Harvest Moon Winds of Anthos

 With today's launch of Harvest Moon Winds of Anthos across all platforms, I've decided that I'd like to try and write a review for it upon completion of the first year of the game or at 60 hours on the in-game clock— whichever comes first. 

I had a good relationship with the HR person and the company itself. Natsume would regularly send me exclusive goods from trade shows, early review copies, etc. But when their seediness started to leach out of the soil, I began to fire back and call out their icky behavior surrounding the Harvest Moon name and their policies, with the two biggest incidents being the inclusion of what was essentially a marriage candidate that you groomed from a young age and the other being their gross conservative approach towards including same-sex marriage. 

Needless to say, I was blacklisted pretty quickly and had my brand ambassador status revoked. :P

Natsume had a really bad habit of just plain not listening to criticism and dug their heels into the ground more often than not. Or at least, they did. It seems that with the advent of their newest game, they've added same-sex marriage, even the ability to friend-zone candidates. They've removed any weird loli/shota candidates and have actually, from all footage I have watched this morning, actually released a game that may be worthy of the Harvest Moon name for once. And I say this without nostalgia goggles that even the best Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games of the past weren't 10/10 works of art. 

They just weren't and it's time to accept them for the buggy, rushed games that they were. 

That said, I think writing a review for the game will be fun. I haven't reviewed a game in forever, and those that I did review occurred before I ever took writing seriously. 

(I'm going to be reposting all my old reviews here before too long)

If I were to be given an unlimited budget and total creative control over a film or TV series production, I would opt for a extreme horror-themed 26 episode superhero series about a world where suddenly, all of the things that go bump in the night no longer feel the need to hide, sending the world into total chaos as the monsters in the closet begin to brutally tear kids apart. Where boogeymen leave behind only blood and gore filled baby cribs and trolls begin feeding on people crossing bridges, among a million other instances.

At the center of the story would be a werewolf; a man capable of turning into a superpowered half man, half wolf monstrosity, and the only being that emerged in the advent of world turning into one big horror movie as a driving force for good. The only problem is, every time he transformed, he lost a little humanity and his appearance would degrade. Beginning the series as a striking, well groomed werewolf akin to the ones in Van Helsing, capable of striking heroic poses and limited speech capacity. But as the series progressed, his muscles would begin to disappear, his skin sag and cover in mange. His fur would fall out and the sores that would steadily begin to cover his body would leak fluids of nauseating colors and smells. By the end, he would resemble more that of the Dog-Thing, with an elongated neck and arms. Dry, unblinking eyes and a deep, impossibly long grin that showed not only the far reaches of his muzzle, his his neck and throat muscles as well. 

The fights would start out as superpowered, "protect the innocent civilians" style of fights seen in Marvel and DC, but quickly degrade to fights without thought; Nothing but raw animalistic rage from both combatants as werewolf and Wendigo duke it out in the middle of main street, small town America.

All culminating with the once main hero ending the series as the main villain, now a horrific eldritch monstrosity that had pushed every shred of the humanity that it's human host once held out.

The Autumn Welcoming Day #1

At this time every year, as the leaves begin their shift into their autumn colors and the landscape begins to change, I like to celebrate by taking three consecutive days off from work to welcome 2023 autumn season with a big feast: A big old pot of rustic beef stew, some biscuits and a pumpkin cheesecake! The stew and cheesecake I make but only once a year, just for this event.

So today, kicking off the big event, I venturerd out into the world around 8:30am, just as my paycheck dropped. My first stop to be my favorite bakery in town: Dom Bakeries. 

It was here that I ordered myself a bacon egg and cheese biscuit, an autumn spice latte and an apple cider donut made using cider from a local apple orchard, which I will also be visiting later today as I wrap my big shopping experience up.

My next stop was Lowe's Foods which had recently gone through a remodel this past month and thus had distrubuted "Save $10 off $50 or more" coupons, so I opted to do most of my shopping there. Since my annual stew requires waxy as opposed to starchy potatoes, I always opt for the babies. Surprisingly this year, Lowe's had this  potato medley deal going on, with not only red and white baby spuds but also blues! A rare treat indeed that will look very pretty in the stew. 

On my way home, I drove up 421 north to see how development on the new Sheetz is going. All major signage is up and things are looking good. Hope to see it up and running soon. 

Currently Reading: The Only Good Indians

Finished reading book 1 of High Moor yesterday and loved it; Easily the best werewolf book and to be perfectly honest, the best piece of werewolf media out. I hope the second book can maintain the quality.

My next read for spooky season is Stephen Graham Jones 'The Only Good Indians' and it is a tale about a group of friends that are haunted by a being from their childhood, which is evidently deer-like in nature. Have heard mixed reviews, so we'll see how it goes.