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.