A History of Hidden Cats Games

There are an epic ton of hidden cats games on Steam this year.  And I like them a lot.  What started off as a totally random thing, became copied by many indie studios for a quick buck.  But which studios do I want to support?  Well, I'm trying them all.

The oldest hidden cats game I could find on Steam was the 3D Hidden Paws by Manic Hyena in 2018.  Manic Hyena's hidden cats games are unique in that they're all in 3D, and you have to navigate the camera around islands to spot each cat and ball of yarn.  The controls are a little rough, but I give Manic Hyena credit for the original idea, and I enjoyed the first few levels of Hidden Paws.  They've produced 3 hidden cats games in total, a winter themed one, a summer themed one, and a mystery one.   The game includes helpful hints for when you get stuck, but doesn't give away the answers entirely.  Well done.

2 Yaoi Visual Novel Studios, All Praise!

ChaniMK is a Visual Novel studio that seems to be mostly BL, but they've started some GL leaks in social media.  They started releasing titles on Steam in 2022, and I love them.  I've played through two of their VNs so far, and went and bought everything else they've released on Steam so far.  No sexy times, but the boys kissing are so sweet and cute.  I'm digging it!  They've previewed art for GL VNs and I intend to buy all of those too, because their writing is totally my jam!

3 Yuri Visual Novel Studios, 1 Comparison Review

On Steam, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of visual novels.  Most of them are heterosexual male fantasies.  Some of them are heterosexual female fantasies.  Even fewer are LGBTQ+.  My favorites to read are girls kissing girls.  I've started to get back into boys kissing boys too, but we're talking lesbians in this blog entry.  I've been searching extensively for more lesbian and sapphic romance visual novels.  Many VN studios do the occasional one off girls love story.  You have to dig to find it.  But three studios have stood out to me for producing multiple lesbian and sapphic romance visual novels.  I've sampled all three's works, and here's what I have to say on each of them.

Dharker Studio is a long standing VN studio that focuses on heterosexual male fantasies, but has 27 LGBTQ+ tagged games in their library.  Their oldest VNs go back to 2015, and one of their most famous series, is a lesbian VN series starting with Negligee.  So I bought Negligee and started reading it.  The artwork was very nice, but I hated the writing.  It wasn't funny, it wasn't sexy, it was just dry.  So dry, I got bored before finishing my first playthrough, and I returned it.  After an hour and a half of reading, I wasn't invested in the characters at all.  It felt like they had no emotion, and were just sexy robots with nice art, trying to imitate human life.  I would have PREFERRED if they were robots trying to imitate human life.  So yeah, gonna pass on Dharker Studios from now on.

Palia Launches on Switch, Free Shit

Today was Palia's third or fourth launch day.  First there was the closed beta, then the open beta, then launched on the Epic Games store, and now on the Nintendo Switch.  In my opinion, this is the biggest launch since open beta, because today we welcomed in the Animal Crossing crowd.  Animal Crossing has a huge following on the Nintendo Switch.  Animal Crossing is no longer getting free updates either, so that crowd's been looking for a new game to obsess over.  I think this will be a good opportunity for Palia, if they don't get over-compared to Gameloft's Disney Dreamlight Valley.  Gameloft and Disney have a lot more money to throw around, and they charge a hefty fee for their game, so I hope people will enjoy how largely free Palia is in comparison.

Palia Winterlights Festival, part 2

Much to everyone's surprise, though it makes a lot of logical sense, Singularity 6 pushed their second content patch for December through 2 days after the first one.  I mean, it makes sense, get the work done early so you can take a winter holiday, I get it.  I do hope they hotfix some shit before they go on vacation, but I don't blame them for trying to leave early.  They've been working nonstop since August, with content patches every 2 weeks and new outfits in the cash shop every time too, and hotfixes after every single patch.  They deserve a break.  I just really hope they put out one more hotfix patch before they call it until January.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, anime and manga review

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, is one of my favorite het romance series, both the anime and the manga.  The manga has 6 or 7 volumes, and I have the boxed set.  The anime is one season and only covers volume 1 or 2.  But I love these nerds.  It's about grown ups, in a workplace I used to be in, dealing with being nerds and being in love.

Narumi and Hirotaka are the first couple introduced, and they have the childhood friend thing going on, and they're the main focus of the anime and the first volume of the manga.  Narumi tries to hide her nerdiness because it's ruined her past relationships, and Hirotaka is open about his.  Will dating a fellow nerd be just the thing Narumi needs to find happiness?

The second couple featured in the series is Koyanagi and Kabukura, a pair of grumpy tsunderes who got together at the end of high school.  Will they ever get married?  Or will their grumpyness break them up?  You must read to find out!

The third couple, which only shows up in the manga, is Hirotaka's younger brother, who's still in college, and sucks at videogames, and a cute girl who's really good at videogames.  Can they overcome the talent gap and play together?

I love it, all of it.  Go buy the box set.  Do it.

Sasaki and Miyano Anime Review

Sasaki and Miyano is an excellent modern boys love anime.  It's a sweet, romantic, slow burn with a satisfying ending.  It's totally innocent too, so younger audiences can watch it, though they might get bored.  It definitely reflects more modern values, with emphasis on boundaries and consent.

Miyano is a cute little boys love fan, who reads bunches of boys love manga, but never imagines a boys love story could happen to him.  But then Sasaki comes into is life, and he's crushing hard for Miyano!  Will they get together as a couple before Sasaki graduates?  Go watch and find out.  Have fun, enjoy.

Cherry Magic, Manga Review

Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity can make you a Wizard, is an ongoing boys love office romance manga I've had the pleasure of following for a couple years now.  I've read volumes 1 through 8, and 9 is promising to be a sweet finale.  This manga is sweet as hell!  Volume 1 was meh, but from volume 2 on, I was hooked.  Adachi and Kurosawa are so freaking cute.  A lot of love was put into this manga.  A live action adaptation was made a couple years ago, and it's freaking adorable, and an anime adaptation is finally in the works for possibly next year.  I recommend all of them.

Dakaichi Review

Dakaichi: I'm being Harassed by the Sexiest Man of the Year, is NOT FOR CHILDREN.  They have a LOT OF SEX.  This is a boys love anime targetting an older, more mature audience.  Also, like many old boys love anime, they're dubious on what counts as consent.

Warnings out of the way, I'm a grown ass woman and a long time boys love fan, so  I had some fun with it.  Sure, it's got a sketchy start, but it gets better as you watch it, if you're into this sort of thing specifically.  If you're an old fujoshi like me, it's fine, otherwise, give this one a pass.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady Review

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady is a lovely anime with a long name.  It's an isekai featuring a girls love romance.  It currently only has 1 season of 23 minute episodes, but it ends really nicely and doesn't really need any more.  The title is a mouthful, and the character's names are a mouthful, but it's really amazing  otherwise.  It portrays a sapphic romance without being sleazy and fanservice.  I'm not against fanservice as a whole, but it's just nice to see it not used once in a while.

Euphie is engaged to a crappy prince and scheduled to be the next queen, but shenanigans happen and the prince is a turd, so princess Anis says "Mine now" and rescues Euphie, then they fight monsters, have fun, blah blah blah.  Go watch it.  My review?  10/10  Now go watch it.

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san Review

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, is a cute, short form girls love high school anime where most of the characters take on traits of animals.  And they all act pretty innocently gay.  It's available subtitled on Crunchyroll, and there are 12 seven minute episodes.  The main characters are a doglike girl, a catlike girl, and their perfectly human and sane friend.  The dog girl and the cat girl have crushes on each other, and the totally human girl plays the straight man for comedy purposes.  I enjoy binging this quick and fun anime.  It's really cute, and silly.

Palia Winterlights Festival, part 1

I apologize for not making a post about the Halloween stuff in Palia, but it was really just some Jack-o'-lanterns and pay to own costumes, and that's it.  Nothing went down for Thanksgiving either.  But the winter holidays, they're special, and Palia is trying to give them their due.  The intent is definitely there, but the execution needs tweaking.

For starters, Jina gives you a tree, and a quest to get ornaments from every villager except Zeki, he's got his own separate thing.  You light a candle with each villager, hear their hopes and dreams, even the dog, Tau.  You only have to talk to 8 for quest completion, but for maximum tree ornaments, talk to every bloody villager.  When I was done, I had a stack of candles, a stack of gold balls, a stack of wooden ornaments, and a stack of gold bells.  I also had a new candelabra for the dining table.  None of these candles can be lit, strangely enough.  Every other candle in the game can be lit, but not these new ones.

Palia's First Big Character Customization Update!

Beards are here!  Everyone rejoice!  Also, they added half a dozen paler skintones, so I no longer have that Beta Tan most people picked at launch.  New eye colors look fantastic!  I love these new glasses.  There's a bunch of new hairstyles too, but I'll prolly stick to my favorite pigtails.  They seem to have tripled the number of face shapes, but this one I've been using is till the chubbiest, so it stays.

Face shape, skin tone, eye color, and body type are only changeable once a week, but hair, makeup, beards, can all be changed like clothes, as often as you want.  I understand why they put the week long cool down on changing your face, it might be a drag on the servers otherwise.  People need to commit to something.

I'm thrilled!  Is the character creator perfect?  No, because I still can't be chubby, but these are all steps in the right direction.

Fashion Dreamer Review part 2

Okay, I've gone through the five stages of grief, and I'm starting to enjoy Fashion Dreamer for what it is.  I accept that this is totally not Style Savvy, and is largely an online multiplayer experience.

The next day, after being very upset and logging off, I logged back on to try again, and was surprised to find many player likes and some free outfits!  I had no idea that while I was offline, my little muse was still working in other people's games, promoting her clothes and getting some makeovers.  This changes everything for me.  If I'm getting income while I'm offline, I don't have to grind nearly as hard as I thought!

Fashion Dreamer Review

Fashion Dreamer is an online multiplayer dress up game for the Nintendo Switch.  If you don't have reliable wi-fi, you're gonna have a bad time.  Also, it has no story, and is grind-tastic.  If you were looking for a Style Savvy successor, you will be disappointed, like me.

You start in a single player tutorial.  You make your first character (you get 3 more after the tutorial).  This game features the option to play a masculine character, but be warned, most of the clothes are gender locked.  Masculine characters can have long hair and wear makeup, but they cannot wear dresses at the time of this review.  The feminine body category has 9 presets to choose from, but it mainly just adjusts height.  You can be very tall or very short in this game.  There are a good variety of skintones and a few hairstyles with different hair textures, but not a lot.  The eye range is limited and weird.  Makeup is limited at the beginning too.  But, as an added bonus, women can have beards and mustaches.  This may have been an error, but I'll take it.  

After you agonize over your first character, you get dumped into a 45 minute tutorial, talking to strange non-player characters, and giving your best guess at what they want.  Some will give you a clue, like a favorite color or wished for item, others give you nothing and you just have to guess.  When you finish the tutorial, it dumps you back to the title screen, suggesting you try online mode.

Palia's First Event! Maji Night Market

We're about 2 weeks into Palia's first event, the Maji Night Market.  I'm not gonna lie, I was a little unhappy with it the first week, but the second week made an excellent comeback.

The first week wasn't all bad.  There were quests to do with very valuable rewards.  You get your first collectible plush by completing the 3 part quest chain.  There's a quest from Kenli to attend the market, a quest from Kenyatta to stir up trouble, and a quest from Eshe to fix it.  In the end, I had some food, some gold, and my first plush.

Collecting plushes is the biggest long term feature of the festival.  You can buy a couple with gold, gain one from completing the quests, and earn the rest by participating in the only minigame at the festival, called the Chapaa Chase.  When midnight strikes, the chapaas get loose from the petting zoo and run wild everywhere.  The minigame is to chase them, catch them, and put them back in the pen.  The first week, the only scoring you could do was 10 tickets per chapaa captured, and there weren't very many chapaas to go around.  So, the fastest players got all the chapaas, and everyone else was empty handed and upset.  Fortunately, they made some modifications the second week to save this event from disaster.

Palia Closed Beta Review

I've had the pleasure of getting into Palia's closed beta yesterday, and I played it all day yesterday and all morning today.  I'm delighted and can't get enough!  This game gives me all the happy chemicals to my brain!

The character creator is a good start, but needs work.  The palest skin tone is very tan.  So my player character is a bit orange for my liking.  Also, there are no freckles to be had.  On the bright side, there's an excellent set of pigtails and a basic set of glasses on offer from the very beginning.  For outfits, there are a bunch of mix and match tops and bottoms, and a couple dresses, all available to you free of charge.  You can change your outfit whenever you like from the tailor's shop or your wardrobe once you craft one on your housing lot.\

The controls are easy to get used to.  WASD to move, mouse controls camera, F for most interactable objects.  If you don't like those controls, you can map them to other keys.  There's no controller support yet, but they are promising to add it in the near future.

New Cozy MMO, Palia Hype

Palia is a new cozy MMO that looks like it was MADE for me.  There's minimal danger, and maximum puttering around.  I love to putter!  My husband probably won't play this with me, but that's okay.  Maybe I'll get my other friends to play, or make some new friends.  It is currently in closed beta, so I haven't tried it yet, but it will be in open beta in 2 days, as long as there are no delays.  MMO launches are rocky, and beta means it's unfinished, which I take very seriously.  Still, I'm super hyped.

The game will be free to play, with paid cosmetics only.  That's a really good way to monetize a game.  No pay to win, just some fancy outfits to keep the money coming in.  I'm on board with that.

There are 8 skills to level up, cooking, hunting, bug catching, gardening, foraging, fishing, furniture making, and mining.  There are so far 23 villagers to befriend, 9 of which are romanceable.  So far, I only plan to romance the fishing robot, but if one of the other bachelor/bachelorettes catches my eye, I'm open to change my mind.  As mentioned before, there are purchasable outfits, but there's also a large number of free ones that come with the game.  I'm really looking forward to playing with them.

Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island

Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island is the sequel to my former favorite Switch game, Pretty Princess Party.  The graphics are the same, but the gameplay is entirely different, more along the lines of Animal Crossing.  You are the same princess you made in Pretty Princess Party, and your bunny kingdom has expanded to include an oddly square shaped island named Carrot Island.  This island has phenomenal soil, and can grow most items in 5 minutes.  The primary gameplay loop in this Pretty Princess game is planting crops, gathering them, processing them into food with the use of buildings, which also take 5 minutes, and delivering the food to your bunny villagers.  As you fulfill their requests, you level up, unlocking island decorations, outfits, and more crops and recipes.

I hated Animal Crossing, but Magical Garden Island has only a 5 or 10 minute timer on things, so gameplay doesn't have to wait until tomorrow, so I like this game a lot more.  It might be my new favorite Switch game.  It's my favorite farming sim so far, and I've tried a few.  I don't know how many levels there are yet.  The story quest ends around level 15, but you can keep leveling up and unlocking shit after that.  I'm level 17 as of this writing.  My guess is there are 30, since I basically had to grind 30 levels in the minigames of Pretty Princess Party.  I love this game, 100%.

Monster High season 1 Review

As part of the Monster High generation 3 launch, Mattel worked with Nickelodeon to make both a live action movie and an animated series.  This review is for the g3 Nickelodeon cartoon season 1 that started in 2022, not the web-series that started in 2010.  This cartoon aired on the cable channel Nickelodeon, but can also be bought and streamed on Amazon Prime.

I 100% love this interpretation of Monster High.  It's monstrous, colorful, punny, sweet, all good things.  I really love the 3D models for the characters, because nobody looks like a Pixar/Disney princess.  The live action movie had a very small cast, but the cartoon has been able to expand on that and add more beloved characters.

The stories are 11 minutes long, and there's 2 per episode.  There's a few 2 part stories, which take up the whole episode.  A few episodes have songs, but it's not really a musical like the movie.  Still very good, loved it all, will rewatch, my new comfort show.

Monster High Live Action Review

Monster High -The Movie- is a live adaptation of Mattel's Monster High franchise, and was part of the launch of generation 3.  It came out in October of 2022, last year.  Yes, I'm very late to the party.  I kept trying to find it free somewhere, no dice.  I finally bit the bullet and paid for it this month.  One hundred percent worth it tho!  It's got a low budget charm, with singing and dancing, and heavy costume makeup.

The story was super cute, and well written.  The dialogue was punny and punchy and funny and all things I like.   The costumes and makeup looked cheap, but well intentioned.  A teensy bit of 3D modeling was well placed.  The singing and dancing were fantastic.  I love singing and dancing.

This movie introduced the new versions of old Monster High characters, and it did a great job!  Frankie was AMAZING!  I love them so much!  Clawdeen did a good job taking the main character spot.  Draculaura had her own drama but didn't outshine everyone else.  Deuce has a personality!  Deuce was an accessory in g1, and now he's his own character.  Good for him.  Cleo was pretty Mean-Girls-y but I guess it's necessary in these sorts of movies.  I loved this movie and can't wait for the sequel!

The Sims Franchise

 

The Sims is a longstanding franchise of life simulator games that started with The Sims in 2000.  I had the pleasure of playing the original game when I was a teen.  My younger sister would lock Sims in houses and set them on fire.  I had an artistic lesbian couple I carefully protected and cared for.  From the very beginning, it was a fascinating toy that different people played incredibly differently.  Some people focused on interior and exterior design, others on character creation.  Some carefully fostered family legacies with their Sims.  And some left them in a pool to inevitably drown.  The franchise was off to an amazing start.

It was incredibly basic compared to future releases.  Sims had static faces, their mouths couldn't move, their hands were basically bricks, they couldn't move their fingers.  The camera was always isometric, it wasn't really 3D.  Still, it was groundbreaking at the time, and developed a fan community very quickly.  Sims had 3 life stages: baby, child, and adult.  The Sims grew with 7 expansion packs.

Life By You Hype

 

As a long time The Sims player, I've long since grown tired of EA's monopoly over the life sim game genre.  Before Paradox Interactive's trailer came out today, I was pondering over whether or not to spend another $75 on my Sims 4 game.  Even though I've usually bought my Sims 4 content on sale, it's still been a considerable amount of money over the years, and most of it is just to get more content that should have been in the base game.

Life by You is an upcoming life sim game, by Paradox Interactive, the people behind City Skylines.  City Skylines is famous for replacing EA's old title, Sim City.  They're also famous for Crusader Kings III, a popular title for medieval life sim fans.  They have years of experience, and their game?  It's almost complete.  Life by You is already in Steam, prepping for early release in September of this year.  Usually, I don't touch early release games, but this is going to change the history of life sim games as we know it.  The Sims franchise has had a monopoly for over 20 years, and Life by You may topple it.  It will bring me great joy to test and provide feedback on a game that will be so critical to life sim history.

What does this mean for Paralives?  Paralives is another life sim game that's been in development for 3 years by a small indie team.  Paralives does not have a release date, and certainly won't be ready before Life by You.  I know Paralives was the competitor many Simmers were rooting for, but Life by You is definitely going to come out first.  Is this the end for Paralives?  I certainly hope not!  I've seen artwork and gameplay from both Paralives and Life by You, and they have two very different art styles.  Paralives is really artistic, and Life by You is really realistic.  If Paralives can keep their followers and their funding, life sim players may someday have both.

YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily

YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily is a slice of life anime for a group of middle school students at an all female school.  At least, I think it's an all female school, because I don't remember seeing a single boy in the show.  It's based on a manga that's still ongoing, and I've only seen the first 3 seasons, so my review is based on that.

YuruYuri has been one of my go-to anime to watch when I'm feeling down.  Like Lucky Star, it cheers me up when I'm sad.  Season 1 is just about 4 girls in an after school club, being silly, and a little gay.  Oh yeah, major gay undertones in this anime, like a lesbian sledgehammer.  Another reason why I like the show, of course.  It's all incredibly innocent though, not lewd at all.  The girls don't have sexy times, they just crush over each other a lot.  In all 3 seasons, I think there's only one kiss ever.  Most of it is their very active childlike imaginations.  They are middle-schoolers afterall, still children.

There is no dub available for this show, that I'm aware of, it only comes subtitled.

Uzaki-Chan wants to Hang Out! (anime season 1)

I guess a season 2 came out last year, I only have season 1.  It's a slice of life, romantic comedy about two people who argue a lot.  Uzaki calls Sakurai a loner a lot, but you don't see her hanging out with anyone else, and she dedicates all her time to hanging out with him, and she's s total pill, so I don't imagine she has many other friends either.

I watched this season dubbed, and the voice acting is good.  Uzaki's voice is a little grating, but it adds to her annoying-ness, so I think it fits the character.  Everyone else sounds normal.  Animation is on par for most slice of life anime.

Not my favorite, but it hit my slice of life checkboxes, so I'll prolly sit through season 2.

Pretty Princess Party

Pretty Princess Party is a combination party game and fantasy interior decorator for the Nintendo Switch.   It released in December 2019, and it my most played title on the Switch.  I have poured most of my Switch hours into this very game.  I've completed the main story twice, and I'm almost at max stats.  Although you can dress up your princess, I would not consider this really a dress up game, because dresses are in short supply.

The main goal of the game is to decorate an empty castle and the homes of many bunny villagers.  So what this game has the most of is pastel colored furniture.  You unlock more furniture by successfully completing minigames!  There are only six minigames though, two for each core stat.  Core stats are cuteness, coolness, and elegance.  You also get rewarded a ton of furniture just for decorating bunny homes though, so you actually don't have to play any minigames at all to beat the story.

Why are the villagers all bunnies?  To save time and money on assets, I'm assuming.  But how are the dress ups?  The princess dresses are all very lovely, and there are even a few princess pantsuits, but you cannot mix and match tops and bottoms, or add layers, it's just the outfit, the tiara, and the shoes, so Pretty Princess Party does not hold up as a dress up game.  But if you like bunnies, and want to decorate their homes, you've come to the right place.

But why is it called a party if it's a fantasy themed interior decorating game?  Because there is a multiplayer mode, where you and 3 unfortunate friends can all play the minigames together, AFTER you've unlocked the games in story mode.  Will this replace Mario Party?  No.  There are only 6 minigames total, they cannot carry the game as a party game.

If this game isn't a dress up game or a party game, why have I spent most of my Switch hours playing it?  The bunnies man, the bunnies.

Style Savvy: Fashion Forward

Style Savvy: Fashion Forward is the third installment of the Style Savvy series.  It released in North America in 2016.  Like the first two, you're in charge of a fashion boutique in a town full of colorful characters.  Menswear did not carry over from Trendsetters, but there are many other features added instead.  You can be a makeup artist, hair stylist, interior designer, and runway model.  And you can make your own clothing designs!  There's a lot to do in SS:FF.

Once you get the main game loop down of buy clothes and sell them, the game introduces fashion shows, which become your main goal.  You sell tickets, you dress the models, and you model too.  In later fashion shows, you get the option to do everyone's hair and makeup too.  It's a lot.

The clothes?  They seem about the same as in Trendsetters, so what you're really getting this game for is the additional side jobs, the hairstyling, makeup, and modeling.

I dunno what else to say about it.  It's more Style Savvy.  And I like it.

Nintendo Direct Feb 2023: Fashion Dreamer Hype

Yesterday was the most recent Nintendo Direct stream.  I try to watch them when I can.  There wasn't a lot of exciting news.  Lots of DLC, sequels, and remasters of old games.  But one trailer made the whole thing worthwhile.  Fashion Dreamer, by XSEED and Marvelous.  

Style Savvy fans have been waiting for a sequel for 6 years.  I think it's safe to say, it's not coming.  Thankfully, we finally have a spiritual successor.

In Fashion Dreamer, you are an aspiring style influencer who wanders the city making friends and giving makeovers.  And taking selfies, there's always selfies nowadays.  And, in an astounding change for fashion games, it appears you can play as a male character!  I'll prolly be a female character, but I mean it's nice to have the option!

Not gonna lie, when I first saw the preview, I was really concerned that the fashions were too boring, and I really didn't wanna be an "influencer" but I've warmed up to the idea.  And let's face it, fashion is more boring these days than in previous decades.

Fashion Dreamer is supposed to come out sometime in 2023.

Guild Wars 2: Base Game

 

Guild Wars 2 is an MMO, the sequel to Guild Wars (2005), launched in 2012.  Since it's launch, it's had 3 expansions.  There are 5 playable races, 9 classes, base game is free, and there is no monthly subscription.  Hubby and I chose to buy the expansion bundle after a few days of play.

The game is turning 11 years old this year, and it's age actually makes it very good.  It was designed before the whole Gatcha Hero system became popular, and it has a lot of familiarity to a World of Warcraft, which I really enjoy.  There is a cash shop for quality of life and cosmetic items, but none of it is game breaking or cheating.  

I fell in love right away with the plant people, called the Sylvari.  So much so, that I got my husband to roll one too, so we could do the starting zone together.  The Sylvari are colorful and inspired looking plant people, with treelike skin and leaves or sticks for hair.  Also, they glow in the dark.  VERY COOL!  I made a head to toe purple Sylvari Ranger.  The Ranger class is like hunter in WoW, you fight with an animal companion.  And you can tame more.   And name them.  Paired with a bow and arrows, it was the obvious choice for me.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, seasons 1 and 2

 

The My Little Pony intellectual property has been going on for 40 years, it's first generation coming out while I was a child.  Because of my childhood familiarity, I was well inclined to try out My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, when it launched in 2010.  It was VERY visually appealing to me, with the cute small ponies with enormous eyes that came in many colors.

The show was worth every bit of hype it got.  The first two episodes were an epic two part story about how everything began.  The following episodes were sweet one shots.  The characters were each well written, distinct, and relatable.  And the finale of season 1 wrapped up things that happened in earlier episodes for a fantastic musical finale.

Season 2 opened with a big two part story as well, introducing what became a fan favorite villain.  The episodes in between continued to build characters and flesh out the world of Equestria, and it ended with one of my favorite two part stories, A Canterlot Wedding.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic is another MMO I spent a great deal of time on.  It first launched in 2011, and my husband and I joined shortly after.  It was the first MMO we tried to replace WoW with.  It's also the only Sci-Fi MMO I reached end game in.

It's a good solid game, with lots of old Bioware polish and storytelling, complete with NPC romance options for every class.

Character design options were pretty decent.  Humans, human cyborgs, and some alien races, but no androids.  There were 2 genders, 4 body types for each gender, and racial details were focused on the heads.  I was particularly pleased that you could be a plus sized man or woman, although the plus sized woman wasn't THAT overweight, but it was better than being a twig.

My main character, that I leveled to 50 (the cap at launch) was a cyborg trooper named Jouselle.  I was very pleased with her, she was beautiful, powerful, and got the guy in the end.