Backlog 2021

[Bluie]

Keeping my ps4 unplugged atm just in case the power goes out

Word. It's been off and on every 30 min here today. I managed to get onto Genshin to grab my freebies and then turned my PS4 right off again.

I've been playing Summer Pockets today mostly. It's made me wheeze laugh several times and none of the heroines are obnoxious so far! Huzzah! Other than that I've almost cleared all the songs in easy mode in Project Diva Megamix. No way in hell am I going for perfects. I've really only been playing my favorites and ignoring songs I dislike/don't know, but I think I have around 6 left before I move onto clearing everything in Normal. I'm kinda bummed a few of my favorites are stuck behind DLC. Kokoro is such a popular Vocaloid song and I think it's really dumb they locked it behind a paywall, but at the same time I get it, it prints money. I bought one DLC pack because it had 2 songs in it I like, but the other three, eaugh, they're extremely irritating to listen to. All the other songs that come with Kokoro also fall into the 'wow I hate this' category, so it's unlikely I'll end up buying it.

[Daikon boy]

Ys viii is on sale...but I can't buy it unless somebody else gives me some surprise money and nobody is giving me any money so. Gotta hope it goes on sale again for golden week or something I guess.

Someone plugged my ps4 in for some reason, at some point, and I really don't know why, but we haven't had any power outages yet thankfully. I played a little bit, and then shut it down for dinner, so I want to go back and finish up the chapter I was working on. Might unplug it before I go to sleep though just in case. The weather is apparently going to be changing in a few days (my leg usually hurts a few days/a day before things like that, usually when a storm is coming in but I guess it's a big enough difference. My leg was hurting when I woke up so I asked and the weather prediction lined up with what I was feeling, so. It's pretty accurate when it happens. I'll be sad to see the snow melt soon, but I'm glad There's less chance of a power outage soon, and I'll probably be able to get my game on time.)


@Bluie

Hope the power outages are getting better for you so you can play your games, and, you know, have power.

[Bluie]

@Bluie

Hope the power outages are getting better for you so you can play your games, and, you know, have power.

It got better starting yesterday. Even though it spent the better part of the day snowing, we didn't lose power at all. I actually took advantage of it and played through Project Triangle Strategy in console mode and then got completely caught up in Genshin Impact. PTS is going to be a very hard hitter for me next year, because I adored every second of playing it and went "NOOOOOOO-!" when the 'Thank you for playing' screen came up.

With Genshin, I think I've hit a good point to take a break. I got my main party to level 80, I did everything the Lantern Rite had to offer story-wise, and I'm ready for whenever the next update drops. I will grind talent and weapon materials another day, because for now that game is offering characters I don't care about and I want to play other things. Shame I wasn't able to get Diona's last two constellations. Oh well, next time!

----

So I'm actually going to strike Monster Hunter Stories off my list for an interesting reason. I completely forgot the game has an Anime adaption! I stumbled upon it while I was looking for something else and honestly, I never realized it got properly licensed for streaming. It's pretty highly rated on Funimation, so I plan on watching it instead of replaying the game - plot is more or less the same, so it'll be a refresher regardless. Planning on starting it on whatever day I have off of work next week. Won't be doing the same for Blue Reflection as it's Anime seems to be a spin-off rather than an Adaption.

I'm also going to pick up Neko Tomo again (had set it aside to focus on other things) to mainly keep my hands busy when I'm watching things. It's not a game that requires a ton of your attention and I'd like to finish it for the sake of having it done and moving on. However, I want to try and finish Omori and Summer Pockets right now the most. I haven't made any progress in Omori since my last jaunt with it, but I managed to get into Shiroha's route in Summer Pockets and plan to work on it in the next few days.

Work is gonna be cray though. We just went through extreme weather and I work in an area that is going to need a lot of help to get it back to where it was. Gotta go in early today and probably the next and the next and the next until everything is back to normal. At least the roads are drivable again!

[greensara]

I hope you like the Monster Hunter Stories anime Bluie. My husband's a big anime watcher and he came across that anime when he was browsing titles. I thought it was nice he remembered me playing that game (brought it to his friend's wedding, lol) and thought it could be something to watch together. Um, no, I couldn't make it through the first episode, but that's me. I do want to pick the game back up and finish it before the new one is out though.

I think I am at least halfway through Portia if I remember correctly. I was wanting to build the factory as soon as possible this time and put off the house upgrades, but the factory hasn't become available yet. I read it comes after the harbor portion, but I don't remember.

I like the new additions in Stardew Valley and couch co-op is fun but a bit hard to get a lot done with the clock not stopping in menus. I pause pretty much everything I play, and sometimes it's a good chunk of time before I am able to get back. That's why I don't think I will be doing multiplayer too often. I have the same problem with Tetris 99, which I adore, but usually have to do when the kids are asleep for that very reason.

Also I am very miffed to find out this morning that the Skyward Sword joycons pre-orders are already sold out and I didn't even know pre-orders were open yet. Irreverent scalpers are already trying to dupe people on eBay. Grrrr....

[Kikki]

I feel grooooooss today. Head and stomach both leaden and uncomfortable, joints sore...just blah. I restarted Dragon Quest Builders (the first game, not the second) yesterday, but I have no motivation for those kinds of games. Any kinds. Or so I thought. Then I remembered Farm Together.

It's a weird game that I think I might be able to play in just about any state. It's pure, cute farming...not pure ugly farming, like Farming Simulator. There's multiplayer if you want it (I never use it) and there's DLC if you want it, but it's the kind of thing that gives you a few extra customization option and a couple new crops, but nothing you need...stuff you'd only buy if you just can't get enough of the game and want to expand it as much as possible.

I'm gonna plug it, because...

Features:

Spoiler:

• Very soothing soundtrack (but it might put you to sleep!)
• Choose your farm terrain type
• Your crops can't die
• Character customization and tractor customization.
• You have a farm level, a player level, and individual crop levels (field crops, animal crops, fish crops...ALL crops have levels.) You can unlock new crops/animals/etc in all different ways, by levelling up your personal level, farm level, or by raising the level of specific crops high enough. Like getting good at regular asparagus to unlock white asparagus later on.
• Farm customization in buildings/fences/etc...if you like it, you can make your farm VERY decorative (though the more decorative, the less practical, and I'm always pragmatic about my farming.)
• Day/night and 4-seasons time cycle. Each season lasts 15 minutes, and each season is about 3/4 daytime and 1/4 nighttime, so the scenery is continually shifting just a tiny bit. Season affects what you can plant (and in trees, it affects what you can harvest.)
• 72 + 12 FIELD CROPS: 42 veggies, 6 fruits, 7 types of 'grape', 2 nut, 6 cereal/grain, 4 mushroom, 4 spice, 1 fabric, 12 DLC, changing list of EVENT crops (if you choose to participate in events for the rewards, often special decor...I hardly ever participate because I hate limited time stuff that makes me feel like I have to rush.)
• 46 TREE CROPS: 25 fruit, 5 nut, 5 vegetable, 4 flower, 2 'diamond' (special type of currency, mostly for buying decor and certain facilities) 2 spice, 1 mushroom, 1 fabric, 1 cereal/grain, 9 DLC trees and changing event trees.
• 52 FLOWER CROPS
• 27 FISH CROPS
• 59 LIVESTOCK: 5 types of chicken, 4 of ducks, 4 of cows, 5 of pigs, 5 of donkeys, 5 of sheep, 5 of goat, 6 of rabbit, 6 of horse, 2 of alpaca, 5 of turkey, 3 of ostrich, 4 of deer. No DLC animals, a few event animals (not many).
• There are 2 main types of currency. Coins and gems. Coins are like regular money, which you buy most of your crops and animals and feed with, while gems are special currency, used for unlocking new plots of land, special facilities and decorations, etc. There are also ribbons, which take more work to earn since they are only available via farming request rewards.
• Every crop/animal/etc has different profit ratios as well as different maturity times. If you want to play actively all day, you can choose a fast-growing crop and water it (each watering shaves off about 10% of the total growing time, and you can hasten your crops with watering 4 times during their growth cycle. Watering is not at all necessary if you don't want to do it...it doesn't give any XP, it just makes your crops grow faster) If you're the type who'd only want to play 1 or 2 times a week, you could choose crops that take 2 full (real life) days to mature, instead. Fish progress entirely without you, as do flowers, though the flowers will produce a better harvest if you water them regularly. Livestock must be fed enough to produce a product.

Today I concentrated on levelling up my ducklings and Aylesbury ducks up one level each, to unlock Abacot Ranger Ducks. I wanted to round out my coop area. The coops are decorative...they do nothing...but I like it to look like the poultry has a home, even if they don't actually need one.



I also levelled up my asparagus crop 5 times (I hadn't ever planted it before, in this file) and got 3 new plots of land. And I raised my farm level, which unlocked mulberry and laurel trees, chili peppers, ginger, and anglerfish. I may also be able to level my mini rex rabbits up one more level to unlock another type of rabbit. (I'd have to look it up to know which one. Guess it'll have to just be a surprise.) I think I can level my yellow onions up to unlock another type of onion, too. I'm assuming red onions.

I'm sure this game isn't for everyone...not even everyone who loves farm sims. There is no social aspect. And yet, in spite of being very easy (but still requires you to do a bit of simple thinking and planning), it's addictive. I always think it looks like a boring game, and yet...you just keep playing it. I highly recommend it, tbh. I haven't played it in months but after playing for 15 minutes, it's like I never left. I'm not up to rationalizing why it's so addictive, but it really works for me in spots where nothing else does.

[Riesenraddieb]

Uhm, thanks Kikki, I didn't play Farm Together since a few month? A year? and right now I'm starving for new games but holding back 'til March for Monster Hunter Rise (got a group I can hunt with!) and PoOT. Farm Together seems perfekt for that and can run while I finally starting with Atelier Ryza 2!

So, let's see: I will take a break from Genshin Impact. Just farm enough for the Latern Rite to get the free character and the namecard background (stupid crown, maybe that too, will see) but after that I guess I don't touch the game until the next update. I overdid it I guess and now I have this huge burnout and the feeling I hit a wall. Time will tell.

But as a huge fan of the Atelier-games I got Ryza 2 for PS4 and I'm freaking love it! QwQ The crafting is so good, the gathering is perfect and besides of Ryza herself I really like the cast so far! Ryza is in my opinion one of the worst main character so far? Just get topped by Ayesha I guess. Her personility is charming but I can't stand her overall design. It got better with Ryza 2 but ehh ... there is something that doesn't seem to click with me.
(Btw I LOVE Rorona and Meruru! <3 For me the best main characters in the series)

And after starting out with Ryza 2 and decided to download the rest of the Atelier-titles to my Switch - got both compilation there + Nelke - and will playing these ones more! Starting with the games I'd never finished! ... Which is basically everything besides the Arland-series - oops?

[Daikon boy]

Beat the prologue for trails in the sky sc (the game crashed on me twice, once in the first ten minutes, and once when I went to continue playing it where I left off a few minutes after i started it up, so I didn't touch it for a few days.) I didn't realize the prologue was going to be so short. I was expecting it to be three times as long as it actually was so that was kind of a surprise actually. If I really worked at it I could probably beat sc and 3rd in a month each but that's probably not going to happen, especially with new games coming out on tuesday, and next month. I have two new games next month, with olive town and tales from the borderlands-unless I read the date wrong-and I have about five dollars in gold coins to spend on the purchase too which I needed to use up soon.

I'm hoping to grab up some of the cold steel games the month after that, if I can, so it would be nice to finish up the other games before I do (if I do) but I really don't think that's going to happen. I might be working through 3rd by then if I don't get too sidetracked. Also, 3ds ran out of juice and I need to go plug in the charger somewhere and charge it up at some point. I'm probably not finishing up ace attorney before my game comes, and I still have a whole other ace attorney game to play after I beat that one. I've got other games I'm working on I can play instead though so it works out fine.

[greensara]

This may sound like a plug for Nexomon Extinction, because it kind of is. I bought the game on sale after reading generally positive reviews about it. I decided to give it a try for the first time yesterday. I had the idea it was going to be like a Pokemon copycat with some tweaks, which it is, but was pleasantly surprised to find it laced with satire and snark, lol. I especially like your skeptical cat-like sidekick's commentary along the way. The gameplay is okay so far, but I am mostly loving the writing right now. It's especially humorous in the context of a player that is familiar with other creature taming and rpg games. Just thought I'd offer my two cents on it in case anyone was considering it.

[Kikki]

Nexomon Extinction looks cute, greensara

No problem, I guess, Riesenraddieb. I was having so much fun picking Farm Together back up that I had to talk about it, especially since I never, ever see anyone here (on this farming forum!) talking about playing it. Kinda wondered if anyone had even tried it (or if maybe people had tried it and not liked it?)

Started a NEW farm yesterday...the 'hard mode' flat terrain. The flat terrain is the BEST, by far, and ideal for anyone with perfectionist or OCD-type tendencies, where wasting little pockets of space would drive them batty. Not one speck of wasted space on the flat terrain! Too bad about the reduced money and XP, though...I don't actually want a hard mode, I just want no water or hills to interrupt my farm layout. (So I want an EXTRA EASY mode, actually, lol.) Animals are not good profit and require too much work, and they're expensive, so I'm concentrating on crops and a little bit on trees, and leaving fish, flowers and animals mostly for later, when I have more money. I really want to hurry and unlock beets and sunflowers, but sunflowers are a loooong way off, still. Right now I'm growing cauliflower, pumpkins, yellow peppers, garlic and yellow onions. (It bothers me to grow grapes right now since I have no stand where I can sell them off for diamonds, so harvesting them just goes to waste!)

Anyway!

Started that brand new farm (you can have numerous farms under one profile) and got up to Level 8, which took a fair while with the reduced XP.

And in Breath of the Wild, I played just a little while. I upgraded all three of my pieces of Ancient armour by one (I don't have enough gears to hit the set bonus, yet, but once I do, I'm going on a Guardian-murdering spree. I need that climbing gear to be complete!) I also finished Tarrey Town. Not sure what I'm going to do next. Tbh, I'm not really feeling it, so I'm only playing in little idle bursts. This is what I hoped Age of Calamity would do for me...I wanted it to get me excited to play BotW again before the sequel hits. Too bad for me about the disconnect that means that playing AoC could never get me into replaying BotW at all. :/

I still may play it someday, but my no-game-buying is still in effect, since my desire to play games is so tenuous right now. I haven't bought any games in 2021, and won't until Pioneers of Olive Town. Gotta keep things under control since right now, new games would only heap up into a backlog, for me.

[Daikon boy]

@greensara

I started with the first nexomon game on the phone for a dollar after avoiding it for a long long time whenever I saw it because I assumed the worst of it (and was dubious of downloading it onto my phone) before I was convinced to try it out after seeing an acquaintance playing it, and ended up paying the dollar to get the full game.

I was dead set on getting the second game once they announced they were making it after that. I would have preordered it and it's a travesty I don't have a physical copy of it, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter so I had to settle for a digital copy a little later on. It might not be pokemon, but I do love nexomon and I'll definitely buy a third game if they make it.

[iLoveSprites75]

I've been home sick with Covid for almost a week and a half and haven't touched my backlog. I've been obsessively playing Stardew Valley and have concluded that I am the worst. Lol

[Mikodesu]

D: Aaaah Sprites I hope your COVID case is super light! If nothing else you're able to stay in bed and rest up. A week and a half must be so frustrating, though. Feel better soon! <3

--
Since we're a month out from the NA release of PoOT I'm...mostly just goofing off in older games right now. Booted up my PC save of Stardew because it's so far along to play around with all the new stuff from the last update. But I think staying away from farming sims for now is better for me...I burn out on genres quickly.

Reminds me I never did download the demo for...what was it called, Triangle Strategy?

In Genshin news I'm eternally grateful the Lantern Rite festival went on so long because there was SO MUCH TO IT! (What was it...23 side quests?) I did everything, even cleaned out the tower defense reward shop. Surprised and impressed that full clearing all of the point rewards for the shop includes the free character. Phew.

I reeeally hope the Mondstadt festival doesn't start immediately after Lantern Rite is over though...I need a break.

[iLoveSprites75]

D: Aaaah Sprites I hope your COVID case is super light! If nothing else you're able to stay in bed and rest up. A week and a half must be so frustrating, though. Feel better soon! <3

Thank you so much! I'm grateful because I have had the flu that's worse, so I wasn't so bad off. I lost my smell and taste for about 6 days, and it's only come back most of the way. I just started my new job and worked about 7 workdays before having to quarantine, but I'm hoping to get a negative result and go back by the end of this week. I'm going to use the rest of the time to work on my schoolwork and tidy up my apartment, so at least I can have some extra time for those things until I go back!

[Riesenraddieb]

No problem, I guess, Riesenraddieb. I was having so much fun picking Farm Together back up that I had to talk about it, especially since I never, ever see anyone here (on this farming forum!) talking about playing it. Kinda wondered if anyone had even tried it (or if maybe people had tried it and not liked it?)

Mobile is hard, uff ... XD
I remember playing Farm Together with a few friends shortly after its release and we all were like "I need to play! Noaw!" Fun times xD I even played it before work at 5 am and I regret nothing!

But since I migrated to another Switch and the savegame wasn't that important to me I was forced to start over again *sigh* Also picked the hardmode flat farm. It suits me best I guess? I just love having all the fields sorted out, animals in one corner, fishes in the other - these are crazy good for money!
And the orchard! Most important thing xD

[Kikki]

I wasn't even entirely aware that Farm Together was playable on mobile, though I know it's on Steam. I've always been a Switch player. (I think I got the game when it first released onto Switch.) I hate playing games on mobile, lol...I just can't stand touch screens as a primary method of control. But starting a new farm on FT is lots of fun, though moreso when you just add a new farm to your existing profile, since at least you keep your player level, then. I think that includes all customization options you've unlocked, and maybe the capacity of your gas tank?

I'm only level 38, even after all this time. I can't imagine getting to the max player level of 250. It's hard to imagine getting to the max farm level, which is quicker than player level. But then, I've seen these max level farms, and they all look the same. All flat farms, for one thing, and all row and rows of each crop and tree and animal, sectioned out neatly. I'm not sure what would get someone to continue playing, though, after they've unlocked every crop and animal/etc and all the buildings, and made millions. For me the motivating bit is unlocking all the new stuff.

Blah, another headache today. Stupid chiro, he caused this...I'll just have to make him FIX IT today.