This is a little something I found recently while hanging out on the Internet, as one does. I’m still really excited for Breath of the Wild’s sequel, and I’m eager to hear more about it!
Everyone remember the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer that was showcased at E3 earlier this year? We’re still super excited about it, and love seeing all the fan speculation surrounding the less-than-two-minutes trailer (especially “Hydrated Ganondorf”).
Earlier this month, there was a fanmade trailer for the Breath of the Wild sequel. The YouTuber actually specializes in making low poly models in the style of the N64 era, and seeing their talents in this mock Breath of the Wild sequel trailer is awesome. Quite a few of the comments on the video mention how the N64 graphics and music made the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer much creepier than the real trailer, comparing it even further to Majora’s Mask.
I found the trailer to be pretty impressive, especially since there’s a small gap in the trailer that the YouTuber created themselves so it better fit the timeframe. I hope you enjoy this as well!
What did you think of the fan trailer? Any predictions for the Breath of the Wild sequel? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Last week was about Ghost-type Pokemon, and this week I figured I would give one of my favorite types a little more attention. This does not include any of the revealed Galar Pokemon just yet, although I’m looking forward to seeing them in action when Sword and Shield are released!
Umbreon
One of the first Dark-type Pokemon that I ever trained, Umbreon was always one of my favorite Eevee evolutions. True, it’s not the strongest of the evolutions, but the design was on point and I love the glowing rings, both with its normal coloring and its shiny state.
Mightyena
When I first saw Poochyena in Ruby and Sapphire, it reminded me of a scrappy little mutt, and its evolution became a staple in my Hoenn teams. It’s always been a powerhouse amid my other Pokemon with its sturdiness, and it always reminded me of a wolf, one of my favorite animals.
Scrafty
Seeing this guy classified as the “hoodlum” Pokemon always made me laugh. With strong attacks from both its dark and fighting typing, Scrafty was one of my favorites in the Unova region. The loyalty that many of its dex entries describe was always endearing, as well.
Houndoom
Despite their prowess, Fire type Pokemon were usually passed over on my teams for other favorites, like Ground, Flying, and Grass. Rachel was enough of a pyro for the both of us, I figured, but Houndour and Houndoom, especially, were great in my Johto teams. Their designs were always a favorite!
What are some of your favorite Dark type Pokemon? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Did anyone watch that 24-hour livestream of the Galar Region to try to spot new Pokemon or information for the Sword and Shield Pokemon games? I did not.
So, recently there was that livestream of, I don’t know, a forest scene of the Galar Region that was set up to tease everyone regarding new Pokemon for the eighth generation. I didn’t watch any of it, admittedly, but I did see enough people on Twitter mentioning the few things of interest and then a lot of disinterest in supposedly the dead air that the livestream offered at times.
By the sounds of it, the best thing to come out of that livestream was the reveal of the Galarian Ponyta. With a mane looking as if it was made out of clouds and some of the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen on a Pokemon, it looks adorable!
Was it confirmed as a Galar form of Ponyta yet by Nintendo? Could this actually be an entirely new line of Pokemon?
(Seriously, do you all remember Bouffalant from Gen. V? How we were all sure it was part of a Taurus evolution line but they’re both stand-alone Pokemon? Yeah.)
There’s been plenty of speculation about the Pokemon’s typing as well. I’ve seen Fairy as a good contender, and due to the forest location, some are speculating Grass as well. The Pokemon’s eyes and fluffy mane first reminded me of the Vulpix line, admittedly, particularly their Alolan forms. It makes me think that this Pokemon may be Fairy and Ice type.
Flying may be a good contender, though, especially for an evolution. Imagine Galarian Rapidash sprouting wings to go with its cloud-like mane and tail, becoming a Pegasus Pokemon!
What did you think of Galarian Ponyta? Any predictions for this Pokemon? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
October is a time for spooks, and what better way to celebrate it than talking about Ghost-type Pokemon? Sure, you could argue that a better celebration would be to play horror games, but I’m not that type of gamer, so Pokemon it is!
Cofagrigus
First appearing in Gen. V, one of the main game Pokedex entries of this Pokemon states, “They pretend to be elaborate coffins to teach lessons to grave robbers.” In this case, that lesson is to swallow the person. Indeed, even the anime’s Pokedex says, “People who approach Cofagrigus are swallowed and turned into mummies.” Who in the Pokemon world witnessed this happening in order to write these entries? Did the writer’s friend end up dead when they were investigating Ghost Pokemon?!
Phantump
Phantump is an adorable Ghost and Grass Pokemon that appeared in Gen. VI. Its first Pokedex entries says, “these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest,” which is heartbreaking enough in itself. However, the Gen. VII Pokedex entries talk about how, “By imitating the voice of a child, it causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest. It’s trying to make friends with them.” Imagine the spirits entombed in these Pokemon as lost children crying out for friends!
Lampent
This whole line of Pokemon talk about how the flames they have are the result of sapping the life force of people and Pokemon. Lampent, the middle tier of the evolution line, has entries speaking of how “this ominous Pokemon is feared” and “hangs around hospitals waiting for people to pass on.” Liking to steal spirits from people’s bodies, the anime Pokedex blatantly mentions that it helps lead “people and Pokémon to the Ghost World while stealing their life energy.” If the strength of this Pokemon’s line comes from life force energy, what happens to Lampent with a trainer? Is the Lampent stealing — or “borrowing” — their trainer’s life energy to grow stronger? The more life energy the line steals, the stronger their flames burn, after all.
Palossand
A new Pokemon from Gen. VII, Palossand’s entry is pretty terrifying to me. All of the game entries speak of how Palossand’s castle and mounds of sand are the result of the sapped vitality of its victims: “Each of its grains of sand has its own will. Palossand eats small Pokémon and siphons away their vital essence while they’re still alive.” It’s not just Pokemon, of course. It’s sand castle is the result of the transformation of “possessed people controlled by this Pokémon.” Moon’s Pokedex entry goes one step further with, “buried beneath the castle are masses of dried-up bones from those whose vitality it has drained.” As someone who is personally a bit hydrophobic and not thrilled with the beach, I would not live anywhere near sand in the Pokemon world.
What are some of the creepiest or your favorite Pokedex entries? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
With the coming holidays, there are a plethora of new video game releases that are on our radar. Most are new but some are remastered versions of older games that we had loved. Now there are rumors of another remake…
Pokemon is one of our favorite franchises, probably one of the first that truly got us into gaming on a regular basis. The Yellow, Red, and Blue trio were my first games for my Game Boy Color, and Rachel joined me in on the Pokemon adventure with Gold, Silver, and Crystal. The first generation of Pokemon has been remade a couple of times — with FireRed and LeafGreen, then most recently with the Let’s Go duo — and the second and third generation games have also been given makeovers.
There has always been clamor for the fourth generation of games — Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum in the Sinnoh region — to be remade as well. The fourth generation of Pokemon games was one of the most acclaimed with the Pokemon world, with it introducing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to allow trainers from all over the world to communicate, as well as updating the graphics, battle and contest mechanics, and introducing the most Legendary Pokemon in a generation.
According to a recent rumor, the Sinnoh region may yet still be remade.
Granted, the rumor is due to a Pokemon merchandise online store noticing that a slew of Sinnoh merch is slated to come within the next year or so. Saturating the market with fourth generation Pokemon toys would help with marketing when it comes to remakes. Considering the next core Pokemon games are being released in November, a remake of the fourth generation could be the next Pokemon game on Nintendo’s to-do list. In all seriousness, Nintendo may not have to do any market ploy for the generation four remakes, not with how much fans have wanted these remakes for years.
With that said, while I’ve always enjoyed the remakes, my favorite Pokemon games were the third-tiers, which haven’t been a thing since the original Pokemon Platinum game back in 2009. We’ll get the remakes, whenever they get released, and we’ll probably enjoy them just as much as we enjoy the others.
Would you like a remake of the fourth generation Pokemon games? Any particular updates you’d like to see? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
The year is three-quarters over, and there are about ninety days left until Christmas. Isn’t that crazy?
Golden Sun is a game that I need to play again. I never actually owned it, but I remember a friend lending it to me sometime in sixth grade. She scolded me at one point when I told her where I was in the story and what level I was at. Apparently I wasn’t keeping up with my characters’ levels while advancing the story!
This game was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001, and the RPG was critically acclaimed, getting almost perfect reviews. It was traditional for the genre in which the players controlled four characters in a party and traveled throughout a fantasy land as they advance the story. Like most RPGs, there is a magic system, with Golden Sun’s magic being based on the classical elements. The magic is called Psynergy and wielders are Adepts. However, the magic that is involved in the game is also used outside of battle for solving puzzles. Instead of playing completely linear, players are allowed to return to previous locations to solve puzzles they couldn’t before after unlocking the magic needed to do so.
Golden Sun also employed little creatures called Djinn. Djinn are found in the world and can be set to a character, helping with the character’s magic and class, among other attributes. Djinn have their own elements and can be mixed and matched when put with a character, offering a wide variety of spells and effects for battles.
I honestly don’t remember too much of this game, but I do remember that I enjoyed the game enough to ask for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn when that had been released for the Nintendo DS back in 2010. With that said, I haven’t played too much of Dark Dawn. Perhaps I should rectify that…
Have you played this game? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Title: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Developer: Intelligent Systems, Koei Tecmo Games Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Category: Tactical role-playing
Release Date: July 26, 2019
How we got the game: Bought it on Nintendo Switch
Pssst…. There may be story or gameplay spoilers in this review! You’ve been warned!
I’ve finally finished my first playthrough of Three Houses, and I’ve got almost nothing but praise for it! I’ll admit, I was only tentatively optimistic about this game, but the more I played, the more I fell in love with it.
Traditional Fire Emblem games give the player a main protagonist or two, maybe a handful of characters to start leveling up into some semblance of an army, and a reason for said protagonist(s) to start throwing themselves into turn-based battles with weapon triangles. Along the way, a deeper story will develop while introducing new characters to recruit for your army, characters that you can usually choose to include and level up both for fighting and for relationships with other characters. Fire Emblem Three Houses is not that traditional. True, the game begins with a tutorial-like battle and introduces who are arguably the most important characters to the game. Yet, after the battle, the protagonist is whisked to Garreg Mach Monastery and hired as a professor for a class of students. With this, the player is put in a position to already pick their main army to teach and grow, as well as the students in the other classes that can potentially join the player’s class — and, later, army — under the right circumstances. With this, the player already knows the majority of the key characters in the story instead of being fed them at certain intervals of the game. While it can be overwhelming to face so many characters and trying to learn everyone’s potential, I enjoyed seeing how everyone interacted with each other within the monastery. Speaking of the monastery, that is where Three Houses stands apart from traditional Fire Emblem games. Instead of the game going from story cutscene to battles, battles happen at the end of the game’s month, with the weeks leading up to said battle containing activities to advance your units’ skills and supports with one another. Exploring the monastery allows you to freely maneuver around Garreg Mach Monastery, which is mostly used to speak to all the characters, maybe fish or sing in the church’s choir, and generally increase supports between everyone. The higher the support between two characters, the more benefits the pair receive in battle when fighting close to one another. There are also, of course, paired endings after the game that depend on the support conversations. Finding out more about the characters’ history and the game’s lore from the exploration option was one of my favorite activities in the game. Aside from exploration, one can also have a character host a seminar to increase skills of the students who attend the lecture as well as have rest days to increase the characters’ motivation for learning. There is also an option for battles, small paralogues or skirmishes to help level up the characters for the bigger, story-orientated battle at the end of the month. Visiting the Marketplace for weapons, items, battalions, and the blacksmith is also available at the beginning of each week, as well as the option to have a character take a certification test to change class. If a character passes the test, they will be able to reclass at the beginning of battles to any class they have passed. The meat of the game is, of course, the grid-lined, turn-based battles. You’ll have your army of students (which sounds really weird, in all honesty, as it reminds me of the Hunger Games) make their move toward their opponents with medieval weapons and magic — swords, lances, bows and arrows, axes, energy-sucking “Reason” magic, the usual. Once all of your characters move, it’ll be the opponent’s turn to move to whatever grid square they can reach to attack yours. Each battle has a win and lose condition, and you can earn gold, special items, and story-advancing narrative for winning. In the majority of Fire Emblem games, characters can advance classes in usually linear fashion. An archer can class up to a sniper, and a cleric and class up to a holy knight, for example. In Three Houses, as long as their skills in certain weaponry are high enough, characters can take a certification test and reclass into several other options. These classes can then be switched freely at the start of battles, so if there is a map where you need more flying units than cavalry, Three Houses gives you a means to teach your students how to tame a pegasus or wyvern. It was a nifty mechanic, even if I found myself not using it as much as I probably should have. Aside from changing classes, characters can also hone their authority skill and have a battalion at their back during battles. These allow you to do gambits or bigger attacks with certified, nameless soldiers, generally to induce status ailments. Different battalions perform different actions, such as one that does healing magic on all allies for a certain number of spaces, or another that sets everything aflame. Admittedly, I half forgot about the battalions for the majority of the battles, focusing instead on my units attacking. Still, if used right, the battalions will be crucial for many unique strategies in the battles.
Weapon durability is back, which also lends a hand to the strategies you’ll need to come up with during battles, especially with some unique, story-based, one-of-a-kind weapons that are called Hero’s Relics. Only those with Crests, special sigils that are passed down throughout family lines, are able to wield the Hero’s Relics. Crests themselves are important in the setting’s history and politics, and the mystery of the main protagonist’s Crest is an important plot point in the game.
The graphics of the game were well done, but nothing spectacular. I was pleased with the videos and cut scenes, finding the animation smooth, but the few animations for the character models did feel a little stilted and limited. Still, the character designs were mostly on point and I enjoyed the majority of the battle maps. As for the music, I totally want this soundtrack. I’ve always loved the majority of the Fire Emblem games’ music, but Three Houses is probably one of my favorites!
The story begins with Byleth, who was a mercenary along with their father Jeralt, waking up and speaking to a green-haired young woman — girl-like in appearance — named Sothis. The pair appear to be in some sort of temple or ruins, with Sothis lounging on a throne and attempting to make sense of her hazy memories. Sothis’s consciousness is tied with Byleth’s, and the scene shifts to the waking world after the brief introductions. Byleth and their father are about to leave their current village when three students ask for their aid in defeating a group of bandits. The students are from Garreg Mach Monastery, each the respective heir to their countries on the continent of Fodlan. After successfully beating back the bandits, Byleth and their father escort the students — Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude — back to the monastery where they meet with Archbishop Rhea of the Church of Serios. Before Byleth knows what is happening, Jeralt rejoins the Knights of Serios and Byleth becomes the professor of a class of students. The Black Eagles led by Edelgard, the Blue Lions led by Dimitri, and the Golden Deer led by Claude are filled with unique students coming from various backgrounds. Byleth takes command of one of the classes and the story really begins. Played in two parts, part one is “pre-timeskip” wherein Byleth spends much of their time getting to know their students and aiding them in battles to better themselves for their respective countries and goals. While doing so, sinister plots are revealed as the months pass, with the archbishop and the Church of Serios being challenged by enemies — even some who were once called allies. During one such climactic battle, Byleth falls into a canyon and does not awaken until five years later. Part two is this “post-timeskip,” and Byleth finds themselves in a war-torn Fodlan. Reuniting with their former students, Byleth helps to figure out not only an end to the war but also about their past. Granted, this is a vague description of the story, mostly because I’ve only gone through the Golden Deer route. The other routes will most likely determine which side of the war Byleth is on and how they find out who they really are.
I’ve already started my next route. Considering there are two more houses, one that has at least two routes, and a New Game+ DLC coming out, there is plenty to do in this game after a first runthrough. Even if there was only one route, the multiple difficulty levels, plethora of characters to build your army however you want, and multiple support conversations to unlock, there is plenty to do to warrant another playthrough.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses gets… 5 out of 5 lives.
Have you played this game? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
Generally my Friday posts aren’t for recent news, but I thought this was some good information to pass on to the blog. Anyone else participating in this?
Nintendo is hosting an online tournament for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe this coming Sunday, September 22nd. It’s open to all racers, regardless of skill level, and all vehicles and characters are welcome to be used. The races will be 150cc-level and racers will compete in a series of 24 races. The top eight racers will be awarded 2,500 gold points (or, rather, $25). And, despite not having picked up the game in a while and not being a regular online competitor, Rachel is planning on playing just for the fun of it. The tournament itself says it will be going from 1pm to 11pm EST and Nintendo revealed a simple way to enter by giving a number (2093-5045-4827) to input into the Search by Code field in Tournaments. I presume one does not need to play through the entire block and will only need to play long enough to compete in 24 races. There was one summer where Rachel and I, along with our cousins, played through all of the available courses and it took us only a couple of hours, if I remember correctly. To have to sit down and race for 10 hours for a tournament would be a little excessive. While it’s nice to have a tournament not catered to certain skill levels, I doubt beginners will be able to have good luck with the tournament. I wonder if it would be worth it to Nintendo to do more online tournaments for beginner, intermediate, and expert racers? With a growing library on the Switch — both for current and retro games — more online tournaments may become a thing. There are the big name games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon, and I wonder what other games Nintendo may use for tournaments. Fire Emblem battles with custom armies. Overcooked teams competing for high scores. Retro Super Mario Kart tournaments. There are plenty of possibilities for Nintendo to exploit, and I’m interested in seeing what kind of tournaments they’ll do next!
What game would you play in an online tournament? Are you participating in the Mario Kart tournament? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
I hope everyone had a good weekend! This is about some news that’s a couple of weeks old, but I cannot help but think about it. The Super Smash Bros. roster is so big already, I can’t imagine who else to put in!
The latest Nintendo Direct mentioned that even more DLC characters are going to join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate family. Considering all of the characters we have now, what other franchises and series do you want to see represented?
Granted, our favorite franchises are sufficiently represented, but it would be interesting to see more of a variety in them. We have plenty of Fire Emblem characters, but I’m curious if characters from Three Houses will show up. Having a Fire Emblem character that is not a sword-user would be amazing. Perhaps a Pokemon from the Galar region will show up for the latest generation. Maybe there will be an aspect of the second Breath of the Wild or the remake of Link’s Awakening in Ultimate.
I would totally be down for a joint Jigglypuff and Marion concert in Smash Ultimate.
With that said, I am presuming that the newest DLC characters will also be franchises that aren’t in Smash just yet. Rachel and I are first and foremost Nintendo fans, so characters from other series aren’t usually on our radars. Yet, I would love more female or unique animal characters on the roster. Shantae is fairly popular and it’d be fun to play as Spyro hovering around the stage.
Of course, I also can’t help but hope for Geno from Super Mario RPG!
What extra DLC characters are you hoping will show up in Smash? Any franchises you’re hoping will get some representation? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Going through our list of video games and keeping an eye out on our release date calendar, I’m acutely reminded that there are so many video games and so little time to enjoy them all. Despite the Legend of Zelda franchise being one of my favorites, there are quite a few games that I haven’t played through.
Cadence of Hyrule
While this may be considered old news, it’s still a game on our radar to play. I’ll admit, I’m not that great with rhythm games but the fact that there is a Legend of Zelda twist to this game made me curious about it. I haven’t heard anything bad about the game (not yet, anyway) so it’s on the list to try.
Link’s Awakening
Yes, I know, the remake is coming out in a week and we already have it on pre-order thanks to Rachel’s birthday from the beginning of the month, so no worries there. With that said, this doesn’t hold as much nostalgia for me as it does for others, despite the fact that I have the Gameboy game. Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Switch will essentially be my first playthrough through that world!
A Link Between Worlds
Ah, yeah, I haven’t played this one yet either. I’ve had the game since it came out, but I prefer the Legend of Zelda games on the consoles to the ones on the handhelds. Unfortunately, Link Between Worlds wasn’t a priority on my list, despite all of the rave reviews for it. I’ll rectify that mistake at some point.
Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons
It’s been quite a while since I’ve played these games, mostly due to the fact that they were for the Gameboy Color and my Gameboy has been lost since our basement flooded eons ago. I remember enjoying the two games, even getting decently far in Oracle of Ages, but I didn’t play enough to beat the games. If I could find a decent emulator for the games — or, better yet, a working Gameboy — I would love to give these two titles another try.
Are there any Legend of Zelda games still on your to-play list? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Happy Monday!
