I Have A Bean

Wed, Oct 4, 2023 Year 2, Summer 14

Al and Kev talk about Mineko's Night Market

Also, we talk about Stardew Valley 1.6, the recently teased Lord of the Rings cottagecore game, and a number of recent release date announcements.

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:02:42: What Have We Been Up To
00:15:56: News
00:45:50: Mineko’s Night Market
01:32:52: Outro

Stardew Valley 1.6 Sneak Peek
Stardew Valley Joja Parrot

Tales of the Shire Teaser
Tales of the Shire Site

Mineko’s Night Market

Contact

Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot
Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot
Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/

Transcript

(0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al And I am playing the neko’s night market as we speak Fantastic we are gonna have so much to talk about this game. I think it’s gonna be
(0:00:36) Kevin: I’m Kevin.
(0:00:37) Kevin: Um, excuse me, I believe that is Wormburger’s Night Market?
(0:00:47) Kevin: Uh, you think the game that’s been in development for eight years and has been my most anticipated game of like two years running? [laughs]
(0:01:00) Al: Funny because like yeah, so like this podcast I’ve been going for like nearly five years now, right?
(0:01:04) Al: And this game had already been announced four years before the podcast started So quite a while Did neko just poop on the ground It just just sat on the ground and stood up and then it was a garden block
(0:01:12) Kevin: 2015 baby that’s that’s wild like I don’t I didn’t
(0:01:25) Kevin: Yeah, if that’s possible, yeah.
(0:01:26) Al: I think Niko just pooped on the ground.
(0:01:30) Al: To give me somewhere to plant, all right. Well let’s see what happens with that.
(0:01:34) Al: We’re gonna talk about the Niko’s Night Market, because somehow we managed to play this game in the five days since it came out.
(0:01:43) Al: Yeah, we’re gonna talk about it. Before that, we’ve got a bunch of news to talk about.
(0:01:43) Kevin: Yeah, but I played a lot so I have things to talk about
(0:01:57) Al: there’s stuff we need to talk about, there’s stuff we definitely need to talk about.
(0:01:58) Kevin: Is there I don’t I don’t I don’t know Not really I like going in blind [laugh]
(0:02:00) Al: Have you not looked through the news?
(0:02:02) Al: Oh Kevin, right, that’s fine, let’s go in blind.
(0:02:05) Al: Most of it is pretty small, pretty quick, still good, but we’ve got two really chunky bits of news at the end that we need to talk about.
(0:02:11) Kevin: Wait, we haven’t talked about that one yet?
(0:02:13) Al: We have not talked about that yet.
(0:02:14) Kevin: I-
(0:02:14) Kevin: Oh my gosh, okay, we do have things to talk about, all right.
(0:02:17) Al: Yep, we have big stuff to talk about.
(0:02:20) Kevin: I know- I like how you know exactly what I’m looking at.
(0:02:22) Al: Well, of course, of course I know.
(0:02:26) Al: So we’ve recorded the last episode, I think like the day before that news came out.
(0:02:30) Al: Um, was it me and Cody? I think it was. Uh, we, we’d recorded really early that week and then they came out with our news and that was really frustrating. So anyway.
(0:02:31) Kevin: was it okay yes yes I didn’t know it was it good good
(0:02:39) Al: Um, uh, first of all, though, Kevin, what have you been up to?
(0:02:46) Kevin: Um, okay, so in the Good good old me decided to do a whole bunch of things before Monneko dropped so you know the Pokemon DLC has been out for a minute, there’s been a lot of talk and So I finally gave in and I started playing Pokemon, but I wanted to play a good one. So I’m playing sword and shield I started a nuzlocke
(0:03:22) Kevin: And it’s it’s a fun one to nuzlock through Because there’s so many a wide variety of encounters and and It’s surprisingly challenging at times. There’s there’s some heavy hitters in the game One going back to that Jen Like all all joking aside I I This is a subjective opinion, but I think it looks better
(0:03:31) Al: Mmm, yes.
(0:03:52) Kevin: And then scarlet violet like maybe not technically there’s probably It’s…
(0:03:54) Al: I mean, I don’t think I disagree with that. I mean, I’m definitely one of the Scarlet and Violet enjoyers and defenders, but I don’t think that as a game it looks better than Sword and Shield. Definitely not. But I think personally that’s generally a problem with open world games. I don’t think that any of them look amazing. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have some moments where you’re like, “Wow.” But those are very few
(0:04:09) Kevin: Yeah yeah.
(0:04:19) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:04:20) Kevin: Yes.
(0:04:24) Kevin: You’re- you’re ner- yep, you’re right.
(0:04:24) Al: and most of the time it’s just the same rocks and grass again. I think that is just a problem with them. So yes, I agree.
(0:04:29) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:04:31) Kevin: That’s fair. Yeah, no, that’s- that’s- I think that’s accurate.
(0:04:35) Kevin: Um, so yeah, it is an uphill battle, I think, in that sense for Scarlet Violet, but…
(0:04:41) Kevin: Even stuff like just the color palettes, I think they really, really pop in, uh, Sword and Shield.
(0:04:43) Al: Oh yeah, especially Balonia. Amazing, amazing town. Just gorgeous, love it.
(0:04:46) Kevin: Um…
(0:04:50) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, the neon mushroom town, it’s awesome, yep, yep.
(0:04:58) Kevin: And also one other comment, just like, again, looking back.
(0:05:02) Kevin: The gym battles are just so good in Sword and Shield,
(0:05:09) Kevin: like just this whole spectacle of a stadium battle and the chanting,
(0:05:11) Al: Oh, yes. Yeah, definitely. The music.
(0:05:15) Kevin: which, you know, actually fits in on like Scarlet Violet.
(0:05:20) Kevin: It’s so bombastic and thrilling, and again,
(0:05:25) Kevin: just comparing to Scarlet Violet, like, because of the freedom,
(0:05:30) Kevin: I don’t know, they just, it wasn’t as memorable maybe, but again,
(0:05:35) Kevin: that’s something subjective, but point B, ultimately,
(0:05:38) Kevin: Sword and Shield is still really good, really fun,
(0:05:41) Kevin: and I’m enjoying going through one of those luck.
(0:05:44) Kevin: Well, I was before Monetco dropped, um, aside from that,
(0:05:49) Kevin: I have had a big fighting game, Inch, um, so I dusted off a game called Skullgirls!
(0:05:56) Kevin: Um, are you familiar with this at all, Al?
(0:05:58) Kevin: Okay, so Skullgirls was originally released in 2013-2014,
(0:06:07) Kevin: and they are still developing new stuff for it. Um, not a sequel, like the same game.
(0:06:14) Kevin: It’s wild, um, it was, uh, it’s no-
(0:06:19) Kevin: notable in the fighting game community for a couple of reasons.
(0:06:23) Kevin: One, I mean, it’s a good game, for fighting game reasons, um,
(0:06:26) Kevin: but aside from that, um, it’s all hand-drawn art, so it looks really good.
(0:06:32) Kevin: Um, it has like a very stylistic art deco thing going on with a lot of its environments and settings.
(0:06:39) Kevin: Um, and as the name implies, Skullgirls, um, at least originally, the original eight,
(0:06:46) Kevin: I believe we’re all female fighters, um, which was you know, obviously not the norm in gaming in general, right?
(0:06:54) Kevin: Um, it’s an all female cast, um, and they’ve done rounds of DLCs since then.
(0:07:00) Kevin: Um, I think it’s going to be up to 18 by the end of this year.
(0:07:04) Kevin: Um, I think there’s two males, but the rest are all females.
(0:07:10) Kevin: Um, well, I mean, there’s a robot female and an alien monster thing.
(0:07:16) Kevin: Um, but so, you know, um, take that how you will.
(0:07:20) Kevin: Uh, it’s, it’s dynamic.
(0:07:22) Kevin: It’s fun.
(0:07:22) Kevin: It’s like not even fighting game or not.
(0:07:26) Kevin: It’s, it’s just very good writing comical and then vibrant.
(0:07:31) Kevin: Um, so yeah, skull girls to anyone who enjoys fighting games.
(0:07:34) Kevin: That’s a hearty recommendation.
(0:07:36) Kevin: It’s basically out on anything and everything.
(0:07:38) Kevin: Um, uh, but, uh, aside from, yeah, so those were the two things I did.
(0:07:42) Kevin: And then, uh, Meneco Wednesday came and it’s been all Meneco since then.
(0:07:47) Kevin: What about you?
(0:07:50) Al: Yeah, well, I mean, I think basically Maneko is the only game I’ve been playing this week.
(0:07:56) Al: Maneko, Maneko, Maneko.
(0:07:59) Al: I did play some more Pokémon, so I think I got my…
(0:08:03) Al: I can’t remember where I was when we last talked, or when I last said it on the podcast,
(0:08:08) Al: but I have done…
(0:08:10) Al: I’ve completed the DLC on both games.
(0:08:14) Al: I decided just to do…
(0:08:16) Al: So my scarlet was like basically I hadn’t done anything in it.
(0:08:20) Al: So I did the DLC without having done any of the badges.
(0:08:23) Al: And then I was like, I’m just going to do all the badges.
(0:08:26) Al: So I just did everything on that one.
(0:08:27) Al: So I’ve now completed that.
(0:08:27) Kevin: Right at least it’s fast to do it unlike other Pokemon games you can just knock them out
(0:08:29) Al: And then, yeah, certainly once you’ve got everything.
(0:08:36) Al: And then what else did I do?
(0:08:39) Al: I did the DLC on my scarlet, my violet as well.
(0:08:43) Al: And I completed the decks on that.
(0:08:46) Al: And there’s a couple of side quests as well in the DLC.
(0:08:49) Al: I did those as well.
(0:08:50) Al: And yeah, just a bunch of Pokemon stuff in there.
(0:08:56) Kevin: Have you- have you not gotten a bit tired of Scarlet Violet after doing it like three four times?
(0:09:03) Al: times, yeah. I mean the story, yeah, sure, right? Like, the story bit is not fun. I still enjoy playing those games. Like, I still enjoy the core loop of those games. I still enjoy collecting Pokémon, blah, blah, blah. I think I have decided that I’m not going to do the new Professor Oak challenge that I suggested. I think that’s probably going a bit far. And if I want to do a Professor Oak challenge.
(0:09:30) Kevin: until the second DLC drops.
(0:09:33) Al: Well, I was going to wait until that because if you’re going to do it, then do it all the way, right?
(0:09:39) Al: But then I was like, actually, if I want to do it, there’s so many games I haven’t done a Professor Oak challenge of,
(0:09:43) Al: just do another one.
(0:09:45) Al: I’m thinking about maybe doing Legends Arceus 1, for example, which could be fun,
(0:09:53) Al: because I don’t have a Legends Arceus save file just now.
(0:09:56) Al: I was thinking when you were talking about Nuzlockes, maybe it would be interesting as a Nuzlock,
(0:10:03) Al: because obviously you’re not using Pokemon, right?
(0:10:05) Al: So they’re not going to die, but you can die in that game.
(0:10:07) Al: You can get knocked out in that game.
(0:10:09) Kevin: Oh.
(0:10:09) Al: So doing like a no death Arceus run, that could be interesting.
(0:10:10) Kevin: No.
(0:10:16) Al: Yeah, that’s probably about games.
(0:10:19) Al: I mean, Pokemon Go, obviously, but that’s probably about it with games.
(0:10:23) Al: I have, however, been watching a couple of things.
(0:10:25) Al: I’ve been watching X-Men 92 and the run-up to the new X-Men 97 coming out next year.
(0:10:30) Al: And I.
(0:10:30) Kevin: Alright, how’s that been?
(0:10:33) Al: It’s it’s good fun. I’m surprised at how like quickly and succinctly they’re getting through X-Men story lines like Like in the first season they do like like five or six big X-Men stories Like just that’s it. Those ones are done now and you’re like, oh my word, right? Wow, that was fast Yeah Well, it’s
(0:10:50) Kevin: Yeah, this was prime 90s Saturday morning cartoon stuff, so like, there’s no time for plots or build up.
(0:10:58) Kevin: Go do your enemy of the week.
(0:11:01) Al: That’s the thing and then there’s no
(0:11:01) Kevin: You got toys to sell, man!
(0:11:03) Al: There’s no filler episodes that are all action all the time So it will be interesting to see where they go because there’s still four seasons to go Just I’ve just finished the first season. So I’ve got four more to go and I’m like I feel like they’re running out of stories by now Although I do believe there is a crossover with the 90s spider-man as well that I’ll need to watch at some point Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I know but that’s my I need to watch that as well right because it’s a crossover
(0:11:03) Kevin: The-
(0:11:20) Kevin: There is, but that is under the spine.
(0:11:31) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, um, yeah, I If I assure you it does not matter Well, good luck with that because I’m sure it didn’t matter to the writers or whatever I will I will say like I
(0:11:33) Al: I haven’t figured out where it lies in the timeline.
(0:11:37) Al: I know it doesn’t matter. I know. I know it doesn’t matter, Kevin, but it matters to me.
(0:11:56) Kevin: Was still pretty young when that X-Men first aired so I watched some of it
(0:12:00) Al: Yes, in 1992, yes.
(0:12:01) Kevin: but Yes, you know the year I was born I might be older than me So I didn’t watch it I Missed the boat a little on that one. I didn’t I watched it but just not like everything right but it’s still very much like many people was very iconic informative in my What I think of the X-Men right like that’s the theme the colors all the looks
(0:12:05) Al: I was also quite young.
(0:12:31) Kevin: It’s still my favorite beast of all time Yeah, but good stuff good stuff
(0:12:40) Al: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(0:12:41) Al: And then I also watched for the first time Scott Pilgrim versus the World,
(0:12:46) Al: the film that is, the live action films.
(0:12:46) Kevin: Okay, I have not watched this tell me tell me Wait we’re talking the live-action right? Yes. Yes. Okay, cuz the animated one’s not out yet Yes, okay. Yes, that’s right. Okay Okay, I hear a lot of love for this movie thing
(0:12:48) Al: I thought it was really good.
(0:12:50) Al: I think it does a good job.
(0:12:52) Al: Like, obviously live action.
(0:12:53) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(0:12:55) Al: The animated one, it’s not, it’s not a, yeah, and it’s a series, I believe.
(0:12:58) Al: It’s not a film.
(0:13:00) Al: But so like.
(0:13:02) Al: I think, I think, yeah, so I think a lot of people like it and a lot of people
(0:13:10) Al: thought it was fine.
(0:13:11) Al: I will say that live action is difficult to do, like, a good kind of comic bookie style film, like most, most live action comic book stuff doesn’t try and be comic bookie, right?
(0:13:25) Al: But Scott Pilgrim definitely does.
(0:13:29) Al: And I think they did it really well.
(0:13:31) Al: I think it works like that.
(0:13:32) Al: Like you, it definitely feels like a comic book film.
(0:13:35) Al: It’s like, you know how Into the Spider-Verse feels like a comic book film.
(0:13:40) Kevin: Yes.
(0:13:40) Al: It’s not live action, but it feels comic bookie, whereas all the other ones really just feel like superhero stuff, right?
(0:13:40) Kevin: Yes.
(0:13:43) Kevin: Yes, yes, I know.
(0:13:46) Al: It’s, it, it feels like that.
(0:13:48) Al: It feels, it feels like they wanted it to feel like a comic book.
(0:13:52) Al: And I think it works really well.
(0:13:54) Al: I think there are a few things in the story that feel a bit odd, but that just might be me being a bit weird around it.
(0:14:01) Al: I’m not sure whether it’s, because I’ve not, I’ve not read the original comic run of this, right?
(0:14:07) Al: So I don’t know whether it tells it some of the bits in it.
(0:14:10) Al: In a better way, or whether I’m just kind of being a bit weird with it. I don’t know.
(0:14:11) Kevin: Mm-hmm Yeah, okay. All right, that’s cool Yeah, I might watch it just speak for the animated series because the animated series looks very impressive
(0:14:15) Al: But I enjoyed it. It was good.
(0:14:25) Al: Yes Well, that was the other thing that was the other reason why I was watching it I was like, I know I want to watch this at some point You know what why not now, you know before the animated series comes out would be a good idea
(0:14:35) Kevin: Yep, yep, all right, that’s good.
(0:14:43) Al: I mean bits and pieces here and there. I’m about to start the newest series of Star Trek Strange.
(0:14:56) Al: There’s a lot to watch. What can I say? Have you been watching Ahsoka? Of course, as well.
(0:15:01) Al: I’ve been watching Ahsoka, which I’ve been enjoying. And Loki starts this week.
(0:15:07) Kevin: Oh, I i’ve got to catch up on stuff before I watch loki like I mean like the required reading. I don’t watch ant man No, I don’t think so either ant man Yes Yes, i’ve watched the original ones. I watch one division watch loki season one. So just ant man Um, but I am going to do it because yeah, I do I do too which really means yeah I just need to watch ant man, um, which uh, but i’m excited for because it looks good. Um
(0:15:12) Al: I don’t think there’s a lot of required reading.
(0:15:16) Al: Yeah, I’d say Ant-Man, Lokey and Ant-Man, and presumably you’ve watched WandaVision.
(0:15:22) Al: Yeah.
(0:15:25) Al: I suspect that’s all of it.
(0:15:38) Kevin: Owen wilson’s really good in it. And so is uh,
(0:15:40) Kevin: Tom loki whatever his name is it’ll it’ll stand yes tom tom loki son. Um
(0:15:43) Al: Tom Hiddleston and we’ve got Kehuquan coming in as well and his character looks very fun.
(0:15:54) Kevin: Yep.
(0:15:54) Kevin: Alright.
(0:15:55) Al: Yeah. Awesome. Well, should we talk about some news?
(0:15:56) Kevin: I guess so.
(0:16:00) Kevin: Hey, you wanna talk about Moneko first though?
(0:16:01) Al: No, no, I do not. Let’s talk about some news.
(0:16:03) Kevin: Yeah, and what’s our first news item?
(0:16:07) Al: Uh, oh yeah. Oh, I hadn’t looked yet.
(0:16:13) Al: I wrote all this up like four days ago. So Maneko, there’s some Maneko’s night market news.
(0:16:21) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:16:23) Al: So the Xbox and PlayStation versions, we’ve got dates for them now. They’re coming out on the 26th of October and the physical Switch and PS5 versions are coming the 27th of October.
(0:16:36) Kevin: Uh, is it? I didn’t realize it’s already on, is it on PS5 I assume?
(0:16:40) Kevin: Or wait, no, no, sorry. I’m, no, you just said that.
(0:16:40) Al: No, no, so that’s the PS. Please, it’s Xbox and-
(0:16:43) Al: PlayStation versions, yeah. But I think, I think, I think the PlayStation version is for PS4 and PS5,
(0:16:44) Kevin: My mistake. Yes.
(0:16:50) Al: but the physical version is just PS5. Well, on Switch, obviously.
(0:16:54) Al: So there is a PS4 version of the game, but not physical, if that’s clear.
(0:16:59) Kevin: um yeah sure it’s look by the end of october it’s going to be everywhere that’s the main but you can get it on switch or pc
(0:17:08) Al: You can. You can.
(0:17:10) Al: And we have it covered because you got Switch.
(0:17:12) Al: I got it on PC and played it on Steam.
(0:17:14) Kevin: Yup, and if that’s not enough physical for you you can get a physical manneco Well, I think you can because I’m clicking on the link and it’s not working. I don’t know why Okay, anyways, um Okay, they’re doing Okay The manneco people are doing a plush
(0:17:15) Al: Oh boy.
(0:17:20) Al: You can.
(0:17:23) Al: Yeah, there’s a new link.
(0:17:27) Al: I’ve got a new link here as far as…
(0:17:29) Al: Don’t worry, it still exists.
(0:17:31) Al: There you go. There’s your new link.
(0:17:39) Kevin: Run of manneco. It’s a good-looking plug. It is by the it is by the
(0:17:39) Al: Is that good looking plush? It’s really detailed.
(0:17:43) Al: Yeah.
(0:17:44) Kevin: Company called make ship which I am familiar with this is basically what they do. They do limited runs of plushies you know even They did one for Baron breakfast and I missed it I’m so sad But that’s the that’s a kicker right that it is limited. I think turn it boy had like two plushies through that but anyways So yeah make ship rise of the time recording 20 days when it comes out That’ll probably even more like two weeks left on the campaign
(0:17:47) Al: Yeah, they’re doing the ooblets ones as well, I think, and stuff.
(0:18:14) Kevin: So check it out if you want. It’s $30 maybe a little pricey But if you love an echo like I love an echo It’s probably worth it because you will probably never ever see any mother physical manneco birch like this again Not yet, but I will so pay day when it gets But yes and minico’s art works really well with plush I think like the the the style
(0:18:40) Al: Yeah, I’m just, I’m really impressed with how detailed it is, right? Like you’ve got the eye detail, the hair detail, and the clothing detail, the ear, the backpack, it’s just, it’s all so great.
(0:18:44) Kevin: Yeah, got the little mark under the eye, yeah Yeah make ship I have had make ship products before and they are quality products and yes the detail is as good as You’d hope or want or the the creators want whatever and it’s a good quality plush a decent size to not one of those tiny little things
(0:19:12) Kevin: Okay, so yeah, that’s Minneko
(0:19:20) Kevin: So October 20th, roughly?
(0:19:22) Al: Yeah, it does actually say that on the page, you don’t have to count it.
(0:19:23) Kevin: Yeah, 19th.
(0:19:26) Al: If you scroll down a little bit, it shows you the date. It’s got a timeline.
(0:19:29) Kevin: um okay well there you go there the look the links on the show notes click on there yeah that’s the only thing right they take forever with these limited run things but understandably so yeah oh yeah you’re oh gosh no no no that’s too close 2024 is a year away no I know I went into lone the home depot the other day and there was all the christmas decor
(0:19:30) Al: “Production starts 20th of October. Shipman estimated January 13th.”
(0:19:38) Al: That’s not too bad. That’s not too bad. November, December, that’s three months.
(0:19:48) Al: Christmas is less than 100 days.
(0:19:59) Kevin: before october that’s the norm what what else is you know what else is october
(0:20:06) Al: We’ve got, we’ve got Coral Island have announced their PS5 version is coming on the 9th of October.
(0:20:14) Al: I will say, you know I love a conspiracy around dates. This is a suspicious date.
(0:20:20) Al: This is suspiciously close because the next update for Coral Island is the 1.0 update.
(0:20:27) Al: Just saying. Now we don’t know when that’s coming, but all I’m saying is they haven’t said the PS5
(0:20:37) Kevin: once you switch there’s no going back or wait oh they mean for version well either way that still sounds very uh and they have the wean
(0:20:52) Kevin: There’s the art right there. It has the merfolk in it. It’s all that looks like a 1.0 or Like a game case cover Is it I don’t know I’m
(0:20:59) Al: I mean, I think that’s the same artist they’ve been using for ages, but yeah, yeah, pretty sure I’ve had pretty sure I had that wallpaper on my phone for six months.
(0:21:09) Al: Yeah, so we’ll see. We’ll see whether I’m right or wrong. It might be too soon after the most recent update, but they also could have been working on both of them at the same time. We’ll find out in like a week, because that’s like a week away.
(0:21:27) Al: Next we have Crater crops have been delayed to the end of the day.
(0:21:29) Al: We have so many more to delay. Keep coming with your delays please.
(0:21:35) Al: There’s too many games. We still have like 30 games listed that’s coming out this year. Go and delay them please.
(0:21:46) Al: Would you mean no? Man alive, Kevin.
(0:21:49) Al: That’s all right. It’s all right. You’ve got two weeks till you need to do the Paleo Pines episode.
(0:21:49) Kevin: I want, I just want Maneko, nothing else, and I’ll leave you alone, games.
(0:21:57) Al: Sundown Survivors, they’ve got their 1.4 update, which they have named “The Final Boss”.
(0:22:05) Al: And I think that the update includes “The Final Boss” of the storyline. Just a thought there.
(0:22:10) Kevin: What that’s wild
(0:22:16) Al: It’s like, what do they call it? Bullet hell? It’s a roguelike type game.
(0:22:24) Al: I’m not playing this game. I don’t know. There’s some stuff. There’s some farming,
(0:22:25) Kevin: But you have Pokemon.
(0:22:31) Al: right? I felt like I needed to include it, but this is…
(0:22:34) Al: It’s like three quid as well. It’s very cheap.
(0:22:48) Al: Okay, I don’t know what that means.
(0:22:52) Al: Or was that shoot him up? Right, got you. Orange season also have an update out. The festival’s season, that is out now,
(0:23:01) Al: and it adds a tomato war, the summer festival and the chicken race.
(0:23:06) Kevin: These are all good, good words. I like, especially “tomato war.”
(0:23:08) Al: Yeah, so it looks like it’s a festival where you’re like trying to hit each other with tomatoes.
(0:23:11) Kevin: What does that mean? Oh, oh, you thought- oh.
(0:23:18) Al: During the event, you and three other competitors will throw tomatoes at each other, earning points for hits and losing points for getting hit. The one with the highest score when the time is over wins. Don’t worry, all the tomatoes used weren’t apt for consumption anyway. Like it matters, it’s a game.
(0:23:34) Al: Oh, there’s a swimming… Oh, wait, swimming? That is the Summer Festival. They just called it different things. They called it Summer Festival at the top and then they called it swimming festival.
(0:23:34) Kevin: - Yeah.
(0:23:48) Al: Let’s use swim and then there’s the chicken race, which I feel like that’s probably self-explanatory as well.
(0:23:50) Kevin: just it looks good though
(0:23:54) Al: Also, is that a dino chicken? Look at the colors on that chicken.
(0:24:02) Kevin: I don’t… I think it’s the green-ish chicken. I don’t know.
(0:24:07) Kevin: Um, there’s a whole bunch of other…
(0:24:09) Al: Yes, they have the key one, I think, being that they’ve added control support, so this is good.
(0:24:14) Al: Yes, yes, I do. As someone with a Steam Deck, I very much like controller support on Steam Games.
(0:24:21) Al: Next, we have another update. Travelers Rest have their drinks and staff update. So…
(0:24:31) Kevin: Those sound important to a game where you’re running a tabber.
(0:24:35) Al: Yes. Yeah, so customers can order drinks.
(0:24:39) Al: You can serve them drinks, and then there’s also… you can employ employees.
(0:24:46) Al: They also added seasons to the game. Like, I feel like what was in this game before now, right?
(0:24:52) Kevin: You can hire a bouncer.
(0:24:53) Kevin: I’m wondering!
(0:24:54) Al: They’ve added the guest room system as well. Like, there’s a lot in this update.
(0:24:56) Kevin: New beverage aging system was that…
(0:25:00) Kevin: There- ooh.
(0:25:02) Kevin: That you’d expect in a tavern.
(0:25:07) Kevin: A similar game.
(0:25:07) Al: To be fair, to be fair, isn’t it?
(0:25:09) Al: access. So it’s 0.6.1 update. Right, next we have two Pixellia which we’ve mentioned before but they are now in Kickstarter. Now what I want to do is I want Kevin to go and watch the entirety of this video before we talk about this.
(0:25:14) Kevin: It’s a fun idea, just a little more time in the oven and it looks like-
(0:25:29) Al: So I will probably cut this out listeners but I want Kevin to go and listen and then tell us what his thoughts.
(0:25:29) Kevin: Alright. Alright, here we go.
(0:25:32) Kevin: Are you sh-
(0:25:34) Kevin: Alright, you don’t want- I can do it live as I’m watching.
(0:25:38) Kevin: Alright.
(0:25:39) Al: I mean you can do it live if you want but you don’t need to.
(0:25:40) Kevin: Alright, based on my true story, is that what it just said?
(0:25:45) Kevin: Yup, on my true story.
(0:25:48) Kevin: I can live my life how I see fit, okay.
(0:25:50) Kevin: Pixelian is a whole awful word.
(0:25:53) Kevin: Is this just Pixel Sims?
(0:25:53) Al: I know, right?
(0:25:58) Al: I mean, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s Sims.
(0:26:01) Al: It feels more like Pixel’s Second Life.
(0:26:05) Kevin: or that short yeah oh yeah I’ll look at there’s a fashion runway yeah there’s a lot going on here well you can really do anything you can be a band basketball farmer okay you can you can decorate your space yeah okay this is just Sick in life pixel version.
(0:26:10) Al: Because like, you are playing, because you’ve got one character that you’re playing. And it’s like, there’s so much going on.
(0:26:20) Al: This is the thing, it just keeps going.
(0:26:34) Kevin: Um
(0:26:35) Kevin: Let’s embrace the thrill what you can rob banks And a hack I saw a binary oh my gosh grand theft auto actual street traffic violations Of course build bonds, what could that mean?
(0:26:40) Al: Uh-huh, you can rob banks
(0:26:49) Al: Yeah, you know, and then.
(0:26:55) Kevin: You can’t go to jail. Yeah, i’m sure there’s I hope that jail system’s innovative Or immersive
(0:27:02) Al: Yeah, I don’t know. I wonder if you can break out of it or not.
(0:27:05) Al: What isn’t there? What isn’t there in this game? Like when I first saw this, I just thought it would be like another like life sim, standard life sim, but there’s an insane amount in this.
(0:27:06) Kevin: Oh, you can you absolutely can oh, well, there’s a nightclub. Can you do crimes at the
(0:27:20) Kevin: I mean, it is a life sim, but it’s a lot of life.
(0:27:22) Al: Yeah, you can be a boxer.
(0:27:24) Kevin: They really, this really is everything.
(0:27:28) Kevin: Yup.
(0:27:29) Kevin: Fishing, oh, there’s our cottage core.
(0:27:31) Al: There’s our farming.
(0:27:31) Kevin: Yeah, but who’s gonna, who wants to do that when you can rob banks?
(0:27:36) Kevin: What is that?
(0:27:37) Kevin: Is that the UN?
(0:27:38) Kevin: Look, they have the bank robber right on the cover art.
(0:27:40) Al: I think so.
(0:27:42) Al: This is absolutely wild.
(0:27:44) Kevin: That’s, they know that’s the good one.
(0:27:48) Kevin: All right, there you go.
(0:27:50) Kevin: They can’t do anything.
(0:27:51) Kevin: It is.
(0:27:54) Kevin: Wow, and boy, they’re so-
(0:28:00) Al: Yeah, it’s not a huge goal. But yeah, still, I mean, you’ve seen ones with small goals not get hit.
(0:28:06) Al: So, yeah, it’s going all right. Well, yeah, this is 2Pixellia. 2Pixellia is a pixel art life simulator game set in the charming country of Pixellia. Your journey begins with a life-changing decision to start a new life from scratch, bleh. And as you step off the bus, your choices will determine what that life will become. I wonder how much of that is like actual choice. I wonder if there’s things that you can’t actually do.
(0:28:11) Kevin: They really do have politics.
(0:28:30) Al: Like, do they build in, like, privilege and stuff like that?
(0:28:36) Al: Is it easier for certain people to do certain things?
(0:28:36) Kevin: Oh Oh, that would I would applaud them so hard if they did oh my gosh Idol I would would it be fun playing the game. I don’t know but reading it and seeing it happen and the Twitter Tweets that would come out of that. Oh my gosh, that would be the best
(0:28:47) Al: I don’t know if that would be fun or not, that’s my only question.
(0:28:54) Al: Yeah, it would be great as an art piece, certainly, right?
(0:29:06) Kevin: Oh my gosh Okay Yeah, yeah just like the South Park difficulty slider Oh My gosh, okay. Look, you know what? They don’t even have to put gameplay in it But you like just lean into it like you can do anything
(0:29:07) Al: But yeah, would that make it a fun game?
(0:29:09) Al: I don’t know.
(0:29:15) Al: I’m probably going to cut this bit, but like, you know, hard.
(0:29:17) Al: More does your black, right?
(0:29:18) Al: Yeah.
(0:29:35) Kevin: Right in there. They’re added. That’s what they’re saying
(0:29:36) Kevin: in their campaign. They’re advertising right. You can do anything and you can have like you could be a boxer You can be a bank robber. You can be a farmer. You can have privilege as a person of color You can do anything Oh my god, I mean there’s politics so the anarchy might Anarchism whatever you want to call it might be in the cards
(0:30:06) Kevin: Dismantle the establishment Um, wow, that’s really uh, we’re very big and ambitious. That’s the word ambitious. Um And it looks the trailer looks like a game and with that small of a goal i’m assuming they’re Basically done It’s more game than not
(0:30:23) Al: Yeah, so it does say that they’re expecting the final version to be out in May next year,
(0:30:31) Al: I believe with the alpha coming out in December. So, I mean, that sounds to me like they, yeah,
(0:30:38) Al: they have the features, right? They have the game and the alpha and beta will actually be an alpha and a beta, which is like actually testing the stuff that you’ve done rather than just going, “Hey, here’s a game without the stuff!” Right? You know, it’s like…
(0:30:48) Kevin: Yep, does it work cough travelers rest cough No, I know
(0:30:53) Al: “Here’s a game that has some stuff!”
(0:30:56) Al: Which is… Well, I mean, that’s early on. They’re not calling it an alpha or beta.
(0:31:00) Al: I just… I find it really annoying. Anyway, we don’t need to get into this again.
(0:31:03) Al: What have I written in it? Yeah. It’s going to be interesting. Interesting to see.
(0:31:07) Kevin: Yes, it’s big while yeah, that’s that’s yeah, you can really do anything sailing still an awful name So the there are clouds in the sky the ocean is wet Go ahead go ahead
(0:31:10) Al: So, we’re going to talk about Stardew Valley. Let me start off. Let me start this off.
(0:31:20) Al: Let me start this off!
(0:31:24) Al: Kevin!
(0:31:24) Al: So, Concern Date, like just after we recorded the last episode, posted this image on Twitter of,
(0:31:33) Al: so have you ever done any Ginger Island stuff in Stardew? That was in the most recent update.
(0:31:39) Al: I haven’t either, but I know that on Ginger Island, there’s a bunch of like parrots that you can use to unlock a bunch of stuff. And then, so this is an image of a parrot that is like
(0:31:53) Al: JoJo branding, JoJo? JoJo? Is it JoJo? JoJo, sorry, JoJo, the JoJo branding on it. And so I’m like,
(0:31:56) Kevin: Jojo, not Jojo.
(0:32:01) Al: oh, interesting. Is this like another like JoJo based thing? How does this work? It’s going to be interesting to see what this is, presumably it’s on Ginger Island, or it’s in a new place that we don’t know about, something like that. And then, Concern Date just like posts a list of the features coming up in the next update.
(0:32:23) Al: And you’re like, “Oh, okay.” Which includes one of the bullet points is Georgia alternatives to some of the endgame quests.
(0:32:32) Al: So what I’m guessing is if you go the Georgia route for the community center, when you go to Ginger Island, all the parrots are Georgia parrots.
(0:32:39) Kevin: Yup.
(0:32:40) Kevin: Yup.
(0:32:44) Kevin: Aw, sick.
(0:32:46) Kevin: You’re gonna…
(0:32:47) Kevin: Deforest that island and put on a Joja Mart there.
(0:32:51) Al: I mean, I actually, I mean, I really enjoy doing the Georgia way of doing things, purely because it’s like, I like being able to just like, be a filthy capitalist, right? And just buy everything, right? Like, I’m just going to make so much money and just buy everything I need, right? Like, that’s fun to do. I obviously, I’ve only done it once, but it was fun to do it when I did it. Like, obviously, I enjoy doing the other way.
(0:33:17) Kevin: - Yeah.
(0:33:21) Al: But, you know, there’s a lot of my words, right?
(0:33:26) Al: Okay, so let me just, let me just, well, let’s just go through this list and see if we have anything to say about them. How does that go? Because this is a lot of stuff coming in the new update. And I feel like, yeah, can we talk about this? Can we talk about this? Because, like, when Concern Date initially announced the 1.6 update, let me actually find the tweet. Because I’m sure and I can find it because he doesn’t tweet very much.
(0:33:28) Kevin: Okay.
(0:33:33) Kevin: Shock or…
(0:33:35) Kevin: Cornsturn Day has a big update. laughs
(0:33:49) Kevin: It’s also really short, like two sentences.
(0:33:53) Kevin: Update coming, no release date.
(0:33:54) Al: Okay, so what he said in his first tweet about 1.6 which was “April of this year” okay?
(0:34:06) Al: Five months ago he said “There is going to be a StarJ 1.6 update.
(0:34:10) Al: It’s mostly changes for modders, which will make it easier and more powerful to mod, but there is also new game content, albeit much less than 1.5.”
(0:34:22) Kevin: This- Look, it is much less for a concerned ape by his scape metrics.
(0:34:22) Al: Now look at this list.
(0:34:24) Al: We have one new major festival, and two mini festivals.
(0:34:36) Kevin: Wow, mini, okay!
(0:34:37) Al: Right, so that’s just three festivals, right?
(0:34:42) Al: Let’s not list it.
(0:34:43) Al: You just added three new festivals in this update.
(0:34:45) Al: He has added new late game content which expands on each of the skill areas.
(0:34:50) Kevin: There’s a lot of skills in this game, so that’s the…
(0:34:51) Al: There’s a lot of skills in this game.
(0:34:54) Al: New items and crafting recipes. Sure, fine. We don’t know much about that. One of them looks to be a drink. One of them looks to be another warp totem. One is either golf clubs or a bag of worms.
(0:35:04) Al: I don’t know. I can’t tell. Oh, could be. Oh, interesting. Is that… I wonder if that would…
(0:35:06) Kevin: Quiver arrow arrow quiver Weapon new weapon I could see that
(0:35:14) Al: Well, you can… There is no bow and arrow, isn’t there? There’s just… There’s the…
(0:35:18) Al: The… What’s it called? The little… The little… The little kind of… What’s Bart Simpson’s thing?
(0:35:19) Kevin: And this last I checked, slingshot.
(0:35:23) Al: you know the like slingshot.
(0:35:24) Al: Interesting arrow. I wonder how much of this is come from like stuff he’s adding into haunted chocolate here and going actually I want to add that into Stardew Valley.
(0:35:33) Kevin: Other way around he’s it just adding haunted chocolates here in the Stardew I made the joke on the slack. It’s to start a 2.0 actually
(0:35:34) Al: I mean I actually wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up adding if haunted chocolate here was a DLC yes and then we’ve got like I mean honestly I would not be surprised if haunted chocolate here ends up being DLC for Stardew Valley like we’ll all buy it and we’ll all love it.
(0:35:54) Al: A hundred plus new lines of dialogue.
(0:35:55) Kevin: Yep.
(0:35:55) Kevin: That’s a lot of dialogue.
(0:35:58) Al: Georgia alternatives to some of the end game quests.
(0:36:01) Al: That’s what we’ve already talked about.
(0:36:03) Al: Winter outfits for the villain.
(0:36:05) Al: Winter outfits for the villagers.
(0:36:07) Al: That’s all of the villagers are getting winter outfits.
(0:36:09) Al: Now, one could say they should have already been there.
(0:36:12) Al: That’s fair enough.
(0:36:13) Al: But like that’s not a small thing to add, right?
(0:36:17) Kevin: Sure, yes, right.
(0:36:17) Al: Unique clothes for every single villager in the game.
(0:36:21) Al: New type of reward for completing billboard accrues.
(0:36:24) Al: Adding in support for 8 player multiplayer on PC.
(0:36:29) Kevin: Oh nothing nothing big there. It’s just a player multiplayer They only on PC to be clear What is left to fall it’s a new farm that specializes in chocolate actually
(0:36:30) Al: Just doubling the number of people that can play the game at once.
(0:36:36) Al: A new farm! Another new farm!
(0:36:42) Al: I don’t…
(0:36:51) Al: I just, like, you could say this was small.
(0:36:54) Al: If you want, I think you’re talking nonsense, right?
(0:36:57) Kevin: I genuinely believe Concerned Ape thinks this is small.
(0:36:58) Al: Like…
(0:36:58) Al: Oh, I’m sure he does!
(0:37:04) Al: I think he’s talking nonsense though.
(0:37:06) Al: Like, this is not a small update.
(0:37:08) Al: Yeah.
(0:37:08) Kevin: And of course, he has the new secrets and more at the end, meaning there’s who knows what else.
(0:37:14) Al: Yep.
(0:37:16) Al: Do you know, I think he keeps doing this because it just keeps getting people back into the game because now I want to play stardom.
(0:37:17) Kevin: It’s a blank check.
(0:37:24) Al: So yeah, there’s a lot of stardom stuff coming. He says there’s no date for 1.6 yet and I believe him.
(0:37:29) Kevin: Maybe. I mean, there’s winter outfits for you to celebrate.
(0:37:39) Al: Well that’s exactly what’s going to happen right? Well for PC anyway, it’ll take a while for consoles but yeah, that’s going to be like “oh yeah, game’s out now”.
(0:37:42) Kevin: Yeah, it’ll just look knowing him. It’s just he’s gonna have a tweet. So it’s out. That’s it Yeah
(0:37:50) Al: But yeah, that’s going to be like, “Oh yeah, game’s out now.”
(0:37:53) Al: You’re like, “Sorry, what?”
(0:37:54) Al: There’ll be somebody who will load up Steam the moment it gets updated,
(0:38:01) Al: and Concerned Date won’t have tweeted about it yet.
(0:38:03) Al: Someone will be like, “Oh, he’s updated the game,” and then Concerned Date will announce it by retweeting that person’s tweet. It’s like, “Oh man, you don’t have to keep giving us this stuff for free right like I know I know we made a lot of money with stargy
(0:38:04) Kevin: Oh, oh, oh, absolutely.
(0:38:25) Al: right I know i’m sure he is but I mean you know dude’s working dude’s got to get paid like i’m just i’m sure he is
(0:38:25) Kevin: I think he still is.
(0:38:36) Kevin: I’m I’m not concerned about that. I’m sure he’s making good money Like you said like you said this every time he does this the new one point whatever number That’s that’s that’s sales. That’s absolutely sales Just you watch to just just you way you will eat
(0:38:51) Al: I think I already own the game on everything. I don’t think I can buy it again.
(0:38:55) Al: I just can’t decide what to play the game on again. Like, do I just continue on Switch?
(0:39:03) Al: Do I play it on Steam Deck? Because the update’s probably going to come to Steam first.
(0:39:09) Kevin: I don’t know. Well, I mean, yeah, it’s kind of just the first I don’t know.
(0:39:09) Al: How good’s the controller I support on Steam?
(0:39:19) Al: It was fine.
(0:39:23) Kevin: I would like to see when
(0:39:27) Al: Crazy. I’m presuming the new farm is to do with that, right? Like instead of four corners, it’s in eight corners.
(0:39:33) Al: It does have full controller support on Steam. He did also say in his Steam update,
(0:39:44) Al: which is different from the Tweet, he says, “I have no release date for it yet, but it will release it as soon as it’s ready. The content is pretty close to being finished, but then there will
(0:39:59) Kevin: Yeah, because he’s on everything now, that tail end of development is a bit, it’s a, it’s a-
(0:40:09) Al: Maybe I need to start soon so that I can actually get done with the 1.5 stuff.
(0:40:13) Kevin: There you go, yeah, there you go.
(0:40:16) Kevin: Look, okay, you’re debating where, here’s what you do.
(0:40:18) Kevin: You have one on Switch, one on Steam Deck,
(0:40:21) Kevin: one of them is the Jojo Route, one is not.
(0:40:23) Kevin: There you go, problem solved.
(0:40:28) Kevin: You know, look at that parrot,
(0:40:31) Kevin: it’s on a stand with the J on it.
(0:40:34) Kevin: You won’t get that if you don’t do Jojo Route.
(0:40:41) Kevin: It’s a self-concerned game, not me!
(0:40:45) Al: Also, we’ll see whether 1.7 happens or not.
(0:40:48) Kevin: Oh, it… it… like… I…
(0:40:49) Al: He’s only mentioned 1.7 once and that was in answer to a question as to whether there would be a 1.7 and he said, “Who knows?”
(0:40:59) Kevin: I made- again I made the joke on Slack but this is almost as serious as it is a joke.
(0:41:05) Kevin: It will outlive a lot of things.
(0:41:08) Kevin: These Stardew updates.
(0:41:09) Al: I feel like he said 1.5 was the last one, so he kind of already has failed at stopping.
(0:41:11) Kevin: This man cannot stop. He’s just one of those people.
(0:41:20) Al: Anyway, right, the other big news that we’ve got to talk about.
(0:41:24) Al: Oh, so, Tales of the Shire.
(0:41:24) Kevin: Something else that won’t stop, Lord of the Rings!
(0:41:31) Al: Now, for some reason, and I think we all know the reason, the answer to that, the reason is money, right?
(0:41:36) Kevin: money.
(0:41:39) Al: But for some money-related reason, Lord of the Rings is making a cottagecore game based in the Shire.
(0:41:49) Al: And that’s how you get the best of your own.
(0:41:49) Al: I’m not.
(0:41:50) Al: We know at this point. What I will say, what I will say is interesting. Weta Workshop are,
(0:41:57) Al: it says to, it’s, what’s the other company? Sorry, I’m just trying to look at this again,
(0:42:03) Al: because it, so Private Division, I don’t know who they are, but I know that Weta Workshop made physical props for the films.
(0:42:17) Kevin: If you that trailer looks like it was filled not the set like I mean it’s a very short trailer just shows the book basically but like it you can see from that one shot like there’s a lot of love for Lord of the Rings here I am very confident that this will be a very good and Lord of the Rings.
(0:42:20) Al: Yeah.
(0:42:39) Kevin: Well actually actually I’m thinking about this now it’s all in the shire right like there’s a lot of important.
(0:42:45) Al: Yes.
(0:42:46) Al: Yes.
(0:42:47) Kevin: The Lord of the Rings stuff not in the shire and how much of that is going to leak into here can you romance or on.
(0:42:51) Al: Well, I’m presuming some people are coming to visit, right?
(0:42:56) Al: No.
(0:42:58) Kevin: I.
(0:43:01) Al: So, games, the private division have worked on or with Hades.
(0:43:12) Al: They worked with Supergiant Games on Hades.
(0:43:13) Kevin: Oh. Oh boy.
(0:43:16) Al: Ollie Ollie World.
(0:43:17) Al: Skateboarding game. It’s very good.
(0:43:22) Kevin: Okay, oh That’s a that’s a good one Good heavens these this is the good resume
(0:43:24) Al: The Outer Worlds.
(0:43:25) Al: Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition.
(0:43:31) Al: And they’re making Tales of the Shire with Weta Workshop.
(0:43:38) Al: Well, the interesting thing is, the point is, Weta Workshop have done Lord of the Rings stuff.
(0:43:44) Al: Like they are, they did physically.
(0:43:45) Al: This is supposed weird, they made physical, they’re not a game developer.
(0:43:50) Al: They are so, so, so there we go.
(0:43:51) Kevin: No, but they’re Lord of the Rings people.
(0:43:54) Kevin: That’s what private division is for.
(0:43:56) Kevin: They’re Lord of the… Yeah.
(0:43:58) Kevin: Yeah, to be clear…
(0:43:58) Al: Well, so it looks like Private Division are a publisher, not a developer.
(0:44:01) Kevin: Oh, well, well, look.
(0:44:03) Al: That’s fine.
(0:44:04) Al: So they’re not, they are, that is correct.
(0:44:05) Kevin: Weta Workshop is from New Zealand, I believe, if I’m not mistaken.
(0:44:09) Kevin: Okay, well, New Zealand, I…
(0:44:12) Kevin: I say somewhat jokingly, somewhat seriously.
(0:44:15) Kevin: There is an appreciable amount of their GDP That is from Lord of the Rings!
(0:44:21) Kevin: I am confident this will get the love and attention it deserves.
(0:44:21) Al: I’m just, I am just fascinating.
(0:44:26) Kevin: And it’s a lot of the rings, man.
(0:44:35) Kevin: Well…
(0:44:36) Al: Look, this is going to be dangerous, right? Because I love Lord of the Rings and I love Kochiko Games. I’m really worried about this.
(0:44:37) Kevin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
(0:44:44) Kevin: I think the expression of “I just want to be a hobbit” in the last video is…
(0:44:51) Kevin: A little shire is a very common sentiment among people in general.
(0:45:04) Al: 2024 to PC and console. I don’t think they’ve said
(0:45:12) Kevin: I like how we’re excited, we have no idea what it’s gonna be like, like, no!
(0:45:14) Al: It doesn’t matter, we know, we know what, like I, I trust that this will be good.
(0:45:17) Kevin: Oh, I do too? No, I fully agree, I just, I just think it’s funny, like, that’s how confident we are in this project.
(0:45:25) Al: Yeah. Yeah.
(0:45:28) Kevin: That we don’t need any details, we’re gonna get it, and it’s gonna be good, and…
(0:45:28) Al: I mean, that trailer looked good.
(0:45:33) Kevin: You alright? There you go.
(0:45:36) Al: So, yeah.
(0:45:37) Al: Hopefully, we’ll find out soon.
(0:45:42) Al: I sincerely hope so.
(0:45:43) Kevin: can you have second breakfast argue right right okay okay yes yes all right
(0:45:48) Al: Oh, shall we talk about Meneko’s Nightmark?
(0:45:59) Al: I realised I hadn’t actually written down what things were going to talk about, so I’m just like frantically thinking up things.
(0:46:06) Kevin: Well, as always, let’s start with the context of where we’re coming from.
(0:46:13) Kevin: As you said earlier, you’re playing on Steam Deck, I’m playing on Switch, I’m interested to hear the comparison there.
(0:46:21) Kevin: What are your overall thoughts, opinions?
(0:46:25) Al: Yes, I like this game. I have some comments on things I would improve.
(0:46:37) Kevin: There are definitely issues… small, like…
(0:46:39) Al: Well, small in so much as like, it depends how you define a small. So one of the things I have noticed is that every loading screen is very long.
(0:46:53) Kevin: Okay, I okay. Are we just gonna get into this like the bad because like All right. All right. Okay. I was yes loading This is probably the number one big issue loading times are Atrocious like I thought I was wondering if it was just a switch port, but okay, so it’s not okay Okay, I want to My very first thought about this game when I played it
(0:46:55) Al: Let’s just go for it. Let’s get the bad out of the way so we can talk about the good, right? Let’s let’s go for it.
(0:47:02) Al: Yeah. Yeah.
(0:47:09) Al: It is not. It is the same on Steam Deck.
(0:47:23) Kevin: So when you started you get the loading screen and it’s like mineko running in the corner but there’s no music or anything and I Genuinely thought my game had frozen as I soon as I’d started cuz the necker stopped moving [laughing]
(0:47:28) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like there’s something weird in terms of like, there,
(0:47:44) Al: cause yeah, there’s some freezes and stuff as well, which sometimes can be a bit stressful.
(0:47:46) Kevin: Yep.
(0:47:47) Al: We are like, Oh no, have I lost my day? No, I haven’t. I have not lost any data. Um,
(0:47:48) Kevin: Ee-eesh.
(0:47:49) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:47:55) Al: That’s not true, there was one, what happened?
(0:47:58) Al: I can’t remember, there was one case where I had to restart and I lost the day,
(0:48:01) Al: and I can’t remember what that was. Did I write it in Slack?
(0:48:04) Al: Oh yes, no, I remember, I remember, I remember, there’s a button on the controller remapping where you can click it and it deletes all of your mapping so you can’t do anything with the game.
(0:48:04) Kevin: I don’t… I mean, yeah…
(0:48:08) Kevin: See, okay, my… oh, okay, so…
(0:48:11) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:48:15) Kevin: Yes.
(0:48:19) Al: So if you click that button, which annoyingly the button is labeled default, so I can–
(0:48:21) Kevin: Oh my god, are you see…
(0:48:28) Al: I kind of thought that would set it to the default, right?
(0:48:30) Al: Because I’d changed a few things and I was like, “All right, well, let me reset it to the default.”
(0:48:34) Al: But the default is nothing.
(0:48:34) Kevin: Ohhh…
(0:48:36) Al: But the problem is then, I have no controls. Nothing worked.
(0:48:36) Kevin: Ohhh yeah!
(0:48:40) Al: So thankfully, it didn’t autosave, right?
(0:48:42) Kevin: Yes, witches!
(0:48:44) Al: Because it only saves overnight.
(0:48:45) Al: So thankfully, I just restarted the game and got my controller mapping back.
(0:48:48) Kevin: That’s incredible!
(0:48:50) Al: It was quite something.
(0:48:53) Kevin: Oh no!
(0:48:55) Kevin: Like all the- okay, so whatever’s gonna say, like you, I very much love this game.
(0:49:04) Kevin: Right, I’ve been waiting for a long time, and it’s interesting because I think it gets the hard part of making a game right, like, it’s a fun world, it’s colorful, it’s cute, there’s so much to love about it.
(0:49:19) Kevin: But there’s a lot of little technical things, some that should feel very basic, I would think.
(0:49:27) Kevin: Look, I’m not a professional coder, I’ve taken some, a few coding classes-
(0:49:34) Kevin: I’m in college, so I have a tiny bit of familiarity, so I, you know, take that as you will, but I think that from 8 years in development, that it wouldn’t be hard to push, to be able to make it so you can push B to exit a menu!
(0:49:52) Al: Yeah, so this is the other thing that’s been driving me insane with this game. There is no universal way to close a menu, right? Like, every menu closes in a different way. Some of them close, right? So, some of them close by pressing X, some of them close by pressing Y, and some of them close by having to go down to the close button and pressing A, right?
(0:50:09) Kevin: Yes, it’s the same button you open it with, basically, or, like you said, you scroll down to the close button.
(0:50:10) Al: And it’s weird. Yeah, it’s weird, because it’s like, and it’s like such a universal thing that I’ve become used to, which is B closes the menu.
(0:50:16) Kevin: Right?
(0:50:22) Al: You’re in. And I don’t know why it’s not. The thing is, I was looking through the controller.
(0:50:27) Al: This is why I was in the controller remapping. There actually is one called, like, clothes or something. I can’t remember the wording. There is one, but it’s not mapped to anything. And I mapped it to B, and it did nothing. It doesn’t seem to do anything. But there’s one that’s worded like it should be doing that. So I’m really confused. So yeah, those are the two big things.
(0:50:46) Kevin: Oh goodness. The… the… and the menu and stuff here… No.
(0:50:53) Al: The loading/freezing and the menu. Menus in general are not amazing in this game. Let’s just get into that. So the crafting. Let’s talk about the crafting, because I think the crafting is kind of great and frustrating in a few ways. So let’s go with great. It’s great because it’s quite fun, I think. So I think it manages to do interesting crafting in a way that doesn’t doesn’t drive me insane. So like my time at Porsche did different crafting.
(0:51:14) Kevin: Yes, it is active. It’s…
(0:51:22) Al: But I really hated what it did. It was like, here’s this 3D, you have to fit this thing in the right place in the 3D. Whereas this is like, each different type of crafting has a different mini game to do. And how, cool, sure, let’s go with micro game. And however,
(0:51:29) Kevin: Micro game, I’d call it.
(0:51:38) Al: if you do it the best, if you do it perfectly, you get a perfect thing out. If you do it well enough, you get just the normal version of that thing out. And if you don’t do it well, you get a rubbish version of it out. So like it actually does require some skill able to get them. They’re not different.
(0:51:46) Kevin: Mm-hmm and they’re mostly not hard Except the sewing one
(0:51:52) Al: I have had one bad that I managed to do with my second flower bouquet. I managed to cut it right at the top and I got a bad bouquet out of that, which I sold for exactly zero dollars. They would not give me any money for it at all.
(0:52:03) Kevin: Yeah.
(0:52:04) Kevin: Uh.
(0:52:07) Kevin: Oh no!
(0:52:09) Kevin: I…
(0:52:10) Kevin: Yeah!
(0:52:14) Kevin: That’s amazing.
(0:52:19) Al: So that was that was fun.
(0:52:21) Al: But yeah, I think that’s I think that’s good.
(0:52:22) Al: I think that’s an interesting way of doing it.
(0:52:24) Al: I quite like it.
(0:52:26) Al: But the the menu system in that is particularly frustrating, right?
(0:52:31) Al: Because what you do is you’ve got different crafting tables, which, by the way,
(0:52:33) Kevin: Yep Yes It just stacks And I’m wondering what’s gonna happen because there’s a lot of crafting tables and I am running out of space up there. I Have three more in this shop right now Yes
(0:52:34) Al: the humor in this game is so fun, right?
(0:52:36) Al: When you get a second crafting table, it just goes on top of the first crafting table.
(0:52:40) Al: So you have this tower of crafting tables, which is just fantastic.
(0:52:45) Al: Yeah, yeah, there’s and there’s more to come.
(0:52:50) Al: There’s at least like I have at least one more to come.
(0:52:52) Al: I’ve not got much space left.
(0:52:55) Al: Oh, do you?
(0:52:56) Al: I don’t have any more in the shop just now, but I yeah, I knew because they kept talking about the art, the art one, and I’m like, I don’t have an art one and it’s not anywhere to be seen. So I’m like, what’s going to happen next?
(0:53:03) Kevin: Yep
(0:53:05) Al: That’s fun, right?
(0:53:07) Al: But what I’m not a huge fan of is when you go to you click on the it’s like one interactable object, you click on it and then you choose which crafting table and then you choose which item to craft and then you do the crafting.
(0:53:20) Al: I’m not a huge fan of that.
(0:53:21) Al: like it’s a lot of button presses.
(0:53:22) Al: And if you go through to one and then you go back it like resets where you are in the list and there’s no bulk crafting and it’s just lots of little things that make it really frustrating.
(0:53:28) Kevin: I’m yes I don’t have an issue with how it’s set up um on like my biggest issue is the is again the menu thing because I can’t you to exit you have to exit every menu you have to go back back back back um that that is annoying um but uh but in general I’m okay with that setup I think it makes sense at the very least like your different sex.
(0:53:56) Al: Sure, I think if it weren’t for the fact that the menu had lots of other issues, it would be less annoying, right? Like, as you say, if you didn’t have to keep going back and back and back, and if it didn’t reset where you are in the list when you go back and stuff like that, then it would probably be less annoying if you could craft one and then immediately get thrown back to where you could then craft another. Because I understand why they don’t have bulk crafting, right? Because they want you to do the game for each one, right? Okay,
(0:54:18) Kevin: Yes. Oh! Yeah, yeah.
(0:54:21) Kevin: Yes. Right.
(0:54:25) Al: But…
(0:54:26) Al: You do it, and then it’s like, it does the little bit like, “Oh, I got a perfect one!”
(0:54:31) Al: And then you’re like, “Oh, great!”
(0:54:32) Al: And then you have to like, click on the crafting table again.
(0:54:35) Kevin: Yes, yes, yes Yeah You yes, it wouldn’t be that hard to add a would you like to make another button at the end yep Yep Yep
(0:54:35) Al: Choose the crafting table you want, choose the item you want, right?
(0:54:38) Al: You have to…
(0:54:39) Al: Another like four button presses just to do another one of the same one.
(0:54:42) Al: And you’re crafting a lot in this game.
(0:54:46) Al: A lot of crafting.
(0:54:48) Al: Yeah, exactly.
(0:54:50) Al: Yeah, if you have the crafting, do you…
(0:54:53) Al: Yes or no?
(0:54:54) Al: And there you go.
(0:54:55) Al: ‘cause you’re more than like–
(0:54:56) Al: gonna want to do another one if you have the stuff for it.
(0:55:00) Kevin: Like yeah, I fully agree and and sometimes [laugh]
(0:55:05) Kevin: Have you made Sewing Crafts yet?
(0:55:07) Kevin: Is like, at least on Switch, I don’t know, on Steam Deck.
(0:55:12) Kevin: When I finish it, there’s a big loading, like, not even loading screen.
(0:55:16) Al: Mmm, it pauses, yeah.
(0:55:16) Kevin: The game just kind of freezes after you make your sewing craft.
(0:55:19) Kevin: Again, another moment I thought the game had frozen, but I waited and it.
(0:55:20) Al: I feel like they’re getting, it’s getting worse as you go on as well, like we’re, I’m getting to the point where it’s like, even when I get off the bus, it freezes for like
(0:55:35) Kevin: Yeah. So I don’t, um, so yeah, I mean, there’s lots of technical, as I call it,
(0:55:44) Kevin: issues, um, like this and this is my biggest gripe with the game game for sure.
(0:55:51) Kevin: What’s nice is some of these things I think are relatively simple.
(0:55:57) Kevin: Again, not a professional coder, but what I do know, it doesn’t seem that hard in principle. I think a nice solid patch would wipe
(0:56:05) Kevin: out most of these complaints. Yeah, of course.
(0:56:08) Al: And I suspect they’re working on it. I think the loading screen and the freezes are probably the more difficult one for them to solve, right? Those are difficult. But the UX issues should not take a lot of work, I don’t think. It should be reasonably simple to get the UX. Because the issues that we’re having are pretty small ones, right? It’s like, do this instead of that, right?
(0:56:17) Kevin: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
(0:56:19) Kevin: No, that’s what I’d think too.
(0:56:31) Al: And it’s like the logic to do them is the same complexity, right? Like they’re not. So I’m hoping
(0:56:36) Kevin: Yeah, absolutely
(0:56:38) Al: they’re listening and they’re, you know, looking to improve those things. But yeah, I think it’s not ruined my experience. But I will say, once we finish recording this episode,
(0:56:48) Kevin: Yes, yeah, absolutely not
(0:56:52) Al: I’m probably going to wait until a patch before I play more of the game.
(0:56:56) Al: Well, that’s the thing. And I’m actually at a point in the story where I want to finish the the story now, right? Like, I’m intrigued as to what’s happening.
(0:56:56) Kevin: It’s that’s not a bad idea. Um, i’m torn because I want to play more maneko, but I would also like to wait for a patch Yep, you’ve met nicko so um anyways, um, so Yeah, I mean I can’t wait for the patch because then it’s going to be i’m sure easily super hard recommend for anyone
(0:57:08) Al: And I want to get to that point. Yes, I have.
(0:57:22) Kevin: I mean, I still hardly recommend it right now, but just with the warning label.
(0:57:26) Kevin: There’s going to be a few bumps on the road, but yeah, so, but like, like, like we said,
(0:57:33) Kevin: this is all the negative, right?
(0:57:35) Kevin: Like, but now let’s talk about how much, oh, wait, wait, wait, I want one more thing I wanted to say.
(0:57:42) Kevin: Both the good and the bad, they’re well, actually, I think especially the bad, there’s two pieces of context that I always keep in mind that I don’t know if it makes it better or worse.
(0:57:53) Kevin: first eight years of development and I know that
(0:57:56) Kevin: that’s not like continuous development they almost quit at one point and and so I don’t know how long they’ve been working on it, but It’s just wild to me that maybe they should just delayed another month or two and get iron out some of those things things.
(0:58:09) Al: Yeah, I mean, it’s always difficult to know about these things, right? Because like,
(0:58:13) Al: as I like to talk about with, like, Pokémon games, time doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better,
(0:58:20) Al: right? Because there’s someone like me - and it’s obviously different because this is a small studio compared to, like, Game Freak - but someone’s making these decisions, right? Like,
(0:58:29) Al: obviously the loading stuff isn’t a decision, nobody made it slow, but there’s a decision not to work on that and to work on something else instead. And so it’s like, yeah, sure,
(0:58:33) Kevin: Yeah. Yes, right, right, right.
(0:58:38) Al: you could delay an…
(0:58:39) Al: might have been better, they might have fixed all these issues, or they might have needed the feedback.
(0:58:44) Al: That’s the thing, maybe they didn’t… maybe they would not have thought of to do the UX improvements that we had.
(0:58:44) Kevin: yeah there was no beta yeah no i’m just i’m just saying yeah
(0:58:49) Al: Maybe they wouldn’t have… maybe they wouldn’t have… which is fine, but maybe they wouldn’t have realised…
(0:58:54) Al: maybe they wouldn’t have realised that everyone was really frustrated with the loading times unless they did it.
(0:58:59) Al: You know, so it’s like you can’t know that a month of delay would have had the same outcome as a month after release.
(0:59:05) Kevin: That’s that’s an excellent point. You’re right. You’re right in that sense. Um, because yeah, this was all Yeah, this was Yeah, like I said, there’s no beta So yeah, there’s no way to get that feedback and obviously when you’ve been on a project for eight years or however many months or whatever It’s a very different perspective from us who are just getting it for the first time and can complain about it right away and everything. Um
(0:59:31) Kevin: Yeah, but so those are excellent points, but there were the other.
(0:59:35) Kevin: So I thought it was going to be full price to be honest, um, geez, and it is a steal at 20 because this like smooshy was also 20.
(0:59:40) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, it’s cheaper on, it’s cheaper on steam as well. It’s like,
(0:59:47) Al: I think it’s five quid cheaper on steam.
(0:59:55) Kevin: I believe.
(0:59:56) Kevin: And that game was a lot.
(0:59:57) Kevin: I mean, not that it was any worse or anything, but the amount of content is great in this game.
(0:59:58) Al: Yeah.
(1:00:03) Kevin: I’m four or five days.
(1:00:05) Kevin: I’ve had a very good beefy substantial experience and I can clearly see there is a lot more to this game to go still.
(1:00:14) Kevin: So that is very exciting.
(1:00:15) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it feels like, so it’s hard to know until we’ve finished, right? But it feels like there’s kind of a main story quest that we’re both working towards and now want to finish.
(1:00:27) Al: But there’s a bunch of like side stuff as well, including obviously just like you can just play and just keep making stuff and selling it and just living your cottagecore life,
(1:00:38) Al: right? And there’s the, you know, it’s got lots of the standard stuff like there’s quests from different people.
(1:00:38) Kevin: Oh yeah, for sure.
(1:00:45) Al: There’s mining, which is fine, and there’s fishing, which is fine, and you need to do all of these things to progress the main quest. But if you want to spend 20 hours in a game just going out and doing a thing and coming back and that’s all you want to do, you’ll probably be fine.
(1:01:03) Kevin: And you probably will.
(1:01:05) Al: I would say, I think, personally, we’ll decide whether we’re going to talk much about the story later on, but I do think the story is probably the best.
(1:01:15) Al: But about this game, I love the graphics, I love the music, I love the characters,
(1:01:23) Al: I love how it’s all been put together in terms of that story.
(1:01:26) Al: And I feel like, no, actually, I’m wrong. The best bit is the humour. The game’s humour is the best.
(1:01:26) Kevin: yep well okay yes yes okay so let’s back up a bit because we just doe right in for people who who’ve made obviously they’ve heard us talk about maneko but who maybe aren’t familiar with what it actually is uh… the the premise the setup because the story does influence the game or like it follows it or whatever but uh…
(1:01:54) Kevin: so you’re
(1:01:56) Kevin: like oh this little girl with the cute little bande hoodie I think I don’t know what she’s a hat whatever she’s doing anyways uh… and she yeah she moves to this island with her dad uh…
(1:02:02) Al: I think it’s a hootie, yeah.
(1:02:08) Kevin: and they are in a new home and she starts meeting people and pretty much right away uh…
(1:02:17) Kevin: they just start asking her if they force her to join the night market uh…
(1:02:22) Al: Pretty much.
(1:02:23) Al: I think that’s the only thing you need to do.
(1:02:23) Kevin: which is a weekly event that they have.
(1:02:25) Kevin: And so,
(1:02:26) Kevin: the,
(1:02:27) Kevin: yes.
(1:02:28) Al: It won’t let you sleep on a Saturday until you’ve done the night market.
(1:02:30) Kevin: Nope.
(1:02:32) Kevin: Yes, that’s mandatory.
(1:02:34) Kevin: And so, the loop of the game is you are gathering materials to craft items to sell at the night market.
(1:02:43) Kevin: That’s the primary flow of the game.
(1:02:47) Kevin: There’s of course a general store we can sell during the week and other cottage course tables and stuff like that.
(1:02:51) Al: But you can make much more money at the night market because it’s a haggling system.
(1:02:53) Kevin: You, yes you do.
(1:02:56) Al: So let’s talk, okay, or are you doing more?
(1:02:57) Kevin: Yes, we’ll get to that, yeah.
(1:02:59) Kevin: Well, or do you wanna get to it now?
(1:03:00) Al: Well, let’s talk about it now, right?
(1:03:00) Kevin: No, I, all right.
(1:03:01) Al: I feel like we’re naturally getting there, right?
(1:03:03) Al: So your night market, what you do is you go into it and you’ve got your little stall and you put a certain number of items out.
(1:03:09) Al: It’s like it was stacks of items, right?
(1:03:12) Al: You put them out and then you call customers and the customer comes.
(1:03:15) Al: And different customers have like different things they want.
(1:03:18) Kevin: Yep preferences
(1:03:18) Al: So as you progress the game, you want to have different things.
(1:03:21) Al: Like some bouquets, you want to have some paper crafted items.
(1:03:24) Al: You want to have some wood crafted items or some knitted stuff.
(1:03:28) Al: You have lots of different things.
(1:03:28) Kevin: Yeah, yep, you can even just put fish or resources. Yeah, absolutely. But but
(1:03:30) Al: And the customers, you can.
(1:03:33) Al: You’ll get more money if you have the crafted stuff, though.
(1:03:37) Al: And they’ll ask, they’ll say, they’ll offer you, “Oh, I would like to buy this, please.”
(1:03:41) Al: And then you get an option of, I think it’s nine different prices.
(1:03:44) Kevin: Yeah, it’s like a half wheel, basically, with all sorts of prices.
(1:03:45) Al: So you can, yeah, and you can.
(1:03:49) Kevin: With colors from green to red, showing how expensive, how likely, or whatever.
(1:03:52) Al: And you can choose which one you want to go with.
(1:03:55) Al: And then sometimes they’ll say yes, sometimes they’ll say no.
(1:03:58) Al: And sometimes they’ll give you another option.
(1:04:00) Kevin: Yep, they’ll encounter.
(1:04:01) Al: They’ll haggle and then you can hopefully get a sale out of them.
(1:04:05) Al: I have to say, I’ve never failed a haggle if they’ve offered a different price, right?
(1:04:10) Al: I’ve never done the like, “Oh, no, it’s definitely going to be this price,” right?
(1:04:14) Al: Because I know that’s going to fail.
(1:04:14) Kevin: Yep, mm-hmm, how about yep
(1:04:16) Al: But like, I’ve always gone for the, “Oh, how about this?”
(1:04:19) Al: this, which then meets in the middle again and they’ve
(1:04:21) Al: always bought it at that point. I have had plenty of people say no outright when I’ve given them a price, but I think I’ve got a good strategy where most people will buy things for above average from me now.
(1:04:26) Kevin: Yeah, absolutely.
(1:04:37) Kevin: Yeah, yep That Yeah, I so that’s the selling part of it, but there’s much more to the night market because you Yes The the first thing you do is sell yeah you sell you and you have X number of care customers come and then They say okay, that’s it. That’s all the customers and then you can hang out and see the rest of the night market yourself
(1:04:46) Al: Yeah, yeah, so you can also buy, because there’s loads of other stalls as well, and they have like weird things.
(1:05:04) Al: Yeah.
(1:05:05) Kevin: Like you said, there’s booths where you can buy
(1:05:05) Al: Which I was just going to say that the number of booths that you have increases as you sell more than I market, you upgrade the night market, more sellers come and like there’s loads of weird stuff like there’s a kid from the village who will sell you kind of like some flowers and some dye and stuff like that.
(1:05:07) Kevin: stuff go ahead
(1:05:24) Kevin: Mm-hmm. Yeah resources stuff like that. Yep Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep Yeah, have you gotten the new villagers Okay, well
(1:05:25) Al: But then you also have like there’s a fish, there’s a fisher one that comes and he’ll sell you loads of different types of fish. There’s a chef who’ll sell you different types of food. There’s.
(1:05:34) Al: There’s loads of different ones that appear. I’m sure you have some more as well that I think you’ve probably played more than me. See that maybe unlocked a few more than I have.
(1:05:45) Al: I have just invited one to come and stay who’s agreed to do it, but I haven’t. I haven’t. They’ve not moved yet.
(1:05:54) Kevin: Yeah Okay, so yeah, there’s at some point they they let you know, okay, we’re gonna open up some lots and you can invite some villagers And once you complete their quests and get them to do that, they will unlock games actually not just Booths to buy things there. They’re little mini games and so yeah, there’s different ones, but yeah, because it’s not just
(1:06:20) Kevin: The the shopping ones they talk about how there’s games and other events and things like that
(1:06:24) Kevin: So like in general like I’m really happy with the night market It’s you know the on the title right and I think they’re doing it justice The music is fun The atmosphere is fun the sense of progression as you upgrade the night market is great because it’s not just more booths You’ll get more decorations and it pretties up the place because it’s pretty much just an abandoned railroad area. It’s just dirt everywhere But
(1:06:31) Al: Mm hmm.
(1:06:41) Al: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
(1:06:52) Al: I think it’s really good because like, you know, I’m not saying that how other farming games do it is bad, right? Like I, you know, I starred you, I wouldn’t want to do this sort of thing, right? Because stardew is about like build up your farm, make it big, sell lots of stuff, blah, blah, blah. And having to do this to sell anything would just be So I like the…
(1:06:54) Kevin: You
(1:07:11) Al: shipping bins and standard farming games. But this is nice as a different kind of thing,
(1:07:11) Kevin: Yep.
(1:07:12) Kevin: Yep.
(1:07:14) Kevin: Mm-hmm.
(1:07:16) Al: like actually being able to try and get more money for something, which can work out really well is quite fun. And being able to craft some specific things. I’m easily getting several thousand dollars at the night market, which is probably more than what you would get it for just selling it at the shop. It’s not rare for me to get… I’m regularly getting
(1:07:31) Kevin: Dang Oh absolutely
(1:07:41) Al: two to three thousand dollars at night market.
(1:07:42) Kevin: Jeez Louise mr. Moneybags over here. I barely cracked 1k. Oh my goodness. Oh, I Was about to say I gotta get harder than I gotta play hardball with these guys. Oh, man
(1:07:44) Al: Oh man, it’s great. You got to be harsh in the haggling. You got to get…
(1:07:54) Al: Also, I don’t know if you’ve been doing this or not, but have big stacks of things because they will buy multiple from you. And if you just have one, they will just buy one. If you have a big stack, they will buy multiple and you can get way more money that way.
(1:08:01) Kevin: Yes, yes, I do have big stacks.
(1:08:03) Kevin: Yup.
(1:08:05) Kevin: Yup.
(1:08:09) Kevin: Yup, yup, yup, yup, I do know that.
(1:08:11) Kevin: Okay, well that’s good to know, though.
(1:08:13) Kevin: My next night market, ‘cause…
(1:08:14) Kevin: Oh man, the prices of things, whoo, they go up.
(1:08:17) Al: Lots of stuff. Yeah, I’ve unlocked all of the tools that I know of.
(1:08:21) Al: I don’t know if there are more or not, and some of those tools were pretty expensive.
(1:08:27) Al: Yeah.
(1:08:27) Kevin: Inflation is insane on this island. It’s $25 for a bottle of ramune.
(1:08:30) Al: Pickaxe is $1,200.
(1:08:32) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, um, but but Yeah, it is it is it is pretty funny. Um, but but On I guess one more thing to cap off the night market talk
(1:08:37) Al: It is funny that it’s dollars and not some made up currency.
(1:08:45) Al: So I did.
(1:08:53) Kevin: Is actually the thing that caps off the night market
(1:08:57) Kevin: Every night market has a different, or at least as so far, I’ve played them four or five weeks in Yeah, yeah, that’s a nice this thing No, and I’ve only hit summer That is, yes, that’s my assumption that each event, each week has a different event until you hit the new year and then it just cycles through again
(1:09:02) Al: I suspect it’s one per week in the year, I suspect, but I presume neither of us have been to the next year, so we don’t know that for certain. But that’s my assumption at this
(1:09:22) Kevin: But yeah at the end of the night market, which is whenever you want. So you just go up to the main stage and you start an event of some kind. The very first one is a cat race. Yep. Yep. Oh yeah,
(1:09:33) Al: Which is wild. You’re literally on a cat.
(1:09:38) Kevin: oh yeah. It’s not like the chicken race you were talking about earlier. No, no, no. You are riding the cat and you’re racing against other kids in the village and another cat who’s riding a cat.
(1:09:44) Al: Yep, yep, yep, yep. And a cat. I mean, this is the humor in this game, right? Like, if you find the idea that you’re riding a cat against other villagers and a cat riding another cat, if you don’t find that funny, I’m sorry I can’t help you, you’re not going to like this game, right? That is objectively funny. Yep.
(1:09:52) Kevin: Yes.
(1:10:03) Kevin: Yep. And they call it out. And they call it out to the announcer guy, the host. He’s like,
(1:10:10) Kevin: Oh, and there’s a cat on a cat question mark. Everything that’s funny and weird in the game is just as funny and weird to the villagers. They’re on there in Maneco. It’s great. But yeah, so there’s and I like the writing events because one week gets a race. Another one,
(1:10:27) Kevin: it’s a little parade and all sorts of different things. They’re just these fun little events.
(1:10:33) Kevin: And when a trophy if it’s a competitive one like the, the race or other things. So it’s nice that you get little things out of the night market. So you can even get some outfits,
(1:10:43) Kevin: I think for free. And it’s just so much fun. I’m so happy that it’s not a minor thing.
(1:10:54) Kevin: It’s you know, the whole week is counting down to the night market and it’s a great
(1:10:57) Al: Yeah, yeah.
(1:10:59) Al: Yeah, and like you can sell stuff in the shop if you want, but like if you don’t need to, don’t.
(1:11:08) Al: Like I just sold stuff in the shop, but it was because I really wanted to buy the seed to farm.
(1:11:12) Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Well, I’ve been selling more things because I’m not making 2k, 3k a week.
(1:11:13) Al: Right, like and it’s like I don’t want to wait till Saturday, right? But don’t do that very often,
(1:11:17) Al: like only do it if it’s something you really want to do.
(1:11:23) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, let’s talk about that, the not night market part of it, because
(1:11:24) Al: Gotta save everything up and sell it all at the night market.
(1:11:36) Kevin: it’s quest directed. That’s the biggest thing.
(1:11:42) Al: It is. It really is. So it’s crafting and questing, and that is essentially the whole game, right? So if you don’t like crafting, if you find crafting annoying, and you find fetch quests annoying, like, I mean, well, let’s be honest, do you like Cottagecore games at all? Right? Like, that’s a group. Like, I understand if people would want more than that in a game, but there is the story, and I think that adds a lot to it. So I kind of understand why somebody would not like this game, because there is a lot of that crafting.
(1:11:42) Kevin: That’s it. Yup.
(1:11:57) Kevin: Yeah.
(1:12:07) Kevin: Yep, I Yes Well, well, okay. Well, there’s two things about that. I’m I have to like on the one hand I think Something else and a negative that I’d touch on earlier I wish there were just more chatting and dialogue because the villagers pretty much it’s only dialogue for the quests
(1:12:08) Al: and if you don’t like the crafting and you don’t like fetch quests, you’re going to-
(1:12:33) Kevin: They you can’t just have conversations with them or
(1:12:37) Kevin: Scenes really like if you I reached five because every time you do a quest you increase the the relationship by one the heart or whatever And I did hit five stars with one or two people and you get a little scene But nothing nothing super major that that’d be my one request that I’d like to see more just conversations or whatever Yes [laughs]
(1:12:44) Al: Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you get that with a few of the characters,
(1:13:01) Al: right? You get that with Bobo, obviously, in the story. You get it with Bobo’s mum,
(1:13:05) Al: whose name is Bobo’s mum. You get it with your dad.
(1:13:07) Kevin: Well, that was my other comment.
(1:13:12) Kevin: Even though the game is just crafting and questing, it’s so much fun and enjoyable because the dialogue is just A-triple plus.
(1:13:22) Kevin: It’s charming and funny and engaging.
(1:13:25) Kevin: Like you said, there’s a character named Bobo, and you call her Bobo’s mom and that’s her name.
(1:13:34) Kevin: And she says, “Boy, I lucked out that I had a son named Bobo, huh?”
(1:13:36) Al: Yeah.
(1:13:41) Kevin: It is a really, really funny game. One of the funniest games I think I’ve played.
(1:13:47) Al: Ooh, more tools.
(1:13:48) Kevin: It’ll be cut.
(1:13:49) Al: Sorry.
(1:13:50) Kevin: Oh! Oh!
(1:13:51) Al: Got more tools and more craft benches.
(1:13:51) Kevin: Checking it out, yeah.
(1:13:52) Al: I must’ve, I just unlocked them.
(1:13:53) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, you just hit the next spot. Yeah, yeah, I reach there.
(1:13:59) Kevin: I guess we can touch briefly on the story. Neither of us are that far in it, but the overall story is kind of figuring out.
(1:14:07) Kevin: It’s really up front. It’s the mystery of Nikko, this magical cat being. It’s a very large cat with a mask.
(1:14:16) Kevin: And he brought prosperity to the island before, and now he’s kind of in hiding and you’re kind of figuring out what’s going on with that.
(1:14:24) Kevin: And there’s just called the agency who are looking for it, it looks like, for Nikko and– or Nikko, excuse me.
(1:14:25) Al: There’s a mysterious organization of agents.
(1:14:37) Kevin: Kind of it, but it’s still interesting because I’m curious where they’re going to go.
(1:14:44) Kevin: I’m not going to talk about the thing, but you know I’m talking about Al, that they did a little unexpected thing with a certain character.
(1:14:51) Al: Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah.
(1:14:51) Kevin: And so it’s definitely invested me more in the story. I’m curious what’s going to happen.
(1:14:58) Kevin: Yeah, speaking of characters, like– yeah, well, like I said.
(1:15:04) Al: new craft benches are very expensive.
(1:15:07) Kevin: Right, that’s why I like, I gotta make the 2.3K so I can buy some of that.
(1:15:15) Kevin: The characters are all, they’re all really funny and enjoyable.
(1:15:21) Kevin: Like I said, you don’t get that much dialogue, so it’s hard to get that much personalities or whatever out of them.
(1:15:28) Kevin: You do see it, but it’s not super substantial just because the opportunities aren’t there.
(1:15:28) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s a handful of them, but the rest of them, I struggle to remember their names, you know.
(1:15:37) Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s hard to struggle.
(1:15:42) Kevin: Like maybe even see him, you’ll remember a thing or two.
(1:15:44) Kevin: But I mean, Bobo is another kid on the island, the first person you meet.
(1:15:50) Kevin: And he’s probably the person who talks the most outside of questing and stuff like that.
(1:15:55) Kevin: He’s just there to go with you on the story pretty much.
(1:15:58) Kevin: He’s energetic, he’s annoying/fun, depending on how you feel.
(1:16:05) Kevin: Even Maneko, I think, is debating.
(1:16:07) Kevin: Um, because Bea Bobo is quite a handful, um, there’s your dad, who’s very dad, he has like 800 different nicknames for you, um, including Wormburr.
(1:16:18) Al: » Yeah.
(1:16:21) Kevin: Uh, the first line of dialogue in the game is Dad Yawn, or Dad Sai, like, the, the, in, Ashjes, like, not just someone sighing, but somebody doing a Dad Sai or Yawn or whatever.
(1:16:34) Kevin: Um, sorry, he’s a very dad dad
(1:16:37) Kevin: Um And the other big one is miyako they give you a rival Um in this game of sorts because she has a booth right next to yours and she has You have your little hat, but she has like a panda hat and she’s she’s When I first met her and saw her I heard blue’s theme from pokemon playing in my head
(1:17:02) Kevin: um because that’s the energy she brings and then later they actually
(1:17:02) Al: There is one other character whom I love as well, and that’s Hank the Hunk, because he is amazing, right?
(1:17:07) Kevin: you later red because you’re wearing red and oh my god she’s actually just blue um um yeah she’s she’s good fun yes thank the hunk
(1:17:25) Al: Like minor spoilers for the story here, he basically-
(1:17:32) Al: He’s so good, and yeah, he’s good fun.
(1:17:35) Kevin: Yeah!
(1:17:45) Kevin: Yup.
(1:17:47) Kevin: Yup.
(1:17:54) Kevin: Hank Dunk is pretty good.
(1:17:57) Kevin: Yes, you’re right. Okay. I just remembered some other kid…
(1:18:02) Kevin: another important character that I love, the Night Market Host. That’s his name, the Night Market Host.
(1:18:09) Kevin: He’s really funny because he’s…
(1:18:13) Kevin: Once the night markets are
(1:18:15) Kevin: going to grow big, but he also doesn’t care about you or the kids at all and he just has really funny interactions with the kids and whatnot.
(1:18:24) Kevin: But, yeah, it’s, they’re all colorful, they’re all fun, lots and lots of laughs.
(1:18:32) Kevin: Yeah, I’m trying to think, like, it’s, obviously we’re only a few minutes away, but we’re not.
(1:18:43) Al: I mean, we could also kind of talk about the farming, but we’ve both just unlocked the farming and not successfully grown anything, because my word, it takes a long time to get farming in this game, right? The trailer shows loads of farming, and then you’re like, “Oh,
(1:18:47) Kevin: We just I have one plot It takes a long time
(1:18:58) Al: okay. Yeah, I guess there’s farming, but I can’t figure out how to do it.” And then literally during this recording, I unlocked it. It’s weird how long it takes, and it makes sense based on what the f-
(1:19:13) Al: game is, but I felt like the trailer sold it as a core part of the game.
(1:19:21) Kevin: It’s… well, yeah, I mean no, it’s not like… it’s not its own thing. It’s definitely just going to be another form of resource management, which is a very big part of the game, and that’s actually something I think we should touch on.
(1:19:35) Kevin: Um, that you… because you have a stamina system. You have one heart and later you can get another heart and probably more later.
(1:19:42) Kevin: But every time you perform an action, like you gather a flower or you fish or you chop a tree or whatever, you take a certain amount from your heart.
(1:19:43) Al: Yeah. Yes.
(1:19:51) Kevin: So there’s a limited amount of actions you can take during the day. And you can refill your hearts by eating things, but you’re only allowed three items of food per day.
(1:20:03) Kevin: And you have to buy them or whatever, right? So it’s an interesting design of… because obviously they’re going to restrict you, like you can’t just build 800 bouquets and fans to sell at the night market.
(1:20:16) Kevin: So you have to carefully plan your day kind of to think about okay. What am I gonna harvest?
(1:20:16) Al: Yeah. Yes.
(1:20:21) Kevin: How much do I want to spend both money and time? It’s resource planning and management in an almost indirect kind of way because it all goes down to the hearts and the stamina and money really. Which I think is clever in the way it’s did. Probably they could fine-tune it a little more but in general I think think it’s a because yeah the the
(1:20:51) Kevin: overall idea of just running around and gathering resources is kind of limited right so it’s an interesting way to to make you think about it more or get a little more invested in it than just oh
(1:20:56) Al: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I understand why foraging uses up energy, right? Because that’s all you can do to start with, right? There is nothing else you can do for the first couple hours of the game until you unlock some more stuff. But that’s really annoying in later game,
(1:21:11) Kevin: Yup, yup, pick up flowers and hairballs.
(1:21:20) Al: because there’s so much you need to get, right? And it’s like you go and you use up your stamina
(1:21:26) Al: like the rocks or the paper or the wood or the fish or whatever. And then it’s like, I would really like to be able to go and pick some flowers now as well. And it’s like, I really feel like that shouldn’t actually use stamina. And it’s pretty standard thing in games for that not to specifically use stamina. It’s just a little bit, I know it uses slightly less stamina, right? Like,
(1:21:43) Kevin: Well, do you want?
(1:21:45) Kevin: Do you want do you want a little spoiler?
(1:21:47) Al: Like I know that.
(1:21:50) Kevin: So I’m assuming you haven’t hit this because you have mentioned it at a certain point in the game.
(1:21:57) Kevin: You could start sending Nikko out or Nikko to go gather.
(1:21:59) Al: No, I have done that, yeah. I literally just got that, but I don’t know how much it gets.
(1:22:01) Kevin: Oh, you have. Okay.
(1:22:03) Kevin: Okay.
(1:22:05) Kevin: It’s yes.
(1:22:09) Kevin: So you can send it– so there’s also a time resource,
(1:22:13) Kevin: where you can– there’s several locations on the island and you can only go to two per day, basically.
(1:22:19) Kevin: There’s flowers and things in the main town that you can pick as well.
(1:22:22) Kevin: But if you go to a location and come back, it goes to like evening and the night or whatever.
(1:22:29) Kevin: And so at a certain point of the game, when you have Nikko, you can send them out to go gather resources for you. And every time you come back from the bus, he’ll have whatever resource you ask for. It’s not – I think it’s –
(1:22:43) Kevin: it’s an okay amount. It’s not a big amount, but it’s, you know, totally passive. You’re not – and just extra, right?
(1:22:44) Al: right. Yeah. Yeah.
(1:22:49) Kevin: So, like, for instance, the mines, at least at this early on in the game, there’s not much you’re getting out of it because there’s not much you can craft with them or whatever.
(1:22:58) Kevin: But at some point you might need some extra rocks. Well, then that’s perfect for Nikko. While you go gather wood or whatever and come back, he’ll have a decent amount of rocks for you.
(1:23:09) Kevin: And you can just, you know, just over time as you repeat that you did
(1:23:13) Kevin: It builds up. Um, I think it’s it’s okay. Maybe you could get a little more from him That’d be nice and maybe you can later. I don’t know But but Yeah Yeah, there’s Right
(1:23:20) Al: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a massive, it just feels a little bit annoying that I’m like,
(1:23:27) Al: “Oh, I’ve done all my stuff,” and I’m like, “There’s a flower outside my house and I have to eat some food to pick that flower.”
(1:23:34) Al: I feel like actually the energy to eat the food would be more than just picking the flower.
(1:23:39) Al: It just feels a little bit silly.
(1:23:41) Kevin: Yeah, I agree.
(1:23:42) Al: It’s a small thing.
(1:23:43) Al: It doesn’t matter.
(1:23:44) Kevin: Well, I, I, mm hmm.
(1:23:44) Al: It’s just a decision they made that I disagree with, and I understand why they did it.
(1:23:49) Al: It’s annoying later on in the game.
(1:23:49) Kevin: I, it does. I agree with you, but I think, like the fact that they did that with Nico, I think there’s hope that they’re still going to, there’s further things along the game that will address that, because, have you hit summer?
(1:24:02) Al: Yeah, possibly.
(1:24:05) Kevin: Yes, so one thing, and I didn’t expect this to be honest, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, but when you change seasons, the like, availability of the game,
(1:24:13) Kevin: the availability of flowers, and I think they say fish changes, and that can be a big deal because you require specific flowers for certain crafts and things like that, right?
(1:24:14) Al: Yes, yep, yep, yep. And it’s not like the year’s a short time. It’s a standard 28-day season, four seasons per year.
(1:24:23) Kevin: So, I, no, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a full, mm hmm, yup, so it, waiting a whole year to get the soccer flowers again, like, I, I would be very shocked if you had to do that.
(1:24:41) Al: Are they ever for sale at the night market, right, like?
(1:24:43) Kevin: They will get, uh, I think they can be, but I,
(1:24:47) Al: Because every night market in spring, what’s her name?
(1:24:57) Al: Is it Miyako?
(1:24:57) Kevin: Yeah, it’s Miyako, yeah Yeah, I don’t I I’ve only done one summer night market. I don’t remember to be honest, but I mean at some point like that’s Cuz she only sells like three or four resources. So like it’s it’s I Feel like they have to address that later I’m really hopeful that they will and like I said that the fact that they gave you
(1:24:59) Al: Was selling Sakura flowers, so I wonder whether she’ll be doing that again or not.
(1:25:25) Kevin: Neeko who can go out and gather things for you.
(1:25:27) Kevin: Like I feel that we’ll get addressed at some point.
(1:25:29) Al: Yeah, maybe maybe we’ll see
(1:25:31) Kevin: Um, but yeah, we’ll see.
(1:25:34) Kevin: Um, like I said, the whole system could use a little fine tuning.
(1:25:39) Kevin: It’s weird because your reward for quest generally is a recipe of some kind.
(1:25:45) Kevin: And what that means is you can really fill up your recipes before you can progress.
(1:25:51) Kevin: Like I, I, there’s a lot of other work benches and I have a lot of other recipes for them when I don’t.
(1:25:57) Kevin: I don’t think we specifically mentioned it, but the game looks gorgeous.
(1:26:18) Al: Yeah. Yeah.
(1:26:22) Kevin: The art style, it’s storybook, papery, cute, I don’t know what you want to call it, but it’s beautiful.
(1:26:23) Al: Yeah, and they really lean into that, right?
(1:26:27) Kevin: And the colors are pretty, yep.
(1:26:30) Al: Like the sea. The sea is like that kind of really stylized wave sea.
(1:26:30) Kevin: Yeah.
(1:26:31) Kevin: Oh yeah.
(1:26:32) Kevin: Yeah, like a paper puppet show sort of thing where it’s like up and down, just like a paper sort of cut out almost.
(1:26:37) Al: Yeah. Yeah.
(1:26:44) Kevin: Yeah, that’s a really lovely looking thing.
(1:26:47) Kevin: Um, yeah.
(1:26:48) Al: I do have one other thing, one small other small complaint.
(1:26:50) Kevin: Yep.
(1:26:51) Kevin: Yep.
(1:26:52) Al: It’s really hard to know what items you don’t have for crafting recipes.
(1:26:58) Al: So before I knew what dyes, the dyes were in the game, I was like,
(1:26:58) Kevin: Oh yeah.
(1:26:59) Kevin: That’s the PipFault, so many crafting systems fall in where they don’t.
(1:27:06) Al: “What on earth is this bottle with a liquid in it? I don’t know what this is.”
(1:27:10) Al: And now there’s a one that looks kind of like a printed paper that I have no idea what it is.
(1:27:16) Kevin: Uh, yep, yep.
(1:27:18) Al: Anywhere I haven’t, I’m presuming it’s a crafting thing I’ll get at some point,
(1:27:18) Kevin: Yeah.
(1:27:21) Al: but I have just no idea what it is. Yeah. I presume it’s that paper thing, yeah.
(1:27:21) Kevin: Look, you just said you unlocked tools, right?
(1:27:26) Kevin: Well, if you look at them, you’ll figure out what it is.
(1:27:28) Kevin: Um, but yeah, yeah.
(1:27:30) Al: But I literally just got that as we were talking, so.
(1:27:32) Kevin: Yeah.
(1:27:34) Kevin: No, I know.
(1:27:35) Kevin: I know.
(1:27:35) Kevin: Yeah.
(1:27:35) Kevin: It’s weird because they introduce, like I said, they introduce so many recipes and, and by extension, yeah, materials and before you can get them or even know what they are, right?
(1:27:39) Al: Before you can get them. Yeah. Yeah.
(1:27:46) Kevin: You can, yeah.
(1:27:48) Kevin: And that’s, that would be nice to clear that up to add clarity or this case,
(1:27:53) Kevin: maybe just making them question marks showing that you don’t know what they are, whatever, or silhouettes.
(1:27:54) Al: Yes. Yeah, yeah. I’m sure there’s a good solution to this. I just think that what we have is not ideal, and it’s not terrible. It’s just a bit frustrating to have a crafting recipe and going, “I can’t do this, and I don’t know why. Like, why can’t I do that?”
(1:27:58) Kevin: Um, yeah.
(1:28:09) Kevin: Yes, absolutely.
(1:28:12) Kevin: I agree, um, but, yeah, it’s rocky, but like, my, oh, yes, so our friend, you know, Johnny was also playing this and he had, uh, sort of similar complaints in that the, the overall progression is a bit wonky because there’s so many quests and you don’t know what you should be focusing on or what you can do or can’t do or whatever.
(1:28:38) Kevin: My advice to anyone who’s playing good.
(1:28:39) Kevin: Is to focus on the quest list, if you focus on those, eventually all the stuff will fit into place.
(1:28:51) Kevin: It’s not very graceful because of the stuff we just said.
(1:28:56) Kevin: But that’s just my advice to make it easier for people.
(1:29:00) Kevin: But I do agree.
(1:29:01) Kevin: There’s just a few bits where they could use some more fine tuning and clarity on this stuff.
(1:29:09) Kevin: Also, the dies that you mentioned.
(1:29:12) Kevin: I didn’t know how to get the dies.
(1:29:15) Kevin: They mentioned it, but I didn’t realize you have to go to your menu because you squeeze fish to get dies.
(1:29:21) Kevin: Which is interesting, including actual fish.
(1:29:24) Kevin: Not just like an octopus.
(1:29:26) Kevin: You squeeze a snapper to get red.
(1:29:29) Kevin: But you have to go to your menu to pick a squeeze option in your inventory.
(1:29:34) Kevin: Which, that wasn’t clear.
(1:29:36) Kevin: So yeah, there’s little tidbits and you know.
(1:29:39) Kevin: Of course, Mineko’s not by far the only game that struggles clarity and whatnot, but you know, those are the ones that definitely should be pointed out.
(1:29:48) Kevin: But yeah, I mean overall though, like, it’s such an interesting journey because waiting for so long, but it’s still a cheap game and there’s still issues for sure, but I still really, really love this game.
(1:30:03) Kevin: I don’t, I don’t think I’m, I’m not disappointed.
(1:30:04) Al: Yeah, absolutely.
(1:30:06) Kevin: like I’m happy with what’s there.
(1:30:09) Kevin: I’m going to be really happy when they fix the loading times, especially.
(1:30:14) Kevin: Um, but I, I don’t know if worth the wait is quite the answer,
(1:30:20) Kevin: but it wasn’t a disappointment, right?
(1:30:23) Kevin: Like there’s been plenty of other games with near decade long development that have been plenty disappointments, um, by bigger companies for sure.
(1:30:33) Kevin: Right.
(1:30:33) Kevin: Um, but thankfully Moneko is in my opinion, delivering, um,
(1:30:40) Kevin: I, I, I very much love this game.
(1:30:42) Kevin: The laughs are, are priceless.
(1:30:45) Kevin: And just like I said, I think it gets the hard parts of making a game, right?
(1:30:50) Kevin: The, the style of the charm, the, the feeling, um, I, I love and care about the game, even when it’s kind of broken or doesn’t work at times.
(1:30:59) Kevin: Um, so yeah, I mean, yeah.
(1:30:59) Al: Yeah. Agreed. I think I agree. This game is good fun. I enjoy it. I will be probably putting it down until there’s a patch just because I want to play it when it’s nicer. And well, I’ve got like four days to play Faith Farm. My
(1:31:03) Kevin: Do you have any other thoughts?
(1:31:05) Kevin: Sal, go ahead.
(1:31:18) Kevin: Yeah There’s that right yeah paleo pines is out - hey guys might as well might as well do that while I wait for a punch Oh my goodness, yeah
(1:31:29) Al: I’ve got four days to play Faith Farm before I record that. And then I’ve got Harvest Moon to play. So like I’ve got lots of stuff to play. But I will probably pick it up again and try and finish stuff off because it’s good fun. And it’s like the art is adorable. The characters are nice fun. The humor is legitimately good. Like there’s just there’s lots about this game that is
(1:31:56) Al: really good and there’s just a few things
(1:31:57) Kevin: Yep Yep and then like I said, the nice thing is they’re not Super massive impossible game redesign problems like a patch or two will iron out the vast majority of this So I’m very much looking forward to that. I hope this game does well. I’d like to see more Monoco DLC a sequel whatever I want to see this little game
(1:31:59) Al: that are just a bit frustrating. That’s it.
(1:32:12) Al: Yeah Hopefully
(1:32:28) Kevin: Be the good little game that could um, you know I’ve read some stuff about their development cycle like an interview with some of the developers and Lee It was obviously clearly an eight-year development period. It was rough, right?
(1:32:40) Kevin: Like they almost quit at certain points and stuff like that, but I’m glad
(1:32:48) Al: Agreed. Awesome.
(1:32:51) Al: Well, thank you, Kevin, for joining me to chat about Meneco and her night market.
(1:32:58) Al: Thank you listeners for listening.
(1:33:03) Al: Kevin, where can people find you?
(1:33:05) Kevin: You can find me at Koopapres on the tweeters from my personal why retweet other funnier smarter more interesting people’s things primarily you can Probably and I’ll probably PRing the the tweeters the account there more since that’s not the primary thing anywhere Anyways, at least about the episodes. I’m on You can find my art account at Spriter squared I do mostly pixel art I do other stuff
(1:33:35) Kevin: Duke missions, uh, if you are so interested, um, and you can also find me at rainbow mario pod That is the hand the Twitter handle for rainbow Road radio the Mario podcast I do with our mutual friend Alex I bring it up now we’ve it’s been on a bit of a hiatus as Alex has been traveling I believe next week actually we will next weekend. We will be recording a new episode. So in
(1:33:54) Al: Yeah, when you’re coming back.
(1:34:01) Al: Just in time for the new game.
(1:34:03) Kevin: Yep, yep and about oh
(1:34:05) Kevin: After this episode comes out. I imagine the next Mario episode and it’s I We haven’t talked about in details, but you know obviously big month ahead. We got Halloween. We got Mario wonder and It’s a little little spoiler here Alex has been traveling in Japan, and I don’t know if you know this how but there are some Mario things in Japan Yeah, it’s crazy right so expect
(1:34:27) Al: In Japan? What? No.
(1:34:33) Kevin: some commentary on
(1:34:35) Kevin: Who knows a thing or two? He saw that might be Mario related over there in Japan I’m excited. I don’t I’ve only seen a few pictures, but I’m curious to see what other stories and comments he has But yes, that’s where you can find me on the interwebs. You can also find me on the harvest season slack Which you can access by going to our patreon
(1:35:03) Al: I’m just I was just seeing how long you would keep going for.
(1:35:06) Al: It’s not something that’s the wrong podcast. It’s patreon.com/thspod.
(1:35:06) Kevin: No, the well, it’s obviously on patreon. It’s something dot cash. I don’t remember what it is. The links will be there on the Is it?
(1:35:17) Kevin: Okay, whatever okay, I’m gonna think Darn it, am I?
(1:35:18) Al: You’re thinking of the Pokemon podcast. That is isc.cash.
(1:35:24) Kevin: Good heavens good heavens. Um, we need that
(1:35:24) Al: You can find links to all of those things, everything related to the podcast you can find on our website.
(1:35:33) Al: HarvestSeason.club And I think that’s everything.
(1:35:38) Al: So until next time…
(1:35:38) Kevin: You can find Al at the scottbot on twitter or mastodons on scott [laughing]
(1:35:39) Al: Oh yeah, who cares?
(1:35:43) Al: There’s links, fine sizes, whatever.
(1:35:44) Kevin: You’re just you you’re gonna find the same thing as you do at the ths pod on twitter Social media is a dumpster fire right now social media is a dumpster fire Look slack slack is social media go go give money and get access to the good stuff. Um, but anyways jess go ahead. Sorry al
(1:35:54) Al: Yes, not very much right now.
(1:35:56) Al: What even is social media anymore?
(1:36:08) Al: Until next time, Kevin, have a good harvest.
(1:36:08) Kevin: Have a good harvest Have a good harvest!
(1:36:11) Theme Tune: The Harvest Season is created by Al McKinlay, with support from our patrons, including our pro farmers Kevin, Stuart and Elisa.
(1:36:26) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
(1:36:31) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club, for show notes and links to things we discussed in this episode.
(1:36:52) Al: How do I do the bean? What do I do with the bean?
(1:36:54) Al: The game of the bean, I don’t know what… Oh the backyard. I’ve got the watering can already.
(1:36:57) Kevin: to go to the backyard.
(1:36:58) Kevin: Mm-hmm.
(1:37:03) Al: Oh, for goodness sake. You know what, fine. Let’s just do this stupid episode.
(1:37:08) Al: Let’s just do it live!
(1:37:09) Kevin: do it live just we’ll just let them that we’re playing Minneko as we’re recording
(1:37:12) Al: I mean, let’s be honest. That’s what we’re doing all the time.

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