I have been feeling, among many other feelings, nostalgic lately. Specifically about video games and anime series. For weeks now I have been thinking of playing old video games that I feel like I miss. For example on the switch started going through the Mega Man X series again, not like I finished them all but did play a while. Also got Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection for Xbox One, did start it but haven’t played much after that. Also, I want to revisit NieR Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Metal Gear Solid 5, all very time-consuming games. This, while also wanting to finish Death Stranding.
As far as TV Shows, I want to watch Dragon Ball Z again, sort of, been thinking about getting Season 2 of Dragon Ball Z Kai which pretty much covers the Freeza Saga, and to be honest, that’s all I want to watch of it. One series that I really want to catch-up on is Naruto Shippuden which I believe I left at the start of the second great ninja war, I think. There was some war going on, can’t remember which season is that. And let us not forget My Hero Academia which I am also behind, I’m at season 3 if I recall.
Too many things to play, too many things to watch, and very little time or patience/attention span for all of it. I am aware that most of it’s just the desire to relive those emotions when I first played those games or watch those series. Some of it is not even nostalgia I just want to continue the story. Whichever the case may be, the fact remains that, I might not even get to play/watch any of it.
Neon Abyss is a frantic, roguelike action-platformer where you run ‘n’ gun your way into the Abyss as part of the Hades formed ‘Grim Squad’.
I don't know how many hours I got on this game but there must be quite a lot. I haven't put down this game since I bought it. At first I played it on the Xbox One, as it is free-to-play with GamePass and I immediately, I fell for it. The music is great, the pixel art it's beautiful, although, I am a sucker for pixel art so Im might be a little biased here. The story its very simple, you start having a drink with Hades and he request that you help destroy some Titan group while you seek revenge for the destruction of your family.There are other characters and there's not so much story about their background but no one cares, or at least I don't. The Switch version comes with 2 extra characters, unless there was something I was supposed to download on the Xbox version that I didn't. The reason I paid for it on the Switch is because these games, or almost every game rather, I prefer to play it on the Switch.
The game it's pretty straight forward, you go down a dungeon and you shoot at things. As you progress in the dungeon you collect items that will enhance your abilities, all these items do stack on top of each other pretty much unlimintles. Also you collect eggs, these eggs eventually hatch and become your pets. These pets also enhanced your abilities and you can end up with a long stack of them. After a while your character can look very Crazy-Town Banana-Pants with all the item you collect.
Since I am not looking for a challenge, I am playing on easy, and still some dungeons/areas and bosses can be a little difficult. Every run of one level or boss is never the same as everything randomly generated. Every time you die you lose all your abilities and enhancements, however you collect some crystals that will let you buy other skills before you get back at it. When you die you get "seed" a code which you can use to repeatedly play the same run or even share it. There is some disadvantage to use these, you can unlock achievements and get Faith Gems. I am guessing the Faith Gems. Again, I haven't tried to use any of my own "seeds" to see what happens but I do have a few saved. Reminds me of the old Mega Man X days.
Every time I die I just start all over, it sucks at the beginning, especially when you're used to be overpowered for a few levels. I think the game it's worth checking it out, its 19.99 USDs at the eShop with a downloadable demo or, again, free-to-play on the xbox one with GamePass.
November 7, 2006, Microsoft Studios released Gears of War for the Xbox 360 by Epic Games. At the time, I had just gotten the Xbox 360 console. Before that, I was a PlayStation only kind of guy. I had no idea about this game, never read anything about it, or had seen anything. The only thing I remember seeing was the teaser trailer one time at my local GameStop. Using Michel Andrews Mad World was kind of nice, at least for me. I remember everyone at the store looking at the TV, everyone quiet, just watching, then everyone was raving about the game and everyone had pre-ordered it. I was still skeptical about it, at the time I was not a huge fan of shooters, I mean, I had played some shooters in the past but hadn't for a while and especially since I had gotten the Xbox 360 and Halo 3 hadn't been released yet. Yes, Halo 3 was the first Halo game I ever played.
Another interesting fact about November 7, 2006, it was my first day working at GameStop. I remember getting there about an hour early before my shift and buying the game, using my employee's discount for the first time (Win!). I remember loving this game almost instantly. Loved the setting, the mechanics of the game, the graphics – everything. I really got into the story and its lore. As far as I was concerned I had never played anything like it before. This was a whole new experience for me as a video game junky enthusiast. I played this game in every mode, on every difficulty. I remember playing on Insane Mode, all by myself, except for the las Boss -- RAAM. Fokin RAAM, he was impossible, even in the lower difficulties, which is why I had to call a friend to help beat him in coop-mode.
Before Gears, I had never played games with online multiplayer. I was always a solo-campaign type of player. Probably due to the fact that back then in Puerto Rico, internet providers weren't the best, and I think this was what made me persuade my parents to get DSL internet, we were still on Dial-up, I think. Also with DSL the speeds were terrible maybe 1 Mbps or something like that, maybe even less. I don't remember much but I do remember asking my parents to get DSL so I could play online games with my buddies.
This game, we (me, my co-workers at GameStop, and later others) played this game, religiously, every single night, after work for the next nine months of our lives. Every single night, the same people, we would be playing this game online, no matter what. I remember we got so into it and all bonded so much over this game, that we even had LAN Parties. Remember those? We would bring our Xbox's, our friend who was hosting, happened to work at an IT Company so he borough a bunch of PC monitors, we brought beer, snacks, pizza, we would have a blast.
This game means so much to me, not because I think is the best gaming experience but because of the bonds I made and all the mementos around this game. I still play it to this day, the Ultimate Edition, however. The remastered version of the first game. Obviously, it has enhanced graphics and all that jazz, and even some extra content. Every time I feel nostalgic, I play this game. I don't ever get tired of it.
Last night, I finished Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction vidjia game. What a fun ride. Not sure whether or not I’ll replay it, I think I might, like the way to re-read a good book.
Also last night I started Children of Morta for the Nintendo Switch, while me lady was watching her tv show. The pixel art in this game is beautiful, awesome narrative and also very different from any other game I have played before. Usually before I purchase a game, I do some research. For this one though, I didn’t. I purchased the game a while ago while it was on sale, purely because of how it looked and not knowing much about it at all. Never got around playing it until last night thought. It recently got some free additional content so that put it under my radar again.
This game plays like a rouge-like dungeon crawler. The stranger thing about this game (to me) is that every time you die in the dungeon, you re-spawn back to your house but you keep all the money you’ve gathered and you can buy upgrades before returning to the dungeon. Also, there’s more story told after every re-spawn. When you return to the dungeon, even thought is the same stage, it is different. You still keep advancing in the story but the dungeon changes.
This is what I understand so far about the game, the story is really good, the narration is awesome and the pixel art is amazing (I’m a sucker for pixels). Needless to say, I die very often in this game but the fact that I can still upgrade my equipment and skills and the little stories in between re-spawns, makes dying not so frustrating.
I have started to play: Sekiro Shadows Die Twice — again. I first got this game when it first came out, I even pre-ordered it. Dropped the game not too long after. The game it’s a little difficult. It kinda reminds me of NIOH, another game that I love everything about it but suck at the gameplay. These games require patience and strategy, something I sorely lack of. I’m more of a guns blazing, hack and slash type of guy. Me against a thousand solders, overpowered weapons and magic! 😅
Either way, I want to give it another go and see. So far I have just played the first 10-15 min of it and died at least 5 times already.
I had gotten a Nintendo eShop gift card from zee wife and as an early Father's Day gift. As you should know, there is a Nintendo Summer Sale. So I did my what I must and got some on-sale vidjia games.
Last night was another fun Halo gaming night with friends. Like I said before, it’s been years since I had played online multiplayer with other people. And even though I don’t know some of them personally, they’re all good lads to play with and had a blast. Last night was a little closer to home, in a way, because we were playing Halo 3. Halo 3 was, well, my first Halo. The first of the series that I really got into, probably due the fact that the Xbox 360 was my first Xbox console I ever bought and I was working at GameStop at the time so I played the heck out of that game with my coworkers. Thus, I was a little more familiar with Halo 3’s multiplayer than any of the other games in the series.
One of the games we played last night was “King on the Hill” and I kicked ass (a hundred percent luck 😅). I sucked in every other game mode, and that’s okay too.
Changelog: I have changed my Xbox Live Gamertag to Gabytron83, just so it matches my PlayStation Network one.
I want to give my thanks to my friends Justin and Stephen from the Pixelated Podcast, and et al, for some much-needed fun playing video games last night. Stephen had the idea and contacted some of us via twitter and see if we were up for some Halo online gaming. To which most of us jumped right in! We played The Halo Master Cheif Collection on the Xbox One and it was a lot of fun. I hadn’t had this much fun playing online games in a while. The reason I had stopped playing online games is that there are a lot of people out there that are just assholes and they ruin everything 😝. Last night, there were no assholes, just a group of nerds playing the Halos. And by the looks of it, it is going to be a reoccurring thing, I think.
Oh and we also played the online-coop of Minecraft Dungeon since it’s “free” with GamePass.
I am a huge fan of this franchise, have played many iterations of it, I love everything about it and I also really suck at them. I really do, Mortal Kombat has always been one those fighting games that I just don’t get the mechanics of it or the fighting style and yet, I love them. I love the overall story and the entire lore on this universe.
I haven’t played a MK game in many years and 11 looked cool. Enough to make me want to play it, even when I know I’d suck. This game goes on sale often on the Nintendo eShop, I happened to have some credit so I bought it.
Though I have been playing other games like Street of Rage 4 which it’s probably my favourite release of the year (so far) and Huntdown, which it also has been a lot of fun. I should probably write some of my impressions on it.
Anyway,a few days ago I started playing it and I gotta say, it’s been lots of fun so far. I really wasn’t expecting such an elaborate story with this game. Again I haven’t played an MK game in years so as far as I was concerned I was just gonna get a small story and just fighting. Little did I know that it actually has a very elaborate fluent story with conversations, cool cutscenes and all.
As far as the fighting, well obviously I am playing on the easiest settings available and yet I still suck. I mean, I don’t die often but you won’t see me doing all kinds of cool moves or combos or any of the sorts. I do just enough to survive, beat the other character so I can advance in the story. Of course I can figure out some character better than others like Scorpion or Sub-zero and maybe Liu Kang but that’s it.
Again, I am having fun and once I beat the story I doubt I’ll replay it but who knows. 😁
I would actually say in terms of range it is probably a bit larger than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. I do not have the exact figures at this stage, but we have not only created the whole country, which is in this case England, but also a good part of Norway too. There are other secret worlds, which I can not speak about today, which contributed to the size of the game. It’s not a small game. It is a game which is clearly ambitious, which will offer many, many hours of gameplay for the players.
If you somewhat know me or have been reading my blog, or even if you’ve never read it or care to know me - 😅. You should know (or will learn) that I am a huge fan for AC: Odysse. I have clocked over a hundred hours on this game. Now, learning that the next installment of this franchise will be bigger… I. Can. Not. Wait.
Remember side scrolling beat-‘em-up games? Like Streets of Rage 2 (probably the one I remember the most from this franchise) Double Dragon (I played this on the SEGA MASTER SYSTEM II, spent hours playing coop with my best friend) or one of my old time favorites Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade, SNES) or the Ninja Warriors? Oh and I cannot forget to mention SNES’s Batman Returns, this game was a lot of fun!
These type of games were my favorite genre growing-up, to me it was the Arcade era with some of them (Remember Arcades?). The games you would play with one of your friends side-by-side or just spend hours – and a lots of coins – playing by yourself.
Some of these I still play to this day, for example Ninja Warriors, this game got remade a few times and then finally brought to the Nintendo Switch last year, I think, as The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors. Thugh you can still get the original on the eShop, I much rather play this version.
This week though, finally, we got Streets of Rage 4 and oh boy I was excited to get my hands on this one. I purchased the game on the Nintendo Switch, my gaming console of choice these days and I am loving it. Is not a remake, it is a sequel, which I very much appreciate. It has all the cool elements that bring back all those memories from the previous iterations. The art is fantastic, it reminds me a little bit what they did with Street Fighter V with the cool art. The music is amazing on this game! If there’s something that makes these games awesome, is the music. As a matter of fact, I have been listening to the game’s soundtrack when I’m not playing it 😅.
Although the game has its own modern but awesome soundtrack, you can also switch to the classic retro style music while playing the game, super cool.
There’s not a whole lot to say about the gameplay itself, I mean it’s you walking around beating the crap about of thugs. Each character have their own special move which it reduces your life bar a little bit but if you punch a couple of bad guys right after you get what you lost back. If you don’t hit anybody or they hit you after performing the special attack then you’ll loose it. I think this is why I keep dying a lot, because I use those moves a lot 😅. They’re pretty cool though, it’s a shame no to use them.
The game isn’t too difficult, granted I am playing it on easy 😝. I have been playing pretty much non-stop since I downloaded it and just finished it a few hours ago. And yet, I immediately started the game again, with a different character this time around. You can actually switch characters in the middle of your current game but I want to play the whole story one character at a time.
Again, I am having lots of fun with this game, worth every penny!
Well, I have done it, after lots of debating with I-self I did it! Over the weekend, I have purchased Warriors Orochi. I had been hesitant to buy it for a couple of reasons. There are other games I would also like to play that are also cheaper than this game. Some other games are coming out soon. Also, the Musou gaming style formula, it is one that, once you have played a game like this, you have pretty much played them all. I have played a lot of these games.
I have probably mentioned before, I have played the Dynasty/Samurai Warriors games since back in the PlayStation 2 days, Dynasty Warriors 3 being the first one, up to 9th (which it was a huge disappointment). Then, in between the regular games, you had the Extreme Legends editions and the Empires and the Orochi series, etc. There is a whole genre or series of games with the same formula and I have played a few of them like, ARSLAN: THE WARRIORS OF LEGEND, WARRIORS ALL-STARS, Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star, Fire Emblem Warriors and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. There is yet another game, kinda with the same formula that I belive it’s on the PS4 but I am waiting for the western release on the Switch which is Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers – so excited.
Anyhow, Warriors Orochi 4, like I said I was afraid that since I have played many of this type of game, that I would be bored or just play a little bit and put it to the side. Well, I am happy to report that, that has not being the case. I have been playing non-stop since I got it, I am enjoying this game with the same smile on my face as I remember enjoying DW3. Of course, it has come a long way since DW3, combat it’s a lot more fluid, you have more enemies on the screen which makes the hack and slashing through the field so satisfying. I am feeling right at home with this game. The strength of this game doesn’t lay in the story, especially on this one.
Set in a world on the brink of chaos, heroes from across the Warring States period of Japan and the Three Kingdoms era of China successfully defeat the evil Orochi and end his reign. These two worlds, merged by an unknown entity, are again threatened. As they begin to uncover the mystery surrounding their arrival, their discoveries lead them to one deity: Zeus, the supreme god among gods.
The controls are pretty easy to master, the action is good. In the previous games, you would select one hero and fight your way through thousands in battle, now, you have a team of three characters all with their unique abilities. I am kind of a one-man army mindset still, so even though I have three on my team, I pretty much use the same character. It plays well on handheld mode but I find it a wee bit better docked since there’s quite a lot going on on the screen. The voices in the game are all in Japanese, that doesn’t bother me except when I’m in battling my way through. There is a lot of interaction between different characters in the game and it is hard to pay attention to the text while you’re having fun hacking and slashing. I don’t think you can change the language, not sure.
Either way, I am having a blast with this game, it doesn’t require a lot of focus or too much thinking, which is excellent. Sometimes we need a “dumb” game, I am very delighted with my purchase.
On Astral Chain, well that’s a wrap. I haven’t had such an amazing gaming experience since Nier: Automata. What a story and the gameplay. This game was awesome and beautiful on its own way.
As every year goes, for my birthday, I get a lot, well not like a lot lot but some gift cards and such from different members of my family. This year was not the exception. But, here’s my conundrum. What do I do with all of it (😅)? As we all, I always want things, I’ve got a list of things I want, whether it’s video games, movies or and something from the AppStore. Those things that are in the back of your head “I’ll buy that when I get some extra money or credits, what have you”. So when I finally get some, let’s say credits, to spend I can’t decide what I want to spend them on(😩).
The first thing I usually do is that I go to the Nintendo eShop and look through my wishlist. I have many games in there and I want them all but when “credits” are limited I have to make decisions and those are hard. Not only that there are other games up for pre-order that I know for sure I would want to play. What if I pre-order those instead? I don’t know if I am gonna be able to in a month or two from now when those games are available.
Then there is this one game in particular, Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, this game has been in my wishlist since forever. The game at this point it’s two-years-old, I belive, and the digital copy it’s quite spendy still. Here is the thing about this game. I am a huge Musou-game-style fan. My first experience with this genre was with Dynasty Warriors 3 and this game made me fell in love with the Hack and slash/you vs a 1000 people style of game. I have played every single iteration of these games since. Then it was Samurai Warriors, same game but set in Japan and later on came The Warriors Orochi series, which combines both universes into one game. So, WO4 would be technically the 5th game in the Orochi series, and at this point, by combining all the characters in these two series, there is about a hundred and twenty playable characters total. This is one of these games that I know for sure I will play over and over again and yet I hesitate. Should I? Should I not?
“😇 Trails of Mana it’s coming out on the twentieth twenty-fourth, you should pre-order that instead”.
“😈 But Warriors Orochi, hack and slash bruuuu, mass-murdering!”
I got this game back in…Was it last summer? Maybe, whenever it came out and I played a little bit of it then I had stopped. I can’t remember the exact reason, maybe another game had also been released then and shifted my attention away from it.
The gist of this game is basically this futuristic mega city in which you and your sister (the two playable characters) are members of this special Police task force. Members of this task force are equipped with sentient armaments called Legions. With the Legions you are able you see and fight these otherworldly beings called chimeras.
So, a few days ago I picked it up again. Started right from the beginning just to refresh my memory. The game starts off with some action fallowed with some slow buildup. But now that I have pretty much done with all the semi-tutorial stuff, I am so sucked into this game. And the worse thing is that so far I haven’t had a “break” as in it is one thing after the other and you can’t stop playing because you’ve got to know what’s going to happen next! This last mission I played, I was thought for sure I was done and was gonna go back to HQ and “take a break”. NOPE!
I do like this though, games that keep me engaged and wanting to know what’s next. No chores! This game has a lot of cool fights and amazing cool looking finishing combos. Some amazing visuals and I love the art, it is very Anime-like. There’s also some puzzle elements to it but not Zelda like. As well of some investigative work, crime scenes and probably my least favorite part just because I much prefer the punchy-punchy, smashy-smashy - 😅.
The detective part reminds me a lot of the Arkham Asylum games, it’s pretty much the same deal. So if you’ve played those games then you’ll be pretty familiar with investigating crime scenes. With the difference that instead of looking fur a killer, most likely will be some nasty monster from another dimension.
Update: no wonder why i am loving this game, these are the same people who made Nier: Automata
