Farming Simulator 16....

 

Farming Simulator '16..... A mobile version from the franchise. It may be an older edition I've no interest in on a platform I don't really game on ..... But when I saw it on the microsoft store for widows 10 I was intrigued. Not only because it was a mobile version on PC but because it's also free! A few hundred megabytes later and there I was, in the game. It may be a 'mobile version' it has all the key elements of the franchise. 

While it can be played full-screen on PC doing so isn't doing it any favours for the visuals. It allowed me to use keyboard and mouse, as well as an xbox controller; however controlling vehicles is far from a simulation(too fast/responsive). 

Win10:

It's not a great looking game. Then again it's not supposed to look really good... It is what it is and it's supposed to be a mobile game. It is after all an 'older mobile game'. So I suppose the smaller the screen the better for resolution and not nitpicking about it.

Android phone:

Considering it came out in early 2015 and phones/android OS's are so changeable it's more apparent to see visual changes in yearly editions in such short amounts of time. Especially on games that are more dependent on looks. It's not like Farm Sim had ever had an ageless cartoony look to the franchise. So things in the visual department are more noticeable over time. Especially when hardware limits are not what they were year over year and the bar is raised.

No matter the version of the '16 edition, it/they do look old even on the highest setting. Maybe I'm being too harsh but there's a lot of variation in what is detailed and what is not... Like trying to decide if a bush is a bush or an over-sized low res cabbage. The '16 release trailer does a lot to buff the graphics issue, so much so I was second guessing was there really a PC version out the same year.... There wasn't.

Although newer versions of the mobile edition of the franchise are improved, the 'real' pc version is king. Not that they are really in competition with one another. All depends on the hardware a gamer has to use. At least there's an option for a lower demanding version for PC; Plus it's free!

I found that as long as I had the camera angled about halfway; Just enough to see the immediate area and concentrated on the job at hand, the broader area and it's graphical fidelity didn't matter(at least to me). As I said there's a lot in this version of the game(more or less full featured); The game has the good gameplay of the franchise so it's distracting in it's doing. That gameplay makes a gamer blinkered/forgiving to what might be otherwise classified as 'bad graphics'.

It was interesting to see not just on mobile but as a Windows 10 'app'. I've since removed it from Windows. I've other, better, Farm Sim games to ignore on PC('17 and '19). But I will keep it on my phone. It's a minor distraction. At least for me the more variation on that score the better.

Farm Together....

My wife has always been into certain web based games. It started with the Bebo/Facbook types etc. Each to their own. Thankfully I was able to persistantly nag persuade her to engage with 'proper' versions of the same type of games. Primarily because normal PC games have more long-term "meaning"/longevity. Which wasn't hard, she was already a PC gamer. (Sims/WoW/Banished etc.).

Side note 1. She has a varied PC game lineup - Rift, Darkest Dungeon, WoW, Banished, Plants vs Zombies, Minecraft, House/Garden Flipper, Stardew Valley, Planetbase, Gravceyard Keeper, Subnautica, Cities Skylines, Dawn of Man, Peggle, Papers Please..... - To name a few.

The best example of the online variety would be Farmville; She used to play it a lot but after it got it's second full wipe/reset(Newer version again, again) she was peeved. Not that she pays for any of the items. She doesn't play them for that, she has always done free to play, for the fun. But to loose all you worked for, events you participated in. Time and effort. It didn't take much persuasion to suggest she abandon that type of game altogether.

Side note 2. People who want game resets are nuts. Take Eve Online, there has been serious community consideration for a game reset. NUTS. I know I'd stop playing it and I don't play all that much these day's. Anyway if they want a reset they should go create and play as an Alpha, and only that Alpha. I wonder how long it would take for them to run back to their Omega/Titan.

Besides stopping Farmville allowed her more time in her other 'big' online web based game Elvenar. I don't know much about that game (just from her passing comments) and while she hasn't put any cash into it, I do know she's made a name for herself in multiple guilds. Happy for her but I've no chance of talker her down from it. Not that I'd really try.  I wouldn't do that to her. It's the community side of the game that's a big draw. WoW may be the only other game that could pull her away from it and even then she' prob play both. In saying that I can't talk her into trying Classic WoW with me....

I don't dislike web based games so much as to wish they didn't exist. Honest!

Anyway I knew she missed her farming side. Farm Manager was a stop gap but was abandoned. So I was tempted to mention another Steam game I saw recently. Farm Together. Again not a thing I'd be into(Farm Sim 17 or Stardew for me). But when I saw it I knew she'd love it. My hesitation was that she might like it to much. It ticks the longer term 'always there for her' boxes. Least I could do was mention it. So I did, just as a casual comment. 5 Minutes later I heard new game music. Game and DLC bought..... 

I'd only also just seen that one of my favourite youtubers Daggerwin did an early look at Farm Together! I'd bypassed/ignored that when he released the video.....

So where is this long meandering story leading to. It's leading to a comment I made about the game.

You can have a.i. workers on your farm. These only work while the game is active and on. I've seen her alt-tab because of this. Giving workers time to do their thing while she goes afk or does something in or out of game(as well as let the seasons change). My comment was that while she was at work and I was off she 'should leave it logged in in the morning and I'd keep an eye on it'.

Rookie mistake I know. Should have stayed quiet.

The next morning the PC was on, the game logged in with her character sat on a bench and a post-it note on the screen....

- Check Buildings

- Check Treehouse

- Check Farmhands Union

While I did take a wander at first to familiarise myself with the game, I eventually got around to some of the list.

A Casual Carebear

So after that I got to make a few changes to help; And put a Christmas song on one of the piano's that would slightly joke annoy her.  I'm saying all this in good fun. Like I said it's not a game for me but if it does help her out then fair enough.

In retrospect leaving the game on (with the a.i. workers) hasn't helped her as much as we thought. It has given her some more insight into her own farm/game management; Especially with some of the currencies. Tickets being a bottleneck etc.

Really surprised there isn't a more active community within the game for online co-op stuff.

I'll not mention split screen co-op but she wouldn't do that to me. Besides we have a farm in Stardew Valley!

Thankfully I've not been asked to do anything else over the long weekend not that I'd really mind. I trust her to manually gate jump/warp my Eve Online ships when I'm afk after all; How could I say no!!