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[alissaming]

Rune Factory Overview

So I'm doing this because I'm eventually going to review some of the Rune Factory games. Some I've completed, others not yet, and I'll be frank on which. But I wanted to do a quick overview for those who may not be aware of the games or what they are. Rune Factory is bascially like Harvest Moon but with dungeons to raid and monsters to fight. Often, there's a running story that is going on throughout the game. In some games, the story is more important, in some it's less important. The goal of the game is whatever you want the goal to be. There's no time limit on storyline, so just do whatever you like. You can make all your own tools and equipment, with the stuff you get from monsters, mining, etc. Anyway, hope you all enjoy or give it a try.

[alissaming]

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove Review

So this is a base review of all four Shovel Knight games, Shovel Knight Shovel of Hope, King of Cards, Specter of Torment, and Plague of Shadows However, before I start, I should admit I haven't finished anyo of them except Specter of Torment. So some of what I will be talking about is why, or what I've heard of how games end. As well as some speculation of time periods.

So Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope features Shovel Knight. He and Shield Knight used to travel the land, until they were seperated in the Tower of Fate. After she vanished, Shield Knight retired and became a farmer, until the Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter came into being and took over from the Tower of Fate. With the Tower of Fate open again, Shovel Knight takes his shovel and goes off on a quest to save Shield Knight. The levels are challenging, and a few are too hard for me to get past. But for others, I'm sure it's a perfect challenge. It's just a little much for me. I think what's most interesting is that you can actually choose the gender of your character and the characters you interact with. With the exception of the Enchantress and Shield Knight, all the other characters are male. All of them. But you can make them all male, female, or non-binary. Or some mix there-in, including just generally swapping genders. And yes, it does change how the characters look, in the actual playable sections. However, Shovel Knight's game is the only place you can do so.

Specter of Torment is the only one I've actually managed to finish, due to the saves being easier for me to work with. It's also probably the most tragic, as it follows the quest of Specter Knight to become human again, only to give it up for his best friend's son. His best friend, who he killed in a struggle for the amulet that had the spirit of the Enchantress in it. He clearly regrets it, but doesn't yet see he is to blame. In fact, it's pretty clear he blames Shield Knight for the entire debacle. It's here, that the timeline becomes clearer, as the main goal in the game is to recruit the Order of No Quarter. Black Knight and Phantom Striker both say no, but Tinker Knight, Plague Knight, Propeller Knight, Mole Knight, Treasure Knight, King Knight, and Polar Knight all say yes.

King of Cards seems to follow the actual rise of King Knight to being a king. But he was never royalty. He was peasant born, as far as I can tell, and he becomes king through a card game. He is supported (for no real reason, as far as I can tell) by an actual king, and many others who are so impressed. It's just...a very strange story. Anyway, he's encouraged both by his mom, who seems to think he was born to be a king, and someone who is obviously a cloaked and hooded Specter Knight. I haven't finished this one yet, as King Knight is hard to work with.

Plague of Shadows is the last one I wanted to talk about, if only because it's impossible. At least for me. We follow Plague Knight on a quest for essence so he can produce a potion to win over the girl he likes. If you're paying attention, he's trying to impress Mona, his assisstant. And this is why he joined the Order of No Quarter. He gets essence from Shovel Knight too, and is warned by Specter Knight that his actions can be seen as betrayal. However, his main save is an explosion that bounces him up, and I cannot for the life of me control it with any degree of accuracy or competency. I know the ending of this game because my brother (who is better at this kind of thing than me) told me.

In total, I think they deserve 3 or 4/5, except for Specter Knight, which I think should get a rare 5/5. Yes, it's hard too, but the story is compelling. I really felt bad for Specter Knight, even when I found out his situation was his fault.

[alissaming]

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

So a bit of a tangent, but I at one point thought this was the first Story of Seasons games that allows you to marry same gender marriage candidates. As I'm currently playing through Pioneers of Olive Town, I think I was wrong, as Pioneers of Olive Town seems to allow that as well, and I think it came out before FoMT. Anway, let's do this.

So this game is a recreation of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town, and a pretty faithful one at that. All the characters you'd recognize from those games are here, as well as a couple extra. There's some renaming, but nothing serious. There's a lot of options for how your character looks, with two male models and two female models, and several skin colors. Otherwise, there's no character creation to speak of. There are several outfits to choose from as well.

Like it's predecessors, there's not a lot to this game, but I do enjoy how you got the farm in this game far more than you getting scammed in More Friends of Mineral Town. In this version of the game, it was your grandfather's farm, and you inherit it from him after he passes. But the main game is just building up your farm, the house, coop, barn, upgrading the field, getting married, and having a kid. Pretty simple. The fully upgraded barn can hold a total of 16 animals. I use it as a chance to have 2 of each cow, 4 sheep and 4 alpacas. The fully upgraded coop can hold 8 animals. As chickens produce daily and rabbits produce wool every 5 days, I usually have 4 of each, so there's a day of no rabbit fur. The field has plenty of room. I usually just let the grass grow, except for the small segment area I use to farm. Even at your lowest heart level (no stamina fruit found, or only one found as you can find one in your field) you should be able to manage the 4 starter crops (3 from the store and 1 from Won the merchant) in 2 9x9 squares each. You can even have them all together as they never block anything ever, not even each other.

There are some added things. In HM: FoMT and MFoMT, there is one tree that you cannot cut that produces honey all year and, depending on the season, peaches, grapes, or apples. In this game, you can have up to 5 trees, with three trees to choose from, each producing only one fruit, plus they all occasionally produce honey. This means while you can be guaranteed to have 1 of each tree type, you can only have an extra of 2 trees. (So for example 1 grape tree, 2 apple trees, 2 orange trees.) Or you can have one of every tree and 3 of 1 tree (3 grape trees, 1 orange tree, 1 apple tree for example.) Grape trees produce their fruit in Spring and Summer, apple trees in Summer and Autumn, and orange trees in Autumn and Winter.

When having kids, you can choose the gender or choose to be surprised. If you marry someone of the opposite gender, the female half of the pair will get pregnant. If you marry someone of the same gender, roughly when the female half of a male/female couple would have a baby, the Harvest Goddess will pop up with two children, and allow you to adopt one. She'll do...something...with the other, I think leave them with another home? As to how she got the kids? I'm assuming she made them with her Harvest Goddess powers, they were orphans she took into her care, or maybe she kidnapped them. I think the funniest thing is that your partner will not question where the child came from. They're just like "Oh, we need to take care of this kid now? OK"

This game is immense amounts of fun and I'll say the team that makes the Story of Seasons game did a very good job recreating FOMT. Yes there were changes, such as Won only sells his special apples if you become friendly enough with him, Ann being named Ran instead, and the addition of Brandon and Jennifer for eligible marriage candidates. Oh, and they removed the ability for rivals to marry each other, so adding other candidates so you can avoid getting inbetween a rivalry is pointless. But most of the changes are actually good, not bad. And it looks amazing. The songs are so well recreated. I'd say a solid 4/5, maybe even a rare 5/5, considering it's a recreation and a dang good one in my opinion.

[alissaming]

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review

I'n my mind, even when the game is not my personal'm never sure how I feel about Pioneers of Olive Town. The idea is good and the game is fun, but there's a lot more things I don't like in this game than in even the original Story of Seasons, so I have mixed feelings about this.

The game story opens with your character going to Olive Town, founded by your grandfather along with some other pioneers. You're taking over your grandfather's farm. You visit using your scooter, though the scooter breaks soon after your arrival. The goal of the game is to run the farm and help the mayor make the town better by fulfilling quests. Most quests are nothing special, and only give you medals you can use to get various prizes. Some are essential to making the town better and you need to give certain things. They also usually have a time limit.

The sprites in this game are actually pretty interesting, and if you assign them to as many master sprites as possible, you'll get all kinds of useful things. In fact, I often didn't have room for everything they could give. What each group gives depends on what they specialize in, so the fishing team gives fish, the artifacts team gives artifacts you can use later.

So here's where I have the mixed feelings. You have three plots of land you can eventually get opened up and use. This is enough room to have two barns and two coops in the larger areas with enough room to plant near your home. However, there is limited room, even in the bigger areas because of the lakes. They are too big for your bucket to do any real damage to the water levels, but even when you empty them, they don't ever disappear, unlike the smaller puddles. So you have to be super careful where you put anything. These lakes severly limit the amount of space you have, so you may not be able to place everything. Add in that each "maker" can only hold up to 10 of an item, unless it's a huge maker, and you NEED these makers to make certain things you need, like lumber, stone, bricks, etc. I personally recommend having 4-5 of each kind of maker, that way you can make 1 of every kind of item (so you have one full of oak wood to get that lumber and so on). Actually, most of your makers will fit on the second section you can open on your farm, as will any mushroom logs. The third section is more for your other barn and coop for more creatures.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this. On the one hand, I had a ton of fun with this game. On the other, I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement. It has issues, and I'm just not sure. I will probably rate it a 3/5, personally. I really enjoy it. Just has some issues I have problems with.

[alissaming]

Story of Seasons: Trio Of Towns Review

So if it's not obvious by now, I should probably just say it, but aside from maybe Harvest Moon Lost Valley, which needs a redo as far as I'm concerned, there are no bad Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons games. Are some better than others? Absolutely, but they're all playable, fun, and engaging if you're into this style of game.

This time, the game follows your character as you convince your father to let you become a farmer. You used to go to a nearby farm a lot. He refuses, saying it's harder that you think it is, but eventually gives in, and sends you to your uncle, who will teach you how your farm works. As you play, you'll eventually open the other two of the three towns, each of which have 2-3 marriage candidates. They all have their own crops and flowers you can purchase seeds for your farm (before you get the seed maker) and you usually have enough space for a coop and barn in each area (there are 4, but I usually only get 3 open) and still have space for farming and other things that you'll need. Oh, and up to 4 pet houses. I try to have 2 herding pets and the other two be gatherers of some kind, in each area.

Other awesome benefits are that you will eventually get access to all the different hairstyles, all the different outfits. So if you want to play as a guy who marries a guy...well, you can't. They hadn't implimented the system to marry the same gender as you are playing yet. But with the ability to choose from various different outfits and hairstyles, you can make your female character look more masculine to try to get the feeling of playing as a guy marrying a guy. Same for the girl characters. Playing as a guy, you aren't restricted to the gender specific stuff.

Another thing I like about this game is it furthers the lore of both Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon. Why? Well, have you ever wondered why there's a Harvest Goddess and Witch Princess in almost every game? I mean, don't get me wrong, they aren't literally in every game. But why is there a Witch Princess in Island of Happiness/Sunshine Islands, and why does she look so different from the Witch Princess in Animal Parade, or even DS/DS Cute? The same goes for Harvest Goddess. Why does she ususally look different in the various different games. Sometimes she has wings, other times she doesn't. Sometimes her eyes are purple, sometimes blue. Sometimes her hairstyle is different. I assumed they were all just the same character. After all, across the board, Witch Princess has always hated frogs, and that's pretty consistent no matter how she looks at the time. How about Skytree Village or Beacon of Hope, in which there are two Wizards? Well, this is actually explained. Well, the Wizard thing is explained by the original Wizard, when he mentions he had a mentor and that his study of magic extended his life. So it's something that can be taught, at least to a point. As for Witch and Harvest Goddess? Well, Dessie being a Harvest Goddess in training tells us there are more than one, and this is further confirmed in this game. When Inari awakens, it's explained that the fox god family, Harvest Goddess family and Witch family decided to just let Inari sleep to teach him a lesson. So we have confirmation there's more than one Harvest Goddess, Witch/Witch Princess, and even fox god. Each land has their own, which each has their own rules and relationships. Just so cool.

Sorry about the tangent, I just thought it was cool. Anyway, moving on. You can participate in competitions. And complete quests from your dad, including winning certain competitions at certain levels. This is when you meet the mysterious Mr. D who is...not your dad, I guess. Beat him, and you beat a requirement of your dad. Anytime you complete all the requests send by dad in certain quests, you'll open other areas of your farm. You can upgrade your tools and house. You'll need the wool you can get from your alpacas, sheep, etc, as well as grown fiber and cotton to get the clothes you can change into. You cannot just change your hair whenever, you have to wait for the stylist in Tsuyukusa to open up. Oh, and you will get town specific quests as you level them up to make them better. Things like fixing or finishing items by providing money or items, or people asking for ingredients to make new dishes, that kind of thing. Upgrading the towns gives you new recipies, outfits, and I believe new seeds as well.

This game is fun, and there is a lot to explore. I give it a solid 4/5.

[alissaming]

Story of Seasons Review

So I decided, since I reviewed Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, now's a good time to start reviewing the Story of Seasons games. It would be hard to do a top however many when there are only 5 games so far and when it's hard to decide which I like more at this point. I may do a top however many later, after I've had time to sort out my thoughts a bit more. For now, here's a review of the first Story of Seasons game

Story of Seasons is a pretty good one. It's got some stuff I like and some stuff I'm more or less nuetral on. One of the things that's clearest is it's connection to Harvest Moon as well as it's expansion of the lore of both the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons games. See, as you start, you'll find Witchie, a witch building a house on a lake. It's there you'll later meet Dessie, this game's Harvest Goddess in training. And for those who might be wondering (don't know if anyone is or not) I'm pretty convinced Witchie is actually Witchkins from Sunshine Islands. You know, the frog lover cousin of Witch Princess? Yeah, her. Anyway, Witchie and Dessie actually become pretty good friends.

Your character takes over half a farm next to an elderly lady who will teach you the ropes. You'll learn about selling via your cart, rather than your shipping box, you'll learn about renting fields. So the ony fields you really need are the mushroom/honey field and the rice paddies. Every thing else, while nice, is just extra space. See, with enough room to dedicate to the farm, you can grow anything on the farm. Trees, flowers, tea bushes, root crops, spices, etc. And generally those rentals have more space than needed. But unlike later games, you'll never get the ability to get rice paddies for your farm or make mushroom logs or bee hutches. So you need those if at all possible. The way you get them, except the first one which is root crops, is to try to get them from others. If you do this right, you'll actually be able to completely take over the rentals and not let anyone else use it. Basically if you renew your rent before it expires (or the day it expires, rather) instead of waiting a day or two after it expires, you'll never be challenged. It's just yours. Honestly, the areas have more space than you'll actually need, as there's like 4 spice crops (I think) and the tree fields are the most useful as it has plenty of space for all the trees. If you manage to get challenged for a field you own and lose, you will have to get all your crops out for whoever won it off you. Go for whatever challenge you think you can manage best. Some have to do with the number of collected items (that aren't the same), others with the amount of money you make in a certain amount of time.

You can also swim for some resources, such as fish, glass, some ores, etc. Eventually, you'll be able to get to a natural area where there's a place to get other kinds of ores you'll need.

I'm mixed about the rental system. It makes sense where room for crops and such is a limited resource, but some of the challenges are impossible, and they get harder the more people are involved. It's better to just renew your lease the day it ends and avoid any challenges once the field has expired (if it expires on a festival day, you have the next day to renew instead, as the place where you can rent the fields is not open on a festival)

I actually find most of the characters interesting, and the marriage candidates are neat. Also, you have twins, one girl and one boy, with your chosen spouse. But eventually the game got a bit glitchy. I guess it didn't like that I'd married, had a kid, and had all the fields in my command.

All in all, a pretty solid start from the creators of Harvest Moon. Not the best of their games by far, but a pretty solid 3/5, I think. Not perfect, not even great, but pretty good.

[alissaming]

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

So after being offline for two weeks, other than my Specter Knight deep dive, I'm finally back. I decided to do a review of new release Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. This game is a remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life.

Before we get into story, let's talk about the character creation. When playing, there are a wide variety of hair styles, hair colors, and eye colors. There are about four eye shapes to choose from, two more male, two more female. The game also starts with two clothing options. One is clearly the more feminine outfit, while the other is clearly the more masculine option. There are three gender options, though it's actually asked what your pronouns are, rather then gender. The pronoun options are she/her, he/him, or they/them. And because none of the eye shapes or body shapes are locked to any gender, so you can totally play as a super fem guy or a masculine girl, or whatever combo you feel like.

The story follows your quest to run your farm and raise your family. You must marry by the end of the first year, or have someone at a high enough heart level to marry by that time, or the game ends. Your character decides farming isn't for them, and moves back to the city. You can marry any eligible candidate of any gender, no matter what your pronouns are. From the day you marry, the game fastforwards a few years to you and your spouse having a child. The child will be a toddler, and will be most interested in what your spouse represents (farming/ranching for Cecilia and Matthew. I don't remember what it is for anyone else though, sorry) Depending on how you influence your child, one of two things will happen when they become an adult and the game ends. Either your child will take over the farm (greater interest and ability in farming or ranching) or will move to the city (greater interest and ability in anything else) Who you marry MAY have an effect on your child's personality, but I have no real confirmation yet. Your child can be depressed, so see if you can figure out how to raise a happy, healthy kid. You can also choose your child's gender (male or female) or say you don't care for a random gender. At the end of each year (going to bed on Winter 10) the game will fastforward a few years. You'll get a year of single life, a year with a toddler, a year with a young child, a year with a teen, and two years with an adult. Year 6 that you actually play is the last year before your character's sudden death, after which there's several scenes of people mourning your passing. After this point, you end up in farmer heaven where you and your spouse are young again, and it looks like your kid is back in their teen years.

Each month is exactly ten days. That makes each year 40 days to get anything done. Van sells and buys on the 3rd and 8th of every month. You can raise cows (normal, brown, marble, and star) sheep, and goats in the barn, and chickens and ducks (ducks only appear around year 2, if you have at least two open spaces for them and the pond, and cannot be bought, so make sure you keep at least one male duck so you can have more.) Van also sells tools (fishing rod and brush) and any tool upgrades. Gold is the best and final upgrade.

There are also hybrids (just put any of the 8 starter crops together through Vinnie, or the 5 tree crops together who appears in year 2. Try until you get the hybrid. As long as they aren't combining with tree fruits or the same seed (no tomato/tomato hybrids) you should be fine) and rare crops (put together hybrids to get these, again, may take several attempts) I'd say try to get all these as soon as possible so you can get started with these, as they earn a lot of money. You can get a free seedmaker from Daryl if you befriend him.

Now onto the issues I actually had with this game. It was fun, don't get me wrong. And trying to find out if you can influence your kid's personality is going to be a fun experiment. I had a blast and a lot of nostalgia as the Harvest Moon game was my first ever Harvest Moon game. This is the game that got me into games like Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, Stardew Valley, etc. So I have a lot of fond memories of it. However, I feel there's not really enough time for anything. For such a family oriented game, I feel we could have had a year or two just you and your spouse, before kids. And maybe two years at toddler stage, a few years at young child stage, etc. Either that or longer months. In most Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons games, seasons are somewhere between 28-31 days depending on the game. Stardew Valley has 35 days a season. Plenty of time to get your farm off the ground, get married, and raise a kid. I just feel like we could have used more time to actually experience a family before the fastforward button is pressed for the next stage.

All in all, solid game. It could use more time than is given, but it's nothing game breaking. Solid 4/5. Would recommend if you're into this kind of game.

[alissaming]

Character Deep Dive: Specter Knight

SPOILER WARNING! This deep dive talks about the character Specter Knight and the ending of Specter Knight's game, as well as his appearance during Shovel of Hope. If you have not played this game yet, I highly recommend you do. If you decide to proceed, you have been warned.

Specter Knight has to be one of the more tragic characters in Shovel Knight. He comes with a variety of cool natural abilities, such as a wall climb and what I like to call the dash-slice. The dash-slice focuses on something (an item, like a bubble, an enemy, or even a nearby friend to grab his hand) and uses it to basically dash to higher hieghts or across gaps. These two abilities, as well as his healing magic item are pretty much the most useful abilites in the entire game.

When you get through the very first level of the game, you fight Black Knight and find out Specter Knight has a distinct, recognizable style and a name. When you defeat Black Knight he calls Specter Knight Donovan. I remember, I was so blown away by this.. Like up until this point, with the exception of Reize, pretty much no one has an actual name. And while some characters have distinctive styles based on their level and what they do, no one seems so recognizable that someone knows their name by their mere attack. Anyway, as you play through the game, you also come across some of Specter Knight's memories. Turns out, he used to be a mortal who had a good friend named Luan. They were going on one last mission together to find an amulet said to bring protection. Luan wants it for his son. Basically the memories follow the two making their way through the Tower of Fate, meeting Shield Knight, and fighting her. What is tragic is that Donovan actually seems to have fatally wounded Luan, then the tower collapses, fatally wounding Donovan. The Enchantress shows up and offers his life back in exchange for serving her. And if he finds her eight knights, she'll return his humanity. That's what the game is following, that quest. Eventually, Reize, Luan's son, breaks into the tower and gets mind controlled by the Enchantress until the end of the game. At the end, Black Knight reveals, after seeing the Enchantress, that she's actually a possessed Shield Knight. Deciding that all his misfortune is her fault, Specter Knight decides to end Enchantress himself. In the end, he can't do it, and since Enchantress is one knight short, she decides she can make do with Reize and give Specter Knight back his humanity. However, Specter Knight, who seems to realize he was the one who was wrong, sacrifices his humanity to save Reize, and willingly becomes one of the Enchantress's knights. He then takes Reize home and goes to where he's the boss in Shovel Knight, putting the locket he carries everywhere (given to him by Luan) into a chest

So some stuff I noticed that I haven't been able to connect yet. Black Knight seems to know who Donovan is, or at least was once. As you may have noticed, Specter Knight is the only one I've called by name at all this entire time. That's because no one else uses an actual name, just a knight name. Even between rivals Black Knight and Shovel Knight, or classmates Shovel Knight and Polar Knight, they always use knight names. Another thing is the way a lot of the knights you face have to say about and to you. Plague Knight, Phantom Striker, and Tinker Knight all refer to Specter Knight as a specter, wraith, ghost, or just saying he's past his prime. Implying they can tell he's undead. King Knight and Phantom Striker both refer to Specter Knight as an honorless dog or errand boy, referencing him serving the Enchantress. The others all have general stuff, other than Black Knight referring to Donovan as a commoner (how can you tell?) and Propeller Knight mentioning Specter Knight's tattered robes.

So what exactly is going on with Specter Knight. I think it's actually pretty clear. He's suffering from doubt and guilt for killing his best friend, allowing his best friend's son to become mind controlled by the Enchantress, and making his deal with the Enchantress. We don't see it focused on much during the game, but it's pretty clear to me it's there. It's coming out as him blaming others, specifically Shield Knight, because she fought him trying to stop them taking the amulet, for his misfortune. He's convinced himself that, if not for her, none of what happened, happened. He may have even convinced himself she did what she did because she wanted to free the Enchantress. None of this really comes out until the end of the game when he fights her. And I think his sacrifice for Reize, wasn't just because of who Reize was, but what Reize represented. That all of this was actually his fault. He got himself into this situation, and now he had to get Reize out of it.

The locket is also important, as it plays an important part in Shovel of Hope. It's the Locket of Invulerability or whatever that's called. It's taken from the chest by Plague Knight in his game and given to Chester for stuff Plague Knight, and Chester sells them to Shovel Knight. So yeah, you have a family heir loom and it gives Shovel Knight temporary invincibility. Anyway, that's my thoughts and all the stuff I noticed.

[alissaming]

Paper Mario Theories

So now I've talked about all the Paper Mario games that currently exist, I want to talk about a personal theory. Warning, less proof for the second three games. And a lot of my "evidence" for either game could be considered coincidence.

My theory is that the first three games are a series or timeline, occuring in the order that you play them. And the second three games are their own series or timeline, occuring in the order you play them.

Now it's easier with the first three, simply because of the amount of things that reappear, as well as the fact that none of the events take place in the same place. So not multiple "Bowser kidnaps Peach from her castle" stories. First, I want to note that in Paper Mario characters like Merlon, and the other creatures like him are constant throughout Paper Mario, Thousand Year Door, and Super. They're even major side characters, the ones helping move the plot along in Super Paper Mario. In Paper Mario, Merlon is a seer who can give you hints throughout the game, and anyone else of his race is found on Star Mountain, either as a way to get badges or other things. In Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Merlon is the one who powers your partners up so they can help you better in battle. His kin tend to be the ones who can give you all kinds of bonuses in fights and such, if you know where to find them. In Super Paper Mario, Merlon straight admits that his race wrote the Light Prognosticus to counteract the Dark Prognosticus, and Merlon is the one who tells you of your quest, helps you wake Princess Peach up, and tells you who all the heroes in the Light Prognosticus are (through his hints, we can tell it's Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi.) He even tells you what will happen if you don't succeed. But that's just one thing. Hey, did anyone else who placed Paper Mario and Thousand Year Door notice Parrakarry is in both? Yeah, he's a partner character you can't complete the game without in Paper Mario and the one who delivers you the letter from Peach containing the map to the Crystal Stars in Thousand Year Door. If that's not an odd coincidence, I don't know what is. Oh, what about Francis in Super Paper Mario, who has posters with a clear reference to Thousand Year Door, as well as being a fan of a show called X-Nauts, the villain group trying to free the big bad in Thousand Year Door. Definitely not proof in this case, but it makes a weird kind of sense when you remember you're basically traveling between dimensions throughout Super. Again, not proof, but certainly worth noting. Oh, and all three games take place at different locations as the hub world. Paper Mario's hub world is Toad Town. Thousand Year Door's hub world is Rogueport. Super's hub world is Flipside. It would actually be more likely to be different books if they all took place in Toad Town and around the castle.

Now let's talk about the other three games; Sticker Star, Color Splash, and Origami King. There's really not much evidence here, so it's actually possible they're all completely seperate books. Though I do find it interesting they have similar themes of the world falling apart and only being able to fix it through stickers/paint/confetti with the help of the Navi character (Kristi, Huey, and Olivia.) They're also the only games to make the brazen paper jokes. Don't get me wrong, paper jokes started to appear around Thousand Year Door and Super's 3-D abilty only really makes sense in a world of paper that's normally 2-D, but it's not nearly as much. In Sticker Star, Origami King, and ESPECIALLY Color Splash, the paper jokes are constant. Heck, half the damage or repairs only make sense in a paper world. Olivia comments that you get confetti out of the plants and trees. Again, only makes sense in a world of paper. You can restore color to the world through paint. Only makes sense in a world of paper. And anyone hear of a Sticker book? Yeah, no real proof here. Though here's some weirdness for you. All the, for lack of a better term, "Egyptian Ruins" in desert settings are all pretty much the same. With these more humanoid style art with the toad heads. Seriously, looks like either ancient toads thought highly of themselves, or they were tall. There's lots of reference to legendary captains, at least in Color Splash (legendary pirate captain) and in Origami King (Captain T. Ode.) Oh, and have I mentioned the Things yet? I haven't, well, a Thing is a 3-D object that can be flattened into a sticker, or squeezed into a card. Or, in Origami King are either bosses of areas or just...kinda there. The only one you actually pick up is a hook used to lift a sewer cover. Now interestingly, when they first appear in Sticker Star, no one seems to know what these Things are, or what they do, other than that, as stated by Bowser Jr. they are quite powerful. In fact, if you put a sticker of a Thing in the Sticker Museum you'll get funny names to most of them, and a funny little blurb that either indicates they have no idea what it actually is, or is a way it is used for fun. As an example, the Fan Thing is labeled as a Voice Modulator and it's blurb basically talks about how talking into it makes voices sound. But the Cell Phone Thing, which is a flip phone, is designated to be a beach or pool-side lounge chair that your boss can call you on. It's hilarious things like that. But by the time of Color Splash, everyone seems to know what these Things are, or at least they are no longer the novelty they once were. When Card Things are put in the Card Museum (not nearly as fun or satisfying, in my opinion because it's not as expansive) the explanation and name of the Things tend to be the bland, boring, normal explanations. Like how fans are used to blow air around. By game three, they are used in normal activities, note the hook Thing that you use to lift a sewer cover. The only slightly odd Thing is the Fan, which comes to blow away the fog later. The other Things you deal with are the boss Things of Colored Pencils, Rubber Band, Hole Punch, Tape, and Staples, all said to be tools used in the art of Origami.

So what do you all think? Did you guys notice anything weird if you played the games that I might have missed or didn't talk about here? Did you notice any paterns in my second bit of rambling? Did you find this interesting? Have a great day all!

[alissaming]

Paper Mario The Origami King

So we're on the most recent Paper Mario game to be released, and it's actually very good.

The story follows Mario who, along with his brother Luigi, has been invited to an Origami festival. When they arrive, they find Toad Town abandoned. They go to the castle to find out what is going on, only to find an origami version of Princess Peach talking about how much better an origami world would be and how Toads need to be crumpled. No matter what you answer to her questions, the floor becomes a trap that deposits Mario into the castle dungeon. It's here we kinda learn what's going on. With the help of Olivia, an origami girl who's excited by everything, we get out of the room, and find out that the minions are being turned into origami soldiers, forced to serve the Origami King, Olly, who is Olivia's brother. The actual story is explained throughout, but I won't talk about it here. Mario and Bowser are forced to flee the castle and Mario and Olivia go on a quest to undo the streamers.

Olivia is a lot of fun as a Navi character. She wears her emotions on her sleeves, and is incredibly endearing. Though she brings up one of the now clear differences between the first three Paper Mario games and the other three. That being in the original Paper Mario and Thousand Year Door (less so in Super Paper Mario) we see a lot of different kinds of creatures. Goldbob and his family are gold. General White is silver/white. Yeah, there are the normal instances of NPCs looking the same, more or less (especially true of the Mario universe) but still some differences. In the newer Paper Mario games, outside of the toads having different colors, all the races look exactly the same. Like yeah, I get it, they always have, but part of the fun of Paper Mario games is getting to see some different kinds of the same species. At least in my opinion. But at least I got a good chuckle out of there being multiply Bobbys by Olivia's standerds.

Finding the different toads turned into origami animals is actually a lot of fun. It's one of the few things I've tried to some degree to complete. Find all the toads. Find the different origami bugs, flowers, etc.

The attacks are pretty well done here. You can only cary so many and you have to equip the not basic ones. Oh, and those will break after a certain number of uses, so make sure to carry extra of your favorites.

The bosses are interesting. It's stated in the game that these are tools used in Origami. Things like colored pencils, tape, staples, and rubber bands. Now, to the best of my knowledge, the art of Origami is the making of creations using only a single piece of paper. But I do want to ask, is any of that stuff actually used in the art of Origami? And Olivia's transformations seem like they should be taking more than one piece of paper. If for no other reason than several have multiple colors. The fire Vellumental has both orange and red, as well as detatchable feathers. And the Earth Velumental is green and brown, with the brown head, tail, and feet coming out of the green shell.

The only real issue I have with this game is Luigi. In the other two games, he either wasn't really a presence or was a fun joke. Here, he just kinda gets in the way. He's on a quest to find the Key to Peach's castle and is CONSTANTLY, and I do mean constantly, getting the wrong key and making things more difficult for us. Once he gets the Shogun Studios key, meaning we have to track him down to get it and get the streamer here. Later, he takes the room key we need to know how to access the Fire Velumental's temple, so we, again, have to track him down. It only happens one other time, but seriously I wouldn't even need to keep going out of my way if he would just stop grabbing just any key and assuming they're all the key to Peach's Castle.

All in all, definitely give this game a play if you like the series. I give it solid 4/5.

[alissaming]

Paper Mario Color Splash Review

Now this is Sticker Star done right, in my opinion. I'll get into all the reasons why here.

Let's start with the story. Bowser is once again possessed by a force beyond his own control, and this time, it's really not his fault the way it was in the previous game. Mario and Peach come to the hub town to visit the Prism Fountain, which is supposed to hold the three primary colors (blue, yellow, and red) and three secondary colors (orange, purple, and green) only to find it completely empty. No toads or anything. After pressing the correct buttons you find a paint can who will give you the power of paint. His name is Huey. Together, the two of you figure out what exactly is going on, find the Paint Stars (each of which opens a different area or activates a different item or creature) to defeat Bowser.

Now let's talk about Huey. Yes, he does get mad at you twice, much like Kirsti, but unlike Kirsti, both times he gets upset are actually completely understandable, as both times you hit him with your hammer. And he's actually very likeable and just has a lot of good energy.

But here's a quick Spoiler Warning, as I'm going to very briefly talk about the ending of both Color Splash and Sticker Star, because this really bothers me. So both Kirsti and Huey have a "self sacrifice" moment. For Kirsty, she turns herself into a sticker to give you extra moves and more power to take on Bowser, ultimately dying. Huey turns himself into a Thing card to become 3-d again, to catch the black paint Bowser sends at you. As you do, he loses more. Now Huey doesn't actually die, he just goes into space, taking the dangerous black paint away. But here's what gets me. Kirsti is unlikeable to me. She not only gets a big self sacrifice scene, she got ressurected as well, because Mario asked for it to happen of the crowns, I guess. And then she gets a big goodbye of continuing to shepherd the Sticker Star. What does Huey get after his sacrifice? This really likeable character who was full of energy? Nothing. He flies off to space, never to return, or even get a wave goodbye in the end credits parade. So annoying.

Anyway, let's talk about the attack system of this game. This time, instead of stickers of varying sizes and limited pages, you get 99 cards, all the same size. Yes, your card pack never gets bigger, but you can carry a lot more kinds of cards. And the bigger attacks that would have been bigger stickers in Sticker Star just take up more of the card. Some have multiple attacks on them (like the three worn jumps card, for example).

I do rather miss the sticker museum, and the card museum isn't nearly as fun, but hey, returning color to the world and figuring out puzzles using Huey is highly entertaining. It really is worth looking into this game, if you're a Paper Mario fan.

All in all, I'd give this game a solid 4/5

[alissaming]

Paper Mario Sticker Star Review

Alright, I guess it's time to talk about this one. I don't like this Paper Mario game much. It has some decent ideas, and play mechanics, but it's just not a good game. Let's get into why.

Let's start with what I like to call your Navi character. I call them this because they are the navigational or clue character. In this case, a talking crown named Kristi. The game starts with a festival celebrating the return of the Sticker Star that comes every few years or so (if I remember the time gap correctly) and Bowser, wanting to participate, accidentally touches the Sticker Star, causing it to break into pieces and scatter, with one of the crowns in the star sticking to Bowser. This causes him to basically go insane (beyond the normal Bowser insanity) And Kristi, the caretaker of the Sticker Star enlists Mario's help to stop him. So here's the major problem with Kristi. She's a massive jerk and super mean. When you first meet her, you just saved her, and she shouts at you, accuses you of touching the Sticker Star, and when you insist you're innocent and tell her who actually touched it, she refuses to believe you, telling you to take responsibility for your actions and asks you what Mario (who you're playing as) would do. And while that in and of itself could be stress, it never really gets better. She never really apologizes for how she treats you throughout the game. Even getting mad for not saving her sooner when she gets taken by spiders, about half way through and kinda sorta apoligizes by saying "maybe I was a little lonely" or something like that. A non-apology.

Another problem with this game is the sticker system. Now don't get me wrong, in and of itself, I actually like the idea of having to carry your attacks around you in some form or another and having to get new ones to use them. Especially the more powerful ones. But the sticker system just...doesn't work. You have the problem of starting with one page and can get a total of five (that I can personally find). Add into that stickers that are various sizes depending on what they are and their power level, as well as some seemingly bizarre shapes sometimes, and you have a mess. There's just no way you can carry a decent selection of attacks and Things. There are places you need specific stickers, but because those stickers are of no real use to you in the game itself, it makes little sense to carry those around until you find a place to put them.

So it sounds like I really hate this game. And I don't. It's decent, for the most part. There's even something I really like. And that's the Sticker Museum. Not only is being able to put up the various attack and item stickers up and see what they have to say about them a fun idea, but you also get to put up Thing stickers. What are Things? Well, they're items from our world. In this game, it's things like scissers, a fan, a flip cell phone, things like that. And they have the most amusing descriptions too. For example, the fan is called a Voice Modulator and the description basically describes how it makes your voice sound weird. The flip phone is described as a poolside bed that your boss can use to call you when you're on vacation. Fun stuff like that. Seriously, if you play this game for no other reason, you should try the sticker museum out.

The game, as I stated, is decent. Nothing special, but nothing terrible. My main issues, as stated are Kirsti and the actual sticker system. All in all, I'd say a 3/5. It's mediocre, with some fun ideas, but honestly, Kirsti just kinda ruined this Paper Mario game for me. If you're interested, I guess give it a try, but I have trouble getting through it. I did finish it once, and that's all I need.

[alissaming]

Super Paper Mario Review

Let's talk about this game now. It's a good one, though a bit complex and certainly has it's issues. One thing I think is interesting to note is that Merlon and his race are again a part of this game, but playing a much more significant roll. Merlon is the one that tells you what your quest is, which is to collect the Pure Hearts.

The game starts with Mario and Luigi finding out Princess Peach has been kidnapped. They immediately (and understandably so) jump to the conclusion it was Bowser and go to Bowser's Castle to confront him. He reveals he hasn't kidnapped her, though he was intending too. At this point it's revealed a dark faced figure in a cape and top hat calling himself Count Bleck has kidnapped the princess and is here for Bowser as well. When Mario attempts to attack, Bleck knocks him out, then takes everyone but Mario with him. The wedding between Peach and Bowser is necessary for him to unleash the Chaos Heart and destroy all worlds. In order to do this, he actually has to mind control Princess Peach through his secretary.

The goal after this is to collect the eight Pure Hearts and use them to destroy the Chaos Heart. Mario does this with the help of a Pixel named Tippy, as well as many other Pixels, each with their own unique look and ability. Mario himself also gets a rather unique ability of being able to go 3-D, which is useful for a wide variety of puzzles. My main issue with this game is the 100 Samerguy showdown. This chapter is long, boring, and tedious. But it's also where we see the true power of the Chaos Heart as we end up coming back for the Pure Heart after this world is destroyed. We see a completely blank world, with no color or buildings. Nothing except some ruins and blank space. Even the Pure Heart has been damaged to the point you need a non-normal way of healing it. Which one of Bleck's minions, Dimensio is perfectly willing to help you with. Interestingly enough, he seems to be helping you throughout the game, for reasons we can't know until we reach the end of the game.

You can play as four character, Mario, who you start as, Peach, who you'll get next after she escapes Castle Bleck, Bowser, who you find in one of the worlds you visit, and Luigi, who you get in the Underwhere when you visit the first time to restore the Pure Heart, and after a final fight with the mysterious Mr. L. another minion of Count Bleck. Each has their own abilities that you need to get through the sections.

The final thing to talk about is the story that goes on between the adventure. The story of starcrossed lovers Blumerie of the Shadow Tribe and Timpani, who was a human girl. She saved Blumerie's life and despite his father's disaproval fell in love. It is through this story we learn the tragic truth behind both Tippy, who was once human but her soul was turned into a Pixel to save her life, and Bleck, who makes constant reference to how empty a universe "without her" is.

So that's the game, and it's really a lot of fun. I'd recommend giving it a try, as it has some fun characters, a fun storyline, and fun worlds to explore. The only real issue, again, is the Sammerguy storyline, since you have to fight something like 10 different Sammerguys before things will get more urgent, and its just so boring. All in all, a solid 4/5

[alissaming]

Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door Review

So before I go much farther, I must admit, I'm having trouble beating this Paper Mario game. But I've seen the ending, and the game played from beginning to end, and I've gotten close to the end. This is probably the best of the Paper Mario games, because the story is fun and interesting, the enemy isn't Bowser, and it actually feels like a continuation of the original Paper Mario. Though it does feel like it's taking itself less seriously. Also, a few of the partners' abilities are replaced with something called Curses, but I'll get into that later. Oh, and a few abilities are combined into a single partner, so instead of having one partner for each thing you need to be able to do (swimming, flying, hitting far options, etc) a couple are just put into one partner. So fewer partners.

So the story starts with Peach being lured to one side by a mysterious merchant who tells her to take a box that is said will open for the right person. It opens for her and she sends Mario what is in the box. This brings Mario to Rogueport, where the Princess was visiting with Toadsworth. Oh, and Parrakarry is the one who delivers the letter for that fun nostalgia. Say goodbye, this is the last time we'll see Parrakarry in the Paper Mario games, which is sad. When Mario gets to Rogueport he meets one of his first companions, Goombella. She just graduated from Goom U and carries around a book that will tell Mario pretty much everything he needs to know about his enemies with one exception. And she's evidence of one of the reasons this is the best Paper Mario game ever. The partners are unique and interesting. Yes, you could argue they are not that different. Koops is a Koopa like in the original, Goombella is a goomba like Goombario, you have a bob-omb partner like in the original. But you don't have a cheap-cheap, boo, lakitu, parrakoopa, etc. But honestly, these characters are far, FAR more interesting. Goombella is a graduate of a university on a quest for treasure and knowledge. Koops is a coward trying to learn to be brave and has a girlfriend and a father to avenge...or rescue or something. Oh, and there's a fun reference to Kolorado (who is not your koopa partner in the last name, I believe that guy was named Kooper) who was an archeologist you met on your travels in the last game. Bobery is a sailer who tragically lost his wife while he was away at sea to a mystery disease, and now he's an old sea dog who is struggling with her loss. Flurry is a wind spirit who is a bit of a diva and loves the stage. You also get a Yoshi partner you get to name, and color is random depending on random factors (I honestly don't remember how to get specific colors.) and is characterized as a tough guy and can swallow enemies you can't normally hurt whole and spit them out for damage. Vivian is an enemy turned ally by Mario's kindness after being bullied by her sisters, and in the Japanese version is even trans, though it's not in the American version. Ms. Mouze is an optional partner, but she pops up from time to time throughout the game. Her main ability is to sniff out treasure, specifically badges, which, while it can be useful is in no way essential. It's hard not to enjoy such interesting characters.

The story follows Mario collecting the Crystal Stars to try to stop the Thousand Year Door from opening, meeting intereseting enemies, such as Hooktail who will try to bribe you into letting him go, but is just playing dirty tricks (seriously, say no to everything he offers) or Dooplis who will steal Mario's identity and the only way to beat him is to find the missing letter P and guess his name, without your normal group. (This is really funny, but if after this you not only return to the town, but talk to the group who is hanging out with the copy of you, you'll notice they all seem to realize something is wrong, without being able to figure out what it is). You absolutely need Vivian for this.

There's the curses too. Yeah, let's talke about those finally. Throughout the game, you'll find four black chests at various points that you open with black keys. They contain demons that curse you, though...I'm not so sure it's actually a curse. Mario gets VERY useful abilites from these chests. You would not be able to complete the game without these abilities. The first ability you get is to turn into an airplane, which you need to get to the Thousand Year Door, to Hooktail, and a few other places, such as being able to get to Yoshi's egg to get him. This ability is followed by the ability to turn "paper thing, when Mario basically can turn in such a way to get through very small spaces, like jail cells. You need this ability CONSTANTLY throughout Hootail's castle. But you also need it through the Boogaly tree and many other places as well. Then you get the paper tube ability, which you need to get through small gaps you can't get through at your normal size. You mostly need this to get to Dooplis's castle, but it's useful to avoid some spikes as well later in game. Finally, Mario gets the ability to turn into a paper boat, which you can use in a lot of places, and need to get through Pirate Grotto. These are all essential abilities.

Mario will get various quests to get certain things. To get to the arena where you have to fight Rawk Hawk and get the gold Crystal Star, you need to see Don Pianta who will give you the ticket for trying to stop his daughter from running off with one of his men. The way to see him is to buy two specific items and say a specific color. There's walkthroughs that talk about this better than I can, so I'll just leave it there. You won't need to do so again after the first time anyway. Or you can earn coins and talk to the right people to learn what to do. Anyway, you'll need to come back here for a train ticket, which you can only do when you bring the daughter and her love back so the father can retire, and his daughter takes over. Characters that appear throughout can frequently be important. Not only is Goldbob and his wife and child important to the happenings on the train, but you need his signature to activate the cannon to the moon. The only truly irritating part of the game is you have to find General Silver, a silver Bob-omb who you chase from town to town just missing him until you come back to the bob-omb town to find him sleeping. And you just...jump on him until he decides to wake up, which will take a while. Also, like in the last game, you get badges and badge points

Another thing you should do as you play. Talk to Luigi after each of Mario's adventures. Luigi seems to be having an adventure all on his own and the kicker? He doesn't appear to be lying. If you talk to his companions, they'll confirm his story, though they'll tell it slightly differently. Luigi will usually have a new story after each Crystal Star Mario collects. I do recommend you power up your partners as you can. You can find Shine Sprites you can get with your various jump and hammer power-ups, and go to Merlon to power them up for you. Finally, there's a job board you can take from time to time. This is how you get access to Ms. Mouze, as well as the final updates on your partners through a quest Merlon gives. And if you pay attention, you'll see lots of creatures like Merlon who can give various power ups and abilities, though these are temporary.

All in all, this game is so much fun. Make sure to fight plenty, or you may have trouble getting to the final boss, much less beating the final boss. I'd give it a 5/5, except that that chase quest is unnecessary and annoying. You don't really get anything other than a "too late, the general headed to (area)" and the eventual ability to travel to the moon. Yay? So as a result, I can't justify giving it more than a 4/5.

[alissaming]

Paper Mario Review

So this is an old old game but it deserves a review as far as I'm concerned. For those who may not know, Paper Mario is the very first Paper Mario game, made for the Nintendo 64. It is incredibly fun and has some fun ideas, but also has some issues. Let's get started.

In Paper Mario, you play as Mario, who has been invited to the Castle by Princess Peach, only for her to be kidnapped by Bowser...again...The game starts with a story of the Star Spirits and their wish granting wand. Bowser tapes in Kammy Koopa to help seal the star spirits away and steal the wand so he can finally have his wishes granted. It's selfish wishes like "I want to defeat Mario" and "I want Peach to like me" which, let's be fair, are only evil because he is the villain, lol. Anyway, this is actually pretty clever, even though he really goes about his wishes wrong. He only makes two that we know of. One allows him to put his castle under Princess Peach's castle and fly away with it, the other allows him to become invincible to Mario's attacks. Anyway, Bowser defeats Mario and sends him away. But doesn't use his wish that Princess Peach likes him (I guess because he wants her to like him on her own?)

Mario is found by a female Goomba called Goombaria. Her brother, a Mario fanatic named Goombario joins Mario on his quest to save the princess. This is one of the things I really like and the next two Mario Games really use to greater or lesser advantage. The problem here is with one or two exceptions, the partners are generally unintersting and without much personality. The most interesting one is Koopakarry, the postman. And maybe Lakilucas (who goes by Spike). But characters like Goombario are just boring. Like I get Goombario is Mario's biggest fan but that doesn't explain how he knows the stats of every enemy Mario faces, even when it's an enemy he's never faced before. In general, what makes the partners interesting is their uniqueness and some of their abilities. Sushi can swim and dive. Spike is immune to spikes and can glide carrying Mario. Parrakarry can briefly fly carrying Mario allowing you to get past small gaps. Bow, the Boo, can make Mario invisible to enemies. Stuff like that.

Anyway, Mario has to collect all the star spirits, and each one tells you where the next one should be, and gives you a new ability. You're also constantly chased by Koopa Jr, this egg creature thing that's a bit of a bully and can't stand that you beat him, I guess. He's a pain, but easy enough to deal with. And lends himself to some pretty decent comedy. Throughout the game, you'll swap to playing Princess Peach, able to send Mario badges only found in the castle and find new information she can send to Mario with Twink the star. Once all the star spirits have been rescued Mario can go rescue Princess Peach. With the help of the Star Spirits, Bowser's not so invincible. And even with the help of Kammy's power platform thing, all that happens is Peach adds her power to the Star Spirit's power, negating that invincibility again. Once you win, the wand is taken back, baby stars start ascending to the heavens again, and things go back to the way it should be.

Yes, this game has it's problems, but it was the first of it's kind and started a legacy. It took itself much more seriously than current Paper Mario games do, but it is a fun ride nontheless. All in all, a pretty solid 4/5.

[alissaming]

Harvestella Life Partners

So when I did my review of Harvestella, I thought you could only marry a select number of people that fell into certain catagories and to a point, that's true. The main thing that seems to determine who you can ask to be your life partner are two things. 1. They must be a part of your travel party , or someone you have a closeness meter with. (Though for some hilarious reason, the Mayor of Leithe Village, an elderly man, is an option you can send a letter too.) 2. The person you are asking must have a 10 closness level and have their personal storyline completed. Now, even if you are not going to ask someone, most of these people need to be at least level 5 closeness to get the full potential out of the jobs they awaken in you. The only exceptions to this are Cres and Unicorn who, while they have a closeness meter, do not travel with you, and Cres doesn't awaken any abilities in you. All the available options have a fairly sweet responses to being asked to be your life partner, so just choose who you like best. Now I'm going to be going into who you can actually ask, how long it takes them to respond to your letter (if they respond at all) and when you are supposed to meet them. Oh, and the Fall Seaslight Fairy (suggested name Juno, but I call her Ember) will be the one to take the letter to your chosen partner. Once you chose a partner, you cannot unchoose that partner, so if you want to experience all of the options, make sure to save multiple files of the COMPLETED game (or be willing to play the game from the beginning to get to the completed game), as you can only choose your life partner after finishing the story. There are a total of 10 life partner options

Aria-Will respond to your request to speak to her by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet her in her pod in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Asyl-Will respond to your request to speak to him by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet him in his home (or near the observations deck, I can't remember which) in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Brakka-Will respond to your request to speak to him by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet him in his hideout in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Cres-Will respond to your request to speak to her by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet her in her clinic in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Dianthus-Will respond to your request to speak to her by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet her the airship in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Emo-Will respond to your request to speak to her by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet her at the bar where she performs in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Heine-Will respond to your request to speak to him by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet him in his atelier in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Istina-Will respond to your request to speak to her by sending a letter 2 days later (so, if you send Ember out on, say the 19th of any season, you'll get a response on the 21st). Asks you to meet her in her room at the orphanage (the library, roughly) in the evening (between 7pm-9pm)

Shrika-Will not send a letter. Shrika will appear next day and drag you out of your house to do a ceremony of binding, because she absolutely wants to be your life partner.

Unicorn-Will not respond to your letter. 3 days after sending the letter, your quest is to go check on Unicorn in his forest.

Hope this helps. I don't want to give away how they all react to your request, though it's pretty obvious Ember is excited for you and about half the people you can ask, maybe more, maybe less, will remark she spilled the beans on what the letter is about.

[alissaming]

Just Wanted to Gush

So I got home after midnight on Friday (got off a Thursday shift) from work. Not too unusual for me, though I can get off later or earlier. So anyway, I get home, and my wonderful boyfriend had gotten me two bags of Udi's Chicken Alfredo as a surprise. It's my favorite Udi's flavor, followed closely by the Chicken Parm. Though I wish they still made that delicious Ziti and Meatballs. Yum. Anyway, my boyfriend does do this sometimes, where, after a particularly stressful day at work for me, or even just because he can, he'll get my favorite food and sometimes my favorite or second favorite rootbeer. Honestly, even if it wasn't that expensive, I would still be happy he did things like this. But I'm gluten free for health reasons and am gluten intolerant. So food isn't cheap for me, and it's only getting more expensive as inflation occurs. At last check, the Udi's frozen, bagged noodle dishes are almost $9 per pack. Maybe that doesn't sound expensive, but it's not exactly cheap either. And he'll get them for me just because he knows I like them. When I got home last night (around midnight today) he said he wanted to get me more Udis and some flowers for Mother's Day (I have my dog, who is my fur baby.) but couldn't find my favorite flavor, nor did Walmart have any flowers that weren't wilted at that time. I told him it was fine, and if he wanted to get me something, I'd be happy with chocolate. But seriously, he's SO sweet and I love him.