gamerdad Ah, so between some sick time on the couch and a few days of I’ve kinda gone a big overboard with this game.

In fact, at just a week since launch I’ve logged a full twenty four hours in game and have made some serious progress in building out my little farm. Should I be proud? Or a bit embarrassed?

The dynamics of the game tweaks that have added some new features to the game, along with a few years of experience playing previous versions, has me digging in and churning through a lot of contracts and expanding my operation. I’ve set some basic rules for my game play and I’ve been trying to avoid cheats or crazy manipulation on the simulation aspect which a lot of people who post online seem to lean into maybe just to make their videos but maybe also to wheel past the slow grind of the agricultural simulation which can be a bit tedious if you don’t multitask and diversify your efforts from the get go.

On the other hand, I’ve also been leaning into the quirkier aspects of the game, like the fact that you can literally kinda sorta go for a trail run through the woods… call me silly but It’s a vibe.

gamerdad Ah, well. Call it a break from farming or whatever but between my efforts of school bus spotting and actually doing the farming bits, I may have accidentally gone for a run.

Backup. Ok. So I’m a runner. In real life. If you are just stumbling on this and looking for a short short bio. I run. It’s my other hobby.

Running is a vibe. All those other games make running look like effortless sprinting, you know? Run in No Man’s Sky for example and your avatar is bounding and striding and galloping It’s not realistic. It’s simply utilitarian and fast.

I didn’t expect much for Farming Simulator 25 but between the nature trails and the bird sounds and the sluggish and basically awkward jog by little Farmer Brad, this game has the vibe. You know. It feels like trail running. It sims it better than most. Call me crazy but there’s something there.

The video started as a gag, a bit, but there’s something there. Really and I had to share it up.

gamerdad I can’t honestly explain why I’m in such a vibing place for this silly game.

I mean, maybe it’s the prospect of a game with low stakes flow, you know? Like, nothing to kill, nothing to evade, nothing to quest, nothing to skill-based reflexively button mash. Just, like, build a farm from scratch and chill.

I rarely #preorder games. What with the whole game industry releasing beta junk and patching later thing that has been going on, and as much as initial reviews are complaining that this is yet another incremental update to the series, that’s kinda what I wanted. The latest version to replace the one in my library that will be going away when my PSPlus subscription deliberately lapses next month.

We were on vacation when this went live, on our way home though, and so I remoted into my PS5 and installed it anyways and then played it using the Remote app on my iPad to push through the #tutorial level—which honestly I didn’t need to play but figured, y’know, just in case something changed that was important enough to put in the tutorial.. gotta play it. The controls via the app are a #pita though so I finished the recap of the skills and I’ll dig in properly when we’re home and in from of my big screen. Until then, here we go…

gamerdad Almost exactly three months after picking up our copy of this game while on a vacation in the mountains, we’re back in the mountains at the same hotel, playing yet another round in our ongoing campaign.

This time the weather is a little cooler and our “romantic village” is as much a distraction from the cold and rain outside as it was a reprieve from a long hike those months back.

That said, as we progress through our campaign we’re starting to get a vibe for the strategy and being a little bit smarter about playing tiles. Our game this evening netted us our best score yet and advanced us along yet score sheet a few extra steps over usual.

gamerdad I keep logging in because I keep seeing news and posts about new content, but when it settles I ultimately just end up spending an hour grinding resources and exploring.

The value of a relaxing game like No Man’s Sky is that after a long day of work or writing it is awfully nice to just run around and not worry about anything but just dabbling and dawdling through a procedurally generated planet never previously seen by human eyes.

It’s been a crazy week at home, at work, and around the world. I needed some chill time so between tending my virtual farm in Farming Simulator and collecting ferrite and salvaged data in the infinite multiverse of No Man’s Sky I’ve needed some down time, offline time, and time to progress in something that is indifferent to the universe being screwed up.

gamerdad Now that I’ve paid my pre-order for the updated version of this game, I’ve been itching to play. But FS22 is still sitting there in my game library (tho only for another couple months) with a save that I’ve got about 20 hours of progress on.

Two play sessions ago I had started a big contract—and I do mean big, like $85k worth of work, which for those in the know is a solid ten hours of simulator grind—and I had made my way about 75% of the way thru whilst listening to an audiobook. And for all the times I’ve left off half way thru game quests in my life, for some reason this hanging contract was nagging me to finish before I moved on from the game in nine days. That, and it was the evening before daylight savings and I needed some motivation to stay up en extra hour and time shift my brain. Three more long his of digging potatoes later, and I was getting asked if I was coming to bed anytime soon—but I got it done and got paid.

As goofy as this game premise is, there is something about farming sims in general that speak to a primal kind of urge to build something into the world and to grow, well, anything. Online, as the release of the new version draws near there are guys lamenting the bittersweet transition: a new game but an old play left behind. They are posting screenshots of their accomplishments and digitally weeping for the change In not quite that far sunk, but I get the vibe. It is something.

gamerdad I realized that the previous version of this sim game was probably one of the last reasons In have been hanging onto my Playstation membership (being the only monthly game giveaway I still play and haven’t purchased outright) so having made the decision to cancel that when it comes up for renewal in January, I put the money instead into pre-ordering the next edition—which comes out in about 2 weeks.

I figured out the general vibe of the game on version ’22 and I think this might be a game I can really see myself sinking into for some casual playtime. Really. I must be getting old huh?

gamerdad What with my first stab at something resembling an actual tabletop RPG last night—and what with the Dungeon Masters Guide (2024) releasing in about two weeks—I figured it was finally time to tiptoe into the first steps of Dungeons & Dragons.

What I had not mentioned was that my Players Manual appeared on our doorstep a month ago, thereabouts, and though I’ve spent some quality time thumbing through it and reading the processes and rules and charts, none of it actually started to make much sense until I did the hard manual printed paper and pen approach to building a character from scratch.

Sure, I’ve got the Beyond app downloaded and sure I eventually messed around and created a second character using that, but as soon as-called-simple as it is to use that tool, I will grant myself the +5 Wisdom that comes from taking the time to puzzle it out from the print edition first, because that app would not have made as much sense before I did that—or maybe—who can say? Either way, I’ve now got a couple of rawly generic characters built that seem like they might be worth putting through some kind of game—if only I knew how to do that.

gamerdad We were a couple people short of a proper crew for a #ttrpg but Chris put on a game of Mansions of Madness for us. The game uses an app-based Dungeon Master to lead a cooperative crew through a mission and solve a mystery that unravels with each turn.

gamerdad I got a string of annoyed comments from the Kid who wanted to watch something on our main television last night that wasn’t me playing an obtuse card game.

The problem with #roguelike games (in this particular context, at least) is that, no, I cannot give you an estimation of when I will be done and we can turn off the playstation so you can watch netflix, sorry.

To make matters worse I was having a great run, had made it further than I had to date, and kept pulling great hands to match my collection of multiplier-joker cards.

“I thought you said you were almost done.”

No, in fact I specifically said I couldn’t tell when I would be done, only that I had never made it this far before and there was no way this lucky streak could last. Which—it didn’t, and soon enough I had put down the controller and we had got on with family-tv-watching night.

Now, usually I wake up in the morning, make a coffee, feed the dog and thumb though the news on my ipad. This morning I made my coffee, fed the dog, and booted the playstation back up making sure to mute the television in the quiet house while everyone was still sleeping. I didn’t quite recreate my lost lucky streak, but—hey—the day is still young.

gamerdad A confluence of events and stuff meant that I cashed in my Playstation Stars and bought a reward points copy of this #roguelike card game. I had been listening to one of my favourite video game casts a couple weeks ago and they had mentioned this with enough enthusiasm that it made its way onto my #wishlist and’s spoiled my curiosity. Who doesn’t need a chill sit on the couch and play a low stakes card game game? Huh?

I’ll report more when I come up for air again?

gamerdad I actually wanted to play Tropico on my console, it was that kind of afternoon, but alas the video game sale gods thwarted my ambitions and that title was not on sale. What is the next best thing, and doesn’t involve buying another copy of a game I already own on Steam? How about Anno 1800? I vaguely recall hearing something about that previously.

They all start to blur together tho don’t they?

The real blur after playing all these top down, #realtimestrategy #citybuilder type of games is that in my forty years of gamer experience I’ve honestly lost track, and playing a game like this should be like riding a bike—but with a control pad, blah blah blah, you get my point. I don’t want to put too many black marks on my initial two hours with Anno 1800 but this was not exactly the case. In fact, I lost my first 30 minutes of play because the game not only let me paint myself into a resource corner, it egged me on while I did so. That’s to say, it gave me two goals for which I only had the resources to do one, and when I did the first and obvious one I couldn’t make the resources for the second because the outcome of the second was a building that manufactured those resources. I restarted rather than trying to puzzle it out—which i’m not even sure puzzling it out was possible.

In the end I played a lot further, fought a few more control and interface puzzles that really should have been better (read: more conventionally) designed and will probably start this whole level/campaign over next time just because I’ve actually learned a bunch more about what’s going on with that first couple hours: a common complaint online which usually was hit with the caveat that is a good game after the learning curve.

But again, um Ubisoft, why are you reinventing the wheel here, huh?

gamerdad I’ve been playing this game in a very specific way, and I’m not one hundred percent sure it is the most standard way of approaching the game.

See, I’m really into contract work.The game has this aspect where rather than spending energy and time planting and waiting and harvesting and selling, you can instead jump into the guts of the farming on land that you own in-game and do one off contracts for other farmers. You rent the right equipment right there in the contract screen and then, wham-o, you are off and cultivating. My wife was watching me play and after making fun of me (lightly teasing, really) for playing at all she asked about the mechanics of the play system…and I explained contracts to her.

And as I worked thru it that not only that it is simpler to jump into and harvest someone else’s crop but that you make a buttload more cash doing it that way, too. So win-win, right? Right?

Right?!?

gamerdad I’ve stumbled into this sim again.

No, I haven’t previously written about my forays into virtual farming with the Farming Simulator series, but occasionally I do find some quiet time to pick away at a contract and harvest some wheat or bale some hay and sit quietly doing something that seems deeply productive while being absolutely video-game-style pointless.

Don’t judge.

No, but seriously, the truth of it is that in the vast world of simulator-style games, Farming Simulator has found an interesting enough niche that piggybacks off a long history of mobile and freemium games like Farmville, and steps one step closer to realism than a lifestyle sim like Stardew Valley, for example.

I have dabbled in three or four generations of this franchise now, and I do find a bit of a flow state now that I’ve figured out how to just work away at the fun bits and not fret the deeper end of the business sim stuff.

I did some writing earlier this evening and so kicked back with the Playstation opting to dive into something that didn’t require much brain power.

gamerdad Don’t ask me why I never bought this book when I saw it on the discount rack at Chapters, but I didn’t and so ultimately (after it stuck in my craw for long enough) I bought the audiobook version and have been diving into the strange parallel reality of this little science fiction meets dramatic character story.

I honestly don’t have a great sense of where this story is going yet. While it is technically a science fiction novel, the sci fi aspect is light in favour of the deep dive character drama that tells the story of this odd fellow named Belt who is either deeply troubled by mental illness or has some unique talent that is unappreciated enough by the world that he comes across so. The construct of the world is that there are these little fuzzy hamster-like robots that are as ubiquitous as an iPhone might be in our world, and people carry them around and perform all manner or complex ritual that is alike a metaphor for social media and technology addiction.

I will read on and try to decipher the puzzle, though, before I proclaim to understand more.

gamerdad I finished book five about a week ago and I’m already onto another read, but I figured I should at least give Bob and his clones a proper send off.

These are decent books and I do like them, but I will say that book five was a bit more scattered than the previous four. There was a solid plot, yeah, and the story progressed in a long arc sort of way, but the whole thing seemed a bit more like there were a half dozen short stories shuffled together like a deck of cards into a single novel-sized package. The series had already been about a guy who (spoiler alert) digitally clones himself and propagates across the galaxy, so there are increasingly more stories to tell as the bob-iverse expands and branches and subdivides infinitely onwards.

So I guess if the author really is aiming for a teen book series as he claims in his blog, he’d better figure out how to focus the story—at least in my opinion.

gamerdad It kinda strikes me that at some point someone was bound to get a little tired of the graphics are king style of game design and look back fondly on those days of simple blocky games with an easy-to-understand premise. Like SimCity. Remember SimCity? The classic SimCity? Remember? The one where you just built the three zones and connected roads together and made a giant zen-state city that had a few simple metrics to follow.

I mean, oh sure, SimCity got big and then Cities Skylines took over and now with the second edition getting mixed reviews all over the place the PS5 version is seemingly delayed indefinitely or something. AWOL at best, I guess. What do I know? But whatever, those games got immensely complex and crazy and you were juggling so many things it just seemed like work. Like, if they could just put in a little slider-knob at the start that says something like “make it play like in 1993” and I’d actually use that on occasion. Those old versions were simple and fun, and I do like the complexity, but sometimes I like the simple stuff too.

Little Cities seems like someone got my vibe check and was like, yeah, let’s make the old SimCity but—since someone already made it—let’s build it in VR so that we have a gimmick to sell it under and—yeah. Old school SimCity. I’ll be back.

gamerdad The fifth book in the Bobiverse series showed up in my audiobook library the other day and I quickly moved it to the top of my reading/listening queue.

I’m still not sure if this series counts as humour science fiction or speculative fan service, but i’ve enjoyed every title in it, whatever it is. In only a couple chapters into book 5 tho, so more thoughts on the book and the whole series as I keep reading. Um, listening.

gamerdad I’ve continued to dive into this Australian campaign for another couple hour-long play sessions and have come to the ultimate conclusion that as much as I like this game I’m probably playing it far less strategically than the designers intended.

It’s not that I’m not strategic, but I’ve come to notice that my play style is way more casual than details-oriented. The game famously floods you with dozens of narrative threads all meant as tweaks and dials and knobs and gears to micromanage the course of a civilization thru history. That’s the appeal. That’s the game. And I’m sitting here thinking about how difficult it is to keep all those metaphorical plates spinning as I play. I’m clicking from turn to turn and building all the little pieces to grow my team wondering how some people keep track of it all. But I started to then think about how much I tend to rush it all. Click. Next. Click click. Next.

Then the obvious dawned on me: there’s no rush. I could spend hours on each turn if I wanted. I could read every option. Look at all the data before each play, each spend, each build. I could, but I usually don’t. I just click, click and click some more. Strategy never happens at pace, it is methodical and slow, and I just play “wrong” when I play casually.

I mean, I’m not sure if that changes anything at all whatsoever, but it’s interesting to notice and think about.

gamerdad No thanks to Youtube I found myself watching the latest in depth video about the next version of Civilization, the seventh instalment due early next year in February. Of course, my next best option to playing a game that won’t come out for six months is to dig back into some #ps5 Civilization 6.

Anyway. The last few times I’ve played I’ve been mucking around with the custom game settings. Call me a casual gamer, but sometimes I just like to play in a more creative way, so toning down the difficulty and the aggression of the ai is about the only way to turn this into a builder type game versus the all out campaign of military and religious warfare. Sometimes I just like to build big cities and explore, y’know?

Tonight I was randomly assigned to be the great ancient civilization of Australia, which disappointingly had nothing to do with the mighty aboriginal cultures but instead just the regular modern crocodile dundee aussies. I may need to find the mute button to keep up this save file tho—there’s only so many times I can listen to Waltzing Matilda playing in the background, ugh.

gamerdad Back when I was working full time I powered thru so many audiobooks that it word make your head spin. It probably accounts for why my library is in the 500s and’s I’ll never write or post about even a solid fraction of them. Since I’ve been downtown again a few days this week I’ve been back into the audiobooks again and that means I’ve picked back up on this Lord of the Rings history once more. With only a couple hours left I may even finish it off soon, though it seems appropriate with orchestra starting up again shortly that I rejoined my listen right about where they are talking about the music score from the film—a definite masterpiece to compare to, and be a huge part of, the film itself.

gamerdad Along with some user manuals (which are still weeks away from release as I write this) I’ve been inventorying my supplies for a basic D&D campaign. Dice. Map tools. A big kitchen table to play at. And apparently, tho maybe I’m jumping the gun here, coins are useful. And sure, I could be boring and just but a set, but I do have a #3Dprinter just sitting there in my basement calling out for reason and purpose. I downloaded a set of community-designed coins as a start and I figure I’ll just start printing and creating a collection of some kind. I don’t have any silver or grey filament tho, so I’ll see how they look in a couple hours and maybe lean into some painting to lock in the final look.

I started back at the beginning this week. We binge watched season four over three short days (there were only six episodes in this last round) and in a bout of “we should have rewatched season three to re-catch-up confusion, I got to thinking that I really didn’t understand it and it might be that I need to revisit the whole series again, in order, to get a better sense of the whole.

That said, I did pull out the graphic novels and flip through them too in an attempt to see if there were any hints, but it turns out that season four was seemingly invented whole cloth for the Netflix show and not adapted from the page like the first three seasons, so the slight change in vibe and tone I was sensing might not have been completely off.

The Kid had already dug into the reviews before we capped off the series (even though she did politely wait for me to watch the actual show) and the reviews of season four were right in line with what we sensed: a bit of meh, a bit of wtf, a bit of oh. The show was always weird, but sometimes nostalgia kicks in and the magic we glommed onto during those magical first episodes doesn’t float fully across the entire series even if the quality and story parallels. We can inflate stuff in our brains and make it out to be better than it was. But benefit of the doubt, I’m re-watching the whole damn thing now.

gamerdad It would seem that I made it thru the first chapter, and not without some considerable effort. I did some more reading and my impressions and impressiveness with the climbing mechanics were on track as this game seems to be 98%all about that exact thing. But as a puzzle game those climbing challenges are getting increasingly more complex as I progress—obviously, huh? Where Of left off last time turned out to be right at the start of one of those impressively challenging climbing puzzles so a couple days after playing the tutorial I had to give my memory a plunge into the depths of medium term storage to recall all the tricky bits and beat the stage. Somehow I managed, but not without some tired fingers from manipulating the climb controls. I can only imagine how tired the little dude clinging to the wall must feel—and if he could talk, how frustrated with my skills.