It’s a grinding game. It is it’s a time consuming game. It has a very distinct time sequence it wants you to follow when doing things. So basically after I found out you upgrade your tools I looked up which characters upgrade the tools and unlocked those and maxed out those first. It made things much easier. Maui, Merlin, and Elsa. Now you have to max out certain characters to progress in others storyline friendship quests. If you go to the menu and look at collections it will tell you what you need to unlock each quest. It will also under their name tell you what their favorite gifts are for that day this helps you level them up much faster. I’ve been gaming for a long time so a lot of things were intuitive for me, but I do understand how it can be confusing and frustrating especially with all the bugs. I play Xbox and while mine gets laggy it doesn’t crash the way it does on PS and Switch.

Payton, love this review. Raw, honest and unfiltered. I do like this game, however I don't love it. Your review was on point. Thank you for this thoughtful retrospective!

Very fair review. I think one of the main features of this game (beyond nostalgia) is the "story" or mystery behind DDV. Either you're interested enough to fight through the bugs, or you're not. ACNH or other leaders in the cozy game genre don't have a lot of that. It's more of an open sandbox. I'm loving it still, but when I want my sandbox, there are other better games for that. This one will eventually just become "gotta catch them all" when the story ends.

I liked this game. Almost as much as I love your highlighter 💕 I'm also not super obsessed with Disney and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed and added, but I can safely say I've sunk at least a 100 hours into lmao

I love fishing too. I would spend a weekend out of the month at the Darkmoon Fair in World of Warcraft fishing crates for a RARE turtle mount- I never found it. I hope we get mounts in DLV. Game-on! And where's Pluto?!

what highlighter are you wearing?

I still love this game. Playing on Switch but i guess I’ve been lucky not to encounter many glitches and only crashed a couple times mid game. It mainly crashed when i would close game but I didn’t lose anything since i save before ending a session I also don’t time travel in AC so always playing in real time

Moonstones are for the Star path. I used 3 of the items in my kitchen

I enjoyed the Dreamlight but after a bit I felt like I experienced all I could. Friendships pretty much mean nothing other than getting tasks done and once you’re maxed out on ones friendship you don’t need to talk to them ever again and move on to the next and repeat… I had fun with it but once I got done with what I wanted to I felt meh about the game

Great review! Do you know if they’re still planning to release the game for free this year? Also, for fishing… Better or worse than Red Dead 2?

When do they usually make it free?

Very well said. I feel the same, granted I do like Disney and did want to play it because of that. But overall it's an ok to good game but I don't see myself playing it all that often. Like it's not the first game I play when I get home and relax, I would need to be in the mood to play it.

Yes finally someone who feels how I feel! I wanted to badly to love this game but I just don't! 😭

I’ve played over 300 hours and it grows on you 👍

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

Over 300 hours! 🤯

My biggest concern is that as soon as it's out of early access we're suddenly going to see all the manipulative monetization tricks that aren't there now while you just pay a hunk of crash up front to access it. Like the energy system has no reason to exist with how easy it is to regenerate it; it's just a meaningless hassle right now. But in free to play fashion, that could easily change to make you pay microtransactions. So ironically if this wasn't going to be free to play I would consider buying it, but for now I refuse to pay for it in fear of how aggressive the free to play monetization will ultimately be.

@jessirarara

Жыл бұрын

This is one of my concerns as well. Actually my biggest concern. The bad thing is that I really like the exclusive items and stuff, but what does it matter if I like those items if I end up not liking the game? What does it matter if I have them if the game becomes free and they ruin it with overly aggressive microtransactions?

@vanessamendoza4778

2 ай бұрын

I don’t I don’t like you, Pude

When I tell you.... the CACKLE that came out of my mouth at you mentioning fishing. Why? Cause I do the same thing. Fishing mini game is one of the things I judge a farm/life sim off of anymore. Mostly because the fishing is something that seems to vary the most in quality in these kinds of games. For as much as everyone judges Stardews fishing game. I LOVE that one. It's kind of a problem in these kinds of games where the fishing is boring AND time consuming. I find it crazy that more people don't judge these kinds of games off of the fishing. Because not only is it the most varied part, it's often the BEST way to make money in the early game. If you can't fish or don't enjoy the fishing in farm sims you are going to have a LONG game ahead of you because you are going to be pinching pennies for seeds and then having to wait for stuff to grow or you are worrying about tools breaking while you try to mine or craft stuff to sell. Fishing in life sims almost always has a low bar of entry and are decent money makers. Late game it will be less useful but you'll probably spend a big chunk of these kinds of games doing it. So yeah... I appreciate the fishing judgement Payton

Frankly the main reason I'm not going to get the game is because it is going to be Free To Play next year and I'm worried about what is going to happen it in the long run with microtransactions and such. If someone can tell me this isn't going to be the case then I think I'll give it a go, but I do foresee a lot of people being upset if Disney and the game developers lean into the mobile gaming style of things.

@shannahiniker

Жыл бұрын

This is my fear as well. That I'll pay to have a good experience for only a handful of months. I'm worried that what players are seeing now isn't representative of what they will see from a micro-transactions perspective once the game is free.

@ida6950

Жыл бұрын

Same! I‘m not paying to be a beta tester for a game that is most likely gonna be full of microtransactions

@MorganNicole27

Жыл бұрын

I heard their not sure if it’s going to be free next year now, because they weren’t expecting the consumers to love it and be as popular as it ended up being. Just word on the street from what I hear. I love this game and I couldn’t imagine them putting it on the market for free. It’s well worth the money.

I agree with you. I totally think they could have gotten more out of this game. Especially because the 'Disney' name is attached at it, and because of the price. I like the graphics, the characters and the possibilities. But it doesn't keep me playing the game over and over again.

First off, WOW that highlighter! You look so good!! Anyway, can't say I've been terribly interested in this game personally (obviously nothing on anyone who's been enjoying it, I'm just off-put by Disney as a corporation at this point). I may check it out when it isn't early access anymore, but I won't be upset if it ends up not being for me. So many other good cozy games are out now, no reason to not fully enjoy your gaming time!

I don’t like the fishing so I was glad when I heard I can unlock Moana’s boat so she can fish for me. I only fish for seaweed now to feed the cute turtles

Honestly I haven’t really gotten into this game , cuz I’m still waiting for it to be free to play it. But what I really hate about it is that , they haven’t really picked out a date like when it will be free to play on the Switch. But i jus don’t like the constant waiting for a long time to get into it. Cuz I’m really itching to get into it. Cuz it’s not fair for newborn players who haven’t gotten into it , but always watching other players playing in it even though we haven’t gotten into it.

@MorganNicole27

Жыл бұрын

I read a couple days ago that Disney isn’t sure if it’ll be free. The game ended up being way bigger of a hit than they expected, so the price tag might stick.

I'm so conflicted on this game... My main conflict is that it doesn't look like the various founder packs are sold individually. Like it doesn't look like I can spend the $30 and then if I REALLY like the game update to the deluxe or ultimate edition. I don't like that I have to just assume and hope I'll be in love with the game to be able to get the other packs. I honestly also just HATE the fact that it's not starting out free with the various founder packs as things you can buy only in early access. Disney... you have enough money. You're not going to tell me and convince me that you need that minimum of $30 per head to be able to develop this game. You're just not. They easily could have made the base game free now and then had all 3 founder expansions as things you could get only until the game releases fully. Would give people a chance to see if they like the game and determine if they want to invest in the founders packs. Would give people time to figure out if the moonstones in the packs are all that worth it because you get to know what you can spend them on and expect to get with them. There's just NO reason for them to be doing this the way they are. If it wasn't going to be a freemium game than I'd have no issue with the way they are doing this. But charging money for an unfinished game so it can be free when it is finished is just backwards and I hate that direction for early access games so much. Like you basically want a metric ton of play testers... but you're charging us to play test your game? Like that's what this is. A lot of early access games charge money, but they don't go on to be free. You are being charged LESS for the game BECAUSE it's in early access. So you are getting a perk for being a play tester. Compared to Disney who is just like "Hey we aren't gonna charge anything down the line but would you like to play test our game for free? No no no not free for you! Free for us. You need to pay for the privilege... to play our broken game..." Then they disguise that behavior by saying "Oh no you are getting a perk because you get *cosmetics* for buying the game and play testing for us..." Well... how is that a perk? I don't know that I want the cosmetics because I don't know if they are worth it.... because I haven't played your damn game. They really just needed to release it free and then if people liked the cosmetics they could support the game development through buying the packs. I appreciate them being upfront about it and saying "Hey this game is going to be free later". That doesn't change that it's still kinda crappy to ask people to play test your game and charge them more than what you are planning on having the game go for once it's done.

Great review!! I did end up buying it, and I'm having fun playing around with the story, but I agree decorating/moving furniture around is MUCH to be desired. I have 0 idea how people think this is better than animal crossing so far because that's just sooo far from the truth in my opinion. I will say it has the *potential* to be, but it's far from there yet. I'm excited to see where it goes though!

You play Animal Crossing New Horizons...exactly how closely involved do you feel with your animal friends in the game??

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

That’s one of the things I don’t love about animal crossing! I wish you got to be closer with the villagers but they just have the same repeat dialogue. Since AC isn’t really a story based game I’m mostly in it for the design, terraforming and creativity! With adventure games like this one I like it when the characters have a bit more going on.

I don’t think anyone is qualified to tell others whether or not to buy or buy a game…if you like it get it…if not don’t….

i'm sorry you didn't like the game, but you're right we don't have to like the same things. i do feel like you really got the short end of the stick with being ahead, as a person who was playing with my switch set to 2021 the only thing i was missing out on was the event which for some reason you have to do in real time. but when i jumped forward a few days ago, because i was worried i'd regret not doing the event, everything is fine. i also do really like fetch quests and repetitive tasks so i'm having a great time (:

Ok so I really love the game but do acknowledge the criticism is fair, also if no one’s told you the moonstones, so far, are used on the “Events/Star Path” page, not sure how you open it switch but it’s a tab when you open your map and collections stuff. I will admit the customization is not nearly as good or grand as Animal Crossing, mainly because you can’t terraform and have to work with elements of each biome and there are a lot of immovable objects. That is a little disappointing as I thought I heard that this game was supposed to be more customizable then animal crossing but it’s not. Also you can’t upgrade your tools unless you get a high friendship with individual characters which is why some spots are blocked off. Speaking of characters, I like the characters, partly due to my love for Disney, but I would argue that they aren’t the most in depth but feel they are above many other cozy games in terms of depth, not Stardew levels but above Animal Crossing. I also will admit that it feels like you have to have all the characters that come out, even if you don’t want them because of the story aspect and you can’t get rid of them later, which causes more issues in the customization. As much as I enjoy this game more then Animal Crossing, I will admit that it might have been better if they either A) Had a way other characters could do certain story tasks or B) Focus less on story and more on customization.

Bought it like 1 week and a half and I loki regret it😭😭🤧 HAVENT played any further than the beginning

So, July 2023 now and most of your criticisms are still valid. I'm starting to think this game will never be free to play, and with quests and possibly characters only available for additional money. Performance on the Switch is still not very good, and I have to switch to PC to rearrange my village. I find myself only playing a few minutes at a time just to keep up with the occasional update. It's sad because this could be a great game if the devs weren't so focused on profit over performance.

I’d like it if it wasn’t Disney themed.

Great and honest review! Nice job giving both reasons why you like and dislike it!

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! Definitely tried to give it a fair amount of likes and dislikes!

I'm obsessed with Disney dreamlight valley but love this review

I’m glad to find a review that doesn’t rave about it; nothing is better than Animal Crossing 😉 Sorry you feel like you wasted your money. Maybe try Let’s Buy a Zoo.

Everyone has different opinions. Not everyone has to like the same things. The world would be so boring if everyone liked the same stuff. I like your review and opinions. I love listening to other's opinions.

ty for making this video because I am also in the boat of having all of my friends be obsessed with this game and I am just so uninterested in it and don't get the comparison to animal crossing

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

You’re not alone!

Ok but your highlight is the real star of the video! 😍✨

To honest sometimes not everyone in the world enjoys the same game and I feel you.

I think if people aren't sure if they should or shouldn't pay for early access, they should watch a couple of videos/streams by multiple people and decide that way if they think it's going to be for them. I watched a bunch of people play it before I bought it so going in I already knew that it was gonna be a hit for me but it could also make someone realise no this isn't going to be my thing and then at least they won't have spent money on it

You are right; everyone enjoys different things. For me, a top down game with the little small characters with a picture of them popping on the screen when they talk holds no interest for me. So there ya go; apples and oranges; some like apples and some oranges.

I completely understand where your opinion of the game comes from. It's pretty unfortunate. I had a very different experience and I genuinely feel like the time-travel issue that you experienced is on you though, I don't mean that in a harsh way but seeing that you had the wrong settings because of time-traveling when you first opened the game and then kept trying to press on instead of restarting right away after you noticed, is how you just set yourself up for a frustrating experience overall. You say at the end that you don't even know what the moonstones are for and I am guessing that you didn't have the event activated because it is just a tab in your pause menu that explains it. I also feel like the $30 for the game was fine but definitely agree that the bundles are too overpriced. Other than that I agree with you on things like the building and the crashing and stuff (I also play on the Switch). But yeah I hope they do watch videos like these because I liked the game but there is always room for improvement especially since they are still in early access. Would be nice for you to review it again after it officially releases so we can come back and see how we feel after. Loved the video!

I noticed everyone compares any semblance of cozy game to animal crossing now even when it’s not very similar, all these games look super fun but can they keep you interested for 1000 hours 👀 just saying 💜

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

For sure this game is literally nothing like animal crossing lol! If I was going to compare it to anyone I guess it’s more like stardew but also not really 🤷‍♀️

I've been loving DDV and I also am what I'd consider a moderate Disney fan, not obsessed. I like the movies I grew up with. That said, since people seem to compare every cozy game to ACNH, I don't think DDV will have the same longevity for me as ACNH did even though I've been playing DDV daily for the past few weeks. I played a couple *thousand* hours of ACNH before I got completely burnt out, though the vast majority of my friends stopped playing less than 6 months from launch. Everyone is so different, like you said! There are some similar mechanisms and concepts but like... it doesn't remind me of ACNH when I'm playing it. The quests are redundant but I love the world (opening different biomes), collecting items, Wall-E being the most adorable, setting up the town, etc. It's pretty rare for a game to even give a couple hundred hours of entertainment for me, so I think that $30 (or eventually free) is pretty decent for a fairly large world with already a lot of content at launch. The more expensive bundles seem steep in price. I play Fall Guys (now free to play) and pay for the "season bundles" so I'm not particularly concerned about the game becoming free to play and there being "battle pass" style purchases/some MTX as long as it's not pay to win. Plus, if this game gives me a 100+hours I'll be content in my purchase, and I have 60 hours logged. I can't wait until they add some more content and fix a few glitches. I haven't personally had a problem with the game crashing in quite a while.

I'm a UI/UX designer full time and I definitely agree with the criticisms of the intuitiveness and game breaking bugs BUT I still really enjoy this game I think because of the nostalgia mixed with the relaxing and almost mindless gameplay loop, it's a great "after a long day" kind of game that made me feel satisfied checking things off the quest log

Most of what went wrong seems to be because you were not on real life time. I would have restarted.

The things for me is I don’t like the controls lol the controls feel like sims on console and I hate it. It’s so hard for me to decorate the world

If a game can't entice you in the first 5 hours, it isn't worth your time. So many great games out there to try and find your niche.

Yeah. I was excited for this game but after watching a few streams I completely lost interest. Altogether too many fetch quests and busywork type tasks.

Even in 2024 I completely agree with a lot of the stuff you had to say. Even though I don’t time travel often it still bothers me that the game basically *punishes you for time traveling*. I also agree with how the dreamlight duties can be pretty grindy & repetitive. Even though there has been new issues that happened since early access I continue to enjoy the game. What I always like about your reviews is you list the pros and cons of the game. Instead of saying “Don’t play this game” or “This game sucks”. * More than an animal crossing *

I haven’t played this game yet but I’m glad you have such an honest review about the pros and cons of the game

So, to me it has felt like an easier version of animal crossing. I'm guessing this is just the early release with much more content to come (most likely you will have to pay for new characters etc). I feel if you enjoyed animal crossing you will also like disney dreamlight. I also hope disney will include a multiplayer where you can visit other friends islands.

I'm a PS4 player and I can't do anything in this game without it crashing. By the way I love your review it didn't feel forced and felt honest.

I enjoy it, but the game is still lacking and I understand my motivation is because I have adopted Wall-E as my anxious son. I'm a little miffed that not only does time travel break the game, but they don't really intend to fix the glitches either. I think this is a little unfair, especially if someone moves from one time zone to another. Like, they should at least be able to adjust their game to their new timezone. The moon stones are used to join events, which is in the main menu. You can also use the moon stones to buy event currency. So they're basically your diamonds in every other free to play game. I am admittedly VERY nervous about the free to play aspect, as that can become very preditory really fast, and if it gets bad, I'll have to stop playing the game. If the game was a full release with minimum bugs, the $70 would be worth it, but it certainly won't be worth the endless amounts of micro transactions people will pour into the game.

Maybe it's just me, but i don't trust free2play games so that just makes me not trust it. I'm like you, i wish i could like it cause it looks so cute. But meh, I'll wait and see.

Well i spent about 100 hours n it and im starting to runout of stuff at this point. I do enjoy the game I love wall-e the most. I enjoy fixing up my village and making more money to buystuff from scoorge Fixing up my home and building new things I enjoy watching the characters Im just a die heart fan I can agree that it is expensive and not really worth it for someone whos not a die heart disney fan. The characters max level is 10 and they do not get any deeper. Maybe ina update they will but as of now There is no huge connection The moon stones is for in game purchases which will be added later Its more cosmetic stuff n pets The pets also just follow you around I didnt realize it so much but i also have been googling stuff to be able to do things in game a lot Tho leveling the characters is the key to prgressing in anything They will unlock a lot of things for you Iam having trouble with 2 characters leveling it just taking me way longer

I really wanted to like this game, and even played more hours than I wanted to in hopes it would get better, but it's just not for me. It's really nice not to be the only one who doesn't love it.

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

There’s more games out there! And hey you’re not alone!

I'm addicted to the game right now, but I'm still not sure if I even like it. It's certainly not a new animal crossing for me, but addictive enough to keep me busy for a while. What bothers me the most is the time travel problem. Right now I can't play animal crossing like I want and this problem will eventually make me choose acnh over dreamlight valley, if they don't fix it.

Still not free !

I played it for like two days straight and then dropped it, something about it really didn’t hold my attention long!

@aleesha5579

Жыл бұрын

I played for the first week after release , but I couldn't get into. The fetch quests , the grind for some of the quest are madness.

As someone who has played 100+ hours of this game on the Switch, I feel like a lot of your points are completely valid-a lot of the mechanics in the game might need explaining and may not be as intuitive to some people as you’d think. I personally love the game though, and I’m excited for the updates to come! However, I also agree that it’s quite a steep price point for an unfinished/early access game despite the fact that some bugs or glitches make it completely unplayable, I have just happened to be lucky and have avoided a lot of these things.

I feel like if Nintendo would’ve done the community right with animal crossing I’m not sure everyone would be jumping onto this game people are looking for AC, ACNH could’ve been sooooooo much more for a long time to come. My hope is Disney will do what they should’ve and not move on. People bought multiple game consoles JUST to have additional islands what other game did people do that for? that’s dedication imo and they just didn’t care what the community wanted and that’s clear at least to me that ninetendo just couldn’t care less. Hopefully Disney doesn’t do that but only time will tell.

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

You’re absolutely right! I feel like new items could have kept us interested alone with animal crossing!

I love you. Don’t be sorry. It’s not your thing. I honestly thought I knew your taste but if you knew you weren’t going to like it from the get go and we knew that I would have had a different answer. I’m so sorry people picked on you. I love you Payton. You’ll always have my love and support. I’m sorry if you felt anything negative from me. We love you girly. We are here for you. We will support whatever content you make. 💙💙💙💙 I don’t think the makers of the game thought so many people would be time traveling so I agree that it should have been said as a warning

It took me much less time to realize it was not going to hold my attention. I’m moving on.

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

For sure! I just kept wanting to like it more so I kept holding out hope! Decided after 15 hours I probably was already far enough 😂

lol i disagree with everything you said lol

@PaytonsCorner

Жыл бұрын

And you’re absolutely allowed to!

@renanzitutu

Жыл бұрын

@@PaytonsCorner yes lol

I don’t like you other girl and I like the guy hit you guys are so cool😡😡

@PaytonsCorner

2 ай бұрын

lol…what?

the game is broken shit, you can hate me

Very diplomatic review! I don't like the game. Assuming it was actually playable and not crashing every 5 minutes, it's boringly repetitive and offers no real reward for anything other than 'stuff' that doesn't enhance the gameplay in any way. I am sure more things will come along over time, but feel like they already lost a lot of peoples interest with all the issues. I'm sad as well that this has overshadowed what has been some truly awesome indie releases in the last few months that practically no-one is talking about. I've bought more games that have hooked me in the last few months than I have the whole three years I've had my switch! Unfortunately DLV isn't one of them.

6/10 as of right now for me. Those Bugs are killing the game right now.

I have never played dreamlight valley and tbh not into Disney at all

Finally , I feel this game is so overrated and hyped to much. I really tried to like this game. But it's boring , mundane, busy work with no real reward. The quest are fetch quest after fetch quest and the farming is the most tedious , having to water crops multiple times , and some of quest are outrageous looking at you Minnie's clock tower. Anyway I've moved on to coral island and enjoying it much more.