I didn’t wait 5 months to update again. It’s a miracle lol. I’ve still been a bit reclusive lately, but I’ve been a lot less anxious. Overall feeling a lot better! Let’s hope it stays that way.

3DS Hacking Shenanigans

I hacked my 3DS XL about a week ago, so I’ve been playing with that. For anyone on the fence about doing it, I highly recommend taking the plunge. The system is crazy easy & safe to modify these days, and it took me like 30 minutes total. Modding my 3DS is something that’s been on my ‘I’ll get to it’ list for years now, but now seems like as good of a time as any with online services shutting down a couple months ago. I also promised I would play Bravely Default before year's end!

I’m not really one to care about sailing the seven seas either way. I wouldn't have been able to play as many games as I did growing up if my dad hadn't done that. But now that both the e-shop and online services have shut down, there is no way in all the hells I’m going to pay the nostalgia premium on old, secondhand games. —Or let e-shop exclusives stay dead. And neither should you! If you’re curious about what games I have on my system currently, made a page specifically for that! I’ve wanted to make a page of game box art for awhile, and I was inspired to finally make it by Deid who has a wonderful collection page.

The first game I decided to play with my shiny new hacked system is the English fan patch for Tongari Boushi to Oshare na Mahou Tsukai (Enchanted Folk and the Stylish Wizard). I’ve been a fan of Enchanted Folk since I was a kid, but because the sequel games were never translated into English, I never played them. There is an awesome translation project going on for the 3rd game, Stylish Wizard, that I’ve been following for awhile. It’s rough around the edges and has a lot of issues, but it’s playable! Because of the performance issues, I probably wouldn’t recommend it to newcomers to the series (YET), but for seasoned players like me, it’s really a godsend. I’ve been working on an Enchanted Folk shrine, much like my Animal Crossing shrine. Playing the game put me back in gear, and I have the outline for each page done.

I have also been playing Rune Factory 4 for the first time. Despite being a longtime Harvest Moon fan, I never paid much attention to Rune Factory. —And I have been missing out!! I’ve only put in about 12 hours so far which means that I haven’t played enough to give a well informed opinion about the game. What I can say is that it’s crazy fun and may just ruin me on every farming sim forevermore.

For the uninitiated, it’s a quarter of the time a farming simulator, half the time a real time action RPG, and another quarter of the time a social sim! For me, the social sim aspect of the game is of utmost importance, and many Harvest Moon-inspired games like Stardew Valley don’t have well-developed social simulation. In most cases, the townsfolk are flat and uninteresting. In Rune Factory 4, the characters are fun and their dialogue isn’t repetitive, changing every day in response to the world around them. It basically knocked my socks off and gives me real incentive to talk to everyone every day.

Additionally, I had always assumed in my transient knowledge of the game that it was a turn based JRPG, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s a real time action RPG instead. I love a good turn-based game every now and then, but unfortunately, many turn-based RPGs—especially older ones—tend to be slow and grindy. I just don’t personally have the patience for that unless the rest of the game is compelling. I will definitely be writing more about Rune Factory 4 in coming entries!

General Life Updates

In other news, I was actually offered that job I mentioned in my last entry! I am so, so grateful to finally end my unemployment era. The pay is kind of bad considering I have a 4 year degree, but at this point, I’m just happy to not work at the ol’ golden arches lol. It is really rough out here. I don’t start until July first, so I’m happy to have another month to just chill without worrying. …as if lol.

That’s all from me today! Do you have any fun summer plans? :3