Video Game Tuesday: Eventide Journal Entry 01

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m doing something a little different. I’m chronicling my first attempt at what I’ve found to be the toughest “puzzle” in Breath of the Wild yet. It’s my Eventide Journal Entry 01!

Eventide?: There’s an island way off the eastern coast in Breath of the Wild and me being the curious type I decided to try getting there and seeing what it held, it’s called Eventide Island. I failed miserably trying to glide there and died to drowning in the ocean, but that was more due to a thunderstorm occuring and blowing me off course than it was due to me not trying hard enough or packing enough food to sustain my stamina gauge. I did forget to heal up though, so when I drowned it was game over for me.

So what next?: Well I decided that there was no way in hell I was going to wait out the storm and because the rain douses any fires you try to set to use the resting system to skip time, that option was out as well. Than I remembered I had a handy and reusable tool to freeze water into pillars, so I started skipping across the ocean from another island closer to the mainland. Well not really skipping, more like gliding for a few feet and grabbing hold of the pillar that was far away as possible to lengthen the space between each use of the Cryonis rune. Then I got attacked by some Lizalfos sporting of all things, lightning attributed weapons. That almost killed me, due to me losing my weapons from being shocked and standing on a bunch of water. Thankfully I quickly equipped a couple tree branches that I keep in case I need to throw something fragile to beat annoying enemies, and proceeded to do just that in order to buy me time to get out a wooden bow and equip some lightning attuned arrows of my own. Payback is a bitch, but it was pretty funny to watch them getting fried.

I finally reached the island and got onto it. Then I was really thrown for a loop when some text appeared from a shrine saying that I was relying on my equipment to do stuff and that I wasn’t resourceful enough. Next thing I know I’m completely naked with only my Sheikah Slate on an island full of really nasty enemies. The goal was to pick up three orbs and put them into three different platforms. So I quickly started to sneak around and proceed to grab an oar as a temporary weapon, along with a half dozen tree branches courtesy of me bombing the hell out of the beach’s treeline. I found one orb and tried getting it to the small island it was on just off the shore of Eventide. I had a bit of trouble until I remembered to use Cryonis to freeze the water under it to throw it onto the island.

Things were going pretty well, until I ran into one of the world bosses called Hinox that had an orb around it’s neck. I tried to sneak up and get onto it’s chest to grab the orb, but only woke it up. After dodging it swinging around a good dozen trees for about 10 minutes and me tossing bombs at it, I finally got the orb knocked off it somehow. So I dashed in, grabbed it and booked it for a part of the island I had cleared. I proceed to put the orb in another platform and start looking for the last one, coming across a hill with a ton of enemies on it. I clear it off and proceed to cook up some food for the last hill which I had guessed might have a ton of enemies on it.

Turns out I was completely correct and this had the worst pack of enemies yet, even the Hinox didn’t cause me too much problems as long as I kept away from it, it being fairly slow. Remember that storm that occurred and blew me off course? Well it hit again and this time I was in the middle of fighting a ton of nasty enemies with metal weapons that made my tree branches look pathetic in comparison. Thankfully the storm actually helped me out this time and struck a majority of them to death with a lightning bolt. I was pretty ecstatic and was glad to be almost done, right up until the sky started glowing red just as I had picked up the last orb.

Sky glowing red?: Yeah, for those unaware when the moon is full it glows a really nasty shade of crimson and it causes every single monster to respawn. EVERY MONSTER. The island that I had nearly cleared out? Not so clear anymore… I grabbed the orb and was trying to dislodge the stone covering it so I could place the stone in when they all respawned. Queue pandemonium and me running around throwing bombs again, and trying to live. The only problem was that the orb I had placed to keep safe ended up getting knocked down a hill by an enemy I had blown back. I caught up to it just as it was going over the edge into the ocean, and fumbled the controls. So I jumped down to get it out of the ocean like I had the first orb, 15 minutes later I was finally on land again with the orb. Except that I couldn’t get up the hill with the orb. I had absolutely no way up with it. After trying to wall run my way up the side of the hill, I ended up sliding down and dropping it onto the Hinox causing it wake up and grab the nearest tree. I had just started running away when it killed me.  Next thing I know I’m once again completely naked with no items at the same spot I started this stupid trial. That details my first time trying to clear it. I’ll write up my second attempt next week, hopefully it’s the last attempt. I’ve got some ideas to break the system in my favor to allow me to easily deal with this.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday? Do you like me writing this kind of post? Please comment below with your thoughts.

Retro Game Friday: Pikmin

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game I could’ve sworn I had already done before. It’s Pikmin!

Plot Synopsis:Captain Olimar, a tiny, one-inch tall humanoid extraterrestrial from the planet Hocotate is taking an intergalactic vacation in outer space. However, during his flight, a comet hits his spacecraft, the S.S. Dolphin, which is then pulled into the gravity field of an uncharted planet. Parts of the spaceship fall off as it plummets to the ground and crashes. When he regains consciousness, Olimar finds out that the planet’s atmosphere contains high levels of oxygen—an element deadly to his people—and he can stay on the planet for only thirty days before his life support system stops functioning. Olimar must retrieve many of the spaceship parts so he can rebuild his spaceship and return to Hocotate…

Plot: The plot is pretty basic, which is fine as the meat of the game was in the gameplay.

Gameplay: This game featured no direct combat, as Olimar was unable to combat enemies directly and instead had to direct Pikmin to attack his enemies by throwing them at the enemies. In addition you had until Sunset each day to grab parts before you returned to your ship. If you didn’t do so you’d lose all your Pikmin to the nightime predators. In addition you could only have 100 Pikmin fielded at a time and had to balance between the three types to achieve each day’s objectives.  You had 30 days to obtain 25 of 30 parts to get back to space.

Art: The art has aged poorly, but that isn’t unexpected being a 3D game.

Music: The music is very fitting for the series. Whimsical would be the word I’d use to best describe Pikmin’s music.

Overall: A good game, although gamers now may find it to be boring. For those who want action oriented gameplay, Pikmin will not be an ideal game.

For those who like: Puzzles, Time Limits, Strategy.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Lemmings

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a really old game. It’s Lemmings!

Plot: There wasn’t one, not really.

Gameplay: The goal is to guide at least a certain percentage of the green-haired, blue-robed lemmings from the entrance to the exit by clearing or creating a safe passage through the landscape for the lemmings to use. It was pretty fun, but it was also really fun to find ways to not only clear the levels but also kill any extra lemmings in new and interesting ways.

Music: Don’t remember it, sorry it’s been way too long.

Art: I don’t remember it very well, but it was pretty pixelated.

Overall: Might be fun to go back and play a remake.

For those who like: Puzzle Games.

Not for those who don’t like: Puzzle Games.

Retro Game Friday: Bomberman 64

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game I rather enjoyed as a kid. It’s Bomberman 64!

Plot Synopsis: In the game’s opening sequence, a peaceful-looking planet with gardens, rivers, and residential buildings abound is shown. Seconds later, the space pirate, Artemis, drops from the sky with a band of soldiers and orders them to raid the planet. Meanwhile, Altair (the leader of the space pirates), watches from the Black Fortress, using his coveted weapon, the Omni Cube, to completely drain the planet’s energy, condemning it to a zombie-like state.

Artemis returns to the Black Fortress to meet up with her partners, fellow pirates Orion and Regulus and her superior, Altair. Together, they set their sights on their next target: Planet Bomber, home of the protagonist, Bomberman.

Plot: The plot isn’t great, but that didn’t matter as the gameplay was quite good for the day.

Gameplay: The gameplay incorporated adventurer and platformer elements into the series and was pretty different from any other Bomberman game at the time. It was quite a lot of fun, even if the plot wasn’t that great.

Art: The art hasn’t aged well, it’s full of blocky polygons and while it looked good back then, it’s not that good looking now.

Music: Don’t remember it at all, sorry.

Overall: This was a pretty fun game, even if the story sucked.

For those who like: Action, Adventure, Puzzles, Bomberman Games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or terrible stories.