May 2024 Progress Report
This month kinda sucked ngl, HLTB was wrong on two accounts, making my scheduled games go from 5 down to 3, I very much disliked one that I thought I would enjoy, and then because I apparently hate myself, I 100% Moonlighter, broom run and all. I visited my grandparents, leaving with fresh, renewed hatred for the older generation, (and scheduling another visit next year because I’m the only one who visits, FOR GOOD REASONS!!), then went to a nice aquarium for 5 literal hours to offset that. My weather app is a lying liar who lies and I was promised not one but TWO thunderstorms I have only received a light drizzle, and henceforth it’s been over 90 degrees (32 Celsius?) for multiple days. My poor air conditioner.
What’s going on next month? I have no idea. Not me, certainly. A VN? Hyperdemension? Nier? It could be anything. It could be nothing.
I’ll think of a plan later but I really want to curl up and read garbage toothrotting fanfics with happy endings for multiple weeks. Please let it get colder. I don’t like the sunshine.
Total games added to backlog: 2
Total completed: 3
On a day like any other in an otherwise empty field, a strange isolated building appeared. Of those who curiously entered, many lost their lives, but the few that escaped left with mysterious artifacts of immeasurable value. Before long, Rynoka Village was founded, and the occupants split into two factions – Heros and Merchants; one who sought to delve into the newly named “Dungeon” for glory, fame, and powerful weapons to stand above all, and those who searched for priceless artifacts and relics inside to sell for an obscene amount of gold. Will’s parents were merchants who built The Moonlighter, a shop run by Will’s mother to sell treasure looted by his father. After the successive loss of both of his parents due to this dangerous occupation, Will inherits The Moonlighter, and this is where his story begins.
25-50 hours to complete, Moonlighter is a roguelike RPG with town-building, shopkeeping, familiars, as well as day/night mechanics. Dungeons are randomized upon entry, and town buildings and people are hired through the money you earn at your shop and home, which can be upgraded and decorated for additional perks and benefits. There is inventory management, as some items have curses and some curses cancel out each other, but a lot of the time you can get them to work for you if you can manage them properly. Generally, I have a lot of positive things to say about Moonlighter, and I highly recommend it; but not if you plan to 100% it! Many achievements are very, very grindy and punishing. Definitely give Moonlighter a chance, and pick up the DLC while you’re at it! It’s the after-story and has too much content to miss out on!
Minami Lane
2-5+ hours to complete, Minami Lane is a comfortable and wholesome casual management sim in which you rebuild and restore a small community with a Tanuki. Hand-drawn and Ghibli inspired, increase your resident’s happiness and population by adding storefronts and parks. Clean streets, pick up trash, pet cats, and manage each shop's inventory and prices to create a lively and charming place for people to live. The music is very lovely and Lofi, I didn’t experience any bugs, and the game runs smoothly. Easy to 100%, there is also a Sandbox mode which lets you create and design your own street, and the P key on a keyboard hides the UI to take clean screenshots. Highly recommended!
No Place Like Home
Earth is full of trash and most people live on Mars. While waiting for your shuttle to arrive so you can leave this hazardous landfill of a planet for good, you opt to check in on your grandfather and his farm before you go, only to find him missing, the animals caged, and the land covered in so much trash there is no ground to step on. With a talking chicken hinting at something terrible happening, head off on a rescue mission to save him and hopefully, the world.
21-30+ hours to complete, No Place Like Home is a mindless cleaning, farming, and recycling sim with satisfying before/after moments, but that’s pretty much all I can say about it positively. The graphics are abysmal and need to be edited in the settings to be baseline ok, the camera randomly flings around when you attempt to plant things, you can finish questlines out of order without first obtaining them, there are typos, and the ending is anticlimactic. There are a handful of bugs, and aside from being laughably easy to fall out of the map, my sprint button never worked. Even more unpleasant are the npcs! They are completely idiotic. The majority of the questlines are you dealing with the consequences of their short-sighted actions to the point that it got genuinely frustrating, as even after you help them they are unhelpful with your quest of finding your grandfather, a missing person in their own community! I do not suggest anyone play this, especially those who get motion sickness. Also, the ‘fishing’ tag is a lie.
That’s a bummer. Still, two out of three games being good isn’t half bad. :)
Hoping next month is better, just salty atm.
ᓚᘏᗢ
I saw this…
But hey, progress is still progress! \o/
I have to put the cat there otherwise the two boxes smoosh into each other! That cat is the only thing keeping my post tidy! Yeah, at least I got a positive for the month.
Sorry to hear that your month was not up to par. But still, congratulations on the Moonlighter completion! That’s a game I wouldn’t mind trying out. I will also say that you are becoming my completionist hero/inspiration, but also a cautionary tale of sorts: 30h on completing such a blatantly bad game?! I hope that I never get to that point :-).
In my defense, I didn’t realize there were that many issues with it, and it seems like everyone gets different bugs, and mine happened to be unable to sprint the entire game.
I remember seeing the stuff with no place like home. I’m surprised you actually beat it let alone 100% it considering how bad it was for you
It wasn’t difficult, just frustrating because it’s ultimately a collecting game and I wanted to clean up every piece of garbage which was unnecessary for the storyline, but required for an achievement. Those NPC though! They are lucky they weren’t in Skyrim!
DO NOT PLAY HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA, YOU WILL CRY AND HATE YOURSELF.
Sorry to hear it wasn’t the best month.
Fanfics are definitely a great plan - I tend to get obsessed with all the super long fics and just disappear for ages at a time!
I should pick up Moonlighter again - I think I would like it more on the Steam Deck from when I originally tried it. Although that comment about not 100%ing it.. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Minami Lane looks great - I’ve added that to my wishlist! Disappointing to hear about No Place Like Home.
Minami lane is definitely a good game to pick up, easy and a positive atmosphere.
No Place Like Home, I would say it’s best to hear it’s not that great than to play it and realize, I was looking forward to a casual chill farming sim with fishing. Maybe next time, I still need to play the Stardew update, although admittingly I like Fallout 76’s farming mechanics pretty well.
GL with Moonlighter, if you get back into it. It’s a pretty awesome game!