|
Roots of Pacha is adorable and comfy as hell. If you're on the fence about it, give it the two hour trial from steam, the first 2 hours of the game gives you a fair idea of what you're signing up for. I love the being part of a clan thing, suddenly everything feels like it matters more.
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2023 06:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 10:42 |
|
|
 oh god what to choose
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2023 16:16
|
|
|
A 50% off Harvestella is certainly tempting.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2023 19:15
|
|
|
Megazver posted:
The flower!!! Friendship is the real treasure. I learned that from Pokemon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2023 19:48
|
|
|
HopperUK posted:The flower!!! 
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 05:26
|
|
|
I picked up Harvestella and it very much feels like something that would have come out on the PS2. I’m not very far in yet but the farming and crafting just seem like an additional step between killing monsters and getting upgrades, rather than just having the monsters drop gold or loot directly . I’m hoping farming gets more focus in the narrative but I’m doubtful, and it’s weird that a game with Harvest in the title basically just dropped a “hey have this house and some land, you can farm on it like this, okay peace” and that’s it? Also the combat is very, very basic. Starting out with just a basic attack and no block, dodge, or even jumping or dash attacks. I have a couple more abilities now but it’s really nothing special. Incredible that this was a full priced $60 game on release. I have a penchant for enjoying mediocre RPGs so I’m satisfied with what I have for half price, but as I’ve heard said before: Do not get this as a farming game, get it if you have nostalgia for mediocre PS2 action RPGs. Legitimately I’m not even sure why this game is 3D, every bit of the gameplay would work as a top down 2D game.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2023 02:07
|
|
|
I’m basically at the end of Roots of Pacha and it’s a very good game, but past the first year it falls off a cliff as there isn’t anything to do except max out plants and animals. The reward for breeding animals is higher quality products at more frequent rates, so annoying the reward is more work because you still have to manually pick it all up and milk/shear them. The fully upgraded barns will automatically pick up eggs/horns but those are the least valuable animal products. My main advice to someone getting into it is to just get pick one of each type of crop per year, grain, fruit, root, legume etc. Grow lots of wheat in spring as it’s useful all year. Overall I enjoyed it and if I wasn’t a groggy power gamer I bet I would enjoy it a lot more. There’s tons of great details as the tribe settles into their new home and build communal areas. On that note I’ve been told Sunhaven is probably more my style so I’m going to check that out. Demiurge4 fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Apr 30, 2023 |
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2023 13:26
|
|
|
Demiurge4 posted:I’m basically at the end of Roots of Pacha and it’s a very good game, but past the first year it falls off a cliff as there isn’t anything to do except max out plants and animals. The reward for breeding animals is higher quality products at more frequent rates, so annoying the reward is more work because you still have to manually pick it all up and milk/shear them. The fully upgraded barns will automatically pick up eggs/horns but those are the least valuable animal products. My main advice to someone getting into it is to just get pick one of each type of crop per year, grain, fruit, root, legume etc. Grow lots of wheat in spring as it’s useful all year. I like Sunhaven but I find something about the character designs really off-putting and unattractive. I think I just need to put some real time in so I stop noticing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2023 13:44
|
|
|
Sunhaven is okay. The art kinda seems unfinished. More like concept art than a polished final product to me. I can live with that, but the controls were designed for keyboard and mouse. In some technical sense there’s controller support now, but the moment to moment control is not smooth.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2023 15:32
|
|
|
Demiurge4 posted:Overall I enjoyed it and if I wasn’t a groggy power gamer I bet I would enjoy it a lot more. There’s tons of great details as the tribe settles into their new home and build communal areas. On that note I’ve been told Sunhaven is probably more my style so I’m going to check that out. Yeah, I'm the exact opposite, I bounced off of Sun Haven and I love Roots of Pacha (though I've only just started the second year). RoP is very Stardew Valley with a fresh coat of paint, like it's very clear they just lifted all of the SV mechanics and style as a starting point. From there, I think they made good improvements. They dropped the awkward/not-great combat and made the dungeon more puzzly*; they dropped the only penalties in the game (you no longer lose money for staying out too late, and with no combat, no combat loss worries); they added in neat new systems like getting better at specific crops, more types of animals, and more variety within each type of animal; they made the UI much better (useful screens now often have multiple tabs with moer information; maps give you live updates on where people are so that you can find them, and you can select a person to highlight where they are); and as the game progresses the village gets better and better as the community prospers. I feel like anyone who liked Stardew Valley and wants more of it will like Roots of Pacha. Sun Haven I felt was just trying to go too many different directions, and had way too much emphasis on needing to do everything. I got to the point where my farm was starting to get stable and be okay and the game said well, now here's a brand new land with a brand new farm you need to get up and running while maintaining the old farm and I just said 'gently caress this' and stopped playing, as it felt more like drudgery than accomplishment. Edit: *To be clear, nothing in the game is a serious challenge or hard. The challenge on dungeons is mostly remembering what's where and getting it all done before end of day forces you to stop.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2023 18:33
|
|
|
PringleCreamEgg posted:I picked up Harvestella and it very much feels like something that would have come out on the PS2. I’m not very far in yet but the farming and crafting just seem like an additional step between killing monsters and getting upgrades, rather than just having the monsters drop gold or loot directly . I’m hoping farming gets more focus in the narrative but I’m doubtful, and it’s weird that a game with Harvest in the title basically just dropped a “hey have this house and some land, you can farm on it like this, okay peace” and that’s it? Farming is primarily there to get consumables to fight with, from what I can tell. Juices, especially, are essentially healing potions (you can't eat when you're full, so the fact that they're 0 hunger is very important for challenging fights). You also get some money, but I find that the bulk of the money comes from ranching (animals drop products that are exclusively for selling) and from missions (especially the cooking turn-ins that unlock at a certain point in the game). But yeah, Harvestella is a JRPG first, and it has some farming content to go alongside it. It's definitely not a Rune Factory or a Stardew Valley.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2023 04:37
|
|
|
you unlock the ultimate magic class by completing most of the fairy orders.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2023 04:45
|
|
|
 the debate minigame in volcano princess is probably one of the funnier mechanics i seen in a stat raising sim... a screenshot does not do it justice you need to imagine the most dramatic music in the game playing in the background while the window just scrolls through the entire debate with no input from you
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2023 06:53
|
|
|
I picked up Harvestella during sale. I've gotten to mid-Spring, cleared the first dungeon, and engaged with the gameplay loop. It's so good, the aesthetics are cozy and the mechanics are comfy and after every session I just feel relaxed. The mechanics are simple and allow for immidiate optimization. The early game balance is well paced to introduce numbers that go up and the methods in which they go up. This is good sci Fi, told simply, using vocabulary that would be fun to read out loud to a toddler. It is a jrpg, closest comparison I have is Threads of Fate. If you have farm-brain then you can over-optimize yourself in the first season. If you want to develop farm brain in a partner, loved one, or child, like this would be the strongest recommendation in the universe.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2023 20:07
|
|
|
i finished my first play through of volcano princess and my daughter became the richest woman in the world and married two women
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2023 22:50
|
|
|
The true ending of that game goes to unexpected and strange places.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2023 23:02
|
|
|
I just got the true ending, its something alright. You know I really thought Lebsa/Rebessa (dunno what the name is supposed to be, the achievements have it listed as Rebessa but Lebsa is an anagram for Asbel so it would make more since for that to be the name) was just going to be a fun crazy lady who enjoyed talking about murdering people, people have their hobbies. e: still thinking about this 
Snooze Cruise fucked around with this message at 13:11 on May 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 4, 2023 08:05
|
|
|
Volcano Princess There's an infinite action points/money loop, if you can be bothered to click a million times to increase your money by a small bit each time: Wait until it's double pay season for the jobs and spend your action points on the highest paying one. Use all your money to buy as much fertilizer as you can. Use that to grow wheat, turn that into bread that restores your action points. Repeat until you have enough money and/or bread. Pick all the skills that seem like they would help with that (farming buffs, cooking buff, cheaper store prices) Warning: doing this will make the blacksmith ('s son) absolutely love you, so I hope you were not planning on marrying anyone else Tamba fucked around with this message at 15:57 on May 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 4, 2023 15:48
|
|
|
Tamba posted:Volcano Princess You can literally just buy the fertilizer and immediately sell it back for profit on 20% off days. I've not tried but I think you can get around the happiness gain by keeping Jermaine at unknown friend level
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2023 17:05
|
|
|
unknown friend zoned again
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2023 17:15
|
|
|
 some people can't handle being a bad father
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 04:18
|
|
|
Well, picked up Rune Factory 5 ( on sale ) and Volcano Princess just now. I held off on Harvestella due to some of the negative steam reviews at least for now. Any other “must haves” for someone who clicked with Rune Factory 4 Special? Trying to pick up games on sale before summer. Between those and the new Zelda game, will be busy for awhile!
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 04:47
|
|
|
Between Exocolonist and Volcano Princess i am happy we are getting some really solid stat raising sims recently but I do want to see something that changes up the formula. Like the genre is basically about "learning" so I see why that leans towards like kids or pets, or the school settings of Magical Diary or Tokimeki Memorial, but it would be neat to see something different.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 06:30
|
|
|
Snooze Cruise posted:Between Exocolonist and Volcano Princess i am happy we are getting some really solid stat raising sims recently but I do want to see something that changes up the formula. Like the genre is basically about "learning" so I see why that leans towards like kids or pets, or the school settings of Magical Diary or Tokimeki Memorial, but it would be neat to see something different. Obvious zeitgeist answer would be an AI-raising game. You work on it for five years, including using it to earn money so you can develop it further, then it escapes the lab and makes 100 trillion paperclips / destroys humanity with a robot army / explores Alpha Centauri / insert various endings here.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 06:41
|
|
|
There was an old flash game called My Pet Protector (there were 3 actually) about raising yourself in a village that was destroyed in some war. You'd build up your village again, train to get stronger and go dungeon hunting. I guess that's sort of what you're asking for, I guess it is a bit surprising we haven't seen too much like it on a bigger budget game. Path of Wuxia is still a school setting, I guess and it's pretty light on the simulation stuff. Tale of Wuxia certainly wasn't but there's so many caveats to recommending that these days.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 07:03
|
|
|
The Lone Badger posted:Obvious zeitgeist answer would be an AI-raising game. You work on it for five years, including using it to earn money so you can develop it further, then it escapes the lab and makes 100 trillion paperclips / destroys humanity with a robot army / explores Alpha Centauri / insert various endings here. If you haven't played this, it's great btw: https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 10:12
|
|
|
Snooze Cruise posted:Between Exocolonist and Volcano Princess i am happy we are getting some really solid stat raising sims recently but I do want to see something that changes up the formula. Like the genre is basically about "learning" so I see why that leans towards like kids or pets, or the school settings of Magical Diary or Tokimeki Memorial, but it would be neat to see something different. It's a style of game that I didn't know I wanted until I played Exocolonist for the first time (and then couldn't stop playing it). I immediately picked up Volcano Princess and really love this genre.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 10:45
|
|
|
Enfys posted:It's a style of game that I didn't know I wanted until I played Exocolonist for the first time (and then couldn't stop playing it). I immediately picked up Volcano Princess and really love this genre. Take a look at Ciel Fledge and Growing Up, too, as they're decent entries in the genre. I don't think either of them is as good as Exocolonist or VP, though.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 14:20
|
|
|
I wasn't a huge fan of the expeditions or the card games in Exocolonist, but it otherwise was very much what I wanted from a stat-raising / "growing up" sim, and even seemed to nail a really good balance in the "choices matter"-ism of it all, where there's a number of anchor points in the plot to keep the amount of writing manageable, but there's still a lot of different routes that don't just feel like slight variations of each other. A lot of it felt like a better version of the kind of game I had in mind when I tried Long Live The Queen, except you fail a death flag and get somebody killed once per season instead of once per day.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 15:09
|
|
|
Humble has a new cozygames bundle featuring APICO, Wytchwood, Lake and some other stuff I haven't heard of before that looks neat. https://www.humblebundle.com/games/whitethorn-games-showcase
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2023 20:39
|
|
|
Snooze Cruise posted:Between Exocolonist and Volcano Princess i am happy we are getting some really solid stat raising sims recently but I do want to see something that changes up the formula. Like the genre is basically about "learning" so I see why that leans towards like kids or pets, or the school settings of Magical Diary or Tokimeki Memorial, but it would be neat to see something different. Here's another one that probably flew under people's radar because the english translation was only added some time after the release: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268140/Lair_Land_Story/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7a11k3DeEY I only played the original PSP version ages ago, so I can't vouch for the english translation, but the stat raising sim part was fine.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2023 14:52
|
|
|
Spent some hours trying out the demo for The Palace on the Hill, looking rather nice. The vibe's a bit different from your average life sim - it's got a hand-drawn art style and the setting is more realistic. You're not gathering herbs, learning craft recipes and doing fetch quest because you're living your cottagecore dream life, but because the last harvest was bad and you gotta get on that grindset if you want to help your dad keep the farm (seriously side-eyeing that loan-shark guy because of what he might get up to in the full version, even if in the demo he just sits there ominously). My initial impression when exploring the village and getting some quests was "drat, they're really running this poor kid ragged", but the game hits a good balance between feeling you're doing your best to support your family while also retaining a fairly relaxed atmosphere. The larger story involves exploring some of the ruins around the village and learning from them, maybe using them as inspiration for your dream of becoming a painter. Not sure if the demo caps out after a few days or after you've reached a checkpoint in the story, but it does a good job of giving you a taste of the stuff you'll have available while keeping the fancier options tantalizingly out of reach (LET ME BREW THE loving LIME TEA  ).It's a rookie 2-dev team so the game does have some jank - the mobility and interface menus can get troublesome at times, the writing's pretty basic and some of the translations are incomplete, but overall I ended up interested in what the final product will look like.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2023 16:45
|
|
|
Anyone got any recommendations for a good chill numbers go up game? I played and liked Stardew Valley, Dredge, Potionomics and Dinkum. Did not like potion permit or Story of Seasons Olive town. What would be the best game to play that won’t feel stale or like a rehash of what I’ve played before?
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 00:05
|
|
|
Reposting a Harvestella post I made ___________ Harvestella has a beautiful balance of numbers going up and effort being spent. Primarily you gold will come from crops, which is time gated and not really effort gated. You can grind for more cash by doing fish, which is effort gated and time gated. You can grow the correct crops to make more gil in the "cooking meals for inns" mechanic and make like a lot of money one time. All of this can either be invested in farm for more money, more mechanics, or more rpg power. The numbers are so simple, elegant, not demanding but rewarding if optimized. Time spent doing rpg is JP, and that makes your number go up too. Lastly there are story beats that give you friends who translate into more power. The only time pressure you have is to unlock Rare fishing by Fall. It's also not even really a time pressure thing because then you just have to wait (90 days * 20 min per day) like 60 hours before the next Fall so you can check that off again. It's just so fuckin cozy and comfortable. Each number that you make go up is impactful down to the most basic increments. The mechanics are simple, but the dopamine is powerful. Give this to a child to turn them into a jrpg genius.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 00:35
|
|
|
Talorat posted:Anyone got any recommendations for a good chill numbers go up game? I played and liked Stardew Valley, Dredge, Potionomics and Dinkum. Did not like potion permit or Story of Seasons Olive town. What would be the best game to play that won’t feel stale or like a rehash of what I’ve played before? My Time At Portia. It's SV but you play as Robin. Story quests to build stuff add stuff to the world that remains visible and often relevant.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 01:00
|
|
|
Talorat posted:Anyone got any recommendations for a good chill numbers go up game? I played and liked Stardew Valley, Dredge, Potionomics and Dinkum. Did not like potion permit or Story of Seasons Olive town. What would be the best game to play that won’t feel stale or like a rehash of what I’ve played before? If you enjoyed Potionomics, why not dive in and play one of the older Atelier games? The newer games are basically just RPGs with an unusually intricate crafting subsystem, but the older ones have a light management structure on top. Atelier Ayesha would be a good place to start.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 01:05
|
|
|
Oh yeah I was curious about those, are any of the newer ones worth playing? Edit: also I played and loved My Time at Portia despite the Jank
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 03:26
|
|
|
Talorat posted:Anyone got any recommendations for a good chill numbers go up game? I played and liked Stardew Valley, Dredge, Potionomics and Dinkum. Did not like potion permit or Story of Seasons Olive town. What would be the best game to play that won’t feel stale or like a rehash of what I’ve played before? Spiritfarer
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 03:31
|
|
|
I loved Spiritfarer up until my most-hated narrative technique: It was all a hallucination. It also gets very grindy in the late game.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 04:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 10:42 |
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I loved Spiritfarer up until my most-hated narrative technique: I only seen one game that has managed to make that twist work in a narratively satisfying way and that game had the most well executed mystery plot I have ever seen. Anyone with weaker writing talent than that so should really not be doing that kind of twist.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2023 07:51
|
|
