I have not played magic in a while, I think when the Arena first came out I tried it for a bit.
Funny though, a friend talked me into going to Vegas at the end of October for the MTG 30th Anniversary event. So while I have not played MTG that much in years, I am going to go play in some very overpriced tournaments in two months. I really should play some online before then.
The game remains incredibly good with a bunch of depth - but as you know a pretty hefty price tag!
Anyways, I will likely net deck a couple of top tier decks - something simple - and try grind my way through the battle pass over three months!
Okay, so checking in on MTG Arena.
Been having a blast - got smashed in the drafts, but made me learn a bit more on the set.
Also playing Standard - Ranked with a fun little mono-red Agro deck. Climbed to Platinum with a pretty high win rate. This is the highest I ever got in MTG, and probably close to my best on any online CCG (I got Rank 5 in Hearthstone many many years ago - where you win one up, lose one down)
This really is the grand daddy of all the TCGs. And it is fit.
My gaming interests always seem to go in phases. I will always gravitate to RPGs first and foremost, but Iām the side Iāll get hooked on racing or shooting or fighting, and those all kind of go in a cycle. Iām back on fighting games now but need one to pick up for my PS5. I leaning towards Guilty Gear Strive but am open to suggestions as well.
OK, so Iām hearing from all directions it seems how great MTG is online. Iāve grown bored with Hearthstone, though itās free, and grown bored with the endless cycle of fighting to land in the middle. How does one go about starting playing MTG online? How big is the initial investment?
You can start for free and work your way through the Color challenges which are pretty interactive.
In general though, this is not a cheap game. You will struggle to get a single meta deck as F2P.
I bought the battle pass and the pre-release packs for this expansion and it was about $100. Cheap vs cardboard, expensive vs alternatives (though I parked up WoW).
My $100 in was kind of a counter to buying other stuff as well. I have paid for this so I donāt need anything else. See how long that lasts loo
I hated mtg online. You can play and get some cards for free and make the best deck you can. But if youāve got any skill and ccg experience youāll quickly get brutalised by meta decks.
Iāve been away from computer collectible card games for a while, so if youāre used to this from hearthstone, then maybe my criticism wonāt matter so much to you
A long time ago I found this niche RPG on a handheld system. I donāt remember what it was called and I donāt even remember the system, but it might have been a DS. Anyways, it was structured like a traditional turn-based RPG except every time it cut away to a fight it became a side-scrolling SHMUP. As I browse fighting games I canāt help but think that an RPG that has a traditional fighting game as its battle system would be cool.
Anyways, does anyone know of any traditional RPGs that shake it up drastically when it comes to battles; maybe even uses a completely different genre? Iām just curious.
Bonus points if you know what game Iām talking about.
I never played it, but wasnāt that what happened in Undertale?
This might be beneath you depending on tastes butā¦try Brawlhalla (its free) on PS5 (PS4/Switch/PC)
Itās basically a 2D Super Smash Bros Brawl but a bit more serious and e-sporty than SSB (that means āthe internet-lag ahem infrastructure isnāt a total jokeā). Despite that, I had /have a blast. I have played it on and off for 4 years and they keep the updates and new characters coming (also you sometimes get free skins and stuff if you have amazon prime (via amazon twitch gaming)
Itās a couch-coop masterpiece and depending on your spousesā/childrenās/grandmaās stance on violence in video games a somewhat tolerable if not cute game.
Yes! Thank you! I guess it was even older than I thought.
I wish I had hung on to some of my old stuffā¦
GBA emulators are pretty easy to get working on most machines these daysā¦
Bonus points to @Private_Prinny for coming up with that title!
I finished my ahem SECOND Switch game, Octopath Traveler, go figureā¦how could I not devour this game with my unhealthy obsession with āold-schoolā sprite-based games.
What a journey it was. Of course, it took me way too long since I foolishly didnāt realize that there was a fast-travel option in this game and walked around the map over and over. Not that I am too bothered by it since I could take up a couple of levels that way so that I hadnāt THAT many problems with my boss fights.
I am usually not a fan of the usual SquareEnix BS of grinding for a lifetime and maxing out stats for the final hidden true ending boss after finishing the story like in the standard Final Fantasy games but I cought myself a couple of times pondering if I should make an exception for Octopath Traveler.
Also, it has a kick-ass Soundtrack too.
If I may be so bold, this announcement has a perfect timing I must say!
I enjoyed it but didnāt adore it. I found it very grind-heavy and occasionally dull. Music and graphics were great, combat was fun, story was nothing special in my book.
I commend you for finishing it! I found this game really beautiful to look at and really wanted to like it, but like @Mirefox I found the game to be too grindy and periodically not very absorbing. Iāve gone back to it several times to give it another chance, but I donāt think I will again.
I think I have only finishedā¦2 switch games as well! Fire Emblem 3 Houses and World End Syndrome. Wait, no I also finished Along the Edge, but thatās pretty short (but good).
Have you guys made it very far with Triangle Strategy? Whatās your feeling about it? I keep putting off buying it because $, and while I liked the demo, I didnāt adore it.
I bought Three Houses at launch and havenāt finished it yet. I feel like a play one game month every real month. I honestly canāt tell you why I am dragging my feet but it may be slightly due to the school segments. On one hand, I need to have every conversation and finish every quest, in the other, Iāve spent vastly more time in this SRPG running over the same school grounds as nauseum than in actual battles.
I agree with youāthe school quests were slightly too much IMO. I liked them, but I didnāt like THAT much of them. If they had some way of cranking it down or allowing you to teleport to where the specific person was rather than run all over, Iād have been much happier with that aspect. But the combat is so good and the plot is just exceptional, I could forgive it that one minor issue : )
This weekend was an actual rare occurrence; I made a tiny little minuscule dent in my Mons Backloggus and finished my third, fourth, and fifth Switch game.
Usually, due to my rather broad preferences (long-as-heck jRPGs and Open World games), it takes me a long time to finish games. Also, I replay a LOT of games as well (Hello Mass Effect trilogy, Yakuza, Uncharted, Assassin Creed and Borderland games - donāt think I didnāt see you there). Since I have a very bad case of non-existing self-restraint by the time I finish one game I piled at least 3 other games on top of my Backlog. Also I donāt play very efficiently (time-wise) see my 130-hour-ish playthroughs of Octopath Traveller without even going for the post-game stuff.
Nevertheless, I had a craving for some shorter āadventure-ishā games with feely feels and played
(also all 3 available on iOS and android with paid DLC for the different story chapters) I cannot vouch for the quality of them, the first two games were released mobile first and ported later, the last game had a console/pc focus first.
And what can I say I had a blast. And I donāt know why but every time about 80-90% through each game I might have forgotten to close the windows in my apartment, I always got something in my eyes and it wouldnāt stop until well after the credits rolledā¦in other words, these games are massive tearjerkers (seriously you have been warned). It shows that they were all made by a very small indie team, but they got considerably bigger in the scope of content, presentation, and quality over time. They all play in the same shared universe but at very different timelines and places in the galaxy so feel free to skip the first (second) game if they are not to your liking. These games focus heavily on world-building, character growth and interaction as well as narrative. If you play games mostly for the gameplay they may not be for you.
Also, I say it only once - if you donāt play the games with your headphones on at all times I will send the nearest Prinny assassination squad to you at my earliest convenience. Seriously the music and sound-design in all three games is top-notch and (especially in Echos of Starsong) an integral part of the mechanics and story.
OPUS: The Day We Found Earth
While the first game is by far the shortest and most basic game of the three it is also the most unique. It mixes a tiny bit of traditional 2D point-and-click adventure with visual novel elements and lots and LOTS of scanning star systems on a map of the universe(!). Basically, humanity in the far far FAR future has forgotten its roots and is desperately searching for the earth via a space telescope. A rather common sci-fi-trope but still nevertheless told very emotional. It may be a bit dry for some but it establishes all the groundwork SIGONO INC. uses in its later games, a strong sound- and art-design, and a heavy focus on narrative elements and mysteries.
It can be played in a one-afternoon setting (4-6 hours).
OPUS: Rocket of Whispers
This game is a strong leap forward in production values, it shows that the team grew more confident in its assets and strengths. This game is more traditional in that it is more like traditional point-and-click adventures, nevertheless, it mixes in a rather unique top-down āsurvivalā exploration mechanic between the story elements.
It features 2 people living to through the end of their world after the apocalypse happened. A rather edgy crouchy rocket engineer and a strong-willed young witch trying to build a rocket for a traditional space burial of souls, which is traditional for the beliefs of the inhabitants of the planets in this universe. Needless to say that not everything is what it seems to be and problems are aplenty.
I really like the art style and the sound design in this game.
Can be completed over the weekend in 2 maybe 3 sittings (6-8 hours).
OPUS: Echo of Starsong
The most ambitious and biggest project yet from SIGNO INC. It is a sidescrolling space-exploration Ship-management Point-and-Click Visual Novelā¦Adventureā¦yeah doesnāt make much sense? Watch the trailer from above, you get it then.
It features beautiful-looking art. You explore about a hundred locations in-game, and while many of them are only a basic āasteroidā or āspace stationā wallpaper background they are very distinct and beautiful to look at. Even if you only stay 1-2 minutes at some locations with a tiny bit of exposition sprinkled in it never got old for me.
The game features a band of young adult misfits thrown together in a fight for survival, relevancy, and recognition exploring the Thousand Peaks star system after a recent war has thrown the numerous factions into disarray. Witches return in this game and the overall focus of the story and mysterium that slowly unfolds is about spiritualism, the souls of man (oh and politics and racial discrimination (witch hunts) ahem). The three main protagonists are starting as rather clear-cut archetypes (the guilt-driven exile and explorer, the determinated witch and captain, and finally the very tsundererererere tsundere ahem ship mechanic.
The game features a rather unique premise; many of the explorable locations are asteroids filled with a rare psycho-resonant substance called lumen, which can be detected through a witch singing through a ship-installed megaphone/receiver which detects the āstarsongsā of the resonating lumen resource in the asteroids. Needless to say that the lumen must flow! and therefore conflict and strife is aplenty.
I have to say this game is by far the most emotional game I have played in the last decade or so, and I still think back on it many times, something I donāt do often after finishing good (even great) games. Be warned tough. It is very solemn and sad at times, so happy-go-lucky seekers [handwave] these are not the droids you are looking for. So - itās perfect for a gloomy rainy September/October day!
This game can be completed in under 8 hours, but since I explored everywhere I could it took me nearly double the time, nevertheless well spent time IMHO.
People always lament that the usual suspects (AA and AAA developers and publishers) only barf out safe and vetted visual spectacles and sequel after sequel after sequel. These three games by a tiny indie-development studio prove to me yet again that bigger isnāt always better, and going out on a limb and going for an āobscureā indie game now and then can be truly worth your time and money.
Now let me get back to my shopping listā¦for some reason I need more handkerchiefs/tissues than usualā¦
I just played my first round of Overwatch 2. I played as Roadhog and we were on the Hollywood map, so it pretty much felt just like Overwatch 1.
Iām also not a fan of the SMS verification. It doesnāt matter to me, but my son canāt play because he doesnāt have a phone. I think Blizzard is going to get enough pushback on this one, though, that it will change.