Thursday, July 28, 2016

Monster Warlord - STATS UPDATE (28/7/2016)

Honor points magic in the roulette once again! I have saved up till 2500 jewels since last 2 weeks. Spend all on the roulette for honor points and managed to get 2 Divine + from the honor shop. Both were defense-based though........slight disappointment. 

IGN: Dykw

Stats-to-date
[3 x Divine+], [2 x Eternal+], [1 x Eternal], [1 x Mystic+]
In the near future, i will fuse 2 of these Divine+ to get my first Immortal. That will probably be in the next stats update. 

Monday, July 25, 2016

Shadow Warrior - CAN YOU HANDLE THE WANG?

$4 during summer steam sales. Played it using my controller. Pretty smooth on most parts but once fights starts to get messy, some inputs can be really frustrating to execute on the controller. Same applies to the keyboard, certain inputs are not that convenient.

No. of hours in: 21 hours
Upgrades: MAXED
Gameplay was pretty damn fun! Hack and Slash with various gun-play included for the stylish. Crossbow, flamethrower and demon heads are my favourites! Weapons upgrades keeps me going makes the game so much more fun to play as you equip them with awesome secondary fires! Katana skills are legit cool but i just hope they would include more of these skills since the campaign is 16 hours long!
Monster variety is alright, would not complain about it. Japanese background setting is really beautiful and at the meantime you are slaying demons in half. KI crystals and Karma points are needed for upgrading Wang and his abilities. This form of skill system is great and does motivates to search for Karma pots!
Wang's humor is a huge bonus to the game! It always brings laughter to me whenever he argues with Hoji! Fortune cookies are great collectibles and most of these cookies are really comical. You will want to collect it!
Shadow Warrior campaign is a long-ass 16 hours of gameplay! Too long for a single-player campaign in my opinion. 8-12 hour campaign would be ideal. It is because of such a long campaign, it makes gameplay really repetitive! Every monster wave felt pretty much the same, either 2 minotaurs, 2 shamans or 2 berserkers etc.
Some places are just too dark that even the torchlight doesn't make a difference. Too little katana skills for such a long campaign.

+ POSITIVES
  • Weapon upgrades are great and encourages farming for money
  • Skill tree system is simple and effective
  • Wang's humor 

+ NEGATIVES
  • Too long for a campaign (>15 hours)
  • Repetitive gameplay

Friday, July 15, 2016

Labyronia - INFINITE LOOPS ALL DAY

Always wanted to relive oldschool turn-based RPG. Saw this game on summer steam sales, reviews pretty good too. So why not! I played before final fantasy 1 and 2 on gameboy and this game is pretty similar in terms of gameplay and story.

No. of hours in: 15 hours
Level: 32
Started off as Arres, an old poor guy later known to be created by gods to collect the 4 elemental crystals in hope of salvaging the world that was plagued with monsters after the presence of labyrinths. Classic and simple story, rather interesting actually.
Labyronia encourages use of hp pots and debuffs removal, players could have a more full experience of the game. Due to monsters ability to `blind' and `confuse' you, it will be so much better to just use items to recover. Unlike some games where you can just grind through without the need of using a single pot.
`Cues' are skills that you can collect by exploring the whole labyronia world. Instead of the usual learning-skills-through-leveling, this game encourages players to exlpore every inch of every maps in order to find and learn all the skills available. However, this can only be done if you have a full team. So that would meant re-exploring if you do have Ann/Garic earlier on. Exploring could also be a pain in the ass due to presence of infinite loops in maps.
Because of the presence of labyrinths, some of the maps felt like infinite loops as there are no ends to them! This makes exploring so much more tedious and can be rather frustrating. For example, if you keep walking left, you will eventually come back to where you started, and the map is huge as well! This makes searching for cues so much harder and if you do have a good memory, you might get lost in the map as well.
Labyronia is definitely not a straightforward game, you have to interact with every single object of the game. Even a single word in books could be the key to advance forward! I, myself have go on google couple of times for help because i was stuck. Every single detail matters!

+ POSITIVES

  • Simple and smooth mechanics
  • Encourages use of `Items'
  • Cues are really useful and motivates player to explore despite the loops

+ NEGATIVES

  • Infinite loops can be really frustrating

Monday, July 11, 2016

Witcher 2 - SORCERESS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED

Got this game for 3 bucks during summer steam sales. I was looking forward to Witcher 3 because of the overwhelming reviews. So I decided to get on witcher 2 to get a feel of the `Witcher' franchise and of course because it's only 3 bucks! Played it using keyboard but I felt using the controller would give a better experience. Decent graphics and classic human-dwares-elves story setting. In my opinion, all non-japanese RPG stories are very similar to the one of Lord of the Rings. For example, Dragon Age, Dragon Dogma, Shadow of Mordor and of course Witcher.

No. of hours in: 37 hours for single playthough
In-game level: 35
Path taken: Swordsmanship
There are 3 different paths for you to take. Alchemy, Sign or Swordsmanship. I prefer close combat, hence Swordsmanship. You wont be able to master all 3, so choose wisely. Initial few hours of the game was rather dull until you arrive in Flotsom. Fist fights, poker and arm wrestlings are actually fun! There are even quests relating to these mini-games besides earning orens. All these makes the game much more enjoyable!
Story is very detailed and well-told! Developers really put in a lot of effort into story-telling, kudos to that. Tons of dialogue available for those interested. Voice-acting is top notch, clear and in sync. These aspects are well done.
Crafting system is simple, diagrams are readily available. Same goes for alchemy.
Choice-making is a major thing in this game. Different choices lead to different outcomes. Only story quests matters as different choices will totally change the ending. There are 16 endings to the game that actually require at least 10 playthroughs. I only got 2 endings.
Screen loading is kinda long. Restart checkpoints, loading meditation screen, drinking potions etc.
Combat may feel slightly repetitive.

+ POSITIVES

  • Excellent story development, dialogues and voice-acting
  • Fun mini-games
  • Interesting side-quests
  • Variety in skill tree
  • Tons of mutagen and weapon upgrades available

+ NEGATIVES

  • Loading time is slightly long
  • Certain side quests does not specify, hence require google

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Summoners War - WIND WANTED LIST (TOP 5)

My wind summons up-to-date. Chasun, Julien, Delphoi, Bernard, Akhamamir, Copper, Ermeda and Ramagos are considered viable to me.

WIND WANTED LIST, here it goes....

1.
One of the best wind summon to have! The sole reason for buying wind scrolls, however still no luck with him. His trump skill, `Amputation Magic' inflicts damage while IGNORING DEFENSE. Any skill that ignores defense is a game changer and lushen is good at just that! His normal hit had a 70% chance of disrupting hp recovery, anti-chasun/ariel maybe? I would go fatal/blade with crit rate%, speed and atk% as substats. Fatal for maximum damage, blade for higher crit rate which also contributes to higher damage. Lushen is a fantastic glass cannon, recommended to pair up with speed leader so he can use amputation before dieing.

2.
Usually paired up with chloe to maximise her `Sword of Discharge'. I had not done her fusion yet since i do not have chloe. Her trump skill is obviously `Sword of Discharge', IGNORES DEFENSE when in invincible state. Game changer right here. Great leader skill as well, 55% increase in resistance in arena. However, she is vulnerable to strippers. For example, belladeon `seize' and all archangels normal hit etc. This problem can be solved by making Katarina have slightly lower speed than Chloe, so Katarina will always move right after Chloe. I would go fatal/blade with crit rate%, speed and atk% as substats. Fatal for maximum damage, blade for higher crit rate would also mean higher damage. However, sword of discharge is random target, so it depends on luck heavily!

3.
Best oracle in the game! All of her skills are great! 24% speed leader, lower than Psamathe but still legit. `Fate of Destruction' and `Promised Time' works hand in hand. Fate of destruction plants a bomb on single target and IMMEDIATELY GAINS ANOTHER TURN. Promised Time right after to eliminate squishy. Opponent wouldn't even had a chance to blink! Normal hit relies on crit rate for atk bar recovery. Fatal/blade with crit rate% and atk% as sub stats. Fatal to maximise bomb damage, blade to amplify normal hits and overall crit rate.

4.
Bruiser + crowd controller. All chimeras has the `Squall' skill that obliterates given the right speed stats and with speed leader etc. His trump skill, `Lightning Strike' weakens enemies attack for 2 turns AND 50% chance to stun them. Just weakening enemies attack is already legit enough as enemies could do no damage to you unless they have cleanse skill etc. If in that case, you shouldn't pick Lagmaron in the first place. 50% chance of stun as well, double trouble for the enemy team. I would go the standard chimera build, speed/blade with crit rate, crit dmg and speed as substats. Speed to maximise squall damage. Blade to amplify squall effect. All chimera's bread and butter.

5.
How can i miss out the dragon series! All dragons are good regardless the elements. Similar to Seara, 24% speed leader as well. Trump skill, `Illusion of Time' refresh all allies skills cooldown and make it available instantly. Totally awesome and best paired up with Chloe and Katarina. Katarina sword of discharge > Jamire illusion of time > sword of discharge again. Minimum 150k worth of damage dealt! I would go violent/energy, with accuracy and speed as substats. Violent to make illusion of time readily available. Energy for more survivability.

WISH ME LUCK IN MY SUMMONS!

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Monster Warlord - STATS UPDATE (4/7/2016)

A game that I started not too long ago. Objective is to get as strong as possible, having the best monsters in your arsenal. Using cash can easily take you to the objective but that is not how you want to play the game. Earning jewels/honor points over time and getting your well-deserved void eggs felt way more satisfying.

IGN: Dykw

Stats-to-date
Stats-to-date
[1 x Divine+] [2 x Eternal+] [1 x Eternal] [1 x Mystic +] [2 x Infinite +] [1 x Inifinite]
The more divine/immortal monsters you have, the higher you will climb in the game ranks. That is how the game works. The trick to actually get these divine monsters is the ROULETTE. There are times when the roulette options shows honor points and jewels only. This is the time where you spend all the jewels that you have on the roulette, getting as many honor points as possible. 1500 jewels would yield you about at least 3000 honor points from the roulette. A divine+ egg cost 3900 honor points. Do the math, this method is more worth than buying void eggs. Why you would still want eternal + if you can get divine +. 

You have to be patient though. For the past 1 month, I only see roulette like this about 2-3 times. You can use the spare time to farm jewels as well. You can invest in mines as well. This kind of games are all about patience especially if you playing it without cash. The most patient guy wins the game. Most people are not patient as they want to get as strong as possible, eventually ending up with a couple of infinites and mystics. 

The main issue now is HOW TO EARN FAST JEWELS FOR FREE? 
1. Do daily world bosses. 
2. Get a guild. Get your daily guild login reward. 
3. Daily game login reward.
4. Leveling reward.
5. Mines.
6. Arena and Team battles.
7. Surprise gifts.
8. Turf war rewards. 

You will get about 50-200 jewels a day and if you are consistent, 3000-5000 jewels a month!

Team Fortress 2 - WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN

About time to review this game! I had my fair share of fun and frustrating moments, more fun moments though. Started off playing this game to fufill my craving for overwatch and eventually got quite into the game. 12 characters means 12 different styles of playing. Depending on situations, you can switch to appropriate characters or you can just stick to using 1 character. 

Favorite characters: Pyro, Heavy
Favorite game modes would be `Control point' , `Capture the flag'
Favorite maps: `Powerhouse', `Process', `Well'

IGN: I Got Time

PERSONAL BEST:




The trick to be good at the game is to actually get familiar with the maps. Once you are familiar with the map, you know every single location for each health and ammo pack. Critical whenever you are at low health/ammo, you know where to replenish. Familiarizing yourself with the maps also opens so many opportunities for backstabbing. This is critical when the frontline is so packed with Heavy's etc. Attacking from the backside can disrupt the enemy's formation and gives your team an advantage. 

Secondly, equip yourself with weapons that best suit your style. I am a Pyro that back stabs, hence I equipped myself with `backburner' that deals 100% critical damage for every backstabs. In my opinion, Pyro is also the best character to expose enemy's spys. 

Lastly, cooporate with your team if you really want to win the match. In my opinion, TF2 has one of the better online community as you seldom see people whining on chat. Back to my actual point, cooporating would mean aiding your team, focusing on winning the match instead of your personal K.D. For example, medic supporting heavy and sniper/engineer supports. These will greatly increase your chances of winning. You can play whatever you want, but when the situation calls, you have to do whatever it takes to win.