Coming Soon : Old School and Homebrewed

I never thought I would run into a homebrewed... well as homebrewed a Indy developer gets without me knowing much about them though I do plan to do my homework on them... RPG, but here you go. Also reviewing an old school first person dungeon crawler that US passable... but just barely. I am presently digging into these for reviews right now, so I will have wipr updates on both coming soon.

WIPR : Game Insights' Mystery Manor

Usually hidden objects games don't count as RPG or Strategy, even if said game takes place in an RPG style setting, and I have seen a few in such settings. No, but when the game in question depends greatly on level grinding for exp, and slaying slash banishing creatures in order to progress? Those are RPG elements.

Presently reviewing Mystery Manor from Game Insights, a pretty interesting addictive game... plagued with flaws, shortcomings, and glitches that causes failure to launch and failure to close issues... full review coming soon, stay tuned.

Summer 2013 Day 19 : Missing you RPGamer Podcast

Oh well, at least it is only on a month hiatus since two of its hosts married each other some days ago, taking a month off. Pity it had to be this month with E3 going on right now, and the whole fracas with Microsoft and the XBox One... still waiting for Angry Joe's take on the latest from E3, and whether or not he holds his ire with Microsoft, or begins to succumb to the eye candy of game releases future shown at E3 so far. I didn't think much of the few minimal Microsoft exclusives by the way, but I am waiting to see what Angry Joe thought of Microsoft's E3 conference.

If I have a problem with RPGamer, it's that they spent alot of last episode before the June hiatus being apologists for Microsoft... but that was before Microsoft doubled down pre E3, so I am wondering if their opinions changed between last episode and the first new episode post E3. They should be back in Late June barring any special episode between now and Late June so stay tuned.

BTW, the only other cast I listen to gaming wise is Idle Thumbs, 4urinfo.

WIPR : GameLoft's Dungeon Hunter 4

After a bunch of less than ideal games I loaded up on from GameLoft I had no real faith in this one, in fact I knew of it for quite sometime, but only just got around to looking at... surprisingly it is rather fun. I still hate the whole virtual analog stick control thing, more and more games I am reviewing use it, but the game as a whole is satisfying enough to forgive my general dislike of the virtual analog stick.

Reminds me a bit of Dungeon Siege (top down button masher) and has a bit of character customization with weapons and armor with upgradable slots for ability gems you can scavenge from bad gear, combine and attach to New gear. The customization is awesome, btw, definite plus.

The world is quite full in single player (hopefully offline friendly), co-op gaming and player versus player zones offering up a nice selection of game options... and did I mention the possibility of a Mass Effect style lesbian relationship going on, since apparently my female character once bedded the queen... yeah, pretty sure the game thought I would pick a male character but don't rain on my parade.

So, more updates as I grind both this and Bard's Tale for full reviews coming soon. Stay tuned.

WIPR - InXile's The Bard`s Tale

Probably the biggest review on the Kindle Fire HD I am presently working on, it is also probably the most disappointing as well. Layered with a rather pretty coat of HD, The Bard's Tale is a pretty good port of the PS2 era The Bard's Tale game... the problem I'd that it is a port of the PS2 era The Bard's Tale game... wait a minute, wasn't there supposed to be extra in this tablet release? I have to shake this down a bit for that.

But the longest part of this I'd playing through the game for the review, which I s hindered by the control setup which features a rather fussy virtual analog stick that frustrates me so, in a game that should have utilized a touch screen control schematic akin to certain 3DS (and no doubt PSVita) games.

Don't get me wrong, I gave the PS2 era The Bard's Tale a good score, and this is a good game but... I have issues with this game. And ad I dig into it more I will post my notes on the coming review for you to check out... stay tuned.

Minor Android Tablet Review : Glu`s Tavern Quest

Presently the only Cafe World like game I am recommending, as well as the only Glu game at present, Tavern Quest takes the usual running a Cafe game and innovates it by adding a limited RPG aspect to the game that is reflected in a few ways. Not a full out RPG, yes, but one if those games that offer a light slice of RPG and a bit of casual for a curiously enjoyable experience.

You play the role of a Dragon (who strangely looks like a older version of Spike) who doesn't want to do Dragon stuff, but instead want to run your own tavern. However monsters are bullying you, so you hire heroes to work for you, taking out the monsters bounty hunter style (you have a list of monsters increasing in difficulty from green to blue to red that you send three heroes to take out, a fighter and a ranged attacker and a healer).

Recruiting heroes is simple. First you buy the flag needed to attract them to your tavern, which you fI nd in the game store. Once you attract them you have to recruit them, but instead of paying them in gold you pay them in food. As heroes come in each has a voice bubble with a specific ingredient they want.Clicking in the hero states exactly how many servings you need to give him/her in order to recruit them. All you have to do is have the right food, with the right ingredient, with x servings in order to recruit them. You can add ingredients to recipes (which you earn over time collecting from said flags randomly as they play a part I n generating income for your tavern) as well as speed up completing recipes with Glu credits... which, by the way,is the easiest Premium currency I ever earned in a game. Unlike other games where the game is very stingy with Premium currency this one is rather generous with it in comparison. Sure you still have to grind like crazy to unlock 3 class flags but you feel as if it is an accomplishable task, a rarity with Premium currency.

My biggest problem with the game us while it is rather fun, mixing elements of diner SIM and RPG, it suffers from being rather finite. You can level up your heroes, but they quickly max out at 10. You can level up your tavern so it can hold more heroes but eventually that had limits. You can level up your recipes... as much good that is as you don't seem to have any differences between a one star and five star recipe from what I can see of it... but eventually you max them all out and you don't seem capable of earning New recipes aft e r a certain point. So the game is great, but eventually runs out if steam. I hope I am wrong, and that something surprising happens when I max out a row if recipes but... I am not holding my breath in that.  What this game needs is expandable dlc content to keep it going... not going to happen, but that would be nice.

All in all even with its finite lifespan it is still pretty fun. Nicely done graphics wise, a nice though small taste of SIM meet RPG, for a quick play on the bus or between stuff it's pretty recommendable. Limited but enjoyable. A 3 out of 5.

Getting back on track

Sorry for the long delay, but working on getting back on track worldwide.

First step is getting my hands on a used laptop for working on podcasts. Something that is presently a work in progress.

Part of my summer schedule is getting podcasts back on track. That means posting related episodes of 3DS Addict, Antisocial Gamer, Pocket Gamer and Wii Life in relations to RPG and Strategy gaming.

First thing first, getting back on track to posting daily content. Stay tuned.

Getting back on track with gaming

So let's see about getting back on track with gaming shall we? What do we have...

We have a new podcast for gaming, Pocket Gamer, which if I remember right is a revival of a past series with new added content (episodic walkthroughs of games). We start off with Episodes 1 (a new guide to the travelling gaming kit in case of emergency evacuations) and Episode 2 (Part 1 of Poke'mon Heartgold Walkthrough on the DS). with more to come.

Working on posting quick shot reviews here too as I work on new stuff. So stay tuned to that.

Coverage will be of...
Nintendo
Game Boy/Game Boy Color/Game Boy Advance
Nintendo DS
Nintendo 3DS

Sony
PSP

Hope to add on new stuff in the future but we'll see.

So that's it. Time to get back to work.

Reviews of the Week - July 11th to 15th

Upcoming reviews of the new week

July 11th - Crystal Defenders (PSP)

July 13th - Dragon Warrior III (Game Boy Color)

July 15th - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 (DS)

For the podcast versions of the reviews listen to PSP DLC Life Episode 3 and Retro Game Boy Life Episode 1 for the first review. Stay tuned to 3DS Life for my upcoming review of KH 358/2'

A podcast for RPG and Strategy gaming?

I don't know, but if there is sufficent interest in such a thing I'll work on it. So I'll keep an eye on comments, post a voting poll later and watch how many followers the page gets. The more interest the better. Stay tuned.