2015

Monday, 28 December 2015

Emily is Away the Review



Game: Emily is Away
Played On: Steam
Console: PC
Price: Free [X]
Genre: Adventure, Casual, Free to Play, Indie and Simulation
Developer: Kyle Seeley
Price note: You can always support the game and Kyle Seeley by buying their community items, which ranges from $1, $3, $5 and $10.



Thursday, 26 November 2015

HuniePop the Review


Game: HuniePop
Played on: Steam
Console: PC
Price: $9.99 [X]
Genre: Indie, RPG, Dating Sim
Company: HuniePot
Notes: This game has a censored and uncensored version. I played the uncensored version but will post censored images. This game is certainly a game.

I advise people of 18 years and younger to not look at this review or game.


Thursday, 19 November 2015

First Impressions: Hatsune Miku Project DIVA F2nd


This little beauty came out some time ago and it joins the brigade of the recently obtained loot.

Considering I have played the first game some time ago and gotten quite addicted, I was very pleased to see that the second installment has managed to be seen on shelves here and even better that I manage to get the game and at a bargain price of $23, you would not believe how elated I felt when I took this baby home.

Considering I should one day do a review of the first game, I shall start with the second one for now.

Below is the following views of a vocaloid game fan.

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

First Impressions: Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX


Being a small Vocaloid fan, I procured yet another game dedicated to vocaloid and rhythm games where it involves a lot of jabbing at screens and trying to get past Great to earn more items to spoil little Vocaloids with, Kaito being my favourite.

This little beauty was released on September 11th here in Australia, so I got this a few days after initial release since I had only obtained Ultra Despair Girls on release.

Now, when it comes to these sort of games, it's best to obtain them early cause they only seem to be in once and quickly snatched up by gamers like myself.
Any search now for the game, in Australia, is out of stock. Though, this topic of opinion is for something I can do at a later date.

Now onto the opinion of the game.


Monday, 2 November 2015

First Impressions: Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode


So I recently obtained this beauty on September 10th, since Australia is forever behind obtaining games, though I admit it has improved over the years but that is another topic altogether.
This game is mainly on the PS Vita and sort of stems away from it's other titles in both genre and story telling, it is also more open, which is a nice change from the enclosure of the school.

Sunday, 1 November 2015

Personal Post #5


I haven't been doing much in the aspect of gaming.
I have been playing a few games here and there and procured even less, in aspect of playable games. I do have quite a few loot items and probably sent just as long doing things in real life and delaying updates here, which is somewhat vexing.

I will do first impression reviews shortly on the few games and items I have recently obtained and try and spread it out over the next couple of days, since I may be busy doing a couple of things and setting up for my Birthday, which will both be about loot and Fallout 4.

So for now, I will share the pointless yet pretty loot I have obtained. Which is a new case cover for my 3DS and I have to admit, it deserves a few comments.

The cover has this wood aesthetic about it and the colours are bright enough to be noticed but subtle enough to make my DS very pleasant to look at. I also sort of like Kirby in this regard cause it shows the many faces and items of Kirby and his universe.
Also, it is very adorable and easy to interchange and suits most looks, I am sure there are people who have a set look for themselves and all that they own.

I still await the day when I can get the glow-in-the-dark Boo one.

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Chapter 1: The Penal Colony


So I procured this game some time ago and I finally got round to playing it between study and life. 
This is my first impressions.
So, you start off with Claire and Moira.
The intro only gave so much and the next thing you know, you are trapped in a prison. Unsure of where you are and why you are there but you do have a trusty bracelet with a voice that somewhat mocks and educates you. 
The mechanics of the game is simple, to a degree. You can switch between Claire and Moira and exploit their unique skills, such as Claire’s markmanship and Moira’s flashlight.
The enemies are a bit of a pain and you need to rely more on shooting weak points, they are not always their heads. This also applies to when you play as the other two characters.
The point of this chapter in Claire’s case is to escape the prison and find some help. After a lot of learning to play and backtracking with little direction, you manage to get out and find a radio tower. Which is great, considering here you find out you are trapped on a fricken island (code Veronica much).
Then you switch over to Barry, whose goal is to save Moira.
Here you meet Natalia who is more than what she seems.
She is, personally, the most helpful character in the whole game. she can see where the enemies are, I mean, how bloody awesome is that.
So, after going through the prison, again, you manage to also take an even longer route to the radio tower, but big news awaits you there.
That is the gist of chapter 1.
I personally like the build up for the next chapter and what this whole game contains and I look forward to playing more at a later time.

Saturday, 10 October 2015

Mermaid Swamp: A First Impression


So the gist of the story is that you and your friends are traveling and end up having the car breakdown in the mountains.
An old man helps you out and lets you stay at his manor of a home. At first this is pretty awesome but the next day, the car is not shaping up any better and one of your friends is ill. That's not all.
The old man mentions he needs to leave for a few days and your character being a rash but kind person somewhat agrees to take care of the place until the car is ready to go.

This is just the beginning. For you and your friends now have to figure out the secret of a legend about the Mermaid Swamp.

Mini-Rant: The Banning of Hotline Miami 2


In Australia, Hotline Miami 2 is banned for possibly, a dull reason.

I do not condone rape nor anything like that but after managing to buy a copy of this game, I decided to see what the huff is about.

After a quick research and play through the game, I discovered it only occurs at the intro gameplay called Midnight Animal and it is probably very brief.

If you don't like spoilers, please stop reading but if you don't care, then do go on.

Midnight Animal is basically a smut film style and is in fact meaning that no one is being raped, it's only insinuated.
Now, let me get something out. Today, I watched the first episode of American Horror Story: Hotel and in that episode, a drug addict is raped by a masked person with a spike shaped dildo, yet Australia is okay with showing this on television, ON TELEVISION, let that sink in. Should I mention you can see this in great detail.
Should I also mention that American Horror Story is notorious for it's dark and deeply sexual themes and is basically a MA rated show. Many other shows do the same thing and is allowed to be shown on our TV.
The game itself only shows one major thing, the man on top and pulling down his pants. That's it. Did you expect something more than pixels pretending to be in a sexual moment? Well, sadly, this game doesn't do more than that. Heck, even Grand Theft Auto and Saint's Row games show more, even The Sims are more raunchy if you activate cheats and remove the pixels obscuring the naughty parts.

The people they are trying to protect from this game can watch it on a prime time TV show and not bat an eyelid, but as soon as a game puts it in, let's not forget the player is warned about the sexual explicit scenes, also when it gets up to the scene, for those who said no, it allows you to skip it. therefore, it is okay for the game to be banned cause it's a game and children only play games, not the fine adults of the Australian society.

Yes, Video Games are for Children, possibly according to our fine leaders who still think that the gaming industry brings in no money for the economy which is a load of BS.
It's funny that in 2013, Adult gamers was treated like children and had to petition the government to grow up and let them have cake, I mean, R18+ classifications for games. Several years on, games are still banned despite this being out for us gamers to indulge in games of a more graphic and mature nature. Fun Fact: more games have been banned while the R18+ rule has been in effect. Yes, this is a sad but true fact for Australians.

So, dear people of the world, enjoy your games while us Australians remain envious and hopeful to one day drink from the enjoyment of these fine games.

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

MGSV: Prologue Review


As previously mentioned, I obtained MGSV today.
Sadly, I only played one chapter but here are my thoughts and feelings about the game.
It may not be much but it's a start of a bigger review in the future.

For other views on both merchandise and series, check out my personal post which is here [X]



Ode to MGS, a personal post #5


Today is September 1st, normally not an important day in my calendar but today, it was.

I obtained my first PS4 console and to add a nice bonus to it, my first limited edition console. In my opinion, it is the most gorgeous console I have owned to date. Maybe also my most expensive one, after booting off the PSV and Wii U from the top, even together they just touched the price of the PS4.

Do I regret this? Fuck no, I don't regret it, I just regret getting Destiny during the sales and the free copy of Ground Zeroes being offered on the PSN but no regrets over buying one of the last few gaming creations from Hideo Kojima.

It was just as I was updating MGSV that the thought dawned on me, this is basically the last real MGS game that will be ever created and to be honest, it made me sad, since this universe will be stopping. The stories, the characters, the feeling from playing this game will come to this beautiful conclusion.
Maybe there may be more in the future but it will not be the same as what we have come to learn and love.

I possibly came into the MGS universe very late.

My tale would have started back when MGS2 was released but I thought poorly of the game, mainly cause I was not very good at stealth games or games with a stealth element.
In my opinion, at the time, stealth games scared me if it did not have a god mode cheat to help me. So I avoided them and in turn made me miss out on so many games that were offered at the time. Hence my change in attitude with games these days where I will play all types at least once.
I really prefered games with a lot of shooting, violence and horror, also RPG.
So for many years, I refused to play this game and I regret that a lot. I overlooked a magnificent game cause of the word stealth.
It's sad that this had occurred. As I entered TAFE (college if anything) not long after leaving high school, I made a friend who got one of the few fresh batches of PS3 which. if I recall correctly, came with MGS4, he kept talking about it and finally, I started to pay attention about what he was saying and then after a while, I got bored of listening and asked him to play it.

In the end, I watched him play the whole game and I was wrapped up in it and decided that before the PS2 games died out, to buy the 2nd and 3rd game, which I ended up playing and falling deeper in love with. This is when I found out that if I tried, I was great at stealth. To this day, 2 and 3 are my favourites with The Phantom Pain coming in close to the top and this is me saying this after playing one chapter.

Out of all games I have playing in my life, I only recall two game creators. Shinji Mikami, since I been an RE fan since the first one and Hideo Kojima.
Why is this relevant? These are two creators that I have found to be inspiring and brilliant at what they do.

Now back to MGS and my loot.
Now, as we can tell, I got two of the collectors edition. I have a flawed reason as to why I bought both instead of one or the other.
It's because it's the last MGS game that will be done by Kojima and as a late fan, I wanted to get all the merchandise before I never have the chance. In a way, I see this as a last thank you and farewell, this game has come to mean something to me in the last few years and I want to show how much I support it. Yes, I regret coming late into the series but I will never regret the time and effort (as well as money) into being apart of the fandom.

Anyway, I really love the items the game came with.
The hand is adorable and easily movable into many positions, my first one was sadly, giving the bird but for etiquette sake, I made a V shape for the image and now placed nicely on my desk for me to look at.
The steel case is nice and fits in with my PS4 collection of steel cases. It came with a map, which I may never use but enjoy looking at. Some DLC for both in-game and online.

The piece of resistance in my loot is the PS4.
I found this to be the best thing I could have decided to buy and own.
Despite the minor typo on the console itself, it is still gorgeous. The red is not bright or deep but a nice warm colour, I feel that it is very enticing and makes me feel inspired to game. It still weighs quite a bit and I somewhat struggled carrying it and the other collectors editions items to the car but it was worth it.
It looks like a beast and purrs like a kitten, the controller is nice and simply designed.
Personally, I am glad I waited for buying a PS4, cause this is the type of PS4 I want to own. Something warm but strong, elegant but attractive.
The price was still a bitch but still, no regrets.

The last item was the collectors guide.
I mainly wanted it for the art and information on the last section of the book.
It is a hardcover with an attractive cover and did I mention, it was a simple design? cause it is and it was surprisingly thicker than what I thought. Also, it is weightier than it's standard edition counterpart.

Originally this post was going to be a short "Oh look at my loot" but once I started to type, I couldn't stop.
This is one series I would recommend to any gamer. If you don't like shooters, at least play it for the story, it's something you won't regret.

Maybe in a way, this post is a huge Thank you to Hideo Kojima for making this game and allowing gamers like me to explore his world of espionage and loyalty. I am forever grateful to be able to experience something so amazing in my lifetime.

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Progress Review: Virtue's Last Reward


Progressing from VLR #2, I will express my new views on characters and possibly my new feelings about the game, since so much has occurred and I am to the point where I am seeing new things occur in the game.

I also like the progress I am making in the game, such as the fact that I finally got most of the bad endings and I question why and how I can betray some characters and ally with others but I still have to try and do the other actions.


Personal Post #4


So today is the release date for Until Dawn.
A game I oddly look forward to trying but due to the fact that I have 6 more days till I have my own PS4, the initial review has to wait till then.

May as well mention what I think of Until Dawn and from what I read on the back.
At first I assumed this game was going to be boring but after trying it at EB expo last year, I realised that it may actually be a scary game and I welcome it.
Then again, I enjoy games that are somewhat vaguely similar to Heavy Rain where my action and choices impact the game. I do hope that I can play this soon.

"You don't have a PS4 yet?! why are you buying games for it?" some of you may be asking, well, it is simple. It's due to the fact that I am getting a PS4 soon that I am starting the collection, I do this with all consoles.
Except with the Wii U, I got the console before any of the games and the major reason of the purchase will be released on October 31st.

Also, today I have been going through my PS3 collection and noticed a few games are not present and twice as more games that need to be finished. I also never realised how many games I own.

Soon, I shall take images of my other collections and share it here, since this blog is dedicated to my gaming experiences and feelings.
Though I do admit that there is a few doubles since I may have forgotten I purchased them previously, then again, the PS3 has been out for ages and many have been bought at sales. I plan on reviewing some games, despite them being old and possibly viewed and opinions written on them years ago but hey, it seems like something fun to do.

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

Progress Review: Virtue's Last Reward


Previously on VLR review~~

I was starting to play the game after finding the save bug in the 3DS version.
I manage to progress more further since then and heck, even got a few more endings.
Today I will talk about my game progress and views on each character I have and even share an ending!



Monday, 24 August 2015

Update #1


I decided to update the look and content of this blog.
I also plan to redesign how the reviews are done.

I also plan to try and review at least weekly, maybe more than once I hope.

Currently, I am planning to write up some more visual novels and progress review for Virtue's Last Reward.
I also made associated Twitter and Facebook account, so feel free to follow them. Feel free to follow here and comment, I appreciate all feedback and questions and if you like to submit a reqiest, feel free to do that as well.

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Progress Review: Virtue's Last Reward



 So for the last few days I have been playing Virtue's Last Reward on the PSV, hence the horrid images.

Originally I played it on the 3DS until I saved and found one of the game ruining bug which left my game corrupted with about 4 endings to go. As one can assume, I was peeved and devastated that weeks of game play just went down the drain.

Long story short, I got my Vita and had a free copy of the game for it, it was not till recently that I decided to start the game anew and try and finish it, once and for all.

This game is part visual novel and part puzzle with a whole lot of dark yet mysterious themes, like it's predecessor, 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, which got me into the Zero Escape world.

I loved it for it's dark story and kept me entertained but today, I will discuss the difference between the two games which I feel was a great edition to Last Reward. Well, besides new story and possible, new characters.

The ability to jump between trees and resume on a point where you can chose a new path to the next ending. No going through the whole story and re-learning what you did before but if you like that, you still can do that.

I should add more but the game is calling me and then again, this is just a progress report.
The most I can add is a locked path and a bad ending, go me.


Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Demo Review: Cafe 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~



Game: Cafe 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~
Played On: PC
Console: PC/Steam
Future Release: October 11th, 2011 [Steam]
Genre: Visual Novel

Basically
A girl's spirit with no recollection of her past finds herself in Cafe 0, a mysterious Cafe in the middle of nowhere. Served with only a glass of water by a perculiar waiter, Sui--soon, she realized, that she is about to relive the last seven days before her death.
Surrounding her are Ami, a girl who claims to be her best friend, Tooru, a boy who is rumoured to be her previous boyfriend and Shou, the school's doctor.
What are their connections to her past and how are they related to her death? Will she be in peace with her past or will she haunt the living?
It's all up to you to decide.
- Steam synopsis

Mizu's Thoughts
Cafe 0 is an interesting game from roseVeRte, at first it doesn't give you much on what's going on until much later when you find out how dark and deep the story can get. This game reminds me of the series called Amnesia where you are a girl without memories but in this case, you have seven days to put your heart together and enter the afterlife.

Sounds simple but I am guessing it is not.
You have three major characters you interact with and one character who acts as your guide and will help annoy you until your time is done. Since this is the demo, you only get to try out one day and then expected to buy the full game to find out what happens in the end. Which I will admit, is a tantilising idea, since I am now interested in the story and the characters you both play as and interact with.

Now onto my notes I made about the game, since this is my first time playing it.

I spent, more or less, an hour playing this game.
Some of the art is good but it irks me somewhat, I am guessing it is more of the eyes than the whole art itself.

The music is pretty good, quite dark which is appropriate for this game, the sounds used are nice but the one thing that irks me about this demo is when the music was a lot louder than the voices but this won't impact the full game in any way, which is a nice bonus.

Yes, since this is a visual novel game and I am prone to reviewing these a lot, it has simple mechanics where you just simple point and click and occasionally making choices, which will impact the outcome of what happens. You are given the usual choices of what to name yourself and what you can do the next day, this is usually who you interact with.

I think this game has a lot of potential to be excellent in it's story, not so much for the art or music, to be honest. I may obtain this during the next sale to review it fully.


Note: the demo only contains the Japanese voices, the full version is unvoiced for some reason.

Probability of Purchase: Very High

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Cubic Castle: A Review



I decided that this game may not get a review like the others due to how little I played of it and how boring I found it.

The game is free to play on steam [X] and is an MMO style game with a feel of minecraft.
In order to make your character to look better, you need to pay for it.
In order to do anything, you need to spend a lot of time travelling and checking things out, as well as trying to figure out how to do anything since not much is explained.

I admit, I was amused by the game at first but it quickly grew boring after an hour or so. To the extent that I went back to Terraria and hosted a server to play with a few friends of mine. It is cute and you can interact with other people but sometimes the quests were silly and a pain in the ass but to each their own.

I personally feel that you could get the same enjoyment for this game elsewhere, such as minecraft, Terraria and Starbound. Though, I do recommend it to people who wants a free game that has social and building.

Game Review: Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime


Game: Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime
Played on: Steam
Console: PC
Price: $9.99 [Steam]
Genre: Puzzle

Basically

You are just playing puzzles and each puzzle contains a different artwork, which is done by a few talented artists.
Side-note: There is also a mini puzzle that players can complete for an achievement, though it's not a major part of the game, it's sweet and simple and easily found on the main page.
Mizu's Thoughts
On a personal level, I found this game a great time waster more than anything. It contains no story, no motive, no anything.
It is only good for time wasting and good for people who just love getting achievements and having a perfect game on their list.
Personally, I overlooked it until I finished the game fully and checked out the main page.

The graphics are simple and not that great but the art used for the puzzles are the only decent graphics you will get from this game.

The mechanics are simple and has progressed from the earlier versions of the Pixel Puzzle, you can now rotate puzzle pieces and sometimes the puzzles get a little bit tricky. Well, tricky enough to want to take breaks from it cause you either may get a bit bored or, like me, get a bit of a headache trying to find that one piece that you need to finish the puzzle.

Sadly, I find most of the games sound or music very annoying and tend to play it on mute with my own music in the background. Then again, this choice is for whomever plays it, since I am aware that some people enjoy a games music, no matter how unsatisfying it may be.
Conclusion
I only recommend this game for people who enjoys time wasters, puzzles and easy achievements. Maybe anime fans may find some fun in it as well.
Score 

Sunday, 12 April 2015

Hour of Power: Catan




Today on the Hour of Power, we present Catan by United Soft Media and for being a fan of the board game by the same name, the game on steam was such a disappointment.

This is apart of the strategy genre of video games and it really does live up to the name of it's genre. It is based on the board game of the same name and nature, where you roll dice for resources and use them to build up your city and roads in order to win.
Now to begin on why I am not happy with this game.

A few things I found to be problematic is that there was no real tutorial to teach new players how to play the steam version, this even impacts experienced players who is not use to playing the computerised version. So basically in order to get an idea on how to play, you must find it in the option area and remember, it is accessible despite being greyed out.



Another flaw is the two scenarios, they are barely explained and they shove you right in with no explanation and seriously, a little help goes a long way. Then the next problem is that Easy is not really easy at all and it still confusing as hell.
The game is tough to move around in and to understand it. I thought the idea of having tutorials is common sense but some things aren't that common lately.

Another thing I noticed, is that the game has nice graphics but after a while tends to be a tad more annoying due to the extremely bright colours.

I do like the fact that it does take after the game in some aspects but the new additions are not explained and it tends to leave some players questioning it's use.

Now a very honest opinion here, if you played the board game and liked it, don't play this, it is somewhat of a let down, despite the new scenarios and the fact it is on PC. It's not that great.
If you never played it, then go crazy but give the board game a try, it's much better.

I found it stressful, to be honest but I am hoping that multi-player will change my mind.

Saturday, 11 April 2015

International Table Top Day (11/04/15): Mizu Edition


So as most know, it was international table top day and in the spirit of all good gaming and spending a whole day with friends and possibly wanting to murder them all by the end of the day, I participated in a more private gathering of me and five other friends. They are Kyo, Snipes, Nivra, Josh and Philman (yea, steam names ahoy, sorta).

By the end of the day, 5 games were played and none were won by me but I had an amazing day, so that works out nicely.

The day started at 12 and the first game of torture was undertaken by me, Kyo, Philman and Josh. The game was stone age and I possibly came 3rd, which is not bad for me but I can't quite recall. About halfway through the game, a wild Snipes appeared and eventually Nivra, which finished the party of six.
anyway, Stone Age is an interesting game, I played it maybe twice since Philman procured it. Basically, it is a two to four player game that leaves you living in the stone age and the objective of the game is make a thriving community by collecting resources, making tools and huts, breeding and preventing anyone else from getting what they need. The end of game is decided after a pile of huts are finished and the score is tallied for all you did.
If I recall correctly, Philman won closely followed by Kyo.

After that, Snipes indirectly unleashed Munchkin on us and it was chaotic at the last part where most players were on level 9 and vying for that final level, minus the relentless attacks I got and missed victory to only have Kyo and Philman tie first, I am seeing a pattern here...
Munchkin is a simple game where you are entering a dungeon and kicking doors to see what you may get, sometimes helpful things but mostly monsters. This game is basically a fight to see who gets all the riches and glory. In the process you build yourself up with weapons, armour and items, as well as different classes and races, this seems to be a small to large player game, since all six of us could easily play and destroy each others chances at victory.
Sadly, I failed that quest. It was after that, that our party dwindled to 5 with the early departure of Nivra, which was not expected.

After a somewhat long break feat. lunch, we returned to the gaming pit and took on three more games. These games were brought in by me, Nivra and Philman, while the above two were Philman and Snipes additions.

First up being Fresco, which was an interesting game and the first time playing it, I didn't do too bad but I wanted to slap some people after it, to be honest.
Fresco is a one to four player game that leaves you in control of three master artists and five proteges, your job is to paint the chapel by performing one of five tasks. First, you chose a time to work and then in turn of who gets up earliest, each player can perform the following tasks with five proteges, which is buying paint, painting the chapel, paint for money, mix paints and go to theatre. This keeps going till six tiles are left in the chapel which then enters final phase of the game where going to theatre has changed to paint the chapel. Whoever paints the most and has the most wealth tends to win the game.
I believe, yet again, Kyo won closely followed by Snipes... or maybe it's the other way around but it is a fun game and I do recommend people to give it a try.

After that we moved onto a less demanding game and tried out Carcassonne, which was very interesting since the only interaction I had with that game was watching TableTop on youtube by Geek and Sundry.

Basically you build a tile building game which you help develop the landscape of a medieval inspired environment. You place tiles down and try and build up the environment as well as placing meeples in ideal locations to try and build up points to win the game. This game ends when all tiles have been played. Up to five players can play at one given time.

I believe Snipes took the cup on this one, trust me, blue was not losing in the last image but rather overlapping and winning. At least I did not come last, which was great since I was last during most of the game.


Last game of the night was one game I brought with me and has been a favourite of mine since I saw it one time while I was at a game shop in Burwood. This is the game of Tanto Cuore, a two to four player deck building game, but thanks to my expansion, I tend to expand to about five to eight players.
You are the master of the house and your goal is to go to town and purchase more maids that either help your buying chances or for chambering maids to earn more victory points. Each maid is unique and offers useful skills to help you build a deck worthy of victory. there is more than just general maids, there are also private maids which are an on-going ability chambered maid, meaning you can use their ability at any given time and automatically chambered when bought. Down-side to the private maid, you can only have one active.There is also Event cards which can impact players from winning. The aim of the game is two finish two piles of town maids to finish the game. One with the most points wins.
In my game of this, we had no events since Snipes was new to this and deck building it seems and decided to make it a tad easier. I was close to winning but Kyo beat me by 3 points, which made me seem like a bad sport, since I was (for once) keen on winning.

That was basically all I played on Table Top day and I wouldn't have asked for a better day, we finished about 11pm that night. I look forward to the next normal game day and on a side note, my post was retweeted by Geek and Sundry and TableTopDay on twitter.












The last image here is a funny little mistake that Kyo pointed out.
The bottom castle that I started to make and had Snipes somewhat invade, formed a little heart. I thought it was amusingly cute and worth mentioning.

Then again, my symbol for the love of Table Top games but not some of the players, I would so kick them, sorta.








Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Fandoms - Resident Evil


So, you must be thinking "Mizu, why the post on fandoms in a gaming blog"
Simple answer, my dear Watson, fandoms exsist everywhere, especially the gaming world.
I bring this to view on the concept that Resident evil HD Remastered came out on the 20th and being a dedicated player to the game, I decided to view comments in the community on steam and what I saw disappointed me.
Reading the titles made me go "No, just no" to reading further into it.
I mean, how could other players dictate who is a 'True Fan' or not, I mean, that is just unfair, especially those who came into the series at a far later time and were unable to play the first few.

Many posts start with "I am the biggest fan" or "I am the number one fan" and really, is there a need for that? I been a huge fan since RE1 (Director's Cut came out the next year) was released back in 1996/7 on the playstation. I am no way the biggest fan but this game is dear to me. After that, everytime a new RE was released, I generally got it in that year and finished it within a few days due to being a young student.


Enough about my personal experience, I can add it in as I go along below.

Now, this part really annoyed me, this post is what triggered this blog entry.



Like JFC, being a 'true fan' in my honest opinion is appreciating a game for what it offers you, as the player and just because it had a major genre change, doesn't make it any less worthy of being under the RE banner and I played many RE games in my time, including the really terrible ones that everyone overlooks, like Survivor, Dead Aim and Outbreak.
Considering the above poster neglected to even mention these side-titles is laughable, considering some were FPS and other's introduced a more action feel to it. This was back in the '00s and they were probably test dummies for the later of the main series.

Now let's take a look at the titles.

Resident Evil came out in 1996, it was the first game to pin Survival Horror on the map of gaming genres, apparently it drew a lot of inspirations from games such as 1989's Sweet Home, this could also be dated back to games like Haunted House in 1982. Later that year, Silent Hill was released and has been somewhat of a competitor of RE. The next year, Directors Cut was released, which only had a few additions and also possibly due to the fact that RE2 was suppose to be released around this time, not only that but it was more extended and had uncensored cutscenes, which is always such a nice bonus. Now, in 2002, they released a GameCube edition of the game which completely revamped everything about the original title, which was exciting for me but apparently, fans felt betrayed and demanded that the creators don't do that again and yet, here we are, at 2015 a HD remaster of the GC version, which saddens me, since I would like to see a revamp version of 2 and 3.
Re was one of the first RE games I ever played on the PS console and introduced me to the horror genre and to this day, I still own my copy of this game, as well as the DC version. It be fair to admit that I have most of the RE game collection.

RE2, one would think that it would be almost exactly after the events of RE but how wrong are you. Trivia Fact; RE2 is set 24hrs after RE3 has taken place but both finish at the same time, amazing ain't it. Anyway, this game was released in 1998, during which it still was the golden child of the Capcom franchise and the leader of the Survival horror genre.

Like with RE4, the Survival Horror was on a decline and FPS or Action is what gamers wanted and for a game to live in a time, it had to change to suit the audience and around this time, new gamers were coming out of the woodworks and this won them into the series. During this time, RE4 had to compete with Devil May Cry 3, Call of Duty, F.E.A.R., God of War, Battlefield and the list can go on and in this industry, you had to keep up or go home.

Another thing I like to point out about one game in particular, which I actually like, which is Operation Raccoon City. Sure it is not the great but I like the alternative view it offered on the whole outbreak and another thing, IT WAS DONE BY ANOTHER COMPANY ALTOGETHER, so Capcom is not fully for the change or alteration for the RE universe, you can somewhat say that it is an AU situation of Resident Evil, which I personally find is a brilliant idea.

You probably wondering why I feel so strongly about this. If you asked which RE is my all time favourite, it would be RE3, since it basically brought in a whole new system and mechanics to the survival horror genre.

In my opinion, you are a true fan to the series if you played 1 or more and enjoyed what it offered, who cares if you never played the original. As long as you left feeling satisfied and happy after playing then you are a fan. That is how my opinion is and I am sorry if it seems off or like a long ramble.
I may write a better one in the future after some research.

Game Review: New Style Boutique


275px-New_Style_Boutique Game: New Style Boutique [PAL Version]
Style Savvy: Trendsetters [NTSC Version]
Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode Yokubari Sengen [Japanese Version]
Girls Style: Fashion Leader Decolration [Korean Version]
Played on: 3DS
Console: 3DS
Price: $18 - $30
Genre: Simulation
Contains: Fashion Simulator but it seems each version is different, character wise, so I will express what the PAL version has. Excuse the bad images, I used my phone.
Basically
You are the main protagonist, new in the big city and you peer into a CB_aOtMUsAE8drOwindow and at a beautifully dressed manequin. The shop owner, Evie spots you and asks if you like to try it, once you open the door for her. This slowly esculates as you somehow manage to get hired by her. Eventually, she leaves and you become the manager of her old Boutique. You take it and make it your own but this is just the beginning of something great.

Mizu's Thoughts
Alright, this game is a great time waster and really has no major plot after you finish the main circuit of Fashion Contests.
so, being a fan of the first game, I took this game on board as it has added in more things that the first one lacked, such as choosing clothes for Men. I enjoy this game cause it gives me something to do at times where I can't dedicate full attention to games.
There is a story but it sorta gets lost amongst the actual game and you forget what you are even doing, besides setting up a successful boutique and entering Fashion Contests.
Basically, you become manager of a store, you make friends with other NPC characters, get involved with their lives and eventually become the best stylist/boutique manager/friend out there. There is no romance from what I have seen, unless you count the NPC's.
The mechanics are simple and relies on paying attention to customers needs and choosing the right thing to say at times. It also relies on the use of touchscreen and that's pretty much it.
The only con is that when choosing certain selections, it can get confusing, cause sometimes you don't see the difference between Chic and Feminine clothing, besides the price tag.
The nice additions to the game would be the ability to dress up Men with their own clothes range. Renovate the store to promote the look of the clothes you offer. New make-up and hair choices for the main character and of course, more clothes and fashion lines for the player to sell and wear.
The Visual is simple and the most detail is spent on the characters which are as unique as the next. Very few look alike but their fashion style and personality sets them apart.
The music, in my opinion, is not that great and can rub the nerves raw after a while, so I usually mute it or listen to my iPod, so I have that variety that the game lacks.
Pros: Great time wasting game, cute fashion and unique.
Cons: The music is annoying as hell and needs the storyline more visible and less buried.
CCC0iPQWMAA45jPConclusion
It's a great game, good for those times where you want something to do that is not very time consuming and It's cute and simple. Great for all ages.
Score