2015

New Game Thursday – H1Z1

stargrace January 22, 2015 0Comment

I am not really a fan of zombie games. No big surprise there. I don’t enjoy horror, or blood or killing. Why on earth did I find myself playing H1Z1? Well, first of all the game came as a gift, and that always helps. Second of all, I do really enjoy survival games, exploration, and crafting, and H1Z1 has all of those built into it. Right now it’s in alpha on steam, and you can get access for a $20 or $40 purchase. I know I said I wasn’t going to buy into any more alphas, but this was a gift, surely it doesn’t count!

You start off in the middle of no where, with very few belongings on you. The clothes on your back, a flashlight, and your fists. The game at the moment could be called attack of the wild blackberries, because you’ll be spending a good portion of your time wading through bushes collecting enough food to stay alive. Hydration and energy are supposed to be tweaked in an update so that they don’t drain quite so fast.

Right now the zombies have very little AI. I ran right up to a large group of them and they barely even looked at me. They didn’t attack, and either they thought I was one of them, or they were already full on brains and couldn’t eat another mouthful. Either way, there isn’t much to fear in this zombie ridden land (at the moment) aside from starvation.

I found a branch on my travels and used that to kill a wolf, who also did not attack me or fight back. I tried to break into some shacks that players had set up but they were not one of the few who used 1111 or 1234 as their pass codes. I did also manage to come across an airdrop taking place, but it was packed with players and zombie and it was only a matter of seconds before I died to both.

Whewps.

I didn’t get into the crafting yet but it seems like it’s a pretty simple method. You can discover items to craft by dragging them through a menu system and attempting to unlock patterns that way. An example would be using blackberries and water to make juice.

I spent most of my time wandering around and just taking in the lovely scenery. It’s fun, and would probably be more fun with friends. I like supporting game companies in what they’re creating, even if it isn’t something that I’ll play long term. I’m looking forward to following the game updates and seeing what happens next.

Gaming

New Game Thursday – Sakura Spirit

stargrace January 15, 2015 1Comment

I love visual novel games, and so when Steam put their anime sale up I was excited to see quite a few from my wishlist marked down in price. I picked up Sakura Spirit without doing much research into it, which is something I now wish I had of done. Yes, the game is ‘adult’ in nature, but in the past that hasn’t bugged me, especially if the story is good and it follows a ‘choose your own adventure’ type of gameplay. Most visual novels combine things like leveling skills and making choices that affect the story, etc, with a great plot, but Sakura Spirit doesn’t really work this way.

I played for a few hours and only had one decision to make which didn’t affect the story at all, which of course disappointed me right away. Especially after waiting so long just to make that one decision.

The story is about a young 17 year old boy named Takahiro, who is two weeks away from an intense judo competition. He gets ported into an alternate realm where he meets up with some kitsune ladies. The ladies are stealing panties and creating issues in a nearby town with their antics. He later learns that the kitsune (Maeko and Machiko) are also from an alternate reality, and that’s why there’s such strife between them and the villagers. He is given a mission he has to complete in order to get back to his own world, and the story basically continues from there. Tsuyuri is a spirit bound to a specific location in the alternate realm, and she explains all of this to him. She would love to help get everyone back to their own realms, but she doesn’t have the power to (despite being a magical creature in her own right).

I enjoyed the basic story, it was light and humorous with a lot of teasing and fun to read (minus the spelling errors). I just think it could have been so much more had they actually allowed some interaction with the reader. That one fact soured the game for me, and it’s not one I would recommend to others unless they were looking for that very specific type of visual novel.

Gaming

More Ancient Warfare in Minecraft, and FFXIV for the PS4

stargrace January 14, 2015 0Comment

After playing with the basics of ancient warfare yesterday, I decided to add a bit more to it. I set up a wheat farm, a cow farm, and a courier to pick up the items at all of the farms (ink sac, fish, and wheat) and then deposit them into containers. For some reason my farmer keeps going missing and I keep having to replace him. He probably gets eaten by something, but since I do have a special torch that prevents mobs from spawning at night in a 64×64 area, I’m not sure what is eating him. I know the torch doesn’t work if there are monster spawners in the vicinity, and I’m pretty sure I have a zombie spawner some place. I’m just not sure where.

In any case, having these NPC doing the mundane jobs leaves me free to pursue my other interests, like drying rotten flesh out for jerky (pictured above). I believe I’m going to get an NPC mining system up before too long, but I might need to do a bit of research into that first. Having the basic skills performed automatically lets me wander off and explore and learn other mod packs without having to worry about running out of food or supplies.

The torch took forever to make. I needed a ghast tear from the nether, along with a blaze rod from the nether. It also needed two potions, which you make with brewing. A brew station requires a blaze rod as well. The rest of the components are fairly straight forward except for one. The hardest to find was a melon. It comes from the jungle biome, and because I have ‘biomes o’ pleanty’ turned on there are SO many biomes, finding a jungle one was taking way too long. In the end I stumbled across a village, and a villager traded me 8 melons for 1 emerald. Well worth it. Now I have seeds for future plants, and I can get an NPC to automate that as well.

Besides playing minecraft, I picked up FFXIV for the PS4. It was on sale for $20, and since I already have an active subscription and because you can play your PC characters on the PS4 or vice versa, I decided to pick it up. I really wish Diablo 3 had something like this, true cross platform play. More games need it.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

Ancient Warfare – Minecraft Mods

stargrace January 13, 2015 0Comment

I decided to play around with a bit of Ancient Warfare on my home server. I’m still using IceHenge as a mod pack, and it’s still providing hours of enjoyment. I’ve also still barely even touched on most of the mods. Ancient Warfare lets you create (very delicate) NPC to do most of your basic chores. The ones I have pictured above are a fish farm and an ink sac farm. Both items are heavily used (well, food, not fish per say, but fish is easy) in the creation of ancient warfare items. Ink sacs are used for research, and fish can be cooked and turned into food for your town hall, which the NPC will wander up to when they’re hungry.

Next I’ll create some couriers to pick up the goods and drop them into a building I’ll designate for it. I’ve also created a cow farm, and have a wheat farm in the works. I haven’t learned how it all works yet, but I’m getting there slowly. There’s a lot of tutorials online, but it does require some trial and error.

I also made some barrels for storage, making things much neater. I have so far been unsuccessful in finding a Nether Fortress in order to find some blaze mobs so I can get a rod. I need two of them, one for a torch that will prevent mobs from spawning in a 64 tile radius, and a second one to create a brewing station. I did quite a bit of exploring in the nether and had a lot of fun, but without any success at finding the rod I want. Still, my little town is coming along well, and I’m excited about whatever I decide to work on next.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

The Sims 4 – Outdoor Retreat(soon)

stargrace January 10, 2015 0Comment

Big news has been coming out about Sims 4 this week. Well, big news for me at least. A release date was set for Outdoor Retreat, which is basically a “stuff” package if you’re familiar with previous sims expansions, but here it’s called a “game pack” that is going to release next week. An exact date next week hasn’t been given yet, but of course I’m looking forward to it. The game pack costs $20, and adds a bunch of new features for your lovely sim families including a herbalist skill. Your sim family will be able to head to Granite Falls, which is a new world and partake in a bunch of outdoor related activities.

EA also released a mobile version of their Sims 4 gallery in an app on the itunes and google play stores. This lets you browse, favourite, and add to your download list. Great if you’re not at your PC and you want to get a fix of sims 4. The interface is easy to use, and I haven’t had any issues getting it to work so far. In fact I quite like browsing the gallery to see what other people have created, especially when I’m in the mood to play the game and not decorate (it happens, rarely). Lately I have been looking at unfurnished homes, and then designing the interior myself once I have downloaded a new home that catches my eye. Designing the structure of a home is something I don’t always feel like doing, mine end up square blocks of ugly, but I love interior design.

There are still a lot of aspects I miss from Sims 3 (most notably the expansions and the open world feel) but I also think they have done an amazing job with Sims 4 and that it will come into its own with time. Once we get some real expansions and maybe a better ‘feel’ for the world (I really want a pet expansion) I can certainly see myself spending a lot of time playing (not that I don’t already spend a lot of time playing).

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

New Game Thursday – H1Z1

New Game Thursday – Sakura Spirit

More Ancient Warfare in Minecraft, and FFXIV for the PS4

Ancient Warfare – Minecraft Mods

The Sims 4 – Outdoor Retreat(soon)

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