Super Mario Odyssey

Last Week’s Gaming February 25th, 2019

You know when you think it’s Tuesday, but the week has already gone?

Yep, no trying to make a joke from the game titles this week.  I looked up from lunch on Monday, and it was Friday.  It was one of those weeks.

So while I didn’t get to play much, what I did get to play was amazing!

Chronicles of Crime

So this one is a little bit of a cheat this week.  I was fully intending to play along on games night, but I stopped.

I was teaching Harls to play for the first time, and giving Alpal a recap as it had been a while.  As for most games like this, I taught the basics and let them play through the tutorial.

Watching them play, I realised just how much I remembered from my only playthrough of the tutorial, so I withdrew from the game.  Everyone else enjoyed which is what you really want, but I can’t wait for the next time we play so I can join in again 😀

Starting to hit retail stores, I can't wait to share more Chronicles of Crime with everyone!

Super Mario Odyssey

I was worried about picking up Super Mario Odyssey again, as it has been about a month since I picked it up.  And I had never played it in handheld mode.  But it was something to play while Rabbit and I were relaxing on the couch, and I figured worst case I just don’t save.

These concerns turned out to be unfounded.  I knew what I was doing objective wise, a quick perusal of the controls reminded me how to play, and I was collecting moons again within a few minutes.

I didn’t make too much headway, but I collected enough moons to leave the Luncheon Kingdom, but I will beat the bird boss first 🙂

To leave a game alone for a month and then almost clear a world is just what you want in a game like this

Kingdom Hearts 3

Well, I don’t know how much longer I will be including Kingdom Hearts 3 on the last week’s gaming news.  After 57:09 according to my save, I have attained the Platinum trophy 😀

For trophy hunters, the Platinum has been made easier in this version compared to the re-released 1.5 and 2.5 versions.  There is still a grind, but you no longer have to finish the game on proud mode for example.  You also don’t have to completely 100% everything about the game.  I have only completed about 75% of the gummi ship challenges for example.

One of the post game activities was completing recipes with Little Chef

But the story has been explored.  I have seen all of the endings, read all of the notes, and now the gameplay challenge is before me.  I will probably put that off though, as I need to do a Proud Mode run of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5.  I think for all three games, a single run through the entire numbered series on proud will be a suitable goodbye 🙂

What about you?  I hope you got some great games in.  Or are you looking forward to a new one?  Let me know!  Shout out on Facebook or @JohnHQLD me on Twitter!

Until tomorrow,

JohnHQLD

Last Week’s Gaming – January 28th, 2019

Welcome to Dragonvault!

It was a very quiet run for gaming this week.  Between work and getting other things ready, I didn’t get much gaming in.  There wasn’t even my normal games night this week!

The long weekend will help fix that though 🙂

Welcome To

A few rounds of Welcome To helped passed a bit of time 🙂

I know there is a way I can beat my best score of 101 – both Alpal and Rabbit have done it!  But I keep persevering – I will do it!

That is a big part of the reason I love Welcome To so much – even though the core of the game always remains the same, no two games are exactly alike.  And the challenge is so nicely weighted even with the luck factor of the deck it’s always great to give another go.

My first solo run through this week - and wow. That score hurt!

Dragonvault

Part of The Legends of Dsyx series and available at PnPArcade.com, Dragonvault is a simple one page Roll and Write adventure.

Similar in theme to games like Boss Monster and Dungeon Master, you play a dragon guarding their hoard from the annoying heroes.

Roll three dice, and decide to lay a trap or work towards upgrading more areas and magical traps.

Dragonvault wasn’t anything to set the world on fire, but it was a bit of fun and worth a look – especially for USD$3 and a single page printout!

Not a bad first game! I don't know what I was expecting, but a bit of fun.

Super Mario Odyssey

Not too much progress this week.  I finished the Sand Kingdom last week, and now I have finished the Snow Kingdom.

The bounce race was interesting, but playing it late at night before sleep I feel I could be getting better times.

Honestly, the Snow Kingdom has been my biggest let down for areas to date.  I am hoping the rest of the areas pick back up but it might be a week or two before I come back to Mario, between the next entry and Kingdom Hearts 3…

I finished this area last week, but the snow isn't really as fun to show off!

Resident Evil 2

So I finally got to start playing the full proper Resident Evil 2!  Just like my experiences with the 1 shot demo, so far everything I wanted in the remake has come true.

I have heard a lot of comments already about the darkness in the game.  Yes, it’s dark and you have a lot of trouble seeing in front of you.  But I am actually appreciating this more and more – it means I have to explore slowly and carefully.  This is how I had to play the original, trying to explore without triggering camera changes and the like!

If you are on the fence, play the demo – it’s available for a little while longer, and will help you make your decision one way or the other.

Had to go through a bit more to get here this time. No uniform yet either. Leon is slacking :p

What about you?  I hope you got more gaming in than I did!

Let me know!  Shout out on Facebook or @JohnHQLD me on Twitter!

Until tomorrow,

JohnHQLD

Last Week’s Gaming – January 21st, 2019

The Tramways guy Blurbled something about Conex to the Maximus?

It’s another week down, and another week of games played.  Not as many as I would have liked this week, but that happens sometimes 🙂

Slowly starting to work my way through the Video Game list of shame.  The same will be coming with Board Games in the next few weeks.  Organising all of this has been taking more time than I thought – but not enough to stop playing games completely!

Conex

I love playing games with Alpal.  While she will play a ‘serious’ board game once you teach her the rules, she knows what she likes to play.  This means she gets games that don’t even register for me, and Conex is once again an excellent example of this.

You have a hand of cards with different colours on it.  Some coloured sections have points.  If you can match that colour and white outline to a card on the board without touching another card, move that many squares on the scoreboard.

It’s ‘Mess – the game’ and it’s amazing.  Two players was fun, Four was fantastic!  This will be going in the ‘more please I want to review’ pile 🙂

What happens if you add a scoring system to making a mess? Conex!

Blurble

Blurble is one of those great quick party games where you play by the rules you want to.

In a nutshell, one player ‘challenges’ another player by flipping a card in front of them.  Each card has a picture, for the example let’s say Grasshopper.

The first player to say a word that starts with the same first letter of the illustration wins.  You can’t use proper nouns though, so if one player shouted ‘Graeme’ and the other ‘Ground’, the Ground player would win!

Simple yet challenging, and a game you can drop players in and out of at any time.  Safe bet as an addition to many libraries here.

We were having so much fun, I forgot to take a picture!

Gorus Maximus

As a general rule, I don’t like trick-taking games.  You may not know the term, but I bet you know a game like Hearts, 500 or Bridge – the backbone of the genre.

So it was with some surprise to some I backed Gorus Maximus, a ‘trick-taking game with funny art’.

A turn is over when everyone plays a card from their hand, and a round is over when their hand is completely played.  Highest score at the end of the round wins the round.  Win 3 rounds – win the game.

Gorus Maximum is very simple and very quick to play.  Pick your group for that last one though 😛

First player upgraded courtesy Alpal and her amazing minfig collection!

Tramways Engineer’s Workbook

An interesting little game is Tramways Engineer’s Workbook.

A better description to ‘game’ is puzzle book, with puzzles designed for 1 and 2 players.  You do not need to know anything about the Tramways game series to enjoy the Engineer’s Workbook, which was handy for me as I went in blind!

Solo play, you need to find optimal move solutions to reach a goal in a set number of turns.  I haven’t played with 2 players, but the puzzles change to a pickup and deliver style game – quite versatile really.

If you just look at the puzzle, you will be lost. But the rules of the Tramways series are slowly introduced in a fun yet challenging manner

All are done on dry erase sheets (don’t use the sheets proper – they mark!) making replay or regifting really easy with the book.

I only spent a bit of time doing the first couple of episodes, but enough interest was sparked to keep me going.  Expect to see more on this in a few weeks.

Resident Evil 2 – 1 Shot Demo

I finally got a chance to sit and play the 30-minute demo of the new Resident Evil 2 remake.

Short version – I really want to play this next week.  I already have my copy preordered at EB Games, and this will be a blast to try.

My only issue with the Friday release?  The following Tuesday Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out!

I will tell you more about my experience tomorrow, where the 1 shot demo gets a review 🙂

This was great. It was Resident Evil, no punches pulled. Looking forward to playing through the full game soon!

Super Mario Odyssey

You know that backlog of shame?  This is a big one for me.

On PAX Aus 2017 eve, when I was excited that I was going to PAX and Rabbit was coming the next night, I went out for a walk on the Melbourne City streets.  What I met was a midnight launch of Super Mario Odyssey, so I grabbed it.  After all, I had recently bought my Switch and what better way to start on a Mario game right?

I'm with Cappy on this one. Dancing for a Moon? Disgraceful! :p

I finally started getting into it this week.  I haven’t gone too far, I just finished the ‘boss’ of the Seaside Kingdom.  I have been spending time making sure I collect all of the purple coins – I will do a Moon run later.  It’s been a great way to unwind each night, so a review will probably be coming later – as long as Kingdom Hearts doesn’t get in the way!

What about you?  I hope you got some great games in.  Or are you looking forward to a new one?  Let me know!  Shout out on Facebook or @JohnHQLD me on Twitter!

Until tomorrow,

JohnHQLD