Pokémon Sword/Shield "Experience" Spoiler-Free Review (No Score) - Sergioalb64

As Scorbuddy and I sit around a campfire on our quest to, once again, "Catch ‘em All," we can’t help but think back on what an experience this has been.

It all began in Postwick one very fine afternoon. We were introduced to a colorful cast of characters and to a region that was vibrant and felt alive (or so it seemed at first). We became inseparable right from the start. We didn’t bother to catch any other Pokémon throughout the journey because, frankly, we didn’t need them. This made our journey much more interesting. Most trainers went around with several Pokémon, up to 6, and most of them would use evolved versions of said creatures. But not us. We were different, and we were absolutely ok with that.

Thanks to my previous experience in this type of journey, I was able to raise Scorbuddy well. When the time came for Scorbuddy to evolve, we somehow knew that this was not the course to take. It’s hard to explain; let’s just say we had an understanding that Scorbuddy would remain as he was for the rest of the journey.

As the adventure began, we were blasting through the competition without much trouble. At least, that was the case initially… until we arrived at the Wild Area. Our past journeys did not have such a large environment filled with wild Pokémon of such varying strengths. We soon came to realize that we had to be picky with the battles we engaged in. We had a few losses along the way, but we persevered, learning from these experiences, becoming a stronger duo after each battle.

Return of the Obra Dinn Review - Dragonflame323

The year is 1807. Four years prior, in 1803, the good ship Obra Dinn had gone missing and been deemed lost at sea after a failed sailing excursion around the Cape of Good Hope, along with all 60 of the ship’s crew and passengers. Their fates presently remain unknown.  You play as the role of an insurance agent investigator for the London office branch of the East India Company. The company has sent word to you that the Obra Dinn has miraculously found its way back to port and given you the task of traveling to Falmouth Port where the ship currently resides in order to assess all the necessary damages of the ship. Most importantly, you are to examine any clues or remaining evidence for what might’ve happened to the people responsible for maintaining this ship.  

Almost immediately to aid you in this endeavor, a mysterious case containing a pocket watch and a book with the title page “Return of the Obra Dinn:  A Catalogue of Adventure and Tragedy” is sent to you. It comes with a preface note signed by the author Henry Evans, expressly written to request the investigator of the ship to use the Memento Mortem pocket watch in tandem with the book to discover the identity and fate of everyone aboard. Though many of the book’s chapters remain blank, determining the fates of everyone on the ship will slowly reveal the contents of each chapter. Thus, the completion of the book is left by a mysterious and somehow knowing stranger in your timely hands.

Such is the intriguing impetus for the narrative in Return of the Obra Dinn, from which the rest of the game follows in neat and concentrated gameplay segments. In these segments, after exploring the ship’s decks or confines and discovering the remains of a person’s corpse, you will then use the aforementioned pocket watch to travel back in time to the very moment of that person’s death.After watching the scene play out, you are then treated as a moving body in a still image of a metaphorical time capsule for that scene, allowing you to move through its environment and analyze each person that was present to piece together the context that might’ve lead to the unfortunate events for that soul’s demise. Once you feel confident that you’ve been able to determine the fate of a person on the ship — universally inscribed within the book as: “Who died?”, “in what manner?” and, if applicable,”by whose hand?” — you can then fill in those blanks, and once three correctly described fates are written, they will be magically typeset into the book as factual events. This narrows down the list of the 60 possible crew or passengers who have perished and moves you closer to unraveling the truth behind these events.  

Killer Queen Black Interview with Liquid Bit

An interview between Darrel of The Nintendo Jump Podcast and Liquid Bit’s Adam Walters and Mike Chorak.  Liquid Bit is the developer of Killer Queen Black.

Darrel: Today, I am super excited to be joined with two members from Liquid Bit, Adam and Mike.  How are you guys?

Adam: Good!

Mike: Doing well, thanks.

Darrel: For anybody who’s not aware at this point, Liquid Bit is the developer of Killer Queen Black which is, as you guys know, Nintendo Jump Podcast’s Game of the Month for October.  So, all this month we’ve been talking about it and this is going to be linked to our full review of the game itself and its final breakdown.  To jump in quickly, can you guys talk about your involvement with the game, like your different roles?

Adam: Sure.  So I’m the CTO, Mike is the Chief Architect, but we’re a studio of three.  Matt Tesch is our CEO and does all the production and coordinating between all the different people, like contractors, ourselves, and features.  Mike and I are primarily in the code developing.

Darrel:  So you guys are going to be the ones that will be able to get into all the balancing and how we actually got this game.  That’s great.  Can you tell us a little bit about Liquid Bit, like how did you guys come to be?  What did you work on, that kind of thing?

Mike: Yeah, that’s an interesting story, actually.  It kind of goes back quite a ways, but to give you the skinny of it, the three of us (me, Matt, and Adam), we used to work together at a company called ÄKTA.  I actually worked with Matt at a company before that called Fueled.  We merged with ÄKTA, and Adam came on.  Our company got acquired by Salesforce so we’ve been working together for a long time.  We used to build mobile apps, actually. We were building iPhone apps, and one of our clients from Texas was like “hey, I’ve got some capital, I want to build a video game.  I don’t know what you’re doing at Salesforce, but if you want, let’s start a company and see what we can make of it.”  So that was three years ago.  And it’s like a really weird story.  This never happens, right?  But yeah, we did.  We put in our two weeks notice and started this.  Been doing it ever since.  I went to school for game programming, Adam didn’t have any game development experience, but we worked on a lot of stuff together and we were confident that we could do something that wasn’t a full AAA shooter or something, you know?

Little Town Hero Review - BIGsh0t

Introduction

What do I think of when I see an RPG? The usual hallmarks of the genre: grinding levels by spamming attacks, a complex story, expansive overworlds, random encounters, and about 60 hours of gameplay to complete the story. Little Town Hero (LTH) takes these traditional elements of an RPG and turns them on their head. This game does not feature a traditional leveling system or party of characters, its story is straightforward and takes place inside of a small town, enemy encounters are meaningful and diverse, and it can be completed in 15-20 hours.

What Is It About? 

This departure from the traditional RPG formula is what captivated me about this game back when it was announced simply as “Town.” The idea of a role-playing game taking place in a single town seemed revolutionary, and I immediately wondered how a story worthy of this genre could play out in such a small setting. LTH follows a boy, Axe, and his friends as they wonder what lies beyond the gates of their town. You see, Axe has not been able to leave his town because of the monsters that dwell outside of it. He is not anxious to leave his town, but is simply curious what else he can experience. While working in the mines one day, he comes across a mysterious and powerful stone that is able to defeat monsters. Following this chance encounter, Axe attempts to prove his ability to go beyond the gates of his hometown by protecting it from invaders. The storyline is not overly complex, but the character designs are fun, and their personalities keep the game and story progressing smoothly. 

How Does It Play?

While the story may not be gripping, what makes LTH worthwhile is its immersive and innovative battles. Several different systems are incorporated into fighting: power levels that increase as the fight progresses and allow you to use more powerful attacks, support characters with helpful buffs, and movement across a board after each turn. These concepts are layered in nicely as the game progresses and do not overwhelm you from the start. Each of the first few encounters serves as a teaching moment to introduce new battle mechanics. These encounters clearly spell out the benefit of each mechanic, but allow the player to uncover how to utilize it to secure a quick victory. 

Gaming In The Context of Our Own Humanity - ScheiGuy

Each day I game, I strive to be appreciative. I'm grateful that I have circumstances and time that allow me to game, and I'm grateful for the moments, memories, and relationships gaming has given me. Gaming is a special medium that allows us to share experiences, form/strengthen friendships, and learn a lot about ourselves. We're actively engaged. We're drawn in. We're emotionally invested. To a large extent, we create our experiences, which makes sharing them and discussing them special. We all put on masks and fronts at times, but eventually who you truly are is expressed in how you play games, and I think that's the key. We aren't just sharing interaction with manifested computer code on a screen. When we game, we share a part of ourselves. We share who we really are - not entirely, but enough to make the relationships formed meaningful. The beauty is we don't have to consciously express ourselves. The expression comes naturally while playing, making the anxieties that come with many social interactions disappear. Barriers crumble. Friendships flourish. 

When I reflect on any relationship/friendship affected by gaming, I'm flooded with positivity. Honestly, I can't think of a single instance where gaming had a negative effect. My father died nine years ago, and I reflect often on the positive effects gaming had on our relationship and the legacy it provides for me to pass on to my own wife and children. My dad lived a hard life, and he wasn't the most expressive guy you'd ever meet. However, we shared a lot of fun, laughs, and memories centered on games that really drew us close to each other. Solving problems together, hand-drawing maps together, competing against each other, and being awed at next-gen games together had us both so involved that we were effortlessly sharing real parts of our inner-selves with one another. I understand similar moments can be had outside of gaming, and I have several fond non-gaming memories of my dad. However, gaming created unique opportunities for us to create cherished memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. Now, I'm able to create these moments with my own children - something I hope I'm never foolish enough to take for granted. I jokingly say that Mario Kart is a way of life in our household, but there's truth behind my quip. My wife and I spent considerable time through our dating and marriage bonding over Mario Kart, and we love involving our children as we make new Kart (as well as other gaming) memories. Beyond my own family, gaming (and especially Nintendo-based gaming) was a catalyst to nearly all of my closest friendships through the years. I won't sit here and give you the play-by-play of it all, but I earnestly believe these beloved relationships and memories couldn't be equaled by bonding through another means.

I believe this interpersonal phenomenon generalizes intrapersonally for single-player games. We all have relationships with ourselves. We fight our inner-demons. We reflect and work hard on the kind of person we want to be. When we're immersed in gaming, we are open with ourselves and learn about ourselves. When we're tilted, we learn how we handle negative emotion. When we persevere, we speak volumes to how we can respond to life's hardships. When we cry, when our jaw drops, when we smile, when we laugh, when we stop and soak in a moment, when we're mesmerized by a song, when we jump up from the couch in triumph, when we squeeze the controller so hard it may snap in two, when we smile, when we try again - this time using the gamer lean (it just works... it's beyond science) - all of those moments are you. They are a part of you. They are manifestations of you. They play a role in molding who you will be today and the next. They unequivocally let you be you with no fear - fully vulnerable and uniquely you, manifested the same on the outside exactly as you are on the inside. Such moments are rare for a lot of us in real life. However, in gaming these moments are organic. They are spontaneous. They are real. They come from the full-immersion, wonderment, and joy that gaming provides, doing so with no true equal.

Gaming doesn't exist in a vacuum. Games are created and experienced through the medium of our own humanity, and that's the best part. In a world that's often cold and cruel, gaming provides revelatory and genuine moments for us to learn about ourselves and to connect meaningfully with others.

Donut County Review - ScheiGuy

This is an indie game where you're a raccoon who uses an app to remotely control sinkholes that grow in diameter as they consume objects. The writing utilizes cheeky humor that is as silly as the premise. The characters are an eclectic bunch of oddballs. The gameplay is unexpectedly relaxing. However, the levels are short and present virtually no challenge. The game is also very short. I didn’t do any research before playing. I reached a level I thought would be a bridge to the game really opening up; however, it was the final level. The game feels like a “Chapter 1” of an episodic series. The sinkhole mechanics have so much potential for clever level design and challenging puzzles that was left unrealized. The art style and music are both memorable, but neither is stellar. I’d recommend this game if you find it on sale. At full price, the content is too thin for me to wholly recommend. ScheiGuy Score: 6/10 (mostly due to brevity and lack of challenge) ScheiGuy Score if the Game was $8-9 Instead of $13: 7.5/10 Time to Complete: Two hours

Undertale Review - ScheiGuy

Undertale is a rightfully beloved indie RPG.  The game drops you in the middle of a world that seems light-hearted, silly, dark, enigmatic, and melancholy all at the same time.  The characters are charming, and the dialogue is clever with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor.  As the game unfolds, you're introduced to a very complex and emotional lore.  The decisions you make alter the story and world around you, sometimes permanently.  It's the only game I've played where you can win fights without taking any aggressive action.  As the story gripped me, I found myself projecting my own morality into my character's choices without wanting to play any other way.  The game beings slowly, but by the end I found myself engrossed and 100% emotionally invested.  My jaw dropped more than once as I learned new details about the story.  I can't speak for all possible play throughs, but the way I chose to play the game resulted in an overall positive message that I believe strongly in my own personal life.

The battle system is unique and the gameplay is fun, but this game is truly driven by the characters and story.  The soundtrack is very effective and inspires heavy-hitting emotion at just the right times.  The graphics are "retro" but genuinely add to the charm of the game.

My main complaint is that there's virtually no way to play casually through the game without making undesirable lasting consequences.  I had to spend some time on forums reading... which you can cautiously do without spoiling what's next... because I didn't have the time to play through the game several times to learn through trial and error (like many die-hard fans do). 

Overall, I recommend this game.  It's a unique experience that highlights the joy of gaming being a vastly diverse entertainment medium.  

Schei Score: 9/10
Time to Beat: Nine hours
Time to Truly Complete and Learn without Reading Forums: 50ish hours (best guess)