Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Dream Suites & Other things

This entry has been in progress pretty much since early June and I had hoped to post it when we got the next update announcement, but well… We haven’t. I posted my sentiments on it over on Twitter about a week ago and honestly, my sentiments still feel the same. I will say the biggest surprises for me with this is it felt around or shortly after E3 would’ve been the perfect time to say something or after July 10th as it was the last new item from the last update… but still nothing. There’s still a chance of something at the end of July like when we got our last big update, but I really would’ve expected them to not go that route as I feel like that was the first big drop of people playing due to the lack of updates…

Regardless, I’ve still been trying to poke in and play despite all the craziness. There’s still a lot of Dream Addresses I want to visit, but I always find ones Officially done for something kind of exciting. Thus, despite not having much familiarity with either property, I couldn’t help but visit the official Fruits Basket Island and the official Heaven’s Design Team island of the Galápagos Island.

Fruits Basket Island – Dream Address: DA-8458-4531-4562


I even ended up taking one of the patterns with me…

Heaven’s Design Team Island/Galapagos Island – Dream Address: DA-2943-4856-4983


I also couldn’t resist checking out the special Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Dream that was made along with the event they are currently holding for Animal Crossing this Summer.

Sea Paradise Island – Dream Address: DA-0334-6879-4206




And well I really love dolphins, so…

As for non-Dream related things, we’ve had quite a few birthdays pop up for my Villagers. It was Peanut’s first birthday on the island and now I’ve celebrated every one of my villager’s birthdays at least once:

Peanut and Maple were my final two villagers to get so I found it cute that they ended up celebrating together. It was the same for Maple’s birthday just a week later as well:

We had Cookie’s (where on the opposite side of the spectrum, she was with Merengue and they were the first two Dream Villagers I got) and Marina’s birthdays as well.

Unfortunately, what I’ve been struggling with a bit is managing to keep up with all my villagers. I don’t have many reasons to play long so I rarely end up seeing them all. I’m not particularly a talkative person even in real life (I’m much more a listener), but I always feel a bit bad. At least I still feel wanted.

Diana especially gets me while also calling me out.

Meanwhile, as a 4th of July celebration and an early celebration of Meg’s upcoming birthday at the time, we also had a small party over in Aurora:

Finally, the 18th came around for my own birthday. Flurry hosted it this time.

Also Cookie really should have not held off that last part for its own speech bubble.

The birthday itself was pretty much the same which I expected, but kind of wondered if there would be any special dialogue for being the second time I celebrated my birthday on the island. There was not.


The big differences for me this year was getting a gift from Peanut as we had hit Best Friend status now:

And getting to see more of the Villager messages from K.K.’s Birthday Concert:


I do wish we could get enough cupcakes to give everyone, but I at least made sure to catch everyone who wasn’t there and then Cookie got the last as I saw her first.



As a side note, I do wish villagers couldn’t take up a space if it notes there is no way around them to a path ;~;

At this point, I have nothing left to do though until there’s a new update. I hope we’ll hear something soon even if it’s just that updates are over.

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis thoughts!

New Genesis has been out for about a month now so I just wanted to talk about my thoughts with it a bit. I will say I have no issue with the “lack of content” because, well, obviously. Especially the slower schedule as we’re getting updated at the same time as Japan instead of a 1 year rush of tons of content Japan had gotten over several years (and we… still didn’t get everything so).

I would say the only things I have issues with in that sense are the things that did exist at the very start when the original PSO2 launched in Japan that are not here for one reason or another like trading. Not having trading sucks and I really liked giving things to friends. Having to deal with the market on top of higher taxes and certain forced prices (which maybe supposedly have changed?), I’m now using up more space just holding onto things and a “Trade” option is still there… Just greyed out.

Another odd thing us that despite being told there would be no Rooms to decorate this time around, we’re mentioned to be getting one right in the Story and even head to a building to “rest” in aa room we never get to see. It just made the removal of them stand out all the more.

One of my biggest issue though is not seeing changes to the Star Gem system. Not being able to sell/trade items just… really stinks. I’ve gotten some items like 5 times which are ones I know friends have really wanted and have just had the worst luck with the few things I wanted. Similarly, despite the big hype on hand motions/fingers that move, the first hand motions we get are stuck to a SG Scratch… Can’t trade, can’t sell, and they’re all “featured” items and thus, rarer to pull. And SG aren’t cheap. Sure, you can earn them in the game too (After all, it’s a “Freemium” currency), but at the moment, there’s no real ways to consistently get them in NGS. There is a limit to the amount you can get in boxes (as those boxes only show up once) and while you can do some stuff in regular PSO2, most people aren’t bothering to go back and forth. This is especially an issue when Material Storage feels like a necessity in NGS with how much there is to gather while you’re out and about and yet, you can only purchase it for 30 Days at a time with Star Gems. I wish it was a permanent purchase or even part of Premium, but right now it just feels even more frustrating than it did in the original PSO2.

Going past my customization dreams, I find the gameplay a lot of fun still and love running and gliding around the world. Anytime I o back to regular PSO2, it always feels really sluggish in comparison as the movement just doesn’t feel as quick and fluid.

That said, there are some downsides to everything being so seamless: The lack of places to stop and rest and most frustratingly, the fact that Rare Drop and Experience Rate ups get used while offline or even just in town versus how it would only be used up when actually in a map besides the Alliance Boost which you can always re-get. PSO2 Day’s boost for NGS is also incredibly low and while I can guess why due to NGS’ newness, it’s made the day feel a lot less special.

In a similar sense, we have our first event right now, but it just being on the open world with no special areas means there’s no place to focus so when you need those last few things (As we continue to try and find one more Rappy), it feels a lot more overwhelming trying to get everything done. We don’t even have a schedule for the UQs so it’s just… hoping you catch one for the limited time quests.

Despite these concerns mechanic-wise, I will say Central City looks really pretty with the decorations and I’m excited to see how it’ll be decorated for future events too.

Regardless, I will say I have been having trouble getting a good handle on Force in NGS. I think the biggest thing that throws me off this time around is charging up techniques is relatively worthless. It doesn’t do more damage– if anything, it just has a secondary effect or a different attack habit almost like an entirely different attack over necessarily a stronger one. So much feels like a lead up to a powerful blast over doing a lot at once and I don’t really enjoy slow build up. The other issue is as someone who finds clicking a lot rather painful after a while, the constant of having to do that with my mouse now that charging attacks is relatively useless (It’s much faster to just do neutral attacks than charge up an attack for no pay-off) so I’m just spamming left click, right click, or the left side button depending on what I’m trying to do and it’s exhausting. In general, some fights just feel so long and it’s kind of tiring.

Not to mention Gigantix which has unfortunately caused some rudeness to spring up due to the fact that if you’re under level 20, you barely do any damage to the boss. And it kind of worries me in the future of how specific things like “rotations” and “skill trees” and how much people could try to min-max because of how little leeway there is. I’m hoping it can eventually be more flexible as nobody should be told to leave an area due to not being a high enough level. There’s so many reasons someone could be there and a lot of areas are pretty huge. While they are making adjustments so anyone under level 20 will not cause any issues in an upcoming patch, it still puts aa lot of focus on getting to max as possible and even as someone who is max level, it just makes me feel better for those who aren’t yet and may feel excluded.

Battle Power especially has me concerned for that min-max thing with people struggling to even reach the first requirements for the story which is still very early in the beginning (and we’ll just ignore that someone has already possibly not made it or gotten possessed or something T__T) and more than anything, it’s made me miss Casual mode. I like Story a lot, but honestly, I’m not here to go super hard difficulty, especially by myself. I consider myself more a support player who also does damage and not really a DPS class so being thrown into the story with no casual mode for those who maybe just want to enjoy that story is disheartening.

Finally, I have been enjoying the nicer graphics for the most part, but the old hair just looks… so awkward with newer stuff and I really hope an NGS hairstyle I like will eventually be out. As it is, my character feels slightly off outside the salon and I can’t figure out why. I have tried so hard to make her look as nice as my original did, but something always feels off. I’m hoping maybe I’ll feel better about it once I get a new hairstyle.

I do want them to find a way for the Global version to get the campaigns Japan does. I don’t think there’s any good reason not to and I feel like trying to make a global game and keep it up with the original server and yet excluding various items is just… a really bad plan all around. I guess I just have a lot of concerns more than anything.

Still having fun though and still enjoying playing each day. I’m looking forward to the next part of the story.

E3 Day 4 thoughts!

It is officially the last day of E3! It’s been a very eventful week so honestly, as fun as it’s been, I’m also looking forward to when things calm down too.

Nintendo Direct & Treehouse Live

While Nintendo tends to get the loudest fans, I’ve always found the best way for me to go into it is to expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised instead.

Despite that, while I have no specific hopes, there are some things I will be very surprised if they’re not mentioned:

  • Breath of the Wild 2 – After the teaser two years ago, a lot of people have been waiting for more information. With Hyrule Warriors 2 having been released and setting things up (possibly hinting to what BotW2’s story may become), it feels like the perfect time for us to finally see something more.
  • The next update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons – The last update was relatively sparse and with the only thing on the horizon being a couple more seasonal
  • New Smash Brothers Fighter – After all, the second fighter pass is still in progress so it feels like the perfect time…

I would also think we could see a bit more of Splatoon 3 and/or something Pokemon related, but I guess we’ll see. For now, that’s about the only predictions I have…

If I had to pick hopes, obviously, it’d be certain things with Animal Crossing– Quality of life stuff, Amiibo Cards for the 8 new villagers, not having “hidden” catalog items, changing how Seasonal items show up, BIGGER ROOMS, being able to increase our island-size, etc., but honestly, I just haven’t really liked how updates worked and despite them doing it this way to increase playtime, it actually had the opposite effect on me.

Regardless, let’s get on with the show and my actual thoughts as it goes! I’ll skip any games we’ve seen before though unless I really have something new to say.

So, as expected, new Smash Fighter announcement and right at the start too. There’s no character I really want in Smash and with the removal of trophies, it killed a lot of my hype for it, but the trailers can still be interesting to watch at least. There are better Tekken characters though.

Kirby continues to be the best. I’m really glad Kirby was okay T~T

Didn’t expect a new Worms game! It looks fun though at least.

Super Monkey Ball is one of those games I absolutely adore, but am incredibly bad at (I need a no timer mode). I really love Marble Madness games, but it’s always impressive to watch people who are really good at them too.

PEACH’S BIRTHDAY CAKE LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL! And excited to hear it’s the best of Boards in addition to the games! And you can play online?? I feel like this is the Mario Party everyone has wanted. Definitely getting Mario Party Superstars.

(Also please make and sell the plates/tea cup/other kitchen stuff at Nintendo NYC or Super Nintendo Land please)

I am intrigued that it looked like they were riding a Unicorn at one point?? I have a lot of fond memories of the Cruis’n series from Arcades so I am somewhat interested in Cruis’n Blast.

I still can’t decide how I feel about Mario Golf Super Rush. I almost want it just to play my Mii again in a story mode. But I am not particularly great at golf games and I feel like I’d eventually just get stuck…

Japan’s Nintendo Direct showed a game called “Worth Life” that looked cute, but I’m not sure if we’ll see it over here.

Wario Ware is always pretty fun so excited for a new Wario Ware game too.

Tempted to just get Danganronpa S so I can pretend everyone is fine and nobody died. Too many good characters you get attached to T~T

Excited to see the DLC for the second Hyrule Warriors game, but I will still be very surprised if we don’t see SOMETHING for BotW 2.

And in the end, we really finally got something!! I’m glad it’s still been being worked on. The trailer has given me so many questions already. I am curious if we will see the initial four heroes too or if this still takes place in the original BotW continuity.

I am surprised there wasn’t an AC thing though, but I feel like we should get some news by the end of the month or maybe sometime next month.

Regardless, it’s time for the Nintendo Treehouse! Sometimes a few other reveals sneak in, but even if not, it’s still fun to watch the game play.

For the most part, what was shown during the Treehouse just further cemented most of my initial thoughts from the reveals, but seeing more of the story mode for Mario Golf Super Rush taunts me so.

Regardless, I’ll probably keep an eye on their Youtube for things that didn’t make it into the main broadcast. I’m still surprised how much longer it went.

Bandai Namco

I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the shorter Dark Picture Anthology series to the longer games, but I’m curious how it’ll all come together.

I’m surprised that was it though…

Yooreka Studios

The Immortal Mayor looked interesting and I loved the art style. Might have to give the demo a try when it’s up tomorrow.

Gamespot / Play For All Showcase

I really liked the character deisgns in Tandem: a tale of shadows. Going to try the demo later and see how I like actually playing it, but I’m intrigued by the story either way.

The trailer music for Brewmaster was really nice.

The Duck in What the Duck is really cute, but I’m not sure it’s my kind of game. It looks fun and silly though.

I’ve actually played Townscaper and it’s really cute. Excited to see it get out of Early Access!

And with that, E3 is officially over! Despite all the complaints, I honestly had a really good time and still got some fun new announcements I’m excited for. Not to mention how much the Wholesome Games Showcase expanded my wish list…

Looking forward to next year :)

E3 Day 3 Thoughts!

We’re more than halfway through now and today has… a lot of conferences. I have no idea what to expect, but hopefully it’ll be fun!

Indie Games Showcase

I was so excited to see games in general, but Landslide looked really cute. Definitely need to try the demo later. (Edit: After playing the demo, I can say that I am absolutely awful at the game T__T)

Moo Lander had a really pretty art style and lovely music, but it’s not a type of game I’m any good at.

Neko Ghost Jump continues to look really cute.

The music for ExtraGalactica’s trailer was great.

Freedom Games

Coromon stood out, but partially due to how much it looked like Pokemon. The art was still nice though.

Happy to see more about Cat Cafe Manager. It still looks really interesting.

And it looks like we’re continuing with that theme with a new trailer for ‘To the Rescue!’ which still looks very cute.

The trailer music for One Lonely Outpost was really catchy, though, I’m not sure if it’s exactly my type of game. Parts of it absolutely are, but it goes too much into the resource management and plant splicing which I really don’t enjoy.

Dreamscaper looked really interesting, but I’ve never really been into the Rogue-lite genre, unfortunately.

Limited Run Games

Zombies Ate My Neighbors was one of my most played SNES games and about the only zombie game I can deal with/that doesn’t trigger my zombie phobia. I still have it and my SNES so I don’t necessarily need a fancy physical edition, but it was still neat to see.

Every SkateBIRD Trailer makes me happy.

Another really catchy song with The Takeover trailer.

One Step from Eden is not my type of game at all, but I really like the character designs.

Going Under is also not my type of game, but I do adore this dog:

Capcom

Really tempted to try the demo for Monster Hunter Stories 2 since I’ve been debating about the game, but still worried it may be a bit weird since I didn’t play the first one…

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles… Part of me genuinely does want to play it and I love the Ace Attorney series, but I never finished the last one and it feels almost a bit late to finally get these, even though I’m happy they did. Not to mention the irony of them keeping their names the same despite how much was changed in the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. I’m also kind of surprised by some of the voices… Still very tempted to play anyway in the end though.

And that was really all I had to say for today. Day 3 was… definitely a bit of a wash. 99% of what we saw, I knew about, several of the showcases were just discussions, and it was definitely kind of underwhelming. I think the big highlights of the day were Cat Cafe Manager and To the Rescue! for me (Also SkateBIRD, but having known about that one since 2019, I’m not really counting it).

I feel it’s important to note that I get a lot of projects couldn’t be worked on partially due to the pandemic, but you don’t necessarily have to do a presentation either so…

Regardless, tomorrow has Nintendo so if nothing else, that should hopefully be fun.

E3 Day 2 Thoughts!

It is officially Day 2 of E3 and once again we’ll be having several different presentations. As a reminder, I mainly just talk about stuff that stood out to me! But I won’t comment on everything if it didn’t catch my interest.

Xbox & Bethesda

Contraband was probably the first thing to even catch my interest, but the trailer gave no real information about what it’s even about… So I guess I’ll just keep an eye out for more information.

I really enjoyed what I did play of Sea of Thieves during the early beta and free trials and every time I do see it, it reminds me of how I’d like to play it again. I’m surprised to see a Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, but I do think it looks neat. It’s a game I think is more fun when you have friends to play it with though.

12 Minutes is a game I’ve known about for a while and am just… SO intrigued by it. It just seems so interesting and from a mystery standpoint, I have so many questions.

Psychonauts 2 also looked pretty fun.

I love the look of the animals in Party Animals soooo much. I just wish it was… a different type of game ^^; The controls were also kind of weird from what I played in the demo. They’re so cute though and I’d love to see them make plushies of the characters. The Pink Corgi and Unicorns were my favorites.

Slime Rancher 2!! I did not expect to see a sequel for the game. I think if it has the additions they added to the original at the start (Such as “Casual” mode which gets rid of the Tarr– too bad it wasn’t possible to change your save to a different mode) and add other things to make it a bit more of a casual experience, I’d probably enjoy it a lot more than the first?

Part of why I stopped playing the original was that a game that seemed like it should be relaxing actually got incredibly stressful for me and after losing tons of my original slimes due to a Tarr outbreak (I wanted to have one of each Largo together of a specific type an learned the hard way of what happened when they ate another plort), a lot of my enthusiasm was curbed and it became further an issue between Slimes that could escape if not fed often enough (and it’s not like you could put up infinite feeders– even the Auto feed only does so much, especially when you need to find your way back to restock them… I needed much more automation), the map only be added later (though, who knows how much it’d help me and my lack of directional sense), the limited time decorations that got patched in and out, the randomly spawning golden ginger root or whatever… It was just so much RNG at that point along with feeling overwhelming, hard to keep up with, and just feeling more and more defeated that I got completely burnt out. I’d like to hope a lot of these could be adjusted in a sequel, but I guess we’ll see.

Grounded is not my type of game at all, but I will admit the addition of sitting and pets tempts me.

In general, I’m kind of tired of Racing games, but Forza Horizon 5 looks so pretty? I want to just make a custom car and drive around randomly, maybe with friends, and that’s it. Forget racing (unless we feel like it), let me just drive under a waterfall, thank you.

If the Campaign mode isn’t solely just racing and may actually be a bit about exploring and quests like they made it sound, I may finally pick up a Forza Horizon game. Which we’ve been planning to for ages, but something always comes up. I think in general, the customization from Modnation Racers just ruined other Racing games for me and I just don’t really enjoy the competitive aspect. Like year, you have cool fancy new courses, but what’s the point if I’m stuck just racing through them and can’t just take my time to explore them?

I just want a Car “racing” game where I can combine my Modnation Racer character and car with the Prancer cart from Mario Kart and then go exploring in a bunch of fun pretty maps. That’s it. Joyriding the game. With weird obstacle courses to do in your car. The weird bowling thing does look fun.

If there’s one thing that stood out for me with RedFall, it was that I’m so happy it wasn’t zombies. It could be fun to play co-op at least.

Anyway, I’m mainly surprised they didn’t have something with NGS considering it just released less than a week ago.

Square Enix

The Guardians of the Galaxy game honestly looks pretty fun? >> I kind of wish it had a co-op option, even if only up to two people, but it still looks neat. The start screen of them all hanging out is so cute. I also really enjoy the soundtrack.

Part of me is intrigued by the new Life is Strange if only for the mystery aspect, but I’ve found their games just… not very satisfying with how they end and some of the characters really frustrate me, unfortunately.

Finally, still very excited for the next TWEWY game.

While there wasn’t much to see, I still found it enjoyable.

Future Games Show

Grow: Song of the Evertree looks really pretty, but I am so bad at management games… I may still keep an eye on it though.

Still excited for Lake! Even more so for mentioning ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ which is one of my favorite films.

“Detective Thriller” is one of the fastest ways to get my attention. Just something else for me to keep an eye out.

And with that, Day 2 is over! While not as much stood out to me as Day 1, I did enjoy the beginning of the day regardless and it ended okay… The middle was… less fun though.

E3 Day 1 and Pre-E3 thoughts!

Despite E3 really only being 3-4 days, it’s almost felt like a month long with all kinds of news in the gaming world. Even before E3’s official date, we had some announcements and new footage with things like the Summer Games Fest and IGN Expo.

I always find the best way to go into E3 is to just not really have any specific hopes for anything and enjoy the general excitement in the air. Regardless, this year I’m going to mainly only focus on new things! Anything I already am familiar with while be at the end of each section respectively

Before getting to the actual starting during E3, we’ll start with some of the stuff from the week before.

Summer Games Fest and Day of the Devs

The very first thing was Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. I don’t have much familiarity with the Borderlands series, only having played some of 2, but it looekd interesting enough that depending on how it all works, I might want to try it.

I also thought Two Point Campus seemed somewhat interesting.

For Overwatch 2, I really just… have not liked most of the new designs for characters. Mercy’s especially still bums me out, but I’m hoping the PvE content would still be nice. The PvP plusthe way events started being handled (Weekly rewards and more achievement-based items) just really burnt me out. Also Lootboxes in general aren’t much fun for me, but they’re a infinitely worse when you can’t trade items with friends. You can buy some of the items, sure, but they are so expensive and so the trade-off doesn’t feel great.

Planet of Lana looks really interesting, but it’s definitely something I need to see more of first.

Next up was the Day of the Devs part in the Showcase. There’s been so many good Indie games so it’s always nice to see more. I was already aware (and excited for) some shown, but I was interested in some others as well!

Vokabulantis looked really neat. I’ve been a bit burnt out on Platformers lately, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for now.

Road 96 also caught my eye. I always find it interesting to have heavily story-driven games where it can vary so much just based on the Choices you make. I’m excited to see what Road I end up on as I play.

The Wandering Village looks really pretty, but I’m not always great at balancing things. It’s definitely another game I want to keep an eye out for though.

Unbeatable has some amazing music and I love the aesthetic, but I’m just so bad at rhythm games, I know I’d eventually struggle with it a lot. I really need to buy the soundtrack at least. Maybe I’ll finally try the demo later despite my lack of skill.

Behind the Frame looks really interesting, but I definitely want to see more.

Stuff I already knew about, but am still excited for

  • Monster Hunter Stories 2 – It intrigues me for the same reason the first did, but I still haven’t managed to play the first so… I think the customization and some of the characters in Monster Hunter are cute, but I just don’t enjoy the actual Monster Hunting.
  • Toem – It’s still looking really great and I can’t wait to play it.
  • Soup Pot – I really enjoy cooking and baking and cooking games are just really fun. Knowing they will be recipes you can fully recreate too, it could be fun to try and make them in real life as well.

IGN Expo

Presentation-wise, I loved seeing all the Legos stuff and Clay sculpting? But wow did I not understand a single thing that was going on. Information-wise, it was really lacking on what exactly the game was. Wild West Dynasty looks pretty, but I have no idea if I’d play it. Though, I guess if you played previous Dynasty games, maybe you’d have a better idea than I did.

Olli Olli World has a neat style. I don’t know specifically why, but I always find Skateboarding games kind of interesting. I’d definitely want to see more of it.

Stuff I already knew about, but am still excited for

  • Sherlock Holmes: Chapter 1 – Part of me wants to wait for future chapters to not just play a bit, but I am very excited for it regardless. It looks really good and I love Detective games.
  • Skatebird – Excited to play it this year! Still sad I missed the Kickstarter– I had planned to back, but due to a last minute issue, didn’t get a chance to.
  • Unpacking – I can’t wait for this. Even though we didn’t really see much new, every thing I DO see of it just makes me more excited for the release and I had so much fun with the demo.

    As the game is coming out for other consoles and they confirmed there would be more announcements over the next few days, I’m sure we’ll be seeing it again and so, I won’t be mentioning it every single time, but please know I am VERY excited for it regardless.
  • Tunic – Tunic still looks so cute, but it’s also something I think I’d just be really bad at. I kind of want to see if I can collect everything though…

Guerrilla Collective

FireGirl looks interesting, but I feel like I’d be really bad at it.

BPM still has such catchy music, but I’m just not good at those types of games. Not being able to pet the Bird makes me sad. The Bird is so cute…

Slime Heroes looked super cute. It could be fun to play with my husband.

Demon Turf also looked pretty interesting.

Arcade Paradise seems like it could be fun, but I’m worried there will be some dark twist or something that’ll make it a lot less fun for me.

I really enjoyed Venice 2089’s demo so definitely interested in the full game.

Omno is really pretty. I love puzzle games, but big open worlds and I don’t always work well together.

Wholesome Games

Some of these may be out of order as there were so many that it was hard to even keep up so I also cross-referenced the website

I’ve always enjoyed every single Direct they’ve done so it’s no surprise that this is one of the shows I was most excited for. I know I’ve seen a lot of the games that will be shown (and am excited for many of them) so I’ll still likely mention it regardless.

Bird Problems looks so weird, but also interesting in a way so I’m kind of curious to try it regardless.

I actually backed Snacko and every new footage looks great :D

I loved playing the demo for Alekon (even if I sucked at the rhythm portions…) and knowing it’s out now is exciting. Definitely hope to get it really soon.

A Little to the Left looks like fun for similar reasons I’m excited for Unboxing. Organizing things can just be kind of relaxing, especially without any timers or pressure about it.

I have been enjoying Ooblets all through Early Access so unsurprisingly, I am very excited for the new update. I’ll have a video up later today playing through it so be sure to check it out! (Edit: The video is now up)

Behind the Frame caught my eye on Day of the Devs already, but seeing even more from it as just cemented my interest. I’ll look forward to its release :)

I’m excited seeing a Pink Bird in this footage for Skatebird.

Pekoe looks like a lot of fun! And I really love tea.

I’m still really excited for Lake. I had gotten into the Beta for it and I can’t wait to see the full release.

Yokai Inn looks really interesting. I love the art style.

I had played the prologue of Mythic Ocean and it was a lot of fun, though, my recording of it just… died entirely. I’d like to hope it would be easier to do everything in the full game.

Button City is another game I’ve been following for quite a while now and I really adored the demo. Very excited for it :)

Letters is another game I backed on Kickstarter! I’m looking forward to seeing it finished :)

Hot Pot for One has a bittersweet feeling, but I really want to play it regardless.

I’ve been looking forward to Tracks of Thought despite sucking terribly at card games and I’m downloading the demo right now and am so excited to play it. (Edit: It has been played and I did enjoy it)

Beasts of Maravilla Island is another where I just absolutely adored the demo and knowing it’s out today… I have no idea how I’m going to find time to play so many good games already.

I still can’t get a read on “We Are OFK” to say if I’d want to play or not, but I still really like the music.

The Gecko Gods looks interesting, but I definitely need to see more of it first.

Paralives still looks really neat and I feel like the way you do things makes it feel a bit less overwhelming than the Sims. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.

A Walk with Yiayia made me a bit emotional, but I’d like to see more of it.

Dordogne is so pretty and it still looks like a lot of fun. I also expect it to break my heart a bit though.

Sally looks interesting. I really like the music.

Rainbow Billy looks really interesting, but I’m not sure how great I’ll be at the fishing to keep them all fed… A demo will be out on the 16th though so I’ll definitely have to try it.

Unpacking just gets me excited for it every time I see it.

I’ve been excited for Teacup since I played the demo. I also love her outfit so much.

Still very excited for Moonglow Bay as well.

Every new thing I see of Pupperazzi just gets me more excited for it.

I remember playing the demo for Luna’s Fishing Garden a while back and really enjoyed it. Excited to see the full game.

Witchery Academy also just keeps looking better. I’m so excited for it.

Amber Isle is looking really great too. I can’t wait for it.

I love the look of Woodo so much. Another game I am really looking forward to.

LEGO BUILDER’S JOURNEY!! I’m really wanted this game, but it was Apple Exclusive and I don’t own any Apple devices. So excited to see it finally releasing on other things!

Shashingo looks so interesting and as someone who’s really wanted to learn Japanese, I’m excited for it. There’s so many good photo games this year.

Please be Happy also looked really cute. I love the art style. I do wonder if it’ll be solely romantic-framed or if you can just have friendship too.

And at this point as if I wasn’t overwhelmed enough already, we got into the quick sizzle reel so to finish this off because wow 90% of the games did catch my interest, quick list!:

  • Venba – Still looks really nice! I feel like there’s been a lot of cooking-based games this year and I’m okay with that.
  • BattleCakes – It looks really cute, but I’m not super big on most Turn-based RPGs. I’ll likely still keep an eye on it though!
  • Bear & Breakfast
  • Book of Travels – Another one I backed on Kickstarter!
  • KeyWe – Still looks really cute, though, I’m not sure how good I’d be at the game.
  • Kotodama Diary – I was so surprised/excited to see this on the list! I spoke about it in my latest Mobile Game Round-up post and have even uploaded some videos. I’m still playing it a few times a day and it’s been a lot of fun, though, some of the RNG kills me.
  • Cat Cafe Manager
  • Kotoriyami – This looks so cute! I hope it’ll still be available in English too. I might try it now anyway.
  • Clawfish – It’s a Crane Game-Fish Collecting game and that’s beautiful.
  • Cloud Jumper
  • Co-Open
  • Dreamland Confectionary
  • Fire Tonight
  • Kokopas Atlas – I need to see more of it first, but it still looks interesting so far!
  • Lone Farm
  • The Magnificient Trufflepigs
  • Passpartout 2 – I played the first one and the second looks like it could be really interesting too.
  • Recolit – Need to see more of, but I am intrigued regardless!
  • RoboCo – It looks interesting, but I know I can get overwhelmed with too much freedom.
  • Seasonspree
  • Witchy Life Story

Ubisoft

It’s just random trailers right now, but Trackmania taunts me every time I see it. I really should try it at some point.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything for me in the conference itself :( There wasn’t even a music performance this year…

The Luma Plushies from the second Mario-Rabbids game were also cute at least?

Devolver Digital

Phantom Abyss seemed kind of interesting, but I don’t think I’d enjoy playing that type of game in first person.

At least the song at the end was catchy…?

And that was really all my thoughts. I had nothing to really say about any of the latter shows. The Wholesome Games Direct was easily my favorite, but I don’t think that’s surprising to anyone.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 1.10 Update things!

Twitch Collection | Youtube Playlist | ACNH Overview

While I could have posted this when the update released in late April, I wanted to wait until actually going through most of the new things that were added. As most people have felt, the update is a bit underwhelming, but I’m not really surprised and I’m expecting a lot of similar updates this year with just new additions to existing content. That said, with E3 in June, I wouldn’t be surprised if a big update was being saved for something around there, especially as it’s likely when we would get a new update announcement with only a few new seasonals for July left in the 1.10 release.

In all honesty, I don’t mind the update too much– my biggest issue is just in the way Seasonal items work altogether and all the issues that stem from the new time-locking system (even as someone who does not time travel). I think what hits me the most though is I really love the Nuptial Bell, but what it’d be perfect for is something I just can’t do.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not particularly proud of my island in New Horizons. Very little came out how I envisioned and every step of the way, I hit a new problem I just wasn’t able to plan for. I feel it’s important to mention that I do LIKE everything on my island so it’s not a simple “just remove what you don’t like”– it’s just that nothing really came out the way I wanted to and almost everything had to be compromised from my own vision and I feel like it shows.

The biggest victim has easily been the Waterfall Shrine which what I wanted was closer to my campsite in Pocket Camp (though, on a smaller scale) and instead what I got was a tiny stream. And that Bell would’ve been the perfect centerpiece.

Essentially, unless Nintendo added an option to be able to increase our Island size (and if so, I would love a drag and drop thing or something because manually moving everything would suck) or a change to cliffs/waterfalls work (The tier system is WHY I ran into so many issues– it’s one thing when you plan for 1-2 blocks, but when what you wanted to do takes up 4-6, it’s no wonder you suddenly don’t have room), I’ll never be able to do it. And I’ve gone over things over and over like if I moved certain things more to the right, but it’s just not possible. Something else would get messed up or ruined.

I have one idea that could MAYBE work, but it’s risky and that’s where the Auto save issue comes in. I can’t just play around and reset it– I’d have to redo everything if my idea is wrong. And it could be! And even then, while it could give me what I want, it would essentially be backwards and that could still be incredibly stupid. And it’s just frustrating because maybe if these items were in from the start, I could’ve figured out something to begin with over having something I’m already attached to and it’s why I hate the way they’re doing updates for New Horizons. I’m not a “what can I remove” person– I’m a “where could I fit this” person and the answer is, at this point, nowhere and it kills me. I even played around with mock-ups at Photopia, but I would need roughly 7×7 or 8×8 just to place the items, not even accounting for the waterfalls and surrounding water areas. And I don’t have that anywhere. The only possible place it could maybe fit is if I took down the Zen area, but I really like it so that isn’t going to happen.

It just really sucks to not only be unhappy with my island, but also not be able to manage things I hoped to do from the start for one reason or another. I don’t dislike anything enough to change it (And the autosave system also makes it so I don’t really want to experiment either). I also don’t want to ruin my island by terraforming it entirely and destroying its charm. New Horizons has been cited as being the most “creative” entry and yet I’ve never felt more stifled in that department by this series as I do right now.

Moving onto actual update details, I played around with one of the Children’s Day items, though, I think it’s a bit too big for me to actually keep there.

I was also really excited for the May Day Maze’s return. It was one of my favorites from last year and I was thrilled to check out the new maze… I still wish we could do more than one though.

I was surprised that they actually set it up so you could get stuck this time, but I did manage to figure it out and even made sure to get all the bonuses this time around.



I may or may not have teared up between that and these letters:

I also FINALLY managed to help Gulliver 30 times for the Golden Shovel DIY. A friend gave me theirs a while back as they didn’t care about actually having the recipe, so I already had it, but it was still nice to earn it.

The next event was a return of the Museum Stamp Rally. While much of it was the same, the new Art Wing was also included this time.






Moving to the new Wedding items, as already mentioned, I really liked the Bell, but honestly, the Flower Basket is super cute too.

I also ended up switching Merengue’s, Flurry’s, Marina’s Doorplates… Or more accurately, just Merengue’s and giving Flurry and Marina new ones as while I think the Snowflake and Shell Wreaths fit them best respectively, as they are considered “Seasonal”, they unfortunately get removed after a while… I am hoping despite these technically being Wedding items, they may stick around anyway. As for why Marina’s is just the regular heart, I felt she needed more pink to match her interior since her house’s exterior doesn’t match at all.

I did end up doing the Wedding Event itself one more time, though, besides some of Reese’s dialogue, not much had changed.

I also took another trip to Ninten, though, not too much has changed.

Besides that, I spent a lot of time talking to my Villagers more. Apparently more lines had been added, though, it had been hard to talk to them much when the first dialogue you see implies that they are tired of talking to you :/ One thing I was surprised about was another personality quest– I hadn’t seen any in so long, I thought I had answered them all. I actually had my husband pick since honestly, I was tempted to just pick the last one.

I also had a request to deliver a package from Peanut to Mira as it was accidentally delivered to her and it turned out the package was for me.

Anyway, some other Dialogue highlights:


And something I suffer with every day:

Finally, more than new items and updates to events, more than anything I’d rather see new features and Quality of Life stuff. It still makes me really sad how many things from Happy Home Designer didn’t make it over. Villagers not really interacting at all with items in Photopia just feels so lifeless.

Mobile Game Round-up: Current Mobile Games I’ve been playing a lot or am looking forward to!

The last time I wrote a post like this was back in September and with a handful of other games I’ve been playing a lot recently or am looking forward to in one way or another, it felt like a good time to bring up some I’ve been playing these last couple of months or even just really recently that I already have enjoyed quite a bit. Like last time, there isn’t any particular order to this, but I hope at least one of these may sound interesting to you too!

Art Puzzle

First up is Art Puzzle. While I enjoyed some of the color by number games, a lot of them felt a bit overwhelming or boring after a while and constantly just tapping on the screen would eventually cause my a lot of wrist pain. I wanted something simple that would still be fun and randomly stumbled upon Art Puzzle around when it first began. The game essentially requires you to take pieces of art and fit them on the picture by matching them to the silhouette.

For the most part, the game is genuinely pretty relaxing and finishing a photo causes it to play a short animation. It’s like each puzzle has a story and sometimes I wish there were additional parts. While I don’t always play it constantly, I genuinely find it nice to play when I’m not feeling too well.

The game also recently introduced Daily Puzzles and a new Seasonal Event system along with a Trophy case. While the Daily Puzzles are cute and you can go back to at any time, the Seasonal ones haven’t been as fun as I hoped when they first spoke about it. Essentially, an Event lasts 9 days and each one has a total of 75 puzzles you need to complete. I generally like playing anywhere from a few a day or a week, but having to do 75 puzzles in 9 days is rough. There’s already been 4 events totaling 300 Puzzles and the next one is just in a few days. I think it would’ve been nice if rather than a 9 day time limit, it was a special pack in honor of the event that you can do whenever or just being 25 Puzzles instead. The other disappointing thing with Events is that you can’t actually view a puzzle you did again. Once you finish it, there’s no way to view it again, but it’s something I’m hoping they can eventually change in a patch as the finished mural you get for every 25 finished IS kept.

Besides that one issue, I don’t really have any complaints? I did pay to remove ads so I can’t comment how it was with ads as I liked it enough right away that I had no issue spending a bit for it, but the only other weird things with the game is a little with how puzzles work. Sometimes you cover up parts in the background completely with new foreground items and it’s kind of sad to see so much get covered up. Similarly, there’s no music in the game? Which I don’t really play many phone games with sound, but it’s something I really would’ve expected. Finally, it’s not always clear when a piece can be placed. Sometimes the lines blend into the picture too much or a piece that could be very close to one you just placed can not be put down yet as you can only place so many pieces at a time. There’s no always any kind of pattern to it. Sometimes I’ll actually use the Hint feature a lot– not to tell me where to place things, but just to keep track of what pieces I can ACTUALLY place at the moment.

Regardless, it’s still a really cute game and hopefully I can get more of the main puzzles done despite the barrage of Events. Below are just some of my favorite puzzles I’ve done in the game and give an example of some of the different styles you could see:

If you enjoy coloring-type apps and/or doing puzzles, I think this could be something fun and different to try out.

Kotodama Diary

Another game I just sort of randomly came across and was like “Sure, this looks incredibly weird, why not?” and have not regretted trying. The game almost makes me think of Tamagotchi to an extent with the cute Pixel characters and different evolutions, but rather than a pet care sim, it’s more of a silly collection game where you can just watch them hang out after raising one. The game does have a bit of dark humor, but is still more cute and silly if anything.

If you play and want to check out the Room yourself, my Room ID in the game is 842394B95195B0A1

Kotodama Diary involves you essentially feeding different words to a Kotodummy through various different stages with the traits of those words affecting which you may end up with. Each word can have one or more traits and some words are even required for certain forms. You only get 10 words total before the Kotodummy graduates and then it’s time to see who you get. The starting form (Kotodummy) is always the same, but it will then evolve into 1 of 4 Child stages, then into 1 of 5 Teen stages, followed by 1 of 8 “Pensioner” Stages, and then finally, a “Graduation” Stage which is their final one. While the first three stages can give you an idea what to expect, there are still some surprises debating on how the words have gone and with some actually having similar trait requirements or you even picking a word that may unlock a special evolution altogether. You can also use an Insta-Graduation ticket that can be bought for 100 Gems which makes it so whatever form the Kotodummy currently is will be the one they stay with if you really like a Child, Teen, or Pensioner stage. I personally used this for Dovey and hope to again the next time I get Woofie. If I ever manage to get all the others, I might try and do so for the rest for collection purposes.

The general surprise of it all is something that can keep things interesting, but also kind of frustrating if hoping to get something specific due to the fact that some really do overlap with a lot of traits and just a few factors seem to end up determining which you get. Toinette, who was one of my favorites, took me four tries to get– the first three all getting me Angelbit. While I have theories on why now that I finally did get Toinette, I’d be lying if I said I was 100% sure on the reason.

I’d probably be less frustrated at times if it wasn’t for the fact that each Rank you go up, the more experience from tapping hearts it takes before you get another Kotodama to choose a word from. I’m at Rank 28 now and it’s 300K-500K experience per word (with the last ones being over 550K each). The way to increase the amount you get from Heart Tapping is by buying furniture and thankfully, it counts just for owning it whether you have room to place it or not. That said, as someone who prefers just buying what I like and also worrying about not having enough for something I may really want.

There is a Premium Currency and a Gachapon, but the latter is simply for more vanity-esque stuff (Like Room Items or Accessories for the Kotodummies you’ve gotten to wear), though, obviously room stuff can help you get more Heart tap points, there’s still furniture you can buy and you can always buy multiples. The Premium Currency can be used for a lot of things from the Gachapon, special gifts (though, there’s one you can get free each day), an option to use instead of watching an Ad, and even increasing the space in your room for furniture, Kotodummies, and the Box space (for any Kotodummies you don’t want to show in your room). You CAN earn them in-game too though so they aren’t something you buy exclusively: You can earn 30 a day just from doing Dailies and get some from Errands as well.

Despite my frustration a bit with the RNG as I slowly try to keep a list of words and their associated traits along with concerns over the balancing as my required amount of experience keeps getting higher, I still find the game really cute and enjoy poking back in throughout the day. Below, you can see some of my favorite ones I’ve gotten.

And despite the craziness of it, it does feel kind of nice to get some reassuring words as they graduate.

While the game only released in English in mid December, they’re actually celebrating their 2nd Anniversary right now and have special gifts so if you have any interest in the game, now’s a good time to check it out!

Meanwhile, I have 8 or 9 I really hope to get (not counting another Woofie for Instant Graduation) so here’s hoping I finally have some success in that department T__T I also hope we’ll eventually be able to remove certain accessories we’ve given out.

Tears of Themis

Now for a game that technically isn’t out yet (at least in English), but did recently have a Closed Beta that captured my heart and soul entirely and I am doing my best to wait patiently for: Tears of Themis. I had gotten a message on Tumblr simply talking about a “new detective otome” and honestly, all you had to say was Detective game and I would’ve already been running (and did) to sign up for the Closed Beta ASAP. I was thrilled to get accepted.

I have already spoken a bit about the game on both Tumblr and Twitter and likely will repeat some things from both of them, but you know what I’m excited for the game so I’m going to talk about it anyway!!

We weren’t allowed to take any screenshots or record anything from the Closed Beta so all pictures I’ll be showing were either from the Official CB Announcement PV or the Chinese version of the game.

While the game is apparently also an Otome game (I say it this way as I don’t know if you actually end up with someone in the end or if you just have lots of fun outings and friendship moments– the story is still ongoing as it is), the Detective parts is really what caught my eye initially. I love investigating, I really enjoy the Court Scenes, the cases are great (even if they make me cry) and honestly, all the characters are incredibly interesting too and I can’t wait to learn more of their stories and more on the overarching plot as well.

Every time the Courtroom scene happens, it genuinely makes me think of Ace Attorney and it’s just… a lot of fun. The MC is also really adorable (though, every time she talks about her weight I roll my eyes– one of the few complaints I have and the only one I have that’s actually an issue with the story from what I’ve played so far).

One thing I also think is really nice, if you’re having trouble with your Card strength/cutting it close, struggling with an investigating part, or at the Court Room stage, the game is really forgiving and doesn’t punish you for trying. You can spam all over the Investigating area if you want, you can try and connect every dot, you can ask for as many hints as you want, and if you fail a stage, you get your energy back. Even if you pick the wrong dialogue option at a point, it’ll just roll back to the choice again. It just feels really freeing to be able to just try and even experiment with different options without having to worry about it ruining everything.

While I have mixed feelings on the Card system and find Debates relatively pointless, I do think the Card Art is really pretty and I enjoy the stories that come with the cards a lot as they give you more ways to learn about the characters, even outside of their own personal stories. Below are just some of my favorite Cards after going through all of them on the Chinese version of the game.

As you can see, I have no biases whatsoever. And if miHoYo somehow stumbles upon this post, please make the actual Plushie something I can buy, thank you:

Anyway, the game actually released almost a year ago now overseas and I am so curious if they may rerun events for us or how we may get some of the content that’s already been out for a while. I wouldn’t want to miss out on anything… Regardless, we’ll just need to see what’s to come.

From what I played during the Closed Beta Test, it honestly felt really solid. I think the only part that could use some work were some of the text messages after finishing certain card stories– the translations for those were a bit wonky, but still easy to understand for the most part. I am a little worried about Card upgrading though– ignoring that it was the one hold up for me while playing through the Closed Beta, even after receiving such a big gift, the amount of money was barely enough to get even a third of the way through the amount of upgrade material we received which is kind of terrifying.

Regardless, I can’t wait for release and am looking forward to recording the game too!

Otter Ocean

If I had to describe Otter Ocean, it’d be a cross between Kleptocat and Neko Atsume with more of a feeling of control, despite having similar RNG elements. There are multiple maps and the goal is to send Otters out diving in order to find other Otters and various treasures. Each time they return, you need to feed them before sending them out again. As you collect more of the items and Otters in a map, the amount of time it’ll take and the amount of Otters that need to swim out will go up. You’ll also unlock more Dive Spots as you unlock Otters, though, every map has their limit.

The game started a few months ago and there’s been repeated updates as they continue working on Balancing so I am hoping some of the current options will not be sticking around. At this point, there’s been a total of 5 maps– 3 Free Maps, 1 Premium Map, and 1 Event Map. The Premium Map price isn’t really great and is something I’d expect to pay for a full game– not a small extra map, especially as it’s same as all the other normal maps. Right now, the balancing is really rough with the longest time taking over 2 hours for the Otters to return and requiring 750 affection to receive all 3 rewards from an Otter.

Essentially, every Otter has 3 tiers of affection– one gives some of their favorite food (which if you haven’t found at all yet will let it be added to the roulette of what’s available for sale every 5 minutes), one gives a photo, and one gives a special item for the Otter to hold. You can have any Otter hold any of the items, though, I usually give it to the one I got it from.

Each Island is pretty much its own thing with the only carry-over being your Clams (the currency in the game)– You have to rebuy medicine and brushes per map and food is completely different per map as well. The main exception is the Earth Day map which just had special quests and a roulette and doesn’t play at all like the traditional maps including having a much lower amount of items.

Despite that, food prices are more expensive with each newer map. Also while each map starts a story, the only one that really felt fleshed out was the very first Map while all the others despite giving the introduction of a story, never have any kind of conclusion even after finishing the map.

One thing I’ll give the game a lot of props for though is having a No Ads option that actually does what it says on the tin! Every single thing that would require an Ad such as certain free clams, more clams, double spins upon dive returns, etc. just… confirm and go as if you watched an ad already. You truly have no ads and I wish more games that had this option would actually do this.

I also like feeling more in control, even if the roulette system isn’t much fun, it’s nice being able to send out certain Otters that I know have a higher chance of finding other Otters or something new and being able to choose which specific spot we check.

Below are some of my favorite Otters, Collectible items, and Commemorative photos :)

At the moment, I’ve officially finished the Lava World finally, but I still have a long way to with getting all the Otters’ affection up. I haven’t gotten a single one completely maxed out :/ Annoyingly, despite the favorite food situation to get your Otters back out yet, it’s actually more profitable affection-wise to just give 1 Energy food that is NOT their favorite up to one before their Energy is maxed out and then give them whatever their best favorite thing is to get the most out of their affection increase after each dive.

HIDDEN LANDS

The last game on our list and one I only started playing within the last week. It’s essentially a Spot the Difference game with a cute collection feature.

I actually really enjoy these types of games and even I Spy-esque ones, but find the timers tend to be overly stressful. For the most part, there haven’t been any timers, but I did get one most recently and for once, it wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’s due to the nature of the game being less overwhelming, but I’m genuinely just looking forward to playing more.

Anyway, that finishes up our current Mobile Game Round-up :) Be sure to look forward to more videos of these games in the future too!

Let’s talk about Tales of Djungarian Hamster (Djungarian Story)!

I had been following the game for quite a while after I first heard about it, debating if I should preorder it anyway since apparently it would have an English language option right from the start. With everything going on, I lost track of it in the shuffle, but when I was told how it released and was on the eShop, I wasted no time purchasing the game.

I adore Hamsters in general and loved when I had one, but I also really enjoy games where you can just… care for animals. That said, despite what you expect, I would not actually call this game a “Pet Sim” in any usual sense of the word. In fact, besides feeding them (which is always free– you don’t need to try and buy food), you don’t really do anything. They’re always happy, they’re always clean, they’re fully grown when you do matchmaking, and they’re just happy to be there.

And honestly, I’m okay with that. It’s made the game a lot more relaxing than I would’ve expected and just generally feels like a palette cleanser in a way. It’s really cute, I love how many different Hamster variants there are, and I had a lot of fun recording my whole playthrough. The only things I have left are the stuff from the DLC!

That said, the game is definitely not perfect and while some of it I can forgive like not being able to interact with your Hamsters much (You can lure them to certain items, but that’s really it… And the only way to pet them is through a minigame) due to the game only being $10, there is a huge issue where a whole Hamster type is exclusively through matchmaking locally with friends. If it was at least online, maybe you could work with someone, but locally? During a Pandemic still on top of it? Just kind of sucks.

You don’t actually NEED any of the Rare Hamsters of course. Besides the 4 Rare Colors (and the traits they can come with), certain objectives, and 1 Troupe Cutscene, all items can still be unlocked otherwise and the Objective Card that requires the Rares does not unlock anything further. I would say the worst thing after not being able to have the Illustrated Guide complete is that one of the Rares comes with the largest discount trait for use at the Hammy-ham Mall, but you genuinely can earn Friendship Points pretty fast so it’s not too bad. I never had any issue with the grind because it was quick to get through.

I also genuinely enjoyed a lot of the music in the game, but kind of wished we could change the music playing in the Cage as, ironically, I found it the least enjoyable. I would say my only real complaint with the music though, besides some odd choices in what song was used for what, is the songs are really short and you can tell exactly where it loops which can get a bit tiring after a while. The game is also very loud? I’ve had to lower the TV every time I play.

Finally, I wanted to talk a bit about the DLC. There’s essentially two DLC items– a Pink Bear that is exclusive to the Physical Edition (there are other colors in the game, but the Pink one is exclusive to the Physical version of the game which you would have to import from Japan T__T) and the Sukeroku Pack which you can get early for free with the Physical Edition or buy for $5 from the eShop starting June 24th. The Sukeroku Pack contains a total of 19 items all designed by GOTTE who also did all the Illustrations for the game (such as in the story and the opening screen).

I will say my only disappointment with it is that one of those items is actually the Pink Hamster from the opening screen (the first image in this post) which you may notice I said “Items”– This is because it’s not an actual Hamster, but a “Room Decoration” Item. You can’t interact with it, can’t play with it, it just poses and moves wherever you place it and while it can still look really cute (You can see Ms. Fairy the Hamster by the Mushroom hut in the second image), as it was the Hamster I was looking forward to most, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

There’s essentially 12 Hamster-Room Decorations and honestly, I’ll probably use 3-5 of them and I’m not even sure how I’ll fit them. I really wish there was a way to expand the cage!

Regardless, I am looking forward to the extra content and I hope maybe we can see more in the future… Especially if one can include new Hamsters and maybe that Pink Hamster can be an actual Hamster I can play the petting and racing games with and see interact with everything in the cage.

Finally, I’ve gotten so many questions about the game so I went ahead and made a full overview guide! I hope it’s helpful!

Thoughts on Geminose: Animal Popstars!

I’ m not a rhythm game person. In fact, it would be accurate to say I am terrible at them to a surprising degree considering I actually am pretty good at timing and actually have experience with playing instruments, but for whatever reason, I just can not get them down.

Despite that issue, I decided to give the game a try because even though the music and rhythm game part was a large focus, there were other game mechanics that shined through as well– some of which I really enjoy: Cooking (similar to Cooking Mama) and a customization element which is always fun. Add on that each Geminose comes from a different place and has their own style of music and dance along with furniture sets based off their culture and it has the extra bonus of being really interesting in a cultural sense as well.

I love listening to all different kinds of music. My playlist is incredibly eclectic and features songs in all kinds of different languages. It’s a lot of fun exchanging music with friends from all over the world and finding what’s similar and what’s different and even that has a its own representation in a way through the “Mash-up” system which involves two Geminose dancing to their own dances before mashing them up together and bringing in a new fan who enjoys that mash-up style. I just wish some of those mash-ups could be a bit longer!

The Story essentially has you following the dream of two sisters to get a special band of Geminose together. You set up a special apartment for them to live in (8/10 live there– the other two stay living at their homes. I wished we could have had all of them here though) and can even customize their furniture to an extent.

One thing that has been really nice is that even with my ineptitude when it comes to Rhythm games, it’s incredibly forgiving, at least on easy, and even if I missed a few notes, I can still do decent enough that it’ll tell me I played perfectly, and sure, maybe I know that isn’t true, but it makes me feel a bit better about how I did and that’s really nice. On Easy, the only real ratings are “miss” and “perfect” so as long as you do it, you’re set which I honestly appreciate. If you rather more mechanics than just quickly matching or even waiting for a note, Medium and Hard mode will absolutely scratch that itch for you. Though, I’ll admit I’m not sure I’ll ever be good enough for medium or hard ^^; I struggled even with the tutorial for medium, but never got to try it due to a crash. I think the hardest part for me was sometimes when I tried to tap for the “perfect”, the Joy-con positioning would change too much and act like I was on a different note and thus, it’d turn into a miss. I sometimes even had that issue switching where my Joy-cons may not fully react fast enough or go as far as they needed to which tends to be an issue in general with motion controls. There’s unfortunately no option to use buttons instead for those who would maybe prefer that.

As for the main songs, all the ones I’ve gotten so far have been pretty catchy. One really neat feature is that you can actually change what instruments a Geminose has and it can actually change up the song entirely so even on replays of the same song, it could sound entirely different the second time around based off which Geminose you have performing and with what. I do wish it was possible for both singing and instruments at the same time for those Geminose who are able to do both though!

The cooking has been a lot of fun and honestly, if you played Cooking Mama, you know what to expect. I feel it’s a little less harsh at times, but some of the minigames kind of surprise me at the difficulty or due to control issues with not much time to practice from the initial explanation. One issue I had a few times was it would expect me to still have my Joy-Con a certain way from before, but by reflex I usually have it set back into a resting position upon finishing so then it thinks my Joy-con is in a different position than it is which can lead to some awkward holding for the next game.

Besides the Cooking and Concert modes, the other two modes are essentially “Customization” and “Mini-games”. Customization usually involves you matching furniture or clothing changes (or in some cases, even a certain instrument for a specific concert) which while simple can also be a bit frustrating. There’s a chance you may want to use a different decor item or different outfit for them or maybe not even care about the items they want and it can be a bit disheartening to use up the money you may have been saving for that in order to clear the quest. You’ll also really need to replay courses (whether you do higher levels or not) to earn more coins as you will run out quicker than you expect. You only get about 1/3rd of what you have to spend as a reward, but while it’s nice when it was something you planned to buy anyway, it can be a little frustrating if you buy something you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. You should have a good amount of money by the end of it, especially if you’re doing each level in each difficulty at least.

The mini-games are simple enough. I really liked Cake Detective. The chopping game I was less good at, but it was more a motion control issue if anything. I’m excited to see what other games there can be. I wasn’t super great at the Music note one (it also seemed finnicky control-wise), but it was still doable for the most part. Where I ended up getting stuck with just one Mash-up Geminose left was due to a Cooking course issue– I could not figure out the rolling pin motion at all. I felt like I was doing it right, but it just barely reacted and without any progress, I couldn’t pass Hard Mode even if I did everything else perfectly. There was also an issue where it seems to crash when trying to do the songs on Medium which I was eventually able to finally get a medium done without crashing (and once I was no longer being prompted with the tutorial, I had no further issues) so I did at least finish that way. There are clearly more levels though, likely if you finish every single level on Easy, Medium, and Hard where applicable, so it’s still something I could try to do. Even with over 100K, I wasn’t able to even buy everything so it’s definitely expecting you to do that if you want to unlock everything.

If there is one thing I wish the game had, it would just be a music player to just listen to some of the songs. Some are really catchy and my favorites are probably Viridine, Get Together, We Made It, Come As You Are, and Rock & Roll It.

As for the Geminose, they are all pretty neat, but my favorites were probably Diamond Dog, Ruby Rabbit, and Umbalite Unicorn. I also really loved Diamond Dog’s, Umbalite Unicorn’s, and Topaz Tiger’s rooms especially.

Diamond Dog having both of my favorite instruments (Violin and Piano) along with singing as his main and not being able to have all of those playing at once was the biggest heartbreak :P

I honestly wouldn’t even know how to decide my favorite of the short mash-ups. Some were definitely better than others, but if I had to pick by looks alone from the various Mash-up Geminose, I’d probably pick Juni as my favorite.

Regardless, besides a few issues, I really did have a lot of fun and I might try to get the other difficulties done at some point. The customization may be a little lackluster for others with just 5 options per item (While most I was able to narrow down my favorite quickly, others I wish I could somehow have multiple set up), but if you enjoy rhythm games and/or cooking games, you can still have a lot of fun with this or even just a combination of all three. :)

Disclaimer: I was given a code for this game, but all thoughts and gameplay are my own.