Goldkin @Goldkin@awoo.space

@mint@elekk.xyz I'm guessing the goal was to make this DLC mandatory for competitive players (since the mon selection seems heavily skewed to meta picks), but so far, not seeing a whole lot to warrant the purchase otherwise yet.

@mint@elekk.xyz Trying it in Pokemon Sword: most of the landmass appears to be a Wild Area focusing on previous gens. I'm running into a _lot_ of gen 1 mons, as well as early tall grass finds and utility Pokemon lacking from the base game.

Haven't dipped too far into DLC story yet, but like the base game, this feels designed to make it easier to get into endgame and competitive multiplayer content. The challenge level also feels pretty low so far, but I have level 100s.

@perfectblue@snouts.online ... is there even still a reason for it to be so high?

It made sense when they were managing their own collocated servers and paying support staff in 2004, but now they can just drop their Java backend onto EC2 and call it good. Did they just keep the old pricing model and roll all of that into profit?

Because if so... uh. Fuck that.

I guess, overall, it feels like they were given a very limited mandate, turned randomness and event frequency down to make it easier to put down for awhile, and will add and fix stuff later.

I hope they do, because there's a ton of stuff I want to play around with again.

The most bizarre thing is my villagers never want to play hide and seek, buried treasure, item trading quests, or to compete in ad-hoc fishing contests or bug-offs. Those apparently exist, but in the whole time I've only had them happen twice.

Are these uncommon in anyone else's game, or did they really tone down the frequency a lot?

One thing I'm hoping for is that they expand the island tours feature.

It existed in earlier games in the form of short minigames and a permanent mini island you could decorate, and those were neat. There's also a ton of potential for more interesting islands and to expand on Photopia (the Cyrus and Reese event has been cute, if a bit repetitive since it lasts all month). So hopefully those will pad things out a bit.

Also, villagers can do minigames, but it's rare now?

Which I think is a concession that this is a good Animal Crossing for busy people. Everything is streamlined and compact, points of interest and decisions are heavily telegraphed and deliberate, but there really isn't a whole lot going on yet.

I guess I dunno if I'll stick with it. I did full year cycles in Wild World and New Leaf, and grew pretty attached to my villagers. This feels like more of a cardboard cutout of the experience, but I still love them to bits. 💜

This is all to say, I think things get better from here, but the current release needs work I think.

I still enjoy it. I still love checking in with my villagers, building little sets for Cyrus and Reese, and overall decorating and making pretty things.

But the experience is much more staid, and it's really strange. Previous games had many more events, villagers would share more random slices of life, whereas everything here is purposeful and deliberate.

And it's _weird_.

Nintendo has promised a ton of DLC, and I'm kind of hoping they follow through. New Leaf: Welcome Amiibo added a ton of quality of life things (that are missing from New Horizons for some reason, like sitting on rocks), and it's conceivable we'll get such a "service pack" here.

The event calendar is bizarrely empty, and the rotating carousel of visitors isn't sustainable right now when many of the visitors had dedicated shops previously.

The UI, flatly, needs improvement.

So after a few months of daily play, I think I've arrived at an opinion of the new game. Like the sea bass, it's strictly a C+ compared to other games in the series, as things stand today.

New players have wondered if there's more to do in the game, and in previous games, there were. You could play NES games in the first AC, draw constellations in Wild World, visit the city in City Folk, and swim, brew coffee for villagers, and visit a nightclub in New Leaf. But not here, yet.

The game wants me to escort the lawn gnome from Half-Life 2 (Episode 2) to the end of the game for an achievement. Instead, I have developed a parental bond for the game's sole floppy disk, and am determined to carry it to the ending credits.

Also, why does no computer in the game have an A: drive?

Valve: This is Half-Life: Alyx. Here's an epic, narrative-driven story that is completely immersive, with intricately woven story bits through the whole experience.

Me: *spends 45 minutes in the starting area drawing dragons on a glass partition; stacks milk cartons; reads labels off of everything; shakes water bottles to listen to the liquid slosh around inside; daintily holds a tea cup; makes a fork slingshot; tosses said fork past a story NPC to see what happens* Story?

@fox_news Watch out for those textualist pirate ships. 🏴‍☠️

Here's the exact language that was changed according to HHS: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/12/hhs-finalizes-rule-section-1557-protecting-civil-rights-healthcare.html

A good summary of the impact: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/12/868073068/transgender-health-protections-reversed-by-trump-administration

This will not go into effect for at least 60 days. If you can, please call your state and federal electeds to raise visibility and help them fast track relevant legislation to block this.

@Aradia (Is anyone staffing a courier drop or PO Box for folks that would like to donate, but can't make it there in person?)

@ElectricKeet (Some previous sessions from my perspective are here, with others relatively easy to find on Twitch: https://m.twitch.tv/goldkindrake)