Podcast appearances and mentions of nick burgess

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

Codey and Kevin talk through all the recent news. Also bugs again. Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:17: What Have We Been Up To 00:19:17: I Know What You Released Last Month 00:26:44: Upcoming Game Releases 00:30:40: Game Updates 00:40:52: New Games 00:51:08: Other News 01:12:01: Outro Links Harvest Moon Double Pack for Switch Release Date Cattle Country Release Date To Pixelia Release Hello Kitty Island Adventure “Friends, Furniture, and Frozen Peaks” Update Hello Kitty Island Adventure Month of Meh Farlands “0.5” Update Sunseed Island Starsand Island Mudborne Soundtrack Tales of the Shire Store Wholesome Direct ConcernedApe Interview New Lego Animal Crossing Sets Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kev: Hello farmers and welcome to another (0:00:33) Kev: Contractually obligated episode of the harvest season that’s not true at all. There’s no contracts whatsoever (0:00:36) Codey: Not true. (0:00:40) Kev: By no one, have you ever seen Paul board and the mall cop movie? (0:00:45) Codey: Uh, for not for a hot minute. (0:00:49) Kev: Well, I’m just reminded like he he there’s this plaque (0:00:53) Kev: You know mall security whatever and he just made it himself for himself and that’s all that I’m thinking (0:00:57) Codey: Okay. (0:01:00) Kev: Contract I drafted for myself. Oh (0:01:03) Kev: Anyways, hello. My name is Kevin (0:01:05) Codey: And I am Cody. (0:01:07) Kev: And we are here today to talk about cottagecore games per the first section for the party of the first part. Oh, yeah (0:01:12) Codey: A-wooo! (0:01:15) Codey: Ow-ow-ow! (0:01:17) Kev: You go (0:01:19) Kev: I don’t know Rick flair, but I feel like I should try to mimic kids. I might be mimicking these woo already (0:01:25) Kev: I don’t know, but I just know he does the woo (0:01:28) Codey: No, I, I do not, I do not wrestle. (0:01:28) Kev: You don’t talk about wrestler guy (0:01:30) Kev: He does booze (0:01:32) Kev: Yeah, there’s a wrestler. He’s kind of an older guy. I think he’s actually like running WWE now, but anyways (0:01:38) Codey: That’s a choice. (0:01:39) Kev: Hello everyone (0:01:42) Kev: It is (0:01:44) Kev: Okay today, it’s all it’s just another news episode (0:01:48) Kev: Life is chaotic. Cody actually managed to get on thankfully after actually surviving the wilderness for this past weekend (0:01:52) Codey: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. I will. We’ll talk we’ll talk about that. I can. Yeah. So it’s big, big old news episodes. We got lots of stuff to talk about. We this is the first of this month. So this will be our I know what you released last month. Boo. Episode as well. But what we have been up to. So this farmers has been a (0:01:57) Kev: but it (0:01:58) Kev: Hey, Oleg. (0:02:00) Kev: Well, do you want do you want to open because obviously okay. All right, let’s just let’s get into it (0:02:16) Kev: Yeah. (0:02:22) Codey: wild ride. So this last week, on Tuesday, I was working at the (0:02:28) Codey: Wildlife Center, it was going great, no issues. And we we (0:02:32) Codey: heard that there was going to be this huge storm coming through. (0:02:35) Codey: And that there’s probably going to be a lot of animals like (0:02:38) Codey: thrown out of trees. And so we were probably going to get a lot (0:02:41) Codey: of animals from people. And just kind of be ready for that. And (0:02:45) Codey: we were like, Okay, and then, like seven o’clock, power goes (0:02:52) Codey: on. And I had gone outside at one point, because we knew this (0:02:55) Codey: storm was happening. But we the our wildlife center is in the (0:02:57) Codey: basement of the owner’s house. Answer. p.m. p.m. crucial (0:02:58) Kev: Okay, wait question you say it’s 7 o’clock a.m. Or p.m.. Okay. All right. This is all right (0:03:05) Kev: There’s still light at that time, but okay. Yeah, all right (0:03:06) Codey: information. Yeah. So I had gone outside, just like poked my (0:03:10) Codey: head outside. And it sounded like a frickin jet engine. It (0:03:13) Codey: was so loud. And I was like, Yep, it sure is storming. And I (0:03:17) Codey: told the other people to go check it out. They poked their (0:03:20) Codey: heads out. They were like, “Yep, sure, it’s working.” (0:03:22) Codey: And so we were like, “Okay.” And then, yeah, not long after that, power goes out. (0:03:28) Codey: And so we’re feeding, we’re like laughing about it, whatever, we have like little lights and everything. (0:03:33) Codey: We’re feeding baby squirrels with lamps with like headlamps on and stuff and doing just us, I think. (0:03:36) Kev: Very cute. (0:03:37) Kev: The pictures, I’ve seen the pictures. (0:03:42) Kev: Wait, did you have the lamps (0:03:43) Kev: or did the squirrels have the lamps? (0:03:44) Kev: Both. (0:03:46) Codey: Yeah, it was just us. But there were like little, the owner has like lanterns everywhere. (0:03:51) Codey: We found out that the. (0:03:52) Codey: Um, sinks are run. (0:03:56) Codey: There’s a pump that takes the stuff from the sinks. (0:03:59) Codey: So then we weren’t even able to do dishes. (0:04:02) Codey: So then we were just kind of like sitting there waiting for her to put the backup (0:04:06) Codey: generator on took like 20, 30 minutes. (0:04:08) Codey: And then when we had backup generator, it was great. (0:04:10) Codey: Like no issues. (0:04:12) Codey: Um, Jeff, my partner texts me and is like, Hey, we don’t have power. (0:04:15) Codey: I’m like dope. (0:04:17) Codey: When I leave, I see all of the messages and basically it was a derecho storm (0:04:23) Codey: I don’t know how you say it. (0:04:24) Codey: We had like 90 mile an hour winds and there were trees, um, that were (0:04:30) Codey: straight up uprooted and like power lines that went across the road. (0:04:32) Kev: Oh, that’s sick. (0:04:38) Codey: Uh, animals were indeed. (0:04:38) Kev: Animals were indeed thrown out of the trees (0:04:41) Kev: with said trees. (0:04:42) Codey: Yes, they were. (0:04:43) Kev: With said trees. (0:04:45) Codey: We, I have not worked since that day and I, the messages have been going crazy, (0:04:50) Codey: but I have had other stuff to do. (0:04:52) Codey: So yeah, we’re out of power and we’re like, okay, this is probably just like, (0:04:57) Codey: they just got to put it back up every now and then we’ll go out of power (0:04:59) Codey: for like 10 or 15 minutes. (0:05:00) Codey: It’s not a big deal. (0:05:01) Codey: Um, nope. (0:05:03) Codey: Next morning we wake up and on our like weather outage app, it’s like, uh, (0:05:09) Codey: time estimated time to restoration, to restoration of, of power unknown. (0:05:16) Kev: Big old shrug (0:05:18) Codey: Yeah. (0:05:18) Codey: Big old shrug. (0:05:19) Codey: And they, it was like right down the street, like there was a power line (0:05:22) Codey: that was just straight up across the road. (0:05:24) Codey: And it was like that for a day and a half. (0:05:28) Codey: So like over 200,000 people in Western Pennsylvania, we’re just like out of power. (0:05:34) Codey: Um, I was out of power for two full days. (0:05:37) Codey: We had to throw away all of our food. (0:05:39) Codey: Um, and I was like really grumpy because I had planned on doing all of my chores (0:05:45) Codey: that Wednesday, I was so excited. (0:05:46) Kev: Mmm, mmm. (0:05:48) Codey: that includes like vacuuming and dishes and laundry. (0:05:53) Codey: I couldn’t do any of that stuff. (0:05:54) Codey: And yeah, it was like the whole town, except for they kicked power (0:05:57) Codey: on for like some of the businesses, some of the grocery stores. (0:06:00) Codey: Cause they knew everyone was going to need grocery store stuff. (0:06:02) Codey: So they made sure that those lines were up and that the like hospital was up and (0:06:07) Codey: stuff, but most of the residences didn’t have power for at least two days. (0:06:12) Codey: So that was crazy. (0:06:13) Codey: That was, so that was a reason, um, when they were like, Oh, you (0:06:17) Codey: want to do news this week? (0:06:18) Codey: I was like, I still have a lot of stuff to get caught up. (0:06:22) Kev: Yeah, well, appreciate it, you know, that you managed to strap the baby squirrels to (0:06:23) Codey: I don’t know, but it’s fun. (0:06:25) Codey: Um, (0:06:30) Kev: a hamster wheel to power your computer to record this. (0:06:31) Codey: yeah, yeah, they, some of them, the red squirrels would love that actually. (0:06:34) Kev: I’m sure they would. (0:06:38) Codey: Um, yeah. (0:06:39) Codey: So I’m, I did that. (0:06:40) Codey: That was me for two days. (0:06:41) Codey: I was straight up roughing it. (0:06:43) Codey: Um, also I went to a nursery today at plant nursery and I got four different (0:06:50) Codey: species, not species, four different varieties. (0:06:52) Codey: of peppers. I got some herbs and I got some tomatoes so it about to be in real (0:06:56) Kev: ooh peppers okay (0:07:03) Codey: life farming for me. Yeah. (0:07:05) Kev: all right that’s good stuff so you know back back in many many moons ago when I actually (0:07:12) Kev: lived in a house with the backyard um we we had a garden and we had and all basically all those (0:07:18) Kev: things um tomatoes and peppers I forget the other one but um but those are good ones to grow they’re (0:07:20) Codey: Yeah, and I also got kale as well. Yeah, so those are all going to grow in my back. I have like a little area that’s kind of closed off. So I’m going to give it a try because we got a shot, a glimpse of what it looks like to be in a post-apocalyptic scenario with no power and having to live on our own, you know. (0:07:23) Kev: hardy and you can get a lot of them, you know. (0:07:26) Kev: There you go. (0:07:43) Kev: Mm-hmm. Off the land. Yep. Yeah. Well, um, that’s pretty, well, the power outage thing’s (0:07:50) Codey: Like off the land. So I also, I wanted to garden anyway, but it’s a joke. (0:08:00) Kev: not cool. Like, that’s wild. I’ve never had an, I’ve extended power outage, I guess, like (0:08:04) Codey: Yeah, it was it was cool for a while, I just realized like I listeners I entreat you to take a moment, you can pause this for like a minute or something after I post this, think about what you do that requires electricity, and then just don’t touch that for a day. (0:08:05) Kev: couple hours. So that’s, that’s a lot to hear, but I’m glad you’re out of it. Okay. Son’s (0:08:26) Kev: I mean, yeah, everything. (0:08:29) Kev: We’re the brain rot termly online. (0:08:34) Kev: But even aside from that, yeah, I’m (0:08:37) Kev: living in an apartment complex. (0:08:39) Kev: Everything is electric for me. (0:08:40) Codey: Yeah, I got all like yep alt might our stove is electric all of our lights clearly are electric (0:08:42) Kev: Even my stove, I’d be out. (0:08:44) Kev: Yep. (0:08:49) Codey: Couldn’t do any cleaning couldn’t do like I was trying to use my phone as little as possible (0:08:56) Codey: but I could take it like I could jump in my car and like (0:08:56) Kev: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. (0:09:00) Codey: Drive around but I’m sure there were probably gas shortages because everyone was trying to power their generators (0:09:07) Codey: But yeah, I was like wow a lot of my life is (0:09:11) Codey: That so I did a lot of yard work (0:09:13) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I’m sure the the challenge I think would for at least in my scenario would be the food because (0:09:20) Kev: You know, we we’re you can’t go out because restaurants are gonna be down too, right? So (0:09:26) Codey: A lot of the restaurants were down and then the second day when some of the stuff had jumped back up, all the restaurants were swamped because everyone was going out to the restaurants. (0:09:34) Kev: Yeah, of course, of course, of course, yeah, but yeah (0:09:38) Codey: Yeah, so you can’t, you can’t really do that. (0:09:42) Kev: So you did non (0:09:43) Kev: perishable stuff that’s ready to eat and won’t go bad. So like, I hope you have a lot of fruit, (0:09:44) Codey: Yep. (0:09:48) Codey: It was boring. (0:09:50) Kev: I guess a cereal I don’t know because you can’t even have the cold milk. Nevermind. (0:09:52) Codey: I can’t yeah our milk went bad real fast, so. (0:09:56) Kev: Yeah, no. Um, yeah, I don’t even like break out the the spam. I don’t even know. (0:09:56) Codey: Yeah. (0:10:06) Codey: I pretty much, I got chips. (0:10:07) Kev: Can you eat spam out of the can? Yeah. (0:10:09) Codey: I got like a thing of chips. (0:10:10) Codey: So like of little individual packages of chips. (0:10:13) Codey: So I have that. (0:10:14) Codey: I bought Chewy bars, like granola bars. (0:10:16) Kev: Oh, all of those are good. Yep. One of the bars. That’s good. Yeah. (0:10:19) Codey: And that’s all I bought. (0:10:22) Codey: Because then after that, we just got like some fast, (0:10:26) Codey: but even the fast food lines were like so long. (0:10:30) Kev: Yeah, of course. Of course. (0:10:30) Codey: It was crazy. (0:10:33) Codey: Yeah. (0:10:33) Codey: The only other thing that I’ve been up to (0:10:37) Codey: Breath of the Wild. (0:10:39) Codey: And then now that we have power again, (0:10:41) Codey: suddenly there’s a new season of Fortnite (0:10:43) Codey: and it is all Star Wars themed. (0:10:46) Kev: Oh, is is glub shadow in it? (0:10:47) Codey: So I don’t know what that is. (0:10:51) Codey: I’m not a Star Wars human. (0:10:53) Codey: I don’t like Star Wars. (0:10:54) Codey: So you’re gonna send me a picture. (0:10:56) Kev: OK, hold on, let me just pronounce it correctly. (0:10:59) Kev: No, no, it’s it’s so it’s a it’s a meme (0:11:05) Kev: just because. (0:11:07) Kev: Yeah, because obviously Star Wars have all these goofy dumb names or whatever. (0:11:12) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:11:12) Kev: There’s the running gag of Guelp’s shadow of just being a made-up name-slash- (0:11:16) Kev: character and always saying, “Oh, I love Guelp’s shadow. He’s my favorite Star Wars (0:11:20) Kev: character just because he sounds like a real one.” But yeah, Star Wars. I mean, that makes sense that (0:11:22) Codey: Got it, okay, cool (0:11:28) Kev: the third one movie came out. I’m not that big of a Star Wars person, but yeah, sure. Why not? (0:11:34) Codey: Yeah. So that is the short version of what I expected to do. Oh, what have you got, Toucan? (0:11:35) Kev: I mean, it’s cool. I respect it. I just, I’ve never really watched much, many of the movies. (0:11:42) Kev: Yeah. (0:11:49) Kev: She didn’t get into how she had to kill the bear for survival. (0:11:54) Codey: Yeah, didn’t get into any of that. Or my knitting. I’ve been knitting a lot, but it’s fine. You (0:11:58) Kev: Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, good stuff. All right. Well, over here, I have had power. So, (0:11:58) Codey: You have to go to the Slack for that information, kids. (0:12:08) Kev: you know, a different experience. Going to roll that in. Just going to show off all the power I (0:12:10) Codey: - Wow. (0:12:12) Kev: have here. Okay. Okay. (0:12:16) Kev: So it’s been busy week. So it’s endless zone zero. I mean, I’ve played daily. I don’t talk about it much because most of the time it’s like it’s a new character I like about, but nobody cares about. So whatever. But this past update this past week or the week before was a big one. Because it was the final, final update for season one stuff. Season one had this whole storyline plot lines connected. And so the next update, we’re going to get a whole new (0:12:46) Kev: batch of stories and characters and all new no, no, no dangling threads, really. So it’s good. That’s, that’s kind of cool. And the character that dropped with this update, her name is Vivian. She is a kind of like Victorian gothic, you know, big, not super big. She’s got a dress with a big, like, almost hoop skirt looking thing and an umbrella, you know what I’m talking about. And she’s got pointy ears. So (0:13:16) Kev: it’s kind of vampire ish gothic, like I said, style that they’re going for her. And so she’s fun. But what I really like about her is that under the dress, there’s actually a bunch of rockets strapped under there. So she’ll launch yourself into the sky, and then launch yourself down at people, which is really funny. So yeah, she’s she’s great. I love Vivian. She’s also hilarious, because she’s something of a fanboy of the main character that you’re playing as. And it’s really, really funny. (0:13:26) Codey: Okay. (0:13:44) Kev: But anyways, yeah. (0:13:46) Kev: I’m just they did show a trailer for season two and there’s all sorts of new characters and stuff including a playable panda, which I’m looking forward to but but yeah, that’s that’s that’s my gotcha corner for myself. (0:14:01) Kev: Let’s see the other okay I picked up a new game this week actually. (0:14:05) Kev: rat topia do you do you remember this one? Oh, we’ve talked about it on the show. I don’t know if I’m in the episode you were on, but are you familiar. (0:14:06) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:14:11) Codey: Yeah, yeah (0:14:14) Kev: So, yeah, so for people who may not. (0:14:16) Kev: I don’t remember, it’s very Terraria like, right, like the 2D slice of earth, you see everything, but you control a rat princess queen, and you are establishing a new rat city village kingdom thing. (0:14:34) Kev: So it’s great because it’s, again, very Terraria like, but as the leader, you get to command the people who move into your town, you actually get to command them to go. (0:14:46) Kev: Do this job, do, you know, mine here, do this, you’re now the logger, whatever. (0:14:48) Codey: Hmm. (0:14:52) Kev: So that part is really cool. That really excited me because I love when you actually get to command people and they do stuff in these games, right? (0:14:58) Codey: Yeah. (0:15:00) Kev: And I like rats. The art style is cute. But, you know, I like little critters in general. So that was fun. (0:15:08) Kev: And the game’s good, but it also can be really hard. It turns out running a kingdom is really hard because sometimes. (0:15:12) Codey: Mmm (0:15:16) Kev: You have to defend from zombie rats invading your town. You have to manage an economy. Do you know how fun that is to figure out how much you should be taxing or subsidizing? (0:15:26) Codey: Nope. (0:15:28) Codey: That does not sound fun. (0:15:30) Kev: It’s wild. I’ve had to start over a few times because I just backed myself into a corner of unsavable. I destroyed the kingdom. (0:15:42) Kev: So, yeah, that, you know, kind of like the real life car, I mean, it’s just… (0:15:46) Kev: I can just restart the politics, yeah. (0:15:53) Kev: But yeah, that’s Rhetopia. (0:15:54) Kev: Overall, it’s a great game, two thumbs up from me. (0:15:58) Kev: I hear other people are interested in this game (0:16:00) Kev: and may talk about it and play it (0:16:02) Kev: and discuss it at length somewhere. (0:16:05) Kev: So yeah, keep an eye out for that. (0:16:08) Kev: And the other one, so lastly, not game specific, (0:16:14) Kev: But, uh, oh. (0:16:16) Kev: Uh, this past, a couple of days ago, I went, I went out to the club. (0:16:20) Kev: I don’t go very often, but I liked the club. (0:16:22) Kev: Um, I liked to dance. (0:16:24) Kev: Um, I, yeah. (0:16:24) Codey: Okay, awesome! (0:16:26) Kev: Um, so it was a solo trip. (0:16:29) Kev: It was just me. (0:16:31) Kev: Um, I was like, you know what? (0:16:32) Kev: I’ve been, I’ve had a very stressful couple of weeks. (0:16:34) Kev: I was like, you know, I’m going to get away for a day and go for a night out. (0:16:38) Kev: And then I had fun or whatever. (0:16:40) Kev: Um, I went to the, uh, club by the. (0:16:46) Kev: Area I went to is very college heavy. (0:16:48) Kev: Um, so, um, I, at first when I got there, I think I got there, no, not I think (0:16:48) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:16:53) Kev: I did get there a little too early. (0:16:54) Kev: So I thought, you know what? (0:16:55) Kev: Maybe this was a bad call. (0:16:56) Kev: Cause you know, the semester’s are ending for colleges. (0:16:59) Kev: I don’t know. (0:16:59) Kev: People aren’t going to be there. (0:17:00) Kev: Um, but it did populate eventually. (0:17:03) Kev: Um, and now I’m only 30, what am I two? (0:17:04) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah, yeah, it doesn’t matter anymore. (0:17:08) Kev: No, yeah, 30. (0:17:09) Kev: Yeah, 30. (0:17:09) Kev: Yeah. (0:17:09) Kev: No, I forget after 26, I lose track. (0:17:12) Kev: Um, yeah, yeah, right. (0:17:14) Kev: So I’m. (0:17:16) Kev: Not, yeah, yeah. (0:17:17) Kev: So I’m not old, but especially in this college heavy area, I feel old (0:17:20) Kev: man at the club, just, just a wee bit. (0:17:24) Kev: I’m laying out there in my slacks and a little vest. (0:17:26) Kev: I’m looking, you know, I’m feeling snappy, but everyone else are the (0:17:30) Kev: majest majority of people are college aged kids with t-shirts and the shorts (0:17:34) Kev: and whatever, so I’m sticking out. (0:17:36) Kev: Um, but, uh, but overall I still had fun. (0:17:39) Kev: Um, I just, okay, here’s my biggest old man thing. (0:17:44) Kev: All right, embrace yourself. (0:17:44) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:17:46) Kev: Um, I, um, so I’m a single guy, right? (0:17:46) Codey: Okay. (0:17:49) Kev: And, you know, obviously with heading out to the club, one of the things is like, (0:17:53) Kev: you know, maybe I’ll find someone to dance with, right? (0:17:56) Kev: Cause that’s, that’s just the thing. (0:17:57) Kev: Or so I thought because, uh, I struck out all night and that’s, that’s fine. (0:17:58) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:18:02) Kev: That happens. (0:18:03) Kev: And you know, whatever, but after talking to other people, apparently the scene (0:18:07) Kev: has kind of changed, like everyone’s just going up in groups or, or people very (0:18:14) Kev: We rarely actually (0:18:16) Kev: like reach out to strangers or accept the strangers to dance with and apparently you (0:18:23) Kev: gotta like you know meet up beforehand or you know you’re meet up online and decide (0:18:28) Kev: to do so or whatever but that’s just that’s that again that’s just me old manning here (0:18:32) Kev: like I’m I’m just shocked to see that the the the scene has changed as it will or as (0:18:39) Kev: it were (0:18:39) Codey: - Dating, dating is awful. (0:18:43) Codey: Yeah, I, when I was dating, (0:18:46) Codey: even like five years ago, I hated it. (0:18:48) Codey: - Yeah, no, it was awful. (0:18:50) Kev: Yeah, yeah, but um, but yeah, that’s just like I’m I’m too on hip to (0:19:00) Kev: Yeah, I’m I’m out of it. I’m it’s it’s all the zoomers. I can’t keep up with them (0:19:07) Kev: That their fortnight dances in the floss (0:19:11) Kev: All right, that’s all I got (0:19:15) Kev: Alright, let’s get to let’s get to I know what you’re at least (0:19:20) Kev: last month or monthly segment where we talk about stuff that just came out, but before we do, (0:19:23) Codey: No, I didn’t know there was a new one. (0:19:24) Kev: did you see the trailer for I know what you did last summer the new one? (0:19:30) Kev: Yeah, our you know, obviously what we’re riffing off here for the title segment that movie got a (0:19:37) Kev: I don’t sequel reboot thing it’s it’s it’s it’s that trend where it’s reusing the original title (0:19:44) Kev: just called I know what you did last summer and it’s you know the same premise but oh look there’s (0:19:50) Kev: original character who is it Sarah Michelle Keller I think it is I don’t remember the original actress (0:19:56) Kev: from the original oh and she’s there older and she’s gonna be helping out and and you know it’s (0:20:01) Kev: it’s just the rehash that Hollywood has been doing with all especially a lot of horror movies it feels (0:20:05) Kev: like but yeah I just just want to point out that I got a trailer I haven’t watched any of the other (0:20:12) Kev: ones so whatever but it’s just interesting (0:20:14) Codey: Yeah, I don’t mind like when they do that stuff. So I really love the scream franchise. (0:20:20) Kev: yeah the scream one seemed to do I hadn’t seen the newer ones but that seemed pretty well done how (0:20:26) Kev: they did it yeah all right there you go that first scream is really good like I get it when (0:20:28) Codey: So yeah, 10 out of 10. (0:20:36) Codey: Yeah, we. (0:20:36) Kev: I watched it the first time I was like oh okay I get it um okay uh all right not for games that (0:20:45) Kev: Come on, non-horror games, Cottage Court games, if you don’t like those, do you? (0:20:45) Codey: Mm-hmm, yeah. (0:20:50) Kev: If you like those movies, you might like this. (0:20:52) Kev: Alright, first of all, Bugaboo Pocket, what I call the Bugagotchi game, because it’s 2D pixel style, very detailed, very gorgeous looking sprite work of bugs, and you pet them and do games with them. (0:21:02) Codey: Mm hmm. It was so good. I’m like still so tempted to get that but I will I will I will hold off. (0:21:18) Kev: There’s, there is a lot I will say. There’s Tarot, there’s also it looks like a Fruit Ninja game, and a lot of petting of bugs, they’re very cute but yeah this, yeah, it looks, well maybe you should get the full release so, so it is as long as you want it to be. (0:21:26) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:21:31) Codey: Yeah, I played the demo the demo was super good it’s just wasn’t as long as I wanted it to be (0:21:43) Kev: Oh, if you look on their Steam page, they have a big, like, Nintendo seal of a period. (0:21:48) Kev: So now on the flip side, something that is more pocket, as in Polly Pocket, because Tiny (0:22:09) Kev: Garden came out. The Polly Pocket game, or inspired game, it is a game, not a physical. (0:22:18) Kev: Thing that you can open, and you garden inside your little Polly Pocket world, and you kind of (0:22:23) Kev: rearrange and decorate and all that good stuff. I have not played this game. It looks a lot like a (0:22:32) Kev: game called Garden Galaxy that I did play, which was fine. I think it looks very cute, this Tiny (0:22:38) Kev: Garden. It looks well done, but yeah, go check that out if you’re interested. The gardens are (0:22:46) Kev: So very cute, I will say that. (0:22:49) Kev: Um, let’s see here. (0:22:51) Kev: Next up, we have Opidum, I think. I think I say it different every time. (0:22:54) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:22:57) Kev: It is the, what I call, multiplayer pow world-esque equivalent of Breath of the Wild, because it’s open world sandbox key. (0:23:09) Kev: And you know, it has all your usual survival, whatever. (0:23:13) Kev: Um, but the combat, the combat is just so very clearly Breath of the Wild-ish. (0:23:18) Kev: Feeling, um, which is fine because, you know, that’s a good game to take inspiration from. (0:23:24) Kev: But, uh, but yeah, um, I, you know, a full 3d game like this being multiplayer co-op, (0:23:31) Kev: that is pretty cool. I will give them that. Um, so I don’t know if I’m going to try it just because (0:23:36) Kev: I don’t have room for it right now, but, uh, good on, uh, good on, uh, E.P. games is the (0:23:42) Kev: dev. He came out with it and it’s finished. Um, well, I say it’s finished. It’s really (0:23:48) Kev: released. Um, yeah, and multi multiplayer Breath of the Wild, they’re, they’re just (0:23:54) Kev: sound like a neat niche for that. So, um, yeah, good on them. Uh, and then let’s see, (0:24:00) Kev: lastly on our list, we have Dean Come 1.0. This is our survive, again, survival-less life sim game, (0:24:09) Kev: whatever. Uh, but this time you’re, uh, you’re in Australia. Um, so you farm, hunt, mine, fish, (0:24:14) Kev: all that good stuff do do all the Australian things is our (0:24:18) Kev: friend mark and it may be because as we all know, (0:24:21) Kev: Australia is a small little island nation and almost really (0:24:25) Kev: the people they all know each other and just they basically (0:24:26) Codey: They should, they all know each other. (0:24:31) Kev: walk by each other every day on their way home. But anyways, (0:24:36) Kev: but yeah, look, Australia is very cool. I always I adore like (0:24:39) Kev: reading about as a kid who loved wildlife and animals and Steve (0:24:43) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:44) Kev: Irwin, right? Like Australia was very big in the 90s. And I’ve (0:24:46) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:47) Kev: read and bought a lot of (0:24:48) Kev: Australia. (0:24:49) Codey: Have you seen some of the new photos that Robert Irwin posted? (0:24:54) Kev: No, what does he do? (0:24:54) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:56) Kev: What is he doing? (0:24:58) Codey: Don’t look at it. (0:25:00) Kev: Wait, don’t why not? (0:25:02) Codey: Unless you are a housewife that is bored. (0:25:07) Codey: He posted a risque. (0:25:08) Kev: Oh, dear. (0:25:10) Codey: No, it wasn’t. (0:25:11) Kev: Oh, my gosh, I see. (0:25:11) Codey: It wasn’t risque. (0:25:13) Codey: It was just Robert Irwin in underwear. (0:25:14) Kev: No, I get it. (0:25:17) Kev: I i didn’t yeah (0:25:18) Kev: oh that’s uh yeah that is underwear those are boxers yep I see it (0:25:18) Codey: But Instagram was going insane. (0:25:23) Kev: with him holding it looks like a gila monster or something (0:25:26) Codey: Yeah, he was also holding a snake at some point. (0:25:27) Kev: yeah oh wait oh I see oh that snake that’s a different one yeah (0:25:29) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:31) Codey: He could have a whole calendar. (0:25:34) Codey: And I’m sure he’d make millions. (0:25:36) Codey: Yeah, no, I think that the idea of a survival game in Australia– (0:25:37) Kev: oh that’s good (0:25:43) Codey: why hasn’t that happened yet? (0:25:46) Codey: Why has it taken this long? (0:25:46) Kev: Yeah, you’re right. And it’s an Australian pleasant places. This is just my daily lives. (0:25:58) Kev: This is just the Sims. This isn’t anything special. No, but but yeah, I mean, all you know, (0:26:05) Kev: all joking, the Australia danger death zone aside, you know, it has the wide variety of unique floor (0:26:13) Kev: and faunus that makes for I think doesn’t make great for (0:26:16) Kev: great setting for this kind of game although you know fighting the boss shark is kind of ridiculous (0:26:22) Kev: but in a fun way um so yeah that’s dinkum 1.0 um it is again much like op-ed you can play co-op (0:26:30) Kev: with people um that is out right now um 1.0 um there’s lots of stuff go check out the link you (0:26:39) Kev: know where to find all that stuff um okay yep there you go let’s talk (0:26:43) Codey: And that’s what released last month. (0:26:47) Kev: stuff that didn’t release next month but supposedly releasing in the future supposedly (0:26:54) Kev: all right harvest moon double pack of ports um we have sky tree uh lost valley and sky tree village (0:27:04) Kev: being released uh as a double pack um for uh let’s see I don’t know switch is that what it is okay (0:27:13) Kev: Yeah that makes sense. It is getting a… (0:27:17) Kev: A physical release through the Natsume store, that’s where it is, yeah through the Natsume store. (0:27:24) Kev: You can get a physical copy including an acrylic standee which I don’t think looks particularly noteworthy or nice, but there you go if you’re interested. (0:27:30) Codey: Yeah, but I mean maybe if this was a game that someone really liked then that’s that’s cool for them (0:27:35) Kev: Yeah, yeah, but do those people exist though? (0:27:37) Codey: But I (0:27:39) Codey: Don’t know not to me just trying to milk the cash cow as long as they can (0:27:45) Kev: the literal cash cow. (0:27:46) Codey: Yeah (0:27:48) Kev: I will give them this. They’ve done a dang good job because it’s been a hot minute since they just did the localization, (0:27:56) Kev: but they’re still running. It is so good. I respect that hustle. (0:28:04) Codey: So yeah, 3rd of July if folks are interested in that. (0:28:06) Kev: Oh, thank you. Yeah, the date. I guess that matters. (0:28:12) Kev: Um, next up, all right, here is a game I do care about though. (0:28:15) Kev: Actually, let’s talk about. (0:28:16) Kev: Cattle Country, um, your 2d pixel art Western frontier, um, Stardew ish like where you’re, you’re doing all the things, um, and you can little bit Oregon Trail, a little bit Stardew Valley, I guess, I don’t know, but, uh, yeah, um, it comes, it is releasing on May 27th, um, which that is very close. (0:28:35) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:28:41) Codey: Ooh, that’s close. (0:28:44) Kev: Um, that’s a bad time. That’s always a busy time. (0:28:46) Kev: Um, yeah, that’s, that’s a couple of weeks. Um, I’m looking forward to it and I’ll be (0:28:47) Codey: Okay. (0:28:48) Codey: Did you, like, back it or anything, or you haven’t bought it yet? (0:28:53) Codey: Okay. (0:29:14) Kev: playing it. Keep your eyes. (0:29:16) Kev: Ears peeled, I guess. I don’t know how to peel ears. But here we are. Let’s see. Now we have (0:29:29) Kev: the next game, 2Pixellia, that is out now. This is, yeah, May 1st, it just released. This one is a (0:29:32) Codey: Mm hmm. Yep. (0:29:43) Kev: again pixel art to the kind of city (0:29:47) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, this is the one that doesn’t know what it wants to be, (0:29:47) Kev: simulator I guess um yeah (0:29:53) Codey: and there’s so many different things in it. I believe Al backed this one, so he has it. (0:29:59) Kev: that’s a safe bet (0:29:59) Codey: We’ll probably hear about it, but watching the trailer and stuff, I was just so like… (0:30:06) Kev: it’s it’s a lot if it feels like honestly it feels like taking control of (0:30:12) Kev: one of the sims instead of watching them do (0:30:14) Codey: Yeah. (0:30:15) Kev: everything like just playing them you know (0:30:17) Kev: um so i’ll check it out if you want if you want to do (0:30:22) Kev: crimes you can do crimes so i’ll give them that (0:30:24) Codey: You can do crimes in this game can’t break up marriages though. (0:30:25) Kev: or you can do crimes i’ll give them that (0:30:29) Kev: all right not not yet again that is two pixely and that is (0:30:35) Kev: out now on steam at least I don’t know where else but uh (0:30:38) Kev: there you go all right let’s get into games that already (0:30:43) Kev: did come out but now have more stuff coming out (0:30:47) Kev: okay okay this first one blew my mind because I thought this game was (0:30:52) Kev: dead based like not dead but you know done I can (0:30:54) Codey: Dude, no, this game is not dead. (0:30:57) Codey: This game slaps. (0:30:59) Codey: I wanna play it so bad. (0:30:59) Kev: well I mean yeah I mean i’m not saying that (0:31:02) Kev: dead like people aren’t playing it just I didn’t think they were we’re gonna get (0:31:06) Kev: an update but I guess if there is one franchise in (0:31:09) Kev: the world that can do whatever they want it would be (0:31:13) Kev: san rio and hello kitty because hello kitty island adventure has (0:31:17) Kev: not one but two updates well one of them I think (0:31:21) Kev: came out already um the other one was announced (0:31:25) Kev: Um, so there is the first one is (0:31:29) Kev: the, um, friends furniture and frozen peaks expansion. Um, (0:31:34) Kev: I think that’s out already. Um, there is, uh, (0:31:39) Kev: expansions to believe new areas, Blizzard peak and snow village. (0:31:44) Kev: There are new types of weather flowers, all sorts of new story and cosmetics, (0:31:49) Kev: um, and more improvements and refinements to the friendship system, (0:31:53) Kev: which were needed. Um, just, yeah, just a lot of stuff. (0:31:57) Kev: There’s a lot of stuff again. (0:31:59) Kev: The ice area that’s the big one and improvements to the, you know, UIs and experiences. Nice little (0:32:07) Kev: quality of life touches here and there. All sorts of new furniture and cosmetics. (0:32:15) Kev: There’s some new quests and storylines, all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. (0:32:20) Codey: Sorry, I I was trying to see what it was available on and it is on Apple Arcade (0:32:27) Kev: I mean, it’s on the Steam page. (0:32:29) Kev: So I assume it’s, yeah. (0:32:31) Codey: Yeah, so it’s on Steam but it’s also on Apple Arcade well because on Steam it’s only or sorry it’s on Steam it’s only (0:32:40) Codey: Windows but then it so to play it on Mac you have to play it in Apple Arcade (0:32:43) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:32:47) Codey: I’m wondering, so it’s also on switch. (0:32:53) Kev: on everything, I think, right? I’m just gonna… Look, I’m assuming their deep pockets have (0:32:59) Kev: enabled it to just be out on everything. (0:33:02) Codey: No, they don’t have a Xbox. I was looking for that because I have game pass. Yeah, looking (0:33:08) Kev: - Oh, well, everything they’re on. (0:33:09) Codey: at this, looking at this like update, the biggest thing that I lost my mind about was (0:33:14) Codey: Aggretsuko. So they added, it was, I think it was just in the friends furniture and frozen (0:33:16) Kev: Yeah (0:33:23) Codey: peaks. One, they added Retsuko. So from the TV show, Aggretsuko, they added. (0:33:24) Kev: Yeah (0:33:30) Kev: Well retzeko was in already (0:33:32) Codey: But her friends and coworkers are now. (0:33:35) Kev: That’s correct (0:33:36) Kev: But she was the weird one because nobody knew her because she was from a different part of the scenario verse (0:33:41) Kev: But now yes the supporting ritz a gretzeko cast is here (0:33:46) Kev: I haven’t watched the anime so I can’t get hyped, but I’m kind of hyped because it’s cool (0:33:50) Kev: I like the anime without watching it. It’s a good concept (0:33:54) Codey: I friggin love that anime. Well, because I love metal, so it like tickles that fancy. (0:34:01) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, the other update is called the month of meh. (0:34:02) Kev: Yep, I’ll do it (0:34:07) Kev: But (0:34:10) Kev: Okay, I just got to say when I saw this I thought that was I’ll know it I was like wow I’ll jam (0:34:15) Codey: See, I thought I was saying like, eh, this game sucks. And then I looked, I was like, oh no, it’s literally. (0:34:17) Kev: Don’t like this update, huh? (0:34:24) Codey: Called the month of meh. And there’s Gudetama as. Oh, okay. (0:34:25) Kev: The next up is called month of man (0:34:32) Kev: As good atomic it’s a good atomic festival of sorts right cuz (0:34:38) Kev: yeah, because the Hello Kitty Island adventure does like kind of like Animal Crossing where you know special events or (0:34:45) Kev: Theirs are usually like maybe a week or two. Whatever like oh, here’s the (0:34:50) Kev: Chinese New Year’s the Christmas is the Halloween whatever right they do their monthly your seasonal events and this appears to be one of those (0:34:54) Codey: This, this character that’s dressed as an egg yolk though, a nisetami-san. (0:34:57) Kev: from a night what I saw (0:35:02) Kev: I (0:35:04) Kev: Don’t know who that is. Is that a Sandra Hill character because okay, cuz everyone knows Goude Thomas the lazy egg with the butt (0:35:05) Codey: I don’t like it. (0:35:07) Codey: I don’t like it. (0:35:11) Kev: All right, he’s it’s a little the little guy, right? It’s like, you know standard chicken egg and the little guy is that (0:35:18) Kev: But this guy (0:35:20) Kev: He said Thomas son. No, that is a full grown (0:35:24) Codey: That’s a person, and it’s in a weird costume, and I don’t like that. (0:35:24) Kev: sized human man in a (0:35:28) Kev: You know like yellow (0:35:32) Kev: Jump not jumps, you know, it’s those weird Halloween costumes (0:35:34) Codey: body suits. Yeah. That’s a choice. (0:35:36) Kev: Yeah, the bodysuits that are the single colors and he’s dressed up like Gudetama, but he’s got a very (0:35:43) Kev: Bland face. I don’t I don’t know how to (0:35:46) Codey: the face is honestly the worst part like if if it was like a normal face I would be like (0:35:51) Codey: oh it’s a person but the face I’m just like what is happening um (0:35:55) Kev: Yeah, no, I’m looking this up, this is not new, this is a Sanrio. (0:35:59) Codey: I’m sure it’s a character I just it’s character I didn’t know and I would love to go back to (0:36:01) Kev: Yup. (0:36:03) Kev: It’s a man dressed as Gudetama, so there you go. (0:36:06) Codey: I’d love to go back to five minutes ago when I did not know what six things existed (0:36:12) Kev: He’s got very thick eyebrows. (0:36:14) Kev: That might be part of the problem. (0:36:16) Codey: I don’t know I don’t know (0:36:19) Kev: Well, there you go. (0:36:19) Kev: There’s the month of May. (0:36:21) Kev: It’s through the month of May. (0:36:24) Kev: You get it? (0:36:25) Kev: You get it? (0:36:25) Kev: I don’t know if that was their intention, (0:36:27) Codey: it’s gonna be meth (0:36:27) Kev: but whatever worked out. (0:36:29) Kev: You know what’s not– well, actually, I’m (0:36:31) Kev: sure the update itself is not meh. (0:36:33) Kev: But you know what else is not meh? (0:36:35) Kev: These new games actually– no, they’re all right. (0:36:36) Codey: Oh, no, we got another update. (0:36:39) Kev: Oh, I did skip one. (0:36:41) Kev: Whoopsie. (0:36:41) Codey: There was another update, but it’s only the 0.5 update, (0:36:42) Kev: Oh yeah. (0:36:45) Codey: y’all, so don’t worry. (0:36:46) Codey: It’s not really– (0:36:50) Codey: it’s not a real update. (0:36:51) Codey: No, it’s fine. (0:36:53) Codey: The game Far Lands has a 0.5 update (0:36:56) Codey: that adds a bunch of stuff, including (0:36:58) Codey: hostile mobs in the mines, a new mine (0:37:01) Codey: that you can go to, 10 new social events, Steam Deck (0:37:05) Codey: support, uh, furniture. (0:37:06) Codey: I didn’t, I haven’t really looked at this game before, you kind of just look like a zombie. (0:37:14) Kev: yeah you look like a weird uh yeah a lot of the other characters because you crash line on like (0:37:20) Kev: an alien planet and they’re all alien zombie-ish in appearance I i I agree um but uh yeah okay it (0:37:29) Kev: feels a little space tardewy but it has a little more flavor it has a little more sauce as the kids (0:37:34) Kev: call it um like uh it I that’s what I hear look I still tutor kids okay you know okay (0:37:36) Codey: Is that what the kids are calling it? (0:37:44) Kev: tangent hey shocker me cody you’re going to tangent but okay look I know every generation (0:37:46) Codey: Tangent, boom, boom, boom, boom. (0:37:52) Kev: our generation and everyone has their slang and lingo and and bads and whatever right (0:37:58) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:37:59) Kev: but that I think i’ve been thinking about this because as I tutor right like I see the the next (0:38:05) Kev: generation of kids or it’s also i’m like a couple cycles in at this point really um because i’ve (0:38:10) Kev: tutored for so dang long it’s it’s gotten horrendous the the skipper (0:38:15) Kev: generation as i’m gonna call it because I think that’s the emblematic uh term and and (0:38:16) Codey: Yeah, it’s it’s the brain rot generation. So they, they say like the they they’re that (0:38:22) Kev: yes the brain rot generation there too (0:38:26) Codey: what they’re going to watch is just brain rot and just cringe. And like, yeah, they (0:38:28) Kev: yep yep all that like I i don’t either it’s not and like (0:38:31) Codey: I don’t get it. It’s not entertaining to me. (0:38:39) Kev: the issue isn’t even the stuff itself per se I mean a little bit but you know like that’s i (0:38:43) Kev: I think also just kind of. (0:38:44) Kev: The nature of the generations, like our parents didn’t get our stuff either or whatever, right? (0:38:49) Kev: Um, but it just feels like so much more prevalent and ingrained and, and virulent than, uh, than other generations. (0:39:01) Codey: Verilent. It’s a virus, the brain rot virus. (0:39:01) Kev: And I’ve been thinking about it really. (0:39:03) Kev: Yeah, it really is. (0:39:06) Kev: And, and it’s, I’ve been thinking like, how should I put this right? (0:39:11) Kev: So when you and I grew up, let’s say, right in our middle school. (0:39:14) Kev: I’m a school, whatever, right? (0:39:15) Kev: Like there are the fads and there’s the playground speak and it would spread or whatever, right? (0:39:19) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:39:20) Kev: But it was still kind of contained to our local area, right? (0:39:22) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:39:24) Kev: Because we didn’t have the internet, but I think about it. (0:39:27) Kev: Like, I think that’s the issue, right? (0:39:29) Kev: All these kids have their phones and the same app. (0:39:32) Kev: So like, it’s all so homogenized. (0:39:35) Kev: Like, I think that’s just why like every single kid knows it and watches the same thing. (0:39:42) Kev: Like, it’s, it’s insane. (0:39:44) Kev: Oh, my gosh. Oh. (0:39:46) Codey: Yeah, that’s a whole other story about like whether or not that stuff is helping or harming (0:39:54) Codey: the socialization of the next generation. (0:39:58) Kev: Mm-hmm. That’s a, that is a good one. (0:39:59) Codey: That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as like, more discussions about (0:40:01) Kev: Yeah. Mm-hmm. (0:40:04) Codey: autism come out and stuff and like having been, you know, diagnosed as a autistic adult (0:40:10) Codey: at this point. (0:40:12) Codey: Um, yeah, but. (0:40:14) Kev: Yeah, it’s (0:40:16) Kev: And it’s tough because we you know, we’re not gonna have all the data until later right like it’s gonna be tougher kind of (0:40:23) Kev: Speculating but um, it’s it’s it’s what to see (0:40:27) Kev: and but I you know (0:40:28) Codey: Well, that’s Far Lands. (0:40:30) Kev: As about yeah, there you go, there’s your point five update for for this it’s out now (0:40:32) Codey: Pull us back. (0:40:33) Codey: Pull us back. (0:40:37) Codey: It’s out now. (0:40:38) Codey: If you want a hostile mob, if you’ve (0:40:40) Codey: been waiting for steam support, they’re there. (0:40:44) Kev: Achievements, they’re in there, too. (0:40:47) Codey: They are there. (0:40:49) Kev: All right, let’s talk– (0:40:51) Kev: those are the updates. (0:40:53) Kev: Let’s talk about some new game announcements. (0:40:54) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:40:55) Kev: Let’s talk about “Scibbity Island.” (0:40:57) Codey: No! (0:40:59) Codey: We were leaving it. (0:41:00) Codey: We were leaving it. (0:41:02) Kev: No, it’s here to stay. (0:41:03) Codey: No, Sunseed, Sunseed Island. (0:41:05) Kev: OK. (0:41:07) Kev: OK, yeah, “Sunseed Island.” (0:41:10) Kev: OK, first of all, this is insanely cute art style. (0:41:14) Kev: Whoever their art team is, they’re (0:41:18) Kev: knocking out of the park. (0:41:20) Kev: The actual game itself, you’re playing (0:41:22) Kev: as a little cat with a little Pikmin-style flower (0:41:25) Kev: star on your head. (0:41:27) Kev: And you’re rebuilding your town. (0:41:29) Kev: You’re farming. (0:41:30) Kev: You’re fishing. (0:41:31) Kev: You’re exploring islands. (0:41:35) Kev: A lot of the hallmarks of the cottage core verse, (0:41:37) Kev: what can I say? (0:41:38) Kev: There’s different– it looks like– (0:41:40) Kev: I think it’s kind of like Animal Crossing, (0:41:42) Kev: where you can sail to different islands, (0:41:43) Kev: and there might be different environments. (0:41:44) Kev: It’s coming on April 24th on the eShop, actually. (0:41:51) Kev: Wait, what? (0:41:53) Kev: Wait, April 24th? (0:41:54) Codey: Oh, so it’s already out. (0:41:55) Kev: Is that already out? (0:41:56) Codey: It’s already out. (0:41:57) Kev: Oh, yeah, it is sale ends. (0:42:00) Codey: Yeah, so it’s already out. (0:42:02) Codey: Yeah, the little things on top– they all have little Pikmin. (0:42:06) Codey: It’s not just your character. (0:42:07) Codey: All the characters look like they (0:42:08) Kev: Yeah. (0:42:09) Codey: have little Pikmin-y things. (0:42:10) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:42:11) Codey: Very cute. (0:42:12) Kev: Yeah. (0:42:14) Codey: And so their blurb for it is, welcome to Sunseed Island, (0:42:18) Codey: the perfect escape for cozy gamers who love (0:42:20) Codey: to farm, explore, and collect. (0:42:24) Codey: Rebuild a lost village, befriend magical creatures, grow crops, (0:42:27) Codey: fish and tranquil waters, and upgrade your tools, (0:42:29) Codey: discover the secrets of a mystical tree, (0:42:31) Codey: and reconnect the scattered islands. (0:42:35) Codey: I could read that for so many different of these games. (0:42:38) Kev: Okay. (0:42:41) Codey: Yeah, it looks cute. (0:42:43) Codey: Looks like all the other ones, unless you’d (0:42:46) Codey: want to play as a cat, then here you go. (0:42:47) Kev: Yep. Yeah. (0:42:49) Codey: So the price, though, was confusing. (0:42:54) Codey: So on May– (0:42:55) Kev: I mean it’s um well right it’s on sale on the us e-shop for three dollars that’s 72% off i’m (0:42:58) Codey: yeah, go for it. (0:43:04) Kev: too lazy to do the math that’s maybe what like 10 bucks maybe um yeah it’s something like that (0:43:10) Kev: usd uh I can’t see this because I don’t have the uke shop but (0:43:14) Kev: per one of al’s notes apparently it is 100 off on the uke shop so (0:43:18) Codey: I feel like they probably fixed that because the note out so Al said that he got it for free (0:43:24) Codey: because it was it was literally free on the eShop so he got that um and then the note that he left (0:43:25) Kev: yep (0:43:28) Kev: I i don’t blame him (0:43:33) Codey: for the US eShop was that it was 90% off but then I looked and it’s definitely 72% off so (0:43:36) Kev: So, sounds like some numbers were crossed and buttons were pushed incorrectly. (0:43:47) Codey: Y’all should– (0:43:49) Codey: Y’all should check this. (0:43:50) Kev: It’s on sale somewhere. (0:43:52) Kev: You can go get it for cheap right now, we’ll tell you that much. (0:43:54) Codey: Yeah, check this regularly. (0:43:57) Codey: Maybe they just are flipping a dice or something, (0:44:00) Codey: like throwing a dart at a board. (0:44:01) Kev: Maybe they put the wrong sign on. (0:44:07) Kev: It happened to me at the store, not just once multiple times, but they had something on sale and it wasn’t on sale, it made me sad because it was like boxes of cereal, it was like buy two, get three free, it was like wow that’s a great deal, and then I went to the register like no that’s wrong, and I was like oh, I guess I won’t get my cereal. (0:44:24) Codey: So check it out if you like the idea of a stardew where you’re a Pikmin cat. (0:44:31) Kev: Yeah, but you know it kills me that (0:44:33) Codey: The next s s island. (0:44:37) Kev: Okay, okay, you know you want to get into all right. Let’s get into that because what I was gonna say for both of these games (0:44:43) Kev: We went from was it sunseed Island to star sand Island, right? And (0:44:46) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:44:50) Kev: Look, you know (0:44:51) Kev: It’s a tough market. I get it right like you got to stand out (0:44:56) Kev: It’s tough and you know what there’s redeeming qualities here both of these (0:44:59) Kev: I’m not- I’m not gonna say these are off. (0:45:01) Kev: That’s awful, but I’m- I’m already loading the gun and ready to drag you out behind the barn for using those names because no, no. (0:45:06) Codey: S– yeah, for a lack of originality, for sure. (0:45:13) Kev: You went with the Noun Noun island slash valley, which is- is- (0:45:17) Codey: S– like, nouns that start with S. (0:45:20) Kev: And then you start with S, both of you, like, oh my gosh, what is- you know what, maybe- maybe the Skibitty kids aren’t so bad. (0:45:23) Codey: Yeah. (0:45:31) Codey: This one does look different, though. (0:45:33) Codey: So the blurb of it, again, is basic. (0:45:36) Codey: So it’s leave the hustle of the city behind (0:45:38) Codey: and embrace life on Starsand Island. (0

Codey and Aislinn talk about Bugaboo Pocket Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:13: What Have We Been Up To 00:11:26: Game Updates 00:38:43: Bugaboo Pocket Links Doloc Town Early Access Disney Dreamlight Valley “Wonderland Whimsy” Update# Roots of Pacha “1.3” Update Ova Magica “0.9” Update Go-Go Town Online Co-op Sneak Peek Stardew Valley Concert New Dates Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:29) Aislinn: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. (0:00:33) Aislinn: My name is Aislinn. (0:00:34) Codey: And my name is Cody. (0:00:36) Aislinn: And we are here to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:39) Codey: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, I’ve been doing the wolf (0:00:39) Aislinn: Woo-hoo! (0:00:42) Aislinn: We got some extra in there. (0:00:46) Codey: one. The wolfish. Oh, oh, oh, I don’t know why. Oh, you know, (0:00:47) Aislinn: Ooh! (0:00:50) Aislinn: All I can offer is just the woo. (0:00:52) Aislinn: I can give a little meow. (0:00:55) Codey: well, you’re the you’re the coup, aren’t you? The (0:00:58) Aislinn: That’s true. I am the coup. (0:00:59) Aislinn: I’m just I’m in I’m in cat my brain is only cats with these (0:01:03) Aislinn: two kittens. The two kitties. I did I did talk about them. I (0:01:04) Codey: kittens. Have you talked about them? Okay, good. (0:01:11) Aislinn: think I mentioned I think yeah, at the time when I record last (0:01:17) Aislinn: recorded with Kevin in for wonder stop. It was pre Yeah, I (0:01:18) Codey: Mm hm. (0:01:23) Aislinn: was pre kittens. We were in the process of like getting them. (0:01:24) Codey: Mm hm. (0:01:26) Codey: Mm hm. (0:01:27) Aislinn: And now we have them. (0:01:29) Aislinn: So if y’all hear any craziness in the background, that’s them having the zoomies because they’re (0:01:34) Aislinn: five months old and don’t know how to relax sometimes. (0:01:43) Aislinn: But today we are talking about Bugaboo Pocket. (0:01:47) Aislinn: It is not to go into it too much, but it is essentially like a bug collecting. (0:01:48) Codey: Woo. (0:01:59) Aislinn: And caring type of game. (0:02:02) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:02:03) Aislinn: It reminds me of Tamagotchi, but bugs. (0:02:08) Aislinn: And we won’t go too much into it, but that’s the general gist of it. (0:02:12) Aislinn: But otherwise, what have you been up to? (0:02:16) Codey: I am still doing a PhD and I’m so close. I did get the approval from my committee that I should be (0:02:22) Aislinn: so close. (0:02:29) Codey: good to defend in the fall as long as I continue to follow my timeline. I’m so close to being a (0:02:31) Aislinn: Yes. Oh my gosh. Oh (0:02:37) Codey: doctor. So weird. (0:02:38) Aislinn: My god, you’re already a doctor in my heart, honestly (0:02:43) Aislinn: I’m out of time and effort and energy and everything you put in you’re you’re already there. It’s just you just need the technicalities of (0:02:50) Codey: that like paper that says that I am. Yeah, basically. So I’m (0:02:52) Aislinn: Exactly (0:02:57) Codey: doing a lot of specimens. But, which is really fun. It’s (0:03:01) Codey: basically like just pouring out vials of dead bugs, we call it (0:03:04) Aislinn: Oh! (0:03:04) Codey: bugs, bug soup. So pouring out bug soup, and then going through (0:03:10) Codey: and identifying it. And I found something super rare the other (0:03:13) Codey: day, and I lost my mind. So there’s this entire order of (0:03:18) Codey: in Sarcs called Strepsipterin. (0:03:20) Codey: It’s actually called Strepsipterin, which is the one that’s in this area. (0:03:25) Codey: And it’s also called Strepsipterin, which is actually called Strepsipterin. (0:03:28) Codey: And it’s this one, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin. (0:03:32) Codey: And it’s also called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this (0:03:36) Codey: one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called (0:03:38) Aislinn: Oh. (0:03:38) Codey: Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, (0:03:41) Codey: which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is (0:03:41) Aislinn: Oh. (0:03:45) Codey: this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one called Strepsipterin, which is this one (0:03:48) Codey: and then like mates with (0:03:50) Codey: her while she’s in the wasp and then she has babies. (0:03:54) Codey: And it’s just, so the female never has wings, but the males (0:03:57) Codey: have wings and they have like, I believe really short flight (0:04:00) Codey: periods. And I caught three males. So like just in the (0:04:03) Aislinn: Oh! (0:04:05) Codey: middle of my bug soup, I was just like, Holy crap, it’s a (0:04:08) Codey: strep septarin. And then I was like, Oh my God, there’s more. (0:04:12) Codey: So it was really cool because the whole, like one of the (0:04:15) Codey: points of my study is to see if there’s one of the three traps (0:04:19) Codey: that I’m testing if one is. (0:04:20) Codey: Better than the other, and these are only caught in that one type of trap. (0:04:21) Aislinn: Oh, so you’re making progress. (0:04:24) Codey: So that’s like, yeah. (0:04:28) Codey: So it’s like, okay, we’ll look at this cool thing that was never, ever caught (0:04:32) Codey: in the other traps, but is all has been caught in, um, this new trap thing. (0:04:37) Codey: So that was cool. (0:04:39) Codey: But other than that, I’ve been playing, I’m still playing Fortnite with my roommate. (0:04:43) Codey: Um, just like something to, we like play a game or two at a time to just like. (0:04:50) Codey: Chill. (0:04:51) Codey: Um, and then I started playing breath of the wild. (0:04:57) Codey: I have never finished it. (0:04:59) Codey: Um, and I barely got into the game, to be honest, like the last times that I’ve (0:05:04) Codey: played it, so I’m playing it now and I’m playing it kind of with Jeff, um, (0:05:10) Codey: because he lives with me now. (0:05:12) Aislinn: Wow! (laughs) (0:05:12) Codey: And so like I play it while we’re both in the same room. (0:05:16) Codey: He’s usually playing like factorial or something. (0:05:20) Codey: We like watch it and play it together. (0:05:22) Codey: So it’s, it’s nice. (0:05:24) Codey: And hopefully having like a second person who’s interested in the story will (0:05:27) Codey: like help me to actually finish it. (0:05:31) Aislinn: I think I have that same exact relationship with Breath of the Wild like I started it and to be (0:05:36) Aislinn: fair I don’t have it anymore because it was part of I think I’ve I feel like I’ve told the story (0:05:38) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:05:41) Aislinn: like a bunch of times so you may or may not have heard it the listeners probably haven’t heard it (0:05:45) Aislinn: but long story short my switch got stolen years ago along with a bunch of games Breath of the Wild (0:05:50) Aislinn: being one of them so I currently don’t own it anymore the idea of buying it I’m just like do (0:05:57) Aislinn: I really need to because I never really got into it in the first place. (0:06:01) Aislinn: For some reason, but like I am interested in it as a whole entire overview. (0:06:07) Aislinn: I just never fully got into it, but I think maybe if Chris and I like sat down (0:06:13) Aislinn: on the couch and try to like play it together, that might encourage me more. (0:06:14) Codey: Yeah, that’s so that’s what I’m doing with Jeff is kind of just like dedicating that time to just sitting down and playing it together and it’s really nice. (0:06:26) Codey: And so, doing that and then the last thing that I’ll mention is that oblivion remastered came out and I am a huge Elder Scrolls fan, but I resisted the temptation, because I need to finish Zelda first I think I need to just like stick with one thing. (0:06:44) Aislinn: I can’t believe the way they dropped it, it was just like a shadow drop, right? (0:06:44) Codey: So I looked at oblivion and I was like, you’ll be here wait for me wait for me. (0:06:54) Codey: It was Yeah, like, I remember like Jeff was like, Oh, babe, they’re really there. They just announced this thing and then like two days later, one of my best friends who I actually played the original oblivion with back when we were in high school, or middle (0:07:12) Codey: maybe even he was like, Oh yeah, I’m playing this. (0:07:14) Codey: And I was bringing up so many memories. (0:07:17) Codey: And I was like, Oh my gosh. (0:07:18) Codey: So yeah, it was like just a straight up shadow drop. (0:07:22) Codey: Um, and it’s fun to see all the memes people are, are saying. (0:07:26) Codey: So, but I am going to wait. (0:07:28) Aislinn: Yeah, that’s, you know, that’s a fair point. (0:07:30) Codey: I’ve played it before I can, it can wait for me. (0:07:34) Aislinn: Breath of the Wild is a new game, new experience, but it’s like, I don’t know, watching the (0:07:40) Aislinn: trailer for Oblivion, I’ve never played anything in that world. (0:07:42) Codey: - Ooh. (0:07:45) Aislinn: But like looking at the trailer and seeing how excited Chris was, because Chris is also (0:07:47) Codey: - Yeah. (0:07:48) Aislinn: a huge Elder Scrolls fan. (0:07:52) Aislinn: He was so badly wanted to drop everything to play it, but he’s like, we have things (0:07:56) Aislinn: we have to do. (0:07:57) Codey: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, the other thing is that like, it’s on game pass. So if folks if they (0:07:58) Aislinn: But it looks amazing, so like, I don’t know how you resist the temptation because I would be tempted to play something that I know I’m going to really really enjoy. (0:08:16) Codey: don’t know, it’s on game pass. And so that was like the biggest temptation is my friend told me (0:08:22) Codey: that it was out. And I was like, Yeah, but I can’t afford that. I can’t even afford $20 game (0:08:26) Codey: little one is 60. (0:08:28) Codey: And then I got on my Xbox and I saw that it was on game pass and I was like, oh, oh, no, oh, no, no. (0:08:34) Aislinn: Yeah. I think when I was streaming earlier this week, he’s like, “Sara, I ended up starting to download it while you just started streaming.” (0:08:44) Aislinn: He’s like, “Did you notice any drops?” I was like, “Oh, no, but okay.” (0:08:44) Codey: I can’t remember if I downloaded it or not. (0:08:49) Aislinn: So he’s all set up ready to go. (0:08:55) Codey: I downloaded Ori and the Blind Forest because I was about to start playing that, too. (0:09:02) Codey: I was playing that on my Switch and then we switched to Jeff’s Switch and Jeff’s Xbox. (0:09:09) Codey: I was playing it on my Xbox and now we’re on Jeff’s Xbox. (0:09:13) Codey: So I was like, Oh, I need to download that again. (0:09:14) Codey: Um, but that I was like, but I need to focus and I, if I’m going to focus on a game right (0:09:21) Codey: now, I want it to be Zelda. (0:09:22) Codey: So all of this to say, uh, mostly Zelda. (0:09:28) Aislinn: I so I will admit that I have been so so so so I think I already said this on the (0:09:29) Codey: What about you? (0:09:30) Codey: What have you been up to? (0:09:31) Codey: What do you mean? (0:09:39) Aislinn: wanders top episode actually no I was in a different I was less busy pre it’s (0:09:45) Aislinn: like pre and post wanders top is a is like a milestone in my mo in my life at (0:09:50) Aislinn: the moment for some reason like pre wanders top I was busy but once I finished (0:09:54) Aislinn: wanders up something? Actually, you know what, what happened was the cats. (0:09:58) Aislinn: The cats came into the picture, and in addition to working, taking care of what feels like (0:10:05) Aislinn: five toddlers simultaneously, even though it’s just two kittens, and wedding, actively (0:10:08) Codey: Yeah. (0:10:13) Aislinn: wedding planning. It’s been like very, very busy. But with that said, with the time that (0:10:19) Aislinn: I do have, I’ve been trying to play as much bugaboo pocket as possible, which I’ve unlocked (0:10:24) Codey: Sweet. (0:10:26) Aislinn: or b- (0:10:28) Aislinn: I made good progress in the story I think, but um I’ve also been playing whenever I can (0:10:28) Codey: Okay. (0:10:30) Codey: Okay. (0:10:40) Aislinn: Persona 3 reload still. I’m a little bit more than halfway through the game and I finally finally (0:10:48) Aislinn: finally finally picked up Fields of Mistria and I want to dedicate my entire life to that game (0:10:51) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah. (0:10:56) Aislinn: but I’m like, I- (0:10:58) Aislinn: I have to resist, I have to resist ‘cause I’m like, I do like, same with like Oblivion remastered just coming out, I’m like, I want to finish Persona first, but I’m already really really enjoying Fields of Mistria, which is like, it’s been good, everyone has been saying it’s good, and like, yeah, no, it’s good, so, um, that’s primarily what I’ve been doing. (0:11:20) Codey: hmm okay awesome well we will talk more about bugaboo pocket but first there’s news (0:11:23) Aislinn: Yes. (0:11:28) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:11:30) Aislinn: So I actually kind of want to talk a little bit about this (0:11:32) Aislinn: first one. (0:11:34) Aislinn: I don’t know how to pronounce it. (0:11:36) Aislinn: Dolok town, Dolok town. (0:11:37) Codey: that’s that I thought dolok I think that’s right (0:11:40) Aislinn: Either way in my quest for finding something to give me (0:11:46) Aislinn: more energy today because today I’ve just been very low energy (0:11:50) Aislinn: for some reason. (0:11:50) Aislinn: I think because it’s like my first proper day off and I just (0:11:52) Aislinn: don’t know how to function and not be like I don’t know how to (0:11:56) Aislinn: not be busy right now. (0:11:58) Aislinn: It’s just like a blob. (0:11:58) Aislinn: But in my quest to try and like give myself some energy, I (0:12:02) Aislinn: actually downloaded the demo because looking at it for this (0:12:06) Codey: OK. (0:12:06) Aislinn: podcast already caught my interest very quickly. (0:12:10) Aislinn: And it’s really cool so far. (0:12:12) Aislinn: But early access is coming soon. (0:12:16) Aislinn: There’s just a demo. (0:12:18) Aislinn: So if you didn’t know, there is a demo, the demo. (0:12:20) Aislinn: I didn’t play much of the demo, but the demo already is like (0:12:22) Aislinn: pretty cool. (0:12:24) Aislinn: Um, but it is a (0:12:28) Aislinn: farming sim in a way, but it’s a side scroller, which feels (0:12:33) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:12:34) Aislinn: very different from what I’m used to at least, it’s someone (0:12:37) Aislinn: that is very selective about farming games. And there’s, (0:12:42) Aislinn: yeah, there’s crafting, there’s cooking, fishing, farming, of (0:12:47) Aislinn: course. And it looked like there was also like some actual like (0:12:51) Aislinn: platform like platforming that is happening in some capacity. (0:12:56) Aislinn: so it really caught my interest. (0:12:58) Aislinn: I don’t know if you know much about the game as well. (0:13:02) Codey: I, I just looked at the what was on there so the quote that they had for the early access (0:13:11) Codey: is immerse yourself in a rich farming experience with harvesting building crafting cooking (0:13:15) Codey: fishing and more brave extreme weather and make it yours, no idea what that means explore (0:13:22) Aislinn: I don’t know what that means either. (0:13:23) Codey: the vast wasteland and uncover the secrets beneath discover the the charm of Dolok town (0:13:29) Codey: in the story of its people, a customizable drone. (0:13:32) Codey: a companion designed to safeguard you and the wilderness. I’m assuming that means that there is one. (0:13:46) Aislinn: Yeah, I think that’s why I am definitely partial towards anime-esque. (0:13:54) Aislinn: When you’re actually in the game, it’s less more so, it’s definitely more leaning on the (0:13:57) Codey: - Yeah. (0:13:59) Aislinn: pixel aesthetic, but like the art for the game, yeah, has that anime aesthetic. (0:14:04) Aislinn: But it’s nice, like I could definitely see where they’re trying to go with it charm-wise (0:14:10) Aislinn: for the game. (0:14:11) Codey: Mm-hmm this guy (0:14:12) Aislinn: And like right off the gate, there’s already some very interesting dialogue just in the (0:14:16) Aislinn: background. (0:14:18) Aislinn: So it seems like, or it says also over the past few months, the team has been working (0:14:23) Aislinn: hard to refine the game and get it ready for its initial release. (0:14:27) Aislinn: And we’re thrilled to see that it’s only two weeks away. (0:14:30) Codey: Woo! So yeah, that’s the big news, is that the Early Access is coming on May 8th. (0:14:31) Aislinn: So yay! (0:14:36) Aislinn: And also, just because I thought this was really cool, if you join the Discord, you (0:14:40) Codey: Mm-hmm, oh, like a downloadable version? (0:14:41) Aislinn: get the OST on launch, which normally you have to pay for that on Steam. (0:14:46) Aislinn: So, I don’t know exactly, because I don’t talk about how exactly what that process is, (0:14:53) Aislinn: but yeah, you can get the OST for free, it seems like, if you just join the Discord. (0:14:59) Codey: Wow, have you how’s the music? (0:15:01) Aislinn: So that’s pretty cool. (0:15:03) Aislinn: So far, I already really like it. (0:15:04) Codey: Okay (0:15:06) Aislinn: It fits the aesthetic of the game really well. (0:15:08) Codey: Nice (0:15:10) Codey: Yeah, cool and the that early access is gonna have 20 hours of gameplay which is nuts for an early access (0:15:16) Aislinn: Yeah, that’s that’s really good. (0:15:18) Codey: And that that’s only like part of the story (0:15:22) Codey: crazy (0:15:23) Codey: So cool. Well, we will continue to check in with you about Dolan (0:15:29) Codey: You downloaded the demo (0:15:33) Codey: I am the Disney Dreamlight Valley correspondent and here that is (0:15:37) Aislinn: Yes. (0:15:40) Codey: the next (0:15:43) Codey: Sorry, I just was getting a phone call and it cut off my recording so al I’m sorry, there’s two recordings (0:15:51) Codey: Disney Disney Dreamlight Valley has a new update. So they have the Wonderland whimsy update which adds an Alice in Wonderland realm (0:15:59) Codey: Alice and the Cheshire cat as characters (0:16:02) Aislinn: I for some reason I thought there were already characters, but I am I still have yet to play this game (0:16:02) Codey: so (0:16:07) Aislinn: I think like you told me like when we first recorded way back when to play Disney Dreamlight Valley, and I still have not (0:16:07) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:16:12) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:16:15) Codey: Yeah, it’s a lot it’s a lot and there is a poll like I feel the pull to it since (0:16:16) Aislinn: This is a backlog (0:16:22) Codey: Again switched to Jeff’s Xbox. He has a Xbox series s so it’s like a really better one (0:16:29) Codey: And it does not when I played it (0:16:32) Codey: Disney Dreamlight Valley does not have lag on his the way that it did on my Xbox one (0:16:39) Codey: So I I feel the pull for sure (0:16:42) Codey: I don’t know. I’ll have to look at the (0:16:46) Codey: Because usually with these patches they also have like a small (0:16:53) Codey: Gosh, what are they called? (0:16:56) Codey: I’m trying to oh my gosh. Sorry. I was just (0:16:59) Codey: looking at this. Oh, uh, oh, uh, does not include seasonal star path. Oh, that’s something else. (0:17:05) Codey: I’m wondering if they have a star path. Oh yeah, the regard garden of whimsy star path. So the star (0:17:10) Codey: paths are like usually those are time limited. Um, and you can get some really neat items. So maybe (0:17:15) Codey: I’ll jump on this game here, uh, like to later today and see if there’s any good items, um, (0:17:21) Codey: for the star path and see if I’m really like tempted to get anything. Um, (0:17:29) Codey: I don’t know. Did you ever see like the old Alice game? That was like super creepy. (0:17:36) Aislinn: I have like the vague, for whatever reason the way that you phrased it just gave me like the vaguest recollection of it. (0:17:42) Codey: Um hmm. Yeah. So whenever I think of Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, I think of (0:17:44) Aislinn: Let me see if I look at- Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. (0:17:51) Codey: that one because the round little cuddly Cheshire Cat that’s in, or I think of the one in the (0:17:57) Codey: Johnny Depp films, because when I think of like, when I see this Cheshire Cat, like the (0:18:01) Codey: original Alice in Wonderland Cheshire Cat, I’m like, this looks goofy versus like the (0:18:07) Codey: original horror Alice games, uh, and kind of also the one. (0:18:12) Codey: In the live action is like creepy. Um, and I prefer the Cheshire Cat being creepy. So, uh, (0:18:21) Codey: yeah, so I will look at, look at it and see if there’s anything cool in the star path. Um, (0:18:27) Codey: later today. The other thing, the thing I was laughing about is, uh, (0:18:31) Codey: uncrafting. So there’s now an, there’s now an uncrafting station, which I love it. Uh, so you can (0:18:34) Aislinn: on crafting. (0:18:42) Codey: uncraft non-quest crafted items and recycle the materials. Yeah. There are times like when the (0:18:47) Aislinn: Oh, that’s so good. (0:18:51) Codey: characters like at the end of the quest. So I’m assuming I’m hoping it means like if they are no (0:18:56) Codey: longer needed in the quest, because they’ll be like, Oh, build me this beautiful gondola, (0:19:03) Codey: like saying that I can, then we can get married under or something. And then you build this huge (0:19:09) Codey: thing and then after the the action of it they’re like (0:19:12) Codey: okay here is the here have this and I’m like I don’t want this like I don’t (0:19:20) Codey: actually want this yeah so yeah so you can now do that which is hilarious they (0:19:21) Aislinn: Give me my materials back. (0:19:32) Codey: also have upgradable chests which is amazing so instead of having if you have (0:19:39) Codey: small chest and then you don’t you want to get a large chest you (0:19:42) Codey: have to like build the large chest and then set it next to the small chest and (0:19:47) Codey: then like scooch everything over and it’s just pain in the butt now you can (0:19:50) Codey: just like upgrade the smaller chests instead which is awesome there’s more (0:19:57) Codey: alignment in the sub grid you can make your house bigger just like some basic (0:20:03) Codey: things and then other changes and bug fixes so I’m excited looks cool (0:20:10) Aislinn: I just, the idea, I don’t know why the idea of being able to uncraft something has never (0:20:17) Aislinn: crossed my mind, but now that that idea has been implanted into my brain, now I’m like (0:20:23) Aislinn: why do more games not have this, because this is really cool and I really like that and (0:20:28) Aislinn: that would be very nice. (0:20:29) Codey: Yeah (0:20:30) Codey: To be able to like I mean there are some games that can do that (0:20:34) Codey: I know that I want to say minecraft has one where like a table that you can go take your stuff to and then it’ll (0:20:39) Codey: Like give you the components or something (0:20:41) Aislinn: very cool indeed and I guess with that said do you have anything else that you (0:20:42) Codey: Yeah, it’s not super common so cool (0:20:48) Codey: Yeah (0:20:51) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:20:52) Aislinn: want to touch on with disney dreamlight valley (0:20:54) Codey: No, I was gonna move on let’s move on (0:20:56) Aislinn: okay I guess I so I do you know anything about the roots of pacha (0:21:00) Codey: I played roots of Pacha (0:21:02) Aislinn: - Okay. (laughs) (0:21:03) Codey: Or Pacha. I think I say Pacha (0:21:06) Codey: It is a super cool like it’s basically caveman stardew or prehistoric stardew (0:21:12) Codey: I think is what we used to say so they have a 1.3 update that is out now and it adds two new regions (0:21:18) Codey: so those regions are the (0:21:20) Codey: Mograni mountains and (0:21:23) Codey: the (0:21:25) Codey: to do scroll scroll scroll yaku on islands (0:21:29) Codey: um so I think it just like adds on to what is already in the game like (0:21:34) Codey: different areas that you can just now go to that you previously couldn’t go to (0:21:39) Codey: each area has a decent amount of new characters um but overall there’s 21 new characters uh and two (0:21:48) Codey: of them are romanceable and I just always want to shout out that one of the characters who’s (0:21:54) Codey: romanceable, the mountain guy is older. So he’s got like (0:21:59) Codey: white hair, like gray hair. And I am just as I get into my (0:22:03) Codey: elder years, I am just always so happy. You see that that (0:22:12) Codey: they’re, they’re letting us old people. Old people mean love (0:22:15) Aislinn: No, I agree, I do, I, like, I saw that note and I was like, “That’s really, really awesome.” (0:22:18) Codey: too. Yeah, so that was cool. There’s also new animals. They’ve (0:22:28) Codey: We’ve got like a prehistory. (0:22:29) Codey: For a giraffe thing, they’ve got something that was a precursor to the modern sheep. (0:22:37) Codey: They got a dodo bird because of course, like why wasn’t that in the game already? (0:22:42) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:22:45) Codey: And then they also added modern animals. (0:22:47) Codey: So I don’t, I can’t remember if it’s like something that you can, like one of the ideas (0:22:52) Codey: that you can add on that someone like thinks of like modernizing the animals or whatever, (0:22:57) Codey: but you end up (0:22:59) Codey: like with what you would think are the modern animals from it which is really cool. (0:23:04) Aislinn: Oh, so they’re not like actually modern animals, they’re just what could be modern animals, (0:23:10) Codey: So it’s I think you basically like take the animal from before or the animal that’s in the (0:23:10) Aislinn: like reimagined? (0:23:18) Codey: game already and I think you just like do some weird genetic stuff with it or something like (0:23:23) Codey: that and then it’s suddenly the the modern version. So yeah. (0:23:29) Codey: That is cool. There’s new clothing, decoration, seeds. They also added modern seeds. So I think (0:23:37) Codey: similarly you can update the ones that you have to be like the legit modern seeds instead (0:23:43) Codey: of working with like prehistoric versions. One of the mini games is a music game. So for people (0:23:51) Codey: like Al who I know likes those like rhythm games, there’s one of those where you use the up and down (0:23:56) Aislinn: Yeah, I was looking at that too. It’s cool. I like that. I also like a good rhythm game (0:23:58) Codey: arrows kind of like (0:23:59) Codey: I mean, it looks like basically guitar here, but (0:24:02) Codey: using, yeah, I was a little, I was, I was interested. (0:24:11) Aislinn: or music game. So like my I will revisit on a regular basis Project Diva, which is the (0:24:17) Aislinn: Vocaloid music game. So like, I’m all over rhythm games. So any any inclusion of that (0:24:23) Aislinn: I am so on it. (0:24:25) Codey: Um, and then the final thing was that there is now bug catching with an asterisk. (0:24:32) Aislinn: Whoa. Oh. (0:24:35) Codey: So it’s not, it’s not like what you’d think it’s that there’s like a couple new places (0:24:42) Codey: that you can go to. (0:24:43) Codey: And then you basically like play an instrument and it like calls the bugs to you. (0:24:49) Codey: And then you can catch them from there. (0:24:51) Codey: It’s just, it’s not, it’s not what you’d expect. (0:24:55) Codey: Which I like that they’re doing new things. (0:24:57) Codey: They also have, they had a new way to like tame animals and a new way to fish and all of that. (0:25:02) Codey: Super love the way that they’ve been doing, innovating in that regard. (0:25:07) Codey: But, you know, I want to be able to just go catch bugs the way that I, the way that I do. (0:25:12) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:25:16) Codey: On my hike today, there were a couple of people that came up because I was like flipping logs (0:25:20) Codey: and they were like, what are you doing? What you looking for? And I was like, I mean, (0:25:22) Aislinn: Ah ha. (0:25:25) Codey: anything. I just want to see cool, cool bugs or salamanders or something. (0:25:28) Aislinn: Just anything. (0:25:30) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:25:33) Codey: It’s a little early for that. But yeah, that’s basically, I just want to be able to like find (0:25:36) Codey: cool bugs. And that’s, that’s that update. So that update is out now. If you already own the game, (0:25:36) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:25:38) Aislinn: Well. (0:25:44) Codey: then you just get it. And if you do not own the game, maybe having a little bit more story and (0:25:51) Codey: bug catching and the rhythm game, uh, push you, uh, (0:25:55) Codey: to do it. Maybe that’s something that’s of interest. (0:25:58) Aislinn: Yeah, that all sounds good to me. Will I play it? I don’t know. Again, only so many farming (0:26:06) Aislinn: games I can do. But I like the romanceable older person. That is like one thing that’s (0:26:08) Codey: - Yeah, I. (0:26:14) Aislinn: like a game changer for me. I do like that a lot. (0:26:16) Codey: Yeah, I have it on Windows. (0:26:20) Codey: So if we end up moving my desktop up to my office, (0:26:24) Codey: which is like a blessing and a curse (0:26:27) Codey: because I want this to remain my work office, (0:26:28) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:26:30) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:26:31) Codey: but also like I am not playing my desktop downstairs. (0:26:34) Aislinn: Yeah? [laughs] (0:26:34) Codey: But yeah, I might, I might bring that up and load this game back up and see, see how that (0:26:44) Codey: older guy is. I like his personality or not. (0:26:45) Aislinn: yeah hopefully he’s got good personality I guess with that well not really with (0:26:55) Aislinn: that said it’s not really very good transition but another game that I (0:27:00) Aislinn: unfortunately don’t know much about over magica do you are you familiar oh (0:27:03) Codey: Okay. (0:27:08) Codey: Yeah, yeah, so OvaMagica is the like farming adventure, (0:27:08) Aislinn: perfect wonderful (0:27:15) Codey: whatever creature collector game where all of the creatures (0:27:16) Aislinn: Mmhmm. (0:27:17) Codey: are like these little round boys. (0:27:19) Aislinn: Yeah! (0:27:20) Codey: And so there’s like, and they just kind of like blob (0:27:23) Codey: around behind you, just super cute. (0:27:26) Codey: They have released the 0.9 update that adds some new areas, (0:27:31) Codey: new friendship events with the characters. (0:27:35) Codey: And there’s also a new thing, I can’t remember what it’s (0:27:38) Codey: called, like Ovotron or something, but it’s something (0:27:40) Codey: that allows you to X-ray into a egg before it hatches (0:27:46) Codey: to be able to see what is in the egg, which is super nice. (0:27:51) Codey: Like say that you’re trying to breed for something, (0:27:55) Codey: you’d be able to see kind of like. (0:27:56) Codey: Like expect what is in that egg. (0:27:59) Codey: Um, which is cool. (0:28:03) Codey: And so that zero of one ninth update is out now. (0:28:07) Codey: Um, and the, they also said in this that the 1.0 is coming this year. (0:28:12) Aislinn: Hmm. Oh no. Yeah. I feel like I’ve been seeing it like even though I don’t know much about (0:28:13) Codey: I cannot remember how many years that has been a promise. (0:28:20) Codey: But I feel like it’s been some, it could have just been one. (0:28:23) Codey: They could have just been yet last year. (0:28:24) Codey: I don’t know, but I feel like this is a game we’ve been talking (0:28:26) Codey: for a hot minute, so. (0:28:31) Aislinn: it, I feel like I’ve somehow been like stumbling across it like pretty regularly. Um, so hopefully, (0:28:34) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:28:38) Aislinn: - Hopefully, hopefully. (0:28:39) Codey: No, Ms. Chloe. (0:28:41) Codey: Yeah. (0:28:42) Aislinn: - Hopefully, it’s coming, 1.0, this year. (0:28:45) Aislinn: I mean, there’s a lot of this year left, (0:28:47) Aislinn: so fingers crossed, and it looks like it’s mostly, (0:28:50) Aislinn: if not already, just about fully fleshed out game-wise, so. (0:28:54) Codey: Yeah, they don’t have too too much to add to it. So we’ll see where it where it goes (0:29:02) Aislinn: can I just say I love the cow blob in the in like the main photo (0:29:04) Codey: Yeah (0:29:07) Codey: They’re (0:29:08) Codey: They’re all cute. I love the cow blob. I love the fox blob. The bee blob is cute. Like they I have not seen a blob (0:29:13) Aislinn: oh (0:29:16) Codey: I didn’t love so (0:29:18) Aislinn: I like the turtle one too they’re all so cute (0:29:19) Codey: Yeah, they’re they’re all very cute (0:29:23) Aislinn: and shout out to motion sickness settings because that’s a that’s a (0:29:26) Aislinn: that’s a big one for me for a lot of games so anything with that that’s nice (0:29:28) Codey: - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, well, are we three for three? (0:29:34) Codey: Have you heard of a game called GoGo Town? (0:29:36) Aislinn: I know of, literally I only know of Gogotown because of this podcast. (0:29:42) Codey: Okay, cool, we’ll take it away. (0:29:46) Aislinn: A lot of my new game knowledge comes from this podcast, I will not lie. (0:29:55) Aislinn: But it looks like that online co-op is coming soon for Gogotown (0:30:04) Aislinn: and looking at the video earlier that they took. (0:30:06) Aislinn: It looks pretty good. It says that they still have some bugs, but they are working on it, and it’s coming very soon. (0:30:15) Aislinn: And also they do make a note that there will be no split screen for online co-op, just as a general note. (0:30:24) Aislinn: There isn’t much more of an update with that, but they did give a sneak peek. It looks cool. (0:30:35) Codey: I don’t know if we’d seen a video of it before, so that was nice to see. (0:30:36) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:30:40) Codey: And I know people are always interested in like whether or not the co-op is split screen. (0:30:44) Codey: So though I feel like this split screen is so 2000s. (0:30:51) Codey: So I feel like it’s just not like Jeff was Jeff and I were talking about possibly playing Halo. (0:31:00) Codey: And I was like, we’d have to split screen. (0:31:02) Aislinn: yeah it’s so it is so old now that you like just reminding me the halo i’m just like oh yeah that (0:31:08) Aislinn: is like an old thing (0:31:09) Codey: Yeah, like I don’t want to do that ugh (0:31:13) Codey: gross, so (0:31:15) Codey: Yeah (0:31:17) Codey: They’re not gonna have that which is a good thing. But also if you only have one copy of the game that (0:31:22) Aislinn: Yeah, but I guess like general speaking, most people have their own version of the game in some (0:31:27) Aislinn: capacity. So it’s nice that you don’t have to worry about split screen and everyone has their own (0:31:32) Aislinn: screen and you can still do cool. But I think that’s not really all we got on Go Go Town that (0:31:32) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yup, yup, yup. (0:31:39) Aislinn: that blurb from Steam isn’t doesn’t have too much beyond that. So I guess with that said, (0:31:46) Aislinn: we move into Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar. And Cody and I before (0:31:52) Aislinn: we even started recording, we’re both just like, do you know what’s going on? And I’m like, no, (0:31:57) Aislinn: do you know what’s going on? We’re both just like, not really. So I will read whatever I can, (0:32:04) Codey: uh-huh (0:32:04) Aislinn: and then take that as you will. But it looks like 100 crops. So if you really want to be (0:32:08) Codey: Yeah, I (0:32:13) Aislinn: farming? Oh boy, you have a lot of options. (0:32:16) Codey: Yeah, so this next bit like Al wrote it out and I, I think I read this like 10 times, and there’s something about these words that I just like my brain just, they just bounce off my brain, I have a smooth brain when it comes to these words, I don’t understand why. (0:32:37) Codey: And they’re not even hard words. So it just says, this is from Al, it has some stamina system that works differently than normal. (0:32:46) Codey: But was in the original game, you can do more if you jump when doing an action, which is weird, but it costs more stamina, one per usage, six per jump usage, but you’ll get three actions. (0:33:03) Codey: So you’re using up more stamina to save time, but you can still upgrade the tools as well. (0:33:11) Aislinn: See, like, I’m picking up what he’s putting down, Al, but to be fair, I’ve never played (0:33:16) Codey: Yeah, Chloe. (0:33:21) Aislinn: Story of Seasons before, so that is probably a big limiting factor for me. (0:33:27) Aislinn: But if you’ve played Story of Seasons before, this might be appealing to you. (0:33:32) Aislinn: And from my knowledge about farming games in general, being able to use, even if it (0:33:40) Aislinn: sacrifices more salmon. (0:33:41) Aislinn: I just want to say that I’m going to be jumping, like, in farming, like, what am I doing? Am I, like, planting and jumping? Like, I don’t know. Am I jumping across my farm to water all of my 100 crops that I have? (0:33:44) Codey: Okay, but like the logic of it, well, and like if you, so you jump, and it’s more stamina because (0:34:04) Codey: you’re jumping, and that’s like, that’s very intensive, right? But what, but when you jump, (0:34:08) Aislinn: I guess, I mean, that’s what it looks like too, in the screenshot that I’m looking at (0:34:10) Codey: you’re just able to be more efficient. (0:34:14) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:18) Aislinn: on the website. (0:34:20) Aislinn: There’s just a character that’s like doing like a skip type of jump type of motion. (0:34:25) Aislinn: So are you like, I think it’s you’re skipping as you’re farming and you’re getting more (0:34:29) Aislinn: done, but you’re wearing yourself out because you’re skipping. (0:34:32) Aislinn: I mean, skipping is more work, like more body intensive than walking. (0:34:36) Codey: Yeah. You’re right, you’re right. I don’t know. I, that’s how I felt when I read it. (0:34:36) Aislinn: So, you know, it– (0:34:38) Aislinn: this is such a silly conversation. (0:34:46) Codey: I was like, I, and then this website is like fogu.com and I, this website, I was very, (0:34:53) Codey: I was confused. And I, it is not Al. It is not, it is probably just me. I don’t know (0:34:57) Aislinn: No, yeah, well me too, because I’m also… (0:35:03) Codey: of like my ADHD or whatever. (0:35:06) Codey: It was just like, nope, but it was wild. (0:35:11) Codey: So that’s that, uh, I’m sure story of seasons. (0:35:14) Codey: People are probably like, Oh, sick. (0:35:16) Aislinn: But I have no idea, yes, options. (0:35:16) Codey: Like that’s going to be so awesome. (0:35:20) Codey: I’m like, I’m happy for you guys. (0:35:22) Codey: A hundred crops. (0:35:23) Codey: I understand that. (0:35:25) Codey: Uh, he also wrote more than any other story of season game. (0:35:28) Codey: So more crop number go bur. (0:35:34) Aislinn: And it looks like it comes out in, this is probably almost definitely announced at some (0:35:40) Aislinn: point, but looking at the website, it’s coming out August 27th in the states, in North America. (0:35:46) Aislinn: Um, it is, no, it’s already, it’s there, it’s all coming out at the same time. (0:35:46) Codey: I think it’s already out in Japan (0:35:54) Codey: Oh. (0:35:54) Aislinn: So August 27th slash August 28 in Japan, cause of, you know, time zone things and whatnot. (0:35:59) Codey: Okay, cool. (0:36:01) Aislinn: But yeah, we, we’ve, we, we tried our best. (0:36:05) Aislinn: So I, I apologize to all the Storia season fans, it’s the best you’re going to get, but (0:36:05) Codey: Sorry, Al. (0:36:12) Aislinn: I can talk about Stardew Valley. (0:36:14) Codey: Heck yeah, we can. (0:36:16) Aislinn: I tried to get tickets for the Toronto one, and it was just a miserable failure, so I’m happy that they added more dates. (0:36:20) Codey: Okay. (0:36:27) Codey: Yay. (0:36:32) Aislinn: We have not followed up on if we can get tickets for any of the other Toronto ones, or even just somewhere else in Canada, I guess, need be, or in the States or something. (0:36:40) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:36:44) Aislinn: but I (0:36:46) Aislinn: Am happy that they added more dates because trying to get tickets for those has been a wreck (0:36:50) Codey: Yeah, and they added a bunch of dates. So like when I looked at the at the dates like the tour dates just in general (0:36:58) Codey: There are many (0:37:01) Codey: and then all the green ones on the (0:37:05) Codey: The poster are like the new ones, but there’s just they they better like (0:37:12) Codey: Playing that music because my goodness (0:37:15) Aislinn: it’s a lot I i imagine is it all one is it all one what’s the orchestra I was like what’s the (0:37:16) Codey: They are gonna be playing it (0:37:20) Codey: I (0:37:23) Codey: Orchestra, I’m I’m assuming like I don’t think that I wouldn’t think that there’d be like an orchestra at each location (0:37:30) Codey: That’s like I would think that it’s like the one (0:37:34) Codey: Orchestra, that’s just kind of like moving around (0:37:36) Aislinn: Right, I’m just like this is (0:37:37) Codey: Which is probably super cool for people to travel like able to go places, but also this is a lot (0:37:41) Aislinn: Yeah (0:37:45) Aislinn: It is a lot like just looking at the dates in general (0:37:48) Aislinn: It’s like a lot of these dates are like back to back or like same day because of matinee (0:37:52) Codey: Mhmm. But then they’ll be followed by like, they’ll be followed by like, uh, like a, like (0:38:00) Codey: a week off or something. So it’s, it’s, it’s cool, but lots. Yeah. Yeah. So if you have (0:38:02) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:38:05) Aislinn: It’s not like they’re being overworked to an extent, but yeah. (0:38:09) Codey: been wanting tickets and it has been sold out in your area, uh, definitely look, there (0:38:14) Codey: are new dates in US, Canada, and Asia. Um, so new dates, new shows. (0:38:23) Codey: That were already in the some areas, whole new areas too. Um, so yeah, take a look. (0:38:25) Aislinn: Mhm. Yeah. Very, very cool. It’s awesome that they were able to (0:38:33) Aislinn: pull this off. Yeah, I guess that is all the news that we have, (0:38:39) Aislinn: right? Yeah. Woo hoo. So I guess with that said, we can move (0:38:40) Codey: A-woo! (0:38:47) Aislinn: into Bugaboo Pockets, which I am so excited to talk about. (0:38:50) Codey: Yeah (0:38:53) Codey: Yeah, so let’s first talk about what how we played it and how far we are (0:39:00) Codey: so I played it on Mac and I was only able to get the demo and (0:39:07) Codey: So I played what’s on the demo, which is not a lot. I’ll get into that later (0:39:13) Codey: So I don’t have a time. I have like literally like a half an hour (0:39:20) Codey: When payday hits I might be pulling the trigger for this one for sure (0:39:26) Aislinn: - Well, I guess we can get your take after you hear my takes. (0:39:32) Codey: - Mm-hmm, so what have you played? (0:39:33) Aislinn: Since I did buy the game, (0:39:36) Aislinn: I have played it on PC primarily, (0:39:42) Aislinn: which is why I’ve kind of barely played it (0:39:44) Aislinn: because I haven’t really been home so much too much (0:39:46) Aislinn: because of work, (0:39:47) Aislinn: but I did try to play it on my Steam Deck (0:39:50) Aislinn: and it’s technically Steam Deck compatible, (0:39:54) Aislinn: But… eww. (0:39:58) Aislinn: I don’t think… I don’t like it on a Steam Deck because it’s… you could tell it’s a game that’s made for like a mouse. (0:40:10) Aislinn: So like, I’m just running my finger along the Steam Deck screen pretty much, or like along the trackpad. (0:40:16) Aislinn: And I just… if I hooked up a mouse, that’d probably be better. (0:40:20) Aislinn: But like, if you’re playing it just Steam Deck only, nothing else connected to it or anything. (0:40:26) Aislinn: I didn’t like it personally, but on PC it’s great. (0:40:32) Aislinn: And I have… so there are seven bugs total that you could unlock, and I have unlocked four? (0:40:42) Codey: Nice. (0:40:42) Aislinn: Let me double check. Let me go back. (0:40:44) Aislinn: I have the game open in front of me just because of this reason. (0:40:47) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:48) Aislinn: But yeah, so I have the full thing. So I have one, two… no, one, two… (0:40:52) Codey: The full game, yeah. (0:40:56) Aislinn: three, four. Yeah, I have four. Four out of the seven bugs. (0:41:00) Codey: Okay. Cool. Um, so yeah, it’s basically like, to me, it feels (0:41:08) Codey: like bug Tamagotchi. Um, but yeah, but with like a plus, like (0:41:10) Aislinn: Mm hmm. I agree. I agree. Even the UI. (0:41:15) Codey: there’s some extra. So what they say on switch is quote, a (0:41:19) Codey: relaxing semi idle pet game starring bugs from land, air and (0:41:24) Codey: sea players play as a research scientist living in a cabin with (0:41:28) Codey: It’s just your bugs and a pen pal. (0:41:30) Codey: It’s not released yet, I don’t think, based on the website, but it is in the cards. (0:41:54) Aislinn: I don’t know, I really hope that they like make this more, you know, controller friendly. (0:42:04) Codey: - Yeah, well, maybe when they make it controller friendly (0:42:07) Codey: for that, they’ll have some ideas of how to make it (0:42:10) Codey: more controller friendly for the Steam Deck too. (0:42:14) Aislinn: - Yeah, we’ll see, we’ll definitely see. (0:42:19) Codey: So it’s just $20 for the base game, (0:42:21) Codey: or there is a bundle on Steam right now (0:42:24) Codey: called the Celebrate Bugs Bundle. (0:42:27) Codey: And that bundle has webbed, which we have not talked about, (0:42:32) Codey: but it’s basically, it seems like it’s a platform (0:42:35) Codey: and you’re a jumping spider, which is super cute. (0:42:39) Codey: So there’s that, there’s Apico, there’s Buggin’s, (0:42:42) Codey: oh my God, sorry, there’s Buggin’s Seek (0:42:44) Codey: and this game Bugaboo Pocket, and they’re all for $38.22, (0:42:49) Codey: which is a steal given the fact that I think this game (0:42:53) Codey: and Apico are $40 on their own. (0:42:58) Aislinn: Yeah. And I think webbed has been, I realized webbed has been on my wishlist for a hot minute (0:42:59) Codey: So it is like a really good price. (0:43:09) Aislinn: because it looks so incredibly adorable. And then I’ve played AP, APico. Is that how it’s (0:43:14) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, so it’s a pico. Yeah. (0:43:14) Aislinn: actually pronounced? Because I’ve been saying APico and I’m like, I never thought that was (0:43:18) Aislinn: right. But I’ve played APico and there’s so much to do in that game. (0:43:28) Aislinn: The price of Bugaboo Pocket, yeah, for that bundle is really good. (0:43:34) Codey: Yeah, um, so yeah, I also really just want to shout out that their (0:43:39) Codey: developer and publisher, it’s the same, same group are called Elytra games. (0:43:45) Codey: Love it. (0:43:45) Codey: 10 out of 10, um, Elytra for people who don’t know are so Elytra are on (0:43:50) Aislinn: I was gonna be like me, I don’t get it. (0:43:55) Codey: Beatles instead of having four wings. (0:43:58) Codey: The front pair of wings have been like, are like kind of replaced by this (0:44:03) Codey: modified. (0:44:04) Codey: I think it’s a really important shell thing. If you imagine a ladybug, and it has those two pieces of shell, and then those kind of move to the side, and then there’s wings underneath of it, those things are called elytra. (0:44:19) Codey: Yeah, so it’s a bug thing. (0:44:19) Aislinn: Oh, that’s so cool to know the name of that all sick. Oh my god. Okay, so (0:44:26) Codey: There are, there’s also elytra in Minecraft, there are basically just, it’s like a (0:44:34) Codey: thing on your back that you wear that gives you the ability to like, not do powered flight, but you can like fall more gracefully. (0:44:45) Codey: Like you basically can glide. So, really loved that. (0:44:47) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:44:48) Aislinn: Oh, that’s so cool. (0:44:49) Aislinn: So more bug games moving forward from Elytra, hopefully. (0:44:55) Codey: I would hope so, yeah. Give me a call if you guys want some free, but it seems like they already know what they’re talking about so (0:45:04) Codey: they probably don’t need a consultant or whatever, but they do hit me up. I will, I will do it for free. (0:45:08) Aislinn: But hey, you know if they do you know who to call (0:45:16) Aislinn: You got a doctor on deck (0:45:20) Codey: So they say that it’s great for people who don’t love bugs yet, or for validating people who already do. (0:45:29) Codey: - What category were you in, Ace? (0:45:32) Aislinn: I love bugs, so I’m having a great time with this game. (0:45:36) Aislinn: I don’t know if I can agree with the great for people who don’t love bugs. (0:45:39) Aislinn: I know there are some options within the game to like, so you can at least like reveal the (0:45:43) Aislinn: species before it hatches or anything so you know what you’re getting into. (0:45:46) Codey: Mm hmm. I mean, I thought so there the species that you first start out with, or at least in (0:45:47) Aislinn: But like, I think it’s really cute. (0:45:49) Aislinn: But I don’t know for certain if like, you don’t like, for example, worms? (0:46:00) Codey: the demo was the rubber ducky ice pod. And I think that that’s great. Like, it’s super cute. (0:46:06) Codey: And they look like rubber duckies when they’re adults, and it’s just so cute. So I thought that (0:46:12) Codey: might be something that would be good for people who might not super be (0:46:16) Codey: into bugs. (0:46:18) Aislinn: I think just because one of the species like does start off basically looking like kind (0:46:22) Aislinn: of like a wax worm and I know for some people that freaks them out so I don’t know how people (0:46:25) Codey: - Yeah, that’s fair. (0:46:28) Aislinn: feel about that so like take that as you will but like if you are okay with at least looking (0:46:33) Aislinn: at bugs I think this game is still cute like they do a really good job of making the bugs (0:46:37) Aislinn: like extra cute so if you like are okay with bugs and you like bugs great game if you hate (0:46:43) Aislinn: bugs? I’m not sure. Hard to say. (0:46:44) Codey: Okay. (0:46:46) Codey: Um, and then I just love the story. (0:46:48) Aislinn: But I do agree with you with the isopods. (0:46:54) Codey: So if they say you play as a research scientist helping a forest recover after a devastating (0:46:59) Codey: fire, discover her story through cut scenes, diagram entries and items, complete your bug (0:47:03) Codey: compendium to unlock secrets and prizes. (0:47:06) Codey: So I screamed when I started playing and it’s basically like in the perspective of this (0:47:14) Codey: research entomologist, um, I think her name is Sylvia. (0:47:20) Codey: Um, cause she says like, when I was hired as an entomologist by the forestry solution, (0:47:24) Codey: which, which is like a company, the forestry solution, I was just like, this is my dream (0:47:30) Codey: job. (0:47:30) Aislinn: Awwww! [laughs] (0:47:31) Codey: Like I, I literally want to be a forest entomologist working on conservation and habitat restoration. (0:47:38) Codey: So this is like, like, oh my gosh. Uh, and then some other things that just popped out. (0:47:44) Codey: Right away. (0:47:46) Codey: Um, basically you’re breeding the insects to repopulate the area that was ruined by (0:47:51) Codey: the fire. (0:47:52) Codey: Um, and your friend is like dropping you off at this like remote cabin. (0:47:56) Codey: And he’s like, are you sure you want to stay here out here all alone? (0:47:59) Codey: And she’s like, yeah, also there’s no rent. (0:48:03) Codey: And I was like, bro. (0:48:08) Aislinn: Yeah, you know what, I got to stay out here all along, all alone with my bugs and no rent. (0:48:14) Codey: with no red excuse. This is not even a question my god. Oh, and (0:48:16) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:48:22) Codey: then the final thing was, he’s like trying to talk to her. And (0:48:26) Codey: then it just says, Sylvia is was too awkward to say anything. And (0:48:31) Codey: I was like, did they just make me like, are they following me? (0:48:36) Codey: Are they? So yeah, that was just like my from the demo. I was, I (0:48:41) Codey: was, I was really enjoying it. So that’s (0:48:43) Aislinn: Okay, so I will say, obviously, the journey of living out on your own and everything from (0:48:44) Codey: my stuff. (0:48:56) Aislinn: the perspective of Sylvia is developed as you continue to allot things in the game. (0:49:02) Aislinn: And the relationship with you and the person that like dropped you off and everything, (0:49:08) Aislinn: They… yeah, their name is EZ and… (0:49:09) Codey: Their name is EZ (0:49:13) Aislinn: that is indeed

Codey talks to Al about Bug and Seek Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:00: What Have We Been Up To 00:06:21: Game News 00:27:44: Bug And Seek 01:05:05: Outro Links Len’s Island 1.0 Release To Pixelia Release Of Life and Land 1.0 Release Palia on PS5 and Xbox Palia Elderwood Expansion Everafter Falls 2.0 Update Lou’s Lagoon Kickstarter Autonomica Kickstarter Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Codey: my name is Cody that’s a new thing I’m just gonna keep doing that forever now (0:00:38) Al: and we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games. (0:00:49) Al: I’m gonna start not referencing it, and then maybe it’ll stop. I don’t know, we’ll see. (0:00:52) Codey: no it’s on my mind every time ah and it matches I have a new tattoo that has (0:00:55) Al: You’re like a dog with a bone. (0:01:00) Al: Yes. (0:01:02) Codey: six wolves. So it’s classic. Yep. (0:01:06) Codey: Bug game, bug game. Mm hmm. Yep. (0:01:07) Al: All right, Coneys here, because we’re going to talk about Bug and Seek. (0:01:13) Al: The first of multiple bug games, undecided as to how many. We have two currently scheduled. (0:01:20) Codey: Well, and then we decided that a third, a third one that is scheduled tentatively is bug adjacent. (0:01:21) Al: We’ll see. (0:01:30) Codey: So two. Yeah, stay tuned. (0:01:32) Al: Yeah, sure. Maybe. We’ll see. We’re going to talk about Bug and Seek. Oh, well, I say (0:01:36) Codey: Yeah. Yeah, you didn’t. Yeah, you didn’t play it. (0:01:42) Al: we. Cody’s going to talk about Bug and Seek. I’ve not played the game. Although for a rare (0:01:48) Codey: Wow. (0:01:49) Al: occasion, I also don’t own it. So yay me. I managed to not buy a game. So before that, (0:01:58) Al: We’ve got a bunch of news. (0:01:59) Al: It’s been a busy week, lots of news. (0:02:02) Al: But first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:02:04) Codey: I have been playing bug and seek clearly, um, but I know, um, but I also am still playing (0:02:13) Codey: Fortnite. So my new roommate, um, asked if I had Fortnite on my Xbox and I was like, (0:02:19) Codey: Nope, we can get it. And then we just play it pretty regularly. Now I play probably like (0:02:24) Codey: four or five games a day, but it’s, it’s like fast because it loads in fast. And then I just (0:02:29) Codey: die a couple of times and then I’m like, okay, I’m done. So it’s probably only like 40 minutes of (0:02:30) Al: It’s fast because you’re bad at it, that’s what you just said. (0:02:32) Codey: of Fortnite a day. (0:02:35) Codey: Uh, sometimes sometimes I get up to like, I’ve only gotten one Vic Roy, which for the kids is a victory royal, um, where you win, but I am frequently in the top 10. (0:02:53) Codey: So, I think I just get really nervous when I’m in the top 10, so I’m playing that. Uh, and then I also had a big meeting with my advisors where I basically met with them and was like, hey. (0:03:04) Codey: Here’s what I have so far. Here’s what I still have to do. May I please graduate in the fall? And they said, yes. So I am on track to graduate. (0:03:16) Codey: So I’m also working on a lot of specimens and going to be hiring a tech here soon. Very exciting. (0:03:22) Al: Cool. (0:03:23) Codey: What about you? What have you been up to? (0:03:26) Al: What have I been up to? (0:03:27) Al: I have been playing around with my new recording app on my desktop. (0:03:32) Al: No, that’s what I was doing right now when I was definitely listening to you. (0:03:34) Codey: Oh wow. (0:03:37) Al: I have been playing Tiny Garden. (0:03:41) Codey: Okay. (0:03:42) Codey: This is the Polly pocket game. (0:03:42) Al: This is this is the Polly Pocket farming game. (0:03:45) Codey: Okay. (0:03:45) Al: Yeah, so I have been I have been playing that. (0:03:49) Al: And maybe I’ll talk about that in the future. (0:03:52) Al: This is a game. (0:03:55) Al: I always find the balance hard because it’s like, do I do I talk about the game (0:04:00) Al: just now or do I wait until because obviously I’m doing an episode on this. (0:04:03) Al: Right. I’ve played a game. (0:04:04) Codey: Right. Right. Yeah. (0:04:04) Al: I’m doing an episode on it. It’s free content. (0:04:08) Al: So, yeah, I don’t I I think it’s interesting. (0:04:10) Codey: No, it’s a game. (0:04:12) Codey: Okay. (0:04:13) Al: I will have things to say about it. (0:04:14) Codey: Oh. (0:04:15) Al: That is probably a good way to put it. (0:04:17) Al: I will have things to say about it. (0:04:21) Al: I’ve also kind of been. (0:04:22) Al: playing more cassette beasts but I’m still struggling to get into it so I (0:04:29) Al: don’t know I’ve kind of taken a break and gone to Tiny Garden and maybe I’ll (0:04:33) Al: maybe I’ll go back maybe I won’t I don’t know there’s just there’s something I (0:04:37) Al: don’t I really struggle with the like the UX of it I struggle to care about it (0:04:40) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:04:44) Codey: Yep (0:04:44) Al: and I struggle to yeah it’s just that it’s really not grabbing me it’s really (0:04:49) Codey: Yeah, I (0:04:50) Codey: Mean, I’m right there with you when I tried to play it on Xbox for a bit (0:04:54) Codey: I may be played for like an hour and I was just like yeah, I don’t I don’t have to do this (0:05:00) Codey: And it just doesn’t it doesn’t do it for me. So I put it down and then (0:05:08) Codey: Um, I don’t think I’m in a big bag. (0:05:10) Codey: Um, unfortunately, though I do, I do have an update. (0:05:12) Al: Yeah, yeah (0:05:15) Codey: Uh, I don’t know if you’re done yet. (0:05:17) Al: Yeah, yeah (0:05:18) Codey: Okay. (0:05:18) Codey: Uh, I have an update on, cause I always complained about Disney (0:05:22) Codey: Dreamlight Valley’s lag time and how it takes forever to load. (0:05:26) Codey: And, um, so my partner moved in recently and he has a Xbox series X. (0:05:33) Codey: So he has, I was playing on an Xbox one, which is ancient at this point. (0:05:38) Codey: Um, and that’s why it was lagging. (0:05:40) Codey: The update is it loads way faster on the Series X, um, and doesn’t have as, as many as much like issues it seems. (0:05:50) Codey: But I also, I played it, I logged on. (0:05:52) Codey: I was like, Oh wow, this is a lot faster. (0:05:54) Codey: And then I was like, and I’m bored. (0:05:55) Codey: So, um, but yeah, I mean, so if you update your stuff and you, um, are thinking about like wondering if that would be worth it, I think it is to take a, take a crack at that game. (0:06:10) Codey: If you haven’t played it for a while, I think my issue is I played it like a month ago, maybe. (0:06:13) Codey: So it’s still, there’s still not enough new to grab me. (0:06:19) Codey: So, yeah. (0:06:20) Al: Fair enough. All right well let’s talk about some news. First up we have Lens Island have (0:06:27) Al: finally announced their 1.0 is releasing on the 19th of June. (0:06:33) Codey: whoo, super excited about this. (0:06:37) Al: This game Cody has been in early access since November 2021. (0:06:38) Codey: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. (0:06:42) Codey: And I’ve had it and I played it and I really enjoyed it. (0:06:45) Codey: But I was like, you know what? (0:06:47) Codey: I’m going to wait to dedicate all of my time to this game for when it’s in 1.0. (0:06:51) Codey: So I am about ready to slam some more time into this game, (0:06:57) Codey: especially because it was it is something I can play on my Mac. (0:07:00) Codey: So, rest in pepperonis. (0:07:00) Al: That’s good. (0:07:03) Al: That’s good. (0:07:03) Codey: I am productivity. (0:07:06) Al: I also own it because I have a problem with Kickstarter. (0:07:12) Al: I haven’t played it because I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but I enjoy telling (0:07:16) Al: it. (0:07:16) Codey: OK. (0:07:17) Al: It didn’t have any controller support when I first launched it on my Steam deck and I (0:07:18) Codey: Yep. (0:07:20) Al: was like, hmm, no, I’m not going to do that. (0:07:24) Codey: I like the– (0:07:24) Al: There are some games I will play like a game that I’ll be talking about in the future. (0:07:30) Al: It does make it less fun to play and with a game like Lens Island, I feel like it would (0:07:37) Al: be just murder to try and play that game without controller support on a Steam deck. (0:07:41) Codey: Yeah, I could see that for sure (0:07:45) Al: I hope to play this when it comes out, when did I say June, 19th of June? (0:07:51) Codey: Yep (0:07:52) Al: That’s a bad time for it to come out because that is two weeks after the Switch 2 comes (0:07:55) Codey: Yeah, ooh won’t want (0:07:58) Al: out. (0:08:00) Al: The question is, will I be over Mario Kart World by then or not? (0:08:06) Codey: Mm hmm. (0:08:07) Al: We’ll see. (0:08:08) Al: It is before Donkey Kong Bonanza, so that’s good, but Bonanza, yeah, Bonanza. (0:08:13) Codey: Yeah, is it really been banana banana, but oh my gosh, okay, that’s cute. (0:08:19) Al: Have you not paid attention to any of that? (0:08:21) Codey: Um, you know, I did. (0:08:24) Codey: Uh, I just care so little that it just back vacated my brain matter pretty fast. (0:08:25) Al: Yeah, fair. (0:08:31) Codey: So I only just started playing my own switch again because of bugging. (0:08:36) Codey: And seek, but then also, um, now that my partner lives here, we want to try (0:08:41) Codey: and beat the Zelda games because we both have the issue of ADHD slash just (0:08:48) Codey: like disinterest after playing a game for a certain amount of time. (0:08:51) Al: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Interesting. Maybe, maybe. (0:08:51) Codey: But if it is an activity that we are doing together, perhaps we can make it through. (0:08:59) Codey: So we will see if that, if that is the success, that is the blueprint we’ll find out. (0:09:05) Al: That’s very interesting. Well, we look forward to hearing about that in the future. (0:09:10) Al: Next, we have 2Pixellia have announced that they’re releasing on the first of May. (0:09:14) Codey: Okay. That’s all I have for that. (0:09:17) Al: Alrighty. (0:09:19) Al: This is this is the the life sim, (0:09:24) Al: which like includes crime. (0:09:28) Codey: Yeah, it had a lot of, I remember the trailers and stuff like having so many, (0:09:32) Codey: it’s so detailed in the different things that you can do in the game, (0:09:34) Al: Yeah. (0:09:36) Codey: which is great. Love that for people who aren’t me. (0:09:39) Al: Yeah, that is my I think that’s my worry is that it ends up being too much. (0:09:44) Al: I did kickstart this one, so I will have this when it launches. (0:09:49) Al: As I say, I have an issue, but (0:09:51) Codey: But maybe maybe it’s not an issue. Maybe maybe we find out. Yeah (0:09:54) Al: I don’t know. We’ll see. (0:09:55) Al: We’ll see. We’ll see. (0:09:57) Al: Because I guess the thing about the thing about Stardew is that I like how it has (0:10:02) Al: options but I also like how it doesn’t have options. (0:10:04) Al: And that’s so contradictory, but you understand what I mean there, right? (0:10:10) Al: Like, yeah, you can focus on farming or you can focus on ranching or you can (0:10:13) Al: focus on mining or you can focus on… (0:10:16) Al: That’s it. (0:10:19) Al: Well, there’s other things like focusing on relationships and stuff like that. (0:10:22) Al: But realistically, if you don’t really know what to do, you farm. (0:10:25) Codey: I think that’s where my issue would be as well. (0:10:26) Al: Whereas here it’s like, what do you do if you don’t know what to do? (0:10:29) Al: And I don’t know. (0:10:30) Al: I worry I’m going to end up in decision. (0:10:34) Al: We’ll find out, not for Cody, Cody’s not even going to try it, big assumption there. (0:10:46) Codey: No, I will listen to the podcast episode though and be like, oh, that’s very interesting I (0:10:52) Al: May is busy, no, no, I meant big assumption that there’s going to be a podcast episode (0:10:52) Codey: Listen I listen to most episodes. Oh (0:10:57) Al: on it, no promises, I promise nothing. (0:10:58) Codey: Yeah, yeah for sure (0:11:02) Al: And Cody can’t promise this one. (0:11:04) Al: Because they are not playing the game. (0:11:06) Al: You don’t get to promise when you’re not playing. (0:11:06) Codey: - Nope, you’re right. (0:11:09) Al: Next, we have of life and land who have announced that their 1.0 is (0:11:13) Al: releasing on the 8th, 16th of May. (0:11:16) Codey: Okay, yep. This is the game that I want to play, but it’s Windows only, which makes (0:11:22) Al: Yes. Sad. (0:11:24) Codey: me sad. Though now that I have… do I want? No. Redacted. I do not want to put my desktop (0:11:34) Codey: in my office where I work all the time because then it will become a multi-use space and (0:11:39) Codey: I don’t want that. Nope. Still didn’t get the Steam Deck. (0:11:41) Al: Still not still not got the steam deck then. (0:11:46) Codey: And I don’t think I will because I’ve made it clear that I have other things I need to (0:11:50) Codey: pay off before I get a Steam Deck. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know at the time if my (0:11:59) Codey: partner was going to get a Steam Deck because he seemed like he was also interested in it. (0:12:02) Codey: But yeah. No Steam Deck yet. Yep. And he just sent me a photo of more wood. (0:12:04) Al: Instead he spent that money on wood. (0:12:10) Al: More wood! I look forward to finding out if that wood ever turns into a table or (0:12:15) Al: whether it just ends up living in a pile. (0:12:18) Codey: No, I think it’s going to be a table. He’s also thinking about because he just got some really (0:12:23) Codey: nice walnut and cherry, which is really pretty spendy wood. And he was talking about going and (0:12:29) Codey: buying pine from Home Depot and making a mock up of the table so that he could practice. (0:12:34) Al: Because yeah, because this this definitely doesn’t sound like a hyper focus that will be gone in two weeks (0:12:40) Al: Definitely not (0:12:41) Codey: Yeah, this is his special flavor of ADHD. (0:12:48) Codey: Um, well, it, yeah, I’m not gonna, no, you’re just, you are setting reasonable expectations (0:12:52) Al: Look, I’m not saying it’s going to go wrong. (0:12:53) Al: I’m not saying that. (0:12:54) Al: I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t. (0:13:00) Codey: and I appreciate it, but he’s, he’s spent a lot of money. So (0:13:04) Al: Palia have announced two things. (0:13:09) Al: They have announced that they’re releasing on the PS5 and the Xbox Series X and S, (0:13:16) Al: and they’re announcing that they’re at the same time, on the same day, the 13th of May, (0:13:22) Al: announcing an expansion called Elderwood. (0:13:26) Codey: And it looks awesome. I really like the colors of that the new expansion has. It’s very like (0:13:33) Codey: mystical, wood elf-y, like purple, purples and pinks. Very enjoyable. And just like the different (0:13:44) Codey: materials and like decor and stuff that are in that one looks good too. Seems like it’s a good (0:13:50) Codey: time to jump back in to Palia. And if I remember correctly, this is free to play, right? (0:13:55) Al: Yeah, it is. (0:13:56) Codey: Yeah. So maybe I will put it on because it is. It was fun. And Johnny and I had a whale of a time (0:13:59) Al: It’s a good looking game. (0:14:00) Al: It looks really nice. (0:14:06) Codey: shooting deer. So in hunting together, there’s also a pretty fun bug hunting mechanic. (0:14:14) Codey: So there’s a lot that can be done for sure. I’m trying to mentally decide. Yeah, I’m trying to (0:14:21) Codey: decide if I I guess it’s not a question of am I going to play this? It’s a question of am I going (0:14:26) Codey: continue playing it on my switch or do I just want to scrub and like make a whole new? (0:14:33) Codey: Oh, that’s another thing I could investigate. It could, it might. I’ll have to look at that. (0:14:39) Al: Yes. (0:14:40) Al: It looks like it does have cross-save. (0:14:42) Codey: But now I have to remember my password. That’s not likely. (0:14:47) Al: Just make sure. (0:14:48) Al: Yeah. (0:14:49) Al: Well, I mean, that’s a problem. (0:14:50) Codey: That is a me problem. Well, and it’s because I was using the same. (0:14:53) Al: You don’t have a password manager. (0:14:54) Codey: I do, but it’s like. (0:14:56) Codey: On other things, and I might not have done it on that. (0:15:02) Al: Okay, that’s definitely a you problem then. (0:15:03) Codey: I might not have. (0:15:05) Codey: Yeah, exactly. (0:15:07) Al: Oh dear. (0:15:08) Codey: Yep. (0:15:09) Codey: This is why I used to use the same password for everything so that I would (0:15:12) Codey: never forget, but then I was told that that’s a bad thing to do. (0:15:16) Codey: So I stopped doing that. (0:15:19) Al: I don’t know what to say. (0:15:23) Al: All right. (0:15:25) Al: Yes, that’s the 13th of me. (0:15:26) Codey: Mm hmm. (0:15:28) Al: Maybe you should play on your Xbox. (0:15:30) Codey: I think that’s what I’m thinking of is just, just restarting a whole new (0:15:33) Codey: thing on my Xbox, if it’s not fast, if it’s, if it’s, if it takes more than (0:15:38) Codey: five minutes to figure out my, my login, I’m probably just going to (0:15:42) Codey: create a whole new thing. (0:15:43) Codey: I wasn’t super far into it and it’s honestly been so far since I’ve (0:15:48) Codey: played it that I could, I could use a refresher. (0:15:50) Al: That is a fair point. Sometimes jumping into an existing save can be a problem. (0:15:56) Codey: Yes, when I don’t remember and I need all the tool tips again. (0:15:59) Al: Yes. Next, we have Ever After Falls have announced their 2.0 release. (0:16:04) Al: It is out now. It includes new items, new quests, new decorations, and a bunch of quality of life. (0:16:12) Codey: And I think the coolest new item is a fishbowl, and it specifically says small fishbowl that (0:16:19) Codey: displays a single fish. No matter the marital status of the fish. (0:16:22) Al: A single fish, no matter the size, obviously. (0:16:29) Al: Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Does it mean one individual fish, or does it mean… (0:16:35) Codey: A non-married fish. What if the fish is, what if you put a married fish into the fishbowl? (0:16:40) Al: They get as a divorce (0:16:40) Codey: Does that en- know? (0:16:42) Codey: An- annulment, nullify, divorced, annul, marriage annulled, rip. (0:16:50) Al: You can also do a Shroom terrarium, produces Shroom. (0:16:53) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:16:55) Codey: I think that was cool. (0:16:56) Codey: Like I know people who have those like life, um, vivariums. (0:17:02) Codey: So it’s, it doesn’t, they don’t have like anything in it except for plants. (0:17:06) Codey: And it just is growing plants and it seems nice. (0:17:12) Codey: I don’t have any of those though, that I would for- (0:17:13) Al: It seems like a small update for 2- (0:17:17) Codey: Yeah, I agreed. (0:17:18) Codey: Um, that’s why the thing that I pulled out was just that there’s a fishbowl. (0:17:22) Al: I mean, I mean, do what you want. (0:17:26) Codey: Everything else was- (0:17:28) Al: Do what you want with your updates with that. (0:17:31) Al: I’m not angry at that one like I am with some version numbers. (0:17:36) Al: I just feel like, you know, if we look at the the 1.2 version update, (0:17:44) Al: it feels kind of similar sized and then it’s a jump to 2.0. (0:17:46) Codey: Yeah, what’s the logic behind this being a full number? (0:17:48) Al: like what’s different here is very small. (0:17:52) Al: Just expectation-wise, I think that people would expect more for that. (0:17:58) Codey: I don’t know. (0:18:05) Al: Next we have two kickstarters have launched. (0:18:08) Al: The first is Lou’s Lagoon. (0:18:11) Al: This has hit its goal of 10,000 euros with 28 days to go, so I think they’re fine. (0:18:21) Al: This is the game where (0:18:23) Al: I think it’s a delivery game. (0:18:26) Al: You’ve got a seaplane that you use for delivery. (0:18:26) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:18:31) Al: It looks like it could be fun. (0:18:35) Al: I’m not champing at the bit to kickstart it to be like, (0:18:39) Al: “I must play this game.” (0:18:40) Al: When it comes out, maybe I’ll be interested in it. (0:18:44) Codey: And they haven’t showed, so they’re stretch goals that they have, it’s like they show you the next stretch goal, but then they don’t show you the one after that. (0:18:54) Codey: It’s like a big old mystery. So they basically have, well, it looks like it looks like something’s there, but it is, it is vague enough, I agree. (0:18:56) Al: - Mm-hmm. That just means they haven’t decided. (0:19:02) Al: Yes. Yes, it does. (0:19:07) Codey: But yeah, the first stretch goal is, the first goal was 10,000 euros and the next one’s 50. (0:19:14) Codey: And that adds photo mode, which I’m assuming photo mode just means you can take photos. (0:19:22) Al: Yeah, yeah, it’ll be one of those like, oh, you can take selfies and put stickers on it. (0:19:25) Codey: Yeah, it would be nice to be able to see the other stretch goals, because if it was just this stretch goal, I personally wouldn’t, that wouldn’t inspire me to help them get further in the, in their goals. (0:19:40) Al: Yeah, I’m never convinced that stretch goals actually do much like I don’t I don’t do you (0:19:41) Codey: As though the dog… (0:19:47) Al: ever look at a kickstart and go I don’t think I’m going to kickstart it and then you look (0:19:50) Al: at the stretch goals and go no I’m definitely going to back it now like I think the only (0:19:54) Codey: Well– well, what if one of the next one’s is platforms? (0:19:54) Al: one really that changes people’s mind is platforms. (0:19:59) Al: Well sure yeah yeah yeah that’s what that’s fair but I also don’t think you should do (0:20:04) Codey: And I just can’t– you can’t see it. (0:20:06) Codey: You can’t– oh, true. (0:20:08) Al: stretch goals as a platform, as a stretch goal. (0:20:10) Al: I think that is something that can get people to back it, but I also think that that is going (0:20:16) Al: to bite you. You know, it’s going to be a problem. I think that you should not promise these things, (0:20:18) Codey: Mm hmm. That’s fair. (0:20:21) Al: but that is just what I’ve seen from so many Kickstarters, is that is where problems come, (0:20:27) Al: is when you promise a platform as a stretch goal. You’ve never tried it. I think I can’t remember (0:20:34) Al: who it was. There was some some Kickstarter I was looking at this week where they said that they (0:20:38) Al: weren’t promising switch to because (0:20:40) Al: they didn’t have a dev kit and they couldn’t promise that. (0:20:42) Al: And I’m like, that’s the right way to do these things. (0:20:44) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:20:44) Al: If you’ve never used it before, don’t promise it. (0:20:47) Al: And hopefully it’ll come at some point. (0:20:49) Al: You can say later on, you can switch to this platform. (0:20:53) Al: If you want, you can switch your key to that one. (0:20:54) Al: That’d be fine. (0:20:55) Al: Like that works quite well. (0:20:57) Al: Although the problem with switching from Steam to Switch is that Nintendo charge (0:21:02) Al: for keys, whereas Steam, you can just create as many keys as you want. (0:21:07) Al: It’s like something like $7 per key that Nintendo charge (0:21:10) Al: for people. So it’s actually more expensive for them to sell you Switch with a key than (0:21:18) Al: the other way, than with Steam. Whereas if they just buy it, sell it through the store, (0:21:21) Al: it’s I believe the same percentage cut. Fun fact. (0:21:29) Codey: some insider baseballs. (0:21:34) Al: uh yeah so yeah I think as part of my trying to kick start fewer games I don’t think i’m going to (0:21:39) Al: kick start this one um maybe i’ll play it when it comes out we’ll see I cannot (0:21:42) Codey: Can you hear the dogs squeaking? (0:21:46) Codey: Okay, good. You’ll hear it if you end up using the recording. You will. Let me go yell a dog really quick before we do the last one. (0:21:56) Codey: Okay. (0:21:59) Al: And finally, we have Autonomica, which is the game that was farm folks that was then taken over (0:22:08) Al: by a different team when the original team couldn’t fulfill the game. And then they decided to make a (0:22:13) Al: different game and had the same name on it. And then they changed the name and now they’ve (0:22:17) Al: launched another Kickstarter for this game because the team that took over the project never got like (0:22:23) Al: they’ve said they didn’t get any of the money from the original Kickstarter. However, one good thing (0:22:29) Al: I’ve said that anyone who backed the original Kickstarter will get a key for the new game. So (0:22:33) Al: they’re honoring that even though they didn’t get that money, which is good, which is nice. (0:22:39) Al: Anyway, that’s that game. I think some people who backed the original game aren’t happy because (0:22:42) Al: it’s a very different game now. If you look at like the videos of farm folks and it’s very much (0:22:44) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:22:49) Al: cozy cam farming life sim, whereas this is like very in your face automated automation game. (0:22:57) Al: Also, there are ghosts that you have. (0:22:59) Al: go and fight. So it feels very different, but you can’t get them, you can’t hold them (0:23:07) Al: to the promises of a different team, right? Like that’s not how these things work. So I think it’s (0:23:13) Al: interesting that they ever decided to publicly be like we are taking over this project and rather (0:23:20) Al: they’d just be like here’s our new game, but maybe there’s an advantage to that in terms of you get (0:23:27) Al: the the name credit from the (0:23:29) Al: previous game that people had backed. I don’t know. Anyway, (0:23:32) Al: it’s out now it has hit its goal. It had a huge goal. They (0:23:36) Codey: Yeah. (0:23:36) Al: had $170,000 goal and they have absolutely smashed that they’re (0:23:41) Codey: Yep. (0:23:42) Codey: And they show their stretch goals or they they show you can at least tell what the next next step is. (0:23:50) Codey: So at three hundred thousand, which they’re going to hit probably in maybe half hour, depending on how fast this goes. (0:23:56) Al: Yes, they might be before we finish recording because they’re 297,000 just now. (0:24:01) Codey: Yeah. (0:24:02) Codey: Yeah. (0:24:04) Codey: is aquaponic farming. (0:24:06) Codey: just super cool and the next thing you can’t really see i’m assuming it’s going to say (0:24:09) Codey: construction drones but it does say drones and it’s it’s like cton drones um I mean and then if (0:24:11) Al: It does look like that, yeah (0:24:19) Codey: you keep looking it it looks very that would make sense because it looks very factorial to me (0:24:24) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I mean, it’s like somebody went, I’ll like automation and farming (0:24:32) Al: games. Let’s add all of the possible automation into this farming game. And I also just like (0:24:35) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:36) Al: one of the things I love about this is like the characters have ragdoll physics. So if (0:24:39) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:40) Al: you’ve run in, run into, you know, one of your lines that you’ve set up, you fall over (0:24:45) Al: and it just I like, I like how ridiculous it is. And also how I want to create this massive (0:24:51) Al: farming empire. (0:24:54) Al: It’s taking that sort of thing to the, you know, one of the most weird end states you (0:25:04) Al: could logical end points here, right? (0:25:07) Al: Because you’ve got the cosy end of the farming genre, and then you’ve got whatever this is. (0:25:14) Codey: Yeah, this game looks amazing. (0:25:18) Codey: I’m still scrolling through their game highlights and stuff. (0:25:22) Codey: And it’s all– (0:25:23) Codey: this is an intense game. (0:25:25) Codey: There’s a lot going on here. (0:25:26) Al: Look at how big you can build the buildings. (0:25:29) Codey: Yeah, they basically have Avril Lavigne in here as someone. (0:25:32) Al: I don’t get it. (0:25:33) Codey: You don’t know Avril Lavigne? (0:25:35) Al: No, I know Avril Lavigne. I don’t get the reference. (0:25:38) Codey: There’s relationships and NPCs. (0:25:41) Codey: Everyone has a blah, blah, blah. (0:25:43) Codey: one of the NPCs is named. (0:25:44) Codey: Avril, and she’s definitely a punk woman. (0:25:49) Al: Oh, I see. OK, yeah, I guess so. I mean, she doesn’t really look like Avril Lavigne though. (0:25:54) Codey: But she is a punk woman named Avril. (0:25:58) Codey: That’s all that is needed. (0:25:58) Al: Yeah, OK, sure. I’m not saying she’s not inspired by that, (0:26:01) Al: but I wouldn’t look at that and go, “That’s Avril Lavigne,” if she wasn’t called Avril. (0:26:02) Codey: Ooh. (0:26:06) Codey: Oh, but there’s, if you scroll down a little bit more, there’s a long haired, (0:26:10) Codey: tattooed guitarist guy that is going to. (0:26:14) Codey: Be who I try and date 100%. (0:26:17) Codey: Okay. (0:26:18) Codey: I’m going to stop this. (0:26:19) Codey: I am going to play this game when it comes out, but I am not in the place to back it. (0:26:24) Codey: Al, have you backed it? (0:26:25) Al: Well, as you know, I am trying to reduce the number of games that I back on Kickstarter, (0:26:31) Al: and I announced this on the harvest season slack that I was going to be doing this. (0:26:37) Al: I was going to stop backing farming games, and then this came out two days later, and yeah. (0:26:39) Codey: Yeah, yep. Yeah, you backed it. Okay, but this like, this game is specifically like this isn’t you this game is for you. It’s like if it’s like if I promised that and then a bug game came out. I’m like, well, dang it, you know. (0:26:46) Al: Look, OK, right. I’m gonna… (0:26:51) Al: Exactly, exactly. (0:26:56) Al: Exactly. (0:26:59) Al: Come on, we just gotta, you know, give me some slack. (0:27:04) Codey: Yep, I’m, I’m right there with you, dude. Like I, I get it. I understand. (0:27:10) Codey: Well, I, I look forward to playing it. Yeah, I look forward to playing it with you. (0:27:10) Al: Uh, yeah, I’m excited for this game. (0:27:15) Al: Looks like they’re planning for this to come out next year, October 2020. (0:27:20) Codey: Love that because I will have money at that point or we won’t have an economy anymore and the world will be in shambles (0:27:28) Codey: so (0:27:28) Al: Yeah, oh, that’s the news. (0:27:29) Codey: Either I will be able to afford this game or no one will be playing this game (0:27:37) Codey: Yay the world (0:27:42) Codey: Oh (0:27:45) Al: We are now going to talk about bug and seek, which is the first of our bug series of indeterminate (0:27:53) Al: length. (0:27:54) Al: It’s probably two, two is probably the length. (0:27:57) Al: So I have not played. (0:27:59) Al: So Corey, tell me about bug and C. (0:28:02) Codey: bug and seek. So this game we I like found it in an Instagram post and I was like wait why haven’t (0:28:08) Codey: we be talking about this game? Wait this game’s already out. Why haven’t we been talking about (0:28:11) Codey: this game? Um so please it was fine um so it is $15 on Steam um it is available as for both Mac (0:28:12) Al: Yes, I remember that because you were like, here’s a game and you’re like, it’s already (0:28:15) Al: out. (0:28:16) Al: And I’m like, wow, sorry for not knowing all of the games. (0:28:28) Codey: and windows. I am playing it on Switch so (0:28:32) Codey: it’s definitely at least on Switch. I know that’s also a mobile option. There are two DLCs. One is (0:28:37) Codey: isopods, which like think of like roly polies or pill bugs, sow bugs. What do you call these things? (0:28:46) Al: Oh, yes. We call them, um, uh, what are they, a Woodlice. That’s what we call them. (0:28:52) Codey: Oh, Woodlouse, yeah. (0:28:53) Codey: Well, that is technically what they are, so. (0:28:56) Al: Oh, is that their, that their, well, obviously their official name is probably something in Latin, (0:29:01) Al: but I guess that would be their most official English term. Interesting. (0:29:02) Codey: Right, but the category is like, (0:29:05) Codey: Woodlouse is basically their thing, yeah. (0:29:08) Codey: But everyone, and then isopods is just because they are (0:29:11) Codey: in the class isopoda, I don’t know. (0:29:15) Codey: They’re in a group of organisms that is, (0:29:17) Codey: the group is collectively known as isopoda. (0:29:22) Codey: So yeah, depending on where you’re from, (0:29:23) Codey: there are all kinds of different names. (0:29:25) Codey: So there was one that added a whole new thing, (0:29:27) Codey: like a whole bunch of those, which is awesome (0:29:29) Codey: because they are fast becoming some of, (0:29:32) Codey: some really big pets options here. (0:29:36) Codey: ‘Cause you can, there are different species (0:29:38) Codey: that have different colors. (0:29:41) Codey: So there’s like zebra isopods, (0:29:42) Codey: which are a little black and white striped. (0:29:46) Codey: There’s rubber ducky isopods, (0:29:47) Codey: which are all like this darker color, (0:29:50) Codey: but then just the front part of their. (0:29:52) Codey: Exoskeleton has this almost like a orange color, so it’s like a bill. (0:29:59) Codey: Yeah, so that’s makes sense that they had that and then weevils there’s a weevils DLC and that makes sense because weevils are some of our not some of they are the most diverse animal on the entire planet so. (0:30:12) Al: And that’s not the Pokemon Weaver. (0:30:15) Codey: Not the Pokemon we vial these are I call them snoot beetles so. (0:30:23) Codey: So they are Beatles in the family curcullion today and they have super long rostra or rostrums. (0:30:34) Codey: Which is just their their snout basically they’re like an anteater but a bug they just got this really long snoot. (0:30:43) Codey: And they usually have their antenna either at the end of the snoot or like buried in their snoot there’s like a little concavity that they kind of like tuck it into it’s really cute. (0:30:52) Codey: And they come in all kinds of sizes all kinds of cute colors so makes sense that they would be in this game as a DLC. (0:31:01) Codey: I bought this on I bought the bundle that included the DLC and the main game on my switch because I wanted to be able to play in bed and then the first quality of life update has been pushed to mobile and PC but has not yet been pushed on switch and it adds just some basic quality of life stuff. (0:31:19) Codey: that would be beneficial to have and I am excited. (0:31:22) Codey: For them to put it on switch whenever, whenever I’m assuming it’s (0:31:25) Codey: Nintendo’s fault because Nintendo was very particular about these things. (0:31:29) Codey: Um, yeah, so the story of this game is quote in bug and seek. (0:31:35) Codey: You’ve just bought an abandoned insectarium or bug zoo in bug Berg. (0:31:42) Codey: Once the lifeblood of the town and its economy, someone stole all of (0:31:46) Codey: the bugs in the dead of night. (0:31:48) Codey: Now it’s up to you to catch and sell bugs that make jokes. (0:31:52) Codey: Fulfill requests from the local shops and reestablish the (0:31:56) Codey: insectarium as a town icon. (0:31:58) Codey: Become a master bug hunter as you level up your bug catching skills and relax. (0:32:03) Codey: There are no wrong choices, no energy levels to worry about and plenty of (0:32:07) Codey: time to complete the quests and the jobs. (0:32:09) Al: I have a question. I don’t think you will. “How does someone steal all the bugs?” (0:32:10) Codey: I have an answer. (0:32:17) Codey: So I do have an answer. (0:32:19) Al: Oh no! (0:32:19) Codey: Um, so it’s basically like (0:32:22) Codey: so this is a live insect zoo base. It’s not like a dead museum. Um, so someone just coming, (0:32:30) Codey: imagine if someone broke into a zoo and stole all of the animals. It’s kind of very similar, (0:32:34) Codey: but it’s a lot easier because they’re so small. Um, it’s easier to grab them and steal them. Um, (0:32:41) Codey: so yeah, someone did that. I think they also stole a bunch of the tanks as well. Um, I mean, (0:32:48) Codey: So I run an insect zoo in real life for my university. (0:32:52) Codey: And I think it would probably take one person with a dolly, maybe 15 minutes to steal the mall. (0:33:00) Al: Right, OK, yeah, sure, but like stealing, OK, fine, stealing them for OK, so it’s just (0:33:05) Al: stealing them from a zoo. (0:33:07) Al: I understand. (0:33:08) Al: I thought it was stealing all of the bugs from the whole town and I’m like, that doesn’t (0:33:08) Codey: Yeah. (0:33:11) Al: feel like it’s possible. (0:33:12) Codey: Oh, no, it’s from the museum or the insect zoo. Yeah. (0:33:13) Al: OK, that makes that makes more sense. (0:33:18) Codey: And this, this kind of stuff actually happens not even just with (0:33:22) Codey: living in sex but also with specimens there in I want to say Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there was a huge heist that someone stole a bunch of specimens and it was like up to 50, no way more than $50,000, it was a lot of money, a lot of monies worth of specimens, and they’ve never found them. (0:33:43) Codey: So, this is something that can happen, especially if you have like really old stuff, collectors will want to buy it. (0:33:52) Codey: of the case here, like they say that the previous, uh, insectarium owner had a lot of really rare (0:33:59) Codey: things there. Um, and so maybe the person wanted to make money off of selling them. Uh, I mean, (0:34:07) Codey: in my, in our insect zoo that we have, we have tarantulas and a couple of them are like 13 years (0:34:13) Codey: old and they’re pretty, they’re pretty big. And they, I mean, they live to be 30, so she’s still (0:34:17) Codey: got a lot of life in her. Um, but to buy one that size after having it, (0:34:23) Codey: growing and stuff is probably like 500 bucks. Yeah. So. (0:34:26) Al: ethical questions as to whether or not you should be able to own living things, but that’s a whole (0:34:36) Codey: - Yeah. (0:34:37) Al: different debate. We are not a morality podcast. We have opinions on morals. Trans rights matter, (0:34:39) Codey: - Correct. (0:34:43) Codey: - We do, but we do not debate them. (0:34:45) Al: and I’m very annoyed about the situation in the UK just now, but you know. (0:34:52) Codey: Yeah, I don’t think I can point to a single place and be happy about its (0:34:56) Codey: situation, maybe New Zealand, but I, that’s also just because I’m probably (0:34:56) Al: Yeah, they have some issues currently with that. Well, they’ve had issues for a long time (0:35:00) Codey: ignorant of what might be happening there. (0:35:09) Al: with indigenous people and, you know. Sorry, a little bit of a detour there. So yes, (0:35:12) Codey: - Yeah, yep. (0:35:18) Codey: Nope. (0:35:20) Al: we have opinions about things, but we’re not a morality podcast in and of itself. (0:35:23) Codey: But as I am an entomologist, (0:35:26) Codey: I have opinions on the realism of bugs in games. (0:35:30) Al: Tell me, tell me how realistic is this creature collector based on bugs? (0:35:36) Codey: I love it it’s so good there have been so when you initially when you’re coming up to catch a (0:35:41) Codey: bug you like shake a tree or whatever and then a little bug outline like flies around and the (0:35:47) Codey: outlines are spectacular it’s not like oh there’s an outline for a butterfly and it’s going to be (0:35:53) Codey: the same generic outline for a butterfly no matter what um like think of like animal crossing or (0:35:57) Codey: whatever where it’s just kind of a shadow and you don’t it has like different sizes but other than (0:36:04) Codey: that you don’t really know what’s going on no each (0:36:06) Codey: of these bugs has their own outline. (0:36:09) Codey: Um, and before I even catch something I can, as an entomologist, (0:36:14) Codey: I can tell what it is pretty much. (0:36:16) Codey: Um, so for example, the first time I caught it to banded, which they don’t say (0:36:21) Codey: that they say house fly or sorry, horse fly, cause it is a horse fly. (0:36:24) Codey: I was like, oh my gosh, this is definitely a to banded. (0:36:27) Codey: Um, and then I caught it and yeah, it’s a horse fly. (0:36:30) Codey: Um, so the outlines are great. (0:36:32) Codey: the graphics are great, the (0:36:36) Codey: little quips that the bugs have, like they all have their (0:36:39) Codey: own little like jokes and then little blurbs under them once (0:36:43) Codey: you start filling out the journal, I don’t think it has a (0:36:47) Codey: real like a specific name, but there’s like a journal that you (0:36:49) Codey: start filling out those it’s all true, factual knowledge. And (0:36:57) Codey: I’m, I’m in love with it. The the little blurbs have made me (0:37:00) Codey: cackle and I actually have six that I wrote down that were my (0:37:03) Codey: favorite out of 220 bugs. (0:37:06) Codey: Okay, there there are but here are the six here my top six (0:37:10) Codey: little blurbs. So far, I haven’t caught everything. The blue (0:37:14) Codey: banded B said, I’m blue and from Australia, but no one gave me a (0:37:21) Codey: cartoon. (0:37:22) Al: Australia. I’m not sure who that’s meant to be referencing. (0:37:27) Codey: Bluey. (0:37:28) Al: Oh, blue. Oh my word, I’m just… Oh, goodness. (0:37:34) Codey: So it’s a blue-banded piece, I blew in for my- (0:37:34) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I can’t think of anything that has (0:37:36) Codey: Australia. I just- I giggled. But bluey. Black garden ants. So (0:37:40) Al: a cartoon that’s blue and it’s from Australia. I can only think of Sonic and he’s not Australian. (0:37:45) Al: Yeah, blue, of course. Classic. (0:37:51) Codey: this is not as pop culture reference. This is- this is just (0:37:54) Codey: real. The black garden ant says I have my own pet, an aphid. And (0:38:00) Codey: it’s because they farm aphids. And it’s so cool that they (0:38:04) Codey: I’m not included though. (0:38:06) Codey: Basically these ants will like farm aphids and they’ll protect them and they’ll feed them (0:38:11) Codey: like little bits of food that they want and then the aphid will like spit out little honeydew (0:38:17) Codey: just like this sugary snack out of it’s not like it’s out of its back so like the top of its back (0:38:19) Al: Mm-hmm. (0:38:25) Codey: there’s just these little things it like secretes this stuff and then the it’s like sweat yeah and (0:38:28) Al: Oh no, like sweat. (0:38:32) Codey: And then the ants drink it, and they love it. (0:38:34) Codey: And so they just keep– (0:38:34) Al: Oh, I don’t like that. (0:38:36) Codey: This is cute that the Black Garden Ant’s little blurb is about its relationship with an aphid. (0:38:42) Codey: The blueberry bee says, “Eat a blueberry, thank a bee,” which is true. (0:38:46) Codey: If you have eaten a blueberry, you have a bee to thank for. (0:38:50) Codey: They are, thank for it. (0:38:52) Codey: They are the pollinators. (0:38:55) Codey: The brown Argus, which is a butterfly, said, “Be a good chap and fetch my ant butler for me.” (0:39:03) Codey: And this made me laugh because they… (0:39:06) Codey: So this is a butterfly, but as a caterpillar, they secrete something that makes the ants want to take them into their nest and then take care of them. (0:39:18) Codey: And then they basically live in the ant colony and just make the ants do their bidding and then they grow. (0:39:27) Codey: And it’s just, it’s hilarious that butterflies do this. (0:39:32) Codey: Carpenter Ant, call me a termite and I’ll blow this place down. (0:39:36) Codey: This is so aggressive because it’s not a termite, it’s a Carpenter Ant, but people call them termites all the time. (0:39:44) Codey: And then the last one, have you seen Breaking Bad now? (0:39:48) Al: I have not, but I’m aware of it and some, I would understand some reference. (0:39:52) Codey: Some of the references. (0:39:54) Codey: Okay, so this is the tarantula hawk wasp and the blurb is I am the wasp who knocks. (0:40:02) Codey: And I’m sure I’m sure people who have watched Breaking Bad are laughing (0:40:02) Al: Yeah, I don’t get that (0:40:06) Al: Probably I’m sure they are (0:40:06) Codey: their ass off right now. So the Tarantula Hawk wasp is the (0:40:12) Codey: state insect of New Mexico. New Mexico is where Breaking Bad was (0:40:18) Codey: wrong. And in one of the episodes, because about this (0:40:23) Codey: chemistry teacher who becomes a meth dealer. And he just becomes (0:40:28) Codey: this like he goes from being a pretty much the dad for Malcolm (0:40:31) Codey: in the middle because that’s who that it was the same actor, just (0:40:34) Codey: like an irregular dad. (0:40:36) Codey: to becoming this, like, hardened drug overlord guy. (0:40:40) Codey: And at one point, someone close to him finds out that this is, (0:40:44) Codey: and they’re just so worried that someone’s going to come knocking in the night and come and kill them. (0:40:51) Codey: And he’s just like, “No one’s going to come. I am the one that go places and make people scared. I am the one who knocks.” (0:41:01) Codey: And it’s just like, whoa, this moment when like someone close to him who (0:41:06) Codey: has continued to see him as this, like dad down the street guy, uh, finds (0:41:11) Codey: out how horrifying he is. (0:41:13) Codey: Um, so yeah, tarantula hospital, Hawk wasp. (0:41:16) Codey: I am the wasp who knocks. (0:41:18) Codey: It’s also a scary wasp. (0:41:20) Codey: They will not, um, really go for people, but they literally (0:41:26) Codey: kill and eat tarantulas. (0:41:29) Codey: So yeah, they are pretty scary. (0:41:30) Al: Oh, OK. Hence the name. (0:41:33) Codey: So the bug realism and the little blurbs, 10 out of 10. (0:41:36) Codey: Um, I’m still enjoying them. (0:41:37) Codey: Every time I read a new one, uh, I love that they are either attached to the (0:41:44) Codey: biology of the animal or its name, or they add it to like pop culture or something. (0:41:49) Codey: Like it’s not just a random thing that they say. (0:41:53) Codey: I remember some of the animal crossing ones, me being like, ha, that (0:41:57) Codey: doesn’t make any sense at all, but not the case here. (0:42:00) Al: That’s high praise. (0:42:01) Codey: So 10 out of 10. (0:42:04) Codey: Bye, praise. (0:42:07) Codey: The graphics and the music of this game are pretty simple but they’re good. (0:42:12) Codey: I turned the music off because I always do but I did play it with it on for a while. (0:42:18) Codey: You don’t really need the sound for anything like accessibility wise. (0:42:22) Codey: It’s pretty much just pleasant music in the background. (0:42:26) Codey: And the graphics, I mean it’s the kind of Stardew-esque animation. (0:42:32) Al: Yeah, pretty standard kind of pixel arty, I mean it looks nice from screenshots obviously (0:42:37) Codey: Yeah, it feels the same. (0:42:41) Al: I’ve not played it, how does that feel when you’re playing it? It’s I guess it’s lower (0:42:47) Al: fidelity than Stardew, I think it’s much more kind of I guess snes maybe level sort of graphics. (0:42:53) Codey: Yeah, yeah, which I mean, when it’s too cluttered, I don’t always like that. (0:43:00) Codey: So I really like how simplistic these things are. (0:43:05) Codey: But I mean, things change over the time period. (0:43:09) Codey: So like, you start in summer, but then in the fall, a bunch of the leaves are suddenly (0:43:15) Codey: on the ground. (0:43:16) Codey: So there’s leaf piles for you to rummage through. (0:43:19) Codey: I just hit winter so I haven’t figured out if there’s anything else but to leave (0:43:23) Codey: piles are still there there are still insects in the winter. There’s also like different areas (0:43:28) Codey: that I’ll talk about later like the desert for example is still going to have things so (0:43:35) Codey: things will change like as the time goes on physically in the game but I mean they just (0:43:43) Codey: highlight what needs to be highlighted which is the the bugs so I’m here for it. (0:43:46) Al: Yeah it’s interesting because I guess that’s the the quite dramatic thing is you notice (0:43:53) Al: like everything is pretty low fidelity except the images of the insects and they’re still very (0:44:00) Al: clearly pixel art right like you can see the individual pixels but they are much more detailed (0:44:05) Al: than anything else you can see on this game other than I guess the text and a few of the buttons and (0:44:07) Codey: Yep (0:44:12) Al: and stuff like that. But like the people, the houses, the trees, the bushes, the leaf (0:44:16) Al: tools, they’re all very low fidelity, which is nice, but they’re very detailed bug images. (0:44:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yup. And I appreciate that. (0:44:30) Codey: Um, so the mechanics of the game, it’s a pretty simple gameplay loop. It’s all right. (0:44:34) Codey: I feel like there could be a little bit more complexity to it, but I am not. (0:44:40) Codey: Uh, I can’t honestly point out how it could be more difficult, um, or how it could be different. (0:44:46) Codey: I think the biggest thing is you pretty much just fall into this catch bugs, cell bugs, um, loop. (0:44:54) Codey: It doesn’t really change much. Um, I think it might be nice to have like, maybe some traps you could set and you could place them in different areas. (0:45:06) Codey: Maybe that would change some things, um, and keep it a little, a little different. But for the most part, I just am doing a circuit every day. (0:45:16) Codey: Um, and changing it up because sometimes there are things, um, in different spots. So I’ll get to that. So catch bugs is the first part. (0:45:26) Codey: There’s 220 insects that are based on real insects, which is great. Um, they range from common to legendary and they’re found in, um, the areas and the seasons where they would be in the real world. (0:45:38) Codey: So, um, if it’s something that is attracted to man-made structures, it will be in the like picnic tables and the trash cans and whatever. (0:45:46) Codey: If it is, um, something that would be with flowers, it will be on flowers, you know, that kind of thing instead of just finding them. (0:45:56) Codey: Um, you can find them in trees, flowers, grass, logs, under rocks, on man-made objects. There’s also a cave. Um, and you can look under there, but they’re never just kind of like in the overworld. They’re always like, you always have to. (0:46:08) Al: Hmm, they’re not like flying around like you would see in Animal Crossing. (0:46:12) Codey: Yeah, no, you, you have to encounter an object and like interact with the object, um, to be able to see them. And each object, you can interact with them. (0:46:26) Codey: Um, and so, you know, if you are trying to find something that, you know, comes out at night and is in trees, maybe wait to touch your trees all the nighttime. (0:46:38) Codey: Um, yeah, but that’s pretty simple. I mean, you just walk around and you can, you have two net well, two buttons that correspond to nets. (0:46:48) Codey: It’s like right bumper makes you swipe your net to net to the right and left bumper is swipes your net to the. (0:46:56) Codey: So there’s no up or down, it’s just left and right. Um, (0:46:56) Al: Mm hmm. Okay. So is it quite easy, then, if you if you press the one in the right direction, you’ve got (0:47:04) Codey: yeah, there isn’t, they don’t get diff more difficult to catch. It’s just that as you increase your expertise and become a master bug catcher, you are just able to encounter more rare things, but they are always the same speed. (0:47:24) Codey: The same whatever, um, which I also kind of like, honestly. (0:47:29) Al: It’s good to know having to like chase after something like you do an animal crossing or the annoying thing where you’re like you don’t quite hit it in the right angle and therefore you miss it sort of. (0:47:34) Codey: Yeah, no. (0:47:40) Codey: Yeah, no, none of that. It’s always in the left, right? Like, um, orientation and you just have to make sure. And even then, if you like swipe, but then you move a little bit. (0:47:50) Codey: If you’ve like, if you swipe and you see that you missed you, sometimes you have a little bit of time. (0:47:54) Codey: to like move down a smidge for it to catch the thing after you&rs

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

Kev goes through the news of the week Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:31: What Has Kevin Been Up To 00:04:26: Game News 00:31:13: Outro Links Rusty’s Retirement x Vampire Survivor Monsterpatch Kickstarter Rune Factory: Guardians of Azume Delay Artisan Story EA SoS: Grand Bazaar on Switch 2 rpgsite hands on for SoS: Grand Bazaar Oppidum Release Date Chronomon EA Release Date Tales of the Shire Gameplay Video Honeymancer Mac Support Mineko’s Night Market Soundtrack Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kev: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Kevin and with me today is Kevin (0:00:38) Kev: But in Spanish (0:00:40) Kev: No, come on. Come me us. Yes. Yeah (0:00:44) Kev: Hello everyone, it is a solo Kevin episode again. I’m just one of those (0:00:50) Kev: weeks slash weekends where a (0:00:54) Kev: bunch of schedules played a little bit of hot potato and well (0:00:58) Kev: in case of emergency. (0:01:00) Kev: break out the solo kevin episode. (0:01:30) Kev: he was right on in. (0:01:32) Kev: well actually before that (0:01:34) Kev: stuff i’ve been up to (0:01:36) Kev: nothing terribly interesting (0:01:38) Kev: busy work week (0:01:40) Kev: allergies are bad out here (0:01:42) Kev: the pollen has been bad (0:01:44) Kev: but we got ray (0:01:46) Kev: and i’m thankful for that (0:01:48) Kev: but in terms of fun stuff (0:01:52) Kev: playing some marvel rivals (0:01:54) Kev: the new season is coming out in a couple of days (0:01:56) Kev: we’re getting emma frost (0:01:58) Kev: to hold X-Men Hellfire Galath. (0:02:00) Kev: I’m going to go back to the last themed season. (0:02:02) Kev: That’ll be fun. (0:02:04) Kev: And yeah, I’m just racing, scrambling to get the final missions to get the last costumes and unlocks from the current season pass or whatever. (0:02:13) Kev: But so that’s been fun. Nothing terribly new, but still a very solid game. (0:02:20) Kev: Let’s see, Marvel Snap also in my rotation. (0:02:24) Kev: Fun game. A new season just started. (0:02:28) Kev: the cards good (0:02:30) Kev: Actually, I haven’t bought the season new season fast. I can’t talk about Captain Carter (0:02:34) Kev: It’s a what-if themed season for people who are familiar with the Marvel Disney Plus series. What if? (0:02:44) Kev: And so I haven’t played with Captain Carter, but the the other card injuries thus far Goliath he’s been pretty good (0:02:50) Kev: But yeah (0:02:51) Kev: One interesting thing about Marvel snap is that I see a lot more bots right now (0:02:57) Kev: and it’s not just because of a new season although that’s also common. (0:03:01) Kev: It just really feels like the player base has kind of tapered off a bit. (0:03:08) Kev: Which works in my favorites and easier on the ranked ladder. (0:03:13) Kev: But that’s just interesting. (0:03:16) Kev: I get it. It’s a game that demands a lot of your time because it’s just constantly pumping out new things every single week. (0:03:24) Kev: So it’s just a treadmill and it can be exhausting a lot to keep up with. (0:03:30) Kev: But here I am. I kept up with it. I still like it. (0:03:34) Kev: So yeah, that’s good stuff. Marvel Snap. (0:03:39) Kev: Other than that, nothing terribly interesting. I picked up some Minecraft because sometimes I just get niche for the Minecraft movies. (0:03:48) Kev: Is it related to the movie news? Maybe. It’s the subconscious, the name thing, I guess. (0:03:54) Kev: I don’t know, but I don’t know. I just like firing it up starting a farm and little, you know, settlement. (0:04:00) Kev: That’s always fun. (0:04:03) Kev: But yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to, more or less. Nothing terribly interesting. (0:04:09) Kev: Oh, and Mario Odyssey, like Kingdom, that’s working on Rainbow Road radio stuff. (0:04:16) Kev: Let’s keep an eye out for that. It’s a good game and I like water levels, Waterworld, so yay. (0:04:23) Kev: Okay, yeah, but that about sums it up. (0:04:25) Kev: So now let’s actually dive into Cottage Core game news. (0:04:30) Kev: Oh, I don’t know if you guys heard me, that was my cat, my teddy, he’s chilling out back there. (0:04:35) Kev: He probably wants some food. I’ll feed you in a little, buddy. (0:04:40) Kev: But after the news, let’s see here. (0:04:44) Kev: First up, oh, we’re starting with the showstopper, I see. (0:04:49) Kev: “Rusty’s retirement cross vampire survivors.” (0:04:55) Kev: You’ve gotta love an April Fools joke that, oh wait, no, this is real, actually. (0:05:01) Kev: Because it’s so wild and ridiculous, I adore that sort of April Fools joke/news drop. (0:05:08) Kev: That’s how we got Yakuza like a dragon, if I recall correctly. (0:05:14) Kev: But yeah, April 1st, they announced a crossover. (0:05:18) Kev: Specifically, vampire survivors coming into Rusty’s retirement, which is hilarious, really. (0:05:24) Kev: So vampire survivors is the “bullet heaven” game where you’re just… (0:05:30) Kev: power up and power up, and just shooting waves and waves of enemies and whatnot, horror/vampire/Castlevania (0:05:39) Kev: themed, and they’ve done a handful of crossovers, including with actual Castlevania, so no surprise (0:05:46) Kev: from vampire survivors, they’ve done very well. (0:05:50) Kev: But somehow, the guys over there at, what is it, Ponkle, I believe the studio is called? (0:05:57) Kev: They heard of Rusty, and they reached out to… (0:06:01) Kev: Rusty’s retirement, and we have a new skin pack/map, what would call you, of Rusty’s retirement, where the (0:06:13) Kev: titular character… (0:06:15) Kev: What was their name? Po. Oh, there we go. Po, what if they retired? And so now they’re just farming up a storm. (0:06:22) Kev: And (0:06:25) Kev: Yeah, it’s it’s fun. They introduced a new mechanic (0:06:29) Kev: Where you grow (0:06:31) Kev: To keep away bats from stealing your crops, which is fun, right? (0:06:35) Kev: It’s still a relaxed, you know laid-back game, but now you just have this new little flavor (0:06:46) Kev: uh… elements so I i like that that’s very cute (0:06:49) Kev: uh… overall like that the graphics look great (0:06:53) Kev: uh… (0:06:55) Kev: uh… (0:06:56) Kev: the trailer itself is is pretty (0:06:59) Kev: pretty great uh… (0:07:03) Kev: yeah the the skins look great and and (0:07:05) Kev: you know what this one is tempting me to to download it because this is such a (0:07:10) Kev: fun crossover (0:07:11) Kev: uh… well I guess we do it I don’t know (0:07:14) Kev: uh… (0:07:16) Kev: yeah good (0:07:17) Kev: good on you both vampire survivors and rusty’s retirement (0:07:21) Kev: people (0:07:22) Kev: and uh… props to wife (0:07:25) Kev: apologize with uh… morris I believe is the fellas name of the rusty retirement (0:07:29) Kev: dev (0:07:29) Kev: uh… he is a dead now yeah (0:07:32) Kev: congrats (0:07:33) Kev: uh… adorable little kid it’s it’s all there on the the steam post uh… go (0:07:37) Kev: check out the baby pictures they’re very cute (0:07:42) Kev: uh… and uh… there are more (0:07:44) Kev: Crossovers to come, which is exciting. (0:07:47) Kev: Will it I have no idea with the you know, these kind of indie games you never know (0:07:52) Kev: Will be other indie game. So we get (0:07:56) Kev: retirement (0:07:57) Kev: Necro dancer mid proper. Yeah, that’s what is right. Yeah, the Nick grow dancer Nick grow retirement, whatever you want to call it (0:08:05) Kev: Possibly we get shovel knight retired. Maybe (0:08:10) Kev: Will we get David actually David ever feels very likely? (0:08:15) Kev: You know very (0:08:16) Kev: Exciting who knows it feels like anything is possible with this so (0:08:20) Kev: Definitely keeping my eyes (0:08:23) Kev: Peeled my you know looking up for more (0:08:26) Kev: News on these crossovers today all sound very fun (0:08:32) Kev: Okay, so yeah, let’s see here next up we have (0:08:37) Kev: monster patch (0:08:39) Kev: So yeah last time we talked to it. I mean it was already funded with we talked about it (0:08:45) Kev: But (0:08:46) Kev: They have passed the 150,000 USD mark and we they have revealed the Nintendo switch stretch goal (0:08:57) Kev: And so let’s see here that is exciting we they reached a goal for a museum (0:09:04) Kev: That the structure you can unlock and you can donate the monsters (0:09:09) Kev: and read interesting facts (0:09:12) Kev: That is pretty cool (0:09:16) Kev: They’ll probably be a special collection that’s interesting right because you always have the Pokedex in these monster claking games (0:09:22) Kev: But an actual museum dedicated to that that’s fun (0:09:27) Kev: Let’s see here (0:09:29) Kev: But yes, Nintendo switch was at two hundred thousand dollars (0:09:35) Kev: Let’s see where they are currently they’re at 182. They already passed the battle tower (0:09:40) Kev: Stretch goal, so yeah that switch support is very likely (0:09:46) Kev: Yeah, so (0:09:48) Kev: Probably keep an eye out. We’ll have a something’s release. I don’t know (0:09:54) Kev: But I’m if it’s I’m definitely getting if it’s going to switch so keep an eye out I (0:10:00) Kev: certainly am I mean we’ll hear about it because this thing’s just (0:10:04) Kev: Blasting through these stretch goals and and you know the way kickstarters work (0:10:08) Kev: The the the biggest pushes are at the start and at the end so whenever this thing (0:10:13) Kev: Which is the end which is in two weeks, roughly (0:10:16) Kev: I will get another big blast, so I wonder how far we’ll actually go (0:10:22) Kev: Yeah, so good on you monster pets and senior Sean young. I believe it is doing good. Yeah, that’s the guy’s name all right (0:10:30) Kev: Let’s see here next up (0:10:32) Kev: Room Factory Guardians of Azuma the new room factory game with dance the power of dance (0:10:39) Kev: It’s it’s just a new flavor room factory (0:10:42) Kev: They have announced that they are moving the release date from (0:10:46) Kev: May 30th to June 5th. Why? Well because there’s a Switch 2 coming out on June 5th, and that makes a lot of sense. (0:10:53) Kev: That’s only a week and a week, you know, as I’m playing this release of the two versions, or multiple versions. (0:10:59) Kev: The Switch 2 version with the other ones. So yeah, only a week difference. I don’t think anyone’s going to mind to play on their Switch 2 if you’re getting it. (0:11:08) Kev: Okay, let’s see here. Next up… (0:11:16) Kev: Reverse of Delay. It’s an out now, I guess I would call it. Artisan Story. (0:11:24) Kev: So for this game, I don’t know if we’ve talked about it, but you play as an artisan blacksmith type character. (0:11:34) Kev: It’s that sort of 2D HD octopath look. A lot of minigames for crafting different weapons and tools. (0:11:43) Kev: Um… I was… some… (0:11:46) Kev: emphasis on combat it looks like to make use of all the blades and weapons you’re (0:11:51) Kev: making with different combat styles which actually looks pretty fun. I quite (0:11:55) Kev: like the look of this game. It’s got a pixel look that’s a little simplified (0:12:03) Kev: maybe but against the 2D HD thing where they’re out in a 3D space and it looks (0:12:09) Kev: like some of the weapon styles could be even fun maybe a little different from (0:12:12) Kev: your standard cottagecore fare, so that’ll be cool. (0:12:17) Kev: There’s plenty of characters and what not to talk to. (0:12:19) Kev: Is there romance? I don’t know. (0:12:21) Kev: Maybe. (0:12:23) Kev: We’ll see. (0:12:25) Kev: Anyways, the primary news story is that Early Access is out now. (0:12:32) Kev: They are aiming to be in Early Access for a year. (0:12:40) Kev: There’s a whole post on Steam. (0:12:43) Kev: I’ll just read the quick little blurb about explaining why it’s Early Access. (0:12:47) Kev: We’re bringing this vision to life with your help. (0:12:51) Kev: By launching Early Access, we aim to refine gameplay mechanics, (0:12:55) Kev: expand crafting possibilities, and ensure that every aspect of the world (0:12:59) Kev: from farming to monster taming feels truly rewarding. (0:13:02) Kev: Your feedback will shape the future of the game, (0:13:04) Kev: helping us create the best artisan experience possible. (0:13:07) Kev: If you have the idea of crafting farming (0:13:09) Kev: and raising dungeon monsters, join us on this journey. (0:13:11) Kev: Be the first to experience new features. (0:13:13) Kev: Share your thoughts and help us build something truly special. (0:13:17) Kev: So yeah, it is currently just out on Steam. (0:13:20) Kev: It is $20. (0:13:22) Kev: There is a free demo you can download. (0:13:24) Kev: But Early Access is $20. (0:13:26) Kev: They mentioned the price could change, (0:13:28) Kev: especially when the full release comes and whatnot. (0:13:33) Kev: They list the whole slew of features currently available in Early Access. (0:13:42) Kev: Early Access makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. (0:13:45) Kev: or, you know, the– (0:13:46) Kev: developers, I’ve– oh, I forgot to mention, yeah, the monster taming thing. That’s an interesting aspect. (0:13:53) Kev: It looks a little passive, like you take care of your monsters, and they generate materials for you, kind of like (0:14:00) Kev: Moonstone Island, similar to that game, but fun touch nonetheless. (0:14:06) Kev: Am I getting the early access, infinously? No, I’m not an early access guy, but (0:14:13) Kev: It’s a good it is out. That is a good first step, right? (0:14:16) Kev: So hopefully we’ll see if we’ll release within a year like they’re aiming to and (0:14:21) Kev: Yeah, check it out. If you are interested that is artisan story. Oh, oh one more important note (0:14:27) Kev: The blank story naming scheme is yeah. I’m that that’s it. I’m drawing another line in the sand (0:14:33) Kev: There’s a lot of lines around me, but come on. Come on. Let’s put a little more effort into the title at least a (0:14:41) Kev: Subtitle something give give throw me a bone people we can do better than this (0:14:47) Kev: The game looks pretty good (0:14:51) Kev: Okay (0:14:54) Kev: Speaking of things that look pretty good and this one (0:14:57) Kev: Yeah, it’s story of seasons. Let’s talk about Grand Bazaar (0:15:01) Kev: We got the switch to version confirmed during the direct. It’ll be $10 more on switch to (0:15:09) Kev: We they let’s see RPG site net. I was able to get a like preview copy and then post all (0:15:16) Kev: Thing about it (0:15:19) Kev: It looks it has you know, this standard (0:15:25) Kev: Story of seasons fair, you know all your villagers the romance the farming all the good the animals all the good stuff (0:15:34) Kev: It does have some of the earth would say more modern innovations from the series like you can grow plants in all seasons (0:15:42) Kev: Some specifically from pioneers of all of town (0:15:47) Kev: Raise buffalo beekeeping mushrooms and flowers (0:15:51) Kev: And perhaps the most interesting bit is that there is no shipping bin in this game (0:15:58) Kev: Only the weekly bazaar similar to mannequins night market (0:16:04) Kev: Yeah, that is an interesting mechanic is just fun as mannequins I don’t know but (0:16:10) Kev: That’s interesting because you don’t have your daily, you know shipping bin revenue. You gotta wait every week (0:16:17) Kev: But yeah, I mean overall it’s a story of seasons game, right? So (0:16:21) Kev: You know the the the (0:16:24) Kev: Title the pedigree is there and I’m sure it will be a quality game nonetheless (0:16:29) Kev: So, yeah, that’s uh, that’s good stuff (0:16:35) Kev: Let’s see here (0:16:44) Kev: I don’t know, oh I apologize, no I was just looking, there is uh, Fogoo.com also had um, (0:16:52) Kev: thoughts on the game, but you will post the link um, uh, on all sorts, you know, the kind (0:16:58) Kev: of comp of the trailer and had everything. (0:17:01) Kev: Um, but uh, but yeah, there’s also some interviews with the director talking about the game for (0:17:08) Kev: the, again this is a remake um, of Grand Bazaar. (0:17:12) Kev: So it looks pretty good. (0:17:14) Kev: Overall, though, like all the stuff they’re integrating, all the new things. (0:17:18) Kev: OK. (0:17:21) Kev: Let’s see here. (0:17:24) Kev: Next up, we have– oh gosh, I still don’t know how to say this. (0:17:29) Kev: Opidum? (0:17:29) Kev: Opidum? (0:17:31) Kev: Opidum, perhaps, even. (0:17:34) Kev: This is the three– we’ve talked about it before. (0:17:39) Kev: It’s a 3D– I’m just going to say it looks like Breath of the Wild. (0:17:44) Kev: Oh, Minecraft– more Minecraft-y Breath of the Wild, because you’re out there building settlements (0:17:52) Kev: and whatnot. (0:17:53) Kev: Looks combat-heavy. (0:17:54) Kev: The character– the player character kind of looks like Link, at least the one they’re (0:17:59) Kev: using. (0:18:00) Kev: I don’t know if it’s customizable or not. (0:18:03) Kev: But yeah, that– they have– excuse me. (0:18:10) Kev: They are release– release date. (0:18:12) Kev: That’s the big news. (0:18:14) Kev: But that is very close. (0:18:15) Kev: That’s what– at the time you guys are listening, about two weeks, I would say, ish? (0:18:22) Kev: Yeah. (0:18:23) Kev: Oh, there it is, character creation. (0:18:25) Kev: Yep. (0:18:26) Kev: OK. (0:18:27) Kev: You don’t have to be faux-link. (0:18:28) Kev: You can be your own thing. (0:18:29) Kev: Yeah. (0:18:30) Kev: They announced this release date. (0:18:33) Kev: They got a trailer. (0:18:35) Kev: It is co-op. (0:18:36) Kev: You can have up to three friends playing with you. (0:18:39) Kev: Adaptive storytelling. (0:18:40) Kev: That’s an interesting buzzword or cue. (0:18:44) Kev: I think if I were to guess, that’s just like Breath of the Wild, where you can do stories if you want to, you know, do certain temples and learn certain stories. (0:18:53) Kev: Or you can just ignore it. (0:18:55) Kev: But regardless, you can experience yourself April 23rd. (0:19:01) Kev: That is coming very soon. I think I was just on Steam for now. (0:19:06) Kev: But yeah, look forward to that. (0:19:10) Kev: Um, okay, here’s… (0:19:14) Kev: Uh, this is an interesting one because it’s… (0:19:19) Kev: A… (0:19:22) Kev: E-A, um… (0:19:26) Kev: Okay, well, let’s get into it. (0:19:27) Kev: So, Chronomon was going to launch full, you know, full 1.0, (0:19:32) Kev: but they have pivoted to making it to an early access launch. (0:19:36) Kev: Um, this will be on May 8th, 2025, just about a month away. (0:19:41) Kev: Um… (0:19:44) Kev: It is interesting because they do go into the details why they decided to move this. (0:19:48) Kev: Um, they’re pivoting to because they want to show their commitment to working on it more. (0:20:02) Kev: And, of course, as usual, they’ll take feedback and refine things and whatnot. (0:20:12) Kev: They are planning, again, for about a year for early access. (0:20:26) Kev: And, uh, the- the one nice, uh… (0:20:36) Kev: the full main campaign is fully playable you’re right because they they were more (0:20:46) Kev: or less playing a full release so they they’re pretty much the full campaign (0:20:49) Kev: there so that that is nice I will say that right having early access game (0:20:52) Kev: with an actual finish point that’s good and of course a lot of the features of (0:21:00) Kev: this is again this is chronomond it’s a 2d pixel mod (0:21:06) Kev: taming and farming all the bells and whistles of both of those genres it’s (0:21:14) Kev: pretty cute I like the the dungeon design some of them are a little more (0:21:18) Kev: urban your modern looking than just a cave which I think is a little (0:21:22) Kev: refreshing they have a deep suite of RPG elements and customizations for your (0:21:28) Kev: monsters and skills and everything battles are in the overworld which is a (0:21:32) Kev: This is a nice little touch, not a separate Pokemon screen. (0:21:36) Kev: It does look robust, I will say, for an early access. (0:21:40) Kev: Again, that is May 8th when it’s coming out, and yeah, hopefully within a year they’ll have a full 1.0. (0:21:49) Kev: I’ll definitely be interested in seeing what that looks like. (0:21:53) Kev: Okay, let’s see here, next up we have a game that is also an early access. (0:22:05) Kev: honey man through the (0:22:06) Kev: bear witch game (0:22:08) Kev: they have a big update (0:22:10) Kev: announcing mac support (0:22:12) Kev: which is great (0:22:14) Kev: I know a lot of mac people (0:22:16) Kev: I never used a mac I’m not one of them (0:22:18) Kev: but hey now you guys can enjoy the (0:22:26) Kev: But yeah, that’s that’s a big one. But of course that comes the whole slew of (0:22:30) Kev: Additions changes balances, etc. You can check out the link for all that but (0:22:37) Kev: That is good. And that is out. I believe yes (0:22:41) Kev: Then only a week after early access good on them (0:22:47) Kev: Let’s see here. Oh (0:22:50) Kev: Goodness. I can’t believe almost skip to the story tales of the shire. Um, so they released (0:22:56) Kev: a a very in-depth a (0:23:02) Kev: Very in-depth (0:23:05) Kev: Game or look at the game (0:23:08) Kev: How long is this thing? Um (0:23:10) Kev: Ten minutes long which is fairly decent (0:23:13) Kev: Um, it’s it’s not just looking at the game or but talking to the devs and the and whatnot or how their (0:23:20) Kev: inspiration I like him about whatnot (0:23:22) Kev: And I’ll be honest. I think this is a (0:23:26) Kev: very good trailer. It’s probably got me the most excited about the game out of anything I’ve seen. (0:23:34) Kev: I think they put a lot of emphasis on how they keep going back, not just to the source material, (0:23:44) Kev: but actually looking at Tokien’s inspirations, how he wrote The Hobbit, the Middle-earth and what. (0:23:56) Kev: A lot of the trailer discusses the “conflict” because in so many games you need some sort of (0:24:07) Kev: conflict or issue to resolve. And so they go back to one of the main themes from All Middle-earth, (0:24:15) Kev: which is Tokien’s issues with urbanization and modernization. As I mentioned, he bemoaned the (0:24:24) Kev: urbanization of his (0:24:26) Kev: childhood home and what not (0:24:28) Kev: trees and forests he was so fond of becoming modern and urbanized (0:24:34) Kev: and so we were seeing that reflected in this game with certain characters pushing for more modernization (0:24:40) Kev: and other characters standing against it trying to maintain the shire as it is (0:24:48) Kev: and so yeah they go into a lot of detail over that (0:24:54) Kev: uh… it’s it’s it’s fast (0:24:56) Kev: how much they researched on the right they reached out to actual artisans and (0:25:00) Kev: blacksmiths how would things look like and and again not just the the actual (0:25:06) Kev: middle you know middle earthworks but the these stories are inspirations (0:25:14) Kev: behind them I think that’s a that shows a lot of dedication and yeah the the (0:25:20) Kev: actual gameplay in the this trailer looks pretty good I think I think (0:25:26) Kev: it kind of shows off its identity finally because that was I think (0:25:30) Kev: something that was kind of lacking right like was this gonna be some sort of you (0:25:34) Kev: know weird Lord of the Rings skin on Animal Crossing and whatnot right and I (0:25:40) Kev: mean to be sure right like they’re still aiming for the cozy very clearly and (0:25:44) Kev: explicitly there’s the farming and the the fishing and and and crafting and (0:25:49) Kev: all those standard hallmarks you know interacting with the town but you can (0:25:54) Kev: You (0:25:56) Kev: Can Really See how it’s all coming together here all right like they mentioned the the sense of community is important not just as a gameplay mechanic (0:26:03) Kev: But like thematically for the the the Shire the the the setting they’re trying to create here (0:26:11) Kev: So yeah, you’re gonna have relationships with (0:26:15) Kev: Not so romantic relationships, but it’s just like you know friendships and and relationships with characters (0:26:22) Kev: Well, you know, all dead-named characters and whatnot. (0:26:26) Kev: Who influenced the story, um, so yeah, it looks pretty good. (0:26:30) Kev: I’m, uh, I’m actually pretty interested in this now. (0:26:34) Kev: Um, I really suggest you guys check out the, uh, the link and take a look at the (0:26:40) Kev: video, um, because it is, uh, I think it looks quite, this video is quite nice. (0:26:47) Kev: Um, yeah, so that is again, tales of the Shire. (0:26:50) Kev: Um, I don’t think we still have a, um, excuse me, (0:26:56) Kev: a date or anything for it. (0:26:58) Kev: Um, oh, oh, I’m wrong. (0:26:59) Kev: July 29th, uh, release date. (0:27:02) Kev: Um, so the couple of months, uh, all right. (0:27:06) Kev: Uh, looking forward to it. (0:27:07) Kev: Um, that sounds pretty specific. (0:27:10) Kev: So I, and from the, where the video, the game looks like in the videos, I believe (0:27:16) Kev: that date, um, so yeah, let’s keep an eye out for, uh, tales of the Shire. (0:27:22) Kev: Good stuff. (0:27:24) Kev: Um (0:27:26) Kev: and lastly but certainly not leastly we have Maneko’s night market out in the (0:27:32) Kev: news again let us not forget that it was that last year’s game of the year or is (0:27:38) Kev: that the year before I know the year but yes the year before 2023 yes harvest (0:27:44) Kev: season’s game of the year 2023 no one can stop me they’ve released the soundtrack (0:27:54) Kev: It’s 20 bucks. (0:27:56) Kev: It’s on Steam, I think it’s on Spotify in other locations as well. (0:28:00) Kev: Um, that is, I don’t know if we harped on that to cover the game. (0:28:04) Kev: But the game has a banger soundtrack. (0:28:08) Kev: Um, it goes the whole gamut of emotions. (0:28:12) Kev: You have very, like, relaxed, nature-y music. (0:28:16) Kev: You have very joyous, happy music. (0:28:20) Kev: A lot more melancholy or reflectful tunes. (0:28:26) Kev: A lot of, you know, bits and pieces of kind of Japanese-style music kind of influence and whatnot, (0:28:34) Kev: given the setting of the game and whatnot, kind of. (0:28:38) Kev: It fits. (0:28:40) Kev: Um, so yeah, I cannot recommend enough that you check out the soundtrack, right? (0:28:46) Kev: That’s one thing about me, I’m a big soundtrack guy, like, maybe not by the soundtracks, (0:28:50) Kev: but I’ll look up soundtracks online and listen to them and whatnot. (0:28:54) Kev: Because games, quality games have a good time. (0:28:56) Kev: I love good music, y’know? And so, another game I can put into that library rotation, I’m always down for that. (0:29:02) Kev: Um, so yeah, go out there, buy it, support Mineko’s Night Market, Harvest Season 2023, Game of the Year, because it’s a good one. (0:29:10) Kev: laughs I’ve gotta go back and finish it. (0:29:14) Kev: Um, and, y’know, maybe I will. Maybe that’s… I’ve been itching for something, and I feel like that could be it! (0:29:20) Kev: That could be it! (0:29:22) Kev: Um… (0:29:24) Kev: Ugh, okay. (0:29:26) Kev: Um, but, uh, but yeah, that’s, uh, that’s kind of it. (0:29:31) Kev: That’s the news. (0:29:32) Kev: Um, let me be covered a little fast since it’s just me, but, uh, but it was (0:29:36) Kev: still a beefy gamut of stories there. (0:29:40) Kev: Um, I’m, I’ve got to say, like, just looking down this list, it’s a (0:29:45) Kev: healthy diversity of games, right? (0:29:47) Kev: Like, yeah, you know, we’ve been us being at this for so long, right? (0:29:53) Kev: We’ve seen trends come (0:29:56) Kev: and go and what not right so many stardew clones and so on and whatnot but (0:30:00) Kev: I like I look at this this variety here right we got the big names we got you (0:30:05) Kev: know tales of the shire with its IP we’ve got story of seasons and rune (0:30:10) Kev: factory and then we have more indie stuff everything from classic Pokemon (0:30:15) Kev: monster patch the very rusty retirement whatever you want to call that rusty (0:30:21) Kev: or whatever that the genre was. Rusty likes, yeah. (0:30:26) Kev: Right, kind of this background game we’ve got. (0:30:30) Kev: You’ve got Opadum, Full 3D, Breath of the Wild, (0:30:34) Kev: and more traditional 2D, Chronomon, (0:30:36) Kev: and In Between, and the artisan story. (0:30:41) Kev: Yeah, that’s pretty exciting. (0:30:45) Kev: All these new stories, pretty, again, (0:30:47) Kev: kind of like last week, they’re pretty feel good. (0:30:51) Kev: Or was it the week before? (0:30:52) Kev: Regardless what glass study did (0:30:56) Kev: It’s exciting. I think we’re in a good place right now with cottagecore games in world (0:31:02) Kev: Nothing really bumming me out in these new stories (0:31:04) Kev: So that’s that’s awesome, and I could use less bumming out these days. I think we all could (0:31:13) Kev: But yeah that that’ll do it for me for the this again shorter solo episode (0:31:20) Kev: I did try to stretch it out, but yeah, I’m just a one-man show (0:31:26) Kev: Teddy left, so I couldn’t have a meal more, but (0:31:29) Kev: But yeah, I did what I could anyways well. Thanks for listening folks (0:31:37) Kev: Thanks for joining me you know tune in next week for other stuffs (0:31:45) Kev: You can find me at Koopa prez on blue sky at the art of squares don’t see some my artwork. I’m (0:31:54) Kev: Find me over at Rainbow Road. (0:31:56) Kev: Check that out. Listen to the thoughts. Be hyped for the MooMoo cow being very playable in Mario Kart. (0:32:26) Kev: and listen to me tear up Matt Kirby air writers if once you’re done listening to (0:32:31) Kev: all that you can find more harvest season stuff by following Al at the (0:32:35) Kev: Scott bot or Mastodon on Scott and blue sky sorry at the Scott bot on Mastodon (0:32:42) Kev: Scott and on blue sky you know creator the show he’s got stuff he posts things (0:32:48) Kev: cottage core things it’s also on tumblr at THS pod and blue sky at THS (0:32:56) Kev: pod for all the news and to re-tweets social media engagements all that good (0:33:02) Kev: stuff or you can just if you want to simplify everything just go to harvest (0:33:06) Kev: season club per day listen to the era all the episodes we got provide (0:33:11) Kev: feedback give us links or no other way no we provide the links you give us (0:33:16) Kev: feedback yeah yeah do that harvest season dot club or you can head down to (0:33:22) Kev: patreon.com/thspod where you can (0:33:26) Kev: become a patron to this wonderful show (0:33:28) Kev: and join us over at our slack where we (0:33:32) Kev: have deep cuts content stuff posted (0:33:35) Kev: during recordings I didn’t do that right (0:33:38) Kev: now but it’s been a thing it’s been a (0:33:40) Kev: trend or and you also get the bonus of (0:33:46) Kev: the greenhouse episodes the non cottage (0:33:49) Kev: core focused uh guess what there’s gonna (0:33:52) Kev: be one on switch to directly I mean you (0:33:56) Kev: know gallon I covered one on the the (0:33:58) Kev: switch the switch whatever switch to the (0:34:03) Kev: other one the switch one previous that (0:34:06) Kev: but now we got there’s that switch to (0:34:08) Kev: direct was beef you guys there was a lot (0:34:09) Kev: so tune in um listen listen to me cry (0:34:13) Kev: about Kirby air writers because it’s (0:34:15) Kev: it’s all I need in my eye it’s all I (0:34:17) Kev: need and I yeah that’s all I need okay (0:34:24) Kev: that’s enough of my rambling everyone (0:34:27) Kev: bearing with me thank you for joining me (0:34:28) Kev: on this this little episode here thank (0:34:31) Kev: you out for having me on I guess thank (0:34:35) Kev: you me for doing it being my co-host and (0:34:39) Kev: we’ll see you guys next week and until (0:34:42) Kev: then of course have a good artist (0:34:46) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinlay, with support from our patrons, including our (0:34:56) Theme Tune: pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa. (0:34:59) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess. (0:35:04) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club, for show notes and links to things we discussed (0:35:10) Theme Tune: in this episode. (0:35:20) Kev: I don’t know three two one clap I guess because it’s only me it says the solar (0:35:28) Kev: recording oh there we go hacking up great way to start this um oh god let’s (0:35:34) Kev: uh let’s just dive on in shall we all right

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

Kevin and Aislinn talk about Wanderstop, the new game from the creator of The Stanley Parable Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:23: What Have We Been Up To 00:11:58: Game News 00:29:07: New Games 00:31:44: Wanderstop 01:15:33: Outro Links Pixelshire Release Date Honeymancer Early Access Release Date Space Sprouts Release Date Dave the Diver “Ichiban’s Holiday” DLC Another Harvest Moon G-Mode Game Cattle Country Optional Combat Funguys Swarm Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kevin: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Kevin (0:00:34) Aislinn: And my name is Aislinn. (0:00:35) Kevin: And we are here to talk about cottagecore games supposedly that’s a little box. It’s whoo (0:00:40) Aislinn: Woo! (0:00:42) Kevin: I forget about that. Well, I always try to be a bit of a smart alec and adding nonsense there, but whoo (0:00:49) Kevin: Although I’m although I don’t know how much I like wooing at this game. I’m very hesitant about whoo (0:00:50) Aislinn: Woo! It’s cute, I like it. (0:00:56) Aislinn: That’s true, that’s true, you make a good point. (0:00:57) Kevin: I’m kidding. I love I love (0:00:58) Aislinn: Spoilers! (0:01:00) Kevin: We’re here to talk about wander stop the tea shop game by the I forget the actual dead team name the Stanley parable people (0:01:09) Kevin: Brace yourself because anyone who’s familiar Stanley parable knows that means things (0:01:16) Aislinn: I wholeheartedly agree. (0:01:17) Kevin: But (0:01:18) Kevin: Okay, but before we get to those things let’s talk about other things (0:01:23) Kevin: Aisling what’s what’s up? What’s been going on tell me about your sky high life? (0:01:26) Aislinn: Um, I think you already know what’s been going on. (0:01:30) Kevin: You (0:01:31) Aislinn: We’ve been very busy with work and when not working, (0:01:36) Aislinn: I’ve been very busy trying to make as much progress as humanly possible in Wandershop. (0:01:42) Kevin: Yeah (0:01:42) Aislinn: And when I’m not doing that, then I’m doing the usual like dailies on my phone of like (0:01:48) Aislinn: Pokémon Sleep, TCG Pocket. I’m hard into Neko Atsume right now. (0:01:50) Kevin: Uh-huh (0:01:52) Kevin: Okay (0:01:56) Aislinn: It’s just the original, and I want to try and get everything in Neko Atsume as much as possible. (0:01:57) Kevin: Okay, wait, what is that one do tell the name escapes me (0:02:03) Aislinn: It’s a cat collecting game. It’s a cat collecting mobile game, (0:02:07) Aislinn: and it’s literally just cat collection, and it’s so cute. It’s so cute. And there’s a new Neko Atsume (0:02:08) Kevin: oh yes okay i’m familiar with this one yes it is (0:02:14) Aislinn: that came out somewhat recently, so I’m like, I’m not gonna play that until I finish the original. (0:02:20) Aislinn: So that’s what I’ve been doing. And then if I’m not doing any of those, (0:02:22) Kevin: Sure. (0:02:25) Aislinn: that I’m doing a lot of wedding planning. (0:02:26) Aislinn: So that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to, yeah. (0:02:27) Kevin: Ahhh! (0:02:29) Kevin: Has that been on the show? Wait, has that been discussed on the show at all? (0:02:32) Kevin: I don’t, I don’t know if it… (0:02:32) Aislinn: No, it has not been discussed in the show, so. (0:02:34) Kevin: Ahh, okay, how far are we? What’s, uh, what’s our target date here? (0:02:39) Aislinn: Our tar- actually, I have not announced to, like, everyone the target date. (0:02:43) Kevin: Oh! (0:02:45) Aislinn: I’ve been keeping that, like, more on a personal note, but I can tell you June. (0:02:47) Kevin: Okay, well you got a range? (0:02:49) Kevin: Sure. (0:02:50) Kevin: Okay. Okay. Well, sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. (0:02:52) Aislinn: Yeah, so we’re almost there. (0:02:52) Kevin: Yes. That’s correct. That’s correct. Very, um, very, very, uh, impressive dedicated you to to playing your wedding during the, the, the Go Fest this year, or whatever the thing’s called. (0:02:56) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:02:57) Aislinn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:03:00) Aislinn: Literally, we’re not quite there yet. (0:03:06) Aislinn: It’s, yeah, no, each month that progresses closer and closer. (0:03:08) Kevin: Yes. That’s correct. That’s correct. Very, um, very, very, uh, impressive dedicated you to, to playing your wedding during the, the, the, the Go Fest this year, or whatever the thing’s called. (0:03:09) Aislinn: I’m like more and more just panic, panic, panic. (0:03:22) Aislinn: Well, that wasn’t that wasn’t in the works (0:03:22) Kevin: The, um, all right, but, uh, good stuff. Okay. So let’s see here. Okay. Just, just a side note on that. Have you, uh, I’d play a different kind of cat collecting game. Have you ever heard of the battle cats? (0:03:25) Aislinn: That wasn’t that wasn’t supposed to happen, but it just happened to happen and I was like well (0:03:29) Aislinn: We’re gonna see what happens with that (0:03:46) Aislinn: Um, no, what is that? I’m looking that up right now. (0:03:46) Kevin: Oh, I think I’ve talked to that on the show, but, um, (0:03:52) Kevin: you know, I’m going to tag you an image on the slack. I’m creating the, the live slack thread of me. (0:03:58) Aislinn: Wait, this looks so cute. (0:04:04) Kevin: What are you, you googled it. (0:04:04) Aislinn: I’m looking at it right now. (0:04:05) Aislinn: Yeah, of course I googled it. (0:04:08) Kevin: Okay. Because I was going to show all, but did you see the freaky ones yet? Um, yes, those are legs. Did you see the one with the buff one? That’s the last four legs. (0:04:10) Aislinn: Oh, those are legs. (0:04:19) Aislinn: I have not seen that yet. (0:04:22) Kevin: Yes. They’re kind of cute, but also terrifying. Like it’s, it’s a very cheek cheeky, like comical tone. Um, yeah. Yeah. There you go. There’s good old fish cat. And those are just the basics, right? Like this, it’s a gotcha game. (0:04:30) Aislinn: It’s a it’s a good aesthetic. I like, oh, I found the buff one. I found the buff one. (0:04:40) Kevin: So, and it’s, I think 10 years old now and they actually get a lot of crossovers. They’ve crossed over, they cross over like Hatsune Miku every six years. Um, Street Fighter was one. (0:04:50) Aislinn: Ooh. (0:04:54) Kevin: Um, Konosuba, I think lots of animes. I don’t know. Um, but it’s yeah. And on the best part, the best part about their crossover is you get both ways. You get Hatsune Miku as a playable character and then you get a cat that looks like Hatsune Miku. (0:05:00) Aislinn: You got me with Miku, that’s it. That’s the end-all for me. Miku or boss? That’s it. (0:05:13) Aislinn: Oh my god. That is wonderful. (0:05:14) Kevin: Here, I’ll see if I can find it. Um, I play that one on and off. My brother is a big, um, is a big, uh, (0:05:22) Kevin: battle cats fan more than ISO. Um, uh, but, uh, yeah, it’s, it’s a great one there. I posted a pic. You want to see it. Um, there’s your Hatsune Miku cat. Um, they literally just used the standard cat and put the costume on it. It’s, it’s hilarious. Oh, one of my favorite ones. They did Evangelion. (0:05:34) Aislinn: Oh my god! It’s so cute! It’s so good! (0:05:40) Aislinn: That’s wonderful! (0:05:46) Aislinn: Ooh, that’s sick. That’s really cool. (0:05:50) Kevin: That was a good one, that was a good one. (0:05:54) Kevin: Anyways, so anything else, I’m sorry? (0:05:55) Aislinn: Well, I will be checking out this game. (0:05:58) Aislinn: I will be checking out this game. (0:05:58) Kevin: Oh, it’s free, be warned. (0:06:02) Aislinn: Oh, perfect! That’s all I need. Free is for me. That’s it. (0:06:04) Kevin: There you go. (0:06:04) Aislinn: um that’s pretty much been it I guess actually one one little thing that I can kind of announce (0:06:06) Kevin: Aw, sick, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Battle Cats. (0:06:08) Kevin: It’s pretty fun. (0:06:10) Kevin: Anything else you’ve been up to? (0:06:19) Aislinn: and we’re really really hoping the best so like you know how I kept saying for today like oh i (0:06:21) Kevin: Yes, to be fair, you’re always busy so that wasn’t out of the ordinary. (0:06:23) Aislinn: have i’m busy earlier in the day and that’s we’re recording at 9 p.m eastern um yeah but it’s more (0:06:33) Aislinn: fun news so hope (0:06:34) Aislinn: we will have a new kitty or two in the household here so that’s what we were doing earlier today so i’m like I i’ve been holding that like i’ve been withholding that just for like a I wanted to get your genuine reaction like first reaction to it so (0:06:42) Kevin: Oh, oh hot off the press (0:06:54) Kevin: Oh (0:06:55) Aislinn: pause cast exclusive (0:06:57) Kevin: Podcast exclusive you heard it first here. Oh, that’s okay. Okay. You said possibly multiple. Well, yeah (0:07:05) Aislinn: yeah we’re just waiting on what I i’m not saying too much just because there’s a lot of logistics which I can tell you about later there’s a lot of logistics that we’re currently figuring out but it should hopefully work out tomorrow question mark. (0:07:11) Kevin: Sure (0:07:14) Kevin: Okay (0:07:15) Kevin: Yeah as (0:07:18) Kevin: You know, well, that’s that’s exciting. I can’t wait to hear and see them and so on but but that’s good (0:07:22) Aislinn: yeah. (0:07:24) Kevin: There should be logistics involved unlike us who a guy just kind of said. Hey, you want a free cat and handed us two kittens? (0:07:26) Aislinn: absolutely. (0:07:33) Kevin: Okay, oh they they are very love yes (0:07:33) Aislinn: but they are loved and that’s all that (0:07:34) Aislinn: matters but otherwise that’s it no not by any means (0:07:40) Kevin: Yeah that and let’s be honest cats are not the hardest to take care of (0:07:44) Kevin: You know that the hard part is cat. No, no such thing as catproofing but bracing for the uncommon storm, but (0:07:52) Aislinn: Yeah, we are definitely bracing here. (0:07:54) Kevin: Oh (0:07:55) Kevin: That’s exciting. I can’t wait to hear more. Um, congratulations. Very very excited about that (0:07:57) Aislinn: Yeah! Thank you! (0:08:00) Aislinn: What about for you? (0:08:01) Kevin: Okay, um (0:08:02) Kevin: so I will (0:08:02) Aislinn: I like your just Chicago man. (0:08:04) Kevin: Yeah, so I I don’t know if I mentioned it on this show, but I started a new job (0:08:12) Kevin: About a month and a half ago started February (0:08:15) Kevin: and (0:08:18) Kevin: I’m hit the ground running. They sent me to a trade show to man a booth (0:08:22) Kevin: and that was (0:08:24) Kevin: I was there all week this past week (0:08:26) Kevin: my feet are dead (0:08:28) Kevin: I’m ready to be chopped off (0:08:30) Kevin: not my first time in Chicago (0:08:32) Kevin: I actually went to that same event (0:08:34) Kevin: two years ago but (0:08:36) Kevin: as an attendee, not an exhibitor (0:08:38) Kevin: so yeah (0:08:38) Aislinn: Uh-huh. (0:08:40) Kevin: my role is partially sales now (0:08:42) Kevin: so I actually have to go up (0:08:44) Kevin: and pitch and talk to people and so on (0:08:46) Kevin: and so forth and try to get leads (0:08:48) Kevin: so that was (0:08:50) Kevin: busy, excited, it was good work (0:08:52) Kevin: Um, yeah. (0:08:52) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:08:54) Kevin: Um, I, I, I learned a lot trial by fire, absolutely, but good times. (0:08:58) Kevin: Um, and, and there was other enjoy it. (0:09:00) Kevin: Well, it was, it was like 90% work, but there were some nice dinners. (0:09:05) Kevin: One night we hit a piano bar. (0:09:07) Kevin: That was quite fun. (0:09:08) Aislinn: Ooooh, that’s really cool. (0:09:09) Kevin: Uh, it wasn’t, it wasn’t even, it wasn’t a super classy one. (0:09:12) Kevin: Um, it was very more bar than piano, if that makes sense. (0:09:15) Kevin: But you had the guy up there playing the songs and, and, and you can make requests (0:09:19) Kevin: and there was enough space to dance, which I did. (0:09:21) Kevin: I am a dancing machine. (0:09:22) Aislinn: Bye! (0:09:22) Kevin: fun fact. (0:09:24) Kevin: so yeah so which after a full day of standing and exhibiting wasn’t the best (0:09:30) Kevin: idea of my I pre bled my feet for the next day but but so worth it yeah yeah (0:09:34) Aislinn: Eh, it’s all in good fun. It’s all in good fun! (0:09:37) Kevin: um yeah that was uh that was fun I tried the deep dish that was good weather (0:09:44) Kevin: weather was insane it was it was snowing when I landed and like the next day we (0:09:50) Kevin: We hit 70 degrees and then two days later it hailed. (0:09:50) Aislinn: Oh, my. (0:09:54) Aislinn: Oh, my. (0:09:54) Kevin: It was a roller coaster. (0:09:56) Aislinn: Oh, my. (0:09:56) Kevin: Oh, a life first. I had a hailstone land directly into my mouth. (0:10:02) Kevin: As I said, was that hail and the duke just right in there? (0:10:06) Aislinn: Why do I feel like that’s like such a you thing? (0:10:10) Aislinn: That feels like such a you thing. (0:10:10) Kevin: Yeah, that’s… that’s correct. (0:10:12) Kevin: That is 100% correct. (0:10:16) Aislinn: I’ve never heard that before. That’s amazing. (0:10:18) Kevin: Yeah. (0:10:20) Kevin: Yup. (0:10:20) Aislinn: So it sounds like you had a great time in Chicago. (0:10:24) Kevin: Yeah, it was a lot of work, but it was a legendary time. (0:10:28) Kevin: We’ll be back in two years. Next year there’s a different trade. (0:10:30) Kevin: So actually here, right here in Atlanta, home turf. (0:10:34) Kevin: So at least I don’t have to do the major travel bit, but I’m sure it will be just as busy. (0:10:40) Kevin: But yes, good times were had, success was had by kind of me. (0:10:46) Kevin: Baby salesmen on his training wheels did little salesmen. (0:10:46) Aislinn: I’m sure you did great. (0:10:52) Kevin: Aside from that, obviously (0:10:54) Kevin: not a lot of time for games. I snuck in a few of the regulars. Marvel, Snap, Rivals, Unite, here and there on different occasions and so on. (0:11:00) Kevin: That’s all fine and all. (0:11:04) Kevin: Wander Stop, like you said, trying to squeeze in as much time humanly possible. (0:11:08) Kevin: And not even just because I want to play for the show, because I just want to play more Wander Stop. (0:11:08) Aislinn: No, me too I feel that, which we’ll definitely get into. (0:11:16) Kevin: And also, for the Mario-verse over there on the other show of Rainbow Road Radio, (0:11:22) Kevin: I play (0:11:24) Kevin: I did the same Kingdom. That’s not the little Mexican (0:11:27) Kevin: Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey good times (0:11:30) Aislinn: Oh, sick. (0:11:31) Kevin: Yes, good. I love you mate. It’s all a replay (0:11:35) Kevin: But super enjoyable. I’m Mexican. What can I say? I’m super biased. They did I did Mario, Mexico (0:11:38) Aislinn: that game in general was just fantastic so i’m glad to hear that too that that section is like (0:11:40) Kevin: I have no complaints. They got him into sombrero (0:11:45) Kevin: It is yeah like (0:11:47) Kevin: What can I say what? (0:11:48) Aislinn: enjoyable for you (0:11:49) Kevin: She’s shocking this revisit to Super Mario Odyssey. Yeah, I’ve determined. It’s a good game (0:11:57) Kevin: Alright. (0:11:58) Kevin: Speaking of good games, I say that with an asterisk, or you have no idea. (0:12:02) Kevin: laughs Let’s talk about some game news. laughs Let’s talk about some announcements and such. (0:12:05) Aislinn: yeah (0:12:07) Kevin: Alright, take us away Ace with our first one. (0:12:09) Aislinn: all right so in game news the first game that I am looking at is pixel shire that’s going to be (0:12:16) Aislinn: releasing on the 8th of may and from what i’m looking at on the steam page it says that it is (0:12:22) Aislinn: an adventure farming sim 2d single player game from the developer capibits and it it really does (0:12:30) Aislinn: seem like a adventure farming sim 2d single player 2d single player game it also has notes about unique (0:12:37) Aislinn: RPG sandbox. (0:12:38) Aislinn: Which mixes Lifesim elements with town building, exploration, and combat. (0:12:46) Aislinn: And you can trade, you can do all the things that are normally in most farming sim games. (0:12:53) Kevin: that’s correct (0:12:55) Kevin: uh… I would (0:12:55) Aislinn: But it looks really cute! (0:12:56) Kevin: okay cs the first of all okay up (0:12:59) Kevin: the name I would imply it’s to be pixel art and it is cute (0:13:02) Kevin: uh… it is a a bit more chibi ask or or eight-bit than say uh… (0:13:05) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:13:08) Kevin: uh… stardew valley (0:13:09) Aislinn: It’s more round. (0:13:09) Kevin: uh… so you know (0:13:11) Kevin: uh… it’s a it’s different flavor (0:13:13) Kevin: uh… but there are some actually notable elements I think in here that (0:13:16) Kevin: they were talking about on first of all like you mentioned (0:13:18) Kevin: uh… sandbox as in (0:13:20) Kevin: I would say Animal Crossing New Leaf or Minecraft. (0:13:23) Aislinn: Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s really, really cool. (0:13:24) Kevin: I would say Animal Crossing New Leaf or Minecraft. (0:13:32) Aislinn: Yeah. Mm-hmm. (0:13:53) Kevin: I would say Animal Crossing New Leaf or Minecraft. (0:13:53) Aislinn: Oh, I didn’t realize that about this game too! That’s awesome! (0:14:08) Aislinn: I agree. Yeah, I like the art style. I like the kind of, I guess you could say animal (0:14:14) Aislinn: crossing aspect, but more so, more generally, the sandbox aspect of being able to, as it (0:14:20) Aislinn: says, re-sculpt the world through terraforming. I think that’s really, really cool. And honestly, (0:14:23) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, they they emphasize on the yeah, yeah, so. (0:14:25) Aislinn: any game that has animals that you can raise to, they are so cute in this game. I love (0:14:31) Aislinn: it. So, but it looks, it looks great. Like as someone, as someone has been in a stance (0:14:36) Aislinn: of like being overwhelmed constantly by (0:14:38) Aislinn: farming games. This is this is a farming game. I know. This (0:14:40) Kevin: Welcome, welcome to the show, Eastland. (0:14:45) Aislinn: is one farming game that actually does peak more (0:14:47) Aislinn: interest versus other farming games. So yeah, big props to (0:14:48) Kevin: Yeah. (0:14:51) Aislinn: them. Looks really, really cool. (0:14:53) Kevin: I have not facepalmed the one watching the trailer. (0:14:56) Kevin: So good on you. (0:14:58) Kevin: That’s a thumbs up. (0:15:00) Kevin: No, and you know what? (0:15:02) Kevin: I’m, I may jinx it, but I didn’t see any romance in there. (0:15:06) Aislinn: I’m sure there’s romance. There’s no way there’s not. There’s no way there’s not. (0:15:06) Kevin: Free free from the shackles. (0:15:08) Kevin: No, well, either way. (0:15:13) Kevin: Oh, oh, okay. (0:15:15) Kevin: Wait, hold on one second. (0:15:16) Kevin: I just want to say, okay, sorry about that. (0:15:16) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:15:18) Kevin: The jaws theme played as my puppy entered the room. (0:15:21) Aislinn: Oh, no. (0:15:21) Kevin: Um… [laughs] (0:15:23) Kevin: Um… [laughs] (0:15:25) Kevin: Okay. Alright, what’s up next? Do tell me. (0:15:28) Aislinn: All right, so the next game that I’m looking at here is Honeymancer, and it’s coming soon to Early Access. (0:15:36) Aislinn: It’s currently on March 27th. (0:15:38) Aislinn: So, yeah, or actually, yeah, that’s what it seems to look like. March 27th, Early Access, coming soon, and also another Pixel 2D-looking situation, but this is more so the tags are Indie, RPG, Pixel Graphics, Tower Defense 2D, and it looks like this is not really a farming game at all. (0:16:01) Aislinn: And when I first looked at it with the just because of the art style alone, I was like, oh, it’s another far (0:16:06) Aislinn: I’m again, I’m like, oh, wait, no, it’s not. Wait, that’s really cool. And it’s got bees and we love bees here. So (0:16:09) Kevin: Yeah (0:16:12) Kevin: Yeah, all right, so there’s a few few things going on here right first of all the premise of bear wizard (0:16:19) Kevin: That’s pretty strong already right you’re you’re setting its own bear witch excuse me (0:16:25) Kevin: You have a one you’re shooting things in combat (0:16:28) Kevin: You’re fighting off robots invading the forest with other cute neighbor animals (0:16:33) Aislinn: which the robots look so cute by the way I just again the art style I’m just like gosh I love (0:16:35) Kevin: They do (0:16:38) Aislinn: this art style it’s so cute I’m such a sucker for good art styles yeah they do it’s so cute (0:16:40) Kevin: I (0:16:41) Kevin: Yup, it is a it is a very strong art style. Absolutely. I’m again 2d pixel, but it’s a very strong one (0:16:47) Kevin: I like how even the trees kind of look like beehives. It’s a very cute little touch (0:16:53) Kevin: yep (0:16:54) Kevin: there looks like there’s (0:16:57) Kevin: Management of some kind you’re growing flowers for bees making potions. So, you know, there’s elements of cottagecore stuff (0:17:03) Kevin: But it’s not your standard you have grandpa’s farm or whatever on which is fun (0:17:09) Kevin: Special shoutouts to the as they describe it the bee dog. There’s a large bumblebee flying you around. It’s more bee than dog (0:17:17) Kevin: we the the big question which (0:17:20) Kevin: You know, we’ll have to wait is where does it land on the Cody scale of acceptability? (0:17:25) Aislinn: I know, we’ll have to stay tuned to find out, right? (0:17:28) Kevin: Is it is it is it Cheeba fight is it cartoonified enough? (0:17:34) Kevin: But I mean, it’s a pretty big bee. So I think she’s gonna be on (0:17:36) Aislinn: It is a very big B. (0:17:39) Kevin: Bigger than you. So I think I think she’s gonna be on board with this one (0:17:40) Aislinn: It really is. (0:17:44) Kevin: But there are other non giant bees that you are helping raise. So that’s fun (0:17:49) Kevin: You know, it’s hard to tell how deep they’re going into it and unexpected to be (0:17:53) Kevin: You know for on be sim but but it looks good enough. It goes into the bear honey (0:17:59) Aislinn: Yeah, no, it looks it looks really cute. It’s hard to get much information based off of just (0:17:59) Kevin: So yeah (0:18:03) Aislinn: the Steam page, but like it looks generally really cute. We’ll see you soon in early access. (0:18:04) Kevin: Yeah (0:18:06) Kevin: Yeah (0:18:09) Aislinn: If this is your type of gameplay, I think it’s worth checking out because it just the (0:18:09) Kevin: March 27th (0:18:13) Kevin: Yeah (0:18:13) Aislinn: colors alone are like really pretty too. Yeah, I love that. Uh-huh. Yeah, they feel very anime. (0:18:15) Kevin: The colors are very well done (0:18:16) Kevin: I like the expressions on the characters and the little portraits when they’re speaking they get exaggerated in cartoonish. That’s that’s (0:18:24) Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s fantastic (0:18:26) Kevin: I’m right because I think that’s probably a big criticism (0:18:30) Kevin: You have a lot of these cottage cores like the this character portraits are somewhat muted a lot of times (0:18:35) Kevin: I would say this one’s going for the anime eyes and everything (0:18:39) Aislinn: Yeah, I like it. I really do like it (0:18:39) Kevin: It’s great. I have one big criticism against it though (0:18:45) Kevin: And it’s nothing the game itself done, but unfortunately the title of honeymancer actually (0:18:45) Aislinn: Oh, okay (0:18:52) Kevin: I think it’s honey wizard has already been claimed by Winnie the Pooh in the Lorkana (0:18:57) Kevin: Card game have you okay? I posted it in the thread if you’ll take a look Aislin (0:19:01) Aislinn: Let me see. (0:19:02) Kevin: Lorkana the Disney TCG came out with a card called Winnie the Pooh honey wizard and (0:19:03) Aislinn: Oh my gosh, I’ve never, (0:19:07) Aislinn: I’ve never seen Winnie the Pooh look so magical. (0:19:09) Kevin: It’s pretty amazing. It’s (0:19:12) Kevin: Possibly the best card. They’ve ever come out with and so (0:19:15) Kevin: you know you do a lot of great things honeyman sir, but (0:19:16) Aislinn: Was that a pun? (0:19:20) Kevin: You got a tall tall bar or tall bear. I guess to cross to overcome there (0:19:24) Aislinn: What was that a pun though? Is that possibly you get it the pun because you said possibly possibly (0:19:28) Kevin: Do what oh (0:19:31) Kevin: Yes, yes (0:19:35) Kevin: Okay, I guess all right there all right beautiful (0:19:37) Aislinn: We got it we got we got there one way or another we got there (0:19:39) Kevin: I like this shot of the raccoon screaming in the trailer just eyes fisheyes in different directions with full vertical mouth. It’s great (0:19:52) Kevin: Yeah, all right (0:19:55) Kevin: What a speaking of moods. What do we actually I do have a mood. I don’t know what’s next. What’s next? (0:19:58) Aislinn: The next game is the next game is Space Sprouts, an exploration puzzle physics simulation 2D (0:20:01) Kevin: No, it’s (0:20:09) Aislinn: game are the tags, and it does primarily look like it’s a puzzle game where you bend the (0:20:17) Aislinn: rule of physics, experiment with unusual gadgets, and toss everything around. (0:20:23) Aislinn: I think out of the three games that we discussed so far, I think this game feels mostly up (0:20:28) Aislinn: because I’m always down for a good puzzle game, and the fact that there is physics in this too (0:20:31) Kevin: Uh huh. Yeah, in a good way. Yeah, that that that is a very specific alliterative title (0:20:33) Aislinn: really also intrigues me. It looks like it also kind of infuriates me, but I’m kind of, (0:20:38) Aislinn: oh perfect, cozy cosmic chaos feels like the perfect description for this game. (0:20:47) Kevin: and it works. Right, so space is the key thing right here, right? We’re not we’re managing (0:20:52) Kevin: a space station. And so you’re going to have gravity physics and light bending and all (0:20:56) Kevin: sorts of nonsense. There’s all in the trailer, you see the water floating around, you have (0:21:01) Kevin: a push it or whatever. So expect space shenanigans. Um, that sounds kind of cute. Like a very muted (0:21:09) Kevin: storybook looking design for these characters. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it is a very nice looking (0:21:12) Aislinn: Yeah, I like the colors. (0:21:15) Aislinn: I’m all about the colors of all of these games so far. (0:21:18) Aislinn: All of these games look really, really nice. (0:21:21) Kevin: game. Demo out now if you are curious and full release date in just a little over a (0:21:28) Kevin: for a week on March 31st. (0:21:30) Aislinn: Almost there! (0:21:32) Kevin: Yup, so, uh, good on you space sprouts. (0:21:35) Kevin: Um, yeah, I’m sure some people hint, hint on the show. (0:21:39) Kevin: Might like, I don’t, I, I have no idea who, but I feel like somebody (0:21:42) Aislinn: I mean, I like it, I’m interested in it. (0:21:43) Kevin: on the show will want to play. (0:21:48) Kevin: Well, oh, there we, okay. (0:21:49) Kevin: That’s one down. (0:21:50) Kevin: Let’s, let’s get another, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll see. (0:21:53) Aislinn: I might be infuriated, I don’t know, but I’m also like, it’s a good type of infuriating (0:21:57) Kevin: Well, yeah, and that’s fine. (0:21:57) Aislinn: and that’s what this game looks like, so I’m into it. (0:22:01) Kevin: I’ve had the bad period on the show many, many times, possibly more than not. (0:22:07) Aislinn: It’d really be that way. (0:22:11) Kevin: All right, next up. (0:22:12) Kevin: Ooh, this is a good one. (0:22:14) Aislinn: You take the floor. (0:22:14) Kevin: I think they’d announced it. (0:22:16) Kevin: Yeah, I think they announced it during the game awards or no. (0:22:20) Kevin: Was that the jungle DLC? (0:22:21) Kevin: I feel like this was announced at some point, but if not, we got a full, (0:22:25) Kevin: uh, a more proper breakdown of Dave, the diver DLC can’t. (0:22:31) Kevin: Stop won’t stop. (0:22:32) Kevin: I mean, I mean, they’re made by the maple story desk, so they have (0:22:35) Kevin: the money to actually never stop. (0:22:37) Aislinn: Just keep going. (0:22:37) Kevin: Um, yeah, basically. (0:22:41) Kevin: Um, and so it is a, not that it is the second, um, crossover DLC this time (0:22:46) Kevin: with the like a dragon series, AKA previously known as the Yakuza series. (0:22:51) Kevin: Um, you are teaming up with itchy bond, um, and doing all sorts of shenanigans. (0:22:57) Kevin: Are you familiar with like a dragon at all? (0:22:59) Aislinn: I am like not I’ve never played the games, but like I am familiar and I remember when I heard about this (0:23:05) Aislinn: Because I heard about this like a while ago. I don’t remember how long it was long ago. It was but I was like, what? (0:23:10) Kevin: Yeah (0:23:10) Aislinn: I was like, how did the two these two worlds collide? I need to know how these two worlds collided. This is so cool (0:23:15) Kevin: Well (0:23:19) Kevin: It is and at the same time that feels appropriate for both franchises how on earth did this happen (0:23:25) Kevin: Um, I have never played one myself, but I am also familiar very familiar with the series (0:23:30) Kevin: so introduced we have (0:23:33) Kevin: Included in all these features. We have a genuine 2d beat ’em up side scroller where you can play as Ichiban and (0:23:41) Kevin: Cobra yeah, I think it plays Cobra Wow Oh Cobra’s playable. I didn’t catch that. That’s so cool (0:23:47) Kevin: There is a karaoke minigame because if nothing else what if that was included how could this be called like a dragon? (0:23:56) Kevin: We have let’s see what else here (0:23:59) Kevin: We’ve got we got several characters from the like a dragon series as staff members for your restaurant. It’s fun (0:24:07) Aislinn: I like that there seems to be the karaoke minigame. I feel like that fear feels very, like, Yakuza-esque. (0:24:08) Kevin: Ah, junk. (0:24:11) Kevin: Yeah. (0:24:15) Kevin: Oh, yeah, it is. (0:24:17) Kevin: Um, yeah, that land that launches, uh, April 10th, not terribly far away, about two weeks away. (0:24:26) Kevin: Um, so there, there will probably be a return to David diver sometime in the future. (0:24:32) Kevin: Uh, because I’m playing this. (0:24:34) Kevin: Absolutely. (0:24:36) Kevin: Um, that looks great. (0:24:36) Aislinn: It looks great, it really does look great. (0:24:40) Kevin: So I keep an eye out and then the jungle DLC is still being worked on and coming in the future. (0:24:45) Kevin: So again, can’t stop, won’t stop. (0:24:49) Kevin: Um, Dave keeps diving and doing everyone’s work. (0:24:52) Kevin: Um, all right, let’s see next up. (0:24:55) Kevin: Another series that has not yet stopped as of now. (0:24:58) Kevin: Uh, we’ve got story of seasons or I guess this one is like harvest moon proper because it’s, it’s in Japanese as of now, um, a harvest moon G mode game. (0:25:10) Kevin: Um, it, it is a port of a phone game from, what was it like 2008, I think on the harvest moon series. (0:25:16) Aislinn: Yes, it says 2008 on the Steam page, and yeah, it’s a port coming to Steam, but… (0:25:21) Kevin: Yup. (0:25:22) Kevin: Yup. (0:25:23) Kevin: So it’s a early mobile farming game and you know, that’s, that’s cool. (0:25:27) Kevin: You can see it, you can feel it kind of GBA S graphics, um, which is fun and cute. (0:25:34) Kevin: Um, you know, too bad it’s all in Japanese. (0:25:36) Aislinn: I, you know, cause I’ve been telling myself for the past like couple weeks, like I really (0:25:36) Kevin: So, this one I won’t be playing, probably. (0:25:45) Aislinn: should actively get back into learning Japanese. Cause I was learning Japanese at one point (0:25:50) Aislinn: when I was in like first grade and then I fell off cause I was a stubborn kid, long (0:25:54) Kevin: Hmm. Okay. (laughs) (0:25:55) Aislinn: story short, but like, I don’t know. Maybe if I get back into actually learning properly, (0:26:00) Aislinn: maybe I’ll pick up this game. It looks cute, but I don’t know anything about it because (0:26:02) Kevin: yeah it does (0:26:06) Kevin: yeah we can’t read a thing on it we just (0:26:10) Kevin: it’s all I can do is point and says that looks like a harvest moon game for a (0:26:14) Aislinn: I was like, “That’s a cow! That’s chicken! That’s all I’ve got!” (0:26:14) Kevin: phone (0:26:18) Kevin: there are anime pretty people that you can probably romance (0:26:22) Kevin: yeah uh… (0:26:24) Kevin: but uh… (0:26:26) Kevin: yeah uh… releasing on steam do we have a date for that (0:26:29) Kevin: And it’s coming soon. Yeah. (0:26:30) Aislinn: As of now, we do not have a date, but regardless, if you are interested in this and you can (0:26:33) Kevin: But yeah, we, yeah. (0:26:36) Aislinn: read Japanese, even if you can’t read Japanese and you are interested in it, it is coming soon! (0:26:41) Kevin: Oh man, go back to those early 2000s when you have the fan translation from GameFacts. (0:26:47) Kevin: Good times. (0:26:50) Kevin: But but yeah, you know, one thing to note, this is a second port that they’ve done in the series, (0:26:55) Kevin: which is interesting to me, suggesting that the first one was successful enough to warrant it. (0:27:00) Aislinn: I guess so. (0:27:01) Kevin: That’s pretty cool. (0:27:02) Aislinn: I’m glad. (0:27:02) Kevin: Yeah, I know nothing either. I should’ve picked up Japanese. I’m too big of a weeb not to. (0:27:03) Aislinn: I’m glad for the people that do care about this. (0:27:05) Aislinn: I know nothing about it, but I am happy for those that care about it. (0:27:12) Kevin: I mean, I know some Japanese words. I want to make them echo the journey one day, but in due time I guess. (0:27:20) Kevin: Alright, let’s see here. Next up we’ve got info on cattle country. Yes, not Kent County. Country bigger than that. (0:27:30) Kevin: We have got (0:27:33) Kevin: They say so what interesting thing (0:27:37) Kevin: The thing probably the biggest note is, you know, they’re talking about some features and whatnot, but combat is totally optional (0:27:44) Kevin: Which is kind of wild to see in these games right cuz (0:27:48) Kevin: You know most cottagecore games following the stardew template (0:27:53) Kevin: How you know have some kind of? (0:27:56) Kevin: combat stuck in there, right (0:27:58) Kevin: And it’s you know, just because it’s optional. It’s not bad here. I’m looking that you got bows and arrows (0:28:02) Kevin: And guns and all sorts of stuff (0:28:05) Kevin: But the fact that it’s optional and they’re advertising that that’s uh, that’s pretty fun (0:28:10) Aislinn: I think it’s great yeah I i don’t know why that would put that would it’s a great it’s (0:28:15) Aislinn: it’s a great thing honestly like I have nothing else to say besides like this is something that (0:28:19) Aislinn: is a great feature because if you want to do it you can do it if you don’t want to (0:28:22) Aislinn: you just ignore it’s a win-win (0:28:24) Kevin: Yup. Yup. This is another game where it looks like you can partner up with some of your neighbors or villagers and whatnot, so that’s, that’s fun. (0:28:32) Kevin: There’s, yeah, I think we’ve talked about it before, but there’s, if you look at the trailer, there’s square dancing. They’re playing a nice Western medley song. (0:28:40) Kevin: Um, you’re, it’s very, how, it’s, it’s HANU. Um, that’s what it is. We got state coaches, we got trains, all the good stuff. (0:28:40) Aislinn: Very, it’s definitely very howdy partner. (0:28:52) Kevin: Um, they’re good at ge– (0:28:54) Kevin: Hey, howdy, hey, get your snake in your boot and keep an eye out for cattle count–country. (0:28:57) Aislinn: I mean, there’s even a character named Bandit, so take that as you will. (0:29:00) Kevin: Um, again, I don’t– (0:29:02) Kevin: Yeah, there you go! Eyes required. (0:29:07) Kevin: Alright, next up, a new game, we’ve got, uh, okay. (0:29:10) Kevin: So I started looking at this, and, you know, pre-recording, you know, going over, preparing, whatnot. (0:29:15) Kevin: And I stopped because I just kept saying, “What is this?” I needed to– (0:29:20) Kevin: to put some of that energy into the recording. (0:29:24) Kevin: We are looking at a game called “Fungi’s Swarm.” (0:29:24) Aislinn: It’s so silly. (0:29:28) Kevin: Um, so, you know, G-U-Y-S, “Sworn.” (0:29:32) Kevin: Um, it is a bullet hell game. (0:29:36) Kevin: Um, it is their first dev, uh, like, dev blog. (0:29:41) Kevin: Um, and they are showing it’s– (0:29:44) Kevin: Kinda what the whole thing, right? It is a cartoony, survivor bullet hell, where you become a fungi, (0:29:49) Kevin: wield forest-crafted weapons and unleash bonkers powers against the fire killer. (0:29:54) Kevin: So you there’s a lot going on here. There’s a mushroom guy running around. There’s pumpkin vegetable monsters and bears and like vegetables. I don’t an apple bear and an apple. (0:30:08) Aislinn: There’s a there’s an easter egg for from Coral Island of a waterfowl and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen (0:30:14) Kevin: What I didn’t see that’s incredible. That’s incredible. (0:30:20) Kevin: incredible you’re running around is your little fungus guy with (0:30:24) Kevin: giant watermelon acts like the waterman slice is bigger than you are (0:30:27) Kevin: it’s enormous there’s a great blaster gun thing you’ve got the powers like oh (0:30:34) Kevin: oh yeah that’s uh this is some good stuff there’s what is going on with this (0:30:40) Kevin: apple teeny it’s a half-eaten apple with a warm a very buff warm popping out of (0:30:45) Kevin: it you know there’s runs it’s oh it’s colorful it’s wacky it’s cartoony it’s (0:30:54) Kevin: magnificent I don’t what are these little for sanctuary pals you got like (0:30:58) Kevin: buzz balls with fruit stems there’s all block (0:31:00) Aislinn: I have no, not a single clue, but it looks like, it looks cute and fun, cozy and fun. (0:31:08) Kevin: yep yep (0:31:08) Aislinn: It looks like it’s a good balance of that, I feel like. (0:31:11) Aislinn: I feel like it does somehow fit into the Cottagecore game. (0:31:14) Aislinn: It just, it just somehow does fit, yes it is like a bullet hell game, but it still feels, (0:31:20) Aislinn: it feels like it’s going to be accessible enough to fall into the category of Cottagecore. (0:31:20) Kevin: Oh, yeah for sure. Um, it’s certainly caught my eye (0:31:27) Kevin: Obviously, we’re gonna be a ways off from this bad boy coming out, but I’m definitely keeping my out that is again fun guys swarm (0:31:35) Kevin: They’re good on you a lot of good news stories this week. Nothing. Nothing. Give me any heartache or anything (0:31:38) Aislinn: Honestly, yeah. (0:31:42) Kevin: That’s exciting stuff. Oh (0:31:45) Kevin: All right, and with that let’s talk about some let’s move on to something else exciting. Let’s talk about (0:31:50) Aislinn: Yeah. Oh my gosh. (0:31:50) Kevin: Wonder stuff, huh? (0:31:53) Kevin: Okay, so again, this is the tea shop simulator created by the Stanley parable dev team (0:32:01) Kevin: If you haven’t played Stanley parable (0:32:04) Kevin: You might want to pause go listen because I think we need to talk about it because that’s important for context (0:32:09) Kevin: and (0:32:10) Kevin: So important that acelin has actually played Stanley parable prior to the gay wonder stuff in preparation (0:32:17) Kevin: So let’s hear some thoughts (0:32:17) Aislinn: I did. Yeah, so I, yeah, once I found out that this game was being created by the people (0:32:25) Aislinn: that made Stanley Parable, I very much was like, I’ve always wanted to play Stanley Parable, (0:32:31) Aislinn: but I put that way up on my, I moved that way up for my backlog, because I knew and (0:32:35) Kevin: Uh-huh (0:32:37) Aislinn: I’ve heard great things about this game, which I think everyone knows about. If you haven’t (0:32:41) Aislinn: played the game, you still know the premise of the game and what the game is all about. (0:32:43) Kevin: John (0:32:44) Kevin: Yep for for (0:32:45) Aislinn: And I was very curious to check it out. (0:32:46) Kevin: Yeah for clarity. I have not played it myself, but as you said, I am very familiar (0:32:50) Kevin: I know all the secrets. I don’t feel free to let out whatever you want. Um, you just listener assume we’re spoiling whatever. Okay, it’s (0:32:53) Aislinn: Yeah, I played as many, spoiler warning for Stanley Parable, a very long time. (0:32:59) Kevin: Yes game that’s been out how long now (0:33:04) Aislinn: But the thing is, before I played Stanley Parable, I knew it was a strange game or a (0:33:08) Aislinn: very interesting game that a lot of people liked, but I didn’t know what the premise (0:33:11) Aislinn: of the game was. (0:33:12) Aislinn: So I went in pretty blind and it was an experience for sure. (0:33:17) Aislinn: It took me a while to get into because I was like, “What is happening?” (0:33:21) Kevin: Ha ha ha ha! (0:33:23) Aislinn: As I continued, I was like, “Okay, I’m starting to get it. (0:33:26) Aislinn: I’m starting to understand.” (0:33:27) Aislinn: And it was a very, very fun and fascinating and silly game. (0:33:33) Aislinn: And I did pretty much almost all of the endings except the ones like the, what was it, like (0:33:40) Aislinn: the baby one with like the dog and like the, you have to like stand up. (0:33:42) Kevin: Yeah, that’s correct. (0:33:44) Aislinn: You know that one, that one ending, we have to like be in the game for like three hours (0:33:47) Aislinn: or something. (0:33:49) Aislinn: I refused to do that one. (0:33:49) Kevin: Yeah, that’s correct. (0:33:50) Aislinn: I just watched it on YouTube. (0:33:51) Aislinn: I was like, “There’s no way I’m doing this.” (0:33:54) Aislinn: But just like that absurdity and like that confusion, I’m just like, “Yeah, no. (0:33:59) Aislinn: Okay. (0:33:59) Aislinn: I understand why people like this game now. (0:34:01) Aislinn: Like I have not experienced this in a game in a very, very, very long time.” (0:34:05) Aislinn: And it just took twists and turns and I was like, “Huh.” (0:34:09) Aislinn: And I was happy that I got to experience that before playing this game. (0:34:13) Aislinn: Cause I was curious if they were going to do things in this game that also (0:34:16) Aislinn: kind of caught me off guard and surprised me and that definitely did happen. (0:34:18) Kevin: All right, yep. (0:34:23) Aislinn: As a general notice, we’re not going to spoil like main plots of the game. (0:34:30) Aislinn: We may talk about a little bit of hint towards a little couple of things here (0:34:33) Aislinn: and there, but we’ll try our best to not spoil the game because both of us are (0:34:37) Aislinn: just about at the same point in the story and we both kind of share the sentiment (0:34:40) Aislinn: that we want y’all to check out the game and experience the not absurdity, but (0:34:47) Aislinn: just like the twists and turns of the game that also surprised me. (0:34:49) Kevin: Yep. (0:34:53) Aislinn: I was playing Wanderstop as I continued into it. (0:34:55) Kevin: Uh-huh. (0:34:56) Aislinn: Like it took me a while to get into Stanley Parable. (0:34:57) Aislinn: It took me a while to get into Wanderstop. (0:34:59) Aislinn: And as I continue, I was like start, I felt the same feeling that I felt when I (0:34:59) Kevin: Yeah. (0:35:03) Aislinn: was playing Wanderstop versus when I was playing Stanley Parable, but in just (0:35:04) Kevin: So. (0:35:07) Kevin: Mm-hmm. (0:35:08) Kevin: Right. (0:35:09) Kevin: Okay, so. (0:35:11) Kevin: Again, if someone who- so, that’s all great. (0:35:13) Kevin: And I appreciate you played it, ‘cause at least one of us can speak to it, but, um… (0:35:15) Aislinn: Well, you know about it too, you know. (0:35:19) Kevin: And so. (0:35:21) Kevin: Like. (0:35:22) Kevin: Maybe I don’t fully have heard everything, but the tone of Stanley Parable is almost… (0:35:29) Kevin: It’s very absurdist, very- almost adversarial in times, right? (0:35:32) Kevin: Like the narrator is constantly fighting against you, or you’re being sent down roads that are unpleasant, or so on and so forth, right? (0:35:39) Kevin: Like, it’s an enjoyable experience and a lot of fun, don’t get me, like, clearly, but… (0:35:45) Kevin: It is a very different vibe from a Cottagecore game, right? (0:35:49) Aislinn: Yes, very much so. (0:35:49) Kevin: So, when you- (0:35:51) Kevin: Right? (0:35:52) Kevin: And so when you hear they’re doing this- a tea shop simil- and they’re, you know, outright saying it’s gonna be a cozy game, like… (0:36:00) Kevin: What am I- what am I gonna do? I’m- I’m on guard, like, you’re the Stanley Parable people. (0:36:02) Aislinn: I know! (0:36:04) Kevin: I don’t believe a word you say, I am- (0:36:06) Aislinn: It literally says on the Steam page, “From the creator of the Stanley Parable.” (0:36:11) Aislinn: It’s the first line! (0:36:11) Kevin: Yep, so. (0:36:12) Kevin: Yup. (0:36:13) Kevin: So, I’m, you know, I’m coming into Wanderstop armed with a knife, just ready to fight back whatever this game’s- (0:36:19) Kevin: he’s gonna throw at me, right? (0:36:21) Kevin: Um… (0:36:22) Kevin: And, um… (0:36:24) Kevin: Well, I mean, shocker, it’s not the Stanley Parable, right? Like, some things carry over, like, it’s quality-quality writing. (0:36:31) Kevin: Excellent writing throughout, absolutely. (0:36:33) Kevin: There are some twists and turns, but it’s- it’s not in the insane, zany Stanley Parable way, it’s- it’s all, you know, in a narrative structure that- that fits it and whatnot. (0:36:46) Kevin: Um… (0:36:47) Kevin: I can confirm. (0:36:49) Kevin: I would call this a cozy game, but it’s a cozy game that sometimes pulls out a knife on you because sometimes I’m not ready for it. (0:36:54) Aislinn: Yes. (0:36:59) Aislinn: Yes. (0:37:00) Aislinn: Yes. (0:37:02) Kevin: I’ll get to that in a second, but the point being, there’s no secret endings, there’s no crazy insane tasks. (0:37:13) Kevin: And I tried, like one of the first things I did, like when you start the game you can run back into the force. I ran into the force like ten times. (0:37:19) Kevin: I was expecting something and nothing happened. I looked it up and there’s nothing, no insane hidden things like Stanley Parable, right? (0:37:30) Kevin: There’s some stuff, but nothing just completely insane. (0:37:36) Kevin: So yeah, it’s wild to see that they’re actually playing it straight. We’re getting a “cozy game”. (0:37:44) Kevin: So with that in mind, let’s talk about the premise, because I say (0:37:49) Kevin: “cozy” but there’s a big asterisk here because it is possibly one of the most “uncozy” openings to any game ever. (0:37:52) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:37:57) Aislinn: But I loved it. I genuinely loved it. (0:37:57) Kevin: And yes, yep. So this is, and you’re not an avatar, you’re not a Stanley, a blankly avatar more or less, you are playing a character named Alta. (0:38:09) Kevin: She is a fighter, a warrior, goes into tournaments. The story starts with her description of her wanting to be the best. (0:38:18) Kevin: she’s undefeated for like three. (0:38:19) Kevin: and she just totally off her game so what does she do she seeks out help she (0:38:21) Aislinn: Very, very long time, but yeah. (0:38:45) Kevin: He seeks out Master Winters, a legendary warrior. (0:38:49) Kevin: Who she thinks can help her get a groove back. (0:38:52) Kevin: So, Alta runs through the forest, but then at some point, her body starts to fail her. (0:38:59) Kevin: She collapses, and she wakes up in this clearing in the forest, in front of a tea shop called “Wanderstup”. (0:39:06) Kevin: She meets the proprietor, a man named Boro, who is a fantastic… (0:39:10) Aislinn: Oh, he’s wonderful. I love him. (0:39:13) Kevin: He is the complete, I would say foil, like opposite foil to Alta. (0:39:16) Aislinn: Yeah. (0:39:17) Kevin: She is the most chills (0:39:19) Kevin: Zen just goes with the flow kind of guy. He’s happy. Good luck. He always cracking jokes and whatnot. Um (0:39:24) Aislinn: So sweet (0:39:26) Kevin: He’s a wonderful man. Um, he is the one who rescued Alta (0:39:30) Kevin: explains where she is and (0:39:33) Kevin: and basically suggests for her to take a break because (0:39:38) Kevin: One of the first thing she does is try to pick her her sword and she can’t (0:39:41) Kevin: Why meanwhile borrow can pick it up. No problem. And it’s just something (0:39:46) Kevin: Something going on with Arthur. She can’t fight. She can’t… (0:39:49) Kevin: She can’t lift her. (0:39:50) Kevin: if you run back into the forest like I did you just collapse and are sent back to the clearing so (0:39:54) Aislinn: I did too for context. I also did the same thing as you, because I was like, I just need to know. (0:39:57) Kevin: Yeah (0:39:59) Kevin: Yeah, it’s though it would be that (0:40:00) Aislinn: Especially again, coming off of Stanley Parable, I was like, I just need to know. (0:40:02) Kevin: it (0:40:04) Kevin: It would be the most Stanley peril thing in the world right the run out you get it ending (0:40:08) Kevin: like absolutely, so (0:40:10) Kevin: So yeah, so that um so with you know after repeated attempts if you do or you just give up (0:40:17) Kevin: Boro suggests to Ulta to just stay there (0:40:20) Kevin: and the tea shop to help out to try to rest and recover (0:40:23) Kevin: because she’s clearly suffering from over exhaustion. (0:40:27) Kevin: And and so that and already at this very 10 minute initial premise, (0:40:33) Kevin: the game is is is going at me like directly targeting me bullseye because. (0:40:39) Kevin: So, OK, you are a hard worker. (0:40:42) Kevin: You probably relate to this. (0:40:44) Kevin: I think a lot of people from our generation, how we were raised, like, (0:40:48) Kevin: you know, we a lot of people, (0:40:50) Kevin: we’re raising the very drive, like driven generation, right? (0:40:54) Kevin: Work hard, work hard, succeed, go to the next thing, right? (0:40:56) Aislinn: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. (0:40:57) Kevin: Be the top, be first in class, right? (0:40:59) Kevin: And and I personally like my I was in the warrior, (0:41:02) Kevin: but like I graduated salutatorian in high school. (0:41:05) Kevin: Like my academic pursuits were like everything to me. (0:41:08) Aislinn: Mm-hmm. (0:41:10) Kevin: So I can relate to that very much so. (0:41:13) Kevin: And then there comes a point when life just punches you in the face (0:41:17) Kevin: And you, you know, you just, you’re, you’re knocked out a few. (0:41:20) Kevin: Notches. So I get this and I’m already very not comfortable with how personal this story has gotten. (0:41:26) Aislinn: Yeah, yeah, I really felt the anger that Alta was feeling in the beginning, not to the fullest extent, because I’m just generally not a very like angry person. But like, what, like the underlying emotions of that anger, I genuinely felt because I definitely also feel that in the sense that as a person that considers myself very hardworking as well, to be working so hard, and then to be knocked down like that, it really, really, really sucks. I get that. (0:41:34) Kevin: Yeah. Right. (0:41:54) Kevin: Yep (0:41:56) Aislinn: I definitely really felt for her right off the bat. Like immediately, I was like, Oh, this is one of those games. Oh, no, my heart. I was like, Oh, no, they really did. (0:42:00) Kevin: Yeah (0:42:04) Kevin: Yup (0:42:10) Kevin: Yup, yup. Yup. They have set the stage (0:42:15) Kevin: and and and again in right there in contrast with Boro a wonderful truly cozy character and then also the most (0:42:24) Kevin: I have possibly seen in a cottage core game (0:42:28) Kevin: But (0:42:30) Kevin: Like for me that one of the bits that really resonated is just running through the forest right getting back up going back (0:42:36) Kevin: Like I relate to that very much so to to maybe not on well (0:42:42) Kevin: Okay, I’ll say someone on the healthy levels, but or it’s let’s say it’s affected me right like I’ve definitely (0:42:47) Aislinn: We all go through it. We’re human. We all go through it. (0:42:48) Kevin: Right, right. Yeah (0:42:51) Kevin: Um, and so being forced to stop. (0:42:54) Kevin: That out of your control, that’s something I wouldn’t handle. (0:42:57) Kevin: Well, I&am

Al and Kelly talk about Grimoire Groves Disclosure: We received a free review code for Grimoire Groves. #gifted Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:23: What Have We Been Up To 00:12:16: Game News 00:36:28: New Games 00:39:42: Grimoire Groves 01:12:37: Outro Links Harvest Moon Pre-Orders Bugaboo Pocket Release Date Fields of Mistria 2nd Update Go-go Town “Spring Cleaning” Update Sun Haven “Festivals” 2.0 Update Autonomica (Farm Folks) Name Change Coral Island 2025 Roadmap Everdream Village Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the Harvest Season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al, and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:36) Kelly: And my name is Kelly. (0:00:40) Kelly: Yay. (0:00:41) Al: Welcome back, Kelly. How are you doing? (0:00:44) Kelly: Good. (0:00:44) Kelly: It’s always nice to be back. (0:00:46) Kelly: It’s so funny, because all of my voice recordings are just– (0:00:46) Al: Always nice to have you. (0:00:52) Kelly: oh, it’s like memory lane looking at all the past podcasts. (0:00:56) Al: You were last on talking about fields of mystery, which we might have stuff to talk about with (0:01:00) Kelly: Yes, yes. (0:01:04) Kelly: Yeah, I saw there was a note, but I (0:01:06) Kelly: I haven’t checked it out since we last spoke. (0:01:10) Kelly: Yeah, how have you been? (0:01:10) Al: But yeah, your first one of the year you did three last year. (0:01:12) Kelly: Oh, yeah, 2025. (0:01:14) Al: Let’s see if we can get you above three this year. (0:01:19) Al: Cool. Well, I have Kelly on this episode because we are going to (0:01:23) Al: talk about grimoire groves, grimoire groves. (0:01:28) Kelly: Yes, it’s like a little tongue twister. (0:01:31) Al: Yes, grimoire groves. (0:01:34) Al: Got to say up front, obviously, we received a free review code (0:01:38) Al: for the game, which actually can. (0:01:40) Al: I don’t know. No, that was a joke. That was a joke. That was a joke. (0:02:00) Kelly: No, no, no, no, I would absolutely pay money for this game. (0:02:11) Al: Spoiler alert. Yeah, so we’re going to talk about that game later in the episode. Before (0:02:15) Kelly: And thank you, Al, for that. (0:02:22) Al: that, we’ve obviously got a bunch of news, but first of all, Kelly, what have you been (0:02:26) Kelly: I have been up to taking care of a stray cat and then just trying to start (0:02:33) Kelly: planning out stuff for the spring for the yard. (0:02:36) Al: Oh, yes. Is it garden talking time? What’s your plans for this year? (0:02:39) Kelly: Yeah, but also we’re trying to… I don’t know yet. I’m still waiting but I have to (0:02:47) Kelly: clean up the yard because I prioritized weeding other areas of the house last (0:02:51) Kelly: fall instead of the garden, so it’s still kind of overgrown. (0:02:56) Kelly: I’m trying to get dirt so I can level out the borders of the (0:02:59) Kelly: yard and then tarp them. So exciting. And besides that, I’ve (0:03:08) Kelly: been playing Infinity Nikki for three solid months. This broke (0:03:11) Kelly: my streak, actually. I still play the game every day, so it (0:03:12) Al: No, I haven’t played it (0:03:17) Kelly: didn’t actually break my streak. I just was the only game I was (0:03:19) Kelly: playing for three months. (0:03:22) Al: Fair enough. I haven’t played Infinity Nakey. I’m pretty sure that Dalin plays it as well. (0:03:29) Al: I think we’ve talked about it before, but if you’ve been playing it for three months (0:03:34) Al: straight, I guess you’ve been enjoying it then. (0:03:36) Kelly: - Yes, yes, I think there were definitely moments, (0:03:39) Al: This is the dress-up game, right? Yeah. (0:03:41) Kelly: yes, there were definitely moments where I was playing it (0:03:43) Kelly: ‘cause I just was like, I don’t really have anything else (0:03:45) Kelly: I’m trying to play at the moment, (0:03:48) Kelly: but there is a lot of content and it looks really nice (0:03:51) Kelly: and it’s just like fun to run around the open world (0:03:53) Kelly: and like collect your stuff. (0:03:55) Kelly: It’s just a collecting game. (0:03:56) Al: Yeah. Look, you’re talking to a Pokemon player, right? Like, I know what collecting is like, (0:04:01) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:04:03) Al: I know the feeling. I think it’s a unique part of it, is the fact that it’s a gacha (0:04:10) Al: collecting game, but with outfits, I think is fun. (0:04:12) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:04:14) Kelly: Yes. (0:04:15) Kelly: And unfortunately, there are some things (0:04:19) Kelly: that you cannot beat with essentially not doing the gotcha, (0:04:22) Kelly: but you don’t have to do everything. (0:04:24) Kelly: It’s not going to stop your story progression. (0:04:27) Kelly: You’re just not going to get bonuses. (0:04:30) Al: Right. They’ve got to have a reason for you to pay money, right? (0:04:30) Kelly: You’re just not going to get the coolest outfit. (0:04:33) Kelly: Did I– absolutely. (0:04:36) Kelly: And did I spend some money to get a frog outfit? (0:04:40) Kelly: Yes, but it was a surprise. (0:04:42) Kelly: There was a dog outfit and I needed it. (0:04:44) Kelly: But also like the game is free also, so. (0:04:47) Al: Yes. And, well, yes, exactly. Tell me that three years ago. The thing about these three games is, (0:04:48) Kelly: You just have to you have to restrain yourself. (0:04:57) Al: yeah, you’ve got to make sure that you’re not going over the top, but you’ve also got to think (0:05:00) Al: about how much time and fun you’ve gotten out of games. Like, you know, if I think about Pokemon Go, (0:05:04) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:05:07) Al: I have obviously, I’ve definitely put too much money into that. But also when I think about the (0:05:07) Kelly: Ah, yes. (0:05:11) Al: amount of time that I spend in that game. Like, I spend hours every single day. (0:05:16) Kelly: Oh, I was Pokemon go is probably my highest. Yeah (0:05:17) Al: For eight, for nine years now. (0:05:22) Kelly: Like I don’t and I I I go back and forth on playing it but that game has (0:05:27) Kelly: That’s my most played game because of that (0:05:28) Al: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, ever. Yeah, that don’t think is… (0:05:31) Kelly: Like it beat my Sims like legacy of like, you know playing that from like 10 years old or whatever (0:05:38) Al: I think the thing is that because it’s so accessible, but also because you’re playing (0:05:41) Kelly: It’s so accessible it’s in your hand (0:05:45) Al: it for so many years, even if you only played half an hour every day after 10 years, which (0:05:47) Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yes, exactly (0:05:54) Al: in a year and a bit, it’ll be 10 years since the game came out, if you’ve only played half (0:05:58) Kelly: That’s disgusting, don’t say that. (0:06:05) Al: an error, but you do it every single day for the for the for. (0:06:08) Al: 10 years, that is nearly 2000 hours. That’s the thing, the (0:06:12) Kelly: that’s insane but yeah no it’s it’s true yeah exactly but yeah it’s so it’s like (0:06:15) Al: numbers just add up so fast. And let me tell you, it’s way more (0:06:20) Al: than half an hour I’ve played every single day. (0:06:20) Kelly: okay yeah yeah and it’s like okay so like if I put some money in it every (0:06:26) Kelly: year like I’m getting so much out of it you know and I played love Nikki which (0:06:31) Kelly: is what is the phone game before like there’s been other phone games before (0:06:36) Kelly: this too but that was the one I got really into which is different like (0:06:40) Kelly: setup wise, but essentially it’s just an outfit game again. (0:06:42) Kelly: Gotcha outfit game and again, it’s like okay. I played that game for like four years. I put some money into it (0:06:49) Kelly: But I played it a lot like I spent so much time playing that game (0:06:52) Al: Yeah, as long as you can afford what you’re doing, that’s the important thing. (0:06:56) Kelly: Exactly, but yeah, what have you been up to? (0:07:00) Al: I have been procrastinating playing Grimoire Crows. (0:07:06) Al: Every so often, I end up in this situation where I’m like, this is a game that I need to play, (0:07:11) Al: and then I end up not playing it very much. And instead of procrastinating by playing other games, (0:07:17) Al: I procrastinate by doing other things instead. So I’ve not really done much this week at all. (0:07:20) Kelly: Yep. (0:07:23) Al: I have started a shiny hunt for Regigigas in Pokémon Sword. I’m at the point where I need to (0:07:38) Al: actually get through the rest of the legendaries. I don’t have a shiny if I want to finish my (0:07:43) Al: living decks, because I’m 110 left. And so I’m going to run out of non-legendaries very soon. (0:07:48) Kelly: Oh, my god. (0:07:52) Al: And so I thought, let’s start this one, because I can’t just… Yeah, exactly. (0:07:55) Kelly: Start breaking it up. (0:07:58) Kelly: Yeah, no, I understand that. (0:08:00) Kelly: I used to do that with Angry Birds. (0:08:04) Al: You’re going to have to explain that. (0:08:10) Kelly: Since Angry Birds came out, any phone that I get, (0:08:13) Kelly: I download Angry Birds and beat the whole game again. (0:08:15) Al: You replay it all again, oh my word! (0:08:16) Kelly: 3 stars? (0:08:18) Kelly: I’m less about it now, I just kinda go back to it when I’m bored. So like, you know, I have my phone for a while, eventually I get all the stars. But there’s certain levels that even after all these years of replaying it, they’re just difficult. And they piss me off. So I’ll break it down. (0:08:25) Al: look it’s fun it’s a fun game but I can’t say i’ve played it in the last 15 years (0:08:48) Kelly: I always break those up when I go back to get the 3 stars for them. So it’s the same thing where it’s like, I don’t want to do the really tough thing repeatedly and then just get frustrated at the game. Like it’s boring, you know? It gets boring. (0:08:56) Al: Fair enough. My 15 years might have been a bit of an exaggeration, however it is only (0:09:04) Al: 15 years since it’s 15 years since the first game came out. I can’t believe it’s been 15 years, (0:09:06) Kelly: Yes, yes, because I played it on the first iPhone I had, or an only iPhone. (0:09:09) Al: that’s wild. It was it was definitely it was one of the it was one of the early games that made you (0:09:20) Al: go ’this is why I want a touchscreen’ and it was that and (0:09:22) Kelly: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:09:26) Al: Fruit Ninja and Digital Jump. Those were like the three that made me realize I get it, (0:09:27) Kelly: Yes, I never got into Fruit Ninja. (0:09:36) Al: I would like a touchscreen please. (0:09:38) Kelly: Yep. Well, that was the thrill of like, you know, with the iPhone too. It was like, oh, this is so sick. I can, I can play these fun games. I can do this for a peggle. (0:09:48) Kelly: I played peggle so much on that phone. It’s pinball. (0:09:52) Al: Okay, no, I didn’t. I didn’t play that one. I don’t think I need more games. (0:09:54) Kelly: Oh, you should look it up. I think you like peggle. (0:10:03) Al: Yeah, fun. All right. I think that’s all. Is that all I’ve got to talk about? I’m shiny (0:10:09) Al: hunting. I think so. I played… You were the one that you were you were spying me on steam. (0:10:16) Al: Was it like half an hour I played of Grimoire Groves or something? (0:10:16) Kelly: Oh, yeah, I was watching you all week because every time I’d sign on to the Steam, it’s (0:10:22) Kelly: like you’re the only person I know that has the game also. (0:10:22) Al: Oh, I’ve got an hour and 20 minutes apparently on steam there. Okay. That was yesterday. (0:10:26) Kelly: So for like the whole week, it was like 12 minutes playing. (0:10:30) Kelly: Yes, now, I see it now, but I was like watching it. (0:10:37) Kelly: I know because like two days ago, I was like, he’s still, he is cutting it close. (0:10:43) Al: Look, well, the problem was you messaged me and you said, “I’m loving this game. I’m (0:10:48) Al: played it so much.” And I’m like, “Okay, cool. I don’t need to then.” (0:10:52) Al: Yeah. No, I legitimately think that’s all I’ve (0:10:53) Kelly: Also, I’m the problem. (0:11:02) Al: done this week is like shiny hunting and Pokémon Go. (0:11:05) Kelly: sometimes it’s like you just get that mental block where you just can’t (0:11:08) Al: Yeah. Oh, I did do… I know. I did do the the Scarlet and Violet Quack Quack Quack Quaville (0:11:09) Kelly: even you’re just like oh I gotta I gotta do this but I can’t (0:11:20) Al: raids. I don’t think I’ve ever figured out how to say the name of that. (0:11:21) Kelly: What? What is that? I actually did not play Scarlet and Violet. (0:11:22) Al: Pokémon. Did you not? Um, it’s the, uh, it’s based on like carnival dancers. Uh, let me send you. (0:11:36) Kelly: Okay (0:11:38) Kelly: But like what is it you do the dancing like you (0:11:40) Al: It’s a Pokémon. Oh, no, no, just like a raid, like a normal Pokémon raid. (0:11:45) Kelly: Oh, but it’s like dressed up like a carnival dancer (0:11:49) Al: No, no, clearly you completely misunderstood this. This is just a Pokémon. (0:11:51) Kelly: Okay (0:11:52) Al: A Pokémon that is based on a carnival dancer. That’s the Pokémon, (0:11:57) Kelly: Oh, but that’s what you’re waiting for (0:11:57) Al: but they’ve done, there’s a raid to defeat it and capture it, yes. (0:12:01) Kelly: Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I thought this was like a costume Pokemon. You know what I mean? (0:12:05) Al: Oh, no, it’s not. They’ve not done that in the main games yet. Um, yeah, that’s it. (0:12:06) Kelly: Okay (0:12:12) Al: That’s the entirety of that. It was a raid. I did it. There we go. Done. Uh, (0:12:17) Al: should we talk about some news? Because the section is being a little bit of a disaster. (0:12:21) Al: Um… (0:12:23) Al: So, first up, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, we have some news on Harvest Moon, (0:12:30) Al: The Lost Valley, and Skytree Village, the ports or remasters, however they want to call them, (0:12:38) Al: for Switch, which for some reason they’ve decided to do, is up for pre-order now. (0:12:44) Al: It is $40 for the two of them, which still feels like too much, but (0:12:51) Al: I feel like it says a lot. (0:12:52) Al: When they’re selling two full games that they originally sold individually on separate consoles, (0:12:59) Al: and they’ve ported them both to the Switch, and they’re selling them both together for $40. (0:13:03) Al: That shows you how much people definitely want to buy these games. (0:13:07) Kelly: Yeah, cuz a lot of these remakes are like still a full 60 dollars alone. Yeah (0:13:11) Al: Exactly. The good ones are. (0:13:15) Al: So it’s coming out in June. Previously, we just knew it was coming out in the summer. (0:13:19) Al: We don’t have an exact date as far as I can see, just says June. (0:13:23) Al: And if you pre-order it now, you get a free acrylic standee (0:13:27) Al: with some of the worst art I’ve seen for a Harvestmen game ever. (0:13:31) Kelly: I can tell you really like this one. (0:13:33) Al: I haven’t even played these games, but I know for a fact they’re bad (0:13:36) Al: because I talked to Rachelle about them and they did not like them and yeah. (0:13:39) Kelly: I can never remember which ones are bad but the art for this one does not look good. (0:13:47) Al: These were I think the first two they did after the split between Harvestmen and (0:13:53) Al: so these were the first ones that weren’t by the original team. (0:13:56) Al: They were by Natsume and let’s just say they hadn’t made any games before and you can tell. (0:14:08) Al: I do, I will, I’m so strongly of the opinion that I think that people sometimes are judging (0:14:17) Al: Harvestmen too harshly purely because they’re angry that they kept the name and didn’t give (0:14:23) Al: back but that’s how these things work and I’m sorry you dislike that but I think if you actually (0:14:29) Al: played some of the newer games they’re not as bad as you think but these ones I’m pretty sure are. (0:14:37) Kelly: - Fair enough, I think that’s a fair point. (0:14:40) Al: The way I described it in the last episode I did with Micah is (0:14:43) Al: they are so close to having a good game. (0:14:47) Kelly: Oh, with the new ones. (0:14:48) Al: Yeah, they’re so close. So close. (0:14:51) Kelly: Maybe next– maybe next game, they’ll hit it. (0:14:52) Al: what we said for three games now. Each game they do is better than the last. Yes, but (0:15:00) Kelly: OK, so they’re growing slowly. (0:15:02) Al: they do still make some bizarre decisions in those games. They’ve also released a whole (0:15:07) Al: bunch of screenshots. And yeah, I mean, they basically look like the original games did, (0:15:13) Al: but with, I guess, more pixels, but not more pixels on the actual models, just more pixels. (0:15:20) Al: So it’s like– (0:15:20) Kelly: No, they look like knees, but like with a little bit better quality. (0:15:22) Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s exact. It looks better quality, but not in a good way. (0:15:30) Kelly: No. (0:15:31) Al: It looks like HD kind of, but it’s like you’ve got HD upscaled basically, right? (0:15:39) Al: Like you were recording on a really old camera and you’ve upscaled it to HD, (0:15:43) Al: so it’s like everything is shiny and lots of pixels, but it still doesn’t look good. (0:15:52) Kelly: - Yeah, no, it’s not right. (0:15:53) Al: These were a DS and a 3DS game, I think, originally, so they have had to merge the two screens. (0:16:02) Al: However, I think the bottom screen was mostly just like for the map, (0:16:06) Al: and so they now have a mini map on the screen, so… (0:16:09) Kelly: Okay, I feel like a lot of games like this have like the map or like controls or something at the bottom (0:16:14) Al: Yeah, yeah, so I guess we’ll see. (0:16:19) Al: I don’t, I’m gonna buy this. (0:16:22) Kelly: I like, did you notice that it’s so you said it’s releasing in June, but then at the top (0:16:23) Al: I’m gonna do my duty for the podcast, you’re welcome. (0:16:33) Kelly: it says ships in April to June. (0:16:36) Al: Yeah, if you scroll down to the product description, it says release date June 2025. (0:16:41) Kelly: interesting so this game is worth that $25 basically (0:16:43) Al: Apparently, the acrylic standee is worth $13. (0:16:48) Al: So yeah, well, I don’t know what to say. You probably shouldn’t buy this. (0:17:02) Al: But I will. Next, we have Bugaboo Pocket. (0:17:07) Al: Have announced that the release date is on the 2nd of April. I don’t know if you’ve (0:17:11) Al: seen this game, Kelly. It’s a bug game. It’s like a bug Pokémon, but like on… (0:17:12) Kelly: I have not. What is this? (0:17:20) Al: How do I describe this? It’s like virtual pets. So like Tamagotchis. (0:17:24) Kelly: Oh, okay, I see it now. Now I got the screen page, but it’s got like way more details. (0:17:30) Al: Yes, yeah, it’s very much like modernized in terms of how you would interact. (0:17:37) Al: Quality of graphics and is much more intense from that sort of aspect of things. (0:17:43) Al: But I think you also can, for lack of a better phrase, because I’m very tired. (0:17:51) Al: It’s the end of the weekend. Do science on them. I don’t know how to describe it. (0:17:57) Kelly: Like, experiments? (0:17:58) Al: No experiment. No, that would be immoral. No, inspect them and look at them. (0:18:06) Kelly: Oh, OK. (0:18:07) Al: There is like if you have… (0:18:09) Kelly: Oh, and pin them. (0:18:10) Kelly: It looks like you can pin them. (0:18:11) Al: Yeah, but those are dead. Like you’re not pinning a live one, right? (0:18:13) Kelly: Yeah, that would be immoral also. (0:18:18) Kelly: I hope so. (0:18:19) Kelly: I’m just looking at pictures. (0:18:22) Al: So yeah, it’s much more involved than a Tamagotchi. (0:18:28) Kelly: The graphics look really cool. (0:18:30) Al: Yeah, Cody is excited to play this. (0:18:33) Kelly: I’m sure that makes sense. (0:18:36) Kelly: This looks really cool, honestly. (0:18:37) Al: Anyway, coming on the 2nd of April. Next, we have the Fields of Mistria 2nd update. (0:18:45) Al: It’s out now, Kelly. Have you played it yet? (0:18:48) Kelly: Not since, uh, November, end of November, since we talked. (0:18:54) Al: Yeah, that was just the first update that was then, so. (0:18:56) Kelly: Yeah, ‘cause I had finished everything that you could possibly do at that point, (0:19:00) Kelly: and I was like, “Okay, I gotta, I don’t wanna kill the game for myself.” (0:19:00) Al: Yep. (0:19:04) Al: We were on the same page at that point, right? Basically, I think we’d both done everything you could do in the game and didn’t want to destroy our enthusiasm for the game. But does that mean you’re definitely not going to get jump into the game with this new update? (0:19:13) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:19:20) Kelly: I’m probably going to wait. (0:19:23) Kelly: I mean, I started breeding for different color animals (0:19:27) Kelly: and stuff, like the tears. (0:19:28) Kelly: So I had been failing my time with that, (0:19:30) Kelly: but mostly because I didn’t have a new game. (0:19:34) Kelly: But yeah, I’m going to wait and see. (0:19:35) Kelly: I got games coming out soon. (0:19:37) Kelly: We got “Rethopia.” (0:19:38) Al: Yes, oh, yes, that’s that (0:19:41) Kelly: I got a solid amount of games currently. (0:19:43) Kelly: So I gotta actually, like, focus on them. (0:19:46) Al: That’s fair. We’ve already covered what’s out in this update, so let’s not spend too long on it. (0:19:50) Kelly: Mm-hmm, okay. (0:19:50) Al: Next we have Gogotown. Their next update Spring Cleaning is out now. I presume you haven’t played (0:19:59) Al: this game. It is fun. It definitely feels very polished for the way that I talked about it in (0:20:07) Al: the episode I did on it. It’s very polished what is there, but it feels like it’s a long way to go (0:20:13) Al: to feel complete. (0:20:15) Kelly: Okay, that’s fair. I mean it seems very ambitious looking so hopefully they just get there (0:20:16) Al: Yeah, a number of things in this update, you can now store a tool and a vehicle on (0:20:29) Al: yourself, it says in a patented Townco dimensional pocket. Basically, you had vehicles, but you (0:20:36) Al: had to like park them somewhere. So now you can keep one of them on yourself. So you have (0:20:40) Al: to keep running back to the parking spaces, which is a nice update. There’s also (0:20:46) Al: a Town info app that gives you a bunch of information on the Town. 360 degree camera (0:20:52) Al: rotation, which is good. I like this. Oh yes, what was that? You’ve asked for it. We’ve (0:20:56) Kelly: I like their note on this. (0:21:00) Al: put in an experimental setting for you to rotate the camera 360 degrees. Fair enough. (0:21:05) Kelly: The screenshot is definitely making me dizzy though, looking at it too long. (0:21:07) Al: Yes, you can definitely tell us experimental. There’s some things that move out of view when (0:21:13) Al: when they shouldn’t do and stuff like that. (0:21:17) Al: A work in progress. (0:21:17) Kelly: But I mean like they they they put it out there that it’s experimental so. (0:21:20) Al: Yep, yep, and they’ve also added (0:21:23) Al: infinite seeds for your farming, which I am intrigued by because I thought (0:21:28) Al: when you planted a seed, the plant never never seemed to die. (0:21:33) Al: It just seemed to always grow new stuff. (0:21:35) Al: So you essentially had infinite stuff, right? (0:21:38) Al: Because as soon as you had a seed, you just (0:21:39) Al: planted it and you had that plant forever. (0:21:40) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:21:41) Al: But maybe I’m misremembering. (0:21:44) Kelly: Maybe they changed it. (0:21:46) Al: updates as well. But yeah, those are the main ones that I noticed. (0:21:49) Al: Next, we have Sunhaven have released their 2.0 update. (0:21:53) Al: And you’re like, oh, 2.0, that sounds like it might be a big update. (0:21:57) Al: It’s festivals. (0:22:00) Al: It doesn’t particularly feel huge. (0:22:02) Al: I’m intrigued as to why they decided to go for 2.0 at this point. (0:22:06) Al: OK. (0:22:10) Al: It adds a furniture festival, a garden (0:22:12) Al: festival, a pet festival, a mushroom festival, a snow festival. (0:22:16) Al: And a bunch of other (0:22:19) Al: furniture and stuff like that related to that. (0:22:22) Kelly: Okay, interesting how much of the game is actually out? (0:22:26) Al: Well, it’s no longer in early access. (0:22:28) Al: So I feel like I think they might have I feel like they’ve done everything that (0:22:32) Al: they said in the Kickstarter, like it’s the story is done and stuff like that. (0:22:38) Al: When I see people talking in the comments, they’re no longer complaining about things (0:22:43) Al: they’re talking about translations being bad. (0:22:49) Kelly: Yeah, this one’s been on my wish list, (0:22:50) Kelly: so I’ve been just waiting to see. (0:22:54) Al: I think I own it, yes, I do. (0:22:56) Al: I kick-started this one, I just haven’t played it yet. (0:22:59) Al: So this came out initially in 2023. (0:23:03) Al: Or was that, no, that was the 1.0, I think. (0:23:06) Al: Yeah, 2021 is when it first came out. (0:23:08) Al: And this was when I was still well and truly (0:23:11) Al: primarily Switch, but it wasn’t on Switch yet. (0:23:15) Al: And then I got a Steam Deck, (0:23:16) Al: and then suddenly I was very much on the Steam Deck, (0:23:18) Al: except for games that weren’t on the Steam Deck. (0:23:21) Al: but I had kind of really moved the path. (0:23:24) Al: I’m just thinking about this game, because it was, you know, it had been like two years or something since it started. (0:23:32) Al: Sometimes I do think that there is like a time period where if you’re not going to play a game (0:23:36) Al: within that time period, you’re probably never going to get to it. (0:23:38) Kelly: Yeah, no, definitely it definitely gets harder and harder to go back to it (0:23:44) Al: So maybe I’ll get to it one day, who knows, there’s so many games. (0:23:48) Al: Next we have farm folks or, as it is now called, (0:23:54) Al: Autonomica? Good job, going from a game name that was just slightly awkward to say to one that I don’t know how to pronounce. (0:24:02) Al: Autonomica? Auto… Autonomica. (0:24:04) Kelly: Oh, Tom, oh, oh, Tom, I don’t know, I don’t know. (0:24:08) Al: Autonomica. That’s what you were trying to say, wasn’t it? Autonomica. (0:24:13) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, something like that. (0:24:14) Al: No, I don’t think it’s Autonomica. (0:24:18) Kelly: I don’t think it is either, (0:24:19) Kelly: but I was just trying to see if I could say it. (0:24:20) Kelly: And apparently I can’t. (0:24:24) Al: For those who don’t know the story behind this game, it was started as farm folks, and then the company that was making it went bust. (0:24:32) Al: And then another company basically, I don’t know whether they bought the company that went bust or whether they bought the rights to the game and the code and stuff, (0:24:40) Al: but they continued development. So the company that’s making this is not the company that did the Kickstarter for this game. (0:24:46) Al: Although I’m pretty sure I saw somewhere that they are going to honor the Kickstarter, which is always good. (0:24:52) Al: Um, don’t take– (0:24:52) Kelly: nice isn’t there another game with like a similar ish name to this new name but (0:24:54) Al: I’d need to confirm that, but I feel like I saw that somewhere. (0:25:05) Kelly: also like how do you go from farm folks which is like the most generic farm game (0:25:08) Al: Yeah. (0:25:10) Kelly: name I’ve ever heard now which is not saying a lot because a lot of these farm (0:25:14) Kelly: games have a lot of similar names it is but how do you go from that to what do (0:25:16) Al: Naming is hard, all right. (0:25:20) Kelly: What are you calling it? Autonomica? (0:25:22) Kelly: Autonomica. Oh, it’s a musical artist. Yes, I knew I’d seen this name somewhere before. (0:25:24) Al: Autonomica. Autonomica? (0:25:30) Al: Oh. (0:25:36) Al: So they’ve made they have went the new (0:25:38) Al: company that took over the game have basically been moving it in a different direction. (0:25:43) Al: So it’s it is still farming. (0:25:46) Kelly: It looks like Fortnite with Farfian. (0:25:46) Al: It’s not. (0:25:49) Al: Yeah, they’ve never really explained their reasoning, but they’re like, it’s not just farming. (0:25:53) Al: It’s so much more than that. (0:25:55) Al: So therefore we think farm folks is a misleading name and I’m like, OK, but I don’t. (0:25:58) Kelly: Okay. That makes more sense. But I don’t get anything about farming from this name. (0:26:04) Al: No, but you do get the automation part of it, which I think they’re really big enough. (0:26:09) Al: The college so that their new blurb on steam is Autonomica is an open world life simulator (0:26:16) Al: game that seamlessly. Oh, my word, I hate this so much seamlessly merges resource (0:26:22) Al: management and automation with farm building, extensive customization, (0:26:26) Al: PvP slash PvE battles and elusive phantoms. What is this jumble of words? (0:26:34) Al: Play solo or with friends to build your mega farm factory with almost no limits. (0:26:38) Al: It is a farming game. It’s just like a industrial scale farming game. (0:26:44) Al: Right. And I get why they wanted to change. (0:26:48) Al: Why they wanted it to be clear that this was not the same game that they took over. (0:26:52) Al: But also it is farming game. (0:26:57) Al: Like you can’t say it’s not a farming game. It is a farming game. (0:27:01) Al: Build your mega farm factory, they say in the new blurb. (0:27:04) Al: Like I don’t understand the issue with it. (0:27:06) Kelly: All of these screenshots, too, are just like, what is that game? (0:27:09) Al: Yes, Factorio. Yeah. (0:27:11) Kelly: Factorio? (0:27:14) Kelly: It’s like that, but with farming more. (0:27:16) Al: Open world 3D Factorio. (0:27:20) Al: Which I honestly am excited by. I think this game could be really good. (0:27:25) Al: I just don’t understand why they really didn’t like the name and they decided to change. (0:27:29) Al: But I don’t think this is a better name. (0:27:32) Al: That’s all I’m going to say. I get why they didn’t like the old game. (0:27:35) Al: Old name. I’m not sure this is better. (0:27:37) Kelly: Honestly, they can take this if they want to, but I think it should have been (0:27:44) Kelly: auto-pharmica, if anything. (0:27:46) Al: I would, yeah, I would certainly be more better. Yeah, I don’t disagree with you. (0:27:49) Kelly: It would be better than this. (0:27:54) Kelly: I would assume that this is some sort of space or underwater survival game (0:28:02) Al: Oh, interesting. Yeah. Anyway, they changed the name. RIP farm folks. Long live farm folks. (0:28:03) Kelly: just going off the name alone. (0:28:08) Kelly: It’s so weird too, because I don’t even like farm books. (0:28:14) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:28:18) Kelly: I digress. (0:28:19) Al: Coral Island have announced their 2025 roadmap. They have 1.2 planned to come out in the first (0:28:27) Al: half of the year, bringing multiplayer and revamped romance. (0:28:32) Al: Which I was looking at what they say about the romance. So let’s talk about the multiplayer (0:28:37) Al: first. There’s probably not a huge amount to say. Basically, it looks like it’s stardew (0:28:41) Al: style multiplayer. You’re all multiple people on the farm. Great, fine. I’m sure it will be (0:28:46) Al: great for people who love. I am not particularly interested just because I don’t want to actually (0:28:51) Al: play my games with other people. I like these games because I’m playing them on my own. (0:28:52) Kelly: I have no desire, I have no desire to play these. These types of games are for me to play by myself, so I can be a maniac, like, let me be a psychopath by my- (0:28:59) Al: Exactly. Exactly. (0:29:03) Al: I have tried so many times to play multiplayer Stardew, and I just can’t because I have to be (0:29:08) Kelly: Oh, no. No, no, no. (0:29:10) Al: the one who has this. The problem is, right? You have to organize to play at the same time, (0:29:16) Al: and that is just not fun. Organizing times for these. (0:29:16) Kelly: No, because either you’re micromanaging all of it, too. (0:29:25) Kelly: It’s like, how do you organize the time to play together and also organize how you’re (0:29:30) Kelly: playing together? (0:29:32) Al: Yeah, the best way to do that is just be like, right, you do the farming you do the mine, there you go, go, go do your jobs. (0:29:32) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:29:38) Al: And yeah, I don’t, I don’t particularly find it fun, I get why people might. And so if you are excited about Coral Island multiplayer. (0:29:46) Al: There you go, it’s coming. I hope you enjoy it. I’m not going to do this. (0:29:48) Kelly: I think the only multiplayer game I like is Monster Hunter, to be quite honest. (0:29:58) Al: So I was also looking at the romance revamp that they’ve got. (0:30:02) Al: And I think the only difference is, so there’s a bunch of heart events that existed already. (0:30:10) Al: And it looks like you have to see the previous heart events to unlock certain, to unlock (0:30:17) Al: more hearts. (0:30:18) Al: So once you get to five hearts, you have to watch the heart events for them before you (0:30:24) Al: can do heart six to eight. (0:30:26) Al: And then you have to watch another heart event and give a locket. (0:30:32) Al: Before you can start dating and do the next two hearts, which then you have to watch the (0:30:37) Al: other events and propose before you can get married and do the other five. (0:30:43) Al: I do think this is better because what I found when I was doing this, because I got married (0:30:49) Al: in Coral Island, is I had no clue that there were heart events still to do, which is probably (0:30:55) Al: still going to be a problem here, but let’s put that aside for a minute. (0:30:59) Kelly: There’s no like there’s no like heart marker next in like the (0:31:02) Al: So there are hearts, but it’s not like, it’s just like how many hearts you have. (0:31:09) Al: Like there was no like indication that there’s an event you should be doing. (0:31:12) Al: So like I got to 10 hearts and then I went and tried to propose and they were like, oh, (0:31:17) Al: I’m not ready yet. (0:31:18) Al: And I’m like, but this is the point where I meant to be able to propose. (0:31:20) Al: Why can’t I do it? (0:31:22) Al: And I googled and it was like, oh, because you’re missing heart events. (0:31:24) Al: And I hadn’t done any of the heart events. (0:31:27) Al: And I don’t know how it happens in Carta Island, but in Stardew, (0:31:29) Kelly: How– so I was going to say, it’s similarly set up, (0:31:32) Al: I was always finding the heart events. (0:31:37) Kelly: like you just trigger the event when you encounter them (0:31:40) Al: Yes, and there are a few heart events in Stardew that were very niche and you (0:31:41) Kelly: in a certain location. (0:31:46) Al: wouldn’t immediately find, but like by that point, you’re like, oh, (0:31:51) Al: I know that these things are coming, so I should be expecting them. (0:31:53) Al: I hadn’t done a single one in Carta Island. (0:31:56) Al: How had I not triggered any of the heart events? (0:31:59) Kelly: Yeah, that’s crazy. That doesn’t seem like a good sub. (0:32:00) Al: It was very confusing. (0:32:02) Al: And also, I don’t think the heart events are required in Stardew for marriage. (0:32:10) Kelly: I don’t think they are either. I think they’re just, like, for you. (0:32:12) Al: Yes, and you can get extra points by doing them. (0:32:16) Al: And they’re nice, and you want to know about the story because all the characters are good characters. (0:32:16) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:32:22) Al: I was going to say great, but no, not all the characters are great. (0:32:22) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:32:24) Al: All of them are good characters. (0:32:28) Al: Um, but yeah, I just, it was really, so if they have a. (0:32:32) Al: Way to make it clear. (0:32:34) Al: That you’re now expecting to see events, then that would be good. (0:32:38) Al: Um, I don’t know. (0:32:40) Al: Um, we’ll see, I guess they don’t talk about that. (0:32:44) Al: I don’t think, but it’s interesting restricting it that much. (0:32:48) Al: So you, you have to see the events before you can continue your heart progress. (0:32:53) Al: Uh, I don’t know how I feel about that. (0:32:55) Kelly: Yeah, that seems kind of iffy the way you just described your past experience, so I guess we’ll see. (0:33:00) Al: Aha, the revamped romance system unlocks at heart level two and you’ll see a prompt (0:33:05) Al: in the relationship UI whenever a hangout event is available. (0:33:10) Al: That is good. (0:33:11) Al: It’s now making it clear when you can do something and when there’s something to do. (0:33:15) Al: That is good. (0:33:16) Al: And if you click on them inside the menu and it shows like all the stuff that you’ve done (0:33:22) Al: with them, you know, the stuff you’ve learned that they love and stuff like that, and like (0:33:25) Al: there, the birthday and stuff, it says unlock requirement, see hangout event. (0:33:30) Al: I don’t know what happened to three but anyway, whatever. (0:33:37) Al: I think that means for heart two and for heart four. (0:33:41) Al: That’s what I think it’s talking about. (0:33:43) Al: So they are definitely making it much more visible, that aspect of things. (0:33:47) Al: So that is good. (0:33:48) Al: They’re also adding more heart events for after marriage, which is also good because (0:33:52) Al: one of the things I’ve really complained about Carl Island is that your spouse ends up turning (0:33:55) Al: into a hollow husk after you get married. (0:33:58) Kelly: That’s pretty sad. (0:34:01) Al: - It was so sad. (0:34:02) Al: The minute you got married, (0:34:05) Al: they just stand in your house all day doing nothing. (0:34:07) Kelly: Oh no. (0:34:09) Al: It was the worst. (0:34:09) Al: I’ve taken your life (0:34:11) Al: and you are now just an ornament in my house. (0:34:15) Al: It was so sad. (0:34:16) Al: So hopefully that’s improved a lot with this. (0:34:20) Al: And then the 1.3 update will include your kids growing up. (0:34:27) Kelly: that’s cool that’s what I literally just started like wondering if it’s like generational like do (0:34:27) Al: And it is, I wonder how far it will go. (0:34:30) Al: I don’t know. (0:34:36) Al: I would expect not. (0:34:38) Al: I expect it would just be, oh, they grow up to be a teenager and then they stop sort of thing. (0:34:42) Al: That is my expectation. (0:34:44) Kelly: that makes sense because that’s a big that’s that’s a lot doing (0:34:44) Al: I don’t think they’ll go full hog. (0:34:49) Al: Especially as they could actually make it like real-time in-game, right? (0:34:52) Al: For every year, they are a year older. (0:34:54) Al: And so you would actually have to do 18 in-game years. (0:35:00) Al: Before your child is an adult. (0:35:04) Kelly: - Hmm. (0:35:05) Al: So they could just go, I’m sorry, if you’ve played 18 years in this game, you’ve played too much. (0:35:12) Al: But I mean, I don’t know, maybe it will work. (0:35:14) Al: I mean, I do know that some games where you have kids that grow up, (0:35:18) Al: you then die and you become your kid. (0:35:20) Al: They could do something like that. (0:35:22) Kelly: That’s true, that would be cool. (0:35:23) Al: And then you inherit the farm and, you know, 20% of it is taken in tax. (0:35:31) Al: Yeah, so they’ve not got a huge amount of information in the 1.3. (0:35:35) Al: They also said there’s going to be a Merfolk festival. (0:35:39) Al: But they’ve not got any details on how the kids grow up. (0:35:42) Al: But that is coming in the second half of this year. (0:35:44) Al: Have you played, you’ve not played Coral Island? (0:35:46) Kelly: No. I really try to avoid early access. (0:35:47) Al: No. (0:35:50) Al: Well, it’s not early access anymore. (0:35:51) Kelly: Uh, oh, it’s out, out? (0:35:53) Al: Yeah. (0:35:54) Al: The 1.0 came out just over a year ago. (0:35:58) Kelly: Okay, I must have missed that. (0:35:58) Al: and then they go and they go on. (0:36:00) Kelly: I thought it was still in early access, still. Okay. (0:36:00) Al: 1.1 sometime last year? No. The 1.0 was technically not early access, but realistically (0:36:06) Al: was early access. The 1.1 feels like what the 1.0 should have been, but the multiplayer (0:36:12) Al: was always coming after early access. So I don’t feel like you would be missing out if (0:36:17) Al: you played now compared to if you played two years ago, you definitely were missing out (0:36:22) Al: in a lot. (0:36:22) Kelly: Okay, okay, maybe one day (0:36:24) Al: All right. And we also, we all maybe, maybe, probably not. We also have (0:36:30) Al: a new game by the developers of EverDream Valley. In fact, this is a sequel to EverDream (0:36:36) Al: Valley called EverDream Village. I get what they’re doing with that name, but also I am (0:36:42) Al: going to constantly mess up. Which one is which? They also feel the wrong way around, (0:36:47) Kelly: The valley and village is like too close to each other. (0:36:53) Al: you start in a village and then you go out to a valley. (0:36:53) Kelly: Yes, it should have been, this should be a prequel. (0:36:57) Kelly: Yeah, this is the prequel in my, (0:36:59) Kelly: I literally thought like this should be the prequel (0:37:00) Al: Set 10 years after the events of EverDream Valley, EverDream Village brings a whole (0:37:07) Al: new chapter with living, breathing village and a world beyond your farm. Now you’re built, (0:37:13) Al: this is the thing. It’s like the problem was EverDream Valley wasn’t really a valley. It (0:37:17) Al: was EverDream Farm. Right. And if it was that way, it was EverDream Farm and then EverDream (0:37:21) Al: Village. That makes more logical sense to be our expansion on that. Right. You’ll build (0:37:22) Kelly: Mm-hmm. (0:37:28) Al: relationships explore mysterious islands. (0:37:30) Al: The Valley may have been home but it’s time to explore a world full of new adventures, (0:37:44) Kelly: - Yeah, it doesn’t seem right, there’s something off. (0:37:57) Al: NPCs and endless possibilities. I don’t really get whirled and (0:38:00) Al: abilities from village. I know what they mean. I know what they (0:38:02) Kelly: - No, but I think they just mean the world of Everdream. (0:38:08) Al: mean. I know what they mean. Build your ideal cozy farm in a (0:38:12) Al: living village. Form bonds with fellow villagers to lend a hand (0:38:16) Al: as you grow crops, care for animals and craft a corner of (0:38:18) Al: paradise. Sail across enchanted islands to discover new resources (0:38:22) Al: and adventures along the way. Maybe it’s definitely not a (0:38:25) Kelly: Maybe there is a world. (0:38:28) Al: village. (0:38:31) Al: Anyway, I mean, you can ride a pig in Evergreen Valley, so they hopefully have something like that in this game. (0:38:36) Kelly: I’m looking at that right now. (0:38:38) Kelly: That actually looks really cute. (0:38:39) Kelly: That’s a good feature. (0:38:40) Al: I haven’t played this game. It’s been on my list for forever. (0:38:44) Kelly: The first one. (0:38:45) Al: Yes, well, the second one is now yet, so of course I’ve not played that. (0:38:48) Kelly: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:38:50) Al: It’s just coming soon. They’ve not said when, it’s coming just soon. (0:38:54) Kelly: One day. (0:38:54) Al: One day. All right. (0:38:56) Kelly: Do you see this tag at the bottom on their news updates? (0:39:00) Al: The second one is that in the Evergreen Valley page? (0:39:04) Kelly: On the Steam page, yeah. (0:39:07) Al: Where am I looking? Where am I looking? (0:39:07) Kelly: I guess this is who they base the pig off of. (0:39:11) Kelly: Let me send it to you. (0:39:12) Kelly: I’ll just send it to you. (0:39:12) Al: There’s too many pages here. That’s the problem. (0:39:13) Kelly: I would do that. (0:39:15) Kelly: It really is. (0:39:15) Al: On their news. Oh, happy birthday, Peter Curleytail. (0:39:18) Kelly: Recent events, yes. (0:39:20) Al: I don’t know what to say. That is quite a pig. (0:39:24) Kelly: He’s a little frightening, but kind of cute. (0:39:26) Al: Yes, that is quite the pig. (0:39:29) Kelly: But I like the interpretation of him. (0:39:31) Al: Yeah, I like the name Peter Curleytail. (0:39:35) Kelly: Yeah, I. (0:39:36) Kelly: I’ve never seen a pig like that before, so it’s a little haunting. (0:39:42) Al: All right, that’s us done with the news. (0:39:44) Al: We are now going to talk about grimoire, grimoire. Is it grimoire? (0:39:51) Al: Grimoire. Grimoire grows. And grimoire is something that’s a witch term, isn’t it? (0:39:59) Al: like what it what I keep hearing great (0:40:00) Kelly: Yeah it’s always like I feel like it’s like swamps and grimoires and uh no it’s um what (0:40:00) Al: memoirs and lots of these witchy games. (0:40:08) Al: That explains that because, right, okay. (0:40:10) Kelly: is it a grimoire is a the book it’s the book it’s like your book of spells that’s what it is. (0:40:17) Al: And the grove is the land that you’re doing (0:40:22) Al: because a grove is like a kind of forest type thing. (0:40:26) Kelly: Yeah, yeah. But no, it’s a little book that you… (0:40:28) Al: Okay, makes sense. (0:40:30) Kelly: have all your information in. (0:40:33) Al: So, a quick introduction to this game. (0:40:38) Al: It is described on Steam as join the witches in their quest to restore the grimoire groves, (0:40:45) Al: master magic, grow cute plant creatures, and discover the mystery of the rainbow socks (0:40:52) Al: in this cozy roguelite dungeon crawler. (0:40:55) Al: The way I would describe this in my whole one hour and 20 minutes playing it (0:40:59) Al: is it is kind of cult of the lamb, but without actual, without. (0:41:09) Al: Combat the way you interact in your runs is different. (0:41:13) Al: It’s not combat so much. (0:41:16) Al: And it’s less about building a village and more about restoring nature. (0:41:24) Al: Would that be a fair way of putting it? (0:41:26) Kelly: Yeah, I think so. It’s, it’s, it’s… (0:41:29) Kelly: But you still, I feel like I’m fighting. (0:41:31) Kelly: Maybe I feel less like I’m fighting and I’m more surviving. (0:41:31) Al: Yes, okay, so I mean, okay, you could make an argument that it is basically just fighting, (0:41:39) Al: but it’s it feels so you’re feeding the plants instead of fighting them, I think is how they (0:41:44) Kelly: Yeah, yeah, but no, I’m just I’m just being a jerk. I think it’s I think that’s a good. (0:41:44) Al: describe it. So that’s why I’ve been like is not. No, no, it’s, it’s, it’s fair in terms (0:41:50) Al: of game play is very similar to most other Roguelike action games. (0:41:51) Kelly: Yes, I also think it it has that. Yeah, yeah, it has that cuteness that I think (0:41:59) Kelly: cultural land kind of has, which is why I think like they remind me like like you said like it (0:42:04) Kelly: makes you think of them. You have the juxtaposition. Yeah, yeah. (0:42:06) Al: I think the cuteness works much better in Cult of the Lam (0:42:09) Al: because it’s… exactly, exactly. (0:42:12) Al: Whereas here, the whole world is cute. (0:42:14) Kelly: But I love the saturation in this game. So like that for me is like, and I loved Call to the Land. (0:42:21) Al: Okay, I will say the game looks lovely. (0:42:24) Al: It looks really nice. (0:42:25) Al: I do love how the game actually looks. (0:42:28) Al: The graphics, the design of the characters, (0:42:36) Al: and character, but also the plants and everything. (0:42:38) Al: I do like all of that. (0:42:39) Al: That is all nice. (0:42:41) Al: I will absolutely agree with that. (0:42:44) Al: Yes. (0:42:46) Kelly: I just think it’s like you don’t always, you don’t really get a lot of games that are like, (0:42:52) Kelly: it’s like saturated, but it’s also pastel, like there’s two different kind of colored (0:42:56) Kelly: tones going on in the game, which I think is interesting. (0:43:00) Kelly: Like the backgrounds are more saturated, but the creatures, the plants are a little more (0:43:04) Kelly: pastel leaning, but it’s so vibrant. (0:43:07) Kelly: Like a lot of games, they’re so dark a lot of the time or like aiming to be more realistic (0:43:11) Al: - Yeah. (0:43:13) Kelly: in their tones, I guess. (0:43:15) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:43:16) Kelly: Yes, but yeah, no, I love all of the designs. (0:43:17) Al: No, you’re definitely right about that. (0:43:20) Al: You wouldn’t look at this and think it was something else. (0:43:20) Kelly: I love all the little plants. (0:43:23) Al: That’s very true. (0:43:23) Kelly: No, exactly. (0:43:26) Al: So I guess there’s two main parts to this game, (0:43:29) Al: and there’s obviously a lot of other things, (0:43:31) Al: lot of things that I won’t have done in the main area. (0:43:33) Al: But like most of these roguelites, (0:43:37) Al: you have your hub, (0:43:38) Al: which is an area that is run– (0:43:41) Al: was previously run by some other witch– (0:43:44) Al: I can’t remember her name, maybe– (0:43:45) Kelly: Is it lavender? (0:43:47) Kelly: I think so. (0:43:49) Al: and it’s been taken over by thorns, (0:43:53) Al: and it’s all dreary, and you are to restore it. (0:43:57) Al: That’s the main idea. (0:43:58) Kelly: You’re the young spry witch coming in to fix it. (0:43:59) Al: And you do that by classic cliche, (0:44:05) Al: but it’s there for a reason. (0:44:08) Al: and your runs that you do. (0:44:11) Al: I think of roguelites specifically talking about roguelites not roguelikes (0:44:22) Al: well let’s not have that debate again. I find there are two types there are ones where (0:44:31) Al: your hub the point of the hub is to improve your powers skills etc to then do the runs and the (0:44:38) Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yes, I was going to say, very– (0:44:41) Al: runs is the purpose of the game and that would be your like Hades stuff like that. (0:44:49) Al: And then there’s this type of thing this and Cult of the Lamb where your hub is the point of (0:44:55) Al: the game and the runs are to gather resources for doing things in your hub. (0:45:00) Kelly: I would say it’s kind of like a mix, I think, between Cult of the Lamb and Hades in that aspect. (0:45:07) Kelly: Because I do think Cult of the Lamb, there’s so much that you do in your hub area. (0:45:12) Kelly: And I don’t think this quite has near that amount of stuff. (0:45:16) Kelly: Like, you have a lot of updates and things you can interact with. (0:45:20) Kelly: I don’t want to spoil anything. (0:45:22) Kelly: But Cult of the Lamb, you could like run the village until you ran out of resources. (0:45:28) Al: I guess my point is like you’re not the run isn’t the like with Hades you are escaping hell (0:45:28) Kelly: like I spent like five minutes like you know up (0:45:31) Kelly: and then I got another run (0:45:37) Kelly: the sole purpose yes (0:45:40) Al: and your run is escaping hell and if you fail you go back to the hub world and you try again. (0:45:45) Al: Whereas in this and with Cult of the Lamb the point is the runs you’re doing to do (0:45:50) Al: things to bring back you’re never like disappearing and I think that’s that is very much (0:45:53) Kelly: No, that’s a fair point, yeah. (0:45:58) Al: why I liked Cult of the Lamb because I was building up this thing and I really hate the (0:46:05) Al: overall feeling of Hades where if you fail you fail and you’re back to the start and you have (0:46:09) Al: to start again and so I was really excited for this because I was like oh maybe this will be (0:46:15) Al: another one that I like because it’s that sort of style but I mean I guess I need to say at some (0:46:21) Al: point I didn’t like the combat in this game. I didn’t but I feel like (0:46:24) Kelly: Did you try it on easy mode? (0:46:27) Kelly: I d

Al and Kev talk about Piczel Cross: Rune Factory Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:23: What Have We Been Up To 00:23:29: Game News 00:32:12: New Games 00:38:58: Piczel Cross: Rune Factory 01:01:33: Outr Links Desktop Cat Cafe One Lonely Outpost Console Release Sprout Valley “Friends Forever” DLC Everholm 1.1.0 Update Farlands 0.4 Update Mika and the Witch’s Mountain “Into the Mount Gaun” Update Wholesome Direct Announcement Monsterpatch Kickstarter Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Kev: And my name is Kevin, and I’m, or so I’m told. (0:00:38) Al: and we’re here today to talk about how tired we are, and also Cottagecore Games. (0:00:44) Kev: Oh, gosh, yes. (0:00:46) Kev: Oh, whoa, hey, that, that’s the correct one. (0:00:55) Kev: That’s how my brain feels right now. (0:00:55) Al: That’s all of the enthusiasm you get from this episode, though. (0:01:00) Al: Right. This episode, we’re going to talk about Pixel Cross Rune Factory, the new Pixel Cross game. (0:01:06) Kev: by the not to pick across people yeah (0:01:11) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Pixel Cross by someone else. Before that, we obviously have the news. (0:01:19) Al: Look at a chunk of news. So we’re going to talk about that. But first of all, Kevin, (0:01:25) Al: what have you been up to? (0:01:26) Kev: Oh gosh. So, not a lot in terms of games and all that. Why, you ask? Because I went on a (0:01:36) Kev: work trip this week. I just got back this morning, a couple hours ago, when we start this recording. (0:01:47) Kev: So, I went to sunny San Diego, California. My first time back to my home state in almost 25 years. (0:01:57) Kev: I’m not from San Diego. I’m a little farther north. It’s my hometown area. But, (0:02:04) Kev: yeah, I went to San Diego a few times because SeaWorld was there. But not too many memories (0:02:09) Kev: other than SeaWorld. But the trip itself was fine. The work stuff was work stuff, whatever. (0:02:21) Kev: But just yesterday, I got basically an extra day. I’m gonna spend a (0:02:26) Kev: little time to run around San Diego. I went down to the beach, this place called La Jolla Cove. (0:02:35) Kev: There are sea lions, there are rocky cliffs. You can wade in the water in the beach. It is (0:02:43) Kev: all the hallmarks from my childhood because I lived by the coast. Farther north, like I said, (0:02:48) Kev: but almost the same thing. Many seals and sea lions. Very, very enjoyable. The weather was nice. (0:02:55) Kev: That was a great time. (0:02:56) Kev: So, yeah, that was fun. (0:02:58) Kev: What wasn’t fun was the kind of the bookends, the start and the beginning of this. (0:03:06) Kev: So, as I was leaving, I was bringing my own personal laptop because, you know, I might need it for something or wanted to do stuff with it. (0:03:16) Kev: And then I soon discovered that it wasn’t charging. (0:03:22) Kev: At first I thought I was the charger, that wasn’t working, then I thought it was the (0:03:26) Kev: port, but it wasn’t charging with another, the original charger which is a different (0:03:31) Kev: kind of port. (0:03:34) Kev: Long story short, I think my personal computer is dead. (0:03:37) Al: Oh, no. (0:03:40) Kev: So I have to get that repaired, I don’t know if it’s a battery thing or whatever, but I (0:03:45) Kev: would like that fixed because I have things on there including my other audacity and recordings, (0:03:52) Kev: that’s my usual recording computer. (0:03:57) Kev: Next, and also that explains the chromium audio quality coming from me today because I have (0:04:04) Kev: my microphone, but it’s a USB-A connector and the computer I’m using right now is only (0:04:12) Kev: USB-C ports because of the brilliant design of course I guess, and I don’t have a dongle (0:04:18) Kev: or adapter or whatever, so I’m just using standard laptop recording. (0:04:24) Kev: So yeah, sorry about that. (0:04:26) Kev: Folks. So that happened. That was not fun. I’m gonna address that. So the trip back, that was, that was something because the plane left or it was a, I had one layover in Los Angeles. (0:04:48) Kev: So my first flight left like at 6 p.m. San Diego time and it was only not even a full house. (0:04:57) Kev: I had a half hour to get to Los Angeles. So I was there by 7 p.m. or whatever, let’s just say, but then my, the other flight left at 11 p.m. So I was in the airport doing not much of anything for four hours. (0:05:10) Al: Yeah, always fun. (0:05:15) Kev: The fun part is, so we left at 11 p.m., right? And I’m traveling west to east so the time jumps gets weird and we had daylight savings time. (0:05:27) Al: Oh, just to make even more confusing. (0:05:27) Kev: So, yup. So my flight left at like 11 p.m. I arrived today at 7 a.m. but it was only a four hour flight. So you do the math. (0:05:42) Al: Well, I don’t I don’t think I want to do the maths on that, to be honest. (0:05:43) Kev: I, I, I’m, I think literally, yeah, yeah, yeah, literally. (0:05:47) Al: It was it was bad enough. It was bad enough trying to figure out what time it would be (0:05:51) Al: for you today when we’re recording it. What is normal time for me? (0:05:56) Kev: I lost, like the flight was half the time of the time change. Like it’s bad. I almost left four hours, but I landed eight hours later. (0:06:07) Kev: So I’m, it’s, I’m tired, my feet in pain from walking and all that. I’m kind of all beat up. So yeah, not a lot of games because of that. (0:06:19) Kev: I got in a game of Snap here or there, but not, not that much, you know, but what I did get to see on the way, on the flight too. (0:06:26) Kev: I got to watch a couple movies because it’s a longish flight (0:06:32) Kev: The first one was John wick chapter 4 (0:06:35) Kev: Have you watched the John wick movies? (0:06:37) Al: I have, yes, yes I have. I didn’t watch them for a long time because I was like, “Ugh, (0:06:38) Kev: Okay, um, so (0:06:43) Al: just another action film.” And then I watched the first one and was like, “Oh no, this (0:06:44) Kev: Yeah (0:06:47) Al: is, this is not just, this is like, I don’t, I don’t know why nobody told me before I watched (0:06:47) Kev: Yeah (0:06:53) Al: them that they were satire. Like, they’re fantastic, they’re so good.” (0:06:55) Kev: Yeah, oh, yeah, they’re incredible, right? (0:07:01) Kev: So, yeah, a big fan of the WIC series. (0:07:05) Kev: The fourth one, I think, is the weakest entry in the whole thing. (0:07:10) Kev: I feel like so obviously they’re just thinly veiled excuses for, you know, (0:07:17) Kev: gun cottas and choreography and stuff, right? (0:07:21) Kev: Like, I get that. (0:07:22) Kev: but even even by (0:07:25) Kev: those standards like I don’t know the plot here just wasn’t wasn’t doing it (0:07:29) Kev: for me right like John’s motivations didn’t line up like he was supposed to (0:07:35) Kev: go out and and kill the the 12 members of the table or whatever he killed only (0:07:40) Kev: the one guy I don’t know but anyways the the action was good of course I feel (0:07:48) Kev: like the most ridiculous of the the series which is you know a lot but cuz (0:07:53) Kev: We I don’t know why we have guns (0:07:55) Kev: Japanese bows and arrows and samurai swords, but we do because it’s cool. I guess but (0:08:02) Kev: But yeah, I don’t know. It just feels like (0:08:06) Kev: Even by John Wick’s changes. There are a few places that just kind of went a little over the top (0:08:11) Kev: Or maybe it’s just a little fatigue from seeing the other three entries or whatever. I don’t know (0:08:17) Kev: But I mean overall it was good. I’m not I’m not trying to berate it too much just probably my least favorite of the (0:08:24) Kev: The entire series (0:08:25) Kev: And hey, it’s Keanu, right? Like I was happy to see that and I love his his, you know, his his trademark (0:08:33) Kev: Yeah, that he does in every movie like 50% of his lines are just that yeah (0:08:41) Kev: Good old good old Keanu (0:08:45) Kev: Let’s see the other one I watched was A Quiet Place day one (0:08:49) Al: Hmm. (0:08:50) Kev: So I have not seen either of the other quiet place movies. I didn’t know a third one (0:08:55) Kev: came out but I saw it in my life so I was like sure why not. Have you seen quiet place either? (0:09:00) Al: - Yeah, I’ve seen them all, yeah. (0:09:04) Al: Which, I’m just noticing how funny this is (laughs) (0:09:09) Al: because we were having a chat on one of the slacks (0:09:13) Al: about someone claiming that I just watch everything (0:09:16) Al: and then the two series that you’re talking about, (0:09:16) Kev: Yeah, that’ll bring up. Yeah, yeah (0:09:18) Al: I’ve watched both of them, but anyway. (0:09:24) Al: The, I do, I don’t think it’s actually a bad place (0:09:30) Kev: Well, from what I understand, they’re not like, all the stories aren’t directly connected, (0:09:31) Al: to enter the series. (0:09:40) Kev: right? (0:09:40) Al: The first two films are, the second film is very much a direct sequel of the first one but day one is very much a prequel, not connecting directly to individual people, but the concept, yeah, so if you understand the concept of it, then yeah, but… (0:09:41) Kev: They’re different. (0:09:43) Kev: They are? (0:09:44) Kev: Oh gosh, that doesn’t, oh, nevermind then. (0:09:52) Kev: Okay. (0:09:53) Kev: Right. (0:09:54) Kev: Mhm. (0:09:55) Kev: Okay. (0:09:56) Kev: Sure. (0:09:57) Kev: Sure. (0:09:58) Kev: Sure. (0:09:59) Kev: Sure. (0:10:01) Kev: Yeah. (0:10:02) Kev: I do. (0:10:03) Kev: Yeah. (0:10:04) Kev: Yeah. (0:10:05) Kev: And then, you know, it’s not a terribly hard concept. (0:10:06) Kev: So, yeah. (0:10:07) Kev: Yeah. (0:10:08) Kev: I was familiar with that. (0:10:09) Kev: So, um, I don’t know, like, obviously I can’t compare it to the first two, I haven’t seen (0:10:12) Kev: them, but they, this one felt like a little, they were forcing it a little too much, right? (0:10:21) Kev: Like we, we, we’ve already got a cancer patient, right? (0:10:24) Kev: So, you know, they’re already trying to tug at the, the heartstrings or whatever. (0:10:29) Kev: and then you have a dank. (0:10:30) Kev: In this movie it looks like my cat, which caused my anxiety to spike so much, because the cat in that movie looks a lot like my cat, or one of my cats. (0:10:41) Kev: And of course what they can do, they’re going to keep putting it in danger. (0:10:48) Kev: But yeah, a lot of it was very heavy handed in how it was trying to raise the stakes. (0:11:02) Kev: But overall, not a bad film. (0:11:05) Kev: Yeah, I think there are a few moments where it’s a little questionable, like I don’t know why this character did this or whatever, but overall pretty fine. (0:11:19) Kev: Yeah, I don’t have much else to say, I liked it overall though. (0:11:26) Kev: Um, but that’s what I’ve got going on for me. What about you? What’s going on? (0:11:32) Al: Yeah, I’ve also not done a huge amount of gaming. This week has been busy, busy. Obviously (0:11:37) Al: I’ve been playing Pixel Cross Rune Factory for the episode. And I did a bit of raids (0:11:40) Kev: I did too. Great. Shadow Legend. Oh. [laughs] (0:11:45) Al: in Scarlet and Violet this weekend. And obviously I’m continuing on Pokemon Go every day. Yeah, (0:11:56) Al: that’s probably about it games-wise. I did watch the first two episodes of the new Daredevil (0:12:01) Al: Born Again series. (0:12:02) Kev: due to how are they do tell me (0:12:03) Al: There’s that I very much enjoyed the right word. (0:12:09) Al: I very much thought I thought there were I thought they were good. (0:12:12) Kev: I thought they were shows (0:12:13) Al: There was a couple of no, no, no, it’s more a case of I can’t say much (0:12:18) Al: without spoiling it, but there’s this stuff that happens that doesn’t make me (0:12:22) Al: happy, but it’s not meant to make me happy, right? (0:12:25) Kev: okay so mission accomplished that’s not necessarily a bad thing (0:12:27) Al: Yeah, I’m feeling what they want me to feel. (0:12:30) Al: it. Yeah, it’s (0:12:31) Kev: I don’t like the feeling. (0:12:32) Al: the. (0:12:35) Kev: OK. (0:12:36) Kev: What is the plot? (0:12:38) Kev: Because I don’t know any– (0:12:39) Kev: I haven’t heard anything about the specifics. (0:12:42) Al: Have you seen the the Netflix series? (0:12:42) Kev: What is– I have not, but I know enough about it, I think. (0:12:47) Al: I mean, the overall idea of the series is this is the Fisk is Mayor one, so, which they’ve (0:12:58) Kev: » Okay. Sure. (0:13:00) Al: done in comics before, I’m sure I know I’ve kind of seen some things about it, but that’s (0:13:05) Al: the kind of overall something happens at the beginning of the first episode that leads (0:13:10) Al: to Daredevil stopping. (0:13:12) Al: being Daredevil, and then Fist becomes Mayor, and now we’re a little bit further on, and (0:13:18) Al: now Matt wants to be Daredevil again, or doesn’t want to be Daredevil again. (0:13:22) Al: But you know what I mean? (0:13:23) Al: Like, it’s forced into being Daredevil again because of things that happen. (0:13:23) Kev: yeah yeah okay uh okay then you know that’s fine I guess but okay well fisk is mayor okay that that’s (0:13:29) Al: It’s hard to say much without spoiling the episodes, right? (0:13:36) Kev: the elevator picture I was looking for um okay here’s a question where does this fit into the (0:13:42) Kev: timeline like with she-ho because that’s the one i’m actually seeing with the good old man in any (0:13:46) Al: Yeah, it’s a good question. They don’t directly tie it in, but I think as far as I can tell (0:13:55) Al: it’s She-Hulk and then a little while later Echo happens and then a little while later (0:14:01) Al: this happens. They directly reference Echo happening in the past. Yeah, they don’t directly (0:14:02) Kev: Okay. Okay. (0:14:13) Al: reference the racist. (0:14:16) Al: that’s, I think it’s happened in the past, but not sure. Like just in terms of like (0:14:20) Kev: Okay (0:14:23) Al: just general MCU continuity, right? (0:14:25) Kev: Mm-hmm, um, okay that that’s interesting because I haven’t seen echo (0:14:32) Al: Echos, well, okay, I really enjoyed Echos. I thought it was very good. Yeah. (0:14:35) Kev: Okay (0:14:38) Kev: Okay, I mean no no like I believe it just I’m thinking just like cuz you know (0:14:43) Kev: obviously I feel like there’s a lot of important context because you know with the (0:14:48) Kev: the end of Hawkeye you get some kingpin and (0:14:50) Kev: then you got Echo and She-Hulk, so I’m just, yup, yeah he is and that’s fine cause it’s (0:14:51) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he’s he’s popping up in a lot of things, (0:14:56) Al: isn’t he? (0:14:59) Kev: a great portrayal, but you know just context wise like how do I, I missed a few chapters (0:15:04) Al: I would watch Echo, I think it’s worth watching Echo. Not necessarily for Daredevil, (0:15:05) Kev: in how we got here. (0:15:10) Kev: I watch Hawkeye, yes. (0:15:16) Al: I don’t think it really does a huge amount for Daredevil, but it does for Fisk. I think (0:15:18) Kev: Yeah (0:15:21) Kev: Okay (0:15:22) Al: it’s important for Fisk’s story. (0:15:24) Kev: Okay, okay, that makes sense is Kate Bishop in it Kate Bishop in any of this oh (0:15:30) Al: has not been yet. I also like Kate Bishop. Yeah, there were some rumours that her stepdad, (0:15:32) Kev: But I like Kate Bishop specific (0:15:36) Kev: Specifically this one. What’s her name Haley Seinfeld? Yes (0:15:44) Al: what’s his name? I can’t remember his name. Yeah, there were some rumours that he’s going to appear (0:15:46) Kev: Oh the the sword guy (0:15:48) Kev: Oh (0:15:51) Al: in this series. But we’ll see. (0:15:52) Kev: Okay, uh-huh that’d be interesting I don’t remember his name is he supposed to be a sword master I don’t know whatever um (0:16:00) Al: I think he’s kind of loosely based on that idea, but he’s not actually. He’s just a bozo. (0:16:04) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:16:06) Kev: Yeah, that’s that’s the feeling I get (0:16:10) Kev: Well, you know, you know, I don’t even need Kate Bishop specific. I just want more Haley Seinfeld in my life (0:16:16) Al: Well, well, yeah, there is that. Yeah, I would be surprised if we don’t get her in the next (0:16:18) Kev: There is that (0:16:23) Al: two years in something. I guess, is that cheating? Because in two years, we’ve got secret wars, (0:16:25) Kev: I mean, yeah. Well, you know what? (0:16:30) Al: and if we don’t get anybody, if someone doesn’t appear in secret wars, (0:16:34) Al: they’re basically dead, right? Like, they’re not going to be in anything again. (0:16:36) Kev: I was look I was I was about to say with at the current state of the mcu (0:16:42) Kev: it’s a kind of a 50/50 on that question for almost anyone (0:16:46) Al: I don’t think, I don’t think Kate Bishop was badly received at all. Like, there are some characters (0:16:56) Kev: yeah (0:16:57) Al: that I could see them just, like, I would be really sad if she helped never appears again, (0:17:01) Al: but I would understand based on, you know, the internet. But I didn’t see anything about that with (0:17:02) Kev: yes (0:17:06) Kev: yeah (0:17:09) Kev: yeah yeah no i’m here’s the thing like my point is it feel like in such a (0:17:15) Kev: directionless disarray I don’t even think that’s a factor like what (0:17:18) Al: Well, I think I think they’re at the point now where they’re just wrapping up the stories (0:17:27) Al: that they weren’t sure about. And I think they probably have good ideas for what they want to do, (0:17:33) Al: but they need to wrap up what they were doing before they can do that, if that makes sense. (0:17:37) Al: Like it feels like we’re kind of almost like falling towards secret wars because they want (0:17:42) Al: to get it over and done with and then reset into something that they can do the stories (0:17:44) Kev: Yes (0:17:48) Al: they want to. The classic comic book way, right? (0:17:48) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah (0:17:53) Kev: Yep, yep, throw away everything cuz we’re not sure anymore is just do the new thing I guess (0:17:59) Al: Yeah, we would like to do our film that lets us have Pedro Pascal (0:18:04) Al: alongside Robert Downey Jr. Please and thank you, move along. (0:18:07) Kev: Yeah, you know, that’s yeah. Ooh, you know, that’s that might be a fair trade-off (0:18:14) Kev: You don’t you won’t get what’s his name? Oh gosh One Direction guy Wow (0:18:20) Al: Oh yeah, Harry Styles, Star Fox. (0:18:23) Kev: Yeah, you’re not I promise you we’re not getting Harry Styles anymore, but we’ll get Pedro Pascal that’s that’s a fair trade-off. Oh (0:18:32) Al: Yeah. Look, the one that boggles my mind that they’ve not brought back is Shang-Chi. (0:18:33) Kev: Oh, man (0:18:38) Al: Why has he not reappeared anywhere? Bizarre. Bizarre to me. Like, that was such a well-received film. (0:18:42) Kev: Yeah (0:18:49) Kev: It was yeah, I mean it but really I mean (0:18:54) Kev: Everything post infinity war like not not not by individual like, you know, obviously there’s been great and highs and lows (0:19:02) Kev: but just like the entire (0:19:04) Kev: idea of their continuity and (0:19:08) Kev: Connectedness has been an absolute mess a train wreck. So I don’t know (0:19:12) Al: It’s really interesting if you look back on release dates. So we had a whole Iron Man trilogy (0:19:13) Kev: You (0:19:15) Kev: Mm-hmm. Yeah (0:19:21) Kev: Yes, right (0:19:21) Al: in five years, 2008 to 2013. It has been nearly four years since Shang-Chi came out. (0:19:25) Kev: Yeah (0:19:29) Kev: Oh sick (0:19:32) Al: So in the time that it has been since Shang-Chi, Iron Man was nearly at its third film. (0:19:40) Kev: Crazy. (0:19:40) Al: Thor had a full trilogy and. (0:19:42) Al: In six years, Captain America had a full trilogy in five years. (0:19:50) Al: Like it’s just, it’s fascinating how slow they are at getting sequels out now. (0:19:50) Kev: Oh, yeah, one of my favorite benchmarks of any time comparison is the US Confederacy, (0:20:02) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Two thousand, yeah. Fun. Fun times. Anyway, uh, I’ve also been watching (0:20:03) Kev: right? (0:20:05) Kev: And we have now a full Confederacy between Shang-Chi appearances. (0:20:13) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:20:22) Al: Avatar the Last Airbender, so that’s the thing I’m watching through just now. So I have just (0:20:24) Kev: Oh yeah, I forgot about that. (0:20:27) Kev: Mm. (0:20:28) Al: finished season one and I am enjoying it very much so. (0:20:32) Al: Particularly there was a fun, so when they get to the North (0:20:36) Al: Pole, there’s a very fun, Katara has a very fun fight with (0:20:36) Kev: Yep. (0:20:42) Kev: Yep. (0:20:42) Al: someone. I don’t want to say too much, just in case anyone else (0:20:44) Al: is wanting to watch them. It doesn’t want to get spoiled. (0:20:46) Al: That fight is an incredible fight. I love all the different (0:20:50) Al: ideas that they have for that fight. So yeah. (0:20:53) Kev: oh well buckle up buckaroo because one thing they did excellent throughout the entire show (0:21:01) Kev: up to the very end is the choreography um well the fight choreography and direction um it’s all (0:21:09) Kev: stellar um but you know because all the the different earthbending styles are based off real (0:21:15) Kev: life martial arts and whatnot and so they you know they they translate that well but then of (0:21:20) Kev: And of course you have elemental superpowers. (0:21:23) Kev: They translate, they do fun stuff with that sometimes. (0:21:25) Kev: Um… (0:21:27) Kev: But, uh… (0:21:28) Kev: Oh, I am very excited for you. (0:21:31) Kev: Uh, like, y-you’ve seen how good season 1 is. (0:21:34) Al: Yeah, and people well people keep saying it’s the worst season, and I’m like this is the worst my word (0:21:35) Kev: What if I told you… (0:21:38) Kev: Yeah! (0:21:38) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:39) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:40) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:40) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:41) Al: I’m looking forward to what comes next (0:21:41) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:41) Kev: YEAH! (0:21:43) Kev: Yeah, exactly what I was about to say, yeah, I’m glad you’re enjoying it. (0:21:45) Kev: You haven’t seen anything yet, you’ve seen garbage. (0:21:48) Kev: It’s… it’s so good. (0:21:49) Al: The humour in it is very good. It’s stupid for humour, but the comedic timing is what (0:21:50) Kev: Um… (0:21:53) Kev: It’s great. (0:21:56) Kev: Yeah. (0:21:57) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:00) Al: gets it, right? There’s a bit where Katara is pretending to be an earthbender, right? (0:22:00) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:01) Kev: Yeah, it- (0:22:06) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:06) Al: And they do this weird thing where Aang is blowing air through a hole in the ground to (0:22:11) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:13) Al: levitate a rock, and Katara is pretending to do that. (0:22:13) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:14) Kev: Yeah. (0:22:19) Al: The guys look over and they’re like, “Oh, that lemur’s earthbending!” It’s just such (0:22:24) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, you’re right, they are they’re killer with their (0:22:25) Al: a stupid moment, but because of the tension, and they build it up, and the timing, and (0:22:31) Al: that stupid moment is just so funny. (0:22:37) Kev: comedic timing, like in general, because it’s, it’s, it’s wild, because it’s such a serious, (0:22:44) Kev: like, show, right, like, both in terms of the overall plot, and they, they treat that, (0:22:49) Kev: the tone gets very heavy at times, but they still managed to pull off. (0:22:54) Kev: And I think part of it is because they’re stupid 12 year olds, you know, so they’re gonna do dumb stuff. (0:23:00) Al: » Yeah. (0:23:02) Kev: But yeah, oh man, I can’t hurry up and finish it so I can talk to you about my favorite episodes, the dragon dance. (0:23:04) Al: » Yeah. (0:23:10) Al: It will only be another few weeks. (0:23:12) Al: I’ve got these done in three weeks. (0:23:14) Kev: Alright. (0:23:14) Al: So we’ll be done soon. (0:23:16) Kev: Tell me you get to boo me. (0:23:20) Al: Yeah, I think that’s everything. (0:23:22) Al: So that’s what we’ve been up to. (0:23:22) Al: My word. (0:23:24) Al: I thought this was going to be a short episode. (0:23:24) Al: We’re 25 minutes in. (0:23:26) Kev: I’m on- I’m on this show, you know that won’t happen. (0:23:31) Al: - Let’s get through this news. (0:23:32) Al: So first off, desktop cat cafe is out now. (0:23:35) Kev: Okay. (0:23:35) Al: Not much to say about that. (0:23:36) Al: That’s the bottom of the screen cat cafe game, (0:23:38) Kev: The- the- the rusty leg is what I’d say, yeah. (0:23:39) Al: the Rusty Like. (0:23:42) Kev: Um, that’s- (0:23:44) Al: So if you were like, (0:23:45) Al: “Oh, I like the idea of Rusty’s retirement, (0:23:46) Al: but I want it to be cats.” (0:23:49) Al: There you go. (0:23:50) Kev: Yeah, the the cats are kind of I’m still not the whole idea (0:23:55) Kev: I don’t like I’m very on the idea, but the cats are very cute. I will say that (0:24:02) Kev: Yeah, it looks nice. I’m sure it’s a wonderful entry for you rusty. Yeah, it’s right rusty lights. I’m rusty like fans (0:24:13) Kev: I enjoy cute cats (0:24:15) Al: Next we have one lonely outpost have released their 1.0 and are now on switch Xboxes and (0:24:22) Al: PS5. (0:24:24) Kev: Wait, they weren’t already on Switch? (0:24:25) Al: They were not the this is their this is their console release. (0:24:27) Kev: Okay. (0:24:30) Kev: Oh, well, good for them. (0:24:31) Al: The 1.0 is pretty slim. (0:24:33) Al: It’s like yeah this is the 1.0 and it’s like almost all bug fixes. (0:24:38) Kev: Hehehehe, it’s a game! (0:24:40) Al: Which is like probably the right way to do it like I’ve always complained about people (0:24:45) Al: 1.0 and like here’s half the game now because it’s because it just ends up being buggy. (0:24:48) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:50) Al: So this is probably the right way to do it but it’s just really funny saying here’s the (0:24:53) Al: release notes for 1.0 and the only thing that isn’t a bug fix is added four new artifacts (0:24:59) Al: to Sydney’s shop. (0:25:00) Kev: I was about to say like, the amount of content for 1.0 is debatable maybe or a little subjective, (0:25:13) Kev: yada yada, but the one thing, the game should work, right? (0:25:17) Kev: That’s the minimum, so if it’s all just bug fixes to get to that point, I can live with (0:25:22) Kev: that I guess. (0:25:23) Kev: I probably won’t play this game, but you know, good for them. (0:25:26) Al: for sure. (0:25:28) Kev: They crossed a finish line. (0:25:30) Al: Next we have a new DLC for Sprout Valley, it’s the Friends Forever DLC, I think this (0:25:36) Kev: Didn’t expect this I don’t know why I just I don’t know but here we are sprovella dilsen (0:25:42) Al: is what happens when you release a game that costs like a fiver, you sell DLC, 11 new friends (0:25:45) Kev: I guess yeah (0:25:49) Al: that can be found while visiting new islands, each of them has their own gift preferences, (0:25:53) Al: hobbies, unique style, and they’re all different. (0:25:56) Al: They’re all different kinds of creatures from buffaloes to frogs. Each new island’s dweller has a questlet at the end of which await new workspaces, items, and rewards. (0:26:06) Kev: cool. 2-bit or 8-bit Hello Kitty Island adventure, basically. Yeah, no, I’m kidding, I’m kidding, (0:26:12) Al: I it’s not as big as that, not by in no way as it was. (0:26:16) Kev: I know. I know. Yeah, yeah, no. I’m just saying, because I’m looking at one of the, I think (0:26:18) Al: I had fun with the, what, like five hours I played it. (0:26:25) Kev: it looks like a dog. It looks a little like a cinnamon roll. Anyway, it’s still a very (0:26:29) Kev: cute game, no matter what. Good for you Sprout Valley, keep on trucking. (0:26:35) Al: Next, we have Everhome have released a 1.1.0 update. (0:26:40) Al: This adds cooking, and it adds a compendium, tracking discoveries. (0:26:42) Kev: like cooking that’s always a good one feels like it should have been at 1.0 (0:26:48) Al: Yep. (0:26:52) Kev: but mmm true (0:26:52) Al: Yeah, well, as you say, always debatable what these things are. (0:26:58) Al: And they’ve also overhauled their quests and luck systems. (0:27:02) Kev: oh okay that that’s probably good um well I get it you touche (0:27:05) Al: So maybe we’ll see. Who knows? (0:27:13) Al: Firelines have released their 0.4 update, adding relationships into the game. (0:27:18) Kev: oh goody finally now now they’re cottage core oh um (0:27:24) Al: I think you’ll find their space cottage core. Thank you very much. (0:27:33) Kev: yeah I don’t i’m trying to think of a clever name I can’t think of one but here we are oh man (0:27:40) Al: base kedge no i’m not no I should have not but (0:27:46) Kev: Can I rome can I romance aliens do just the cat people boo (0:27:50) Al: I don’t think so (0:27:55) Al: yeah I haven’t seen anything about that anyway (0:27:58) Kev: This should be (0:28:00) Kev: There’s very clearly an alien-looking guy again. I would guess it’s an alien-looking guy (0:28:06) Al: You know what, I think you might be excited about, OK. (0:28:09) Kev: Yeah, the next news item (0:28:11) Al: Mika and the Witches Mountain into the Montgaunt is now available. (0:28:16) Kev: Oh snap this is a reason to come back (0:28:16) Al: This is the as far as we know, as far as we know, (0:28:22) Al: it’s the last update for Mika and the Witches Mountain. (0:28:27) Al: I say as far as we know, just because in the release information, (0:28:31) Al: they’re saying it’s the latest free content patch. (0:28:36) Al: They’re actively saying it’s the final one. (0:28:38) Al: But they have previously not mentioned any announcement of any other updates. (0:28:44) Kev: Yeah, okay (0:28:44) Al: But this is the one that adds in dungeons. (0:28:46) Al: So there are three dungeons in the game to test your skill. (0:28:50) Kev: So I was about to say because I’m looking down the dungeons (0:28:54) Kev: There’s one of fire one of wind and one of water and I’m and you know, I’m no secret. This is (0:29:02) Kev: Oh my god, but oh my goodness (0:29:07) Kev: Wind Waker jeez, I know I took me to I’m tired people. Um, it’s wind Waker inspired (0:29:08) Al: Mm-hmm (0:29:12) Kev: I’m looking at like all that. I know that (0:29:14) Kev: Wind Waker dungeon. I know that Wind Waker dungeon (0:29:17) Kev: And I’m like, yeah, we’re just turning up the Wind Waker dial and then I scroll to the near the bottom (0:29:24) Kev: And oh, there you go. They’ve also introduced your actual actually (0:29:30) Kev: Link’s costume you get the tunic and a green hat. They call it the green witch but (0:29:32) Al: I, yeah, I think you’ll find this is the green witch outfit, thank you very much. Legally distinct. (0:29:43) Kev: Very cute (0:29:44) Kev: Is this reason for me to fire up Mika? Yeah, I actually probably is I haven’t touched it so (0:29:46) Al: you you yeah absolutely did you play the other two updates (0:29:53) Kev: I’ve not so I’m gonna get them all at once. Yeah (0:29:55) Al: well there you go then I was waiting for the for the mall as well maybe we (0:29:59) Kev: Yeah, I’m down for that (0:30:03) Kev: This is uh (0:30:06) Kev: Whoa (0:30:07) Kev: Sorry, I’m just reading when you get the green witch costume you get upward flight. So I (0:30:13) Al: Oh, finally! There we go. Just a shame that that’s for completing the dungeons, i.e. having (0:30:15) Kev: Snap (0:30:17) Kev: The limiters are off (0:30:19) Kev: Then it’s (0:30:22) Al: done everything in the game. Well, hey, maybe it’ll be fun, who knows. (0:30:24) Kev: Yeah, pretty much (0:30:28) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I’m always I was kind of (0:30:32) Kev: I’m always torn on this sort of design right because it’s it’s not uncommon where you get the (0:30:37) Kev: The full power at the very end or whatever right and like on the one hand it makes sense that you know (0:30:44) Kev: That’s where the progression leads to (0:30:46) Kev: But on the other hand like what are you gonna do with it now, you know? (0:30:50) Al: Yeah, yeah, I think this there is a balance to be had there and I think I (0:30:55) Al: think this is why I like 3d platform or certain nothing just platformers in general because (0:31:01) Al: You know excluding Metroidvanias, which the whole point is just unlocking (0:31:05) Al: Skills as you go. I like the idea that it’s (0:31:09) Al: What gets you through the game is your skill improving not necessarily the game just giving you things to make it easier (0:31:16) Kev: Okay, sure, sure. (0:31:18) Al: Um, and speaking of metroidvanias, I did. (0:31:20) Al: Once, which you didn’t unlock stuff as you went through the game, it just told you about stuff as you went through the game. (0:31:28) Al: So if you like just experimented and tried things, you would actually be able to do things much earlier than the game told you about them. (0:31:35) Kev: Yeah, I like that, see that is a good design right there. (0:31:40) Al: Next, we have the announcement that the Wholesome Direct is coming back this year, coming in June, there we go. (0:31:47) Kev: Okay, just like I don’t mean like one punch man. Okay. I’m like, all right. Yeah, that’s fine (0:31:56) Al: There we go. (0:31:56) Al: That’s the thing. (0:31:58) Al: That is a nice, easy episode for us later in the year. (0:31:58) Kev: Yeah (0:32:01) Kev: Yeah, that’s the real excitement here easy episode announced (0:32:07) Al: No preparation except watching a video. (0:32:09) Kev: Yeah, we can do that (0:32:13) Al: And finally, we have the announcement of Monster Patch. (0:32:17) Al: We have vaguely talked about this in the past, because this is the monster-collecting farming (0:32:26) Al: game by the maker of Littlewood. (0:32:26) Kev: Oh, by Sean Young. Yeah. (0:32:30) Al: Yes, so, but this is like the first proper thing of it, and this is the Kickstarter (0:32:35) Al: is going live soon. (0:32:38) Al: So yeah, it’s very much Gameboy-style graphics, kind of traditional Pokemon-style graphics. (0:32:46) Al: So if you like that, yeah. (0:32:46) Kev: Very not just graphics like even art style like that those trainers. That’s a Brock misty and ash (0:32:56) Al: Yeah, I was going to say the first one is definitely Gary. (0:32:56) Kev: And there’s even a Gary on the first image (0:33:00) Kev: That is definitely Gary (0:33:03) Kev: And even some of these Pokemon, you know getting getting in that little little bit of power world school of thought that you know (0:33:12) Kev: He squint is that a whooper? No (0:33:17) Kev: It’s an ax a lot. No, that’s not a that’s not a whooper (0:33:25) Al: Hold up. Hold up just a minute. Is Whipper based on an axolotl? (0:33:27) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:33:30) Al: I had never noticed that before, but you’re right. It is, isn’t it? (0:33:31) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s got the little little you know antenna with a little (0:33:34) Al: Wild. There you go. (0:33:40) Al: It totally is. It totally looks like what… (0:33:42) Kev: Yeah, yeah, there you go. Yeah, we made that connection. Oh, yeah (0:33:47) Kev: um (0:33:48) Kev: Could we make a cuter ax a little probably cuz ax a little are very cute, but whooper is good. No, it was good. Nonetheless. Um, I (0:33:59) Al: And of course it’s shiny pink, isn’t it? Which is the standard axolotl, axolotl colour. (0:34:01) Kev: Yeah, that’s correct (0:34:04) Kev: Standard yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, you know, okay slight slight (0:34:13) Kev: tangent here, um (0:34:15) Kev: so (0:34:17) Kev: They are you know 99 PI 99% invisible, okay, um (0:34:23) Kev: For folks who don’t know it’s a podcast that just goes into the history and origins of all sorts of random topics (0:34:28) Kev: I’m just everyday things um (0:34:30) Al: It’s mostly like design stuff, but yeah, they stretch out of that quite a bit, but that’s the original idea. (0:34:32) Kev: Yeah design stuff yeah (0:34:34) Kev: They do they do yeah, yeah (0:34:39) Kev: There’s an episode where they talk about axolotls (0:34:42) Kev: And how the the pink acts a lot of the common one that (0:34:46) Kev: so famous and popular and you can get pet shops is is so very distinct and different now because (0:34:57) Kev: long story short they years ago they some researchers got like a handful like eight (0:35:04) Kev: axolotls from the wilds of mexico and then like all the lab quote unquote lab axolotls though the (0:35:12) Kev: the pink ones with the translucent skin all those are more or less descendants (0:35:16) Kev: and they’ve just become so distinctly different from the wild ones because if (0:35:23) Kev: you look at a wild axolotl from the ones in Mexico they’re not even pink (0:35:26) Kev: they’re more like gray and they’re a little more fish-looking for lack of a (0:35:33) Kev: better word they might just because their skin isn’t translucent like the (0:35:36) Kev: the ones that so famous but it’s it’s a fascinating topic I love axolotls both (0:35:43) Kev: with the wild ones and the not wild ones. (0:35:46) Kev: But yeah, so going back to thing, Whooper’s cool, and more importantly Monster Patch. (0:35:54) Kev: Like, all the jokes about the style and whatever side, it looks, at least the images look competently made. (0:36:02) Kev: So I’m curious to see how this will pan out. (0:36:07) Kev: Do we have a date for the launch? I don’t think we do, do we? (0:36:09) Al: No, we just it’s coming. (0:36:11) Kev: Alright, well, keep your eyes out. (0:36:15) Kev: Yeah, I don’t know, we’re growing things. (0:36:18) Kev: And Pokemon are there. (0:36:20) Al: - Yes, yeah, fun. (0:36:23) Al: We’ll see what it’s like, but I liked Little Wood, (0:36:26) Al: so, and I like Pokemon. (0:36:29) Kev: I do. I don’t know. I actually haven’t played Little Wood, but I like Pokémon. (0:36:35) Kev: So we’ll see. That Apple Dragon Crocodile thing, I don’t know what that is. That’s a cute looking one. (0:36:44) Kev: I’m down. Let me know when. I mean, obviously you will let me know when this launches, but I’m just (0:36:49) Al: Oh, I just noticed it does actually say the Kickstarter is launching. (0:36:50) Kev: speaking to Sean Young, I guess. Not you, Al. But let me know when it launches so I can play this. (0:36:56) Kev: I am intrigued. (0:36:59) Kev: Oh, yeah, there it is at the very end. Oh, that’s soon, relatively, but yeah, but it kills us. That’s no indicator. You know, it just gives us the various tiniest, like false hope of when it actually comes out because that, you know, we’re talking about it like, oh, that’s lunch. That is no correlation to when we can play it. Done. (0:37:19) Al: yeah there was because they (0:37:27) Al: yeah because there was the um what was the other chibi game uh elusive um the kickstarter for (0:37:35) Al: that launched last week and yeah it was the expected release date for that is uh may 2027 (0:37:43) Al: so two years time (0:37:44) Kev: You know what? At least, I think I almost prefer a long launch window because that feels realistic/believable/but you know, I get it. (0:37:56) Al: Yeah, yeah, but it’s also the fact that elusive was announced three years ago originally. (0:38:04) Kev: Oh, that’s a different story. You’re right. (0:38:07) Al: So it’s like, yeah, games take a long time, but also this will be like five years from (0:38:12) Al: the first time we hear about it when it eventually releases. (0:38:14) Kev: Oh, sick. (0:38:16) Al: It’s our first official 2027 release date. (0:38:21) Kev: That is, that is also… (0:38:21) Al: Just checking my spreadsheet. (0:38:23) Al: We have a few saying 2026, but nothing saying 2027. (0:38:26) Kev: Look, I don’t mean, I don’t want to be mean to elusive. (0:38:30) Kev: Alright, like, the game dev’s hard, I get it, but… (0:38:34) Kev: I just, again, it’s one of my favorite benchmarks. (0:38:37) Kev: The elusive dev cycle is longer than one Confederacy of the United States. (0:38:50) Al: Where am I? I lost my tab. There we are. That’s all the news. We are now going to talk about (0:38:57) Kev: We did it (0:39:01) Al: Pixel Cross Rune Factory. Now before we get into this, Kevin, did you play the previous (0:39:03) Kev: So (0:39:06) Kev: Yes, yes, yeah, yeah we did I was on the episode we did the episode yes, it was (0:39:08) Al: one? (0:39:09) Al: Pixel Cross. (0:39:10) Al: It was me and you, was it? Right, OK. (0:39:13) Al: So next question, did you actually get any time to play this game this week? (0:39:15) Kev: A little bit it I’ve reached the first boss. There’s my (0:39:20) Al: OK. Yeah, that’s decent. I think you get the customization by that point. (0:39:26) Kev: Yeah, oh, yeah, you get that early on that’s like one of the first ones you get yeah, so I have enough to have thoughts (0:39:31) Kev: I haven’t seen the full things, but I certainly enough for opinions. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah (0:39:34) Al: I think you’ve seen enough. You’ve seen enough, realistically, right? (0:39:39) Al: Because you also see, I think the boss, the only thing you won’t have done is a colour one. (0:39:44) Kev: Yeah, I’ve not seen a gun of color one yet. No, but uh, but (0:39:47) Al: but I think they’re pretty clear. (0:39:50) Al: They’re just slightly more complicated ones, but what comes to them when we come to it? (0:39:51) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:39:58) Al: I’m changing this list around. I want to talk about the customisation first, (0:40:02) Al: because this is the thing that’s different. This is the thing that’s different about this game, (0:40:03) Kev: Oh (0:40:06) Al: other than the bosses are different, the colours are different, but this is the thing that seemed (0:40:09) Kev: Okay, well (0:40:12) Al: the most interesting to me until I played the game. (0:40:14) Kev: Well, there’s a few things oh (0:40:16) Kev: Okay, I’m gonna take us to (0:40:18) Kev: Hold on before we get them we can take one step back just for anyone who might not remember because you know (0:40:23) Kev: That was a while ago and people aren’t remember, right? So we’re talking on a grand pic cross puzzles, right? (0:40:29) Kev: Um, they did, uh, when we’re talking about his- his pixel-cross story of- (0:40:33) Kev: That’s the previous game, and that was just a very straightforward bare-bones- (0:40:39) Kev: Here’s a bunch of Picross puzzles, um, and there happens to be Harvest Moon, you know, they’re all Harvest Moon, er, story of seasons images, there’s (0:40:47) Kev: music in the background, and a little farm growing in the background. Um, but that- that was pretty much it, right? A very- (0:40:53) Kev: Yeah, I- I enjoy it, ‘cause I enjoy nonagram, but, um, but straightforward and, uh, basic sort of collection of puzzles. (0:41:03) Kev: This one, they’re- they- they upped- they upped it. I’m just- I’m surprised, I didn’t think they could take it places, but they did, they’re doing stuff, right? (0:41:13) Kev: Um, because- okay, let’s get into the customization. Now, that’s one of the biggest ones, ‘cause story of seasons was just (0:41:21) Kev: automatically happening in the background, you kind of looked at it here and there, but here, go ahead, Al, tell them. (0:41:24) Al: Yeah. Yeah, so here you I mean, realistically, it’s not fundamentally different, right? Like, (0:41:33) Al: the back, the background is still doing the same thing is the background. And you have a farm, (0:41:39) Al: like the previous one, because it’s all still farming, right? But you get to like, choose how (0:41:45) Al: your farm looks, basically, right? So you have, you can, it’s very specifically, you can go down (0:41:52) Al: down to which crops you want on which. (0:41:54) Al: Crop plot point, you can say “I want a turnip here, I want a potato here, I want a cabbage there”. (0:42:00) Al: You can be very specific about it. Weirdly detailed and you can also change your character’s (0:42:08) Al: look and weapons and stuff like that. I guess the thing I was disappointed about it was (0:42:14) Al: it doesn’t change anything. It is just the background and that’s fine. Maybe I shouldn’t (0:42:18) Al: have expected any more but it doesn’t make any difference to gameplay. (0:42:24) Al: It’s just changing what is on in the background which some people might really like but I’m just (0:42:29) Al: a little bit… I don’t particularly care because it’s really in the background. It’s there but (0:42:35) Al: you’re looking at the puzzle and especially… I don’t know how you play these games but I’m (0:42:39) Al: trying to do them as quickly as possible and then I put it down when I finished. (0:42:42) Kev: Yeah, right (0:42:45) Kev: Well, okay there is I (0:42:48) Kev: Think there’s a few more there’s a little more to it that gives it a little more meat on the buns (0:42:52) Kev: First of all, this now introduces a collection aspect, right? (0:42:55) Kev: Like one that you can actually display right whether it’s your displaying different crops on the field or perhaps more importantly to us (0:43:02) Kev: You you can collect monsters, right? (0:43:05) Al: Oh yes, I forgot about the monsters, of course. (0:43:07) Kev: Yeah, right you can have a couple monsters on your farm and they’re just walking around (0:43:12) Kev: background elements, but (0:43:14) Kev: Gotta catch them all. You’re right. Gotta catch them all (0:43:16) Al: Well and, and including, you won’t know this, but you can have the boxes there as well. (0:43:20) Kev: Yeah, I figured so I think there’s a page for that like you could kind of see it on the (0:43:26) Kev: Customization pages, but yes including bosses. So that’s fun (0:43:32) Kev: And actually (0:43:34) Kev: I guess you know, no, I’ll get to that in a second. Um (0:43:38) Kev: The other big one I think is the quote-unquote (0:43:42) Kev: And I say big is still not that big but the arms or equipment or whatever (0:43:48) Kev: So you can unlock different weapons because room factory, you know has this combat based (0:43:54) Kev: And there are combat scenes in the background when you’re fighting monsters to capture them or whatnot, right? (0:44:02) Kev: So depending on the weapons you equip you actually get different animations going on the background (0:44:07) Kev: I don’t know if you played around with that now or caught it but if you equip gauntlets versus a sword (0:44:12) Kev: Or an axe or whatever you get different animations and again just background stuff. Nothing cats significant, but it’s it’s a cute little (0:44:20) Al: Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s fun. And I get why people like it. It’s just that’s not really my thing. I’m much more interested, I think, in the changes they made to gameplay, which we’ll come on to in a minute. (0:44:21) Kev: Cute little nod. I appreciate that. Yeah (0:44:27) Kev: Sure (0:44:33) Kev: Sure sure (0:44:34) Al: But yeah, it was… (0:44:36) Kev: Okay, before we get to the some of the different puzzles or how they spice it up (0:44:42) Kev: Other thing that I like so when you start the game you’re asked (0:44:46) Kev: Basically, there are two modes you can do you can do puzzle mode or adventure mode now puzzle mode is just basically like the (0:44:55) Kev: The first one where it’s just a collection of puzzles and you just do them (0:44:59) Kev: And you know, I think you can still not the customization and so on and so forth, but it’s just a big (0:45:05) Kev: block of (0:45:07) Kev: puzzles a list of puzzles (0:45:10) Kev: Adventure mode is a little bit (0:45:12) Kev: different because you unlock the puzzles basically on a sort of map where you clear one puzzle and then surrounding tiles on them on this map will unlock so you can kind of bounce around and progress right at the end you know it’s it’s it’s just a it’s still just a list of puzzles just a slightly different direction and a little different presentation but it’s it’s again kind of a fun little nod to the rune factory series where you got exploration and whatnot right. (0:45:40) Al: - Yeah, it kind of doesn’t make any difference (0:45:43) Al: but in a way it does ‘cause it gives you a lot more (0:45:46) Al: flexibility on what you’re playing, right? (0:45:48) Al: Like in standard one, standard like nonogram games, (0:45:51) Al: you just got like, here’s a list and you go and do one (0:45:53) Kev: Yep. (0:45:55) Al: then you do the next, you do the next, you do the next. (0:45:57) Al: Whereas here, you do one and it kind of unlocks (0:45:58) Kev: Yep. (0:46:00) Al: the top and the left of that one (0:46:02) Kev: Yeah. (0:46:02) Al: and you do the one over there (0:46:03) Al: and it does the bottom and the right of that one. (0:46:05) Al: And it gives you lots and the, (0:46:08) Al: As much as I was like, not massive. (0:46:10) Al: I do feel like purely this map-based layout does make me feel a little bit more immersed (0:46:19) Al: in this world, right? (0:46:20) Kev: It it does it (0:46:20) Al: Because it actually feels like you’re traveling, it feels like you’re exploring, and especially (0:46:25) Al: as it shows you there are some areas there, but you can’t get to them yet, and then you (0:46:28) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:46:30) Al: unlock that, and then it shows you more areas you can get to. (0:46:32) Al: It feels like I’m exploring much more than anything else. (0:46:33) Kev: Yeah (0:46:34) Kev: It does right and it’s some that’s that establishes a goal of sort right like (0:46:41) Kev: Actual progress which is you know not associate with the nonagram collection game, but but I agree (0:46:48) Kev: Yeah, because like you said there’s (0:46:50) Kev: I’ve reached a puzzle where okay, I cleared the the puzzles next to them, but it didn’t lock. Why is that? (0:46:55) Kev: Well, that’s I guess I for me to discover and that’s kind of fun (0:47:00) Kev: And you know if nothing else like I think it’s all I’m impressed by how clever all these ideas are right like (0:47:07) Kev: Cuz they you don’t have a lot of room to play with this sort of game, right? (0:47:11) Kev: Like it’s the bread and butter is just the nonagrams (0:47:14) Kev: So how do we make it a little more interesting and they’re using some fun ideas here (0:47:18) Kev: and the adventure map (0:47:20) Kev: absolutely is one of them. (0:47:22) Kev: Now the other thing with adventure mode is that you also get some different challenges, (0:47:29) Kev: which are optional in the standard puzzle mode. (0:47:35) Kev: And that amounts to different variations on the puzzle. (0:47:39) Kev: The first one is color puzzles, (0:47:43) Kev: which I don’t even know if it’s actually just locked to adventure mode. (0:47:47) Kev: But anyways, so you have the color mode where– (0:47:48) Al: I don’t think they are. I think the only thing that’s locked to Adventure Mode is (0:47:51) Kev: Oh, really? Oh, okay, well. (0:47:56) Al: the boss battles being challenges. (0:47:58) Kev: Yeah, I think I said you can do challenges and puzzle, but it’s not required (0:48:02) Al: Yeah, that’s the thing. Adventure Mode is you have to do them. But yeah, anyway. (0:48:04) Kev: Yeah (0:48:07) Kev: Yeah, you’re forced to do it. Yeah, okay, so the color puzzles as the name implies like (0:48:14) Kev: You now not only have your numbers that you’re filling out, but you have them in different color blocks (0:48:21) Kev: You need to fill them with the correct color. I haven’t done one. So I don’t remember all the specifics but (0:48:28) Kev: but I think (0:48:31) Kev: I’ve done other (0:48:33) Kev: Nonogram games that they’ve done similar mechanics and I it’s always a fun little touch to add (0:48:37) Kev: Just know just a little variation at least in the in the puzzle, right? (0:48:42) Kev: Oh, oh, you know what this also reminds me (0:48:46) Kev: One thing that I found intriguing is when you start the game and you’re setting up your profile (0:48:51) Kev: You’re actually given a little tutorial on all the elements of the nonogram puzzles in the different modes and stuff (0:48:59) Kev: You know not (0:49:01) Kev: It’s nothing super heavy. No hand-holding. In fact, maybe it’s a little light for you know, how complex these can be but&l

Kev and Codey talk about Cinnabunny Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:07: I Know What You Released Last Month 00:06:45: What Have We Been Up To 00:23:19: Game News 00:52:48: New Games 01:02:27: Cinnabunny 01:34:10: Outro Links Elusive Kickstarter Disney Dreamlight Valley Tales of Agrabah Travellers Rest 0.7 Update Resarch Story 0.12 Update Horticular Frozen Frontier DLC Stardew Valley Merch Oppidum Ashwood Valley Farming Simulator VR Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kev: Hello farmers and welcome to the harvest season on Kevin and with me today is (0:00:37) Codey: Cody! (0:00:39) Kev: Whoo, we’re here to talk about cod score games. Whoo. There’s somewhere in there put those things in the right order (0:00:40) Codey: Woo! (0:00:43) Codey: Woo! Ow, ow, ow! (0:00:47) Kev: Hungry like that man hungry like the wolf already going off in the first change a deal. I’d like to rant around (0:00:52) Kev: But what a good it’s been (0:00:53) Codey: I love Duran Duran. (0:00:56) Kev: So good (0:00:57) Codey: I grew up on Duran Duran. (0:00:59) Kev: I grew up (0:01:00) Kev: on a lot of 80s because I know that’s what my parents listened to and that just transferred over (0:01:05) Kev: to me right um so a lot of fondness for those groups um but yeah her name is rio and she’s (0:01:10) Codey: Mm hmm. She dances on the sand, man. (0:01:13) Kev: dancing on the sand don’t you know yeah oh man um it it kind of paints me how many of these bands (0:01:22) Kev: that i’ve never actually going to see in concert that I enjoy right because we’re all you know (0:01:26) Codey: Oh my god, I’ve never thought of that. Why did you just do that to me? (0:01:31) Kev: the one I mean yeah I would kill for a hall of notes concert but I don’t know when that’ll happen (0:01:41) Kev: I need hachi are they touring I don’t know you know because they make money so um maybe they’re (0:01:49) Kev: still touring I don’t know oh apparently they’re touring hall of notes in canada and houston and (0:01:56) Kev: And Santa Tony would say, “Well, keep tuned, listen to me.” (0:02:00) Kev: And he was like, “Will Kevin get to see Hall & Oates in concert? Maybe.” (0:02:06) Kev: Anyways, well, we’re actually here to talk about not just reverence for the ’80s, (0:02:10) Kev: but we are here to talk about College Corps games, in particular Cinnabunny, (0:02:18) Kev: the bunny-baking game, action RPG game, throwing all those genre modifiers in there. (0:02:26) Codey: the bunny baking action RPG, the way that you said that makes me think that you bake something and then that’s like a weapon that you use to defeat evil. And I’m so looking forward to discussing how that’s incorporated into the game. Right? (0:02:34) Kev: Oh my gosh, I’d be sick that would be so sick doing ear combos with a baguette (0:02:51) Kev: It is RPG though, I mean you are doing actions, you can fly planes. (0:03:04) Kev: Alright but before we get to that we got news, we got other stuff, and you know what, I missed (0:03:10) Kev: the last episode or two, do we formalize this segment name, I know what you released last (0:03:14) Kev: month, yeah I remember you did it, yes, yes, yeah, yeah I don’t think that, I haven’t seen (0:03:14) Codey: Well, so we did it at the end of January and I think that’s what we joked that the thing (0:03:23) Codey: would be called. (0:03:24) Codey: And so now I think that’s what it is. (0:03:26) Codey: So it’s “I know what you released last month.” (0:03:31) Codey: Ooooooh! (0:03:32) Kev: those numbers, but here we go. Let’s see what the scary thing is. (0:03:34) Kev: What came out in February of 2025? Well, first of all, Cinnabonnie did (0:03:46) Kev: indeed release in just the past few weeks. I will get to play that game, but it’s (0:03:51) Kev: good. It’s on Steam right now only for Windows. Sadly, no Mac or whatever. It is (0:03:58) Kev: only $24.99 USD. I think it’s a great buy at that price. Obviously, I will get into (0:04:04) Kev: it more later, but the price. We got Pixel Cross Rune Factory on Switch and Steam, (0:04:13) Kev: again, Windows only, for $12 USD. This is the Not Pick Cross, because it’s a brand, (0:04:19) Kev: but same type of game. We covered it before. There’s some money for Pixel Cross on (0:04:25) Kev: Harvest Moon, but now this is the Rune Factory iteration, which is interesting. (0:04:30) Kev: Well, it’s so interesting, who knows, maybe somebody will talk about it on a shirt. (0:04:36) Kev: We also have echoes of the Plum Grove. We’ve got the Switch version. It has already been out on Steam for Windows and Mac. (0:04:46) Kev: It is $19.99 USD, 40% off until March 12th. So that’s like a week after you guys are listening to this, so get to it. (0:04:58) Codey: Yeah, and part of that is the women’s day (0:05:03) Codey: Sale so on yeah on Steam right now is the women’s day sale and that goes in through March 9th and that is honoring (0:05:04) Kev: Oh, is that what it is? Okay, cool cool. (0:05:12) Codey: Studios that are led either by women or by gender minor gender identifying minorities (0:05:19) Codey: So yeah (0:05:20) Codey: So I think that’s at least 20 percent because everything on the women’s day sale is 20 percent (0:05:24) Codey: so at least 20% of the 40% off on the echoes of the bum grove is (0:05:25) Kev: - Yeah. (0:05:28) Codey: for the women’s day sale, but but yeah. (0:05:30) Kev: Yeah, and this one is, (0:05:35) Kev: well, it’s a lot more traditional-esque, cozy, (0:05:39) Kev: stardew stuff. (0:05:41) Kev: But it’s notable because it has a very cute, (0:05:42) Kev: almost Paper Mario art style. (0:05:46) Kev: So that is almost worth checking out for that alone, (0:05:49) Kev: I think, I love that art style, right? (0:05:52) Kev: But yeah, you’re farming. (0:05:53) Kev: It looks kind of like in a– (0:05:55) Kev: Victorian Englandy colonial America setting, but yeah, check that out. (0:06:02) Kev: I might check that out. That’s interesting, actually, now that I look at it closely. (0:06:07) Kev: Wow, all these things I’ll be checking out because the last one, for sure. (0:06:12) Kev: We got Amber Isle on the switch for $24.99 USD. (0:06:16) Kev: Finally on the switch. I’d been wanting that for a while. I’ll get to it soon, I hope. (0:06:21) Kev: That’s the dinosaur crossing, basically. (0:06:25) Kev: Then I like dinosaurs and then I get one crossing, so right up my alley. (0:06:30) Kev: That’s been out on Steam for a while, but we got the Switch version, which, yeah, makes (0:06:35) Kev: sense. (0:06:36) Kev: Good fit. (0:06:38) Kev: And yeah, that is what has come out in the last month. (0:06:43) Kev: And before we get into other game news and updates and whatnot, Cody, what have you been (0:06:48) Codey: I have been playing a lot of the games (0:06:51) Codey: that I have continued to talk about on previous episodes. (0:06:54) Codey: But I just realized, in danger of leading a tangent, (0:07:02) Codey: that you like Marvel. (0:07:04) Codey: And two or three days ago, my Adderall told me– (0:07:10) Codey: which I’m now on Adderall. (0:07:11) Codey: It’s lovely. (0:07:12) Codey: My Adderall told me, hey, you haven’t watched the Marvel (0:07:15) Codey: movies in a while. (0:07:15) Codey: And so I watched all of phase one. (0:07:16) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:07:18) Codey: In one day, yeah, so let me, let me look at, look at my list for that. (0:07:19) Kev: Whoa, whoa, I mean Wow (0:07:27) Codey: So folks might not know what I’m talking about. (0:07:27) Kev: Okay, first of all (0:07:30) Kev: First of all, that’s that’s a lot of movie right? Um (0:07:33) Codey: It was there’s so good. (0:07:35) Kev: But second of all, those are also almost all really good. Look, you know (0:07:40) Codey: I think that I’m going to have to skip some later on, but I don’t know. (0:07:43) Codey: We’ll see. (0:07:43) Codey: So phase one, the infinity saga includes iron man, the 2008 iron man, (0:07:48) Codey: incredible Hulk, uh, Iron Man two Thor captain America, the first Avenger (0:07:52) Codey: and the Avengers, um, I am now in phase two. (0:07:56) Kev: Wait, Thor? You said Thor right there, didn’t I hear you? (0:07:57) Codey: I said, Thor. (0:07:58) Codey: Yeah, I am now in phase two, which is Iron Man three Thor, the dark world, (0:08:03) Codey: captain America, winter soldiers. (0:08:05) Codey: I’ve already watched. (0:08:05) Codey: I watched those three yesterday. (0:08:08) Kev: Well, see, this is when things get interesting, because we get to the highest of high and lowest of lows in this spread. (0:08:14) Codey: Yeah. (0:08:14) Codey: So the next one is guardians of the galaxy. (0:08:18) Codey: And then Ultron and then Ant-Man. (0:08:20) Codey: So yeah, I think everything in the first saga phase one is was gold. (0:08:26) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:08:26) Codey: I liked it. (0:08:27) Codey: I mean, I don’t like captain America at all, but like that was an okay (0:08:28) Kev: It’s the (0:08:30) Codey: movie, whatever, um, Correct. (0:08:31) Kev: It’s the reason it worked like I mean the whole reason the MCU exists if the phase one had failed at any point (0:08:39) Kev: We would not it would not be here today (0:08:42) Codey: Iron Man three chef’s kiss, no notes. (0:08:44) Codey: I love that movie. (0:08:44) Codey: And then the Thor, second Thor and second Captain America movies. (0:08:48) Codey: I could probably, I couldn’t tell you much about what happened in those movies. (0:08:52) Kev: That’s fine. (0:08:52) Codey: So excited for guardians of the galaxy though. (0:08:55) Codey: Later. (0:08:56) Kev: Guardians is good. (0:08:58) Kev: Guardians is good. (0:08:58) Codey: So yeah, I’ve been doing that. (0:09:00) Codey: That’s one thing I’ve been up to. (0:09:00) Kev: Man. (0:09:02) Kev: Oh, man, what? (0:09:03) Codey: What is your favorite MCU movie? (0:09:04) Kev: Oh, that’s… (0:09:06) Kev: You know, I’m going to go with original Avengers, 2012 Avengers. (0:09:10) Codey: Yeah, it was, it was real good. (0:09:12) Kev: Because one, it’s good. (0:09:14) Kev: And two, it’s like… (0:09:16) Kev: It’s a handful of things because I was in a Marvel fan before the MCU, right? (0:09:20) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:22) Kev: Deep, deep, and I knew dumb characters and stuff like that, right? (0:09:26) Kev: So this was a moment of, like, I can’t believe this is actually happening. (0:09:30) Kev: I can’t believe I live in a world where Avengers have taken center stage in a hit blockbuster Hollywood movie. (0:09:40) Kev: And also, I mean, just everything works, right? (0:09:42) Kev: They built up to it correctly, and it’s a big cast, and they still manage to play around, and everyone gets their moments. (0:09:48) Kev: moment. It’s, it’s, it’s a chef’s kiss. (0:09:52) Codey: I did also, I think it was either in this movie or in Ironman 3, I can’t remember, but like someone comes forward and is like talking about how they’re watching. I think someone from S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe, I don’t know, they’re like, we’ve been watching all the big characters like Oni Stark, duh duh duh duh, and then he says Steven Strange and okay, cool and Dr. Strange isn’t even in this phase, so it’s like a drop, like it’s a name drop that people who would know. (0:10:02) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:10:06) Kev: Yeah (0:10:09) Kev: That is that is from Captain America the second one. Mm-hmm (0:10:16) Kev: Yeah (0:10:19) Kev: It it is (0:10:22) Codey: I was like, did we miss, did I skip that movie because, but no, it’s way later, so. (0:10:22) Kev: Yeah (0:10:24) Kev: No (0:10:27) Kev: Yeah, and it’s it’s really funny because it makes no sense because up to at that point because you know (0:10:32) Kev: Taking more or less place in real time (0:10:34) Codey: - Yeah. (0:10:35) Kev: He’s literally just a doctor. I don’t know why they (0:10:39) Codey: Yeah, like why do they, why are they, yeah. (0:10:39) Kev: but (0:10:41) Kev: He’s too good of a doctor I don’t know because he looks too much like Benedict Cumberbatch, I guess I don’t know (0:10:42) Codey: Why do they care about him? (0:10:43) Codey: He’s just doing his thing. (0:10:45) Codey: - So. (0:10:49) Codey: - I like bumper sticker, cabbage patch. (0:10:51) Codey: That’s my favorite Benedict Cumberbatch name thing. (0:10:54) Kev: Oh, that’s a good one. I’ve always been Benedict Cumberland myself. (0:10:59) Codey: - Oh, Cumberbund, that’s another really good one. (0:11:02) Codey: - Okay, so the games that I’ve been playing, (0:11:05) Codey: I’m gonna just run through them really quick. (0:11:06) Codey: I am still playing Animal Crossing, pocket camp complete, (0:11:10) Codey: and I am now level 105. (0:11:14) Codey: I think previously I was in the sixties. (0:11:17) Codey: So I’ve been playing it. (0:11:18) Kev: Oh dang. Oh dang. (0:11:21) Codey: Still playing mini, mini farm. (0:11:23) Codey: I am in the last area now (0:11:24) Codey: and I just need to buy the last house. (0:11:28) Codey: The story has progressed, but I still have questions. (0:11:31) Codey: So it’s– (0:11:31) Kev: I’m, I’m, I’m, you close my mind, there’s a story to it. (0:11:35) Codey: It’s intriguing enough, yeah, for sure. (0:11:38) Codey: Still playing Honey Grove as well. (0:11:41) Codey: I mean, the game loop of that game is you’re planting stuff, (0:11:46) Codey: you’re getting resources, you’re clearing the area (0:11:50) Codey: around your hive so you can decorate it. (0:11:52) Codey: And then there’s a map that you’re (0:11:54) Codey: clearing by the adventures of your bees. (0:11:58) Codey: So I am just pretty much just going through the map. (0:12:04) Codey: Clearing stuff at this point, but it all takes time. (0:12:07) Codey: It’s always usually at least three hours for your bees (0:12:08) Kev: Okay. Okay. (0:12:11) Codey: to be sent out on a mission. (0:12:13) Codey: But it’s just a fun little– (0:12:16) Codey: I jump on it. (0:12:16) Codey: I spend maybe five minutes getting everything done. (0:12:19) Codey: And then I play it later that evening, so it’s fine. (0:12:24) Codey: The final thing is Bug and Seek, which I don’t know (0:12:27) Codey: if I’ve mentioned on– (0:12:28) Codey: well, I think we’ve mentioned it on the pod last time I was on (0:12:32) Codey: as this is now out. (0:12:34) Codey: So it’s basically you come to a town (0:12:35) Kev: Okay, due to I’ve seen I heard that I don’t remember do tell me what it is (0:12:47) Codey: to revive the insectarium of the town, which is basically (0:12:53) Codey: the insect zoo of the town. (0:12:55) Codey: And your whole job is to walk around this town (0:12:59) Codey: and collect insects and give people– (0:13:02) Codey: some people are like, oh, man, I really (0:13:03) Codey: want this for my collection. (0:13:04) Codey: And some people are like, these cucumber beetles are eating my plants, bring me three (0:13:09) Codey: dead ones to show that you’ve like murdered them or something. (0:13:13) Kev: bring bring me the trophies of your your kill of the hunt so we can parade it (0:13:13) Codey: Because they’re like upset. (0:13:16) Codey: Exactly. (0:13:18) Codey: And like, so there’s multiple so we can put them on posts to warn any other cucumber beetles. (0:13:20) Kev: around the village square (0:13:24) Kev: yes (0:13:26) Codey: Um, yeah, no, so it’s basically just an entire town that is all very conscious of insects. (0:13:33) Codey: and I am here for it. (0:13:35) Codey: There are like, you can buy tanks at a couple different stores. (0:13:39) Codey: You, that you catch insects in a bunch of different terrains. (0:13:43) Codey: Like you either get them out of trees. (0:13:44) Codey: They’re either flying around, they might be under a rock in grass, like whatever. (0:13:50) Codey: Um, and you are trying to revive the insectarium and fill it back in the (0:13:55) Codey: zoo, because apparently someone in the great bug heist of the previous year, (0:14:02) Codey: someone just like stole everything. (0:14:04) Codey: And you’re trying to figure out who, who done it. (0:14:08) Codey: It’s like a who done it as well. (0:14:10) Kev: - Okay. (0:14:11) Codey: Because you’re, you go through and you’re like, someone’s like, Oh, this guy looked (0:14:14) Codey: really shady. (0:14:16) Codey: And so you go and you’re like, what the heck? (0:14:17) Codey: And he’s like, Oh, but I was, I have an alibi for that night. (0:14:20) Codey: But this girl, like she, she was saying some bad things. (0:14:24) Codey: And so it’s all about. (0:14:25) Kev: gosh, so I’m, I’m, I’m looking at the trailer and there’s like, (0:14:27) Codey: Yeah. (0:14:28) Codey: Yeah. (0:14:28) Kev: literally like a notebook where you’re jotting down your clue (0:14:29) Codey: Yeah. (0:14:30) Codey: Yeah. (0:14:32) Kev: notes to figure out who did it. That’s incredible. (0:14:34) Codey: It’s so fun and you could totally just run around and catch all the bugs if you want. (0:14:41) Codey: And there’s also an entomologic, wait, Institute, it’s called like EEII or something, but it’s (0:14:49) Codey: like basically the museum and it’s something for insect in excellence or something. (0:14:54) Codey: I don’t know. (0:14:55) Codey: It was amazing. (0:14:56) Kev: » This is incredible. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this. (0:14:56) Codey: I think it’s entomological Institute for insect excellence and I, I love it. (0:15:05) Codey: I love this game. (0:15:06) Codey: So, uh, I’m going to, I’m a promissor y’all know me. (0:15:08) Codey: I’m the promissor of the podcast and I promise we’re going to have an episode on this. (0:15:12) Kev: I mean, you don’t even have to, like, that’s, I think, just a given by anyone who knows. (0:15:16) Codey: It’s a given. (0:15:18) Kev: Um, so I’m looking at it, it’s very simple sprite art style, it’s very cute, um, everyone (0:15:23) Kev: just has like little rectangle eyes, no other facial features, um, this is good, I love (0:15:28) Codey: But the bugs, the bugs are like legit and as you catch more of like the different categories and they have wasps and bees in like different categories, which is just chef’s kiss and like there’s just, I can’t, I can’t go on enough about this game. (0:15:29) Kev: this. (0:15:30) Kev: Yeah, they’re detailed. (0:15:38) Kev: as it should be. (0:15:46) Kev: Well, you’ll have to at some point. (0:15:46) Codey: So, yeah, look forward to that, folks. Kev, what have you been up to? (0:15:51) Kev: And I just want to say that’s only 15 USD, and it’s on switch. (0:15:54) Codey: I know! And I have it on Switch! (0:15:58) Codey: Yeah, okay. (0:15:59) Kev: That’s impressive. (0:16:00) Kev: Okay. (0:16:01) Kev: Um, so what have I been up to? (0:16:04) Kev: Okay. (0:16:05) Kev: First of all, Pokemon Day happened. (0:16:07) Kev: The Pokemon Presents. (0:16:08) Kev: We did. (0:16:09) Kev: We have a greenhouse on it. (0:16:10) Kev: Um, you saw it, uh, Cody? (0:16:12) Codey: I, I like skimmed something, I saw the highlights, um, I didn’t really like look that much into (0:16:16) Kev: Okay. (0:16:17) Kev: We saw the highlights. (0:16:18) Kev: Um. (0:16:19) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:16:20) Kev: Okay. (0:16:21) Kev: Yeah. (0:16:21) Codey: the ZA stuff, but I listened to your guys’s prediction app, but not the response app. (0:16:22) Kev: We didn’t actually, we should have probably, like, whilst examined, you know, gone back (0:16:34) Kev: and see if we got right or wrong. (0:16:35) Kev: I don’t know why we didn’t think about it, but, um. (0:16:37) Codey: I mean, that’s totally fine. I think the funniest thing was that I was literally I opened Pokemon Pocket while I was listening and to that episode and I opened it and I was like, Oh, there’s a new pack and then literally like immediately after I thought that Al was like, and I’m sure Pokemon Pockets going to have a new pack come out and I was like, Oh, my God, it’s so funny, it was so funny. (0:16:44) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:16:56) Kev: Yep, there were a few we got right, there’s no doubt about that. (0:17:02) Kev: I believe, gosh did I say it on that episode where if we were going to get a new side game (0:17:07) Kev: it was going to be mobile and Switch maybe. (0:17:11) Codey: Yeah, I think you did say something like that. (0:17:14) Kev: And there we go, we got champions. (0:17:15) Codey: So yeah, tell me about it. (0:17:16) Kev: Anyways, so anyways, I’m bringing it up because, for anyone who didn’t see one of the, in ZA, (0:17:26) Kev: starters, is Totodile. (0:17:30) Kev: And I’ve seen a lot of fan art and because there’s a description of Totodile on the website (0:17:35) Kev: and just talk about, like he’s always just that empty, he wants to bite everything, right? (0:17:41) Kev: And I just want to say, I have one of those at home. (0:17:44) Kev: I know what it’s like to live with that because I have a puppy and he’s growing up, but he (0:17:47) Kev: is still just that empty biked every time. (0:17:52) Codey: he just bites everything he’s just a mouth oh yeah they get good at it (0:17:54) Kev: basically. I… (0:17:56) Kev: and he just he does it so fast so nonchalant when I take him on a walk (0:18:01) Kev: he’ll just you know just walk and just sideswipe grabs a pinecone out of no (0:18:06) Kev: um yes but anyways yeah (0:18:09) Codey: so listeners anytime we mentioned an animal in the pod there’s gonna be a (0:18:14) Codey: picture of it on the slack so have will have will post a picture on the slack (0:18:15) Kev: I’ll put it up yeah I’ll post lucky um he is he’s growing up he’s becoming a big (0:18:23) Codey: No (0:18:24) Kev: He lifted his leg when he- (0:18:26) Codey: Oh Remus doesn’t even do that (0:18:26) Kev: and he peed the other day for the first time. (0:18:30) Kev: Umm, sorry. (0:18:32) Kev: Yeah. (0:18:33) Codey: Remus is 14 (0:18:34) Kev: Oh, my goodness. (0:18:36) Codey: he’s still squatty bodies (0:18:38) Kev: No. (0:18:41) Kev: Oh, I don’t know. (0:18:44) Kev: Well, I don’t know if it’ll stick. I only saw it once, but, uh, but yeah, that’s, uh, that’s lucky. (0:18:48) Kev: Um, uh, other than that, um, I’ve been a little bit very busy work-wise, so, not too much game-wise. (0:18:55) Kev: Obviously, I’ve been playing since– (0:18:56) Kev: in a bunny as much as I could to talk about it. (0:19:00) Kev: And we’ll get there. (0:19:01) Kev: The other one that– (0:19:03) Kev: I have my usual stuff. (0:19:06) Kev: Zendless and Pokemon Unite and yada, yada, all regular. (0:19:10) Kev: The only one of real interest is Marvel Snap. (0:19:14) Kev: So they came out with a new mode called Sanctum Showdown. (0:19:18) Kev: And I just want to talk about it because I think it’s very fun. (0:19:22) Kev: So in Marvel Snap, for people who don’t know, (0:19:25) Kev: you have three locations. (0:19:26) Kev: And you win the game at the end of turn six or seven or whatever. (0:19:31) Kev: Whoever– and you just– (0:19:33) Kev: it’s points, right? (0:19:34) Kev: Whoever has the most points win the location. (0:19:35) Kev: So you’re trying to win the most locations, (0:19:37) Kev: two out of three locations or whatever. (0:19:40) Kev: In this mode, the Sanctum Showdown, they change it up. (0:19:44) Kev: What it is is every turn, you get– (0:19:50) Kev: basically, each location has a number of points assigned to it. (0:19:54) Kev: There will be like two locations, one and a third. (0:19:56) Kev: One with four points or something like that. (0:20:00) Kev: So instead of trying to win them after a certain number of turns, (0:20:02) Kev: you’re trying to win as many points as you can every single turn. (0:20:07) Kev: So you want to build fast and early. (0:20:10) Kev: It’s fun, you know, getting, you know, getting too deep into the weeds. (0:20:13) Kev: It’s just I, you know, anytime you have a long, I’m running game or whatever (0:20:20) Kev: and they introduce a new mode, it’s always a breath of fresh air, right? (0:20:23) Kev: I’ve been enjoying it. (0:20:25) Kev: The only… (0:20:27) Kev: I’d complain about is, so there’s these rewards right, you get special (0:20:32) Kev: sanctum fund bucks basically, a special currency just for this mode and you get special, there’s (0:20:36) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:20:37) Kev: a shop for this mode. The rate they give it out is horrible. What they want you to do (0:20:43) Kev: is to go on twitch and to put on marvel snap streamers and they’ll give you (0:20:49) Kev: currency for doing that. Which is so… yeah. (0:20:53) Codey: Yeah, that’s a yic, that’s an ick for sure. (0:20:57) Kev: Um, because yeah, um, some of the other guys that I was talking to, they uh, they said, “Oh yeah, (0:21:02) Kev: I’ve got a bunch of rewards after I did that.” I was like, “Well, I guess I might have to (0:21:06) Kev: put it on somewhere in the background and not watch.” Um, but that’s… yeah. Um. (0:21:10) Codey: Yeah, I mean I think that that’s cool for like as an option (0:21:14) Codey: But I feel like they should have another option that does not require you to watch people on switch or twitch (0:21:21) Kev: Mm-hmm. I am of the wild opinion that if you play the game you shoot the robots (0:21:27) Codey: No, no, no, this is a Marvel game they have to put it in five different places so that you you have to be (0:21:34) Codey: Some stuff you only get from you know because they they got TV shows they got (0:21:37) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:21:39) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:21:40) Codey: This we’re not in phase one anymore. We’re in phase (0:21:42) Kev: Yeah, it’s whatever (0:21:44) Kev: We’re in we’re y’all say what phase we’re in phase (0:21:48) Kev: Fantastic force coming, that’s what fish in it (0:21:50) Codey: Oh God, is it? (0:21:52) Kev: Oh, have you seen anything about it? (0:21:55) Kev: So it’s coming this year. We got the fantastic four and I don’t know if you’ve seen the cast but Pedro Pascal is mr. Fantastic. I (0:22:02) Codey: Oh, okay, I’m watching it (0:22:04) Kev: Knew that’s why I brought it in because I knew you I’d sell you right away (0:22:11) Kev: So and just a side note about that I (0:22:15) Kev: Obviously, I love Pedro Pascal because who on earth doesn’t because he’s an incredible human and actor (0:22:17) Codey: Yeah. (0:22:20) Codey: Yeah (0:22:21) Kev: I’m all down for that and you know getting more Latino (0:22:25) Kev: Accu-whatever. That’s great. Right? The only the only small call my have is it’s mr. Fantastic (0:22:30) Kev: why in my head should be the most wonderbred white boy pasty nerd ever but (0:22:39) Kev: But what what can we do? It’s Pedro Pascal (0:22:41) Codey: But that’s Captain America. (0:22:43) Codey: Captain America is the one that’s (0:22:44) Codey: supposed to be Wonder Bread. (0:22:46) Kev: Yeah, that’s true. Oh, well, I mean who cares it’s (0:22:49) Codey: But I guess this is DC, isn’t it? (0:22:51) Codey: This is like a completely different– (0:22:52) Kev: Yeah (0:22:54) Kev: But it’s you know, it’s fine. Um, it’s Pedro Pascal. So I’m not gonna complain in the end, right? Like (0:22:54) Codey: OK. (0:23:00) Kev: So, yeah, keep an eye out for that that’s this summer I think look up the trail looks good looks funky (0:23:06) Kev: Yeah, fantastic for is gonna be big there. They’re pushing it like in Marvel Rivals. We already got the (0:23:11) Kev: This month and good stuff. Anyways, um, yeah, that’s that’s what we’ve been up to and that’s all I got to report (0:23:19) Codey: Cool. (0:23:20) Kev: And with that, let’s get started. (0:23:22) Kev: Other people have to report to talk about some game news starting with a new game. (0:23:29) Kev: Um, one called is elusive, not new game or have we? (0:23:30) Codey: Wait, are we in the new game? (0:23:32) Codey: Section are we in the. (0:23:36) Codey: We’ve talked about it so new game, I think. (0:23:38) Kev: Okay. (0:23:38) Codey: Yeah, new game is when we haven’t talked about it before, but we have talked about elusive. (0:23:42) Codey: So this is the. (0:23:42) Kev: Okay. (0:23:43) Kev: We have, oh yeah, you’re right. (0:23:43) Codey: The game about me can which is that’s developed by the creator of me, which is mountain. (0:23:50) Codey: And it’s like little fairy folk. (0:23:51) Codey: I think the Al mentioned the borrowers. (0:23:54) Codey: I don’t know if you ever saw the borrowers, but it’s like. (0:23:56) Kev: I’m- I’m familiar. It’s like a faint memory of ’em. (0:24:01) Codey: Yeah, it’s like little fairy folk that like live in people’s homes and they just take like one thing at a time. (0:24:07) Codey: So you never really notice that something’s missing, but they’re avoiding dangers. (0:24:12) Codey: I think there’s like a cat and like that kind of stuff, but. (0:24:15) Kev: Yeah, yeah, tiny, honey, I shrunk the kid adventures. We know the drill. (0:24:20) Codey: I don’t know. (0:24:22) Kev: Um, it looks… (0:24:22) Codey: People might not know. (0:24:23) Codey: Honey, I shrunk the kids. (0:24:26) Kev: No! No, don’t say that! No! (0:24:29) Codey: Kids, if you don’t know what it is, Google it. (0:24:32) Codey: But but what’s the what’s the news with elusive? (0:24:34) Codey: What do we got? (0:24:36) Kev: Cue the, uh, was it Principal Skinner? I don’t know, it’s the children who are wrong. (0:24:43) Kev: Anyways, okay. (0:24:45) Kev: The news is that we got a Kickstarter. (0:24:47) Kev: It is launching soon. March 5th. (0:24:52) Codey: Fifth. (0:24:52) Kev: Well, actually, so I guess the day after this episode. (0:24:55) Codey: The- the- (0:24:56) Kev: No, the day drops. (0:24:56) Codey: No, it should be the day of the episode. (0:24:58) Kev: Yeah, you’re hearing this, it’ll be live. (0:25:01) Kev: Check it out. It does look cool. At least all the art and stuff. (0:25:04) Kev: We got it for Switch 1 and 2. (0:25:08) Kev: Look at that. Right there, labeled Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X. (0:25:15) Kev: Yeah, it’s got a very lovely art style as expected from the Mika crew. (0:25:22) Kev: Or is it just one? I don’t know, whatever. It’s a nice art style. (0:25:25) Codey: Mm hmm. I don’t know if it’s she big or if it’s just specifically wait, she big isn’t Mika. (0:25:26) Kev: Is this actually Chibig? Do we know? I don’t know if it is. (0:25:36) Kev: She makes Mika. Yeah. Yeah. Because if it is Chibig, yeah, I’m not sure Abraham, Khozar, you know. Yeah. So this might not be Chibig, which is a shame because that’d be, that would be a great setup for, you know, Chibig loves their little crossover. (0:25:37) Codey: Oh, it is. Maybe it’s she big. You’re right. You’re right. (0:25:43) Codey: I think maybe it’s only one of the people who are in she big because if you go on (0:25:47) Codey: the Kickstarter, it only has one person’s name. Yeah, Abraham Kosar. (0:26:02) Codey: Yeah. I mean, so it says on the Kickstarter indie game developer currently working in elusive at (0:26:08) Codey: Chibig. So I guess we can say Chibig. I don’t know. (0:26:09) Kev: mmm okay question mark we’ll see I don’t know uh i’m just saying because there’s like a witch’s (0:26:17) Kev: cat they specifically mentioned that um so who will that be meek of thing maybe question mark (0:26:25) Kev: keep an eye out um obviously details will be up when you hear this we don’t know what it is but (0:26:31) Kev: um you check it out um all right uh you can also be checking out uh agro buff because that’s coming (0:26:38) Kev: the Disney Dream Lightroom. (0:26:39) Kev: the Disney Dream Lightroom. (0:26:47) Codey: I wonder if there’s like, I think, I wonder if a whole new world is like too broad now, so many. (0:26:55) Kev: I guess they played themselves, they got– (0:27:01) Kev: but yeah. (0:27:02) Kev: Nails of Agrabah, free update. (0:27:05) Kev: You get to ride the carpet. (0:27:08) Kev: Is that all that matters? (0:27:09) Kev: Mostly. (0:27:10) Codey: » No, so there’s a lot of different things. I don’t know if you get to ride the carpet, (0:27:15) Codey: but you can get carpet as a person, like as a familiar companion, companion sword that they use. (0:27:17) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:27:25) Kev: They have a character riding the carpet in the railing, (0:27:28) Kev: I don’t know. (0:27:28) Codey: Oh, it’s probably in the Aladdin realm. But yeah, so it adds the Aladdin realm, (0:27:38) Codey: It adds Aladdin and Jasmine. (0:27:40) Codey: It also adds, they showed like new things, new premium items in the shop. (0:27:46) Codey: And there was a bunch of Winnie the Pooh stuff. (0:27:49) Codey: Um, which was kind of a, a now for something completely different moment, but okay. (0:27:54) Kev: Yeah, okay (0:27:57) Codey: Um, I mean, I think it’s adorable. (0:27:59) Codey: Uh, it’s so funny. (0:28:02) Codey: This is another tangent. (0:28:03) Codey: Um, think of Winnie the Pooh and like who, what character did you identify as, as a child? (0:28:08) Kev: Okay, I was about to ask you who’s your favorite from the hundred-acre wood crew. I was about to ask almost this exact question (0:28:12) Codey: Well, okay. (0:28:14) Codey: So as a child, I identified with Tigger. (0:28:17) Kev: Yes (0:28:19) Kev: Tigger (0:28:19) Codey: And then as a teenager slash young adult, I identified with Eeyore and now I’m rabbit. (0:28:25) Kev: Yeah, sure sure I think we’re all oh (0:28:30) Kev: I see the trajectory. I just say are we all yours now? No, I see the rapids. You’re right, right. I see. Yeah, I see it (0:28:34) Codey: No, I’m rabbit, but it’s yeah, but I guess it’s really funny because they, they all (0:28:37) Kev: Um (0:28:39) Kev: You (0:28:39) Codey: all represent different. (0:28:40) Codey: It’s like disorders, though. (0:28:41) Kev: Yeah, archetypes personality types whatever you want to call (0:28:42) Codey: So like Eeyore’s depression. (0:28:44) Codey: Eeyore’s depression, Tigger’s ADD or ADHD. (0:28:47) Kev: Tortoise specific (0:28:48) Codey: And then Rabid, I think is either OCD or plus anxiety. (0:28:54) Codey: Oh, right. (0:28:56) Codey: Piglets anxiety. (0:28:57) Kev: Sure. I mean, Piglet is anxiety. Rabbit is OCD. Okay. What is poo? What is poo? (0:28:58) Codey: Yeah. (0:29:00) Codey: Rabid’s OCD. (0:29:02) Codey: How about you? (0:29:04) Codey: Who is probably like the neurotypical? (0:29:06) Codey: Who is probably like the neurotypical? (0:29:10) Codey: I guess he’s forgetful. I don’t know. (0:29:11) Kev: Oh, is that what it is? (0:29:15) Kev: Oh, yeah. I guess. I don’t know. (0:29:18) Codey: Listeners, write it. What do you think Pooh is? (0:29:21) Kev: what Mitchell else ordered. (0:29:22) Codey: And who did you identify as? (0:29:24) Codey: Have you gone through a trajectory of different characters or have you stayed the same? (0:29:27) Kev: I mean, like, no, like when I was younger, probably I didn’t fly with poo at best, but I would say so, like, right, because that’s different from my favorite or whatever, right, but when thinking about it, I probably would have said poo, but like now, the Eeyore, when that was, oh, Eeyore, the agony of the little stick house just being knocked over. (0:29:42) Codey: Okay. (0:29:49) Codey: Yep. (0:29:56) Codey: Get knocked over. Oh, bother. (0:29:57) Kev: Every episode. Oh, I get it. I get it. Oh, man. Oh, bother me. My life is this thing. Also, did you know he’s the voice of Optimus Prime? Yeah, just just one fact for people. You’re holding, I believe. (0:30:05) Codey: It’s it’s so true. Our country’s the stick house. Anyway, there’s also (0:30:12) Codey: no Kevin. (0:30:18) Codey: That’s amazing. (0:30:23) Codey: See, so you can either die that you’re the Eeyore or you can live long (0:30:27) Codey: enough to see yourself become optimist. (0:30:28) Kev: Yeah. (0:30:32) Codey: Oh my gosh. Um, they also back to Disney dream. I value. (0:30:35) Codey: They also added a slow cooker in Tiana’s shop. (0:30:39) Codey: and so this allows you to kind of like (0:30:42) Codey: set and forget meals (0:30:44) Kev: Whoa, that’s such a good off day. (0:30:46) Codey: yeah they also added a lot of really cool things in this update (0:30:50) Codey: so they also added (0:30:52) Codey: you can now search through the meals (0:30:54) Codey: so if ever you’re supposed to do something (0:30:56) Codey: or like you really want to make a certain meal (0:30:58) Codey: or someone wants a specific meal (0:31:00) Codey: but it’s not technically a quest (0:31:02) Codey: so you can’t go to like the quest tab (0:31:05) Codey: you can now just search for it (0:31:07) Codey: which is amazing (0:31:08) Kev: then that’s oh my gosh why yeah yeah needed (0:31:12) Codey: also added (0:31:16) Codey: any item that is a (0:31:18) Codey: character’s favorite item for the day (0:31:22) Codey: now has a label next to it (0:31:24) Codey: so in your inventory (0:31:26) Codey: I’m wondering if it also has it in the cooking menu (0:31:29) Codey: which would be amazing because then you could be like (0:31:31) Codey: oh let’s see who wants what today (0:31:33) Codey: oh yep there’s, I really want to work on my aerial reputation (0:31:38) Codey: so I’m going to make her the meal she wants today or whatever (0:31:42) Codey: it’s so good because I would always have to like mentally like (0:31:45) Codey: separate my inventory (0:31:47) Codey: and be like okay this is the part that (0:31:50) Codey: is the items that this person wants (0:31:54) Codey: and like kind of try and keep track of it (0:31:57) Codey: and y’all know I (0:31:57) Kev: - Yeah, bring out the notebook, the handy dandy notebook. (0:31:59) Codey: I literally had to write it down (0:32:01) Codey: I had like 15 pages out of one notebook (0:32:04) Codey: that were just dedicated to (0:32:05) Codey: here’s this character’s favorite thing (0:32:07) Codey: okay here’s a check mark because I’ve got it (0:32:10) Codey: And then here’s the check mark because I gave it to them (0:32:12) Kev: uh-huh so on the one hand I’ve always found something I don’t know cathartic (0:32:13) Codey: It was so goofy (0:32:20) Kev: or I enjoy getting out a notebook and writing things down I find it feel like (0:32:24) Kev: that but on the other hand like I also wish the game would help you keep track (0:32:29) Kev: of that so you didn’t have to physically bring out a notebook or whatever but so (0:32:34) Kev: you know it’s appreciated and yes spoilers what I know of a game that (0:32:39) Kev: actually does let you do that, bring a notebook in the game. (0:32:42) Codey: Oh, oh, okay. Cool. Cool! (0:32:42) Kev: But that’s good stuff. That sounds like good update, and one more thing. It’s, it’s, I think, (0:33:01) Kev: a blessing and a curse. We don’t get to see Genie, right? Because, you know, Robin Williams set him (0:33:04) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and so I actually recently watched the Aladdin movies again because I (0:33:07) Kev: free with his last wish, but it was a tie. I really liked it. (0:33:19) Codey: hadn’t seen them in a long time and I love King of Thieves and so which is a third one. (0:33:19) Kev: Yes. (0:33:24) Codey: I didn’t know that they replaced genie’s voice genie in the second one and well, because Robin (0:33:29) Kev: Yeah, yeah. (0:33:30) Codey: Williams didn’t agree to it or something? Oh, because he- (0:33:34) Codey: He wanted- In the first movie, he’s like, “I’ll do this, but I don’t want genie themed merch or anything.” (0:33:40) Kev: Yep, yep. You didn’t want focus on genie. Yeah (0:33:42) Codey: He specifically didn’t want it to be that, and then there was a bunch of it, and so he protested the second movie. (0:33:49) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:33:50) Codey: But then it wasn’t the same, and so he came back for the third one. And it was honestly- He just is genie. He just brings- (0:33:53) Kev: Yeah (0:33:56) Kev: I mean like (0:33:56) Codey: He did it! Yeah, he did it! Please! (0:33:58) Kev: Supposedly he didn’t have a script for the first one. So yes quite literally it quite literally is all his creation (0:34:04) Codey: They were- They were just like, “Say whatever, we will animate it.” It’s amazing. He’s just such a loss, but also, yeah. Anyway, such a- He was an amazing- (0:34:09) Kev: Yeah (0:34:10) Kev: So yes, that is (0:34:18) Kev: Yeah, he is a treasure (0:34:21) Kev: But yeah, so and yeah, and then for people who don’t know (0:34:25) Kev: later, I don’t know if is when he passed away or (0:34:29) Kev: at some point before shortly before he basically (0:34:33) Kev: Like legally said okay, you can’t use my likeness for genie anymore (0:34:37) Codey: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Well, I wonder if they were to bring Jeannie into Disney Dreamway Valley, (0:34:38) Kev: Which is why anytime you will see a Latin (0:34:40) Kev: You will never see genie stuff because you they can’t use his voice likeness or whatever (0:34:54) Codey: if they would do like a Will Smith version then. Because he was the Jeannie in the live (0:34:58) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I guess that’s the only way you could do it. (0:35:00) Codey: action. So. (0:35:04) Kev: Well, that’s that’s a thought. (0:35:07) Codey: Yeah. (0:35:10) Kev: Oh, I like the one. Did you? So one thing, it was caught, there was a fan theory about something that was quite an eventually confirmed later. (0:35:20) Kev: So people may remember the entire thing is actually framed by a the original led movie. (0:35:28) Kev: There’s a merchant, you know, the merchant at the beginning who’s telling you the story. Yeah, it was cut from the movie and fans theorized it forever because there’s little hints. (0:35:30) Codey: Yeah, uh-huh. (0:35:36) Kev: That merchant is supposed to be the genie as well. I don’t know if you caught that and knew about that. (0:35:42) Codey: I mean I the voice is this he’s he is the voice. Yeah, yeah (0:35:42) Kev: Yep, it’s Robin Williams, but also he’s the only he’s the only character who has four fingers other than the genie. (0:35:49) Codey: Oh (0:35:50) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:35:51) Codey: Okay, I thought that they just voiced he just voiced that character as well, but that’s hilarious (0:35:58) Kev: Good stuff. I like that. (0:36:00) Codey: Cuz my mom and I would like we would quote that all the time like will not break will not break it’s broke (0:36:08) Codey: It’s one of the in the first movie (0:36:10) Kev: yeah yeah yeah all right what’s next who’s gonna try to follow up bro it’s (0:36:18) Kev: ingenious novel is rest is um so this is an interesting one because they have the (0:36:18) Codey: Well, it’s a real simple one. It’s travelers rest (0:36:27) Kev: online multiplayer update which is that’s a big deal for any game really (0:36:32) Kev: right and you know at first I was like okay sure you know you got the starting (0:36:38) Kev: you’re growing things and fishing. (0:36:40) Kev: But the one that interests me, the bit, the highlight in my opinion, so when you’re actually running the in/tab and in Traveler’s Rest, you now have four people running that together, so almost an overtook-like field. (0:36:56) Kev: Obviously, well, not that level of chaos, but that is kind of fun. So yeah, there you go. Some play trailers. (0:36:58) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. I’m a very like, I don’t want people messing with my, my setup though. So (0:37:09) Codey: like, I’d be like, get out of my. Oh no. Oh yeah. That was one of my friends just moved (0:37:10) Kev: What was that, Rabbit? (0:37:20) Codey: into my spare room and he reorganized it. But I told him, I was like, go ahead and reorganize (0:37:24) Codey: cupboards. I don’t really care. And then I opened the cupboards today and I was like, (0:37:26) Kev: Mmm. (0:37:28) Codey: I care. He already reorganized this. So I have to like, I just have to find a way to (0:37:29) Kev: Ouch. (0:37:34) Codey: make it okay. So wild. Yeah, exactly. I’m learning. I’m learning, I think. Well, yeah. (0:37:35) Kev: Oh my gosh. (0:37:38) Kev: Wow, my God, oh man. (0:37:40) Kev: That sounds like another rabbit movie. (0:37:42) Kev: A rabbit spare room. (0:37:46) Codey: Okay. Anyway, I’m learning. I might need to add OCD to my, my, my, uh, list of qualifications. (0:37:52) Kev: The labels, the identifiers. (0:37:54) Codey: do you want to call it? (0:37:59) Codey: My identifiers. It’s so stupid. I was also talking to I’m for (0:38:04) Codey: my the conference that there’s a conference I’m going to in (0:38:07) Codey: November. And I’m running a workshop on neurodivergence in (0:38:12) Codey: entomology, which is my field. Super excited about it. And I (0:38:14) Kev: Okay, should you just is the summary we’re studying bugs is it we’re all (0:38:17) Codey: got I got it’s just me. That’s the that’s the thing. Like we (0:38:25) Codey: all are pretty much neurodivergent in some way. (0:38:28) Codey: I don’t think neurodivergent is a bad thing because we’re getting a lot of late in life (0:38:36) Kev: Yeah (0:38:40) Codey: diagnoses but once we know we don’t want to disclose it because it’s a shameful thing (0:38:41) Kev: Yeah, sure (0:38:48) Codey: “the world has made it seem as though it’s a bad thing to not be neurotypical” but it’s actually kind of a superpower too. (0:38:58) Codey: No, okay, that’s not the right wording but to know about yourself that you are not neurotypical so you can release yourself from those expectations (0:39:04) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:39:09) Kev: Sure, sure. (0:39:10) Codey: because then you’re not as like “why am I lazy? Why am I stupid? Oh no, I just have a different brain. I just think different.” (0:39:18) Kev: Yeah, I mean, yeah. That applies to Woofield Run, absolutely. (0:39:19) Codey: Yeah, all of this to say, I was talking to the person who’s going to do the OCD seminar. (0:39:28) Codey: or OCD talk or whatever on it and I was like “oh no” I was like “what makes an OCD person?” and she was telling me I was like “oh no, the worst.” (0:39:41) Codey: But yeah, Traveler’s Rest, if you do not have OCD or if you’re fine with sharing control you can now do that in the online multiplayer. (0:39:51) Codey: It’s out now in the 0.7 update. That’s that. (0:39:52) Kev: Yeah (0:39:55) Kev: That’s that hey Cody you’re talking about research symposiums and researchers you want to tell us about research (0:40:02) Codey: Yeah, you sure can. So research story has the 0.12 update. And this update adds powered chests. (0:40:12) Codey: Woo. So that is basically like, sorry, go for it. So basically, like, think of Minecraft and like (0:40:14) Kev: All right, wait, what what does that mean? (0:40:21) Codey: hoppers. So that, so that if so if you have something going, well, it’s maybe it’s not (0:40:23) Kev: Oh, OK. They organize. Mm hmm. (0:40:28) Codey: Poppers isn’t the right word. I don’t remember what exactly it is, but like you have (0:40:32) Kev: Are they sorting automatically? (0:40:33) Codey: I don’t know if it’s sorts automatically, but it automatically like runs something. (0:40:38) Codey: So say you have a coal furnace, you’re pumping coal into it. You’re trying to make something, (0:40:45) Codey: whatever. Um, you don’t have to keep going back and like emptying it and then refilling (0:40:53) Codey: it with the new stuff. The power chest will just automatically like put things in and take things (0:41:00) Codey: out so that you can just like. (0:41:02) Codey: Dump the input resources in and then take the output resources (0:41:09) Codey: that you want and then just leave it. (0:41:11) Codey: You don’t have to like go to all of these things. (0:41:14) Codey: It just makes it a bit easier for the automation side. (0:41:20) Codey: And less what do we call that management? (0:41:25) Codey: UI manager. (0:41:26) Codey: I don’t remember exactly what what I’ll calls it, but yeah, (0:41:28) Kev: Yeah. One of the coolest things I think Minecraft has ever done is basically introduce circuitry (0:41:30) Codey: less of the managing and more of the planning. (0:41:33) Codey: And getting the resources you need. (0:41:44) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:41:45) Kev: logic in the game, right? So anything that kind of goes in that direction. This might (0:41:50) Kev: not be that advanced, but the idea of these automated things that kind of sort things (0:41:54) Kev: and set up. You put the inputs and it does the thing for you. (0:41:56) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, and I feel like you could probably set up a chain. So like, if you need to create one (0:41:58) Kev: Thank you. I think that’s pretty cool. (0:42:06) Codey: thing with one crafting thing, and then that becomes an input for the next one, I think you (0:42:13) Codey: probably just put them next to each other and put a powered chest between them or something. I’m not (0:42:17) Codey: entirely sure. But that it opens the possibility for that kind of automation and that kind of like (0:42:24) Codey: set up, which is also very factorial. (0:42:26) Codey: Um, but I am here for it. (0:42:30) Codey: I like it. (0:42:32) Codey: Um, they’ve also added a couple of other things. (0:42:34) Codey: There’s a new year UI, uh, rework that they did. (0:42:37) Codey: I think it looks really crisp. (0:42:39) Codey: Um, they basically incorporated a lot of feedback that, um, test players or (0:42:44) Codey: users or whatever, even people who have been playing the demo or the early (0:42:49) Codey: access, they’ve been saying like, Hey, this is a little clunky. (0:42:52) Codey: And so they’ve incorporated that. (0:42:54) Codey: We love getting responses to our. (0:42:57) Codey: That is amazing. (0:42:58) Codey: Thank you. (0:43:00) Codey: Um, they also added seven new hair options and the red orange spectrum. (0:43:05) Codey: Um, again, people were like, my hair color is represented. (0:43:09) Codey: And so they made sure to incorporate, um, more colors, uh, that (0:43:14) Codey: represent those, that spectrum. (0:43:17) Codey: Um, and finally, this is also currently 20% off until March 9th (0:43:21) Codey: for the women’s day sale. (0:43:23) Codey: So currently only it’s only. (0:43:24) Kev: That’s all good stuff. (0:43:26) Codey: 1399 game to begin with, but now it’s 1119 and it isn’t early access, but it’s I, it’s pre cute little game and getting it supports the developers to making the studio to, you know, continue to make and continue to be able to incorporate community feedback, which is amazing. (0:43:35) Kev: - Yeah. (0:43:46) Kev: Yeah, that’s that’s all good stuff. There you go. And again, you got till March 9 to get down to good stuff, but for you to reach your story all that sounds excellent. (0:43:56) Codey: » I just want them to make a Mac one. (0:44:00) Codey: It’ll probably come later, (0:44:02) Codey: like either a Mac port or Twitch. (0:44:04) Kev: Well, there’s still an early access. I imagine at the 1.0, they’ll dip into new console. (0:44:12) Codey: that’s all I want in the world really I would die happy if that’s all if that’s if I got that you (0:44:17) Codey: know okay cool (0:44:17) Kev: well I i I consider it likely (0:44:22) Kev: at least which (0:44:28) Kev: all right next up we got more dlc’s and updates we got horticular with the (0:44:34) Kev: frozen frontier dlc okay it’s not well this is one of the things where we got (0:44:38) Kev: like two aspects to it there is a 1.4 update for the base game but (0:44:42) Kev: there’s also this frozen frontier which is an expansion a separate dlc they have (0:44:48) Kev: they got a bundle for whatever but horticular is on sale right now on steam at least (0:44:54) Kev: from 35% off pretty nice discount from 20 usd to 13 years (0:45:04) Kev: But yeah, Frozen Frontier, as the name would imply, we get snow stuff, right? (0:45:12) Kev: We get snow mechanics, a whole bunch of new animals. (0:45:15) Kev: There

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

Al and Codey talk about Sugardew Island Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:53: What Have We Been Up To 00:08:25: Game News 00:13:01: New Games 00:22:02: Sugardew Island 01:09:09: Outro Links Song of the Prairie “1.2” Update Fields of Mistria “2nd Major” Update Outbound Roadmap Elusive People Bug & Seek Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:35) Al: My name is Al and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:36) Codey: - And my name is Cody. (0:00:42) Codey: Oh woo. (0:00:46) Codey: Oh yeah. (0:00:47) Codey: Ow, ow, ow. (0:00:48) Al: All right, this episode, we are going to talk about Sugardew Island because as mentioned (0:00:49) Codey: Gotta do it the right way. (0:00:56) Al: in the last episode, it is not out except if you’re a Kickstarter backer, in which case (0:01:02) Al: it is kind of out. So I was a Kickstarter backer for some reason, so I got my code and (0:01:02) Codey: Mm-hmm, okay (0:01:08) Al: I have been playing it for the past week. So we’re going to talk about that. I’ve got (0:01:13) Al: some thoughts and I’m sure Cody will have some questions. (0:01:18) Codey: Probs. (0:01:19) Al: And then we can never mention the game again. Sound good? (0:01:21) Codey: Wow. (0:01:22) Codey: Yep. (0:01:23) Codey: Sounds good to me. (0:01:24) Codey: I’m sure we’ll have to mention like updates and stuff for news purposes, but (0:01:24) Al: All right. (0:01:26) Al: No. No. No, I don’t think… I mean, we’ll get patches with bug fixes, but it’s not good. (0:01:29) Codey: nah, okay, cool. (0:01:36) Codey: and we’re never not even gonna mention it though. (0:01:37) Al: They’re not going to add in. Well, we don’t tend to mention updates unless they actually (0:01:42) Al: include new stuff. There’s going to be no update including new stuff, let’s be honest. (0:01:46) Codey: OK. (0:01:48) Codey: Sounds good. (0:01:49) Al: We’ll see. We also have a bunch of news to talk about, but first of all, Cody, (0:01:55) Al: what have you been up to? (0:01:56) Codey: I realized the other day that I, this, this is the year that everything has flipped on (0:02:06) Codey: its head because all of the other years, every time I looked at a mobile game for this podcast, (0:02:11) Al: Yeah, I was going to say, Cody, this is a list of four mobile games in your world we’ve (0:02:12) Codey: I was like, I can’t wait to get rid of this game. (0:02:15) Codey: And I now have four different mobile games. (0:02:21) Codey: All of which, all of which I can blame on this podcast. (0:02:21) Al: been up to. (0:02:26) Codey: Even though we didn’t cover Pokemon Pocket, y’all talking about it is why I ended up getting (0:02:34) Codey: it. (0:02:35) Codey: So been playing that every day, got to play at least, you know, like twice a day to get (0:02:38) Codey: my, my stuff. (0:02:41) Codey: Johnny convinced me to play pocket camp. (0:02:43) Codey: So I’m doing that. (0:02:44) Codey: I am now, I think level like 63, I think initially when I talked to him about it, it was 41. (0:02:51) Codey: So you don’t necessarily level up that easy. (0:02:54) Codey: So that’s a yikes for me. (0:02:57) Codey: I would say if people are interested, the like used to be pay paid currency, you get (0:03:03) Codey: it really easily. (0:03:04) Al: Hm. Nice. (0:03:05) Codey: So I currently have like 854 of them and you can use like five of them to like skip things. (0:03:14) Codey: So it’s, it’s easy, like it’s, it’s, it’s good. (0:03:20) Codey: And I opened that and that was a mistake. (0:03:22) Codey: And then honeygrove, I’m still playing that. (0:03:26) Codey: Half of my map unlocks and I’m just kind of still doing the daily quests. (0:03:31) Codey: And then in mini mini farm, I am in the third, the third area now in the third area is like (0:03:33) Al: Minimini. (0:03:37) Al: Oh, nice. (0:03:38) Codey: a desert. (0:03:39) Codey: And then there’s an underground part of the desert where there’s like mushrooms. (0:03:42) Al: Have you got any answers yet? (0:03:46) Codey: So not really, there’s still a lot of like questions about where did the people go? (0:03:51) Codey: And there’s like these weird alien looking machines everywhere. (0:03:55) Codey: kind of like more and more. (0:03:56) Codey: The more you go through the game. (0:03:59) Codey: And in this last one, there is a cactus who that’s moving. (0:04:04) Codey: And as you like, you kind of follow the cactus and then walk into it. (0:04:10) Codey: And it it’s, it’s a person that has been turned into a cactus and they (0:04:13) Al: Oh, oh. (0:04:15) Codey: keep forgetting the conversation. (0:04:17) Codey: And so the conversation has a loop, like where they’re halfway through. (0:04:22) Codey: They’re like, wait, who are you? (0:04:24) Codey: Wait, what’s going on? (0:04:25) Codey: And then it starts back over. (0:04:27) Codey: But yeah, I’m so I’m still very intrigued and I still am playing (0:04:33) Codey: it every day, um, and I have no complaints there. (0:04:37) Codey: So I, and I’ve been wanting to play another game that I will, that (0:04:42) Codey: we will talk about later. (0:04:43) Codey: I just have to, I say, I have to convince myself to buy it. (0:04:47) Codey: It’s more that I have to move the money that I need for it into, (0:04:51) Codey: out of my savings account because I want, I know I want it. (0:04:53) Al: fair enough uh yeah i’ve been buying pocket as well uh just kind of chugging along open (0:04:56) Codey: Yeah. (0:04:57) Codey: What about you? (0:04:58) Codey: Well, what about you? (0:05:05) Al: impacts planes and battles um I have also been continuing to play harvest me home sweet home (0:05:10) Al: I am very close to finishing the story in that game um i’m in chat no i’ve just been playing a (0:05:13) Codey: Oh wow, okay. Is it because the story is small? (0:05:17) Codey: Okay. (0:05:19) Al: a lot. So I’m in chapter nine of 10. (0:05:20) Codey: Good. (0:05:23) Al: So yeah, we’ll see how that goes. I think I’ve got one thing. I’m about to get married (0:05:30) Al: and I think that finishes chapter nine. And so I’ll see how I’ll see what chapter 10 is. (0:05:32) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:05:35) Codey: Very nice probably like babies I would have (0:05:36) Al: So I don’t think this game has babies. We’ll see. (0:05:48) Al: and also, obviously, Shuguju Island. (0:05:51) Al: » Yeah. (0:05:54) Al: Which I’ll talk about more later and I’m currently debating whether to play to go do my home decks for sword and shield, which is the one that I’ve not finished yet because they just released. (0:06:06) Al: The completion reward for that one, but I’m still debating like do I want to do that just now because I do want the shiny keldio and I’d like to get it quickly. (0:06:12) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then it sounds like it’s a yes. (0:06:18) Al: But, but, but am I going to burn myself out on Pokemon? (0:06:23) Al: What’s the problem? (0:06:23) Codey: Mm. Have you ever burned yourself out on Pokemon? Oh, wow. Well, then, yeah, there you go. Maybe, (0:06:27) Al: Yes, regularly. (0:06:31) Codey: uh, I mean, I think is it like something that’s only available for a short amount of time? (0:06:36) Al: No. (0:06:36) Codey: No, then just don’t worry about it. (0:06:38) Al: Well, yeah, but what if? (0:06:39) Codey: what if what what if the what if (0:06:42) Codey: uh my country declares war on everyone and nuclear strikes everyone tomorrow like (0:06:48) Al: Well, yeah, but there’s nothing I can do about that, though, is there? (0:06:50) Al: But there is something I can do about this, which is do it. (0:06:53) Codey: okay I was gonna just make a comment of you never know what’s gonna happen so (0:06:58) Al: No, you don’t exactly. (0:06:59) Al: So you have to. (0:07:00) Al: But it’s about balancing which things you can do, (0:07:02) Al: something about it, which things you can’t. (0:07:03) Al: I can’t do anything about nuclear war. (0:07:04) Codey: Yeah, you, you, uh, have you heard the hostile government takeover song? (0:07:06) Al: Other than what I’ve already done, I can do something about this. (0:07:11) Al: Yes. (0:07:12) Codey: I love that song. (0:07:13) Codey: It’s now on Spotify. (0:07:14) Codey: If you, uh, if people want, it’s such a good song. (0:07:19) Codey: Uh, that’s fair. (0:07:21) Codey: I was trying to be devil’s advocate, but no, you’ve convinced me. (0:07:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:07:24) Codey: Why don’t you play it? (0:07:26) Al: Anyway, my point is, I need to do something because I’m not going to continue playing (0:07:26) Codey: Get your fill your home decks. (0:07:32) Al: Suga Jai Island after today. And well, maybe we’ll see. And I think I’m about to finish (0:07:38) Al: Harvest Moon Sweet Home. So I’ll need something else to play. And there’s lots of things to (0:07:45) Al: play. But you know, I do like to fall back into the same things I have played. And I (0:07:54) Codey: big mood as is tradition (0:07:54) Al: need to procrastinate from playing the next. (0:07:56) Al: game for the podcast I’m going to be playing as well. (0:07:58) Al: well. Yeah, this is true. (0:08:05) Codey: except for the like very rare once a year ones that we’ve been waiting for forever that (0:08:10) Al: Yeah, yeah. I definitely managed to do enough Sugardew Island, I didn’t (0:08:12) Codey: we play immediately so (0:08:16) Al: procrastinate with that too much, I managed to get what I needed done in the (0:08:19) Al: last week, so. Well, nor should you. So let’s talk about the news then. Up first (0:08:20) Codey: which is good because I did not play it. (0:08:23) Codey: So, uh, (0:08:29) Al: we have Song of the Prairie, they have released their 1.2 update which (0:08:35) Al: Which includes the story for year 3 in the game. (0:08:40) Al: A praying festival. (0:08:42) Codey: yeah which they said is like you send lanterns up into the sky (0:08:47) Codey: um to pray for people or love or something I don’t know it’s a thing people do but it (0:08:53) Codey: sounds like it’s gonna it looks really pretty because it’s just like a bunch of lanterns (0:08:58) Al: They’ve also added Oakcroft as their new crop, and they have announced that they (0:09:06) Al: are releasing a bottom-of-the-screen version of their game, Rusties-like, if (0:09:12) Al: you will, called Song of the Prairie Wonderland. Is it (0:09:13) Codey: a rusty like yup oh gosh that would who knows but because does it say on (0:09:20) Al: Song of the Prairie Wonderland on desktop? (0:09:29) Codey: desktop in capitals in this though they’re they’re English is definitely (0:09:30) Al: in this, it’s in the, yeah. (0:09:36) Codey: not their first language in the in the that show note not show notes why do I (0:09:43) Codey: go with what this is called release okay interesting that is a choice (0:09:44) Al: Oh, yeah, no, it’s yeah, it’s called Wonderland on Desktop. (0:09:49) Al: I just noticed they have a Steam page up for it. (0:09:53) Al: Interestingly, it doesn’t have Song of the Prairie in the name on Steam. (0:09:56) Codey: not not a not on laptop just desktop it’s probably on it (0:09:57) Al: It’s just called Wonderland on Desktop. (0:10:02) Al: I think it’s like your virtual desktop. (0:10:06) Al: Like the back, like that’s like the home screen. (0:10:10) Codey: Oh, okay, my brain is potato today I apologize that makes I mean (0:10:11) Al: It’s called the desktop, right? (0:10:15) Al: It says no missions, no target, no other requirements, (0:10:18) Al: just all kinds of crops, as it says, corpse. (0:10:22) Al: But I’m pretty sure that’s meant to be crops, (0:10:25) Al: because that’s a very different game, an undeveloped land. (0:10:26) Codey: all kinds of courses. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. I’m here for it, man. I am so excited that (0:10:31) Al: Hmm, interesting. (0:10:33) Al: Continuing that genre. (0:10:40) Codey: to continue the bottom of the screen. I’m not going to get this, but I love to see it. (0:10:44) Al: Yeah, very. Next, we have Fields of Mistria have announced that their second major update, (0:10:53) Al: which we talked about in a previous episode, is coming on the 10th of March. (0:10:58) Codey: Al, are you ready for that sweet, sweet automation? (0:11:01) Al: Always. This comes out three days after Sugardew Island, so you need to decide, are you playing (0:11:02) Codey: That sweet, sweet sprinkler and the auto-petter? (0:11:06) Codey: Heavy. (0:11:09) Al: Sugardew Island or the Fields of Mistria update? (0:11:12) Codey: That is a difficult decision. (0:11:15) Al: There is a correct answer here. (0:11:15) Codey: Sarcasm. (0:11:19) Codey: Yeah. (0:11:20) Codey: And just a reminder, this update includes so many different (0:11:23) Codey: things, including a new festival, new quests, monsters, (0:11:26) Codey: Pets. (0:11:28) Codey: Uh, that sprinkler that I mentioned, different cosmetic options for you and (0:11:31) Codey: your pets, um, lots of different things coming out. (0:11:33) Codey: And again, this is a game that people really love. (0:11:35) Codey: So, uh, if you have been loving it, uh, keep loving it with more things. (0:11:42) Al: And Outbound have released their roadmap for the game, so this is the Campervan game. They (0:11:54) Al: have said that they’re planning for their release in the first half of 2026, their alpha (0:12:01) Al: coming in April this year, and the beta coming in the second half of this year. That is their (0:12:06) Codey: Yeah, and they’re still aiming to have multiplayer out in the alpha, so that would be in mark h1 wait April in April (0:12:06) Al: current roadmap. (0:12:18) Codey: so that people can play test that but they really just are needing a lot of play testers and (0:12:25) Codey: They have they show a couple things they’ve been developing (0:12:29) Codey: That look kind of cool, but so if you’re interested in that check the show now (0:12:36) Al: Yeah, it’s good. They had originally said the alpha would come out in the first half of the (0:12:41) Al: year and so coming out in April is encouraging based on that, right? They’re not just sneaking (0:12:45) Codey: It’s also, it’s accurate too. (0:12:47) Al: in at the end of the first half. (0:12:50) Codey: Yeah, that is part of the first half of the year. (0:12:52) Codey: We love accuracy. (0:12:53) Codey: We stand accuracy here, (0:12:55) Codey: specifically scientific accuracy. (0:12:58) Codey: We believe in science. (0:13:00) Codey: I just hate my government so much. (0:13:03) Codey: We have a couple of new games. (0:13:04) Al: don’t we all. Yes, so the first one is technically not a new game but I’m going to treat it like (0:13:11) Al: a new game because when they first announced it they announced basically nothing about it. (0:13:16) Al: So this is what was announced three years ago. It’s a new, the upcoming Chibig game. (0:13:22) Al: It was announced in the Chibig Direct three years ago as Illusive People. It’s now just (0:13:27) Al: called Illusive and they’ve actually given us some information about it other than just, (0:13:34) Al: all we knew was like oh you’re tiny. That was it. That’s all they had. So they’ve got (0:13:39) Al: the Kickstarter coming soon and they’ve got a bunch of information on the Kickstarter. (0:13:44) Al: It is, they are describing it as an adventure and exploration game with Metroidvania elements. (0:13:55) Al: Which I mean just a quick thought about that. I’m a bit confused as to how you can have (0:14:01) Al: metroidvania elements because it is my own (0:14:04) Al: understanding that the point of a metroidvania is to have a large sprawling map which requires (0:14:09) Al: upgrades and backtracking to finish. And I’m not sure how you kind of have that like you either (0:14:13) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah, I think it’s probably just a semantics thing because I agree like, (0:14:17) Al: are that or not. (0:14:23) Codey: like my brain thinking when you say Metroidvania antics, I think platforming and I think like (0:14:29) Codey: you’re saying like, there’s things that are locked at first, and then you have to go back once you (0:14:33) Codey: acquire a certain thing. And then once you have, I mean, I don’t see how a game could have that (0:14:38) Codey: type of mechanic and not have it be like a major part of the genre. (0:14:43) Codey: Or like the defining genre of the game and therefore just be called a Metroidvania. (0:14:49) Codey: But who knows? Maybe they’ll make it happen. Maybe we’ll be shocked. But yeah. (0:14:50) Al: the illusives are tiny creatures that live in our homes hiding from us and borrowing whatever (0:14:59) Al: they need. Is this the Borrowers? Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how much of that actually (0:15:03) Codey: It’s the borrowers people. (0:15:04) Codey: I am shocked that this hasn’t been a game yet, honestly. (0:15:07) Codey: Like. (0:15:12) Al: affects anything. I mean it clearly is like you are in a house rather than like a cave system, (0:15:16) Al: So I guess that is the bit that makes it. (0:15:20) Al: Just a tiny person, rather than you’re just a person. (0:15:24) Codey: My brain thought I’m trying to think of like ways that the house could be locked to you and I just imagined like, because they mentioned there’s a cat. (0:15:34) Codey: I just imagined that like there’s a cat and that part way through the game you learn how to like make the cat like you. So then you can get past the cat. I think that’d be really cute. (0:15:44) Codey: But who knows. I mean, we’re gonna play it. It’s a chibi game. Come on. (0:15:48) Al: Yeah, for sure. I’ve bookmarked the Kickstarter like I’m backing at day one. Let’s not pretend (0:15:56) Al: anything here. They’ll presumably have some information about it when they launch the (0:15:56) Codey: Yeah. No, no news on when that’s launching, but it’s just launching soon. Um, do we. (0:16:04) Al: Kickstarter because they have to give an estimated date. If I had to predict, I would say next year. (0:16:08) Codey: Well, yeah. I mean the, the Kickstarter though, (0:16:12) Codey: like we don’t know when that is launching. It just says soon to you. (0:16:13) Al: Oh, right. Okay. Okay. The Kickstarter. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll probably be in the next month or so. (0:16:19) Codey: I’m going to say that it will be fully backed within nine hours. (0:16:27) Codey: Like between eight to nine hours. That’s my guess. Three hours. Wow. You’re going for it. (0:16:28) Al: Yeah. Three errors. (0:16:35) Codey: You’re going to personally back it so that it gets done in three hours. (0:16:38) Al: Yeah, I’m gonna bankroll it. Imagine if I had that. Imagine having that kind of money, (0:16:42) Codey: I need, I need to. Right. (0:16:44) Al: that’d be amazing. Just go, “Yes, make your game.” (0:16:48) Al: » [LAUGH] (0:16:49) Codey: Uh, the other notable thing was on the, like, they have a picture of physical editions already. (0:16:57) Codey: Um, and they below that they have switch one and two steam PlayStation five and Xbox series X. (0:17:02) Al: Yeah, so yeah, so there’s two, obviously there’s the Nintendo Switch 2 thing, right? (0:17:13) Al: Fine, a little bit presumptuous, but I’m sure whatever, like if they release a Nintendo Switch (0:17:18) Al: version and it’s backwards compatible on the two, then technically they can say they’ve (0:17:21) Al: released on Switch 2. Fine, whatever, it doesn’t really matter. It’s interesting they don’t mention (0:17:27) Al: Xbox Series S, because it is my understanding that you’re not allowed to release a game just (0:17:32) Al: on the X. It has to release on the S as well, because that has been like a sticking point for (0:17:35) Codey: » Yeah, I don’t know. (0:17:39) Al: a few people I’m releasing on Xbox. They’re like, oh, it’s a bit underpowered. I can’t quite get my (0:17:43) Al: game to work on it. And they’re like, we’ll talk. (0:17:46) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know ‘cause they don’t, (0:17:48) Codey: they specifically leave it out. (0:17:51) Codey: So I don’t know if they struck a deal (0:17:53) Codey: or if they just, it was an oopsie daisy (0:17:56) Codey: and it will come out on that, but we’ll keep that updated. (0:17:59) Al: “Can I be a little bit pedantic and say it doesn’t say Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. It says Nintendo Switch 1-2.” (0:18:04) Al: » Thank you. (0:18:04) Codey: Oh my gosh, there’s an intermediate switch switch switch one version to switch 1.2. I don’t know. (0:18:15) Codey: Yep, you’re right. (0:18:18) Al: Anyway, yep, looking forward to that, we will keep you updated. (0:18:21) Codey: Oh, but yeah, but not a woo because there’s one more game. So this is a game that I don’t even I think it was just like on Instagram. Instagram knows my algorithm really well. (0:18:22) Al: And there’s another game that Cody found. (0:18:34) Codey: And it was like, you should play this game. And it’s called bug and seek. And so this is a game that’s already out. I just we just hadn’t talked about it. At least I didn’t find it in anything it’s 1499 on steam and it can be Mac or PC and on switch and the blurb is blurb catch 200 plus real life bugs in this chill eight bit cozy creature collector. (0:18:58) Codey: You’ve bought the local bug zoo abandoned after a mysterious robbery catch bugs. (0:19:04) Codey: So this is a game that I’m probably immediately after this going to go move money into my out of my savings account into my regular accounts like buy it because I need to play this game. (0:19:21) Al: - What? (0:19:21) Codey: It just looks really cute. Like you’re going around catching bugs the bug like pages look really cute because it has like the scientists. (0:19:34) Codey: It has a specific name and the common name and it’s got like a lot of really cool facts and the idea of having a bug zoo. I mean we have an insect zoo for the entomology department here at my university and I’m the person who takes care of the critters. (0:19:49) Codey: The idea of just like moving into a town and becoming the muse, the bug zoo person is just chef’s kiss like I love that idea and you get to like build it up however you want so you get to like buy a terrarium (0:20:04) Codey: and then put that wherever you want in the in the space and kind of make it your own instead of just filling an already curated museum. (0:20:14) Codey: So I think it’s super cute and on Steam it’s part of a bundle called the creature. Oh my gosh. I need to double check this because I had it up and then I got rid of it but it was like the creature or something. (0:20:31) Codey: Create celebrate bugs bundle. (0:20:35) Codey: The celebrate bugs bundle. (0:20:40) Codey: Yeah. Oh, and they have an isopods DLC and a weevils DLC. And yeah, what more could you need, but it’s in that bundle and that bundle includes bug and seek a pico and webbed, which is a super cute game where you’re a jumper jumping spider. (0:20:59) Codey: One of the peacock jumpers, I think, or maybe you run into a peacock jumper, but you basically swing (0:21:04) Codey: Spider-Man style throughout the world and just adventure. (0:21:08) Codey: And I remember seeing this up this game and freaking out. (0:21:11) Codey: It is regrettably not available on Mac. (0:21:15) Codey: And I already have Apeco, but if you do not have any of these games and you’ve been wanting any (0:21:19) Codey: of them, why not get all of them for $38 and 22 cents and save 15%. (0:21:26) Codey: Are you going to play bug and seek? (0:21:28) Al: probably not. But I’m excited. I’m excited for you. Apparently this came out in 2013. (0:21:29) Codey: Okay. Well, listeners tell us who should. (0:21:35) Codey: Be on the podcast episode with me about bug and seek. (0:21:40) Codey: What’s I have released it 2023. (0:21:41) Al: That’s what I said. Did I? I meant to say 2023. (0:21:45) Codey: You said 2013. (0:21:49) Codey: Yeah, 2023 wild. (0:21:51) Codey: I don’t know how this has not been on my radar until now. (0:21:55) Codey: No idea, but I’m excited. (0:21:57) Al: Well, now you know. (0:22:00) Al: All right, that is the news. (0:22:03) Al: So we are now going to talk about the game of the moment. (0:22:07) Al: Game of the Year, lol. (0:22:10) Codey: No, redacted. (0:22:11) Al: Sugardew Island, I’m sure it will be mentioned in the Game (0:22:16) Al: of the Year episode. (0:22:20) Al: Because I list all the games that come out in the air. (0:22:22) Al: And yeah. (0:22:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. You played it. I didn’t. (0:22:24) Al: So. Oh, boy, did I. (0:22:27) Al: Play this game. Right. (0:22:28) Al: So where do I start with this? (0:22:33) Al: Oh, OK. (0:22:34) Al: Cody’s just posted the blog post of the blurb. (0:22:37) Al: So apparently that’s where I’m starting in this code in this cozy farming game. (0:22:38) Codey: you don’t have to if you don’t. (0:22:41) Al: You have to run your own farm shop, take care of your animals and your farm. (0:22:45) Al: So your goods to the cute forest folk upgrade the island and fulfill small (0:22:50) Al: orders from the Harmony Tree to fill the island with life again. (0:22:54) Al: And let me tell you, that is all technically (0:22:57) Al: true. (0:22:58) Codey: Wow okay. Not the… there are no lies but not maybe the main part of the game. (0:23:00) Al: There are no lies there. (0:23:06) Al: No, no, no, it’s it’s this. (0:23:07) Codey: Okay. (0:23:09) Al: OK, right. Well, it’s I think it’s hard for me to give a good (0:23:10) Codey: Let’s dive into it. (0:23:14) Al: overview without just kind of going into the details. (0:23:16) Codey: Okay. (0:23:18) Al: But essentially, yeah, you have this island (0:23:21) Al: which it calls five, no, six different islands, but it’s not because they’re all (0:23:27) Al: island. They’re connected by land. (0:23:30) Al: There is there’s no bridges between them. (0:23:32) Al: There’s no water between. (0:23:33) Al: This is one island, right? (0:23:34) Al: I don’t know why it calls it multiple islands. (0:23:36) Al: Whatever doesn’t matter. (0:23:38) Al: You have Farm Island. (0:23:40) Al: I think that’s what they call the main one. (0:23:42) Al: And then you have let me get the exact (0:23:44) Al: names of these different islands for you because you need to hear them. (0:23:49) Al: We have so. (0:23:51) Al: Yeah, Farm Island. (0:23:53) Al: So technically this Seven Islands, because it’s Farm Island, (0:23:57) Al: forest island, bunny island, piggy island, deer island, ferret island and owl island. (0:24:04) Al: And it’s kind of shaped like an animal’s paw. (0:24:08) Codey: Oh, okay. (0:24:09) Al: On the map with like Farm Island at the bottom, that is, can you guess what’s there? (0:24:13) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:14) Codey: A farm. (0:24:15) Al: That’s your farm. (0:24:17) Al: And then in the middle is forest island. (0:24:19) Al: Can you guess what’s there? (0:24:19) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:21) Codey: Um, the desert, the forest. (0:24:24) Al: No. (0:24:25) Al: There’s actually not many trees there. (0:24:27) Al: But one big tree. (0:24:28) Codey: Oh, so it’s a, it’s a. (0:24:30) Al: There are more trees on my farm than there are in the forest. (0:24:33) Al: And then spreading out like the toes of the paw or the bunny island, (0:24:38) Al: piggy island, deer island, ferret island and owl island. (0:24:42) Al: And those all have animals on them. (0:24:45) Codey: Yeah. (0:24:48) Al: So you start off with, I think, one island having one animal on it. (0:24:53) Al: I think you have one bunny unlocked to start with. (0:24:55) Al: and then as you progress through the game. (0:24:57) Al: You unlock more animals on the islands up to, I think five on each. (0:25:02) Al: And these animals give you seeds that you can use to farm free seeds. (0:25:07) Al: You go up to one and it will go like, Oh, here, here you go. (0:25:09) Al: Here’s some carrot seeds, um, stuff like that. (0:25:14) Al: And, uh, when you unlock one of the animals, you also get like an upgrade to something. (0:25:20) Al: So, uh, examples of the upgrades would be you can now get pumpkin seeds or you can now (0:25:27) Al: upgrade your, your tools. (0:25:29) Al: You can now upgrade your shop stuff like that. (0:25:32) Al: So there’s, it’s a, it’s the pro that’s the kind of main progress through the game. (0:25:38) Al: And how do you unlock these things? (0:25:40) Al: You ask, well, you get a currency called Harmony. (0:25:44) Al: There’s only one way to get this currency and that is by selling things at the shop. (0:25:48) Al: So you cannot, you can get the other currency, which is called sugar dew, (0:25:53) Al: which is like the actual currency that you use to buy things. (0:25:56) Al: things. (0:25:57) Al: You can get that two other ways, you can sell to, like there’s one guy who sells you seeds, (0:26:02) Al: you can sell him stuff, but you don’t get the harmony that way. Or you can do, as it mentioned (0:26:07) Al: in the blurb, these small orders from the harmony tree. Those are the harvest sprites will ask for (0:26:18) Al: certain things and you can give them certain things and that will get you sugared you as well. Those (0:26:22) Al: tend to be like higher value things, so what would normally sell for? (0:26:25) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:26:27) Al: We’ll get to the shop later, because I have a lot to talk about about that, but let’s (0:26:44) Codey: Okay, I was gonna ask about this okay, okay (0:26:48) Al: get through this. (0:26:49) Al: So that’s the Island Unlocking, the main point of it is to get the unlocks so you can do (0:26:56) Al: other things. (0:26:57) Al: your tools and get different kinds of seeds and stuff like that. But it also unlocks more of these (0:27:02) Al: animals that you can go in and get seeds. And you seem to be able to get them basically infinitely. (0:27:07) Al: Right? Like if you walk between two islands, they’ll almost always have a seed for you. So you can (0:27:13) Al: like just constantly be getting free seeds, which I think is actually, yeah, which I think is really (0:27:13) Codey: Okay. Just go back and forth. (0:27:17) Al: good early on. It allows you to get a lot more seeds than you would otherwise be able to get. (0:27:24) Al: But I’ve hit the point where I’m like, this is just so much effort, I’m just. (0:27:27) Al: going to buy seeds, right? Because I’m now, you know, doing like 45 seeds a day. I’m not walking (0:27:33) Al: around the islands and interacting with the animals 45 times every single day, you know. (0:27:36) Codey: - Yeah. (0:27:40) Codey: Yeah. (0:27:41) Al: So there’s that. Farming wise, it’s pretty standard. But everything, it almost feels like (0:27:50) Al: it’s missed the last like 10 years of quality of life improvements in farming games. (0:27:56) Al: But it’s fine. (0:27:58) Al: What I will say is that your bag has two different buckets. (0:28:03) Al: I like having the tools in a different bucket because it doesn’t take up (0:28:06) Al: space to other things with it. (0:28:08) Al: So I will say that’s a good thing. (0:28:09) Al: I like that. (0:28:11) Al: That’s a thing. (0:28:14) Al: I don’t know what to say about the farming because it’s literally you (0:28:17) Al: till the land, you plant the seed, you water, it grows, you harvest it, right? (0:28:23) Al: It’s like standard farming. (0:28:24) Codey: That’s, that’s so innovative. (0:28:27) Codey: Uh, like how many types of seeds are there? (0:28:28) Al: So I have encountered maybe like 12. There’s a decent selection. It’s not humongous, but it’s a decent. I will say there don’t seem to be any seasons. (0:28:40) Al: So I’m on day 46 and I have not noticed any changes. It does have weather. I’ve noticed like three different weathers. So there’s rain, there’s sun, and then there’s wind. (0:28:54) Al: I don’t think wind does anything, it’s not like the storms and star- (0:28:57) Al: where sometimes you can’t go out the house, or it does something else, it’s just you see some wind. (0:29:02) Al: So I’m not really sure what that does, but yeah, the rain is good, it waters your plants standard. (0:29:10) Codey: love that. How is the, like, are the crops, like, well, not displayed, but like the visuals (0:29:19) Codey: of it really decent or are they pretty basic? (0:29:22) Al: I think if you like how the game looks you’ll like that. It is very much a choice how it (0:29:31) Al: looks. I’m not a huge fan, but yeah it’s not like you just see the crop up here on the (0:29:37) Al: ground or anything. They do have growth and they slowly grow and then you’ve got it on (0:29:42) Al: its plant and then you see the corn come off the plant, that sort of stuff. Interestingly (0:29:49) Al: I will say lots of the seeds look exactly (0:29:52) Al: the same. I’ve seen maybe three different kinds of seeds, so that can be a little bit (0:29:54) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:29:56) Al: weird. But the actual plants, they’re all unique and look so that’s fine, I guess. (0:30:00) Codey: Okay. (0:30:04) Codey: I suppose. (0:30:08) Al: Well, let me put it this way. Nothing excites me in this game. (0:30:13) Al: What else about the farming? You seem, I think, you upgrade like being able to (0:30:20) Al: So the seeds. (0:30:22) Al: So I’ve upgraded to the second watering can, which gives me a three by one instead of a one by one. (0:30:28) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:30:30) Al: And I can now sow seeds three by one as well. (0:30:34) Al: So I like that because some farming games forget that that that sewing seeds takes a long time. (0:30:34) Codey: Okay. (0:30:38) Al: And please give me an upgrade for that as well. (0:30:39) Codey: Yeah. (0:30:40) Al: So so that’s that’s good. (0:30:42) Al: I don’t think there’s anything really much to say about the farming. (0:30:46) Al: You get. Oh, yes, here’s one. You get three crops for every seed you plant. (0:30:50) Al: So if you plan, if you plant 10. (0:30:50) Codey: The benefit of the crops, is it just for selling or in your shop? (0:30:52) Al: And as far as I can see, you can only get it by buying it from the seed man. (0:31:00) Codey: Is there any cooking at all? (0:31:19) Al: I have not figured out a way to be able to. (0:31:22) Al: And I’ve not seen anything in the list of upgrades that would imply that you can unlock that later, which, if you can, feels weird that you can’t do it. (0:31:30) Al: Because I feel like I am maybe like halfway through the game, right? (0:31:34) Al: Like I’ve unlocked each of the islands to at least level three, and I’ve done two of them, one of them to level four, and I’m working on another one to level four, right? (0:31:43) Al: And that’s out of five. (0:31:44) Al: So I feel like I’m like I don’t think I could play this for another 10 hours and not have the. (0:31:52) Al: I’m all unlocked, so it would be weird if there was cooking and I just hadn’t unlocked it. (0:31:59) Codey: That is a choice, because I feel like people that farm are the ones that usually cook as well. (0:32:09) Codey: They’re more prone to cooking their own meals with their own food, but… (0:32:14) Codey: Mhmm. (0:32:14) Al: Well, and cooking is sometimes the only thing that gets you through the early stages of (0:32:18) Al: these farming games, right? (0:32:19) Al: Because you’re like, “I can’t do everything I want to do.” (0:32:20) Codey: Mhmm. (0:32:22) Al: And so you use some of your crops for energy instead. (0:32:24) Codey: Mhmm. (0:32:27) Al: Like that’s a pretty standard thing, and it does feel like a weird, especially with something (0:32:32) Al: at the shop, which I’ll get to in a minute. (0:32:34) Al: Let’s quickly talk about the animals. (0:32:34) Codey: Mhmm. Okay. Okay. Are these the animals on the islands or like farm animals on your (0:32:37) Al: The animals are fine. (0:32:40) Al: You buy an animal, you give it some food, it gives you some crops. (0:32:44) Al: Not crops, some produce. (0:32:48) Al: No, so these are farm animals, farm animals. (0:32:50) Codey: farm? Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. (0:32:52) Al: So I’ve got cows and chickens so far, and I believe you can get goats and ducks at least (0:32:57) Al: as well. (0:32:58) Al: I’ve seen them on the upgrade tree. (0:33:01) Al: I don’t know if there’s anything else. (0:33:04) Al: But yeah, they’re fine. (0:33:06) Al: One thing that is nice that some farming games do and some don’t is that as you upgrade the (0:33:11) Al: friendship to give you multiple produce in one day. (0:33:13) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:33:15) Al: So, and the produce is worth more than most of the crops, so you can invest a lot of money into (0:33:23) Al: the animals and get a lot of money that way, I think. Wheat, just wheat, which you can farm (0:33:28) Codey: What do the animals eat? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Is there quality to their products or is it just amount? (0:33:32) Al: yourself, so there is that. All right. No, no, it’s just, it’s just crops. (0:33:44) Al: There are two kinds of fertilizer. There is wet fertilizer and dry fertilizer. (0:33:49) Al: Yep, I don’t know why they chose the word wet. I do not enjoy that. (0:33:55) Al: Dry fertilizer speeds up the growing. Wet fertilizer keeps it watered. (0:34:00) Codey: That’s the choice. Are these things that you get from the animals? (0:34:04) Al: No, so you craft them from weeds. Oh yeah, let’s talk about, let’s talk about, so around your farm, (0:34:11) Al: obviously you have weeds and stones and trees and these things come back. (0:34:14) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:34:14) Al: They come back super quickly, like, oh, my word, rocks, rocks, I got rid of all the rocks from one, like, what is that like a 15 by 10 section I got rid of all the rocks from there, and then the next day I have nine rocks, nine rocks spawning in this small section in a day, it is so hard. (0:34:19) Codey: Hey, that’s that’s realistic, I mean maybe not like the rocks no (0:34:42) Codey: Nature is healing. (0:34:44) Al: To get rid of all this stuff and it’s like you have to like basically concrete over your farm if you don’t want these things to spawn. There’s so many of them. (0:34:52) Codey: I mean, it’s the rocks are plentiful in this spit a land, you know, they just love each other and (0:34:59) Codey: they’re making their rock babies. Yeah. What are you using like the rocks and the all that for? (0:35:02) Al: It’s just it’s not I feel like you could half it and it would still feel like a lot (0:35:11) Al: Very little there’s like some crafting things, but it’s like path like I’m I’m using the stone to create path (0:35:19) Al: to stop stone spawning (0:35:22) Al: In my in my crafting thing I can see like I can use the stone for some path (0:35:27) Al: I can use the WID for some path. I can use the WID… (0:35:32) Al: …for fences and that’s it. You do use the stone in the WID for house upgrades, but I do not care about it. Why would I care about house upgrades? (0:35:38) Codey: Mm hmm. Because you want a bigger house. (0:35:44) Al: Why? It doesn’t do anything. I never spend any time in my house. You can’t put anything there. (0:35:48) Codey: Doesn’t matter. When after a good hard day’s work, you want to come home to things. (0:35:56) Codey: Merica. Yeah, I don’t know. It sounds like this game is like half-baked. Okay. Okay. (0:35:59) Al: Yeah, so it’s bizarre. Oh, for sure, for sure. Speaking of half-baked, let’s talk about the shop. (0:36:07) Al: Oh, this is the worst part of the game. I just noticed I did the groan and I typed, (0:36:16) Al: that was apparently my top bullet point on this list. That was accidental. (0:36:18) Codey: What is the, how do you say that, the way that you typed it, ugh, okay. (0:36:26) Al: So, first of all, you have to… (0:36:29) Al: Use up stamina to sell things in the shop, which, considering you cannot replenish your (0:36:36) Al: stamina with your crops, you have to buy energy things. That is such a weird choice, especially (0:36:42) Al: as you don’t use up stamina to do anything to do with your animals. To milk your cows, (0:36:46) Codey: I will say my animals give me life every day, so that coming out net pause net. (0:36:48) Al: pet your cows, feed your cows, no stamina loss. Sewing seeds does not have stamina. (0:36:58) Codey: Okay, that’s a lie. (0:36:59) Al: But selling at the shop does? (0:37:00) Codey: Maybe, maybe they’re introverted. (0:37:04) Codey: Social interaction is hard. (0:37:07) Al: It’s not fun. Let me put it that way, right? (0:37:10) Codey: Social interaction is hard. (0:37:15) Al: I’m at the point in my farm where I have so many crops that I can only ever go to my shop (0:37:20) Al: on a rainy day. Because I run out of stamina by the end of my farming. (0:37:26) Codey: - Yeah, is there, wait, my brain is potato. (0:37:29) Codey: Can you upgrade your stamina? (0:37:30) Codey: Like increase your, the amount of? (0:37:31) Al: I don’t know, because there’s no number on it, there’s just a bar. And it does say that I’m (0:37:38) Al: upgrading my level, but I don’t know if that upgrades my stamina or not. Hard to know, (0:37:44) Al: because there’s no transparency there. Okay, so you go in and you say you have like four counters, (0:37:55) Al: you can put one stack of items on each counter. And then you go, right, I’m opening the shop now, (0:38:00) Al: You can do it once per day. (0:38:01) Al: You can spend as much time as you want doing things and then you go to your shop and you open the shop and when your shop closes, it’s night time. (0:38:16) Al: That is how this works, which I think is an interesting way of doing things. (0:38:20) Al: It has not been implemented particularly well here. It’s not particularly interesting in this game, but it is an interesting idea. (0:38:27) Al: That is what I will say. (0:38:28) Codey: OK, props for the idea, not for the execution. (0:38:29) Al: Sorry. (0:38:32) Al: Yes, so you open your shop and then these random village creatures who you never see at any other point in the game. (0:38:41) Codey: Yeah, I was gonna that was my next question. (0:38:42) Al: They come in. Where do they come from? I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Don’t question it. (0:38:49) Al: So they pop into the shop and you can have like an infinite line of these creatures coming in as long as you still have stamina and you still have items on the counter. (0:39:01) Al: And they will go, they’ll wander around and they’ll pick something up, some number of one of your items and they will take it to you and they will either be like, “I want to buy this.” (0:39:10) Al: Or they’ll be like, “I maybe want to buy this.” If they want to buy it, you click the button, you sell it. Great. (0:39:17) Al: If they’re not sure, you get to convince them. And what you can do is you can either say, like, you can choose one of three things. You can either do like the middle one. (0:39:27) Al: one, and if it’s more likely. (0:39:31) Al: Or is the normal likelihood of them selling, and you get the normal amount of money? (0:39:36) Al: If you choose the higher one, there is less likelihood of them buying, (0:39:40) Al: but you get more money, and if you choose the lower one, you get less money, (0:39:44) Al: and there’s a higher chance of them getting it. (0:39:46) Codey: Does it sound like that’s how it works? (0:39:47) Al: Sounds like an interesting idea, right? (0:39:50) Al: Except… (0:39:53) Al: Just sell it the next day. (0:39:55) Al: Why would I ever choose anything other than the top one? (0:39:59) Al: Because I have a chance of getting more money. (0:40:01) Al: And if I don’t sell it, I will sell it the next day. (0:40:02) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:04) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:06) Al: There is no reason whatsoever to ever choose the lower one. (0:40:08) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:11) Al: I can just sell it the next day. (0:40:12) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:14) Al: This is not a problem. (0:40:16) Al: I don’t understand. (0:40:17) Al: This is the most half-baked idea for a shop I have ever, ever seen. (0:40:22) Al: I don’t, I don’t understand it. (0:40:22) Codey: Also, just imagining, just imagining like being in a shop (0:40:27) Codey: in the real and having someone look at the price tag and they (0:40:30) Codey: come up and they’re like, I don’t know. I don’t know if I (0:40:31) Al: So, well, the lower behind it is they say, “Oh, you’re right, here’s a tip.” (0:40:34) Codey: want this. How in the hell are you convincing them to spend (0:40:37) Codey: more money on it in the end? (0:40:45) Codey: Oh, (0:40:47) Al: That is the lower behind this. (0:40:48) Codey: Okay. Okay, and then. (0:40:50) Al: But also like all of the dialogue options are bad, right? (0:40:53) Al: Because what they’ll do is they’ll say like, “Oh, I have, I kid you not, this is the exact (0:40:57) Al: wording.” (0:40:58) Al: They’ll come up and they’ll say, “I thought I wanted…” (0:41:01) Al: It’s such, it’s just like, and I know that it’s probably just like, oh, they’re not native English speakers, but it’s just like, just remove the three times, right? (0:41:05) Codey: Well, yeah, the three times carrot at a home is like awful. (0:41:29) Al: and it would sound so much less bad. (0:41:31) Codey: Yeah (0:41:31) Al: It’s like, “Oh, you can never have too many carrots.” (0:41:33) Al: Rather than, “Oh, you can never have too many three-times-carrot.” (0:41:34) Codey: Yeah (0:41:37) Codey: I mean, but yeah that I mean even that like you can never have too many carrots like at a certain point (0:41:43) Al: I mean, it’s not true, but you know that there will be people saying that, right? (0:41:44) Codey: That’s you can (0:41:49) Al: Like, you can absolutely believe someone’s saying that in a shop. (0:41:52) Al: You can never have too many carrots. (0:41:52) Codey: I, I, I’m going to start saying that just to spite you. Okay, sausage. (0:41:54) Al: Nobody’s saying, “You can never have too many three-times-carrot.” (0:42:03) Al: Sausage roll thrice. (0:42:08) Codey: I want a quartet of sausage, please. (0:42:09) Al: Carrot thrice, please. (0:42:13) Codey: Thrice. Okay, the we’re gonna dial it back a little bit because a village creatures. (0:42:21) Al: I don’t know who they are! They’re humanoid, but like, short. They’re almost… (0:42:22) Codey: Are they’re human? (0:42:29) Codey: Okay, but short people are people too, Elle. (0:42:34) Al: I didn’t call them creatures, the game did. (0:42:36) Codey: Okay, okay, wait, what, what, what? (0:42:40) Al: I don’t know. It’s weird. Possibly, possibly. I think they’re meant to be like Harvest Sprites, (0:42:43) Codey: Is that maybe just a translation issue? (0:42:48) Al: Because, ironically, the game can… (0:42:51) Al: Characters in the game that are actually harvest sprites are like your size. (0:42:56) Al: And the characters that aren’t harvest sprites are harvest sprites size. (0:43:02) Codey: This is upside down world, opposite land. (0:43:05) Al: On so many levels, um, yeah. (0:43:08) Codey: Okay. (0:43:09) Codey: And are these the like, (0:43:12) Codey: okay, but you said you never see them elsewhere. (0:43:14) Codey: Like you don’t, there’s no village (0:43:16) Al: No (0:43:17) Codey: or they’re never wandering around Ferret Island. (0:43:19) Al: No, no, I have never seen them and I’ve played I’ve at least ten errors in it (0:43:26) Codey: Is the game, is there a mystery (0:43:29) Codey: as to why you don’t know where they are? (0:43:32) Al: It does not frame it like that, no. (0:43:33) Codey: Okay. (0:43:35) Codey: That was a choice. (0:43:37) Al: I don’t know where they’re coming from, nobody ever (0:43:39) Al: questions where they’re coming from, they just are. And there’s (0:43:43) Al: so many of them and you never see a single one until the minute (0:43:46) Al: you open the shop and there’s like a stream of them coming (0:43:49) Al: until you run out of stamina or items. (0:43:52) Codey: Mm-hmm. That does, that mechanic reminds me of garden paws because you did have a (0:43:58) Codey: shop in garden paws. There was no like haggling or whatever, but, um, in garden (0:44:04) Codey: paws, like it was just a line of thi-, of people that come until your shop closes. (0:44:08) Al: Yeah. It just keeps convincing me that I don’t think there is a good way to make a shop game. (0:44:15) Al: I just don’t think it’s possible. (0:44:17) Codey: That’s fair. (0:44:18) Codey: Oh, they also… (0:44:18) Al: Mineko got the closest and it only works because it’s like once a week and it’s super short and (0:44:23) Al: super quick. I don’t remember there being a shop where you’re selling stuff in that. (0:44:25) Codey: They also did spells and secrets (0:44:31) Codey: No, no, no, I’m just saying there I was looking to see what other games they’ve done and that is on their list (0:44:35) Al: Oh, okay. Yeah, so Roca play their their (0:44:38) Al: publisher. (0:44:39) Codey: Yeah, oh well why does (0:44:40) Al: They’re not developer. (0:44:40) Al: Oh, well, I think they have been a developer, but not for most games that you they’re linked (0:44:45) Al: to. (0:44:46) Codey: Okay (0:44:47) Al: They’re mostly a publisher. (0:44:48) Codey: They are the developer of this game though (0:44:49) Al: Oh, they are, are they? (0:44:52) Codey: Of this one specifically (0:44:53) Al: Okay. (0:44:54) Al: Right. (0:44:55) Al: So they are. (0:44:56) Codey: Okay (0:44:58) Al: They were there. (0:44:59) Al: They’re the second listed developer for spells and secrets. (0:45:02) Al: So probably not really. (0:45:04) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:45:06) Al: They also published the new game. (0:45:08) Al: It’s called A Game About Digging A Hole, which seems to be getting a lot of traction, (0:45:12) Al: but they didn’t develop that either. (0:45:14) Codey: The game about digging a hole. (0:45:14) Al: It’s all over the internet just now. (0:45:20) Al: It’s just interesting how hit and miss they seem to be. (0:45:23) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:45:24) Al: They’re publishing Solarpunk as well, which looks really good. (0:45:27) Codey: The game about digging a hole. (0:45:28) Al: Have you not seen this yet? (0:45:30) Codey: Oh, it’s literally called a game about digging a hole. (0:45:33) Al: It’s called A Game About Digging A Hole. (0:45:34) Codey: Oh, okay, keep going. (0:45:36) Al: It’s got very positive reviews on Steam. (0:45:39) Al: Six days ago, and it has nearly 4,000 reviews on Steam. (0:45:43) Al: It’s like blowing up. (0:45:43) Codey: Oh my god, I see it. This is… I would do that. I want to play this. (0:45:50) Al: It looks really good and people seem to really like it. They don’t seem to have a bar quality (0:45:53) Codey: Yeah. They’re just the publisher though. (0:45:58) Al: for their publishing, like some of them are great and some of them are SugarGee Island. (0:46:04) Codey: Specifically. (0:46:05) Al: Sorry, this is sounding really harsh. It’s fine. It’s not a terrible game, but I do not know why (0:46:09) Codey: They’re not batting a thousand. (0:46:13) Al: I would play this ahead of any farming game ever. That’s the thing. Why would I play this instead of (0:46:19) Al: of stargy. (0:46:20) Al: I would not play this instead of Coral Island. (0:46:23) Al: Why would I play this instead of Fields of Mistria? (0:46:26) Al: I wouldn’t. (0:46:26) Codey: - Mm-hmm, that’s fair. (0:46:29) Al: When I backed this on Kickstarter, I literally backed it saying, “I guess I’m going to cover (0:46:33) Al: this on the podcast,” like I’m not hating my time playing it, but I’m not like I must (0:46:38) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I was really. I was really shocked that you’re still playing that when (0:46:39) Al: be playing it, which weirdly I am doing with Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home. (0:46:45) Al: That’s what territory we’re in. (0:46:46) Al: I want to play Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home. (0:46:48) Al: I don’t want to play Shuku-jiu Island! (0:46:50) Al: I can’t stop, Cody! (0:46:55) Codey: I saw it on your thing. Well, you’re almost done. It’s okay. Okay, so these harvest sprites. (0:47:04) Codey: Never see them except for when they’re buying from you. (0:47:06) Al: No, so that’s the the harvest sprites are different. (0:47:10) Al: So these are the what do they call them? (0:47:12) Al: Forest folk are the ones that buy from your shop. (0:47:16) Al: The harvest sprites are the ones that you sell stuff to with the like random requests. (0:47:22) Codey: Okay. (0:47:23) Al: They’ll be like, oh, I want these things and you can sell it and get more money for (0:47:26) Al: them, but no harmony. (0:

Al and Kev talk about Hello Kitty Island Adventure Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:30: What Have We Been Up To 00:22:51: Game News 00:36:43: Hello Kitty Island Adventure 01:16:05: Outro Links Ratopia 1.0 Grimoire Groves Release Sugardew Island Release The Ranchers Police District My Time at Sandrock Chibi Figurines Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:35) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:37) Kev: My name is Kevin, here with the vengeance. (0:00:40) Al: You sounded a little bit unsure about your name there. (0:00:42) Al: And we’re here today to talk about Cosco Games. (0:00:46) Kev: Woo! (0:00:48) Kev: I can’t get the wolf pack thing out of my head now. (0:00:51) Kev: They’re listening to last two weeks. (0:00:56) Al: This episode, we are going to talk about Hello Kitty Island. (0:01:00) Al: Adventure. Oh, but you’ve already talked about that. I hear you say, “Well, (0:01:05) Al: we’re going for the second harvest of it, because it has finally come out on Steam and Switch.” (0:01:08) Kev: Second Harvest. (0:01:14) Kev: Switch and other things, yes. (0:01:17) Al: You can tell what Kevin cares about. So, we’re going to talk about that. (0:01:19) Kev: Yeah, haha, yeah. (0:01:24) Kev: I don’t have a Steam Deck, so, well. (0:01:26) Al: Fair. Before that, we have some news. (0:01:31) Al: But first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:01:33) Kev: Oh, hello everyone. I have been up to work. I barely have, it’s been a lot done working. (0:01:42) Kev: I’m in one of those periods where I’m doing a lot of daily sort of stuff, comfort games. (0:01:51) Kev: And then the Zone Zero continues to be good. Marvel Snap, I’m playing Marvel Snap right now. (0:01:56) Kev: I know you’re not, I like to follow the channel, I know you’re not. That’s fine. (0:01:58) Al: I am not. No, no. I took a break from it because it was basically consuming me. (0:02:03) Kev: It’s consumed me. But I think it’s in a decent place, so I’m okay being consumed by Marvel Snap. (0:02:12) Kev: We got the new season based stuff, the Brave New World, the Red Hulk, and the new Captain America, all that good stuff. (0:02:21) Kev: Um… I… (0:02:22) Al: I have been occasionally looking at the, um, the new cards and stuff like that, but I haven’t (0:02:30) Al: looked at the new, the new season stuff. Is there anything that excites you? (0:02:34) Kev: Yeah, they’re interesting. Funnily enough, the one that excites me most is not related to the (0:02:44) Kev: movie. It’s a character called Diamondback. Diamondback is a type of rattlesnake, if you’re (0:02:50) Kev: not familiar. She’s part of a group called the Serpent Society. I can’t remember exactly what, (0:02:56) Kev: but she’s got one of those effects that lowers everyone else’s power on your head. (0:03:04) Kev: I think it doubles the amount lowered or something like that, so I’m excited by that. (0:03:10) Kev: Otherwise, the other stuff’s fine. None of it’s crazy game breaking. I’m more excited by (0:03:15) Al: Oh, is next month is it Daredevil stuff? No. Okay. (0:03:16) Kev: some stuff in the data points for next month, but yeah, the season’s okay. Next month is going to (0:03:24) Kev: be, oh, that’d be a good one, but no. They’re going to get the name of it. Basically, like ancient (0:03:34) Kev: like BC or whatever, Avengers BC, something like that. I don’t remember. Yeah, they have (0:03:40) Kev: some interesting effects. Otherwise, Marvel Snap is good. I can see my visual customizations and (0:03:53) Kev: stuff all during the whole match, not at just the beginning. (0:03:53) Al: All right, all right, all right, calm down, calm down. You just want to mock the Pokemon (0:04:04) Kev: That’s it. (0:04:04) Al: fans again. (0:04:06) Kev: Look, I had no problem with Pocket. (0:04:09) Kev: They’re the ones who are kind of shooting themselves (0:04:13) Kev: in the foot here. (0:04:14) Al: Oh, yeah, we don’t need to we talked about that so many times. I don’t think we need to talk about it again. (0:04:20) Kev: Yeah, I know. (0:04:21) Kev: I just– I feel bad for you guys, honestly. (0:04:25) Kev: But yeah, Marvel snaps. (0:04:26) Al: I mean, I don’t feel bad for me. I don’t particularly care because I’m just collecting, right? Yeah, I do some battles, but my main point is collecting, and that is what I’m doing, whereas with Marvel Snap, it’s much more a battle-focused game because there are fewer cards. (0:04:27) Kev: Good stuff. (0:04:40) Kev: Yeah, yeah, you know what, you’re right. If you’re just collecting pocket is still probably all right. Well, I’d say that but the trading I guess is cool as collecting related so (0:04:46) Al: It’s great. (0:04:52) Al: Look, it’s less bad than it was, but it’s still bad. (0:04:59) Kev: Oh, I get you I (0:05:02) Al: I like I will say I like how it’s actually implemented. (0:05:05) Al: The currencies are stupid. (0:05:06) Al: The restrictions are stupid, but I like the feature. (0:05:08) Kev: Yeah (0:05:08) Al: How is actually implemented? (0:05:10) Kev: Okay, well, there you go. I’m trying to clear that bar (0:05:17) Kev: But yeah, let’s see other than that (0:05:20) Kev: obviously (0:05:21) Kev: Super Mario Odyssey we were playing over that at triple-r. So I’ve been playing some of that too. That’s good stuff (0:05:29) Kev: What do I have to say? It’s super hard to see it’s a good game (0:05:34) Kev: And (0:05:35) Kev: Honestly this week it’s it’s largely been Hello Kitty because I’ve been trying to climb that in cuz (0:05:41) Kev: We did not have a lot of time (0:05:42) Kev: It was like what a week before recording roughly a little more than a week when it came out (0:05:46) Kev: So I got it and I’m rushing to get it to get through it (0:05:52) Kev: But yeah, and so you’ll hear my thoughts later. What about you? Well, what’s going on over there? (0:05:57) Al: I have, I mean, I wasn’t planning on talking about it, but yeah, I’ve been playing pocket (0:06:02) Al: as usual, got the new set, got most of the new set. So I’m continuing for another few (0:06:07) Al: weeks of getting no cards most days. (0:06:10) Kev: I will say I will say the Cynthia accessories packs that came out were (0:06:17) Kev: pretty good that was good stuff in fact it’s why don’t they make that real like (0:06:18) Al: - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:06:25) Al: I will only buy the stuff that is bundled with gold. (0:06:30) Al: I’m not gonna spend gold on those things (0:06:32) Al: because the problem there is like, (0:06:34) Al: I could use those gold cards (0:06:36) Al: rather than the accessories, right? (0:06:38) Kev: Mmm, that’s an excellent. (0:06:38) Al: That’s the problem. (0:06:39) Al: Whereas I bought both of the ones, (0:06:41) Al: so there was one with the first set (0:06:44) Al: and there’s one with the second set, (0:06:45) Al: which is like you buy it, and you get gold and cosmes. (0:06:49) Al: It’s like I will do that, because then I’m getting the gold as well. (0:06:52) Al: But yeah, I am definitely my fault (0:06:57) Al: and my problem that I’m getting the set so quickly, (0:07:02) Al: because what I’m doing, obviously, is I’m saving up my glasses (0:07:06) Al: and I’m spending some gold and I’m opening like 50 packs in the first couple of days. (0:07:11) Al: So obviously, I’m going to get most of the set when I do that. (0:07:14) Al: But it makes for a fun couple of days, at least. (0:07:19) Al: What else am I doing? (0:07:20) Al: I am continuing to play Harvest Moon Home, Sweet Home. (0:07:23) Al: So that is a thing that I’m still continuing. (0:07:26) Kev: Okay, okay. (0:07:28) Al: I might have more to say about that in a future episode, we’ll see. (0:07:32) Kev: I’m so, you know, I’m impressed you’re still playing I will say that that alone is a testament to the quality of the game (0:07:40) Kev: well relative to other (0:07:42) Kev: Natsume titles. (0:07:42) Al: Yeah, yeah. It’s yeah, okay, I’m not gonna say anything about it just now, but yeah, I’m I feel like I’m at I am actively enjoying myself. I think that’s as far as I’ll go at this point. I don’t think so. I think it’s just that the game gets better as you play it more, right? Because you unlock better tools and stuff and that makes some of the annoyances become less annoying, you know. (0:07:55) Kev: Is it Stockholm Syndrome? (0:08:10) Kev: Okay, that’s that is interesting (0:08:13) Al: » The other thing I’m playing just now is Sugardew Island because we’ll talk about that in the news. (0:08:18) Kev: Ah (0:08:19) Kev: You’re going for it. Oh, you need to what you need to get re-legend on there go for the hat trick (0:08:24) Al: But let’s talk about that in the news, but yeah, that is another thing I’ve been playing (0:08:28) Al: this week. (0:08:30) Al: And not a game, but Kevin, I have watched The Gifted. (0:08:34) Al: Have you ever seen The Gifted? (0:08:35) Kev: they gifted on no what is (0:08:37) Al: So this was one of the like 2017, 2018, 2019 X-Men series. (0:08:46) Kev: oh man oh this is one of those weird ones that okay does it do they even oh it has an x over the (0:08:54) Kev: I okay so they are using the x but oh this isn’t the new mutants this is okay okay (0:08:59) Al: No, no, no. So they had Legion and they had the Gifted. They were both around the same (0:09:06) Al: sort of time and Legion was obviously about Legion. And so that was very weird because, (0:09:12) Al: well, his powers are weird and his not powers are also weird. So that was definitely a weird (0:09:20) Al: show to watch, but I really liked that. The Gifted is much more kind of standard, I guess. (0:09:30) Al: The Arrowverse sort of stuff, but obviously Marvel, X-Men. And it’s much more like a group (0:09:33) Kev: Okay, ah, okay (0:09:38) Al: of mutants. It’s a group of mutants fighting against humans who are trying to kill them (0:09:45) Al: and the government is trying to kill them and blah, blah, blah, blah. And the funny (0:09:52) Al: thing about it is, it is probably the thing I’ve seen that has the most references to (0:09:57) Al: the X-Men without having a single X-Men. (0:09:59) Al: It feels like every episode they mention the X-Men. (0:10:05) Al: The starting point behind the series is the X-Men disappeared a few years ago. (0:10:11) Al: And then there was a horrible disaster in DC, (0:10:16) Al: where some unidentified mutant has some unidentified accident (0:10:22) Al: that means there’s basically a massive explosion and it kills a bunch of people. (0:10:26) Al: and so since then they set up this new (0:10:29) Al: government task force called Sentinel Services, of course, they have to use the name Sentinel. (0:10:34) Kev: Of course (0:10:36) Al: And Trask is mentioned, you know, the usual blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. (0:10:37) Kev: Do you get it do you get it out? (0:10:43) Al: And they’re set up to like, they start off by being like, oh, we are containing criminal (0:10:51) Al: mutants. But of course, it never stops at that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know (0:10:52) Kev: uh-huh (0:10:55) Kev: what (0:10:57) Al: exactly where that loops, right? (0:10:59) Al: So which by the by the way, it feels very painful watching this in 2025, just going (0:10:59) Kev: what (0:11:00) Kev: oh boy do I I (0:11:03) Kev: I see that (0:11:04) Kev: for IRL (0:11:10) Al: to just going to put that out there, you know, with the talk of like, you know, camps to (0:11:11) Kev: Ugh. (0:11:13) Kev: Ugh. (0:11:15) Kev: Ugh. (0:11:17) Kev: Ugh. (0:11:18) Al: put them in and, you know, let’s say, I kind of wish I’d watched it last year rather than (0:11:19) Kev: Aww, sick. (0:11:24) Al: this year, but… (0:11:25) Kev: This sounds like a fun segment. (0:11:28) Kev: I will describe the thing. (0:11:29) Al: So, the kind of main characters are, I don’t know if you’ve, oh, who are they called? (0:11:30) Kev: Is this a scene from “The Gifted”? (0:11:32) Kev: Or Trump’s first two weeks in office? (0:11:35) Kev: It would be both! (0:11:48) Al: Because I had not heard of them before, the Strucker Twins, that’s what it is. Do you know (0:11:53) Al: the Strucker Twins? (0:11:54) Kev: Okay, so I pulled up the wiki cuz I’m curious (0:11:57) Kev: This no, and I’m curious because is that any relation to Baron Von Strucker from Hydra? (0:11:59) Al: So, yes, kind of. So, what I’ll say is, in the comics, yes, but in the show, not really. (0:12:12) Kev: Okay, sure, okay (0:12:14) Al: So as far as I can see, in the comics, there are the Strucker Twins who are children of (0:12:24) Kev: - Yeah, I know the stroke of trains, twins. (0:12:24) Al: - Baron struck her. (0:12:25) Kev: I love Wanda and Pietro. (0:12:29) Al: - Yeah, well, yeah, there is a lot of similarities (0:12:32) Al: between these things. (0:12:33) Al: They are never mentioned, (0:12:36) Al: like Baron struck her is never mentioned in the series. (0:12:41) Al: So they could still be, (0:12:42) Kev: That’s good stuff (0:12:42) Al: so it’s not focusing on the two twins (0:12:46) Al: that are in the comics. (0:12:47) Al: It’s like they are great grandchildren (0:12:48) Kev: Yeah (0:12:52) Al: who are not twins either. (0:12:54) Al: They’re just brother and sister a few years apart, (0:12:56) Al: but they have the same powers (0:12:58) Al: as. (0:13:00) Al: The struggle twins did and there’s a whole thing around like their father was working for Sentinel Services and (0:13:10) Al: but it turns out he was actually secretly a mutant. He just didn’t know it because his father had cured the X gene in him blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like lots of complicated things around that. (0:13:23) Al: It was fine. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. (0:13:29) Al: But it wasn’t like I think Legion was a very good show and this was a fine show. It was fine. I enjoyed it. I’m glad I watched it. I’m a little bit annoyed because they cancelled it after season two but season two ended on a cliffhanger. (0:13:34) Kev: Okay, ah. (0:13:43) Kev: Oh, sick! That’s the best! (0:13:46) Al: And they did have a lot of different mutants with a lot of different powers, some of which you would recognize like they had Polaris who’s probably like the I guess the most well known one they had in the series. (0:13:56) Al: and they never mention my… (0:13:56) Kev: how crazy (0:13:59) Al: But. So they it’s very clear that they’re talking about him, but they never use his name, right? (0:14:00) Kev: I was about to say how crazy I imagine they didn’t and how crazy it is that we (0:14:04) Kev: got polaris but not (0:14:12) Al: So she constantly talks about her birth father and they talk about how, oh, she is the like, you know, (0:14:13) Kev: Right, right? (0:14:18) Al: she’s mutant royalty and all these things. (0:14:21) Al: Like, it’s so clear. (0:14:22) Al: It’s just like, did you not have the rights to the name? (0:14:26) Al: Like, that’s basically what it feels like, right? (0:14:27) Kev: Ohh, that’s great! I love that. (0:14:29) Al: Just say the name. Oh, my word. (0:14:31) Al: Everybody knows who you’re talking about. (0:14:36) Kev: Ohh, that’s so good. (0:14:39) Al: So, yeah, it’s I enjoyed it. (0:14:41) Al: It was fun. (0:14:43) Al: Yeah, I’ve kind of now I’ve not gone back to like the kind of like 90s and previous Marvel live action shows, but like everything post millennium. (0:14:56) Al: I’ve I’ve now watched all of them. (0:14:56) Kev: why not oh oh oh I thought you’re your 10 on it oh sure (0:14:59) Al: I’ve just not got there yet. (0:15:00) Al: Like, I’m obviously going to watch, you know, I’m obviously going. (0:15:04) Al: No, I just like you can’t watch everything all at the same time, right? (0:15:07) Al: You just have to get things slowly. (0:15:09) Al: So, like, obviously, I’m going to watch, you know, the Incredible Hulk. (0:15:12) Al: Lou Ferrigno’s Incredible Hulk. (0:15:14) Al: And I’ll see what I’ll think if there’s any others I want to watch. (0:15:17) Al: But like I’ve watched all the big live action Marvel ones, except for that Hulk show, I think. (0:15:26) Kev: Did you watch all of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.? (0:15:30) Al: Who knows if I’ll end up watching the like was it the 90s? (0:15:33) Al: There was a 90s Captain America, I think, and stuff like that. (0:15:36) Al: Who knows if I’ll get to watch them or not. (0:15:37) Kev: - Yeah. (0:15:39) Al: But yeah, that’s fun. (0:15:41) Al: I might go. (0:15:42) Al: I’ll probably watch a bunch of animated stuff first. (0:15:48) Kev: Yeah, you’re probably better off and watch that Iron Man with the mullet (0:15:48) Al: But I think I might go into. (0:15:53) Al: Well, I probably will end up going with some DC stuff first, right? (0:15:59) Al: 90s animated Batman and stuff like that. (0:16:02) Kev: wait have you never seen or wow yeah yeah of course right like i (0:16:03) Al: I haven’t. (0:16:05) Al: I mean, I’ve seen clips here and there, but I’ve not seen full episodes. (0:16:09) Al: Yeah. (0:16:09) Kev: assume you’ve seen but wow oh man you’re in a tree forget all (0:16:14) Kev: everything else like you’ve ever listed wow (0:16:16) Al: So I’ve got that to watch. (0:16:17) Kev: batman (0:16:18) Al: And I think there’s one really good Justice League one, (0:16:21) Al: I think, isn’t there, that people always talk about. (0:16:23) Kev: yes so yeah so that’s the dcau the dc animated universe that started off with (0:16:26) Al: Yeah. (0:16:28) Kev: the 90s batman and they just kind of went off there (0:16:30) Al: Yeah. (0:16:32) Kev: because it’s all in the same cannon (0:16:32) Al: Yeah, I’ve got a list from our mutual friend, Alex. (0:16:38) Al: He sent me a spreadsheet with basically all of the stuff (0:16:42) Al: that he cares about, and like a column that says, (0:16:45) Al: whether this is a must watch. (0:16:47) Al: Should watch or you can skip it sort of thing. (0:16:50) Al: So I will probably start watching those. (0:16:53) Kev: Oh, man, I’m excited for you. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. (0:16:56) Al: Well, I was surprised with how few episodes there are (0:17:00) Al: in the original Batman, the animated series from the 90s. (0:17:03) Al: Like there aren’t actually that many. (0:17:03) Kev: Yeah, it’s well, are you counting? (0:17:05) Al: 85 episodes. (0:17:06) Al: It’s four seasons. (0:17:09) Al: Well, okay. (0:17:10) Al: Oh, yes, I remember this one. (0:17:11) Al: This was weird because it’s like listed in my app, my TV tracking app. (0:17:15) Al: season one has six (0:17:16) Al: like 60 episodes. Two and three have 10 each and then four has five. So it looks (0:17:22) Al: like they got really confused as to what seasons were. (0:17:26) Kev: That’s, that is very odd. (0:17:29) Al: It’s one of those ones that’s going to be super fun to try and watch everything because (0:17:33) Al: they’re in weird orders and they can’t decide what like there’ll be three specific episodes (0:17:39) Al: that are only on one random service. It’s like I’ve been trying to watch for a couple (0:17:44) Al: For years now, I’ve been trying to finish watching. (0:17:46) Al: So I’ve done all of seasons one to five, except three specific episodes from season (0:17:48) Kev: Ha ha ha, good luck with that! (0:17:57) Al: five. No, they’re not the last three episodes. They’re episodes 51 and 52 of 54. And I’ve (0:18:06) Al: also watched episode 14 of season six. Why? Who knows? (0:18:14) Al: So Netflix had seasoned. (0:18:16) Al: It’s like there are some episodes of each of those seasons on some services but like (0:18:30) Kev: Uh, probably I don’t know that thing’s eternal. It is wild to think. (0:18:40) Al: five episodes of season six or on one random service and then there’s like two episodes (0:18:45) Al: of Season 8, and then (0:18:47) Al: like 20 episodes of Season 7, and I know it doesn’t matter, I don’t need to watch this show in order, because this is the least, the show where like continuity matters the least, right? Because everything, it’s like the Simpsons, right? There’s very few things that actually change, right? So it doesn’t matter. But some small things matter, right? Like there was an arc of like five episodes where they had a new character. And if you randomly watched the third episode of that, you’d be like, who is this? (0:18:58) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:19:16) Al: Random character, why are they here? But it doesn’t happen very often. And so it’s hard to predict. That’s the problem. (0:19:18) Kev: that is true (0:19:20) Kev: yeah (0:19:22) Kev: yeah you’re right (0:19:24) Kev: oh that’s, that’s incredible (0:19:24) Al: I’m (0:19:26) Kev: good times, good times (0:19:28) Kev: um (0:19:30) Kev: oh man, I’m, I’m (0:19:32) Kev: like, I think I’m honestly way (0:19:34) Kev: more excited for uh (0:19:36) Kev: uh you to go through the DC stuff (0:19:38) Kev: stuff cause the plot is so (0:19:40) Kev: higher in general, um on the small (0:19:40) Al: Yeah, I think I’ve watched all of the actually good Marvel animated stuff. (0:19:42) Kev: screen (0:19:46) Kev: Wait, did you watch our spider? (0:19:46) Al: I’ve watched… I have not, no. Is that one I need to watch? (0:19:48) Kev: Do you watch these terrors? (0:19:52) Kev: You didn’t watch? Oh my goodness! (0:19:54) Kev: Yes! (0:19:54) Al: Calm down. It’s so easy not to watch things. So which was this one? (0:19:58) Al: So Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, you say it’s called. Is that all it’s called? (0:20:00) Kev: this was yeah yeah avengers or smite’s heroes yes it was a um yes um it’s late (0:20:04) Al: Oh, it’s got Avengers in the name, right? Okay. (0:20:08) Al: the avenger’s earth’s mightiest heroes this is from (0:20:10) Al: 2010 yeah two seasons 26 episodes each 2010 to 2012 (0:20:12) Kev: yeah let’s say late 22,000 early 2010s yeah um that okay so that is probably the best (0:20:22) Kev: animated marvel project no that well okay no hold on let me uh (0:20:25) Al: oh really better than X-Men and Spider-man (0:20:29) Kev: Better than– you know what? (0:20:31) Kev: I’ll say– that might be– that’s tough to say. (0:20:35) Al: I’m going to need to post in Slack, haven’t I, and say, what are the must-watch Marvel (0:20:41) Al: animated ones, and make sure that I’ve watched all of them. (0:20:41) Kev: OK, well, I will say Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (0:20:46) Kev: is a must-watch. (0:20:48) Kev: At the very least, it is probably (0:20:50) Kev: one of the definitive pieces of Avengers– (0:20:53) Kev: no, not the– it is the definitive piece (0:20:55) Kev: of Avengers media, because it came out (0:20:56) Al: Okay, fair enough. (0:21:01) Kev: to the MCU film Avengers. (0:21:04) Al: Yeah, just in the run-up to it basically. (0:21:05) Kev: So it– yes. (0:21:09) Kev: And so it got to cover everything before, (0:21:13) Kev: like all the classic Avengers stories, (0:21:15) Kev: more or less, and the characterizations. (0:21:16) Al: It’s not it’s not in the same continuity, right? It’s not. (0:21:19) Kev: It is not, no. (0:21:21) Kev: So it is excellent, excellent, excellent. (0:21:24) Kev: And sadly, the MCU actually killed it. (0:21:27) Kev: First off, they delayed the second season by a year or two. (0:21:30) Kev: It would coincide with the release of the MCU Avengers film, more or less, and then after that, they cancelled the series to start a new series that was more MCU related or closer to that. (0:21:46) Kev: And it’s trying to shame. (0:21:48) Al: These things are so much easier to keep track of than to catch up on, right? (0:21:55) Al: People always talk, oh, there’s so much Marvel stuff now. (0:21:58) Al: But I feel like you just weren’t paying attention if you didn’t think there was (0:22:02) Al: a lot of Marvel stuff before, right? Like, there’s so many things. (0:22:03) Kev: Oh yeah, no, there’s always there’s so much Marvel stuff (0:22:08) Kev: much spectacular spider-man (0:22:10) Al: I know, but it’s on my list. (0:22:12) Kev: Okay, good cuz yeah, okay like I’d put Avengers like right up there a spectacular aired around the same time, too (0:22:21) Kev: like they’re just the definitive things for their respective series more or less like as much as I love 90s spider-man cuz it’s so (0:22:28) Kev: campy and ridiculous and ingrained into my (0:22:31) Kev: » The Spectacular Spider-Man. (0:22:33) Kev: Is the actual one you should watch because that’s the good one and actually does everything correctly. (0:22:38) Al: Okay, fair enough. (0:22:38) Kev: Yeah, but yeah, I can’t. Oh, man, you still got a lot of good stuff ahead. I’m very excited for you. (0:22:46) Al: There’s always more stuff to watch. (0:22:47) Kev: All right. (0:22:48) Al: I think that’s me. (0:22:51) Al: All right, let’s talk about some news. (0:22:53) Al: First up, we have RATOPIA, which is like a town builder. (0:23:01) Al: Farming survival game, however you want to describe it. (0:23:02) Kev: the rat topia builder, the rat village builder. (0:23:07) Al: It is going to hit 1.0 on the first of May. (0:23:11) Al: A-woo! (0:23:12) Kev: I’d I’m real for that. I’m gonna play that because I like 1.0s and this is a cool (0:23:18) Kev: I’ve always thought this is a cool one cuz it’s I mean one it’s it’s kind of that (0:23:23) Kev: side 2d (0:23:25) Kev: araria-esque (0:23:27) Kev: Gameplay, but it’s rats. So that’s that’s way more fun (0:23:30) Al: It is rats, you’re correct. Yeah, I have a feeling I’m going to play this one, but I (0:23:40) Al: don’t know how I’m going to feel about it, but I’m intrigued by it. Because you’re playing (0:23:45) Al: a specific character in this one, aren’t you? It’s not management style, which is what I (0:23:48) Kev: You it looks like it you’re playing (0:23:52) Kev: Yeah (0:23:52) Al: I really don’t like about time builders. So we’ll see. (0:23:54) Kev: Yeah (0:23:57) Kev: Yeah, yeah we will see I’m excited (0:24:01) Kev: Yeah, I like I like rodents and rodent (0:24:06) Al: Next we have Grimoire Groves, they’ve announced that they’re releasing on the 4th of March. (0:24:11) Al: I think they had a new trailer as well. (0:24:12) Kev: okay now hold on my same I’m ready to open I have to double-check I have a lot (0:24:18) Kev: of links open I forget which ones it’s (0:24:20) Al: This is a witch-based one, you know, it’s a roguelike dungeon crawler. (0:24:25) Kev: all networks you got us (0:24:29) Al: Sorry, cozy roguelike dungeon crawler with witches. (0:24:32) Kev: there we go that’s what we need (0:24:34) Al: Join the… (0:24:36) Al: I’ve been watching this one for ages. I don’t think I realized it was Roguelike. (0:24:40) Kev: I didn’t either, um, it’s, it’s, okay, look, I’m looking, are we rewatching the trailer? (0:24:49) Kev: This, yeah, okay, yeah, this is, this is a very much more cozy, pretty, cold blue lamb. (0:24:56) Kev: That’s what it really looks like. (0:24:58) Kev: Um, yeah, yeah, the art style is very fun. (0:24:58) Al: I like how the game looks, like graphics-wise, really nice. (0:25:03) Kev: It’s very colorful, psychedelic, look like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s out there. (0:25:11) Kev: Um, I, some of the gameplay stuff looks interesting. (0:25:16) Kev: You’re casting a lot of, it’s not like, uh, of the lamb was, you know, sword, weapon, (0:25:21) Kev: game play or whatever, you’re casting a lot of stuff here. (0:25:24) Kev: Um, wow. (0:25:25) Kev: Even some of those icons for speaking, um, I’m, I’m, my interest has been piqued. (0:25:32) Al: Well that’s a good point. Is it, is it, is it roguelite like Cult of the Lamb is roguelite, (0:25:37) Al: where you have your like area that you build up and you go out on runs to get stuff? That’s (0:25:41) Kev: It sure looks like it because the farming you’re growing plants that’s advertised clearly in the trailer (0:25:43) Al: a good point. Yeah. Oh no. Is this actually going to be the second roguelite I actually like? (0:25:53) Al: Because it does the thing that I like. (0:25:54) Kev: Maybe it looks like it has a lot going for it. I’ll say that (0:25:58) Al: It doesn’t make it clear in the description exactly what the rules are. (0:26:02) Al: I’m going to have to buy this game now I’m an eye. Boo! (0:26:04) Kev: yeah (0:26:06) Kev: um (0:26:07) Kev: but hey (0:26:12) Kev: all gosh yes (0:26:14) Al: And then people can mock me for buying another rogue light. (0:26:16) Kev: there will be a demo updated demo on february seventeenth (0:26:20) Kev: if you want to try it out before you buy (0:26:22) Al: Maybe, maybe. That is what I probably should do. That is not what I tend to do. (0:26:28) Kev: It’s a good idea. (0:26:29) Kev: I’m not gonna do it. (0:26:32) Al: Uh speaking of games that I buy for some reason uh Sugajou Island have announced that they’re (0:26:40) Al: releasing on the 7th of March uh but the game is out now already for Kickstarter backers so if you (0:26:46) Al: backed it like me uh you have you should have your key by now um also the physical version is coming (0:26:54) Kev: I’ve got to say, I am impressed that a game has made it this far just by flying too close to the sun and coughing Stardew with changing the name up a little. (0:27:02) Al: I just, I hate myself every time I see the name. (0:27:07) Kev: Like, I’ll be like, I’m not even going to judge the gameplay because I’m not even, I haven’t looked at it closely enough, but this thing is going by its name alone like 90%. Let’s, let’s be quite honest. (0:27:21) Kev: Um… (0:27:22) Al: Yeah, I’m obviously going to talk about the game more in the future, not in this episode. (0:27:29) Al: It’s not top tier farming game, let’s put it that way. (0:27:32) Kev: I mean, it’s sure sure (0:27:35) Al: It’s not the absolute worst farming game I’ve played, though. (0:27:39) Kev: Sure, you know what you’re right the bar is high or very low depending on the direction (0:27:41) Al: Yeah, it has gone straight through the middle of that as meh. (0:27:50) Kev: Okay, you know is is that better or worse for it, I don’t know but (0:27:56) Al: Yeah, I’m gonna have a lot to say in the next episode probably (0:28:03) Al: But yeah, that’s that’s my initial thought is it is okay (0:28:10) Kev: there you go put that on the box (0:28:13) Al: They have already to be fair to them they have already fixed multiple thing multiple issues I had with the game (0:28:20) Al: So that is something (0:28:22) Kev: all right well you know that is uh that is like good just across the board when a developer (0:28:29) Kev: cares about uh their you know supporting and whatnot so I will say that good on them for that bit (0:28:38) Al: OK, so next we have this is interesting. (0:28:42) Al: Did you look at these links before the podcast? (0:28:44) Al: Just before we talk about this? (0:28:46) Al: OK, so just for the listeners, I’m going to try and explain what we’re looking at (0:28:51) Al: here. This is so that the game is the ranchers. (0:28:56) Al: We’ve talked about it before. (0:28:57) Al: It’s a farming game. (0:28:59) Al: It’s an open world farming game. (0:29:02) Al: What’s interesting is they’ve introduced police. (0:29:08) Al: And. (0:29:09) Kev: Aww, sick. (0:29:11) Al: I think I can describe this as they’re it basically seems like they’re turning (0:29:16) Al: this game into grand theft farm. (0:29:19) Kev: Yep, I was about to say, like, the game is called The Ranchers, but nothing on the Steam page is a ranch. (0:29:27) Al: There’s cows. What are you talking about? (0:29:34) Kev: Wait did I miss them? Oh, yeah on the cover. I see you’re right. There’s the image (0:29:34) Al: So, this is, yeah. So, they’re calling this the Ranchers Police District Update. Now don’t (0:29:45) Al: be confused. This is not like a game update. This is just like an information update. They’re (0:29:51) Al: describing this feature that’s going to be in the game, because this game isn’t out yet. (0:29:55) Al: not in Ali access. And I. (0:29:57) Al: They say I’m excited to introduce our newest feature, (0:30:01) Al: the ranchers police district, which by the way, just as a, (0:30:04) Al: just as a startup, this is what we all want is more police. (0:30:10) Al: Secondly, they say from the start, (0:30:13) Al: the ranchers has given you tons of freedom to play the game your way. (0:30:16) Al: You can stick to the rules and enjoy a calm, relaxed experience, (0:30:18) Al: or you can mix things up, maybe even try something a little daring, (0:30:22) Al: like swiping NPCs, crops, cars, cows, or chickens, (0:30:26) Al: vandalizing public. (0:30:27) Al: property or even shaking up national security for a little bit of mischief. Ultimately, (0:30:32) Al: it’s your call and you probably have your own reasons for how you play. Before, if you (0:30:37) Al: got caught, the game would hit you with a fine to teach you a lesson. Harsh and not (0:30:40) Al: very fun, especially in open world farming sim where freedom is key. Now, things feel (0:30:45) Al: a bit more like real life. Your actions have consequences. Each misdeed you commit will (0:30:50) Al: trigger a reaction from the rancher’s beliefs, giving you the freedom to deal with it your (0:30:55) Al: You can pay up, surrender, or even poo- (0:30:57) Al: things further at your own risk and potential reward. (0:31:02) Kev: Aww. (0:31:03) Al: So you can get arrested in this game, basically. (0:31:06) Kev: Yeah. (0:31:08) Kev: Yeah. (0:31:11) Al: Part of me is like, I hate it. (0:31:14) Kev: Yeah. (0:31:16) Al: And part of me is like, I actually kind of like it, (0:31:19) Al: because this is trying to do something different with farming games, (0:31:22) Al: which is such a rare thing nowadays, right? (0:31:24) Al: - Okay. (0:31:24) Kev: If that is true (0:31:25) Al: Thank you. (0:31:28) Al: What I also find really interesting is the comments on the Kickstarter. (0:31:32) Al: Can you see the Kickstarter? (0:31:33) Al: I don’t know if that’s backers only. (0:31:35) Al: Oh no, I’m not a backer. (0:31:36) Kev: let’s see here (0:31:36) Al: I’m not a backer, am I? (0:31:38) Al: Oh no, I did back it. (0:31:40) Kev: you back this all sick (0:31:42) Al: I don’t even remember backing this game. (0:31:46) Al: Oh man, I am not to be trusted with Kickstarter. (0:31:51) Al: I don’t think this is a backers only update. (0:31:54) Al: But anyway, the comments are… (0:31:57) Al: really not positive from this. One is like, “Are you sure you aren’t just trolling everyone (0:32:04) Al: with this? April 1st is quite some time away. I definitely did not want GTA.” (0:32:07) Kev: Aww yeah! (0:32:11) Al: “I was all for this game until this update. If I wanted police in the game I’m playing, (0:32:14) Al: I wouldn’t play a cosy farming sim.” Yeah, I agree, but also I don’t agree. I’m not (0:32:23) Al: Really sure. On Steam, there are 26 comments, but there’s a hundred. (0:32:27) Al: And 26 thumbs up. So I don’t think it’s clear cut. (0:32:34) Al: People hate this. I think it’s like there’s a lot of thoughts on this. (0:32:40) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I’m sure, I’m sure. (0:32:43) Al: You’re sure what? (0:32:44) Kev: Yeah, I’m sure there’s a lot of comments. (0:32:46) Kev: Like, it’s so crazy. (0:32:48) Kev: Like, something we didn’t even mention (0:32:52) Kev: is like, on the Steam page, the image next to the title. (0:32:56) Kev: Like, it’s, suppose we’re talking cozy or whatever, (0:32:59) Kev: but like, that looks like an 80s action here, (0:33:01) Kev: a movie poster guy. (0:33:02) Al: Yeah, it really does. (0:33:07) Kev: It’s wild. (0:33:08) Al: It doesn’t look like, it definitely doesn’t look like a rancher, that’s for sure. (0:33:10) Kev: Yeah, yeah, man, this is incredible, because like you said, (0:33:17) Kev: it’s grand theft farming, it really looks like that. (0:33:23) Kev: Cuz it’s nothing here looks like your typical cozy stuff. (0:33:31) Kev: And it’s new ideas, stuff that we don’t see normally and so on and so forth or (0:33:37) Kev: whatever, but it’s it’s just (0:33:40) Kev: I guess it’s just the context like this isn’t what you’d expect. (0:33:44) Kev: Um… (0:33:46) Al: This is the thing, it’s a balance, right? (0:33:47) Al: You will either love this because it’s doing something different or you’ll (0:33:51) Al: hate it because it’s not a cosy feature. (0:33:56) Al: But I kind of love that you can like just steal crops from the other townspeople. (0:34:02) Al: Like that, I kind of like that. (0:34:04) Al: Like I wouldn’t want, I don’t think I’d want that in Stardew. (0:34:06) Al: But like, how many times have you gone, you’d seen someone with crops outside (0:34:11) Al: their house and gone, “Oh, I wish I could just get them.” (0:34:14) Kev: Yeah, that is kind of fun. You’re right. You’re right. I like this concept, too (0:34:19) Al: I don’t know whether this will make it a fun game or not, but I am all in on seeing. (0:34:21) Kev: Um (0:34:23) Kev: I don’t either (0:34:27) Al: Let’s see, why not? (0:34:28) Kev: They’ve they’ve caught our attention they’ve caught our attention i’ll see i’ll say that. Um (0:34:29) Al: What’s the worst that happens? (0:34:31) Al: Yeah, for sure. (0:34:37) Kev: it’s it’s (0:34:39) Kev: Uh, yeah, um, I don’t know i’m excited to see more of this (0:34:41) Al: we will keep an eye on it and uh oh I mean I feel like i’ll definitely (0:34:50) Kev: Oh, oh, I’m I (0:34:55) Al: All right, and our final piece of news, our final piece of news is, my time at Sandrock (0:34:56) Kev: Feel like we have hops and robs (0:35:04) Al: have released a set of chibi figurines. (0:35:10) Kev: Yeah, they’re fine. (0:35:12) Kev: The figures are cute. (0:35:13) Kev: I’ll say that. (0:35:14) Kev: I’ll give them that. (0:35:14) Al: I don’t care about the characters, so it’s not like I’m going to buy them, but yeah. (0:35:18) Kev: Oh yeah, I don’t either. (0:35:20) Kev: Just say they’re cute quality. (0:35:21) Al: Yeah. (0:35:21) Kev: I don’t know what these people are or anything. (0:35:24) Al: Yeah, I would buy these if these were stardew characters. (0:35:24) Kev: I have no investment. (0:35:28) Kev: Oh, you know, I’m shocked that (0:35:31) Kev: Concerned Dave has never done that. (0:35:32) Kev: Like I feel there’s a gold mine to be made. (0:35:35) Al: like it’s a lot of effort to put into these things right and he made enough money with the game that (0:35:42) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I guess I guess that’s it. I guess that’s it, but you know (0:35:42) Al: he doesn’t need to whereas with like the the concert I feel like is something that he really (0:35:52) Al: wanted to do he made a joke in (0:35:53) Kev: Oh, yeah, clearly yeah, that is one thing concerned a but everything he does he does it cuz he cares (0:36:00) Al: in the the pamphlet for I can’t remember what it’s called like the leaflet thing that you get at (0:36:05) Al: the concert it says um the program yeah he made a joke in it that he used to be uh I can’t remember (0:36:14) Al: the exact wording but basically he used to be a musician that was his thing um but he couldn’t (0:36:19) Al: get anyone to buy his music and all he needed to do was make a very successful game for people to (0:36:23) Al: like his music that was it (0:36:25) Kev: That’s what it was all about, that was the long con, I love that, what a giga-chat move. (0:36:31) Kev: I’m going to make a successful video game, like genre-defining game, just so people can (0:36:35) Al: there you go all right that’s the news we are now gonna go into our second harvest of (0:36:39) Kev: buy my music. (0:36:47) Al: helikity island adventure so just for context I played this for a couple weeks when it first (0:36:54) Al: came out on ios and ipad os apple arcade that’s where it was it came out in apple arcade um (0:37:02) Al: play that on my iPad because I don’t have an iPhone. (0:37:06) Al: And I thought it was a really fun game, but I really hated using the touchscreen controls for it. (0:37:13) Al: So I was really excited to play it, not on a touchscreen. You obviously did not play it (0:37:19) Al: when it came out in Apple Arcade, but you were excited to play it. (0:37:22) Kev: I’ve never owned an Apple device in my life. (0:37:25) Kev: Very much so, because it looks wild, and guess what it is wild? (0:37:30) Al: I bought it on Steam, been playing on my Steam Deck, you bought it on Switch, (0:37:34) Al: and you’ve been playing on your switch. (0:37:35) Al: I guess, do we even need to do a quick intro to this game? (0:37:36) Kev: Yep, that’s correct. (0:37:40) Al: I feel like we don’t, because I feel like people know what this game is, (0:37:43) Al: because it’s been so in the news everywhere, right? (0:37:44) Kev: well you’re right it’s okay so well first of all it’s been a minute since (0:37:49) Al: How would you describe it then after having played it a little? (0:37:52) Kev: yeah I i will because I think it has been in the news but it’s also been a (0:37:55) Kev: minute since you know uh the the original episode of (0:37:59) Kev: maddie um so i’ll i’ll look (0:38:00) Al: you know the number of people that i’ve seen who make it who clearly don’t know that this was (0:38:04) Al: released before they’re like oh there’s a new game and it’s like well it’s just right go for (0:38:06) Kev: yeah yeah how about that yeah (0:38:11) Al: it then describe describe it because obviously I was on the previous episode you were not uh so tell (0:38:15) Kev: right (0:38:16) Al: me how you would describe this game having now played it for a bit (0:38:19) Kev: okay so like I think the biggest or easiest comparison point is animal (0:38:26) Kev: crossing new horizons because joker shocker I know (0:38:27) Al: - What? (laughs) (0:38:33) Kev: guess what you’ve got crafting you’ve got a house with furniture you’ve got (0:38:36) Kev: clothing you’ve got friend and neighbors and (0:38:39) Kev: villagers that you can gift things to shockers (0:38:42) Kev: But, it’s all San Río. (0:38:44) Kev: So, you got Hello Kitty and all the characters and whatnot, right? (0:38:49) Kev: Now, with that said, it is a bit more dynamic than Animal Crossing because you are climbing mountains, you’re diving into the ocean, (0:39:01) Kev: you’re, uh, there’s little mini-games and ruins to explore. (0:39:08) Kev: So, you’ve got this open-world island to explore while collecting stuff and– (0:39:14) Kev: catching critters and all this stuff. (0:39:16) Kev: Um, so yeah, so take one part Animal Crossing, one part San Río, and one part, maybe Breath of the Wild ‘cause they understand when we all start. (0:39:25) Al: So this is the thing, I jokingly said Breath of the Wild to people on Slack, but the more (0:39:31) Al: I think about it, the more I actually don’t think that’s a joke. It’s obviously not as (0:39:37) Al: big and as expansive and whatever, but the exploring feels so good. And let me tell you, (0:39:39) Kev: right (0:39:41) Kev: There’s no combat (0:39:48) Al: it feels so much better being able to play with a controller than using the touchscreen, (0:39:52) Al: But, like, that has not changed. (0:39:55) Al: It’s not changed since the first time I’ve done it, just the idea of being able to go like, “Oh, there’s a hill, there’s a volcano there, let me climb that volcano,” and you can just figure out how to do it, even though you know you’re not really meant to be going there yet, right? (0:40:09) Kev: Yeah (0:40:09) Al: Like, you’ve not progressed the story to that point, but you can just make it work. (0:40:11) Kev: What I wanted to Ritsuko was up there, I really wanted to clivet volcano (0:40:17) Al: And you can, and this is the thing, it’s designed in such a way that, like, you have a stamina bar, and, like, you can’t just climb straight up forever. (0:40:25) Al: There’s little ledges, and there’s, like, other things you can climb up on, and you can rest, and you can get anywhere you want to if you really want to. (0:40:26) Kev: Yeah, but if you look yep (0:40:33) Kev: Yup pretty much right like sometimes it’s real hard like sometimes it’s challenging (0:40:39) Kev: But if you try you get you really scrape and look for you can find a way (0:40:46) Al: You know the meme, this is why I don’t do X anymore, there’s too many sweats. (0:40:46) Kev: Yeah (0:40:50) Al: I feel like that, but with this, right? (0:40:50) Kev: Yeah (0:40:52) Al: This is why I don’t play Hello Kitty anymore, there are too many sweats. (0:40:59) Kev: Okay, so um and okay, and so of course the game like it begins with as (0:41:06) Kev: So you’ve lauded so many times Alan rightfully, so it begins with jumping out of a plane (0:41:13) Al: And a snake, a snake’s on a plane reference. (0:41:15) Kev: Everyone’s a (0:41:17) Kev: Snakes on a plane reference (0:41:20) Kev: there (0:41:21) Kev: Okay, so we you know remember you describing that you’ve told me that before and (0:41:26) Kev: You know I thought that was wild but then I when I played it the the crazy part to me is there was no (0:41:32) Kev: actual reason to jump from (0:41:35) Kev: there was I’ve been shooting out a lot of cake and I (0:41:40) Kev: Don’t know well inconvenient. I don’t think (0:41:40) Al: just gets fed up and says ‘I’m fed up of these cakes on this plane’ and then just jumps out the plane. (0:41:46) Kev: And everyone’s like all right, we’re going let’s do it. We’re falling (0:41:48) Al: Yeah, yeah. That’s the weirdest bit. Is it like, ‘Okay, fine. I bet. Let’s do this.’ (0:41:55) Kev: uh oh my gosh oh so yeah that that’s our premise um I i like that little intro (0:42:02) Al: I just thought you go up, you go up to, you go up to Hello Kitty and she’s like, “Oh, (0:42:08) Al: here are some balloons. (0:42:09) Al: Trust me.” (0:42:10) Al: And you’re like, “Do I, do I trust you with balloons?” (0:42:14) Al: Well, yeah, no. (0:42:16) Kev: well it worked also you get a diving like air skydiving minigame which go (0:42:22) Kev: through the rings I don’t even know if they get you anything but or if you ever (0:42:24) Al: I don’t know, I don’t think, I don’t know if you do ever do that again, obviously you (0:42:26) Kev: do that again (0:42:29) Al: use the balloons again, right, like you can jump off things and use the balloons, but (0:42:33) Al: I don’t think that minigame type thing is ever in the game again, I don’t know, I mean (0:42:39) Al: I’ve not finished it, so maybe there is a time, but yeah, it’s really weird. (0:42:44) Kev: And you go through rings, but I don’t remember getting anything for going through there (0:42:50) Al: to get satisfaction of having gone through the rings. (0:42:53) Kev: Yeah, yeah, that’s pretty much and then you know, that’s fine (0:42:57) Kev: Okay, so (0:43:00) Kev: First okay one of the actually before you jump off the plane you design your character (0:43:05) Kev: And I love the freedom in that because you can be because we’re talking Sanrio, right? (0:43:11) Kev: So we’ve got all the different critters and animals and you can (0:43:14) Kev: be pretty much anyone you want. I think the options for customizing is pretty fun. What (0:43:21) Kev: was your little avatar? A dog? Yeah. Styles, breeds or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, like you can (0:43:23) Al: Yeah I’m a dog but yeah I like it they’ve got like I think it’s like eight different animals and then within the animals they’ve got different face shapes and they’re like dramatically different styles of them and then yeah you can like change your bunch of other stuff. (0:43:42) Kev: be a bird, and in the birds, you can be a bird. (0:43:44) Kev: I’m a penguin, or like a falcon, or blue jay, or whatever. (0:43:47) Kev: Mine looks like a blue jay, basically. (0:43:49) Kev: I got a little pen that looks like a blue jay in the shape of that. (0:43:52) Al: I chose the fattest dog that existed in the list, I couldn’t really describe what type (0:43:59) Al: of dog it looked like, but yeah, it was just the chubbiest, comfiest looking dog. (0:44:02) Kev: Yeah, yeah, the wall like a brick house (0:44:08) Kev: Yeah, like that’s a good one (0:44:11) Kev: So, um, you know, I think I should (0:44:16) Kev: Before continuing I should declare I don’t know Sanrio very well to be quite Frank (0:44:21) Kev: I know Hello Kitty because one of the most iconic (0:44:22) Al: Me neither. (0:44:26) Kev: Characters ever created right dominates Japan (0:44:30) Kev: But I don’t know the (0:44:32) Kev: rest of the cast that well. So this is my first venture into the Senri universe. (0:44:36) Kev: I knew Agritsuko because her anime was pretty popular. I didn’t watch it, but I (0:44:41) Kev: knew the character. And I love how she’s treated as the the kind of the outsider. (0:44:48) Kev: Everyone else is friends, but she doesn’t know anyone. That was kind of cute. But (0:44:53) Kev: yeah, it’s been fun to meet all these characters. Bompurin is the best. I’m a (0:45:02) Kev: Bompurin. Yeah, the carapace is pretty cute. He’s pretty fun. (0:45:07) Kev: But it’s Meru. He’s the one who was tired of the cakes and jumped off the (0:45:12) Kev: plane. So you know, there you go. I think that sums him. Oh yeah, yeah, he’s a big (0:45:12) Al: Yeah. And a big comic guy. A big comic guy as well. (0:45:21) Kev: comic guy. Both like he likes jokes and the actual comics. So yeah, so he got all (0:45:29) Kev: that, um, so I played (0:45:32) Kev: the game for about a week, not even a full week. (0:45:34) Kev: I got it on Monday, I think it was, um, yeah. (0:45:38) Al: something like that. Yeah. Yeah. I think Monday, yeah. (0:45:40) Kev: Uh, so it, uh, like, I mean, I really enjoyed the game because, but also I feel (0:45:48) Kev: like there’s still so much for me to do, um, because the game is quest driven, right? (0:45:55) Kev: Like you’re, you’re, you’re going around your, you have to complete quests for (0:45:58) Kev: people, gathering things, crafting things, so on and so finding things. (0:46:02) Kev: Um, and that’s kind of what progresses. (0:46:05) Kev: Not just the quote unquote story, but all the features, right? (0:46:08) Kev: Like it’s not like animal crossing where you just wait for the shovel to show up (0:46:12) Kev: in Tom look store to buy it. (0:46:14) Kev: You have to complete a quest to unlock a fishing rod, the net, whatever. (0:46:18) Al: Oh, and quests is the game, like this, if you don’t like quests, if you don’t like (0:46:19) Kev: » Yeah. (0:46:23) Al: fetch quests, this is not the game for you, like everything is a quest. (0:46:26) Kev: - Yeah, yup. (0:46:27) Kev: Yup. (0:46:27) Al: But that means that I remember, I’m sure I talked about this last time, but I need to (0:46:31) Al: bring it up again. (0:46:32) Al: The quest system in this is so good. (0:46:35) Al: Like as someone who loves quests and loves lists of quests, it’s absolutely good. (0:46:40) Al: Not only does it show you every quest that you’ve ever done, and every quest that you (0:46:44) Al: currently have that you can do. (0:46:46) Al: It also shows you future quests and what you need (0:46:48) Al: to do to get them. It’s great, because everything is based on friendship levels and gifting (0:46:50) Kev: Yep, that is pretty solid. (0:46:55) Al: things to the other villagers, blah, blah, blah. And so it’s like, oh, to get this quest, (0:47:00) Al: you need to talk to this person, or you need to get this person to friendship level four. (0:47:05) Al: And it’s just like, it’s so good. And it can be a little bit overwhelming, especially at (0:47:08) Al: the beginning, when you go from one or two things to do, to suddenly you have a list (0:47:12) Al: of 10 things, but you can pick and choose and you don’t need to go quickly. (0:47:14) Kev: Y

Al and Codey talk about Mini Mini Farm Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:33: What Have We Been Up To 00:11:26: I Know What You Released Last Month 00:13:57: Game News 00:28:37: New Games 00:41:43: Other News 00:56:24: Mini Mini Farm 01:33:42: Outro Links Piczel Cross: Rune Factory Release Date Space Sprouts Release Date Luma Island: Pirates Ranch of Rivershine “1.7” Update Horticular: Frozen Frontier Melobot: A Last Song OST Sky Harvest Pheonix Labs Layoffs ConcernedApe NPR Interview Reuters Cozy Gaming Interactive Article Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al, (0:00:36) Codey: And my name is Cody! (0:00:37) Al: and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. (0:00:42) Codey: Oh woo! (0:00:44) Al: It’s like a pack of wolves. (0:00:50) Codey: I’m never gonna un-hear that now. (0:00:51) Al: We this episode, we are going to talk about many, many farm because apparently we’re doing two (0:00:59) Al: mobile games in a row because you did Animal Crossing last week. And then we’re doing many, (0:01:00) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:01:04) Codey: Yeah. (0:01:05) Codey: Yeah. (0:01:06) Al: many farm this week. And yeah, I just realized that today. I was like, Oh, yeah, (0:01:08) Codey: Yes, I forgot about that. (0:01:13) Al: two in a row. Interesting. Oh, well, we’re making Cody work for their title of (0:01:19) Al: mobile correspondent. (0:01:20) Codey: Yep, I’m here for it. For sure. And I am still actively playing mobile games. (0:01:21) Al: Before that, well, yes, so before that we have news, I’m going to overview the (0:01:31) Al: January releases because it’s now February. But first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:01:36) Codey: Um, so, uh, definitely been playing many, many farm. Um, because of the last episode. (0:01:42) Al: Oh yeah, that’s what MMF stands for. (0:01:44) Codey: Yeah. (0:01:44) Al: I was like, what’s MMF? (0:01:45) Al: Many, many fun, of course. (0:01:46) Codey: And many, many farm. (0:01:48) Codey: Um, because of Johnny, I am now cursed to be playing Animal Crossing pocket camp. (0:01:54) Al: A game which you hadn’t played for the podcast, you know, playing (0:01:59) Al: because of the podcast. (0:02:00) Codey: Correct. (0:02:01) Al: Oops. (0:02:02) Codey: Um, I had played it when it was like not the complete. (0:02:06) Codey: Like paid version. (0:02:06) Codey: Um, but because we were talking about it and I saw that it was like cheap and then it was possibly going to become less cheap. (0:02:14) Codey: And I’ve been doing really well with budgeting lately. (0:02:16) Codey: I was like, you know what? (0:02:18) Codey: I can, I can afford 10 bucks. (0:02:18) Codey: So, and I don’t, I don’t know. (0:02:20) Al: Yes. Do we have the actual date? I know that it’s very soon, or it’s, like, just in the (0:02:26) Al: past, but it wasn’t when the podcast episode came out. (0:02:30) Codey: And unfortunately I have now bought it. (0:02:32) Codey: So I have no way of checking because I’m pretty sure. (0:02:35) Al: Ah, it was the 31st of January. So, if you bought it when the last episode came out, (0:02:36) Codey: Okay. (0:02:38) Codey: So now it is what? (0:02:38) Codey: 20 bucks. (0:02:42) Al: or the two days after that, you were good. Otherwise, sorry, too late. And now it’s, yeah, $20. (0:02:48) Codey: So, I’ve been playing that. I’ve also been playing, still been playing Honeygrove, still (0:02:58) Codey: really sucked into Honeygrove. And I, you know, it’s so funny because we, whenever we would (0:03:01) Al: You’re just playing all the mobile games. (0:03:06) Codey: cover them before, it’s like, yay, I can uninstall it now. And the last couple ones, I’ve been (0:03:12) Codey: like, oh, no, I want to keep playing this. So, yeah, I do. (0:03:14) Al: Mm-hmm, oops. (0:03:19) Codey: But it’s nice because I’m, you know, nearing the end, the other thing, quote unquote, I’ve been (0:03:24) Codey: doing is is a PhD. And it is crunch time for sure now. So I pretty much like, I’m doing a lot of (0:03:34) Codey: stuff all the time. If I’m not doing specimens, I’m writing if I’m not doing that, either of those (0:03:40) Codey: two things I’m like, I’m always doing something. So this, this gives me a nice little like, okay, (0:03:46) Codey: I’m gonna sit down for like a half an hour and just like (0:03:48) Al: Mm, are you rotating through them or? (0:03:48) Codey: brain off play these silly little games. Yeah, so every (0:03:56) Codey: well, I guess I’m also playing too many games. I’m also playing (0:04:02) Codey: Pokemon TCG pocket and the new thing just released. And so I (0:04:08) Codey: always check that first. Let me look at my guess. I always (0:04:11) Codey: check that first. And then I do honeygrove because I can like (0:04:14) Codey: send everything off, like my little bees off on their (0:04:17) Codey: or expeditions. (0:04:18) Codey: And then I do pocket camp and then I do mini, mini farm for a little bit. (0:04:23) Codey: And then if for whatever reason, I am bored after that, um, or not (0:04:28) Codey: sucked into mini, mini farm, uh, I have my cross-stitch coloring out. (0:04:30) Al: Hmm (0:04:33) Codey: But yeah, that’s, that’s my, my, my brain off time now. (0:04:33) Al: Fair enough (0:04:40) Codey: Was it? (0:04:40) Al: Nice, I have been playing a lot of Pokemon. (0:04:45) Al: So I think last time we talked, Cody, (0:04:47) Al: I was just nearly finished, (0:04:47) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:04:50) Al: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. (0:04:51) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:04:53) Al: I have now finished that, thank goodness. (0:04:54) Codey: Okay. (0:04:55) Codey: Yeah, you’re free. (0:04:57) Al: So that one’s done. (0:04:59) Al: And I was going to kind of maybe stop there, (0:05:02) Al: but then I was like, no, I need to do Let’s Go as well. (0:05:05) Al: So I did the Let’s Go Pokedex, (0:05:08) Al: and I rushed through. (0:05:10) Al: Uh, another save because I hadn’t recreated my Pokemon. (0:05:15) Al: Let’s go Pikachu save. (0:05:18) Al: So I did that. (0:05:18) Al: So that now is done. (0:05:19) Al: So all of my home DEXs are done except sword and shield. (0:05:25) Al: So I’ve got the let’s go one. (0:05:27) Al: I’ve got brilliant diamond, shining pearl. (0:05:29) Al: I’ve got let’s go. (0:05:30) Al: Arceus and I’ve got all this scarlet and violet ones. (0:05:32) Al: They’re all done. (0:05:33) Al: I haven’t done the sword and shield ones. (0:05:35) Al: Um, and I now have a post game. (0:05:40) Al: Save of every Pokemon Switch game, except shield. (0:05:45) Al: So I’ve recreated all my saves, except that. (0:05:46) Codey: Okay. Wow. (0:05:49) Al: And I have done a professor Oak challenge now of every pair of games, except can you (0:05:55) Al: guess? (0:05:56) Al: No, no, there’s certain shield. (0:05:56) Codey: Brilliant. I’m in shining girl. Oh, I don’t know. Okay. Okay. (0:06:03) Al: So, so at some point, I would like to do a professor Oak challenge in shield. (0:06:10) Al: Uh, and that does all three of those things. (0:06:12) Al: It does a professor Oak challenge in, in that series of games. (0:06:16) Al: It basically completes my home pocket X, right? (0:06:19) Al: Cause you’re catching everything anyway. (0:06:22) Al: Um, and it, it then me, it will mean I have a shield save in post game as well. (0:06:27) Al: But I don’t think I’m going to do that now because I’m worried I might burn out on Pokemon. (0:06:31) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:06:35) Al: And we don’t know yet when the new games coming out. (0:06:38) Al: I don’t expect it to come out until- (0:06:40) Al: november but we don’t know for certain and I don’t want them to be like come out and like me (0:06:46) Al: spend the next month doing this and then they come out and then I burn out and I’m like okay (0:06:50) Al: I’m done with pokemon for like six months and then they come out and say oh legends za is actually (0:06:57) Al: coming out in April and I’m like oh no that is really soon so uh but I’m also worried that they (0:07:05) Al: might do the release of pokemon for the home decks very soon and yeah sure I don’t- (0:07:10) Al: need to do it as soon as it’s done of course I don’t need to but I will feel the drive to (0:07:15) Al: do it at that point so I’m like do I actually just do the home decks just now and then leave (0:07:21) Al: the professor oak challenge for another time but then why why not just do the professor oak challenge (0:07:28) Al: but then I’m also the reason I was playing those games in January was because there weren’t any (0:07:32) Al: games coming out that I was planning on playing for the podcast and now we have a billion of them (0:07:35) Codey: Yeah, but it would be really inefficient to not just do it, do them together. (0:07:38) Al: them coming out in February and March. (0:07:40) Al: I’m probably going to just wait and do it all at the same time, probably next January. (0:07:54) Codey: yep. yep. (0:07:57) Al: Because January does tend to be quite a quiet period, but I guess that depends on when ZA (0:08:04) Al: comes out. (0:08:05) Al: Because if ZA comes out in November, I’m probably not going to want to do a Professor Oak challenge (0:08:08) Al: of SHIELD. (0:08:10) Al: In January, so maybe, maybe I’ll just wait till Pokemon Day and they’ll all they will almost definitely tell us the release date then right like there’s no way they’re not going to do that. (0:08:22) Al: That reminds me, we want to do Pokemon Day predictions. (0:08:26) Codey: Oh, okay, okay. (0:08:28) Al: And Pokemon Day reactions greenhouse episode that gets us to this month. (0:08:29) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:08:33) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:08:39) Al: so (0:08:40) Al: all that to say I have played a lot of pokemon in the last month and a half a lot a lot a lot (0:08:48) Al: of pokemon and I think like maybe like 120 hours over the last month and a half we’ve just pokemon (0:08:56) Codey: Mm hmm. I’m shocked. (0:08:58) Al: still not found a brilliant diamond shining pearl (0:09:02) Al: still a big big fan of let’s go great games love them second best pokemon game (0:09:11) Codey: Yeah, I really have been wanting to go back and replay. I have Eevee, but I also have (0:09:17) Al: Mm-hmm. Yes, fair, fair, fair. So yeah, I’m probably Pokémon’d out for now, but we’ll see. (0:09:21) Codey: else going on. So, yep. (0:09:30) Al: I’ve also been keeping up with Harvestmen, Home Sweet Home. Look at me actually playing a farming (0:09:36) Al: game a little bit a day. What a crazy idea. I know. So I’m now in chapter five, enjoying that. (0:09:37) Codey: Wow not guzzling (0:09:40) Codey: - I’m done. (0:09:44) Al: I don’t know. (0:09:45) Al: I don’t know what to do with that. (0:09:47) Al: Yeah, actually, yeah, no, I will. (0:09:49) Al: I’m enjoying it. (0:09:51) Al: I’m enjoying playing this game. (0:09:52) Al: This is a fun game. (0:09:53) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:54) Al: It still has issues. (0:09:56) Al: Absolutely. (0:09:58) Al: The Cloud Save still not working for me two months later. (0:10:02) Codey: I’m shocked. (0:10:04) Al: But controller support has made it playable. (0:10:07) Al: And it’s actually fun. (0:10:10) Al: It’s no Stardew Valley. (0:10:11) Al: I don’t care about the characters as much. (0:10:14) Al: But there’s a lot to like about it. (0:10:16) Al: and I’m hopeful for… (0:10:17) Al: and I have also started playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure, which I did play when it came to Apple Arcade, so I played it for about a month and enjoyed it. (0:10:33) Al: But then I was like, I am so fed up with playing on the touchscreen and let me tell you, playing with the controller infinitely better. So good! (0:10:37) Codey: Yeah. Okay. (0:10:41) Al: So I’ve been playing on my Steam Deck, I know that I know some people who are playing on… (0:10:47) Al: which may or may not come up in a future episode, but yeah, no, it’s a good game. It is way better than it had any right to be. (0:10:50) Codey: - Ooh. (0:11:02) Al: I completely forgot until I started the game how the game starts and I’m like, I just love… it’s so ridiculous that it basically starts with a plane crash. (0:11:11) Al: Because who would expect that in a Hello Kitty game? Alright, I think that’s everything. That’s what we’ve been… (0:11:17) Al: We are going to continue the new segment, the month’s releases and the previous month’s releases. We’re going to talk about last month’s releases. (0:11:18) Codey: Oh, woo. Oww, ow, ow, ow. (0:11:31) Codey: Last month’s what what was released last month? I got you (0:11:36) Al: Listeners, write in and tell us what this segment should be called, this monthly segment. What released last month? (0:11:44) Al: January 2025 edition. Or should it be fae- (0:11:47) Al: Maybe the 2025 edition, because last month would be January, but it’s like what would (0:11:51) Al: have- what released last month? (0:11:53) Codey: What are you what do you call it so like in? (0:11:57) Codey: Start in stardivale correlate whatever when you go to sleep, and there’s like that recap screen (0:12:02) Al: This summary… (0:12:03) Codey: That’s all you call it. That’s all it’s called (0:12:07) Al: He gla-la… (0:12:07) Codey: Like the daily summary listeners. Let us know (0:12:10) Al: I don’t know… (0:12:11) Codey: What do you call that screen like when it tells you what you did for the day how much all your stuff sold? (0:12:16) Codey: I think that whatever that is called is what this segment should be called because it’s like we just fell asleep on January (0:12:23) Codey: And we’re waking up and it’s February, but let’s like think about the things that occurred last last month (0:12:30) Al: I’m really struggling to Google this. (0:12:31) Codey: Don’t work yeah, don’t worry about looking it up. They got a listeners have to tell us (0:12:35) Al: Okay, so January, what released in January? (0:12:41) Al: We have four releases in January 2025. (0:12:44) Al: We got Harvest Hills, releasing mid-January the 15th. (0:12:48) Al: We got Into the Emberlands, Not Wonderful, released on the 20th of January when we had (0:12:54) Al: Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Steam and Switch that released on the 30th of January. (0:12:58) Al: my little life which is our first (0:13:01) Al: game of Rusty’s Like or as a developer of Rusty’s retirement is calling them bottom of the screen game (0:13:06) Codey: boss game which he he like talked it up on the um on blue sky he like was like y’all (0:13:06) Al: and that released on the 31st of January. So a kind of (0:13:17) Codey: should get this game and now i’m looking at it oh it’s only five dollars and 39 cents (0:13:24) Al: Yeah, it is dangerous. (0:13:25) Codey: oh no it’s only it’s only windows oh I almost clicked it y’all I almost we good okay i’m (0:13:34) Codey: I wish. (0:13:36) Codey: Let it be not just Windows, my little life developer. (0:13:39) Codey: I want to play this game. (0:13:40) Codey: Thank you. (0:13:42) Al: Yeah, so that’s the January releases, wild that I’m about to say this, but that’s a (0:13:47) Al: quiet month. Four games is a quiet month, apparently. (0:13:51) Codey: Yeah, not a lot going on. (0:13:57) Al: Okay, so we’ve now got a bunch of news. We’re going to start with the gaming news. So first (0:14:04) Al: up we have Pixel Cross Renfractory, they have announced a release date for this. So this is (0:14:09) Al: like the pixel cross Stodio seasons. (0:14:12) Al: It’s a Picross type game, but not Picross because Nintendo on the trademark to that kind of. (0:14:21) Al: Yeah, you do your nonograms. I think that’s what the generic term people have been using, (0:14:27) Al: nonograms. You do your nonograms and in the story seasons one, it like built up a farm (0:14:34) Al: in the background as you do it. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know if they’ve shown (0:14:36) Codey: is that is that what it is because it also says customize like in this trailer they say customize (0:14:40) Al: and I’ll see you next time. (0:14:42) Al: Yeah. (0:14:43) Codey: your farm and I don’t and it like looks like you choose what like where things are placed and so (0:14:50) Codey: that was one that was my only question was like I mean it’s coming some when it comes out folks (0:14:55) Codey: can tell me unless people have been playing I don’t know if there’s a dummy (0:14:57) Al: I don’t, I, yeah, oh, interesting. (0:15:01) Al: So it does look like you can change things in this one. (0:15:03) Al: So I’m pretty sure on the story of seasons one, (0:15:06) Al: you just saw the farm build up and things grow (0:15:09) Al: and you didn’t have any control over how it looked, (0:15:12) Al: but you’re right, it does. (0:15:13) Al: So it says customize your farm (0:15:14) Al: and it shows different animals or monsters. (0:15:17) Al: And then it shows you actually selecting (0:15:19) Al: what weapon you want your character to have, (0:15:21) Al: including a massive lollipop as an option. (0:15:25) Al: So yeah, it looks like it’s more in depth. (0:15:28) Codey: Well, I’m wondering if it’s just like you can control what it looks like in the background (0:15:34) Codey: while you are, yeah. (0:15:34) Al: I think that, yeah, I think that’s all it is. (0:15:36) Al: I don’t think you’re actually doing any farming (0:15:39) Al: or any battling, that just happens in the background (0:15:41) Al: as you’re doing it, but in the story seasons one, (0:15:44) Al: I’m pretty sure you couldn’t change how it looked. (0:15:46) Codey: is it like learn how to do a carrot by doing a carrot learn how to plant (0:15:52) Codey: carrots I like okay (0:15:52) Al: It wasn’t even that much in the study seasons when it was literally, you do stuff and things grow in the background you weren’t really. (0:16:00) Al: Yeah, there was nothing else. (0:16:02) Codey: Sounds good. Some people are probably jumping for joy that (0:16:06) Codey: there’s a new across game coming out. New an Autogram coming (0:16:10) Al: nonagram yeah yes yeah anyway space sprouts have announced that they’re (0:16:13) Codey: it’s like Kleenex. It’s like people say get a Kleenex but (0:16:17) Codey: that’s a brand. (0:16:21) Al: releasing on the 31st of March (0:16:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. They’re also participating in Steam’s next fest, so… (0:16:28) Al: Cody who isn’t (0:16:30) Codey: Oh, okay, fine. They’re also moving on to the next part. Uh, I guess the only thing… (0:16:33) Al: I mean I’d like I just I find the steam next fest stuff so funny because it’s (0:16:40) Al: it doesn’t really mean anything it’s like it’s it’s like it’s like being part of (0:16:45) Al: a sale right you can still do a sale whenever you want you can put your price (0:16:48) Al: down whatever but it’s like if you do it at a specific time you might get on a (0:16:50) Codey: Right. But that’s the thing, like there’s a specific list that they’ll get clicked on. (0:16:52) Al: list (0:16:55) Al: but the list is too long (0:16:58) Codey: Okay, but like not every it is still selective, right? Like not hashtag not everyone gets on the (0:17:02) Al: no I don’t I don’t think so I think anyone even get in the list (0:17:03) Codey: list. Well, anyways, that’s from February 27 to March 3. But they are also looking for playtesters. (0:17:12) Codey: So if you go to the show notes, go to the Steam page, etc, etc, you can figure out how to become (0:17:18) Codey: on my playtester for space sprout. (0:17:20) Al: Whoo! Yeah, what was this game again? I can’t… Oh yeah, it was like the 2D space. It was like, (0:17:28) Al: yeah, I’m not describing that very well. But yeah, it was a 2D world where you’re floating around, (0:17:30) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:17:33) Codey: 2D floating in space. Yeah (0:17:36) Al: yeah. Yeah, I’m very interested in this one. I wonder how it’s going to feel playing (0:17:42) Al: farming in 0G. Although it does look like some of it has gravity, and some of it has gravity, (0:17:44) Codey: Mm-hmm. I mean it’s interesting. (0:17:50) Codey: Well, if I learned anything from the Martian, farming in 0G contains the recycling of human waste. (0:17:58) Codey: So, very excited for that. (0:18:00) Al: for sure next we have a free update coming to luma island and this is called pirates (0:18:12) Codey: With an excolate your boy, pirates! (0:18:15) Al: just pirates um it’s literally called luma island pirates what uh although I don’t think (0:18:22) Al: the exclamation mark is actually part of the title because later down they say what’s coming (0:18:26) Al: in Luma Island Pirates without the exclamation mark. (0:18:29) Codey: Uh, I choose to believe, yes. (0:18:30) Al: Don’t you always? (0:18:32) Al: So this brings a pirate themed zone with new minigames, a new temple, traps and enemies, a new profession. (0:18:44) Al: Johnny and Dallin I think, they both play it. They’ll be excited about a new profession. (0:18:51) Al: A full screen map, that’s definitely something it needed. I was annoyed about not having the full screen map. (0:18:56) Al: three new game modes, (0:18:58) Al: including (0:19:00) Al: hero mode and cozy mode. (0:19:02) Al: I wonder what the third mode is. (0:19:04) Al: I love how they’d say three modes (0:19:04) Codey: I’m curious what the new profession is. (0:19:06) Al: and they mentioned two of them. (0:19:10) Codey: Is it piracy? (0:19:12) Al: Oh, interesting. Yeah, that’s a good point. (0:19:14) Al: It could be. (0:19:14) Codey: Like goats? (0:19:16) Al: Even if not actually, (0:19:18) Al: piracy definitely could be related to that. (0:19:20) Codey: Or like treasure hunting? (0:19:20) Al: Yeah, that is a good point. (0:19:22) Al: Yeah, well they do have a treasure hunter one already, I’m pretty sure. (0:19:26) Codey: Okay, so it is piracy. (0:19:28) Codey: Destroy this city and loot the people. (0:19:30) Al: Maybe. You never know. You never know. Also, new outfits, quests, NPCs, Lumas, powers, (0:19:34) Codey: Mutiny, mutiny your own. (0:19:38) Codey: I’m very curious. (0:19:44) Al: bonuses, and achievements. Yes, yeah, that is a free update. That is not a DLC. That (0:19:46) Codey: Ooh, that’s a lot of content in a free update. (0:19:52) Codey: Yeah. (0:19:53) Al: is a free update. Coming soon. No date yet. Coming soon. (0:19:58) Al: Speaking of updates. (0:20:00) Al: RiverShine have announced their 1.7 update. (0:20:05) Al: This is called Azure Coast Trail. (0:20:08) Codey: what? No, say it, say it how you say it again. Oh, that’s so cool. We just say Azure. I like (0:20:08) Al: Azure. (0:20:09) Al: Azure. (0:20:10) Al: How would you say it? (0:20:13) Al: Azure. (0:20:14) Al: Oh, no, Azure. (0:20:18) Codey: your way of saying it. Continue. (0:20:20) Codey: you. (0:20:21) Codey: You’re welcome. (0:20:21) Codey: You’re welcome. (0:20:21) Al: Thank you. (0:20:25) Al: This brings new competitions, horses, music, accessories, and loading screens. (0:20:30) Codey: Oh, whoo, the loading screens look really good, like the the art. (0:20:35) Codey: I mean, I’m betting that they have like a ton of humans that love this game (0:20:39) Codey: and just are like, take here, take my art. (0:20:41) Codey: The loading screens look really cool. (0:20:43) Codey: And the new horse is like a cool new wild horse species. (0:20:48) Codey: I almost look I. (0:20:48) Al: Rabi Rabbi Kano, Rabbi Rabbi Rabbi Kano, I think Rabbi Kano. (0:20:55) Codey: Let me it’s probably something like Robicano or Robic Robicano or something. (0:21:00) Codey: Um, yeah, I didn’t look up to see if those are actually like a thing. (0:21:06) Codey: I almost did and then I didn’t. (0:21:07) Codey: Oh, yep. (0:21:08) Codey: They’re a type of Arabian horse. (0:21:10) Al: rare horse coat color pattern that features white. (0:21:15) Codey: Oh, so it’s just a whatever. (0:21:17) Codey: It’s they’re really cute. (0:21:21) Codey: Yeah, and they also announced that the next update is going to introduce (0:21:27) Codey: a new character and that is the veterinarian. (0:21:30) Codey: Also introduce, you know, care for your horse. (0:21:34) Codey: So different, you know, that care like they might maybe they get sick. (0:21:39) Codey: Maybe they have certain nutritional needs and you didn’t need to make sure (0:21:43) Codey: you meet them. (0:21:44) Codey: I’m not entirely this is all just me. (0:21:46) Codey: Just I don’t know. (0:21:47) Codey: Just like trying to like think of what it could be, but that’s cool. (0:21:52) Codey: I’m all for it. (0:21:53) Codey: Can I be the veterinarian? (0:21:58) Codey: Aww. (0:22:01) Codey: We need a game where you’re like the veterinarian. (0:22:03) Codey: We don’t have that. (0:22:04) Al: Go make it. (0:22:05) Codey: No, I’m good. (0:22:06) Codey: Someone should make it though. (0:22:08) Codey: Or like a wildlife biologist. (0:22:08) Al: Let us know. (0:22:11) Codey: I don’t know. (0:22:12) Al: Is that not just research story? (0:22:14) Codey: Go play research. (0:22:16) Al: I mean, tell me if I’m wrong, you’re the one that’s played it. (0:22:17) Codey: No, I’m trying to. (0:22:18) Codey: Yeah, no, I’m trying to think of like, no, (0:22:20) Codey: like a game where you’re a rehabber. (0:22:22) Codey: Where you rehabilitate wild animals that people bring to you. (0:22:25) Codey: I think the only issue with that is that it’s sad because they die. (0:22:28) Codey: die, but hey. (0:22:30) Codey: There was a Bluey episode about a bird dying, so it’s okay these days. (0:22:36) Al: Blue can do anything. (0:22:38) Codey: Bluey did it. That means it’s child approved. (0:22:42) Al: Let me tell you, right, me and Craig watch Blue together, (0:22:46) Al: and he’ll be sitting and laughing at the jokes and watching it and stuff, (0:22:48) Al: and then I’ll just be sitting behind him, just sobbing. (0:22:50) Codey: stopping. Yeah. Yeah, I just just finished it. And it I am (0:22:52) Al: Like, “Oh, no, what is happening? What’s the doing to me?” (0:23:00) Codey: upset. And I need more. I watched all of it. Thanks. I’ve, (0:23:04) Al: Nice. Well done. (0:23:07) Codey: I just I crave distraction in the background while I run (0:23:11) Codey: meaningless analysis. They’re not meaningless analysis. They’re (0:23:14) Codey: just tedious analysis correction. But yeah, cool that (0:23:21) Codey: give me a game mode where I can play as the veterinarian and I (0:23:24) Codey: will play this game. Developers if you’re like, man, what do (0:23:26) Al: I mean, I feel like that’s just a whole different game, not just a different game mode, but… (0:23:31) Codey: people want these days? I bet a vet mode like a vet game would (0:23:37) Codey: crush. Yep. And I would pay probably $30 for it. So if it (0:23:39) Al: There’s at least one person who would buy it, that’s for sure. (0:23:45) Codey: takes more than $30 to make. I’m out. (0:23:48) Al: I’m not even promising there’d be two people because I’m not sure who the second person (0:23:50) Codey: Listeners. Let me know. Can you contribute $30 we can offer $60 (0:23:53) Al: would do it for the podcast. (0:23:57) Al: I’m sure there are I mean, look, if you could make a game for $60 you’d be rolling in it. (0:24:02) Codey: to developers. There’d be a lot of really bad games. Yeah. (0:24:14) Al: For sure for you. (0:24:15) Al: Well, yeah, you probably can make a game for $60. (0:24:18) Al: Absolutely dreadful. (0:24:21) Al: Just a Skinner box. (0:24:22) Al: All right. (0:24:24) Al: Next we have Particular have announced a free update and a paid DLC. (0:24:33) Al: They’re both releasing on the same day, 28th of February, and the paid DLC Frozen Frontier (0:24:39) Al: has a new story, world quests, new items and creatures. (0:24:45) Al: written snowshoe hair. Is that a creature? (0:24:47) Codey: Yeah, yeah, they specifically say snowshoe hair well, that is just one that they blurbed (0:24:48) Al: Is that a creature that’s there? Just one creature. (0:24:55) Al: blurb. No, I know what you mean. That’s a great example of verification. (0:24:55) Codey: It could be (0:24:59) Codey: Where did that word come from it is keep going I’m gonna look up what that where that came from (0:25:05) Codey: - Um. (0:25:07) Al: And the free update includes new creatures, some temp mechanics. What do you mean by that? (0:25:14) Codey: - Temperature, sorry. (0:25:15) Al: Oh, temperature was like temporary mechanics. Yes, temporary temperature mechanics, snow, (0:25:16) Codey: Now, (0:25:22) Al: And then obviously, quality of life improvements. (0:25:26) Codey: Yeah, so they both yeah, they both kind of include like, adding snow as a as a thing that you can see in the game. But one just adds like a whole new world. Also, I wanted to note that they say on in the beginning of this show notes, whatever, what is this called, like a, thank you. (0:25:48) Al: release notes or well it’s not really release notes because it’s not released (0:25:51) Codey: It’s a (0:25:51) Al: teaser (0:25:54) Codey: Teaser, they say… (0:25:56) Codey: “As spring arrives in the northern hemisphere, we’re not quite done with the cold weather. We got you southern hemisphere folks.” (0:26:02) Codey: Correction. We are also not ready for spring. (0:26:08) Codey: The United States weather predicting rodent has proclaimed that there are six more weeks of winter. (0:26:16) Codey: So, yeah, we’re not ready. (0:26:18) Al: Do I need to tap the sign? Seasons aren’t universal, Cody. (0:26:20) Codey: What’s the sign? (0:26:26) Codey: They specifically say “As spring arrives in the northern hemisphere.” (0:26:28) Al: Seasons aren’t universal in the northern hemisphere, Cody. (0:26:32) Codey: There’s six more weeks of winter. I don’t know what to tell you. (0:26:35) Al: Look, okay, so not every country has the same definitions of seasons. Not every country even (0:26:41) Al: has four seasons, and certainly not every country is going to listen to America when they say that (0:26:46) Al: that a rodent has decided it’s- (0:26:49) Codey: Okay, there’s like certain things that they should listen to us on and the majority of (0:26:54) Codey: things that other countries should just ignore Americans on, especially these days. (0:27:00) Codey: But one thing y’all should really listen to is our, our groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, (0:27:07) Codey: who is an immortal groundhog that has bespake unto the cultists or whomstever and told them (0:27:18) Codey: in Groundhog E’s! (0:27:20) Codey: There will be six more weeks of winter and a bunch of people just went. (0:27:22) Al: Yeah, I have watched Groundhog Day. I do know the idea behind it. (0:27:27) Al: Finally, in the game news in bit, we have MeloBot, a last song, have released their (0:27:34) Al: original soundtrack on Steam. It is $12.99 on its own, or it’s also included in the Deluxe (0:27:42) Al: Edition for which is more expensive. It’s actually a really good deal if you get the (0:27:46) Codey: Oh, whoo. Yeah. (0:27:49) Al: deluxe edition, though, right? Because it’s like… (0:27:52) Al: 20 quid for the game. I’m back into pounds here because you confused me with your whole (0:27:57) Al: dollars. 20 quid for the game or is it 25 quid for the 25 dollars for the game? (0:27:58) Codey: - Yeah, sorry, I put dollars, I put US dollars. (0:28:00) Codey: $13. (0:28:04) Codey: $25 for the deluxe edition and then $13 if, (0:28:08) Codey: for just the soundtrack. (0:28:10) Al: Yeah. Well, how much is the base game is that is that $20 then? (0:28:13) Codey: - Man, I didn’t look at that. (0:28:14) Codey: Let me look. (0:28:16) Al: See, it is 20 quid or 10 and 10 quid for 20 or 27 quid. (0:28:22) Codey: Oh I had it wrong! The game is 25. The bundle that includes the digital deluxe upgrade is 35. (0:28:22) Al: Ah. (0:28:32) Al: OK, so it’s still a good deal, but it’s not as good a deal. (0:28:35) Codey: You save 8%. (0:28:37) Al: All righty, so that is the game news. (0:28:41) Al: We also have two new games announced. (0:28:43) Al: Well, kind of. (0:28:44) Al: One of them is a new game. (0:28:44) Codey: - In quotes. (0:28:46) Al: One of them is actually two that are not– (0:28:50) Al: should we talk about the one that’s actually new first? (0:28:52) Al: So that is Sky Harvest. (0:28:52) Codey: - Yes. (0:28:57) Al: The blurb for this one is, “Armed with hand-me-down tools (0:29:01) Al: and some cash. (0:29:03) Al: You begin your new life as the chief farmer, a position your (0:29:07) Al: grandfather once excelled in. Can you honor his legacy and (0:29:10) Al: transform the overgrown, untamed and desolate floating island (0:29:14) Al: into a flourishing farm abundant with produce? (0:29:19) Codey: produce is weird in that trailer was was grandfather sleeping (0:29:26) Al: I didn’t actually watch the trailer give me two seconds. No, he did (0:29:33) Al: Again, yeah, no he did (0:29:36) Codey: so as a child you come upon your grand your beloved grandfather deceased at the (0:29:44) Al: Dead, at the kitchen table, reading his hopes and dreams. (0:29:47) Codey: kitchen table with (0:29:49) Codey: a book in front of him. (0:29:53) Codey: The book says, if I wish I could have gone back one last time and it’s got like a ticket and then it shows you taking that ticket and going and honoring his legacy. (0:30:04) Al: This is how this is how I know that he’s dead because if he’s not dead that is horrific. You’ve just stolen his ticket (0:30:05) Codey: But like, (0:30:12) Al: The one thing he wanted to do you’ve stolen his ticket and gone without him (0:30:16) Al: Let waited a while because you’ve grown a beard now. You’re an adult now (0:30:16) Codey: also, (0:30:20) Codey: Yeah, there’s a whole beard, a mustache, wild. (0:30:21) Al: Goodness me. That’s dreadful (0:30:23) Al: You (0:30:24) Codey: But like, if I came upon my grandmother deceased, (0:30:29) Codey: I say this because my grandfather is already deceased. (0:30:34) Codey: If I came upon my grandmother deceased, and (0:30:37) Codey: I don’t care what’s in front of her, I’m not looking at that. (0:30:42) Al: Yeah, he just like rests his head on his grandfather’s dead arm and sheds one singular tear before stealing his ticket, his boat ticket. (0:30:45) Codey: And then… (laughs) (0:30:50) Codey: I don’t know how beloved that grandfather was, if that’s your reaction, my guy. (0:30:55) Codey: Anyway, this is me just… (laughs) (0:30:56) Al: One, he’s one tear’s worth a little bit. (0:31:00) Codey: Alright, this looks cool though. So you’re on floating islands, you’re flying around with a jetpack, you can manage a restaurant. (0:31:07) Codey: It just says manage a restaurant, but it just shows you telling the person what the one meal that you guys are making in the day is. (0:31:20) Codey: Not what restaurants do. (0:31:23) Codey: And it’s a really bad restaurant. (0:31:24) Al: It’s what really bad restaurants. (0:31:28) Codey: And then it also says make friends, and then there’s a dog with a scroll in its mouth, so I’m guessing you befriend a dog. (0:31:36) Codey: And unfortunately that wasn’t in the trailer, it was in this thing. (0:31:40) Al: I mean the trailer didn’t show you much, lesbian. (0:31:43) Codey: Right, the trailer was very teaser-y, but underneath that, on the post, they have… (0:31:50) Codey: I watched that video where there’s a dog 10 times to see… I wanted to see more of the dog. (0:31:59) Codey: What kind of dog is it? All that. (0:32:03) Codey: It’s definitely a tricolor something, but other than that, no. (0:32:08) Al: So I will say I’m not particularly enamored by the graphics in this game. (0:32:17) Al: Not that it looks bad, it’s very definitely trying to look how it looks, I think. (0:32:23) Al: What I find a bit weird is the graphics of the game and the graphics of the heads-up display, (0:32:30) Al: like the menus and stuff, they feel like they’re from different games. (0:32:31) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah, like they had two different people designing those, (0:32:38) Codey: and one understood the assignment and one didn’t. (0:32:38) Al: Yeah. Yeah, so it’s a little bit weird. Very, very. I do like the flying. The flying looks fun. (0:32:45) Codey: The character also looks lanky. This is a tall character. (0:32:53) Codey: Yeah. Mm hmm. Cosine. I don’t. (0:32:57) Al: Yeah, I don’t know what else to say. That looks interesting. I love how it calls it sky farming (0:33:01) Codey: It’s farming, but in the sky. Or are we? Are you farming the sky? (0:33:04) Al: when it’s just farming. (0:33:08) Al: In the sky? Okay. No, no, no, no, it’s just you’re on a sky island. Which I feel like this whole (0:33:12) Codey: Like is there part you’re like collecting the sky? (0:33:16) Codey: You don’t know that. What if they what if you collect the sky? (0:33:21) Al: let’s this game has sky islands was a fun idea five years ago and now half the games are doing (0:33:26) Al: it. Which is I guess the problem with game development, right? It was even before that (0:33:30) Codey: It’s the tears of the kingdom like. (0:33:35) Al: people were doing it. They didn’t. (0:33:38) Al: No, I know. Yeah, yeah. No, I get it. I feel like this could be possibly interesting. (0:33:46) Al: I’m not really sure what it’s… The flying is the thing that is most interesting to me, (0:33:51) Al: but other than that, I’m not really sure what it is that they’re doing that’s unique, (0:33:54) Al: which is always the problem with cottagecore games is why should I play you over Stardew? (0:34:01) Codey: I think that’s correct. I think like that’s the thing about this is it’s just to get your (0:34:06) Codey: attention and we will continue. It’s not like I saw this and I’m like, yep, not going to play (0:34:11) Codey: that because there’s not a lot here. I want to, I want to see more. They’re going to probably (0:34:15) Codey: release more. And so far they just say Q2 2025 in the trailer. (0:34:16) Al: Yep. Yeah, where did you see Q2? I just see 2025. Oh, in the trailer, okay. Because on (0:34:28) Al: Steam just says 2025. Okay, I will update my list then. I didn’t pay attention to the (0:34:31) Codey: Yeah, he didn’t watch the trailer. (0:34:38) Al: trailer, there’s a difference there. All right, we also have the brand new and exciting (0:34:39) Codey: Oh, my bad. I get that though. (0:34:47) Al: Harvest Moon, Skytree Village, and The Lost Valley are for some reason coming to Switch. (0:34:55) Al: The good thing about this is it is a bundle, so it’s like you’re not buying the game separately, (0:35:00) Al: which is good, because my word that would be not worth any sort of money. I’m not sure who (0:35:06) Al: wants these games. It’s like they went, “Oh, when we did…” Because they worked with… (0:35:09) Codey: Yeah, so you– (0:35:16) Al: Because the rights are complicated to the old Harvest Moon games, right? So they’ve done some, (0:35:22) Al: they released the original Harvest Moon on, what’s it called, Nintendo Switch Online, (0:35:31) Al: and they had to do that in collaboration with Marvelous, because Marvelous owned the game, (0:35:36) Al: but they owned the name, and so they had to both agree to that. Anyway, whatever, it doesn’t matter. (0:35:41) Al: And I feel like that combined with Marvelous redoing a wonderful… (0:35:46) Al: life has made them go, “Oh, people like when we remake Harvest Moon games and knock on which ones (0:35:55) Al: is it that people actually want to play, because I guarantee you it’s not Skytree Village in The (0:35:59) Al: Lost Valley.” (0:36:00) Codey: - Yeah, I will say, okay, so two things. (0:36:04) Codey: First of all, I looked, so one social media user, (0:36:08) Codey: to your question of who’s asking for this, (0:36:10) Codey: one social media user named Chrissy said, (0:36:13) Codey: “Cozy gamers have really been winning lately.” (0:36:16) Al: I wonder whether that person has ever actually played either of these. (0:36:16) Codey: To which another, (0:36:23) Codey: to which another user said, (0:36:25) Codey: “These games are more like a loss.” (0:36:28) Al: The funny thing is they did the whole, “Oh, we’re going to announce an announcement.” (0:36:34) Al: And they were like, “Oh, we’ve got an exciting announcement coming for you.” (0:36:34) Codey: Yeah (0:36:37) Al: And you’re like, “Okay, fine.” (0:36:40) Al: And then they did this and people were like, “Really? (0:36:43) Al: That was your… (0:36:44) Al: Please tell me this wasn’t everything.” (0:36:46) Al: Because it’s just, they’re like, I am not the sort of person who just hates on Harvest (0:36:50) Al: Moon, you know, Natsume, Harvest Moon games for the sake of it. (0:36:54) Al: You know, I am literally playing Harvestman, Home Sweet Home, as we’re recording. (0:36:58) Al: The podcast, right? And I’ve talked about how I like that. I’ve talked about how I like the ideas (0:37:02) Al: in One World and Winds of Anthos. I think they’re very interesting and I think that they’re very (0:37:07) Al: close to legitimately having a good game. These games are not that. These games are just bad. (0:37:10) Codey: Mm hmm. This ain’t it chief. Yeah, I will say so. I was listening to another podcast (0:37:22) Codey: about metal music lately and they were talking about I had there’s a point fault. Stay with (0:37:27) Al: I look forward to it. (0:37:28) Codey: me. They were talking about how this one band re like, is republishing like re thank you (0:37:37) Al: - Remastered. (0:37:38) Codey: remastering. (0:37:40) Codey: I think they’re actually just straight up rerecording an (0:37:42) Codey: entire album and like reproducing it. (0:37:42) Al: - Oh, okay. (0:37:44) Al: They’re Taylor-swifting it. (0:37:45) Codey: Basically, they are that’s the they literally made a joke about (0:37:49) Codey: that and they had the same question like what who’s asking (0:37:53) Codey: for this and a bunch of people on social media were like, (0:37:56) Codey: ah, this is thanks, but I’d rather have no music, etc, etc. (0:38:00) Codey: But they actually said they made a really good point, which (0:38:02) Codey: is if there are people who have not played these games or (0:38:07) Codey: listen to this music or whatever. (0:38:10) Codey: Kind of an introduction to that to that content for them (0:38:13) Codey: because there might be people who have heard of this Harvest (0:38:17) Codey: Moon thing, but they haven’t really played it yet or whatever (0:38:22) Codey: and then maybe they see this bundle and they’re like, oh (0:38:24) Codey: wow, there’s two of them in here. (0:38:26) Al: They’re first and last Harvest Moon games (0:38:27) Codey: And so it’s not. (0:38:30) Codey: Well, yeah, so that’s the thing. (0:38:31) Codey: So I mean that they were talking about an actually good album (0:38:35) Codey: versus– (0:38:35) Al: Yes, I think that’s that is the key difference here Cody (0:38:39) Al: I think like I am NOT against remakes. I think remakes can be really good (0:38:40) Codey: - Yeah. (0:38:43) Al: I think I’m doing a wonderful life last year was good because that is a very beloved game (0:38:43) Codey: Yeah. (0:38:47) Al: That is a lot of people’s first farming game (0:38:51) Al: And you just have to listen to Kevin for five minutes to know how much some people were waiting for that (0:38:55) Al: Nobody has that about (0:38:56) Codey: Oh, yeah. That’s fair. (0:38:56) Al: these games. (0:38:59) Codey: Yeah, I I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but, uh, yeah, (0:39:04) Codey: I think that the thing is that it’s not just if they’re not being remade (0:39:08) Codey: or or bundled in for the switch for the fans. (0:39:14) Al: No. This is the problem is there aren’t games that Natsume can nostalgia grab on. (0:39:15) Codey: It’s to try and get new people into the into the fandom. (0:39:26) Al: Because they’re all owned by Marvelous. They only own the name. And Marvelous aren’t going to do (0:39:33) Al: anything about it. I think it was very different when they did the original on Nintendo Switch (0:39:38) Al: Online because that is the actual original game. They’re just porting. (0:39:44) Al: It’s not even porting. It’s literally just an emulator. They’re just literally allowing (0:39:51) Al: the game to run on it. And that’s very different to remaking games. And there’s no way Marvelous (0:40:00) Al: have remade multiple. They remade Friends of Mineral Town, which was a fun one to do. They (0:40:05) Al: remade A Wonderful Life. I can’t remember if they’ve done any other remakes recently. (0:40:10) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know, because I’m not ever going to touch it, so. (0:40:14) Al: They want to jump on the bandwagon. They have to just release bad games again. (0:40:20) Al: This is the thing. So many people have this be in their bonnet about Natsume and they’re like, (0:40:25) Al: oh, they’re just jumping on the name and using it to sell bad games. And yeah, that’s kind of true. (0:40:31) Al: Or at least it was kind of true. I do think now they’re actually getting better and they’re (0:40:36) Al: actually trying to make good games. They’re getting there. But the problem is that releasing (0:40:42) Al: they’re bad games again. (0:40:44) Al: They’re not going to convince anybody that they’re doing anything other than money-grabbing. (0:40:44) Codey: Yeah, it’s like there’s someone at the company that remembers when all these games first (0:40:55) Codey: came out and like the hype the hype of it and they’re trying to like regain that the (0:41:01) Codey: glory days and the it’s sometimes you just got to let things go and like when Bluey and (0:41:08) Codey: Bingo had to get rid of a bunch of their stuffies. Yeah. (0:41:10) Al: Oh, we watched that the other day. That was a good episode. (0:41:17) Al: Yeah, it’s painful to watch what they’re doing, because it’s like one step forward, 73 steps (0:41:24) Al: back. Like, I just… Why do this? And I… Oh, goodness. Yes, right. (0:41:24) Codey: like the American government. So we have some other people one year forward 73 years backwards. (0:41:40) Al: So… Yeah, a section we don’t often have, because normally it’s just game updates and (0:41:41) Codey: We have some other news. Uh-huh. Oh. (0:41:47) Al: occasionally new games, we do have the other news section. So we have three pieces of other (0:41:53) Al: news to talk about. The first one is super… Let’s start off with the negative one, shall we? (0:41:54) Codey: You got to be more specific. Oh, oh, you’re right. You’re right. You’re right. I needed. (0:42:01) Al: There’s only one negative one. Okay. (0:42:04) Codey: I had to look through it again. Yeah. (0:42:10) Al: So Phoenix Labs, the developers of Fae Farm and Dauntless, and were creating other games (0:42:15) Al: until last year when they laid off almost everybody who was working on any game other (0:42:20) Al: than Fae Farm and Dauntless have now laid off almost everybody else. Huzzah! (0:42:26) Codey: - Yay. (0:42:27) Al: They’re like, “What’s the point in a game studio that makes games? (0:42:30) Al: We don’t want to make games. We don’t even want to continue making our existing games.” (0:42:34) Codey: Yeah, you don’t have yeah, but you know, they really said, the developer said, quote, It’s unfortunate, but necessary. (0:42:44) Codey: Yeah, so I did do a dive into this, more than just like, just the top of the of the article or whatever I start, I really got into reading this article and like kind of looking at some stuff because I was just like, what is going on here? (0:42:45) Al: Yeah, I guess the games aren’t failing then. (0:43:00) Al: - Were you rage reading? (0:43:02) Al: Were you rage reading? (0:43:04) Codey: I was so after basically, the developer, the Phoenix lab, whom’s ever the whole the whole Phoenix lab people. Correct. Thank you. You’re so good with the words today. So they, they were, they were acquired by a blockchain company called forte labs. (0:43:14) Al: the company. What can I say? I’m on a roll. Words is my whole thing. (0:43:30) Codey: And when they were acquired, they then laid off (0:43:34) Codey: as you already mentioned 160 people and quote the new owner (0:43:39) Codey: reportedly pressed developers to draft methods for integrating (0:43:44) Codey: blockchain technology in its games for the purpose of buying (0:43:49) Codey: and selling and trading in game goods, according to former (0:43:52) Codey: employees. So the crypto market has has joined games y’all. (0:43:58) Codey: Uh. (0:43:58) Al: are we back on NFTs? I thought we killed NFTs like four years ago, what are you doing? (0:43:59) Codey: Yeah. (0:44:04) Codey: NFTs and crypto, man, they’re here to stay, I guess. (0:44:08) Al: Well no, crypto isn’t dead, but come on, when was the last time you heard about NFTs? (0:44:14) Al: Especially in games, they’re so 2022. (0:44:18) Codey: I believe Ascentient Cheeto recently gave more NFTs. (0:44:24) Codey: Continuing on, apparently after releasing Dauntless, (0:44:28) Codey: they were “criticized by players for its new in-app monetization design,” (0:44:32) Codey: which was probably the blockchain, (0:44:34) Codey: but erasing previous progression with the new Awakening update. (0:44:38) Codey: So they had an update and it released, it erased all the previous progression. (0:44:38) Al: Oh no! No! What?! (0:44:42) Codey: The game still has an overwhelmingly negative number of reviews on Steam. (0:44:49) Al: I miss that happening. I wasn’t really aware of this very much. I was aware of it when (0:44:50) Codey: And the… (0:44:54) Al: it initially released because it was like, “Oh, it’s gonna kill Monster Hunter.” And (0:44:56) Codey: Yeah. (0:45:00) Codey: It did not. (0:45:02) Codey: It really had it was nowhere new (0:45:04) Codey: because when it first launched, there were probably about 3200 concurrent players like people playing at the same time online. (0:45:12) Codey: Nowadays, it’s only ever around about 150 people. (0:45:18) Codey: So yeah, not sure what they’re doing. (0:45:22) Codey: I would suggest well, I guess I would I would say that I would suggest them to back off the blockchain, but they are literally owned and acquired by a blockchain company. (0:45:32) Codey: So I don’t think that’s going to happen. (0:45:36) Codey: So I’m not not really sure what this means for Fae Farm. (0:45:41) Al: What I find really funny is like, so I think crypto is most often a scam. (0:45:48) Al: I do think there are some interesting applications for blockchain as a concept. (0:45:56) Al: NFTs is not it. (0:46:01) Al: It has never been it, even on their own. (0:46:04) Al: And then when people started putting them into games, I was like, I don’t even know why. (0:46:10) Codey: I mean, I feel like it’s to try and like have an introduction. (0:46:11) Al: Like, what is happening, and why would you do this? (0:46:18) Codey: It’s like when they put smoking in movies so that they would get more smokers, right? (0:46:23) Codey: It’s like a, it’s a, it’s a possible way to normalize something. (0:46:26) Al: It’s like the Transformers series for selling more Transformers. (0:46:29) Codey: Yeah. (0:46:31) Codey: Uh, which it’ll probably have a small, well, it would have a small bump if it wasn’t for (0:46:38) Codey: uh, cozy gamers. (0:46:40) Codey: Cause I don’t think cozy gamers are the people or, or monster hunters style players. (0:46:46) Codey: I, you really gotta go for like the call of duty people. (0:46:48) Codey: I feel like they, they would do NFTs because they basically, that’s basically all they (0:46:53) Codey: do with their, uh, skins and stuff on all the, all the guns and whatever. (0:47:00) Codey: So like, it’s not monster hunter people, uh, with dauntless and then cozy games with fave (0:47:08) Codey: farm. (0:47:10) Codey: It’

Codey and Jonnie talk about Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:06: What Have We Been Up To 00:09:11: Game News 00:31:34: Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete 00:58:36: Outro Links Into the Emberlands Release Tiny Garden Release Echoes of the Plum Grove Switch Release Amber Isle Switch Release Ova Magica “0.8” Update Overthrown “Livestock” Update Grandpa’s Farm TTRPG Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Codey: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Cody (0:00:36) Jonnie: And my name is Johnny. (0:00:38) Codey: And we are here to talk about cottagecore games (0:00:45) Codey: Today’s topic is the animal crossing pocket camp complete which johnny has played and I have not (0:00:55) Codey: But I did play the first pocket camp so we will get to talk about all that (0:01:00) Codey: Before that we have some small about small amount of news. We’ll probably still figure out how to make it last an hour though (0:01:07) Codey: But before that, what have you been up to johnny? (0:01:10) Jonnie: Not too much. I’m just keeping the pocket theme rolling with Pokemon Pocket TCG. (0:01:16) Codey: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:01:16) Jonnie: And, like, it’s real good. (0:01:21) Jonnie: Opening a couple packs every day is fun. (0:01:26) Jonnie: Like, collecting cards is fun. (0:01:28) Jonnie: Playing the actual battles is more fun than I was expecting. (0:01:33) Jonnie: It’s real good. (0:01:34) Jonnie: And we’ve now entered, like, the phase of the life cycle of the game. (0:01:40) Jonnie: Where everyone has turned into whiny little complaint bots that are just, like, (0:01:47) Jonnie: “Shut up and stop talking,” is kind of my opinion on, like… (0:01:50) Jonnie: Like, I’ve heard people complaining about, like, (0:01:52) Jonnie: “Oh, I haven’t opened a new card in, like, four weeks.” (0:01:56) Jonnie: And it’s, like, “Well, yeah, because you opened a hundred packs when the set came out, (0:02:01) Jonnie: and now you’ve got all of the cards, there’s literally no new cards to open, (0:02:03) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:02:05) Jonnie: except the super rare things.” (0:02:07) Jonnie: which, if you got one of those every day, wouldn’t be super rare. (0:02:10) Jonnie: like logic, not that hard. (0:02:10) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:02:12) Jonnie: Second thing that people- (0:02:13) Codey: It’s ‘cause they’re game guzzlers. (0:02:16) Jonnie: Yeah, they are game guzzlers, and it’s like, if you’re a game guzzler, that’s fine. (0:02:20) Jonnie: Shut up, stop complaining. It’s very annoying. (0:02:22) Jonnie: And then you’ve got the people who complain about the events. (0:02:26) Jonnie: Like, we’ve got the five-win streak event going on at the moment, (0:02:30) Codey: - Okay. (0:02:30) Jonnie: and people complain about that. (0:02:32) Jonnie: And I’m like, if you complain about that event, you are bad at the game. (0:02:36) Jonnie: Like, people complain because they say that this game is too luck-based. (0:02:38) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:02:40) Jonnie: I mean, is there luck in this game? Yes. (0:02:42) Jonnie: Is there more luck in this game than a lot of other phone-based TCGs? (0:02:48) Jonnie: Not really. It’s pretty much the same. (0:02:50) Jonnie: Like, there is a high skill ceiling on this game, (0:02:52) Jonnie: but yeah, people would rather just lose and complain about luck. (0:02:56) Jonnie: And, like, what’s the reward for getting the five battles? (0:02:58) Jonnie: It’s an emblem. That does literally nothing. (0:03:01) Jonnie: The only things more useless in the game are, like, the backgrounds and the, like, (0:03:06) Jonnie: whatever the other stupid cosmetics are, and those things that nobody ever looks at. (0:03:10) Jonnie: It does not matter. So stop complaining, because for some of us, it’s a very fun event. (0:03:15) Jonnie: Trying to get to five wins in a row is an actual challenge, and some of us like that. (0:03:19) Jonnie: So if you are complaining about pocket camp, the problem is you, not the app, shut up, (0:03:25) Jonnie: stop complaining. There, I’ve had my rant. I’ve felt like I’ve been holding this in all week, (0:03:30) Jonnie: and I knew that I was going to get something on. I just need to get that out. I know I feel better, (0:03:36) Jonnie: because I’ve told people that need to shut up to shut up. (0:03:37) Codey: Yay, I’m so happy for you. (0:03:43) Codey: I also still play that. (0:03:44) Codey: I guess I didn’t put that on my list, but I do still play that every day. (0:03:50) Codey: I just do the daily like basic stuff, but so like get the, open the two packs, get a, (0:03:56) Codey: do a wonder thingy, all that to get my daily stuff. (0:04:04) Codey: And I haven’t been doing the… (0:04:07) Codey: The battles as much, but I did when I was doing the battles, I agree like they were actually challenging and… (0:04:16) Codey: I mean they have as much luck as regular TCG games do, so… (0:04:22) Codey: Such is life. (0:04:23) Jonnie: And I think you hit on my favorite thing about Pokemon Pocket, which is you can play… (0:04:31) Jonnie: It’s a fun game that you can play every day and complete the dailies in literally two minutes. (0:04:32) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:04:37) Jonnie: Like, you do not have to do a battle. (0:04:40) Jonnie: The way the whole thing is designed is one of the least predatory forms of the sort of game development that I’ve seen, right? (0:04:49) Jonnie: It is not buying for your time, you know. (0:04:53) Jonnie: I used to play Marvel Snap and the big reason that I fell off is it just felt like to get all of the stuff. (0:05:00) Jonnie: You kind of had to be doing half an hour worth of battles a day as a minimum and it was just it was fighting for time. (0:05:09) Jonnie: Pocket is not. It’s like we’re here for two minutes, open us, open a pack, get a little dopamine here and then close us. (0:05:17) Jonnie: Or not. We don’t really mind if you want to play us. Play us. If you don’t want to play us, don’t. (0:05:23) Jonnie: And like I find myself there are days where it’s like, yeah, I want to jump in and do some battles and I’ll spend half an hour playing some battles. (0:05:30) Jonnie: And then there are other days I’m like, I’m not really like it’s it’s I’m just too busy and like I don’t have that. (0:05:36) Jonnie: That it’s in my brain that says, but you got to do the dailies because I already did the dailies because they were super fast. (0:05:42) Jonnie: So I’m a big fan of like the underlying design of of Pokemon. (0:05:47) Codey: I definitely agree. I think that I really appreciate when games don’t punish you for (0:05:53) Codey: having like a life happen where you’re just not able to play as much as even you might (0:06:01) Codey: like. But you just have to dial it back a little bit and that’s okay. Yeah, so that’s, (0:06:11) Codey: - I agree. (0:06:13) Codey: What else have you been playing, or is that it? (0:06:15) Jonnie: Yeah, I’ve kind of been in a weird, like weird it’s not the wrong word, it’s summer, (0:06:20) Jonnie: I just haven’t been playing games, I’ve been outside. (0:06:22) Codey: That’s fair. Man, I cannot relate. It is not somewhere. I’ve been getting into a really (0:06:27) Jonnie: Yeah, because it’s not summer, so what have you been playing? (0:06:34) Codey: good groove of doing my specimens because that deadline of having to graduate by October sure (0:06:45) Codey: is looming. But I’ve been playing all day. (0:06:52) Codey: Also, Pokemon TCG. Still playing Honey Grove, which is a really fun game that we’ve talked (0:06:59) Codey: about on the podcast before. It is the only farming game that I’ve ever played for the (0:07:04) Codey: podcast that I continue to play. And then I have a cross-stitch game on my phone that (0:07:11) Codey: I just call my coloring game because you’re basically just coloring. And I do that with (0:07:16) Codey: my grandma and I really enjoy it. And so that takes some of my brain power when I (0:07:22) Codey: need to shut my brain off from science. And then the last one is a secret thing that might (0:07:32) Codey: come up in a future episode. So listeners, continue to listen so that you can know what (0:07:39) Codey: the secret game is. (0:07:44) Jonnie: We made it five minutes into the episode before Cody promised something in the future, and (0:07:50) Jonnie: Al’s not here today, so we’re going to get a lot of promises today. (0:07:50) Codey: Yup. Yeah. 100%. I feel really confident about this promise though. So far. Yes. I have been (0:07:53) Jonnie: So look forward to that, listeners. (0:07:58) Jonnie: Great. (0:07:59) Jonnie: Are you having fun with the secret thread? (0:08:08) Codey: tempted to possibly invest money into the secret thing. There are ways to do so and it’s not (0:08:17) Codey: expensive. Um, and so (0:08:20) Codey: we will see if, uh, if I’m still playing it consistently, um, when next you hear me (0:08:28) Codey: speak of it, then perhaps I will invest money. Uh, stay tuned for that, I guess. Um, yeah. (0:08:40) Codey: So that is what we have been up to. Wow. Look at that. We’re only over like 10 minutes. (0:08:48) Jonnie: Look it might be a shorter episode today. It’s January, you know (0:08:51) Codey: » No, you said it, you said it, it’s not gonna be short now. (0:08:57) Jonnie: There’s not much news (0:09:01) Jonnie: Ah. (0:09:02) Codey: I’m sure, I want more rants. (0:09:04) Codey: You ranted a little bit in the beginning and I want more of that. (0:09:07) Codey: Okay, so the next thing that we’re gonna talk about is all of our news. (0:09:13) Codey: The first bit of news is Into the Emberlands has their 1.0 out now. (0:09:21) Codey: This is the game that used to be called Wonderful. (0:09:25) Codey: I have no memory of this game, but okay. (0:09:29) Codey: And there is now a new village level and a new biome. (0:09:34) Codey: There’s a golden skin for your character if you beat the game and get credits. (0:09:39) Codey: And they say that there are three, quote unquote, epic end game items. (0:09:45) Codey: They don’t really have photos of them or anything. (0:09:47) Codey: so I cannot confirm the epic level. (0:09:50) Codey: I think we’re at the end of this video so let me know what you think in the comments if you want to see more of these items but it’s intriguing. (0:09:57) Codey: yeah it’s a fairly inexpensive game it’s like under seven dollars USD and it is 25% off on steam until February 3rd so you got a little bit of time if this is a game that you were interested in and waiting for 1.0 now is your chance to get it also a little cheaper. (0:10:16) Jonnie: Yeah, and it looks, uh, no, but that’s I think partly because it’s sort of like, so, in case (0:10:16) Codey: on your list at all? (0:10:24) Jonnie: people don’t remember, this is the game where you’re going out and exploring something called (0:10:28) Jonnie: the miasma to find like your people who have been lost and bringing back to a village that (0:10:35) Jonnie: you are building up. And so the vibe is maybe a little bit more survival game slash RTS, and (0:10:46) Jonnie: sort of like the way you build up a village. Like it’s that more sort of not quite top down style, (0:10:53) Jonnie: you know, building connecting roads and quite a large village rather than something (0:10:57) Jonnie: small and more intimate and based on your character. But it’s got a very cute art style, (0:11:04) Jonnie: like it looks like a fun game. If what I said sounds like, you know, the sorts of things that (0:11:11) Jonnie: that tickle your brain. I think this looks like a very fun thing. I might (0:11:16) Jonnie: get the price. It seems like a little bit of a no brainer to try out. (0:11:16) Codey: Yeah (0:11:19) Codey: Yeah (0:11:21) Codey: Cool the next one. I know you were excited about Johnny is (0:11:26) Codey: tiny garden (0:11:28) Codey: So this is what I’ve just been calling the Polly Pocket game (0:11:34) Jonnie: Because it is the polyfucker K. (0:11:35) Codey: And if you don’t if you don’t know what a Polly Pocket is I (0:11:35) Jonnie: Yep, that’s that’s what we’ve all been calling. (0:11:40) Codey: Will I refuse to explain it to you? (0:11:43) Codey: I’m not that old (0:11:46) Codey: You know what a Polly Pocket is (0:11:48) Codey: Um (0:11:50) Jonnie: I mean I don’t think that’s accurate but just in case anyone doesn’t know, in this game you’re (0:11:56) Jonnie: building a farm inside a kind of like a locket right so it opens up and there is on the vertical (0:12:03) Jonnie: part there is your house and on the horizontal part that’s where you can sort of build your farm. (0:12:10) Jonnie: One of the features I guess is that there’s a crank that you turn which looks like I’m assuming (0:12:17) Jonnie: turning the crank signifies (0:12:20) Jonnie: the passing of time and that’s what causes crops to grow and those sorts of things and (0:12:27) Jonnie: based on what they’re showing my assumption is the gameplay loop as you grow crops down the bottom (0:12:32) Jonnie: to earn currency to then decorate up the top and one of the things that I like about this idea (0:12:38) Jonnie: one is like a fun idea for a way to sort of constrain the space that you are building in (0:12:44) Jonnie: but also the idea of like decorating your sort of vertical space in that sort of place. (0:12:50) Jonnie: It’s like quite a cool and different way to decorate because you’re not decorating this much of a (0:12:55) Jonnie: 3D house style space so it’s just a little bit of a different lens on that which looks cool and cute. (0:13:00) Codey: Yeah, I agree, um, nope, yeah (0:13:05) Jonnie: All right do we actually say the news? The news is that they’ve got a release date. (0:13:10) Jonnie: It is coming to Steam on April 8th which is relatively soon so that is very exciting. (0:13:18) Codey: Yeah. And they don’t have a price listed on Steam yet. But they do have a Discord. So if you’re (0:13:31) Codey: interested, and you want to be like, kind of in the know of this kind of stuff, you can join their (0:13:37) Codey: Discord and find and kind of have that information. How do you feel? Do you feel like you could, (0:13:42) Jonnie: Brody, are we gonna promise an episode on tiny garden? (0:13:47) Jonnie: Absolutely. I feel like I could promise that. (0:13:48) Codey: promise that? Okay, Johnny will promise. Not all promises go, but they have to be vetted by me. All (0:14:02) Codey: promises have to be vetted by me. So yes, I will let you promise to do an episode on this. Yeah. (0:14:10) Codey: 100%. Yeah, it’s really cute. Next is Echoes of the Plum Grove. (0:14:19) Codey: So this game is already out in a lot of versions, but the Switch version is now (0:14:26) Codey: announced to be releasing on the 13th of February. And it will be 10% off until the 22nd of February. (0:14:35) Codey: So I believe it’s a $20 game. And so you’ll be able to save a little bit of money if you order it (0:14:42) Codey: ahead of time. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. (0:14:46) Jonnie: Nice. And because of the Plumb Grove is I don’t think we’ve covered it on the show, but I’m pretty sure Kat in the Slack was playing it and they were having a very good time with it so it’s one that sort of like bumped up on my list and I feel like it will be a good candidate for Switch because it’s got that. (0:14:48) Codey: Not yet, Anna. (0:15:06) Jonnie: The art style is very reminiscent of like a Paper Mario. (0:15:12) Jonnie: And so I think that that like, I think the art style will work, the gameplay looks free. (0:15:16) Jonnie: Relatively simple, I think it will be a really good candidate for like, playing on your Switch in handheld mode, in particular, so I think this is a good move. (0:15:28) Jonnie: And let’s just hope that the game can actually run on the Switch, because I feel like that is now a concern for every Switch game that’s coming out in 2025. (0:15:32) Codey: Yeah, so there is that. Next is Amber Isle. So this is actually pretty much the exact same news (0:15:38) Jonnie: Not because of the developers to be clear, but because of where the Switch is at from a performance perspective. (0:15:59) Codey: that they have a Switch version coming. (0:16:02) Codey: Coming out on 13th of February, however, they also have a pre-order up until the release (0:16:10) Codey: of 20% off, which is super interesting and cool. (0:16:15) Codey: Again, this is another one that I didn’t remember, so just reminding folks, this is a dino-centric (0:16:24) Codey: shop management sim, so everyone is like a dinosaur. (0:16:30) Codey: so you can befriend up to 48. (0:16:32) Codey: You create what they call paleo folk, and you decorate and rebuild the island. (0:16:39) Codey: So looks like dinosaurs might be this year’s hot thing or this time period’s hot thing (0:16:47) Codey: because we’re getting a lot of dino games. (0:16:50) Jonnie: I feel like we are, but I don’t feel like dinosaurs are that popular right now. (0:16:56) Codey: I mean, they, the demand must be there. It, it must. (0:16:59) Jonnie: Mustard. (0:17:01) Jonnie: I feel like indie video games are much more based around what the creator wanted to make and then what the market is demanding. (0:17:07) Codey: That’s, that’s still a form of demand. It’s just a different form of demand. (0:17:14) Jonnie: Demand of one. (0:17:15) Codey: Yeah, a single, single demand. Um, I mean, that’s a pretty good strategy though, (0:17:21) Codey: because most people, if at least one person wants it, they’re going to be more people (0:17:26) Codey: than you. (0:17:26) Jonnie: No, that is not it. That is, in fact, not a good strategy. (0:17:29) Jonnie: And you have just hit on, like, what I do for a day job. (0:17:31) Jonnie: And this is the problem that most people make. (0:17:33) Jonnie: They’re like, I’m going to build the thing that I want. (0:17:34) Jonnie: And then they are shocked that nobody else wants that thing. (0:17:36) Codey: Oh no. Oh no. That’s so unfortunate. (0:17:40) Codey: Um, well I’m sure that some of our hosts are super excited about this because they love dinosaurs, so. (0:17:50) Codey: Big shout out. (0:17:54) Codey: Um, next is OVA Magica. So I want to note here that Al said that the .8 update was out now, but it is actually the .805. (0:18:06) Codey: So there’s, it’s different. So they say that if you’re update your game, make sure that it’s version 0.805. (0:18:14) Codey: So, um, this version adds a couple of different things. One of them is the blob temple, which is a new world in which there will be some new blobs like the tiger blob, red panda blob, peacock, the panda, that kind of stuff. (0:18:32) Codey: kind of stuff. It’s a really pretty area. (0:18:36) Codey: Um, looked really beautiful. They also add the greenhouse, um, where you can grow things (0:18:42) Codey: across, all across the year. There’s the cave behind the waterfall and I, there’s like a (0:18:48) Codey: boss blob in here that looks kind of horrifying. Did you see it, Johnny? So it looks like it has, (0:18:56) Codey: it’s like a scorpion’s tail, but it has ram’s horns. It just looks like a, like I was like, (0:19:02) Codey: Like it’s a double blob basically, but then the more you look at it (0:19:06) Codey: the more like as scary as a a blob could be as a little– he is angy, you are right. (0:19:11) Jonnie: He just looks a little angry. (0:19:18) Codey: I guess I’m just like thinking about how it would move and that’s where some of my horror comes from. (0:19:25) Codey: But I’m sure it’s probably adorable in actual movement. There is also the blob paradise which (0:19:32) Codey: which is basically just an agility course and I am here for it. (0:19:36) Codey: I want to see kind of like Westminster version, like blob championships where your blobs run the agility courses as fast as they can and may the fastest blob win. (0:19:51) Codey: I cannot wait to. I’m sure that my dog’s ideal idea of parenthesis and agility course when I was doing training with Stella. (0:19:52) Jonnie: Is your idea of paradise an agility course? (0:20:06) Codey: She had they had an agility course like at the place and she they only had some of the some of the some of the stuff set up though, but she loved it. (0:20:16) Codey: Like the second that she knows that she’s supposed to be like working for something, she is just so engaged and she has so much fun and so I could just see her having the best of times and anything that makes my dog happy makes me happy. (0:20:33) Codey: So yeah, it probably could be considered. (0:20:36) Codey: My paradise they have other small improvements and bug fixes in the point (0:20:44) Codey: eight zero five update and they say that the point nine update will have more (0:20:51) Codey: heart events and another world that is currently redacted in the show note in (0:20:56) Codey: their not show notes but in their roadmap. So have you played this yet? (0:21:04) Jonnie: No, and I don’t think I will (0:21:06) Codey: Okay I every time I see it I’m like oh yeah this game I want to play it and (0:21:06) Jonnie: Isn’t. (0:21:10) Codey: then the world turns and time moves on but because it looks really (0:21:18) Jonnie: Yeah, to me this game sort of like sits in the realm where it kind of feels like it’s, you know, like it’s a bit Pokemon, it’s a bit Stardew Valley, but I’m not sure what it is, you know, because it’s like, yeah, it’s like, I just, to me this game lacks the thing that makes like the thing that gets me excited is when I look at a game and I’m like, (0:21:30) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:21:40) Jonnie: Oh, like I can see what you’re going for here like I can see what is different and like I think the next game that we’ll talk about is (0:21:48) Jonnie: a really good example of of one of those. And this one is kind of just like, I like Pokemon and I like Stardew and his game that’s Pokemon Stardew, which is like, sure, fine, but I can play Pokemon and I can play Stardew. Why do I want to play this? And I’m not sure why I want to play this. (0:22:04) Codey: But it’s poke but it’s Pokemon and Stardew as blobs as little little guys (0:22:10) Jonnie: Yeah, like, I don’t know, cute stuff is like Daimedos in these days. (0:22:15) Codey: I (0:22:17) Codey: There is no end to the amount of dopamine that I need and serotonin that I need in this world right now (0:22:25) Codey: You don’t live in the political climate that I live I (0:22:30) Codey: crave a grave distraction (0:22:32) Codey: Um… (0:22:35) Codey: Yeah, so you said you’re you really interested in this next game (0:22:40) Jonnie: And like actually I’m not, so Alan and I, the next game is Overthrowing, and Alan and (0:22:45) Jonnie: I covered it on the demo episode where Alan played Overthrowing, and I played Luma Island. (0:22:56) Jonnie: And so Overthrowing is the sort of, I call it Minecraft adjacent game where you are basically (0:23:04) Jonnie: throwing stuff. (0:23:05) Jonnie: So you can go and cut down trees, or you can just throw the sawmill at the trees, and that (0:23:10) Jonnie: you can cut down the trees, which is a fun concept. (0:23:13) Jonnie: I think the game looks like it’s like a fun concept, but they kind of ran out of ideas (0:23:18) Jonnie: after that. (0:23:19) Jonnie: But at least they’re very clear about what they are, right? (0:23:21) Jonnie: They are trying to be silly and fun and have weird interactions and all of those sorts (0:23:26) Jonnie: of things. (0:23:27) Jonnie: And to that, they have a relatively big update that is coming on the 30th of January, which (0:23:34) Jonnie: is the livestock update. (0:23:37) Jonnie: introduces a farmable creature. (0:23:40) Jonnie: It’s the Woolly, which I guess is a sheep, it introduces fire and mortars, so it just (0:23:50) Jonnie: gives you fire bombs, and it says they can be used against structures, so I guess it’s (0:23:57) Jonnie: the chaos thing where you can just fire bomb your own buildings. Yes, you can. (0:24:02) Codey: Well, I think it’s up to six. (0:24:05) Codey: You can have up to six people on a server, I think is what it’s going for. (0:24:10) Codey: So you’d firebomb your friends’ buildings. (0:24:10) Jonnie: That makes way more sense. (0:24:17) Codey: That’s part of the fun, in Minecraft also, is watching your friend build this awesome (0:24:22) Codey: thing and then accidentally having a creeper blow it up. (0:24:26) Jonnie: And then there’s some new buildings as well, and most of the new buildings just sound like they’re there to support the fire bombs in the Woolies. (0:24:37) Codey: Yeah. Um, I love that with the Woolies, it says that they have a barn quote for when they are not (0:24:46) Codey: in their gigantic evil mutated forms, cause causing devastating damage to everyone around. (0:24:54) Codey: I just, I love the, the way that the developers talk in this, um, like release or news, um, (0:25:03) Codey: like steam update because it just there they have (0:25:07) Codey: fun with the game and I can tell. Yeah. (0:25:09) Jonnie: Yeah, and like they’ve got such a clear vision for this game like it really comes through even in the communications right and like for me that was the difference between something like overthrow on and. (0:25:20) Codey: Yeah, when I think that like, I loved when I was watching the it just looks ridiculous like when I was watching the thing and I was like they literally just threw a sawmill at the tree. Like, I want to use this sawmill or I want to like have you can either throw the tree at the sawmill or throw the sawmill at the tree and I’m like, what just throw the whole building at it. (0:25:42) Jonnie: Yep. It’s… yeah. (0:25:44) Codey: It’s goofy, but awesome. (0:25:50) Codey: The other, they have some other small things in this update, but they say that the next update in quote unquote spring 2025 we’ll see. It’s called the parks update, and it will add some new plants and new decorations, as well as the mechanism of pollution. (0:26:08) Codey: So excited to out pollute my friends in a video game, not in real life. (0:26:14) Codey: Make sure to recycle kids. And then the last thing that (0:26:20) Codey: we have here is a game called grandpa’s farm. So this is a little different than normal. It’s not a video game. It’s a tabletop role playing game. It’s only $7 USD, which is pretty awesome. (0:26:36) Codey: And I just have some blurbs I was trying to figure out how to summarize it and I was like they just say it on their words on their on their page anyway so I’m just going to read this quote grandpa’s farm is a letter writing role playing game inspired by slow life video games like harvest moon Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. (0:26:50) Codey: In grandpa’s farm you’ve inherited a long neglected farmstead and are about to spend the next four years of your life getting it up and running again. Each turn, you’ll draw from a deck of playing cards and interpret card values to determine the progress made on your farm over the course of a single season. (0:27:06) Codey: With that progress in mind you’ll then chronicle your revitalization efforts by writing a letter to a loved one. (0:27:12) Codey: Optional mechanics are also included that allow you to alter your deck by trading or competing at festivals. Removing cars will make certain kinds of progress. (0:27:20) Codey: It’s more likely and festivals can be role played either alone or with fellow players. (0:27:26) Codey: I think this is a really cool concept. (0:27:30) Codey: I’m also big on games that you can play alone. (0:27:34) Codey: One of the games that I got when I went to Pax Unplugged was a game called Dog Park, where you literally just take dogs to a dog park. (0:27:42) Codey: And one of the reasons I like it so much is because you can play a single player version. It just kind of adds to random NPC characters. (0:27:50) Codey: I like the concept of writing a letter. I think there’s a lot of new stuff happening in this. (0:28:00) Jonnie: Me too. Yeah, I’m a big fan of tabletop games, like particularly like the sort of game which is, (0:28:09) Jonnie: you know, pen and paper based, it’s like very accessible. And like you, I think games that (0:28:17) Jonnie: have a one player mode are really good, particularly in this day and age, where like, (0:28:24) Jonnie: you know, sometimes it’s just hard for calendars to line up and to see people and to have something (0:28:30) Jonnie: to do is great. And I think like you, the idea of writing a letter as sort of the point of the game (0:28:39) Jonnie: is a really cool idea. It’s a really great way to sort of tell the story of what’s happened, (0:28:46) Jonnie: you know, because a lot of these sort of tabletop RPG games, like that’s what you’re doing is (0:28:50) Jonnie: telling a story. And it’s very on theme for, you know, Stardew-like inspired games. (0:29:00) Jonnie: To, you know, kind of capture that story in something like litter. (0:29:05) Codey: Yeah, um, I mean, I’m definitely intrigued and I might get it since it’s so inexpensive. (0:29:12) Codey: Um, I don’t know how we would have podcast upset about it, but I guess I could, like, if we have an (0:29:19) Codey: episode where we just kind of cover a smattering of things, I could mention it in that episode. (0:29:23) Codey: But, um, I am interested, especially it’s only $7. (0:29:29) Codey: They basically just, the $7 gives you access to the PDF, um, of the game. (0:29:35) Codey: Like how to play the game and stuff. (0:29:37) Codey: Um, but that’s just really accessible and I appreciate, um, access to their creativity. (0:29:46) Codey: So pretty cool. (0:29:48) Jonnie: Very cool (0:29:48) Codey: Have you ever played any, do you play TTRPGs much? (0:29:51) Jonnie: I used to I haven’t played so much like the last few years, but yeah, I used I used to play them quite (0:29:55) Codey: Okay. (0:29:58) Codey: Okay. (0:29:59) Codey: I’m getting more into that kind of stuff. (0:30:02) Codey: Um, and Jeff is actually from. (0:30:05) Codey: When we went to packs, he saw this like table, um, like a coffee table (0:30:12) Codey: and a card table, like thing. (0:30:15) Codey: And now he really wants to get one where it’s, it looks like a normal (0:30:19) Codey: like coffee table, for example, but then you can take off like the top level (0:30:23) Codey: of it and there’s a felt table under that for like puzzles or games or something. (0:30:28) Codey: These tables are like two grand, but he’s like, it’ll be worth it. (0:30:31) Codey: Like, okay, whatever. (0:30:32) Jonnie: It will 100% be worth it. Let’s take (0:30:35) Codey: And I think it’s just like, it inspires more of that type of gameplay and stuff. (0:30:41) Codey: And I mean, we want to get more into it. (0:30:43) Codey: It’s just really fun to do together. (0:30:45) Codey: So, uh, yeah, maybe when I, when we get into that, uh, this, this game (0:30:51) Codey: will make its debut in my home. (0:30:55) Codey: So cool. (0:30:56) Codey: Well, that is the news we really did. (0:30:59) Codey: We are, we really are flying through things. (0:31:05) Codey: - We could go slower. (0:31:08) Jonnie: Look, let’s not, you know, berate our listeners by talking about things that we have nothing to say, and just, you know… (0:31:15) Codey: It’s true. (0:31:17) Jonnie: I know we could do that, but let’s not do that to them. (0:31:22) Codey: I’m just in like shocks. (0:31:24) Codey: ‘Cause normally we’re like, (0:31:25) Codey: oh, this will be a fast episode. (0:31:26) Codey: And then we’re like, it’s 1 a.m. (0:31:29) Codey: It’s an over-exaggeration, (0:31:30) Codey: but that’s how it feels sometimes. (0:31:33) Codey: Yeah, so that’s all the news. (0:31:36) Codey: So we’ve come to our main topic, (0:31:38) Codey: which is Animal Crossing Pocket Camp complete. (0:31:40) Codey: So again, just a reminder, (0:31:42) Codey: this is something I have not played, (0:31:44) Codey: but Johnny has been playing. (0:31:46) Jonnie: But you have played, because you’ve played Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. (0:31:50) Codey: I’ve played the, yeah, that version. (0:31:53) Codey: I guess that was one of my questions. (0:31:54) Jonnie: It’s the same game. (0:31:55) Codey: Okay, that was one of my questions for you, (0:31:58) Codey: is what’s the difference? (0:32:00) Codey: Like why, if you’ve played the first one, (0:32:04) Codey: Like the, not the. (0:32:05) Codey: The first one, but if you’ve played the non-complete version, what is there in this that could bring you back or like that’s novel? (0:32:15) Jonnie: Ernie, have you not been listening to the news (0:32:17) Jonnie: on our own show? (0:32:18) Codey: I have, but other people might not have listened to every episode. (0:32:24) Jonnie: Good save, good save. (0:32:27) Codey: We need to, uh, yeah. For people who might not have been listening, cough, cough, totally not me. (0:32:35) Codey: What’s different about this and is it worth it if you’ve played the other but didn’t, haven’t played this? (0:32:41) Jonnie: So they shut down the Animal Crossing pocket camp in December, or maybe it was the end of November last year. (0:32:53) Jonnie: Basically to remove the online functionality, and they have released Pocket Camp Complete as a one-time purchase. (0:33:04) Jonnie: It has all of the stuff in it from the mobile game, so it’s basically just the original version. (0:33:11) Jonnie: The original version, with all of the stuff in offline mode, that’s what the game is. (0:33:19) Jonnie: The answer to the question of “Is it worth it?” First of all, you can transfer your save. (0:33:25) Codey: Okay. That was another question. (0:33:27) Jonnie: You can bring over your old save. Whether or not it’s worth it is “Why did you stop playing? Did you stop playing?” (0:33:33) Jonnie: Because you’ve got sick of the way microtransaction-based games work. In which case, yeah, this is a really good way to come back. (0:33:41) Jonnie: Because there’s no microtransactions. If you stopped playing it because you were bored of the game, then probably not, because it’s just the same game. (0:33:52) Codey: okay is it um is it only on the phones okay um yeah I just wasn’t sure if they’ve like added (0:33:58) Jonnie: I assume so. (0:34:06) Codey: um other ways to play or not (0:34:10) Jonnie: I don’t believe so. And so maybe a good place to start is to talk about what I think and I haven’t I hadn’t played pocket camp in like, many years I played it the year it came out and had not played it since. So some of this might be slightly wrong. (0:34:28) Jonnie: But as I said, there’s only really two main differences in this version to the to the original and the first is in (0:34:40) Jonnie: there’s the the query. And usually to access the query, you had to have friends, and you would talk to those friends and they would help you out at the query and it was very driven by online communication. (0:34:54) Jonnie: The difference now is that you can still have friends, but you have to exchange (0:35:00) Jonnie: QR codes in order to get them in. And once they’re in, they’re in for forever, which is quite nice. And if you (0:35:10) Jonnie: have any other people that are playing the game, the really nice thing is on the website for the game, they have a bunch of QR codes that you can just load in and get plenty of friends that way. (0:35:22) Jonnie: So there is no need to know anyone else that is playing the game. You can literally just get all of the get all of the stuff from Nintendo. But that’s just removing kind of the main online feature from the game. (0:35:37) Jonnie: The second is in sort of like the events. (0:35:40) Jonnie: And I think what they’ve done in Pocket Camp, which makes a ton of sense, is the events are just way easier because they’re not trying to, you know, encourage you to, you know, to spend money on microtransactions to complete stuff. (0:35:57) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:35:59) Jonnie: I find you here, like, for most of the events, you get way too many of the resource like that you need. (0:36:07) Jonnie: So at the moment there’s an event going on where you have to like pick. (0:36:10) Jonnie: They pick up snow globes and they are just a currency for crafting certain furniture items. (0:36:16) Jonnie: And I think like within two days I had enough to craft everything in the event once for like a week. (0:36:22) Jonnie: So I could craft lots of the stuff if I wanted to, which is really nice. (0:36:28) Jonnie: So the events I think are a lot easier than they were in the original game. (0:36:34) Codey: Well that’s also nice that they give you like enough time to be able to get things done because (0:36:41) Codey: kind of going back to our earlier conversation like if you are only able to like check in for (0:36:48) Codey: a day or two of the week because your week is really busy or you have a life or it’s summer, (0:36:59) Codey: being able to just kind of play at a minimal level but still (0:37:03) Codey: not feel like you’re missing any. (0:37:04) Codey: Anything is really beneficial. (0:37:06) Codey: Oh, okay. (0:37:06) Jonnie: Yeah, I don’t know. This game is that good in that regard because the core gameplay loop is still the same (0:37:14) Jonnie: And maybe we should just cover that very briefly because people may have forgotten (0:37:19) Jonnie: But but essentially the game works on what I would say a three-hour timer where every three hours (0:37:25) Jonnie: New villages show up at the various regions around the game. There are four regions (0:37:32) Jonnie: and an Animal Crossing style. Each of the retunes has a different resource. There’s one that (0:37:36) Jonnie: has fruit, one that has river fish, one that has ocean fish, and one that has bugs. Those (0:37:42) Jonnie: villagers ask for some combination of those things in order to fulfill requests, and it makes them (0:37:49) Jonnie: like you more. And then liking you more gives you crafting materials for furniture. It also enables (0:37:58) Jonnie: you to invite them to your campsite, which is a fifth location where you can kind of design and (0:38:03) Jonnie: place your furniture. (0:38:06) Jonnie: And there are special missions like each villager has its own unique piece of furniture and if you get the friendship level high enough, they’ll teach you to make it and then ask you to craft one for them. (0:38:21) Jonnie: And so there’s a lot of stuff in this game that is driven by timers and so it does have more of a (0:38:30) Jonnie: “Oh I need to check in because I don’t want to miss out on that” where I want to get the literature level up. (0:38:37) Jonnie: Or my furniture has finished crafting because that’s also on timers or there’s there’s daily missions. (0:38:44) Jonnie: So there is a lot more stuff to do on this game on a regular cadence and I still find it a little bit to play. (0:38:54) Codey: Okay, womp womp, I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt. (0:38:58) Jonnie: No, I mean it’s like at its core it’s still the same mobile game that it was and it was very (0:39:04) Jonnie: clearly a bit of behaviour that I’m trying to drive and it’s still very much there. It’s just (0:39:10) Jonnie: for things that I think were more microtransaction heavy. They are now, they’ve just made those (0:39:17) Jonnie: things more generous I guess, which makes sense because you can’t buy your way out of that anymore (0:39:22) Codey: Yeah, well, but that’s also nice that because I feel like, especially if you do have that, (0:39:35) Codey: if they still have that like FOMO, like you got to get things, make sure you don’t miss (0:39:40) Codey: a certain thing or whatever, like that is gonna make people want to just spend money. (0:39:47) Codey: And that’s not, I mean, it’s a great business strategy, but it doesn’t. (0:39:52) Codey: make a good game, like it makes it, you can make it really stressful to play a game. (0:39:57) Codey: So in my opinion. (0:40:01) Codey: Um, okay. (0:40:03) Codey: So the questions that I had, uh, how is it different? (0:40:07) Codey: Answered. (0:40:08) Codey: Can you bring over your old safe answered? (0:40:10) Codey: Um, do you have to pay? (0:40:12) Codey: You said, yes. (0:40:13) Codey: What is it? (0:40:14) Codey: How much does it cost? (0:40:15) Jonnie: So I know it was first coming out, and I can’t remember when it ends, but it was (0:40:22) Jonnie: $10 when it initially came out, and then if you waited too long it was $20. And I can’t remember (0:40:29) Jonnie: if it changed to $20 at the start of 2025, or if you had until the end of January. It was one of (0:40:36) Jonnie: those two, but now I cannot have to try and look that up and find out. Yeah. (0:40:42) Codey: So it’s on the phone, right? (0:40:45) Codey: Let me look it up. (0:40:46) Codey: And if it is still money, or I guess it’ll tell me how much money it is. (0:40:52) Codey: Animal Crossing. (0:40:54) Codey: It is $9.99 still. (0:40:56) Jonnie: I feel like that runs out. Oh, when does this episode come out? If you’re listening to this (0:41:02) Jonnie: episode, when it comes out and you are interested in playing Animal Crossing Boca Camp, like, (0:41:08) Jonnie: go and buy it immediately, otherwise you will have to pay the idiot tax of an additional $10 (0:41:15) Codey: literally just going to do it now, even if I don’t necessarily want to play right now. (0:41:21) Codey: I feel like I’m going to want to play eventually, so purchased. (0:41:24) Jonnie: And that’s exactly the like if you think that this is a thing that you will play at some point like by it now (0:41:31) Codey: Yeah (0:41:33) Codey: done (0:41:35) Codey: So we must friend each other so that we can can you give stuff to people other people or is it just a solo game now (0:41:41) Jonnie: It’s just a solo game, but we can still exchange the Friend QR code, (0:41:46) Jonnie: so you can see me at Windy Pass and ask if I want to help you in the query. (0:41:51) Jonnie: But there is no online communication aspect to this game anymore. (0:41:56) Codey: » Okay. Cool. (0:42:00) Jonnie: So now that the game’s out, the main thing to do, I guess, (0:42:04) Jonnie: is to try and collect everything, right? (0:42:07) Jonnie: You kind of get a sense for how much stuff is. (0:42:11) Jonnie: This is in this game, because it was out for a very long time. (0:42:16) Jonnie: And sorry, I’ve got it open. I’m just trying to navigate to the right screen. (0:42:19) Jonnie: There’s like a screen where you’ve got all of the, they call it the complete item catalog. (0:42:24) Jonnie: So one of the new currencies they added was a complete ticket. (0:42:27) Jonnie: And you can just exchange that one of those tickets for a piece of like sort of specialty furniture. (0:42:37) Jonnie: And there is a long list of all of the different categories. (0:42:41) Jonnie: And there’s one that I was looking for because the whole time I’ve been talking, I’ve been scrolling down this list of stuff. (0:42:50) Codey: Oh, no. (0:42:51) Jonnie: And when I say scrolling down the list, this is not the list of furniture. (0:42:56) Jonnie: This is the list of categories of furniture to go into. (0:42:58) Codey: Oh my gosh! (0:43:01) Jonnie: So I don’t know exactly how many items of furniture there are. (0:43:06) Jonnie: like most of these things that I’m scrolling past have probably about 10, like… (0:43:11) Jonnie: There was one that was 620 items. There was one that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen somewhere. (0:43:23) Jonnie: It’s over a thousand. So there is a lot of furniture too. Oh yeah, there’s the (0:43:28) Jonnie: preview and collection which is almost 2,000 items of furniture. Now you can acquire most of this (0:43:36) Jonnie: through other methods. So a lot of it’s timed. (0:43:41) Jonnie: A lot of it’s the event furniture, right? So you will get it as you sort of do events and progress (0:43:50) Jonnie: through the game. But just as sort of an idea of how much there is to collect, (0:43:57) Jonnie: that’s from the seasonal events. And then you’ve got fortune cookies, which is (0:44:02) Jonnie: an entirely separate set of huge amounts of furniture to collect. So it’s just a huge, (0:44:09) Jonnie: Huge, huge, huge, huge. (0:44:11) Jonnie: Huge, huge collectathon. That’s what this game is. (0:44:13) Codey: Uh, I mean, are they going to be adding new stuff to it or is it like, this is it now? (0:44:18) Jonnie: No, no, no, no, no. This is the we’re done with the game. We’re shutting down the servers. (0:44:20) Codey: Okay. (0:44:24) Jonnie: Here’s the full game. Play it, don’t play it, whatever. Like, for me, this is like, I think (0:44:29) Jonnie: Alan, I talked about this before, but this is a really good way to wrap up a mobile game, right? (0:44:34) Jonnie: Where it’s like, if you still love this game, here is the way, here is a nice way to access all of (0:44:39) Jonnie: the content when I’m… (0:44:41) Jonnie: adding anything more. It’s super clear. This is the game. It is what it is. Go for it. (0:44:45) Codey: Yeah, I like that actually, and it can just kind of join all the other Animal Crossing (0:44:53) Codey: games in the bin, not the bin, but in the recesses of some storage somewhere for me, (0:45:00) Codey: but we’ll see if I play it. (0:45:00) Jonnie: I believe they said when they brought this out that the game is on a four-year cycle. (0:45:08) Jonnie: If you start playing this game and you want to try and get everything, I imagine you would (0:45:18) Jonnie: be able to get everything before four years because of the way the currencies are designed. (0:45:24) Jonnie: But if you were going to get everything, let’s say naturally, through playing the events (0:45:27) Codey: Yeah, well worth 10 bucks. (0:45:29) Jonnie: and doing everything like that I believe (0:45:30) Jonnie: it would take you four years (0:45:34) Jonnie: yes um maybe I’ll just talk a little bit about sort of the (0:45:38) Jonnie: events because like so so we talked about the core gameplay loop which is (0:45:42) Jonnie: about giving (0:45:45) Jonnie: fulfilling villager requests um so I’ve played for two months now and it seems (0:45:49) Jonnie: like the events follow the same cycle month to month which I (0:45:54) Jonnie: will admit is a bit disappointing and I’ll get the (0:45:57) Jonnie: order slightly wrong but but for all the speaking there is a (0:46:01) Jonnie: flower growing event where you grow flowers the flowers attract a (0:46:04) Jonnie: specialty bug you catch the bugs and you get rewards for (0:46:08) Jonnie: catching the bugs um so that was about flower growing (0:46:12) Jonnie: there is an event that’s about uh fishing in the sea (0:46:16) Jonnie: so uh special fish show up in the sea they sparkle they refresh every three (0:46:22) Jonnie: hours you catch them um and then you give them (0:46:25) Jonnie: to uh chip is that is that what that guy’s (0:46:29) Jonnie: names. Anyway. (0:46:30) Jonnie: You give it to the beaver that likes fish. And you get rewards for doing that. There (0:46:36) Jonnie: is a bug event where a special bug shows up on the bug island, you catch them. And again, (0:46:43) Jonnie: you get rewards for that. There’s like some sort of, you know, an item is dropping on (0:46:49) Jonnie: the ground where you run around and pick them up. And you can use those to craft a piece (0:46:56) Jonnie: of furniture and I feel like there was a fourth event - oh! (0:47:00) Jonnie: But the last event is there’s the, so one of the spaces is like a home designer (0:47:07) Jonnie: minigame where you, you know, someone will have a partially completed room and you have to finish (0:47:13) Jonnie: the room so each month there will be a certain number of specialty rooms that you can do and (0:47:20) Jonnie: I think that rewards you mostly with, you know, some of the rare crafting resources that you need (0:47:24) Jonnie: for something else and I kind of wish there was more variation to the events because like… (0:47:31) Jonnie: doing it month one I was like oh these are cool like these were you know interesting events you (0:47:34) Jonnie: know mixed up the the core gameplay enough and then once I worked out that month two was basically (0:47:39) Jonnie: the same events on the same loop I was like oh like this is this is this is all of a sudden become (0:47:44) Jonnie: a lot less interesting and I feel like I’m probably going to bounce off this pretty (0:47:45) Codey: Yeah (0:47:49) Codey: Yeah (0:47:51) Codey: But is it’s compelling enough to try and stick it out at least to (0:47:56) Codey: begin the process of (0:47:58) Codey: like (0:48:00) Codey: Completing your your desk your decks not decks, but I guess it is your decks your your furniture decks or whatever like (0:48:07) Jonnie: Yeah, like, I don’t think so. And I think the reason for that is there’s too much, (0:48:08) Codey: Are you gonna keep playing it still? Oh (0:48:10) Codey: Oh. (0:48:16) Jonnie: right? Like, it’s so much to complete that completing it actually does not feel like (0:48:23) Jonnie: something that I want to do. It’s like, and they’re very generous with the currencies (0:48:24) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:48:29) Jonnie: in this game. Like, I feel like completing it would be possible. It just takes a lot of time (0:48:38) Jonnie: and I don’t know that I really want to spend that much time playing this game. I feel like it might (0:48:44) Jonnie: be the sort of thing where like, I’ll get a bitch every couple of months and maybe jump in and play (0:48:48) Jonnie: for a month and sort of complete what there is that month. And so maybe over the course of 20 (0:48:53) Jonnie: years, I will finish this game. But do I want to have it as something that I play daily? I honestly (0:49:00) Jonnie: do not think that I do. Like, it was really fun for the first month. And I think in particular, (0:49:06) Jonnie: the first month. It’s fun. (0:49:07) Jonnie: because you’re meeting tons of new villages, you’re leveling up really quickly. You’re just (0:49:14) Jonnie: kind of unlocking tons of stuff and that feels really good. And then once you kind of come out (0:49:21) Jonnie: of that and into, okay, this is what the loop is going to be for the next year or so, I think (0:49:27) Jonnie: that’s when I’ve sort of bounced off. So when you start up, Isabel has sort of like a series of (0:49:33) Jonnie: missions to kind of guide you on the sort of things you should be doing. I think they’ve really (0:49:37) Jonnie: well-structured as an onboarding mechanic because it forces you to interact with all of (0:49:42) Jonnie: the different bits and like at the start when you’re sort of learning stuff and quite overwhelmed, (0:49:48) Jonnie: you know, like there were certain things that I didn’t really focus on and it’s because like (0:49:52) Jonnie: actually you don’t need to focus on them until a little bit later. And now that I’ve seen all (0:49:58) Jonnie: of that stuff and I’ve completed all of her missions, I’m just like I think I now that I (0:50:04) Jonnie: understand what this game is and how it works and there are (0:50:08) Jonnie: I’m not sure that I want to put in the time. The one thing I (0:50:15) Jonnie: will say is, I feel like decorating your camp is way (0:50:22) Jonnie: cooler than I expected it to be. So, you know, you decorate your (0:50:27) Jonnie: camp and put down items, but a lot of the items because like, (0:50:31) Jonnie: I find that like, what I’ve done is like, you know, last month (0:50:34) Jonnie: was a lot of Christmasy items, so I’ll put down those items. (0:50:37) Jonnie: This month is very focused on the Lunar New Year. So a lot of (0:50:41) Jonnie: items that are reflective of that. And when you put down a (0:50:45) Jonnie: lot of like the cool big items, the villagers that are visiting (0:50:48) Jonnie: your camp like can interact with them. So one of the things (0:50:52) Jonnie: that I have in my camp at the moment is a dragon, kind of like (0:50:58) Jonnie: the traditional Chinese dragon costume, like sort of style that (0:51:02) Jonnie: you would see, and the villagers will sit on it. Is that culturally (0:51:02) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:51:04) Codey: Thank you. (0:51:07) Jonnie: I don’t know, but they’re at least interacting with the (0:51:09) Jonnie: furniture that that you’re putting down, not just sort of (0:51:12) Jonnie: awkwardly standing next to it, which is a really, really cool (0:51:17) Jonnie: thing to see and it makes it more fun to sort of visit the (0:51:19) Jonnie: camp and see who’s visiting. (0:51:20) Codey: Yeah. I agree. Like interaction is important with like different pieces of the landscape (0:51:28) Codey: that you put down and stuff. I think that was one of the, my favorite things of the initial ones (0:51:35) Codey: was having people come over to your house and then see them like sit in chairs and stuff. (0:51:42) Codey: I remember like trying to lure Blue Bear to a chair because I just want, I thought she’d be (0:51:48) Codey: That would be so cute, sitting in this one chair. (0:51:51) Codey: I wanted to see it, and she just kept looking at me like, (0:51:55) Codey: can you leave me alone, please? (0:51:57) Codey: Please just sit in the chair. (0:52:01) Codey: Are all of the villagers from all of the games in this game? (0:52:04) Jonnie: I’m going to say there are so many villages in this game, it’s crazy. (0:52:11) Jonnie: I think there’s 360 different villages. (0:52:18) Jonnie: Even collecting all of them is an ordeal. (0:52:24) Jonnie: To get all the furniture, you need to first of all get all the villages and then you need (0:52:27) Jonnie: to get them all to whatever level they need to be at in order to share with you their (0:52:35) Jonnie: secret bit of furniture. (0:52:38) Jonnie: There is a lot to unlock, you’ll never be wanting for stuff to do in this game. (0:52:46) Codey: Good worth the money then even if even if you’re not gonna even if you might fall off (0:52:46) Jonnie: There is so much. (0:52:54) Codey: every now and then like it’s and I feel like that’s how Animal Crossing is like to me it’s (0:52:59) Codey: a spring game I always played it in the spring it was just always something that springtime (0:53:06) Codey: would come and I’d be like it&

Al and Codey interview Jordan, the developer of Rusty's Retirement Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:43: What Have We Been Up To 00:17:26: Game News 00:40:24: Rusty’s Retirement Interview 01:22:47: Outro Links Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Trailer Harvest Hills Release Mika and the Witch’s Mountain Exiting EA Galactic Getaway EA Release Usagi Shima “Chinese New Year” Update Chill Town Roadmap Fields of Mistria Roadmap Webfishing Cat Plush Animal Crossing Aquarium UK Tour Rusty’s Retirement on Steam Rusty’s Retirement Links Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. (0:00:36) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:38) Codey: and I am Cody. (0:00:40) Al: And we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore Games. (0:00:44) Codey: Woo. (0:00:45) Codey: Whoooo! (0:00:46) Al: This episode, we have a very exciting thing. (0:00:49) Al: It’s not often we get an interview, but the first interview of the year this year (0:00:53) Al: is with the developer of 2024’s The Harvest Season game of the year. (0:01:01) Al: Rusty Retirement, Jordan, the developer of Rusty Retirement, (0:01:05) Al: will be joining us later in the episode to talk about the game and many other things. (0:01:12) Codey: Yeah, we talk, we kind of talk about a couple things. (0:01:12) Al: So we talk about stuff, it is, it is mentioned, and some super exciting secret stuff. (0:01:16) Codey: The game is mentioned though. (0:01:18) Codey: Yeah, it is talked about, which will be revealed in this episode. (0:01:27) Al: Yeah. (0:01:31) Al: So if you’re here just to listen to that, you can see the time in the show notes, (0:01:35) Al: or you can click on the chapter in your podcast episode. (0:01:38) Al: But please do stay around as we talk about the news for this week. (0:01:43) Al: And also, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:01:46) Codey: I have been playing Slay the Spire. (0:01:52) Codey: I haven’t been playing it nearly as much, (0:01:54) Codey: but I did finally beat all of the characters (0:02:00) Codey: and beat like the end game once you– (0:02:04) Codey: and like got credits. (0:02:06) Codey: But it doesn’t really ever end, really. (0:02:08) Codey: You just keep playing. (0:02:10) Codey: But it’s fun. (0:02:12) Codey: doing that, doing more PhD studies. (0:02:16) Codey: It’s like starting to hit me now that like, cause I was talking to my advisor (0:02:20) Codey: and he was like, yeah, so if you’re going to defend in or graduate in December, (0:02:24) Codey: you have to defend in October, which means you should have your data done by (0:02:28) Codey: July. And like, I was just like, Oh, oh gosh, it’s all coming up so fast. (0:02:35) Codey: So yeah, it’s starting to hit. (0:02:38) Codey: Um, and also clearly Rusty’s retirement played a hot minute of that by you. (0:02:38) Al: Fair enough, obviously. (0:02:44) Al: Nice. I think last episode I talked about playing Legends Arceus for the second time, (0:02:51) Al: gone through and caught most of the Pokémon, I was nearly done. I have now finished that, (0:02:56) Al: so that’s that’s done. I’ve got my full Pokémon home decks, got the crown on Pokémon home for (0:03:03) Al: for that. And then I decided to do go from (0:03:08) Al: the best Pokemon game to the worst Pokemon game. And I am now playing Brilliant Diamond (0:03:13) Al: and Shining Pearl again. So it hasn’t, I already, I had a save. I had done a Professor Oak challenge. (0:03:24) Al: So I still had that. However, I didn’t finish, I didn’t keep everything. So there was a bunch (0:03:30) Al: of Pokemon I need to catch and breed and stuff, but it wasn’t too hard, except I am now, I (0:03:36) Al: I now need– (0:03:38) Al: Well, two Pokémon lines, one of which is just a version exclusive, (0:03:44) Al: so I’ve been playing through the other game, Pearl, to get that one. (0:03:47) Al: And I’ve almost got it. I’m almost there. (0:03:49) Al: The other one I need is Palkia, so I do need to finish Pearl till the end. (0:03:54) Al: So I do need to play through that game all the way to the end (0:03:58) Al: and get Palkia and be finished with that. (0:04:00) Codey: I’m sorry. That sounds awful (0:04:03) Al: I do– I feel like I don’t know. (0:04:05) Al: I didn’t, I don’t feel like I hate. (0:04:08) Al: the games when I was playing them, but maybe that rose tinted glasses. (0:04:11) Al: Maybe I did when I was playing it, but they are not great. (0:04:13) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:04:19) Al: I do not miss random encounters in the grass. (0:04:23) Al: I mean, that in and of itself, like I don’t, I don’t want that to ever come back. (0:04:28) Al: I know some people like it. (0:04:29) Al: Whatever. (0:04:29) Al: I don’t, please don’t, please don’t bring it back, please. (0:04:35) Al: and obviously just the thing that annoys me. (0:04:38) Al: most about Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is the stickiness. Like if you walk next to a wall (0:04:48) Al: you slow down. I just hate that so much because it’s like especially if you’re going through a (0:04:53) Al: cave and it’s like you happen to brush against a rock and suddenly you’re going at snail space. (0:04:59) Al: It’s just I really hate it. I do hate it so much and I feel like those games could have been a lot (0:05:05) Al: a lot better if there’s just been like a few decisions made. (0:05:08) Al: I could have dealt with the fact that it was random encounters in the grass right, (0:05:12) Al: like I would have preferred if they’d done something like Let’s Go right like I think (0:05:12) Codey: Yeah. (0:05:16) Al: Let’s Go is one of my favorite games. So if they’d done something like that I would have (0:05:21) Al: been much preferred it but I can understand why they would want to do like let’s keep let’s bring (0:05:26) Al: back the random encounters because that’s what these games were fine but it’s just all the other (0:05:32) Al: decisions that were made. Yeah, not fun. So (0:05:34) Codey: Yeah, I think that was like why I didn’t get them because if I wanted to play Diamond or Pearl, I would play it first like they didn’t change enough to me to make it worth it. (0:05:46) Al: Yeah, are we past the point now where you can just remake a game? Like, red and blue, (0:06:00) Al: when they were remade into Fire Red and Leaf Cream, I think that needed to happen, right? (0:06:05) Al: To make those games fun. Because those games were so, like, they were obviously really (0:06:10) Al: complicated and difficult for what they were at the time, and they were running on like (0:06:14) Al: of shoes. (0:06:16) Al: The company nearly folded multiple times before they got those games out. (0:06:20) Al: And so I think it makes absolute sense to redo those. (0:06:23) Al: I think HeartGold and SoulSilver, whether you like those games or not, I think did a (0:06:28) Al: lot to those games and made them better in a lot of ways. (0:06:33) Al: I personally really like what they did with Oras. (0:06:36) Al: I liked how they did that in the 3D style. (0:06:43) Al: And then let’s score, I think is. (0:06:46) Al: One of their best, I think it’s their best remake full stop. (0:06:48) Al: I think it’s amazing what they did with it. (0:06:50) Al: They took what was the original games and made it different. (0:06:54) Al: I really like that. (0:06:57) Al: And even if they’d done Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as Platinum, (0:07:01) Al: I still feel like people would have been like, “But why?” (0:07:04) Al: Right? Because you can use it. (0:07:05) Al: Like a DS is not, DS games don’t feel old, like Game Boy games feel old. (0:07:12) Al: And yeah, some people would prefer to play a Game Boy game (0:07:16) Al: and remake of a Game Boy game. (0:07:17) Al: But a lot of people wouldn’t. (0:07:18) Al: A lot of people would prefer to play a newer game. (0:07:20) Al: But I feel like if you’re looking for a 2D Pokémon game, (0:07:24) Al: go play a 2D Pokémon game. (0:07:26) Al: I don’t think just remaking them as what they are makes sense anymore. (0:07:30) Codey: Yeah, I agree. I don’t think that that’s exciting enough to merit people dropping down another $60 or $50 or however much these games cost nowadays. (0:07:44) Al: or 120, if you buy them both, which obviously I would never do. You’d never find me doing that. (0:07:46) Codey: Yeah. No, of course not. No. Yeah, so I don’t… I think that it does a disservice to them to… (0:08:00) Codey: Not try and improve the games with the quality of life features that the fandom clearly needs or at the minimum, like have them be like a setting you can toggle or something. (0:08:14) Codey: So if people want to play the game on hard mode, they can. (0:08:18) Codey: Yeah. (0:08:18) Al: Let’s not get into the debate of hard mode. (0:08:22) Al: Yeah, I think, yeah, I just, it’s not even like Brilliant Diamond and Chime Pearl brought (0:08:30) Al: it up to the best or the most modern 2D games, right? (0:08:34) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:08:34) Al: Like the graphics were better, right? (0:08:37) Al: In my opinion, I know a lot of people didn’t like how it looked, but that’s fine. (0:08:40) Al: If you don’t like how it looked, that’s fine, but it is like more modern looking. (0:08:44) Al: It’s cleaner graphics, et cetera, et cetera, right? (0:08:48) Al: No, it’s not, it didn’t have as many quality of life improvements as even Gen 5 did, one (0:08:54) Codey: Mm hmm. Yeah. (0:08:55) Al: generation later, right? (0:08:58) Al: And so what are you doing if you’re not even going to improve it in that way, right? (0:09:04) Al: And that’s ignoring the stuff that they ignored that they had improved in Platinum. (0:09:09) Al: A Gen 4 game that came out two years later, right? (0:09:14) Al: Like if you’re going to ignore all of those improvements that you have made over the years (0:09:19) Al: don’t bother, but anyway, so yeah, I think I enjoyed the Professor Oak challenge because (0:09:20) Codey: Yeah (0:09:23) Codey: Hard agree (0:09:27) Al: it was very different compared to other ones, like having the grand underground, I think, (0:09:33) Al: was made that more interesting, but anyway, most people don’t care about that sort of (0:09:40) Al: stuff. (0:09:41) Al: So yeah, I’ve been playing through that and I’ll get there eventually. (0:09:44) Al: I’ve taken a break today to do some shiny hunting in Scarlet and Violet. (0:09:48) Al: But once I’ve done this, once I’ve caught Palkia, (0:09:52) Al: the only ones I’ll have left to do are, I don’t have a, (0:09:57) Al: because I’ve been for listeners who are, for new listeners or people who aren’t aware, (0:10:01) Al: I lost almost all of my Pokemon saves two years ago on my Switch. (0:10:05) Al: And I’ve recreated most of them now. (0:10:07) Al: So I have the only one, the only one I say I didn’t lose was my sword, (0:10:14) Al: Pokemon sword, because that was on a different Switch. (0:10:16) Al: because I was running two games at the same time. (0:10:18) Al: And I didn’t really like having to close a game and reopen it. (0:10:22) Al: So I just had two switches running the two games. (0:10:25) Al: So because of that, I managed to keep my sword. (0:10:29) Al: But other than that, I lost everything else. (0:10:31) Al: So all I’ve got left I don’t have is Let’s Go Pikachu and Shield. (0:10:39) Al: I think I have everything else because I’ve got Scarlet and Violet. (0:10:41) Al: I’ve got Legends Arceus. (0:10:44) Al: I’ve got Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl now. (0:10:47) Al: and I’ve got Let’s Go Eevee. (0:10:48) Al: And I’ve obviously got my original sword. (0:10:50) Al: So I think I’ve just got Let’s Go Pikachu to do and sword. (0:10:55) Al: And I will probably, I think I’ll probably do with Let’s Go Pikachu (0:10:58) Al: like I’m doing with Palkia and I’ll just kind of like rush through it (0:11:01) Al: and get it finished and then do the last couple of Pokémon (0:11:03) Al: that I need for the crown on Pokémon Home for those games. (0:11:06) Al: And then I think I will probably at some point, (0:11:11) Al: certainly not before the next Pokémon games that comes out, (0:11:14) Al: maybe at the end of the year or something, (0:11:17) Al: I will probably (0:11:18) Al: do a Professor Oak Challenge in Shield and get that done that way and finish up that (0:11:24) Al: dicks like that. Because that’s the only set of games on the Switch that I haven’t done (0:11:33) Al: a Professor Oak Challenge in because I started it for brilliant time in Shining Pearl. What a game (0:11:40) Al: to start that on. And then I went back and did Let’s Go Pikachu, but I didn’t go back and do (0:11:49) Al: Shield. No, I didn’t go back and do Pikachu because I already had a Pikachu save, (0:11:54) Al: but then I’d lost it, so I did Eevee. Anyway, doesn’t matter. Point is, I suspect by the middle (0:12:03) Al: of February, I will only have one Pokémon game not finished and that’ll be Shield and (0:12:12) Al: that’ll be the only Pokédex I don’t have finished on home as well. But I’ll get to that eventually. (0:12:16) Al: There’s no rush. (0:12:17) Codey: So, so I have a question. (0:12:19) Al: Yes, go for it. Yes, my secret is I don’t work. (0:12:20) Codey: Do you sleep? (0:12:23) Codey: I don’t believe you. (0:12:27) Codey: Oh, that worked. (0:12:28) Codey: That’s, that’s fair. (0:12:30) Al: Or if you are my employer, please don’t listen to this. The secret is that obviously the ADHD (0:12:35) Codey: Yeah. (0:12:38) Al: allows me to do like a week’s worth in like a day. And then I spend the rest of the time feeling (0:12:41) Codey: Yep. (0:12:43) Al: guilty that I’m not doing anything because my brain can’t, but it then distracts me. (0:12:45) Codey: Yep. (0:12:47) Codey: Yep, that’s where I am, too. (0:12:52) Codey: But that is part of working with neurodivergence. (0:12:59) Codey: So yeah, that’s actually, I’m doing a conference in November, and (0:12:59) Al: Yeah, weeeeeeee. (0:13:04) Codey: I’m going to try and have a symposium in that conference for, (0:13:08) Codey: it’s an entomology conference. (0:13:10) Codey: I want a symposium specifically on neurodivergence and why, and (0:13:14) Codey: and how to accommodate for… (0:13:17) Codey: people that work in your in your area or group or whatever university (0:13:22) Codey: accommodate for students and faculty that have neurodivergences versus like (0:13:27) Codey: just trying to make them conform because that is very left hand of left hand right (0:13:35) Codey: hand of people so that’s what we’ve been up to oh my gosh he doesn’t sleep you (0:13:38) Al: Oh, oh, wait, no, I’m not finished yet. (0:13:43) Al: I’ve been playing Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home. (0:13:45) Codey: guys I don’t believe it (0:13:47) Al: I’ve not been doing this very much, (0:13:49) Al: because I’ve just been doing like a day or two every day, (0:13:54) Al: which only takes like five or 10 minutes. (0:13:56) Al: But I’m trying to play these games like some people play (0:13:58) Al: them and just playing a little bit every day. (0:14:00) Al: And it’s been so much better with the controller support. (0:14:02) Al: I can actually play it now. (0:14:04) Codey: But can you save it the right way? (0:14:06) Codey: Bye. (0:14:08) Al: It doesn’t seem to work properly in so much as it saves fine, (0:14:12) Al: and it seems to be saving fine. (0:14:14) Al: And it seems like it loads when I go on. (0:14:16) Al: So I’m using it on my iPad, and I play it on my iPad, (0:14:19) Al: and it all seems to work. (0:14:20) Al: And I close the app, and I open up, and it all works fine. (0:14:22) Al: And then I go on to my Mac, and I open it up, and it says, (0:14:25) Al: oh, you’ve got new data. (0:14:26) Al: Do you want to download this? (0:14:27) Al: You go, yes, I’ll take the new data. (0:14:29) Al: And it shows the right thing on there. (0:14:31) Al: It says I’m at spring 23, year one, (0:14:34) Al: and I’ve got this much money, blah, blah, blah. (0:14:36) Al: And then you click on it, and then you actually (0:14:38) Al: get the game, and you’re back on spring one, (0:14:41) Al: and you have nothing. (0:14:42) Al: And the best thing about it is the save (0:14:44) Al: is completely mucked up in so much as there are no people. (0:14:46) Codey: Mm hmm. That sounds lovely, actually. (0:14:48) Al: People don’t exist in the game. (0:14:50) Al: There are no NPCs, and there’s nothing you can do. (0:14:53) Al: You just walk around and do nothing. (0:14:56) Al: It’s– it’s an autistic paradise. (0:15:02) Codey: That’s my kind of farming. (0:15:05) Al: Um. (0:15:06) Codey: Just give me give me all the tasks to do without the social interaction. (0:15:14) Al: So yeah, I can still only play on my iPad, (0:15:17) Al: which I do want the cloud save, (0:15:19) Al: and that would probably, (0:15:20) Al: I’d probably play it more if I had the cloud save, (0:15:22) Al: but the controller support means (0:15:24) Al: that I’m actually playing it. (0:15:26) Al: So, yeah. (0:15:29) Al: So that’s why I’ve been up to, (0:15:30) Al: I’ve also been thinking about the Switch 2. (0:15:32) Al: I don’t know if you’ve been thinking (0:15:33) Al: about the Switch 2 at all. (0:15:34) Codey: Nope. I don’t play my Switch that often, like at all. I know that I am going to play it. (0:15:35) Al: No, that’s fine. (0:15:37) Al: I’m excited for the Switch too. (0:15:38) Al: Hmm. (0:15:44) Codey: I’m going to play the Zelda games eventually, right? And then I enjoy having it for if I (0:15:50) Codey: want to play anything, but Xbox Game Pass has all I really need right now. And no, no, (0:15:57) Al: did you get did you get us a steam decadent Oh sad come on Jeff by the (0:16:03) Codey: I did not. (0:16:04) Codey: I am unloved no we yeah he was like still deciding if he wanted to do it or not he (0:16:13) Codey: actually did just get a raise so yeah maybe I’ll like walk by his phone and do that whole (0:16:16) Al: There you go. Perfect. (0:16:22) Codey: like steam deck like whisper into his phone so that his algorithm will start picking up (0:16:27) Codey: like ads first yeah. (0:16:28) Al: or we can get your is is it your neighbor Micah is it Micah can go in when Jeff moves (0:16:34) Al: in and get Micah to go and talk to him hint are you listening Micah you can we can we (0:16:35) Codey: Uh-huh does Micah have one I can’t remember I don’t know but yeah no my neighbor I’m wondering (0:16:46) Al: confusing Micah’s again I have no idea I don’t think that’s relevant to whether or not he (0:16:50) Codey: if he has a steam deck yeah oh true true true true yeah Micah when we have like a Jeff moved (0:16:55) Al: can convince Jeff to buy U.S.D. (0:17:03) Codey: and party. (0:17:04) Al: Yeah. Yeah, I heard it. I heard it on the podcast. (0:17:04) Codey: Um, you should be like, man, Cody really like was excited about (0:17:08) Codey: possibly because Jeff doesn’t, because Jeff does not listen to this. (0:17:15) Al: I guessed, I guessed. (0:17:18) Codey: Yeah, for sure. (0:17:19) Al: All right. Well, I’m excited about the switch too. And I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about it in (0:17:23) Al: the future, even though they’ve not really said anything yet. But all right, should we talk about (0:17:28) Al: the news? First up, we have Rune Factory Guardian. (0:17:29) Codey: Sure. (0:17:34) Al: So, first of all, they’ve announced that it’s coming out on the 30th of May. (0:17:39) Codey: Woo. (0:17:40) Codey: Something. (0:17:44) Al: So, there we go. That’s the thing. They’ve given a bunch of information on the new features. (0:17:52) Al: So, it has a village building thing, which is, I think, quite cool. In the trailer, (0:17:58) Al: you see them placing buildings and stuff and that. (0:18:04) Al: That’s cool. I quite like that idea because I get all the previous Rune Factory games have been like, (0:18:09) Al: “Here is an existing village. Go and interact with it.” Whereas this seems to be like you’re (0:18:14) Al: building up a village from small as you do the rest of things as well, which is a fun addition. (0:18:20) Codey: Yeah, I got the vibe that you’re like going through an area that has been like devastated and you’re helping to like rebuild (0:18:28) Al: Yeah, but that’s cool. Because if the whole point of Rune Factory is, it’s what if farming (0:18:38) Al: game plus adventure, I feel like adding in Village Building to that is a good logical (0:18:45) Al: continuation of that. (0:18:46) Codey: Yeah, going elsewhere, spreading your farming knowledge to the masses. (0:18:52) Al: The rest of it seems pretty similar to previous Rune Factory games, your combat and stuff (0:18:59) Al: like that. (0:19:00) Al: There maybe seem to be a bit more in terms of what’s the word I’m looking for, the movement. (0:19:06) Al: You seem to be able to glide on wind and stuff like that that I haven’t experienced in the (0:19:12) Al: previous games, which is a fun addition, making it more Breath of the Wildy, I guess. (0:19:19) Al: And there’s also 16 romanceables in this game. (0:19:22) Al: Get your waifu or husbandu. (0:19:25) Codey: Has a bundle I think it’s Joe (0:19:31) Codey: Yeah, never played a room factory game so I don’t have much (0:19:34) Al: Probably never going to. (0:19:37) Codey: Probs not (0:19:40) Codey: But I mean it looks the village building aspect I really do like like the idea of (0:19:47) Codey: going through an area and like helping to rebuild and restore peace and (0:19:52) Codey: maybe like you can set up farms and then you (0:19:55) Codey: find someone who can farm it and then you (0:19:57) Codey: move on. So it’s like you are creating the (0:19:59) Codey: farms and that kind of stuff and creating the (0:20:03) Codey: little societies. But then you get to disappear (0:20:06) Codey: into the ether. (0:20:07) Al: Is this going to be a, this is going to be the third run factor in a row where I go, (0:20:10) Al: “Ooh, I could, I could, maybe I’ll like this.” (0:20:13) Al: And then I play it and go, “Eh, it’s not really for me.” (0:20:16) Codey: Okay, maybe maybe the village maybe the village thing will be not will will make it change, (0:20:16) Al: Isn’t it? (0:20:17) Al: It’s going to, it’s going to happen again, isn’t it? (0:20:20) Al: Cause I’m getting that feeling. (0:20:27) Codey: maybe you will enjoy. We’re going to be optimistic here, because you’re going to have to play it. So (0:20:28) Al: Yeah, no one’s making me. (0:20:38) Codey: I am promising at this because I make the promises in this hostel. (0:20:46) Codey: Yeah, if you you can only marry. Yeah. (0:20:48) Al: What I didn’t notice is there didn’t seem to be anything about whether the romanceables (0:20:56) Al: are segregated. Oh dear. You know what I mean? Whether you can romance anyone or not. It (0:21:06) Al: does look like… I’m not seeing anything… I can’t remember five, but before five it (0:21:09) Codey: What has it been in all the previous games? (0:21:15) Al: It was definitely only… (0:21:18) Al: opposite gender. But I can’t remember what five did. However, obviously, that was also an issue (0:21:24) Al: for Story of Seasons and is no longer an issue for Story of Seasons and it’s the same company. (0:21:29) Al: So I would hope that now it will allow you to romance any character, but who knows? We’ll see. (0:21:39) Codey: We live in a society. (0:21:41) Codey: Thank you. (0:21:45) Al: It is $60. (0:21:48) Al: euros or 42 pounds. (0:21:50) Al: That is pretty cheap here. (0:21:52) Codey: What why why did you guys like pay a premium to like your government paid a (0:21:53) Al: I don’t know why it’s cheaper here than not though, I don’t know. (0:22:02) Codey: premium so they could get it for cheaper. (0:22:05) Al: The limited edition is $100 or 66 pounds and 66 pence. (0:22:10) Al: What a weird… (0:22:11) Codey: What the heck? (0:22:11) Al: Why is this such a weird number? (0:22:15) Al: it’s interesting. So the standard way. (0:22:18) Al: One. So this is for switch physical is (0:22:18) Codey: Uh huh. (0:22:21) Al: fifty nine ninety nine dollars forty one sixty six pounds or forty nine ninety nine euros. (0:22:27) Al: Right. So I would think maybe it was just (0:22:29) Al: auto-converted if it weren’t for the fact that the euros was a sensible one as well. (0:22:33) Al: So that’s weird. (0:22:34) Al: But then you go on to the limited edition one, which is nine ninety nine ninety nine (0:22:40) Al: dollars sixty six sixty six pounds or eighty three thirty two euros. (0:22:43) Codey: I mean, is it, do you guys have like a tax or something like a tariff on them that that (0:22:48) Al: What is with these numbers? (0:22:51) Al: So confused. (0:22:56) Al: Yeah, but. (0:22:58) Codey: would counteract? (0:23:00) Al: I mean, not if if so, it would be the case on every game, right? (0:23:06) Codey: Well, but maybe they’re like doing you a solid, like this company is like, we know, we know that (0:23:09) Al: Well, not rounding up. (0:23:11) Codey: you have to pay out your nose for shipping. So we’re just going to make the cost cheaper. (0:23:20) Codey: Yeah, I don’t know. I’m just trying to grasp the straws because that’s a little bizarre. (0:23:20) Al: if amazon has the the limited edition for 80 and the standard for 45 which I think was (0:23:24) Codey: Seems like a typo. (0:23:35) Al: the limited edition was more expensive yeah that was like 20 quid more for the limited edition (0:23:35) Codey: the euro prices. (0:23:41) Al: and three pounds more for the oh it’s very confusing what is happening here (0:23:46) Codey: There’s no logic in this place. (0:23:49) Al: I think these must. (0:23:50) Al: be auto translated like auto thing made because I can’t even find I can’t even find (0:23:59) Al: that number anywhere on any shop so I’m just going to ignore it I’m in all right anyway (0:24:03) Codey: Are they trying to say that this is the devil’s game? (0:24:11) Al: there’s that you can go pre-order it now if you want to go go go buy the game if you want (0:24:15) Al: it or if you’re me um next we have harvest hills uh have announced (0:24:15) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:24:20) Al: they’re out now uh I don’t think we got previous notice of this coming out on this date because (0:24:26) Al: I didn’t have it down as that so they’ve just it’s out shadow drop they go (0:24:30) Codey: Yep, that’s the way to do it (0:24:33) Al: um trying to decide if I wanted to play this game or not uh it looks nice it’s nice graphics (0:24:41) Al: but oh no they did announce their release date I just missed it they released it on Christmas eve (0:24:47) Al: I don’t think this had an early access, so this is just… (0:24:52) Codey: Yeah, no, this one was one that I was interested in because of the beehives looking actually like beehives. (0:24:58) Al: Oh yes, oh yes. Oh, it’s cheap. Five quid, that’s wild. Okay, okay. (0:25:00) Codey: And I’m really, yeah, it’s only like $5. (0:25:07) Codey: Okay, the final the final question, can it be played on Mac? Nope. Sorry, y’all. (0:25:12) Al: Oh, but it can on Steam Deck. I’d say it’s unknown compatibility on Steam Deck, but (0:25:17) Codey: Well, I (0:25:20) Al: I suspect it’ll be fine on Steam Deck, because it has controller support. (0:25:22) Codey: It does look really cute, cool. (0:25:24) Al: Interesting. Okay. Yeah. So if you want that game, go play it. Mika. (0:25:28) Al: Which is mountain have announced that their non early access release is coming on the 22nd (0:25:35) Al: of January. What I’m a little bit confused by is that they’ve said that the third update is coming (0:25:44) Al: in the coming weeks. So this seems to be leaving early access without an update. (0:25:50) Al: Like they’re just going, Oh, it’s not early access anymore. But this is this is they’ve been weird (0:25:56) Al: about this since the beginning, right? Because I… (0:25:58) Al: Still don’t understand why they ever put this out in Early Access, (0:26:01) Al: because it wasn’t Early Access. They just added extra content after the fact. (0:26:04) Al: And now they’re releasing their non-Early Access version before the final update. (0:26:10) Codey: I mean, that seems pretty par for the course, given that Coral Island did a lot of the same stuff. (0:26:11) Al: Weird. Weird. What are they doing over there? (0:26:19) Al: - Well, yeah, I mean, I feel like “Mika and the Witch’s Mountain” was more complete on (0:26:23) Codey: Yeah. (0:26:23) Al: its early access release than “Coral Island” was on its 1.0 release. I don’t know, weird, (0:26:28) Codey: Yeah, that’s fair. (0:26:33) Al: confused, whatever. Why they didn’t go, “Oh, this is now out of early access” with their (0:26:38) Al: second content update, because the third content update is extra stuff that they’d want to (0:26:44) Al: add but wasn’t originally promised and so why they didn’t go or the second up (0:26:49) Al: it is the non-early access release okay great fine done but they didn’t do that they’ve gone (0:26:55) Al: no this random date a few weeks before the final update that doesn’t have an actual update (0:27:02) Al: that is the non-early access version (0:27:04) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don’t know is this this is the one where they’re gonna do they’re gonna add dungeons, right? (0:27:11) Al: yes correct (0:27:11) Codey: Yeah, cuz it says into the mount gone (0:27:14) Codey: uh (0:27:15) Al: Yeah, this is the time if you played the game before and you haven’t played. (0:27:19) Al: either of the content updates this will be the time to play it because I believe this is the (0:27:23) Al: final update and yeah it has a lot of extra content whereas the previous ones they were fun (0:27:30) Al: they do look fun but they were kind of small things it was like here’s a minigame here’s (0:27:35) Al: an extra collectible whereas this is yeah here are dungeons that you can go into much bigger. (0:27:40) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, cool (0:27:42) Al: Galactic getaway they have announced that their early access comes out in March (0:27:48) Codey: Sorry, I just reread my comment and didn’t even realize it was a pun. (0:27:53) Al: Yeah (0:27:55) Al: You (0:27:57) Codey: So I wrote, how are they getting away with this? (0:28:01) Codey: And it’s galactic getaway. (0:28:04) Codey: So what I was referring to, I almost typed it out, but I wanted it to be like a secret. (0:28:09) Codey: When I look at this like Kickstarter picture that they have, the little robot is clearly (0:28:18) Codey: WALL-E with like a headset on and the dog looks kind of like Doug from up. (0:28:18) Al: Okay, bye. (0:28:27) Codey: And then the spaceship in the back left looks like Stitch’s spaceship from Leelo and Stitch. (0:28:34) Codey: So they’re just, the getaway part of this is that they’re getting away with not being (0:28:38) Codey: sued by Disney, I think. (0:28:38) Al: Right. Okay. So a couple of things. One, I don’t get the spaceship one. It doesn’t look (0:28:41) Codey: Okay. (0:28:44) Al: in it. Oh, no, I see. I know. I see. You mean that one. And I feel like I can see what you’re (0:28:51) Al: getting, what you’re coming, where you’re coming from, but they’re all pretty generic anyway, (0:28:56) Al: right? Like Eve is a pretty like generic looking robot. Doug is a dog, right? Like there’s only (0:29:01) Codey: Yeah, this is the we have Eve at home. (0:29:04) Codey: Uh-huh. (0:29:07) Al: so many dogs that the. (0:29:09) Al: And the spaceship is a red spaceship it it doesn’t even. (0:29:14) Codey: And the watering can has a star on it, like in, uh, I look at, I’m, the more I look someone (0:29:15) Al: Like it doesn’t even have the exact same design. (0:29:19) Al: Oh, come on. (0:29:22) Al: Come on. (0:29:28) Codey: in the background has buns like in, uh, Star Wars. No, I just, that like the, the picture. (0:29:34) Al: The robot is your biggest argument, I see why you’re saying that and I understand what you’re coming from, however, it’s a pretty generic looking robot shape, I think, personally. (0:29:51) Codey: But no, I, I just, I noticed that and I was like, Oh wow. (0:29:55) Codey: But yeah, I don’t know. (0:29:57) Codey: I’d like to see, uh, more stuff about this game. (0:30:00) Codey: I mean, they’ve, they’re going to add, they’re fixing the creatures, the (0:30:04) Codey: farming, the crafting, the mini games, um, and early access in March, 2025. (0:30:11) Codey: So, oh, woo. (0:30:15) Al: Usagi Shima have announced that they have a Chinese New Year update out now with one (0:30:21) Al: very important thing. Would you like to mention it? Yeah, you can give a costume to your bun (0:30:22) Codey: Uh, lion… lion dancing. (0:30:29) Al: to make it look like a… See, I thought these were dragons. I know it says lion, but I feel (0:30:33) Codey: No, they’re quick. Yeah. Have you ever seen lion dancing? Have you ever seen lion dancing? (0:30:35) Al: like it’s the Chinese New Year dragon, isn’t it? No, from a traditional saying. (0:30:43) Codey: I had um, I had a woman. Yeah, no, they’re lions. Um, there were a couple people in my high school (0:30:45) Al: Those are really, those are meant to be lions. I thought they were dragons. They don’t look (0:30:53) Al: anything like lions. (0:30:56) Codey: that uh were lion dancers and so they would do um in all the (0:31:03) Codey: like assemblies. They’d have a lion dancing part to the assembly. It was really cool. (0:31:10) Codey: Oh, that’s that was a big jump that I had to make. So you said this is a costume? (0:31:16) Al: So there’s a costume and there’s a minigame. You maybe have to do the minigame to get the costume, (0:31:21) Al: I’m not sure. Yeah, you jump over buns, some of which are in the costume. (0:31:22) Codey: Is the minigame the jumping? (0:31:29) Codey: Well, I just jumped over a plant and then lost to a mushroom, so. (0:31:33) Al: Oh, OK, so it’s more than buns that you jump over. Fair enough. (0:31:36) Codey: But that’s exciting. (0:31:39) Al: Yeah, if you love this game, it’s another update and with stuff for you to do. (0:31:40) Codey: I haven’t played this game in a while. (0:31:45) Codey: And it’s still cute. (0:31:47) Al: Yes, if you liked the game before, you’ll probably like this update. Let’s be honest. (0:31:50) Codey: you will continue the (0:31:52) Codey: liking shall continue. (0:31:54) Al: Yeah, for sure. (0:31:56) Al: Chill Town have announced their upcoming updates, 0.9 and 1.0. They’ve given some details on them. (0:32:04) Al: It’s mostly 0.9, like right at the end of the post to go, (0:32:10) Al: “Oh, and by the way, there will be festivals. That’s coming in 1.0.” (0:32:15) Codey: Yep, they talk about how they have sprinting, which I thought folks might like given that, (0:32:16) Al: But the rest of it seems to be 0.9. (0:32:28) Codey: you know, the issue was that you had to run across the map, right? That was something (0:32:32) Codey: folks were complaining about when they played it. So maybe being able to run faster will (0:32:37) Codey: alleviate some of that. But the more important thing is that they lied to me in that steam (0:32:45) Codey: that says that there’s a nature exhibit with it that you can fill with insects. But I saw no insects. (0:32:50) Codey: So that’s all they haven’t. But like, you can’t mention that without showing an insect or two, (0:32:51) Al: Maybe they’ve just not put any in yet (0:32:59) Codey: as like an example. They don’t, they, they literally just, they just walk through it’s as (0:33:02) Al: Don’t think they show anything in that they just it’s like completely empty (0:33:08) Codey: if an animal crossing or coral island or whatever, like you just walk through the part of the museum (0:33:13) Codey: in which the insects are supposed to be. (0:33:15) Codey: I was like waiting, I’m like, is there going to be like a butterfly that lies out? (0:33:16) Al: Yeah, very weird. (0:33:27) Codey: Um, yeah, I was, I was really excited to see insects and then there weren’t any, but that’s (0:33:33) Codey: okay. (0:33:34) Codey: Something to look forward to. (0:33:34) Al: Wooo! (0:33:37) Al: Fields of Mystery app have announced their next update, the second major update coming in March. (0:33:46) Al: It adds a new villager, some additional dialogue and schedules for the NPCs. (0:33:54) Al: More unlocks in the mines, which is important. I need to get further down those mines, (0:34:01) Codey: Yep. Yep. (0:34:01) Al: Although I need to I need to not play this (0:34:05) Al: yet. I need to not go into the cut zone. I think I need to wait for more updates, (0:34:10) Al: otherwise I’ll just end up burning out before the end of it. New areas in the town, additional (0:34:17) Al: requests, more museum stuff, new festival, just yeah. Oh the farmland expansion is added. Oh yes. (0:34:27) Al: Gotta get a bigger farm. Do I need a bigger farm? No I do not. Sprinklers! Yes! Finally! Adding (0:34:30) Codey: But you can. (0:34:34) Al: sprinklers and an auto petter. This is getting good. This game’s getting good. It was already (0:34:43) Al: good. It’s getting even better. They’ve also listed a bunch of stuff that’s coming in future (0:34:48) Al: updates but they just they say in no particular order. Just like here are things that we’re (0:34:50) Codey: But, but the automation is the most important. (0:34:53) Al: thinking about. Oh yes. Gotta love it. Also in-game time adjustment options, which is something that (0:35:03) Al: that always sounds like a good idea. (0:35:07) Codey: I mean people probably use it because they want to like skip forward to something or (0:35:12) Codey: other or skip back possibly if they missed a festival or something. (0:35:16) Al: Yeah. All right. And finally, finally, second, finally, next, next we have (0:35:24) Codey: But penultimate final. (0:35:30) Al: just an ultimate. You don’t need to add on the final one to the end. (0:35:35) Al: Next, we have webfishing have released a plush of their main character, the cat, (0:35:43) Al: on Makeship. So if you want that, and it’s funded, it’s out. (0:35:47) Codey: Uh-huh (0:35:47) Al: Definitely happening. So if you want it, go get it. (0:35:51) Codey: Yep, it is $29.99 and most importantly that Al did not mention is that it is holding a salmon (0:36:00) Al: for sure it’s very cute I don’t need (0:36:01) Codey: That’s the most important part (0:36:05) Codey: No, but wait, do you what if you don’t get it and then you want it later? (0:36:10) Al: So Craig, my youngest, is really into Astrobok recently, right? (0:36:12) Codey: Uh-huh (0:36:14) Codey: Okay (0:36:15) Al: Like obsessed with it. (0:36:17) Al: He’s been playing it a couple of hours most days of the week. (0:36:17) Codey: You (0:36:20) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:36:21) Al: He is, and he’s getting really good at it, right? (0:36:22) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:36:23) Al: This is his first proper game that he’s played. (0:36:26) Al: Like he’s done a couple of bits here and there, (0:36:28) Al: but he’s not really like been playing them properly. (0:36:31) Al: But this is, he’s like doing most of it. (0:36:33) Al: There’s a few times where he’s like, can you help me with this? (0:36:35) Al: Because it’s too difficult, but he’s getting really good at it. (0:36:38) Al: like from it’s been like three weeks. (0:36:40) Al: or something and from the start till now he’s improved so much but he’s absolutely obsessed (0:36:46) Al: with it so much that we we just ordered the astrobot plush and that should be arriving (0:36:49) Codey: Oh. (0:36:51) Al: the day this episode comes out so he is very excited about that. (0:36:54) Codey: So if I hear a squeal from around the world of excitement. (0:36:59) Codey: Cool. (0:36:59) Al: Yeah finally we have information on a new Animal Crossing aquarium tour this time in the UK. We’ll (0:37:07) Al: We’ll come back to that word in a minute. (0:37:10) Al: I believe they did this in Japan and a few other places. (0:37:14) Al: I feel like I said about it in Canada and America, maybe as well. (0:37:18) Al: There’s a few. (0:37:19) Al: Anyway, it’s coming to the UK as well in collaboration with Sea Life UK. (0:37:23) Al: Now, I say UK because it is very much a tiny, tiny portion of one part of the UK. (0:37:32) Al: It’s like four different cities that are like half an hour to travel between each other. (0:37:40) Al: It is like a pathetically small amount, and you might go, “Oh, well, it’s because it’s (0:37:45) Al: Sea Life. (0:37:46) Al: It’s a specific company, and they don’t have any other place. (0:37:49) Al: They do. (0:37:50) Al: They have one in Scotland, and they didn’t do it there. (0:37:52) Codey: Well, yeah, they don’t want to do that, right? (0:37:53) Al: Thank you very much.” (0:37:53) Al: Don’t call it a UK tour if it’s just England. (0:37:57) Al: It’s an England tour, but like saying a US tour, and it’s just New York. (0:38:02) Codey: Yeah, just New York and Los Angeles. (0:38:02) Al: Go away. (0:38:05) Al: It’s a Europe tour, European tour. (0:38:10) Al: I’m annoyed. (0:38:10) Codey: Yeah, I guess I don’t really understand like what this is, (0:38:14) Al: Yeah, I think so, yeah, I believe so. (0:38:15) Codey: like, will there just be characters around? (0:38:20) Codey: Around. (0:38:24) Al: There’s activities as well. (0:38:25) Al: I think they have the stamp thing that they do in the game, so it says, “Visitors will (0:38:31) Al: be able to collect character stamps, discover many interesting facts about the inhabitants (0:38:35) Al: of Sea Life, and meet with Tom Nook and Isabel. (0:38:38) Al: at the end of the visit fans will be able to purchase. (0:38:40) Al: Animal Crossing New Horizons merchandise, of course they will, at the Aquarium store. (0:38:44) Codey: What villager would have to be included in either the merchandise or the stamp thing for you to go? (0:38:54) Al: or for me to travel all the way down to, I think Manchester is the closest one, (0:38:59) Al: which would be a, I think it’s a five hour drive for me, which is not insignificant. (0:39:08) Al: I know it means nothing to Americans who will drive five hours for dinner. (0:39:16) Al: I don’t think there is someone, I don’t really think so, like, (0:39:19) Codey: I would think, so if this was in New York or DC, which are like a three to five hour drive from (0:39:24) Codey: where I am, if Blue Bear was in there, Blue Bear is my favorite. (0:39:30) Al: Yeah, I just don’t think… I think it would be… I would drive two hours to go to this, (0:39:37) Al: I think. That’s how far I would drive to get to this. Coincidentally, about the time it (0:39:41) Al: takes to leave Scotland. I would drive two hours to this. I don’t think there’s anything (0:39:49) Al: realistically that would make me drive five hours. I don’t think I could do that. That’s (0:39:56) Al: too far. Especially considering we have an (0:40:00) Al: aquarium five minutes from us that we have a season pass to. So I would be paying to travel (0:40:08) Al: five hours to then pay to get into an aquarium when I have a season pass to an aquarium next to (0:40:14) Al: me. That doesn’t feel the most sensible situation, right? Oh, we do. All right, that is the news. (0:40:18) Codey: We have an aquarium at home. (0:40:25) Al: So next we will be going into our interview with Jordan, the developer of (0:40:30) Al: overseas retirement. We recorded that at a different time. So if it sounds different, (0:40:36) Al: that’s why. I hope you enjoy the interview. (0:40:38) Al: Weeee! (0:40:39) Al: Woo! (0:40:39) Al: Woo! (0:40:48) Al: Okay, we are now back with the developer of Rusty’s retirement, which just to remind listeners (0:40:56) Al: was the winner of the Harvest Seasons Game of the Year last year. (0:41:01) Al: Hello, welcome to the podcast, what is your name and what are your pronouns? (0:41:06) Jordan: Hiya. My name is Jordan, he/him. Yeah, I’m the developer of Rusty’s retirement, and also a smaller, lesser-known metroidvania called Hyekuda Robot, which is in the same universe as Rusty, actually, if you didn’t know that. A little bit of lore for you. (0:41:24) Al: I did not know that and I do like metroidvanias, maybe I’ll look at that at some point. (0:41:30) Codey: wait it’s a metroid haiku as in haiku the helper of russey (0:41:35) Jordan: Yep (0:41:37) Codey: he metroid what okay continue I have questions (0:41:41) Al: Well, good thing that you have questions because this is an interview, so I guess we’ll start (0:41:48) Al: off with a couple of easy questions. What is your history with games, just in general? (0:41:54) Al: What did you play when you were young? How did you get to where you are with games? (0:41:59) Jordan: Yeah, so I think my sort of gaming journey, let’s say, started when I was little, (0:42:08) Jordan: and I can’t remember the age exactly, but it was when Game Boy Color came out, (0:42:13) Jordan: because that was my first console that I ever got. And I just have super fond memories of playing (0:42:21) Jordan: Pokemon Gold on the Game Boy Color. So yeah, after that, and it was just like all the game. (0:42:29) Jordan: Boy stuff, Game Boy SP, Game Boy SP Advance, all of those ones. Nintendo DS when it came out, (0:42:39) Jordan: you know, all that sort of stuff. And then eventually I got like a PlayStation, I think. (0:42:44) Jordan: So I played like typical PlayStation games like GTA and stuff when I was definitely not age (0:42:51) Jordan: appropriate to play GTA, but still pretty fun times. So yeah, just sort of a mix, but it definitely (0:42:59) Jordan: with Game Boy and Game Boy Color. (0:43:01) Al: Yeah, fair enough. What was your starter in in Pokemon gold? (0:43:04) Jordan: Oh, I think it was the crocodile looking guy. Yes, that’s the one. (0:43:09) Al: Totodile. Yeah, good one. Good one. You’re in good company because we are both also Pokemon fans. (0:43:16) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:43:16) Al: I’ve been doing a lot of Pokemon recently. (0:43:20) Jordan: Yeah, I even I even actually bought because they did this remaster edition of like heart (0:43:25) Jordan: gold or something for like at the time I didn’t have a DS, I think it broke or I was only using (0:43:33) Jordan: my cousins or something like that. So I literally went out and bought a DS just so I could buy (0:43:39) Jordan: Pokemon Heart Gold. And that was like the only game I had for it. That was it. (0:43:44) Al: Yeah, I was actually the same because I dropped out of Pokémon after Gen 2 and came back (0:43:50) Al: for HeartGold SoulSilver. And I didn’t have a DS either, but my mum had a DS for brain (0:43:55) Al: training games. And so I was like, “Can I use your DS, please?” I used her DS and played (0:44:02) Al: HeartGold SoulSilver. I then got my own DSi for when the black and white came out. It (0:44:08) Al: a good time to jump back in, I think. (0:44:10) Codey: I think everyone had that like break period where they like played and then they stopped (0:44:15) Codey: playing and then they jumped back in, or at least I had that, yeah, yeah. (0:44:18) Jordan: - Yeah, I did as well. (0:44:20) Jordan: After HeartGold, I think I went and played all the DS, (0:44:24) Jordan: Pokemon games that released, (0:44:25) Jordan: like Diamond, Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, all of those ones. (0:44:30) Al: Fair enough. Rusty’s retirement is obviously a farming game. What is your history with farming (0:44:36) Al: games? When did you because obviously there’s got to be a point where you’re like I’m making (0:44:40) Al: a farming game. So how did you get to that point in enjoying farming games or you know (0:44:46) Al: cottagecore games in general? Wow, okay interesting. (0:44:48) Jordan: I’ve never played a farming game, still to this day, other than Rusty’s retirement. (0:44:58) Codey: - Wild. (0:45:00) Jordan: So I know they exist, I know how they work, and obviously when I landed on Rusty’s retirement, (0:45:09) Jordan: well first of all, let me go back a little bit more. So after my first game, which was (0:45:14) Jordan: haikura robot, the same haikura that appears in Russia’s retirement. (0:45:19) Jordan: I was kind of stuck with what to do because making a Metroidvania was just a massive undertaking, especially to do it solo. (0:45:27) Jordan: Like I did all the art, animations, the coding, and there’s just so much content like you need. (0:45:33) Jordan: There was like 10 or 10 to 15 bosses at the end, you know, it’s just so much work. (0:45:39) Jordan: Like each boss needs their own unique animations, attack patterns, all this sort of stuff. (0:45:45) Jordan: And I was like, vowed to myself that I’m never going to (0:45:48) Jordan: put myself through this again, that I’m going to try and make (0:45:52) Jordan: something smaller and simpler as my next game. But when I (0:45:56) Jordan: finished from Metroidvania, that I didn’t know what to do. So I (0:46:03) Jordan: had this sort of brainwave of, I’m just going to make these (0:46:07) Jordan: sort of small prototypes, spend about two weeks on an idea (0:46:11) Jordan: because, you know, I had a bunch of ideas I wanted to try out, (0:46:15) Jordan: spend about two weeks on each sort of idea. (0:46:18) Jordan: And just test them just to want to see if I could actually do some of this stuff, you know, like some my technical capability isn’t like fantastic. I’m not like a fantastic coder. So some of this stuff is just simply out of my reach, just from a technical standpoint. (0:46:34) Al: You’re not making a 3D Zelda game. (0:46:35) Jordan: And then (0:46:37) Jordan: Yeah, or like, you know, I love strategy games and forex games as well. So like, but those things are like humongous. I would never be able to do something like that. (0:46:47) Jordan: And, and yes. (0:46:48) Jordan: So I just did these prototypes and I made Rusty and funnily, funnily enough. (0:46:55) Jordan: I actually shelved Rusty for like three months because I made it and most (0:47:01) Jordan: of the prototypes I made, and then I showed them on Twitter, right? (0:47:06) Jordan: I showed like, Hey guys, what do you think of this sort of thing? (0:47:10) Jordan: Just to kind of gauge, you know, interest and stuff like this, because I (0:47:14) Jordan: didn’t want to make something that, you know, at the end of the day, (0:47:17) Jordan: nobody wants to play. (0:47:18) Jordan: I was kind of trying to find this balance of like, okay, I’m going to do these (0:47:21) Jordan: ideas that I want to make and find out if I want to make them, but then also (0:47:26) Jordan: show them to people to see if there’s interest because I think if there’s (0:47:28) Jordan: interest, it also kind of motivates you to make it as well. (0:47:31) Jordan: You know, so it’s like this balance. (0:47:34) Jordan: Uh, but for Rusty, I thought, man, this is such a stupid idea. (0:47:38) Jordan: Nobody’s going to want to play this. (0:47:40) Jordan: And I just shelved it for like three months. (0:47:42) Jordan: Uh, but luckily I had commissioned, um, the sprites for. (0:47:48) Jordan: Rusty and they came through and I was thinking, you know, I should at (0:47:52) Jordan: least put sprites in the game now that they’ve done, just see what it looks like. (0:47:56) Jordan: And that’s when I thought, Oh, it was pretty cool. (0:47:58) Jordan: And I should make this into something. (0:48:00) Jordan: But before that, I hadn’t played any farming games or anything like that. (0:48:04) Jordan: But then once I kind of had this rusty idea and I also put it on Twitter (0:48:09) Jordan: and people really liked it, then I started like, uh, researching more (0:48:13) Jordan: into farming games and stuff. (0:48:14) Codey: » Mm-hmm. (0:48:16) Al: if you still not played any. (0:48:16) Jordan: But interestingly enough, I… (0:48:18) Jordan: No, I haven’t, because I was tempted to play Stardew Valley, (0:48:22) Jordan: but I didn’t want to get too influenced by the decisions that were made in that game. (0:48:29) Jordan: Like, I researched enough to know what’s the sort of loop, the core gameplay loop, (0:48:34) Jordan: and understand how that works, but I didn’t want to play it and see exactly how it’s done, (0:48:39) Jordan: because then I felt like it’s just going to influence my decision too much. (0:48:43) Jordan: And that kind of happened with my first game th

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

Codey and Kev catch up on all the recent news Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:06: Feedback 00:08:21: What Have We Been Up To 00:43:30: Game Releases 00:57:44: Game Updates 01:06:41: New Games 01:28:43: Outro Links Harvest Hills Release Chill Town Development Update Dragon Shelter Trailer Steamworld Build Physical Release Echoes of the Plum Grove Digital Art Book Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home “Controller and Cloud Save” Update Research Story “Shimmering” Update Go-go Town Roadmap Terra Nil “Heatwave” Update Cattle Country Litchi Town Cinnabunny Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Codey: Hello, farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Cody. (0:00:36) Kev: My name is Kevin, and we are back in the sad woodbeam. (0:00:40) Codey: Welcome to a new year. This is actually, this is actually being recorded in the new year. (0:00:41) Kev: Wow. (0:00:44) Kev: Oh yeah. (0:00:46) Kev: The first one. (0:00:49) Kev: Yeah. (0:00:50) Kev: Unlike the last one, which is recorded before a lot of the ones before that, which is wild. (0:00:55) Codey: Yeah, I just, I just finished. (0:00:57) Kev: Oh, wildflowers got a sequel, prequel, and I wouldn’t say it. (0:01:04) Codey: Yeah. So I guess so. Okay. So this episode is about a news catch up, (0:01:09) Codey: but we do want to hear Kev. (0:01:10) Kev: Yup. (0:01:14) Codey: I want to hear. So there’s a couple of things that we have to, (0:01:17) Codey: we have to talk about first, uh, all, but yeah, (0:01:19) Kev: I saw the note (0:01:22) Codey: I’ll put any feedback on game of the year. (0:01:24) Codey: So do you have any feedback on Rusty’s retirement winning game of the year? (0:01:28) Kev: Oh, so like, I’ll tell you what, my feedback is that this is just the, the, the (0:01:36) Kev: revenge of the, the coral island debacle of the previous year. (0:01:40) Kev: That’s what this is. (0:01:41) Codey: No, who would you have well you probably would have had wildflowers win, right? (0:01:41) Kev: Um, me, no, I mean, well, okay. (0:01:49) Kev: Some deep inside baseball, right? (0:01:51) Kev: Like this is, we’ve been talking a little bit on how to structure this (0:01:54) Kev: game the year, because it’s challenging, right? (0:01:57) Kev: with so many games that come out, right? (0:01:58) Kev: And we cover, you know, at most 52 games in a year, and obviously we’re not going to bring 52 games in a year. (0:02:06) Codey: Right (0:02:06) Kev: And furthermore, they’re probably not all going to be games that came out that year. (0:02:12) Kev: So that is a lot of games that we don’t play and consider and, you know, we might be missing things, right? (0:02:22) Kev: So like Wildflowers, we missed it the year it came out. (0:02:26) Kev: came out, so I didn’t put it in. (0:02:28) Kev: It wasn’t in the running for Game of the Year, so I think that we should maybe try (0:02:34) Kev: to aim for next year is like, we already started doing the categories or whatever kind of, (0:02:41) Kev: so I think there should be one for actually 2020, whatever, four, five, whatever, and then (0:02:47) Kev: one that we covered on the show that year, you know what I mean? (0:02:50) Kev: That’s probably how we should structure that, but either way, I mean, yeah, either way, (0:02:55) Kev: But a lot of thought was just not going to be my vote because we didn’t cover it last time. (0:02:58) Kev: I would have gone with Mika of course, but I get it. (0:03:00) Codey: Okay. (0:03:02) Codey: That was me, I was gonna say maybe Mika. (0:03:06) Kev: I will say I haven’t played Rusty’s retirement in myself. (0:03:10) Kev: Like I said, I don’t like the concept of something playing on your screen as you’re doing other stuff. (0:03:20) Kev: I’m the total opposite end of the spectrum from that. It doesn’t tell me at all. (0:03:26) Kev: Um, but I’m sure it’s fine. (0:03:27) Kev: Like what, what I, you know, (0:03:28) Kev: what I want to talk about, it’s great and, and what, right. (0:03:31) Kev: Um, and furthermore, like, uh, I think it was my, I don’t know, brought it up like (0:03:36) Kev: that, you know, it’s breaking more new ground than say Mika’s because Mika, you (0:03:42) Kev: know, there’s no doubt that Mika is definitely standing on the shoulders of (0:03:46) Kev: giants leaning on a Wind Waker aesthetic and the studio Ghibli and all that. (0:03:52) Kev: Um, so, you know, I can appreciate that. (0:03:54) Kev: Um, so, you know, Mika would have been my vote. (0:03:57) Kev: But I don’t know. (0:03:58) Kev: I’m fine with my sister’s time. I’m not complaining. I do like the rule but um but uh but yeah um yeah that’s that’s my only real thought um like yeah it’s fine not my vote but again for two-fold reasons and and I get why you guys picked it so I’m not complaining too much. (0:04:00) Codey: Mm hmm. Okay, yeah. (0:04:13) Codey: Hmm. Yeah, those of us with ADHD, it just tickles that itch for sure. (0:04:24) Codey: Okay, so the second question would be wild society. How are you? How do you? What are your thoughts? (0:04:30) Kev: So, obviously I’m hyped, right, because Studio Drydock has done fantastic work, kind of across the board, right, not just, except maybe the art style, which, you know, I’m not going to defend it per se, but the story they wrote, the mechanics, how they came about it, even their promotion, how they interact with the community. (0:05:00) Kev: Um, just call it stuff across the board, right? (0:05:04) Kev: Um, obviously I’m biased, you know, I’m going to go dove into wildflowers because of Ray and yada, yada, but, um, and bother is a lot of fun and whatnot, but, um, like the fact that we’re getting a sequel, one, that’s great, right, or people, I guess. (0:05:20) Kev: Um, and what’s exciting is that it’s not going to probably be a, you know, one-to-one sequel. We’re not on a farm now. We’re running a hotel bed and breakfast thing. (0:05:30) Kev: I don’t know if you remember, so, you know, I’m interested to see what we’re going to do. I’ll probably put, we had a lot of emphasis on the social interactions and whatnot, but, um, you know, that was, I think, one of the strong suits from wildflowers, like the community of that little island and people interacting and whatnot. (0:05:48) Kev: So, you know, focusing more on that, I think it’s going to be fun. (0:05:52) Kev: Um, I do wonder how the magic will fit into everything because, you know, you use the magic. (0:06:00) Kev: For farming, but here we’re just hosting key parties, question mark. So what are we, you know, what spiking drinks with potions was a feature in wildflowers. (0:06:08) Codey: - Yeah. (0:06:14) Kev: So, um, oh yeah, you’re right. There was like a seance thing. Yeah, right. There you go. That’ll be interesting. Um, but yeah, um, I mean, yeah, of course. (0:06:14) Codey: - Didn’t they have in wilds? (0:06:16) Codey: Didn’t you have a seance in the trailer for wild society? (0:06:28) Kev: Yeah, of course, I’m super excited for it. (0:06:32) Kev: I believe they already confirmed there will be returning characters, which is interesting because they think it’s going to be a fairly large time gap. (0:06:38) Kev: But there are characters who could show up. I can already name two or three of them. (0:06:44) Kev: So it’ll be fun to see them show up. (0:06:50) Kev: This is generally somewhat bad form, but I’m pretty sure the voice in the trailer was Valerie Rose Lohman. (0:06:56) Kev: So I’m sure she’s going to get a character in there. I feel like she has to, right? She has to. (0:06:59) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:07:02) Kev: So, you know, but we’ll see. I don’t know. (0:07:06) Kev: All in all, obviously, I’m very excited. It’s fun. (0:07:10) Kev: Yeah, well, John, my eyes are peeled and I’ll be day one buyer, of course. (0:07:14) Kev: I’m so open. (0:07:15) Codey: Well, and I will say that after everything that you’ve talked about the game and looking (0:07:22) Codey: at wild society, well, maybe we’ll be doing a second harvest of wildflowers this year (0:07:31) Codey: because I want to play it. (0:07:31) Kev: Oh, oh, oh, like, you know, obviously my hyperbolic cartoonish adoration of the game is great now, but like it is still a very solid game. (0:07:44) Kev: Like I cannot recommend enough. (0:07:45) Kev: Like it is up there with the, you know, the top Stardew clones or farming is whatever. (0:07:52) Kev: Um, it’s solid. (0:07:54) Codey: Yeah, yeah, no, it looks great. (0:07:54) Kev: Um, you know, cause you could just pass the, the style, I don’t play many once. (0:08:01) Kev: But hey, that’s good. That’s good. (0:08:02) Codey: So, okay, so, yeah, the, as I’ve already mentioned, today, the topic is news catch up, so we have (0:08:11) Codey: a lot of news to get through, but next section is the what have we been up to section. (0:08:19) Codey: And here’s the final question for Kev. (0:08:22) Codey: - Kev, you have to– (0:08:24) Codey: - I just remember you saying, “oh yeah, I got a puppy,” (0:08:26) Codey: and I’m like, “ah, I need details!” (0:08:28) Codey: And this is the first time we’ve been on a pod together, so… (0:08:30) Kev: Mm-hmm. Okay (0:08:30) Codey: I just remember you saying, “oh yeah, I got a puppy,” (0:08:32) Codey: and I’m like, “ah, I need details!” (0:08:36) Codey: And this is the first time we’ve been on a pod together, so… (0:08:38) Codey: together, so. (0:08:39) Kev: So yeah, um (0:08:42) Kev: Some recording I don’t I don’t remember where or what was the like where the harvest season (0:08:51) Kev: Time-wise where I was when I recorded near puppy (0:08:54) Kev: But okay, so I I feel like I did so, you know (0:09:00) Kev: Here’s show time if you go listen to if you listen to the the Rainbow Road radio the neutral show (0:09:02) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:06) Kev: I do with our friend now, it’s so are you things? (0:09:07) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:09) Kev: You you could he hear the puppy saga in real life in real time because I’ve given up updates (0:09:14) Kev: But anyways, so, okay, I’m gonna give context for people who might not know I imagine most folks might know (0:09:21) Kev: Things I brought it up here and there but okay. So first of all (0:09:26) Kev: two years ago (0:09:29) Kev: October (0:09:30) Kev: 29th, I know that I know the date it’s weird, but I I have a reference point but we lost our first dog passed away two (0:09:38) Kev: Years ago on October 29th heard (0:09:42) Kev: Whatever do you know it’s new year, whatever (0:09:45) Kev: His name was though though he we had him for 18 years same age as my brother (0:09:50) Kev: toy poodle (0:09:52) Kev: obviously left the big (0:09:54) Kev: hole in the family and all that (0:09:57) Kev: and so (0:09:58) Kev: Uh, but for the first while we were. (0:10:00) Kev: We’d been petless, right? (0:10:01) Kev: Um, uh, Kiyo about a year later, a little, it was actually around the (0:10:06) Kev: same time around November of 2023. (0:10:09) Kev: Well, we got two kitties, um, Daisy and Teddy, and they were very small kittens. (0:10:15) Kev: And they were just a couple, like three, maybe four weeks old when we got them. (0:10:19) Kev: Um, and so that was my first time having cats and, and, and they were fun and, and, (0:10:24) Kev: and all the weird and wonderful and really weird things that cats are. (0:10:30) Kev: But, um, you know, but they’re relatively chill compared to dogs, right? (0:10:33) Kev: They’re a little more low home maintenance. (0:10:36) Kev: Um, uh, anyway, so Q this past year on by like, did you no one realized? (0:10:43) Kev: Well, I was the first one to realize it on the same date, October 29th of 2024. (0:10:48) Kev: Two years to the day after though, though. (0:10:50) Kev: Um, I was given lucky as an early birthday gift. (0:10:54) Kev: Um, so he was a toy poodle, much like the, um, the other was a (0:10:59) Kev: blonde, light brown color. (0:11:01) Kev: is like red cinnamon type of fur color. (0:11:05) Kev: Um, he was two months old, I think when we got him, he was still a really little guy, all in all. (0:11:13) Kev: Um, so yeah, um, we got him, uh, took probably a week or two to pick the name and settled on Lucky. (0:11:20) Kev: That is his name. (0:11:21) Kev: Um, and he has been a handful, like, so Dodo was the chillest guy. (0:11:30) Kev: He was smart. (0:11:31) Kev: He was chill. (0:11:32) Kev: Like he, he, he putty trained himself. (0:11:35) Kev: It was wild. (0:11:37) Kev: Um, uh, and whatnot. (0:11:39) Kev: Um, and, and he was just chill. (0:11:41) Kev: He just loved hanging out in cuddling and whatever. (0:11:43) Kev: Lucky is your stereotypical, you know, or would you think of the dog like puppy storm? (0:11:50) Kev: Like he’s chewing everything, biting everything. (0:11:53) Kev: He’s running. (0:11:54) Kev: He’s very friendly. (0:11:55) Kev: He’s very social. (0:11:56) Kev: He loves meeting people. (0:11:57) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:11:57) Kev: Sometimes to Marsha Grin because if he ever gets up (0:12:00) Kev: the leash or will run up to other people and so you know but but yeah he (0:12:08) Kev: that he’s been here we set up the Christmas decorations he’s been chewing (0:12:12) Kev: on them so it’s been a handful I mean it’s obviously still very puppy and so (0:12:17) Kev: learning but he is a joy a bundle of joy he’s probably double means maybe even (0:12:24) Kev: triple not triple but at least double in size I’m sure since we got him but he is (0:12:30) Kev: a toy poodle so he’s still gonna be a little guy on all but but yeah he’s part (0:12:37) Kev: of the home now he’s obviously a lot of attention a lot of work now the cats are (0:12:43) Kev: interesting he gets along with one her name is David Daisy she’s pretty chill (0:12:48) Kev: with him usually but sometimes he’ll try to knit and you know nip play with her (0:12:53) Kev: like a dog would replay fighting or whatever and so she did she doesn’t like (0:12:56) Kev: that, obviously, because even though they’re a year old, they’re like, (0:13:00) Kev: he’s already bigger than both of them. (0:13:02) Kev: Um, and then Teddy, uh, I feel so bad cause poor Teddy, he is our sweetheart. (0:13:08) Kev: He is only, he lives up to his name of Teddy. (0:13:10) Kev: He’s a Teddy bear. (0:13:11) Kev: He’s, he’s, he’s sweet and calm and chill, but he’s so skittish and nervous. (0:13:18) Kev: Like he still freaks out over lucky. (0:13:21) Kev: He’s not used to him on like, not even like I’d say 50% like he’ll, he’ll hiss (0:13:28) Kev: and, you know, and do all this stuff. (0:13:30) Kev: keep his distance and obviously Lucky’s just a puppy he just wants to like run up and play (0:13:34) Kev: at him he’s not he’s never you know Lucky doesn’t have a mean boat in his body or anything um (0:13:41) Kev: but he’s just uh had he just not dealing well with the new so yeah um no that’s unfortunate (0:13:46) Codey: Yeah. I’m sure there’ll be best of friends because that’s how it always goes right like (0:13:52) Kev: yeah yeah yeah I imagine it certainly takes time right like obviously like I said never (0:13:57) Kev: had cats before, so I’ve always never had cats and dogs together before. (0:14:00) Kev: And obviously I did some research on that, and yeah, it looks like it can vary, like I said, (0:14:06) Kev: Daisy and Lucky can get along pretty well. But yeah, I’m sure Teddy will just kind of give it (0:14:13) Kev: time. He’s a very giddish sort of fella that’s the only thing about him. But yeah, that is Lucky. (0:14:23) Kev: Hold on. Let me send you a picture. I’m talking about it, but I didn’t even send you a picture. (0:14:26) Codey: I was going to say, please post one in the Slack, so that yeah, if y’all want to see (0:14:28) Kev: Sure, hold on, Lumi. (0:14:30) Kev: Okay, yeah, there you go, there’s your Patreon Slack exclusive. (0:14:36) Kev: Yeah, I’ll have to dig and find them. (0:14:38) Codey: baby toy poodle pics, and I am all for it. (0:14:46) Kev: I’ll try to find some earlier ones when he was real little cuz he was real like, (0:14:50) Kev: he could barely poke out of the grass standing a little. (0:14:54) Codey: Um… (0:14:54) Kev: But he’s a good bit bigger, but he still acts very much like a mate. (0:15:01) Codey: Yeah. That doesn’t go away for a while. Stella’s finally, can you stop? She’s also all up in my (0:15:03) Kev: Yeah. (0:15:08) Codey: business right now. Um, she, uh, only just started getting out of some of her puppyish like (0:15:09) Kev: Speaking of which, yeah. (0:15:18) Codey: behaviors, like, um, Aussies, both healers and shepherds will like bite at ankles, um, (0:15:27) Codey: to like try and herd you. She’s finally- (0:15:32) Codey: to me, she only ever did it to me, which is stupid. My partner would like be like, “get mommy, get mommy” and like she would come up and get my ankles and I would be like, “are you serious?” (0:15:36) Kev: Hmm (0:15:49) Kev: Yeah, oh my gosh, that’s the thing with (0:15:53) Codey: Look at the little lint. Oh, he’s- (0:15:56) Kev: Yeah, though the one on the left aside posted the picture on slack (0:15:59) Kev: He slackers can look at it now or you probably already have but um on the left side (0:16:04) Kev: Yeah, that’s close to when we got him. (0:16:06) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. (0:16:06) Kev: He’s tiny. You can see him next to the leaves like for comparison and then to the right. That’s a more recent picture (0:16:11) Kev: That’s him with Daisy. Um, like I said, he’s bigger now (0:16:15) Kev: but (0:16:16) Kev: But yeah, the biting the biting’s insane cuz honestly though they never did the biting (0:16:21) Kev: But we hear he’s just nipping at everything (0:16:25) Kev: I you know, I have some facial hair. So he it’s not heavy facial hair, but he likes to nibble on it (0:16:31) Codey: It doesn’t, yeah, yep. (0:16:34) Kev: I just, you know, just nip, nip, nip. (0:16:36) Kev: at it. Um, but that’s, yeah, that’s the lucky saga. Um, good, (0:16:41) Kev: you know, good, uh, obviously good times. A lot of work every (0:16:44) Kev: day. Everyone is yelling, because he’s running around (0:16:49) Kev: causing chaos, but we still love him. And, and he, he’s a pretty (0:16:53) Kev: good boy. Like I said, he’s not aggressive or anything like that. (0:16:57) Kev: You know, he’s, he likes to bite because he’s playful or whatever, (0:17:00) Kev: but, um, yeah, he’s a puppy. Yeah. Um, yeah. (0:17:00) Codey: he’s a puppy that’s just puppy behavior classic puppy behavior (0:17:06) Kev: So that is the lucky saga. Um, well, you know, I’ll do it, you (0:17:10) Kev: know, as I look forward to Mark Phillips or whatever, I’ll, I’ll (0:17:14) Kev: bring up news if things happen. Um, but, uh, but yeah. Um, so (0:17:21) Kev: there you go. There, there you go overseas and folks, there, (0:17:23) Kev: there’s your catch up. Um, okay. So aside from that more recent (0:17:24) Codey: What else have you been up to? (0:17:30) Kev: times, um, I talked about it like when we record cause they’d (0:17:36) Kev: just come out. Like I think when, uh, when Al, I think I did (0:17:40) Kev: the episode of Al Marvel Rivals has been on the big ones, the (0:17:42) Codey: Yeah (0:17:43) Kev: Overwatch clone with Marvel stuff. Um, like. Yeah. Yeah. (0:17:46) Codey: That was really fun to listen to because (0:17:50) Codey: You like basically mentioned it and I was like, oh thank goodness that I don’t like games like this (0:17:57) Codey: Because then I don’t have to play it and then you were like, oh no, no (0:17:57) Kev: Yeah. Yeah, the funny thing, the funny thing is we were just talking and just shooting (0:18:00) Codey: Like it’s not what you think he was like, oh no, no, I have to play it (0:18:10) Kev: the breeze before we started recording that episode and I was talking about rivals and (0:18:14) Kev: he mentioned because like the camera thing was like the big thing and he mentioned that (0:18:16) Codey: Yeah! (0:18:18) Kev: and that’s when I was like, I’m going to button this right now so I can save this for the (0:18:22) Kev: show to drop the reveal on. (0:18:25) Codey: Oh, that’s so funny. (0:18:27) Kev: Oh, yeah, I am as best as I can. So there is a weird thing about like being multi-platform (0:18:27) Codey: So yeah, you’re still enjoying it. (0:18:37) Kev: or whatever. So Calvin likes it too, right? So he plays on our PlayStation. I play on (0:18:38) Codey: - Mm-hmm, okay. (0:18:43) Kev: a laptop that I have just so we can both play it or whatever at the same time. And the kicker (0:18:52) Kev: on being PC is I’m not a PC gamer, generally speaking. I can’t do the– (0:18:57) Kev: a mouse and keyboard and all that stuff, right? So I hook up a controller and I play that (0:19:03) Kev: way but I get bodied because there are those insane mouse and keyboard super aiming people. (0:19:11) Kev: And it’s also like you can tell the population skews younger because of course it’s free to (0:19:18) Kev: play so all the teenagers and kids and it’s Marvel, right? They’re hopping on. So they (0:19:23) Kev: They get a lot more practice time than say I do. (0:19:27) Kev: I get bodied. I’m trying my best. I try to focus or whatever, but it can be rough. (0:19:34) Kev: It can be a bit bumpy at times. I won’t lie, but yeah, it’s good stuff. (0:19:40) Kev: And we actually on the end of the first, they call it season zero, whatever the first battle pass, yada, yada. (0:19:48) Kev: So then there’s new content probably in the next week or two coming out, including the Fantastic Four. (0:19:56) Kev: And so, yeah. (0:19:57) Kev: Good, more exciting stuff to look forward to. (0:20:01) Kev: I’m always down for that. (0:20:03) Kev: But yeah, Marvel Rival continues to be a joy in the curse at times. (0:20:07) Kev: But but that that is it is what it is. (0:20:12) Codey: - Are you still playing Spider-Man? (0:20:13) Kev: Let’s see. (0:20:14) Kev: Um, so I play not Spider-Man is hard. (0:20:18) Kev: I’m not going to lie. (0:20:19) Kev: Spider-Man is really hard to play (0:20:19) Codey: Okay. (0:20:21) Kev: because he plays just like the PlayStation Spider-Man games. (0:20:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:20:25) Kev: but in this context, it’s real. (0:20:28) Kev: I struggle with him, and in fact, when I see Spider-Man players, I’m scared, because I know I’m a good player. (0:20:35) Kev: But, let’s see, my go-tos, I think after all this time, like, did you watch Spider-Verse, the first one into the Spider-Verse? (0:20:45) Codey: - Yes. (0:20:46) Kev: Okay, so Penny Parker, the anime one with the robot, the anime Spider-Verse, she’s in this game. (0:20:50) Codey: - Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:20:52) Kev: Um, yeah, she’s a little older, she’s more like, I think college age, I think. (0:20:57) Kev: It’s just, but she still has a robot. (0:20:59) Kev: I play her, she’s fun. (0:21:01) Kev: Um, she’s, she sets up like a little tower that shoots out spider robots and (0:21:05) Kev: mines and stuff, and so you kind of, you’re, you kind of set up an area where (0:21:09) Kev: you defend, um, that’s what she’s good at. (0:21:11) Kev: Um, so she’s my go-to tank, um, for healer, Jeff the Landshark, I don’t know. (0:21:17) Kev: Have you ever seen Jeff Landshark? (0:21:18) Codey: No. (0:21:19) Kev: Um, he, he, oh my gosh. (0:21:22) Kev: Okay. (0:21:22) Kev: So just hold on, let me send you a picture. (0:21:22) Codey: Okay, you’re fine. You could just say like, I’m sure that everyone, every listener probably knows what you’re talking about. So. (0:21:27) Kev: No, you see, here’s the thing. (0:21:31) Kev: No, here’s the thing, Jeff the Landshark in one of the freaks, (0:21:35) Kev: the deep butt pics that no one on Earth knows. (0:21:36) Codey: Oh, okay. (0:21:38) Kev: [LAUGH] Yeah, but Jeff the Landshark, okay, he’s basically a puppy, (0:21:44) Kev: but he’s a shark with legs, he doesn’t talk or anything. (0:21:49) Kev: And he just swims around and or like he can do the shark thing with the fin sick and (0:21:55) Kev: with the fin sick and now I can move around he heals people (0:21:57) Kev: and he shoots ice balls and all sorts of stuff (0:22:00) Kev: he’s fairly straight forward but he’s pretty satisfying (0:22:04) Kev: so he’s my go to healer (0:22:06) Codey: a puppy. But he’s a shark. Okay. (0:22:07) Kev: he acts like a puppy he does all the (0:22:10) Kev: yes he’s a shark yeah (0:22:14) Kev: yeah so he’s my go to healer he’s (0:22:17) Kev: yeah and like I said one of the cool things about rival is they weren’t (0:22:21) Kev: afraid to get some really deep cuts weirdo pics (0:22:24) Kev: Um, like Jeff, uh, (0:22:28) Kev: what is this that I do? (0:22:29) Kev: Alright, there we go. (0:22:31) Kev: Okay. Uh, sorry. (0:22:32) Kev: Um, so that’s my go-to healer just because he is pretty easy to use and he’s adorable. (0:22:38) Codey: Okay, he definitely looks like a puppy. (0:22:39) Kev: Um, he is just a puppy, but he’s all shark with legs. (0:22:46) Kev: Um, like, it’s a weird description, but that is exactly what it is. (0:22:50) Kev: Um, and then for my damage person, I picked Squirrel Girl. (0:22:54) Kev: She has squirrels, she shoots acorns with a sl- (0:22:57) Kev: she’s oh you don’t know squirrel girl ah okay again okay no you know what no (0:22:58) Codey: Squirrel girl dude I don’t know much of Marvel I yeah okay (0:23:07) Kev: again squirrel girl is a pretty deep but so her pull power is she can communicate (0:23:13) Kev: with squirrels like she you know she’s athletic or whatever but her superpower (0:23:20) Kev: is she can communicate with squirrels and so she will you know send armies of (0:23:24) Kev: squirrels on people and so on and so forth. (0:23:27) Kev: Um, she is an incredible character, something of a joke character, but also (0:23:33) Kev: played for like straight, incredible, like, like in her first issue, she goes (0:23:39) Kev: up against Dr. (0:23:40) Kev: Doom and takes him down with an army of squirrels. (0:23:42) Kev: Um, and, and just, she’s the best, like funny character, um, and she (0:23:49) Kev: dresses up kind of like a squirrel. (0:23:50) Kev: Um, and she has one on her shoulder at all times. (0:23:54) Kev: Um, but yeah, she, her name, in fact. (0:23:54) Codey: Okay, okay. (0:23:57) Kev: The moniker she’s often used is The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. (0:24:00) Kev: Again, just because she’s so, like, hyperbolic, um, goofy, um… (0:24:06) Codey: I mean, if a squirrel is trying to come at you, they’re going to get you from working (0:24:10) Codey: at the Wildlife Center, like I used to have this one squirrel that would sit on my shoulder. (0:24:11) Kev: Yeah? (0:24:11) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:16) Kev: Yeah. (0:24:17) Codey: But if he decided that he wanted to run all over and like suddenly be on my back and then (0:24:23) Codey: and suddenly be on my leg. (0:24:24) Codey: like he they they can do some crazy things oh you sent me a picture of her okay (0:24:28) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:24:30) Kev: Yep. (0:24:32) Kev: Um, yeah, so she’s great. (0:24:34) Kev: People who know her love her. (0:24:35) Kev: She is, she is a, he is adored. (0:24:38) Kev: Like I said, she’s obviously low-tiered. (0:24:40) Kev: She doesn’t get pushed, like, some, but, um, but she, she’s great. (0:24:44) Kev: Um, so yeah, that’s, that’s Squirrel Girl. (0:24:46) Kev: That’s Marvel Rivals, and those are my three. (0:24:48) Kev: That’s my wacky crew. (0:24:49) Kev: Um, let’s see, aside from Rivals, uh, so I picked up a game, uh, just a couple days ago. (0:24:57) Kev: It’s called Armored Core. (0:24:58) Kev: Are you familiar with this? (0:25:00) Codey: No. (0:25:00) Kev: Okay. (0:25:00) Kev: Uh, are you familiar with, from software? (0:25:02) Codey: No. (0:25:03) Kev: Okay. (0:25:04) Kev: The Elden Ring, people. (0:25:06) Codey: Okay, okay. (0:25:06) Kev: Okay. (0:25:07) Kev: So. (0:25:08) Codey: So you don’t, you like pain. (0:25:10) Codey: You like… (0:25:11) Kev: Yes. (0:25:12) Kev: Yes, I do. (0:25:12) Codey: Okay, okay. (0:25:13) Kev: Okay. (0:25:14) Kev: So you’re familiar with Elden Ring? (0:25:15) Kev: Of course everyone is, right? (0:25:16) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:16) Kev: ‘Cause it’s the biggest game that year, whatever. (0:25:18) Kev: Okay, what if I told you the Elden Ring people said, “What if we, okay, now we wanna do a game, but it’s all robots and mecha?” (0:25:25) Kev: that in that case (0:25:27) Kev: gives you armored core (0:25:30) Kev: so it is a (0:25:32) Kev: it is the same level of polish (0:25:34) Kev: a very like grounded (0:25:36) Kev: you know realistic-ish visual style and whatnot (0:25:40) Kev: the challenge (0:25:42) Kev: I don’t think it’s as hard as Elden Ring (0:25:44) Kev: because Elden Ring is hard (0:25:46) Kev: it’s really hard (0:25:48) Kev: but armored core it’s a different flavor (0:25:50) Kev: because you (0:25:52) Kev: you know you’re controlling a robe alright (0:25:54) Kev: so you switch out parts you can (0:25:57) Kev: think you’re whatnot (0:25:59) Kev: and that’s a big part of the puzzle (0:26:01) Kev: like when you’re given (0:26:03) Kev: a new boss or whatever (0:26:05) Kev: they’ll heavily like hint hint (0:26:07) Kev: use this kind of robot (0:26:09) Kev: because if you’re not (0:26:11) Kev: you’re gonna be in trouble right like (0:26:13) Kev: Pokemon type advantages basically (0:26:15) Kev: so (0:26:17) Kev: there’s a lot of love and attention to detail (0:26:19) Kev: being a robot game you can (0:26:21) Kev: paint your robot however you want (0:26:23) Kev: and I’ll spend a lot of time doing that (0:26:25) Kev: Um, and, and, and. (0:26:28) Kev: It’s very fun. (0:26:29) Kev: Um, like I said, I don’t think anywhere near as hard as Elden Ring, but, uh, still satisfyingly challenging. (0:26:35) Kev: Um, it controls like how I’d want to, the robots will fly, they’ll dash, they’ll, you, you held two weapons. (0:26:41) Kev: You can have double guns or a melee weapon and a gun and missiles, all the, all the good stuff. (0:26:47) Kev: It is, it is very straightforward Mecha. (0:26:50) Kev: Um, so if you’re a fan of that, uh, you know, that’s definitely a thumbs up. (0:26:55) Kev: Okay. (0:26:56) Kev: Uh, that’s a lot from me. (0:26:57) Kev: But now, Cody, tell me, what have you been? (0:26:58) Codey: I have been, um, so I’ve still been playing like, uh, pocket and go, um, go, I am burned (0:27:14) Codey: by because, uh, the shiny work party hat weren’t bull was in, um, in the like new year’s challenge (0:27:26) Codey: or whatever. (0:27:28) Codey: And I still have it, like I’ve been playing every time that there’s an event where you can get this worm bowl and I still have it, like I’ve been playing every time that there’s an event where you can get this worm bowl and I still have it. (0:27:36) Kev: Oh no. (0:27:40) Codey: And I still have it, like I’ve been playing every time that there’s an event where you can get this worm bowl and I still have it, like I’ve been playing every time that there’s an event where you can get this worm bowl. (0:27:54) Codey: I’ve been playing every time that there’s an event where you can get this worm bowl. (0:27:58) Codey: And last year I was so mad about it that I got it tattooed onto my body because I was (0:28:05) Codey: like, if I cannot have a shiny party hat worm bowl in the game, I’m going to have one (0:28:12) Codey: as a tattoo. (0:28:14) Codey: And I’ve had plenty of friends be like, oh, I have one. (0:28:17) Codey: I can trade it to you. (0:28:18) Codey: And I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, I need I’m not going to have any traded until I’ve (0:28:22) Kev: do they not know the story of captain cody in the white wormhole (0:28:24) Codey: caught one on my own. (0:28:28) Codey: and the in the worm bowl. Yeah. Moby worm bowl basically. (0:28:32) Kev: actually I don’t think it’s white it’s like purple but anyways um (0:28:38) Codey: Um yeah, so yeah, it is my white whale. Um still didn’t get (0:28:43) Codey: it. I got to shiny Jigglypuff and I refused to click on the (0:28:47) Kev: Mmm! (0:28:49) Codey: hoot hoot. Um and yeah, but no worm bowl. So that game is now (0:28:56) Codey: dead to me until the next time. (0:28:58) Codey: that there is an event that I care about. (0:28:58) Kev: that’s cruel but no it’ll be back like oh that it so I’m not a fan of go it’s (0:29:04) Codey: I know (0:29:08) Kev: when it came out especially I was not an area that was conducive to it and so in (0:29:14) Kev: my whole lifestyle I’m still not the most conducive to it um excuse me um but (0:29:20) Kev: I do think that the party hats are probably like one of the best things to (0:29:24) Kev: come out of that game, especially if you put it on a ridiculous. (0:29:28) Kev: Those Pokemon like weren’t pull that that’s solid. (0:29:29) Codey: Yeah. (0:29:31) Kev: Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:29:31) Codey: Because the party hat’s almost too big for him. (0:29:35) Codey: It’s clearly about to fall off. (0:29:39) Codey: Yeah, so that has also started a thing. (0:29:42) Codey: I’m going to be meeting with my artist, again, probably (0:29:45) Codey: during spring break. (0:29:47) Codey: They’re going to be back in town. (0:29:48) Codey: And they’re going to add three more bug-type Pokemon (0:29:53) Codey: with party hats on. (0:29:54) Kev: I was about to say a warble tattoo every year until she catches it (0:29:55) Codey: No, no, we have, um, I think we have a Snome, um, with, with the, a party hat on each of (0:30:04) Kev: Oh, no, no, no, no, oh, that’s good. (0:30:07) Codey: its little bumpies, um, and then I want a Shedinja, but I want, um, it, it to be like (0:30:17) Codey: a ghost. (0:30:18) Codey: Um, no, so it’s a ghost, so it’s a ghost Pokemon, but like, I want it to be like ethereal, look (0:30:18) Kev: Okay, is it not already more ghosts than it? (0:30:25) Codey: game. (0:30:25) Kev: Materiel, alright. (0:30:26) Codey: Like I don’t just want it to look like it looks in the game. (0:30:28) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:30:30) Codey: And then I want the party hat to also be ethereal. (0:30:32) Codey: And then the last is, uh, not Sizzlepede, Sizzlepede, um, because it’s so grumpy and (0:30:42) Kev: mmm (0:30:42) Codey: I want it to have a black party hat. (0:30:46) Codey: I need my, my emo phase, yeah, my emo phase that was not a phase needs to be somewhere. (0:30:48) Kev: Oscar the grouch at the party. Oh, that’s that’s it (0:30:55) Codey: They’re presented. (0:30:57) Kev: So (0:30:58) Kev: Oh man, these man pokemon like so many solid bug pokemon. These are all solid picks of course. Um (0:31:05) Kev: she didn’t (0:31:06) Kev: it was like (0:31:08) Kev: And how many years been what 20 years since ruby and sapphire it’s still (0:31:12) Kev: my mind how they came up with that concept first you didn’t Joe and like (0:31:14) Codey: I just love it. As an entomologist, like every time I see a cicada shed, I’m just (0:31:16) Kev: you have to have the extra pokeball oh my it’s so good (0:31:26) Kev: yeah oh my gosh and it’s so good right like and (0:31:27) Codey: like, it’s its own thing. It’s a one hit point. Love it. (0:31:42) Kev: like you know obviously coming from Japan right like the whole cicada thing (0:31:46) Kev: schedules like that’s the bug collecting that’s a way bigger there um it’s genius (0:31:51) Kev: so good man bug Pokemon are so cool yeah I like hair across I like a lice upon (0:31:54) Codey: Correct. Send a scourge. (0:31:59) Kev: I like um like the other one and not that sizzle feed the other no no um not (0:32:13) Kev: no the big one Scolipede Scolipede that’s the one been five yeah that’s a good one (0:32:14) Codey: Oh. I think people know by now that I’m going to talk about bugs at some point in every (0:32:18) Kev: big old purple huge train bug oh I love it welcome to the bug appreciate Pokemon (0:32:24) Kev: appreciation podcast (0:32:31) Kev: that’s fine with that (0:32:34) Codey: pod. Yeah, so I’ve been playing that or I guess I’m not going to be playing that for (0:32:40) Codey: a while. Um, I’ve been playing Slay the Spire. So (0:32:44) Kev: Okay, have you- have you in fact slayed the spire? (0:32:45) Codey: Jeff, I have slayed the spire during the daily climbs. So have (0:32:53) Codey: you ever played this game? Okay. Yeah, so it’s like a card and (0:32:54) Kev: I have not but I am familiar with it’s the cards, right? (0:33:00) Codey: you’re going up a tower and slaying things. And there’s four (0:33:03) Codey: different types of characters that you can play, but one of (0:33:05) Codey: them is unlocked at first. But they have this thing called the (0:33:08) Codey: daily climb every day, which is like a random, like, version of (0:33:12) Codey: the game, but with modifiers. (0:33:14) Codey: So it’s like, Oh, you get this character, but every time you add a card to your deck, (0:33:20) Codey: it adds two more copies of that card and you can’t, you can no longer upgrade your cards (0:33:27) Codey: and you’re cursed, like, so it’s, they just like add all this stuff to it. (0:33:31) Codey: And so it’s kind of like a more difficult version and you have to change your gameplay. (0:33:36) Codey: So I have slayed the spire in the daily climbs, but that doesn’t count for achievements. (0:33:40) Kev: Yeah. (0:33:44) Codey: And I cannot for the life of me, beat this game without a daily climb. (0:33:52) Kev: mmm wow oh well hey I know that I know that feeling and then discuss it because ever present (0:33:54) Codey: So my partner has had to do it for me. (0:34:02) Kev: but i’m i’m still belatruing I actually just unlocked the final difficulty just yesterday (0:34:04) Codey: -Oh, yeah. (0:34:08) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:08) Kev: um so i’m i’m there but um I i get it i’m i’m trying to climb my own spire verbally (0:34:16) Codey: Yeah, I’ve, I’ve not quite gotten to Bellatro yet, but that’s because I’ve, I recognize (0:34:22) Codey: based on my love of Slay the Spire that Bellatro would take over my life. So. (0:34:25) Kev: That is correct that I look I look at sleigh as fire and I can see it’s it’s one-to-one (0:34:32) Codey: Yep. (0:34:32) Kev: It’s just a different flavor, but it’s the same concept your cards, and you’re you’re doing your runs with cards (0:34:36) Codey: Yeah. (0:34:40) Kev: Yeah (0:34:41) Kev: That’s good. Good stuff (0:34:44) Codey: - Yep. (0:34:46) Codey: And then I’m still playing Honeygrove, (0:34:48) Codey: still really liked that game. (0:34:51) Codey: Still play it every day, multiple times a day. (0:34:54) Codey: And also I have now begun the final year of my PhD. (0:35:01) Codey: I’m gonna be a bug doctor soon. (0:35:04) Kev: Oh, well, congrats. Okay, congrats. So, uh, not for a second, cause I thought you were talking about Honeygrove, but, um, but, um, uh, okay, so, so I have a friend who’s also been PhDing for a long time now, he’s had unfortunate professors and issues, so it’s dragged on for a long time. (0:35:14) Codey: Oh, yeah, sorry. Switch. (0:35:32) Kev: Um, now you say this. (0:35:34) Kev: Are you like, you know for a fact, that like, it is gonna be this year? (0:35:39) Codey: Okay, well, yeah, so basically, like, I, I set it at this year for this to be like the (0:35:40) Kev: I, I said, I don’t mean to sound threatening, but… (0:35:44) Kev: Uh, don’t re– (0:35:46) Kev: Look, oh– (0:35:53) Codey: last, like, possible time for my timeline. (0:35:59) Codey: Um, I mean, theoretically, like, stuff happens, but I do not have any more field work. (0:36:06) Codey: All I have to do is finish writing one of my chapters. (0:36:09) Codey: I’ve already published one of them in a journal and so that will just literally get like stapled into my dissertation as one of my chapters and I don’t have to look at that again. (0:36:19) Codey: This other chapter that I’m about to publish will be the same thing. So it’ll just be two chapters that my committee can’t say anything about because they’re already published. (0:36:26) Kev: Hmm, yeah, I look at that that’s the way to do it (0:36:29) Codey: So they’ll basically just be like, they’ll just be like, oh, yep, you did that. (0:36:35) Codey: like yep I did um so they’ll only have to (0:36:39) Codey: they can talk about um and it’s just can I get the stuff done in the time that I have and the (0:36:46) Codey: answer is yes um I will try and defend in the summer but um that’s I actually didn’t ever plan (0:36:55) Codey: to defend in the summer but I might be able to um but we’ll see I mean I don’t have to um I have (0:37:05) Codey: guaranteed funding for the rest of the year. (0:37:08) Kev: Oh, that’s great. (0:37:09) Kev: Well, oh, that that’s huge relief then. (0:37:09) Codey: Yeah, PhDs man, they’re great. Well, I guess PhDs in the life sciences, that’s the standard is that you get paid and you get tuition remissions so you don’t have to pay your tuition. (0:37:10) Kev: All right. (0:37:11) Kev: Well, Hey, congrats on that. (0:37:26) Kev: you know like yeah yeah for sure oh absolutely because I have a friend who I don’t think that (0:37:26) Codey: I have health insurance, like all of that stuff. So it’s not true everywhere. (0:37:36) Kev: is the case for him sadly um man like such nonsense like the way to get there the the road to it like (0:37:36) Codey: Yeah. (0:37:46) Kev: I you know I have my undergraduate degree right so like I it it boggles my mind because you know (0:37:54) Kev: up so pretty much up. (0:37:56) Kev: undergraduate it’s very clear like okay here your classes do them all satisfy (0:38:00) Kev: the requirements you get your thing right but once you go past especially the (0:38:06) Kev: PhD it’s it’s all just so nebulous question your checklist is question or (0:38:12) Kev: question your requirements are satisfied when the your professors say they are oh (0:38:20) Codey: Yeah. It’s basically like choose your own adventure. It’s like, undergrads degrees are (0:38:20) Kev: it’s why I don’t I don’t know how yeah man (0:38:26) Kev: I guess (0:38:31) Codey: basically like, okay, here is the proper formula, here you go, you need to have this done this done (0:38:38) Codey: this done, etc, etc. And then for a graduate degree, they’re basically like, here are some (0:38:44) Codey: courses that you need done, but you’ll get these done in the first two years of your degree. (0:38:50) Codey: It’s kind of a big old shrug. It depends on your funding. It depends on your advisors. It depends (0:38:55) Codey: on whatever. And if you have bad advisors, like you said your friend has had, they can keep you (0:39:00) Kev: Yeah. Oh. (0:39:03) Codey: forever. Like one of my friends, one of my friends, her advisor like would not let her defend even (0:39:11) Codey: though she was done, like she’s she was long done, because the advisor could just pay her (0:39:17) Codey: less money than having to like get a post. (0:39:20) Codey: I’m going to go to the postdoc. To do all that work. Yep. (0:39:21) Kev: right right like that’s one that’s one aspect that’s one aspect of it that just seems so grimy (0:39:28) Kev: like there’s clearly an element of very cheap labor for your advisory professors right like (0:39:37) Kev: I mean not yours specifically but like the the system is set up where that can be exploited (0:39:42) Kev: very easily and wow it’s oh academia oh oh (0:39:50) Codey: Yeah, I’m blessed in that, like with the advisors that I have, (0:39:51) Kev: uh-huh (0:39:54) Codey: the advisor that I have now, (0:39:56) Codey: like he doesn’t really do that kind of stuff, (0:39:58) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:39:58) Codey: but a lot of advisors do, they’ll just be like, (0:40:00) Codey: okay, well, I’m paying for your stuff. (0:40:02) Codey: And because of that, like you also have to help me (0:40:05) Codey: with these other projects. (0:40:06) Codey: So at this one point in the year, (0:40:09) Codey: so you have to drop everything (0:40:11) Codey: and like do this research with me, (0:40:12) Codey: even though it’s not gonna be in your dissertation. (0:40:16) Kev: It is to some degree a hostage situation, isn’t it? (0:40:17) Codey: like. (0:40:20) Codey: Kind of, yeah, and then it’s worse if you’re an international student because (0:40:22) Kev: Haha, that’s uh, huh. (0:40:26) Kev: Oh, oh that sounds terrifying, oh gosh. (0:40:26) Codey: then you have like less protections and yeah. Which is why some of us, some universities (0:40:34) Codey: have unionized and we at my university just recently submitted our letter to the Dean, (0:40:43) Codey: Dean, President, President of the university that we intend to unionize, so thank yous. (0:40:48) Kev: Hey, good for you. That’s great. (0:40:50) Codey: I think he’s crossed there because last time they did this, they threatened people. So (0:40:57) Kev: Oh, oh, fuck. (0:40:57) Codey: they can’t do that. They’re not, that’s illegal, but they did it last time and it didn’t, (0:41:02) Kev: Well, well, I don’t know if you know about strikes in the U.S. (0:41:03) Codey: but we’ll see. Yeah. Oh yeah, we’re gonna, we’re gonna have to do it possibly. (0:41:12) Codey: Hopefully they’ll, they’ll work in good faith and we won’t have to, but we’ll see. (0:41:16) Kev: Oh (0:41:18) Codey: So maybe, maybe. (0:41:20) Codey: Sometime in this year, uh, my, what have I been up to will be striking (0:41:25) Kev: Well, but you know (0:41:27) Codey: because yeah. (0:41:29) Kev: Over on Rainbow Road radio friend. I do a mutual friend Alex. He’s also striking last month. So (0:41:36) Codey: Oh my gosh, we’re just, we’re just rebels. (0:41:38) Kev: Hit him up for some for some tips (0:41:41) Kev: I guess (0:41:43) Kev: Oh (0:41:45) Kev: Oh. (0:41:46) Kev: Oh, labor, academia, good, good times. (0:41:52) Codey: 10 out of 10 would not (0:41:52) Kev: Welcome to the harvest season, where we talk about cozy games. (0:41:56) Kev: Ss, ss, ss, ss, ss, ss, ss, ss, ss. (0:41:57) Codey: We talk about so I mean that’s the joke right is that we play these games where we can live in fantasy worlds where we (0:42:04) Codey: can have a house and (0:42:06) Codey: Afford a house and a and a like all this (0:42:12) Kev: Where’s the unionizing update to research story? (0:42:12) Codey: Because that’s uh, not not reality (0:42:19) Codey: Oh my gosh (0:42:22) Codey: I would love to have a union (0:42:25) Codey: Like storyline in any game like where you just strike that would be (0:42:32) Codey: Amazing. I don’t know how you would incorporate that (0:42:34) Kev: Oh, I mean, like, alright, I’ll give you the relatively low-hanging easy path, the Jojo (0:42:42) Codey: Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah, I could see that. (0:42:43) Kev: route in Stardew, right, like, yeah, I mean, you got, there’s other people working for (0:42:51) Kev: Jojo already, so, you know, there’s, oh, oh no, I like this, this Spandfic I’m writing, (0:42:58) Kev: oh no, no. (0:42:58) Codey: oh no don’t don’t say this out loud he might listen and then haunted chocolatier will be even (0:43:04) Codey: more delayed because he’ll be like hey wait a minute that’s a great idea (0:43:10) Kev: Unless the ghosts in the Chocolatier, you mean, nice. (0:43:14) Codey: maybe he adds it into that game and stuff uh so yeah that is what we’ve been up to (0:43:18) Kev: Hmm. (0:43:21) Kev: Well, that’s a lot. Happy new- (0:43:23) Kev: Look guys, it’s a new year. There’s been a lot going on. (0:43:25) Codey: It is. It is. We’re. (0:43:28) Codey: We’re here for it. OK, so first we have some game releases. (0:43:34) Codey: So the first one in the list is Harvest Hills. (0:43:39) Codey: So this game released on the 15th of January and or will release. (0:43:46) Codey: Sorry, that’s the future. (0:43:50) Codey: Quote, thanks to the feedback from two major demo updates, (0:43:53) Codey: I’ve been able to fine tune game mechanics and make the experience even better. (0:43:57) Codey: The full game now features… (0:43:58) Codey: …an updated system for growing vegetables and fruits… (0:44:01) Codey: …an improved fertilizing system… (0:44:03) Codey: …a refined leveling system… (0:44:05) Codey: …a brand new product selling system… (0:44:07) Codey: …and more crops, vegetables… (0:44:09) Codey: …vegetables, fruit trees, livestock and homemade product machines. (0:44:15) Codey: My only comment about this is I looked at it and I need more information about those beehives. (0:44:23) Codey: They look… (0:44:23) Kev: - So. (0:44:24) Codey: They look legit. (0:44:26) Codey: Like those look like the standard Langstra Thives. (0:44:28) Codey: And we always paint them each frame or not each frame each body of the hive is always colored in really ridiculous colors and they did that. (0:44:40) Kev: Is that done intentionally or is that done just for giggles? (0:44:46) Codey: I don’t remember so I know that we paint them because you want there to you don’t want the heat like if it’s hot out you don’t want the heat of outside to like cook the hive. (0:44:59) Kev: Oh, oh. Yeah. Sure, sure. (0:44:59) Codey: So you always want it to be light colors but yeah on top of it being like colors I mean you can just have it be fun colors. (0:45:09) Codey: Sometimes you can like make it a color per hot like a certain color per hive or whatever but we always just painted them fun colors so I need. (0:45:18) Kev: Wow. So I’m, I’m looking at the trailer and stuff like my, okay. (0:45:24) Kev: It is more management style, like zoo tycoon, you know, (0:45:29) Kev: floating cam sort of thing, as opposed to starting where you can fill in the (0:45:32) Kev: character, but there’s a character who follows your like air where you click. (0:45:35) Kev: And he runs over there and then does the activity, which are kind of fun. (0:45:38) Kev: I think the coolest thing about here is the visual style. (0:45:41) Kev: Cause it’s almost like origami paper, like three heavy polygonal. (0:45:46) Kev: Um, so I’m like the cows almost look like (0:45:46) Codey: - Mm-hmm, yeah. (0:45:48) Kev: they’re made of origami or a box or something, um, which is charming. Um, so hey, but hey, good, (0:45:56) Kev: yeah, it looks decent enough. Um, I like those cows and you go pretty beehives. That is surprising. (0:46:02) Kev: We don’t have those before, but, um, there you go. January 15th, experience it yourself, (0:46:04) Codey: I like those cows. (0:46:06) Kev: the world of box shaped cows and fun colors. (0:46:13) Codey: So next on our list is Chill Town. (0:46:16) Codey: Um, they have a new announcement on Steam. (0:46:20) Codey: Um, and the gist of it is this just that the project slowed down because of money (0:46:25) Codey: issues, um, and they’re pretty transparent in there about what they are and where (0:46:30) Codey: the money is going and all of that, except for they can’t like mention (0:46:35) Codey: specifics because of confidentiality agreements, but, um, if you’re curious, (0:46:41) Codey: I recommend going and looking at that. (0:46:43) Codey: The biggest thing out of it, other than the fact that it was delayed, is, or is being slowed down, is that the 1.0, they expect it to come out this year, and that when the 1.0 comes out, it will have a museum system, it will have additional quest lines, different seasons and festivals, and clearly bug fixes and gameplay improvements from what is on the early access. (0:47:11) Kev: Uh, all right, so well, I mean, hey, first of all, props to like game development is so hard, right? (0:47:17) Kev: It’s such a brutal space to be quite frank. So yeah, condolences. But they they’re being, um, very, uh, (0:47:23) Kev: Up front and clear about it. Um, so, you know off to them and best of luck, like hopefully they are still on track, right? (0:47:31) Kev: this is one of the parts of early access as much as I uh, (0:47:36)

Al and Kevin discuss their most anticipated games of 2025 Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:22: What Have We Been Up To 00:27:27: What We Are Looking Forward To In 2025 00:58:05: Outro Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to the first episode of the harvest season of 2025. My name is Al. (0:00:38) Kev: Wow, I’m Kevin and hmm. Did you smell that new 2025 smell that New Year’s? No (0:00:46) Al: It smells very much like 2024. We are recording this episode quite early. Four weeks early, (0:00:56) Kev: Yeah, something like that yeah, we broke a favor no (0:00:56) Al: three weeks early three weeks early three weeks early so uh (0:01:01) Al: so yeah who knows what the world will be like in three and a half weeks (0:01:06) Kev: Oh, and boy! (0:01:08) Kev: Oh, gosh, that, you know, that was a time that could have been a “haha” joke, you know, that’s a serious threat these days. (0:01:14) Al: So obviously, we will not have any news, any news that we’ve missed over the last two weeks (0:01:15) Kev: Oh, no! (0:01:24) Al: will be in the next episode. We’ll probably do a news catch-up episode. But yeah, we’re (0:01:30) Kev: Yep. So, you know, very. (0:01:31) Al: going to talk about our exciting, what we’re looking forward to for this year, our most (0:01:37) Al: anticipated games of 2025. (0:01:40) Kev: I mean, surely, you know, chocolate, or haunted chocolatier, which undoubtedly will have the release date by this point, because we’re not recording it early. (0:01:51) Kev: But yes, no. 2025, look at-looking. (0:01:53) Al: I mean, considering he just said that he hasn’t worked on it at all in the last year, (0:02:02) Kev: Yeah (0:02:03) Kev: Yeah (0:02:03) Al: basically, I don’t think that’s the case. (0:02:04) Kev: Yeah (0:02:06) Kev: Those screenshots were doctored (0:02:09) Kev: Yeah, no probably not but uh, but hey things to look forward to 2025 because boy do we need to find those especially out here in the (0:02:19) Al: So we’re going to talk about that, but first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:28) Kev: Okay, so all right since we already broke (0:02:32) Kev: All in um, I mean I’ve been playing a lot of the usual Marvel snap is it’s very busy right now (0:02:38) Kev: There’s a lot going on Marvel snap. I’m playing on its new season (0:02:43) Kev: I’m having fun with it (0:02:44) Al: Of course, when this comes out, it will be nearly time for another new season. (0:02:48) Kev: Probably actually the new season will be out but it’s funny though because (0:02:50) Al: No, because this is releasing on the 1st of January, so it will be another couple of days. (0:02:55) Kev: You’re right, you’re right. Okay. Well almost yeah (0:02:57) Kev: well the end of uh almost the end of that season well either way i’m having fun (0:03:02) Kev: at the start of the season I can’t say about future kevin who he’s out of my mind probably (0:03:07) Kev: um but um honestly that goes hand in hand with uh uh what i’ve really been up to uh because the (0:03:17) Kev: marvel snap season for december is a crossover season with marvel rivals which at the time of (0:03:24) Kev: recording just brought the kids to be here the day before yesterday it’s been a little more than 24 (0:03:29) Kev: hours. (0:03:32) Kev: It’s just Overwatch, but with Marvel, it is just Overwatch, and original Overwatch, (0:03:44) Kev: so I played Overwatch when it first came out in 2016, almost 10 years ago, which is wild, (0:03:50) Kev: 8 years at this point I guess, and I loved Overwatch, I adored it, I played so much Overwatch, (0:03:58) Kev: And then they basically ruined it. (0:04:02) Kev: It was two things. I mean, even before Overwatch 2, (0:04:06) Kev: they, the way they updated and patch things and balance things or whatever, (0:04:14) Kev: they started gearing it very much towards like high level competitive tournament stuff or whatever. (0:04:21) Kev: So they reworked a lot of characters and just basically they ruined a lot of it for me. (0:04:25) Kev: It was just nowhere near as fun when I dropped out. (0:04:30) Kev: which I can’t remember. (0:04:32) Kev: Pre-COVID I think when I finally kind of dropped it, but yeah. (0:04:35) Kev: And then Overwatch 2 came out, which was great because they just– (0:04:40) Kev: here’s the secret, Al, it really was just more Overwatch. (0:04:44) Kev: It was not Overwatch 2. (0:04:46) Kev: It was just the same thing, except they made it even worse (0:04:49) Kev: because I don’t think all the characters were free. (0:04:54) Kev: They changed it from 6v6 to 5v5 and just all sorts of nonsense. (0:05:02) Kev: It’s so– embarrassingly so, I would say. (0:05:06) Kev: Actually, just like the week before Rivals dropped, (0:05:08) Kev: Overwatch 2 did a mode called Overwatch Origins or something. (0:05:11) Kev: I don’t remember. (0:05:12) Kev: Basically, they had a mode where everything (0:05:15) Kev: was set back to the original Overwatch cast and abilities (0:05:19) Kev: and balances and stuff like that, which is really funny. (0:05:22) Kev: They were trying to capture that magic again (0:05:24) Kev: because Rivals was right around the corner. (0:05:28) Kev: But it doesn’t matter because Rivals is here (0:05:32) Kev: and die now. (0:05:34) Kev: So yeah, Mar– (0:05:35) Kev: OK. (0:05:37) Kev: First of all, Marvel Rivals, very stylistic. (0:05:41) Kev: It’s made by NetEase, a Chinese company. (0:05:43) Kev: They have that, what I call Chinese anime aesthetic, (0:05:47) Kev: like ancient impact and stuff. (0:05:49) Kev: Here’s this very edgy, pointy, and stylistic. (0:05:52) Kev: I like it myself. (0:05:55) Kev: But they also have– (0:05:56) Kev: I counted them where, I believe, 29 characters (0:05:59) Kev: at launch, which is insane. (0:06:02) Kev: Then when Overwatch 1 shut down, just at launch, which is wild. (0:06:07) Kev: So we have a good, healthy pick. (0:06:10) Kev: I’ve been trying to play different characters, (0:06:12) Kev: but there’s so many of them. (0:06:15) Kev: There’s– I mean, I like Squirrel Girl a lot. (0:06:19) Kev: She’s like the first one I picked. (0:06:20) Kev: And I think she still might be my favorite. (0:06:22) Kev: Penny Parker with her robot is pretty fun. (0:06:25) Kev: Captain America is really fun. (0:06:27) Kev: His shield just reflects everything. (0:06:29) Kev: I just stand there and let things hit the shield. (0:06:32) Kev: I’m contributing, yeah. (0:06:35) Kev: Hulk is fun. (0:06:37) Kev: Some characters are really hard. (0:06:39) Kev: OK, so Spider-Man played just like Spider-Man (0:06:42) Kev: from the PS4 or 5 games. (0:06:44) Kev: He has a swing. (0:06:45) Kev: He punches. (0:06:46) Kev: He does the web shoot. (0:06:47) Kev: His movement feels just like the PS5 version. (0:06:52) Kev: But that also makes him insanely difficult (0:06:54) Kev: because it’s such a chaotic game. (0:06:56) Kev: So you have to be very precise with Spider-Man. (0:07:00) Kev: and you’re trying to hit other, you know, actual… (0:07:02) Kev: players and such um it’s uh yeah it’s it’s uh it’s great great fun so you’ve never played overwatch (0:07:12) Al: I have not. I’m not a big first person game of any sort kind of person. Like, I’m struggling (0:07:18) Kev: - Mm-hmm. (0:07:19) Kev: - Okay. (0:07:20) Al: to think of any first person game that I actively enjoyed, whether it’s a shooter or anything (0:07:22) Kev: - Yeah. (0:07:24) Kev: - Short. (0:07:26) Al: else. I’m not a huge fan of the perspective, because I think the thing is that you’d think, (0:07:27) Kev: - Short. (0:07:33) Al: oh, well, first person should be the most realistic thing, right? But the problem is (0:07:38) Al: that your screen is not as wide as your (0:07:42) Al: peripheral vision is so I just feel like and this happens in a lot of games (0:07:43) Kev: Yeah, oh, that’s a good point (0:07:46) Al: with movable cameras in that I just feel almost claustrophobic is obviously (0:07:47) Kev: Uh-huh (0:07:51) Al: not a phobia but it’s that sort of idea of like I feel hemmed in and I can’t see (0:07:52) Kev: Yeah (0:07:54) Kev: I get it right yet (0:07:57) Kev: It feels busy. Yeah, I totally can get that. I’m generally not a first-person shooter person either (0:08:03) Kev: I did pick it up for overwatch and whatnot, but you know, here’s here’s the secret out. Here’s a surprise (0:08:09) Kev: Marvel Rivals is not first-person (0:08:11) Al: Oh, it’s not! (0:08:13) Kev: It’s it’s you you hold the back third-person camera. You see your full character when playing (0:08:19) Kev: So as you say you do have a much wider (0:08:23) Kev: Like scope you like how much you can see at once it is my yeah (0:08:26) Al: Oh, yeah. (0:08:29) Kev: So the camera is is focused on you like you’re always centered on it and whatnot (0:08:35) Al: Is Overwatch like this as well? (0:08:37) Kev: No, it is not (0:08:38) Al: Is Overwatch first person? (0:08:39) Kev: Overwatch is first-person. Yes, so you’re not you’re not (0:08:40) Al: Okay, so I’m not so I’m not just making I’m not just making because because people are (0:08:43) Kev: No [LAUGH] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I know, yes, because you’re not crazy, no, right? (0:08:44) Al: just saying this is just and you did this exactly. (0:08:46) Al: It’s Overwatch, but Marvel. (0:08:48) Al: So so I’m not going crazy. (0:08:50) Al: I was thinking if it’s Overwatch like Marvel, that would mean it was first person, but it’s (0:08:54) Al: not. (0:08:55) Al: Okay, fine. (0:08:56) Al: I was like, have I just miss on miss remembered this game for like, what, 10 years? (0:09:02) Al: Is that how long since the first one came out? (0:09:04) Kev: No, yes, no, no, no, you are correct and but yeah, here’s like, that’s a big thing, right? (0:09:10) Al: Not 10 years, eight years. (0:09:11) Kev: And yeah, eight years almost ten years, but. (0:09:13) Al: 2016 that year. (0:09:13) Kev: Well, okay. And that’s a big thing because I mean, first of all, like you said, the whole camera thing, like, yeah, I can understand. And so obviously that improves that, especially like I couldn’t imagine playing that as Spider-Man, like being first person while swinging around and fly. (0:09:31) Al: No, no, I’d feel sick. (0:09:32) Kev: Oh my gosh. That would be insane. That would be unplayable. So it works well. They can do stuff like that, right? (0:09:41) Kev: And furthermore, I think (0:09:43) Kev: Because much like overwatch one of the (0:09:50) Kev: Foundations let’s say of the game the pillars is cosmetics right like different skins and emotes and so on and so forth, right? (0:09:56) Kev: so (0:09:57) Kev: When overwatch you get a cool skin well, you can’t see it most of them (0:10:01) Kev: You don’t see it when you’re actually playing the game, right? You see like the characters hand maybe but and the death camera (0:10:06) Kev: I guess but here you can actually see your costumes the whole time when you’re playing the game, which is you know, very nice (0:10:14) Kev: And so and actually on that note (0:10:17) Kev: monetization like they were very clear and (0:10:21) Kev: Transparent about it. They dropped the link a blog like actually two days before the game came out (0:10:25) Kev: we didn’t actually know what it was gonna look so right then but (0:10:29) Kev: Two things they were very adamant and clear about one the game is free to play which overwatch (0:10:34) Kev: original was not I don’t know about overwatch - but Marvel rivals is completely free to play and download and play and (0:10:40) Kev: and furthermore, every character is free to play. (0:10:43) Kev: Like I said, Overwatch, I believe that is not the case anymore. (0:10:46) Kev: In Overwatch 2, you have to buy characters or whatever. (0:10:49) Kev: But here, nope, you can pick whatever character you like. (0:10:52) Kev: They have a Season Pass, Battle Pass thing. (0:10:55) Kev: They have bundles that they call them, (0:10:58) Kev: where you can buy a skin and an emote and an animation. (0:11:01) Kev: All sorts of different things, it’s all grouped up together, right? (0:11:05) Kev: And that’s how they’re going to focus on the monetization. (0:11:08) Kev: It’s all going to be cosmetics, which is fantastic. (0:11:12) Al: And so this game is free to play, and you can play all the characters, and it’s in third (0:11:13) Kev: It is free to play, yep. (0:11:17) Kev: That’s correct. (0:11:18) Al: person, and it’s characters I like. (0:11:20) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. (0:11:22) Al: Damn it. (0:11:23) Kev: Yes, I did it, score. (0:11:26) Al: And it’s on Steam, presumably, so I can play it on Steam Deck. (0:11:26) Kev: It is on Steam, PS5, and Xbox, whatever the current one is, I’ve lost track. (0:11:32) Al: Is it cross-play? (0:11:34) Kev: Okay, actually, I think they did a very fair way of approaching that. (0:11:38) Kev: It is cross-play, if you’re playing casual matches. (0:11:41) Kev: if you’re just doing quick play. (0:11:43) Kev: It is cross play and I see that all the time if you’re playing ranked. (0:11:48) Al: what about cross save (0:11:50) Kev: I think it is cross save. (0:11:52) Kev: I haven’t looked too hard into that but that probably should be I think so. (0:11:53) Al: so if I want to if I want to start it on my steam deck and then go on to my ps5 (0:11:59) Al: presumably I can keep any settings I have (0:12:01) Kev: I I yeah, I don’t I don’t have that hard information in front of me, but I would wager that’s the case. (0:12:10) Kev: But yeah, so if you play ranked, it’s uh, yeah, I know right. (0:12:13) Kev: They’re answering all the questions correctly. (0:12:16) Kev: If you, uh, play, um, if you play ranked, you, you just play with (0:12:20) Kev: people on the same systems or whatever you’re on, which seems fair. (0:12:23) Kev: Yeah, that’s, that’s fine. (0:12:24) Kev: Um, but you can totally play cross play with other folks on slack or whatever. (0:12:28) Kev: Um, so yeah, all right. (0:12:30) Kev: There you go. (0:12:31) Kev: Al’s on board. (0:12:32) Kev: You people should try it too. (0:12:33) Al: Oh, my word, forty seven gigabytes. (0:12:37) Kev: It’s, it’s a beefy boy. (0:12:38) Al: Oh, I literally don’t have enough space on my steam deck. (0:12:39) Kev: Um, wait, 40. (0:12:43) Al: Forty seven, I’m seeing forty seven is what it’s saying on Steam. (0:12:43) Kev: seven? Really? Oh. Good times. Good times. Um, but yeah, it’s, I can’t recommend it enough. (0:12:47) Al: Forty seven gigabytes. (0:12:48) Al: I need to uninstall something or get a bigger SD card. (0:12:52) Al: Because I have forty three gigabytes free. (0:12:59) Kev: It’s, it’s fun. It’s got lots of different styles of play. Groot builds walls. He’s fun. (0:13:06) Kev: Um, Iron Man is always flying. He’s just shoots from the air. He is always lying. Like a little, (0:13:11) Kev: I don’t think he can actually run. (0:13:14) Kev: Loki creates duplicates, so on and so forth. It’s good fun. (0:13:18) Al: this feels like a game that I’m going to stick on my PS5 and use, because I am one of those suckers (0:13:25) Al: that has a PS Portal. So it feels like I’m going to stick it on my PS5, use my PS Portal, (0:13:26) Kev: There you go. (0:13:32) Al: rather than trying to fit it on my Steam tech, which is full to the brim of different games. (0:13:38) Al: Whereas my PS5 currently, I have been playing Astro Bot on it just the last few games. They’ve (0:13:45) Al: they’ve added some the like speed as. (0:13:48) Al: Speed run levels, so I’ve been doing them and I’ve just about to once I’ve finished (0:13:54) Al: playing Zelda, which I will have done by the time this episode comes out, (0:13:57) Al: but I’m not going to talk about that because I’m talking about that. (0:13:59) Al: In the second episode that I’m recording today, just a little behind the scenes. (0:14:00) Kev: that is releasing that is releasing before this episode so you’ve already (0:14:07) Al: March before, three weeks before, I will, I’m going to once I finish Zelda, I’m going to start. (0:14:09) Kev: so you’ve already talked about it actually (0:14:18) Al: Hopefully finish before the end of the year, Sonic Shadows. Sonic Shadow generations. (0:14:24) Kev: Oh I gotta get into that too. Generations, yeah. Oh man I gotta get to that too. (0:14:27) Al: Yeah, because you finished it, haven’t you? (0:14:29) Kev: Uh, no, I finished Sonic, uh, uh, Frontiers, the, the, the open world one. (0:14:33) Al: Oh, I thought you said you finish it, January. I thought you said something about that. (0:14:36) Kev: Oh, I put, uh, original, Sonic Generations, the original Sonic, mm-mm, no, no, I’ve not (0:14:38) Al: No, no, no, no, no. I’m sure I saw you saying something about Shadow. (0:14:42) Al: Did I just misread what you said? (0:14:43) Kev: gotten, maybe, because I finished Sonic Frontiers, but not, uh, I’ve not touched Shadow Generations (0:14:48) Kev: yet, um, I, I actually do have it, it is ready to open, and as soon as I… (0:14:54) Kev: probably finish up the, well, we’ll see, I don’t know, because Marvel Rivals is eating (0:14:57) Kev: my life right now, so at some point I will get to it. Um, uh, going back to, dude, I just posted, (0:15:05) Kev: uh, in the chat here, uh, a Penny Arcade comic, you gotta see it, it’s about playing Marvel (0:15:09) Kev: Rivals on the Steam Deck, just like you were talking about, good times. Um, but yeah, that’s, (0:15:14) Kev: uh, Marvel Rivals, I’m glad I sold Al on it, sick, um, big thumbs up, I’m sure it’s even better by (0:15:21) Kev: by the time this actually comes out. (0:15:21) Al: Oh, well, what I’m going to talk about. Obviously, I’ve also been playing, (0:15:24) Kev: what do you have been up to, Al? (0:15:26) Kev: other than (0:15:30) Kev: yes, other than the Zelda (0:15:32) Kev: which you’ve already talked about (0:15:33) Al: yeah, I’ve also been playing Snap, but I think I’m kind of wrapping up on that for just now, (0:15:39) Al: because I’m just getting a bit tired. I’ve been playing it every single day (0:15:43) Al: a lot, because, I mean, you know, you’ve seen the leaderboard on there. I don’t stop. (0:15:47) Kev: I you you do you I play daily but yeah you curve saw me on the leaderboard (0:15:52) Al: I would love to see, what do I play? I play it on my Mac. I don’t think it has, like, (0:15:54) Kev: every every week you do play good (0:16:00) Al: time, amount of time you’ve played on that. But, like, yeah, the amount of time I put in is just (0:16:07) Al: stupid. Like, I would be playing it for, like, what, two to three hours every single day, (0:16:16) Kev: That’s not, ha ha ha ha ha ha. (0:16:16) Al: two to three hours minimum every single day for about six months. (0:16:21) Kev: Ahhhhhh. (0:16:21) Al: I think I’m rolling back on that a little bit, just because I want to play some other things, (0:16:25) Kev: I don’t, weren’t you so high? (0:16:29) Kev: Yeah, until they bring you back in. (0:16:30) Al: and I’m just getting a little bit tired. They will, of course, because this happened last (0:16:32) Kev: It’s the ebb and flow. (0:16:35) Al: time as well. I played it from launch for a good nine months or something like that, (0:16:41) Al: and then I got tired again, and stopped for a while, and then got back into it six months ago. (0:16:48) Al: I’m sure it will get me back in again, and I’m sure I’ll be annoyed that I… (0:16:51) Al: I took the break because obviously I will be so far behind with the cards, but… (0:16:55) Kev: Well, hopefully they’ll have fixed it by then. (0:16:59) Al: We’ll see. We’ll see. (0:17:00) Kev: We’ll see. (0:17:01) Kev: Probably not. (0:17:01) Kev: It’ll probably take them a minute to fix it. (0:17:04) Al: And I’ve been playing Pocket as well, just my regular daily Pocket. (0:17:09) Al: I’m managing to actually do that as an actual how people do daily games, right? (0:17:13) Al: Of putting like 15 minutes into it a day. (0:17:18) Al: Crazy, I know. I don’t do that. (0:17:18) Kev: I don’t blame you but um well hey pocket no I would just say like I still haven’t got (0:17:19) Al: I put my entire game. (0:17:21) Al: gaming time into a game normally when I’m playing it. (0:17:23) Al: But the other thing I’ve been up to recent. Oh, sorry, are you gonna say something? (0:17:34) Kev: into it and like I don’t know something about it it just feels almost uh the more I hear (0:17:41) Kev: about it while not playing it the weirder it sounds to me which like is very much a (0:17:46) Kev: a me thing like I don’t have all the pieces (0:17:48) Kev: in the puzzle but it’s just I don’t get it I still but regardless good for you (0:17:54) Kev: enjoy your wonder pics which I just learned what is today what’s that it’s (0:17:57) Al: I enjoy it, I like collecting things, and this allows me to collect things without battling. (0:18:09) Al: The other thing I’ve been up to, because I will have talked about all the other games (0:18:13) Al: in different episodes, I’m going to talk about I have been watching the TV show Legion. (0:18:19) Kev: Okay, I have not, but I am familiar with it. First of all, who thought of that premise? (0:18:26) Kev: Let’s make a show about Legion, the Professor X’s son. (0:18:28) Al: it’s it’s yeah and it’s funny it’s funny because um that it that’s the entire link (0:18:36) Al: to marvel stuff is legion and minor spoilers for legion but if you know anything about the (0:18:44) Al: character this will not be a spoiler for you shadow king right that is that that’s it (0:18:48) Kev: yeah yeah I actually found out about shadow king just yesterday I don’t remember how I ended up (0:18:55) Kev: it was a wiki hole and somehow I ended up well I don’t know too much about legion to be honest (0:19:00) Kev: but shadow king showing up threw me for a loop i’ll say that um I guess it makes sense because (0:19:05) Kev: he’s a telepath that’s probably the entirety of it um uh I will say um shadow king actually looks (0:19:05) Al: Yeah. (0:19:13) Kev: decent like they did a good job with how it looks. And Aubrey Plaza is sha- (0:19:18) Kev: I’m not okay when I read that. I was like, “Well, she’s possessed.” I know. Yeah. (0:19:20) Al: she’s yeah I don’t want to say too much because there’s some spoilers but yeah she is acting (0:19:26) Al: shadow king for some of it yeah it is she’s fantastic I mean she’s fantastic and everything (0:19:32) Al: I think I have never been disappointed by her and she does but it’s like such a different character (0:19:32) Kev: I was about to say that “yes” in everything. (0:19:39) Al: to other characters that she’s done like I know she does weird characters like that’s her thing (0:19:44) Kev: Yeah, I was about to she’s not her weird because she has the you know that very blasé face and a lot of the characters (0:19:44) Al: she does weird characters yeah no this is (0:19:50) Kev: They run into that, right? (0:19:50) Al: this is very much she turns up the evil rather than the weird right which is what you want from (0:19:54) Kev: That is yeah, yeah, that’s that’s interesting. I can’t remember the last time I saw replaza play, you know evil (0:20:02) Al: properly evil rather than just like accidentally evil. (0:20:03) Kev: but (0:20:06) Kev: Yeah, oh, yeah, yes, okay. Yes, that’s correct (0:20:10) Kev: Or let’s it may be malicious maybe not outright evil, but (0:20:13) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, for sure. (0:20:14) Kev: But yeah, but yeah like a straight evil that’s that is fascinating but hey, but look (0:20:19) Al: Straight evil and nobody said straight. (0:20:22) Kev: Yeah (0:20:24) Kev: She’s um, I mean hey good good. She’s good. She’s a great actress though. Like everyone. I’ve seen her so I’m sure she kills it (0:20:31) Al: Yeah, no, she absolutely does. (0:20:32) Al: She kills, the role is fantastic, but other than, yeah, other than Legion and Shadow (0:20:40) Al: King, every other character is like an original character for the show, which is a little (0:20:44) Kev: Okay, what about not even Charles like cuz that’s (0:20:46) Al: bit weird. (0:20:48) Al: He is, he’s hinted at, but he’s never explicitly said. (0:20:52) Kev: Okay as about this like I I don’t (0:20:54) Kev: Okay, cuz I don’t expect them on screen, but you know that’s kind of a fundamental part of Legion’s characters (0:21:01) Al: So I think they can. (0:21:02) Al: They kind of hint at the fact at some point they hint about his dad being a telepath and they have like a cartoon drawing of who is clearly Charles Xavier, obviously, but it’s just like it’s hinted at, he has never explicitly said. (0:21:17) Kev: Okay (0:21:20) Al: said. (0:21:21) Kev: Okay, so okay (0:21:24) Kev: Two questions one do they ever I’m assuming they don’t have the really stupid Legion here that you see in the comics (0:21:31) Kev: But do they ever make a joke about it? (0:21:32) Al: No, I haven’t, I haven’t noticed anything I like that he has. (0:21:33) Kev: Yeah (0:21:36) Kev: Okay, darn it (0:21:36) Al: I mean, his hair is kind of, yeah, I mean, it kind of sticks up in some way, (0:21:41) Kev: It’s vertical (0:21:42) Al: but it’s not, yeah, it’s not as tall. (0:21:44) Al: It’s nowhere near, it’s like, it looks like a normal, like a possible (0:21:47) Kev: Okay, it’s a plausible hairstyle, okay (0:21:48) Al: realistic hairstyle that is an homage to it, I think they do. (0:21:51) Kev: Okay, so they translated it. Okay. I see. All right. Okay, because yeah, his comics hair is ridiculous. It’s like taller than his head (0:21:57) Al: Yeah. (0:21:59) Al: Yeah. (0:22:02) Kev: Okay, the other question (0:22:04) Kev: how is the (0:22:06) Kev: Multiple personality stuff done right because the bar is now set at moonlight, right? How is how do (0:22:11) Al: So, the interesting thing, so I’m finished season two, and I’ve got one season left to (0:22:17) Al: go, the up until the end of season two, they don’t touch on the multiple personalities (0:22:26) Al: very much. (0:22:26) Kev: What? (0:22:26) Al: Obviously, they’d know, let me finish, let me finish, because up until that point, he’s (0:22:33) Al: almost, he’s not quite sure of what his deal is, right? (0:22:41) Al: He starts off the series being diagnosed with schizophrenia in a mental hospital, and then (0:22:48) Al: gets out of the hospital and is like, “Oh, I wasn’t mentally ill, I was just a powerful (0:22:53) Al: mutant and people didn’t understand that.” (0:22:57) Al: And by the end of season two, they’re like, “No, no, you’re not, it’s not that you’re (0:23:02) Al: not mentally ill, it’s that you’re both.” (0:23:06) Al: So that’s how they finish the second season. (0:23:09) Kev: OK. (0:23:11) Al: Up until the last episode of season two, they’ve done a thing where he’s got voices (0:23:19) Al: talking to him, but until the last episode of season two, they don’t do explicitly his (0:23:25) Al: different personalities talking to each other. (0:23:28) Kev: Okay. Well, yeah, towards. Yeah. Okay. (0:23:28) Al: So they’ve not done that very much. (0:23:32) Al: With Moon Knight, his personalities don’t talk to each other, right? (0:23:36) Al: that is dissociative. And I know that I know that legions meant to be dissociative. (0:23:41) Al: But they do seem to be talking to each other, which is interesting. (0:23:46) Al: So it’s very different from how “Moonlight” works. (0:23:51) Al: And this is probably one of these things where this is not at all what it’s like in real life, (0:23:54) Al: and I understand that, I’m not trying to say. (0:23:55) Kev: oh yeah oh yeah for sure like I have even less expectations of legion in that end because legion (0:24:03) Kev: is so over the top with everything he’s got going on so yeah okay so uh-huh okay (0:24:06) Al: It’s, yeah, it’s very much more towards schizophrenia rather than DID, because it’s like, it’s framed (0:24:16) Al: as voices talking to him in his head, and he talks back to them. And then, yeah, so (0:24:21) Al: are we interested to see what they do in season three with it? Because he’s now kind of like (0:24:26) Al: realized this and like, everybody else realizes it. And he’s kind of like moving towards a (0:24:30) Al: kind of almost villain arc, but it will be interesting to see where they take that because (0:24:34) Kev: Ah. (0:24:35) Al: ‘cause obviously he’s a complicated– (0:24:37) Al: –character who, you know, yeah. (0:24:37) Kev: Whoops. (0:24:38) Kev: Oh, just a little. (0:24:41) Al: So it’ll be interesting to see where they end up, but I’ve enjoyed it so far. (0:24:41) Kev: Just a little. (0:24:43) Kev: OK. (0:24:45) Kev: Well, that’s great. (0:24:45) Al: But yeah, it’s been very weird. (0:24:46) Al: It’s like there’s a character that’s clearly meant to be kind of like rogue, (0:24:52) Al: but not really, in that if she touches someone, she swaps bodies with them. (0:24:54) Kev: Mmm (0:24:58) Kev: Her name is bros not rogue (0:25:01) Al: No, it’s not. (0:25:02) Al: It’s Sydney. (0:25:02) Al: But no, instead of like stealing someone’s power, she literally swaps bodies. (0:25:03) Kev: Okay (0:25:05) Kev: Yeah, that’s that’s pretty cool (0:25:06) Al: With them is interesting, and they’ve very much gone in a dark way with this, rather like, you know, there’s a like, we go into her, her childhood and there’s some like really not great moments where she realizes she can do this and. (0:25:21) Kev: No, I’m sure. Oh, oh gosh. There’s a lot of bad places you can go with that. Oh, that’s not great. Oh (0:25:28) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m not going to talk about them on the podcast, but I mean, I might, if you’re if you’re not going to watch it, I might tell you one of them after the podcast because it. (0:25:32) Kev: Sure, but (0:25:36) Kev: Dude I can already take a guess but do tell like mmm (0:25:37) Al: I don’t think that particularly got me. (0:25:40) Al: After the podcast. (0:25:40) Kev: Y’all you could you can yeah there is room to work with there. Absolutely (0:25:46) Al: But yeah, so everyone else, including her are like, as far as I can tell, unique characters, because I was like, I don’t recognize these characters and I went on to Wikipedia and they’re not like. (0:25:58) Al: Legion is linked as the Marvel Legion, and then obviously Shadow King is linked as Shadow King, the Marvel Shadow King and all the other ones, they’re just. (0:26:02) Kev: Yeah, no. (0:26:06) Al: So and so, as this character name, and there’s no like link to a Marvel equivalent for them, so I’m assuming they’re all original characters. (0:26:12) Kev: Uh-huh (0:26:15) Kev: Sure, sure. Okay. Okay. Well (0:26:17) Al: They also have Jermaine Clement. I don’t know if you know who I who I’m talking about. (0:26:21) Kev: That name sounds familiar, let me see. Ah, okay, okay (0:26:22) Al: He was a flight, one of the flight of the concords. No flight of the concords? Yeah, he’s excellent in it as well. So yeah, no, it’s very good. I’m enjoying it and I’m looking forward to season three. (0:26:36) Al: But I’m still finished by the time you hear this episode because I’m going to watch it this week. I’ve only got eight episodes left to go. (0:26:42) Kev: it is it’s such a fascinating thing right because he’s I mean Legion is he is a (0:26:50) Kev: character of some note but not like you know he’s not an A-lister to name in the (0:26:57) Kev: Marvel verse let’s say that right but here they are making a spin a show (0:27:04) Kev: entirely centered or out to him without any of the other Marvel connections so (0:27:09) Kev: So when you hear that, it’s such an interesting practice. (0:27:12) Kev: It’s very cool that they managed to do good with it. (0:27:14) Kev: I have heard good things about it. (0:27:18) Al: Maybe. Yeah, so that’s mostly what I’ve been up to that I haven’t talked about on other episodes. (0:27:26) Kev: All right, cool (0:27:27) Al: Shall we talk about what games we are most looking forward to in 2025? (0:27:34) Kev: “Wildflowers 2” which might be announced by the time this comes out. (0:27:38) Kev: I don’t know. (0:27:39) Al: Oh yeah, they’ve hinted at something coming, haven’t they? (0:27:42) Kev: Yeah, I think it’s coming out. (0:27:44) Kev: So I don’t remember any dates or anything, but that may actually be announced by the (0:27:49) Kev: time this comes out. (0:27:50) Al: Yeah, so I know. (0:27:51) Kev: That may not be a joke. (0:27:53) Al: I know that so I I sent you a link, didn’t I? (0:27:56) Al: Yes, here it was. (0:27:57) Al: So they’re announcing something in the wholesome snack, (0:28:00) Al: which as we’re recording, it’s happening in three days. (0:28:04) Kev: Oh, great. Wildflowers 2 is going to be announced in three days, and I’m not for– (0:28:05) Al: So. (0:28:09) Kev: I can’t confirm it, because I don’t actually know at the time of the recording. (0:28:14) Al: Like, have they hinted towards there being a Wildflowers, too, and it’s not just (0:28:17) Kev: No, okay. That’s me just being hyperbolic. I don’t know, but it’s Drydock Studios. (0:28:22) Kev: It’s from their account, isn’t it? The Wildflowers account, so… (0:28:26) Kev: I don’t know. Who knows? It could be. That would be my hope, of course. Maybe with a different art (0:28:31) Kev: style but you never know um who knows what it’ll be (0:28:35) Kev: um i’ve got my eye on it though for sure though so we’ll see (0:28:37) Al: You’ll play whatever they make, basically, is what you’re saying. (0:28:41) Kev: yeah basically (0:28:44) Al: OK, cool. So we’re going to go through. We’ve each got a list, presumably. (0:28:48) Al: I can’t see Kevin’s list, but presumably we both have a list. (0:28:52) Al: I think what we’ve previously done is talk through one each. (0:28:59) Al: I just kind of go alternately and we’ll talk through our opinions on why we’re looking (0:29:05) Al: looking forward to it, et cetera. (0:29:10) Kev: I am where I cannot find my list I do right if you have a big you had a big list on you (0:29:15) Kev: Where is it? Uh, hold on. Let me see. I’m trying to remember here. You need to go on in slack (0:29:22) Al: I don’t think I’ve posted a big long list of what’s coming out, but it should be on if you look on the notion, there’s a big long list. (0:29:23) Kev: You did yeah (0:29:34) Kev: Um, oh, here it is. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. Sorry. Okay. Yeah, I could not find it. Um, but alright, let’s uh, let’s um, yeah. Alright, you start it. (0:29:46) Al: All right, so my first one, and I feel like this has been on my list so many times, but (0:29:52) Al: that’s because I still haven’t properly played it. And that is Snacko because obviously Snacko (0:29:58) Al: is in early access. I haven’t played it yet because it’s been so busy. I think when it (0:30:04) Al: came out last year was a really bad time because it’s December and I’m not going to play a (0:30:08) Al: brand new farming game in December because I’m already like out of it. But. (0:30:16) Al: At some point this year, Snacko will release 1.0 unless something goes seriously wrong. (0:30:23) Al: Like they’ve posted their updated roadmap and it has four updates on it. And it sounds (0:30:29) Al: like they’re expecting that to be done kind of reasonably early next year. So I would (0:30:33) Al: be very surprised if Snacko 1.0 doesn’t come out. So I think that’s probably the thing (0:30:37) Al: I’m most looking forward to. (0:30:38) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:30:42) Kev: All right, yeah, no, that’s fair like I (0:30:45) Kev: snako isn’t on my radar, but like I (0:30:49) Kev: this is one of those I’ve talked, you know ad nauseam like (0:30:53) Kev: Games that are in early access forever and then they get the 1.0 release like it’s uh (0:30:59) Kev: It’s I don’t know something almost perplexing unless they have a send some games do do it. We’re like a massive (0:31:06) Kev: Addition or patch change, right? (0:31:09) Kev: To list the features to 1.0 (0:31:12) Kev: But you know, we’ll see if it can’t drop. Hopefully it will drop (0:31:15) Kev: Um, I will say the art style still looks great. I will say that right like the pixel cap, but everything else is 3d (0:31:22) Al: Yeah (0:31:22) Kev: um (0:31:23) Al: They’ve they’ve done a lot of work as well (0:31:26) Al: So I’ve seen some recent screenshots and some screenshots from like when they first announced it and they’ve they’ve improved the graphics (0:31:34) Al: A huge amount while still feeling like it’s the same style, which is really impressive (0:31:40) Al: And it’s just I think the thing about snako is I have been talking about this game since we started the podcast. I’m pretty sure (0:31:46) Kev: Oh, that sounds about right. (0:31:48) Al: So, you know to to go that long (0:31:52) Al: I can’t even remember how long is it is this is this the end of year six or is this the end of you? (0:31:57) Al: I think it’s the end of year six in January. It will be six years of the podcast. So (0:32:02) Al: Yeah, just the idea of you know, I’ve been talking about this game for that long (0:32:07) Al: And I’m super excited to to finally properly played it. Obviously I played a (0:32:12) Al: demo (0:32:13) Al: Years ago now, but it’s obviously changed a huge amount since then (0:32:16) Kev: Yeah, that will be cool. Once it hits 1.0. I will say heck maybe even I’ll get on board at that point. I don’t know (0:32:26) Kev: But yeah, it’s uh (0:32:28) Kev: That’s good. Can you imagine that the finally that since it’s you finally get into it (0:32:35) Kev: I mean everything talking about it for this many years and finally we get 1.0 and you play the game proper (0:32:42) Kev: But yeah, all right, I’ll (0:32:45) Kev: I’ll, I’ll take the baton. (0:32:46) Kev: Um, my first pick, um, kind of like, I just talked about Snacko, but this is a similar boat where the game is already out, but I haven’t gotten to it. (0:32:58) Kev: And more importantly, it’s going to be the console release of Hello Kitty Island Adventure. (0:33:02) Kev: Um, ah, well, there you go. (0:33:02) Al: Ah that’s on my list as well. This I’m so excited for because yeah I really liked the game in (0:33:12) Al: general but I hated playing it on my iPad so I was like I played it as much as I needed to (0:33:18) Al: for the episode and went I will play this when it’s on something else because it is such a good (0:33:25) Al: game it is such it looks great it feels great everything about it is great I just did not want (0:33:31) Al: to do it on a touch screen! (0:33:32) Kev: It looks like it looks I know I say this knowing Hello Kitty is like one of the biggest franchises in the world just (0:33:43) Kev: monetary wise right but it looks so much better than what I expect it to be right because I’m not saying Hello Kitty is isn’t like it (0:33:52) Kev: doesn’t do quality stuff but it just does so much stuff right like it’s so everywhere that I’m just I don’t know and I don’t (0:34:00) Kev: expect, you know, super high (0:34:02) Kev: highs, let’s say that, right? But this looks incredible. Just everything going on. Like the (0:34:08) Kev: writing, you write minecarts in this game, it’s wild! And finding the Gudetama’s hidden around, (0:34:15) Kev: oh my, it just sounds incredible. And like, just the massive list of Sanrio characters. (0:34:24) Kev: Yeah, no, this, this, like ever since the, you guys talked about it on that one episode, I’ve been so (0:34:28) Kev: hype for it. You and Maddy talk about it. (0:34:32) Kev: This is probably number one, just because I mean, of course, like we know what it is more or less, right? It’s come out. (0:34:39) Kev: We know I know what to expect. So that’s probably why out of all the names here, it is the one I’m most looking forward to, I would say. (0:34:46) Al: Yeah, I wonder, here’s a question for you. (0:34:47) Kev: Yeah, good stuff. Yeah. (0:34:49) Al: Do you think this will be a Switch 2 launch title? (0:34:57) Al: So as of just now, we just know 2025 for Hello Kitty Island Adventure. (0:35:02) Al: We don’t know when in 2025 and also we’re expecting the Switch 2 to be released in (0:35:10) Al: 2025 and it was announced that it was coming to Switch. (0:35:17) Al: Or it was announced that it was coming to anything else (0:35:20) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. (0:35:21) Al: in a Nintendo Direct, you know, in 2024 this year, June 2024. (0:35:29) Al: You know for a fact that if the Switch 2 is coming out next year, (0:35:33) Al: there are developers that have a version to build against an SDK, right? (0:35:40) Al: You know for a fact that there are games (0:35:41) Al: companies that have that because there’s no way they would release the game (0:35:46) Al: Switch exclusives and this feels like it could be something, right? (0:35:51) Al: Like, do you know? (0:35:52) Kev: fact that it’s already have you know it’s already out right it’s it’s just a port as opposed to ground-up game doesn’t make it a (0:35:58) Al: Exactly, yeah. (0:35:59) Kev: Lot more likely um I I don’t know how strong lead field I’ll say it’s greater than 50% chance. It’ll be a launch title (0:36:06) Al: It’s the fact that we still don’t–it’s been six months, and we still don’t know when it’s (0:36:08) Kev: You know I don’t know (0:36:12) Al: coming out next year, you know? And there were many–like, the general assumption is (0:36:13) Kev: Yeah, you know what that’s that’s fair um (0:36:16) Kev: Umm… (0:36:22) Al: that the Switch 2 release announcement was delayed from September. So June to September (0:36:30) Kev: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah (0:36:31) Al: could be a sort of expected timeline between announcement and date. Don’t know. (0:36:54) Al: Yeah, it will be backwards compatible, but I will say, and this is the thing that people (0:36:58) Al: keep getting wrong, backwards compatible does not mean it will run better on the Switch (0:37:02) Al: 2, necessarily. That’s not how these things work, right? (0:37:04) Kev: No, you’re right, I’m not saying, you know what, that’s a good point. (0:37:10) Kev: Yeah, no, you’re right. (0:37:10) Al: So if they make, because it’s the same thing with PS4 versions on a PS5, do not run better (0:37:16) Al: than on a PS4. Well, not better than a PS4 Pro. They do run better than a PS4, but they (0:37:21) Al: don’t run better than a PS4 Pro (0:37:24) Al: They’re not compiled for the PS5, they’re compiled for the PS4 and PS4 Pro (0:37:29) Al: and then they also work on the PS5 and so like when we got, I remember when I first got a PS5 (0:37:36) Al: Fall Guys was just the PS4 version and then like a year later they released the PS5 version and it (0:37:39) Kev: yeah (0:37:43) Kev: um really oh wow I didn’t try on the ps5 i’ll have to try that (0:37:48) Kev: um (0:37:48) Al: With your ps5 that’s just sitting in the corner (0:37:51) Kev: that’s cool look ps5 was my zen the zone zero machine (0:37:56) Al: Would you have a ps5? Oh, I didn’t know that fair enough (0:37:57) Kev: it was stupid oh yeah I do (0:38:01) Kev: yeah yeah yeah I like I use it it’s not just even the ps5 like in general my playstation or (0:38:08) Kev: or non-Nintendo consoles are– (0:38:09) Kev: get used just from a handful of games, right? (0:38:11) Al: » Yeah. (0:38:11) Kev: Like, they’re games, I want them, right? (0:38:12) Al: Same. (0:38:14) Kev: Like, it’s my Street Fighter machine, (0:38:16) Kev: it’s my Send the Zone Zero machine. (0:38:18) Kev: Now my Mar– well, actually, no, (0:38:19) Kev: I’m not even playing Marvel, (0:38:20) Kev: I’m playing Marvel, I was on Steam, (0:38:21) Kev: Calvin got the– (0:38:23) Kev: ‘cause Calvin was a big Overwatch fan, too, (0:38:25) Kev: so we’re both hyped about it, (0:38:26) Kev: so I was like, okay, you know what? (0:38:27) Kev: I have a computer that can run it, (0:38:29) Kev: I’ll run Marvel, I was on Steam, (0:38:31) Kev: you play on the PlayStation, (0:38:32) Kev: and that’s how we split it up. (0:38:33) Kev: But anyways, but there’s another– (0:38:36) Kev: yeah, Fall Guys, right? (0:38:40) Kev: I probably won’t try it, actually, (0:38:41) Kev: ‘cause I don’t have too much other stuff. (0:38:44) Al: I still love fall guys. It’s great. I don’t play as much as I used to, but I still, it’s (0:38:46) Kev: Oh, yeah, Fall Guys is excellent, (0:38:48) Al: a good fun, good. They they’ve been adding, they’ve been adding loads of great, uh, what’s (0:38:49) Kev: like, there is no denying that, (0:38:51) Kev: they knocked that out of the park. (0:38:52) Kev: I wonder how far it’s come. (0:38:53) Kev: Oh, now I’m curious, maybe I will. (0:38:58) Al: the word I’m looking for? Um, skins. And I really like how they’ve been doing the skins (0:39:04) Al: in that you can quite often get a lot of skins for free. Um, so there’s, there’s a, they (0:39:09) Al: They have a, okay, okay, here’s what I really love about what they’ve been doing. (0:39:14) Al: They have a premium pass, or what do you call it, a ladder, or whatever it is you (0:39:20) Al: call it. (0:39:21) Al: I can’t never remember the terminology these games use. (0:39:24) Al: The battle pass, yeah, sure. (0:39:24) Kev: Battle pass, season pass, I don’t know. (0:39:26) Kev: Yeah. (0:39:26) Al: Season pass. (0:39:27) Al: There we go. (0:39:28) Al: Season pass. (0:39:29) Al: They’ve got a season pass. (0:39:30) Al: But the season pass gives you back the currency that you use to buy the season pass. (0:39:38) Kev: Okay (0:39:38) Al: So if you reach level 40 in the season pass, you have a sentry. (0:39:42) Kev: Yeah (0:39:44) Al: Eventually, refunded your season pass. (0:39:47) Kev: You have the next one free which is always great, yeah (0:39:48) Al: Exactly, so if you’re playing it regularly, you can get so much stuff without actually (0:39:55) Al: having to pay except that first payment, which is really good. (0:39:58) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:40:00) Al: And they have like a whole bunch of bundles where it’s like, here’s a bunch of skins and (0:40:03) Al: the currency that you use to buy the battle pass. (0:40:04) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:40:06) Al: So I think, obviously, it still is shoving these things in your face a lot and there’s (0:40:11) Al: a lot of stuff you can’t get without paying. (0:40:14) Kev: Yeah. (0:40:14) Al: You’re exclusive to pay money, pay 20 quid, and you’ll get these skins, but that’s fine. (0:40:20) Al: It’s skins. (0:40:21) Al: Who cares? (0:40:22) Al: You know. (0:40:24) Kev: yeah yeah yeah exactly right at the end of the day even if you don’t care like the game’s (0:40:27) Kev: free and you can still play and it’s entertaining on its own right absolutely um yeah no um so so (0:40:29) Al: Exactly, but my other point about Hello Kitty is they are releasing on PS4 and PS5, they’ve (0:40:35) Kev: there you go fall guys one of my most anticipated 2020 (0:40:44) Al: exclusively said that, so it’s not like they aren’t known to release on two generations (0:40:48) Kev: Yeah, yeah, that’s great. Oh, so there you go. Maybe we’ll get (0:40:49) Al: of the same console at the same time. (0:40:56) Kev: That’s switch to version after all then the ounces (0:41:00) Al: we’re getting close to the point where we’re going to know when the switch is coming out and we’re (0:41:04) Al: going to get the first indications of what the launch titles are. Obviously there will be some (0:41:10) Al: Nintendo stuff but there’s going to be some third-party stuff as well and I would not be surprised if (0:41:15) Al: this is one of them. All right my second one, I guess, I mean my third one was Hello Kitty (0:41:16) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, you know, yeah, I could see it. Um, okay. Okay, go ahead. Yeah. (0:41:27) Al: island adventure as well. So how many more do you have? (0:41:28) Kev: All right. Oh, god. I, wait, how many do you have? I’ll just try to match you, because I’m, I’m… (0:41:30) Al: For organizing this. I have four in total, but that included Hello Kitty. But if you have four. (0:41:38) Kev: Oh, oh, well, I could probably go, I could probably do… (0:41:42) Kev: We’ll see. I’ll see. I’m going down the list. Just double check again. (0:41:44) Al: You do another one, do another one now, then because I’ve just (0:41:47) Kev: Okay. All right. Well, first of all, stop the presses. Sorry, as I’ve been double checking all these things, I’ve been in double checking trailers. (0:41:47) Al: done alligator as well. So what’s your, what’s your next one? (0:41:56) Kev: There’s Professor Layton got an out. This is neither here nor there. This might be for the greenhouse. This is Professor Layton. Oh, my gosh. Anyways, okay. (0:42:05) Kev: Okay, here’s one. I’m going to say this not because I (0:42:13) Kev: I might not play it, but I’m just so… (0:42:16) Kev: …curious about it? (0:42:19) Kev: Uh, WANDERSTOP? (0:42:21) Kev: Because that’s the one by the Stanley Parable guy, right? (0:42:25) Kev: And it’s, like, such a wild departure from that. (0:42:30) Kev: I’m… I just wonder what it’s gonna look like, right? (0:42:33) Kev: And, like, we have a trailer, and the game looks fine and whatnot. (0:42:36) Kev: Um, it just looks like a straight, you know, straight-shooting, cozy-type game. (0:42:41) Kev: But, um, so, you know, I don’t know if it’s gonna bring anything super new, but… (0:42:46) Kev: Just the history of that developer really has me wondering what that’s gonna look like. (0:42:50) Kev: Because I’m not expecting there to be some weird Stanley Parable-esque twist, (0:42:57) Kev: but at the same time, I don’t know, maybe? (0:43:00) Al: I don’t expect it to be like a meta-commentary on games the way that Stanley Parable was, (0:43:01) Kev: Like… (0:43:05) Kev: Yeah, yeah. (0:43:06) Al: but I will say that it’s describing itself as a narrative-centric cosy game about change and T. (0:43:12) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:43:13) Al: I feel like it’s going to do something interesting, and that’s not going to be a really boring story. (0:43:16) Kev: » Yeah, it might. (0:43:21) Al: It’s going to be hard-hitting in some kind of way, like I don’t think they would make it (0:43:26) Al: just to make a cosy game. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was… (0:43:30) Al: Maybe a meta-commentary on coziness or something like that, you know, like I could see them (0:43:36) Al: like completely appending what you would expect from a cosy game. (0:43:40) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I I could see that absolutely (0:43:45) Kev: Yeah, so you know like I don’t know if I will get to it (0:43:49) Kev: Maybe it drops out and it’s amazing, but it certainly has grabbed my attention. I’ll say that (0:43:53) Kev: that. (0:43:54) Al: it will, even if you don’t play it, you’ll find out a lot about it because this is going (0:43:58) Al: to be talked about. You know, like the same way that the Stanley Parable was talked about (0:44:00) Kev: Oh, oh, absolutely, right? Like, oh, I’m sure, right. I mean, just having that pedigree alone, like, it’s gonna get talked about, absolutely. (0:44:14) Al: I just noticed the music is done by C418, the guy who did Minecraft music. (0:44:18) Kev: Oh, what? (0:44:20) Kev: Minecraft guy, yeah. Oh, I’m like, ooh. Ooh, that’s, that’s strong. That’s good music. Oh. (0:44:20) Al: » Yeah. (0:44:26) Kev: Um, alright, well, that was an honorable mention, but here, let me, uh, let me- (0:44:30) Kev: I can actually throw one. I probably will play, um, “Tales of Sekyu”? I think that’s how you pronounce it. (0:44:36) Al: say yeah I can I who knows yeah (0:44:38) Kev: I think so. Um, okay. (0:44:44) Kev: Uh, so there is, um, so it is a, you know, it’s- (0:44:50) Kev: What’s the premise? It’s- it’s farming, but it’s yokai. (0:44:51) Al: Jokai. Farming, but Jokai, yep. That’s a perfect explanation of it, really. (0:44:54) Kev: Farming but yokai, right

Al, Codey, and Micah talk about their favourite farming and cottagecore games of 2024. Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:37: What Have We Been Up To 00:22:18: Rules Explanation 00:26:13: Update Of The Year 00:42:17: Early Access Of The Year 00:52:11: Game Of The Year Nominations 01:46:31: Debate 02:01:59: Winner Discussion 02:10:47: Outro Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to the sixth annual harvest season (0:00:35) Al: game of the year episode. (0:00:37) Al: My name is Al. (0:00:38) Codey: And my name is Cody. (0:00:40) Micah: And I’m Micah. (0:00:41) Al: And we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games. (0:00:44) Codey: Ooh. (0:00:45) Micah: Yay. (0:00:48) Codey: Make it, it’s a woo, not yay. (0:00:49) Micah: Yeah, wooh. (0:00:53) Al: All right. This is. Spicy, we, as mentioned, this is going to be our game of the year episode (0:00:54) Micah: I’m trying to add a little spice to it, you know, spice it up a little bit. (0:01:04) Al: for this year. Why all that? This is the sixth one. I don’t know how to deal with that. (0:01:10) Micah: Yeah, I can’t believe it’s it’s been that long you said I didn’t even register (0:01:15) Micah: I saw the list of the the previous ones you said six just now and it hit me like a truck (0:01:20) Al: We’ve changed things up this year a little bit compared to previous years. (0:01:21) Codey: Yeah you said it and I was like no way. This is wild. (0:01:30) Al: I’m not going to go into that just now, but just bear in mind listeners, there are some (0:01:34) Al: slight changes. (0:01:37) Al: Before that, Micah, what have you been up to? (0:01:38) Micah: Aww, I’ve been playing a lot of Jeragon Quest 3, HD2D, which I might talk a little bit about the Greenhouse episode. (0:01:50) Al: I love how you say might like we’ve not just recorded it. (0:01:50) Micah: Might, maybe, you’ll have to tune into the Greenhouse episode to find out. (0:01:56) Codey: You could cut it. (0:01:57) Codey: You could cut it out. (0:01:58) Micah: Great. (0:01:58) Al: No, it’s fine. It’s fine. I love when we like we break through the barrier and like stop (0:02:04) Codey: Oh, yeah. (0:02:04) Al: pretending like we record the greenhouse later. (0:02:06) Micah: that is primarily what I’ve been playing when I have the time to play games. Cody and I were (0:02:09) Codey: You’re right, you’re right. (0:02:17) Micah: just talking before we started recording about just being busy and not being able to play a (0:02:22) Micah: whole lot of games this year. So it’s always nice doing a game of the year recording because it (0:02:27) Micah: gives me an excuse to kind of revisit and catch up on things and have a an allotted time to play (0:02:34) Micah: games, but other than that, it’s been Drangle. (0:02:36) Micah: Quest 3. And I have also been shiny hunting a lot more in (0:02:41) Micah: Pokemon, but in older Pokemon games, I’ve been kind of (0:02:44) Micah: revisiting and kind of I don’t know what the term is, like (0:02:53) Micah: realigning myself with what I loved about Pokemon, and not so (0:02:56) Micah: much the how what modern Pokemon has become, I guess. And there’s (0:03:03) Micah: been a lot of like interesting I found in the (0:03:07) Micah: the kind of like deeper level in community, there’s a lot (0:03:12) Micah: of like really interesting new things that people have found (0:03:15) Micah: or like, you know, different hunts that people have set up (0:03:20) Micah: like one of the things that I’m working on right now is shiny (0:03:22) Micah: hunting, Kanto starters in the original gen one virtual console (0:03:27) Micah: games, which is something that you can do, but you have to do (0:03:27) Al: Oh, why? Why? (0:03:29) Micah: it by like, trading them over to a gen two virtual console game (0:03:33) Micah: to see or if you (0:03:37) Micah: have a totally legal copy of the virtual console games, (0:03:42) Micah: there’s a patch that you can apply that will just show you (0:03:44) Micah: if it’s shiny or not, which is very cool. (0:03:47) Micah: But there’s been a lot of like really neat little things like (0:03:49) Micah: that that I’ve been kind of experiencing and re-linking (0:03:56) Codey: You’re you’re getting back to your roots now. What’s your current hunt? (0:03:57) Micah: myself with and yeah, yep. (0:04:02) Micah: I think there’s been a lot of, well, yeah, that Gen 1 hunt is (0:04:05) Micah: my current hunt. (0:04:06) Micah: Uh, I’m doing all four of this stuff. (0:04:10) Micah: So like the three Kanto original Kanto starters and the Pikachu in the (0:04:15) Micah: games that they originate in, um, which is, has been a little bit complicated (0:04:22) Micah: to set up, uh, but it has been pretty enjoyable, like learning how things, (0:04:28) Micah: uh, work and how, how to, you know, like set things up properly. (0:04:33) Micah: Uh, it’s just been, I don’t know. (0:04:36) Micah: Interesting. (0:04:37) Micah: And I think there’s been a lot over the years that has like kind of had me (0:04:44) Micah: disconnect from Pokemon and in specific ways that like, kind of, like you said, (0:04:51) Micah: you know, coming back to my roots has kind of retaught me what it is that I (0:04:56) Micah: love so much about creature collecting and, you know, these core games and (0:05:02) Micah: stuff like that, this of course has nothing to do with the fact that, uh, (0:05:07) Micah: you know, earlier this year, they shut down the three S, uh, internet (0:05:12) Micah: capabilities and that may be possibly in the future. (0:05:15) Micah: Pokemon bank is going to shut down and that I am anxious about the (0:05:19) Micah: possibility of losing, you know, and I’m not rushing to, you know, it has (0:05:24) Micah: nothing to do with the fact that I’m like prepping for the quote unquote (0:05:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:05:28) Micah: end of the world when it comes to, but yeah. (0:05:32) Al: Prepping for something they haven’t even announced is going to happen yet. (0:05:35) Micah: Yes. (0:05:36) Codey: But it’s going to happen, though. (0:05:36) Micah: You know, that’s the glory of anxiety. (0:05:41) Al: Well, yeah, fair. (0:05:44) Codey: You can’t choose what you get worried about. (0:05:45) Micah: Yep. (0:05:46) Micah: Yep. (0:05:46) Codey: You just– yep. (0:05:47) Micah: And then you just over prepare for it. (0:05:48) Micah: And everyone’s like, why did you do that? (0:05:49) Micah: And I’m like, I don’t know. (0:05:50) Micah: I just felt like it was a good idea. (0:05:52) Al: There is no why there only is. (0:05:54) Micah: Yep. (0:05:55) Micah: That’s right. (0:05:56) Codey: Yep, I did that. I’ve been doing a PhD. I don’t know if you all know about that. So, I mean, I’ve just had like, this is like conference season. And then I’ve also had a lot of review requests lately. So journals have been like, hey, there’s a paper that you’re really like is within your like niche. Can you review this? Since you’re a subject matter expert? (0:05:56) Micah: So that’s primarily what I’ve been doing. (0:05:59) Al: Cody, what have you been up to? (0:06:26) Codey: And I’ve learned that I’m bad at saying no. So I am about to finish that. Like, literally after this, I have to write something for a nomination. And then I have to finish a review. And then I will finally be free of my obligations. And then I can actually focus on just my, my PhD. Yeah, lots of insect identification. Lots of that. And then (0:06:52) Codey: recently started playing, uh, Pokemon Pocket. (0:06:56) Codey: And, uh, I, during that Venusaur event that happened, um, I got three (0:07:03) Codey: of the promo Venusaur, but I did not get any of the Jigglypuff or the (0:07:06) Codey: Hunter and I am really salty about that. (0:07:08) Micah: Oh no. (0:07:10) Codey: Like I literally opened my game. (0:07:13) Codey: I was like, Oh, I need to do those. (0:07:14) Codey: Cause I thought today was the last day, like through like 11 59 tonight, (0:07:19) Codey: but it was yesterday, so rip. (0:07:21) Al: Yeah, this is the problem Cody, you need to be doing this this event all through the event, (0:07:26) Al: otherwise it’s going to because I did, I kid you not, 38 packs of that event. 38 packs I opened (0:07:32) Codey: That means, that means you won 38 of the, okay, with no Venusaur. (0:07:36) Al: with no Venusaur. Yes, correct. With no Venusaur in 38 packs. The last three packs that I could (0:07:44) Micah: That is unbelievable. (0:07:49) Al: could have opened in the game because of the timer. (0:07:51) Al: Without paying gold, the last three packs, all Venus are. (0:07:56) Codey: They turned up the Venus or the Venus or knob. I mean, maybe (0:08:00) Codey: that’s where they opened the cannon. Um, maybe that’s where (0:08:07) Codey: that’s my issue because I did start doing it near the end. And (0:08:11) Al: I don’t, yeah, I don’t think, I don’t think, I think it’s just cause like there were loads (0:08:12) Codey: so they, there was like all Venus or it’s just like (0:08:18) Al: of people I know who couldn’t get any Grinninja and kept getting Venus or instead. So I don’t (0:08:22) Al: think it’s, I don’t think it’s quite that simple, but yeah, if you want it like 41 is what I got, (0:08:27) Al: 41 packs is why I opened and that, and I needed to get, you know, 39 to get one of each. (0:08:30) Codey: Wow. (0:08:30) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:08:34) Al: So like, yeah, you can’t, you can’t half-heartedly do these events. If you want everything, (0:08:38) Al: You got to go all in. And the good thing is that like one. (0:08:41) Al: Once you’ve done the first couple of days, if you do all of the, like, use all of the (0:08:46) Al: hourglasses in the first couple of days, like just kind of like do everything as quickly (0:08:50) Al: as you can, then the most you can do a day is two because of the 12 hour timer. So it (0:08:56) Al: makes it really quick and easy after the first couple of days. I guess the problem. Well, (0:08:59) Codey: I mean my I’m not a try-hard though (0:09:03) Al: I think you’re always going to be disappointed in pocket if that’s the case, then. (0:09:06) Codey: I’m just I’m just always gonna be disappointed in myself. Let’s be honest. That’s never gonna not (0:09:10) Micah: I got the inverse of that initial I eventually did get to Venus or which was I was happy (0:09:22) Micah: with that because that’s you know, the max that you can put in a deck is two of a card. (0:09:26) Micah: But it took a very, very long time and I got an endless amount of Haunter like just a ridiculous (0:09:33) Micah: amount of Haunter to the point that I thought it was like something either was wrong or (0:09:34) Al: Yeah. (0:09:38) Micah: Or I was like, it’s been. (0:09:40) Al: Opening the wrong packs or something. (0:09:40) Micah: Having a trick played on me or something. (0:09:42) Micah: Yeah. (0:09:42) Micah: Like something was going wrong because it was just, it was just (0:09:46) Micah: Haunter all the time and I w I went to my, my work team and I was like, (0:09:51) Micah: Hey, is anybody else just pulling Haunter and everyone was like, no, (0:09:56) Micah: I got all of them already. (0:09:57) Micah: I figured, you know, whatever. (0:09:58) Micah: And I’m like, what is wrong with my game? (0:10:00) Al: Yeah, I got 13 Hunter and 11 Jigglypuff. (0:10:00) Micah: I’m like hard resetting and (0:10:04) Codey: Well, why don’t you save them for me, please, because I need it. (0:10:05) Micah: incredible. (0:10:09) Micah: - Yeah. (0:10:10) Micah: - There’s no shortage of, no shortage of Haunters for you when the trading happens. (0:10:11) Al: We’ll see what trading ends up being like, but yeah, got your name on it. (0:10:19) Micah: - Al, what have you been playing? (0:10:26) Al: Because I’m recording so many, I’m literally recording the live. (0:10:30) Al: So I am specifically going to talk about one game that I haven’t talked about on the other episodes so that I don’t get confused about things. (0:10:46) Al: So this is not all I’ve been up to. This is just what you’re getting this episode. I have played Sonic Shadow Generations, Sonic X, or to be specific, I’ve played Shadow Generations. (0:11:00) Al: I wasn’t playing Sonic Generations because I did enjoy it when I played it the first time, but I don’t have time to be replaying games. Come on, that’s not my life anymore. (0:11:08) Al: So I bought the game to play Shadow Generations. And let me tell you, I still do not like 3D Sonic games, even when it’s Shadow you’re playing as instead. (0:11:21) Micah: Okay, so is it is it sonic generations just with like added? Oh (0:11:28) Al: So, think of it like Bowser’s Fury with Mario. (0:11:31) Al: Did you play that? (0:11:32) Micah: Sure, yeah (0:11:33) Al: It’s exactly the same as that. (0:11:35) Al: You open up the game and it shows you the two things side by side, and you either choose (0:11:38) Al: Sonic Generations or you choose Shadow Generations, and they are different games. (0:11:40) Micah: » I see. (0:11:41) Micah: » Okay. (0:11:45) Al: It’s not like you’re playing Sonic Generations, but with Shadow, no. (0:11:48) Al: It’s a different story. (0:11:49) Al: It’s your different character, and it’s different levels, and he has different powers. (0:11:55) Al: It’s completely different. (0:11:56) Micah: And a motorcycle and swears I mean he has a gun and (0:11:58) Al: » Yeah, exactly, exactly. (0:12:01) Al: So, I keep trying to like 3D Sonic games, (0:12:04) Al: and I think part of the problem is I did enjoy Sonic Generations, (0:12:08) Al: which did have some 3D levels, (0:12:10) Al: and I don’t know whether maybe I should play Sonic Generations to check, (0:12:14) Al: but I’m not going to. (0:12:16) Al: But I wonder whether I liked that despite the 3D levels, (0:12:20) Al: and I just mostly enjoyed the 2D levels, (0:12:22) Al: or whether I actually enjoyed the 3D levels in that game. (0:12:25) Al: I can’t remember. (0:12:26) Codey: Well, the more important question is are you gonna see the movie or when are you gonna see the movie? (0:12:28) Al: Oh, yeah, I’ve already got tickets. (0:12:33) Codey: Okay (0:12:34) Al: Let me check when I’ve got them booked for. (0:12:36) Al: So I have them booked for the Saturday because I’m, yeah, I couldn’t do the Friday because (0:12:41) Al: Rona’s out to a concert, but yeah, I’ve got tickets booked for the Saturday. (0:12:42) Codey: Mm hmm. So there’s some showings on Thursday for me where I’m at, but I that’s also my partner’s (0:12:52) Codey: Christmas holiday party. So and we always go to like a fancy place and they pay for everything. (0:12:56) Codey: So I’m going to get a bunch. I’m going to slam free food in my face, but I’ll probably like really. (0:12:59) Micah: The dream. (0:13:02) Al: You’re gonna eat as much food as you can as quickly as possible and then go to see Sonic? (0:13:06) Codey: Uh, I don’t know if that’s going to work, but I will probably see Sonic on Friday. If not the (0:13:13) Codey: after when it’s like cheap, cheap, cheap. Um, because. (0:13:14) Al: hmm I see I don’t care about the price because I have the like season pass (0:13:20) Codey: Oh, what? Wait, what? (0:13:21) Micah: there’s a there’s a season pass to the theater (0:13:23) Al: you guys don’t have that yeah I i I paid 135 pounds and I can go to the (0:13:26) Micah: at least not that i’m aware of (0:13:31) Al: cinema as many times as I want it for a year for the whole year yeah (0:13:34) Micah: - What? (0:13:35) Codey: - What? (0:13:36) Micah: I’ve never heard of this. (0:13:38) Micah: What is your like, big name, like theater, like cinema? (0:13:42) Al: So we have, we have two bigs, we have two. (0:13:44) Al: big cinema chains. One is called ODEON and one is called Cine World. And both of them, (0:13:49) Micah: Okay, neither of those (0:13:51) Al: but yeah. Well, so I think, is ODEON I think is owned by MGM maybe? I don’t know. They’re (0:14:00) Al: both owned by big US brands, but they kept a specific name. No, maybe it’s not. Oh, sorry. (0:14:07) Al: It’s AMC, the audience owned by MGM and do not own actual cinemas. (0:14:10) Micah: - Okay, AMC, I do know. (0:14:15) Al: There is a filmmaker. Let’s see what. (0:14:17) Micah: They make the movie. (0:14:20) Codey: Literally all that they offer to us is $15 a year gets you like points and you don’t have to pay fees for if you buy tickets online and that’s pretty much it. (0:14:36) Micah: Okay. So I do see, I’m looking now, cause this is mind blowing, so I didn’t know this (0:14:39) Codey: It is yeah. (0:14:40) Micah: concept existed. Uh, we have Marcus theaters has a, it’s $10 a month and you get one movie (0:14:47) Codey: - Oh. (0:14:49) Micah: credit per month, which means you just get a, a single movie ticket. Yeah. I mean, you’re (0:14:51) Al: What’s the point, then? (0:14:56) Micah: kind of, I mean, if you’re seeing one movie a month, you’re probably not really, I guess (0:15:03) Micah: Maybe you’re saving a little bit (0:15:06) Micah: I mean (0:15:06) Al: Yeah. Yeah, whereas I, I see like easily for like, I’m easily seeing one. (0:15:14) Micah: Okay, so there’s there is also unused credits rollover so like if you miss a month you say there’s nothing right (0:15:20) Al: Yeah but that’s still, unless that’s cheaper than a cinema ticket, there’s no point. (0:15:22) Micah: You’re still paying for the month (0:15:26) Micah: Which I think it is I think it’s $10 a month (0:15:29) Micah: I don’t know what what like a movie ticket is there but here in the (0:15:34) Micah: Great (0:15:36) Micah: I think we’re in the ballpark of at minimum like 16 to 20 dollars for a movie ticket (0:15:41) Al: Oh my word. For 20, I’d be expecting at least IMAX. That’s wild. (0:15:42) Codey: - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (0:15:43) Micah: So you are saving some but you’re also (0:15:50) Micah: No, you’re talking standard you’re talking getting your chairs kicked (0:15:54) Al: Oh no. So yeah, so that’s just because you said that. That’s the same company that is (0:15:56) Codey: Yeah, so regal which is a cinema place in some parts of the United States has (0:16:08) Al: world technically it’s cine world owns regal not the other (0:16:11) Al: for this one but yeah they’re the so they’re the same same company (0:16:12) Codey: Ok. (0:16:14) Codey: But you said you pay what? $100? (0:16:16) Al: I paid 135 pounds for the year so what does that work out at 135 (0:16:19) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:16:21) Codey: That is $170 US dollars. (0:16:24) Al: uh it’s (0:16:24) Codey: We can get… (0:16:26) Micah: Just I just looked at what you’re (0:16:28) Al: yeah so that’s that’s 14 dollars uh 14 dollars a month or 11 (0:16:32) Codey: Mm-hmm Regal unlimited pricing for the base tier that only has access to 148 theaters (0:16:39) Codey: So 100% not you’re not gonna get it where you are like where most people are going to be (0:16:46) Codey: is (0:16:49) Codey: $260 a year (0:16:50) Al: for the cheapest. (0:16:52) Codey: For the cheapest and that’s about $22 a month you get unlimited tickets (0:16:52) Micah: Mm-hmm (0:16:53) Al: Oh, my word. (0:16:58) Codey: It says tickets, but I’m assuming it’s just like you get a ticket. It’s not that’s probably it’s probably purpose (0:17:01) Micah: Right, I would imagine, yeah. (0:17:03) Al: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is. (0:17:03) Codey: and (0:17:05) Codey: Then you get 10% off concessions, which is nothing (0:17:08) Al: Yeah. Yeah, we get that as well. We get that as well, which is is is totally just a way to get you to buy more of the cinema, which I obviously do because I’m a sucker and I know that I’m a sucker. (0:17:09) Micah: Yeah, that’s pretty much nothing. (0:17:15) Micah: Now, (0:17:20) Micah: the next question is because our ticket prices (0:17:23) Micah: are so much higher than yours, (0:17:24) Micah: are your concession prices as high as ours are? (0:17:27) Al: I mean, so okay. (0:17:27) Micah: ‘cause we can, I mean, a small popcorn is $5, maybe. (0:17:31) Micah: And a small soda or small beverage is probably also like $5. (0:17:31) Codey: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. (0:17:36) Al: So I feel like they’re not too bad. (0:17:38) Al: So if I go, I can go into my app just now, because the good thing about (0:17:41) Al: the cinema that I have, that I go to now, which is like fantastically like 10 (0:17:45) Al: minutes drive from my house, which is, is amazing, um, which is, you know, for (0:17:50) Al: city people might seem weird, but like, yeah, I don’t have things 10 (0:17:54) Al: minutes away from my house. (0:17:56) Al: Uh, if I look, I can get, so you said a small popcorn, $5. (0:18:02) Al: Let’s see for us. (0:18:03) Al: uh yeah a regular popcorn would be five (0:18:07) Al: um but they do like deals that make them cheaper (0:18:10) Codey: they used to do that. They don’t do that anymore. I remember you could get like a meal deal. I don’t (0:18:16) Codey: think they do that anymore. (0:18:17) Al: - Yeah, so like me and Rona went to see Wicked (0:18:19) Al: and I never get run into the cinema. (0:18:21) Al: Like that’s the first time she’s been to the cinema since. (0:18:24) Al: Oh, what was that other musical? (0:18:26) Al: The one about the kid who kills himself. (0:18:28) Codey: You have to be more specific. (0:18:28) Micah: Holy moly. Yeah, there’s oh (0:18:29) Codey: You have to be more specific. (0:18:32) Al: Dear Evan Hansen. (0:18:33) Al: There we go, dear Evan Hansen. (0:18:33) Codey: Oh yeah. (0:18:34) Al: So that was the last film she saw in the cinema (0:18:38) Al: before Wicked. (0:18:39) Al: So that’s kind of, was that like two and a half years ago (0:18:41) Al: or something like that? (0:18:42) Al: So she doesn’t come out to the cinema very often (0:18:45) Al: just because she just doesn’t like going out in the evening. (0:18:47) Al: Which is fair, we went to see Wicked and we bought, we got two hot dogs, a large portion (0:18:57) Al: of tater tots and one large slushie and that was 17 pounds, so it’s not cheap, but for (0:19:08) Al: me that felt not terrible. (0:19:09) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:19:11) Micah: Yeah, we we really don’t get that much it’s I mean it’s it’s kind of the like the the the (0:19:12) Codey: Yeah, that’s a lot for that amount of money. (0:19:14) Codey: Yeah, I-M-O. (0:19:22) Micah: common concept of going to the theaters and eating anything is that you’ve kind of like (0:19:27) Micah: just bring your like sneak your own stuff in yeah. (0:19:29) Codey: You sneak. You sneak your own. Yeah, 100%. (0:19:31) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah. And I, to be fair, I do that a lot. I don’t often buy stuff from the cinema, (0:19:36) Al: right? We were doing that because it was a special occasion type thing, like let’s go. (0:19:37) Micah: Which like (0:19:40) Al: We went to IMAX because I have to pay more to go to IMAX. I don’t, it doesn’t include (0:19:44) Al: IMAX in the, in the bundle. I think I have to pay five, five pounds to upgrade a ticket (0:19:48) Al: to IMAX, which I feel is not too bad. But it’s not something I do every week, obviously. (0:19:53) Al: So we went to IMAX and we paid like stupid amounts for her ticket. And then we, we got (0:20:00) Al: their spindle of feed didn’t. (0:20:02) Al: And we just like made an evening of it. (0:20:03) Al: So it was fun. (0:20:06) Codey: All of this to say, I’m really excited for Sonic 3. (0:20:09) Codey: And I didn’t realize that Shadow is voiced by Keanu Reeves. (0:20:15) Al: Yeah. Wild. Wild that they have Keanu Reeves’ shadow and Idris Elba’s knuckles. It’s like, (0:20:18) Codey: Wild. (0:20:20) Codey: And Idris Elba. (0:20:23) Al: what a combination. Amazing. What other famous massive actors can they get playing furries. (0:20:26) Micah: That’s incredible (0:20:28) Micah: You (0:20:30) Micah: You (0:20:35) Codey: - I guess whose tails? (0:20:37) Al: Oh, I don’t know (0:20:39) Codey: I’m gonna Google it. (0:20:40) Codey: We could probably move on and fuck this. (0:20:42) Micah: Uh, I am also seeing the Sonic movie, but it’s, I’m not like a huge Sonic fan. (0:20:48) Micah: I like Sonic, but I’m not like, you know, mega fan or anything, but my like best friend (0:20:54) Micah: is absolutely obsessed. (0:20:56) Micah: So as part of our like Christmas get together, we’re going to see the, the Sonic three, um, (0:21:05) Micah: that like opening weekend, which is like, not don’t typically go to the theater that (0:21:09) Micah: often anymore. (0:21:12) Micah: So I’m kind of excited because it’s very rare. (0:21:14) Codey: Yeah (0:21:16) Micah: This is the first time I’ll be at the theater, I think, all year. (0:21:19) Codey: Tails is uh, Colleen O’Shaughnessy (0:21:20) Micah: Yeah, I don’t know what that is either. (0:21:22) Al: Don’t know who that is. (0:21:24) Codey: I don’t she sees she’s a voice actor. Uh, looks like that’s what it is (0:21:27) Al: Right, okay. So the only actual voice actor. (0:21:28) Micah: Okay. (0:21:30) Micah: I have seen the two previous Sonic movies, though, and they’re really good. (0:21:30) Codey: Yeah (0:21:31) Al: Because of course Ben Schwartz is Sonic as well. (0:21:34) Codey: Yeah, I’m just (0:21:39) Codey: I love those movies so much so good (0:21:39) Micah: They did a really good job of them. (0:21:42) Micah: Great. (0:21:42) Micah: Mm-hmm. (0:21:42) Micah: Mm-hmm. (0:21:42) Al: Yeah, I think they’re exactly what we need from Sonic films. (0:21:47) Al: And I think if you did this, what they’ve done with Sonic films, if you did it with anything else, (0:21:51) Al: it wouldn’t work the same. It works because of what it is, and nobody takes it too seriously. (0:21:58) Al: So yeah, I don’t like 3D Sonic games. That’s a shame. Maybe I should stop trying. I do still (0:22:06) Al: like 2D Sonic games, so hopefully they make another one of those. But yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to. (0:22:12) Codey: - Woo. (0:22:13) Al: Whoo! (0:22:19) Al: All right, so we are gonna go into our… No, let me just… Right, I’ll explain what’s happening (0:22:27) Al: first before I try and do a funny segue. So I’ve changed things up a little bit this year (0:22:35) Al: because there have been so many questions about early access games and updates and what counts (0:22:41) Al: for game of the year. So I decided. (0:22:43) Al: To make it simpler going forward, we’re going to have three awards now. (0:22:47) Al: Okay, we’re going to have update of the year, which is for any game that has (0:22:52) Al: previously released out of early outside of early access and now has a content update. (0:22:58) Al: We’re going to have early access, which is for games that are in early access. (0:23:02) Al: And then we’re going to have game of the year, which is for any game that has (0:23:05) Al: released their first non early access version. Does that make does that is that clear? (0:23:08) Codey: » Sounds good. (0:23:10) Codey: » Yep. (0:23:11) Al: See you next time. (0:23:12) Micah: Yes, I guess a great system (0:23:12) Al: Excellent, we’ll see, we’ve never tried it like this before, we’ll see whether it’s good or not. (0:23:14) Codey: Yep. (0:23:20) Al: So that this game, this episode isn’t three times as long as the previous ones, we’re going (0:23:27) Al: to do the nominations a little bit differently for update and early access. So for game of the (0:23:32) Al: year we’re going to do the same as we always have, except one slight change, which I’ll get to that (0:23:36) Al: in a minute, in round robining our nominations and then we’ll decide from. (0:23:42) Al: What we’ve done, which should be the winner for update and early access, we’ve just got a list (0:23:48) Al: of all the ones that came out that we could think of because there’s less than 10 of each. (0:23:54) Al: So it’s a nice list to just list them all and then we can debate. The one other thing is, (0:24:00) Al: because of the debacle last year of Carl Island not winning, I have been forced into, (0:24:06) Codey: - Got scammed. (0:24:11) Al: I would suggest to do. (0:24:12) Codey: - No one is forcing you. (0:24:12) Al: I was suggested by Johnny and I thought it was a good idea that when we, I sent (0:24:18) Codey: - It’s a good suggestion. (0:24:19) Al: out a Google farm to the other people who have been on the podcast this year, I think this year, (0:24:24) Al: I don’t know, some people who have been on the podcast, I sent them a form so they can input (0:24:29) Al: as well. So we’re going to also read their feedback on what they think should win the awards. (0:24:35) Al: And maybe that will, maybe that will stop the co-hosts complaining after (0:24:40) Codey: Nope nope (0:24:40) Al: - Sure. (0:24:42) Micah: I am convinced that the reason that Cody and I are both on this episode with you is because (0:24:42) Al: - I don’t know. (laughing) (0:24:46) Codey: You can uh you can dream out (0:24:56) Micah: this is the equivalent of the Coral Island committee jumping me in a back alley for my (0:25:03) Al: Oh yeah, because it was Kevin last year, wasn’t it, is that right, because Cody had played (0:25:05) Micah: game of the year 2023. Yes. Yeah. (0:25:12) Micah: It was, and it mostly was, yeah, it mostly was down to that. Kevin and I hadn’t played it. (0:25:13) Al: Carl Island (0:25:14) Al: Exactly, exactly. (0:25:18) Codey: Yeah, and you were like, oh, I really think it should be and we were all screaming at our podcast players. (0:25:19) Al: Because I think all three of you, you and Johnny and Bev all, all said that you would (0:25:27) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. 100%. (0:25:33) Al: be playing for Carl Island. (0:25:34) Micah: This is this is my formal apology to (0:25:38) Micah: everyone. [laughs] (0:25:39) Codey: You’re no you’re allowed to have like you provided your input with the knowledge that you had and I’m here to make sure that you do it the right way this time. (0:25:47) Al: This is why we have the farm. (0:25:50) Al: It’s so that we can see people, we can see the other co-hosts opinions (0:25:50) Micah: - Under, (0:25:53) Al: before we make a bad decision and then still make a bad decision. (0:25:56) Codey: And we can still make, yeah, we can still make that decision. (0:26:00) Al: No, I’m excited for this one. (0:26:01) Al: We’ll see, we’ll see how it goes. (0:26:02) Al: I’ve seen, I’ve seen the feedback from the other hosts. (0:26:05) Al: So I’m, I’m, I’m interested to see what your guys’s are. (0:26:07) Al: We’ll get to that in a minute. (0:26:10) Al: And I’m in it. (0:26:10) Al: Goodness me, probably like two hours, we’ll see. (0:26:14) Al: We’re going to start off with update of the year. (0:26:18) Al: And so I’ll just, I’ll read through the nominations for that this year. (0:26:21) Al: Uh, and hopefully I’ve not missed anymore. (0:26:23) Al: Cause apparently I list missed three off the list. (0:26:25) Al: When I sent the form to the other costs, we have Stardew Valley, 1.6, Carl Island, 1.1 (0:26:34) Al: Moonstone Island, cooking update, Disney, Dreamlight Valley, a rift in time, which yes, (0:26:39) Al: was this year, the whole thing we released it this year, which is crazy. (0:26:43) Al: I thought some of it had released last year, but. (0:26:45) Al: but uh (0:26:47) Al: farm skies of Azoria, Dave the Diver DLCs, those would be Godzilla and I can’t remember (0:26:54) Al: the other one. Yeah what was oh um oh Dredge Dredge uh Terranil Vita Nova and Wildflowers (0:26:55) Micah: whatever the non Godzilla one is, (0:26:57) Micah: ‘cause the Godzilla one is the only one I made it. (0:26:59) Codey: Yeah, I was gonna say it was a dredge. (0:26:59) Micah: Oh, sure, sure, sure, yeah, yeah. (0:27:05) Al: Magical Creatures. Yeah yeah because Kevin decided not to put anything in the farm until (0:27:15) Al: literally, what, five hours before we start? (0:27:18) Al: I’m not sure, and was the only person to mention wildflowers, I had completely forgotten the (0:27:24) Al: wildflowers had an update this year. Anyway. (0:27:28) Micah: You know, I looked at the show notes last night, too, and did not see that on there. (0:27:32) Micah: So that makes complete sense. (0:27:34) Al: Yeah. So, um, I’ll just go through our other hosts opinions and what should win, and then (0:27:39) Al: we can discuss what we think as well. Uh, so we have one person says, Dave, the diver, (0:27:47) Al: we have, uh, two people saying stardew outright, uh, one person adding stardew as one of their (0:27:55) Al: three that they decided, uh, but not like the ultimate, what they think should win. (0:28:01) Al: one for wildflowers. (0:28:04) Al: one for terra nell, vita nova, and then one for disney dreamlight valley. (0:28:09) Al: I feel like I need to read johnny’s out, because it’s just, this is a weird year for best update. (0:28:16) Al: carl island 1.1, a great update no doubt, it added everything carl island and yours were asking for, (0:28:20) Al: but to reward this with update of the year feels wrong, it should have been 1.0 but it wasn’t. (0:28:25) Al: stargie 1.6 added more to a great game and the updates are good, but also just stop, (0:28:30) Al: it’s okay for stargie to be done, i’m ready for it. (0:28:33) Micah: Which is funny maybe I’m wrong and in assuming this but I feel like that’s a wild take from Johnny is that. (0:28:40) Codey: No, I think he’s he would be a proponent of like, let like, like, stop the nostalgia machine from cranking. Yeah, I think that’s also Yeah. (0:28:46) Al: I think he’s worried for concerned apes mental health. (0:28:48) Micah: Okay, okay (0:28:49) Micah: for concern days (0:28:51) Micah: Yeah, I mean after that interview where he was kind of like, uh, I could just keep going forever. I don’t know (0:29:00) Al: I think that leaves Disney Dreamlight Valley is the one that stands at his best update that (0:29:03) Al: continues to add to a great game bringing in memorable characters in a way that continues (0:29:07) Al: to surprise and delight. So that looks what I can see that looks like two stardew votes, (0:29:13) Al: One Wildflowers, one Drusney Dreamlet Valley, and one Davey. (0:29:16) Al: The Diver. What do you guys think? (0:29:19) Codey: Um, so I, so I mean, some of these, I didn’t play. So like, I didn’t play moonstone island. Uh, I (0:29:23) Al: Fair. That list is just going to get longer as we go through the episode. (0:29:28) Codey: right. I feel like it’s true. I feel like Fay Farm Skye’s Zozoria when we were talking about it on (0:29:33) Codey: the pod, it did not fix the issues that people wanted in the first one. So I think in my opinion, (0:29:35) Al: No (0:29:38) Codey: we can just strike that off. Um, I think the same about Taranell. I don’t think that that added (0:29:39) Al: I agree. Yeah (0:29:43) Codey: anything really. Um, and I honestly like, honestly, like, (0:29:46) Al: R.I.P. Kevin’s option. (0:29:49) Codey: I will just like double retweet Johnny’s thing because I agree. Like my go-to was (0:29:59) Codey: Coral Island 1.1. Um, I really loved it, but it did basically add like, one of the reasons I loved (0:30:05) Codey: it is because it added the rest of the story, but that should have been in the initial game. (0:30:06) Al: Mm hmm. Yeah. (0:30:10) Codey: Like why, like you can’t have an update, just be like, oh, adding the things that we didn’t (0:30:17) Codey: I had originally, but finished again. (0:30:20) Codey: So I don’t want to go with that. (0:30:22) Al: I would, I would agree with that. (0:30:23) Al: Any objections, Micah, to those three being struck off. (0:30:26) Micah: I think Coral Island is an incredible game, and I think it should win. (0:30:32) Al: Have you played it yet? (0:30:34) Micah: So okay, I have not, but this is where I’m at with Coral Island, because if you recall on the (0:30:40) Micah: previous Game of the Year episode, the reason that I said that I didn’t get it yet was because I was (0:30:44) Micah: waiting for the Switch version, which we all kind of know how that went. So I did eventually just (0:30:48) Al: Awkward. You. (0:30:53) Micah: kind of buckle and get it on the steam deck so I do have (0:30:56) Al: Yeah, nice. (0:30:56) Micah: it now to play on the steam deck haven’t had a chance to (0:30:59) Micah: play it yet but I am excited to play it especially after (0:31:02) Micah: hearing uh how much 1.1 kind of made it a 1.0 I guess um but (0:31:06) Codey: Yeah. (0:31:10) Micah: there’s just you know II’ve been I’ve yeah I don’t know I’ll (0:31:15) Micah: get I’ll get into that more later but I have not played it (0:31:17) Micah: yet. (0:31:18) Codey: Okay. And then yeah, Stardew is the same, like, I agree with Johnny, like, let it, let it lie. (0:31:24) Codey: And so for what I’ve played. (0:31:25) Al: I’m not, just for the record, I’m not, I’m not striking stardew off the list. (0:31:28) Codey: Correct. Did not strike Stardew off the list. This is just my opinion. (0:31:30) Al: I’m not, yeah, I don’t care what you’re saying. I’m not doing it. (0:31:32) Al: I’m not letting that happen right now. Right. We’ll get to that. (0:31:37) Codey: My top one would be Disney, Journey Valley. They really did add a lot of really good characters. (0:31:42) Codey: I didn’t play specifically the Rift in Time, like the paid deals, because that’s the paid one. (0:31:46) Codey: Um. (0:31:48) Codey: But I saw all the stuff from it and I know that it added like a considerable amount to the game and added to the story and I would like to play it when it becomes free. Fingers crossed that that ever happens. (0:32:00) Al: Is it not included in Game Pass? (0:32:02) Codey: Um, yeah. (0:32:06) Codey: No, you have to pay, you have to buy the DLC in Game Pass. (0:32:08) Al: Oh, weird. (0:32:10) Al: I think for, right, that’s interesting, because the whole point of Apple Arcade is everything (0:32:10) Micah: - I think it’s the same way with Apple Arcade, (0:32:17) Al: is free and you never have to pay for anything, but anyway, well, okay, yes, but you don’t (0:32:20) Codey: You have to pay for Apple Arcade. (0:32:22) Micah: Yeah, yeah (0:32:23) Al: have to pay for anything else. (0:32:24) Al: Like it removes in-app purchases from every game and stuff like that. (0:32:26) Al: I think, for the purposes of argument, we will crown it for a game. (0:32:30) Al: I feel like nobody is arguing for Moonstone Island, is that correct? (0:32:34) Codey: Well then it’s gotta, if it’s just gonna be for a game, (0:32:36) Codey: then it’s gotta be Coral Island, right? (0:32:38) Codey: No, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. (0:32:40) Micah: - I agree, definitely, Coral Island. (0:32:43) Codey: Yeah, so that’s my two cents. (0:32:50) Micah: I have not played enough of Moonstone Island to be able to confidently to even touch the cooking update, so I don’t think that I could justify it. (0:32:58) Al: Yeah, I don’t think I think cooking is a fun thing to add and it did add a few more (0:33:04) Al: spirits, but I don’t feel like it added enough to be like (0:33:08) Al: Major like I don’t think it stands aside stardew 1.6 and all of the stuff that Disney dream life alley added (0:33:17) Micah: Uh I still have yet to play Dave the Diver. I’ve heard great things about it. Uh it just (0:33:21) Al: At all. Come on, maker. (0:33:25) Micah: it just there’s something about it that just you know just hasn’t like clicked with me yet. (0:33:31) Micah: It hasn’t hooked me. That’s not I didn’t mean that as a pun but uh but I will say the Godzilla update (0:33:32) Al: you need to start it, that’s why. You need to just play it. (0:33:39) Micah: got me enticed me a little bit because I I do love my Kaiju but uh I I want to play it and I’ve (0:33:47) Micah: heard nothing but good things about it. My boss is like in love with it and sings its praise all (0:33:50) Al: David Diver is a fantastic game. The Godzilla DLC in particular is so silly. I love it so (0:33:51) Micah: the time but um (0:34:00) Al: much, right? Like any game where you like find Godzilla in a cave underwater and then (0:34:07) Al: you end the story by literally controlling Godzilla has my vote. (0:34:12) Codey: Oh, so you’re, is that your vote then? (0:34:12) Micah: That sounds awesome. That sounds incredible, honestly. (0:34:17) Al: What was that Cody? Well, I mean, it’s, it would definitely be on the shortlist. (0:34:18) Codey: I said, is that your vote then? (0:34:24) Codey: Okay. (0:34:25) Al: I’m not saying it’s definitely my favorite, but I feel like it’s, I could be convinced of that. (0:34:30) Codey: Okay. (0:34:32) Micah: uh as far as the rest of them I think you know looking at the the two current feels like top (0:34:40) Micah: contenders being disney dreamlight valley and stardew I like cody have played disney dreamlight (0:34:48) Micah: valley base not the the paid dlc portion of it yet um and I did really really enjoy it (0:34:56) Micah: uh I just the the cost to get to (0:35:02) Micah: you know we kind of talked about this when I was on previously right around what disney (0:35:06) Micah: dreamlight valley came out um that I was under the impression that it was cheaper than it was (0:35:13) Micah: or that there was a they were doing a uh like a like a um uh like a free to play version of it (0:35:21) Micah: when it had originally started to come out but you know I feel like the price of disney dreamlight (0:35:26) Micah: valley has just felt bigger and bigger over the the years (0:35:32) Micah: and that’s that’s great if the amount of content is there and it’s a very like pretty game it seems (0:35:38) Micah: like there is plenty of content there um but it’s a really like pitting that against stardew which (0:35:47) Micah: you know I know stardew has been around for so long it is it’s it just keeps going I do agree (0:35:54) Micah: it is okay for stardew to be done again I i love the game but it is okay concerned you can focus (0:36:02) Micah: here now it’s okay you can work on other things it’s all right but the the 1.6 update for stardew (0:36:09) Micah: is so massive for free content that like it’s hard for me to pit it against you know something that (0:36:20) Micah: the total cost of it is like what are we you know pushing a hundred dollars at this point (0:36:27) Micah: with in-app currency and all this stuff. I don’t know. Again, (0:36:32) Micah: I really, really like Disney Dreamlight Valley and I’m looking forward to playing more of it. (0:36:38) Micah: I love that they have kept it up. The community for it seems great, but yeah, it’s just such a (0:36:46) Micah: hard comparison because it’s like massive franchise, massive brand, costs a lot of money. (0:36:54) Micah: They’re still keeping it up and doing a great job with it versus one guy making stuff for free (0:36:58) Codey: - Yeah, I get that. (0:37:02) Micah: and I’m like, you know, I don’t know. It’s hard. If I personally had to put it on something, (0:37:08) Micah: I would put it on Stardew, but I would not be opposed to Disney Dreamlight Valley yet, (0:37:12) Codey: I mean, you do have to put it we have to we’re here to put it on (0:37:17) Micah: which is very hard for me to try. But yeah, that would be my nomination. I think would be Stardew 1.6. (0:37:23) Al: I feel like we’re probably we’re striking wildflowers off right? I think I don’t think (0:37:30) Codey: Sorry, Kevin. (0:37:30) Micah: Sorry Kevin (0:37:32) Al: even he was seriously suggesting it because I think yeah I yeah so so he says wildflowers (0:37:34) Codey: Yeah, the first thing in his thing is stardew. (0:37:36) Micah: Just more the representation, you know (0:37:41) Al: because it hasn’t won anything yet and it’s amazing and wildflowers but in reality but (0:37:45) Micah: It’s got to get the wildflowers representation in this understandable (0:37:48) Al: in reality Terranell is the only update I’ve played is great so he hasn’t even played wildflowers (0:37:54) Al: I think I understand why he would want wildflowers to win something because he thinks it probably (0:37:59) Al: should have won game of the year last year but yeah I think as an update it I don’t think (0:38:06) Al: it compares to stardew 1.6 or to all of the updates that Disney Dreamland valued so we’re (0:38:12) Al: down to 3 stardew 1.6 Disney Dreamland Valley and the day of the diving (0:38:19) Codey: I think from what Micah said, I’ve moved over to Stardew. (0:38:24) Codey: I didn’t play it, but I know literally dozens of people who have. (0:38:31) Codey: And yeah, I think the amount of effort that this solo human keeps pumping into this game (0:38:37) Codey: that is so beloved by the communities, it deserves it. (0:38:42) Codey: - Bye. (0:38:43) Al: - Say that with more passion. (0:38:45) Micah: But, you know, that’s in the context of like how much effort and how much content there (0:38:47) Al: Yeah. (0:38:53) Micah: is in something like the Disney Dreamlight Valley DLC, like I think it’s just the greater (0:39:00) Micah: context of the amount of effort and money that is put into one versus the other, I suppose. (0:39:05) Al: I think I would also say that as much stuff as there is in the Disney Dreamland Valley (0:39:12) Al: updates over the last year, the fact of the matter is the day that Stardew 1.6 came on, (0:39:18) Codey: Yeah. (0:39:18) Al: it became like the fifth highest consecutive players on Steam for like a week. That is (0:39:23) Micah: Mm hmm. Which is (0:39:25) Al: a wild amount of control that that game still has over. (0:39:31) Micah: Yeah, that’s, I mean, remarkable for a game as old as it is to be able to update and hit (0:39:38) Micah: that milestone is incredible. (0:39:41) Micah: It’s just, you don’t see that with really anything aside from like me, you know, multiplayer (0:39:45) Al: Yeah, and legitimately, like, I can’t find the chart, but it’s all time peak was miles (0:39:47) Micah: online games or something like it’s, it’s impressive. (0:40:00) Al: lower than that. And then the update came out and then suddenly it was high up. So it’s (0:40:08) Al: all time peak takes a 56 place, place at 56. But I think on the week that it was out, it (0:40:15) Al: was top five. I think I can’t remember because we don’t have obviously the historical, historical (0:40:17) Micah: Mm-hmm, sure. (0:40:21) Al: data for that. But like, yeah, abs and that was, you know, I think it’s previous peak (0:40:26) Al: was something like 50,000 or something. So it like quadrupled its highest consecutive (0:40:32) Al: players for an eight year old game. That’s that’s mad. And I also got me to the point (0:40:38) Micah: Yeah, it’s pretty remarkable. (0:40:43) Al: of perfecting the game. (0:40:45) Al: Like I had never gotten close to that, and with 1.6, I put so much time into it because (0:40:51) Al: of all of the different things that it had and all the different additions it had. (0:40:56) Micah: Mm-Hmm (0:40:57) Al: I got to the point where I was like, Oh, I can, I can complete this game. (0:41:01) Al: You know, it’s like I created a new save, a brand new save, because I hadn’t really (0:41:01) Micah: Mm-Hmm (0:41:06) Al: played it on my steam deck. (0:41:07) Al: I had done it originally on, on switch and so I brought a brand new save and I sunk (0:41:14) Al: a hundred hours into it. (0:41:15) Al: So we’re giving it to Stardew, Stardew 1.6 update of the year with honorable mentions (0:41:20) Micah: Yeah. I think so. (0:41:30) Al: for Disney Dreamlight Valley and Dave the Diver, specifically the Godzilla one. (0:41:33) Codey: Godzilla. (0:41:34) Micah: I am floored. (0:41:36) Al: The dredge one is fun and has more content on it, but the Godzilla one was the one that (0:41:41) Codey: You’re floored. (0:41:43) Micah: I’m floored that Coral Island did not. (0:41:45) Micah: Going into this, I prepared, reading the list, I prepared that I was just going to fold to (0:41:50) Micah: Coral Island the second that you both defended it, but. (0:41:52) Al: No, I think everybody’s opinion is the same about Coral Island, is that 1.1 should have (0:41:58) Al: been 1.0. This is obviously what matters to them, but if they had waited until the 1.1 update to (0:41:59) Micah: Mm-hmm (0:42:06) Al: release 1.0, I reckon it would have been Game of the Year this year. For us, obviously not, (0:42:10) Micah: Mm-hmm. Yep (0:42:10) Codey: Yeah, yep, for everything. (0:42:14) Al: for the Game Awards. All right, next we have Early Access Game of the Year. (0:42:20) Al: So our nominations for this. (0:42:22) Al: A new leaf memories chill town for lands fields of mystery garden life cozy simulator go go down like your frontier of life and land and over magic. (0:42:36) Al: And the opinions from other hosts are one that I think we can probably discount over magic because it sounds magical. I think this person. I think this person has not played any early access games this year. (0:42:46) Codey: With the shrug emoji? (0:42:50) Al: Uh, we have to vote. (0:42:52) Al: I think the early access game of the year should be demos. (0:42:58) Al: Honestly, everything that’s come out in early access has been a disappointment. (0:43:02) Al: It’s become the vehicle for a game with a single cool concept to release, get bits of hype, and then proceed to deliver something exceptionally mid. (0:43:10) Al: Meanwhile, there has been a resurgence of demos, games trying to win your business by offering a slice. (0:43:14) Al: These games are the ones that have brought me joy this year. (0:43:18) Al: this year, death to early access, long-lived demos. (0:43:22) Al: So that’s two votes for Fields of Mystery and one for demos. (0:43:27) Al: There’s not any specific demo, just demos in general. (0:43:34) Al: For me, it’s Fields of Mystery. (0:43:36) Al: I think Fields of Mystery is a fantastic start for the game. (0:43:40) Al: I think it does. (0:43:42) Al: What I really hate about Early Access is when it’s like, here’s the game, but it’s buggy. (0:43:49) Al: I much prefer how Fields of Mystery have done it and how (0:43:52) Al: like Ooblets did it and Carl Island did it, which is here is a very solid base for the game. It feels (0:43:59) Al: like it’s a complete game and you just hit roadblocks along the way. I think that’s a really good way (0:44:03) Al: of doing it. I do kind of agree with Johnny and that this can be a problem in many cases. It’s (0:44:08) Al: sometimes hard to go back to games when you’ve started with early access, but I do think that (0:44:13) Al: means most people probably just shouldn’t play early access games, but you know, what can you do? (0:44:20) Al: I also enjoyed Gogotown. (0:44:22) Al: I am not sure if this is a good one, but I feel like they have a lot more work to do to make a fully formed game. (0:44:28) Al: It also released in AWP, it didn’t feel buggy sort of aspect and you had the core bones of the game there, but there’s no real narrative there and it kind of felt a little bit like it fell off quite quickly. (0:44:42) Al: So that’s why I would vote for Fields of Mistreer. (0:44:44) Al: Hmph. (0:44:44) Codey: Uh, I didn’t play any of these and, um, I kind of agree with Johnny, but also (0:44:51) Codey: like, basically early access is just a way to almost like crowdfund something. (0:44:56) Codey: So you’re like pitching your, your base ideas to an audience and then they (0:45:02) Codey: give you money to like, make it what you want it to be like to develop it. (0:45:07) Codey: Cause they’re, they believe in what you’re doing. (0:45:09) Codey: Uh, so like I see the value of early access, but I also. (0:45:14) Codey: I, I think that it’s often like abused in that it’s just, like you said, like (0:45:21) Codey: release the buggy version or release like a small version to like, generate (0:45:26) Codey: hype or something. (0:45:28) Codey: Um, so yeah, I’m, I mean, I, I am willing to just like pass or defer my (0:45:35) Codey: judgment to y’all, like whatever y’all decide, cause I just personally, unless (0:45:39) Codey: there’s this super big argument for any one particular thing, and we want to (0:45:43) Codey: thing and we want to discuss. (0:45:46) Micah: Well, that might make things easy because I also not voting for fields of mystery. (0:45:52) Codey: Yay, fields of mystery. (0:45:53) Micah: Yeah, I, I do, I agree with what a lot of what Al said that, you know, the, the core (0:46:05) Micah: of the game is so solid. (0:46:08) Micah: It’s also just, you know, it does feel so, so heavily based in like stardew core. (0:46:16) Micah: Or that like, you know, I think that can be seen as a negative sometimes now where like, (0:46:22) Micah: you know, it’s just, it started with a coat of paint or like, it started with like a different (0:46:28) Micah: slightly different feature or whatever. (0:46:30) Micah: But I think there’s enough things that stand out in fields of mystery to separate it. (0:46:36) Micah: Like, I don’t know, just quest progression and I just feel like the, I mean, personally, (0:46:47) Micah: I like the pixel, the pixel art is beautiful. (0:46:49) Micah: The, the character portraits are fantastic. (0:46:53) Micah: They’re done in that kind of like 90s Bishoujo, like anime style, like, like magical girl, (0:47:01) Micah: kind of like Sailor Moon era anime. (0:47:03) Micah: And I, it, it just also, you know, everybody in the game is, is beautiful, which I think, (0:47:12) Micah: you know, Cody had the issue with Coral Island, but you know, like (0:47:16) Codey: Yeah. (0:47:16) Micah: just like one, somewhat like normal person, you know, would be cool to see but, but, but yeah, I mean, everyone is very, very nice to look a

Al and Codey talk about Honey Grove Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:18: What Have We Been Up To 00:11:21: Game News 00:33:27: New Games 00:44:24: Honey Grove 01:14:35: Outro Links Stardew Concert Dates Pixelshire Delay Hello Kitty: Island Adventure Release Date Rusty’s Retirement Winter Update Go-Go Town “Creative Corners” Update Mika and the Witch’s Update 2nd Update One Lonely Outpost “Act 2” Update Sugardew Island Romance Info Loftia Neighbourhoods Info Wylde Society Litle Rocket Lab Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season my name is Al and we’re here today to talk about being sleepy. (0:00:36) Codey: And my name is Cody. Or zzzzzz. Z’s. Oh, you say zeds. How do you do you count sheep? Do you count sheep for zed? Like, does that make sense? (0:00:49) Al: Don’t make me laugh. (0:00:56) Al: What? (0:00:57) Al: Oh, isn’t sleep right? (0:00:58) Al: Yeah, okay. (0:00:59) Al: Right. (0:01:00) Al: I understand the concept of counting sleep, counting sleep, counting sheep. (0:01:04) Codey: Yeah, okay. (0:01:04) Al: I don’t personally count sheep because, as discussed previously on the podcast, I have (0:01:08) Al: aphantasia, so I can’t see the sheep to count them. (0:01:12) Al: And then it’s just, if I’m counting sheep, then I’m just counting. (0:01:16) Al: » It doesn’t really. (0:01:16) Codey: Wait, what’s aphantasia? (0:01:19) Al: Have we not talked about this, Cody? (0:01:21) Codey: I don’t really think so. There’s a word for that? Because same. (0:01:21) Al: I can’t see anything in my brain. (0:01:24) Al: Yeah. (0:01:27) Al: Oh, nice. (0:01:29) Codey: I have to explain this to my boyfriend all the time. Because he’s a very visually conceptualization (0:01:31) Al: Yeah, yeah, I know. (0:01:36) Codey: human. And I’m like, you can tell me to imagine a strawberry and I imagine a plague space. (0:01:42) Al: Yeah, yeah, I can I can tell you about a strawberry I (0:01:43) Codey: and I can’t see it. (0:01:46) Al: Can give you facts about a strawberry. I can’t see a strawberry can’t visualize one. Yeah (0:01:46) Codey: It’s not my brain, though. (0:01:50) Codey: OK. (0:01:51) Codey: Well, today I learned a Fantasian. (0:01:53) Al: So I can’t count sheep (0:01:55) Al: It was because I used to find this so confusing because I didn’t know that (0:01:59) Al: other people actually could see things in their head until like six years ago or something and so like when people would say like (0:02:00) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:02:02) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:02:05) Al: Counting sheep. I’d be like I don’t understand what you mean. I’m just lying in bed counting (0:02:10) Al: Like how is this? (0:02:10) Codey: Yeah, so that was my problem too, because like, I would just be counting and I would get bored after like, 17. (0:02:12) Al: Yeah. What am I meant to be? How is this counting sheep? I don’t understand. (0:02:22) Codey: I don’t know, I just get bored and then I’m like, I don’t know, I don’t know. Wow, okay. (0:02:25) Al: It’s like I’m meant to get a video up like that. I feel like that’s not ideal, you know? (0:02:30) Codey: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, awesome. Well, the lore continues. (0:02:32) Al: Anyway. This episode, we’re going to talk about honeygrove, a mobile bee. (0:02:42) Al: Before that, we have some news. The news is maybe a third of the news is from last week’s wholesome (0:02:53) Al: snack. So there’s that. Did you watch the wholesome snack? No. Fair enough. (0:02:54) Codey: Mm hmm. Yep, you’re no, because I saw it. And then I asked you and you were like, that’s (0:03:04) Codey: pretty much what the news is from. And I was like, dope. And I moved on with my life. (0:03:07) Al: There’s some stuff probably that we won’t talk about, right? Because not all of it is cottage (0:03:10) Al: But yeah. (0:03:13) Al: The news is probably mostly filtered down to you, the stuff that matters anyway. (0:03:16) Codey: - Mm-hmm, correct. (0:03:18) Al: But first of all, Cody, what have you been up to? (0:03:22) Codey: I went to PAX Unplugged two weekends ago now, I think. (0:03:28) Al: What is PAX unplugged? Because I keep hearing you mention it, and I realized I just assumed (0:03:32) Codey: Okay. (0:03:33) Al: it was just like PAX, but presumably it’s a different thing. Yes. Yes. I think there’s (0:03:36) Codey: You know what PAX is, right? (0:03:38) Codey: Okay, so there’s PAX in like the different regions (0:03:43) Codey: of America or whatever. (0:03:44) Codey: Packs unpl– (0:03:46) Al: one in Australia as well, but be that as it may. (0:03:47) Codey: Ooh, OK. (0:03:49) Codey: It’s in different regions. (0:03:51) Codey: Packs unplugged is not video games. (0:03:54) Codey: It’s the type of games that you do, (0:03:57) Codey: like board games, card games, stuff like that. (0:04:00) Codey: So it’s an entire convention that (0:04:02) Codey: is just dedicated to those tabletop games and all of that. (0:04:08) Codey: So there is basically a huge expo hall. (0:04:11) Codey: It’s downtown in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. (0:04:14) Codey: and it has a huge (0:04:16) Codey: expo hall and a huge like thousands of tables where you can sit and just play games with your (0:04:22) Codey: friends. You can bring your own games. There’s spaces where you can buy games. They have different (0:04:27) Codey: libraries that you can like rent game. Like you check it out using your badge. And then you can (0:04:35) Codey: play like a game that you might have wanted to play for a really long time but haven’t had access to. (0:04:41) Codey: Or like Jeff and I, I would pick a game, we’d play it, and then I’d be like okay go turn it (0:04:46) Codey: and pick your own game. And we would just do that just to like what game looks interesting to you. (0:04:51) Codey: Okay let me go pick a game that looks interesting to me. And now we have games that we want to buy (0:04:57) Codey: for when he moves here. So yeah so it’s just this huge convention for that. I mostly went to meet (0:05:05) Codey: up with friends that live across the country and we’re converging upon this location since it’s (0:05:11) Codey: only like three hours from me. Um, I got to stay in. (0:05:16) Codey: Um, a friend’s, um, spare room. Thank you, James. Um, so I didn’t have to pay hotel. (0:05:25) Codey: I literally just had to pay for the tickets and then parking. I mean, and parking could have been (0:05:30) Codey: expensive, but it was only, it was not as expensive as I thought it was. But yeah, there was a lot of (0:05:34) Codey: different things like that. Um, and just got to play a bunch of games. And one game that we saw, (0:05:43) Codey: so many people like board games that we saw so many people walking around. (0:05:46) Codey: This is a huge board game. It was called Slay the Spire and we started talking about it and about how apparently it’s not. It didn’t start out as like a board slash card game. It was a game game like a video game. (0:05:57) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s like it’s uh, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for? Um, yeah, but it’s, uh, it’s a real roguelite deck building game. It’s like people quite often will compare other roguelites to it to be like, oh, it’s like, it’s like Slay the Spire Bot, sort of thing. (0:06:02) Codey: It’s a deck building game. (0:06:12) Codey: Oh, okay. Okay. Uh, well, yeah. So because of that, uh, I was like, huh, I wonder what (0:06:23) Codey: Slay the Spire is and like how different it is. And so I went to Game Pass on Xbox and it is (0:06:30) Codey: available on Game Pass. So I have now played Slay the Spire video game and I am horribly (0:06:36) Codey: offended, Al, that you are pulling me from that game right now. Um, I can’t (0:06:42) Codey: could be playing that right now, but I have to focus on this. So I’m not. So instead I’m (0:06:45) Codey: playing Honey Grove. Um, yeah, that’s the other game I’ve been playing is Honey Grove. (0:06:51) Codey: Um, yeah. What about you? What have you been up to? (0:06:52) Al: Cool. So like the other episodes that you have heard and are going to hear listeners, (0:07:01) Al: my brain is confused. So I’m going to talk about one specific game in this episode, (0:07:05) Al: and that is Zelda. I think I talked about that in the last episode as well, (0:07:09) Al: but I have finished Zelda Echoes of Wisdom now. And I think I can safely say that I did enjoy the (0:07:12) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:07:17) Al: game. But I feel like it falls to- (0:07:18) Codey: Okay, nope (0:07:23) Al: on to the fact that you have Link’s abilities, like you can actually go around and use your sword, (0:07:31) Al: I think makes a lot of the boss fights just waste some time and then turn into Link and (0:07:40) Al: kill it sort of thing. And because it’s just like traditional bosses, like the bosses aren’t (0:07:41) Codey: Right, right (0:07:47) Al: more complicated versions of the other puzzles. They’re just standard Zelda bosses. (0:07:53) Al: And I get that the idea is this is Link’s world and you’re doing things that Link would be doing (0:07:58) Al: if he was there sort of thing, but it still just feels like they kind of gave up on the bosses and (0:08:04) Al: they couldn’t figure out a good way to design bosses that worked well for Zelda’s powers. (0:08:09) Al: So it feels like that didn’t feel great, right? Especially as Link’s powers, I don’t know if (0:08:16) Al: you’re aware of this code, you gain them part of the way into the game, but you can only use them (0:08:23) Al: so you’re also like really stressed while being Link, right? You like turn into this weird (0:08:28) Al: shadowy version of Link because any second you’re in Link’s powers. Not like it doesn’t go down (0:08:35) Al: based on how much you use your sword or whatever, it goes down purely based on the time that you are (0:08:40) Al: as Link. Every second you’re Link is stressful because you’re like, oh no, should I be turning (0:08:45) Al: this off now or do I need to keep it on, you know, these sorts of things. So I just, I didn’t end, (0:08:50) Al: I didn’t have fun with the bosses. (0:08:52) Al: And the puzzles at the beginning were fun, but the puzzles in the middle and the end (0:08:59) Al: were basically just the same thing. (0:09:01) Al: So you just ended up like the puzzles were like, Oh, you have to get up high. (0:09:05) Al: So you’re, you’re just doing the same thing again. (0:09:08) Al: Right. (0:09:09) Al: So it’s like, Oh, I know how to get up high. (0:09:10) Al: I can do that. (0:09:11) Al: Right. (0:09:12) Al: And they didn’t, there was like a couple of other types of puzzles that they had, but (0:09:17) Al: they never really felt like they were challenging you in a different way, or even. (0:09:22) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:09:22) Al: Just harder in the same way. (0:09:24) Al: It was just, Oh, here, here’s again, the same thing. (0:09:31) Al: And it just felt like time and doing things rather than actually playing the game. (0:09:39) Al: Like more, cause most games, like they start off easy and they introduce you to a few mechanics (0:09:42) Al: and then they get harder and they introduce you to more mechanics. (0:09:45) Al: And then by the end, you’re using all of the different mechanics that you’ve learned and (0:09:49) Al: all the different skills you’ve gained. (0:09:51) Al: and. (0:09:52) Al: This one, it felt like if you had done the first area, and say you could go to the (0:10:01) Al: final area straight after that, which you can’t, because it’s not fully accessible in (0:10:05) Al: that sort of way. You have to go through the story to get to the end. But if you could (0:10:10) Al: go to the last area, the only thing that would be standing in their way is like health, right? (0:10:16) Al: Like you know everything and you have everything and you don’t really, and if you’re good at (0:10:20) Al: you’re doing, you could do that. And yes, sure, that might. (0:10:23) Al: Be fun in some ways, but it didn’t feel fun in this case. Cause this was like, (0:10:27) Al: it’s meant to be a puzzle game, right? And puzzle games are meant to be different. Like it’s not (0:10:34) Al: just like, if you just had a puzzle game, that was the exact same puzzle over and over and over (0:10:37) Al: again, not puzzle type, but the exact same puzzle, right? Like every five puzzles, it was that same (0:10:43) Al: pattern that wouldn’t be fun. Right. So yeah, I didn’t, I enjoyed it enough to keep, to finish it (0:10:50) Al: off, but more in the case of like, I feel. (0:10:52) Al: Like I’m close enough, I may as well finish this, rather than I really want to get to the end. (0:10:57) Al: Like was the case with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. (0:11:02) Al: So it’s a fun idea and it’s implemented great at the beginning, but yeah, (0:11:06) Al: just it falls off a cliff quite quickly, I think. (0:11:09) Codey: That’s unfortunate, but maybe they can innovate it in the future. (0:11:13) Al: Maybe, maybe, we’ll see. (0:11:16) Al: Yeah, I think that’s everything that I’ve been up to that I’m going to talk about just now. (0:11:20) Al: So now we’re going to talk about the news. (0:11:22) Al: So as mentioned, some of the news from today is from the Wholesome Snack Game Awards edition, (0:11:33) Al: which I always find it funny that they do it in collaboration with the Game Awards, (0:11:38) Al: because it happens three days before the Game Awards. And so it’s like, is it Game Awards, (0:11:42) Al: or is it just like, they’re just like a fancy ad, right? It’s sponsored by the Game Awards. (0:11:46) Codey: Yeah. (0:11:51) Al: And like, fair enough, I know you- (0:11:52) Al: want money. But like, come on, anyway, whatever. We’re not going to talk about specific things (0:12:01) Al: about the wholesome snack or like go through it like sometimes we do. We’re just going (0:12:06) Al: to, we’re just going to talk about the news and some of them will be from the wholesome (0:12:09) Al: snack. So if you really care, I will obviously link the wholesome snack in the show notes (0:12:14) Al: is linked in last week’s episode as well. You can go and watch it if you really want. (0:12:19) Al: All right, first of all, the stardew value. (0:12:22) Al: It looks like most of the new dates now are on sale. There’s a few that are coming soon in (0:12:42) Al: Australia. But yeah, if you haven’t managed to get a ticket, go check. There might be another (0:12:47) Al: date for you. There is a second date in Scotland now. Wild. (0:12:53) Al: Which is good because it’s almost sold out the one night that I booked for. (0:12:59) Al: It’s in the same place. The same, what’s it called, concert hall. Yeah, venue. (0:13:07) Al: But yeah, so go look. Next we have Pixel Shire. It’s been delayed until 2025. (0:13:15) Al: I think we’re nearly done with delays. I have like two things left on my list that say they’re (0:13:20) Al: they’re coming out this year. (0:13:22) Codey: What are they? (0:13:22) Al: Oh wait garden trails that did come out didn’t it because that was two days ago. (0:13:26) Al: So we’re down to one which is SunKissed City. I haven’t seen anything about that. (0:13:34) Al: Oh no okay if you go to Steam it now says planned release date 2025 they just didn’t post anything (0:13:39) Al: about that. So sneaky, sneaky delay there. So that’s everything, nothing else is coming (0:13:45) Al: out this year, everything’s done. Huzzah no more delays. Speaking of releasing next year, (0:13:53) Al: Island Adventure have announced their release date and it’s super soon. It is the 30th of (0:13:58) Al: January which I was not expecting because when they so I think they announced earlier this year (0:14:02) Al: that it was coming to console and so Switch, PlayStation, and Steam they announced it was (0:14:08) Al: coming in 2025 and I was like oh probably like a summer release or something no no end of January. (0:14:14) Al: So if you have been looking forward to playing this and you either didn’t want to play it on (0:14:18) Al: a phone or tablet or you didn’t want to get Apple Arcade. Here you go. (0:14:22) Al: It’s coming to Switch. Go get it. In just over a month. (0:14:28) Codey: Yeah, I honestly hadn’t really looked at it. (0:14:31) Codey: I think I listened, half listened to the episode, (0:14:34) Codey: but I watched this trailer and I was like, (0:14:39) Codey: oh, oh, wow, okay. (0:14:41) Codey: Like this is more than just like Hello Kitty (0:14:44) Codey: meets Animal Crossing. (0:14:45) Al: Mm-hmm. (0:14:45) Codey: Like I feel like they basically like made it more, (0:14:50) Al: It’s an adventure game. (0:14:52) Codey: it really is. (0:14:53) Codey: It like has the look of Animal Crossing (0:14:55) Codey: and like, I loved looking at like (0:14:56) Codey: how you can decorate your houses (0:14:59) Codey: and the other stuff you can do with the other characters, (0:15:00) Codey: but then they were like climbing a mountain (0:15:04) Codey: and underwater and like all, I was like, oh, okay. (0:15:08) Codey: So, (0:15:09) Al: And it feels really open. So in the trailer, you see five different areas. A lot of those (0:15:17) Al: areas you can get there straight away if you try hard. It’s not super easy to, but you can. (0:15:24) Al: The exploration is really detailed. You can jump up areas and try and climb areas, and you can only (0:15:32) Al: have a certain amount of stamina, but you can figure out other ways to get up in different… (0:15:37) Al: It’s really expansive. (0:15:39) Al: So you can’t get underwater until you’ve unlocked that, and there’s like another area (0:15:44) Al: that you can’t get to until you’ve progressed the story, but like the volcano and stuff (0:15:49) Al: like that, you can just try and figure out your way there. (0:15:53) Codey: Yeah, it looked really interesting. (0:15:57) Codey: I might have to give it a shot around that time I don’t know what’s going to cost but yeah. (0:16:03) Al: a good question. I don’t know if they’ve announced that information. I played it on Apple Arcade (0:16:07) Codey: Did you when you, you played early access or demo. (0:16:12) Al: because that was what it was on when it first came out. Regular price is, oh wait, is that (0:16:20) Al: not a… No, that’s not. That’s a different thing. I was about to give you an incorrect (0:16:25) Al: phrase. I don’t think they’ve announced. I can… (0:16:25) Codey: I was liking what it sounded like though. (0:16:32) Codey: Okay, I would like it to be around $30. (0:16:33) Al: That would feel good. That would feel good. Yeah, the only thing I can see is Play Asia (0:16:34) Codey: I doubt it’s going to be that low, but I can see how they would just be like 60 bucks. (0:16:45) Al: have it listed, but obviously they’re just assuming, I think, they’ll be able to get (0:16:48) Codey: Yeah. (0:16:50) Al: their hands on copies and I don’t think they have a confirmed price. They’re saying £60, (0:16:56) Codey: No. (0:16:57) Al: which would be $70. I don’t think there’s… I mean, obviously that would be inflated (0:16:58) Codey: No. (0:17:02) Al: because… (0:17:03) Al: they’re having to import it. (0:17:05) Al: Oh, they’re saying $60 for that. (0:17:07) Al: I don’t think it will be $60, surely, right? (0:17:10) Codey: I hope not. (0:17:11) Codey: If it is, then there goes my hope of playing it. (0:17:15) Codey: Unless it’s actually really not that popular, (0:17:21) Codey: and then I can go to GameStop two weeks later, (0:17:23) Codey: and it’ll be lower priced. (0:17:25) Codey: But we’ll see. (0:17:27) Codey: Cool. (0:17:28) Al: There’s a new trailer as well, which I’ll link in the show notes. (0:17:32) Al: Rusty’s retirement have released their winter update. (0:17:36) Codey: It’s so cute. (0:17:36) Al: So you want the snow, there you go. (0:17:40) Codey: Well, so it’s the snow, but it’s also you get– (0:17:43) Codey: there’s deer that run around in your thing now. (0:17:47) Codey: You make all these Christmas decorations. (0:17:50) Al: I wasn’t just, I wasn’t about, yeah, I wasn’t pretending it was just, no, I was about to (0:17:54) Al: explain more just to me, just to make it clear. What I quite, what I like about this is it appears (0:17:56) Codey: There’s dogs, Al. There’s dogs. (0:18:02) Al: to be a different map that is the wintery map. And I like that because one, it implies that it’s (0:18:06) Codey: Uh-huh. (0:18:06) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:18:08) Al: going to like stick around. And two, I just, I’m never a huge fan when they’re like, when games (0:18:14) Al: are like, oh, here’s our winter event. And then it’s like, the game is now winter. And I’m like, (0:18:19) Al: I get that and I know. (0:18:20) Al: But artificially restricting me on that doesn’t feel great. (0:18:27) Al: Obviously I’m in the Northern Hemisphere, but maybe Southern Hemisphere people want (0:18:31) Al: to flip it around and do it in their actual winter. I like having the flexibility for that. (0:18:38) Al: So it just being a separate map is a fun way to do it. (0:18:42) Codey: Yeah, I really liked the dogs and cats too, and how they’ll either sleep or (0:18:46) Codey: they’ll just follow you around, or they’ll help harvesting with harvesting the crops. (0:18:51) Codey: Like the dog just kind of like trots up to some wheat and takes it and clips it (0:18:55) Codey: in the house and then just wags its tail. (0:18:59) Codey: It’s so cute. (0:19:00) Al: Looks like a pretty meaty update. (0:19:03) Codey: The characters now talk to each other if they’re bored. (0:19:07) Codey: It’s so cute. (0:19:08) Al: So that’s out now. (0:19:09) Codey: Yep. (0:19:09) Al: Go get it. (0:19:10) Codey: Yep. (0:19:11) Codey: No, well, it’s, it’s, I think it’s just part of. (0:19:13) Codey: This is the base game. (0:19:15) Codey: Oh, yeah. (0:19:15) Al: Yeah, I know. (0:19:16) Al: But people still need to update the game. (0:19:19) Codey: Yeah, correct. (0:19:22) Al: Next, we have the Creative Corners (0:19:23) Al: update for Go Go Town. (0:19:25) Al: That is also out now. (0:19:27) Al: And the main feature is that it adds player housing. (0:19:31) Al: Obviously, you didn’t have a space for your own. (0:19:33) Al: Now, you do. (0:19:34) Al: You have a space for your own. (0:19:36) Al: You can purchase the house from Tier 1 in the tech tree, (0:19:40) Al: which is basically unlocked from the start. (0:19:43) Al: And there’s a whole bunch of props (0:19:45) Al: and what they call doodads, a new type of buildable object. (0:19:49) Al: Doodads are any number of objects (0:19:51) Al: that can be placed on surfaces, walls, or floors. (0:19:56) Codey: It has a lot. I mean, you can pick your color palette like on an actual color wheel instead of like buying (0:20:02) Codey: You have black or blue or purple or whatever. Like you can just straight up pick the color you want (0:20:08) Codey: um (0:20:09) Codey: My biggest thing for them in this trailer is they have singing wall fish. Did you ever have those fish? (0:20:16) Al: I never had one, but I was aware of it. It was all over contemporary media, shall we say. (0:20:22) Codey: Yeah, so I saw that and I loved it. And then there was a (0:20:26) Codey: trailer. There’s like a pentagram on the floor and (0:20:29) Codey: there’s candles around it. (0:20:32) Al: The funny thing is it’s not like an actual pentagram either. It looks like this universe’s (0:20:35) Al: version of a pentagram. A completely normal decor. You can get a murder outline. (0:20:36) Codey: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is, you know what it is. Like you (0:20:46) Codey: can’t get exactly you can get a murder outline. Yeah. (0:20:50) Al: It’s very expansive. There’s a lot of stuff here. Next we have the Mika and the Witches (0:20:57) Al: Mountain update. Apparently I’ve written Mika and the Witches update. (0:21:03) Codey: It’s the sequel. (0:21:08) Al: So this is the second content update. Breaking News, they’ve announced that there’s a third (0:21:14) Al: update so they haven’t put everything that they said was going to be in the second update in this (0:21:18) Al: update. They’ve released this one early. And then they’re (0:21:20) Al: going to have a third update coming. So, buh-buh-buh. (0:21:22) Codey: - I just, in this event, like news press, they say, (0:21:27) Codey: the roadmap has suffered a slight modification, (0:21:30) Codey: but we can explain, we’ve received many messages. (0:21:30) Al: It’s such a weird. (0:21:33) Codey: So now there’s another update. (0:21:35) Codey: And it’s just like, they make it seem like it’s this, (0:21:38) Codey: like, oh no, we’re so sorry. (0:21:40) Codey: We have to confess that we’re sorry. (0:21:43) Al: Yeah, we’re so sorry that we’re giving you another update with more things that people (0:21:43) Codey: And it’s just like, this is a good, more stuff. (0:21:52) Al: have suggested. (0:21:53) Codey: - Yeah, yeah, it was interesting, but, yeah. (0:21:55) Al: How dare you! (0:21:58) Codey: It was interesting, but yep. (0:22:01) Al: Keep on going with the early access tag for some reason. (0:22:03) Al: I still don’t understand why this game is early access. (0:22:06) Al: You can update your game without it being early access, I mean, look at Rusty’s retirement. (0:22:10) Codey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:22:11) Al: And it’s not like Mika feels like an incomple– (0:22:14) Codey: Yep. (0:22:14) Al: It feels like a reasonably small game, but small games are complete, right? (0:22:19) Al: Like it’s like saying oh this film was only 70 minutes long, that makes it not a film, (0:22:25) Al: because it’s incomplete. And you’re like no no, it tells a complete story, it is a complete thing. (0:22:30) Codey: Mm-hmm. There’s just a, yeah, there’s just another. (0:22:31) Al: Just because they do a sequel later on doesn’t mean it’s like what are you doing? Or like yeah (0:22:35) Al: there’s like a TV show that they do afterwards, or there’s deleted scenes, like it doesn’t make (0:22:39) Al: it not a complete film. What are you talking about? (0:22:42) Codey: And all Marvel movies are now just early access copies. (0:22:53) Al: So this content update brings the Phishing minigame. (0:22:57) Al: It brings a minimap to the game, so that’s nice. (0:23:01) Al: I did miss having that. (0:23:04) Al: I would have very much enjoyed that for the main story. (0:23:07) Al: And a new language, Philencian, is a very specific language. (0:23:13) Al: Is it? (0:23:14) Codey: I think that’s where they’re from. (0:23:15) Codey: I think so because they say at the bottom had to include (0:23:15) Al: Oh, it does say, yeah, we’re very, okay, yeah, we are very proud of our land and language. (0:23:23) Codey: Valencian. (0:23:24) Codey: Yep. (0:23:24) Codey: Yep. (0:23:24) Al: Fair enough. (0:23:25) Codey: Even so, we know that very few people will play in this (0:23:25) Al: That makes sense. (0:23:26) Al: I just thought it was like, are they going to go through all the small European languages? (0:23:29) Al: Are we going to get Scots in there? (0:23:33) Codey: language, but we’re proud of it. (0:23:35) Al: I guess it’s weird that they didn’t, if they are from Valencia, and presumably at least (0:23:39) Al: one of them speaks full engine, right, presumably. Weird that they’ve (0:23:43) Al: didn’t add that at the beginning because they had language support, and adding a translation (0:23:50) Al: is not a huge job for someone that speaks the language that it’s in and the language (0:23:58) Al: they’re translating to. It’s not like, I mean, it depends on how much text it is, obviously, (0:24:02) Al: but it’s not like you’re talking months and months. It just seems weird that it would (0:24:06) Al: take to the second update to add that. I guess maybe they just prioritise it. Just feels (0:24:10) Al: funny to me. Anyway. (0:24:12) Codey: Mm-hmm. The third one is coming out in early 2025. (0:24:13) Al: Yep. And that will add dungeons or something? I don’t know what to make of that, but dungeons. (0:24:18) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s what they said. (0:24:26) Al: We’ll see. Speaking of updates, one lonely outpost have announced their Act 2 update, (0:24:26) Codey: Ungeons. (0:24:38) Codey: Mm-hmm. And they specifically have this, like, warning triangle, like, alert sign, (0:24:44) Codey: and it says that it’s recommended that you start a new save. (0:24:48) Al: So I think the Warning Triangle feels unnecessary, I think it’s just to drag attention to it. (0:24:54) Codey: I know. (0:24:54) Al: I think they’ve recommended that because there’s a lot of updates that you would only (0:24:58) Al: experience early game. (0:25:00) Al: And so if you want to experience it to its full, then you would best to… (0:25:05) Al: I don’t think it’s all like, “Oh, things won’t work properly,” or anything like that. (0:25:08) Codey: Okay, okay. That makes sense. (0:25:10) Al: It’s like what Concerned Ape said about Stardew 1.6, it’s like, “You can keep going and it’s (0:25:14) Al: fine. (0:25:15) Al: you’ll just miss a bunch because they’re really early on. (0:25:18) Al: You know, it’s like how if you started 1.5 with you already fishing 10, then you’re (0:25:27) Al: never going to experience the starter rod, right? (0:25:30) Al: Because that’s something that they added in that update that doesn’t make any sense unless (0:25:35) Al: you are right at the beginning of the game. (0:25:36) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:25:37) Al: That sort of stuff. (0:25:38) Al: So I wouldn’t, yeah, I wouldn’t worry about it. (0:25:41) Codey: Okay, cool (0:25:42) Al: Yes, it brings marriage, which I guess makes sense in a colony. (0:25:48) Al: New characters, quests and maps, there are nine eligible characters that you can marry. (0:26:01) Al: I think the five are part of those nine. (0:26:06) Al: I’m not 100% sure though. (0:26:07) Codey: Mm-hmm. I think it is, yeah. (0:26:10) Al: They’ve also added to teleportation, so fast travel, which is cool. (0:26:14) Al: There’s not a huge number of God school games that have that. (0:26:16) Al: I know Carl Island has it. (0:26:18) Codey: Mm hmm. Doesn’t start to have it, but you have to use the totems. (0:26:18) Al: Can’t think of another. Yeah, I guess it’s not, it’s very limited and it’s basically like (0:26:26) Codey: But. But like, you have to constantly have the total, like, (0:26:27) Al: it’s okay. Fine. Technically. Yeah, it does. It does have a yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. (0:26:32) Codey: it’s not just go up to a thing and just get like whooshed. (0:26:36) Codey: Yeah, it’s a different. Yeah. (0:26:36) Al: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I like the, the, the rod that you can carry around and start you that (0:26:43) Al: always takes you to your house. That I find very useful because it’s like you just hold it. (0:26:48) Al: But with the other ones, the, the, the consumable totems, I just never bother using because you (0:26:54) Al: have to craft them and then use only one use. They do have the pillars that you can buy, (0:27:01) Al: I can’t remember what they’re called that transport you, but they are like so end game. (0:27:04) Al: They’re basically pointless because you’ve basically finished everything by that point. (0:27:06) Codey: Yeah, by the time you get them you don’t really need them anymore because you don’t need to go around. (0:27:12) Al: Exactly. It’s like woo. I can teleport to the mountain. It’s like, okay, fine. (0:27:18) Al: Going to the mountain. I don’t need to. The only one I ever really used was the, the desert one, (0:27:24) Al: because the advantage of that is you can get there earlier than the bus can get you there. (0:27:29) Al: Because you can, you can teleport anytime so you can wake up and go straight there and have more (0:27:33) Al: time in skull cavern. But again, you, you only get that really late on. So also changes to seasons (0:27:44) Al: and weather and gene splicing. (0:27:47) Codey: Yeah, I looked at that and I was like, what, uh, and it says you experiment with a common, (0:27:54) Codey: so you, by doing it, you create like five new things that you can plant and you experiment (0:27:59) Codey: with combinations of seeds, fish and insects. (0:28:05) Codey: So what you take a seed and you’re just like, I’m gonna give it insect mandibles now, or (0:28:11) Codey: like, I’m gonna take this genetic, but I mean, I guess the scientist in me is like, yeah, (0:28:17) Codey: that’s how it works. (0:28:18) Codey: Like it does. (0:28:20) Codey: There are actually things that plants or insects will take from each other, but to like make (0:28:24) Codey: a new thing or like have a new adaptation, but like, I don’t think it works the way that (0:28:30) Codey: it’s fine. (0:28:31) Codey: It’s a game. (0:28:32) Codey: I need to not look for reality. (0:28:35) Codey: I’m really curious what these new plants are like, is it a, an insect plant? (0:28:41) Codey: Like, does it move? (0:28:42) Al: Everyone wants an insect plant. Well, maybe you’ll have to play and find out. (0:28:44) Codey: I do. (0:28:45) Codey: No, that’s not happening. (0:28:47) Codey: Listeners, tell me what the new points are like. (0:28:52) Al: And a new festival. (0:28:55) Codey: Yeah, that too. (0:28:57) Al: Next we have Sugardew Island. They have announced their information on romance. I think this was (0:29:03) Al: their first public announcement that they’re going to have romance. I forget whether I’ve (0:29:06) Al: mentioned it or not because they mentioned it on Kickstarter like two months ago. (0:29:12) Al: The way they’re doing romance is weird. So there are four nature spirits, which I guess are like (0:29:18) Al: the like Harvest Sprites and stuff like that and other in Harvest Moon games and story seasons. (0:29:24) Al: Those four are the only romanceable characters in the game. It’s like they went, okay, romance, (0:29:29) Al: right? Well, let’s make it completely separate to the rest of the game. I find that a little bit (0:29:34) Al: weird. And also they all look like literal children. Like this isn’t like… (0:29:34) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:29:38) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:29:42) Al: Oh, they look a little bit young. No, they look like they’re eight. And I know that Harvest (0:29:46) Al: Sprites, like what are they called? Harvest spirits, is that what they’re called? (0:29:49) Codey: Yeah, I think so. (0:29:51) Al: So they’ll be like ancient, but they look like children, right? Like this is weird. (0:29:58) Codey: Yep. Yeah. It’s a, I didn’t, I don’t, I saw that. I also just like the, the idea that you come to an (0:30:06) Codey: area and there are like other humans around, but you’re like, no, no, I’m going to go. (0:30:14) Al: I want to romance the mythical creature that looks like a child. (0:30:20) Codey: Yeah. That’s a little, a little odd to me, but whatever. (0:30:27) Al: Yeah, yeah. (0:30:29) Codey: You do. You sure do. I, (0:30:32) Al: So they’re sticking with their March release date (0:30:37) Al: and they have announced, I don’t think the physical editions is a new information, (0:30:44) Codey: Mm. I just copy pasted it in there. (0:30:45) Al: Yeah, you confusing me by posting stuff not in your color. (0:30:49) Codey: Sorry, some, some, uh, insider baseball, y’all, I just copy pasted a bunch of stuff (0:30:53) Codey: that I was like, Ooh, this might be interesting to talk about. (0:30:54) Al: which normally, well normally it’s fine because you normally put all your stuff in purple (0:30:56) Codey: And Al then has to read it live and be like, that’s not, I don’t care. (0:31:04) Al: and so I see purple and I know it’s you whereas and if I see white I assume I’ve put it there (0:31:05) Codey: That’s true. (0:31:05) Codey: I didn’t. (0:31:09) Al: so I’m like oh this is a thing I’m going to read out. I’m guessing it’s not purple because (0:31:09) Codey: Okay. (0:31:09) Codey: Okay. (0:31:10) Codey: Okay. (0:31:12) Codey: Let me do my, I’m going to do all my. (0:31:14) Codey: Yeah, and I was lazy. (0:31:14) Codey: I was lazy. (0:31:15) Al: you copy pasted it so it kept whatever it was from the from the the website. Shocking. I mean (0:31:16) Codey: Let’s be honest. (0:31:16) Codey: I did. (0:31:18) Codey: Cause I want to, I want to look as if we have like multiple, if we had like three people, (0:31:23) Al: I mean, I never asked you to put stuff in practice. (0:31:25) Al: You just did that right from the first time we used this. (0:31:31) Codey: I want people to know that it was my stuff. (0:31:34) Al: It’s just nobody else ever does it. (0:31:36) Al: It’s only you that ever adds things into the news, (0:31:38) Al: which I’m not complaining about you doing, for the record. (0:31:42) Al: All right. (0:31:43) Al: Loftia have announced a new feature coming to their game, (0:31:48) Al: which is neighborhoods. (0:31:52) Al: Attach your personal floating island to others, (0:31:54) Al: farming a small, cozy community where you can host events, (0:31:56) Al: hang out, farm together, and more. (0:31:58) Al: So I’m guessing this is like online multiplayer. (0:32:02) Codey: I think it adds multiplayer is the vibe I’m getting. (0:32:04) Al: Yeah, yeah, so presumably the whole neighborhoods thing is just like when you connect online, (0:32:12) Al: the other islands come and join yours and then you can walk to their island because Loftia is a (0:32:18) Al: floating island based game. And presumably when you’re offline, they disappear and it’s just your (0:32:20) Codey: - Mm-hmm. (0:32:24) Al: floating island. So I’ve been keeping an eye on this game for a while. I think it’s interesting (0:32:32) Al: licking. Uh, yeah. (0:32:35) Al: This is a nice addition to it. It’s, it’s the, the animal crossing, uh, (0:32:41) Al: multiplayer rather than the Stardew multiplayer, but connecting your islands together means that (0:32:48) Al: you can go to any of the islands that you connect to go together rather than with animal crossing. (0:32:53) Al: It’s like, we’re all going to this person’s island and you, you do that. Whereas here it’s let’s join (0:32:59) Al: our islands together and we can both see both of our islands at the same time. That’s a cool change. (0:33:04) Codey: Yeah, I like the idea of going and mucking about on your island and ruining things while you and Kevin and Johnny are like off doing something actually useful. (0:33:11) Al: Oh dear, don’t multi-play with code. (0:33:15) Codey: And me just like putting B. (0:33:21) Codey: Me just putting like B graffiti all over. Yep. (0:33:28) Al: and that’s all the game updates the game news we also have two new games announced one of which (0:33:36) Al: i’m a little bit sad that kevin isn’t here to actually revel in his prediction but we do have (0:33:42) Al: a new wildflowers game wild society which by the way fantastic name love it and this is (0:33:48) Codey: Yep (0:33:50) Al: I believe a prequel it is a what they call period piece which I just hate the term because all (0:33:51) Codey: It is yeah (0:33:58) Al: means is in the past um uh (0:34:02) Codey: I mean don’t don’t they ever I think I feel like they only use period piece to talk about like Victorian or Renaissance past like I wouldn’t call something that goes to like cave and times like a period piece. (0:34:12) Al: Nope, nope, no, no. If it’s set in the 90s, it’s a period piece. If it’s set in the 1100s, (0:34:18) Al: it’s a period piece technically. So the definition of a period piece is a work of art, literature, (0:34:23) Al: film, music, or furniture that evokes a historical period. It can be anything. (0:34:28) Codey: He was you were ready (0:34:30) Al: I was ready, yeah. Like, I think the idea is that it’s very clear that it’s set then. So like, (0:34:36) Al: say something like Madam Webb, which is based in the 90s. (0:34:42) Al: But it’s not like so very clearly based in the 90s, right? Like it’s not, we are making this so (0:34:48) Al: obvious. It is because if you pay attention, it’s clear, but it’s not like they don’t shove it in (0:34:53) Al: your face. Whereas if you take, what is that one that people like from Netflix, the sexy one? (0:35:02) Al: Bridgerton. If you take Bridgerton, it’s like very clear it’s set in a specific time period. (0:35:08) Al: But if you take like, for example, I watched our (0:35:12) Al: A time travel slasher film a few months ago, which is almost entirely set in the ’90s, (0:35:14) Codey: Okay. (0:35:18) Al: and because of the story, it’s very clearly set in the ’90s. And everything about it is (0:35:25) Al: trying to evoke the fact that it’s based in the ’90s. That’s a period piece. (0:35:30) Codey: Okay, I need to change my, yeah, (0:35:30) Al: So, yeah, that’s why I hate the term. [LAUGHS] (0:35:34) Codey: I need to change my brain, the rewiring of that term, (0:35:39) Codey: for sure. (0:35:40) Al: I mean, I do think it’s one of these things where it could be argued that because people (0:35:44) Al: mostly just use it for that sort of time period, then what, like 1700s, 1800s, that it’s morphing (0:35:50) Al: into meaning that. But I’m not going to let it happen. Anyway, step into the elegant heels (0:35:57) Al: of Vivian Wilde. Was she Wildflower’s character’s grandmother, I think? (0:36:08) Codey: That makes sense, though. Yeah. Yeah, I went back to the- (0:36:10) Al: So step into Elegant Hills of Vivian Wild, which socialite and host in period drama sim (0:36:19) Al: wild society. Build, run and customize your magical boarding house in turn of the century (0:36:24) Al: Fairhaven, host splendid events, expand your witchcraft and influence the top town. Who will (0:36:29) Al: you invite for tea? So I don’t think nothing says that this has farming as far as I can see. (0:36:38) Al: It’s it’s more kind of (0:36:40) Al: B&B style gameplay. So there’s a screenshot of them moving items around in your boarding house. (0:36:51) Al: So presumably your if you’re running the boarding house is going to be that’s going to be like the (0:36:55) Al: main gameplay. It’s mostly I think the trailer was entirely like pre-rendered story trailer type (0:37:03) Al: thing rather than gameplay and the Steam page has like four five screenshots. (0:37:10) Al: So we’re not seeing a huge amount it’s obviously the same graphical style as Wildflowers (0:37:17) Al: but yeah I mean I know that Kevin is very excited about this and it looks it looks fun. (0:37:23) Codey: You can perform a seance and then at the bottom it says whose spirits will you help with their unfinished business? (0:37:30) Al: Oh interesting, so that’s going to be like the overarching story thing rather than the mystery (0:37:35) Al: that is wildflowers. Yeah interesting yes because presumably you’re starting out as (0:37:37) Codey: Yeah, instead of, like, learning to be a whip. (0:37:44) Al: you are already a witch and I would assume that if because there is like spells and potions and (0:37:51) Al: stuff that you do in wildflowers presumably that stuff will all exist in this game. You’ll start (0:37:52) Codey: Mm-hmm (0:37:54) Codey: Yeah, yeah, but your character already knows them yeah (0:37:56) Al: off being able to do them. Yeah. And they see, say on the (0:38:01) Al: you’re learning new and that. And then obviously you’re running the boarding house as well. (0:38:05) Codey: Yeah, run the boarding house, have a host of parties, and run a (0:38:09) Codey: seance, and hopefully help a ghost to kill their cat revenge (0:38:13) Codey: with murder. (0:38:14) Al: Oh, I mean, that’s that’s one way to go with it. (0:38:17) Codey: I would love that. (0:38:18) Codey: Oh, you can also have a familiar of a cat or an otter and other (0:38:22) Al: Obviously. (0:38:24) Codey: things. So yeah, that’s what it says. Cats, cats to otters. I (0:38:24) Al: An otter, obviously, I mean, what else? (0:38:28) Al: Where does it say that? (0:38:29) Codey: want a familiar underneath the seance. I want (0:38:31) Al: Oh, yeah, (0:38:33) Al: I love that from cats to otters, like that is the entire spectrum of animals. (0:38:35) Codey: And that’s pretty, that’s pretty small spectrum. (0:38:39) Al: Yeah, it’s like from cats to water cats. (0:38:39) Codey: You just, you just listed pretty much. (0:38:44) Codey: I’m pretty sure, oh, okay, but no, yeah. (0:38:48) Codey: But they’re all in the family mammalian or the order class, class mammalian. (0:38:53) Codey: So they’re all mammals. (0:38:54) Al: They’re all mammals. (0:38:55) Al: Is that what you’re trying to say? (0:38:57) Codey: Yeah, and they’re all in the order, the order carnivora. (0:38:57) Al: Yeah. (0:38:59) Al: I’m translating for the listeners. (0:39:02) Al: Huh. (0:39:02) Codey: They’re all carnivores, but then they’re in two different families. (0:39:05) Codey: But yeah, give me a familiar, uh, Mantis. (0:39:12) Codey: I want to know. (0:39:12) Al: well, like the stick insect type thing. Yeah, I’m just like a praying mantis. Oh, yeah, yeah. (0:39:14) Codey: I want to, yeah, you don’t know what a Mantis is. (0:39:17) Codey: Oh, cause you guys don’t have them. (0:39:20) Codey: Yeah. (0:39:20) Codey: Like praying Mantis. (0:39:23) Codey: Um, no, I want a tarantula because I, we just got a new tarantula for our (0:39:27) Codey: insect zoo and I put her on my shoulder the other day and she just sat there (0:39:31) Codey: for like an hour and I want that in a familiar. (0:39:33) Al: I mean Tarantula feels like something that would work as a witch is familiar as well. (0:39:35) Codey: Yeah, praying nature is pretty cool though, or I just really like praying nature. (0:39:38) Al: Praying mantis, not so much. (0:39:43) Al: The other new game we have is a little rocket lab. (0:39:47) Al: Transform your childhood home as you build brilliant factories and forge lifelong friendships. (0:39:52) Al: Then reach for the skies and finally finish your family’s dream, your mother’s precious (0:39:58) Al: rocket ship. (0:39:59) Al: Roll up your sleeves. It turns out that saving this town really is (0:40:03) Al: rocket science. I think so but it’s also it you’re also individually you (0:40:05) Codey: Ha, ha, ha. (0:40:10) Codey: Is this just cozy factorial? (0:40:12) Codey: Thank you. (0:40:17) Al: playing a character like it’s not management style where you’re just like (0:40:22) Codey: Yeah. (0:40:25) Al: clicking and doing things like you are a character in the world who’s going and (0:40:28) Al: doing things, which I’ve talked about in previous episodes, I (0:40:33) Al: I’ve still not played a game like that, because there’s a bunch of games that are coming out soon (0:40:36) Al: that are like that style. And I feel like that might help feel less overwhelming than management (0:40:44) Codey: Mm hmm, yeah. (0:40:45) Al: games normally do. Yeah, it looks fun. The graphics are cute, kind of what, SNES style graphics. (0:40:54) Codey: I’d say that. Yeah. I mean, I just, I see that you build like the little conveyor belt (0:41:01) Codey: systems and you, like it, it looks very, it’s got that kind of like build a, an empire of (0:41:08) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Do you know what? Do you know what? I think that might actually really help me as well, (0:41:09) Codey: resource collection that factorial has, but then it also has like an RPG element and you’re (0:41:17) Al: because one of the reasons I’m not a huge fan of management games is it feels like they’re just, (0:41:21) Al: there’s no real goal other than build. Whereas here, your goal is to build a rocket. You’re (0:41:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:41:27) Al: fixing your rocket. So like that feels to me like I can set that as my goal and play until I get to (0:41:28) Codey: Yeah. Yeah. (0:41:33) Al: to that point and then finish that, you know, could help. (0:41:35) Codey: Well, in fact, Toria does that too, but like the goal once you launch the rocket, you like (0:41:42) Codey: win or whatever. (0:41:43) Codey: And then now with a new expansion, they have more, more to it, but it once you do that, (0:41:47) Codey: it’s like, okay, I sent game over. (0:41:53) Codey: That’s it. (0:41:54) Codey: Whereas this, it’s like, you get to build the RPG aspect of it and like the blueprints (0:42:02) Codey: are really cute. (0:42:03) Codey: your little dog follows you around, and yeah. (0:42:06) Al: Lots of the machines look super fun, like there’s a toaster grasscutter type looking thing, (0:42:12) Codey: Yeah, yeah, and it just cuts harvest hay for you. (0:42:14) Al: which you ride along on. (0:42:18) Al: Yeah, and there’s like a washing machine on tracks that I have no idea what it does. (0:42:23) Al: It’s just one screenshot of it. (0:42:24) Codey: Well, and in the, one of the screenshots, like, is it the one that’s no, (0:42:28) Codey: there is just a washing machine named scrubs who just walks around, (0:42:32) Codey: but his, his language is just like symbols. (0:42:32) Al: Oh, right. Okay. Gobble the gook. Yeah. Wingdings. Oh, you can throw a ball for your dog. So under (0:42:39) Codey: Yeah, it is a wing day. (0:42:42) Codey: So yeah. (0:42:48) Al: about this game, there’s like a gif of a bunch of different scenes, and one of them is throwing (0:42:50) Codey: okay okay i’m almost there i’m assuming oh my gosh I saw it that is very cute so yeah (0:43:03) Codey: this I mean this game looks really cute uh let me see oh it’s just gonna be windows (0:43:08) Codey: lame but that’s fine maybe by then i’ll have a seen dick (0:43:14) Al: Yeah, Steam Deck. (0:43:17) Codey: It has full controller support too for Xbox controllers. (0:43:19) Al: Uh, yeah, yeah, will have like, it’s all very, it’s, it’s funny when we say it, (0:43:20) Codey: » Right, right, coming soon. (0:43:24) Al: because it’s like, what is that? (0:43:26) Al: What is that? (0:43:27) Al: Yeah, coming soon has control control support. (0:43:30) Al: I’m like, are you finished the control support? (0:43:33) Al: Are you just saying that you will have it before you release? (0:43:37) Al: Or is that before our 1.0, like, will it be an early access? (0:43:40) Al: Like you just never know with developers nowadays, you know. (0:43:44) Codey: Well, so the developer is, it’s the, this is going to be their first thing. (0:43:48) Codey: Teenage astronauts. (0:43:49) Codey: I think this is their first thing. (0:43:51) Codey: And, but the publisher also published a let’s build a zoo. (0:43:55) Al: Mm-hmm. Yeah, they’re no more robots. They’re pretty big (0:43:58) Codey: Yep. (0:43:59) Al: publisher (0:44:00) Codey: Yep. (0:44:01) Codey: Looks cute. (0:44:01) Codey: I’m excited. (0:44:02) Codey: We’ll keep it on our radar. (0:44:05) Al: Absolutely, I’ve got it on my wishlist on Steam already (0:44:08) Al: - Thank you. (0:44:10) Codey: I told, I played factorial with my partner and I told him, I was like, oh my gosh, (0:44:14) Codey: there’s a cozy factorial coming out. And he was like, disgusting. Tell me more. (0:44:18) Al: Alright, that’s all of the news. We’re now going to jump into Honey Grove, which is a (0:44:22) Codey: Yeah. (0:44:30) Al: game we’ve been playing. So this is a mobile game. It is I would describe it as before we (0:44:36) Al: talk about the official description, which is you’ve put in there, I would describe it (0:44:38) Codey: - Right, right. (0:44:40) Al: as bees planting flowers and then making honey. (0:44:46) Codey: That sure is something that happens in this game. (0:44:48) Al: I mean it’s the core main game. There’s other parts to the game, but it feels like it’s (0:44:58) Al: the farming in Stardew. Yeah, you can do lots of other things and that’s fine, but it feels (0:45:05) Al: like without that nothing else would happen. (0:45:08) Codey: I mean, the honey part, the only reason you do the honey part is because you then use the honey for cooking. (0:45:14) Al: I see I didn’t, I’ve not really played this game a lot, Cody, do you want to talk about (0:45:18) Al: this game? (0:45:19) Al: The one thing that I, the one big thing, and this is actually the reason why I&rsquo

Al and Jonnie talk about Luma Island Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:03:55: What Have We Been Up To 00:13:53: Game News 00:37:20: Luma Island 01:32:07: Outro Links Wholesome Snack Wholesome Snack Humble Bundle Wanderstop Release Date Overthrown Early Access Snacko Roadmap Haunted Chocolatier Development Update Farm Folks Gameplay trailer Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. (0:00:34) Al: My name is Al and we’re here today to talk about cut to story games. (0:00:35) Jonnie: And my name is Jonny. (0:00:40) Al: Ah, welcome Johnny. (0:00:44) Jonnie: I am good for reasons that are entirely my fault. (0:00:48) Jonnie: We were recording at a really convenient time for me today, (0:00:50) Al: “Yes, I’m the one that’s that’s gone up early, so… (0:00:50) Jonnie: so I am way more awake than I usually am. (0:00:53) Jonnie: How are you, Al? (0:00:54) Jonnie: Thank you. (0:00:56) Al: Look, I mean, we used to do this occasionally, record early my time, and it just, it feels (0:01:05) Al: like it’s less, it’s less convenient for me because of your later time zone now, like… (0:01:12) Jonnie: Yeah, the time zone now works really well actually for me to record early because it’s a good time zone for that. (0:01:14) Al: Yeah, because if we want to record at 5pm, you’re in. (0:01:20) Al: time, which on a weekend is fine, probably, but on a weekday is probably the earliest you could do. (0:01:29) Al: That’s 7am my time, so it kind of basically gets rid of that for weekdays, (0:01:34) Al: which we used to do a couple of times is record an evening your weekday and morning my weekday, (0:01:40) Al: because we were exactly 12 hours apart, I think, when you were in New Zealand, (0:01:44) Jonnie: Yep. Hey, Al. (0:01:45) Al: which made it perfect. So it could like, we could start at 5am my time and 5pm your time, (0:01:49) Al: Whereas now it’s like… (0:01:50) Al: I start work at 8am, so it’s like starting recording at 7am. It’s not ideal, but it’s Sunday, so it doesn’t matter. (0:01:57) Jonnie: And we are now just going to rebrand to a logistics podcast. (0:02:01) Jonnie: I’m sure our listeners are very excited to be hearing of that. (0:02:05) Al: I have this great app from my Mac now where I have everybody’s time zones for the podcast typed into it. (0:02:12) Al: And I have a slider where I can just choose my time, and it tells me what everybody else’s time is at that point. (0:02:16) Al: It’s great for organizing stuff. (0:02:18) Jonnie: Okay, one, I’m gonna need you to send that to me (0:02:20) Jonnie: after the show, that sounds very convenient. (0:02:22) Jonnie: I work across like five different time zones, (0:02:24) Jonnie: so that sounds amazing. (0:02:26) Jonnie: And two, I’m curious how many time zones we have as folks, (0:02:29) Jonnie: ‘cause there’s quite a few, I’m guessing. (0:02:30) Al: So if we just talk about the base team, so we’re not talking about the people that are on a couple times a year, that is four time zones. (0:02:42) Al: So I’m in one, you’re in one, Kevin is in one, and then Cody, are we counting Bev still? They’ve not been on in a while, but Cody and Bev are in the same time zone. (0:02:52) Al: So that’s four time zones. (0:02:54) Al: Obviously, other people then have different ones, but I think Kelly is in a different one, and who else? (0:03:00) Al: Is that it? Have we covered all the American time zones now? (0:03:02) Jonnie: What about Micah, where’s Micah? (0:03:04) Al: Oh, Micah Central, is that the same? (0:03:09) Jonnie: I think it’s got to be the same as like one of Kiv and/or Cody. (0:03:12) Al: it’s not the same as Cody. What time is Kevin? Yeah, I think Kevin’s in Central as well. So, (0:03:20) Al: it’s the same as Kevin. Anyway, moving on. This episode, we’re going to talk about Luma Island. (0:03:20) Jonnie: We needed like a west coast American to you know really round it out (0:03:35) Al: Yeah, that was a full stop. We’re going to talk about Luma Island. (0:03:41) Al: Um… (0:03:43) Al: Before that we have some news, surprisingly still busy with news considering the time of year, (0:03:50) Al: and I don’t think it’s about to stop now, and we’ll explain why in our first game news, but (0:03:56) Al: before that, Jonny, what have you been up to? (0:03:58) Jonnie: What have I been up to? (0:04:00) Jonnie: I’ve been up to pocket of all varieties, many varieties, (0:04:05) Jonnie: all the pockets. (0:04:06) Jonnie: Pocket TCG, still plugging along with that. (0:04:06) Al: I haven’t done today’s battles yet. I’ll maybe set them up on auto during this podcast. (0:04:09) Jonnie: But Al, I really want to know, have you got any Venus yet? (0:04:19) Al: And maybe I’ll get the Venusaur today. I don’t know. We’ll see. (0:04:24) Jonnie: I’m not going to lie, I would be very stoked if you got the Venus (0:04:26) Jonnie: or while we were recording. (0:04:28) Al: Live on a podcast. Yeah. Let’s do it. I’m setting up. (0:04:29) Jonnie: Yeah, yeah. (0:04:32) Jonnie: Just for the listeners, how dry are you at this point? (0:04:36) Al: I think I’m at 28 promo packs and no Venusaur. So, interestingly, I only have two of the (0:04:42) Jonnie: Life has not been gone to you at all. (0:04:45) Al: Greninja. I mean, two’s what I want, right? I don’t want any more than two. But it’s not (0:04:50) Al: the Greninja that I’m getting lots of. I’ve got two and then it stopped. It’s the Jigglypuff (0:04:56) Al: and Haunter and Onyx that I’ve got nearly double digits of each of them. (0:05:01) Jonnie: Although, annoyingly, you kind of do want more of the more rare ones, because you get more Shine Dust for the duplicates, and while Shine Dust is not currently useful for anything worthwhile, number big means good. (0:05:06) Al: That’s, yeah, true. (0:05:14) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, right. I said those, I said those battles off. So we’ll see what happens. (0:05:20) Jonnie: But outside of Pokémon Pocket, I’ve also been playing Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Complete, whatever it’s called, which… (0:05:31) Jonnie: …is now fully come out in its complete edition, and there is a lot in this game now. There is so much. It is very overwhelming. (0:05:39) Al: Well, it is like eight years old at this point, and they’ve just shoved everything into it, so. (0:05:44) Jonnie: Yep. I feel like it will get to a good place, but at the moment it’s very overwhelming, and I’m just trying to work out what is the limited time stuff that I need to get done, particularly being December with all of the various Christmas events. (0:05:57) Jonnie: events. So just trying to work. (0:06:01) Jonnie: That out. But other than both of those Marvel Rivals is this new hero shooter game that came (0:06:09) Jonnie: out and look, I don’t like shooting games. I played a little bit of Overwatch. I’m terrible (0:06:15) Jonnie: at them. But there was something fun about being part of a thing that is having a moment. And I (0:06:20) Jonnie: feel like Marvel Rifles is that. And so while I’m terrible at it, I am having fun playing it in (0:06:26) Jonnie: these first few days. Well, that’s all it seems everyone is talking about. (0:06:29) Al: I have not played it, but I don’t want to say too much about it, but on the on the last (0:06:37) Al: podcast that I recorded, which is coming out in three weeks time, you will hear Kevin convince (0:06:43) Al: me to try it. So we’ll see, I guess, at some point. I wonder if by the time I next record (0:06:53) Al: an episode in a week, whether I will have played it or not, whether we have some. (0:06:59) Al: True out of time podcasting where I talk about the fact that I was convinced to play about (0:07:05) Al: it, and then I talk about the fact that I’ve played about it, and then you actually hear (0:07:09) Al: the being convinced to play it. We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see. I was totally not going (0:07:13) Jonnie: I really hope that that is the case and my prediction for your take on the game, Al, (0:07:18) Jonnie: is you will play it and you will be like, “I see why people like it and it is not for me.” (0:07:23) Jonnie: That will be your take. But… (0:07:26) Al: to play it until one thing in the episode, which I’m not going to spoil… (0:07:29) Al: There’s one specific thing that Kevin tells me about that I did not realize was the case (0:07:34) Al: for it, because I hadn’t seen any gameplay. And I had just been assuming based on everything (0:07:39) Al: that people had been saying, because people are like, “Oh, it’s just Overwatch, but Marvel.” (0:07:43) Al: And yeah, you’ll hear about that in three weeks’ time, listeners. (0:07:48) Jonnie: Amazing. (0:07:52) Jonnie: Yeah, but those are the things… (0:07:53) Jonnie: I guess just because I feel like it’s something you have to talk about (0:07:55) Jonnie: if you’re talking about a hero shooter. (0:07:57) Jonnie: So far, the character that I am liking the most is Hela, (0:08:02) Jonnie: which is probably not what I would have predicted (0:08:04) Jonnie: going into playing this game. (0:08:06) Jonnie: But that’s part of the fun of these sorts of games (0:08:08) Jonnie: is you find and connect with characters (0:08:11) Jonnie: that maybe you wouldn’t have otherwise. (0:08:15) Jonnie: Hela’s gimmick is a movement ability. (0:08:19) Jonnie: She’s kind of just a standard damage dealer. (0:08:21) Jonnie: She hits hard and has a relatively slow fire rate. (0:08:26) Jonnie: She has a stun ability and she throws some knives (0:08:30) Jonnie: that deal some delayed damage. (0:08:33) Jonnie: I don’t know how much of it really has anything to do (0:08:35) Jonnie: with her abilities from the comics and/or movies. (0:08:40) Jonnie: I know some feel particularly Hela-ry, (0:08:43) Jonnie: but I’m also not super familiar with her as a character (0:08:46) Jonnie: outside of that one Thor movie. (0:08:49) Jonnie: So yeah, she’s a pretty good stand-in sort of DTS-style character. (0:08:53) Al: I have talked about most of what I’ve been up to in the episode that will be coming in (0:08:54) Jonnie: And that’s what I’ve been up to. What have you been up to, Al? (0:09:02) Al: three weeks, but I specifically saved one thing to talk about in this episode, because (0:09:06) Al: I know that you’re on the same page as me with this game, and that is I have been trying (0:09:11) Al: to finish Legends of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom, because I started it when it came out, and (0:09:18) Al: I enjoyed it to start with, and it’s not like I’m not enjoying it anymore. (0:09:24) Al: But I just feel like I’m doing the same thing over and over again. (0:09:29) Al: And I know you’re going to say you don’t need to finish it. (0:09:31) Al: I know, I know, but I’m like two dungeons away from finishing. (0:09:35) Al: I feel like I just I want to finish it before I before I stop. (0:09:40) Al: But the I think the thing that I realised last night (0:09:46) Al: specifically was that I do not enjoy the boss fights in this game specifically. (0:09:53) Al: Because they are very passive, right? (0:10:00) Al: So you’ve got two ways of dealing with enemies in this game. (0:10:03) Al: You can either you can either turn into, you know, shadow link and attack them (0:10:11) Al: like you are link, which is kind of, you know, the traditional Zelda way of doing (0:10:15) Al: things, or you can use the echoes of enemies and they will attack instead. (0:10:21) Al: and for most… (0:10:23) Al: For most enemies, I’ve just been using this big floating plant with spikes, which works (0:10:28) Al: really well. It’s such a good… It’s so good that you… And you get it so early that basically (0:10:28) Jonnie: Yep, that’s what I used. (0:10:35) Al: nothing else replaces it. And I’m so close to the end of the game. But the problem is (0:10:43) Al: that I don’t find that fun for the boss battles, right? Because the whole point of boss battles, (0:10:48) Al: especially in like a Zelda game and stuff like that are for you’re figuring out what they (0:10:53) Al: do and you’re trying to figure out their weaknesses and you’re trying to take them (0:10:56) Al: down when they get to their weak point, right? But that is not possible to do with the echoes, (0:11:04) Al: right? Because you’re just throwing echoes up and hoping they don’t die, (0:11:07) Al: right? Because you can’t control them once you set them up. And the problem is you then, (0:11:12) Al: so then you default to going, “Well, maybe I do need to just be the link and attack them.” But (0:11:20) Al: Quite often, you just don’t have enough energy because you use (0:11:23) Al: up the energy while you’re linked. So you can’t be linked all the time, (0:11:28) Al: deliberately so, which is fair, but you just end up in this situation where (0:11:33) Al: you run out very quickly because the energy moves really quickly, and if you’re not immediately (0:11:42) Al: hitting the boss, you’re just dying. Finding it just such a frustrating situation, (0:11:53) Al: I really like the bosses because you’re having to figure out how to defeat this boss. Here, (0:11:59) Al: you’re just essentially throwing echoes at it and hoping they don’t die. (0:12:04) Jonnie: Yeah, I kind of agree and I feel like I feel like it would be better if there was more of a puzzle mechanic to the bosses where you weren’t just using the enemy echoes, but you were using other echoes that you had picked up in the dungeon to, you know, solve a puzzle that would expose a weak plane tour. (0:12:22) Jonnie: Like I feel like there was there was more space and it’s kind of my frustration with the whole game where I feel like there was more space to do more interesting things than ultimately what they ended up doing with them. (0:12:34) Al: Yeah. Yeah. So that’s, that’s about what I am just now with that game. Um, uh, I, as (0:12:41) Al: I say, I have two, I think two left to go. Um, presumably there’s a final boss after (0:12:46) Al: those last two dungeons. Um, but I will, I will see how that goes. I’m determined to (0:12:52) Al: finish it. Um, and I’m, you know, as I say, it’s not that I’m not enjoying it. I just (0:12:57) Al: kind of wish that it could have been more, um, than it is. (0:13:00) Jonnie: Yeah, I mean, it’s, you know, my take on the game was, you know, it was good. (0:13:06) Jonnie: It was really fun at the start and then it fell off. (0:13:08) Jonnie: And I think the fall off rate is probably going to be different for everyone. (0:13:13) Jonnie: And, you know, as close as you are, I think I would probably also finish the game if I was that close. (0:13:18) Al: Yeah. I think the thing is that I did fall off. I was just determined to come back and (0:13:22) Al: finish because of, well, just because that’s who I am. Right. I don’t, I don’t feel the (0:13:29) Al: need to complete every game, including a game we might talk about this episode, but I do (0:13:37) Al: with Zelda ones in particular, except the older 3D ones, I do tend to feel like I want (0:13:43) Al: to complete it just for having completed it, you know? (0:13:46) Jonnie: Absolutely. (0:13:48) Al: Anyway, so yeah, that’s, that’s about it. I’ve not been playing a huge amount else. (0:13:54) Al: Shall we talk about some news? So I think I probably should have talked about this first (0:13:59) Al: piece of news in the last episode, but I forgot. I’ve been really bad at that recently, apparently. (0:14:03) Al: This is the second piece of news in three weeks that I’ve forgotten to talk about in (0:14:07) Al: its, in its first episode. But here we go. Wholesome Games have announced their Wholesome (0:14:13) Al: knock the game of the wards edition the game of the game awards edition (0:14:19) Al: and that is happening on the 10th of December which is in the past if you’re listening to this (0:14:24) Al: episode. So we will cover whatever has happened in that in the next episode, whatever the next (0:14:31) Al: episode is. I’m so confused. For listeners, I’m recording four episodes of this podcast in two (0:14:38) Al: weekends, so I’m really confused about what’s happening, but there is an episode being recorded (0:14:43) Al: next week that will be listened to the week after, and that’s the one that we’ll be talking about (0:14:46) Al: about this in. So I. (0:14:48) Al: What makes sense for you when it happens? Yes, it may not make sense until January, (0:14:50) Jonnie: Let’s just listen to all of the episodes and everything will make sense at some point, except for the stuff that doesn’t. (0:14:59) Al: but yeah, they’ve also launched a wholesome snack bundle. If you are of the bundle persuasion (0:15:10) Al: and you like playing games, it includes Fe Farm, Little Kitty Big City. (0:15:18) Al: The Ranch of Riverside, Minami Lane and Rusty’s Retirement and also Spirit City LoFi Sessions, (0:15:27) Al: which I guess is a game. It’s calling itself a gamified focus tool, so it’s not really (0:15:34) Al: game game. But yeah, that is a pretty good bundle for what it is. I already have multiple (0:15:42) Al: of these games, so I don’t think I’ll be buying the bundle. But if you are interested. (0:15:48) Al: And these is a very good deal. (0:15:50) Jonnie: Yeah, I think this is a really cool bundle if you don’t if you don’t have many of these games (0:15:55) Jonnie: This is a bundle that is definitely worth getting (0:15:58) Al: - Absolutely. (0:15:59) Al: - Is there anything you’re hoping for (0:16:02) Jonnie: I (0:16:04) Jonnie: would like more information on (0:16:07) Jonnie: Tales of the Shire like (0:16:09) Jonnie: Everybody else other than that. I feel like we are in this era of there being so many games (0:16:17) Jonnie: I want announcements of when things are going. (0:16:20) Jonnie: They’re coming out and not as early access, but like, yeah, just give us release dates for stuff. (0:16:24) Al: you want some release dates of 1.0 releases. I know what Kevin’s looking forward to. That (0:16:25) Jonnie: Make hours scheduling life next year really easy. That’s what I want out of this wholesome stack. (0:16:33) Jonnie: Correct. (0:16:36) Al: is whatever the developers of Wildflowers are going to announce, because they have basically (0:16:42) Al: said they’re going to announce their new game in the Wholesome Snack. And what it could (0:16:47) Al: be, we don’t know, but that is happening. (0:16:49) Jonnie: Well, the listeners will have the ability to find out by the time that they are listening to this. (0:16:54) Jonnie: So, go watch the Wholesome Snack and see if you can find out what Kevin is really excited about. (0:17:00) Al: Yes, I won’t tell you the developer of the game. (0:17:03) Al: So you have to guess the other. (0:17:07) Al: I mean, this is part of the game awards. (0:17:11) Al: I don’t understand why it’s part of the game awards because it’s announcing new (0:17:14) Al: stuff and I’m confused about the game awards. (0:17:17) Al: They seem a bit confused themselves. (0:17:19) Al: I also here’s my thing, right? (0:17:22) Al: I don’t particularly care about the I don’t (0:17:25) Al: particularly have an issue with the game awards. (0:17:27) Al: It’s fine. (0:17:27) Al: I think it’s a bit weird that it’s become the one that people like. (0:17:31) Al: You know what people like their like, they like their Oscars. (0:17:35) Al: They like all their award ceremonies. (0:17:37) Al: I don’t particularly feel amazed about one particular awards. (0:17:42) Al: But hey, what he put in the effort into making a big event and people seem to like (0:17:47) Al: it, although I do feel like people just complain about it more than anything else. (0:17:52) Al: But I don’t have an issue with it. (0:17:54) Al: What I do have an issue is why is it in December? (0:17:58) Al: I’ve never understood why people do (0:18:00) Al: their game of the year, so early in December, it’s like the 10th of December, they’re doing (0:18:07) Al: this. And I’m like, that feels like, do it at the end of December, or do it in January, like all the (0:18:14) Al: awards seasons for film and TV, they happen in March and April, and they have like a specific (0:18:19) Jonnie: Yeah but people in games are dumb. So you know we get what we get and I don’t like game awards, (0:18:19) Al: cutoff date. (0:18:27) Jonnie: they suck and don’t pay attention to them. What you should pay attention to is the harvest season (0:18:34) Jonnie: game of the year awards because that is much better and I was gonna say much less controversial (0:18:40) Jonnie: but that’s definitely not true because last year was very controversial. So yes I don’t know don’t (0:18:47) Jonnie: Don’t pay attention to them. (0:18:50) Al: I do aim to be controversial. (0:18:54) Al: Yes, our Game of the Year episode will be coming out on the last Wednesday of the year, (0:18:59) Al: as usual. (0:19:00) Al: This year, the earliest it can possibly happen, because of how the year worked out, the 25th (0:19:05) Al: of December. (0:19:06) Al: It cannot happen any earlier than that, because if it were to try and happen a day earlier, (0:19:11) Al: it would actually happen a week later. (0:19:13) Al: Fun times. (0:19:15) Al: Next, we have a release date for Wonderstop. (0:19:20) Al: It is releasing on the 11th of March 2025 for PS5 and Steam. (0:19:28) Al: And this is the game, the tea-making game by the creator of the Stanley Paradox. (0:19:34) Al: So, I’m very intrigued. (0:19:34) Jonnie: I was I was trying to place why I knew the like why I knew this game and it was the I (0:19:42) Jonnie: had forgotten about the (0:19:45) Jonnie: That connection. Yeah this I (0:19:49) Jonnie: Don’t know. This is gonna be weird, right? Is there any other options? (0:19:53) Al: Yeah, I think it’s going to be something. I don’t know what it is. I’m not expecting it to be (0:19:58) Al: necessarily a meta-commentary on games like the Stanley Parable was. I think that would be boring (0:20:04) Al: if it was just the exact same thing, and I don’t know why they would do a cosy game for that. But (0:20:08) Al: I could see it addressing some sort of tropes on cosy games in some sort of way, because it talks (0:20:16) Al: about it being a narrative-driven game, and I think that that is probably very deliberate. (0:20:23) Al: The way they’re wording that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they upended some of our expectations. (0:20:32) Jonnie: Yeah, and I think the other thing that’s interesting is like in the about this game (0:20:36) Jonnie: they say it’s about change and tea like and putting a game about change as sort of your a (0:20:43) Jonnie: Number one thing that your game is about like if anything my expectation or not my expectations my hopes for this game (0:20:51) Jonnie: That it’s sort of on a par with (0:20:54) Jonnie: spirit fear (0:20:55) Al: - Mm, so you wanted to make it cry. (0:20:58) Jonnie: Uh, so I thought about a second like spirit fear but like on a par with (0:21:03) Jonnie: it could be a more pleasant version of a heavily narrative given game like spirit fear. Like I want (0:21:09) Al: is that possible? Is it possible to make you feel something without it being crying? (0:21:09) Jonnie: I want this game to make me feel something. Just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it’s not possible. (0:21:18) Al: Fair, fair, fair, fair. They’ve also released a new trailer for the game as well. Overthrown, (0:21:25) Al: I have announced their early access and it’s out now. Yep, so if you’ve been looking forward (0:21:31) Al: to this game, it’s out now. I’m undecided, I think I might wait for 1.0 for this game (0:21:37) Al: because I played the d- (0:21:39) Al: and I enjoyed it, but it definitely felt like I wanted much more than what it was initially (0:21:45) Al: um (0:21:46) Jonnie: Did you watch the video that went with the announcement of Early Access? (0:21:54) Jonnie: The one thing I was curious about was if there was anything in this video that looked like stuff (0:22:00) Jonnie: that wasn’t in the demo that you played. They did focus quite heavily in the video on multiplayer, (0:22:08) Jonnie: which seems very smart for this game, the chaos that I think that could bring sounds. (0:22:15) Al: Yeah, I don’t think the early access starts with multiplayer though, does it? (0:22:16) Jonnie: Pretty amazing. (0:22:20) Jonnie: That would be surprising because that felt very prominent in the… (0:22:22) Al: Well, maybe it does. The demo definitely didn’t have multiplayer, (0:22:27) Al: but that might have been because it was the demo. (0:22:27) Jonnie: Yeah, it felt like that was the whole focus of the trailer. (0:22:32) Al: Yeah, no, you’re right. It does feel like that, and I’m not seeing it in their roadmap anywhere, (0:22:39) Al: so I guess maybe it does have multiplayer already. (0:22:43) Al: Anyway, yeah, I’m obviously going to buy. (0:22:45) Al: this game and play it again at some point. (0:22:47) Al: I’m just undecided as to when that is. (0:22:49) Al: It’s not going to be this year because this year is already spoken for. (0:22:53) Al: I’ve got to finish Zelda and I’ve got to play Sonic. (0:22:56) Al: So we’ll see when that happens. (0:22:59) Al: It’s on Steam in early access. (0:23:01) Al: It’s also on Xbox game preview, apparently they call it, (0:23:05) Al: because it can’t be called the same thing. (0:23:09) Al: Next, we have a roadmap for Snacko has been announced (0:23:15) Al: the remaining updates before 1.0. (0:23:19) Al: They have four updates left to go down in the mines. (0:23:23) Al: Slice of life sprites evolution and dress to impress. (0:23:27) Al: So you can guess on what those might bring to the game. (0:23:30) Jonnie: Now I’m just going to jump on, you know, your little bandwagon, but on this roadmap, (0:23:35) Jonnie: why do they list the version numbers? They don’t need to. They could just have town and guild update (0:23:40) Jonnie: down in the mines, sprites evolution. Putting the numbers next to it doesn’t add anything, (0:23:46) Jonnie: and if they need to do a 0.9, 0.8, point something else because they’ve got some bug, like I just… (0:23:53) Jonnie: Anyway, I understand where you’re coming from, or even fit to my brain. I don’t know which, but (0:24:00) Al: Yeah, Snacko in particular have, um, look, I really like the developers of Snacko, so (0:24:07) Al: this is not personal. They really picked a weird version number thing in general to do (0:24:14) Al: for their early access. I feel like they started at zero point, nine point, zero point something. (0:24:21) Al: I don’t know what the problem is. Like I don’t know why they’ve done that, but it is what (0:24:27) Al: it is. Yeah, I think that I think (0:24:30) Al: the game developers should just not focus on version numbers in front of consumers (0:24:39) Al: at all, right? Consumers don’t care about a version number, they care about are they (0:24:44) Al: on the most recent update or not. That’s it. And Steam tells you that. Steam tells you (0:24:47) Jonnie: Sorry. (0:24:48) Al: if there’s an update. That’s it. Right, like you don’t need more than (0:24:53) Jonnie: I totally agree. (0:24:54) Jonnie: There’s just a silly thing to do. (0:24:56) Jonnie: And you can market your game better if you just say, (0:24:59) Jonnie: hey, look at all this exciting stuff (0:25:01) Jonnie: that we’ve got coming on our roadmap. (0:25:03) Jonnie: And it’s not 0.9.7 followed by 0– (0:25:06) Jonnie: because that 0.9.8, because that doesn’t (0:25:09) Jonnie: make it sound exciting. (0:25:10) Jonnie: It’s a very small number that it is going up by in the way (0:25:13) Jonnie: that humans interpret numbers. (0:25:15) Jonnie: So let’s not be silly. (0:25:17) Jonnie: I guess. (0:25:18) Al: Yes. Anyway, this confirms to me that it’s not releasing this year, so we’re safe. A few. (0:25:29) Al: They can’t get four updates done in December. (0:25:29) Jonnie: Well, particularly given that all four of the updates have names and then a bunch of (0:25:35) Jonnie: question marks underneath them, so there’s literally no detail on, well, there is some (0:25:38) Al: Yeah, I suspect that’s deliberate, that’s not because they don’t know what’s in it, (0:25:39) Jonnie: detail in the post about what’s coming. (0:25:44) Al: I think that’s definitely because they just want to keep the suspense and tell you it (0:25:50) Al: when it comes. (0:25:51) Al: All right, we now have our development update from Concern Date about Haunted Chocolatier. (0:25:59) Al: It’s a lot of words and it’s mostly, sorry I haven’t done much, but here’s some screenshots (0:26:05) Al: to keep you happy. (0:26:06) Al: Is that fair way to describe it? (0:26:08) Jonnie: I think it’s, sorry, I haven’t done much, I’ve been busy doing stuff on Stardew Valley. (0:26:12) Al: Yeah, oh yes, yes, I’m sorry, I thought that bit was obvious. (0:26:14) Jonnie: Also, in brackets, look, sometimes it might not be, also in brackets, I’ll probably keep (0:26:22) Jonnie: doing stuff on Stardew Valley. (0:26:24) Al: Yeah, are we ever getting this game, Johnny? (0:26:29) Jonnie: So I don’t know, like I found the framing around, the consent I put in the blog post (0:26:35) Jonnie: around Stardooth very concerning. (0:26:38) Jonnie: In that they discussed a strong feeling of obligation, I guess towards continuing to add to Stardooth because of, broadly speaking, how successful the game has been. (0:26:52) Jonnie: Which, to me, feels like someone chasing some idealized version of perfection that will never be achievable. (0:27:04) Jonnie: And I think we’ve already talked about this on the show. (0:27:08) Jonnie: But I feel with the most recent update, 1.6, was it good? (0:27:12) Jonnie: Yeah, it was good. But Staju was finished. (0:27:16) Jonnie: It is time to move on. (0:27:20) Jonnie: And I just don’t see what value there is to be achieved by adding more to Staju at this point. (0:27:28) Jonnie: And I would love to see a focus on anything else. (0:27:30) Jonnie: It doesn’t even have to be haunted chocolate here. (0:27:32) Jonnie: that’s not the thing that is, you know, making (0:27:38) Jonnie: bringing joy or whatever it is like find something else but yeah, I don’t know this blog post did not fill in (0:27:46) Al: Yeah, it’s interesting. I’m hoping that he can find it in his brain to focus on Hunter (0:27:55) Al: Jugletier until he’s happy with it. But yeah, I think you’re right. I don’t expect that (0:28:03) Al: most of his expectations on the obligations on him for Stardew are external. I suspect (0:28:11) Al: they’re internal in that he is, as you said in (0:28:16) Al: different words, a perfectionist, right? Like he wants it to be something, but (0:28:21) Al: that, as we all know, is impossible, and therefore he wants to completely keep it (0:28:27) Al: going. And I do worry a little bit that he might end up with like that with (0:28:30) Al: Haunted Chocolate here as well, but before it gets released, and so we may (0:28:34) Al: never get a version of it because he’s never fully happy with it. Well, I guess (0:28:38) Jonnie: - I agree, and I think you’re right, sure. (0:28:42) Al: we’ll see. You know, we could get into a situation where in two (0:28:46) Al: or three years, Hunter Chocolatier is out, and we then just get like one year we get a stardew (0:28:51) Al: update, the next year we get a Hunter Chocolatier update, and he’s infinitely updating both games (0:28:56) Al: until he dies. Who knows? Any comments on the screenshots we got? Because obviously there’s (0:28:58) Jonnie: - Look, it’s certainly possible. (0:29:04) Al: no context behind them, it’s just here are four screenshots. (0:29:10) Jonnie: Yeah, and it’s very hard to take anything significant (0:29:15) Jonnie: from these screenshots because there’s clearly (0:29:17) Jonnie: a heavy reuse of Stagio assets in them, right? (0:29:22) Jonnie: So like, and given where the game is at (0:29:25) Jonnie: and it’s developed in the life cycle, (0:29:27) Jonnie: largely a lot of that work. (0:29:28) Jonnie: It would be placeholder, I assume. (0:29:33) Jonnie: However, there were some things that (0:29:35) Jonnie: seemed obvious from the screenshots (0:29:36) Jonnie: that there was farming in the game. (0:29:40) Jonnie: I guess for me, I didn’t see anything in these screenshots. (0:29:43) Jonnie: I was like, oh, that’s interesting. (0:29:45) Jonnie: I wonder what that is. (0:29:46) Jonnie: It was mostly like, OK, this looks like a game (0:29:51) Jonnie: from the person who made Stardew. (0:29:53) Jonnie: And it kind of just looks, feels, has the vibe of– (0:29:59) Jonnie: Stardew, there is literally a line (0:30:01) Jonnie: of crops growing in some grass. (0:30:06) Al: Yeah, I so I looked at that. That’s obviously not your house. (0:30:11) Al: So I’m wondering if that’s not actually you growing stuff. (0:30:14) Al: And that is just someone else in the village who’s doing that. (0:30:19) Al: Right. Because I I don’t know if we know for certain that it has farming and this (0:30:24) Al: would obviously hint at that, but it wouldn’t be weird if there wasn’t farming. (0:30:29) Al: But a house in the village had crops because, of course, someone’s going to have crops. (0:30:35) Jonnie: interesting. How do you know? Do you know for certain that it’s not to get the players house? (0:30:40) Al: Well, you live in a castle in haunted juggler (0:30:45) Jonnie: I clearly have forgotten way too much about this game that we (0:30:50) Al: So if you go into the screenshots link on the web page, the top one is a picture of (0:30:59) Al: your shop that is attached to the house that you stay in. (0:31:04) Al: Like you live in a big mansion type house, hence haunted. (0:31:08) Al: Like it’s an old haunted house type thing. (0:31:11) Al: So yeah, I’m pretty confident that the picture with those crops is now. (0:31:16) Jonnie: There we go. The other thing that I’ll say about the screenshots is the second one is the player (0:31:22) Jonnie: being attacked by a bunch of slimes, and the thing that I’m like, “Oh, I don’t like Stardew (0:31:27) Jonnie: Combat. It’s very bad.” This looks like more Stardew Valley-style combat, not less, (0:31:33) Jonnie: so that’s definitely heading in the wrong direction. (0:31:34) Al: he has he has commented that he’s done a lot of different things with the combat (0:31:39) Al: whether it addresses your complaints about it I’m not sure but he yeah that (0:31:45) Al: he’s said that in previous blog posts that it’s he’s done a lot of things to (0:31:50) Al: the combat that he didn’t do in Stardew so I guess we’ll see what what that (0:31:54) Jonnie: - Yeah, do you have any takeaways from any of the screenshots? (0:32:02) Al: I don’t think anything that you’ve not brought up, I guess maybe, maybe I think (0:32:08) Al: it’s interesting that he’s posted two portraits of characters and I don’t know (0:32:13) Al: whether this is just a brain pattern match type thing, but my brain looks at (0:32:17) Al: them and goes, they look very similar to existing stardew characters. (0:32:22) Al: Like the guy on the right looks a lot like Sam’s dad. (0:32:27) Al: I can’t remember his name. (0:32:28) Jonnie: - I can’t, you’re the king. (0:32:29) Al: Kent, looks a lot like Kent. (0:32:32) Al: You’re right. (0:32:33) Al: Um, and the one on the left almost looks like a young, long haired Abigail, but (0:32:39) Jonnie: Yes. It is not your brain. The Abigail one in particular is very close, I think. (0:32:39) Al: maybe this is just my brain trying to see things that aren’t there. (0:32:50) Jonnie: I definitely see both of those characters in those portraits. (0:32:55) Al: So yeah, I don’t know. I think the thing about Stardew is one of its best things is its characters, (0:33:00) Al: and that doesn’t mean the characters in this need to look completely different to the characters (0:33:05) Al: in Stardew. Like if they are characterised well, then it will still be good. Yeah, we’ll see, (0:33:12) Al: I guess. We’ve got a long time to wait. Maybe we won’t. The last blog post before (0:33:14) Jonnie: Maybe we won’t see L, maybe we won’t. (0:33:18) Al: this one was posted three years ago. Christmas Day 2021. (0:33:23) Jonnie: That cannot be accurate, but I guess I’ll have to believe you. (0:33:25) Al: I mean, you can check yourself. Go onto the blog link and scroll down. You see this update (0:33:32) Al: December 4th, 2024, and the next one December 25th, 2021. It’s been over three years since (0:33:37) Jonnie: I refuse to believe that. (0:33:41) Al: this game was announced, that’s all. It’s been over three years, and that was over (0:33:44) Jonnie: It cannot be more than two years, that’s all I’m saying. (0:33:55) Al: half into Covid. Time means nothing, Johnny. (0:34:01) Jonnie: I know we’re on a podcast now, but I would really love for you to stop talking. (0:34:07) Al: OK, the last piece of news is that farm folks have released a new trailer. They’re calling (0:34:12) Al: it their Reveal Trailer, which is funny because I’m pretty sure they revealed this game a couple (0:34:17) Al: years ago, so I’m not sure why this is the reveal trailer. But anyway, yeah, here’s a game called (0:34:25) Al: Farm Folks that we definitely haven’t talked about before. Yes, we have. Scrolling back on Steam, (0:34:35) Al: their first announcement of the game was in February 2021. So yes, it is not. I don’t know (0:34:41) Al: why they call it a reveal trailer. This is a thing that lots of people do, is they announce (0:34:45) Al: these things like they’ve never announced them before. We’ve seen so much gameplay of this game. (0:34:48) Jonnie: I think it’s because they’re revealing their gameplay, like actual gameplay footage. (0:34:55) Jonnie: They say they are claiming it is their first gameplay trailer. (0:34:55) Al: Or maybe a professionally produced full trailer, but I’ve seen almost all of this gameplay before, (0:35:06) Al: and they keep posting it on Twitter and TikTok. Oh, so it’s Gameplay Reveal Trailer. Interesting. (0:35:13) Al: Anyway, I’m cautiously optimistic about this. I think what I like about this game is the (0:35:18) Al: very heavy lean into automation. (0:35:21) Jonnie: I don’t have a strong feel for this game, (0:35:24) Jonnie: and that is because it gives me strong Minecraft vibes, (0:35:30) Jonnie: which is not really my thing, (0:35:34) Jonnie: but I am with you on the automation side of things, (0:35:38) Jonnie: seeming like that is, of all of the things in this game, (0:35:42) Jonnie: that is the one thing that stands out. (0:35:44) Jonnie: And if it is good, I feel like this is the sort of game (0:35:47) Jonnie: where I would like to watch YouTube videos (0:35:50) Jonnie: of all of the. (0:35:51) Jonnie: Cool and weird automation things that people do in this game. (0:35:54) Al: Yeah, yeah, I do suspect that that will be a fun way to experience it, but yeah, I get (0:36:04) Al: that. Personally, I loved Minecraft as well, so I can’t really combat your point about (0:36:12) Al: it being Minecraft-y. I do think I felt more Sims-y about it than anything else, especially (0:36:20) Al: with the building, the building of buildings. (0:36:22) Jonnie: Yeah, I guess for me the building looks more like the modern version of what I would expect (0:36:26) Jonnie: Minecraft building to be. You know, where they’ve got the roof parts and wall sections (0:36:31) Jonnie: and things like that. It’s sort of like the level up that has happened in the survival (0:36:36) Jonnie: game genre in the last five years. (0:36:40) Al: Yeah, maybe. (0:36:41) Jonnie: I also really don’t like the word folks. I think it’s such a dumb, lame word. Yeah, (0:36:45) Al: Hey, folks. (0:36:50) Jonnie: Just to say, like, I mean, obviously– (0:36:52) Jonnie: I’d say the name “farm people” would be darn, but if you ever are going to use the word “folks,” just don’t. Just say “people.” (0:36:57) Al: I like it. (0:36:58) Al: I like folks. (0:36:59) Al: It’s generic guys. (0:37:00) Jonnie: No. (0:37:00) Al: It’s gender neutral guys, folks. (0:37:04) Jonnie: Folks is better than guys, but it’s still like a detail way of addressing a group of people. (0:37:08) Al: It’s folksy. (0:37:11) Al: No. (0:37:13) Al: Okay. (0:37:14) Al: Well, good. (0:37:15) Al: Now I know another thing to annoy you with. (0:37:16) Al: Just what I like. (0:37:18) Al: Okay. (0:37:19) Al: That’s all the news. (0:37:21) Al: We are now going to talk about Luma Island. (0:37:24) Al: And I’m going to try and not make Johnny too disappointed with my opinions on this game. (0:37:31) Al: So Luma Island. (0:37:34) Al: Let’s introduce it, I guess. (0:37:37) Al: It is, uh, I think it’s fair. (0:37:40) Al: Fair to say that this is a farming game, but I think it’s, it’s less focused on farming (0:37:45) Al: than most farming games, but I would say it’s, it feels like an evolution of a Stardew-like (0:37:52) Al: in that it’s, it doesn’t feel like Stardew, but it feels like it takes a lot of the ideas (0:37:58) Al: and moves them in a different direction. Would that be fair to say? (0:38:00) Jonnie: Yeah, I can. I completely agree. And like for me, the thing that Luma Island is is it’s kind of like a puzzle exploration game that has strong roots in a Stardew Valley or a core sort of (0:38:16) Al: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there’s, there’s definitely everything that you would expect in, in, in (0:38:21) Al: a stardew, like, except maybe characters that you care about. Um, you know, there’s farming, (0:38:26) Al: there’s mining, there’s fishing, there’s actually, I don’t know. Can you, can you get animals? (0:38:30) Al: I haven’t actually experienced that you can write. Okay. Um, I’m going to lean on you (0:38:31) Jonnie: - Yes, you can, you can get animals, yep. (0:38:35) Al: a lot for this. Cause I think I looked at last episode, I said, I’d played 10 hours (0:38:40) Al: of this game. I, and then I checked after the episode, I had not played 10 hours of (0:38:44) Al: this game. (0:38:46) Al: The big thing about this game that’s different is the job system. (0:38:58) Jonnie: Yeah, so I guess the the job systems are also questlines, (0:39:04) Jonnie: there’s seven job systems, you know, there’s cooking, which (0:39:07) Jonnie: is and brewing, which are very closely tied to farming. There (0:39:11) Jonnie: is fishing, which is what it says. There’s also, I think (0:39:17) Jonnie: they call it crafting. But it’s like, or treasure hunters, I (0:39:21) Jonnie: think it’s treasure hunting, where you’re making pirate (0:39:24) Jonnie: outfits. That’s also sort of loosely tied. (0:39:28) Jonnie: To fishing, there is archaeology, which is tied to sort of exploring and going down into the mines. (0:39:39) Jonnie: There is smithing and jewellery, which are more tied to the sort of mining as gathering mechanics. (0:39:48) Jonnie: So in some way, all of the job systems are tied to one of the core mechanics that you require (0:39:55) Jonnie: to gather resources for the game. (0:39:59) Jonnie: And I think this is probably the thing that most people that are listening to a show like ours (0:40:08) Jonnie: will… it might be the thing that puts them off the most, right? Because the way (0:40:13) Jonnie: the job system works is they will say go and craft, you know, a thing, the first version of the thing, (0:40:20) Jonnie: you make that thing and you sell it for a lot of money. And that is its only purpose. And the job (0:40:25) Jonnie: system really exists as sort of the, the hems to work. (0:40:28) Jonnie: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s really important to keep the wheel, that drives you needing to get to new areas and acquire new stuff, but there isn’t anything that you can actually do with the things that you’re making beyond selling them for more money to kind of keep the wheel turning. (0:40:42) Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s fair. It’s also the the profession as you say, like very much dictates (0:40:48) Al: what you do in this game. And that can both be a good and a bad thing. I think it doesn’t (0:40:55) Al: stop you doing other things, but it very much like takes you on a journey through that profession. (0:41:02) Al: The quest system, I think, has I like a quest system that tells you here are things to do. (0:41:12) Al: Those need to stop at some point. And I don’t know whether it’s just that I didn’t go on (0:41:18) Al: far enough, but I felt like I was always dictated. Everything I do in the game was dictated very (0:41:26) Al: much by a quest that is like a very much immediate quest. It’s not like, oh, now just do more (0:41:34) Al: of that and explore other things. Right. It’s always like, oh, make a horseshoe. And I went (0:41:39) Al: with a blacksmithing profession, right? Because I thought that… (0:41:42) Al: sounded like the most interesting one to me at the start, and you don’t get a huge amount of (0:41:46) Al: information about what they’re going to do before you pick one. So I picked the blacksmithing one (0:41:50) Al: because I was like, I like mining. Mining is generally a fun thing in games. Let’s try this, (0:41:56) Jonnie: Just on your thought about the the direction, I think that continues through the game, but potentially the important thing is you can get multiple professions, so you can purchase additional licenses for additional professions and so I think once I got to the second area, (0:42:16) Jonnie: I purchased three different professions, so I always felt like I was kind of bouncing from thing to thing based on what I had the reason. (0:42:26) Jonnie: So I started with the archaeologist profession, then I added the brewing profession, which is the one that I did in the demo, and then I added the treasure hunter profession to that as well, and I think having three made it slightly more varied. (0:42:46) Jonnie: Equally, there are some quests in the town and I don’t know if you discovered any of those that also had some variety. (0:42:55) Al: I did not. Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. I like the professions in general as an idea. (0:43:07) Al: I just felt very pigeonholed after picking one and considering you don’t know truly what the game (0:43:14) Al: is like when you pick one first, right? Like it’s very early on in the game that you pick a job, (0:43:19) Al: a profession. Like it’s almost like 15 minutes into the game. You’ve done almost (0:43:25) Al: nothing and you’re deciding what your next 10 to 20 hours of your game is going to be based on (0:43:33) Al: not knowing what those are, which I think is part of the problem. I feel like it could have done a (0:43:37) Al: better job of like giving you examples of each of them in the first hour of the game and then you (0:43:42) Al: pick a profession, but that may work better for other people. I don’t know. (0:43:49) Jonnie: Yeah, I don’t necessarily disagree with any of that. And I think the thing that stands out to me (0:43:55) Jonnie: most about this game, and it’s probably the reason that I like the game is I feel I always felt like (0:44:01) Jonnie: there was kind of like something to be doing. You know, so in addition to the job system, (0:44:06) Jonnie: which requires you going around a different area and sort of exploring that area and to get the (0:44:12) Jonnie: resources that you need, there are so many little puzzles in integrated sort of in the world that (0:44:20) Jonnie: doing and I really like those sorts of exploration games. And so I what I enjoyed is the fact that (0:44:26) Jonnie: you’re like, you’re just wandering around, doing lots of little puzzles, you know, getting the (0:44:31) Jonnie: collecting the resources that you need, and sort of finding stuff that way. I really liked that sort (0:44:36) Jonnie: of sense of progression that this game gave that is very distinct from pretty much every other (0:44:43) Jonnie: college core farming. (0:44:44) Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s fair. I did think… I think my profession led to me not (0:44:52) Al: exploring as much because the blacksmithing is very much gather as (0:44:58) Al: much as you can from the mines and craft as much as you can to sell. I didn’t (0:45:05) Al: really explore the area around the island a huge amount. I did a couple of (0:45:11) Al: times, and I saw the sort of puzzles that you’re (0:45:15) Al: talking about, but I didn’t manage to unlock very many of them because of that, if that makes sense. (0:45:26) Jonnie: It does. And did you make it to the forest area? (0:45:30) Al: I don’t… Is there a specific area that’s… Because it all feels very foresty. (0:45:36) Jonnie: Yes, so when you start, you start on the farm and the farm is the first area. (0:45:36) Al: Like, is there a specific area that’s called forest? (0:45:49) Jonnie: There is the town that is the second area, but once you have progressed your progression (0:45:54) Jonnie: far enough in the farm area, you get a short quest to unlock the second area that is the (0:46:02) Jonnie: forest and there are multiple different areas. (0:46:08) Al: No, I didn’t. I felt… I think part of the thing why I thought maybe you were talking about just (0:46:15) Al: an area on the farm is because it feels like a very large area the farm does and I got… (0:46:21) Jonnie: So the farm feels like a large area. It is the smallest of the areas. (0:46:27) Al: This game confuses me. I get lost any time I explore away from just the initial area, (0:46:35) Al: the initial, you know, your, your camper van. (0:46:38) Al: And the mine and the entrance to the town. (0:46:41) Al: Anytime I go much further away from that, I cannot figure out where I am. (0:46:48) Al: I just get completely lost because it’s so massive. (0:46:51) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s a big end. For me, this is one of the things that I loved about because I definitely (0:46:58) Jonnie: had that same experience on the farm where I was getting lost. And over time, I explored so much (0:47:04) Jonnie: off the farm that like now I know my way around that area really well. Then I went onto the forest (0:47:09) Jonnie: area, got exceptionally lost. Part of the archaeologist profession that I had was you have to go (0:47:16) Jonnie: through these dungeons without dying, and I was trying to find… (0:47:21) Jonnie: all of the dungeons because they were sort of spread out, like there was three of them in the (0:47:25) Jonnie: second area, and they were very spread out. And I got lost a lot in the forest, but I enjoyed… (0:47:32) Jonnie: I guess I enjoyed the feeling of being lost because like there were so many little puzzles, (0:47:35) Jonnie: and so I would just stumble across a little puzzle and try and complete it, and then sort of make my (0:47:40) Jonnie: way around. And then eventually I would come out on a space that I knew and sort of find my way (0:47:45) Jonnie: back. And so I really enjoyed that side of things. This is the thing. (0:47:52) Jonnie: That makes me like this game, right? And this is the thing that’s like, would I recommend this game to (0:47:57) Jonnie: everybody listening to the show? The answer to that is probably no, because I think this game (0:48:02) Jonnie: does a lot of things that I specifically really, really enjoy, but are not core to the Cottage (0:48:09) Al: Yeah, I think that’s fair. I think before we get into the specific mechanics, (0:48:18) Al: I want to talk a bit about the controls and stuff like that, which I didn’t write down on the list, (0:48:23) Al: but I’m now remembering. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the character creator, (0:48:28) Al: because I feel like whenever we’re going to talk about it, now that we’ve already started talking (0:48:32) Al: about things, we’re going to end up feeling like it’s a weird jump in time anyway. But we need to (0:48:38) Al: to talk about the character creators. (0:48:39) Al: Let’s do that now. (0:48:41) Al: The character creator, I think, works really well in that it has a lovely (0:48:45) Al: little random button that will randomly generate something. (0:48:48) Al: So if you don’t care about what you (0:48:49) Al: look like, you can just press that a few times and go like, oh, that one looks fine. (0:48:53) Al: And then continue on. (0:48:55) Al: I like when things (0:48:57) Al: customize, things have that it’s like names in Stardew Valley for your animals, (0:49:01) Al: stuff like that, giving you a way to go, I don’t really care what this is. (0:49:04) Al: Just give me something. (0:49:07) Al: But what I really liked is the fact… (0:49:09) Al: that I pressed it three times, and on the third time, it came up with a guy in a (0:49:13) Al: kilt with ginger hair, and I was like, “Oh, it’s me!” (0:49:16) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s it’s a nice little character creator. (0:49:21) Al: So that was a good start. (0:49:24) Al: How much time did you spend creating your character? (0:49:28) Jonnie: Two minutes. (0:49:29) Al: Yeah, fair enough. (0:49:30) Jonnie: Look, I. (0:49:30) Al: I pressed the random man three times and went, “Yeah, that’s me. Let me maybe add a hat.” (0:49:35) Al: And then I found that there was a stereotypical “Hey Jimmy, Scottish hat” as well. (0:49:36) Jonnie: Yeah. (0:49:39) Al: I put that on him and I was done. (0:49:40) Jonnie: - Yeah, yeah. (0:49:43) Al: Okay, cool. Well, if we’re do

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

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

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