Livi’s Recs: Story of Seasons

 

I’ve never actually played the Harvest Moon series of games; I had grown up during the first wave of Pokemon, so that dominated the market when I first started getting into video games. I’ve played Animal Crossings, which is very similar, but it’s a lot slower and more of a relaxing real-time game that I play when I need the world to slow down a bit.

Story of Seasons is a bit more fast paced, but it starts out slow when you first start a new game. Your character has just moved to a small rural town to start a new life as a farmer and you’ve gotta learn the ins and outs of what it takes to be successful. The game’s tutorials are easy to learn and you start to get into a routine in terms of caring for your farm, heading into town to trade, and bopping around the map to fish and catch bugs.

As with any Harvest Moon game, there’s options for romancing the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes.  The characters can be a little one dimensional at times, but the artwork is lovely and there’s some skill in attempting to woo who you want. On top of all the other things you can do, the dating aspect comes off as an added bonus. I haven’t gotten farther than the dating confession, but it’s been fun trying to figure out what you’d need to do in order for a character to propose (and yes, there’s a blue feather involved 😀 )

The game has at least two spin offs and I’m going to try Trio of Towns once I get far enough in the original SoS. But I don’t know exactly when that will be, since I’ve gotten into the swing of things in the game and there’s still plenty to unlock. It’s a great game to play when you’ve got a few minutes to spare, since the in-game time passes quickly.

So, if you’ve been looking for a game to lose yourself in for a few hours without it being too slow, this is a game for you!!

Livi’s Recs: Netflix’s Castlevania

Oh Neflix, you’ve come so far over the past few years…

Like, seriously, this platform has not only garnered fans who like to stream movies and shows, but they also make some pretty solid stuff, in my opinion. But, I’m digressing….

So, Castlevania. I didn’t play the original games, since I was born in the 90s and didn’t start getting into video games until the early 2000s. Still, I played the DS games and GBA games and I had a fun time with them. The games were neat and the character designs were something cool to check out. The stories were pretty simplistic and didn’t make you think too hard while attempting to find every single piece of wall meat in the game, but they were fun. I didn’t think it would take creators this long to actually come up with a movie or a television show, but now that they did, I think it was worth the wait.

The show is short. Most of the people who’ve reviewed it have hardly any complaints regarding it, but the one thing everyone can agree on is that the show is short. After doing some research, I found out that the first season of this show was written as a movie, so the showrunners translated that into four, twenty-something minute episodes. It works though; it gives you just enough to whet your appetite and actually gives backstory as to what exactly Dracula was doing. I’m looking forward to seeing each of the characters introduced getting a bit more screentime and maybe a look into their pasts, as there’s a lot of potential for some cool archs.

Anyway, the series is already slated for a second season, so I’m excited. I recommend this to anyone who likes the more violent fantasy stories or television shows that have gotten popular over the past five years. This is not something you want to watch with your baby brother or sister, as there’s lots of violence, swearing, and blood. The animation is lovely; a cool cross between western and a bit of Japanese influence without it looking like a run-of-the-mill anime. The voice acting is amazing as well and you can tell that everyone who worked on this put their hearts into it. It’s a lovely way to spend about two hours and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s willing to look past the shortness and see the potential.