Podcast appearances and mentions of al good

Al and Kelly talk about Ratopia Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:24: What Have We Been Up To 00:17:46: Game News 00:25:17: News Games 00:36:08: Ratopia 01:02:56: Outro Links Tales of Seikyu Early Access Sugardew Island Sprinklers Update Outlanders “The Culinry Diaries” DLC Turnip Boy Steals The Mall Cubified Turnip Boy Plush Everdream Valley VR Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:31) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:36) Kelly: And my name is Kelly. (0:00:38) Al: And we are here today to talk about Cottage Core Games. (0:00:42) Al: Woo! (0:00:42) Kelly: Woo! (0:00:45) Al: Uh, welcome back, Kelly. (0:00:47) Al: Always good to have you. (0:00:48) Kelly: It’s always fun to be back. (0:00:50) Kelly: I feel like we talked so recently and yet so long ago. (0:00:55) Kelly: It really wasn’t that long ago. (0:00:56) Al: Let’s have a look. (0:00:57) Al: Your last episode was “Grimoire Groves”, and that was in March. (0:01:01) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:01:02) Al: For two months. (0:01:04) Al: Hmm, I have not played that game since that episode. (0:01:07) Kelly: I completed everything. (0:01:09) Al: Hmm. (0:01:10) Kelly: Everything, everything. (0:01:12) Al: Impressive. (0:01:12) Kelly: And then I put the game down and never picked it back up again. (0:01:14) Al: Hmm, fair. (0:01:16) Al: That’s how I play most games, to be fair. (0:01:16) Kelly: It was fun. (0:01:19) Kelly: Me too. (0:01:19) Kelly: But usually I don’t go full completionist mode. (0:01:23) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:01:24) Kelly: I pick things that I want to complete (0:01:26) Kelly: or give myself goals. (0:01:27) Kelly: Otherwise, I kind of lose motivation sometimes. (0:01:30) Al: Fair enough (0:01:32) Al: And then you were on the fields of then you were on the fields of mystery out before that. Have you played the update? (0:01:32) Kelly: But I was determined. (0:01:37) Kelly: No. (0:01:38) Kelly: I really enjoyed the portion that I played, (0:01:42) Kelly: but I decided that was enough and I’m just (0:01:44) Kelly: going to wait for the full game. (0:01:46) Al: I have done the same also. I was really tempted to jump in in the last update, but I’m like, (0:01:52) Kelly: Mm-hmm yep, that’s why I am I ended up picking up Sunhaven instead (0:01:52) Al: “No, let’s not do it. Let’s not do it. Don’t ruin it for yourself. Wait for the full game.” (0:02:00) Al: Yes. Well, let’s get into that then. So, just before we get into that, (0:02:02) Kelly: So I was like, you know what that’s a completed game (0:02:08) Al: we’re going to talk about Ratopia, this episode. Ratopia, this episode, because it has just come (0:02:14) Al: out in 1.0. (0:02:16) Al: Kelly has previously played it, so I thought we would talk about that. (0:02:21) Al: Before that, obviously, we’ll have our regular news. (0:02:25) Al: But first of all, Kelly, what have you been up to? (0:02:28) Kelly: “Playing Sunhaven.” (0:02:29) Al: I have questions. (0:02:30) Kelly: Woo! (0:02:31) Kelly: I also got 15 yards of dirt delivered to my driveway (0:02:34) Kelly: so I could fix my backyard. (0:02:36) Kelly: So that’s– (0:02:39) Al: Why is it measured in distance? (0:02:44) Kelly: I don’t have that answer. (0:02:46) Al: So, presumably, it’s like a set thickness, right? (0:02:47) Kelly: Do you know how I had to figure out what 15 yards of dirt was, (0:02:50) Kelly: Al? (0:02:50) Kelly: I had to go on YouTube and watch a video of a dump truck (0:02:53) Kelly: delivering 15 yards of dirt to someone’s driveway. (0:02:59) Kelly: I guess? (0:03:01) Kelly: Because they also do like– (0:03:01) Al: You’re the one that’s had it delivered! (0:03:03) Kelly: yeah, Al, this was through Facebook Market. (0:03:06) Kelly: This is just, I don’t know, the standard measurement (0:03:08) Kelly: that they use, though, because it’s cubic yards and cubic feet (0:03:11) Kelly: are used for soil. (0:03:12) Al: Oh, so it’s cubic yards, not yards. (0:03:17) Kelly: I don’t know, because they only said yards. (0:03:19) Al: Because that’s a bit– because cubic yards is a vol– (0:03:23) Al: Yeah, so it sounds like they’re just automatically (0:03:24) Kelly: It’s probably cubic yards, and I just never considered it. (0:03:25) Al: shortening it then, because cubic yards is a volume. (0:03:28) Al: That’s how you measure something like soil. (0:03:28) Kelly: Yes. (0:03:29) Kelly: Yes, that’s how I do my soil. (0:03:31) Kelly: I do soil calculations in cubic yards. (0:03:34) Kelly: I just didn’t put two and two together because it just (0:03:37) Kelly: straight up said yards. (0:03:38) Al: Yeah, that’s just laziness, I think, on behalf of people selling. (0:03:42) Kelly: Yeah. (0:03:43) Kelly: But no, I literally watched YouTube videos on dirt delivery (0:03:46) Kelly: to figure out how much dirt this would be. (0:03:48) Al: Although, I also have a question about that, because this is a thing that Americans do (0:03:55) Al: a lot, is you measure things by volume, when that can be very inaccurate for certain things. (0:03:58) Kelly: Yes. Yeah. Yes. (0:04:02) Al: It’s all very well and good measuring liquids by volume, because they stay the same. You’re (0:04:08) Kelly: Yeah. (0:04:08) Al: not going to add extra air in between grains of water. Yeah. Yeah. (0:04:10) Kelly: No, listen, I do a lot of baking. (0:04:14) Kelly: All of my baking is done by weight. (0:04:18) Kelly: I convert recipes all the time. (0:04:18) Al: Yeah. (0:04:22) Kelly: I’m pretty sure that they do it this way so that they can, like… (0:04:24) Kelly: Okay, this is free dirt, so it’s like… (0:04:26) Al: Okay, yeah. (0:04:28) Kelly: trash as it is. (0:04:30) Kelly: But it’s like, clearly they want to do it by volume and not weight (0:04:32) Kelly: so that they can give me things like a two foot long concrete rock (0:04:36) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. (0:04:36) Kelly: inside of my dirt pile. (0:04:40) Kelly: You know, like, that’s… (0:04:42) Kelly: I don’t know about the other things, (0:04:44) Kelly: because I’m assuming when people buy nice soil, (0:04:46) Kelly: they’re not getting giant rocks in their nice soil. (0:04:49) Al: Yeah, I. (0:04:50) Kelly: But I think… I think it’s… it’s a… (0:04:54) Kelly: I think that’s part of it. I don’t know. (0:04:56) Al: You weren’t buying high quality topside, well, that’s for sure. (0:04:58) Kelly: You know, it’s free dirt. (0:05:00) Al: But yeah, the baking one is funny, right? (0:05:02) Al: Because I understand the want to do it in volume, right? (0:05:05) Al: Like there’s a lot of cooking that I do (0:05:07) Al: where I do it by volume because it’s quicker, right? (0:05:08) Kelly: Yes, yeah. (0:05:09) Al: Like I quite often I quite often will make like (0:05:13) Al: I do like oat breakfast cookies quite often and I’ll just I’ll just use one (0:05:19) Al: of my measuring spoons and I’ll just like throw half a cup into a bowl, right? (0:05:24) Kelly: - Yeah. (0:05:24) Al: Because it’s quick and it’s dirty and it (0:05:26) Al: doesn’t really matter because if it’s slightly off, it’s fine. (0:05:27) Kelly: You’re getting cookies no matter what. (0:05:29) Al: Exactly, right? (0:05:30) Kelly: - Yeah, exactly. (0:05:31) Al: It does the job. (0:05:31) Al: But like when you’re if I’m if I’m baking a cake, like, you know, I’m I’m weighing (0:05:36) Al: out that flour, right, I cannot but you’ll see recipes online all the time. (0:05:36) Kelly: - Yep, yeah, oh yeah. (0:05:40) Al: And it’s like a cup of flour. (0:05:42) Al: And I’m like, first of all, first of all, there is no single standard cup. (0:05:46) Al: Did you know our cups are different than your cups? (0:05:48) Kelly: Yes. That’s what pisses me off. That’s what pisses me off when like a lot of good baking (0:05:49) Al: Fun, isn’t that super fun to learn about after I’ve spent following American (0:05:54) Al: recipes for years? (0:05:59) Kelly: recipes will include both the the grams or whatever ounces and then also yeah the ones (0:06:02) Al: Yes. You click the little button and it will change them. Yes, it’s nice. I like that. (0:06:09) Kelly: that don’t are so questionable because it’s like well did you pack the flour when you put in the (0:06:14) Al: Yeah, exactly. (0:06:15) Kelly: the cup but do you (0:06:18) Kelly: do our cups match yeah it’s very frustrating it’s very I do a lot of (0:06:20) Al: How irritated is your flower? (0:06:26) Kelly: math when I do baking so it’s very interesting I guess (0:06:28) Al: And this is why I don’t do much baking, because I like cooking where I can just throw things in (0:06:35) Al: and it’ll taste good. And if it doesn’t taste good, I add in something else and it tastes good now. (0:06:41) Al: But baking, if you muck up the measurements, you’re getting a pile of mush. (0:06:42) Kelly: That’s, yeah, I will say, I am definitely doing like a dirty sourdough at the moment for the starter because I used to be very anal and I would measure everything out. (0:06:55) Kelly: And after like, I guess four or five years of doing sourdough starters, I just like, I understand what the consistency needs to be. (0:07:04) Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s very different. (0:07:06) Al: If you’re doing the same thing all the time, you know what it needs to be, (0:07:08) Kelly: Yeah, but there’s definitely some. (0:07:10) Al: and you just get used to that. (0:07:12) Kelly: There are some things that I kind of like mess around with in baking where I think other people might not. (0:07:16) Kelly: And it’s like in the end, it still tastes great. (0:07:20) Kelly: And it’s my little science experiment, you know? (0:07:22) Al: Yeah, I know. For sure. (0:07:24) Kelly: But no, I love cooking and baking for the two different reasons. (0:07:28) Kelly: Like one is my little science chemistry set. (0:07:32) Kelly: And the other one is like throw whatever the hell you want into a pan and see what happens. (0:07:34) Al: Yeah, I like the idea of baking and I sit with a pack of flour in my cupboard and I (0:07:42) Al: watch as it goes out of date, because it’s just like, it’s a whole other mindset you (0:07:49) Al: have to be in before you can actually realistically do that. And that, yeah. I’ve had a recipe (0:07:50) Kelly: - Yes. (0:07:55) Kelly: - Yeah, it’s a different commitment. (0:07:57) Al: for like a specific kind of flatbread for months and I’ve not done it yet. And that’s (0:08:04) Al: all for baking. That’s just bread. (0:08:06) Kelly: Yeah, yeah. (0:08:07) Kelly: No, I’ve been meaning to make a brioche bread for months, (0:08:12) Kelly: and I just keep putting it off because I’m like, (0:08:14) Kelly: I don’t want to deal with it. (0:08:14) Al: There’s so much brain space. (0:08:16) Al: Anyway, Sunhaven. (0:08:17) Kelly: Yes, Sun Even has been a lot of fun. (0:08:20) Al: Pardon me, that’s what we were talking about. (0:08:23) Kelly: I like the different mechanics that they’ve added into it. (0:08:26) Kelly: I enjoy having magic. (0:08:27) Al: Yep. Interesting. (0:08:28) Kelly: I wouldn’t say it’s like the most thrilling farming game. (0:08:32) Kelly: I’ve ever played, but I think it’s overwhelming in a way that keeps my attention. (0:08:38) Kelly: Like having the different farms in different areas. (0:08:42) Al: It’s quite story based as well, isn’t it? (0:08:43) Kelly: Yes, yes, there’s a lot. (0:08:45) Al: How are you finding that? (0:08:47) Kelly: Um, it’s good. (0:08:49) Kelly: I don’t always pay attention to stories and games, so I’m not the best person. (0:08:54) Al: Yeah, same. (0:08:57) Kelly: I will say sometimes I look over to the characters, though, and have my eyes coped at one, I think. (0:09:03) Kelly: You guys don’t have that much clothes on. (0:09:04) Al: I’ve had, I backed this game on Kickstarter and I’ve had it in my Steam library now for (0:09:14) Al: a couple of years. I’ve not done anything with it. I have not, no. I think part of my (0:09:16) Kelly: Have you played it? (0:09:21) Al: problem is there’s like a time frame after a game comes out where if I don’t play a game (0:09:26) Al: in that time period I’m probably never playing it. (0:09:28) Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that’s hard because you have games that like you want to play and also (0:09:35) Al: Let me tell you how many games have come out this year, purely farming games. We are currently (0:09:41) Al: at 20. 20 games have come out this year so far. No, actually I’m wrong. 22. No, 24. 25. (0:09:51) Al: 25 games that I am tracking on this game, on this podcast, by the 10th of May. There’s (0:09:54) Kelly: By May. (0:09:59) Al: more coming out in May. There’s another three on the list that are releasing this month. (0:10:03) Kelly: Are they flooding the market? (0:10:06) Al: It’s the Stardew Effect. We’re just at that time period. We are, what is this, eight years (0:10:08) Kelly: It is. (0:10:10) Al: after Stardew got popular? So just everybody’s finishing up their Stardew clones. (0:10:12) Kelly: Yeah. (0:10:18) Kelly: That is very true. (0:10:19) Kelly: And unfortunately, Sunhaven does fall into that. (0:10:24) Kelly: But again, I think it’s not the most unique farming game I’ve (0:10:28) Kelly: ever played, but I do like some of the things that they’ve added. (0:10:31) Kelly: I also just find it comforting. (0:10:33) Kelly: I like a good micromanagy game. (0:10:36) Al: Yeah, yeah, I’ll talk about mine in a minute. (0:10:38) Al: But, yeah, I totally agree with that. (0:10:40) Al: I wonder. (0:10:40) Kelly: And I do like that you don’t spend energy. (0:10:44) Al: Oh, yeah, so we’re going to have to we’re (0:10:46) Al: definitely going to have to talk about this game then (0:10:48) Al: because I am also playing a game which doesn’t have energy. (0:10:54) Kelly: It’s a fun mechanic to like, not worry about. (0:10:54) Al: And that is. (0:10:57) Al: Yeah. (0:10:59) Al: I am very much enjoying it. (0:11:02) Kelly: It’s really nice. (0:11:04) Kelly: Like, oh, there’s still always the time, you know, crunch or whatever. (0:11:06) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:11:07) Kelly: But like, oh, I don’t have to eat 10,000 apples just because I (0:11:11) Kelly: want to hit a few more rocks. (0:11:13) Al: This is the thing that’s always annoyed me about farming games is you’ve got two (0:11:17) Al: limitations, you’ve got the time and the energy and removing one or the other of (0:11:24) Al: them, because Ever After Falls, which is what I’m playing and Sunhaven, (0:11:29) Al: which is what you’re playing, both remove the stamina. (0:11:32) Al: but Sugaju Valley, which we’ll talk about in the news section, (0:11:36) Al: it removed the time aspect where it’s essentially turn based. (0:11:41) Al: So you do your stuff and then you there’s two phases to the day. (0:11:45) Al: There’s the day phase and the night phase. (0:11:48) Al: And the night phase is when you open the shop. (0:11:51) Al: So it’s like you do whatever you want to do and then you go and open the shop. (0:11:54) Al: And then when you close the shop, it’s bedtime. (0:11:58) Kelly: that’s sick yeah yeah yeah sometimes bad games yeah it’s um which I think you (0:11:59) Al: So I like the… (0:12:01) Al: I mean, it’s not a good game, it’s a bad game. (0:12:03) Al: But it was interest that was that was an interest. (0:12:06) Al: Interesting thing and I like the games are now trying to play around with these things a little bit more. (0:12:13) Kelly: know that’s one of the things that we benefit from at like at the time point (0:12:17) Kelly: we’re in post stardew is like obviously that a lot of copies came out but I (0:12:24) Kelly: I think we’re really starting to see people like try to change (0:12:28) Al: Mm hmm. Yeah. So we’ll see. We’ll see how those things go. But OK, so you’re enjoying Sun Haven. (0:12:36) Kelly: Yes, I have put over 100 hours into it so far. (0:12:39) Al: Let me schedule that episode then. Sun Haven. Kelly. We’ll see when we do that. (0:12:48) Kelly: You know, you’re the reason I actually picked it up, I think, is because we were talking (0:12:50) Al: I’ve been meaning to play it for so long. Maybe I can event. Maybe I can finally play it if I’ve got (0:12:55) Al: a date to record on it. Aha! (0:12:58) Al: Right, OK. Was it in the news then? (0:12:59) Kelly: about it during the grimoire podcast. (0:13:06) Kelly: Probably I don’t know. (0:13:07) Kelly: I know it got mentioned. (0:13:08) Kelly: It was probably like a brief mentioning, but I think it was the news. (0:13:10) Al: many things, come on. Well I have obviously been playing Ratopia, I’ve only been playing the demo, (0:13:13) Kelly: So you influenced me, congrats. (0:13:22) Al: we’ll get to that later, but yeah I’ve been playing the demo of Ratopia. I’ve also been (0:13:29) Al: playing Ever After Falls and I have put in about 60 hours in that game so far, so it hooked me. (0:13:34) Kelly: What, what’s, what’s that one? (0:13:37) Al: So that’s just another stardew clone, but it um (0:13:40) Al: Obviously, as I said, it doesn’t have the stamina aspect, but it’s, let’s see, how would I describe, so it’s premise is slightly different, where you die at the beginning of the game, and then wake up and turns out that your real life was a simulation, and now you’re in another world with a farm. (0:14:06) Kelly: Oh, interesting. So really planning on people’s simpsychosis fears. (0:14:11) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And it’s very solid, I would say, probably much like what you’re talking about with Sunhaven. It’s like a solid farming game, and it has definitely caught that bug that I have for I must do this thing, and I’m building up this farm, and that is what I’m doing. (0:14:37) Al: And I’ve been enjoying that. (0:14:40) Al: And I have some things to talk about it that I’m going to talk about in a future (0:14:43) Al: episode that I found interesting, but I think if you’d like Stardew and you’ve (0:14:49) Al: been like, I must have another one and I’m done with Stardew, (0:14:52) Al: I want a different list. (0:14:54) Al: It’s a pretty solid one. (0:14:55) Kelly: The graphics look really cute. (0:14:57) Al: Yeah, that’s what initially grabbed me in. (0:14:59) Al: And the animation of it is fun as well, like your character’s arms are not (0:15:03) Al: attached to the body and they can swing really funny as you walk around. (0:15:08) Al: And there’s a few other things like you’ve (0:15:10) Al: seen these that you can catch and put them on things and you’ll get like wood or (0:15:14) Al: or without actually cutting the thing down. (0:15:17) Al: And that’s kind of like around it’s trying to encourage sustainability. (0:15:18) Kelly: Oh, that’s cool. (0:15:21) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:15:22) Al: So, yeah, there’s a few bits and pieces. (0:15:22) Kelly: Yeah, but it’s that solid game. (0:15:27) Kelly: Sometimes you don’t need anything innovative or crazy (0:15:29) Al: Yeah. Yeah. (0:15:30) Kelly: different. (0:15:30) Kelly: It’s just a nice, comforting game. (0:15:34) Al: So that’s what I’ve mostly been playing. (0:15:37) Al: I have also, so two picks earlier came out and I had backed that game. (0:15:42) Al: So this is like a life sim in a kind of stardew style, (0:15:48) Al: but it’s much more, it’s almost, I guess, GTA-esque. (0:15:54) Kelly: I was gonna say it looks like kind of reminds me of like I don’t want to say sim city but like (0:16:00) Al: I guess it would be some city if you were actually controlling an individual. (0:16:00) Kelly: something like that (0:16:04) Kelly: yeah that’s that’s which I guess is kind of like the ratopia of also (0:16:10) Al: Yeah, I think it’s different from that in so much as like you don’t have any control (0:16:15) Al: over anyone else. You’re just living your own life, but you can you can do crime and (0:16:16) Kelly: Mmm. (0:16:20) Al: stuff like that. What I will say is I’ve not properly played it because it doesn’t have (0:16:21) Kelly: Okay, that’s cool. That’s fun. (0:16:27) Al: controller support. So later, I play on my Steam Deck. (0:16:30) Kelly: Oh, you don’t do mouse and keyboard. (0:16:35) Kelly: Ah, that’s crazy. (0:16:36) Kelly: I didn’t consider that, that… (0:16:38) Kelly: Why would they put anything on the Steam Deck (0:16:40) Kelly: that doesn’t have… (0:16:40) Al: Well, anything on Steam goes on the Steam Deck by default, and most games coming out (0:16:43) Kelly: Yeah, no, I understand that, but like… (0:16:47) Al: now will have controller support. It’s a good question as to why it doesn’t have controller (0:16:52) Al: support yet, and I do not know the answer. They have said that they’re adding controller (0:16:56) Al: support soon, but yeah, I’m just like, why, why, why? (0:16:57) Kelly: okay hopefully like I get what you’re saying like obviously they push everything from steam to it (0:17:03) Kelly: but like you would think that there would be like some kind of filter like (0:17:08) Al: They have a compatibility thing and it’s and it currently has an unknown compatibility (0:17:12) Al: for Steam Deck. (0:17:13) Kelly: okay (0:17:14) Al: So. (0:17:15) Al: But whatever. (0:17:16) Al: Yeah. (0:17:17) Al: I opened it up. (0:17:18) Al: Went. (0:17:19) Kelly: yeah that’s that’s fair that’s very fair (0:17:19) Al: Yeah. (0:17:20) Al: Nope. (0:17:21) Al: We closed it. (0:17:24) Al: I’ll try again once you’ve added controller support, please and thank you. (0:17:28) Al: So, yeah, that’s. (0:17:30) Kelly: Interesting concept though. (0:17:31) Al: Yeah. (0:17:32) Al: Yeah. (0:17:33) Al: Well, I want to try it. (0:17:34) Al: That’s the thing. (0:17:35) Al: Like what it is saying it’s doing (0:17:38) Al: It has mixed reviews on Steam just now. (0:17:40) Al: So who knows how that will go, but (0:17:42) Kelly: Well, you know. You gotta try stuff. (0:17:43) Al: we’ll see. (0:17:46) Al: All right, let’s talk about some news. (0:17:48) Kelly: Yay! News! (0:17:50) Al: Tales, Tales of Saikyu. (0:17:56) Kelly: I think sake you, but like, also, I’m not a- (0:18:00) Al: This is the game where you turn into Yoko, Yoko, Yoko. (0:18:06) Kelly: Yokai? (0:18:08) Al: This game is where you turn into Yoko for getting around and dealing with your crops and stuff like that. (0:18:09) Kelly: Taseku, mess you up. (0:18:21) Al: You have a whole bunch of different abilities for turning into different Yokai that have different abilities to do these things. (0:18:30) Al: Yeah, yeah, I haven’t decided whether I want to play this or not, but it is a thing. (0:18:36) Al: and they’ve announced that their early access is coming. (0:18:38) Al: I don’t think this was a Kickstarter, so I won’t have backed it, so don’t buy it. (0:18:40) Kelly: Oh, very soon. (0:18:53) Al: I’m telling myself that, not other people. (0:18:56) Al: I can’t be trusted. (0:18:57) Al: Yeah, not much else to say about that, they’ve just announced their early access is coming. (0:19:03) Al: One thing I didn’t check is what they’re expecting in terms of how long. (0:19:08) Al: Because that’s always an interesting thing is how long they say they’re going to be in (0:19:11) Al: early access for. (0:19:13) Al: They’re expecting it to be about a year, so I suspect two and a half years. (0:19:18) Kelly: That sounds like good math. (0:19:24) Al: Next we have another update for Sugaju Island. (0:19:27) Al: So this game is bad game, don’t buy this game, don’t play this game, but they are making (0:19:32) Al: it less bad. (0:19:34) Al: Maybe someday it will be less bad enough that it will be worth buying, it probably won’t (0:19:38) Al: be. (0:19:39) Al: So in this update they’ve added sprinklers, so you can have sprinklers on the farm. (0:19:45) Al: Yay. (0:19:46) Kelly: And you can discover seashells. (0:19:46) Al: It’s such a, yeah, wow, I just, what, well, lackluster updates for lackluster game, that’s (0:19:47) Kelly: How exciting. (0:19:53) Kelly: This is like really lackluster updates. (0:19:55) Kelly: I’m sorry. (0:19:59) Al: what I would say. (0:20:02) Al: I don’t, they’ve also added key bindings support, so you can change your key bindings, which (0:20:06) Al: Good, I’m glad. (0:20:08) Al: You should have had that at lunch. I find this game so fascinating, (0:20:14) Al: because it feels so much like we need to do a farming game, so let’s do a farming game. (0:20:21) Al: And the only interesting thing about it was the turn-based time in the day. It is, (0:20:28) Kelly: Which is like a really cool concept, which is that sounds so interesting. (0:20:32) Al: but… but he’s just not good. (0:20:34) Kelly: They put all their effort into that one concept and nothing else. (0:20:38) Al: They’ve marked this as a major update on Steam. That is something. Uh, yeah. (0:20:46) Kelly: I mean, I’m going to just say this like then I think the name alone implies to me that there’s not a lot of effort going on here. (0:20:54) Al: Oh Kelly, you probably haven’t listened to last week’s episode have you? (0:20:57) Al: There were two new games in last week’s episode that were called Sunseed Island and Starsand Island. (0:21:08) Kelly: We got to start like putting a ban on certain words for farm game (0:21:14) Al: Known, known, island or valley. Yeah, this is… (0:21:18) Kelly: If you have “do” in your name. (0:21:24) Al: Good changes to the game, but that does not make a good game. (0:21:31) Al: I cannot see how either of these three tiny things in this major update would (0:21:39) Al: change this game from being bad to being good. I have no interest in opening that game again. (0:21:48) Kelly: Definitely good to know. I was very intrigued when you mentioned the turn-based, and very (0:21:52) Kelly: disappointed when you immediately followed up with that it’s a bad game. (0:21:54) Al: here lies the problem. They do have a demo. Feel free to try the demo. I mean, some people (0:22:01) Al: like it, apparently, there are some positive reviews. Apparently, it’s mostly positive. (0:22:07) Al: I don’t know how. I really don’t know. So, like, every recommended person is like, oh, (0:22:08) Kelly: Are they paying these people? (0:22:17) Al: it’s so nice. And they’re like, but it’s not. And all the not recommended is like, it is (0:22:23) Al: the most boring farming game. (0:22:24) Al: With so few features, it feels like a proof of concept and then they didn’t add the rest of the game. (0:22:36) Kelly: I don’t know how Steam reviews work. (0:22:38) Al: You just have to own it, I think. (0:22:42) Kelly: Yeah, but like, I think it tells you, right, if like, they got it for free. (0:22:44) Al: Oh, good question. Purchase type. Steam purchases and other. So other would be free ones. (0:22:53) Kelly: That’s what I would think, but like I meant more so too on like the, oh, no, nevermind. (0:22:58) Kelly: 230 people found this review helpful. (0:23:02) Al: Oh, is that the not recommended one at the top? (0:23:04) Kelly: Yeah. (0:23:06) Al: I can’t believe I put 12 hours into this game, absolutely mad. (0:23:09) Kelly: That’s a lot of hours. (0:23:10) Al: It’s a lot of hours for a bad game. (0:23:13) Al: All right, yeah, I’m going to start bashing this game. (0:23:14) Kelly: Next. (0:23:16) Al: Moving on, Outlanders have announced a new DLC, The Culinary Diaries. (0:23:23) Al: It looks like it’s a food based story addition to the game. (0:23:29) Al: This is a town building strategy game. (0:23:31) Kelly: OK, it looks like a short hike or the goose game. (0:23:36) Al: Yeah, I mean, graphics wise, yeah, it’s very much management style game, though, rather (0:23:38) Kelly: Yes, yeah, that’s what I’m basing that off of entirely. (0:23:44) Kelly: OK. (0:23:45) Al: than I have not. There’s too many games to play them all. But yeah, it looks like it’s (0:23:47) Kelly: Have you played this one? (0:23:55) Al: added a whole bunch of cooking stuff. So if you enjoy this game, there you go. You got (0:24:01) Al: a new update? A new DLC? Or is it paid? That’s a good question, I should check that. (0:24:06) Al: It is… No, it’s not free. It is $5. It is not bad. They’ve got quite a few DLCs, (0:24:06) Kelly: It’s free, maybe. (0:24:13) Kelly: Oh, that’s not bad. (0:24:17) Al: which is interesting. They’re all $5. Yeah, they also have very positive rating on Steam. (0:24:18) Kelly: I noticed that it seems like they’re, they have quite the DLC (0:24:29) Al: None of that tells as much, because it’s Sugaju Island, Suga Valley, whatever, I don’t care. (0:24:30) Kelly: - I think no. (0:24:37) Al: Had a positive, quite positive, was it? Or something like that? I don’t know. It was positive for some reason. (0:24:46) Kelly: But I mean, like, I feel like generally, obviously, (0:24:49) Kelly: that’s not true for everything. (0:24:51) Kelly: Games that tend to put out consistent DLC content, (0:24:55) Kelly: like, there’s something good going on. (0:24:57) Al: Yeah, it has twenty nine thumbs up on the Steam post and zero comments. (0:25:03) Al: So you’ve not got a whole bunch of people (0:25:05) Al: complaining about it being paid, which implies to me that some people are (0:25:10) Al: excited to buy it. (0:25:10) Kelly: Yeah. And again, for $5, it’s not a bad addition. (0:25:14) Al: Five dollars. (0:25:17) Al: All right, next, we have some new games to talk about. (0:25:21) Al: First up, we have turnip bill. (0:25:25) Al: Words, words. (0:25:25) Kelly: You’re not having a good day with the, I’m immediately adding this one to my wish list (0:25:27) Al: Fail me, Callie. (0:25:33) Al: Turnip Boy steals them all. (0:25:36) Al: Uh, have you played any Turnip Boy game? (0:25:39) Kelly: I have not, um, not out of like not wanting to, but like just life. (0:25:45) Al: So turn it by commits tax evasion is great fun. It’s it’s a really good (0:25:51) Al: small (0:25:53) Al: RPG and I really liked that game turn it by Rob’s a bank is (0:26:00) Al: similar in terms of its action (0:26:02) Al: But it is a roguelite (0:26:06) Kelly: Oh, interesting. So not for Al. (0:26:08) Al: I (0:26:09) Al: Mean I I played it. I want to see how many hours I put into it. I put in (0:26:11) Kelly: Yeah. (0:26:15) Al: I played it on the switch not steam apparently (0:26:18) Al: So I would need to I would need to look on my switch, which I’m not doing right now (0:26:23) Al: I (0:26:26) Al: Finished the game. I completed it which I haven’t done for many many roguelites (0:26:35) Kelly: says a lot. I didn’t realize how new these games were though. That’s crazy that they’ve put out (0:26:40) Kelly: three games in like four years. (0:26:43) Al: Yeah, 10 hours is apparently what I put into it to complete the game. (0:26:48) Kelly: Oh, that’s, that’s a, that’s like a solid cute little short game. (0:26:52) Al: Yeah, well, that’s the thing about them. They’re not super long, (0:26:55) Al: you know, you’re not looking at 50 hours, you’re looking at up to 10. (0:27:00) Al: With Turnip Boy commits to excavation, I 100% did it. I didn’t 100% (0:27:05) Al: rob the bank, but I did complete the story. I completed that run, completed that run. (0:27:12) Al: Which is enough. (0:27:13) Al: For a roguelite, for me, considering I only got a third of the way through a run in Hades. (0:27:27) Al: Defeated the first boss, then died in the next level and went “I’m not playing that boss again”. (0:27:36) Kelly: Where’s your dedication to pain? (0:27:40) Al: Nowhere. So yes, right. Okay, so this is a new Turnip Boy game. Don’t get excited. It is not an (0:27:46) Al: RPG. It is not like the previous Turnip Boy games. It is an endless runner for some reason. (0:27:55) Kelly: Very, you know, they found like their niche little like theme with the turnip boy, but like it’s very interesting that each game is different. (0:28:04) Al: Yeah, so what I’ve said in my notes here is, I’ll buy and play a new Turn It By game, right? (0:28:13) Al: Because I like Turn It By, but I’m a little bit disappointed that it’s a third game and (0:28:19) Al: it’s not like the first, because yeah, the second one was different, but it was the same (0:28:24) Al: as well. (0:28:25) Al: Like it was a roguelite, but it was still like a combat game in the same way that the (0:28:31) Al: other one was, right? (0:28:32) Al: The controls were the same, you controlled the player. (0:28:34) Al: The same, you still had a weapon in the same way, and there weren’t as many puzzles, right? (0:28:40) Al: The first one had more puzzles, but it was still there was the same combat and stuff like that. (0:28:46) Al: And this is very much not that. So I’m a little bit sad about that. (0:28:53) Al: I guess that’s fine, you know, they can do what they want. But yeah, I’m gonna buy it, I’m gonna (0:29:00) Al: to play it and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it but I want another turnip by turnip (0:29:04) Al: I was so good, it was funny (0:29:06) Kelly: I’ve literally only heard good things about it. Like, you know, it’s I feel like they (0:29:11) Kelly: really like turn a boy made himself into a thing. (0:29:14) Al: Turnaby commits tax evasion was a lovely RPG that you could 100% in 10 hours, and it was funny. (0:29:20) Al: It had a fun little story. It had some good combat that was actually challenging, (0:29:24) Al: especially near the end. And it was good fun. Turnaby robs a bank, had the challenging combat, (0:29:30) Al: and it had some of the funny story. And other than that, it missed the rest of it. (0:29:34) Al: And this presumably will have the same humor. But that’s it. And (0:29:38) Kelly: But that’s it. (0:29:39) Kelly: So they’re just slowly degrading. (0:29:44) Al: I feel bad saying that, because I suspect it’s not like they’re making this instead of another (0:29:50) Al: RPG, right? Like, I think they had a good idea for doing this. And they’ve done it as Turnaby. (0:29:57) Al: I’m just like, when I saw there’s a new Turnaby game, I went, “Oh, yes, great!” (0:30:01) Al: And I looked at it and went, “This is nothing like them at all.” (0:30:04) Kelly: Yeah. No, I was just being a little cynical, but I agree. (0:30:09) Kelly: I think that’s they’re just trying different avenues. (0:30:14) Kelly: It’s not like, oh, this is like a quick grab or something. (0:30:16) Al: Yeah, yeah, no, I get that. But yeah, I’m not saying it’s going to be a bad game. It’s (0:30:20) Al: just one of these things where it’s like, if you would hear, oh, you know, say you didn’t (0:30:25) Al: know about Silksong, right? And you heard Silksong’s coming out. It’s a new, a new Hollow Knight (0:30:33) Al: game. You’re like, oh, fantastic, exciting. And then it turns out it’s Solitaire. Right? (0:30:40) Kelly: Yeah, that would Yeah, yeah, that’s very true (0:30:41) Al: That’s essentially what we’ve had here. (0:30:44) Al: OK. (0:30:46) Al: Like I’m not saying it’s a bad game, I just saw new turnip game, excited. (0:30:50) Kelly: You want her to play, yeah (0:30:51) Al: It’s not that, that’s the problem. (0:30:54) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, no, that’s that’s the hard part (0:30:55) Al: And I guess this is the problem with spin-offs and stuff like that, right? (0:30:59) Al: Because this is what this is, it’s a spin-off, it’s not a sequel, it’s a spin-off. (0:31:02) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:31:03) Al: And I’m not saying they can’t do that, I’m just like, my expectations going in was different (0:31:09) Al: and I don’t know how they solve that problem, but that’s where we are. (0:31:14) Kelly: Well, maybe they’re working on that perfect Turnip Boy sequel in the back end. (0:31:20) Al: Well, they’re working on a different game just now as well, Hobknobbers, (0:31:26) Al: which I don’t think is out yet. (0:31:27) Al: Let me check. (0:31:27) Al: Yeah, it’s not. (0:31:28) Al: It’s still coming soon. (0:31:29) Al: So I suspect that the Hobknobbers is their upcoming big game and (0:31:37) Al: Turnip Boy steals them all as a let’s do a quick and easy, fun, endless (0:31:37) Kelly: - This is the, mm-hmm. (0:31:42) Al: runner that some people can buy and it will help our cash reserves. (0:31:49) Al: Well, speaking of their cash. (0:31:50) Al: It deserves, they’re also releasing a cubified turnip boy plushie. (0:31:53) Kelly: It’s so cute though and they have to reach their funded goal. (0:31:56) Al: I don’t need it. (0:32:00) Al: It’s $40! (0:32:01) Al: Oh my word, $40? (0:32:05) Al: This thing better be huge, how big is this? (0:32:07) Al: It’s 35 centimetres tall, so it is reasonably big, but that’s a lot of money. (0:32:14) Kelly: But it looks so soft. (0:32:16) Al: What is the shipping going to be to me? (0:32:20) Al: Probably too much. (0:32:20) Kelly: I don’t need this. What is the shipping? (0:32:26) Kelly: How much tariff would I have to pay to receive this? (0:32:30) Al: Oh 15 dollars shipping to me! (0:32:33) Kelly: Ugh. (0:32:34) Al: 55 dollars. (0:32:36) Kelly: Okay, that’s… that’s… (0:32:36) Al: And it is only 40 pounds, but I’m enjoying the dollar has sunk. (0:32:38) Kelly: But he’s so cute. (0:32:50) Kelly: Well, I’m so glad that someone’s benefited. (0:32:58) Kelly: Oh, I see, there is a tariff statement at the top. (0:33:06) Al: I don’t need it anyway so cube turnip cube or cube boy whatever you’d like to call him he exists (0:33:14) Kelly: He’s very cute. (0:33:15) Al: yeah uh (0:33:16) Kelly: He looks like he’s like that good soft material, too. (0:33:18) Al: yeah yeah (0:33:20) Kelly: Like squishmallows. (0:33:22) Al: but not (0:33:22) Kelly: I’m just going to keep talking until you feel bad, (0:33:24) Kelly: and then you add yourself to life. (0:33:29) Al: everdream valley have announced and released I think I think this is out now (0:33:34) Al: Ever Dream Valley. (0:33:36) Al: VR. A virtual reality version of Ever Dream Valley. (0:33:38) Kelly: Oh, oh, I don’t like that at all. I can’t look at that. (0:33:42) Kelly: I think I would puke if I ever did VR. (0:33:46) Al: I played, there was a game that I played which was like in VR, but you, but it was (0:33:54) Al: augmented reality rather than virtual reality. So you’re seeing the world around you as well (0:33:58) Al: and you like create these little islands where you put animals on them. I love that game. It’s such a (0:33:59) Kelly: OK. (0:34:05) Kelly: That seems cuter, and probably wouldn’t (0:34:07) Kelly: give me motion sickness, maybe. (0:34:10) Al: it was yeah it was a it definitely is much better um this I oh (0:34:16) Kelly: I literally can’t look at that cow clip. (0:34:18) Al: yeah I don’t I don’t know what to say about this game uh (0:34:25) Al: this kind of looks like a proof of concept this looks thrown together um (0:34:30) Kelly: It doesn’t look good. (0:34:32) Al: oh it’s not out yet it’s coming soon but you can pre-order it (0:34:34) Kelly: No yeah yeah but like that cow clip does not look good. (0:34:38) Al: No, no. (0:34:40) Al: No. (0:34:42) Kelly: Feels like I don’t, maybe I’m biased because I don’t like VR but like (0:34:47) Kelly: I thought we were kind of coming down from like the VR (0:34:51) Kelly: um spike I guess. (0:34:54) Al: do it. Yeah, I don’t know why they’ve done this. Like I have a VR headset and I love (0:34:59) Al: it for some things. I love Beat Saber. I love whatever the name of the game is. I kind (0:35:01) Kelly: Mm-hmm (0:35:07) Kelly: Beat Saber looks so sick. I think that would that’s like the the soul game that would sell me a (0:35:12) Al: It is the single thing that convinces anybody to buy VR. (0:35:17) Al: It is so good, I love it so much. (0:35:21) Al: But that, watching films in IMAX and whatever the name of the other game I play, the one (0:35:29) Al: with the Islands of Animals, those are the three things I’ve done more than once on my (0:35:33) Kelly: okay yeah no and it’s a separate game right like yeah you have to pay (0:35:35) Al: VR headset, right? (0:35:36) Al: Like there’s other things that you’ve tried once or whatever and gone “not for me”. (0:35:42) Al: It’s game, but the content. (0:35:47) Al: Yeah. (0:35:48) Al: It’s twenty dollars I think? (0:35:50) Kelly: you could pre-order it for 15 (0:35:58) Kelly: Yeah, no, I feel like a lot of the VR game just feel like novelty. (0:36:02) Al: Tune in next time to see if I’ve bought this game or not. (0:36:07) Al: All right. (0:36:08) Al: That’s the news. (0:36:09) Al: Let’s talk about Ratopia. (0:36:11) Kelly: Yay, I’m just so glad it came out. (0:36:12) Al: All right, I’m going to. (0:36:15) Kelly: Can I say that as someone who is waiting on so many different stupid games? (0:36:16) Al: Yeah. (0:36:20) Kelly: It is so nice to get a full release. (0:36:25) Al: OK, I want to try and describe this game and you can tell me what you think (0:36:30) Kelly: Okay. (0:36:30) Al: about my description. (0:36:32) Al: You are the the queen of a new rat city (0:36:39) Al: and you are building your city out. (0:36:43) Al: You it’s it’s almost it almost is like a it is a city builder, (0:36:49) Al: but it is a an RPG city builder. (0:36:52) Al: So you’re controlling a character. (0:36:55) Al: And you are building up the city. (0:36:58) Al: You’re you know, you’re saying this is where buildings go and you’re saying this (0:37:02) Al: different things go and this is these are the laws of the city and stuff like that. (0:37:08) Al: And you also accept in new members or new citizens. (0:37:14) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:37:15) Al: They are. They call them (0:37:18) Al: they call them migrants or refugees. (0:37:19) Kelly: I think it’s migrants. (0:37:19) Al: I can’t remember. It’s one of the two. (0:37:21) Kelly: It’s something with an M. I know that. (0:37:22) Al: I think it’s my yeah, it’ll be migrants then. (0:37:25) Al: And when you accept migrants in, you can then put them to work. (0:37:29) Al: Or you, so I guess the two, two. (0:37:32) Al: Your main ways of playing the game are you are controlling your individual character who goes around and can do things, and then you’re also directing your citizens to do things as well, so you don’t have to do them instead. (0:37:47) Al: And that can be basically anything, right? You can get them to man a specific building, to like lumber, or you can get them to dig. (0:37:55) Al: I think automatically they will like gather up everything that’s on the ground and put it in the chest. (0:38:02) Al: That’s it. It’s a city builder, but you are controlling an individual character as well as telling other characters what to do. (0:38:10) Al: Is that a fair description of the game? (0:38:12) Kelly: I think it is also it’s vertical builder uh like yeah yeah yeah (0:38:14) Al: What does that mean? What do you mean? Oh, like a 2D, yeah, okay, I see what you mean. It’s side scrolling up and downy. (0:38:22) Kelly: yes but like you’re building vertically which I think is like more terraria than like other (0:38:25) Al: Yes. I was going to, I was just going to say that Terraria is the, is the. (0:38:32) Al: Would be the example. (0:38:34) Kelly: I would say this is like a micromanagers final boss game (0:38:38) Al: Oh, my word, so micromanaging. (0:38:40) Kelly: It’s, it makes. (0:38:42) Kelly: It makes my heart sing. It’s incredible and so stressful. (0:38:45) Al: So let me tell you how I, let me tell you my thought process when starting this game. I’ve not put in, like, I’ve maybe put in less than an hour into this game, but the demo is really good at showing you the core concept of the game really quickly, and I don’t know if the main game does it in the same way, but. (0:39:02) Al: And you’re like, oh, you’re great. That’s fine. I’m going to go do some digging and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, man, I can only carry three things at once and there’s only three of the same thing. (0:39:10) Al: Oh, that’s really frustrating. Oh, goodness. Right. This is going to take forever to do anything. It’s like you dig, dig, dig, and then you throw in the chest and then you dig, dig, dig, and you throw in the chest. Right. Fine. Whatever. This is really annoying. (0:39:22) Al: Oh, OK. Right. I’m adding in new people to my city. OK, fine. Oh, they’re all picking up the things I can do so I can just go now and dig and dig and dig and dig and they will take the thing. Great. That’s a much improvement. (0:39:32) Al: And then it’s like, oh, and then it goes, oh, you need to build this thing. And you’re like, how do I do this? And it’s like you go into this menu and this menu then expands and expands and expands. (0:39:43) Al: And it’s like this web, absolute mass, massive web of different parts of different menus. And you’re just like, I have no idea what’s happening here. (0:39:54) Al: And it’s just it is, if you enjoy not creating spreadsheets, but if you enjoy looking at. (0:40:02) Al: Somebody else’s spreadsheets and figuring out what they do, you will like this game. (0:40:08) Kelly: I think that is a fair– (0:40:12) Kelly: not metaphor, what is the word I’m looking for– (0:40:15) Kelly: summation of essentially all of the aspects of this game. (0:40:18) Al: Where I enjoy making spreadsheets, I do not enjoy figuring out what other people have done, and that’s what the menu felt like. I’m like, I want this thing, but I need to figure out what category they put it in, what category of what category, and what menu of what setting, and then where in this category is it, because it’s just like this mess of things. (0:40:42) Al: And I don’t like figuring out what people think in the best of times. (0:40:48) Al: And it just feels like somebody made this game, and this is how they decided was the most logical thing for their brain, and I cannot be bothered spending my time figuring out why they decided. (0:41:02) Kelly: I think that is a very fair way to see it because I think that’s exactly how it is. (0:41:10) Kelly: But also, I feel like once it starts clicking, it starts making more sense because for me, (0:41:16) Kelly: I really enjoy trying to figure out how people are thinking because I think that’s the only (0:41:20) Kelly: way I can understand vaguely people. (0:41:26) Kelly: So it’s like a puzzle. (0:41:27) Kelly: So I think the puzzle of trying to understand the thought process is kind of fun. (0:41:32) Kelly: Also frustrating, though. (0:41:35) Kelly: Like, there’s definitely been moments where I’m like, (0:41:38) Kelly: “This stupid rat has to pee! How do I fix this?” (0:41:42) Al: Yes, I (0:41:42) Kelly: You know, like, “What do you mean they can’t do this task?” (0:41:46) Al: Think that part of it is is is I I didn’t hate right because it’s like you’re just your standard city builder thing (0:41:50) Kelly: No, no, it’s not bad (0:41:52) Al: It’s like you need to balance you need to balance all these things and you need to figure out how they balance fine (0:41:57) Al: Sure, whatever my problem. I just felt like I was navigating menus for 90% of the time (0:41:57) Kelly: Yes, it’s just I think (0:42:03) Kelly: It’s a lot of menus (0:42:04) Kelly: I did see someone say that they didn’t like that the game paused when you opened the menu to like build something and in (0:42:11) Kelly: My head I was like, what the hell are you talking about? (0:42:13) Al: All right souls player, goodness me, just masochistic person. (0:42:15) Kelly: Yeah, I was like what kind of game do you think this is that’s crazy (0:42:21) Kelly: Then like I literally I watched that and I was like what the hell kind of person (0:42:27) Al: Oh, my word. Horrifying. (0:42:28) Kelly: That’s sick that’s sicko behavior (0:42:32) Kelly: It’s like please keep those thoughts to yourself and I think better never implement that in this game (0:42:38) Al: Yeah, that that that how to make this game more stressful. (0:42:42) Kelly: Yeah, literally, like you said, the souls-like version. (0:42:47) Kelly: That’s disgusting. (0:42:48) Kelly: Don’t ever tell people that. (0:42:50) Al: It was like the kid just said, “Is it time for a test in school?” (0:42:51) Kelly: Like, I need those, I need that pause (0:42:54) Kelly: to figure out what I’m doing. (0:42:58) Al: And you’re like, “No! (0:42:59) Al: What are you doing? (0:43:00) Al: What?” (0:43:00) Kelly: You didn’t collect our homework. (0:43:01) Al: Yeah. (0:43:02) Al: Oh. (0:43:06) Kelly: But yeah, no, that blew my mind. (0:43:07) Kelly: ‘Cause I was like, people think like this? (0:43:10) Kelly: Why would you want that? (0:43:12) Al: So yeah, I think I, I mean, we’re just, we’re apparently getting straight into (0:43:15) Al: my opinions, um, I, I can, I, this is not the game for me, but I 100% can see why (0:43:16) Kelly: I think that’s very fair, and I do overall, I think this game, there is so much going (0:43:21) Al: someone would like this 100%. (0:43:29) Kelly: on and like, I like Rimworld a lot, I don’t know half of the shit I’m supposed to be doing (0:43:36) Kelly: in Rimworld because there’s just so much in that game. (0:43:41) Kelly: I don’t even buy the DLCs for that game, I just like playing the game, I figure things (0:43:45) Kelly: Peace out as the game goes on. (0:43:46) Kelly: You know, I’ve been playing it for a few years, things will happen, bad things happen, sometimes you die. (0:43:48) Al: Yeah (0:43:51) Al: Do you know I think (0:43:53) Al: What I think interesting was I think that when I while I was playing this game (0:43:57) Al: I think I was thinking you know what I would have more fun doing probably what is terraria (0:44:03) Al: Right, like I feel like that’s what I’m looking for if I’m one if I would be wanting to play this game (0:44:08) Al: It’s it’s I I I want it simpler (0:44:13) Al: I’m not it’s not necessarily even the action adventure bit right like it’s it’s more I (0:44:14) Kelly: That’s, yeah. (0:44:18) Al: Was thinking like this but (0:44:22) Al: Minecraft and then I was like wait, but that’s terraria, right? (0:44:24) Kelly: Mmm (0:44:26) Kelly: That’s so funny because I’ve I’ve actually never played I missed the boat on Terraria (0:44:30) Kelly: And I’ve also never played Minecraft because I 100% missed the boat on that one. I feel like at a certain point (0:44:37) Kelly: Like I think I would still enjoy Minecraft, but at this point in my life. I’m just like I cannot pick up Minecraft (0:44:43) Al: That’s totally fair. Minecraft was my, like I got in literally the last day of alpha (0:44:50) Kelly: Oh, wow. (0:44:51) Al: in Minecraft. So that was back on in 2010, I want to say. And that was like, I was, (0:44:56) Kelly: Mm-hmm. And I know people are still playing it. I know, you know, it’s still a relevant game. (0:45:00) Al: oh yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. But I was like part of the way through uni at that point, (0:45:07) Al: university. So like I, I was very much in a world where I. (0:45:12) Al: Could sit up till three in the morning, obsessing over stuff. And I loved the building aspect of (0:45:18) Al: that. So I, I, if I, obviously I do not have any numbers for how much time I spent on Minecraft, (0:45:25) Al: because it wasn’t through Steam and nothing exists for that. But if I did have numbers, (0:45:30) Al: I would probably be incredibly scared to share that number with anyone, right? Like. (0:45:34) Kelly: That’s how I feel about my Sims numbers, you know? I’m so glad I don’t have those. (0:45:39) Al: Yeah. Yeah, same, same sort of thing. (0:45:42) Al: Absolutely. (0:45:45) Kelly: But no, I think what I like about this game is that there’s so much going on. Like in (0:45:50) Kelly: a sense it’s like, I enjoy bein

Al and Kevin talk about the updates to Mika and the Witch's Mountain Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:49: What Have We Been Up To 00:14:16: Game News 00:32:36: New Games 00:42:00: Mika Updates 01:01:52: Outro Links Loose Leaf Development Stopped Tiny Garden Roadmap Tiny Garden Supporters DLC Outbound Alpha Out Now Dinkum 1.0 Release Date Monsterpatch Switch Stretch Goal Arclands Character Creator Dave The Diver “Ichiban’s Holiday” DLC Peggy’s Farm on Steam Peggy’s Farm on Kickstarter Neverway on Steam Cottonville on Steam Cottonville on Kickstarter Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:35) Al: My name is Al, and we are here today to talk about Cottagecore games, and maybe the switch (0:00:36) Kev: and my name is Kevin. (0:00:42) Al: to… (0:00:44) Kev: Whoo! (0:00:47) Kev: All Cottagecore games will be switched to exclusives (0:00:50) Al: Uh, we are going to talk this episode about Mika and the Witch’s Mountain, the updates, (0:00:50) Kev: now forever. (0:00:51) Kev: That’s what the direct told me. (0:01:04) Kev: Again! (0:01:04) Al: because there have been three updates since we talked about it last, although two of those (0:01:10) Al: updates we’re probably not going to talk about because there’s not much in them. (0:01:13) Al: There’s like one mini game, too many games, and some quality of life improvements. (0:01:14) Kev: Well, I did the churro races. I will talk about it. (0:01:20) Al: You can talk about the churro races. (0:01:22) Al: I did not do the churro races. (0:01:24) Al: I did the dungeons in the third update. (0:01:26) Kev: There you go. (0:01:28) Al: So that’s what we’ve got. (0:01:29) Al: So we’re going to talk about that. (0:01:30) Kev: Okay. (0:01:31) Al: Before that, we have a lot of news because a lot has happened recently. (0:01:34) Kev: Did you hear that? (0:01:35) Al: And that’s even after all the news that you covered in the last episode, Kevin, (0:01:38) Kev: Yeah. (0:01:39) Al: about the Switch 2 games. (0:01:42) Al: Just all the news. (0:01:43) Al: It’s busy, busy time, and we’re not even in June yet. (0:01:44) Kev: It is a beefy one. Yeah. (0:01:48) Kev: All right. Let’s, well, let’s not get into it. Yeah, let’s get into that. (0:01:48) Al: So, yeah. (0:01:50) Al: But first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:01:54) Kev: Okay. Obviously Mika, we’ll get to that. Marvel Snap, I play. It’s the what if season. (0:02:00) Kev: What if, what if there weren’t a lot of players and there’s a lot of bots because there’s a lot of bots right now. (0:02:06) Kev: Marvel Snaps is still a good place. I like it. Or I like it. Maybe not a good place. (0:02:14) Kev: I like it. (0:02:16) Kev: They’re, they’re trying to make some changes because it is no, it is still a treadmill that you can’t get off, but they’re trying to make some changes to make it a little easier. (0:02:26) Kev: They’re going to start. (0:02:26) Al: Or you can get off. The problem is if you get off, you’re unlikely to get back on again. (0:02:30) Kev: Yeah, then, then there’s that. (0:02:32) Kev: But, you know, we get the, I say the what if season, like the actual show, what if they’re trying to focus on that. We get the strange Supreme, the bad one, they get the infinity Ultron. (0:02:44) Kev: Captain Carter is the season pass card because of course she is. So yeah, fun stuff. But, but yeah, that’s, it’s, it’s Marvel Snap. It is what it is. (0:02:54) Kev: Other than that, the other Marvel game I play, Marvel Rivals, we welcome to the Hellfire Gala. (0:03:02) Kev: The new season just started just yesterday as a recording. We got Emma Frost as the never ending arms race to make Hodges. (0:03:14) Kev: She’s fun to play, though. She is a tank, actually, and she comes with two modes. There is her standard psychic attacking mode where she attacks people with her brain and then she can create a little shield and whatnot, or as Emma Frost does, she can switch into her diamond mode where she goes completely melee and will actually pick up people slam them on the ground. (0:03:40) Kev: slam them on the ground she will kick them into the wall (0:03:44) Kev: that she gets reduced damage and so on um it’s a lot of fun marble rivals very fun we got we got (0:03:50) Kev: venom twerk and we’re in a good place I saw that I thought it was a mod and then the game was like (0:03:51) Al: Yeah, I I don’t know what to say (0:03:58) Kev: oh that’s not a mod oh good times what about you al what’s been up with you (0:04:05) Al: mostly Mika. I was obviously playing the dungeons, and we’ll talk about whether I enjoyed that or not. Spoiler alert, I did. (0:04:13) Al: But I also have tried cassette beasts again. (0:04:18) Kev: Ah, ah, that’s a good one. (0:04:21) Kev: I need to get, I’m intending to fire it up again this week (0:04:26) Kev: ‘cause we just got an update. (0:04:27) Kev: So there’s more things for me to do and that’s exciting. (0:04:27) Al: Yeah. I am struggling, Kevin. (0:04:33) Kev: Ah, no, but where’s the struggle? (0:04:35) Kev: Where’s the pain points? (0:04:36) Al: I, OK, so I’ve just finished the tutorial, so I’m hoping that I now get there, right? (0:04:43) Al: Because the tutorial is reasonable, it took me like an hour and a half to get through the tutorial. (0:04:46) Kev: Trying to remember what is the tutorial, like, or what do you consider the tutorial? (0:04:48) Al: So you like go off, you go off to like look at a path that’s been destroyed. And when you get there, (0:04:53) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:04:54) Al: there’s like a building and then when you get into the building there’s an archangel. (0:04:57) Al: And you have to fight the archangel. (0:04:58) Kev: Ah, okay. (0:04:59) Al: So you like, you go along a path and you have some battles and you get blah blah blah blah. (0:04:59) Kev: Okay. (0:05:02) Kev: Sure. (0:05:03) Kev: Sure, sure. (0:05:04) Al: And then you get back to the town and you discuss what just happened and then it’s like, (0:05:07) Al: oh, tutorial’s done. (0:05:09) Al: You’re like, okay, wow, goodness, that was a long tutorial. (0:05:12) Al: But like many tutorials, I feel like it kind of interrupts gameplay a lot to tell you things (0:05:18) Al: and to do certain things and I don’t find that particularly fun. (0:05:24) Al: So I’m hoping that things go a bit smoother from here. (0:05:27) Kev: Okay, um, it’s been a while since I’ve played the tutorial so I can’t speak to that but I (0:05:34) Kev: Hope I hope you you sink into it because after the tutorial it’s it’s kind they just really let you loose (0:05:43) Kev: Right, like it’s a I mean, obviously you’ve heard us talk about it. It’s it’s one big it’s it’s all one map really (0:05:50) Kev: so you can get out there and kind of explore there’ll be hindrances and and you know stuff you have to (0:05:57) Kev: progress but (0:05:59) Kev: But it will ramp up quickly the amount of stuff you can do (0:06:02) Al: Yeah, there’s I mean, there’s there’s a few things I think I don’t know whether it’s just (0:06:08) Al: because of how like different they are to Pokemon battles, but I’m also feeling a little (0:06:13) Al: bit weird about the battles. (0:06:15) Al: Like I feel weirdly restricted in them. (0:06:19) Al: Like I feel my level is too low and it’s like after I’ve done one wild battle, like not (0:06:26) Al: even another trainer battle, I feel like at that point I need to be able to rest. (0:06:28) Kev: » Yeah. (0:06:33) Al: It costs materials to rest when you’re not like in the town and that feels a little bit (0:06:39) Al: weird. (0:06:40) Al: Like it feels like it’s trying to be a survival game, but I don’t think I want it to be a (0:06:43) Al: survival game, right? (0:06:46) Al: Like I don’t, I don’t know, there’s just lots of little things that are a bit frustrating (0:06:52) Al: to me. (0:06:53) Al: And I don’t know whether that’s because they’re just different and I’m not used to how this (0:06:56) Al: is thinking about this type of game or whether it’s just that I don’t enjoy that. (0:07:02) Al: We’ll see. (0:07:04) Al: I’m not giving up on it yet, but we’ll see. (0:07:05) Kev: okay I I will offer this piece of advice the game is it it’s enough say (0:07:13) Kev: honestly more defensive or you have to play a lot more defensively than you do (0:07:15) Al: Mm-hmm, mhmm, it’s huge. (0:07:18) Kev: in in Pokemon the the damage is a lot bigger yeah though though the walls that (0:07:25) Kev: you know a lot of the monsters can generate walls or whatever you’re gonna (0:07:30) Kev: want to use those because they can take two to three hits for like a (0:07:35) Kev: quarter of your health and in this game that is a good bargain yeah yeah (0:07:36) Al: And I think part of the problem is that we all know that I’m not the biggest battling (0:07:44) Al: fan in Pokémon, like I like collecting, and I worry that maybe this is just too battle (0:07:49) Al: focused for me. (0:07:50) Kev: it might be because it is it’s not as brain did I would say as Pokemon like (0:07:57) Kev: you know after 20 years in a week we know the deal in Pokemon it requires a (0:08:03) Kev: a little more attention. (0:08:06) Kev: So, I can understand what you’re saying there. (0:08:14) Al: I also, I’m going to, I’m going to, Johnny’s going to be so sad when he hears this, I also (0:08:19) Al: think that there’s a lot, you know, there’s a lot of kind of puzzles and stuff to progress (0:08:26) Al: on the map, right? Like you have to find like a switch that will do a thing that lets you (0:08:28) Kev: Right. (0:08:30) Al: progress to another bit. And I don’t know, I’m not, I think, I think the thing is that (0:08:35) Al: what I’m looking for in a Creature Collector is collecting creatures, and this game feels (0:08:42) Al: like an X-ray. (0:08:44) Al: An exploration game with survival and battles that also you happen to collect creatures in, you know. (0:08:54) Kev: Think the emphasis is a little stronger than that on creature collecting (0:09:00) Kev: But I do agree that there is a lot of emphasis on the exploration and the puzzle solving and all that (0:09:08) Kev: Right, so if you know, that’s not your bag then yeah that that’s gonna be difficult (0:09:09) Al: Yeah, we’ll see. I mean, well, it’s not that I don’t like puzzles, right? (0:09:13) Al: Like, I love puzzles in some games. (0:09:15) Al: I just don’t know if I want it in this game. (0:09:17) Kev: Uh-huh, yeah (0:09:17) Al: That’s the thing. (0:09:18) Al: Like, I don’t know if that’s what I’m looking for here, but we’ll see. (0:09:22) Al: I’m going to I’m going to push forward for a little bit longer. (0:09:24) Al: I think now that I’m out of the tutorial, I need to give it more time after that. (0:09:28) Kev: All right, well. (0:09:28) Al: But I will just we’ll see the last thing that I don’t like about it. (0:09:34) Al: And this is definitely something I don’t like. (0:09:35) Al: I don’t like the menus. The menus are terrible. (0:09:38) Al: them (0:09:38) Kev: I have to look at the menus, it’s been a while. (0:09:39) Al: I just I feel like I feel like it’s really hard to explain why I don’t like these menus (0:09:46) Al: but there’s just something about them that feels they feel incomplete they feel it’s not that (0:09:52) Al: they’re buggy but I just feel like i’m confused at what i’m looking at if that makes sense like (0:09:58) Al: everything kind of blends together and there’s a bunch of words and a bunch of stuff and i’m never (0:10:04) Al: quite sure what’s a button and i’m never quite sure where i’m meant to be doing things and i (0:10:10) Al: have no connection to any of the creatures yet and so that doesn’t help me so I look and i’ve got (0:10:15) Al: like here’s a list of creatures I don’t care about them you know like it’s (0:10:19) Kev: Yeah, you know that one’s (0:10:24) Kev: That’s gonna be tough because I I do think they do not (0:10:31) Kev: They don’t emphasize that connection with the creatures like like they do it they feel very much more (0:10:38) Kev: either I mean there’s some designs I like or whatever right, but (0:10:42) Kev: There’s no feeling of the partner Pokemon right of the the other starter. Yeah (0:10:45) Al: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s in a design of how it is, right? Because you’re not actually (0:10:50) Al: collecting creatures. You’re collecting designs of creatures, essentially, right? Like, because (0:10:56) Al: of the way that you’re catching, you’re like recording them, you’re essentially creating (0:11:00) Al: an echo of what this creature is, and then you transform into that. Like, you physically (0:11:02) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s very true. (0:11:06) Al: can’t create a connection with this creature because it doesn’t exist. And it’s definitely (0:11:15) Al: the designs of the creatures are fun. I like a lot of them, you know, they’re cute, they’re (0:11:18) Kev: - Sure, sure. (0:11:20) Al: fun ideas and they have, you know, like they’re, I think what I like about it is that they tie (0:11:26) Al: their moves into the theme a lot as well. Like the dude who is a traffic cone has a (0:11:35) Al: move that uses traffic cones, right? Like that sort of idea. I think that’s fun. And (0:11:36) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:11:40) Al: I think it’s really good. And a lot of effort has gone into those designs, into the thought (0:11:44) Al: of what these should be. (0:11:45) Al: Be feel like as well as look like, I just really don’t like the UI. (0:11:48) Kev: Yeah. I honestly cannot speak to that because it’s been so long. I don’t remember, but you know, (0:11:50) Al: I really don’t like the UI. (0:11:59) Kev: you know, that might be fair. (0:12:02) Al: and I just yeah and that and combined with like why when I sit down why when I sit down at a fire (0:12:08) Al: to rest the fire exists is there I don’t get to rest and heal my part heal heal up until I also (0:12:18) Al: use some more wood like the fire’s already there why do I need to use up more wood and it’s so much (0:12:19) Kev: Ha ha ha ha! (0:12:24) Al: wood you have to use up and I suspect it’s one of these things where you get more and more and (0:12:28) Al: you know 10 hours into the game you probably have far too (0:12:32) Al: much and it doesn’t matter. But like I’m really early in the game and I’m weak and I’m not super (0:12:36) Kev: Yeah, yeah no (0:12:37) Al: strong and I’m not experienced at how this game works and I have to pay 10 wood to rest to heal (0:12:42) Kev: Yeah, yeah, no I I don’t um (0:12:43) Al: up. That’s just bizarre. Why do I have to pay to heal? What is this America? (0:12:51) Kev: I do recall that that early on the game is pretty brutal (0:12:55) Kev: Um, there is a lot of going back and healing there’s uh, there’s a building or two not just in town (0:13:01) Kev: There’s a separate building. I’ll have to look it up (0:13:04) Kev: where you can go to rest. (0:13:06) Kev: That’s close to the early area, but that is a valid complaint. (0:13:12) Kev: It is pretty challenging early on compared to, say, Pokémon. (0:13:16) Kev: You’re not dealing with level 2 Pidgeys and Rattatas or whatever. (0:13:18) Al: Yeah, yeah, so we’ll see we’ll see how it continues. (0:13:20) Kev: They’re throwing you into full-on fights. (0:13:23) Kev: Yeah. (0:13:25) Kev: Alright. (0:13:26) Al: I’m definitely going to give it some more time, but I’m not enamored by it yet. (0:13:27) Kev: Well, I’ll be. (0:13:33) Al: Sorry, Kevin. (0:13:34) Al: Sorry, Johnny. (0:13:36) Kev: You just have to hear the good tracks, just you wait. (0:13:37) Al: Oh, do I have to turn on the sound goodness, of course. (0:13:43) Kev: You don’t… (0:13:44) Kev: Yes! (0:13:45) Kev: You have to turn on the sound. (0:13:46) Al: Kevin, I don’t play games with the sound on. (0:13:48) Al: I know, I know I get that, but like, that’s not going to make it or break it for me. (0:13:49) Kev: This one you do. (0:13:50) Kev: It’s literally called cassette beat. (0:13:57) Al: I’m not going to go, oh, I don’t like how the game plays. (0:14:00) Al: I don’t like how the menus look. (0:14:01) Al: I don’t like the battles, but the music is great, so I’m going to put in 50 hours into (0:14:06) Al: this game. (0:14:07) Al: That’s not going to happen. (0:14:07) Kev: Oh, maybe, maybe. (laughs) (0:14:09) Al: Come on. (0:14:10) Al: The gameplay has to stand by itself. (0:14:13) Al: Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. (0:14:16) Al: Shall we talk about some news? (0:14:19) Kev: I guess. (0:14:19) Al: So we’ll start off with the sad news. (0:14:24) Al: Loose Leaf. (0:14:25) Kev: This is wild. (0:14:26) Al: This is interesting. I have many thoughts about this, but let’s just talk about this initially. So Loose Leaf, a T-Witch simulator. This is a Kitfox game. They have said that it’s now indefinitely on hold. (0:14:39) Al: They have said, “After years of trying, we haven’t solved the important problems with its design. We don’t see a great way to continue right now that would make a good game anytime soon.” (0:14:48) Al: So we will not be moving forward. (0:14:51) Al: And I have thoughts because that is good that they’ve decided, “Oh, this isn’t a good game. Therefore, we’re not going to finish this game and release it and sell a bad game.” That’s good. (0:15:04) Al: But what I will say is, why are you deciding this after you’ve announced that this game exists? (0:15:12) Al: That feels like a… Like, if you weren’t sure, when you announced this game, if you weren’t sure that you… (0:15:18) Al: …had a game that might be good, why did you announce it in the first place and go, “Hey, here’s a game that we’re making. Oh, never mind. It’s not a good game.” (0:15:32) Al: That’s a weird… Like, it feels like the initial development of, like, “Can we make a good game or not?” Like, you start with that. You start with, “Is this going to be a fun, core game?” (0:15:43) Al: And you go, “Yes, it is. Okay, great. Let’s announce it.” Not, “Let’s announce this game and then…” (0:15:48) Al: …decide if it is a game or not. Like, that’s such a weird way to make that decision. (0:15:54) Kev: Yeah, like, yeah, and, and, uh, like, I don’t, uh, what are the, uh, what are the problems (0:16:09) Kev: that they couldn’t solve, right? (0:16:11) Kev: Like, I want to know. (0:16:12) Al: Yeah, I’m very interested in that. I don’t know because it’s hard, like, it’s probably (0:16:18) Al: very like specific stuff. So it’s hard to know without being detailed in the game. But (0:16:26) Kev: Yeah (0:16:28) Al: yeah, weird, weird decision. Like the gate when they announced the game in the first (0:16:31) Kev: When do they announce this do we know (0:16:37) Kev: Yeah, let’s see I’m kind of scrolling down (0:16:43) Kev: Introducing December 7th of 23 (0:16:46) Al: Yeah, so a bit over a year ago. (0:16:50) Kev: Yeah, um, huh, I just I don’t know (0:16:56) Kev: It’s and you don’t see this happen very often. That’s what makes this interesting right like (0:17:02) Kev: This was it was this wasn’t crowdfunded was I hope not (0:17:07) Kev: But and they’re saying indefinitely on hold which is again a weird way (0:17:14) Kev: It just feels odd, you know what okay because big triple-a companies do they do this all the time right projects get put on hold (0:17:21) Al: Absolutely, yeah, they just do it privately. (0:17:21) Kev: canceled, right (0:17:23) Kev: Yeah, they just do it privately right but (0:17:26) Kev: It’s a small team. I mean, that’s what seven people (0:17:30) Kev: Like that, you know that that’s a bit. That’s kind of everything if you’re not doing a game (0:17:34) Al: Yeah, but no, I think Indies do this as well, we just like, because you don’t know whether (0:17:41) Al: a game is going to work until you have a base of it. And the thing is that you build out (0:17:47) Al: your proof of concept game, and you go, is this fun enough? And then you go, yes, it (0:17:53) Al: is. OK, we’re going to continue and we’re going to build the game. We’re going to make (0:17:56) Al: it look good. We’re going to make it run well. We’re going to add in all this story and all (0:18:00) Al: the characters and blah blah blah blah but (0:18:04) Al: in this case they did that after that I just yeah I don’t understand what happened here (0:18:11) Kev: - Yeah, and I mean, we won’t, yeah. (0:18:11) Al: this because you don’t see this with indies either like you don’t see people announcing (0:18:15) Al: games that they then decide aren’t fun right like and the thing is that there are so many (0:18:22) Al: games I think that people make that aren’t fun why is this the one that doesn’t get made (0:18:26) Kev: Yeah. Yeah, that’s the challenge, right? Like we’re not going to know the whole story. It would be nice to know if they broke it down, right? Like if they went into a video and said, here’s this thing that we can’t get to work, or we just didn’t like it, couldn’t agree. But it’s kind of a question mark. But I mean, overall, though, as weird as it feels, I commend them instead of dragging this along for whatever, you know, not 15 years in development. (0:18:50) Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s fair. (0:18:57) Al: Yeah, that’s totally fair. (0:18:58) Kev: So, but there you go. (0:19:01) Al: On a more positive note, we have Tiny Garden, which came out (0:19:05) Al: last week, have announced their roadmap. First of all, they (0:19:10) Al: already have supporters DLC pack, which gives you some skins (0:19:18) Al: and stick. (0:19:20) Al: It’s just a little bit extra if you want to give them a little bit extra and get some (0:19:30) Kev: That’s, that’s just affordable. (0:19:40) Kev: Yeah, very, uh, it’s a cute game, I’ll say that, like, you know, little Polly Pocket (0:19:46) Al: more skins. (0:19:47) Al: you go. That’s what you can do. (0:19:54) Kev: garden house decorating, oh, that’s very cute. (0:19:59) Al: Yes, I’m excited to play it, but they’ve also announced there’s another update coming (0:20:03) Al: soon in the summer, I think they’re saying, because it’s called the summer breeze content (0:20:07) Kev: - Yeah. (0:20:10) Kev: Yeah, which I’m good for that. (0:20:13) Kev: I’m already working on the next thing. (0:20:15) Al: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Outbound, as expected, Kevin, (0:20:21) Al: their announcement for Outbound was the date for their alpha release. (0:20:24) Kev: Docker. (laughs) (0:20:26) Al: The most the least exciting thing in the world, (0:20:29) Al: because I’m not playing an alpha of your game. Sorry. (0:20:33) Kev: Yeah, we all know how I feel. I mean early access alpha’s all it’s all like I’m not I’m not I’m no offense (0:20:39) Kev: Like it’s important good for you. I hope people do play but I can’t bring myself. I got I got stuff to do (0:20:48) Al: Anyway, that’s out on the 14th, which is in the past as you’re listening to this (0:20:51) Al: episode, so. (0:20:52) Kev: But, that is a concrete step towards a game, and that’s always good, and outbounds a fun little concept, so I appreciate that. (0:20:54) Al: It is, absolutely. (0:21:01) Kev: Have your whole camp on your vehicle. (0:21:03) Al: I just love, yeah, they’ve got one of the images of a ridiculous build, and I just love (0:21:11) Al: the idea of just making this stupid house on top of this camper van. This is so stupid, (0:21:14) Kev: Yeah, yeah, it’s great I love it (0:21:18) Al: I love it so much. Without that, I would not be interested in this game, but when they (0:21:23) Kev: Yeah (0:21:23) Al: add that in, I’m like, yes, I am so in for this. (0:21:26) Kev: Oh man, so, you know, we’re cheering you on outbound just not playing your alpha. Sorry (0:21:34) Al: I’m not playing your alpha, name of the episode. (0:21:42) Al: Speaking of early access, Dinkum have announced that their 1.0 is coming out, (0:21:48) Al: so they were in early access for two years, I think. (0:21:51) Kev: Yeah. (0:21:52) Al: Oh, nearly two years and eight months. (0:21:55) Kev: Oh, that’s, that’s a beefy one, but they’re here! They’re making it, that’s great. (0:21:57) Al: It is, yeah, 23rd of April, their 1.0 will release, and this is the (0:22:05) Al: Australian Outback farming game. (0:22:08) Kev: Yeah, it’s mine minecraft, but you’re australia basically I say minecraft (0:22:13) Al: Yeah. Yeah. (0:22:14) Kev: You know it’s it’s a lot of different survival (0:22:17) Kev: Type gates a lot of things um I (0:22:20) Kev: Like the australia concept because we see kangaroos we see (0:22:25) Kev: Emus we see a shark (0:22:28) Kev: That you’re fighting with (0:22:31) Kev: axes and pickaxes and a glowing mushroom gator (0:22:35) Kev: So the australia idea is cool. I don’t know how (0:22:38) Kev: I feel the character designs they’re little I don’t know if it’s not my cup of tea but overall like I think it’s a cool idea I am tempted. (0:22:48) Al: Yeah, it’s on my maybe list, like if I didn’t have anything else that I was wanting to play, (0:22:53) Al: I would be totally up for playing this, but I’m not sure what I’m going to not play in (0:22:57) Al: order to play this instead, that’s my problem. (0:22:59) Kev: Yeah, that’s fair. (0:23:02) Al: Next we have Monster Patch, they’ve hit their switch, stretch goal, so it’s coming to switch. (0:23:08) Kev: Yeah, on the opposite end of the spectrum, this guy’s succeeding too hard. (0:23:08) Al: Oh my, yes. (0:23:18) Al: He’s also hit the next one as well, which is for fossils. (0:23:22) Al: So there’s going to be a fossil system. (0:23:24) Kev: Yeah. Oh my gosh, where are we out 20 fossils? (0:23:27) Al: We’re nearly at 250,000, and what’s the next one then, because there’s a 250,000 one is (0:23:33) Al: the treasure system. (0:23:34) Kev: Okay, I (0:23:36) Al: And then the one after that is the game corner. (0:23:38) Kev: The gay. Oh, yeah now we’re talking (0:23:43) Kev: But I will say I hope this you know the one other (0:23:48) Kev: Asterisk is I hope and all this doesn’t bloat development where it takes like five years (0:23:53) Al: There is that there is that that is always a worry there was something else I was looking at (0:23:59) Al: What was it? Oh, it was the new chibi game where they were talking about (0:24:03) Al: The extra stuff that they’ve unlocked and like this means that this that they will take extra time and I’m like just I don’t (0:24:10) Al: Add your extra stuff like either just do it or (0:24:15) Al: Add it in as future updates right like let me play the game like cuz I don’t care about fossils in your game in (0:24:19) Kev: - Yeah. (0:24:23) Kev: I don’t either. (0:24:23) Al: Mustard patch. I would rather get the game earlier than not have fossils personally (0:24:27) Kev: Yeah, yeah. (0:24:29) Kev: You know what, they should, (0:24:32) Kev: Kickstarter games should do this, right? (0:24:34) Kev: You know, all of them have their, you know, (0:24:36) Kev: little ladder of stretch goals or whatever, right? (0:24:41) Kev: Next to them, put the plus X number of months (0:24:44) Al: But the thing is, right, they want people to buy because they get more money that way, (0:24:44) Kev: years of development time. (0:24:50) Al: right? (0:24:50) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:51) Al: Like that’s more more guaranteed people buying the game because in the upfront, right? (0:24:52) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:53) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:54) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:55) Al: Like that is what they want. (0:24:56) Al: So they’re never going to do that. (0:24:57) Kev: Yeah, no. (0:24:58) Kev: Or, or, okay, more realistically. (0:25:02) Kev: Make a, like… (0:25:04) Kev: Right now, Sean Young should look this, let’s say, okay. (0:25:08) Kev: Battle Tower is gonna be the base game, Fossil System will be an update later, and label that. (0:25:14) Kev: I think that would be nice, to say, okay, this is what I want for the base game. (0:25:14) Al: » Yeah, that would be, yeah. (0:25:18) Kev: This will come (0:25:19) Kev: after, because I want this game to come out. (0:25:21) Kev: That would be nice. (0:25:24) Al: So yeah, who knows when Monster Badge is actually going to come out, but I’m looking forward to it when it does. (0:25:34) Al: Next we have ArtClans, which is an upcoming game. They’ve announced that they’ve released their character creator app. (0:25:42) Al: So you can go and create a character for the game beforehand. I think this is a fun little thing. (0:25:49) Kev: It is, um, one, uh, yeah, that, that, that is a fun little, not, not even demo, but just a way to (0:25:55) Kev: interact and get the name out there. That’s a fun little thing. Um, what, what is the game? (0:26:02) Kev: That’s what you remember. Let’s see. Hold on. You’re wizards. You’re, you’re a wizard. Um, (0:26:07) Kev: but, uh, that is fun. You know, little, little website games you can play to hype up for the game. (0:26:13) Al: Oh, they have bald as an option. (0:26:15) Al: I love it when they have bald as an option. (0:26:15) Kev: Oh, now we’re talking. (0:26:18) Al: Give me give me your bald. (0:26:19) Kev: Let’s see. Um, that’s good stuff. Oh, man. (0:26:24) Al: Sorry, I’m making my character now. (0:26:28) Al: Let’s get rid of the get rid of the facial hair. (0:26:30) Al: I don’t want earrings. (0:26:31) Al: Thank you. I’ll take some glasses. (0:26:33) Al: There we go. I’ve got me my character. (0:26:34) Kev: There you go, we have Allen Arkland, yay, Allen. (0:26:36) Al: Love it. (0:26:41) Al: Nice. Our owl lands. (0:26:43) Al: Continue. Oh, there’s more stuff to do. You can do backgrounds. Different backgrounds. (0:26:48) Kev: Oh yeah, I make the- do the whole thing. (0:26:50) Al: Export. There we go. I’ll send this to you, Kevin, and then I’ll put it in the show now. (0:26:54) Kev: Oh, I can’t- oh, well now I gotta make my own too. (0:26:58) Kev: Oh, this will be- we can post these on the Slack. (0:27:00) Kev: This is your bonus content for you Patreon people. (0:27:02) Al: Excellent! We love it. (0:27:05) Kev: There we go, okay, I’ve downloaded. (0:27:09) Kev: There we go, we’re now in Arkland. (0:27:11) Kev: See? Look how good this marketing is. (0:27:13) Kev: We’re doing it live on the show. laughs (0:27:15) Al: I like the designs of this as well. It’s a fun little thing and I feel like I could get something (0:27:18) Kev: Yeah, it’s fun. (0:27:21) Al: pretty close to what I actually- (0:27:24) Kev: Yeah, oh, that’s- yeah, yours is good, I like yours. (0:27:27) Kev: Alright, here we go, I’m doing the thread spoilers for this week. laughs (0:27:30) Kev: Live. Um… (0:27:32) Al: all right do I need to post it in the thread as well okay yeah cool that makes makes sense (0:27:34) Kev: That’s what I’m doing. (0:27:38) Kev: Look at you, I see that Arklords has me infinitely more interested in this little game because I created my character. laughs (0:27:45) Al: absolutely and it’s much better than telling you to go and play an alpha (0:27:49) Kev: Yeah, it really is. laughs (0:27:53) Al: there we go I posted mine in the spoilers thread as well (0:27:54) Kev: Yeah, I’m doing it right now too. (0:27:58) Al: this is what you get if you’re in the slack oh nice I like (0:28:00) Kev: Yeah, there we go, look at us. Yeah, I like- I like yours, I like the red eyebrows, that’s good. (0:28:05) Kev: Yeah, these are good, these are really good. I like that. (0:28:08) Kev: You can’t tell though the little full finger sprite apart, but the character portraits pretty good. (0:28:14) Al: Yes, that is going to be a problem with this game, because I think, yeah, there wasn’t (0:28:18) Kev: Gotta get the hat to see how it’s bald, it’s the only way you can do it. (0:28:23) Al: an option to not wear a hat. (0:28:24) Kev: I’m sure in the full game there will be, ‘cause… (0:28:28) Kev: Otherwise, well, I don’t know, maybe not, whatever, but that’s fun. Look at that, live on the episode, making our characters for Arklands. (0:28:36) Al: Fun times. Right, moving on. What we got next? Dave the Diver. Ichiban’s holiday DLC is out now. (0:28:38) Kev: Good for you, Arklands. What do we have in these? Oh, no. (0:28:46) Al: The reason we’re talking about this again is because, oh boy, so all the previous DLCs, (0:28:48) Kev: The feel-bad story of the year. (0:28:54) Al: I think, have been limited time. So this one is also limited time, but it is a paid DLC as well. (0:29:01) Al: So you can’t just go, oh fine, I’ll just add it to my inventory and play it later, (0:29:06) Al: with the previous DLCs. It costs money, which I’m not against. It’s costing money, right? Like, (0:29:10) Kev: - Okay. (0:29:12) Kev: - Yeah. (0:29:12) Al: it’s a bit annoying that there have been so many DLCs that are free and now it’s a paid one, but (0:29:18) Al: you know what? Fine. It’s stuff. I’m happy to pay for stuff. But why do I have to buy it in the next (0:29:24) Kev: Am I still gonna get this it’s very likely but I’m not happy (0:29:29) Al: Yeah, not happy about it. Of course, I’m gonna buy it (0:29:31) Kev: Yeah, it’s (0:29:34) Kev: I’m I’m I feel more upset about this price than the switch (0:29:40) Kev: Because the limited time scarcity Mario (0:29:44) Kev: Nintendo’s gonna come destroy your copy of Mario 3d all-stars feeling. It’s not great. It’s not a great feeling (0:29:50) Al: - Yeah, yeah. (0:29:51) Kev: But here we are what can be done (0:29:53) Al: Have you looked at trying to buy (0:29:54) Al: a physical copy of that now on eBay? (0:29:55) Kev: You (0:29:57) Al: They’re so expensive. (0:29:57) Kev: I’m not I bet they are shocker. Good. That’s what happens when you create this dumb artificial scarcity BS (0:30:07) Kev: But and it kills me because the GLC looks fantastic (0:30:14) Kev: like they you know, they’re putting all the minigames and all the effort the (0:30:21) Kev: Strolling the you know, like oh man (0:30:25) Kev: It kills me kills me (0:30:27) Kev: But here we are. I don’t like I wonder if that’s a (0:30:32) Kev: No, because they said they’ve done limited time before which I don’t get to begin with but here we are (0:30:37) Kev: How much is the deals? I didn’t even see the price (0:30:40) Al: It is six pounds, so probably $10. (0:30:45) Kev: still not happy. It’s probably worth that price. It is a lot of content. It looks more (0:30:50) Al: Yeah, I’m not saying it’s not worth the price. (0:30:51) Kev: substantial than the other ones. Yeah. Probably. Yeah. Yeah, that was not a lot. (0:30:54) Al: I think it probably is worth the price for what you get, and I think they probably should (0:30:59) Al: have charged for the other DLCs as well. (0:31:03) Al: I would say the Godzilla one, make it two quid, right? (0:31:07) Al: It’s not worth 10 quid, but I think it’s important, blah, blah, blah, blah, for people to say (0:31:13) Al: that these things are worth something. (0:31:15) Al: It’s the same Nintendo argument, right? (0:31:17) Al: The limited time is the problem. (0:31:20) Al: If you can’t play this game, then you’ve got to pay for it now. (0:31:23) Kev: now (0:31:26) Al: And that is not good. (0:31:27) Kev: now now now (0:31:28) Al: That’s bad. (0:31:29) Kev: now though (0:31:31) Al: Bizarre. (0:31:32) Kev: money (0:31:32) Al: Bizarre decision. (0:31:33) Kev: ceo wants money now (0:31:35) Al: And I don’t even think it’s like, obviously, I think the Mario 3D All-Stars (0:31:40) Al: was stupid as well, but it’s not even the same as that because I can still go and (0:31:41) Kev: yes (0:31:44) Al: buy a physical copy of the game if I want. (0:31:46) Al: And even if I can’t… (0:31:50) Al: Those are just ports. They’re just games that you could play on something else if (0:31:54) Al: you wanted to, right? Like, I’m not saying that’s good. I still think it’s bad, but it (0:31:58) Al: doesn’t even… This seems worse than that, because this is content that you couldn’t (0:32:04) Al: get in any other way. You can’t buy it secondhand, and you couldn’t be at it for another previous (0:32:09) Al: thing. This is… If you don’t buy it in the next six months, you can never get this. Ever. (0:32:16) Kev: I’m gonna make a fortune when I sell all my switches loaded with Dave the Diver with the Ichiban DLC. (0:32:21) Al: Oh dear. Anyway, so that’s that. That’s out now. I’m gonna play at some point, but yeah I’m gonna (0:32:25) Kev: Just you watch. To the moon, baby! (0:32:34) Al: grump about it. Right, we also have some new games. First up we have Peggy’s Farm, which describes (0:32:42) Al: itself as “combine the crowsy crafting of a farming sim with the satisfying physics of a pachinko (0:32:49) Al: game. (0:32:50) Kev: Pachinko game. Yeah. Oh (0:32:51) Al: I don’t know what a pachinko game is. (0:32:54) Kev: Okay, so it’s a pachinko game is (0:32:58) Kev: How should I put this? (0:33:00) Kev: Okay, it’s like pinball but without the flippers (0:33:02) Kev: So you just shoot your initial like one ball and it kind of bounces around and hits things (0:33:04) Al: Oh, it’s that thing with all the nails in, and the balls go down, and where they land (0:33:09) Kev: Yes (0:33:11) Kev: Yes that exactly (0:33:12) Al: is where they land. I understand. What a weird combination of things. Why are you doing this? (0:33:13) Kev: That’s the correct. That’s pachinko (0:33:16) Kev: Right popular in Japan for gambling (0:33:20) Kev: You (0:33:21) Al: Why is this a thing? (0:33:22) Al: This is a weird game. (0:33:25) Kev: Are you not enthralled by the concept of combining a cozy stardew like with pachinko (0:33:33) Al: No (0:33:34) Kev: It’s what we’ve needed (0:33:38) Al: Look maybe someone’s excited about this, but I (0:33:40) Kev: I know Konami’s thrilled. They said they love pachinko (0:33:44) Al: Am I I don’t understand why (0:33:49) Al: Is a bizarre game it feels like it feels like those like marriage games (0:33:50) Kev: It is very very weird (0:33:54) Al: it’s like (0:33:56) Al: the the the cunt the (0:33:58) Al: The it’s just different images depending on which version of this marriage game you do right you (0:34:03) Al: So many different ways and it’s like it’s not really it’s not a (0:34:08) Al: Farming game right? It’s a pachinko game that happens to have images that are based on farming (0:34:14) Kev: Yeah, well, I mean no thought is the thing because when you hit the the the pull the crops when you launch the ball (0:34:22) Kev: It actually causes them to grow or whatever. It’s very weird (0:34:26) Al: Yeah, I don’t… I’m all right, thanks. I’m gonna pass. It sounds like something that (0:34:29) Kev: I don’t know either. Yeah, not for us, but (0:34:38) Al: would be an interesting idea, but I don’t know why I would ever actually want to play it as a game. (0:34:43) Al: You know, it’s like you’re sitting in a brainstorming session and you’re like, “Oh, (0:34:46) Al: right, what else can we do farming games with?” “Oh, how about pajinco?” And you go, (0:34:51) Al: “That sounds fun!” And then you start making the game and you go, “Actually, that’s not fun.” (0:34:57) Al: It was just a fun idea. (0:35:03) Al: Like Loose Leaf, a T-Witch simulator. (0:35:03) Kev: This… I was about to say, this is what loops leave. They couldn’t nail down the pajinko macales. [Laughter] (0:35:12) Kev: Ah, yeah. Ah, yeah. Oh, good time. (0:35:20) Al: “Clear out space and collect materials with your pinball cannon. (0:35:23) Al: Watering your plants. (0:35:24) Al: Use your cannon for that. Taking care of animals. (0:35:27) Al: Your cannon does that too. (0:35:29) Al: Your fluffy friends love to bounce around that cannonball.” (0:35:32) Kev: Oh, they love it. (0:35:34) Al: No, anyway, the Kickstarter is coming soon. (0:35:40) Kev: Best of luck. I would be- I will be intrigued to see if this, you know, makes it. That- that’ll be- (0:35:41) Al: Good luck, yeah. (0:35:47) Kev: It’s- it’s interesting. I will say that. (0:35:50) Al: And, well, it’s interesting for about two minutes and then it’s no longer interesting. (0:35:57) Al: On the other hand, we have Neverway. (0:36:00) Kev: Oh yeah, oh now this this one. Yeah, okay. Oh, yeah (0:36:03) Al: This one, yeah, here we go, here we go. (0:36:06) Al: “After quitting her dead end job, Fiona starts over on a farm and becomes (0:36:10) Al: the immortal herald of a dead God. Make friends fight through horrors and pay (0:36:18) Al: your debt in this night bearish life soon. (0:36:20) Al: I’m guessing you’re like going to try and bring the God back to (0:36:21) Kev: Okay, well, okay before anything well, I have one question just a fundamental conceptual question (0:36:27) Kev: Why do if the God is dead? Why does he need a herald? (0:36:32) Kev: Even the dead ones (0:36:36) Kev: Okay, is that it sure okay. Yeah, that makes sense. All right. Okay that that was okay now go ahead (0:36:42) Al: So, pixel art is made by the pixel artist from Celeste. (0:36:48) Kev: you okay oh oh oh shoot have we should oh okay I actually just need two messages to kelly then (0:36:54) Al: I think this is super fun. I love the idea of it. It looks great. I’ve always liked the (0:37:04) Al: idea of a kind of horror style farming game, but none of them have ever really, I guess (0:37:08) Kev: Yep. Hit that balance. (0:37:11) Al: other than Cult of the Lamb, I guess, none of them have really grabbed me in any way. (0:37:15) Kev: Yeah, but yeah, sure. (0:37:18) Al: But yeah, even Cult of the Lamb, it was still cutesy horror, right? Like it wasn’t really (0:37:21) Kev: Yeah. And it was. (0:37:22) Al: horror. And this few. (0:37:24) Al: More horror and I’m excited to see what happens because the other one that was that rogue light one, and I can’t remember what it was pumpkin panic. That’s what it was. And that was just terrifying and I never want to play that thing again. (0:37:32) Kev: Yeah (0:37:38) Al: This feels like something I could actually play properly and it’s an RPG as well. That sounds fun addition to it. Like, I think this looks great. And I think people overall look really excited for it. (0:37:45) Kev: yeah (0:37:51) Kev: I don’t blame them because this feels (0:37:54) Kev: it I would call this a stardew like but (0:37:56) Al: Mm-hmm. (0:37:57) Kev: you know the the horror is it’s a very thick layer of horror and and very (0:38:03) Kev: well-implemented it’s not just staple on like uh… (0:38:06) Kev: this is top the bottom scary stardew uh… and it looks it looks great looks (0:38:12) Kev: fantastic uh… (0:38:15) Kev: you have your crops your farming your you’re even decorating your place (0:38:20) Kev: and you’re talking to people in relationships and all that good stuff (0:38:23) Kev: but there’s there’s a lot of or there’s scary things in this trailer (0:38:28) Kev: uh… (0:38:29) Kev: yeah this looks fantastic we don’t have any t (0:38:32) Kev: each is on anything house (0:38:34) Kev: uh… (0:38:36) Kev: but uh… (0:38:37) Kev: uh… you can lie to people yeah (0:38:40) Kev: uh… (0:38:42) Kev: uh… (0:38:43) Kev: Yeah, or date, yep, so it is dating relationship. (0:38:45) Kev: Um, yeah, I cannot, uh, I can’t wait for this one. It just looks great. (0:38:51) Kev: Um, yeah, oh gosh, yeah, oh, this is mature, mature. Wow. (0:38:56) Kev: Okay, yeah, we did get, not good for work or violence and mature content. (0:39:04) Kev: I can’t wait, this is great. Um, this is one of the most exciting games in a while. (0:39:10) Al: All right, next we have Cottonville, which feels like the complete opposite of Neverway. (0:39:17) Al: Create farm and style in Cottonville, a cosy dress-it-up game with farming and sim mechanics. (0:39:25) Al: This is so sweet, it’s giving me cavities. (0:39:30) Kev: It’s, it’s, it’s very Facebook game, dress up, internet, cutesy. (0:39:38) Kev: It’s a lot of things. (0:39:40) Kev: Um, like, I’m sure this is great for some people. (0:39:45) Kev: There’s a market I’m sure, but okay. (0:39:48) Kev: I have one huge complaint. (0:39:50) Kev: The characters are always standing facing you. (0:39:53) Kev: It’s unnerving. (0:39:54) Kev: I don’t like it. (0:39:54) Al: their eyes move in the direction you’re moving very slightly. (0:39:55) Kev: I don’t like it. (0:39:58) Kev: Yeah. (0:40:02) Al: Yeah, it’s cute. (0:40:05) Al: I don’t know if it’s for me, but I don’t know for certain that it’s not for me. (0:40:10) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:40:10) Al: I could see myself trying it. (0:40:12) Kev: It’s I don’t think it’s for me like I know I don’t the dress-up thing doesn’t have my appeal (0:40:19) Kev: But I’m sure it’s for someone (0:40:23) Kev: But but yeah, that’s cotton milk, it’s okay. It’s going on the Kickstarter. I think (0:40:28) Al: Yes. The Kickstarter, I think, is live already, if that’s what I said. (0:40:32) Kev: All right, there you go (0:40:34) Al: Yeah, Kickstarter is live now. (0:40:35) Kev: Best of luck (0:40:36) Al: It is not doing well, but we’ll see how things go. (0:40:42) Kev: Well, that’s because the harvest season had yet to report on it. We’re gonna change the game for them (0:40:42) Al: It’s. (0:40:48) Al: It’s a thousand euros of its ten thousand euro goal, so. (0:40:53) Kev: Influencers (0:40:54) Al: It’s gonna, it might get there, it’s going to take a while. (0:40:58) Al: got a bunch of stretch goals, that’s optimistic. (0:41:01) Kev: Oh yeah it is, oh yeah that’s off, ooh, best, oh. (0:41:07) Al: Never put up your stretch goals until you’ve hit your target, because it’s embarrassing. (0:41:12) Al: It’s really embarrassing if you have stretch goals and you never hit your target, right? (0:41:14) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:41:15) Al: Come on, come on. (0:41:16) Kev: Yeah, unless you’re Sean Young, I guess. (0:41:19) Al: I don’t think you put up the stretch goals until they hit the target, (0:41:22) Kev: Did he? Oh. (0:41:22) Al: but it’s just that it only took five minutes, you know? (0:41:29) Al: I do think, however, I feel like it will probably get made even with the Kickstarter (0:41:35) Al: doesn’t, because the Kickstarter is so low that it feels like something, (0:41:38) Kev: Mm-hmm a test thing. Yeah, maybe (0:41:39) Al: like they don’t actually need the money, and it’s more like a marketing thing. (0:41:45) Al: Who knows? We’ll see, we’ll see. (0:41:49) Al: And that’s all the news. (0:41:52) Kev: Whoo, we did it! We defeated the news, finally. No new games ever again. (0:41:58) Al: All right, we’re going to talk about Mika and the Witches Mountain and the updates. (0:41:59) Kev: Free. Free at last. (0:42:05) Al: So just a quick summary of what this game is, if you haven’t listened to our previous (0:42:08) Al: episode, it will be linked in the show notes. Go listen to that, because we’re going to, (0:42:13) Al: we’re not going to, I mean, okay, we’re still going to talk about how much we love this (0:42:15) Al: game, right? Because I don’t know about you, Kevin, but like I’ve, I’ve still, I still (0:42:16) Kev: Yeah, I love the game. I finished the game, finally! (0:42:20) Al: love it. I still love this game. But a quick summary of it, just in case you refuse to (0:42:27) Al: listen to that episode. (0:42:28) Al: It is a witch broom riding package delivery game with Wind Waker graphics. (0:42:34) Kev: very niche, but very good, we promise you. (0:42:40) Al: It is very fun. (0:42:41) Al: We talk loads about how much we love the core game in the first episode on it, but (0:42:47) Al: we don’t want to do that here because it will just, we’ll just, we’ll just spend (0:42:51) Al: hours talking about how good it is. (0:42:53) Al: We’re not going to do that. (0:42:54) Kev: Yeah, assume it is good. It’s it’s good. It’s still Wind Waker and Kiki delivery service and good things (0:43:02) Al: So I’m going to talk quickly about the three updates and what they include in them. (0:43:08) Al: And then we can talk about what we’ve actually done and what we think about that. (0:43:12) Al: And if it’s changed our view on the game at all. (0:43:14) Al: So the first update is the churros and cats update. (0:43:18) Al: So this adds the churro express minigame, (0:43:20) Al: which Kevin, I believe you’ve played. Do you want to talk about that just now? (0:43:20) Kev: Yeah, I did (0:43:23) Kev: Yeah, okay. So it’s it’s so right. The game is heavy about the the broom riding, right? Well now (0:43:31) Kev: Logical step. Okay now do it fast. Here’s your racetracks go they give you like seven courses, I believe (0:43:37) Kev: And you can complete them all but they give you a time goal, you know (0:43:40) Kev: I try if you hit the time goals, then you can get different rewards. You could get a special outfit a (0:43:46) Kev: separate charm I (0:43:50) Kev: Took me maybe an hour to clear them all (0:43:54) Kev: the first (0:43:55) Kev: Four or five are not terribly hard. They’re easy. I won pretty much one shot them (0:44:01) Kev: Some of the later ones get a little more challenging took me a few do overs to get them (0:44:06) Kev: overall, I enjoyed it (0:44:09) Kev: the (0:44:10) Kev: Because so it’s like an air a lot of them are air based tracks, right because you’re on a broom, of course (0:44:15) Kev: They have these like churro rings giant churro rings that you fly through to (0:44:20) Kev: Get speed boosts and and and reset the timer or whatever the the churro aesthetic is cute. I like it’s funny (0:44:27) Kev: I like churros a lot (0:44:28) Al: Yeah, it’s cute. (0:44:29) Kev: but (0:44:30) Kev: But yeah overall like no complaints. I enjoyed it. It was a very natural like yeah, of course (0:44:37) Kev: They’re gonna do that and it worked (0:44:40) Kev: Yeah, the outfit you get for it is completing. It’s cute too. So there you go that there’s my thoughts (0:44:44) Al: So I have one complaint and it’s not specifically about the turo race, but it’s about the updates (0:44:47) Kev: Okay (0:44:50) Kev: You (0:44:51) Al: in general. This just feels like the time to talk about it. There’s no indication as to how to do (0:44:58) Al: this in game. If you open the game and you had completed the game before any of the updates, (0:44:59) Kev: Oh, okay (0:45:07) Al: as I had I done, you open it up and it’s like, “Oh, hey!” and you’re like, “Hey, what am I?” (0:45:14) Al: “What am I doing here?” “What have I got to do?” “You tell me this stuff?” “What is it?” (0:45:20) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:45:22) Al: And it goes, “What do you mean?” “What do you mean? What do I mean? Where&rsquo

Al and Kev go over the recent news, including everything cottagecore from the Nintendo Switch Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:43: What Have We Been Up To 00:10:49: Feedback 00:13:18: I Know What You Released Last Month 00:15:50: Game News 00:27:39: New Games 00:27:52: Story Of Seasons: Grand Bazaar 00:34:57: Witchbrook 00:36:58: Tomodschi Life 00:42:14: Tamagotchi Plaza 00:48:31: Outro Links Distant Bloom Console Release Monsterpatch Kickstarter Outbound News Story of Seasons: Grand Bizarre Witchbrook Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Tamagotchi Plaza Nexus Mods App Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Kev: My name is Kevin. (0:00:38) Al: and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:42) Kev: Woo! A lot of them. (0:00:45) Kev: A lot of games to talk about. (0:00:45) Al: So many cottagecore games. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, we just had a Nintendo Direct. (0:00:56) Al: By the time you hear this, there will have been another Nintendo Direct, (0:00:58) Kev: Haha sick. Oh my gosh. It’s that close. Oh my gosh. I’m not ready. I’m not ready (0:00:59) Al: But… (0:01:00) Al: We won’t be talking about that one. (0:01:02) Al: Not in this episode. (0:01:04) Al: Yeah, yeah. I think it’s the day of. Yeah, it’s the second. We release on the second, which is when the… (0:01:10) Kev: Yeah (0:01:11) Al: So, yeah. (0:01:14) Al: Let’s see how this goes. But we are… (0:01:16) Kev: So thank you for tuning in when even we’re not caring about this episode (0:01:22) Al: Hey, hey, I care. I care. (0:01:23) Kev: No, that’s not true (0:01:26) Al: So yeah, we’re going to talk about the switch direct this (0:01:30) Al: well, so we have a greenhouse episode where we talk about the switch direct in its whole, (0:01:35) Al: but we skip over the stuff that we’re going to talk about in this episode, (0:01:39) Al: specifically, it’s cartridge core games. (0:01:40) Kev: Because there was stuff for us. (0:01:43) Kev: Episode, entire episodes of the horror season were announced in that direct. (0:01:49) Al: You’re not wrong, I will say. So we’re going to talk about that. We’ve got some other news, (0:01:56) Al: Because people decided to send out other news as well this week. (0:02:00) Al: And that wasn’t just all in the Nintendo Direct. (0:02:03) Al: We’ve also got the roundup of March because it’s a new month now. (0:02:08) Al: Almost. It will be a new month now. (0:02:10) Al: This is one of those weird months where we are recording in a different month (0:02:14) Al: than we’re releasing, and I was like, do I wait till next week? (0:02:16) Al: But I decided, no, let’s do it in this one, because I’m sure nobody will announce (0:02:18) Kev: Sure. (0:02:21) Al: and release their game in the next two days. Right? (0:02:24) Kev: Oh, oh, oh, oh. (0:02:26) Al: We’ll see. (0:02:27) Kev: There’s you. (0:02:28) Kev: There’s you. (0:02:28) Al: We’ll see. (0:02:31) Al: So we’re going to talk about what released last month, in March. (0:02:35) Al: And we’ve got some feedback that we’re going to talk about as well. (0:02:39) Kev: Oh, oh, that’s that’s a genuinely exciting. I didn’t know that I’m excited (0:02:43) Al: But first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:46) Kev: Uh (0:02:48) Kev: Gosh, I can’t believe it’s actually been a week since I recorded and it feels like so much has happened (0:02:54) Kev: I got sick in between then and there it was rough (0:02:54) Al: No, no. (0:02:58) Kev: I don’t know if I thought it was a common cold at first. It might have been something a little last year. That’s (0:03:05) Kev: Yeah, the uncommon cold. That’s correct. Um, I (0:03:09) Kev: was breaking it off. Thankfully, but uh, yeah, that that took me down a few pegs over the week, but uh, I (0:03:16) Kev: When I was able to I squeezed in its usual say so on and so forth, but the big one wonder stop I finished it (0:03:25) Kev: I’m just holding up my thumb. You know one can see it, but I am and and that’s all I’m going to say on that because (0:03:33) Kev: One you people should play it because it’s a good game and two (0:03:37) Kev: Maybe who knows I will talk (0:03:39) Kev: about it somewhere in detail, somewhere, someplace, maybe, I don’t know. (0:03:43) Al: So, obviously, not spoilery, but nothing to change on what you said about it in the last (0:03:49) Kev: nope my nope my that is correct it did not crash and burn did not you know (0:03:49) Al: episode. (0:03:50) Al: You’ve not changed your mind. (0:03:58) Kev: scald my I and games there are games that will do that right the last second (0:04:02) Kev: just just ruin everything nope it stumps up all the way yeah so wonder stuff good (0:04:12) Al: Oh, nothing big, I’ve been continuing on Pokemon GO despite everything, because I still genuinely (0:04:12) Kev: stuff what about you well what’s been going on (0:04:23) Al: enjoy that game, and the new TCG Pocket expansion dropped a couple of days ago, so I’ve been (0:04:26) Kev: Now, you know, that’s fair. (0:04:32) Al: opening some packs, getting some cards, I got a shiny something, was that charming? (0:04:33) Kev: Uh, it’s… (0:04:35) Kev: Oh. (0:04:36) Kev: What? (0:04:38) Kev: Uh. (0:04:39) Kev: Okay. (0:04:40) Kev: Like, I, I, I am… (0:04:42) Kev: …interested in… (0:04:45) Kev: …because, you know, in the standard TCG, a new… (0:04:49) Kev: …set, or expansion, or whatever… (0:04:52) Kev: …usually has… (0:04:55) Kev: …stuff. (0:04:55) Kev: Well, it has. (0:04:56) Kev: Certain expectations or expectations are set. (0:04:59) Kev: Let’s say that right sometimes. (0:05:01) Kev: Yeah. (0:05:01) Kev: I mean, yes, there are cool arts that people can want that and so on and so forth. (0:05:06) Kev: Sometimes to ridiculous scalpery like insane levels of the expectations, but there’s gameplay stuff to lots of times, right? (0:05:17) Kev: Like we’re getting the Team Rocket Pokemon are coming back soon in the TCG and that’s cool or you know, we got styles or whatever. (0:05:25) Kev: I like to, there’s, there’s. (0:05:26) Kev: Oh, okay. There you go. That’s a big one. All right. All right. (0:05:35) Al: No, it is. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. (0:05:37) Al: So the last the last set included tools, which they hadn’t had before. (0:05:43) Al: Pokemon to and I and also the there’s like Arceus Link. (0:05:52) Al: I don’t know if you know about the Arceus… (0:05:53) Al: Like that was a thing in the physical TCG years ago. (0:05:56) Al: I don’t know if you know what that is. (0:05:56) Kev: Okay, I’m not. I heard whispers of it, but I didn’t look at it. (0:06:01) Al: It’s like abilities that affect Pokemon, (0:06:04) Al: but only if you use– (0:06:05) Al: Arceus, so it’s like if you have Arceus on the field then this happens sort of thing. (0:06:06) Kev: Huh, okay. (0:06:09) Kev: Yeah. (0:06:11) Kev: Oh, that’s a pretty cool idea. Actually, I like that. That’s fun. (0:06:15) Al: It’s very tied to Arceus which obviously limits your deck abilities but– (0:06:19) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. (0:06:21) Al: And then this set there– I mean there’s obviously always cards that have like (0:06:26) Al: new abilities and stuff like that. There’s a different Charizard which– I haven’t looked (0:06:28) Kev: Sure, sure. (0:06:31) Al: into what people are saying but I think looks like a much better Charizard than the previous (0:06:36) Al: one. There is a Giratina that is interesting. Both of those cards are heavily based around (0:06:45) Al: attacks that add energy to them so that then you can use the more powerful attack quicker. (0:06:51) Kev: Hmm, okay (0:06:54) Al: And they did just launch a ranked in pocket as well. So I will not be doing that but that does exist. (0:06:59) Kev: Oh dang pocket pocket going all in all right no longer just the collector app good good for you pocket again (0:07:10) Al: So yeah, yeah, there’s always stuff and then obviously there’s the shinies in the new the new set (0:07:15) Kev: - Yeah. (0:07:17) Al: Which are fun they are they added new missions that get you (0:07:23) Al: You’re able to unlock full decks as well. So you can say like oh I want the Tinkitung on (0:07:28) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:07:29) Al: EX deck and you get all the cards from that which is cool (0:07:32) Kev: Oh, that’s nice. (0:07:33) Al: Yeah (0:07:34) Al: So yeah, yeah, they’re adding stuff (0:07:36) Al: I don’t expect big changes every set because they’ve (0:07:40) Al: basically released a set every month, which is fast. (0:07:44) Kev: That’s that’s a lot. That is a lot. I’m exhausted just hearing that Wow (0:07:49) Al: With with the trading, I am managing to keep up with the (0:07:52) Al: standard cards, obviously not with the secret rares. But yeah, (0:07:56) Kev: prayers and all that, yeah, yeah, sure. (0:07:58) Al: but like with the standard, they call them diamond rarity. I’m (0:08:03) Al: managing to keep up to date with that. So I’m missing two (0:08:06) Al: from the last set and three from the previous set, but I’ll get (0:08:10) Al: to easily if actually put in the effort to look into trading. (0:08:14) Kev: Okay (0:08:15) Al: So that’s not very many. So yeah, I’m just exclusively (0:08:18) Kev: All right, that’s not bad all right (0:08:20) Al: opening the new set just now. (0:08:23) Al: I think that’s everything. I don’t think I’ve been playing (0:08:24) Al: anything. And this is why we’re not talking about Mika this (0:08:26) Al: week. We’ve had a week, but it’s fine. Because we were given (0:08:28) Kev: Yeah, it’s it’s been a week (0:08:35) Al: quite the list of news to talk about. So we didn’t even need to (0:08:37) Kev: Yeah (0:08:39) Al: have an alternate. (0:08:41) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I like (0:08:41) Al: So let’s see how long this takes us. (0:08:45) Kev: So I like how that happened cuz it was like (0:08:48) Kev: Just two days ago something you reached out like hey, I haven’t touched (0:08:53) Kev: Oh, you might we just do news episode. I’m like, that’s great. I have also not touched me good (0:09:00) Al: I was like I really should play the game and then I was like it’s Thursday. I’m not gonna be able to play this enough (0:09:02) Kev: Yeah, but (0:09:07) Kev: Yeah (0:09:08) Al: And it’s not that I don’t want to play the game. It’s just this week has been very busy and very tiring on so many levels (0:09:16) Kev: a lot of levels, I agree, for different reasons for both of us, but somehow, um, law, very (0:09:24) Al: It was Craig, my youngest, he’s really into Astrobot just now and he’s been, he’s really (0:09:29) Al: good at it but he can’t do everything and so there’s a few things he’s been, like he’s done (0:09:34) Al: some of the really hard bosses but there’s like some speed run levels that he’s struggling with (0:09:39) Al: and so he’s been asking me to help him with those ones. But he’s improved so much since he started, (0:09:45) Al: like he’s I think legitimately better than like most adults now, like he’s actually really good, (0:09:50) Kev: Oh, dang! (0:09:51) Al: like he defeated the final boss. (0:09:54) Al: Um, in the game, which is really good. (0:09:54) Kev: Oh, dang! (0:09:56) Kev: Way to go, kid! (0:09:56) Al: Um, I need, the game is now a hundred percent. (0:09:59) Al: He, as I say, he, I’ve done, I did some of that for him, but his save file (0:10:03) Al: is at a hundred percent now, which is wild. (0:10:07) Al: So yeah, but yeah. (0:10:09) Al: So we were sitting down this afternoon after we’d spent the day in Edinburgh. (0:10:13) Al: And he was like, Oh, Daddy, could you help me with this bit? (0:10:16) Al: And I’m like, honestly, Craig, my brain can’t deal with that just now. (0:10:20) Al: Like, it’s just there is too much to deal with in a platform. (0:10:24) Al: platformer that I do not have the energy to focus on that. (0:10:29) Al: So he was like, OK, that’s fine. (0:10:30) Al: I’ll do something else then. (0:10:32) Al: And it wasn’t the problem. (0:10:33) Al: But yeah, it’s just like when your brain can’t even do a 3D platformer, (0:10:37) Al: you know that you’ve had a week. (0:10:40) Kev: Yeah, absolutely (0:10:43) Al: So let’s see how this episode goes. (0:10:45) Al: I hope you’re excited for whatever this is. (0:10:46) Kev: Yeah, oh (0:10:49) Al: Let’s talk about some feedback. (0:10:51) Al: got another Spotify comment, uh, from our, (0:10:53) Kev: Yeah, oh I’m so excited (0:10:54) Al: only Spotify commenter, Jack, but thank you, Jack, for the comment, uh, Jack says, (0:11:01) Al: excellent job on the Grimoire Groves. Um, I think I might try it sometime in the future. (0:11:05) Al: Do you feel the next Coral Island update with children will be a good time to hop back in? (0:11:10) Al: My answer to that is I think it depends. Like if you played the game at 1.0, um, (0:11:16) Al: I think it will be a good time to jump back in. If you played 1.1, probably not. Like I think (0:11:21) Al: Anybody who’s played the game was (0:11:24) Al: 1.0 or before should be probably not now. Until we knew that 1.2 was coming out in the summer, (0:11:32) Al: I would have said just go for it now because 1.1 is such a good update for it. But obviously, if you’re (0:11:39) Al: happy with waiting another couple of months, it’s definitely a good time to jump in. And if you’re (0:11:44) Al: not super interested in multiplayer, I don’t think that other update gives you anything. (0:11:50) Al: so yeah get the get the children go for it (0:11:54) Al: get the children that was weird (0:11:56) Kev: The children (0:11:58) Kev: The children I’d you kids hide your wife (0:11:59) Al: goodness me (0:12:02) Kev: My my opinion is you should wait for the coral island update called fungi store (0:12:08) Al: oh dear (0:12:13) Al: um also has anyone on the team played bookbound on steam? I haven’t heard of anyone saying it, (0:12:19) Al: uh but uh good one to add add to the list it’s a cozy game where you operate (0:12:24) Al: a big store. I was curious about your thoughts if anyone has played it so I yeah interesting (0:12:28) Kev: Yeah, same thing here. (0:12:32) Al: maybe we need to get uh nami on for that episode it’s a big store not a library but (0:12:32) Kev: Oh, that would be fun. (0:12:38) Al: they’re basically the same thing right a big a big store is just capitalist version of a library (0:12:40) Kev: Yeah, it’d be. (0:12:45) Al: right libraries are socialism big stores are capitalism that’s how you understand the difference (0:12:46) Kev: It is, yes. (0:12:50) Kev: There you go. (0:12:54) Al: thank you for your comment jack and this is just a reminder that if you comment on spotify or you (0:12:58) Al: send us feedback from our website we will probably mention you on the podcast because we don’t get (0:13:04) Al: enough to to get it too busy like I mean if we ever get popular then i’m not promising that we’ll (0:13:09) Kev: that’s right (0:13:09) Al: do that for everyone but when we get one every three months i’m gonna mention it on the podcast (0:13:18) Al: uh kevin it’s time for I know what you released last month (0:13:22) Al: I’ve settled on that name. (0:13:24) Kev: Did you decide? (0:13:24) Al: We have quite the list of games that came out in March. (0:13:28) Al: So we’re starting off with Grimoire Groves. (0:13:30) Al: Obviously, we’ve covered that. (0:13:32) Al: That came out in March. (0:13:34) Al: Desktop Cat Cafe came out in March. (0:13:36) Al: That was the Cat Cafe Rusty-like. (0:13:40) Al: I don’t know anyone that’s tried it yet, but… (0:13:40) Kev: all right (0:13:44) Kev: yeah I i don’t either (0:13:46) Al: Believe it or not, Sugardew Island came out in March. (0:13:48) Kev: uh… i’ve heard the rumors that (0:13:50) Al: I was going to say it feels like longer than that, (0:13:54) Al: but that’s because I played it in February, so that’ll be why. (0:13:58) Kev: hmm (0:14:00) Al: Wonderstop came out, obviously. (0:14:02) Kev: died (0:14:02) Al: We had the fantastic episode about that last week. (0:14:04) Al: Good job. (0:14:04) Kev: go one, play it, go, go play it (0:14:08) Al: Mudborne came out. (0:14:08) Al: That’s the Frog Apical. (0:14:10) Kev: good name (0:14:10) Al: Apical, but frogs. (0:14:12) Kev: still great name, little bit (0:14:14) Al: I know somebody who will be playing it. (0:14:18) Al: I don’t think they have started playing it, (0:14:18) Kev: da, ah, ah, ah, ah (0:14:20) Al: but I know someone who will be playing it. (0:14:24) Kev: secrets (0:14:26) Kev: it’s not me (0:14:26) Kev: Hope it’s not me. (0:14:28) Al: Maybe it is, nothing you know who it is anyway, but honeyman sir, early access released as (0:14:29) Kev: It’s news to me if it is. (0:14:37) Al: well, as well as galactic getaway early access, apparently I backed that one on Kickstarter (0:14:43) Al: because I got a key in an email yesterday, which was like, oh, I don’t remember backing (0:14:45) Kev: Hahaha, surprise! (0:14:50) Al: this, but fair enough, I’ve got a game, it’s a little present to me from two years ago. (0:14:58) Al: Technically will be last month by the time this episode comes out, Space Sprouts came (0:15:03) Al: out on the 31st of March. Thankfully they announced it before we recorded the episode (0:15:08) Al: so we could include it. Busy month, biggest month of the year so far. Let’s turn it down (0:15:16) Al: a little bit because that’s too many games. Thanks, please and thank you. Oh, a lot of (0:15:18) Kev: No, Nintendo finally said no. (0:15:26) Al: games. Let’s see how that (0:15:28) Al: continues. But that’s what released last month. Are you (0:15:32) Al: playing any of these other games that you that aren’t (0:15:36) Kev: uh if any of them probably be mud born because I like frogs it’s a good name I don’t know i’ll (0:15:44) Kev: see how it goes though but there it’s not high on my priority list other ways (0:15:48) Al: It’s fair enough. Fair enough. Let’s talk about the game news then. So yeah, we’re going to start (0:15:54) Al: with games that we know about that have announced something new. So first up, Distant Bloom. It’s out (0:16:03) Al: on PlayStation and Switch. So it was already out on Steam, but now it’s out on PlayStation 4, (0:16:04) Kev: There you go go (0:16:09) Al: PlayStation 5 and Switch. So if you were wanting to play it, but you’re waiting for it to be on (0:16:10) Kev: There you go, I (0:16:13) Kev: I I didn’t even remember this game to be honest, but I looked up. It looks fine (0:16:13) Al: console, there you go. (0:16:21) Kev: I’d like yeah (0:16:22) Al: This is the game where you are cleaning a planet, I think, (0:16:28) Al: and you have to save plants. (0:16:28) Kev: Yeah (0:16:31) Kev: I do like that (0:16:34) Kev: I think (0:16:35) Kev: Yeah, I like that kind of terraforming or nature restoration (0:16:40) Kev: Sort of premise more than just your standard farm generally speaking. I think so that is cute. I like (0:16:48) Al: Well, this game came out almost exactly a year ago on Steam, 27th of March last year. (0:16:54) Kev: Wow. (0:16:55) Kev: Why? (0:16:56) Kev: Well, it’s not too bad if I turn around to get your ports out. (0:16:58) Al: Yeah, yeah, not bad. (0:17:01) Al: Next, we have Monster Patch. (0:17:03) Al: The Kickstarter is live and we therefore have a lot more information about Sean (0:17:08) Al: Young’s upcoming Monster Collector game. (0:17:11) Kev: Not just out of the things dang funded of course (0:17:16) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:17:17) Al: It’s currently sitting– (0:17:18) Al: so it’s doing pretty good, doing pretty good. (0:17:22) Kev: Yeah, that’s correct Shocker (0:17:27) Al: I have backed it. (0:17:28) Al: Have you backed it, Kevin? (0:17:29) Kev: Not yet (0:17:30) Al: Are you going to? (0:17:31) Al: Or are you going to wait till it’s out? (0:17:35) Kev: I don’t know how to think about it. Maybe not bad. What do I get for backing? Yeah, I don’t know (0:17:39) Al: A future present. This is the thing. If you think you’ll have more money in the future, (0:17:44) Kev: The future present (0:17:51) Al: don’t back the game, right? Because why would you pay for a game now when you’ll have more money in (0:17:52) Kev: You know, you know. (0:17:57) Al: the future? If you think “I won’t have more money in the future” or “I have enough money to buy it (0:18:03) Al: just now”, back it because it’s fun to get a free game later on. Yeah, there you go. (0:18:10) Al: And you don’t have to worry about it not being funded because you didn’t support it, (0:18:14) Al: because it’s already funded. Assuming 90% of people don’t pull out. Because you can, (0:18:16) Kev: yeah fair I guess (0:18:20) Kev: yeah that would yeah (0:18:21) Al: but they won’t. 2,000 people have backed it so far. Fair. (0:18:24) Kev: i’ll wait i’ll wait to see because I need I want to see more (0:18:29) Kev: about the game I guess like how is (0:18:32) Al: Well there’s another good reason to wait, as well as the Kickstarters only for a Steam key. (0:18:39) Al: He’s not promising it’ll be on Switch, and it’ll be later on. So if you want Switch, (0:18:41) Kev: but yeah yeah probably and and there’s (0:18:45) Al: don’t back it, because that’ll just be a separate thing later on. Which I’m going to guess he will (0:18:51) Al: do it, because Littlewood went to Switch, and you know, people like Switch. (0:18:58) Kev: money when people like things (0:18:59) Al: That too. That too. That too. What I find really fun about this is that he’s doing the thing where (0:19:09) Al: he’s trying to create a save file, because he has both versions of it. So it’s a fun little nod to (0:19:12) Kev: Yeah. (0:19:23) Al: how Pokemon games do that, but without actually the negatives of it. (0:19:26) Kev: yeah bless you um that yeah that like it’s kind of dumb to think about that it wasn’t (0:19:34) Al: Yeah. (0:19:35) Kev: part like but I just never even considered that we had the technology we’re here this is the future (0:19:42) Al: Here’s a secret for you. The actual, the Pokemon games are both versions as well. They just (0:19:43) Kev: but um but that is a very cool thing to do um yeah yeah (0:19:51) Al: have a config in them that says which version is and you can’t change it. Because of course (0:19:54) Kev: Yeah, I forgot about that. You’re totally right. (0:19:56) Kev: That’s super true. (0:20:01) Al: they are. Why would they actually make two different games? It’s the same game. (0:20:02) Kev: Yeah, you’re super right. (0:20:06) Kev: Good stuff. Good times. (0:20:10) Kev: But yeah, very cool, though, that he does that. (0:20:12) Kev: And you can trade with yourself. (0:20:14) Kev: You can become that one penny arcade panel. (0:20:18) Al: Yeah. (0:20:18) Al: Yeah. (0:20:23) Al: I don’t actually know if it has trees. (0:20:28) Kev: I read somewhere you could trade between your save files. (0:20:31) Al: trade Mons and interact with your other save files through trading version (0:20:36) Al: exclusive Mons items and turn decorations player will be players will (0:20:39) Al: be able to 100% their save files in either version there will also be unique (0:20:43) Al: game mechanics that utilize characters from different saves like battling your (0:20:46) Al: character from past playthroughs and that’s cool so it’s try interact with (0:20:51) Al: your other save files that yeah so that means you don’t you can just do it on (0:20:54) Al: one one device as well you don’t even have to have two devices to save which (0:20:56) Kev: Yeah, mhm (0:20:58) Al: which is probably actually simpler than trading between (0:21:02) Al: devices, right? Because he can just modify the saves on this one thing (0:21:02) Kev: Yeah, oh it probably actually is (0:21:10) Al: rather than dealing with that inter-device communication. (0:21:12) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s a very good point. Yeah, it’s shocker. It’s actually easier. (0:21:14) Al: It’s very clever. (0:21:19) Al: It’s quite cool. I like it. I’m looking forward to this. And I think I like the (0:21:25) Al: monster designs. Almost said Pokemon. The monster designs. (0:21:28) Kev: Hahaha, she’s already getting in their crosshairs we go we care (0:21:31) Al: Yeah, you play as Gary. (0:21:37) Kev: Yeah (0:21:40) Kev: You’re playing as as Gary Powell, I believe his name is (0:21:41) Al: The monster designs are fun and unique, but also feel distinct from other monster collecting games. (0:21:54) Kev: Yeah, it’s such, I say this as someone who’s fooled around with trying to design fake mods like it’s so difficult because the bar is so clear and and you know, it’s set. So, you know, how do you stand out but there’s there’s some fun ones. There’s definitely some fun ones in here. (0:22:19) Kev: I like, I like little shark guy. (0:22:22) Kev: That’s a whooper though, that’s still just a whooper. (0:22:24) Kev: I’m sorry. (laughs) (0:22:26) Al: shh. There’s also collecting and crafting and magic, which is, is, oh, I like it. Some (0:22:37) Al: people don’t, but I like collecting and crafting in games. (0:22:40) Kev: Yeah, let’s let’s see how it goes. The animations. It looks good because it’ll very much. It’s fascinating because he got the aesthetic of the, you know, the Game Boy color, Pokemon games, but the animation looks pretty dynamic and fluid and it’s nice. You can move your house and stuff around. (0:23:02) Al: Yes, yes, town building mechanics, like in Littlewood. I haven’t seen anything as to (0:23:08) Al: whether they have terraforming or not, because Littlewood did, but that feels a more complicated (0:23:15) Al: thing to do in a game where you’re like exploring and catching monsters and stuff like that. (0:23:18) Kev: Yeah. (0:23:22) Al: So maybe it won’t have terraforming, but there is at least some level of town customisation. (0:23:27) Kev: yeah the four team battles that’s a fun little thing that’s different and then (0:23:34) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m looking forward to this and trying very hard not to buy the physical (0:23:36) Kev: you make carts (0:23:43) Al: edition of both versions because I don’t need it. (0:23:47) Al: I don’t need it. (0:23:48) Kev: Is that, are you sure? (0:23:50) Al: I don’t need it. (0:23:50) Kev: You don’t need it, no, but it’d be nice. (0:23:52) Al: I don’t need it. (0:23:53) Al: All right. (0:23:55) Al: I’m sure we’ll talk about this game much more in the future. (0:23:58) Al: Next we have the most pointless piece of news ever, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. (0:24:02) Al: outbound the campervan game have said that (0:24:04) Al: we’re going to have some news on the 10th of April. (0:24:06) Al: That’s it. We’re done. Great. (0:24:07) Kev: It’s it’s the teaser for two days before the trade the teaser trailer that movies do now (0:24:12) Al: It’s news about news, it’s an announcement of an announcement. (0:24:14) Kev: Yeah (0:24:17) Kev: Yeah, I’m excited. Oh (0:24:18) Al: And it’s not even before the next episode. (0:24:20) Al: We have to wait two episodes to talk about this. (0:24:22) Al: What is this nonsense? (0:24:27) Al: Anyway, will it be a release date? (0:24:30) Al: That’s my guess. (0:24:31) Kev: Probably boy be you better be something good if it’s not (0:24:38) Al: Well, so I don’t think it will actually be the release date, (0:24:40) Al: because the alpha isn’t even out yet, which is coming in April. (0:24:42) Kev: Well, I bet I meant the release date for the alpha (0:24:45) Al: That’s so anticlimactic, if it’s that. Like, I don’t care. Go away. (0:24:49) Al: Come back to me with a finished game. Come on. (0:24:54) Al: We have some release dates from the Nintendo Switch Direct. (0:24:59) Al: Fantasy Life I The Girl Who Steals Time is coming on the 21st of May. (0:25:04) Kev: I’m so excited. My brothers excited fantasy lives. There’s a lot going on here (0:25:11) Kev: Like are you familiar with the original fantasy life at all? (0:25:15) Kev: okay, um (0:25:16) Kev: so the original conception for (0:25:19) Kev: the original fantasy life was a (0:25:22) Kev: single-player (0:25:24) Kev: Non-violent MMO that was like literally the the pitch for it (0:25:30) Kev: um and it uh they didn’t go the non-violent thing in the end they ended the combat (0:25:34) Kev: classes but uh but they did keep the single-player aspect it’s a single-player (0:25:41) Kev: MMO basically with different classes and you can switch between them and you do different (0:25:45) Kev: things and yada yada it’s very gr- and very grindy sort of game like MMOs um uh but uh (0:25:54) Kev: very cute very charming by level five the professor late in the okai watch people (0:25:59) Kev: they’re very good at writing so uh very enjoyable game in my opinion um Calvin (0:26:04) Kev: my brother plays a lot too um so you know we got a lot of mileage into that um and but they’re (0:26:09) Kev: really ramping it up here because we’re going way past the the MMO skeleton um we we we got (0:26:16) Al: Yeah, this is a life seminar, basically. (0:26:18) Kev: basically because you you’re now and there were some aspects of that you could decor your house (0:26:22) Kev: but now we’re terraforming we got the animal crossing terraforming in here which is wild to me (0:26:28) Kev: um I don’t even know how that’s gonna fit in like i’m sure you can (0:26:34) Kev: terraform the whole world it’s probably just like maybe your home plot or something but uh (0:26:39) Al: Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, uh, what’s it called? What was the game? Um, the Dragon (0:26:47) Al: Quest was a Dragon Quest game builders. Yeah. They, you could terraform the whole world (0:26:48) Kev: Builders yeah (0:26:51) Al: there. Couldn’t you possible. (0:26:52) Kev: Yeah, you could oh man, that’d be wild if he could (0:26:56) Kev: Maybe I it’s possible either way fantasy life sick. I’m looking forward to it. It’s coming real soon. May 21st (0:27:04) Al: The Wandering Village is coming to Switch on the 17th of July, so that’s cool. (0:27:10) Al: I still haven’t played this game. (0:27:12) Kev: Yeah, me neither (0:27:14) Kev: Will I now I don’t know maybe (0:27:18) Kev: Well idea you’re playing on a big dinosaur (0:27:21) Al: And Luz Lagoon have announced that their Switch release is coming in the summer of this year. (0:27:28) Kev: to have alloy at home over the summer now (0:27:34) Al: Yeah, so that’s all of the news about games that we already know about. (0:27:39) Al: So we’re now going to talk about new games that we didn’t know about, (0:27:43) Al: and all of these were announced in the Nintendo Direct. So here we go. (0:27:51) Kev: Let’s do this! (0:27:51) Al: Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar. This is a remake of Harvest Moon DS Grand Bazaar. (0:28:02) Al: If you don’t understand why a Harvest Moon game is now called Story of Seasons, (0:28:06) Al: I don’t have time to explain that to you just now. It is how it is, right? Harvest Moon is now Story (0:28:08) Kev: that’s that’s that long and short of it yeah (0:28:12) Al: of Seasons, and Harvest Moon is not Story of Seasons. It wouldn’t be confusing if they just (0:28:19) Al: renamed it. (0:28:21) Al: The confusing thing is that Harvest Moon still exists, that’s what’s confusing about it. (0:28:25) Kev: Yeah, yeah, and the worst part is it works, right? Like the other Harvest Moon series, (0:28:34) Kev: it’s still kicking. They’re still pumping stuff out. (0:28:38) Al: So, this is coming in August, the 27th of August, a little birthday present for me. (0:28:46) Al: I’m excited because, I mean, this is one that I never played and the graphics, I think this (0:28:53) Al: looks gorgeous. (0:28:54) Al: It looks, it’s kind of similar to “Story of Seasons - Pioneers of All the Times” graphics, (0:28:58) Al: but it’s definitely nicer, I think. (0:29:01) Al: Yeah, I like the look of it. (0:29:05) Al: I guess when you get close up to the characters, they look very much like. (0:29:08) Al: I’m not a huge fan of how close up you get in those discussions, but when you’re zoomed out and you’re seeing the world and it looks really fun, I need to figure out what the deal is with the traveling in this game, because it looks like someone has a paraglider. (0:29:28) Kev: it very much looks like the the Korok Lee from Wind Waker that you’re flying around with. (0:29:34) Al: Yeah. (0:29:36) Kev: I don’t know. There is you’ve got your cows so you know all the base is covered. We’ve got the (0:29:38) Al: Looks like there’s a good amount of character customization. (0:29:46) Kev: bazaar thing itself is an interesting mechanic right the the Moneco night market style set your (0:29:53) Kev: stuff and sell your wares. (0:29:56) Al: Yeah, we’ll see. I worry it’ll feel like I’m not on… (0:30:03) Al: Maneko, I quite enjoyed because of how fast paced and how limited it was. (0:30:08) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:30:09) Al: And I think it worked really well. (0:30:12) Al: I’m worried I wouldn’t enjoy it in this one because it feels much more frequent and slower. (0:30:16) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:30:20) Kev: That’s very possible. I understand your concern. (0:30:24) Al: Yeah, this is 100% just a paraglider. He jumps off a cliff and he’s got the paraglider. (0:30:31) Al: Fine, sounds great. Why have we not had that in other three seasons games? (0:30:36) Kev: I mean, I don’t think– has there ever been a need? (0:30:38) Al: What’s this nonsense? (0:30:42) Al: There’s always a need. Trio of Towns did a fun thing where you could jump, (0:30:46) Al: and you could jump up things. I really liked the movement in that game, and then they kind of just (0:30:52) Kev: Hmm (0:30:53) Al: just stop doing that as well. (0:30:54) Kev: That’s wild (0:30:55) Al: Yeah, I would just like, I don’t even care necessarily about it speeding things up. (0:31:01) Al: I just find it fun to be running around and jumping at the same time. (0:31:04) Kev: Yeah, you know that’s very fair. That’s very fair (0:31:05) Al: But it’s just fun to do that. (0:31:09) Al: The blurb for this. (0:31:11) Al: Searching for a peaceful farm life? (0:31:13) Al: A fresh mountain breeze and your own market stall? (0:31:16) Al: Look no further than the friendly community of Zephyr Town. (0:31:18) Al: Here you’ll grow crops and raise animals. (0:31:20) Al: Get to know the locals and sell your wares at the town’s bazaar (0:31:25) Al: to its farmer glory. (0:31:26) Al: Everything is always being restored to its farmer glory in these games. (0:31:29) Kev: always always good girl yeah basically oh that’s story of seasons like it’s it’s (0:31:32) Al: Make Zephyr Town great again. (0:31:42) Kev: you know it’s it’s the standard it’s gonna be good like standard for a reason right like (0:31:50) Al: OK, so it says use windmills to create new products to sell and effortlessly travel (0:31:57) Al: across the town on your glider. (0:31:59) Al: I have a question. Do they not understand (0:32:01) Al: how windmills work and they are implying that the windmills are creating the wind (0:32:05) Al: for you to travel with? I don’t know. (0:32:08) Al: That’s what it sounds like to me. (0:32:09) Kev: Maybe, you know, that’s how it works now. (0:32:11) Al: It feels like it’s a cause and effect (0:32:14) Al: sentence, but that doesn’t make any sense, right? (0:32:16) Al: that use the wind for both of those things but not the wind. (0:32:20) Al: I mean, Tree of Towns was a 3DS game and this was a DS game, so I guess maybe it sounds (0:32:28) Kev: Probably from what you describe. I’m gonna guess yes (0:32:34) Kev: Yeah (0:32:35) Al: like they were continuing that from this to Tree of Towns. (0:32:37) Kev: That’s what I’m thinking (0:32:40) Al: Well, I’m going to buy it, right? (0:32:44) Al: I’m not going to pretend. (0:32:47) Al: The question is, will I buy the… (0:32:56) Kev: The Deluxe Mega Collector’s Rare Edition. (0:33:06) Al: platforms, which retailer, Amazon Boo, is the only retailer, 65 pounds. (0:33:14) Kev: That doesn’t sound that bad. (0:33:15) Al: The standard is 45 pounds, so it’s 20 pounds difference for the limited edition. (0:33:22) Al: The limited edition doesn’t mention what it actually does. (0:33:25) Kev: I was about to ask but wait was that included is in cow does it include a cow plush at all because that’s (0:33:31) Kev: That’s the real money maker (0:33:32) Al: I had this in a link, and I now no longer have it in the link, and I’m really annoyed (0:33:36) Al: about that. Here we go. I’ve got it now. Fantastic. Fantastic. The limited edition copy includes (0:33:46) Al: The Game, a plush Suffolk sheep, so not a cow, but a Suffolk sheep, a poster, a physical (0:33:54) Kev: No, that’s alright. (0:33:57) Al: art book with over 115 pages of cosy art. Why is the art cosy? I don’t know. (0:34:02) Kev: That’s a lot of art. That’s a pretty decent sized art book. (0:34:02) Al: And an original soundtrack CD. The digital deluxe version includes the trunk of transformation (0:34:07) Kev: Not bad overall. (0:34:14) Al: DLC, and the super deluxe digital edition includes a digital art book and soundtrack (0:34:19) Al: app in addition to the items from the deluxe version. And that is the same cost as the (0:34:25) Al: physical limited edition. Will the physical limited edition not come with the DLC? That (0:34:31) Al: That feels weird. (0:34:32) Kev: that’d be wild nope you don’t know nothing (0:34:33) Al: We don’t know anything about that DLC. (0:34:38) Al: Well, I guess we’ll find out in time. (0:34:41) Kev: yeah all right the plush questions answer that’s all I needed though i’m probably not gonna get (0:34:47) Kev: it right it’s like oh yeah or I mean the physical whatever edition will I get the game so yeah maybe (0:34:48) Al: Fair, fair, fair, fair, maybe, maybe. (0:34:55) Kev: I do enjoy story of seasons (0:34:58) Al: Next we have Witchbrooke. (0:35:01) Al: Discover magic and mystery in Witchbrooke, a spellbinding witch life sim (0:35:04) Al: for up to four players. (0:35:06) Al: Start your life as the newest resident of witch in the bustling seaside (0:35:11) Al: city of Mossport. (0:35:12) Al: Make friends, find love and discover a world filled with wonder and charm on (0:35:16) Al: the road to graduation and beyond. (0:35:19) Al: Look, you can, it’s a 2D witch game where you can write a broom. (0:35:22) Al: That’s, do I need to tell you anymore? (0:35:22) Kev: I was about to say finally Cozy Games and Witchcraft at long last! (0:35:29) Al: I don’t really care about the witchcraft part of it. (0:35:31) Al: What I care about is the broom. (0:35:33) Al: I’ve, if I can write a broom in your game, I’m probably going to buy it. (0:35:36) Al: I want to be able to fly. (0:35:39) Al: Just let me fly. (0:35:40) Kev: yeah that’s a pretty good one um I like the graphics they’re going for a (0:35:47) Kev: 2d isometric like pixel gba ds era graphic style I like it um uh well I play it I don’t know (0:35:58) Kev: because I got a slot but but it looks well done very true very (0:36:01) Al: Will I buy it? Probably. Will I play it? (0:36:03) Al: We’ll see. Those are two different questions. (0:36:10) Kev: true um (0:36:12) Al: um yeah no I i I i i’m I think it’s I think it looks great and is getting a lot of buzz online (0:36:17) Kev: yeah no it looks it has all your your staples and all the all the good stuff you want your marriage (0:36:24) Kev: and your your relationships and crafting and things (0:36:30) Al: Apparently, this game was first announced seven years ago, and then they’ve never said anything about it ever again. (0:36:36) Kev: That’s wild I didn’t know that that’s wild (0:36:40) Al: Someone in the YouTube comments says, “7 years of radio silence for it (0:36:44) Al: finally to surface on a Nintendo Direct.” (0:36:48) Kev: and is a silk song of an earlier generation. Yeah, Jack. (0:36:54) Al: Yeah, I really like, I really like the graphics. (0:36:59) Al: Tomodachi Life, not Tamagotchi Life, Tomodachi Life. (0:37:03) Kev: That’s that’s another one (0:37:08) Al: I googled, I started googling Tamagotchi Plaza, which is the the other game we’re about. (0:37:14) Kev: Yeah, and you discovered a whole list of new episodes, let’s talk about that vape sometime. (0:37:16) Al: Hey Google, shut up. (0:37:20) Al: And I, yeah, one of them was Tamagotchi life. (0:37:24) Al: Someone just doesn’t know how to spell Tamagotchi, right? (0:37:27) Al: They heard it and thought it was Tamagotchi life, or just confusing the games. (0:37:33) Al: Anyway. (0:37:34) Al: Tamagotchi life. (0:37:35) Al: No. (0:37:36) Al: Yes, that’s what we’re talking about just now. (0:37:37) Al: Tamagotchi life. (0:37:38) Al: I got confused myself, because I wasn’t sure which one we were talking about. (0:37:42) Al: After over 10 years, Tamagotchi life is back and coming to Nintendo Switch. (0:37:46) Al: So this is like me, Animal Crossing, right? (0:37:50) Kev: of sorts gets a bit more wild than that it’s more like somewhere between Animal (0:37:58) Kev: Crossing and the Sims I would say that’s it’s closer to the sims I think even (0:38:04) Kev: because you don’t actually control a character you’re just watching the the (0:38:10) Kev: drama that ensues when you put all your friends and me’s and oh you not play (0:38:12) Al: Oh, you’re not actually controlling any of these characters. (0:38:17) Kev: Like Tomodachi? (0:38:18) Al: I have not, no, no. (0:38:18) Kev: Life or familiar? (0:38:20) Kev: Okay, yes, no, no you are not controlling the characters or okay to be fair. I’m not played myself (0:38:24) Al: Not directly controlling them. (0:38:26) Kev: Yeah, not directly controlling them (0:38:26) Al: You mean like in the Sims, you like can tell them what. (0:38:30) Kev: Okay, yes, um I to be fair (0:38:32) Kev: I’m not played myself, but I’ve watched my sister and Sami familiar with the the thing and it’s more or less (0:38:37) Kev: Yes, just you have a whole bunch of me’s you’re letting them into (0:38:41) Kev: You letting them loose into the house and watching all the hijinks that ensues as they do things as they if all in love (0:38:50) Kev: Become friends throw (0:38:53) Kev: Sports balls at each other. I don’t know (0:38:56) Kev: It’s a zany game and this one’s turning up the zany up to 11. We got we got giant people (0:39:03) Al: Yes, that was very funny at the end. It’s just like the person running towards the camera and (0:39:08) Al: then they just get bigger and bigger and bigger. You’re like “oh my word, what’s happening here?” (0:39:09) Kev: Bigger, yeah (0:39:14) Al: I legitimately thought this was just like Animal Crossing. I’m now watching a gameplay video (0:39:17) Kev: No, no, no (0:39:20) Al: of Tamadachi Life from the 3DS and I have no idea what’s happening. (0:39:23) Kev: Yeah, that’s that sounds correct. I don’t think you you’re even if you were (0:39:28) Al: Is any of this gameplay or is this just like a film? Are we just watching a really weird (0:39:33) Kev: a little bit maybe a little bit, but it’s (0:39:33) Al: film? Is this like The Sims Cross with WarioWare? Because it feels like some of it’s like minigames. (0:39:40) Kev: Maybe a little bit (0:39:44) Kev: And it’s a little bit some stuff will pop up you never know in the Tomodachi, huh? (0:39:48) Al: What is happening in this game? A pretzel appeared. What will Big Bad Pig do? What is this? (0:39:56) Al: I’m so confused. Yes, now I need to buy this game. (0:39:59) Kev: Well, aren’t you curious that’s (0:40:03) Al: Anyway, it’s coming next year. This is like an actual Nintendo game though, right? This isn’t (0:40:03) Kev: See you got to know what happens with the pretzel (0:40:09) Kev: You (0:40:11) Al: like third party. Nintendo make this. It’s coming in 2026. People are excited. I’m confused. (0:40:11) Kev: Yeah, it is (0:40:14) Kev: Stage on smash (0:40:25) Al: I clearly completely misunderstood what this game was and I am so confused. Okay, look. (0:40:33) Al: We’ll talk about it I’m sure. Why are these characters throwing items at each other? (0:40:35) Kev: ha ha ha ha oh i’m excited oh why why not they might be playing games they might be if you (0:40:44) Kev: think it’s unsure you have to play the game to get your answers it’s the only way to know could be a (0:40:50) Kev: talent competition possibilities are endless yeah toma means friend I think in japanese i’ve heard (0:40:52) Al: Tomodachi means “friends” and Dachi is plural, so it’s “friends”. (0:41:02) Kev: yeah okay that’s fruit so yeah (0:41:06) Kev: put you all your oh man you know what this means we can put all the I other ths hosts (0:41:13) Kev: into one tamodachi life house and watch the drama that will unfold (0:41:18) Al: Oh so you like actually get your “me’s” from other people. (0:41:21) Kev: you can yeah or yeah or I i mean I don’t know how (0:41:22) Al: Oh my word. (0:41:24) Al: “The game follows the day-to-day interactions of “me” characters,” referred to as the Islanders. (0:41:29) Al: “They build relationships, solve problems, and interact with the player.” (0:41:32) Kev: The possibilities are endless. (0:41:34) Al: Oh goodness sake, I hate that I have to buy this game now. (0:41:39) Al: It looks like it’s very tied into StreetPass, so how are they going to replace that? (0:41:44) Kev: I don’t know. That is the big question because obviously, I guess so. I guess so because obviously, (0:41:46) Al: Just internet connection. (0:41:48) Al: And I guess, like, you can connect and share your Miis that way. (0:41:54) Kev: yeah, the 3DS was a lot more suited for me stuff and that sort of connectivity. I don’t know how (0:42:02) Kev: they’re gonna handle it, but we gotta stay tuned. Just wait. We’ll find out. Somebody will do the (0:42:10) Kev: the day again by which I may meet somebody who’ll play. (0:42:14) Al: All right last but not least in the games we have Tamagotchi Plaza not to be confused with (0:42:20) Al: Tamagotchi Life. The fact that they announced both these games on in the same direct is just so mean. (0:42:20) Kev: Yeah, no, it’s great, it’s what I want. (0:42:32) Al: Although I feel like we knew about Tamagotchi Plaza and see I’m doing it again Tamagotchi Plaza. (0:42:34) Kev: Probably, maybe, I don’t know. (0:42:38) Al: I think we knew that this game existed I feel like but not a lot about it. (0:42:44) Al: Let me check. Oh no maybe not no the internet does seem to think it was this was the first (0:42:49) Al: announcement of it. It’s another shop simulator game but with Tamagotchi characters. (0:42:57) Kev: Yeah, that’s all I need. (0:43:00) Kev: I’ve never had a Tamagotchi in my life. (0:43:04) Kev: There’s some dope ones out there. (0:43:07) Kev: The Digimon crossover ones are good. (0:43:07) Al: I yeah yeah I love I love Tamagotchis as well not actually using them but I (0:43:13) Al: like I used to use them as a child but now I just collect some um I have a Pac-Man one (0:43:19) Al: and I have a Gugitama one um (0:43:20) Kev: Ooh, where’s this updated shadow labyrinth? (0:43:26) Al: um but I don’t I don’t think I want to play another shop game (0:43:30) Al: do you have to do the shop but I think so it seems like it’s pretty core (0:43:32) Kev: You do you must (0:43:37) Al: in June 27th of June for the first time in the series an offline two-player mode is now available (0:43:39) Kev: Be excited (0:43:43) Kev: No, why did it know there were other times in the series, okay? Oh (0:43:43) Al: collaborate or compete with other (0:43:49) Al: yes it’s the newest in the Tamagotchi corner shop series (0:43:53) Kev: Okay shows me what I know how much apparently (0:43:58) Al: over a hundred Tamagotchi in total. (0:44:00) Kev: I (0:44:03) Kev: Okay, good. I didn’t I didn’t even consider the number would be an issue, but all right. I just thought it was just like (0:44:08) Al: Well it’s not, because there’s a hundred of them, it’s not an issue. Yeah I don’t think (0:44:13) Al: I’m gonna play this game but I’m excited for those who are excited by it. Oh you can be (0:44:13) Kev: I’m not I (0:44:16) Kev: Mean I I heard Mike gets cheers of joy in the distance is watching the direct. So, you know, oh (0:44:23) Al: a dentist. You can run an afternoon tea shop. Okay so this is when they say shop simulator, (0:44:25) Kev: Hold a hold the phone now or talk (0:44:31) Kev: Oh, that’s cute. (0:44:34) Kev: I thought… (0:44:35) Al: This is just a bunch of minigames. (0:44:37) Kev: Okay, yeah, yeah, you’re… (0:44:38) Al: You’re not actually have to get the stuff and stock the shop. (0:44:41) Al: You just go and like run the shop. (0:44:41) Kev: It’s not Grand… (0:44:43) Kev: It’s not… (0:44:44) Kev: It’s not Tamagotchi Grand Bazaar. (0:44:46) Kev: You can… (0:44:46) Al: Well, now I’m interested. (0:44:47) Kev: Live your dreams. (0:44:49) Al: Make the tone vibrant and full of life. (0:44:51) Kev: Restore it to its former glory! (0:44:54) Kev: Now we’re talking! (0:44:58) Al: Probably still not going to play it, but. (0:45:00) Kev: I probably will not either. (0:45:01) Al: More more interested in it now than I. (0:45:03) Kev: Unless they get those crossovers like the Godzilla and the Digimians. (0:45:06) Al: Look, look. (0:45:08) Al: Luke, Luke, Luke. If Gudetama’s in it, then yes. I will play it. (0:45:11) Kev: Nah, see, that’s what I’m talking about. (0:45:15) Al: We need our Sanrio characters. Oh wait, that’s just… (0:45:16) Kev: Dope. (0:45:17) Kev: Yeah. (0:45:20) Kev: Panda to our brand. (0:45:21) Al: That’s just Hello Kitty Island adventure then. (0:45:27) Al: Oh goodness, we’re nearly there. We’re nearly done with the news (0:45:31) Al: and the episode, but we have one more thing to talk about. (0:45:35) Al: Kevin. Nexus Mods. (0:45:38) Al: A website for mods for games. (0:45:42) Kev: They are unleashing the dogs of war. (0:45:44) Al: They have and they’ve finally announced their open source cross-platform Nexus Mods app, (0:45:51) Al: which includes support for Stardew Valley. Now this is exciting because this is a very easy way (0:45:59) Al: to add mods to games compared to how you previously had to add mods to games. It is (0:46:06) Al: is an app that shows you (0:46:08) Al: what games you can add mods to, and it allows you to search for mods and add them with (0:46:12) Al: the click of a button, which is excellent. Do you know what’s even more excellent about (0:46:15) Kev: Yeah, what is tell me (0:46:16) Al: it? It has support for Linux, including the Steam Deck, which has been even harder to (0:46:21) Kev: Oh (0:46:23) Al: do mods on because they didn’t really have any apps to help with the process before now. (0:46:28) Kev: Oh, that is exciting. (0:46:30) Al: So there you go. That’s exciting. So it has support for Stardew Valley as of now, which (0:46:38) Al: listeners of this podcast will be interested in that. They’re also working on support for (0:46:43) Al: Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord. I’ve never heard of that game. (0:46:50) Kev: Okay, I don’t know what those are (0:46:52) Kev: Where’s the harvest season host as the start of NPC mod? Where’s that mod? (0:46:58) Al: Well, someone just needs to make the mod then. Nexus mods don’t actually make the mods, t

Al and Micah talk about Natsu-Mon 20th Century Summer Kid Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:30: What Have We Been Up To 00:12:54: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home 00:29:22: Game News 00:54:46: Natsu Mon 01:41:16: Outro Links Tales of the Shire Delay Fantasy Life i on Steam The Garden Path “Co-op” Update Spirittea “Phantom Friends” Update Sugardew Island Patch Paleo Pines Roadmap Echoes of the Plum Grove Roadmap Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Micah: My name is Micah. (0:00:37) Al: and we are here today to talk about cartridge core games. (0:00:41) Micah: Yippee. (0:00:45) Al: Welcome back, Micah. It’s actually not been that long. It’s only been about two months. (0:00:47) Micah: Thanks. No, it really hasn’t. (0:00:50) Micah: Yeah, which is wild because it feels like it’s been. (0:00:54) Micah: A lot like the last two months has felt like an entire year, so. (0:00:58) Al: Yeah, the last month specifically. (0:01:00) Al: Uh, but we don’t need to talk about that. (0:01:02) Micah: Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, yeah, of course. (0:01:06) Micah: I it’s funny because I was like, why has it felt so in that moment just now? (0:01:10) Micah: I was like, why does it feel like it’s been so long? (0:01:12) Micah: And then it clicked. So yeah, we don’t need to discuss. (0:01:14) Al: Mm, I wonder, uh, sometimes, uh, yes. (0:01:21) Al: Uh, and we still, we still don’t have any news on the story of seasons for this year, (0:01:27) Al: which I’m still expecting something. (0:01:30) Al: It’s been a very long time, but, uh, who knows. (0:01:30) Micah: Yeah. I’m too, I hear you. I’m expecting to. Yep, it’s bound to happen. It’s only a matter of time. (0:01:35) Al: I’m just waiting for that announcement and then we’ll be like, right. (0:01:37) Al: This is when we’re scheduling it in. (0:01:42) Al: Well, yeah, we have Micah here this episode because we are (0:01:46) Al: finally going to talk about Natsumon 20th century summer kid. (0:01:50) Micah: - Yay. (0:01:50) Al: We have pride a few times to actually record, uh, and things keep changing, (0:01:53) Micah: We did. (0:01:55) Al: but we finally got there. (0:01:56) Al: They didn’t shadow drop a story of seasons and we have to (0:01:59) Al: record about that instead. (0:02:00) Al: I’ve only had one case where I’ve noticed some news drop while I’ve been recording, (0:02:01) Micah: Could you imagine that it was, (0:02:04) Micah: now was when we got the story of season news? (0:02:15) Al: mainly because I’m not tend to be looking at the places where news comes in to see these things, (0:02:20) Micah: - Sure. (0:02:21) Al: but yeah, it’s never know one of these days. So we’re going to talk about that. We’ve obviously (0:02:28) Al: got the regular news. (0:02:31) Al: But first of all, maker, what have you been up to? (0:02:34) Micah: Oh, just busy. (0:02:37) Micah: Just got a lot going on. (0:02:39) Micah: I have been as far as games, though, I’ve been playing some (0:02:45) Micah: monster hunter wilds beta in preparation for that (0:02:50) Micah: at the point that we’re recording. (0:02:50) Al: and still not out yet. (0:02:52) Micah: It is going to be out next week. It’s about a week. (0:02:57) Micah: So I’m excited for that. (0:03:00) Micah: I’m also, you know, at that point in my life (0:03:04) Micah: a little bit anxious about a release for a game that I’m very excited about, (0:03:08) Micah: because then that means that I have to figure out time to play it (0:03:15) Micah: and also worry about how hyper fixated I’m going to become with it (0:03:20) Micah: and what that’s going to do to all of the other responsibilities in my life. (0:03:24) Micah: But I’m very excited for it. (0:03:28) Micah: I’ve also been playing Pokemon, I’ve been doing more shiny hunting. (0:03:32) Al: Are you still on your gen? Is it gen 2s? That’s what you were doing, I think, last time. (0:03:34) Micah: I was doing I was doing Gen three last time I was talking about it. Yeah. (0:03:40) Micah: I am doing that. (0:03:42) Micah: So I have some friends in a community that do like full odds shiny hunting, (0:03:48) Micah: which. Which adds an extra level of challenge. (0:03:54) Micah: And I almost kind of find it like a little bit more relaxing (0:03:56) Al: Sadness. (0:04:00) Micah: relaxing because it’s like it’s it you (0:04:01) Al: Interesting. (0:04:04) Micah: you settle in for it you know like it’s something that you’re doing while (0:04:08) Micah: you’re doing other stuff or while you’re like talking to people or while you’re (0:04:10) Micah: watching something because you know that it’s gonna take a long time so it’s just (0:04:14) Micah: like you kind of settle in and do your do your encounters do your resets do (0:04:19) Micah: whatever it is and don’t don’t really think about it until you know three (0:04:25) Micah: months later when you finally get the shine (0:04:26) Al: I just find that I get bored when I do it. I tried Shaiman in BDSP and I did… I can’t (0:04:32) Micah: Mm-hmm (0:04:34) Micah: Yeah, yeah Yeah, that tends to be what happens and that’s a very normal and I respect you for that (0:04:35) Al: even remember what I got to like 2000 or something. I just got bored of doing it every day and so I (0:04:41) Al: just stopped. (0:04:49) Al: I don’t think anybody has ever called me normal, but thank you. (0:04:55) Micah: But I have a I have some friends that do they they do these you know challenges throughout the year (0:05:01) Micah: They’ll have like a like this last week was (0:05:04) Micah: Shiny alpha week and it was everybody hunts in for alpha Pokemon and legends Arceus or (0:05:13) Micah: February was unknown challenge month. So (0:05:17) Micah: It was you know (0:05:19) Micah: You shiny hunt for an unknown and then whatever letter unknown you get then you have to shiny hunt something that starts with that letter (0:05:26) Micah: So like if I get it an unknown M then I can go hunt like Magnemite or something, you know (0:05:32) Micah: So yeah, there’s just (0:05:34) Micah: like fun little challenges and things to do when I’ve got, you know, if I’m like rendering (0:05:40) Micah: something or I’m watching something or in a meeting and kind of listening, but also just like (0:05:48) Micah: need something, you know, it’s just a little background thing I can do every once in a while. (0:05:54) Al: Fair enough. (0:05:55) Micah: I have downloaded a Rude factory pixel cross and I have not played it yet. So I mean, it just came (0:06:00) Al: Nice. (0:06:02) Al: Well, I mean, it only came out yesterday, so that’s fair. (0:06:04) Micah: out. Yeah. But I got to download it and I’m ready to try it. I’m excited about the potential new, (0:06:12) Micah: you know, like the positive changes to it from the story of seasons version. (0:06:20) Al: Yeah, I’m very intrigued. I’ve done a little bit of it. This is one of the games that I’ve (0:06:25) Al: played today, maybe like half an hour or so. So I’ve got a few, you know, the standard (0:06:32) Al: tutorial puzzles and a few of the ones that actually make you think. And so I’ve not (0:06:37) Al: got to any of the extra stuff like the customisation that’s in this one. But I did read on Fogu (0:06:45) Al: on there, posted about it, and it looks like it is just kind of. (0:06:50) Al: background customisation. It doesn’t seem to actually affect anything, which is what (0:06:54) Al: I expected, but a little bit more detailed and interesting than the story of Seasons (0:06:55) Micah: Yeah, yeah. (0:07:01) Al: 1. And I’m intrigued and excited to try one of the boss levels that they have. Have you (0:07:06) Micah: Oh yeah, I’m interested in that. No, I haven’t. I haven’t seen anything about it. I actually didn’t know that there were any improvements to the story of season model of it until you had mentioned it when we were talking about it on the game of the year episode. (0:07:08) Al: not seen the boss level stuff? (0:07:16) Al: Mm hmm. Yeah. (0:07:24) Micah: So I’m excited to try any of it because I haven’t seen any of it yet. (0:07:28) Al: Yeah, so I guess the big things for you would be there’s colour puzzles and the boss ones (0:07:35) Al: are timed and if you do something wrong, which, come on, who does something wrong? You’re (0:07:44) Al: just doing it too fast. It takes time off, the timer. So the timed, they have to do it (0:07:45) Micah: Okay, gotcha. (0:07:52) Al: within a certain amount of time, because obviously, technically, they’re all timed, right? You (0:07:55) Al: can see how long it is. And it’s always fun in the first few ones. (0:07:56) Micah: Right. Yep. (0:07:58) Al: to see like, Oh, can I get this one done in 10 seconds? Or can I (0:08:03) Al: get this one done in five seconds? I think I have one in (0:08:05) Al: eight or something like that. That’s the fastest one I have (0:08:08) Al: this game. But yeah, making you do it within a certain amount of (0:08:13) Al: time is an interesting different way of doing it. They do have (0:08:16) Al: two play styles. So you can skip that part of it if you want to. (0:08:21) Al: But yeah, it’s interesting. The boss stuff. Yeah. (0:08:22) Micah: Skip the the oh the bus skip the boss stuff I see okay. Yeah, I really liked them (0:08:32) Micah: Shoot I can’t remember the name of it. It was (0:08:36) Micah: Picto quest that’s what it was (0:08:39) Micah: and that was the (0:08:41) Micah: Nonogram game on the switch that and probably on PC. I don’t know but I played it on the switch and it was (0:08:47) Micah: very light RPG style of nonogram (0:08:52) Micah: like it had a little bit, you know, it was just like (0:08:54) Micah: You’re going across a map and then you challenge a goblin or whatever and then it’s just like a 10 by 10 puzzle or something (0:09:02) Micah: And then you would get upgrades if you did certain things. So they had like some there were a couple that were like, oh, it’s a boss (0:09:08) Micah: Thing, you know like a boss puzzle and I really loved that idea. It just was so (0:09:15) Micah: Bare-bones, I think such a like early idea, you know, like fresh and early idea that (0:09:22) Micah: There wasn’t a whole lot to it. So, um, I I kind of hope that there are maybe more (0:09:30) Micah: Like use cases of that like that kind of, you know adding quests and stuff to it because that adds an extra level of (0:09:38) Micah: Interest that I would I would really enjoy (0:09:41) Al: Yeah, yeah, I’m not far enough into to see whether that is there or not. One thing I (0:09:45) Al: did find interesting is that the puzzles are laid out like a map. So it’s not, it’s not (0:09:50) Al: just like you play this one, then you play the next one. It’s like, these are the ones (0:09:53) Al: you can do. And to unlock others, you have to to beat ones in specific positions, which (0:09:58) Micah: Oh, interesting. (0:09:59) Al: I thought was an interesting way of doing it. So it’s not the I think as you go further (0:10:04) Al: out, the difficulty does increase, but it’s not just like, constant, I think I saw some (0:10:08) Al: that were further away from the middle that were not hard. (0:10:12) Al: They were slightly easier, that sort of thing. (0:10:15) Al: So, yeah, interesting. See how that continues. (0:10:15) Micah: sure. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. I’m excited to try it. I’ve also been playing a Hello Kitty Island (0:10:24) Micah: adventure. Of course. Yes. Yeah. I played some on the mobile. I played some on Apple (0:10:26) Al: - Good, good, good. (0:10:26) Al: Are you on the switch for you? (0:10:30) Al: You twice, what are your thoughts? (0:10:33) Al: All right, yeah. (0:10:33) Micah: Arcade when it came out. Yeah. And yes. One hundred percent. And I’m glad that I waited (0:10:35) Al: You did the same thing as me. (0:10:36) Al: You went, “This is a fun game. (0:10:38) Al: I want a controller.” (0:10:45) Micah: much better experience on the switch, like with a controller. Becky has been absolutely (0:10:52) Micah: enamored with it. It’s her primary game that she plays now. And we did some of the multiplayer (0:11:00) Micah: together. So that was an interesting experience. It was fun just like, you know, wandering (0:11:07) Micah: around together and like doing things. There wasn’t a whole. There’s not like a whole lot (0:11:10) Micah: you can do multiplayer wise, but yeah, it’s it’s it’s great. (0:11:15) Micah: It’s such a good. I don’t know. I really I really like it. I’ve been enjoying it. And then I played (0:11:21) Micah: a little bit of vowed, but I have played a lot yet. I don’t know if you have touched it. (0:11:26) Al: I’m aware of it because I listen to a lot of different gaming podcasts and videos and (0:11:33) Al: stuff like that. (0:11:34) Al: So I’m aware of it. (0:11:35) Micah: Yeah. I like Obsidian, who’s the developer. They did Fallout New Vegas and they’ve done a lot of like (0:11:35) Al: I don’t think it’s my thing, but I can see why people like it and it sounds interesting. (0:11:47) Micah: older RPGs and stuff like that. I’m a big Elder Scrolls fan, so there’s some level of like (0:11:56) Micah: hoping that it is in some way close to Elder Scrolls, given that it’s, you know, (0:12:02) Micah: a team that has experience with Bethesda. (0:12:05) Micah: And it’s fantasy and, you know, first person and all that. (0:12:09) Micah: I really like it so far, but it’s it’s not open world. (0:12:12) Micah: It’s very, you know, like it’s it’s sectioned off, (0:12:16) Micah: which I think makes sense for the game. (0:12:18) Micah: But it’s, you know, it’s on Game Pass. (0:12:21) Micah: So you can’t really can’t really complain, you know, (0:12:27) Micah: they’re paying for. (0:12:27) Al: I mean, when is when has that ever stopped gamers before? (0:12:30) Micah: Oh, 100 percent. (0:12:34) Micah: But yeah, it’s. (0:12:35) Micah: I can’t I can’t really see myself having like bought it if it wasn’t available on game pass when it when it launched, you know, so yeah, what about you other than pixel crust? (0:12:42) Al: Yeah, that is fair. (0:12:48) Al: Yeah, well, not a huge amount this this week. I think the big thing, though, which obviously I need to talk about to you, Micah, is Harvest Moon Homes, Sweet Home. I have hit credits in Harvest Moon Homes, Sweet Home. (0:12:56) Micah: Oh, that’s big. (0:13:03) Al: Yeah, it’s the (0:13:04) Micah: Are you ready to do that all over again when it comes down on the switch or whatever? (0:13:08) Al: I will not. (0:13:12) Al: Let’s not even try and pretend that, unless there’s some way to transfer my save over, (0:13:16) Micah: Oh, that’s big. (0:13:18) Al: I’m not doing the early game again. I had a couple of thoughts that I thought might be (0:13:23) Al: quite interesting. I presume you didn’t continue playing it after our episode. No. (0:13:26) Micah: I have not played really much of anything from it. (0:13:29) Al: So I think the things, a few things I found interesting having now completed the game, (0:13:35) Al: although I’m in that annoying bit where I’m like, do I finish all these achievements or not? Because (0:13:40) Al: I have all bar. (0:13:42) Al: Let’s just let me just I’ve got it up here. (0:13:44) Al: Let me just double check achievements. (0:13:46) Micah: Now are these like in-game achievements or is it like Apple arcade achievements or whatever? (0:13:51) Al: It’s it’s it’s it’s Apple Game Center. (0:13:54) Micah: Yeah, oh yeah, sorry game center, yeah (0:13:54) Al: It’s not arcade because it’s made for, but yeah, it’s game center. (0:13:58) Al: So I have 48 of 68 achievements. (0:14:03) Micah: Holy smokes (0:14:04) Al: And I think about 10 of those ones I don’t have are just like shipping 50 of (0:14:12) Al: one specific crop. (0:14:14) Al: So I’m at the point where I’m like, I’ve basically got 10 left to do. (0:14:19) Al: But they’re things like (0:14:22) Al: completing the crops encyclopedia, completing the fish encyclopedia. (0:14:26) Al: I have not once fished in this game. (0:14:30) Al: So I’m like, I don’t know if I want to do those, but it feels like I’m so close. (0:14:34) Al: But it also no. (0:14:37) Al: So, yeah, let’s see. (0:14:40) Al: That is my, here’s my, I was in. (0:14:42) Al: Interesting thing. So I finished chapter 10. That is the final chapter and only 2% (0:14:48) Al: of players have earned this achievement, according to Apple, 2% have completed. (0:14:52) Micah: That’s incredible, you know, there’s something really interesting about this to me that (0:14:59) Micah: What was the game before home sweet home? Was it one world? (0:15:02) Al: No, one world was before that, the one before that, it was winds of anthos. (0:15:03) Micah: No one world was the one before that. Oh (0:15:09) Micah: Wins of Anthos, that’s right. And you know, it’s funny because I very distinctly remember you saying I am (0:15:17) Micah: Returning this or trading it in or whatever, you know, like as soon as I get the opportunity to (0:15:20) Al: Yeah. Yeah. (0:15:22) Micah: And here we are you have hit credits on home sweet home, which is (0:15:27) Al: Well, can I just point out, I think both of us hit credits in one world. (0:15:31) Micah: Yes, we did, yeah (0:15:32) Al: And because, I think, mainly because we were fascinated as to where it was going to end up, (0:15:38) Al: I will say that’s not why I finished this game. It’s not because I was like, “Oh, (0:15:42) Al: I really need to know what happens with this story.” The story is basically non-existent, (0:15:46) Al: right? Like it’s basically just you’re, you’re, you’re making this. (0:15:50) Al: This town more, more, that’s it. Like you’re, you’re making people happy and you’re, you’re (0:15:54) Micah: More and more (0:15:58) Al: doing things and that’s it. Um, what I found really interesting that, you know, the area (0:16:03) Al: that was like left of your farm that looked like it was a gated off area that you could (0:16:07) Al: access later on in the game. You never unlock that. That’s not, that’s not a thing. Is that (0:16:09) Micah: Oh, yeah. (0:16:15) Al: meant to come in an update or something? It’s even called, it called Alba Park. (0:16:20) Micah: - You know, I don’t know. (0:16:20) Al: And, and there’s a gate there. Why can I not go that way? I’ve completed. (0:16:27) Micah: It’s gotta, it has to be, right? (0:16:29) Micah: Well, let me ask you this. (0:16:31) Micah: Have they updated it at all since? (0:16:34) Al: Just the just the one update that came out like what a week after we recorded our last episode, which added the controller support and the well ads cloud save but the cloud says broken still. (0:16:40) Micah: Okay, that was the only one. (0:16:47) Micah: Okay, great. (0:16:48) Al: That’s the only update that I’m aware of happening. (0:16:51) Micah: ‘Cause I distinctly remember, too, that there was, (0:16:58) Micah: it looked like there were going to be spaces (0:17:01) Micah: or like placeholders for other languages, for text. (0:17:05) Al: Oh, yeah (0:17:07) Micah: And I remember thinking, oh, this is probably gonna come (0:17:10) Micah: in an update, but if they never added that either, (0:17:14) Micah: there must be a bunch of things that were just like, (0:17:17) Micah: We’ll add this in an update at a later date. (0:17:21) Micah: And maybe now it’s either they just are no longer touching it or (0:17:27) Micah: it is uh they’re just saving all those updates for the console release maybe? (0:17:32) Al: So this is where I break your brain yet again, Micah, and tell you that it has only been six (0:17:37) Al: months since this game I came out. It was August. (0:17:38) Micah: What oh (0:17:42) Micah: Yeah, that’s right (0:17:43) Micah: I remember this you did this to me on the game of the year episode two and I like (0:17:48) Micah: That blows my mind that that it’s only been that long. It feels like this game was two years ago (0:17:54) Al: So I don’t know, yeah, it doesn’t feel weird for there to be like, if we got an update (0:17:57) Micah: And that’s not just because of the last month isn’t it (0:18:08) Al: in a month, I wouldn’t be surprised that would be like, roughly about the time from the release (0:18:12) Al: to the last update. I don’t know. I don’t know if I actually believe this is coming (0:18:16) Al: to console. I feel like we would have heard something by now, right? (0:18:17) Micah: Yeah (0:18:22) Micah: Yeah, I think so too I I think I think if (0:18:26) Micah: They announce a new (0:18:29) Micah: Heart of harvest moon game that is not this I think it’s officially dead at that point, right? (0:18:35) Al: Mm hmm. No, no. (0:18:35) Micah: Like there’s no way that they’re going back to it. They are putting all of their resources into whatever (0:18:42) Micah: The new thing is if that’s the case. So either we’re (0:18:47) Micah: we’ll get something from them sometime soon, but it will either be this coming to consoles or (0:18:55) Micah: Something new and then it’s just confirmation at that point that this is completely dead in the water (0:19:01) Al: Yeah, I just I’m fascinated by this area that that doesn’t exist like I was fully expecting to unlock it at some point and it and it hasn’t. (0:19:07) Micah: This is extremely interesting (0:19:11) Al: The other couple of things I find interesting so you do so we’d complained about how it felt like you should be able to, you know, set a bunch of actions and get them to like water these 10 plants in a row. (0:19:23) Al: It feels like that’s what the interface was built for, but that didn’t seem to be an example of that. You do unlock that later on, but you have to like progress this. (0:19:31) Al: But the disadvantage of that over your standard up upgrading your watering can and now you can do like 20 at once instead you have to like individually press on all 20 and then it doesn’t manually the disadvantage of that is it still takes the same amount of time in game to water even when you have the highest level watering. (0:19:32) Micah: Oh, okay. (0:19:56) Micah: - Oh. (0:19:57) Al: So, because it’s just doing them all individually. (0:19:59) Micah: Oh. (laughs) (0:20:01) Al: Right? You don’t have to manually let go that one and now that one, you can like swipe (0:20:05) Al: over them and go like, want you to do all these or in the case of the controller, you (0:20:09) Al: can just press and drag, but it takes so long. Whereas in other farming games, you upgrade (0:20:15) Al: the watering can and you hold it down and then you’ve watered it all immediately rather (0:20:19) Al: than having to wait for your character to like go and individually water all of these (0:20:23) Al: 20 things. Such a weird decision. (0:20:28) Al: The other one is the, I unlocked sprinklers. (0:20:31) Al: And boy are the sprinklers weird in this game. (0:20:35) Al: First of all, you only unlock the top level of sprinkler after you’ve finished the game, (0:20:41) Al: which is the only one worth doing. (0:20:43) Al: Because your first level of sprinkler is just your four spots, top, bottom, left, right. (0:20:49) Micah: Yeah. (0:20:49) Al: Never do them. They are never worth it. (0:20:52) Micah: Oh. (0:20:52) Al: And your second level of sprinkler is three by three, so you get eight spaces. (0:20:59) Al: Okay, but you’ll do (0:21:01) Al: not unlock that until I think it’s chapter 7 of 10. And by that point, you probably don’t need it. (0:21:07) Al: Like, you’ve probably got most of what you need. And then at the end of the game, (0:21:08) Micah: - You just passed the point of, yeah. (0:21:12) Al: you finally unlock the one that’s five by five. But the problem is, it doesn’t fit in the plots (0:21:18) Al: properly. So the bottom plot is six by five. So you put it in there, and you’ve got one line of (0:21:24) Al: five that doesn’t get watered by it. And you can’t and you can’t put the sprinklers outside of it. (0:21:31) Al: You either have 24 fed by one sprinkler and then five manual, or 24 by one sprinkler and (0:21:39) Al: four by another sprinkler. It’s like, I’m not going to do a whole other because those are expensive. (0:21:45) Al: You have like, I think it’s 12 different gems, including diamonds, which you can only get in (0:21:49) Al: the bottom level of mine. I’m not going to waste all of those gems for four watered spaces. (0:21:56) Micah: Well, yeah (0:21:57) Al: And then you’ve got the other ones are… I know. (0:21:58) Micah: What a weird oversight (0:22:01) Al: The other plots that you unlock are something by four, not by five. (0:22:10) Al: So you’re just you’re wasting time. So I have one, which is eight by five. (0:22:14) Al: And I’ve got two watering cans on that. Sorry, two sprinklers on that. (0:22:19) Al: So they’re using up two spaces, which by the way, feels a lot more of space in this game (0:22:23) Al: than it does in any other farming game, because you’ve got such restricted space to use. (0:22:29) Al: I’m like, if it was late. (0:22:31) Al: out differently, it would almost all be covered by one sprinkler. (0:22:36) Al: It’s just such a weird decision. I don’t understand why they’ve made these decisions. (0:22:37) Micah: Hey, yeah, that’s really strange (0:22:41) Micah: And it it makes me wonder if it was like, I don’t know (0:22:45) Micah: I can’t even really think of a scenario for why that would be the kid like maybe they (0:22:50) Micah: Just missed it or like they thought that maybe it was like automated (0:22:55) Micah: You know (0:22:57) Micah: Calculations or something and it was just wrong for that. I don’t know (0:23:01) Micah: It’s it just feels like it would be something that someone would catch and be like, oh (0:23:05) Micah: We either have to like (0:23:07) Micah: Change the size of this plot a little bit or change the, you know, the ratio of spaces that this sprinkler covers, I don’t know, it’s odd. (0:23:17) Al: I think it would have been better to be like a sprinkler covers a row and then when you unlock (0:23:27) Al: the higher ones they cover more rows. So it would mean that you could have like one that would cover (0:23:33) Al: four rows and that would mean you could have one sprinkler for a section and you put it at the side (0:23:38) Al: so it doesn’t use up a crop space because crop spaces are so limited here and it would feel just (0:23:43) Al: much less frustrating in terms of the numbers. They’ve just taken (0:23:47) Al: a sprinkler in a normal farming game and put it into this game that is not done in (0:23:52) Al: a normal way because they’ve thought about it completely differently. (0:23:54) Micah: - Yeah, that’s very odd. (0:23:57) Al: The final thing I have to say is that I don’t know what we did we talk about the soil health (0:24:03) Al: in our episode. I can’t remember if we did. I don’t think we did because I don’t think (0:24:05) Micah: Hmm, I don’t remember I don’t think we did (0:24:09) Al: I don’t think we’d either of us had come across that. So soil health degrades in the get in this (0:24:15) Al: this game, which is (0:24:16) Micah: Okay. I don’t know that I even witnessed that on my, in my own. (0:24:17) Al: very much like a realism wins over fun part of this game. (0:24:24) Al: Yeah, so it does happen. (0:24:26) Al: You just probably aren’t noticing it because you don’t get told about it until (0:24:30) Al: you unlock a better fertilizer maker later on. (0:24:30) Micah: Oh, okay. (0:24:34) Al: And then they’re like, oh, your soil health. (0:24:37) Al: If you click on this fertilizer maker, you can see your soil health. (0:24:40) Al: You’re like, oh, everything is sad. (0:24:44) Al: And so you basically have to, after a– (0:24:47) Al: after a harvest of things, you have to let it sit for a bunch of days. (0:24:51) Al: And when I say a bunch of days, I mean, it feels like it’s like half a month. (0:24:54) Al: You have to let it sit for to go back to its full soil health. (0:24:58) Al: Or you can use some compost to speed it up, (0:25:01) Al: but the compost is like really awkward to craft or cost 2,500 per compost. (0:25:08) Al: It is so expensive. (0:25:10) Al: And so you spend the time rotating which plots you’re actually using for crops (0:25:16) Al: and not actually (0:25:18) Al: do anything about it, and it’s not actually doing what you want to do, and this is very much like, I understand you’re going for realism here, because that is what happens in real life, you have to rotate your crops, you have to rotate your soil, blah blah blah blah blah, but I’m not doing this for realism, right, like, it makes… (0:25:32) Micah: Yeah, if there’s I mean, I respect to the to some degree, (0:25:41) Micah: the the idea of making the the mechanics feel like they work (0:25:48) Micah: realistically the way that it would in the real world. But (0:25:50) Micah: like, if nothing else in the game really feels like it is (0:25:54) Micah: adhering very strictly to realism, then you know, I don’t (0:25:59) Micah: know that that’s really, I’m not really. (0:26:03) Micah: For realistic mechanics and I’m playing a harvest moon or like a story of seasons game, you know, like I don’t know. (0:26:10) Al: It’s always a balance for these things, where that very much is on the “no, I don’t want this” part of (0:26:12) Micah: Right. (0:26:17) Al: the thing. Oh, there’s one thing I just remembered. Horses, right? Neither of us have gotten far enough (0:26:23) Al: to buy a horse in the last episode. You can buy horses, you cannot ride the horses around the town. (0:26:24) Micah: Oh. Okay. What is the point? What do you do with them? Okay. Okay. All right. Again, maybe (0:26:34) Al: You can ride it around the paddock, but that’s it. Why would you do that? For fun, that’s it. (0:26:40) Al: That’s literally the only purpose. Why would you bother doing that? I have no idea. No idea. (0:26:46) Micah: something that was intended to be added and the future of it. Just never. (0:26:50) Al: But why can you… I don’t understand how you can ride it in one area and not in another area. (0:26:56) Al: It just has a wall, and you can’t go through it. Why? (0:27:02) Micah: It’s fascinating. I I don’t know him. Maybe there’s just some like maybe they couldn’t (0:27:10) Micah: get the pathing right or something and they just were like I will fix this later. I don’t know. (0:27:15) Micah: There’s there’s a lot in that game that feels to me like we’ll fix it later. (0:27:18) Al: Oh, that’s it, actually. So you know the press on the map and it will automatically go there. (0:27:25) Micah: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So that’s either okay. (0:27:26) Al: I bet that doesn’t work with horses. That’ll be why you can’t do it. (0:27:33) Micah: We’ll fix it later or we can’t figure it. We can’t figure it out. So we’re just (0:27:38) Micah: not going to include it at all. One of the two. (0:27:39) Al: Yeah. Bizarre. Bizarre decision. But there we are. It was good enough for me to finish apparently. (0:27:50) Al: And I guess tune in next time to see whether I will continue trying to finish the achievements. (0:27:57) Micah: I wish you the best of luck, Godspeed. (0:28:02) Al: I’m definitely going to do the 50 of each crop one because that I’m nearly done with that. (0:28:07) Al: I literally have everything growing for that. Like in a week in game, that woman will be done. (0:28:14) Micah: Yeah. Well, I wish you the best of luck. (0:28:16) Al: But I don’t. (0:28:20) Micah: It currently I just was out of curiosity. (0:28:22) Micah: I wanted to see on the Google Play Store. (0:28:24) Micah: It currently has a three point two out of five, which is. (0:28:27) Al: that feels fair yeah I would say that feels fair (0:28:28) Micah: A thousand reviews. (0:28:31) Micah: Yeah, I kind of feel like maybe that is accurate. (0:28:35) Micah: Oh, it says it was updated on December 10th. (0:28:38) Al: yeah that was that update it dropped like two days after we recorded that was the one with the (0:28:40) Micah: Oh, was it? (0:28:43) Micah: - Oh. (0:28:44) Micah: - Got it, got it, got it. Okay. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, interesting. I guess we’ll see what happens. (0:28:45) Al: cloud save and the controller support which is the only reason i’m playing the game because of (0:28:51) Al: controller support I couldn’t keep playing it on the touch screen but the controller support is (0:28:55) Al: It’s actually pretty good. (0:28:57) Al: Well, there we go. (0:29:01) Al: I rushed this week to make sure I’d finished so I could talk to you about it, because I (0:29:05) Al: was like, I’m so close, I must finish before I talk to Micah. (0:29:09) Al: So there we go. (0:29:10) Micah: I’m impressed that you completed it and I’m proud of you and (0:29:10) Al: Hit credits in that game. (0:29:14) Al: Well, yeah, it’s better than, it’s better than Sugardew Valley, Sugardew Island, sorry. (0:29:15) Micah: I hope that it was worth it. (0:29:19) Micah: It wasn’t intended to sound as meat as it did. (0:29:27) Al: Well, the problem is, it’s like five bits into the game news. (0:29:28) Micah: Is that a, is that a segue? Is that a, (0:29:31) Micah: I can’t tell if that was an intentional segue or not. (0:29:37) Al: So let’s just go through the, let’s talk about some news. (0:29:39) Micah: Okay. All right. (0:29:42) Al: Tales of the Shire has been delayed again. (0:29:45) Micah: Yeah. (0:29:46) Al: Can I just say, please stop putting a date on your game, right? (0:29:49) Micah: Yeah. At this point, at this point, just like wait until you are close enough (0:29:49) Al: Just stop it. (0:29:54) Micah: that you can say, Hey, it’s coming in a couple of weeks, you know? (0:29:59) Micah: Cause that’s always like a kind of a fun surprise too. (0:30:02) Micah: When something has a sudden release date like that, uh, I, yeah. (0:30:08) Al: Yes, it is murder for organizing a podcast about games but yes, I will agree I can see why people would find that fun. Yeah. (0:30:13) Micah: - True, yeah. (0:30:16) Al: It’s now coming out on the 29th of July. So, well, maybe we’ll see. That’s what they’re currently saying, but we’re on our third release date so far so let’s see what happens. (0:30:26) Micah: Yeah, I was looking at some of the, you know, against my better judgment, some of the discourse (0:30:35) Micah: under this post, just to see what, how people felt about it. Because my initial reaction whenever (0:30:40) Micah: there’s a delay like this is, okay, that’s, you know, if you need more time, take the time, (0:30:46) Micah: work on it, perfect it, whatever. And that was, I feel like maybe a good 40 to 50% of the sentiment (0:30:55) Micah: and the other. (0:30:56) Micah: 50 to 60% was in the kind of camp of worry that because this is the second time that they’ve delayed it that if things maybe are not going great development wise but I feel like. (0:31:11) Al: Yeah, I never understand that because it’s like, no, people are just being overly optimistic about (0:31:17) Al: these things. As someone who works in, not in game development, but in software development, (0:31:18) Micah: Mm-hmm (0:31:21) Micah: Yeah, oh, yeah (0:31:21) Al: that happens all the time, right? People will be like, oh, this is when it needs to happen. (0:31:26) Al: And then other people will be like, it’s not going to happen by then, but it gets set as the date (0:31:31) Al: anyway. And then the day comes around and it hasn’t happened. And it’s like, you can’t make (0:31:35) Al: it happen, right? Like, there’s only a certain amount you can actually do. And adding more people (0:31:40) Al: belong does not actually improve. (0:31:41) Al: And sometimes it just takes more time. (0:31:44) Al: Like I could, I find this, you know, with, with, with Pokemon every time, right? (0:31:49) Al: Where people are like, Oh, they just need to add more people. (0:31:52) Al: Adding more people does not speed up development times. (0:31:54) Micah: - Mm-hmm. (0:31:55) Al: Adding more people quite often slows things down. (0:31:58) Al: It’s not worth it. (0:31:59) Al: Right. (0:32:00) Al: And sometimes you just need the time. (0:32:02) Al: I just, you can clearly see this as a fight between marketing and development. (0:32:07) Al: Um, I don’t think, I don’t think it’s a sign of like serious (0:32:08) Micah: 100%. I don’t think so either. I think people’s gut reaction is to look at, you know, other games (0:32:18) Micah: that have gone into development hell and have never made them their way out. And that’s the (0:32:24) Micah: concern. And I, you know, I, it seemed, especially for the people that were kind of that had this (0:32:31) Micah: sentiment or it’s coming from a place of like concern because they’re excited for the game, (0:32:36) Micah: You know I’m like (0:32:39) Micah: concern because they want it to be really good which is like better than you know just saying like well I don’t you know this game’s doomed or whatever you know I’m just like not really just being a doomer about it just to be a doomer but I do think from my personal experiences with stuff like this too I do think that if they were looking at something that does (0:33:08) Micah: close to like a development hell they would probably not put a second release date on it it probably would be something along the lines of we need a little bit more time to work on it and we’ll update you in the future and then at that point we probably would hear maybe a couple things and then nothing ever again but because they are putting a release date on it it makes me think that you know maybe there’s if it hits a if we get another delay after this then yeah I think it’s time to be a little bit (0:33:38) Micah: concerned about it you know it I think because they have a release date that if they missed a second release date or a third release date now if they miss it then there’s gonna be you know it’s there’s a lot more stake in that which like you know kind of contradicts what we’re saying about like just don’t put a release date on it but (0:34:00) Al: I guess the problem is those are two different things. We’re talking about just in general, (0:34:04) Al: don’t give a release date unless you actually know when it’s coming out. I guess it’s difficult (0:34:10) Al: when you’ve given a release date and now you’re like, oh, we don’t know now that I get worries (0:34:16) Al: people. And so I get why they kind of have to do that now because otherwise people are going to (0:34:20) Al: start, as you say, assuming the worst. But I’ve said it so many times, I do not think people (0:34:30) Al: put a release date on it until you are at most a month away. Give us a year, sure, (0:34:37) Al: because when people go, oh, we need some more time, it’s going to be next year. People are (0:34:41) Al: generally fine with that, especially if you’re near the end of the year, they expect that that’s (0:34:44) Al: going to happen. And then when you’re like, oh, I’m pretty confident, then you can say, oh, (0:34:50) Al: it will happen in the second half or the quarter three or whatever. But don’t give us a date until (0:34:54) Micah: Yeah, yep, definitely. (0:34:56) Al: you know it’s if you wouldn’t release it today don’t get (0:35:00) Al: as a date because it’s not gonna happen and like there are so few companies that do that (0:35:00) Micah: Right. (0:35:06) Al: they give you a date and it comes out on that date and you know one of the big ones is pokemon (0:35:12) Al: and it doesn’t always work out well for them right they give you a date six months out and (0:35:14) Micah: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think Nintendo stuff in (0:35:17) Al: they release on that date and then it’s not a great game i’m so excited to see what happens (0:35:21) Micah: Yeah, yep (0:35:23) Micah: Gosh (0:35:25) Micah: You know Pokemon days next week. So I guess we’ll see what happens with (0:35:31) Micah: with (0:35:32) Micah: You know it when they’ve got a little bit more time to cook it. We’ll see what happens (0:35:36) Al: Well, there’s a big assumption there that they actually have taken more time, (0:35:40) Al: because we don’t actually know when the when development started on this game. (0:35:40) Micah: Yeah, that’s true. You’re right. (0:35:44) Micah: You know, and this, this applies to Tales of the Shire too, I think, but, but also for Pokemon. (0:35:49) Micah: We’re also, something to take into account is that we’re in the midst of the, of a, um, generation (0:35:58) Micah: jump where like, you know, maybe that’s not necessarily the case as much for Tales of the (0:36:03) Micah: Shire, but I could see it being a possibility where they know that a large user base for cozy (0:36:11) Micah: games like this is on the switch. (0:36:14) Micah: Or on handheld, maybe like the Steam Deck or something like that. (0:36:20) Micah: And if they’re taking time because they know a little bit more about like maybe, I don’t (0:36:28) Micah: know, a release window for Switch 2 or they’re trying to, you know, co-develop a Switch and (0:36:31) Al: Well, that’s an interesting point. (0:36:37) Micah: Switch 2 version so that they can release it on both, you know, some of that stuff tends (0:36:42) Micah: to throw a wrench in the (0:36:44) Micah: things that is kind of like not expected. (0:36:48) Al: For most games, I would say there’s no way that that is part of this delay, but I feel like (0:36:57) Al: I could see them have it like I could see that if they are I could see they could already have (0:37:02) Al: a switch to dev kit because we know that some developers do that has been leaked. There are (0:37:04) Micah: - Mm-hmm, yep. (0:37:06) Al: developers that have it. Indies almost certainly won’t have it like there might be maybe some a (0:37:12) Al: couple of big indies like maybe silk song for example is maybe that team cherry that’s what (0:37:18) Al: isn’t it maybe they have one I could maybe see for example concerned ape having one (0:37:26) Al: I could see these developers having one and so maybe that’s part of it that is a big possibility (0:37:34) Al: I would say for most people it wouldn’t be the case but I could I could see Nintendo (0:37:38) Micah: Oh, yeah, 100 percent. (0:37:39) Al: I could see Nintendo going yeah no the the people that are developing a cozy game (0:37:44) Al: about Lord of the Rings, yeah, let’s make sure that they are ready for this. (0:37:46) Micah: Yeah, it’s the token property and it’s the what a workshop like that’s there’s a lot this. (0:37:48) Al: Yeah. (0:37:56) Micah: They’re not, you know, small money. So, but, you know, and if it is that they’re taking time to, to be able to have that ready for in the event of, you know, switch to or whatever they’re working on that. (0:38:12) Micah: get and that gives them the opportunity to make sure that it’s (0:38:16) Micah: a steam deck verified and stuff like that, that really (0:38:20) Micah: improves that experience for their core audience, I think. I (0:38:25) Micah: mean, they, you know, there’s always going to be people who (0:38:27) Micah: are playing on PC or PS5 or Xbox or whatever, but cozy games, I (0:38:34) Micah: think it’s pretty safe to say the, the, you know, the core of (0:38:40) Micah: the audience is, is playing either on the switch or handled (0:38:44) Micah: to some degree so. (0:38:46) Micah: Um, I could see that being a, again, we won’t know until it’s, till we see something (0:38:55) Micah: come of it. (0:38:56) Micah: Maybe there’s, uh, you know, things coincide, like we can kind of piece together, but yeah, (0:39:03) Micah: I guess we’ll see. (0:39:04) Micah: We’ll see what happens when July 29th rolls around. (0:39:08) Al: Yeah, I mean you never know we might I would say we don’t necessarily have to wait till then because if it is our switch to thing (0:39:08) Micah: I’m very excited for it though. (0:39:15) Al: There will 100% be some games announced in April (0:39:18) Micah: Oh, sure, yeah. (0:39:20) Al: They’ll be like, you know (0:39:22) Al: Stardew Valley is going to be a switch to version that does this or whatever and maybe this will be one of them (0:39:29) Al: Who knows? I’m not saying this will definitely happen. You’ve not heard it here first. We’re not saying (0:39:35) Al: The Tales of the Shire is going to be switched to… (0:39:38) Al: but I could see it happening and I’m excited for A-1. (0:39:44) Micah: - Yeah, me too. (0:39:45) Micah: I’m also excited just for this game in general. (0:39:47) Micah: I’m very excited for this game. (0:39:50) Al: Next we have, okay, I think it’s just meant to be fantasy. (0:39:55) Al: Is it Fantasy Life I? (0:39:56) Al: Is that how you’re meant to say these games? (0:39:58) Al: Because I know this is a series of games, (0:40:00) Al: but I don’t know if it’s just Fantasy Life I. (0:40:02) Micah: This is the first one that has I in the title. So I yeah, this is this is a new experience (0:40:06) Al: Oh, is it really? (0:40:08) Al: Amazing. (0:40:09) Al: Okay, perfect. (0:40:11) Al: No notes. (0:40:12) Al: Fantasy Life I, the girl who steals time, (0:40:15) Al: we have a release date for this. (0:40:18) Al: So it’s coming on the 21st of. (0:40:20) Al: May and also it’s now coming to Steam and PlayStation and Xbox. (0:40:26) Al: So it was previously meant to just be on Switch and I believe it was a 3DS game. (0:40:32) Al: The previous one. (0:40:33) Micah: it was they also had a mobile game that did not do too great um you know they did the the uh (0:40:36) Al: Oh, surprise, surprise. (0:40:42) Micah: classic level five maneuver of just kind of abandoning it once it you know didn’t really (0:40:49) Micah: take off the way they’d hoped it did so uh it is no longer functional as a as a mobile game so uh (0:40:54) Al: Well, this is only this, if you ignore the mobile game, this is only the second game (0:41:01) Micah: Yes. Yeah. There was a. (0:41:04) Micah: Like a the way that it released in Japan was it was fantasy life and they did fantasy life link which added extra stuff to it. So it was like, you know, a definitive version of it and then we got the West got the like full release of it. (0:41:20) Micah: So there’s some like kind of weird stuff with it, you know, but yeah, this is ultimately just the second one. (0:41:28) Micah: One of the best games on the 3DS in my opinion. (0:41:33) Micah: It’s a fantastic game. (0:41:34) Al: And this, I did not realize that this was the Yokai and Professor Leighton people. (0:41:40) Micah: It is. (0:41:41) Al: So there you go. (0:41:42) Micah: Yep. Level five big fan level five. (0:41:42) Al: Now we know. (0:41:44) Micah: I’m a little bit apprehensive about anything that they’re doing from this point on because they have been very deep in the generative A.I. (0:41:55) Al: Ow. (0:41:57) Micah: You know, they did like a they recently showed off their. (0:42:03) Micah: I guess spiritual successor to Yokai Watch, which is something hotel. I can’t remember some haunted hotel property and pretty much the entire trailer was like generative A.I. (0:42:14) Al: Is that holy hardware man? (0:42:15) Micah: So I am. Yes, that’s it. That is it. (0:42:19) Micah: So I’m hoping that because this was prior to their big like this game existed prior to their big like push into generative A.I. that like hopefully it doesn’t, you know. (0:42:33) Micah: I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see. I have a very strong love hate relationship with level five at this point. (0:42:38) Micah: So I’m very excited and also nervous about this because I love fantasy life. (0:42:47) Micah: It’s such a good game on the 3DS, but hopefully it’s good. (0:42:51) Al: Yeah, it looks interesting. I like the graphics and everything, (0:42:57) Al: and I’m excited to try it out when it releases in May. (0:43:00) Micah: It’s got cross play - which is (0:43:03) Al: Yes, across everything. Multiplayer across play. Very cool. (0:43:04) Micah: Always excited for cross play (0:43:08) Micah: Monster hunter is doing that. I’m very hopeful that this is the future of (0:43:15) Micah: Multiplayer in general that everybody’s gonna be doing cross play (0:43:18) Al: Yes, I can understand when you’ve got a competitive game, you don’t want keyboard and mouse players (0:43:26) Al: playing with controller players, but the problem with that argument is always, well, you can (0:43:32) Al: be a controller player on a PC. (0:43:36) Al: And so you can’t restrict that. (0:43:39) Al: So why restrict the other things? (0:43:41) Al: I do think if they do something like that, I like when they do options. (0:43:46) Al: You can either be just with people on… (0:43:48) Al: your system, or you can be with anyone. (0:43:51) Al: And in this case, it doesn’t really matter because it’s just co-op, right? (0:43:54) Al: It does not a competitive, you know, every millisecond counts type of game anyway. (0:44:00) Micah: Yeah jock i’m actually shy about that I guess because it’s not a like normal thing these days (0:44:01) Al: It also has two-player local co-op. (0:44:11) Al: No, it’s cool. (0:44:12) Micah: so that’s pretty neat (0:44:14) Al: And next we have the garden path have released their co-op update. (0:44:20) Al: So you can probably guess what that brings to the game. (0:44:24) Micah: Would you say that it’s co-op? (0:44:26) Al: Yes. (0:44:29) Al: Interestingly, so if you actually look in the patch notes, (0:44:32) Al: the first update is players can now hold hands in multiplayer (0:44:36) Al: by selecting the emote in the emote selector. (0:44:38) Al: like her. I love how they’ve put in the effort to allow you to hold (0:44:41) Al: hands. There you go. I haven’t played this game. That’s all (0:44:42) Micah: I love that. (0:44:50) Micah: - Yeah, I haven’t either, so it looks interesting. (0:44:56) Micah: I mean, I really like the art style and stuff. (0:44:59) Micah: I just, yeah, it hasn’t been on my radar enough. (0:45:02) Al: Well, a game that has been on our radar, but probably not as much as we originally thought it might, is Spirit Tea. (0:45:10) Al: They have released their Phantom Friends update, which brings you can now have Spirits as Pets, which is a fun little addition. (0:45:19) Al: I think if you’re enjoying that game, this will be a nice little addition to that. (0:45:24) Micah: It looks very cute (0:45:25) Al: Also, as always with the Spirit Tea update, there’s new Spirits and Quests as well. (0:45:26) Micah: It’s a cat spirit (0:45:31) Al: Bye. (0:45:32) Al: Oh yes, Sugardew Island. (0:45:35) Al: So I would. (0:45:36) Micah: - We made it. (0:45:37) Micah: - We got, we got there. (0:45:39) Al: Goodness me, I wouldn’t normally bring up an update this small for a game, (0:45:45) Al: especially a game like Sugardew Island, which I don’t think should exist. (0:45:49) Al: But they have updated a few things that I complained about in my last episode (0:45:55) Al: when I reviewed it, so I felt like I should bring those up because if those (0:46:00) Al: specific things and not (0:46:02) Al: everything else that I said about the game with the reasons that you’re not playing it, (0:46:05) Al: then maybe you will now. So selling items in the shop no longer requires energy. Hurray. Fantastic. (0:46:13) Al: Just what we want. And you can now craft energy bars so you don’t have to go and just buy them. (0:46:19) Al: You can craft them, which is good because that was a weird decision not to allow you to eat (0:46:24) Al: anything you grow. But as I say in my show notes here, it is still not. (0:46:32) Al: A good game. So there we go. (0:46:35) Micah: I- I’m so curious, I’m just so cu- oh there’s a demo so I guess I don’t need to be that curious. (0:46:43) Al: Yes, the demo is out now. If you want to try it, feel free. (0:46:43) Micah: I can just try it. (0:46:47) Micah: I- I feel like I have to, it’s just so fascinating to me and how like anti-SugarDew Island you are makes me want to try it. (0:46:56) Al: This is the thing, I don’t like being negative about games. (0:47:02) Al: And I was talking in the Slack to some of the patrons and I was like, I don’t think (0:47:06) Al: I’ve ever been this negative about the game that I’ve covered on the podcast. (0:47:11) Al: And it’s like, every example that people brought up about a game I was negative about, it was, (0:47:15) Al: I don’t like this, but it’s not for me. (0:47:19) Al: Other people will. (0:47:20) Al: I understand it. (0:47:21) Al: It’s like, I did not like my time at Porsche, but that was because I really didn’t like (0:47:24) Al: how the crafting worked. (0:47:26) Al: If we’re ignoring all of the Switch issues with that game. (0:47:30) Al: You know, and all the, like, the Harvest Moon’s… (0:47:33

Al and Dalan talk about Honkai Impact 3rd, and it's farming minigame, Wilderness Development Logs Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:04:37: What Have We Been Up To 00:28:48: Game News 00:35:02: Honkai Impact 3rd: Introduction 00:52:29: Honkai Impact 3rd: Wilderness Development Logs 01:14:23: Outro Links My Little Life Release Date Sun Haven Switch Patch Echoes of the Plum Grove “New Year” Update Roots of Pacha Upcoming Regions Wilderness Development Logs Youtube Playlist Wilderness Development Logs Fandom Page Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al, and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:35) Dalan: And my name is Dallen (0:00:43) Al: I honestly thought it was Dalen, not Dalen. (0:00:46) Dalan: Uh it that I do get that a lot it is it is Dallen (0:00:49) Dalan: Uh, it’s mostly the way it’s spelled. I think that confuses people. Uh, it is more common to have double li (0:00:53) Al: » Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one. Not spelling, either. (0:00:56) Dalan: Instead of the two a’s so that’s that’s the main reason (0:01:03) Dalan: I have met… one person who spells… (0:01:05) Dalan: it the same as me and that was in Utah where there are about 50 people named (0:01:10) Dalan: Dalin Persuarian. It’s not quite that populous but yeah. (0:01:12) Al: Right, okay, so I see the issue, I see why it’s not a name that I am very much aware (0:01:20) Dalan: Yes. It’s… there is a particular culture. Yeah. So I’m always surprised finding (0:01:20) Al: of if it’s within a particular community, very prevalent within a certain area of the (0:01:24) Al: United States. Yeah, they do exist outside of there. It’s funny, because sometimes I (0:01:28) Dalan: people outside that place who have the same name and I’m like come on. They do (0:01:35) Dalan: because it is the name other people have. (0:01:38) Al: only realise how people’s names are pronounced when they come on the podcast. (0:01:41) Dalan: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Nami, I had that problem for a while. Yeah. I have to remind myself (0:01:42) Al: It was the same with Nami, who of course, that’s not how I pronounced his name for a long time. (0:01:49) Dalan: sometimes. Sorry, Nami. (0:01:52) Al: Regularly, regularly. (0:01:53) Dalan: Yeah. (0:01:54) Al: Anyway, welcome, Dallin, to the podcast again. This is your second episode. (0:01:57) Dalan: Thank you. Second time. Only took like a little bit over a year, I think. I was (0:02:04) Dalan: here. (0:02:05) Dalan: 2023 August ish or September I want to say it was fishing month yep yep because I was the only (0:02:08) Al: It was the fishing month, wasn’t it? (0:02:12) Dalan: other person who owned a play date that you do yeah yeah I have not touched that in a long time (0:02:14) Al: Oh, that’s it. Yeah, we did the Playdate one. That’s what it was. That was good. (0:02:20) Al: We should see if there are any more Playdate games to play. (0:02:23) Dalan: that would be fun yeah I’ll figure out one where I put it and then to uh charge it I brought it (0:02:28) Al: Yeah, I need to charge mine up. Thankfully, mine is here. I have it in my hand because it just (0:02:30) Dalan: I think I brought it with me - oh, that’s nice. (0:02:33) Al: sits on my desk. I know where it is, but it’s not charged because I don’t have the dock that (0:02:36) Dalan: Mmm, the dock still… probably not, no. (0:02:38) Al: I have to release any more. (0:02:40) Dalan: I, uh, I think I took it with me to the Japan trip I went on this summer. (0:02:45) Dalan: Or, I can’t remember if I did and then never used it or if I was like, “Yeah, no, I’m not gonna use that and left it home.” (0:02:46) Al: hmm fair enough anyway so dallan is here to talk to me about a game that I have definitely (0:02:51) Dalan: What did it do? Either way, I did not play it. (0:03:01) Al: not played and a name that i’m definitely going to mix up the order of words in the name because (0:03:01) Dalan: Yes. (0:03:06) Dalan: That’s okay. (0:03:08) Al: it is definitely the wrong order but this game is called honkai impact third right it’s (0:03:13) Dalan: That is correct. (0:03:16) Al: not third impact it’s impact third is it the third impact game (0:03:17) Dalan: No, because, well, no. (0:03:24) Dalan: It is the third Hong Kai game maybe, kind of. (0:03:27) Al: maybe interesting (0:03:30) Dalan: We’ll get, I’ll go into that a little bit about how crazy that all is. (0:03:31) Al: yeah we’ll talk about we’ll talk about that when we talk about it (0:03:36) Al: for some reason we’re going to talk about a honkai game uh we’ll (0:03:39) Dalan: I’m as confused as you are, listeners. (0:03:42) Dalan: But, you know, slow, I did, I did, I didn’t think you would take me up on it. (0:03:43) Al: You suggested it, not me. (0:03:46) Al: You said it. (0:03:47) Dalan: But there is enough to talk about. (0:03:49) Dalan: So I, and I will be trying to focus mostly just on the farming stuff. (0:03:54) Dalan: Because there are many things I could blab about. (0:03:57) Dalan: And I need you to hold me back. (0:04:00) Al: I mean, look, I’ll be honest, if someone comes to me and says, “How about a podcast (0:04:04) Al: episode on this?” and it even tangentially connects to the podcast, I will say yes, (0:04:10) Al: because as I’ve said before, the hardest part of this podcast is not the editing, (0:04:15) Al: it’s not the podcasting, it’s not the news, it is not the actual recording, (0:04:20) Al: it is figuring out which episode is going to be which. (0:04:24) Dalan: I’ll take a note of it. I have a couple of games that I’ve played recently that I think could fit into that, so we’ll also see if those will come up in future episodes. (0:04:36) Dalan: Do we want to talk about what we’ve been up to lately then? (0:04:36) Al: it’s fine. Yeah, let’s do it. What have you been up to? (0:04:40) Dalan: Yeah, so I am trying to enjoy the last pieces of my holidays before I go back to the college grind to have some other stuff I’ve been working on. (0:04:54) Dalan: So most of the games I’m writing are kind of like last week, but I’ve played a little bit this week. (0:05:00) Dalan: I have obviously been playing Honkai games because those are relevant to what we’re talking about. (0:05:08) Dalan: I also started Potioncraft recently because during the holidays we remembered the family steam-sharing thing got updated, and I guess one of my siblings bought it at some point. (0:05:20) Dalan: So I’ve been playing that. Are you familiar with Potioncraft at all? (0:05:22) Al: And I think I’ve heard of it, I don’t know if I’ve, I don’t know if I’ve actually. (0:05:26) Dalan: Right. (0:05:28) Dalan: Yeah, I find it a pretty relaxing game. (0:05:32) Dalan: There were a couple nights where I was just kind of playing it an hour each night before bed. I could see myself kind of continuing that. (0:05:40) Dalan: It’s basically a game where you make potions, but the way you do that is interesting, where you basically have this map that you’re moving around your little potion on. (0:05:54) Dalan: You’re putting in different ingredients that have set patterns, and so you’re trying to put in the right ingredients to get to the location on the map you want to in order to get the potion. (0:06:06) Dalan: And so it’s mostly that gameplay and then balancing that with how do I get more materials to make my potions and then selling them to customers and stuff. (0:06:16) Dalan: Pretty relaxed. I think I made it to like day eight or something. There’s a progress system, but it’s basically just like, “Have you made these kinds of potions?” (0:06:26) Dalan: “Did you discover being able to do this thing?” So it’s pretty open, I’d say. (0:06:30) Al: I like the look of the graphics, it’s very distinct. (0:06:34) Dalan: It’s very… Yes, it’s got a nice feel to it. I think they did just have an update, which I was surprised by. I think this past December, like last month, I’m not certain. (0:06:46) Dalan: It seemed like it was what it said on the store page when I looked it up. (0:06:48) Al: But yeah, it’s almost like it’s on like old parchment paper, it’s like kind of CPR based, (0:06:54) Al: just I really like the look of the farming looks like it could be fun. (0:06:54) Dalan: Yeah. There is a bit of farming, yes. (0:07:00) Al: It looks very simple. It’s basically just it’s more gardening, I guess, (0:07:02) Dalan: Yes. Yeah, it’s basically like you get your materials for the day and then you water them every day, etc. (0:07:04) Al: rather than farming, right? You’re planting. Yeah. (0:07:12) Dalan: You can plant new things, and I think they added more functionality to kind of expand it, but I am not at that point in the game. (0:07:20) Al: But what I will say is the actual potion making looks like I would absolutely. (0:07:24) Dalan: I see also just finicky (0:07:28) Al: I do not like the kind of very specific motions and having to do that. (0:07:35) Al: I think that sort of stuff is fun in one very specific circumstance and that’s in party (0:07:40) Al: games. (0:07:41) Dalan: Yeah (0:07:42) Al: So I will play Mario Party and WarioWare anytime somebody suggests them to do these little (0:07:45) Dalan: Right (0:07:48) Al: weird motions and stuff. (0:07:50) Al: I know it’s not like motion control, I know you’re using your mouse, but I don’t want (0:07:55) Al: have to pick up a pestle and mortar it. (0:07:58) Al: And I don’t want to have to stir a cauldron and pour it, no, it’s too detailed and specific (0:08:04) Dalan: All right (0:08:07) Al: for me, I think. (0:08:08) Dalan: Yeah, that’s fair enough I will say like the (0:08:11) Dalan: The fact that you’re able to add water to kind of mess with that that is the core gameplay (0:08:16) Dalan: So if it doesn’t interest you probably none of the quality of life things they’re adding to it are gonna change that for you (0:08:22) Dalan: But there are some nice things where it’s like once you have a potion that you like like if you made really strong version (0:08:28) Dalan: Of a potion and you’re like that was annoying to do but I want to have that a lot (0:08:31) Dalan: you can save it and it will just automatically make it with the increase. (0:08:34) Dalan: for you so it’s more about like kind of exploring the map and discovering new (0:08:39) Dalan: things and then being like oh is there like a more optimized route I can take (0:08:42) Dalan: to this to you know cut back on ingredients or something so but yes (0:08:47) Dalan: that’s there’s some finicky-ness to it so if you don’t enjoy that you probably (0:08:52) Dalan: yeah I don’t think any of the changes are really gonna fix that for you (0:08:54) Al: Yeah, it’s like, it’s like when every time I hear about a new Soulslike game, I’m like, (0:09:01) Dalan: Mm. Right. (0:09:02) Al: sounds great. I’m still not going to like it because I do not like the fundamental part (0:09:07) Al: of the game. And so I’m not going to try it. Except one, there is one that has interested (0:09:10) Dalan: Right. (0:09:13) Al: me and that’s another crab’s treasure. That’s something the only Soulslike that has ever (0:09:15) Dalan: Ah, true. (0:09:18) Dalan: Yeah, I think that one… (0:09:20) Dalan: It’s… I mean just by visuals it seems more friendly, and then also I think like… (0:09:25) Dalan: um… (0:09:26) Dalan: The problem I tend to have with Soul’s likes is that like I want to do (0:09:30) Dalan: a build that works, but it… and for my playstyle, but it feels like a battle to figure out what I enjoy (0:09:36) Dalan: while also (0:09:38) Dalan: trying not to waste all my materials on making some (0:09:40) Dalan: things I won’t like to play, so, a little, a little stressful. (0:09:42) Al: It has a lot more options as well in terms of difficulty and stuff, which I quite like. (0:09:50) Dalan: Mmm, that’s nice. (0:09:51) Al: Not that I’m going to use them necessarily, I’m not going to use them, because I love (0:09:56) Al: how it kind of ties them in in the same way where it’s got like the easy mode is basically (0:10:01) Al: just you have a gun that sits on your head that kills anybody. (0:10:02) Dalan: you’re right that’s good (0:10:04) Al: I love how ridiculous that is. (0:10:05) Al: I’m not going to use that, but having that leads me to liking it more purely because (0:10:10) Al: it allows me for more. (0:10:12) Al: around those options, because there’s just been thought gone into that, which, which then leads (0:10:19) Al: to a game that I’m more likely to like. So it’s not, I don’t know if that’s if that’s obvious enough (0:10:25) Al: how I’m explaining it, but yeah, but I think that the the idea of actually having difficulty options (0:10:32) Al: generally leads to a game being designed more like I would enjoy it. (0:10:36) Dalan: Mm. That makes sense. It’s, uh, having, like, more flexible design or ways to interact with it versus feeling like there’s sort of one path you have to take. (0:10:48) Dalan: Maybe that’s not the right way to put it, but I kind of get what you’re saying. (0:10:49) Al: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. But like, if we just took a, you know, standards (0:10:58) Al: Souls game, like Elden Ring, right? So we take Elden Ring. If you just put a difficulty (0:11:03) Al: level in that, that I don’t think I would enjoy that game, because it’s still the same (0:11:07) Dalan: Right. (0:11:08) Al: game is just easier, right? Like it’s not, I don’t just, I don’t dislike those games (0:11:09) Dalan: Yeah. (0:11:10) Dalan: Yeah, 100%. (0:11:11) Dalan: It’s not built around that. (0:11:14) Al: because they’re hard. I dislike those games because of their whole philosophy. (0:11:19) Al: And it just feels like another crab’s treasure does that differently. (0:11:20) Dalan: Right, 100%. (0:11:25) Al: Anyway, potion craft. (0:11:26) Dalan: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. (0:11:29) Al: Yeah, maybe. (0:11:29) Dalan: Yep, that’s Potion Craft. (0:11:32) Dalan: I could see that being an episode topic at some point, (0:11:34) Dalan: But anyway, I– (0:11:36) Dalan: Started Warframe recently. Well, that’s maybe– (0:11:40) Dalan: Started is maybe the wrong word. (0:11:42) Dalan: So… (0:11:44) Dalan: This game– Are you familiar with this game at all? (0:11:46) Al: I am not. (0:11:48) Dalan: Okay, Warframe… It’s kind of like– Are you familiar with Destiny? (0:11:53) Al: I am aware of it and I have seen some gameplay. (0:11:56) Dalan: Okay, we’ll do the most basic version. Warframe is Space Ninjas. That’s pretty much the game. (0:12:02) Dalan: You go around space, you fight things with friends, and (0:12:06) Dalan: materials to upgrade your things, and it is a completely for you to play game. (0:12:12) Dalan: All the money you spend is for cosmetics and, like, (0:12:15) Dalan: speeding up timers, which are basically just crafting things. So it’s– (0:12:21) Dalan: Has been going for a long time, so much so that the first time I played it was actually in 2013. (0:12:26) Dalan: And… (0:12:27) Al: Yeah, this game says it was released in March 2013. It was released two days after my first child was born. (0:12:30) Dalan: Yes. (0:12:35) Dalan: Yeah, yeah, and (0:12:35) Al: Yeah. (0:12:36) Dalan: I was solidly still a child at this point. (0:12:40) Dalan: The reason I didn’t stick around with it is, (0:12:43) Dalan: one, it was a bit overwhelming, (0:12:45) Dalan: and I don’t know if my computer could handle it at the time. (0:12:47) Dalan: And two, I believe maybe a week prior, (0:12:50) Dalan: I had told my mother that I was not interested (0:12:53) Dalan: in playing an M-rated game ever, and she hugged me. (0:12:55) Al: Yeah, well, I tell my mom I don’t swear, so. (0:12:56) Dalan: And then this game was M-rated, (0:12:58) Dalan: and I immediately felt strong feelings of guilt (0:13:01) Dalan: for being like, “This is kind of fun.” (0:13:05) Dalan: so I did not return that. (0:13:06) Dalan: I’m playing it on the television, and currently living with family, and no stinks have been raised. (0:13:19) Al: There are other things you do to disappoint them instead, that’s the thing. (0:13:21) Dalan: Yes, yes, very true. (0:13:23) Dalan: Like living in their basement. (0:13:25) Al: If you’re worried about how someone thinks about a certain thing that you do, (0:13:28) Al: just do something worse. That’s how it works, right? (0:13:30) Dalan: True. Yeah, I think that is the best method. (0:13:34) Dalan: Anyway, but yeah, I started playing that because we had (0:13:37) Dalan: My sister and her husband came over for the holidays and (0:13:42) Dalan: Her husband’s been playing it a lot longer (0:13:44) Dalan: But my sister was like I want to download this to see if we can play it because I can’t play it on my laptop (0:13:48) Dalan: And she kind of gave up on that pretty quick because she didn’t like the controller (0:13:53) Dalan: Inputs, but I was like oh this game’s kind of fun (0:13:55) Dalan: So I might be playing with that that with them in the future which would be fun because I don’t get to hang out with (0:14:01) Dalan: Them as much anymore on the count of them living in a different place (0:14:05) Dalan: So yeah warframe not (0:14:07) Dalan: But that’s interesting game and then there are lots of other games I could talk about but I’ll just quickly mention (0:14:14) Dalan: 1000 I think it’s x resist. I don’t know if it’s times or what I don’t know what it means yet (0:14:19) Dalan: But that is a game. I should be playing more of it’s just (0:14:24) Dalan: Draining because it’s a very involved sci-fi story that I want to soak in. Have you heard of it? (0:14:29) Al: Fair enough. No, I have not even heard of this game, no. (0:14:30) Dalan: Also, let me pull it out all the strange games (0:14:36) Dalan: Was like a game that was popular in a couple circles (0:14:38) Al: Oh, this is one of the ones that was added to Bellatro. (0:14:42) Dalan: Yes, yes, it was there I do remember that yeah, so this is like this is sort of a far future sci-fi story (0:14:51) Dalan: it’s (0:14:52) Dalan: kind of some people might kind of put it in the realm of a walking sim I guess but it’s it’s (0:14:58) Dalan: Interesting. It’s a lot of going around talking to characters and it has some interesting kind of time (0:15:05) Dalan: Compilation mechanics where you’re flipping back (0:15:06) Dalan: and forth between different scenes sometimes to find different information or go places. (0:15:12) Dalan: So there’s a little bit of that but the gameplay mechanics mostly serve as a catalyst for the story (0:15:17) Dalan: and like what’s going on. The basic premise I’ll say is that it seems to be a far off future where (0:15:27) Dalan: everyone is now like clones of this one person who could survive this deadly illness and you’re (0:15:33) Dalan: playing as this person called the (0:15:36) Dalan: watcher because everyone is named by (0:15:38) Dalan: their roles and you’re trying to you’re (0:15:42) Dalan: kind of figuring out what happened in (0:15:44) Dalan: the past and it seems like that’s going (0:15:46) Dalan: to lead to some sort of rebellion thing (0:15:48) Dalan: going on so it’s really interesting it’s (0:15:51) Dalan: tackles a lot of different themes (0:15:53) Dalan: there’s like it’s kind of about Asian (0:15:55) Dalan: diaspora and Hong Kong protests which (0:15:59) Dalan: is not what I would expect going into (0:16:00) Al: Oh heavy (0:16:00) Dalan: this game but it’s also about a lot of (0:16:02) Dalan: other things so covers a large range of (0:16:06) Dalan: I would recommend it. It was a big narrative game last year that people liked, but it didn’t really get nominated for anything. (0:16:15) Al: I don’t think I’ve ever actually played a walking sim and so I can’t say that I don’t (0:16:20) Dalan: Mm-hmm, I see. (0:16:23) Al: like walking sims, but what I will say is I think walking sims are everything about (0:16:28) Al: games that I don’t like and therefore I would assume that I would not like them. (0:16:34) Dalan: To me, this is more like reading a sci-fi novel with full visuals and experiences. (0:16:35) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly and it’s like I sort of like the kind of one of the (0:16:45) Al: people would argue it’s not a walking sim, but I think some people would argue it is (0:16:49) Al: a walking sim. What’s it called? Why have I forgotten the name of it? Big Sony game, (0:16:57) Al: they made a TV series of it. The Last of Us, yeah. I know it has some combat and gameplay (0:16:59) Dalan: Oh, the last of us? (0:17:04) Al: to it, however, feels very narrative heavy and I guess the kind of famous walking sim (0:17:11) Al: is more, is the Overwatch, not Overwatch, over. (0:17:14) Dalan: Uh, Firewatch. (0:17:15) Al: Firewatch, there we go. Names are too similar. There’s too many words. There are more words for (0:17:18) Dalan: It’s true, there are many similar names. (0:17:21) Al: your games, use other words. Firewatch is kind of the big one. And these games, it’s like, (0:17:28) Al: I’m not against story in game, but I guess I don’t like being in control of story because it takes (0:17:38) Al: two times longer than if they were just telling me the story. So, like, I love watching TV and (0:17:46) Al: but if I were to have to press A constantly to get the next bit of the film or TV series, (0:17:51) Al: I would not do it. (0:17:52) Al: on. (0:17:53) Dalan: Right (0:17:55) Dalan: Yeah, and I I think it very much depends on the game (0:17:58) Dalan: like there are some where I would say that is kind of more of a (0:18:02) Dalan: Just feeling kind of bored and I almost feel like I’m doing a disservice by calling it a walking sim because there’s so much (0:18:09) Dalan: Like I don’t know it like I said, it feels like us (0:18:13) Dalan: it kind of feels like walking around inside of a TV scene for me where I feel like I’m (0:18:20) Dalan: experiencing like this setting and trying to figure out what’s going on. (0:18:23) Dalan: I don’t know, but on the other hand, I’m someone who like tends to not watch as many TV or films because like I don’t like, well, I’ll have to dig into that aspect of my psyche later, but I think some of the control I enjoy being able to take it at my own pace and see what’s going on. (0:18:36) Al: Interesting. Well, anyway. (0:18:44) Dalan: Yeah, that’s that’s a wrap for me. Let’s hear about your week. So it’s not just me talking the whole episode. (0:18:50) Al: I have finally started playing Rusty’s Retirement. So I, for people who aren’t aware, the reason (0:18:57) Al: I wasn’t playing Rusty’s Retirement before was because I work for a client and so I use (0:19:04) Al: their machine, and I can’t just– (0:19:06) Al: I don’t want to install things on that machine, so I obviously do not have Rustys retirement installed on my work machine, but what I realized I can do is I have it on my Steam Deck. Now, granted, it is not great on the Steam Deck because it is not full screen, you can’t like change where it is, you’ve just got your little thing, but I have it running on my Steam Deck on, I’ve got the Steam Deck dock sitting on my desk, and so I just have my Steam Deck sitting open, charging, playing Rustys Retirement on my Steam Deck. (0:19:16) Dalan: Mmm. (0:19:34) Al: charging playing Rusty’s retirement. (0:19:37) Al: I’ve not done this very long, I think this is only my second day of doing it. (0:19:40) Al: But I thought this was an interesting way of trying to use play with the game and see how it fares like that. (0:19:46) Al: I think it could do really well like that, but there would have to be a few changes for it to work optimally. (0:19:54) Al: Obviously being in full screen and the, you know, it doesn’t have any gamepad support. (0:20:02) Al: So we’d have to have those to be really good. (0:20:06) Al: Screen makes it a lot better to work with than just using the analog sticks or the touchpads. (0:20:13) Al: And because of what its gameplay is, obviously you’re not actually interacting with it very much. (0:20:18) Al: So the interaction not being ideal doesn’t make it dreadful. (0:20:23) Al: So that’s one. (0:20:24) Al: The other thing that I have been absolutely obsessed with over the last week is Pokémon Legends Arceus, you know, just three years after release. (0:20:33) Al: I did play it when it first came out, but some– (0:20:36) Al: Keen listeners will remember that nearly two years ago, (0:20:40) Al: I had a terrible, terrible situation (0:20:44) Al: where my main Switch died, and I lost all of my Pokemon saves (0:20:47) Al: except one. (0:20:49) Al: And this was the only set of Pokemon games on the Switch (0:20:54) Al: I didn’t have a save for. (0:20:56) Al: Now I’ve been slowly building them up. (0:20:58) Al: So I don’t have all of them sorted. (0:21:01) Al: I just have one from each generation, (0:21:03) Al: one from each set of games now. (0:21:07) Al: I’d never played it a second time. (0:21:09) Al: I play most Pokemon games two times (0:21:10) Al: because I’ll buy both games, and I’ll play one (0:21:14) Al: just reasonably quickly, and then I’ll (0:21:16) Al: play one as generally a Professor Oak Challenge, (0:21:20) Al: but sometimes something else. (0:21:22) Al: So I’d never done a second playthrough of Legends Arceus. (0:21:25) Al: And so I was like, well, it’s time to do that, I guess. (0:21:28) Al: And let’s do a Professor Oak Challenge. (0:21:30) Al: And it was quite fun, Professor Oak Challenge. (0:21:32) Al: I like how they’re all very different nowadays (0:21:34) Al: Cause you’ve got like, um. (0:21:36) Al: Um, let’s go and brilliant diamond shining Pearl, which are kind of how they’re more (0:21:42) Al: like how professor challenges would have been in the older games, you know, kind of standard (0:21:49) Al: progression with gyms and catching and stuff like that. (0:21:52) Al: But let’s go had, uh, the catch combo, which meant you could get XP really quickly, um, (0:22:01) Al: and kind of sped up the first one, uh, then you obviously have sort (0:22:07) Al: is the only series of switch games that I’ve not done a professor of challenging now, which (0:22:11) Al: I’ll probably do at some point, which I think has. (0:22:12) Dalan: Yeah, I was gonna say like how does it seems like that gets a little trickier with the more open world ones (0:22:18) Al: So yeah, so obviously then you’ve got, you’ve got scarlet and violet. (0:22:18) Dalan: Obviously sword and shield isn’t quite there yet, but it’s got the wild area (0:22:24) Al: I, I love how ridiculous it is. (0:22:27) Al: I think I can’t remember exactly how many ways. (0:22:30) Al: I don’t know whether it’s quite 300, but it’s, it’s over 200 Pokemon you catch before you (0:22:34) Dalan: My goodness! (0:22:35) Al: do the first thing. (0:22:36) Al: Um, and yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous, but I also kind of love it because there’s (0:22:42) Dalan: There’s a charm there (0:22:43) Al: there, it is, it’s very front loaded. (0:22:47) Al: So you do that and then you just absolutely whiz through the story after that, which is (0:22:52) Al: like, I have my, you know, level 50 Pokemon killing the first gym sort of thing. (0:22:56) Dalan: Yeah. (0:22:57) Al: And it’s like wild, but I also like, yeah, but yeah, well, exactly. (0:23:00) Dalan: Like, “Welcome to your journey,” and (laughing) (0:23:04) Dalan: don’t know what’s coming. (0:23:06) Al: But I also like how there are so many Pokemon you can just catch in the wild now. (0:23:13) Al: And that’s the same for Legends Arceus. (0:23:15) Al: There’s so many Pokemon that you don’t have to evolve, you can just catch all of them (0:23:19) Al: in the wild. (0:23:20) Dalan: Wow (0:23:21) Al: I really like that part of it. (0:23:24) Al: So yeah, so I guess Legends Arceus was kind of a kind of between the two. (0:23:29) Al: So I think you have like 60 or so in the first region, and then it gets smaller and smaller (0:23:34) Dalan: Right (0:23:35) Al: as you go. (0:23:36) Al: It felt pretty well balanced in terms of how many Pokémon you have to get for the first (0:23:41) Al: three areas at least, and then the last two were quite quick. But yeah, well, the last area would (0:23:48) Al: have been quick if it weren’t for Spiritomb. Oh my word. I love Legends Arceus, and I love it even (0:23:52) Dalan: - True, yeah. (0:23:56) Al: more now that I’ve done a second playthrough. I just love so much about it. But Spiritomb, (0:24:02) Dalan: But yeah, no, I that’s understandable. (0:24:04) Al: I did not enjoy it. It’s like… (0:24:06) Al: 107 wisps across this huge game was not fun. Yeah, it is. (0:24:11) Dalan: It’s kind of a lot. (0:24:13) Dalan: Yeah, I never finished Legends Arceus, but I I did enjoy playing that game a lot. (0:24:19) Dalan: And I do think that is a game that could lend itself pretty well to that kind of (0:24:23) Dalan: Professor Oak challenge, because it kind of does let you do the areas as you want to. (0:24:28) Dalan: Like, obviously, it’s like, OK, now you can go to the next area. (0:24:30) Dalan: and that’s kind of encouraged, but you can also just stick around. (0:24:32) Dalan: and keep doing stuff in that one spot. (0:24:34) Dalan: So it’s pretty cool. (0:24:36) Al: Yeah, yeah, I just played the story until it said right now go do the Lord to at the (0:24:40) Dalan: Yeah. (0:24:40) Al: end of this area. And I’m like, I’m going to catch all the Pokemon first. And it didn’t (0:24:44) Dalan: Yep. (0:24:44) Al: feel forced. It felt like I was just kind of cleaning up as I went. Whereas quite a (0:24:48) Dalan: Yeah. (0:24:49) Al: lot of Professor Oak challenges, they feel like you’re like, no, I’m going to stay in (0:24:53) Al: this area and I’m going to battle this specific Pokemon, which gives the most XP before the (0:24:54) Dalan: Yeah. (0:24:59) Al: first gym to evolve my level 36 starter. (0:25:04) Dalan: It’s a fight against the game (0:25:06) Al: Exactly, exactly. Whereas the way this game works is much more like, no, I’m actually (0:25:11) Al: playing it how they wanted me to play it. Now they didn’t expect that I would necessarily (0:25:15) Al: catch absolutely everything before the next area, but there’s absolutely no forcing there. (0:25:21) Al: It definitely feels designed like that. (0:25:22) Dalan: Yeah, honestly, I think I should have played the game more like that because I kind of wanted to keep the story going but (0:25:27) Dalan: At the I was I was torn between wanting to like see how things were progressing and also being like (0:25:34) Al: Yeah. Yeah. (0:25:35) Dalan: Because it’s sort of fun it’s it’s satisfying to move around and to to throw the pokeballs and stuff (0:25:40) Dalan: I haven’t really touched scarlet and violet. I think I (0:25:44) Dalan: Might have briefly tried playing it in Japanese as practice and then I was like, oh, yeah (0:25:49) Dalan: I’m still terrible at Japanese. So I gave up a bet (0:25:53) Dalan: But I do I would like to return to it at some point and did Arceus as well (0:25:58) Dalan: I think that would be a really fun time because I did enjoy that game quite a bit (0:26:04) Al: I decided that it was time to do it because with the new game coming out, I either, (0:26:10) Al: I’m not going to be able to go back to Legends Arceus because the new game is just that but better, (0:26:15) Al: or it’s not going to be good and I’ll be disappointed, but then I will have played (0:26:20) Al: a good game this year. So it’s like, one or the other, I want to have played it now, you know. (0:26:22) Dalan: Yes, yes. (0:26:23) Dalan: Silver lining. (0:26:26) Dalan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. (0:26:28) Al: Because there are some games that I really struggle to go back and play like, (0:26:30) Dalan: Mmm. (0:26:30) Al: Breath of the Wild, I can’t play anymore after Tuesday. (0:26:34) Al: of the Kingdom, because of what Tears of the Kingdom added. (0:26:38) Al: So yeah, I think if it was, which I really hope, I mean, we (0:26:41) Al: obviously have no indication of this yet, hopefully we’ll know (0:26:44) Al: more in a month and a half, but I really hope that Legends ZA is (0:26:49) Al: basically the same catching and traversal style as Legends (0:26:54) Al: Arceus, but more of that and more fun and more to do and more (0:27:00) Al: story and some, you know, quality of life improvements. (0:27:04) Al: What I would really like is them to add the Let’s Go feature from (0:27:08) Al: Scarlet and Violet into it as well, because I think having those (0:27:10) Al: two ways of being able to run around and catch everything in balls (0:27:14) Al: or send out your Pokemon to go and kill everything nearby. (0:27:17) Dalan: Mm-hmm (0:27:18) Al: I think those are both fun and could work really well together. (0:27:21) Dalan: Yeah, that sounds like an interesting sort of combo of those ideas, man, I need to play this Krillin Violet (0:27:27) Al: Scarlet and Violet is a really mixed game and it’s like I, at one point I said if it ran better, (0:27:35) Al: it would probably be my favourite Pokémon game, but actually I don’t think that anymore. I think (0:27:38) Dalan: Mmm (0:27:39) Al: no matter what, I think Legends Arceus is my favourite Pokémon game. It’s just… (0:27:44) Dalan: Yeah, I would say that legends Arceus was definitely like the one I had been most charmed by and quite some time probably since like (0:27:51) Dalan: First Pokemon game like black and white and they didn’t enjoy the others per se but it was like, oh, this is new and interesting (0:27:57) Al: - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:28:00) Al: All right, so yeah, well, yeah, (0:28:02) Al: I finished the Professor Oak Challenge. (0:28:03) Al: I’m just catching the last few postgame Pokemon now. (0:28:04) Dalan: Oh, nice! (0:28:06) Al: So I think I’ve got the, I think before this recording, (0:28:12) Al: I just caught the Lake Spirits. (0:28:14) Al: So I think all I’ve got left are Geratina, (0:28:18) Al: the weather genies, and then Arceus, (0:28:22) Dalan: Mm-hmm great those guys (0:28:24) Al: and the two mythical. (0:28:28) Dalan: Mm-hmm cool. I look forward to hearing about that also curious about (0:28:28) Al: So, that shouldn’t take me too long. (0:28:33) Dalan: More thoughts on Rusty’s retirement as you play that more because I know we both talked about how we weren’t sure if that was (0:28:36) Al: Yes, it will be interesting to see how that goes. I will hopefully have more to talk about (0:28:38) Dalan: Game that really worked for us (0:28:45) Al: Rusty’s retirement in the near future. All right, let’s talk about some news. (0:28:48) Dalan: Sweet. (0:28:51) Al: Obviously, we had our big news catch up last week, and this is, as Dallin was saying before (0:28:58) Al: the recording, the quiet time of the year, which is very true. I think this is a very quiet time (0:29:00) Dalan: - Yes. (0:29:04) Al: for games for two reasons. (0:29:06) Al: Well, three reasons. One is January. (0:29:08) Al: Not a lot happens in January when put in games. (0:29:08) Dalan: - Yeah. (0:29:11) Al: Two, the Switch 2 is about to be announced, right? (0:29:14) Dalan: - Right. (0:29:14) Al: Like, that is imminent. (0:29:16) Al: And you know that everybody’s waiting for that. (0:29:18) Al: Some will be waiting because they have dev kits (0:29:21) Al: and they can’t announce anything yet. (0:29:23) Al: And some will be waiting to just see what it is (0:29:25) Al: and see if they can run their Switch games on it (0:29:27) Al: before they talk about it. (0:29:29) Al: And three, everybody’s terrified of GTA. (0:29:32) Dalan: Mmm, yeah, no, that’s a big game coming. (0:29:37) Al: So there’s basically no games announced coming this year outside of the first three months, (0:29:42) Dalan: Mmm. Yeah, it’s yeah, it’s a weird time right now in many ways. (0:29:42) Al: like for anybody at all. So yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. But we do have some news. (0:29:53) Al: So first of all, My Little Life, which is what I like to call a rusty retirement like, (0:30:00) Al: it is another game played on the bottom part of your screen. And this is a (0:30:06) Al: life sim rather than a farming sim. So you have your different rooms in your house and (0:30:15) Al: I presume office, I’ve not actually investigated whether you have more than (0:30:20) Dalan: My gosh this I’m looking at the announcement. I just haven’t muted right now, but in the release date announcement (0:30:26) Dalan: They have rusty’s retirement pulled up over top of the my little life screen. Yeah, let’s about 46 seconds in (0:30:30) Al: Oh, do they? Amazing. (0:30:35) Al: Oh, so they do. (0:30:36) Dalan: You can do it well answering work emails or even playing other games and then rusty’s retirement pops up (0:30:41) Dalan: So that’s that’s pretty funny. It’s just like yeah, I know what I know. This is sort of a copy (0:30:42) Al: I just read the transcripts of what they’re talking about, what you can do while playing (0:30:46) Dalan: Happy. (0:30:53) Al: it. And one of them is “or playing other games”. So they’re showing you playing My Little Life (0:31:01) Al: and Rusty’s Retirement at the same time, which I would say probably don’t do that. (0:31:02) Dalan: Two for one. (0:31:06) Dalan: I think that’s overload. (0:31:08) Dalan: I think that would break my brain. (0:31:11) Dalan: Too much things I can look at. (0:31:12) Al: Anyway, this game has announced, as Talon just said, their release date. So this is coming (0:31:17) Al: out on the 31st of January. So in two and a bit weeks. Yep. So if you like Rusty’s Retirement, (0:31:27) Al: you want another one like it, or you like the idea of Rusty’s Retirement, but you didn’t (0:31:31) Al: want a farming game while you’re listening to this podcast, then that comes out very soon. (0:31:34) Dalan: Yeah, very interesting, also like the Windows XP background in the tree. (0:31:39) Al: Next week. Yeah. (0:31:43) Dalan: Where’s that Vista? (0:31:43) Al: Yeah. (0:31:44) Dalan: I don’t know, I’m too young for this. (0:31:48) Al: Next we have the Sun Haven have released their next update for the Switch version. (0:31:54) Al: The Switch version. I mean it’s all just bug fixes basically. (0:31:56) Dalan: Hmm (0:32:00) Al: Except one thing which says added a save button in the settings menu. (0:32:03) Al: Could you not save the game before? I don’t. (0:32:05) Dalan: Ah, no idea. That seems good to have. (0:32:09) Al: Yeah. So if you’re playing, Sunhee, (0:32:12) Al: haven on the switch, you now have fewer bugs. (0:32:16) Al: Hopefully. (0:32:16) Dalan: More save buttons and hopefully you already had more than zero (0:32:18) Al: And more safe bugs. (0:32:20) Al: I’m guessing it does the Stardew thing of saving overnight, (0:32:24) Dalan: Right probably (0:32:25) Al: but they also have a save on demand thing. (0:32:29) Dalan: Right that would make sense (0:32:30) Al: Next we have Echoes of the Plum Grove (0:32:32) Al: have released their new year update. (0:32:35) Al: This is mostly bug fixes, but there’s a few features as well. (0:32:39) Al: You can add rugs and put things on those rugs. (0:32:44) Dalan: I was a little worried I misread the thing it says put furniture over rugs (0:32:49) Dalan: and I and costumes for kids and I combined them as put furniture and rugs (0:32:53) Dalan: over kids and I was like oh okay I know this is the sort of wacky or the like (0:32:58) Dalan: not wacky but uh macabre macabre game there we say that macabre it’s the R (0:33:03) Al: Yep, macabre, macabre, macabre. (0:33:06) Dalan: pronounced this is this is important I need to (0:33:10) Al: This will probably be a cultural thing, right? (0:33:12) Dalan: macabre. It’s macabre. (0:33:12) Al: Like macabre, death, about death. (0:33:15) Dalan: He got out again. (0:33:17) Dalan: That’s seems. (0:33:20) Dalan: Cool. Thanks. (0:33:22) Dalan: I knew that part. (0:33:22) Dalan: I was wondering how to say you. (0:33:24) Dalan: Thanks word. (0:33:24) Al: No, I know, I’m just simplifying it. (0:33:28) Dalan: It’s about it’s got some depth in it. (0:33:31) Al: And also new Halloween outfits. (0:33:33) Al: We’re a little bit late for Halloween outfits. (0:33:36) Dalan: Oh, some amazing fixes, Winter Gala should still be available even if the quest giver dies the night before. (0:33:42) Dalan: Good. (0:33:44) Dalan: There’s some spoiler ones I’m not looking at, but that’s the only fun one, so you don’t need to look for any more fixes. (0:33:52) Dalan: But, man, this game does intrigue me, I gotta say. (0:33:56) Al: Yeah, not many games have to worry about their NPCs dying, right? (0:34:00) Dalan: Yeah, that’s usually a Bethesda kind of thing. (0:34:07) Al: And our final piece of news, (0:34:08) Al: ‘cause I told you it was short, right? (0:34:10) Al: We had about half an hour of what we’d been up to, (0:34:12) Al: and now we’ve got five minutes of news. (0:34:13) Dalan: Well, I don’t think I saw this one. (0:34:15) Al: This is, that’s ‘cause I added it in (0:34:18) Al: like two hours ago or something. (0:34:18) Dalan: Ah, I see. (0:34:21) Al: Roots of Patcher have detailed (0:34:25) Al: their upcoming new regions to the games. (0:34:28) Al: So if you’re interested in Roots of Patcher, (0:34:30) Al: there’s some more details on that. (0:34:33) Al: Yeah, it’s not hugely detailed, (0:34:36) Al: but they’re just kind of talking about the new regions, (0:34:37) Al: which feel like the next update’s gonna be pretty big. (0:34:40) Dalan: There’s some, there’s some fun screenshots, well not screenshots, they’re slightly animated. (0:34:45) Al: Yes, there are. (0:34:47) Al: I still haven’t played this game, (0:34:48) Al: and I still want to at some point. (0:34:50) Dalan: It does, it looks nice, I could see myself enjoying it. (0:34:53) Dalan: I will keep an eye out. (0:34:56) Al: Well, that’s the news! (0:34:59) Al: So, Dalon, you’re gonna talk to me about Honkai Impact 3rd, and I have not played this game, (0:35:03) Dalan: All right. (0:35:06) Dalan: All right. (0:35:09) Al: so I have no idea how to start this other than, why are we talking about this game? (0:35:13) Dalan: okay yes let’s let’s start with why this is getting mentioned because honkai impact dirt is (0:35:18) Dalan: not a farming game and unless you count farming for materials uh oh I sure I have no idea what (0:35:19) Al: Shall I see what you said to me about the game? Let me read what Dallin said (0:35:25) Dalan: I sent to you oh boy (0:35:27) Al: when they first suggested playing this game. (0:35:32) Dalan: i’m half expecting like there to be an emoji with me like doing the the fingers pointing at each (0:35:37) Dalan: other I don’t know I i think it (0:35:39) Al: Where did you say it to me? (0:35:44) Dalan: it was probably a threat in the like the not the harvest slack but the other slack (0:35:49) Dalan: I don’t even think it was like a dm or anything I was like no it was just like we could do this (0:35:51) Al: It wasn’t a DM, no. (0:35:54) Dalan: so I i don’t think that’s even anywhere now we have we have no idea how this transpired just (0:35:59) Dalan: occurred uh yeah I think it it came up in video games because I mentioned that I was doing like (0:36:00) Al: so confused. We seem to have talked about it in multiple different channels, (0:36:04) Al: but I can’t actually find where you said it about it. (0:36:09) Dalan: a farming event in this game. You said there’s farming in this game? (0:36:13) Dalan: I was like, “Yeah, right now.” (0:36:15) Al: Okay, so, you said to me back at the end of November, the new Honkai Impact Third Update (0:36:22) Al: has a side mode that is Bilateral + Marvel Snap. The previous two side modes were a Farming (0:36:26) Dalan: Oh yes, I didn’t mention that. (0:36:28) Al: Sim and then Candy Crush Battles. And I said, “A what now?” (0:36:30) Dalan: Yes. (0:36:32) Dalan: Yes. (0:36:34) Dalan: That one just wrapped up, the Bellatrosnap. (0:36:38) Al: So yeah, you said, “I thought I posted about it, but I guess not. It was a Farming Sim (0:36:42) Al: that was about getting not Pokemon who (0:36:45) Al: run various buildings in your town, farm crops, mine for materials etc. They also had fishing, (0:36:51) Al: gotta have a fishing minigame. If you ever need a filler episode, (0:36:53) Dalan: That is correct (0:36:54) Al: I could definitely talk for at least 20 minutes about it, so set that timer now! (0:36:58) Dalan: All right, set the timer see how long we get to cool (0:37:04) Dalan: Yeah, I mean good job past me. That’s a pretty good summary (0:37:08) Dalan: So that’s that’s what we’re gonna talk about. I’m going to briefly just explain the concept of what the heck (0:37:14) Dalan: Hong Kai impact there it is. It’s a gotcha game first and foremost. So if you’re not familiar with gotcha games, it’s (0:37:21) Dalan: gambling, but legal. (0:37:24) Dalan: They have usually have these things called banners where there are usually anime girls that you spend points on, and then you have a chance to get that character it’s usually guaranteed after however many times you pull for that character as the terminology and yeah, that is that is the bulk of how they make their monies by having you pay money to get their new characters. (0:37:51) Dalan: So one of the ways (0:37:53) Dalan: they do this is by having these characters show up in side modes and (0:37:57) Dalan: stories and stuff. Usually they’re in the main story, but sometimes they also have (0:38:01) Dalan: sort of filler side content, and they tend to–Hoyoverse is the company that (0:38:07) Dalan: does this, formerly me, Hoyo, and I think that’s like–I don’t remember all the (0:38:12) Dalan: branding nonsense, but I go by Hoyoverse, and yeah. (0:38:12) Al: It looks like Mihoyo is still the name of a company. (0:38:20) Dalan: Yeah, it’s like international kind of stuff. (0:38:23) Dalan: It was Hoya vs. Kind of a rebranding thing that I tend to stick to just because most of their games are connected in some sort of multiverse way. (0:38:34) Al: So, the publisher is called Huyoverse. (0:38:38) Dalan: And the developers Mihoyo? Okay, interesting. I did not know that. (0:38:40) Al: Correct. (0:38:42) Al: But I believe they are separate companies, but it looks like Huyoverse was spun out from… (0:38:49) Dalan: Yeah, they’re essentially the same thing I imagine. (0:38:52) Dalan: They just handle like different parts of the process. (0:38:56) Al: Yes, but they are separate companies, they’re not, as far as I can see, not kind of possibly, (0:38:58) Dalan: Yes. (0:39:00) Dalan: All right, I figured it was a thing where like (0:39:02) Dalan: one was owning the other somewhere, but I don’t know. (0:39:04) Al: but I’m not, I can’t see any information on the ownership of Hoyoverse. But also, Hoyoverse (0:39:07) Dalan: I do not have the Wikipedia open right now (0:39:09) Dalan: and it’s not that relevant. (0:39:12) Al: is also called Cognosphere. That’s just another name for the same company. I don’t know why (0:39:15) Dalan: Hognosphere, I’m not familiar with that one. (0:39:19) Dalan: Okay, interesting. (0:39:25) Dalan: I assume it has something, (0:39:28) Dalan: the first result from three, (0:39:30) Dalan: the second result from three years ago on Reddit (0:39:31) Dalan: says it was a new proxy publishing label. (0:39:34) Dalan: So it’s probably ‘cause they’re based in China (0:39:34) Al: It does. Right. (0:39:36) Dalan: and they needed like other companies (0:39:37) Dalan: to be able to publish things. (0:39:38) Al: Yeah, but why is HoYoverse also called Cognosphere sometimes? (0:39:42) Dalan: Oh, no idea. (0:39:44) Al: But yeah, it does look like it’s fully owned subsidiary of of miHoYo. (0:39:49) Al: So parent company miHoYo, HoYoverse also called Cognosphere. (0:39:54) Dalan: publisher cool (0:39:54) Al: Subsidiary publishing company. Got it. (0:39:57) Dalan: Cool, that’s not confusing got it got it (0:39:57) Al: Perfect. Makes sense. (0:40:00) Dalan: Need a chart. I don’t need some diagrams after this anyway (0:40:04) Dalan: the brief history of miHoYo is (0:40:07) Dalan: Al have you ever heard of Evangelion? I? (0:40:10) Dalan: Want you to imagine that you are a couple you’re several people and that’s there (0:40:15) Dalan: There is a team of a few people in China in like (0:40:20) Dalan: Early, I think like the late 2000s who are really into Evangelion and they decide (0:40:24) Dalan: let’s make games inspired by that and so yeah that was kind of that is I assume (0:40:31) Dalan: why this game is called impact third because it is very heavily inspired by (0:40:34) Dalan: Evangelion which has something in it called the third impact however I assume (0:40:38) Al: Right. Okay. You lost me there for a minute. You were like, I think that’s why (0:40:39) Dalan: they little bit okay Evangelion has something in it called the third impact (0:40:41) Al: it’s called this because Evangelion. I’m like, I don’t understand what that means. (0:40:45) Al: Okay. I’m learning so much. (0:40:48) Dalan: so I think they took inspiration from that name and some of the things that (0:40:53) Dalan: that happen in that series. (0:40:55) Dalan: Uh, cause it features in this game is kind of a thing. (0:40:58) Dalan: Uh, basically just, yeah. (0:41:00) Al: Oh, this is also the Genshin Impact company. Anzendless don0. Goodness me. (0:41:02) Dalan: Yes, that is, they took the, yes, that’s Hoya verse. (0:41:07) Dalan: They have a lot. (0:41:08) Dalan: They also have something called tears of Themis, which I think is like a hot (0:41:11) Dalan: boy dating simulator, but I didn’t ever hear anyone talking about it. (0:41:12) Al: Yeah, I saw that as well, but I didn’t really care because it’s not one I care of. (0:41:14) Dalan: So I don’t know anything about it. (0:41:17) Dalan: Yeah, I, I don’t particularly care, but it does exist. (0:41:20) Dalan: Um, yes, yes. (0:41:20) Al: This game is older than those games. (0:41:25) Dalan: This is the one that I think really first took off. (0:41:27) Dalan: Uh, there were two that proceeded it, but one was literally just kind of like, (0:41:30) Dalan: uh, uh, you know, twin stick shooter, very short game. (0:41:35) Dalan: And the other was kind of like a prototype of this game. (0:41:39) Dalan: That was like a lot more zombie focused because zombies were really big back in (0:41:43) Dalan: the, uh, like late, uh, odds, I think, if you remember everyone liked zombies and (0:41:50) Dalan: bacon and pirates and mustaches and that, that kind of period of time. (0:41:52) Al: Yeah, I don’t think that ever actually went away, did it? (0:41:55) Dalan: No, no, well, no, but it was like, that was sort of a weird cultural (0:42:00) Dalan: cachet we had at the time. (0:42:00) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get you, I get you. (0:42:02) Dalan: Yeah. (0:42:03) Dalan: Anyway, so yes, that game I now, now I’ve confused myself. (0:42:08) Dalan: Uh, where am I anyway, how can I impact third it’s game. (0:42:12) Dalan: You can play, uh, one of the, as Hoya verse starts getting more and more money. (0:42:16) Dalan: Uh, they need to put like side events in their gotcha games. (0:42:19) Dalan: And I guess some of the game designers are like, what if we just started doing (0:42:23) Dalan: doing entirely different. (0:42:25) Dalan: And so across a lot of their games, there are events where you will just play like entirely separate games as side events, and some of them are really interesting. (0:42:34) Dalan: The problem is a lot of them go away after the event period is over because that’s not what the focus of the game is. (0:42:41) Dalan: I have noticed some lately and Impact Third seem to be like getting saved as things you can replay. (0:42:47) Dalan: And I think Honkai Star Rail keeps most of its events that happen, but not all of them. (0:42:54) Dalan: Part of that is because these are games you can play both on your phone and PC in consoles. (0:43:01) Dalan: Impact Third is only phone and PC. (0:43:05) Dalan: So to be playable on a phone, they wanted to decrease storage size. (0:43:10) Dalan: So they tend to delete content events that happened so your phone doesn’t explode from being just the game and having space for nothing else. (0:43:20) Dalan: So the event we’re talking about is they made, essentially, (0:43:24) Dalan: a farming sim that you can play. They’ve done this apparently twice. I was not playing when (0:43:28) Dalan: the first one happened, so I don’t know anything about it. It’s farming enough. I mean, that’s, (0:43:29) Al: or two farvings, some specifically. (0:43:34) Dalan: I would say it’s more focused on automation, sort of. Yeah, but it is around farming and development. (0:43:38) Al: Sounds like my kind of game

Al and Kelly talk about Fields of Mistria Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:05:39: What Have We Been Up To 00:13:12: November Game Releases 00:15:25: Stardew Concert 00:27:34: Game News 00:40:41: New Games 00:51:38: Fields Of Mistria Links Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons Sun Haven UK/Switzerland/NZ Switch Release Everdream Valley “Family Time” DLC Snacko “Builders Dream” Update Spiritea “Phantom Friends” Update Farlands 0.3 Update Ratopia Dreamland Farm Ooze Keeper Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Kelly: And my name is Kelly. (0:00:37) Al: and we’re here today to talk about cartridge core games. (0:00:43) Al: Welcome back Kelly, how are you doing? (0:00:46) Kelly: Pretty good. Enjoying the long weekend. It’s been nice. (0:00:49) Kelly: It’s nice to be back, too. How have you been? (0:00:51) Al: Yes, yes, good, good, good. (0:00:54) Al: I’m, yeah, doing all right. Just, you know, I’m cramming in as many farming games as possible (0:00:58) Al: before the end of the year. (0:01:00) Al: My game of the year episode is as accurate as possible. (0:01:04) Al: So busy. (0:01:06) Kelly: - Good dedication, really dedicated. (0:01:08) Al: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I probably could have played half of these in the first half of the year, but, you know, procrastination. (0:01:13) Kelly: But yeah, where’s the fun without that? (0:01:18) Al: Yeah, this is when the ADHD kicks in and goes, “Oh, deadline, great!” (0:01:22) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, no, literally. (0:01:25) Kelly: Do you have any things I did in like the 10 minutes (0:01:27) Kelly: before I sat down to record this? (0:01:29) Kelly: I think I ran through like five chores, just, why? (0:01:30) Al: Yeah, classic. Well, this is also Kelly’s 10th episode on the podcast. (0:01:40) Kelly: Whoo, I can’t believe it’s been 10. When you said that, I was so shocked. (0:01:40) Al: It’s wild. Yeah, yeah. I was surprised as well. I didn’t expect it to be that many because (0:01:52) Al: I guess it’s just been over a long time. Your first episode was in 2021. So we did Spirit (0:01:56) Al: and then the Spiritfare DLC, and then you and Kev did. (0:02:00) Al: Cult of the Lamb, and then you and Bev and Maddie did Potion Permit, (0:02:05) Al: and then we did Fishing Break, you and Kev did Graveyard Keeper, and then we did Pumpkin Panic, (0:02:11) Al: an episode called “What is Stardew still missing?” which I don’t even remember doing, (0:02:15) Al: but apparently we did. Yeah, sure. (0:02:16) Kelly: I remember that. (0:02:17) Kelly: That’s when it came out for the PC. (0:02:23) Al: I need to see how many episodes we’ve done on Stardew, and then the Dave the Diver story episode. (0:02:29) Kelly: Oh, yes. (0:02:30) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:02:31) Al: And then this will be your 10th one, wild, there you go. (0:02:34) Kelly: So many fishing– (0:02:35) Kelly: farming games, not fishing games. (0:02:37) Kelly: Also fishing games. (0:02:38) Al: Well, yeah, one of them was specifically a fishing game. (0:02:41) Kelly: Yeah. (0:02:42) Al: And the others almost all have fishing in them. (0:02:44) Al: Does Dave the Diver count as fishing? (0:02:46) Kelly: I wanna say yes, but I feel like no, because realistically to me it’s the mechanic of fishing. (0:02:55) Al: Well, that’s why that’s why I’m questioning it. (0:02:58) Kelly: Like I think the fishing is so different. (0:02:58) Al: But like, there’s a lot. (0:03:02) Kelly: Would you count scuba diving and animal crossing as fishing? No, that’s like it. (0:03:07) Al: You’re not catching fish when you’re scuba diving, though. (0:03:08) Kelly: Oh, you’re not? Oh, the dive thing? No. (0:03:10) Al: No. (0:03:12) Al: No, you only catch fish with a fishing rod in Animal Crossing. (0:03:16) Al: You, there are, it’s quite, yeah, yeah. (0:03:16) Kelly: Is it just like clams? (0:03:18) Al: I think maybe as far as like a crab, but I don’t think there’s any fish. (0:03:23) Kelly: Okay. No, I would not count David Diver as a fishing game, honestly. (0:03:28) Al: Interesting. OK, that’s this is our controversy of the episode. (0:03:33) Al: Listeners, tell us, do you think Dave the Diver is a fishing episode or not? (0:03:40) Al: If you make me decide, I would say yes, it is a fishing game (0:03:44) Al: because I think that fishing would be catching fish. (0:03:48) Al: I don’t think you specifically have to use a fishing rod or a fishing net (0:03:52) Al: to count as fishing. (0:03:54) Kelly: I see your point. I think I’m going more off of the vibes of every other mini fishing game. (0:03:58) Al: Yeah. (0:04:01) Kelly: Because definition-wise, you’re correct. It is a fishing game. What else am I doing, (0:04:05) Kelly: if not fishing? But I wouldn’t count it with the fishing games. It almost is kind of like (0:04:06) Al: Yeah. I mean, I would say it’s a– Sure. Okay. I would say it is a fishing game, (0:04:11) Kelly: that little controversy they had with the indie game thing. Okay, okay. (0:04:18) Al: but not a cottagecore game, which is ironic because it’s a cottagecore podcast. And I feel (0:04:24) Al: like we had the discussion about whether it was cottagecore or not, multiple times throughout the (0:04:27) Al: summer. Anyway, five minutes discussion on the Diver who expected that. This episode, we are (0:04:34) Al: finally going to talk about Fields of (0:04:36) Al: Mistria. I realised that, apparently, Spotify has the (0:04:40) Al: ability to leave comments and I went on and noticed there’s a (0:04:43) Al: person on Spotify that has just been commenting regularly. Are (0:04:46) Al: you going to cover Fields of Mistria? So, yes, here we are (0:04:51) Al: covering Fields of Mistria. Shout out to you, our single (0:04:53) Kelly: For that one Spotify– (0:04:54) Al: commenter. I can’t even remember the name. Yeah, episodes as (0:05:01) Kelly: I didn’t know you could comment on Spotify stuff, either. (0:05:07) Al: Yeah, so there’s Jack. There we go. Jack, you’re the one who’s (0:05:12) Al: commented multiple times asking for Fields of Mistria. As (0:05:15) Kelly: Hey, Jack. I hope you enjoy this episode. (0:05:16) Al: recently as nine days ago. Yeah, I mean, we had decided to do (0:05:19) Kelly: This is personally for you, Jack. (0:05:25) Al: this before I even looked at Spotify. But yeah, sure. So (0:05:30) Al: we’re going to talk about Fields of Mistria. Before that, we (0:05:32) Al: We have some news. (0:05:36) Al: A bunch of new games and a bunch of updates. (0:05:39) Al: First of all, Kelly, what have you been up to? (0:05:42) Kelly: I have been playing a lot of Rimworld again, because I think it’s a (0:05:49) Kelly: like, I don’t know what it is, Stardew is like a march game for me. And I think Rimworld is a (0:05:57) Kelly: late fall game for me. So I am back to Rimworld, which is not cottagecore, but it is a lot of (0:06:01) Al: Okay. (0:06:04) Kelly: farming. I mean, I guess technically, you could play cottagecore style, because they do have like, (0:06:10) Kelly: No violence mode, which I have (0:06:12) Kelly: played because I just want to like build. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no. And then I’ve also (0:06:14) Al: yeah it’s a management game though isn’t it management style game yeah yeah I’m (0:06:18) Al: not playing it then (0:06:21) Kelly: been playing web fishing, which is really cute and fun and like, very simple, but like the core (0:06:27) Kelly: mechanic of fishing that I just enjoy in every farming game without like the deadline of having (0:06:33) Al: So. (0:06:35) Kelly: having to go to bed at night. (0:06:36) Al: So I have a question about that. (0:06:39) Al: I have been interested in this, but not enough to play it. (0:06:43) Al: But what do you do you interact with the chat room aspect of? (0:06:50) Kelly: You can play alone, or you can join a random lobby, or you can play with your friends. (0:06:55) Al: And what have you been doing? (0:06:56) Kelly: I have been either playing alone or playing with friends. I’m not really a big like, go into random people’s lobbies. (0:07:01) Al: OK, but you have you have done it with friends. (0:07:04) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:07:05) Al: What does that actually like? (0:07:08) Al: What is actually like? Is it audio? (0:07:10) Al: Is it text? It’s text. (0:07:10) Kelly: No, it’s text. It’s text. And then you kind of get the, like, Animal Crossing sounds as you hit send. It, like, does that. (0:07:20) Kelly: On top of your little chat and it pops up above your head and like, you also have like a little chat message bar so you could like see what you’ve been talking about. (0:07:29) Al: Okay. Okay. Okay. Because I hadn’t I know I looked through the screenshots and I hadn’t seen anything that actually showed the chat room aspect of it. It was all just like, you know, pictures of the fishing. (0:07:37) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it’s, it’s like a cute little aspect. I like that. I think it’s good (0:07:48) Kelly: that it’s like text. But very, very cute little game. Very cute. I just love fishing games. (0:07:49) Al: Yeah, yeah for sure (0:07:57) Kelly: I’m not going to lie. What have you been up to? (0:07:58) Al: Fair enough. (0:08:04) Al: I have obviously been playing Fields of Mistria quite a bit. (0:08:09) Al: We’ll talk about that when we come to it. (0:08:10) Al: I’ve also been keeping going with Marvel (0:08:13) Al: Snap and Pokemon Pocket. (0:08:16) Kelly: Oh, that’s the TCG one, right? (0:08:18) Kelly: I’ve been playing that. (0:08:19) Al: Yes, yes. (0:08:21) Kelly: I keep forgetting to open my pack, so– (0:08:24) Al: Do you not just open it when you get the notification, no? (0:08:26) Kelly: I don’t have notifications for things. (0:08:29) Al: OK, right, OK, so I turn off a lot of notifications, right? (0:08:34) Al: But, right, if you forget things, which. (0:08:39) Kelly: Yeah, but I’m just going to swipe the notification away. (0:08:40) Al: Yeah. (0:08:42) Al: No, you tap on it and then you open the app, open the gate, open the thing, right? (0:08:46) Al: You just do it then, you do it there and then it’s so fast. (0:08:46) Kelly: No, I’m not gonna do that. (0:08:49) Al: This is so this one, but this is the beauty of this game is it’s so fast. (0:08:53) Al: It’s like you open it and you press it and you get your five cards, you get your (0:08:53) Kelly: It is, that is nice. (0:08:56) Al: Dopamine hit, you swipe the app away the next- (0:08:58) Al: and the notification comes up, you do exactly the same thing. (0:09:00) Kelly: Al, listen. You’re right. I’m not going to try to fight you on this because you are 100% right. (0:09:02) Al: Ten seconds. (0:09:08) Kelly: However, many times I open the app and a message pops up that says, “You didn’t finish opening your card pack!” (0:09:16) Al: did stop doing that then. Yeah, I do. I do that. Yeah, I have to say, yeah, that is a bit of a (0:09:18) Kelly: So that is– [Laughter] (0:09:21) Al: problem. I don’t know why this game is so obsessed with that. It’s like you open up, you open a pack (0:09:26) Al: and you see it and then you write, close the app. And it’s like, I’ve seen my cards. I saw my cards, (0:09:28) Kelly: Mm-hmm because I forgot to like swipe it up. Yeah (0:09:32) Al: right? Don’t tell me I didn’t finish just because I haven’t gone and seen the 15 million animations (0:09:37) Kelly: Yeah, exactly. (0:09:37) Al: after that. It’s the same because it’s the same thing with, uh, with the battles, especially the (0:09:41) Al: solo battles is bizarre, right? Because it’s like, if you, you know, (0:09:46) Al: you do a battle and then you get annoyed because you lose. So you close, (0:09:49) Al: you just swipe the app away in anger. It’s like a really satisfying thing to do. (0:09:53) Al: And then you open it next time and it’s like, oh, did, you know, you didn’t finish this battle. (0:09:57) Al: I’m like, I did. I lost because I didn’t go through this stuff. Don’t make me relive this. (0:09:58) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, I actually I haven’t battled yet, but I completely understand. (0:10:01) Al: Why are you making me relive this? Go away. (0:10:10) Kelly: Yeah, but I do like the aspect of the whole idea that it is a two second app where you just open it open your card pack and then close it again. (0:10:18) Al: Perfect. That’s fair. That’s fair. But the problem is you can (0:10:18) Kelly: Like, I just want it for the cards I don’t want to really battle. (0:10:25) Al: get more cards by battling. Oh, yes. Absolutely. I don’t I (0:10:26) Kelly: Is it better than Pokemon Go? (0:10:28) Kelly: I’m not sure. (0:10:30) Kelly: Okay. (0:10:32) Kelly: Maybe I’ll try it, maybe I’ll try it. (0:10:34) Kelly: We’ll see. I gotta get more cards first. (0:10:36) Kelly: Yeah. (0:10:37) Al: don’t do PvP battles very much because like, you know, people (0:10:41) Al: suck. But I do there’s a lot of solo battles in the game. And (0:10:45) Al: know, there’s a new solo battle event going on right now. (0:10:48) Al: now that has unique cards for winning things. So yeah, against the computer. (0:10:51) Kelly: Oh, you can just play it yourself. (0:10:53) Kelly: Okay, okay, I didn’t I didn’t even look at that. (0:10:56) Al: The best bit is you can also tell the game to play for you. So you can have the computer (0:11:02) Al: playing against the computer. Yes, but what I do is when I’m sitting at my desk and I want just (0:11:04) Kelly: What? Kinda lazy? (laughs) (0:11:10) Al: a couple of battles and I don’t care about it because I’ve already beaten these battles, (0:11:14) Al: I just want to beat them more for more rewards (0:11:16) Al: Then I just have it sit (0:11:18) Al: In here I like just down on my phone (0:11:22) Al: Stand it’s just sitting there and it’s just doing the battles and every so often (0:11:27) Al: I look over it and see if I’ve won or lost and then I start again (0:11:30) Kelly: that is nice. I agree. That is a nice feature. Oh, yeah, I should go check mine. I do really (0:11:34) Al: Speaking of which I just got a notification that I’ve got packs. Let’s see. I’ve already got that already got that already got that (0:11:39) Al: Already got that no new cards great (0:11:43) Kelly: like looking at the card art, though. I think that’s the most fun of it. (0:11:46) Al: I’m just in an (0:11:48) Al: unfortunate position right now where I have most of the cards so most days I’m getting nothing (0:11:52) Kelly: Hmm. I only started like a week ago, I think. Also, I’ve noticed I’m very biased. I like almost (0:11:59) Kelly: never opened a Charizard pack. I know, I know. But I don’t want to. I know. I’m just, I have my own problem. (0:12:00) Al: Yeah, some of the cards are specific to that pack. (0:12:09) Al: I don’t know what to tell you. (0:12:15) Al: Anyway, so yeah, Pocket and Snap, I am at 98 on Snap now, so hopefully I’ll get to 100 by (0:12:22) Al: the end of Tuesday. We’ll see. And I’ve also started playing, speaking of playing games (0:12:31) Al: until the Game of the Year episode. I’ve been playing Luma Island as well, so yeah. (0:12:38) Al: I think it’s doing some interesting new things that I may or may not talk about in a week, and (0:12:45) Kelly: - Okay. (0:12:48) Al: I think I appreciate what it is doing, but I don’t know if it’s for me. (0:12:56) Al: But I’ve only put in like 15 hours into it so far, so. (0:13:00) Al: I’m gonna need more time to make that, isn’t it? (0:13:02) Kelly: I think that that sounds like it’ll be fun to see where it goes at least, (0:13:06) Al: Yeah. (0:13:07) Kelly: you know, and sometimes even if the mechanics aren’t for you, (0:13:09) Kelly: it’s like nice just to see people trying. (0:13:11) Al: Oh, for sure, for sure. (0:13:14) Al: All right, that’s what we’ve been up to. (0:13:18) Al: Next is our monthly segment of the recent releases, (0:13:22) Al: because this is only a second time doing it, but I decided that because there’s so many releases (0:13:28) Al: of games. (0:13:29) Al: And I’m always talking about the future. (0:13:30) Al: Talking about the past, I felt like people might want a monthly recap on what’s out (0:13:35) Al: in case they’ve heard of something that they’re like, “Oh, that’s something I want to play.” (0:13:40) Al: And now you can. (0:13:41) Al: So there have been four releases in November. (0:13:43) Al: I know it’s now December when you’re hearing this, but this is for November. (0:13:47) Al: So we have Farming Simulator 25. (0:13:50) Al: So if you love that Farming Simulator, there’s your new one, it’s out now. (0:13:55) Al: We also have Everhome, which I think… (0:14:01) Al: I don’t think that was previously Early Access, was it? (0:14:04) Al: No, I’m not seeing anything about Early Access, so that’s just a release now. (0:14:10) Kelly: Oh, that one looks cute. (0:14:11) Al: It does. (0:14:12) Al: It’s definitely on my list of “I want to play this,” but that list is very long. (0:14:15) Kelly: I’m going to add it to my list right now. (0:14:18) Al: And then we have Petite Island, which I’m pretty sure was in Early Access. (0:14:23) Al: So that is now 1.0. (0:14:25) Al: Is that correct? (0:14:26) Al: Oh, no. (0:14:27) Al: No, it’s not saying anything about Early Access. (0:14:28) Al: I was wrong. (0:14:30) Kelly: Honestly, with the amount of games that are in early access for forever, it’s like, (0:14:37) Kelly: who’s to remember anymore? Everything feels like it’s in early access. (0:14:42) Al: And and then Luma Island as well, which is also not in early access. (0:14:48) Al: So that’s four releases. (0:14:49) Al: None of them in early access. (0:14:51) Al: None of them have been in early access one unusual month. (0:14:54) Kelly: That is pretty crazy is it is it like I wonder if it’s like a pre-christmas thing (0:14:58) Al: Possibly, possibly. (0:14:59) Kelly: You know (0:15:00) Al: I do think a lot of I mean, a lot of games get delayed at this point. (0:15:04) Al: Like you don’t get a huge number of games coming out just now (0:15:06) Al: because they’ve either come out in October in time for, you know, (0:15:12) Al: the Christmas sale or they come out next year because they didn’t quite manage it. (0:15:18) Kelly: Mm hmm. Yeah, that. (0:15:18) Al: They don’t tend to like to come out in December or November (0:15:21) Al: because there’s too much happening. (0:15:25) Al: All right, next, we’ve got the news. (0:15:28) Al: The first news is a piece of news that I (0:15:30) Al: meant to talk about in the last episode, but I forgot (0:15:34) Al: because I didn’t write it down for some reason. (0:15:36) Al: And that is that they’ve announced a new series of stardew concerts. (0:15:40) Al: they had the previous series. (0:15:42) Al: Stargie Concerts that were called Festival of Seasons. (0:15:44) Al: The new ones are called Symphony of Seasons, and these are bigger. (0:15:49) Al: It’s a 35 piece orchestra. (0:15:52) Al: I believe the last one was under 20. (0:15:55) Al: I can’t remember exactly. (0:15:56) Al: I don’t know if it has it listed, but it was it was certainly much more intimate. (0:16:01) Al: It called it a chamber orchestra. (0:16:02) Al: Is that a specific number? (0:16:04) Al: I suspect not. (0:16:05) Al: Rona would be shouting at me if she was in the room. (0:16:06) Kelly: I have no idea. (0:16:07) Al: No, it just means just means small. (0:16:12) Al: So we may if you’ve not listened to it, me and Rona did a greenhouse episode on (0:16:18) Al: going to the previous Stargie Valley concert because Rona, my wife, is a big (0:16:23) Al: musician. She enjoys music. (0:16:26) Al: She does not play Stargie Valley. (0:16:27) Al: So it was a fun discussion to have about the music versus the the game sort of thing. (0:16:34) Al: I have successfully purchased tickets for the new concert. (0:16:37) Al: one the one that they’re doing in Scotland which (0:16:42) Al: obviously one is not very many, but we actually get one in many cases we don’t even get one. (0:16:47) Al: So I’m very happy to actually have one. (0:16:48) Kelly: Whoo! Whoo! Yeah, that is exciting. I forgot you went to the last round. (0:16:55) Al: And the Yeah, yeah. (0:16:58) Al: So that was earlier this year sometime, April or something. (0:17:04) Al: And that was in a converted church in Edinburgh. (0:17:08) Al: This new one is in 2026. (0:17:12) Al: It’s over a year away, which is just because of the time of the year that makes it sound (0:17:17) Al: even further away. (0:17:18) Al: It’s actually only like a year and two months away or something. (0:17:21) Al: I think it’s February. (0:17:22) Kelly: - Oh yeah, it’s heavy, all right. (0:17:22) Al: So it’s not that bad, but it does sound ridiculously far away. (0:17:30) Al: But they’re doing that, and this shows you how they’ve gone up a little bit. (0:17:32) Al: They’ve gone from a converted church in Edinburgh to the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, which (0:17:38) Al: which is, I think, three times the size. (0:17:42) Kelly: It’s, it’s, you know, you know, Stardew is big, but I think when you see it like in this kind of aspect, it’s like, wow. (0:17:48) Al: Yeah, this is their second world tour, and this one’s bigger. (0:17:52) Kelly: Yeah. (0:17:54) Kelly: The next one’s going to be stadium level concert. (0:17:58) Al: Yeah, I don’t think I would want to see stardew music in a stadium. (0:18:02) Kelly: No, I think this is much cuter. Yeah. Yeah. But no, that’s so that’s so cool. (0:18:03) Al: I feel like concert hall works best. (0:18:09) Al: So, yeah, it was funny because (0:18:11) Al: so there was a presale that if you signed up to the newsletter, you got the code. (0:18:14) Al: I signed up for that and then we got the code (0:18:17) Al: and then I forgot all about (0:18:18) Al: it. And it was like, because I had my laptop next to my work, because it was 9am on Monday. (0:18:24) Al: I had my personal laptop like next to my desk, ready to log on at nine, and then completely (0:18:29) Al: forgot. It was really unfortunate. And then I looked at the time, there was, I can’t remember (0:18:36) Al: what it was, I just randomly looked at the clock, and it was 11 o’clock and went, “Oh, (0:18:40) Al: the concert. Oh, no.” And so I went on and thankfully they still had. (0:18:49) Kelly: That’s good, especially because, like you said, you only have one night for Scotland, (0:18:53) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And well, yeah. And it’s like I could go to England, but there’s only (0:18:54) Kelly: so it’s not like, “Oh, I could drive a few states over if I have to.” (0:19:01) Al: two in England and one of them is London, which is like four hour train ride or yeah. (0:19:06) Kelly: You wanna go to London? (0:19:07) Al: And who wants to go to London? And it’s like, it’s always annoying when you, cause like (0:19:11) Al: London gets the, cause I think you get like, obviously New York gets the, you know, Broadway (0:19:16) Al: musicals first cause obviously Broadway, uh, it’s kind of in the name. Um, but then they, (0:19:17) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:19:20) Al: They tend to go to London next and they take forever. (0:19:24) Al: You can always go to London for these things. (0:19:26) Al: It’s like, I don’t want to go to London, oh my word. (0:19:29) Kelly: Yeah, I don’t even want to go into the city for some of this stuff, so I feel you (0:19:34) Al: London is one of them, and Manchester is the other one. (0:19:36) Al: Manchester, despite being further north, is harder to get to than London. (0:19:41) Kelly: Oh, really? I thought I thought that would be closer to you, honestly. (0:19:44) Al: If you’re driving, it’s faster. (0:19:46) Al: But if you’re getting the train, it’s more difficult. (0:19:48) Al: It takes longer to get there. (0:19:48) Kelly: Mm. That makes sense. (0:19:50) Al: because they’ve got like a super fast train from Edinburgh to… (0:19:53) Al: London. It’s like four hours on the train which is fine but then it becomes a whole weekend thing (0:20:01) Al: rather than a night thing. Whereas this is, it starts at 7pm it’s like I can get my kids (0:20:08) Al: mostly ready for bed and then head off and then be back in for midnight. (0:20:13) Kelly: Yeah, you know, that’s nice. Yeah, that’ll be exciting. I didn’t realize it was, I mean, (0:20:18) Kelly: like you said, it’s only like a year basically away. (0:20:20) Al: Yeah, I think the American dates start in like August or something. (0:20:25) Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yeah, end of August. (0:20:26) Al: Yeah, the first dates in Seattle. (0:20:30) Kelly: I will say it’s funny. There’s no New York City date. (0:20:33) Kelly: It’s only upstate New York and New Jersey. (0:20:35) Al: Oh, that’s funny. Is that because New York City is just stupidly expensive to? (0:20:40) Kelly: That’s what I was about to say is it’s definitely because of that. (0:20:42) Al: Of all the places, of all the places in the world, it’s like you do not want to do that. (0:20:47) Kelly: Yeah. So that one makes a lot– because at first I was like, wow, there’s no New York City one. (0:20:54) Kelly: but there is a new (0:20:55) Kelly: New Jersey, which is close enough. (0:20:57) Kelly: I would go there instead of Albany. (0:21:00) Al: Yes, yeah, because, well, I don’t know where New York is, but New Jersey’s closer, I mean, (0:21:06) Al: much of New Jersey is closer to you than most of New York, right? I know, because I read (0:21:09) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, exactly. (0:21:14) Al: a lot of Ms. Marvel Comics, and she’s based in New Jersey City. (0:21:19) Kelly: Yeah, those are my sister works, actually, (0:21:21) Kelly: right across the water. (0:21:23) Kelly: It’s nice there now. (0:21:24) Kelly: They’ve been making it nicer. (0:21:24) Al: New York is right there. You’ve got New York, and then you’ve got Manhattan, and then you’ve (0:21:32) Al: got Jersey City, and then you’ve got New York. That looks… Yeah, that would… Yeah. (0:21:33) Kelly: No, yeah, literally. (0:21:38) Kelly: Oh, they put all their businesses on that side, (0:21:40) Kelly: I’m pretty sure, because they’re like tax reasons. (0:21:42) Al: Because there’s also casinos in New Jersey as well, isn’t there? (0:21:43) Kelly: You know? (0:21:46) Kelly: Mm-hm. We have them in New York now, just they’re more limited. Yeah, there was one that (0:21:49) Al: Howdy! (0:21:52) Al: I thought New York was quite strict with gambling. (0:21:55) Kelly: they were, I think when I was like in my early 20s, stuff started to change (0:22:02) Kelly: and they opened up a casino near where I lived. But I think they were, it wasn’t, you know, (0:22:08) Kelly: as open as like other states are with the gambling even inside of there. You know, (0:22:13) Kelly: like not every game I guess is allowed or stuff like that. Difference. (0:22:17) Kelly: I don’t know what gambling rules are. I just go in and I pull the lever. (0:22:23) Al: - Okay. (0:22:27) Kelly: But yeah, usually people from New York would go to Jersey to gamble because it’s better over there. (0:22:32) Al: It’s really funny, I’m just looking at the Google Maps and I knew there was weird stuff around (0:22:36) Al: exactly who owned Ellis Island and Liberty Island and I noticed that on Google Maps it has most of (0:22:44) Al: Ellis Island listed as New Jersey with like a big chunk of it including the Immigrations Museum (0:22:52) Al: listed as New York. So it’s like because you’re over the line, technically the island is within (0:22:53) Kelly: Oh, that’s funny. (0:22:58) Al: New Jersey. So most of it is New Jersey, but then there’s like an (0:23:02) Al: exclave of New York. We love border disputes. Did you know that Greenland and Canada now (0:23:04) Kelly: I forgot about that whole debacle. (0:23:13) Kelly: Who doesn’t? (0:23:20) Al: have a land border due to a solved border dispute? Yeah, so there’s an island between (0:23:23) Kelly: No, I did not (0:23:27) Al: mainland Greenland mainland Greenland between (0:23:32) Al: Greenland Greenland and like the very north of Canada. (0:23:36) Al: What is that? (0:23:37) Al: It doesn’t have a name. Nobody cares about it. (0:23:41) Al: Which is like right in the middle of the water, (0:23:44) Al: which is where they put the border between them. (0:23:47) Al: So it like crosses the island. (0:23:48) Al: So they spent decades arguing over who owned it. (0:23:52) Al: And then eventually they decided they just split it. (0:23:53) Al: So now technically it’s half and half. (0:23:55) Al: So they have a land border there. (0:23:57) Kelly: that’s cool. It’s kind of like the two little islands in the bearings straight between what (0:23:59) Al: Thank you. (0:24:02) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:24:03) Kelly: are they called? Something with a D. I don’t remember. Yeah. Yeah. That one’s messed up though (0:24:06) Al: Diomede, a big Diomede and little Diomede. (0:24:10) Kelly: because like people live there and then they can’t, they got split up and now they can’t see their (0:24:11) Al: Yeah. (0:24:14) Kelly: relatives. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But you can’t cross that ice. It’s not allowed. (0:24:15) Al: Well, and it’s, and it’s essentially a land border half of the year anyway, because of the ice. (0:24:23) Al: Well, not, well, yeah, not allowed is very different from Kant. (0:24:27) Kelly: That’s true. That’s very true. (0:24:29) Al: Anyway, enough about geography. (0:24:32) Al: That’s the Stardew Valley Concert. (0:24:33) Al: Are you going to go to any of them? (0:24:34) Al: You’re going to go to the New Jersey one? (0:24:36) Kelly: Probably not, no. Yeah, probably not. (0:24:44) Kelly: It would be cool, but no. Yeah, no. I’m very excited for you. That is very cool. (0:24:46) Al: I’m excited for it. (0:24:52) Al: We don’t go to stuff very often because kids. (0:24:54) Al: So this year we went to the Stardew Concert (0:24:56) Al: and we went to Hamilton. (0:24:58) Al: Hamilton were in Edinburgh. (0:25:00) Al: And then next year, next year. (0:25:00) Kelly: Oh, nice. What is that? (0:25:02) Al: Next year, we’re going to see six. (0:25:04) Al: I think that’s what it’s called. (0:25:06) Al: So I believe it’s about Henry VIII’s wives. (0:25:08) Kelly: Oh, you know what? I think I might have heard something about this, actually. (0:25:11) Al: You’ll probably have seen music from it on TikTok. (0:25:15) Al: It’s all over the place. (0:25:15) Kelly: Yeah, that makes sense. TikTok is a great marketing ploy for that. (0:25:17) Al: So yeah, so many, so many musicals I’ve learned about that, yeah. (0:25:25) Kelly: Yeah, they’re really catchy. They get stuck in your head really well. (0:25:31) Al: Yeah, it’s a modern retelling of the lives of the six waves of Henry VIII. (0:25:36) Kelly: Okay. That’s cool. Yeah. No, yeah, yeah. Yeah, why not? And that’s fun. And now that you (0:25:38) Al: All I know is the music’s catchy, and Rona wants to see it, and I was like, yeah, let’s (0:25:45) Al: go see it, because I like the music. (0:25:49) Kelly: can, like, now that the kids are a little older and can actually get out a little bit (0:25:53) Kelly: more. It’s like, why not? (0:25:54) Al: So that’s our one for next year. (0:25:56) Al: And then we’ve got the Stardew concert the year after. (0:26:01) Al: Maybe I’ll see Wicked in 2026. (0:26:04) Kelly: Oh, yes, I want that to come out. I want them to release that on the streaming so that I don’t have to go into the theater for it. (0:26:10) Al: So here’s an interesting thing for you, apparently you can go into the New York Public Library (0:26:20) Al: and watch it. (0:26:20) Kelly: Oh, but I didn’t have to go to Manhattan. (0:26:21) Al: No, I know, I know, right? (0:26:26) Al: But you can, at least. (0:26:27) Al: I can’t. (0:26:28) Kelly: Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. That’s fair. That’s fair. That’s fair. (0:26:29) Al: Yes, it would be work, but less work than going to the theatre. (0:26:30) Kelly: It would be a trek to get there and then have to sit there and watch it. (0:26:38) Kelly: Yes. I’ve heard it’s a lot of sing-alongs in the theaters, (0:26:42) Al: Goodness, thankfully, I live in a very, a place where it is unacceptable to sing. (0:26:44) Kelly: which I’m happy for those theater kids, but you know, I don’t, I’m not a theater. (0:26:54) Al: So when we went to see the film, there were not people singing. (0:26:59) Kelly: I wish. (0:27:00) Al: This is what is unusual. (0:27:01) Kelly: My mom, actually. (chuckles) (0:27:02) Al: This is what is unusual is actually the people clapped at the end of it. (0:27:06) Al: I have never had people clap at the end of the film. (0:27:07) Kelly: Oh, it’s like clapping when a flight lands. (0:27:11) Kelly: I hate both of those. (0:27:12) Kelly: I hate those kind of people. (chuckles) (0:27:12) Al: There is one situation where clapping when a flight lands is acceptable, (0:27:16) Kelly: Yes, yes. (0:27:16) Al: and that is when you thought you were going to die. (0:27:18) Kelly: Yeah. (chuckles) (0:27:20) Kelly: Every other time, it’s just like, (0:27:22) Kelly: that guy was just doing his job or her job, (0:27:24) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:27:26) Kelly: like, this is how it should go, don’t clap. (0:27:29) Al: If you thought you were going to die or you’re flying Ryanair. (0:27:35) Al: All right, so let’s get into some game news now. (0:27:37) Al: So the first in the news is Sunheavour. (0:27:40) Al: I’ve announced their UK, Switzerland, and New Zealand release date. (0:27:46) Al: If you’re not up to date with the weird situation here, I will just summarize it. (0:27:51) Al: Sunheaven announced their America’s release date, and then they announced their Asian (0:27:57) Al: release dates. (0:27:59) Al: And then they announced most of Europe and also Australia, but not Switzerland, the United (0:28:05) Al: Kingdom, and New Zealand. (0:28:07) Al: And I, at the time, and still do think they just forgot. (0:28:10) Al: Well, so the Switzerland and United Kingdom I noticed were alphabetically at the end of the list, after all the other countries, so I just think they just copied and pasted incorrectly. (0:28:12) Kelly: ‘Cause I was like, what a weird bunch of countries to kind of like… (0:28:26) Al: I’m not sure why New Zealand, maybe they just forgot it existed, but I’m not 100% sure what the system. (0:28:34) Kelly: Because I would think New Zealand and Australia would be paired together like (0:28:36) Al: Well, so, so, right, OK, so… (0:28:40) Al: The weird thing about… So, the way the eShop works is there are, I think, six different regions. (0:28:47) Al: There is one for North America and one for South America, one for Europe, Australia, (0:28:55) Al: and New Zealand, and South Africa, I believe, and then there’s one for Japan, one for Hong Kong, (0:29:02) Al: and one for South Korea. Was that six? That was six. I believe that’s all of them. (0:29:04) Kelly: Okay. Yeah. (0:29:09) Al: what I understand based. (0:29:10) Al: So I think this is just them like cleaning up after their mistake and not admitting it, (0:29:30) Al: which is weird. And I also think the reason that they got they released it region by region is (0:29:36) Al: because they didn’t realize there were multiple regions until they’d already added it. (0:29:41) Al: To the Americas one. (0:29:42) Kelly: That’s so funny! (0:29:45) Al: And the problem is we don’t know any of this because the Sunhaven developers are very bad (0:29:49) Al: at communicating their discard after they announced the European release date before (0:29:54) Al: they announced that also included United Kingdom Switzerland and New Zealand was just people (0:29:59) Al: saying, so is it not coming to the UK? Is it coming a different date? What’s happening? (0:30:03) Al: And it turns out it’s exactly the same date, which would back up my they just forgot to tell you (0:30:08) Al: about it because there are two. (0:30:10) Al: There is a possibility of that, but I mean, generally the regions are very similar politically. (0:30:29) Kelly: which I could see because it’s like, aren’t some countries kind of (0:30:40) Kelly: Yeah, that’s true. (0:30:41) Al: But if that is the case, what happened was they ticked all of the boxes except the UK, (0:30:48) Al: Switzerland, and New Zealand. They did not check those boxes and then they put in a different (0:30:53) Al: release and checked just those three countries. Because it’s not even like an EU versus not EU (0:31:01) Al: thing, because Norway was in the first release and is not in the EU, and obviously Australia is (0:31:01) Kelly: No, it’s a, it’s a weird. (0:31:06) Al: is not in the EU and Switzerland is not in the EU but for (0:31:10) Al: and purposes regulatorily it is the same and the UK is mostly the same because obviously it was in (0:31:17) Al: the EU until four years ago so it’s a bit of a mess I miss clicks or copy and paste mistake which (0:31:22) Kelly: Yeah, that’s, that’s, that sounds like a misclick, a few misclicks, for sure. (0:31:31) Al: is what I think I think they went and tried to copy the entire list and just missed the last two (0:31:35) Al: of them. (0:31:38) Kelly: and then did not even like acknowledge it or any like. (0:31:41) Al: Yeah well that’s the weird thing right? Like people have been talking about this from the (0:31:45) Al: moment they published their post about it coming to Europe and they said nothing (0:31:51) Al: and so like if they had just it almost feels like they just don’t want to admit their mistakes (0:31:56) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But they could just make a joke about it like this. People would (0:31:56) Al: and but why in such a weird way? Yeah! (0:32:01) Kelly: find it funny like it’s not a it’s an inconsequential mistake like nobody’s. (0:32:06) Al: Yeah. And the people already think they don’t communicate. And so making this weird like, (0:32:13) Al: oh, we weren’t wrong. We were right all along. Thing just makes it seem even weirder. Oh, (0:32:22) Al: anyway, living on. We have one DLC release. So Everdream Valley have announced a family (0:32:31) Al: time DLC. This is coming to Steam on the 6th of December and then in consoles. (0:32:36) Al: Next year Q1. This has new story quests, new NPCs, new animals and new furniture. That’s (0:32:45) Al: an interesting thing to put in a DLC. Well, quests, were quests, animals and furniture. (0:32:52) Al: I guess NPCs like, I guess that’s not an unusual thing to put like new characters in, but the (0:32:54) Kelly: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, like I could see, like a lot of games will do like a new DLC with (0:33:03) Kelly: more quests. You know, so maybe. Yeah, yeah, that’s how I would take it. Yeah, like it’s (0:33:04) Al: Mm hmm. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I guess. Yeah. They’re not saying like this is by the DLC to get (0:33:10) Al: quests. It’s the DLC comes with quests. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. The furniture (0:33:13) Kelly: like additional furniture, additional quests, additional NPCs kind of thing that that’s I (0:33:17) Kelly: could be wrong. But that’s how I would read it. Yeah, that’s just add on. (0:33:19) Al: is, I guess, not weird because it’s just like that’s pretty common thing. And then we have (0:33:24) Al: three updates to games. Snacko have released their builder’s dream update, which I’m sure (0:33:30) Al: you can guess where that is. It’s a whole bunch of crafting building stuff. (0:33:34) Al: Lots of good improvements. And I guess we’re not getting Snacko 1.0 this year. (0:33:41) Al: We’re probably getting next year. Because that’s 0.9.5. So close. (0:33:44) Kelly: They intentionally just decided we’re going to add a few more digits into this. (0:33:55) Kelly: It looks so cute though, I wanted to come out. (0:33:57) Al: Yeah, at this point I’m like, because I’ve not played it since the early access came out, (0:34:01) Al: I did play a very early alpha of it. Because I’ve not played it since the early access (0:34:07) Al: come out, at this point I’m like, I just need to wait for the 1.0, right? (0:34:10) Kelly: Yeah. Yeah, because I feel like at this point, it’s like if you don’t wait for the 1.0, (0:34:15) Kelly: like what are you getting out of the 1.0 when it comes out? (0:34:17) Al: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. I will, I will say, I will say, Snacko Devs, listen to me. (0:34:25) Al: We’re good friends, we’ve talked before. (0:34:27) Al: Listen to me now, do not release this in December. (0:34:30) Al: You released the early access last December. (0:34:32) Al: Do not, do not do this. (0:34:35) Al: I beg of you, January, January’s fine. (0:34:39) Al: Do not release your 1.0 in December. (0:34:41) Al: I will cry. (0:34:43) Al: I will cry. (0:34:44) Al: Thank you. (0:34:45) Kelly: - You’re gonna release it December 31st at… (0:34:48) Al: That’s OK, that’s December 31st is fine. (0:34:50) Al: That’s basically January, because I will have recorded all the episodes by then (0:34:54) Al: for the year. It’s not like I need to then rush it, right? (0:34:57) Al: As a 2024 game, it was December the 31st. (0:35:00) Kelly: Also, I just love in their little notes the difference in communication where they literally (0:35:08) Kelly: have screenshots from the Discord talking about part of the updates here. (0:35:10) Al: Mm. Yeah. (0:35:13) Al: That is such a good point. (0:35:14) Al: Snacko Dev is fantastic with communication. (0:35:16) Al: Like they are literally just in the Discord talking to people. (0:35:20) Al: Sunhaven, I have never seen a single one of them talk in the Discord. (0:35:26) Al: Yeah, definitely. (0:35:28) Al: Spiritity have released their Phantom Friends update, which adds a… (0:35:33) Al: You can have your spirits as pets now. (0:35:40) Al: Interesting change. (0:35:40) Kelly: to like follow you around. (0:35:41) Al: If, yeah, yeah, they follow you around and replace your existing… (0:35:48) Al: No, they don’t replace your existing spirit companion. (0:35:50) Al: They add to… (0:35:53) Kelly: I wonder if I should give this game another chance. (0:35:55) Kelly: It seems like they’ve added so much since I last played. (0:35:57) Al: possibly, yeah. (0:36:00) Kelly: But I have enough other farming games. (0:36:08) Kelly: That’s that. That was my issue. (0:36:13) Kelly: Yeah. (0:36:18) Kelly: Now that is a good point, because I feel like I just at its core, (0:36:21) Kelly: I felt kind of listless playing the game. (0:36:25) Kelly: So, yeah, I think you do have a good point. (0:36:27) Kelly: I just like I want to like it so much. (0:36:30) Al: I agree. I also want to like it. Um, but I guess about it, that counts, right? (0:36:36) Kelly: - Yeah, it does have very positive reviews, (0:36:38) Kelly: so obviously other people are enjoying it. (0:36:39) Al: Which is good, which is good. And it’s, you know, yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Um, (0:36:39) Kelly: So I’m glad, yeah, I’m glad. (0:36:41) Kelly: ‘Cause I do like, I like the whole concept. (0:36:47) Al: and it’s over 500 reviews as well. So it’s not, it’s not like they’re, they must be getting (0:36:52) Al: enough. That’s, you know, 500 reviews means quite a lot more people buying it, right? Because (0:36:57) Al: most people do not review your game. (0:37:00) Kelly: Yeah, no, I don’t think I think I’ve reviewed like two games (0:37:00) Al: I don’t know if I’ve reviewed any of them on Steam. (0:37:09) Al: They’ve also added new spirits, so that’s what you care about in the game, right? (0:37:15) Al: The spirits. (0:37:16) Al: So there you go. (0:37:19) Al: And the final update is Far Lands. (0:37:22) Al: I’ve released their 0.3 update. (0:37:25) Al: This is the biggest update Far Lands has seen to date. (0:37:30) Al: It adds achievements, which is always a good thing. (0:37:34) Al: Another game we’re about to talk about later on in this episode could have. (0:37:37) Al: That would be great. (0:37:38) Al: Please and thank you. (0:37:42) Kelly: I also love achievements. (0:37:44) Kelly: It’s honestly one of the big things (0:37:45) Kelly: that I really like from not playing (0:37:47) Kelly: as many games on the Switch and switching over to PC. (0:37:48) Al: Mm, yeah, I wonder if, well, almost every game feels a mystery. I wonder if, because (0:37:51) Kelly: I’m like, oh, achievements in every game. (0:37:54) Kelly: How nice. (0:37:59) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:38:05) Al: obviously they have been slowly getting more and more features as they get a lot, you know, (0:38:10) Al: like the 3DS added a bunch of stuff that other games, other systems had, and then the Switch (0:38:16) Al: called Mostly Modern. (0:38:18) Al: Maybe the next switch you’ll have. (0:38:23) Kelly: Maybe. I always wonder, I didn’t know what the issue was, to be honest, because I know (0:38:28) Kelly: when some people, what is it called, port the games to the Switch, like I know for HoloNet (0:38:34) Kelly: I can’t do video screenshots. I could do plain image screenshots. Yeah, because I think it’s (0:38:37) Al: Yeah, interesting. That, so I believe the video screenshots is something they can disable. (0:38:46) Kelly: about how hard it is for the person porting it to, I guess… Okay. (0:38:51) Al: I don’t think that requires any work on their point. I think it’s more a case of they didn’t (0:38:53) Kelly: Which is, yeah, because it’s weird, because you can record it on every other device. But (0:38:55) Al: want to add that feature. I’m not sure why, but… Yeah. (0:39:03) Kelly: that was also one of the ones where I don’t have achievements, and I know there’s achievements (0:39:06) Kelly: for that game. Yeah. (0:39:07) Al: And some games add them into the game itself, like they’ll add, but that’s a lot of work. (0:39:11) Al: The whole point of the achievements in Steam and stuff is that they’re very easy to do, (0:39:16) Al: because it’s literally just, “Here’s my list of achievements,” and then you put in the code to say (0:39:20) Al: when the achievement is hit. Yeah, because it doesn’t have… Switch doesn’t have an achievement (0:39:22) Kelly: Oh, so that’s the issue is that it’s just hard to add them in on the switch, like the switch doesn’t make it okay. (0:39:29) Al: system. So if you want to have it on the Switch, you have to build it entirely yourself. And it (0:39:34) Kelly: Uh, I’m dumb. I understand now. (0:39:34) Al: And it would be only within game because there are a. (0:39:38) Al: Couple of games that have done that they’ve recreated the achievement system in their own game, but then it only works for that game and it takes a lot of work to do that. (0:39:40) Kelly: Mm hmm. (0:39:42) Kelly: Mm hmm. (0:39:46) Kelly: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. That makes a lot more sense. (0:39:47) Al: Whereas with steam and with Xbox and with PlayStation there’s a piece of code that they can call which just does the achievement for them so. (0:39:54) Kelly: Okay, I knew it was something to do with how it set up, but I never looked into the actual basic why behind it (0:40:02) Al: They’ve added to upgrade system as well. (0:40:04) Al: They’ve added food, they’ve added house upgrade system, they’ve added new (0:40:07) Al: furniture, they’ve added guests and better NPCs, one of which looks like a xenomorph. (0:40:12) Al: Not sure why. (0:40:14) Kelly: I like his jacket. (0:40:14) Al: Legally distinct, legally distinct xenomorph. (0:40:20) Al: Yeah, it looks like a pretty big update. (0:40:21) Al: I haven’t played this game yet. I do want that. (0:40:24) Kelly: Yeah, it’s on my list of games to check out. I just I tried to avoid most early access, honestly. (0:40:33) Al: Good thing we’re not talking about an early access today then (0:40:39) Kelly: Is it generally? (0:40:42) Al: So that’s the game updates. (0:40:43) Al: We now have three new games to talk about, (0:40:47) Al: the first of which actually, no, let’s go the other way around. (0:40:49) Al: Let’s talk about Dreamland Farm first, (0:40:51) Al: because I think this will be the quickest to talk about. (0:40:55) Al: Dreamland Farm. (0:40:56) Al: Since childhood, you’ve dreamed of being close to nature, (0:40:59) Al: but being born and raised in the city stood in the way of that. (0:41:02) Al: The closer you were to adulthood, the more time you spent with your grandma, (0:41:05) Al: who showed you all around her own farm, from crops to berries and mushrooms, (0:41:09) Al: everything she knew, she taught you, she prepared you to be her (0:41:12) Al: successor. I mean that’s just every farming game. I don’t know. I don’t know. And what (0:41:16) Kelly: - Yeah, why do they all do that? (0:41:19) Al: I find really interesting is like, so if you have a farming game, the description should (0:41:25) Al: tell you what’s different about it. Don’t be like, oh, it’s a farming game. It’s like, (0:41:27) Kelly: Yeah. This time it’s your uncle and not your grandpa. (0:41:28) Al: yeah, we know that, right? It’s like, if you have, yeah, exactly, exactly. It’s like, come (0:41:36) Al: on. Let’s not, let’s not pretend. This one looks… (0:41:42) Al: Pretty… I don’t see anything unique in this, personally. (0:41:46) Kelly: I only gave it a cursory glance and it does look pretty. (0:41:52) Kelly: It doesn’t look like it’s breaking any boxes or molds or whatever though. (0:41:56) Al: But equally I also didn’t think about Fields of Mistria and didn’t want to play that until I decided, until it got a lot of buzz and I was like okay it’s time to play this one, you know, like, sometimes you can’t tell without playing it, which is a PR problem, obviously. (0:42:12) Kelly: Which goes back to your point of pointing out the differences (0:42:14) Kelly: and not the similarities. (0:42:19) Kelly: That’s what you need to get in touch with all the devs (0:42:22) Kelly: about is changing their PR management. (0:42:26) Al: I will be your PR. (0:42:29) Al: No, no, I will not. (0:42:32) Al: That is very much a conflict of interests. (0:42:36) Al: This one interestingly, so it’s now it’s on Switch and Xbox, it is not on Steam, which (0:42:41) Al: is interesting. (0:42:42) Kelly: Oh, that feels so backwards. (0:42:43) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:42:47) Al: I wonder why. (0:42:48) Kelly: I wonder right too, especially if it’s on x. (0:42:49) Al: Yeah, because it’s not like it’s they had an exclusivity deal with Switch, because then (0:42:54) Al: and they wouldn’t be on Xbox. (0:42:57) Al: And the Xbox version did come out like a week after the Switch version. (0:43:01) Al: That’s not long enough for it to be an exclusivity. (0:43:04) Kelly: - No. (laughs) (0:43:04) Al: So yeah, weird. (0:43:07) Al: I don’t know, I’ll keep an eye on it. (0:43:09) Kelly: Hopefully it’s good. (0:43:09) Kelly: Hopefully they got something unique in it. (0:43:11) Al: Yeah, yeah, hopefully. (0:43:13) Al: Hopefully. (0:43:14) Al: It’s 10 pounds. (0:43:16) Al: Is it 15 dollars? (0:43:18) Al: Probably. (0:43:20) Kelly: Probably something like that, yeah. (0:43:22) Al: So it feels cheap enough to like buy it and play it. (0:43:26) Al: And if you’re not bothered by it, then it’s not the end of the world sort of thing. (0:43:30) Al: Next we have RATOPIA. (0:43:33) Al: RATOPIA. (0:43:35) Al: I keep wanting to say RATOPIA, but it’s only one T, so it’s definitely RATOPIA. (0:43:38) Kelly: Uh, to be fair, I say rat topia (0:43:41) Al: Yeah, but there’s no second T. (0:43:42) Kelly: Well, he sounds better I know but it’s funner to say that way (0:43:47) Kelly: For the podcast, I will say rat topia (0:43:50) Al: RATOPIA. RATOPIA is a new game that is combined first of all, a new game, come on. What is (0:44:01) Al: that? I just feel like sometimes I feel like this this podcast is just me editing and critiquing (0:44:07) Al: the descriptions of games. Is a new game. Yeah, we know that. Don’t add that in. Also (0:44:13) Al: just a point, you don’t need to put your name in the description because your name is elsewhere (0:44:17) Al: on the page, right? Just right. (0:44:19) Kelly: Uh, you sound like somebody’s like third grade English teacher critiquing their (0:44:20)

Al and Kev talk about Balatro Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:04: What Have We Been Up To 00:14:32: Game News 00:50:58: New Games 01:00:19: Balatro 01:49:09: Outro Links Len’s Island 1.0 Delay Amber Isle Switch Delay Sun Haven Switch Asia Release Sun Haven Switch Europe Release Coral Island 1.1b Update Lightyear Frontier “Trailblazer” Update Sakuna Chronicles: Kokorowa and the Gears of Creation Farmagia Anime Trailer Hobnobbers Desktop Cat Cafe Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, and (0:00:36) Kev: My name is Kevin. (0:00:38) Al: we’re here today to talk about cottagecore games, and also one that’s very much not a (0:00:42) Kev: Woo. (0:00:44) Al: cottagecore game. Well, two, two games that are very much not a cottagecore games. (0:00:49) Kev: Well, I don’t know. (0:00:53) Kev: Actually, I don’t know which one you’re referring to. (0:00:55) Kev: But you’re referring to our main one. (0:00:57) Kev: How could you say it’s not? (0:00:58) Kev: It has both David Diver and Stardew Valley. (0:01:00) Al: I mean, I feel like there’s debates as to whether Dave the Diver is Cottagecore, but (0:01:07) Al: anyway, let’s not get into that right now. (0:01:08) Kev: » [LAUGH] (0:01:10) Kev: » There’s farming, how could it not be? (0:01:12) Al: Well, we are here to talk about bilateral. (0:01:17) Al: Now, why are you talking about bilateral? (0:01:19) Al: You might say it’s not a Cottagecore game. (0:01:21) Al: Well, they added a Stardew pack to it. (0:01:22) Kev: Yeah (0:01:24) Al: That’s why we’re talking about it. (0:01:26) Kev: That is the sole reason I mean, let’s let’s be real (0:01:29) Al: because me and Kevin both were (0:01:30) Al: playing it and it felt like an easy episode to do. So that’s what we’re doing. (0:01:32) Kev: Yeah (0:01:34) Kev: Also (0:01:36) Kev: And let’s not forget real the real reason right are not rogue likes robo glights etc runner up on this (0:01:43) Al: Oh, yes, we’re here today to talk about roguelites. (0:01:46) Kev: It was inevitable (0:01:50) Kev: Every time you put (0:01:52) Kev: this episode, it’s a different opening. (0:01:57) Al: All right, cool. Well, yes, so we’re going to we’re going to talk about bilateral. (0:02:00) Al: Before that, obviously, we have a good chunk of news. (0:02:04) Al: First of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:08) Kev: uh I have been up to um oh not terribly a lot this week has been particularly busy and uh (0:02:18) Kev: uh tumultuous let’s say um uh yeah yeah it is um no um I won’t get into it here you can (0:02:21) Al: That’s a good word. Not a good situation, but a good word. (0:02:29) Kev: just ask elsewhere if you want it’s not not a fun but anyways um uh what what little game time i (0:02:36) Kev: have. I’m (0:02:38) Kev: enjoying the cards that have come out more or less. They’re decent, they’re not game breakers. (0:02:49) Kev: I like the wolf. It’s another Loki, Asgard, Norse mythology theme month and we get stuff like Freya, (0:02:58) Kev: the Fenris Wolf, Malekith. I’m having fun with it. Thanos got a buff recently and I’ve been playing (0:03:05) Kev: the Thanos deck with a… (0:03:08) Kev: and I’ve been having a lot of fun with him. (0:03:11) Kev: I like Thanos and his whole gimmick with something in the stones and the stretch. (0:03:16) Kev: You can do it with that. (0:03:17) Al: Yep. (0:03:17) Kev: Yeah, you’ve been playing. (0:03:18) Al: It’s definitely a fun deck. (0:03:20) Kev: It is, yeah. (0:03:22) Kev: It’s maybe not the highest risk, high reward, but it can be easily stomped on. (0:03:29) Kev: You know, you got your Shang-Chis, you’ve got a lot of counters for it running around (0:03:34) Kev: because Surtr has been pretty popular since the season passed. (0:03:39) Al: Yeah, I have. A bit more on and off this season, but yeah, still enjoying it. I’m still running (0:03:48) Al: my Black Panther symbiote deck. (0:03:52) Kev: That that’s it. It’s a it is such a solid one like the symbiote supposed to be that spider-man really added a (0:04:01) Kev: Insure consistency I think to that in fact that was really needed (0:04:02) Al: Yeah, it has. I mean, its main issue is Shrunki, which is obviously more common now, as you (0:04:10) Al: say, with the Serter deck, which is causing me a bit of a problem. And the other issue (0:04:13) Kev: yep (0:04:17) Al: is just everything needs to go right. Like, if you don’t, I mean, there are ways around (0:04:20) Kev: Yeah (0:04:23) Al: it, right? Like, there are. Yeah. And a lot of (0:04:24) Kev: There’s a couple of backup strategies, but the bread and butter has to be done in a very certain order definitely (0:04:32) Al: the backups require Wong, and the problem is that everybody seems to have a rogue, so (0:04:38) Al: they just steal your Wong, which is not great. But yeah, it’s getting me there. I’m still (0:04:46) Al: stuck in my 70s, because that’s where I always seem to get stuck. (0:04:48) Kev: Ah, you know what, it’s not just you. (0:04:51) Kev: I am also stuck in the 70s. (0:04:54) Kev: I don’t know what it is, if it’s like… (0:04:59) Kev: It’s probably something to do with like, (0:05:01) Kev: you know, the bell curve and whatnot, right? (0:05:04) Kev: Like 70s feels like this is where (0:05:06) Kev: a lot of the dedicated players are, right? (0:05:09) Kev: and probably the largest pop (0:05:12) Kev: it feels like. It is a lot. I don’t blame you at all because I’m there too. (0:05:20) Al: I hope to get up to 80 pretty soon then I can have some actual time to focus on the 90 to 100 (0:05:26) Al: because I suspect I’ll get to 90 very quickly because once you hit 80 it’s like you zoom up to 90 (0:05:28) Kev: Yeah, oh yeah, yep, though, that’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. (0:05:33) Al: but then the 90 to 100 takes a lot of work as well so I’d really like to be able to get there (0:05:38) Al: this time. Yeah, the usual with that. (0:05:40) Kev: Um, yeah, so yeah, snap’s good. (0:05:46) Kev: Um, aside from that, a lot of my usual dialog into Zen with zero frequently, (0:05:53) Kev: and I’m still playing that daily with Calvin, because I don’t know. (0:05:58) Kev: Um, a lot of the time this week, though, uh, was dedicated to the wrapping (0:06:03) Kev: up of Bowser’s inside story, the third Mario and Luigi game. (0:06:08) Kev: Uh, you can check out our thy full review on Rainbow Road radio, the (0:06:13) Kev: Mario theme podcast study with our mutual friend, Alex. (0:06:16) Kev: Um, but that game is so, so good. (0:06:23) Kev: Um, it’s, it’s the, the Bowser part of the game. (0:06:28) Kev: Over the top, right? (0:06:28) Kev: Cause it has the Mario and Luigi, you know, foundations and that’s pretty solid. (0:06:32) Kev: Right. (0:06:33) Kev: You know, you can obviously not everyone’s plan of it, like, you know, the (0:06:36) Kev: dynamic blocking and timing and all that. (0:06:39) Kev: Um, and, and I think actually this, this one is a little, uh, a little more intense (0:06:44) Kev: than other, some of the other entries, but, uh, the Bowser stuff is so well done. (0:06:48) Kev: Obviously everyone knows I’m a huge Bowser for Nanak, but they just translated him so (0:06:53) Kev: well, you feel like you’re playing as Bowser, the big boss who does the big (0:06:58) Kev: and he’s ridiculous and charismatic and overconfident it’s, it’s so much fun. (0:07:04) Kev: Um, yeah, hardy thumbs up for that one for sure. (0:07:08) Kev: Um, but yeah, that’s, uh, that I think is roughly what I’ve been up to. (0:07:15) Kev: Oh, oh yes. (0:07:16) Kev: I’ve been, that’s what I’ve been up to. (0:07:18) Kev: But, uh, I mean, I don’t know when folks might hear an update on this, but. (0:07:23) Kev: I’ll, I’ve been getting niche. (0:07:25) Kev: I think I want to do a shiny hunt. (0:07:26) Kev: I’m scared. (0:07:28) Kev: I don’t know. I’m still– I’ve been looking, timing and hauling. There’s a couple of hunts (0:07:35) Kev: I never got to, like one in Sword and Shield for Larry and Meowth, the shiny gold kitty. (0:07:42) Kev: Yeah, I might go for that. But Micah was streaming just this week. He’s been streaming (0:07:49) Kev: again late in the past week and right beyond. Shout out to Micah. He’s got a little podcast he (0:07:56) Kev: does now with (0:07:58) Kev: shiny hunting actually on site. (0:08:01) Kev: Look up the name. (0:08:02) Kev: I forget the name of that. (0:08:03) Kev: I feel bad. (0:08:04) Kev: I’ll find it and then shout it out. (0:08:06) Kev: But but yeah, that’s really what’s been getting to me. (0:08:10) Kev: But but like I said that is yet to happen. (0:08:11) Al: It is called, it’s called the soft reset. (0:08:14) Kev: Soft reset. (0:08:15) Kev: Thank you very much. (0:08:16) Kev: There you go. (0:08:16) Kev: So go check that out. (0:08:18) Kev: There’s only like two episodes. (0:08:20) Kev: There’s not any regular schedule, but you know, Mike has always (0:08:24) Kev: a joy to listen to. (0:08:24) Kev: So I was happy to tune in too. (0:08:28) Kev: - Uh, what about you, L? (0:08:29) Kev: What’s been going on with you? (0:08:31) Al: I obviously talked about Snap, so I’ve been playing that, I’ve been playing Pocket, although (0:08:37) Al: the last week that’s mostly just been open some packs, and that’s about it because the (0:08:45) Al: events that we’re running are mostly finished now. There’s another Wonder Pick event, but (0:08:51) Al: that doesn’t take a lot of extra time, it’s not one of the battle events. (0:08:56) Al: But yeah, I’m very much at the end point. (0:09:00) Al: of the current set, so it’s pretty much like I’ve got maybe like five normal cards to get (0:09:09) Al: and then just a bunch of the secret rares which takes a long time to get them because they’re (0:09:15) Al: very rare. I think most of them are like 1% chance each deck. (0:09:20) Kev: Oh, goody. Of course, but uh, you know, I say to someone who just talked about shiny hunting gotta gotta pull that slot machine, right? (0:09:25) Al: you (0:09:25) Al: you (0:09:31) Al: Yeah, there was a person on Reddit who posted saying that they’d completed (0:09:35) Al: the set and it took them $1,500 to do it. (0:09:39) Kev: Oh, oh that hurts that hurts like (0:09:43) Al: And you’re like, “Oh my word, that is insane. I cannot imagine (0:09:48) Al: spending $1,500 on digital trading cards.” (0:09:52) Kev: See I could, okay, I mean, no, no, well sure, sure, sure, sure, yeah, but not even that, (0:09:56) Al: Okay, fine. It depends on how much money you have if you’re a billionaire (0:10:01) Al: Sure, sure. In that situation, I could justify it, right? (0:10:06) Kev: right? (0:10:06) Kev: Like of course the layman, it’s ridiculous, right? (0:10:08) Kev: But what I was going to say is like, I don’t, specifically on pocket is what blows my mind (0:10:15) Kev: because, you know, the, well, I don’t know, maybe I say this like the functionality, obviously, (0:10:22) Kev: um, uh, live these, you know, the standard card game, I think leans a little bit more (0:10:27) Kev: heavier into the, the actual playing of the game, right? (0:10:29) Kev: And since that goes hand in hand with the physical card game, I think that would be (0:10:34) Kev: a little more sense or I understand it a little more because, you know, people are invested (0:10:40) Kev: there because it’s the competitive nature on it and whatnot. (0:10:44) Kev: And I mean, pocket does have that, but it doesn’t, I think, emphasize it as much. (0:10:46) Al: I don’t I don’t get the difference between that like yet sure technically live is more battle (0:10:54) Al: focused however like they’re both you know a little world digital world garden right and they (0:11:00) Kev: Yeah (0:11:01) Al: both have battles they both have collections like one is a one is and one is a better app it is more (0:11:03) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:11:08) Al: enjoyable to play pocket than it is to play live live is just a bad app (0:11:11) Kev: True true and you know what actually I take it back because (0:11:17) Kev: Pokemon like the card game is (0:11:19) Kev: deep relatively compared to other card games because (0:11:24) Kev: You know the rarity the high money cards are just alternate arts (0:11:28) Kev: generally speaking, right, like they’re, (0:11:30) Kev: the pretty arts or whatever, right? Other card games, that’s not necessarily the case. Rare cards (0:11:36) Kev: are very good and strong, but only printed at high rarities. So people will spend big money on that. (0:11:44) Kev: So, you know what? I take it back. No, I don’t get how you spend 50. Oh, my gosh. (0:11:47) Al: Yeah, it’s a lot, it’s a lot of money. (0:11:52) Kev: Probably going to write it as a tax write off and business expense. (0:11:55) Al: Yeah, I suspect they’re just a person who works in tech and they’re single, they have (0:12:03) Al: no kids. (0:12:04) Al: So because they work in tech, they have a lot of money and they have nothing else to (0:12:04) Kev: Oh. (0:12:07) Al: spend on except themselves. (0:12:08) Kev: Oh. (0:12:09) Kev: Oh, I have the, you know. (0:12:12) Kev: If any listeners out there happen to be in such a situation, hit me up. (0:12:16) Kev: I could certainly give you a few recommendations on how to use that money. (0:12:20) Al: I mean you know that well this is yeah yeah well I mean this is the thing right like you (0:12:21) Kev: I know a guy who needs a new car. (0:12:29) Al: know there are a lot of you know young single people in the US with very high salaries and (0:12:38) Al: very little else to do with them especially with remote working (0:12:39) Kev: Yep, I mean that does explain the large amount of Teslas I see in the area. (0:12:43) Al: hahaha (0:12:50) Al: um yeah well that’s a that’s a whole other thing I judge people differently depending (0:12:55) Al: on which Tesla they have because if they have one of the original Tesla’s sure fine you (0:13:00) Al: had a decent amount of money and you wanted to wanted to buy a decent electric car there (0:13:00) Kev: Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. You know what? Yeah, I was about to say. Yeah, no, no, no. I was (0:13:03) Al: wasn’t anything else if you have a cyber truck if you have a cyber truck you are a (0:13:07) Al: terrible human being yeah yeah (0:13:11) Kev: about to say that. Yeah, a correction. I meant the large amount of Cybertrucks I see in the (0:13:15) Kev: area. You’re right. Yes. No, like there is a market for the, you know, the previous earlier (0:13:19) Kev: Teslas or whatever, especially early on, right? Yeah, absolutely. But like, yeah, yeah. Mmm. (0:13:28) Al: I really feel sorry for the people who bought the first Tezlas, and now they look like Elon lovers. (0:13:34) Kev: Oh boy. (0:13:37) Al: Goodbye. Anyway, so yeah, Snap Pocket, and I’ve also been playing quite a bit of Fields of (0:13:43) Al: Mistria, so may or may not have a reason for that, and may or may not talk about that in a future (0:13:49) Al: episode. We’ll see, but yeah, no, been playing through that. It’s interesting, because… (0:13:50) Kev: Oh, okay, wait, which, hold on, I have to look it up. (0:13:59) Kev: There’s many, oh, okay. (0:14:01) Kev: Here it is. (0:14:01) Kev: Yeah. (0:14:01) Kev: The nineties anime looking one. (0:14:03) Kev: Yeah, yeah. (0:14:04) Kev: Okay. (0:14:04) Kev: I got it. (0:14:05) Kev: All right. (0:14:05) Kev: Okay. (0:14:06) Kev: That’s, that’s interesting. (0:14:07) Kev: I’m keen to hear thoughts on that from some people, maybe in the future, (0:14:11) Kev: who knows, you know, you never know. (0:14:13) Al: Maybe, no promises, never promises. (0:14:16) Kev: Oh, I promise I’ll, I’ll promise you all the time. (0:14:20) Kev: Are some pretty anime people in fields of mystery. (0:14:25) Al: Yes, yep, oh, yep, all right, so we’re going to talk about some news now. (0:14:25) Kev: Do you like sailor moon and nineties anime? (0:14:28) Kev: Cause there you go. (0:14:28) Kev: There’s all your show Jovis. (0:14:30) Kev: You can basically see the sparkles. (0:14:38) Al: First up, we have Lens Island 1.0 has been delayed until mid-2025, they have said this (0:14:44) Kev: Okay. (0:14:47) Al: is because the game is not quite complete. (0:14:50) Al: Now, interestingly, they didn’t talk about it in our like, oh, it’s just like too buggy (0:14:54) Al: or whatever, which quite often– (0:14:56) Al: but no, they specifically talked about how they don’t feel like the story fully ties together (0:15:03) Al: properly, and it feels like it’s missing something. And that’s really interesting. And I really– (0:15:04) Kev: Mm-hmm okay it is (0:15:10) Al: I mean, obviously, just in general, I think that we obviously respect delays. Delays are fine. (0:15:15) Al: Get your game working well. But this is a particularly interesting one, because they (0:15:20) Al: could have done what Color Island did, which is just like, we’re just going to do it. We’re just (0:15:24) Al: just going to release and we’ll. (0:15:25) Al: Add more stuff later and it will feel incomplete, but so what? (0:15:26) Kev: story later yep yeah yeah yeah and like it’s a very tricky thin white line to (0:15:30) Al: But they’ve not done that. (0:15:31) Al: They’ve decided, no, no, we want it to be, we want it to feel complete. (0:15:36) Al: And I think that is absolutely the right way to do these things. (0:15:44) Kev: walk because right because yes I fully agree right there looking for a island (0:15:49) Kev: yes they should have waited to release a more fully realized 1.0 there a lot of (0:15:55) Kev: games up do then that’s that’s not (0:15:56) Kev: great. Right. And then there’s the other end of the spectrum, (0:16:00) Al: Yeah. Well, to be fair, to be fair, we don’t know the reason that Silksong is delayed. (0:16:01) Kev: right? That feature creep and just perfectionism. Looking at (0:16:06) Kev: you silk song, right? Like they Oh, okay. Sure, you’re you’re (0:16:12) Al: Like it could be that, it could be something else. We don’t actually know what the issue (0:16:16) Al: is with Silksong. But there are, there is, Re-Legend is a good example of that in this (0:16:19) Kev: right. But it’s plausible. Yeah. (0:16:26) Al: this area, right? Like they just kept adding things and kept adding things. (0:16:30) Al: And, uh, yeah. (0:16:33) Kev: Yeah, absolutely, but the way they framed it (0:16:35) Al: Also, Shikiji Island, which is a particularly bad one, (0:16:37) Al: because they’re adding extra features into the first version of Early Access. (0:16:41) Al: They’re not even releasing their 1.0, they’re releasing their Early Access (0:16:45) Al: and they’re like, “Oh, we want to wait until we’ve added romance.” (0:16:48) Al: And you’re like, “It’s just me, it’s an Early Access.” (0:16:49) Kev: Oh, no, oh (0:16:53) Kev: That’s rough. Oh gosh. Yeah, that’s well regardless (0:16:57) Al: So yeah, you’re right, there absolutely is a fine line there. (0:17:00) Kev: Yeah (0:17:00) Al: On the right side of the line, um, I think this is good. (0:17:03) Kev: The way they framed it and it’s a good degree of self-awareness like I you know, I absolutely (0:17:11) Kev: Props to them for uh, making that call. Um, assuming they’re you know, they’re on the money with for your sake (0:17:17) Kev: Um, so yeah, and obviously no shortage of other stuff to play so no rush (0:17:22) Al: Yes, my end of year was looking quite stressful, so thank you. (0:17:29) Kev: Thank you. (0:17:32) Al: Personally, I would like to say thank you for delaying. I do not speak for everybody. (0:17:37) Kev: You know what? You know what? I’d like to say thank you to someone else for delaying now. (0:17:44) Kev: I’d like to thank Amberisle for delaying. There’s so much reliefs. (0:17:46) Al: I thought you were disappointed by the switch release being delayed initially. (0:17:52) Kev: I was, but living where I am now, you know what? That’s fine. I could use in the new year. (0:17:57) Al: So, okay, so context here is they, was it the beginning of February? Sorry, the beginning (0:17:59) Kev: I have enough to keep me on my toes. That’s fine. (0:18:03) Kev: - You’re fine. (0:18:09) Al: of November that the Steam version came out, I think. And they said that the, yeah, and (0:18:12) Kev: Yeah, it is already out is (0:18:16) Al: they said the Switch release was delayed until later in November. And I feel like I remember (0:18:22) Al: us discussing this, Kevin, and saying that doesn’t feel, two weeks doesn’t feel like (0:18:26) Al: a lot of extra time. (0:18:28) Al: And I was theorizing that perhaps, I mean, we’ll have to go back and check the transcripts, (0:18:28) Kev: Oh gosh, yeah. (0:18:35) Al: but I was theorizing that perhaps it might get delayed again, and it has been delayed again. (0:18:40) Al: It is now delayed till February of 2025, which is obviously quite a bit more. (0:18:46) Kev: And yeah, yeah, just yeah, yeah, absolutely. (0:18:47) Al: Obviously, complicated by Christmas, right? (0:18:49) Al: Obviously, it’s not actually delayed by another three months. (0:18:53) Al: It’s probably more like two months, because December is a complicated time. (0:18:57) Al: But it’s not a big deal. (0:18:59) Kev: It is, you know, I will say, like, reading, you know, when you put the link, you can see (0:18:59) Al: It’s a big deal. (0:19:04) Kev: the link of their full explanation and whatnot. (0:19:08) Kev: They will say they’re aiming to have the Switch release to be a parody with the Steam release, (0:19:14) Kev: like all the updates and– (0:19:17) Kev: to see if it matches up to that point, so that’s a little (0:19:21) Kev: understandable. I get that. Sorry, I’m just reading it here. (0:19:28) Kev: Oh, it’s going to be on discount on Steam. That’s nice. But (0:19:33) Kev: yeah, I mean, the game is out, right? It’s not on Steam. I want (0:19:36) Kev: it on Switch, of course, but you know, that’s understandable. (0:19:41) Kev: Obviously, the Switch has a long history of not always being the (0:19:48) Al: Yeah, cool. Sunhaven have announced their release dates for their other regions. (0:19:55) Al: So they’d announced the US release was on the 29th of the sorry, the the Americas (0:20:00) Al: release was the 29th of November. (0:20:04) Al: They’ve now also announced that the Japan, (0:20:06) Al: South Korea and Hong Kong releases are also the 29th of November. (0:20:15) Al: Which I love my conspiracies. (0:20:18) Al: This proves my point that they didn’t understand there were multiple eShop (0:20:21) Al: regions, because why two separate announcements for the same day? (0:20:22) Kev: yeah yeah you know what you’re probably right (0:20:30) Al: Just saying. (0:20:30) Kev: here’s I one thousand percent you’re absolutely right (0:20:35) Kev: oh that’s that’s good oh that’s (0:20:39) Kev: oh I mean I feel bad for things because that’s rough but it’s also really funny (0:20:42) Al: Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure. (0:20:44) Al: It’s not amazing, but yeah, for sure. (0:20:48) Al: Yeah. And. (0:20:50) Kev: But for us, that’s content. (0:20:52) Al: Well, true, they’ve also announced their (0:20:55) Al: Europe release date, which is the 16th of December. (0:20:59) Al: Interestingly, they listed the countries that were it was releasing in and it (0:21:04) Al: doesn’t include so I compared this list because I noticed it didn’t have the UK. (0:21:09) Al: So I was like, this is weird. (0:21:10) Al: Why doesn’t it have the UK? (0:21:12) Al: And I compared this list to the list of (0:21:14) Al: countries that the eShop is available in Europe. (0:21:18) Al: And the only countries missing from it are Russia, which I feel like maybe the (0:21:23) Al: list of eShop regions probably isn’t up to date, and I wouldn’t be surprised if (0:21:26) Al: Russia isn’t an eShop region anymore. So that’s one. And the other two are (0:21:28) Kev: Uh huh. I wonder why. Huh. (0:21:34) Al: Switzerland and the United Kingdom, which people who understand European (0:21:38) Al: politics might go, oh, but they’re both not in the EU. True. But Norway also (0:21:43) Al: isn’t in the EU but is in the list. Now, what is interesting about those two (0:21:46) Al: names is (0:21:48) Al: Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Do you see what’s interesting about those two names? (0:21:52) Kev: Ah… no. I’m not saying it, tell me. (0:21:56) Al: They are alphabetically after every other country in this list. (0:22:00) Kev: Wait. Haha, oh. (0:22:02) Al: I think they’ve copied and pasted the list and missed out the last two. (0:22:06) Kev: Sick. Sick. Oh, that’s awesome. Good times. Oh, I love copy-paste errors. Good times. (0:22:16) Kev: You’re pretty good at this, Detective Al. (0:22:16) Al: I don’t know that for sure, obviously. We will see on the 16th of December what happens, (0:22:22) Al: especially if they don’t announce another “oh no, it’s UK and Switzerland” and it does come out, (0:22:29) Al: then I will be proved right again. We’ll see, but that is my theory. If in doubt, (0:22:36) Al: always go for the stupidest option. (0:22:39) Kev: Yeah, Occam’s razor, right? (0:22:43) Al: Is that not Hamlin’s razor? (0:22:45) Kev: Wait, Hamlin? (0:22:46) Kev: Is there a different razor? (0:22:46) Al: Occam’s razor is the simplest explanation. Hamlin’s razor is never a tribute to malice, what can be adequately explained by stupidity. So it’s not quite the same thing, but they are very much tied together because quite often the most obvious explanation is the stupidest one, but I don’t think it was the most obvious explanation in this case. (0:22:51) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:57) Kev: Oh, attributed to, okay. (0:23:02) Kev: Okay. (0:23:02) Kev: I see. (0:23:03) Kev: Um, sure. (0:23:07) Kev: I, I, yep. (0:23:09) Kev: Yeah, absolutely. (0:23:14) Kev: Yes. (0:23:14) Kev: Okay. (0:23:17) Al: The most obvious explanation is they’re not releasing in the UK and Switzerland, but I don’t think that’s the case because I have never released a game on the eShop. But from what I understand, you cannot release within an eShop region to only specific countries within that region. I think you either release to the whole region or not at all. (0:23:35) Kev: Yeah, that that’d be really weird (0:23:38) Kev: Yeah, that would be very weird if you did that so yeah, I you’re probably right (0:23:44) Al: So we will, we will see. (0:23:47) Al: I do love, I do love my conspiracy theories. (0:23:51) Kev: Yeah, that’s good stuff. I’m excited. Can’t wait to see if you’re proven right or wrong (0:23:56) Al: Next we have Coral Island. They have released their Quality of Life 1.1B update. (0:24:06) Kev: how does that name make you feel Al not the 1.2 update but the 1.1 B I can’t wait (0:24:11) Al: I don’t know if I want to talk about it. (0:24:17) Kev: for 1.1 B 0.2 (0:24:21) Al: So here’s the thing, right? So would you assume that 1.1 and 1.1 (0:24:26) Al: a are the same thing then? Because there was no 1.1 a, right? (0:24:29) Kev: I mean like obviously I would assume that’s the case it’s obvious again (0:24:36) Kev: grazering it here like they didn’t expect to need a 1.1 B or whatever like (0:24:40) Al: Yeah, but yeah, also, also, just a thing. You could just call it 1.1.1 like most software (0:24:48) Al: development does. You don’t have to be weird and annoying with it with your numbers. (0:24:52) Kev: what (0:24:52) Al: I don’t understand why, how many times do I have to moan about this before (0:24:56) Al: people actually start just numbering things sensibly? It… Oh. (0:24:59) Kev: Yeah, look I don’t know if I talked behind the show obviously like yes, I’m in agreement that it’s not great and it’s a (0:25:09) Kev: It’s not the easiest problem to solve because you know (0:25:13) Kev: Whatever people have different ways of thinking and categories. Go there whatever in my opinion like when I know I you know, I (0:25:21) Kev: Naming files and and keeping records is important stuff. I’ve done and I always do well. I just go up a date (0:25:28) Kev: I’m Eric Leach. (0:25:29) Kev: Go with year, month, day, and then, like, 0.0. (0:25:29) Al: That is fine. That is absolutely an acceptable way to release software as well, but that’s also not (0:25:37) Al: what they’ve done. But I think the thing that drives me insane about this, I’ve never seen (0:25:43) Al: a letter in any of their version numbers before. I have never seen it. It’s not like this is just (0:25:49) Al: a long continuation of it. They had 1.0a, b, and 1.0c, and 1.0. No, they didn’t. They’ve never done (0:25:52) Kev: Yeah? (0:25:56) Al: it before. (0:25:57) Al: So why are we suddenly doing this? (0:25:57) Kev: What if? (0:25:59) Al: It’s just, like, they then release, they then, they then release the hot, did that… (0:26:01) Kev: OK. (0:26:02) Kev: Now, all right. (0:26:03) Kev: What do you want moving forward? (0:26:04) Kev: Do you want more letters, or do you just (0:26:07) Kev: want this to be the sole ugly stepchild with the letter (0:26:10) Kev: and all of all your updates? (0:26:11) Al: Nothing, I want them to retroactive, I want them to retroactively change it. (0:26:15) Al: And the thing that annoys me most about it is now they’re releasing a couple of small (0:26:19) Al: hot fixes, which are called 1.1b-1229, which is obviously, 1229 is obviously a build number, (0:26:24) Kev: Oh, snitch! (0:26:27) Al: that’s clear from that because then the next one is (0:26:29) Kev: Yep. (0:26:29) Al: one two three zero whatever sure like I just like it’s either it’s either give (0:26:31) Kev: Yep. (0:26:32) Kev: the (0:26:35) Kev: the (0:26:38) Al: it the 1.2 but you obviously don’t want it to be that to appear that big sure (0:26:43) Al: fine although I would argue I don’t think that that’s a problem but if you (0:26:48) Al: want if you don’t want it to be 1.2 that’s fine just give it another number (0:26:52) Al: right you don’t it’s just where is the letter coming from it’s just appeared (0:26:56) Kev: Um, actually, Al, it’s a hexadecimal. (0:26:56) Al: and he’s never been there before, and ugh. (0:26:59) Al: OK, we’re moving on. We’re moving on. (0:27:03) Al: Moving on. (0:27:06) Al: This adds as the name rather than the number, which includes a letter, (0:27:10) Al: would suggest about quality of life improvements. (0:27:16) Al: So there’s our daily goddess blessing. (0:27:18) Al: So every day you can get a blessing from the goddess. (0:27:21) Al: There’s a new type of rock called a mystery rock, which break, (0:27:27) Al: yields random things. (0:27:29) Al: They may yield oars, seeds, fish, insects, or occasionally monsters. (0:27:36) Kev: there’s ahh that’s fun I kind of like that I dig it it’s your pokemon rock smash (0:27:37) Al: They’ve also added fishing nets, which are a thing you can leave in the water and come (0:27:51) Al: back to fish. (0:27:52) Al: So I guess kind of like the crab pots, but I think it’s for fish rather than crusty. (0:27:59) Al: They’ve also lowered the requirements for turn rank A and B, so I suspect I will have (0:28:08) Al: jumped up a rank the next time I open the game, because I was so close to a rank and (0:28:12) Al: having it even slightly down will probably mean I’ve hit the next rank. (0:28:16) Kev: Well that’s interesting for sure, balance patches for pottagecore games, good stuff, good stuff. (0:28:23) Al: Maybe just enough people like me were moaning that it takes so long to go up the town ranks. (0:28:31) Al: I may or may not talk about how Fields of Mystery has a great town rank system and really (0:28:37) Al: rewards you in a much better way, but I obviously would not be talking about that before the (0:28:38) Kev: Oh, oh, oh. (0:28:44) Al: episode that we may or may not be talking about in. (0:28:48) Al: And finally, a great Quality of Life update removed the stamina cost for tools you need. (0:28:53) Al: It was the default in Fields of Mistria, which is fantastic, but yeah, why is this (0:28:54) Kev: Okay, how is that not the default in everything? (0:29:02) Kev: Heh heh heh! (0:29:03) Al: just not a thing? (0:29:04) Al: Because I think Stardew added it in one of its point updates. (0:29:07) Al: But it’s like, why do they all add on later? (0:29:08) Kev: Yeah. (0:29:10) Al: It’s just a really, I guess it’s kind of because they’re trying to lean more to the realism (0:29:16) Al: thing, right? (0:29:17) Al: Like, if you use… (0:29:18) Kev: Don’t disrupt my immersion, Al. When I swing the ax, I use the n- (0:29:21) Al: That’s the thing. (0:29:22) Al: - Okay. (0:29:23) Kev: Thanks. (0:29:23) Al: - Exactly. (0:29:24) Al: And I understand that argument, (0:29:26) Al: but I also think it’s important to remember (0:29:27) Al: that we play games because they’re fun. (0:29:30) Al: And I would always lean to the fun over the realism. (0:29:32) Kev: That is very not true. We say is Pokemon (0:29:37) Al: I still have fun with Pokemon games. (0:29:39) Al: I’m sorry you don’t, (0:29:40) Al: but that’s why I still play them and you don’t. (0:29:46) Kev: But (0:29:47) Kev: And you know what? All right, you know what? I’ll even play their game (0:29:50) Kev: I will say actually hitting something with a shovel or an axe is probably more exhausting than just swinging in the air. So (0:29:58) Al: Interesting, interesting point. Interesting point. (0:29:58) Kev: either way (0:30:00) Kev: It doesn’t (0:30:02) Kev: Doesn’t go through it. No, it falls apart. I’m trying to say (0:30:06) Kev: Yeah (0:30:07) Al: We don’t want to think about it too much. (0:30:09) Kev: What are you talking about that’s the entire point of this podcast (0:30:12) Al: I know, I know, I realized, I realized what was happening there as soon as I said what I said. (0:30:20) Al: And the last game update is Lightyear Frontier have announced their trailer. (0:30:28) Al: It’s coming out on the 27th of November, which is the day this podcast comes out. (0:30:34) Al: So if you’re listening to this, it’s out. (0:30:37) Al: And it just seems to have one big thing, Kevin, which is your mech can now turn into a car. (0:30:44) Al: Or it looks more like a tractor, but it’s super fast. (0:30:44) Kev: Yeah, which is, yeah, it’s that’s interesting because, like, I’m a little torn on this because, obviously the you know, a vehicle or whatever is very sensible in this sort of game, right? Absolutely. And, you know, it takes a lot of work. So I get it why it’s always at a release. (0:31:05) Kev: Um, I’m just part of me is also the mind that like, because the, the mech, like it’s just a car. (0:31:14) Kev: The mech, they just, they just stick it on a car, basically the top half of the mech. Um, I don’t know. I wish part of me wishes that they could have you. I’d hope so. Right. Or, you know, you never know. Maybe it just blows and transforms, you know, I don’t know. (0:31:20) Al: I’m assuming it does a Transformer type thing, surely. (0:31:32) Kev: But, okay, you know, if they have the total animation of it transforming or whatever, fine. I guess I can take that. But, like, wouldn’t you just also make the regular mech go faster? (0:31:44) Kev: Or, you know, something rocket boosters? I don’t know. (0:31:46) Al: So I suspect the idea behind this is that it’s, uh, so, oh, yeah, no, I, I’m, I was going to say like this can be added as an upgrade over time so you don’t get it at the beginning, but then I guess Rocket Bisterd would also work like that. (0:31:58) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, like, that’s maybe just the personal (0:32:02) Al: Um, yeah, no, that’s a fair point. (0:32:11) Kev: take. It’s not no end of the world. Overall, it’s a good (0:32:14) Kev: thing. And again, in this kind of open world, exploration, (0:32:19) Kev: parts, or vehicles, or whatever is always great. And it is still (0:32:23) Kev: connected to the mech, you know, maybe not exactly how I’d want (0:32:26) Kev: But it is there you have you’re still in (0:32:29) Kev: the cockpit of the mech which is a little weird but yeah (0:32:33) Al: All right. We have another couple of updates that are not specifically regarding the games. (0:32:39) Al: And so the first one is Sakuna. We have three pieces of news about Sakuna. The first one (0:32:40) Kev: Aww, I’m here wriggin’ my hands. (0:32:44) Kev: Yeah-heh-heh-heh-heh. (0:32:50) Al: is that they’re doing a new mobile phone game, but we don’t know. And it’s probably unlikely (0:32:59) Al: will get an English language release of this. It looks like it’s a (0:33:03) Al: Japanese-specific game. However, we don’t know anything about the game. (0:33:06) Kev: okay wait is sorry I’m sure this is all in the YouTube video because from the (0:33:15) Al: The YouTube video is a different game. (0:33:15) Kev: the blurb you put okay okay does that blurb like it’s not clear that it’s (0:33:22) Kev: specifically a sakuna game I mean that’s very likely right but it’s just from the (0:33:26) Kev: developers right (0:33:28) Al: They’ve specifically said it is a Sakuna game. (0:33:30) Kev: okay okay they did okay well mmm darn it mmm (0:33:36) Kev: yeah we’re not gonna see this in the US we didn’t get there’s a lot of good (0:33:41) Al: We’ll see. Well, you never know, you never know. But more exciting, (0:33:46) Kev: ones we don’t get they’re pleased to announce a new episode of the harvest (0:33:47) Al: more exciting for Kevin is that the anime is getting a season two. (0:33:53) Kev: season yeah I’m so excited because I well I mean guess well oh you know what (0:34:02) Kev: Let’s talk about the new the next because I think that’s (0:34:05) Al: okay yeah sure fine that’s fine that’s fine there is a there’s also another new game coming (0:34:06) Kev: what the season two is. (0:34:10) Al: called sakuna chronicles coca coca roba coca roba and the gears of creation um I presume (0:34:14) Kev: Pokurawa. (0:34:22) Al: you’ve watched the video for this (0:34:24) Kev: i’m watching I am watching it right now hold on one second um is this the book is my first (0:34:30) Kev: question because I know there was a book centered on cocoroa I don’t know if uh this is an adaptation (0:34:38) Kev: of that game um let me see here um oh my gosh i’m so excited we’re actually getting a new coca (0:34:45) Kev: sakana game um okay sorry hold on give me like one minute 27 um wow a robot (0:34:55) Kev: uh wow is this I don’t know if these are cuts wow the visuals larry look way updated which is pretty (0:35:01) Al: Well, and obviously the big thing about this one is that there is an English language trailer, (0:35:02) Kev: nice um uh (0:35:09) Al: so I’d be very surprised if this game isn’t being local. (0:35:10) Kev: Yeah right I mean it has to right because they’re dubbing it and clearly we um clearly we did our (0:35:20) Kev: job as influencers and brought Sakana to the forefront again which is why all this was announced (0:35:22) Al: of course of course my guess is that this will be a more crafting focus game (0:35:28) Kev: um I’m very (0:35:32) Al: rather than farming focused (0:35:34) Kev: yeah clearly because wow like is oh oh wait is that hurt (0:35:40) Kev: is this no no who is that what wait okay so (0:35:44) Al: Are you referring to the green haired one that gets off the boat? (0:35:47) Kev: yes okay I would is that lady sucking uh whatever it’s the big lady I think maybe (0:35:48) Al: Yeah, I don’t know who that is. (0:35:55) Kev: I forget the name no no yeah but it is it a small form of her because it really looks like her (0:35:56) Al: No cuz we see her we see her earlier than the trailer in her usual form. (0:36:04) Kev: like I’m thinking it is she even has the pink butt a thing I don’t know if it’s her daughter (0:36:09) Kev: or chibi for– (0:36:11) Kev: or something, it’s clearly related to her. (0:36:13) Kev: It’s clearly related to her. (0:36:15) Kev: The big thing I will say about this trailer– (0:36:19) Kev: Sakuna is not in it. (0:36:21) Al: Yes. (0:36:21) Kev: It is all Kokoro-wa and a whole bunch of new faces, which– (0:36:26) Al: Well, to be fair, to be fair, you don’t know that she’s not in it. (0:36:29) Al: She’s not in the trailer. (0:36:30) Kev: Yeah, I’m just saying she’s not in the trailer. (0:36:33) Kev: That’s all I’m saying, right? (0:36:33) Al: Yes. (0:36:34) Kev: Yeah, because I was about to say that exactly right. (0:36:36) Kev: She very well could be in the game, but they did not highlight that. (0:36:40) Al: I’d be surprised if she wasn’t, it’s literally called Sakuna Chronicles. (0:36:40) Kev: Yeah. (0:36:43) Al: Now, I know that the whole point is it’s tying it to the first game, (0:36:44) Kev: Oh. (0:36:48) Al: like, surely they can’t know how far in at all, right? (0:36:49) Kev: Kokoro. (0:36:52) Kev: Kokoro and the Gears of Creation, a knife’s out in the street. (0:36:55) Al: » Zach. [LAUGH] Yeah. [LAUGH] (0:37:01) Kev: Oh, those movies are great, but that’s just the funniest thing. (0:37:06) Kev: Regardless, um, okay, like I do suspect (0:37:10) Kev: she’ll be in there right like it would be I’d be very surprised if she wasn’t in there (0:37:15) Kev: like it just from the in-game story perspective it’s her best friend it makes sense she’d be in (0:37:21) Kev: there and from the outside like branding perspective you know she’s the face of the franchise or (0:37:27) Kev: whatever um but uh you know who cares whatever we get in here I’m gonna get um and even if it’s (0:37:34) Kev: not rice farming if we’re inventing robots that seems to be the premise of the game um (0:37:40) Kev: sending them out to do your fighting and stuff like that which is interesting I love controlling (0:37:44) Kev: minions and sending things out um I’m very curious to see how this will play and be um it’s in (0:37:52) Kev: development so we won’t see this for a long while because that’s all they said it’s in development (0:37:57) Kev: um and going back to the other one um I’m guessing season two is probably going to publish (0:38:04) Al: Oh, interesting. Maybe. Well, so here’s my question. From what you’ve said, (0:38:10) Al: I’m assuming you think this is a sequel, rather than a… (0:38:14) Kev: Ooh, good point. (0:38:17) Kev: I mean, regardless, that’s, you know, (0:38:20) Kev: the enemy could still cover it, (0:38:21) Kev: even if it was a, very cool. (0:38:24) Al: I yeah I guess I just I would be expecting season two of Sakuna to be a sequel. (0:38:30) Al: It’s different when there’s a game like they’re not saying that there’s going to be a different (0:38:36) Al: anime like if they’d called it a different thing but they’ve explicitly called it out (0:38:39) Al: as a season two of the anime like I feel like it’s going to follow Sakuna. (0:38:46) Kev: Oh, OK, you know, all right, well, I’ll run with this. (0:38:49) Kev: Let’s let me run with this, in which case that’s (0:38:52) Kev: triple exciting because that means we’re getting basically (0:38:55) Kev: two new entries in Sakuna, right? (0:38:57) Kev: Like a new Kokoro game and a whole new Sakuna adventure, (0:39:03) Kev: which I have no idea (0:39:07) Kev: well, that may be because the anime covered the entirety of the game. (0:39:10) Kev: So, you know, it will be totally open where that could go. (0:39:16) Kev: Um, that’s uh, that’s a (0:39:18) Al: The game that we’re probably not going, you did notice who’s making it, right? (0:39:20) Kev: exciting. (0:39:22) Kev: Oh, yeah, I saw that and that. (0:39:26) Al: Godzilla people. (0:39:28) Kev: Yeah, yeah. (0:39:32) Kev: Exceed games, which is (0:39:36) Al: Well, no, no, Exceed aren’t making that one. So Exceed are publishing… (0:39:40) Kev: wait, wait, oh, oh, sorry, the mobile game. (0:39:42) Al: No, right. Yeah, so we’ve got mixed up. We’ve gotten mixed up. We’ve gotten mixed up. Exceed (0:39:43) Kev: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. (0:39:44) Kev: - Oh, yes. (0:39:46) Kev: Sorry, yes, okay. (0:39:47) Al: aren’t making any of these games. Exceed are publishing the second sequel slash prequel. (0:39:51) Kev: Oh. (0:39:53) Al: The mobile game that we probably won’t get is being made by Toho, as in the Godzilla (0:39:54) Kev: Okay. (0:39:59) Kev: Yeah, which is pretty wild, okay. (0:40:03) Kev: Like, I don’t know what that game could compromise at all, (0:40:07) Kev: but this means a Sakuna Godzilla crossover DLC (0:40:08) Al: No idea. [laughs] (0:40:12) Kev: is in the realm of possibility now. (0:40:16) Kev: That’s all I have to say. (0:40:22) Kev: Sakuna of rice and rodents. (0:40:28) Kev: This is all so exciting, right? (0:40:30) Kev: Because holy mackerel, we just went from Sakuna being a great game series, whatever, (0:40:36) Kev: but kind of that’s it too. (0:40:38) Kev: Oh my goodness, we have a whole bunch of stuff coming up. (0:40:42) Kev: Oh, I am eating well right now! (0:40:46) Kev: It is wild that Toho is doing the mobile games. (0:40:52) Kev: Yeah, I don’t know, I’m excited for that anime, who knows? (0:40:56) Kev: I wonder, okay, you know what? (0:40:58) Kev: We might get an English dub of Season 1 now, if they’re pushing it this much. (0:41:02) Kev: We might just get an English dub. (0:41:06) Al: I would be surprised if they never did it because they have a voice actor set, right? (0:41:14) Al: And especially if they do end up using those voice actors for the game, they could do that (0:41:14) Kev: Yeah, I agree. (0:41:19) Al: at the same time. Voice acting in a game, if they have a story, could come quite early (0:41:25) Al: in the game’s development. So they could tie those two things in together and reduce their (0:41:28) Kev: true yeah um oh man I can’t I just can’t wait like we don’t have any dates for anything (0:41:40) Kev: so I don’t expect this until at least 2026 maybe something (0:41:40) Al: Well, yeah, this is the thing. These things, when our game is really announced as in development, (0:41:50) Al: it’s somewhere between two years and ten. And we’ll find out eventually. (0:41:55) Kev: Yeah exactly, eventually yeah the Sakuna book is not the same title as the the new game so (0:42:12) Kev: um the the yeah Pokoro book or whatever it’s so I expect it to be a different story entirely. (0:42:17) Al: We also have, speaking of Japanese games with animes, (0:42:23) Al: Farmagia, who they had already announced their anime. (0:42:28) Al: But we now have a trailer for it and a date. (0:42:31) Al: It’s airing in Japan on the 10th of January. (0:42:35) Al: And the English website says “coming soon”. (0:42:39) Al: So whether that’s just sub, whether that’s dub, I don’t know. (0:42:44) Al: we’ll see, but I mean, the English saying (0:42:47) Al: coming soon means something’s coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same (0:42:50) Kev: Uh-huh (0:42:52) Al: thing as Sakuna and we kind of get it like a month later on Frenchie Rolla, but we’ll see. (0:42:56) Kev: Sure (0:42:58) Kev: Yeah, that’s very likely. Oh my gosh. Are you excited for Sony to own crunchyroll? (0:42:58) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:43:04) Kev: But just reminded because you you heard about that right the big merger or whatever. They’re looking to buy that group (0:43:10) Kev: Crunchyroll is part of that. So mmm good times (0:43:14) Kev: But but I digress going back to the anime (0:43:20) Kev: It looks good, so the I don’t know the exact studio or whatever but they’re they’ve got (0:43:29) Kev: Mihima who is again the (0:43:32) Kev: Mangaka that they hired to work on for Majia’s art style and and whatnot (0:43:39) Kev: There and his works have been translated to several pretty successful and large anime (0:43:47) Kev: So, you know, the art style is (0:43:50) Kev: still retained. I don’t know if it’s the same sort of studios that worked on his stuff that (0:43:56) Kev: is making this, but my expectations are high for this. I imagine this will be pretty beefy (0:44:05) Kev: and substantial. Yeah, I don’t know. I’m looking forward to it. Okay. Okay. Okay. (0:44:08) Al: The studio is Bridge, and they have done a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh stuff and some Cardfight Vanguard stuff. (0:44:18) Kev: - Okay, mm, okay. (0:44:19) Al: They don’t seem to be one of the, like, super big ones, but yeah, they’ve done, they’ve done, they’ve been, they’ve been around since 2007. (0:44:20) Kev: Okay, so they’ve done enough to please marketers, (0:44:26) Al: And they’ve done, they’ve got quite a lot under their, under their belt. (0:44:35) Kev: and they’ve worked with franchises, right? (0:44:37) Kev: So, okay, I can stay confident this will be, (0:44:42) Kev: this will do the game justice, let’s say that, right? (0:44:46) Al: Yeah, I feel like the Yu-Gi-Oh! stuff is probably the biggest thing they’ve done. (0:44:46) Kev: I’ve yet to play the game. (0:44:49) Kev: - Yeah, right. (0:44:50) Al: Although a lot of, looking at it, actually re-watching it, a lot of the stuff is, (0:44:54) Al: oh no, that’s sources. I was looking at going, a lot of these things say manga, but no, that was, (0:44:58) Al: they said source. They have done a few adaptations from video games as well, so it’s not like they’ve (0:45:04) Al: never done that. In fact, their third one they ever did in 2013 was a video game adaptation. (0:45:10) Kev: No, that’s cool (0:45:11) Al: Devil Survivor 2 is based on a (0:45:13) Kev: Huh? Okay, that’s interesting (0:45:16) Al: Nintendo DS game. (0:45:17) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:45:21) Kev: Part of the SMT like a spin-off series or something like that I could be totally wrong (0:45:26) Kev: But you know that I think a double summoner good darn it (0:45:27) Al: What? (0:45:30) Al: A Shin Megatensei, or however you pronounce it. (0:45:32) Kev: Yeah, oh my gosh (0:45:33) Al: How many spin-offs does that series have? (0:45:36) Kev: Look you know who cares because persona already has passed (0:45:40) Kev: it in numbers like they hit persona five before SMT yes well it’s okay so (0:45:43) Al: Yeah, but did they not just do another spin-off? (0:45:48) Al: The new what’s the new spin-off they did? (0:45:52) Al: Metaphor, Rifantazzi, or whatever it’s called. (0:45:52) Kev: metaphor very fantastic yeah okay so yeah what they yeah you know that’s (0:45:55) Al: Stupid name, hate that name. (0:45:57) Al: Really bad name. (0:46:02) Kev: fine I don’t blame you okay I will say metaphor is not a spin-off because it’s (0:46:09) Kev: It’s just a new franchise, right? (0:46:10) Kev: The original Persona had the, you know, it was the thing with the subtitle, right? (0:46:14) Kev: It was Shin Megami Tensei colon Persona or whatever, right? (0:46:18) Kev: It was very explicitly a branching off the SMT series. (0:46:22) Al: you’re right. You’re right. It is an Atlas game. Devil Survivor 2. You’re right. Look (0:46:25) Kev: So yeah, that, so yeah, Metaphor is a new franchise. (0:46:32) Kev: Yep. There you go. There you go. See? That was totally… (0:46:35) Al: at you with this deep knowledge of random games. My word. (0:46:42) Kev: » Ow, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a huge weeb. (0:46:44) Kev: » [LAUGH] (0:46:46) Kev: » Point blank, my God. (0:46:49) Kev: Speaking of weeb, I’m looking at the the Farmasia. (0:46:54) Kev: So it looks like a mid-cast or there’s like four primary cast members. (0:46:59) Kev: Man, so if you go back and look at Mishima’s other works, (0:47:02) Kev: he has these exact same four characters in all of his other works. (0:47:06) Kev: He just changes the hair, but the faces, the… the builds are all… (0:47:10) Kev: The same… (0:47:12) Kev: Oh, glorious Nippon. What would I do with that? (0:47:14) Al: The first ever Survivor game was actually called Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor, (0:47:22) Kev: I was right yeah all the

Codey tells Al about the new bee breeding Minecraft mod Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:21: What Have We Been Up To 00:11:55: Should Codey Get A Steamdeck 00:16:50: Game News 00:41:54: New Games 00:50:04: Feed The Bees 01:08:32: Outro Links Botany Manor Playstation Release Grimoire Groves Release Date Sun Haven Release Date Sugardew Island XB and PS4 Release Ova Magica First Major Update Fields of Mistria First Major Update Whimside Honey Grove Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al, and we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games. (0:00:36) Codey: and my name is Cody. (0:00:41) Codey: Woo. (0:00:45) Al: A welcome back Cody. It’s been a while. (0:00:47) Codey: Oh, thank you. (0:00:48) Codey: It has really been playing a lot of stuff (0:00:51) Codey: that I haven’t played slash. (0:00:53) Al: Don’t you don’t you don’t you start yet. (0:00:55) Al: That’s not we’re not going into that section yet. We’ll get there. (0:00:58) Al: - Yeah. (0:00:59) Codey: What? (0:01:00) Al: I didn’t ask you what you’ve been up to, hello. (0:01:02) Codey: Well, yeah, I’m just saying that that’s why (0:01:04) Codey: I haven’t been on the pod. (0:01:04) Al: Okay, okay, it sounded like you were introducing that section. You gotta wait, you gotta wait. (0:01:07) Codey: No, no, no, my, my, my horses are held. (0:01:10) Codey: Nah, nah, nah, my horses are held. (0:01:15) Al: They’re heavy. This episode, we are going to talk about Minecraft again. (0:01:22) Codey: Woooo! (0:01:24) Al: Specifically, Cody has been playing a bee-breeding mod in Minecraft. So we’re going to talk about- (0:01:30) Codey: Thank you, Devin, my best friend who I play Minecraft with. (0:01:36) Codey: Who told me, “Hey, I put a mod that you might like on,” and surprise I do. (0:01:42) Al: Lo and behold, it was leaked. (0:01:46) Codey: Correct. (0:01:47) Al: Excellent. (0:01:48) Al: So we’re going to talk about that. (0:01:50) Al: Before that, we have obviously a lot of news. (0:01:53) Al: It’s a decent chunk of news, a decent chunk. (0:01:54) Codey: No, it’s– it seems on the lighter side, I would say. (0:01:56) Al: It’s not like an insane amount of news, but it’s enough news. (0:01:58) Al: It’s not. (0:02:04) Codey: Listeners, after the news section, (0:02:06) Codey: let us know if it’s a light amount of news (0:02:08) Codey: or a lot amount of news. (0:02:08) Al: Look, it all depends on how long it takes, right? (0:02:11) Al: so we’ll be clocking the tape. (0:02:12) Al: But before that, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:02:14) Codey: OK, so I’m not going to say anything (0:02:16) Codey: during the news section because I want to be right. (0:02:24) Codey: - Hello, I have been up to science. (0:02:29) Codey: So I’m getting to that point where, (0:02:32) Codey: whoo, I’m getting to the point where like a year from now, (0:02:35) Codey: I’m hoping to be defending my dissertation (0:02:38) Codey: and that is horrifying. (0:02:41) Codey: For a long time throughout your degree, (0:02:43) Codey: it’s like, oh, like two years from now, (0:02:45) Codey: oh, like, it’s like, you can kind of shove it forward (0:02:48) Codey: in the future. (0:02:50) Codey: And now it’s like, oh, oh shoot, you know. (0:02:54) Codey: Um, I was also just at a conference. (0:02:56) Codey: So the entomological society of America’s conference was in Phoenix, Arizona. (0:03:02) Codey: Um, so we went there and that was a thing that we did. (0:03:06) Codey: I actually, so it was actually, okay. (0:03:09) Codey: So when you go to conferences, like near the end of, of one chapter of your life, (0:03:13) Codey: you’re like, what am I going to do next? (0:03:15) Codey: And it was actually really gratifying because I had a few humans come up to me after like my talk (0:03:19) Codey: or that they just knew of me. (0:03:21) Codey: And they were like, Hey, I want to talk to you. (0:03:24) Codey: And they’re possibly interested in hiring me. (0:03:27) Codey: So that was really interesting. (0:03:30) Codey: One of them was, uh, a department of fisheries and wildlife on the Pacific Northwest, (0:03:34) Codey: which is where exactly where I want to be and exactly the kind of thing I want to do. (0:03:39) Codey: However, uh, government jobs are a little up in the air right now because of things. (0:03:44) Codey: And so, um, I’m kind of like, about that, like, like, Oh no, what do I do? (0:03:52) Codey: but I had someone from like literally (0:03:54) Codey: one of the best institutions for entomology (0:03:57) Codey: within the United States come up to me (0:04:00) Codey: and we were chatting and then he was like, (0:04:01) Codey: “Oh, when are you done? (0:04:02) Codey: Because we’re gonna be hiring a forest entomologist (0:04:04) Codey: here in a year.” (0:04:05) Codey: And I was like, “Holy crap.” (0:04:07) Codey: So that’s cool too. (0:04:09) Codey: So now I’m really, now the fire is under (0:04:13) Codey: the proverbial butt at this point (0:04:15) Codey: because I need to get this stuff finished. (0:04:19) Codey: But more importantly, I finally married Scott (0:04:22) Codey: in Coral Island. (0:04:22) Al: Wooo! You made your decision. (0:04:24) Codey: I also, I made, well, there was no decision to be made. (0:04:28) Codey: I just, he finally accepted my offer. (0:04:30) Codey: They like have, I think you have to go through (0:04:33) Codey: a certain amount of their heart events or whatever. (0:04:34) Al: You do, yeah. I ended up in that same situation with, oh goodness, I’ve forgotten my wife’s name. (0:04:42) Codey: Alice, was it Alice? (0:04:44) Al: Was it Alice? No, it wasn’t Alice. (0:04:47) Codey: It was the computer programmer girl, right, Suki? (0:04:49) Al: Yeah, no, not Suki. Suki’s Alice. (0:04:52) Codey: I don’t remember. (0:04:54) Codey: I also went for Alice for a bit. (0:04:57) Codey: But yeah, so I finally married him. (0:04:58) Codey: He finally got through all of his heart events. (0:05:00) Codey: And I’m happy to say that for a few days of the month, (0:05:04) Codey: at least, he does go to work. (0:05:06) Al: Oh, thanks. (0:05:07) Codey: There’s been a couple times where I see him (0:05:09) Codey: Walking around the town and i’m like who let you out? (0:05:11) Al: It probably doesn’t help that Lily, that’s her name, that I married Lily who, you know, (0:05:12) Codey: Got it. (0:05:22) Al: when she’s not married to you, spends all her time in her house. So that probably doesn’t help. (0:05:26) Codey: Yeah (0:05:28) Al: But the weird thing about it was not necessarily that she was in the house, (0:05:31) Al: because when she’s in her house, she’s like sitting at a computer doing work, (0:05:35) Codey: Yeah (0:05:36) Al: or, you know, in the kitchen. Whereas when she’s in your house, she’s standing next to the bed, (0:05:40) Codey: Yep (0:05:41) Al: staring off into space. (0:05:42) Codey: That’s what Scott does too, and I just feel so bad for him, especially because when you talk to him (0:05:47) Codey: He says cute things like you know people say that marriage changes a man (0:05:51) Codey: And you have changed me in all the most enticing ways. I love you, and I’m just like what the heck (0:05:56) Al: - No! (0:05:57) Codey: Or he’ll be like (0:06:00) Codey: Like babe, I love you so much. Thank you so much for for doing this and I’m like you’re just standing next to me (0:06:06) Codey: Please sometimes he goes outside for morning coffee, which is nice, but (0:06:10) Codey: Yeah, so I finally did that I also finally have unlocked the cave of memories (0:06:15) Codey: Oh, and I finally finished the frickin temple. I did that I did the temple (0:06:16) Al: Oh, nice. (0:06:20) Al: Nice. (0:06:22) Codey: So now I’m just trying to I don’t even remember what I got be honest (0:06:23) Al: “Is all you ever hoped?” (0:06:29) Codey: Yep, nope can’t remember so (0:06:30) Al: I don’t know if there’s like an overall unlock, I think. (0:06:37) Al: There’s different ones for different parts of it. (0:06:40) Codey: - Yeah, yeah, the last thing that I needed (0:06:42) Codey: was an osmium garlic, and I got that. (0:06:47) Codey: I haven’t finished the Cave of Memories 100%. (0:06:49) Codey: I finished enough to bring Gort back to the people. (0:06:56) Codey: He went dark, he was dark is the, yeah. (0:06:56) Al: » Cool. (0:07:02) Codey: So I’m trying to reach the bottom (0:07:03) Codey: of the Cave of Memories now, (0:07:05) Codey: and then just generally hitting that point (0:07:07) Codey: where I’m racking up money with nothing to spend at all. (0:07:10) Codey: But more importantly, Minecraft. (0:07:12) Codey: But I will talk about that later. (0:07:14) Codey: Al, what have you been playing? (0:07:16) Al: I have been playing, obviously, a lot of Pokemon TCG Pocket, I’ve talked about that in a few (0:07:24) Codey: Oh, okay. I mean, so I have been, because of conference and general malaise, I have (0:07:25) Al: previous episodes, but it sounds like you have questions. (0:07:33) Codey: not been up on the pod. I also have not really been listening to ISE very much. So what is (0:07:41) Codey: pocket? Is it good if you have, do you scan in real life cards that you have and that’s (0:07:47) Codey: how you get cards or… (0:07:49) Al: No, no, it’s entirely digital. It is so it is based on the TCG, but it’s some of the cards are (0:08:05) Al: digital equivalents of the real cards. Quite a lot of them are almost the same as physical cards, (0:08:11) Al: but like their attacks are slightly different or their retreat number is slightly different. (0:08:15) Al: And then there’s a few that are exclusive to the app. (0:08:19) Al: And basically, the idea is it’s a daily “you can open two packs of cards a day”. (0:08:20) Codey: Okay. Is it possible to literally just collect cards or do you have to fight people? (0:08:30) Al: Yeah, no, no, you can completely ignore the battles if you want to. (0:08:36) Al: You do get things for the battles, (0:08:36) Codey: BRB downloading this game right now. (0:08:40) Al: but you can just ignore that if you want, which is what I did to start with, (0:08:43) Al: and then I actually accidentally got into the battles. (0:08:46) Codey: It just happened out of nowhere, does it? (0:08:47) Al: oopsie (0:08:50) Al: I know well what they did is they’ve done three events right and uh two of them are event (0:08:56) Al: sorry battle-based events and so I was like well I need to try the battles for these events and (0:09:02) Al: get these exclusive items or whatever and then I enjoyed it and yeah I don’t know if i’ll be (0:09:09) Al: doing it outside of the events uh i’ve nearly finished the second event but um yeah it’s good (0:09:11) Codey: Okay, I’m downloading it. (0:09:18) Al: Fun! I really like it. (0:09:19) Al: And I reopened the other TCG app, the TCG Live, and I was like reminded of just (0:09:26) Al: how bad an app it is, is just so the interface just feels gooey, right? (0:09:33) Al: It doesn’t feel like anything does what you want it to do. (0:09:36) Al: And it’s overly complicated, whereas like you open up Pocket and you see the packs (0:09:43) Al: and you click on it and you open a pack, right? (0:09:46) Al: And if you want to go do other things, (0:09:47) Al: then sure you have to go down other levels but like you open (0:09:49) Al: the gap and the packs are there right in front of you. It’s (0:09:53) Al: really nicely designed in that aspect of things. And it’s like (0:09:57) Al: there’s five tabs along the bottom. And then that’s pretty (0:10:00) Al: much it. Whereas live is just like levels and levels of menus (0:10:06) Al: and it like opens up in this menu where you’re not really (0:10:08) Al: sure what anything is unless you use it regularly. Yeah, I don’t (0:10:12) Al: like him. So yeah, I’ve been enjoying that. I guess not much (0:10:17) Al: changed since I last talked about it it’s just yeah (0:10:19) Al: been going through the events that I talked about last week and i’ve hit the point where (0:10:26) Al: I because I played it during the beta period i’m at the point now where I am close to having (0:10:33) Al: finished the collection but that means that I almost never like I maybe get a new card (0:10:37) Al: every three days or something but I think they’ve said that they’re bringing out new (0:10:44) Al: cards in december so that’ll be fun but yeah it’s (0:10:48) Codey: Okay, I am opening it (0:10:49) Al: it’s nice I like it enjoy don’t get distracted on the podcast never i’ve been playing marvel (0:10:54) Codey: No, of course not (0:10:57) Codey: It’s not gonna happen (0:11:00) Al: snap as well although a little bit less this week because I was doing the battling in pocket but i’m (0:11:05) Al: sure i’ll get back into snap next week once i’ve finished the battles in pocket and i’ve started (0:11:09) Al: playing finally fields of mystery uh um it I have thoughts on the game but i’m gonna save them for (0:11:12) Codey: Whoo (0:11:19) Al: future episode um but it’s yeah I i don’t I definitely don’t hate it and it definitely has (0:11:28) Al: interesting ideas and it’ll be interesting to share my thoughts fully on the podcast (0:11:34) Al: but yeah I have started playing that so we’ll see how that goes I mean the good thing is i’ve (0:11:39) Al: actually been playing it right like sometimes when I play games for the podcast it’s really (0:11:43) Al: hard to get into them um so i’ve gotten over the initial hump and i’m actually like properly (0:11:49) Al: now uh every day so we’ll see how that continues on my steam deck (0:11:51) Codey: Mm-hmm, that’s good. How are you playing it? (0:11:56) Codey: Okay, I also have questions we can talk about this band about a steam deck because I was asked if I want and for Christmas (0:12:04) Al: This is the Steam Deck section. Talk to me. (0:12:09) Codey: So listen listeners if you’re also wondering if you should get a steam deck this section is for you. Hey Al (0:12:17) Codey: Why get a steam deck? (0:12:18) Al: because play games on portable console that aren’t on the Switch. (0:12:24) Al: I mean, realistically, right, like that’s that’s it. (0:12:27) Al: It is also more powerful than the Switch. (0:12:29) Al: Right. So some games will run better on it. (0:12:32) Al: But I mean, the the main reason that you would be doing it is because there’s lots (0:12:36) Al: of games that aren’t on the Switch yet or won’t come to the Switch or, you know, (0:12:41) Al: they are only coming to the Switch a couple of years after their Steam version. (0:12:45) Al: like Steam is still the default for most games. (0:12:46) Codey: Mm hmm. So is it can you play anything that’s PC or Mac on it? (0:12:56) Al: So it is the Steam Deck is Linux based but Valve have put a lot of effort into building (0:13:07) Al: a runtime engine that allows you to run the Windows versions of the games. So if it supports (0:13:14) Al: Linux or if it supports Windows, I don’t think anything just supports Mac, right? (0:13:18) Codey: Mm-hmm, okay. (0:13:20) Al: So I have not come across a game that you just flat out can’t play. There are a few games that (0:13:26) Al: controllers very well and in those cases it’s not great but it’s becoming a lot better now like (0:13:35) Al: most games will either launch with controller support or they will you know add it on if it’s (0:13:42) Al: an early access or whatever. Like Lens Island was one that didn’t have controller support to start (0:13:45) Al: with but it came out like right at the beginning of the Steam Deck so it wasn’t really popular at (0:13:51) Al: that point and they’ve obviously since added controller support. So I think most games have (0:13:55) Al: have controller support. (0:13:56) Codey: Okay, and then my other question is can you play it either like so is it like a switch where you can dock it and (0:14:02) Codey: Play it on your screen or carry it with you (0:14:04) Al: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you can you can just connect it to a normal it’s just USB-C, right? (0:14:06) Codey: Mmm (0:14:10) Al: So you can just plug in a USB-C dock which you can get ones for like, you know (0:14:14) Al: 10 quid on Amazon or whatever and plug it into a monitor or a TV (0:14:16) Codey: - Mm-hmm, okay. (0:14:21) Codey: Well, to be determined, I probably will get one. (0:14:24) Al: I mean, if someone is offering to buy you one, I would definitely go on that, right? (0:14:30) Al: Like unless you have something else that you would want instead, it’s obviously the big (0:14:35) Al: thing for most people is it’s a lot of money, so you know, you probably wouldn’t be spending (0:14:38) Codey: Yeah. No, I was literally, it’s someone, correct. I would not buy one myself, but someone literally (0:14:41) Al: that money on it yourself. (0:14:45) Al: Yeah, the answer is probably yes. (0:14:45) Codey: saying, “Would you like one?” I’m like, “Wow.” Yeah. (0:14:51) Al: unless there’s like negative things that come from this. (0:14:54) Al: You know, you will owe this person something. But if it’s a friend or a family member who wants (0:14:58) Codey: No. Yeah. No, it’s my part. It’s my partner. So. (0:14:58) Al: to give you a gift, you know, and you don’t feel bad about it, then I would say yeah, absolutely. (0:15:03) Al: It’s great. It’s a bit bigger and chunkier. OK, it’s bigger and chunkier than the Switch, (0:15:09) Al: but personally, for me that actually makes it better. It’s better to hold. The ergonomics (0:15:16) Al: are better, so it less hurts my hands. So there’s that as well. But yeah, no, I really like it. (0:15:21) Codey: Okay. Yeah, I, I almost never play my switch in handheld mode. It’s almost always on the (0:15:27) Al: Interesting. (0:15:28) Codey: on my computer or not my computer, my TV. So, but I could then play that on handheld (0:15:34) Codey: and watch him play Factorio. Cause he’s been playing the Factorio like space age expansion, (0:15:40) Al: Yeah, I think the thing is that, you know, if you have like a gaming PC, gaming PC is (0:15:41) Codey: or maybe I could play the space age expansion on that. I don’t know. We’ll see. (0:15:51) Al: still going to be better, right? Because it’s still portable. But, well, that’s the thing, (0:15:53) Codey: Yeah, I would have to come all the way over here. (0:15:56) Al: right? The portable aspect of things is a massive, massive aspect. And yeah, it’s not (0:16:00) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:16:01) Al: as powerful, but it runs things just fine, right? Like most games will run on it in some (0:16:07) Al: way and because it’s like the bassline (0:16:10) Al: it’s like that’s what games are aiming for like if you can run on the steam deck then you’re fine (0:16:14) Codey: Okay. Final question. If you play something on your Steam Deck, so say I’m like playing (0:16:21) Codey: Lens Island on my Steam Deck, but I’m like, man, I want to play this on my desktop. Can (0:16:25) Codey: I just literally go to my desktop and it’s the same save? Okay. Okay. There. I told my (0:16:28) Al: Assuming that they support Steam and Cloud Save, yes. (0:16:31) Al: Games have to explicitly support that, but most games will. (0:16:38) Codey: partner after talking to Al, I wouldn’t say no to a Steam Deck. And that’s what we’ve (0:16:42) Al: And that’s the Steam Deck section. We’re gonna now talk about some game news. So, interestingly, (0:16:44) Codey: got to do. Whoo. Whoo. (0:16:56) Al: I can’t see any delays this week, which is rare for a November episode, but there we (0:17:01) Al: are. There’s still a lot of delays to come though, because I still see about 25 games (0:17:06) Al: saying 2024. Although some of them are special. (0:17:12) Al: They were like, “Oh, we’re in early access and we’re going to be in early access for (0:17:17) Al: a year.” And that means they’ll come out this year and then they’ve just not said anything (0:17:20) Al: because they never explicitly said they were coming out in 2024, but come on. So, it’s (0:17:24) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:17:28) Al: going to take some time going through that list and double checking if anybody said anything (0:17:31) Al: that I’ve missed. Anyway, Botany Manor have announced that they’re coming out on PlayStation. (0:17:33) Codey: - Yep. (0:17:38) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:17:38) Al: So I think they’re already out on… (0:17:42) Al: PC and Switch? (0:17:43) Codey: - I played it on Xbox Game Pass. (0:17:48) Al: Oh, yes. (0:17:52) Al: I probably should have double checked this. (0:17:53) Al: So they’re definitely on Steam. (0:17:55) Al: Yeah, they’re on Xbox, (0:17:57) Al: including Game Pass. (0:17:59) Al: They are also on Switch. (0:18:01) Al: So yeah, this is… (0:18:02) Codey: I was gonna say I think that Aislinn had played it on (0:18:04) Al: Yeah, so this is completing the standard list (0:18:08) Al: coming to PlayStation. (0:18:09) Al: they are releasing on the 17th. (0:18:12) Al: And that’s for both PS4 and PS5. (0:18:13) Codey: Woo. (0:18:14) Codey: Woo! (0:18:19) Al: Speaking of releases, (0:18:21) Al: Grimoire Groves is coming out. (0:18:26) Al: They have announced that their release date is the 6th of March next year. (0:18:32) Al: That feels like the length of time that I feel like is suspicious, right? (0:18:40) Al: Like when something says, oh, we’re going to. (0:18:42) Al: To come out on this date in two years, you know, it’s never going to happen. (0:18:45) Al: If they say we’re coming out on this date in a month, you’re like, okay, (0:18:47) Al: the game is ready and they’re just like making sure that they’re ready for (0:18:50) Al: release and, you know, getting all the release plans out. (0:18:53) Al: Like they’re not working on the game. (0:18:54) Al: Now they’re just ready to go. (0:18:56) Codey: Okay. (0:18:56) Al: But when they say four months away, I’m suspicious because that makes me sound (0:19:02) Al: feel like the game is not finished yet and they’re wanting to finish it. (0:19:05) Al: And they’re like, this is the point that we think we can get it done by, but (0:19:09) Al: something will probably go wrong. (0:19:12) Codey: Okay, are you making a prediction then? (0:19:12) Al: No, never, never make a prediction. (0:19:17) Codey: Okay, okay (0:19:18) Al: Never say you’re going to come out on a date. (0:19:22) Al: Do you see what I mean? (0:19:22) Al: No, it’s like, it’s a suspicious time frame. (0:19:24) Codey: Yeah, no I get it though, there’s also (0:19:26) Al: Like I’m not saying they don’t want to come out then, but I’m saying (0:19:29) Al: there’s a high probability that it gets delayed by a month. (0:19:33) Codey: Yeah, that’s fair. I detect no lies (0:19:38) Al: Good. (0:19:40) Al: I’m glad. (0:19:42) Al: Um, yeah, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll see. (0:19:45) Al: Will this be one of my 2025 games? (0:19:45) Codey: Correct. (0:19:48) Al: Maybe you don’t want to play this one. (0:19:49) Codey: It’s all you. (0:19:52) Codey: Um, I like how it looks, but I am over the witch aesthetic, personally. (0:19:57) Al: Oh, interesting. (0:19:58) Codey: So. (0:19:59) Al: I feel like we haven’t had many which games actually come out though. (0:20:01) Codey: No, I guess I just don’t I’ve never liked. (0:20:06) Al: Fair, fair. (0:20:07) Codey: So, yep. (0:20:10) Al: Uh, next we have Sunday. (0:20:12) Al: A release date for Switch. (0:20:16) Al: In the Americas. (0:20:18) Al: And only the Americas. (0:20:18) Codey: Bum. Bum. Bum. It is curious why it’s only the Americas. I know that they’re trying to do it (0:20:26) Codey: worldwide and they said that they’re encountering some “issues” or whatever with doing it. I mean, (0:20:33) Codey: it’s difficult, but I’m not entirely sure why because it’s not just the US. They have a bunch (0:20:38) Codey: in South America as well that it is coming out for. Correct, correct. (0:20:40) Al: Yes, yes. I did say Americas, to be fair. So it’s specifically coming to United States, (0:20:47) Al: Canada, Mexico. It sounds like the beginning. No, no, no. No, no, it’s not. It’s not. United (0:20:49) Codey: Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic Dominican. (0:20:55) Al: States, Canada, big pause, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. So I’m (0:21:05) Al: I’m guessing that it’s just that those are the only countries in the Americas that… (0:21:10) Al: the switch eShop is available in, and it’s not that they’re specifically saying you’re not allowed in Venezuela. (0:21:17) Codey: I am all four countries coming out in the order of that song. (0:21:23) Codey: And not just because the United States is the first one. (0:21:25) Al: Well, so my reason why I’m saying that I think it’s just those are the only… (0:21:29) Al: Because I don’t think you can do it on a country by country basis. (0:21:33) Al: I think you can only do it on a region by region basis. (0:21:36) Al: And there’s the Americas region. (0:21:38) Al: There’s– (0:21:40) Al: Europe and Africa, I think, and then there’s Japan, and then– (0:21:46) Al: Oh, sorry, Europe, Africa, and Australia are the same one, and then there’s Japan, and I don’t know what else there is. (0:21:50) Codey: interesting. Other countries. But yeah, so that’s coming out. And I really yeah, and they were really (0:21:58) Al: Oh yeah, we didn’t say the date, 29th of November. (0:22:02) Codey: wanting to try and make sure that the switch release did not was not like a version behind (0:22:08) Codey: or whatever. So it’s going to be released at the same version that it is, wherever else it’s (0:22:15) Codey: it’s released, except no multiplayer yet. (0:22:20) Al: Yes, that is the weird. It’s very not weird. It’s not weird. (0:22:24) Al: It makes sense. Multiple is difficult. (0:22:27) Al: But it is interesting that there earlier on in the announcement, they say (0:22:33) Al: essentially, and then in bold, zero content differences between the two platforms. (0:22:38) Al: So the thing you read because it’s like (0:22:40) Codey: Yep. (0:22:40) Al: in bold is zero content differences between the two platforms. (0:22:43) Al: But there is a word before which is essentially very sneaky. (0:22:46) Codey: Gotta look for that modifier. (0:22:48) Codey: Yep. (0:22:50) Al: And yeah, so no multiplayer. (0:22:52) Codey: Yep. Eventually. (0:22:52) Al: Yeah, I find it interesting why they’re doing because someone on I think it was (0:22:58) Al: the Kickstarter suggested it could be an issue with (0:23:04) Al: you know, some some law that something specific in the game isn’t (0:23:09) Al: covering, but it’s out on Steam world worldwide. (0:23:14) Al: So I don’t think that can be the case. (0:23:16) Codey: Hmm (0:23:18) Al: I suspect… (0:23:20) Al: This is a big theory, here’s my theory, my hypothesis. (0:23:25) Al: They didn’t know there were multiple eShop regions initially. (0:23:29) Al: And they went on, they set it all up, and then they realized, oh wait, this is just (0:23:34) Al: coming out in the Americas, and of course it takes a long time to get this stuff done (0:23:36) Codey: Yep. (0:23:36) Codey: Yeah. (0:23:38) Al: by Nintendo. (0:23:40) Al: Because who was it? (0:23:41) Al: There was another game that had a similar thing where they only gave eShop codes to people (0:23:46) Al: in the Americas. And they were like, Oh, we can’t we’re not these (0:23:50) Al: are the only codes we’re able to get. And everyone was like, but every game gets codes (0:23:53) Al: for the other regions. Why are you, why are you specifically not able to get ones for (0:23:57) Al: Europe and Japan, et cetera? And then yeah, then suddenly two weeks later, Oh, look, we (0:24:00) Codey: And then it’s ‘cause they had only applied for it. (0:24:05) Al: have the Europe codes now. It’s like, Hmm, funny that. So very suspicious. Maybe I’m (0:24:08) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:11) Al: being a bit unfair, but that is my theory. And we’ll probably never find out why. But (0:24:18) Al: I think if it’s like. (0:24:20) Al: A month later, or, you know, if it’s before the end of the year, I think that’s all it (0:24:23) Al: is. (0:24:24) Al: Because I don’t know what they could have been doing that was, I don’t know what else (0:24:27) Al: would have gotten their way because there’s no technical differences between the games, (0:24:32) Al: between the consoles. (0:24:33) Al: Right. (0:24:34) Al: Like I can, I can, I can create, and I have an American account on my switch as well. (0:24:38) Al: And I have a Japanese account. (0:24:39) Al: You can just download the games. (0:24:40) Al: There’s no content locking. (0:24:41) Al: The only content locking is the shop itself, which is based on your account, not your console. (0:24:47) Al: So I can’t imagine there would be a technical issue there. (0:24:50) Al: Only thinking is that it’s because they didn’t realise that there were multiple console, multiple (0:24:53) Codey: I mean, to be fair, that is weird. (0:24:53) Al: regions. (0:24:54) Al: What, that there’s multiple regions? (0:24:57) Codey: Like, yeah, like you would think that it wouldn’t be that there’s different shops, (0:24:59) Al: Ah, yeah. (0:25:04) Codey: just that there’s, it’s like, instead of Switch making, excuse me, all of these different shops, (0:25:11) Codey: different regions, they’re just, you just have one shop and then they would just choose what region (0:25:16) Codey: within the shop to sell it to. But that, but that makes too much sense. So they wouldn’t do that. (0:25:18) Al: I mean, it’s essentially the same thing, right? Like, it’s just a different way of doing it (0:25:23) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:25) Al: technically, right? Like, it doesn’t make any difference to users, right? It’s the same thing (0:25:30) Al: to them. But yeah, I don’t know. That’s my theory. Who knows? We’ll probably never know, but hey, (0:25:38) Codey: Yep. (0:25:38) Al: there we are. Sugardew Island. They’ve announced that they’re coming to Xbox and PS4. They were (0:25:46) Al: we’re already coming to PS5. (0:25:48) Al: Uh, this is, I don’t think I talked about this. (0:25:52) Al: They had posted this on Kickstarter like a month ago, and they were like, (0:25:55) Al: “We’re going to publicly talk about this later this month.” (0:25:58) Al: And I was like, “That’s really weird.” (0:26:00) Al: So I now have this information. (0:26:01) Al: I need to decide whether I’m sharing it or not. (0:26:03) Al: Cause they haven’t explicitly said, “Don’t share it.” (0:26:03) Codey: hmm okay oh is it up (0:26:05) Al: And I haven’t agreed to not share it, but also it’s like only pop- (0:26:09) Al: No, this one’s fine. (0:26:10) Al: It was the pre, like it’s now on Steam. (0:26:12) Al: Like they publicly said it now, but I was like, “Do I not share it?” (0:26:16) Al: because they’ve said we’re not (0:26:18) Al: there’s no like public version of it. (0:26:20) Codey: Yeah. (0:26:21) Al: Like I can’t cite my source because my source is a backer only Kickstarter post. (0:26:26) Codey: Yeah. (0:26:27) Al: I may as well say this now, the other reason they said this is one of the reasons on the (0:26:31) Al: Kickstarter, they said this is one of the reasons they put the delay in, (0:26:35) Al: because they got a grant to Xbox as well. (0:26:41) Al: But the other reason that they haven’t said publicly yet, but I’ve decided just to say it, (0:26:46) Al: is that they’re adding romance to the game. (0:26:48) Al: Um, which I’m not a huge fan of them delaying to add romance, but whatever. (0:26:50) Codey: Was. Yeah. Yeah. (0:26:55) Al: It is what it is. (0:26:56) Al: They haven’t said that publicly, so, um, I can’t prove it, but you’ll see (0:27:02) Al: in a couple of weeks, they’ll announce that they’re, they’re bringing romance (0:27:05) Al: to the game, um, lucky. (0:27:08) Codey: I also was laughing as I was looking at it that they titled themselves as the coziest (0:27:14) Al: which is a lot of a lot of technicalities there (0:27:15) Codey: farm shop game ever. (0:27:19) Codey: Yeah, like the coziest of not that many. (0:27:26) Codey: They also have a new trailer in it and I’m not, I watched the new trailer, but I’m not (0:27:29) Codey: really sure what in the trailer is new. (0:27:33) Codey: I did like, so they, they showed you like managing your shop. (0:27:38) Codey: And there was a point where like someone came up and they were (0:27:40) Codey: like, Oh, I only wanted this many, or I, I wanted this different. (0:27:45) Codey: I don’t know. (0:27:46) Codey: Someone was complaining. (0:27:48) Codey: And one of the things you could do is like offer a discount. (0:27:51) Codey: Um, so I don’t know. (0:27:55) Codey: I would never offer a discount. (0:27:56) Codey: I’ve worked retail before people can, people can follow the rules. (0:27:57) Al: They can they can buy it or they can not yeah (0:28:02) Codey: Yeah. (0:28:03) Codey: I’m not holding a gun to your head and saying you have to buy it or not. (0:28:06) Codey: like this. (0:28:08) Codey: Get out of here if you’re unhappy with the price. (0:28:12) Al: Yeah yeah I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again I don’t I just don’t think (0:28:12) Codey: But yeah, and this is still coming out in early 2025. (0:28:22) Al: that shops are fun gameplay experience and maybe this one will be the game (0:28:27) Al: that makes it happen but I highly doubt it based on what we’ve seen in the (0:28:30) Al: trailer it looks like every other game that has a shop ever which is where you (0:28:34) Al: put things out and then you have to stand there while people come and buy (0:28:38) Al: from you. And it’s like, this is not fun. Why would I? Why would I? (0:28:38) Codey: I mean, you could also do, uh, so Sims did it, they had a shop like where you could buy (0:28:42) Al: I don’t care about this, right? (0:28:43) Al: Um. (0:28:49) Codey: a business by a shop and then you have to run it, but you could hire people to like (0:28:54) Codey: greet or to run the register or to like schmooze with people. Um, but then you had to do whatever (0:29:04) Al: Yeah, and then it’s a management sim, and it’s like, that’s fine, those are games that (0:29:05) Codey: or else it is. (0:29:10) Al: people enjoy, but that is not what I want, and that is not, in my opinion, Cottagecore. (0:29:14) Codey: Yeah. Well, that’s the Sims for you. But yeah. So yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it reminds (0:29:14) Al: That is much more stressful. (0:29:16) Al: Well, exactly. (0:29:18) Al: There’s a reason I don’t play The Sims anymore. (0:29:28) Codey: me a little bit. We played, gosh, what is that? Galaxy Paws, Galactic Paws, something (0:29:34) Codey: Paws, Garden Paws, Garden Paws. There’s a store in that. Yeah. There’s a store in that. (0:29:37) Al: Garden Paws, there we go. (0:29:40) Al: Just put two generic words together, you’ve probably got a game. (0:29:45) Codey: That was really fun. (0:29:47) Al: Okay, I will correct myself. (0:29:49) Al: There was one game where running a shop was fun, and that was, of course, (0:29:52) Al: Meneko’s Night Market. (0:29:54) Al: But that was fun because of how very specifically curated it was. (0:30:00) Al: It was like one scene every in-game week, and you could still, you know, (0:30:05) Al: get money other ways at this (0:30:07) Al: was just the best way to get money, right? You got the most money if you sold things this way. (0:30:12) Al: So it, that one was fun, but these games where it’s just like every day you go to the shop, (0:30:16) Al: you put stuff up and you have to stand there. (0:30:20) Codey: Yeah. Garden Paws, you could just open your store and then walk away, but then if something like ran out or whatever. (0:30:28) Al: Well, this is the thing, they’re all just more annoying ways of doing the thing that (0:30:34) Al: in farming games we’ve had forever, which is you throw everything in a box and you get (0:30:38) Al: the money, right? Why would I want more complications to that? That’s not what I’m here for. I’m (0:30:45) Al: here for the farming, and for the living, and for the people sometimes. I doubt I’ll (0:30:51) Al: be here for the people in this game. I might be wrong, and I will admit when I’m wrong (0:30:55) Al: if it changes, but I suspect the- (0:30:56) Codey: if you’re wrong. Yeah. (0:30:58) Al: people will have no personalities. (0:31:01) Al: It’s going to be Faith Arm all over again, (0:31:03) Al: where there’s some nice stuff about the game, (0:31:05) Al: but overall the people are just boring. (0:31:08) Codey: Okay, you heard it here, heard it here first. Boring. (0:31:11) Al: Well, I mean, to be fair, I think I’ve said it multiple times. (0:31:16) Al: I will play this game, right? (0:31:17) Al: I need to play this game because it is getting so much buzz. (0:31:21) Al: Like people seem to really like the idea of this game, (0:31:24) Al: even though I don’t understand why. (0:31:26) Codey: Because it starts with an “S” and ends with “Dew Island”. (0:31:28) Al: » Oh man. I cry. I cry. What have we got next? We have OVA Magica. They’ve announced (0:31:29) Codey: And it starts with an “S” and ends with an “E” and ends with an “S” and ends with an “E”. (0:31:40) Al: that their first major update is out now. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, like, this is the sort of (0:31:44) Codey: - Yep. (0:31:45) Codey: It just… (0:31:49) Al: thing where it’s like, if you’re playing this game, you’ll be really excited about the updates (0:31:52) Al: in this. And if you’re not, you probably don’t care that there are new blobs, new blob worlds, (0:31:57) Codey: Yeah, but there’s new cosmetic. (0:31:58) Al: new events. It’s the wrong one. It’s in early access. I don’t think they’ve announced when… (0:32:00) Codey: Oh, nope, this is the wrong game. (0:32:02) Codey: Just kidding. (0:32:04) Codey: Yeah, that’s it. (0:32:05) Codey: When is this coming out? (0:32:09) Codey: No, this podcast. (0:32:11) Al: Oh, this episode. (0:32:13) Codey: If you are listening to this on release day, (0:32:17) Codey: if you are one of the cool kids, (0:32:19) Codey: you can get this game for 20% off right now on Steam. (0:32:24) Codey: But only for people, 20 on 20, (0:32:27) Codey: if you’re on the 21st, no 20. (0:32:30) Codey: No 20 for you. (0:32:31) Al: This is an example of one that will definitely not hit its time frame that it said in the Early Access. They said “Over Magic has currently planned to be in Early Access for roughly eight to 10 months with regular content updates leaving up to the 1.0 full release.” (0:32:31) Codey: That’s it, that’s all I have. (0:32:46) Al: The first version of this came out in July, and this is their first content update. So that’s what? Is that four months? (0:32:52) Codey: Yep. July is seven. This is, yeah, this, yes, four months. (0:33:02) Al: Which is fine, I’m not saying they have to rush it out, but they always underestimate it. (0:33:07) Codey: What if they’re not doing it regular? What if it’s like, here’s one update, and then here’s another one, here’s another one, here’s another one, and it’s released. (0:33:15) Al: Well, I mean, they did say regular, they did the best, but they use that word regular. (0:33:18) Codey: Oh, fair. They did. (0:33:22) Codey: Nevermind. (0:33:24) Al: You’re like, what if they don’t you mean this word that they used in the sentence? (0:33:27) Codey: That they literally say. (0:33:30) Codey: I tried, I tried to give them some grace. It did not work. (0:33:34) Codey: work. (0:33:35) Al: We’re not here for grace, we’re here for content. (0:33:38) Codey: Content, bam, bam, bam, bam. (0:33:41) Al: No, I actually, this is the problem with covering indie games. (0:33:45) Al: I actually really liked the developer of Emajica. She seems like a really nice person, (0:33:48) Codey: - Yeah. (0:33:50) Al: and I don’t want to be too harsh. So. (0:33:52) Codey: Yeah. (0:33:54) Codey: Well, and it’s all in good fun. (0:33:55) Codey: I mean, like I basically, (0:33:57) Codey: we joked about this at the conference that I was just at (0:33:59) Codey: that this is the third year in a row (0:34:01) Codey: that we’ve wanted to have a symposium about neurodiversions, (0:34:04) Codey: but all of the people who are trying to make the symposium (0:34:08) Codey: have ADHD. (0:34:11) Codey: And so it never happens because we all have ADHD. (0:34:15) Codey: And I’m at the point now where I’m like, (0:34:18) Codey: I’m not going to accept symposia ideas (0:34:21) Codey: or whatever until like March, (0:34:22) Codey: but I kind of want to start it right now (0:34:25) Codey: and just have it done (0:34:27) Codey: because I really want this to happen. (0:34:28) Al: Yeah, yeah, it’s why, yeah, I was talking to someone, a friend who’s been diagnosed (0:34:35) Al: with ADHD recently, and I was just asking, you know, what to expect if I end up looking (0:34:41) Al: for a diagnosis. And I was like, it’s really ironic that the way to start an ADHD diagnosis (0:34:46) Codey: Yeah, I saw this recently, it was like, people who have a thing that cripples their ability (0:34:47) Al: is to make an appointment. It’s like, what do you expect here? (0:35:01) Codey: to do small menial tasks and make appointments have to have three phone calls and make two (0:35:07) Codey: appointments and like all this stuff. (0:35:11) Codey: But that means that if you get through it all, you must really care. (0:35:14) Al: Well this is the thing is because she actually got the diagnosis because she, like someone (0:35:16) Codey: You don’t care enough. (0:35:25) Al: was noticing while she was postpartum, she’d just had a baby, and so they were like “I (0:35:29) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:35:31) Al: think we need to do this” and she was like “Great” so she didn’t even need to do that (0:35:35) Al: first step, like that’s the best way to get diagnosis when someone notices and does something (0:35:39) Al: about it, but most people don’t get that. (0:35:40) Codey: Yep. That’s pretty I had been going to doctors for a long (0:35:45) Codey: time. And then finally, one of them was like, oh my gosh, you’ve (0:35:48) Codey: been coming here for so long. Why don’t I just send you to (0:35:50) Codey: this other place? And the first person that saw me at that other (0:35:53) Codey: place was like, Oh, yeah, you have it. Like she didn’t even (0:35:56) Codey: have to take me through the test. But yeah, all of that to (0:36:01) Codey: say, our chiding is gentle, we please over magica human take (0:36:07) Codey: your time. We can’t do things. (0:36:08) Al: I mean, she probably doesn’t listen to the podcast anyway, you know. (0:36:10) Codey: Please, Claudia. We can’t do things on a timeline either, but if she does, you take (0:36:19) Codey: your time. We’re still here. We still are excited about your game. They’re cute. I want (0:36:23) Al: Your blobs are cute. (0:36:24) Al: I want your, I was just about to say I want your blobs, but that sounds really bad. (0:36:29) Codey: your blobs. One of the ones in the new trailer was a fox. That’s pretty cute. Yeah. I think (0:36:34) Al: Blob. You can, I’m pretty sure you can crossbreed the blobs as well. So could you make a Fox (0:36:41) Codey: it was a fox. I was thinking more fox B, but okay. (0:36:42) Al: cow blob? Ooh, Fox bee. Would that be like black and orange straighten? That’s too similar (0:36:51) Al: to be orange and yellow stripes. (0:36:54) Codey: I would yeah I would think it’s an orange and white striped bee that has a fox tail. (0:37:02) Codey: And maybe with like uh little fox ears too little white tipped ears could be cute. (0:37:08) Al: Interesting. Speaking of first major content update after an early access release. (0:37:16) Al: We have fields of mystery have also announced their first major content update, and that is out now as you’re listening comes out in the 18th of November, which is in the past now listeners. (0:37:32) Al: Similarly to the previous update, you probably don’t care about most of this stuff if you don’t play the game. (0:37:38) Al: It adds a bunch of stuff that will probably be really interesting to you. (0:37:42) Codey: This is the one that adds cosmetic things. (0:37:42) Al: So it does add cosmetic. (0:37:46) Codey: You can change how you look. (0:37:47) Codey: You can change how your pets look. (0:37:49) Codey: You can get new drops from the monsters in the dungeons (0:37:52) Codey: because surprise, there are new monsters in the dungeon. (0:37:54) Codey: Mines, it’s mines. (0:37:56) Codey: I said dungeon, I meant mines. (0:37:58) Codey: New heart events, new skill perks, a new festival, mounts. (0:38:02) Codey: I’m excited about the mounts. (0:38:02) Al: I don’t know, never say never. You know the fun thing about one thing I really like about (0:38:05) Codey: I’m never gonna play this game, (0:38:06) Codey: but I was excited about that. (0:38:13) Al: Fields of Mystery, just seeing as how we’re talking about it. I’ll talk more about this (0:38:15) Al: in the main episode that we talk about it in. But you can change everything about yourself (0:38:21) Al: after the initial thing, except your birthday. And that includes your pronouns, your name, (0:38:28) Codey: That’s cool (0:38:30) Al: your look, et cetera. (0:38:31) Codey: That’s cool (0:38:33) Al: Yeah, the number of times I’ve heard my trans friends say that they started a game (0:38:38) Al: pre-transition, and then they’re like, don’t want to play the game now because I’m pre-transitioning (0:38:43) Al: the game. Well, there you go in Fields of Mystery, you can just change. If only it was as simple as (0:38:46) Codey: In the real world, womp, womp, it is becoming more obvious, I guess. (0:38:48) Al: that. [LAUGHTER] (0:38:57) Codey: I’ve had a couple people, I don’t know if I’ve said this on the pod or not, but I have (0:39:01) Codey: decided to expand my pronouns to she/they, so anything she/her or they/them are acceptable. (0:39:10) Codey: This happened because I’m pretty sure my tattoo artist thought I was non-binary and they called (0:39:14) Codey: me think, for a really long time. (0:39:16) Codey: And I was like, you know what, that doesn’t sound wrong. (0:39:20) Codey: That does not sound wrong, but he does. (0:39:24) Codey: I do not identify as he/him. (0:39:26) Codey: So I am… (0:39:28) Al: Either you’re going to say “I do not identify as a he” or a him, a he or a him, either of (0:39:28) Codey: Yeah, or as… No, I don’t. (0:39:33) Codey: So yeah, I’m she/they. (0:39:35) Codey: Or him. Or his. None of those things. (0:39:36) Al: them. Or a his. Well, I don’t know. Well, I mean, it depends how traditionally possessive (0:39:39) Codey: So yeah. (0:39:46) Al: about relationships you want to go, because I presume your partner, does your partner (0:39:50) Al: go by he/him. Okay, but you could arguably say you are his. (0:39:51) Codey: Um, I think he’s also he they, but he Ooh, you, you’re right. (0:39:58) Al: But then I know that, you know, obviously there are negative connotations to the patriarchal (0:40:05) Al: view of relationships like that. Well, yes. Yeah, OK. Of course. Of course. I’m just saying (0:40:08) Codey: I mean, but he’s mine, so it’s not a one-way thing. (0:40:13) Al: that the idea of being owned by a man is obviously historically… What’s the word I’m looking (0:40:16) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:20) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:21) Al: for… “ablimatic” is the word, but yeah, it works. (0:40:22) Codey: Ick? (0:40:25) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:26) Codey: No, so all of this is to say like, (0:40:28) Codey: that is something that I have, (0:40:30) Codey: that’s recently occurred in my life, (0:40:31) Codey: but it’s kind of been like under the radar. (0:40:33) Codey: I didn’t have like a big, hey, this is happening now. (0:40:36) Codey: And I’ve had at least three humans (0:40:38) Codey: week reach out to me independently and say, (0:40:41) Codey: hey, may I ask what your pronouns are? (0:40:44) Codey: ‘Cause I think they’ve changed. (0:40:46) Codey: And I was like, wow, they have, thank you. (0:40:47) Codey: Thank you for confirming. (0:40:51) Codey: So it is, though, again, (0:40:53) Codey: I’m in a very liberal, progressive life. (0:40:57) Codey: But people are becoming more accepting of it. (0:41:01) Codey: I feel like in the general. (0:41:03) Al: the people you want to spend time with anyway. (0:41:05) Al: » [LAUGH] (0:41:06) Codey: Yeah. (0:41:07) Codey: Well, and it’s funny because (0:41:08) Codey: because of things in life right now, uh, there are those who are in hide (0:41:13) Codey: mode who are trying to protect themselves, which is 100% valid. (0:41:14) Al: Mm-hmm (0:41:17) Codey: Um, I’m in fight mode. (0:41:19) Codey: So both in my institution, uh, but also in my politics, I am not going to go (0:41:27) Codey: quietly into that good night. (0:41:28) Codey: I’m, I’m ready to fight. (0:41:30) Codey: Um, and I’ve told all of my friends that if they need someone to fight for them, (0:41:33) Codey: hit me up because I’m in fight mode right now, not flight. (0:41:38) Al: Fair enough. It’s fine, I’ll cut it. It doesn’t need to go in. Yeah, so a bunch of stuff. (0:41:39) Codey: Uh, that was a weird aside. (0:41:40) Codey: Anyway, we have a couple new games. (0:41:45) Codey: You don’t have to cut it. (0:41:46) Codey: It’s fine. (0:41:50) Codey: Mm hmm. (0:41:51) Codey: Woo! (0:41:54) Al: That’s all of the game news, but we also have new games. Two new games to talk about. (0:42:00) Al: The first is Whimsied, a creature collection game that sits at the bottom of your screen (0:42:07) Al: and fits easily into your… (0:42:08) Al: routine. Whether you’re working, studying, or relaxing, Whimsight is always ready to offer you cozy (0:42:15) Al: pauses, capture creatures, create new species, and decorate your whimsical space in this soothing (0:42:20) Al: adventure. So we’re finishing the trilogy of, we’re going to call them rusty retirement likes. (0:42:28) Codey: Yeah, that was a I said, Oh, no, what did Rusty’s retirement do? (0:42:34) Codey: Because they really opened up a a worm of cans. (0:42:38) Al: this feels like the most dangerous one to me (0:42:39) Codey: But yeah, I think it’s. (0:42:43) Codey: Yeah, yeah, because it’s it’s creature collection. (0:42:47) Codey: It’s also you breed things together and you create new things. (0:42:50) Codey: I also really like that the little creatures are 2D, like, (0:42:54) Codey: and when they turn themselves, they just turn they’re like a little plane of paper (0:42:58) Al: Like, yeah, people are mad at you, ask. (0:43:00) Codey: I don’t know. Yeah, very paper Mario esque and that was really cute. (0:43:05) Codey: Yeah. Oh, heck, I am. (0:43:09) Codey: My all my dollar bucks are going to go away for this. (0:43:12) Al: Oh, they call them winlings. (0:43:13) Codey: So, yeah. Yeah, they’re windlings. (0:43:20) Codey: Yep, it looks really cute. (0:43:21) Codey: The release date is currently to be determined, but you can (0:43:25) Codey: support the person, I think, on some way. (0:43:28) Codey: That I saw pre pre down. (0:43:32) Codey: I don’t know. You can do something to support them that one. (0:43:34) Al: Go add it to your wishlist. (0:43:37) Al: That’s always the best thing before games are out, (0:43:41) Al: because it pushes them up the charts when they do come out. (0:43:44) Codey: Oh, I didn’t know that. (0:43:46) Codey: The more you know. (0:43:48) Codey: Um, yeah, very cute. Are you are you are you going to get that one.&

Al and Aislinn talk about Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:00: What Have We Been Up To 00:12:27: News 00:25:07: Kamaeru 01:02:36: Outro Links Farlands Early Access Go-Go Town Roadmap Updates Garden Witch Life New Trail Len’s Island “Game Modes” Update Wind Story Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. (0:00:35) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:36) Aislinn: my name is Aislinn. (0:00:38) Al: And we are here today to talk about frog games. (0:00:40) Aislinn: Woooo! (0:00:45) Al: Transcripts are available on the show notes and on the website, as always. (0:00:49) Al: Welcome, Aislinn. (0:00:50) Al: Welcome back, I should say. (0:00:52) Al: Your second time on the pod. (0:00:52) Aislinn: Yeah, thanks for having me back. (0:00:56) Al: Good to have you. (0:00:58) Al: I’ve brought Eslan on the pod to… (0:01:01) Al: …talk about Kamayru, is that how you say it? (0:01:04) Aislinn: Yeah, Kameiru! Gosh, I, uh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna withhold. I’m gonna withhold. I have many opinions about this game. (0:01:12) Al: Yeah, we’ll get to that. We’ll get to that. It’s important. We need to get through the (0:01:13) Aislinn: Yes, we know! (0:01:15) Aislinn: I know, I know, I know! (0:01:16) Al: process. So that’s what we’re going to talk about. I personally haven’t played Camaro, (0:01:18) Aislinn: Okay. (0:01:22) Al: but Aislinn has. So we’re going to talk about that later on. Before that, we obviously have (0:01:32) Al: some news. Oh, I should note, this is the last episode that has news for the next three (0:01:39) Al: episodes because this is the last one. (0:01:42) Al: And before I go away for a wee while. (0:01:45) Al: So the next three episodes won’t have news. (0:01:48) Al: They will be our special. (0:01:49) Al: Do I announce? Yeah, let’s announce it now. (0:01:51) Al: The next week we will be starting off Dave the Diver month. (0:01:56) Al: So that is a full month focusing on Dave the Diver. (0:02:00) Al: So I’m very excited for people to hear what we’ve got cooked up. (0:02:05) Al: I hope I’m not overdoing it and we’re not completely. (0:02:09) Al: over focusing on a game. (0:02:12) Al: When I had this idea, I thought it was fantastic, so stay tuned for four episodes of Dave the (0:02:17) Al: Diver starting next week. (0:02:18) Aislinn: Honestly, that sounds wonderful. (0:02:21) Aislinn: It sounds perfect. (0:02:22) Al: Have you played that game? (0:02:22) Aislinn: It sounds… (0:02:23) Aislinn: I have not, but also it just sounds wonderful to have something like that just for holiday (0:02:27) Aislinn: in general and just have something focused on one game. (0:02:31) Aislinn: It sounds nice. (0:02:32) Aislinn: It sounds like a nice change of pace. (0:02:32) Al: Yeah, last year we did Fishing Month, so we had four episodes on fishing and various different (0:02:34) Aislinn: Oooooooh! (0:02:40) Al: things. There was a debate on the best fishing minigame, though I think we covered Dredge, (0:02:46) Al: which is not our usual kind of game, and stuff like that. And yeah, this year is Dave the (0:02:52) Al: Diver Month, so coming soon. But that’s not what we’re talking about just now. Before (0:02:55) Aislinn: Soon. (0:03:01) Al: we get into the news and (0:03:02) Al: the news. (0:03:04) Aislinn: um melting because it’s just really it’s genuinely I feel like it’s been an endless just heat wave (0:03:13) Aislinn: here in new york um it’s just so hot all the time my cat is melting i’m melting everything (0:03:21) Aislinn: is melting it’s just hot 90 degrees what is that in celsius I don’t know it’s 90 degrees fahrenheit (0:03:28) Aislinn: and it’s humid and it’s just hot that’s yeah it’s hot (0:03:30) Al: That is 32. (0:03:34) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:03:35) Aislinn: Sun blazing just melting but otherwise (0:03:39) Aislinn: To talk about gaming wise what I’ve been up to not as much as I would like to (0:03:45) Aislinn: Be up to with gaming just because life has been busy as well in general between work and just other (0:03:52) Aislinn: Obligations in life in general, but when I am playing a game I have been now currently cycling through (0:04:00) Aislinn: Magical delicacy, which just which just came out recently (0:04:04) Aislinn: is a (0:04:06) Aislinn: platformer game with witches and cooking and (0:04:10) Aislinn: Actually, it might be a nice game to talk about on this podcast as well at some point (0:04:15) Aislinn: Because it’s also an accessibility game. So it’s like kind of it’s not necessary (0:04:19) Aislinn: I don’t know if I would consider it a cottagecore game, but there is cooking there is decorating (0:04:23) Aislinn: they (0:04:24) Al: Look, we sure are in all kinds of games. (0:04:29) Aislinn: But it like just came out and I play like a couple hours of it so far and it’s really cute (0:04:35) Aislinn: But I’ve been playing a little bit of that I’ve been playing spider-man 2 which is a completely different game for magical delicacy (0:04:41) Aislinn: I’ve been playing oh so good so far so good so far. I’ve also been playing (0:04:42) Al: a good game though. Good game. I love how they did because like, did you play the other (0:04:49) Aislinn: I did I did I’m so I’m playing the entire series all the way through back to back to back (0:04:49) Al: two Spider-Man games? Nice. That’s a lot to go through without a break. I played them (0:04:56) Aislinn: It is but I’m having such a good time (0:04:59) Aislinn: You (0:05:00) Al: when they came out. So I played the Marvel Spider-Man and I really enjoyed it. It was (0:05:05) Al: so much fun. And then when Miles Morales came out, I was like, this is so great. (0:05:12) Al: It’s better because you have the extra powers. And personally, I thought it was like a more (0:05:17) Al: compact game. People were like, “Oh, it’s too short.” And I’m like, “No, it’s not (0:05:18) Aislinn: Yeah (0:05:20) Al: too short. It’s perfect. Perfect length.” I mean, buy these things and sell them second (0:05:21) Aislinn: Yeah, no, it was perfect it was honestly perfect (0:05:23) Aislinn: Maybe it’s a little bit short for its price (0:05:26) Aislinn: But like as someone that didn’t pay for it and had no frame of concept of what it costs. I had a great time (0:05:32) Aislinn: time. (0:05:33) Al: hand, right? That’s what I do. I did that for all three Spider-Man games. I’ve bought (0:05:38) Al: them and then sold them like three weeks later when I finished. (0:05:42) Al: But what I found really interesting was I was wondering how they were going to make (0:05:46) Aislinn: Yeah, that’s true. That’s very true. (0:05:51) Al: Spider-Man 2 not just make you want to be Miles all the time, because Miles was, before (0:05:56) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:05:58) Al: Spider-Man 2 objectively, the better Spider-Man to play as, because he has all of the powers (0:06:01) Aislinn: Oh my god, yes. (0:06:03) Al: and more. (0:06:04) Al: And so I was like, “How are they going to make you want to be Peter Parker?” (0:06:08) Al: And they figured it out with the Venom stuff. (0:06:10) Aislinn: Woo, yeah, it’s so cool. It’s so cool. (0:06:10) Al: And it was fantastic. (0:06:12) Al: So good. (0:06:14) Al: And also adding in the other, the gliding, and you can also surf on the water a little (0:06:20) Aislinn: Yeah! (0:06:25) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:06:25) Al: bit as well, stuff like that just made it so much more fun. (0:06:28) Aislinn: Yeah, definitely. The only complaint I have about that game so far is, like, on the map itself, (0:06:33) Aislinn: I wish, like, things were marked down. Like, all of the side quests and everything. I wish you (0:06:37) Aislinn: didn’t have– I know they want you to explore everything, but I’m like, “Can you just mark it (0:06:40) Aislinn: down anyway so I have things to go towards?” Because that’s the thing that kind of gets me (0:06:42) Al: Oh do you mean like how they build it up slowly because it’s like it starts off with like oh (0:06:44) Aislinn: from an open world game sometimes as I get lost? (0:06:47) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:06:49) Al: you’ve you’ve got I get why they do that right because it’s a lot it would be overwhelming I (0:06:53) Al: think if you had too much all at once but yeah it does feel it does it does feel a little bit like (0:06:54) Aislinn: I don’t mind, but yeah, that’s just me. (0:06:59) Al: oh and now you know I’m 10 hours into the game and I’m just unlocking a whole new series of of (0:07:06) Al: quests sort of thing. There. (0:07:06) Aislinn: yeah yeah yeah yeah that that’s my like only complaint but that’s just a me thing more than (0:07:10) Aislinn: anything yeah um but yeah otherwise in addition to spider-man 2 magical delicacy also surprisingly (0:07:12) Al: I think that’s hard to solve but I get I get I get the issue. (0:07:22) Aislinn: playing weathering waves um which is that gacha game but I haven’t spent any money so far which (0:07:28) Aislinn: i’m very proud of myself because I know it’s like the game that you spend money on but i’m such a (0:07:33) Aislinn: slow gamer that it’s been great. (0:07:36) Aislinn: This isn’t another casual combat game which I’m into, but then I’ve also obviously been (0:07:42) Aislinn: playing Kamehiru and I’ve been replaying coffee talk as well as just a nice wind down game. (0:07:49) Aislinn: It makes me very sleepy, which is perfect before bed. (0:07:52) Al: I feel like you have a very specific look of games that you’re other than Spider-Man (0:07:57) Al: two very specific look of games that you’re playing just now like well just when you look (0:08:00) Aislinn: - In what way? (0:08:03) Al: at magical delicacy and Kama Eru and coffee talk and even a lot of not not not so much (0:08:10) Al: whether it’s I guess it’s just those three like just their their style their art styles (0:08:15) Aislinn: Mm hmm. Yeah, I would definitely agree. I’m very I am. I didn’t think I was for like the (0:08:15) Al: and their their vibes all feel very similar. (0:08:24) Aislinn: longest time. And then within the past like year, I’ve definitely realized that aesthetically and (0:08:30) Aislinn: vibe wise, I am very picky about my games in that sense. And all three of those games fit that good (0:08:37) Aislinn: soundtrack and nice aesthetic. Like if a game doesn’t look good, I realized that I’m not like (0:08:45) Aislinn: a huge fan. Like personally, even though I know, and this is this is hot water that I’m treading (0:08:49) Aislinn: into, but I know a lot of people love Baldur’s Gate. I don’t think I’m ever going to play Baldur’s (0:08:54) Aislinn: Gate because I don’t like how it looks. It’s not my my favorite aesthetic. So hot take, but I (0:09:01) Aislinn: unfortunately am a sucker for aesthetics. Yeah. Yeah. (0:09:04) Al: I think anybody who says they don’t care how their games look is lying to you. It’s just (0:09:10) Al: that people have different preferences, right? Because I care how my games look, right? There (0:09:16) Al: are games that I’ve seen come out that have been like, you know, PS3 style graphics, like (0:09:21) Al: they’re trying to recreate that vibe. And I don’t like how they look, you know? But (0:09:27) Al: equally the, you know, the more 3D Pokemon games have generally people have generally (0:09:34) Al: not liked the look of, and I’ve quite liked them. I mean, it’s not like Scarlet and Violet (0:09:34) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:09:38) Al: is the most good looking game, but I’m just not bothered by it. And specifically, I really (0:09:39) Aislinn: Yeah. Mm-hmm. (0:09:43) Al: like how Pokemon Legends look. I actively like how that game looks, even though some (0:09:45) Aislinn: Yeah, me too. (0:09:47) Al: people really dislike it. So yeah, I think it’s a lie to say you don’t care how games (0:09:48) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:09:52) Al: look, but it’s a way that people describe the fact that we have different preferences. (0:09:58) Al: And so people will be like, “Oh, oh, I just, I don’t care about graphics.” And it’s like, (0:10:01) Al: You do, it’s just what your preference is. (0:10:04) Al: are different from other people. So when you see a game that you like and other people (0:10:08) Al: call it bad, you’re like, “Oh, clearly that means I don’t care about graphics.” It’s like, (0:10:11) Al: “No, you just like what other people don’t and that’s fine.” You couldn’t agree more. (0:10:13) Aislinn: Yeah, I agree, I 1000% agree. (0:10:19) Aislinn: I could not agree, I couldn’t, I could agree more, I don’t know what the phrase is, but I think you know what I mean. (0:10:24) Aislinn: I couldn’t agree more, thank you. (0:10:26) Al: Yes. Cool. Well, I haven’t been playing… (0:10:27) Aislinn: English is hard. (0:10:34) Al: I haven’t been playing a lot because I’ve spent most of my time podcasting because I’ve (0:10:37) Aislinn: It’s been sporadic, though. (0:10:45) Al: been recording six episodes in two and a half weeks to get ready to go away. Obviously, (0:10:48) Aislinn: Oh my god. (0:10:50) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:10:52) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:10:52) Al: I finished up Dave the Diver for the Dave the Diver episodes. I’ve managed to finish (0:10:56) Al: that story, so tune in next week to find out my first thoughts on Dave the Diver. (0:11:04) Al: I have picked up for a very short period of time so far. I haven’t played much of it, (0:11:08) Al: but I’ve just picked up Chicken Journey, which is a 2D chicken platforming RPG. (0:11:15) Aislinn: actually I think this is on my wish list it looks so cute (0:11:20) Al: Yeah, I was on sale in the… was it the summer sale? I don’t know, I lose track. Whatever (0:11:26) Aislinn: probably (0:11:27) Al: the most recent sale was on Steam, and it’s been on my list for a while, and I saw that (0:11:33) Al: it’s about 10 hours to complete, so I was like, “That feels like a good… Yeah, let’s (0:11:37) Al: go for that then.” So that will probably be my holiday game. About half an hour. Really (0:11:39) Aislinn: nice very nice how much of it how much I was gonna say how much of it have you played thus far (0:11:47) Aislinn: okay all right so not much of a first first look got it (0:11:51) Al: but I’ve played enough to know that I don’t dislike the controls, which is always a good start. (0:11:55) Aislinn: that’s a huge plus honestly (0:11:57) Al: And the game looks like what you expect based on the materials, so I’m not seeing any false (0:12:03) Al: advertising. So we’ll see how the platforming challenges are and what the story is. And yeah. (0:12:12) Aislinn: Yeah, I’m looking forward to hearing more about it from you definitely, because it is, (0:12:16) Aislinn: I did confirm it is on my wish list, so to get your take would be fantastic. (0:12:21) Al: will mention it at some point, I’m sure. Well, that’s what we’ve been playing. (0:12:23) Aislinn: Awesome. (0:12:28) Al: We’re going to talk about some game news. There’s not a lot, and mainly that’s because we’re (0:12:33) Al: recording quite early. So if something happens in the last week when this comes out, that’s because (0:12:41) Al: we didn’t mention it because we’ve already recorded SAWs. So the first news is that Far Lands have (0:12:49) Al: have announced their early access is coming. (0:12:51) Al: on the 24th of July for people who don’t remember, because I talk about too many games. (0:13:01) Al: This is a 2D pixel art farming game in space. (0:13:09) Al: Yeah, I don’t think there’s a huge amount to say, they’ve announced their early access. (0:13:16) Aislinn: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I you know my take on pretty much all the game news is that I have never seen this game before (0:13:24) Aislinn: But it looks I did I actually copied and pasted it (0:13:24) Al: » Island literally wrote that next to every single news. (0:13:27) Al: I’ve first time seeing this game. (0:13:29) Aislinn: And literally copied and pasted it. I was like, oh I haven’t seen any of these games (0:13:35) Aislinn: It looks like us. It looks like a space a space star do (0:13:38) Al: pretty much. Yeah, I don’t, it’s not like I think this game looks bad. There’s nothing (0:13:39) Aislinn: Okay (0:13:45) Al: about it that excites me in particular, but, you know, different people, etc. So if you (0:13:52) Aislinn: Yeah, it fills that niche. (0:13:54) Al: want to space stardew, this is one of the many options coming out in the next few months. (0:13:59) Aislinn: And you know my take about another farming sim in my life, I don’t have time! (0:14:06) Aislinn: But I appreciate it for what it is. (0:14:07) Aislinn: I do appreciate it for what it is, and if that was filling the niche for me, I would (0:14:11) Aislinn: be stoked about it. (0:14:12) Al: Yeah, yeah, fair enough. (0:14:15) Al: GoGo Town have released more information about their roadmap, so listeners will know what (0:14:23) Al: this game is because we covered it a couple weeks ago. (0:14:27) Al: I played it. (0:14:28) Al: It’s an early access. (0:14:30) Al: My summary, Aislinn, because you won’t have listened to that episode, is it’s an early (0:14:34) Al: access but not one of the buggy early accesses. (0:14:38) Al: One of the early accesses that just feels like it’s missing a lot of content. (0:14:42) Al: I think this will be really good to play once it’s once it’s further down the line. (0:14:47) Al: But I feel like after kind of six or seven hours, was it 10, 10 hours, something like that, (0:14:53) Al: I played of it. (0:14:54) Aislinn: I mean, considering six or seven hours and you feel that way already, that’s pretty good, (0:14:54) Al: I feel like I’ve gotten everything I can out of it just now, but I have very much (0:15:04) Aislinn: but that’s unfortunate. (0:15:05) Aislinn: It’s like the early access is lack of content, but I much, much, much rather that than it (0:15:10) Aislinn: being a buggy game for sure. (0:15:12) Al: Yeah, that’s always been my feeling because there’s a few others that have played in that (0:15:16) Al: similar vein like Ooblets and Coral Island. They were both similar where the game did (0:15:22) Al: not feel buggy at all. It just felt unfinished and there was a lot of missing content. All (0:15:29) Al: of them I’ve come back to at 1.0 and had a great time again. I never feel bad about them, (0:15:35) Al: because I go into them knowing they’re early access. I’d say, “Well, yeah, I would much (0:15:38) Al: rather that, then here’s a game where everything exists, but it’s gonna crash. (0:15:42) Al: Every five minutes. You know. (0:15:42) Aislinn: Yeah, no, I much rather that. (0:15:47) Aislinn: I agree. (0:15:48) Aislinn: I wholeheartedly agree. (0:15:50) Aislinn: But yeah, this is the go-go town game for what I, again, first time seeing the game. (0:15:55) Aislinn: So all I know is what I’ve seen on the Steam page store for the most part, but it does (0:16:00) Aislinn: look like a whole bunch of fun. (0:16:02) Aislinn: So when it is fully fleshed out, it looks like there’s a lot of things that like a lot (0:16:06) Aislinn: of time that you could sink into the game. (0:16:08) Al: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And you can write a unicorn tricycle. So, yeah, that’s the important thing. (0:16:12) Aislinn: You can high five a cow. (0:16:14) Aislinn: [LAUGH] I saw that and I was like, whoa, I was like ready. (0:16:20) Aislinn: I was ready, I was those hype. (0:16:21) Aislinn: [LAUGH] It’s so cute. (0:16:22) Al: Yeah, so they’ve updated their roadmap a little bit. There’s an update coming out pretty much (0:16:32) Al: just when this comes out with some more updates to their worker AIs. A lot of this game, Aislinn, (0:16:38) Al: is about kind of getting people to your town and telling them to, like you give them jobs to do. (0:16:44) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:16:44) Al: And so they do the things that you were doing, they automate them and stuff like that. So (0:16:48) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:16:48) Al: there’s obviously some bugs within that because that’s a very complicated thing to do. (0:16:52) Al: So they’ve got a bunch of updates coming for fixing of that. And then they’ve announced that (0:16:59) Al: their first major update is going to come mid-August. And that includes, it’s mostly (0:17:02) Aislinn: Nice. Soon. (0:17:06) Al: kind of like quality of life improvements. And they had said, I think they’re going to expand (0:17:10) Al: the map and stuff like that, which was kind of one of the biggest things that I had noticed about (0:17:13) Al: the game was it felt quite small, experience wise, which is good that they’re focusing on. (0:17:22) Al: What people are feeling are the things they would like to improve quickest. (0:17:28) Aislinn: And that’s the beauty of more indie games in general, is like you’re able to have that (0:17:32) Aislinn: community and have that communication, which is very nice, very refreshing. (0:17:38) Al: Garden Witch Life have released a new trailer. I feel like the name tells you everything (0:17:45) Al: about what this game is, right? Garden Witch Life. It’s a life sim where you’re a witch (0:17:47) Aislinn: Yeah, I would agree. (0:17:52) Al: and you’re farming. Yeah. So yeah, they’ve released a new trailer with some kind of hints (0:17:56) Aislinn: Yeah, yeah, yep, that’s that’s what I took away from looking at the game as well (0:18:01) Aislinn: And that little little guy (0:18:04) Al: towards the story and (0:18:08) Al: yeah I i they’ve not got a release date yet but they are still saying that it’s releasing this (0:18:12) Al: year so if they’re saying that in july i’m feeling reasonably confident a bit (0:18:18) Aislinn: Yeah, well, well, I guess, yeah, I think I, I, I would agree. (0:18:21) Aislinn: I would agree. (0:18:22) Aislinn: I wish, I wish I could, I realized now that I was so excited about that little (0:18:26) Aislinn: guy, but this is an audio only podcast. (0:18:29) Aislinn: So that doesn’t make any sense, but just know that there is on specifically the (0:18:31) Al: There’s a little guy. (0:18:34) Aislinn: steam page, if you go to the steam page and you go to the decorate section on (0:18:39) Aislinn: that little bed, there’s a little guy right there. (0:18:41) Aislinn: That’s very cute. (0:18:43) Aislinn: I mean, there’s a bunch of little guys, but there’s specifically a little guy (0:18:43) Al: just a little guy. Yeah, he is. He’s a little guy. And he’s following the theme of frogs (0:18:46) Aislinn: And he’s real (0:18:48) Aislinn: Good (0:18:51) Aislinn: He’s a little guy (0:18:55) Aislinn: He is (0:18:56) Al: this episode. So low frog guy. (0:18:58) Aislinn: That’s my take on garden witch life 10 out of 10 cuz a little guy (0:19:01) Aislinn: Bye. (laughs) (0:19:06) Al: We also have a small update about Lens Island, so I think we talked about the Game Modes (0:19:11) Al: update last week. That is now out, and they’ve released the entire patch notes. I don’t think (0:19:18) Al: there was anything big that I saw in there that we hadn’t already talked about. Basically, (0:19:24) Al: Aislinn, this update is about adding new game modes, and changes in difficulty, but not (0:19:30) Al: just our easy, hard, medium sort of thing, but they’ve got… (0:19:36) Al: So many different options. You can turn on Permadeath, or turn it off. You can change (0:19:43) Al: what happens to your bag when you die, whether it stays with you, whether it drops, or whether (0:19:47) Al: it’s destroyed. They’ve got 30 or 40 different updates in different settings for the difficulty, (0:19:58) Aislinn: Whoo, that’s nice. That’s awesome. It’s a game. That’s also I think on my wish list (0:20:02) Aislinn: But I just have not gotten around to playing it (0:20:04) Aislinn: But good to know that there’s going to be even more options one and if I am able to get around to it (0:20:09) Al: Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to encourage you to play it right now because their 1.0 comes (0:20:13) Al: out in like two months. So, very soon. I’m worse than you. It’s not on my wish list. (0:20:17) Aislinn: We’ll revisit in two months then. [laughs] (0:20:23) Al: I own the game and I haven’t played it yet. That’s not quite true. Well, part of the problem (0:20:25) Aislinn: Awwwwww! [laughs] (0:20:30) Al: is that I might have a problem in kick-starting games, and this was one of the ones I kick-started, (0:20:37) Al: So obviously I got the code for then. (0:20:39) Al: I have opened the game, but I opened the game on my Steam deck and I went to play it and realized they didn’t have controller support when the first version came out and I went, “I’m not going to do this just now then.” (0:20:41) Aislinn: Okay. (0:20:47) Aislinn: Awwww… (0:20:50) Aislinn: Awwww… (0:20:51) Al: It has now been, I think it has now, I think been two years since the added controller support, but I’ve still not played it yet. (0:20:56) Aislinn: Okay. (0:20:57) Aislinn: When- you know when you get to it is when you get to it. laughs (0:21:01) Al: Exactly, exactly. So at this point, I’m waiting for 1.0 and then I’ll be all in. (0:21:06) Aislinn: Two months, two months. (0:21:09) Al: Well, I’m in a way for the next month anyway, so. (0:21:12) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. It’s true. laughs (0:21:15) Al: July has been a very busy with games. (0:21:19) Al: There were so many games that released in July, it was a little bit stressful. (0:21:24) Al: Gogotown being one of them. Thanks, guys. (0:21:30) Al: That’s the game news. (0:21:31) Al: We also have a new game, Wind Story. (0:21:36) Al: So this I’ll just as I always do read a little blurb about this. (0:21:39) Al: So I mean, it’s a like a life farming life, right? (0:21:59) Al: I’m just going to do it. (0:22:00) Aislinn: Again, I don’t have time, but the game looks really nice. (0:22:05) Aislinn: I really like the colors and I am a sucker for the Octopath art style. (0:22:10) Al: Yeah, so was it 2DHD? Is that what they’re calling it? Where it’s like your kind of pixel art, (0:22:10) Aislinn: Art style-esque thing. (0:22:12) Aislinn: Uhhh, good question. (0:22:16) Aislinn: I, I, I, you know, even though I said I like the art style because it’s Octopath, I’ve (0:22:16) Al: I think that’s what they call it? Let’s see, or is that like a trademark or something? (0:22:25) Aislinn: never played Octopath in my life, but I’ve seen friends play Octopath and I appreciate (0:22:30) Aislinn: the art style, but I don’t know anything about the game. (0:22:31) Al: You can like how something looks. Yeah so Wikipedia says it’s an HD 2D not 2D HD. Sorry, (0:22:39) Aislinn: Ah, okay. (0:22:40) Al: HD 2D. So yeah I have mixed feelings about that style of game. Like I know it’s trying to do the… (0:22:40) Aislinn: HG2D, okay. (0:22:51) Al: it’s trying to be like kind of 2D RPGs where in the past but try and make them more modern. (0:23:01) Al: If you’re trying to do that style of game you either do this or you do just standard 2D pixel art. (0:23:10) Al: There’s something about the characters on the background they never quite fit properly and I (0:23:17) Al: just I’m not a huge fan of any of this style of graphics. I think that’s a me thing. I just feel (0:23:24) Al: like they stand out badly against the background. (0:23:28) Aislinn: I mean, yeah, I’ve it’s I feel like the octopath art style. I feel like it’s very divisive. It’s either you like it or you don’t (0:23:35) Aislinn: Like I’ve definitely heard your take of just not being super stoked about it (0:23:40) Aislinn: But I’ve also heard people that will die on a hill and say it’s amazing. So (0:23:45) Aislinn: Again, like you were saying in the beginning the aesthetics it’s a preference (0:23:48) Al: Yeah. It’s not even just like that, because I’m trying to figure out whether it’s because, (0:23:53) Al: obviously, the character models are like flat, kind of like Paper Mario, but the reason that (0:23:58) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:23:59) Al: I prefer how Paper Mario looks is because like everything looks like that, whereas this is just (0:24:04) Al: the character on an otherwise high-definition 3D world. And it just, there’s something about that (0:24:12) Al: that just doesn’t, what’s the opposite of tickling your brain? It like, stabbing my brain. I don’t (0:24:15) Aislinn: I feel like that’s so aggressive smoosh smooshing. I don’t know. I’m not sure (0:24:19) Al: brain does not like it. Smooshing my brain. That sounds worse. (0:24:26) Aislinn: That does sound worse, I don’t know (0:24:31) Al: Yeah. I don’t know. I, yeah. Some people will love how this looks, and that’s good. (0:24:36) Aislinn: Fair no (0:24:39) Al: But this game is coming soon, and that blurb that I gave you is most of what we know. There’s some (0:24:46) Al: more kind of description. (0:24:48) Al: And there’s a bunch of screenshots if you want to look on the Steam page, (0:24:51) Al: but there’s not a huge amount more and, yeah. (0:24:56) Aislinn: Yeah, I’ve got nothing else to add with that. (0:24:59) Aislinn: I think it looks okay, you think it looks eh? (0:25:02) Aislinn: And that’s just, that’s just how it’d be. (0:25:06) Al: That is how it would be. (0:25:07) Al: However, a game that we both think looks great. (0:25:10) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:25:11) Al: However, I haven’t played it yet is Kamayru. (0:25:13) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:25:15) Al: We are going to talk about Kamaeru, a frog refuge. (0:25:18) Al: From someone who hasn’t played this, I guess I would describe this as looking like Usagi (0:25:24) Al: Shima, but frogs. (0:25:26) Al: Would you say that’s a fair description? (0:25:28) Aislinn: I have to look up what you just said. (0:25:29) Al: Oh, you’ve not played Usagi Shima? (0:25:32) Aislinn: No. (0:25:32) Al: Oh, no! (0:25:33) Aislinn: Oh, yeah. (0:25:33) Al: Where have you been? (0:25:34) Aislinn: No, I do know this. (0:25:35) Aislinn: I do notice. (0:25:36) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:25:37) Aislinn: It’s it is. (0:25:38) Al: Bunny game. (0:25:38) Aislinn: It is. (0:25:39) Aislinn: Yep. (0:25:40) Aislinn: No, I’ve heard of. (0:25:41) Aislinn: You know, it is. (0:25:42) Al: Ah. (0:25:42) Aislinn: I never played it because I have a friend that I knew I knew would love this game. (0:25:44) Aislinn: And I was like, I’m gonna let her have it and have her moment because I feel like this (0:25:48) Aislinn: is a game suited for her because she is her whole branding is rabbit. (0:25:51) Aislinn: So I’m like, I’m gonna let her have her moment. (0:25:53) Aislinn: But I’ve seen this game very cute. (0:25:55) Aislinn: And I think from what I know about this game, yes, it’s very similar. (0:25:58) Aislinn: It is, instead of it being a bunny collecting game, a frog. (0:25:59) Al: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Well, yeah, I mean, I personally, when I’ve seen it, I’ve liked (0:26:07) Al: the look of it. I’ve seen you stream it a little bit because if people don’t know, Aislinn (0:26:09) Aislinn: Mm-hmm (0:26:12) Al: is a streamer, a very good streamer, a very fun streamer. Doing mostly cosy games would (0:26:14) Aislinn: Hey, thank you (0:26:18) Al: be a fair way to describe it. You don’t discriminate on your cosy games, you just do whatever you’re (0:26:25) Aislinn: Yeah, pretty much. It’s whatever. It happens to usually be cozy, but I’m open to anything (0:26:32) Aislinn: as long as I’m having a good time at the end of the day. (0:26:34) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. Cool. Well, I’ll hand it off to you to start off with then. (0:26:40) Al: Tell me about this game. You’ve gotten into it. What’s it like? (0:26:44) Aislinn: Well, first of all, buckle in, because it’s time. (0:26:50) Al: It’s time for Essay! (0:26:55) Aislinn: I love this game, just to preface it. (0:26:58) Aislinn: So I am definitely very biased in the sense that I will give this game all of the praise (0:27:02) Aislinn: in the world, because I love this game, I’ve met the developers, and everything from beginning (0:27:11) Aislinn: to end has been a wonderful experience with this game. (0:27:13) Aislinn: I’m very biased in the– (0:27:14) Aislinn: I’m very biased in the positive end of this game, but what Kamaeru is from the website (0:27:21) Aislinn: Kamaeru is a cozy farming sim game in which you breed and collect frogs, decorate your refuge, and restore wetlands in order to grow food and other resources (0:27:29) Aislinn: There’s also, like, from the Steam page as well, it mentions (0:27:34) Aislinn: With the help of the game’s cast of welcoming NPCs, you have photograph and breed frogs to increase your reputation, decorate your frog refuge, and plant native crops de– (0:27:44) Aislinn: to help your amphibian abode thrive (0:27:47) Aislinn: Um, and pretty much the gameplay loop of the game is collecting frogs, whether you are feeding them, you’re breeding them, you are taking photos of them (0:27:58) Aislinn: You can collect 500+ frogs, and add them to your frogadex (0:28:02) Al: 500. Wow. So many frogs. I always find it funny when they say 500 plus. It’s like how (0:28:03) Aislinn: 500+! So many frogs! It’s so good! (0:28:09) Al: many more plus? Is- is- (0:28:10) Aislinn: I think it’s like, I think it’s like, I’m not going to lie, I think it’s like five. (0:28:14) Aislinn: I have the the number 512 in my head, and I don’t know if that’s correct or not. (0:28:18) Al: I just feel like just put the number, right? Like 500 plus, just put the number, right? (0:28:21) Aislinn: Yeah, right? Yeah, I… (0:28:25) Aislinn: Yeah, yeah, I agree, but you know, you gotta you gotta make it look enticing by saying plus. (0:28:31) Al: But like, I feel like most people would probably look at that and go, “Oh, so like 501 then.” (0:28:39) Al: Whereas if it was like much more than that, you would put the number, right? Like if it (0:28:41) Al: was 590, you wouldn’t say 500 plus, you’d say nearly 600. (0:28:46) Aislinn: True. It’s like saying, it’s like people when they say like, oh a few, a couple, (0:28:50) Aislinn: that could mean multiple different things to different people, so. (0:28:56) Aislinn: I think it’s like five, twelve. I’m pretty sure it’s less than five fifty though. (0:29:00) Aislinn: So I’ll say somewhere within that range. True. (0:29:00) Al: I mean 500 is a lot, no matter how many exactly it is, 500 plus. (0:29:07) Aislinn: And they’re all adorable. All so cute. And I love that it’s called the Frogadex. I think that is so (0:29:13) Aislinn: adorable. (0:29:14) Al: Hmm. Classic. (0:29:16) Aislinn: Yeah, it’s real. It’s real good. You collect the frogs, 500 plus frogs, just so you know. (0:29:21) Al: 500 plus. (0:29:25) Aislinn: You restore the wetlands, which is one of my favorite things, I think, by far about (0:29:29) Aislinn: this game is that there is a… it’s not… it’s definitely by no means. There’s not a (0:29:35) Aislinn: lot of… it’s not super… it’s not super in-depth in regards to, like, the (0:29:40) Aislinn: restor… like, learning about the restoration process, but you do learn (0:29:44) Aislinn: about what it’s (0:29:46) Aislinn: kind of like to restore a wetland or restore an (0:29:48) Aislinn: environment and it there is a focus on this in this game of (0:29:52) Aislinn: just conservation and everything, which makes me very (0:29:56) Aislinn: happy. Like there’s a it’s not just a game about collecting (0:30:00) Aislinn: frogs is also a message, especially with me melting over (0:30:04) Aislinn: here because of global warming, I think it’s wonderful. It’s (0:30:06) Aislinn: perfect timing. It’s wonderful. So there’s that. And then with (0:30:12) Aislinn: that, there’s also decorating your wetlands is decorating your (0:30:16) Aislinn: there is froggy. There’s a froggy chair. Confirm there is a (0:30:20) Aislinn: froggy chair. There’s froggy furniture in general. So if you (0:30:23) Aislinn: like those little guys, this froggy everything. And it is (0:30:30) Aislinn: available on Steam on the Xbox series and the Nintendo Switch. (0:30:37) Aislinn: But if it were up to me, I would recommend playing it on (0:30:41) Aislinn: thirsty with a mouse because it’s a very clicky game. (0:30:43) Al: It’s a very clicky game, isn’t it? (0:30:46) Aislinn: I was given a key by Armor Games because that’s the publisher, so they gave me a key for Steam but I bought the game on Switch because I loved the game so much that I wanted to also buy the game to support developers as well and I still enjoy it on the Switch but I definitely enjoy it way more on the PC personally. (0:31:04) Al: Mm hmm. (0:31:12) Al: Does the touch screen work on Switch? (0:31:12) Aislinn: Actually, it’s a good point. (0:31:16) Al: You haven’t tried. (0:31:16) Aislinn: I realized… I don’t think I tried. (0:31:18) Al: I can’t believe you haven’t tried. (0:31:19) Al: Like, I just I can’t I can’t imagine you would you would go and go, oh, (0:31:23) Al: this is this is a game that seems to work much better when you can just click (0:31:27) Al: on the things you want and you didn’t go and you didn’t go, well, (0:31:28) Aislinn: Yeah, I think I did, I think I did, but also I don’t remember, because the most recent (0:31:30) Al: let me just try tapping on the things that I want. (0:31:39) Aislinn: times that I’ve played Kameeru on the Switch, I had it all the time docked on a TV. (0:31:44) Al: Yeah, that’s fair. That’s fair (0:31:44) Aislinn: So that’s why I’m like, um, I don’t remember I don’t because I just, I haven’t played the (0:31:49) Aislinn: Switch handheld in a while. (0:31:51) Aislinn: So that’s probably why I don’t remember. (0:31:53) Aislinn: I would guess so though, I would guess it can be touchscreen, but you’re going to primarily (0:31:58) Aislinn: be playing it with a controller, which is okay, but it’s definitely built better for (0:32:02) Aislinn: a mouse. (0:32:04) Aislinn: And even when I was talking with the developers, when I met them at PAX East, they were like, (0:32:08) Aislinn: yeah, this game is better on, on a, on a PC. (0:32:10) Aislinn: So even they’re just, even they’re aware, but they have to, you got, you got to do what (0:32:14) Al: It’s hard, I think, when you’ve got a game that’s very clicky to map that to a controller. (0:32:20) Aislinn: - Yeah. (0:32:20) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:32:23) Al: I did just search and it looks like it doesn’t work with the touch screen on Switch, which (0:32:27) Al: is a bit sad. That could have been a really nice way to do it. I actually think, you know, (0:32:28) Aislinn: Aww. Yeah. (0:32:31) Al: because Usagi Shima is like a mobile game, so it works really well with that, because (0:32:36) Al: obviously you just got a touch screen. I feel like it could work really well on like an (0:32:36) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:32:39) Al: iPad or something like that. But yeah, I get the complication with that. (0:32:40) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:32:44) Al: It’s difficult. And I think that, you know, even something like Stardew with a controller, (0:32:53) Al: there’s always a few things that you’re just like, “That’s not ideal,” because it’s a difficult (0:32:56) Aislinn: - Yeah. (0:32:56) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:32:57) Al: thing to do when you design it around mouse and keyboard. That’s how you start off with (0:33:02) Al: things and that makes specific decisions about how the game works, you know. (0:33:07) Aislinn: Yeah, definitely, again, definitely built for the mouse and keyboard situation and everything, (0:33:16) Aislinn: but yeah, just gotta be more marketable. (0:33:20) Aislinn: Get it out to more. (0:33:21) Aislinn: The more people you can get it out to, the better. (0:33:23) Aislinn: And I want more people to see this game anyways. (0:33:24) Aislinn: I love, love, love this game, just the conservation aspect, the everything is cute, the art style (0:33:30) Aislinn: is adorable, the people behind, the people on the team of the game itself are also wonderful (0:33:34) Aislinn: human beings. So like everything through and through. (0:33:38) Aislinn: It’s just it’s just a wonderfully cozy brain turning off type of game and if (0:33:44) Aislinn: you love frogs it’s it’s just it’s a it’s a good game. (0:33:49) Al: So, in terms of actual gameplay, you’re collecting the frogs. How do you collect the frogs? Where (0:33:54) Aislinn: So you can collect the frogs by either taking a photo of them or you can feed them. How to get (0:33:56) Al: do they come from? (0:34:05) Aislinn: the frogs is by placing furniture either in your refuge or in any of the wetlands that you’re (0:34:11) Aislinn: restoring. And then also they’ll appear in the ponds that you also plant or put down rather in (0:34:19) Aislinn: the wetlands as well. So they appear in any of those scenarios and once they appear you’ll see (0:34:24) Aislinn: a little animation pop up if it’s new and you can collect the frogs from there. If you’re feeding (0:34:32) Aislinn: the frogs to collect them you’ll also have to essentially farm and get the bugs that you need. (0:34:38) Aislinn: But what I like is that the game gives you the option to feed it like the bugs that you do have (0:34:43) Aislinn: and then when you see the frog again if you have those bugs that you weren’t able to feed it then (0:34:47) Aislinn: you could feed them again and then you can collect those frogs. The distinction between taking a photo (0:34:54) Aislinn: frogs is that if you take a photo it just gets added to the frogadex. If you collect it it not (0:34:59) Aislinn: only gets added to the frogadex but it also can be used for the breeding of the frogs. (0:35:05) Aislinn: So and then the breeding is also another way to collect frogs as well is that you can try and (0:35:09) Aislinn: breed for the different patterns with the frogs as well. (0:35:12) Al: Yeah, so I saw kind of like a bunch of them are just like it’s a green frog with red arms (0:35:18) Al: type thing. So do you get that by breeding like a green frog and a red frog? Is that (0:35:18) Aislinn: Yeah, well yes and no, yes in the sense that that is ideally how you would do it, but no (0:35:22) Al: the idea? (0:35:23) Al: » Thank you. (0:35:27) Aislinn: in the sense that like the minigames, so this game also has minigames as well, the minigame (0:35:32) Aislinn: that you play to do the breeding, it’s essentially just tic-tac-toe with the computer essentially. (0:35:41) Aislinn: So if you’re lucky, you’ll get what you want, but you have to kind of be strategic with (0:35:47) Aislinn: your tic-tac-toe and hope for the best. (0:35:49) Al: Okay, fair enough. So that’s how… So when you’re doing the breeding, do you select two of them, (0:35:58) Al: and then you do this minigame, and if you win, you get something. Okay. (0:36:02) Aislinn: Yeah, pretty much (0:36:05) Aislinn: Yeah, you collect you choose to the frogs that you fed and then that allows you to (0:36:11) Aislinn: do the mini game to try and get either a pattern that you a pattern and a color that you want or just a pattern depending (0:36:18) Aislinn: On what you’re what you’re trying to breed for you can if you if you want like a specific color (0:36:22) Aislinn: you could do two different patterns and (0:36:25) Aislinn: do both pink of (0:36:28) Aislinn: each frog or something so (0:36:30) Aislinn: There’s a lot of there’s a lot of different (0:36:33) Aislinn: Options between the patterns and the colors that are available to you to try and get what you want to fill up your frog adex (0:36:40) Aislinn: with breeding like eventually I’ll probably (0:36:43) Aislinn: End up breeding towards the tail end of completing the frog adex to try and get fill in those gaps (0:36:49) Al: When you have a very few specific ones that you’ve got to get yeah, yeah, so you’re finding it’s quicker just to catch them in the wild just now because of that. (0:36:51) Aislinn: Yeah (0:36:52) Aislinn: Exactly. That’s probably (0:36:56) Aislinn: Yeah, cuz it’s just yeah cuz it’s like RNG essentially with the with the breeding (0:37:02) Aislinn: Which it’s either you love it or hate it (0:37:04) Aislinn: I guess like for me I don’t particularly mind but I can see someone being like well (0:37:08) Aislinn: I wish I could be more selective about it. So it (0:37:12) Aislinn: Depends on your preference, but definitely I think towards the tail end of completing completing the frog adex (0:37:18) Aislinn: It would be best to just do the breeding and try and hope for the best and you’ll probably have enough money to do (0:37:23) Aislinn: So it only costs I know in the screenshot. It says eight coins (0:37:26) Aislinn: I’m pretty sure that’s consistent throughout the entire gameplay loop that it’s always eight coins (0:37:31) Aislinn: which is not (0:37:33) Al: Yeah, okay, fair enough. How are you getting coins then? Is that through tourism by having (0:37:41) Al: the wetlands, or is it just having the - how do you get them? (0:37:45) Aislinn: That is through the crafting aspect, which is like another minigame in itself. So in each wetland, (0:37:52) Aislinn: I won’t spoil all the wetlands because it is, I guess, a spoiler, technically, and it’s kind (0:37:58) Aislinn: of part of the story. But in each wetland that you are able to have access to, there are different (0:38:04) Aislinn: stations with different NPCs that you interact with and learn about as well in their backstories. (0:38:10) Aislinn: But there’s different stations where you can cook and craft, like you can make. (0:38:16) Aislinn: You can make jams, berry jams, and stuff like that. And then you take those materials that you get, (0:38:24) Aislinn: and you’re able to sell them in the shop back in your refuge to be able to get money, to then be (0:38:29) Aislinn: able to buy more ponds, buy more plants for your wetlands, and buy furniture, breed, repaint your (0:38:40) Aislinn: furniture, etc, etc. So that’s another thing, too, is that you can change depending on most of the (0:38:45) Aislinn: furniture, but most of the furniture, too, in the game. You can also repaint to any color that you (0:38:49) Aislinn: want, but you have to understand color theory. I mean, I guess you could just mess around with it, (0:38:53) Aislinn: but it would take, it would take, it would take, it would take, it would be a go quicker (0:38:58) Aislinn: if you knew color theory. If you don’t know color theory, you’ll get there one way or another. (0:39:02) Al: Instead of just choosing a color, you’re essentially adding color which changes what the color is. (0:39:08) Aislinn: Yeah, they… (0:39:09) Al: If I have a red one and I add blue, it goes purple sort of thing. (0:39:13) Aislinn: yeah pretty much yeah they (0:39:16) Aislinn: to work with and then you kind of adjust the levels from there so you can try and get to the (0:39:21) Aislinn: color that you’re trying to get to. I will say the color palette is still even though there is (0:39:25) Aislinn: like the color theory aspect I will say the color palette still feels slightly limited (0:39:31) Aislinn: but it mostly gets the job done and there’s still a lot of (0:39:35) Al: Now I need to know, on the Steam page, they’ve got this frog standing on the top of a froggy (0:39:41) Al: slide looking very powerful in his stance. Why is he so confident? Yeah. All right, fair (0:39:42) Aislinn: Yeeeaaah! (0:39:48) Aislinn: Why is he so confident? ‘Cause he’s confidently cute! (0:39:53) Aislinn: He’s confidently cute! (0:39:55) Al: enough. (0:39:56) Aislinn: Well, yeah, but like, you can- when you discover the frogs, like in your refuge, (0:40:01) Aislinn: in your wetlands and everything, they can also be in different poses as well, which is very cute. (0:40:05) Al: Yeah, yeah, fair enough. It seems it does seem very similar to sagashima in terms of (0:40:10) Al: like, you know, you’ve got your furniture and they have specific things that they do (0:40:14) Al: with the furniture and you’ll just randomly find that all this one’s on this thing now, (0:40:20) Al: which is very cute. Like the one kind of reaching into a wheelbarrow is very cute. (0:40:25) Aislinn: Oh that one when I saw that one for the first time I cried a little bit. It’s so cute. It’s so cute (0:40:32) Aislinn: That’s what I think gets me the most is just I literally I think through most of my gameplay (0:40:37) Aislinn: When I was streaming at all the entire time. I was like, it’s so cute. These little guys. They’re so cute (0:40:44) Al: How do you find the selection of furniture and poses? Are there enough that you don’t (0:40:49) Al: feel like it’s just repeating very quickly? (0:40:52) Aislinn: Um, I would say the the furniture I haven’t unlocked all the furniture actually, I’m currently in the process (0:40:58) Aislinn: so I finished the main game and (0:41:00) Aislinn: I’m now currently in the process of trying to get (0:41:03) Aislinn: all (0:41:04) Aislinn: Not even all of the furniture, but a bunch of the furniture (0:41:08) Aislinn: My priority more so is I want to complete the frog and eggs. That’s my goal. How will I complete that? (0:41:13) Aislinn: I don’t know. When will I complete that? I don’t know but (0:41:15) Aislinn: With the furniture from the options that I’ve seen it’s a pretty pretty decent variety (0:41:20) Aislinn: and furniture. (0:41:22) Aislinn: As for the frogs, I think I am getting to a point in my Steam game where frogs are (0:41:42) Aislinn: definitely starting to repeat themselves and there is only like maybe like five or so poses (0:41:48) Aislinn: that they cycle through I wanna say. (0:41:50) Aislinn: not too many poses. (0:41:52) Aislinn: It’s just a very cute game to me, and I really love it. (0:42:13) Aislinn: So I personally am not really getting tired of it, but I don’t know when I complete the (0:42:17) Aislinn: frog attacks or when I get all the furniture what else I can do with the (0:42:22) Aislinn: I think once that’s done, like the game is pretty much like done. There’s nothing you can do at this point. (0:42:28) Aislinn: Even when you complete the main story, depending on how much of completionist you are, (0:42:31) Aislinn: it might be like a one and done so much so that like this is another kind of complaint that I have. (0:42:38) Aislinn: But it’s again also a me thing more than anything is that the game doesn’t allow you to have multiple save files. (0:42:44) Aislinn: So it’s literally like one and done. (0:42:47) Aislinn: So that could be (0:42:49) Aislinn: that could be an issue. Personally, why I- (0:42:52) Aislinn: I want multiple save files is because I want to be able to have my on stream copy of the game, (0:42:59) Aislinn: and then my off stream copy of the game, because I like to play this game also in my personal time. (0:43:04) Aislinn: But that’s why I bought the Steam version, because that’s my personal copy, or my second save file, (0:43:09) Aislinn: you could say. But it’s just the only thing that kind of is like “eh” is the fact that I have to (0:43:14) Aislinn: use the controller for that one. So it would be nice to be able to play both versions on PC, (0:43:20) Aislinn: or have both to safe. (0:43:23) Al: Yeah, yeah, fair enough. OK, in terms of the designs of the frog, I’ve seen, like, you (0:43:33) Al: know, obviously like the split colours and stuff like that. And I’ve seen some with spots. (0:43:39) Al: Do they have things like, you know, the stripey ones and stuff like that? Is it like, because (0:43:43) Al: obviously 500 is pretty easy to get to 500 when you’ve only got a few designs and a few (0:43:48) Al: colours, right? Because, like, just numbers multiply massively. And obviously, you know, (0:43:53) Al: obviously it is, I mean, they’re even just saying the same thing with different colours (0:43:58) Al: over and over again is very cute. You don’t find any saminess to the design. (0:44:05) Aislinn: um no not really there’s a good there’s a pretty I i want to say between the 500 plus frogs (0:44:13) Aislinn: that exist um there is I think like seven or eight I believe different patterns that you can (0:44:22) Aislinn: come across some being the stripes some being like the pattern on the arm the spotted one um (0:44:29) Aislinn: there are some cute ones that you’ll come across like acute patterns in my but there’s one i’m very (0:44:33) Aislinn: I’ve written one that I very, very much. (0:44:35) Aislinn: so love because I love this specific type of pattern for like anything. (0:44:39) Aislinn: It is also kind of associated with emoji that I use like all the time for everything. (0:44:43) Aislinn: So I personally like the different patterns that they have for the frogs. (0:44:51) Aislinn: And I have no issue with it. (0:44:53) Aislinn: The only thing that gets kind of awkward is like, for example, (0:44:56) Aislinn: or yeah, for all of the patte

Al and Codey talk about Office cat Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:40: What Have We Been Up To 00:10:32: Game News 00:22:53: New Games 00:32:54: Office Cat 00:48:56: Outro Links Critter Crops Release Date Natsu-Mon 20th Century Summer Vacation Spirittea Physical Release Go-Go Town Roadmap Len’s Island “Game Modes” Update Outbound Kickstarter Trailer Trade Tales Office Cat Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Codey: My name is Cody. (0:00:37) Al: and we are here today to talk about title score games. (0:00:41) Codey: Woo! (0:00:43) Al: As usual, transcripts are available in the show notes and on the website. (0:00:47) Al: I feel like I should just stop saying that because people know, right? Like they’re there. (0:00:50) Codey: but then the next episode is going to be the one where they’re like, (0:00:54) Codey: it would be really cool if you guys had transcripts. (0:00:56) Al: Yeah, yeah, I just like it’s there. It’s right there. You can see. (0:01:00) Codey: Maybe, maybe you could say it at the end. (0:01:00) Al: It’s right here. Anyway, I’m kind of pointless then, right? (0:01:03) Codey: I don’t know. Listeners, tell us, listeners, tell us what you want. (0:01:07) Codey: Do you want us to say it? (0:01:08) Codey: Do you want us to not say it? Do you want? (0:01:10) Al: Listeners who are already listening. Not really, not really useful then. (0:01:15) Al: Hi Cody, we’re going to talk about Office Cat, which is some mobile game that Cody found and said, (0:01:20) Al: let’s do this one. And I went, yeah, sure, fine. I like cats and they’re in suits. So let’s do that. (0:01:24) Codey: Yep, yeah, they’re in little suits. Yeah, I love how you’re blaming me for this. (0:01:28) Al: So we’re going to – (0:01:30) Al: I’m absolutely blaming you for this. (0:01:35) Al: So yeah, we’re going to talk about that. Before that, we have some news, (0:01:39) Al: a good selection of fun news. But first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:01:44) Codey: I am still PHD-ing, as always, but this last week- was it last- yeah, last week- time is an illusion. (0:01:52) Al: - Well, well, when this comes out, it will be more, we can have it. (0:01:54) Codey: Last weekend- two weekends ago, I was Pokemon Go Fest in New York City, so I got to go hang out with some lovely humans from the It’s Super Effective crew and the GoCast crew as well. (0:02:11) Codey: Um, and just got to just tromble. (0:02:14) Codey: All over New York city, play some Pookie mains, tromped, we tromped. (0:02:16) Al: Trump. That’s an interesting word. Trump. Trump-a-Trump-a-Trump. (0:02:21) Codey: Um, and in classic Cody fashion, I left the tote bag I was going to bring with my portable (0:02:29) Codey: charger and right next to my hiking boots. (0:02:32) Codey: So I wore Converse the whole weekend, which was not great for my feet. (0:02:36) Codey: Uh, and then we also had to go buy a new portable shirt. (0:02:41) Codey: Uh, but we… [laughs] (0:02:41) Al: Woo! (laughs) (0:02:45) Codey: I was like, “Oh, yeah, right.” (0:02:47) Codey: Um, and on Saturday, I forgot to take my meds. (0:02:49) Codey: So it was a great time. (0:02:50) Al: Woo! (laughs) (0:02:51) Codey: Uh, whew! (0:02:52) Codey: Done at its end. (0:02:53) Codey: It was super worth it, but it was a time. (0:02:56) Codey: Um, listeners, if you play that game, (0:02:59) Codey: you probably have heard that it was warm. (0:03:04) Codey: Uh, but other than that, (0:03:06) Codey: I’ve been playing, of course, Office Cat. (0:03:08) Codey: Um, I’m back into Disney Dreamlight Valley. (0:03:11) Codey: They’ve… they got me again. (0:03:11) Al: Ah, they got you. (0:03:13) Codey: Well, because they added. (0:03:13) Al: Mulan captured you. (0:03:14) Codey: Mulan, yep. And all of the Mo so the Mulan star path, I think (0:03:17) Codey: it’s called like majesty and Mongolia, not Mongolia as wow, (0:03:23) Codey: magnolias. I’m close, but no. It’s all got really that star (0:03:31) Codey: path has really good rewards. And since I’ve been playing my (0:03:34) Codey: game since the beginning, I still have a heck ton of the (0:03:37) Codey: moonstone from like that you just get for free from playing, (0:03:41) Codey: but they would also just be like, oh, no, that event. (0:03:44) Codey: It was a little buggy. (0:03:45) Codey: Here’s a thousand moonstone for no reason. (0:03:48) Codey: So paying $2,500 or 2,500 moonstone for access to all of the rewards from that was worth it. (0:03:57) Codey: So I’ve just been going through and trying to get all of that and trying to get (0:04:00) Codey: Mulan and Mushu up to max. (0:04:03) Codey: Also, Remy has started doing like daily cooking quests, which is great. (0:04:11) Codey: I’m really trying 100% this game. (0:04:14) Codey: Get the harvest 999 coconuts and harvest all of this. (0:04:19) Codey: And I’m trying to get all of those achievements. (0:04:21) Codey: I don’t know why they just tickle my brain. (0:04:25) Codey: I also, because I finished that one other game, Powerwash Simulator, but didn’t, well, (0:04:31) Codey: I haven’t 100%ed that. (0:04:32) Codey: That’s also on my to-do list. (0:04:34) Codey: But one of my friends was like, heavy-tried SnowRunner. (0:04:37) Codey: So I’m playing SnowRunner now, which is where you are basically an ice road trucker in Alaska. (0:04:44) Codey: And someone is like, oh, no, I’m stuck in the snow. (0:04:48) Codey: And so you bring like a semi up to them and pull them out. (0:04:53) Codey: Learning how to drive semi, it’s not going to do it in real life, though. (0:04:59) Codey: Yeah, that’s that. (0:05:00) Codey: What have you been up to, Al? (0:05:01) Al: I, obviously, have been playing Office Cat as well. I have been playing Dave the Diver. (0:05:08) Al: I feel like I’ve mentioned that many, many times in a row, but there we go. I played (0:05:11) Al: Dave the Diver. I actually finished it. I finished the game yesterday as we’re recording, which (0:05:17) Al: listeners will, if they listen carefully in future episodes, will be able to figure out (0:05:23) Al: when this was recorded related to another episode. (0:05:26) Codey: Okay, so how many, how many bottles of beer on the wall are you? (0:05:26) Al: - Good. (0:05:27) Al: » Okay. (0:05:32) Al: I have obviously been continuing with farm RPG. (0:05:40) Al: I’m at 98 now, so I’m one away, one away. It might take me a little bit while because I’ve (0:05:40) Codey: - Thank you. (0:05:41) Codey: Ooh! (0:05:49) Al: still got, what is it, so let me, right, I think last time we talked I was still quite a long way (0:05:55) Al: away from being anywhere near this point, but yeah, and like I wasn’t even at like a quarter (0:05:57) Codey: Think you’re at like 85 (0:06:02) Al: of what you need to get to 99, like XP wise. Now the reason why I have expanded so much (0:06:04) Codey: Okay. (0:06:10) Al: is when you, I bought the next layer of farming farms, and when you buy farm plots, it gives you (0:06:15) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:06:20) Al: the same amount of XP as you spent in money, and that one cost a billion. So with one button click, (0:06:24) Codey: - Oh, that one costs a lot, yep, yep. (0:06:29) Al: I got a billion XP added on to my 700,000, 700 million. So I went from 700 million to 1 billion, (0:06:38) Al: 700 million and (0:06:40) Al: to get to level 99 is 2 billion. So I’m now getting pretty close. (0:06:48) Codey: Hmm, how’s the rest of the game? (0:06:48) Al: Getting pretty close. Oh no, I’m actually, I’ve increased quite a lot actually since then. I’m (0:06:53) Al: at 1,900,000,000 now. So I just need. Yeah, so we’re getting there. My fishing’s at level 99, (0:06:58) Codey: You only need 100 million. (0:07:04) Al: my crafting’s at level 99, my exploring is at level 84, and I have finally unlocked cooking. (0:07:11) Al: Which I’m not really doing much with because it’s kind of boring. (0:07:15) Al: I’m not really enjoying the cooking. (0:07:16) Codey: So what the real game starts when everything’s at 99 though, right? (0:07:21) Al: Yep, that’s how it goes. Yep, yep, yep, yep. (0:07:28) Al: Yeah, no, the one thing I’m quite enjoying is that now I’m at the point where my (0:07:35) Al: Quests are not constantly expanding, so like, if I finish a quest… (0:07:40) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:07:40) Al: it either just gives me another quest, or it finishes that line. (0:07:44) Al: So I’m actually down to the point where I only have 11 quest lines active, (0:07:44) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:07:49) Al: which at one point I had 40 active or something. (0:07:49) Codey: Wow yep (0:07:51) Al: And my requests completed in total is 500 now. (0:07:57) Al: So yeah, I feel like I’m getting close to being able to go, “I can leave this now.” (0:08:07) Al: But yeah. Exploring’s (0:08:08) Codey: dot com syndrome. Just got to click a button. (0:08:10) Al: going to take quite a while to get there, because yeah, but I’m not even at half a (0:08:17) Al: million XP and there’s nothing, sorry, not half a million, sorry. I’m not even at half (0:08:22) Al: a billion and you need 2 billion to get to level 99. So yeah, I don’t know. That’s quite (0:08:28) Al: a long way away. You can’t know. There’s no equivalent for exploring. I looked for that. (0:08:29) Codey: Can you spend a billion money to unlock? (0:08:36) Al: So that’s just going to take a long, long time. (0:08:40) Al: How long have I been playing this game for now? (0:08:42) Al: Far too long. (0:08:42) Codey: It’s been like two months, maybe? (0:08:44) Al: When did we do farm RPG? (0:08:46) Al: End of May. (0:08:49) Al: So not even two months, but yeah, like if I’m only a quarter of the way to level 99, (0:08:58) Al: like it’s going to be another six months before I get there. (0:09:01) Al: I don’t know if I can keep playing this game for six more months. (0:09:05) Codey: - Not with that attitude, it’s on cost values. (0:09:05) Al: We’ll see. (0:09:09) Al: We shall see. (0:09:10) Al: So yeah, I will try my hardest to get to level 99 in farming for you, just so I can get that questline done. (0:09:18) Codey: Mm hmm. Thank you. I just want that guy to die of alcohol poisoning. (0:09:21) Al: Yeah, I’m intrigued to see what happens. I can’t believe I’m one away. (0:09:29) Al: Yeah, I don’t think they will. I don’t think they will. (0:09:30) Codey: If they come out with 99 bottles, 100, I’m going to scream. (0:09:40) Al: The other thing I’ve just started playing today is Chicken Journey. (0:09:46) Al: It is a chicken-based side-scrolling RPG. You’re a chicken on a journey. (0:09:52) Codey: What is it on? (0:09:56) Al: I’ve got it on my Steam Deck, but it’s also on Switch. (0:09:58) Codey: Okay, interesting. (0:10:00) Al: But yeah, I mentioned it at one point, but it’s not really Cottagecore because it’s an RPG. (0:10:02) Codey: Have we ever talked about that on the pod? (0:10:04) Codey: Okay. (0:10:10) Codey: But it’s a chicken. (0:10:10) Al: Yeah, I know. That’s why I mentioned it once. But I mentioned it when it came out, and then not again. (0:10:18) Codey: Yeah, very cute though. (0:10:21) Al: But yeah, I’ve literally spent like 10 minutes on it so far, so maybe I’ll have more to say about it in the next episode. (0:10:27) Al: Yes, I think that is what we’ve been up to. So next we have some news, game news. (0:10:35) Al: The first thing is the critter crops have announced their new release date so for (0:10:40) Al: they had announced a release date, and then like two weeks later, they changed their mind (0:10:44) Al: on it. Now they have a new release date, which is the 22nd of July. It is very close. It’s (0:10:50) Codey: Whoo. (0:10:50) Codey: Very close. (0:10:52) Al: just over a week away. So, yeah. Natsuman, 20th century summer vacation. We talked about (0:10:57) Codey: Yep. (0:10:57) Codey: That’s, that’s coming out. (0:11:06) Al: in the last episode that it looked like English was coming to the game. (0:11:10) Al: We now have confirmation that English is coming, (0:11:13) Al: and it’s coming to both Steam and Switch on the sixth of August. (0:11:14) Codey: Okay. Okay, this is the, you said this was related to Shinshan. Yes. (0:11:25) Al: No, Shin-chan was the one that was touted as like a spiritual successor to Natsu-mon, (0:11:30) Al: and then they came out with a new one. So it’s not technically related, I think, but… (0:11:30) Codey: Oh, got it, got it, got it, got it. OK. OK. (0:11:38) Codey: Cool, that it’s getting English. (0:11:40) Al: Yes. Finally, we can play it and talk to Micah, because he likes the games. (0:11:46) Codey: Also, a shout out to my neighbor, Micah, not a, well, I guess he is a pixel artist, actually. (0:11:56) Codey: Yeah. (0:11:57) Codey: Yeah. (0:11:58) Codey: I’m pretty sure, I’m pretty sure uh, but yeah, no, he came up the other day and he was like, (0:12:00) Al: I’m sorry, your neighbour is called Micah and is a pixel artist. (0:12:06) Al: Are you sure it’s not just Micah? (0:12:16) Codey: you guys keep mentioning someone named Micah, who’s a pixel artist. (0:12:19) Al: He did the logo for the podcast, not the other Micah, not your neighbor. (0:12:20) Codey: I was like, yeah, he is, yep, you did, yeah, not you, not you, the other one, you didn’t (0:12:34) Codey: do it in a fugue state. (0:12:36) Codey: Who knows? (0:12:37) Al: Maybe who knows? (0:12:38) Codey: Yeah. (0:12:39) Codey: So then we can, doing Natsuman, then we can have the brave Micah, though my, my, my neighbor (0:12:46) Codey: Micah is not, not, not brave, no, no, uh, Micah the brave is his name, we’re gonna have (0:12:48) Al: Wow, wow, Cody harsh. (0:12:57) Codey: that Micah on. (0:12:58) Codey: I’m gonna find something to bring neighbor Micah onto and then we can have a dueling (0:13:02) Codey: of the Micah’s. (0:13:03) Codey: No, I don’t have to do that anyway. (0:13:04) Al: Spirity. Spirity. Still never forgot how I wanted to say the name. They’ve announced (0:13:11) Al: that they’ve got a physical release coming for Switch. So you can pre-order now but there’s (0:13:14) Codey: Whoo. (0:13:17) Codey: Uh-huh. (0:13:18) Al: no information on when it’s coming out as far as I can see. (0:13:21) Codey: Correct. (0:13:23) Al: Woo! (0:13:24) Codey: Whoo. (0:13:25) Codey: I’m trying to think, like, would they wait? (0:13:27) Codey: I don’t think they’d wait until, like, holidays. (0:13:29) Codey: It’s, like, too early. (0:13:30) Al: Yeah, I don’t know. (0:13:32) Codey: They would probably just be like, “Aaaand drop.” (0:13:36) Al: It’s interesting, because if you look on the page, they have shipping times for a lot of games that you can pre-order. (0:13:45) Al: Including Fableton and Sunnyside and Pixelshire, but not for this. (0:13:56) Codey: We’ll find out eventually, woo! (0:13:58) Al: Google Town have announced more info on their roadmap so they have a another minor update (0:14:09) Al: coming out now with some minor stuff and then they’ve got their first major update the player (0:14:12) Codey: Yeah, it’s out now. It was out on July 8th. (0:14:19) Al: suggestion path. (0:14:26) Al: It includes expanded player and town cosmetics, a new area of the map, a new tourist teleporter (0:14:36) Al: that ensures tourists can reach your new building area, presumably that’s because they take (0:14:41) Al: a while to get places. (0:14:45) Codey: I mean, you gotta, I don’t know anything (0:14:47) Codey: about walking a lot in a new city (0:14:50) Codey: and how long it takes to get across cities, (0:14:51) Al: I want them to do a metro system. That would be fun. A subway system. They’ve extended (0:14:52) Codey: but I would assume a teleporter would be pretty nice. (0:15:01) Codey: It’s like heck, I don’t know if I can curse, I don’t know. (0:15:07) Al: zones as well, and they might include zone customization. I don’t know what that means. (0:15:16) Codey: like maybe that I mean I would think that it would mean that you could like either you could choose where the different zones are so instead of. (0:15:17) Al: changing which zone? No, that wouldn’t make any sense. (0:15:28) Al: See, the problem is that it’s very tied to the map, like the mining area has like actual (0:15:35) Al: caves that you go into that are very, like you wouldn’t just be able to move them on the map. (0:15:41) Codey: Well, why can’t you just do that? (0:15:46) Codey: No, I’m thinking like, what if they’re just little (0:15:49) Codey: square shapes and then you could just be like, (0:15:51) Codey: I want my mining area over here actually. (0:15:54) Al: So, I guess the thing is it would work fine for, for example, the farming and the forestry areas, those could easily just be like splopped up and plopped down right because one is just an area for farming and one is just an area with trees. (0:15:54) Codey: I mean, sure that doesn’t like make sense (0:15:56) Codey: but neither does a teleporter. (0:16:12) Al: But the fishing and the mining bits, it’s not just like the cave just exists within the zone itself, like it is attached to other areas of the map. And so it would just be like a (0:16:24) Al: entirely different map if you were to do that. And that’s not what they’re saying, they’re not saying different maps, right, or maps with different layouts, they’re saying you can choose what you want to do with that. (0:16:34) Al: And I don’t, I think that it would be technically very complex to be able to do that because of the way that it’s set up. (0:16:44) Codey: Could it be that like, oh, your trees are not pine trees anymore. (0:16:47) Codey: They’re maple trees or something like that. (0:16:50) Al: I guess. (0:16:51) Codey: Like that’s like a aesthetic customization. (0:16:54) Al: I guess, but I mean, is that exciting? I don’t know. (0:16:59) Al: Like, I’m just, I just, like, it doesn’t say what it means, and I want to know what it means. (0:17:00) Codey: So I guess this is player suggestion, so what about the zones do you think people wanted (0:17:09) Codey: to customize? (0:17:12) Codey: ‘Cause my first thought was, place. (0:17:16) Al: I look I’m not I’m not saying that that isn’t something that people want I’m saying I don’t (0:17:20) Al: think they’ll do that like I think that is way more complicated than it sounds it’s in no (0:17:21) Codey: Yeah. You just pick up, put down. I’m going to stop being a butt. It’s true. (0:17:27) Al: it’s not how it works and you know that (0:17:32) Codey: I’m just being a butt. Yeah, I don’t know. (0:17:35) Al: anyway and some fixes to their their worker ais and stuff like that so (0:17:41) Codey: And they did say that next week, they will have another update. There might be an update by the (0:17:47) Codey: the time this episode comes out that you can look at that will have more. (0:17:51) Codey: Information about, uh, what the major updates going to look like, as well as (0:17:56) Codey: the preview, um, server, which is like an opt-in server where they’ll put like new (0:18:06) Codey: fancy stuff that they really need checked out before it even goes on to the early (0:18:11) Codey: access server, and they’re going to have more information about that as well. (0:18:16) Codey: So I like how communicate communicative they are good. (0:18:21) Codey: Communication. I’m trying to think of what the other word I was trying to use is, but yeah, nope, it’s good. (0:18:26) Al: I agree lens island have announced that their new update game modes is coming on the 18th of July. (0:18:37) Al: So this is a very big update, which not only allows you to have (0:18:43) Al: hardcore permadeath mode, but also allow you to customize the difficulty to quite (0:18:50) Al: an interesting degree, like I’m looking at their their set. (0:18:52) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:18:56) Al: If you want a really hard experience you can do that and if you just want a chill experience (0:19:23) Al: in that world, you can you can also do that, which is cool. (0:19:26) Codey: Well, and it adds more customizability versus just having a, here’s an easy mode and here’s (0:19:32) Codey: a hard mode. (0:19:33) Al: Yeah, you get to choose which parts you want to do easy. For example, (0:19:34) Codey: It like literally puts it, yeah. (0:19:38) Al: maybe you want to do a harder mode, but you don’t want permadeath. So there’s options. (0:19:44) Codey: Yeah, I want hard mode in the farming, but not in the dungeon. (0:19:51) Al: What was hard? Oh, no. (0:19:52) Codey: I want to have to watch my plants. (0:19:56) Codey: I want to have to watch them grow or else it’s like avocados. (0:20:00) Codey: Once you take your eye off the avocado, it’s like bad. (0:20:03) Codey: I want that. (0:20:05) Codey: No, I don’t. (0:20:07) Codey: Yeah, that was all really cool. (0:20:08) Codey: They also have this game modes also has night raid defense. (0:20:12) Codey: Looks like– (0:20:14) Codey: You use Tesla coils to keep your base safe at night, (0:20:21) Codey: just wild. (0:20:24) Codey: And then new cave biomes, which looks awesome too. (0:20:27) Codey: That was one thing that I really liked when I first (0:20:30) Codey: played this game, was there’s– in the cave system (0:20:32) Codey: that you go through, there was an area in the cave (0:20:36) Codey: that just clearly was open to the sky. (0:20:40) Codey: And there were, um, well, it was like a little forest. (0:20:44) Codey: And I thought that was really cool. (0:20:45) Codey: And this, uh, picture looks like it has more of that kind of thing. (0:20:51) Codey: Um, but yeah, it’s mushroom forests, underground strongholds, some really good (0:20:56) Codey: loot, um, this lens Island every week, just trying to make me break my, I’m (0:21:02) Al: It’s not far away, or is it next quarter I think it’s meant to be. (0:21:03) Codey: going to wait for 1.0 promise. (0:21:07) Codey: I know, I don’t know. (0:21:10) Codey: I’m not, I have Costa Rica coming up. (0:21:12) Codey: but that’s where my brain is. (0:21:14) Codey: Like, yeah, so. (0:21:20) Al: And the last main piece of news we have is the Outbound. (0:21:25) Al: This is the caravan exploration game by the Above Snakes developers. (0:21:30) Al: They’ve announced that their Kickstarter is launching on the 13th of August. (0:21:36) Codey: Whoo! (0:21:38) Codey: Yeah. (0:21:40) Codey: Looks interesting. (0:21:44) Codey: I’m always curious how you’re going to be so off-grid when you have a vehicle. (0:21:50) Codey: Or is it solar powered? I don’t know. (0:21:50) Al: Yeah, it’s solar powered, I think, because they definitely show solar panels in the trailer. (0:22:02) Al: Sorry, I just opened up the tab for the next game and just got completely (0:22:06) Al: distracted by the insane graphics on this. Yes, yeah, we’ll talk more about Outbound once (0:22:07) Codey: - Yeah. (0:22:15) Al: the Kickstarter’s out. It’s good timing because the third (0:22:21) Al: is just a few days before the first episode after (0:22:30) Al: the month where I’ll be on holiday, so we’ll actually be doing that news to you on time. (0:22:36) Al: So. (0:22:36) Codey: That’s the day. I’m coming back from Costa Rica sounds I think it’s you’re going to be on your vacation when I’m kind of on mine half of mine. I’m in Costa Rica for two weeks, so. (0:22:45) Al: Yeah. Well, I’m away for a month, so I think I overlap all that. (0:22:50) Codey: Yeah. (0:22:53) Codey: Well, let’s talk about what distracted you. (0:22:56) Codey: Uh… (0:22:57) Al: Yeah, so we’ve got another new game. It’s got a Kickstarter. It’s called Trade Tales, (0:23:03) Al: and their description is a cosy modern life farming game fused with entrepreneurial (0:23:11) Al: adventures - manage a factory, open your own shop, live your (0:23:15) Al: dream life. And the graphics are weird. So you write that cat is looking so realistic (0:23:30) Al: compared to the rest of the game and you’re right, it looks so distracting. It’s just like this. (0:23:31) Codey: Yeah. (0:23:34) Codey: There’s so much detail in this cat, (0:23:38) Codey: but not in anything else. (0:23:40) Al: It looks like clipart that they’ve just stuck on the front of the game. (0:23:44) Al: like what is. (0:23:45) Al: Is this cat and why and it looks like it wants to die? (0:23:50) Codey: It says hello. I need your help. You need to kill me. (0:23:55) Al: The other interesting thing is the image itself for the game looks bad, but when you (0:24:01) Al: play the trailer the graphics look so much better. (0:24:03) Al: Why is the image so bad and the actual trailer looks much better than the image? (0:24:11) Codey: I also love you look at the image for you can’t get over that cat. (0:24:16) Codey: You look at the I’m going to cover the cat with my hand. (0:24:19) Codey: You look at the image and then the first like minute (0:24:22) Codey: and a half of the trailer, you would think you’re playing (0:24:24) Codey: a completely different game because it’s all like you’re in the city (0:24:28) Codey: because it’s the whole, you know, man, opening a shop, managing a factory, blah, blah, blah. (0:24:32) Codey: But then you’re harvesting stuff. (0:24:39) Codey: Also, this woman’s shirt looks thank you. (0:24:41) Codey: I think it’s supposed to be white in the picture, but just it’s like nude colored and it’s. (0:24:43) Al: Oh, no, I just noticed they have very interesting boobiejeko physics. (0:24:51) Al: Oh, that’s so weird. (0:24:51) Codey: Yeah. Oh my gosh. So that was my other comment was that. (0:24:56) Codey: That was my other comment. I said, what is with the stiff torso and wild hips swaying (0:25:03) Codey: in the female character models? Like there’s other than the breasts, the torso just doesn’t move. (0:25:11) Codey: But the hips are like swaying back and forth like they’re doing the Spongebob dance. (0:25:16) Al: She is on a mission (0:25:19) Codey: She is on a hot girl walk. She is. She’s definitely CEO material, but gosh darn. I was like that is (0:25:30) Codey: this is. Uh. (0:25:32) Al: I feel like there’s something here in this game and I’m intrigued by it so I’m gonna keep an eye on it. (0:25:39) Codey: I was going to say, it’s the last 20 days left and it’s already hit its goal. (0:25:39) Al: It is pierce to have a lot of backers already. It’s got 400 backers for some reason. (0:25:49) Codey: Uh, I guess the news of this game is that it’s a new game on Kickstarter. (0:25:52) Codey: So we’ll have the link for it. (0:25:54) Al: Yeah. Wild. (0:25:54) Codey: Um, but yeah, there’s a lot to this game that it just looks like a lot. (0:26:02) Codey: Cause like, do you, do you go from being like farming to then go in the city and (0:26:08) Al: Well that’s yeah the factory definitely seems to be in the city right because they show her (0:26:15) Al: looking at this vacant lot and then the implication is that that’s what oh I like the mining did you (0:26:23) Al: see the mining the mining it’s so long it’s gonna be longer than this whole section we’re talking (0:26:24) Codey: I did not make it that far, I’m not going to lie to you. (0:26:27) Codey: The trailer on the Kickstarter is six minutes long, which is awesome, but. (0:26:33) Al: about and no so you it’s a really detailed mine and you like have to mine the (0:26:38) Al: wall to get through to other parts of the mine no no no no no no not like it looks in character (0:26:41) Codey: Okay, so you said detailed, do you mean like detailed cat, like cat level detail? (0:26:50) Al: for the rest of the stuff uh unlike all of the animals which look like they look a little bit (0:26:51) Codey: Okay. (0:26:56) Al: this is okay they look like they’ve taken the nintendogs models and just slapped them in the game (0:27:03) Codey: Yeah. I also love that the cat like you like you’re right. It (0:27:04) Al: that’s what they look like to me (0:27:09) Codey: just is like, please kill me because it doesn’t. It just (0:27:12) Codey: walks behind you. It just stands it stands behind you. Let’s be (0:27:17) Codey: real. It doesn’t even move. Like your hips are doing all the (0:27:19) Al: I don’t think I want to play this game because it’s very much focused on the shop and I (0:27:20) Codey: work. Oh, found. No, I didn’t see the mining. I saw that you (0:27:27) Al: have you seen the mining? (0:27:30) Codey: You can wear cat ears, I’m back in. (0:27:33) Al: I have still never had a game with a shop that has actually been fun. Oh, they are walking right (0:27:40) Al: up to the line of copyright infringement there. They’ve got a Starworks coffee. (0:27:48) Al: See? (0:27:49) Al: And they have… what else did they have? They had an Evelyn, which is the same logo (0:28:01) Al: as 7/11. And they have… oh, it’s 7 Evelyn. That’s what they called it. Sorry, 7 Evelyn. (0:28:07) Codey: oh my gosh (0:28:09) Al: They’ve got… oh, Star Banks Coffee. Sorry, Star Banks Coffee. And they have a Wick Donalds, (0:28:16) Codey: Okay. I saw the mining. It is nice. (0:28:17) Al: The logo is just the upside down golden arrow. (0:28:20) Al: And they’ve they’ve got Mallmart like they I just I feel like they’re just asking to be sued. (0:28:27) Al: They’re like, I dare you try. (0:28:30) Al: It’s weird. (0:28:31) Al: Oh, they have oh, they have automation. (0:28:34) Al: I’m back in, I’m back in. (0:28:36) Codey: I was going to say, have you got to the to the automation? (0:28:37) Al: They’ve got oh, no, they’ve got Ritos. (0:28:41) Al: They’re making Ritos and Fanta. (0:28:44) Codey: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. (0:28:46) Codey: I. I need to look at those bed and jerry’s. (0:28:47) Al: Oh my word, they’re- they’re- they’re- (0:28:49) Al: So much of this is- this is wild. (0:28:52) Codey: Did you see the bed and jerry’s? (0:28:52) Al: Yeah, I did, I saw the Ben and Jerry’s. (0:28:54) Codey: OK, we’ve got Ray’s classic 100 percent. (0:28:56) Al: They’ve got Kraft’s mac and cheese. (0:28:58) Al: This is, oh, for goodness sake, day 400. (0:29:00) Codey: Instead of Doritos, it’s just a posture free ritos. (0:29:02) Al: This is so stupid. (0:29:06) Codey: » Oh my God. (0:29:07) Codey: Yeah, no, this the craft, the automation part of it looks very factorial to me. (0:29:12) Al: Oh, that’s an interesting outfit for the date. (0:29:13) Codey: Instead of Fanta, it’s just Fanna, Herb. (0:29:18) Al: Oh, my. (0:29:19) Codey: I’m trying to find the Ben and Jerry’s because that was blatant. (0:29:23) Codey: Bob and Jimmy’s. (0:29:25) Al: You need to skip forward to the date that they do. (0:29:29) Codey: Okay, I’m gonna let it play. (0:29:31) Codey: Oh, she’s like K-pop dancing in the in the fact (0:29:36) Al: Oh yeah. I know, I just… Who’s making this game and what are they on? (0:29:36) Codey: Day 420, blaze it day 420, do you stalk every single shelf? (0:29:46) Codey: Finding love? No, we really do. I, we are just, yeah, I don’t know. (0:29:48) Al: Yeah, just you wait. What’s she wearing? (0:29:53) Codey: She was like, yep, go, going on a trip. (0:29:54) Al: And then we go to the beach after this, which is also an interesting one. (0:30:00) Al: They put the jiggle physics to work here. (0:30:02) Codey: Oh, those are bikinis, y’all. (0:30:02) Al: here. (0:30:06) Al: Oh no, it was so shallow that she just smacked into the ground as well, that would be really painful. (0:30:06) Codey: What is this game? (0:30:10) Codey: Oh, they dropped her in the water. (0:30:17) Codey: Oh, my gosh, the jiggle physics, they’re dancing. (0:30:22) Codey: Oh, now they’re in an arcade. (0:30:23) Codey: This this really is just watching this whole trailer. (0:30:26) Al: That walk animation is wild, that camera level with that skirt was not great. (0:30:34) Al: Um. (0:30:34) Codey: build brand awareness, raise. (0:30:37) Codey: Oh my gosh, they’re going to get hit by so. (0:30:41) Codey: Much copyright or alternatively, did Lay’s pay them to have raise in the game. (0:30:43) Al: I need to play this game, don’t I? (0:30:50) Al: think you know the answer to that. I need to play this game don’t I? Oh my word that walking (0:30:56) Al: animation every time it’s so weird! (0:31:00) Codey: What are we doing? (0:31:00) Codey: Okay. (0:31:02) Codey: What do we got? (0:31:02) Codey: Stretch goals. (0:31:04) Codey: Oh, we hit the museum. (0:31:04) Codey: You got, oh wait. (0:31:06) Codey: Did we hit the museum? (0:31:06) Codey: We have not hit the museum. (0:31:08) Codey: Advanced character creation. (0:31:08) Codey: More vehicles, more part-time jobs, museum. (0:31:10) Codey: creation, more vehicles, more part-time jobs, museum, constantly. (0:31:16) Al: This game isn’t coming out until 2026 and there I’ve got a Switch logo there. I feel like maybe (0:31:23) Al: don’t plan to release a game on Switch in 2026. Just a thought. This is quite the game. I don’t (0:31:40) Codey: But, uh, yep, nope, this that was y’all. (0:31:42) Codey: You need to watch this trailer. (0:31:43) Codey: This is probably. (0:31:44) Al: Yeah, our explanation does not do it justice. You need to go to the link in the show notes (0:31:49) Al: to the Kickstarter and watch this video and then come talk about it in the Slack. I just don’t know (0:31:55) Al: what to do. Weird cat models though. I would rather one of Coral Island’s animals than an (0:31:58) Codey: You can adopt up to 10 pets to live in your home. (0:32:02) Codey: I’m in. (0:32:03) Codey: They heard us complain about Coral Island. (0:32:07) Codey: There were dogs, too. (0:32:08) Codey: There were weird dogs. (0:32:09) Codey: No. (0:32:09) Codey: No, no, I won’t. (0:32:12) Al: infinite number of these animals. (0:32:19) Al: So that’s Trade Tales, the Kickstarter’s out now. (0:32:22) Al: So you’ve only got 20 days, well, less than that when you. (0:32:27) Al: What, you’ve probably got about a week and a half by the time or two weeks (0:32:31) Al: by the time this comes out, two weeks to decide whether you’re back in this project. (0:32:37) Codey: I’m going to play it, but I’m not going to back it personally. (0:32:39) Al: Yeah, my worry about backing it is do I (0:32:43) Al: actually believe that they won’t be sued in the next two years before they release? (0:32:47) Al: I can’t be confident of- (0:32:49) Al: That’s the news. We’re going to talk about office cat. This is a mobile game where you (0:32:54) Codey: Whoo! (0:33:04) Al: are a real estate owner for offices full of cats. That’s it. Well, yes, obviously. Come on. A human (0:33:14) Codey: And you are a cat yourself. (0:33:17) Al: isn’t going to rent offices. (0:33:19) Al: to cats, are they? (0:33:20) Codey: I would. (0:33:23) Al: So, my first thoughts on this game, Cody, are that after you told me to play it, or (0:33:25) Codey: And I would put them in little suits. (0:33:28) Codey: Isn’t that really so cute? (0:33:37) Al: we agreed to play it, I guess, because I did say, “OK, fine, let’s do that one.” (0:33:40) Codey: I also, okay, I am being severely misrepresented here. (0:33:45) Codey: I threw like 10 game names at Al. (0:33:48) Al: Yeah, and half and half of them we’ve already covered on the podcast Cody (0:33:52) Codey: Correct. (0:33:54) Codey: I was like, I don’t remember, I don’t remember. (0:33:55) Codey: I was getting ready for Go Fest. (0:33:57) Codey: I didn’t know. (0:33:58) Codey: So I just sent him a bunch of names. (0:34:00) Codey: And then he was like, yeah, sure, let’s do Office Cat. (0:34:02) Codey: So this was just one of, it’s not like I was like, (0:34:04) Al: It looked cute! (0:34:05) Codey: oh my gosh, this game, I wanna play this game specifically. (0:34:10) Codey: I didn’t play Office Cat, I didn’t say that. (0:34:12) Codey: It was just in the list. (0:34:14) Codey: Anyway, and then we decided. (0:34:15) Al: So I booted it up and I spent like 10 minutes playing it, and then the next day I spent (0:34:19) Al: another 10 minutes playing it, and then I completely forgot it existed. (0:34:25) Al: But I mean, so it’s interesting in so much as like, this is possibly the most mobile (0:34:32) Al: game. (0:34:33) Codey: Give it the crown! (0:34:34) Al: any mobile game has ever mobile gamed, right? (0:34:38) Al: There is just like every thing that mobile games do, every single thing that they do, (0:34:44) Al: this game does, right? (0:34:46) Al: You know, from your like timers that you know, your real life timers, I mean, this, this (0:34:51) Al: won’t be built until 15 minutes time, okay, fine, whatever, sure, to the weirdest thing (0:34:58) Al: I found. (0:34:59) Al: So you, you, you build your offices, well, you’ve got the building, you don’t build the (0:35:04) Al: offices, realistic to real life, you’re an estate owner, you’re not doing any building, (0:35:08) Al: you’re not actually creating anything, you’re just owning, you buy, you buy furniture, right? (0:35:14) Al: You buy furniture and you put it in building, in rooms, and then you say, Oh, this, I’ll (0:35:17) Al: get this business to hire it, okay, sure, fine. (0:35:21) Al: And it’s like fixed term contracts. (0:35:23) Al: And at the end of the contract, you can either go find another company to rent it or pay (0:35:30) Al: Pay the company money to have them rent you to continue rent. (0:35:34) Codey: Yeah. (0:35:34) Al: What sort of business is this, that I’m paying them to continue their contract? (0:35:40) Al: That’s bizarre. (0:35:42) Codey: You don’t have to pay them. You could watch an ad. (0:35:45) Al: Oh, the ads are everywhere. (0:35:48) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I liked that they’re, I’m trying to think of some positives about this game. (0:35:59) Codey: I liked the cat themed naming systems. So things like Twitter became chatter (0:36:04) Codey: or Shaw in French is cats. Walmart became Pawmart. They did have, uh, the Tesla one was funny. I got up. (0:36:14) Codey: Oh, I already have the game open. I was like, I got a little of the game back up. Um, I didn’t, uh, (0:36:21) Codey: Tesla’s me lawn mask. (0:36:34) Codey: A million gates. (0:36:36) Al: This game? Yeah, it’s not for me. (0:36:41) Codey: Posh, instead of porch capital. Anyway. (0:36:44) Al: You know, the thing that annoyed me the most about the ads is every ad was the exact same (0:36:48) Al: one ad. It was for this one game and I just constantly… White out survival. (0:36:49) Codey: Oh, I got like four different ones. Which game was yours? (0:36:55) Codey: Oh, see, I didn’t get that. I mean, I got that one sometimes, but I also got solitaire clash, (0:37:00) Codey: which you can make real money by playing solitaire. (0:37:00) Al: No, no, Cody, not another scam game, don’t do it. (0:37:04) Codey: » I’m not playing it. (0:37:08) Codey: I did look at the reviews, I was like, is this legit? (0:37:11) Codey: And everyone was like, don’t do it, it’s a scam. (0:37:16) Codey: And I got a couple other like gambling ones, but I don’t know, I’m not into that. (0:37:24) Codey: I also, another positive, trying to have positives. (0:37:29) Codey: Also, I think that it’s cute that when the businesses come to rent your (0:37:32) Codey: the space, um, so. (0:37:34) Codey: I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that. (0:37:36) Codey: I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that, but I think that’s a good one. (0:37:39) Codey: I would say you have like eight desks or whatever. (0:37:42) Codey: So eight employees come to work and each of them have their own name and their own little (0:37:48) Al: art style is very cute. I will definitely give you that. I mean, that’s what Trax does to this game, (0:37:52) Al: right? Like you suggested it presumably because it looked really cute and it was cats and I… (0:37:56) Codey: And it was like a management same house like I haven’t done this kind of thing before. (0:38:01) Al: Yeah and I thought it was cute because it looked cute and the graphics were nice so it definitely (0:38:06) Al: is good looking. That is the thing that is correct. So I mean, I think it mostly comes down to the fact (0:38:06) Codey: No. (0:38:08) Codey: No. (0:38:10) Codey: End of positivity. (0:38:12) Codey: Let’s rip into this game. (0:38:17) Al: that this is designed to. (0:38:19) Al: And it’s like, I get that you want to make money, but it’s just doing every bad thing that every game that is bad does and there’s no real there’s no justification to that right like you can do half of the stuff without being as bad as it is like ads aren’t a bad thing but the way that it does it literally every option and it’s just doing every bad thing that every every game that is bad does and there’s no real there’s no justification to that right like you can do half of the stuff. (0:38:42) Al: Without being as bad as it is like ads aren’t a bad thing but the way that it does it literally every option and (0:38:48) Al: it’s like for example right you earn money without playing the game right like as you’re away you get rent and then there’s a maximum amount you can get which is like two hours worth of rent okay great. (0:39:00) Codey: - Mm, it depends on the company. (0:39:02) Al: It starts out it starts out as two hours and you can expand that I think but anyway that’s not important specifics don’t matter. (0:39:10) Al: When you come back you can either get that or you can get eight times the value by watching an ad the ad is like a minute long. (0:39:16) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. (0:39:19) Al: It’s not like a it’s a one off thing it’s not like a you do this and you get twice the amount of money for a while it’s no no this is for this one thing and so it’s just like constantly throwing ads in your face and you know you pointed out in the notes about like the constant list of oh here’s a deal where you can get these gems and you can do this and so it’s like yeah you can pay to get rid of ads or you can pay to get gems to do other things in the game faster and it just. (0:39:49) Al: becomes a slog of and that and that example I was saying of like you pay the company to continue do it like that doesn’t make any sense logically but is presumably only there just to get more money out of you and it’s just like I don’t it removes any sort of joy that I would have ever had from this game by just going this is just a money machine for us. (0:40:10) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:12) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:14) Codey: And if you’re not interested in putting money in, uh, then it’s not worth it. (0:40:18) Codey: Um, (0:40:20) Codey: Uh, as I. (0:40:20) Al: And the thing is that I would probably have paid a small amount of like maybe like 10, 15 quid, (0:40:26) Al: I would have paid that to get rid of the ads and you know get some currency and stop (0:40:31) Al: shoving all these things in my face. I would do that, absolutely. If I could pay that amount of (0:40:35) Al: money and all of my like, oh you can skip this with an ad and you can double this with an ad (0:40:41) Al: and if I got all those with that, I would absolutely do it. But it doesn’t, it’s so, (0:40:46) Al: everything is expensive, so expensive. (0:40:48) Codey: Yeah. Well, and so my no ads right now you get, uh, you skip the ads, uh, you get experience (0:40:56) Codey: for free. Yeah. Everything becomes free, but it’s usually $38 and it’s currently $19, but (0:41:02) Al: which is so much money. (0:41:06) Codey: that’s still so much money. And I bet I really feel as though they would be like, Oh, you (0:41:13) Codey: have it for a month, none in a month pay more. (0:41:16) Al: Yeah I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, yeah, yeah I don’t trust it to give you this like, (0:41:18) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I have that. And then the gem booster thing, you have to pay like (0:41:21) Al: oh, ads are gone forever. I do not trust that at all based on everything I want. (0:41:31) Codey: $10. And then you get more, like any time you were in three gems, you were in 10 instead, (0:41:36) Codey: but it’s just like, there was just so many, like, give us money, give us money. Hey, you (0:41:41) Codey: could make your situation more efficient if you gave us money. (0:41:48) Codey: They have like the roulette games where you spin a wheel and you get resources, but you (0:41:53) Codey: have to watch after the first time you have to watch an ad and the ad only happens. Like (0:41:58) Codey: you can only do it like once every six hours. So you have to wait six hours to watch another (0:42:02) Codey: ad, which, you know, that’s also giving them money. Like you watch the ads. There was a (0:42:10) Codey: kitty bank thing, which I saw that you have to pay it and you earn like resources for (0:42:15) Codey: kitty bank and then it’ll be like hey your kitty bank’s full but i (0:42:18) Codey: have to pay three dollars to even use it so no point um I was kind of into the clock out (0:42:25) Codey: challenge thing which they give you like points towards resources and it was a cute little gimmick (0:42:34) Codey: but after like four times of earning resources it’s like oh you can earn these other resources (0:42:40) Codey: but you have to accept all of your rewards in consequential order and or in the like order (0:42:46) Codey: consecutive order and the one. (0:42:48) Codey: It’s just like, I’m not spending any money on this game. (0:42:50) Codey: You guys, so I wish just that wasn’t, none of that was fun, but. (0:42:54) Codey: Well, I wish just that wasn’t none of that was fun, but. (0:42:58) Al: Yeah, and it’s frustrating because it ruins what could be a fun game. I think it’s a (0:43:09) Al: little bit ironic, right? Because it’s clearly meant to be mocking capitalism, right? Because (0:43:18) Al: there’s so many things in it that it’s like, “Oh, you talk to your mum about your business (0:43:24) Al: and like she talks about, you know, are you working hard or whatever and it’s clear like. (0:43:28) Al: Like the people who made the game don’t think that, you know, landlords are, you know, (0:43:33) Al: working hard because you’re not you’re not doing anything you just click a button and (0:43:36) Al: you buy that like that’s that that’s the whole point. It’s a mocking of capitalism, except (0:43:41) Al: it then does the exact same things that it’s complaining about. (0:43:42) Codey: Yeah, well, and as so did you ever move on the map further? (0:43:50) Codey: Because I guess you only played like 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. (0:43:51) Al: I didn’t know I did. No, I take the 10 minutes was a bit of an exaggeration I did I got to us, and I got a second building up here. (0:43:58) Codey: OK, so yeah, because when you get that building and you move on to the second (0:44:01) Codey: space, suddenly it’s like, oh, buy a house, get a car and like do these things. (0:44:07) Codey: And I’m like, wow, capitalism, like buy these material things (0:44:12) Codey: and it’s like all really high. (0:44:14) Codey: So it won’t like cost. (0:44:16) Codey: So the game you’re basically the game is like, hey, like make make more money, (0:44:21) Codey: make more money, and then all these like things in the game are like, oh, you (0:44:24) Codey: want more stuff, just watch an ad, just watch an ad. (0:44:26) Codey: And my experience was I played for maybe like 20, 30 minutes. (0:44:30) Codey: And then the next day I played for like 20 minutes. (0:44:32) Codey: And then I kept trying to go back to the game and I’d only be on the game (0:44:35) Codey: for like five minutes before I’m like, I’m not doing like, no, I’m not wasting (0:44:40) Codey: my time on this game that’s asking me. (0:44:42) Codey: So I would just like check it and be like, oh, wow, I didn’t make that much money while I was gone because I hit that, you know, I’m only making rent for four hours thing or whatever. (0:44:54) Codey: So it has potential. (0:44:56) Codey: Thank you so much. (0:44:56) Codey: Thank you. (0:44:58) Codey: Thank you. (0:44:58) Al: think I would say it had potential. I don’t think like they’re probably making a decent amount of (0:44:58) Codey: Thank you. (0:45:03) Al: money and therefore they’re never going to go back on that right like. Yeah it’s really hard to say (0:45:12) Al: anything else about this game right because it’s like so dominating. They are like this is the only (0:45:18) Al: thing I can really think about like yeah sure it’s cute, cute graphics, funny names, a scathing (0:45:24) Al: critique on capitalism that it falls into itself. (0:45:28) Codey: Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. (0:45:28) Al: Cool. Gameplay’s fine, right? Like it’s an idle game, you know what you’re getting with an idle (0:45:33) Al: game, but it’s just like it’s idle in so much as you spend more time looking at ads than anything (0:45:39) Codey: Yep and you got your basics. There’s a free currency. There’s a like gem currency (0:45:45) Codey: That’s a more difficult currency to get but you could pay if you want to get more of it like kind of thing (0:45:49) Codey: You basically just manage the building (0:45:53) Codey: So you have offices (0:45:56) Codey: And you can like you’ve mentioned you can purchase furniture to go in the offices (0:46:00) Codey: You can then upgrade that furniture and that was always funny if you get a higher tier company (0:46:05) Codey: And you put it in the office that you had like a lower tier company in they’re like (0:46:10) Codey: white desk (0:46:10) Al: - Yeah, yeah. (laughs) (0:46:13) Codey: What is this and then at one point they were like I can’t believe this office doesn’t have this (0:46:19) Codey: picture frame of a cat that costs 50 gems (0:46:20) Al: Yeah, it’s very specific. Yeah. And you have some, you have like some that will not go (0:46:27) Al: to the toilet in like cheap toilets, they just refuse to do it. (0:46:30) Codey: Yeah, but and then they’re like efficiency is lowered and you (0:46:33) Codey: make less money because they’re mad about the, the quote unquote quality (0:46:39) Codey: of the, yeah, and no, and the upper tier ones cost more money too. (0:46:44) Codey: So you’re constantly trying to like spend money, any kind of money to (0:46:50) Codey: get the in-game currency so you can upgrade your stuff so that you can (0:46:54) Codey: get the better companies so that you can have more money, but then you (0:46:57) Codey: need to get it’s just like as a loop. (0:47:00) Codey: And there was nothing redeeming. (0:47:00) Al: Yeah, yeah (0:47:03) Codey: Um, yes, you have, you have your offices, your bathrooms, your meeting room, a (0:47:08) Codey: break room, a superintendent that is basically just tech support for the whole (0:47:12) Codey: building, uh, and then an electric room because electricity is another currency. (0:47:18) Codey: Like you, after a while, you can’t upgrade anything anymore because you’re (0:47:21) Codey: drawing too much electricity. (0:47:22) Al: Yeah, and for some reason there is no grid. You have generators and batteries. (0:47:22) Codey: So you have to go like, yeah, it’s just a generator room. (0:47:26) Al: Why? Why is there no grid in this universe? Why? Why? We all individually generate. Like, (0:47:33) Al: can you imagine that? All these generators in that room, that’s a death trap. (0:47:38) Codey: That’s a hot room and they, and they put, you put the superintendents right next to (0:47:42) Codey: it, they’re, they’re, they’ve got to be, they got to be so hot over there and (0:47:43) Al: I remember an oxide. Come on! It’s also not breathing. (0:47:48) Codey: they’re in their little, their little overalls and, and little hats. (0:47:52) Al: Yeah, I think the humor is good in this game, and I think there was potential in how the (0:47:54) Codey: Just, it’s just not good working. (0:48:01) Al: game works. It’s just a chock full of in-app purchases and subscriptions and ads and everything. (0:48:12) Codey: Uh-huh, I really think that that’s all we have to say. (0:48:16) Al: All right, well, it’s a good thing. I feel like we maybe talked about (0:48:21) Al: trade details for long (0:48:22) Al: than we did about OfficeCat. Alright, well, yeah, I wouldn’t suggest playing OfficeCat to people. That’s it. Yeah, yeah. Or like literally any other mobile game, right? Like, (0:48:26) Codey: Yeah. (0:48:32) Codey: If you are really looking for somewhere to just throw money, (0:48:37) Codey: maybe a charity is b

Al and Jonnie talk about Starstruck Vagabond Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:07: What Have We Been Up To 00:08:49: Game News 00:29:54: Starstruck Vagabond 01:04:07: Outro Links Mika and the Witch’s Mountain Release Tiny Garden Kickstarter Terra Nil “Vita Nova” Update Disney Dreamlight Valley “The Lucky Dragon” Update Moonstone Island “Pool Party” DLC Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Screenshots Bear and Breakfast Information Farming Simulator 25 Trailer Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:36) Jonnie: And my name is Johnny. (0:00:38) Al: And we are here today to talk about Contachcore games. (0:00:41) Al: Whoo. (0:00:44) Al: As always, transcripts are available in the show notes and on the website. (0:00:48) Al: This episode, me and Johnny will be talking about Starstruck Thagabond, (0:00:52) Al: the new game by Yatsy Croshaw of zero punctuation fame. (0:00:57) Al: Although he doesn’t do zero punctuation anymore. (0:00:58) Jonnie: now fully Ramblimetic thing? (0:00:59) Al: That’s what it’s called. Yeah. (0:01:00) Al: No, it’s not fully ramb- is it not? He’s got two, because he’s got fully ramblimatic (0:01:06) Al: and a different one, which is… Oh, maybe fully- it’s fully ramblimatic than the standard (0:01:11) Al: one. Yes. Yeah, okay. Yes. Yeah, which is basically just all the video team from the escapist who (0:01:12) Jonnie: Yeah, that’s the new version under second wind, I think, is their new banner. (0:01:23) Al: got fired or quit. That worked out well for them. (0:01:28) Jonnie: But now you can support them much more directly, which is which is you know in some ways preferable (0:01:31) Al: Yeah. Yes, fewer management. I feel like they’ve been massively increasing the amount of content (0:01:39) Al: they’re doing. There’s so much stuff now, which, I mean, I don’t do it all because I don’t care (0:01:48) Al: about their TTRPG stuff, and I don’t care about their Let’s Play stuff, but I really enjoy most (0:01:55) Al: of their podcasts and a lot of the shorter videos they do. So, it’s good. (0:02:01) Al: Anyway, so yeah, we’ll be talking about Starstruck Vagabond. Before that, we obviously have some (0:02:05) Al: news, but first of all, Johnny, what have you been up to? (0:02:11) Jonnie: I have been up to a hidden game I came up with last year called Chance of Sinar, (0:02:17) Jonnie: and one of the things that I learned about this game is like, as a name written down, it looks (0:02:21) Jonnie: great. When you say it out loud, people have no idea what you’ve just said. It’s a confusing (0:02:27) Jonnie: jumble of terms, but it kind of works for the game because the game is all about translating (0:02:32) Jonnie: languages, and it’s a really fun game. I kind of completed it over the course of a weekend, (0:02:40) Jonnie: and I like it was one of those (0:02:41) Jonnie: games. I had a friend visiting me and just in our like downtime between doing stuff we would (0:02:45) Jonnie: just play a bit of it and it was a really fun game to play with someone else on the couch because (0:02:50) Jonnie: it’s a lot of working out stuff a lot of guesses about what you want what you think things mean (0:02:56) Jonnie: and having a second brain to like that that sees things differently I think was really valuable (0:03:02) Jonnie: for playing through the game but it was just a really fun experience great puzzles great story (0:03:09) Jonnie: Like really contained, you know, it was probably five or six (0:03:12) Jonnie: hours into it and it was just a really, really fun game. (0:03:15) Jonnie: I would highly, highly recommend Chances. (0:03:18) Al: Interesting. It has overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam, and it’s currently on sale. (0:03:24) Jonnie: and it’s currently on Game Pass, which is where I played it. (0:03:25) Al: Fair enough. I do not have Game Pass because I have too many games unplayed anyway. (0:03:34) Jonnie: Yeah, I feel like you getting game paths would just be like, uh, you know, you would just continually be adding things to a wishlist of or a backlog that you’re never actually going to get to and you would never actually play anything. (0:03:40) Al: You know the funny thing is like, I’ve literally got my Steam wishlist open just now, right? (0:03:49) Al: Because obviously everything is on sale just now and I’m like, what am I going to buy? (0:03:53) Al: The problem is like half of these games, I can’t remember, like death’s door. (0:04:00) Al: I don’t know what this game is, but apparently I added it to my wishlist and it’s currently (0:04:04) Al: 75% off. (0:04:06) Al: When did I add this to my wishlist? (0:04:07) Al: I have no idea. (0:04:08) Al: Oh wait, it does tell you, doesn’t it? (0:04:11) Al: In 2021. Okay. So a while ago, um, yeah, I do feel like it’s one of these things (0:04:14) Jonnie: Wow, yeah, I feel like it’s time to let that one go (0:04:20) Al: where some of them when, when they’re like up at like 80, 70% off, if I’m not going to (0:04:26) Al: buy it when it’s that much off, I’m removing it from my wish list. So, um, yeah, I’ve got (0:04:32) Al: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven currently on my list that are 70% off and above. (0:04:39) Jonnie: Well, that could have been a fun new game. Is it buy or remove? (0:04:40) Al: Oh my. (0:04:47) Jonnie: It’s good it’s not like we’re under a time crunch this morning. (0:04:50) Al: let me finish. I have 77 on my wish list on sale just now. That is too many. I have 160 (0:04:58) Jonnie: I don’t think I have 77 on my wish list. (0:05:02) Al: on my wish list. Part of the problem, right, part of the problem is that I add every single (0:05:09) Al: farming game that we talk about on the podcast to my wish list to keep track of it, right? (0:05:14) Jonnie: That makes sense. Yeah, that does make- (0:05:14) Al: That makes it okay, right? Maybe. (0:05:20) Al: Okay, cool, great. What have I been up to? I have been playing Go Go Town. More coming (0:05:29) Al: about that later. I don’t want to talk about that just now, but I’ve been playing it. I’ve (0:05:33) Al: also been playing Dave the Diver. Have you played Dave the Diver? You have played Dave (0:05:38) Al: the Diver. I don’t know if you’ve actually started it yet or not. You’ve done it. You (0:05:40) Jonnie: I have downloaded Dave the Diver and I have done the tutorial of Dave the Diver. (0:05:48) Al: might want to hurry up. (0:05:50) Al: You’ve got probably about 10 hours of gameplay (0:05:52) Al: before you can even play the bit that you need to talk about on the podcast. (0:05:56) Jonnie: Oh my god. (0:05:58) Al: Just be thankful you’re not on the Godzilla one. (0:06:00) Al: You have to finish five chapters, and I’m halfway through chapter two. (0:06:03) Al: And yeah, it’s taking a while. (0:06:08) Al: I don’t know why it’s so far through. (0:06:10) Al: Probably because Godzilla is probably quite hard to do. (0:06:12) Al: Anyway, blah, blah, blah. (0:06:14) Al: Dave the Diver. (0:06:16) Al: I’m enjoying it so far. (0:06:18) Al: I feel like it’s about to get- (0:06:20) Al: very grindy where I am, but it’s interesting. (0:06:24) Al: And yeah, we’ll talk more about that in the future maybe. (0:06:28) Jonnie: I know you don’t want to talk about go go town, but I also downloaded the (0:06:32) Jonnie: Early access for go go town and and had a quick play off it and I was very quick (0:06:36) Jonnie: I maybe played an hour of it (0:06:39) Jonnie: That game does feel very early access (0:06:42) Jonnie: and (0:06:43) Jonnie: I think I see this in the slack, but it’s way more (0:06:48) Jonnie: Seems like resource management town builder II than it does Animal Crossing II which I don’t know I super loved (0:06:58) Jonnie: Interested in how that game develops over early access, but my initial take was like oh (0:07:01) Jonnie: I don’t really want to play this now. I want to put this down and play it (0:07:05) Jonnie: Play it a bit later, so I’m looking forward to hearing (0:07:10) Al: Maybe. Yeah, I think the only thing I’ll say just now is that they have posted a big update on (0:07:19) Al: Steam talking about what they’re going to do and how they’ve changed what they’re going to do based (0:07:25) Al: on feedback. So might be worth having a look at that. But yeah, I will talk more about that maybe (0:07:32) Al: in the future. I don’t know. I don’t want to spoil anything. (0:07:36) Jonnie: I do. (0:07:38) Jonnie: I love spoiling things. (0:07:40) Al: And I’ve been continuing playing farm RPG. I don’t know if I’m enjoying it, but I’m playing it. (0:07:48) Al: I just keep going. I’m at crafting level 95 now. Farming level 82, fishing level 77 and exploring (0:07:48) Jonnie: of bringing an endorsement. (0:07:57) Al: level 76. It’s quite a grind at this point, but I keep going. I guess the thing is that I’m not (0:08:08) Al: I’m not actually spending a huge amount. (0:08:10) Al: of time each day on it, right? Like it’s maybe a total of 10 minutes in a day. (0:08:15) Al: So we’ll see if I’m still doing it in the next episode. (0:08:21) Al: The right is a new regular section of the podcast. Is Al still playing farm RPG? Yes. (0:08:26) Jonnie: Look I feel like this is like when Cody was playing her cult (0:08:32) Jonnie: What was a cult game that she was playing we’re Tetris that’s (0:08:33) Al: Tetris. (0:08:36) Al: yeah but i’m not trying to get out not i’m not trying to win a cruise with my (0:08:40) Al: time um let’s just not talk about how much money i’ve put into the game so we’re going (0:08:41) Jonnie: Not yet. Not yet. (0:08:50) Al: to talk about some game news so first up we have the exciting news uh that uh johnny’s (0:08:59) Al: leaning on the keyboard in the show notes um oh no I hope this podcast recording works (0:09:02) Jonnie: I’m not leaning on the keyboard. I’m trying to work out what the hell’s going on with my computer. (0:09:05) Jonnie: It’s right. (0:09:10) Al: um we have the exciting news that mica and the witch’s mountain is releasing on the 21st of august (0:09:16) Al: on steam and switch (0:09:18) Jonnie: Whoo! Only like a year after their initial release date that they were very confident about hitting. (0:09:26) Al: Yeah. I think so. Yeah. I’m very excited, not least because it’s happening after my (0:09:26) Jonnie: No, this is this is very exciting. (0:09:34) Al: month long not being at home and not having to deal with podcast. Yeah. So I’m very excited (0:09:39) Al: that it’s not releasing just now because I might have cried. (0:09:42) Jonnie: And the way they did the announcement because I I don’t know if you follow them on Instagram (0:09:46) Jonnie: But it was they they posted the day before saying like we’ll answer the most asked question (0:09:52) Jonnie: Like that we get today tomorrow and I was like (0:09:54) Jonnie: I really hope they are announcing the release date for me crew the which is now done because that is by far away gonna be (0:10:00) Jonnie: Their most asked question and and in fact they were so (0:10:03) Jonnie: No, very exciting news for that game. There was a new trailer that came along (0:10:08) Jonnie: with (0:10:10) Jonnie: With the announcement. I don’t know that I picked up anything (0:10:12) Jonnie: New other than yeah, this game looks like what they’ve promised it’s going to be and it looks pretty fun (0:10:19) Jonnie: Let’s see how it plays (0:10:21) Al: Yeah, I think this game very much will come down to how the controls feel. That’s it. (0:10:26) Al: Like if it feels good to fly, it’ll be a fun game no matter anything else. If it doesn’t (0:10:31) Al: feel fun to fly, nothing will save it. Even the froggy chair. (0:10:35) Jonnie: Uh, I could not agree more. (0:10:38) Al: Next we have Tiny Garden. This is the Polly Pocket farming game. They’ve announced that (0:10:45) Al: their Kickstarter will launch on the 2nd of July. So, there we go. Another Kickstarter. (0:10:50) Jonnie: I still think this game looks like this game looks cool right because I’m curious how it is gonna manifest into a game because the the polypockets size of stuff is so small but this one has me like super intrigued because it’s doing the cool nostalgia thing and in a way that I’m very interested how it manifests in gameplay. (0:11:12) Al: Yeah, I suspect it might feel quite kind of Tamagotchi-esque, right? (0:11:17) Al: Where the idea is not playing the game for lots of time. (0:11:23) Al: It’s like dipping it out and, you know, deal with your fart. (0:11:26) Al: Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was real time. (0:11:30) Al: But I guess we’ll see. (0:11:32) Al: I don’t know if I want it to be real time, but we’ll see. (0:11:35) Al: And, you know, the trailer shows lots of different designs. (0:11:39) Al: I suspect you’ll be able to. (0:11:42) Al: I wouldn’t be surprised if you could collect lots of them and like you open up your different ones to see what your gardens are currently doing inside there or something. (0:11:51) Al: Rather than just changing the design of your of your tiny garden, right? Like it feels like you’re collecting gardens, but we shall see. (0:12:01) Al: Next we have Terranil. Their new update Vitanova is out now and they’ve posted a bunch of information about it. Have you looked through this at all? (0:12:10) Jonnie: I have not looked at this one at all, but since we recorded the, like, what did I record that (0:12:17) Jonnie: episode with? It must have been with Kevin. When we recorded the episode on Terra Nil, (0:12:22) Jonnie: I hadn’t finished Terra Nil, and I keep intending to go back, and every time I see something about (0:12:28) Jonnie: Terra Nil, I’m interested in going back. But I think this might be the update that finally (0:12:34) Jonnie: sort of lures me back in, particularly with Terra Nil being available. I think it’s available (0:12:39) Jonnie: through Netflix. (0:12:40) Jonnie: I’ve got some new missions, which I assume means new maps, to play on. (0:12:42) Al: it is yes that’s a good point I should try it because I have Netflix just now (0:12:47) Al: I should try it on mobile see what it’s like (0:12:57) Jonnie: I think there’s about 11 in the initial game, and they’ve overhauled the animal functionality, (0:13:06) Jonnie: which is really interesting. (0:13:10) Jonnie: The way the animal system worked in the past is that it was kind of like the last thing (0:13:15) Jonnie: you would do, and it felt very clunky. (0:13:18) Jonnie: You would effectively build a special building, and then you would have to ping certain parts (0:13:24) Jonnie: on the map, and if it met enough of the requirements for a particular animal, that animal would (0:13:29) Jonnie: show up. (0:13:30) Jonnie: So it felt like this very clunky thing, where I remember on the first map getting frustrated (0:13:38) Jonnie: because one animal I couldn’t quite bring (0:13:40) Jonnie: back because I was like you know half a point off of needing you know a certain (0:13:46) Jonnie: area in a certain radius to bring back the final animal but equally I had no (0:13:52) Jonnie: resources at that point to re-terraform anything so I was kind of just like I (0:13:55) Jonnie: feel stuck in a way this that wasn’t particularly fun and this change (0:14:01) Al: So, so was it quite binary then where it was like you either have them or you don’t sort (0:14:07) Al: of thing, you’ve either done the checklist to get the animals back or you haven’t. Right, (0:14:10) Jonnie: Correct, yeah. (0:14:12) Al: whereas here it looks like it’s saying so it says the habitat may be sufficient for (0:14:16) Al: them to survive but not ideal for them to thrive so it’s like you can get them back (0:14:21) Al: with less work but then you have to work more to get like I guess them to reproduce or something (0:14:27) Jonnie: yeah so be curious how it works you know um like and it was it was a really there was good bones (0:14:32) Jonnie: in the system right so it’s like you know one of the requirements on the first map for wolves to (0:14:36) Jonnie: appear is they had to be deer already in a location nearby right because they need something to eat (0:14:41) Jonnie: uh which totally makes sense so um I feel like there was good bones so this is actually a really (0:14:47) Jonnie: exciting change to um uh what was uh it was probably slightly frustrating because it was at (0:14:52) Jonnie: the end where you were sort of relatively low on resources it was just your ability to sort (0:14:57) Jonnie: at that point when you didn’t really know what you needed to be building towards um was was a bit (0:15:03) Jonnie: frustrating so I like the idea of what this is doing uh I know there’s a bunch of other stuff (0:15:06) Al: Makes sense? Cool. Looks like they’ve added a new world map as well for viewing things. (0:15:11) Jonnie: yeah yeah I don’t know that that changes much other than I guess making the world feel more like a (0:15:19) Jonnie: a real world that you are restoring um which is which is kind of cool but um yeah it’s a it’s a (0:15:22) Al: Cool, and that’s live now, so I guess it’s time for you to play Terranil Journey, again. (0:15:37) Al: Speaking of updates that we’ve got more information for, for Disney Dreamlight Valley, the Lucky (0:15:42) Al: Dragon update is now out, and they’ve detailed everything in the update. (0:15:48) Al: Um, I don’t know, I don’t know if I want to. (0:15:52) Jonnie: It’s Milan. (0:15:52) Al: To go through all this stuff because a lot of stuff, well, yeah, it’s Mulan, but we (0:15:54) Jonnie: It’s Milan. (0:15:54) Al: already knew Mulan, right? (0:15:56) Al: But like they detailed a bunch of the stuff around Mulan and it looks like they’ve also (0:16:01) Al: got some more stuff around Stitch, Lilo and Stitch, um, and there’s a new event around (0:16:09) Al: Inside Out 2. (0:16:11) Al: That’s probably enough information, isn’t it? (0:16:13) Al: Don’t want to go too detailed if people are wanting to play it, but there you go. (0:16:16) Al: So if you want Mulan, go befriend Mulan now then. (0:16:22) Al: » Ireland have a new free DLC, which is the pool party DLC. (0:16:27) Al: That’s it. (0:16:27) Jonnie: The snorkel floatie looks really dumb and cute. (0:16:33) Jonnie: I love that he’s wearing a snorkel, I don’t know, there’s something about it that’s very (0:16:36) Al: Yes yeah that’s funny. Go get it if you’ve been playing the game. Okay Harvest Moon Home (0:16:47) Al: Sweet Home. Dear goodness I really don’t know what to do with this game. So they’ve posted (0:16:55) Al: a bunch of screenshots of this game which I will remind you is iOS and Android only. (0:17:02) Al: So first of all, it looks like it’s going to be a horizontal game. (0:17:06) Al: Um, because all the screenshots are like widescreen screenshots. (0:17:13) Al: Interestingly, it looks almost identical to Winds of Anthos, the newest game. (0:17:20) Al: Um, so I’m starting to worry that it might just be that, but mobile. (0:17:27) Al: Uh, and they presumably like scaled down in some cases because (0:17:31) Al: it’s probably too much for phones. (0:17:34) Al: uh… (0:17:36) Al: I mean, I like the look of Winzvantos, so I’m not against it looking similar, right? Like, my issue (0:17:42) Al: with that game was not how it looked. I thought the game looked really nice. I just didn’t enjoy (0:17:47) Al: playing it, so I’m not particularly enthused about playing this game. We have no idea about gameplay (0:17:54) Al: because it’s just some screenshots. They do show some fishing, and some animals, and a bunch of (0:18:01) Al: buildings and characters. I believe there’s one character who was in Harvest Moon One World, (0:18:07) Al: I’ll be honest, I don’t remember any characters in Harvest Moon One World because they were so (0:18:11) Al: forgettable. (0:18:14) Jonnie: I’m gonna be honest, this game looks so ugly I thought it was Pokemon for a second. (0:18:18) Al: Wow, you don’t like the look of it at all. (0:18:20) Jonnie: No, it’s terrible. And these screenshots don’t show nothing about the game, like… (0:18:22) Al: Interesting. Wow. (0:18:29) Jonnie: This is like when you’re posting screenshots, like, because you think people are excited about, (0:18:34) Al: yeah yeah it’s yeah it’s like when it’s like when Pokemon post like a new a new Pokemon (0:18:35) Jonnie: like, just literally anything that you do. And I do not think that is the case of this Harvest Moon (0:18:40) Jonnie: Home sweet home like yeah, like I say it is that we need to actually see (0:18:48) Al: and people like wow it’s a new Pokemon expecting that sort of reaction yeah I don’t because (0:18:52) Jonnie: Yeah, exactly, exactly. (0:18:57) Al: I was expecting because it’s a mobile game something mobile specific but it’s just without (0:19:03) Al: any actual idea of what the gameplay is. (0:19:04) Al: It looks like it might just be Harvest Moon, Winds of Anthos with a different story. That’s (0:19:10) Al: what it feels like it might be, and I’m really worried if that’s the case because that wasn’t (0:19:15) Al: fun to play with a controller, never mind with a touchscreen. (0:19:19) Al: But we’ll see. They have reconfirmed that there will be no in-app purchases, which is (0:19:24) Al: good, and they are not planning any DLC, which is something that is information, I guess. (0:19:33) Al: Yeah. (0:19:35) Al: But no idea about how it plays, what’s happening with this game, what it is, why it exists. (0:19:42) Al: You know, it is what it is. We’ll see. (0:19:46) Al: Very weird, I will say, why they announced this game like three weeks ago with no information (0:19:51) Al: and then three weeks later they post screenshots. Like, are they trying to build the hype up but they don’t know how? (0:19:58) Jonnie: That’s what it feels like. (0:20:00) Jonnie: It feels like somebody said, (0:20:01) Jonnie: hey, we need to start marketing this game (0:20:04) Jonnie: and then people that have no idea about marketing said, (0:20:07) Jonnie: okay, and this is what we get. (0:20:12) Al: Well, it’s going to be fun because I’m probably going to dump a whole bunch of information (0:20:19) Al: about it while I’m on holiday. So we’re going to be really delayed with that news. It’s (0:20:22) Jonnie: I mean, you can rest easy in knowing that it probably won’t be very good. (0:20:28) Al: not like I’m not going to play it though, right? Let’s not pretend. Fair, fair enough, (0:20:32) Jonnie: Oh, you’re definitely gonna play it, but you know, it’s not like the rest of us will (0:20:37) Jonnie: be missing out on anything because we’re not hearing the news. (0:20:41) Al: Fair enough. (0:20:42) Al: Any excuse for a Micah episode. (0:20:46) Al: Next, we have an update on Bear and Breakfast. (0:20:49) Al: So for those who don’t remember or weren’t listening to the episodes when we talked (0:20:54) Al: about it, there was an update about the health issues in the team. (0:20:59) Al: So one of the team members was diagnosed with cancer last year, was it? (0:21:05) Al: The end of last year, I think. (0:21:08) Al: And that was like just before their console release, I think. (0:21:13) Al: But they managed to get that out in time, but that has obviously delayed the updates (0:21:17) Al: that they were planning on bringing out, which obviously almost everybody in the (0:21:20) Al: replies are, “Get better. (0:21:22) Al: We hope the update can wait.” (0:21:26) Al: But they obviously felt like they needed to give some more information. (0:21:29) Al: So they’ve kind of given some more information about the update that they’re (0:21:32) Al: working on, but no like details on the update itself, just like they’re still (0:21:37) Al: going on and they’re hoping to get some other announcements not related. (0:21:42) Al: To the update coming in about a month, which I’m intrigued by. (0:21:48) Al: So there we go. (0:21:50) Al: Um, there’s a bit more information about the update and what’s coming. (0:21:55) Al: Oh, wait, no, I’ve scrolled down the page. (0:21:57) Al: It’s, it’s a plushie. (0:21:59) Al: There’s a plushie of the bear. (0:22:03) Jonnie: I feel like I’ve scrolled down the page and I miss this plushies of a bear right now (0:22:07) Jonnie: Cuz it doesn’t remember the beer and breakfast episodes. Hey, go back and listen to them. Oh my god (0:22:13) Jonnie: Yeah, okay. Oh, it’s a it’s a it’s a good that’s a good tease of a plushie (0:22:18) Al: Yeah. He’s got the hat and everything. Yeah, whereas I just scroll all the way down and (0:22:19) Jonnie: Ah (0:22:20) Jonnie: I think I got to like the end of the paragraph and I just did not scroll down to the image (0:22:29) Al: saw the image and went, “Oh, there we go.” So presumably it’ll be a makeshift and presumably (0:22:35) Al: it’ll come up and Johnny will cry over whether he wants to get on. The question is whether (0:22:40) Jonnie: I would definitely cry. (0:22:46) Al: whether your world will cry or not as well. (0:22:48) Al: Next, we have a new game announced. (0:22:53) Al: The game we’ve all been waiting for, Johnny. (0:22:55) Al: It’s Farming Simulator 25. (0:22:59) Jonnie: Is it a new game? Does this count? (0:23:03) Al: Well, it’s a it’s a game that’s being released that you have to buy separately (0:23:08) Al: if you didn’t have the previous if you had the previous one and you want to play it. (0:23:12) Jonnie: I like that answer better. (0:23:13) Al: So that I think would be the definition of a new game. (0:23:18) Al: It feels very philosophical, but I feel like it would be incorrect to say this is an update to (0:23:18) Jonnie: Mmm, I’m not sure. I’m still not convinced. (0:23:29) Al: a previous game, because that would imply that you would get it without purchasing. And I think (0:23:33) Al: it would be incorrect to say it’s a DLC, because you don’t have to have a previous game to buy (0:23:38) Al: this one. So I don’t know what else you would call this. (0:23:42) Jonnie: I would say they’re re-releasing farming simulator say 2018 with some minor tweaks. (0:23:49) Al: Look it’s the FIFA of farming games, right? Although we’re gonna have to change that (0:23:53) Jonnie: Yeah, and I would make that save argument. (0:23:59) Al: metaphor though because it’s not FIFA anymore. So basically, you don’t have to follow football (0:24:03) Jonnie: Is it not? I don’t- I don’t follow. (0:24:09) Al: or football games to have been aware of this, but basically FIFA asked EA for more money (0:24:16) Al: for the trademark for the games. (0:24:18) Al: So they wear. (0:24:20) Al: I think a billion dollars a year and they were asking for two billion a year. (0:24:26) Al: And so EA said, no, thank you. (0:24:29) Al: And so they lost the trademark because of that. (0:24:31) Al: And so now they call it EA Sports FC, as in football club. (0:24:37) Al: And at first thought I was like, Oh, this sounds interesting. (0:24:41) Al: That feels like a mistake on EA’s part because like FIFA brand is so big. (0:24:46) Al: But then I realised, no one else is making a game. (0:24:49) Al: I don’t think people playing the game care about the name. They go in and look for the new game. (0:24:54) Al: And therefore, I think FIFA just lost a billion dollars a year. (0:24:59) Jonnie: That sounds like FIFA being FIFA. (0:25:02) Al: So, yeah, EA Sports FC is the new name for the games that were previously called FIFA. (0:25:07) Al: But it doesn’t roll off the tongue as well. It’s not a great name. (0:25:11) Al: But I don’t think people playing the game care about the name. (0:25:15) Al: care about the name, they go in and look for the new game. (0:25:19) Al: There is a football game that has a footballer on the front of it and says EA. If they go (0:25:26) Al: in and ask for FIFA, the people in the store are going to point to EAFC. They know what (0:25:33) Al: they’re talking about. It’s not just about being incompetent, it’s about being corrupt. (0:25:34) Jonnie: Yeah, I always feel like I should go and work for FIFA because it’s just like a place where you can be incompetent and get (0:25:40) Jonnie: Paid a lot of money and I feel like I would be really good at that (0:25:48) Jonnie: I mean, I’ll do whatever. (0:25:51) Jonnie: Cool. (0:25:52) Jonnie: I’m okay with that. (0:25:53) Jonnie: Just pay me. (0:25:56) Al: Anyway, Farming Simulator! (0:25:59) Al: So they’re releasing Farming Simulator 25, whatever you might call it. (0:26:04) Al: That’s a thing that exists. (0:26:07) Al: It’s coming out on the 12th of November on Steam, Mac and PC, and PlayStation and Xbox. (0:26:14) Al: And there’s rice. (0:26:16) Al: Right, let me read… (0:26:20) Al: We’ve got some information on Steam. (0:26:21) Al: I can probably read it all in about 30 seconds. (0:26:26) Al: Farming Simulator 25, new crops, animals, productions and more. (0:26:28) Al: 400+ machines included with enhanced graphics and physics. (0:26:32) Al: Farming Simulator 25 floods the fields with a host of new machines, gameplay features, (0:26:37) Al: visual upgrades and even fresh water to grow rice, adding even more agricultural depth (0:26:42) Al: and diversity to the family-friendly series. (0:26:45) Al: New crops, animals and other features. (0:26:48) Al: It says some more. (0:26:49) Al: I don’t think it gives any more information, but it has some more words. (0:26:56) Al: Spinach and other new crops. (0:26:58) Al: I love how they mention two crops, and then they say “and others”. (0:27:06) Al: And they’ve added mighty buffaloes and other animals. (0:27:10) Al: Again, that was a list of one. (0:27:13) Al: I’m not convinced that you have a long list when you say “buffaloes and others”. (0:27:20) Al: Like I’m not thinking that that’s a long list when you only chose one. (0:27:24) Jonnie: Yeah, I’m (0:27:26) Jonnie: It’s what I’m most fascinated by is like how big is the team that’s worth like (0:27:30) Jonnie: I don’t understand the economics of farming simulator at all because today’s (0:27:34) Jonnie: There’s just so much art that goes into these games is ridiculous. I don’t know how they do it all (0:27:42) Al: So yeah, so apparently the games have sold over 25 million copies combined. (0:27:47) Al: I don’t feel like a lot. (0:27:52) Al: Farming Simulator 22, which was their last big one, sold 6 million copies. (0:27:58) Jonnie: It’s not that many. (0:28:01) Jonnie: You know, like, Pokemon sells tens of millions of copies and they can’t even (0:28:06) Jonnie: draw good trees. (0:28:09) Al: the people in this trailer are very uncanny valley, I don’t know. (0:28:14) Jonnie: Oh, like, okay, and this is all, like, so Farting Simulator does these ridiculous cinematic trailers, (0:28:19) Jonnie: and it’s not just like they do these trailers, but, like, the game starts with, you know, (0:28:23) Jonnie: some ridiculous cinematics. They’re very uncanny valley. I’m just like, (0:28:27) Jonnie: how do they have the budget to make this? (0:28:30) Al: The buffalo looks great in the trailer. The people look creepy, but the buffalo looks (0:28:36) Al: great. It looks like his hairs are individually modelled. Why have they done this? This in (0:28:45) Al: itself probably wiped out their budget for the game, only selling six million copies. (0:28:51) Jonnie: Why have they done this is just a great, like, all-round question for farming similes. (0:28:56) Al: Like, it’s not even a very expensive game, right? Like, it’s like 30 or 40 quid, I think, (0:29:01) Al: brand new? Um, it doesn’t even, it’s not even like 60, 70. And so, like, 6 million. (0:29:10) Al: What? Are they making money? (0:29:14) Jonnie: We’ve got to be somewhere. Maybe it’s all the DLC that they do. (0:29:18) Jonnie: Maybe that’s the real business model. (0:29:20) Al: Of course. Of course, they have brands in the game. That’s exactly what it is. (0:29:26) Al: Because every DLC is like, “Oh, here’s a new brand of machine.” (0:29:30) Jonnie: Ahh, yes, and I did. (0:29:30) Al: A hundred and fifty brands. The brands are obviously paying to get in the game. (0:29:34) Al: That’s how they make the money. There we go. Done. (0:29:39) Al: Anyway, if you want a new farming simulator that has rice, there you go. (0:29:44) Al: But yes, this feels like a glorified DLC shoved into the game. (0:29:50) Al: I think that’s all the news. Interesting selection of news. (0:29:54) Al: Next, we’re going to talk about Starstruck Vagabond. (0:29:58) Al: OK, so where to start on this? So I guess first of all, just a quick reminder, (0:30:03) Al: this is the new game by Yatsy Croshaw. It is a delivery-based game, shall we say, (0:30:12) Al: where you have a ship or you get a ship and then you use that to make deliveries. (0:30:21) Al: And yeah, that’s it, right? (0:30:24) Jonnie: Yep, that’s… that’s the game. (0:30:29) Al: I feel like I’m going to struggle probably like you to explain my feelings about this game. (0:30:36) Al: I don’t think I dislike it. I think you have said you do dislike it. (0:30:43) Jonnie: I would like to say that I loathe this game (0:30:48) Al: Wow! That is quite a- (0:30:51) Al: Do we want to talk about the mechanics first, or do you want to talk about your feelings about it first? (0:30:56) Jonnie: Maybe I’ll talk about my feelings first and then we can use that as a segue into the mechanics and like (0:30:59) Al: Okay. Sure. (0:31:02) Jonnie: fundamentally (0:31:04) Jonnie: So I like the vibe of this game (0:31:06) Jonnie: I think the music in the game is incredible the art style is not for everyone (0:31:11) Jonnie: But it totally makes sense in terms of like both the scope of the development and and what the game is going for (0:31:17) Jonnie: This game is so unfun to play. I (0:31:21) Jonnie: Couldn’t like I have rage quit this game. I tried to play it like three or four times and every session after (0:31:27) Jonnie: 15 minutes ended up with me just like (0:31:29) Jonnie: Rage quitting the game and needing to play something else. I just never had fun (0:31:34) Jonnie: Trying to do anything in this game because mechanically it is so (0:31:42) Jonnie: clunky (0:31:43) Jonnie: There was just I couldn’t like it wasn’t like I you know, the first time I played it and I think I rage quit (0:31:48) Jonnie: I was like, maybe it’s just me right? Like you’ve got to give these things a chance (0:31:52) Jonnie: But the more I played the less I wanted to be playing this game (0:31:57) Jonnie: There was nothing enjoyable about it. And it’s it’s shocking to me that a game in this state (0:32:05) Jonnie: Made it to release. I just don’t see (0:32:08) Jonnie: Like I struggle to see where someone (0:32:12) Jonnie: Designing this game thought the fun lived because I cannot see it (0:32:16) Jonnie: You (0:32:16) Al: we’re definitely not getting a retweet from Yahtzee. he doesn’t strike me the (0:32:24) Al: sort of person that wouldn’t listen before he retweets something as some (0:32:28) Al: developers very clearly do when I post about talking about their game and they (0:32:33) Al: retweet and I’m like you didn’t listen to this because we just slag off your (0:32:36) Al: game okay I don’t feel the same as that it’s not that I love the game though (0:32:46) Al: goodness um I don’t know why I’m struggling so much to explain how I feel (0:32:52) Al: about this game let’s let’s go through the mechanics and maybe we can talk (0:32:56) Al: about individual things and maybe that will give me a better idea of how I feel (0:33:01) Al: about this game overall so the idea is you you have your ship and you go to a (0:33:08) Al: place and you pick up packages and you take that to another place and as you go (0:33:13) Al: you upgrade your ship and there’s (0:33:17) Al: story and things happen. But there are (0:33:20) Al: basically like four main mechanics and (0:33:25) Al: that is carrying things to your ship and (0:33:29) Al: away from your ship and then the three (0:33:31) Al: mechanics that are basically only ever (0:33:33) Al: on your ship and that is welding, (0:33:37) Al: cleaning and I’ve said wrenching because (0:33:39) Al: I’m not really sure how to describe it (0:33:42) Al: other than you’ve got a wrench and you (0:33:44) Al: twist things like things are (0:33:46) Jonnie: Yeah, that’s how I would describe it. (0:33:46) Al: out of alignment. And you have to make them in alignment. There’s never really any kind (0:33:52) Al: of like problem solving with this is very much like you can tell that the idea behind (0:33:59) Al: this was not to be a puzzler. Obviously it’s meant to be, you know, just doing things to (0:34:07) Al: upgrade things. Like it looks at Stardew and goes, how do I do that sort of thing, but (0:34:13) Al: not in farming, and… (0:34:16) Al: kind of replaces things like watering and mining and stuff with these things instead. (0:34:24) Al: And so like when you’re… when something happens and you need to use one of these mechanics it’s (0:34:28) Al: like very clear the icon shows you, right? Like you see a little welder or you see a little cleaner (0:34:35) Al: thing. I don’t even know what it is we’re using to clean. Is it like a high pressure? It’s not (0:34:39) Al: like a sponge or anything, it’s like some cleaning device. And there or it shows the wrench. (0:34:40) Jonnie: Yeah, I thought it was like some sort of like water gun. (0:34:47) Al: Um, these are always very reactive, I guess. So like if you’re traveling and you hit an asteroid (0:34:54) Al: your ship will stop and you have to go and fix everything. Or you’ll come across someone who’s (0:34:59) Al: sent out an SOS and you have to go about their ship and you have to help them. They’re not really (0:35:05) Al: used as… I guess maybe that’s kind of my issue with these parts is they’re… they’re about getting (0:35:12) Al: back to the state that you were in, rather than improving the state. (0:35:16) Al: Everything in a farming game is giving you something, either giving you crops or giving you a resource of some kind to build that up. (0:35:27) Al: Technically, the welding does give you resources when you go to planets. I forgot about that, but we’ll come back to that in a minute. (0:35:33) Al: But on your ship, there is no getting things. Your ship is just a way to get between places, and these mechanics are just about, (0:35:48) Jonnie: Yeah, and I think what you’ve hit on is probably my fundamental issue with the game is that (0:35:59) Jonnie: these mechanics entirely exist to stop you from moving in the game, and there’s nothing (0:36:05) Jonnie: particularly fun about them, and I think the insight that all it is is returning your ship (0:36:10) Jonnie: to a state where it can fly, rather than about making any improvement to it, is exactly right. (0:36:17) Jonnie: You know one of the times I write (0:36:18) Jonnie: about this game is my ship got (0:36:20) Jonnie: damaged flying from planet A to planet B (0:36:22) Jonnie: and I went to fix it (0:36:24) Jonnie: and I died while fixing it. (0:36:26) Jonnie: I have no idea why I was dying (0:36:26) Al: Oh, I know why you die. I know why you die because I had that issue as well. You were (0:36:28) Jonnie: I couldn’t work it out (0:36:33) Al: out of stamina. So, yeah, I think once you’ve done that and you realized it, it then becomes (0:36:34) Jonnie: Ah, that was super unclear to me. (0:36:43) Al: more clear. But yeah, I find it a bit confusing when that happens because you’re like, “Oh, (0:36:48) Al: I’m losing health.” And you’re like, “Oh, is this because I need to do things quicker?” (0:36:52) Al: like the, the life support system isn’t working. So I need to do it quicker. So you do. (0:36:56) Jonnie: That’s what I thought it was, yep. (0:36:57) Al: But that, but that makes you die quicker because it’s your stamina that’s the issue. (0:37:01) Jonnie: Uh, so like, that stuff, like, and that’s just like, I was already not playing the game, (0:37:08) Jonnie: and to then die and be told that you’re gonna be charged some amount of money, (0:37:11) Jonnie: I was just like, I’m straight up not having a good time with this. (0:37:13) Jonnie: I don’t, I was like, I didn’t want to work it out, I just wanted to not play. (0:37:16) Jonnie: That was, that was how that experience made me feel, (0:37:20) Jonnie: ‘cause it didn’t feel like a puzzle. (0:37:21) Jonnie: I’m already feel like I’m being punished for not being particularly good (0:37:26) Jonnie: at the kind of terrible piloting mechanics like just nothing nothing (0:37:31) Jonnie: mechanically about this game was like wow I feel like I’m you know having fun (0:37:37) Jonnie: being a space delivery man it all felt like I am I’m prevented from being a (0:37:45) Jonnie: space delivery man because I have to be a mechanic that keeps dying like yeah (0:37:49) Jonnie: and that was that was a huge point of frustration for me (0:37:52) Al: Mm hmm. I think it’s probably fairly accurate to how hard space travel is, right? Like just (0:38:03) Al: constantly things going wrong. Uh, because space travel is hard. That doesn’t necessarily (0:38:08) Al: mean that it’s fun. Yeah, I think I didn’t, it didn’t make me rage quit the game, but (0:38:13) Al: I certainly got frustrated when it was like, Oh, you’re going to another planet to do a (0:38:17) Al: thing and oh no, no, no, I have to spend five minutes. (0:38:22) Al: Going and clicking on 10 different things in my ship just to continue moving. And you (0:38:28) Al: get nothing from that. Yeah, I didn’t, I didn’t find that fun. Um, the welding, let’s talk (0:38:35) Al: about the, the welding on the planets. Did you get to a planet and resource grab, getting (0:38:40) Al: resources from that? I can’t remember how early that happens, but you do that in the (0:38:42) Jonnie: And not outside of the tutorial (0:38:44) Jonnie: There’s the there’s one in the very (0:38:46) Jonnie: Yeah, you get the what do they call it? That’s the the not worth anything in it’s not called that but it’s (0:38:52) Al: Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that’s the best part of the game personally, because kind of. I dislike (0:38:53) Jonnie: It’s something like that (0:39:04) Al: it in some ways as well, but let’s come to that. I like that idea. That’s kind of the thing that (0:39:10) Al: most I enjoy is the idea of you going to these unexplored planets and getting stuff from them. (0:39:17) Al: And that was certainly when I was having the most fun. What I didn’t. (0:39:22) Al: Like about it was how you have no inventory, right? And all you, well, not for those things (0:39:32) Al: you get on. You technically do have an inventory. Do you? No, I don’t think you ever have like, (0:39:39) Al: you can’t put things in pockets. You can’t put them in a bag. All you can do is grab something (0:39:43) Al: and put it on your, your platform. And so that limits you to taking three things from a planet (0:39:50) Al: at once, which it reminds me of. (0:39:52) Jonnie: And can we talk about the three things thing? (0:39:55) Jonnie: ‘Cause my God, that drove me insane. (0:39:59) Jonnie: Like the movement in this game, (0:40:01) Jonnie: where I get that like the space on your ship (0:40:04) Jonnie: is kind of meant to be one of the limiting factors, (0:40:07) Jonnie: but it’s so restrictive at the start. (0:40:09) Jonnie: I spent maybe, this is another time I rage quit the game, (0:40:12) Jonnie: was because I couldn’t work out (0:40:14) Jonnie: that I had the specific square on the landing platform (0:40:17) Jonnie: that you need to lower the landing platform, (0:40:20) Jonnie: blocked off with one of the things (0:40:22) Jonnie: that I’m delivering. (0:40:23) Jonnie: And like, that’s not a fun game mechanic. (0:40:25) Jonnie: That’s just a frustrating user experience, right? (0:40:27) Jonnie: Like, just let me put four things on the landing platform (0:40:31) Jonnie: that has the loading platform, that has four spaces on it, (0:40:34) Jonnie: and let that go up and down. (0:40:36) Jonnie: Like, just not be able to move around the ship (0:40:39) Jonnie: like so early on, because I’ve got three or four boxes (0:40:42) Jonnie: in there. (0:40:43) Jonnie: Again, nothing fun about that. (0:40:44) Al: Yeah. Yeah, and you have no real storage space on your ship to start with. And even after you’ve (0:40:51) Al: upgraded it at least once, because I upgraded it at least once, you still don’t have any storage (0:40:57) Al: space. You’re like plonking it in random places, blocking you off from getting to places. (0:41:04) Al: Ehm. (0:41:05) Jonnie: Yeah and I don’t mind like a bit of a Tetris puzzle to go with storage but again it didn’t (0:41:12) Jonnie: really feel like a puzzle as much as just like hey the natural place where you want to put the (0:41:16) Jonnie: stuff is the wrong spot to put the stuff and it’s just going to prevent you from playing more of (0:41:20) Al: - Hmm. (0:41:21) Jonnie: the game which is that’s how I feel about most of the mechanics of this game most of the mechanics (0:41:24) Jonnie: feel like they exist just to make sure that the game actually has some length to it. (0:41:28) Al: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I found it, it felt a little bit when I was on that planet and I (0:41:35) Al: was gathering things and I was like, Oh, the realisation that I can only take three things (0:41:39) Al: from this planet. It felt very much like the first time I played Animal Crossing New Leaf (0:41:46) Al: where you’re like gathering like apples and stuff and you can only stack up to nine in (0:41:52) Al: your inventory. And I’m like, why? Why is that so restrictive? (0:41:58) Al: And I don’t know, maybe there are people that find that sort of thing fun, right? Because (0:42:02) Al: there are games based around these sorts of things that like strand games where it’s (0:42:08) Al: like you have to have, you know, very limited space in your bag. So you have to only take (0:42:13) Al: certain stuff. I don’t find that fun. And having that in this game massively reduced (0:42:22) Al: my enjoyment of that. I think if that in particular, like if you had an inventory. (0:42:29) Al: For everything, I guess, other than packages, right? Like I understand why the packages (0:42:32) Al: would be like physical things, because that’s the whole point of the game is you’re delivering (0:42:35) Al: things, right? But things like your upgrade units and your rocks and stuff like that, (0:42:42) Al: they still have to take up the same amount of space as a massive package. Like that doesn’t (0:42:46) Al: feel right to me and it feels unfun. (0:42:50) Jonnie: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s a really good point that I think is being missed in a lot of cottagecore genres. (0:42:56) Jonnie: Like, actually, inventory management is not fun, and I feel like this is something that has persisted, you know, because it probably existed due to technical limitations of games in earlier times. (0:43:10) Jonnie: That doesn’t need to exist anymore, because the games that I most enjoy that have an inventory management aspect is because there is some associated with it. (0:43:20) Jonnie: We’re having a limited inventory, kind of, you know, impacts the difficulty of the game, right? There are some games where it’s like, “Well, yeah, if I could take infinite healing potions, of course I could kill the boss.” (0:43:32) Jonnie: Like, that’s… But, you know, if I can only take three with me, then that becomes much more of a challenge. (0:43:38) Jonnie: Cottagecore games don’t have any… Like, it’s not like the game gets harder or more difficult because you’ve got limited inventory. It just becomes more frustrating if you’ve got a limited inventory. (0:43:49) Al: Yeah, and I suspect that the whole point was to be like, yeah, you have a small ship and (0:43:50) Jonnie: Which is not the same thing. (0:43:58) Al: you have to deal with that. But yeah, the idea that a rock is going to take up as much (0:44:02) Al: space as it does in my ship doesn’t make any sense. You can get a lot of rocks in a box, (0:44:08) Al: you know, I can put rocks in my pocket, but I can only put three of them on my loading (0:44:12) Al: platform. Silly. Okay, so that I feel… (0:44:19) Al: moves into the deliveries, right? Because we’ve talked about getting stuff from planets (0:44:22) Al: and the deliveries. I think I wonder… So your point about not being able to put four (0:44:30) Al: on the platform that has four slots. Yeah, that’s, that’s very annoying. I get that. (0:44:36) Al: I completely agree with you on that. And I think that that would make a massive difference (0:44:39) Al: to the game. I totally understand why the boxes take up space on your ship. And I think (0:44:45) Al: I would be fine with that if it were for a few changes and one of the (0:44:49) Al: would be your starting ship actually having somewhere to store stuff that isn’t just the (0:44:53) Al: corridors, right? Like one small space, like make it four spaces to start with, right? And then if (0:45:01) Al: you take on a delivery that’s more than four, then you have to deal with that annoyance, right? (0:45:04) Al: I get that. That’s the kind of not risk, right? Because it’s not really a risk, it’s an annoyance, (0:45:10) Al: but you’re balancing the annoyance with getting more reward in a shorter period of time. And that, (0:45:16) Al: I think totally works. (0:45:18) Jonnie: 100% right because I think the Tetris puzzle aspect of it is kind of fun in the idea that it’s like (0:45:25) Jonnie: Oh, I now yeah, like you say, I want to carry more (0:45:28) Jonnie: So I’m gonna overflow from my storage space into my corridors and now I need to build paths and stuff (0:45:33) Jonnie: So I can make sure I can still get around to everything (0:45:36) Jonnie: That’s totally fine. Right because at that point it feels like a choice. It was just never a choice (0:45:40) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it doesn’t even need to necessarily have a new area on the ship. (0:45:45) Al: Just being able to walk around your storage area when it’s full. That would solve it. (0:45:50) Al: You’re not your storage area, you’re your loading platform, right? Because you have (0:45:53) Al: to walk through your loading platform to get to the back of the ship by default, right? (0:45:58) Al: So if you could just walk around it, that would solve the problem. And then you can (0:46:04) Al: upgrade your ship later on to have more storage space or whatever. (0:46:10) Al: I think that’s my only real annoyance about the deliveries part of it. Like, other than (0:46:15) Al: obviously I know you’re not a huge fan of the ship movement. I didn’t dislike that. (0:46:20) Al: I thought it was quite fun. I don’t know whether you realized this or not, but you didn’t have (0:46:24) Al: to do that minigame when you’re traveling. If you just exited out of it, your ship would (0:46:32) Al: fly itself. But you wouldn’t get any of the advantages of the minigame. (0:46:36) Jonnie: at their advantages to the minigame? (0:46:40) Al: You didn’t get to the warp core bit, did you? So basically, there are four things that happen (0:46:40) Jonnie: No. (0:46:51) Al: on that miniscreen. So one of them is the meteors that you have to avoid. Two is there’s (0:46:56) Al: clouds of dirt. And if you go through them, you have to clean your ship. Three is the (0:47:03) Al: S.O.S. so you can hear S.O.S. calls and go to them. That would be one of the advantages. (0:47:10) Al: You don’t get them if you don’t do the minigame. And going to the S.O.S. calls allow you to (0:47:16) Al: get more stuff. You can get money by fixing people’s ships and stuff like that. But the (0:47:21) Al: other one is the little orange clouds on the minigame screen. Those are actually things (0:47:28) Al: you can collect to get warp core fuel. So you can get free warp core fuel by flying through (0:47:38) Jonnie: Oh, I thought that they were… I think I was avoiding them because I assumed that they were bad things. (0:47:43) Al: It explains that once yeah, so it explains that once you get the warp core that you can fly through them and (0:47:50) Al: Replenish your warp core fuel. So because otherwise you have to buy warp core fuel, but that gives you that gives you more for free (0:47:54) Jonnie: Ah, right, so I never got the warp course. (0:47:58) Al: So like you you need the warp core to move between the planetary systems (0:48:03) Al: And you start off without warp core so you can only go between was it three planets in the first system? (0:48:08) Jonnie: Yeah, I think three. (0:48:09) Al: and then you need a certain amount of warp core fuel to get to (0:48:13) Al: one system away and a certain amount to get to two away blah blah blah blah (0:48:18) Al: So I actually quite like the way they do that (0:48:21) Al: Maybe they didn’t explain it well enough and that you can actually exit out of it and you you don’t I (0:48:28) Al: Think maybe it slowly builds up dirt that you have to clean off (0:48:31) A

Al and Kev go through their favourite marriage candidates in farming games Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:03: What Have We Been Up To 00:17:52: News 00:31:39: Marriage Candidates 01:05:25: Outro Links Tchia on Switch Sunnyside Release Spirittea “Helping Hands” Update Snacko Character Customisation My Time at Sandrock Cross Platform Multiplayer Stardew Valley 1.6.4 Monsterpatch Screenshot Moonstone Island Switch Tease Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:37) Al: And we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:43) Al: Transcripts are available as always in the show notes and on the website. (0:00:47) Al: Kevin, welcome back. (0:00:49) Al: How are you doing? (0:00:54) Al: Yes, it has. (0:00:55) Al: You were last on the pixel cross. (0:01:05) Al: Yeah, I’ll be honest, I haven’t played it since that episode. (0:01:11) Al: But I think that’s mainly because I don’t– (0:01:16) Al: well, it’s partly that. (0:01:17) Al: But I also think that the Switch is not the best way for me to play games like that. (0:01:23) Al: I think if I had it on my phone– (0:01:28) Al: no, it’s not even just that it’s like if I had it on my phone, (0:01:30) Al: I would do it a lot more. (0:01:31) Al: The problem is I don’t want to close the game that’s open on my switch to open that up. (0:01:35) Al: Well, yeah, they say that but it doesn’t ever work on the PS5, at least in my experience. (0:02:05) Al: In my experience, I’ve never managed to get it to actually work. (0:02:10) Al: But what do I know? I feel like it would be simple, but I don’t know. I’m not a games console developer. Oh yeah, it’s just software. I do software. It’s just that, right? It’s easy. (0:02:16) Kev: All game dev is simple, don’t you know? (0:02:23) Kev: It’s just copy-paste. (0:02:26) Al: Cool. So we are going to talk this episode about our favorite marriage candidates across different Kojkokou games. (0:02:32) Kev: Oh yeah, time for some deep lore, time for people to learn about us, or tags. (0:02:35) Al: Yeah, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how many of Kevin’s are from wildflowers. (0:02:45) Kev: the answer just wildflowers (0:02:46) Al: Or will we actually learn some new information? (0:02:51) Al: So we’re going to talk about… (0:02:55) Al: Yeah, it’s just Wesley three times, right? (0:03:01) Al: So we’ve got, before that, we’ve got some news. (0:03:05) Al: What have you been up to? (0:03:06) Kev: Ohhh, what have I been up to? (0:03:10) Kev: Cassette Beasts, Cassette Beasts, you already know this, you listen to Rainbow Road audio. (0:03:14) Kev: Cassette Beasts! (0:03:14) Al: I haven’t listened to this week, still. (0:03:16) Kev: Um… (0:03:18) Kev: Oh, okay. Yeah, oh yeah, that’s true, but, um… (0:03:20) Kev: Uh, so Cassette Beasts, the… (0:03:24) Kev: Poet Monster Catching Not Pokemon Game. (0:03:28) Kev: Uh, I forget the name of the developer, but, uh, I have it on Switch. (0:03:38) Kev: cheap it’s good I don’t even know where to begin it’s just the presentation is immaculate because they put a lot of emphasis on their style a lot of 80s 90s influence you know as the titular presets were popular then right the music is fantastic the mechanics are there’s (0:04:08) Kev: substantial maybe a little confusing or overwhelming at times just because but that’s probably just because Pokemon has so long dominated the market slash my life right it’s hard to readjust but in general the game is pretty snappy and quick it feels a lot more dynamic than say Pokemon or I think most other monster catchers the designs are fun the the (0:04:39) Kev: interesting yeah I like I don’t I could go on into a whole episode about this I might it’s somebody else who’s a fan but I wonder I can hear him screaming from Australia right now but yeah cassette piece is just a plus plus stellar, stellar stuff, um, I uh, (0:04:51) Al: I wonder who that could be. (0:05:08) Kev: I’ll give you what I’m at near the end, I think from where where my quests are and my levels and whatnot (0:05:15) Kev: I’m in the last stretch of the game (0:05:19) Kev: It is (0:05:21) Kev: The Antagonists are interesting. It’s not just the Team Rocket ripoff. It’s a some otherworldly beings actually rather odd (0:05:33) Kev: And one thing about the game right there’s a partner system where you always (0:05:38) Kev: Have two players on the field by default on your side (0:05:42) Kev: And so there’s a handful of different characters you can pick as your partner (0:05:48) Kev: One of the last characters you unlock is named Barkley. They are just a dog who can transform into monsters (0:05:55) Kev: They have headphones, yeah (0:05:57) Kev: So Barkley is great. Um, but yeah, that’s that’s cassette beasts great grain great game (0:06:05) Kev: Aside from that I have been (0:06:08) Kev: flying since I picked up my 3DS for the termination of the online services, just to make sure some stuff was squared away. (0:06:17) Kev: I’ve fired up Weapon Shop Delmase. (0:06:24) Al: as you do. It’s an interesting combination of French and English there. (0:06:32) Kev: It’s made by a Japanese developer, so you know, that’s some good, good stuff. (0:06:36) Kev: Um… (0:06:38) Kev: It is a small, it is part of the what’s called the Guild collection (0:06:44) Kev: Compilation of different small smaller sized video games on the 3ds (0:06:50) Kev: by different developers and (0:06:54) Kev: Game directors and stuff like that (0:06:57) Kev: I’ve heard described as like a game jam But the people making them or you know established studios and developers so they are all (0:07:05) Kev: Polished games and whatnot (0:07:08) Kev: You play a weapon shop as the you know name wouldn’t fly you are in charge of a weapon shop where you have to forge weapons for various characters and heroes from your archetypal (0:07:22) Kev: RPG classic fantasy characters (0:07:25) Kev: there’s a (0:07:28) Kev: French knight who’s over the top and full bravado. There’s a (0:07:32) Kev: samurai Reserve in old-fashioned. There’s a Grand Mahalo swinging axes (0:07:38) Kev: and t. It’s a comedy game. So much to the point that it has an actual sitcom style laugh track. It is it is a fun little game. It’s it’s very laid back in space. The forging part of it is just a little rhythm mini game and the adventures that the characters have. You kind of read about them in the background. There’s like this little social media feed that you follow their updates and stuff like that. (0:08:09) Kev: Very, very cute. Very fun. It’s published by Level 5. The Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch Company. And they’re very good at making things very whimsical and cartoony and fun. And this game very much follows in that way. (0:08:24) Kev: But but yeah, that’s that’s mostly what I’ve been up to those two games. What about you, Al? Let’s go. (0:08:30) Al: Fair enough. Can you guess? Can you guess what I’ve been playing? (0:08:34) Kev: is it a stardew valley how many have you been marrying (0:08:37) Al: It’s Stardew Valley. I’m still, I’m still playing it. (0:08:41) Kev: are you marrying people left and right for this episode (0:08:45) Al: Oh, no. No, no, no. This play through has certainly not changed my opinions on (0:08:51) Kev: Yeah, yeah, uh, what, where are you? (0:08:52) Al: on any particular candidate. (0:08:55) Kev: What have you discovered or what’s how far into. (0:09:00) Al: All right. Well, so I have progressed quite a bit since the last episode, because I think it’s two episodes ago. And when I did that episode, it was like an early episode. And this is like a late recording episode. So it’s been like nearly three weeks. And I haven’t stopped playing that entire time. I keep trying to do other things and then I go, but I could be playing Stardew instead. Yeah. So I think last time I had just finished. (0:09:22) Kev: Exactly, but they’re not stardew, right? So why would you? (0:09:30) Al: I finished the Georgia stuff. So I had just finished buying all the standard Georgia stuff and Kelly shouted at me for that. Since then, I have done all of the other upgrades. So I’ve got the movie theater. I’ve given Palma House. I’ve given the shortcuts. I don’t know if you’ve done the show. (0:09:56) Kev: Uhh, I think I wanted to, I bet. (0:10:02) Al: So I’ve got them, I unlocked and finished Ginger Island. (0:10:06) Al: That’s all done. (0:10:07) Al: So I’m now just using it as a massive ancient fruit farm. (0:10:10) Kev: You finished it, wow. (0:10:12) Al: Yeah, yeah, no, I’ve done all that. (0:10:13) Al: So I’m just using it now as a massive ancient fruit farm. (0:10:17) Al: So I have, I think, 250 ancient fruit plants growing there, (0:10:23) Al: which so, yeah, so like every week I’m making, oh, let’s see. (0:10:30) Al: Uh, yeah, like. (0:10:31) Kev: You’re making JoJo levels of money. (0:10:32) Al: I’m making like 600,000 a week, I think, um, including I have, uh, every four days I make a hundred thousand from honey, uh, because did you know that (0:10:46) Al: fairy rose honey is worth a lot of money? (0:10:50) Al: And so I have a large section of ginger Island devoted entirely to be houses (0:10:55) Al: with fairy roses growing there. (0:10:58) Al: And yeah, every four days I make a hundred thousand from. (0:10:58) Kev: All right. (0:11:02) Kev: Dang, that’s– you got this down to a T. (0:11:02) Al: I have built three of the four obelisks now, so I just got the final one to do, (0:11:10) Al: which I should probably do after my next harvest. (0:11:13) Al: And I’ve bought the return scepter. (0:11:16) Al: So that is the first time I’ve bought the return scepter. (0:11:20) Kev: What is the return set to? (0:11:20) Al: It is very pleasing. (0:11:22) Al: Oh, have you not seen this? (0:11:23) Al: So that’s one that Crobus sells it. (0:11:27) Al: And it’s a tool that, I mean, it’s basically just a totem, right? (0:11:30) Al: So it lets you get home. (0:11:32) Al: But it’s like a portable obelisk or a multi-use totem. (0:11:38) Al: So yeah, you use it wherever you are and you get sent straight to your front door. (0:11:45) Al: So that has changed things significantly. (0:11:49) Al: Yeah, I mean, I’ve done most of the things. (0:11:52) Al: So I’m at now, what is it, 60% of the achievements on Steam. (0:11:59) Al: basically the only things I have left to do are, obviously. (0:12:02) Al: I’ve got one more obelisk to do, I’ve got the golden clock to get, (0:12:05) Al: which will take me quite a while because obviously it’s 10 million. (0:12:08) Al: That’s a lot of money. It’ll take me a couple of years to build up that. (0:12:10) Kev: But the turtle, though, that- (0:12:13) Al: Well, yeah, I could probably get that in a week if I wanted at this point. (0:12:20) Al: And then the only things I’ve got left to do are, there’s a few crafting recipes I haven’t used once. And I have basically not done any cooking. (0:12:30) Al: And I… (0:12:32) Al: I need… I have a lot of villagers that I have almost no hearts with. (0:12:36) Al: So if I want to get to completion, those are the things I need to do. (0:12:42) Al: The cooking and the friendship levels. (0:12:44) Al: Apparently, to get completion, you have to have cooked everything once (0:12:48) Al: and you have to have everyone at max hearts. (0:12:54) Kev: That sounds like you got the hard part stuck. (0:12:57) Al: I don’t know, I feel like that’s the hard bit. (0:13:00) Al: constantly going around and giving people (0:13:02) Al: gifts and just oh I don’t know like I well it’s just it’s so much work and it’s like you can only give them two gifts a week and I have figured out that everybody except Penny and Leia everyone except them like Jade the the gem and I’ve been hoarding a lot of Jade because I don’t know if you know this but in the desert, the desert trader. (0:13:04) Kev: Interacting with people, ugh. (0:13:30) Al: Um… (0:13:32) Al: will trade you a staircase if you give them a jade and so I’ve been I’ve got like a lot of crystalariums creating jade so that I can just take a hundred jade to the desert and get a hundred staircases and just like speed run my way down Skull Cavern to get some iridium. (0:13:51) Al: And they only take two days to do a jade so every two days I get another like 20 jade or something so I have just got like a hundred jade on me at all time to just give to anyone. (0:14:02) Al: Nobody whenever I see them but the problem is I just like doing that consistently is the annoying bit so I don’t know if I will ever if I will try and get to completion or not I haven’t decided because that bit in and of itself that and the cooking in and of itself it’s a lot of work. (0:14:21) Al: Like there’s there’s a few bits and pieces like I haven’t shipped everything yet there’s a few things I haven’t shipped but that’s like maybe 15 things I haven’t shipped right That’s probably pretty easy to do. (0:14:32) Al: That won’t take me long, like, you know, that would take me a season probably at best because you can grow anything on Ginger Island at any point. (0:14:38) Kev: Peasant crops (0:14:50) Al: And I now have the point, and now I can buy anything from Pierre at any point. (0:14:54) Al: So I can just go and buy the stuff and grow it and ship it if I care, but I’ve not decided of a care amount. (0:15:02) Al: you know so I don’t know I’m just going just now I suspect I will fall off before I get to that point like that’s a lot of work to get to that point I’m in year four now yeah I can’t it’s yeah there’s a there’s I’ve done a lot what’s my playtime on Steam let’s see my playtime so bear in mind this is my entire Steam playtime but obviously I only (0:15:32) Al: started playing on Steam when the 1.6 update come out. Is that a month ago now? (0:15:36) Al: Is that a month ago? About a month ago. That’s 124 hours. So, yeah. (0:15:46) Kev: I honestly I thought it would be longer like I was I was making 300 (0:15:49) Al: Wow, thanks. Let me check when the date was. March 19th. It’s not quite been a month. It’s not been a month yet. (0:16:02) Al: Uh. One, two, three, four. It’s not even been four. It’s four weeks on, four weeks on Tuesday. Um, so 124 by four. That’s 30, 30, 31 hours a week. I’m doing a full-time job here. Yeah. Oh man. If you could print, if you could print money from stard yard, (0:16:02) Kev: Well, there you go. See? Plenty of time to do the comp- (0:16:20) Kev: Yeah, but which one’s more pro- well, maybe not profitable. It’s satisfying, at least. (0:16:27) Kev: Which one’s the real job? (0:16:30) Al: be a millionaire. (0:16:32) Al: I have, I’m at, I’m over, what am I at now? I’m over 10 million. Yeah. 10 million total I’ve made. Um, I just. We’ll get to that foreshadowing. So I don’t think, I don’t think when I record the next episode that I’ll still be playing it, I think I’ll be in another break, but yeah, it’s, it’s been fun. I have enjoyed, I’ve enjoyed this play through. I I would highly recommend anybody who’s played… (0:16:40) Kev: That’s what’s in the .64 update. (0:17:02) Al: Stardew before to go over with a Jojo run, I do think it’s fun, a fun way to do things. (0:17:07) Kev: Nothing like crushing the local small businesses always a good time (0:17:07) Al: Yeah. (0:17:08) Al: Look, look, none of the businesses shut down and Jojo gives some jobs, like I don’t see the problem here, you know? (0:17:16) Kev: Yeah, yeah, well you’re not wrong long! (0:17:21) Al: And plus, let’s not pretend like Stardew is an anti-capitalist game, I have sold… (0:17:26) Al: I’ve made 10 million G’s, I am a capitalist. (0:17:28) Kev: Heh heh heh heh. (0:17:32) Al: If anyone is a capitalist, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was making more money than Jojo now. (0:17:36) Kev: I’m the captain of industry. (0:17:38) Al: Plus, if you don’t do the Jojo route, you can’t buy the auto petters, you have to go through Skull Cavern to get them, and that’s not fun. (0:17:47) Al: So. (0:17:49) Al: Great. (0:17:51) Al: That’s what I’ve been playing. (0:17:52) Al: Should we talk about some news? (0:17:56) Al: Alright, Chia, which is the game… (0:18:01) Kev: See ya! (0:18:02) Al: Based on New Caledonia, they have announced that they’re releasing a Switch version on the 27th of June, so if you’re waiting for the Switch version of this game, there you go. (0:18:14) Al: 27th of June. (0:18:19) Kev: Well, I forget, every time I see the trailer for that game, that is a game with a lot of stuff. (0:18:24) Al: Yes, I still haven’t played it but it’s definitely on my ‘maybe play at some point’ list because it does look like it would be good fun. (0:18:36) Al: Yeah, what’s better? (0:18:42) Al: Sunnyside have announced that they’re releasing on the 24th of May on Steam and on PlayStation and Xbox on the 10th of June. (0:18:51) Al: They just said, it’s really annoying, they said, “Steam on the 24th of May and (0:18:54) Al: consoles on 10th of July” and I was like, “What do you mean by consoles?” (0:18:57) Al: And I had to look through their video and pause on the back last thing to see that there is no switch, no switch is coming. (0:19:04) Al: They have confirmed in their replies on Twitter that it is not going to switch but there you go. (0:19:11) Kev: Of course, the Switch isn’t a real console, that’s for babies. (0:19:16) Al: Yeah, there we go. (0:19:30) Al: I don’t know what to say. (0:19:36) Al: I have a pizza planet top. (0:19:37) Al: I’m fat. (0:19:37) Al: I’m thinking, yeah, I’m wearing a pizza planet top right now. (0:19:42) Al: Yeah. (0:19:44) Al: I bought it when we, I bought it when we went to Disney and Los Angeles when I was there in February. (0:19:51) Al: I thought so. (0:19:52) Al: I thought so. (0:19:52) Al: I was like, I’m going to have to buy something. (0:19:54) Al: Let’s see what we’ve got. (0:19:54) Al: And I saw a pizza. (0:19:55) Al: And the best thing about it is it doesn’t say Disney or Toy Story on it at all. (0:20:01) Al: It’s entirely like it’s an in-universe thing. (0:20:02) Al: It’s just pizza planet. (0:20:03) Al: So those who know know and those who don’t know, yeah, I thought so. (0:20:04) Kev: Oh man, that’s the best! (0:20:06) Kev: Yeah. (0:20:08) Kev: That doesn’t have the stench of corporate brand. Just as strong. (0:20:12) Kev: But, uh… (0:20:13) Al: I mean, it is for a pizza place. (0:20:14) Kev: Yeah. (0:20:15) Al: So, you know, real ones know. (0:20:16) Kev: But, real ones. (0:20:25) Al: Spirity have announced that their Helping Hands update is out now. (0:20:31) Al: It looks like the big thing is you get more hints towards how you you’re doing things if you’re stuck so you can ask one young who is the floating cats better on a donut that goes around with you. (0:20:46) Kev: it hints are great. Actually, one of the things about cassette beasts that I really love, (0:20:46) Al: If you’re stuck, you can ask him for hints. (0:20:56) Kev: they call it rumors, where random townspeople will give you information on where to look for (0:21:04) Kev: different objectives, including monsters that you have not captured. (0:21:11) Al: nice. I would like that in Pokemon games because this is the thing the number of times that I just have to go to Serebii to figure out where this Pokemon is is dreadful. (0:21:22) Kev: Yup, I am always fervently of the belief that you should never have to. (0:21:36) Al: Stardew does that well, I mean, like it’s quicker to go to the internet for a lot of things but the secret notes and the lost books tell you literally everything about that game. (0:21:49) Al: Like the number of times I go “oh what about this thing?” and I search and it’s like “well it was in this lost book” and you’re like “oh don’t tell me I need to reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!” (0:21:56) Kev: Alright, that’s a whole different discussion. (0:21:57) Al: Yeah, no kidding, no kidding. (0:22:06) Al: The books they’ve added in the 1.6 update in Stardew as well is quite fun, I don’t know if you’ve seen that but they give you like extra powers and stuff like that, they’re good for you. (0:22:17) Al: Bum-ba-dum-ba-dum, where are we? We are at, yeah, Spirity, you know you’ve not played Spirity have you? It was me and Johnny who did the episode. All right, cool. I don’t think this is dragging me into playing the game again, I will say. (0:22:36) Al: Bunch of extra quality for life improvements as well but I’m not going to go over them just now because they’re pretty specific to if you’ve played the game. I don’t think any of these are going to be like “oh I must play that game now” now that they’ve removed Pooh Bird near the players house that led to nowhere. Like that was the one thing that was stopping me playing that game. All right, what’s next? We’ve got Snacko. Snacko have added in their newest update. (0:23:07) Al: I’m not going to talk about version. (0:23:08) Kev: Yeah, yeah, that, uh, did long time coming and. (0:23:09) Al: In their latest update, they have added character customization, which is good. (0:23:14) Al: And we like character customization. (0:23:16) Al: This is good, good job. (0:23:19) Al: We like it. (0:23:25) Al: So if you want, if you want a pink cat with a neon yellow tail and two differently colored eyes, then you can do that. (0:23:32) Kev: That sounds rad actually oh, yeah now you’re a real gamer (0:23:36) Al: That’s the word I couldn’t remember. (0:23:41) Al: I was like, I knew it was something I couldn’t remember what it was. (0:23:54) Al: They’ve also reaffirmed that they are planning on getting 1.0 out this year. They’ve said late this year, so if I were to bet, I would be betting it’s next year, but I’m not (0:24:06) Kev: Well, I mean, they’re at 0.9.2, so, you know, how many more could there be? (0:24:10) Al: Yeah, but they started at like 0.8.3 or something, right? (0:24:18) Al: Kevin, what are you doing? (0:24:19) Al: I said I wasn’t gonna talk about the version numbers. (0:24:21) Al: Stop it. (0:24:22) Al: My time at Sandrock have announced that they’re bringing cross-platform multiplayer to the game this summer. (0:24:22) Kev: Oh, that’s good. (0:24:31) Kev: Okay, but no general that is good across the platform should be the double for everything right or the a goal for everyone (0:24:44) Al: Yeah, I’m still not playing the game. (0:24:48) Al: But a game I am playing, Stardew Valley, concerned David has announced that there is a 1.6.4 is coming out soon. (0:24:53) Kev: What version number, Al? (0:24:58) Kev: The fourth 1.6 update. (0:25:03) Al: The fifth one actually, I think. (0:25:06) Al: The numbers always start at zero, counting starts at zero, Kevin. (0:25:11) Al: And yes, there’s a new update coming. (0:25:14) Al: Uh, I wouldn’t normally mention this, but it does say there is adding some new, a few goodies as well as bug fixes. (0:25:23) Al: So it’s not just bug fixes. (0:25:24) Al: There is some other stuff coming. (0:25:26) Al: No hints. (0:25:28) Al: Well, no, no hints are hints. (0:25:30) Al: Yes, there are hints, uh, a new fishing thing and some new mining related. (0:25:36) Kev: Oh, a new fishing thing, is it gonna be, is it making it good? (0:25:41) Kev: Is that the update? (0:25:42) Al: I’ve caught all the fish by the way that’s done those legendary fish were quite a quite a struggle but I got them (0:25:45) Kev: Oh, man, oh, man. (0:25:56) Kev: Yeah, but I am curious what it is though, but there you go Just you thought you were out, but he’s concerned. It’s about to reel you back in right away (0:26:08) Al: I thought the point was I wasn’t out yet. (0:26:10) Kev: Well you said you might be out, but you’re you’re definitely not gonna (0:26:16) Al: Speaking of not being out, or being it, Monster Patch, which is the new monster collector from Sean Young, who made Littlewood, he has posted a new screenshot of the playable trainers (0:26:33) Al: for the game. And yet again, for some reason, this screenshot also includes the dead dude. So I really want to know what the deal is with this dead dude, because this is, (0:26:43) Al: I think, the third screenshot we’ve had with this guy just lying on the street dead in a pool of blood. (0:26:50) Al: » Yeah. (0:26:50) Kev: What if it’s not in the game and it’s just in all the promo or screenshots? (0:26:57) Kev: That or my arm (0:26:59) Kev: That and breakfast has this running joke where in all their patch notes. They have some mention of a character named Gus He’s a possum wielding a knife the state of him having the knife or not (0:27:11) Kev: It’s not in the game, but just (0:27:14) Kev: But anyways moons not moon star (0:27:18) Kev: Monster patch (0:27:22) Al: It’s a cool selection of playable characters. It makes it sound like it’s not customization, (0:27:26) Al: which I think I’m fine with. I don’t think every game needs to have character customization. (0:27:30) Kev: - Yeah. (0:27:34) Al: I think you need to make a decision about whether the game should have or not, and it sounds more like that you are playing that specific character rather than playing as yourself. In that sort of situation it makes sense not to have card to customization, right? (0:27:52) Al: It’s weird for RPGs where you’re like, “Oh, hey, here’s this person.” (0:27:56) Al: And it’s like, “Oh, I’m going to make this person me.” (0:27:59) Al: And it’s like, “No, no, the point is, it’s their story, not yours.” (0:28:02) Kev: Right right one interesting thing he says each trainer has a unique passive ability (0:28:10) Kev: drastically influence your playstyle that that is I think that’s actually pretty cool (0:28:14) Kev: um I don’t know what those abilities are exactly the hard mode it’s it’s the the guy with the rainbow mohawk you know the devil or (0:28:16) Al: That just means I’m gonna have to play this game 12 times, right? (0:28:26) Al: Yeah, or the one with the devil horns, maybe. (0:28:32) Al: Yeah, yeah, no, I’m I loved everything I’ve seen about this game, but I look forward to playing it. (0:28:42) Kev: Unlike the guy with the bandana, his eyes are not open. (0:28:46) Al: Or, you know, the guy in the pool of blood. (0:28:55) Al: His eyes are doing nothing. (0:28:57) Al: Finally, Moonstone Island. (0:29:01) Al: Don’t get excited. (0:29:02) Al: This isn’t a huge thing, but Moonstone Island have reminded us that it’s spring. (0:29:07) Al: It is currently spring, and that’s important because they said the Switch version was coming out in spring, 2024. (0:29:12) Kev: “Oh, is that why you’re bringing this up? I was very confused! Hahaha!” (0:29:16) Al: Spring 2024 is when the Switch version comes out, so, the game could come out on Switch anytime between now and they say June 24th. (0:29:17) Kev: “Okay.” (0:29:20) Kev: “Okay.” (0:29:28) Kev: You there you go (0:29:30) Al: Which is the definition of Spring that they use. (0:29:32) Kev: Now there you go until they have to reach for that southern hemisphere spring (0:29:40) Al: Mm. Kevin, your opinion on everything getting fish bow, fish bow. (0:29:45) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:29:47) Kev: Yeah, oh yeah. Um, it’s pretty good at first and I heard about like a boy then I saw it. No, they look pretty good (0:29:54) Kev: The only one I’m really hoping for I (0:29:57) Kev: Hope they put (0:29:58) Kev: a whole fish bow inside a fish bow if they do that that’s it, that’s the deal it’s genius, you can’t compete (0:30:01) Al: I want them to do so what was that I can’t remember the name of it but the one that was like just a tree trunk and it’s like spinning round I want them to do that but like scale it prop scale it properly so he’s sticking out the fishbowl and spinning around inside the fish ball. (0:30:16) Kev: oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah oh gosh, log something yeah, log something yeah, that’d be a good one [Laughter] (0:30:28) Kev: Whoa, that’s good. That’s strong. I like that. That’s good. That’s good thinking out. Oh, man. I’m down for that (0:30:34) Al: Like there’s so much fun things they could do with this. (0:30:37) Kev: Yes, they could um, oh man, oh (0:30:42) Kev: Gotta give a little diver suits to the fire ones so they don’t die in the water (0:30:46) Al: Oh, I just noted that that one is the the tree trunk one is in the original tweet. (0:30:51) Kev: oh (0:30:51) Al: And it is it’s not it is to scale, but it’s quite small, but he is sticking out the fishbowl. (0:30:54) Kev: Yeah, yep, oh well, you know yeah, I did but gotta make a little (0:30:58) Al: So. (0:31:03) Al: Yeah, it’s still good. (0:31:05) Al: Still sticking out. (0:31:06) Al: Don’t worry. (0:31:07) Al: Cool. (0:31:09) Kev: there’s what now I’m just remembering moon style there’s one that’s just like a teardrop that with the face just just put the fishbowl with just that the like face just have him in there okay news (0:31:09) Al: That’s all the news. (0:31:11) Al: Oh. (0:31:22) Al: Yeah… News is finished. That is it. The news has newsed. (0:31:31) Kev: news ever until next week all right Al (0:31:34) Al: It has newsed. Hmm. Can you tell I’m tired? (0:31:40) Al: We’re going to talk about marriage candidates. So we have played between us a lot of farming games, (0:31:48) Al: of which many of them have romance. (0:31:49) Kev: have yep I’d known complainer of romance let’s see which ones I like (0:31:52) Al: And yeah, well, this is the thing, so like, I think, I mean, just to make it clear, I think we’re probably both on the same page with this, is that I don’t think that either of us dislikes the concept of romance in games full stop, but that a lot of games put it in because they feel like they need to, not because they want to, and then they don’t put in the effort into it and the character. (0:32:10) Kev: of course right right (0:32:22) Al: Characters feel flat, their dialogue feels shallow and you don’t feel like you’re actually a character in this game trying to woo this person, you feel like you’re trying to check. (0:32:35) Kev: Rigs exactly absolutely right looking at you (0:32:39) Kev: What’s what’s the one that’s not Stardew Valley though? No, no the other one the the one the names like it (0:32:42) Al: Fae Farm. Not Fae Farm, the other one. Oh, Sugardew Island. Yes! (0:32:47) Kev: with Sugardew yeah (0:32:52) Kev: Fred those waters carefully sugardew (0:32:56) Kev: But but yeah absolutely oh, you know what surprise cassette piece has romance in it (0:33:02) Kev: You can romance one of the partners if you’d like (0:33:06) Kev: Which caught me by surprise? (0:33:08) Kev: price. (0:33:10) Al: So, we’re gonna talk about what marriage candidates we have liked the most in these games. (0:33:16) Al: I have a list of three. (0:33:17) Al: I don’t know what you have, because I can’t see your list. (0:33:18) Kev: I have… I have four. (0:33:22) Al: You have four. (0:33:23) Al: Okay. (0:33:24) Al: Well, you’ll need to start then, but before we get into that… (0:33:27) Al: I guess… (0:33:28) Al: What? (0:33:28) Kev: Well, well, I was about to say I well I have three and one that you know, that’s a thing (0:33:29) Al: Sorry. (0:33:35) Kev: But we’ll get to that. Okay, let’s this let’s do the stardew one. I assume you have a stardew one (0:33:42) Kev: Okay, so that right. This is our starting point the the OG (0:33:46) Kev: What? (0:33:48) Kev: Who’s your stardew pick out? (0:33:50) Al: Well you’ve got to start because you’ve got four, otherwise you’ll do two in a row. (0:33:51) Kev: Okay, okay fine. All right. I went with Leia Leia I don’t know. (0:33:57) Al: Okay, Lea Lea doesn’t matter, we don’t have voice acting, it can be whatever you want. Lea Lea, (0:33:57) Kev: I never know how to pronounce your name. (0:33:59) Kev: Yeah. (0:34:02) Kev: Yeah. (0:34:03) Al: that’s fine. Was Lea your first marriage candidate and starred you? Okay, what drew you to her? (0:34:03) Kev: All right. (0:34:04) Kev: There you go. (0:34:05) Kev: Um. (0:34:08) Kev: So. (0:34:10) Kev: Yes. (0:34:12) Kev: Yes. (0:34:14) Kev: All right. (0:34:16) Kev: You know, like. (0:34:18) Kev: Wow. (0:34:19) Kev: It’s. (0:34:20) Kev: I feel like this is very illuminating. (0:34:24) Kev: She’s the only nice one it feels like. (0:34:24) Al: Oh no. Oh, interesting. Yeah, no, I guess she is, she is right, because like, (0:34:28) Kev: Right? (0:34:30) Al: you first meet her and she’s like, “Oh, you’re from the city, what’s it like there?” (0:34:34) Al: You know, whereas so many others are not, they’re not interested or downright mean in some cases. (0:34:39) Kev: Yep, yep (0:34:43) Kev: So, okay. Well, all right, let’s be cool. Let’s back up a second My fish pic was gonna be robbing but then the game was it all know she’s married and whatnot. I’m fine (0:34:52) Al: So you find the other the other red head then. (0:34:55) Kev: I can’t remember the second was (0:34:58) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I don’t remember the second one was but there was somebody also married I can’t remember (0:35:07) Kev: But then out of the actual eligible ones (0:35:09) Kev: I was gunning for Hailey, I recall it first But then, not only did she shoot me down at the Spring Dance But she taught me down hard, she was like “Ewwwwww” (0:35:18) Al: she she does that is like that is if if that’s your first example of stardew like 12 days in and hilly just goes oh you’re like oh my wow he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he (0:35:29) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I’m just I just kind of throw my hands up like well (0:35:40) Kev: People and then I properly met Leia and and it’s like, you know, I’m fine. You’re you’re the only decent tree on treating me decent (0:35:51) Kev: That is by and large the only thing I needed (0:35:57) Kev: That said I do like (0:35:59) Kev: Her whole art thing. I think being an artist is a cool thing. I (0:36:06) Al: I’m not sure what her sculpture is meant to be, though. (0:36:08) Kev: Did nope I don’t either and I’ve been told her that (0:36:13) Al: It’s certainly something. (0:36:15) Kev: It’s abstract Al all right (0:36:19) Al: You’re not wrong. (0:36:20) Al: It is definitely abstract. (0:36:22) Kev: What about you out who won you over you won over (0:36:24) Al: Yeah, okay. (0:36:29) Al: I think I’ve talked about this before, but my first and still favourite marriage candidate… (0:36:29) Kev: » At gunpoint, perhaps. (0:36:30) Kev: » [LAUGH] (0:36:36) Al: that inspired you is Hailey. (0:36:38) Kev: She’ll like it when she said “ew.” (0:36:40) Al: The reason why is the exact reason that you were absolutely… (0:36:46) Al: It’s the exact same reason that you decided to stop trying with her. (0:36:50) Al: I was very insulted when you first meet her, and she goes, “She’s just so dismissed above you, and then she’s mean to you.” (0:36:59) Al: And it’s like, there’s an amazing moment when you walk up to her and she’s like, “Oh, you (0:37:06) Al: got in the latest catalogue of some magazine, because dirty, muddy boots are really in fashion just now.” (0:37:10) Kev: Yeah. (0:37:10) Kev: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. (0:37:15) Al: And you’re like, “Whoa! (0:37:16) Al: Oh, what! (0:37:17) Al: What was that?” (0:37:21) Al: You’re just like, “I love a challenge, right? (0:37:24) Al: It’s a game. (0:37:25) Al: The whole point of games is to be challenged.” (0:37:28) Al: And so I was like, “Oh, this is a person who really doesn’t like me, doesn’t like (0:37:36) Al: the idea of me, and I know that I can win her around, and I just need to figure out why.” (0:37:43) Al: And actually, I found that her story progression from that to falling in love with you is actually really sweet because she realises that she doesn’t need to care, she starts off so superficial and ends up realizing that. (0:37:48) Kev: - Yeah. (0:38:06) Al: But love is much deeper than that and I thought that was really nice and that’s why I think she has the most progression of any character that I’ve… (0:38:12) Kev: It is. So, I would agree, you know, I’ve read stuff on the Wiki and stuff, and I did see several of her scenes, because I still talk to Hayley Plenty and had friendship events with her and whatnot. And I agree, I think, not even just Stardew, I think in almost any game with romance, that’s probably one of the biggest character arcs/growth of a character I’ve seen, which is pretty (0:38:42) Kev: cool. Um, yeah, no, no, I get it. Um, uh, and like I said, I went for her first, right? (0:38:49) Kev: Blondes, like, yeah, let’s be honest. Um, but, uh, you know, it is interesting to me. (0:38:56) Kev: This is very revealing about how or why we play games in general, right? Like you appreciated the challenge and absolutely I get that, right? Both in terms of a game or, or, you know, (0:39:09) Kev: a thing with relationships. (0:39:12) Kev: I like the fantasy escapism of games, and I get enough failures in the real world! (0:39:14) Al: Yeah, I’m not sure I would want that in real life. Right? Like, you know. (0:39:21) Al: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. (0:39:28) Al: Well, and that’s an interesting thing, right? Like, I wonder how much of that is, and that sounds pretty accurate, right? Because, like, I first played Stardew when I was already married for, like, 2016. I’d been married for three years at that point, you know? So I was, like, I, you know, wasn’t experiencing that in real life. So it’s not like I would be, like, it would be reminding me of experiences in life that I didn’t want to think about, (0:39:32) Kev: Yeah? Sure. (0:39:42) Kev: Okay. (0:39:52) Kev: Yeah, yeah, oh man, oh (0:39:59) Al: it was very different to that. And I certainly, you know, I didn’t have to, it’s not like I didn’t have to work to make Rona fall in love with me. Of course I did, like, these things are always work, but it’s not the same thing. She didn’t, she was always a nice person. She, you know, (0:40:05) Kev: Yeah (0:40:13) Kev: Your drought your dowry was enough (0:40:14) Al: didn’t first… Yeah, exactly, exactly. No, she, no, no, she, you know, she’s always been a nice person. And so it’s not… I think that’s interesting. Yeah. (0:40:29) Kev: It is because You know that I think this is actually really important context because i’m on the (0:40:35) Kev: Polar ops end of the spectrum like for people who haven’t fought on from things I’ve said over these i’m gonna i’m just laying it all out for you people like I (0:40:44) Kev: have never had (0:40:46) Kev: Not only a relationship i’ve never been able to get a date. Let’s i’ll be honest here like (0:40:53) Kev: Look at me people like ugh (0:40:55) Kev: um, so my (0:40:56) Al: You’re not an audio podcast, Kevin! (0:40:57) Kev: experience flesh (0:41:01) Kev: Well, I’m being open here! You wanted a relationship! (0:41:03) Al: Look at me. (0:41:05) Kev: This is it man! This is the heart of it! (0:41:07) Al: I wasn’t expecting a therapy session, but here we go. (0:41:11) Kev: Well, now you guess what! This is why romance is a thing! (0:41:13) Al: Oh, dear. (0:41:17) Kev: Like I said, escapism and fantasy! (0:41:18) Al: Oh, dear. (0:41:20) Kev: Well, let’s get it going today! (0:41:24) Kev: Alright! (0:41:29) Al: » Listeners, if you wanna date Kevin, message in, we’ll get it started. (0:41:35) Kev: So if you do, you gotta compete with some other ones! (0:41:39) Kev: Because, before Leia, (0:41:43) Kev: many moons ago for an even younger Kevin. (0:41:47) Kev: I was in middle school, actually. (0:41:50) Kev: I had interest in girls at that point, but I wasn’t dating, per se. (0:41:54) Kev: I was too young for that, for the family and whatnot. (0:41:58) Kev: But I played a game called Harvest Moon, A Wonderful Life. (0:42:01) Kev: And it is there where I first met my first ever sweetheart of ever! (0:42:05) Kev: Any kind, virtual or not. (0:42:07) Kev: Celia/Cecilia in the remake. (0:42:11) Kev: She was one of three candidates. (0:42:16) Kev: There was… she is… (0:42:19) Kev: So there was the other two that I didn’t select. (0:42:21) Kev: Her name was Nami. (0:42:23) Kev: She’s the kinda tough girl. (0:42:26) Kev: More distant to Luke kinda girl. (0:42:30) Kev: There was Muffy. (0:42:35) Kev: Or Molly in the remake. (0:42:37) Kev: She was the barkeep. (0:42:40) Kev: And Molly was nice enough. (0:42:43) Kev: But again, Celia/Cecilia, she’s very sweet. (0:42:47) Kev: She works on a farm, right? (0:42:49) Kev: So she gets what you’re doing. (0:42:51) Kev: She’s very down-to-earth and sweet. (0:42:54) Kev: And really just a sweetheart. (0:42:56) Kev: And I think that’s what won me over. (0:42:58) Kev: She’s also just mechanically like the easiest to win over. (0:43:02) Kev: Um, because again, she works in a farm so she likes crops and stuff like that her gifts are easiest to get to and you probably encountered her more going to the farm to purchase supplies and whatnot but she obviously has a special place in my heart for being the the very first yeah and in the remake she’s pretty much the same thing still still wonderful person and what’s cool is when you marry her like her helping around the farm and stuff feels very natural right? (0:43:35) Kev: I think that’s a fun little element because you know sometimes your person you marry or whatever they’ll help out but you can tell you know they’re trying they get a gold star for trying right but nah she she knows what she’s doing on the farm and I think that’s pretty cool yeah all right what about you who’s (0:43:51) Al: Fair enough. (0:43:55) Al: So my number two, um, is, uh, uh, study of seasons, tree of towns. (0:44:02) Al: We have Iluca. (0:44:04) Al: Um, Iluca is, uh, one of, uh, the, um, identical twins in, if you’ve, if anybody has played the game, uh, the, um, I can’t remember. (0:44:16) Kev: Oh, oh yeah, okay. (0:44:17) Kev: She’s a winner. (0:44:18) Kev: I just Googled her up. (0:44:19) Kev: I like that. (0:44:20) Kev: All right. (0:44:21) Al: Remember, I can’t remember the name of the town because it’s been a couple of days. (0:44:26) Al: Um, there’s, uh, there’s like three try towns and the one that she’s from is like a kind of Islander style, like Pacific Islander style village. (0:44:36) Kev: Paros, oh wait, carousel. Oh, is that the name? I’m looking at the wiki here (0:44:43) Kev: Sorry, no, that’s a cafe name. Sorry. Oh (0:44:46) Al: Yeah, no, no, it’s Lulu Coco. So the interesting thing about this is so you unlock the three towns as you go. So you start off with one of them, which is like the Western US style one, and then you unlock the one that is like based on a Japanese town. And then you unlock this one, (0:44:48) Kev: Lulu Coco (0:45:00) Kev: Yeah frontier sure (0:45:08) Al: which is more kind of Pacific Islander type thing. And so if you start off this game and you (0:45:16) Al: look for your marriage candidate, you are not going to find Aluka or her sister Saluka. (0:45:21) Al: and you (0:45:22) Kev: That is a cool little (0:45:24) Kev: Little twist right because I think especially storage seasons they they very much trained you like you know You got to start looking right away, but having all these characters locked (0:45:32) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because you want it, because it’s a lot of work, right? You got to start early. And, you know, it’s not that there was nobody else in that game that I thought would be an interesting marriage candidate, but there was no one that was like, “Oh, this is the person I must woo.” And then you unlock this third town and you’re like, “Oh, no, (0:45:37) Kev: Right yep (0:45:53) Kev: Yeah (0:45:56) Al: this is it. This is the person.” And the interesting thing is they have, obviously they are identical Oh, twins, they look- (0:46:02) Al: Almost identical, the only difference is physically are they wear different coloured clothes and they tend to have different facial expressions, but that’s because their characters are very different, their personalities are very different. (0:46:18) Al: And as you get to know them, you find that out very quickly. (0:46:23) Kev: I I take it she’s a (0:46:32) Al: uh no so it’s it’s more well no not really so it’s more like Seleucah is more um how would I describe it uh she’s kind of more kind of like sleepy I guess kind of like not she just kind of (0:46:46) Kev: Yeah. (0:46:49) Kev: Okay, she goes through life at her own pace and sometimes does nothing, per the wiki. (0:46:49) Al: takes things as she yeah yeah exactly exactly oh does that what the wiki says yeah no I think I think Iluka is much more strong-willed and has a lot more. (0:46:56) Kev: Yeah. [laughs] (0:47:02) Al: I’ll use the same words as the wiki, I guess, if that’s what you’re reading out. (0:47:13) Kev: He’s somewhat strong-willed and also has a cheerful personality. (0:47:22) Al: So yeah, I think that’s a really fun thing to do, is to have identical twins who have quite different personalities. (0:47:30) Kev: Yeah, no that that is pretty cool um that is I like that that’s very good um and also purple hair thumbs up for that (0:47:39) Al: Yeah, it’s funny that they both have purple hair, because that implies that either it is a genetic thing, in which case I’m intrigued there, or they both decided to get their hair dyed the same color. (0:47:52) Kev: Ah, yeah, both are very interesting implications. (0:47:52) Al: That seems odd to me, especially as they’re so similar in lots of other ways. (0:47:59) Al: So, yeah. (0:48:01) Al: So yeah, that’s my second one. (0:48:04) Kev: All right. (0:48:06) Kev: My third one. (0:48:07) Kev: So as much as I was not a fan of the romance in this game, (0:48:14) Kev: being present at all, really. (0:48:16) Kev: And the characters, I think, in general, were a bit flat. (0:48:22) Kev: Sarah from Moonstone Island. (0:48:26) Kev: So she is the town’s blacksmith. (0:48:31) Kev: And I think her personality stands out from a lot of other characters. (0:48:37) Kev: Not in just Moonstone Island, but across the board in these College Corps games as a character, (0:48:44) Kev: especially a female that you can romance and whatnot, right? (0:48:48) Kev: He is very, very like bubbly. (0:48:52) Kev: He is very very like bubbly and cheerful. (0:48:54) Kev: She will not necessarily go after you, she will not ask you out on dates per se, but she will openly flirt with you and what not. (0:49:04) Kev: Yeah, right from the start, yep. (0:49:04) Al: like, right from the start as well. Like, she’s so, so fast into that. You’re like, “Whoa! Calm down!” (0:49:08) Kev: Yup. (0:49:10) Kev: And so, yeah, I do think that stands out, and again, the fact is, yes. (0:49:22) Kev: But, you know, someone who gives you attention like that, I think is pretty cool. (0:49:28) Kev: And she is fun, right, because as a blacksmith, right, like not the traditional role that one might expect, and that’s kind of her story as well, like how she likes working with the medals and being tough and stuff. (0:49:42) Kev: So that is, I don’t know, I think she’s pretty cool. (0:49:44) Al: Yeah (0:49:48) Kev: She’s fun, yeah. (0:49:49) Al: Also pink hair (0:49:52) Kev: And then after… yeah, I mean, yeah, I will not, I will, I could go down a list and all their care could fall under that, but yeah, even aside from that, post, when they did the marriage update, they added more dialogue and stuff like that, so you get to experience more of her life at home and fun it is. (0:49:56) Al: Which apparently is a thing that you like so good to know (0:50:22) Kev: She loves soup, that’s, I don’t know why it’s a running thing, she loves soup. But yeah, again, that is Pharah from Moonstone Island. (0:50:29) Kev: Alright, what is numero tress for you, Al? (0:50:34) Al: My third one is a new one from Coral Island, and that is Lily. And my reason is, I think (0:50:37) Kev: Of course. (0:50:43) Al: I’m not aware of another programmer in a farming game, like a character in a farming game that is a programmer, and therefore, not that I’m aware of. I will talk, I’ll talk. (0:50:52) Kev: Wasn’t somebody in Stardew does…programming? (0:50:58) Kev: It’s–I think it’s–I’m gonna look it up. (0:51:00) Kev: Okay, you talk while I look this up, heh heh heh. (0:51:04) Al: And so, there’s just something really nice. I mean, I felt like, I mean, people are gonna say, (0:51:08) Al: “Oh, you married yourself in that game.” Like, I mean, essentially, yeah, right? Like, it’s nice to see kind of that represented. You found it. See, yeah, okay, fine. I’ve never, and this is actually, (0:51:18) Kev: Sebastian, from Stardew, is a programmer. (0:51:23) Kev: But it’s Sebastian. (0:51:26) Al: I realized like 10 minutes ago that I think we need to do another episode with people who my actually romance male characters. (0:51:34) Al: Because I think we’ve made a very clear preference in this episode. (0:51:34) Kev: Well, he- look. (0:51:38) Al: Well, I know you’ll probably have one coming up, but other than that, (0:51:43) Al: other than that, it’s quite female heavy. (0:51:44) Kev: You’re not wrong. (0:51:46) Kev: Yep, you’re not wrong, you’re not wrong. (0:51:48) Kev: It would be fun to get a reverse of this, right? (0:51:52) Kev: We’ll reach out to some people. (0:51:53) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. (0:51:54) Kev: That would be fun. (0:51:57) Al: But I think that it’s fun to see that, right? (0:52:01) Al: and not only is she a programmer. (0:52:04) Al: But she works from home, she has our own home office, so like she spends most of her time in her house, and so that kind of makes it a bit different to track. (0:52:15) Al: Most of the time when these characters are like “oh I need to go find where they are”, (0:52:18) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah (0:52:18) Al: literally you’re like “oh she’s at home” of course she’s at home she’s working or when she’s finished she’s relaxing she’s at home, right? (0:52:25) Kev: That’s cool (0:52:25) Al: And I think that I thought that was quite interesting and yeah yeah there we go, that’s (0:52:30) Kev: Right, yeah because So many of these characters are like or not even just the romance balloons Right, like everyone goes to the town bar because that’s the gathering point or whatever, right? (0:52:41) Kev: And then one goes to the festival. So having someone who’s much more (0:52:42) Al: Yeah. Intraverse. (0:52:48) Kev: Traverted yeah, that would be the word, right? (0:52:50) Kev: Yeah, I think that is pretty cool representation like you can kind of see that in some characters, but they don’t really act it out (0:52:58) Al: No, and they tend to be, they tend to be say like Clint, for example, in Stardew, who’s like more introverted, but you dislike him because of how he actually deals with that. (0:53:05) Kev: Yes! (0:53:08) Al: Whereas with Lily, it’s like she’s introverted and doesn’t tend to spend time with other people, but it’s not because she’s a terrible person and doesn’t know how to deal with people. (0:53:16) Al: She just prefers not to, you know, there’s a massive difference. (0:53:20) Kev: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Oh man, we should do the the anti the hate list (0:53:25) Al: I will say this, my one problem with Lily is that as with most characters in Carl Island, (0:53:25) Kev: episode at some point just thinking of clint there. Um, all right. Oh that oh (0:53:38) Al: when you marry them, they lose all their personality and they do nothing. And I really hope they’re going to fix that at some point, because it’s just such a depressing thing to remove everything from that person. You know, in Stardew, they go and still have a life after you’ve married them and they have their own little area in your head. (0:53:52) Kev: Yeah… (0:53:55) Al: And then, you know, like I was finding this because I married Emily in this one. (0:53:56) Kev: Yep. (0:54:00) Kev: Yep. (0:54:05) Al: And you, you wake up, you go talk to her and she says what she’s going to do for the day. (0:54:08) Al: Or she’s outside telling you what she’s just done, you know? (0:54:12) Al: Whereas you go up, you wake up in Coral Island, I go talk to Lily and she’s like, good morning. (0:54:17) Al: And then that’s it literally says nothing else and just stands in the bedroom the entire day.<

Al and Codey talk about their hopes and dreams for the future of Coral Island Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:23: What Have We Been Up To 00:09:10: News 00:09:23: Game Releases 00:16:41: Game Updates 00:37:51: Other News 00:58:51: Coral Island Hopes And Dreams 01:41:49: Outro Links Chill Town Early Access Of Life and Land Early Access Critter Crops Release A Tiny Sticker Tale on iOS and Android Paleo Pines 1.3 Update Travellers Rest “Fishing” Update One Lonely Outpost Apology Stardew 1.6 Update Sugardew Island Kickstarter Pixelshire PS5 and Switch Window Garden Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:31) Al: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. My name is Sleepy Al. (0:00:37) Codey: And my name is Hyper Cody. (0:00:39) Al: And we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games! (0:00:43) Codey: Whoa. (0:00:44) Al: Oh no! Oh yeah, what was that? (0:00:46) Codey: Whoa. (0:00:48) Codey: In a recent, I don’t know, I tried to like do the whole, (0:00:51) Codey: let’s go, like energy. (0:00:53) Codey: And it kind of just came out a little different. (0:00:56) Codey: I don’t know. (0:00:57) Al: I don’t think we need to make the energy differential any higher than it is, like an American and a Scottish person, when the Scottish person is tired and it’s late at night. Yeah. I also suspect you just go hyper when you’re tired. (0:00:57) Codey: Uh… [laughs] (0:01:03) Codey: U.S.A. (0:01:11) Codey: Well, I appreciate you doing this later. (0:01:22) Codey: I do. (0:01:23) Codey: Except for if it’s like really really like I go hyper and then I go like brain can’t word good when it like hit a certain point and so yeah but I am definitely at the hyper (0:01:29) Al: And that’s funny. Yeah. Rona my wife is the opposite. She goes like completely like comatose to start with and then it hits a point and then she goes hyper. And when she goes hyper you’re like, no, no, you should have already gone to bed by now. Yeah. All right, cool. (0:01:39) Codey: Mmm. (0:01:47) Codey: Why are you still conscious? (0:01:51) Codey: Mmm-hmm. (0:01:52) Al: So transcripts for the podcast are available in the show notes and on the website. This episode (0:01:55) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:01:59) Al: we are going to talk about coral island speculation slash once. I haven’t figured out a good way to word this. Hopes, once, whatever. We’re going to talk about what we want (0:02:10) Codey: I like hopes and dreams. (0:02:10) Al: in coral island. Hopes and dreams. Coral island, hopes and dreams. (0:02:15) Codey: Yes. (0:02:15) Al: I was once in, here’s a fun fact for you, I was in as a child a Christian musical (0:02:24) Al: called hopes and dreams. It was quite something. (0:02:26) Codey: Oh okay. I was in a Christian musical called Children of Eden. (0:02:29) Al: the M. Wow they don’t [laughs] (0:02:34) Codey: Um, yep not. I am a non theist so it’s very very interesting but that’s what when you’re in high school and your director is like this is what we’re doing then you don’t really have a choice. (0:02:47) Al: I’ve got to love that separation of church and state over there. (0:02:52) Codey: Oh, you are very aware that that is non-existent. (0:02:55) Al: Don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re gonna talk about Carl Island, what we want from the game now that it’s hit 1.0 and we have some idea of what’s coming out in the next few updates. What do we want else that they haven’t said? Because there’s a bunch of stuff that they said they’re adding and I don’t think anything in our list is those. (0:02:56) Codey: In… yeah. (0:03:16) Al: So, what else? (0:03:17) Al: Before that, we have quite a lot of news. It’s been a very busy week, but first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:03:27) Codey: Well the reason we had to record later in your evening was because my morning was spent getting a party shiny wurmple tattoo holding a pride flag so that is my most recent thing he’s a he’s just a little guy and he’s on my arm and his hat is glittery I will put him in the discord for what the slack for people (0:03:56) Al: It’s like we have a discard news to me we actually we do but me and you are the only people on it (0:03:58) Codey: I think we do have a disc, we do well I know I’m throwing him in the in the slack right now so that I’ve been doing that I’ve also been still working on fox craft my minecraft fox the head is complete so now I just have to do the body which is like at least twice the size of the head so it’s gonna take a a very long time. (0:04:27) Codey: But most of my time has been spent furiously preparing a bunch of specimens. (0:04:34) Codey: Just from my May sample from last year, I have 7,000 insects that I have prepared and identified. (0:04:41) Codey: And I did that so that I could make a poster for a conference I’m going to this weekend. (0:04:46) Codey: So, woo! Research. It is actually really exciting. I’ve had a lot of, um… (0:04:57) Codey: papers moving along and chapters getting published and stuff like that. (0:05:00) Codey: So, I’m feeling like a scientist. It’s very interesting. (0:05:04) Codey: I’ve also had people like… I know, right? (0:05:06) Codey: I also had people reaching out to me and being like, “You’re a recognized expert in the field of forest pollinators. (0:05:11) Codey: Can you review this paper about forest pollinators?” (0:05:13) Codey: And then another email that was like, “Hey, we’re putting together a journal in special edition about forest pollinators. (0:05:22) Codey: Do you have a paper that you would like to submit?” (0:05:25) Codey: And I was like, “Man, I don’t right now.” (0:05:27) Codey: But like, next year I totally would. (0:05:31) Codey: So pretty much riding the highs of PhD life with, I don’t know if I’ve been medicated yet since I’ve been telling people, but I am medicated for ADHD now. (0:05:43) Al: I don’t believe you. (0:05:44) Codey: It does not dull my shine. (0:05:45) Codey: It hones me. (0:05:47) Codey: I am honed. (0:05:49) Codey: I can, I can focus on things now. (0:05:54) Codey: Wow, rude. (0:05:55) Codey: - About what? (0:05:55) Al: About being able to focus, I mean, not about the shine, what was it, shine, shine, sparkle. (0:06:02) Codey: - It’s dulling my shine, dulling my sparkle. (0:06:06) Al: I do love, I do love how we talk about sparkle and it’s like, what exactly is the sparkle you’re talking about? (0:06:06) Codey: No, I can– (0:06:12) Al: the sparkle of it. (0:06:13) Al: No, I know, I know. I know. (0:06:14) Codey: Well, so some people, when you get some type of medication for that kind of stuff, some people get a little zonked, (0:06:21) Codey: but I’m clearly not zonked. (0:06:25) Codey: Clearly not. (0:06:29) Al: I have been playing uh spells and secrets uh which is not I mean it’s the worst kept secret right because on two episodes ago me and bev said we were going to play it and then talk about it but shh don’t tell anyone um I won’t I won’t give any opinions on the game just now because you know I need to actually say something on the episode that we may or may not be doing (0:06:40) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:06:44) Codey: Okay, I’ll keep it. (0:06:54) Al: so that’s it i’ve been playing it and I will have some opinions (0:06:59) Al: um i’ve also been playing pokemon uh doing all those raids enjoying enjoying those we’re on blast ice now enjoying those blast ice raids getting all the herba mystica (0:07:12) Codey: Mm-hmm. Are you coming to Go Fest in New York City? (0:07:14) Al: yeah (0:07:18) Al: I think you know the answer to that question (0:07:22) Al: no you think I would you think I would be uh doing well no no no (0:07:27) Codey: Come back soon. (0:07:29) Al: you think I would do two uh us you know cross atlantic transatlantic flights in in a year (0:07:36) Codey: yeah I do mm-hmm New York City is a lot easier because then you don’t have to like I mean I’m assuming your flight didn’t go from what would you fly out of Belfast London to like straight to LA right like you probably had something it did that is disgusting I am sorry yeah that is very disgusting um yeah well that never mind with the point I was trying to (0:07:48) Al: London. (0:07:52) Al: It did. Yeah. It was long. It was 11 and a half hours long. (0:07:59) Al: It was. It was not fun. (0:08:06) Codey: but you should still come to New York City so that we can hang out no I’m kidding it is it is it’s expensive it’s long I get it okay (0:08:16) Al: Yeah, not this year. I would like to do it sometime, but not this year. (0:08:21) Codey: per hapith next year cuz it’s I think it’s gonna happen again next year (0:08:25) Al: I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised that people seem to like that place where they did that event. (0:08:32) Al: It was getting a lot of positive stuff, and they have done it for two years in a row. (0:08:36) Codey: Mmm, this will be the second year. (0:08:36) Al: And I don’t think any… I think Chicago is the only other place that’s had two go-fests. (0:08:45) Al: And certainly, I think it’s– (0:08:46) Al: the only one that’s had two in a row, so… (0:08:50) Codey: I think someone said something about how they’ve like booked New York for three years, which would be cool I (0:08:56) Al: That sounds like something that somebody just made up. (0:09:00) Codey: I saw it on the internet and it the internet is correct always (0:09:01) Al: Yeah, cool. Awesome. Wow. Shall we get into this long list of news? (0:09:13) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:09:14) Al: So we have, I’m doing that thing where there’s so much news that I’ve split it up into sections. (0:09:17) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:09:20) Al: So our first section is releases. So we have four releases. (0:09:26) Al: First of all, Chill Town have announced that they’re releasing in early access on the 22nd of March. (0:09:33) Al: So this is one that I have backed on Kickstarter, so I will get that code and I will maybe play the game. (0:09:40) Al: We’ll see. I quite like the look of this one. I think it’s going to be interesting to see whether it does anything unique. (0:09:49) Al: I like its art style. It’s kind of chibiesque. So I guess we’ll see what happens when it actually… (0:09:55) Codey: It’s giving animal crossing, but without animals, (0:09:56) Al: …releases. (0:10:00) Codey: and with a 3D camera, and I guess there’s animals, (0:10:04) Codey: but it’s like your villagers aren’t animals. (0:10:07) Al: - Yes. (0:10:07) Codey: They’re people. (0:10:08) Codey: And like you have a cat that follows you around. (0:10:11) Al: - Yeah. (0:10:13) Codey: But, which is not my cup of tea, (0:10:16) Codey: but excited to hear your thoughts on it, when you, when it, (0:10:21) Codey: are you gonna play the early access then? (0:10:22) Al: No promises. We will see. We’ll see. I mean, let’s, let’s be honest, right? It’s coming out three days after Stardew 1.6, uh, and like a week before I go to the Isle of Man for two weeks. So I’m not promising anything at this point, but, uh, I will play the game at some point, whether I play it in early access or not. I don’t know. Um, I don’t even know like how long the early access will be. So well, uh, as of just now. (0:10:25) Codey: Womp womp. (0:10:26) Codey: Okay. (0:10:31) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:10:35) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:10:44) Codey: Okay. (0:10:48) Codey: And is that just steam? (0:10:53) Al: Um, just windows as well. Uh, not that it matters to me cause I’ll be playing on the steam deck. (0:10:53) Codey: Okay, cool. (0:10:58) Codey: Cool. (0:11:02) Al: Right. Uh, they estimate three months for early access. There’s no way that that’ll be three months in early access. Absolutely. No way. Absolutely. I would bet money on that. (0:11:12) Codey: Like you’re saying it’ll take longer for it to go from early access to 1.0, okay. (0:11:21) Al: three months. (0:11:22) Al: Like what are you even doing in three months? (0:11:25) Al: Three months is nothing. (0:11:28) Al: That’s wild. (0:11:32) Al: That’s wild that they’re suggesting that. (0:11:34) Al: Three months. (0:11:36) Codey: Ambitious. (0:11:36) Al: And it mark my words, right? (0:11:38) Al: Somebody clip this, mark my words. (0:11:40) Al: In a year, it’ll still be in early access. (0:11:42) Codey: Wow. (0:11:43) Al: There’s no way, there’s no way it is going to be not in early access in the next year. (0:11:50) Codey: okay okay not very trusting of something you put your money to right (0:11:56) Al: Well, look, I’m not saying they won’t release a good game. (0:12:00) Al: I’m just saying, if they’re releasing Early Access on the 22nd of March, (0:12:02) Al: that is not coming to one out of Early Access in three months. (0:12:06) Al: It’s just not happening. (0:12:08) Al: Of life and land, they have announced that their Early Access release will be on the 2nd of April. (0:12:18) Al: Woo! (0:12:18) Codey: I hadn’t looked at this, I don’t think, before, so I am very intrigued after I watched the trailer and I kind of looked at it. (0:12:30) Codey: It’s giving like Age of Empires, but Zoo Tycoon at the same time. (0:12:40) Codey: And I love both of those games, so I am curious. (0:12:45) Codey: So we’ll see. (0:12:46) Codey: I didn’t back it or anything, though, and I, again, like… (0:12:48) Codey: I think I also am a little sketched out by early access nowadays, so I probably also want… (0:12:54) Codey: But, like, when it hits 1.0 in a million years, according to you, um… (0:12:54) Al: Well, can I just point out they’re being a lot more realistic. They’re saying it will take a few years. So they are much more, and they’re not even saying like a year or two years, they’re saying a few years. Like that is the absolute right way to do not tell us when it will be out of early access. You don’t, you just don’t know. I think if you know when you’re going to give us a non early access, you probably shouldn’t have done early access. (0:13:10) Codey: Yeah. (0:13:14) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:13:24) Codey: true (0:13:26) Codey: So, yeah, I I will keep my eye on that game slash (0:13:33) Codey: Listen to the podcast and and keep your ear my eye on it (0:13:39) Codey: Listen to when you say (0:13:48) Al: - Yes, this was the one that was called Circle of– (0:13:52) Codey: Well, I still didn’t know what that was, so… (0:13:56) Al: Yeah, I’m just, I’m just saying, I’m just saying. (0:14:01) Al: I don’t think, I don’t think this was, was a Kickstarter. (0:14:08) Codey: think so it’s just (0:14:14) Al: not running out to buy it, but yeah. I want to see it succeed. I like its graphics. I don’t like management games, it’s not my thing, so maybe we need to get Kevin on this one. (0:14:32) Codey: - And Kevin. (0:14:35) Al: Critter Crops is launching, I believe not in Early Access, so they’re just launching 1.0 (0:14:42) Al: on the. (0:14:44) Al: The 15th of April what is with this that’s that’s less than a month we’ve got these three games releasing so it’s gonna be busy. (0:14:54) Codey: yeah this this one I meh I think that the the art style was really cute but um not not hooked (0:15:06) Codey: so listeners tell us how it is when it’s out (0:15:07) Al: you don’t you don’t want to grow magical critters (0:15:16) Codey: Especially like this like April 15th that time is like when I’m gonna be starting my field season. So (0:15:24) Codey: Your girls not gonna have the time (0:15:26) Al: This feels like it might be a fun game to play in October. (0:15:30) Codey: This is like a cozy like cuddle up when it starts getting too cold outside game and then by then they’ll have (0:15:38) Al: if there are any come on a tiny sticker tail is now out on ios and android uh so if you were wanting to play that game but you didn’t want to play it on pc or mac or a switch or steam deck now you can do it on your phone or your tablet (0:16:02) Codey: it does look very cute like using stickers to design landscapes but also like collect little critters and stuff it showed someone like putting a fishing pole sticker on a spot where there was like a black like space like a you know like in games when you’re fishing and there’s like a shadow they put like a fishing pole sticker on it and then when they clipped it (0:16:32) Codey: clicked it again. It was a fish. It was very cute. Um but yeah, not not my bag. (0:16:42) Al: Next we have a bunch of updates for games. So first of all we have Paleo Pines. They have released the (0:16:48) Al: 1.3 update which includes chocolate eggs and new dinosaur colors. They’re like gray scale. (0:16:59) Codey: well so I think what they’re doing is they’re currently grayscale like so that you can’t see it because it’s like supposed to be a mystery but like in the thing it has fake it has like letters (0:17:03) Al: Oh I understand. Yes. (0:17:15) Codey: almost like a hangman style thing and I legit cannot think of like I’m like looking at all of these colors and I’m like what what (0:17:15) Al: it’s like uh yeah that’s what I was thinking like hangman yeah (0:17:29) Codey: like what color has two s’s in the middle of it (0:17:32) Al: So apparently the Stegosaurus is sunflower? (0:17:38) Codey: okay how do you know this (0:17:42) Al: comments the t-rex is tyrant that doesn’t fit these are people saying in the comments but I presume they’re saying they found them so I’m presuming in-game (0:17:46) Codey: look at you having a brain (0:17:51) Codey: like tyrant colors are these confirmed or are these people’s (0:18:01) Codey: Tyrant does fit. (0:18:09) Al: Yeah, but there’s only two spaces after the R. (0:18:12) Al: Oh, no, I’m looking at the wrong one. (0:18:13) Al: T, Y, R, even T. (0:18:14) Codey: Oh yeah yeah. The other T-Rex. (0:18:15) Al: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. (0:18:21) Codey: Is the one with two S’s Nissan? Because I really want it to be Nissan. (0:18:26) Al: I don’t know. (0:18:31) Al: The comments are mixed, shall we say. (0:18:44) Al: So if you want some other coloured dinosaurs, they’re not black and white, apparently, I misunderstood that, and you want chocolate eggs, go update your paleopines now. (0:18:55) Codey: it says that there’s only five chocolate eggs and they basically like max out or make a (0:19:02) Codey: I almost said pokemon make a dinosaur your friends like really easily um so yeah yep (0:19:09) Al: Instantly befriend. Instant befriending. (0:19:15) Codey: I mean anyone that gives me chocolate is instantly my friend too let’s be real so (0:19:21) Al: Travellers Rest have a fishing update. I just feel that I haven’t written with it. (0:19:27) Al: Yes it is out now. So this adds a new fishing system. It’s not just the first fishing system because Travellers Rest keep adding things in that were like I don’t how did you not have (0:19:39) Al: this already but no they did have a fishing system before this is just a new one and also new recipes new decorations a new area and new characters (0:19:40) Codey: they’ve just updated it okay (0:19:53) Codey: yep so the new area was the beach and there are new characters associated with the beach (0:20:01) Codey: eyes again not a game i’m playing or likely to play but I did really like one of the decorations that looked like um it’s like a painting that has a teal border on it um I think it’s part of the decorations are like the beach set decorations looks very good (0:20:17) Al: Yeah, you know, I think I’m starting to think that farming games are not a great early access candidate because like, I mean, if, you know, if I’d played Stardew the first time and you just couldn’t go to the beach, that’d be weird. I’m not sure I’d continue playing. (0:20:34) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:20:41) Codey: Yeah, well, and then like also you have at least a little bit of understanding of what the mechanics are. (0:20:47) Codey: And so like if you, for example, don’t really like the mechanics, but it’s like say that you later would have played the game and you didn’t like the mechanics, but you really liked the exploration, then you don’t really have that in that early access. (0:21:00) Codey: So it kind of like… (0:21:04) Codey: limits that, I don’t know. (0:21:08) Codey: I do think, I think early farming games are weird to have in early access for sure, because like hitting like a time wall or hitting a, like not having all of the features is just. (0:21:23) Al: or even just story suddenly stopping. (0:21:28) Codey: Hint, hint, perhaps, talk about it later. (0:21:29) Al: Which we may talk about later. (0:21:34) Codey: That was also a little weird, so, but yeah, cool that they’re still. (0:21:40) Al: yes, yes, yes, yes. One Lonely Outpost. Oh boy, do we love a post like this? So they’ve apologized for the silence. They believe in their game and then I’ve put in brackets, (0:21:58) Al: your mileage may vary. Whether you believe in the game or not is up to you. You’ve quoted Did you want you want to or should I? (0:22:00) Codey: Oh, I was wondering what that meant. (0:22:09) Codey: Yeah (0:22:10) Al: I quote this and you can just say what your response was because I think you’re, I think maybe that works best. (0:22:15) Codey: Okay, go for it (0:22:16) Al: So, Corey has quoted some of the article and it’s, “We know many of you have concerns about the amount of content currently in-game and how long it is taken to get where we are today. (0:22:28) Al: It has been a long and bumpy road, but we wholeheartedly believe in the path ahead and are excited to begin sharing upcoming content now that we have handled the majority of bugs and made some highly requested, (0:22:42) Codey: - Okay. (0:22:47) Al: - Yeah, it feels like a weird, like, at this point, right? (0:22:53) Al: Like, if you’re being silent for months and then you’re coming back, (0:22:59) Al: I think that you need to give people something. (0:23:01) Al: And yeah, sure, you’ve got quality of life improvements, (0:23:03) Al: but like, there’s five different updates in this, (0:23:07) Al: but like, it’s added run toggle with left shift or L3. (0:23:13) Codey: Or like you don’t freeze in this certain spot anymore or it’s… yeah. (0:23:13) Al: Like. Yeah, like. (0:23:17) Al: Nothing is particularly, it’s now possible to manually save your game. (0:23:22) Al: Like, nothing is like, wow, this makes this game so different and so exciting. (0:23:22) Codey: » [LAUGH] (0:23:28) Al: Like, I feel like if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna come back with something, (0:23:31) Al: you need to come back with something big. (0:23:33) Al: No, here’s five releases with a few quality of life fixes and a bunch of bug fixes. (0:23:39) Al: And I promise we have more stuff coming. (0:23:43) Codey: Well, and these a lot of these should have just been like small patches that like you there were five like they have (0:23:50) Codey: It’s like patch five six seven eight not and it’s just (0:23:54) Codey: So much in all of those patches and like why didn’t why didn’t each of these patches just have like a small post along with them (0:24:01) Codey: like why did you not (0:24:03) Codey: Like why I can’t I guess I don’t understand if they’re releasing these all now like they just hit like a mass (0:24:09) Codey: release the patches button (0:24:12) Codey: or. (laughs) (0:24:13) Al: No, they have been releasing them over time. I do think they’ve been posting them on Steam. (0:24:15) Codey: But they haven’t been commenting? (0:24:18) Codey: ‘Kay. (0:24:20) Al: So there is that. But yeah, it’s I mean, the last one was in January. The last update, (0:24:30) Al: which they don’t even talk about here. They don’t even talk about that update in this post. And that was nearly two months ago. Their communication really needs to improve. (0:24:43) Codey: And they said that it’s going to, they said that going forward, they’re going to be a lot more transparent and give updates more frequently. (0:24:49) Codey: And that’s great. (0:24:50) Al: Cool, I don’t believe them. (0:24:50) Codey: Do that, um, for people. (0:24:53) Al: I don’t, like, I don’t, if you say, (0:24:53) Codey: Yeah. (0:24:57) Al: if you say that our communication is going to improve, (0:25:00) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:25:01) Al: you need to communicate better in that post. (0:25:04) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:04) Al: They’re not even doing that. (0:25:07) Codey: Yeah, so I mean (0:25:08) Al: The game came into early access on the 28th of June last year. (0:25:13) Al: And as of now, every update has been basically just quality of life. (0:25:20) Al: They haven’t done any new content in, what is that, eight months? (0:25:26) Al: This is why I’m saying that, you know, games aren’t in early access for three months. (0:25:28) Codey: Games shouldn’t be in early access. (0:25:31) Al: and I’m. (0:25:31) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:36) Codey: We’ll believe, well, positively optimistic, (0:25:39) Codey: cautiously optimistic, perhaps. (0:25:42) Al: Okay, if you say so. I mean, this game has been had issues for quite a while, right? (0:25:46) Codey: Just respond, okay. (0:25:53) Al: Because the original development team were essentially pushed out by the publisher, and the publisher put in a new development team, and then they completely changed the art style, (0:26:05) Al: and then they released an early access in June. They basically haven’t updated anything other than some bug fixes and quality of life improvements in 8 months. (0:26:13) Al: They’re now saying that they are going to get better at communicating after months of saying nothing. (0:26:19) Al: They don’t communicate well in the post when they apologize about not communicating well. (0:26:24) Al: And the every single comment on the post is, “Where’s the switch release?” (0:26:32) Al: The switch release, I don’t think, is going to come, like, and if it does come, it’s going to be terrible. (0:26:38) Al: I think this is just the standard now, is terrible switch ports. (0:26:43) Al: You played you played Carl Island on switch, right? (0:26:46) Codey: Yeah, sorry. No, no, no, I’m playing it on game pass. Um, I will say apico good switch port (0:26:46) Al: How was that? (0:26:47) Al: No, you didn’t, right? Okay. (0:26:50) Al: Oh, yes. (0:26:54) Al: Yes. (0:26:56) Codey: Hashtag not all cottagecore games, but um (0:26:59) Codey: But yeah, I you know If you’re struggling to communicate effectively at this level and then you try and add a whole (0:27:06) Codey: Like I know from like el talking about that like porting apico to the consoles was pain in the butt (0:27:14) Codey: So if you’re already (0:27:16) Codey: struggling with basic stuff, like just being a bit more bit ambitious perhaps. (0:27:22) Al: Yeah, okay, Carl Island is… (0:27:28) Codey: Yeah, I’m playing it on game. (0:27:30) Al: Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. I think I’m mostly disappointed because I was originally very excited about this game because I think it could be really cool. I do own it. I haven’t played it. I kick-started it. And I haven’t played it because I’m not enthused by it. And it’s in early access and they basically haven’t done anything. So I’m not really sure why I would be enthusiastic about that at all. (0:27:56) Codey: Would you say that you’re not mad? (0:27:59) Al: I would say I’m not mad, I’m just- (0:28:00) Al: Disappointed, yeah, I would I would definitely say that there’s something about the new art style. That’s just weird (0:28:08) Al: It’s like bad paper Mario, it’s like if paper Mario does (0:28:14) Codey: I especially after playing Coral Island, I just don’t think I like the like spritish. (0:28:25) Al: Yep. Fair. Fair. Yeah. I think, I suspect, I think, so pixel art, I think only really exists now for nostalgia, right? Like it’s a thing that people do because it reminds them of the past. I think that probably the only reason you still like Stardew is because of nostalgia, but not nostalgia for pixel art, nostalgia for Stardew specifically. Right? (0:28:30) Codey: Stardew being the exception, I guess. (0:28:47) Codey: Yes, 100%. (0:28:51) Codey: Correct. (0:28:54) Al: Stardew is not the best farming game. (0:28:56) Al: That doesn’t mean it’s bad, right? (0:28:59) Al: It is, absolutely. (0:29:01) Al: It doesn’t mean that Stardew’s bad, and I don’t think it should be drastically different from what it is, but it does mean that it is essentially nostalgia. (0:29:13) Al: And even when we get updates, and I’m absolutely going to play the 1.6 update, and I’m sure I’m going to love it, but a lot of that is because it’s Stardew. (0:29:21) Al: Like if I hadn’t played Stardew and I was coming to Stardew now. (0:29:25) Al: I wouldn’t be playing it. And that’s okay. That’s fine. Like we don’t have to always like the same things. It’s been eight years since Stardew came out. You can’t expect to like something forever. (0:29:38) Al: It’s just a lot of games eight years ago, well probably more like seven years ago when it came out in Switch, decided to make that but X and a lot of them are finding that it’s really hard. (0:30:01) Al: Why is it 100 minus 100 Celsius in this game? (0:30:07) Al: There’s a screenshot I’m looking at on Steam and the guys outside farming and (0:30:11) Codey: Okay, is this one the only outpost still? (0:30:14) Al: yeah, and it says minus 1000 degrees Celsius. (0:30:17) Codey: 1,000, okay. (0:30:18) Al: No, 100, sorry, sorry, 100, 100. (0:30:20) Al: Minus 1000 wouldn’t make any sense. (0:30:22) Al: That’s below absolute freezing. (0:30:23) Al: Minus 100 degrees Celsius. (0:30:24) Codey: isn’t isn’t uh one lonely outpost like on a planet yeah it’s very it’s very cold on (0:30:29) Al: It’s on Mars, yeah, but… (0:30:32) Al: Yeah, but I think it’s the point not that you’re… (0:30:36) Al: …terraforming it. (0:30:38) Al: And he’s out there without a spacesuit. (0:30:42) Al: Is he meant to be in a dome then? Is that the idea? (0:30:44) Codey: If I mean if he’s in a dome and it is still negative 100 Celsius (0:30:48) Al: Well, I’m presuming the -100 is on the… (0:30:51) Al: If you’re in a dome, it’s on the outside of it. (0:30:53) Al: But it doesn’t look like that. (0:30:53) Codey: Yeah (0:30:54) Al: And I’m just very confused as to why it’s saying -100 and he’s just outside. (0:30:58) Codey: I mean, maybe they’ll just wave it hand wave technology. He took the warm potion (0:31:06) Al: Why is it exactly minus 100 as well? That’s weird. Suspicious. Also, there’s running water. (0:31:14) Codey: at minus 100? Are you sure it’s water? Okay. (0:31:16) Al: Yeah. Yeah. He’s watering crops with it, so… (0:31:24) Al: Minus 100. That’s where, like, boiling water freezes immediately, right? (0:31:28) Codey: Yeah. (0:31:32) Al: You’re not watering crops in minus 100. I need to… (0:31:34) Codey: You also shouldn’t be alive in minus 100. (0:31:36) Al: Yeah, that too. Like, if he was in a suit, sure, but still, the watering wouldn’t make any sense. (0:31:41) Al: Right, let’s stop talking about this game. (0:31:42) Codey: Okay, moving on. (0:31:45) Al: Last thing, there’s a romance update coming, right? Because that’s all we need. (0:31:49) Codey: Okay. (0:31:49) Al: It’s absolutely definitely what we need in the space farming game, is romance. (0:31:54) Codey: Can you romance aliens? (0:31:57) Al: Stardew 1.6. We have the date. Stardew 1.6 is coming out on the 19th of March. (0:32:04) Codey: Wow, very close. (0:32:05) Al: That is… (0:32:06) Al: One week after this… Less than one week after this episode comes out. (0:32:12) Al: So I hope you’re all excited. (0:32:15) Al: Interestingly, Concerned David did a interview with Polygon, (0:32:23) Al: and he said, I quote, “There’s a lot more of the update than people think.” (0:32:30) Al: And so I’m very intrigued to this because he’s already told us a lot of things. (0:32:35) Al: So, what’s he been doing? (0:32:40) Codey: Well, so I have you read Brandon Sanderson books (0:32:40) Al: No. (0:32:44) Codey: Okay, there’s an author named Brandon Sanderson and like he went on vacation once for a little bit And when he got back from vacation, he was like, hey, that was very restful I wrote four more books and like I feel like that’s also how concerned ape is is like he’s he’s like You know, I needed to take a break from making games. And so I made these other games (0:33:05) Codey: And I feel like so him saying that I’m like yep (0:33:10) Codey: makes sense like not surprised at all you know people are probably gonna be really excited there’s probably more than what he’s saying or he’s just a content machine he’s just pumping it out I also was really shocked so I thought that he was like a secret of who he was like secret identity type of thing and so I saw the picture in the polygon article the picture of him like at the Manhattan Orchestra concert thing that they had first of all (0:33:28) Al: » [LAUGH] (0:33:36) Al: The concert. Yeah. (0:33:40) Codey: if I had known he was physically gonna go I would have gone second of all not not what I expected a handsome dude yeah I don’t know I was just I was like oh he’s making an appearance and then very very shocked so but man are you excited Are you did have you blocked out like a week? (0:34:09) Codey: week. (0:34:11) Al: A week. Um, some time. Blocked out some time for playing this game and definitely haven’t put a completely unrealistic timeline on myself. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. Totally. It’s all going to be fine. Um, it’s all going to be fine. Sarcasm or just like fear? (0:34:20) Codey: okay (0:34:26) Codey: the sarcasm um (0:34:31) Codey: oh hopefully not fear yike please don’t (0:34:32) Al: Not sure. We’ll see. We’ll see. Love, love to stress myself. Um, too late. Too late! (0:34:40) Al: Bye! (0:34:42) Al: Cool. (0:34:46) Al: Yeah, I really don’t know what to think because like he’s already said that there’s a new major festival, two mini festivals, newly gained content which expands on each of the skill areas, (0:34:57) Al: a whole bunch of new items and crafting recipes, Georgia alternatives to some of the end game quests, a hundred plus lines of dialogue, winter outfits for the visitors, new type of reward for for completing billboard requests, support for 8-player multiplayer. (0:35:11) Al: A new farm type, a new secrets, and he’s still saying that we have no clue how much there is like, “Dude, yeah, I’m really intrigued.” (0:35:18) Codey: Like there’s, but wait, there’s more like overwhelmed. (0:35:25) Al: It was funny, I was thinking the other day, I was thinking I’m going to start a new save for this update because he says that there’s stuff all through the game that he’s added when I really want to kind of experience that stuff as it comes, rather than just getting dumped into all an endgame. (0:35:39) Al: in the end game. (0:35:41) Al: And I was like, oh, maybe I should start the save now, just like get it ready. (0:35:45) Al: And then I was like, no, I need to know what this new farm is before I decide what I’m doing, right? (0:35:47) Codey: Gotta do the new farm, yeah. (0:35:49) Al: Like, not necessarily do the new farm, right? (0:35:51) Al: Because if it was something like the beach one where you can’t use sprinklers, right? (0:35:55) Al: I’m not doing that. (0:35:58) Codey: what if what if it’s a blimp a sky farm I don’t know I have no idea I just like thought of that in my brain and I was like that’d be really funny so if it comes out and it’s a blimp I’m just really smart my subconscious was very excited yeah (0:35:58) Al: But we’ll see. (0:36:03) Al: In the sky, what is this, what is this room factory? (0:36:16) Al: Well, we’ll see. We will see. Yeah, I do. Your point about, like, taking a break from making games to make games is very funny because, yeah, 100% what happened was he had an idea for a new game, so he started working on that. And then as he was doing that, his brain went, (0:36:36) Al: “What about all these other things you could do to your other game?” And so he paused and went into them. (0:36:38) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. Some of these people are so freaking creative and like I bow to them because the ability to just churn out things and things that are enjoyable, like it’s just magical and I am incapable, incapable of doing that. Um, the creation of (0:36:58) Al: Well, I mean, that’s the thing, like you look at Stardew and it’s like everything he adds is good. (0:37:07) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:37:07) Al: You’re just like, I don’t, you know, we’ll see eventually, eventually. (0:37:12) Codey: He can’t miss I mean he probably could miss like there’s probably something that he could do but I (0:37:20) Codey: Feel like he’s gonna you know He’s gonna let it die the hero versus having the game live long enough to see itself become the villain (0:37:29) Codey: I think we’ll be fine (0:37:36) Codey: I will listen to the podcast. I cannot get sucked back into that game. (0:37:41) Codey: I have a field season to plan. (0:37:46) Codey: I know. I’m gonna hear- I’m gonna listen to the podcast and just be like, “Dang it!” (0:37:52) Al: Next, we have Sugar Dew Island. This game, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago. (0:37:59) Codey: and how the name is stupid. (0:37:59) Al: The name is stupid. We don’t need to talk about the name again. I don’t even… Well, (0:38:03) Al: okay. No, we do need to talk about the game again, the name again, because for some reason they address this in the Kickstarter. So, okay. Point of the news… That was words. (0:38:15) Al: Point of the news is that the Kickstarter’s live and it has hit the base goal. (0:38:22) Al: So, the game’s being made. Apparently, it’s coming out in August this year. So, whatever. (0:38:30) Codey: 1.0? (0:38:34) Al: Good question. We’ll find out. It doesn’t say. Well, no, it does actually, because it says, yeah, there’s an early access tier and they say, we expect that you’ll be able to play two to six weeks earlier, which by the way, what a weird time. Two to six weeks. (0:38:52) Al: Like, what? That’s not early access. That’s just paid. (0:38:52) Codey: Yeah. (0:38:56) Codey: Well, so I guess that’s the actual word of early access. (0:39:01) Codey: Instead of it being early access being a trial period, (0:39:05) Codey: it’s more of that you paid for it, (0:39:07) Codey: so you’re getting access to the game earlier than other humans. (0:39:12) Al: OK, right, if I have to put my money on it just now, Early Access is coming out this year, main game is not coming out this year. We’ll see. I mean, it’s not real money, right? (0:39:20) Codey: - You’re putting your money down on a lot of things this episode. (0:39:25) Al: Like I’m not actually betting anything. Yeah, so the name, the name, the name, the name. (0:39:28) Codey: Okay. (0:39:32) Al: They said, I need to quote this because this is just stupid. OK. You know what? You know No, it’s right. Right. Okay. Wait, no, right. (0:39:32) Codey: The name. (0:39:42) Al: Hmm. You know that it’s stupid when they have to have a part of their Kickstarter addressing the name. Right. They say the name sugar dew island and then they have a little picture of your currency in the game and say an arrow that points to it and said this is sugar dew. Okay, great. Fantastic. (0:39:53) Codey: okay (0:40:06) Al: Thank you. As our in-game currency is called Zukertal in German. (0:40:12) Al: Zukertal translates to sugar dew in English and is a central aspect of our game. Yep. That’s how currencies work. It was crucial for us to include it in the game’s name. Given the island setting sugar dew island was a natural choice. Wow. Congratulations. Your imagination knows no bounds. (0:40:37) Al: You have a currency and you’re on an island. Well done. (0:40:42) Codey: just like my favorite my favorite game uh money valley and gold island (0:40:43) Al: It’s just, while we’re aware of similarities to other titles, although it wasn’t intentional, (0:40:58) Al: after much deliberation, we unanimously agreed that sugar dew island best encapsulates the game. (0:40:58) Codey: i’m sure (0:41:04) Codey: What I hear from that is we don’t have an imagination and we don’t want to come up with anything else. (0:41:10) Al: And then they’re like, “We also asked the community in a big survey, and the majority thought the name ‘Sugar-Jew Island’ was more fitting than ‘Sugar-Drop Island’.” (0:41:20) Al: And I’m like, “Oh, okay, like those aren’t the only two possibilities, though. It’s not like it has to be one or the other. Wha- what are you doing? I don’t- like you could have just literally called it like. (0:41:30) Codey: - German, German currency island. (0:41:36) Codey: - Yeah, that’s funny. (0:41:40) Al: The other thing that really amused me about this Kickstarter is in their platforms, they say, “We’re currently planning to release the game on PC slash Steam.” (0:41:42) Codey: - Yeah. (0:41:51) Codey: - Yep. (0:42:06) Al: I don’t know why that’s a slash, but whatever. (0:42:22) Al: They’re, they’re gonna, and they haven’t put up their stretch goals, but it sounds like what they’re saying is a stretch goal will be boating to the switch too. (0:42:32) Al: Don’t do that. Console doesn’t exist yet. Don’t do that. You have no idea what this console is. (0:42:37) Codey: Yeah. (0:42:40) Codey: Don’t even mention it. (0:42:40) Al: You cannot guarantee, you cannot guarantee that you will be on this console when you don’t even know what it is. (0:42:48) Codey: Well, and also doesn’t it depend on like if they actually want it to be on like you have to like, I’m pretty sure you can’t just like throw money at Nintendo and be like, let me put my game on your console like okay. (0:42:59) Al: No, no. But, I mean, basically Nintendo lets anyone on now, right? Like, unless there’s something very specific that they don’t like, they basically like anybody, you know? Like, (0:43:07) Al: which I think is the better way to do things than what they had been doing previously, (0:43:10) Al: which was it was really difficult to get on the 3DS. But yeah, like, you just literally have no idea. You have no idea what this console is going to be. You have no idea if it would even make sense. You don’t know that there ever is going to be another console for certain. (0:43:27) Codey: I was going to say, have they announced another console I was like, did I miss a big okay. (0:43:27) Al: Do not, do not promise. (0:43:30) Al: Do you want this to be on this console? (0:43:33) Al: No. (0:43:36) Al: No, they have not. (0:43:38) Al: No, you did not. (0:43:42) Al: Also, there’s a very big chance, (0:43:44) Al: there’s a very big chance that when the Switch 2 does come out, that it will. (0:43:47) Codey: Is it called the switch too? (0:43:48) Al: No, we don’t know that, of course, we don’t know that. (0:43:49) Codey: Okay. (0:43:50) Codey: Okay. (0:43:50) Al: I’m just that’s just what people are referring to as just now. (0:43:51) Codey: Okay. (0:43:56) Al: I wonder, do you think they called the Wii U, (0:43:59) Al: because somebody said the Wii 2 and they misheard it. (0:44:02) Codey: It’s going to be the switch do. (0:44:08) Codey: Oh, and then they have to be on it. (0:44:09) Al: I switched you switched you island And… (0:44:14) Codey: Switch do island. (0:44:17) Codey: Just double down that it’s going to be on the new switch thing and that they’re going to call it the switch do. (0:44:22) Al: Oh, like at this point just ask an AI for a name, you’d be like it’s a bad name. Right, (0:44:28) Al: whatever. Sugardew Island somehow is getting a lot of traction from people and I really don’t understand why. Yeah, but it doesn’t look like it’s doing… Okay, right. Full disclosure, (0:44:28) Codey: probably will. It, I mean it, it looks cute. It’s not, it’s not… (0:44:40) Al: I have backed this game, of course I’ve backed this game, right? Like you don’t need to get into this. If it weren’t for this podcast, I wouldn’t be backing this game because nothing about this This is exciting! (0:44:50) Codey: that you know. What if it’s on the switch do? (0:44:53) Al: » I just like, I mean, it looks cute. (0:44:58) Al: I will agree with that, but everything else looks pretty standard. (0:45:02) Al: The only different thing is, oh, you can run a shop. (0:45:05) Al: And that has never been done with. (0:45:08) Codey: I liked running the shop in Garden Paws, which is a game that Bev and I covered, but I mean it was just fun because you just throw stuff up in the shop and then there’s a never-ending line of the little characters that come up and just buy all your stuff and then you have to keep putting new stuff out and accepting all their money and stuff. (0:45:15) Al: Yeah, I didn’t try that one, so I guess it could be good in that, but I highly doubt it. (0:45:38) Codey: But like, and it’s really cute, but I wouldn’t say it was like the best. (0:45:46) Al: See, my problem with running a shop is, generally, you’re either very limited in how much you can sell, or you have to haggle and you have to figure out the right way to get enough money, which is just annoying, or it takes time out of your day, which is just without adding any fun gameplay, like, sure, it’s adding some gameplay, but that doesn’t mean that it’s fun gameplay. (0:46:16) Al: Maneko’s Night Market was fine, but only in so much as like that was a thing that happened as part of the week, like it was a process where okay now is when you go to the night market and there were lots of things that happened there and also you went and sold - you chose the things to take with you and you sold them and they did the haggling in such a way that you can make a loo- (0:46:46) Al: lot of money very quickly. (0:46:48) Al: I think that’s what it needs to be. (0:46:50) Al: Not just like, “Oh, you can make 10% more if you know the right thing to do.” (0:46:54) Al: No, it needs to be you can make five times as much if you know what you’re doing. (0:46:57) Codey: Yeah (0:46:58) Al: Like it needs to be worth it. (0:47:01) Codey: Yeah What if it so I could I could foresee like a game that? (0:47:06) Codey: You run a shop with friends. So you have someone that like is the storefront manager and (0:47:14) Codey: Organizes everything and then you have someone who like supplies the store. So you (0:47:22) Codey: Dude I want the shop owner. I would love that. Okay, cool (0:47:27) Codey: » When we get shop owner Villa game, the game. (0:47:36) Al: already a better name than Sugardew, I nearly call this Sugardew Valley, that’s part of the problem, right? (0:47:41) Codey: I will be the, yeah. (0:47:46) Al: Okay, fine. I feel like I’m finishing everything recently with let’s stop talking about this game. (0:47:54) Codey: Let’s just move on before my hope in humanity goes any further. (0:47:57) Al: Yeah, if you if you are interested in this game, go back it. If you’re not, then that’s fine. We’re not going to talk about until there’s something new about it. I’m not going to keep you up to date. (0:48:04) Codey: backed it. You backed on. (0:48:05) Al: I’m not going to keep you up to date on. (0:48:06) Al: Kickstarter every moment of every day. (0:48:10) Al: I did, yes, because I’m giving the people what they want. (0:48:13) Al: Because apparently what the people want is my pain. (0:48:17) Al: Well, I mean, look forward to next week’s episode, if that’s what you want. (0:48:21) Codey: Oh no. (0:48:24) Al: Pixel Shire. Pixel Shire have announced that they’re coming to PS5 and Switch. (0:48:24) Codey: Unfortunate. (0:48:30) Al: So that’s cool. It sounds like they didn’t. (0:48:34) Al: Well, I mean, why, what is good about this is the… (0:48:36) Al: I’m pretty sure the game’s done or almost done, and they wanted to get it all together and all ready before they actually said they were going to do it. (0:48:47) Al: I don’t think they’d ever said anywhere that they were going to be in these two consoles until now. (0:48:52) Al: So it sounds like they’ve done everything the right way. (0:48:54) Al: And it looks like, at least on my shop front, everything’s listed in pounds. (0:48:59) Al: So I don’t know exactly how this is working, but at least here it says the game is set to launch in summer 2024. (0:49:06) Al: Sounds to me like it’s all coming together at the same time, they’re going for, you know, cross platform simultaneous release. (0:49:14) Al: This team says 2024, I suspect in a month or so, a month or two months or something, we’ll get some idea. (0:49:24) Al: We, I mean, we mentioned at the end of last year that they’d said they weren’t going to do early access and just release 1.0 in 2024, so. (0:49:34) Al: Yeah, we’ll see what happens. (0:49:36) Al: But, I mean, I think they’re doing the right thing if they’ve got it all ready and they’re going to release it all at once and they haven’t told us until they know they can definitely do it. (0:49:46) Al: Which is good. (0:49:47) Al: So. (0:49:48) Al: There we go. (0:49:50) Al: Blah, blah, blah. (0:49:53) Al: Forager. (0:49:54) Al: My word. (0:49:55) Al: Never thought I’d be talking about forager again. (0:49:58) Al: So a little bit of history with forager. (0:50:00) Al: Forager came out in 2019, I think the first version was? (0:50:05) Al: Mm-hmm. (0:50:07) Al: I’m going to tell you, yeah, April 2019, the first version of Forager. (0:50:10) Al: Fantastic. (0:50:11) Al: They released three updates to the game with significant content. (0:50:17) Al: And then they were working on a multiplayer (0:50:20) Al: version and a multiplayer update, which in. (0:50:26) Al: Three years ago, 2021, they canceled the multiplayer update. (0:50:32) Al: Then there was a little bit of (0:50:34) Al: I mean, they said they said (0:50:36) Al: around, you know, kind of people who had previously been on the team, not being happy with the main guy and some nothing like significant, nothing like, you know, abuse or anything like that, just more kind of, you know, not being a great person and maybe being offered things that were not great and leaving the team and et cetera, et cetera. And then we got a post nearly two years ago. (0:50:49) Codey: - Right. (0:50:53) Codey: Just grottled, yeah. (0:51:06) Al: That said, don’t worry, Forager is not abandoned, we’ll hopefully have some news for you this year. (0:51:17) Al: So that was 2022. (0:51:18) Al: May of 2022, that was the last day. (0:51:21) Al: And then yesterday as we’re recording, so Wednesday the 6th of March, 2024, we suddenly get a post from Hopfrog the Creator saying, “I hope everyone likes adventure.” (0:51:36) Al: And a screenshot of something with the Forager guy in it. (0:51:42) Al: And another comment that said, “You guys have no idea how much stuff I have to announce.” (0:51:48) Al: So there’s nothing much to say at this point because they haven’t announced anything, except the fact that they have stuff to announce. (0:51:54) Codey: okay but but we were ghosted for two years (0:52:01) Al: They were ghosted for two years, and now suddenly he’s back. (0:52:05) Codey: I don’t know if i’m ready to be heard again I didn’t play this game though you played this game right you enjoyed it yeah (0:52:06) Al: I did, I really liked Forager, I really liked it. (0:52:16) Al: I’m not really sure like the Forager guy is big enough to hold up a franchise, which is what it looks like. (0:52:23) Al: This screenshot that I will post in the show notes if I remember, this isn’t the Forager game, right? (0:52:32) Al: That’s not how the game looks. (0:52:35) Al: So I don’t know what this is. (0:52:36) Al: It’s not forager forager is like a top-down isometric game this is a side on platformer maybe I don’t know what we’re looking at here (0:52:48) Codey: It’s giving platformer rides. (0:52:51) Al: so I don’t know what we’re looking at whether it’s I mean it could I guess be forager it like it could be a specific mode in forager it could be a forager - (0:53:03) Al: It could be something else, I don’t know. (0:53:08) Al: But it’s not what Forager was anyway, but that is the Forager guy. (0:53:16) Al: So yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see. (0:53:21) Codey: Mean as the forage or fan of the pod w

Al and Codey talk about some ideas they have for new cottagecore games Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:05:04: What Have We Been Up To 00:13:29: News 00:27:56: Cottagecore Game Ideas 01:12:59: Outro Links Turnip Boy Robs a Bank on Steam Turnip Boy Robs a Bank on Switch Cult of the Lamb “Sins of the Flesh” Update Meetlight Alpha Info Chill Town Beta Info Rusty’s Retirement Mac Confirmation Immortal Life on Steam Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. My name is Al, (0:00:38) Codey: And my name is Cody. (0:00:39) Al: and we are here today to talk about cartridge core games. (0:00:46) Al: Cody, it’s been so long. It’s been a whole week since we talked. (0:00:51) Codey: A whole week, yeah. And this was a surprise. I didn’t realize I was gonna be on. I was like, (0:00:58) Al: I don’t think we need to talk about the fact that who is on this podcast has changed three different times. (0:00:59) Codey: oh man, I’m not recording for a while. And now, now I… (0:01:08) Codey: I mean, it’s just, yeah, I guess it’s just the fact of my travel plans got messed up. I was supposed to be home right now. (0:01:20) Codey: But for those in the United States, you will know that there is a huge winter storm happening back to back to back. There’s much weather. (0:01:28) Al: There is weather. Weather is happening. January weather. (0:01:30) Codey: There’s so much weather. And I was like, not… my flights got canceled like three times and I was just like, ah. (0:01:38) Codey: No, I’m just gonna stop. I’m just gonna stop trying to go home now. Which ended up working out because the whole… one of the whole reasons I was trying to go was because my grandma was supposed to have shoulder surgery and I was gonna like help out. (0:01:50) Codey: But then literally the day before I left, I was supposed to leave. That got scheduled to February and it was like not when I was gonna be there. So it works out because I can now make sure that I’m there for that. (0:02:02) Codey: But it just was frustrating because I was supposed to be on vacation. (0:02:08) Codey: But such is life and… yeah. (0:02:12) Codey: How is weather where you are? (0:02:14) Al: Yeah, it’s cold, but it’s not too cold. (0:02:20) Codey: Oh man, it heckin’… it heckin’ whimdy here. (0:02:20) Al: It’s just kind of standard winter cold for here. (0:02:26) Al: Yeah, I mean, it’s all, I mean, I’m coastal, so it’s always windy here, right? (0:02:30) Al: But which I think is part of the reason why it feels colder. (0:02:30) Codey: Ma’am. (0:02:35) Al: Because it’s like, it’s only minus one Celsius here, which is… (0:02:39) Codey: It’s like 30. (0:02:40) Al: - Yeah, almost exactly, but the wind, (0:02:44) Al: the wind gets you. (0:02:45) Codey: I have a european roommate. I know how to do these conversions. (0:02:51) Al: There are a few I know off the top of my head. (0:02:53) Al: That should have been one, because of course, (0:02:55) Codey: It’s fine. (0:02:56) Al: I knew that we should have been one, (0:02:59) Al: but for some reason, my brain, not worky. (0:03:04) Al: So. (0:03:04) Codey: Oh, I also did want to mention, uh, listeners, if you have any interest in listening to (0:03:12) Codey: an episode about, uh, the best version number systems. I was talking to my partner about it the other day and he like mentioned this very specific version number system and I was like, (0:03:28) Codey: Oh my gosh, we could make a whole episode out of it. (0:03:31) Al: Well, of course we could. It doesn’t mean we need to. (0:03:34) Al: Presumably it was SemVer he was talking about, semantic questioning. (0:03:34) Codey: But yeah, he was talking about some bear. So yeah, uh, listeners, if you want to hear about that. (0:03:37) Al: Yeah. (0:03:41) Al: The problem is that SemVer only really makes sense for things with interfaces, (0:03:48) Al: which, you know, user facing software is not, and people use it for that. (0:03:51) Al: But then it doesn’t really map in the exact same way. (0:03:53) Al: So you’re like, well, at what point are we going to do this? (0:03:56) Al: Because the whole point of that is that you only change a major version number when there’s something backwards incompatible. (0:04:01) Al: It doesn’t make any sense when you’re not an interface. (0:04:02) Codey: Well, that’s why we need to devise a cottage ver. Cottage semver. (0:04:05) Al: Are we doing it? (0:04:08) Al: Are we doing it or we just or we just don’t? (0:04:11) Codey: Caught semver. (0:04:12) Al: Well, I mean, I’ve already done it, right? (0:04:14) Al: I’ve said you just have two numbers, one when you’re adding new stuff, (0:04:17) Al: one when you’re adding when you’re fixing bugs. (0:04:19) Al: That’s it done. You don’t need any more. (0:04:20) Codey: Like one for content one for patch (0:04:22) Al: Don’t. Yeah, that’s all you need. (0:04:24) Al: You don’t need any more. Two numbers. (0:04:25) Codey: Okay, but we could definitely get into this in an episode (0:04:27) Al: No, that’s it. That’s it. We’re done. (0:04:30) Codey: listeners if you really want to You [laughing] (0:04:31) Al: Transcripts for this podcast are (0:04:34) Al: available in the show notes and on the website five minutes in. (0:04:38) Al: So, you know, as useful as that is this episode, we’re going to talk about some ideas that we’ve had for what we want people to make Cottagecore games off. (0:04:48) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:04:48) Al: So and then we’re going to argue about them, maybe. (0:04:52) Al: I don’t know. We’ll see. (0:04:54) Al: We so before that, we’ve got a bunch of news. (0:04:59) Al: I’m then first of all by. (0:05:01) Al: Not for bob, wording segways. (0:05:03) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:05:05) Al: But first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:05:08) Codey: I have been (0:05:12) Codey: Playing I’m still playing coral island (0:05:15) Codey: Still enjoying that but I was also am also playing Palia And so I was playing a lot of coral island because I was home and had my Xbox and I could play it And I knew that when I went on vacation (0:05:27) Codey: Hot I wasn’t gonna be able to play it because I don’t bring my Xbox on vacation (0:05:33) Codey: I am bringing my switch and so I was like, oh I can play so much Palia on my vacation But now vacation is kind of stalled, but I don’t know I’m still probably gonna be playing a decent amount of Palia here in the next few weeks But I’ve also been reading a lot of books. So I (0:05:52) Codey: Got into The Poppy War series by RF Kwang. I picked up some Joe Abercrombie books. These are all fantasy books I’m really trying to like pull out the fantasy (0:06:04) Codey: listeners here like come at me with your book recommendations because I freaking love them and then I (0:06:10) Codey: Finally caved and bought the second book in the fourth wing series iron flame (0:06:15) Codey: Because I read fourth wing. It was okay, but I do (0:06:24) Codey: So But there’s like a 40-week wait for my library and I found one (0:06:31) Codey: for pretty cheap, so I finally (0:06:33) Codey: just caved and bought that. So I have a giant stack of books that were for vacation. (0:06:39) Codey: So now I just have a giant stack of books waiting for when I can read them. (0:06:44) Codey: But yeah, so listeners hit me with those fantasy, fantasy wrecks on on the slack. I do love some fantasy books. (0:06:52) Al: Well, well, here’s a fun thing. (0:06:54) Al: I bet you weren’t expecting me to have some actual stuff on books. (0:06:57) Al: I don’t have not been reading, don’t worry. (0:06:59) Al: But you mentioned Iron Flame and I was like, oh, that is the book that I bought (0:07:04) Al: my sister for Christmas. So there you go. (0:07:05) Codey: Oh, yeah, there you go. (0:07:07) Al: Because it was on her wish list. (0:07:10) Codey: I mean, you might know some of the books. (0:07:12) Codey: So my partner, I’m in his apartment right now, and he has a book that was called like, (0:07:17) Codey: let me just find the picture of it, but it was really stupid. (0:07:19) Codey: And then he has another one here. (0:07:21) Codey: This is his bedside reading. (0:07:23) Codey: The Linux programming interface. (0:07:26) Al: Oh my word, what an arid. (0:07:29) Codey: Oh, and domain design. (0:07:31) Codey: But there was this one that was so funny. (0:07:36) Codey: It was… (0:07:39) Codey: Oh, I also yesterday had, I’m in New York City, (0:07:42) Codey: and I had a milkshake that had a whole ass piece of cake on top. (0:07:46) Codey: It was so goofy. (0:07:48) Codey: Made sense why it was $15. (0:07:50) Codey: Okay, the book is called Data Design for Mere Mortals. (0:07:54) Codey: Database Design for Mere Mortals. (0:07:56) Codey: So stupid. (0:07:57) Codey: Anyway, that seems like the kind of books that you would read out. (0:07:58) Al: Well, sure, in theory, like when I was in uni, I had to read a whole bunch of books like that, but I didn’t. I bought them and then I sold them. It’s just not like I don’t, (0:08:07) Codey: Okay, okay, that’s fair (0:08:13) Al: I’m not going to learn by reading paper about how these things, it’s just, it’s not how it works for me. (0:08:16) Codey: Mm-hmm. That’s fair. Yeah. Well, he said that he was going to be selling the database design from your mortals book. That wasn’t great. So don’t get that if you are a programmer. (0:08:26) Al: Well, you have reminded me just before I go on to what I’ve done, I was reminded of, (0:08:28) Codey: What about you, Al? What have you been up to? (0:08:34) Al: so you mentioned Coral Island, I had some feedback from John, listener of the podcast, (0:08:36) Codey: - Yeah. (0:08:40) Al: my brother-in-law, who we had been mentioning about the weirdness of how Coral Island kind of stops at some point, and he wanted to point out that not of the missing giant seems okay, it would be weird if they decided to add that later and had to shoehorn it in, but also I don’t think you need to resolve every single storyline, (0:08:50) Codey: Okay, yeah (0:09:10) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:14) Codey: Yeah. (0:09:14) Al: which I think is a fair point. What I replied to him was, “Yeah, that’s fair. I think I’m just a bit more miffed about it because of the bug with the quest.” That in and of itself (0:09:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:09:26) Al: was quite annoying. So that’s a fair point. I take that on board. Not all storylines need to be 100% resolved. That is totally fair. (0:09:36) Codey: Mm-hmm. True. Well, okay, and now what have you been playing? (0:09:40) Al: So basically just Pokémon. There is a game I’m meant to be playing for the podcast, but we delayed that episode because I’m really bad sometimes at playing games. So it got to Friday and I’m like “I’ve played 15 minutes of this game, can we delay this episode?” (0:09:56) Al: I’ve not been playing that, I have been playing Pokemon, because the epilogue came out this week, so I’ve played that. (0:10:04) Codey: Is that sword in Scarlet the Violet? (0:10:06) Al: Yes, yeah, so it’s the kind of extra random bit of story at the end after the two DLCs. (0:10:08) Codey: OK. (0:10:14) Al: So yeah, I enjoyed it, it’s not a huge thing, if you’re paying attention, it’ll take you like an hour and a half, two hours. If you’re zooming through (0:10:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:10:26) Codey: Hmm. (0:10:26) Al: it, you can get it done in like 40 minutes. But it was a fun little extra thing. So I’ve played that on both games. And now I’ve done my regular thing of remembering that my Pokemon living decks with all the forms, I’ve not completed all of the forms. So I’m doing some more of that. And I’m currently getting really annoyed trying to find an aqua Aldi and Taurus, (0:10:28) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:10:52) Al: they’re such a small… what’s the word… (0:10:56) Codey: drop rate? Yeah. (0:10:56) Al: Spawn rate. Yeah. So anyway, that’s fun. I enjoy it. Whatever. (0:11:03) Al: And then also I have watched… so I did my regular one month of Netflix to watch everything that’s on it. (0:11:11) Codey: Okay, yep (0:11:12) Al: And so I’ve watched a bunch of things. I’ve watched Wednesday and I watched One Piece, the live action One Piece. (0:11:19) Al: And I watched the new season of Sonic Prime and there’s a couple other things I want to watch as well. (0:11:25) Al: So yeah, I’ve been in. (0:11:26) Al: Consuming a lot of that of stuff that’s come out in the last year or two. (0:11:28) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:11:31) Al: And but I haven’t watched it because I didn’t have Netflix at the time. (0:11:34) Codey: Cool. Uh, yeah, I really liked Wednesday, um… (0:11:39) Codey: I didn’t… I’m not… I didn’t… I haven’t watched One Piece, and part of me wants to not watch the live-action because then what if I then want to get into the anime? (0:11:45) Al: What about it? (0:11:49) Codey: You know… (0:11:51) Codey: That’s a commitment. (0:11:51) Al: Well, yeah, but my point is like, I don’t… (0:11:56) Al: Oh, you mean, what if watching the live action makes you want to watch the anime? (0:11:59) Codey: Yes. (0:12:00) Al: I don’t think it will. (0:12:03) Al: And equally, I think that from what I can gather, the live action first series of the live action covers like the first 500 episodes or something insane of the anime. (0:12:12) Codey: Oh, yeah. (0:12:15) Al: Just there’s so much, like, you know what animes are like, right? (0:12:20) Al: They pad things out so much and there’s so many filler episodes. (0:12:23) Al: I might be a little bit exaggerating with 500, but certainly it was like, it was a lot of the episodes it covers with the first 10 episodes of the live action. (0:12:33) Al: So if they keep going with that, which they’ve said they’re doing a second season so far, (0:12:37) Al: it’s Netflix, so you never know. (0:12:40) Al: I suspect they would catch up pretty quickly. (0:12:44) Al: So. (0:12:45) Al: Yeah. I enjoyed it. I thought it was good fun. (0:12:49) Al: It is not at all what I expected it to be. (0:12:51) Al: I don’t know why I expected it to be, but I didn’t expect it to be Pirates. (0:12:54) Al: I didn’t know it was about… It’s about pirates. (0:12:56) Codey: You didn’t know one piece was a wildfire. (0:12:56) Al: Did you know One Piece is about pirates? (0:13:00) Al: Why would I know it was about pirates? (0:13:02) Al: I’ve never watched or read any One Piece. (0:13:04) Al: Why would I know it’s about pirates? (0:13:04) Codey: Okay, I mean I just I’ve not watched or seen any I’ve just I just have a roommate that really likes anime. (0:13:14) Al: Yeah, I have never had a conversation about One Piece that isn’t just “Oh, you’re going to watch One Piece? (0:13:21) Al: Haha, no, it’s very long.” (0:13:22) Codey: Okay, okay. Yeah, no, it’s about pirates. (0:13:28) Codey: Yeah, cool. (0:13:28) Al: So I enjoyed that. (0:13:30) Al: Shall we talk about some news? (0:13:34) Al: Turn it boy, Rob’s a bank. (0:13:36) Al: I don’t know when they announced that when this game was coming out, (0:13:39) Al: because apparently it’s coming out on Thursday. (0:13:43) Codey: - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, the day after this comes out, right? (0:13:44) Al: No, yeah, Thursday. (0:13:46) Al: So, yes, yes. (0:13:49) Al: So I don’t know when they announced that, but apparently they did. (0:13:53) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:13:53) Al: And I’ve pre-ordered it on Switch. (0:13:57) Al: So there we go. (0:13:58) Codey: You excited? (0:13:59) Al: Oh, yeah, loved the first game. (0:14:00) Codey: You excited to rob a bank? (0:14:01) Al: It was fantastic. (0:14:03) Al: Absolutely. (0:14:03) Al: And I mean, the first game wasn’t really cottage core and it wasn’t really farming. (0:14:08) Al: You farm like you grow plants to use as a sword, (0:14:13) Al: which is about as far as the farming goes, and it’s very much not cottage core. (0:14:18) Al: But I enjoyed it nonetheless. (0:14:19) Al: This game, even less cottage core. (0:14:22) Al: I suspect because you’re robbing a bank. (0:14:26) Al: So yeah. (0:14:28) Al: I don’t know, playing fast and loose with the term “cottage core” here. (0:14:29) Codey: Well, you still gotta cover it, ‘cause you still gotta cover it, because we gotta know. (0:14:34) Al: Absolutely. Of course. Of course. (0:14:35) Codey: We need the deets, so. (0:14:39) Al: So there we go. That’s a thing. (0:14:40) Codey: Very exciting. (0:14:42) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:14:44) Codey: No. (0:14:45) Codey: No. (0:14:45) Al: Did you play the first? Well, the first is currently on sale on Steam. 66% off. (0:14:52) Codey: That’s crazy. Is it part of the communism? No, capitalism. (0:14:57) Al: Yeah, yeah, I saw someone. (0:14:58) Al: Post it like, “Oh, it’s capitalism sale, isn’t that just all sales?” (0:15:04) Codey: Yeah. (0:15:04) Al: Capitalism and Economy Fest, that’s what it’s called. (0:15:06) Codey: Yep. (0:15:08) Codey: Which will be done by the time the podcast comes out. (0:15:10) Codey: Sorry, y’all. (0:15:12) Codey: But I saw Parkasaurus was on it. (0:15:14) Codey: I was like, ooh. (0:15:15) Al: Park gazares. It looks like it’s also- (0:15:16) Codey: But… (0:15:18) Codey: Well, I have very little money in the world. (0:15:23) Codey: Especially because I just had to reschedule something. (0:15:26) Codey: I like… (0:15:27) Al: Turn it by. (0:15:28) Codey: Turn it boy. (0:15:30) Codey: like, uh, make planning my flights like so (0:15:34) Codey: many months in advance, so you, so it’s super, super cheap, but I am now having to reschedule to like less than a month and now I’m, I’m grumpy, but it’s fine. Turn it boy. Whoo. (0:15:36) Al: Mm. (0:15:41) Al: Stress. (0:15:46) Al: Pelt of the Lamb are releasing their Sins of the Flesh update. (0:15:54) Al: So we’re going to be nice and careful with this, (0:15:57) Al: because this is generally a family-friendly podcast. (0:16:00) Codey: Well it’s like in Pokemon when you breed, when you have eggs, because they are eggs. (0:16:01) Al: There is procreation now coming to the game. (0:16:05) Al: And, um… (0:16:06) Al: Yeah, exactly. (0:16:11) Al: Or in The Sims, where the babies happen. (0:16:14) Codey: Yeah you just, you just adopt them. (0:16:18) Codey: This is fine. (0:16:20) Codey: Yeah so you can now have that, they have this like nudity which is really cute because they they have just like a little leaf, which I thought was… (0:16:30) Codey: super cute. They have new progression systems, so some of your followers can be kind of beefier, I guess, and there’s more benefits for them. (0:16:44) Codey: One benefit in particular that I thought you were going to like, Al, is the improved automation. (0:16:49) Codey: So there’s now a janitor station and storage structures that you can build, and it allows helps so that your followers can take better care of themselves. (0:16:57) Codey: so that when you come back you’re not coming back to… (0:17:00) Codey: chaos. There’s a new gun that helps you fight heretics. You can build… I don’t remember what it was called but it’s like a… I think it’s the tailor and that allows your followers to have better fashion. And then my favorite part was on the Twitter link which will be linked in the show notes about this. (0:17:26) Codey: the Among Us Twitter responded with finally. (0:17:30) Al: Yeah, that’s just asking for them to be asked why they don’t have (0:17:31) Codey: It’s just like, why? (0:17:41) Codey: Like why, why Among Us doesn’t have nudity? (0:17:45) Codey: Okay. Are they people? (0:17:45) Al: Anyway, I noticed something funny. They have a URL shortener, their own URL shortener called cult.link. I just thought it was fun. (0:18:00) Codey: Very cute. I still really want to play this game, and I still haven’t played it yet. (0:18:06) Codey: So, have we done a second harvest on it? (0:18:10) Al: “Yes, I want to say that was me,” he says, searching. (0:18:14) Codey: Okay. (0:18:17) Codey: He says with a question mark at the end. (0:18:18) Al: Yeah, yeah, we did. Me and Bev did a second harvest on it. (0:18:22) Codey: Okay, well maybe I maybe I need (0:18:24) Al: And I think it was Kevin and Kelly who did the first. (0:18:26) Codey: Kelly. (0:18:30) Codey: Well, maybe I need to do, maybe me and Johnny will do the sins of the flesh update. (0:18:38) Al: Well, why not? I think we’re like, we’re very soon going to have our fifth episode on Stardew Valley, so. (0:18:40) Codey: Yeah. (0:18:44) Codey: Yeah. (0:18:46) Codey: It happens. (0:18:46) Codey: So, because I do really want to work with you. (0:18:49) Al: Fair enough. Meatlight, which still hate the name, they have delayed their alpha, which was meant to be coming out at the end of the year. (0:18:59) Al: It’s now coming summer 2024, with apparently the beta coming a month later. I highly doubt there’s going to be a month. (0:19:02) Codey: That’s what they said, but yeah, I also have some doubts. (0:19:08) Al: Between the alpha and the beta, that is not going to happen. But we’ll see. So that’s on Kickstarter. (0:19:19) Al: If you’re an alpha or a beta backer, you’ll get the information. (0:19:24) Codey: They also said that they’re going to reduce the amount of updates that they try and post because they want to be able to focus on development. (0:19:31) Codey: So they’re only planning to release updates every three months. (0:19:35) Codey: And they do have in this update that they have on Kickstarter right now, they have some information about new music, some information about one of the villages, some screenshots of a new room of a romance character, etc. (0:19:48) Codey: So stuff to look at to look forward to the alpha when it comes out in the summer. (0:19:56) Al: Chill Town have released their beta. (0:19:58) Al: So again, if you’re a Kickstarter of the beta level, which I’m not. (0:20:04) Al: I just did the base one because I know I’ve got too many games to play as it is. (0:20:08) Al: I don’t need to be adding on alphas and betas to that. (0:20:12) Al: Check your Kickstarter email. (0:20:13) Al: They’ll have sent you. (0:20:18) Codey: And they’re moving along. (0:20:21) Codey: They’re having a lot of stuff come out for it, which is really cool. (0:20:27) Codey: So I also hadn’t seen this game before, I don’t think. (0:20:29) Codey: And it looks very Animal Crossing. (0:20:33) Codey: But they have some wilderness that you can explore. (0:20:36) Codey: So you can choose a different type of island to go explore and just get ready. (0:20:39) Codey: resources from which is really cool and then they also added new flowers and fencing and stuff like that so it looks like they’re really active in development so good for them. (0:20:48) Al: Yup, yup, yup, yup. (0:20:49) Codey: Mm hmm. Yes. (0:20:50) Al: I’m looking forward to it. (0:20:51) Al: I think it’s an exciting game. (0:20:54) Al: One specifically for Cody, Rusty’s retirement is coming, confirmed, coming to Mac now. (0:21:00) Al: Wait, is this good or is this bad? (0:21:02) Codey: It’s good, because I wanted to play this. (0:21:03) Al: OK, right, but it’s bad because it’ll always be on your computer now. (0:21:08) Codey: That’s fine. (0:21:10) Codey: That’s fine. (0:21:11) Codey: I’ll just turn it on. I’ll just turn on the focus mode. (0:21:15) Al: OK. (0:21:16) Al: I mean, that requires like. (0:21:18) Al: Like discipline, which I’m not going to say you don’t have, that would be harsh. (0:21:22) Codey: Well, I don’t right now, but… (0:21:25) Al: But we’re very similar and I don’t have that discipline. (0:21:30) Al: So. (0:21:30) Codey: We are very similar. (0:21:32) Codey: You’re not wrong. However, I think by the time this comes out, I will have my medication. (0:21:38) Al: It’s, well, laddie dah, sorry for some. (0:21:42) Al: It’s one of these things, this is one of these things I was talking to my therapist about. (0:21:47) Al: She was like, “Oh, do you ever do these things, like positive reinforcement things?” (0:21:51) Al: And I’m like, I’m just, my brain knows I’m tricking it, right? (0:21:55) Codey: Yeah. Oh, yeah. (0:21:56) Al: It doesn’t care. (0:21:57) Al: It’s like, I can just, it’s like, oh, if I do this thing, I get a snack and it can go, (0:22:01) Al: I can just have the snack, right? (0:22:03) Codey: I can just do that. Yeah. (0:22:04) Al: I don’t, I can’t trick myself. (0:22:08) Al: I don’t know how this works. (0:22:09) Codey: Yeah, I try and like, like, they’re like, oh, just like, schedule it and impose, impose a deadline on yourself. (0:22:10) Al: So yeah. (0:22:16) Codey: And I’m like, well, yeah, but I know that I can just move the deadline so it doesn’t do anything for me. (0:22:18) Al: It’s a fake deadline! (0:22:25) Codey: And I’m hoping that when I get some type of ADHD meds, we’ll see what I get, I don’t know what they’re going to offer me, but hopefully I’ll have some built-in focus ability developed at that point. (0:22:38) Al: Look, I’m not, the deadline thing is funny, right? (0:22:41) Al: Because I’m not going to lie. (0:22:42) Codey: Uh huh. (0:22:43) Al: If you look at the the main episodes of the podcast and you look at the greenhouse (0:22:48) Al: episodes of the podcast, you could very much see the deadlines help. (0:22:52) Codey: Yeah, they do. (0:22:53) Al: Because every single episode of this podcast has come out on the day it’s meant to come out. (0:22:57) Codey: See, but that’s, that’s like, that’s a deadline that has another human, like other people. (0:23:01) Al: Yeah, no, that’s my point. (0:23:02) Al: That’s my point. Exactly. (0:23:04) Al: Like, I have a strict schedule and it works. (0:23:06) Al: it actually has done it. (0:23:08) Al: And there are some times that the episode has only come out because I say that there’s going to be an episode every Wednesday, right? (0:23:13) Codey: Exactly. (0:23:14) Al: There have been weeks where that might not have happened. (0:23:18) Codey: Yeah. (0:23:19) Al: And then you look at the greenhouse and it’s like, oh, there was nothing in April or May. (0:23:23) Al: And then there were six in June. (0:23:28) Codey: Yeah, but… (0:23:28) Al: Because it’s like, all I say about that one is, roughly two a month. (0:23:32) Codey: Yeah. (0:23:32) Al: And let me tell you, you got two a month last year, just not every. (0:23:36) Codey: Roughly. (0:23:38) Al: Every month you got an average, an average of two a month. (0:23:40) Codey: Over time. (0:23:43) Codey: Over time, you got the quantity, but they just did not release twice a month. (0:23:48) Al: There was no regularity to that. (0:23:51) Codey: Whatever people appreciate it. (0:23:52) Al: Thank you, my patrons. (0:23:55) Codey: They’d probably, I mean, TBH, the patrons probably appreciate the waiting for us to have things that we’re excited to talk about versus forcing content that we might not necessarily be as excited to talk about, so yeah. (0:24:03) Al: Well, that’s true. (0:24:06) Al: That’s true. (0:24:08) Al: Yeah. (0:24:10) Al: How many more Sonic episodes will we do? (0:24:13) Codey: Many. (0:24:13) Al: I don’t know. (0:24:16) Al: Immortal life. (0:24:18) Al: By the way, I enjoyed the Sonic Prime. (0:24:20) Al: Sonic Prime was good. (0:24:22) Al: Kevin said, “I’ve heard that it’s bad.” (0:24:25) Al: And no, I don’t think it is. (0:24:27) Al: I think it’s good. (0:24:28) Al: It is a self-contained three series arc, (0:24:31) Al: a very specific story and I think. (0:24:33) Al: It’s a really, it’s basically like multiversal Sonic, and I think it’s really fun. (0:24:38) Al: So if you’ve ever wanted to see three, four different kinds of Amy all fighting together, (0:24:44) Al: go watch Sonic Prime. (0:24:46) Codey: Mmm, okay. (0:24:46) Al: Really good. (0:24:47) Al: Immortal life. (0:24:51) Al: Join a flourishing settlement in an idyllic valley and seek a peaceful life as you search for a way to restore your recently destroyed (0:25:03) Al: Taoist clan. (0:25:05) Al: Farm, rebuild, make friends, explore and train. (0:25:08) Al: Will you find your way to immortality in this earthly paradise? (0:25:11) Al: I don’t know, will I? (0:25:14) Al: Good question. (0:25:15) Al: So I don’t think we’ve covered this game yet, despite the fact that it’s been in early access for quite a while, nearly a year. (0:25:18) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:25:24) Codey: And the fact that it’s coming out pretty soon. (0:25:24) Al: But yes, the 1.0 is now coming out on the 18th of January, which is the day after this episode comes out. (0:25:32) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:25:33) Al: Now we were talking about it. (0:25:35) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:25:35) Al: There we go. (0:25:36) Al: It… (0:25:38) Codey: Yeah, I mean I I like the look of it. Um (0:25:42) Codey: It the graphics kind of give me uh, okami vibes (0:25:46) Codey: Um, which I really like okami. It’s just kind of like the (0:25:50) Codey: brush stroke um look to it in the (0:25:54) Codey: Not not all of the graphics but like a lot of the background stuff looks like it was brushed on (0:26:00) Codey: um, which is really pretty (0:26:03) Codey: Uh, it to me like it looks like a stardew clone set in china (0:26:07) Codey: Um that includes some type of magical abilities to (0:26:11) Codey: Help you with farming and and the mines and stuff like that. It looks like there was some combat based magic system (0:26:14) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s pretty fair. The stardew clone with magic set in China sounds pretty, pretty fair from what I can see, which is like, it’s one of these things where had this come out five years ago, would I be playing it? Probably like, I don’t think I’m going to spend the time to play this game because it’s like, I’m not seeing anything that really hooks me and says you must play this now. The crops look really nice. (0:26:40) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, they do. I was gonna say the the crops themselves look pretty unique and pretty nice. (0:26:49) Codey: Um, yeah, I mean I’m in the same boat as you. I have too many games and too little money and too little time. So something has to have some uh a hook that’s really different and jumps out and and snags me to to make me play it. So, um, but looks cool and is gonna come out, so. (0:27:11) Codey: Yeah, check it out. (0:27:12) Al: Yeah, if it looks, if it sounds good to you, go get it. (0:27:16) Codey: Immortal life. What is it available? (0:27:18) Al: Immortal life. It is on Steam, just for Windows, as far as I can see. (0:27:26) Al: And it is coming to PS4 and Switch, but I don’t see anything about when it’s actually coming. (0:27:35) Al: It looks like they announced initially that it was coming out on PS4 and Switch, (0:27:41) Al: And then didn’t. (0:27:42) Al: See anything else about it, so maybe it’ll come out on switch. (0:27:46) Al: Maybe it won’t. (0:27:47) Al: We’ll see. (0:27:48) Al: But as of now, we only know about the Steam version releasing on the 18th of January. (0:27:48) Codey: - Okay. (0:27:52) Codey: - Woo. (0:27:53) Codey: Ooh. (0:27:53) Al: Woo, that’s the news. (0:27:57) Al: So we’re going to talk about Cottagecore game ideas is how I’m describing it. (0:28:03) Al: And basically, I mean, OK, this all comes down to I watched a show which we’re going to talk about soon, and I thought this would be fun as a Cottagecore game. (0:28:12) Al: I went, hey, let me see if I can talk about that. (0:28:15) Al: So we’ll get to that. (0:28:17) Al: But I thought there might be other ideas that we might have about games that people could make and you could take it and go make it. (0:28:26) Codey: Yeah, so devs, if you’re listening, and if you’ve been like, “Man, I don’t know what to make, but I want to make something,” get your notebooks ready, because we’re going to throw some golden nuggets out into the world. (0:28:27) Al: And there we go. (0:28:44) Al: Yeah, first of all, we’re going to chat a little bit about what Cody thinks. (0:28:52) Codey: I just thought that to have–okay, okay, come on. (0:28:54) Al: “The top three things that a cottagecore game needs”. (0:29:00) Codey: I thought that if we were going to have this type of conversation where we’re talking about here are some ideas for Cottagecore games, we should probably have some type of preliminary discussion about what we think a Cottagecore game is, because if we’re going to say, “Then don’t come at me,” just because you didn’t write your comments. (0:29:11) Al: I think that’s totally fair. (0:29:14) Al: I’m sorry, did I say something that was negative? (0:29:20) Al: I just said that these are what Cody thinks a God’s Code game needs, (0:29:23) Al: and we’re going to talk about them. (0:29:24) Codey: It’s a just it’s a discussion (0:29:25) Al: That’s all I said. (0:29:26) Al: Where’s the negative? (0:29:27) Al: And what I said, Cody? (0:29:28) Al: Always assuming the worst here. (0:29:30) Codey: It me (0:29:32) Al: What? (0:29:32) Al: Assuming the worst or the worst? (0:29:34) Codey: Yes, same same in both and yes (0:29:40) Codey: So I sat down for a super long one minute and thought about (0:29:48) Codey: Thought about like for me like what is a requirement for something to be a cottagecore game (0:29:54) Codey: and the three things that I (0:29:57) Codey: Kind of circled around is it has to have cozy vibes so it doesn’t have to have cozy vibes in every aspect of the game, but just at least in some part there has to be like a (0:30:08) Codey: Kind of an area that has a lot of plants a lot of green (0:30:11) Codey: It has to be a fairly low stakes games. Like you’re not you’re not out here like saving the world. It’s not an action game (0:30:20) Codey: It’s just about living your life like if you were in if you had a cottage and you were living (0:30:24) Codey: in a cottage. So cozy vibes and then there has to be some aspects of growing or creating things. (0:30:32) Codey: So whether that is like actually farming or like building things like if you’re mining resources and then building something from it and then there also is generally some aspect of collecting and exploring. So collecting could be something like fishing or farm or bug catching or (0:30:54) Codey: like fossils you know that kind of thing or just exploring. So you have an area a large geographic area and you explore it you explore the mines you explore the undersea area but yeah so those were those were kind of like what I fell on as something that every cottagecore game needs or the ones that we’ve discussed, like what they generally have. (0:31:24) Codey: So come at me, what do you disagree with here? (0:31:27) Al: I didn’t say I disagreed with anything. (0:31:32) Al: And now I’m going to disagree with it. (0:31:32) Codey: Heck yeah. (0:31:34) Al: So I think this is pretty fair. (0:31:39) Al: Part of me wants to say that the growing, creating things is an optional one. (0:31:44) Codey: Okay. (0:31:45) Al: Pretty common. (0:31:46) Al: Like I’m not saying it doesn’t have, like most of them, like 90% of them would have it. (0:31:50) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:31:51) Al: But I don’t think I would say that that would be a requirement. (0:31:54) Codey: Okay. (0:31:55) Al: I think you could totally have a cozy game. (0:31:57) Al: That is focused entirely around collecting things, and have no growing or crafting or anything like that. (0:32:08) Codey: Well, so growing could also be like building I also see that as building (0:32:14) Al: OK, well, if you’re going to change what words mean, then sure. (0:32:16) Codey: Okay, I’m not changing what words mean I’m just like that’s it’s it’s like (0:32:23) Codey: Hmm cuz I would save it like bear and breakfast (0:32:26) Al: For listeners, Cody has now changed the sentence to some aspect of growing/creating/building things. (0:32:34) Al: That building was not there before. (0:32:36) Codey: No, no. So I mean, this is good because you’re helping me like become with, come up with a better just definition. We’re creating this definition together, but no. So like that was part of that is like what I thought by creating. Like I thought of like in Minecraft when you’re creating like a, when you build stuff with the crafting table. Um, but that is part of like building things. So like in Baron breakfast, for example, you don’t really grow anything but you do build (0:33:06) Codey: um you collect resources and you build like the furniture that then goes into your your hotels or your inns or your whatever you want to call them um so like that I think that that is a big part of it and even if you have some type of collection game so i’m thinking of like a game where literally all you do is go out and collect resources or collect insects or collect fish or whatever you generally like then would probably come back and build a terrarium for them or build (0:33:15) Al: Yeah, that’s fair. (0:33:33) Al: Oh yeah, generally, generally, yeah. I think it’s more just a case of like, I could absolutely, (0:33:39) Al: this is not about like, oh this game doesn’t have it, but I could totally foresee a collection-based game that is purely collection-based. And like, well no, if it’s cosy. Right? Like, I think, (0:33:44) Codey: Well then would it not be cottage court, it would just be a creature collector. (0:33:52) Codey: Okay. So it has to have two of these things. (0:33:57) Al: so if we talk like, for example, I don’t consider Pokemon generally to be Cottagecore, right? (0:33:58) Codey: Mm-mm. (0:34:02) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:03) Al: But that’s because it doesn’t have that vibe. It is, it’s about, you know, animal fights, (0:34:08) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:11) Al: right? That’s not cosy. If Pokemon didn’t have the battles, I would probably argue that many of them would be Cottagecore. And some of them have some growing aspects to them, but it’s very limited, and they haven’t done that for quite a while. So yeah. But I think most would, and I And I think that it can often– (0:34:16) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:33) Al: improve the game if they do have that. (0:34:36) Al: Because as is always common with games, you have your primary gameplay loop, (0:34:41) Al: which is doing a thing, and then you have your secondary gameplay loop, (0:34:46) Al: which uses the primary gameplay loop to do something else longer over time. (0:34:52) Al: And if you don’t have that, you don’t have your longer-term thing, (0:34:56) Al: then you get bored of the game pretty quickly. (0:34:59) Al: Um… (0:34:59) Codey: I’d say there’s also usually like a design aspect so like so you said there’s like the primary gameplay loop and then there’s the secondary one but you could do I’m one of those people where I just do those gameplay loops period end of story but a lot of games will usually also have some aspect of you can design things so like you can decorate your house or you can decorate your characters or you can decorate like all this different stuff and I think (0:35:03) Al: What do you mean by that? (0:35:29) Codey: that is also another thing at least the ability to decorate or (0:35:33) Al: Yeah, I mean, these are generally just different primary gameplay loops. (0:35:37) Codey: oh okay (0:35:38) Al: A game can have multiple of them. (0:35:39) Al: It doesn’t have to be like, there is, it doesn’t have to just be like, here’s the one thing you do, which then, as you do it lots, it unlocks other things, which then does this other thing. (0:35:49) Al: Like, it doesn’t have to be all completely interconnected. (0:35:51) Al: They can be different strands and different related things. (0:35:52) Codey: Got it. (0:35:57) Al: All right, cool. (0:35:59) Al: So let’s talk, I want to talk about my first one first, which is the one that I, (0:36:03) Al: I watched the show and I went, I want this as a game and that is Pokemon Concierge. (0:36:06) Codey: Okay. (0:36:08) Al: I want a Pokemon Concierge game. (0:36:12) Al: So for those who haven’t watched the show, (0:36:15) Al: very minor spoilers for Pokemon Concierge, but let’s be honest, (0:36:19) Al: it’s very hard to spoil that because the enjoyment of that is in watching it. (0:36:23) Al: It is about someone who escapes their life, (0:36:27) Al: their nine to five standard life to go to an island and help. (0:36:33) Al: Work at a Pokemon hotel. (0:36:35) Codey: Mm-hmm. Like a resort? (0:36:36) Al: Sounds like a cottagecore game already, doesn’t it? (0:36:40) Al: So I want that. (0:36:42) Al: Like, obviously, you could go in so many different ways with this. (0:36:47) Al: You could be in the case of the show, it’s obviously just like a worker (0:36:52) Al: and it could be just that. (0:36:53) Al: You could be a worker at the hotel doing what needs to be done. (0:36:56) Al: Or you could have it where you’re running (0:36:59) Al: hotel kind of, you know, more “better than breakfast” style. (0:37:03) Al: But it’s that, but also with Pokémon. (0:37:08) Al: I want a Pokémon cartridge core game. (0:37:10) Al: And this, I think, would work really well. (0:37:10) Codey: So I think like I like the idea of like you’re saying that you could be a worker or you could be the person running it. (0:37:13) Al: Yeah, here we go. (0:37:26) Codey: This makes me think of like the Sims where you can flip between people. (0:37:28) Al: Mm-hmm. Mmm. Ooh, yes, yes. (0:37:32) Codey: And I think that would be so cool. We’re like, if you wanted you could just you could just go be the I’m trying to think of the the Vaporeon that’s helping in the laundry. (0:37:46) Codey: And there could be like a laundry minigame that like helps you clean the sheets or something. (0:37:46) Al: I hadn’t, hadn’t even considered being the Pokemon. (0:37:52) Codey: Oh yeah, like like flipping between them. (0:37:56) Al: Hmm. (0:37:58) Codey: And I mean, maybe like you have to build up your friendship level with these Pokemon before they’ll let you be them. (0:38:06) Codey: be them? I don’t know. I don’t know. But um… (0:38:08) Al: That’s a very weird sentence, but I know what you mean. (0:38:10) Codey: Before you can inhabit their body and and control everything. (0:38:16) Al: That’s worse. (0:38:18) Al: Stop it. (0:38:20) Codey: But no, I think that would be really fun like having it where you can build your relationships with these pokemon and then you can maybe like help them with their duties. (0:38:30) Codey: So then there could be like a minigame that is laundry. A minigame that is fold the towels or make the bed, or clean the, the wall. (0:38:40) Codey: whatever, um, make the food for the, with the, gosh, what, what Pokemon would be in the kitchen? (0:38:49) Codey: A Mr. Mime? I don’t know. (0:38:50) Al: Al Kremi. (0:38:52) Codey: Well yeah, but, so like there’s, there’d be Alcrummy, there’d be, yeah. (0:38:55) Al: Thank you. (0:38:58) Codey: There’d be, there’d probably be a, a Vanillux. (0:38:58) Al: Come on, Cody. (0:39:00) Codey: Some of these don’t have hands though, like how are they going to be doing? (0:39:03) Al: But Al Kremi has hands. Come on, have you not watched the anime? (0:39:05) Codey: Okay, okay. (0:39:08) Codey: Uh, no. (0:39:10) Al: The new anime series has a lot of focus. (0:39:10) Codey: Okay. I have not. But yeah, so it would be cute to, to be able to kind of flip between the different quote unquote characters, um, and be able to kind of inhabit all aspects of running a little resort. (0:39:32) Al: Yeah, I like the addition of minigames, because that’s very much in the spirit of Pokémon side games, right? Like they quite often have lots of minigames in them, (0:39:44) Al: and also I like the idea of playing as the Pokémon. You could either do it as you’re playing just as a Pokémon, or you’re playing both as humans and as Pokémon. (0:39:53) Al: Like there’s lots of room to come up with other creative ideas within this, I think. (0:40:00) Codey: Also, in the show, are the guests of the hotel people, or are they Pokemon? (0:40:06) Al: I think they’re prime. I think I think they’re both I’m madly Pokemon (0:40:10) Codey: Because I could see like, okay, because I could see like, kind of like Baren Breakfast, (0:40:16) Codey: where some people want rooms that have more of X, and some people have rooms that have more and more Y. (0:40:24) Codey: Like, have it where you have a room that’s great for fire type Pokemon. (0:40:30) Codey: And you have a room that’s great for grass type, and like you have these rooms, or you can quickly redecorate a room to be in the style of a different Pokemon typing, (0:40:42) Codey: and you’d get like a bonus for matching those. (0:40:47) Al: Yeah, yeah, I think I would. So I think in this game, I think it would make most sense for all of the guests to be Pokemon. I think thematically that would make most sense. And also then you’re not having to create human characters that you would actually ever care about. And you have like a built in, here are a thousand Pokemon that we can use. (0:41:12) Codey: what if and what if you have it you fill a polka decks with your guests and and you can also if your room is so great and your guests say you get an IV sore coming and you give it a room that it just loves what if it evolves while it’s there, because it’s so happy. Wouldn’t that be so? (0:41:18) Al: There you go. It’s a Pokemon game. Perfect. (0:41:39) Al: What? What? Yes. This is perfect. Right, Pokemon, you can have this idea. There you go. Make a… It’d be hilarious if they ended up coming out with it, like, on Pokemon Day they announce it and it’s like, “We had the idea, seconds technically, I guess, because you’ve been developing this for a couple years now.” (0:41:42) Codey: So cute. (0:41:44) Codey: Yep. (0:41:44) Codey: Yep. (0:41:44) Codey: Yeah. Yep. (0:42:03) Codey: Watch it like comes out tomorrow. (0:42:05) Codey: And… I don’t know. That’d be funny. (0:42:08) Al: I don’t think it would come out tomorrow. (0:42:10) Al: I think if it’s going to come out, it’s being announced on Pokemon Day, right? (0:42:13) Al: No, no new Pokemon things are being announced in January. (0:42:15) Codey: That’s true. No, no, you right. You right. They have they have a day set for it. That would be really fun, though. (0:42:16) Al: But that’s not happening. (0:42:22) Codey: Though I would want this to be a more fully fleshed out game. I’d be really sad if this was like a mobile game that was bare bones. (0:42:31) Al: Yeah, I think it could work well as a both game. (0:42:36) Al: Like, you’d have to have the… (0:42:38) Al: I think you’d want the interface to be slightly different between them. (0:42:41) Al: But I think you could have it as both mobile and Switch. (0:42:41) Codey: I would want Switch. (0:42:45) Al: All right, tell me about one that you have. (0:42:47) Codey: Yeah, so I thought about games that I haven’t seen that I would like, and dived dove, dove really deep into my own life about what parts of my life are not represented in a video game that other people might also enjoy. (0:43:11) Codey: So, the first suggestion that I had was a game where you run a wildlife rehabilitation center. (0:43:19) Codey: So I have always wanted to run like a wolf sanctuary or something like that, like ever since I was a kid. (0:43:26) Codey: I don’t think I want to do that anymore, but I do really enjoy wildlife rehabilitation and I have been volunteering at a wildlife rehab for about three years now. (0:43:36) Codey: So if we, it would be really cool to make it a game where you could learn about wildlife rehabilitation, and then maybe (0:43:44) Codey: also like, some of the proceeds of the game could go to local wildlife rehabs. Because some of the stuff that they need, it’s it’s not that expensive, or it’s like, like literally dog, dog food, or cat food, or whatever. So but we also make really specific formulas anyway, so that’d be part of the game. But so it would be kind of like a business simulator or like (0:44:07) Codey: roller coaster tycoon, like that type of like management game. (0:44:10) Codey: Um… (0:44:11) Codey: Which… (0:44:13) Codey: I’m trying to think of that way. (0:44:15) Codey: Like, do we call those Cottagecore games? (0:44:17) Codey: Or do we call them something else? (0:44:19) Codey: Yeah. (0:44:20) Al: what management games. I think some of them can be. (0:44:21) Codey: Okay. (0:44:23) Codey: I think this could be, because it could be really cozy. (0:44:25) Codey: You could make it… (0:44:27) Codey: You could make it really cozy, especially if you have, like, (0:44:29) Codey: aspects where you play with the animals and stuff, which you can. (0:44:31) Codey: Um… (0:44:33) Codey: So, you could also have really exotic animals. (0:44:35) Codey: So, clearly, you know, (0:44:37) Codey: in my neck of the woods, we only have… (0:44:39) Codey: we only have (0:44:41) Codey: a lot of the native animals like squirrels, rabbits, turtles, some songbirds, things like that that come in, but in this type of game you don’t have to do that. You could have like zebras or lions or tigers or pandas or like all of these different things that come in with some form of injury or illness and then you have to to heal them. And then you could also build enclosures. (0:45:11) Codey: You would prepare all of the meals, you’d clean after them. (0:45:15) Codey: So that is just kind of everyday stuff that you do at the Wildlife Center. (0:45:20) Codey: The idea of a wildlife rehab is that you receive the animals. (0:45:26) Codey: People find an animal in the wild that is either injured or ill in some way. (0:45:31) Codey: You receive them and they need to be rehabbed so that they can be released. (0:45:37) Codey: The whole point is always for them to be released. (0:45:41) Codey: A lot of these animals you don’t want to play with. (0:45:44) Codey: You don’t want them to get used to being held and cared for by people. (0:45:50) Codey: A lot of the animals we actually don’t really interact with a ton. (0:45:54) Codey: We put them in a container, like a little cage for them, and then we give them a bunch of food. (0:46:00) Codey: We’ll take them out once or twice a day for medication depending on the severity of their injuries. (0:46:07) Codey: But there are some that are unreleasable because of, you know, if they have. (0:46:11) Codey: An injury that is too difficult for them to be able to be released. (0:46:15) Codey: Those are the types of animals that we do keep as ambassador or education animals. (0:46:19) Codey: And we’ll take those animals to shows or fairs or just different events to educate people about wildlife and wildlife rehabilitation and the importance of maintaining areas for wildlife. (0:46:33) Codey: So those animals you could play with, you could have little mini games where you play with them. (0:46:41) Codey: Build enrichment with them, kind of design their cages a little bit more spiffy because it’s a place that they’re staying for their life. (0:46:51) Codey: I think the only thing about this type of game is that it could be maybe too macabre or too gory because we do have a lot of animals that come in that are kind of beyond healing. (0:47:08) Codey: And in those situations, we usually just hear– (0:47:11) Codey: you mainly euthanize them, which is better than the alternative of them being stuck outside and just slowly passing. (0:47:20) Codey: So I don’t know if maybe there could be some form of in-game currency that’s about the fact that you’ve done some form of kindness for that animal, (0:47:31) Codey: made it so that their last– (0:47:33) Codey: or if we do try and heal them, but their illness or injury was too severe and they end up having they end up (0:47:41) Codey: Anyways, the effort was there, like there was an attempt made, you know? (0:47:47) Codey: And so I don’t know if there could be like some type of incentive system for that where it’s like you get these points that could then maybe like be used to try and heal an animal later. (0:47:58) Codey: I don’t know. (0:47:59) Codey: I’m trying to think of like how to gamify that aspect of it because it is sad, but it’s also a fact of it. (0:48:07) Codey: Like it’s just, it’s, that’s what happens. (0:48:10) Al: Yeah, I think it’s it’s interesting. I’m thinking of how to make this different from just like a standard zoo tycoon game. And like, because obviously it’s not the same thing. I’m not trying to say it is the same thing, but in terms of like gameplay, how it would be different, (0:48:10) Codey: Um… (0:48:11) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts about any of that? (0:48:28) Codey: Right. (0:48:31) Al: because a lot of that is very similar. Not saying that’s a bad thing. I mean, that’s that’s fine. (0:48:36) Al: Um. (0:48:37) Codey: I think the biggest thing, the biggest difference is a lot of like, so the wildlife center I

Al and Micah talk about Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos. Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:58: What Have We Been Up To 00:32:53: News 01:12:15: Harvest Moon: The Winds Of Anthos 01:50:34: Outro Links Disney Dreamlight Valley Upcoming Releases Disney Dreamlight Valley Apple Arcade Edition Roots of Pacha 1.1 Update and Console Release Ooblets 1.4 Update Everdream Valley 1.6 Update Slime Rancher 2 Update Echoes of the Plum Grove Kickstarter Snacko Early Access My Time At Portia Optimisation Concerned Ape Cool Fruit Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:35) Al: My name is Al and we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games. (0:00:37) Micah: And I’m Micah! (0:00:44) Al: And you totally didn’t forget and suddenly remember that you had to say your own name there, did you? (0:00:49) Micah: I just, I never know when to like, you know, it’s, I’ve got the brain of a five year old. (0:00:56) Micah: So I need someone to say, and now’s the time that you say your name. (0:01:00) Al: Well, the problem is, right, that you’re on like two episodes a year, right? (0:01:01) Micah: Yeah. (0:01:06) Al: It’s not like, you know, the others are on like, you know, once a month or something. (0:01:09) Al: It’s much easier to remember how it goes that way. (0:01:11) Micah: I feel like I’ve gotten better about the outro, (0:01:14) Micah: but yes, you’re totally right. (0:01:17) Micah: It’s not, you know, it comes to me again as we’re doing. (0:01:23) Al: Yeah, that’s the thing I could hear when you said, and I’m like, I could hear, you were like, “Oh yes, no, I need to say it now.” Welcome. Anyway, welcome. It’s been a while. (0:01:28) Micah: You can hear the gears turning You can hear the cogs clanking around in there Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. It’s always fun to be on Talk about some of my favorite genre my favorite genre of games (0:01:39) Al: Welcome back. It’s good to have you on. I notice how you said ‘favourite genre games, (0:01:49) Al: favourite games because well, we’ll see. (0:01:52) Micah: Not all of them, you know [laughs] (0:01:53) Al: Let’s not conclude on the game yet before we even said what it is. (0:01:59) Al: So, first of all, transcripts for the podcast are available in the show notes and on the website if you need them, although they’re whether you need them or not, but now you know where to go if you need them. (0:02:10) Al: We’re going to talk. (0:02:12) Al: You know what it’s going to be because we got Micah on. (0:02:15) Al: You know it’s going to be either Harvest Moon or Story Seasons. (0:02:17) Al: We’ve got a Harvest Moon, the Winds of Anthos. (0:02:21) Micah: We sure do. (0:02:22) Al: So we’re going to. (0:02:23) Al: We’re going to talk about that just as a preamble to that. (0:02:28) Al: I will not be playing the game during the episode because I’ve already sold it so that probably explains my feelings in summary, but we’ll get to that when we get to it. (0:02:38) Al: But, yeah, no, I. (0:02:39) Micah: Well I’ve got a digital so it’s not even an option for me, so… (0:02:41) Al: I know better than to buy a Harvest Moon game digitally. (0:02:45) Al: Come on. (0:02:46) Micah: I actually told you about this, but I’ll save it for when we get there, I guess. (0:02:47) Al: Yeah, yeah, we’ll go. (0:02:50) Al: We can leave that for the yeah, yeah, people can hear. (0:02:53) Al: The fun story. (0:02:54) Al: We’ve got a bunch of news, a bunch of exciting news to talk about. (0:02:58) Al: But first of all, Makar, what have you been up to? (0:03:01) Micah: Uh, I just recently got back from Japan and My partner and I went for about two Three weeks something like that something we’ve been planning since originally planned on going in spring of 2020 World event Happened and I don’t know. I just everything feels weird after (0:03:19) Al: Classic. (0:03:21) Al: Yeah, what happened in spring 2020? Nothing. Nothing happened. That’s the point. (0:03:30) Al: I know. (0:03:31) Micah: 2020 and I don’t know what it was. (0:03:33) Micah: I Yes, it was a great time. It was something that we’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. I put a lot of time and effort into the planning the itinerary and Making sure that we had a full schedule, but also a flexible schedule, you know, I for a bit there It was getting to the point where I like I’ve got you know (0:03:53) Al: Don’t do the minute. (0:04:01) Micah: some levels of ADHD and OCD that I have been formally diagnosed with that manifest itself in things like that where I’ll just lock in on an Idea and then I’ll just run with it and then I’ll just keep going and then I’ll get deeper and deeper And it was pretty much to the point where I was like Google mapping If I took the train from this location at this time of day in Japan (0:04:29) Micah: what train would I take and… (0:04:31) Micah: where would I transfer and how much would it cost and then like figuring out travel costs down to like you know the individual train ride and things like that. (0:04:42) Al: Oh, you’ve got to know the best way to pay for it, right? Do I get a travel card or am I buying individual tickets? You know, that’s important. (0:04:43) Micah: That originally was the plan but then you know it just got to the point where it was it was like things that you especially knowing now you would not be able to like (0:05:02) Micah: plan for really given like you know how travel works like mass transit travel works there but which beautiful by the way beautiful transit system could not say anything bad about that transit system and then we came back here where it’s just cars. (0:05:22) Al: Well, you presumably weren’t traveling in peak hour, peak time, you’re commuting hour. (0:05:28) Micah: Uh, there was a lot of it where we were, which was a little, you know, that was a little challenging being absolutely crammed into trains, like, just packed with people. (0:05:29) Al: Oh, OK. (0:05:46) Micah: It was an experience that I’m not used to, but yeah, it was an experience. (0:05:52) Micah: I did a lot of looking at retro games and stuff like that. (0:05:55) Micah: We did a lot of, you know, we did some– (0:05:59) Micah: theme cafes and things like that, Dragon Quest Cafe. (0:06:02) Micah: Went to the Dragon Quest Island. (0:06:04) Micah: Dragon Quest Island was a bucket list item. (0:06:06) Micah: And I was very excited to do that. (0:06:06) Al: Of course. (0:06:10) Micah: Very awesome, just like a real life JRPG. (0:06:15) Micah: You just like walk around a town and get quests and then go fight stuff and then come back. (0:06:21) Micah: And it’s a lot of, you know, like, (0:06:24) Micah: what do you call it, fetch quests, (0:06:25) Micah: but it still was a very cool experience. (0:06:28) Micah: And while I was there, they were promoting and releasing Mario Wonder. (0:06:35) Micah: So I picked that up while I was there because the exchange rate was absolutely in our favor. (0:06:43) Micah: So a brand new Switch game wound up being like $36 or something like that. (0:06:48) Micah: USD once you convert it. (0:06:52) Micah: And I’ve been playing that. (0:06:55) Micah: I picked up the metal gear. (0:06:59) Micah: Collection was there too, because it came out around the same time and I played a little bit of that. (0:07:05) Micah: But mostly it’s been I’ve been playing Super Mario Wonder and trying to get through the Pokemon DLC. (0:07:14) Micah: And I’ve picked up Disney Speedstorm and I’ve been playing a lot of Disney Speedstorm, which is their cart racer. (0:07:19) Al: Is it any good? (0:07:21) Micah: It is actually incredible. (0:07:24) Micah: It is remarkably good. (0:07:28) Micah: There is two mechanics that I think separate it quite a bit from being just like Mario Kart. (0:07:37) Micah: It does feel just like Mario Kart but with Disney characters. (0:07:41) Micah: But one of the mechanics is that you instead of having like just this selection of power, like item block, (0:07:53) Micah: you get the item block and there’s like a selection of items that you can get out of that. (0:07:57) Micah: I (0:07:58) Micah: And everybody gets the same thing. There is one item that is like your ultimate move For whatever your racer is and all the racers have different ultimate moves and Even beyond that there is a basic ultimate move and there is a charged ultimate move where if you charge you hold the button And charge it up then it’ll do something different So as an example, I’ve been playing a lot of Donald Duck and Donald Duck’s (0:08:05) Al: Right. Okay. (0:08:27) Micah: basic move. (0:08:28) Micah: The ultimate move is that he puts a shield around himself, and if that shield gets broken, then he has these energy fists that punch all the other racers around him. (0:08:42) Micah: But if you charge it, then it immediately does the fists, and it also boosts you. (0:08:50) Micah: So there’s different ways that your ultimates can come through. (0:08:55) Micah: The big thing for me I think is that there is (0:08:58) Micah: a combat mechanic to it where you can slam into other cars and push them into an obstacle or whatever and a lot of the power-ups and stuff like that or a lot of the items can be translated directly into combat So it really there’s a there’s a really (0:09:28) Micah: Powerful feeling of getting into a race and immediately shoving everybody around you into the wall as Donald Duck and then just like blasting your way through the finish line. There’s something so Kind of yeah, yeah, it does have it the especially in in the single-player because if there’s not, you know, if there’s (0:09:43) Al: So it’s basically it’s Mario Kart crossed with Barnett. (0:09:56) Micah: There’s opportunity. (0:09:58) Micah: There’s time for that. It slows down a little bit and shows the cart that you hit spinning out or whatever. (0:10:03) Al: Yeah, classic. Yeah, yeah, sure. (0:10:05) Micah: Obviously, you can’t do that in multiplayer, but that definitely makes it feel more like burnout in that way. (0:10:13) Micah: When you’re hitting something and it’s spinning out and you’re watching it in slow motion. (0:10:18) Micah: Yeah. It was good. (0:10:18) Al: Burnout was always my favourite racing game when I was younger, just because of that. (0:10:22) Al: I was never a huge fan of the realistic races, because it just isn’t fun. But Burnout was like, “Yeah, I can drive and smash people into walls.” Amazing. (0:10:26) Micah: Yeah. (0:10:28) Micah: Yeah. (0:10:31) Micah: It’s great and it’s yeah, that’s like the big difference for between it and Mario Kart like there’s obviously there’s combat Kart combat quote-unquote with the items that you get and things like that in Mario Kart, but this is like physical combat. It’s like It’s much more cutthroat it feels it is a really satisfying game and it’s doing the whole you know Like they’re they’re doing seasons and they have a battle pass and you can buy like a premium battle pass that gives you you know more or whatever. (0:11:01) Micah: It is not bad. A lot of it is very cosmetic focused because there’s outfits for racers. There’s different like paint jobs for racers and things like that. They have things like victory poses that you can get. There are some bundles where it’s like you can buy these upgrade packs for like the specific items that you need to upgrade your racers and stuff like that. (0:11:02) Al: So that’s my next question, how bad is that? Because obviously it’s free to play game. (0:11:31) Micah: There’s a lot of content to it. There’s like for the single player portion of it. There’s there’s seasons and every season has like a single player chunk where it’s all of these like kind of it. It’s like chapters and each chapter has, I don’t know, 8 to 10 races in it and the races will unlock it. (0:11:38) Al: Is that something you can get for free if you work hard enough? Or is that? (0:11:41) Al: Right, okay. See, that’s the key for me. (0:11:59) Micah: and the races will unlock. (0:12:01) Micah: You can unlock chests that have the upgrades and stuff like that in it. (0:12:05) Micah: But there’s like, I don’t even… (0:12:09) Micah: 10 chapters or something like that for each season. (0:12:11) Micah: So right now the season is highlighting Aladdin. (0:12:15) Micah: And you can select the battle pass. (0:12:19) Micah: Through the battle pass you can unlock Jasmine. (0:12:22) Micah: And you can unlock Genie as racers. (0:12:26) Micah: And you unlock them really early in the battle pass. (0:12:31) Micah: And you can get them early even without the premium battle pass. (0:12:38) Micah: But then all the way at the end of the battle pass you get special outfits and special car colors and whatever. (0:12:45) Micah: Like paint jobs and stuff like that. (0:12:47) Micah: But the single player portion of the season is all Aladdin based story content. (0:12:55) Micah: Where it’s like races that you have to do with specific conditions. (0:13:02) Micah: And there’s so much content for it. (0:13:04) Micah: There’s like an unbelievable amount of content that’s just like free content. (0:13:09) Micah: So there is a lot of opportunity to get that stuff yourself without paying anything for it. (0:13:17) Micah: It’s good though. It’s a really really good racer. (0:13:18) Al: OK, that’s good. That’s good. (0:13:22) Al: I’ll need to try it because I’ve tried a number of different car racers and most of them, I’ve just not enjoyed the controls. (0:13:31) Al: Like, they’ve just never felt like they’ve worked as well as Mario Kart. (0:13:34) Al: So I’ll need to try this one and see how that goes for me. (0:13:35) Micah: This definitely is the most Mario Kart similar I think Right Yes, I do too (0:13:38) Al: It doesn’t need to be the exact same. (0:13:41) Al: I just use that as an example because like I like the controls in Mario Kart. (0:13:46) Al: it’s very smooth and it’s very controllable. (0:13:48) Al: Every single version of it, whereas like, you know, if you take like crash team racing or sonic racing or whatever, I hate, I just, I know I don’t enjoy how they control. (0:13:56) Micah: Yeah, we’re in the exact same boat. (0:13:59) Al: I always feel like I’m just not in as, as control as, as I am with Mario Kart. (0:14:03) Micah: Yeah, given that and how similar I think our feelings are on that, I feel like you’ll probably like it because I’m very much the same way. (0:14:13) Micah: I did not, was not a fan of Crash Team Racing and Sonic Racing and how that felt. (0:14:19) Micah: It does. (0:14:20) Micah: Um, I think probably just because of history with it, I’m most attuned to- (0:14:26) Micah: to like Mario Kart controls and things like that. (0:14:31) Micah: And it feels the most like that. (0:14:32) Micah: Like, you know, there’s- you go off a jump and you can hit a button to do like a flare or whatever to like give yourself a little bit of boost. (0:14:39) Micah: And the drift feels like Mario Kart and there’s like drift chaining and stuff that- (0:14:45) Al: I have actually downloaded it on my switch. I’ve just not opened it yet because it’s like free to play game that I know I’m going to play at some point. Of course, I’m going to download it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It came out of early access a few months ago, I think. So yeah. Oh, interesting. (0:14:48) Micah: Yeah, and it’s also, I think it’s on every platform now, but you can chain your account. (0:15:00) Micah: It’s like super easy to link your account between platforms, so that’s also really nice. (0:15:05) Micah: Oh, you know what it is. (0:15:07) Micah: It’s coming to mobile soon is what I remember. (0:15:10) Micah: So if, yeah, we’ll see how the game changes at that point, but you know. (0:15:16) Al: - Yeah, I don’t, having said I liked all the Mario Kart, (0:15:18) Al: I don’t like live, I don’t like Mario Kart live, (0:15:19) Micah: No, I don’t. (0:15:20) Al: I don’t like how, I just, no. (0:15:21) Micah: Not a fan. (0:15:22) Al: I want something like that, I want the new, (0:15:27) Al: I like everything that it does in terms of the live service stuff, (0:15:31) Al: I just want that on a switch with controls rather than the, no, I don’t like the, anyway, whatever. (0:15:36) Micah: Yeah. (0:15:37) Micah: Yep, no, I feel you. (0:15:42) Al: So I too have been playing Mario Wonder. (0:15:45) Al: No finished it, I think in the last episode I said I was nearly done and I just had one level to go. (0:15:51) Al: I have no finished that one. (0:15:54) Micah: Dang, I have not finished it. (0:15:56) Micah: I’m very excited to see that. (0:15:57) Micah: What are your thoughts now that you’ve finished it? (0:15:58) Al: I really love it. I think it is one of the best 2D Mario games they’ve done. I think it’s really good. I think what I think is amazing is see if we had this game and one in every four levels had a wonderful hour. We’d think that was a really cool idea and it was really interesting that they did that. The fact that they’ve done this in every single level and every single level has a different thing that the wonderful (0:15:59) Micah: It’s so good, isn’t it? (0:16:28) Al: flower does. Every single level is incredible. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I also feel like unlike most Marios, I feel like I could figure out most of the secrets myself. So there’s a few that I just didn’t quite get and I had to Google. But with most other (0:16:29) Micah: it’s insane. Yeah, it’s insane. And there’s like multiple methods through the levels to like, it’s just it’s crazy how much detail and love (0:16:58) Al: Mario’s, I’ve been like, I have absolutely no idea how to deal with this here. I don’t know where to go here. And maybe that’s just me getting better at figuring out their secrets. (0:17:07) Al: That’s a possibility. But I’ve just felt like, yeah, it just, and I feel like when I got to the end of the game, I wasn’t hugely far off 100% because it just felt like everything was really fun to continue doing. I like got close to 100% in each world that I did up to like four, and then five and six, I just was like, I just want to finish this now. So I did what I needed to, but I think, yeah, no, I think it was, and I think there are quite a few levels at the end that are like really difficult. And they’re not like, you know, Mario, Mario maker difficult, right? Like they’re not like insane. You have to have like split second reflexes to ever do this, but especially the very last level, (0:17:53) Al: which you know, when you get to it, that one in particular was so frustrating. (0:17:55) Micah: I had… (0:17:58) Al: I, I’m not joking when I say I, it took me 60 lives to get through that game, that level. (0:18:05) Micah: Holy smokes, I had actually read someone had had said that they felt like it was the closest to Mario. (0:18:16) Micah: An official Mario game has come to feeling like a Kaizo Mario game, which if you don’t know, Kaizo Mario games you like, they call them like Iron Man Mario games. (0:18:28) Micah: Like insanely impossible, like super, you know, reflex. (0:18:35) Micah: Heavy like you have to jump with a shell at the right time and then kick off of that shell at the right time so that it hits a wall at the right time and then jump off of that shell after the fact, you know, all of these like really precise movements and things like that. (0:18:51) Micah: And they said, well, it’s not a Kaizo Mario level. (0:18:51) Al: Yeah, there definitely are a few levels like that. I understand there are people who are like, “I want more like that,” and that’s fair. But yeah, I certainly think there are some levels in this that are some of the hardest that have ever been in a Mario game. So yeah, (0:18:54) Micah: It is the closest that a core Mario game has come to feeling like a Kaizo game. (0:19:09) Micah: Yeah. It’s really fun. (0:19:12) Al: I really, really enjoyed it. I think it was fantastic. Yeah. (0:19:15) Micah: It’s such a I was and I was really kind of like on the fence about the the the theme or like the aesthetic of it being like, you know, I don’t know, LSD induced, whatever is happening, whatever. Yeah, whatever hallucinogenic effects these. (0:19:30) Al: Yeah, I was thinking more magic mushrooms, but yeah, sure. (0:19:39) Micah: Wonder flowers have on these wonder seeds have on everybody. (0:19:43) Micah: I was a little bit on the fence of like, OK, I don’t know if I’m, you know, elephant Mario and whatever. And it just felt a little too wacky, maybe to when I first saw the like trailer for it and stuff. Obviously, it still looked good. (0:19:59) Micah: I was still interested in it. I’m happy that didn’t like deter me from it at all because it’s it’s awesome. It’s such a good Mario game. (0:20:07) Micah: and that like aesthetic is… (0:20:09) Micah: It’s really well done throughout the game without feeling overly wacky or whatever. (0:20:13) Al: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s been a really good year for games because I also have been playing Spider-Man 2 and I’ve been loving that. It’s a great game. I feel like I think I’m like 80% through the main story, but there’s still quite a lot of side stuff that I need to do. But I’m at the point where I’m like, I just need to like finish, I need to main line the story, finish that before I tidy everything up. (0:20:17) Micah: They’re killing it with Mario lately, huh? (0:20:28) Micah: Yeah? (0:20:46) Micah: I don’t know too much about what’s going on in Spider-Man 2, but from what I understand it’s both Peter Parker and Miles Morales and… (0:20:56) Micah: Okay. (0:20:56) Micah: Are you like swapping between them? (0:20:56) Al: So the first game was… Yeah, so the first game was Peter Parker and then there was a Miles Morales game where Peter goes on holiday, and that’s the explanation as to why you’re just Miles. Okay, fine, sure, whatever. So what you can do is there are specific things that need to be done by one Spider-Man. So obviously, the storyline with Miles’ mum has to happen with Miles, right? (0:20:59) Micah: Right. And then there was a Miles Morales game, right? (0:21:04) Micah: Okay. (0:21:08) Micah: Got it. (0:21:10) Micah: He needs a break. (0:21:24) Al: It doesn’t make any sense for it to be Peter. (0:21:25) Micah: Right. Right. (0:21:26) Al: And the stuff with Mary Jane has to be done with Peter, it can’t be done with Miles. (0:21:30) Al: And there’s like a few kind of like side stuff, like there’s one of the like collectibles thing is to do with Peter’s job, and one of them is to do with Miles’ uncle, (0:21:43) Al: and so those obviously need to be done with that Spider-Man. But other than that… (0:21:46) Micah: can’t be with Peter’s uncle but is that am I allowed to say that I don’t know I’m allowed to say (0:21:55) Al: Wow. (0:21:56) Al: Oh, my, but other than that, you can just freely switch between the Spider-Man. (0:22:06) Al: So you’re just floating around and you can just pause the game and press square and switch to the other one and they’ll pop in and you can do whatever you want. (0:22:14) Al: So I have generally just been going through the game because obviously the story switches you between them for different parts of the story. (0:22:21) Al: So I’ve just kind of continued with whatever (0:22:23) Al: and they’ve dropped me in on until they then switch me. (0:22:26) Al: Just because I felt like that’s the way that kind of felt most natural to me. (0:22:30) Al: But it’s been quite enjoyable doing that. (0:22:34) Al: Obviously, they have different powers. (0:22:36) Al: They’re not exactly the same. (0:22:38) Al: And they do some things that I’m not going to spoil to kind of level Peter up. (0:22:43) Al: Because obviously, Miles has his electricity powers, (0:22:47) Al: which makes him objectively better than Peter. (0:22:51) Micah: Oh, I didn’t even know that was a thing. (0:22:52) Al: Oh, do you not know this? (0:22:53) Al: this. Yeah, so miles can go invisible, first of all. (0:22:54) Micah: What? (0:22:56) Al: You don’t know this! Yeah, oh my word. There’s so much Spider-Man lore you don’t know. So miles can go invisible, but he also has electricity powers, so he can zap people and stuff like that, which Peter obviously doesn’t have. But those powers, one from a different reality. (0:22:58) Micah: I didn’t know this. (0:22:59) Micah: No. (0:23:10) Micah: What kind of spider did that come from? Sorry, never. (0:23:13) Micah: Oh, okay, well. (0:23:16) Al: No, I’m not even joking. That’s serious. Anyway, not important. How far deep do we need to (0:23:19) Micah: Yeah, I can see that. (0:23:26) Al: go with this? But that makes him objectively better to play as than Peter Parker. So they have had to do something to level up Peter Parker. And I’m not gonna say what that is, (0:23:39) Al: but they do it, and it feels great. Like, you don’t feel like you need to be miles. (0:23:44) Al: It doesn’t feel like he’s automatically better than miles. I think they’ve balanced it really well. So you feel like you can be either of them. And it will be interesting to see whether (0:23:57) Al: those powers continue on to the next game. I’ll be interested to see what they do then, (0:24:02) Al: but it’s been good fun. (0:24:02) Micah: I maybe this is what I thought I don’t know how I would know this is a spoiler but I thought I had seen me and maybe I’m like crossing the wires between other something else Spider-Man but this does Peter is like the was it the symbiote or whatever not in the that yeah like Venom’s like doesn’t just does Peter get because there’s like a symbiote suit for (0:24:23) Al: Venom. (0:24:25) Al: Venom is in this game. (0:24:32) Micah: isn’t there like in in Spider-Man lore I don’t know I don’t know is it I thought I like I thought this was in the trailer but also I don’t know for sure okay because that’s a thing that’s existed in Spider-Man lore for like a while right is that at some point Spider-Man has like a symbiote like suit right I don’t know okay all right we can cut all this out (0:24:34) Al: All right, so we’re just fully smiling this, then, are we? (0:24:42) Al: I mean, well, Venom is in the trailer, sure, (0:24:46) Al: but it doesn’t really talk about what that means. (0:24:56) Al: Yeah, I don’t want to say too much. I don’t want to say too much. I mean, people who know a lot of Spider-Man lore are going to be able to predict a lot of this story, right? Like, (0:25:03) Micah: I don’t know how to spoil anything but okay sure yeah (0:25:08) Al: it’s not fresh and new, but it’s still fun to do. And, you know, I think a lot of people don’t aren’t that deep into Spider-Man lore. What I will say is one really annoying thing. (0:25:19) Al: So yeah, Venom’s in this game. Do you know what Miles’ electricity powers are called? (0:25:22) Micah: electricity powers? (0:25:23) Al: No, they’re called venom. (0:25:24) Micah: Wait, what? (0:25:27) Al: He calls them venom! His venom powers! I don’t know why! (0:25:28) Micah: I’m confused. Wait, why does he… (0:25:31) Micah: Oh, that’s weird. (0:25:34) Al: So there’s two venoms in this game and it’s driving me insane. (0:25:36) Micah: What a weird decision. (0:25:39) Al: Also, my other annoyance with this game, right? I love the game, but my other annoyance is they just refer to each other as Spider-Man. (0:25:50) Al: So you’ll be like “Oh, hey Spider-Man, oh hey Spider-Man!” So they’re constantly just referring to Spider-Man when they’re talking. (0:25:56) Al: It’s worse because the subtitles will say “Spider-Man is saying this” so it’ll say “Spider-Man colon” and then what he says. (0:26:00) Micah: No way! (0:26:02) Al: But you’re like “Which one?” But they try and deal with that by having a little face, right? So there’s two little faces, right? (0:26:02) Micah: Oh, I see. (0:26:08) Al: But it’s of the mask. But the problem is, do you know what the masks are? The masks are red and black or black and red. (0:26:09) Micah: They’re both wearing a mask. (0:26:12) Micah: Okay. (0:26:15) Al: And these are teeny tiny little images on a 40-inch screen 12 feet away from me. (0:26:23) Al: I can’t figure out which one it is, it’s dre- (0:26:25) Micah: Yeah, this seems like an oversight a little bit (0:26:26) Al: It’s real bad! And I’ve turned the subtitle size up to max, because I like reading subtitles. (0:26:37) Al: It helps me understand what’s- But the picture’s still tiny! Why is the picture so tiny? And also, (0:26:40) Micah: ID too, same boat (0:26:44) Al: you change their suits, right? Nobody stays in the default suits in this game. That’s part of the fun of it, is changing your suits. So I needed to- Part of my problem is that I always- I have a very (0:26:56) Al: specific aesthetic of Spider-Man suit that I like, but I can’t put them both in the same aesthetic, (0:27:01) Al: because then I can’t figure out whose is who. So I’ve had to do like- So I have to decide that this is the colour for Peter, and this is the colour for Miles, and I’ve had to kind of stick with that, (0:27:11) Al: so that I can tell them apart on screen. I know, I know. But it’s- But it is really fun. It’s a really fun game. It has done the same thing, in my opinion, for Spider-Man. (0:27:13) Micah: What a nightmare. (0:27:26) Al: Spider-Man games, that Tears of the Kingdom did for Zelda games. I think it’s done- It has taken a game and done what you think is basically the same thing, but then layered so much more on top of it that it feels so good. (0:27:41) Micah: Yeah, huh It looks really good. I didn’t it seems like the reaction to it has been very good. I just saw today I saw it tick-tock that was somebody saying like I Don’t care what you say Miles and Morales and Peter Parker are my friends. They’re real people. They’re my friends They’re we’re we’re best friends. They’re the boys like And I think you know just saying that like the characters are done so well that it feels like they’re you know (0:28:11) Micah: um but I Not knowing really much about spider-man There is a part of me that wants to play it purely out of like seeing how much Like open world traversal there is for like I’m a big sucker for when there’s like true to life in-game recreations of like real locations So like being able to traverse New York City, I feel like would be (0:28:42) Micah: very fun, even if it’s just I Have not no I Uh Not no, not really that I can remember I mean I do I’ve seen people play them and I’ve seen like, you know, there’s a Again on tick-tock. There’s like occasionally I’ll see a tick-tock live of somebody. That’s just like No camera or anything. It’s just their their gameplay of them Swinging as spider-man and I’m assuming the like previous one but it. (0:28:43) Al: So if you don’t play any Spider-Man game, even like the early 2000s ones or anything, (0:28:50) Al: the Tobey Maguire tie-in film ones, no, that’s fine. (0:29:06) Al: Yeah. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s absolutely incredible, Michael. There’s no traversal in another game that is as fun as this, and they added extra stuff on to what the games had before to make it even more… You have a wingsuit now, so you can fly. So you can swing and swing and go high, and then you fly in your wingsuit, and you can… You’re gliding, right? You’re not flying, (0:29:36) Al: ages. And there’s slip streams around the city, so you can go so fast through the city if you catch the right slip stream, and they’ve added in a bunch of stuff. You can surf on the water for a short period of time and then jump back up and stuff like that. There’s so much in… It’s so fun. (0:30:00) Al: It’s just incredible. And there’s also stuff like you might have seen… Have you you haven’t seen any of the NPC conversations. (0:30:06) Al: There’s like full-on full-on 10, 15, 20 minute conversations that these NPCs have. (0:30:07) Micah: I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the NPC stuff or like (0:30:17) Micah: Oh, like, not like cutscenes, it’s just like listening to people. (0:30:18) Al: If you like just drop down onto the street, no, if you just drop down and there’s two people talking, they will have a full-on conversation for 15 minutes about the most random stuff. (0:30:29) Al: But it makes sense. (0:30:30) Al: It’s incredible. (0:30:31) Al: Like there was there’s ones that I’ve seen which is like, you know, people who were on a work site and they were complaining about their boss. (0:30:36) Al: And then there were people who were talking about like their children and then there’s just so many and it’s wild. (0:30:43) Al: I cannot imagine like it just feels like they’ve gotten in some voice actors and said riff on this and they’ve just spent 20 minutes talking about it. (0:30:50) Micah: Yeah, I can imagine that would be the best way to do that too is to just have people like That’s awesome Who’s the is it rocksteady as a developer Oh insomniac, okay (0:30:51) Al: But it’s incredible. (0:30:52) Al: Yeah. (0:30:54) Al: But they’re everywhere. (0:30:57) Al: I don’t understand how they’ve done it. (0:30:59) Al: It’s like so much. (0:31:01) Al: It’s not. (0:31:02) Al: It’s Insomniac. (0:31:06) Al: It’s incredible. (0:31:07) Al: And it’s also they’re doing a Wolverine game as well coming out in a we don’t know when but presumably like five years or something like that. (0:31:10) Micah: Oh, okay, cool. (0:31:12) Micah: Yeah. (0:31:13) Al: Who knows. (0:31:14) Al: It’s made me really excited for that because like I’m just yeah. (0:31:17) Al: Well I say so yeah having so much fun. (0:31:19) Al: And we probably don’t need to get into a huge conversation about this but also been playing the watermelon games. (0:31:26) Al: It’s a week out game or whatever they call it. (0:31:26) Micah: Yep. I think everybody at least has touched it at some point or see. (0:31:28) Al: It’s been good. (0:31:32) Al: If you haven’t played it. (0:31:33) Al: If you haven’t seen it go play it. (0:31:34) Al: Go watch a video of it. (0:31:36) Micah: And it’s like, what’d you say? $2? (0:31:37) Al: Yeah. (0:31:38) Al: Something like that. (0:31:38) Micah: I bought it when I was on the Japanese eShop. (0:31:39) Al: A thousand yen or something. (0:31:40) Micah: So it was like, I don’t know. (0:31:43) Micah: Yeah, it was like 200 yen or something. (0:31:43) Al: I do even know is what that means. (0:31:45) Al: Yep. (0:31:46) Micah: Yeah. (0:31:47) Micah: It was– yeah, it’s very cheap. (0:31:48) Al: Yeah it’s very cheap and loads of fun. (0:31:50) Micah: It’s like $2 on the– (0:31:54) Al: I like I play a couple of times a day. (0:31:56) Al: It’s good fun. (0:31:58) Al: Oh this is. (0:31:58) Micah: very good. Yeah, we there’s not a whole lot to say about watermelon. You drop you drop fruits into a bucket and they combine if you match them and just don’t overflow the bucket and that’s it. Yeah. It reminds me of there’s some like old arcade game I can’t remember what it was where you’d like shoot balls at each other and if you hit the same color balls then they would combine into like. (0:32:01) Al: We talk a little. (0:32:07) Al: Yeah. (0:32:10) Al: It’s like physics version of Candy Crush or whatever. (0:32:15) Al: Or marriage was the marriage marriage games. (0:32:27) Al: Yeah, I think there’s a few, yeah, there’s a few different games that have done this similar sort of thing. (0:32:28) Micah: a different color and it was like that same. (0:32:31) Micah: Yeah. (0:32:34) Al: This just does it really nicely and the physics aspect of it changes the game entirely because like you drop one and it bounces off stuff and you don’t know for certain where it’s going to go. (0:32:45) Al: So it adds a little bit of, you know, just randomness to that as well, which is fun. (0:32:49) Al: Oh my God, this isn’t going to be a short episode, is it? (0:32:51) Micah: No, I guess not. (0:32:52) Al: We’re going to talk about some news after half an hour. (0:32:56) Al: Um (0:32:57) Al: So, first of all we get Disney Dreamlight Valley. Um, so before we get into the brand new news about this, I just need to talk to you Micah. So, had you seen that the game’s no longer going to be free to play? (0:33:08) Micah: I did. You are actually not the only person to have reached out to me after the news dropped to ask me how I felt about it. Well, I mean, I feel like, you know, if I had to pay for it, (0:33:09) Al: How do you feel? (0:33:25) Micah: then everybody else should. I’m just kidding. It’s kind of a weird move to like start something and say like it’s free to play because usually it’s the other it’s the other way around right like something is paid for it’s like a paid experience and then eventually when it’s not performing the way that they want it to anymore then they move it to free to play like that’s usually the way it goes not the other way around where it starts free to play and they’re like actually you know what we’re gonna charge money for this kind of a weird thing but (0:33:30) Al: Justice! (0:33:30) Al: Or it’s going to be free to play, yeah. (0:33:55) Al: Yeah. Well, it’s also a bit weird because it never was and isn’t going to be now free to play. The weird thing is it’s not gone free to play too paid. It’s gone from paid but we’ll be free to play to actually, no, we’re not going to be free to play. (0:34:13) Micah: Yeah, yes, like free to play, but you have to pay for, like, (0:34:17) Micah: stuff to get access to it anyways, like. (0:34:22) Al: It’s wild, it’s weird, it’s weird, but anyway. (0:34:22) Micah: Yeah, it is a weird thing. (0:34:25) Micah: I don’t I don’t really know how I feel. (0:34:30) Micah: Other than that, like it’s it seems like a weird choice for them. (0:34:34) Micah: I now my concern is, are they going to charge me (0:34:34) Al: I mean you must be less frustrated about buying it now. So they’re not. So I guess what I should say, just a quick summary for people who haven’t listened. So the game is going to come out of Early Access on the 5th of December. There will be a new update at that point. We got more details about that. (0:34:42) Micah: again for the actual (0:34:43) Micah: game since everything that I bought was like basically cosmetic stuff and currency will there be an actual okay, all right good (0:35:04) Al: last week, so I’ll detail. We’ll go over that in a minute. But your early access will continue on. And in fact, you will get extra stuff because you were early access. So you will you get like there’s a few extra cosmetics, including you get capybara. So, you know, (0:35:16) Micah: Oh. Okay. (0:35:24) Micah: Oh Now I’m not upset at all I was a little bit upset but now I’m not Yeah I’m not like opposed to that, but I’m curious to see the I know we have a roadmap that we’re gonna look at But I’m curious to see how frequent paid is gonna come into play because that can kind of (0:35:27) Al: here we go. But, but, but. (0:35:34) Al: they are doing paid DLCs, which will (0:35:46) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So a couple small things first. So first of all, the soundtrack for Disney Dreaming Valley is out. You can go get, go stream it or buy it now. So that’s, that’s a thing. I feel like it’s a pretty standard thing for games now. Except Pokemon games. (0:36:03) Micah: That’s also interesting thing, because I don’t know. (0:36:07) Micah: That’s not like, you know. (0:36:10) Micah: Yeah, I suppose so. (0:36:12) Micah: I feel like the standard thing is like, they’re available, (0:36:16) Micah: or like you get the soundtrack with the game or something and not, you know, like, the soundtrack’s out and you can buy it if you want. (0:36:23) Micah: I don’t know, maybe that’s. (0:36:25) Micah: And I don’t know that there was anything really like distinct about the Dreamlight Valley soundtrack that had me like, (0:36:30) Al: No, no, it’s no, it’s no Stardew Valley soundtrack. (0:36:31) Micah: Oh, I got to get this. (0:36:33) Micah: But I don’t know, yeah, that on the other hand outpaid over and over for that. (0:36:36) Al: So the 5th of December update, the 1.0 update, if you will, has been detailed a little bit. (0:36:48) Al: So Jack Skellington will be coming. (0:36:49) Al: Weird that this is coming. (0:36:51) Al: I mean, I guess maybe it makes sense it’s coming between Halloween and Christmas, but I feel like why isn’t this out just before Halloween? (0:36:57) Al: I don’t know. (0:36:58) Micah: You know, I just had this conversation about Nightmare Before Christmas with someone that I work with who said that Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie and not a Halloween movie and I argued that it’s both. (0:37:12) Al: It’s both. It’s, of course, it’s both, right? (0:37:14) Micah: But then there were other people that agreed with them that said, yeah, it’s more of a Christmas movie than it is a Halloween movie, which like, it’s actually both. (0:37:15) Al: And it… (0:37:16) Al: No. (0:37:18) Al: It’s literally both. (0:37:22) Al: It’s literally both. (0:37:24) Al: This is not a diehard thing, and I’m not going to have that argument, (0:37:27) Al: because my argument about a diehard is, “I don’t care, shut up.” Right? (0:37:31) Al: But, like, this is not… This is literally half Halloween, half Christmas. (0:37:32) Micah: No, this is explicitly bold. (0:37:35) Micah: Yes. (0:37:37) Al: It’s about both holidays. (0:37:40) Al: It just seems like people… (0:37:40) Micah: Thank you, I feel vindicated. (0:37:42) Al: People feel this need to categorise things so that they feel they can watch it at Christmas, right? (0:37:48) Al: And it’s like, you can watch it at Christmas, you can watch it at Halloween. (0:37:53) Al: It’s both. I mean, you can watch it whenever you want, but like, no one’s going to look at it… (0:37:53) Micah: You can watch it whenever you want. Yeah. (0:37:59) Al: I watched it on… I hadn’t watched Nightmare before Christmas, before this year. (0:38:04) Micah: Oh, really? (0:38:05) Micah: Thoughts? (0:38:05) Al: Just hadn’t got around to it, so I watched it a few days before Halloween. Really liked it. (0:38:09) Al: liked it. It was good fun. Good say. I mean, (0:38:12) Al: some of the songs are incredible. It starts out particularly well. Like it’s like comes out of the gate crashing. Like I’m a, it’s really good. Very weird. I enjoyed it. Anyway. (0:38:25) Al: Uh, yeah. So Jax Galton coming to Disney Dreamlight Valley and also multiplayer. So if you really want multiplayer, I’m not going to play multiplayer. Don’t make me play multiplayer. But if you (0:38:36) Micah: I can’t imagine the multiplayer being super smooth based on the gameplay, but I don’t know, maybe. (0:38:45) Al: I feel like it’s going to be basically Animal Crossing multiplayer, like it’s not going to be like Stardew Valley multiplayer or anything like that, it’s going to be visiting someone’s village to see what they’ve done. (0:38:47) Micah: I don’t know. (0:38:49) Micah: Yeah, yeah, that probably. (0:38:54) Micah: Well, because there’s, I mean, they say in the, what’s the wording for that? (0:39:04) Al: enter the valley verse with your friends. Maybe that’s a special place then. (0:39:07) Micah: » See, when I had originally read it, I thought maybe that it was like interacting with Jack Skellington in the Valleyverse with your friends, (0:39:18) Micah: as if you can do whatever that story content is with them, but maybe I just read that (0:39:27) Al: So this update also introduces the highly anticipated multiplayer mode, allowing you and up to three friends to visit each other’s valleys. (0:39:34) Al: Oh, there you go, visit each other’s valleys. (0:39:36) Micah: Okay, yeah. (0:39:36) Al: From showing off your eye for design to checking ScroogeMcDuck’s stock in another v- It’s Animal Crossing. (0:39:38) Micah: Next. (0:39:39) Micah: Yep. (0:39:43) Micah: Okay. (0:39:45) Micah: That I can see a little bit more than like, (0:39:47) Micah: ‘cause when I’d read it, I thought it was, you know, (0:39:50) Micah: you could do story content with your friends, (0:39:52) Micah: and that to me felt like that would be a very not smooth experience. (0:39:56) Al: Yeah, that, yeah. (0:39:57) Micah: But if it’s just like, come check out my valley, (0:39:58) Al: Perhaps more exciting is the fact that the multiplayer mode would continue to evolve over time as new ways to interact with your friends are added in future updates. (0:40:08) Al: Okay, well we’ll deal with them when they come, but yeah, basically the launch version is basically what Animal Crossing does. (0:40:09) Micah: Hmm Yeah when they’re on a When they’re on a content roadmap, then we’ll look at it (0:40:15) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, give us the give us the details. (0:40:22) Al: So then we’ve had more information about the paid DLC so (0:40:26) Al: we’ve got a content roadmap with a lot of stuff in this. I’ll link this in the show notes so you can go have a look at it but we have detailed five free updates and three I’m pretty sure three of the same paid DLC updates so this is I think one pack that you pay for and you get these three updates I don’t think these are three separate paid things because it’s all part of one One story, basically. (0:40:50) Micah: Hmm, okay Oh sure (0:40:57) Al: So this paid expansion, which is called a Rift in Time, you visit a place called Eternity Isle, (0:41:05) Al: and you meet Rapunzel, Gaston, and Eve, and go through some adventures with them. And then the spring 2024 says, explore ancient’s landing to uncover more of its secrets and befriend a very lucky villager and you also see (0:41:26) Al: in that picture Gaston, Eve and Rapunzel and then it says some (0:41:29) Micah: Mm-hmm Who do you think the very lucky villagers I? (0:41:34) Micah: Couldn’t figure out from that. I don’t have enough Disney knowledge to based on whatever that door is to maybe look (0:41:41) Al: I don’t know and then summer 2024 it says foil Jafar’s schemes and fix the rift in time so that feels to me like three parts of this one paid day. (0:41:54) Micah: Yeah, that makes complete sense, I think. (0:41:58) Micah: I think that you’re totally right. (0:42:00) Al: Yes, yes, so Jafar being very clearly, he’s the big baddie of this DLC, and that’s interesting. (0:42:00) Micah: And obviously, introduction of Aladdin characters (0:42:13) Al: Interesting that Jafar is the first Aladdin (0:42:15) Micah: And also that it’s not like sticking to one series, like one movie. (0:42:22) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:42:24) Micah: It’s like Rapunzel, Gaston, Eve versus Jafar. (0:42:28) Micah: It’s not like. (0:42:29) Al: And one other character, one other person that we don’t know who yet, like wild. (0:42:30) Micah: And yeah, a mystery character. (0:42:37) Al: Oh, yeah, actually, it does say so in these mysterious lands, you will embark on a new main story involving Jafar and the very fabric of time itself taking place across three acts all included in the expansion purchase. (0:42:49) Al: confirmation that those three updates between. (0:42:52) Al: December and summer will be the one purchase, which is thirty dollars, I think. (0:42:57) Micah: It’s not too bad if it’s like a yearly thing, like a yearly expansion purchase or like even, (0:42:59) Al: It’s not it does seem yeah. (0:43:06) Micah: you know, half a year or whatever, which it seems like that probably they’re doing here December 5th to summer 2024. (0:43:15) Micah: It’s like a six month, six months of content for like 30 bucks. (0:43:20) Micah: I guess that’s not too bad. (0:43:22) Al: It’s not terrible. It’s not terrible. We’ll see how it… And I think on top of that they are then obviously doing these other free updates. So obviously we’ve got the the 1.0 release in December which gives you Jack Skellington and the multiplayer and then late winter. It says 2024. It’s a very confusing saying winter 2024. What it means is January or February, right? (0:43:39) Micah: which yeah of 2024 yet. (0:43:46) Al: Yeah, it was just like don’t word it like that. Like this is just whatever. (0:43:52) Al: That is obviously some monster ink related stuff. We’ve got Mike Wazowski and it says scream with excitement as a new realm door opens. And then we’ve got early spring 2024, (0:44:04) Al: a vibrant new villager moves to the valley. I have no idea who… (0:44:07) Micah: Don’t either I was trying to figure that out, but it there’s like there’s like a daisy duck on the front on the like Mast of that ship and I don’t know what that I don’t know if this is like a again, not sure I have the Disney knowledge to know what that’s from but I’m sure it’s from some specific Mickey Mouse movie or you know (0:44:15) Al: Oh yeah, interesting. (0:44:32) Micah: episode or whatever something I’m sure it’s from something really (0:44:32) Al: They’re getting very vague at this point, realistically, right? Because then we’ve got late spring 2024 and it just says, “You don’t find a realm like this every dynasty.” And you’re like, “Oh, for goodness sake, where are we going with this? My word.” Like, someone will know this because there’s some insane fan who knows everything based on… I don’t I don’t know. (0:44:44) Micah: Which like, (0:44:46) Micah: I feel like that’s Mulan. (0:44:53) Micah: Is that not based on the word dynasty? (0:44:57) Micah: I don’t know. (0:45:02) Micah: I feel like that that’s probably Mulan, (0:45:02) Al: Do the flowers relate to that? Like, there’s flowers coming out the door? (0:45:05) Micah: but they’re just doing like, they’re, (0:45:11) Al: I feel like a Taylor Swift fan right now. And then we’ve got… (0:45:18) Micah: ‘Cause the Mulan is set in the northern Wei Dynasty. (0:45:19) Al: Yeah. (0:45:24) Micah: So I don’t know. I don’t know. (0:45:28) Al: And then we’ve got summer 2024, which that’s the princess and the frog. (0:45:32) Al: Right. That picture is the, I can’t remember her name. (0:45:33) Micah: yes. Uh, shoot. I forgot. Tiana. I think maybe, I don’t know what those are, maybe Benet’s, (0:45:35) Al: I’ve never seen it. (0:45:36) Al: Who’s the princess name from Princess and the Frog? (0:45:39) Al: Ba ba ba ba. Tiana. (0:45:42) Al: Good timing there. (0:45:44) Al: Both Googling at the same time. (0:45:51) Micah: which I like the, um, that like French. (0:45:55) Al: the French pastry thing. I think a lot of French stuff is pastry. (0:45:59) Micah: But it’s also like, it’s like a fritter, but it’s like a (0:46:12) Al: So that’s five updates, five free updates in the same time that we’re getting the three parts of the one paid DLC. (0:46:21) Al: So what I do have one small issue still that with this not free to play thing and and having paid DLC is that they’re still going to have their in game currency that you have to pay for as well, which just like you can buy the game, you can buy the DLC and you can also by around the world. (0:46:42) Al: And it just feels like they’re, you know, double dipping there. (0:46:52) Micah: Yeah, I don’t know. I I guess it my first thought was that it feels similar to like I don’t know like destiny or something where it’s like you have a Like expansion that you pay for and then they do like Event stuff throughout that like season quote-unquote like expansion season or it’s free stuff And you have to like still buy the main game and then the expansions (0:47:22) Micah: So like there is precedent for it It just is a really weird move to go from like it’s gonna be free to play - (0:47:30) Micah: It’s not free to play also We’re gonna charge you for it But also there’s gonna be paid expansions for it - like it’s like doubling down on charging for it like Interesting choice, but Especially interesting considering that I don’t feel like it’s a very like widely talked about game I feel like the fan base is… (0:47:52) Micah: …not massive for Dreamlight Valley. (0:47:53) Al: Yeah, I mean, let’s see, like, a lot of that may well be due to being early access, right? (0:47:54) Micah: So it seems like a weird move to like… (0:48:02) Al: And let’s see what happens over the next couple of months, right? Like, there might be a massive push for it, like, you never know what. (0:48:08) Micah: Yeah, I didn’t realize that Gameloft was the developer for it, they are also the developer for Speedstorm, so they must, I don’t know, maybe Disney is just buying them out or something. (0:48:23) Al: Well yeah, I think they’re still doing a lot of other stuff. But it’s interesting that they kept free to play with Speedstorm, and they’ve not done it with this. Well yeah, but it’s out of early access, and it is free to play. Disney Dreamlight Valley has not been, and

Al and Kelly talk about Pumpkin panic Join Al and Kelly in a quick journey through the world of cottagecore gaming. They share their experiences with “Pumpkin Panic,” discuss recent news, and leave you feeling cozy and inspired. Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:00: What Have We Been Up To 00:13:42: News 00:55:48: Pumpkin Panic 01:24:30: Outro Links Disney Dreamlight Valley Leaves Early Access Spirittea Release Len’s Island Roadmap Updated Moonstone Island Updated and DLC Released Stardew Valley Horseradish Juice Echoes of the Plum Grove Steam Page Echoes of the Plum Grove Kickstarter Pumpkin Panic Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:36) Al: My name is Al, and we’re here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:37) Kelly: And my name is Kelly. (0:00:38) Kelly: Woo! (0:00:43) Al: Two weeks in a row Kelly, what’s happening here? (0:00:50) Kelly: I know. It’s even funny because Kevin brought it up. I did last year’s Halloween. (0:00:56) Kelly: Which I totally forgot. Because I totally forgot Cult of the Lamb came out last year. (0:00:56) Al: Yes. That was last year, my word, wild. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I mean, why not? But hey, I’m on, I think this is, is this my first Halloween ep? No, no, I was on one with Rochelle, the original Graveyard Keeper one, I think, I was on. But I hadn’t played the game, so Rochelle I was basically just telling me. (0:01:01) Kelly: Yeah. It’s just my season. I don’t know what to say. (0:01:18) Kelly: I was gonna say Kevin brought that up last time actually, yeah. (0:01:22) Kelly: Okay. (0:01:24) Kelly: Well, welcome to your own podcast Halloween episode. (0:01:26) Al: about it and I was asking questions, but I think I’ve not been on any of the other Halloween episodes. So I’m here. Yay. Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us, Kelly. It’s good to talk to you again, even if Kevin did steal you from me for the last week. This one has been organized for much longer. Much longer. Yeah. Yeah. We have had a bunch of different ideas for last week and none of them were really like enough. (0:01:43) Kelly: Of course, thank you. (0:01:45) Kelly: I will say we planned this one. Yes. Last week was very impromptu. This is very much so planned. (0:02:01) Al: And there was a point where Kevin was like, I can’t do the recording time we have. And I’m like, well, I’m traveling the rest of the time. So so he kicked me off. He kicked me off my own podcast and and brought you on instead. So thank you very much for that. (0:02:16) Kelly: Always a pleasure. I did have to do a little, like, briefing on it though, because I hadn’t played Graveyard Keeper in, like, a year, and I was like, “Oh, what is this game again?” (0:02:19) Al: Oh, yes. Fair enough. (0:02:26) Al: Well, we don’t have that problem with this week’s game because it’s incredibly quick to play some of it and get a very good idea of what this game is. So this episode, we’re going to talk about pumpkin panic. And we’ll have lots to say about that later on in the episode. But yes, we’re going to talk about that just to mention that transcripts are available for the podcast in the show notes and on the website. So if you need that, that’s (0:02:57) Al: OK. Before we talk about pumpkin panic, we’re going to talk about the news. But first of all, Kelly, what have you been up to? (0:03:02) Kelly: I have been playing, I actually just finished this morning, I started playing the cosmic wheel of sisterhood. (0:03:16) Kelly: So this is an interactive story game where you play as a witch who has been banished from her coven, and you are kind of trying to make your way back. (0:03:32) Kelly: You play into your coven and you create tarot cards and you read the tarot cards to kind of create the gameplay in the world. (0:03:45) Kelly: And you have visitors. (0:03:48) Kelly: So I am not always great at story games because as much as I love reading, I also get very frustrated at a lot of stories in games. (0:03:53) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:03:58) Kelly: And I thought this, they did this so good. (0:04:01) Kelly: I thought it was so much fun. (0:04:02) Kelly: Because you’re so hands-on with it. (0:04:03) Al: This seems a little bit more involved than a standard visual novel. (0:04:12) Al: Is it just mainly the one minigame that I’m seeing on this Steam page? (0:04:16) Kelly: Um, what is… what is… (0:04:18) Kelly: Um, kind of. So that’s like… (0:04:18) Al: with making the cards. (0:04:22) Kelly: You have that, you can do like there’s interactive stories within the story. (0:04:27) Kelly: Um, so there’s like different… I wouldn’t call them mini-games, but like the interactions are the rest of it. (0:04:33) Al: Right, OK. (0:04:33) Kelly: Um, and… (0:04:34) Al: But it’s not it’s not just like click a button and see the next. (0:04:36) Kelly: You kind of… like obviously… (0:04:40) Kelly: No, no, no, no. Yeah, there’s definitely… (0:04:42) Al: Here’s one choice sort of thing, right? (0:04:46) Kelly: You make the choices as to what you’re gonna do, who you would mite over to your little house. (0:04:50) Kelly: Um, and then… (0:04:53) Kelly: Even when you pull a tarot card, you have the choice as to how to explain the card. (0:04:57) Kelly: So, there is a lot of, um, leeway into how the interactions go and how the story itself is gonna go. (0:05:05) Kelly: So like I did a run, and I can do a totally different run next time. (0:05:06) Al: Okay. All right. (0:05:11) Kelly: So you do have you really do like you kind of write the story yourself as much as you can for you know (0:05:19) Al: It has very positive reviews on Steam, it has over a thousand. (0:05:23) Kelly: demo. There’s a demo which I would highly suggest playing because that’s definitely what I did and once I finished the demo I immediately bought the game and all of your stuff transfers over which is so nice because I hate when you start a demo especially for a game like this and you got to start it over. But yeah I thought it was like a very nice little like casual gameplay but like still very interesting. And like kind of emotional. (0:05:53) Al: Shocking when they make you feel things. How dare they? (0:05:53) Kelly: Right? What have you been up to, Al? (0:05:56) Al: Well, speaking of making you feeling things, before I get into games, I have watched the new film “Killers of the Flower Moon”. Have you seen… I presume you haven’t seen… (0:06:08) Kelly: I have not seen it yet, however I have owned that book for like a decade or so. (0:06:14) Al: Yeah, mm-hmm (0:06:15) Kelly: My dad bought it years ago. My dad’s a very big like historical novel kind of person and then we actually read it in my book club about two years ago or a year ago. I really enjoyed it. I thought the book was very good. I have not watched the movie yet, but I’ve heard very positive reviews. (0:06:28) Al: » Okay. Yeah. (0:06:38) Kelly: Even from the Native American community about the movie, of course there’s some things that probably could have been done differently, (0:06:45) Kelly: but I think that’s anytime it happens when you’re telling somebody else’s story. (0:06:46) Al: Hmm. I think, yeah, yeah, definitely. I think there’s a lot about the film that is obviously, (0:06:54) Al: you know, there’s some, you know, some racist stuff in the film, right? Obviously. But that’s the sort of thing where it’s like, well, yeah, but you’re talking about a, you know, a racist crime, (0:06:57) Kelly: Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah, you’re telling a story from 1930 or 20 or whatever (0:07:04) Al: right? Like, yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s not, don’t go into expecting a good time. (0:07:15) Kelly: Yeah, and unfortunately I don’t think the story would be accurate if those things are kind of left out because they do play a big role in what’s going on with the story itself. (0:07:16) Al: No, of course. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I enjoyed that. It’s very long. It’s very long. So that’s why I was up really late on Thursday night because of that. (0:07:26) Kelly: But crazy. Yes. (0:07:37) Al: Because I saw the showing started at half seven and like I wasn’t home until quarter past midnight. (0:07:44) Kelly: Wow. Wow. (0:07:44) Al: So. (laughs) (0:07:46) Al: I don’t regret going to see it, it was very good. (0:07:49) Kelly: Which I feel like is such a… it’s such a hard thing to achieve with some of this… (0:07:49) Al: And I don’t think it was… (0:07:51) Al: Like, it doesn’t feel like it was unnecessarily long, right? (0:07:54) Al: Like, I feel like he was doing something with every minute that you had. (0:07:58) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. (0:08:03) Kelly: these stories. Like, I mean, I feel like I didn’t see Oppenheimer, but I feel like that a lot of people talked about that. (0:08:09) Kelly: Feeling kind of like dragged out in a lot of spots. (0:08:12) Al: Interesting. Yeah, I suspect a lot of these things depends on how you feel about quiet moments that make you contemplate. Right. Absolutely. You can’t be talking about a massacre or about, (0:08:21) Kelly: Which I think these stories need those moments. (0:08:24) Kelly: So I don’t see anything wrong with that. (0:08:27) Kelly: Yeah, just on to the next scene. (0:08:30) Al: you know, wiping out of a city without having some moments to make you think, “Wow, that’s bad!” (0:08:40) Al: Exactly, exactly. So it’s quite great. (0:08:42) Al: So I enjoyed it. It was good. I don’t think I’m going to watch it a second time. It’s not like I’m going to watch this film again. But yeah. (0:08:54) Kelly: I will say on that note, the book is also extremely good. I know, Allie, you said you’re probably not going to read it, but if anybody out there is interested, very interesting. (0:09:05) Al: Yeah, people don’t really. Yeah. (0:09:10) Kelly: I think some historical novels can be kind of boring and dragged out because I do read a lot of history. This was very good. This was written in a way that like really you You just, you had to keep going. (0:09:24) Kelly: No matter what. It wasn’t, it wasn’t… (0:09:26) Kelly: Umm, oh my god, what’s his name? (0:09:28) Kelly: The Devil in White City guy, Eric Larson. (0:09:30) Kelly: I like some of his works. They can also be a bit cumbersome. (0:09:31) Al: Yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. I mean, just to make a point of it, like people don’t like when I talk about the fact that I don’t really read books, but I don’t really read books. (0:09:34) Kelly: So I don’t think it was like that. (0:09:47) Al: And it’s not like I read books as a child. And the problem is that I just I struggle because I don’t have like the visual aspect in my brain. Like I’m not I’m not able to see the things that are described. So so much of a book I just kind of skim over. (0:09:53) Kelly: Yes, yeah. (0:10:01) Al: Because it’s like descriptive stuff that doesn’t really mean anything because I can’t see it. (0:10:04) Kelly: Whereas I’m the complete opposite and I see everything in my head and then I get really mad when the movie comes out and skews my perspective on how I envisioned everything. (0:10:05) Al: Um… (0:10:12) Al: Yeah. I always found that hilarious when people were like, “Oh, it’s nothing like what it is in the book. It’s not like what I imagined it.” And I’m like, “What do you mean it’s nothing like what you imagined it?” I don’t understand what you mean by this. And now that I understand that people now make up images in their head, suddenly I understand what they mean now. They’re like, (0:10:22) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:10:32) Kelly: Yep Yep, it’s it’s so funny cuz like my roommate is like you she can’t see anything in her head and I’m like, well What do you what do you mean? What do you how are you living? I don’t understand Well, I am That is the that is the issue Thank you. (0:10:33) Al: “Oh, this isn’t exactly what I had imagined in my head.” (0:10:46) Al: Oh, I’m just like, how do you ever get anything done? Are you not constantly distracted by the things in your head? (0:11:00) Al: So I’ve also played a bunch of games, because I apparently haven’t been on the podcast for multiple episodes. So I have played and finished Sonic Superstars and Mario Wonder, and I have been playing through the new Spider-Man game. That is taking me longer, because just like It’s on my PS5, you have to kind of sit down and deliver. (0:11:16) Al: All those games are great, Sonic Super Star is good, Mario Wonder is fantastic, Spider-Man is fantastic. (0:11:28) Al: Both of those two games did things that I couldn’t, I just wouldn’t have expected what they did. (0:11:36) Al: It’s not just like, oh there are another version of this game, right? (0:11:41) Al: They both do things that are like, this is brand new stuff, really interesting. (0:11:41) Kelly: I think that’s so exciting, especially for the Mario games because I feel like, you know, (0:11:46) Al: That I really, really like. (0:11:48) Al: Yeah. (0:11:50) Al: Yeah. (0:11:52) Kelly: how long has it been? (0:11:52) Al: Yeah. (0:11:53) Kelly: How many games have come out? (0:11:54) Al: Yeah. (0:11:55) Kelly: Like, how do you keep reinventing the wheel? (0:11:56) Al: Yeah, definitely. (0:11:58) Kelly: But it’s still exciting to find out that they can. (0:11:58) Al: Yeah, and I think, I mean I don’t think they need to do that for every single game. (0:12:02) Kelly: No! (0:12:02) Al: Like I enjoyed every game in the new series. (0:12:07) Al: Like they’re all fun, they don’t have to be completely different, they all have new challenges in their different levels. (0:12:13) Al: levels but it is also fun to occasionally get like this is just. (0:12:16) Al: Just a completely different way of thinking and the the Wonderflowers just do just crazy things in the levels that make it just so different. (0:12:26) Al: You know it’s not just like oh here’s a different power-up and the new power-ups are fun as well but it’s not just like oh this one’s a bubble instead of a fire right and that’s that’s fun but it’s not like a radical idea whereas like the Wonderflowers are like what if this was a top-down game instead of a side-scroller and you’re like. (0:12:46) Al: Like what if apparently now we’re doing that you know like I think it’s the weird stuff that they did with that game and it’s like what if the Piranha plant sang you know. (0:12:57) Kelly: Oh my god, I saw the clips of that, they’re so cute! (0:13:02) Al: It’s just like I love the idea of that it’s just brainstorm a hundred and the weird thing is every single level has one right it’s not like this is the sort of thing that you wouldn’t you if if they told you but you’re like oh that’d be fun so like you know it’d be like all the boss battles. (0:13:16) Al: Have them or what like this. (0:13:16) Kelly: That’s cool. That’s very cool. (0:13:18) Al: A couple of levels in every world. (0:13:20) Al: Every single world has one. (0:13:25) Al: So yeah, good fun. (0:13:26) Al: I’ve also been playing Harvest Moon Winds of Anthos because I need to play that. (0:13:32) Al: So I’ll talk about that next week. (0:13:35) Al: I don’t think we need to talk about that just now. (0:13:39) Al: It is what it is. (0:13:40) Al: Cool. (0:13:41) Al: News. Should we talk about some news? (0:13:47) Al: Let’s start with the controversial stuff. (0:13:50) Al: Disney Dreamlight Valley. (0:13:51) Al: Have you played this yet? (0:13:52) Kelly: No, I have not. I think when it first like when they first announced it I was like oh this looks really cute If I’m not playing anything, I’ll probably play it Yes So I don’t think I will be playing Because like free to play You know, I know there’s gonna be some payment stuff, but you can kind of avoid it sometimes (0:14:00) Al: Yeah, were you waiting for it to go free to play? That’s the question. (0:14:04) Al: Yeah, well wait no longer! It is no longer going to be free to play! (0:14:08) Al: I think this is fast, so this is okay, so full context. (0:14:16) Al: Yes, yeah definitely. (0:14:23) Kelly: Or at least you can get an idea of what the game is before you decide to put money into it Yes, sorry jumping ahead (0:14:27) Al: so yeah so let’s okay well let’s put that let’s put the (0:14:30) Al: the discussion of that bit aside let’s let’s get into the actual news of it so the game is leaving early access on the 5th of december so that will be the first full version of the game whatever that means they have announced that it’s not going to be free to play anymore so you will have to to buy it they have also announced that there is going to be a paid dlc coming which they’re going to detail you’ll know more about this when you listen to this episode because they’re going to be saying more about it on the day this episode comes out (0:15:00) Al: that next week as well but they have also said that they are still going to continue to have free content updates so it’s not all going to be paid dlc I think that there are so many different ways to buy this game now it’s weird have you looked at the so in the main link on there they’ve got a list of the new ways to buy the game which is like you can just buy the game for $40 or you you can buy the physical cozy edition. (0:15:26) Kelly: Oh, I saw this. (0:15:30) Al: Which also gives you some stuff and that’s $50 or you can buy the gold edition, which also has more exclusive items and gives you the DLC or you can buy the DLC separately and these purchase options are on top of what the current purchase options are for early access, which you can still do until the 4th of December. (0:15:52) Al: I know it’s so bizarre. (0:15:53) Kelly: I think I got a headache just looking at this earlier. (0:15:58) Kelly: I was like, what is this, a streaming service? (0:16:00) Kelly: What the hell is this? (0:16:00) Al: I think I just it feels like so I think you can you can frame not being free to play as positive and negative right negative obviously a bunch of people who were like yeah I get to play the game without paying for it now don’t get to do that they either have to pay or they don’t get to play the game and that’s really frustrating I get why people would be frustrated by that. (0:16:22) Al: On the other hand obviously we know that free to play games are very manipulative and are very good at sucking. (0:16:26) Kelly: Oh, absolutely, yes. (0:16:28) Kelly: Well, so that’s what I was gonna ask, right? Like they’re not removing microtransactions from the game. (0:16:30) Al: But it’s not like there aren’t going to be ways to pay for things inside the game after you’ve bought it. (0:16:37) Al: No so I it feels like they’re just doing a bit of both worlds which. (0:16:42) Kelly: Yes, they want their cake and they’re gonna have their cake and eat it too kind of thing. (0:16:46) Al: Yeah yeah it’s not not great. (0:16:49) Kelly: And then the the $40 base price is kind of wild. (0:16:52) Al: It does seem let me so let me double check. (0:16:56) Kelly: To go from free-to-play to $40? (0:16:59) Kelly: Oh wait, so if you paid for early access, does that come out of the base? (0:17:00) Al: The early access prices. (0:17:02) Al: Because. (0:17:04) Al: So if you paid for access you have the game now so you don’t have to buy the game again and they’ve also said as a thank you to our early access players all unique cosmetic items included in the upcoming gold edition will be given free of charge to any player who purchases and claims of founders pack in game or on on or before December the 4th no matter the tier. (0:17:30) Kelly: Okay, that’s nice because I think… (0:17:30) Al: And not only that but all founders will also receive 2500 min stones to celebrate this that’s. (0:17:32) Kelly: Okay, that’s nice. (0:17:39) Kelly: Nice. (0:17:41) Al: So let me just double check the prices for… (0:17:47) Al: Yes, so here we are. So there’s three different versions you can buy in Early Access. (0:17:50) Al: Well, this is the thing. This is where it’s wild. So there’s the standard Founders Edition, (0:17:51) Kelly: Oh my god. But how many tears? (0:18:01) Al: which is the Early Access to Dreamland Valley plus 8,000 Moonstones plus a bunch of exclusive stuff, (0:18:08) Al: and that is $30. So $10. (0:18:11) Al: cheaper than the final price. And then there’s the deluxe founders rewards which gives you 14,500 moonstones. I don’t know why they insist on always like it’s not 15, why not 15? Weird. And a bunch of more exclusive items and that one I don’t have a price for but I think it might have been, it was either 50 or 60. (0:18:34) Kelly: Well, that’s 50 on here, on the regular one. (0:18:36) Al: Yeah. I think, I think… (0:18:42) Al: Yeah, it’s 50, 50. And then there’s the ultimate founders edition which gives you 20,000 moonstones and a bunch of extra cosmetic things. And that one was $6, $70? (0:18:58) Kelly: Okay, I think that makes sense because the gold edition for the standard game is (0:19:03) Al: So there are like seven different ways to buy this game. All with different things. (0:19:08) Kelly: Oh my god. (0:19:10) Kelly: And then the DLC is $30. (0:19:11) Al: So it’s like if you… Yes, which is only included in the Gold Edition, not as far as I can tell, (0:19:19) Al: any of the Early Access editions. So if you have Early Access, you still have to pay for the (0:19:25) Kelly: I have some things I’d like to say, and I’m gonna maybe keep them to myself. (0:19:31) Al: So I will say you do get a capybara companion if you buy the gold edition. (0:19:31) Kelly: It is very cute. It’s very cute. It has a flower crown. (0:19:40) Al: A flowery capybara companion. (0:19:41) Kelly: I mean, you can’t go wrong with the capybara. (0:19:46) Al: True that. (0:19:48) Kelly: Listen, the game looks so cute. I think that’s why this is kind of so disappointing. (0:19:52) Al: Yes, yeah, yeah, it is. (0:19:59) Al: So I think it is a good game and if you said to me this game… (0:20:01) Al: Why did they say that? Why did they even say that? (0:20:04) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:20:20) Kelly: Exactly. They made the promise. Yeah. (0:20:23) Kelly: And that’s so frustrating because that’s what they’ve been writing on since they announced this. Like why, why, why? And then to announce the changes a month before. (0:20:37) Al: Just why? (0:20:39) Al: I know, I know, I know it’s so… (0:20:40) Kelly: And then also, so if you buy the cozy edition, besides the flowery capybara and the expansion (0:20:50) Kelly: is there anything else you’re missing? Like are you limited from gameplay? Okay. (0:20:52) Al: No, no you’re not, you’re not. So the only gameplay, so everything that’s exclusive outside of the expansion pass, everything that’s exclusive is just cosmetics. If you buy, if you… it is, isn’t it? It’s not quite that bad yet, but it definitely feels like that’s where they’re going yes the funny thing is (0:21:07) Kelly: Okay, that’s a little bit better, but you know what? It’s giving me sims. (0:21:14) Kelly: No, but it’s getting there. Yeah. (0:21:22) Al: right see if you buy the base game and you buy the expansion pass that’s one cent cheaper than buying the gold edition which gives you the base game and the expansion pass I mean it also gives you the it does give you the capacity is the capybara worth one cent that’s the it just seems like why is the gold edition the same price as it seems weird (0:21:33) Kelly: Yeah, but no capybara. (0:21:47) Kelly: It does, like also, like okay so if you if you do really want to play this game, (0:21:51) Kelly: why would you buy the base edition and the expansion pack instead of just buying the gold edition? (0:21:55) Kelly: Again, this is just such a headache to look at. (0:21:55) Al: Yeah, yeah, well, that’s that yeah, so yeah seven different seven different ways to buy this game You either buy it in one of the three early access ways of buying it or you buy it in one of the three Non-early access ways to buy it if you wait till the 5th of December and then you either buy the expansion mass or not We don’t know what’s in the expansion pass exactly they’ll be telling us that on Wednesday today if you’re listening on the day this comes out (0:22:24) Al: There are some hints. (0:22:25) Al: There we’ve seen Gaston and… oh is that Rapunzel? I think it’s Rapunzel. (0:22:33) Kelly: Oh, yes, that’s Rapunzel in the back. And then, uh, Eva. Eve, Eve. (0:22:34) Al: Who’s the little robot? Oh was that from Wally? (0:22:38) Kelly: Eeeve. (0:22:40) Kelly: Yeah, from Wally. (0:22:41) Al: Okay I still haven’t seen Wally. I know, I know. So I went through a period of time of just not watching Disney Pixar stuff. (0:22:42) Kelly: What? (0:22:44) Kelly: Ugh. (0:22:47) Kelly: I mean, I’ve never seen Tangled, so whatever, but Wally’s so good. (0:22:52) Al: I have seen (0:22:55) Al: a few of them since, but I haven’t caught up on all of them. I just watched, what’s it called, Elemental today. (0:23:10) Kelly: How was it? I get clips on TikTok and it seems pretty cute. (0:23:14) Kelly: I feel like the trailer kind of made it seem like it was going to be like a knock-off uh… (0:23:14) Al: I enjoyed it, yeah. It’s better than the trailer that made me think it was going to be. (0:23:22) Kelly: How am I… I’m blanking on it. (0:23:24) Kelly: No, um… I can’t think right now. I don’t know. (0:23:25) Al: Anything can roll me on Juliet. (0:23:30) Kelly: It just felt very familiar, I guess, if that… (0:23:34) Al: Yeah, it is. There’s nothing particular about it that’s interesting on you, but I think it does a good job of being a fun and enjoyable and emotional way of exploring immigration and an immigrant’s family’s journey and some of those struggles. I think it does a good job. (0:23:50) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:23:52) Kelly: That’s uh, that’s like kind of like again, I watched a lot of clips on tiktok. I get so sucked into the movie clips on tiktok But I think that that’s exactly the vibe I got to I was like very surprised I feel like With the difference between the trailer and how the actual movie seemed to be See ya later. (0:24:03) Al: fair. (0:24:16) Al: Yeah. I don’t know what that trailer was about, because like the trailer came out and everyone went “this looks terrible, what are you doing?” and then the phone came out and people were like “yes, yes, sorry, it’s good, it’s good, it’s enjoyable”. Yeah. Yeah. I’m not going to say it’s the best Pixar film, but it’s certainly not the worst. It’s good. I enjoyed it. Yeah, so that’s, we don’t, we’ve seen Gaston and Rapunzel and would you say Eve? (0:24:19) Kelly: Bye. (0:24:27) Kelly: Yeah, I feel like every review I’ve seen of it, people really liked it, like they enjoyed it, so… (0:24:46) Kelly: Eve, yeah. I think that Eve, Eevee, something like that? Not Eevee, but it’s like that, yeah. (0:24:46) Al: And there’s a snake and a pig. So we don’t know a huge amount, we’ll see, but it’s, I don’t think so. (0:24:57) Kelly: Is that the jungle book? (0:24:58) Kelly: No, that’s not the snake from the jungle book. (0:25:03) Kelly: Oh, there’s a creature in the tree too. (0:25:05) Kelly: That is the jungle book. (0:25:07) Kelly: Look at the monkey in the tree. (0:25:09) Kelly: I’m pretty sure that’s the jungle book. (0:25:11) Al: Anyway, well, no more. It’s interesting that this is their first paid DLC, so they are locking content behind another paywall, which is what it is. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing. I’m just saying it is what it is. So don’t expect to pay the base price of the game and get all of the updates for free forever. That’s not going to happen. (0:25:22) Kelly: Which I think is just… (0:25:24) Kelly: Yes. (0:25:34) Kelly: I just think it’s a little wild to go from free to play to the base game is free and then the DLC is also the same price as like a game. (0:25:36) Al: It’s not Stardew Valley. (0:25:41) Al: Well, that’s the thing. If you want to now play everything that will be available on the 5th of December, it’s gone from zero to $70. Yes, you say there’s going to be more free content updates, but you know there’s going to be more paid DLC as well. (0:26:01) Kelly: Oh, and like you said, there’s transactions in the game probably too, right? (0:26:04) Al: Yep, yep, yep. So I never outright bought it. (0:26:06) Kelly: Do you have early access or no? (0:26:11) Al: Although I will now be buying it because I was waiting for it to be free before I got it on Switch. But I did have it on Game Pass for a while, and I was playing it on that. (0:26:14) Kelly: Well… (0:26:16) Kelly: Oh, uh, okay. (0:26:25) Al: The thing that I’m frustrated with free to play is not that I have to pay for the game. (0:26:28) Al: I’m fine with paying for the game. What I’m frustrated is I now have to decide what I’m playing it on. When it’s free to play, it would mean I could have it on everything and choose depending on how I’m feeling on the day or how they play on different platforms. (0:26:29) Kelly: - Yeah. (0:26:41) Al: Whereas now I need to go, or no, I need to decide do I want to on Switch or do I want to on Steam Deck. (0:26:45) Kelly: Mm-hmm That’s fair I just I think it’s just I’m mostly annoyed about being told the whole time that it’s gonna be free to play and then Getting the rug pulled out from under you a month before (0:26:46) Al: I think I’m going to do it. (0:26:54) Al: It’s bizarre. Never make these decisions upfront. Yeah. Wild. Never say, “Oh, next year when release is good.” Just don’t do it. It’s pointless. It is. I mean, it doesn’t feel like it should be that big a promise for, you know, one of the biggest companies in the world. (0:27:05) Kelly: It’s a big promise to make. (0:27:07) Kelly: No, no, no, no, it shouldn’t. (0:27:12) Kelly: I think that’s another point that I was trying not to bring up is like, come on, like of all people Do you really need to be charging this much? (0:27:21) Al: Yeah, I suspect. What I suspect is they didn’t expect it to be as popular as it has been and people to like it as much. Like, this is a good game, right? This isn’t one of these, like, “Oh, they’ve just thrown some money at someone and got a really rubbish game based on a film,” right? This is a really good game, and if you like Disney characters, (0:27:42) Al: this is a great game to play because there’s so much lore and you get to, like, be friends with the characters that you like in the games. It’s really good fun. (0:27:51) Al: And the farming is good. It’s not their best, but it’s good. It’s a good game. That’s part of the problem is I think they were probably expecting it to be a standard free to play game. The people who made those decisions, right? We’re expecting it to be like, Oh, (0:28:05) Al: this isn’t a game we’re going to manage to convince people to pay for. Oh wait, no people like the game. Oh, well, we’re gonna, we’re gonna charge people in, you know. (0:28:12) Kelly: And I think back to your point, like, I’m not… I mean, obviously I grew up on Disney, whatever. (0:28:19) Kelly: I’m not the biggest Disney person. I still wanted to play the game. Like, it looked like a good game. (0:28:24) Al: It is. It is a good farming game. It is a good cottagecore game. (0:28:26) Kelly: But I think now, like, someone like me, I’m not gonna play this game, to be quite honest. (0:28:31) Al: Yeah. (0:28:34) Kelly: Because I’m not gonna pay, whatever, 40 bucks at the minimum. (0:28:38) Kelly: I mean, to be honest, I’m mostly playing indie games, so like… (0:28:42) Kelly: He paying $40 is like, I really wanted to play this game. (0:28:42) Al: Yes, it’s cheap compared to some games, but… (0:28:45) Kelly: Yes. But by my standards, that’s a triple-A game. (0:28:52) Kelly: Literally. (0:28:53) Al: You could buy Stardew four times for that price. (0:28:55) Kelly: Literally. (0:28:59) Al: You could buy Stardew on all your consoles if you wanted, and you probably already have. (0:29:06) Al: Last couple of things, the Cozy Edition, as we mentioned, that’s the… (0:29:12) Al: physical edition. (0:29:13) Al: I do not know why they’re calling it this, it is a stupid name, but whatever. (0:29:17) Al: It has been delayed until the 10th of November, except the Switch version in North America. (0:29:25) Al: All the other versions have been delayed. (0:29:26) Kelly: How lucky. (0:29:29) Al: It’s such a weird… (0:29:30) Al: I mean, first of all, who’s buying this game physically? (0:29:33) Al: That is a weird decision to make. (0:29:35) Al: I don’t… (0:29:35) Kelly: I could see if it was released closer to Christmas or something. (0:29:36) Al: Why are you… yeah, okay, I guess that’s a good point. (0:29:39) Kelly: Like, does anything come with it? (0:29:41) Kelly: No, no, I mean like physical. (0:29:42) Al: Yeah, you do get a few cosmetics extra with it, but that’s all. (0:29:47) Al: Oh, no. (0:29:47) Kelly: No, then no. (0:29:49) Al: No, no, it’s just a case with the game and a code that gives you some extra cosmetics, (0:29:49) Kelly: Oh, not even… yeah, no, no, no. (0:29:58) Al: that’s it. (0:30:00) Al: I think, yeah, you’re probably right though, that’s exactly it. (0:30:03) Al: It’s because people will buy a game for people physically, right? (0:30:06) Kelly: Yeah. (0:30:06) Kelly: I was about to say, “Your grandma can buy a friend.” (0:30:07) Al: That’s why they always do that, because then your grandmother can walk into a shop and buy a game for you. (0:30:12) Al: Oh, they like Disney. (0:30:14) Al: Yeah, that’s exactly what it is, isn’t it? (0:30:14) Kelly: Exactly. (0:30:16) Kelly: Oh, Disney characters? (0:30:17) Kelly: This is perfect. (0:30:20) Al: Don’t buy this game physically. (0:30:23) Al: It’s weird decision to make. (0:30:24) Al: I mean, do what you want. (0:30:26) Al: I’m not. Anyway, and I guess the final point to say is that Micah has finally been vindicated because he bought the game not knowing it was going to be free to play. (0:30:35) Al: And turns out it’s not going to be free to play. (0:30:36) Kelly: Oh, really? (0:30:40) Al: So he gets the last laugh. (0:30:43) Al: I think. Yeah, he didn’t. (0:30:45) Al: It was really funny because we were I can’t remember when it was. (0:30:47) Al: But the first episode that I had him on after the game came out, (0:30:52) Al: we were talking about how he was playing it and then how he bought it. (0:30:54) Al: And then I’d mentioned that it was going to be free to play. (0:30:57) Al: And he was like, wait, what? (0:30:58) Al: It was very funny. (0:31:01) Al: I think he bought the Ultimate Founders Edition as well. (0:31:02) Kelly: Well, it seems like he was gonna pay the money no matter what, so… (0:31:03) Al: So that’s like he paid the seventy dollars. (0:31:06) Al: Well, yeah, that’s true. (0:31:08) Kelly: You know, I feel like in that instance, it doesn’t matter if it was free to play or not. (0:31:13) Al: That’s true, that’s true. (0:31:14) Al: I think that’s everything about that. Wow, we just spent 15 minutes talking about that. (0:31:21) Al: Cool, so there you go. 5th of December, that’s the important thing. If you want any of the special stuff that comes with only early access, go get that as soon as you can. If you don’t, (0:31:34) Al: then don’t. If you’re not going to buy this game, I’m sorry. There we go. (0:31:39) Al: Speaking of games coming out with less controversy. (0:31:42) Al: Spirit tea. So this is the farming game slash Spirited away type game where you are running a tea Once ago tea. Yeah. Yes And Yeah, I kick started it when I came out because I’m I thought I I actually have access to the game already I know right (0:31:55) Kelly: It’s like a tea house, bath shop. (0:31:58) Kelly: It looks so cute. (0:31:59) Kelly: I wanna get this. (0:32:01) Kelly: This is, I’m definitely getting. (0:32:08) Kelly: Oh my god. (0:32:12) Al: So, yeah, I kick started the game looking forward to playing it it is the is finally releasing on the 13th of November So if you have been looking forward to running your own little tea house tea shop wherever you want to call it with a bath house and Play with some spirits. I don’t I don’t know the right words to use with this game yet. Go go get it It’s mostly one guy who’s been developing it for a bunch of years. He’s working with a publisher But yeah, if you like game– (0:32:42) Al: games that are as indie as they come, go get it. (0:32:47) Al: Yeah, yeah, it’s not just your standard. (0:32:47) Kelly: It looks like a nice little spin on the farming game. (0:32:55) Al: Go plant some turnips and then you get better crops. (0:32:58) Kelly: Yeah. (0:32:59) Al: Lens Island have updated their roadmap, (0:33:04) Al: so they have said that their 1.0 is coming out in July 2024. (0:33:09) Al: I think this is the first official date we got from them. (0:33:12) Al: We had got some– they’d originally wanted to release it this year, (0:33:16) Al: and then at some point they’d said it would be next year. (0:33:20) Kelly: That’s nice to get a solid time actually. It always is. You’re talking to the person waiting for Silksong here, I know. (0:33:23) Al: It’s dangerous, but yeah, nice. So I look forward to Lens Island coming out in November of next year. (0:33:36) Al: They’ve also said there are going to be two more updates this year. One in November, (0:33:47) Al: which, oh look, it’s November now, and one in December, and then there’ll be a final. (0:33:53) Al: Major update before the final release in March of next year, and then the final release in July of next year. So if you are waiting for that one point of release of Lens Island, (0:34:06) Al: that’s when you’re going for it. I actually own this game as well, and I haven’t played it. (0:34:11) Al: It’s quite combat focused this game, and when I first got it when it first entered Early Access, (0:34:22) Al: because I kickstarted that. (0:34:23) Al: I need to stop kickstarting things. (0:34:26) Al: I kickstart all the farming games. (0:34:28) Kelly: You just want to be hip and say, “I was here first.” [laughs] (0:34:29) Al: It’s a sickness, Kelly. (0:34:32) Al: Yeah, I know, right? (0:34:38) Al: They didn’t have controller support at that point. (0:34:41) Al: And of course, I was playing it on my Steam Deck, so it was not fun to play with. (0:34:46) Al: So I spent like five minutes and went, nope, not doing this. (0:34:48) Al: I’m waiting for controller support. (0:34:48) Kelly: Wait, if it didn’t have– (0:34:51) Kelly: how does that work, then? (0:34:53) Al: I think you can map any button or any touchpad or anything to any standard PC controls. (0:35:03) Al: So you can say, if I press this button, (0:35:06) Al: I press this keyboard button or I press this mouse button or I do this gesture or there’s loads of clever things you can do, and it works really well for a lot of things, but it wasn’t working for this. (0:35:17) Kelly: That’s very fair. (0:35:18) Al: I was like, I need to wait for official controller support for this one. (0:35:19) Kelly: I do think it’s funny that the release date on Steam is November 26, 2021. (0:35:22) Al: So that’s what I did. (0:35:28) Kelly: ‘Cause it’s 2023? (0:35:28) Al: Why is that date funny? (0:35:31) Al: OK, well, that was the early access release date. (0:35:32) Kelly: I know, I know, but I’m just saying it’s funny to like sit here and look at the news about, you know, it getting released next year. (0:35:35) Al: OK. (0:35:37) Al: Yes, yes. (0:35:42) Al: Moonstone Island are I think I think you and Kevin talked about the DLC for that last week, they’ve announced that there is a free update coming with the DLC as well, which should be out now. (0:35:57) Al: So it includes an expansion to the green. (0:35:58) Al: House closing old mine holes. (0:36:01) Al: I don’t know what that means. (0:36:03) Al: Who knows? (0:36:03) Kelly: Umm, okay. (0:36:06) Kelly: I’m assuming monsters come out of the mine holes, maybe? (0:36:10) Al: I think it’s a creature collection game. (0:36:10) Kelly: I don’t know. (0:36:12) Kelly: Stop the children from falling down the mines. (0:36:13) Al: It’s a creature. (0:36:15) Al: Yeah, we do. We don’t want that. (0:36:18) Al: Inventory manage improvements and adjustable day length are the big things that they were highlighting. There’s I mean, the patch notes are much more detailed. I’m not going through them. (0:36:28) Al: There’s a lot of stuff. I’ll link it in the show notes. (0:36:31) Al: Go look at that if you care about it. (0:36:32) Al: Yeah. Yeah. (0:36:32) Kelly: Yeah, this is the one it had a ton of updates last week too or two weeks ago Okay, that makes sense, but it seems like they’re really working to you know update any of these little issues (0:36:37) Al: I think most of it was like bug fixing and stuff. (0:36:39) Al: This is the first kind of like content update, I think. (0:36:42) Al: Content and feature update. (0:36:43) Al: So this is. Yeah, it’s. (0:36:45) Al: Yes. Yes, they are. (0:36:51) Al: This is one of those ones that I probably do want to play at some point, but. (0:36:55) Kelly: It looks really cute, too. It really does. I would like to play this. (0:36:55) Al: It does. It does. (0:36:58) Kelly: I mean, me too. I’m a sucker for collection in general. (0:36:58) Al: It’s also creature collection, and I’m a sucker for creature collection. (0:37:01) Al: Well, yes, that too. That too. (0:37:07) Al: That too. (0:37:08) Al: Yeah. Stardew Valley. (0:37:12) Al: Concerned Ape is continuing to just trickle things out. (0:37:15) Kelly: He’s been just dropping things. Yeah, like he it’s like it’s making me so annoyed because I’m like I don’t want to play stardew. I like I always do I do I’m actively spending my life fighting the urge to play stardew valley [laugh] (0:37:17) Al: I know. (0:37:18) Al: No, you do. You do, though. You do. (0:37:25) Al: You don’t lie. You want to play. (0:37:28) Al: What I love is like some of them are like, “here’s the most tiny little thing like this one, which is just a screenshot of wild horseradish juice.” (0:37:42) Kelly: Yeah. (0:37:42) Al: And my reaction was, “Oh, is that not already in the game? Okay!” (0:37:43) Kelly: I literally when I looked at it I was like oh yeah you can’t do anything with horseradish can you? (0:37:51) Al: So some of them are like this tiny thing where it’s just like, “Oh yeah, the update’s gonna have horseradish juice!” (0:37:58) Al: And then there was the one a few weeks ago which was like, “Here’s just like detailed ten bullet points of what’s coming in the update.” (0:38:04) Al: And you’re like, “Oh, okay!” (0:38:05) Kelly: Yep, listen, I would take every single one of these, I’m like, cool, awesome, great. (0:38:12) Kelly: But yeah, no, I saw this one and I was like, oh, another thing for me to micromanage. (0:38:18) Al: ALICE (KEEPER) Kelly, did you ever play any of the 1.5 update stuff? So that’s Ginger Island and stuff like that. (0:38:24) Kelly: Yes, so I started with actually my first Switch game. (0:38:26) Al: ALICE (KEEPER) I mean, I think it was for a lot of people. (0:38:28) Kelly: Yes, um… (0:38:32) Kelly: But I got my Switch a year later, so I was a year behind everybody. (0:38:33) Al: ALICE It came out nice and early in 2017 and yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. That’s all right, (0:38:39) Kelly: But I played it then, yes, and then I played it two years ago. (0:38:41) Al: so were the updates. (0:38:45) Al: Yeah. (0:38:45) Kelly: Yes, so Ginger Island had come out, which was fun because that wasn’t in my initial playthrough. (0:38:47) Al: Yeah. (0:38:49) Al: Yeah. (0:38:50) Al: I’m not sure. (0:38:51) Kelly: So that was really fun to go out. (0:38:54) Kelly: I feel like that really opened up a whole new part of the game and like extended it nicely. (0:38:57) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:39:06) Al: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, that’s what he’s doing, right? Like, just keep playing this game, please. (0:39:09) Kelly: Yeah. But I mean, he does it in such a good way. Like people would play this game even if he didn’t go out there and release, you know, updates to it. People would be replaying it it constantly anyway yep (0:39:12) Al: Here’s more stuff. I know. (0:39:21) Al: and people would pay for the updates and he just gives them out for free. (0:39:24) Kelly: yep what a good guy yes yes but I mean we might have talked about a game a few minutes ago that might have been doing a different thing no but I fully agree with your point you know it’s like (0:39:26) Al: I mean, he is a millionaire, so you know, like it’s easier to be a good guy when you’re a millionaire. But yes, it is. (0:39:38) Al: Absolutely. No, I don’t. Yep, I don’t. I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m not not trying to take it away from him. You’re absolutely right. (0:39:51) Al: I haven’t played the 1.5 stuff with Ginger Island and stuff like that. So I need to, (0:39:54) Kelly: Oh really? Okay. (0:39:56) Kelly: That might be the best, because especially it seems like he is adding quite a few things, so why not wait? (0:39:57) Al: it’s on my list of like, I really need to do this. So I’m trying to decide maybe I just wait for 1.6 to come out and do it all at the same time. (0:40:06) Al: Yeah, yeah, and I’m going to have to cover that. (0:40:11) Kelly: I will say there is one thing in Ginger Island, there’s like one thing that you really have to like hope for the luck of finding. (0:40:20) Kelly: So that can be a little frustrating, but I think if you kind of… (0:40:24) Kelly: I think the issue is more so when you don’t leave enough stuff to do at home to. (0:40:29) Kelly: And you kind of save Ginger Island for the very end and then you’re like, “Ugh, where is this thing? Come on, show me your…” (0:40:36) Kelly: Like, because it’s like one of those things where you can only collect a few things a day of it. (0:40:39) Kelly: Oh, I always do a new save. (0:40:39) Al: And then I need to make the decision of do I do a new save or do I continue my existing save. (0:40:45) Kelly: I know I should probably go back, but I love a restart. (0:40:49) Kelly: Like, I’ve got like five different room worlds because I just like… (0:40:52) Al: So mostly I have like one that I have done most of the things in, and then I have like a bunch of others that are like random challenges and a random multiplayer one. (0:40:52) Kelly: Could I go back and keep– (0:40:54) Kelly: I’m playing them sure. (0:41:12) Al: See I’m the opposite, I’m like I really should do a new one and see how it changes things because obviously it’s not. You don’t expedite. I need to do both realistically, right? Because it changes things. Exactly. Yeah. (0:41:16) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:41:18) Kelly: It’s like you get to see how you strategize and how you handle things differently and like, you know Going back in with like new knowledge and like all that stuff Like like this this the one I did two years ago, I have notes I take notes when I play this game So I have like field guides I’m like, you know the best things to do with this and each season and what you should pickle and what you should Kagan like blah blah blah like what Fisher what’s Oh Yeah Oh, no, I I love a (0:41:32) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:41:46) Al: Yeah, yeah. Oh, see, I don’t pickle and keg because I just can’t be bothered. I just go, (0:41:54) Al: what is the most expensive crop? Like the most for selling. And I just go with that. (0:41:59) Al: Like, I’m just like, I do like mayo and cheese and stuff like that. But I’m like, I don’t, (0:42:04) Al: I can’t be bothered with like putting my crops and these other things and waiting. No, I just sell. Like, I know you can make more money, but I don’t, I don’t want to do that. (0:42:12) Kelly: I love a good micromanage. It’s not even about the money because I’m a third point I don’t need more money. It’s literally just about me having tasks to do. But yeah, no, I’m like, I… At certain points I was like, okay, so if I place this many kegs in the basement, can I still access them if I walk around this way? (0:42:31) Al: Yes, what’s the optimum strategy? I think the problem is that they figured it out. There is a right answer to that in everything. (0:42:43) Kelly: Yes, which I don’t, I don’t want to sound like I’m one of those people who are doing things to the T perfect, like gotta have every second count. (0:42:54) Kelly: Like I definitely do things in my own little stupid way. (0:42:58) Al: Yeah. Yeah. I also quite like trying different things. So there was one quite early on with the podcast where me and Rachelle were trying to see how much money we could make just from mining. It was good fun. It was good fun. Yeah. Yeah. (0:42:59) Kelly: But there are certain things that I try to make sure I’m doing them correctly, I quote unquote correctly. (0:43:07) Kelly: So that I can get money and stuff from them, especially early game. (0:43:10) Kelly: Once you get to a certain point, it’s like, oh my God, do I need money? (0:43:20) Kelly: that’s a that’s a fun challenge I think those are like fun ways to like how can I do this how can I do this differently oh yeah like I’m a I’m I do this in every like game essentially but I love fishing for So I’m always like a sucker for that, but I feel like (0:43:28) Al: Yeah, exactly. And it’s like, you can actually make a lot of money that way. (0:43:32) Al: And it’s just fun to try the different ways of doing that because (0:43:50) Kelly: My last one I tried to like avoid that more so but It’s always fun to just try different ways do different things (0:43:54) Al: Fair enough. (0:43:56) Al: I also saw someone do a challenge which was like you can’t leave the farm and that was quite interesting. (0:44:06) Al: So they didn’t get a lot of seeds is part of the point, right? (0:44:11) Al: So obviously you get them from foraging, you can get seeds just from foraging. (0:44:15) Al: But yeah, a lot of it was just having to like sell the things you find around the farm. (0:44:21) Al: They used the four carner’s farm. (0:44:22) Kelly: No chickens? (0:44:25) Al: They used the four carner’s farm, so you get a little bit of everything. (0:44:29) Kelly: uh okay okay but like no interactions with people unless they like literally come to visit you that’s crazy but I feel like you know that’s like the it’s like nose locking yourself into stardew it’s fun yeah but stardew yay (0:44:35) Al: Yep. Yeah. (0:44:38) Al: Exactly, exactly, exactly. Lots of different ways to do it. (0:44:47) Al: So yeah, wild horseradish juice. (0:44:49) Al: I will probably never make it. (0:44:52) Kelly: I i will say who is drinking this I love horseradish I love spiciness I love (0:44:53) Al: Yeah. But just pure horseradish juice. (0:44:59) Kelly: bloody marys I love burning my sinuses I would never listen there’s been times in my life where my sinuses have been really bad and somebody was like hey if you put apple cider vinegar up your nose it’ll help and i’ve done that this sounds wild I would never do this I have never heard of horseradish as being described as sweet (0:45:05) Al: No! (0:45:10) Al: It’s description is a sweet nutritious beverage. (0:45:23) Al: I think there’s lots of sugar in that. (0:45:25) Kelly: Yeah, it has to be like really pickled or whatever. (0:45:29) Kelly: That’s crazy. (0:45:33) Al: The final news is we have a new game announced. We don’t have a lot about it. It’s called Echoes of the Plum Grove and it is coming to Kickstarter soon and its little tagline is “Build a thriving community across generations in this cosy historical farm simulation”. (0:45:51) Kelly: I think that’s pretty cute, like that’s a different idea because I feel like you know in a lot of these you can have a kid or something or a family but it doesn’t really go anywhere. (0:45:58) Kelly: Like I feel like this is very much so not how I play The Sims but how a lot of people play The Sims where they’ll make generational things and like the generations start to interact with each other and it’s like really interesting, it’s a very long-term way of doing it. (0:46:08) Al: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. A few games have kind of done a little bit of this, like, I think the new Harvest Moon does it where you can grow. You still stay as your same character, though. (0:46:29) Al: But there was… Oh, what was the… A Wonderful Life did this as well, didn’t it? You can play as your child at a certain point, I think. (0:46:39) Al: So yeah, there is apparently a lot more information on Steam that I didn’t notice until now. (0:46:43) Kelly: I did have to go open the Steam page because the Kickstarter basically had nothing on it. (0:46:44) Al: I will link that in the show notes. (0:46:47) Al: Yes, well, that’s the thing, that’s why I didn’t think we had a huge amount, but it is apparently on Steam. (0:46:53) Al: Well, the page is up on Steam, and it says it’s coming out in 2024, but I suspect (0:46:59) Kelly: I would also. I like his little cute like

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Sermon from the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel for the St. Martin's Day, the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 28. Today's readings are: Isaiah 58:6-12 Psalm 15 James 1:22-27 Matthew 25:31-40 Readings may be found on LectionaryPage.net: https://www.lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Nov/Martin... Please join me in the spirit of prayer. Lord God, we give you thanks for the gift of our patron saint Martin, for all the ways he has formed the soul of this parish and all the ways he has reflected the image of Christ into the world, challenging us ever deeper into the full meaning of your love for this world. In Christ's Name we pray. Amen. Happy St. Martin's Day. What does one say on St. Martin's Day? After all, there's Merry Christmas, all right, Happy Easter, Happy St. Martin's Day, it's all the same. So every year I study up for St. Martin's Day by going deeper into the saint, and this year's big revelation, coming from his biographer, is that St. Martin had bad hair. His biographer goes out of his way actually to call it ugly hair, so bookmark that. We're getting back to it later. In the meantime I want to start in a place of gratitude. I am so thankful for a series of talks that have been given the last month here in worship by lay leaders in our parish, starting with Al Good about a month ago and then Greg Cowhey did it at the eight o'clock service and Laura Sibson and Barbara Thomson and then Eugenie Dieck capped it off last week. These wonderful reflections on the meaning of St. Martins were a real gift to the community and to me because I could hear in them all the ways that God has gifted this community, and these talks were full of gratitude and they weren't ever boastful, they were never selling anything, they were never flattering us, they were just without ego and pure in their reflection of the goodness that God has given this parish. And I was grateful and thought, yes this is true, this parish is centered on the love of God we know in Jesus Christ. And this parish is deeply prayerful. This is a praying community that knows the language of prayer both communally and individually and holds each other in prayer, and the world as well. There's a gift of prayerfulness here. And this community is worshipful, this community knows how to gather around the presence of the living Christ in sacrament and word and celebrate that gift of risen life. And this community is so eager to serve in loving care for each other and loving care for this community. This community understands the call to serve in the name of God, and so with gratitude I lift all those things up. We are a gifted community, gifted by God, and we say thanks be to God for it, and I want to say thanks be to God for Martin, our patron, who I truly believe has formed this community to have the character and soul that we have. If you talk to a St. Martin's member they will be able to tell you the story of St. Martin so beautifully depicted in the window in the back of the church. If you talk to a St. Martin's member they will probably do a pretty good job repeating Matthew 25 for you because we hear it at least once a year, and I believe these stories have deeply woven themselves into the character of the community. What's always interesting about a story that becomes well known is we can fall into the risk of it becoming commonplace; a moral platitude. We could take Matthew 25 that we read today and just turn it into a summary, "Jesus said be nice to the poor," when there is so much more revealed in that story; when there are so many more layers of what God is doing with us and for us in that story. It opened our eyes. Indeed at bible study this week one of our members opened my eyes to something I had never noticed about Matthew 25. I got to enjoy that surprise of God's address which is even in the story, right? People are shocked that they were serving Christ the whole time. And what surprised me, and this was Steve Barr, a member of the parish, he pointed out: "Jarrett, there are three groups of people in this passage. There are three groups of people." And I was kind of fixated on two, because the goats and the sheep get my attention and they're meant to be anxiety producing, right? Am I a sheep? Am I a goat? Am I something in between? So I thought of just two groups in this passage but no, there's three groups in this passage, and one is the group that is already members of God's family. In that last line, "the members of God's family." Who are the members of God's family? Who forms the third group? They are the thirsty, the hungry, the sick, the prisoner, the stranger. They are already God's people. They are already part of God's family, and now knowing this we see a deeper challenge in the story, the challenge not just to serve but to recognize the thirsty, the hungry, the naked, the stranger, the prisoner as part of God's family, as our sisters and brothers in Christ. They are kin-folk to us. They are our kin and this to me is part of the incredible scandal of this passage in the ancient world and now, because in the ancient world as now we really do walk through life, and I can name myself in this comment, thinking that our family is our primary unit of obligation and believing that our biological natal family is our primary obligation. We shape our resources and our world around that idea and it can become a way to rationalize accumulation beyond what we need, because we always say we're doing it for our families. And it can rationalize misappropriation of resources socially and structurally because we can invest vast sums of money in the education of our children while ignoring to the point of desperation the education of other children. And underneath that is some notion that they are not part of our family, that we have a different set of obligations to them, and when we read this passage from Jesus we're challenged. We owe to our family what is owed to all families and we are together in the family of God. It's so challenging and stressful to read this passage about sheep and goats. Who is in my family? And Jesus even raises the ante a little bit because it's not just Christians or Jews who've been called together, it's the nations. There's this notion in this passage that even the nations who haven't the benefit of a covenant with God or Isaiah, who don't know this tradition, they know you take care of the poor. And the implication is if they know this, you should know even more because you have the gospel and you have the covenants and you have the prophets. So this story is pretty stress-inducing. It's a challenge, and when I feel challenged like that by scripture I know the story is telling me, "you have more conversion to do. Jarrett, you have more conversion of heart, mind, strength and spirit to do, because someday you will love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength but you're not there yet." More conversion. And let's bring St. Martin in again here (and we're about to get to the haircut...I'm almost there.) We bring St. Martin in again because that cutting of his cloak that we all know so well (he cuts his cloak in half and he gives it to the beggar and the beggar appears to him as Christ) is a story of charity and it is also a story of conversion and it's just the first cut that Martin makes. It is just the first sacrifice that he makes. Everything else for Martin, including his hair, is going away. His toga, his uniform, the rest of his cloak, his horse, his sword, his armor, his social status are all going to be left behind and relinquished as he grows into his vocation in Christ. Now, Romans were very sartorially inclined. They liked a good robe, they liked a good haircut, they liked to smell nice. Martin did none of those things. And I'm maybe sensitive to this part of the story because I am in a line of military officers in my family. If you know anything about the military you know there's haircuts, and so generations of Kerbel men never had hair that touched their ears, never had hair that touched their neck, never had hair that was over about an inch long, because that's part of military discipline. And remember that Martin grew up in a military family. His dad was also a Roman soldier, so this cutting off of his hair, and I know this from personal experience, was political, was an assertion of a worldview, was symbolic of more than hair. Believe me, growing up in the 70s where my mom wanted to take me to the hair salon to have a nice long hair thing going, I know that hair is political. Martin had ugly hair on purpose. Martin wore a goatskin tunic with a rough rope around it and no shoes, no big wide leather Roman belt, because he was setting himself apart for a life of conversion; a lifelong journey into conversion by identifying himself with the family of God, with the members of God's family. On the margin, in the rough, in the vulnerability he would struggle mightily and slowly, spiritually, experience the conversion that allowed God's light to shine through him without obstacle. He gained spiritual transparency through the discipline of a hermit living in isolation and struggle and boredom. He lived in a way that allowed space for his demons to come up. His ego, his malformed imagination, his passions and appetites, all the stuff that great spiritual masters like Anthony of Egypt struggled with in their hermitages, he too struggled. I want to bring out for us today this part of the story a little more because I think Martin is offering us something we need to know. I think in this age of great social turmoil and unrest and discomfort we need to know about this gift of going inside. We need to know about this gift of spiritual struggle that clarifies the soul and that brings us into transparency with God, not just for ourselves but ultimately for the world. Because this is kind of part of the miracle of St. Martin, he's one of these people who goes off as a hermit and keeps getting dragged back into public life because he was a leader. But his transformation in the wilderness set him up to be a very different person in the world. His transformation in the wilderness set him up to speak a different language to a really rancorous, troubled world. Remember the time he was living in: the 4th century. What a time of social unrest. We have immigration and invasion, we have political regimes rising and falling. First we have Constantine who makes Orthodox Christianity the religion of the empire, then we have his son who inserts Aryanism in that place, then we have Julian the apostate who takes it back to polytheism. It's a roller coaster. It's lurching. But in that space was Martin who did something remarkable. Coming out of his hermitage he was able to welcome the heretics, advocate for them, bring them back into the fold and preach mercy, all while sharing the good news. He wasn't a persecuting person. At the same time he still reached out to the polytheists and welcomed them into the fold and shared with them the good news with gentleness. He walked across Europe to convert his mother. Martin gives us this example of a soul that is so soaked in Jesus Christ that he finds the space of peace and compassion and mercy in a world gone rancorous and cantankerous. And so for me I hear Martin calling us not just to brave acts of sacrifice and charity but to brave acts of inner spiritual struggle, so that we continue as a church to become a different sort of people in the world, reflecting and mirroring this great patron saint of ours who shines so brightly with Jesus Christ. Amen. Permission to podcast/stream music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-701187 and CCLI with license #21234241 and #21234234. All rights reserved. Video, photographs, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy (Temple University Press, 2020) is an excellent text that provides a wealth of information and analysis of the reasons why women (and men) choose to run for public office and what that path looks like in terms of training, support, obstacles, and advantages. This is a wonderfully accessible text, great for use in the classroom, for those who work in politics and campaigns, and for scholars of electoral politics, particularly those who study women and politics. Shauna L. Shames, Rachel I. Bernhard, Mirya R. Holman, Dawn Langan Teele have assembled an impressive group of contributing authors, focusing mostly but not exclusively on American politics and the particular experiences and issues that women in the United States face in considering a run for public office. Good Reason to Run came out of a collaborative effort between scholars/academics and practitioners, thus the data, information, and analysis in the book weaves together both scholarship on women running for office and the experience of those who work with and for women running for office or in elected office. A standout section of the book harnesses this collaborative information in discussing the role of non-profit organizations in providing a variety of support for female candidates; this section also includes a global comparative analysis of the role of these organizations. The book focuses on the theory of political ambition and how a static understanding of this concept has often shaped the thinking and analysis of electoral politics. Good Reason to Run: Women and Political Candidacy provides a diversity of methodological approaches across the chapters, from field experiments and survey data to deep interviews and descriptive analysis—which makes the text accessible to a broad array of readers. Beyond answering questions about which women choose to run and why they make that choice, Good Reason to Run also includes a section on the role of money in politics, especially as it figures into that decision matrix – and the differences across parties, and countries. Shames, Bernhard, Holman, and Teele have organized and marshaled an engaging text that responds to the literature about women running for office, integrating the established theories and exploring current data, information, and experiences from those in the field. Lilly J. Goren is professor of political science at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI. She is co-editor of the award winning book, Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (University Press of Kentucky, 2012), as well as co-editor of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

maxwell hunter ft masego - shy windkoralle - fuelloyle carner ft jordan rakei - ottolenghiyakul - companyterrace martin - Biege vulfpeck - 3 on Esly & the family stone - timeian isisah - n.u.t.s.cory wong ft tom misch - cosmic sans

Radio show first broadcast on The Face Radio, Brooklyn at 5:00pm ET on 12 January 2020. Also online at https://thefaceradio.com/ Track List: Billy Ocean – Love Really Hurts Without You David Bowie – What In The World Glorybox – Better Than This The Heptones – Book Of Rules Trammps – That’s Where The Happy People Go The Chambers Brothers – In The Midnight Hour The Fall – Industrial Estate The Gospel Classics – More Love That’s What We Need David Bowie – Sweet Thing Hank Mizell – Jungle Rock Hershel Almond with Al Good & His Orchestra – Let’s Get It On Joe Tex – You Little Baby Faced Thing David Bowie – Can You Hear Me Jean Carn – Free Love Cynthia Richards - Conversations David Bowie – John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)

Suave y cálida esta noche, Raúl Gallego dedica el programa a los Beach Boys, a Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine y otros muchos músicos que grabaron o cantaron en su larga discografía. Escuchamos canciones de su época original a principios de los 60, centrada en los coches, las chicas y el Surf, suenan hitos tan reconocibles como Surfin' Safari,I get around, por supuesto escuchamos temas del influyente Pet Sounds, un trabajo mucho más maduro y complejo, y otras obras maestras como el Good Vibrations. Nos ponemos la camisa estampada para disfrutar de las armonías vocales y los arreglos instrumentales de los Beach Boys, bajo el sol de una playa de California esta noche... Temas: 1 - Surfin´ 2 - Surfin´ Safari 3 - Moon Dawg 4 - 409 5 - Surfin´ USA 6 - Shut down 7 - Surfer girl 8 - Be true to your school 9 - Fun, Fun, Fun 10 - Don´t Worry 11 - Why do fools fall in love 12 - I get around 13 - Wendy 14 - Dance, Dance, Dance 15 - Please let me wonder 16 - California Girls 17 - Help me Rhonda 18 - Barbara Ann 19 - Wouldn t it be nice 20 - God only knows 21 - I just wasn´t made for these times 22 - Caroline No 23 - I´m waiting for the day 24 - Good Vibrations 25 - Darlin´ 26 - Surf´s Up

This is a transcript of episode 101 of our podcast Oral Surgery Admin's Time Out Podcast: Practice Management Success Tips, which you can listen to below or find wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoy it, please leave a 5-star review. Host Audra and Guest Linden discuss how the Society of OMS Administrators rebranded from JAWS Society to Society of OMS Administrators and how the new logo, including the honeycomb icon, was selected. [ticking clock intro] [Host Audra Lansdown] Welcome to the Oral Surgery Admin’s Time Out Podcast, for Practice Management Success Tips. This podcast is brought to you by the Society of OMS Administrators. [energetic break music] [AL] Welcome! We hope you are having an excellent day and we are glad you have joined us for one of our FIRST podcasts for our Society of OMS Administrators or SOMSA for short.  It is only fitting that we take our first time-out on this podcast journey with a little background and details on how SOMSA came to be and where we hope to take our organization. [energetic break music] [AL] Let’s start with introductions for all of our listeners. My name is Audra Lansdown and I’m from College Station, Texas.  I’ve been with Brazos Valley Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery for over 15 years and joined SOMSA in 2015. Currently, I serve as the Vice-President for SOMSA and I also serve on our education committee! I have the pleasure to host with us today, Linden Mueller, our executive director.  Linden, can you please tell us a little about yourself. [Co-host Linden Mueller] Sure! I’ve been in association management for over 7 years now, and about 6 and half of those have been with SOMSA. Before finding this career, which I really enjoy, I taught university composition and English as a Second Language composition courses to non-native speakers at my alma mater here in Springfield, Missouri, and English as a Foreign Language, grammar and other language acquisition courses at University of Giessen in Germany. [AL]I guess we want to pull all of our listeners in today and kind of explain a little bit that we’ve recently we have gone through a re-branding campaign.  Formerly known as JAWS, SOMSA was created to reach more Oral & Maxillofacial administrators. This was a difficult decision but ultimately we had exhausted all of our organic resources to expand our membership. The board felt it was necessary to join with a marketing company to help soar to the next level with our membership and our resources. Linden, you were involved in that process. Can you kind of explain a little bit on why we chose to rebrand? [LM] Yeah, the JAWS name is really meaningful. It’s an acronym for “Joining Administrators With Support,” and it relates directly to the field of work our members are in, which is really great. Our early logo even stylized the J in JAWS to look like the mandible bones. But it’s too opaque. Potential members and their doctors couldn’t tell exactly what our organization was about from our name, and that really became an obstacle for growth. And we were often confused with that shark movie! [both laugh] [AL] Good reminder! Linden, I know we went through a campaign to choose, and we ultimately went with a company to choose GPM to become our partner. Can you explain that process and how we became connected with them? [LM] Yeah, of course, this is such a great story. The Marketing Committee, led by Chair Courtney Schneider of Amarillo Oral Surgery, solicited requests for proposal from several marketing companies, and we heard four pitches last year. It was a difficult decision, but the Marketing Committee recommended Golden Proportions Marketing to the board, and the board accepted the committee’s recommendation. GPM is a full-service marketing company specializing in dental practices, so they are familiar with our industry, and they’ve worked with organizations like ours before. They did some market research for the pitch, and that really impressed the committee and that really made them stand ahead of the other three pitches that we heard. [AL] I agree, I agree. It was one very nice proposal that the put in front of us. Can you go into how you all went through and chose the logo? [LM] Well It all started with Courtney and me running a speed-dating style slide show for the Marketing Committee members with logos that GPM had created in the past to help the committee figure out what direction we wanted to go in. The styles and things like that. Then, GPM’s design team presented 8 concepts from our feedback, and from that first round, the committee had narrowed it down to 2 basic designs, the rope design and the honeycomb design is kind of how we talked about it. From there, we went through weekly reviews and we were presented with 8 concepts each time, and we quickly narrowed down from those two main icons, we really focused in on that honeycomb design. While the committee appreciated the symbolism of the rope tying members across the country together, the symbolism of the honeycomb is a lot richer, and it really resonated a lot more deeply with the committee. This whole time we were working only in black and white, so everything we saw was always in black and white. And we continued on the next few rounds in black and white and we started considering different fonts and different layouts and where does the icon go in relation to the words? Where should the line breaks in the words go? We really labored over every aspect of the logo! It was actually a really fun process. Our account manager Bess facilitated each voice to be heard and then conveyed that information back to the designer for the next round of designs. In the last 3 rounds, they finally brought in color, and that’s when we started talking about the pairings of the color and richness of the symbolism behind various combinations and the shades. And then in the very last round, we had settled on orange and blue, and we saw shades of orange and shades of blues and and different combinations of those different shades. This incremental process was such a fascinating journey to be a part of. I loved seeing the committee members negotiate their feelings about the Society and what it means to them and what they wanted the logo to convey to the outside world through color and font and symbol choices, and then finally agree on a final design. If it’s okay, I’d like to take a minute to thank everyone who was a part of this process: Michelle Flynn, Ashley Kraussman, Tara Comer, Jill Dunnam, David Nye, and Courtney Schneider who were all part of that Marketing Committee process. We had a final meeting with the board, so I’d also like to thank Keith Miller, Lynn Howard, and you, and Robin Zenz and the late Dana Leach, who were able to join Courtney, Bess, and me on that last minute call so that we could finalize the logo in time to create some promotional items to send off to our booth at AAOMS. Finally I’d like to thank Bess and Brett at Golden Proportions, who patiently guided all of the various voices and opinions along this journey. [AL] Wow! What a journey! I’m sure our members can now really appreciate the time and consideration that went into this process. It was not an easy or quick process from you’re recounting. In one of our board calls, I was very impressed with your deep tie to the symbolism of the Honeycomb and since then have connected more and more with the simple hexagon. It’s a representation of far more than just a simple glance. Linden, if you don't' mind, do you think you can recapture your conversation that you had previously had with us on that call and share more about what that honeycomb meaning is for, not only you, but kind of your outlook on what guided you through this process. [LM] Yeah, sure! It really all starts with the shape. The honeycomb is one of the strongest shapes in nature. It supports that very structure that the bees live and thrive in, and it’s actually a very efficient use of space and building materials. There’s a lot of science behind how the bees create that and how they don’t have to expend a lot of energy to create this very supportive structure for them to store their honey and plant their eggs. That’s not quite the right word, but they create their very home and their whole environment with the very basic building block of this honeycomb, hexagon shape that’s very strong. When you put all those honeycombs together, you get the beehive, and I love the, um, I’m not a practice administrator, I’m an association manager, but I hear a lot about what’s going on in your practices, and I definitely see a parallel between a beehive and an OMS practice. And so I love the symbolism of this honeycomb and the hive for what we do, what our organization is here to provide. The bees here in their hive all serve a different function, but they’re all working in concert, they’re supporting each other. If every bee is doing their job, that hive works together to produce something, the most visible to us, is something that is really sweet. It’s also healthy, it goes out into the world and makes things better for humans. But also as the bees are working, they spread pollen that allows things to grow and thrive. And without the bees doing that work, then we wouldn't have flowers and fruits and trees blooming. The closed shape of the hive symbolizes the togetherness of--and the honeycomb too--symbolizes the togetherness that our organization has and continually seeks to foster within our members. Even though we’re spread out throughout the country, we have this forum that is a beautiful way that we continue to network and educate throughout the year even though we can’t physically be together. And also something we’re trying to seek to help our members build within their practice through tools that we’re working to provide. So we want that togetherness to be present in our members’ practices as well. The honeycomb connects us to some of the aspects of what bees are known for. They are industrious and they work together. A lot of cooperation is tied into that. And so there is so much in that symbol that I think our members and our organization can draw from to really connect with and find meaning in that the Marketing Committee, like I said, the symbolism there is a lot deeper than some of the other symbols that we considered. That symbolism is something the Marketing Committee really connected with and just really love about that symbol and hope that we can continue to develop and grow in our organization. Maybe not explicitly, but implicitly through all the services and programs that we’re providing. [AL] Excellent, Thank you very much! Your passion is just wonderful to listen too! Ultimately, it’s what finalized our design and launch of our new brand and image. It’s just unbelievable the background. It just sets apart and kind of just ingrains more meaning with our members as well. Furthermore, I think that this has ultimately led the board to kind of start this process of planning for our next strategic meeting to develop the six sides of the honeycomb to represent major areas or strengths required of Practice Administrators that SOMSA speaks to. I’m very excited with our assignment and cannot wait to collaborate with our leaders! I know our team is ultimately always looking for ways to improve or network our members at a different level and this is just what really sets our society apart, especially from an administrative support system. [AL] Linden, Thank you for joining us today. [LM] Yeah, you’re welcome! [energetic break music] We hope you all have enjoyed learning more about how SOMSA was born and the image behind the name.  We are looking forward to more Oral Surgery Admin’s Time Out episodes with SOMSA. In the meantime, if you are looking to join SOMSA or you’re already a member, you can connect with us online at www.SOMSA.org, where all our member resources are hosted.  Logged in members have access to the webinar library, educational content, our forum and much more. You can also connect with us on Facebook by searching for Society of OMS Administrators or on Twitter at @somsa_omsadmin. Thank you for joining us and watch for our next episode, a 2019 conference preview in historic Savannah, Georgia, with Conference Chair David Nye. [energetic break music] We hope you have enjoyed this Oral Surgery Time Out podcast brought to you by SOMSA. If you have a Practice Management Success Tip for this podcast, please share by sending it over to the SOMSA office. We look forward to your insight. Thank you! Our intro sound is Ticking Clock Sound recorded by KevanGC shared under the Public Domain. The other sound you hear in our podcast is Tropic of Cancer 1 by Creative Commons from SoundCloud. It's a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more information about the license here https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/#.

Al Good uses music to weave together our Come Together theme for Stewardship this year.

EB Moss: This is E.B. Moss and I’m here with Al Berman for some Insider InSites, spontaneously ON site at the Nat Geo kickoff party for Earth Live. Al is the Executive Producer for this and is the mastermind behind setting up 50 cameras all around the world in [12] countries. Tell us about this! Al Berman: Yes, we have at least 50, and by the time we go on air will probably have more. We’re at 14 manned locations, over 50 locations total, and we’re doing something that’s never been tried before. We’re around the world, not in cities where you have technical infrastructure, where you have internet, no. We’re in the nether lands of the world where the wildlife is. So we went after the wildlife and then figured out how to get the signal from wherever we are back to New York, where we have our studios and our hosts – Jane Lynch and Phil Keoghan – and Chris Packham, our animal expert. So it’s been a technical challenge, a creative challenge, and just lining up the very best photographers in the world that’s been a challenge too. EB: What were the origins? How did it come about? Al: I originally approached Nat Geo and suggested we do two or three places live – safari, under the water with sharks, and Tim [Pastore, head of original programming for National Geographic Channel] had the vision. He basically said, “How about we do the whole world?!” So, I looked at him and I said, “Okay. How long do you want it? How much money do you want to spend?, bah bah bah”, and we pounded fists and that was it and the deal was born that day, almost two years ago. EB: Amazing. So this is live...on...? Al:  All live July 9th here, July 10th in Europe and Africa and the other 172 countries where it will be broadcast. EB: That is a feat of coordination – thanks to technical know-how and great people?! Al: What we said is, “We don’t know how to put this together,” but we do know how to hire the best people to figure this out so we hired the best live director, Glenn Weiss, who’s won 13 Emmy Awards. We hired the best technical manager, Gail DePoli, who won probably more than that, the best line producers, and we said, “Okay, here’s a challenge and let’s figure it out.” And so even now, a couple of weeks out from the broadcast we’re still trying to figure stuff out! But by the time July 9th rolls around we’re going to have a kick-ass show. EB: So, do you have a sense of what you’re going to capture live from the Earth? Al: We know some of the things we’ll find. For example, we’ll have a scout plane with a receive dish over Fredericks, Alaska looking for humpback whales which are always there this time of year. A boat containing scientists with a drone will approach them and fly the drone right over the humpback’s blowhole. When the humpback exhales, the snot will fall on the lens, the drone will come back to the boat and its DNA will be analyzed. EB: Amazing. Al: We know we have a Golden Eagle in Oregon that will have a tiny little camera and transmitter on its head. We will watch it as its soaring and measure its speed as it plunges at almost 200 MPH, and we’ll see the bird’s eye view. That we know we have. Now, if a storm comes in that could mess things up. There are certain things we expect to find others we don’t know. EB: Animal sex? Al: Animal sex -- we’re hoping for that once each half hour over the course of the two hour broadcast. Other things we just don’t know. In Maasai Mara, we will have tracked every pride in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. We’ll be out there with three vehicles with cameras that can shoot at night so it looks like daylight. We’ll have the very best camerawoman in the world – Sophie Darlington who knows all these lions by name and we hope, and expect, to get them on the hunt and maybe get a kill but we just don’t know. EB: I understand this will take place in all the time zones around the world and so animals will be doing different things at different times as well… Al:  Exactly, so It’s the middle of the night in Kenya; it’s dawn at the coast of Thailand, and it’s low tide, because of the full moon. It’s the lowest tide of the month and these Macaque monkeys are on the rocks at the edge of the shore and start smashing clams on the rocks and start eating the clams. They don’t know people so they’re not afraid and people can walk right up and watch this behavior. One of the reasons we’re doing this broadcast July 9th is because it’s the full moon closest to the summer equinox, so it’s the longest day with a full moon. EB So Phil Keoghan just walked by, we're at the kick-off event for this on Nat Geo, and Jane Lynch is another US based host. Phil obviously is used to traveling all over the world, what are your expectations for the host? What will Jane and Phil be doing? Al: Phil keeps saying "give me more, give me more, I want to get up to speed on everything." Phil has been everywhere and so he's going to take us everywhere.  EB: Excellent.  Al: Jane is fascinated by just about everything, so that fascination and that sense of humor will be an important part of the broadcast. Then we have another pure animal expert who has a tremendous amount of television experience. He's been on Jimmy Fallon and others; his name is Chris Packham, he will know the number of vertebrae in every mammal that we're seeing.  EB: Well everybody knows that. Al: They certainly will after this airing.  EB: Al, is there an environmental angle to this? Is there a cause overlay to the show? Al: Good question, we discussed this very early on and we decided no. This is to simply show everybody the wonder of wildlife around the globe. Whatever conservation message they may want to take from that, that's up to them, but we are not pushing any environmental cause.  EB: Okay well hopefully it will inspire people either way. Thank you so much Al Berman, we're really looking forward to Earth Live, live, and a brand new kind of reality show.  Al: A brand new kind of animal documentary. So it's much more than a reality show, it’s capturing the world live, and the fact that technology has evolved to allow us to do that is remarkable.  EB: Thank you so much Al Berman, Executive Producer of Earth Live, coming up on Nat Geo July 9th, in real time! Al: Thank You.