tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36766142841361935362024-03-08T12:33:59.898+01:00Random RavingsRRVS/GGP is a blog about games, gaming reviews and guides. Join our community and find game giveaways.bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.comBlogger491125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-45147466941965669192022-05-22T19:03:00.002+02:002022-05-22T19:03:22.298+02:00Lost Ark<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWe_Met0a3Pg2zhwH7M-V0otqfjbdwmeAtM0sUouz9B4ELI_fLWql2sUxiZNDrZn4BvlKqV25naC6TCvtUSP4P-uTTKbFYY5rcn0B37MpnMnB3LG1Y02ikoK5yqZvK-GY1jBrWv59p5ai8zZZOZj2b693i8rZ5whuCvvK3KYtu4dt_sslQzQKLG1IzMw/s616/lostark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="616" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWe_Met0a3Pg2zhwH7M-V0otqfjbdwmeAtM0sUouz9B4ELI_fLWql2sUxiZNDrZn4BvlKqV25naC6TCvtUSP4P-uTTKbFYY5rcn0B37MpnMnB3LG1Y02ikoK5yqZvK-GY1jBrWv59p5ai8zZZOZj2b693i8rZ5whuCvvK3KYtu4dt_sslQzQKLG1IzMw/w320-h182/lostark.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Released on the 11th of February 2022 to the "western world". Meaning USA and EU. The game was already available in the Asian regions some time before that.<p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">The Grand Lines</h1><div>Lost Ark is a curious mix of Diablo (or Path of Exile), Diablo, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy and then stuck into an Asian coat with some MMO craziness. It's an isometric game much like Diablo, but you're in an MMO-like world with channels much like Guild Wars (2). There's open world bosses, dungeons and ever SO many items and things to do that you'll wonder where your spare time went before long.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are, simply put, a lot of good things to say about the game.</div><div><br /></div><div>That said however, I quit after less than 3 months.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Pretty Simple Story</h2><div>The story is, all considered pretty generic and forgettable. The world is in trouble, you are the legendary hero who has to save the world. Find the 7 fragments of the "Ark", battle demons, etc. You can pretty much skip most of the dialogue and not really worry about missing anything important. Even multiple choice options all lead to the same result.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Overwhelming</h2><div>It honestly needs saying, and just to give you an idea I'll list some stuff. Since the game was already released, we (Europe / USA) the players basically get dumped into a MMO that's already been somewhat "progressed". As with most MMOs they tend to enjoy keeping their players "busy". Lost Ark is no different in that regard, as it has literal tons of content to keep you busy. That in itself can be good, but it can also be pretty overwhelming to suddenly go from 4 buttons to 50 buttons to choose from after your initial tutorial quest.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Single player / quests / character progression up to level 50 (60)</div><div>- Base gear, Tier 1, 2 and 3</div><div>- Gear refining (15 or more), use materials you farm in dungeons to hone your gear for more dmg, health, etc.</div><div>- Auction house for player trades.</div><div>- Pets, with pet inventory and player perks.</div><div>- Various player classes, each with +- 20 skills (8 active at a time)</div><div>- Character personalization and customization. Skins, and virtue system.</div><div>- Gem system (reduce skill cooldown, improve skill damage) - Tier 2+</div><div>- Jewel system. (bonus skills to improve damage, reduce cooldowns, add armor, a chunk of health, etc). Which also has success/failure rates.</div><div>- Personal hideout - be the lord of your own island which you can decorate, use as a base, add decorations to and use to farm materials, craft potions and send out ships to raid dungeons.</div><div>- Card collection, packs and inventory space.</div><div>- Roster level (a whole extra XP bar)</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's just the loot and character progression side of things.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNdmA3j5z0IopF3D4wBaQLnXsE4Mx_ce1p2jTSD8m3IONseK8IQ-SosQADV3a9044EeY5HZiPkVbv1fRckNvwQd6qvqw4HzzDSA1NqkEFu3CQrNm5nXfY5y3ZjchTJJMLnRQVAgtelq_CBEqjyEqTKmYM_AlDGKmxdph6Sd8pYW7LrorJb7-kXLH0ig/s800/lafriends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNdmA3j5z0IopF3D4wBaQLnXsE4Mx_ce1p2jTSD8m3IONseK8IQ-SosQADV3a9044EeY5HZiPkVbv1fRckNvwQd6qvqw4HzzDSA1NqkEFu3CQrNm5nXfY5y3ZjchTJJMLnRQVAgtelq_CBEqjyEqTKmYM_AlDGKmxdph6Sd8pYW7LrorJb7-kXLH0ig/w640-h360/lafriends.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Meta gaming to the next level</h2><div>Obviously a game like this has achievements. Challenge a player to a duel to get an instant 100 XP for your roster. Yes the roster. You can level up one character to level 50, and then you are "done" and get to work on tier gear and honing. However, you can still reach level 60 for extra skill points and health. Sure the total XP requirement jumps from 1 million to 40 million, but the tier 3 quests do give a good chunk of extra XP.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why stop at one character though? This game pushes you to 50 pretty fast, and once you are there you get a "power pass". A ticket which you can use to instantly boost an extra character to level 50. But it doesn't stop there - once you use the power pass, you get ANOTHER one! So, you're suddenly looking at 3x level 50 characters.</div><div><br /></div><div>A few quests, and one continent later - your first character probably still level 50, and you get ANOTHER one. Yes they don't mess around in Lost Ark, they want you to work those alternate characters and aren't being shy about it either. Obviously you have a limit of 6 characters per server, so if you want to make more you'll have to pay for it - but those servers need to be paid for somehow right?</div><div><br /></div><div>Your roster is "all your characters". Completing achievements, doing quests, dungeons and miscellaneous in-game activities all award roster XP. Every roster level awards all your characters (global/shared) either with +5 Str/Dex/Int, or +5 Vit. So after 20 levels you'll have +50 of each. It doesn't stop there obviously, because a few hundred roster levels to earn.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a good thing there's a few thousand different achievements to earn, from "kill 300.000 monsters" to "play each individual song 100+ times" or even "use the in-game selfie mode to take a picture of yourself on several islands". Or dumb ones like "invite 50 friends".</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKnJ_IVAesgbHzDawQtxcbPVx-4SF-zHgKes0TwSjtSAId7Mm1HsREG_3NDj3VC4muV1MUOcyQDZBDQPWwe1JcC2oDGbPLE-0ExaL228KKkfzw9widbvsvC-J49Wz4SgGY8v6npdI9x-Q_g07-oS15ODnj4oCYqc0tpW8fEaCqyCnwLhpiOmNgSMLxXQ/s850/laocean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="850" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKnJ_IVAesgbHzDawQtxcbPVx-4SF-zHgKes0TwSjtSAId7Mm1HsREG_3NDj3VC4muV1MUOcyQDZBDQPWwe1JcC2oDGbPLE-0ExaL228KKkfzw9widbvsvC-J49Wz4SgGY8v6npdI9x-Q_g07-oS15ODnj4oCYqc0tpW8fEaCqyCnwLhpiOmNgSMLxXQ/w640-h234/laocean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Islands - to the wide ocean and beyond</h2><div>The first continent is just a warm-up for the rest of the game. Once you get yourself your first boat, the world is your oyster. There are <a href="https://lost-ark.maxroll.gg/category/island">several dozen islands</a> to visit. (Almost) each and every island has a "soul" that you can earn to consider that island completed. Every 5 souls collected you get an additional reward. A tool that improves your movement speed on islands, some bonus stats, or items for another collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, island souls are just one collection among near a dozen.</div><div>- Island souls, as above.</div><div>- Mokoko seeds - hidden easter eggs to find across the entire world (there's over 1000!), and some are very well hidden even in dungeons.</div><div>- Omnium stars - there aren't a lot, but they give big rewards. Some may be obtained through long quests, dropped by a tier 3 world boss, or an expensive drop from a seafaring merchant.</div><div>- Masterpieces - Collect paintings from various artists around the world, dungeons and other meta sources. Once you collect a lot of these you'll be rewarded with a lot of gold and other things.</div><div>- Ignea tokens - These are basically "zone completed to 100%" tokens. A lot of work, many days of farming and being nice to several NPCs to the point of madness.</div><div>- World Tree leaves - The most painfully random and slow to get item because you need to do every single gathering profession, all 6 of them. (Fishing, Mining, Logging, Herbalism, Archaeology (Excavating), and Hunting. Since you're limited to about 10K "work energy" that slowly regenerates, you're in for the long haul on this.</div><div><br /></div><div>Each island is it's own unique little biome. Some are simple quest hubs, others feature a dungeon or an hourly/weekly recurring event. Others a unique experience all on their own, and more are being added every so and then. It's a good way to add a little bit of extra content at a time, but since we're getting dumped into an existing game it'll feel pretty overwhelming - what island should I visit next?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAt8pwSwky0Fs-eyW2dFvDUDPdycVLr8OwolUcC-OPWvFK4eyt7O77adavwL4SJgN7bqkw4k2z1oHOWInVU9-YRi2icQ5T71jT2ApO5VczC7xvxsNwta9dIPZxL-BzvOjy4k4xwpe5wRXN1U0dAH6mlQox2KXUZt0FPC4kGjcJtBbIrp7sbRr06BWIZQ/s800/laisland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAt8pwSwky0Fs-eyW2dFvDUDPdycVLr8OwolUcC-OPWvFK4eyt7O77adavwL4SJgN7bqkw4k2z1oHOWInVU9-YRi2icQ5T71jT2ApO5VczC7xvxsNwta9dIPZxL-BzvOjy4k4xwpe5wRXN1U0dAH6mlQox2KXUZt0FPC4kGjcJtBbIrp7sbRr06BWIZQ/w640-h360/laisland.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Sadly, it's not all good</h2><div>The first thing you'll notice upon completing your opening tutorial is - a suspicious number of similar looking "players" all following the exact same route. Oh, and it seems you now have area chat as well. BUY GOLD NOW, USE DISCOUNT CODE LAG,. oh... no. Let's try talking in Area chat... BUY GOLD NOW, USE DISCOUNT CODE LAG,.. straight as pink text whispered to you - three times in a row.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, bots and spambots rule this game. Most notable the tier 1 content is absolutely infested with them. If you've every played WoW, Diablo or pretty much any multiplayer game that has trading - you'll be familiar with them. Lost Ark takes that notion and turns it up to eleven. I can guarantee you, you will feel sheltered and blessed to have never had to deal with a bot infestation like this.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>There are bots for</b>:</div><div>- Running early single player content, so they can spam you in different zones.</div><div>- Running islands and events - to earn gold.</div><div>- Standing in a single spot, and farming drops from special creatures that spawn there.</div><div>- Running chaos dungeons (swarm type dungeon) for trade materials.</div><div>- Buy/sell items on the auction house.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ndQCHDtk4vGwoH6KG7qTsfQ7tu79-6KykkMxy67LYtD31W-vza9EQPtWMgxBPLXRfszFZ7kAxyWB_ZstZms8jiclcfxig_hx3OI8Jnkcl3qdS6M40gHCX6FpgcA9bn_qmsTGD7KdVH866DoakAFmR-bfVhwj_wn-8M9GzOgejUlIhrPjUhwAyuX-lw/s1920/labots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ndQCHDtk4vGwoH6KG7qTsfQ7tu79-6KykkMxy67LYtD31W-vza9EQPtWMgxBPLXRfszFZ7kAxyWB_ZstZms8jiclcfxig_hx3OI8Jnkcl3qdS6M40gHCX6FpgcA9bn_qmsTGD7KdVH866DoakAFmR-bfVhwj_wn-8M9GzOgejUlIhrPjUhwAyuX-lw/w640-h360/labots.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>You would think "huh that IS a lot of bots", staff would do something about those right? I ask you "What staff?". Honestly, an untrained monkey could randomly smack buttons on the keyboard and get rid of more bots than the Lost Ark staff ever seems to have. They don't care, they do nothing. Players report bots, and after an X number of reports I guess the bots are muted or removed. But the bot owners don't care, they just make more bots - endless numbers of them. Players eventually give up, stop reporting the bots, or just stop playing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Amazon/Smilegate have posted several "we are aware, we are working on it" messages - but so far nothing has improved. If anything they've removed more honest players than bots in their attempts. I could rant on about this, but the above picture speaks for itself. In broad daylight so to say. They don't have any staff, no Game Masters, nothing is being done, and nothing will improve. Meanwhile they are creating new content, recently added a new dungeon/raid/zone and giving more false promises.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're one of the few rare pearls who isn't bothered by a few bots - try this game. But keep your wallet closed.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Isn't a F2P game kind of P2W?</h2><div><b>Yes, and no.</b></div><div>You "can" spend money to speed up research, add more work energy, buy gold, buy resources, buy gold, buy cards, buy gold, buy fashion, etc. You "can" buy a lot of things that speed things up and improve your power - so yes, it's kind of P2W (Pay to Win). As a paying customer you will always have a clear advantage over most unpaying customers. Some of those perks are fairly minor, some not so minor.</div><div><br /></div><div>The main thing is when you add more character slots, or increase your gold hoard to buy out all the trade materials from the auction house. Stuff that could take most free customers weeks could be finished in a day or less. Are you really playing a game in such a case? Are you really enjoying yourself? Do you enjoy opening your wallet and being "stronger" than other players with little or no effort? Yep, this is a game like that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most people don't go to such excess, but if you open the wallet and clean out all the gems on the auction house - you're not really playing a game for fun but for status.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>PvP is not really affected.</b></div><div>To start a PvP match, you need to pre-build a specific set of skills for your class. Everyone is given the same amount of skill points and stats. Previous achievements do not affect your PvP build. With one tiny exception - time. If you enjoy PvP and play it a lot, you'll get PvP ranks. Eventually you'll earn enough pvp "points" to buy a charm that reduces your damage taken, stun duration etc by 1-x%. Everyone is able to get it eventually - but it does take a lot of PvP matches to reach that level.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given that everything (material farming, collectible farming, dungeons, alts) all costs time to "do". You may find you just lack the energy to do pvp as well. And since PvP is really all that is left for those who bought everything in the game with their credit card - the players you run into during your few hours of PvP time may be considerably challenging. Especially when you realize that PvP is sincerely unbalanced in terms of class skills.</div><div><br /></div><div>Heavy armored single target DPS Berserkers will usually just - last longer than your generally squishy "love for AoE" sorceress.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinH7qk22upKDXdQ0rE9lsUbHbcPEmmD7cygxLA-YbJ7qLtsluQ_REHYRzSqRayyWn8vd-kP9CGeZpdYHMcJh04_5bsK9ZnjBKtqtwxviAWLyy-YcDJAgRxBi-UKPnlLfkqrefROvY5Z8LLnEtMV82MQQdx7Z86pT9G7U4SqCV1ms9gy2yu-DvdNdFHMA/s580/lapretty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="580" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinH7qk22upKDXdQ0rE9lsUbHbcPEmmD7cygxLA-YbJ7qLtsluQ_REHYRzSqRayyWn8vd-kP9CGeZpdYHMcJh04_5bsK9ZnjBKtqtwxviAWLyy-YcDJAgRxBi-UKPnlLfkqrefROvY5Z8LLnEtMV82MQQdx7Z86pT9G7U4SqCV1ms9gy2yu-DvdNdFHMA/w640-h368/lapretty.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion?</h2><div>Don't bother.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unless you enjoy mindless grinding ad-infinitum for little reward, getting your retinas seared out by 30 players blasting AoE and super saturated graphics on a rare monster spawn/island location at the same time, aren't bothered by F2P/P2W mechanics, hundreds and even thousands of bots on your server forcing you to wait in queue for half an hour before you can even log on.</div><div><br /></div><div>The bottom line is, it's a beautiful game. I wish it took longer to level up a character. I wish Amazon/Smilegate actually put any kind of effort into fighting the bot invasion. The game has/had so much potential, but falls so very much short of both expectations and shows a grim and very rotten reality that seems to take most people no more than a month or two to realize.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just, stay away from it.</div>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-27725904202253285932022-01-14T20:13:00.001+01:002022-01-22T13:22:06.152+01:00The Yooka-Laylee series<h1 style="text-align: left;">A short introduction</h1><div>Today we are gonna learn a little bit about <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/yooka-laylee?partner=rrvs">Yooka-Laylee</a> and <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/yookalaylee-and-the-impossible-lair?partner=rrvs">Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair</a>. Developed by Playtonic Games and published by Team17 Digital Ltd in 2017 and 2019 respectfully, these games follow the adventures of Yooka and Laylee, a chameleon and a bat, as they try to defeat Capital B and stop his evil plans.</div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Yooka-Laylee</h1><h1 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv6YbCtKaNRQBwv5ANeKzeOFZjvEZOv3dtDYmrDVjUokDH6hFPBlaVgql-qVPxBDPKvqhunJvyF-YrEBWVmO4PMV2qBome4Xf8hF0dp-jnd5ud0L4nfidBrA18OIeJeGirsGckdqz6BCukpaZVOGtCtl2M15SSU_Lngzb8_aPWinICegq6F1gcyc3c8A=s474" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="474" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv6YbCtKaNRQBwv5ANeKzeOFZjvEZOv3dtDYmrDVjUokDH6hFPBlaVgql-qVPxBDPKvqhunJvyF-YrEBWVmO4PMV2qBome4Xf8hF0dp-jnd5ud0L4nfidBrA18OIeJeGirsGckdqz6BCukpaZVOGtCtl2M15SSU_Lngzb8_aPWinICegq6F1gcyc3c8A=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div></h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">Inspiration</h2><div>Have you ever played Spyro games as a child? Are you having trouble finding games similar to that good old collect-a-thon style? Well, look no further! Yooka-Laylee is the modern equivalent of the old classics. </div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Story</h2><div>As Yooka and Laylee were enjoying themselves Capital B puts his plan to steal all the books of the world into motion. Out heroes try to stop their special book from being stolen, but they only succeeded in scattering the golden pagies. And so their quest begins. Their goal is to find all the pagies and find out who is behind all this.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwQewFDi459JHKtyABe6on8q-AiclUKel3z_Fc4iy0wPFOHuH1BCUZkgfJjkDCLjCMjaqrsVcJ-RzTEg9b-PvC90i6BcmkM1qc5pbegl5D0KNIb8fBF5g1cBI0CXXRQw51mzy5Qy08NisCbL3ru758UtwTNT9_XLmKBCEotKcgE8UwkraZXFFm4s-Qxw=s383" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="346" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwQewFDi459JHKtyABe6on8q-AiclUKel3z_Fc4iy0wPFOHuH1BCUZkgfJjkDCLjCMjaqrsVcJ-RzTEg9b-PvC90i6BcmkM1qc5pbegl5D0KNIb8fBF5g1cBI0CXXRQw51mzy5Qy08NisCbL3ru758UtwTNT9_XLmKBCEotKcgE8UwkraZXFFm4s-Qxw=w181-h200" width="181" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">The World</h2><div>You begin your adventure in the Hivory Towers, the main hub world of the game. Here you will find the Grand Tomes, which will teleport you into their own worlds. Unlocking the grand tome requires a certain number of pagies. Another ability you have is to expand the grand tomes. This also requires pagies but will, as its name says, expand the world within the grand tome, revealing more puzzles, collectibles, characters, and (usually) the boss.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0_ZD6ltgUQwSwit5M6wXfAqljGQ7SlV_oM6_ERx5xA7lOVgwly_JYEGVQf1srr_HlxCWzHAKAxWphogAVuSxov9gNIhRrYmM1gqnPqDaJ4SCBjUXHO8Ix8Y2-v-FDMo5m6dXNBnSNBVX5g8zi-ZkO5lPrrVqgF1TCKBnQLXgriPpr9H8Cfbp6Y-T_bg=s1280" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0_ZD6ltgUQwSwit5M6wXfAqljGQ7SlV_oM6_ERx5xA7lOVgwly_JYEGVQf1srr_HlxCWzHAKAxWphogAVuSxov9gNIhRrYmM1gqnPqDaJ4SCBjUXHO8Ix8Y2-v-FDMo5m6dXNBnSNBVX5g8zi-ZkO5lPrrVqgF1TCKBnQLXgriPpr9H8Cfbp6Y-T_bg=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Characters</h2><div>In their adventures, Yooka and Laylee will encounter a variety of creatures, some helpful, others not so much. Trowzer will sell you moves and abilities, Vendi will allow you to equip different tonics, Dr. Puzz transforms you, Rextro unlocks the arcade games, while Kartos presents the Kartos Challenge (More on this under mini-games).</div><div><br /></div><div>Vendi's tonics will give you small benefits like extra hp or energy. Or alternate the quality of the graphics, or maybe produce sounds when you are near a secret. Nothing game-breaking but helpful if needed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other, less relevant characters will either change the world (Nimbo), or have repeated (Clara Lost, Planker) or one-off quests (Duke).</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Abilities</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyv1NsBQUevSaxSBghYTX1D60ypU6WZQQyPpN3LuHPSjVpAVN2DuoW0cFJocO6T7wBWj8MMPGjLmsC45kekpq30XMe0TpKPSV_Vu17bGbOzAHtD_CXi4Yrfq3v2z_HFiy1rYn9Mb-ZXWqeMahn0eG8Qm7lSkyzjCI6Ty4qWHyMlGBQ9V1N23Gb20jurg=s1920" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyv1NsBQUevSaxSBghYTX1D60ypU6WZQQyPpN3LuHPSjVpAVN2DuoW0cFJocO6T7wBWj8MMPGjLmsC45kekpq30XMe0TpKPSV_Vu17bGbOzAHtD_CXi4Yrfq3v2z_HFiy1rYn9Mb-ZXWqeMahn0eG8Qm7lSkyzjCI6Ty4qWHyMlGBQ9V1N23Gb20jurg=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Unlocking a new area in the Hivory towers or spending quills at Trowser's will give you abilities. Abilities usually spend energy to use. Most of these are needed to complete quests, find the collectibles and secrets. Some of the most notable ones include flying, aoe blast, underwater walking and going invisible.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Collectibles</h2><div>So, what is it that you will be collecting? Good question. Apart from the golden pagies, which are the main focus of the game, you will also be collecting Quills, Ghost Writers, Mollycooles, Play Coins, Health and Energy extenders, as well as the very hidden Pirate treasures. Each Grand Tome has 25 golden pagies, 200 quills for you to find, 5 different ghost writers, 1 each of mollycool, play coin, hp extender, energy extender, and a pirate treasure. Quills are used to purchase new abilities. Collecting all of them rewards you with a golden pagie.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ghost Writers</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK8XH8r4cHjn_V1_U5Ovqi26AurcPcP4-cBlgcB59V7jaisVENff99WYVQ1dw2Kj2GVsav-nfa-J1fUSqyAlWvt0eLcOSpXICunqytI2U0AvN5frSU2E5ru4UrZ8khxzm5ATugWD8tLix1fzM8jqt7je0gh6VXPGidxYl7Zid_u6lx5k44Wa6jH5-_jg=s648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="648" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK8XH8r4cHjn_V1_U5Ovqi26AurcPcP4-cBlgcB59V7jaisVENff99WYVQ1dw2Kj2GVsav-nfa-J1fUSqyAlWvt0eLcOSpXICunqytI2U0AvN5frSU2E5ru4UrZ8khxzm5ATugWD8tLix1fzM8jqt7je0gh6VXPGidxYl7Zid_u6lx5k44Wa6jH5-_jg=w400-h250" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Every ghost writer is different and has a unique twist. Normy, the yellow one is usually hidden somewhere in the open. Ann-Gree, the red one is battle-hungry and will attack you if you approach him. Defeat him in order to collect him. Evie, the green one is very elusive and will require some quick reactions to be caught. Heidi, the blue one, was the most difficult for me. It requires you to actually listen to its laughter (it is invisible most of the time, flashes on the screen sometimes), then use Laylee's Sonar to reveal it. Last, but not least, Fee-Dee, the purple one will require you to feed it berries before being collected. Once again, collecting all of them will reward you with a golden pagie.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mini-games</h3><div>Looking for a change of pace? Find a mollycool in a grand tome and talk to Dr. Puzz. She will activate her machine and transform you into something, let's just say, world appropriate. These transformations come with their own quests and abilities, so feel free to explore as much as possible.</div><div><br /></div><div>Find a play token and speak to Rextro to unlock arcade mini-games. These include top-down kart racer, flappy bird, and many more... Beating them once rewards a pagie, but setting a high score will reward a second one. Other than flappy bird, they are not difficult and you should succeed first try.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPWAxR_QqVsVydwo2qBhc3ZeSEh9x5RUzqbM_tjzgN2wpIzk_PSEvsftFQu2OGXO9vyKSjarO77s6Mzy1BLJmJtGBJEnmdLv6IqgEW545rMSJPgwb8eIcub0wYZn_qNasBxH-kZVJwa9VKByiPZ09QLxd-11TGsNf48scGSEsPiT3ms1GAslqw7aRFwQ=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPWAxR_QqVsVydwo2qBhc3ZeSEh9x5RUzqbM_tjzgN2wpIzk_PSEvsftFQu2OGXO9vyKSjarO77s6Mzy1BLJmJtGBJEnmdLv6IqgEW545rMSJPgwb8eIcub0wYZn_qNasBxH-kZVJwa9VKByiPZ09QLxd-11TGsNf48scGSEsPiT3ms1GAslqw7aRFwQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, finding Kartos and talking to him will start the Kartos challenge. Ride the rails and collect a certain amount of gems in order to complete the challenge. Interestingly enough, if you cannot find the Capital Cashino boss, don't worry. Once you complete the Kartos challenge, you will immediately trigger the boss fight of that world.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Bosses</h2><div>All bosses in this game are somewhat part of the world. The great Rampo is a damn in the Tribalstack Tropics, I.N.E.P.T is the security guard in the Capital Cashino, Planette is a literal planet in the Galleon Galaxy... Each fight has a unique twist, which I will let you find out on your own.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXeeGqil-7px7Z9uAoqWPFb3Rn616WZXr9_ULttJi7X5tSlXu4Tdn1i4rsjkOLmPXg11fpPXoMCp39wMFwaiQn6MikkoKHuyYpPFlvXUpMXk9ua28f91uaqxjPhw52yQVk5k1RENrJ_JB4co30EjJpLBNABDQ0i4m-uTIv9qYAUdAKwh0H1uSdsdSHOw=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXeeGqil-7px7Z9uAoqWPFb3Rn616WZXr9_ULttJi7X5tSlXu4Tdn1i4rsjkOLmPXg11fpPXoMCp39wMFwaiQn6MikkoKHuyYpPFlvXUpMXk9ua28f91uaqxjPhw52yQVk5k1RENrJ_JB4co30EjJpLBNABDQ0i4m-uTIv9qYAUdAKwh0H1uSdsdSHOw=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Special thank you to Dr. Quack for those annoying quizzes. Not exactly a boss, but more of an encounter, he will ask you several multiple choices questions about the grand tomes, characters, or even your own stats. 3 lives, 10 points. Good luck.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Minimum requirements:</h4><div>OS: Windows 7 (64bit)</div><div>CPU: Intel i5-2500 3.3GHz</div><div>RAM: 8Gb</div><div>GPU: Nvidia GTS450 / AMD Radeon 6850HD</div><div>DirectX: Version 11</div><div>Storage: 9Gb available space</div><div>Notes: A controller is strongly recommended</div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8HmZY_GNbFRlgZc-uMO3J0iaf_BOXoN2UCvb22D7sZYb3r0nPdmzIguoNprnynS-WrbVQn6MjzVRXjxR6Y_j-8NuFNzt3FpKsvojLlYbVqU-I8R3_sEe-LdHG3tAJlUqNEsL43NqSsnkisFTjpIhGc_3OkFLAG6-IONB5JeiKtL1sG-frCB9YTqwkpg=s1920" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1920" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8HmZY_GNbFRlgZc-uMO3J0iaf_BOXoN2UCvb22D7sZYb3r0nPdmzIguoNprnynS-WrbVQn6MjzVRXjxR6Y_j-8NuFNzt3FpKsvojLlYbVqU-I8R3_sEe-LdHG3tAJlUqNEsL43NqSsnkisFTjpIhGc_3OkFLAG6-IONB5JeiKtL1sG-frCB9YTqwkpg=w640-h362" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">A Sequel or a new take?</h2><div>Unlike Yooka-Laylee, <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/yookalaylee-and-the-impossible-lair?partner=rrvs">Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair</a> is a 2D platformer. And while many characters and items return, the differences are significant. Trowser doesn't sell abilities but unlocks paywalls to gain access to new levels. Quills are back as the main currency, ghost writers are back, but this time as special colored quills. Pagies have special minigames and will allow you to alter the overworld. </div><div><br /></div><div>The story continues, as Capital B is back and trying to take over the kingdom. It's up to our trusty heroes to prevent the new disaster. Their goal this time is to assemble the queen's bee-talion and stop Capital B as soon as possible.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV-I0gHO4I6VHKabCTQ7WUgJeimByb0EnpEUhtA7XjovYa8V0S1IrCLbAfEJ4dRGcTB0QlNNDMqPw509fPQy4EkxRI1X9pHRGHUWeqx0fwp8U18Rx19Ricx2hGGsMl7GIBdvw4T4a5orL3hU4CCHUgkFJX4-_44gv0j9ncq3N4liCUqpMAGZLa_c5pYA=s1000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV-I0gHO4I6VHKabCTQ7WUgJeimByb0EnpEUhtA7XjovYa8V0S1IrCLbAfEJ4dRGcTB0QlNNDMqPw509fPQy4EkxRI1X9pHRGHUWeqx0fwp8U18Rx19Ricx2hGGsMl7GIBdvw4T4a5orL3hU4CCHUgkFJX4-_44gv0j9ncq3N4liCUqpMAGZLa_c5pYA=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br />Overworld and Levels</h2><div>In this game, you start in the tutorial but are thrown into the impossible lair immediately after. It is possible to succeed in beating it right there, but it requires incredible skill. Some speedrunners have done it in less than 15 minutes. </div><div><br /></div><div>After expected death, you will be saved by the Queen bee and instructed to assemble the bee-talion as every bee you gather means taking 1 extra hit in the impossible lair. This is where it becomes interesting, the impossible lair remains open for you to try it at any given moment! It's up to you to decide how many bees are enough.</div><div><br /></div><div>You unlock bees by completing levels scattered throughout the overworld. There is a total of 20 levels, but here is the twist: Each level has an alternative variant. So there are actually 40 levels to play! In order to unlock all levels, you will need to lower Trowser's paywalls, find and complete pagies challenges and solve various quests. Some variants are easily accessible, others will require you to think hard and find their triggers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8RVMXUB7oud79-dMoPw-E41OjKXTic4EPybbZyGB_8OE8_xBTLpaBQKBxmpeorYcBFjEy6_de3iJ0QK5nnRST5Xf6hXuW4CVPycUp-IADObxWJ0keIrpPOGhP1nv8hkwZuf2zP1nnLu5EWZw86mUAV2mi5DT7jje6ZKs29CwCX2Z4tbgyinGWkWcunQ=s747" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="747" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8RVMXUB7oud79-dMoPw-E41OjKXTic4EPybbZyGB_8OE8_xBTLpaBQKBxmpeorYcBFjEy6_de3iJ0QK5nnRST5Xf6hXuW4CVPycUp-IADObxWJ0keIrpPOGhP1nv8hkwZuf2zP1nnLu5EWZw86mUAV2mi5DT7jje6ZKs29CwCX2Z4tbgyinGWkWcunQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>In addition, there are some bees hidden in the overworld, good luck finding and unlocking them. When you collect them all, you will have a total of 48 bees. Will this be enough to thwart Capital B? Find out for yourself as you try this game.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br />Minimum requirements:</h4><div>OS: Windows 7 SP1 64bit</div><div>CPU: Intel Core i3-2125 or AMD A8-6600K</div><div>RAM: 6Gb</div><div>GPU: GeForce GTX 650 or Radeon HD 5770</div><div>Storage: 6Gb available space</div><div><br /></div><div>There are many more things left unsaid about both games, but it's impossible to mention everything. Found something missing or incorrect? Let us know.</div>NeXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432258380540549912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-40974666662727685232022-01-08T19:18:00.001+01:002022-01-09T12:27:26.187+01:00 Lords of the Fallen<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioB5iYmqngtyYQivP1sNvlOKaR5RUX23UcWMuSJGm7NXDazAq_1V3LjbWUlr3WQ1E1KZ6Gebz2c3jAyQ5e_0nk-Aq-ZQ54v57Uv6GnwSzx1QHFWvyN3q7Xq9HGIC4VLtP2uMyREvuLRkJ2Ie_LgS4TTW9SUSeP8xx4cgAXprMmhQbUuAK3JtRwWvec1A=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioB5iYmqngtyYQivP1sNvlOKaR5RUX23UcWMuSJGm7NXDazAq_1V3LjbWUlr3WQ1E1KZ6Gebz2c3jAyQ5e_0nk-Aq-ZQ54v57Uv6GnwSzx1QHFWvyN3q7Xq9HGIC4VLtP2uMyREvuLRkJ2Ie_LgS4TTW9SUSeP8xx4cgAXprMmhQbUuAK3JtRwWvec1A=w562-h316" width="562" /></a></h1><h2 style="text-align: left;">About</h2><div>Welcome to the world of <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/lords-of-the-fallen-game-of-the-year-edition?partner=rrvs">Lords of the Fallen</a>, an action RPG similar to Dark Souls, but ultimately very different. Decide the outcome of the war between the Rhogar and Humans. Explore the monastery in the Human Realm and the Rhogar temple as you teleport through dimensions. Help the NPCs you encounter on your travels. Solve various puzzles, complete quests, find the best gear possible, and battle the bosses in your own way!</div><div><br /></div><div>The game was developed by CI Games and Deck13, and published by CI games on October 28th, 2014. With over 10000 reviews on steam, its current rating is mixed, <b>but</b> don't let that fool you! Lords of the Fallen is a solid RPG well worth your time. Read on and find out some details that might persuade you into buying it today!</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Character</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggy8mzrUbgTkcAvABXJoTDdpQ_QpF1hw8brMpSZoGqiTgzPExIR7T8EdrydDarM6qIxY3mWDIR30R6kzx1DVAvZFp6QjcxUIM191JSv0zSSb98gUcWkMsWSWxN-y2wDvs3lrOE17K6_W2A9ZPERnqnzhygf4GXTPCanqfRFcRPaQSHKdBtQSYBxPceJQ=s640" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="360" height="533" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggy8mzrUbgTkcAvABXJoTDdpQ_QpF1hw8brMpSZoGqiTgzPExIR7T8EdrydDarM6qIxY3mWDIR30R6kzx1DVAvZFp6QjcxUIM191JSv0zSSb98gUcWkMsWSWxN-y2wDvs3lrOE17K6_W2A9ZPERnqnzhygf4GXTPCanqfRFcRPaQSHKdBtQSYBxPceJQ=w300-h533" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Play as Harkyn, an ex-convict turned hero who just happens to be the only chance the humans have against the Rhogar invasion led by the mighty god Adyr. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the start of the game, you will have the choice of choosing one of three classes: the Warrior, the Rogue, or the Cleric, each with its own stats and magic abilities. </div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">The Warrior</h4><div>This magic focuses on dealing lots of damage as well as increasing health regeneration. Very good for beginners as it directly helps in dealing with enemies.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">The Rogue</h4><div>Rogue's abilities increase energy restoration and have very nice combos, as well as invisibility with bonus damage. A good choice for anyone to likes to go in and out of combat.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">The Cleric</h4><div>Finally, the most defensive school of magic is the cleric. It increases magic recovery and focuses on creating shields, blocking damage, or counter-striking and stunning enemies.</div><div><br /></div><div>After completing the game, you will be able to continue playing in NG+ and NG++ keeping your stats, abilities, and spells but choosing a new, different class to master.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Equipment</h2><div>The combat might seem slow to some, but was it ever fast to wield enormous hammers or greatswords? No, no it wasn't. The bigger your weapon is, the slower the combat is. The same thing applies to armor, even the lightest armor feels slow and heavy (but it's still steel armor). In Lords of the Fallen you generally have 3 options when choosing weapons: weapon and shield, dual handing a weapon, or weapon and gauntlet. Armor is divided into light, medium and heavy categories.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Weapons</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrohulfE9ENsmsbEUAHAW9AlZ0p03Mdf4gSMgSIWJwyxy8-lQ6HtdxZZf7Dx7MFLC0P3Eg9L1qHUTbxoeWCKtJR-LPQvr687otKjpo3rKZEgatHG_JcOwwPEb0L8l1zH1ocnytF4f5sXXet8bNTTXndXhhHgkRddb9HV6aegHqZ9AgwHrK5cpdQJ6syw=s1134" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1134" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrohulfE9ENsmsbEUAHAW9AlZ0p03Mdf4gSMgSIWJwyxy8-lQ6HtdxZZf7Dx7MFLC0P3Eg9L1qHUTbxoeWCKtJR-LPQvr687otKjpo3rKZEgatHG_JcOwwPEb0L8l1zH1ocnytF4f5sXXet8bNTTXndXhhHgkRddb9HV6aegHqZ9AgwHrK5cpdQJ6syw=w473-h349" width="473" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Let's start with the <i>gauntlet</i> as it is the only range option in the game. The gauntlet uses your magic to fire its abilities. It does this in one of three ways. <b>Blast</b> is a short-range blast that knocks back enemies. <b>Explosive</b> lobs an area of effect damage bomb. <b>Projectile</b> shoots a fast missile at the enemy.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of these abilities can be altered with runestones, which you can mix and match to your style of gaming. For example. using the projectile with poison rune will not only deal damage over time but also slow your enemies allowing you to strike with more ease. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFB7nXi9GY6GrnSrUOL7UAoVpJ29ArJBbpRGrkzp_S2EHt9cxsGgXrpzReNGKE-WG-eLmpwN9v4p6s0uKzF_0xyoOQlSzplJA3bQzJn7VMwwKqxWZKNQ6uCEEWH5dr2q06c-2LEzM9eCXXMFvU2TwcMgyTShhNrT2PSu2MZBG8BCA9RwFBpgYrwcLhCQ=s1134" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1134" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFB7nXi9GY6GrnSrUOL7UAoVpJ29ArJBbpRGrkzp_S2EHt9cxsGgXrpzReNGKE-WG-eLmpwN9v4p6s0uKzF_0xyoOQlSzplJA3bQzJn7VMwwKqxWZKNQ6uCEEWH5dr2q06c-2LEzM9eCXXMFvU2TwcMgyTShhNrT2PSu2MZBG8BCA9RwFBpgYrwcLhCQ=w458-h338" width="458" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Weapons range from small and fast weapons like shortswords and daggers to devastating greathammers and greataxes as well as anything in between. Of course, some weapons are better suited for certain classes. The fist weapons, shortswords, and the like match well with the rogue's style of hit and run. Cleric's high faith stat goes well with some greathammers that require high faith stat. Warrior can wield pretty much any weapon but works best with basic swords, hammers, or axes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Theoretically, you could use the heaviest weapons with shields, but along staves, they are meant to be used dual-handed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijiu7C6jva64Xex1H89D7SmSmnv-yneQKeN--lUeJfU2jxuTMfzbLXqhhzJ_uWUA3MySvY8u3upXQLAoJ3tziZWO7xgqRQVKdUGOYimZbb9zFOiIgxcIiFypdgqjYkMj6anbelCysgbHox5bamz_i5r_cYDZcCiHA2iMGU8OVrSf-OVd9dtiovck_cJA=s1545" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1545" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijiu7C6jva64Xex1H89D7SmSmnv-yneQKeN--lUeJfU2jxuTMfzbLXqhhzJ_uWUA3MySvY8u3upXQLAoJ3tziZWO7xgqRQVKdUGOYimZbb9zFOiIgxcIiFypdgqjYkMj6anbelCysgbHox5bamz_i5r_cYDZcCiHA2iMGU8OVrSf-OVd9dtiovck_cJA=w559-h302" width="559" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of shields, they are separated into 3 categories: bucklers, kite, and tower shields. Bucklers require agility to use, while kite and tower shields need strength. You can also equip runes to shields, increasing some of their stats to further improve your chances of beating your enemies.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Bosses</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiG_8Q_oFs6sV4_GhOZCuco3DrEdNQuxsp0NYvlpD7g4BtZAzzF9_Y000iAe1dFCAWzr9V_TtFlaHv1bOwsyCAjNf9pTqSHFeQsTcmO_8rtXT8igLagnFpsa1iNRh5W8t3ZB9EiARLRzpByYUtsExAM3OD1ewzENXyiV6G-JdwgIdJN9SSq5_CE3dvqfA=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiG_8Q_oFs6sV4_GhOZCuco3DrEdNQuxsp0NYvlpD7g4BtZAzzF9_Y000iAe1dFCAWzr9V_TtFlaHv1bOwsyCAjNf9pTqSHFeQsTcmO_8rtXT8igLagnFpsa1iNRh5W8t3ZB9EiARLRzpByYUtsExAM3OD1ewzENXyiV6G-JdwgIdJN9SSq5_CE3dvqfA=w610-h343" width="610" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>A big appeal in these type of games are the bosses and LotF does not disappoint. You will fight all kinds of creatures, from wild beasts to giant army commanders and mutated humans. All bosses drop equipment when killed, but if you find their weakness and exploit it, you will receive an improved version of the same equipment. These mini-quests can be to either not take any damage, or don't block or simply beat the bosses in a certain order.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Closing words</h2><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/lords-of-the-fallen-game-of-the-year-edition?partner=rrvs">Lords of the Fallen</a> might not be the best game out there, but it's fun and I like it. It has 56 steam achievements and took me around 35 hours to complete. Released in 2014 means that most systems can run it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Minimum requirements are:</div><div><br /></div><div>OS: Windows Vista, 7 or 8 (only 64 bit)</div><div>CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66Ghz or AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.0Ghz</div><div>RAM: 6Gb</div><div>GPU: GeForce GTX 460 or better</div><div>DirectX: Version 11</div><div>Memory: 25 Gb available space</div><div>Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sounds card with latest drivers</div>NeXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432258380540549912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-40187605644690306092022-01-08T17:06:00.001+01:002022-01-08T17:06:27.442+01:00Humble Dead of Winter Bundle<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfAQ2_DW3kOfoq55xw8UlgLum01qNLh34oioNBuDYN7e9m13J6KVCjfOHWrcfHOumnJQhPsFIJLG4kF6m3BA4w5Pc5vMGY4MGcv4C-mNlaAcb83r4D7xoo2ABl0rJwoHU4HbFTHTdvCMBNnABlbaIb4MiEcPWGOOtWgHKW8LXqb7F4y7hATPYyANwAfw=s1019" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="1019" height="53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfAQ2_DW3kOfoq55xw8UlgLum01qNLh34oioNBuDYN7e9m13J6KVCjfOHWrcfHOumnJQhPsFIJLG4kF6m3BA4w5Pc5vMGY4MGcv4C-mNlaAcb83r4D7xoo2ABl0rJwoHU4HbFTHTdvCMBNnABlbaIb4MiEcPWGOOtWgHKW8LXqb7F4y7hATPYyANwAfw=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Humble has just (well, yesterday) released the <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/games/dead-winter-bundle?partner=rrvs">Dead of Winter Bundle</a>. We felt this one was worth a closer look.<p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">First tier - 1€</h2><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/friday-the-13th?partner=rrvs">Friday the 13th - the game</a></p><p>- Nothing to see here. Dead game, toxic community. Don't waste your dollar if this is the only game in the bundle that seems interesting to you.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Second tier ~6.44€</h2><p>The previous item, and:</p><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/white-day-a-labyrinth-named-school?partner=rrvs">White Day: A Labyrinth Named School</a></p><p>- Jump scares, scary school and a janitor with buggy Ai. The ratings are ok, but expect to be annoyed by bugs.</p><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/white-day-vr-the-courage-test?partner=rrvs">White Day VR: The Courage Test</a></p><p>- A first person hidden-object horror game. It's cheap enough on it's own so don't expect too much from this one.</p><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/the-painscreek-killings?partner=rrvs">The Painscreek Killings</a></p><p>- Detective/investigation game. Good ratings, but you do need to enjoy walking sims.</p><p><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/842100/Daymare_1998/">Daymare: 1998</a></p><p>- A zombie shooter heavily inspired by Resident Evil. Not super highly rated but graphically it does stand out. Reviews on steam point out the writing is fairly mediocre and the game is fairly buggy.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYjXbBkWoo4u9KWefWYojaW5oHI31G-4OP-wgM2r8WUYm3cyuXAzefT6SISD9FWDSkx5IJgq7a0E5GKD2JThlULXl1UAgqxhJT3xh4I9kxV9XNTvPX-nsbE0aeqqudPEccLeX82ozGwBNDJrm4V5odsHFhBnTIl8rKuzIC1FTOZbr7VDfw9npGJMiAaA=s460" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="460" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYjXbBkWoo4u9KWefWYojaW5oHI31G-4OP-wgM2r8WUYm3cyuXAzefT6SISD9FWDSkx5IJgq7a0E5GKD2JThlULXl1UAgqxhJT3xh4I9kxV9XNTvPX-nsbE0aeqqudPEccLeX82ozGwBNDJrm4V5odsHFhBnTIl8rKuzIC1FTOZbr7VDfw9npGJMiAaA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Third tier - 9.76€</h2><p>The previous items and:</p><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/golden-light?partner=rrvs">Golden Light</a></p><p>- Now we're talking - this game is a first person (dark style) shooter. Though the game is still in early access, it's already raking in high review scores. The game itself looks like an odd gore-fest doom engine with pretty odd graphics, but people seem to enjoy it on overall.</p><p><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/dead-estate?partner=rrvs">Dead Estate</a></p><p>- The star of this bundle. Pretty much the reason why you should get this bundle. As the game is around 11€ on steam right now, you're getting a discount and a bunch of other games for the same price. So, that seems a decent deal.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSAHhfdy1fdr9xpHt0e4-GtlZHojrfgkyhoIkMOumZkVyIyuzMfeX9Ter4x7HMI13gZo3Mrtj7yRDB8OBqe_D2LJle_b1jDat7aF1qb2pCr-nShoZklN6RNTxUtZ6vO2CyV-VUAUtJ0mzM_xJVK-VgwNMymILlcoPxSKVGJ7IHe4nIkCtLIx2GM8WLkQ=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSAHhfdy1fdr9xpHt0e4-GtlZHojrfgkyhoIkMOumZkVyIyuzMfeX9Ter4x7HMI13gZo3Mrtj7yRDB8OBqe_D2LJle_b1jDat7aF1qb2pCr-nShoZklN6RNTxUtZ6vO2CyV-VUAUtJ0mzM_xJVK-VgwNMymILlcoPxSKVGJ7IHe4nIkCtLIx2GM8WLkQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Dead estate is a pixel-art style action roguelike much like <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/blazing-beaks?partner=rrvs">Blazing Beaks</a> and similar room exploration games. It's an isometric shooter where you need to survive the rooms of the mansion. There's a ton of different weapons to find and use as you try to stay alive and progress through the game.</p><p>Review scores are "overwhelmingly positive" and the game was released just a few short months ago.</p><p>And if you're on the fence, there's always the free playable demo you can try first, and a discord that's active and has the devs taking community feedback.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixeUhxFHZIFgjoiZJNX6rj7w_UCMjeyqOmQa1X1x6rrCDk-bqsRjH7QY5RuO-kCjRsGwAdfTgX9YMwIuwAo2bL2qZP7P0UdogvWsPWtGmEonsA0sibYmaF7YlH3keIpytfUUzE3oq0Sa_lfGD7cQ6ZLEI0VM6IgrBvCFzYdJy7sr3OZSpNnKvGyu5LDw=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixeUhxFHZIFgjoiZJNX6rj7w_UCMjeyqOmQa1X1x6rrCDk-bqsRjH7QY5RuO-kCjRsGwAdfTgX9YMwIuwAo2bL2qZP7P0UdogvWsPWtGmEonsA0sibYmaF7YlH3keIpytfUUzE3oq0Sa_lfGD7cQ6ZLEI0VM6IgrBvCFzYdJy7sr3OZSpNnKvGyu5LDw=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Interested? Check out <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/games/dead-winter-bundle?partner=rrvs">the bundle</a>.</p>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-23289977459392943422021-12-12T17:00:00.003+01:002021-12-12T20:06:32.037+01:00Trading for dummies<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQ0mh3uV53fyZOXrmqsqTF1hOriheE9HWWbbf65yVxKeXVHBYaSCqy8Y39w50MEQidoI1LclfMJko09gPIOUT9C7TEW6Gq4AJnnfTAcQAoGOYzQ9bsxw4A0ShCiVvBgdpRQ-hchs8G4Hf7lyPlnW3WKoP6oesf1mpnPysagU_GTpC_pmkG07CgYmSq7A=s225" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQ0mh3uV53fyZOXrmqsqTF1hOriheE9HWWbbf65yVxKeXVHBYaSCqy8Y39w50MEQidoI1LclfMJko09gPIOUT9C7TEW6Gq4AJnnfTAcQAoGOYzQ9bsxw4A0ShCiVvBgdpRQ-hchs8G4Hf7lyPlnW3WKoP6oesf1mpnPysagU_GTpC_pmkG07CgYmSq7A=s16000" /></a></div><br />If you're reading this, there's a good chance you have at some point in the recent past, bought a bundle or two, maybe three - or a heck lot more.<p></p><p>Some of those games you bought for yourself, but the thing with bundles is - sometimes you already have a few of the games, or they just don't interest you. So, what do you with the rest of them? Hoard them like a true dragon, give them away to friends, or trade them for something else.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Getting inventory</h2><div>You start out as a newbie, a dozen steam games to your name and you find yourself bored on a rainy afternoon. A friend mentions you should check a few bundle websites because wow, you can snag a dozen games for a few dollars instead of buying them one at a time like you've just won the lottery.</div><div><br /></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store?partner=rrvs">Humble bundle</a> - is the main one I'd recommend you check often. It's not what it was, but still a great source for a ton of games.</div><div>- <a href="https://www.fanatical.com/en/">Fanatical</a> - a different beast than HB, but has a lot of bundles of varying quality. If you're just starting out this is a great place to check. But, even if you've been using bundles a lot, it's still wise to check back so and then.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bundles aside, there's <a href="https://isthereanydeal.com/">IsThereAnyDeal</a> which is a good source for finding the best discounts on individual games and checking whether a game was in a bundle/cheaper before. If you aren't sure if a discount deal is good right now, check ITAD and make sure. As a bonus, any site listed at ITAD is as far as we known a legitimate reseller - any game you buy on those sites benefits the developers of that game. Unlike certain gray market sellers which only tend to deal in stolen/fraudulent/other keys. But that's a whole other story. In summary - try to avoid gray market resellers. If a site offers you "buyer protection" you can bet it's not a legitimate seller.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Managing your inventory</h2><div>So, you've bought a bundle, activated a few keys for yourself and are now left with a few "unrevealed" keys on one of possibly dozens of bundle/key sites. That quickly becomes messy, and a chore to manage. Worry not - google, or a local excel file are your best friends in this case.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, there are multiple reasons you want to have everything in an excel or google sheets.</div><div>- Easy to sort</div><div>- All your keys in one place</div><div>- Easily updated</div><div>- Keep track of what you own / have used / plan to do with them</div><div>- Any extra information you feel like tracking</div><div><br /></div><div>And, if you set it up like below (row 2 with the dash, and B / D / F with the pipe), you can easily copy paste column A-G onto <a href="https://www.steamtrades.com/">SteamTrades</a>, column A onto your <a href="https://barter.vg/">Barter</a> tradeable inventory, or to for example Fanatical's <a href="https://discord.gg/M2UfjKHj5v">Discord</a> server. It ensures you have a flexible list that you can easily expand and update, or copy to somewhere else that is publicly viewable. (obviously you don't want your actual inventory with keys to be public)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwI_90ZVgtMgJPxhsaHwNLtvT5b6jmCklJY9l1RfYhtLEC9SWcvCMyvwbuPI2l2RY8XJHtMI0IEJbBf4YdZkq_CLFQ5aItzGX2cHE1tuBVN93MXet8XJXunkE5jyJqTm7z6aIFY11EP-eH3EDE2WgFzxr5WiMytELO4wgUhVZTK0-Ttr72AV3UHAbMWQ=s992" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="992" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwI_90ZVgtMgJPxhsaHwNLtvT5b6jmCklJY9l1RfYhtLEC9SWcvCMyvwbuPI2l2RY8XJHtMI0IEJbBf4YdZkq_CLFQ5aItzGX2cHE1tuBVN93MXet8XJXunkE5jyJqTm7z6aIFY11EP-eH3EDE2WgFzxr5WiMytELO4wgUhVZTK0-Ttr72AV3UHAbMWQ=w640-h314" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Finding the right person to trade with</h2><div>Now comes the tricky part. You need to find the right person who is interested in your leftover keys, and get something in return. As mentioned above, you can try SteamTrades, Barter, Fanatical's Discord - but there are dozens of other ways to trade. I encourage you to look around / ask around when you do a trade with a friendly person and see what other places they use. Most active traders don't restrict themselves to just one site. The simple reason is - if you buy bundles from Fanatical, and try to trade with other people who only buy from Fanatical as well - you're not going to have much that they are interested in. The same goes if you try to trade Humble Choice games in a group that has a focus on Humble Choice. You're just going to have a list of the same games to compare, and will be unlikely to find anything you both need.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, shop around.</div><div>Finding a lesser known group for trading can be a great way to discover new games to trade.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Getting good value</h2><div>If you buy Humble Choice or <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/bundles?partner=rrvs">another bundle</a> by HB, then chances are the games from that month will be somewhat equal in value. Similar with <a href="https://www.fanatical.com/en/?ref=rrvs">Fanatical</a>. But, some games are worth more than others. It's simple math really - If a game has never been bundled before, then it's "value" is basically the lowest price it's ever been on discount according to <a href="https://isthereanydeal.com/">ITAD</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>If a game has been bundled, but it's been a long time ago since then - and never bundled since, then it's value depends on the basic "demand" for it. e.g. if nobody wants a game, then it's probably not too hard to get a year or two later. But if a good game was bundled once some two years ago, and hasn't been since - it's value and number of times wishlisted has likely only gone up since. Take for example the game <a href="https://barter.vg/i/62282/?">Two Point Hospital</a>, It's been in humble Choice once and no bundles since. It's been wishlisted a LOT according to barter (same with <a href="https://barter.vg/i/30867/?">Dead Cells</a>). So, there's a high demand, and very low availability unless you simply go out and buy the game on sale. But that's something we generally want to avoid.</div><div><br /></div><div>The one time you can use the gray market keyshops is to determine a game's value. Going back to Two Point hospital, you can see on <a href="https://gg.deals/game/two-point-hospital/">gg.deals</a>, that this game is valued at around 8€, quite a chunk if you remember this game was 1 of 10 or 12 games in a bundle at the time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fanatical's mystery bundles are a case on their own - and generally despised because they're basically just lootboxes, or a gambling mechanic best avoided - or embraced depending on your view on this.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not everyone is trading with your best interest at heart, so understanding the value of your keys is important. Imagine you have a spare copy of the above game and someone makes you an offer for it. What do you look for? How badly do you want the game they are offering you?</div><div><br /></div><div>Lets say you are offered the game <a href="https://barter.vg/i/72909/">Valkyria Chronicles 4</a>, at first this seems a great deal - your 39$ game for their 50$ game - but a quick look at the supply/demand and gray market shows that Valkyria only goes for about 4$ or less, and has very little demand.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, try not to get scammed with a low value game for a higher value game. But always keep in mind you're never going to get a 100% equal value unless you're dealing against some very low value games. For example <a href="https://barter.vg/i/16673/?">Garfield Kart</a>, has been bundled so often, it may as well be free. But cheap is good - you can quickly and easily trade low value games vs other low value games. (Which is a thing Fanatical excels at providing you with bundles and mystery lootboxes)</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Reputation</h2><div>A small footnote on reputation. Sites like Barter, SteamTrades and various other groups will have a way to check a person's trade history and reputation. If you're dealing with someone who is rushing you to trade, or offering that seems too good to be true - it usually is. Be wary when trading, don't get scammed.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw9Hnf-Cy-ouquuEwEg9NiQ072C0fY8rMPEgCpOWKEfHB7KdMNh6bfDfghAHiXghWCfq_oYKdnLGOPV7UzvNwoL2xJp-8kQCGdb78VzLcMxxuyTharFlcz2Jzh7xn1TDjA1f2ty5z7SIXAK_xuRzBS-c7r5aT1FajvDWpKMS8tiotcbIe23BisLX_QVQ=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiw9Hnf-Cy-ouquuEwEg9NiQ072C0fY8rMPEgCpOWKEfHB7KdMNh6bfDfghAHiXghWCfq_oYKdnLGOPV7UzvNwoL2xJp-8kQCGdb78VzLcMxxuyTharFlcz2Jzh7xn1TDjA1f2ty5z7SIXAK_xuRzBS-c7r5aT1FajvDWpKMS8tiotcbIe23BisLX_QVQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Trading is not only about games</h2><div>Often in the more established trading areas you'll get people either offering of asking TF2 Keys. This specifically refers to the <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/440/Mann%20Co.%20Supply%20Crate%20Key">Mann.Co Supply Crate</a> keys for Team Fortress 2. These can be bought from Valve directly at a price of about 3$ a piece, or the player market at about 1.5-2$ depending on the time of year.</div><div><br /></div><div>When trading for, or against these keys it's extra important to note the value of the game you're trading. It does add a little extra transparency, but it's a really close border between game keys or gray market trading. You'll find a lot of people never trade for TF2 keys, while some do nothing else - as it takes away the need for finding another game you want, and gives the freedom to just use a separate currency to trade. (Much like the Stone of Jordan back in the Diablo 2 trading days, if you ever played that)</div><div><br /></div><div>Keys aside, you'll also find people who trade with <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/753/753-Sack%20of%20Gems">Sacks of Gems</a>, which are around 0.30-0.35 at the time of writing. Gems are easier to get, and can be used to craft trading card boosters. Those looking to make a profit this way tend to craft card boosters for games that have high value cards (such as very new anime games) or to complete their own trading card badge sets.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8Jwbokf2zCBedLoxwBnO3g7u9gxwuttkhlMjgC-QdYMx1KHf33kkK-ao1-BUDRdZaAkScX5lyMteNQQKGee1-PaV8TUEWxZjT6zR0CHfiRK1dbY5Bo1UVdS2-rT0p1aEe1xCRn92URpcyiIJJDDcqKAQdu-_lBzZ2r1h3vcR9-PI8_RU1fOnmXhr8UA=s577" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="577" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8Jwbokf2zCBedLoxwBnO3g7u9gxwuttkhlMjgC-QdYMx1KHf33kkK-ao1-BUDRdZaAkScX5lyMteNQQKGee1-PaV8TUEWxZjT6zR0CHfiRK1dbY5Bo1UVdS2-rT0p1aEe1xCRn92URpcyiIJJDDcqKAQdu-_lBzZ2r1h3vcR9-PI8_RU1fOnmXhr8UA=w640-h242" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Cards, got to catch 'em all!</h2><div><br /></div><div>If you're looking to get some gems, a great way is to craft Badges during a major sale. Such as the Winter sale coming up this December 22nd - Jan 4th, or the Summer sale. Smaller sales don't tend to have a special badge and so don't drop bonus cards. If you craft badges during the sale - each badge will give you 1 bonus card, while crafting badges outside the sales will just give you (useless) discount vouchers with a limited expire date. So please, avoid doing that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyone who has done so will happily tell you, card trading is a pain in the rear area to the extreme. Luckily there are a few sites that make this pain a little bit more bearable.</div><div>- <a href="https://www.steamtradematcher.com/">SteamTrade Matcher</a> - is your main, get rid of duplicates - place to be. It ensures your inventory is scanned (make sure it's public or this doesn't work) and you can make 1:1 same set trades at the click of a button. It saves you time, and works incredible.</div><div>- <a href="https://www.steamcardexchange.net/">Steam Card Exchange</a> - If STM doesn't get the job done, and your friends list doesn't either - there's SCE which you can use to send cards to in exchange for credits. Those credits you can then use to request cards in return from the bot. SCE is HEAVILY gamed by people looking to game the market, so chances are the card you want will be out of stock - but it's still worth checking so and then.</div><div>- Various steam groups - Look around, there's steam groups on most games set up for exchanging that game's cards, as well as card exchange and open inventory groups where you can browse and trade cross-set cards. It's this point where the real headache starts though. Steam is absolutely not set up to make this kind of trading easy, and you'll quickly wish there were better options to trade your cards more easily. Sadly, the site that "did" just that (similar to how barter works now) has been defunct, abandoned and taken down. Manual browsing and very very slow filtering is unfortunately your only way to get this task done.</div><div><br /></div><div>Google "Steam Inventory Helper" and install that addon to get a little bit of help in checking your card values. It isn't much, but it's really the best way to get your cross set trading values done in a way that is fair to all.</div><div><br /></div><div>One final link I will give you is the <a href="https://steam.tools/itemvalue/">steam.tools</a> site, itemvalue sorter. If you have a lot of items/boosters and maybe rare cards, it's worth sorting them from highest value to lowest. If any card or item is worth 0.20 or more - it may be easiest for you to just sell it on the steam market, and use that wallet cash to buy cards or games.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr1p519n9UeS-KeE_Vz5jclb-Ea_kWSivxGkUcCmPMF3dv_mKZMVPkeISxPG1Jd3m0l6145kqL2mw6zbJ1NWYC6Za4ys6ERDdA0BBm6B6kCM6ck9lSa0LmSqvpA_LOWhXi8Up_L1vL9ZkIXF0NwlzN-Svdf7qmtq1tpKEaMYNy7BMM5bw5P6b9TpK8tg=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr1p519n9UeS-KeE_Vz5jclb-Ea_kWSivxGkUcCmPMF3dv_mKZMVPkeISxPG1Jd3m0l6145kqL2mw6zbJ1NWYC6Za4ys6ERDdA0BBm6B6kCM6ck9lSa0LmSqvpA_LOWhXi8Up_L1vL9ZkIXF0NwlzN-Svdf7qmtq1tpKEaMYNy7BMM5bw5P6b9TpK8tg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Getting cards</h2><div>To get steam cards you need to own a game that drops them. Then, you play that game for a few hours and magically the cards start to appear in your inventory. Once you've gotten all the cards that game can drop, you'll be eligible for booster packs for that game. These booster packs can appear randomly at any time of the year whenever somebody somewhere in the world crafts a badge for that game. Note however, that you need to have your steam profile level 20 or higher, and every 10 levels increases the dropchance. So, while you may see 1 booster every 2 months at level 20, you might see as many as 1 per week if you were level 120.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some games are very, very poorly suited for actually playing. e.g. some mostly negative game, which uses up your CPU to 100%, or has a 60GB install footprint. In an effort to make getting your cards a good lot less painful, there's a tool called <a href="https://github.com/JustArchiNET/ArchiSteamFarm">ArchiSteamFarm</a>. It's a small tool, that takes a tiny bit of effort to install. Once it's up and running it will take care of almost EVERYTHING for you in regards to idling your games to get your card drops. So you don't have to worry about playing those terrible negatively rated games ever again. <u>Fair warning</u> - if you use this, your password is stored in plain text on your hard drive. Always make sure you use Two Factor and Steam Guard to protect your account in addition to having a strong password.</div><div><br /></div><div>ASF is trustworthy as far as I'm concerned, and open source - you can compile and modify it to your liking. It can also do a lot more than just idle games for cards, but I'll just say RTFM (read the fff manual), it's there for a reason.</div><div><br /></div><div>Note: Idling your games also has the downside that, you will no longer be able to request a refund for games you've idled. So if you aren't sure if you like a game or still have intention (as you should) to play and enjoy a game at any point, it's a good idea to get to that before running ASF.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">In closing</h2><div>Seems I ended up writing a bit more than I originally intended on the trading subject, but hopefully this guide is useful to you guys :) Feel free to share it with your trading buddies.</div>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-38084464252226534922021-12-04T12:17:00.000+01:002021-12-04T12:17:02.740+01:00Two point hospital<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mAcKBzhLMI0ujUPOt2FSGkAhHfvX4yyy27pwm7Mtw6d80Zak-n48nMNLqsjOjlcxf8I79SvsSyepSNmrupf20cfIj1a54BdpoTndOJq5QEoO6P3c8LuK2r5FXPMGjobaD4bNjhdEmXSa/s616/twopointhospital.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="616" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mAcKBzhLMI0ujUPOt2FSGkAhHfvX4yyy27pwm7Mtw6d80Zak-n48nMNLqsjOjlcxf8I79SvsSyepSNmrupf20cfIj1a54BdpoTndOJq5QEoO6P3c8LuK2r5FXPMGjobaD4bNjhdEmXSa/w320-h184/twopointhospital.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>If you were alive and playing games during the late 90s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Hospital">Theme Hospital</a> by the late Bullfrog Productions studio (who also created Theme Park, a buggy but amazing theme park-management game) may have been on your radar.</div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital?partner=rrvs">Two Point hospital</a> (TPH) is the spiritual successor of this game, and was first seen (for most) in the Second edition of <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/subscription?refc=WA01x5">Humble Choice</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gameplay involves creating rooms for your hospital staff, and making sure your potential patients (customers/victims) are able to leave the hospital alive and well, while paying you big sums of money for the privilege.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Similar to the old game</h2><div>TPH is very similar to the original. But - with vastly improved graphics, stability and new illnesses to cure. Patients come in, the General Practice room sends them to another room for diagnosis and later they go to another room for treatment. Queues quickly build up as your hospital becomes more popular, and with this the need to recruit and train more staff rises as well.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8MAoLUdjHWM2sLDj0ATiSoYEOuwk7G3fcAecizW3yEcvMIARVppLAsrINcb3Z6SYNWY8rJYJN43PTw_VJE1wKJOegoRoVRb4nbNhhe-7TyOWeQT_QACh0EwFiPDeCSMqnweNbAlYZKeIl/s1920/ss_239c16a6a0faf1463d043503a828a1e443bd8d70.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8MAoLUdjHWM2sLDj0ATiSoYEOuwk7G3fcAecizW3yEcvMIARVppLAsrINcb3Z6SYNWY8rJYJN43PTw_VJE1wKJOegoRoVRb4nbNhhe-7TyOWeQT_QACh0EwFiPDeCSMqnweNbAlYZKeIl/w640-h360/ss_239c16a6a0faf1463d043503a828a1e443bd8d70.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Some unfortunate few patients will ultimately die and possibly turn into ghosts. Ghosts will haunt your hospital and leave dirty ectoplasm on the floor for a few days, haunting and scaring other patients until they ultimately vanish. You can get rid of them sooner with a well trained janitor.</div><div><br /></div><div>Janitors really do everything. They clean, fix machines, upgrade machines, water plants, catch ghosts, empty trash cans. I suspect a few will even do more - like black market surgery, but I haven't been able to catch one in the act yet. In short - without good janitors your hospital will quickly burn down.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvIRXX1avthEVkkF4fgPQRkOAr1Ujpyj3dZ92r7cLWXu2zHku0l9tEFyeiNYvHAYDTHisPYfRhRDMDWW-FeY-PiKJvvFnFlkz9fDrJCfkVnaVSffE512e-Mj_ydst8BS6gV1X5wwO166x/s2048/ss_513fe00a570aae8aa17f0c7c34441d900ecea67d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvIRXX1avthEVkkF4fgPQRkOAr1Ujpyj3dZ92r7cLWXu2zHku0l9tEFyeiNYvHAYDTHisPYfRhRDMDWW-FeY-PiKJvvFnFlkz9fDrJCfkVnaVSffE512e-Mj_ydst8BS6gV1X5wwO166x/w640-h360/ss_513fe00a570aae8aa17f0c7c34441d900ecea67d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">It does get repetitive</h2><div>An unfortunate downside of having several zones and new hospitals to expand is that it quickly starts to feel like a "build and forget" kind of game. While initially you would happily focus on minute details like where best to place an extra trashcan or heater, later on you just dump the bare minimum into a single room as long as it gets the job done. The finer details of design are quickly lost as you know that after getting a star in this hospital, you'll be able to move on and start a new zone. So is there a "goal" really?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well yes, as you get to the later levels especially. The game does offer you leaderboards with which you can directly compare your progress and standing against your steam friends who have also played this game. How far did Gina get - well not very far it seems.</div><div><br /></div><div>As you unlock more zones, new rooms, items and upgrades become available. Your general diagnosis machine could be upgraded to be more efficient. Beyond that you will be able to construct a research room, train staff in the skills you want them to learn and further improve efficiency. Eventually you may just want to go back to the earlier levels and completely redesign them with a cafeteria, bigger staff rooms, and properly trained staff to really notice the difference against your earlier playthrough. (And the leaderboards obviously)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayBb2c_IhDOy2_aXDTe9HjCnZdzlEKdKXd4sNdLIh5RlCl_-H769FbouOduzuznzl06KQEYzdeLGG56_5l7O0B10mYnvt5C9e8zyfsCobWPFJUyL9BtFXVwlf5Bvy5mBSxqkcT1PZKqAK/s2048/ss_6f2a296861c5ff74e890a1f669692afcfa119508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiayBb2c_IhDOy2_aXDTe9HjCnZdzlEKdKXd4sNdLIh5RlCl_-H769FbouOduzuznzl06KQEYzdeLGG56_5l7O0B10mYnvt5C9e8zyfsCobWPFJUyL9BtFXVwlf5Bvy5mBSxqkcT1PZKqAK/w640-h360/ss_6f2a296861c5ff74e890a1f669692afcfa119508.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">More content?</h2><div>Like most casual and other games alike, Two Point Hospital has more than a few DLC available already. And while they aren't needed to "complete the game", they can be worthwhile if they are on sale. On their own they add very little content however. An extra hospital area or two, a bunch of new items, maybe a few diseases to exploit. Personally I'd say suggest to skip these unless they are on sale with 75% off.</div><div><br /></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-retro-items-pack?partner=rrvs">Retro Items Pack</a></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-culture-shock?partner=rrvs">Culture Shock</a></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-off-the-grid?partner=rrvs">Off the Grid</a></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-close-encounters?partner=rrvs">Close Encounters</a></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-pebberley-island?partner=rrvs">Pebberley Island</a></div><div>- <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital-pebberley-island?partner=rrvs">Bigfoot</a></div><div><br /></div><div>And the devs are working on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1649080/Two_Point_Campus/">Two Point Campus</a>, slated for release in 2022. This is a fully standalone game where you design an academic institution rather than a hospital.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/two-point-hospital?partner=rrvs">Two Point Hospital</a> - <b>Release date</b>:</div><div>- 30 Aug, 2018 on Steam</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Minimum system requirements</b>:</div><div>- 64 bit CPU and OS, windows 7 and up, Intel Core i3 6100 or AMD equivalent, 4 GB ram, Nvidia GTX 460 and up, DirectX 11, and at least 6 GB disk space</div>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-87706284930894874092021-11-26T00:49:00.002+01:002021-11-26T00:49:00.183+01:00Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-4043 ls-is-cached lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4043" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg" data-orig-size="1902,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-chain-of-memories-review/portadas-kh-chain-of-memories-1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg 1902w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-768x436.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-1536x872.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-2048x1163.jpg 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-1200x682.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-scaled.jpg 1902w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-768x436.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-1536x872.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-2048x1163.jpg 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Portadas-KH-Chain-of-Memories-1-1200x682.jpg 1200w" style="background-color: #121315; border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1902" /></p><h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 42px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></h2><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Memes/KingdomHearts" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Lead me into everlasting darkness…</a></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts:_Chain_of_Memories#:~:text=Sora%20and%20his%20teammates%20are,cards%22%20created%20from%20Sora's%20memories." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories</a> was the second of the long line of games released by Square Enix and is an intermediary between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts_(video_game)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kingdom Hearts 1</a> & <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts_II" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">2</a>. It is the first of <a href="https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts_(series)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">a few games</a> released on Nintendo Consoles. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts:_Melody_of_Memory" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Melody of Memories</a> will be the next upcoming game, but won’t be out until November. For those of you new to the series, let’s just say this game is a love child of Final Fantasy and Disney, and the story spans across <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kingdom_Hearts_media" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">several games</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The game covers the adventures of our three brave protagonists to this story: <a href="https://www.nerdbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Sora-Donald-Goofy.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Sora, Donald & Goofy</a>. Together, in a land between light and darkness, they are on a quest to find their missing friends. Soon, the trio stumble across a mysterious location called <a href="https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Castle_Oblivion" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Castle Oblivion</a>. Inside the building, <a href="https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EagerYawningEuropeanfiresalamander-size_restricted.gif" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">a hooded man</a> appears before the protagonists with a cryptic message. He tells them “In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find”. After this, he samples Sora’s memories and stores a segment of this in a card. The trio are able to access a memory of a world they are familiar with from the previous game. Unbeknownst to the gang, Castle Oblivion is currently occupied by the newly introduced antagonists, “<a href="https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Organization_XIII" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Organization XIII</a>”. The trio has to balance facing off against the Organization, all the while losing memories of those they hold dearest along the way.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">“To find is to lose, and to lose is to find”</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The game didn’t meet the level of praise its predecessor did when first released on the Gameboy Advance, but proved to be an enjoyable experience to some among the community. Soon after, it received a major facelift when it was remade for the Playstation 2, much to the excitement of fans everywhere. Now, it lives on in the <a href="https://www.khwiki.com/Kingdom_Hearts_HD_1.5_%2B_2.5_ReMIX" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5</a> collection on the PS4.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">So, is it worth playing?</strong></h3><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Here’s my take.</strong></h3><div class="wp-block-image is-style-default" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4044 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4044" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="yep" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-chain-of-memories-review/yep/" data-sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="545" sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/yep-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="970" /></figure></div><h6 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;">One of the more powerful attacks in game when playing as Sora.</h6><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s look into the gameplay first. It’s an enmeshment of <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButtonMashing" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">action</a>, and <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FightLikeACardPlayer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">card-based</a> <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CardBattleGame" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">battles</a>. You have a limited deck of cards to fight with. These card categories can range from keyblade attacks, summons, potions, and magic attacks. Each card is numbered from 0 to 9, and your success against an enemy’s attack is predicted solely on which person plays the higher card, but there is one exception! If you have a 0, you can counter the number played by the enemy, but the enemy can do the same. You can also combine multiple cards and add the total sum to a high number. This creates special attacks called “<a href="https://www.khwiki.com/Sleight" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">sleights</a>“, and for attacks, it strengthens the hits you make to opponents. There are regular cards where the numbers beside the cards are in plain white, and <a href="https://www.khwiki.com/Premium_Cards" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">premium </a>cards, where the numbers appear yellow.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">There’s a lot of versatility when using the cards in game.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Some cards you collect aren’t used for battle, but for adding special attributes to rooms while exploring different worlds. As long as you have a card that meets the numbered requirement, you can make the room whatever you want it to be. It is refreshing to be able to choose any room, and turn it into <a href="https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Save_Point#:~:text=In%20Kingdom%20Hearts%3A%20Chain%20of,a%20boss%20fight%2C%20Conqueror's%20Respite." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">save</a>, <a href="https://forum.psnprofiles.com/topic/51273-moogle-points/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">moogle </a>or a special kind of card boosting room. You need to collect 3-4 special <a href="https://www.neoseeker.com/forums/6679/t473858-room-with-golden-card-lock/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">golden cards</a> to progress into parts of the story related to each world. You can progress to the next floor or boss battle once you have finished exploring the world on a floor. Each floor also has <a href="https://www.khwiki.com/World_Cards#:~:text=World%20cards%20are%20a%20type,Sora%20or%20Riku's%20memories.&text=Namin%C3%A9%20is%20even%20able%20to,does%20for%20the%20Riku%20Replica." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">special cards</a> that can access different worlds. It can be quite dizzying trying to remember which cards you have, so always make sure you review your deck regularly.</p><div class="wp-block-image is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4052 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4052" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="khcom1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-chain-of-memories-review/khcom1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-1200x675.png 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/khcom1-1200x675.png 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></figure></div><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Side effects of entering Castle Oblivion may include: </strong><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNyWsAVWXnI" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">forgetfulness, brain damage, and cloning</a></strong>.</h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Now, for the story. I strongly recommend that you play the first game before this one. There are a lot of important elements in the story that appears in later games. The story also splits off into two parts – <a href="https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Sora" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Sora</a>, and <a href="https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Riku" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Riku’s </a>version of events. I found it such a shame that you couldn’t choose between characters from the start, but I can see why this direction was taken. The main cutscenes in Castle Oblivion were good, though sometimes you can catch moments where the characters suddenly have flat iron board faces. The voice acting sometimes lacked emotion too during some cutscenes. The stories surrounding the other worlds, however, were not at all impressive. It felt like watching a clip show with sloppy dialogue and you could see text copied and pasted from the previous game.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The main storyline itself was pretty interesting and had potential!</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Most of the worlds from the previous game did make it to this one, except for Tarzan’s Deep Jungle world. I’m not entirely sure as to why this was the case. Regardless, it didn’t match the pacing of the main story, and some scenes felt really underwhelming. One minute you’re in Castle Oblivion, feeling the tension, and the next, you’re smashing honey pots into Winnie the Pooh’s head.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Unfortunately, many of the assets felt recycled from the Playstation 2. The graphics, the music, the assets. There were opportunities for the team to upgrade on the graphics in particular. I felt that this was a real letdown to fans. The music could have been more versatile, and match the beat to the growing tension of the story. Sadly, this was not to be. They tragically underused the talent and range of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Shimomura" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yoko Shimomura</a>‘s abilities as a composer.</p><div class="wp-block-image is-style-default" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4056 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4056" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="xuoag8ey2pk41" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg" data-orig-size="1257,698" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-chain-of-memories-review/xuoag8ey2pk41/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1257px) 100vw, 1257px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg 1257w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41-768x426.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41-1200x666.jpg 1200w" height="698" sizes="(max-width: 1257px) 100vw, 1257px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41.jpg 1257w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41-768x426.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/xuoag8ey2pk41-1200x666.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1257" /></figure></div><h3 class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Is it replayable? Would you want to play it again?</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">I really wanted to like this game more than I did. I really did. It was one of the few games I haven’t touched in the series, a missing piece in the puzzle to fully understand the story. I can’t ignore the underlying problems with this game. I felt like pulling my hair out from the card battle system mechanics. The revamped game also missed a chance at allowing the player to listen to the dialogue in Japanese for the main cutscenes. The ideas for the game are in the right places, such as the “build your own dungeon” mechanic with cards. It sadly did not survive for more than a portion of the game. Grinding for cards isn’t fun, and neither is having a limited variation of rooms to convert with cards.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the game in some parts. I did. Reverse/Rebirth’s part of the story (Riku’s perspective) did an amazing job of redeeming part of the experience. It freed me from the filler hell, but sadly wasn’t able to remedy the bad voice acting, lazy soundtrack or the reused assets. I personally wouldn’t replay this, but I’m glad to have experienced the gaming fusion experiment that is Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories.</p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0161-1 Eigenji Aidanichō, Higashiomi, Shiga 527-0211, Japan35.0784793 136.331221634.17804302478703 135.2325887875 35.978915575212966 137.4298544125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-57488680902663086702021-11-19T02:05:00.003+01:002021-11-19T02:05:00.192+01:00A look into the Edge of Eternity<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5550 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5550" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="edge1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg" data-orig-size="800,600" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/a-look-in-edge-of-eternity/edge1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg 800w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-400x300.jpg?crop=1 400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-200x150.jpg?crop=1 200w" height="632" sizes="(max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1.jpg 800w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-400x300.jpg?crop=1 400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge1-200x150.jpg?crop=1 200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="842" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-time-is-the-moving-image-of-eternity" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Time is the moving image of Eternity.</em></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Love games like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of_the_Wild" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Breath of The Wild</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni_no_Kuni" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Ni-No-Kuni</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_(video_game)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Final Fantasy</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_Zero_Dawn" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Horizon Zero Dawn</a>? Want to pick up a JRPG, go on a journey, laugh and cry together? Well, that’s what I found happening to myself when I picked up Edge of Eternity. Created and developed by indie group <a href="http://www.midgar-studio.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Midgar studio</a>, it promises to give you, the player a good kick up feels lane. Some of the fans who partook in the beta program insisted that this exciting new <a href="https://geektogeekmedia.com/geekery/video-games/what-is-a-jrpg-definition-japanese-jrpgs-game/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">JRPG </a>title is “one of the best”. So, is it? Let’s dive in and take a look.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Edge of Eternity’s story starts off heavy and dark and follows a linear questline. It is a world enshrouded in magic, mysteries, and, as you would have it, a pandemic. This virus, “The Corrosion”, originates from an interstellar species currently waging war against humans. Their knowledge and technology far advance our own, and they used this to their advantage to set siege on the mystical land. What’s more, the “Corrosion” takes over the body of the victim and kills the person or organism it has infected from the inside. If you think that’s the worst of it, you have another thing coming. The victim becomes a new host for the predator.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-sacrifice" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sacrifice.</strong></em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Now you, the player, comes into the picture. You are Daryon, fighting against extinction as a soldier. Your platoon is the last hope of humanity. I won’t spoil very much, but the prologue is immensely heartbreaking. But in saying that, one particular thing didn’t make sense to me. This was during a particular cutscene at the beginning, where a character cuts a chain on a down drawbridge. It isn’t going to make it go up. It’s meant to go down!!! Despite some of those small issues, it’s pretty straightforward. After the prologue, you meet up with your sister, Selene. This is when you find out that your mother has caught the Corrosion. She has a few days left to live. Your sister, now a priestess, claims that someone knows a way to cure the Corrosion. Together, you set off towards the edge, looking for a cure.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5551 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5551" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="edge2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg" data-orig-size="1919,1079" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/a-look-in-edge-of-eternity/edge2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1079" sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1919" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-everything-that-has-existed-lingers-in-the-eternity" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Everything that has existed, lingers in the Eternity</em></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">One of the first and most prominent things that I’ve noticed about the gameplay, is that it’s a gorgeous and vast open world. It’s filled with plenty of main missions, side quests, items to craft, and things to interact with. Not only is there a map to guide players to the next destination, but there is a tracker on the screen too for all the active things you need to complete. Just like in Breath of the Wild and Genshin Impact, you have a stamina bar for running too. But get this, you don’t get to fully start exploring the world until the first hour into the game. So you’ll have to power through the first hour of content before you can get to explore the wilderness and the world.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">And now, into the fighting, and skill tree mechanics. As stated, it is turn-based. So what you do, is fight monsters or people, and sometimes you get additional conditions to complete on the battlefield. This is so you can acquire extra loot, which can include things like equipment, crystals, battle items, currency and edibles that improve your overall stats. The skill tree (dubbed crystal on the menu) is unlockable, you just need specific items for it. Keep in mind though that slots also only unlock after leveling up. As for the combat system, you’ll quickly notice there is a hexagonal grid-based design. Essentially, you can use a turn to move the character to a hexagonal space on the map, much like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Fire Emblem</a>. Magic-users can attack from afar, but for characters like Daryon who predominantly use the sword, need to be out in the front lines.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5553 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5553" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="edgefight" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg" data-orig-size="1067,600" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/a-look-in-edge-of-eternity/edgefight/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1067px) 100vw, 1067px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg 1067w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight-768x432.jpg 768w" height="600" sizes="(max-width: 1067px) 100vw, 1067px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight.jpg 1067w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edgefight-768x432.jpg 768w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1067" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-let-s-travel-to-the-edge-of-eternity-together" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Let’s travel to the Edge of Eternity together.</em></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Like the older turn-based Final Fantasy games, once you’ve made a decision on what to do, you have to wait until it is your turn again. The combat system was at times pretty refreshing, and sometimes rather frustrating. I found it wonderful that we can use other weapons on the field. It was incredibly frustrating sometimes when entering into a battle, and the enemy UI would spam attacks to the point that it felt like I was watching the count-down till my characters died. I can probably blame this on not always equipping the appropriate equipment and gear, though!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The scenery is truly beautiful. I could look at the environment forever, and I am seriously thinking of using one of my screenshots as a background on the laptop. The art for the characters in the dialog is charming, and such a treat to look at. As for the UI and character models… The character models are mostly ok, but a little disappointing. The animation for expressions looks pretty choppy at times, and sometimes things like characters’ eyes would glitch or flicker. It was a little odd, but the developers are steadily looking to squash any and all bugs that are causing issues like what I’ve mentioned. As of writing this though, I’ve had issues with enemies glitching into walls, and buggy UI that persists where it ought not to.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-all-of-eternity-resides-in-a-moment" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">All of Eternity resides in a moment.</em></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The OST in this title is simply stellar. And it is by no surprise too, when French composer Cédric Menendez and legendary J-RPG composer Yasunori Mitsuda are thrown into the mix. Together, they were able to make a soundtrack that really elevated the whole gaming experience for me, and I thank them both for making this possible. The only drawback, in my opinion, was that the OST is in an .MP3 format (l”ossy” quality), as opposed to .alac or .flac (“lossless” quality). You do lose some of the richness of the music with .MP3, which is a shame. Developers, if you see this, please take this advice into consideration!</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5554 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5554" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="edge3" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg" data-orig-size="1919,1079" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/a-look-in-edge-of-eternity/edge3/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1079" sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/edge3-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1919" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-corrosion-begone" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Corrosion, begone!</em></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So about my experience… To start off, I played on a PS4 controller via Steam. The button mapping on the PS4 controller was a bit confusing at first, and I might need to mess around with this more! I found this to be especially true when accessing attack and magic! Didn’t take long to get used to it though, so that was a relief! You can choose in steam to continue saving from launch, which can bypass the main menu, or launch regularly. The <a href="https://www.eoegame.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">website</a> recommends that you have the following graphic settings to run it smoothly. I was happy to see that for my gaming laptop, I was able to run it on optimal settings. I am having a lot of fun exploring the world, and I will continue to do so over the coming weeks!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So, back to the question at the beginning of the review. Is this JRPG “one of the best”? Actually, it’s got a lot of potentials to be, bugs asides. Worth your money? Hell yes! You can tell there’s a lot of love put into this title, by the developers. It’s a kind of game that makes me feel good playing it. I am beyond excited to see what will happen in the coming months with updates. Granted, there are a few bugs that need fine-tuning, but I think that Midgar studios are more than capable of smoothing it out. Is it worth the price at this point in time? I think so, personally! There’s a lot of content in this game, and as it stands you can get a good 50+ hours, and more in.</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can purchase <a href="https://www.eoegame.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Edge of Eternity</a> on Windows and Mac PC’s (<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/269190/Edge_Of_Eternity/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Steam</a>, <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/store/ja/p/edge-of-eternity" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Epic ,</a><a href="https://www.gog.com/game/edge_of_eternity" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">GOG </a>and <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/edge-of-eternity" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Humble Bundle</a>).</em></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">It will later be available at the Playstation Store, Xbox, and more.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-58803393021417635142021-11-12T02:02:00.003+01:002021-11-14T15:09:16.442+01:00What the Dub?! : The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5526 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5526" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="hero-1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg" data-orig-size="1089,613" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/what-the-dub-review/hero-1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1089px) 100vw, 1089px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg 1089w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1-768x432.jpg 768w" height="613" sizes="(max-width: 1089px) 100vw, 1089px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1.jpg 1089w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/hero-1-768x432.jpg 768w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1089" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-no-one-can-dub-you-with-dignity-that-is-yours-alone-to-claim" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">No-one can dub you with dignity. That is yours alone to claim.</strong></em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Love bad lip readings? Ever muted the TV, and dubbed your own lines into a TV show or movie? With a concept very similar to <a href="https://www.jackboxgames.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Jackbox</a>, <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1495860/What_The_Dub/?l=japanese" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">What the Dub?! </a>wows the audience and gives us the chance to re-cast some lines from older tv shows we are not acquainted in. It’s also rather nostalgic to me too in a personal sense, since it reminds me of a machine me and my sister used in Disney world to dub some words from the popular Bambi movie.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The premise is simple. Meet up with a group of friends or stream online. Boot up the game, set up the rules in options, and get your mates to insert a room code and their own quirky username. Watch some random clips from old movies or TV shows, and think “how can I make this better?”. Then, with a set amount of time provided for by the game, write down whatever comes to your mind and share that with the world. Couple the fascinating new dialogue with a range of sound effects too. Read everyone’s prompts, and laugh your ass off as you vote for which you think is the best.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5527 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5527" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="WTD_Asset2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/what-the-dub-review/wtd_asset2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WTD_Asset2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-how-much-dub-would-a-dubstep-step-if-a-dubstep-could-step-dub" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">How much dub would a dubstep step, if a dubstep could step dub.</strong></em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">For “What the Dub”, you can play with up to 12 other people. You can play either locally or use streams/screen sharing to connect with remote players. Since I am using a Nintendo Switch, my review will pertain to the experience I’ve had playing the title on this device. Moreover, I do not own a capture card, so I am unable to stream the game online and play with friends or family that way. So instead, I will refer to the experience I’ve had playing locally with friends and my partner. The game is about 1.2GB in size, and upon launching it you get a rather familiar, almost Jackbox-esque feel to the game. The start-up screen presents us with a website. This website can be used by players to connect with a mobile device or computer. So you enter your name and the room code.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Up to 12 players can participate, with 6 of those who actively play, and 6 passively voting. At minimum, the game will allow you to play with 3 people, so for couples looking to do this together, you will need a third person or 2 extra set of arms. Once confirming everyone is in, and you click start, you’re then treated to a scene with a key line of dialogue removed. It is up to you to change this to whatever you want. Then comes the timer and the text entry on the phone or computer. Uh oh! Time has run out! Now the scene will play again. But this time comes new dialogue, with text-to-speech doing the job of acting out what you wrote. Everyone will make votes based on what they have seen, and those with the highest points, of course, wins!</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5528 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5528" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/what-the-dub-review/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="720" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/70afa69d576e23978f2ebdf16d2663da73217eaf99852789ee7e26c78cd6cbdb-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1280" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-hello-yes-this-is-dub" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Hello? Yes, this is dub.</strong></em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The game heavily relies on comedic abilities and talent, as well as the ability to think on your feet. For my friends and my partner, this instantaneously became a party favorite as we are able to do this. It doesn’t matter if you are 5 or 90, this game is for everyone. I noticed that there was an option in settings that could extend the time for writing out the dialogue but left it untouched. We felt as a group it would ruin the momentum to spend a long time writing out prompts. Sometimes it’s the typos that elevate what is already a funny dialogue to a hilarious one.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So… About “What the Dub?!”. It genuinely feels like it could be one of the JackBox mini-games. In fact, if you showed this to me with no context whatsoever, I would have absolutely been convinced that it was related to JackBox in some form or another. The game was a ton of fun to play. There are some small caveats, such as being unable to replay the scene before writing the dialogue, and not as many sound effects as I would have liked. There’s a lot of replayability, but, only when family or friends are around. If you and your family/friends are into re-dubbing and love comedy, then this is the game for you all!</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can purchase What the Dub?! on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1495860/What_The_Dub/?l=japanese" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PC (Steam)</a>.</em></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can also purchase it for the <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP5807-CUSA26985_00-0101776665121890#:~:text=What%20The%20Dub%3F!%20is,vote%20on%20the%20best%20one." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PS4, PS5,</a> <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/what-the-dub-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a> and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/what-the-dub/9nlsm9vb1j3r" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox</a>.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-63602522586746228772021-11-05T02:02:00.003+01:002021-11-14T15:08:14.620+01:00Moving out - Movers in Paradise: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5417 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5417" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="moving-out-dlc" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg" data-orig-size="1400,700" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/moving-out-movers-in-paradise-review/moving-out-dlc/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc-1200x600.jpg 1200w" height="700" sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/moving-out-dlc-1200x600.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1400" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-today-is-the-day" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">Today is the day!</em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Greetings readers! Have you been meaning to find a game to challenge friends with? How about a puzzle party game that has you competing against the clock? If so, Moving out: Movers in Paradise has got all that you could want. It is a generous new DLC for the original title <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/996770/Moving_Out/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Moving Out</a>, a cooperative frantic co-op moving simulation game launched on April 28th, 2020! The theme is none other than… moving houses! It is developed by <a href="https://www.devm-games.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">DevM Games</a>, <a href="https://www.smgstudio.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">SMG Studio</a>, and published by <a href="https://www.team17.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Team 17</a>. With that out of the way… let’s look at what <a href="https://www.team17.com/moving-out-movers-in-paradise-dlc-announcement/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Moving out: Movers in Paradise</a> is all about!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The premise of the Moving out: Movers in Paradise is simple enough. You take on the role of a house mover. You along with many others have the distinguished title of F.A.R.Ts (Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technicians, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">not the other thing!!!</a>). Everyone needs to work together to move tons of clunky and awkward furniture, all the while combating a very fascinating physics system. So the faster you complete your tasks, the better your score would be. There are many missions that have optional side quests, that once completed, can unlock special arcade levels to play by yourself or with friends.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5418 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5418" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/moving-out-movers-in-paradise-review/1-2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-home-is-not-a-place-it-s-a-feeling" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">Home is not a place, it’s a feeling.</em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Onto the gameplay! To start, Moving out: Movers in Paradise holds the inherent power to destroy basically any friendship for a moment. Interestingly, it is playable with 1 to 4 players in local co-op, however, sadly online play is not available at this point in time. The game is set in a sunnier locale, where you can try different things and avoid new hazards. So, what is your role? Move a bunch of furniture and appliances from interior buildings to a removal truck as seamlessly as possible. You and your friends will compete against the clock to fill that truck of yours with everything that has been requested. Depending on how your run went, you will be issued either a bronze, silver or gold rank.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Moving out: Movers in Paradise adds about 24 exhilarating levels. In addition, four new movers who can be played in the original levels have been added, and a horde of thematically wacky obstacles and enemies have been added too. Also, the core gameplay isn’t as simple as just moving furniture. You also have to contend with a variety of outlandish hazards, puzzles, and interesting environments while you do it.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5419 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5419" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/moving-out-movers-in-paradise-review/2-2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-happiness-doesn-t-have-just-one-address" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">Happiness doesn’t have just one address…</em></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Moving out: Movers in Paradise is very vibrant and unique in its presentation. The theme seems to be tropical and laid back! This reflected in the environment around the F.A.R.Ts. Every stage that is displayed looks interesting, unique, and fun. So much so in fact, that you will be continuously trying to solve the puzzle and not be bored by it. Also, the soundtrack complements the tropical Caribbean vibe. You are able to enjoy the sounds of birds twittering about, as well as the calming ocean waves lapping up against the beach in the background. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">With all that said, what are my impressions…? Well, for starters, I had oodles of fun playing this title with my partner. I found myself cursing a lot as I attempted to figure out several puzzles, and couldn’t stop laughing. We think that the puzzles and the levels are very creative. A small caveat however is the fact that, with most party games, there are not as many hours of content that you can plow across. Especially if you are playing this by yourself, which is a royal shame but to be expected. However, with the price being what it is, I believe this to be an absolute steal and I think people should give it a try.</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can purchase <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1464740/Moving_Out__Movers_in_Paradise/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Moving out: Movers in Paradise</a> on PC (Steam).</em></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can also purchase it on the <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-hr/product/EP4064-CUSA17675_00-MOVINGOUT0000002?scope=sceapp" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Playstation Store</a>, <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/moving-out-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Store</a> and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/moving-out-movers-in-paradise/9pnl283cst81" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox</a>.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-79381471739306171292021-10-29T03:00:00.003+02:002021-11-14T15:07:22.226+01:00Gnosia: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/ar71a.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/ar71a.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-n-s-the-faculty-of-perceiving-and-recognizing" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;"><i>「Nō’sē-ă」- the faculty of perceiving and recognizing.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s imagine the following. Say that there are a group of individuals on a spaceship. But… something is off. Your crew is always on edge. Why is that…? That’s because at least one of them does not belong in the crew, and is an imposter. The imposter is harmless… right? Wrong. These are former humans, infected with an alien presence. Their goal? Killing humans. These former humans will try to hide their identity, manipulate and sabotage the lives of those on the ship. To prevent this, the crew must hold meetings and diplomatically vote off the one they think is fake.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So who and what are we talking about? Some of you may think <a href="https://innersloth.com/gameAmongUs.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Among Us</a>, but not really. It’s Gnosia, a visual RPG novel originally released on the PS Vita in 2019. Recently, however, it has made its way onto the Nintendo Switch. It has a lot of wonderful features, from a diverse cast to beautiful artwork. Though the premise may seem simple, it actually is deceptively dark and deep.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5338 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5338" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="ooo" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg" data-orig-size="940,529" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/gnosia-review/ooo/" data-sizes="(max-width: 934px) 100vw, 934px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg 940w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo-768x432.jpg 768w" height="526" sizes="(max-width: 934px) 100vw, 934px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo.jpg 940w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ooo-768x432.jpg 768w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="934" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-ad-astra-per-aspera" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Ad astra per aspera</strong>.</i></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The story starts off immediately after finishing character creation. Before you know it, you’re in a meeting deciding the fate of the crew. You have no memories of anything before this and have very little information to go on. However, you’re told that you have to make a decision and to do it quickly. You have to decide on who seems the most suspicious, then send them off to deep sleep. There’s a little bit of RNG in your decision-making. Depending on how it plays out you may end up being put down quickly. As a result, Gnosia escapes their fate, free to kill. It is only when you die or survive that first round, you find out you are in a murder mystery and are stuck in a <a href="https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/02/soapbox_timeloop_games_are_strangely_comforting_in_times_like_these" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">time loop</a>. Thankfully you’re not alone. Setsu, another crew member, is also stuck in this sci-fi groundhog day with you.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s talk about the gameplay! Before you start off, you’ll be given a chance to name your character, assign gender/non binary, and add a set of points into any of the following: Charisma, Intuition, Logic, Charm, Performance and Stealth. When levelling any of these up, you have the chance to unlock actions that can help you to survive. Each “<a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeLoop" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">loop</a>” is a game, and depending on how it plays out it can be short or long. The Gnosia changes from person to person each loop. In your first few loops, you will find that more roles are mentioned. You have crew members that are Doctors, Engineers and Guardian Angels. There are enemy roles too. In addition to Gnosia, there are AC Followers, and a “bug” that can destroy the world.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ewlt_xcVoAIRi82?format=jpg&name=large" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-a-tantalizing-social-werewolf-turned-single-player-graphical-adventure-game" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;"><i>A tantalizing social “Werewolf” turned single-player graphical adventure game.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Once you get through your first few loops, you will meet Yuriko. She’s kind of the person who finishes your “tutorial loops” run. Now, you will also be held under suspicion by your crew. Once you play through more runs, you will obtain EXP and unlock various interactions to progress the story. You’ll also eventually unlock a mode where you can choose the conditions of the murder mystery and choose your role.The one thing I felt could have done a little better was the music. There could have been more variety in my opinion. There were a couple of moments where I turned down the audio and used my own music. Sadly there were moments where the OST felt a little too repetitive. Asides from this small caveat, there’s nothing else I’ve had issues with.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">I absolutely adore this game for all that it is. Though the concept may sound really similar to Among Us, they couldn’t be more different from one another. The story hooked me. They don’t give you everything right away. However, you get the gist of what happens through small drips of information scattered through each run. It was fun changing roles between the human and Gnosia sides, and getting to learn about the different roles each person has. And nothing stayed the same either. There’s an insane amount of replay value in this title, as well as cute and memorable characters! Definitely grab and play Gnosia if you have the chance, you won’t regret it!</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can purchase and play Gnosia on the <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/gnosia-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a>.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-3875822515051137852021-10-22T02:57:00.003+02:002021-11-14T15:06:22.217+01:00Yakuza Kiwami 2: The Review<p> <span style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; transition-delay: 0ms; transition-duration: 400ms; transition-property: opacity;"><img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/qebmlcrdoqtwsqydd29f.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/qebmlcrdoqtwsqydd29f.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-war-will-consume-the-east-and-the-west" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i>War will consume the East and the West. </i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Welcome back, to the wonderful world of Yakuza! Today we will review and discuss <a href="https://sega.jp/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Sega </a>and <a href="http://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Ryu Ga Gotoku’s</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_Kiwami_2" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza Kiwami 2.</a> Chronologically <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/yakuza-games-in-order-by-release-date-in-chronological-order-and-ranked" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">speaking</a>, it’s the 3rd title in the series, and is also a remake of the PS2 version! This remake came out in December 2017, 11 years after its original PS2 debut! For those uninitiated to the series, please check out my previous review here on <b>Yakuza 0</b>, and also give that title a chance! The developers have once again outdone themselves by giving fans more of that sweet sweet action-adventure experience in the strange and dark world of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The story is set in the familiar streets of Kamurocho and Sōtenbori, fictional districts recreated from Tokyo’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukich%C5%8D" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kabukichō </a>and Osaka’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Dtonbori" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Dōtonbori</a>. Kiwami 2 is set in 2006, and it’s a year after the events of Kiwami 1. It follows the now already established <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Kazuma_Kiryu" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kiryuu Kazuma</a>. He’s now a 4th <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Tojo_Clan" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Tojo Clan</a> Chairman and <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Kazuma_Kiryu" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Dragon of Dojima</a>. Once again, he finds himself in the middle of a sticky situation. This time, however, Kiryuu receives a request for help from his former group, the <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Tojo_Clan" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Tojo Clan</a>, to keep relationships with the western group, the <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Omi_Alliance" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Omi Alliance</a>. He must also find a new 5th chairman for the Tojo Clan since the previous had been murdered. As he ventures into unchartered territory, Kiryuu encounters various rivals and runs into a Korean syndicate working from within the shadows.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/ywgv0zxrsocslwbkir8b.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/ywgv0zxrsocslwbkir8b.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-the-wheels-are-already-spinning" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i>The wheels are already spinning.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s touch on the gameplay, shall we? For starters, I felt that the UI from start to finish is really clean and easy to understand. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is the third game that uses the new Dragon Engine and the gameplay felt really fluid. It’s really addictive to be able to explore the open world and interact with side quests, enemies, and mini-games. It does not operate that much differently from Yakuza 0. One notable difference though is the stat building. Rather than Yakuza 0’s “invest in stats with cold hard cash”, you gain experience points to feed into your stats. It can either be through engaging in various activities or filling Kiryuu up with food. Therefore, you can spend these points to buy Kiryu new moves, enhance stats and even acquire the ability to obtain more experience points or money.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">And with that said, let’s discuss graphics. The new Dragon Engine’s refined and better than ever, and now much better than the PS2’s predecessor. Additionally, I was keeping a steady 60fps on an Asus Nitro Gaming Laptop running a GPU of 1050, with medium settings all around. At times I did notice a couple of dips in the fps. This only happened when I entered a couple of particular areas in Kamurocho. I often notice in that area that there are more NPC’s and stuff happening in that area.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/iodd6zzceqq5jkufxpcz.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/iodd6zzceqq5jkufxpcz.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-there-s-that-smile" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i>There’s that smile…</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">One of the many things I love about the series is the music. With talented composers such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidenori_Shoji" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Hidenori Shoji</a>, it’s hard to go wrong. The OST was a real treat to listen to! Moreover, each track matched up well with the scene shown. I never once felt that the OST didn’t match with the main or sub-story. If anything, I felt pumped whenever I played and the OST helped with this.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">I felt that the overall story is one of the best in the series. We have an intimidating and memorable villain, and it still remains the case even after, uh, his pant thief episode on Yakuza 0’s substory. I had so much fun playing Kiwami 2, and will be coming back again to play it. Due to there being so much to do, the replay value will be more than worth the money you put into the game. Don’t be afraid about the numbering next to the Yakuza title! I can assure you that the game will help bring you up to the speed of the events in no time at all. If you like action JRPGs, Japanese games, and so on, give this title a chance!</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_Kiwami_2" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza Kiwami 2</a> on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/927380/Yakuza_Kiwami_2/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PC (Steam)</a>.</em></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can also buy it on <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/yakuza-kiwami-2/9pbjl0nlfmk9" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox</a>, and the <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0177-CUSA10634_00-YAKUZAKIWAMI0002" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Playstation Store (PS4)</a>.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-39476506724878388262021-10-15T02:56:00.005+02:002021-11-14T15:04:14.516+01:00Alpaca All-Stars: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5326 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5326" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Alpaca-ballz" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/alpaca-ball-allstars-review/alpaca-ballz/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Alpaca-ballz-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-no-more-crying-on-the-field-after-a-tackle-it-s-an-alpacalypse" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">No more crying on the field after a tackle?! It’s</strong> <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">an Alpacalypse!</strong></i></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Ladies and gentlemen, Alpaca lovers, fans of wacky physics-based party games and soccer/football alike, today, I bring you… <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Alpaca Ball: Allstars.</strong> Firstly, let’s look at this title! I bet most of you (like myself) will wonder how the developers came up with the title and overall concept. Origin stories for things like this are always a fun read after all! Alpaca Ball: Allstars first came to be in October 2020, with <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.saltcastlestudio.com/alpacaball/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Salt Castle Studio</a></strong>, <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://leoful.com/alpaca-ball-allstars-en/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Leoful</a></strong>, and <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://badlandpublishing.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Badland Publishing</a></strong> being responsible for this (not that it’s a bad thing mind you!). The game promises you, yes you, a chance to fight your way to the top and win the cup, in a kind of Rocket League style. Because really, it doesn’t matter if you use absurd or chaotic means to do so. So stick that fluffy neck of yours out, and assert dominance against your enemies on the field.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">As part and parcel with your typical party games, the title offers a solo (career) campaign or a co-op (versus) mode of up to 8 players for you and your friends. In addition, there’s a little interesting story to be had here with the solo campaign. In other words, you are a small-timer Alpaca, looking to enter into the big soccer/football league. With the support of your family, friends, and your fluffy neck, you charge your way across various matches to try and grab the soccer/football cup!</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/sc8lks.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/sc8lks.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-can-t-use-your-feet-no-prob-llama-use-your-head" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;"><i>Can’t use your feet? No prob-llama! Use your head!</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">At last, it is time to explore the gameplay! The premise of the game will always remain the same as your typical soccer/football game. Which is, of course, to score more goals than your opponent(s). There’s the option to duke it out 1 v 1 all the way to 4 v 4 play. You’d be please to know the game does in fact offer a remote play function. This way, it’ll allow friends who do not own the game to join in on the fun. The control scheme is pretty simple too, and each button serves a function for you to ram and smash your way into opponents, and nab that ball off them! The movement however does seem a little clumsy and messy, but one shouldn’t expect too much cohesiveness from a game operating with ragdoll mechanics. The chaos after all is part of the fun!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Time to talk about the graphics and boy is it adorable. Hmm… to describe the Alpacas bashing into things, it’s kind of like watching a jiggly pudding. Or watching something really fluffy bounce off things. It’s very satisfying to watch. There’s a great variety of designs in the 10 arenas, and a vibrant-looking map and UI interface to match with it. The characters also have a range of designs too, however, I would have liked to have seen more wacky and wild designs. In saying that though… I enjoyed what I was seeing, from the colorful, cutesy cartoon look the game has to offer, to the ragdoll mechanics that provided some hilarious distorted images during gameplay.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="lazyloaded" data-src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/sc8lku.png" src="https://images.igdb.com/igdb/image/upload/t_original/sc8lku.png" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-an-alpaca-a-day-keeps-the-ball-in-play" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;">An Alpaca a day keeps the ball in play.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Now, about that soundtrack, I’ve been listening to. For starters, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the music that came from the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GXp7cSjmts" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">start-up menu</a>. I felt that the music was appropriate and it definitely put me in that competitive soccer/football mood. The developers did an excellent job at preserving the South-American theme of the game. They were also able to keep the music very light, festive, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Carnival#:~:text=The%20Carnival%20of%20Brazil%20(Portuguese,forty%2Dday%20period%20before%20Easter.&text=Rhythm%2C%20participation%2C%20and%20costumes%20vary,region%20of%20Brazil%20to%20another." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">carnival-like</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">All in all, I had a blast playing Alpaca Ball: Allstars, and I think others will too. It gave me a similar kind of fun vibe to playing titles such as <a href="https://goose.game/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Untitled Goose Game</a>, <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/285900/Gang_Beasts/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Gang Beasts</a>, <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1260320/Party_Animals/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Party Animals</a>, <a href="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/fall-guys-review/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Fall Guys</a>, and <a href="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/among-us-review/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Among Us</a>. While I felt there could have been some more content and updates, it makes up for it by being what it is. That is, a fun, charming, and wild arcade party game! Is it worth the price tag? …I think once some more content and updates are added in there, yes.</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can purchase Alpaca Ball: Allstars on the <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/alpaca-ball-allstars-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a>.</em></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can also purchase it for the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1232640/Alpaca_Ball_Allstars/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PC (Steam) </a>Playstation, Xbox and more.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-48873327282651462382021-10-08T02:54:00.003+02:002021-11-14T15:02:57.148+01:00Call of the Sea: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5272 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5272" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork-scaled-e1613368536663.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork-scaled-e1613368536663.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork-scaled-e1613368536663.jpg" data-orig-size="1310,960" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/call-of-the-sea-review/call-of-the-sea-artwork/" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork-scaled.jpg" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-Artwork-scaled.jpg" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-the-sea-it-calls-to-me" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The sea… it calls to me</strong>.</i></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Today, let’s discuss a rather fascinating title, set in the year <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">1938</a>. It’s a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puzzle_video_game" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">puzzle</a>/mystery <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_room" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">escape room</a> (well, island) game from developers <a href="https://outbluegames.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Out Of The Blue</a> and <a href="http://rawfury.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Raw Fury</a>. For those of you who like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Lovecraft</a>, “<strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_the_Sea_(video_game)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Call Of The Sea</a></strong>” contains some hints of this throughout the story. You are Nora Everhart, a woman with a mysterious illness that shows itself on your skin. Your husband, Harry Everhart, has gone missing in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">South Pacific</a>. Soon, you receive a clue in the form of a letter, and it’s from Harry himself! But… where did he go? Furthermore, <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarriageTropes" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">why didn’t he tell you anything</a>? Determined to find out what happened, you set out on a journey to find your significant other.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">For those who are curious, there are 6 chapters in total, and for the average gameplay, it would take roughly 5-6 hours to complete. When I initially started playing Call of The Sea, I was happy to see that they provided players the option of using either full controller support or the trusty keyboard. Additionally, there are various options in settings that can optimize your gameplay. Walking into this island felt magical, and I was in awe with the attention to detail on the scenery and puzzles throughout each chapter. Collecting clues for the puzzles were a blast, and finding out what happened to Harry’s crew added to the tense feeling that there’s more to Nora’s illness than meets the eye.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5273 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5273" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg" data-orig-size="1400,700" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/call-of-the-sea-review/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles-1200x600.jpg 1200w" height="700" sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/call-of-the-sea-chapter-4-puzzles-1200x600.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1400" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-dear-old-pal" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;"><i>“Dear old pal…”</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">I did, however, keep experiencing motion sickness. This was even after tweaking the settings a number of times. I felt it was a combination of the color scheme, the 30fps frame lock, and the motion blur. When I searched the internet to see if this was a common issue, I was surprised to find out that many like myself were also experiencing this. It would take about half an hour to an hour before I started feeling sick during gameplay. I feel bad for saying this, but I felt miserable whenever the <a href="https://i.imgur.com/32EySwI.gif" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">motion sickness</em> </a>triggered mid-gameplay.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The environment and graphics are truly captivating in this title. The art style is stunning, and so are the graphics. Each location could make a good desktop screenshot! Each section traversed feels more like a feast to the eyes than say, something tolerable. There were a few moments when your character, Nora, would speak and it would not match with the imagery at all, but that was pretty rare.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5274 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5274" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Call-of-the-Sea-2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/call-of-the-sea-review/call-of-the-sea-2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Call-of-the-Sea-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-it-all-started-with-an-illness" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;"><i>“It all started with an illness…”</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Call Of The Sea has a wonderful and diverse mix in regards to the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1475490/Call_of_the_Sea_Soundtrack/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">music</a>. It’s a beautiful mix of romance, adventure, melancholy, and adventure. I feel that the soundtrack truly helps with setting the mood of the game. Especially while you are transported to the ominous unnamed island.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">And now, for the verdict. I think that Call of the Sea is a beautiful game. It is jam-packed with puzzles, mesmerizing sceneries, and a captivating storyline. There was one small issue for me though. The <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://i.imgflip.com/1dq82n.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">motion sickness</a></em>. It ruined part of the magic for me, as I had to take frequent breaks throughout the playthrough. I normally never get sick like this while playing games. Is it a good value for money? I think so if you are a completionist! I believe that it’s replayable only due to the two possible endings. There’s not much replayability after that.</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><i>You can play Call Of The Sea on PC: <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1042490/Call_of_the_Sea/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Steam</a>.</i></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><i>You can also play it on <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/call-of-the-sea" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox series X, S and One</a>.</i></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-78514584726945815762021-10-01T02:47:00.004+02:002021-10-01T02:47:00.203+02:00Haven: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5218 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5218" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Haven-Logo" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png" data-orig-size="3507,1918" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/haven-review/haven-logo/" data-sizes="(max-width: 3507px) 100vw, 3507px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png 3507w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-768x420.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-1536x840.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-2048x1120.png 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-1200x656.png 1200w" height="1918" sizes="(max-width: 3507px) 100vw, 3507px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo.png 3507w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-768x420.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-1536x840.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-2048x1120.png 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haven-Logo-1200x656.png 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="3507" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-escape-to-a-lost-planet-with-your-significant-other" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;">Escape to a lost planet with your significant other.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">For a healthy relationship to work, support is essential. No matter how crazy things may become, the support of your partner will always help keep you strong. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haven_(video_game)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Haven </a>is an affectionate, sci-fi adventure, 3rd party co-op RPG, and survivalist game. Developed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_Bakers" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">The Game Bakers</a> in 2020, it recently made its way onto Nintendo Switch. The game focuses equally on exploration and romance between an unlikely couple, for both the good times and the bad. It’s got the gameplay of <a href="https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Persona_(Series)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Persona</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Journey</a>, and the graphics of <a href="https://nomanssky.gamepedia.com/No_Man%27s_Sky_Wiki" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">No-Man’s Sky</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Rush" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Gravity Rush</a>. All games I’ve adored in the past. So! Strap on your anti-gravity boots, grab some grub and take a seat as we discuss “Haven”.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Somewhere…. among the infinite stars, lies a safe, beautiful yet uninhabited pastel-colored planet called “Source”. After crashing their spacecraft (lovingly called “Nest”) on the source, the couple starts living out their days on the Source together. Though it is a gorgeous location, it’s also a dangerous area. Hostile wildlife is often found roaming between floaty mountains, and won’t take kindly to visitors. In saying this though, the Source is a safe “haven” for Yu and Kay. Both are lovebird escapees from an oppressive society called the “Apiary”. The “Apiary” is an interplanetary organization that dictated the lives of many individuals including their own. They do this through “matchmaking” individuals based on statistics rather than feelings.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5219 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5219" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="haven-fight" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/haven-review/haven-fight/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-1200x675.png 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven-fight-1200x675.png 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-there-is-always-some-madness-in-love-but-there-is-also-always-some-reason-in-madness" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;">There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">With “Haven” you can play as either of the lovers, Yu or Kay. You’ll also have the ability to switch out interchangeably between the two as you explore the world together. Together, you will gather food to eat, materials for building your “Nest”, and purify beasties corrupted by “rust”. Picking the expedition leader requires no more than pressing a simple button, something which pleased me greatly. Unlike Death Stranding, you’re not subjected to hours and hours of walking. Instead, the couple have equipped some snazzy anti-gravity boots. With these, you can float quickly to various locations, and collect this blue line of energy called “flow”. You can also use this “flow” energy to surf and fly to various locations on the little “islets” across the planet while hunting down resources.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Fighting mechanics are great, intuitive, and fun to get used to. It’s easy to get a feeling of satisfaction as you co-ordinate attacks between both lovers. Choose to defend yourself, blast, impact (either solo or together) or purify the beasties that come your way. You can spend a long day’s work harvesting veggies or swabbing rust. After, the couple can partake in small tasks at their Nest. Their love blossoms not with huge grandiose actions, but with the little things they do daily. For example, if Kay cooks spicy food, something Yu adores, they’ll get experience points as a result of making each other happy.</span></p><div class="wp-block-image is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5220 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5220" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="haven2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/haven-review/haven2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2.jpeg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/haven2-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure></div><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-to-love-at-all-is-to-be-vulnerable" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;">To love at all is to be vulnerable.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The graphics in this game are simply stunning. The color palette of the planet and the immediate surroundings are aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. The soundtrack is also fascinating in its own way, and very soothing. There are interesting undertones as you go from safe areas to areas with hostile creatures nearby.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So with that, let’s talk about the verdict. Is it worth giving Haven a chance? For me, the answer is an unequivocal yes. I had a wonderful experience playing this on the Nintendo Switch both by myself and with my partner in crime. Not only is it a good value for money, but you can feel the love that the developers put into this project as a whole. There’s enough content to keep you and your significant other busy, and it has a beautifully immersive story.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;">You can purchase and experience Haven on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/983970/Haven/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Steam</a>, <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/haven-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a>, <a href="https://store.playstation.com/concept/10000983" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Playstation Store</a> & <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/haven/9nzl91q08xrv" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">XBox Store</a></em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-47292556215395712672021-09-24T02:51:00.006+02:002021-09-24T02:51:00.190+02:00Yakuza 0: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5223 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5223" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="yak0" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg" data-orig-size="1400,700" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/yakuza-0-review/yak0/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0-1200x600.jpg 1200w" height="700" sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0.jpg 1400w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0-768x384.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yak0-1200x600.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1400" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-the-yakuza-game-it-s-not-like-boxing" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>The Yakuza game, it’s not like boxing.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Welcome to the world of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza 0</a>, the prequel and first to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_(series)" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza series</a>. For those uninitiated to the series, Yakuza is a wild ride from start to finish. It is an action-adventure, open-world, beat-em-up arcade brawler jam-packed with tons of mini-games. Nurtured and released by both <a href="https://sega.jp/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Sega </a>and <a href="http://ryu-ga-gotoku.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Ryu Ga Gotoku</a>, this game guarantees to add class, quality and a great time.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">You do not need to worry about playing any of the previous titles as everything will be established here. Yakuza 0 takes place between December 1988 to January 1989, instead of 2005. It is set in the districts of Kamurocho and Sōtenbori, fictional recreations of Tokyo’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukich%C5%8D" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kabukichō </a>and Osaka’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Dtonbori" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Dōtonbori </a>areas respectively. Players will follow the stories of <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Kazuma_Kiryu" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kazama Kiryuu</a> and <a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Goro_Majima" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Goro Majima</a>, two 20-year-old men living in Osaka & Tokyo. Both are similarly trying to make it in this organized crime syndicate that is “Yakuza”. I admire the game’s ability to take <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1pktr9P8q8" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">itself seriously one moment</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz3kZSaVzg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">then going crazy the next</a>. You will spend your time laughing, crying, obsessing with mini-games, and admiring how well-written the overarching plot between the two protagonists.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5224 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5224" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="yakuza-0-pc-review-2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/yakuza-0-review/yakuza-0-pc-review-2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-pc-review-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-the-guy-who-can-t-tough-it-out-to-the-end-he-s-the-one-who-loses" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The guy who can’t tough it out to the end, he’s the one who loses</strong>.</i></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">At its essence, Yakuza primarily follows a beat-em-up style of gameplay but isn’t shy to experiment with various minigames and different mechanics. The campaign itself is single player, however, you do have the option at the start menu to select multiplayer games with others. If you’ve played the older titles (Kiwami I and II), you’ll be happy to hear that the fighting UI is much better, and that cash drops are more generous when taking down an enemy. In addition to this, the difficulty is evenly distributed and provides enough of a challenge no matter what you choose to do. If you were curious about some of the minigames that Yakuza has to offer, it includes some the following:</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px; padding-left: 1.5em;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Running a cabaret club, real estate</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Playing UFO Crane Catching, Arcade Games, Gambling Games, Pool, Casino Games, Darts, Batting Cages, Bowling, Catfight Bets, Pocket Circuit</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Participating in Shogi, Mahjong, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1rem;">Card Collecting</span>, Telephone Club, Karaoke, Disco</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fishing, sneaking challenges, training sessions.</span></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">For levelling the character up, the development team chose a rather interesting approach of using the copious cash gained to spend on <a href="https://www.siliconera.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/YAKUZA0_20170113192800_1.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">“improving yourself”</a>. The self-improvement skill tree is very easy to interact with and very intuitive. Another way you can boost gameplay experience (and not only limited to fighting), is through frequent visits to shrines. Using completion points [CP] from side quests, you can give your character various perks.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5225 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5225" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="yakuza-0-69" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/yakuza-0-review/yakuza-0-69/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yakuza-0-69-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-that-s-rad" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>That’s rad!</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">One of the many aspects that make Yakuza 0 shine above all else, is its overall presentation. They really did a good job with capturing the mood and expressions of each character, right down to the last pore on their face. What’s more, it really doesn’t take long to load assets or characters whenever you enter a new area. This is thanks to the <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://yakuza.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000000195" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Dragon Engine</a></strong>, which is also found in Yakuza 6. Though the open-world is “small” for some, it really feels alive, and vibrant. The cinematic scenes you will encounter will leave you feeling like you’re watching a great movie. And the mid-battle cutscenes? Those are absolutely wild and make for a fun experience.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7czdyDq4Z1U" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">music </a>has to be one of my favourite things about this game. Not only are there many songs that appropriately match the situation, but there are songs that will have you singing and bopping mid-play. There are a few guilty pleasures I do have with respect to my favourite soundtracks. While I’ll not say them here, I’ll leave you to think about what they could be.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So what did I think of Yakuza 0? It quickly became one of my all-time favorite games. I won’t stop playing it anytime soon, and there’s always something to do in-game. Don’t worry about money for value with this game! It’s worth every penny content and quality-wise, and it goes above and beyond with making a memorable experience. Get it, I tell you! I promise you won’t regret it!</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><i>You can purchase <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Yakuza 0</a> via the following platforms: <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0177-CUSA05070_00-YAKUZA0AMERICA00" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PlayStation 4</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/yakuza-0/9npp17lhj3mk" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox One</a>, <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0177-CUSA05070_00-YAKUZA0AMERICA00" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PlayStation 3</a>, <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/897450/The_Survivalists/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Microsoft Windows (Steam)</a>.</i></span></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-37272656785281113632021-09-18T10:46:00.005+02:002021-09-18T10:46:57.636+02:00Reventure - Ending multiple things<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdu_3X5graJORxoAKi_RGgj5Gj0xqrqJqkcK-GtiO9_MdMB9KbDBse9D3pf6Ft7Gj5nu7s2oQKUxxKdkh0xJr1qhDdUkGftFTxEO-T6T5f0moKHpYY2G6I0H_bEQLIqnuuGFokAAK_lFQ/s1280/05e81fad-2d2c-44fc-99c4-928860a12ba2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdu_3X5graJORxoAKi_RGgj5Gj0xqrqJqkcK-GtiO9_MdMB9KbDBse9D3pf6Ft7Gj5nu7s2oQKUxxKdkh0xJr1qhDdUkGftFTxEO-T6T5f0moKHpYY2G6I0H_bEQLIqnuuGFokAAK_lFQ/s320/05e81fad-2d2c-44fc-99c4-928860a12ba2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/reventure?partner=rrvs">Reventure</a>, or re-re-re-re-re-re-re...adventure. Is a quick and easy to pick up RPG platformer that will allow you to finish the game in under a minute. But, you get to do it again,. and again and again a hundred times. Every ending has a different steam achievement and some are quite unique.<p></p><p>If you're just starting the game your quest is basically: Help the princess is kidnapped, get the sword and safe her please! So, you get the sword, and stab the nearest guy you see. The end.</p><p>That was fun! Let's get the sword and stab a guard instead. The end.</p><p>Why that king doesn't look like a friendly fellow, always telling me what to do - *STAB* - The End.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Stabbing crazy</h2>As you can imagine, there aren't a hundred different NPCs to rudely stab in the face and end the game, that would get boring fast. But, there is a shovel, a grappling hook, bombs and various other items to find, and use on the various characters in the game.<div><br /></div><div>What was a less than a minute adventure, suddenly became a multi-hour endeavor. Suddenly it's a puzzle game instead of an RPG. Sure you can grab the sword and run right out of the kingdom over the mountain... Wait you can also go under the mountain? Or through it? Oh, and grabbing an item reduces your jump height. And you can even go left. Hah, yeah that sounds crazy but Reventure is a multi-path 100 different endings game, obviously simply taking the same path to the end is not going to keep you entertained for long.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT97BlJGnJkpivSK_A54b32LoZLXuYIBBMtyEKqf8Wuuj56wV5zE6_9pYtBJQj-5631HOF0aq31NPqiXvT_j8Q-zgXDsQgSGEGC6Q36xu1HNhMJgoo8S-4NKnFhyphenhyphenNpLSASQyyPKbkkTO38/s1920/fisherman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT97BlJGnJkpivSK_A54b32LoZLXuYIBBMtyEKqf8Wuuj56wV5zE6_9pYtBJQj-5631HOF0aq31NPqiXvT_j8Q-zgXDsQgSGEGC6Q36xu1HNhMJgoo8S-4NKnFhyphenhyphenNpLSASQyyPKbkkTO38/w640-h360/fisherman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Secrets</h2><div>The game has secret passages, more than a few even. What seems like a fairly straightforward game quickly becomes a swiss cheese of possibilities, and every so and then you find another route. Like taking the sword opens one path, but closes various others because of the jump height reduction. So, you skip the sword, go another route, take a shovel instead. Some of the secret passageways are easy to find - most will be glaringly obvious in fact and the game does a great job at teaching you about them. Some are more hidden, until you reach the "other side" of a passage. Suddenly you have a whole world full of holes you didn't realize, and skipping to take the sword becomes the most obvious thing in the world.</div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">So, about that princess</h2></div><div>While you were running around stabbing people, that princess was still waiting for you in the dark castle. Yes it's easy to get distracted from the main goal, but she IS a major plot "item", which will unlock a variety of new endings.</div><div>The game has a lot of lovely tongue in cheek humor, which certainly helped keep my interest. Hopefully it does for you as well. The (annoying) princess herself even claims "I hope you're not one of those adventurers who treats women like objects", heh, well, guess what sunshine? You ARE an item!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMzHoaC8Y305lM1i5HjgNcCjEYXukKtc7CieDAGJd_d0sGg36cJ-VEXQCusTzrCySvTvgAOJNFJPfYqYqThUPjxnIt5ZovrCFhG9ubC4u-0-HIG4jvGPaLhn40zOq7Fso0c5RgTiAExzT/s1685/fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1685" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPMzHoaC8Y305lM1i5HjgNcCjEYXukKtc7CieDAGJd_d0sGg36cJ-VEXQCusTzrCySvTvgAOJNFJPfYqYqThUPjxnIt5ZovrCFhG9ubC4u-0-HIG4jvGPaLhn40zOq7Fso0c5RgTiAExzT/w640-h340/fire.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Progress</h2><div>Now, even though the quest itself never changes - you aren't always the same adventurer. If you die, you might die and leave behind your legacy. The world is affected by your actions. Like killing that guard - well, he might be a corpse on the floor forever, just to remind you of what you DID to him.</div><div><br /></div><div>That big fall, or rock crushing you into a pulp? That bloodstain is going to remain there forever! But there are more meaningful changes as well. New portals, extra shortcuts. You won't have to take that entire journey over the mountain, down the hills etc every single time. New pathways are unlocked both through discovery, but also because you did a whole lot of stabbin', and you didnae even need a license to do so.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAhJ0rx6coEBEyQML3YxwSFkeb83h9TPZz1AeSXWpk8XSrBKIki9xo6DKi2p0S3YQUT8XqePr6L0fSy03t5yIaBVC0iMdQZj4DrHs1yW3VreAnOKgBnHGcuPm0jnaOA0b8VMl2EKvtlxT1/s708/dangerous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="708" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAhJ0rx6coEBEyQML3YxwSFkeb83h9TPZz1AeSXWpk8XSrBKIki9xo6DKi2p0S3YQUT8XqePr6L0fSy03t5yIaBVC0iMdQZj4DrHs1yW3VreAnOKgBnHGcuPm0jnaOA0b8VMl2EKvtlxT1/w640-h358/dangerous.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">In the end</h2><div>You're going to stab everyone you see, at least once. Even the princess. Because you're curious if that'll unlock an extra ending. And you'll stab them again, just because you can.</div><div>The game is graphically super-simplistic, and that's perfectly fine. It even adds to the charm.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/reventure?partner=rrvs">Reventure</a> is a very fun game, and was overwhelmingly positive on steam for a long time. That should tell you a lot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Release date: 4 Jun, 2019</div><div>System requirements: Your nokia from 20 years ago could probably run this.</div>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-17015275285556385532021-09-17T02:49:00.015+02:002021-09-17T02:49:00.173+02:00The Survivalists: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5167 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5167" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/the-survivalists-review/attachment/1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-lost-in-a-deserted-island" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>Lost in a deserted island…</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Ever wondered how you’d fare out there in the wilderness, all by yourself? Ever wanted to play a game that reminded you of “The Escapists” if it fused with “Stardew Valley”, “Lost”, “Autonauts” and “Don’t Starve Together”? This is the title for you! The Survivalists is an action-adventure survivalist game. Team 17 both developed and released this title on October 9th, 2020. It follows up from its predecessor, “The Escapists”, where this time you’re washed onto the shores of a mysterious island filled with danger, wonder, and a ton of trained monkey helpers.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Everybody’s story starts out the same. You are washed up on a deserted island with the raft that you were traveling in. Your character appears tired, unkempt, and disheveled. So, what’s your goal? Exploring the uncharted territory of course! By using the items at your disposal to colonize it! After going through the basic tutorial, you finally can choose what you can dedicate your time to. Crafting, collecting items, exploring, or fending for yourself. Though there are so many things you can do around the island, survival is important. Training yourself on efficient ways to survive too. This title isn’t a game that you play for the story, but for feelings of creativity and satisfaction.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5168 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5168" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/the-survivalists-review/attachment/2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="720" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1280" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-don-t-starve-meets-stardew-valley-meets-lost-meets-autonauts" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Don’t Starve meets Stardew Valley meets Lost, meets Autonauts</strong>.</i></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">So now let’s discuss the overall gameplay mechanics for The Survivalist. I was really impressed that the options provided accessible, dyslexic-friendly text, something that is often overlooked across many gaming titles. Basing my experience from playing on the Nintendo Switch, I am happy to state that the UI was clear and easy to interact with. There were some moments where it was sometimes fiddly. For example, when you are training monkeys to automate tasks. You can also play via online multiplayer too, with the option of up to 4 friends! Together, you can populate the island, and unlock various shopping, trading and fishing tasks. Or, you can play solo! Like any survival game, you start off with collating basic materials from rocks, trees and bushes.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">You are also free to explore Zelda-like dungeons and caves, slaying orcs in your wake and acquiring monkey helpers that can help you build various items while you are out and about. In the meanwhile, you also have to worry and fend yourself and your base against thievery and assaults. The gameplay is ultimately down to your endurance and what you want to do with your time.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">There are however, some caveats to take into account. As of writing this review, I have experienced data corruption with my save. It has only happened once, but I had to restart my playthrough from the beginning. This came as quite a bit of a surprise, and I lamented on the hours lost playing the game. I do believe that Team 17 are already aware of this issue, so if anyone else is currently experiencing this, know that they are on the case to resolve this across all platforms.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style-type: none; margin: 2.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid" data-carousel-extra="{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com\/the-survivalists-review\/"}" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="blocks-gallery-item" style="align-self: inherit; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1em; position: relative; width: 1057.81px;"><figure style="align-items: flex-end; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; height: 595.016px; justify-content: flex-start; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5170 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5170" data-comments-opened="1" data-full-url="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" data-id="5170" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="3" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" data-link="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/?attachment_id=5170" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/the-survivalists-review/3-2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-1200x675.png 1200w" height="484" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3.png 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-768x432.png 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-1536x864.png 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3-1200x675.png 1200w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; flex: 1 1 0%; height: 595.016px; max-width: 100%; object-fit: cover; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 1057.81px;" width="860" /></figure></li></ul></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-regular-improvements-continues-to-breathe-life-into-the-game" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>Regular & improvements continues to breathe life into the game.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">As seen in the images, the graphics are cute, functional, and somewhere between the 2D to 3D range. It is vibrant, easy on the eyes, and of course, pixelated. Though certain creatures and terrains look a little on the rough side, everything ran smoothly and I found little to no issues on the graphics front. There’s also a decent amount of customisation in game. While there are some good chiptunes in this title, I cannot in good faith say at this time that the music is great. I am however hopeful for the future and so far am enjoying The Survivalists as a whole.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">All in all, I can hand in my heart say that I had a great time playing this game, despite the small technical issues I had with the save file. What with the regular updates happening soon, I am excited to see what Team 17 has to offer with “The Survivalists”. If you’re looking for that game to pass the time during lockdown, give this title a chance.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><i>You can purchase <a href="https://www.team17.com/games/the-survivalists-2/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">The Survivalists</a> via the following platforms: <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4064-CUSA16273_00-SURVIVALISTS0000" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PlayStation 4</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-survivalists/9n7n7xg4zjfl" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox One</a>, <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0177-CUSA05070_00-YAKUZA0AMERICA00" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a>, <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/638970/Yakuza_0/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Microsoft Windows (Steam)</a></i></span></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-59942048147068917042021-09-13T20:08:00.006+02:002021-09-13T21:45:48.729+02:00Humble Choice September 2021Humble Choice brings you 12 games for a fixed price every month. So, for many people the first Tuesday of the month is Humble Hype day - as a new bundle is released with a semi-random collection of indie games. Sometimes great titles, sometimes less so - but it's generally a pleasant surprise of mixed games for a decent value. Let's look at a few titles for the <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/subscription/september-2021?partner=rrvs">current month</a>.<div><br /></div><div>In general you'd pay about 9-12$ for 12 games depending on the deal you get from Humble when you pause a month. Otherwise it's around 18$ a month. You can always pause, and see whether you like the games - otherwise they unlock and you can simply claim the whole month and get straight to playing.</div><div><br /></div><div><h1>This month's titles</h1></div><div>I'll be honest and tell you I paused this month. There weren't any BIG titles I was interest in, and I've got enough games in the backlog to trade for the ones that looked interesting this month. Still, everyone has different tastes and perhaps you're an avid golf fan. To me the headliner looked rather uninteresting compared to last month.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/pga-tour-2k21?partner=rrvs">PGA tour 2k21</a></div><div>- It's a game about golf. This month's headliner. The graphics, I kid you not - are amazing,. but it's golf. You hit the ball and it flies away. I could literally not care less about this game unless it was on the Epic store.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/neon-abyss?partner=rrvs">Neon abyss</a></div><div>- Now, this one I made sure to get my hands on. 2D platformer, roguelike, graphically sound. Team17 is involved in it somehow - and they're a name I've long kept track of.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/not-for-broadcast?partner=rrvs">Not for broadcast</a></div><div>- Dystopian, point and click adventure - early access. Kind of looks weird but the reviews on steam are very good. Not my kind of game though.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/roki?partner=rrvs">Röki</a></div><div>- An adventure rich story based puzzle game. Very cute, worth keeping an eye on - or just trading for it.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/narita-boy?partner=rrvs">Narita boy</a></div><div>- A 2D retro action platformer with some weird glow effect going on just to be "different". I wish they'd just gone with 2D and skipped the glow. Who knows you can turn it off - but for me it just feels like it's trying too hard.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/west-of-dead?partner=rrvs">West of dead</a></div><div>- Cell shaded (you know, 3D but looks 2D) roguelike western. It's an action shooter, and it looks sexy as heck. The steam reviews are above average, but maybe that's wishful thinking - still, it looks nice and feels very atmospheric.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/atomicrops?partner=rrvs">Atomicrops</a></div><div>- This was one I just HAD to get my hands on asap. I saw one of our GGP members (Hitsu) playing this puppy earlier, and it looked stupid fun. 2D shooter farm sim. It's only a year since release and somehow made it into HBC. Get it!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/774201/Heavens_Vault/">Heaven's vault</a></div><div>- Narrated story driven puzzle adventure, there's a few tags that blend well together. Graphically sound and good reviews.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/swag-and-sorcery?partner=rrvs">Swag and sorcery</a></div><div>- Looks better than it is according to the steam reviews - but still, it does look good. Reviews on steam are "mixed", so handle with care. It's cheap enough on it's own however, so shouldn't be too hard to trade for.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/612570/Fort_Triumph/">Fort triumph</a></div><div>- Turn based tactical RPG. Good fun, but turn based,. well - I've just not got the patience for these anymore unless they're REALLY good.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/orwell-ignorance-is-strength?partner=rrvs">Orwell: ignorance is strength</a></div><div>- Dystopian, political sim with choices matter. Similar in a way to Not for broadcast above.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/framed-collection?partner=rrvs">Framed collection</a></div></div><div>- A stylished panel by panel heist/noir adventure puzzle with the casual tag. Has a retro 60s feel to it, lots of black and white, but colored backgrounds.</div><div><h2>Bombchu</h2><div>For a more in-depth review about this month, I'd like to present you with the Bombchu crew review. They do a good job at playing all the games for a while and really getting you a good idea of what to expect this month from <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/subscription/september-2021?partner=rrvs">Humble Choice</a>.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="323" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5aDjwamVtDU" width="502" youtube-src-id="5aDjwamVtDU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div>bbrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11741016115615619264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-58703244026833823252021-09-10T02:47:00.003+02:002021-09-10T03:27:41.238+02:00Golf With Your Friends: The Review<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5076 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5076" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="deep1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep1.jpg" data-orig-size="616,353" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/golf-with-your-friends-review/deep1/" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep1.jpg" height="533" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep1.jpg" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="930" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-why-have-friends-if-not-to-play-golf-with-your-friends" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>Why have friends if not to play Golf… With Your Friends!</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Golf With Your Friends is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_golf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">crazy golf</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_video_game" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">simulation game</a> developed and published by <a href="http://www.blacklightinteractive.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Blacklight Interactive</a>, and it first came to shelves on January 2016. The idea of this game is similar to golf IRL, where you complete levels while attempting to achieve the lowest score in order to win. If there’s one thing I like more than Golf… it’s Crazy Golf. With this particular title, golfing will be as crazy as it gets, with huge tunnels, ramps and various deadly traps to boot. You’ll be raging into oblivion either by yourself or with your mates. With COVID-19 preventing most of us from attending such establishments IRL, this game provides us with more opportunities to enjoy chaotic golf at your own comfort.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Golf With Your Friends keeps a simplistic style when it comes to gameplay UI. The arcade mechanics and controls are easy to understand, and I had no trouble with figuring out what goes where. Depending on whether you will use a computer or controller, all you’ll need is a mouse and the keyboard or your controller to putt away. Then, you’ll have free reign to play golf however you like. Be warned though! The skill required to win lies in choosing your shot wisely. Seems simple, right? Well, not really! Even short putts require precise aim to sink. There are various modes you can select, from Classic, Dunk, Hockey, Explore, Party and your very own customizable mode. With the new update titled “The Deep”, players are now treated to an additional 18-hole course of crazy golf carnage. <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Want to speed-run losing friendships?</strong> I dare you to turn <strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">on collision mode.</strong></span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5077 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5077" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="deep2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/golf-with-your-friends-review/deep2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/deep2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-a-truly-remarkable-golfing-game-whether-you-choose-to-golf-with-friends-or-solo" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>A truly remarkable golfing game, whether you choose to golf with friends or solo.</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s look into what online/local multiplayer has to offer. You can play with up to 12 friends in multiplayer mode, which I feel is a good balance for a game like this. The lobby provides filters to separate password servers from non-password ones and is essential to matchmaking. Though the game has yet to offer cross-play like other titles, there are other ways to set up a lobby with friends. For example, you can send steam invites to friends on the computer. With the switch, you can add people that are already there on your friend’s list. The online play seemed pretty consistent, thus I was able to have plenty of fun without fear of lag.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Visually speaking, the graphics looked simply stunning and was wonderful to look at. Additionally, each theme had its cool little quirks, soundtracks and sets of traps that put the crazy into golf. Moreover, the music tracks provided per theme gave each themed part of the golf park a sense of fun and authenticity.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5078 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5078" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="welp" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/golf-with-your-friends-review/welp/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/welp-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-collision-mode-on-or-off-you-decide" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><i>Collision mode on or off? You decide…</i></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">This is a solid golfing game that is best played with friends. I can 100% guarantee that it’ll maximise entertainment for the evening, and most importantly, provide fun memories for you and your friends to look back on. Furthermore, it contains an excellent development team that listens to the community and wants to drastically improve this game. All in all, it’s a perfect game that you can always come back to. With all the updates offered by the development team, it’s worth every penny.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><i>You can purchase <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_with_Your_Friends" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Golf With Your Friends</a> on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/431240/Golf_With_Your_Friends/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Microsoft Windows (Steam)</a>, <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/golf-with-your-friends-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch</a>, <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4064-CUSA17669_00-GOLFWYFRIENDS000" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">PlayStation 4</a> and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/golf-with-your-friends/9n14g09pwg74" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox One</a>.</i></span></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-16040850613729152992021-09-07T03:58:00.001+02:002021-09-07T03:58:37.639+02:00Week #6? Community Content Review & Community Event Winners<p> </p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><i>Sorry for another belated post! I missed last week! By the way, from now on, keep an eye out for these posts on Mondays instead of Sundays! So the following post will feature content and themes from the past week up until Monday and continue henceforth.</i></span></h1><div><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-1JTk5aZJWf8H_a7JTxPrUMJ6yE5fkgjIg2Sody4o698FNl-ggIptmWPIbhPbv1DrehnEt98hYfueVVKulPmSxN9H5gLBMh5x9SETKU7SreLCshcS6IUxVh-4C41CKdIY5TVajHUHQOI/s960/Zurgat_avocado+brownies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-1JTk5aZJWf8H_a7JTxPrUMJ6yE5fkgjIg2Sody4o698FNl-ggIptmWPIbhPbv1DrehnEt98hYfueVVKulPmSxN9H5gLBMh5x9SETKU7SreLCshcS6IUxVh-4C41CKdIY5TVajHUHQOI/w400-h300/Zurgat_avocado+brownies.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Monday, September 6 is Labor Day in the States where I'm writing this from and that means the first day of no school. What's your favorite bank holiday in your country? Maybe it's one you don't traditionally celebrate but you get the day off from work or school.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">While we're on that topic, let's get this week started with Zurgat's recipe for brownies - <i>without </i>butter! He says, "yep, avocado can be used to substitute butter in many recipes as a healthier alternative." Interesting, sounds like something to sneak into a potluck and not tell anyone it's healthy until after they've tried a<span style="font-family: inherit;"> bite</span>!</div><div style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"> Azure Stars Part Five<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENdpw09J7e8bkplkxxuwONV_1qBlNkTlEjks48eJtKQX8brHLMwBgsb8zpB_hvq3JnXugT7U9JNy3w6_4SEdHzfc8C-fozfYoFjFsOLBom2qBCmTxL5NLawnT1tg8Mr1xVH6juktIt3s/s709/SylvieIMG_20210822_124717_863.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="709" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENdpw09J7e8bkplkxxuwONV_1qBlNkTlEjks48eJtKQX8brHLMwBgsb8zpB_hvq3JnXugT7U9JNy3w6_4SEdHzfc8C-fozfYoFjFsOLBom2qBCmTxL5NLawnT1tg8Mr1xVH6juktIt3s/w400-h201/SylvieIMG_20210822_124717_863.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her custom, original whale-like serpentine race!</td></tr></tbody></table></h1><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">S</span>ylvia continues from the last part, "</span><b>Several hours later (...) Throne room in the Imperial Spire</b>"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;">She is up to part <i>five</i> of her online novel and it is free to read for anyone interested! It is a sci-fi drama about a young Basilosauri woman who is caught up in intrigue and intergalactic politics.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The story will be posted regularly at </span><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/">https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/</a>. You can read the first part <a href="https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/2021/08/azure-stars-01.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">MissMijo Streams on Twitch</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcRpvrxqitxx1qgcQOYJuXG1K-aYZVTi_4Bs3qJ1A0-lu1ChOr_6JVowYviLSdBLB5QF56fdb9-yCjZk2M17UjVId-fFOC34hiV9e0PPza_CHq9fc7jRoPRrCUcfjj9J8aTGL_sot-LM/s1920/missmijoscrenshot8-31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcRpvrxqitxx1qgcQOYJuXG1K-aYZVTi_4Bs3qJ1A0-lu1ChOr_6JVowYviLSdBLB5QF56fdb9-yCjZk2M17UjVId-fFOC34hiV9e0PPza_CHq9fc7jRoPRrCUcfjj9J8aTGL_sot-LM/w640-h360/missmijoscrenshot8-31.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Continuing the RV crafting in a screenshot from August 31!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">MissMijo is streaming again on her channel, <strike>huffing glue</strike> gluing stuff with friends in her cute and crafty streams! We think the RV is turning out lovely. So go check her out and say that we sent you!</div><div style="text-align: center;">Check out her VODs and drop her a follow here at <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/missmijo" target="_blank">MissMijo on Twitch</a>!</div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Bordeaux Is Making Gameplay Videos!</h2></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jryj-gCxOMU" width="320" youtube-src-id="Jryj-gCxOMU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;">Bordeaux has been busy indeed posting in our #community-content channel (by the way, have you joined our </span><a href="https://discord.gg/mvKnpva" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">discord</a><span style="text-align: left;"> yet?) and we're glad to see him! He's posting demos and gameplay videos for various up-and-coming indie games. World Turtles is a game that I've had my eye on myself, check out his commentary-free video above, or follow his Twitter for more gameplay videos and see what strikes your fancy here at <a href="https://twitter.com/TBR_Bordeaux" target="_blank">Indie Connoisseur</a>! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left;">Bonus text review for a game called Sky Beneath on G.Round: </span><a href="https://gameround.medium.com/g-round-reviewing-sky-beneath-9693c12cf1c8">https://gameround.medium.com/g-round-reviewing-sky-beneath-9693c12cf1c8</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Volpe Conquers His Backlog</h2></div><div style="text-align: center;">Last but not least, if you need some motivation or want to help motivate our friend, check out Volpe's Backlog Assassin's report card! He is trying to post reviews for his wins and his gaming backlog in general from what I understand and that's always an admirable feat. I think most of us have a backlog staring at us. So go leave a comment for him here and check out his reviews of games he's played at <a href="https://www.backlog-assassins.net/posts/obnd2a7">Volpe's Backlog Assassins page.</a></div><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Voted On By You</h2></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSibiCLAgPIeA44J-XA5FQX9s_F5VtDB1_NrFD-IPjfs9F-3FBds-pyujs873lYPTpJshQSSHqUcwGxqS5HQtwhmK6r4qJLZZdSeFshZVxFcyz7L5FhwhXOCQX2WwfvN1qRt-Iqkk34c/s1920/weekly-event.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSibiCLAgPIeA44J-XA5FQX9s_F5VtDB1_NrFD-IPjfs9F-3FBds-pyujs873lYPTpJshQSSHqUcwGxqS5HQtwhmK6r4qJLZZdSeFshZVxFcyz7L5FhwhXOCQX2WwfvN1qRt-Iqkk34c/w640-h360/weekly-event.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>I missed last week so this time we have a <i>*drumroll please* </i>double post of community event winners! I wish to keep this short and sweet though so I will only be showing last week's winner! Be sure to stop by #event-submissions to see the runners-up!</div><div><br /></div><div>Be sure to join and participate if interested! Remember that these topics are voted on at our <a href="https://discord.gg/mvKnpva" target="_blank">Discord</a> by YOU!</div><div><br /></div><h2>Top winner of 1000 EXP in last week's theme CLASSICS!</h2><div><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdo2RnJ4mYGpGqeuZW9mrs5O-Ragr7JG7u40GKY_ANGM91PiZFzktq3ZgMUQSUTpYV9g4UwEvS_sCcgqjZmLppmkhmEF89p3pU9JpdPhDZkJotzd7MAKWDeGs7XjREdg14FQdaQU5Mkcg/s2048/IMG_20190525_115246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdo2RnJ4mYGpGqeuZW9mrs5O-Ragr7JG7u40GKY_ANGM91PiZFzktq3ZgMUQSUTpYV9g4UwEvS_sCcgqjZmLppmkhmEF89p3pU9JpdPhDZkJotzd7MAKWDeGs7XjREdg14FQdaQU5Mkcg/w640-h480/IMG_20190525_115246.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sylvia shared with us a 1972 Dodge Charger she took a photo of in a mall! Congrats!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;">This week had a funny theme! We decided to have you draw a pug... badly. Let's see the winners!</div></h3><div><br /></div><h2>This week's winners! (TIE)</h2><h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV18V97M5rgrArqJOvgHxjnH5AWDOuQUojRX4PWE4et7J3laEBBG_64MvYdY1tmFCTkzYw2qIhW4G-bk4z77mp-g2HO1Ax22nzyd4szkt_uhpU2fpYAzvrzsod6kFkeYzeEnMpNOx7QyA/s2048/zokopugCursed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV18V97M5rgrArqJOvgHxjnH5AWDOuQUojRX4PWE4et7J3laEBBG_64MvYdY1tmFCTkzYw2qIhW4G-bk4z77mp-g2HO1Ax22nzyd4szkt_uhpU2fpYAzvrzsod6kFkeYzeEnMpNOx7QyA/s320/zokopugCursed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoko even named this file Cursed.jpg</td></tr></tbody></table></h2><br /><h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi868viWeLULLAl9FMC8qCi1BZA6Hn1gMhfZOaJMLuddQfE6Tp32f0NyQiUySYsADG9x85WdQwlOgHwIEsKHcpAX_BTQ8C32KCp_5mkfrgEKJg-b1CMG9IyQtcTM_Z6kL3b181dJE0coNs/s796/slidepug.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="796" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi868viWeLULLAl9FMC8qCi1BZA6Hn1gMhfZOaJMLuddQfE6Tp32f0NyQiUySYsADG9x85WdQwlOgHwIEsKHcpAX_BTQ8C32KCp_5mkfrgEKJg-b1CMG9IyQtcTM_Z6kL3b181dJE0coNs/s320/slidepug.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slide</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Second Place Winner!</h2><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbUTU4nlL5QzgzGFk3PrTIxDhEC7vr4FcLE3TpE3vS5iYiNMG5OgfPgRhx4DMA-gGrdRLSVLOAUoTB4RSHuguURaCPH4l9E5rwRnQk81hdRpMwM_itaG3uQW67WArR31tz4VbqF2zTns/s2048/pogg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1263" data-original-width="2048" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbUTU4nlL5QzgzGFk3PrTIxDhEC7vr4FcLE3TpE3vS5iYiNMG5OgfPgRhx4DMA-gGrdRLSVLOAUoTB4RSHuguURaCPH4l9E5rwRnQk81hdRpMwM_itaG3uQW67WArR31tz4VbqF2zTns/s320/pogg.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sylvia</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><h2>Third Place Winners!</h2><br /><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR_bVxx1l3PxNn5RTi6cM2RqV3_4M2HKoSU-DPQ96BLO_GHFKtUQ94jeS3YhydilazyE-SucSBie5321jt6dkx5ImgCnBHN-pCCdmJPfE2ino683fAuL3IrhBbqEWPjGoZGN9j3JBX_M/s638/Pug.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="638" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR_bVxx1l3PxNn5RTi6cM2RqV3_4M2HKoSU-DPQ96BLO_GHFKtUQ94jeS3YhydilazyE-SucSBie5321jt6dkx5ImgCnBHN-pCCdmJPfE2ino683fAuL3IrhBbqEWPjGoZGN9j3JBX_M/s320/Pug.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Volpe</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><h3>Random Voter Bonus! Urusam: 250 EXP!</h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">See you next week!</h3><div>Don't forget to join our Discord at <a href="https://discord.gg/mvKnpva">https://discord.gg/mvKnpva</a> to join in the community to share your pics, your projects, and your passions! More info located at our Discord and in the intro of <a href="https://rrvs.blogspot.com/2021/07/community-content-recap-week-1.html">the first</a> community post. </div><div>Thanks for being part of what makes this community great! </div><div><br /></div><div>Gina out! 💜</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04527761697079256084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-6040578818881190772021-09-03T02:45:00.002+02:002021-09-03T02:45:00.173+02:00Nippon Marathon: The Review<p><span style="background-color: white;"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-5019 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5019" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="NipponMaraRevRBB" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/nippon-marathon-steam/nipponmararevrbb/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="720" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NipponMaraRevRBB-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1280" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-a-race-worth-running-for" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>A race worth running for!</i></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let’s talk about a slightly different entry. Something wacky! That brings you back to the days when you watched <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshi%27s_Castle" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Takeshi’s Castle</a>. We’re talking about none other than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Marathon" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nippon Marathon</a>, a game lovingly created by <a href="https://www.onionsoupinteractive.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Onion Soup Interactive</a> on February 16, 2018. As the name suggests, this is kind of a racing game, but it’s not the racing or marathon that you are used to. You will be trying your luck as a player to race across Japan in races short and long. Not only will you see various topographies, but you will also be avoiding various obstacles, opponents, and hazards to get through to the finish line.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let’s touch on the story first. You have the option to select between 4 characters. From this, you will see from their point of view why they entered the Nippon Marathon, what their dreams and aspirations are, and their journey through the marathon itself. It’s done in a way that almost looks like a visual novel. It’ll take a semi-experienced player about 2-3 hours to complete their first run. Like all racing games, regardless of what mode is selected, the goal of the game is always to get from point A to point B. There are items you can pick up along the way that can either assist or hurt you.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5020 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5020" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="lmao-1" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg" data-orig-size="1919,1079" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/nippon-marathon-steam/lmao-1/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1079" sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/lmao-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1919" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-most-extreme-elimination-challenges-ahoy" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Most extreme elimination challenges ahoy!</i></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nippon Marathon features several more modes in addition to its story mode. We have a versus mode where you can locally play with up to four other individuals. You or other players can always switch in and out of this mode when playing. Alternatively, there are always AI bots you can race against! You also don’t need to worry about which screen to look at either, as the camera will follow the faster runners in general.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">There’s also the party mode, which can be great for a bigger group of friends. With this mode, you and your friends can play various mini-games, such as a game of PIG, where the player who loses each round gets a letter. The best thing about Nippon Marathon is that it is not all about racing. There are secondary goals you need to meet to progress the game. For example, it doesn’t always matter who is the fastest. You would need to look at other factors such as “popularity”.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Onto the graphics! Hear me out on this, while it won’t win awards for stellar graphics, it fits perfectly with the wack and wild premise of the game. It encapsulates the feeling of watching a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODlyf5Pn9Vg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Japanese Game Show</a> and Takeshi’s Castle. Its duty is not to wow but to get you to laugh out loud. The character models function to the same degree as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYbINugWKHA" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Goat Simulator</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMnJuFGAYXE" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Goat of Duty</a>. Bodies will contort and flay in all kinds of places. This is especially true if you accidentally fall into traps or if you’re not fast enough during the race.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-5021 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="5021" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="shink" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/nippon-marathon-steam/shink/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/shink-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></span></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-smoke-me-a-kipper-i-ll-be-back-for-breakfast" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.</i></span></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">And now, for the music! There are some really fun soundtracks in the game, that pick and mix elements of Japanese genre music often found in game shows. You’d be impressed to find out that the sound effects and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiEt_v0kK9U" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">commentating during each race</a> make it feel all the more like you are watching a Japanese game show.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">My final impressions as a whole are generally positive with respect to this game. It’s a hidden gem in the steam store for party games. It’s charming in its own way and I can see how this could be seen as an acquired taste for some since humor in Japan hits different from the humor at home. I feel it has a marvelous amount of replayability, and lots of items to unlock. Worth every penny!</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;">You can find Nippon Marathon on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/746940/Nippon_Marathon/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Steam</a></em>.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit;">You can also find it on the <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/nippon-marathon-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Nintendo Switch E-Shop</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/nippon-marathon/9npv214603q3" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox</a>, <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4293-CUSA11329_00-0000000000000000" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Playstation 4 </a>and the <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/nippon-marathon" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Humble Store</a>.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-49630966212229714432021-08-27T02:13:00.004+02:002021-08-27T02:13:00.220+02:00Take a break from the madness of 2021 with "Calico"<p><span style="background-color: white;"> <img alt="" class="wp-image-4904 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4904" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="perfection" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png" data-orig-size="1024,576" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/calico-steam/perfection/" data-sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png 1024w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection-768x432.png 768w" height="545" sizes="(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection.png 1024w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/perfection-768x432.png 768w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="970" /></span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-the-cat-returns-meets-animal-crossing" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Returns" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">The Cat Returns</a> meets <a href="https://animal-crossing.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Animal Crossing</a></strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ever wanted to run your very own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_caf%C3%A9" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">cat café</a>? Liked watching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_girl" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">magical girl</a> shows as a kid? Loved “The Cat Returns”? Meet Calico. Not to be mistaken with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_cat" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">the cat</a>, it’s a game lovingly crafted by two individuals in the Seattle studios of <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/catbean-games/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">CatBean Games</a>. The game was also developed and produced by <a href="https://whitethorndigital.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Whitethorn Games</a> and <a href="https://indiemegabooth.com/project/calico/#:~:text=Peachy%20Keen%20Games%20is%20a,and%20a%20lush%20magical%20island." style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Peachy Keen Games</a>. It’s set in a magical, open-world kingdom where you can befriend all manners of people and fuzzy creatures alike. Furthermore, this is a game that also promotes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">LGBTIQ+</a>, and does a brilliant job at introducing <a href="https://www.umass.edu/stonewall/sites/default/files/pronouns_intro.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">various pronouns</a> the characters go by. While a limited number of cat cafe games already exist, this is the first (to my knowledge) in the gaming market that takes on a unique approach.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">The story starts off the same for everybody. Firstly, you have recently moved into town and you’re taking over your relative’s cat café. Your goal is to rebuild the town’s cat café. There are many ways you can achieve this. Such as by experimenting with different types of furniture and recruiting all kinds of cute and cuddly creatures. Along the way, you’ll be meeting residents and helping them with various tasks. Therefore, you may be asked to help unlock different areas, cook some tasty snacks, or find items to make some very interesting spells. What happens next is up to you. Live your story out any way you’d like.</span></p><div class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4905 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4905" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="hello-hooman" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg" data-orig-size="1919,1073" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/calico-steam/hello-hooman/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-768x429.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-1536x859.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-1200x671.jpg 1200w" height="1073" sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman.jpg 1919w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-768x429.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-1536x859.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/hello-hooman-1200x671.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1919" /></span></figure></div><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-a-warm-and-cosy-cat-caf-simulator-just-for-you" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit;">A warm and cosy cat café simulator just for you.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">So let’s look at the gameplay. Upon booting up, the game immediately informs you that you are free to choose to play with your keyboard, but using a control would be ideal to play the game. The game menu was adorable and fun to look at, and it gave me a good chuckle. Since the current update, control buttons work well, but there’s no key mapping yet. I had lots of fun creating my character and was happy to note that the developers provided a lot of options for customization. In addition to controlling yourself, you have the option to pet, carry, and befriend pets. If they are large enough, you can also mount certain animals. Once you meet a certain character, you also have the ability to customize the pets by using various potions. But, beware! Some potions are not fine-tuned, so strange and wonderful things can happen!</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Then, there’s the decoration of the café itself. The controls seem simple enough to use whether or not you are using a keyboard or controls. The game helps users who don’t remember key or button placements by offering to hide or show what each key does, so you’re never really in a pinch. Then, there is the cooking mini-game! You shrink to about the size of a salt and pepper shaker and you carry your ingredients into a bowl. After a few recipes, you have a little more creative control (especially when it comes to coloring your cakes).</span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-time-to-pawse-and-breathe" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Time to pawse and breathe</strong>……</span></h3><p id="h-and-now-onto-graphics-to-start-off-the-game-uses-the-unity-engine-the-color-pallete-and-overall-artstyle-looks-absolutely-lovely-the" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">…and now, onto graphics! To start off, the game uses the Unity engine. The color palette and overall art style look absolutely lovely. I found little to no problems with how fast the game would both load and run on the PC, and I love the dreamy cartoony look that is going on as a whole. I did notice a couple of glitches while playing the game, the rare case of animals or people clipping onto each other. However, this was not a common occurrence and did not significantly affect my gameplay. I was able to resolve the glitches by saving where I was, exiting out of the game, and re-entering the game.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let’s discuss music. The music helps so much with creating a calm and fuzzy vibe when playing the game. It’s the kind of soundtrack you’d hear when you are taking a break in a cafe, drinking a warm cuppa. The game made me do something I don’t often do when playing games: humming along to the track. It was a clever and wonderful choice to use Emi Evans as a vocalist for the main soundtrack, and she nails it.</span></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-here-comes-the-moment-of-truth-to-buy-or-not-to-buy" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit;">Here comes the moment of truth… to buy or not to buy?</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;">The developers have clearly put in a lot of love into this project. In my opinion, they have 100% achieved making me feel warm and fuzzy as I play this game. I personally am enjoying the game a lot and can’t wait to learn more about its world. It is a change of pace from the daily stressors of the outside world. It promotes a safe place for all players, no matter the gender or shape they may be. If you love animals, chilling out, bonding with various characters and exploring the world at your own pace, Calico is 100% for you!</span></p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>You can purchase Calico on PC & Mac via <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1112890/Calico/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Steam</a>.</i></span></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-76293492827982885522021-08-22T20:30:00.001+02:002021-08-22T20:30:00.193+02:00Week #5: Community Content Review & Community Event Winners<p> </p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; text-align: left;"><i>Stay tuned at the end of this post for our community event winners! As noted last week, both the community content review and community event submissions will be combined.</i></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"> Azure Stars Continues<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENdpw09J7e8bkplkxxuwONV_1qBlNkTlEjks48eJtKQX8brHLMwBgsb8zpB_hvq3JnXugT7U9JNy3w6_4SEdHzfc8C-fozfYoFjFsOLBom2qBCmTxL5NLawnT1tg8Mr1xVH6juktIt3s/s709/SylvieIMG_20210822_124717_863.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="709" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENdpw09J7e8bkplkxxuwONV_1qBlNkTlEjks48eJtKQX8brHLMwBgsb8zpB_hvq3JnXugT7U9JNy3w6_4SEdHzfc8C-fozfYoFjFsOLBom2qBCmTxL5NLawnT1tg8Mr1xVH6juktIt3s/w400-h201/SylvieIMG_20210822_124717_863.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a hint and preview of some of the reworked race details</td></tr></tbody></table></h1><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Sylvia is plugging away on her original web novel, Azure Stars, and I genuinely urge you to give it a read. For anyone who checked it out last week, she reworked a few things regarding how the fictional species works so check it out for more details! Things got a bit more.. snake-like. I'm sure you'll enjoy this ongoing sci-fi drama about a young Basilosauri woman.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The story will be posted regularly at </span><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/">https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/</a>. You can read the first part <a href="https://azurestarsv.blogspot.com/2021/08/azure-stars-01.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The series is currently on Part 3 with a fourth to be uploaded soon.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">PlayingViking Streams on Twitch</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2EhevF_5sgA09C1Zyv7FDTOyJFrjLbjULua0bHduPwzH-2A8ZgSIka1e_OXgkMGhnIhRtztL8e4WMRVBezFGUrHF3CkbUdnxbbvbhdRRtkBPsANKK9HPoCAONZuA05P5REOfGi3nXBjk/s495/VikingNineTails.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="495" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2EhevF_5sgA09C1Zyv7FDTOyJFrjLbjULua0bHduPwzH-2A8ZgSIka1e_OXgkMGhnIhRtztL8e4WMRVBezFGUrHF3CkbUdnxbbvbhdRRtkBPsANKK9HPoCAONZuA05P5REOfGi3nXBjk/w400-h396/VikingNineTails.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">As always, be sure to check out our friend Viking on Twitch playing Pokémon Unite! His main is Alolan Ninetails but he also gets in time with other Pokémon including Mr. Mime. His streams are pretty time zone friendly, especially for Europeans, but you can always check out his archived VODs on his channel! Please drop him a follow and join us.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">"Onwards to battle!" Viking calls out! Watch him climb closer and closer to Master rank!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/playingvikingtv" target="_blank">PlayingViking on Twitch</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">MissMijo Streams on Twitch</h2></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnt0__OREQnCQQGd3NjqzLTBH2VV-27G0RWOCe9E4SB3XMG5QTu_r-iQWVmLHerSaKcIc3iiP8y3F8TTgFch0My7Kflt6Ye27ehghdRFQjfou6NHgyxiXb2LFYETNCY6l6z87tJC2mL8/s1920/MissMIjoScreenshot+2021-08-22+103145.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnt0__OREQnCQQGd3NjqzLTBH2VV-27G0RWOCe9E4SB3XMG5QTu_r-iQWVmLHerSaKcIc3iiP8y3F8TTgFch0My7Kflt6Ye27ehghdRFQjfou6NHgyxiXb2LFYETNCY6l6z87tJC2mL8/w640-h360/MissMIjoScreenshot+2021-08-22+103145.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Speaking of streamers, I'm happy to introduce to you our longtime friend MissMijo! She has a really fun stream you should check out where she often makes crafts and games. This week, she was gluing together a really adorable little RV while the stream chatted. Check out the VOD and drop her a follow here at <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/missmijo" target="_blank">MissMijo on Twitch</a>!</div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">EX Co Intro</h2></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxd-RkYmnFGllFVNk72j6xNXbOdiSAshp-kiiCuchFlXD1C1U-Rep4acB8PvsNoXe2Mkq5V8_IPwxSYFU2OOA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>TheEXGamemaster would like to share with us this neat intro they made for their friend. Really cool stuff!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Hitsu Streaming on Our Discord!</h2></div><div style="text-align: center;">Last but not least, join our Discord (<a href="https://discord.gg/mvKnpva" target="_blank">here</a> if you haven't already) for ongoing streams by our own Hitsu. He likes to stream VR games including but not limited to Beat Saber! If you're lucky, you might even catch him sneaking in the occasional work stream. Our handsome Finn keeps us entertained no matter what he's streaming by hanging out with us and chatting.</div><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Voted On By You</h2></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSibiCLAgPIeA44J-XA5FQX9s_F5VtDB1_NrFD-IPjfs9F-3FBds-pyujs873lYPTpJshQSSHqUcwGxqS5HQtwhmK6r4qJLZZdSeFshZVxFcyz7L5FhwhXOCQX2WwfvN1qRt-Iqkk34c/s1920/weekly-event.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSibiCLAgPIeA44J-XA5FQX9s_F5VtDB1_NrFD-IPjfs9F-3FBds-pyujs873lYPTpJshQSSHqUcwGxqS5HQtwhmK6r4qJLZZdSeFshZVxFcyz7L5FhwhXOCQX2WwfvN1qRt-Iqkk34c/w640-h360/weekly-event.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Now for the moment we've all been waiting for! The community event winners of this week! The event's theme was COMPUTERS AND HARDWARE as voted on by you lovely people in our Discord poll.</div><div><br /></div><div>Be sure to join and participate if interested! There's still time to vote on next week's topic!</div><div><br /></div><h2>Top winner of 1000 EXP!</h2><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjro8vhaL2SW-m3uWD92QCT2r13Vz_YGmynBsXmNNNnkP-lXxZ3AJ7xqJNwfNUFzYtP8xtHAAwCSyYPB5LxdfXW1rZ4erySrN2-N98Gz9_DQ1hQo5Uu8ylHUUzGI5ypoFHqPgTjXZjnLJw/s512/krisshardware.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjro8vhaL2SW-m3uWD92QCT2r13Vz_YGmynBsXmNNNnkP-lXxZ3AJ7xqJNwfNUFzYtP8xtHAAwCSyYPB5LxdfXW1rZ4erySrN2-N98Gz9_DQ1hQo5Uu8ylHUUzGI5ypoFHqPgTjXZjnLJw/w640-h360/krisshardware.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kriss Tone: A cop playing Deus Ex Human Revolution in Murdered: Soul Suspect</b></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><h2>Second Place Winners of 375 EXP Each</h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSmty970xiEf8Ku_DhEhM7PhzBd3x4xjDDd7PMHWhpxzkJCeMXcf1nmmg0DShOmBD-PK7qrhzXMh5JroNRCUpZL5lyowTG1UvukZJkTfSJ7eFzW4M4xE1jfLEYEbdUwh11FuAFw5-Ovk/s512/xeloshardware.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSmty970xiEf8Ku_DhEhM7PhzBd3x4xjDDd7PMHWhpxzkJCeMXcf1nmmg0DShOmBD-PK7qrhzXMh5JroNRCUpZL5lyowTG1UvukZJkTfSJ7eFzW4M4xE1jfLEYEbdUwh11FuAFw5-Ovk/w640-h360/xeloshardware.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Xeloses</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKgZP-nxFpxisvh7W8SJGmj8j2qpgjbEQkABAWcXDwvwRSuvo5SPHmyUr2-kU_NznCvNHpT7QgI48WW53_UDT2GT2VwZm7uxgYcZk8kF35RGhc78U9YvFvIF2hSxtd0wAk6bnfwpPMT8/s1920/slidehardware.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKgZP-nxFpxisvh7W8SJGmj8j2qpgjbEQkABAWcXDwvwRSuvo5SPHmyUr2-kU_NznCvNHpT7QgI48WW53_UDT2GT2VwZm7uxgYcZk8kF35RGhc78U9YvFvIF2hSxtd0wAk6bnfwpPMT8/w640-h360/slidehardware.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Slide</b></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><h2>Third Place Winners of 250 EXP Each</h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJkDWeiAecUAPURDq6bHlNIm9zzFrkI9haKf3tuoVmoILf3fQIBH-XVlkdmY8ePL8Nd08lWRd_p02tYwvQdRinzN8MzalOWJhQJTpZetRtJNV4QR0ZhDEirG_6_iOYpxkLUBT5ZaPwHs/s1920/jkhardware_SAM_Node.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJkDWeiAecUAPURDq6bHlNIm9zzFrkI9haKf3tuoVmoILf3fQIBH-XVlkdmY8ePL8Nd08lWRd_p02tYwvQdRinzN8MzalOWJhQJTpZetRtJNV4QR0ZhDEirG_6_iOYpxkLUBT5ZaPwHs/w640-h360/jkhardware_SAM_Node.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>JapaniKatti</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcAXA0D_ZqiWb2IYYBXNMLl6sSRdallmB2Y88eV_t3cmtXXz8cT_pv3PCBTBnDFYlKe_8XD9pR5P4VOEqqDqrQXUELN29cTTqx_jck4AmiimUHCOsI1ipNOtmArun7dc0pQlGmA-3v18/s2048/zokohardware.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcAXA0D_ZqiWb2IYYBXNMLl6sSRdallmB2Y88eV_t3cmtXXz8cT_pv3PCBTBnDFYlKe_8XD9pR5P4VOEqqDqrQXUELN29cTTqx_jck4AmiimUHCOsI1ipNOtmArun7dc0pQlGmA-3v18/w300-h400/zokohardware.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>ZoKO </b><i>(Why did this count? We just love pets I guess xD)</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><h3>Random Voter Bonus! Urusam: 250 EXP!</h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">See you next week!</h3><div>Don't forget to join our Discord at <a href="https://discord.gg/mvKnpva">https://discord.gg/mvKnpva</a> to join in the community to share your pics, your projects, and your passions! More info located at our Discord and in the intro of <a href="https://rrvs.blogspot.com/2021/07/community-content-recap-week-1.html">the first</a> community post. </div><div>Thanks for being part of what makes this community great! </div><div><br /></div><div>Gina out! 💜</div><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04527761697079256084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676614284136193536.post-42662374666186182592021-08-20T02:10:00.004+02:002021-08-20T02:10:00.204+02:00Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memories [Demo Impressions for the Switch]<p> <img alt="" class="wp-image-4894 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4894" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="thumbnail2" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-demo-impression/thumbnail2/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="1080" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2.jpg 1920w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/thumbnail2-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: 9999px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1920" /></p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-is-any-of-this-for-real-or-not" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;">Is any of this for real? Or not?</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Today we are going to be doing something a little different. We shall be doing a first impression on the latest released game in the Kingdom Hearts series: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts:_Melody_of_Memory" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Melody of Memory</a>. Released in November 2020, it is the latest of 24 released games of the series, if you include the repackaged/remastered versions of prior games. Despite my disappointment with Chain of Memories and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehiTwOCSnZE" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Kingdom Hearts III</a>‘s base game, as a long-standing fan of the series, it still is an exciting experience hearing about the newer titles. However, this came with a caveat.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Like Chain of Memories, this kind of game defers from what the series is used to, and focuses primarily on a different experimental mechanic. This time, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Nomura" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Tetsuya Nomura </a>looked at their previous material, and thought to himself, “Yes. A rhythm fighting game for the Switch would make a perfect addition to the series.”</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4893 ls-is-cached lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4893" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="playthrough" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg" data-orig-size="1000,563" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-demo-impression/playthrough/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg 1000w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough-768x432.jpg 768w" height="563" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough.jpg 1000w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/playthrough-768x432.jpg 768w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1000" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-there-s-more-to-a-heart-than-anger-and-hate" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;">There’s more to a heart than anger and hate.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Let’s delve into the gameplay as a whole. You have three different difficulty modes, and the demo offers a handful of songs for you to sample. Additionally, the gameplay starts with a mandatory tutorial mode that visitors must complete before accessing the main content. I was surprised that there was no beat calibration system to set up prior to this tutorial. Some games do offer that kind of option after all. Therefore, I wasn’t overly surprised to find out that the beats were not registering properly on the TV (2-3 seconds delay). It won’t take long to realize that the button prompts are based entirely on Playstation. There were no universal prompts that people can follow regardless of console. As someone who also plays on the Playstation, it was a confusing and disorientating experience at first. I was thankfully able to adjust the settings after completing the tutorial mode.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 2em 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-4899 lazyloaded" data-attachment-id="4899" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory" data-large-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg" data-medium-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg" data-orig-file="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-permalink="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-demo-impression/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory/" data-sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" data-src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg" data-srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-1200x675.jpg 1200w" height="720" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" src="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg" srcset="https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory.jpg 1280w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-768x432.jpg 768w, https://arcadetheory838637515.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-1200x675.jpg 1200w" style="border-radius: inherit; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle;" width="1280" /></figure><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-there-s-a-light-that-never-goes-out" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;">There’s a light that never goes out.</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">Since there’s no story to review based on the demo, I shall move right on to the graphics. The models of the characters used during each musical playthrough were older models, as opposed to the newer updated models. I didn’t find any issue with this since the models provided fit with Nintendo and the classic Kingdom Hearts look. There were also no noticeable dips in FPS while playing through any of the modes or songs. The demo offers players a variety of songs from different Kingdom Hearts games to choose from. I found no issues with the overall quality of the music and audio. However, I do wish that there was more of a broader selection to choose from, but that is my only gripe regarding this.</p><h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-final-impressions" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: Montserrat, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.4; margin: 16px 0px; text-align: center;"><strong box-sizing: inherit;">Final impressions…</strong></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">All in all, my experience of playing the demo was mostly a fun one. I was concerned that the experience was going to be like Chain of Memories. For me, Chain of Memories felt more like a grindey chore than something exciting to play. I am glad to have been proven wrong. Despite initial confusion with the buttons and the lag, it was mostly an enjoyable experience. There’s even a two-player mode! Here’s my recommendation if you do decide to pick up the demo or full game. Check out the settings and calibrate it so it matches input lag to your TV/Monitors. Also, be honest with yourself on whether you will truly enjoy another rhythm game.</p><p class="has-text-align-right" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: right;"><em box-sizing: inherit;">You can buy the full game for Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memories on the <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-switch/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Switch</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-international/9n3sdl8mwh6k" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Xbox One</a> & <a href="https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP0082-CUSA23949_00-KHMOMDEMO0000000" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Playstation Store</a> here.</em></p>Chickenarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15214547690608436639noreply@blogger.com0