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Ni no Kuni or: How I Learned to Stop Moping and Play the Game

January 24, 2013 by 11 Comments

Ni No Kuni worldI wasn’t sure that I would be picking up Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch or not.  It had nothing to do with a lack of interest and everything to do with the fact that I couldn’t get the Wizard’s Edition of the game, which left a rather sour taste in my mouth and a large pit in my stomach. If you don’t really care about any of this then just skip down to my impressions of the game.

I should probably try to explain some things first, at least the best that I can.  Originally Ni no Kuni was a Nintendo DS game, which never left Japan. In it you played a young wizard and utilized the touch screen to draw spell glyphs.  In order to help you with this task each game came with a really neat wizard’s companion book that featured tons of info ranging from spell symbols, familiars, items, alchemy, etc. You pretty much needed to use it all the time.  This concept actually resonated with me rather well. I liked the idea of needing to consult your wizard manifesto in order to learn things and solve puzzles.  It kind of gave me the same vibe I got from old copy-protection manuals for Quest for Glory games. Most people probably didn’t care for that but I really dug it.

Read more for my early impressions of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch! Continue reading “Ni no Kuni or: How I Learned to Stop Moping and Play the Game” »

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Getting excited for Skylanders Giants

October 1, 2012 by

Second Generation of SkylandersIt’s been around a year since the launch of Skylanders, and I finally finished collecting all of the first gen. I knew it would take off when it first came out because the game is not only fun but collecting all the Skylanders has a really cool toy/collecting element.  The figures themselves are really neat too.

Both Keen and I are excited about Skylanders Giants coming out on the 18th of this month.  The new site recently went up showcasing the Giants.  They look great, and I’m anxious to see how they’re worked into the game.  There are 8 Giants,  8 Lightcore, and something like 8 new Skylanders plus a few returning.  Lightcore figures are special. When put on the portal the light shines through them giving them a neat luminescent look, and they also have special abilities.  The returning Skylanders are in new poses, and are able to level higher than the cap of the previous game to get new special powers.

All Skylanders Figures

My first gen Skylanders Collection

Even though Skylanders is a game designed for kids, and that’s definitely their target audience, it would be nice if they gave an option for increased difficulty.  While there are some difficult spots, it would be nice to have a little more challenge across the board.  Going along the same thought, I think harder or more complex puzzles would be nice.   We both wish there was an online battle component, or online multiplayer.  It would be really neat to play online, since Skylanders supports co-op play so well.

Given the popularity of the first game, it’s a given that the second generation will be sold out well in advance of the holiday season.  You’ll need to decide quickly between the Portal Owner Pack since it’s cheaper if you already have the first game, or the Skylanders Giants Start Kit which comes with two regular figures plus a giant.  Technically the starter kit makes buying more Skylanders difficult/expensive because you’ll end up getting duplicates in three-packs (which are cheaper than buying individual figures).

Since so many of you showed a surprisingly high level of interest in my posts about the Skylanders, I’ll definitely keep you updated with my thoughts on Skylanders Giants.

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Foam Core Gaming Episode 2

June 22, 2012 by

Lego Batman 2 released Tuesday, and Gus is anxious to play the game he was born to play. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when a spurned Norm lashes out the only way he knows how.

Subscribe to know when more of Norm and Gus’ adventures are available!

You can watch all of Foam Core Gaming’s episodes here.

Episode 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp3LsrJuMVA

 

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Adventure Log: Skyrim and Dragon’s Dogma

June 17, 2012 by

This week’s Adventure Log is surprisingly Dragon-centric.  Both of us worked hard to finish up games with open worlds and freedom.

Graev: Dragon’s Dogma

I beat Dragon’s Dogma yesterday, and now I’m working on New Game Plus (NG+) which means I beat the game and I get to play it over again while keeping my character’s stats and items.   I was originally a Strider which is a ranger guy that uses two daggers and a bow, but I changed to a Ranger that uses larger bows.  Then I became an Assassin which can use daggers, swords, and bows, adn beat the game.   Now that I’m in NG+ I might change to an arcane archer — changing classes is easy by going to an NPC and changing points; Some abilities even carry over.

I haven’t fought the huge world dragon yet.  I have to get back to that location in NG+ because I wasn’t ready for him in my first play-through.  He’s that dragon you get to fight for 8 minutes at a time and after 8 minutes or you deal a certain amount of damage he flies away.  The whole community playing Dragon’s Dogma gets to contribute to the fight.  If you contributed to fighting him you get a reward, but if you’re actively fighting him when he’s killed you get REALLY good rewards.  The Xbox community has killed him 30 something times, and the PS3 community is on 80 something.   I’m excited to get to that fight.

The coolest fight I’ve done is the big red dragon, which is part of the storyline.  To beat him I jumped and climbed on his chest/stomach area and stabbed at his heart.  My pawn, or NPC companions, helped me out.  Sometimes the dragon would fly up in the air and to bring him down I would get in a ballista and shoot him down. At one point he shot up in the air with me on his back and I had to climb around him to stab some more.  It was a really cool boss fight.

The story of Dragon’s Dogma is reminds of of the JRPG style that doesn’t make any sense — perhaps it’s lost in translation — but at least parts are interesting.  What keeps me playing are the boss fights and monsters.  Dragon’s Dogma feels like a mix of Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus in combat.  The world is not terribly big but it’s open and feels larger than it is because of the number of monsters you have to fight to travel.  Limited forms of quick travel help create that sense of distance.

This has turned into a bit of a review, so I’ll end by saying that I recommend Dragon’s Dogma and give it a 4 out of 5.

 

Keen: Skyrim

Whiterun on a clear day. So many riches to steal and marks to assassinate.

I finally finished the main story and quest in Skyrim! I started a new file about a month ago because I lost all hope of continuing one of my other characters that became lost in their own misadventures in the world of Tamriel. This time around I played with a focus: I wanted to be chaotic neutral with a sense of duty to the birthright of Dragonborn, but a clear sense of my own self-importance. I went the route of a sneaking assassin that specialize in dagger/shield and Bow.

Before I started the main story, I joined and completed the Dark Brotherhood quests. I had a lot of fun coming up with unique ways of assassinating my marks. As a bowman, I found it was often in my best interest to find an accessible rooftop with shadows, hunker down in stealth, and snipe my mark without anyone seeing me.

I joined the thieves guild shortly after and began my work stealing, sneaking, and attempting to get rich all-the-while avoiding killing. It was hard to abandon my Dark Brotherhood ways, but I made up for it by taking far more than necessary in loot.

The main story was next, and this time I pushed through it with dedication. Minor spoilers ahead. Fighting dragons became very easy for me. Using a dagger was off-limits because I could never 30x sneak attack a dragon. Instead, I pulled out my bow and hid behind rocks — popping out to shoot then ducking to avoid breath. This is how I beat Alduin both fights without trouble. Dragonrend + chicken tactics with a Bow trivialized the fights — or was I just that good? My character likes to think so.

All I have left in Skyrim is to finish exploring crafting and finishing some quests with Molag Bal. Oh yeah, if you’re interested in the storyline for The Elder Scrolls Online, the main bad guy of the MMO actually gives you quests in Skyrim. Actually… I found myself serving several Daedric princes throughout the game. Hermaeous Mora was quite good to me.

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