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Chapter 24 - The Wandmaker“I want to do it properly,” were the first words of which Harry was fully conscious of speaking. “Not by magic. Have you got a spade?” And shortly afterward he had set to work, alone, digging the grave in the place that Bill had shown him at the end of the garden, between bushes. He dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a gift to the elf who had saved their lives. Q1 - Why did Harry want to do this without magic?“No,” Harry said, and Bill looked startled. “I need both of them here. I need to talk to them. It's important.” He heard the authority in his own voice, the conviction, the sense of purpose that had come to him as he dug Dobby's grave. All of their faces were turned toward him, looking puzzled. Dobby would never be able to tell them who had sent him to the cellar, but Harry knew what he had seen. A piercing blue eye had looked out of the mirror fragment, and then help had come. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.Q2 - What's the deal with the mirror?You gave Ron the Deluminator. You understood him. . . . You gave him a way back. . . . And you understood Wormtail too. . . . You knew there was a bit of regret there, somewhere. . . . And if you knew them . . . What did you know about me, Dumbledore? Am I meant to know, but not to seek? Did you know how hard I'd find that? Is that why you made it this difficult? So I'd have time to work that out?Q3 - Do you think he's right about Dumbledore here?Q4 - They're going to break into Gringotts? Are they going to succeed?“I took this wand from Draco Malfoy by force,” said Harry. “Can I use it safely?” “I think so. Subtle laws govern wand ownership, but the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master.” Q5 - Is Harry truly the master of Draco's wand?Yes, if you won it, it is more likely to do your bidding, and do it well, than another wand.” “And this holds true for all wands, does it?” asked Harry. “I think so,” replied Ollivander, his protuberant eyes upon Harry's face. “You ask deep questions, Mr. Potter. Wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic.” “So, it isn't necessary to kill the previous owner to take true possession of a wand?” asked Harry. Ollivander swallowed. “Necessary? No, I should not say that it is necessary to kill.” Q6 - Do you think this is true? That wands can pass without killing?“You told him about the twin cores? You said he just had to borrow another wizard's wand?” Ollivander looked horrified, transfixed, by the amount that Harry knew. He nodded slowly. “But it didn't work,” Harry went on. “Mine still beat the borrowed wand. Do you know why that is?” Ollivander shook his head as slowly as he had just nodded. “I had . . . never heard of such a thing. Your wand performed something unique that night. The connection of the twin cores is incredibly rare, yet why your wand should have snapped the borrowed wand, I do not know. . . .” Q7 - Why do you think Harry's wand acted like this?“Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand a long time ago,” he said. “I saw You-Know-Who trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Gregorovitch didn't have it anymore: It was stolen from him by Grindelwald. How Grindelwald found out that Gregorovitch had it, I don't know — but if Gregorovitch was stupid enough to spread the rumor, it can't have been that difficult.” Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; Harry could see him standing there, and see too the lamp bobbing in the pre-dawn, coming closer and closer. “And Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to become powerful. And at the height of his power, when Dumbledore knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Grindelwald and beat him, and he took the Elder Wand.” “Dumbledore had the Elder Wand?” said Ron. “But then — where is it now?” Q8 - What do you think about this?And here it was, beside the lake, reflected in the dark waters. The white marble tomb, an unnecessary blot on the familiar landscape. He felt again that rush of controlled euphoria, that heady sense of purpose in destruction. He raised the old yew wand: How fitting that this would be its last great act. The tomb split open from head to foot. The shrouded figure was as long and thin as it had been in life. He raised the wand again. The wrappings fell open. The face was translucent, pale, sunken, yet almost perfectly preserved. They had left his spectacles on the crooked nose: He felt amused derision. Dumbledore's hands were folded upon his chest, and there it lay, clutched beneath them, buried with him. Had the old fool imagined that marble or death would protect the wand? Had he thought that the Dark Lord would be scared to violate his tomb? The spiderlike hand swooped and pulled the wand from Dumbledore's grasp, and as he took it, a shower of sparks flew from its tip, sparkling over the corpse of its last owner, ready to serve a new master at last. Chapter 25 - Shell Cottage“Harry admits he could have imagined the eye! Don't you, Harry?” “I could have,” said Harry without looking at her. “But you don't think you did, do you?” asked Ron. “No, I don't,” said Harry. “There you go!” said Ron quickly, before Hermione could carry on. “If it wasn't Dumbledore, explain how Dobby knew we were in the cellar, Hermione?” “I can't — but can you explain how Dumbledore sent him to us if he's lying in a tomb at Hogwarts?”Q1 - Is Dumbledore alive?Q2 - Does the sword really belong to Goblins?Q3 - Do you think he plan will go well with Griphook?“So, au revoir, Mr. Ollivander,” said Fleur, kissing him on both cheeks. “And I wonder whezzer you could oblige me by delivering a package to Bill's Auntie Muriel? I never returned 'er tiara.” “It will be an honor,” said Ollivander with a little bow, “the very least I can do in return for your generous hospitality.” Fleur drew out a worn velvet case, which she opened to show the wandmaker. The tiara sat glittering and twinkling in the light from the low-hanging lamp. “Moonstones and diamonds,” said Griphook, who had sidled into the room without Harry noticing. “Made by goblins, I think?” Q4 - Could Danny's tiara theory be right all along?Lupin fell over the threshold. He was white-faced, wrapped in a traveling cloak, his graying hair windswept. He straightened up, looked around the room, making sure of who was there, then cried aloud, “It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!” Hermione shrieked. “Wha — ? Tonks — Tonks has had the baby?” “Yes, yes, she's had the baby!” shouted Lupin. All around the table came cries of delight, sighs of relief: Hermione and Fleur both squealed, “Congratulations!” and Ron said, “Blimey, a baby!” as if he had never heard of such a thing before. “Yes — yes — a boy,” said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness. He strode around the table and hugged Harry; the scene in the basement of Grimmauld Place might never have happened. “You'll be godfather?” he said as he released Harry. “M-me?” stammered Harry “You, yes, of course — Dora quite agrees, no one better —” “I — yeah — blimey —” Q5 - What do you think about Lupin and Tonks having a baby?Harry had an ominous feeling now; he wondered whether Bill guessed more than he was letting on. “All I am saying,” said Bill, setting his hand on the door back into the sitting room, “is to be very careful what you promise goblins, Harry. It would be less dangerous to break into Gringotts than to renege on a promise to a goblin.” Q6 - Are they dumb to trust Griphook?Chapter 26 - Gringotts“I hate this thing,” she said in a low voice. “I really hate it. It feels all wrong, it doesn't work properly for me. . . . It's like a bit of her.” “It'll probably help you get in character, though,” said Ron. “Think what that wand's done!” “But that's my point!” said Hermione. “This is the wand that tortured Neville's mum and dad, and who knows how many other people? This is the wand that killed Sirius!” Q1 - Should they snap this wand in two?Harry looked down at the hawthorn wand that had once belonged to Draco Malfoy. He had been surprised, but pleased, to discover that it worked for him at least as well as Hermione's had done. Remembering what Ollivander had told them of the secret workings of wands, Harry thought he knew what Hermione's problem was: She had not won the walnut wand's allegiance by taking it personally from Bellatrix. Q2 - Is this true?He realized now that they could hardly have laid Dobby to rest in a more beautiful place, but Harry ached with sadness to think of leaving him behind. Looking down on the grave, he wondered yet again how the elf had known where to come to rescue them. His fingers moved absentmindedly to the little pouch still strung around his neck, through which he could feel the jagged mirror fragment in which he had been sure he had seen Dumbledore's eye. Then the sound of a door opening made him look around. Q3 - Any further theories on who sent Dobby?“They know!” whispered Griphook in Harry's ear. “They must have been warned there might be an impostor!” “Your wand will do, madam,” said the goblin. He held out a slightly trembling hand, and in a dreadful blast of realization Harry knew that the goblins of Gringotts were aware that Bellatrix's wand had been stolen. “Act now, act now,” whispered Griphook in Harry's ear, “the Imperius Curse!” Harry raised the hawthorn wand beneath the cloak, pointed it at the old goblin, and whispered, for the first time in his life, “Imperio!” Q4 - What do you think about Harry using the Imperius curse?Q5 - Is Travers going to permanently be in a crack in the wall in Gringotts?Q6 - What do you think of all the enchantments at Gringotts?“Harry, could this be — ? Aargh!” Hermione screamed in pain, and Harry turned his wand on her in time to see a jeweled goblet tumbling from her grip. But as it fell, it split, became a shower of goblets, so that a second later, with a great clatter, the floor was covered in identical cups rolling in every direction, the original impossible to discern amongst them. “It burned me!” moaned Hermione, sucking her blistered fingers. “They have added Gemino and Flagrante Curses!” said Griphook. “Everything you touch will burn and multiply, but the copies are worthless — and if you continue to handle the treasure, you will eventually be crushed to death by the weight of expanding gold!” Q7 - What do you think about this?The tiny golden cup, skewered by the handle on the sword's blade, was flung into the air. The goblin still astride him, Harry dived and caught it, and although he could feel it scalding his flesh he did not relinquish it, even while countless Hufflepuff cups burst from his fist.Q8 - Do they have the cup?Q9 - How do you like their dragon heist?Chapter 27 - The Final Hiding Place“Well, on the upside,” said Ron finally, who was sitting watching the skin on his hands regrow, “we got the Horcrux. On the downside —” “— no sword,” said Harry through gritted teeth, as he dripped dittany through the singed hole in his jeans onto the angry burn beneath. Q1 - How will they destroy this Horcrux?The sky, the smell of lake water, the sound of Ron's voice were extinguished: Pain cleaved Harry's head like a sword stroke. He was standing in a dimly lit room, and a semicircle of wizards faced him, and on the floor at his feet knelt a small, quaking figure. “What did you say to me?” His voice was high and cold, but fury and fear burned inside him. The one thing he had dreaded — but it could not be true, he could not see how . . . The goblin was trembling, unable to meet the red eyes high above his. “Say it again!” murmured Voldemort. “Say it again!” “M-my Lord,” stammered the goblin, its black eyes wide with terror, “m-my Lord . . . we t-tried t-to st-stop them. . . . Im-impostors, my Lord . . . broke — broke into the — into the Lestranges' v-vault. . . .” “Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?” “It was . . . it was . . . the P-Potter b-boy and t-two accomplices. . . .” “And they took?” he said, his voice rising, a terrible fear gripping him. “Tell me! What did they take?” “A . . . a s-small golden c-cup, m-my Lord . . .” The scream of rage, of denial left him as if it were a stranger's: He was crazed, frenzied, it could not be true, it was impossible, nobody had ever known: How was it possible that the boy could have discovered his secret? Q2 - What do you think of this?But surely if the boy had destroyed any of his Horcruxes, he, Lord Voldemort, would have known, would have felt it?Q3 - So has Voldemort not felt these horcruxes being destroyed?But he must know, he must be sure. . . . He paced the room, kicking aside the goblin's corpse as he passed, and the pictures blurred and burned in his boiling brain: the lake, the shack, and Hogwarts —Q4 - Where at Hogwarts?As for the school: He alone knew where in Hogwarts he had stowed the Horcrux, because he alone had plumbed the deepest secrets of that place. . . . And there was still Nagini, who must remain close now, no longer sent to do his bidding, under his protection. . . . Q5 - If Voldemort is checking the hiding places, how much time do the trio have?“But how are we going to get in?” “We'll go to Hogsmeade,” said Harry, “and try to work something out once we see what the protection around the school's like. Get under the Cloak, Hermione, I want to stick together this time.” “But we don't really fit —” “It'll be dark, no one's going to notice our feet.” The flapping of enormous wings echoed across the black water: The dragon had drunk its fill and risen into the air. They paused in their preparations to watch it climb higher and higher, now black against the rapidly darkening sky, until it vanished over a nearby mountain. Then Hermione walked forward and took her place between the other two. Harry pulled the Cloak down as far as it would go, and together they turned on the spot into the crushing darkness.Chapter 28 - The Missing MirrorHe raised his wand: He could not, would not, suffer the Dementor's Kiss, whatever happened afterward. It was of Ron and Hermione that he thought as he whispered, “Expecto Patronum!” Q1 - Should they have planned this a little better?Ron gasped. “The silver doe!” he said excitedly. “Was that you too?” “What are you talking about?” said Aberforth. “Someone sent a doe Patronus to us!” “Brains like that, you could be a Death Eater, son. Haven't I just proved my Patronus is a goat?” “Oh,” said Ron. “Yeah . . . well, I'm hungry!” he added defensively as his stomach gave an enormous rumble“My brother Albus wanted a lot of things,” said Aberforth, “and people had a habit of getting hurt while he was carrying out his grand plans. You get away from this school, Potter, and out of the country if you can. Forget my brother and his clever schemes. He's gone where none of this can hurt him, and you don't owe him anything.”Q2 - Is Aberforth a reliable story teller? “It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless. Q3 - What do you think this looks like?But he did all right for a few weeks . . . till he came.” And now a positively dangerous look crept over Aberforth's face. “Grindelwald. And at last, my brother had an equal to talk to, someone just as bright and talented as he was. And looking after Ariana took a backseat then, while they were hatching all their plans for a new Wizarding order, and looking for Hallows, and whatever else it was they were so interested in. Grand plans for the benefit of all Wizardkind, and if one young girl got neglected, what did that matter, when Albus was working for the greater good? He got angry. He told me what a stupid little boy I was, trying to stand in the way of him and my brilliant brother. . . . Didn't I understand, my poor sister wouldn't have to be hidden once they'd changed the world, and led the wizards out of hiding, and taught the Muggles their place? Q4 - What do you think of Grindewald now?“He was never free,” said Harry. “I beg your pardon?” said Aberforth. “Never,” said Harry. “The night that your brother died, he drank a potion that drove him out of his mind. He started screaming, pleading with someone who wasn't there. ‘Don't hurt them, please . . . hurt me instead.'” Q5 - Do you think Dumbledore really never forgave himself?“Because,” said Harry before Hermione could answer, “sometimes you've got to think about more than your own safety! Sometimes you've got to think about the greater good! This is war!” “You're seventeen, boy!” “I'm of age, and I'm going to keep fighting even if you've given up!” “Who says I've given up?” “‘The Order of the Phoenix is finished,'” Harry repeated. “‘YouKnow-Who's won, it's over, and anyone who's pretending different's kidding themselves.'” “I don't say I like it, but it's the truth!” “No, it isn't,” said Harry. “Your brother knew how to finish YouKnow-Who and he passed the knowledge on to me. I'm going to keep going until I succeed — or I die. Don't think I don't know how this might end. I've known it for years.” Q6 - What do you think of this whole story?Q7 - How will this end?

Chapter 24 - The Wandmaker“I want to do it properly,” were the first words of which Harry was fully conscious of speaking. “Not by magic. Have you got a spade?” And shortly afterward he had set to work, alone, digging the grave in the place that Bill had shown him at the end of the garden, between bushes. He dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a gift to the elf who had saved their lives. Q1 - Why did Harry want to do this without magic?“No,” Harry said, and Bill looked startled. “I need both of them here. I need to talk to them. It's important.” He heard the authority in his own voice, the conviction, the sense of purpose that had come to him as he dug Dobby's grave. All of their faces were turned toward him, looking puzzled. Dobby would never be able to tell them who had sent him to the cellar, but Harry knew what he had seen. A piercing blue eye had looked out of the mirror fragment, and then help had come. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.Q2 - What's the deal with the mirror?You gave Ron the Deluminator. You understood him. . . . You gave him a way back. . . . And you understood Wormtail too. . . . You knew there was a bit of regret there, somewhere. . . . And if you knew them . . . What did you know about me, Dumbledore? Am I meant to know, but not to seek? Did you know how hard I'd find that? Is that why you made it this difficult? So I'd have time to work that out?Q3 - Do you think he's right about Dumbledore here?Q4 - They're going to break into Gringotts? Are they going to succeed?“I took this wand from Draco Malfoy by force,” said Harry. “Can I use it safely?” “I think so. Subtle laws govern wand ownership, but the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master.” Q5 - Is Harry truly the master of Draco's wand?Yes, if you won it, it is more likely to do your bidding, and do it well, than another wand.” “And this holds true for all wands, does it?” asked Harry. “I think so,” replied Ollivander, his protuberant eyes upon Harry's face. “You ask deep questions, Mr. Potter. Wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic.” “So, it isn't necessary to kill the previous owner to take true possession of a wand?” asked Harry. Ollivander swallowed. “Necessary? No, I should not say that it is necessary to kill.” Q6 - Do you think this is true? That wands can pass without killing?“You told him about the twin cores? You said he just had to borrow another wizard's wand?” Ollivander looked horrified, transfixed, by the amount that Harry knew. He nodded slowly. “But it didn't work,” Harry went on. “Mine still beat the borrowed wand. Do you know why that is?” Ollivander shook his head as slowly as he had just nodded. “I had . . . never heard of such a thing. Your wand performed something unique that night. The connection of the twin cores is incredibly rare, yet why your wand should have snapped the borrowed wand, I do not know. . . .” Q7 - Why do you think Harry's wand acted like this?“Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand a long time ago,” he said. “I saw You-Know-Who trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Gregorovitch didn't have it anymore: It was stolen from him by Grindelwald. How Grindelwald found out that Gregorovitch had it, I don't know — but if Gregorovitch was stupid enough to spread the rumor, it can't have been that difficult.” Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; Harry could see him standing there, and see too the lamp bobbing in the pre-dawn, coming closer and closer. “And Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to become powerful. And at the height of his power, when Dumbledore knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Grindelwald and beat him, and he took the Elder Wand.” “Dumbledore had the Elder Wand?” said Ron. “But then — where is it now?” Q8 - What do you think about this?And here it was, beside the lake, reflected in the dark waters. The white marble tomb, an unnecessary blot on the familiar landscape. He felt again that rush of controlled euphoria, that heady sense of purpose in destruction. He raised the old yew wand: How fitting that this would be its last great act. The tomb split open from head to foot. The shrouded figure was as long and thin as it had been in life. He raised the wand again. The wrappings fell open. The face was translucent, pale, sunken, yet almost perfectly preserved. They had left his spectacles on the crooked nose: He felt amused derision. Dumbledore's hands were folded upon his chest, and there it lay, clutched beneath them, buried with him. Had the old fool imagined that marble or death would protect the wand? Had he thought that the Dark Lord would be scared to violate his tomb? The spiderlike hand swooped and pulled the wand from Dumbledore's grasp, and as he took it, a shower of sparks flew from its tip, sparkling over the corpse of its last owner, ready to serve a new master at last. Chapter 25 - Shell Cottage“Harry admits he could have imagined the eye! Don't you, Harry?” “I could have,” said Harry without looking at her. “But you don't think you did, do you?” asked Ron. “No, I don't,” said Harry. “There you go!” said Ron quickly, before Hermione could carry on. “If it wasn't Dumbledore, explain how Dobby knew we were in the cellar, Hermione?” “I can't — but can you explain how Dumbledore sent him to us if he's lying in a tomb at Hogwarts?”Q1 - Is Dumbledore alive?Q2 - Does the sword really belong to Goblins?Q3 - Do you think he plan will go well with Griphook?“So, au revoir, Mr. Ollivander,” said Fleur, kissing him on both cheeks. “And I wonder whezzer you could oblige me by delivering a package to Bill's Auntie Muriel? I never returned 'er tiara.” “It will be an honor,” said Ollivander with a little bow, “the very least I can do in return for your generous hospitality.” Fleur drew out a worn velvet case, which she opened to show the wandmaker. The tiara sat glittering and twinkling in the light from the low-hanging lamp. “Moonstones and diamonds,” said Griphook, who had sidled into the room without Harry noticing. “Made by goblins, I think?” Q4 - Could Danny's tiara theory be right all along?Lupin fell over the threshold. He was white-faced, wrapped in a traveling cloak, his graying hair windswept. He straightened up, looked around the room, making sure of who was there, then cried aloud, “It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!” Hermione shrieked. “Wha — ? Tonks — Tonks has had the baby?” “Yes, yes, she's had the baby!” shouted Lupin. All around the table came cries of delight, sighs of relief: Hermione and Fleur both squealed, “Congratulations!” and Ron said, “Blimey, a baby!” as if he had never heard of such a thing before. “Yes — yes — a boy,” said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness. He strode around the table and hugged Harry; the scene in the basement of Grimmauld Place might never have happened. “You'll be godfather?” he said as he released Harry. “M-me?” stammered Harry “You, yes, of course — Dora quite agrees, no one better —” “I — yeah — blimey —” Q5 - What do you think about Lupin and Tonks having a baby?Harry had an ominous feeling now; he wondered whether Bill guessed more than he was letting on. “All I am saying,” said Bill, setting his hand on the door back into the sitting room, “is to be very careful what you promise goblins, Harry. It would be less dangerous to break into Gringotts than to renege on a promise to a goblin.” Q6 - Are they dumb to trust Griphook?

Bev and Jonnie talk about Stardew 1.5 Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:25: What Have We Been Up To 00:13:31: News 00:43:41: Stardew 1.5 01:39:34: Outro Links Fae Farm 2.1.0 Fabledome A Wedding in a Chateau Update Research Story Steam Achievements Slime Rancher 2 Roadmap Usagi Shima Walking Buns Tales of Seikyu Kickstarter Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator Grimshire 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) : Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:36) : My name is Jonny. (0:00:38) : And my name is Bev. (0:00:39) : And then there’s something else that the main host usually says, but by the bev or I, uh, (0:00:44) : I usually the ones that are. (0:00:46) : Oh, I knew my head states talk to you about cottagecore games. (0:00:50) : Woo. (0:00:51) : Woo. (0:00:52) : Getting there. (0:00:53) : And today we are talking about like the most cottagecore games. (0:01:01) : It’ll be, it’ll be very exciting today. (0:01:03) : We’re going to be chatting to you about Stardew 1.5, only like a year and a bit after it came out. (0:01:13) : So, yeah, very excited about that. (0:01:15) : Before you get into things, as always, recording and transcripts are available. (0:01:19) : Well, you’re recording and listening to transcripts are available in the show notes and on the website. (0:01:25) : But before we kick into the news, Bev, what have you been up to? (0:01:29) : I– (0:01:30) : I’ve been dying at work, but when I’m not dying at work, I’ve been putting most of my free time into Disney Dreamlight Valley, because I am trying to be a completionist with that winter star path event, and I want all the winter goodies, so hardly trying to get those those last star path duties, I guess, in so I can collect all the things. (0:01:59) : How are the events in Disney? (0:02:00) : I’m a fan of the events in Disney. I’ve been on two shows about DDV. I haven’t really done any of the events. I’ve mostly just like mainlined the core content of the game. So how do you feel about the events? (0:02:13) : I mean, I feel like it’s an event loosely, in very loose terms, because it’s mostly just a new questline that you’re following to my knowledge. There isn’t a story or anything tied to it. Not that I can recall. (0:02:28) : And I paid a little amount of money for it, and I paid a little bit of money for it. (0:02:30) : So I had a lot of extra for Moonstones to ensure that I got the exclusive winter version of Belle and Ariel, even though I technically don’t have those characters unlocked yet. (0:02:40) : But it’s been nice in that it’s forcing me to come back in and play it. But a lot of the quests or the duties are actually kind of hard to accomplish. (0:02:58) : and there’s like 80 of them. (0:03:00) : And I think I’m only at like 55 or so with like a handful of days left. (0:03:06) : So I’m a little, I shouldn’t say I’m stressing myself out, (0:03:10) : but I probably am a little bit by trying to get these these last questions question. (0:03:15) : Do you have to do all of them or just some of them? (0:03:18) : I mean, technically, I don’t think you have to do any of them. (0:03:20) : There’s just there’s a there’s on the like event page, (0:03:24) : there’s the duties page, which lists the different like Dreamlight, (0:03:28) : similar to Dreamlight due to– (0:03:30) : - Oh, you have to do all of them to unlock everything, I guess. (0:03:56) : No, no, no, what I. (0:04:00) : I do like that they have the option to allow you to see what what’s on the on the later pages. Like I can see up until the last page of number six what’s available. So I can kind of map out in my head of how much I want to do or how much of the like how much time I want to spend devoting to this event to acquire everything I want to get. (0:04:24) : So there’s there’s a certain level of guests like you kind of have to acquire a. (0:04:30) : A certain number of the duties in order to at least fully unlock all six pages, but not to the extent that you have to do it all to truly like take advantage of the event. (0:04:42) : And to my knowledge, there’s also a like like a free version without paying the extra premium like moonstones and then the premium version. I think in the basic version. (0:04:54) : They limit the number of duties to only three at a time. So it makes it a little harder to advance, but with the premium then they give you (0:05:02) : Nice, well, that sounds that sounds like a good fun and I like I know there’s a bit of controversy about then going from not free to play to free to play, but it feels like that implemented in a way that’s not like kind of forcing you to spend money. (0:05:19) : Yeah, so you can still take advantage of it, but it’s still kind of has that like free to play feel. (0:05:25) : I was playing polio for a while because I was also trying to take advantage of that winter. (0:05:30) : And I think I did everything I need to feel like I got the most out of it and then probably put it down to put all my time back into Dreamline. Yeah, yeah, I feel like I really enjoy Palia. (0:05:48) : But there’s some, it feels like there’s some content missing still from that game. (0:05:52) : Yeah, which makes sense. It’s still in early access. Absolutely. (0:05:59) : but uh what have you (0:06:00) : been playing what have I been playing uh so I have tried and when I say tried I’ve played like half an hour so I don’t have too much to say but I have tried pal world which is the the pokemon with guns game that’s got like a ton of controversy around it because they pretty blatantly just like (0:06:22) : copied pokemon designs um and oh wow yeah yeah it’s see (0:06:30) : seems like a really bad survival game is kind of my take and I don’t I don’t think survival games are that good to begin with and this one seems pretty pretty heinous like everything just feels more difficult than it needs to be if that makes sense like when I play a survival game I kind of want to be able to get into things quickly and feel like you know crafting and building stuff is really intuitive. And this game is not that. (0:07:00) : They just set you up with a bunch of quests. They don’t really tell you how to do anything. (0:07:06) : You’ve got a bunch of stats and like I get that it’s a demo, but A, this game is controversial because it seems like they stole a bunch of intellectual property. (0:07:15) : And B, it just seems like a boring and unfun game. So I don’t know that I have a huge elsewhere to say, other than it’s just like, don’t play this game, don’t support it. (0:07:29) : Yeah, I mean just looking at it. (0:07:30) : Like from screenshots and what’s on Steam, it’s very clearly that one can say maybe to be kind like we’re inspired by Pokemon art, but more likely they just took the designs that people liked and put them. Oh my goodness, yeah. What’s the deer Pokemon, the stag one? That looks exactly (0:07:54) : except for the antlers, like Pokemon. So yeah. (0:07:59) : Yeah, pretty much everything. (0:08:00) : I think that this thing looks exactly like a Pokemon where it’s like, oh, they just changed the color palette on this one, or, yeah, they removed one feature or added one feature so I didn’t even get to the point where, you know, a Pokemon had a gun, I think I caught one and then trying to work out what to do with it was was painful enough that it’s like I just don’t have the energy to put into this sort of terrible experience. (0:08:26) : And I kind of don’t want to give them the, you know, the, the, the, the. (0:08:30) : I was playing stat on game pass because, um, uh, I guess that’s the version of supporting the game there. (0:08:37) : So yeah, trying not to play that one. (0:08:40) : Yeah. (0:08:41) : I mean, I can, I suppose I can make an argument that like sure that the creatures there are very similar to Pokemon, but they’re spending, still spending a lot of time and like effort into building everything else. (0:08:50) : And I would hope that it’s better. (0:08:54) : It plays better than Scarlet Violet did, um, especially at the beginning. (0:08:58) : So if they’re able to accomplish that– (0:09:00) : Pokemon Company wasn’t, then that’s one point for them, I guess. (0:09:05) : Yeah, and they do have that point. (0:09:07) : The Pokemon don’t start around the world. (0:09:09) : So and the open world, because it’s an open-ish world, (0:09:14) : I assume it’s procedurally generated, (0:09:17) : but I’m not sure on that, it feels better than the Pokemon open world from the small section that I’ve played. (0:09:27) : And it kind of has the vibe of, I assume (0:09:30) : movement abilities or something like that. (0:09:32) : And that’ll be cool once you get those. (0:09:37) : But it doesn’t seem worth going through all of the effort of actually getting those. (0:09:42) : See, part of me almost wants to get it, (0:09:44) : because this is what I kind of want our guests to have been, (0:09:48) : where it was back in the days. (0:09:50) : So it was more of a survival-esque aspect, (0:09:53) : but it fell a lot short than what– (0:09:57) : in comparison, I think, to what Power World is maybe offering. (0:10:00) : Maybe we should start a multiplayer world, then. (0:10:05) : You’re telling me not to support me, (0:10:07) : and I’m making an argument why I want to support you. (0:10:09) : Because it looks like the Pokemon game I want to play. (0:10:14) : I mean, it might get good. (0:10:16) : We’ll see. (0:10:16) : We’ll see. (0:10:16) : Yeah. (0:10:17) : Yeah, it’s still early access, so we’ll see. (0:10:20) : Maybe these are just the initial ones. (0:10:22) : There’s so much good ideas for new Pokemon out in the either in the internet. (0:10:27) : I have hopes that they would just have like a small number. (0:10:31) : clearly copied, and then we’ll be a little bit more creative. I don’t know, but we’ll see, I guess. (0:10:35) : On that front, I will say, “Prepare for disappointment.” (0:10:39) : Okay. (0:10:42) : So that’s Power World. The other game I’ve been playing is Sea of Stars, (0:10:48) : which is a very cute little JRPG that came out last year. And it’s been a while since I’ve like, (0:10:55) : jumped into a good JRPG, and this one kind of just jumped out, and I feel (0:11:01) : like I heard enough, you know, people around me saying good things about it that I thought I would give it a go, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s just a really nice, like, that the writing (0:11:16) : feels better than your, like, I’m not like trying to say that the writing’s amazing, (0:11:20) : but JRPGs generally have pretty terrible writing. And this one has been pretty good so far, (0:11:27) : I’m enjoying that. I really enjoy the combat. (0:11:31) : There’s some small timing based stuff in the combat, which I normally don’t love, but it’s kind of like implemented in a way that’s just works quite well in this game. (0:11:43) : And they have some cool mechanics that they’ve layered on top, right? (0:11:47) : So like when enemies are doing kind of like their finisher or their signature attack, there’ll be there’s ways to break it. (0:11:58) : like see if you deal certain types of damage to them. (0:12:01) : You can interrupt it and stop that entirely, which is a really cool mechanic because it adds kind of like a fun short term puzzle aspect to the middle of fights. (0:12:13) : So it’s not just how do I get the health bar to zero, it adds the you know the interesting dimension of well this attack will deal less damage but it will deal the sort of damage that I need to need to do. (0:12:27) : So I feel like the combat’s really, really intelligent. (0:12:31) : It’s intelligently designed, you know, in similar ways to if you play games like Bravely Default or all those sorts of things that feels like kind of equivalent to what those did to the standard turn-based mechanic system. (0:12:44) : Okay. Sounds good. I picked up game, so I was a backer of Sea of Stars and didn’t get around to picking it up until before like the new year. (0:12:55) : And then dropped it immediately as soon as I realized there was winter events that I had to spend time in. (0:13:01) : I also had the same impression, like I really enjoyed, I think, like the few hours that I put into it for those exact same reasons and the art style is beautiful. (0:13:11) : So I’m, I think, excited to pick that up once I’m done grinding in my alley. (0:13:18) : Yeah. Well, maybe once you’re done, we can do a second harvest on Sea of Stars. (0:13:23) : Yes. Yes, I love that. (0:13:26) : Great. But that, I guess, is what I’ve been playing. (0:13:31) : And so with that, we will jump to the news, because there is a decent chunk of news this week. (0:13:37) : And to kick off, we’ve got Faith Farm. So their 2.1 update is out now, as of the time you’re listening to it. (0:13:47) : It’s not out now, as of the time of recording. There’s some cool changes in this one. (0:13:53) : So probably the biggest thing is if you’re in single player mode, the game actually pauses in menus. (0:14:01) : This is one of those little things, just those little annoyances that didn’t happen before, or if you’re in a menu, time just continued to pass. (0:14:09) : Which is a bit of a brain breaker, I think, for farming games, because if you needed to pause, you know, most games, you just open the menu and then have that be the way that you pause. (0:14:21) : But that does not work for Faith Farm, but now it will. So that’s cool that they’ve got that. (0:14:31) : I don’t recall. I was also playing that, I think, prior to the New Year. And don’t recall the, maybe not realizing that it didn’t pause, but I was also playing when I couldn’t sleep. (0:14:44) : So I guess I didn’t have much of a need to pause it. But yeah, that’s definitely a huge quality of life improvement. (0:14:50) : Yeah. And I don’t think it was hugely impactful for Faith Farm. Like compared to a lot of other farming games, you don’t spend a ton of time in the menus in that game. (0:14:59) : It’s not super noticeable. (0:15:01) : And it was never really one of those games where I struggled, (0:15:04) : like, or where I felt like the days were too short. (0:15:09) : So I think that’s it’s not it wasn’t a huge limitation for that game, (0:15:14) : but definitely just something that was out of step with, you know, (0:15:17) : I guess what’s become a standard quality of life feature. (0:15:22) : There are a few other small changes coming with 2.1. (0:15:24) : We won’t talk about them here, because it’s kind of one of those. (0:15:28) : if you hear, you hear, and if you don’t. (0:15:32) : There’s just a lot of small things, I guess, that are coming through. (0:15:36) : They’ve also shared a bit about the subsequent updates, Update 2.2. (0:15:42) : They’re talking about the expansion of romance mechanics, which if you’ve listened to previous episodes on, or a previous episode on Feyfarn, you know that Al and I, we were not enamored with the romance system. (0:15:58) : And I don’t know that I’m that excited to jump back in with the mix. (0:16:02) : But I think it’s something they should kind of not invest their time into, it’s not a good focus for this game. (0:16:10) : But they are, so we’ll see what they do there. (0:16:14) : And they say allowing further control of game time. (0:16:18) : I’m wondering if this is a feature that’s kind of more common in newer games where you can sort of control how quickly in real-world time you want the data pass. (0:16:32) : Maybe it’s, you know, if it’s 20 minutes, maybe you can make it half an hour or something like that instead. (0:16:38) : But we will see. (0:16:40) : And expansion, this next one’s I think planned for release before the end of June, which is still quite a bit away. (0:16:50) : Indeed. (0:16:50) : Cool. (0:16:52) : So our next is Fabledom, what they are calling the wedding chattel update, which is coming on the first of February. (0:17:02) : And I guess in terms of update names, I mean, I like this one. It’s very clear about what this update means. (0:17:10) : What this update is, you know, doing a wedding update close to Valentine’s Day, they’re getting some good holiday tie-in. (0:17:20) : Have you played Fabledom at all, Bev? (0:17:22) : I have not. I’m not sure if it will be one I pick up, but I do like the name of their update. (0:17:32) : Maybe that’s really spot on unless there’s like maybe it’s a wedding for NPCs and we don’t we thought it was for us. (0:17:40) : But it’s highly dead. (0:17:42) : No, it’s probably just a wedding that we can have ourselves in the game. (0:17:46) : But yeah, have you played it? (0:17:50) : I have not played it. (0:17:52) : But it does say in the in the dev diary that third dates are now available and each one comes with a unique structure with its own. (0:18:02) : A feature connected to the date’s objective. So I assume that applies to your character and their ability to go on a date. (0:18:08) : Once you complete your third date, you can finally get married. Wow. Three dates and then marriage. That is very fast. (0:18:18) : But you must, of course, throw a feast. And yeah, I mean, this is like a really cool update for a game like this that introduces like some some different building types. (0:18:28) : Um, like I like the look of- (0:18:32) : I feel like this might be the sort of gamer I might like search out like a YouTuber who’s doing, you know, a playthrough of it and watch someone else play a game like this. (0:18:46) : Because it’s kind of just very nice and relaxing to watch someone else who knows what they’re doing play a game like this. (0:18:52) : Yeah, exactly. And I find that like with city builders, I tend to like stress myself out like I want a structure like I would tell me where to put the building and I would be happy to build it but I- (0:19:02) : I’m not creative. I’m not feeling creative right now. I don’t want to build a city. This sounds like a too big of a project for me right now. (0:19:08) : And you’re like, look at all the promotional stuff you’re like, I would that’s exactly what I would like to do. And then you start playing like, turns out it’s really hard to build things like that nicely laid out with that much intention. (0:19:20) : And in terms of cool buildings, they’ve got a palace that’s been added and the palace looks very cool. (0:19:26) : That’s always in why I want this because it looks it’s giving me Shrek vibes. (0:19:30) : Um (0:19:32) : Just from like, sir, it was this like face like, uh, so far so far didn’t or I don’t remember his name, but the, the little icon, a little person in the, in the logo seems like it’s that person from Shrek. Um, yeah, if it had like two settings where it could be like a structured version or creative version, I’d be like all into it. Um, but I think without that, I’m, I might pass because I I have too many, I’m managing too many projects at work and I don’t. (0:20:02) : That is entirely fair. Cool. So that is a fabled in. I feel like you might be the best talk about this next piece of news research story. Now has Steam achievements. (0:20:20) : Yes. I’m just looking at like the update on the devlog and it’s the icons for the (0:20:32) : So cute. I want to get back in just a second and get these achievements. (0:20:38) : I feel like they would make really cute like little pins or badges. (0:20:43) : Research story, please get on top of that. I will take my money. I will throw money at you for for these for especially that that cat mushroom pin please. (0:20:53) : But yeah, let’s see. I think they’re also doing some other changes, but just minor fixes. (0:21:03) : Like adding flowers and herbs with a dehydrator looks like seeds can now be used for the campfire to get roasted seeds. So a couple other just smaller things like that and other quality of life updates. But I will be checking out what these steam achievements are. There’s 29 of them. (0:21:22) : Nice. And it’s just good to have you know small things like this added to games like research story that just kind of gives you that reason to keep coming back. (0:21:32) : You’re the completionist, which I think every Pokemon fan is. (0:21:36) : I think most cottagecore people are in some way a completionist. Maybe not, you know, (0:21:40) : maybe not a hundred percenter, but there’s that thing that you’re like, I have to do. (0:21:44) : Have to do. Yeah, that is a good point. And maybe why I’ve been liking more of the games that have like quest lines that are more structured like Fey Farm or Summer and Mara. (0:21:55) : Yeah, it’s what I think kind of sucked me into Palia as well, right? Like at the start, (0:21:59) : It’s got such a strong quest driven (0:22:02) : aspect to it that I really enjoyed. (0:22:05) : Same thing with Disney Dreamlight. (0:22:08) : Yeah, actually, that’s a great point at Disney Dreamlight Valley. (0:22:10) : That was all quest driven, so. (0:22:12) : Yeah, there’s nothing in there but quests. (0:22:16) : Cool, so next on the list we’ve got Slime Rancher 2. (0:22:20) : As Al’s described it, they’ve got a kinder roadmap. (0:22:23) : There’s an update coming in a few weeks that is going to allow players to (0:22:28) : do some more customization to the world around them with the ability to play (0:22:32) : it’s nearly anywhere in the world. It’s kind of hard to be more specific on the update because (0:22:40) : it’s kind of like a blog post that’s been written without a lot of specifics behind it. (0:22:45) : So I guess the thing is if you’re into Slime Ranch 2 then there are updates planned for (0:22:52) : summer 2024 or fall 2024 as well. But I guess just pay attention to Slime Ranch 2 if that is a thing that you care about. (0:23:02) : I don’t mind the more vagueness of the posts because it doesn’t really tie them into really hard deadlines or really hard features that they may not reach within the time frame. (0:23:18) : So I think this gives the dev team a little flexibility, which I will not fault them for. (0:23:24) : Absolutely. (0:23:25) : Well, the one that’s coming in a few weeks, it might be nice to know what’s in that one because that’s got to be pretty locked in at this point. (0:23:31) : True. (0:23:32) : But at this point, you’re either playing area or not, and the last update was Come Brain or Slime. (0:23:41) : So I suppose it would have been nice to have a name for the next update, but I don’t know. (0:23:48) : I feel like if you were going to be playing this game, you would already be playing this or be just waiting for a lull or something to pick it up again. (0:23:57) : Yeah. (0:23:58) : Definitely. (0:23:59) : Cool. (0:24:00) : Cheema. (0:24:01) : Ahh, looks like there is… (0:24:02) : There is a update coming that maybe lets you take your bunny for a walk. (0:24:07) : So Usagi-shima is the mobile bunny collecting game, I guess is probably the way to describe it. (0:24:14) : There’s an episode on it, it was December, that the episode came out. (0:24:23) : My assumption is that taking the bunny for a walk is kind of like another request that the bunnies might have like playing hide and seek or something like that with them. (0:24:32) : Like everything with Usagi Shima, it looks super cute, so if you’re into this game, then this is probably the way to… (0:24:39) : this is probably something that’s pretty exciting. (0:24:42) : Yes, it looks very cute. I have not been playing it, because I just can’t keep up with mobile games, except for Twisted Wonderland. (0:24:51) : I can apparently keep up with that one. (0:24:54) : What is Twisted Wonderland? Now I have to know. (0:24:57) : Oh, OK, so it’s it’s a Japanese Disney game. (0:25:02) : It’s a Disney gacha game specifically, so it’s. (0:25:08) : Exactly, it’s set in a school (0:25:12) : I think called the Raven Raven, I forget what was it on a call. (0:25:18) : Yes, there’s there’s different forms. (0:25:20) : There’s a Savannah claw, which is the scar dormitory, (0:25:24) : and there’s I believe six or seven other dormitories based off of other Disney villains. You have the Queen of Hearts. (0:25:32) : Ursula, you have Hades, and who else? I think there’s like one or two that… oh, the queen from Starlight, the evil queen, and… (0:25:49) : Is there Corella? Is Corella in this game? That’s what I want to know. (0:25:52) : No. Oh, wait, Corella is in the game, but as a teacher. (0:25:55) : What? No! I don’t know what you’re up to roll gutches for. (0:26:03) : Sadly, you cannot be in Corella’s house, but you can at least take classes from Corella, (0:26:08) : and there’s also Gaston, who teaches the flying lessons, and Lucifer from Cinderella makes the cat, makes an appearance as being one of the teacher’s pets. (0:26:20) : And they say. (0:26:23) : So the story is actually… there is a story element to it, and I really have enjoyed just slowly going through like the different books or the different chapters of (0:26:32) : each of the different domentories, because each of them has their own like book and each their own storyline and it is a gotcha game, but it’s not to the extent of like being annoying that Pokemon Masters has been for me or like even my Marvel Strike Force. (0:26:51) : So it seems it feels more achievable for the events and there’s a lot more story elements to it, which I enjoy reading about since I love these characters. So I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it. (0:27:02) : And the outfits in the game, like the art is just fantastic. So I would recommend checking it out at some point. (0:27:10) : I have maybe just downloaded this. The thing that seems most wild to me is that this is a like official like, like it has all of the vibes of being like a big sort of Disney game, but like it’s not sort of official license thing, which is I don’t know, there’s no reason that it’s a little brain breaking. (0:27:29) : feels I guess a little bit out of step for what does new. (0:27:32) : I’m enjoying it and that’s all I care about. (0:28:02) : Well, I’m going to be messaging you about this game because I am going to be. (0:28:06) : Oh my goodness, please. (0:28:07) : Please. (0:28:08) : So listeners, have you been playing Disney Greenlight Valley and you’re worried it wasn’t anime enough? (0:28:13) : Tell my distance. (0:28:15) : Yes, Jim. (0:28:17) : All right. (0:28:18) : We’ve got some news because, you know, if the one thing like this, there’s not that many cottage core games, you know, there’s only like, you know, two or three that come out a year. (0:28:27) : But excitingly, we’ve got some more to add to the list. (0:28:31) : That will be… (0:28:32) : There will be too many. (0:28:34) : There will never be too many. Oh my god. (0:28:36) : Alright, so first one we’ve got on the list is Tales of Psycute? (0:28:42) : I think so. That sounds right. (0:28:44) : Great. Probably without the implied question mark at the end. (0:28:48) : Yes. (0:28:50) : Their Kickstarter is live now, and it is already fully funded, which is exciting for them. (0:28:58) : And so this is a RPG farming sim. (0:29:02) : Where I guess the thing that makes it unique is a yokai inspired world. (0:29:10) : And in the trailer they show your character changing into… (0:29:14) : And I’m probably gonna get this wrong because I will live in it. (0:29:16) : I’m not like up to speed on yokai. (0:29:18) : But changing into various yokai I assume is the correct way of stating it. (0:29:25) : So and that’s how you can do a lot of the farming. (0:29:28) : so I think they show a boar-style character. (0:29:32) : They might be calling them “forms” and not like different “yay-ay-ay” or “you’re okay.” (0:29:54) : But they look fantastic. (0:29:57) : And it’s almost like the Pokemon-like new feature where you can just turn yourself into a- (0:30:02) : I feel like this is going to be better than that. (0:30:06) : I agree. Yeah, it looks really good. (0:30:09) : It does. (0:30:11) : My only concern, so they’re in a Kickstarter, right? (0:30:14) : Which is, you know, it’s how a lot of these games get developed and the trailer looks incredible. (0:30:20) : I don’t know if there’s anything that stands out as unique other than the changing into the different forms. (0:30:27) : The thing that is giving me a little bit of ports with this one is some of the features that are on this channel. (0:30:33) : roadmap feel to me like the sort of things that I guess I expect to be standard for these sort of games. So, you know, like the first stretch bar which they have already hit was to have a female protagonist further down the list. There are things like character customization and some things like that. It just gives me a little bit of pause around, I guess, how feature works. (0:31:03) : I feel like that was the exact reaction I had. Looking at the art, I was very excited by (0:31:14) : the look and feel of this game, but as soon as I was scrolling down the campaign and I saw that having a different gender for the main character was locked behind an update just felt icky to me. (0:31:28) : So that was like immediately turning me off. Like just either… (0:31:33) : have it from the beginning or don’t. It’s just kind of weird to have that as a stretch goal, (0:31:40) : but otherwise I feel like I really enjoy everything other than like the romancing of it so far. (0:31:50) : Yes, yeah the romancing in the trailer was a bit odd. I have no idea. (0:31:58) : Yeah, it looks like a cool game, you know. (0:32:03) : It’s funded, so I was going to say it’s happening, but you know, it’s Kickstarter, (0:32:09) : we’ve all been around long enough. I mean, I guess it means it’s not dead yet. (0:32:15) : I think there’s a lot of potential. It looks really exciting. They’ve really nailed the visual style. I think the proof of this one will be in all of these games, right? How does it play when you’re able to get your hands on it? Yeah, exactly. Just for the art style alone, (0:32:33) : beautiful like the three animation looks, I’m all into it. So I don’t know if I’ll back it or just wait for it to come out. I guess I’ll wait and see, but I would not be surprised if I picked this up at some point. Yeah, and I guess in terms of the Kickstarter, you know, to get access to the game whenever it comes out, you know, that’s about 20 bucks, which is I think pretty reasonable, like if you’re willing to take the risk, you know, like that’s… (0:33:03) : I assume a bit of a discount on what this game will be when it launches but you’ve got the additional, you know, risk of it not coming out. So if that’s something you’re into, I’m assuming Al has already backed this. (0:33:19) : I would retract what I said. I would be interested in backing it for the pets, the Kickstarter pets only. (0:33:27) : I have not come across the Kickstarter pets yet, but I’m sure it’s interesting. (0:33:33) : It’s like almost all the way down if you scroll down. At some point there’s a dog, like right at the end before like the development and platforms. (0:33:44) : There’s a Kickstarter exclusive cat and dog, which look very cute. (0:33:52) : Oh, they do look very cute. Right? Yeah. Is that a Shiba Inu? I think that’s a Shiba Inu. I think so. (0:34:00) : Yeah, yeah, these are pretty cute. (0:34:03) : How dare they use like rewards to make huge fish? (0:34:10) : How dare! (0:34:11) : Like, how like they know their audience too much. (0:34:15) : Like, we’re here for the cozy farming and for the pets. (0:34:18) : How dare you make this a Kickstarter exclusive? (0:34:21) : I think they will have different versions of cats and dogs, but maybe the specific like skin of the cat and dog is exclusive to Kickstarter. (0:34:31) : We’ll see. (0:34:32) : - That’s my assumption. - If not, you have– (0:34:33) : - Kai’s pets, so. - All right. (0:34:37) : So that is Tales of Saikou. (0:34:42) : Yeah, it looks really cool. (0:34:43) : But obviously, you know, like the estimated delivery date is December 2024, which is, (0:34:50) : you know, I would say an ambitious timeline based on, (0:34:55) : you know, how we’ve seen Kickstarter’s go in the past. (0:34:57) : So sign up if you’re interested. (0:34:59) : And if you’re not, we’ll be giving more updates as they come out. (0:35:03) : Right here on the harvest season, next game we’ve got is Garden Life, a cozy simulator. (0:35:10) : No, that is not a description of the game. (0:35:12) : That is in fact the title of, you know, a strong contender for the worst name in farming gaming. (0:35:20) : This is a relaxing gardening game in which you create your dream garden and peaceful, (0:35:24) : colorful world. (0:35:26) : Plant and add ornaments at your own pace, transforming an overgrown forgotten plot into a flourishing community garden. (0:35:34) : on the 22nd of February to Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, so to all platforms. (0:35:42) : And it looks like a first-person garden-growing simulator. (0:35:48) : I was trying to think when I was watching the trailer what the art style reminds me of. (0:35:55) : And it kind of reminds me of a lot of those puzzle games that I feel like, you know, kind of a popular like five or ten years ago where the (0:36:04) : movie is a bit more of a point and click. I don’t know, there was something about it. I couldn’t quite find the direct comparison I was looking for. But it’s kind of like that almost realistic without being realistic sort of art style. (0:36:22) : I feel like if you were to take like the Miyazaki films and make them more realistic. No, not Miyazaki, that’s the wrong, um, um, uh… (0:36:34) : CD Ghibli films and make them have a more realistic lens. This is what it would look like maybe. Yeah, I think that’s a really good description. I love it, even though the name is terrible. (0:36:50) : What is it about it that stood out to you? Uh, I think it’s just how floral and, um, like it truly has that cottagecore vibe to it. Like this is this looks like the skin that people have. (0:37:04) : People would want to add to your Stardew Valley like farm. Um, but just the whole world is designed in this very cottagecore like floral style and I love it. Um, but other than that, I don’t, that’s nothing more than that. I think just the art style. (0:37:22) : Interesting. Yeah, I get it. That makes sense because that’s probably the thing that didn’t really resonate for me. It’s not an art style that really, um, connects for me. And I think that’s to me, it seems like the determining. (0:37:34) : Each year for this game. Nothing really stood out as being super unique, but I think the idea of just sort of building a garden and hopefully that’s the smallest scale makes this for like a good version of what it’s trying to be. (0:37:52) : Also, I just googled it and Yazaki is the director of Studio Ghibli and that makes me feel a little better that I remember to cry. (0:38:04) : I don’t love the first person. I was that I don’t love the first person aspect of it though. Yeah, I think it’s a good call in terms of removing some of the stuff that we were just talking about with the previous game around like character customization and stuff like that. (0:38:18) : Like just doing first person is a great way to kind of not have to put that into your game. (0:38:26) : And actually, I’ve now this is useful because it’s not helped me connect with kind of what it gave me vibes of is games like power. (0:38:34) : I don’t think this looks quite as good as power or simulator, but that you know is that first person, you know, in a small environment where you’re sort of interacting with the world around you kind of gives me similar vibes to that. (0:38:46) : So, which is maybe like maybe talk to myself into liking it more because I really like. (0:38:52) : And the thought of like, you know, doing that first person, you know, growing or developing a garden is is actually kind of I’m getting tempted getting tempted. (0:39:04) : I am also getting tempted because it’s like if if I weren’t really guarding IRL, I feel like this is this is pretty close to how it would look like, I think, like first person and the realistic like art style. (0:39:18) : So I yeah, it’s going to scratch an itch. So I might get it. (0:39:26) : Cool. So that is garden life, a cozy simulator. And if you’re struggling to search for it, just turn every generic word associated with college. (0:39:34) : And it should come up coming out 22nd of it. (0:39:40) : And finally, we have Grimshire, a deadly plague threatens the village of Grimshire manage your farmland forage the bounty of the wilds provincial harvest from rotting away and keep the root cellar full. (0:39:52) : Can you help bring the community together and survive. (0:39:56) : So this is coming to you on 2025 to the access the it looks like. (0:40:04) : I guess you’re an animal in Grimshire rather than being a human character. They have some pre alpha footage on the steam page. (0:40:16) : I don’t know that I love the art style. It’s a very simple art style, which which doesn’t necessarily mean bad. (0:40:24) : It just feels to me the color palette feels very gray. So I’m kind of going to get some more color into it just to make the world sort of visually more appealing. (0:40:34) : art style could work quite well. I just, it’s just missing something for me. I guess I’m interested in seeing more about what the intent is behind the game. You know, with the name of Grimshire in the trailer, they sort of show the starting thing where it sounds like your village that your character lived in beforehand was, you know, destroyed or something like that. And so the sort of like dark overtone, true. (0:41:04) : The game is an is an interesting angle. I’m curious to see where they take it. (0:41:11) : Like if they’re going to lean harder into like a goblin core vibe as opposed to some of the other (0:41:18) : games. I am if they do, I feel like I’m definitely going to want this because I’m already (0:41:26) : very intrigued by like the apocalyptic feel. (0:41:31) : And I guess it’s, I don’t know if it’s going to be parts of it. (0:41:34) : I think that’s a fair description. And one of the things I’ll say for a game where, yes, (0:41:54) : it’s curated, but they’re showing pre-alpha footage. They show quite a bit in there. They They show everything that you would expect to see in a farming style. (0:42:04) : But they show some of the construction, building stuff where it seems like laying parts and things like that. (0:42:14) : You can actually draw the shape and then just place it all rather than having to place it tile by tile. (0:42:20) : So it looks like there’s some cool thoughts that I’ve got around, quality of life sort of stuff. (0:42:26) : Which I guess is just really good to see at a game that’s very early in the development life cycle. (0:42:35) : And I’m seeing that they had a previous game that they released this video and it’s called Bones Cafe. (0:42:43) : And now intrigued by learning a little bit more about this particular dev and maybe even looking into this other what appears to be a couch co-op cooking game. (0:42:58) : Yeah, this looks, Bones Cafe looks pretty cute, I’m gonna say. I am into the side. (0:43:04) : I love this. It’s giving very, it is giving very overcooked vibes, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. (0:43:12) : I haven’t played over card, so maybe this would be a more fun way to play it. It is indeed a similar play style or game. (0:43:23) : But I will actually be watching this one. I’m gonna wishlist it now. (0:43:28) : All right, that’s all of our news. How are you feeling after all that news, Beth? (0:43:34) : Wallet is gonna be very tired in the near future. (0:43:39) : That is entirely fair. But if your wallet is feeling tired and you need to go back to something that you already own and it has a great free update. (0:43:50) : Wait, let’s talk about Stardew Valley 1.5. (0:43:54) : That was an amazing segue. (0:44:01) : So, look, to kick off the conversation about Stardew Valley, one point… (0:44:05) : I just kind of want to talk generally about how you feel it fits into Stardew as a whole. (0:44:13) : Like, you know, do you feel like it adds more to the experience? (0:44:18) : And that, you know, now, if you went back and played one of the earlier patches, something would be missing. (0:44:25) : Do you feel it’s more like a, you know, good standalone piece of content? (0:44:30) : content. Where are you at on what was included in the 1.5 updated? And I guess just to be explicit, the main thing we’re talking about Stardew Valley 1.5 is Ginger Island. (0:44:42) : Mm hmm. I actually really enjoyed it. I thought it kind of fit into like the more like quirky aspects of the Stardew Valley. Like world, I guess it kind of fits into like the the wizard, like having the magics. (0:45:04) : It doesn’t exist inside the world and it’s not surprising that this island is off on the side, somewhere nearby from Sardu Valley. (0:45:16) : It feels along the lines of those quirky NPCs, maybe not some more your typical romanceable characters, (0:45:30) : but there’s like more of a story that I’m intrigued to know. (0:45:34) : newer NPCs that were introduced, there is a beach. I suppose it’s not unreasonable to think that there would be a tropical island located somewhere to the south or adjacent to Sartre Valley. I don’t know. I feel like it still aligns with the world as just introducing a different area of it. And I would be interested to see if… (0:46:04) : They explore that a little bit more in maybe future updates or what have you. But that’s kind of my feel then. What about you? (0:46:17) : Yeah, I think I’m similar. Overall, I love everything that’s in the 1.5 update. But I almost feel like it’s a separate game to play Sartre Valley. To me… (0:46:34) : I feel like I could go back and play Sartre Valley 1.4 and not feel like anything was missing. Because Ginger Island I think feels so disconnected. I’m sure there’s probably some quality of life stuff that’s included within 1.5 because it’s a huge update that I would probably miss a little bit. But it feels so separate. And I think for me, the biggest tension that I felt, because when we decided we were going to do a 1.5 episode, (0:47:03) : I went back and started and then… (0:47:04) : …entirely new farm, because I just wanted to see what was different and I feel like the first year felt like every other first year of Stardew Valley that I’ve played until I completed the community center unlocked the boat. (0:47:20) : But then I felt a really strong tension of like, but I’ve got this farm in, you know, my regular farm that I’ve invested all of this time and energy and care into. (0:47:34) : And I’m constantly being pulled to this island and so on Ginger Island, there is a new farm that you can develop and there’s a farmhouse so you can stay there if you want. (0:47:46) : I was kind of not interested in doing that because I developed a farm already, like I didn’t want to do that again. I was interested in everything else Ginger Island had to offer. (0:47:56) : But the farm piece, I guess, felt very disconnected and so I more interacted with Ginger Island in the same way that I do. (0:48:04) : The desert, right, where it’s a place I would go and I would go there almost every single day, but then I would still go back to my home farm every single night. (0:48:16) : I definitely agree with you there. I think initially was very frustrated with having an additional farm to manage. (0:48:26) : There was some pros to having it, like additional income to get, you know, crops faster or. (0:48:36) : Help me fulfill completion goals, like being able to sell all these different crops and certain numbers of them quicker than I might have been able to with only one farm. (0:48:48) : But I did find that after I essentially beat the game by, you know, the two years of getting grandpa’s approval. (0:48:58) : I did find that I was only just staying on Ginger Island because it was just too much to be going back and forth. (0:49:06) : And there were a few quality of life improvements that they included with this game and with this update, like the very small chests that you could access either way in each farm. (0:49:22) : But I was so, I think, frustrated in having to like essentially create two separate sets of chests with all the same materials, but located and available on each different island so that I can have everything I can. (0:49:34) : I think that’s something I need at my fingertips. I’m looking at Dreamlight Valley and how they I bought the DLC and how they did that. (0:49:46) : I very much prefer that version of it where they have the house essentially the same in either location. (0:49:56) : I think that’s something I would prefer to do. I would prefer to form two different organizational systems separately, but essentially exact copies of each other. (0:50:04) : I would have enjoyed that the farm itself if it was just a mirror image or if you could choose whether or not you want to manage two different farms. (0:50:14) : That was like a whole bunch of work and I was just like, I’m going to pick one island to stay on. So it’s either going to be original or the new one. (0:50:22) : And most likely I was at the new one to try to accommodate all the different goals that came out of the update. (0:50:30) : Yeah, cool, I was curious to get your opinion on that, because I wasn’t sure if– (0:50:35) : feeling was sort of out of the norm or not, but yeah, I think it was a it’s a good idea and it’s good to have the optionality there. I just I kind of almost wish there was just a version of the game where you’re just like, hey, just start me on Ginger Island, right? Like, just just start me with an Albion Ginger Island sort of based character. (0:50:58) : Ooh, it would be cool if they could almost mirror the storyline a little bit. Like there was a community center (0:51:05) : on Ginger Island. If you chose to start on Ginger Island as opposed to the regular rally and you would have to work towards beating essentially beating the game by unlocking the community center and then you can unlock the regular starting the area and then meet all your like regular NPCs so there could be pros and cons to starting on either island. So if you’re like Alan don’t want to talk to anyone, we can start to drag. Work. (0:51:35) : Wait for them to eventually visit the island and you just slowly start to like get to know them that way. And instead of letting them visit the island, you just build a wall to keep them all out. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes. Just never open it up. (0:51:49) : Never fix it. But but it’s funny, right? ‘cause I think that’s a really good idea and I think there would be a really simple way to do it and it’s probably a good segue into one of the main features of Ginger Island, which is the the Golden walnuts. So they’re sort of like collectible that’s that’s on (0:52:05) : on Ginger Island. I think there’s like 100 and something (0:52:10) : golden. 130. 130. Yeah, I just checked my completion status. So (0:52:15) : that’s amazing. And I think that’s something that you could tie, you know, like you could if you wanted to do the community center thing, you could just tie unlocking because some of the golden walnuts you get through just doing things like farming or fishing on the island. But if you haven’t completed the community center. Maybe that’s a, you know, maybe there’s more (0:52:35) : specific challenges you have to do in order to unlock those (0:52:39) : those specific golden walnuts. (0:52:41) : I really like that because it’s, it’s definitely not easy to get to that point. And I probably put in as many hours as it took to unlock the community center. So I would agree. I think that would be a fantastic way to kind of juggle different versions of how to start this game. (0:53:00) : And what did you think of the golden walnuts in general? So I I guess just as a quick explainer. (0:53:05) : As Bev said, there’s 130. (0:53:07) : You get some through doing actions like fishing or farming or doing the mines. (0:53:14) : And then there’s a number that are locked behind various puzzles. (0:53:17) : And it could just be dig in a certain location or there’s certain areas based on the way the world works. (0:53:27) : We’ve got to walk behind this tree and it’s maybe not super obvious where the path is to get there and kind of getting to some hidden locations. (0:53:35) : And then there’s a few more that you get through some of the quests on the island and things like that. (0:53:40) : So what do you think of the Golden Mornuts? (0:53:44) : I almost equate them to the notes that are available on the base game, or base game base valley in the valley. (0:53:53) : So similar in that they’re kind of there if you want to actively try to collect them all, but it’s not really a necessity, if I recall correctly. (0:54:04) : What is it is (0:54:05) : in the aspect that you need Golden Walnuts to unlock various areas of the island. (0:54:10) : So the island kind of develops as you but you don’t need to collect all of them. I think you probably need about I think it’s about 80 I think you need in order to unlock most of the most of the core stuff on the island. Okay I’m looking at the wiki now and it looks like it’s 160 to unlock all the awards. But I don’t know, like some of those might be. (0:54:35) : Like once a farmhouse like mailbox, so I don’t think that’s that’s not necessary to really fully experience. I think the ginger island of it. So some of it could be it. You may not need all 116 is when I’m trying to get it. (0:54:51) : I would like I think I would like it better if there was some sort of tracking system to show like where and when you got them because I could see it being very frustrating to be like, okay, I have like 30 of them now. I don’t remember. (0:55:05) : How I got these and now I’m trying to actively collect more of them. So I have to kind of rule out by just checking out like the wiki or something else by verifying that I am on the path that I need to be in in searching where I need to search for additional walnuts unless unless I’m misremembering. (0:55:25) : But I don’t recall there being like a tracking system for that. So it’s not an explicit tracking system and I agree with your point. I think it needed it needed one. (0:55:36) : there is the parrots on the island give you hints about walnuts that you don’t have, (0:55:43) : which I guess is meant to be the version of that, which is, you know, that’s fine when you’re sort of in the mid stages and you’ve found all of the ones that are obvious and you’re not sure where to look next and you don’t want to open something out. But when you’re at, you know, you’ve got most of them completed, the hints probably not going to help you find it. And then, yeah, having to go (0:56:06) : to look it up is just a bit frustrating. It would be nice if there was a, you know, even if it was one of the last unlocks is like, hey, unlock the golden walnut tracking systems so you can see what ones you still have to collect or something like that would be quite nice. But in general, I think I enjoyed the idea of what they were trying to do with the walnuts, you know, just trying to get you to experience everything on Jigae Island. I thought it was a good variation on something like the idea (0:56:36) : of a community center, because that’s the same idea behind the community center, right? And I do like your comparison to the notes. For me, it’s probably between the community center and the notes somewhere in that realm. But I think it did a good job of getting you to sort of at least give everything a go on the island, right? Because I was probably not going to do any fishing on the island until I was like, oh, there’s golden walnuts in the water. I guess I’ll do some fishing now because I just don’t know. It was good in that respect. Yeah. (0:57:06) : I 100% agree with you, and it definitely forced me to think about, or not even. I just went to the wiki to find everything, honestly. So it has been a while since I, unlike you, did not start over to get into this game. I was working towards 100% completion status, so that’s where I was working towards. So I have all 130, but I don’t remember how I quite got to. (0:57:36) : But I’m currently like working on, I think 100% completion of the game. And it was I think a little frustrating at times to have to find them. Some of them were easier than others. (0:57:53) : But some of them were satisfying even after I figured out the puzzle. There was like one (0:58:01) : puzzle game. I think it was specifically a game that I failed several times. (0:58:06) : And that got a little frustrating to win it. (0:58:10) : What is that game? (0:58:12) : I don’t remember. (0:58:14) : It’s like really, it’s not at all. (0:58:16) : There’s the memory one, right? Isn’t it the same as the memory one? Yes. (0:58:21) : Yeah, I, as I have shown earlier with like my confusion about whether it was me as Ducky or Sooty Ghibli, (0:58:30) : my memory is not great, so I struggled along with it. (0:58:34) : Yeah, I think I failed that one quite a few– (0:58:36) : I don’t know. (0:58:38) : It got quite hard. They flashed quite quickly, I think. (0:58:44) : Cool. So in terms of what was on Ginger Island, so you’ve got, you know, there’s the (0:58:50) : four directions. You’ve got the north side of the island, which has the (0:58:55) : mine and the volcano. You’ve got the east side, which is where Leo, if I remember rightly, I think, (0:59:01) : because the kid’s name that’s where he hangs out. (0:59:04) : You’ve got sort of the South, which. (0:59:06) : Is your beach area and then the West, which has the farmhouse and kind of a, I guess, a slightly bigger area for for exploring. (0:59:15) : Maybe if we start with the talking about the volcano and what they did with the mines in in this one. (0:59:24) : What do you think of that? (0:59:26) : I feel like they took the skull mines and recreated them here. (0:59:30) : So the same level of stress was was prevalent. (0:59:36) : I think I got to the point where I could master it without dying too much. (0:59:42) : So I wouldn’t say I did not enjoy it. (0:59:46) : I do think spent most of my time in the mines during any playthrough, especially early. (0:59:53) : I’m usually that one that will, if I’m playing multiplayer, will volunteer willingly to go into the mines.

88MWhce9wToCCENbRgfZ6X54Dx8HF4bYY79YkYN9nXeqCDmykzXuq48HWe6k9eZDkA4iYpLbTsvpXPnAGCALHTTMLUp8cWi OR DONATE HERE: https://www.monerotalk.live/donate TODAY'S

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

1. Longital – Mechanismy na paši 2. Ohm Square – Outside the Box 3. Kung-Fuciu5 – Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Offbeat Shaoton remix) 4. Sato–San To – Monstastep 5. M/Á/J – Krajina odlivu (Moonstones mix by Ladsbuch) 6. Richter&syn – Tell Me 7. Mezi patry klid – Lojza Kotřábek 8. Marek, Holoubek, Ježek, Procházka – Láska mezi kaktusy 9. Anakver – Sun 10. TEVE – Kouř 11. Julius Fujak/Petr Nikl – Švábení 12. Michal Kořán a Marianna Rainforesteiner – Meditace a moll pro hlas a samplované radiové alikvóty

Welcome to the twelfth episode of season 5! In this episode, hear Matthew discuss Ted Nugent's final tour and the upcoming Left For Dead Tour featuring The Almas and Reign of Z. Plus, hear music from Brutal Youth and Stellaris. Thank you for tuning in and remember to Stay Frosty! Promo picture and Moonstones courtesy of No Rules PR. Promo picture and Avatar courtesy of David Spaur. Event link for the Left For Dead Tour stop at Cheers Pub: Left for Dead Tour is coming to Cheers Pub Ft: The Almas & Reign of Z | Facebook Intro and outro music composed by Jonny Neville If you like this video, please consider heading over to our merch store and supporting us. Your support means so much! Link: ⁠Super Cool Radio's Artist Shop | Featuring custom t-shirts, prints, and more (threadless.com) News music: It's Important Breaking News from storyblocks.com/audio History intro music: from storyblocks.com/audio --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/supercoolradio/support

What you'll learn in this episode: How Beth became a self-taught expert and collector of antique jewelry The definition of antique jewelry, and how it's different from vintage jewelry What separates an enthusiast from a collector, and why collectors have different goals for their collections How to enjoy Georgian jewelry while keeping it safe The meaning behind popular Victorian jewelry motifs About Beth Bernstein Beth Bernstein is a jewelry historian, jewelry expert and collector of period and modern jewels—a purveyor of all things sparkly. She has a romance going on with the legend, language and sentiment behind the pieces. Her love for the story has inspired Beth to pen four books, with a fifth one in the works, and to spend the past twenty years as an editor and writer on the subject of jewels-old and new. She is a die-hard jewelry fan, so much so that she has designed her own collection throughout the 90s and continues to create bespoke jewels and work with private clients to procure antique and vintage jewelry She owns a comprehensive consulting agency Plan B which provides a roster of services in multiple facets of the jewelry industry. These include building, launching and evolving designer brands and retail brick & mortar/online shops and curating designer shows and private collections. Additional Resources: Website Instagram Facebook Twitter Pintrest Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: Diving into centuries of antique jewelry can be intimidating for even the biggest jewelry lover, but Beth Bernstein is proof that anyone can find their niche in jewelry history. A collector of sentimental jewelry across several periods, Beth is a jewelry consultant and author of “The Modern Guide to Antique Jewelry.” She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about how antique jewelry periods are defined; what make a collector a collector; and how to keep antique jewelry in good condition without putting it away forever in a safe. Read the episode transcript here.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to heart part one. Today, my guest is jewelry author, journalist, historian and consultant Beth Bernstein. She is the author of several books. Welcome back.    Tell us about “The Modern Guide to Antique Jewelry,” your most recent book. I was a little put off  because I'm not into antique, but it's very readable and interesting. Tell us about it.   Beth: That was the whole point. I had read so many antique books, because I was given piles of them to read way back when. I have a library full of books on antique jewelry and vintage jewelry. There's really no difference between antique and vintage, which I write about in the book, but antique jewelry is 100 or more years old. From 2022, if you go back 100 years, it would be 1922, but we went up to 1925 because we wanted to get in some of the Art Deco period.   Anyway, I wanted to write it differently than the books I had read, and I had an aha moment in doing that. I was doing tours through seven centuries of jewelry at the Miami and New York antique shows that were produced by U.S. Antique Shows. They knew I knew a lot about antique jewelry, so it was the company's idea that I do these tours. It started out with one tour each show, then it went to two tours each show. Before the pandemic, it was going to go to three tours each show because people kept signing up.    I took people through seven centuries of jewelry, from the Georgian era all the way through the 70s, from antique to vintage. I would take them to dealers that specialized in those time periods, and we'd talk about it. Then I'd have a Q&A for an hour, which always turned into a two-hour Q&A. Then we'd go to the next tour. People would ask me to take them back to some places and help them pick out jewelry, because I do have private clients. I love dealing with private clients who ask me to find antique things for them. Sometimes they're also at the shows.    So, the aha moment came when I was doing these tours. I thought, “Oh, my god! I know all these dealers are very trustworthy. They all have different points of view. They deal in different time periods. Why don't I do museum-quality jewelry, but what's on the market today? Not what you can find only in museums, but what's out there today that's sold? Why don't I interview some of these wonderful experts I've been taking people to?” And that made it different and more readable because it was more interactive, more conversational.    The beginning of the book is how to define your collecting style, and the last chapters are how to mix modern and antique. I did that chapter with Rebecca Selva from Fred Leighton, who's a mastermind of mixing modern, vintage and antique. So, that was really fun. Then there's how to shop an antique show, how to shop at auction. There's a lot of how-tos and advice given. I also brought the dealers and the stores in to give advice, and I didn't stick to just the biggest stores. Of course, I interviewed Wartski in London; I interviewed Fred Leighton and Macklowe Gallery in New York, but I also interviewed smaller dealers like Lothar Antiques, who is at Portobello. It's different companies and it's global. That was the fun of the book. So, it's part travelogue because I interviewed people across the United States, the U.K., Paris, Amsterdam and Belgium.   Sharon: Wow! Did you write the proposal and then go to the publisher? Did they come to you? How does that work?   Beth: I've always written the proposal and gone to the publisher. For this book, I went to my publisher for “If These Jewels Could Talk” because I thought they did a wonderful job. He kept going back and forth. He wanted it to be not so conversational at first. He wanted it to be more like the old antique books he published, because he published a lot of antique books. It's called ACC Art Books. It was Antique Collectors Club originally, but now it's ACC Art Books. Then, all of a sudden, he came around. He was like, “No, we shouldn't do it like that. We should do it the way you originally suggested.” It took him a year to come to that.    Then I wrote it, and there was an eight-month lag after I wrote it because of the pandemic. I wrote it at the beginning of the pandemic and handed it in on deadline, but it took eight more months for it to be published than it was supposed to. That was kind of interesting. People had to be put on furlough, and then there was a paper shortage, and it wasn't getting to the ports on time. When it finally came out, I was holding my breath until it finally came in.    What I'm hearing from everyone that has read it and reviewed it—I write for Rapaport and Jewelry Connoisseur, and the editor-in-chief of those magazines, Sonia, read it. She said, “I read it straight through because it was so readable. It was like you wanted to keep going.” That made me feel really good.   Sharon: And you're working on another book now.   Beth: Yeah, I'm working on another two books right now.   Sharon: Can you tell us anything about those? I said this book was an overview, but it's very specific. It's not an overview like some of the other books I've read on antiques.   Beth: No, it's very specific because it has all different time periods. It's an antique book, so it could only go to the beginnings of Art Deco. Vintage starts after that. So, it was very specific. I did the grand period as a separate chapter because the Victorian chapter was so big. Because, as you know, there are three different periods in the Victorian era.    Sentimental jewelry is my favorite type of antique jewelry. That's what I collect the most of. That was its own chapter, even though it crosses over Georgian and Victorian. So, I pulled out some things from different periods and made them their own chapters. I also thought alternative materials should be its own chapter. Berlin iron went into alternative materials; rock crystal went into different materials, things that I thought would be interesting on their own and in their own chapters.   Sharon: Did you collect antique jewelry from the beginning, or did you collect all different kinds of jewelry?   Beth: I have collected antique jewelry for the past 25 years. Before that, I wouldn't call myself a collector; I'd call myself a person who wore jewelry I liked, and most of that was by modern jewelers. When I started collecting antique, like most people, I started with the Victorian era. It's easier to understand than the Roman period, which is the first period, and the aesthetic period, which is more fun. When Queen Elizabeth goes into mourning, it's very dark; it's very black. It's called the grand period. It's also where the archaeological revival period comes into play. I think all the things people are redoing today, the crescent moons and swallows and snakes—her engagement ring was a snake ring—I think are pieces with meaning. All those pieces from the Victorian period have meanings that align with flowers. All the different floral motifs have meaning. Those were easy to collect, you could understand them, and they were pretty. So, that's what I started collecting.   Then I went into the Georgian period, not so much the earrings, but the rings. I love Georgian rings. I have a whole collection of Georgian rings. It sits in a safety deposit box. You can't wash your hands with Georgian rings because there's a closed-back setting. During the pandemic, washing your hands so much, you cannot hold them.    I think you asked me if I have different parameters when I collect antique jewelry compared to modern jewelry, and yes, there are parameters for me. I don't really collect modern jewelry. I buy what I like from modern jewelers, from different designers. Yes, I probably have one, two or three pieces from a collection because I like their design aesthetic. If it's wearable, if it's versatile, if it's made well and goes along with my style, I will buy modern jewelry, but I buy antique jewelry mostly for the character and the provenance. I tend to like jewelry that will appreciate with time, which most antique jewelry will, but also for the authenticity, the rarity and the museum quality of it. I also like sentimental jewelry the best. I tend to stick with those or jewelry with symbolism and meaning.   Sharon: You must have dealers who run the other way when they see you coming because you know so much.   Beth: Actually, the dealers love that because they don't have to explain it to you. You just pick up a piece and you'll ask some questions, but people that don't know anything ask way more questions than I will. Quite frankly, antique dealers and people that own antique stores love talking about jewelry. That's why they're in antique jewelry. They love talking about the age and what it is, if they're honest and honorable like the people in my book.   Sharon: I was reading about how there are so many different definitions of collectors. Somebody in the book, I can't remember who it was, had a longer version explaining who has a collection versus who's a collector. There are so many different definitions.   Beth: I don't think it was a definition between who's a collector and who has a collection. I think there are different types of collectors. One type of collector might collect only for historical reasons and never wear it, like art for art's sake. Other people will combine and collect some things for historic importance. For example, I have some pieces I know are historical and really representative of the time period. I don't wear those pieces that much because I want them in perfect condition. That's kind of for art's sake, but mostly I don't believe you should keep your jewelry in a safe or a safety deposit box. Now, those pieces are in a safety deposit box for that reason.    Then there are collectors that only collect a certain period, like only the Georgian period or only the Victorian period. I'm a collector of different periods. I love Art Deco line bracelets with the different cuts of stone. I love the lacey feeling of Edwardian jewelry. I love Georgian rings. I love sentimental jewelry. So, I'm a multi-collector of pieces. Then there are collectors who want to wear their jewelry, so they only collect pieces they can wear every day. I don't think it's collection versus collector; I think it's the type of collector, and there are many types.   Sharon: When you said Georgian, that's my first thought. I have a couple pieces of Georgian, which are so delicate. I just couldn't wear them. A Georgian ring, as you're talking about, you can't wear it.   Beth: You can wear it once in a while. You have to be very careful.  Know how you can wear it and that you cannot get it wet. I've gone to shows where I've worn my Georgian rings. I put a bolt ring on a necklace and stuck it inside so when I washed my hands, I put the rings on the bolt ring so I didn't leave it on the sink. That's what I've always been worried about. You have to take it off to wash.   Sharon: That's a good way to do it. I hadn't thought about that. When does somebody cross over from being an enthusiast, which I consider myself? You might say I have a lot, but I've never discovered what I want to collect. I like bracelets, but I don't collect them. How do you cross over?   Beth: I don't know exactly how you cross over. I have two favorite stones, moonstones and rubies, I think because I'm a hopeful romantic. Moonstones are also lucky. They have a lot of meanings, and I love the fact that they change the light. A good moonstone will change the light. It's just magical. Rubies are all about passion, and I love the two together. They're beautiful mixed together, and I can enjoy antique jewelry or modern jewelry. Anyway, one of my first pieces was one of those slag moonstone necklaces from the Victorian period because I love moonstones.    The second was a turquoise forget-me-not ring. Forget-me-nots have two different meanings. They mean “remember me” from the giver to the wearer, or in mourning jewelry that's all black, they mean the remembrance of somebody that's gone. Mine was a more of a lover's token. I also have a passion for hearts if they're designed well. Not like holiday hearts; more like a double heart with a bowtie. That was a ring I bought from a dealer. It was a Burmese ruby and an old mine cut diamond tied together with a bowtie, which means two hearts together tied as one. Finding out the meaning of these things is wonderful.    I worked for a dealer at one of her shows, and she said to me, “You don't have to own everything you think is pretty. You can just look at it and think it's pretty. You don't have to own it just because you think it's beautiful.” So, I became more selective of what I was going to own, not just because it was pretty. Also having private clients and knowing what they like, I started to buy things to resell, so then I could own them and think they were pretty and then resell them. I didn't keep them for my own collection.    But I think it's a very fine line between being a jewelry enthusiast and being a collector and the type of collector you are. Like I said, I collect from different time periods. One time period I didn't collect from was the Art Nouveau period, except for some pieces that were plique-à-jour enamel that had romantic sayings because it goes along with sentimental jewelry. I thought it wasn't very wearable until I helped Macklowe Gallery and Peter Schaffer and realized there were different ways to wear them. It was a really good learning experience.   Sharon: I can see why. What do you look for? You say you became more selective. What do you look for?   Beth: Like I mentioned before, authenticity, verity. I don't see it everywhere. There are Victorian pieces that were made during the Industrial Revolution that you can find. They're either exactly the same piece or pieces that are like it that were made by the same maker. You can find the same snake ring by the same manufacturer again and again, even if it's a little bit different. I try and find the snake ring you can't find everywhere. I have five different snake rings. Two of them you can find in different places, I think, but I love them. I kept them because those are the rings you can wear every day.    Sharon: As your knowledge and your collection, whatever you want to call it, has grown, do you think you curate it more in a sense?   Beth: Yes, I do. I think it's been curated now to be very sentimental, very meaningful. I also love different styles of chains and charms, so I love creating charm necklaces that have different meanings. One will be the travel charm necklace; one will be the love lock and protection necklace; one will be only the protection necklace. When I collect interesting charms, I'll make different necklaces out of them. They'll all be on different chains so I don't have to keep changing it around.   Sharon: Thank you so much for being here today.   Beth: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Hopefully I answered all your questions.   We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is writer/director Nicola Rose. Nicola is an award-winning, New York City-based filmmaker whose work is gathering acclaim on the festival circuit. In 2021, Nicola directed her first feature-length film, Goodbye, Petrushka, a coming-of-age comedy about a starry-eyed, awkward young woman with a big heart who meets a down-on-his-luck figure skater in Paris. Nicola also directed, produced and/or wrote the shorts Creative Block (2017), In the Land of Moonstones (2018), Gabrielle (2019), and Biff & Me (2020), all of which have won numerous awards on the indie film festival circuit.  Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/   Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead   

News: Lauren is visiting Emily in Louisville!  There will be lots of vlogmas bonus content on Emily's KittyWithACupcake YouTube channel.  https://youtube.com/channel/UCrKqM8FG1eMgEbLqs0J-Iow   FO: Emily - Vanilla socks, in Valkyrie Fibers High Twist BFL base, Spearmint Tea colorway; contrast heels/toes/cuffs in LolaBean Yarn Co. Bean Sprout Base, Purple Nurple colorway       WIPS: Emily - a secret design - vanilla socks in Regia, blues and greys, colorway 02885       Lauren - Forest Fruit socks, pattern by Sachiko B, knit in Nox Yarn Co. Faunus Base, Harbinger colorway https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/forest-fruit - Faded Hat Experiment in the Power of the Full Moon Colorways         Acquisitions:   Emily - Beeswax candle, rainbow moonstone, from Heirophany and Hedge http://bespokearcana.com/     Lauren - Progress Keeper sets, washi tape, pins and stickers from Emily's Kickstarter - Rainbow moonstone and Lepidolite tower from Heirophany and Hedge - Rosie's Floral Wool Blend 250g in Hydrangea and Amaryllis, a cotton and poly drive band for her Ashford Traveller, and the latest issue of Spin Off from the Woolery   Occult Corner: Since we got new moonstones, we talk about the history and lore of moonstones!   Self Promotion:  Sign up for Emily's email newsletter if you want to know when the Kickstarter items are available for purchase: https://mailchi.mp/edf5be886e13/kittywithacupcake

When nothing else seems to be working, you might as well dunk your moonstone in the sound and stick it in the vegetable garden during a full moon. My husband says witchcraft, but he also farts in his sleep. I won't judge you if you don't judge me. Grab some brew and we'll chat why we are who we are and how a ring is helping us believe things aren't that bad. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We are back for round 4. Today we talk about everyone’s favorite Dark Avenger, Moonstone, and The Ghost Ship, Man of Medan, which may not be all it appear to be!

Jeff and Rebecca talk about Amazon breaking the Atwood embargo, listener feedback, their fall preview picks already looking bad, get mad about bad analysis of celebrity book clubs, and much more. This episode is sponsored by: Our mystery & thriller giveaway The Great Courses Plus Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite All That’s Dead by Stuart MacBride Links discussed in this episode: The Bloggess Jenny Lawson to open bookstore/bar in San Antonio Follow-up: Audible to exclude publishers’ works from caption program for now Amazon breaks Atwood embargo A few stats here about how celebrity book clubs impact sales School takes Harry Potter books off shelves b/c risk of conjuring spirits The Sally Rooney craze is mostly just instagram buzz

Although Harry Potter and the Wizarding world weren’t on my radar until just a few years ago, I have fallen in love with every aspect of these amazing books and films since I was introduced to them. There’s something so special and magical about the world that JK Rowling has created that it just lifts my spirit with each read. July 31st is Harry Potter’s birthday (and JK Rowling’s birthday too!) and as the date was approaching (and as I re-read some of the books), I began noticing the scattered references to healing crystals throughout this epic story. In a meeting with Love & Light’s community manager, Lauren Gandharva (who joins me on the accompanying podcast for this blog post), I mentioned that I was thinking about writing a blog post about these wizarding crystals and she suggested that we do a special release on this date. Lauren and I met to have a lengthy discussion about the healing crystals in the books and films, the best crystals for each Hogwarts house, and a few extra crystals to help tap into the energy of the non-muggle universe. The following post summarizes what we discuss in this 90+ minute podcast discussion, but if you’re a Harry Potter fan, the podcast episode is well worth a listen for more detail and in-depth conversation (we promise it will fulfill your innermost need for nerding out about all things wizarding!). Crystals Featured in the Harry Potter Book Series: AMETHYST: Although this crystal wasn’t called out specifically by name, Neville Longbottom purchased a pointed purple crystal as a protective amulet to protect himself against the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. There aren’t too many pointed purple crystals to begin with, so it was quite easy to narrow this down to just Amethyst, but when you add in Amethyst’s known protective qualities (especially in psychic or spiritual matters), it’s a pretty safe bet that it was the stone being referenced.   CRYSTAL BALL: Crystal balls, traditionally made of Quartz crystal, are referenced many times throughout the book series as they’re frequently used in Sybill Trelawney’s divination classes. They’re introduced to third-year students, and although embraced by some students like Lavender Brown, their use is widely ridiculed by most others (including Harry, Ron, and Hermione). For the non-believers, they never got much past the stage of seeing white swirls or fog. Professor Trelawney explains that a seer’s success with the crystal ball as a divinatory tool depends upon their ability to "[quiet] the conscious mind and external eyes" and depend upon "the Inner Eye and superconscious." Love & Light’s resident divination expert, Lauren Gandharva, agrees wholeheartedly with this explanation of crystallomancy. In the film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at least 2 of the kitten plates in Dolores Umbridge’s office feature a cat with a crystal ball.   DIAMOND: In the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, after finding success with their joke shop, Fred and George Weasley give their mother, Molly Weasley, a very fancy Christmas gift - a blue witch's hat glittering with what looked like tiny starlike diamonds. Diamonds were also seen in the tiara worn by Fleur Delacour during her wedding to Bill Weasley. The tiara belonged to Molly Weasley’s Aunt Muriel and also featured Moonstones. It was a goblin-made item that glittered and twinkled in the light. JK Rowling stated on her Twitter account that Yellow Diamonds filled the house points hourglass for Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The author explains that this is because Hufflepuffs themselves are Diamonds (which is great to hear since HP’s never seem to get recognized for being so lovely!).   EMERALD: Emeralds filled the house points hourglass for Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This may be because their green color is so in alignment with serpent energy OR it could have something to do ...

Welcome to Pinecones & Moonstones, where science, history, and witchcraft collide! This is our introductory episode, covering who we are, why we wanted to do this, and some potential topics for future episodes! Our social media links are below, and please remember: Don't be a dick, eat your vegetables, and stay hydrated! https://www.facebook.com/Pinecones-Moonstones-2262324720654471/?modal=admin_todo_tour https://twitter.com/pineconesandmo1 https://www.instagram.com/pineconesandmoonstones/

Planned Topics include: How Is Your Chakra?, Cecilia Is Looking for a Summer Job, & Trade Wars. Actual Topics are: Two Goats in a Boat, iOS Flubber, & This Episode is Technically Evidence. Rate us on iTunes here Also get featured on next week's show! Submit your problems to be solved at mwordpod.com/submit or email … Read More Read More

Filmmaker, director, performer, and translator Nicola Rose shares her experiences with the dark side, coming off the high of finishing an artistic project, forging your own path when plans fall through, coming from an artistic family, casting, and her latest project In the Land of Moonstones. Check out what she's up to at: www.nicolaroseonline.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nuevo mes. Y, como es habitual, cambio de sintonia. Todos los Sonidos y Sonados de este mes comenzaran con «You mess me up» de los británicos The New Mastersounds. En el programa de esta semana también contamos con Salto, Marina Gallardo, Furia Trinidad, Carlota, Joan Queralt & The Seasicks, Ayoho, Montserrat, Q & The Moonstones, Walter […]

Track List Cam’ron – More Gangsta Music (Feat. Juelz Santana) Gaunt – Shift Murlo – Coolie Joyrider (Spooky remix) Moonstones – Prosopopee (Original Mix) Perverse – Method IV (Original Mix) Murlo – I Swear Wen featuring – Riko Dan Play Your Corner (Walton Remix) Majora Majora – Zebra VIP Benga & Coki – Night (Doctor […]

Track List Cam’ron – More Gangsta Music (Feat. Juelz Santana) Gaunt – Shift Murlo – Coolie Joyrider (Spooky remix) Moonstones – Prosopopee (Original Mix) Perverse – Method IV (Original Mix) Murlo – I Swear Wen featuring – Riko Dan Play Your Corner (Walton Remix) Majora Majora – Zebra VIP Benga & Coki – Night (Doctor […]

Capítulo 160 de jugones, logros y miércoles. Música ardiente, nada de cenizas… Hoy en la playlist del programa tendremos a Sean Rowe, Austin Lucas, Victor Aneiros, The Moonstones, DeWolff o Death Cab for Cutie. Recordaremos a RoseMary McCoy, la gran compositora e interprete que nos ha dejado, escucharemos su voz junto al gran Albert Ayler. Os esperamos a las 19:00 horas.

Capítulo 160 de jugones, logros y miércoles. Música ardiente, nada de cenizas… Hoy en la playlist del programa tendremos a Sean Rowe, Austin Lucas, Victor Aneiros, The Moonstones, DeWolff o Death Cab for Cutie. Recordaremos a RoseMary McCoy, la gran compositora e interprete que nos ha dejado, escucharemos su voz junto al gran Albert Ayler. Os esperamos a las 19:00 horas.

GUEST: CASEY HOLDAHL, TGIF, Katy Perry Sucks Hot, Casey From Trailblazers.tv, Yoga, Sweating, Cornhole League, Young People, Murder Of Crows, Chainsaw Owes You, FAcebook Stripper, Moonstones, Seinfeld Quiz For Casey, 90210 Quiz For Sarah And Casey, KENNY B'S NERD FACTS, Happy BDay Jon

RoseDrop Rust played the great tunes and Tuna Oddfellow created the tripadelic visual show featured in today's Live n' Kickin'. RoseDrop performed: You've Gotta Know, Is There Any Love Out There?, Rafael the Angel, Drunk Again, Jack Straw, Mountains and MoonstonesLive N Kickin Dedicated to Delinda Dyrssen