Gacha musing and Next Fest
Feb. 27th, 2025 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
got_quietI haven't had much time to play many NextFest games. I've got about an hour every night to chill and the rest is work. (FML) But I still am playing a little because if I don't I'm just going to burn out. So here's some quick reviews.
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The only two gachas I'm spending time with atm are Honkai Star Rail and Nu:Carnival. The current HSR storyline is boring me to death. There's a hint of something interesting there, but I find myself putting the dialog on auto and getting distracted with something during this update. I know it's a meme and people argue about whether the game has "too much yapping" or its just that gamers can't read, but as a gamer who reads a fuck ton, I'm firmly in the "too much yapping" camp at this point. I'm kind of interested in Mydei's whole thing but it comes out in between minutes worth of ambiguity, repetition, and just not interesting stuff. Also the appearance of yet another tiny child girl person is another nail in the coffin of my interest. I still kind of like the combat and some of the side content and am just sort of chewing through the plot very slowly because I can't be assed to engage with it, so I'm not really at a point where I'm quitting, but I'm very meh on it all.
Nu:Carni also came out with an update, and since it's the anniversary we get some big changes, namely a "cabin" system. It took me a while to figure out how to use it, which is honestly a little janky, and I don't think I'm going to spend too much time with it. However, the thing I like about the game is the story. Contrary to HSR the event stories are the best part of this game. They're humorous, and dramatic, and take good advantage of the lovable personalities of all of the clan members. I love how much of the writing is the clan members interacting with each other instead of just focusing on Eiden too. He doesn't show up in this story for multiple chapters even! I always play right through all the available plot rooms when a new event comes out because they're engrossing, and I never get tired of the clan getting possessive and protective of Eiden.
Settler's Domain
Could have been a cute game where you place little buildings and your settlers explore and develop on a procedurally generated map, but the balancing is whack. I think I 30 minutes with only two villagers because I would starve if I added more, and their energy is so low they only worked for two seconds and then I had to just wait for the time to pass to the next day. Way too much downtime for an engaging city builder.
Little Library
A bad Stardew except your job is a librarian with some farming and fishing on the side. I did like that most of the job activity involves recommending books to the people who come in, though that's only fun for a couple of days given the limited options.
The King is Watching
A tower defense + city building game where you need to generate resources by building things on a grid, and can only have buildings active if your "gaze" is on them, which is an area that can be upgraded to grow. The premise seems good and I ended up playing three rounds because it felt kind of fun, but it's also a bit difficult to get into a groove for. That's because they had to go and make it a "roguelike" too, which seems to mean that succeeding at defense is not expected until you've built up some persistent buffs. I kind of wish it were less like that and were more based on a progression of difficulties, but whatever. I think as a semi-strategic little indy this one has potential.
Shape of Dreams
An ok ARPG roguelike. The design is around picking up and empowering different sorts of attacks and jumping around small rooms that contain mobs and different buffs. The success of such games depend heavily on how smooth the combat feels and it doesn't feel that smooth, at least not for controller. Maybe I'll try again with keyboard.
Do no Harm
A memory game with a horror bent. You're a new doctor in a spooky town. Locals line up to tell you their ailments and you need to serve them the right medicine while avoiding things like allergies and other restrictions. It's basically flowchart memorization the game which is sometimes fun but requires too much mental strain for me honestly. Maybe if I wanted to strengthen my shit memory this would be a nice way of doing it? There's also an insanity meter and you need to make enough money to afford more medicine the next day but I didn't play long enough to see what the insanity really does to you. Gave me slight Papers Please vibes mechanics wise.
Einstein's Cats
A simple logic puzzle game with cats in boxes. You get relative statements and you have to deduct which cats go in which boxes. Simple but nicely executed and makes for a decent casual game.
Could have been a cute game where you place little buildings and your settlers explore and develop on a procedurally generated map, but the balancing is whack. I think I 30 minutes with only two villagers because I would starve if I added more, and their energy is so low they only worked for two seconds and then I had to just wait for the time to pass to the next day. Way too much downtime for an engaging city builder.
Little Library
A bad Stardew except your job is a librarian with some farming and fishing on the side. I did like that most of the job activity involves recommending books to the people who come in, though that's only fun for a couple of days given the limited options.
The King is Watching
A tower defense + city building game where you need to generate resources by building things on a grid, and can only have buildings active if your "gaze" is on them, which is an area that can be upgraded to grow. The premise seems good and I ended up playing three rounds because it felt kind of fun, but it's also a bit difficult to get into a groove for. That's because they had to go and make it a "roguelike" too, which seems to mean that succeeding at defense is not expected until you've built up some persistent buffs. I kind of wish it were less like that and were more based on a progression of difficulties, but whatever. I think as a semi-strategic little indy this one has potential.
Shape of Dreams
An ok ARPG roguelike. The design is around picking up and empowering different sorts of attacks and jumping around small rooms that contain mobs and different buffs. The success of such games depend heavily on how smooth the combat feels and it doesn't feel that smooth, at least not for controller. Maybe I'll try again with keyboard.
Do no Harm
A memory game with a horror bent. You're a new doctor in a spooky town. Locals line up to tell you their ailments and you need to serve them the right medicine while avoiding things like allergies and other restrictions. It's basically flowchart memorization the game which is sometimes fun but requires too much mental strain for me honestly. Maybe if I wanted to strengthen my shit memory this would be a nice way of doing it? There's also an insanity meter and you need to make enough money to afford more medicine the next day but I didn't play long enough to see what the insanity really does to you. Gave me slight Papers Please vibes mechanics wise.
Einstein's Cats
A simple logic puzzle game with cats in boxes. You get relative statements and you have to deduct which cats go in which boxes. Simple but nicely executed and makes for a decent casual game.
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The only two gachas I'm spending time with atm are Honkai Star Rail and Nu:Carnival. The current HSR storyline is boring me to death. There's a hint of something interesting there, but I find myself putting the dialog on auto and getting distracted with something during this update. I know it's a meme and people argue about whether the game has "too much yapping" or its just that gamers can't read, but as a gamer who reads a fuck ton, I'm firmly in the "too much yapping" camp at this point. I'm kind of interested in Mydei's whole thing but it comes out in between minutes worth of ambiguity, repetition, and just not interesting stuff. Also the appearance of yet another tiny child girl person is another nail in the coffin of my interest. I still kind of like the combat and some of the side content and am just sort of chewing through the plot very slowly because I can't be assed to engage with it, so I'm not really at a point where I'm quitting, but I'm very meh on it all.
Nu:Carni also came out with an update, and since it's the anniversary we get some big changes, namely a "cabin" system. It took me a while to figure out how to use it, which is honestly a little janky, and I don't think I'm going to spend too much time with it. However, the thing I like about the game is the story. Contrary to HSR the event stories are the best part of this game. They're humorous, and dramatic, and take good advantage of the lovable personalities of all of the clan members. I love how much of the writing is the clan members interacting with each other instead of just focusing on Eiden too. He doesn't show up in this story for multiple chapters even! I always play right through all the available plot rooms when a new event comes out because they're engrossing, and I never get tired of the clan getting possessive and protective of Eiden.
