Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town is the newest Harvest Moon game on the Nintendo Switch! The title can be confusing if you didn't know that the original Harvest Moon devs decided to split from Natsume, who does English localization, but Natsume kept the Harvest Moon title and developed the game themselves. If you want to OG devs of Harvest Moon you need to look out for Story of Seasons which is this game! If you've only played games like Stardew Valley, then this is also pretty similar. I've already played through the first month and love it so far. One of the things that make me happy to you can do same sex marriage and no gender locked haircuts or other cosmetics and clothing! The towns people are diverse and the animals are the cutest compare to all other farming life games.
There is an easy difficulty setting so if you want to play this without stress. Your tools are in the Tool Bag which is good since you can store tools there when you're not using them which frees up inventory space and you don't have to run to a storage box to switch out anymore. Trees, grass, and stone grow back really fast! Unlike previous games where upgrading tools make you tackle bigger trees or stones, upgrading in the game makes the area of effect bigger. So you can chop the trees in the area at once which is great and feel great too.
Like in Stardew, farming, mining, fishing, etc can be leveled up and doing so unlocks more crafting. Crafting is where you'll get makers which are important. The makers only make one thing at a time so you'll need multiples. These will get you the materials needs to unlock two farming areas on your farm. In previous games you normally buy animals from the animal store, but in this game you can find them roaming your farm and you can tame them! Same goes for crops. There you forage on your farm and ship them in the shipping box which will make the general store sell more seeds. In previous games the foraging are done in other areas so it was a little weird to see it all done on the farm. The same goes for fishing as you have access to the river, pond, and seas.
Being a long time Harvest Moon fan, I'm used to the gameplay and have my own strategy. There's plenty of places that will give you tips if you're new or starting out. Personally I prioritize getting all the inventory spaces. Upgrading the hammer and axe is also high in my priority list. Overall, I am pleased with this game. One of the negatives is that the fps during the events is rather low due to the falling sakura and all the towns people in one area. Also the first event is the Egg Hunt and you only get a cutscene of hunting eggs rather than actually looking for the eggs. Its not a big deal but it seems they want to make this more of a romantic event than a minigame.
Finally! A brand new Animal Crossing game for the Nintendo Switch! This is a simple game of going on a deserted island and building a town. The game is unique in that the game time is the same as real time. While there is a lot to do, some may find it difficult to get into due to the lack of story or direction. It is hard to describe why this appeals to many people. For some people find it relaxing, other like being creative and doing custom designs or designing their island or home decor. This game is also multiplayer so you can have people over or visit others. There are seasonal events and items and the game continues to get free updates! I do highly recommend this game and think its definitely worth the price and the online subscription!
The first couple of days are a bit slow. You can visit friends' islands or have visitors until the second day. You can't explore your whole island because you need certain tools to climb up or cross over rivers. I'd advise to have the patience for this slow part till you can do more. You can also have friends just give you the recipe or items you need too if you don't want to wait for them. You can pass the time by fishing and catching bugs as it is required to proceed with unlocking more features to the game.
There's probably over 1000 items you can get in this game. These items are mostly random so the game has that kind of gacha thrill. Other than the random tree and balloons that can drop items, the stores randomly change what they sell everyday. Your island will be randomly assigned to one native fruit trees and flower type. You also get a sister fruit and flower on mystery islands. If you want to get the other types you will need to find a friend or strangers who you can trade with or gift them to you which requires an online subscription. There is a special npc that sells other flower varieties and Nook shop also sells some flowers. Some items are obtained through crafting. You get DIY recipes from message in a bottle you find on beaches, from villagers, and from balloons. Crafting requires materials most of which you can get from foraging around like chopping trees or hitting rocks.
Other than collecting items to decorate or dress in, there are other things to collect for the museum! Fishes, bugs, fossils, and art! Fishes and bugs are seasonal and timed. Certain ones only come out at certain time of day and months. So it will take all year to be able to get them all unless you time travel. And yes, you can time travel if you want but the only downside to that is events that would get added in later updates. You will have to time travel back and that might mess things up. One that that will mess up is your turnips will spoil. Another thing that could mess up is your villagers would leave and their house is an empty plot. Some say they had no problems time traveling but please do so as your own risk!
Since theres a big animal crossing fandom there's lots of resources and information on friendship levels, flower breeding, fish and bug monthly lists, turnips, and trading. Trading is a great way to get other color variations on items but been sure to read guides on protecting yourself from getting scammed!
This game is a remake of the classic Final Fantasy VII game that was released in 1997. This remake game only covers the first few hours of the original game, but it has been expanded. Average gameplay time is 40 hours! You don't need to play the original game to play this either. Since it is only part of the story, you may be confused or lost about certain aspects in the story which is fine. If you're impatient you can always play the original game. This remake doesn't replace the original game because its quite different so I do recommend playing both if the game interests you!
If you're on the hunt for seasonal DIY recipes then you know the struggle of getting these recipes. They are mainly obtained from ballons, but there is chance to get them from villagers when they're in their house doing DIYs. But this post is on balloons and how they spawn.
TIP 1Balloons will spawn from either the east or west coast of your island. They can change sides as well. This seems to happen when it changes from day to night and night to day at the :00 mark. So once you figure out which side they spawn do check up and downthe coast. More often they will spawn near you, but if you don't see one then do check!
TIP 2 Balloons spawn at 5 minutes or 10 minutes intervals. So at the :00, :05, :10, :15, etc mark. When it's the minute before you may be able to spot it! However, it can also take longer than 10 minutes for a balloon to spawn. For special events like Easter the balloons spawn much more frequently than the regular balloons.
TIP 3 DIY recipes are the lowest drop rate so it may take you awhile to get one to drop. So out of the 10 balloons I've popped, only 2 of those were DIY recipes! You may also get a recipe you already know too. If you have Nintendo online membership, offer up trading duplicate recipes with other players!
TIP 4 Color of the balloons do not matter! The contents are completely random HOWEVER, each color do have a higher chance to be a certain item: RED has recipes, Yellow has bells, Green has furniture, and Blue has crafting materials. When you hit the 300 balloons popped milestone you will star getting Gold balloons which will have gold tools DIY recipes!!
Seasonal Dates These are the dates where you'd get DIY recipes and seasonal materials!! You may get other related DIY recipes but they wouldn't require the seasonal
Penguin's Isle is a mobile game and a incremental game like Kitten Game. The art and music is really nice! The penguins are cute and you can unlock other animals. Its a chill game, but it does heat up my phone quite a bit so I don't have it open for long. It is a free game and definitely recommend it as its cute and chill.
You start off with the fishing habitat and earn money that are labeled alphabetically as it grows. You can use this money to unlock new habitats, level up to earn more money over time or adding more penguins. Penguins earn hearts over time which are used to level up Habitat Evolution. First level is auto collecting money and the rest increases money earned by percentage. The penguins walking around will have hearts that you can tap to collect. Sometimes they have a camera icon which you can take a photo and earn money as reward. In the water there be a wooden box that you can tap to get free money, a red gift box that you can get more hearts after watching an ad, and chest which summons a whale after watching an ad and you get money and also earn up enough to get gems.
Gems are the real money currency which at the moment you can use to buy Time Tokens and Treasure Chests. The Silver Chest give you a free opening after a certain amount of time has passed. Gold Chest can be rewarded from unlocking a new Habitat, otherwise these chests cost gems to open more. These chests are use to get other animals and special penguins. They will increase money and hearts! You have to collect a certain amount before you can get them on your Isle. You can do that in the Creatures tab in the same window as adding Penguins.
Other than leveling up and getting animals, there are Achievements and Quests to do. Achievements are listed out and reward gems. Item chests are the Treasure chests and Using a Skill is not something I understand what it is but so far the only thing that increases this is collecting Offline Reward. Gift Boxes are the ones in the water. Quests only show one at a time. Doing these reward a blue lightning which is used for Research. Research is next to the Habitat tab. These increases rewards and money as well as decreasing cost of penguins and habitats.
Overall, this game is pretty cute and has enough to do to keep you want to come back.
Control is a 3rd person shooter action adventure game by Remedy Entertainment. This game is surreal and very paranormal and SCP vibes. I really like the aesthetic of this game and it really delivered it throughout the game. I'm not good at shooter games but you get other powers like telekinesis which helps me out. There's some puzzle solving which aren't too bad but some may require reading documents you find to figure it out. The gameplay is decent and the story is weirder than I expected but its what attracted me to this game. I definitely recommend it if you like this kind of weird stuff! There are two DLCs coming so I look forward to those!
You play as Jesse Faden who has been looking for the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) and was able to find it from applying for the assistant janitor job. This building is in NYC and you spend the entirety of the game inside this building. You end up finding a gun and becoming the new Director of FBC. The building is under lockdown and you find people floating in midair and also attacking you. They are controlled by an invisible thing called the Hiss. As you progress through the game you learn more about the FBC, the people who work there, what they're working on, and about your character Jesse. I also really like the characters in this game and that fact that some of the videos are actual live action footage. The humor in this game is also pretty great. This game is just really cool to me!
Shadowbringers is the third expansion to FFXIV.The story continues after Stormblood and its the best, in my opinion, out of the 3 expansions. You can level from 70 to 80. The two new jobs is Gunbreaker and Dancer, as well as two new races Viera and Hrothgar. This expansion also has a new feature called Trust System where you can get into dungeons with the Scions characters instead of players. Since this expansion just released this will mainly be the expansion 5.0 and I will update this when patches come out.
The expansion 5.0 took me around 40 hours to complete but this included leveling and sidequests. Its been a real fun ride. The story is set on a new world they call the First and focuses on us as a character and our Scions friends. I really like that as none of the previous expansions has really done much with them. I think its possible people like this expansion more since we know these characters already and have grown with them. There are a few new characters as well! One of the main one is the Crystal Exarch. Since I play this game with Japanese voices I will mention some differences. His name in Japanese is 水晶公（suishoukou) which I personally find easier to say than Crystal Exarch. This character is mysterious as he doesn't reveal who or what he is and his hood covers half his face. I thought he be a more serious person but he's actually ended up being really endearing. Another is a new villains like Vauthry, Ran'jit, and we get more of the Ascian Emet Selch. Emet is actually a really great character and both the English and Japanese voice actors were excellent for him. Also if you didn't know, you can right click NPCs and get optional dialogue text. They will only be open when they are there and proceeding the main story quest will move them so you won't be able to go back to talk to them. People may not find them important but I like extra character stuff so I do check it all the time. But for this expansion I highly recommend doing it for Emet! I will say more about the story in the latter part of this post which will be spoilers.
Other than story there is new job class quests that you actually need to do as its requirement to get through the main story. The job quests actually learn more of the previous Warriors of Light, or Warriors of Darkness as we known them. My main job is Bard so I got to do the DPS melee quest line which actually was good and it made me tear up.
The Trust System only applies to the dungeons in this expansion and only the main story dungeons. The optional dungeons don't have trust system. This has a story reason as the NPCs says they will come with you and not say to go do the dungeon with other people. So I feel this may not be available for previous dungeons. Since dungeons gives me some anxiety I really like this system. But you do go through the dungeons slower since the damage isn't as good as real players. I'm fine with that as I like to take my time, and don't like how players just keep going. When you die it treats it as a wipe so you don't get revived. Also the NPCs do talk a bit, but its nothing special but there are a few that some characters may say or do something interesting.
In Stormblood the dungeons were quite difficult and I commented on how I feared what the dungeons in this expansion will be like. Thankfully they weren't that difficult! I know players don't really want that, but to me it was great as I was going in blind with the Trust System. Perhaps they made it easier for the Trust System. The dungeons are pretty too and one is pretty the best one in the game so far. There are some interesting duties as well, and one has simple puzzles to do which I liked cause it was different.
Overall I really like and enjoyed this expansion and really look forward to the patches! I don't think the next expansion would be able to top this, but who knows! The music is also really good, but I do feel they reuse some songs a bit too much. Still I really enjoyed listening to them. I preordered and had early access. Since I never played this game on release day time it was fun for me to see so many people playing along side you! Its fun doing fates in a big group of people as I was use to nobody doing them or I'd be doing them by myself.
SPOILER SECTION! Don't read further if you haven't finished the main story!
Its E3 time! This year Sony is skipping E3 which is understandable, but I will miss their presentation as its has been well done except last year. Instead they have their own "Nintendo Direct" which they call State of Play which they held before E3 and they showed FF7 remake in that.. Also Death Stranding trailer with a release date was released before E3. So this year my E3 post will a bit shorter than before.
The first thing that came out of E3 was Google's Stadia presentation. It covers the basic information about the cloud gaming service. You'll need 35mbps internet to play in the highest quality setting. On the website the minimum is 10mbps to play on 720p 60 fps. The subscription cost is $9.99 a month but you can also buy the game itself and the play at no additional cost. The service works only on Chrome. You'll need Chromecast to use your TV and a Google Pixel smartphone, but they said they will expand to other phones in the future. They reveal their own controller but state that any controller will work. Launch date is in November. Biggest game from their presentation is Balders Gate 3. I never played these games before so I'm not as excited, but I am curious because its being developed by Varian Studios.
In Microsoft's presentation, the one game that caught my interest was Way to the Woods. It seems to be about a deer and a fawn in a post-human, abandoned world trying to get home.
Also From Software's new title Elden Ring was revealed and the leaks and rumors were true that George RR Martin did contribute to this title. Only a cinematic was shown and no release date or info was given. An interview was posted after the reveal that said its the studio's biggest title and its open world with RPG elements. It seems Miyazaki is a huge fan of the author's work and Martin respond to their invitation to make this game happen. This title will be on PS4, Xbox, and PC!
I can't forget the biggest surprise of the new Cyberpunk 2077 trailer that revealed Keanu Reeves as a character in the game. And Keanu himself was on stage to announce the release date! I wasn't that interested in this game, but I am now more interested!
Another game that kind of took my interest was Ghostwire Tokyo by Tango Gameworks who did Evil Within. Creative Director Ikumi Nakamura was gained fans for doing her best to speak English in front of all those people and was a joy to watch her talk about this game.
At SquareEnix they had a a KH concert which they revealed a DLC trailer and a FF7 concert whcih they also revealed a trailer for the remake with a release date before their E3 presentation. Right went straight to Final Fantasy 7 Remake at the start. They talked about the game being on two Bluray discs which makes sense as FF15 felt lacking with one disc. They mostly talked about the battle system which seems to combined FF and maybe eve KH system. They seem to try to add the turn base type with the ATB which fills up over time and when you use it it will stop time. Tifa is finally revealed!
A new trailer for Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers was shown! This trailer does reveal quite a bit of story so if you don't want to get know too much on this expansions story I highly advise to not watch it. But if you do there are versions of this trailer in other languages on FFXIV's official youtube channel.
At Nintendo's E3 direct they finally showed Animal Crossing New Horizons! Release date is delayed to March 2020 but so far it looks great! After the Direct they showed gameplay and other info about the game. Definitely watch if you are interested in this game!
Nintendo also showed more info on The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Its still very adorable looking and they showed some gameplay! They also revealed a new amiibo which I've already gone to preorder.This game comes out on September so its not too far away!
At the very end Nintendo dropped the bomb and revealed a sequel to The Breath of the Wild is in development!! I'm so happy this is getting a sequel!
Stormblood is FFXIV's second expansion that continues the story after Heavensward. This expansion will let you level between 60-70. This expansion opens up new maps on a eastern continent where the Asian style areas are located. These new maps will have the ability to fly in them and in this expansion you will learn to dive underwater. There is also a new housing area!
The story quests in this expansion is a bit more than Heavensward. I wasn't that into the story, but I do try to pay attention to it. It does pick up in the latter half. There is also the epilogue which ties the story for the next expansion. I enjoyed the epilogue part much more!
Like with Heavensward, its important to keep up your leveling but even more now as there's a lot of experience needed to level up. The story quests and even the side quests just don't give enough experience points so doing leveling roulettes is the best way to level up. I was able to do the main story quests while queuing for roulettes, and was able to meet to level requirements as I progress. For the epilogue part you need to have your gear at certain item levels to get into the dungeons. This part took me a bit because the gear in the market cost me all my gil so I had to take the time to do some crafting to sell at the market board to earn for the gear.
You won't unlock Diving till around half way through the story. Luckily you don't have to find or collect anything to use it! These new areas do have flying option so you do have to still find the currents and do the sidequests and one dungeon to unlock them. Some of the new areas you won't have access to the rest of the map till later in the story so you're not be able to get to fly there for awhile.
This expansion's dungeons introduces some new mechanics so as always look up guides. I accidentally did one of the trails blind because it came up in my trails roulette before I got to do it. Luckily it wasn't too difficult, but one of the mechanics was new and had to be explained as I wasn't doing it right.The main thing about the dungeons in this expansion is having more AOE attacks that you need to handle and dodge. Its quite hectic and stressful to have so many AOEs and other mechanics going on at the same time. I definitely got caught in alot of AOEs and died a number of times. Its definitely more difficult than Heavensward and it makes me scared of what the third expansion will bring. The solo duties are definitely difficult as well and they change it up a bit in this expansion so that was refreshing for me.
Overall this felt a bit long and was rather difficult in some areas. I still like Heavensward better, but the map and area design in Stormblood is better.
Heavensward is FFXIV's first expansion where the story continues and you can level past level 50 to 60. This expansion opens up Ishgard and several new areas. The biggest change is the ability to have flying mounts. These maps are also pretty big compared to ARR maps and have quite a lot of verticallity due to the ability to fly. You also get some new jobs!
The flying mounts are really neat and fun. But you have to unlock it before you can even fly. You do this by going through the main story quests and then you have to go around the maps to find aether currents and doing certain side quests that unlock other aether currents. But by the time you got them all the story would make you go to the next map. So you'd have to go through the story the slow way. The maps are somewhat annoying to deal with as quest destinations can take some time to find and get to with the hills and even cliffs to navigate through. But these new areas are really nice aesthetically. It really has a "fantasy" feel and look to them. Once you are able to fly its the best thing!
The dungeons and trails in this expansion are more difficult than ARR ones. I died quite a bit which is embarrassing. Mechanics can get a bit complex and a lot of things happening which I don't got the reaction time for. And for me I'm not well versed in mmo lingo so even when tips are given in chat I don't exactly know what they mean. So I definitely advised looking at guides and studying the mechanics before you go in. Also don't forget to do your job quests! You will get them every two levels so you will get some new skills. With more skills you may have to learn how to use them all effectively cause it can get complex and even confusing.
The story of Heavensward I've been actually invested and been paying attention to. It actually made me cry. I've skimmed the ARR story, but I was still able to get to like the characters though it did take awhile. In Heavensward there's quite a few new characters and the story is a nice change from ARR's. Luckily the story isn't as long as ARR's, but it also has an epilogue to connect it to the next expansion!
While this expansion covers levels 50-60 there's millions of experience points between the levels. I highly advise not skipping out on the leveling roulettes and side quests like I did. The main story quests have a decent amount of experience points for the first half, but later on it won't anymore. At this point in the game you would've unlocked more than one leveling roulette so you can get more experience. Trails are shorter but they don't give as much experience as a dungeon. If you're like me whose only done the majority of the dungeons once, doing the roulettes causes a bit of anxiety for me. Since you've done quite a number of dungeons and trails trying to remember the mechanics of all of them is a bit daunting. But you won't be the only one! Every party I've been in has been different. Some can carry you through it even if you die, and some others one or two may make mistakes or forget how a boss works. Then there are parties where you all struggle and have to do a boss more than a few times. I enjoy the 8 people ones as I feel less pressure to perform well. You can also do Palace of the Dead, but if your fail them you don't gain any experience so it can be a waste of time when that happens. For me this happens when we don't get paired with a healer.
Overall I highly enjoyed the story for this expansion! The dungeons stressed me out but at least my parties had carried me through them all. Since this expansion has been out for awhile it is included in the newest expansion! So if you haven't played past ARR I highly recommend coming back and play Heavensward.
The new From Software game, the studio behind Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Sekiro is a nice change from their previous games, but it is a very decent game overall. Sekiro takes place in Sengoku era Japan and you play as a shinobi trying to save his master who is a young boy name Kuro. The world is full of culture and some fantasy! There's no character creation or online features. The game is pretty difficult so you will feel frustrated, but like the other games overcoming the difficult enemies is really satisfying. But of course you can always watch someone else play it because the story and the world is interesting so I feel its worth taking a look.
The enemies in this game, for a lack of a better word, are complete assholes. There's quite a bit of bull shit that you have to go through in this game. So you do have the option to use stealth and sneak pass enemies or sneak attack them. The character also has a prosthetic arm which you can equip tools to make some enemies easier to fight against. Also not only is there a health bar, there's also a posture bar. Posture is another bar that you can fill up to stagger enemies and deal a deathblow. Some enemies its faster to kill them through the posture bar than the health bar. Combat is fast paced and clashing swords is the main way to fight. Other than attacking, you can deflect attacks which is like parrying in Dark Souls. Deflecting deals posture damage so its as important as attacking. Thankfully for the first part of the game it will pop up tutorials on how to play the game so you will get the feel and idea for it. So I recommend reading them when they pop up! There's also a character that you can practice on and teach you a few more things on combat. But still, the game is brutal and may find it not fun. You don't have to fight every enemy though so you can run past the annoying ones to get to the idols to rest.
The level design in interesting in this game. There's a lot of branching paths you can take, and its possible you may have missed or forgotten other paths. So definitely keep your eyes open and look around! Like with the other games, you could find a path over a ledge or at some corner that would lead you to items or bosses. With your prosthetic are you can grapple onto trees so that's also something to look out for. The world and the view is very beautiful. Since this is Japan and not a fantasy world it is set in a time period where they can have creative freedom with buildings and landscape are familiar. For one the Ashina clan was a real clan, but the Ashina characters in this game aren't real. So lore seems to be done differently as its more character lore than world lore. World lore is mostly done through the main story of the game otherwise its mostly religion and japanese folklore and horror stories. If you don't know much about Japanese history, Japanese Buddhism, Shinto, or Japanese folklore I suggest looking it up so the enemies and world may make some sense. It may seem weird, confusing, or even not appealing to westerners. Japanese or even asian folklore in general isn't as widely well known. In the game there are sake that you can get and you give these to certain characters who will tell you some backstory. Like with the other games, there are several endings.
The English dub isn't too bad, but since it is set in Japan the Japanese voices would obviously be more fitting. I do find the Japanese voices are better in terms of acting and have more character to their voice. The music is also great! It really gets your into the game and combat. Though sadly there isn't a song that really sticks out to me to want to listen to again and again. The sound effects are also great. Sure the swords clashing and deathblow sounds are loud and wonder how the other enemies don't even hear it, it does give such a great impact feeling in the combat. Its also a good way to hear if your doing things right. Sounds are different depending on the move so attacking, deflecting, and blocking have different sounds. It definitely helps me a lot.
Overall, I think this game is pretty good and worth checking out. Its quite different from the other From Software games which is nice. The game itself is great and don't think it needs a sequel. At the moment there isn't any DLC, but would be neat as to see what else they could add if there was.
The long awaited Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally out! A weirdly popular series that Square Enix and Disney collaborates in. I got the deluxe edition mostly for the enamel pin of Sora and I don't regret it. The game itself is decent. Its not perfect, but I have been playing this series since the first game so there were some expectations. If you never played a KH game before, its going to be a lot of unpack so thankfully this game does come with an archive of videos that helps you catch up. Also if you never seen the Disney/Pixar movies that a featured in these games they will spoil the story for you so if don't want that be sure to watch them before playing! As a casual KH fan, I find this game to be mostly satisfying. It isn't difficult and was able to beat it in about 30 hours. If you are a fan of Disney and Square Enix I'd definitely recommend checking this series out! Beyond this paragraph will be spoilers so do not continue if you don't want spoilers!
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