What this says about me is that I’m a lanky crook who underneath the rough veneer is a clumsy weirdo with a hyperfixation on birds??? I guess that’s actually pretty accurate, though the slang is pretty archaic there.
I just started playing Stories yesterday in order to learn Japanese. It’s wild how different some of the names are. Hopefully the language barrier will keep me occupied until Wilds is released.
I’ve been playing since Freedom 2 and have played almost all of them to at least village completion. Exceptions are Tri and Frontier(s?). Def my favorite series by far and even if they have had their failed experiments, I’m glad they tried them.
I’ve tried fair share of clones as well but they usually don’t hit the mark.
I love this series. First played 4 Golden on the Vita, and it was really something that connected with me. I loved the combination slice of life and intriguing mystery, and the characters and voice acting really drew me in. It took me years to actually finish that game, and I'm about halfway through 3 Reload and 5 Royal as well.
However, biggest thing we need to mention here? The soundtracks. Holy fucking shit, these games have the best OSTs I ever damn heard, as someone who plays bass and loves acid jazz and other adjacent music every game hits the spot in different ways.
I’ve only played P3 Portable and Persona 4, on PSP and Vita respectively (though I also have these on Steam now). I have Persona 5 (also Steam), but I’ve yet to start it, since I have quite the backlog to get through. Including P3 and P4!
I got fairly far into P3P before stopping, while I didn’t get as far into P4 before stopping, then restarting, then stopping again (though I got a little further than the first time). My last attempt must’ve been during the pandemic, so not that long ago. It’s not necessarily that I didn’t enjoy them; I just have a thing with JRPGs where I intend to take a short break…which often turns into years-long breaks.
P3P was more enjoyable than P4, IMO. P4 just seemed really slow at the start, while P3, I felt had much better pacing. If I’m remembering the correctly, the latter just dropped you straight in to the weirdness, and it just kept going, where I felt like P4 had more lulls in the action.
I don’t mind the school stuff, though I’ll admit it’s not my favorite thing in the world. I do try to make an effort, rather than just breeze through it. I do hope to one day complete both of them and then get to P5. I very much enjoy their visual styles and music. I also like games that take place in the modern world, so the series is right up my alley.
I keep trying to get into the games but never finish :/
I got very close to the end of p3p way back when that was a new game. I got past the second palace in p5r but fell off again. I feel like I get fomo in games where I try and do everything when I play a game but that’s just not really feasible in persona. Same reason baldurs gate intimidates me.
I played the first, maybe not all the way through, on my Atari ST. Later on, I got quite annoyed that the Amiga got the sequel but Lucasfilm Games days it wasn’t coming to the Atari.
I remember getting the PC CD-ROM edition of the original game and the music was lovely.
The next time I played was game three, Curse of Monkey Island. I loved the art style and completed that one.
I plan on playing the latest installment at some point. I downloaded it onto my Xbox.
There’s also a great program for playing old Lucasfilm faces on PC. You can load soundbanks into it because it can emulated different midi interfaces that I dreamed of owning back in the day. The tunes sound amazing.
It’s an emulator for playing the entire back catalogue of Lucasarts games. It’s very well documented and ready to use. As I said, if you had some kind of general midi set up or Roland MT32 back in the day, you’d be laughing. The music is awesome.
I only discovered it myself in the last month or so.
For example, I loved X-Wing CD edition back in the day for the real Star Wars soundtrack but I need to try it with MT32 midi emulation. I bet the iMuse system sounds fantastic.
But its a cute fun game. I only ever played the one on GameCube and a tiny bit of New Leaf. I liked finding old NES games on the GameCube one and playing them on the in-game NES.
I think my favorite in the series is New Leaf so far. Granted, I didn’t play a ton of the GameCube version.
The only thing I wish new leaf did better was how you unlocked public works projects.
Additionally, villagers moving in and ruining your paths/designs was a pain. Otherwise, I thought the game was great. It could have used even more dialogue (which is crazy because it was already very long )
The games hit such a good mix of customizing, collecting, and discovery.
Oh no, freakin' COVID! I swear it eats up your mind like a zombie - stay strong. Don't let it winnnnnnn! (And by that I mean rest as much as you can but also eat and drink what you can)
a) Why did I miss the Eartbound and Telltale conversations. Boo!
b) The first Animal Crossing played via the purple purse will always have my heart. It's the best of the best and I remember staying up wayyyyy to late with my buddies beautifying our town and searching for ghosts. The only other one I ever played was the - wait that was a lie - I have actually played two. The only other one I remember playing was the one on Nintendo DS. A friend tossed me their old DS and my sibling tossed me some games - this included (and Rhythm Tengoku being one of the other ones. I absolutely do not remember any other games. Wait, lied again - I played one with Sudoku). But I didn't really dig it, or the DS as a whole. I don't think I like multiple screens for much of anything, and even work on a single monitor to this day. I also clearly don't love resistive touch screens and felt the little stylus was fiddly and hard to use. But it was more of a game as a whole. Just not for me.
Then covid happened, my gal got a switch and I played the new AC a bit while she ran around as Link. Eh, I literally don't even remember it. I might have aged out, or it might just be my disinterest in non-turn based games (which is pretty much my bread and butter now because I don't want a game to be able to dictate how and when I play it). It was much more forgiving than the old stuff. Idk where the HELL the gyroids were - but they might be in the game now. We were in some kind of tropical paradise (I believe!?) which I dug from an islander perspective. But as a whole, just didn't really care.
But I kind of feel that way about most "cozy" games nowadays. And it's funny, because I play games to "turn my brain off" so it's not that aspect. It's just that I think there's some weird brain-drain infantilization of the masses and that these games are kinda like the binkies of the brain. But there are some real pros to these types of games as whole. I think they give certain individuals a lot of structure, things to do that make them feel successful, and individuals to form relationships with. Like, give this game to an older individual who's open to playing them, and I think they'd go ham. Give this game to individuals who have certain qualities that society tends to push to the fringes - and I think it'd also be great. To be honest, Animal Crossing is about 700x less goofy than The Sims - even with its pastel graphics and chibi forms. But a lot of these games as a whole radiate kind of a toxic-positivity that I just don't vibe with. Especially when we know statistically a lot of developers - let alone GAME developers are terribly depressed.
And like, there's a light to looking to the bright side - eating potato chips - etc. Like there's a nice side to getting real basic sometimes. Especially when your brain is on fire (for whatever reason). It's probably why I play select games repetitively until it's akin to eating only peanut butter sandwiches 100xs over and get tired of them. You don't have to learn new systems really, and you're never truly challenged. Or if you are, because you're familiar with the mechanics of the game you can just ride the wave - get the dopamine and turn off. But 10/10 I don't think it's the healthiest thing to indulge in all the time. But that's just my opinion and pretty much every Nintendo made game (let alone games like Stardew) have cult followings because they really touch people where they need it.
So it is what it is. But also, on Stardew - I played it a long time ago. I had fun, then I had an okay time, now if you stick me in front of a crafting game of any kind I will burn you at the stick. The original Harvest Moon is/was (eh, debatable) one of my favorite games. It's cute, but it's also dirt-brown like a potato. It's ultra simple, kindness coins bs. I don't have to see a single portrait of anyone I am talking to. I don't really even have to give a poop about talking to anyone. I can just farm and care for my grumpy cows and chill. All while cleaning a massive field that I will never fully utilize. By this I am saying - Stardew even is too much for me. It kinda feels creepy to me too. Like it has the secret smugness and hoity-toity crap I hate so much about Seattle. And being the emotional creature I am - if I am not digging something it really takes a lot to sway me in the other direction. But the big picture reason why I put all of this is because I am clearly not the audience of either game in these modern times. So big reason why I wanted to post any of this is to say AC1 - yes! AC++!? Eh.
beehaw.org
Ważne