Friday, January 20, 2017

Quest of Dungeons (PS4)

Upfall Studio's "Quest of Dungeons" is a procedurally generated, and turn based rogue-like RPG in the more classical, or retro sense. It takes the top-down dungeon-like formulas of games like 'The Legend of Zelda', adds a bit of humor, and a cliche adventuring focus along with endgame stats to make each playthrough notably different. You are given a choice of four different heroes including the warrior, the wizard, the assassin, and the shaman, and are placed inside a dungeon with the simple goal of surviving the perils therein as long as you can. You'll encounter plenty of traps, monsters, and boss creatures as you explore the rooms, and floors of each given area. Each hero in the game specializes in specific forms of combat according to character class, and can carry/use only character specific weapons. This along with your mortal coil that is a single life is to get you through to the end, and hopefully to the top of the game's global leaderboard rankings. As you tread the dungeon floors in the footsteps of your chosen protagonist you'll also be able to break objects, and loot chests for things like coins, health items, or even equipment. All of which can be used, and  equipped via a slot oriented inventory, or which can be sold/bought at the mysterious hooded merchant that resides in certain rooms within each dungeon floor. Whether or not you see the game to completion your stats will be tallied up at the end, and your ranking will be given accordingly.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse ~ Team JNPR Bundle (PS4)

Where do I start? I suppose my lack of knowledge of the RWBY series would suffice. Going into this review I honestly did not expect to get caught up on the entire lore surrounding Rooster Teeth's RWBY series. The game description on the PSN store clearly stated that this was a new scenario that was to tie-in with the series main characters, and enemies. At the same time though I kind of expected the developer to at least give some kind of background on the main characters, and their predicament in order to possibly gain the attention of people like me who may not have followed the RWBY story progression. This did not happen. In fact the story that was told through faux smartphone chat for the duration of the game's campaign by four of RWBY's doctors only hinted at what was going on, and in no way really fleshed out a new story. I was left with a lot of questions, and did not feel any closer to learning about RWBY than I did before doing my playthrough. Needless to say there was a great opportunity missed to connect with a new audience, and to stay connected with the audience Rooster Teeth had already amassed. Not only that, but the gameplay I'm about to describe is flawed to a point that the game does not really earn the asking price it so boldly requests ...

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Let it Die ~ Tips & Tricks

Those of you who know me know I've fallen head over heels in love with SUDA51's 'Let it Die'. It far surpassed my expectations. I was not exaggerating when I said on Twitter that it would have been my top pick for 2016 game of the year had I even bothered to do a proper end of the year list. It is truly that good. As of now I'm fairly deep into the game. I'm on the 12th floor of the Tower of Barbs. I have gained a ton of weapon blueprints, and have some significantly leveled up gear that I can purchase whenever. I also have a well established waiting room defense with 7/8 placed characters. Some of which are ranked at the 2 star level. My clan has also went flawless, and won 3 consecutive clan clashes which landed us some sweet rewards. Why I'm telling you this is, because I've established an approach to the game that will get you in a favorable position for easy progression. I've devised a plan to get newcomers into the game efficiently, and to help them prioritize what is important when it comes to gameplay focus. Without beating around the bush too much longer though I will go ahead, and disclose the details for you ...

Sunday, January 1, 2017

The First Day of 2017 ...

This morning I awoke to a gloomy rain filled day. I did my usual routine of house cleaning before settling down with social media to catch up on the world's response to the new year. Once I was tapped into the internet (Twitter specifically) I was met with the same social media buzz as the day before. Things like politics, and various other agenda specific topics were being discussed as they have been the entirety of 2016. Honestly I did not expect some miraculous change in the world, or in social media though. It's as Boogie said. A calendar rolling over doesn't change people, or situations. That sort of thing comes from within. Unless we all work at becoming a better, more positive person in the collective worldly sense nothing will change this year. We need to realize this if we are to make the most of our 2017.

Monday, December 26, 2016

2016, Was It Really That Bad?

The year 2016 has become synonymous with celebrity death, global calamity on a natural scale, PC culture fanaticism, SJW self-deprecation, and the looming threat of global nuclear war. The tension is high everywhere on the planet, and everyone including their mother is glued to social media waiting to chime in on the next bad happening. At least it seems that way. In light of all this the question I feel begs to be asked is whether or not this world is really worse off than it was last year, or years before? To answer that we all need to take into consideration the social media boom, and the boom of biased opinions of the mainstream media. That, and the outlets' purposeful agendas within the confines of each "boom". In all cases it could simply be said that the "bad" things in life are more socially widespread now, and more socially known due to the connectivity the internet has more than willingly provided. We are constantly being force fed information, and misinformation from all fronts with all sources bringing forth the most negative of spotlights on human activity, and negative topics of discussion. If anything it seems to a certain extent we've all jumped aboard the "2016 Apocalypse" train whether we intended to or not. We cannot escape the descent into maelstrom that we've all been plunged into in every aspect of our daily online lives.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Amazon & Ambitions

This year has been a trying year for me, and my blog. Though I posted a decent amount of reviews I posted nowhere near the amount of reviews I could have. This problem fell on mainly on the fact that it is getting increasingly more difficult to get review copies of games. For the first time in a long time I was even denied review copies by some indie developers due to their misunderstanding of my reach, and capabilities. I had hoped the decline in reviews would not happen, but it did. What I'm about to propose in regards to this unfortunate downfall could help me do more reviews for you in the coming year. I don't want you to feel pressured about it, or feel that you have to help me though. At the end of the day you could easily use what I'm about to ask for, for yourself. If however you find what I'm proposing to be worthwhile then I will welcome your assistance. Now for that proposal ...