No Game New Year- Week 6

Hello everyone!

I apologize for the lack of a post last week, but I got busy and I figured this way my numbering is back on track (week 6 just finished).  It was a particularly exciting week for me, as I just achieved my first platinum trophy! (more on that in a moment).  First, on to this week's temptations.  Lightning Returns would have to be one game that I took a serious look at.  I'm currently knee deep in the Final Fantasy 13 universe, and as this is the sequel to 13-2 (which I just finished), it definitely peaked my interest.  I watched a couple minutes of tehmorag's stream of it, and it looked okay.  There are some pretty major changes to the 13 universe; they completely change the battle system, and I didn't even recognize the names of the places.  Also, the whole "Lightning is Jesus" thing turned me off quite a bit.  In the end I don't mind waiting for this game, especially since by the time I can buy it, there will most likely be a price drop.  Another temptation that is going to spring up is Mario Kart 8 for the WiiU.  I love the Mario Kart games and it's going to hurt to wait for this one, but I just keep telling myself there is a price drop coming if I wait.

I have to say that doing this challenge has made it easier for me to sit down and really complete games.  As I mentioned earlier, I just got my first platinum.  The fact that I can't have any new games really takes the pressure off to hurry up and finish the games so I can move on to the next one.  I also find it interesting which games I'm choosing to play; I tend to play games that I've played before, games I truly like I guess.  I've decided to really buckle down and start 100% the games I choose to play, so I'm being pickier about which ones I choose to sink my time into.  For instance, now that Final Fantasy 13-2 is platinumed, I'm going to start working on getting the platinum in Ni No Kuni (one of my favourite games).  I know this platinum is going to take well over 100 hours (I'm going to start a new game even though I've beaten it once), but I do love this game and I'm looking forward to giving it the time it deserves.

Final Fantasy 13-2

I finally got the platinum this week!  It wasn't that bad time wise, and there were only a couple of trophies/fragments that really made me want to pull my hair out.  (Warning, I'm going to talk about some of the trophies and fragments here, so if you don't want spoilers stop reading).  Personally the most time consuming things to do was completing the bestiary, the casino fragments/trophies and getting the trophy for 100 pre-emptive attacks in a row.  Having said that, even these trophies didn't take more than 4-5 hours.  The hardest fight in the game for me was the paradox scope fight where you only have Serah and a monster against Caius in the void beyond.  The internet really talked up the fight with Cauis where you only have Noel as being the hardest, however my Noel absolutely destroyed him (I didn't even switch paradigms once, just put him on commando and he ripped into him).  Having said that, because I prepared, my Noel had well over 1k strength by then (max crystarium+Odin weapon).  (I am actually still disappointed with how easy this fight was after all the warning about how hard it was going to be).

If you're looking for a game to start platinuming this is a good one, I'm well under 60 hours with it, and once you max out your crystarium, most of the fights become trivial.  I 5 starred most boss fights the first time I did them (paradox scope versions of course).  Another reason this is a good game to platinum is because you can't miss anything, you can always go back and find anything you missed.  I appreciate this as it lets you platinum the game on one playthrough, without worrying about using a guide your first time through the story.  I really prefer to just play the game through once, on my own, no help, then worry about going to guides for the 100%.  I do recommend using internet resources for some of the trophies such as the casino fragments and the bestiary, as they would be very difficult to do without some help from guides.  Also, save your sanity and use this for the clock puzzles, if you don't you'll be there for hours.  I hate the clock puzzles.

Thanks for reading everyone, talk to you next week!

 

No Game New Year- Week 5

Hello again everyone!
Welcome to week 5 of no game new year!  This week I had a temptation that I really had to resist.  I was watching Cobaltstreak play it, and man it looks good.  The game is called "Our Darker Purpose" and it's available on steam for $10.04.  I highly recommend it if you're not doing this challenge.  Our Darker Purpose plays a bit like Binding of Isaac but you're a girl in a school where all the teachers have disappeared.  The look of the game is quite dark and it really appealed to me.  Having said that, I added another ten bucks to the "games I didn't buy" pot, and I'm up to $40, not bad for one month.  I haven't been feeling very hot this week, so I didn't get any casting done, therefore no progress was made on UnEpic, however the big news is I finally finished Final Fantasy 13-2!  In the section below I'll talk more on my thoughts on the game.  Overall the challenge continues to go well, I'm really happy I decided to do it, so big thanks to SubstanceTV for thinking of it!

Final Fantasy 13-2
Well I finally finished this game!  Overall it was an okay game, but not a very good final fantasy.  There were a lot of points in the game where I was more annoyed than anything (if you've done the clock puzzles you know what I'm talking about).  I generally avoid walkthroughs like the plague on first playthroughs but there were some fragments I absolutely had to look online for (the game isn't 100% yet).  One thing I found odd was that for a lot of the fragments they don't give you any clue whatsoever as to where they are.  This means you just have to wander around the entire map staring at your screen hoping to see the distortion they make. This annoyed me.  I would rather they gave hints so I at least had an area where I was looking for them.  I said I would try to avoid spoilers on this blog so I won't go into details, but I really didn't like the ending, especially those three little words that appeared.  Shame on you Square.  On the positive side, Noel was a really great character, and I hope to see him again.  I have to admit however, I enjoyed the first 13 a lot more than this one.  The story just seemed unnecessarily convoluted, and although the game was very non linear, I could have used more main story.  Overall I'm really glad I grabbed this game while it was on sale (I think I only paid $15 for it), rather than paying the full $60, I would have been disappointed.

That's all for this week, thanks all for your support!

No Game New Year- Week 4

Hello again everyone!

Week number four is in the bag and it's been productive!  I'm only going to post about two games as those are the ones I've really made progress on.  I did have some temptation in the form of Valdis Story.  Valdis Story is an action Metroidvania that seems like it would be really great (was recommended to me by Nyskrte), I watched the promo video and it looks good!  I think this is one I'll pick up next year once I can buy games again.  Other than that I've been doing all right, I find myself switching games a lot, and having trouble sticking them out to finish them though, which is something I've always fought with.  The advantage I have this year though is normally when I got sick of a game I would head to steam and buy a new one, not now!  I think this has already saved me about $25, and we're only on week 4!  I also should mention I was gifted Starbound on Steam by ReginaldXIV, thanks a ton! I think I'll get into that once UnEpic is done, hopefully the character wipe is finished by then.  On to the updates!

Pokemon X

It was a really exciting week for me in Pokemon X, mostly because I now have TWO battle ready pokemon.  One which was given to me already bred to 5 IVs, a jellicent, and one which I bred myself, a marowak.  Both are already EV trained and have the items they need, they're ready to roll!  I'm especially proud of myself for the Marowak (whose name is Yumyum), because I was really struggling with breeding, I didn't quite get it, then I heard about the destiny knot, started using it and BAM, breeding gets easier.  I think I'll have a much easier time of breeding now, especially once I can get the natures and abilities I want on the pokemon (which seems to be more random at first).  Really looking forward to getting a whole team built and battle testing them.

                                           

                                           

UnEpic

I was also casting UnEpic this week.  Boy do I love this game!  It has all the aspects of a game that I'm looking for, humour, platforming, RPG elements, and a great soundtrack (and sounds!).  I also love playing as Kroom!!  It looks like I'm going to get a decent amount of playtime out of this game as well.  I'm only about 5 hours in, but I think the single player campaign is about 20 hours, and after that there is multiplayer (though it's still in beta).  If I have one complaint about the game, it's the targeting system. It often doesn't pick up on things I want to target (like dragon heads >.>), but this is a minor complaint as the system is only used for non straight magic and bow shots.  I highly recommend this game if you're not doing the challenge like I am.

Once again a huge thank you to SubstanceTV for thinking of this challenge and getting the facebook group going!  See you next week everyone!

No Game New Year- Week 3

Hello again everyone!

Well it's week 3 of the challenge and what a week it has been!  I have dived right back into the world of casting on twitch and had a blast!  The first game I beat on cast this year was Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.  I thought this was a really good choice since I just finished beating its sequel, A Link Between Worlds (LBW).  It was really interesting to observe the differences between the two games, but more on that later.  Since I spent most of my free time casting I didn't make a lot of progress on the other games I was working my way through, so this will be a short update.  Jacklifear was kind enough to donate UnEpic to me, so I was able to start that as well!

Pokemon X

I continued to work on my breeding this week.  Kisuke was kind enough to donate a bunch of 2IV dittos to me, so now breeding is a bit easier.  I can't wait until pokebank comes out though, I have some pokemon from Black and White 2 I really want to bring over. (Truth be told I'm tempted to start working my way through the rest of BW2 so I can bring even more over).  I also did some supertraining with my cubone.  I have to say that overall I think I prefer just battling to EV train my pokemon since I have pokerus available whenever I want (makes it so your pokemon train faster).  Overall a fairly productive week for pokemon!

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

As I said before, I dived back into casting this week, with this game being the one I chose to play first.  It was really interesting playing this having just finished LBW.  I could see how they reused a lot of the mechanics in LBW yet tweaked them to work better.  It's been a really long time since I played through this game and I have to say, its age does show at times.  A lot of the items you needed to progress in the game were never hinted at at all, and if chat hadn't been there I don't know how I would have found them.  (Playing through on my own I may have been willing to wander aimlessly for a while, but I don't like doing that when I'm casting).  I have no idea how I figured out how to beat this game as a kid haha.  Anyway, despite it's flaws, particularly Ganon's Tower, I still really enjoyed playing through this game again, and overall it does age well.

UnEpic

I wanted this game from the moment I saw Zeke play it.  Then Julia and Jacklifear made it ever more awesome by making it so I can play as KROOM!! (A character Zeke made up during his Legend of Grimrock cast).  However, due to the no new game challenge, I couldn't buy it.  Thankfully, Jack took pity on my soul and donated it, so I have now began playing it on cast.  Thus far it has not disappointed!  I am playing as Kroom, key and all!  Huge props to Julia, Jack and Fran (the developer) for making such a great game.  If you aren't doing the no new game challenge I highly recommend buying it, it's only $8.  You will not be disappointed.

Well that's all for this week, here's the link to my games completed spreadsheet if you're interested, and I'll talk to you guys next week!

No Game New Year- Week 2

Hello again everyone!

Well it's week number 2 of my no game new year, and let me say, this one has been a challenge!  I've been watching Zeke play UnEpic and I want it so bad!  Not only is it a great puzzle/platformer/RPG but you can play as Zeke and KROOM! (for the uninitiated Kroom is a character Zeke made up during his playthrough of Legend of Grimrock).  This has been my first real test, and so far so good, but the temptation has been huge.  I've started giving myself a monetary incentive to help with this challenge as well.  Every time I would have bought a game if I wasn't doing this challenge, I'm putting the money into a separate bank account and seeing how much I have at the end of the year.  I've heard of smokers doing this to help with quitting smoking, and although I'm sure I won't come up with that much cash, I bet I'll come up with a hefty sum.  So far there's $16 in the pot (UnEpic plus Link to the Past on the Virtual Console).  I've also added a category to my spreadsheet for where in each game I am, so you guys have a better idea of my progress.  That being said, here's this weeks game progress!

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

This is the game where I made the most progress this week, mainly because I completed the main story!  This makes LBW my first game completed in 2014, and wow, what a great game to kick it off.  This game had pretty much everything a LoZ fan could want.  If you even kind of liked the original SNES version I highly recommend picking this game up.  I have now started a hero mode playthrough where I hope to pick up a lot of the the things I missed (I can tell from watching other streams/open spaces in inventory).  From the little bit I've played I can already tell this hero mode runthrough is going to be no joke, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Pokemon X

Even though I finished this game last year, I'm still playing it a ton.  I finished flushing out most of my friend safaris and now just have to go and check out the safaris when I get a new friend.  So far still no dittos :(.  I  now spend most of my time breeding.  So far the best Snorlax I've come up with is a 3IV snorlax, with my biggest barrier being a lack of females.  I'm not sure if this is bad luck or if there is just a low ratio of females with Snorlaxes.  In order to keep myself motivated I began breeding Cubone's (or Marowaks) and so far I have a 4IV cubone with the nature and ability I want, so I should have my 5 or 6 IV one done soon and can start EV training. (I also need to get him a thick club but I have the steal ability so I'm hoping it won't be too bad)  I'm so excited to have my first battle ready pokemon!

Final Fantasy 13-2

I didn't get as much done on Final Fantasy as I would have liked, but I'm hoping to spend the majority of this weekend playing it and hope to make significant progress.  Right now I just finished Academia 200 AF, which is the zone you go to after Academia 300 AF (the most annoying zone thus far).  I'm finding the story a little easier to follow this time (I got almost to the end in my first playthrough), which is nice because I remember in my first playthrough I was completely confused about what was going on.  The story is still quite convoluted but I think I at least understand what's going on this time.  I'm also paying more attention to how I evolve my monsters, and they feel much more powerful this time around.  Overall I'm really enjoying my time with this game.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I started playing this game this week.  Before this, I had only played about 30 minutes. I'm not sure why I kept dropping it but I'm having a really good time.  I haven't had much time to play it this week, and my computer struggles with it a little, but it's still a good time.  My character is a mage/archer hybrid (I believe I picked "monk" as a class).  Whenever possible I pick archer/ranger as a class in video games, but it's nice to have magic as a backup.  I haven't gotten very far at all, I'm just on my way to Weynon Priory (and knowing me I'll get distracted plenty along the way), however I'm not looking to beat this game quickly; I want to explore and just enjoy the world as it is.

Thanks again everyone for your support in this endeavour, talk to you next week!

No Game New Year- Week 1

Hey Everyone and Happy New Year!

With the new year upon us, resolutions abound!  Many people make resolutions such as losing weight, eating better, or to stop reading the comments, but none of these really appealed to me.  So what did I decide was my resolution this year?  No buying any new games for one year, and I even have a support group for it.  No Game New Year is a group on Facebook started by Substance TV, (it's all his idea, I am but a mere participant) and it is very simple; go the entire year without buying a single new game!  I can still accept gifts and gift cards, but I cannot buy a game for myself.  For more details here's a video from the great SubstanceTV himself.  Since I cannot buy any new games, I must amuse myself with games I already own (which I assure you, are plenty, my steam library alone boasts around 200 games, some of which have never even been installed).  The plan is that every week I will post an update here about what games I'm playing and the progress I've made in each.  I've also created a google doc spreadsheet so I can keep track of what games I actually get done (or maybe even 100%) this year.  This will help keep me motivated as I do so love filling in forms such as this.  Feel free to keep track of my progress using the link above as well!  If you like to join in on the fun by all means join the facebook group.  So without further ado, here are the games I am currently playing and what I am up to in them.  I will try to keep the updates as spoiler free as possible, but I will by neccesity have to mention story locations at the minimum.

Final Fantasy 13-2

I picked up this game last year sometime when it was on sale for PSN+ members.  I got fairly far into it, but then something happened and I dropped it and never got back to it.  As someone who really didn't mind the first Final Fantasy 13, I find this game not quite as appealing story wise thus far, however I find the combat to be improved (I really like the "pokemon" mechanic).  I am not very far in, with Sunleth Waterscape 300AF being the most recent main story area I've finished.  I have however been working on a couple of side areas.  One of the things that is much improved in this game over the first is the fact that it is very non linear, which I enjoy.     

Pokemon X

As you can see by my completion spreadsheet, I technically finished this game a few weeks ago, however Pokemon is one of those games where finishing the main story is just the beginning!  Right now I've been working on breeding a competitive team and flushing out what my friends have in their friend safaris. (Check out my contact info for my 3DS friend code (be sure to send me a message somehow with your code so I can add you), I still have plenty of room for others that play Pokemon, especially if you have a ditto safari).  The main roadblock for me right now is the fact I don't have a friend with a ditto in their safari, which makes breeding difficult.  If I could get my hands on some 2IV dittos I'd be in great shape, otherwise it's going to be a long road.  I have also started working on getting my pokedex completed.  I'm basically going through each region by number and catching the pokemon I missed.  This is the first pokemon game I've played and I am having an absolute blast with it, there's just so much to do!  I have one person to thank for getting me into pokemon and that is RiptidePow.  He casts pokemon everyday, and does a lot of team building and viewer battles, so if you like pokemon you should definitely check him out.

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

I can sum up this game with one word.  Nostalgia.  This LoZ entry takes place in the same world as the SNES game, and so it is very familiar to many of us.  I quite literally got nerd shivers when I heard the overworld theme play, it is so good.  I am really far into this game; I believe I only have one dungeon left, and I have admittedly been stalling on finishing it as I just didn't want the game to end.  I have now found out there is a "hero" mode which lets you replay the game in a harder mode, this will probably allow me to finish the game.  Link Between Worlds (LBW) is a bit different as far as how you obtain Link's tools.  In previous LoZ games you would go through each dungeon in order, obtaining the item needed to finish the puzzles within.  In LBW you buy all necessary items from a shopkeep "Ravio" before heading to your dungeon of choice.  This makes LBW very non linear, as you can do the dungeons in any order you please.  The one catch to Ravio's shop is that for most of the game you are only renting the items, so should you die, you will have to pony up the dough again.  This means that money plays a much larger role in this game than the others, and I even found myself having to farm for rupees a few times.  Overall however, this is a fantastic game, and I will most likely finish it this week.  

That's it for this week, thanks for your support in this endeavour, it's gonna be a toughie!

Why I'm no longer an admin

Hey guys,

Sunday was a very sad day for me, and one that I've honestly seen coming for quite some time.  Today I handed in my admin badge.  First let me start by saying, I became an admin for one reason, and one reason only, to help the community.  I honestly couldn't care less what happens to twitch as a company, I love twitch because of the people that use the service and make up the community.  This was my SOLE reason for accepting the position.  I was hoping that I was going to be able to make a difference, help communicate your wants and needs, and use the position to make positive changes, changes which YOU would want.  I can see this is not going to happen.  

Admins volunteer their time, they are not paid, and frankly, they get nothing for the hours and hours they put in (for some of the more active admins, they put in just as much time if not more as a full time job).  I would have been perfectly fine with this, had I felt that I was able to actually make a difference for you, the community, and sadly, I am not.    

I of course can't go into any details about what finally made me decide to turn in my badge, but suffice it to say that there have been numerous decisions made by twitch, including policies, and changes made in general which I have disagreed with.  I also have disagreed with the direction I feel the company is headed as a whole.  I feel like everyday twitch is more and more a "corporation" in every sense of the word.  I feel they no longer put the customer first, and is quickly falling to all the pitfalls becoming a corporation has.  

As an admin I felt I was also unable to fully voice when I disagreed with the company in that I wasn't able to engage in discussions with you about what and how I disagreed with the decisions.  Although I had access to staff, I almost always felt my comments fell on deaf ears, which was the most frustrating part for me.

I don't want you to think this means I hate twitch, or twitch doesn't deserve your support.  I do still love twitch and am thankful for all the friends I have met through it.  I am also thankful for having the opportunity to be admin while I did.  This is less an emotional parting for me and more a difference of opinion on the priorities of twitch.  Having said that, I have the luxury of not worrying about the bottom line, while twitch doesn't, it has a building full of great employees to feed.

To my fellow admins, I wish you the best of luck, you guys have a shit job and you handle it with a level of professionalism that is unrivaled.  It just got to the point where it just wasn't worth it anymore.  In the end that is the real reason I quit.  It just. wasn't. worth it anymore.  I wasn't able to do what I set out to do, I wasn't able to improve the experience for the community, and like I said, that's why I became an admin. 

To Horror, you and I may have our disagreements, but twitch would be lost without you.  You work 7 days a week, from dawn till dusk (and sometimes beyond).  I have no idea what they're paying you, but it's not enough.

So for now it's back to being regular ol' viewer Chatia, but don't worry, there's still plenty of rooms where I can wield my banhammer ;).

Love you guys,

Chatia

Chatia RETURNS!! Plus my thoughts on OBS, plus the BOI League

Hey guys,

I know my casts have been non existent lately, mostly due to some fairly significant family/other IRL issues.  Work has also been crazy lately, leaving me with little energy to start up a cast at the end of the day.  However, I am looking to change that!  As evidenced by tonight, there will be some interruptions still as family issues have to take precedence, but I've made it a goal to get a cast going most nights.  I really miss you guys and I want to get back into it.

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)

I did a practice cast with OBS and I have to say I'm really impressed with it.  Keep in mind, it's still in alpha or beta, and there's still plenty left to work on.  For just straight up casting of PC games, I find OBS far superior to xsplit with regards to CPU usage.  As I haven't looked at my actual CPU usage numbers, this is a very subjective (and unscientific) opinion.  I am basing this off the fact that the computer I was casting with can barely handle most PC games, let alone cast them, yet I was able to cast Lego Batman 2 with no difficulties (Sonic Generations sadly proved too stronk, however I only have the required specs for that game, not recommended). I do plan on trying some other beefy games with OBS such as Batman Arkham City and Darksiders.  If I am able to cast these games with relatively little difficulty there will be no question in my mind that OBS is the superior PC casting platform.

Now, having said that, I haven't tried a webcam or greenscreen. Some people, most notable Neohart, indicated to me that there are some sync issues with a web camera; once I test that I will pass the results along.  From what I understand the capture card integration is also still lacking, so you will have to wait if you want to cast your consoles.  Overall I'm really impressed with OBS and as they add more features it is only going to get better.  The interface is very intuitive, and if you are familiar with xsplit it will take you no time to figure out OBS.  Lets not forget the best feature of all.. IT'S FREE!!

Download OBS here

Crumps2, a great caster on twitch (who you should follow) has done a really great tutorial on how to use OBS, you can view it here

The Binding of Isaac Racing League

As some of you know, I have also joined the Binding of Isaac racing league.  Basically once a week I race another Twitch caster to Mom's heart, best 2 out of 3 wins.  This past week I raced Awaken_Smoke and got my butt handed to me, mostly because both of us kept getting bad luck and dying!  It took forever for us to get our first Mom kill.  This next week I believe I face CyanideEpic, but we need to work out when the race will be taking place, so stay tuned to my twitter for more info.

My participation in the league is for fun only, I'm up against people who have platinumed Isaac, where I haven't even killed Isaac yet, so my chances or winning are slim.  Having said that, it's Isaac, and anything can happen!

Go here to see the standings and schedule!

Big thanks to Crumps2 for setting all of this up!

When to cast..

Hey guys,
      I know it's been FOREVER since I've done a blog post, but I feel like this one is too long for a tweet.  I've been wanting to get back into regularly scheduled casting again, but I'm having trouble deciding a time.  Evenings are nice as I get back from work and can start up, and I can generally go as long as I want.  The problem with this however, is that there are a TON of other casters that cast at this time, some of which I love watching myself.  I'm not hesitating because I think these other casters will be "mad" I'm casting when they are, it's more me.  I want to watch these casts as well, not to mention, I have a noticeable viewer drop (30-50%ish) once the big casters come on (MAN, Day9 etc).  Although I'm not "in it" for the numbers, it's always nice to see the cast grow, and I'd like to have a timeslot that allows my cast a chance to really start to pick up some steam.
      I've also debated casting early in the morning, these casts would start about 7 am EST and go till about 10 am EST.  The problem with these casts are they are before work, so I'm incredibly limited as to how long I can go.  The upside is there aren't many casters casting at that time.  Also, I have to get my ass out of bed xD. 
     I would love to cast in the early afternoons (starting like 3pm EST) but sadly I work and thats not a viable option.  I've also debated starting at like.. 2 am or something, the only problem with this is I'd have to pretty much switch my sleeping schedule completely (it would be like I'm working a night shift) and I'm not sure I want to do that either.  I'm leaning toward the evening casts, but I'm definitely looking for input. 
     Oh, and yes, in the end I'll just "cast when I want", but I'm looking for input as I'm really having trouble coming to a decision.  I just want to find a comfortable casting time for everyone, I'd really like to get the channel going and I'd really like to start growing viewership again! 
     Chatia
     

Could it be... a blog post?

Hey guys!

I've really been wanting to get my blog up and running again, so here's me giving the whole thing another go!  I think as well as continuing to post reviews and what not on the site, I'll keep you guys up to date on things I'm doing with life in general.  Some of you may find this interesting, some of you will probably find it the most boring thing you've ever read xD.

I have changed up my casting style a little bit.  I've decided that I'm basically just going to start streaming whatever I would be playing offcast.  Although this might mean that I might not get to some games for a while (I'm sorry Monster Rancher and Psychonauts, we'll get there!), it means a lot more of me casting in general.  I think the best example of this is Final Fantasy 13.  Ever since I started playing it, I've been streaming a lot more, which I find awesome and I hope you do too! 

Speaking of Final Fantasy 13, I have to say I really enjoy the game.  I have beaten it off cast, and spent quite a bit of time in the post game.  I believe my personal file has around 55 hours of gameplay.  I know there are a lot of people out there that hate on it, and at one time I would have agreed with their gripes, however once you get to Chapter 11, the game really does open up and become really interesting (and more like a Final Fantasy game).  

I've always enjoyed the combat system in Final Fantasy 13, which is what kept me coming back all this time.  A lot of people don't like the combat system, saying "it's auto pilot" or "just spam A", however, I would bet that these people only played a few hours in, and, to be fair, they are completely right about that in the first few hours.  There are very few possible paradigms, and the game is VERY slow to ramp up. You don't even start to get the complete combat system until about Chapter 7-8 (where I am on cast now).  However, once you get access to the complete combat system, the game becomes much more strategic, having to choose which paradigms to have active (you can only have 6 at a time) and when to switch paradigms.  There are many fights later in the game where if you are not in the correct paradigm (or at least have the proper job present) it's a wipe.  Once the game ramps up it is truly an enjoyable experience, and I look forward to sharing it all with you soon... also.. Snow's a douche. 

The big thing that's happening with me this week is the conference in Whistler.  I leave Wednesday and return Sunday,  so there won't be any of me casting, however Beef has suggested that there may, MAY be a Beef cast or two happening while I'm gone, so I'm trusting you all to keep an eye on him for me :p.  The conference I'm going to is the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology's (CSBMCB) 55th meeting, focusing on epigenomics and genomic stability.  I'm really excited to go as this is exactly what my field of study is, so it will be really neat to get to meet with all the experts in my field.  These conferences are great networking opportunities, and you never know when a great collaboration might start!  Also, I've never been to Whistler, and they put us up at a swanky hotel (Aava Whistler) so it should be good times all around.

Sometime this week I really want to get a blog post out regarding my feelings on the Mass Effect Day 1 DLC.  I've gotten some flack from people suggesting I'm just mad because I feel entitled and blah blah blah. I assure you, the reason I don't like Day 1 DLC has nothing to do with entitlement, or the actual substance of the Day one DLC (be it good or bad).  The reason I don't like Day 1 DLC is because I believe it's bad business practice and bad for the video game industry in general.  I believe it warrants a blog post as twitter just can't do a topic like this justice.

That's all for now guys, see you on cast!

Magic Mondays!!

Hi guys!
I alluded during the cast that Mondays were going to be special, and boy are they!  Starting next Monday (February 20th), Mondays become Magic Mondays!  This is your opportunity to join me in some friendly games of Magic the Gathering!

The first week we will be playing the steam version (Duels of the Plainswalker), just to see how much interest there is, and because it's easier to set up.  The week after that we will be playing MTG online OR (if I can get it working) we will try the mod that Horror recommended.  I welcome your input in this of course.

For next Monday, if there's just a few people interested, I will do 1v1 matches, however, if lots are interested we will do the 4 player matches (free for all or archenemy).  Basically I'll open a game and the first X people to send me a message on steam will get to play!  I think this will be a lot of fun.

If we do end up playing MTGO, I'm not sure how it will work yet, as I only have starter cards, but I'll worry about it after I see how well next Monday goes.  Lets all work together to make Magic Mondays super fun everyone <3
Chatia

Review: Bayonetta

A sexy witch kicking angel ass while attempting to save the world! Sounds great, but does it pan out, and more importantly, did I enjoy the game?  Let's find out.

First of all, what is Bayonetta? Wikipedia defines it as "a hack and slash action game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 developed by Platinum Games in cooperation with publisher Sega. Set in a fictional city in Europe, the game centers on its title character, Bayonetta, who uses pistols and magical attacks to defeat enemies"

To me, although accurate, this description does not do the game justice.  This game is a stunningly orgasmic ride through 14 chapters of hack and slash heaven.  The controls are responsive and fast; rarely did I feel Bayonetta was not doing what I wanted her to.  Combine this with a great combo system, and I'm in heaven.    

I'll be the first to admit, the story in Bayonetta is lacking.  There's plot holes you could drive a bus through, and it really doesn't make much sense as a whole.  However, the thing about this game is that the gameplay is so FUN you don't even care about the story (and this coming from someone who loves RPGs).  In fact, that is a great way to sum up this game.. FUN.

Show me another game where you have pole dancing to 1950s awesome music.. this game ROCKS!

The combat is definitely the most satisfying part of this game.  Not only are the controls fantastic, but the way combat works is just wonderful.  By hitting bosses, and not getting hit yourself, you gain magic, when you have enough magic, you are able to perform a torture attack, dealing massive damage.  Also, once you have completed a boss you get a "climax" attack, where Bayonetta summons a monster to eat the boss while you mash buttons for ultimate rewards!

There is also a really nice upgrade system in Bayonetta.  As you kill enemies they drop "halos" (they look like Sonic's rings), which you can use to upgrade techniques, weapons, items, accesories or (what I did) COSTUMES!!!!

With difficulty settings from "very easy" to "infinite climax" this game can appeal to both the casual gamer and the hardcore.  I did my first playthrough on normal, and it was a good difficulty to learn the game.  When I casted the game I did it on hard, and though it posed a challenge, I didn't hit a super hard "wall" (other than the prologue.. damn that triple torture attack level).  I do plan on going back and doing a playthrough on infinite climax, Bayonetta is just that fun.

Now I can already hear people saying "but Chatia, I thought you didn't like scantily clad female protagonists.. I thought that was sexist".  Bayonetta is the epitimy of the strong female.  She wears skimpy clothes and acts sexy because SHE wants to, not to impress males.  There is no need for Bayonetta to be saved by the male lead here, and the one time she does need a rescue, it's a female that does it.  To me, this game is a great portrayal of females, simply because the power rests with Bayonetta, not the male characters around her.  Bayonetta kicks ass, chews bubble gum AND looks good doing it, a great female character.

Overall I truly enjoyed this game, it is pure fun wrapped in a fun package and coated with more fun! Wanna know how much fun? This much!

Bayonetta has become one of my favourite games, and I can't wait to get back into it and 100% it!  Bayonetta gets 5 scantily clad witches out of 5! GO PICK IT UP NAO!

Chatia Learns Starcraft 2: Day One

Hi guys!
So for those who don't know, this is a new project I'm taking on.  Basically I started playing Starcraft 2 about a month ago, and I love it!  It's the first RTS I've ever gotten into, so I'm a complete nub.  I instantly fell in love with the Protoss race for a myriad of reasons, and so I play them exclusively.  I've been learning, and I wanted a way to track my progress as I dive farther and farther and (hopefully) get better at this really fun game.  The idea is, I'll cast my games, then provide highlights of certain games, along with some points on what I did well or not so well.  This helps me, as I get to analyze what I need to improve on.  I hope this might also provide some entertainment for you guys, and maybe some help (especially if you're a complete noob like me!)  Now, on to the first day.

Monday Oct. 17, 2011
Rank: 15 Bronze League

Today I'm going to post 2 games, one win, one loss.

First the loss:
 Early rush loss

Okay, so basically this is an early rush, there are a couple things I could have done to survive this rush.  I've listed these options in the order of best case--> worst case solutions as I see them

1) Sentries.  Sentries have the ability to make force fields.  If I had a couple sentries out, I could have completely blocked off my ramp, allowing me time to build more units, and destroy his little army.

2) Better micro.  Stalkers outrun zealots, and zealots are melee units while stalkers are ranged.  If I could stutter step better I could have kept my stalkers out of the range of the zealots while pewpewing them down.

3) Better scouting.  If I had seen what he was doing, it's possible that I could have had better units waiting (this sort of flows into #1).

3) Engage with my probes.  This is something that I am TERRIBLE about.  I always have the tendency to try and save my probes and run them away.  Later in the game, when the units are tougher, this is the way to go, but in the beginning, against a couple zealots, the probes can actually be a huge help, and could have served as a way to block off the zealots from my stalkers, providing my stalkers time to pewpew the zealots down.  I would have lost a lot of probes, but I would have survived the attack.  Usually when people send units that early, they are pulling probes (not making as many probes as they could be), so it's quite possible that if I had survived the attack I could have been even or ahead economically.

Okay, now that we've gone over a loss, here's a win.

Win against terran part 1
Win against Terran part 2
(two parts cause twitch split the archive in the middle of the game)

To me, there were three key points in this game that led me to the win.

1) I outmacroed him.  I gathered more resources and created more units.  If you do this in most games, you will win!  It seems simple, but getting to a point where you have a decently macroed game is tough.  My macro wasn't actually that great this game (you will hear me constantly complaining about how many minerals I'm floating), but it was better than his.

2) Scouting.  I scout him early, and can see what he's up to.  Therefore, I stick with my favourite build against Terrans (heavy robo units).  If I had seen a starport with a tech lab for instance, I would have known banshees were coming, as it was I saw he was going marine/tank (a very common Terran build).  Immortals absolutely melt Terran tanks, combine that with upgrades and you can see his army basically disintegrates under mine.  (Again I could afford upgrades and those units due to better macroing).

3) Denial of a 2nd base.  Because of my scouting, I was able to see when the Terran was going to take a second and destroy it.  This is important as it keeps me economically ahead of him.  Now, he could have very easily countered this by simply taking a different location as his 2nd base, but more often that not (especially in bronze league) people are obsessed with taking their natural as their 2nd base, and this guy paid for it.

That's all for this edition of Chatia Learns SC2, I hope you'll join me next time!  If you have any comments, please feel free to post them below!

 

Some updated information!

Hi guys!

I know it's been forever since I've made a blog post, and I apologize for that, most of you know how hectic things have been for me lately, I just haven't had time to update!

There have been some major changes happening, with the major one being that Solidbeef and I will now both be casting at my channel.  We figured it's a great way to get both of us more views, and frankly use the channel more!  As I've said before if you really hate one of us, and don't want to watch, we will put the name of who is casting in the title, so you know what you're getting before you come in :P.  Beef will be casting mostly during the day, where my casts will be evenings/weekends.  Also, I really want to try and up the frequency of my casts, I know I haven't been casting much (again busy!) but I want to pick it up.

I want to take this time to remind you all of the Binding of Isaac race that is taking place shortly.  So far I have 7 people signed up, this means that ideally this coming weekend there would be two prelim races, with the top two in each race proceeding on to the final on Oct.29.  I have to confirm this with the racers yet, so this isn't a for sure thing.  Also, MANvsGAME has offered his skills as a commentator again, so I'm sure the finals will be a blast! Fingers crossed developers show up!

I've also been floating some ideas for the blog, some of which I'm sure you guys may not like so much.  One is following my journey as a newbie SC2 player.  (I would make it a different section of the blog so those of you that have a complete aversion to the game wouldn't have to see it).  I think it would be really cool for me to be able to track my progress as I (hopefully) get better at the game.  This would mean more SC2 casts, but they wouldn't replace the normal casts, they would just be extra, ninja casts.  I know a lot of you don't like SC2 purely on principle, but I find it really exciting to watch and play, and I want to start incorporating it more (I've kinda been hiding it for fear of backlash).  This would also give me a place to comment on stuff I find cool and exciting about the game without interfering with this section of the blog. (Such as Huk, a Canadian Protoss being the first Non-Korean to win MLG since Koreans started competing).

So let me know what you think!

Cheers 

Chatia

What I REALLY Thought of Demon's Souls

Hi everyone!

Unfortunately, I haven't had time this week to put together a Follow Friday, but I still wanted to get an article out; since I seem to be getting asked all the time about what my opinion on Demon'sSouls was, I thought this would make a good topic for a post. Warning: this post contains a lot of MAN in it, simply because he's the reason I'm even aware this game exists.

So... What is Demon's Souls?  According to Wikipedia (the source of all truth on the internet *snicker*) Demon Soul's is "an action role-playing game video game developed primarily by From Software (with assistance from SCE Japan Studio) exclusively for the PlayStation 3. It was released in Japan on February 5, 2009 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment."  It has received much praise for it's dark fantasy style art, and challenging gameplay.  Hordes of gamers (including one close to my heart) salivate at the very mention of this game, drooling over the prospect of once again diving into the world of Bolitaria and bringing peace back to this troubled world.  So.. where's the controversy?

Do you think MAN's a little excited to be playing Demon's Souls again?

First, some history.  MANvsGAME LOVES Demon's Souls, if he could, he would have Demon's Souls' babies I'm sure.. which leads me to some very awkward imagery... ANYWAY, MAN plays Demon's Souls a lot, and it was through his channel that I was introduced to Demon's Souls.  I have to admit, I've never been impressed.  I found the environments dull, uninteresting and lifeless.  The gameplay seemed okay, very challenging of course, but just okay.  There really didn't seem to be much of a story either.  It wasn't until I started voicing these opinions in MAN's chat that I came to realize just how LOVED this game is.. I didn't get it. 

So begins the controversy; back and forth MAN and I go about the game.. and always MAN's comeback was "how can you talk badly about a game you've never played?"  Well, you all know how much I hate to lose an argument (especially to MAN), so what did I do? I bought the damn game!  Now some of you are thinking.. why would she buy a game she was sure she wouldn't like?  I bought the game for a couple reasons: 1) I trust MAN's taste, he knows his games, and in general I agree with him about most games (JRPGs excluded, but that's for another post, and 2) I wanted to give myself as MUCH incentive as possible to like the game, so I could say for sure that I wasn't hating it just to win the argument.. so what was the verdict?

All in all, I found the game to be a below average action RPG, or, as I've been saying in chat "Meh at best".  I understand that the game developers were making a world that is basically dead, where the souls have been stripped of it, however, I didn't really get an eerie feeling.. I just found it BORING.  Never in my life have I seen a game with all of three colours on the palette.. brown, grey and brown-grey.  The environments which COULD have given more diversity, are shrouded in darkness, so that you can only see a couple feet in front of you, thus totally deadening everything.  Also, I find the armour to be incredibly boring, it is possible to have realistic armour without it being completely dull and unimaginative.  

The game that I compare Demon's Souls to most is Oblivion, as they both have the sort of realistic-esque worlds.. lets take a look at a visual comparison of the two..

Gee.. hmm.. which one do I wanna play.. I mean.. Demon's Souls could have come out on the original Game Boy as far as colour palette choices!

Okay, enough about environments.. what about gameplay?  Quite frankly, the game is incredibly unbalanced.  As MAN laments constantly, the only way to be a melee character is to wear no/light armour and roll like a mofo.  He attempted to play the game as a heavy armour wielding knight, and it's just too hard.  Also, magic is INCREDIBLY powerful, and can take the game from very hard, to hard difficulty.  Overall the mechanics are alright, and once you get past the learning curve, the combat is satisfying.  I found the enemies to be quite repetitive, especially since you are going to be running through the same levels again and again and again.  

The story in Demon's Souls is very basic, you are a hero, you are there to save Boletaria.  That's about as in depth as the story gets in game, apparently there is a lot of literature to be found outside the game, but I want the story in the game, not to have to go read a book!

All in all, Demon's Souls is meh, I pop it in every now and then to give it a go, but I still don't get the intense love of it. The only thing that distinguishes it at all is the difficulty level.  It is a hard game.  For those of you that are thinking "well that's why she doesn't like it, its too hard for her", I LOVE Super Meatboy, difficulty doesn't scare me, the reason I don't like it is that this game gives me NO reason to keep playing it to overcome the difficulty. I'm really glad I didn't pay more than $20 for this game, and frankly, it's on the "to trade in" pile of my games.  I really believe a lot of people are jumping on the "it's cool to love difficult games so this game is the best ever cause it's hard" bandwagon, and I'm sorry, but to people who say it's better than Dragon Age or Mass Effect.. I say "you should be committed".  I admit, I don't get it guys, but everyone is entitled to their opinions...

I don't get why people like it either MAN.

Flame shields are to max, come at me!

BTW if you DO like Demon's Souls, I have two channels to recommend to you, of course the wonderful MANvsGAME, but also Benderofx.  Bender does challenge runs of Demon's Souls, such as "crossbow only" and whatnot.

(This post dedicated to Boomzies, GQ and Duffmana)

Some of my Favourite VGM cover singers: Kate Covington

Hello again all!

So today's post is a little different, I want to share with you one of my favourite artists out there.  Her name is Kate Covington.  Kate performs covers of various vgms (usually Final Fantasy's), writing and singing lyrics.  She performs all the instrumentation herself, and I just love her voice and style so much!  I will put links to my favourite songs done by her, but really, they are all good.  She also puts together the videos herself as well, she's just super talented, check her out!

This is my all time favourite cover of hers, enjoy! (It's from Xenogears)

Here's another on of my favourites (and my all time favourite video game song, from FFIX)

Kate Covington also is in charge of the "world's only online choir".  ( I put it in brackets because I haven't independantly verified this).  They don't tend to sing video game music, but their videos's are still video game based.  This is my favourite song from them, scarbourough fair.

So there you go, check out Kate Covington, she really is great I think!!

Follow Friday Featuring Jhnny Crwsh!

Hello everyone!

I know its been a couple weeks since I've done a follow Friday (blame the PS3), so I wanted to pick a great caster for my return! I'm actually very disappointed in myself for not profiling jhnnycrwsh before this! He is an amazing caster, and deserves WAY more followers than he has.  He plays both games you know and love (such as Mass Effect (Titty Shepard LOL), as well as some you may not be familiar with (Nimbus).  He's a genuinely great guy, and just super funny to watch.  I think its an absolute TRAVESTY that jhnny only has 400 followers, this wonderful guy should have WAY more than 9000! (c wut I did thar?)

Jhnny is a really funny guy, but probably what he is best known for is having chest hair.. which naturally grows into the shape of a Batman symbol.. and thus BATCHEST was born.

Jhnny is also known for having great reactions to stuff he does in game, which is one of the reasons he's super fun to watch.  Here he finally finishes a super trolly level in Super Meatboy, love dat reaction.

One more Jhnny highlight here of Jhnny's reaction to the end of Eversion, love it!

jhnnycrwsh is a great caster and a great person, so follow this wonderfully disenvoweled caster today for maximum fun!!!

Review: Alice Madness Returns

Welcome to a world of complete insanity.  Alice Madness Returns is a game which takes the well known story of Alice in Wonderland and turns it on its head.  In this sequel to American McGee's Alice, Alice is competely insane, and Wonderland is her mind.  Now Wonderland is being destroyed and Alice must recover her memories and piece together the mystery of the fire that killed her family.

First of all, this game was AMAZING.  I loved just about everything about it.  This game would have been my game of the year if Portal 2 (and most probably Skyrim) hadn't come out this year.  The atmosphere of Alice is what really sold me on the game. Every chapter has a different theme, from a colourful forest, to under the sea, to the Queen of Hearts Castle.  Complimenting these level themes are Alice's dresses.  Besides Alice's grey dress in England and the standard Alice in Wonderland blue dress, this game has Alice in bevy of beautiful dresses, which match the chapter's theme perfectly.

I also enjoyed the gameplay in Alice.  It is a 3D platformer, with plenty of puzzles to solve and enemies to kill along the way.  The level design is phenomenal and the immersion complete.  Although some people complained about invisible walls, I found that they were in logical places and it really didn't bother me at all.  I also found the combat incredibly satisfying.  For those that watched me do this playthrough, you know that "CHATIA SMASH" was one of my most common sayings.  Alice is given 4 weapons with which to deal death and destruction in Wonderland, the knife, a hobby horse, a teapot and a pepper grinder.  Each can be leveled up by collecting teeth (yes teeth).  The hobby horse was my personal favourite and was how I smashed things ^^.  The enemies in this game are also incredibly creepy and fit the worlds they inhabit perfectly!  Overall the design in this game was great!

Yup, stripping homicidal dolls naked and then killing them.. thats Alice!

All of your favourite Alice in Wonderland characters are present, though perhaps not as you would have imagined them (especially if your only experience with this franchise is Disney).  The Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, and my personal favourite, the Cheshire Cat are all here, and wanting to help (or hurt) Alice.  Also present is the well known "eat me" and "drink me" premises, with Alice shrinking being a key mechanic of the game.  I would include the highlight of me stomping on enemies after eating something labelled "eat me" but unfortunately TTV won't let me get to any of my highlights right now.. so check out my videos for that (I'll link it as soon as I am able).  I really cannot express how much this game messes with your mind.  Especially later on, the lines between reality and Wonderland totally blur, creating a sense of truly being lost, insane and confused, just like Alice.  One level in particular, the insane asylum, really creeped me out and had me very freaked. 

Overall this is a fantastic game and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves platforming or just a creepy game.

I give Alice: Madness Returns 5 naked homicidal dolls out of 5.

Review: Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

It's well known that I'm a lover of the Metroid franchise.  Samus is one of my favourite video game characters, and is near and dear to my heart.  Does Metroid Prime 2 live up to my expectations of the Metroid franchise? Read on!

The game starts as Samus is respoding to a distress signal from an unknown planet.  Her ship is damaged in the landing, so she begins to search for the people that sent the distress signal while her ship auto repairs.. and thus the adventure begins.

The first thing I noticed about this game is the atmosphere.  You land in a creepy cavern, with vines hanging from the roof, its dark and kinda eerie.  Then undead soldiers start coming alive, and it just feels so right.  The great atmosphere continues throughout the game as you explore the Agon Wastes, the Bog, and the Tower (can't remember the real names, sorry).  Another twist that this game has is that there is a light world and a dark world to each area.  The light world acts just like areas in Prime did, but in the dark world, the atmosphere damages Samus, and so it is necessary to stay in light "bubbles" in order to stay alive.  I've heard some people say they don't like this mechanic, but personally I didn't mind it.  The bubbles were close enough together that it wasn't inconvenient to use them.  With one exception: the boost ball guardian.  This is a tough fight, and you have to do it with no light bubbles, which makes it even tougher.  I would argue that this is the toughest boss in the game by far!  Here's a Youtube link as my cast of this part has unfortunately been deleted ><.

Another difference in this game from normal Metroid games is the amount of usage the morph ball gets.  In most Metroid games the morph ball is just one more tool Samus uses to get through small areas, but in Prime 2, the morph ball is used for platforming and boss fights.  I thought this was really great, as I enjoy the morph ball a lot, so it was nice to finally get to use it (see the final boss fight, phase 2 for an example).  I enjoyed the ammo system in this game as well, the light and dark beams were a nice change from the normal Ice beam, wave beam etc.

I also enjoyed the boss fights in this game a lot more than Metroid Prime 1.  I found a lot of the bosses in Prime 1 to be very gimmicky.  However in Prime 2 the bosses require you to use all the tools available to you at the time, and often have very interesting mechanics (for instance Quadraxis which uses spider ball, sound visor and all your ammo)

Here's the vid of me defeating the final boss, it showcases some of the different mechanics in the game (note, I have a suit that stops me from taking damage in the dark world)

Overall I truly enjoyed this game, and would definitely rate it above Prime 1.  This was one of my favourite Metroids, I would rate it second only to Super Metroid.  Thanks a lot to Drakeonk for donating it, I had a blast!

Rating- 4 spider ball boosts out of 5

Follow Friday Featuring Guns Are Toys!

Hello again everyone, it's Friday so once more it's time for Follow Friday, this time featuring Guns Are Toys (Guns).

Guns has been an active member of my community for some time, and I've been really happy to have him in my chats.  Guns has a great sense of humour and has a lot of fun whether he's in a chat or playing the games himself.  One of the things I like about Guns' casts is that he plays games a lot of other people don't play.  Guns loves Magic, and has casted himself play Magic on multiple occasions.  Other games which he has played include Killing Floor, Oblivion and Magicka.  Lately Guns has been playing through Monster Hunter Tri (A game I am completely unfamiliar with).  He's been having a tough time getting some viewers in his room, and I really believe it's because people just don't know about him! I highly recommend him if you're looking for a caster that doesn't just play the games everyone else is.   His cast looks and sounds great, and there's no reason y'all shouldn't be watching him, especially if you're into the Magic.

Here's a highlight of Guns' playthrough of Oblivion, where he enjoys a random glitch ^^

So please give Guns_are_toys a follow, expand your gaming horizons people!