Farming simulator games?

[Brian G Turner]

I've seen various farming simulator games coming up on Amazon for some time now. Has anyone ever played any of these? Are they general accessible fun or...?

 

[Vladd67]

Here is fun take on Farming simulator

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1MxjGBm4ylIlUV8FOuRIB9H__GmYXToi

There is a new version just out, the game has been described as satisfying, something you can play while watching something else.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Y'know, every so often. Usually late at night after I've ended my nth campaign in Total War (electronically massacring thousands of men outside a city wall or on a bridge never gets old), don't have the energy to attempt a Factorio run, nor a Fallout/Skyrim wander, etc. I sometimes ponder whether getting Farming Simulater 20XX might be fun.

Then I look up some Let's Plays, like the ones @Vladd67 has posted and realise 1) it's actually a bit (lot!) more technical than I thought 2) It's really starting a virtual job in the same vein as all the bus, truck, or commercial plane simulators. All of these latter 'games' really don't make sense to me as ways of generating fun.

So instead this week I bought Dark Souls Remastered as I've never played a From Software game.

Purely my own perspective, but I think I've definitely made the better choice.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I used to play Hayday a lot. It was nice, distracting and easy. Then the farm got too big and became more of a commitment so I haven’t been back for a while. Poor wee animals are probably starving. Or, more likely, sitting there needing milked and sheared.

 

[hitmouse]

Stardew Valley (on Steam) is good gentle fun

 

[Rodders]

Steam have Farming Simulator 22 on sale at the moment.

 

[Montero]

How much manure, and getting your toes trodden on are in the farming simulation games?

 

[AlexH]

I don't think it's quite the kind of farming sim you're referring to, but I loved Harvest Moon on the Super Nintendo. I doubt I'd play any of the modern equivalents like Stardew Valley, as I'd consider them too time consuming.

 

[Montero]

Er, not able to picture what you are on about. Is it just making decisions about what crops to plant or summat? And then the weather turns against you?
Does it include
The tractor broke down
The agricultural suppliers ran out of fertilizer and won't re-stock until next year
Etc?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Er, not able to picture what you are on about. Is it just making decisions about what crops to plant or summat? And then the weather turns against you?
Does it include
The tractor broke down
The agricultural suppliers ran out of fertilizer and won't re-stock until next year
Etc?

Some do.

 

[smellincoffee]

I play Farming Simulator 2019, but very casually. I've never tried the more complicated crops like cotton, or animals. I like learning the little technical things, and find the rhythyms of plowing, seeding, weeding , etc. relaxing. I have to google a lot for help because there's a learning curve and not much helpful info in-game.

Then I look up some Let's Plays, like the ones @Vladd67 has posted and realise 1) it's actually a bit (lot!) more technical than I thought 2) It's really starting a virtual job in the same vein as all the bus, truck, or commercial plane simulators. All of these latter 'games' really don't make sense to me as ways of generating fun.

It depends on how seriously you play the sim, I think. For instance, on American Truck Simulator I turn off the police and skip the elaborate parking, because what I enjoy is driving, listening to music, and admiring virtual scenery. Other people, though, will add mods to make the game more realistic and thereby more challenging -- they'll have to start the day idling the engine to build up air pressure, for instance. For some people, knowing about and fulfilling all of the technical challenges are part of the fun. I've abandoned games (like a bus simulator) that were more tedious than fun.

 

[Montero]

I once played on a friend's flight simulator of a light aircraft in black and white on an early Mac. Very well done. But you had to fly there in real time. I stuck it on autopilot, went off to do something more interesting and forgot it. Ran out of fuel. Smack crunch.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I went into CEX a few weeks ago and saw an odd looking controller. When I looked more closely, it was based on the controls in a (presumably modern) tractor (apparently). Much like flight sim fans have yokes and throttles and racers have steering wheels and pedals.

They aren't the kind of games I'd like to play, but I wouldn't mind having a go in a real tractor. Driving up and down plowing fields for hours on end must get pretty boring though!

 

[cyprus7]

Casual Farming ("slow living LitRPG") is doing well on Amazon KU.

 

[Montero]

They aren't the kind of games I'd like to play, but I wouldn't mind having a go in a real tractor. Driving up and down plowing fields for hours on end must get pretty boring though!

Yonks back, had a conversation with a tractor driver in a field on top of a hill. He told me that he had a radio onboard and "see that tractor over there on the other side of the valley?" I could just see the tractor he meant. "Well, we've been chatting all morning."

 

[Swank]

Are there any ditch digging simulation games?

 

[Montero]

Probably only with a swing shovel or excavator. I wonder if you can get a game re-creating earlier excavators? The ones pre-hydraulics run on steam.......

 

[THX1138]

One problem I see is with the growing of tomatoes. A sim is about entertainment in a game environment. Water, water, water. Red, ripe tomatoes!
In real gardening, not at all! You can't just water, water, water them. there is soil Ph and comp. Micro Climent and natural rain vs you watering. Insects for your zone and temp. The amount of natural sun light, etc. etc. etc. Thats where seed saving, understanding and experience of your soil needs, and micro-Climent come in.

We did the Glo-us business in in college and made the invitational(international) We kicked #@!, As far as that and the real world goes? Neck no way no how! "Thanks for playing and tray again!" But it did give us a reality check. Just as the farm apps exclude the very important "reality of farming" bits, Glo-bus excluded the "The reality of human emotion and response" bits.

The apps and sims are fun, but that's all they are. A fun entertaining pastime.

 

[Swank]

One problem I see is with the growing of tomatoes. A sim is about entertainment in a game environment. Water, water, water. Red, ripe tomatoes!
In real gardening, not at all! You can't just water, water, water them. there is soil Ph and comp. Micro Climent and natural rain vs you watering. Insects for your zone and temp. The amount of natural sun light, etc. etc. etc. Thats where seed saving, understanding and experience of your soil needs, and micro-Climent come in.

We did the Glo-us business in in college and made the invitational(international) We kicked #@!, As far as that and the real world goes? Neck no way no how! "Thanks for playing and tray again!" But it did give us a reality check. Just as the farm apps exclude the very important "reality of farming" bits, Glo-bus excluded the "The reality of human emotion and response" bits.

The apps and sims are fun, but that's all they are. A fun entertaining pastime.

I used to participate on this debate thing, and one of the topics was "video games have real world benefits", and someone mentioned learning survival skills. As someone who had a bit of real world experience with that, I found the suggestion absurd.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Tetris helped me pack my shopping bags perfectly.