Thanks,
@Red Mones and
@The Greenlandic North.
Last night after a very early and tiresome day (I can't remember the last time I woke up at 6:30am), I felt the need to disconnect, so I logged off Discord and spent periods between sleep playing
My Time At Portia, this time with a new character from the start.
For those who don't know,
My Time At Portia is one of my favourite games, and is kinda like Stardew Valley but instead of being on a farm you're on a workshop (although you can still farm too) where you take commissions to build things in order to make money (and improve your standing with town NPCs). I love this kind of game because it's so relaxing...there are no hard objectives that you absolutely have to do. There are quests in the form of commissions from Portia itself that develop the area and even open access to new areas (the first such quest is to build a bridge to a nearby island), but there's no time limit and you could choose to do a lot of other stuff instead...take commissions from individuals in the town, fish, farm, ruin dive (their version of mining, where you find ores, ancient technology, and relics you can put together for bonuses or to sell), talk with NPCs, participate in events when they're going on...
That's what really makes
My Time At Portia a better game to me than
Stardew Valley. They're both fine games, but where Stardew Valley always felt a bit lonely and desolate to me, Portia feels vibrant and bustling. There are easily three times as many NPCs that you can interact with, and like some RPGs they'll actually comment on the things you accomplish. And if you follow through the quests and watch the area actually change after completing them, it actually does feel like you're accomplishing something.
I suppose I like this sort of game because it seems like so much of my day is spent on trying to accomplish things...it's nice to enjoy a more freeform game where you don't have to accomplish anything if you don't want to.