Okay so I just checked my Steam Review page to see how many reviews I've written, zero...a big fat ZERO! I've got 102 games and had Steam since November 2005, with 1000's of hours of game time across the board. Why have I never written a review? Not sure as there's a number of games I absolutely adore. Medieval Total War 2 - Divide and Conquer especially, Mount & Blade Warband, Kenshi, LOTRO etc etc.
Why have I decided to review Amazing Cultivation Simulator as my first, with only 21.7 hours playtime? Because IT'S AMAZING, it's fits EVERYTHING that I want in a game and the depth it's phenomenal. I haven't even touched the sides yet. For me, currently, it's perfect!
I stumbled open this game earlier in the week when I was searching for a colony sim I could actually enjoy and get my head around, but what I found was something MUCH MORE than a colony sim. It's perfect, just perfect. And I was told it's insanely complicated. I haven't felt that at all, sure there's so much depth and it will only get deeper and more involved as I progress but it's currently at a slow and manageable pace which is what I love.
I couldn't get my head around Dwarf Fortress, or even Rimworld, after the tutorial I no longer want to play, and I've tried it a number of times. I've wanted to like them but I can't, for some unknown reason. After finding out about ACS on a Colony Sim Reddit post I decided to investigate, and I bought the game. I tried working my way through the MANY tutorials but stopped after a while...there's LOADS explaining many different aspects of ACS interface and systems. There was also an issue a couple of times with translation in English where the tutorial won't progress unless you switch to Chinese and restart, which I did, twice or thrice. THERE IS NO ISSUE IN THE MAIN GAME, only a few short tutorials, but can be over come by using a Translate camera app on your phone and then switching back to English for the next tutorial.
Over the last week I tried playing another 5 or so other games, colony sims too, including Rimworld, but couldn't get into any of them. Lord's and Villains came closest, and Ascent to Ashes even closer, but this is an Early Access game with a number of bugs and not for me at the moment, in the future for sure.
So switching back and forth and ignoring ACS, not starting a proper game, last night I decided to finally just go ahead and start a proper game without completely all the many tutorials (they are no compulsory obviously). Going in blind they say, no guides, no Wiki's. So I start the game...maybe 8pm last night...I end up logging off at 4:08am - my last save. I couldn't put it down. And yes, this has happened in other games sure, but I've come back on today, and tonight, and only stopped to write this as I've just cooked some food.
I finally created a Sect, my Sect Leader was disappointed in her mood as she had so much shame around being labelled a '♥♥♥♥ Eater'...yes I got her to eat 'Male Turtle Faeces' not sure why but I did okay. A member of another Sect visited me and sat on the spare cushion in my self made and named 'Cultivation Room'. The temperature exceeded 60 degrees C, not realising he was passed out and dying on the floor next to my Sect Leader, who was still cultivating her Fire Law, hence the heat needed in the room. As he was dying of heatstroke I had two options, interrogate to learn his secrets (apparently that would speed up his death though) or 'Search', I decided to get one of my disciples to search his drying body, and found my first artefact! Lucky me, unlucky for him. He died, and his corresponding Sect became understandably angry with my Sect for letting him die in my care, so I buried him - in a tomb! This was in case they wished to visit him, wanted to pay him at least some respect for kindly gifting me my first artefact.
I got a dog, a puppy, at first I really thought I'd made the wrong decision as he kept biting and wounding my disciples! Then popping in their beds, urinating in the crops, eat all the cooked food and destroying my buildings! But I've trained him, now he can chop trees just by his magic breath! And mine ore the same way too! He can carry things and kill things and break things. But he learns, and I'm sure he will grow too, although I hope not much as I kinda like him at his current "puppy" size!
I have not even broken the ice on this game, only have 5 disciples, one died randomly, think he was cooking something and somehow died very early on. I'm still learning and there's a lot of options still not open to me. But the detail, the little interactions between characters, the Feng Shui, the different minerals and elements and spells and laws etc etc etc. I'm glad I can take this game slow, and I feel it is at my own pace currently. I only have one achievement out of the 401 available. That's for playing over a certain amount of time in a row! The others are apparently only unlocked on the harder difficulty level, which is how it's meant to be played apparently. I await that day! For now I'm still learning, and I'M LOVING IT!
Will update if I feel the need, if I don't, and my hours have increased, then just knows this - THIS MAY WELL JUST BE MY PERFECT GAME! :D :D Welcome to the World of Cultivation!
Hare Krishna x
