I am back to talk about Wylde Flowers (Studio Drydock) for pehaps the last time (but probably not). I was going to do my official review in the last post, but then I got sidetracked, as is my wont. I am going to talk about the good, the bad, and the mixed in this game. I’m going to start with the good, but who knows which path I will wander down? Here we go.
The good:
1. The diversity. This is probably my favorite part of the gestalt of the game. I love that there are so many different types of people. Queer identities range from straight to gay to bi (the main character). As Tara, I could date eight people: three women; four men; and one person who is nonbinary. One is of the fae and spends time in both the fae world and the human world. They are of many different races, ethnicities, and colors–though I will say, sadly, that size diversity was pretty limited to one chunky dude. Everyone else was slim (women); fit (men and the nonbinary person), which was one shortcoming of the game.
2. Grappling with real issues. This game is cute and colorful, yes, but it does deal twith some big issues such as death, loneliness, anxiety, and more. I would not say the game goes deep into them, but I did shed a tear at a few of the story beats.
The not-so-good:
1. The grind is real. This is one of my biggest gripes about this game and others in the cozy genre. I am finally in the second season of the first year, and my goodness, there are just so many tedious chores to do. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I really don’t like that about this genre–all the filler stuff. And how repetitive it is. And how they rarely get the balance right as far as making it hard, but not too hard. Or rather, that it should take effort, but not be grueling. There are some crops that take six or more days to grow. And sometimes, I have to grow certain things for certain events, which makes me anxious. Even when I know that I can get it done, I still don’t like having timers in cozy games.
2. The grind is real, part two. I mentioned this before, but I really think once you learn certain incantations, they should just be things you can do automatically. Ones that you use all the time like the broom for fast travel and the one that makes you move faster. And the one that brings all the items on the ground to you. These should just be automatic because you do them all. the. time.
I get that the devs want you to have to get into the witchy stuff, but by the hundredth time I was casting the levitation spell so I could fast travel, I was sighing and rolling my eyes. I know that part of cozy gaming is the experience and to immerse yourself in the game, but I don’t think anyone would have been upset to automatically fly from place to place.
I’m in the beginning of the second season in the first year now. Oh, by the way, the trailer I included above shows many of the updates. It’s interesting to see when they were included as someone who played the game once they were all there. This trailer does not include the last few updates (I think. I know it for sure does not include the last three), but even without them, there was plenty added to the main game.
I am impatient because I’m doing the ‘getting integrated into the coven’ part, and I had forgotten how slow a few of the steps were. Or rather, how long I spent in the first season the first time around, so I was able to do it more easily than I can now.
I know it’s difficult to balance all that stuff to make the gameplay satisfying, and I think the devs have it just slightly skewed to taking too much time to do some things. Including feeding the animals. You get the ability to feed them automatically at a certain point, but even then, if you want to do the special things with them, you have to individually feed them their favorite food. Which you have to first find out what it is for each animal. Right now, I have three cows; three sheep; and six chicken. At some point, I will be able to have ten fowls and ten four-legged animals. That’s a lot of animals to hand feed and pet. I’m glad I got the ability to automatically feed them the generic feed at one point, but I would have liked the rest of it to be automated, too.
More good:
3. The game has so much heart. There was a lot of love put into this game, and it’s quite easy to see that from the start. There’s an intimacy to the game that is a trademark of cozy games and many other indie games. I really like the characters–even the ones I don’t vibe with. No, they don’t have the most depth, but each character is memorable. Which brings me to a negative–
More not-so-good:
3. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. And I mean a lot. It’s fine for what it is, but it repeats so early in the game. As I said, I’m in the second season, and I have already heard repeated dialogue. I will admit that I’m not talking to many people this time around, which makes the repeats even worse. Also, each person is A Type, and all their dialogue revolves around one or two aspects of their personality. For example. One of the women is the blacksmith. She has curly hair, is chunky and curvy, and is desperate to nab a boyfriend. The last point is hammered home (no pun intended), and by the end of the game, I’m just wincing every time she talks.
A mix of good and bad:
1. Romance. We have to talk about it. I have such mixed emotions when it comes to the dating in this game. I will fully admit that dating sims are not usually my thing (with a few exceptions). I am not a romance-focused person in real life, and I find the most dating sims to be cringe-inducing.
I like four of the seven people I can date in this game. Funnily enough, the three I really don’t like (as romance options) are all men. I will do a full post about why I liked who I liked later, but for now, let’s just say I really liked two and quite liked the other two. Funnily enough, the latter two are the ones who will hook up in year two if they are both single.
I don’t like that the way to date each of them is the same. You talk to them every day, give them presents, and then you have to trigger certain events around town when they reach one full heart, two full hearts, and so on. None of this is clearly explained, but the way. I did much of it with most of the people on accident, and I only found out how to objectively do it when I could not trigger one person’s second heart no matter what I did. Oh, and I don’t think you have to give gifts–it just makes the process go faster. But you HAVE to trigger the events around town in order to move the friendship/relationship forward.
After you reach a certain amount of hearts, you become intimate friends.
I’ll continue with this tomorrow.