In the weekend post at AAM, someone asked what you would wish for if you had three wishes. The twist was that the first wish had to be for yourself, the second had to be for everyone, and the third could be whatever. I thought it was an interesting question, so I thought about it a bit. The second one I waver between everyone not having to worry about the basic needs being met (housing, healthcare, etc.) and eradicating all isms. The reason I don’t make those the second and third wishes is because I want to make a good welfare to all animals wish as well. Oh, of course, there can be no wishing for more wishes.
The first was the most interesting because there were a ton of things I could have said–be a best-selling author, know all the taiji weapons forms, etc. Or be the best at FromSoft games in all the world. But the first thought I had and the one that stuck to me was good health, both mental and physical. That seems especially relevant now and I’m going with that one. My father ends every conversation with a pompous monologue about how health is the most important thing and as annoying as it is, he’s right. So much of my life has been shit because of my varying health issues. I would get rid of them in a heartbeat if it were possible.
Back to Cozy Grove by Spry Fox. The biggest tip I could give to a newcomer would be to take the game as it is. When I first started playing, I would get impatient because there was so much I couldn’t do at the moment. I didn’t like that the game would introduce things such as the brokenhearted imps without me being able to do anything about it (no cocoa beans). It stressed me out until I realized that there was no negative consequence to not being able to do something at the moment. I mean, I didn’t like it, but I was able to let it go.
It’s the same now. I’m on Day 29 (I think) and the brokenhearted imps are back again–sometimes. They show up some days and don’t other days. I don’t have enough Bon Bons to reunite them yet because I need twenty toasted nut flour (bags), which is not easy to gather. In addition, I have to use them for other things from time to time so it’s going to take me days before I can make the Bon Bons. It’s funny because some days, there’s only one of them about and some days, there are both. I don’t know if it’s a glitch or what because I already got the achievement. They don’t give me resources I need (I have plenty of money or the ability to turn things into money) so I can ignore them if I want. I do my best, but it’s really difficult for me not to feel bad every time I see them crying.
I still think the balance is a bit off. There are tools used to get different resources. A shovel, a machete, etc. There are different versions of each tool, too, ranging from the simple version to the gold version. You can’t dig up a master hole in the ground, for example, with the basic shovel; you have to match the level of the tool to the level of the task. The golden-level tools (which I assume are the highest level, at least so far) take a shit-ton of resources to make. And, well, let me put it like this. There is a piece of decor, probably legendary, that takes something like 150 hardwood boards to build. In order to make a hardwood board, you need 10 softwood boards to craft it (and you can find them in the wild as well). In order to make a softwood board, you need 10 branches (also can find in the wild).
You can see how that would take a long time to make this piece of decor. I’m fine with that except I keep needing hardwood for other things. Today, I needed 30 hardwood and…something like 50 softwood for my golden machete. You can recycle items as well. So one hardwood makes two softwood. I needed forty softwood so I had to recycle twenty hardwood, which was what I had past the thirty I needed for the golden machete. When I made the golden machete, I ended up with no hardwood and no softwood. It’s a bit disheartening because I was trying to save up for the legendary decor and now I’m back to zero.
Again, I know this game is meant to be played in small bites over many months if not a year. I’m trying to let it be what it is and not demand more. I did wish for a few quality of life changes such as the frustration of trying to click on something when it’s surrounded by other items, but those are minimal compared to how much I enjoy the game.
Also, I’m mostly recovered from my second Pfizer jab. The injection site is still a bit sore and swollen, but it’s nothing like it was during the first few days. Still tired and falling asleep at random times, but I assume that’ll get better soon.