Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I’m not going to go so far as to say that EA/Gracie always get it right. Far from it.
HOWEVER… this game continues to evolve…EA continues to listen…and the best part of it all (when compared to other mobile games), it JUST KEEPS KEEPIN’ ON!
I’m really not sure how many of you play other Mobile Device games. I admit to being pretty limited. Mostly because almost none of them hold my attention. I’m not into “Shoot ’em up” games, or games that require loads of time each session. But, more important, I am not a fan of games that get “stuck” in one mode…and bore me.
I am going to ask a very specific question…and I am asking the good folks at Gracie Films/Fox, and specifically Matt Groening… “Why In The Hell Did You NOT Choose EA for your Futurama game?” I get it for Family Guy. After all…Seth McFarland likes to “be different” (while mostly copying other shows for his content). But, Matt…you have a good thing going with EA and Tapped Out…what made you flip to Tiny Co for Futurama??
I can’t imagine it was the answer to that question might be. But the much touted, “Futurama Worlds of Tomorrow” should be renamed to “Futurama…not much future tomorrow.”
But, this isn’t about piling on to Tiny Co. This is a post about the recent things that EA has done, to prove that they still care about the game, and the best choice for Tapped Out. Even if they make us nuts once in a while!
There really isn’t any comparison between Tiny Co and EA. Let’s be honest about it…Tiny Co is tiny…EA is huge. That is a great advantage when it comes to creativity, support, and overall game operation. Yes…the SNAFU’s that happen with each major event have become predictable. But, when it comes to Tiny Co’s offerings, Family Guy is tired…and the same old, same old. And Futurama has just stopped updating, after just a few months. It’s still there…but no new levels. No new real content…just the same characters that can be “leveled” and then…pffffftttt… Done.
But, it’s more than just “hanging around,” that makes the TSTO/EA combo worth continuing. It is the wealth of new ways that EA keeps the game fresh…and even goes so far as to make playing EAsier, and more productive with your time.
The recent addition of the Golden Goose Realty was brilliant. The fact is, it rewards newer players, as well as older, more real estate rich players. The ability to earn tokens (until you are so greedy and silly as to use up all of your land), and exchange those tokens for donuts…is a Win/Win/Win proposition.
There are a bunch of ways to play TSTO…but, as I have written about before, the “not enough land” whiners get no sympathy from me. Sheesh…try a little land/town planning. Try not using loads and loads and loads of land for donut farming. Try learning the word, “enough.” But I digress…
However, just when I am poking fun at the Land Whiners…they seemingly get rewarded!! Until they don’t…
The Golden Goose Realty is a blessing and a curse…with more questions than answers at this point (because EA never really explains things when they hit). Which is weirdly now part of the game, and our role as a community…figuring out what just happened!
So…again, proving that EA is “keeping it interesting,” and are clearly reading what we write about the land token thing being a royal Pain In The Keester, they did something about it. But, being EA, they didn’t really tell us EVERYTHING (actually nothing). They only created a Reward for Buying All Of the Land…ALMOST.
READ ALISSA’S POST ABOUT THIS HERE…
I admit…I kind of love their Machiavellian twist on this. It is a true conundrum…with no real answers, yet.
If you buy the Golden Goose Real Estate... it generates Free Land Tokens every 12 hours (if you still have land left to buy). So…if you still have land available to buy, it works great…to generate free tokens to buy the remaining land.
However…if you already bought all of the land before this…you may really hate the fact that it won’t create land tiles, unless you have free land. Whaaaaaaaa?
Then they dangle the “Reward” for the Donut Mongers…by creating a new feature that allows you to trade those same tiles in for DONUTS!
But…ONLY after you have bought all of the available land. You won’t see the Token/Donut swap until you have bought the last chunk of land. I won’t see it…because I have TONS of land left to buy…and am in no rush to do so.
Yes. This is confusing. It is like EA is trying to force people to rush through all of the available land… and then rewards them for doing so, IF THEY DON’T BUY THE LAST PIECE OF LAND!
Brilliant! This is the kind of evil logic that keeps programmers dateless, and living in their expensive San Francisco apartments…playing Fortnight alone.
So…the illogical logic is…
1. Buy all of the land, EXCEPT FOR ONE CHUNK…
2. Save Up a TON of Tokens…hoping that EA doesn’t give us more land, because then it may start the process all over again. And no…we can’t tell when new land is coming…so don’t ask!
3. When you simply can’t hold off any longer… CASH IN YOUR TOKENS for Donuts (that you can earn more efficiently with KEM farming)!
4. Wait and see what the hell happens next…because nobody knows for sure.
That’s right. Nobody knows.
Possibility #1- It might just be that we don’t get any more land…ever. In which case, the Token/Donut swap is One and Done.
Possibility #2 – It might be that when/if we get more land, the cycle starts again…and you can build it up for hundreds if not thousands of free donuts.
REALITY– None of it is clear. And “Logic” when it comes to EA is a pretty elusive thing.
My best guess, is that it is a permanent feature, like the KrustyLand ticket swap used to be (before they killed the old Krustyland). BUT…IT IS A GUESS. It will only become “valuable” for donut farming, if we get more land at some point.
This whole thing is actually a brilliant twist by EA. It just keeps us playing…and ringing up tiles…and hoping that we will get more free donuts, or land, or something…because it means the game is continuing!
But, EA continuing to evolve the game it goes way beyond that for me these days. For whatever reason…it feels like the writers care again…or are at least being made a critical part of every update. They even went so far as to BEG us to not just click through the dialogue. I truly laughed out loud. The dialogue for Lewis and Bart is great. READ IT!!
And speaking of reading…perhaps my padular devices have become way too smart for their own good. As in “they are reading my mind, and passing it along to EA.”
Case in point…
Recent politics have made me want to expand my “Political Swamp” section in my water park (and maybe build a wall around it). It really needed something with a clearer statement…. like say…The CAPITOL BUILDING???? Holyfreakinshiirt… in an update that has no real relationship to “the swamp that is DC,” BOOM! There it was in the store.
INSTANT BUY… Instant remodel to accommodate it. Prefect. Just perfect.
There is just so much to like about TSTO these days. Yes…the 4 hour grinding can get to you if you let it. But, after a couple of years of the same ritual…and with all of the rewards that come with adding a couple of 5-minute routines every 4 hours (as in KEM harvesting), the need to whine about it has dissipated.
For all of you waiting for me to whine about the Time/Space whackiness of bringing back to life another dead character (Alice Glick), I give up! At this point, I’m just going to roll with it. In fact, I’m now voting from at least three version of every character… CHILD/CURRENT/DEAD. Ghosts of people still alive, or not yet adults…it’s pretty much how I feel every day now that I’m 65. So screw it. Bring on the dopplegangers and cross-dimensional characters. The More the Merrier! Let President Lisa sort it all out!
So…I guess, my wish for 2019…is that we all learn to appreciate what we have…and appreciate the fact that The Simpsons continues (LOVED LAST WEEK’S EPISODE… LOVED IT..so fresh and edgy!!), and with it, we get to keep playing TSTO.
At this point…some of you have to be asking, “WHO STOLE CRANKYOLDGUY?” I know. It seems that Alissa and I have switched places…she’s cranky…I’m happy. Weird.
But, it probably has to do with my 12 day “full baby immersion” therapy with my grandson, Jake.
Oh. Right… and my daughter and son-in-law and his sons Austin and Brandon, and Alissa, Riley, Sam, and Andrew. But, who am I trying to kid? It was a very Jake-centric visit.
L/R- Katie, Ali, Alissa, Sam, Riley, Andrew, Me, Deb, Bill (Ryan’s Dad) Jake, Ryan at our favorite Italian restaurant!
One side trip to the city to see the Christmas stuff at Macy’s and Rockefeller Center…an afternoon at the MOMA…more Italian food than any West Coaster should ingest…but mostly just hours and hours and hours of “Grandpa Day Care” time. I had two extra days solo, as Deb had to fly back Sunday. It was treasured…and simply soul cleansing. What a wonderful gift.
UPDATE: The word on Terri…is that she is “feeling better,” but still has two more rounds of chemo (one yesterday), before they can do surgery. KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING, PLEASE!
Finally…I will be posting over the weekend to start this round of Buyijja Books/Supplies fundraising. Those that care enough to help, are greatly appreciated by the 279 students there.
If I look back at the reams of complaints I have had about TSTO and EA over the years, I’d like to believe that part of the changes that have happened, have come because we keep them on the hot seat. But, the fact is…they continue to evolve the game…and make it better, and better (while explaining none of it!). I hope they took a look at some of the suggestions in the recent “What Should EA DO NEXT?” post. There were some good ones there.
For me? I’m willing to take whatever they give us in 2019…and appreciate the fact that it has been so many years of great content. It is such a part of the fabric of my everyday life…I can’t imagine how it must feel to be abandoned…like the poor schmucks who play Futurama. Sorry, Matt. you blew this one.
Happy 2019! And thanks for all that YOU do to keep us on our toes.