ash's stash

i have been quite mixed on this game, seeing it come to fruition. i want to clarify before i launch into this significantly longer section of speculation and editorialism, both to act as a TL;DR and to not come off as somebody driven by pure dislike, that i do truly like this game. i have been enjoying my time with it, as well as enjoying my peers using it to give our characters and our virtually recognised selves time to get into mischief. when it shines, it really shines. there is merit in its additions, such as the sexual spectrum and honestly boldly granular gender and pronouns system. it is absolutely able to be a riot, perhaps even more so than the predecessors. however, it certainly does sting to see the omission of a fair few of the original tomodachi life's most appealing little distractions in the name of further "creative tools". at the very least, where in the case of animal crossing it was one of a thousand paper cuts in new horizons that ultimately made it the most lacking game of that series, i conversely feel as though for the type of game that the tomodachi series is striking for, it is left benefiting from it significantly more. tomodachi life, at least from my perspective, was never about the gameplay, it was about being able to take people and put them in a digital ant farm.

however, the side i will argue is that a lot of the charm is lost. my first point of contention, that applies to the switch family as a whole, i find that the inclusion of miis is so transparently a marketing tool as opposed to one of passion. what do i mean by this? well, i feel as though the appeal of tomodachi life, as well as others such as miitopia and to a lesser extent the streetpass plaza games, was that the miis were already on your system and you could import them. you could have gotten the game and made them after the fact, but i thought that the imperative factor of what made tomodachi life as a concept so fascinating and why it worked so well on the 3ds was the fact that you likely already had those miis present; doubly so if you had imported them from your wii, as i know that i and many of those around me did when i was young. the close tie to the first day of getting your new console and spending time crafting miis of your family, or scoping them from the mii contest channel (thats the check mii out channel for any americans reading), or even just following a youtube tutorial made them all the more meaningful, and you were ensured to already have some connection to the miis themselves, as well as the people or characters that they represented. however, if you didn't already have those miis present, you could scan QR codes to get miis from elsewhere - a really neat feature that bred community-shared miis. fast forward to now, and there's neither of these elements; i'm not even sure if you can import miis you made on your switch, should you have trawled to the practically secret menu to make them in the first place, and if you don't fancy making your miis from scratch, or if you just wanted to add, like, hit Vinny Vinesauce Character Two-Face or something of equal shitpostery, you gotta make that shit yourself, there's no easy way to just import one. and whilst that latter half somewhat makes sense, you know, im sure that there was plenty an offensive mii shared about and they wanted to nip it in the bud... why the exclusion of system-based ones? well, the answer is obvious; the switch was made when nintendo was attempting to jettison themselves as far away from the prior failure of the wii u as hard as possible, and with the wii u went the miis, due to their inevitable ties to the wii brand. this narrow-minded and frankly cynical burying of the miis as a concept led to several stand-ins, most notably the dead-faced, corporate alternative of the "sportsmates" of nintendo switch sports, a game that itself was already trying to evoke nostalgia of a long-past mii-based property. where the two diverge is that nintendo switch sports really wanted to push the sportsmates as the new big thing, whilst including miis as an almost vestigial last-minute thing. now, this might be nigh-conspiratorial, but i think that nintendo must have seen the response to the sportsmates (see: "what the fuck are these uncanny things and why aren't we just using miis") and have slowly but surely been realising the obvious that, yes, despite the fact that miis were on the wii u, they were also massively recognisable, successful, and arguably one of the main reasons for the success of the original wii. resultingly, they have come around to the desire to bank on this nostalgia, as it has proven lucrative - doubly so if you look at internet trends regarding tomodachi life popping up every now and again steadily since its release a decade ago. thankfully, there were also younger staff working on this game who somewhat understood the appeal of the original; there was an interview near the game's release that revealed that a lot of the junior staff had played tomodachi collection on ds and tomodachi life on 3ds, and subsequently heavily pushed for certain features to return, whereas a lot of directors and leads were "focused on getting development across the finish line". i can't lie, but if the heads of what is, in essence, a game that is supposed to encapsulate a smattering of random chance scenarios, and they had to be told by the people actually making the game that they were misguided, then... i don't know, that, to me, smacks of the project being greenlit largely out of seeing the demand for a sequel, but not understanding the expectations of said sequel. thankfully in this case there were people on the staff who pushed for certain features to still be present - mii news is highlighted as the example in the interview. i find it to be somewhat confusing, baffling that despite an approximately 7-year dev cycle, there was a degree of uncertainty of this feature's inclusion, the interview even highlighting some senior devs saying "we don't have time for that". such an integral feature - it's tomodachi life all over; it is a way of taking what would typically be banal, such as a new feature being unlocked, and turning it into yet another place to see your miis and have them act in another scenario, which i believe to be the main crux of this series. however, despite mii news being included, there have been a great many other losses, including but not limited to the song hall and judgment bay. it may be arguable that the ability to inject custom phrases into typical conversation overrides the need for these, but then... that's likewise counterable by the fact that, surely you would then still want these abilities to express the freedom further? it's all well and good making my islanders talk about how much they love, i don't know, skegness, but it's also equally funny to be able to see them run across a beach to pick going to skeggy over having running water or something. or, in quirky questions, seeing a mii jump up and down enthusiastically after being asked "who's the most likely to spark out a 2p machine". it's the little things, sure, but this game is comprised wholly of little things. it is a game of the most minute interactions being greatly comedic due to you observing them take place between miis, characters and people of your own choosing. having some of those scenarios not be included - some of which were in tomodachi collection, the DS game from 2009, mind you - is nothing short of disappointing, especially when it was replaced with such a heavy focus on UGC. it feels almost like a mario maker esque solution to the demand for a sequel; "you think you want it? fine, we'll give you a framework, make it your goddamned self", it seems to say to me. that's not to say that it's a completely barren wasteland, there's still the aforementioned mii news, dreams, minor minigames and such, but it would be foolish to say that it doesn't rely largely on your own willingness to put the elbow grease in to make those items for those scenarios yourself. and whilst that's great and allows for a degree of silly expression that will likely bolster the ability to GIF the game to no end, it feels... i don't know, expectant? sure, it's wonderful seeing all of the different people online making these intensely ornate items, or even silly wacky ones, but they take time, effort and dedication. at the end of the day, nintendo is supposed to be a company appealing to children and/or families, who, i hate to say it, simply will not have the patience to grapple with these creativity tools. the genius of the mii creator is that it was a list of preset features that you could pick from to create a simplified caricature of whomever it was intended to represent, which meant that it was greatly accessible to damn near anyone. introducing greater customisation and creation features is amazing on paper, sure, but it's also intensely alienating to those who are unable to utilize them - i.e., most general audiences. its great to see what people can do with their artistic talents, yeah, but for those of us who can barely even represent seagulls with crudely-drawn consummate Vs, it's also a little bit of an empty system that we don't really have the skillset to engage with. in turn, that leaves the focus on UGC deflating the whole game somewhat.

speaking of the UGC, this is a super nitpick, i am so sure, and one that might even not make sense: i do not like the mii makeup. in much the same way as the UGC, i feel like it severely overestimates the patience of the layman. i could sit here for an hour to make strong bad from homestar runner, but do i have the drive to? the time to? the ability to use the shitty joystick controls to work a paintbrush, or god forbid to use the touchscreen and actually have to just suck it up and admit that i'm shit at drawing? its a tool that i appreciate the potential of, but i ultimately feel is missing the point of what made the mii maker such an endearing thing in the first place. yeah, you can get pixel-perfect renditions of characters now, which is going to be a great source of entertainment and GIFs for those with the skills, but again, it rings hollow for those without the skills. this doesn't impact the game in nearly the same way as the UGC of the main game, of course, but i do still feel as though it is pertinent to mention as it does stray away from the humble pick-up-and-play simplicities of the mii maker that made it such a ubiquitous mark of the late 2000s. i do understand that a lot of this is effectively equivalent to me complaining that minecraft should have prefabs because some of us don't have the talent to build mansions, but simultaneously, when that is the standard that has been set in two prior games, a pedigree spanning nearly 20 years now, i feel as though it's not an unrealistic expectation.

overall, whilst it is certainly another good time and one i'm likely to keep at for at least a while longer, i can't help but feel like a certain spark that was present on the devs' end with the prior two entries just simply is not there, or at the very least it's severely neutered from what it once was. it's a great tool for those creatively inclined enough to utilise it, but for the (dare i say) casual market that the series previously found a home with, id argue its asking a lot more, and should you be unable to provide, giving you a lot less. when you're able to make it great, it's amazing, though.

should a later update rectify these qualms... well, honestly, i'd be more pissed off, because nintendo are in a nearly decade-long habit now of delivering an unfinished product and piecemealing what should have been content at release as a desperate grapple for retention over the months, as opposed to simply having the confidence to let the game stand on its own without needing to first sabotage it to make it seem like you're putting more work in. i would frankly perceive it more as that side of things, a corporate attempt to get me to come back, than i would an actual improvement, because these things were in the DS game released in 2009, but not a full console $70 2026 release? it's pathetic.

additional blog exclusive segment! ash is a bitch

i received a comment on the original backloggd post of this review deriding my dislike of the UGC, calling it "confusing". they raise a fair point in the first half; they claim that "creative systems like these are good for children". that part i am wholly on board with! i am deeply cynical as a result of my own experiences with children, but that is largely limited to my own extended family, which to put it lightly and not traumadump extensively is a bit of a dysfunctional fuckin' mess. i can totally see and concede how these systems could be of benefit to developing children, giving them a place to doodle and see their creations come to life, and have other people/characters interact with them. as much as i have a personal distaste for that sort of a system, doubly so when its being used as an excuse to prop up a game with blatantly less content than its predecessors, i can at least see what they're getting at.

the point where they entirely lost me was with the following quote: "As for the adults crying they can't draw? Well learn then?? Like first off. It's tomodachi it doesn't have to be perfect but 2nd drawing isn't smth that you just have as talent because anyone can learn lmfwo"

i feel as though this highlights a problem larger than just this person. these systems are being okayed because "anyone can learn to draw", which... no. sorry, but that's just blatantly untrue. i would love to learn to draw - in fact, i have attempted to, several times in the past. however, what this innocuous commenter fails to realise, with their viewpoint honestly rather echoing the sentiments of the general populous to what ive seen, is that things, here in the real world, are not so cut and dry.

ive already criticised how the UGC shifts the balance largely onto the player to create the game, and whilst i feel that is certainly not without merit as a criticism, doubly so when this is a sequel to games that previously did not feature these systems and were more feature-rich and in-depth almost paradoxically, i don't mean to harp on that criticism. no, what i do mean to harp on, though, is this assumption that "anyone can draw".

now, don't worry, i'm not about to praise AI art or anything like that - after all, this writing in of itself is a form of art (not to be too pretentious), and a lot of what shaped me into the person i am today has been art, produced by other human beings. rather, i think it is simply foolish to assume that there are no barriers to "just learning". you need resources, to study your linework, to learn shading, even entirely assumed things like finding a comfortable way to hold your pen. there is so much to learn and assuming that people have the time to do so, especially when highlighted as a defense for tomodachi life: living the dream, is a bit off to me. why would a theoretical person who was picking this game up for their switch after remembering having a good time with the 3ds game as a kid who can't draw then want to invest their time into learning how to draw, solely for the purpose of having content available to them in the video game that they already spent $70 on? not only would it be a fair damn steep learning curve in order to add things to one game, but its a bit rich to assume that, in an economy such as the one this game has released in, that the layman will have the time in the first instance. some people just want a set-and-forget little timewaster life sim. i have actively had a friend who has low confidence in their artistic abilities raising the complaint that it's harder to get into this game because you need either to A) know how to draw going in or B) the option that a fair few people took, have an emulator or modded switch version of the game in order to import the assets from other websites online. that friend comes home from working 8-hour shifts, and just wants to have a little bit of leisure. that friend is not enriched by this game, despite the fact that the prior 3ds game was inherently accessible to him.

and speaking of accessible! it is so, so disingenuous to argue that anyone can learn, because sorry, i know that in the life of the layman, there exists no such qualms, but i physically cannot fucking draw. the last time i tried to pick up a pen i was cramped inside of ten minutes to such a point that i could not move my entire fucking arm for three hours after. to expect that degree of investment into fucking tomodachi life is entirely fucking boneheaded. but it won't have even crossed this commenter's mind; it's not a default thinking process for most people. whereas i, and countless others who suffer from similar ailments are tied to these realities. and we are forced to be unable to engage with spaces that promise great enrichment. that's fine, i can accept the reality that i am unable to draw, just as i accepted that i'm unable to go on walks, or really do much of anything. it is what it is. but, two things: when a game is locking something behind a feature that is inaccessible to me, i don't think i'm too uppity for claiming that i should have the right to complain about that. especially in this case, where the prior games did not feature any such system and had more content that i could actively just engage with. and second, it is truly infuriating, demoralising and just honestly quite ignorant to dismiss the claims in the first place with such an argument even regardless of that disability, but it's even more damning with it.

i'm truly glad that a lot of people can draw, as it has provided me entertainment from larger pieces of media down to even seeing my best friends drawing art pieces, but that doesn't mean that the entire install base for this game is going to be able to, nor are they going to spontaneously get a free time injection of however many countless hours they need to hone their art in the first instance. it's the expectation of proficiency in an entirely different medium as a barrier to enjoyment that really gets me; if there was simply just the same amount of content as before, if not more, that would be grand. it's the fact that despite a 7-year dev cycle, there is less content and it's being made up for by UGC, a false equivalence. it's like you give somebody a full box of chocolates one day, and then the next, you give them a quarter of a box and leave the ingredients on their doorstep. if there's any budding chocolatiers in this scenario, great, hell, they might even exceed the already-made chocolate's quality, and good for them, but it's quite misguided to insinuate that everybody will be able to make themselves a new good batch of chocolates.

for posterity's sake, here is the original exchange:

user: Trying to argue creative systems don't make sense for a game for kids/families might be one of the most confusing statements I've ever heard.

Creative systems like this are good for children and kids generally speaking like these sortve systems. As for the adults crying they can't draw? Well learn then?? Like first off. It's tomodachi it doesn't have to be perfect but 2nd drawing isn't smth that you just have as talent because anyone can learn lmfwo

me: it's less that they outwardly don't make sense, more that it's going to lead to inherent frustration if any given person can't get it to look they way they want it. i wholeheartedly agree that these creative systems can be beneficial, make no mistake there, i just see it ending in tears far more frequently although that might be just the state of the families ive been around haha.

as for just "learning to draw", i'm sorry, but it's unfortunately not that simple for some of us. i'd love to learn to draw, but i have a wasting disease that makes it untenable for me to spend too long practicing something with overly precise strokes, which of course is going to be the case in this scenario due to the fact that the switch touchscreen is only so big. i accept that it's not an innate talent and certainly can be learned, but its disingenuous to argue that literally anybody can.

i get perfectly where you're coming from, but my perspective is informed by an inability to do a fair few things, and subsequently i have less confidence in these systems as opposed to the more universally accessible premade content - something that i believe suffers as a result of this focus on UGC. it's a double-edged sword, but i do absolutely concede that i could have been more positive

user: first off, I apologise, I didn't know you had a condition, my point was moreso for those who can who are complaining, if you just can't do it because of a disease, I'm sorry, I had 0 clue about that and if I knew, I wouldn't have said that so mb :)

It's not that you are less posiitve then me btw why I commented, I genuinely thought with 0 context that you just couldn't be bothered trying with these systems which ofc IK know there's a reason for that.

me: all good! glad to have cleared it up, i likely should have clarified, it did come off as a bit lazy of me in retrospect haha. i appreciate your understanding, and your clarification. i apologise myself for not having provided that context; it is pretty critical to my own qualms with it, after all. thanks for your time, though, cheers for the response ^^

i don't know. am i being hostile? am i being reactionary? truly i am unaware. any vitriol i have is not for this person directly, but more at the overarching disregard that they are one representative of - one individual subscribing to a thought process that unfortunately, most of the world is preordained to naturally, because most people who aren't disabled like i am, or aren't dealing with a disabled person on the regular like my partners and friends, will just inevitably not think. its the worst. and the most fucking frustrating part of being disabled is having my life-altering condition be boiled down to a "skill issue".