Nomadic Gamer

2017

Gaming

Thoughts on Visual Novels

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I love my 3DS, but I have noticed over the years that there’s one game category that’s sorely lacking from the games presented, and it’s a genre that I not only enjoy a great deal but one that lends itself very well to hand held devices.

Of course I’m talking about visual novels.

These types of games are still sort of new to mainstream Western gamers, sure they’ve been around but in very limited spurts as we wait for translations and development. It wasn’t until recently that Steam started carrying a greater selection, and even then a lot of the more popular ones are either created just for Playstation (think Vita), or stand alone on the PC. Even if you speak Japanese and don’t need to wait for a translation getting your hands on a copy here in Canada can prove difficult.

I’m sure Nintendo has a good reason for avoiding the genre, it’s not exactly “family friendly” which is what I typically associate with Nintendo games (I know there are exceptions) but I really think there’s a market for them that is being missed.

In the meantime I just live vicariously through my friends who own a Vita and the few titles that trickle down to steam – if you enjoy VN games don’t forget to support developers and let them know that you want to keep seeing them! I realize they’re not everyone’s favourite, but it’s important to support development so that we continue to get the content that does make its way to this part of the world.

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

Gaming

Legacy Family Happenings

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It’s been a long time since I peeked in on my Sims 4 legacy family (we’re only on the third generation and the goal is to get to the tenth) but they were still there, waiting. I’m not really sure what I was doing with their current home, but when I started up the game I didn’t like it at all, so the first thing I did was bulldoze the lot and start their home over again. Not a big deal as they were not moving and they still kept their important things, even though I’m only three generations in they’ve accumulated quite a bit of ‘stuff’.

EA has also revamped the purchase screen so I had a clear idea of what I own (and what I don’t). I’m missing a lot of the smaller game components these days, and it’s no wonder because they seem to publish them quite frequently. I never picked up vampires because there’s no easy way to deny them from your sim world – and I don’t have Parenthood, or a lot of the stuff packs like toddler stuff, fitness stuff, bowling night stuff. All of these packs add up, and to “catch up” as it were would be quite expensive.

That being said, I AM very excited about Cats & Dogs which releases November 10th. Pets?! Yes please! This was one of my favourite things in Sims 3, along with seasons which I’m still waiting for. Included in the game is not only pets and items that cater to the animals, but the veterinary career and the ability to create your own vet practice.

Yes please.

Have you kept up with the Sims 4 game packs, expansions, and stuff packs? Which one is your favourite? Are you looking forward to pets being released? Let me know in comments and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Real Life

Bootstrap Buttons (and other Coding Adventures)

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I know it has been a little while since I wrote, but I was having some issues with my web host and had to take care of a few things. Hopefully it’s all in hand now and I can get back to blogging! It has also been a little while since I wrote about my adventures with Freecodecamp and learning to code – but I’m still doing that, too. Just at a much slower pace than I had anticipated. The program is fantastic and you go at your own pace, it’s just that my pace has been interrupted by life (a few times).

I’ve completed 67 challenges so far which basically means I’ve touched on almost nothing. I’ve done a little HTML, some CSS, some HTML5, and I’ve just started Bootstrap. Most of the time (so far at least) I’m able to figure out what I need to do on my own. I like the way code is written, it’s easy for me to read and see what pieces need to go where, or what I’m missing. The way these challenges are framed it’s a lot of just inserting a new variable into something that’s already in the code some place, or a version that you’ve already done. Learning where it goes and how it affects everything in real time is neat. I’m eager to get a bit deeper into things but for now I’m content with the (incredibly slow) pace I’m working at. I’m restricted to learning during naps and after kiddo is in bed which doesn’t leave me with a lot of time (it seems like there’s always something more to do) but I’m determined to stick with it so I can develop some skills.

Right now I’m just making buttons that do stuff, that stretch across a certain space, that have colour (or don’t). For a lot of my friends I know this comes easily, but I’m still proud to be picking it up now. I’ll get there.

HTML5 and CSS was 5 hours (approx) of work. Now that I’m on Bootstrap it should be another 5 hours, and then I move on to JQuery (3 hours). From there, I move to Basic Front End Development Projects, 50 hours where I’ll be building a few things. Exciting, no? Yes! If you’ve never heard of Freecodecamp before I highly suggest you check it out, and if you have any other suggestions for me to check out please don’t hesitate to post them to comments!

Now lets get back to gaming!

Gaming

Slow and Steady

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I love achievements. When I can’t figure out what I want to do in a game I can look at the list of achievements and usually find something that appeals to me. Since I’m playing Guild Wars 2 on a newer account that has very little completed, I decided to spend some quiet time chipping away at map completion.

As an example of how very little I have completed on this account – I may have four level 80 characters but they certainly didn’t get there from leveling the traditional way. Rather, I crafted my way to 80. I have 5% world map completion on my main – and of course I want to slowly change that.

I started out easy. I never know when I’m going to have to jump away from the PC so I wanted to begin in a city. I haven’t explored much of Lion’s Arch since the destruction (and rebuilding) after Living Season 1, so I decided that was as good a place as any. I had about 50% of the map already unlocked, waypoints visited and two vista. It took less than an hour to complete the rest, and gave me a nice 2% bump to my overall world map completion.

The best part is that it was completely relaxing and very immersive. I lost myself in the music of the zone, and just bounced around. It was exactly what I wanted to do with my time, and I’m really glad that I did. Was it character progression? Not in the traditional sense of the word, but I did get a little experience for getting it done (cities give very little, I’ve found) and again, it was fun and just what I needed. Next I’m headed to Gendarran Fields, where I have 12% of the map completed. I expect this one will take me a bit longer (hearts, so many hearts) but again it’s a fairly relaxing pace where I can just run around doing my thing and not have to focus too much.

Now I just have to find the time..

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

 

Gaming

Do You Use the Wishlist Feature?

stargrace 7Comments

Just out of curiosity, how many readers out there actually use the Steam Wishlist feature? What do you use it for?

I tend to wishlist games I want but can’t afford at the time, or want and don’t want to spend money on, or want and just.. want. Sometimes an incredibly generous friend gifts one to me and I try to return the favour as often as I can (which isn’t nearly as often as I want, I can tell you that). I try to keep the wishlist up to date and as recent as possible, weeding out games that I don’t REALLY want and that I can’t remember why I actually wishlisted (probably had something to do with a steam sale guiding my hand). My wishlist is a mixture of early access games I don’t want to forget about, and older games that I’m just waiting to go on sale.

If we’re not friends on steam yet, we should be! You can find me there as Stargrace.

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