I only played Animal Crossing on the switch right into the pandemic. I was sick in the first wave and that strain was wild. The whole world was in a state of panic and AC was a cute little haven while we bunkered down. I played every single day until two llamas got married and I was hunting for little hearts… then I had a moment and I never touched it again.
It’s funny that that franchise shares the same acronym as Assassin’s Creed.
In Colombia we had a version of PES that had the colombian teams. It was just the international teams, but with the skin colors of ther uniforms and names of the players changed.
I wonder why PES specifically is so popular for this? I think it has something to do with PS2’s being able to play burned discs without needing a hardware mod, but i’m not 100% sure.
Playstation gained a lot of popularity on latinamerica for being able to be pirated, and PES and Winning Eleven before it, were way better football games than Fifa. I remember the first time playing them after years of Fifa and feeling the field huge, but then you would back to Fifa to feel like your playing mini football. And that huge field made it more about passing the ball to advance, while in Fifa you could rush from the center of the field and easily took a shoot and mark, more alike a basketball game.
They were much more tactical and had better controls too, visually and audio better and just more polished. The PES series (before they renamed it from ISS) were just the better games back then. I started with International Superstar Soccer Deluxe on the SNES and wasn’t even a big sports fan. But got obsessed (well not that extreme maybe) with this game. And then the Nintendo 64 followup International Superstar Soccer 64 was phenomenal! Everyone compared it to FIFA 64 and it was clear and cut which game was better for the majority. I’ve played PES98 on original PSX too.
Today, people can’t understand how good these games were back then compared to any other football/soccer game at that time.
Many people including me consider PES 2007 as the best football game ever released. Even current new football games doesn’t give the same vibes as playing that game.
As a Brazilian who grew up in a not too remote area, modchipped PS2s were everywhere growing up, as it was the only realistic option to game for the vast majority. Things have shifted a bit these days, but it did use to be like that.
As a result, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a legit PS2 game or an og Xbox/GameCube for that matter lol.
Oh no, freakin' COVID! I swear it eats up your mind like a zombie - stay strong. Don't let it winnnnnnn! (And by that I mean rest as much as you can but also eat and drink what you can)
a) Why did I miss the Eartbound and Telltale conversations. Boo!
b) The first Animal Crossing played via the purple purse will always have my heart. It's the best of the best and I remember staying up wayyyyy to late with my buddies beautifying our town and searching for ghosts. The only other one I ever played was the - wait that was a lie - I have actually played two. The only other one I remember playing was the one on Nintendo DS. A friend tossed me their old DS and my sibling tossed me some games - this included (and Rhythm Tengoku being one of the other ones. I absolutely do not remember any other games. Wait, lied again - I played one with Sudoku). But I didn't really dig it, or the DS as a whole. I don't think I like multiple screens for much of anything, and even work on a single monitor to this day. I also clearly don't love resistive touch screens and felt the little stylus was fiddly and hard to use. But it was more of a game as a whole. Just not for me.
Then covid happened, my gal got a switch and I played the new AC a bit while she ran around as Link. Eh, I literally don't even remember it. I might have aged out, or it might just be my disinterest in non-turn based games (which is pretty much my bread and butter now because I don't want a game to be able to dictate how and when I play it). It was much more forgiving than the old stuff. Idk where the HELL the gyroids were - but they might be in the game now. We were in some kind of tropical paradise (I believe!?) which I dug from an islander perspective. But as a whole, just didn't really care.
But I kind of feel that way about most "cozy" games nowadays. And it's funny, because I play games to "turn my brain off" so it's not that aspect. It's just that I think there's some weird brain-drain infantilization of the masses and that these games are kinda like the binkies of the brain. But there are some real pros to these types of games as whole. I think they give certain individuals a lot of structure, things to do that make them feel successful, and individuals to form relationships with. Like, give this game to an older individual who's open to playing them, and I think they'd go ham. Give this game to individuals who have certain qualities that society tends to push to the fringes - and I think it'd also be great. To be honest, Animal Crossing is about 700x less goofy than The Sims - even with its pastel graphics and chibi forms. But a lot of these games as a whole radiate kind of a toxic-positivity that I just don't vibe with. Especially when we know statistically a lot of developers - let alone GAME developers are terribly depressed.
And like, there's a light to looking to the bright side - eating potato chips - etc. Like there's a nice side to getting real basic sometimes. Especially when your brain is on fire (for whatever reason). It's probably why I play select games repetitively until it's akin to eating only peanut butter sandwiches 100xs over and get tired of them. You don't have to learn new systems really, and you're never truly challenged. Or if you are, because you're familiar with the mechanics of the game you can just ride the wave - get the dopamine and turn off. But 10/10 I don't think it's the healthiest thing to indulge in all the time. But that's just my opinion and pretty much every Nintendo made game (let alone games like Stardew) have cult followings because they really touch people where they need it.
So it is what it is. But also, on Stardew - I played it a long time ago. I had fun, then I had an okay time, now if you stick me in front of a crafting game of any kind I will burn you at the stick. The original Harvest Moon is/was (eh, debatable) one of my favorite games. It's cute, but it's also dirt-brown like a potato. It's ultra simple, kindness coins bs. I don't have to see a single portrait of anyone I am talking to. I don't really even have to give a poop about talking to anyone. I can just farm and care for my grumpy cows and chill. All while cleaning a massive field that I will never fully utilize. By this I am saying - Stardew even is too much for me. It kinda feels creepy to me too. Like it has the secret smugness and hoity-toity crap I hate so much about Seattle. And being the emotional creature I am - if I am not digging something it really takes a lot to sway me in the other direction. But the big picture reason why I put all of this is because I am clearly not the audience of either game in these modern times. So big reason why I wanted to post any of this is to say AC1 - yes! AC++!? Eh.
I think my favorite in the series is New Leaf so far. Granted, I didn’t play a ton of the GameCube version.
The only thing I wish new leaf did better was how you unlocked public works projects.
Additionally, villagers moving in and ruining your paths/designs was a pain. Otherwise, I thought the game was great. It could have used even more dialogue (which is crazy because it was already very long )
The games hit such a good mix of customizing, collecting, and discovery.
The Castlevania games have been organized into a couple of collections that are very inexpensive, and I would HIGHLY recommend those. They’re on PC and Switch.
I replay Castlevania 1 and 3 at least once a year.
But its a cute fun game. I only ever played the one on GameCube and a tiny bit of New Leaf. I liked finding old NES games on the GameCube one and playing them on the in-game NES.
bungie hasnt been affiliated with microsoft for almost 2 decades now.
the whole point of destiny was microsoft wanted them to keep working on Halo, but they wanted to work on something else, so they bought their independence
Basically… “We’re going to be selling out more and won’t fight Sony managing us more”
Too bad Bungie, shouldn’t have had Joe Blackburn purposely break play styles and made tasks grindier in Lightfall because players didn’t provide enough “engagement” (playing longer)
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