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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 19th, 2023

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  • That’s a good point. I mean, why should games not be as unserious as possible? That’s one thing that always kind of bothered me about video game evolution. At first, it was this little square dot you swatted with a white “paddle”; my family bought that system and I was about eighteen.

    I’ve been a video game addict since and probably have owned every system at one time. But I really hoped to see it grow in the direction of fun but other the top sim games and casual but engrossing puzzle games, not so much in the direction of let’s go shoot people and kill as many other sim-humans as we can.

    Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that! I mean, I have a special love for the God of War games, but to me those are so crazy with mythological creatures and stuff that it really appeals to me more than, say, GTA type games.



  • I think that’s true and one reason I like SDV so much. There isn’t a lot of time spent on material gathering, and you don’t have to craft your own tools or make your own buildings. I think those things COULD be fun if they weren’t so complicated in so many sim games - I could not make heads or tails out of the crafting mechanics in “My Time at Portia,” for example. I think if you’re goingg to task the gamer with those things, they should be very easy to do, because most people don’t want to waste time on mundane chores and drawn out searches for rare materials or who knows what the game requires (in many cases I simply have no idea what the game is wanting from me!).


  • That’s one thing Stardew does right. But also, it gets the “labor mechanics” right; there aren’t a ton of drop down menus to navigate through, your tools are right there on the bottom tab. And also, amazingly - and astonishingly - it GIVES you the basic farm tools you need right off the bat! You can start a farm without much explanation and zero aggravation. If you need upgrades, you just pay for them and yes, there’s some material gathering to make buildings, but someone else does the actual construction. To me that’s great because then I can go fight blobs in the mines or fish or visit the other residents.




  • Well to be truthful, it feels like people DO put casual gaming in sort of a “not really serious” category. And that’s somewhat true; I don’t like overly complicated games that have tons of drop down menus you can’t even read onscreen (tiny fonts). I’ve always been more into puzzle or even sim games because there is no platforming usually (I SUCK SO MUCH AT PLATFORMING!). I love casual games because they usually are easy going, I can play for 20 minutes or an hour, it’s up to me.


  • I wanted to like “No Man’s Sky,” when it was finally available on the Switch (my PS4 had just died when it came out) I was elated to play it. After a couple hours of playing, I wanted those two hours of my life back. An ugly game with very little color, and absolutely no direction as to what you’re supposed to be doing, I wasted those two hours trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I absolutely hated it - the only game I ever asked for a refund on.


  • If you’re talking video (not board) games, I think most the games I played were kind of a mix of good and bad. I mean they usually start out pretty well but then end up being repetitive and boring. If I ever have to play another farm sim where I’m required to craft things in some convoluted way that makes no sense, I’ll chuck my game system out the nearest window. Why does “Stardew Valley” get it totally right, and the rest not get it right at all? OK yes I play mostly casual games, but the real “gems” are few and far between. Still waiting for another good sim that isn’t more work than it is fun.


  • I’m replaying of all things “Spyro” Reignited on Switch - a game that is so much more difficult than people ever admit. I’ve only made it through about half the first game and 60 percent or of the second game - I always have to quit them both because the mid-game boss battles are impossible and the stress makes me physically sick very quickly.

    I have no idea what the rest of those first two games actually look like, I could never get that far. I’m battling through the third game (very very difficult game) and hoping I can make it to the end this time (but doubt it). It’s a fun game, but it’s not for casual gamers at all.




  • Terraria. I wanted to like that game but immediately found it unenjoyable and disagreeable in every way. I’m still waiting for a Stardew Valley-like game that is actually good (i.e., has farming without ridiculous missions like "find the cows and build a pen for them) and doesn’t require the player to “craft” his own tools with ridiculously complicated mechanics. I hated “My Time in Portia” for the incredibly difficult crafting, that had no tutorial or explanation and was very poorly conceived.