November 2017

Pocket Camp – Just Not For Me

stargrace November 27, 2017 No Comments

I don’t consider myself a nomadic gamer for no reason, nope. I have been known to bounce around from game to game depending on any number of reasons. When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp came out I was first in line to dive into a new AC game. I play all the 3DS versions and adore them, even to this day. I was a little bit cautious because I remember the last mobile game I played from Nintendo and that was a huge flop, but as I started playing I let the hype and excitement wash over me thinking wow, here’s a game I can play on my phone and I might actually last in it!

I didn’t even last the weekend.

Honestly, the game LOOKS like Animal Crossing, but it’s so incredibly limited and bare, that I kept wandering around looking for more. I love collecting bugs and fossils in the regular versions, but here the things you can find are pretty limited, and you have no way of cataloging them. Aside from dropping them off to NPC who give you 3 quests a day, or selling them to players, there’s no real inspiration to want to collect.

Those three quests a day from NPCs really started wearing away at me. Visit someone, give them a handful of stuff, repeat, repeat, move on to the next NPC.

As a friend pointed out, there was little motivation given to visit friends camps, you could give them kudos but that didn’t actually reward either of you with anything except complete a daily quest. Sure looking at their stuff is neat, but it just wasn’t enough.

Then there was the quarry zone. I unlocked it once using friends and even though I had more than 5 friends help me out every day after, I could never seem to get it open unless I went and used my precious leaves.

The whole thing started feeling really repetitive and boring very quickly. A big difference from how I feel actually playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which I still play now.

So, I uninstalled the game, and I’ll just stick with my 3DS versions, and keep hoping that Nintendo releases a Switch version. THAT I would like to see.

Real Life

Meal Prep Sunday – Keto Edition

stargrace November 26, 2017 No Comments

I’ve stalled out a bit with my weight loss, sitting at 191 (down from 248) and I still hope to get to 180 by January 29th so to kick start things I decided I’d try going back to keto temporarily. It’s usually a great way to get my body used to eating smaller meals, craving less carbs, and being nice and full from healthy fats.

Keto is not always the cheapest way for me to make and eat meals though, and I’m on a pretty strict budget so I had to come up with a meal plan that works for me for the week, and that sticks to my budget. Thankfully I have some ground beef and tuna so I don’t have to make a purchase there.

Breakfast: bacon & eggs. Add some hot sauce to spice up the eggs and I’ll be set.
Lunch: spicy salami stuffed with cream cheese, and tomato tuna bites. Basically you slice up a tomato, top it with tuna (a bit of mayo, salt, pepper), cover it with some cheese and pop it into the oven until it’s a melted mess. Sort of like an open face sandwich but without all the bread.
Dinner: spicy meatballs with a sauce, and cauliflower buffalo bites. Another really easy recipe. Simple meatballs cooked in a muffin tin with a tiny bit of sauce, and cheese melted over top. The cauliflower is just tossed with some melted butter and some hot sauce then baked.
Snacks: pickles and olives. You’ve gotta be a fan of these for it to work, but they work for me.

A simple week of foods that don’t have too much cooking. The total cost comes to about $40 CAD, with the most expensive item being the package of bacon – I plan on getting the good thick cut stuff. I wanted a break from chicken, I’ll probably go back to that staple next week.

We’ll see if this helps to kick start my weight loss again. In the past it has done wonders but we’ll have to see. I can’t do keto long term, it’s just not something I can ever stick with, but I do like how full I feel while on it and it does help me get back to eating smaller meals instead of trying to fill my plate with all the things.

Gaming

Steam Autumn Sale

stargrace November 23, 2017 No Comments

It’s that time of year, right around the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, sales. Sales all over the place. I look forward to steam sales (for the most part) and this new autumn sale that showed up yesterday was no exception. I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many visual novel games were heavily discounted. I tend to keep a nice selection on my wishlist, games that I’m either interested in but don’t want to purchase at the moment for xyz reason, or games I really want that I just can’t afford. It’s rare that I purchase a game for full price unless it’s something I just really can’t live without. As time goes on, those games have become further and further apart, especially because I know a few months down the road I can usually get it for a better deal.

In a world of instant gratification having the patience to wait until something goes on sale to pick it up is a skill I’m still working on – but I’ll get there.

Have you picked any games up this sale? Holding off for something better? Let me know in comments!

Also a very happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends down in the states, and a happy Thursday to those of us who are just having another day!

Gaming