Jeff's Gaming Blog

Stardew Valley #6 – Scarecrow & Furnace

I know I’ve been playing Stardew Valley at a snail’s pace, but at least I’m playing it occasionally. I’m trying not to put it on the back burner completely (like I’ve done with Xenoblade Chronicles X, Pikmin 3, and many others). 😛 So let’s get into it.

Day 18

After watering my crops, I finally crafted my first scarecrow. I earned 100g for completing the “Advancement” quest. I put the scarecrow out in my field, and you can actually talk to it! It said “I haven’t encountered any crows yet.” 😛 I just can’t decide if that’s really cool or very creepy.

Scarecrow in Stardew Valley: I haven't encountered any crows yet. — He doesn’t even have a brain yet!

I spent the rest of the day mining and then returned home about 9 p.m.

Day 19

I got a letter in the mail from Jodi today, asking for fresh cauliflower. Even though I accepted the quest, I didn’t have any to give her.

I tried to do a little fishing, but I didn’t actually catch any fish. I did catch a nice variety of trash, though. A broken CD, a Joja cola can, and some algae. Delicious! 😛 But as I explored, I found something else as well: Robin’s lost axe!

Finding Robin's lost axe in the woods (Stardew Valley).

I caught up with Robin at the saloon in the evening. Even though she was dancing with her husband, I was able to give her the axe back. (Shake that axe!) I earned 250g for completing the quest.

Day 20

I spent the day mining and didn’t get much of anything else done. But I did acquire enough copper ore to build something tomorrow…

Day 21

Using copper ore and stone, I crafted myself a furnace! I wasn’t sure where to put it, so I stuck it in my house next to my fireplace. I’m sure it’s completely safe to sleep in the same room where I smelt metals. I just might need to open a window or something. 😛

My new quest was to smelt some metal. Unfortunately, that meant I needed more copper ore again! Oops.

I stopped at the blacksmith’s shop to process two geodes, and one of them contained 3 copper ores! I also donated an Earth crystal to the museum before going into the mine. Once I got what I needed, I returned home and smelted my first copper bar! This completed another quest, although there was no reward for this one.

Day 22

I headed over to the adventurer’s guild and purchased a wooden blade (a level 2 sword) for 250g. This should make my slime-busting a bit easier.

Buying the wooden blade sword at the adventurer's guild in Stardew Valley for Nintendo Switch.

I then went into the mine to test it out (and do some mining while I was there). When I was done, I headed back home for the night.

I’d like to upgrade my tools, buy a chicken coop, expand my backpack again, and do many other things. But everything seems to take so much money, and often, lots of ingredients. Stardew Valley is fun, but it’s a very slow grind to get anywhere.

BOTW #18 – The Wedding

Over the past few days, I’ve picked up Breath of the Wild for the first time since beating Calamity Ganon in October. I started out by cutting down some trees, since I still needed more wood for Tarrey Town. When I had enough, I headed there and spoke to Hudson. He informed me that he got engaged…to Rhondson the Gerudo!

Before they could get married, he asked me to find someone priest-like to officiate the wedding. He suggested that maybe one of the Zoras would be willing to help.

After making a stop at the Great Fairy Fountain to upgrade some clothes, I made my way to Zora’s Domain. There, I found Kapson, who is a retired priest. He was actually looking to marry a couple before he dies, so he was clearly the right guy for the job.

Kapson: If during your travels you meet any engaged couples, I would like you to introduce them to me. — That’s an odd request. It sounds fishy.

He set off for Tarrey Town, while I went to go take a picture of a Lynel for a side quest. Once I finished, I returned to Tarrey Town. Hudson thanked me for finding Kapson, but now he needed me to invite Bolson and Karson to the wedding. So I went back to Hateno Village, and told them about the wedding in Tarrey Town.

Bolson: Karson, we're headed out! — They went straight there.

Before long, Kapson began the wedding. Congrats to the new couple! Although, Rhondson didn’t seem very happy about a part of the wedding vows that said they had to name their kids names that end in -son. 😛

Hudson and Rhondson get married in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I spoke with Hudson, and he gave me three diamonds that he found inside the boulders in town. This completed the side quest, and Tarrey Town is officially done.

Next, I headed for the desert, where I recovered one of Link’s memories and then defeated a Molduga in the Toruma Dunes for a side quest.

Fighting a Molduga in BOTW. — Why can’t I cut this guy up into, like, 1,000 steaks?

After the fight, I unlocked a shrine at the same location. I went off exploring after completing it, and I saw some statues of swordswomen pointing their swords. As I followed in the direction they were pointing, a sandstorm rendered my radar and map unusable.

Static on my map screen, making it unusable. — Recalculating… recalculating… recalculating…

But the pointing swords led me to a shrine; completing it restored my radar and map.

The next day, I teleported to the Tabantha area to recover another memory in the Ancient Columns area. I have now recovered six of the 12 photo memories.

After browsing through my list of open side quests, I returned to the desert to trade 55 rushrooms to Pirou, for a diamond. I explored further, and soon arrived in the East Gerudo Ruins, where seven huge statues stood in a circle. Solving a puzzle here opened up another shrine.

Huge statues in the East Gerudo Ruins.

I completed it, and then found another shrine nearby. But I couldn’t get into this one just yet. A sick Gerudo was collapsed on the activation portal. I’ll have to heal her before I can get inside. But at this point, I ended my game for now.

Just to provide an update on my status, I’ve completed 77 shrines and my overall game completion percentage now sits at 23.49%. If I counted right, my Hyrule Compendium completion is now 292/385. I still have much to do in Hyrule.

Here is my latest Breath of the Wild video, Messing Around #2. It shows me playing with fire, zapping some sleeping enemies, sneaking around in a barrel, and more. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas Haul 2017

I received several gaming-related gifts this Christmas, and I thought I’d talk a bit about each one.

Doom

Doom for Nintendo Switch was the only actual game I received for Christmas. I’ve been a big fan of the Doom series, and I thoroughly enjoyed the old Jaguar/PlayStation/N64 games. But admittedly, it has been a very long time since I’ve tried a new one.

I haven’t played much of it yet much, so it’s too early even to post my first impressions. I was a bit turned off by the fact that I needed to download an hour-long update before I could even play it–despite the fact that I was playing the physical (cartridge) version.

And then once that was done, I found that it doesn’t allow you to invert the controller’s horizontal axis (only vertical). So without a control method I like, it’s going to take me a while just to get the hang of moving around. 😛

Pixel Pals – Raccoon Mario

This thing is really cool. It’s a pixelated figure of raccoon Mario (from Super Mario Bros. 3). It’s about 5 inches (13cm) tall, and it lights up (using two AAA batteries). It looks great, especially in a dark room. It makes me want to buy more of these Pixel Pals.

64 GB MicroSDXC Memory Card

This provides me with some storage for my Nintendo Switch. Even though I almost always buy physical games when possible, it’s always good to have some extra storage available for pics, videos, or digital-only games like Stardew Valley.

Now that I can get these files off of my Switch (without posting to social media), here are a few pictures I’ve taken this year.

There's no X in Expresso. — “There’s no X in Expresso.”

Splatted in Splatoon 2. — Accidental picture I took after being splatted in Splatoon 2.

Splatoon Amiibos

I got the Splatoon Amiibo 3-pack, with the inkling girl, boy, and squid. Amiibos aren’t something I would normally buy with my own money, but they’re not a bad thing to receive as a gift. I can use them to unlock features in Splatoon and Splatoon 2, and I can also use them to get Splatoon-themed items in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. There’s even a Splatoon-based villager named Inkwell I could get to move into my town. I might not do that right away, but it’s a possibility for the future.

Tanooki Mario Figure

This one is just a small collectible figure that doesn’t really do anything, but it would look nice on a shelf with other Nintendo items and figures. The interesting thing (to me, at least) is that I got two gifts based on power-ups from Super Mario Bros. 3, from two different people! And neither of them knew about the other gift. 😛

Did you get any good games, accessories, or merch for Christmas? Feel free to comment what you got, and how you like it! 🙂