Buying Early Access games

So, there was some thoughtful commentary during a youtube video on Slime Rancher 2 which got me thinking.

There is a certain risk in buying games in this state. It's why you'll see games in Early Access status on Steam state that this game is not finished and some things may be missing/the game may be very buggy, and why you should evaluate what level of finished you're willing to tolerate from the game and the people who make it.

I had My Time at Portia in fairly early access (Alpha 4.0.8) and it was a bit rough around the edges (they had the general mechanics down but not all of the content) but quite playable. It was a good game then and it is now. My Time at Sandrock is in a similar position to early Portia - the frame is there, it's playable, romance is a bit rough to put it politely but it's there and I know marriage will be a thing eventually. They just had an update a few weeks ago that added a bunch of new missions (along with a new NPC), which is quite typical of how Pathea handles things. I was willing to put down money for Sandrock because I saw that while Pathea made mistakes (boy, did Pathea make mistakes....) they fixed them. They got better. My Time at Portia is not perfect, but it's a good game, and I have every confidence that Sandrock will be even better.

With Slime Rancher 2... well, a day after release it's basically the original, finished Slime Rancher with a few new slimes and some changed mechanics, which understandably some people are not pleased about, and I can understand their frustration. Had this been a finished game, I would not be pleased either. But Monomi Park added a bunch of improvements to the first game even after 1.0 was released and has generally been pretty responsive, and so I'm good with the current version (0.1.1) being just version 0.1.1.

Fandomgiftbasket reveals!

I've got some not so great RL stuff going on (don't ask) so it was nice to have the baskets revealed today!


I got 2 gifts, and gave 2 gifts, so here are my gifts:

A New Chance At Life – How One Woman Changed A Town (2398 words) by Rodo
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Female Player (Stardew Valley), Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Puff piece, Newspaper Article, POV Outsider, Feature
Summary:

Stardew Valley - a name synonymous with the past. Or at least it was. The valley everyone had given up on is making a comeback in more ways than one. I met the woman responsible to answer a not so simple question: what does it take to save a town?

Very very nicely done story in newspaper article format. It goes over farmer Sarah Smith's day, with quotes littered about from her and the NPCs on how she changed Pelican Town for the better. It captures Stardew Valley and what I enjoy about it very well! (Their farmer is more of a farmer, mine tend to prefer fishing and adventure, but that's what I like about the game - you can choose what you want to focus on.) There's a mention of Castle Village and Grampleton in there which I was happy to see as they were two areas mentioned in canon and expanded upon in Stardew Valley Expanded.

Shackled By Strength (323 words) by Alexjandria
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Encanto (2021)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luisa Madrigal


A nice AU where Luisa is the first grandchild and realizes that having a gift may not be a good thing.

I also wrote two fics for this:
Home on the Range, a Slime Rancher fic about Quantum Tabbies (and Beatrix being at home in the Far, Far Range)
Bridging one's expectations, an Encanto (2021) fic post-movie about Luisa and the town getting used to the fact that Luisa can and should say "no" now.