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I figure I might as well stick something up here.
Hi, I'm Estirose (or EstiRose, I capitalize the second half at random) on most platforms.
Most of my personal stuff here is under friendslock, though sometimes things will escape it. I mostly post fannish stuff in public view. Most of my fannish stuff as of late is video games. I tend to play cozy/farming games, but I also like a variety of other videogame genres (still love the Fatal Frame/Project Zero/Zero series of games). I also wander in and out of Tokusatsu/American Tokusatsu fandoms and follow a couple of cpop groups and soloists.
Burgeoning Fantasy Life i database of stuff
I decided to restart my game so I could put together a database (well, spreadsheet) of stuff I find in Fantasy Life i, because otherwise I'm hunting around looking for stuff (yes, I know, you can go and look it up in-game - but that often doesn't list all the locations). I was going to do it from my recent save, but I've run into the problem that I've upgraded a lot of things in the game that come later on in the story or in the post-game and I have no idea what because available when.
Google sheets version (view only): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XU4E-Skqq3rA2LVV6lsRP3lyZn0fCl4OT7GNuitLNR4/edit?usp=sharing
At this point I still have to fill out the shop and enemy (well, monster and foragables) data around the starting area (Eternia Village) and I'm too early in the game to switch Lives yet so the only data I have is for the Tailor recipes/quests as well as some forageables. (I suspect I'll have to do some game recording as otherwise enemy drops - both monsters and trees/minerals/fish/farming - disappear too fast on my Deck's screen.)
ETA: Working on purchaseables/shop inventory in Eternia Village! There are 5 shops so this might take a minute or two.
I'll be fiddling around a lot with the spreadsheets. There are several websites that do a pretty good job of saying what's where (and the old Fantasy Life wiki is slowly being updated for FLi, but it's far from updated yet). Still, I figure that I'm not the only person who might find a database of sorts helpful.
Google sheets version (view only): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XU4E-Skqq3rA2LVV6lsRP3lyZn0fCl4OT7GNuitLNR4/edit?usp=sharing
At this point I still have to fill out the shop and enemy (well, monster and foragables) data around the starting area (Eternia Village) and I'm too early in the game to switch Lives yet so the only data I have is for the Tailor recipes/quests as well as some forageables. (I suspect I'll have to do some game recording as otherwise enemy drops - both monsters and trees/minerals/fish/farming - disappear too fast on my Deck's screen.)
ETA: Working on purchaseables/shop inventory in Eternia Village! There are 5 shops so this might take a minute or two.
I'll be fiddling around a lot with the spreadsheets. There are several websites that do a pretty good job of saying what's where (and the old Fantasy Life wiki is slowly being updated for FLi, but it's far from updated yet). Still, I figure that I'm not the only person who might find a database of sorts helpful.
My Progress in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time at this point
My achievements:
* Completed the story
* Unlocked all of Ginomorsia
* Gotten all strangelings, though I haven't restored all of them.
* 6 Lives up to Master - Hunter, Miner, Woodcutter, Farmer, Tailor, Alchemist.
* The rest of the lives are up to Expert, except for Angler, which is at Adept, Magician at Apprentice, and 2 combat lives (Paladin and Mercenary) that I haven't started yet.
ETA: I got to 7 Lives at Master! Artist is now at Master. First thing I did, I made a certain wall hanging that makes me extremely nostalgic.
( Spoilery musings and rant )
* Completed the story
* Unlocked all of Ginomorsia
* Gotten all strangelings, though I haven't restored all of them.
* 6 Lives up to Master - Hunter, Miner, Woodcutter, Farmer, Tailor, Alchemist.
* The rest of the lives are up to Expert, except for Angler, which is at Adept, Magician at Apprentice, and 2 combat lives (Paladin and Mercenary) that I haven't started yet.
ETA: I got to 7 Lives at Master! Artist is now at Master. First thing I did, I made a certain wall hanging that makes me extremely nostalgic.
( Spoilery musings and rant )
Fantasy Life i - first Life mastered
Just like the original 3DS game, when you accomplish enough to get to the rank of Master, you get something special.
( Small spoilers )
( Small spoilers )
A Fantasy Life i set of notes with a brief spoiler-free review
I've spent quite a bit of time in Fantasy Life i (I haven't managed to finish Chapter 7, due to my frustration with the game, but that may be more a me thing than a game thing). Here are my thoughts on it, mostly under cut because I tried to avoid spoilers but they're there.
Spoiler-free review version: More combat-heavy RPG than cozy, though the cozy certainly is there. Unlike the 3DS game, this game emphasizes both developing a set of Lives/classes and a set of villagers in a town that you will establish. The crafting minigames require a fair amount of reflexes. 3DS players will enjoy the nostalgia but be aware that you will not be able to do a 1-life challenge - in fact, you will be using at least 11 of the 14 available classes by the end of the game. The omnipresent quest marker can cause players to rush the plot where they really need to slow down.
(Also, I will mention that while this is not the game I fell in love with, I've poured in a lot of hours and don't feel the purchase was a waste.)
ETA: I think I'm getting the hang of the game! Still irritating that you have to at least intro quest the majority of Lives but quite doable. My one tiny item I want is the ability to unselect the main quest - my brain tends to want to hurry because you can unselect side quests but not the main quest, which my brain translates into a priority to-do.
( A lot of comparison between Fantasy Life i and Fantasy Life 3DS )
Spoiler-free review version: More combat-heavy RPG than cozy, though the cozy certainly is there. Unlike the 3DS game, this game emphasizes both developing a set of Lives/classes and a set of villagers in a town that you will establish. The crafting minigames require a fair amount of reflexes. 3DS players will enjoy the nostalgia but be aware that you will not be able to do a 1-life challenge - in fact, you will be using at least 11 of the 14 available classes by the end of the game. The omnipresent quest marker can cause players to rush the plot where they really need to slow down.
(Also, I will mention that while this is not the game I fell in love with, I've poured in a lot of hours and don't feel the purchase was a waste.)
ETA: I think I'm getting the hang of the game! Still irritating that you have to at least intro quest the majority of Lives but quite doable. My one tiny item I want is the ability to unselect the main quest - my brain tends to want to hurry because you can unselect side quests but not the main quest, which my brain translates into a priority to-do.
( A lot of comparison between Fantasy Life i and Fantasy Life 3DS )
Getting the writing stuff going
I find myself a bit rusty when it comes to writing fic (well, at least I haven't really managed anything for the past few months) so I decided to try to do bits and pieces of the (very threadbare) plot of the freemium game "Starbrew Cafe" over the next 10 days.
Hopefully my muse will come out of hiding so I can finish an actual fic request.
Hopefully my muse will come out of hiding so I can finish an actual fic request.
Fantasy Life i first looks
So far they've shown off the intro quests for four (ETA: now eight) different Lives (classes):
1. Woodcutter (English)
2. Alchemist (German)
3. Miner (Traditional Chinese script)
4. Mercenary (Simplified Chinese script)
5. Chef (Korean)
6. Paladin (French)
7. Carpenter (Spanish)
8. Tailor (Italian)
I think they're due to show 1-2 more (we have at least Italian left, don't know if they'll also do Japanese; I imagine Italian will be the new Artist Life due to multiple well-known Italian artists), and I'll update this as they pop up. They seem to be doing 1-2 a week.
ETA: Don't know if they're going to show any more Lives since the only life left is Japanese, which a lot of material has come out for (as Level-5 is Japanese).
Also a 4-minute showcase of the quick Life-change video, which seems to indicate you need to go to the guild only when you're starting a new Life? ETA: At least two more videos so far in the same vein! We've had one that did the Angler-Farmer-Cook switch to gather ingredients for and then cook a dish, and a "kawaii" (cute) video where a very feminine character does some mining for a project (because she's a bit short on... looks like minty ore?) and then to artist to make a decoration for her house. And then goes to tackle the Napdragon as a wizard/magician for... cuteness? Of course she doesn't want to dirty her wizard/magician robes....
(ETA from rewatching that last: it looks like you have different levels from each Life? The kawaii Miner-Artist-Magician is at level 20 for Miner and Artist, but a level 30 for Magician....)
In the 3DS game, you could use the basic functions of a Life without being in that Life (I admit that when I'm in Wizard/Magician, I tend to whittle down bosses with a great-sword from the Mercenary Life then use a wand) - you just missed certain advanced moves, some class-specific higher level tools (for example, the Fashionista's Needle could only be equipped when you were actually in the Tailor's Life), and the class stat boosts.
But in the video released today, a woodcutter seemed to insta-change into a carpenter? Interesting!
(I want to see - especially with the combat and gathering/crafting quick swap - how they handle armor. In the original game, my characters tended to be under-armored because I couldn't bother with switching to heavier armor when I was spending half my time being in crafting and gathering classes, which do not lend themselves to stronger armor. ETA: Looks like armor swaps with the class!)
ETA: There are some small amount of voice lines - for example, the greeting the guild lady gives you. However, this does not seem to have been voiced in all languages. Western languages get the English-language lines, Eastern languages get the Japanese-language lines.
( Some musings on the intro quests so far )
1. Woodcutter (English)
2. Alchemist (German)
3. Miner (Traditional Chinese script)
4. Mercenary (Simplified Chinese script)
5. Chef (Korean)
6. Paladin (French)
7. Carpenter (Spanish)
8. Tailor (Italian)
ETA: Don't know if they're going to show any more Lives since the only life left is Japanese, which a lot of material has come out for (as Level-5 is Japanese).
Also a 4-minute showcase of the quick Life-change video, which seems to indicate you need to go to the guild only when you're starting a new Life? ETA: At least two more videos so far in the same vein! We've had one that did the Angler-Farmer-Cook switch to gather ingredients for and then cook a dish, and a "kawaii" (cute) video where a very feminine character does some mining for a project (because she's a bit short on... looks like minty ore?) and then to artist to make a decoration for her house. And then goes to tackle the Napdragon as a wizard/magician for... cuteness? Of course she doesn't want to dirty her wizard/magician robes....
(ETA from rewatching that last: it looks like you have different levels from each Life? The kawaii Miner-Artist-Magician is at level 20 for Miner and Artist, but a level 30 for Magician....)
In the 3DS game, you could use the basic functions of a Life without being in that Life (I admit that when I'm in Wizard/Magician, I tend to whittle down bosses with a great-sword from the Mercenary Life then use a wand) - you just missed certain advanced moves, some class-specific higher level tools (for example, the Fashionista's Needle could only be equipped when you were actually in the Tailor's Life), and the class stat boosts.
But in the video released today, a woodcutter seemed to insta-change into a carpenter? Interesting!
(I want to see - especially with the combat and gathering/crafting quick swap - how they handle armor. In the original game, my characters tended to be under-armored because I couldn't bother with switching to heavier armor when I was spending half my time being in crafting and gathering classes, which do not lend themselves to stronger armor. ETA: Looks like armor swaps with the class!)
ETA: There are some small amount of voice lines - for example, the greeting the guild lady gives you. However, this does not seem to have been voiced in all languages. Western languages get the English-language lines, Eastern languages get the Japanese-language lines.
( Some musings on the intro quests so far )
Hollywood Demons episode on Power Rangers
...apparently this week's episode of the Investigation Discovery/Discovery+ series "Hollywood Demons" was on Power Rangers. As expected by something that discusses the dark side of Hollywood, this doesn't touch on light topics.
( Cutting because of the subject matter )
( Cutting because of the subject matter )
I seem to have written another Stardew Valley mod.
This one I'm still trying to figure out a good name for, but it works at least from my basic testing. It's the newest of my Content Patcher mods, and this time it alters the ladder in a certain section of the mines that tend to be very dark. I hate these particular levels because you're often trying to switch between a torch (that you probably grabbed quickly) and a weapon to fend off the monsters, at least until you get an item that sheds light while you're holding your sword/dagger/club/slingshot.
Well, this mod alters the ladder so it's a bit easier to spot. In other words, I recolored the ladder in this area only so that I can see it in the dark - saves a tiny amount of time for me and makes this far less frustrating even if you don't have a light source.
This coming month, I'm going to get my act together and actually update/upload all my mods to my github so that they're available to people who are not me.
Well, this mod alters the ladder so it's a bit easier to spot. In other words, I recolored the ladder in this area only so that I can see it in the dark - saves a tiny amount of time for me and makes this far less frustrating even if you don't have a light source.
This coming month, I'm going to get my act together and actually update/upload all my mods to my github so that they're available to people who are not me.
Partly through my Fantasy Life challenge!
I've challenged myself to play through the 3ds game Fantasy Life in preparation for the release of Fantasy Life i in May. I just got halfway through the story.
( Rules and thoughts so far on my self-imposed challenge )
( Rules and thoughts so far on my self-imposed challenge )
I Am Future (Cozy Survival game)
I picked this one up at some point and am currently maining it (along with trying to get somewhere with Dragon Age Veilguard).
It's described as a cozy survival game. In other words, you have to eat, but because it's a cozy you won't die of starvation. You can farm if you want, you can fish if you want, you progress things at your own pace. It has three levels of difficulty (what the game calls the "coziness level") where you can go anywhere from full survival to very cozy. There are enemies, but they're more a nuisance than anything else.
ETA: Forgot to add the premise! You wake up on top of a slowly crumbling highrise surrounded by water. Now you must figure out how to survive and see if there are any humans out there.
( More about the game )
It's described as a cozy survival game. In other words, you have to eat, but because it's a cozy you won't die of starvation. You can farm if you want, you can fish if you want, you progress things at your own pace. It has three levels of difficulty (what the game calls the "coziness level") where you can go anywhere from full survival to very cozy. There are enemies, but they're more a nuisance than anything else.
ETA: Forgot to add the premise! You wake up on top of a slowly crumbling highrise surrounded by water. Now you must figure out how to survive and see if there are any humans out there.
( More about the game )
Fantasy Life i got delayed again... but I'm still thrilled
It's now switched (no pun intended) to May, which is a bit of a disappointment... but on the other hand it's not a Switch exclusive anymore! It's also releasing on recent Playstations, XBox series consoles, and Steam/PC!
So barring issues, I should be able to play Fantasy Life i on my Steam Deck!
ETA: I'm doing the pre-order but not the Digital Deluxe (I don't really want the mini-Napdragon mount or the spiffy weapons, and the only clothes of the set I want are Yuelia's, which I'm not paying $10 for). So I won't have early access, which is fine by me because I wouldn't have time to play the game before the 21st of May when it launches for all non-Digital Deluxe orders.
So barring issues, I should be able to play Fantasy Life i on my Steam Deck!
ETA: I'm doing the pre-order but not the Digital Deluxe (I don't really want the mini-Napdragon mount or the spiffy weapons, and the only clothes of the set I want are Yuelia's, which I'm not paying $10 for). So I won't have early access, which is fine by me because I wouldn't have time to play the game before the 21st of May when it launches for all non-Digital Deluxe orders.
My Fantasy Life challenge run
Wanted to replay the original 3ds game before the release of Fantasy Life i!
The gist of the challenge is that I am limited to 4 mostly-random Lives that I must take from the tutorial to Master level; once I do for each, I can add a new, mostly-random Life.
( The full rules )
( My progress, mostly of interest to me )
The gist of the challenge is that I am limited to 4 mostly-random Lives that I must take from the tutorial to Master level; once I do for each, I can add a new, mostly-random Life.
( The full rules )
( My progress, mostly of interest to me )
Fantasy Life i release date/The Red Ranger Becomes An Adventurer In Another World
So, two short things:
1. Fantasy Life I is releasing late April! Possibly for platforms other than the Switch per an accidentally posted Playstation Network (Japanese) announcement that was quickly pulled. I would really really love it if I didn't have to support Nintendo any more than I have to and I would love to play the sequel on the Steam Deck (since it's possible to run the original 3ds game in emulation on the same). It looks like at least some other Level-5 games will be releasing non-Switch versions, and if they turn out to include a PC version I'm getting them.
2. I've held onto my Crunchyroll Amazon Prime Subscription for the last few months because I've been binging anime + I knew that an anime Relevant To My Interests was going to likely show up. And it has! We're up to episode 3 of The Red Ranger Becomes An Adventurer In Another World. I've got mixed feelings about this because it's got its share of fanservice (the main female character is a bit scantily clad) but it's also a very affectionate look at Super Sentai/Toku norms/tropes/cliches since the main character is just an overenthusiastic Sentai Red transported to ye old cliched fantasy world - episode 3 had a bit that made me wonder if the original writer had seen Power Rangers R.P.M.!
1. Fantasy Life I is releasing late April! Possibly for platforms other than the Switch per an accidentally posted Playstation Network (Japanese) announcement that was quickly pulled. I would really really love it if I didn't have to support Nintendo any more than I have to and I would love to play the sequel on the Steam Deck (since it's possible to run the original 3ds game in emulation on the same). It looks like at least some other Level-5 games will be releasing non-Switch versions, and if they turn out to include a PC version I'm getting them.
2. I've held onto my Crunchyroll Amazon Prime Subscription for the last few months because I've been binging anime + I knew that an anime Relevant To My Interests was going to likely show up. And it has! We're up to episode 3 of The Red Ranger Becomes An Adventurer In Another World. I've got mixed feelings about this because it's got its share of fanservice (the main female character is a bit scantily clad) but it's also a very affectionate look at Super Sentai/Toku norms/tropes/cliches since the main character is just an overenthusiastic Sentai Red transported to ye old cliched fantasy world - episode 3 had a bit that made me wonder if the original writer had seen Power Rangers R.P.M.!
Fields of Mistria
I gave in and bought this game, which is in early access but getting a lot of accolades from cozy gamers.
It's definitely got Stardew Valley in its ancestry, but I think that it's also got something of the Rune Factory series in there as well. The character designs remind me of Sailor Moon and similar anime/manga of the same general time period.
Obviously, the plot is the tried and true "You've been invited to (remote location) to start a farm there". But like a lot of Stardew-esque games, this actually has a plot.
Price-wise, right now it's priced the same as Stardew Valley is. I picked it up at a slight discount (10%).
( I might get spoilery under the cut )
It's definitely got Stardew Valley in its ancestry, but I think that it's also got something of the Rune Factory series in there as well. The character designs remind me of Sailor Moon and similar anime/manga of the same general time period.
Obviously, the plot is the tried and true "You've been invited to (remote location) to start a farm there". But like a lot of Stardew-esque games, this actually has a plot.
Price-wise, right now it's priced the same as Stardew Valley is. I picked it up at a slight discount (10%).
( I might get spoilery under the cut )
Time for a prompts thing!
I signed up for Get Your Words Out! At the lowest level (75k words).
Thing is, I'm kinda out of inspiration right now.
So if you would be interested in a fic from this list of fandoms that I set up for Fic or Treat, please leave a comment.
I may write something tiny or something long for you.
I also would like to post at least some of these on AO3 - if you're good with that, please let me know (and if I don't know your AO3 username, please let me know it!)
Thing is, I'm kinda out of inspiration right now.
So if you would be interested in a fic from this list of fandoms that I set up for Fic or Treat, please leave a comment.
I may write something tiny or something long for you.
I also would like to post at least some of these on AO3 - if you're good with that, please let me know (and if I don't know your AO3 username, please let me know it!)
Took a deep breath, published a mod.
Raven's Mystery Box Exchanger got uploaded onto ModDrop's Stardew Valley section. I'm still feeling my way on making my mods available anywhere besides GitHub, and a family member of mine had expressed interest.
I'm always a bit nervous when I upload mods for others, because I primarily make them for myself and I don't really like having to troubleshoot stuff for others. But I'm giving it a try now!
(This is the mod where you can stick a Mystery Box into it and get something hopefully more useful than what you can get from taking one over to Clint's. I think the art came out... okayish? Considering I don't do pixel art.)
I'm always a bit nervous when I upload mods for others, because I primarily make them for myself and I don't really like having to troubleshoot stuff for others. But I'm giving it a try now!
(This is the mod where you can stick a Mystery Box into it and get something hopefully more useful than what you can get from taking one over to Clint's. I think the art came out... okayish? Considering I don't do pixel art.)
Wherein I talk about modding Stardew Valley at length
I've tried to make this a high-level overview and I think everything should be explained, but some unexplained technical stuff may have escaped confinement!
( Long bits of rambling about what I've written, what I'm writing, and what my plans are for this year )
( Long bits of rambling about what I've written, what I'm writing, and what my plans are for this year )
Pop Culture Jeopardy - Cozy Games questions
I don't really follow Pop Culture Jeopardy (which is a tournament were 3 teams of 3 compete against each other for a slot in the quarterfinals/semifinals/finals), but they had a cozy games category in a recent episode.
( Not spoiling for those who haven't seen it yet )
( Not spoiling for those who haven't seen it yet )
And another podfic!
I have a blanket permission statement for noncommercial transformative stuff on my AO3 profile because I'm cool with things like fanart, podfics, and even remixing my stuff into new fanworks. (If it's not on AO3 I want to be notified so that I can also read/like/promote.)
Today, I got a nice random podfic from someone who'd seen my blanket permission statement. It's for a fic I wrote for Yuletide as a treat a bit under 10 years ago.
[Podfic of] Looks Upside Down (27 words) by vexbatch pods
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rosaline & Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet)
Characters: Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet), Rosaline (Romeo and Juliet)
Additional Tags: Conversations, Pre-Canon, Before The Storm, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Summary:
Today, I got a nice random podfic from someone who'd seen my blanket permission statement. It's for a fic I wrote for Yuletide as a treat a bit under 10 years ago.
[Podfic of] Looks Upside Down (27 words) by vexbatch pods
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rosaline & Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet)
Characters: Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet), Rosaline (Romeo and Juliet)
Additional Tags: Conversations, Pre-Canon, Before The Storm, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Summary:
Audio Length: 02:50
Rosaline and Tybalt talk during the ball.