Ni No Kuni - I Love JAP rpgs again

Thanks to Ni No Kuni I have found my love for the JRPG again, words cannot describe how enjoyable an experience it is to play this game, the beautiful animation, the dialogue, the quirky Jap sense of humour & above all the joys of travelling the world map by air or sea.

After the giddy days of the PS1/PS2 this current gen just did not have the JRPGs I wanted to play or enjoy, Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 with is overly stupid difficulty spikes requiring an insane amount of grinding made me delete the game in disgust only to go try it again on the 360 a few months later in case I was mistaken. I completely wasted a summer of gaming when I should have been playing Red Dead Redemption instead which still sits on the shelf looking at me.

Anyway back to Ni No Kuni, I am currently flying around the world map looking for creatures to capture to make my final squad, my current target is a Lumberwood whose defense stats once fully upgraded turns him into a tank. Although he only spawns once on the Island next to the Fairyground & is proving difficult to capture. 

Gaming has changed this generation in that in the past I would speak to every character in a town to find out the tiniest detail that might provide some useful information. Taking notes as I played & constantly updating, crossing off to do lists etc

Now a quick google instantly tells me where I can find a particular ingredient or which creature has the best attack stats. 

Currently 32 hours in with still lots to do & enjoy. Time to fly Tengri

Micro Transactions

"EA is building micro-transactions into all of its PC and console games, the company has announced"

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-27-ea-putting-micro-transactions-into-all-of-our-games

Seriously !! WTF !!

You know EA will also be charging up front for the game & then expect you to shell out more with in-game purchases etc.

What worries me is that all the other big publishers will also follow EA's lead.

Watchdogs in-app purchase to upgrade hacking abilities.

Final Fantasy 47 in-app purchases to gain a level-up or purchase a powerful weapon.

I know EA had in-app with Dead Space 3 & you can complete the game without but how long before a game is designed with in-app purchase in mind.

Resident Evil game to heal yourself you need to purchase a med pack or rest for 8 hours.

The possibilities are endless.

I may have to think twice about clearing out my collection, I think keeping a few choice titles from previous generations may be a wise move.

The next gen will be approached with caution, I'll sit back & wait a few years & then go buy a Nintendo Wii U.

New Game - Ni No Kuni

Going to a game show, nothing really surprises you anymore because we have all seen the trailers & gameplay videos thanks to the internet.

But last year at Eurogamer I played two games I knew nothing about Tokyo Jungle & Ni No Kuni.

Ni No Kuni is beautiful lets just get that statement over with, it is Studio Gibhli teaming up with Level 5 to make a J-RPG

I have not attempted to play a J-RPG since the Final Fantasy fiasco a few years ago, Ni No Kuni has its frustrating moments in some boss fights which require you to do a bit of thinking in how to tackle the fight. The fight sequences do not give you a moment to pause, so make sure you press that L1 to stop the action, giving you a brief moment to regroup & plan how to take on a particular boss fight. If I am truthfully honest I do not like the fight sequences, I much prefer the stop, think approach of a final fantasy game.

You collect familiars (Pokemon if you wish) though out the world & train them up to fight for you. They have the usual range of attacks & their own special attributes.

In the story I have just gotten a ship at Castaway Cove & now have two more companions in Esther & Swaine. We are off to to find a great sage in the town of Hamelin. I am however going to take a short stop at Castaway Cove to rejig the familiars I am carrying & ensure I have an evenly balanced squad.

After a weekend of playing I am enjoying my return to a J-RPG.

Tidy !!

Completed - Halo 4

Another adventure with Master Chief, flying pelicans, riding mechs & driving tanks. All to save earth & cortana. There is a lot more story & emotion in this game compared to the previous three. The game shows you more of the character of Master Chief & the relationship with his AI, Cortana. I won't go any more into the details or spoil the story.

343 studios have done a very good job taking over Bungie, it remains to be seen if Master Chief will become a yearly mascot or other games will be released in the halo universe.

I thoroughly enjoyed the flying level, it's Star Wars inspired ducking & diving around the obstacles. They could make a game just on that alone or to please me how about a game with the mech. I still think the mech is weak but we were playing on legendary difficulty so I am going to do something that I've not done in a long time. Play the game again !!

This time on normal difficulty, exploring all the maps to find the collectibles & enjoying the vehicles in the game.

Abbas will confirm I get very attached to my vehicles especially the tank, mech or pelican. Thus when they are taking out by a wraith I would rage & charge in to kill the wraith with grenades.

It's not master chief but the vehicles that make the halo universe so enjoyable to play. Master chief just gives you a character to follow his adventures.

We know this is the start of a new trilogy so I'm looking forward to the next adventure with Master Chief .... & Cortana.

Lost Cities - New High Score

I have played quite a few games against Abbas he is currently in the lead winning 13 to 12 but I did just get my highest score in a recent win.

90 to 25

Draw Something - Tumblr

The kids are always on the ipad so I never get a chance to play my turn on Draw Something. I tried t on the iphone but the screen is way too small so I purchased again on the the Android store & installed on the Nexus 7.

My first drawing on the nexus 7 Tumblr

Word Derby - Word Wipeout

Three word wipeouts in a row !!
Will this race ever start?

New Game - Lost Cities

Lost Cities is another board game to mobile conversion. This is developed by the Coding Monkeys, the same team that gave us Carcassonne.

It's a simple game in that you have to place card starting from the lowest number to the highest to get points. Each set you start gives you a -20 starting score which decreases when each card is played.

There is a really good tutorial in the game which will help you understand the basics.

I have played quite a few games against Abbas with the winning move coming on the last card.

When you start a new colour you have the option of playing a coin card. This doubles your starting to -40 but rewards you with double point for any cards played.

If you are feeling brave or foolish you can even start with a double coin card score of -60.

Fancy a game? Send me an invite.

Halo 4 - Tank beats Mech

Whilst defending UNSC Infinity from attack you get to control a mech !!

Oh yes !! I thought !!

The control works well but it just does not seem satisfying enough to me. It needed long range missiles instead of grenades. The design needed to be more beefier like the mechs in Lost Planet.

In a previous level you get to control the tank, now this is still the vehicle for me in Halo. Slow, yes but very very powerful.

Looking forward to seeing what other surprises Halo 4 shows up.

Skyrim - Completed

Another game that has ben in Limbo for a long time, after completing the main quest, I've tried a few times to try & rekindle the love by completing various side quests but nope the honeymoon is over. I'm done with Skyrim.

After 120 hours of adventuring it was time for Valdarr to return home to Whiterun & spend the rest of his days with Lydia.

Completed - Uncharted 2

After a couple of evenings I have finished Uncharted 2. It's been in limbo for a long time but I wanted a break from XCOM. So off to shamballa I went in search of the tree of life.

After taking out a tank & fighting hordes of men with machines guns I finally completed the game.

These games are really well presented but they still have hat Call of Duty feel about them. Big action sequences followed by some puzzle & wondering around then cue the next sequence.

I do have the 3rd game somewhere still to play, button press at the ready !!

New Game - Letterpress

Another word making game on the iOS but this time a slight difference in that you have a grid of 25 letters upon which you have to make words, when you do they change to your colour.

You keep on making words until all the letters on the board have a colour (red or blue).

You can lock a letter down to your colour by surrounding it with your own colour. (See Jochta's red P in the corner). The other player can still use this letter but it will not change colour until the surrounding letters are changed.

Fancy a game? Send me an invite.

New Game - Word Derby

A variation on the word making game, this time you are in a horse race & the words you make will make your horse race to the 200m finishing line.

You can only use certain letters to make your word & the usual bonus tiles of a DW (Double Word), TL (Triple Letter) etc  are all in the game.

There are also extra powerups you can use during the game only once per skill. Boost, Bomb (This will destroy the starting letter, letting you create any word) & my least favourite catchup. This powerup will let the losing rider catchup to the rider in the lead. Annoying power-up especially for the person in the lead who has built up a margin only to have it taken away.

My suggestion would be to replace this power-up with "Gallop" which will let you create two words in one turn.

Apart from the catchup power-up, it is an enjoyable game & can be played with up to 4 players.

Send me an invite if you fancy a game.