Seems like the minigames are optional, people say they have added an option to skip :)

I'll have to check for an update. They were very much required on Tuesday!

It looks like GOG got the Polite Wolves update today. Steam got a new patch for testing today which includes being able to skip or automate individual mini-games on an as-you-feel-like-it basis. From what I've heard/seen from the devs, they are using Steam as the test bed for now. They say GOG and Epic will be kept updated in a timely manner, but for this first period after release they'll be fixing bugs and making QoL changes then "testing it 'store by store' as every store needs a separate version with minor changes." So I was told GOG and Epic updates "will likely be a short time behind (Steam) during this initial phase." We'll hope they hold to that.

As for the mini-games (KB/Mouse); so far the milking and shearing and even sawing isn't too bad, and by spinning the sheep with the mouse and fast-tapping the interact key I've sheared them in 9 seconds flat each. I found the secret to the cooking is to hold the appropriate WASD or arrow key down until you get near the yellow/green border, not to just tap it. The dog/wolf dream game was fairly easy if I pay attention to the sound and red directional cues and started toward that immediately to intercept the wolf further from the pasture. Left mouse key makes the dog bark which causes the wolf to turn away. Don't chase too long before going back to the pasture and you'll be ready for the next wolf in time. I haven't done any other dreams yet, but I hear the chicken and goat ones have targetted platforming which I am frankly not skilled at - so hopefully we do get the skip mini-game patch soon.

Oh, and I HATED herding with the dog until someone clued me in that you aren't supposed to have the dog do the work, you are supposed to use the dog to one side of yourself to BOTH flank the sheep or other animals and then they group up nicely as long as you don't run into bushes or water.

I had saw we did get an update. Slight delays like that are fine.

Interest on herding. I immediately grokked it and took it up. It made rescuing all of the ducks much easier than one at a time that I had been doing!

Shearing: Auto-shear lets you hold instead of tap, and just hold rotate and the sheep is done in 2-3 seconds. Still a waste of a mini-game. First thing I bought from the store at all.

Milking's... OK? I have two cows now. But still, I don't get the point.

Cooking is obnoxious, between fetching ingredients, having to guess recipes and the non-additive mini-game. I'll definitely toggle that mini-game off if I can.

Sawing: As many boards as you need, this becomes tiresome FAST.

None of the other dream mini-games than the wolf one bugged me, and the wolf one was because it just destroys fences all over the farm which then all of your animals are free and you have to catch them again after you rebuild fences. I've had the duck one a couple times and the goat one twice and bee once.

I'm liking the game. It won't have the staying power as, e.g, Stardew Valley. But that's OK: it's fine for games to have a guided experience. I enjoy sandboxy games too much. I'm waiting a bit longer for more patches though. There are a couple places you can get stuck in if you go there, and some bugs with getting rewards sometimes, and digging things up. They need to work in some "safety checks" to make sure the player doesn't get stuck quests or "you dug that up but the goose hit you so you didn't pick it up and now it's gone and also you can't dig it up again".

Nice on the shearing. I'll definitely look into the shaver then.

As for recipes - players on Steam have started a Recipe Swap so I thought I'd start one on GOG also in the Everdream Valley forum. *Spoiler Alert* For those who want to discover recipes totally on their own, don't view the Recipe Swap thread.

The devs have said they are going to make the geese less lethal by having them be stunned longer and longer spacing between attacks on players so players won't be stun-locked into oblivion. It should hopefully be in one of the next couple patches. YAY!

Proper design though is just finding them in game. Like I know where to find the fruit salad recipe (but it's a bug location). "random mixing" shouldn't be a thing... especially for 8 ingredient slots! It'll be impossible for players to discover randomly with that variability, but if you can it's just "cheating" to work ahead. Because you can't get those recipes legit.

EDIT: Read patch notes. At least for sawing, mini-game skip reduces how many you get per attempt, so it just ends up making you have to chop more wood.

Chopping wood goes really quick, and the grandparents give you things every day depending on what you've done, so you can get a lot of wood from them to add to your own too :)