Just updated my "Flavour of the Week"... Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is still up there (one of my all time fav games!) Final Fantasy XV and World of Final Fantasy are both long overdue new entries ... and I suddenly have the urge to play Final Fantasy XII again (it is being voted recently, yes, in 2021, as one of players' fav FF games) but I have completely forgotten the super-fun battle mechanics (and I am close to reaching the end of the Trial Mode dungeon). Oh, lemme checking my last Save ... brb
WOW, I am actually just five battles away from completing Trial Mode; and my party is up against the Ultimate esper/ summon, which I recall is a pain in the a**. Hmm, wonder if I should actually quit the dungeon now cos there is absolutely NO WAY I can beat anything without reacquainting myself with the battle system. Also any items gained from Stage 90 onwards I cannot keep. But returning to the main game means starting the story all over again... will have a think on how to move forward.
Got back into FFXV last week while vacationing ... now waiting for the (collectors') guide I ordered from Amazon... its ability tree looks extremely complicated. The problem with this game is that all the side quests are not particularly interesting. And I want to level up a bit more before jumping back into the main story.
Meanwhile have decided not to play ranked in Gwent cos there are just so many toxic players around. If can't beat them, join them ... so I have come up with a Neutral deck that is quite good for trolling on the ladder LOL
First post of 2021 (!) and we return to a game that I bought and wrote about back in 2018 ... (just checked my blog history, the two years sandwiched in between these two posts I spent much of my time playing Final Fantasy XII and The Witcher games, mostly cos I bought the Nintendo Switch).
The World of Final Fantasy is one of those games that I find hard to get into (at the beginning anyway)... don't know exactly the reason (maybe cos it targets the younger demographic?) ... but, yes, I played it for awhile then I put it down for months/ years. I recently picked it up again cos I think I odd to give it another go and even maybe finish it.
(I think this title -- and perhaps Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (Koei) -- are the last games I am gonna play on the PS Vita. I'm finishing one more route on Steins;Gate on my PSP also).
I actually got a lot further in the game than I remember... I think I now only have a few more chapters to go. But I was just checking out my setups for Lann and Reynn ... and they are a bit all over the place. I don't blame my (old) self though, cos the battle mechanism actually has a bit of depth to it and, for some reason, I repeated/doubling certain skills instead of maximising all the ability slots. Never mind.. still has a fair way to go till the final boss and it's better late than never in realising my mistakes!
Just picked up the Stealth skill, which minimises monster encounter (which can get v tiring ... and perhaps that was why I had to put down the game cos of the grinding...) I'm levelling up Shiva and Ifrit cos I kinda like them ... I just hope they are strong enough to carry me through the game, right to the end... I don't really wanna try out other monsters (no, I don't wanna catch 'em all!)
On the yoga front, I think I will focus on the split and maybe returning to learning the handstand now that my shoulders are regaining some strength and flexibility ...Been listening to this album a lot ... Belinda Carlisle really has a fantastic vocal.
PS just saw that my first ever blog post features my pet dog Batman, who just a few days left us and has gone onto doggie heaven... he may be gone but not forgotten!!
What I like about this mobile card game is that its developer (CD Projekt Red) updates it quite regularly with new patches/ cards so players need to alter the way they play/ their strategies & decks to keep up with these changes... it's a good way to make the game stay fresh. I'm hovering over levels 9/8/7 on the ladder, which is quite challenging (as I am the god of misplay!!!)
After 235 hours on the game, finally finished the Blood & Wine expansion and, therefore, the complete The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Well, the main stories anyway. There are still, literally, more than 100 small side quests that I have yet to tackle so there is still some mileage to get out of the game. Not to mention I have also just started Thronebreaker and still playing The Witcher Card Game so obsession with the Witcher universe is far from being over lol.
Here are, for me, the most memorable parts of Witcher 3: the Bloody Baron and Whoreson Junior quests, that long preparation for battle with the Wild Hunt and the entire Hearts of Stone expansion. Was a bit obsessed with getting the "right" endings. Also quite happy in getting the exclusive gears/ weapons from the two expansions that I'd wanted.
The difficulty level was just right. Sure, the start (as in any RPGs) was tough (like, even a low level wild dog could eat through your basic gear) but I think once I had the Nilfgaardian set then things started to look better and by the time I unlocked the expanded mutation ability tree (in Blood & Wine) Geralt was, like, in God Mode. Shame I didn't have that for the Toad Prince and Caretaker bosses, which were the most challenging.
Will explore the vast Witcher world in the coming weeks -- so much unexplored territory cos I tend to Fast Travel a lot ...
So I've made it to Rank 7 -- and unlocked the Radovid avatar, my only goal in this game #yayyy -- which is pretty cool since I'd never thought I'd made it this high on the ladder. I'm not aiming to play Pro Rank as I am not interested in meta decks (which you need to climb) and learning how to play just one faction is enough for me (need to play/master all factions to play in Pro Rank). So now I just hang around between ranks 9 and 7 playing unranked matches, which is fun and stress-free.
This is the deck that I use to climb the ladder (and it is pretty solid!)
This (winning) deck is good because the cards I need tend to get shuffled into my hand during "mulligans". I also have cards like Oneiromancy and Amphibious Assault for consistency, as well as answers to debuffs/ statuses like poison, rupture, lock, defender etc. And the Revs and Ronvid + Mobilization lead skill still do their job nicely to spawn. They are formidable when unanswered.
But I enjoy experimenting with the "devotion" deck -- i.e. playing a single faction (in my case, the Norther Realms) only without any neutral cards -- for extra buffs and synergy. Admittedly, this deck is not as good as the one above and, I think, requires a bit more strategising.
I still have cards that give a degree of consistency (AA and John Natalis), as well as the Pincer Manevver lead skill, but I feel this particular deck is kinda weak and easy for opponent to answer. That is, my engines are killed before they can start piling up points. But when it does work, it is a really fun deck to play.
Meanwhile, I have also decided to return to Steins;Gate to do Miyuri's route, which requires replaying the game from Chapter 4. Which is fine since the last time I played the game was, like, four years ago and I don't mind going through the (excellently written) story again. Everything also makes more sense now in my second playthrough.
And I thought my original Nintendo Game Boy, yes, "DOT Matrix with Stereo Sound" (Made in Japan!!!) had died on me but I switched out the old batteries and it is working AGAIN! I need to turn it on every day from now on to make sure it LIVES!!!
So, I finally (and really) quit Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire (good riddance) and have been playing this (amazing) card game for a few weeks.
As you know, I am a bit of a (video) card game addict and have played (a long, long time ago) Yu-Gi-Oh The Eternal Duelist Soul as well as the series' Ultimate Masters World Champion Tournament 2006 (still have to beat that!); my all-time favourite the Marvel Trading Card Game; and Uncharted: Fight for Fortune (the only game I've ever plat-ed LOL). So when a card game based on The Witcher universe was released on Android, I was, like, Wow.
The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt, of course, has its own in-game card game called Gwent, which is fun but the one released for consoles (though PlayStation no longer carries it), mobile phones and now on Steam, definitely has more depth and, well, more challenging.
The version (latest patch was released end of April) I am playing now is the result of several upgrades already (think the beta version came out some years ago) and some long-time players say it is for the better, others for the worse. Well, I can't really judge or compare but it did take me a week or two just to get the hang of the basics.
And you need to really understand not only your own deck but that of your opponent to win. So here are some basics about Gwent: the Witcher Card Game. There are six factions to choose from: Nilfgaard, Skellige, Scoia'tael, Northern Realms, Monsters and Syndicate. So far I have ONLY played Northern Realms simply because it has all my fav characters from the Witcher games :-)
This faction is also, I think, less straightforward to play and it offers many deck variations that players can experiment with. I find Scoia'tael, for instance, quite straightforward and its "Harmony" deck is, apparently, the best (Meta) desk out there now.
While playing against the AI is available (which was improved significantly in the April patch), you really wanna play with a human opponent as you basically wanna climb the rank ladder to be a "Pro". Well, I ain't that ambitious but I guess it is more fun playing against a real opponent. But that also puts the pressure on as, well, humans are (in most cases) more fun players than AI ...You start at Rank 30 and you slowly work your way up to Rank 0. Though once you reached a rank you never get de-ranked but it can be quite frustrating to be stuck in the same rank for too long. I was, for instance, stuck in 20 for a long time cos (ironically) the patched version for Android just kept crashing *argh*
I started off with a boost NR deck and that worked quite nicely from Ranks 30 to around 24/23 ... then the opponents start to look more threatening and I had to start getting new cards (which the game mechanics helps you to do) that give me a better chance of winning.
Watching other (Pro) players play online (I've become a lot more active on Discord and Twitch as a result) is a MUST. Only then you learn what cards are good -- you don't necessarily have to have the same deck as them (well, you won't be able to do if you are still climbing the rank ladder unless you pay, I guess) and you will have your own play style but other players' strategies can be very good reference.
I now have an "Inferno Deck" because, at one point, I was using the two Sabrina cards, which are for removal -- and I just loved the apocalyptic-style animation of Sabrina's Inferno ;-) Alas, these two cards are not as good as I'd hoped and by the time I reached Rank 20 I think I was being out-played by Many opponents.
So now I've settled with a semi-swarm deck that still has a few removal cards such as Boiling Oil and Alzur's Thurder as well as Draug and Revenant (latter is great for spawning) and have been on a winning streak lately. But it is a difficult (and IMHO more fun) deck to play because there are many ways to deal with opponents who like stealing and locking cards (I'm looking at you, NG players!) or swarming and boosting with Harmony.
Now let's see if this deck will be able to carry me through to Rank 10 ... ...
The time has come when I have to finish the main game -- albeit with a little reluctance. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been such a wild ride I will miss the excellent storytelling not only of the core story but also its two expansion, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Awesome trailer
I actually wasn't that keen on playing HoS in the beginning -- I thought it was just more running around doing repetitive side quests -- but I was wrong. From the word go this expansion is action packed and full of challenges (argh, the Toad Prince and the Ofieri mage)... and as the story unravels, the main characters -- Shani, Olgierd and Iris -- are nicely fleshed out. I like this story so much my Geralt continues to wear/use all the exclusive gears from this expansion: the Venomous Viper Amour Set, the Ornate Robe & Boots and New Moon Trouser, and, of course the Iris steel sword.
I've also started the second/last expansion Blood and Wine, which is VERY important in that it unlocks the new mutation skill tree (Euphoria!!) and the exclusive Grandmaster Manticore Armour Set.
Which also means that I should have no problem killing the Wild Hunt now. My setup is only slightly OP -- like, I have not even used enchantment or high-level rune stones to boost my armour and sword stats -- but my "Alchemy" build does mean my Geralt has incredible combat and defence buffs: he heals as he attacks, and damages he dishes out are massive when his toxicity level reaches sky high.
So, onward with the game and I hope I get the "happy" ending in which Ciri becomes a Witcher. She would make a good empress I guess but his dad (Emperor Emhyr) is such a nasty piece of work I rather not leave her in his hands ... EWW...
