Justin Pyfrom's Blog, page 32

The Bane of Gaming…You Know What I’m Talking About

Name: Knights of Valour

Platform: PS4

Style: Beat ’em Up

Publisher(s): International Games System

Developer(s): Perfect World Games

Release Date: November 18, 2017

Date of Completion: September 30, 2018

This is a classic example of how microtransaction is not only unnecessary but, ultimately and sadly, destroys a potentially good game. Knights of Valour could have been a fantastic game if the developers weren’t so fucking greedy. To avoid going on a raging rant (not really my thing), allow me to be brief about what made this game “the best of the worst”.

Knights of Valour had a pretty standard story with a pretty standard formula of storytelling revolving around popular Chinese folklore, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: “defeat the henchmen of the Yan Emperor to keep an ancient evil from destroying the world”. Interesting enough, the playable characters you could find in the Dynasty Warrior franchise as pointed out by my cousin. The world and levels can be played and replayed as there’s a lot to explore in one level. Each character had their own complete movelist and combo listing making them approachable to all play style. With the added bonus of being multiplayer – both locally and online – this game looked to be fabulously fantastic. That is where the positive ends…

You only get two characters in the beginning and you work really REALLY hard to get the other characters. Not progression-wise, which I would have been okay with, but service-wise. For example, to unlock one character, you have to play the game for 21 days. Seems like an easy task but the game it doesn’t take long to beat the game and there’s not a lot of content outside of the storyline to keep you play for at the time frame. So, if a gaymer of little patience doesn’t want to do it one way…what other way is going to be presented to them You guessed it…microtransactions…bloody microtransaction.

Let me give you the full list of where the micro transaction was applied to this game:

Character Unlocking
Character Growth (Abilities, mostly)
Weapon Growth (wasn’t needed but still)
Money
Armor Growth (wasn’t needed but still)
Extra Life (Although lucky, you have to worry about that too since they are restored every thirty minutes of inactivity)

The list goes on and, while you don’t have to indulge in them (I sure as hell didn’t), I still stand by my original argument: it shouldn’t be in the first place. I firmly believe that microtransactions shouldn’t in video games as it’s exploitative and lazy in my eyes. It’s a gateway to unethical practices in the industry such as releasing incomplete games. Besides, it’s a reversal in process. Let the gamers play the game and decide from themselves if they want to continue THEN add more content for sale. I don’t mind buying DLC for a loved game but don’t put me in an ultimatum. You will lose every time.

I guess it where a mixed review comes into play but the story was great, the character (that I could play as) was great but the microtransactions just created a disconnect for me so I’m going to give it a 7 out of 10. Maybe a 6.

My Favorite Nonsensical Fighting Game

Name: Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-

Platform: Varies (I played it on the PS4)

Style: Fighting

Publisher(s): Arc System Works & Team Red

Developer(s):Arc System Works

Release Date: June 7, 2016

Date of Completion: August 12, 2018

Ever played a game that always asked yourself “What the hell was the game about?” or “Is there a clear story to this?” Well, that’s what happens EVERY time I played BlazBlue and, more recently, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, the most recent installment to the Guilty Gear series. Of course, as you could imagine, I have zero clues on what the story is about but that’s okay (sort of) because it has a lot of things to offer outside of it.

One of the great things about Guilty Gear franchise is that it doesn’t follow the traditional rules of the fighting game genre. This ranges from the character layout being wacky and over-the-top in fighting style to even the little details like its announcer yelling “Heaven or Hell, Duel 1, Let’s Rock!!”

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Speaking of characters, the designers took their time in creating memorable characters that draw in different types of play styles. As stated before, each character is over-the-top and zany in either appearance, personality, fighting style or all of the above (usually all of the above). My favorite is Bedman, a hyper-intelligent killer for the “government”. He reminds me of myself in many ways. His intellect (way more than me, I admit) and not a stranger to throwing the subtle amount of shade(something my friends and family can attest to). Furthermore, he is a VERY fast talker and I have been known to express my thoughts and ideas in rapid-fire succession. Plus, his dialogues are so fucking funny and quotable.

Of course, the storyline is where this game is lacking for me but it’s a personal problem because I would imagine that I need to play the game from the very beginning to get a better understanding. I won’t say that the story is bad but I will say that it’s vast and intricate. It can be a good thing for a game but it can also be a bad thing when it spans many games. It’s because of this that I’m going to give this wonderful game a 9 out of 10.

Only Four Games Left In A Collection

Name: 1941, Twinklestar Sprites, Captain Commando & Mega Twins from the Capcom Classics Collection

Platform: Varies (Played it on the PlayStation 2)

Style: Compilation

Publisher(s): Capcom

Developer(s): Digital Eclipse Software

Release Date: November 14, 2006

Date of Completion: July 14, 2018

While I was working at Origins Game Fair (an amazing tabletop convention), I could only play cooperative or very VERY short games because I had to make sure that everybody’s safe and enjoying themselves. So, when I got a chance, I stand down and play some of the games that were on the Capcom Classics Collection. As you would imagine, it’s a game that has a wide collection of popular games that Capcom created. I beat a few of them but only four of them was for the first time.

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Twinklestar Sprites was disgusting adorable. As a puzzle game, it was sweet and bubbly and a lot of fun to play. It kinda reminded me of Bust-A-Move ’99. However, it was when I was playing that I realized that the game wasn’t really meant for adults. But I already started playing and I don’t like leaving games unfinished. It didn’t take long, either. About an hour and a half or so. It was short, sweet (literally) and to the point with a very simple story (saving the world from an evil. I’ll give it an 8 out of 10 for its cuteness.

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Next, I played 1941, a shoot ’em up. Again, a short game that took me about forty-five minutes. It would have been shorter but I’m not the best when it comes down to shooters. For the life of me, I can’t focus on the storyline, if it even had one, when it comes down to shoot ’em up because I just want to shoot things up. This game gets a 9 out of 10 because it was soooo much fun.

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After that, I took a stab at Mega Twin, the only game with a story that I could remember. Basically, it’s a cooperative game in which “twin sons of the king must take up the challenge and return their kingdom to its former glory”. The usual goes into a side-scrolling quest such as power-ups. The graphics were really cool and vast and the story was interesting to say the less. All and all, I would give this game an 8 out of 10 because of the very VERY short story; it only took me about an hour to complete.

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Finally, I played my favorite one from the collection, Captain Commando. Funny enough, I use to have Captain Commando on rotation when playing the 2000 Capcom crossover fighting game, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, with Hayato and Storm as my main two fighters. The story and villain was a bit tongue-in-cheek in its presentation which was pretty refreshing. That’s why I give it a 9 out of 10.

Reading For a Friend But Not For Me

Get Rich(er) Sleeping – Investing 101 by Jaspreet Singh

Full Disclosure: This is going to be the shortest review to date because this will be the first time I’m coming across a topic I don’t really care about.

Clearly, Jaspreet knows his stuff when it comes down to investing and can condense it to a 30-page book. But, to put it simply, I couldn’t get into it. Investing isn’t really my thing. I don’t like the idea of investing in stocks or real estate so reading about it proved to be a challenge for me. But my friend gave me the book and I didn’t want to be rude.

Quickest read of my life and I couldn’t even enjoy it…but if it interests you, go for it.

Grade: C-

If you want to purchase the book, you can do so at this link: https://bit.ly/2C8RAkm

And, if you want to view the author’s page(s), they are listed as followed:

http://www.jaspreetsinghauthor.com/

 

Ready For The Holiday?

This will be a really short blog post. Why?

Well, since I’ve been writing blogs posts (gaming & book reviews) every day for a good spell (two weeks or so), I don’t have a whole lot to say for this week. Furthermore, I’m working on the details of a 2019 project as we speak revolving around a common denominator with me. I don’t want to talk about it, right now, but I will once everything is ironed out on a preliminary level.

Not this week, though. This week is about spending time with my family and mates. Be sure to do the same, okay? “All work and no play will make you a dull person.” haha

Be safe and be blessed!!!

Please, don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads) which are on the right side of my web page. Also, I do love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2018.

A Hero of Time (Travel)

A Question of Will by Alex Albrinck

As stated at the beginning of my blogs, bio, and almost every social media platform, I love science fiction. The genre is so vast and diverse in its approaches to a rather boring school subject (yes, I’m not that fond of science and, yes, I can see the irony). But one of the topics that science can’t seem to get a solid grasp on happens to be one of my favorite topics: time travel. And, the Aliomenti Saga series explore this topic in a conventional way.

I’ve read the first installment, A Question of Will, thanks to bookbub.com (check out the link) and instantly fell in love with the protagonist and his storyline. Of course, it was a little too fast pace and confusing but, if you hang in there, the story does not disappoint and does something doubly amazing: ties up loose ends before opening up new paths. You look confused…I was, too, but it slowly started to make sense as I continue to read.

See, the main protagonist, Will Stark, is targeted by a group who deems him the strongest among them and a traitor. One problem…he doesn’t know anything about this and was almost killed for it. It was only when he was rescued when things started to make sense. Take the case of mistaken identity and mix it with conspiracy theory, muddled training of newfound abilities and, if I’m being honest, the most disorganized rescue mission I’ve ever read. I mean, seriously, I’ve never read a mission before where the protagonist cocked up every corner of the book; it was actually refreshing as it had a bit of a naivete to it.

The story ends with things starting to come together as the team who trained him are familiar faces, the man of legend has more in common with him than he originally preserved and the evil group ended creating more problems than they care to admit thus reacting in kind. This series was so funny and fascinating to me. Think about it for a second…all of this would have been avoiding if the antagonists got the right person on the first go. But, they’re going to get the right person this time around because, now, events have been set in motion.

I bought the first three books of the series (there’s seven of them) and it will read with great enthusiasm because this is a keeper. Nothing was really wrong with the novel because it was funny and action packed with the “Ah ha!” moment coming at the end. This right here…is a masterpiece. Mr. Alex Albrinck, you have another fan in me.

Grade: A+

If you want to purchase the book, you can do so at this link: https://amzn.to/2BdGcSh

And, if you want to view the author’s page(s), they are listed as followed:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6538397.Alex_Albrinck

http://www.alexalbrinck.com/

Christmas Gives Second Chances

All I Want by Stella Starling

Christmas has a funny sort of magic that even the most spoiled of human beings are susceptible to. Vulnerability and openness are commonly explored around such a holiday in a book and this little beauty is no exception. All I Want is a lovely book by a beautiful woman that is clearly an LGBTQ+ ally or member.

The story takes place in Chicago which centers around two of the main characters Ashby “Ash” Bennett and Elliott Gaffney, the latter being the delinquent son of a billionaire and the latter, an employee of the company. Their first meet and greet were through a Santa outfit at the department store’s “North Pole” for the youth. I mean, Ashby was only doing this as penance for a lewd sex scandal but it’s admirable.

Here’s the main thing that I love about this story is the slow transformation for Ashby and Elliott. You can quite literally see how Ashby is changing from a spoiled playboy who only wants to shag his interest to actually courting and romancing him. But you imagine that it would difference to date a man while Ashby tries to hide true identity to avoid scaring off the already shy Elliott. He also began to learn about his “friends and family” and what they really think about of him.

What’s interesting about this story is that there’s no clear villain. There are scrooges and mean-hearted characters but that’s it. No character trying to break them up. No character trying to bring up the past (well, his father but he stopped after his son stood up to him.) Just a clean love story with a lovely ending.

Overall, the story follows a very familiar formula and it works beautifully. I do miss stories with a nice villain but this is an interesting change in pace.

Grade: A

If you want to purchase the book, you can do so at this link:

https://amzn.to/2zVgeTN

And, if you want to view the author’s page(s), they are listed as followed:

http://stellastarling.com/

The Power of Three Will Set Us Free

Charmed Season 9 & 10 series by Zenescope Comics

In 1998, I was bewitched at a really young age by a marvelous fantasy drama called Charmed. Well, technically, I started to watch Charmed in high school. The show was bold for its time as the leading characters consisted of women and the first primetime television show about a coven of witches. Plus, as a kid, it was also really cool to see how duty and responsibility can really have a toll on a person. It gave me something to think about as I was raised by a multitude of feminists. So, you imagine how heartbroken I was when it ended and ecstatic that it was revived as a comic book series.

[image error]Now, only two comic seasons were created but it was amazing, nonetheless. Season 9 started, well, where season 8 left off. The Charmed Ones are just out and about leaving their lives until a woman started to create havoc in the shadow. Without giving too much away, this villainess would fall under the category of sympathetic because, if I’m being honest, I would have done the exact same thing – in the exact same way. However, the aftermath of her rampage left room for much more dangerous, yet relatable, villain. This caused everybody – and I do mean EVERYBODY (you’ll see) – to spring into action as the world is tossed on its head.

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Season 9 helps to shed some light on what when an individual is pushed too far because of unfairness and destiny. But Season 10 amped the action but bring back what fans would consider the First Evil…although they go by a completely different name. It also goes into the theme of family and legacy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like the tenth season as much as the ninth. I felt that ninth was more action with a much more memorable villain with depth to them. Season 10 doesn’t really have a villain in my eyes…just an ancient nuisance that giving more of a spotlight to a long lost character.

All and all, I love the comic series and considering giving Buffy: The Vampire Slayer & Angel comic series.

Grade: A (Season 9) & B- (Season 10)

If you want to purchase the comic series, you can do so at this link: https://shop.zenescope.com/collections/charmed

My Research Taken In A Strange Direction

Conversational Hypnosis: A Manual of Indirect Suggestion by Carol Sommer

Have you ever noticed in a salesman’s job that they know how to meticulous when speaking? It’s like they’re choosing words very carefully for the most desirable outcome. What about therapists? If you spoke to a therapist, you may notice that they are really good at putting their patients in a state of calm, or complacently. Even better, have you ever read a book and can’t seem to put it down. There’s a reason for that and pretty interesting as it can be summed up to two words: conversational hypnosis.

Conversational hypnosis, or covert hypnosis, even funnier, sleight of mouth, is defined as “an attempt to communicate with another person’s unconscious mind without informing the subject that they will be hypnotized. The objective is to change the person’s behavior subconsciously so that the target believes that they changed their mind of their own volition.” Now think about that for a second and recall what I called in the beginning. Salesman. Therapist. Writer. You would think that one of these professions who would utilize such a technique but…

A scholar explained to me that, that contrary to popular belief, hypnosis, at its core, means to bypass the subject’s logic and reason to complete a single task. He demonstrated this by using my ADHD (my hyper-awareness to details and surroundings) to his advantage to make me hyper-focus on a single task. I chuckled because I didn’t realize that everybody was susceptible to such a thing. But the scholar made it clear that EVERYBODY is susceptible to it, just requires a different approach.

That being said, a salesman, like therapists, is meant to do the exact same thing but in a different format. They choose their words more carefully and avoid using particular words. That, in combination to neuro-linguistic programming, if they know how, makes them very good at convincing people to buy their product or service. Same for writing. If you know how to place your words carefully, you will be able to keep an audience of any subject you’re writing about.

This book took me for a ride…a very VERY intriguing ride that was also confusing, at first. The purpose of this book was to make a very powerful villain for my space opera series that was great with his words more than his powers. One of my friends suggests this book along with another one (neuro-linguistic programming) that I haven’t gotten around to read, yet. Still, this book is going to be read again because it would be interesting to see which would apply to me outside the realm of writing.

Grade: A-

If you want to purchase the book, you can do so at this link:

https://amzn.to/2SKVGEN

And, if you want to view the author’s page(s), they are listed as followed:

http://www.sommersolutions.com/Index.html

Game Design & Theory 101

Game Design: Principles, Practice, and Techniques – The Ultimate Guide for the Aspiring Game Designer by Jim Thompson, Barnaby Berbank-Green & Nic Cusworth

There’s a common misconception about Game Designers: they don’t just make the game and go on about their business. They are usually taking the lead behind the director and producer of the project. Because of this, they are doing the brute of the writing and planning for the game before everybody else have to do their part…can you say programmers? ha ha! Also, people don’t seem to understand what being a game designer actually entails. THAT’S the purpose of this book.

The book is actually what it is. It’s an introduction to the what a game designer has to contribute a game project. From terminology to duties, this book tells aspiring designer EXACTLY what to expect  when going on this career path. Not only that, the reader also learn what goes into creating a GDD (Game Design Document aka Got Damn Document) and all of its department (spoiler alert, there’s a lot of them).

They also inform the readers what the other departments of the game team has to do and what the designer has to do, in conjunction. For example, audio has to work with the game designer to make sure the music and sound effects are to the specification of the document. It’s safe to say that the role and responsibilities of a game designer overlaps with other members of the team, making it one of the high energy, mind-pressuring job in the industry.

Anybody wants to be a game designer…or, at least, have thoughts of it, needs to read this book for two reasons. (1) To make sure that it’s the career path you want to pursue and (2) to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. Read this book BEFORE going to college. For me, I know how to design a game without flinching because that’s what I went to school for. However, my true gift is writing a story for a game and I wish I knew that before going to college.

Grade: A

If you want to purchase the book, you can do so at this link: https://amzn.to/2EpHQo0

And, if you want to view the author’s page(s), they are listed as followed:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2515251.Jim_Thompson

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/144231.Barnaby_Berbank_Green

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/144232.Nic_Cusworth