ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!? Gladius Part 1

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!? Gladius Part 1

Alright, so the trip to the beach in Valkyria Chronicles is proving to be a bit more hazardous then expected so I’m going to be focusing on Gladius for now until I have more time to focus on Skirmishes and upgrading my tank and stuff.

So Gladius, turn based Gladiator RPG and it’s pretty enjoyable so far.  Battle system is pretty standard turn based stuff with the exception of time button presses to do maximum damage.  Basically, you run a gladiator “School” (Well, your brother does but your the main character so screw him) and you recruit new members and go around to different arenas to earn certificates of worthiness so you can compete in the big time games.

Oh and some witches are stalking you and talking about dark gods, but I’m sure that’s not important.  Feel like I should reiterate, playing as Ursula, barbarian lady with magical powers.

So nothing to exciting in my progress yet, traveling to different arenas and earning certificates in battle. Sometimes the battles are different then standard battles though, like point battles (however much damage you do is how many points you get) and king of the hill (HOLD THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN) for instance.  Also fought a big ass wolf, so that was fun.

But yeah, recruitment!  Every arena has a section for this where you can buy gladiators either temporarily (one battle) or permanently add them to your school.  Apparently, animals are quite intelligent in this universe and are capable of  negotiating fees for gladiators to pay for their services.  Naturally I added Zod the bear to the roster and I love him and I will never let him go and he will be my right hand bear and murder everything.

So yeah, that’s the notable progress at the moment.  Currently at the ice arena place so I think I’ll be hanging around there for a while.  Bye bye everyone!

Following up on the Purchased Games

Alright, so I've head some time to sample all three of the games I purchased yesterday so figured I'd post my thoughts here as a bit of a follow up.

Dragon Rage: Welp...it doesn't speak well for this game that it game out 8 months after Zone of the Enders and is pretty much inferior to it in every way (Controls, music, graphics, etc).  I think the moment that best defines this game is in the tutorial when the voice tells you what to do but gives you no hints as to what button to press to actually do it.  On the bright side, the dragon handles terribly but at least actually looks like a dragon...and you get to brutally tear sheep to pieces for sustenance soooo, that's something : p

Zone of the Enders: The most impressive one so far.  Very smooth controls and looks great for a game that came out pretty early in the PS2's lifespan.  Plot isn't overly clear yet and I'm seeing some Evangelion similarities (PILOT THE DAMN ROBOT SHINJI/LEO) but it's certainly a lot of fun to play so I'll be keeping at it.

Gladius: Not entirely sure what to make of it yet since I'm still in the tutorial phase of the game.  Playing the Ursula path first (Was going to anyway before I noticed the difficulties marked it as the easier one) and I'll be curious to see how the plot develops.  From the opening cutscene, basically some witches showed up to a barbarian king and were like "You're going to have a daughter and she'll bring about a catastrophe or something" except then a son was born so he through them out.  However, apparently his wife wasn't done giving birth or something and then Ursula was born and the king was like "oh shit" so they went into hiding.  So yeah...that's a thing.

So yeah, there you go everyone.  While Valkyria Chronicles will still be my focus, I'll probably be dabbling in all of these games to some extent so I'll be sure to post updates when I do.  Ta ta for now!

Digital Transformers! Storm Watches Digimon Xros Wars Part 2

Okay, so I may be getting somewhat addicted to this show.  Have watched through episode 54 now so...this post may be quite a bit more spoilery then the last so...you have been warned!

Have to say, the whole Death General arc was pretty interesting, even if it did have some pacing issues at times.Starts off well enough with the dragon general to show you how strong they are (forget his name) even if he’s a little bland himself.  Then there was NeoVamdemon who...wasn’t that interesting in himself, but it was also the first time that the series didn’t wimp out and actually have an ally die so that was good enough.

Then there was Zamielmon...fuck that guy and fuck those two episodes, whose only remote purpose was to begin preparations for the next episode, Yuu’s proper introduction.  This, by all means was suitably epic and engaging and had me really excited for the coming episodes!

And then Yuu and Darknightmon proceed to disappear for the next ten episodes or so.  Dissapointing, but the next couple of death general’s weren’t too bad.  I liked Splashmon’s deceptive games and Kiriha and Taiki both suitably outsmarting him.  Olegmon’s mini arc was a little meh but it was nice to see some more development for Balistamon.  

Then Gravimon’s arc happened, which was probably the most interesting of all the death general.  The action was awesome, tearjerkers were involved and the general had an awesome gambit to win that I felt wasn’t overcome in a complete BS manner.

And then we had the showdown between Yuu and the three main characters...which was also completely epic and I think really helped solidified this season as one of my favorites.

I don’t have too much to say about the rest of those episodes, my minds honestly kind of a blur at this point.  I will say it was nice to see everyone get some screentime in the final battle against Bagramon though and I’m looking forward to seeing what the last third of this season brings to the table!

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!?!? Gladius Part 6

I told you I was still playing this, and oh boy do I have some progress to report this time!  Just warning now, this will probably be the longest edition of this yet and will contain spoilers for what I’m assuming is rapidly approaching the end of the game.

So anyway, we continue our journey to kicking the asses of every region in this game.  Luckily, this is made pretty easy in this last area by only having two different tournaments to conquer.  Granted the battles themselves weren’t exactly easy...but we’ve preserved through worse so of course we are victorious!

After beating both of the tournaments, we are interupted by a cutscene of Gwazi mourning the loss of his village.  Ursula offers to go to the alter where the affinity stone is that can cure their drought problem but he refuses of course since he is under our orders.  Of course, Ursula being the kind boss she is orders him to take us there.

Along the way, we are treated to a weird little thing where Eiji tries to tell Ursula what is bothering her.  Unfortunatly, this get’s misinterpreted as Ursula assuming Eiji has feelings for Valens and she obviously doesn’t want to hear any of that.  Eiji then laments that it may be just as well since they would all hate her if they knew the truth

MYSTERIOUS

Anyway, we continue on our way toward the altar while Urlan complains, asking “Why are we doing this again? BECAUSE WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE URLAN STOP BEING AN UNLIKEABLE ASSHOLE.

We arrive at the location to see nothing of the sort that Gwazi mentioned.  Suddenly, three summoners appear and Gwazi is revealed as a traitor.

...Okay Urlan, you were right...for once.

This battle is actually kind of a pain, since it starts with you, Urlan and Ursula against Gwazi and three summoners who will pretty much immediately all summon, leaving you at 3 against 7 which is not favorable and it’s game over if Ursula dies.  Took me 3 attempts but I emerged victorious.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention was during the first league, we ran into Valen’s old friend Ludo appearing working for the dark legionnaires.  He talks some trash to Valens, saying that his school was trash but he must know that since he jumped ship as well...okay, point Ludo but it’s irrelevant since we kick his ass.

After that region has been conquered, we head to Caltha to take on the High Games. Everyone is suitably impressed and pumped and Usus has more life in his voice here then any other part of the game.  With our dream team selected, we take part in the five battle series to be the very best!

Team: Ursula/Zod/Eiji/Langston/Bestla

First battle was arguably the trickiest, with a bunch of imperials and a commander, who constantly buffed their stats.  Luckily, Zod can pretty much take anything thrown at him so we are triumphant.  Round 2 goes by without even breaking a sweat, round 3 was a little tricky due to all the archers ganging up on Zod before he was in counter range and four was easy despite it being an all insect team (HATE THOSE).

The final battle pits us against Ludo’s team once again.  Honestly, he’s not THAT hard.  He doesn’t hit hard, he’s not particularly bulky, his only saving grace is that he is dodgy as hell and if you don’t time your button presses correctly he will dodge pretty much everytime.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!  BOW DOWN TO BEAR GOD ZOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS

And then...the world went crazy

We flee from the arena in Caltha (Which was really pretty by the way) as the sky grows dark.  The giant statue that watches over the proceedings proceeds to come to life and destory the royal box, along with the King and everyone else that was inside.  

As everyone else flees, one man stands to face the rampaging staute...Muutis.  He queels the beast with a single stroke before being named a hero to Imperia and becoming their leader.

EXCEPT IT WAS ALL A RUSE BY HIM AND EVIL WITCH LADY.

As our group contemplates this, Eiji reveals her dark secret for real this time, that she was hired by Muutis to watch his back as he retrieved whatever macguffin he needed to pull that gambit off. It’s then revealed that they are heading straight for Nordagh so we hurry back to defend our country and King/father from the impeding death.

Oh, and Usus warns us that every battle will be to the death so...any recruits that aren’t the four main characters will die if they fall in battle from here on out...fantastic.

Unfortunately, evil witch lady beats us to the punch and we walk in on her zapping the shit out of the king.  She flees when we appear and leaves us to battle her minions, forcing us to use Ursula/Urlan/Valens/Eiji. We dispatch them quickly before another cutscene starts with Ursula and Urlan talking to their soon to be dead father.

Orin reveals the truth that Ursula is actually Urlan’s twin and that she has some magical abilities and should go seek out the Galdr for information.  Urlan is against this but is, like at every other point in the game, talked into it by Ursula.  Usus agrees and decides to hold off the Imperial forces BY HIMSELF.  Good lord he’s a badass.  Anyway, Urlan and Usus leave which leaves Ursula and Valens to share a tender moment.

They also may or may not have kissed...I may have been looking down and looked up just in time to see the scene fading...

Anyway, we journey to the Galdr and after a laughably easy battle, Ursula finally get’s the secret’s of her powers revealed.  Not only is she the darkness...BUT THE LIGHT.  She is the last Valkyrie and has the ability to stop the Dark God, along with Valens, who will take the place of his father as the previous Valkyrie’s guardian.  CONVENIENT.

Anyway, we make our way to the old Valkyrie city that is now ruled by Cyclops to go retrieve a staff that belongs to the Valkyrie.  However, once we arrive, the Cyclops King does not approve and we are thrown into battle again.

EXCEPT THIS TIME WE CAN FINALLY CHOOSE OUR PARTY AGAIN! URSULA/ZOD/LANGSTON/EIJI GO!

What follows, is a very cool sequence of battles where the Cyclops king will summon the affinity god of each of the four elements (Fire/Water/Wind/Earth) and you have to take them down.  The creatures are huge, taking up a whole 3X3 area. 

Luckily, they also go down pretty easily, with the exception of the Wind one who was a tank.  The designs were really cool though and it was probably my favorite moment of the game so far, definitely suitably epic.

Left to his own devices, the Cyclops King charges us himself.  We charge into battle and get about half of his health down before he can attack...taking off over half of Zod’s health in one shot.

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!

Luckily, he spends the other two turns he get’s trying and failing to use status effect spells, allowing the bear god to escape unharmed.  Once that ends, Ursula picks up the sword and get’s a nifty power up and new wardrobe.  She announces that we need to go to where the Dark God had last risen, being the place where he will be more powerful and the ideal place for our enemies to attempt to summon him.

However, that will have to wait til next time.  But yeah...this picked up and I am excited to finish it!

Going Digital! Digimon World Dawn Part 3

Progress has been made, Digivolutions have been had and plots have been developed!  Let’s get going!

Our quest for information continues as we are told to head to the Palette Amazon.  When we arrive, we see Gideon speaking to a bunch of our fellow Light Fangs, announcing that we don’t want to fight any Night Crow members should we run into them.  The two shit heads who run off at the start of the game make jokes and promptly get told to shove it.  Gideon seems to have his head on straight though and knows something isn’t right about all this...don’t like his idea of keeping all the information amongst ourselves before consulting with Glare but whatever.

After everyone else leaves, Gideon talks to use that he thinks something is up with Ophanimon and Glare and that we should be careful.  Duly noted!  Anyway, Palette Amazon is...really boring honestly, not challenging and doesn’t really have a selection of digimon that I am particularly fond of.

When we arrive at the end, we are greeted by a Spinomon that has been apparently kicking our seniors asses.  He’s also revealed that he is accomplices with Waruseadramon so he’s already A-Ok in my book.  Doesn’t stop my team from kicking his ass though : p

Anyway, a little while later, we get called back into our office by Litton, who’s second in command along with Anubismon (who has a nifty design). He reveals to use that the chief and Ophanimon have gone missing and has designated us to go to Thriller Ruins and investigate.  

This...is where I pulled a little bit of a dumb.  I brought along my...C team, assuming that would be good enough since I had been cruising through the game since Loop Swamp. Anyway, we arrive in the back of the area to see some symbol pop up before 4 Tsukiamon ambush us.  We handle them easy enough but then Gaiomon pop’s up, asking if we are the tamer that has been interfering with his plan.  Of course it wasn’t us! *shifty eyes*

Except then Waruseadramon shows up and totally calls us out...fair enough.  Spinomon shows up and it appears like we are going to be triple teamed before Sayo shows up and...mocks us?  Yet Gaiomon get’s pissed and sends the minion after her?  Okay...guessing a translation error here but we’ll roll with it.

Anyway, Gaiomon is reasonably tough and because I brought a weak team, I lost the first time (Despite a strong effort from my PIximon) so we come back with the A team and demolish him.  Unfortunatley, this all proves to be for naught as we can no substantial information from this.

Eventually, our group get’s tired of waiting around and we call a group meeting at my place to try to get to the bottom of this.  Eventually, we decide to invite Sayo over to see if she’s heard anything in Darkmoon City.  She shows up almost immediatley and reveals that everyone is acting weird and she pretty much hasn’t been back to town because of it.

She gives us the password to Access Glacier and we head off to scout it out.  apparently, it leads to Macro Sea through some Mario esque pipes and then back again.  We eventually running into Sayo confronting a Grimmmon, who we fought early in the game in Limit Valley.  In the background, we can see several of our guilds members, including Glare and Ophanimon who have fallen under the effects of the brainwashing.

Sayo attempts to stand up to him but is put under the same spell.  We rush in to save the day...only to fall into the same trap.  But what’s this?  It doesn’t effect us for some reason!  Grimmmon is exasperated but decides to flee and let someone else do the dirty work, resulting in us having to fight a brainwashed Ophanimon.

She is actually surprisingly tough, dishing out decent damage and taking very little from our own offense.  Still, we eventually prevail and she, Sayo and Glare snap out of it and the others are taken to be treated.

When we return to base, Glare thanks of for being one of the few that can actually get shit done.  He then entrusts us to take care of Sayo while her city isn’t safe and that is where we leave off!

You know the drill, Current mons under the read more

Current Squad

Divermon: L1 Jijimon: L1 Flymon: L29 Impmon: L22 Kotemon: L11 Lopmon: L24

Island Digimon

Cyberdramon: L42 Quilnmon: L42 Dorugreymon: L41 Guardramon: L 25 Flaremon: L41 Tortomon: L38 Extyrannomon: L22 Garudamon: L12 Triceramon: L9 Grizzmon: L36 Datamon: L10

Going Digital! Digimon World Dawn Part 2

Hey everyone!  I’m here with part 2 of my impressions and progress on Digimon World Dawn.  Honestly, probably made too much progress before doing this update but whatever.

So, plot!  Our guild leader, Glare (Little Ominous name for the leader of the Light Fang’s but whatever) orders us to go with two veterans to a new location to figure out what’s going on.  The mountain itself wasn’t too challenging but things got a little hasty at the end.  Once again, a laughing demon egg shows up to ruin our day and first throws a Sassaromon at us (who get’s easily dispatched) before attempting to throw something much larger and several Sand Yanamon at us.  Luckily our back up shows up to handle the hoard while we dismiss the big boss.

So that brings us little info other then laughing eggs like being evil.  Next, we are sent out to Loop Swamp, which was the first real typical sharp difficulty curve that Digimon games like to pull so far, both in enemies and stupid terrain.  This was made somewhat easier by the fact that I slowly scouted out the terrain while grinding my team up to make sure they didn’t repeatedly get their asses handed to him.

At the end of the long winding bull shit loop, we encounter my favorite character of this game so far by a large margin, WaruSeadramon.  Basically, his interaction with you boils down to “Hey, got that virus you ordered to destroy the town.  Wait, you aren’t the client? Fuuuuuuuuuu” We then defeat him in a boss fight and he gives us a shiny in exchange for not telling the Union about his actions.  Secret’s safe with me bud!

Unfortunately, the character I’m playing as was not as much of a fan as I was and promptly rats him out.  This leads to speculation that the Dark Crows may be up to something (the rival gang I suppose) since communication is cut off from them.  This means we get sent to Resistor Jungle I believe to meet up with the Dark Crows and see if we can figure out what is going on.

Predictably, this goes worse then imagined as the Dark Crows we encounter were brain washed (WOOOOOOO). After promptly kicking two of the underlings asses, Sayo (the girl we fought at the beginning) shows up to bail one out and claims we are the villains and the Dark Crows fight for justice.  We bat her back with relative ease and Glare calls in to tell us all to get the hell out of there.

So that’s that as far as plot goes so far.  I will say though, there is kind of an interesting dynamic going on between co Light Fang leaders Glare and Ophanimon.  Pretty much every interaction between them has one of them giving an opinion on the situation and the other just spouting elipses.  I feel like one of them is going to be involved with the reveal as to what’s going on here so I’ll be interesting to see if that’s the case or if I’m totally just reading too much into this (probably the case)

As for game mechanics, starting to see where the grindyness comes in to play here.  Not only do you need to level up your digimon (which isn’t THAT hard...yet) you also have to make sure they get experience of the right type to make sure they can keep moving up the evolutionary level.  Luckily, I’ve figured this out relativley early on and have been devoting a fair amount of time to it and I feel like my party is cruising for the moment.  We’ll see if this continues though.

Anyway, enjoying the game so far and looking forward to playing more.  Team below the read more!

Current Party

Raremon: L11 Firamon: L38 Dinohumon: L34 Lopmon: L19 Guardromon: L1 ToyAgumonB: L11

Island Digimon

Reppamon: L37 Kotemon: L21 Dorumon: L21 Impmon: L19 Candlemon: L19 Garudamon: L11 Piximon: L1 Flymon: L36 Grizzmon: L31 Gwappamon: L7