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~* BiZZ Keryear *~ May 20, 2022 @ 1:09pm

The whole real time stuff ...

.. doesn't seem too fun. At least for people like me who play on whims. I might want to play a game excessivly for 12 hours 7 days, but then don't touch it for a year or so.

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Originally posted by Psyringe:

Originally posted by ~* BiZZ Keryear *~:
.. doesn't seem too fun. At least for people like me who play on whims. I might want to play a game excessivly for 12 hours 7 days, but then don't touch it for a year or so.

I feel you. For the first two or three weeks, every single one of my play sessions ended in the frustration of wanting to play more, but being blocked from further progress by the arbitrary real-time gating. Additionally, as an adult with a job, people depending on me, and other obligations, I simply don't have time every day - I may have time for 4 hours on one given day, and I wanted to play the game for those 4 hours, but instead the game arbitrarily halted my progress after an hour, and literally told me to come back the next day - when I didn't have time to play.

I think that this is horrible game design. Everyone who prefers to consume a game in small daily bits, would still be able to do so if the time gating weren't there. But everyone who would prefer to play in bigger chunks, suffers.

That said, the game is very clear about this design, there's even an unmissable warning box on top of the product page. So the vast majority of people who spend money on it, know the risk. Personally I recommend my friends to stay away from the game if the time-gating sounds problematic for them, but I do recommend it to the others.

I also have to say that I did stay with the game despite this frustration. I like the stories and the relaxing, casual gameplay. As the island opened up and more bears got unlocked, the play sessions became more likely to approach the length that I _wanted_ to spend with the game. I would have enjoyed it _more_ without the time gating, but in the end, the positives outweigh the negatives for me.

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Showing 31-38 of 38 comments

Piperbird

Aug 29, 2022 @ 3:25pm

Originally posted by FluffyGuy:
is there a way to turn off real time?

Not really. You can cheat the time and go to the next day, but the devs have said that can make the game unstable and you might lose your save. So do at your own risk.

#31

The Big Dawg has Cozy Grove

Aug 30, 2022 @ 6:31am

Originally posted by Psyringe:
there's even an unmissable warning box on top of the product page. So the vast majority of people who spend money on it, know the risk.

You meant this?

Notice: Cozy Grove runs in real time and is optimized for one to two hours of daily play

Because I DID miss it when I originally loaded the page. If I hadn't thought to come to the forum I possibly could have bought it without ever seeing the notice at all. If you hadn't mentioned that I wouldn't have thought to go back to look.

Last edited by The Big Dawg; Aug 30, 2022 @ 6:34am

#32

PBGthederp has Cozy Grove

Sep 11, 2022 @ 12:32pm

Don't see why people would want to play more than the time the game basically allows...

Mainly since the game is designed with more mobile game esque things so I don't think it would be fun to continuously play it throughout a day.

Like the game is fine as a game to play in short bursts,but it doesn't have the depth of games like Animal Crossing.

#33

~* BiZZ Keryear *~ Sep 25, 2022 @ 8:26am

The real problem with the game is (as far as I understand) is not that it limits playing the game to 2 hours a day (though it's also part of the issue)
The real issue is that you HAVE to play the game every day to get anywhere.
You just can't play the game on e.g. Sunday for 8 hours and leave it alone for a week.
And I lothe games that try to force habbits and or try force me how I have to spend my time.

#34

iOceaan

Sep 29, 2022 @ 11:58pm

For those who don't know you CAN time jump if you'd like... the game just isnt designed for it. I haven't tested what happens when you reset your time, I just googled time traveling because I was bored lol

#35

Palasferas has Cozy Grove

Sep 30, 2022 @ 2:05am

Originally posted by iOceaan:
For those who don't know you CAN time jump if you'd like... the game just isnt designed for it. I haven't tested what happens when you reset your time, I just googled time traveling because I was bored lol

Just make sure to only jump forwards. Jumping backwards could break certain quests and block future progress. The Devs said it should be fixed now and jumping back shouldn't break the game anymore, but they're not giving any guarantees, so better not to risk it.

#36

firemaiden9510 has Cozy Grove

Sep 30, 2022 @ 9:42pm

Originally posted by ~* BiZZ Keryear *~:
The real problem with the game is (as far as I understand) is not that it limits playing the game to 2 hours a day (though it's also part of the issue)
The real issue is that you HAVE to play the game every day to get anywhere.
You just can't play the game on e.g. Sunday for 8 hours and leave it alone for a week.
And I lothe games that try to force habbits and or try force me how I have to spend my time.

You don't HAVE to play everyday though? The game doesn't ACTUALLY progress if you don't play. If you don't play ACNH everyday time moves forward and your island gets overgrown and villagers get upset.

But Cozy Grove doesn't literally move time forward (other than seasons and stuff like that). You can put the game down for a week and pick up exactly where you left off.

The time gating is STRICTLY for story progression in the sense that it prevents you from bingeing the story. The going saying for the game is that it's "supposed" to be played for 30-60 minutes a day. That's just for quest lines and time it takes to get Spirit Logs to unlock new bears though.

I have been playing for 9 hours and that is only spread across 3 days of playing. I get on. Complete the quests. Then I just enjoy the game through gathering, fishing, etc. At 3 days of playing I have upgraded Mr.Kit once and my tent 3 times. Donated a ton of items to the "museum". Gotten 2 cats and 4 spirit birds. Placed tons of lamps and several trees, bushes, and flowers. All because I just leisurely gather and fish for a couple hours to get extra stuff and money.

So you CAN play the game more in a day than an hour or less and you CAN play it once a week (the story will just progress slower for you.

Also. Side thing just to add to the "I like the time gating" discussion. I love and hate it. I hate it because I want MORE! However I am ADHD and Autistic. So I tend to hyper fixate and lose track of time. The time gating physically prevents me from playing the game the entire day. No matter how much I want to fixate (resulting in the entire day going by with me getting nothing done because I didn't realize I had been playing 12 hours straight) I can't. I can't accidebtally procrastinate my entire day away playing the game. I can enjoy the game for several hours a day but eventually I will run out of meaningful things to do and I just gotta to close it. I understand this is not a thing for everyone but this is the biggest reason I enjoy the feature.

Another reason is that as a stay at home mom I often don't have time or energy to play for long hours. So it's nice on those days to be able to pick up a game that is easy to fit into my schedule (that I can't hyper fixate on) and give myself that boost of gaming serotonin without any pressure. Knowing that I won't lose track of time and get distracted for hours on end by the game.

Lastly. I really enjoy games that I can binge in a couple days, but I also really enjoy games that I can take my time with. As frustrating as it is to not get all the story I want when I want it. I can tell that I will ultimately love this mechanic because it will be easy to pick up and put down and still be enjoyable, with little burn out, for a WHILE. Stardew Valley is my favorite game and across several platforms I have over 600 hours. But I will play that game non stop for a month and then not touch the game for months. I really like the fact that that is something that can't really happen with Cozy Grove because everyday I play will be something a little new. Plus because I can't obsessively play it I won't get burned out as easy.

#37

~* BiZZ Keryear *~ Dec 10, 2022 @ 10:59pm

Originally posted by firemaiden9510:

When I play, I want to play, as long and short as I want, as the next time I pick up the game (aka the next game session) it might be years or decades later.
Though pauses that long only happens after the first 5 to 6 game sessions.

#38

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Cozy Grove > General Discussions > Topic Details

Date Posted: May 20, 2022 @ 1:09pm

Posts: 38