Why are those 2 arcade games, so inhumanely hard?

[HaleyRocks]

Seeing that i finished everything up (all special orders, in-game achievements, all qi quests minus junimo endless and anything else), i wanted to go earn myself, the two furniture cabinets. I entered the saloon, went to play and it was a real nightmare! Especially, Junimo Kart!

Is that even supposed to be beatable? With all progress lost and all that?

 

[Lew Zealand]

People seem to be able to do it but I have noticed those people are not me. With how JotPK works, I can see myself finishing it one day though not without dying. There is a difference between Completionist and Perfectionist. I am neither of course but I side with the Confectioners because desserts are just the best.

Oh. Well, anyway JotPK will likely be the last thing I do in SDV while Junimo Kart will be the antepenultimate. I made that up I think because it has a squiggly line underneath it as I'm typing. It means the next to last thing I will ever do in SDV but it won't happen before the last, instead it will be

after

 

[Njin]

They are both beatable JK is a bit more difficult. I focused on Prairie king first and it took about 2 weeks trying 2-3 times each day.. Junimo Kart took me about a month 2-3 times per day.. Practice does make them both easier. The first time you play you will not survive level 1 (both games). By the fifth time you play you begin to understand and perhaps even be able to beat the first level. It took me 5-15 tries before I had a firm understanding of what I should be doing. There are pretty decent guides on both games on youtube . Really understanding powerups and level strats for PK will help you get far along with practice. Understanding the jump mechs of JK and practice will get you far on that one. The problem with both games and it is really unavoidable is both games are completely random.. PK randomness comes in the form of coins, and 1 ups, power ups are also affected but really getting enough coins to buy the power-ups that make the later levels easier is complete RNG. But if you just keep practicing on it I promise you it does get easier you will get better and eventually the game will let you get the coinage it takes to do great. If you got 15-20 coins on the first level of PK You are on a lucky run If you have had a lot of practice you should be able to capitalize on a lucky run and get very far. Eventually you will beat it.. .. On JK it is practice practice practice 3 jumps small, mid, full send... tap, press, and hold. Understanding when to use these 3 jumps is what will help you win.. after a fair bit of practice you should find yourself getting to the forth level more and more.. and after that there are 2 levels 2 beat to win... level 5 will be either a mushroom lvl or red hot rollercoaster.. And the final level is the speedway.. Even with practice you will not beat any of these levels on the first try. These levels will drive you to insanity. But I promise you will feel like a million bucks when the practice pays off and you mange to beat them. At very least challenge yourself to beat level 1 on each game I didn't think I could but I did. If I can beat PK & JK I swear anyone can. You can with practice but it may take a lot. Hope this helps Best of Luck:)

 

[Lew Zealand]

They are both beatable JK is a bit more difficult. I focused on Prairie king first and it took about 2 weeks trying 2-3 times each day.. Junimo Kart took me about a month 2-3 times per day.. Practice does make them both easier. The first time you play you will not survive level 1 (both games). By the fifth time you play you begin to understand and perhaps even be able to beat the first level. It took me 5-15 tries before I had a firm understanding of what I should be doing. There are pretty decent guides on both games on youtube . Really understanding powerups and level strats for PK will help you get far along with practice. Understanding the jump mechs of JK and practice will get you far on that one. The problem with both games and it is really unavoidable is both games are completely random.. PK randomness comes in the form of coins, and 1 ups, power ups are also affected but really getting enough coins to buy the power-ups that make the later levels easier is complete RNG. But if you just keep practicing on it I promise you it does get easier you will get better and eventually the game will let you get the coinage it takes to do great. If you got 15-20 coins on the first level of PK You are on a lucky run If you have had a lot of practice you should be able to capitalize on a lucky run and get very far. Eventually you will beat it.. .. On JK it is practice practice practice 3 jumps small, mid, full send... tap, press, and hold. Understanding when to use these 3 jumps is what will help you win.. after a fair bit of practice you should find yourself getting to the forth level more and more.. and after that there are 2 levels 2 beat to win... level 5 will be either a mushroom lvl or red hot rollercoaster.. And the final level is the speedway.. Even with practice you will not beat any of these levels on the first try. These levels will drive you to insanity. But I promise you will feel like a million bucks when the practice pays off and you mange to beat them. At very least challenge yourself to beat level 1 on each game I didn't think I could but I did. If I can beat PK & JK I swear anyone can. You can with practice but it may take a lot. Hope this helps Best of Luck:)

Thanks for that writeup, it gives me hope! And especially thanks for laying it all out in ways I can understand, it really helps.

 

[Cuusardo]

I have no idea. I am terrible at both of them.

 

[Bawby]

I gave a (fake) rage-fueled rant not too long ago about Junimo Kart a short time ago. It is, in a word, unfair. In two, soul crushing.
Journey of the Prairie King joins Mega Man in an exclusive club of my creation. Only beat it through cheating...sort of...there's a way to create save-states. I'm not aware of an easy "2 stick shooter", and Journey is no exception.
Oh, but no save-states in Junimo Kart! If you have 1.6, that's very good. I tip my hat to anyone that was able to beat that cruel mess before the update. The creation of the mushroom stage should be considered a class A misdemeanor AT LEAST.
That being said, I made it to the last level one time and as much of an unfair, broken mess that Junimo Kart is, I failed because of an old fashioned choke. Like @Njin said, keep at it and you'll get it. But, I'm probably not going to be able to pull off Junimo Kart until the update for console. At the very least beating it while keeping my sanity intact...
Edit: I remembered that the "save-states" for Journey is for the Fector's Challenge trophy. My bad. The mere mention of these games make me lose all rational thought.

 

[Draconifors]

Journey of the Prairie King is the most annoying minigame I have ever had the displeasure of coming across, in any game. I will absolutely use the save state cheese strategy to beat it, eventually. Not a high priority by any means when I'm only at 31/49 Steam achievements.

Junimo Kart is really hard, but I find it mostly fun. No, I'm not exactly good at it (never even made it to Sunset Speedway yet), but since it only has jumping and collecting items as opposed to moving around and shooting and collecting items and using powerups, it's a lot more beatable and less frustrating.

PS. Also, Junimo Kart allows you to skip one level if you do well enough. I don't think JotPK does?

 

[MogBeoulve]

I completely ignore both mini games, as they are the exact kind of game that I have always been very bad at, and have no desire to master. They may as well not exist for me.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I’ve personally never finished either in thousands of hours of gameplay, in recent updates they’ve both become a lot better than they used to be. Jotpk having saving makes scumming for fectors a possibility and jk just got coyote frames which don’t really intend to make it easier but it makes dying unfairly harder which is a positive.

 

[Bawby]

Oh, nevermind, I beat Junimo Kart...
Nevertheless, it's ridiculous. The only way I'll admit that Journey is harder than Junimo Kart is if in the 1.7 update Ape has the power ups in Journey make your gun blow up in your face. Maybe, MAYBE at that point Journey would be harder.

Lousy, cheap game.... I can't even enjoy the victory. The arcade cabinet only reminds me of the suffering!

 

[VampireCake]

Spoiler: 1.6 stuff

Since we've now got Perfection Wavers, I'd happily pay Joja a bunch of money to get the arcade machines. Heck we could even throw in the few items it's possible to be locked out of, like the Joja Cola Machine if you took the Community Center route, or the 'Boat' painting you can otherwise only get on the beach farm.

 

[Lenora Rose]

antepenultimate. I made that up I think because it has a squiggly line underneath it as I'm typing. It means the next to last thing I will ever do in SDV but it won't happen before the last, instead it will be

after

Ultimate is the last thing you do. Penultimate is the next to last thing you do. Antepenultimate (which is a word) is actually the thing you do before the penultimate thing. So it's a fancy way of saying third last.

I think you want Junimo Kart to be the Post-ultimate.

 

[Lenora Rose]

I won't play either much. I did play Prairie King enough I started to hope I could maybe beat level one with Abigail... nope.

 

[HaleyRocks]

Spoiler: 1.6 stuff

Since we've now got Perfection Wavers, I'd happily pay Joja a bunch of money to get the arcade machines. Heck we could even throw in the few items it's possible to be locked out of, like the Joja Cola Machine if you took the Community Center route, or the 'Boat' painting you can otherwise only get on the beach farm.

If only that would be possible! I can pay any sum, now that i finished the game and set up my production sources nicely!

Also, another good idea, that others suggested before (but C.A. didn't even read or couldn't actually implement), is that rare items collected, could then get an entry in the Furniture Catalogue, to buy as many of those as you wish! Or, to gain access to rare items accidentally trashed (such as certain Museum rewards)...

Paying up money, in order to buy collectibles you need/missed, would be a pretty neat idea!

 

[MogBeoulve]

Also, another good idea, that others suggested before (but C.A. didn't even read or couldn't actually implement), is that rare items collected, could then get an entry in the Furniture Catalogue, to buy as many of those as you wish! Or, to gain access to rare items accidentally trashed (such as certain Museum rewards)...

If you want duplicate museum rewards and have the ability to do multiplayer, add a cabin and bring the new farmhand to the museum. I did that once to get a second crystal chair for my kitchen.

 

[HaleyRocks]

If you want duplicate museum rewards and have the ability to do multiplayer, add a cabin and bring the new farmhand to the museum. I did that once to get a second crystal chair for my kitchen.

Now, post 1.6, crystal chairs can be bought at the winter 3-day event, the night market.

Other museum rewards though, such as the skeleton statue, the crystal statue, the geode statue or the big skeleton with 3 parts, are still 1 time only. (what do you mean though, with "bring the new farmland to the museum"?)

 

[MogBeoulve]

Now, post 1.6, crystal chairs can be bought at the winter 3-day event, the night market.

Other museum rewards though, such as the skeleton statue, the crystal statue, the geode statue or the big skeleton with 3 parts, are still 1 time only. (what do you mean though, with "bring the new farmland to the museum"?)

Every player on a multiplayer file can receive a full set of museum rewards. Add a player/farmhand to your existing single player file, then when the new player goes to the museum, they can get any rewards already earned by the main player.

 

[Draconifors]

I got very close to scoring 50k in Junimo Kart's endless mode, yesterday. 45k or so. Of course, getting that far (Ghastly Galleon) made it all the more disappointing to fail a jump and have to start over.

Still haven't touched JotPK with this farmer.

 

[stardew_luv]

Seeing that i finished everything up (all special orders, in-game achievements, all qi quests minus junimo endless and anything else), i wanted to go earn myself, the two furniture cabinets. I entered the saloon, went to play and it was a real nightmare! Especially, Junimo Kart!

Is that even supposed to be beatable? With all progress lost and all that?

Just forget them. Settle for imperfect perfection and rejoice in your being a human not a bot. If you absolutely have to fulfill all steam achievements there are mods that make the odds of winning those games infinitely easier. If that’s cheating to you then don’t fret and realize you’ve gotten more achievements than most players will ever get.

 

[Bawby]

rejoice in your being a human not a bot.

Hey, hey! I resemble that remark! I earned that trophy semi-fair, semi-square! I'm a man, though I do look like the Terminator...all be it an out-of-work, out-of-shape Terminator...