#eastward octopia spoilers

[giuliamarcovaldo]

favorite sillies from the character album so far

[eastwardbound]

So. I played the first little bit of octopia last night….

It was obviously AMAZING!!!! 😭🩵

Seriously though, I only got through like the first three or so days and I already think it’s the most perfect DLC for eastward. So I made a list of my little observations and details I really liked and just my general first impressions!!!!

• the graphics are SO ADORABLE like obviously the animation in the backgrounds and characters and stuff is stunning, but I just love how all the little details look- like the inventory, the little sun and moon animations when the day ends, the health bar, it ALL just matches this really cute aesthetic so perfectly

• the very beginning of the game, when it’s the little story text thing similar to what each chapter in eastward ended with. Oh my god that was the PERFECT way to start the game. Just beautiful.

• SAM NAMING THE SCARECROW MAYOR HOFFMAN?!!?!? HELLO???? LIKE I CANT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO FREAKED OUT WHEN SHE DID THAT RIGHT 😭

• Sam recreating the face of the scarecrow JUST LIKE SHE DID IN GREENBERG….. (the parallels to eastward are making me INSANE it’s quite literally everything I’ve ever wanted)

• it’s weird to see Solomon a COMPLETELY different character, as everyone else’s personality and appearances stayed relatively the same, but I like it nonetheless!!!

• EVERYTHING ABOUT WILLIAM AND THE DANIELS IS SO ADORABLE…… like just the way they all interact, they’re such a cute little family.

• I love how william still has a lot of really funny dialogue like in eastward, but now he’s actually a good dad!!!!!! IM PROUD OF YOU WILLIAM :,) I mean he does still make his children work for him but that’s irrelevant !!

• I love how most of the interactions between robot Daniel and William have basically just been:

“but father! you’re broke! we can’t do that father we have no money!”

“SHUT UP YES WE DO SON 😀”

• I find it interesting how robot Daniel still has a stutter, but human Daniel doesn’t

• speaking of the Daniels we never got to see them actually interact in eastward and THEY ARE THE CUTEST BROTHERS UGHHH 😭😭 LIKE THEYRE LITERALLY MY CHILDREN

• probably my favorite little moment so far: in ch1 of eastward, human Daniel refers to John as sam’s dad and Sam says “John’s not my dad! John’s just John.” In octopia, William asks if John is Sam’s dad, and she happily replies with “Nope! John’s just John!” YALL THIS MADE MY HEART SOOOO HAPPY 🥺

• I noticed sam is barefoot- I REALLY hope that means Alva will give her her shoes again cause that’s just too adorable to not happen <3

• I NEED MORE SAM RIDING ON JOHNS SHOULDERS PLEASE PIXPIL…….

Wow this ended being a LOT of stuff lmao but if you couldn’t already tell I’m really loving octopia so far.

I’d love to know what y’all think of it as well!!!!

[justskyla-art]

me when i cook (i'm not the one who's cooking it's john eastward actually and he's making the best plate of spaghetti you've ever seen)

[ind3cisive-cl0wn]

Man I'm being so normal about the eastward dlc

(I have 15 hours in 1 day I am insane about it)

[10gofrio]

i love them so much..

[pallastronomy]

I’m smiling like a fucking idiot I missed them so much

[gladfang]

Me quietly putting my ‘I’m sad Octopia is just a farming sim with no development of the established lore’ back in my drafts.

[highly-important]

Octopia is so fun! *spoilers*

I’m really enjoying the gameplay loop of tending crops/animals, visiting town, exploring/fishing/mining, and then going home and seeing what new things I can cook with the stuff I collected that day.

It’s fun inviting neighbors over. I like how you can plan out a meal that kind of works, or just do the math and find a meal that hits the target exactly. And the same with inviting people over- it’s fun that you can just do it because you like them, or because you are hoping to trigger something or get a store discount.

I really love how they tied narrative through gameplay progression. It’s really genius imo. I won’t really talk about story, but I really wasn’t expecting one. I think some of my issues with other games like this is the sense of character progression. Characters either stay sort of stagnant, or they all develop individually in separate silos, or they never really interact with each other. But Eastward has little dramas with the towns people. When you change the town it changes their stories too. It’s so corny but it feels so immersive.

I don’t know maybe I just don’t play enough farming sims? Maybe this is exactly what original Harvest Moon was like

There are a lot of conveniences in the game I appreciate. I like that there are fewer tools and no inventory management. I like the menu that shows you where everyone in town is, and gives you a heads-up on characters that are arriving to town. I like how quickly you can buzz through the map. The game is always giving me little things to get excited for.

The whole idea of tourists coming to visit the town is such a great use of their cast of ten thousand characters. I enjoy this version of the apocalypse where everyone just decided to be cool about it. I just want everyone to enjoy themselves.

I think I actually really underestimated this game at first. I was anticipating a simple farming game loop, but this is really engrossing. I’m having so much trouble putting it down. If any of the Greenberg people show up im going to break down.

[lee-thebee]

OH MY GOD ITS HAPPENING

YALL DO NOT UNDERSTAND IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR SO LONG….. LIKE I FINISHED CHAPTER 4 IN EASTWARD MOOONNNTHS AGO AND THAFS LITERALLY THE LAST TIME IVE SEEN ALVA LIKE IVE BEEN WAITING TO SEE THEM TOGETHER AGAIN FOR SO LONG AND IM GOING INSANE OMG 😭😭😭😭😭🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

[talesfromthebacklog]

Are you looking to click with a new game and want something genuinely different?

I am always hunting for new titles to reinvigorate that click I feel with video games. Not all video games will click but when they do they can be something truly special. I wanted to go over some of my favorite games I’ve played in recent years that are available on current gen consoles. I’m not covering anyone upcoming, these are titles you can pick up today. Cheaply at that. Several of which are on sale on Steam right now as of writing this.

So. Enough chit chat. Lets’s start with an easy one:

Paradise Killer:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

I just finished this one and am in the middle of writing my review on it. Painfully stylish with a killer vaporwave soundtrack this game oozes aesthetic. Kaizen Game Works understood the hauntology assignment and took it to the MAX. You are an investigator trying to solve an immortal god-like council’s murder in a dystopian society. You’ve returned to this gorgeous open world parasite paradise from your exile of 3 million days (about 8219 years)! If you’ve played Outer Wilds this is among that same vein. (And I will caution you, while not hard, the game relies on you wanting to just explore. It will provide hints but it won’t hold your hand.)

This is an Ace Attorney-esqe collectathon mixed with open world and exploration. There is no combat. Both the writing and the world are spectacular. Don’t deny yourself something this wonderful, because it is.

This has quickly risen among my gaming ranks as a favorite and it hits to being as close of a favorite as my number 2 suggestion…

Outer Wilds:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

This is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time. I wanted to talk about this second because Outer Wilds has received more of the notoriety it deserves in recent times and I wanted PK to get the main spotlight. Don’t get it twisted though If it wasn’t for UpIsNotJump’s video (<— Spoilers) I would have never realized what I was missing. And I still think a lot of people don’t understand what they’re missing too. It is an absolute masterpiece. And seeing it getting released physically again is a god send. I want people to play this game. (And it’s DLC Echoes of The Eye)

No combat. You are a scientist exploring your local solar system in your spaceship in an open “universe” instead of an open world. The sun explodes every 22 minutes which sends your memories back in time. Again, I will caution you that the game relies on you wanting to explore. It will not direct you.

Eastward:

PC Switch Xbox

Too much exploring. Let’s reel it back with Eastward. A Zelda-like where you control an older man and a little girl with psychic powers in a post apocalyptic world. If you’re looking for those fun pixel games that pack that quirky feel this is it. A bit existential, a great sense of humor, and fantastic writing are all part of the Eastward package. (You startin’ to see a theme here? Ha ha)

All while boasting a seriously killer pixel soundtrack. The original Iron Carbine trailer for the Nintendo Direct had an immediate impact on me as a gamer. I knew this was a game I would fall in love with. Sometimes you just know when something is special. This game is beautifully pixelated and packed with lovingly crafted content. Puzzles are the right amount of challenging and there is so much fun side stuff to do. Including a Dragon Quest-esqe game inside the game! It also received DLC via Eastward Octopia! Which I also love.

Moon: A Remix RPG

PC Switch PS4/PS5

I do play games with combat. I swear. Several of these games just don’t have it! (Ha!) This will perhaps be the hardest game to sell to you on this list. I have a soft spot for quirky games like this, but know that this was a PS1 Japanese exclusive game in the 90s. And it sure acts like it. Slow to start, weak tutorial, and doesn’t provide a ton of direction. This game was ported into English for the first time in 2020 and I love it. It is a trial and error experience though.

This cult classic is one of the games that inspired Undertale and when you play it becomes wildly apparent. I dare say it reminds me more of Undertale than its other main inspiration Earthbound. You are a little boy that’s been fallen into his video game and you have to save the souls of monsters the hero has killed using love. (Sound familiar?)

Light hearted and weird this game also has a great sense of humor as it pokes at classic RPG tropes. And that slow intro comes into play providing a unique perspective as you journey through the game befriending people. It won’t be for everyone, I would research this one before sinking the… $18.99 on the purchase. But I think it is worth experiencing if you love Undertale.

I think I’ve yakked enough. If folks like the post I’ll follow up with a part two with a little more genre variety! I wanted to the first post to include my top favorites. So. I hope there’s something in there that invigorates you the way these games did for me.

[eastwardbound]

Forever going to be salty over the fact that in Octopia, they brought back Silva and Armstrong, two very irrelevant characters in eastward who I found to be very annoying (no hate to Silva and Armstrong fans if you guys exist) but they DIDN’T THINK TO BRING BACK UVA ???!!?!!? And like. They brought back the other characters who died. Why could they not bring Uva back for octopia. I FUCKING LOVE MY GIRL UVA !! ALL MY HOMIES LOVE UVA !!!!!

To be fair I have not finished playing octopia yet, maybe she makes a surprise appearance??? But I just feel like I would’ve seen something about that already.

Although I will say I do not want to sit through more forced romance between her and John which I feel like probably would’ve happened if she was in octopia, so maybe it was for the better ?? Idk I’m still salty about it tho. Unless Uva does end up being in octopia then I’m stupid and forget I ever posted this

[giuliamarcovaldo]

i think that it’s sooo cute that you can invite the npcs over for dinner in octopia 😭 it just adds to that small tight-knit community vibe that they were going for

[giuliamarcovaldo]

little bun referring to sam as john’s sidekick 😭😭

[giuliamarcovaldo]

sam not being woken up by izzy and alva literally crashing their ship through the side of the house is so fucking funny

[giuliamarcovaldo]

some of my thoughts on octopia so far !! (spoilers i guess?)

i love that daniel and daniel are existing together and so far no one has questioned that william gave them the same name

the scarecrow’s face changing to predict the weather is so cute (and sam copying its face of course)

additionally- making the scarecrow this universe’s mayor hoffman is so fucking funny

magical self-refilling watering can is a W

being able to use the axe for the trees AND rocks also a W (no switching between tools is so convenient)

the clock at the top of the screen/progress bar so that you can see how much of the day is left is a nice inclusion

love the cute moon and sun graphics that show up when it’s loading between days!!

petting the animals!!! :D i wish i could name them too 😭

absolutely LOVE the character album... i can’t wait to see all of the character icons :3

no fridge so far… i miss its quotes :(

mysterious bunker in the swampy area?? feels very familiar… what is it for… where does it go….

all in all i’m really enjoying it!! i’m so glad that sam and john are finally getting to live a peaceful life 😭

[eastwardbound]

What's your favorite area on the game? (Octopia also counts)

Thanks for the ask!! My favorite section of eastward is probably chapter 3, but a lot of my favorite scenes/moments are later in the game. As far as gameplay goes, I really love ch7 and the time loop puzzles. Favorite boss fight is probably the Isabel boss fight.

And I haven’t finished octopia yet, so idk what my favorite area of that would be. I just love all the dialogue and character interactions in octopia.