Miitomo finally released outside Japan! (Officially, anyway)

I’ve already spent most of my day enjoying the game and it’s really cute. Answering questions is fun and I love all the outfit customization. One of my favorite things is that every single item is separate–if you don’t like a full outfit, you don’t have to get the full outfit. You can get just the top or shoes or socks or whatever part you like and that is so nice and refreshing. It’s definitely something I’d want in the next Tomodachi Life game. Speaking of Tomodachi Life, the personality you can get is the same as in that game–you can even use the QR code from Tomodachi Life to already have your voice and personality set. Sadly, whether you do it through Tomodachi Life or Mii Maker (or Miitomo’s Mii Creator itself), you’ll have a very simple outfit:
miitomohangingout6
While it’s not bad, I’m used to the usual default Mii outfit and was surprised to see this outfit instead–especially as it isn’t even in your Mii’s favorite color. The room, however, is very similar to the starting room you’d get in Tomodachi Life (just less empty) with the same personality. You’ll also notice my Mii’s hair is a bit darker–I generally try to use the darker one when it looks more Dark Brown than black, but it varies on what games that tends to happen.

Going back to the room, I really wish there were other interiors. I’m not really thrilled about being stuck in a purple room, though, I like it more than some of the others I’ve seen. The game really seems to excel in the outfits and Miifoto’s though between the various options for both. Many (if not all) clothing from Tomodachi Life has returned with plenty of new ones and being able to mix and match the parts brings so many new options. I do wish accessories were split up a bit more (or at least was more than one only)–there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to wear a necklace and a cute cat. Or a necklace and a scarf. Or even all three. And while maybe you can argue the necklace/scarf (at least if the necklace was a choker), there are brooches too.

I will say there really aren’t enough ways to earn coins though. You will run out of My Nintendo Missions very quickly and you only get coins for so many comments and question answering a day–this means you really don’t have any reason to play Miitomo longer which feels like a big oversight. I’ve answered over 100 questions now (I just… like answering questions), but haven’t gotten coins for more than 90% of them. Besides spending money in the shop, chances are you’ll spend a lot of money in Miitomo Drop:
miitomodrop3
Your goal is to land on the platform with the item you want. If you succeed (and don’t fall off), you get to pick the item (and which color you want where applicable). If you have already earned the item, you have the choice of getting it again or getting 5 pieces of Candy.

So far, the only point I’ve found for candy is to see a friend’s answer to something before your Mii or their Mii tells you. It doesn’t feel worth it and the candy seems just like a really big waste. I also am curious to why they’d even let you grab an item again when there is no way to gift or trade items with people. I’m really hoping this could be a feature that comes out though.

As it is, while we got the first Week gifts right now, we did in fact miss one set of Miitomo Drop items (and if I downloaded the game sooner, I could have connected it to My Nintendo now and then not missed out at all):
smartdresser
I did notice one of the items in the store which makes me wonder if all Miitomo Drop items can eventually be found in the shop or if it’s just because we missed them. I do hope all the items come back–I haven’t been able to find all colors each item was available, but I know I at least want this one:
pinkdresswoo

I’ve managed to earn most of the Miitomo items I want and at least all the ones I really wanted. The ones left I’m mostly debating back and forth on (Tulip Hat (Pink), Tiny Kitty Cap (White, Brown, Black, Orange), Cat Hood w/ muffler (White), Hoodie w/ wraparound Kitty (White)). While I don’t know how many entries I will make on Miitomo (not as much happens as in Tomodachi Life), you can at least keep up with any photos I take by checking out the Diary page for the game.

I wish there was a way to view the album online though–all photos are obviously uploaded online, but with no way to view them means I have to share each one to get the URL to save and share and it just gets annoying fast :( Speaking of weird oversights–not being able to add people by Nintendo Network ID/Nintendo Account. Contrary to belief, not everyone uses social media and/or lives near eachother. Many people I know just use IM programs or text messages so this just seems kind of silly to require someone to have Facebook or Twitter to be added if they aren’t close when Nintendo literally has its own account system.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer – Time to design more houses!

With work calming down a bit and the crazy weather hopefully lessening, I’ve really been wanting to work on getting more things done. I’ve especially missed playing Happy Home Designer so I decided to do a fun late night stream.

Lucy – A creepy-looking dollhouse. (First she says she wants a nice doll collection and then…)



Rating Address: 0594-5792-120

Octavian – A squid-showdown citadel.



Rating Address: 0995-5792-860

Limberg – A self-sustaining sanctuary



Rating Address: 0809-5792-880

Cole – A Tropical Resort



Rating Address: 0001-5792-190

Simon – A banana bungalow



Rating Address: 0899-5795-832

Rory – An ocean-themed space.



Rating Address: 0395-5795-162

Achovy – A Brand-new hat shop.




Rating Address: 0605-5795-812

“Why do you play Pokemon?” & Pokemon GO Footage

That is a question I hear a lot whenever I mention how battling is my least favorite part of Pokemon. With the recent showing of footage of Pokemon GO (which you can watch below if you haven’t yet), there have been people who have expressed disappointment in not being able to Battle a Pokemon to catch them.

But for me, I am completely okay with that. I don’t really like battling at all and so being able to just catch the Pokemon is a lot more fun for me.

Contrary to belief, Battling isn’t the only thing to do in Pokemon. It’s a prominent thing (and the thing that is often stuck as being the only thing in Post game :/), but not the only thing. Besides getting various minigame type activities in each generation, the main reason Pokemon got my attention was the idea of going on a journey with friends I made and doing everything together. It’s that same reason that seeing ribbons exclusive to some number min-maxing post-game disappoints me greatly because I feel Pokemon is much more than that.

People can say “Why do you play if you don’t like battling?”, but I can also say “Why do you play if you only like battling?” If you’re only doing it to number crunch and keep breeding and catching and whatever it is you’re doing just to get this one perfect one and toss them to the side, with how I play Pokemon, I feel that is completely missing the point.

People play Pokemon for different reasons, but it’s only the people who play without caring much for the battle portion that really get the short end of the stick in things.

Going back to the Pokemon GO footage, as I mentioned on Twitter, the things that caught my eye were the trainers and the mention of “Crystals”. At the very least, there is some kind of customization:
pgtrainers
Which is something I’m always excited about.

Crystals, on the otherhand, are most likely some kind of currency in the game. Whether they will be replacing Pokedollars or be a separate currency, I’m not 100% sure. And while some people are complaining about Microtransactions, those were kind of a given when they announced a mobile game so… What I’m hoping is Pokemon has learned from Pokemon Picross, Pokemon Shuffle, and Pokemon Rumble World and will offer an option for people to “purchase” the game (or spend a certain amount to do so) and be able to use all pay features for free. As this game is in collaboration with Niantic Labs, I’m not sure if that will or not, but I’m crossing my fingers.

Finally, one other thing shown that caught my eye was this…
lottasfountain
This is a fountain in San Francisco (which is also where Worlds will be this year). Will it grant something special? Maybe. At the very least, if my Worlds plans are still going well and GO is out by then, I’ll have to make a stop by :P

Credit/Sources

Pokken Tournament Customization & Miitomo Worries

So, I’ve been playing Pokken Tournament on and off for most of the day. I’m not a super big fighting game fan or too great at them (I have good days and bad days) so I’m more than a bit nervous that I will be unable to unlock all the items. I believe you CAN get everything through Amiibo though at least so I can just keep trying that. Unfortunately, you can only use 5 a day so it’ll be a while.

Right now, I’m up to the Blue League. I most likely need to beat 5 trainers one or two more times to get in the Top 8 to try and enter the tournament. So far, I have won each of my matches minus overpowered Shadow Mewtwo (though, I did get it to half health), but I am having more and more trouble and I did lose one round (though, I still won the overall match) in the most recent set of 5.

I’ve mostly been using Braixen so far (though, I should try Gardevoir out) and it’s been kind of fun. I still don’t feel very attached to anyone on the roster though and mostly picked Braixen as the attacks seemed more my playstyle. Gardevoir looks like it’d use a lot more strategy than I tend to have in fighting games so I just don’t feel I’d play well with one. I’m still hoping there is a good chance for DLC rosters due to the fact that the roster looks a little silly once you unlock Mewtwo and Dark Mewtwo. I really hope Audino could be considered as I’d love to use a Mega Audino. The only Pokemon with a Mega form that is a support is Latios and considering Latias is a rather similar Mega, there is a chance one could be playable and one could be support.

Moving onto the main point of this entry though… Pokken Tournament’s customization. This is my character currently:
pokkentitle
I don’t know if I’ll change the title or speech in the future (there were so many choices though, I felt a little overwhelmed), but I’m happy with those for now.

So far, I have the following outfits unlocked:
ohmygodoutfits
moreunlockedoutfits
I’m not sure which I like best. As you can see, I’m currently wearing the top left outfit (It’s the one I first really liked and the only one I could afford right away), but I’m not sure which I will get next or which I like best overall.

I also have these three backgrounds I really like and I can not decide at all which I like best:
ptbackgrounds

And I have these two hearts which I’m not sure if I will get or not–I think they are cute, but at the same time they do seem a bit odd:
heartthings

I will say I’m a little disappointed with the options for neck items and Battle AR. There’s only the same AR in various colors while the neck items only has 4 different scarf designs and a pair of headphones you can wear on your neck. I just would have liked to see other neck items and different kinds of Battle ARs.

Moving onto items I haven’t unlocked yet… There’s a lot of outfits that caught my eye:
ptmoreclothes
I don’t know if I’d get all of them. I have mixed feelings on the Plaid of the first outfit, not sure if I would get the 2nd, the 3rd is cute but I feel I wouldn’t wear it much… same for the 4th/the Nurse outfit. I like #5 a lot, but I think it could’ve been nicer with a lighter pink and the brown as a different color. The 6th outfit is not my style at all, but I find the color scheme pleasing. I think the 7th outfit would be nicer if the yellow tie was a better color/more complimentary. The last two outfits break my heart though. I hate that all the colors except white are just barely shown and then black for the rest. Meanwhile, the white actually looks really nice in full and just… I wish all the colors were like that. I mean, I put together these quick recolors real quick and I wish they existed:
terriblerecolorswo
If that dress has some nicer colors, I think it’d have a good chance of being picked.

Speaking of disappointments, there’s these two outfits:
ptnocolors
The first one is only available in two colors–the second color option is the one shown (as I like it more) and the second outfit is only available in that color. It makes me super sad as they did such a good job with color options with clothing and I’m not sure why they dropped the ball with these two.

Going back to nice things, there is this adorable Christmas background:
ptchristmas
Like the coat, I’m not sure if I ever will really use it, but I think they’d be cute together.

Finally, I will end this with some of the only other hairstyles that caught my attention:
pthairs
I don’t think any of them will beat out the ponytail I am using though. I would love for the ponytail I’m using to have some ringlets/curls and be longer, but right now it’s a nice length wavy ponytail and that’s good enough for me (even if I wish I could change the bow color).

Also, Credit goes to GameXplain’s Customization video for the photos of all the items I don’t have :)

But yes, moving onto Miitomo… the game came out in Japan on the evening of the 16th (here in the US anyway–that’s the 17th over in Japan :P) and we haven’t really heard much here. Nintendo said yesterday that the game will be out sometime this month, but I am worried we could get the short end of the stick with that.

Right now, the game IS available in English if you find a way to download it (either by having a Japanese Apple account for those with an iPhone or using something like Qooapp or downloading the APK directly with Android). The main thing is you can not connect your Nintendo Account due to the different region (which is why I haven’t downloaded it myself). In fact, if you’re using the English version, even the URL directs to an English version of the albums/site. Considering the game is fully translated and the site seems good to go, I’m really wondering what the delay was. It was said that several different countries (the US being one of them) would get the game the same time as Japan, but that obviously hasn’t happened.

At the moment, for the first week of launch you can get a special bonus each day and a Mario Hat. Will we still get those items here? Will we not get them at all if we start later and then it just never be brought up again? (Similar to how many people did not get the Week 1 shirt for the first LittleBigPlanet due to a glitch causing them to not show up in the store, but as the week had passed, it was never rectified and those who were unable to get it were permanently out of luck) If we do get them will it be for a much shorter time due to starting later? This applies to the various Miitomo Drop items as well–they are only available until April 10th and March 27th. While maybe we can catch the former, we won’t have much time for the latter and we’ll still have significantly less time for both. Will we get an extension on those but get any new things at the same time as Japan? Will there always be some kind of weird delay?

I just wish I knew what the delay was and/or that at least other countries won’t lose out on anything. Whenever Miitomo does come out, I just really hope it’s soon…

Sonic Adventure is a game I think about a lot.

It’s super special to me as I have mentioned in the past and is one of my favorite games to have going in the background while working as it usually makes me feel a bit happier. Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 probably have my favorite voices for the characters (with the only one I feel like has improved since is Amy’s–though, Knuckles’ and Sonic’s most recent voices aren’t too bad, I still have trouble with Tails’ more often than not). I think it will always bother me the series didn’t continue with that. Sonic Adventure (and I’m going to be using this to refer to the games as the series at this point–not just the first game–I’ll add a number at the end when specifying) is definitely not perfect, of course, the acting is pretty iffy in the 1st game even if the voices are nice and there are still issues of it in the second game, but I never found it distracting because the characters still sounded like themselves.

I would have loved if there was a Sonic Adventure 3 that took the best of both games and made it amazing along with changing things up. One example is Knuckles doesn’t always need to be treasure hunting. He can be a brawler. The Werehog stages in Unleashed could have easily been stages for Knuckles. And changing up stage designs isn’t bad. Sonic occasionally had slower platformer parts in SA1 and SA2, such as the giant Snake Puzzle in Lost World which is one of my favorite aspects. And those are actual fun puzzles versus the slow 2D ones we received in Colors and Boom.

Amy’s levels were tons of fun minus being constantly chased by Zero. It was slightly slower than Sonic’s gameplay (as she IS slower) while adding a few more puzzle elements. It made it a interesting switch and it’s so much fun doing Amy’s hammer jump.

Tails really got the short end of the stick in both games. He was so much fun to play in SA1, but the point of his levels were really silly (Why would he need to race Sonic, exactly?). It was nice they gave him something different in SA2, but due to feeling the need to mirror Eggman, it was a bit disappointing. I totally believe that Tails may occasionally turn his plane into a mech suit and use it, I also recall him having plane levels he can do, but Tails is pretty capable right on his own and I would have preferred more levels that let him Fly high and reach the highest of all the heavens to better gameplay and more fun level design.

Shadow never really bothered me despite also being a mirror. The way his stages were and his own movement (due to him skating over running) made it switch up for me enough that it never really bothered me.

Rouge, meanwhile, can have more stealth related stages like when she was finding the keys or everything with how the Security Hall worked. We already know she’s a spy–a lot more can be worked at with her, I feel.

Eggman worked really well with the mech though and he was fine as is. Maybe putting him in some of his other machines would be fun to switch things up a bit, but as long Tails isn’t just a mirror, Eggman’s levels felt fine.

Going back to SA1’s levels for a bit, I do like Big, but I never felt his levels made much sense. I think he could be a fun sidegame though and it gave you an interesting perspective of different levels. His Emerald Coast level was one of my favorites just to enjoy even if I didn’t care for the actual fishing part.

I love Gamma a lot, but Eggman being in his robot suit was pretty much the Gamma gameplay for SA2. I wouldn’t mind another one of Eggman’s robots, but having both seems silly unless his gameplay had you switching off who you were playing as.

While Sonic 2006 was a mess in a lot of ways, it did bring a good example of how gameplay can vary despite similar characters with how Sonic, Shadow, and Silver each varied. Blaze was also pretty fun. And I really just enjoy hub towns.

Meanwhile, Chao Gardens are something I will always want to return no matter what Sonic game it is. They were so much fun, though, I think I liked SA1’s more than SA2’s. They just felt much more unique with how much they varied while the Hero/Dark/Neutral felt a bit boring in comparison. Especially after the Hero and Dark ones had a lot of their unique features chopped down for Director’s Cut and Battle.

One of the things I wished with SA2 is you could choose where you wanted to put the prizes you won rather than them having pre-set places in a pre-selected garden. It’d be kind of cool if you could even make your own Chao Garden–kind of shaping it with grass color and sky and elements. I just miss playing with my Chao. I did love a lot of the extra features SA2 had though with the Kindergarten, Black Market, Races, and Karate, but the gardens in SA1 felt much bigger than SA2’s–especially after the port changes.

Heck, using Nintendo as an example or even mobile phones though, we can even get the VMU features back. I loved using the VMU with my Chao and Sonic Advance even had a cute Pocket Chao mode even if I still preferred playing with my Chao on the consoles.

I just feel so much good could happen if everything was looked at and the good things were taken from each while also adding variety. I really haven’t liked many of the recent Sonic games which makes me sad as I really want to enjoy them again. The Sonic Adventure series are of the very few games I can play over and over again. I just love it so much. At the very least, I can still play them whenever since we still have our Wii set up… and also still own our Dreamcast and Gamecube.

Nintendo Direct Opinions

If you read my Twitter (or even pay attention to the lovely twitter widget on the sidebar), you probably already know a good amount of how I feel. In general, I’m disappointed–not because the direct was bad (It was fine and even if there wasn’t too much I was excited for, I wasn’t expecting much beyond one thing), but because I really got my hopes up about finally hearing something about Style Savvy 3. The game came out nearly a year ago (A year in about 6 weeks) in Japan and November 20th, 2015 and North America continues to hear absolutely nothing. I wish I knew why. Between not getting the special update for the 2nd game, the amount of DLC differences between Japan and other regions, and just the lack of anything is so disheartening. Part of me worries if it comes out that it will with no marketing whatsoever, sell poorly due to it, and then we’ll never get it. Honestly, I’d rather hear we’re not getting it and why over being in this endless suspense of waiting for something that may never come. Part of me still can’t help and hope, but the rest of me is just wanting to give up.

Regardless, you’re not really here to read about what wasn’t shown :P So let’s get into my feelings on what the Nintendo Direct did show. As per usual, I will be going over what personally caught my attention and thus, this is not a full overview of what the Nintendo Direct showed. I’d highly recommend watching below before reading if you haven’t seen it yet:

As I did say on Twitter, the only thing that really caught my eye with the Starfox Zero footage is the SNES Arwing:
WiiU_StarFoxZero_screen_10_bmp_jpgcopy
It looks absolutely adorable. The multiplayer option does seem interesting as well–I have awful aim so it’d be a good way for me to play… depending on how well I do at flying, anyway.

While most people do not care for the Mario & Sonic Olympics series, I’ve actually found them pretty fun and every year, Nintendo manages to do a better job with them. I absolutely adored the last game (Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games) and so have been looking forward to the one for Rio. I had been holding out for the Wii U version due to finding the console versions better both through controls and gameplay, but it had yet to get a date. Thankfully, a date was finally announced during the Direct for June 24th. I’m pretty surprised–so far the games have either released at the same time or with the home console version coming out a few months sooner so I’m really curious as to why they reversed it this time around with the 3DS version coming out first. At least it has a date though–I was worried the home console version would end up not happening at all.

We also finally got a new update to Project Treasure–now named Lost Reavers. I still don’t feel I’ve learned much more since the first time we’ve gotten information about it, but my interest is still there. The game comes out at the end of April (with a Beta 2 weeks earlier) and is free to play so there isn’t any reason not to try it.

Next up was the newest Paper Mario–Color Splash.
papermariocolorsplash
The fact that it’s on Wii U already has me a bit hopeful, but I mainly just hope we will see partners back and a good story. I may have mixed feelings on the card mechanic, but as long as those two things are back in play I’ll be happy. At the very least, the Paint Bucket looks promising for possible partners:
mariopb
Though, it could just be like the guide, Kersti, from Sticker Star :(

We also got a brief glimpse of Pokken Tournament showing off a bit more of the amazing customization in the game.
omgavatarcustomization
As much as I have mixed feelings on the game itself, I am so so so excited for the customization options. And am also still crossing my fingers for Audino/Mega Audino to be added to the roster.

Moving onto more oddly late dates, we are getting the Spring/Summer Isabelle Amiibo in June while Europe will be getting it this month.
isabellesummer
I’m not entirely sure why they delayed it, but my best guess is maybe they wanted an Amiibo figure to be out when Series 4 of the Amiibo Cards release. Speaking of which, as much as I’d love to continue my unboxing of two boxes of Amiibo cards with Series 3 & 4, money is a bit tight right now and I’m not sure I’ll be able to :( So I apologize in advance if that ends up happening.

Probably the biggest surprise reveal for me was Pocket Card Jockey. As someone who likes solitaire and cute horses, it was one of the games I really enjoyed seeing, but never expected it to even have a chance to come over so seeing a trailer for it had me thrilled:
N3DS_PocketCardJockey_artwork_png_jpgcopy
Definitely looking forward to picking it up when it releases.

Hyrule Warriors Legends came up next and I kind of wish it didn’t exist. I really wish they just put the new features into DLC for the Wii U version. I feel bad since I sound so cynical about these things, but after the 3DS version of Smash, I just am tired of seeing things split up like this. I get that it gets the game to more people, but I also find it kind of a slap in the face if you already own one version and need to get the other to get the other characters and/or even experience them. It’s one thing if it’s the same exact game (or very minor changes)–it’s another if it’s two completely different experiences/additions. That said, Medli was announced as a free downloadable character and she is one of my favorite characters from Windwaker so it’s nice to see her added:
N3DS_HyruleWarriorsLegends_character_02_png_jpgcopy

Disney Art Academy was also officially confirmed. Hoping to see all my favorite princesses in the game (Belle, Rapunzel, and Aurora), but mostly am curious about how the game’s details which will really determine whether I get it or not. Part of why I enjoyed Pokemon Art Academy so much was because it was like making your own TCG Card so I’m curious what kind of stuff will be in Disney Art Academy.

Not much really got my interest after that beyond the new Kirby game. I really do love Kirby, but I mostly enjoy Kirby on home consoles and have never been too fond of the handheld games. The game reminds me a lot of the last one in the series with the addition of a giant mech suit and it just isn’t doing much for me. That said, the new Kirby Amiibo look amazing and I absolutely adore the ones for Kirby and Waddle Dee:

Crossing my fingers we’ll be able to get them as I genuinely adore their design. Out of everything, I would say these Amiibo designs were the highlight of the direct for me. I mean, just look at them:
kirbyamiibowaddledeeamiibo
The details are amazing. I really hope we can get a set of all the new Kirby Amiibo when they come out.

Going back to the game itself, Susie’s design looks nice:
N3DS_KirbyPlanetRobobot_screen_08_bmp_jpgcopy
And the new power-ups do look fun too. I think my favorite was that you can actually play as Smash Kirby:
kirbysmashyay

But yes, that pretty much sums up my feelings! This is most likely the last Nintendo Direct before E3, but I guess I’ll continue crossing my fingers for any mention of Style Savvy 3. And while I didn’t expect any news for Disney Magical World 2 during this Direct, I’m still hoping we get a localization announcement for that too. I will also say that while I know they had said they would not mention anything about Mobile or NX, I was very surprised they were not going to say a bit more about Miitomo beyond the pre-registration reminder. Hopefully Miitomo and Pokemon GO will get more information soon too. Miitomo especially with it being out in about 2 weeks now.

On Stardew Valley

As a reminder, these kind of posts are not a proper review, but a post just about how I’m feeling so far while playing and any thoughts about the game in general.

I had been following this game on and off ever since a friend showed me Starbound ages ago. I was excited then as I really love the Harvest Moon series, even if I’ve been disappointed with the latest game. I ended up not really liking Starbound between just having a hard time getting into it, all the crafting elements, and all the enemies. I also was already getting a bit tired of 2D platformers then, but I still tried to check in on Stardew Valley every so often. The only thing I didn’t really like were the bachelors. Sadly, I can’t say I like them anymore now ^^; While art style has improved, the art style genuinely never bothered me–I just didn’t find any of the bachelors very interesting. I’m currently going for Sebastian, but I wish there was one that really stood out for me.

I do think it’s a very cute game, definitely addictive, and I’ve honestly been enjoying it. I mean, I’ve gotten some pretty bad bugs and still kept playing and for me to keep going, that’s usually a pretty good sign. As most will know, I don’t replay games and I hate repeating progress so even redoing part of a day is kind of a plus for me if I’m enjoying a game, as silly as that may sound.

As for what bugs I’ve run into…
1. Random crashes in general. Not the end of the world, but the worst are right when I’m going to bed to save. I wish you could save whenever and not just when you go to sleep. It’s one of those features I’m so glad Harvest Moon added and I’m sad they aren’t here.
2. Glitches that forced me to close out the game such as getting the first heart event in Sebastian’s Room, but the door never opening so you just walk into it forever and can do absolutely nothing:
stuckonadoor
Or if you buy too much and your inventory is full. Unfortunately, you can just click something and you will immediately buy it. I’ve accidentally bought furniture multiple times when just trying to scroll through to see what Robin had and one time, my inventory was full and I accidentally hit a window. There is no way to discard it. I was just stuck there until I closed the game out.
3. And the worst one of all, a crash that happened shortly after a save caused Robin to think she was still building my coop while also knowing it was done. She was back at the store, but I could not make any new buildings or do anything beyond buy furniture (like what happens when you already started a new building plan). In the end, a friend of mine had to use a save editor to help fix this, but I had to go a while without being able to build anything.
4. Similarly, there was one point where my save file completely disappeared due to a crash like the above, but when I looked at it in Stardew Valley’s saved state folder, it was still there and then reappeared. I will admit, if my save file actually did disappear, I’d probably have been too disheartened to continue.

As I’ve mentioned though, despite these issues I’ve still been enjoying the game. Just wish I could do more countermeasures to prevent losing a whole day’s work or needing to reset by the middle of the day. I would say my biggest issues with the game are:
1. Quests – I wish they weren’t timed. I already feel like there is so much going on that I genuinely can not find the time to do them. And even if I somehow do, I rarely get to the NPC in time since my map navigation is awful. I’m still having a lot of trouble keeping track of everyone.
2. Community Center – One of my biggest issues with A New Beginning and Story of Seasons was the fact that you needed to hoard nearly everything. The Community Center has that same kind of issue where you need to do so much hoarding in a game where you desperately need to be earning money at the same time. While you can technically pay to make it into a Warehouse where you can then just buy the bundles, I really want to keep it as the Community Center. I just wish there was an option or alternative to give money to it as well while still keeping it the same building.
3. Crafting – In general, we have a Carpenter, I feel like we should just be able to have things made that way or at least be able to buy them rather than just having to make all these things out of our inventory. I really wish we had some kind of tool shed I could put all the materials in at least.
4. The randomness with the worms. I like the idea that they show up to indicate a possible rare item, but after having my game crash one time at the end of the day when I found this really weird skeletal hand from my very first worm spot only to get a book upon reloading since I had to do a day over, I’ve been super discouraged as I have yet to get another one and have seen the worms so rarely despite how long I’ve played.
5. We can’t change our outfits. As someone using a ponytail (And how I wish there were more high ponytails–the bangs kind of bug me), I don’t care for most of the hats. There was over 100 shirt options–I’d love if I could buy them from somewhere and change through a dresser or something. Similarly, skirts/dresses would have been nice over just pants.
6. Fishing is awful. It’s so sensitive and my mouse if already iffy to begin with. I’m not sure a controller would help either. I wish it was just clicking on the hit and then having a chance for there to be treasure.
7. Combat. I never gotten into Rune Factory for the very reason that I prefer combat to be out of my farming games. That said, I don’t find it too awful in the game, but I do wish it wasn’t there.

Regardless, I find the game cute, I am enjoying my farm (even if I am still struggling to clear it out. The trees and grass and rocks spawn faster than I can manage), I still think my character looks pretty adorable (and yay for so many color options–though, it’s part of why I wish we could buy more clothes), and it’s a fun and addicting game. My issues are mostly quirks, but don’t really take away from it (If I had to pick what bugs me the most, it’d be fishing and all the Community Center hoarding). If you like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, you should enjoy this game. Simple as that.

Moving onto some game progress…

My Animals thus far:
goldieandme
Goldie the Dog.

Chicky (Brown), Chirp (White), and Ducky (Duck):
chickensyay

Milky (Cow) and Goatie (Goat):
cowsyay

My goal is to get one of each Animal in each color variant :3

I’m also hoping to get some cute hats… Current goals are:
Butterfly Bow – Reach 5 Hearts with a single person. I’m at 4 right now with Sebastian so soon.
Chicken Mask – Do 40 quests. This will probably take me the longest due to reasons mentioned above.
Cowgal Hat – Ship 300 of a single crop.
Daisy – Craft 15 different items.
Delicate Bow – Cook 10 different recipes.
Tiara – Reach 5 hearts with 5 different people (these will be a while)
Watermelon Band – Catch 100 different fish (will also be a while)

And my favorite furniture item in the game:
bunnyandme

Finally, Summer (Tropicala) has easily been my favorite song thus far. Dance of the Moonlight Jellies is also quite pretty.

I also made a page for some brief summary information on my progress in the game. I most likely won’t make another entry, but I will occasionally upload some footage to Youtube until I’ve finished the game. As always, you can find all Game Diary Pages by clicking Game Diaries on the sidebar. Only those still largely being played or in a lot of progress will appear on the sidebar so it may be fun to check the main page every once in a while!

Edit as I finished the main game: Unfortunately, I can’t say I really ended up having the game grow on me as it went and even as it’s gotten new updates, they never really managed to grab me enough to pick it up again. Things like our character being taller than all the others, not really caring for the love interests (the characters are okayish for the most part), and my other gripes just kind of got more frustrating as it went and I got too bored.

It’s okay, but I definitely don’t hold it up there with most of my favorite games of this genre unfortunately.

Happy Pokemon Day! :)

I spoke about most of my personal feelings about Pokemon in an entry earlier this month, but today is officially Pokemon Day! 20 years ago today, Pokemon first came out in Japan and started it all.

Despite some issues last week, we decided to brave the cold again and head even earlier for Nintendo NYC’s Pokemon Day celebration. One of the things that helped though, besides being a bit warmer today, is they actually handed out Pikachu Hats! It helped keep the line hyped up:
pikachuhat
pikachuhat2
(It also had the link to the Pokemon 20th Anniversary Site and #Pokemon20 below the logo… though, you can’t see that since I was wearing it :P)

Also while on line, several people were doing some really lovely chalk art:
chalkart7chalkart6chalkart5chalkart4chalkart3chalkart2chalkart
It was fun to see them getting drawn too.

As for the actual event, things were still a bit slow–the wristband process went fairly slow and we got in about 30 minutes or so later. Lines were also crazy and as for 20th Anniversary merchandise, besides the special Mew Card Box, the only things were what they showed on their Facebook–the shirt, Champion Red, and the New 3DS. The Master Sword at the entrance was also changed to this adorable Pikachu display:
pikachucenterpiece

The main issue though was when they were setting up for the event–it ran a bit late and so there were tons of people waiting on the first floor (much more than there should have been) as everyone on the second floor was told to go downstairs (I feel bad for those who were on line and about to pay). It was so crowded and the first floor really shouldn’t have gotten that bad. They set up a table and some banners for where people could play TCG cards and another table for some freebies.

If you bought something, you were entered into a raffle for some random Pokemon stuff and also received a poster of the first 151 Pokemon & a timeline of the games–the same poster being given out at Toys R Us. If you went to the event, you got a Mew code and the legendary poster being given out at Gamestop.

They did 8 questions of trivia and a few rounds of Who’s that Pokemon, but with so many people very few really got to participate. I especially had a hard time with Who’s that Pokemon as I couldn’t see the screen due to being so much shorter than most of the people there. If I got into a position where I COULD see the screen, I couldn’t be seen raising my hand so that was a bit disappointing.

Besides that, you could see Pikachu for the small time he was around. With so many people in the area, the Pikachu line was already full before Pikachu even came out to see everyone. Similarly, they set up a photo op downstairs where you had Red, Blue, and Yellow games shown behind you with their respective Pokemon in front, but they finished setting it up shortly before the first Event time slot started and when it ended (it still ended on time despite us going up late due to all the set up), we had to go right out due to the large crowd waiting to go up for the second time slot so we didn’t get to do that either. They were playing music from the original Pokemon soundtracks though that came out for the Anime which I loved and made it enjoyable, even if I wasn’t able to participate in most of the event itself despite being in the first time slot.

It was definitely better than the Reopening event at least, but I still think more order is needed. And I miss the 3DS round table because after all that standing, sitting would be nice :( What I really wish they did though is:
-A big activity sheet for each person per event slot.
-Have various Pokemon hidden around the store that you needed to find similar to the skulltulas in the past.
-Rather than having so many people confined to one area of the store (And on top of just being upstairs, most of the event was just on one side. It made it easy to browse the Pokemon, Zelda, and other goods, but the area with the giant TV was so packed and the museum area only lightened up a bit after Pikachu), the entire store should have been just for the specific hour people. The store was already available from 9AM to 11AM for everyone–giving a few hours just for the event people would have not only given everyone much more breathing room, but have prevented a fire hazard with just how many people were gathered at small spaces at a time.

I just feel there really should have been more to do. An hour spent on a few Trivia questions & “Who’s that Pokemon” that not everyone could try is kind of depressing. And wouldn’t it be cool if everyone got a Pokemon Trivia Quiz to fill out? Maybe just to me, but I just think a lot more could’ve been done. I think another thing that could’ve been fun (though, I totally get that it could have been hard to do/is a bit much) is have set it up to see people at the other Pokemon Day Events around the world (or at least the US) and say Hi–just for like a super big celebration. That’s definitely going a bit further than what was really needed for an event (I would have been happy with just a lot of fun activities, but yeah). I also will just mention a lot of people were expecting Pokeball Cupcakes or Cookies (I would guess due to the Pokemon account’s posts with the Chef Pikachu Plush), but there was no food at the event.

I would have loved to check out Toys R Us’ and Gamestop’s events too, but after the Nintendo Store, I was wiped. Regardless, even if you can’t make it out somewhere, you can still celebrate Pokemon Day! Pokemon has been doing a fun stream celebrating since 1PM EST and at the time of writing this, they have just finished up with Pokemon Snap–one of my favorite Pokemon games and one I desperately wish would get a sequel. I would love to actually own Pokemon Snap sticker machine from Blockbuster. If I ever come into money, that is one of my first purchases :P

Not to mention Pokemon’s Twitter is giving you an opportunity to catch some Pokemon by using the #GottaCatchEmAll hashtag. I’ve already gotten a Psyduck and a Piplup! I hope I can catch more before the day ends. This has probably been my favorite Pokemon Day activity so far and I want to give a big “Thank you” to whoever is taking care of all those replies.

But yes, Happy Pokemon Day everyone! I hope you have fun today <3

On Fire Emblem Fates

I spoke a lot about how I didn’t want to play Fates and why, but a lot of people had asked and considering the fact that there is an easier difficulty, I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m very happy Revelation won the poll (Yes, the Special Edition was bought as while I may not have wanted to play, my husband still did) as I really didn’t want to do either of the other two paths the more I heard about them.

I’m at Chapter 11 or so now so a little under halfway. I believe you get nearly all Units by Chapter 17 (minus kids, characters that come through My Castle, & paralogue/captureable characters) so I’m hoping I can get that far before full out grinding levels and supports.

While I do feel at least part of my issues with how siding with Hoshido is even a full option (as you do get some time there), I still feel there’s a lot of it that stretches the imagination. I also still wish you could save everyone :( But yes, for those who’d like to keep up with Fire Emblem Fates stuff or visit my Castle… Here is the Address for My Castle:
castleaddress

And I officially have a page on here for some quick summary stuff as well if interested.