fixes too. Problem is, I don't think the PC should be a designated "guinea pig" console and while there are bugs and stuff always on beginning regardless, it feels less like an "ongoing project" and more of unfinished project.w

Which, for smaller community indie games, ongoing project/WIP is fine. But some of these big name companies I feel like shouldn't be releasing half-assed « Cow Poopoo ». I know time restraints are a thing, but still.

Blue Rose wrote:But some of these big name companies I feel like shouldn't be releasing half-assed « Cow Poopoo ». I know time restraints are a thing, but still.

Not that it's all games, but the incidence of these things certainly seems to be on the rise. And I'm not a fan of beta phases in any case. I get why indie companies have to resort to these things since they don't have the resources to have loads of professionals doing their testing and bug-squashing, but even that I still don't like. I want a complete, bug-free game when I buy, and I never want to play a buggy or unfinished game...it just ruins the freshness of a first true play-through. And it bothers me that that is beginning to sound like an unreasonable thing to expect, because it didn't used to be, even just five years ago.

Rather aside but still related...I'm a little bothered just by the fact that there is an increase in companies these days that are releasing games full of flaws because they know they can just patch it via update after release, if there are complaints. One upon a time (not even THAT long ago) a game had to be nearly perfect before they could release it to the public, because there was no way to fix the problems except to give angry customers their money back. You shouldn't need so much additional space on your console for all the updates and things they make you download...games should be complete on the cartridge.

If I have a computer that can read the disks, I can still play King's Quest 1 on (actual, real) floppy disk. But what if I still have a functioning Switch in 15 years and want to play Ys VIII again, but by then the e-shop is totally different and they no longer have the patch available to download? Sometimes things do get removed from the eshop permanently, after all.

It just feels like games are becoming lower quality and the likelihood of being able to play them for as long as you own them and the system they belong to is slowly being chiselled away due to the developer's ability to continually update and change things via the internet.

Not that I think about this often, but when it comes up, I'm not real happy about it.

On the flipside of the argument, indies do really have a lot of room for maximizing the potential of betas, especially since indies are usually the ones who can afford changes based on feedback from players at that point in the game, while bigger companies seem to be on too tight of a schedule to afford to backup and change stuff at that stage. I don't like a product release unfinished, but depending on the game and the size of the playerbase, some people may find joy in actively assisting/helping shape the development of a game they like. I don't mind waiting for final releases, but it seems like some "beta" or not officially finished games take forever to get to the final "stick a fork in it" stage.

General backlog question...

What do you guys think of collecting games? I mean...I've been considering buying some of the old HM games on Vita/PS3/PS4, just to have them, without any particular desire to actually play them. They're inexpensive AND they go on pretty good sales to boot, sometimes, which makes them really inexpensive, so it's no big deal to just scoop them up for the sake of collecting. I also want to buy Tales of Hearts R even if I don't get inspired to actually play it, and possibly Persona 3 Portable, as well. I just feel like I want to have them in case suddenly that option disappears, and then I regret it. Maybe because Vita is slowly slipping into the abyss...

Is it fair to not include them on my backlog, then, though? I guess if I started playing one, I'd include it, but I might never even glance at it once it's on my console. Though I know this is a silly problem to be pondering over so much. (-__-)

~~~

Also really not doing well on Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters. Booted it up just now and simply couldn't face forcing myself to play. There is NOTHING interesting about the story. Maybe it'll get interesting later, but I don't really support games that are as dull as dishwasher for hours before they show any spark of anything interesting. (And some of them simply never do.) I know some games are slow-starters, but I still find something interesting in the slow build-up when it's a game I like, usually because the characters themselves are interesting even if the story hasn't shown its twists and turns, yet. Cold Steel starts slow, but I loved the beginning. Xenoblade is a very slow build, but also still interesting right from the start, even though you haven't actually discovered the meat of the story yet. Etc. MOST of the games I love have very long stories that don't show their true depth for a long time, but there's still plenty to love about the beginning...and TTGH has none of that, except that the character art design is appealing.

I don't want to abandon it because it feels like a failure but...it's going to be a struggle. If I find someone to give it to I'd feel okay about abandoning it but I don't think anyone would want this, lol. I'm glad I got it less than half price!

I finished as much as I want for Tales of Vesperia, so it's time for Life is Strange 2 Episode 2. Once that is done, I'll be watching the movie for Chain of Memories in preparation for Kingdom Hearts 3 on Tuesday.

Kikki wrote:General backlog question...

What do you guys think of collecting games? I mean...I've been considering buying some of the old HM games on Vita/PS3/PS4, just to have them, without any particular desire to actually play them. They're inexpensive AND they go on pretty good sales to boot, sometimes, which makes them really inexpensive, so it's no big deal to just scoop them up for the sake of collecting. I also want to buy Tales of Hearts R even if I don't get inspired to actually play it, and possibly Persona 3 Portable, as well. I just feel like I want to have them in case suddenly that option disappears, and then I regret it. Maybe because Vita is slowly slipping into the abyss...

Is it fair to not include them on my backlog, then, though? I guess if I started playing one, I'd include it, but I might never even glance at it once it's on my console. Though I know this is a silly problem to be pondering over so much. (-__-)

I think it's fun to collect games. It's one of the reasons why I still have sizable portion of my Nintendo DS and PS2 games. But, since I haven't touched them in years (for some of my DS games, for over a decade), it might be worth it to sell them instead, since most of them I finished ages ago. I can see the appeal of collecting old and new games alike, and the feeling that you might as well buy them to have them, especially when they go on sale [Steam/PC pull is strong for me].But if you don't ever intend to play them, then it is probably a waste of money, unless of course, you're a die-hard fan and love the collection value of these games [in digital or physical format, especially physical]. But it is great to buy them, I agree, because the option to play is always available.

If these are games you don't intend to play/are just for collector's value, then I say don't include them on your backlog.

Although, on a more specific point, I don't see the point of collecting physical, brand-new versions that will never be out of the box, collector's edition box, or even the shrink-wrap or plastic it initially comes in. If a games is old/retro/used or possibly even can no longer function due to old-age/damage and the inaccessibility of the necessary parts, then yeah, go for it!! They're seriously cool, especially physical versions!

--------------

Recently beat:

None

Backlog:

(3DS, Nintendo Switch, and PC) = A lot (over 50 games)

Currently playing:

Chaos;Child
Piczle Lines DX

Games I have pre-ordered:

Steins;Gate Elite (February 19th, 2019)
Yoshi's Crafted World (March 29, 2019)
Animal Crossing Switch (2019)

Games I want:

Kirby Star Allies (Switch)
Luigi's Mansion (3DS)
Town of Light Deluxe Edition (Switch)
Little Dragons Cafe (Swich)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)
Yo-kai Watch 3 (3DS)
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)
Pokemon 2019 (Switch; will pre-order as soon as possible)

On a side note, my relaxation time will have to be severely cut down starting in February, because I need to study Russian again. I'm taking Intermediate Russian I (one) in late April. I'll post here when I buy new games, or make any significant progress in, or complete, the games I'm playing. My Russian class is online only and lasts from April to July.

Well, with the month winding down, I'll put my progress down since my next game will be Kingdom Hearts 3 and I know I won't finish that in February.

Games I finished
Spider-Man
« Harvest Goddess » of War
Travis Strikes Again No More Heroes (Also bought this month)
Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition (Also bought this month)
Life is Strange 2 Episode 2
The Walking Dead Final Season Episode 3 (Currently playing, but will definitely beat)

Games I bought
Fairy Fencer F
Mages of Mystralia
Atelier Sophie ~The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book~
The Darkside Detective (Given to me)
Knock 'Em Down Bowling (No real achievements or anything, so it's just for fun)
Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier

Games I'm currently playing
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Kingdom Hearts 3 (SOON!)

Harvest Moon kawaii wrote:I think it's fun to collect games. It's one of the reasons why I still have sizable portion of my Nintendo DS and PS2 games. But, since I haven't touched them in years (for some of my DS games, for over a decade), it might be worth it to sell them instead, since most of them I finished ages ago. I can see the appeal of collecting old and new games alike, and the feeling that you might as well buy them to have them, especially when they go on sale [Steam/PC pull is strong for me].But if you don't ever intend to play them, then it is probably a waste of money, unless of course, you're a die-hard fan and love the collection value of these games [in digital or physical format, especially physical]. But it is great to buy them, I agree, because the option to play is always available.

If these are games you don't intend to play/are just for collector's value, then I say don't include them on your backlog.

Thanks for your input, Harvest Moon kawaii At the very least, of the 5 or 6 games I'm considering, I think I've GOT to get Tales of Hearts R, as I'm not sure I'd be into it, but I'm a huge Tales fan, and if it ever became unavailable to buy and I hadn't gotten it yet, I would definitely be cursing myself, lol. If I do start playing it, I'll put it on my backlog.

I wish there was somewhere around here where you can trade in games. I'd love to ditch Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters and would feel better about it if trading it in were an option. (The town I live in is very, very far from being a gamer's mecca. It's just the first syllable...I live in a gamer's meh of a town. Even kids don't really talk about gaming much in this town, let alone adults!) The controls are such a neat idea and it's nice that you're asked for input so often, but the story is of no interest to me at all thus far, and the game keeps introducing more side bits, everyone of them pointlessly complicated. That's how I feel about it, anyway. I am just Not Having Fun. I looked up how to get the one ending I'm interested in and apparently it's difficult to get (tending to default to others, first) and would require some quest grinding, which...no thanks! I don't like the strategic battle aspect they've included so I don't want to spend extra time on it, lol.

Oh yes and speaking of PlayStation games...I LOVE the little avatar they let me use on my PlayStation account. I kind of wish I was that little icon person. Just...felt the need to express my love, today.


Yeah, I don't know why I love her so much, either. But I do. :D Looking at her makes me slightly giddy, lol.