No Mickey In Fortnite
Wed, Mar 6, 2024 Year 2, Autumn 10Al and Kev talk about Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons
Timings
00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:02:12: What Have We Been Up To
00:07:30: News
00:27:50: Piczle Cross: Story Of Seasons
00:43:16: Outro
Links
Disney Dreamlight Valley “The Laugh Floor” Update Notes
Coral Island Updated Roadmap
Ikonei Island Console Versions
Farm Folks Conveyor Belts
Farming Simulator Kids Trailer
Minami Lane
Contact
Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot
Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot
Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/
Transcript
(0:00:32) Al: Hello farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season.
(0:00:36) Al: My name is Al, and we are here today to talk about Mario- wait, no, that was last week.
(0:00:38) Kevin: and my name is Kevin yeah I mean we could no no we’re just waiting for Princess Peach since it’s the main thing um there’s a demo if you play it you know what it is and you can maybe have your fill okay well okay well okay all right well yeah all right well let me know when you do play though Thank you for the question.
(0:00:46) Al: There’s not much to talk about just now.
(0:00:56) Al: I still haven’t played Donkey Kong vs or Mario vs Donkey Kong yet.
(0:01:01) Al: I’ve been busy with other things.
(0:01:07) Al: I’ve bought the game.
(0:01:08) Al: I have the game.
(0:01:09) Al: It’s sitting here right next to me.
(0:01:10) Al: I just haven’t played it yet.
(0:01:13) Al: It actually arrived while I was in the US.
(0:01:23) Al: I just need to add to the clip.
(0:01:25) Al: Oh, well, dude.
(0:01:28) Al: Don’t you worry, we need the content.
(0:01:32) Al: Awesome.
(0:01:33) Al: Hi, Kevin. Welcome. We, today, we’re going to talk about
(0:01:37) Al: Pixel Cross Story of Seasons, which is the new story of season themed
(0:01:43) Al: nonogram or pie-cross game, however you want to call it.
(0:01:46) Kevin: Yeah, it’s it’s just a big cross it’s like it’s like Kleenex right the the brand name is the thing
(0:01:52) Al: Exactly, exactly. So, I believe Nonogram is the non-branded generic name for it,
(0:01:54) Kevin: Yeah
(0:01:59) Kevin: Yeah
(0:01:59) Al: and Picross is the standard one that people know, and Pixelcross is this series. So,
(0:02:04) Al: just to be confusing. So, we’re going to talk about that. Before that, we have some news.
(0:02:05) Kevin: This up start
(0:02:13) Al: First of all, Kevin, what have you been up to?
(0:02:16) Kevin: uh mostly sweating from the toilet
(0:02:22) Kevin: um uh no but um what have I actually been playing um I uh no oh oh actually no big big day today I have done it I have done 152 shrines every piece of armor every same quest
(0:02:40) Kevin: tonight my final showdown with Ganon too but I closed the book on Gears of the Kingdom
(0:02:43) Al: Nice.
(0:02:46) Kevin: very excited for that um yeah yeah fun fact i’ve actually been through that before because I was just like i’m curious what what happens if I go down here and I made it all the way to Ganon but then I got what by the the actual fights going on so um so yeah I at least have an idea of what to expect but uh now that I have a whole crew good stuff i’m looking forward to it.
(0:02:48) Al: Awesome, that’s exciting.
(0:03:13) Al: Fair enough
(0:03:16) Kevin: It’s in a good place right now, but yeah, that’s kind of all I’ve been up to a lot.
(0:03:42) Kevin: a lot of tears of the kingdom and big crush, really.
(0:03:44) Kevin: What about you, Al?
(0:03:45) Kevin: What you been up to?
(0:03:46) Al: Yeah, I have actually been playing Pokemon. I’ve been doing, yeah, dangerous. The edge for presumably Legends, Legends Arceus, rather than Scarlet and Violet. I have been playing,
(0:03:46) Kevin: Okay, I mean, I’ve gotten the itch.
(0:04:05) Al: I’ve been doing the Venusaur raids, that’s what I’ve been doing.
(0:04:08) Kevin: Okay. I… yeah, I mean like, um, I don’t know what it means, but right, they just don’t say who,
(0:04:19) Kevin: as in what they did in Sword and Shield. Um, I don’t know if it’s because it’s kind of just following on that act, or because of the performance issues, or okay, there’s a number of reasons, I guess,
(0:04:33) Kevin: but, um, I, um…
(0:04:38) Kevin: I probably will go… I don’t know, I’ve missed a few of them for that mark, the collector and whatnot.
(0:04:44) Kevin: Um, maybe I’ll fire…
(0:04:46) Al: Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of how Pokemon like your your fellow trainers Pokemon fainting means that you just lose quicker. It feels not great, especially if you’re going online with randoms and you get one person who’s at level 50 and they get knocked out every two rounds, you’re dead and you’re dead in 30 seconds. It’s like that’s not fun.
(0:04:57) Kevin: - Ah. (chuckling)
(0:05:05) Kevin: oh yeah oh yeah that’s uh that’s oh that’s true see I have my brother and we play
(0:05:14) Al: I feel like it kind of.
(0:05:17) Al: It stops you recovering from bad strategy, right?
(0:05:22) Al: Like, or it stops you recovering from bad players with good strategy.
(0:05:23) Kevin: yeah
(0:05:27) Al: Whereas, you know, because it’s too fast for you to be able to do anything about that.
(0:05:27) Kevin: yep yeah
(0:05:32) Al: Whereas in the sword and shield ones, yet them being knocked out wasn’t helping you.
(0:05:37) Al: It’s not great that they’re being knocked out, but, you know,
(0:05:39) Al: it wasn’t causing you an actual problem in that it was reducing the number of turns or whatever.
(0:05:46) Kevin: What? Yeah, it was.
(0:05:46) Al: So, not in, yeah, no, no, not in sword and shield.
(0:05:47) Kevin: No, no, I’m thinking of the adventures. No, you’re right. I’m sorry. No, no, I’m thinking of the dead raid adventures.
(0:05:52) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um…
(0:05:52) Al: In sword and shield you had, like, was it 10 turns in total, I think, to knock it out.
(0:05:57) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, you’re right.
(0:05:58) Kevin: Huh. I never thought about that.
(0:06:01) Kevin: That’s…
(0:06:03) Kevin: That is a weird design choice. Like, I kind of get it.
(0:06:06) Kevin: ‘Cause now that everyone’s kind of on their own turn and incentivizes people to, you know, actually carry their weight instead of just doing the thing.
(0:06:16) Kevin: Although that might be more helpful in certain circumstances.
(0:06:19) Kevin: Um, but, uh, I mean, yeah, there’s a whole discussion we could have about the design of those things.
(0:06:25) Kevin: I…
(0:06:27) Kevin: If they want to keep going with these raids and whatnot, I really feel they need to put a little more work into, uh…
(0:06:35) Kevin: I don’t know how to best describe this.
(0:06:38) Al: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like you can’t bring in a level 50 or whatever. Yeah.
(0:06:39) Kevin: I guess just implementing limits or restrictions, right? Like…
(0:06:44) Kevin: Rental Book.
(0:06:46) Kevin: Yup, yup, you need to have a level 100 or whatever for this fight, yada yada.
(0:06:52) Kevin: Um, there, yeah, there’s definitely a lot that could be done.
(0:06:56) Kevin: Um, and we’ve had that conversation elsewhere, but Rental Pokemon would probably be the easiest thing to do.
(0:07:02) Kevin: Here’s some Pokemon you can use for the rest.
(0:07:02) Al: Yeah, I think it would be great to have not just rental Pokémon, but rental Pokémon that other people can submit. So like, you know, people like Steve and other like YouTubers and stuff could say these are the builds that I’m suggesting I think would be fantastic.
(0:07:10) Kevin: Oh, that’d be great, yep.
(0:07:16) Kevin: Influencers.
(0:07:19) Al: But yeah, you’re right, we’ve talked about that over and over again. So I’ve been playing that and I’ve been playing Pixel Cross and that’s about it this week. Not much, not much.
(0:07:30) Kevin: Yeah, alright.
(0:07:30) Al: Should we talk about some news?
(0:07:32) Al: So Disney Dreamlight Valley, the full patch notes for the laugh floor update right now.
(0:07:33) Kevin: I guess so. We’re legally obligated to by no one.
(0:07:43) Al: So we talked about this a little bit last episode, but just in that it was coming, and obviously it was going to have Monsters Inc. So they’ve detailed a bunch of stuff. The link is in the show notes. I guess a few things I’ll just pick out. They have included the two characters, Mike and Sully.
(0:08:03) Al: There are a number of new items.
(0:08:05) Al: They’ve got the partner statue.
(0:08:08) Al: They start you with Walt and Mickey at Disneyland.
(0:08:11) Kevin: Yeah. Oh, do they have it in now? Okay.
(0:08:12) Al: They’ve added that in the game now.
(0:08:15) Al: And of course, the armor.
(0:08:17) Al: You’ve got Dreamlight armor outfit for some reason.
(0:08:22) Al: A bunch of new customization, some new star paths and premium bundles.
(0:08:29) Al: And Scrooge McDuck’s shop has been expanded.
(0:08:32) Al: Absolutely. Yeah, one thing that really annoyed me about that game is you start up and then he’s like, “Oh, I need some money to expand my shop” and you’re like, “No, you don’t. Away and use your own money.”
(0:08:36) Kevin: Give the rich duck more money.
(0:08:50) Kevin: that’s on how you became a trillionaire don’t you know how capitalism works I need your money to make more money oh that’s a good one
(0:08:51) Al: Ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And…
(0:09:03) Al: And, of course, you can change your name in the game now. So, there we go.
(0:09:10) Al: If you want the more detailed notes there in the show notes, there’s a whole bunch of bugs fixed as well, which is always good.
(0:09:16) Al: Next, we have an updated roadmap for Coral Island. So, I actually coincidentally talked about this last episode as well, because I was like, “Oh, I’ve not seen the roadmap in a while.”
(0:09:27) Al: They’ve detailed the next three updates coming.
(0:09:32) Al: 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.
(0:09:36) Al: They’ve given some detailed information on some of the things coming in 1.1, including the town rank will now go up to S, including some more story and questlines around that.
(0:09:53) Al: The tourists are coming, which are the backers.
(0:09:56) Al: There was a certain level of backer who could get themselves in as an NPC.
(0:09:58) Kevin: Yeah, that’s, hmm, that’s, oh, I don’t, I don’t know if I like that, that’s a, that’s a weird discourse.
(0:10:00) Al: coming as tourists.
(0:10:02) Al: And, of course, they are not romanceable, which everybody on Twitter is mad about.
(0:10:14) Al: It is a little bit, it is a little bit like, oh, these characters that are based on real people, yeah, that’s very, very weird.
(0:10:23) Kevin: Mmm. Although I will say, for the people who made it in, they should be able to romance themselves.
(0:10:30) Kevin: But that will stand behind.
(0:10:35) Al: They’re also adding in the finale of the giant storyline, which I’m very happy with, actually
(0:10:44) Al: has some story for the mare folk, which I’m very happy about because, come on, they’re adding hangouts where you can, it’s, I mean, it’s basically dates with NPCs, no, well,
(0:10:52) Kevin: You couldn’t before with the mermaids?
(0:10:59) Kevin: What was the point?
(0:11:00) Al: with the mare folk, there was nothing, there was, you could barely talk to the mare folk,
(0:11:03) Al: there was almost nothing.
(0:11:03) Kevin: What was the point?
(0:11:04) Al: And that was my biggest issue.
(0:11:06) Al: They would just decided that was going to be post 1.0 content.
(0:11:09) Al: And I don’t think it should have been, I think that this 1.1 update is what should have been
(0:11:14) Al: update. That was my whole thing.
(0:11:15) Kevin: Probably yeah. Oh my gosh. I’m just looking at the list. Holy mackerel. This should have been 1.0
(0:11:21) Al: I suspect it was a money thing, but.
(0:11:24) Kevin: Probably in game dev money matters what?
(0:11:32) Al: Yeah, and they’re adding Thai to the game as well.
(0:11:38) Al: So I was going to say, if you speak Thai and not English, you’re not going to hear me say that.
(0:11:40) Kevin: Okay, um
(0:11:44) Al: But there you go.
(0:11:45) Kevin: Well, yeah There’s one I have a question about what does what does
(0:11:51) Kevin: improvements to the hat system mean what does that mean?
(0:11:54) Al: So when you wear a hat, it’s limited on what hairstyles you can have for that.
(0:12:02) Kevin: Oh gosh, I hate that. I hate that so much. As someone with long hair, I often get the short end of that stick in games. Sword and Shield, I could wear hats with my actual hairstyle and it killed me. They’re great hats. Unite, just inside. Pokemon Unite is really bad because and hats are considered the same thing, you can’t actually separate them.
(0:12:03) Al: So, yeah.
(0:12:32) Kevin: Um, save for a few instances, but a lot of the hats come with hair and you do.
(0:12:39) Kevin: Oh, that that’s a, that’s one that that’s a very niche and specific thing that really gets under my skin.
(0:12:44) Al: Yeah, it gets worse. So I believe until this new update, if you were wearing a hat, you just wouldn’t have any hair. So now they’re adding two hairstyles for hats. I’m quite happy about it personally, because the other thing that games quite often miss with hair is bald options. And they’ll go like, “Oh, here’s a buzz cut,” or whatever, but they’ll very rarely have bald, whereas this did have bald from the start.
(0:12:51) Kevin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
(0:12:57) Kevin: Okay. Well, AB steps. I wouldn’t call it.
(0:13:08) Kevin: Okay. True. True.
(0:13:14) Al: And we’ll actually have bald for hats. So a rare win for the bald heads. Cool. So yeah.
(0:13:21) Kevin: Okay, there you go
(0:13:27) Al: Oh, they’re also adding ocean farming and ranching. I’m very intrigued to see what…
(0:13:30) Kevin: That’s a big one.
(0:13:32) Kevin: Wait, what are you ranching?
(0:13:34) Al: I don’t know. They’ve not detailed that yet, so I believe they’re going to talk about that in the next monthly update. So we’ll bring that when it comes. But yeah, I’m intrigued
(0:13:44) Al: to see what they’re adding there. Like maybe sharks? Do you get to ranch sharks, maybe?
(0:13:47) Kevin: mmm merfolk well you’re not wrong or at least can we get a revolutionary merperson who’s against the ranching I want some you know a little mermaid under
(0:13:52) Al: Sounds like slavery.
(0:14:14) Al: ICONI Island, they have said that their PlayStation Xbox versions are coming at the end of March.
(0:14:26) Kevin: alright that game has very pretty art style only to check it out and not check it out but uh…
(0:14:34) Kevin: now that we get consoles uh…
(0:14:36) Kevin: oh he’s already on switch and paid down
(0:14:38) Al: it is already on switch I believe oh wait maybe it’s not no it’s not on switch yet but they haven’t said anything about switch so who knows if they’ll ever actually come to switch because the this console update just
(0:14:47) Kevin: okay well I’ll take
(0:14:52) Kevin: mop-mop
(0:14:57) Kevin: well I still might there’s a better chance I’ll check it out stuff oh the art isn’t the in-game visuals don’t match the art I’m not 100% you know what I mean all right but either way I’m more likely for me to check it out I do like
(0:15:17) Kevin: having from up in the background there
(0:15:23) Al: FarmFolks, they are adding quite, I think this is quite wild, their conveyor system.
(0:15:31) Al: Have you watched the video on this, Kevin?
(0:15:33) Kevin: Yes, it looks awesome.
(0:15:35) Kevin: It looks like a monorail system.
(0:15:36) Al: Yes, that’s exactly what it is.
(0:15:38) Kevin: That’s what I’d call it.
(0:15:40) Al: It’s like a monorail system with these trays that are going along this insane monorail system.
(0:15:47) Al: And obviously the one they’ve built in the video is not what you would actually do, because is very very long and it doesn’t go
(0:15:53) Al: anywhere, it just wiggles around. But I think they’re just trying to show how big and expansive it can be if you want it to be. So I am suddenly very interested in this game.
(0:15:55) Kevin: yeah
(0:15:59) Kevin: Yeah
(0:16:03) Kevin: Right now you design your own roller coaster system for your crops or whatever
(0:16:10) Kevin: Making up for that awful name
(0:16:13) Al: Well, yeah. There are worse names, but yeah, it’s not a great-
(0:16:16) Kevin: Well, okay, yes, yes, you’re right but um, yeah - Yeah.
(0:16:26) Kevin: Oh, yeah, that looks fun.
(0:16:27) Kevin: That’s a great looking monorail mare system.
(0:16:33) Kevin: Kind of like Southfield reminds me of just the openness of it,
(0:16:39) Al: Yeah, yeah. I forget, is this game out at all yet? It is not. I was wondering whether it was an early access one. No, it’s nothing. Nothing like that. And I don’t think we have
(0:16:52) Kevin: Oh, well, looks that’s a good.
(0:17:00) Kevin: I like that.
(0:17:06) Kevin: I like how it looks with the art styles okay the
(0:17:11) Kevin: My I know I’m I’m taking some interest in this. Wow the the person on their website. That’s just tracer from overwatch. Wow. Okay, um
(0:17:20) Al: But in Fortnite style.
(0:17:22) Kevin: But
(0:17:26) Kevin: When will we get disney dreamland across fortnite
(0:17:32) Al: Which way round, like…
(0:17:33) Kevin: it’s closer than you think but you know what it could
(0:17:36) Kevin: be either and or I don’t think so because there’s an announcement that they made an agreement they’re gonna put a whole universe in it for it like
(0:17:38) Al: Because I feel like there have been Disney characters in Fortnite.
(0:17:48) Al: - Yeah, but that’s.
(0:17:51) Kevin: I mean I guess there’s the Marvel and Star Wars stuff but I don’t know if Disney Cooper I don’t think Mickey Minuss has been in Fortnite
(0:17:58) Al: No, it looks like you’re right.
(0:17:59) Al: It looks like they haven’t actually got any Disney proper characters in there.
(0:18:04) Al: Just just the other the other companies they own.
(0:18:12) Al: All right, Farming Simulator Kids, we have a release date
(0:18:16) Al: for this is coming on the 26th of March.
(0:18:20) Al: So just just under a month to go.
(0:18:24) Al: We also know we have this trailer.
(0:18:26) Al: have some sort of
(0:18:28) Al: idea of the actual gameplay and it looks kind of minigame-esque, very much definitely looks like a kids game, I can see why it’s farming simulator kids.
(0:18:40) Kevin: Yeah, there’s, uh, there’s a lot we can talk about here in my, uh, I mean, okay, first of all, it does, it’s not your boring, realistic, uh, no, not boring, but it’s not the standard, realistic farming simulator, it actually has a good, friendly style.
(0:19:00) Kevin: Um, I think this is actually a very clever idea.
(0:19:05) Kevin: Um, I, I think it’s your towards.
(0:19:10) Kevin: It’s like, particularly young kids, um, because there’s like, basic maths and, and sorts of mini games.
(0:19:20) Kevin: It’s also very clearly designed for tablets, which is a very common kid.
(0:19:26) Kevin: Here’s your tablet thing now.
(0:19:28) Kevin: Um, uh, I, I appreciate when there are, you know, genuine efforts to make quality type game
(0:19:40) Kevin: kids, even as young as this demographic.
(0:19:43) Kevin: Um, and it feels like that’s, uh, that’s how it’s going on here.
(0:19:48) Kevin: Um, and, uh, it’s a smart move.
(0:19:51) Kevin: Hook ’em on, hook ’em early to the Farm Simulator brand.
(0:19:52) Al: Yeah, on one hand, it’s definitely, it looks very kid-friendly and very, it looks like it could be fun, while kind of getting some kind of ideas towards realistic farming in that it taught, you know, it’s trying to show you like the different stages and then what you do with these things. But it feels a little bit weird in that farming simulators thing is they are the realistic farming simulator.
(0:20:22) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I will say it is unexpected. I’ll say that. But I, I think it’s a clever.
(0:20:22) Al: This is not in any way a realistic farming simulator.
(0:20:28) Al: So, I don’t know, it feels a little bit weird
(0:20:40) Kevin: I think it’s a good way of going about it right because like, I don’t think farming’s in the head.
(0:20:48) Kevin: young, demographic feel, um, and there’s
(0:20:52) Kevin: little bits like the actual farming aspects, right?
(0:20:56) Kevin: The crops and the, and I’m on the livestock are relatively realistic, right?
(0:21:02) Kevin: They’re not cartoony.
(0:21:04) Al: Yeah, they’re oversimplified, though. That’s the point, right? I think it’s only as realistic as other farming sims, but I don’t know. I need to try it to see that, because I don’t know if that’s actually the case.
(0:21:04) Kevin: Um, they’re in the, whatever art style it’s in, but it is still.
(0:21:17) Kevin: I guess so.
(0:21:20) Kevin: Yeah, I
(0:21:23) Kevin: Yeah, there’s a lot going on here too. There’s the omics running shop you feed people sandwiches from
(0:21:30) Kevin: Shirley violet those are the exact shippers early by the
(0:21:36) Kevin: You do the farms you the you know the actual farming and livestock, but there’s like indoor games and things like that
(0:21:43) Kevin: For some reason dragging a kid into a bathtub
(0:21:48) Kevin: Yeah, I don’t know there’s I’m not surprised right farming simulator clearly has money, so um
(0:21:55) Kevin: and I still think it’s a
(0:21:59) Kevin: Good idea, and I think it’s it’s a pretty alright looking kid’s game
(0:22:04) Al: Yeah, yeah.
(0:22:05) Kevin: Although the the static followed by the aliens on the TV freaks me out a little that’s that’s some creepy harvest moon nonsense They’re pulling there
(0:22:14) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(0:22:16) Al: I’ll need to try this out to get Craig to try it and and see what it’s like.
(0:22:21) Al: And last but not least, in the news, we have a new game, Minami Lane.
(0:22:28) Al: Do you think it’s Minami?
(0:22:30) Al: Minami.
(0:22:30) Kevin: Sure, oh wait, it’s not Miami, it is Miami.
(0:22:33) Al: Yeah, it does.
(0:22:34) Al: So this game has just come out.
(0:22:37) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:22:41) Kevin: It’s not the GTA VI simulator, farming simulator.
(0:22:46) Al: It came out yesterday, I think, as we were recording, so a week ago.
(0:22:51) Al: The little blurb on it is, “Welcome to Minami Lane.
(0:22:54) Al: Build your own street in this tiny, cosy, casual management sim.
(0:22:59) Al: Unlock and customize buildings, manage your shops, and maximise the happiness of your
(0:23:04) Al: villagers to complete quests and fill your street with
(0:23:09) Kevin: Okay, so it, uh, it feels very, um, it’s the, the bunny game and the can’t game.
(0:23:19) Kevin: When would you guys talk about before or wherever you talk about?
(0:23:20) Al: Mm. Yes. Um, Usagi Shima and, uh, what’s it called?
(0:23:23) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:23:27) Kevin: That goes on the, yeah, it feels very much in that vein, probably
(0:23:32) Kevin: largely because of the art style and the kind of isometric view.
(0:23:39) Kevin: I mean, it’s really just centralized on this one street, right?
(0:23:43) Kevin: So, um, uh, overall, but you like how it looks overall.
(0:23:51) Kevin: Um, I think the art style is, it’s charming.
(0:23:56) Kevin: It’s kind of old story book-ish feel.
(0:24:00) Kevin: I don’t know how to describe that better.
(0:24:02) Kevin: Um, I like the customizability options it looks like, and there’s some goofies.
(0:24:09) Kevin: Like a Capa walking around.
(0:24:11) Kevin: There’s cats that you can pet.
(0:24:13) Kevin: Um, I think it’s cute.
(0:24:15) Kevin: This feels like what I would have wanted from Garden Galaxy.
(0:24:19) Al: Yeah, I feel like this is kind of, because I’ve talked about how I used to really like
(0:24:27) Al: city building games and stuff, but then they got really complicated and I don’t like that anymore.
(0:24:29) Kevin: Mm-hmm [laughter]
(0:24:35) Al: But this feels like it’s simple enough that I could enjoy it, but complicated enough that it’s yeah, not just Garden Galaxy, it’s not just like put things down where you want them to.
(0:24:49) Al: Like there’s actually a purpose to that and you’re trying to do something.
(0:24:50) Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, there’s little bits of feedback like you’re customizing your ramen that you sell in the shop. That’s cute. Yeah, no, I agree. It’s striking a nice balance of actually having stuff to do or feels like but not overwhelming you with all the crazy, mighty aspects of those crazy city builders.
(0:25:16) Al: - Yeah, and it’s super cheap.
(0:25:20) Kevin: Let’s see, oh, it released, it’s already out, how much should we take?
(0:25:23) Kevin: Wow, it’s like five bucks, yeah, you’re right, roughly, yeah.
(0:25:28) Kevin: I’ll have to check that out, probably, maybe, I don’t know.
(0:25:32) Al: No, no promises. Never any promises. Yeah, I’m very tempted to try this out.
(0:25:34) Kevin: It looks cute, no promises.
(0:25:42) Kevin: There’s a yokai tree, wait, what does that mean?
(0:25:46) Kevin: Is that why there’s a cat by walking around?
(0:25:46) Al: It’s a tree with yokai, obviously. I also like how it starts out small, and when it starts out small, it’s like the actual area you have is small. So you don’t have like,
(0:25:48) Kevin: Bye.
(0:25:58) Al: One of the things about city builders quite often is you have this massive area.
(0:26:02) Al: But you can only use a tiny bit of it but you still have to see everything whereas this is like here it focuses only on the area you have and everything else is nothing right it’s like this is the only thing that exists to you this is this is your focus and then as more areas become available to you then they become visible in the game which I really like
(0:26:04) Kevin: Mm-hmm, right?
(0:26:16) Kevin: Yeah
(0:26:18) Kevin: Yeah
(0:26:22) Kevin: Right, right, yeah
(0:26:25) Kevin: Yeah
(0:26:27) Kevin: All the customization options too looks like
(0:26:29) Al: Or you can build tree houses.
(0:26:31) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, that’s what the yokai trees for
(0:26:37) Kevin: Yeah, oh there you go, there’s your Boba cafe, oh shoot they got tenuki it’s off brand
(0:26:43) Kevin: Tom Nook was running everything
(0:26:46) Kevin: I
(0:26:50) Kevin: This is tempting me, I won’t lie. I might actually look into it. He’s on the steam probably on the steam. It’s clickin
(0:26:58) Kevin: Let’s team game on the odd bet it to find an audience on switch
(0:27:02) Al: It is, it is only on Steam, yeah.
(0:27:03) Kevin: Developers names you
(0:27:05) Al: I can’t see any indication.
(0:27:06) Kevin: Yeah, all right
(0:27:10) Kevin: They’re probably not planning it now until the money rolls in
(0:27:16) Kevin: Yeah, but man check it out folks Minami Lane. It’s cute
(0:27:20) Kevin: If you like the soggy, I think whatever the thing was
(0:27:24) Al: Usagi, Usagi Shima and Neko Atsumi, which by the way, we should probably mention, I guess, Neko Atsumi, they’re making a new, a new one, a second Neko.
(0:27:26) Kevin: Thank you, there you go you like those check it out
(0:27:37) Kevin: Yeah, they said all mad people like that for those bunnies we can’t let them steal our thunder
(0:27:42) Al: Cool. That’s the news. Woo. So we are going to talk about what is definitely a farming game. Pixel cross story of season.
(0:27:48) Kevin: Whoo
(0:27:58) Kevin: You’re making things grow in your mind, Al.
(0:28:05) Kevin: Okay, so first off, I mean simple.
(0:28:08) Al: Yes, how to explain this game.
(0:28:14) Kevin: Okay, you do know Picross, okay now that, but now put Story of Seasons on it, there you go.
(0:28:20) Al: Yeah, I mean, so, so, yeah, so let’s let’s start out with, I mean, it is what you think is it’s it’s a nonogram, it’s a pie cross, whatever you want to call it. That is what it is. That is the game. But what’s quite interesting is that they have built a kind of self-creating farm in.
(0:28:21) Kevin: This is the game.
(0:28:23) Kevin: Guess what, I like both of those, it’s a good game.
(0:28:50) Al: I’m not 100% sure exactly what’s happening, but I’m halfway through summer and I’ve not done that many puzzles.
(0:28:53) Kevin: Mm hmm. Yeah.
(0:29:08) Kevin: I thought it was one day per puzzle too, but you might be right. I don’t know.
(0:29:18) Al: a few more days than I have puzzles done.
(0:29:20) Kevin: Hmm
(0:29:20) Al: But that aside, that aside, as you progress, you have your two, they’re like the horror,
(0:29:32) Al: well, the story of seasons characters, the main ones. The harvest, yeah, but in 3D,
(0:29:35) Kevin: the og harvest moon protagonists
(0:29:39) Al: which is that they’ve recreated them in 3D, they are just going about doing a farm behind you.
(0:29:45) Al: Now, they’re very slow, I would not take two seasons to start.
(0:29:50) Al: Planting some seeds. But, I think it’s cute.
(0:29:56) Kevin: Yeah, yeah.
(0:29:58) Kevin: OK, let me take this to the back here.
(0:30:00) Kevin: How much experience do you have with pickers and all?
(0:30:03) Al: Oh, pretty decent amount, yeah. I’ve played a good chunk of the official progress ones.
(0:30:05) Kevin: OK.
(0:30:09) Al: I’ve played some many other ones. I had an app on my phone for a while doing some nonogram.
(0:30:12) Kevin: Mm-hmm okay okay um that’s uh well you know because yeah that that’s the game right so if you’re you listener enjoy it you will enjoy this game undoubtedly so I think there’s two things we can look at it here first all the the story of seasons aspect of it because yeah that’s going on in the background but you’re just seeing it whenever you go back to the main menu.
(0:30:16) Al: Yeah, you know, the usual.
(0:30:42) Kevin: You can imagine with these themed puzzle games, all the puzzles are story of season related, right?
(0:30:44) Al: Yeah.
(0:30:46) Al: No, I’m actually looking at it right now.
(0:30:48) Al: It’s completely paused while you’re doing puzzles.
(0:31:06) Kevin: Your puzzles are going to be turnip and watering cans and characters from the story of season games.
(0:31:12) Kevin: In fact, they have what’s called an almanac where you can just basically go through all the characters and stuff once you complete their puzzles, you get art and information on them and whatnot.
(0:31:26) Kevin: And so it’s very much a story of seasons celebration type game as well, right? A lot more condensed, but it’s a fun little Hall of Fame.
(0:31:41) Kevin: And on top of that.
(0:31:42) Kevin: When big advantage it has over other
(0:31:45) Kevin: The cross games you get that wonderful wonderful story of season soundtrack. They have a
(0:31:52) Kevin: sampling from different games
(0:31:55) Kevin: Um, and I really enjoy it, especially the wonderful life ones
(0:31:59) Kevin: those those
(0:32:02) Kevin: I
(0:32:06) Al: I’m shocked, I’m shocked.
(0:32:06) Kevin: So, yeah, that’s right
(0:32:10) Kevin: So, you know, I give it thumbs up on
(0:32:12) Kevin: that aspect from this little tribute game, right?
(0:32:16) Kevin: But now looking at it, getting a little more in depth here from the cross side of it.
(0:32:24) Kevin: I’m actually really surprised and pleased by how much of a control you can have over there.
(0:32:32) Kevin: They give you a lot of accessibility and options to help deal with the puzzles.
(0:32:36) Kevin: There’s color indicators to help you kind of see.
(0:32:42) Kevin: There’s a clue you can look at here, or you’ve completed this row, or autofill empty spaces, etc.
(0:32:52) Kevin: There’s a lot of options in my opinion, or at least compared to the ones I’ve played.
(0:32:58) Kevin: And I think that’s cool.
(0:33:00) Kevin: Me being who I am, I turn them all off, and I have just the grid with black and white numbers,
(0:33:06) Kevin: and I go at it like that.
(0:33:10) Kevin: because that’s how I like to play playgrounds,
(0:33:11) Kevin: but,
(0:33:12) Kevin: what, for people who maybe don’t enjoy it as much like I do in my crazy, miserable style,
(0:33:20) Kevin: they offer a lot for that and, in fact, it’s the default.
(0:33:24) Kevin: They ease your way into it, which I appreciate.
(0:33:30) Kevin: I don’t know how many puzzles there are, but I feel like there’s probably a lot.
(0:33:35) Al: There are a lot because I think there’s is it 30 on the first screen and then there are multiple screens and then there’s also 25 on the first screen but then but then there’s a good like seven or eight pages and then there’s also the mosaic ones as well that you build up as you go so yeah there’s quite a few.
(0:33:42) Kevin: I… yeah, I think it’s 25 on the first… is it 30? 25, 30, one of them.
(0:33:55) Kevin: Yep, the collage ones where you, you know, you do your different pictures, or different puzzles that form one big picture altogether, and I appreciate that, right?
(0:34:09) Kevin: I played Pokemon Picross, which did a similar mechanic, and I’ve always found that a lot of fun.
(0:34:15) Kevin: A clever way of doing, you know, a nice big picture that you can’t quite see.
(0:34:22) Kevin: I, um, yeah, I mean.
(0:34:25) Kevin: I don’t know, it’s- the game maybe feels small because it only has like two screens, basically, the puzzle screen and the main menu, but…
(0:34:34) Al: I think, I mean, if you’re not used to Picross games, I can understand why you might think it was small, right? But like, I don’t know about you, but like, compared to most Picross games, it feels pretty standard. Size-wise.
(0:34:48) Kevin: I guess so like I’m trying to think maybe I haven’t played as many as I like I
(0:34:55) Kevin: Say the 3d ones I played Pokemon pick cross played Mario’s pick cross I’m trying to think I can’t remember the last time I played up across like s game or whatever. Um, so maybe you’re right
(0:35:05) Kevin: but either way, it’s not really necessary because
(0:35:08) Kevin: It’s just
(0:35:14) Kevin: I
(0:35:16) Kevin: I’m curious to see if…
(0:35:19) Kevin: you know, once you complete certain sections from the almanac or collections or whatever, I’m curious to see if there’s any more.
(0:35:26) Kevin: But, you know, all that’s just sprinkles on top.
(0:35:30) Kevin: Yeah, what can I say? Spoolcross is really good, right? Like, it’s hard to critique it because it is what it is, right?
(0:35:36) Kevin: It’s like Tetris, you know, Tetris.
(0:35:38) Al: Yeah, I mean I also I really like the characters building away your farm in the background.
(0:35:49) Al: I think it’s a really fun addition that makes it, like this is what makes it a story of seasons one, rather than just it’s across but also they’re all farming related, right?
(0:35:52) Kevin: It is. Yeah.
(0:35:58) Kevin: For.
(0:36:01) Al: I mean obviously they’ve got some of the characters as them but come on.
(0:36:02) Kevin: For.
(0:36:06) Kevin: Yeah, you know, okay.
(0:36:08) Al: So, I just double-checked there are 270 main ones and then there are five more collages which all have like 10 to 20 in them.
(0:36:12) Kevin: Okay, I do.
(0:36:16) Kevin: - That’s okay, yeah, that’s a good chunk, I appreciate that.
(0:36:22) Kevin: All right, the bunch.
(0:36:29) Kevin: Yeah, it’s something like that.
(0:36:32) Kevin: Okay, one thing I will say, I do wish, because you’re right,
(0:36:37) Kevin: the building up of the farm in the background, I think it’s cute and charming, right?
(0:36:47) Kevin: I do wish they put it a little more up front.
(0:36:50) Kevin: Like.
(0:36:52) Kevin: I don’t know like maybe clearly saying, okay, complete three puzzles and you upgrade your barn or you get a cow in the background or whatever.
(0:37:02) Al: Yeah. I’m actually wondering whether it might be time based, like real time based, or like the number of days you go in, because I just feel like I’m halfway through summer and they’re still breaking rocks. And I just, I feel like, I mean, I’ve basically only been playing it today, right? I haven’t, I haven’t played it before today. It only came out, what, two days ago. So I didn’t play it yesterday or the day before I played it today. So I, and
(0:37:07) Kevin: I’m, yeah, that’s likely.
(0:37:23) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:37:28) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:37:33) Al: it’s like most of these games designed to be play a few a day, then put it down. And so therefore I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how they built up the farm is because that’s how they expect most people to play. It’s a couple of times a day. So each day the farm
(0:37:39) Kevin: Yeah, I’m sure but those
(0:37:52) Kevin: okay you know what that makes a lot of sense and you’re probably right and they’re also wrong because they should be wandering to the maniacs like me who just retreat and and just play pick rocks for hours and hours
(0:37:56) Al: Yeah, I think this is the only game we could potentially cover this quickly after it came out, right? Two days. Two days and we’re already recording a podcast about it. I don’t think we’ve done that for any game. It is absolutely wild that we’ve done that. But it’ll be interesting.
(0:38:16) Kevin: Well, when Story of Seasons Tetris comes out, we’ll do the same.
(0:38:20) Al: We’ll check in. We’ll definitely check in.
(0:38:26) Al: And in the future to see if it’s gone any further. Did you play in the last two days as well as today? What are your characters doing? Open up.
(0:38:33) Kevin: Yes, I played. I haven’t played today, but I played yesterday and the day before um
(0:38:39) Kevin: Um I think they’re roughly at the same place where you said I’m also I
(0:38:44) Kevin: in summer I don’t recall how far I’m into it, but I spent some a lot of time in the
(0:38:49) Kevin: the collage puzzle -
(0:38:52) Kevin: But they’re I think they planted some seeds at this point
(0:38:58) Al: See, mine haven’t. Nope, no seeds planted at all, so I, that does feel to me like it’s,
(0:39:03) Kevin: I
(0:39:06) Al: so I’ve finished. I’ve, yeah.
(0:39:07) Kevin: Could be wrong. I might be misremembering um
(0:39:11) Kevin: Like us like we said it’s only like when you go to the main menu when you see it right um so sometimes I’m not even paying that much attention. I’m
(0:39:18) Kevin: They sometimes just looks like they’re just running around and just smashing stuff because that’s that was a lot of it at the beginning
(0:39:25) Kevin: But I probably will stick with it, and I’m curious to see you know how big it will get
(0:39:32) Kevin: It would have been
(0:39:33) Kevin: I think it would have been a little fun to have a little more flourish during the actual puzzle - not inside the grid or anything But just maybe have the character standing around looking at the puzzle doing any moat or an action when something happens. You know what I mean?
(0:39:48) Al: Yeah, yeah, that could have been fun.
(0:39:50) Kevin: Just just a little something like that, right and and maybe introduce some other characters from the games Right because you have the almond I can that the puzzles or whatnot But it’d be nice to see him just hey walking by or saying hello or whatever
(0:40:03) Kevin: But you know all that’s new thinking more or less because it’s pig cross really like it’s a double thumbs up for me
(0:40:16) Al: No, I agree. I’m trying to think if there’s anything else we want to talk about this game.
(0:40:16) Kevin: What the new Pokemon games pig cross sold [laughter]
(0:40:28) Kevin: Uh, I mean, it was, yep, really simple, right?
(0:40:29) Al: If you like Picross, you will like this game. That’s it. You should.
(0:40:36) Kevin: And if, I will say, if you’ve never played pick offs, this is a fun one to get into.
(0:40:42) Kevin: Yes, you should want to do it now to, uh, this is a good one to pick up.
(0:40:48) Kevin: Like I said, there’s a lot of options and customizability and how you want to play.
(0:40:53) Kevin: Um, and then I, I think it’s a very.
(0:40:58) Kevin: Good entry point, not like that crosses anything crazy hard or anything, but it it makes you feel welcome. Let’s say
(0:41:08) Al: I agree. It is definitely one of the most accessible ones, and it gives you it gives you an incentive as well. So if you do put on some of the hints and stuff like that,
(0:41:12) Kevin: Yep, and the good music.
(0:41:24) Al: it will indicate that that’s happened. It won’t penalize you, but it will indicate at the end that you used one of the specific things, which might give you an incentive to go, Oh, let me try doing it without those hints.
(0:41:30) Kevin: Yeah, yep, yeah, yep
(0:41:38) Al: I don’t like when they penalize you for doing stuff like that,
(0:41:41) Al: but it’s fun to give you just a little bit of a nudge to be like, Hey, maybe try it.
(0:41:44) Kevin: Yeah
(0:41:46) Al: Maybe dry it, you know.
(0:41:47) Kevin: Yeah, absolutely and
(0:41:50) Kevin: Something of really minor detail that I haven’t seen in any of the I don’t think I’ve seen any other pick cross games I played
(0:41:57) Kevin: It will actually record your time Which I think is fun. If you want to go back and see if you’ve improved any I got some tricks and whatnot
(0:42:06) Al: Yeah, I managed to get the first level down to three seconds.
(0:42:07) Kevin: Oh
(0:42:11) Kevin: Jeez jeez man
(0:42:14) Kevin: I probably could but I’m so methodical about my across like I know I could just look at it and solve it But I want to do it robot once I normally do
(0:42:20) Al: Yeah, well, the good thing about that one is it’s just like the top three rows are all full and then the middle column is full. That’s all you need to do. So it’s like you can immediately see because it’s like four, you see four fives. So you just go across the fives and that’s it done.
(0:42:41) Kevin: yeah yep yeah yes alright well I guess that’s that huh cuz I got nothing else for it um it’s a good one pick it again that’s pick pixel like you know you like the the squares you get it you get it out pixel story of seasons
(0:42:41) Al: It was fun. It was fun to see how quickly I could do that one. And it’s literally just the only thing that’s stopping me is the fact that the buttons take time to move across. That’s it.
(0:42:58) Al: Yeah, that’s fine. Play the game.
(0:43:10) Al: Awesome. Cool. Well, thank you, Kevin, for joining me to talk about Pixel Cross Story of Seasons. I’m sure Mika will be sad that he wasn’t here to talk about it as well.
(0:43:12) Kevin: something like that go look up google is where joe fine is
(0:43:27) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, we’ll get him on when we went to be the second harvest
(0:43:34) Al: Game of the year 2020
(0:43:37) Kevin: Well, look if you get is both on there’s a more than a non-zero chance of that
(0:43:42) Al: Where can people find you on the internet, Kevin?
(0:43:48) Kevin: Find me at Cooper Press for my personal Twitter on
(0:43:52) Kevin: We’re currently now posting a lot of good dank memes about Pokemon legends
(0:43:58) Kevin: Find me at spreader square to gonna see my art or find me at Rainbow Road radio The Mario podcast that I do with in this case last week out you were on
(0:44:10) Kevin: Where we went through some Mario questions and discussed Brie Larson and most importantly we casted the
(0:44:17) Kevin: live-action Mario movie
(0:44:20) Kevin: So, you know buckle in for that one. What about you out? Where do people find you?
(0:44:26) Al: Well you can find me on last week’s episode of Rainbow Road Radio.
(0:44:30) Al: You can also find me on Twitter and on Mastodon at thescotbot.
(0:44:37) Al: You can find the podcast on Tumblr and Twitter at THSPod.
(0:44:43) Al: You can find links to everything we’ve talked about in the show notes and also on our website harvestseason.club where we also have a feedback form if you want to send us feedback.
(0:44:54) Al: If you do that, it’ll probably get mentioned on the podcast.
(0:44:56) Al: You’ll also find a link to our Patreon, patreon.com/thspod,
(0:44:57) Kevin: Hey, there you go
(0:45:03) Al: where you can support the podcast. If you do that, you will get access to the Slack,
(0:45:08) Al: where we love to mock me. And we have been admiring Cody’s Fox Craft Island.
(0:45:17) Al: You’ll also find bonus episodes of the podcast called The Greenhouse,
(0:45:22) Al: Where we talk about things that are not, CODGECORE GAMES.
(0:45:27) Al: Including either already out or coming out soon, depending on if I have any time tomorrow,
(0:45:33) Al: will be me and Kevin talking about the Pokemon Day Presents and some stuff that happened in that.
(0:45:44) Al: I mean, one thing, right? That’s what we’re going to be talking about, one thing.
(0:45:47) Kevin: All right.
(0:45:48) Al: Unless you particularly want to talk about the master’s updater.
(0:45:53) Kevin: This is Thank you.
(0:45:55) Al: All right, cool. Wow. Thank you.
(0:45:56) Al: Thank you, Kevin, again, for joining me. Thank you listeners for listening and until next time, have a good harvest.
(0:46:03) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinley, with support from our patrons, including our pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.
(0:46:18) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
(0:46:22) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website harvestseason.club for show notes and links to things we discussed in this episode.
(0:46:38) Kevin: I mean, I guess it was the Marvel and Star Wars stuff, but I don’t know if Disney for Looper I don’t think Mickey Minuss has been in for it not yet
(0:46:55) Al: scrolling down a list now. Marshmallow, some DC characters. This is a very long list. Alien,
(0:46:58) Kevin: No goofy, immigrative.
(0:47:05) Kevin: I’ll mope.
(0:47:11) Kevin: Too long, some would say.
(0:47:15) Kevin: Oh my gosh, he was in that.
(0:47:22) Kevin: Solid snakes in there.
(0:47:24) Al: It’s just such a long list, I feel like it’d be quicker to google it.