deKay's Gaming Diary

But only briefly, so as to send some Pinatas, money and stuff to my brother’s girlfriend now she’s on Xbox Live.

Slapped Seedos around a bit too. He loves it.

Downloaded this demo this morning and had a go. You know, I think the mini-game-tastic Wii has spoilt other mini-game titles somewhat. Just hammering buttons and stuff seems like a step back after the varied events in things like Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Mario Party 8.

It isn’t bad, but there’s something just not there with it. Oh, and the animals seem to be voiced by sound-alikes rather than the original voice actors, which makes it all the more… wrong.

Right, before I start I really should qualify my “completed” status thing for this game. Yeah, so I haven’t done every last thing possible (yet), but I have had every single pinata resident at some point, and – most importantly – I have not gained all 1000 points worth of achievements. That’s 50/50 achievements. All of them. So I can take that as “complete”, seeing as there’s not really another way of completing it, is there? Well, aside from the few remaining awards, I suppose. And the maximum level gainable is 108 (and I’m on 94), but still. Complete. No arguments.

So aside from getting the last achievement this evening (50 hours play), I also made the last few pinatas resident (all of which were various coloured Flutterscotches). I romanced a pair of Goobaas (which I’d not done, even though I thought I had), Master Romanced the Badgesicles (and got all the variants of them), got some Fudgehogs into the garden, and started the arduous task of romancing pink, purple and brown Flutterscotches. Oh, and I got the Visitor Award for a Galagoogoo too.

And this is my first completed game of 2007. Amazing.

And I’m now on Level 90. There really isn’t a whole lot left to do, I don’t think. Master Romanced Lickatoads (which I thought I’d done already, but obviously not), and Macaracoons, and also found all the variants for both species.

Apparently, 108 is the maximum level you can get to. I have no idea how I’ll get that far with so little else to do, though.

No more levelling up today, but I did Master Romance Cocoadiles and Mothdrops. The Mothdrops were a real pain in the backside, as I couldn’t get two out of their house at any one time without them instantly disappearing back inside. It didn’t help that my Cocoadiles and remaining Chippotamuses kept deciding to choose the tiny bit og land my romance sweets were on as a bed, preventing my Mothdrops from eating them.

I very nearly exploded the controller.

After getting all the variants of my Roarios, and sending some of them away, I moved over to my Water Garden and proceeded to empty it of almost every tree, plant and pinata. Then I dug a pond which was about 70% of the area of the garden, and planted stacks of bullrushes, water lillies and water cress. The reason? To tempt in a Chippotamus – the only pinata remaining that I hadn’t had resident.

Pretty soon one appeared, and then I sent off for another, and then Master Romanced them. This took me to Level 86, but some variants made of them, and then Cocoadiles, Quackberries and Juicygeese after that bumped me up to 87.

Sent some of my Chippos off to people, and now I’m about to start romancing Cocoadiles – hence the Quackberries (which I’m turning to Juicygeese)…

It’s like other games don’t actually exist, isn’t it? I’ve ditched Animal Crossing and Viva Pinata has stolen my life.

Ended up today with a pile of Roarios (I was sent one in the end as I couldn’t get them to stay) and level 84. I did some pinata-pruning in my Grass Garden too, by selling them, and also got a few more variants for Candarys, Sparrowmints and some other pinatas. Sent out some pinatas to people too, and got some in return. Aces.

Level 80!

Romanced my Bonboons raw, then decided to try and get myself a Roario. This involved getting lots of Doenuts and Zumbugs into my garden, and while I waited for a Roario to show up I busied myself with getting the Master Romancer award for Goobaas and Rashberries, as well as all the colour variants for those and the Doenuts and Zumbugs. Sent out some of my excess animals to people too.

Since the Roario was a real pain (he needs to eat two each of the Zumbugs and Doenuts, and only eats one per visit), I had time to get the last two full growth awards for plants – namely the Oak and Gem trees. So that’s all my plant awards got now!

Sadly, I ran out of day and no sign of a Roario moving in. Bah. Mind you, I have worked out I need to play for another 8 hours for the 50 hour achievement, so I could get it done in that time.

Level 75 now! Played for about two and a half hours today, mainly breeding Mallowolfs and Parrybos (which finally made it into my garden, helped along by one I was sent). I tamed a Bonboon too, and set about breeding Jameleons. I’ve already Master Romanced them, but I need three for each Bonboon to romance.

I built a mine, and along with all the gems, seeds and other assorted things the Diggerling dug up, I also got a Dragonache egg! I bought a Cluckles to hatch it (well, got three actually and got all three variants), and I then had a Dragonache! I then set about maturing it, which you have to do by feeding it a Snapdragon flower, a Dragumfly, a Reddhott, a Salamango and some milk. It was huge, though, so I had to send it away. You can’t romance it or anything anyway though.

Next thing to do is actually start romancing Bonboons, I think. Although I only have one at the moment…

Got lots done today. Master Romanced some more species (more Flutterscotches, Profitamoles) and then set about taming sours. Released one Tour Of Sour block at a time, and got a Mallowolf and a Cocoadile. Used my Crowla and Sherbat to distract Dastardos to get myself a couple of achievements, and also scared Professor Pester off with the Mallowolf for another one.

I then started growing and fertilising a load of plants to get the Master Green Fingers achievement, and so now I only have one left to get – the 50 hours played one. I can’t tell how long I’ve been playing so far though. 190-ish game-days, but I don’t know how many real-hours that is.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me pinatas today, by the way. You’re all ace.

Gah! I tried for two hours to get a second Chewnicorn into my garden, feeding them over 60 gems (that’s 60×360=21600 coins worth), when I could have just got Gretchem to catch me another in minutes for around 10000 coins. Anyway. Finally, managed it, and romanced them too.

While all that gem eating was going on, I set about breeding Flutterscotches. Got the Master Breeder award for Black, Yellow and Red ones, and made a start on getting some Blues. It seems that when you mate two Flutterscotches, you get white ones from the egg, regardless of the colour of its parents, which is a pain as you then have to evolve them yourself. Oh well.

I started today on level 59, and finished on 64. The main contributing factors to this were the Horstashio romancing, followed by the Zumbug romancing, and then the appearance and residence of a Chewnicorn! I got one as I had grown a gem tree, was a Master Romancer for Horstashios, and fed it 15 gems. 15! Lawks.

Sent and received a load of pinatas today as well, mainly remnants of my breeding frenzy. Someone sent me a Crawla, which was much appreciated, and I’d soon turned it orange by feeding it my Bird of Paradise flower.

Ace! I got a Horstashio in my garden, and by feeding it loads of apples, it decided to stay! Not that I kept it for long, as watching an episode of the TV series had showed me that feeding them a blackberry and a daisy turned them into a Zumbug. So I did that!

Now I have a Zumbug to play with. However, Zumbugs and Horstashios fight, so I’ve posted it to myself whilst I set about breeding Horstashios. And Buzzlegums.

The breedathon continues! Firstly, I bred a load of Barkbarks, then Ponockys, and then some other pinata species I’d previously had resident but hadn’t romanced for some reason.

Then I went back to my water garden and set about Master Romancing my Salamangos, and since I had a fully grown oak tree, I tried to coax a Eaglair in. Without success. Bah.

Haven’t played this in a while. My Wii came along and my 360 pretty much got forgotten. But I’ve been meaning to get back into Viva Pinata, so I did.

Today was filled with breeding. I managed to become Master Romancer for about 8 different species, including Kittyfloss and Syrupents, and also made (and Master Romanced) Lackatoads, Twingersnaps, and Four Heads. The result of all this was that I got three achievements – one for reaching Level 50 (I’m at 56 now and started at 48 today), one for 20 species Master Romanced, and one for hatching an egg with a Cluckle.

I now have 11 of the 50 total achievements to gain, after which I’ll declare the game complete, I think.

My first job of the day was to become a Master Romancer for Pigxies, which didn’t take long. I then named them all after people like Ringo Starr and Craig David and sent them to random people. After that, I tried and successfully managed to coax two Doenuts into the garden, and got romancing them (also becoming a Master Romancer for them). Sold most of them, and renamed and sent the rest to people.

I then smacked Seedos “upside the head” (which I’m told is the correct term for beating him with my spade) until he exploded.

Finally, I bought a second Moozipan and bred loads of them, making my third Master Breeder award for the day. I now have about 15 of those awards, am on Level 47, and am now going to embark on a Taffly breeding programme…

Didn’t play for very long today. Started a new garden, and filled it with grass. Also built a Pigxie house, emptied my four Pigxies into the garden, and romanced them a few times.

I’m also building a house for the Moozipan I have, and I’ll be breeding some of them soon too, as well as trying to tempt a Doenut or two in…

Having sold all my Swananas, and packed up and sent my Pigxies to myself (to put in another garden away from the Rashberry they keep fighting), I then concentrated on getting the Master Romancer awards for Cinnamonkeys (which didn’t take long), and then Reddhotts, which was much faster than I expected too.

After that, I sold all my Reddhotts and set about breeding Salamangos, having evolved a couple of Newtgats into them.

I posted lots of presents to people today. Mainly, it was pinatas I no longer wanted (like spare Cinnamonkeys and Pigxies), having renamed them to be members of Take That. I then set about breeding as many Swananas as I could, eventually getting the Master Romancer award for them.

I also got the achievement for completing 20 challenge quests too. ACES!

I bred another Pigxie today, and got fed up with all the fights they were causing, so sent them off to my wife, so she could send them back to me and I could put them in another garden where they won’t cause problems.

I also bred loads and loads of Dragumflies (to the point where I got a Master Breeder Award for it), then sold them all. Bred loads more Swananas and Cinnamonkeys too, but haven’t had an award for them yet.

An Elephanilla visited today too, as did a Galagoogoo. And a Roario. I’ve made an effort to get the Elephanilla to stay, but no joy yet…

Got a few more achievements this evening, and also managed to prevent all Sours and nasties (like Dastardos and the Ruffians) from entering my garden by buying the remaining parts of the Tower of Sour and the required items to keep things at bay.

That certainly made things a lot more relaxed in the garden, until I mated my new Rashberry and a Swanana to make a Pigxie. Thos things are vicious towards their parents, attacking them all the time. They’re also deformed as they have one leg shorter than the others and freaky faces. Nice.

Nooo! Professor Pester came into my garden and killed my blinged up Cinnamonkey! He was worth fahsands as well, and I was about to get him to mate. Rubbish.

Then a Ruffian can into my garden and filled in so much of my pond with vomit mud that I couldn’t romance my Swananas or my Dragumflies. Also rubbish!

Then I bought a Rashberry, and it instantly vanished! Even more rubbish!

But at least I got my Swananas to breed, finally, and got a baby Swanana for the hassle. I also got three more achievements today too, for two more helpers and one for another Tower of Sour block I bought.

Managed to get myself not one, but two Swananas today. They’re ace, but sadly, they kept fighting with my Quackberry. That was solved by selling it so they couldn’t. Once you’ve made a pinata resident, you can “buy” another one anyway, so it’s no real loss (and I want it in my other garden so I can feed it to my Pretztail anyway).

My bullrushes all matured, and I sold them for 1120 coins each. I then sold a load of pinatas (like Candarys I’d transformed my Sparrowmints into, and some Squazzils and stuff), and some water lilies, taking my money total to over 100,000 coins, netting me an achievement.

Another achievement came when I made two Cinnamonkeys resident, and blinged one up so it was worth more than 5,000 coins. I got them loved up too, but haven’t bred them yet. I have, however, bred my Dragumflies (once). I have another new pinana resident now too – a Sweetooth!

Since I now want to start attracting some water-based species of pinata, such as Quackberries and Swananas, I decided to start a new garden. It turns out that you carry your game level, tools, money and access to items and pinatas over to any other gardens you create, so it isn’t like starting from scratch entirely.

After beating the hard soil down in my new garden (which took ages), I dug a huge pond, which takes up about 40-50% of the total garden area. I planted loads of seeds (all from Seedos), and used fertiliser on them all. Very soon I had a few trees, loads of huge poppies and water lillies, and all sorts of other huge plants (including a giant pumpkin and a big chilli).

A few Whirlms moved in, followed by some Sparrowmints, so I bred the Sparrowmints to get myself the Master Romancer award for them. In the meantime, I planted loads of bullrushes to coax the few Dragumflies I’d seen in. I then found you could turn Tafflies into Reddhots, which was handy since the Dragumflies needed to eat them to become resident!

I spotted a few Swananas, but they didn’t want to move in. I did, however, manage to get one Quackberry, which will help me in my other garden as I need them to breed Pretztails. Had lots of sightings of other new pinatas too, such as the Fizzlybear and the Sour Cocodile.

I’ve also reached level 32, and have unlocked the game’s credits, and got the last part of the journal story. Does this mean the game is “completed”? I don’t really think so, as I still feel I’ve barely started on it! I have racked up about 12 hours on it though, so far.

Became a Master Romancer for the Bunnycombs today, which meant I didn’t really need them any more, so sold them. I then made a start breeding Lickatoads and Newtgats, becoming a Master Romancer in the latter. I also tamed a Macaracoon, but buying a Cluckles (which the Sour Macaracoon ate), and by being a Master Romancer for five (well, six really) species.

Managed to find a few more variants too, making pink Buzzlegums, a pink Pretztail, a green Pretztail, and a red Whirlm.

I’ve been making a lot of “produce” as well. My two Buzzlegums are constantly making honey, and my Goobaa is a walking wool factory. I’m on Level 26 or 27 now.