We Are At Peak Witch

Wed, Dec 13, 2023 Year 2, Summer 24

Codey and Jonnie talk about Disney Dreamlight Valley

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:02:25: What Have We Been Up To
00:07:41: News
00:39:07: Disney Dreamlight Valley: The Second Harvest
01:23:09: Outro

Links

NPR Best Video Games 2023
Moonstone Island Update and DLC
Dredge x Dave The Diver
Palia Coming To Switch
Harvest Moon 64 On NSO
Lego Fortnite
Ooblets Plushies

Loose Leaf
Rusty’s Retirement
Home Free
Bug and Seek

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) Codey: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Cody
(0:00:35) Jonnie: And my name is Johnny
(0:00:36) Codey: And we’re here today to talk about cottagecore games
(0:00:43) Codey: Though I am also prepared to talk about goblin core games because I just got a goblin core
(0:00:50) Codey: Coloring book and it has a lot of like moths and snails and other like cute things And I really like it. I’m excited to color in it
(0:01:00) Codey: Probably the Cody season cuz everyone says I am I am Goblin Corps.
(0:01:00) Jonnie: name like what would the harvest season be if it was if we went full goblin core
(0:01:08) Codey: [LAUGH] Nobody, nobody wants that.
(0:01:08) Jonnie: all right welcome everyone to the Cody season
(0:01:15) Codey: Transcribs are always available in the show notes and on the website.
(0:01:19) Codey: So you can go there to find those if you need them.
(0:01:21) Codey: Today, Johnny and I will be doing a second harvest of Disney Dreamlight Valley.
(0:01:25) Codey: Johnny, you’re on the original episode, yeah?
(0:01:28) Jonnie: Yeah, that was my first appearance on The Heart of Season because I loved Disney Dreamlight Valley. Do I still love it? We can find out.
(0:01:36) Codey: Stay tuned.
(0:01:37) Codey: So yeah, we’re going to be talking about that.
(0:01:40) Codey: I started playing it a couple of months ago, maybe,
(0:01:43) Codey: because of this episode.
(0:01:44) Codey: So you’re getting someone from really early on and the early access to someone who is more recent.
(0:01:50) Codey: And then it came out two days ago as of this recording,
(0:01:54) Codey: three days ago as of this recording.
(0:01:57) Codey: Three days for me, four days for you, Johnny.
(0:02:00) Codey: And so we might have– I think that they’re–
(0:02:06) Codey: there were some changes.
(0:02:06) Codey: Some things changed when the 1.0 came out.
(0:02:11) Codey: So we’re going to discuss those, discuss our thoughts.
(0:02:13) Codey: Before that, there is, of course, always news.
(0:02:17) Codey: A shocking amount of news, given that I just recorded about news without two days ago.
(0:02:24) Codey: Oh, how things change.
(0:02:25) Codey: But first, we’re going to talk about what we’ve been up to.
(0:02:27) Codey: Johnny, what have you been up to?
(0:02:28) Jonnie: What have I been up to? I tried to jump on the Coral Island train and I was playing it on Xbox and
(0:02:36) Jonnie: Unfortunately, the game is in a state where there’s some pretty game-breaking bugs early on. So I really like what I’ve played
(0:02:44) Jonnie: but currently there’s a bug where the game crashes when you donate your 10th item to the museum and
(0:02:50) Jonnie: I like donating things to museums and games and I
(0:02:55) Jonnie: I kind of hit that bug and it really just made me not want to pull it.
(0:02:58) Jonnie: So I like the idea of Coral Island but I had to put it down to wait for bugs to be fixed, which is a bit of a shame.
(0:03:08) Jonnie: And other than that I’ve been playing Forza Motorsport because the new one of those just dropped and there’s something nice about car racing games where you can kind of switch your brain off, like not fully.
(0:03:20) Jonnie: You know, just enough to be like “when do I brake? When do I turn?” and I like the more sort of simulation style.
(0:03:28) Jonnie: I kind of like the Forza Horizon, which is more arcadey style racing.
(0:03:33) Codey: Mm-hmm
(0:03:34) Jonnie: So I’ve kind of just been enjoying that, where you sort of jump on, do a race, it takes like 10-20 minutes or something.
(0:03:40) Jonnie: And then it’s kind of just a nice little reset. So I probably won’t stick with it for that long because it’s just on Game Pass, which is nice.
(0:03:48) Jonnie: And Game Pass continues to just be awesome.
(0:03:51) Codey: Yeah, I agree. So I have been, I got it, gosh, I got it for, actually I got it for Farming Simulator with you.
(0:03:59) Codey: And then I forgot to get rid of it, and then I was looking at what was available on it,
(0:04:04) Codey: and I saw that things like Disney Dreamlight Valley, Menacos Night Market, Coral Island,
(0:04:09) Codey: like all of these different things were available on it.
(0:04:11) Codey: And so I was like, hmm, well, guess I’m gonna stick with Game Pass for a while, because it is really nice.
(0:04:17) Codey: nice. It’s giving the opportunity to play.
(0:04:21) Codey: Do you play Trackmania?
(0:04:22) Jonnie: Yeah, and it’s just a nice way to to try some stuff out right without expending a bunch of money
(0:04:28) Codey: Do you play Trackmania?
(0:04:30) Jonnie: I do not play track mania. I feel like I need to look up track mania
(0:04:31) Codey: Okay. So Trackmania is kind of like what you’re saying, like it’s a race style game that’s not, it doesn’t feel like an arcade style.
(0:04:43) Codey: It feels like kind of more of a real thing, but you’re basically racing against your own time.
(0:04:49) Codey: time. You know now that I’m talking about
(0:04:50) Jonnie: Ooh, okay.
(0:04:51) Codey: it it sounds like an arcade one but it does it it feels really cool and there are whole there are streamers that play trackmania that have like setups that mimic cars that do like the pedals actually like are pressure sensed so they’ll like gas as much as they as they push and stuff like that it gets really crazy so there’s a decent amount of people out there doing it I believe it’s free that’s pretty cool
(0:05:20) Jonnie: I might have to give that a go.
(0:05:21) Codey: Yeah, definitely.
(0:05:24) Jonnie: But yeah, other than that, I haven’t been gaming too much, so that’s where I’m at. Cody, what have you been up to?
(0:05:30) Codey: I have been playing Disney Dreamlight Valley surprise surprise, but also my Tetris game as always
(0:05:40) Codey: Hilariously I think over the last
(0:05:44) Codey: Two days I’m loading it right now. I am almost at a million points
(0:05:51) Codey: 986,000 points and
(0:05:53) Codey: There is a cruise available right now. That is one and a half million
(0:05:58) Codey: They have a thing going on right now where you get five times bonus points. I honestly have no idea. But I’m getting like five times the amount of VIP points that I have been. I don’t know, it’s like a whole other thing. So I’ve been playing quite a bit and I went from I think I was like five hundred fifty thousand about a week ago and I’ve just been Tetris-ing up a storm. So that’s exciting. Crews on the horizon. I did calculate it. So the
(0:06:31) Codey: points pay for the cabin, which is about a thousand dollars. But I still have to pay a lot of money.
(0:06:38) Codey: So it’s not like it’s a free, it’s not a free cruise. No, I always want to have that cruise in my back pocket. But yeah, so this… Well, you say Tetris-cult, there’s…
(0:06:42) Jonnie: See, this is how they get you.
(0:06:46) Jonnie: Cody, I feel like we might need an intervention.
(0:06:56) Jonnie: Well, you and your titress cult seem to be going well.
(0:07:00) Codey: it’s a cult of one. I don’t know anyone else that I’ve gotten into this game. I don’t… like everyone just makes fun of me for it. And I’m spitefully going to play it more because of that.
(0:07:12) Jonnie: Sorry, the Tetris cult that you are blindfully a part of and haven’t realized yet.
(0:07:15) Codey: Oh, okay, cool. Yes. If you are also part of the Tetris cult, please, please reach for it. Reach out.
(0:07:20) Codey: I would… I don’t… I don’t want to be alone in the Tetris cult. Yeah, so that’s… I mean,
(0:07:29) Codey: And those are, I’ve been playing.
(0:07:30) Codey: I’ve been really focused on research and life, life stuff, so, um, yeah, that’s what we’ve been playing.
(0:07:40) Jonnie: All right, well, shall we… yeah, shall we talk about some news?
(0:07:41) Codey: Woo.
(0:07:42) Codey: Yeah, we should.
(0:07:44) Codey: Well, so some of it, um, NPR put out their best new games, 2023 article.
(0:07:46) Jonnie: Because it’s been two days, so there’s only like, you know, an hour’s worth of news here to talk about.
(0:07:56) Codey: The article is linked in the show notes.
(0:07:58) Codey: It’s games.
(0:07:59) Codey: I think for all it’s
(0:08:00) Codey: it’s not just Xbox PlayStation and Nintendo. I think it also has like Steam games and stuff on it.
(0:08:07) Codey: But so each they basically NPR went around to a bunch of their
(0:08:13) Codey: production people like the people who make NPR run and asked them for game recommendations and what games they thought were the best games of this year. And some of the games include things that like that you would expect like Baldur’s Gate. But there were also some that were games that we have covered on this pod.
(0:08:30) Codey: And I think it’s nice to just shout them out a little bit.
(0:08:34) Codey: So first we have Terranil, which was recommended by Alex Curley,
(0:08:38) Codey: who is the product manager in distribution.
(0:08:41) Codey: Chia by Graham– oh, Raboon.
(0:08:46) Codey: I’m going to butcher half these names.
(0:08:48) Jonnie: Sure
(0:08:49) Codey: A software engineer in publishing, Venba,
(0:08:52) Codey: which was suggested by Rakisha Chase-Jackson,
(0:08:56) Codey: who’s the project manager and member partnership.
(0:08:57) Codey: Hello Kitty Ireland adventure suggested by
(0:09:00) Codey: Nina Phil project coordinator and training and then we have a couple here that have like
(0:09:05) Codey: because each of these they don’t just like say the name they also have like kind of a little blurb about the game um and recommending it and some of the blurbs had some pretty funny things so I have a couple that I pulled out here so Fey Farm which we did the Fey Farm episode didn’t we um I was about to say you did that episode I’m like no no I was also there um Arfy Getty the producer of one
(0:09:22) Jonnie: We did.
(0:09:31) Codey: said quote but while Fey Farm nails many elements of cozy games it doesn’t compare to Stardew Valley’s deep cast of characters to court and befriend Azoria’s residents ring hollow with extremely repetitive dialogue if I hear quote I’m looking forward to planting my spring crops one more time I’ll snap though the game doesn’t offer many surprises I still find myself coming back to it um I think I remember you saying this right that you thought that the characters were very two-dimensional.
(0:09:58) Jonnie: Hey.
(0:10:00) Jonnie: Two-dimensional, and I think I kind of came to that realization on like day one.
(0:10:05) Jonnie: So, for me reading this I was like, yes, that is exactly how I feel about a farm.
(0:10:12) Jonnie: Though I don’t know that since we did that episode I felt a strong pull to go back to that game,
(0:10:17) Jonnie: because it’s kind of like a pretty exterior. But as Aafi says, it’s hollow on the inside.
(0:10:24) Codey: Oh no. My comment for this is that it seems like a bad relationship. Can someone please check on Arfy for us? Thank you. And I will be checking on Johnny. Nina Phil recommended still the project coordinator from training. Also recommended Meneko’s Night Market. And I loved her blurb here. Quote, “There are so.many.cats.” First you have to evade the the secretive suit-clad agent.
(0:10:54) Codey: the suit-made agent.
(0:11:20) Jonnie: Or alternatively listen to the episode that is it Kevin now who who did the minifres night market episode
(0:11:24) Codey: Mm-hm.
(0:11:27) Jonnie: It’s it’s a great cozy little game. I I agree with pretty much everything That was that was said here except I kind of now want to see the vomiting of hairballs on screen That sounds kind of funny to be honest
(0:11:27) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:11:36) Codey: No, I’m good.
(0:11:39) Codey: Do you have you owned a cat ever?
(0:11:41) Codey: Okay, that is like the one thing I always love like my dogs.
(0:11:47) Codey: I I’ll sleep through anything.
(0:11:49) Codey: I will sleep through my dog like, like literally like ripping apart an entire toilet paper roll before I’ve done that like I’ve woken up and been like, it looks like a toilet paper roll just like exploded in my room.
(0:12:06) Codey: I’ll sleep through a lot of things, but cats throwing up is not one of them.
(0:12:12) Jonnie: Mean it’s not great, but that’s kind of why I want to see it in a game like this because I think it’d be pretty funny
(0:12:18) Codey: It would be cute if it was if they were vomit if they were if it was a cute hairball, but it’s really hard to make that cute.
(0:12:26) Codey: Um, though if they could minute the people at Meneco would be able to do it.
(0:12:32) Codey: of seasons a wonderful life. So our last two blurbs come from back.
(0:12:36) Codey: Becky Brown, Becky, you, you nail in this, uh, broadcast recording technician. Um, first one was for story of seasons, wonderful life. Quote, I am more romantically attracted to the games spreadsheets than any of its wooden bachelor or bachelorettes who never changed their small talk even after you dutifully court them for three months with milk, soup and old coins. The obligatory divinely delivered child that you produce with your chosen spouse
(0:13:06) Codey: or conversation. But remember, if you’d like to encourage their artistic talent, refuse any physical affection and schedule the play dates with the local pyrotechnics. Pyro technicians.
(0:13:18) Codey: Like your child communicates so well that if you want them to be an artist that you have to like send them off to the, the local emos. Okay.
(0:13:22) Jonnie: I mean, I love this description, it’s so good.
(0:13:32) Jonnie: I mean, that’s how good artists get made, right?
(0:13:36) Codey: You have to have some sort of solitude, some sort of deep. Yeah, for sure. Uh, and then Becky’s final suggestion was Moonstone Island. Quote, whatever genre mashup Moonstone Island may present itself as it’s ultimately a floating islands creature collector. Such a burn. Like,
(0:13:56) Codey: I mean, she still recommended it. It’s so it’s like a burn, but it’s also, it’s like a self, it’s like a self aware burn of like, I’m playing this game. I recommend this game,
(0:14:06) Codey: like it’s doing. And I’m just going to tell you, this is what it’s doing. So.
(0:14:08) Jonnie: Right?
(0:14:10) Jonnie: I feel like that’s so many cottagecore games in 2023 though, right? They’re like,
(0:14:14) Jonnie: “We are a dick building, cozy, farm, life sim, MMO, RPG,
(0:14:21) Jonnie: roguelite.” And it’s just like, just be one of those. Just one. That’s all.
(0:14:22) Codey: Yep. And then, and then the DLC will add a rhythm based game, like the DLC will change something like change the game completely. So stupid.
(0:14:38) Codey: Yeah, so that was that. There are a bunch of other games that they suggest some of which are good games that I have played or seen and wanted to play.
(0:14:48) Codey: but obviously it was like 90 games or something.
(0:14:52) Codey: It was a lot of games on that list, so if you want to see what other games the NPR folks have, that link is in the show notes.
(0:15:00) Jonnie: And if you’re like me and surprised that MTS still exists.
(0:15:05) Codey: Does New Zealand not have an NPR?
(0:15:10) Jonnie: I mean, I feel like the era of NPR podcasts being the thing is dead, and the world is better for that.
(0:15:17) Codey: Well, it’s not just podcasts, so it’s just national public radio.
(0:15:17) Jonnie: I do not like their style of podcasts.
(0:15:26) Codey: I can tune into it on my car ride to school.
(0:15:28) Jonnie: Oh yeah, we definitely don’t have that. That’s another thing.
(0:15:30) Codey: Okay.
(0:15:31) Codey: Yeah, because it’s something I listen to on my car ride.
(0:15:35) Codey: They have podcasts or certain section segments of NPR that they put out in a podcast form,
(0:15:45) Codey: but it is not solely podcasts.
(0:15:47) Codey: It’s for me, it’s mostly “Wow, it’s eight and I’m driving to school. Let me see what’s on the news.”
(0:15:55) Codey: And two seconds later I’m like, “That’s enough.”
(0:15:59) Jonnie: Yeah news is depressing except for the news that we have because you know our news is very uplifting
(0:16:00) Codey: The world sucks.
(0:16:04) Codey: Like the Game Awards?
(0:16:05) Jonnie: This is this is just be our only news source. Well, I say that and then we go into the game awards, which you know Game Awards sucks. So
(0:16:12) Codey: Yeah, uh game awards were yesterday Baldur’s Gate seemed to sweep I actually didn’t even see if they won best game or anything, but I’m assuming so they I was scrolling through to find
(0:16:22) Codey: Anything that’s relevant to this to this podcast and I was like baldur gate. Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep, but
(0:16:30) Codey: for the games for impact category, which is a category that is
(0:16:35) Codey: The winner is a thought-provoking game with a pro social meaning or message the winner with this year was Chia
(0:16:42) Codey: so awesome Chia is the
(0:16:44) Codey: super cute little game set in New Caledon.
(0:16:47) Codey: and it has a lot of culturally aware and culturally relevant material from New Caledonia and that’s awesome.
(0:16:55) Codey: So yay Chia, good job.
(0:16:58) Jonnie: I refuse to acknowledge the game awards.
(0:17:01) Codey: Okay, cool.
(0:17:04) Codey: Cool. The Game Awards, you mean Moonstone Island, which is our next piece of news.
(0:17:10) Jonnie: Yes, yes.
(0:17:10) Codey: We honestly should have put the Game Awards before the NPR thinks then the Moonstone Island news would have flowed seamlessly.
(0:17:15) Codey: Al if you can just like
(0:17:17) Codey: Do some edit wizardry editing. No, don’t do that
(0:17:22) Codey: This island has a new free update and paid DLC coming
(0:17:27) Codey: Paid DLC is called December lovely cozies, which is
(0:17:30) Jonnie: Yeah, I feel like every time I’m on an episode Moonstone Island just has more DLC coming out. So I
(0:17:38) Jonnie: Think it’s cool that they have kind of that constant stream of stuff and they seem to be doing a balance between
(0:17:45) Jonnie: free and paid which I think is is cool, so
(0:17:50) Jonnie: Great. I haven’t I haven’t dipped into Moonstone Island at all. I don’t know if you have
(0:17:54) Codey: Nope. Nope.
(0:17:56) Jonnie: But yeah, it seems it seems like they’re putting stuff out so
(0:18:00) Jonnie: maybe that’s something we will get to in 2027 when some space frees up in our respective gaming calendars
(0:18:06) Codey: You think I’ll be available then? I’m booking out to 2030.
(0:18:09) Jonnie: One of us one of us one of us might be a
(0:18:12) Codey: That’s true, that’s true. I will say the snowboard in the paid DLC, paid DLC is just $3.99 USD.
(0:18:19) Codey: The snowboard looks pretty cool, especially if you can change the color of the snowboard. I’m not a big pink human, but being able to have a snowboard in a game is kind of unique,
(0:18:31) Codey: especially if it allows you to move faster or something.
(0:18:36) Codey: And then the free DLC includes festive decorations, more ice spirits, you can name your spirits, and even bigger barn owl and caps, and a bunch of different things. So if you are playing Moonstone Island and you maybe like we’re taking a break because you’ve done everything, here you go. This is coming, it’s already out. It’s already out. Well it’s the next news item that you know more
(0:19:02) Jonnie: - Correct.
(0:19:05) Jonnie: Next news item is Dredge and Dave the Diver are doing a crossover.
(0:19:10) Jonnie: So to be clear, this is DLC for Dave the Diver and it’s a crossover with Dredge.
(0:19:16) Jonnie: So for those that don’t remember,
(0:19:18) Jonnie: you can go back and listen to the Dredge episodes that Kev and I did earlier this year as part of fishing month.
(0:19:25) Jonnie: But Dredge is the sort of Lovecraftian horror of fishing game.
(0:19:29) Jonnie: And now that’s bleeding its way in.
(0:19:32) Jonnie: I’m going to play it again to Dave the Diver, which is concerning, because Dave the Diver does not seem like the sort of game that Lovecraftian horror is necessarily a great fit, but it is a great fit in terms of that, you know, indie game sort of doing cool DLC that sort of takes the game in a different direction.
(0:19:52) Jonnie: I haven’t had a chance to play Dave the Diver yet, and this kind of just reminded me that I want to play Dave the Diver, but it doesn’t necessarily make me want to play it.
(0:20:02) Jonnie: More, even though it’s a cool crossover. And I just like to see, you know, different developers kind of working with each other and, you know, utilizing their brand awareness to, you know, hopefully get more people playing more games, which is cool. So this looks cool.
(0:20:23) Codey: A lot of games do weird crossovers lately.
(0:20:29) Codey: Which in a couple of news items will be more relevant.
(0:20:35) Codey: Next news item is about Palia, which is a really cute little MMO.
(0:20:39) Codey: I believe it’s been out for a while.
(0:20:41) Jonnie: I have no idea.
(0:20:42) Jonnie: I forgot about this game until it popped up in the news.
(0:20:45) Codey: Pretty sure it’s been out for a while.
(0:20:46) Codey: Oh, there’s an open beta.
(0:20:48) Codey: So yeah, it’s the longest of open betos.
(0:20:53) Codey: You build a life with friends and are cozy sim MMO set in a high fantasy world.
(0:20:58) Codey: It’s gorgeous.
(0:20:59) Codey: It has a lot of ability to change things.
(0:21:05) Codey: What is it?
(0:21:06) Codey: Creativity?
(0:21:06) Jonnie: Just like, yeah, creativity and, you know, like, I think the thing that stood out is when they were decorating the house, you could like adjust things, it wasn’t just the four degrees or four, you know, rotations, you could rotate anything to any direction to lay out things in in a way that you really wanted to, which that really stood out to me.
(0:21:07) Codey: Creativity.
(0:21:28) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:21:29) Jonnie: Yeah, that looked awesome. I kind of forgot this game existed and and watching the trailer a gave
(0:21:36) Jonnie: me like strong World of Warcraft vibes, but like, you know, slightly more up to date art style. And it kind of just made me interested in the idea of a cozy MMO. Like, I don’t really understand how that would work. But I’m into the idea and I’m maybe keen to find out.
(0:21:58) Codey: Yeah, um, I am also interested in finding out so if you may have one play together and let me know.
(0:22:05) Codey: Um, and
(0:22:06) Jonnie: Hell yeah. Let’s do that. Let’s do that.
(0:22:08) Jonnie: Ah, do we actually say the news that it’s coming to Switch on the 14th of December?
(0:22:13) Codey: We’ll get to that eventually first let’s let’s come up with what day next week. Are you available? No, I’m kidding.
(0:22:19) Codey: So yeah, it’s coming to switch on December 14th and
(0:22:25) Codey: It’s you get specific Nintendo switch
(0:22:28) Codey: awards if you link your account and log on with Nintendo switch live you get a leap froggy outfit a mushroom glider and a froggy bucket I don’t know why they’re frog themed whatever available and that’s until January 14th 2024 so if you really want that froggy froggy outfit you gotta you gotta do it you got to get on it. They are cute little outfits, I’m not going to lie.
(0:22:58) Codey: Yeah, looks like a really cute game. So, is this game leaving early access? No idea.
(0:23:07) Codey: But, Palia, very cute.
(0:23:10) Jonnie: Yeah, I think you’re more excited about this next news item than I am, so why don’t you-
(0:23:15) Codey: I mean, I’m not excited at all. I think both of us were like, “Ugh.”
(0:23:24) Jonnie: Correct.
(0:23:25) Codey: R has been 64 is now on Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.
(0:23:30) Codey: That’s it. That’s the news. The next thing, so this is going back to cool crossovers
(0:23:37) Codey: and questionable crossovers. Lego Fortnite.
(0:23:40) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:23:42) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:23:44) Jonnie: I, so I’ve never been a Fortniter.
(0:23:48) Jonnie: I’ve never played Fortnite.
(0:23:50) Jonnie: I’ve never had any interest in playing Fortnite.
(0:23:53) Jonnie: I really, really wanna play this.
(0:23:55) Jonnie: It looks friggin’ awesome.
(0:23:58) Jonnie: Like, it makes so much sense.
(0:24:00) Jonnie: Like, so, like, first of all,
(0:24:03) Jonnie: before we get too much into this,
(0:24:05) Jonnie: is this like out now?
(0:24:06) Jonnie: ‘Cause that’s the, the trailer is like,
(0:24:08) Jonnie: “Hey, just find it in Fortnite.”
(0:24:10) Jonnie: So I assume this is out now.
(0:24:11) Jonnie: That’s my assumption, right?
(0:24:12) Jonnie: I’m gonna log off this call I’m gonna go download Fortnite.
(0:24:14) Jonnie: That’s what I’m doing. Is that right?
(0:24:15) Codey: Well, don’t do that.
(0:24:19) Codey: Seeing as how there’s a LEGO Fortnite status Twitter page.
(0:24:27) Codey: I think it is. I think it is.
(0:24:30) Jonnie: Yeah, I’m so excited. So the trailer, basically like it’s just like now there is Minecraft in Fortnite and it’s LEGO. That’s what this is, right? And it makes so much sense, right? Like Fortnite has
(0:24:32) Codey: Oh my god.
(0:24:48) Jonnie: the infrastructure, the building mechanics, everything done. All they were missing is like
(0:24:55) Jonnie: What’s the reason? And then LEGO pops up and is like, “Hey, we exist.”
(0:25:00) Jonnie: And it just makes sense, like…
(0:25:04) Jonnie: And I would say, I was in the category of people that was like, “If you asked me yesterday, will you ever play Fortnite?”
(0:25:08) Codey: Why would I do that, no it’s disgusting.
(0:25:10) Jonnie: I would be like, “Hell no. Fortnite is a stupid game for stupid babies.”
(0:25:15) Jonnie: It’s gross. I don’t want to be associated with Fortnite.
(0:25:18) Jonnie: But all it took is LEGO, and now I am like, “I am in. I want to do this.”
(0:25:23) Codey: so the thing that gets me is that I will say I haven’t played fortnite in a hot in a hot minute
(0:25:30) Codey: but this doesn’t even this looks like this it it’s not fortnite yeah it’s minecraft lego with a fortnite skin
(0:25:37) Jonnie: It’s not Fortnite, it’s Minecraft with LEGO!
(0:25:46) Jonnie: Yeah, well, so I assume that this is kind of the next evolution of fortnight where the game itself is so popular
(0:25:52) Jonnie: using it as a base for
(0:25:54) Jonnie: Essentially new games like this just looks like a new game like this is not like oh if you’re in for if you like fortnight There’s now Lego fortnight. It’s like no. Do you like minecraft?
(0:26:04) Jonnie: If so download fortnight and play Lego Minecraft like this is this looks like it’s made for
(0:26:11) Jonnie: listeners of the harvest season because there’s there’s farming this building, you know
(0:26:16) Jonnie: Lego kind of gives it a more cozy vibe. Like I’m not really a minecraft person. I just never quite clicked with me I know you’re you’ve been a bit of a minecraft person
(0:26:25) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:26:26) Jonnie: So I feel like we’re just gonna get lost in this one. Like it’s just it’s inevitable This is this is what our lives are gonna be now like
(0:26:33) Jonnie: Palia yeah, we might try that but Lego fortnight. This is gonna be what we do for the next year of our lives
(0:26:37) Codey: Be careful how you say “our.”
(0:26:40) Codey: I’m… you’re…
(0:26:41) Jonnie: Look I know I know how you operate you’re gonna get sucked into this I guarantee
(0:26:45) Codey: I don’t… I don’t want to do this.
(0:26:48) Codey: So, Al wrote, “Fortnite is a farming game now, apparently.”
(0:26:51) Codey: I said, “How does this have anything to do with Fortnite?”
(0:26:54) Codey: Al said, “It is the game, Fortnite. It has something to do with it,
(0:26:58) Codey: in the same way that Jack Skellington has to do with Disney’s Dreamlight Valley.
(0:27:02) Codey: It is in the game.
(0:27:04) Codey: Lego Fortnite is part of Fortnite.
(0:27:07) Codey: Fortnite for some reason.
(0:27:09) Codey: The for some reason just got me.
(0:27:13) Codey: I could like read it in his words and like the sass.
(0:27:19) Codey: Cause he also wrote that comment at like very late last night.
(0:27:22) Codey: It was really funny.
(0:27:23) Codey: He’s just sick of my, sick of me, sick of my goober stuff.
(0:27:27) Codey: Yeah, I will watch, I’ll watch other people play it.
(0:27:28) Jonnie: Yeah, I’m excited for this stuff.
(0:27:31) Codey: But gosh, darn, I miss me with the epic.
(0:27:36) Jonnie: So you will live in denial for a few weeks and then eventually you will come over to the dark side.
(0:27:37) Codey: Okay, cool.
(0:27:44) Codey: I would also go over to the dark side for a clomper plushie,
(0:27:49) Codey: which is our next news item.
(0:27:54) Codey: Clomper and Glanter Plushes.
(0:27:57) Codey: These are, these are creatures from Ooblets.
(0:28:00) Codey: Those plushes are now available in the United States and they are joining Shrumbo.
(0:28:05) Codey: Clomper.
(0:28:07) Codey: Look at look at him’s little face. There is not a thought inside those eyes.
(0:28:14) Jonnie: I mean, I think the clump like I’m a no one ooblets hater, right?
(0:28:19) Jonnie: My problem is like I agree the clump of plush super cute when I saw in the news
(0:28:24) Jonnie: clumpering Glanta Plushers are out. I
(0:28:27) Jonnie: Couldn’t even give you a guess as to what they looked like until I clicked on the link and saw the picture like Shrumbo
(0:28:29) Codey: You were like, “Oh yeah, right, that one.”
(0:28:33) Jonnie: Shrumbo. Yeah, Shrumbo is the one name that like I was like, yeah, okay I think I’m pretty sure I know what Shrumbo is but I mean, come on like
(0:28:36) Codey: Yep, yep, very cute, very cute.
(0:28:42) Jonnie: Just do better ooblets do better
(0:28:44) Jonnie: But very cute.
(0:28:51) Codey: I just realized that these next items I didn’t, I don’t even know if there’s news about, I I don’t know what the news is or if they’re just new games that.
(0:28:59) Codey: Have recently been introduced and I believe that is the case.
(0:29:03) Codey: Okay, so we have.
(0:29:04) Jonnie: I believe that is the case. I don’t think we’ve talked about any of these.
(0:29:07) Codey: Yeah, I think that the last of the last one I added.
(0:29:11) Codey: And I believe it’s already out. So that one is going to be coming soon.
(0:29:16) Codey: Like I you will hear more about it.
(0:29:18) Codey: But these other three, these are new games that just just popped up on our horizon.
(0:29:23) Codey: So the first one is called loose leaf. It is a tea witch simulator.
(0:29:27) Codey: later.
(0:29:29) Codey: It looks really cute you it’s a very hyper-realistic tea brewing simulation
(0:29:34) Jonnie: yeah so I’m gonna call with heat hit peak which no more witches if you are working on a game we are at peak which we do not need any more witches do
(0:29:38) Codey: Peek with it
(0:29:43) Codey: So I mean I’m I agree I think that’s if they just said
(0:29:48) Codey: Brew tea and read folks Tarot’s like if they said the psychic simulator or something I would have been more the word which was in it and I was like miss me like miss
(0:30:00) Codey: Not interested. It looks really cute. I like the concept of
(0:30:04) Codey: reading people’s Tarot
(0:30:06) Codey: I am NOT a Tarot of human personally, but I did I have a friend who collects Tarot decks I believe that they’re gorgeous and I understand the usage of Tarot to self-reflect
(0:30:17) Codey: Because you can kind of read what you want
(0:30:19) Codey: Whenever you’re if you have something in mind, but you’re like not sure what you want
(0:30:24) Jonnie: Yeah, and I liked the I liked the look of this game. So I tried a few of the
(0:30:29) Jonnie: There was like those Bureau brewing sort of simulator games that came out in the last few years
(0:30:35) Jonnie: and None of them really clicked because they were sort of missing an interesting game
(0:30:40) Jonnie: Element where you were kind of just going through the motions to make a thing and then sell the thing and there was
(0:30:45) Jonnie: It’s kind of just missing that game aspect. I think the addition of that tarot card reading and the trailer sort of shows um
(0:30:54) Jonnie: you know some some activity that looks like you know you do some interpretation and and that being very tied to the tea that You’re brewing for your customer to me. It just was like oh, this feels like a more complete
(0:31:04) Jonnie: game experience that that does appeal to me I
(0:31:08) Codey: Yeah.
(0:31:09) Jonnie: Also, just really like vibe with them calling it the most in-depth tea brewing simulation ever like there is this plethora of tea brewing simulation out there
(0:31:16) Codey: Yeah.
(0:31:18) Codey: Yeah.
(0:31:20) Codey: It’s like it is the most in-depth shred junk mail simulator and turn shredded junk mail into planting planters to give to children and dogs simulator.
(0:31:36) Codey: It’s like, oh, there’s so many games that
(0:31:38) Codey: it’s scratching that itch.
(0:31:42) Codey: So, so goober.
(0:31:44) Codey: Also, the fact that they say ever makes me think that like what if someone comes out with a more in-depth one and then they have to make theirs more, more in-depth.
(0:31:52) Jonnie: Yeah But the release date on this one is to be announced so
(0:31:57) Jonnie: My guess would be probably not too late 2020 for early 2025 at the earliest
(0:32:02) Codey: Ooh we getting some some estimates from Johnny.
(0:32:06) Jonnie: Cody I think we have a problem
(0:32:08) Codey: What’s up? The next one?
(0:32:10) Jonnie: This this next game is gonna be a huge problem in my life
(0:32:15) Codey: Yeah literally my first comment is no this is dangerous.
(0:32:22) Jonnie: I saw that comment and I opened the link and I was like, “I don’t know, and this is fine.”
(0:32:26) Jonnie: And then I read about what is going on with this game and I was like, “Oh, oh no.”
(0:32:29) Codey: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(0:32:32) Codey: So this game is called “Rusty’s Retirement” and it’s on Steam. It’ll be available on Steam. It’s not available yet, but whenever it is, Lord help us all.
(0:32:41) Jonnie: Q1 2024.
(0:33:00) Codey: So this is like…
(0:33:03) Codey: Like, imagine you have a Chrome screen up.
(0:33:08) Codey: This is at the bottom of it.
(0:33:10) Codey: Perpetually.
(0:33:12) Codey: So you’re trying to work, you’re trying to code, you’re trying to write a paper,
(0:33:16) Codey: but you’re like, “Oh, my crops are ready.”
(0:33:18) Codey: “Oh, oh, my automation is… I need to ref… I need to fix that.”
(0:33:24) Codey: “Oh, I don’t like the way I organize.”
(0:33:27) Jonnie: We’re going to be sitting here recording episodes of the harvest season and it’s just going to be like five, five minutes of silence in the recording.
(0:33:30) Codey: playing
(0:33:32) Codey: I detect no lines yeah in this game it just looks so peaceful and pleasing and it looks like things are floating around I don’t even remember if there’s a but there oh yeah
(0:33:49) Jonnie: Yeah, no video yet, but coming out soon.
(0:33:51) Jonnie: And the thing that, you know, I’ve talked a few times about the idea of an idle farming game, you know, like a
(0:33:59) Jonnie: trims or something like that, and I think this is such a
(0:34:04) Jonnie: smart/evil way of doing something like this, where it’s just omnipresent on your screen.
(0:34:10) Jonnie: You can kind of just do it in the background, and I think this is, you know,
(0:34:14) Jonnie: the pixel art style in general is very overplayed in a cottagecore, but in this case,
(0:34:19) Jonnie: it makes a ton of sense, and I like the pixel art style. It does feel visually distinct from a lot of other games.
(0:34:25) Codey: Yeah, I love in their blurb they say multitasking.
(0:34:30) Codey: Rusty’s retirement is built to sit comfortably at the bottom of your screen,
(0:34:34) Codey: allowing you to do other tasks while caring for your farm.
(0:34:36) Codey: Zoom in or out for less distracting view,
(0:34:38) Codey: or alternatively, turn on focus mode,
(0:34:41) Codey: which slows down crop production.
(0:34:43) Codey: They don’t say turn the game off.
(0:34:45) Codey: They say turn on focus mode.
(0:34:48) Jonnie: We help you focus by making the game move slightly slower.
(0:34:51) Codey: It’ll move slower.
(0:34:53) Codey: We know you’re not gonna turn this game on.
(0:34:55) Codey: We know it. Oh my gosh, this game.
(0:34:59) Jonnie: The other thing I like is automation with robots.
(0:35:03) Jonnie: I think that’s such a cool way of doing automation and there’s a GIF part way down on the page that sort of shows all of the robots coming out from what looks like a shed to harvest crops or do a bunch of other things.
(0:35:15) Jonnie: And I’m just like, oh my God,
(0:35:17) Jonnie: This looks so visually…
(0:35:18) Jonnie: …satisfying for how this game is gonna play, so I’m afraid.
(0:35:27) Codey: I’m afraid.
(0:35:29) Codey: Ha ha, I’m in danger.
(0:35:37) Jonnie: Yeah, I just need to jam all of my productivity in now so that when this comes out, I, you know, I can, yep, yep.
(0:35:44) Codey: Don’t have to be productive
(0:35:48) Codey: Okay Two more games first one. I don’t have a lot to say about this home free quote developed by acorn lab
(0:35:56) Codey: Acorn land labs home free is a solar punk off-grid video game. That’s more than mere entertainment It’s a bridge to a possible future one where we might return where we return to the essence of living in harmony with nature
(0:36:07) Codey: Drawing direct inspiration from free life technologies this game offers an immersive guide to simpler sustainable and self-sufficient living
(0:36:14) Codey: Innovative methane digesters solar ovens efficient folder voltaics biomass heating
(0:36:19) Codey: Biogas cooking and elegant composting solutions all exist today explore them in home free
(0:36:28) Jonnie: Yeah, I don’t know that I have a huge amount to say either, like it’s cool to be sort of taking a sustainable approach and a look toward the future of what could be possible and using a game as a vehicle for making people aware of this sort of stuff, which is a cool thing to do.
(0:36:44) Jonnie: Um, but equally I think I think you need something more to kind of make a game like this land and I’ll just need to see more before it’s like actually something that interests me or not, but cool idea.
(0:36:56) Codey: Yeah. Yeah, for sure! And finally, the game that I have already purchased and just need to play,
(0:37:04) Codey: it’s called Bug and Seek. And I literally wrote, “I don’t care if this isn’t Cottagecore, this podcast is now Cottagecore Games and Bug Games for Cody.” So I guess I didn’t have to say that the Goblincore version of this podcast is the Cody season. We can just call it Bug Games for Cody.
(0:37:25) Codey: So yeah, Vug N Seek quote.
(0:37:26) Codey: Catch bugs and clues in this cozy bug catching sim creature collector styled like an 8-bit classic.
(0:37:33) Codey: You’ve bought the local bug museum, abandoned after a mysterious robbery.
(0:37:38) Codey: Fill orders, build your collection, and upgrade your skills and equipment while exploring Bugberg and uncovering its secrets.
(0:37:49) Codey: As someone who works in a museum.
(0:37:49) Jonnie: I like the idea that you own the museum. That’s a very cool thing to me.
(0:37:56) Codey: And would not be an insect museum and would not be upset to continue to do that as a career.
(0:38:06) Codey: I color me intrigued.
(0:38:08) Jonnie: Yeah, and I’m just watching the trailer for it now.
(0:38:12) Jonnie: And it looks like that there is incentive to catch bugs multiple times, which–
(0:38:21) Jonnie: and what I mean by that is in games like Animal Crossing or Coral Island or whatever where they have bug catching,
(0:38:27) Jonnie: you catch the bug the first time and you donate it to the museum.
(0:38:29) Jonnie: And then after that, it’s just like, hey,
(0:38:31) Jonnie: now it’s a source of money.
(0:38:34) Jonnie: But it looks like they’re tying some sort of leveling up or skills.
(0:38:38) Jonnie: This is just a cool little idea. I think it’s only out on Steam currently.
(0:38:46) Codey: Yeah, but it is on Steam, Mac and Windows, so I’m buying it because I can play it on my Mac.
(0:38:55) Codey: So that when I am doing bug science and then I need a break, I can play.
(0:39:03) Codey: Yeah, that was all the news. A lot of news, but we can shift on over to our main topic of Second Harvest of Disney Dreamlight Valley.
(0:39:15) Al From The Future: Hi listeners, just a very quick note from Al from the future here.
(0:39:20) Al From The Future: This episode, this discussion of Disney Dreamlight Valley does include some
(0:39:26) Al From The Future: reasonably heavy topics, so if you’re not emotionally in a place to deal with those sorts of things, then just bear that in mind.
(0:39:34) Al From The Future: On with the topic.
(0:39:36) Codey: I will mention that this game was already the topic of a podcast called “I Listened to Goofy” on October 19th, 2022, and that had Alan Johnny.
(0:39:52) Codey: And so if you want to hear kind of like, how does this game play, how does it, what are the benefits, like, what are our goals?
(0:40:06) Codey: Or our, like, critical review of it or whatever, that’s where you’d find that. This is kind of us just, like, talking about the game on a more casual, less structured way.
(0:40:16) Codey: I have some thoughts that I, and questions that I’ve written down, and I also have notes that I, like, on the, uh, what are these things? Show notes.
(0:40:26) Codey: Uh, but also in a physical form that I can read through and look through.
(0:40:32) Codey: Um, but also just hearing what Johnny’s thoughts are, uh, a year.
(0:40:36) Codey: Um, and are you, are you still playing a Disney dream in my Valley?
(0:40:40) Jonnie: So over the course of the year, I’ve kind of like dipped in and out as content has come out.
(0:40:47) Jonnie: I think what they’re going for is a game that kind of wants you to check in daily.
(0:40:54) Jonnie: I don’t find that’s how I want to play this game.
(0:40:58) Jonnie: I find I want to play it for like, you know, intensely for like a week or two and churn through a bunch of the content and then put it back down.
(0:41:07) Jonnie: So that’s probably more what I’ve been doing over the course of the year.
(0:41:10) Jonnie: I’ll play it a lot for a week and then I’ll put it down for a week.
(0:41:18) Codey: I mean that’s I feel like that’s a good way to play it as well. It’s like
(0:41:23) Codey: You know you play the content that’s available and then but they’re they’re releasing a good amount of stuff like consistently
(0:41:32) Codey: So you’re not like really ever bored
(0:41:36) Codey: too too much and I think another benefit of playing daily because there are
(0:41:41) Codey: kind of like in Animal Crossing where
(0:41:45) Codey: There’s like the money rock every day or whatever.
(0:41:48) Codey: Right? Like a rock. One rock that you hit with the shovel and then it just will give you a heck ton of bells.
(0:41:52) Codey: This has similar things.
(0:41:56) Codey: There’s like the night thorns. There’s always at least one night thorn that has popped up overnight that just gives out a heck ton of coins.
(0:42:04) Codey: So you can like find that and get rid of the night thorn.
(0:42:08) Codey: Gear Valley.
(0:42:10) Jonnie: I just think, you know, my reflection, you know, since we recorded the first episode on on what I like about this game is it’s not, it doesn’t hit the same parts of my brain as a game like Animal Crossing, that’s like I’m much more driven by the character story quest side of this game than I am the daily chicken, life sim aspect of this game, which I think is why I don’t like,
(0:42:40) Jonnie: stuff absolutely exists. And it’s, you know, I think that’s what they’re going for is that daily chicken style. That’s just not the part that this game hits for me.
(0:42:52) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah, what is it? Like what is the appeal of it for you then?
(0:42:57) Jonnie: It’s the characters, right?
(0:42:59) Jonnie: So the way I think the characters interact in this game is magical.
(0:43:07) Jonnie: To me, that’s the real highlight of the game.
(0:43:10) Jonnie: And it’s not just, oh, I have nostalgia for this series of Disney characters.
(0:43:17) Jonnie: And it’s a fun way to interact with them.
(0:43:19) Jonnie: It’s actually that the Disney characters from different properties interact with each other in ways that are really thoughtful.
(0:43:27) Jonnie: Um, and add a lot to those characters and what you like about characters.
(0:43:33) Jonnie: And for some that you potentially don’t know as well, um, kind of present them in a way that makes them, you know, it makes you want to go and watch a movie about them.
(0:43:42) Jonnie: So, so an example of that is, um, uh, as part of Skaar’s storyline, he’s, you know,
(0:43:49) Jonnie: on the hunt for food and Remy keeps trying to find food for him to cook.
(0:43:53) Jonnie: But obviously being a life-some game, there’s not a strong focus on meat
(0:43:57) Jonnie: of fish, right? It’s not like you can just go and kill a cow and get a steak.
(0:44:01) Jonnie: That’s what Skaar wants.
(0:44:02) Jonnie: And Remy interacting with Skaar is not something that I ever had on my bingo card.
(0:44:04) Codey: Mm-hmm
(0:44:08) Jonnie: I’ve never watched Ratatouille.
(0:44:10) Jonnie: But this made me want to, you know, this made me want to go and watch Ratatouille after seeing them interact and have the storyline together.
(0:44:11) Codey: Right
(0:44:17) Codey: Yeah Yeah, I think gosh, I can’t remember what the what the ones for me were
(0:44:25) Codey: Maybe it’s like Merlin and Ariel
(0:44:28) Codey: Or like no, it was Ursula and stitch. I
(0:44:32) Codey: I think, because Ursula…
(0:44:34) Codey: …hates Stitch and Stitch ends up going and apologizing to Ursula because he’s, you know, annoyed her or whatever.
(0:44:42) Codey: And I was like, “This is crazy.”
(0:44:45) Jonnie: Right?
(0:44:48) Codey: And the characters are so genuine.
(0:44:50) Codey: Like, and they don’t make the villains like a good guy.
(0:44:56) Codey: Like, they’re still pretty clearly a villain.
(0:45:00) Codey: Um, pretty clearly, I mean, they try and-
(0:45:04) Codey: like, help the- the- with, uh, keeping the- the- the Valley alive or whatever, like, they- they’ll help a little bit, and you can, like, befriend them and stuff, but-
(0:45:16) Codey: like, Scar isn’t- there’s, like, one moment where I- I- I thought he was trying to poison me.
(0:45:22) Codey: Um, you know, stuff like that, and it was like, “Oh, you! I got my eye on you!”
(0:45:28) Jonnie: Yeah, it’s a sky roll all the time is like are you sure you’re the right person to be in charge cuz I’m really really good At being a charge
(0:45:34) Codey: I could be better. Oh, I tried to poison you. Oh, I thought that would work.
(0:45:41) Codey: And then I could be in charge. It’s like, excuse?
(0:45:46) Codey: Yeah, so I guess, so you’ve hit credits. Okay. I have not hit credits. The story kind of like
(0:45:57) Codey: in the Valley, you come to it and they, everyone keeps talking about this ruler that used to exist.
(0:46:02) Codey: Um…
(0:46:04) Codey: I guess here is a mild spoiler, I don’t know how spoiler we want to get and I obviously like I don’t want you to spoil the ending for me so like we’re like spoiling like kind of midway.
(0:46:16) Codey: Um…
(0:46:16) Codey: You were the ruler?
(0:46:18) Codey: Uh…
(0:46:20) Codey: But part of you, like your inner child, like ripped itself out of you?
(0:46:28) Codey: Um… and that part of you has a lot of bad feelings and negative thoughts.
(0:46:34) Codey: And you are trying to help heal that part of you.
(0:46:38) Codey: And it was… man there was like what? There was literally a part, oh my gosh I took a picture.
(0:46:44) Codey: There was literally a part where I was playing and it like is going to go into the backstory of the character.
(0:46:52) Codey: Um… like into your history.
(0:46:54) Codey: And it literally gives you like a content warning.
(0:47:00) Codey: Um…
(0:47:02) Codey: If you’re scrolling back through to where…
(0:47:04) Jonnie: Yeah, that part of the game is sort of the main story that revolves around your character, I think is exceptionally well done, particularly for, you know, likely people that are listening to this podcast, right, because a lot of us have the connection to these characters from our childhood.
(0:47:24) Jonnie: And I think the fact that you were the past ruler is not a spoiler. I think you pick that up in sort of the first 10 minutes of the game. It’s heavily implied.
(0:47:30) Codey: okay okay well because because people are like I don’t know where the ruler went you look really familiar and it’s like okay
(0:47:34) Jonnie: Right. That. Yeah, so it’s not revealed but it’s very heavily foreshadowed very early on in the game but I think it’s and in the story of that, you know, this being an important part of your youth and reconnecting with the characters, but in a slightly different way is a really great storyline.
(0:47:58) Jonnie: It’s also presented in a way that doesn’t I think like it’s not like the game I don’t think wouldn’t land for you know younger players that they may not pick up on all of the aspects but I don’t think it’s presented in a way where they would be like not having fun with the game you know like little things like the night thorns effectively or the overall thing that’s happening is called the forgettening or something right which which you know you can pretty cut represents you know you as the character sort of forgetting about
(0:48:34) Jonnie: this aspect of your childhood or becoming more distant from it and a lot of the negative things in the world being sort of the result of you becoming distant from from Disney and from these characters so I think it’s just a really good setup and one of the things that stands out to me so would have been really easy for it to come across as like kind of hokey or cliche And it doesn’t like it sometimes it gets
(0:48:59) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:49:04) Jonnie: close to that line particularly with characters like Mickey and Minnie and Goofy because they’re kind of just like overly earnest characters anyway but as you progress through the game like I think the story is handled really really
(0:49:16) Codey: well even like those characters are positive and like they just have this like never-ending like enthusiasm and stuff but like
(0:49:25) Codey: they do The people that designed this game do them pretty dirty
(0:49:30) Codey: Because it starts off and Mickey’s in the world But he can’t find Minnie and then she’s like kind of a ghost for a while and then you finally like
(0:49:42) Codey: Make her real again, but she doesn’t remember anything. She doesn’t know who Mickey is
(0:49:46) Codey: So imagine like missing the person you love and then you finally find them, and they’re just like who you?
(0:49:56) Codey: Oh my gosh, so I found I found the thing so when you’re doing these forgotten memory quests You’re basically like trying to regain your your memories
(0:50:04) Codey: as the
(0:50:07) Codey: The other version of you is called the forgotten
(0:50:10) Codey: And it says the take care the forgotten memories quests deal with some difficult emotions and themes such as sadness loneliness
(0:50:16) Codey: Anger if you’re not in the right space to deal with these themes consider returning to your village
(0:50:22) Codey: Until you feel prepared to face them, so it’s basically the game being like if you can’t do this right now
(0:50:30) Codey: Go go fish for a bit go play with your villagers for a bit like you don’t have to do this
(0:50:36) Codey: But it helps you kind of understand like why the forgotten became the forgotten and I think that’s another thing that’s really important is you know some of us go to places in our lives and we
(0:50:47) Codey: Like are really harsh critics of ourselves
(0:50:51) Codey: Because we’re not where we think we should be or whatever or we’ve made a lot of mistakes
(0:50:59) Codey: But that happens and sometimes you need to revisit those moments and have grace and compassion for yourself
(0:51:04) Codey: And when you as you revisit them you kind of come back and you talk to someone about them And they’re like what did you learn and you’re like?
(0:51:11) Codey: Wow, this person’s really sad
(0:51:14) Codey: And sometimes it do be that way
(0:51:16) Jonnie: Yeah, I agree. I think like so for me yet like I think the the story is is what goes best And you mentioned you know the the Mickey mini storyline the another one. That’s sort of in a similar vein
(0:51:30) Jonnie: Is the
(0:51:33) Jonnie: Anna and
(0:51:36) Jonnie: What’s what’s his name his name is just walked out of my brain
(0:51:39) Jonnie: Kristoff we’re at one point in order to save the Valley
(0:51:46) Jonnie: I have to forget or she has to forget that Sheila
(0:51:48) Codey: He has to give up his love for her.
(0:51:51) Codey: Yeah.
(0:51:52) Jonnie: Yeah, that’s right he has to give up his love for her and
(0:51:55) Jonnie: And they do it on the basis that they believe that they will sort of
(0:52:00) Jonnie: Refine each other and and reconnect and you’re just like oh my god. This is like
(0:52:07) Jonnie: It’s a it’s a pretty rough story like and
(0:52:12) Jonnie: You know of people making the right decision and sacrificing
(0:52:16) Jonnie: for the greater good and kind of having trust that things will work out and
(0:52:22) Codey: And that you will fix things.
(0:52:25) Codey: Like that it’s not…
(0:52:25) Jonnie: yep. I think it’s just not what I was expecting because for me the sort of core of Cottage Core games is like Laxson where everything sort of revolves around the player character and your present just always makes things better and while that is generally the direction
(0:52:27) Codey: Yeah.
(0:52:46) Jonnie: of stories within Disney Dreamlight Valley there are times where things get worse which is not commonly done and I think that’s what really distinguishes this game from the rest and it’s not like things get worse in the whole you know the the valley blows up and everything’s really bad but it’s more like worse on the personal level which hits way harder right because it’s like things are worse for this individual character.
(0:53:08) Codey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So another thing that you do as you go through the world is like you’re finding these letters written by the previous ruler who is you and some of them hit a little too hard. Like one of them you find it and it’s so some of them are like you find it this page of this journal or whatever and it’s like I really like Mickey’s house it really feels like it’s his house or like in Minnie’s house it’s like Minnie always makes the best muffins or something.
(0:53:38) Codey: like that like it’s all like really cute cute like ways that you’ve connected with the characters but then there’s some like these two that I have loneliness is safe if I am alone then no one can ever leave me again it’s only when the lights are on that I realize that my life is dark in here I’m safe Like, holy crap.
(0:53:54) Jonnie: Jesus.
(0:53:56) Jonnie: Ho!
(0:53:56) Jonnie: Ho!
(0:54:05) Jonnie: Yeah, I just…
(0:54:08) Codey: Like, this game.
(0:54:12) Codey: Well, and so, and I was telling some of my friends about it, I was like, “This game goes hard for no reason.”
(0:54:18) Codey: And they were like, “Have you ever seen a Disney movie?”
(0:54:20) Codey: Because they do. I mean, Disney movies hit you hard. They hit you emotionally.
(0:54:26) Codey: They go through these themes of loss and trauma and everything.
(0:54:32) Codey: But when you think of a Disney game, I’m not thinking of that trauma.
(0:54:36) Codey: I’m thinking of, I’m gonna play.
(0:54:38) Codey: I’m gonna play with some Disney characters and it’s gonna be fun and I’m gonna make Maui help me fish.
(0:54:45) Jonnie: Yeah, and you kind of just made something click for me is that I think the difference is
(0:54:51) Jonnie: Yes, Disney movies address those themes, but those are other characters that that’s happening, too
(0:54:56) Jonnie: What this game is doing is they are putting that those themes in
(0:55:03) Jonnie: For you right and they’re very relatable. Yeah from your perspective right you normally when those themes of loss or
(0:55:04) Codey: from your perspective, yeah.
(0:55:10) Jonnie: Whatever it might be is happening. It’s happening to another character. These are related
(0:55:15) Jonnie: themes that the majority of people will relate to or have related to at some point in their life. And the game is explicitly kind of writing down your thoughts, your emotions on this stuff. That’s what makes it, I think, hit a lot harder, is you’re not observing this happening to someone else. This is happening to you, by you, from you. Yeah.
(0:55:42) Codey: Yep.
(0:55:44) Codey: And we’ve all had this stuff happen.
(0:55:46) Codey: We’ve all had moments in our lives where we’re like, I’ve been hurt by someone.
(0:55:51) Codey: I just kind of don’t want to connect with anyone ever again so that I won’t get hurt again.
(0:55:56) Codey: But even if those thoughts are fleeting,
(0:56:00) Codey: even if you think that for a split second and then you’re like, no, that’s not the way.
(0:56:05) Codey: I have people who care about me.
(0:56:06) Codey: This one human is not indicative of everyone, blah, blah,
(0:56:10) Codey: blah, blah.
(0:56:11) Codey: That thought still is rela–
(0:56:12) Codey: relatable.
(0:56:14) Codey: And it gives you empathy for your own character.
(0:56:21) Codey: And then while you’re doing that and you go through this game and this game is hurting you by having these emotions in it,
(0:56:30) Codey: you’re also encountering characters like Mirabelle.
(0:56:34) Codey: And she comes up and she’s like, you’re doing such a great job in the village.
(0:56:37) Codey: And then you walk by Mickey and he’s like,
(0:56:39) Codey: I am so happy to see you right now.
(0:56:42) Codey: And you have these genuine conversations with them that feel true to the character.
(0:56:47) Codey: This ain’t no– gosh, Faye Farm.
(0:56:50) Codey: This ain’t no Faye Farm.
(0:56:51) Codey: These are not hollow characters.
(0:56:54) Codey: These characters are real.
(0:56:56) Codey: Like, it is exactly what I would imagine Stitch says and how Stitch talks.
(0:57:02) Codey: And he’s concerned about his badness level,
(0:57:05) Codey: which is on par with his character.
(0:57:07) Codey: I will say a lot of them, what they’re going through is what, like.
(0:57:12) Codey: It’s not in the middle of their movies.
(0:57:14) Codey: It’s like after their movies.
(0:57:16) Codey: So, and the Frozen characters, for example, are after the two movies.
(0:57:20) Codey: So, um, it’s not, it’s not like you’re, you’re meeting, uh, Kristoff and Anna.
(0:57:28) Codey: And they haven’t met yet or something.
(0:57:30) Codey: Like it’s more than that, but it’s, it, oh.
(0:57:36) Jonnie: Yeah, and the thing is, for all of the varied emotions that this game makes you feel in the course of playing,
(0:57:43) Jonnie: I don’t think I ever left a session of playing the game feeling down, right?
(0:57:48) Jonnie: Like you said, you have those genuine conversations with characters in this game so frequently,
(0:57:54) Jonnie: that even when it has those moments of introspection or reflection, you bounce back really quick.
(0:58:01) Jonnie: um so I don’t know that i’ve ever left the game in a state where i’m like
(0:58:06) Jonnie: wow that’s really sitting with me in a negative way sometimes it kind of sat with me in a way that’s like it’s reflective and and nice but it was never um I never left the game sort of feeling
(0:58:18) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:58:20) Codey: Yeah.
(0:58:23) Codey: Yeah.
(0:58:25) Codey: I mean, I usually have to pull myself away from the game,
(0:58:28) Codey: because I am having too much fun.
(0:58:30) Codey: And I constantly have things to do.
(0:58:34) Codey: And I am always thinking about new ways that I could clean up the village.
(0:58:40) Codey: The rocks everywhere are my nemesis.
(0:58:42) Codey: I get rid of so many.
(0:58:43) Codey: Um…
(0:58:44) Jonnie: Well, so this is probably my least favorite aspect of the game,
(0:58:48) Codey: Okay.
(0:58:48) Jonnie: is living in the village itself.
(0:58:53) Jonnie: I find the way–
(0:58:54) Jonnie: so when villages move in, you have to place their house.
(0:58:57) Jonnie: At the start, that kind of is quite nice,
(0:58:59) Jonnie: and you can find places where the houses fit quite easily.
(0:59:04) Jonnie: Once you get up past like five or six villages,
(0:59:07) Jonnie: the houses are too big, and they kind of become an eyesore.
(0:59:11) Jonnie: like I ended up just using the sunlit plateau.
(0:59:12) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(0:59:14) Jonnie: It’s kind of like this dumping ground for houses because I didn’t know where to put them.
(0:59:20) Jonnie: So this this is the aspect of the game that really does not work for me is the actual sort of cozy life sim design the village, you know, all of that sort of stuff does not work for me in this.
(0:59:34) Codey: Yeah, I do agree like so I was originally trying to put the people where I think they’d want to be like so you know you get aerial and like obviously the ocean Ursula obviously the ocean and then it was like Donald Duck and I was like well it’s a boat and he’s a sailor ocean Moana well she’s going to want to live on the ocean Maui stitch like
(1:00:04) Codey: and then so I and those are most of the most of the ones I’ve placed they’re all in the on dazzle Beach because and I also just don’t really care because I don’t really like to go down there at all but like they’re all down there and then so at this point like if anyone else wants to I’ve only opened like four of the realms or something and so if anyone else wants to come I’m like whatever Remy’s house his whole
(1:00:30) Jonnie: You made his apartment building?
(1:00:34) Codey: apartment building like you can fit your house stacked three times on his house unnecessary and then you think you put everything in the right way and then someone else comes in you’re like well I have to put Minnie’s house by Mickey’s house so I have to change this yeah I don’t I’m not When I start placing more houses, I think they’re just gonna go wherever. Also, I don’t like how two characters from the same world are getting their own houses. Like, why can’t Moana live with Maui? Or vice versa. Like, figure it out.
(1:01:13) Codey: Um…
(1:01:13) Jonnie: I’m on the same page with that one. It’s yeah, it just it just doesn’t quite
(1:01:18) Jonnie: Work and I think there’s other aspects of it right like the just the way the camera works and the sort of visual style that I’ve gone for like I
(1:01:24) Jonnie: Get it. It just doesn’t it’s not as satisfying right like I I spent
(1:01:30) Jonnie: hours and days and weeks of my life designing my
(1:01:35) Jonnie: World in an animal crossing I
(1:01:39) Jonnie: Just don’t have the desire to do that in this game like the whole cause medic side of this game is just zero appeal to me and that extends to designing the interior of my own home, the outfits, all of those sorts of things that’s kind of meant to be sort of the fuel for the economy of this game. That side never, never really comes back.
(1:01:56) Codey: Mm-hmm
(1:01:58) Codey: Yeah, there are things that did click though one of the I didn’t like the lagging it seems very laggy I am hardwired in and it is still pretty laggy. It freezes a lot
(1:02:11) Codey: The load times of the game itself take a long time
(1:02:16) Codey: Don’t like any of that
(1:02:19) Codey: I Like the farming a lot. I like the hold down feature of the farming so you don’t have to like click
(1:02:26) Codey: Click each time you want to plant something you can just hold it down and it’ll do it in a line. It’s awesome
(1:02:35) Codey: This fishing mechanic seems really unique
(1:02:38) Codey: And I like the fact that if you hack it up the fish doesn’t run away
(1:02:43) Codey: like if you’re trying to catch it and and you
(1:02:46) Codey: mistime Your hitting of a or whatever the fish doesn’t leave you just have to try it again again.
(1:02:56) Codey: Some glitches, more lag, I have another quote.
(1:03:00) Codey: This game has no business going as hard as it does.
(1:03:03) Codey: Quote, loneliness is sharp.
(1:03:05) Codey: It cuts me like glass in my fingers, but it is much more awful than broken glass because I cannot see it or avoid it.
(1:03:14) Jonnie: Just the deepest of cuts.
(1:03:19) Codey: I really like the story, it’s interlinked with crafting.
(1:03:24) Codey: So, and all the storage is–
(1:03:26) Codey: is linked together.
(1:03:28) Codey: So, I just have chests everywhere and I just dump things into chests.
(1:03:34) Codey: And then if you go to the crafting table or the cooking station,
(1:03:38) Codey: it doesn’t– it doesn’t care.
(1:03:40) Codey: It’s gonna use whatever you have in any of your shops.
(1:03:42) Jonnie: Yeah, like I think the gameplay loop within the game is still really strong, you know,
(1:03:48) Jonnie: you can kind of just constantly be running and moving around the world and collecting stuff and depositing it in chests and building stuff and things refresh at a fast enough rate that moving around and doing all of the, whether it’s mining or fishing or farming,
(1:04:05) Codey: Yeah, nothing has like a big urgency to it.
(1:04:16) Codey: So I can be running through the world and see a place I need to dig up,
(1:04:21) Codey: though I will say the digging system sucks.
(1:04:24) Jonnie: Oh yeah, yep, yep.
(1:04:24) Codey: Hate it.
(1:04:25) Codey: Hate it.
(1:04:28) Codey: But I’ll see something.
(1:04:29) Codey: I’m like, oh, I want to dig that up because I want the–
(1:04:31) Codey: It’s either Dreamlight Shards or whatever.
(1:04:35) Codey: I need those for whatever quest I’m doing.
(1:04:39) Codey: Oh, and then look at that fish over there.
(1:04:40) Codey: I know I need for my Dreamlight duties so that I can get extra Dreamlight so I can unlock more realms.
(1:04:46) Codey: I know I need to catch three fish in this area and then I can collect that and then a new Dreamlight task will come up and then I can do that one instead.
(1:04:57) Codey: Oh, why does Goofy have something over his head?
(1:05:00) Codey: He’s got a quest for me now.
(1:05:01) Codey: What’s going on over there?
(1:05:05) Codey: Goofy doesn’t punish you for getting distracted, which my ADHD loves.
(1:05:14) Codey: And it is pretty seamless.
(1:05:16) Codey: Have you played since it released on 1.0?
(1:05:18) Jonnie: I don’t believe so because I only recently came into one.
(1:05:21) Codey: Yeah, okay.
(1:05:25) Codey: I did because I realized that I hadn’t jumped on it the last time I recorded and I was talking to Al.
(1:05:33) Codey: And so I did to just double check.
(1:05:35) Codey: It, I can confirm it’s still on game pass, even though it’s out for 1.0.
(1:05:40) Codey: Um, it does not include the rift into time, uh, DLC paid DLC.
(1:05:44) Codey: I think you still have to pay for that.
(1:05:46) Codey: Um, or it’s just not available on game pass.
(1:05:48) Codey: Um, the, the notable things is that the load screens look different.
(1:05:54) Codey: Um, and they feel maybe a little faster, uh, maybe by like a minute, a lot.
(1:06:01) Codey: Um, your NPCs can go to different villages.
(1:06:06) Codey: Which I wonder if like, this is part of multiplayer.
(1:06:09) Codey: So like, if you are playing multiplayer with someone, like there may be in their village and you’re in your village and it’s kind of like a simultaneous multiplayer thing and your characters might go over to their village or something.
(1:06:22) Codey: It’s not clear to me.
(1:06:24) Codey: Um, what that means, uh, the map is also updated.
(1:06:28) Codey: So it looks a little crisper and you can turn off, uh, right now the map that, or
(1:06:34) Codey: before 1.0 the map.
(1:06:35) Codey: I’ve included where characters were, where their homes were, and where forageable or harvestable crops are.
(1:06:45) Codey: And you can turn off any of those things.
(1:06:48) Codey: So I generally don’t care where houses are.
(1:06:51) Codey: I know where they are.
(1:06:53) Codey: I’ve run around this thing for 85 hours at this point.
(1:06:56) Codey: I know where they are.
(1:06:58) Codey: And I don’t care about the plants.
(1:07:01) Codey: So I just want to know where people are.
(1:07:05) Codey: So I turned those off and for me, uh, the game froze 10 minutes after playing the first time I just, just trying to harvest something, but it never happened again.
(1:07:13) Codey: Game hasn’t frozen for me, but other than that, it’s not super, super different.
(1:07:16) Codey: They just added more content.
(1:07:18) Codey: Um, there are these like Russian nesting dolls all over and I don’t know who that’s for, like, I don’t, like Anastasia is not Disney.
(1:07:24) Jonnie: I’m not sure either.
(1:07:28) Codey: I think of like what, I don’t know, I will find out when I play.
(1:07:33) Codey: Um, because there’s just all these little.
(1:07:35) Codey: Russian nest and dolls everywhere.
(1:07:37) Codey: Cause it’s like, Oh, uh, I think Merlin comes up to you and he’s like,
(1:07:41) Codey: someone seems to be coming to the village.
(1:07:42) Codey: There’s these dolls all over.
(1:07:43) Codey: Can you find all of the dolls and then maybe you can put them into each other and then you can like figure out who’s trying to come.
(1:07:50) Jonnie: Haha, I have I have looked it up and I will not spoil it for you
(1:07:50) Codey: Um, is it, is it obvious?
(1:07:54) Jonnie: No, I think I would have sat here and not come up with that for a long time
(1:07:56) Codey: Okay, cool.
(1:08:00) Codey: Okay, cool.
(1:08:01) Codey: Uh, yeah, so that’s fun.
(1:08:05) Codey: Um, I mean, the only person I can think of off the top of my head is Jack Skellington because I know he comes to the, but I don’t know why.
(1:08:12) Codey: So my overall, my overall thoughts are I’m going to continue to play this game.
(1:08:16) Codey: Um, I might take a break if it starts getting hard.
(1:08:18) Codey: I haven’t beat, I haven’t gotten credits yet.
(1:08:20) Codey: So, um, and I’m assuming after credits, like you still can like play and gain friendship with people.
(1:08:28) Jonnie: Oh yeah, like credits is more tied to your character’s storyline.
(1:08:38) Jonnie: And so there’s a lot around that.
(1:08:41) Jonnie: You can hit credits without doing a lot of the stuff in the game.
(1:08:45) Jonnie: You still need to do a lot of it because you need to unlock areas and collect stuff and all of those sorts of things.
(1:08:52) Jonnie: In general, I would say that… yeah.
(1:08:58) Jonnie: Hitting credits is a nice goal in this game, where it can be a nice point to bounce off if you’re into the game, into the characters, and it gives you enough and then if it’s something you’re really feeling, there’s plenty more and there will be plenty more coming out to
(1:09:18) Codey: Last couple questions that I have for you.
(1:09:21) Codey: What is your favorite critter?
(1:09:22) Jonnie: I’m turtle. I love to love the turtles the turtles are super cute. Yeah
(1:09:25) Codey: Turtles, they are.
(1:09:28) Codey: I like how they like go into, they’re like scared of you and they go into their shell,
(1:09:31) Codey: but they only go in their head.
(1:09:33) Codey: Like their little flippies are still out,
(1:09:34) Codey: which is really cute.
(1:09:35) Codey: I like the purple one.
(1:09:36) Codey: So the critter is like, there’s one in each biome and you get different colors.
(1:09:43) Codey: And I think the different colors come out at different times.
(1:09:48) Codey: I actually had to Google a couple of these to figure out how the heck to do them.
(1:09:53) Codey: ‘Cause some of them you just wait.
(1:09:55) Codey: Some of them, like the squirrels, you can just walk up and be like, “Hey, you want something?”
(1:09:58) Codey: And they’re like, “Yeah.”
(1:10:00) Codey: And then others, like the turtles get scared and then you gotta wait.
(1:10:03) Codey: And then they like come out.
(1:10:04) Codey: And after you become like good enough friends with them,
(1:10:07) Codey: they’ll follow you around.
(1:10:09) Codey: So I have a fox right now.
(1:10:11) Codey: I love foxes, but I do also really like the ravens.
(1:10:14) Codey: I just don’t like what the ravens want.
(1:10:16) Codey: It’s really annoying actually.
(1:10:19) Codey: And then the crocodiles,
(1:10:19) Codey: I didn’t even notice them for a very long time.
(1:10:24) Codey: ‘Cause they are versatile.
(1:10:29) Codey: And then yeah, favorite villager.
(1:10:30) Codey: Who’s your favorite character
(1:10:32) Jonnie: I really like the way, and I think I gave this answer a year ago and it’s still the same, but I think Wally is far and away the best character in the skin.
(1:10:42) Jonnie: The way they…some of his stories where he interacts with other characters are really well done, and I think maybe the reason it stands out is one, Wally is awesome, I love the movie, it’s just great.
(1:10:58) Jonnie: But they find really genuine interaction points for him.
(1:11:02) Jonnie: him with other characters, like in particular the one that stands out the most is both him and Ariel have, they bond over enjoying collecting human artifacts, which is so true to both of their character, and for me that’s probably the quintessential example of the thoughtfulness that’s gone into the writing behind each of these characters. I’ve thought, okay, Wally generally has these traits and these things that are true about him. Who do we get Wally
(1:11:32) Jonnie: to interact with in a way that feels genuine? And for a character that doesn’t speak, the range of emotions that Wally is able to display is incredible. Really, really good.
(1:11:39) Codey: Yeah.
(1:11:44) Codey: Yeah.
(1:11:48) Codey: So I’m actually trying to think about that. I think that I’ve always had kind of a connection to Goofy. I
(1:11:56) Codey: really like Goofy. I grew up with a Goofy movie and I love the concept of like
(1:12:01) Codey: like in that I guess he’s happy in this and like every time you talk to him really optimistic and happy in this but like in the goofy movie you really see
(1:12:09) Codey: him start to like get angry and get hurt and get offended and so I’ve always like kind of had a soft spot for him. Oh I was gonna say there was another one that I was seeing. I have not yet unlocked Belle and I I think Belle is the Disney princess that I most relate with. Lock me away in a tower with books. Pull my arm.
(1:12:33) Codey: So yeah I think I most relate to Belle and I am really excited to meet
(1:12:39) Codey: her and see what what she’s been doing since all that all that not Stockholm syndrome stuff going on but that’s like - I haven’t done that yet so I don’t I don’t know yeah I think those are those are the ones that I really like not the ones that hurt me the most though oh I did oh my gosh I did love Olaf so one of Olaf’s like daily dis–
(1:13:12) Codey: Do you want to know a cool fact?
(1:13:14) Codey: And he can be like, yeah.
(1:13:15) Codey: And then he’ll just tell you a cool fact for–
(1:13:17) Codey: I’m assuming as long as you want.
(1:13:20) Codey: He’ll be like, did you know that this insect does this?
(1:13:24) Codey: And he can be like, wow, I didn’t know that.
(1:13:26) Codey: Give me another one.
(1:13:28) Codey: And you just keep hitting give me another one.
(1:13:30) Codey: And he keeps giving you facts about whales, do this.
(1:13:34) Codey: Did you know that there’s places in the world that this happens?
(1:13:37) Codey: Did you know that the space is–
(1:13:39) Codey: is infinite and constantly expanding?
(1:13:42) Codey: And he’s just like throwing these facts out.
(1:13:46) Codey: And then finally, you can just be like, wow, thanks a lot.
(1:13:48) Codey: That was enough.
(1:13:49) Codey: And then he’ll be like, OK, bye.
(1:13:52) Codey: But I just was like going–
(1:13:53) Codey: I was hanging out with Olaf for a while,
(1:13:55) Jonnie: I am so pleased that you brought up Olaf, because he is one of those characters that would be so easy to make, kind of cringy, or too childish, or you know, whatever, and he is still very much Olaf, in that he’s obscenely positive, and it’s done in a way that, like I said, you want to spend time with the Olaf character.
(1:13:56) Codey: talking to him about those facts.
(1:14:00) Codey: Uh-huh.
(1:14:07) Codey: Yep.
(1:14:20) Jonnie: I had him following me around for ages, even when he was at level 10.
(1:14:25) Jonnie: If I had to have a character following me around most of the time, it would probably be Olaf in this game.
(1:14:31) Jonnie: Because I think he’s probably one of the stronger characters in terms of his interaction with the player character.
(1:14:39) Jonnie: I don’t really recall too much of him interacting with other characters at all.
(1:14:45) Jonnie: But yeah, those moments and just how excited he is for everything in such an earnest way, I thoroughly, thoroughly…
(1:14:56) Codey: I think the biggest thing that I can remember like he’s the one he was like he told me to go to the frozen realm first Like I hadn’t gone there yet. And then he was like, oh you need to go find Elsa and I was like, okay fine
(1:15:07) Codey: but I just did a quest for
(1:15:10) Codey: the fairy godmother and
(1:15:13) Codey: She was like do some things that make some people happy and one of the things was to give Olaf 100 sticks
(1:15:24) Codey: I don’t, I skipped through a lot.
(1:15:26) Codey: of the dialogue because I am mentally not reading right now like I just I want to feel good I want to see those hearts go or stars go above their head and know that like he that that Olaf is happy that I gave him a hundred sticks. I don’t know if it’s because he was worried that he’s lost his arms so many times that he like wants to make sure he has backups. I don’t know if he’s gonna make something with him like it was do those things make pumpkin soup for Anna.
(1:15:56) Codey: Makes sense. And bring three amethysts to Ursula. Makes sense, like…
(1:16:05) Codey: Ugh, I’m just…
(1:16:07) Codey: The…
(1:16:07) Jonnie: And I think I think that’s that kind of just hits on something else right so we hit we haven’t talked too much about the Actual quest system and most of the quests are just like bring a person this stuff or craft a thing for the person
(1:16:18) Jonnie: The thing that I think makes it not super annoying is one we talked about before But just running around the world is kind of fun and doing that clicking stuff is fun
(1:16:26) Jonnie: But also in general the things that they’re asking for I feel like makes sense. They’re not
(1:16:27) Codey: Yeah.
(1:16:32) Codey: Mm-hmm.
(1:16:33) Jonnie: They’re never really asking for like Wow
(1:16:37) Jonnie: We just need you to collect a hundred of the thing that’s at the right level like sometimes if the thing you need is the basic Thing that that’s all they ask you to collect
(1:16:47) Jonnie: So I find that aspect works really well like a
(1:16:51) Jonnie: There are times because it is just clicking stuff there are times where they ask you to click something Oh, yeah, that’s really collect like four of you know four diamonds right because they’re the rarest
(1:17:00) Jonnie: Gem, and so that’s that’s a tad annoying
(1:17:03) Jonnie: But in general I find like the quest like okay cool. Let’s let’s go find that stuff And and just go and get it so yeah, I like I like the way the quest works
(1:17:10) Codey: Yep
(1:17:13) Codey: Yeah, I also really like the
(1:17:16) Codey: the some of the quests like are
(1:17:20) Codey: Someone saying hey, can you go give so-and-so this thing like go give Anna some soup go give this person this people
(1:17:26) Codey: but there are times when it’s like
(1:17:29) Codey: like follow like stitch wanting to apologize to Ursula and you kind of like set it up for him and
(1:17:35) Codey: then it just says follow stitch to Ursula and then they meet and then it just
(1:17:40) Codey: says listen to their conversation and then they have a conversation a genuine conversation back and forth and
(1:17:48) Codey: and this happens with Mickey and Minnie it happens like it happens with multiple characters and it’s just
(1:17:55) Codey: Wholesome like and it allows you to
(1:17:58) Codey: you don’t feel like you are
(1:18:01) Codey: dictating the conversation because it’s usually like
(1:18:04) Codey: Someone says something to you and then you click a thing and then someone says like these characters have agency on their own
(1:18:09) Codey: they are fully.
(1:18:10) Codey: They are interacting with each other in this world, whether you are there or not, and they come to you in their art.
(1:18:19) Jonnie: I totally agree. It’s one of those aspects where it’s often the thing that happens off screen in games where you know you’ll bring someone the thing and they’ll be like great I’m gonna go apologize to so-and-so and then you instantly talk to them again and they’ll be like great so we apologized and we’re best friends now you’re like okay whereas in this game they’re like I’m gonna go apologize and they walk off and go and apologize right it’s um
(1:18:36) Codey: Well, I didn’t see that, yeah.
(1:18:41) Codey: And like, the part of the quest is you to go, like, watch the apology.
(1:18:48) Jonnie: Yes.
(1:18:48) Codey: Like, you are an active participant in this.
(1:18:50) Jonnie: Yeah, they make sure that you see the impact of the world, or that you’re having on the world, without, like, your character doesn’t interject, like, it’s more just…
(1:18:58) Jonnie: It’s almost designed like you are walking past and just observing that happening.
(1:19:03) Codey: and supporting like because some of them it seems like you like Stitch wants your help like he wants you there to support him he’s he’s scared to talk to her like he he is up he is he is genuinely upset that he annoys her or whatever and he needs you you’re like support and you to stand behind him and be like yeah you’re doing a good thing you’re good um so yeah
(1:19:33) Codey: It’s so good.
(1:19:33) Jonnie: just so good. I don’t know that I have too much to say on the game, I guess…
(1:19:40) Jonnie: Who would you recommend this game to, Cody? Do you think this game is for a…
(1:19:43) Codey: I don’t think it’s for everybody. If you are not a Disney fan, you’re not going to like this game.
(1:19:49) Codey: Like, the aspect, like, the reason it hits so well for me is because I grew up with Disney.
(1:19:57) Codey: I grew up on Disney movies. I have genuine love for a lot of these characters.
(1:20:03) Codey: But if it’s something that you never really got into, you have no desire.
(1:20:10) Codey: Because a lot of these characters, they don’t explain to you who Mickey is.
(1:20:13) Codey: They don’t explain who Stitch is. They don’t explain their story at all.
(1:20:19) Codey: They just assume that you’ve seen the movie.
(1:20:24) Codey: So I think like if you haven’t seen Disney movies, which I don’t know how
(1:20:29) Codey: not everyone has. If you haven’t seen these movies,
(1:20:32) Codey: this game might miss you. Like you might not
(1:20:36) Codey: connect to everything.
(1:20:38) Codey: Um, if you
(1:20:41) Codey: are not more, not a very.
(1:20:43) Codey: character-driven person. If you are more of a hack and slash, like you want to go
(1:20:47) Codey: kill things, like this game has no combat. So this game is very narrative driven and character driven and plot driven, just with some casual cottagecore vibes thrown in, fishing,
(1:21:01) Codey: mining, things like that. But if you’ve, I mean, if you’re listening to this podcast, odds are
(1:21:10) Codey: You will like this game.
(1:21:12) Jonnie: - Yeah, I think I agree that the game relies heavily on you having an association with the characters.
(1:21:18) Jonnie: And if you have that, this game is incredible.
(1:21:20) Jonnie: It’s to me, one of those games that I think,
(1:21:24) Jonnie: it can’t really be replicated, right?
(1:21:26) Jonnie: There is no other brand that has the breadth of IP that I would care about as deeply as I care about this,
(1:21:35) Jonnie: right, to talk about a game that’s on the horizon,
(1:21:38) Jonnie: Tales of the Shire.
(1:21:42) Jonnie: Maybe that’s something that will be more driven by,
(1:21:45) Jonnie: my enjoyment of it will be more driven by the world and to the love for Middle Earth as a setting.
(1:21:53) Jonnie: It’s not something where I necessarily wanna go and have in-depth conversations with all of the characters from Lord of the Rings.
(1:21:59) Jonnie: That’s maybe not the appeal for me in that sort of game.
(1:22:03) Jonnie: So I think this is the sort of game that can really only exist once.
(1:22:09) Jonnie: And it’s just so…
(1:22:12) Jonnie: So amazing to me that they’ve done such a good job with it, because there are so many ways that this game could have just taken that half step into, you know, two on the nose, two positive, two whatever, and they have it.
(1:22:30) Jonnie: Like, this game is just really lovingly crafted, and if you like Disney in any way, I find it hard to believe that you will.
(1:22:38) Codey: yeah I can’t yeah no notes agree if you’re ready to be if you haven’t been hurt by Disney enough wait till you play Disney Dream Live Valley
(1:22:56) Codey: if you’ve been sitting here being like man these movies recently they they haven’t been you know like really hurting this movies for you are not
(1:23:08) Codey: a movie game so yeah I think that’s our episode right Johnny where on the on the internet can people find you
(1:23:12) Jonnie: I think so.
(1:23:16) Jonnie: As always, you can find me by going to patreon.com/thspod Support Al, support this great endeavor, support all the hard work that he puts in.
(1:23:26) Jonnie: You know, last week, he and Cody recorded an episode immediately after the wholesome snack,
(1:23:32) Jonnie: and then he immediately jumped into editing it and posting it so that it came out on time for the week.
(1:23:39) Codey: Yeah.
(1:23:42) Jonnie: He puts a lot of work in behind the scenes to make this show happen, so if you can, patreon.com/thspod gives you access to the Slack,
(1:23:48) Jonnie: where we all hang out and chat all things farming games, so come and join us there and ask us questions.
(1:23:56) Jonnie: Cody, where can people find you?
(1:23:58) Codey: I mean, same, I’m also on the Slack, but if you are not able to donate to that, to the Patreon to get Slack access,
(1:24:06) Codey: I’m also on Twitter @codymathis, also on Blue Sky @codymathis, also on Instagram @hikingbeaglebeagle.
(1:24:15) Codey: You can find Al on Twitter and X as @thescottbot, also on mastodon.scott, Scott has one T.
(1:24:25) Codey: You can find the podcast on Tumblr and Twitter.
(1:24:28) Codey: If you have any feedbacks or want to get the links to the show notes or anything like that.
(1:24:34) Codey: Or if you have any questions, it’d be really cool to do, I’ve been really jones in to do a listener question episode.
(1:24:41) Codey: So if you have some questions for us, whether they are related to farming games or not,
(1:24:45) Codey: they don’t have to be, then you can find all of that information at the website harvestseason.club.
(1:24:52) Codey: Yeah, that’s what we got.
(1:24:57) Codey: Thank you, Joni, for talking.
(1:24:58) Codey: I look forward to playing some game with you, but not the other game.
(1:25:04) Jonnie: We’re either gonna play Pallya, but really we’re gonna be playing LEGO Fortnite together.
(1:25:08) Codey: We’re not gonna, no, we’re not playing, we’re gonna flip Halle, we’re not gonna play over on it.
(1:25:12) Jonnie: Mm-hmm. We’ll see. We’ll see.
(1:25:13) Codey: Uh, no, we’re not playing over on it.
(1:25:14) Jonnie: Listeners, write in and ask how much Cody enjoys LEGO Fortnite.
(1:25:19) Codey: No, I can’t do it.
(1:25:21) Codey: Um, so yeah, thanks for joining me, Johnny. This was a lot of fun, as always.
(1:25:25) Jonnie: It’s been a lot of fun
(1:25:26) Codey: Yeah, until next time, have a good harvest!
(1:25:29) Jonnie: Have a good harvest
(1:25:29) Theme Tune: The harvest season is created by Al McKinlay, with support from our patrons, including our pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.
(1:25:44) Theme Tune: Our art is done by Micah the Brave, and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
(1:25:48) Theme Tune: Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club, for show notes and links to things we discussed in this episode.
(1:26:04) Jonnie: Yeah, we did that at totally different speeds. Good luck, Al.
(1:26:12) Jonnie: It’s so impossible to like, you know, get the- get the timing right on that every time I’m like, okay, this time I’m gonna go faster than last time, slower than last time. I’m always wrong. Always wrong!
(1:26:20) Codey: No, see that’s the thing you have to do it at the same time every single time cuz like that’s the other thing I’ve timed it specifically how I know people say it
(1:26:31) Codey: So that I know that I’m gonna like hit it at the same time and it’s always have a good harvest. It’s like the
(1:26:36) Jonnie: But I feel like the extended “huh” is like, we’re working out if we’re alive.
(1:26:39) Jonnie: It’s where we both start doing that.
(1:26:41) Jonnie: Then it’s like, “Ehhhhh, the good house.”
(1:26:45) Codey: It’s like with
(1:26:47) Codey: with the Pokemon podcast.
(1:26:50) Codey: It’s super effective. He always says it the same way.
(1:26:53) Codey: So this has been another episode OF the Pokemon podcast, and we are!
(1:26:56) Codey: He always says the exact same way.
(1:26:59) Jonnie: Yeah, see, the problem is we always rotate through it, it’s always slightly different hosted, I feel like it’s slightly different and that always trips me up, so that’s my excuse anyway, and I’m sticking to it.