Backlog 2023

[Mikodesu]

Anyway, I am having a blast with My Time at Sandrock so far but I had a hard time finishing some commissions... The game is giving me commission which I don't have the machines for it yet. The long weekend will be upon us soon so I will be back to adventuring again on Faerun. Last week, I was able to get my sibling to play Baldur's Gate 3 with me in couch coop and she is now interested in the game. She is still saving for a good gaming PC so I might gift her BG 3 once she has the funds to upgrade her current one. Hopefully, we can play together again soon. :D

Yay, I'm glad you're having fun!

Ime the Sandrock Wiki is the easiest way to look up commission recipes. As good as the in game tool, but faster. You can almost always make everything but early on the higher star stuff isn't worth your time. Though I think once or twice I was able to buy what the commissioner wanted and give it to them (food is good for that).

One thing to look out for as you go on, all craftable items have a quality rating. Outstanding (iirc with the green background) is the base level. Sometimes commissions will show up with things the game says you have (and you know you can make) but they'll be of a different quality. Worst case you can just reset the day and avoid them, but...something to look out for.

If you ever pick up a commission, know you have the thing and a person won't accept it...that's why. Can't remember if this was a thing in Portia, but I had to look it up when it happened in Sandrock.

[greensara]

Hope everyone has had a good holiday season if you celebrate, or at least a good time of life if you don't. It's been a bit wild with four kids running around the house with Christmas break going on (okay technically three running and one that crawls crazy fast and is getting ready to walk without holding on soon, lol) but it's been fun. The board games went over okay, but I think the Pikmin plushies and the doll house (whose residents now also include Ninja Turtles, dinosaurs, and random other toys) stole the show, lol. We borrowed Miitopia again from the library and are going to try to finish it before school starts next week. We'll see. I'm glad they all seem to be having a good time.

Amidst all the holiday chaos I actually beat Tales of Symphonia, yay! It was great! Afterwards I dove into the lore, noticed things I missed, and wished for more. I won't be doing a new game plus for a while though.

I have also been playing Palia quite a bit. I have finally got my ax and pick up to iron so I can pretty much gather whatever I need now and can join in on the flow tree chopping and palium busting. I haven't really co-oped yet, just sometimes helping random players when I happen upon them running around. I may make a bigger post about it in the Palia thread when I get my thoughts together about it, but it's been a positive experience overall.

I am still totally intending to start playing Harvest Moon 64 next, I guess I am feeling a bit intimidated at the prospect? After hearing about it all these years and wanting to be efficient in my farming games I wanted to kind of plan for success. But man, have you all seen Gerry's Guide? That looks like full on stress to try to do a perfect run. I think I will probably just play it to play it when I work up the nerve.

[infel]

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season. It's been a while since I've posted due to some personal things, but the holidays were nice for my family and I.

Anyway, I haven't been playing many different games the past two months. This is due to lack of energy and dealing with my own mental issues. Mainly I've been playing Animal Crossing New Horizons as it's easy to play, relaxing, and pretty fun. I have so many hours into this game and I don't regret spending most of my November playing it. I do wish I had played other things though, but I've just been so tired. The good news is though is that I finally finished Animals Crossing New Horizons. I go KK Slider and saw the credits roll. I'm really happy with my town and I even nearly finished paying off my house. I can now happily add New Horizons to my list of games finished this year. However, despite finishing the game, I'm still going to play it. I want to try and edit my town, along with getting my villagers pictures. This will take a while and I'll be playing it on and off, but I'm not done with the game.

Also today I just finished Miitopia and man was it hard to finish. At first I had a lot of fun with the game. It was cute, simple, and I had fun with most of the gameplay. However, by the time I got my final three party members, I started becoming annoyed with the game. While the combat is pretty good and the game cute, I found the backtracking horrible and the Inn portions of the game very annoying. I also didn't like the padding this game did in order to try and feel longer. Sadly, while I really liked the first few hours, I found the game very annoying by the end and a slog to get through. Still, it's not a bad game and is good for people who are new to RPGS (though Mario RPG would likely be the better option), casual players, and those just wanting a simple and cute game. I doubt though I'll ever play it again though, so maybe I'll sell it or give it away to a family friend. Still, I am glad I beat the game.

[BerryBea]

It's been a few months since my last post again. I spent all of November playing My Time in Sandrock and I absolutely loved it. It's definitely my game of the year. I really enjoyed Portia, too, so I figured I'd like this one and it was just so much better in every way. The characters and the story were so good, and I was amazed at how long it was. I feel like so many of the games I pick up anymore take about 30 hours and then there's nothing else to really do. It also made me laugh out loud multiple times, which is not something I usually do when playing a game by myself.

I picked up and played through Cattails: Wildwood Story. It was cute and it kept my attention, so I liked it, but it wasn't one of the best I've played this year. I also played through most of Harvestella. I don't know that I should really get credit for finishing this one,

Spoiler:

because I only got the bad endings. I couldn't quite beat the main boss in the good ending, and didn't feel like grinding the levels/food/items to succeed, at least for now. This wouldn't be the only RPG I quit at the final boss and just watched the ending on youtube because I just didn't feel like grinding more when I was ready to be done. Maybe I'll go back to it, maybe I won't. I did really enjoy it up to that point though!

So despite that, I do think this one was a really good game.

I tried out several other games that I had on my backlog. I've pretty much given up on anything first person at this point. Even adjusting the graphics, they tend to make me too dizzy or motion sick. I also played a bit of Sprout Valley, but there just wasn't enough going on to keep my interest. It's cute though.

Going into the end of the year, my backlog is 9 or 10 games, which is pretty good. I was really just aiming for single digits. (I started out the year at 36, so I made some good progress.) The games I have left:

Spoiler:

FFVII Crisis Core - I played the original on the PSP and liked it, so I'm looking forward to playing the new version.
Dragon Age II - Oldest game on the backlog. I'll definitely be playing it next year.
Dragon Age Inquisition - Another one I want to prioritize because I've had it for a while, but I obviously need to play 2 first.
FFVII Remake Intergrade - I played this on the PS4, but it didn't have the Yuffie addition, so I want to replay it and play the new content now that I have a full version.
Oxenfree II
Rune Factory 3
We Love Katamari
We Were Here Together
Wildmender

Coral Island - This one is kind of on the list, but not really. Whenever early access games I own come out of EA, I add them to my backlog. This one has technically had its full release, but there is so much content missing still that I don't intend to play it until that content has been added. So it really doesn't belong on the list, even if my normal method would put it there.

[Mikodesu]

Holy « Cow Poopoo » my luck in Star Rail is just...legendarily bad. Took to soft pity to get the 5 star ticket, no Xueyi, and a lost 50/50. I did get E3 Bronya, though. So basically the same. Tingyun is also E6 now, so I have the two runners up for best harmony characters, at least. I just...have to build them better. Kinda considering trying a secondary account for a bit when 2.0 rolls around, just to see if my luck is any better. Dr. Ratio will still be free, and aside from him I'd end up having an oops all Penacony team. I swear I've heard of people in Genshin having luck this bad, but I wouldn't have believed it until I experienced it. It's quite a bit less painful in Star Rail than Genshin though. Genshin you have to WORK for every little scrap of premium currency. Star Rail they're throwing it out like candy. Which...I guess depends on who you are and how addictive your personality is as to how bad that is.


Only other news is Sandrock. I planned on spending the whole night playing, but work ran way, way over. Took a 12 hour day to dig myself out of the coding hole I was in. Oh well, I guess. At least it's a holiday weekend. Got a whole day of cleaning to do tomorrow, though, so I dunno how much Sandrock I'll get to, but I've made it to the end of year event! That was kinda the plan, to play it over the holidays. Feels good.


Probably my last Backlog 2023 post, so I will see you all in the new year, and the new Backlog thread. As always, thank you Kikki for making them. I enjoy so much keeping track of my own gaming, and vicariously enjoying everyone else's fun!

[Kikki]

Very happy that you enjoy them, Mikodesu!

And I have now posted the Backlog 2024 thread. I have requested that this thread be closed. It may take a few days before a mod sees/can get to doing so, but it never takes much longer than that, so the closure of Backlog 2023 is imminent.

Your GotY (2023) thread will be going up tomorrow morning (I'm in Eastern time zone), please tune in and contribute!