Beat the Backlog Club March Game Introduction (with bonus “What happened to February?!”)

Well, this Beat the Backlog project is going just swimmingly, wouldn’t you agree? Three months in and I have no completed games to show for it… but the more pressing matter is the fact that I completely jettisoned Harvest Moon: A New Beginning back in February! In the end, I think it was far too similar to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, as I just couldn’t get myself motivated to play it in addition to my daily Animal Crossing duties. How disappointing! That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to it in the future, but I think I’ll have to hold off until my Animal Crossing fever gone down. 
I’m not really sure what to do about February, but I’m going to keep moving forward. I did finally start playing Katawa Shojo, a free English bishojo visual novel (i.e romantic visual novel aimed at primarily a male audience) that was released to much acclaim last year, which I’ve been meaning to get to for some time. As such, that’ll probably replace Harvest Moon: A New Beginning as my February backlog pick, and I’ll endeavor to finish it sooner rather than later. Expect some impressions of it in the near future! 
So, with that out of the way, I’ve decided to move on to… Fishing Resort! I’m not exactly why I’ve felt so compelled to start it now, but since I’ve been so indecisive as to what I want to play recently, I figured it’d be best to go with my gut. So far I’ve put approximately 3 hours into it, and I have to say it’s quite fun and relaxing without being the completely open-ended kind of relaxing that Animal Crossing tends to excel at. Oh, by the way, all images used in this post were taken from my game, and I’ve even made a neat (if I do say so myself) little video that shows what the gameplay’s like!

Here are a few of my first impressions in convient bullet-point fashion:

✄ The game is very open-ended, with a number of quests and goals to complete, but it never feels like it’s forcing you to do anything. Love kayaking out into the open sea to see what you can catch? You can do that to your heart’s content! All fish you catch can be exchanged for points at the end of the day which are then used to purchase items such as new rods and lures, so you’ll never run out of supplies to fish away without a care in the world, if that’s what you so choose.

I may or may not have spent a whole day paddling around in a kayak

✄ Perhaps the most irritating thing about the game, however, is the day/night cycle. Every day, without fail, the game will spirit you back to your hotel promptly at 7 pm. While this isn’t the end of the world, it gets annoying having your marathon fishing sessions interrupted.

✄ There are a number of different areas in the game that you can travel to as you unlock the option to stay at different hotels. The first area is nice, but I’m already looking forward to seeing new locations and catching different kinds of fish! The prospect of new locations is a great way to motivate players to  complete quests and progress in the game.

✄ Of course, all of the best games have customizable clothing options, and Fishing Resort definitely fulfills that line on the checklist. It’s totally superficial, but I love saving up for silly items to clothe my avatar in!

The real question is whether or not I will stick with Fishing Resort longer than I did Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Right now I’m confident that I will, as it’s proving to be a lot of fun and I’m getting a big kick out of the motion controls. Be sure to check back in about a week’s time to see how I’m faring!

About Anne

Also known as apricotsushi. Anne can be written with the kanji for apricot (杏), and sushi was the most quintessentially Japanese thing I could think of when I was 13, resulting in my goofy, albeit memorable, nickname.

8 thoughts on “Beat the Backlog Club March Game Introduction (with bonus “What happened to February?!”)”

  1. Considering this is a game all about fishing, I feel like I shouldn’t be as intrigued as I am. But the way you make it sound makes it seem pretty amazing, haha. I kind of suddenly need this game in my life!

    Michelle

  2. Sweet video, Anne! I take it you’re still using the Roxio Game Capture thing for it? Although a lot of people make fun of games like Fishing Resort by default, it definitely looks cool to me. There’s something about relaxing games that is relaly endearing, possibly because of the absolute lack of them in the mainstream.

  3. First of all, I hear ya, Anne! It’s hard to keep up with these backlog projects of ours, isn’t it? I’ve yet to start my March selection (Super Mario Sunshine), by the way–mainly because I’m crazy busy with work right now and also because I’m a bit entranced with Fire Emblem: Awakening.

    I’m going to force myself to start playing it sometime tomorrow, though–mark my words! 😛

    As for your selections: I completely understand giving up on HM: A New Beginning, at least for the moment. Hell, I think the main reason I’ve yet to play a Harvest Moon game (sad, I know) is that I get all I can handle from the Animal Crossing series. I can’t imagine trying to play them at the same time.

    Aside from that, I’m excited to hear that you finally gave Fishing Resort a go! And now only that, but it sounds like you’re liking it well enough? Would you recommend it at this point? I ask because I’ve had my eye on it for ages, and I definitely like the looks of the screens and video you shared here…

  4. There’s nothing fun with enjoying a fishing game! 🙂 Not that I’m an expert on fishing games, but I’ve always enjoyed the fishing aspect of titles like Animal Crossing.

    I definitely recommend it, though – there’s a lot of depth without being so hardcore that only people who really like fishing in real life would appreciate it. And you can totally do everything at your own pace! If you do end up picking it up, let me know what you think 🙂

  5. Thanks, Marcus! And yeah, I’m using the Roxio and the program that came with the unit. I find that capturing works far better than streaming straight from the unit. Though I enjoy the interactive elements of streaming, when it’s late at night and I’m not sure how long I want to play, it’s nice to just do some capturing that I can then use later on for screenshots and the like 🙂

    I don’t know why anyone has to make fun of games like Fishing Resort – just because they don’t fit into some people’s definition of “hardcore” doesn’t mean they’re not well-made, enjoyable experiences. If it looks appealing to you, I definitely think you’d enjoy it! And it’s funny, it’s quite relaxing in the pacing, but actually waiting for a fish to bite can be surprisingly stressful, haha

  6. Glad to hear you’re enjoying Fire Emblem: Awakening! It’s still early in March, and since you finished your February game, I’d say you’re in great shape 😉

    I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t stick with Harvest Moon, but I’m not going to pressure myself into playing things I’m just not getting into. Actually, I’m surprised no one’s said anything like “isn’t Fishing Resort still kind of like Animal Crossing?” –– I know it’s quite different, but in the end, so is Harvest Moon, especially with HM’s focus on farming. I guess the major difference lies in the level of interaction with characters in the game? You’re always talking to lots of people in both Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, whereas Fishing Resort is very much a solo adventure where you’re hardly ever having conversations with anyone, and if you do, it’s very straightforward and to the point.

    I have to say, I would totally recommend Fishing Resort! I have a feeling you’d quite enjoy it. Though I would add the caveat that it’s much better with the fishing rod attachment that comes with the $30 (standard price) version of the unit. I did try playing with just the Wiimote and nunchuck, and it felt a little silly, as you have to rotate the nunchuck in a circular motion to reel in fish, and it seems a bit awkward without the rod setup. The only other thing that is a bit irritating is the day/night cycle I mentioned, but it does add to the vacation trip element of the game, which is nice and isn’t something you won’t get used to.

  7. Ah, thanks for letting me know about the $30 version that comes w/ the fishing rod attachment. I’d completely forgotten about it and was planning to pick up the $20 version (w/ just the game). I’ll make sure I get the former should I ever get up the nerve to add this to my collection 🙂

    Oh, and I don’t think it’s weird that you’re playing Fishing Resort when you couldn’t bring yourself to play Harvest Moon. Like you said, HM just seems a lot more similar to Animal Crossing than FR does. Regardless, all that really matters is how you feel about the situation.

    Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about this one–and maybe seeing more videos of it in action?

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