Backlog 2023

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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infel
Growing Garden Gnome
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Hope everyone has had a nice February so far. For me, it's been okay with some nice rain and being able to move a bit better.

Anyway, in terms of gaming, I've been playing Disney Dreamlight Valley and Dragon Quest 11. I restarted Disney Dreamlight Valley a few days ago because I felt like it was getting a bit too stale for me. I made a lot of money in my first file and wanted to start over with it. I admit, I didn't finish a lot of the game. I don't find the quests in this game that interesting, but I'm hoping with this playthrough I can do a better job with them. Overall, Disney Dreamlight Valley is relaxing and I like the gameplay. The characters are also more interesting to me than Animal Crossing NH. Still, I think I prefer Animal Crossing honestly. I'm just taking a break with it. I think the real question is though is will I stick with Disney Dreamlight Valley. I'm not sure. Nothing that's coming out for it right now is very interesting, especially since I know when new characters show up it'll just be fetch quests. I guess it's a game I'll play on and off once I get tired of it. For now, I'm still with it. Still, I do see why people enjoy this game.

With Dragon Quest, I'm already 20+ hours in. Honestly, I don't know if I'm going too slow or not. It feels like I've been playing this a bit slowly. Don't know why I feel this way. At this point though, I just beat the desert city story line. It was fine and the characters are growing on me. I also have just met Sylvando. I think I'll like him the more I play. With the desert city (can't remember the name), I do like the design but it's likely the most boring of the towns so far. I will say though that I normally I don't like the desert setting in things, but Dragon Quest did a decent job with the desert design. Also the boss battle was fine too. Overall, I'm enjoying the game. It's quite a relaxing Jrpg and it's definitely something I need right now. My fav character right now is Eric. I just really like him. Outside of enjoying Eric, I really like the combat, towns, and art style in this game. The story itself is simple so far, but I'm liking it enough. The only thing I wish was better was the music. It's nothing terrible, but it's nothing amazing. Also, I don't know why, but I kind of wish the main character spoke or at least had more expressions. Usually I'm fine with the silent protaginist, but with this game it feels a little weird. Maybe it's because he doesn't have much facial expressions. Outside of these two things, I'm really enjoying the game so far. I do see myself playing on the slow side maybe, but I do think it's a pretty good game so far.

Besides that, I haven't played much of anything else, which is fine this time because I would like to get through Dragon Quest 11. I still need to finish Story of Season Mineral Town, Blue Reflection 2, and Trails in the Sky FC. I think I can do these games even though I'm playing Dragon Quest 11, especially since they are half done. Outside of that, I don't plan on playing any other rpg's right now, but of course that could change. I also am planning on buying a few games if I can this month and next.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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Bluie wrote: Feb 06, 2023 8:07 am Yeahhh, gosh darned desire sensor is so out of whack. I've joked with a friend before that my account is probably super desirable for meta players, but I'm just a fave player who has really strange luck. Like, I spent 0 dollars on a ton of 5 stars that just fell into my lap, but as for the characters I actively wanted? I had to whip out the credit card almost every time (one exception was Wanderer that came home on pull 20, which still blows my mind). Which is why I'm so glad I have Baizhu guaranteed. I aint playing around no more, game. You WILL give him to me!

And I'll keep that in mind for my mora issues. I could've sworn there was a way to get extra mora from inventory destruction, but I tried it out on everything BUT artifacts, because I am legitimately using all of them for leveling up artifacts right now. I'm definitely behind on the artifact grind as I've been so focused on talents with my resin. Some of my characters STILL have duo purple sets and I'm slowly working on getting those replaced. Honestly, if they offered a pack of like 10 fragile resin a month to just buy, I'd probably eat that « Cow Poopoo » up. I NEVER have enough.

Congrats on finishing up Mondstadt! Once you finish up Liyue, the weird hidden chests go down exponentially in the other regions. I can't even remember one that wasn't tied to something I figured out naturally or was tied to a mechanic that was recently introduced. It's just the time gating in Inazuma you need to keep in mind (unless you've already fully unlocked all the islands by doing their respective questlines) and the long quests in Sumeru that lock certain regions of the map until you have the prerequisites fulfilled.

---

Got through chapter 2 of Great Ace Attorney, and I liked it so much I think I'll do episode 3 too! The translation is kind've a bit off and the writing tone deaf in places, but it's enjoyable enough that I'd like to keep at it for a little longer today.
I know there are farming routes for 1 star artifacts... takes like 10 minutes a day and I THINK it's like...30k mora? But if nothing else, when you get to farming artifacts, at least destroy the 1 and 2 stars you get, it's better mora than EXP imo, and just start saving up! We'll get another ley line overflow before you know it.

Also I THINK I remember seeing 'adventure packs' or some « Cow Poopoo » in the shop with fragile resin? Might be cheaper to just keep a welkin up and use it for top ups.

Oh! Leftover sigils from earlier areas could be something too? No clue how much money it'll turn up but every bit helps.

Very good to know that Inazuma and Sumeru have quit the hidden chest « Cow Poopoo ». Some of them weren't too bad (or unfair) but some were just...bizzare. Narukami Island is the only one in Inazuma I've long since 100%'d because everything was pretty straight forward and the puzzles were easy. I have done the multi day quests already, just because I wanted to fully unlock the islands, it's those last 15 or so percent that really get me.

--
I'm on to Dragonspine cleanup. Only the worst area because no treasure tracker. So I have to check the whole damn thing. I'd rather do it once, right. And so I don't drive myself nuts I've got the map up on a separate screen with a paint file up so I can mark off chests I've checked as I go. :lol: 97% now. Wooo...

Next day edit: 98% now. Gonna start playing a little bit of a puzzle game every day, tonight will be before bed... been having brain fog issues, and I'm hoping puzzle games will help clear that up.
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midnighttherabbit
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Decided to buy Cat Tails for the Switch since it was on sale for cheap and looked cute. So far it's fun! Very much a chill RPG with low-key mechanics. I can't see myself playing this for hours at a time but it's a very good for half an hour to unwind before bed.

I told myself I'd work on my backlog or at least finish my in-progress games after finishing RF5, but honestly I just started replacing Dragon Age. Not great, but I'd rather have fun than feel like I was working through a game out of obligation, and if my mind is really fixed on a series (I think people who became obsessed with DA mostly got it out of their system years ago which is why this is embarrassing for me lol) it's better to just ride it out than suppress it. After this little runthru I'll go back to Morrowind or The Witcher 3.
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Mikodesu
Huggy Chickens
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I started another Baba is You file last night...and I may end up dropping it over the weekend because I just saw that this HUGE fan-made level pack for Celeste is coming out in 9 days. I'd kind of heard murmurings about this project but it looks adorable and it's 100+ new levels! And I would for sure need to play through at least part of the game again to have even the slightest idea what I'm doing in a difficult platformer.

And this time I can do it with a "You Can Do This" mug on my desk, staring me down as I get mad. :)


And in Genshin news, Dragonspine done! Only had to go over about half of the area, phew. For Liyue I'll probably do a pass of the fan map with all the chest locations on it before I run around looking for things, because it's just cleanup at this point. And I am weak and possibly stupid but I wished and got me a Yelan today. I have a little bit of a sense of the game and its silliness, because without fail whenever I have or see others get multiple characters or weapons in one 10 pull, they have better luck getting the 5 star. Yelan was not a must-pull, but she's strong in combat and GREAT for exploration, so I wanted to try. And it took uh...almost until soft pity, but every 10 pull had 2-3 4 stars, so I just kept going...and won 50/50.

Yelan IS strong in combat, but I think my favorite thing is running around with her in the overworld. This lady is Sonic. The blue blur. I regret nothing.
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Kikki
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I input my $100 (Okay, $99...Nintendo is weird!) GC into the eshop and used it to buy a pair of Nintendo Vouchers. (Why can you only buy in pairs? Nintendo is weird!)

The price (in CAD) is $133. That's two vouchers, so each one costs $66.50. Nintendo first party games are $80, CAD. TotK is $90. And I was definitely getting Pikmin 4 anyway (but I'm going to wait until release, just in case I decide I want to try out Arceus or Scar/Vi instead.)

I've got to do all this talking to myself to make sure I have the numbers straight, lol. So! Grabbed a pair of vouchers and TotK is thus pre-ordered for $23.49 less than I would have paid if I'd bought it straight out. Would have had to rethink it (again) if I didn't know I wanted Pikmin 4, though. If you're certain you want two of the eligible first-party games, then the vouchers are a decent deal, definitely with the $10 price hike. (Which of course I don't LIKE, but also don't object to. Everything in the world is jumping up in price so games will have to, as well. I just think TotK was a weird one to try this out on first.) Though it's not worth it if you didn't already have NSO anyway...unless you can get the physical vouchers from Walmart or etc (I'm not sure if you need to have NSO if you buy a physical card from a store.)

Was wondering if this means I need to increase this year's gaming budget, since I've alloted the price of one AAA game per month ($80 CAD) If they're going up to $90... But! I won't, for this year. TotK is the ONLY game on Switch to go up to that price point, so far, and I doubt that there'll be many first-party games I want anyway, so I'll stick with the budget already decided on for 2023.

Now I need to try the Sea of Stars demo. I wonder how much content it has...
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Bluie
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I was up til 2 am finishing up my Sumeru forest area exploration and did one of the desert areas while I was at it. All those 100%s across the map give make me happy. There are still things to do in the forest (like find all the scattered Aranara), but I'm fine to call it done. I'll work on the last three desert areas when motivation strikes as I really don't enjoy traversing it. Having the Wanderer certainly helps, but it's still little fun meandering around sandy landscapes and getting lost in underground areas.

Other than that I've been grinding the currency in FFXIV's Island Sanctuary for the new mount and still chipping away at GAA. Currently working through the trial of the 4th chapter. Honestly, I wish the trials didn't have all the extra padding with the jury. I seriously wish they weren't there, they just keep interrupting the flow. I get that they're important to the overall story, but they're so annoyingly implemented.

Went ahead and pre-ordered Etrian Odyssey III and Tears of the Kingdom. It's actually my goal to get through my backlog before the latter comes out, but it'll all depend.
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Kikki
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Tried the demo of Sea of Stars and found the music annoying and yep, turn-based combat (kind of obvious that that'd be in there) so it's a nope for me, but I'm very grateful for the demo! I'll try to finish it, even though I'm clearly not going to want to buy the game.

~

With that, I have 4 new games left on my wishlist from the yesterday's Direct, not including TotK. Deleted Sea of Stars and Etrian Odyssey (cuz I'm only into the Untold entries, though if they bring a NEW game to Switch, even if it's not an Untold game, I may try it out.) and also Baten Kaitos, as it has wonderful colours but looks like the kind of old-school RPG I can't get into any more. Will reconsider if they give it a demo, but for now it's off the list.

~

I very much recommend Townscaper if you need a mesmerizing game to flood your brain with some kind mysterious, sliiiiightly trippy sedative. You don't choose your building tools...you just choose a colour, and click wherever you want something to be built. THe first thing, if you click on the water, will be ground. But the next thing will be a little block house. Then it'll turn into a tower if you keep going upward, or it'll gain a roof if you make it wider...steel supports if you draw an upper part out above the water, or if you remove a chunk in the middle of the building. A little courtyard if you ring the ground in with buildings or build a flat roof. It's just...really cool. You can somewhat control it, and the mix between the control you can have and the control you can't have is just fascinating. It's like you're watching someone else play while also playing on your own. It's got a nice little rainbow of colours you can use, it doesn't have any learning curve at all (though once you start to notice when it does what, you'll find you can make cooler structures.) There's some creativity, but requires absolutely no skill.

It's $8 CAD on Switch even when it's not on a sale, and the same on Steam. So if you wait for a sale it could potentially just be a few bucks, and it's well worth it, imo, for the mind-numbing relaxation. Can actually trigger different types of creativity, too, ime, if you write and presumably also if you draw or paint. It's done that to me, anyway! There may be nothing that triggers my desire to write more than peculiar architecture.



You can create some really peculiar stuff. Here's what I was working on this evening. Wanted to keep going but left arm went and seized up. I can't type any more at this point, so, happily for everyone who is sick of my walls of text, I've gotta stop now!
Spoiler:
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Mikodesu
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I think I mentioned this already...? But Townscaper is in a Humble Bundle that's ongoing for another week, 10 USD minimum, with 7 other games. Multiple people on the forum have already mentioned playing them, stuff like Garden Paws and Staxel and Yonder, but it's a pretty great deal if even two games on the list interest you.


Got Celeste downloaded on my PC now (played it on Switch initially) and most mods are PC only, but I just don't have the energy for anything that requires reaction speed right now. Probably over the weekend. For now there's endless work to do.

Continuing the exploration clean up in Genshin, while farming stuff for Yelan. Today was talent books, tomorrow will be mats to max out her bow. The only bad thing about her is (like Ayato) her best weapons by a long shot are weapon banner only. And I am more likely to get 5 star constellations than I am to wish on the weapon banner. That is the most cursed part of Genshin, by a long shot...

Haven't planned out my Liyue search route yet so I ran around in Sumeru a bit, since there's so many chests to clear out there. Also, probably a weekend thing. :shock:
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Kikki
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Mikodesu wrote: Feb 09, 2023 9:10 pm I think I mentioned this already...? But Townscaper is in a Humble Bundle that's ongoing for another week, 10 USD minimum, with 7 other games. Multiple people on the forum have already mentioned playing them, stuff like Garden Paws and Staxel and Yonder, but it's a pretty great deal if even two games on the list interest you.
You did, in this thread on February 4. I own 5 of the 8 games in it already, personally. Townscaper is a game I bought on Switch on release day cuz I reeeeally wanted it. Not at all sorry, but it turns out that having to move the left control stick a lot triggers some kind of clenching that puts a big knot on the top my forearm and makes my entire arm ache, the stupid thing. This happened with Glass Masquerade, too...another game where you have to move the left stick continually to place things. It seems like insult on injury that it's placid, soothing games that do this. :?

Not overly interested in the three games I don't have, but...I do wonder if you can play Townscaper with a mouse on Steam...that'd solve my clenching problem. I'd assume you can. Not that it doesn't work well on Switch, it's actually great, but this stupid perma-knot thing makes it tricky with anything controlled primarily by left stick.

Checking out one of the three games I don't have, Lake...the description made me laugh. The phrase 'shy away from' is used for things that people tend to avoid due to discomfort of some type, like fear, controversy, or even painful levels of embarrassment. But Lake proudly claims that their story 'doesn't shy away from slice-of-life themes', lol. I don't disbelieve them or anything. I'm sure they don't! But it makes me laugh every time I read it. To me that's a bit like they're proudly claiming they don't shy away from taking a nice deep breath once in a while. Who would shy away from that?

It does seem like a great Bundle, though. I mean, I have 5 of those games. I still have to go back to Staxel and Garden Paws, since Garden Paws had a critical progression glitch for me on Switch when it released, which they have fixed now, and Staxel is so ugly it just couldn't grab me fast enough...I'd have to give it a long enough shot to get interested in the characters or the building before I could know if it's worth continuing with. Didn't like Summer in Mara or Yonder, though there was one NPC in Mara I absolutely loved, and Yonder is extremely cute/pretty and is even kind of a game of exploration, which I love...it just felt too aimless where I like to feel a strong sense of direction.

It is a great bundle. My laptop literally can't play most of the games (no dedicated graphics card, just a pitiful integrated one) but I do have Steam Deck, which can probably deal with all of them. And the one I'd WANT to play on my laptop, Townscaper, actually can be. But I can never bring myself to pay the minimum for these bundle things, doubly so since they're for charity, so I'd pay the suggested one-step-up, and I can't afford to pay $30 for a whack of games I already own, just on a different system. If this was last year, pre fixed budget, I'd definitely have grabbed it. I'm not overly interested in the three games I don't have, but even they look worth trying.

Definitely go look at that bundle, guys, if you're missing even a few of the games. There's probably no good reason to have my feeling that I'm cheating someone if I pay the minimum. (lol?)
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Code_Name_Geek
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I got that bundle! I've been obsessed with the artstyle of Townscaper ever since I first saw it, but didn't get it at the time since it was in early access. I was also interested in Yonder, Summer in Mara, and Luna's Fishing Garden (plus the other games look interesting enough) so it was kind of a no-brainer for me. I haven't tried anything from it yet, though.

I also finished Slime Rancher the other day! I wasn't going to go for all the achievements in this one but by the time I'd achieved everything I wanted in my save I had all the adventure mode achievements, so I decided to go for the rush mode ones as well. It took two tries (and a few false starts) but I did it! The last one had me up until 2am and I slept in really late the next morning and had to rush to get ready for work but it was worth it. :lol: What a unique game though, and well-designed too - I barely had to open a wiki until the very end of the game (to find some of the last gordo slimes I was missing). The exploration was fun and the in-game Slimepedia was also super helpful. It took me 43 hours to get all the achievements which was substantial without overstaying its welcome, which I appreciated.

Not sure what I'll tackle next, but I haven't gone back to Pokémon Violet yet like I said I would... despite the fact that if I tried, I could definitely binge the rest of the game in a weekend! I also definitely want to start something new asap to keep my goal of starting new games moving, maybe something short this time. If I can knock Violet out of the way and get something new started, maybe I'll be able to pick up something else that needs finishing from years previous as well.
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Kikki
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Code_Name_Geek wrote: Feb 10, 2023 8:54 pm I got that bundle! I've been obsessed with the artstyle of Townscaper ever since I first saw it, but didn't get it at the time since it was in early access. I was also interested in Yonder, Summer in Mara, and Luna's Fishing Garden (plus the other games look interesting enough) so it was kind of a no-brainer for me. I haven't tried anything from it yet, though.
Nice! For someone who doesn't have any of the games, it's an amazing deal (and that package in particular is extremely well-suited to the Fogu crowd) even compared to if you managed to get all 8 of those games while they were on their best sales on Steam. Well, depending on what you actually decide to pay, of course. But if you pay the minimum amount, then it works out to something like a 92% off on all of them. Even if the suggested one step up amount of $30 is paid, it's still around 83% off the regular price of all 8 games together. Great deal, anyway, for anyone who likes relaxing (low-stress, low negative feedback) games, sims, and creative games.

Congrats on finishing Slime Rancher :) I really liked it at first but got frustrated by how fast the slimes pooped out their plorts and how you had to constantly manage the plort market to not flood it with too much of any one thing. I did love the adorable pink slimes, though...it was just too cute, how they loved being sucked up into your VacUpack kor whatever it was called. It's like it was the funnest thing ever for them, lol. They were even happy when, if they multiplied too much and/or started eating up everything in sight when I was trying to harvest stuff in the wild, I sucked them up and then fired them out into oblivion (aka: the ocean). It's like they were going 'whee! yaaaay!' the whole way out.

Guess you'll be looking forward to the completion of Slime Rancher 2, potentially early-to-mid 2024. I laughed when I saw that one of the new types of slime was a bunny slime, and that they had crossed honey slimes with bunny slimes. Honeybunny slimes! Goofy :)

I finished the first game, but barely, and I can't remember what I considered 'finished'...I think I unlocked all of the map and found all story bits, though I never got loads of money or all the expansions/upgrades/etc. It'd take me back to Slime Rancher if the breeding were a little more intricate. Like...I'd prefer to be able to choose which trait from which 'parent' got carried over, so that I could make more unique colour/appearance for the largos I was making. It's not like you could create wildly different ones from such a small set of variables (every slime only has about 2-4 visible traits) but that's probably still asking too much. But it'd be cool. I always want to do that kind of thing! I always want to be able to make bizarre, gorgeous crossbreeds of my fruits, veggies and flowers, too, in farming sims, preferrably a huge array where I can come up with things that are quite rare. Kind of like real life in the infinite possibilities. I think programming-wise, though, that might be a tough feature to provide.

I guess I had that issue with ACNH, too. I think I'm seeking uniqueness from my games. As in, I want to be able to do something with my town (or my farm or my slimes) that looks different from what everyone else is doing. But it's never possible. Everyone has access to the same stuff, and the ways you can combine them are limited, so unless you use some kind of cheat that allows you to work outside of the rules, you can't really make something unique, or anywhere all that close to unique.

I finally tried my Steamdeck not just plugged into my TV, but also with my Dualshock 4. Worked great, for the most part! Alchemy Story is really not compatible with controller, though, and I've got a bunch of other games that don't have controller support built in, so though it'll still probably mostly work, it may be very frustrating to figure out how to make it do so. I had to use the trackpad to do everything in Alchemy Story, which was very awkward (though you can get used to it.)

But now with my entire library of Steam games to choose from (but pared down to the ones that will work reasonably well via Steamdeck) I have no idea what I should play. What I should play is whatever I WANT to play, of course. But nothing's calling out to me strongly enough for the decision not to be very wishy-washy and hard to stick to.
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Bluie
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Just got to the trial in chapter 5 of GAA. This is probably going to be a long one, so I'll save it for my next day off which is Tuesday. I'm doing closing shifts until then so I'm pretty much only going to be playing Genshin to wind down or wake up to. Despite having the opportunity to sleep in, my body will still wakes me up at 3-4 am due to my rhythm being set to it. At least I don't have insomnia any more so I can get 6-8 hours pretty solidly anyways!

I've started my desert exploration in Genshin in earnest, though as expected, the winding nature of the underground areas are a bit confusing. I actually logged out by an elevator I can't seem to activate so I can figure it out later, because I'll forget it's there if I wander off. One other thing I've been doing is letting people into my world (after approval) to come get mats because I don't need anything at all presently (outside weekly boss drops and domain « Puppy Doodoo ») and I don't mind helping people out, though you need to be the top world level to even get in so I haven't had too many takers. Had a Yelan drop in for star conches and a Cyno for scarabs this morning. Both very polite and extremely thankful. It's all just sitting there rotting anyways so may as well share.

Other than that, I finally got my hands on Radiant Historia for 3DS. I thought you could still use eShop cards on the eShop but NOPE. I had to make a Nintendo account and put the funds on there and purchase there. My current 3DS has a different account than my Switch due to converting my old account from Canadian to American so It was easier to just make it seperate. It was a bit of an ordeal, but I have the game + the original art DLC. I'll play it eventually lol.
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Digimon Survive is -30% right now...but I don't think I want it enough...I can't tell if I'd like it. -30% is a respectable sale, and I'd probably like dealing with story and characters, but be annoyed by the combat. It'd take more like -50% to make me move on that one, I think.

Two Point Campus is also 30% off but I didn't even play Two Point Hospital all that far. I sort of finished it in that I believe I had three hospitals on the go and they were all running at a profit (I think?) but while the goofy character illnesses were a fun sort of cute silliness, it didn't have enough of even a bare story framework, to keep me interested, and I'm betting that Campus is quite similar to Hospital.

Lego Bricktales is on for 20% off, which seems to happen a lot, and I do want that one, but 20% off isn't that great a sale. Mind you, it's not an overly expensive game to begin with (full price is $34 CAD). But still, gonna wait some more.

Looking through the voucher-eligible games, and I could use my 'extra' voucher on Pikmin 4, Arceus, Skyward Sword HD, Hyrule Warriors Definitive, or maaaaaaybe Astral Chain. I'm almost definitely going to want Pikmin 4 so I'll sit on the voucher until then...something may come up that makes me not want it, and it's not like I want any of the other four games enough to pull the trigger unless the voucher is about to expire (which won't happen for another year.) By July we may know if Ninendo has any first party games planned for the second half of 2023 or not.

I can't wait for spring. I want to be able to go out for a slow mosey in the sunshine to loosen up this frail big blob of a rickety, misbehaving body. There is absolutely nothing appealing about trying to do so in the snow. It's also a bit hard to play games right now since my left arm wants to cramp up if I use that hand for anything. But at least I'm forced to somewhat rein in my walls of text, as typing hurts.
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simside
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I beat the regular final boss in Persona 5 last weekend! But not the game.
Spoiler:
It took some care, but the final fight wasn't super-difficult. I was angry to find out that it doesn't roll the credits, and sent me into the Royal section via several parties I had to sit through. -_-; I was planning to wait a minute before playing the last bit, but it didn't give me a stopping point. I did take a bad ending in January yesterday, but I reloaded and finished the area right after because I felt bad. The third semester story is pretty weak compared to the end of the game, but I was kinda expecting that. Was not expecting Maruki's role, despite knowing he was an extra character. I'm also not a big fan of being forced through sequences where... I sort of have control, but I'm just running up to the next cutscene. Ugh. I'm at around 160 hours, and I suspect this is at least another 20, but I want so badly to finish. This part might be the section that's too much, though. Hilariously, the bad ending... was actually kind of good? Maruki was kind of right? It also had the advantage of making Goro angry in reality and chill in the new world.
I started playing Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, which is very fun! I've mostly been playing on my lunchbreaks this week, so I'm only a few hours in. It's short though, I'll probably be done in a week or two.

I LOVE TEMTEM. Unfortunately, my partner bailed after the first boss (a Team Rocket-type thing), but most of the issues he had were resolved in my first session without him. He was annoyed by the wide range of tems the trainers had, versus the four available in the wild. It's obvious the trainers have water tems you can catch once you get the surfboard every NPC tells you about. You get it from beating the first gym, which opens once you beat the boss. His other complaint was that type matters a lot more in this game, so the four low-level tems in the grass will KO a tem two or three times their level, the battle AI is flawless, and heals cost money and time (at least this early in the game). This part is honestly not great, and I suspect is a product of the end-game balancing for the battle system. But you can still tell type advantage when you target tems if you have them in your dex (which he didn't do, he won't catch unless he wants to use something). And because there are a limited number of tems and types you find in the grass, you can pretty quickly adapt a strong tem to partner with one you're trying to level. Admittedly, this is harder in co-op, because one person will have the weak tem and not contribute to battle while the other gets hammered.

We played together about six hours, and I played another six hours without him. I'm basically finished with the first area/story quest string, I puttered around the island yesterday trying to clean up the side quests before moving to a new area. The Switch patch fixed almost everything. It only crashed in battle once or twice in six hours (which is pretty regular for Switch games), and so far I've only noticed a couple minor problems with side quest flags on the map. It's a bit slow to load, but it only wore on me when I was moving around a lot for side quests. Once I started catching and evolving more tems and got a handle on the battle system, I had a lot more fun. I'm a little salty because you get an exp boost in co-op and the main story doesn't take as long to complete, but I can't get my partner to play again. ;_;
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Code_Name_Geek
Tubular Turnip Farmer
Tubular Turnip Farmer
Posts: 341
Joined: Mar 13, 2017 7:14 pm

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Kikki wrote: Feb 11, 2023 5:15 am Congrats on finishing Slime Rancher :) I really liked it at first but got frustrated by how fast the slimes pooped out their plorts and how you had to constantly manage the plort market to not flood it with too much of any one thing. I did love the adorable pink slimes, though...it was just too cute, how they loved being sucked up into your VacUpack kor whatever it was called. It's like it was the funnest thing ever for them, lol. They were even happy when, if they multiplied too much and/or started eating up everything in sight when I was trying to harvest stuff in the wild, I sucked them up and then fired them out into oblivion (aka: the ocean). It's like they were going 'whee! yaaaay!' the whole way out.

Guess you'll be looking forward to the completion of Slime Rancher 2, potentially early-to-mid 2024. I laughed when I saw that one of the new types of slime was a bunny slime, and that they had crossed honey slimes with bunny slimes. Honeybunny slimes! Goofy :)

I finished the first game, but barely, and I can't remember what I considered 'finished'...I think I unlocked all of the map and found all story bits, though I never got loads of money or all the expansions/upgrades/etc. It'd take me back to Slime Rancher if the breeding were a little more intricate. Like...I'd prefer to be able to choose which trait from which 'parent' got carried over, so that I could make more unique colour/appearance for the largos I was making. It's not like you could create wildly different ones from such a small set of variables (every slime only has about 2-4 visible traits) but that's probably still asking too much. But it'd be cool. I always want to do that kind of thing! I always want to be able to make bizarre, gorgeous crossbreeds of my fruits, veggies and flowers, too, in farming sims, preferrably a huge array where I can come up with things that are quite rare. Kind of like real life in the infinite possibilities. I think programming-wise, though, that might be a tough feature to provide.
Honestly, I ignored the plort market pricing and just sold everything when I got it for most of the game. I know it's not the most optimal way to make money but it worked for me lol. I had drones selling everything for me by the late game though because those plorts do start coming really fast. I didn't get all the expansions but I got the main ones for the vacpack, so if I boot it up in the future to look for more treasure pods I still have something to work towards. Being able to pick the traits would be really cool! I was upset at first how crossbreeding the pink with the blue slimes made them not blue anymore, so I ended up choosing most of my combinations based on colour. I am looking forward to the sequel now, I thought it was a really solid and unique game and the exploration was really fun!

I started Learn Japanese to Survive! Katakana War yesterday. I think it's going to go pretty quickly since I've been getting more comfortable with katakana lately, but the review is definitely helpful for me. There are a few QoL changes from the first game that are nice, and there seems to be more emphasis on story and characters as well (though it's still very light and trope-y on both fronts).

I kind of want to start something else too, but I have to get back to Pokémon! I remapped my controls for it so it's currently hogging my Switch and I just want to cross it off the list.
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