Backlog 2025

[Kikki]

Just quickly, since I've got to leave soon...I'm firmly back into Azuma and it looks like I'm at least 80% done the game's story, maybe even 90%, depending on if the end bits balloon in size/difficulty. I'm 90% done if they don't. My level is staying right where it's supposed to be. Azuma does traversal rather badly. Jump is awful and enemies can trap you in corners and things where they can just hit you until you die because they've blocked you in, so you can't retreat or dodge. That's definitely bad design.

But mostly, it's a great game. They need finer controls for the town-building. Mostly I'd like to be able to fine-tune what my farmers do. I don't want them to ship all the freaking crops! If I'm busy following the story, I don't even notice what they're doing or have time to run after them to physically correct what they've done wrong by taking everything back out of the shipping bin/etc. So I wish I could set them to put their harvests into STORAGE rather than into SHIPPING. I also wish I could set them to always use the highest quality (level) of seeds. I don't know how, but I keep ending up with Level 1 seeds for crops I have long been producing at level 7. They must be from treasure chests or foraging or something, but I don't want the villagers to use them, so I have to remember to regularly go to a shop to painfully pick out each low level seed and sell it.

(-_____-)

Well, it's a great game, but it DOES have some problems. The leveling is very good, though; your level stays quite consistent with the main story if you're clearing out each dungeon as you go through the story. So they've done EXP right. I hate having to grind for levels, and I've never needed to, here. I've also always got access to weapons that are the right level, so that's done well, too.

Aaaaanyway, yeah, gotta go. But I should have no problem finishing Azuma before SoS: GrB.

[midnighttherabbit]

I feel like I haven't updated here in a while, maybe since I finished BG3?

Since then, I've played Elden Ring and Mass Effect 2. Elden Ring was really good but I got tired of it towards the end so I didn't do absolutely everything - I only tried to beat Malenia a few times before giving up lol. And I hated Mass Effect 2 with a passion but I was playing it at the request of a friend who loves the series so I felt like I had to see it through to the end... I'm going to put off playing the third one for a while I think.

And right now I'm kind of between games waiting for SoS:GB to come out. I'm back to playing bits and pieces of HM:LoH trying to get 100% achievements. It's so serious that I literally made a spreadsheet. Weirdly, I'm still having more fun with it than I did when I tried to replay SoS:FoMT recently, even though I know FoMT is technically better.

[Kikki]

Ooh, craaaamps. Boo hoo... I'm quite ready to be done with all this nonsense. (But my family hangs on to this nonsense on average until at least 55. On BOTH sides of my family, argh.)

But I was happy with myself a bit, as I squeezed in game time on my busy last two days. Got one dungeon done before work, and even more amazing, one after. Then the next day I had to start way too early for that to be possible, but I still got one done after. So...yay. At least I'm done with that divine trio or whatever they're called.

Unfortunately now there's a mini difficulty spike that may require me to level grind and get more stats via town bonuses (decor and so on.) Oh well, perhaps I'll spend a casual few gaming sessions getting my towns leveled up. They're all already level 8 and 9, but I don't have them full by any means, so...yeah. Need more decor for the stat increases. I should probably try to grind up some All Purpose XP, too, so I can level up a bunch of lower level skills. I haven't used talismans AT ALL.

I have two days free, then I head to a new work location, closer to home. It'll save me about half an hour of driving per day, hooray. (Plus I'll now be in an area where I do most of my errands, so I can get life things done much more easily.)

Right now I feel like I'll be spending these two days having cramps, but I can probably be crampy and gamey at the same time.

Not gamey like wild meat, btw. Ew.

[Kikki]

I didn't realize I had the game on the default difficulty (there are only three levels, default being the middle one.) I didn't want to grind since I was having trouble finding enough monsters at a decent level to do so, so...finally realizing it at 95% done the story, I turned it down to Story difficulty, and MAN is that easier! It's a huge leap down. Which was fun. I like steamrollering regular mobs. I don't think my earth dancer should have any trouble with the schlubs at the very least, so Story mode actually feels RIGHT.

Anyway, I'm done, now. Then I spent two hours finally pursuing romance in the game. I just don't like dating multiple people, it feels sleazy. I believe the ONLY time in the game you will ever be called out by your partner(s) for doing so is during Kai's first romance event, and only Kurama and Cuilang do so, unless that was just who the player who made the screenshots happened to be dating...maybe EVERYONE does who you are dating at the same time as KaiKurama entirely makes sense, since those two are a slightly more mature version of Doug and Dylas. Anyway, I knew that, so I was careful to start dating Kai FIRST, so as not to trigger the anger lines from Kurama during that event.

I only went for three. I know I'll end up playing this some day again. After all, I even want to replay RF5. Azuma is a better game, so I'll definitely want to replay it again. I think Cuilang has potentially the most interesting backstory, so I'll probably spring for the DLC for him, eventually. Might also sneak Murasame (Murasume?) in and Mauro and maaaaaaybe even Subaru, though I surprisingly don't really like Subaru. Mauro's a bit of a nub, but he's a pleasant nub. Though his faux-Italian is so annoying. I really wish they'd got someone with a REAL Italian accent to voice him. Why can they never do that? Mauro just sounds like a poser with his 'grazie' and all the other Italian stuff, as he is CLEARLY not actually Italian, just an English-speaker spouting those words for the effect he thinks it has. Poser. And they could have fixed it by having someone with a genuine Italian accent do the voices.

Of course, this game has, what is it called? Alternate Fates, or something like that? Basically you can reset your marriage over and over to marry someone else. Except I think you can 'return' to an existing marriage once you marry someone new, if you want to. I'll do that with these three at least...Kurama (who I chose this time), Kai, and Ikaruga. I'll leave Cuilang, Mauro and Murasame for next time. And Subaru, I guess.

I've got almost every crop to max, now. I removed ALL my farmers, they were just getting in the way and were better off bringing in lumber, stone, fish, monster drops, or shop revenue. I wish I could get rid of Sakuna, who continues to farm no matter what I do and sometimes ruins what I want, since I wanted to reap those crops rather than harvest them. Then she automatically plants more in, too. She's a nuisance; I'd like to disable her. Oh well, now that I've got both rices to 9, I guess it doesn't matter any more and it's good to always have someone on rice since it's such a money-maker.

Blah blah, I am SO tired, I had severe muscle clenching in the night that woke me up and made me nauseated to boot, so that was NOT a restorative sleep. Gotta start at my new work location today, too...just as well I have the closing shift. I hope the people are nice. Well, there were a lot of characters at the other one and I got along with everyone. I've never actually had anyone in my entire life that I couldn't get along with well enough at least on the casual level, which is all you need with a coworker.

I know there is post-game story content that unlocks after...uh. Not after marriage, but after a child? I'm not 100% on that one, but I think so.

But I'm done, anyway! XCXde and Guardians of Azuma, both done. SoS: GrB can be started with no unnecessary baggage weighing me down. (Though both games have good post-game content that I will return to.)

EDIT: I've found 195 frog statues, and that seems to be all there is, right now. The last few seem to be locked to post game.

[Bluie]

My attention is now being ping-ponged between Silksong and Grand Bazaar, as I thought it would.

Silksong is good, but VERY difficult - but so was Hollow Knight, so nothing here is a surprise lol. I've taken down a handful of bosses and skipped one for the time being as I can't seem to get its patterns down. I did this in the previous game too when a boss was just too much and not locked to progression. Once I'm souped up a little more, I'll head back. If anything, I need to money grind because I found a shop with very nice items, but I'm so broke lol.

Grand Bazaar is going well. I've got my bachelor of choice dating me and he's a few hearts away from max. The Bazaar itself has two more levels to achieve so I'm chipping away at it while also trying to do all the villager's requests. It's nice that the game gave you extra little activities to work towards to keep you engaged, because there was literally nothing in the original once you maxed the bazaar and got married. I may actually not need to sleep marathon to see my child this time around!

[Kikki]

It's been a while! At least for me, in this thread.

I HAVE been playing Grand Bazaar, though not exclusively, and not always enjoying myself. I do best if I play about 3, maybe 4 days at once. And I have to do well at the bazaar, or I want to quit. Right now, 'well' seems to mean at least 100,000G, since I pulled in 115,000G on Spring 22 and 120,000G on Spring 29. Though I'm a bit peculiar. I can tell myself it's good enough if I pass a round number. Like...I'm just shy of 80,000G into my Level 5 goal (500,000G.) I COULD tell myself that I want to take it easy this time, and to just be satisfied with passing 100,000G of the goal. (Meaning I'd need to make 21,000G. Ish.)

I don't know why that works for me, lol. I guess I feel like I'm tidying things up, that way, and that alone is worth doing. I've been beating my record every time and I'd not like to NOT do that, but I'd also be okay with just rounding my goal income off.

Don't look at me...I don't know, either!

Anyway, I got some games on pretty good sales. In fact, I got uh...darn it. Oh yeah. I got Digimon Survive 84% off. And I got the Hello Kitty adventure island or whatever it is, too, also on sale. The HK game is...babyish, tbh. It has a lot of things to gather and collect, though, and I can at least get into that part, even if the characters are pitiful and so is the story, so far. It feels very much like a converted mobile game. Of course...since it IS one. The fishing works horribly, I hate it sooooooo much. It takes so long just to catch ONE fish, my thumb hurts by the end and sometimes it even slides off the control stick. Well, so I just don't fish. I can't be bothered, it's too tedious. So far, I haven't needed to fish for any reason, except for the quest that introduces fishing.

I HATED the game to begin, and if I could go back and stop myself from buying it, I would. It's a stupid, unfun game. Basically, I don't like it. But because I love collecting things, I can probably play a bit.

I notice that now, Daybreak II is also on sale. Which is cool, since I was definitely going to get it anyway, so I may grab it before the sale ends. It's not a tiny 10%, either...surprising in it's first year of release. But I guess NISA is pretty good with sales.

I tried a demo of Bubble Ghost (a remake...I don't know if it's actually related to the original or if it's just an homage.) which was fun. I don't play arcadey games any more, but even so changed, it was a nostalgia blast. I played it when I was about 9, as a DOS game on our Tandy 1000. (Which is when it first game out...1987.)

I say this a lot, unfortunately, but I'm having a massive surge of fatigue. Not sure what it is...does the colder weather make me tired? When I get tired, my muscles knot up and I make more mistakes at work as well. It sucks. But the new location is really nice and it saves me half an hour every time. Since I'm not a great driver, I like being on the road less, too. Tons of anxiety right now, medication changes, more to come...blah. But hopefully soon it'll balance out again.

Well, gotta get to bed early, sleep as hard as I can, and have a BIG tea before I leave.

Games don't matter all that much right now. I'm fitting some in, and usually managing to have fun. Well, half the time, anyway. But mostly, I gotta sleep.

[Shan O 123]

^
You do need to fish in hello kitty because there’s a few quests that require fish. Plus a few characters only will accept fish as their like gifts.
However if you have friends with this game on the same system they can give you fish.

[Kikki]

^
You do need to fish in hello kitty because there’s a few quests that require fish. Plus a few characters only will accept fish as their like gifts.

Then when I get to that, if I can't progress any more, I will quit playing and delete the game from my Switch. Wish I hadn't bought it in the first place. Biggest fail of 2025. (The only one, really.)

[Shan O 123]

^
You do need to fish in hello kitty because there’s a few quests that require fish. Plus a few characters only will accept fish as their like gifts.

Then when I get to that, if I can't progress any more, I will quit playing and delete the game from my Switch. Wish I hadn't bought it in the first place. Biggest fail of 2025. (The only one, really.)

I edited my post but I said if you have friends with this game on the same system they can give you fish.

…
We’re friends on the switch I’ll give you fish. You don’t have to catch it you just have to have it in your bag.

[Kikki]

^
You do need to fish in hello kitty because there’s a few quests that require fish. Plus a few characters only will accept fish as their like gifts.

Then when I get to that, if I can't progress any more, I will quit playing and delete the game from my Switch. Wish I hadn't bought it in the first place. Biggest fail of 2025. (The only one, really.)

I edited my post but I said if you have friends with this game on the same system they can give you fish.

…
We’re friends on the switch I’ll give you fish. You don’t have to catch it you just have to have it in your bag.

That's kind of you, Shan. If I get to a part where I need fish and I don't yet feel like just scrubbing the game, I'll give you a ding (here, I mean, on fogu) to beg for fish.

[greensara]

I am actually looking at getting Hello Kitty now, especially since my kids wanted it, but am debating physical or digital since they are both on sale right now. Also keeping an eye on the RF:GoA and Grand Bazaar prices, but the new Pokémon is coming next month...

Still chipping away at HM: Winds of Anthos. Got all the towns star systems open finally and looks like I am nearing the end of the storyline. Natsume needs better writers. They have done great with gameplay and visuals, but the story again is just too weird to make it work in my mind for the game. At least the gameplay has been very fun.

[Kikki]

I am actually looking at getting Hello Kitty now, especially since my kids wanted it, but am debating physical or digital since they are both on sale right now. Also keeping an eye on the RF:GoA and Grand Bazaar prices, but the new Pokémon is coming next month...

I very much regret buying Hello Kitty. Even on sale, it wasn't worth it. You can interior decorate and that's the only impact you can have on that world. It's just not very fun. Okay if you just love to rack up completions and collections.

Of those three games, your kids would probably like it the most, though? It feels very young, more than Animal Crossing.

I think YOU might like Azuma the most, and Grand Bazaar would be a decent middle ground between what you'd love and what they'd love...but it might be that you'd really love GB as much as or more than Azuma, too, so.

Well, my two cents, anyway.

[greensara]

I do love a good town builder, which is what caught my eye for Azuma, since I wasn't sure what I felt about a dancing earthmate. But I have never played the original Grand Bazaar, so I want to give that a try eventually too. Honestly though I may kick them all further down the road toward the holidays, even Hello Kitty, in case a better price comes up. Probably going to pick up Pokémon near release though. I am not sure if I want to play it right away since I am concerned how it will run on Switch vs Switch 2, but definitely getting the Switch version. I can upgrade later when I get around to getting a Switch 2.

[Kikki]

I do love a good town builder, which is what caught my eye for Azuma, since I wasn't sure what I felt about a dancing earthmate. But I have never played the original Grand Bazaar, so I want to give that a try eventually too. Honestly though I may kick them all further down the road toward the holidays, even Hello Kitty, in case a better price comes up. Probably going to pick up Pokémon near release though. I am not sure if I want to play it right away since I am concerned how it will run on Switch vs Switch 2, but definitely getting the Switch version. I can upgrade later when I get around to getting a Switch 2.

The dancing really doesn't exist. I kind of thought this even before release, but it's not as though you really dance. You just have a bunch of divine items, like a drum you tap to accelerate growth, a fan you can blow away poison with...stuff like that. Rarely do you ever see your 'Earth Dancer' actually dancing. (It happens, what...once in the entire game? Maybe two or three times?) Certainly YOU never do anything to make your earth dancer dance. It just shows up in a few cutscenes.

It doesn't feel like it has all that much of a point. You could have been an anything, and the game would still work. Basically you're not really any different than an Earthmate.

Pokemon does seem like a game you AND your kids probably all love, fairly equally, more than any of the others. I think you'd end up playing Hello Kitty mostly just to let your kids have fun, more than for yourself. But it's not like there aren't plenty of adults playing it for their own sake. I just don't get how anyone could become invested in it when you can't put anything of yourself into it...there's no individuality (except interior decorating, which I've never liked) and the story and characters are all super, suuuuuper simple.

[Bluie]

I finished Grand Bazaar, as in I've seen the credits twice (once for marriage, another for hitting all the bazaar goals). I don't really have any desire to play further at this time (as in, get the baby and see it grow fully). I married Gabriel because none of the other choices really intrigued me, and Gabe's an artist, I'm an artist, and he also loved the color yellow, which is my personal favorite too. Funny, he even has a line about now wanting kids too early, so, wish granted, no kids ever lol.

I was primed to hop back into Silksong, but I completely forgot that Genshin had it's yearly new expansion update yesterday. I chose to play it instead, and I made it through Act 1 of the current region/story. Kinda surprised we have Act 2 right out of the gate, and I had to stop because I needed to go to sleep. I'll probably play it more tomorrow if I end up not working (up in the air atm), and I need to get on daily now for some free upgrade to my characters, so I'm back into Genshin, for now.