06) Natalie Got Her Gacha Fix!

Post published:04/07/2019
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:11 mins read
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Ever since I stopped playing Fire Emblem Heroes a year ago, I’ve been craving a game with some sort of gacha mechanics, as I love the sensations that come with getting rare and powerful characters accompanied with light flavor text and unique artwork. It is a desire that I have been looking to satiate in a somewhat healthy manner, and wouldn’t you know it, the Student Transfer dev team provided just that with their latest April Fools goof. A standard no-frills card collector gacha title where the player can earn 160 unique cards with flavor text that were enough to drive me to achieve a 100% completion rate, and then proceed to happily read through the descriptions, taking delight in the information, background, and general absurdity they provided.
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Mass Effect Andromeda Review

Post published:12/12/2018
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:19 mins read
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Send it back into cryo-stasis, and just keep it there.

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Rundown (1/21-1/27) Notorious Nebulous Nonsense

Post published:01/28/2018
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:7 mins read
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Over the past few days I have been playing Black Desert Online after it was available during a free weekend on Steam. I had known of the game for several years, and was curious to see how it fared, but then I was reminded that MMORPGs are some of the last intuitive games on the market, containing so many mechanics and subsystems that are thrust onto the player. With trade routes, housing, four types of glorified crafting, and all of this tedious nebulous rubbish that exist on top of an interesting action RPG that has an interesting fixation on grinding knowledge on enemies, skills, and even people. It is an odd little title that really could be something novel, if only it did not belong to a genre notorious for its nebulous nonsense. Also, it’s controller support leaves a lot to be desired.
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Rundown (7/30-8/05) Gamindustri Is a Bizarre Adventure

Post published:08/06/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:9 mins read
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I’m looking over what I have to say this week, I think I can safely say that the game industry is a pretty weird place if you ignore most of the AAA fluff that goes about and dig a bit deeper. Just this week we have a Chinese imitation of a popular AAA game series published by a small scale American indie publisher. A studio collapsing due to a poorly received game that was locked in a vicious dec cycle. A completely failed attempt at crowdfunding that was picked up by a publisher of games based on children’s cartoons. A dancing rhythm game spin-off starting a character whose death is a crucial point in the story. And even a sexual harassment charge involving a boy who used to be a big deal on the G4 message boards. (more…)

Rundown (6/11) E3 2017: Return of the Busiest Time in My Life

Post published:06/12/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:30 mins read
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E3 has begun, and thankfully the duties have been spread apart this year, with the previously mostly vacant Sundays are now being used by two major press conferences. Meaning that I only have three more to go after pushing out this post right at the cusp of midnight because Bethesda thinks it is good to have a press conference at 9 PM PST. Also, the title of this post is not a lie. I do more work per day during the Monday and Tuesday of E3 than I do during any other time during the year. Especially this year, as I have to work and attend class while E3 is going on. Anyways, on with the rundown. (more…)

Rundown (5/07-5/13) God Eating is Convoluted

Post published:05/14/2017
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:9 mins read
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Over the past week, I’ve been finishing up God Eater Resurrection, which I reviewed last year, and while I ultimately enjoyed the game over the 100 hours I have now invested into it, it becomes completely absurd after a point, with the game asking a lot of the player while explaining very little, simply presenting a series of mechanics to the player without much in the way of guidance or explanation of what the best strategy is, instead hiding behind the veneer or player freedom. It is a game that had be confused as to how to play it eighty hours in, and even as I am in the endgame content, it still baffles me with some of its challenges. I honestly hope things are better with its sequel, which I should be reviewing sometime this year. (more…)

Mass Effect 3 Review

Post published:11/10/2016
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:16 mins read
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masseffect3-2016-11-08-21-22-33-17 With Andromeda still looming over the horizon for a few more months, and my reviews of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 out of the way, it’s time to dig into Mass Effect 3, the game whose heinously negative fan reaction effectively murdered the series for me for approximately four years. It’s easily the game I remembered the least of the series, but seeing as how I genuinely enjoyed my time with it at launch, I assumed that it would still prove to be a good conclusion to the Shepard saga. Well… I was wrong. It’s a great conclusion. (more…)

Mass Effect 2 Review

Post published:09/08/2016
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:11 mins read
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About a month ago, I started going through the beloved Mass Effect series once again, starting with the less than stellar predecessor to the series that I just couldn’t seem to love. That was Mass Effect 1, but Mass Effect 2… When thinking about what games really resonated with me, what games brought me an overwhelming amount of good feelings, and offered an experience that I kept coming back to, Mass Effect 2 is one of the first that comes to mind. It was among my favorite games of all time before my, what, sixth playthrough, and I think I may love it even more after going through the game yet again. Also, I played the game using a controller mod, which you can find here. (more…)

Mass Effect Review

Post published:07/20/2016
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:12 mins read
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So, I’ve been wanting to revisit the Mass Effect trilogy for a while, but I kept putting it off for various reasons. The vicious opinions surrounding the ending, the overpriced DLC that isn’t included in any bundle, and the lack of controller support. Although, I managed to remedy the latter using a handy mod. Anyways, with Andromina still a looming enigma on the horizon, I figured now is as good a time as any to start the spacefaring adventure of Shepard the space shepherd. So I’ll just jump on in. (more…)

Jade Empire: Special Edition Partway Review

Post published:11/30/2013
Post category:Game Reviews
Reading time:9 mins read
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There comes a time when games are long, have problems that become apparent early in playing them, and feel like a time sink that will amount to the same conclusion, more or less. Jade Empire is one of those titles, and as I’ve hit 13 hours in the game and chapter three out of five, I no longer wish to continue, and feel as if I have a good amount of things to say about the oft forgotten Bioware title. As part of a new segment that will hopefully survive through my very spur of the moment decision making, called Partway Reviews. In which I review a game after getting to the point where I no longer wish to continue playing it, but still feel like saying things. (more…)

NWS (2/03-2/09) Racist Residents, Awakened All-Stars, Lackluster Legends, and Impossible Inquiries

Post published:02/10/2013
Post category:Rundowns
Reading time:12 mins read
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Let’s see how things went last week… no reaction, lovely! Not that it matters to me, because I just like writing, but hopefully if I keep doing something, I can at least get a fish. Because there is truly not a more noble weapon.
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