February is pretty much done. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a month with all sorts of life stuff happening to disrupt our regular routines. We’re looking forward to the next month and seeing what it brings!
Wii Sports was bundled along with the Wii console way back in 2006, being a collection of sports-orientated games to show off the capabilities of the Wii remotes (this is totally what 1-2 Switch should have been for the Switch console instead of an extra 60 bucks, but I digress). With the main characters of the games being your own personal Miis, it was a good move on Nintendo’s part, especially since it is the bestselling single-platform game of all time.
(I’m not sure how much of that is due to the game being bundled with the console but, hey, it’s also available on its own and it’s an impressive feat nonetheless.)
Wii Sports itself has been acclaimed for its role in bonding experiences between family members as well as being used regularly for physical therapy, particularly in elderly gamers. With the motion-controls of the Wii remotes and the fact that you need to be up and moving for Wii Sports, the game has been credited to paving the way for gamers to be more physical. Since then, we’ve seen more motion-controls being used in games to virtual reality to augmented reality on mobile to encourage people to walk more.
I remember when we first got the Wii and Wii Sports. Our console was set up in the cellar and connected to the house’s largest television (which is basically my father’s TV — hi, Dad!). The games were fun, with Rachel tending to win because she’s better at the sports games — I remember not being able to play the baseball one for the life of me. I did really well with the boxing, though!
My favorite part of this game, though? We were able to rope both Mom and Dad into playing with us once in a while. Despite Dad being able to win fairly easily in real bowling, it was hilarious to see him trying to figure out the mechanics of the game so he could beat Rachel. With all her practice, Rachel knew the precise angle to toss the bowling ball down the aisle to ensure strikes every time.
Have you played Wii Sports? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
While I really didn’t need an excuse to get back into playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the Cindered Shadows DLC was a great reason to turn the game on again. And, honestly, I wouldn’t mind more DLC like this for the game!
The Cindered Shadows DLC came out for Fire Emblem: Three Houses about a week and a half ago. Being only 7 chapters long, it took me between 8 and 9 hours to complete, especially when one considers that Cindered Shadows is mostly battles with a touch of exploration here and there. In fact, Cindered Shadows reminded me much of the earlier Fire Emblem games, where it would mostly be battles with bits of story in between fights.
I enjoyed the battles in Cindered Shadows, each battle offering a new challenge and seeing me use the Divine Pulse to edit my moves more times than I have in the regular routes I’ve played. I did miss the more involved aspects of the exploration parts, though. No support conversations or skill increases were a bit odd, as the character growth is one of my favorite parts of Fire Emblem games.
I was also intrigued by some things in the Abyss that really didn’t play much of a part in Cindered Shadows. Who was that mysterious woman by the pagan altar? What was up with the empty wayseer’s room? Are they the same person? Once I spend enough renown in the Abyss during the main story, I presume these questions will be answered, and it gives me more incentive to continue the main story to try to figure out the answers.
The four Abyssian characters are lots of fun, although I was confused as to Constance’s split personality with the sun and Hapi’s random sighing ability. They were interesting, brought a little more flavor to the characters, but I did not find them necessary. I also did find Balthus to seem very similar to Raphael from the Golden Deer house, especially if one considers that Balthus was originally from the Alliance territory as well. Still, he was a great big brother figure to the other characters, and I loved his war monk class. A brawler and a healer? Yes, please!
I really liked all four of the character classes from Abyss, actually. Yuri, I think, was the character I utilized the least in battle despite his high avoidance rate, but his personality was delightful. His past was interesting, especially since I’ve heard he has a couple of connections with the characters from the main story and I’m looking forward to unlocking his support conversations with everyone.
Speaking of pasts, it was nice to also learn more about Byleth. Her mother finally has a name! She’s no longer just the catalyst for Byleth’s mysterious past! While the main bad guy of the Cindered Shadows DLC was fairly obvious from the beginning, as was the plot, it was still a fun a side story.
Originally, I was hoping Cindered Shadows would be more of a full-fledged route rather than just a side story when I first heard of it. I was selfishly hoping that Cindered Shadows would involve a Golden Ending, one where all of the characters no matter what house could stay alive, especially since the three house leaders were with Byleth as a team when exploring the Abyss. I liked the interactions between them all and wished there were supports between the house leaders for you to unlock during that time.
I just want all the characters to be happy at the end, dammit.
With that said, I did enjoy the DLC overall. The new mechanics and aspects it brought to the main game are fun to explore and discover, and it brought along just the right amount of new characters without it getting overwhelming.
What did you think of Cindered Shadows?Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Bug-type Pokemon are few and far in between on my teams throughout the eight generations of the series. However, the Galar region did reignite my interest in this type!
Ninjask
When I discovered Ninjask in the third Pokemon generation, I pretty much added it to my team because it was classified as the “ninja Pokemon.” It’s high speed stat quickly made it one of my favorites on the team, and I’ve always found it interesting how unique it’s evolution method was to receive Shedinja.
Joltik
Who doesn’t love this adorable, tiny Pokemon? It’s evolution can definitely be scary, but a Joltik is a cute addition to your team, not to mention the electric moves it can learn to bolster your team’s special moves.
Araquanid
Dewpider, the pre-evolution, was adorable and despite how I would probably avoid Araquanid Pokemon at all costs if I ever encountered one in real life, my Araquanid in my Moon game was a fantastic teammate. Its bug typing negated some of the weaknesses of a typical water type Pokemon, and vice-versa, making the Pokemon fairly versatile.
Orbeetle
A little Blipbug was one of my first encounters in Pokemon Sword and it became one of my best team members, especially when it fully evolved into Orbeetle. The dual psychic and bug type Pokemon, Orbeetle was one of my strongest battlers during the endgame.
Frosmoth
This Pokemon is so pretty! It’s one of my favorite designed Pokemon from the Galar region, and its pre-evolution Snom has developed quite the fan following. Frosmoth is a late addition to the Sword and Shield games, but it was fun and challenging raising one at that point.
What are your favorite Bug-type Pokemon? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Playing Dungeons & Dragons has opened up a new world for me. I’m always excited to play with our group and am routinely disappointed when the time comes for a session to end. Thankfully, Rachel and I have a couple of friends who indulged us in giving D&D a try with a Harry Potter-flavored campaign.
Last year, I spoke of the time that I took on the role of Dungeon Master for the first time. That was a quick one-shot with Rachel while we showed a friend the basics of Dungeons & Dragons so we could gauge her interest. Our friend was willing to try more D&D with a Harry Potter twist so it was a setting that she had more familiarity with. Ignoring the fact that one-shot was nearly eight months ago, we finally started that Harry Potter D&D game with our couple of friends during our latest game night.
It was a giant learning curve for me. While Rachel and I have been part of a traditional D&D group for a year or so now, the idea of creating a homebrew campaign was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me. I honestly spent most of my prep time modifying a regular character sheet to give it more Harry Potter-relevant skills, such as Flight, Charms, and Potions. Along with that, I made a “How to Create Your Character” kind of packet, detailing different aspects of the character sheet and how to roll for their stats and such. Of course, both friends were like, “That’s a lot of reading,” and Rachel and I walked them through creating the characters, haha!
I wasn’t sure if our friends would be interested in starting the story after doing the character creation sheets, but our second friend was totally into it. He peppered us with questions, asking if there was a way for him to be a White Mage like in the Final Fantasy series, and while our Harry Potter campaign just has the characters as simple wizard students, I told him I’d bring along the Player’s Handbook so he can get a better idea as to what other kinds of classes and races are in a traditional D&D game. With his enthusiasm, and the hard work and laughs we had from them just creating their characters, we dived into the story.
Being set in the Harry Potter universe, I figured the easiest way to modify the world was to have everyone’s characters be a new student in Hogwarts. All three characters went shopping for some school supplies with the limited beginning money I gave each of them, giving them an extra point in relevant skills if they decided to splurge and get better items than the standard supplies. The characters met each other on the train to the school, with the players learning to ham it up as they role-played. Each character is in a different Hogwarts house, including the NPC I play, so we have a good quartet. I was a little extra in the fact that I created different class schedules for each house, being sure each house had a couple of classes with another house a few times a week so the characters can interact more with each other.
Other than that prep, I wasn’t as prepared with the story as I would have liked to be, but it all worked out well. I have a plotline for the characters to figure out, but I wasn’t quite sure how the classes and earning spells would work. While playing, Rachel and our friends helped me figure out, even if they didn’t realize it. They went right along with me making up the world and story on the spot, and it’s turning into a bit of a competition already in regards to the House Points that students can earn and lose!
We’re all excited for the next time we continue the game. In the meantime, I’m going to create a more solid list of spells, charms, and potions for them to learn for next time. I now understand why so many Dungeon Masters keep tables of random loot handy for games!
What kind of homebrewed D&D adventures have you been in? What kind of fandom would you be interested in adapting for D&D?Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Also, happy valentine’s day! I hope your day is filled with good vibes and even better chocolate. Who else is looking forward to chocolate being on sale tomorrow?
“There’s a rumor that if you give the one you like an Applin, you’ll be together forever!”
Applin is one of the cutest designed Pokemon of the Galar region, in my opinion. The fact that there is a little rumor about it bringing couples together is just adorable. I figured, being Valentine’s Day, it would be the perfect subject for today’s post.
This little guy was created in Clip Art Studio, mostly with the different types of paint brushes available. It was fun to see how the digital paint moved, with the program trying to keep its consistency in regards to the amount of paint and the way the brush behaved. I definitely enjoyed playing around with the highlights and shadows of the Pokemon.
What do you think of Applin? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
It’s always difficult to figure out which games to buy and when. Sticking to a budget with this hobby isn’t easy, even with gift cards!
We all know gaming is an expensive hobby. Generally, when we receive gift cards, they’re already spent due to our list of games that we want. I was fortunate enough to receive a gift card for my birthday for the Nintendo eShop, but it’s a bit difficult to figure out how best to spend it.
Bravely Default
I’ve never played Bravely Default, but seeing the art style and hearing the music has intrigued me enough to want to give it a try. Considering that there is a second Bravely Default coming out for the Nintendo Switch, it’s probably time for me to hurry up and buy the first one. Despite it being out since 2012, it’s still a Nintendo game and, as such, there hasn’t been a drop in price for it though.
Aviary Attorney
We found this game while scrolling through the eShop and it looks delightfully ridiculous. The characters are mainly birds, the plot revolving around France in the 1800s, multiple endings, and there promises to be tons of puns. It seems to be like Phoenix Wright but as bird characters and I’m totally here for it.
Rune Factory 4 Special Edition
In a few weeks, Rune Factory 4 will be making its way to the Nintendo S witch. Fantasy meets Harvest Moon, I enjoyed the game when I played it on my 3DS and I’m looking forward to revisiting it on the Switch. Farming, dungeons, colorful characters who don’t say the same two lines of dialogue every day, and a dragon character have me excited for this remake.
What do you think of these games? Have you played them?Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
This is chapter three of my Nuzlocke. If you missed the first chapter or want to be reminded of the rules, feel free to go back to that post. Or, if you missed chapter two, that post is right here. Hope you enjoy this piece!
Chapter 3:
Current Team: Bond the Sobble, Piccolo the Blipbug, Ryder the Rookidee Body Count: 0
It was bittersweet watching the landscape of Wedgehurst — with Postwick in the distance — blur as the train lurched out of the station. My stomach tumbled and I suddenly felt homesick despite just giving Mum a hug goodbye not ten minutes ago before leaving.
Hop nudged my foot under the table at our seats and I turned my attention from the window to him.
“This is going to be fantastic,” he said, his face in his Rotom phone. “We’ll conquer the gym challenge together, Kris. Galar will soon know who we are.”
“Oh, I’m part of this?” I teased. “I thought I was just helping to further your legend.”
He scoffed. “Of course you are,” he said, “which means you’re very important. You’ll be my closest rival, like how Raihan is to Leon!” He flipped his Rotom phone around so I could see the social media posts he was scrolling through.
Raihan was one of the gym leaders of the region. He was one of the strongest, in fact, and I remember Hop passing along stories that he heard from Leon about Raihan challenging Leon to a battle here and there. Vaguely, I wondered if it was due to those stories — of Raihan always calling himself Leon’s rival — that Hop was so adamant that we were rivals.
Hop chatted away, our conversation during the train ride easing my nerves about the upcoming gym challenge. It would be a great time, I was sure of it, but I was also constantly reminding myself that I was never too far away from home. I could go back anytime. Mum would be delighted to see me whenever I walked in the door.
…I really needed to get out more.
I gazed back out the train window as we slowed during a lull in the conversation, understanding that this would be the best thing for me. And I would be with my best friend, who…
…was no longer in his seat.
I glanced around. “Hop?”
“Kris, we stopped!” He was near the front of the traincar and, indeed, we had stopped. Puzzled, I noticed no buildings or anything out the window and hurried to catch up with Hop. He paused long enough for me to reach his side before he caught one of the conductors’ attention. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry, young man,” the conductor said, tipping his hat. “There’s a herd of Wooloo on the track, so we had to stop for them. We’re at the Wild Area now. If you wish to disembark, you can cross the Wild Area to Motostoke. Otherwise, our delay may be about an hour.”
I shrugged. “An hour’s not bad–”
“This is great!” Hop, in one breath, thanked the conductor, dragged me off the train and out of the station, and rambled about all the Pokemon we would encounter.
I gasped at the landscape before us. The rolling hills and the lakes nestled between them. The rows of trees on our left, a dark tower emerging from the horizon. The beginning of Motostoke across the way, far away enough that I seriously thought it may take a day or two to reach it from the Wild Area station.
Arceus, how did Leon get through this place when he took on the gym challenge? It could take weeks for a normal person to explore the entirety of the Wild Area. For someone missing his sense of direction, who knows how long it took him to get around the place?
Hop was ecstatic. “Imagine what kinds of team we can build!” he was saying. “Look at all of the Pokemon!”
“Look at that Onix!” I hid behind Hop, spying the giant rock monster casually slithering towards the trees on the left. It’d be able to eat my team and myself in one gulp. “Shouldn’t it be underground?”
Hop cleared his throat and shifted more so towards the right, taking me with him. “Heh, yeah, maybe we’ll go a different way to Motostoke…”
“Don’t bother it and it won’t bother you.” Sonia appeared behind us, twirling a strand of her hair around her fingers as she gazed at the Onix as well. “…Well, probably.”
“Probably?” I echoed weakly.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Hop asked her, apparently already forgetting about the Onix.
Sonia sighed. “Gran saw how enthusiastic you two were to go on a journey and thought it’d be a great idea for me too.” In a rather impressive impression of the professor’s warbled voice, Sonia said, “‘Those two young trainers are setting off on a journey, but what are you doing with your life?’”
I winced. “Ouch.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Sonia said, waving away my sympathy. “Besides, I’m interested in that Pokemon you guys said you ran into in the Slumbering Weald, so it’s good timing. Maybe I’ll discover something new and exciting enough that’ll make Gran admit I have some talent!”
“Yikes,” Hop said. “Being an adult has got its own challenges, eh?”
Deadpanned, I said, “Hop, you’re making it sound like we’re ten-years-old or something…” He grinned and winked, and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m looking forward to being on the road again,” Sonia said. “It’ll be great to camp out and rough it. If you guys are going through the Wild Area, be careful. Some spots are prime areas for wild Pokemon to dynamax.”
“Alright, I’m off to beat as many of them as possible!” Hop darted away, going the opposite way of the Onix, I noticed. Before he was completely gone, he shouted back, “Meet you at Motostoke…!”
“What cheek!” Sonia gazed after him, hands on her hips. “He really should be careful, or at least think to dynamax his own Pokemon if he does encounter a wild one…”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I said. “Didn’t you know? We’re witnessing the beginning of a legend.”
She gave me a withering look but said nothing. We chatted a few more minutes and she showed me a couple of more tricks with my Rotom phone before we parted ways. She returned to the station for a bit of shopping and I made sure the Onix was far enough away before I ventured further into the rolling fields.
Which Pokemon game is the best to Nuzlocke? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
If you’ve ever taken a peek at our Twitch channel, you’ll know that I’m playing through Ocarina of Time and… not doing it very well, haha!
On Twitch lately, I’ve been streaming a playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Wiiware version. I picked the game initially since it was one of my first video games and I’ve beaten it a few times in the past. Nostalgia was a heavy factor for my choice.
At this point, I’m not quite sure how many stream sessions I’ve had dedicated to this game. I believe I chose it when we were doing a November Zelda Month, which would have been appropriate. I played it for a while then went back and forth with a couple of other games, such as finishing up Super Mario RPG, before deciding to come back to Ocarina of Time with the intent of streaming it until I finished it.
It wouldn’t take me too long, I figured. I came back to Ocarina of Time at the point where child Link opened the Temple of Time and received the Master Sword, meeting Sheik and seeing the decrepit Hyrule Castle Town. Ocarina of Time isn’t the longest game. I would complete a temple per stream. I’d be done with the game by the end of February.
Considering my last couple of streams, that’s not going to happen.
My first stream when I came back to the game, I was planning on doing the Forest Temple. Instead, I went and got the hookshot — necessary for the Forest Temple — in Kakariko Village’s graveyard. It took me a couple of tries to keep up with Dampe in his race before I succeeded, but I figured I had the time to take a detour to Lon Lon Ranch to free Malon and Epona from Ingo.
It wouldn’t take long to do a race or two before heading off to the Forest Temple, right?
Nope.
Ingo was a jerk and I think I raced him about three or four times before I actually freed Epona from the ranch. We went through Kokiri Forest, hiccuped a bit when it came to passing by Mido — apparently I wasn’t close enough to him when I played Saria’s Song on the ocarina for him to move the first time — then we got… well, lost in the Lost Woods.
Due to how long it took us to actually reach the Forest Temple, we paused there, and I presumed I would breeze through the entirety of the Forest Temple on my next stream.
Instead, I believe I received the “game over” screen about five times to a couple of stalfos right before defeating half of the Poe Sisters.
Due to the time, I called the stream and we’ll hopefully finish up the Forest Temple during the next one, haha! After going offline, I told my sister about everything that had happened, making fun of myself for the mistakes I made:
*describes everything that went wrong in the stream* “You know, I thought I’d be able to do a temple a stream. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve played this game.”
*laughs* “But you’re terrible at Ocarina of Time!”
And she’s absolutely right. I’m not good at the game. I have fun with it, it’s one of my favorites, was one of my first games, but I am not good at it. The future temples are going to be ridiculous, I’m sure!
Being good at a game has never really crossed my mind, to be honest. I play games because I have fun, even if parts of the game get particularly frustrating. I do well with platformers, puzzles, and RPGs, in my opinion. Action-adventure and sports games aren’t my forte, but I still enjoy them. That’s the most important thing when it comes to gaming, isn’t it?
Do you consider yourself “good” at video games? Any genres in particular?Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
I hope the first month of the year has been kind to you! Despite the roller-coasters of 2019, this month hasn’t been too bad and is making me optimistic for the rest of 2020!
In celebration of my third decade on this earth, I went and found another game that will be turning 30 this year to celebrate today. I found it amusing that Super Mario World, a game that Rachel and I have recently started to play together on our SNES Classic, was also originally released in 1990. Japan first saw Super Mario World in November 1990 while North America had to wait until August 1991 for the game, and poor Europe didn’t see it until April 1992. Super Mario World is hailed as the best SNES game of all time, having seen multiple ports since it was first released, including the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch SNES System app. Despite me now being as old as this game, I have never played it through. Which probably makes sense, considering I didn’t know video games were a thing by the time it came out. I recall watching my older sister play it, and the other Super Mario games, occasionally, but it wasn’t a game I ever saw through to the end. By now I’ve seen a few playthroughs of it here and there, but it wasn’t until recently that Rachel and I — both eager to play something together without any pressure — turned the SNES Classic on and settled on Super Mario World to play it that I truly got a taste for the game. And, while we’re horrible at it, we’ve been having a great time! Super Mario World’s levels are simple-ish platformers and it is delightful for Rachel and I to be yelling at each other to watch out for that flying Koopa or laughing from failing to avoid a Thwomp because our instinct was to duck instead of running away. So, here’s to a classic game that is still fun and new after all this time!
Have you played Super Mario World? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
The title of this post is probably reminiscent of October or Halloween times, isn’t it? Instead, I had this thought rather recently so it’s going up now, haha!
Rachel and I recently played Lady Layton on the Nintendo Switch. We’ve enjoyed previous Professor Layton games with the characters, stories, and most of the puzzles, so we figured Lady Layton wouldn’t be too bad, either. If you’re interested in our full thoughts on the game, our review can be found here. The only reason why I’m mentioning Lady Layton in this post is due to a particular case in the game, one that had to do with a supposedly haunted house and mischievous spirits. If you’ll excuse the slight spoilers, due to the nature of the game and the cartoony graphics, we knew that ghosts were not the actual culprits in the case. However, despite the nature of the game and the cartoony graphics, I was still weirded out at all the ghost-like happenings in the game. In particular, there was a part of the game where a doll’s head appeared in a cracked mirror, and I found myself just absolutely creeped out. Rachel, of course, had no such problems, especially after being a little loopy due to the late time we were playing: “I’m pinning this on that character. Her parents died and now she’s too fascinated with spirits and playing with dead bodies.” “…Please stop.” Of course, I didn’t have nightmares or anything of the like because of the case. Still, I found it odd that I was a bit disturbed by the idea of ghosts and ghouls in a cartoon video game. Horror games were never my thing (nor Rachel’s, despite some of her more morbid fascinations that I presume come from writing primarily murder mystery novels). I grew up with Nintendo and the Mario, Pokemon, and Legend of Zelda families of games. There wasn’t anything too scary in those games, and the idea of playing games like Resident Evil had never crossed my mind. I had never thought of myself as someone who would get creeped out by certain supernatural elements in video games, just as someone whose taste didn’t align with games that have said supernatural elements. And yet… Ghost house levels in Super Mario games were always one of my least favorite. Ghost-type Pokemon aren’t ones that I normally train, and I find many of the Ghost-type Pokedex entries to be downright disturbing. Redeads are the bane of my existence in Legend of Zelda games — seriously, as a kid, I would never go past the Young Link part of Ocarina of Time because I didn’t want to pass all the redeads in the dilapidated Castle Town. This probably is also The creative mode in Minecraft is awesome. Being in the regular mode and seeing an Enderman appear behind you? No thanks. What does this all mean to me as a gamer? I really don’t know. It was an interesting thought that I had after that particular case in Lady Layton. I never realized before now that there were certain games and levels in particular that I like to avoid (or rush through, such as in the case of Legend of Zelda redeads). And, while Rachel may avoid rated M games more for the gore factor, I’m coming to realize that I probably avoid them more for the creepy factors.
Are there any particularities in games that you tend to avoid?Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Happy Friday, everyone!
*describes everything that went wrong in the stream* “You know, I thought I’d be able to do a temple a stream. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve played this game.”
*laughs* “But you’re terrible at Ocarina of Time!”
