Mermaid Swamp: A First Impression

Mermaid Swamp: A First Impression

   October 10, 2015       Mizu

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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.

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Hour of Power: Catan

Hour of Power: Catan

   April 12, 2015       Mizu

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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.

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Hour of Power - Final Fantasy Type 0

Hour of Power - Final Fantasy Type 0

   March 24, 2015       Mizu

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To the left is my lovely copy of the game in today's spotlight, Final Fantasy Type 0 HD. Sadly I will lack proper gaming images since I am unsure how image capturing works on the PS4 but one day I will progress that far to do so but anyway, back to the commenting.

Final Fantasy Type 0 is proving to be an interesting game and a nice addition to the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos which shares with Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV, which has a pretty amazing demo out.

I may have only done the first mission but it is quite a game so far. The story is compelling as it revolves around War and the actions of Class Zero, a class that seems to be a myth of some form until a combat situation arises and needs their skill set. You are given a choice to control 1 of 14 characters, each with their own story and relations, which is nice and gives the player free reign of choices. You are also given certain events which can be triggered by certain characters, which consume in-game hours to waste the time between missions.
The character themselves, though brilliant combatants, are some what ignorant of the workings of most areas and items, which is quite amusing but also can be quite tiresome in some regards. Some voices annoy me and the Moogle is insanely cute, a bit annoying at times.

A thing I noticed is that in some scenes, the mouths of characters move like they would in the Japanese version of the game and you can tell it was transferred from a handheld console to a home console through both design and layout of game play, e.g, chapter based set-up.

Now the controls somewhat confuses me but I believe with time and many hours spent into it, it may prove to be not as cumbersome as it currently is. That and the story is something that may evolve beautifully as we progress into the game.

That is all for now, for I shall return to playing that or The Evil Within.

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Personal Post #3

Personal Post #3

   March 22, 2015       Mizu

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This is more like an update.

I am going to start a 1 hour gameplay comment thing as a progress bar for my future reviews. That and I need to give this blog some loving and this was the best way I came up with. It shall be called Hour of Power, due to me powering though the game for an hour then commenting and deciding if I shall continue or not. I will mention if it will be continued or not.

On a more personal note, I manage to procure two new things.

My Final Fantasy Type 0 SE game for the PS4 and the first PS4 game for me to own.
So far, the most I did with this is read the manga, looked at the artbook and been pining to play it for days xD.

Secondly, my new Bowser Amiibo, mainly for the Mario Party or whatever games. I am quite the fan for Bowser.

That's all for now.

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Hour of Power: The Evil Within

Hour of Power: The Evil Within

   March 22, 2015       Mizu

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Today on Hour of Power is the Bethesda Softworks and Tango Gameworks game of  The Evil Within or Psycho Break in Japan.

This is not your run of the mill Survival Horror, I think it is a bit more than that. It impacts the psychological aspect of the player as well and surely relies on the wit and patience of the player themselves, which use to be an aspect of the Resident evil series, which Shinji Mikami (Director of The Evil Within) also had his hand in helping create. Except I am getting ahead of myself here.

I only played about an hour out of the shown 3.8 due to allowing a friend to try it out due to my higher spec PC, so I will only speak about the first two chapters I have played in regards to this game.
Even before buying this game, I been anxiously awaiting it's relase ever since hearing the Shinji Mikami was going to have a lot to do with it and the fact that this game may even rival that of the original RE series, which as mentioned, he did work on that game series and help make the Survival Horror genre what it is today.

So, back to the game. At first, I was a little put off by how slow it was, yet it was nice, it made things more tedious when it got past the introductory bit, such as character meetings (Joseph Oda, Julie Kidman, Leslie, etc) as well as introducing the basic overview of the game (confronting a deranged being that surpasses the norm). Even with such little information, it is very compelling, you want to know more, you want to know why everyone was killed and why Leslie is warning you of dangers even before they occur. It's all fascinating. 

The controls annoy me a bit but I only somewhat return to gaming and I grow a little rusty (unless it's Payday 2, then I am sharp as an ax). Out of all that, I do enjoy the whole sneaking and upgrade system and how to access the upgrading system is very intriguing, yet I am still not very understanding of what happens and how you get there (are you dead or in some sort of dissociative state?)
Just what is happening, what does this all have to do with you and that asylum. So many questions which will have to wait until I game some more hours into this.

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