What Did We Play Yesterday?

The new update is now available for Nintendo Switch. ConcernedApe's timing on this was just right, I sorely needed some SV in my life. I read through the changelog but there is just SO MUCH stuff there, plus I never got around to properly exploring 1.4.

I'm using a reasonably late-game PT to explore the new content. I got all the iridium tools and mostly maxed my skill levels but I haven't bought any of the big construction projects that are mostly money sinks. This post covers a mixture of 1.4 and 1.5 content. The 1.5 update is so thorough I can't help but wonder if it will be the last of its kind. If so, ConcernedApe has added more DLC-grade new content to this game that any other game I can think of.

Before I get into that, let me just say I get very sad during the winter, and Stardew Valley is a game I have historically escaped into while I await my beloved spring planting season. I have played SV a lot though, so the last update, in spite of having tons of STUFF, was not enough to renew my interest in the game. This update adds a tropical island to explore and I LOVE IT, even though the map is currently bugged on Switch and it has absolutely breathed new life into this game for me. I hate the desert dungeon, so having a new place to explore and get cool loot is A+ top notch.

MORE GOOD NEWS! You can finally move the crib and toddler furniture. This was a gripe on one of my posts. Remaining deets under the cut.

I helped Joja in this game because a) I'd never done it and b) I wanted to be able to fix the town quickly rather than spend time building the bundles. I regret that, because having a Joja warehouse in the Community Center sucks. Well, as of 1.4 you can talk to Morris to make a rather expensive movie theater. I did that and took Haley to a movie. It's not as rewarding as the other community upgrade, but I appreciate I don't have to look at that warehouse anymore.

I have never liked the errand board, as it amounts to boring fetch quests. I like the new special orders board a lot better, not only because the large orders with longer time periods are more interesting, but because they provide new items/recipes.

1.5 adds home aquariums. This was done just for me, obviously, and since I have a furniture catalogue I now have like three of them.

I put in a few ponds last update and forgot about them, so imagine my surprise when my salmon politely asked for 3 pinecones. Why the hell not, I thought, and tossed them in to find that this simple gesture expanded the quantity of the pond from 3 to 5. I also found some aged roe I'd apparently set up the last time I played. It sells for a meager amount, less than 200, but continues the fine Stardew tradition of being able to pickle basically everything. Anyway, I did some research on this and apparently Sturgeon produce caviar. Eels are a no-brainer, and I'll have to start a cucumber pond uh... whenever I catch one. I thought I had kept back 1 of each fish but apparently not.

Willie introduced me to a broken ferry that can take me to Ginger Island. The cost of entry, which includes 5 iridium bars, ensures the player will not be able to fix the boat until around the time they'd start upgrading their tools for the final tier. I had everything but about half the hardwood, so I took a few sessions to grind that out (and figured out we now get mahogany seeds to plant hardwood trees, which is good because hardwood is the most annoying resource grind IMO).

I. Love. Ginger. Island! As I said. Before this point I'd ignored the obelisks because they are very expensive for what they are and they take up space, but I've already cleared a section out to build a Ginger Island obelisk as soon as I get the needed dragon teeth. Both the totem and the obelisk require dragon teeth and the drop rate seems infrequent enough it would probably be best to build the obelisk. That's a contrast to the other totems, which require fairly common ingredients. The dungeon itself is a little samey, but golden walnuts -- which are the way you unlock various aspects of the island -- drop frequently enough to keep me visting and renewed my interest in lucky foods.

Anyway, I've hardly put a dent in the island content but it has renewed my interest in the game, and in organizing the farm and so on. If you've got the game but haven't played in a while I recommend checking it out, especially if you've reached the point where you have access to iridium.

Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion is very good. If you'd told me 4 years ago I'd be able to play this game on Switch I would have lost my mind. This version of the game, which includes a new Arrange mode, should eventually be released on Steam as well.

Arrange mode allows you to purchase upgrades as you fill the break meter (speed bonuses, lock bonuses, options, shield, break/doublebreak), and this has a semi-auto and manual mode. It's a fun new addition and I think an interesting mode for people who have already played the original and boost a lot.

For the sake of transparency, I love shmups but I am an absolutely mediocre player. I dug up my old scores from when I was previously obsessed with this game in 2015 and the best I found was 168 billion on novice (level 4). I resumed playing this game pretty darn close to where I left off. Scoring 20-something billion on level 1 novice means you're not playing optimally for scoring, so I looked up some strategies to better max scoring on that level (more point-blanking, and making sure to do more full locks, destroying the boss with a full lock which is a strategy I knew but had forgotten about). I think I don't quite grok "full lock" versus using shot, but in the past just watching one or two scoring PTs really upped my game so I'll probably do that soon.

On the fip side, for 1CC I've been trying to remind myself to bomb if I'm going to lose a ship. (Veggie Tales voice BOOOOMB WHEN YOU HAVE TO, BOOOOMB WHEN YOU NEED TOOOO...) My instinct is to hold on for break/double-break, but I get so twitchy in stage 5 I don't think I could come close to 1CC without bombing at this point.

In novice mode you can easily stash extra lives, as you get one from each boss plus you can get extras by collecting stars. Yesterday I read that novice limits how many extra lives you can hold (2+) in World Ignition. I have yet to check this on World EXplosion, I've gained more than +2 before losing any but honestly wasn't paying enough attention to the ship count to verify if I actually gained them or not, I just reasonably assumed if I was offered a 1-up it would count.

Anyway, this is a worthy double-dip and a demonstrates the subjectivity of the Switch tax. This is a genre classic and it's the game that got me into bullet hell. I got the original game in a cheap bundle, the previous version sells for $10 on Steam, and IMO World EXplosion is well worth $20 on Switch. I'm not sure how many older ports I'd unflinchingly accept a 100% markup on, but this is one of them.

I pulled out ye old Flip Grip but found it too awkward to hold for this type of gameplay, at least with my current keymapping that is reliant on L+R to spare my thumbs (I seem to remember the Flip Grip being a better choice for games like Gunbird 2). I really wish something like the Hori Split Pad Pro could accommodate TATE mode, but I don't want TATE mode bad enough to make things weird and unhip. I have my image to consider. (So I say, watch me purchase that clip mount or something similar within the upcoming months and promptly hate it.)