Video Game Tuesday: Patch Notes

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m back with a topic many gamers should read a heck of a lot more often. It’s all about Patch Notes!

Patch Notes?: Patch Notes are notes of any and all changes that occur when a game is updated. These are most of the time fairly boring reads, especially in the bug sections, but nevertheless such things are really worth reading. Especially the bug portions, because it might just help you avoid getting a game breaking bug, or getting corrupted save files and losing all your progress in a game.

All of your progress, really?: Yeah, really. In MMOs it’s especially worth reading any and all Known Bug sections of Patch Notes before playing. The ideal time to do so? While your game is updating. In fact it’s also worth having your phone or tablet’s web browser open to any community sites, be that a fan site like Blizzard Watch for Blizzard games or a really active subreddit like the Final Fantasy XIV subreddit. This should be done during any major patch, and especially during Expansion launches. They’ll put up things like PSA’s about what not to do. For instance in FFXIV’s latest expansion Stormblood, there was a particularly nasty bug with the first Primal fight players experience in the expansion at level 63.

If you entered the instance and were sitting or doing any emote at all prior to entering you would be kicked from your character and be unable to log in to that character at all once you finished the instance. This was particularly bad, and was just one of the many issues that were occuring during Stormblood’s launch. There were also congestion issues and server issues that were occurring due to DDoS attacks on the FFXIV servers, and later on to the actual ISPs themselves.

Okay so back to Patch Notes, they are not all boring. Some games actually have a ton of fun with their patch notes, and it’s just a fun thing to be reading when you are bored. Crusader Kings II is one game whose Patch Notes are genuinely hilarious almost all the time. Like this little jewel “-No longer possible for AI to plot to assassinate self (unless they are a lunatic).” Brilliant, and it’s actually relevant!

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday. Are the any particular Patch Notes that you remember just being absolutely hilarious? Feel free to share them below!

Video Game Tuesday: E3 2017 Reactions

 

Hey all I’m back with my thoughts on this years Electronic Entertainment Expo! It’s my E3 2017 Reactions!

Nintendo: Holy crap they announced a new Metroid Prime and a remake of Metroid II! Not only that, but they announced a couple of DLCs for Zelda: Breath of the Wild and gave us a release date for Super Mario Odyssey. Honestly I’m just happy at the fact that new Metroid games are coming out, but everyone should take this with a grain of salt. The last Metroid game to be released was Other M and we all know how terrible of a game that was.

Sony: Nothing really major, but they are definitely doubling down on the PlayStation VR. They also told us that God of War’s next game is set to release in Early 2018. Not only that, but they showed off what might become the best Spider-Man game ever released. I’m actually excited to play that, and we’ve had official confirmation that we won’t be chasing balloons!

Microsoft: They formally announced Project Scorpio’s details, and gave it’s final name, Xbox One X. Frankly they should have just kept Xbox Scorpio, it’s not as ridiculous a name. You’d think they’d have learnt from Nintendo’s mistake with the WiiU.  Crackdown 3 is finally getting released though, so there’s that to look forward to.

Ubisoft: Showed off the now officially confirmed Assassin’s Creed: Origins that takes place in Egypt. I got burned badly by Unity so I’ll probably skip Origins unless I get a review copy. They also showed more of Far Cry 5, and announced Skulls and Bones, which takes AC4: Black Flag’s ship combat system and makes it a standalone game. As I actually enjoyed the ship battles in Black Flag, I might be interested in playing, but I also enjoyed going over and taking down the enemy crew after ramming them.

EA: More sports games of course, Star Wars Battlefront II (DICE) and a new IP from the people behind Mass Effect, Anthem that is pretty much Destiny. If you’ve read my past columns on Destiny you might be able to guess at how thrilled I am by the prospect of another “Destiny”. /run EndSarcasm.exe

Bethesda: Skyrim for the Switch, boring. Wolfenstein II is a real game and is releasing on October 27th though, so maybe Bethesda didn’t just go for obvious cash grabs for the year.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.

Retro Game Friday: Spirit Tracks

Hey all I’m back with the “sequel” to The Phantom Hourglass for this week’s Retro Game Friday! It’s The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks!

Plot Synopsis:

Spirit Tracks takes place one hundred years after the events of both The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. The game is set in the land of New Hyrule, a new kingdom founded by Tetra, some point after the events of Phantom Hourglass. An incarnation of the protagonist Link, an engineering apprentice ready to become a qualified train engineer, travels to Hyrule Castle to receive his engineer’s certificate from current incarnation of Princess Zelda (Tetra’s granddaughter/descendant). Although Zelda’s adviser, Chancellor Cole, believes the ceremony is pointless, as the Spirit Tracks that make up the train systems around Hyrule are slowly disappearing, Zelda continues with the ceremony.

Plot: The plot is okay, pretty decent, but frankly the gameplay wasn’t quite as good as the previous game.

Characters: The characters were good for the most part. Not super duper amazing though.

Gameplay: It played a lot like Phantom Hourglass, but the Train system wasn’t as good as the sailing system used in Phantom Hourglass. Frankly the dungeon design was also fairly frustrating as well, with the puzzles in the Tower being frustratingly difficult at times.  At least that’s how it was for me, granted that I hate touch screen controls, I just didn’t like using them all that much. Give me a standard control scheme over gimmicky ones and I’d be fine with the level of difficulty.

Art: It’s aged poorly. But that’s 3D artwork for you.

Music: Classic Zelda, nothing more need be said.

Overall: If given the ability to play with a normal control scheme this game would’ve been much better, but otherwise this wasn’t the best Zelda game I’ve ever played.

For those who like: Trains, Action, Adventure, Zelda Games, Decent Plot, Okay Gameplay, Good Music.

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

Retro Game Friday: Minish Cap

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with another game in the Zelda series! It’s The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap!

Plot Synopsis: The quest begins when Link is chosen by the king of Hyrule to seek the help of the Picori after Vaati had destroyed the Picori Blade and petrified Princess Zelda. With the blade shattered, evil monsters were released into Hyrule and Vaati was able to create chaos in his search for the Light Force. Link was chosen because only children can see the Picori.

Plot: The plot was pretty decent for a Zelda game, and since this was another entry in the Four Swords series it was incredibly fun. It wasn’t as serious as games like Final Fantasy or Tales of, but it was still a fun story.

Gameplay: This played like any of the 2D Zelda games, which is to say it was an excellent game.

Art: Thankfully for this game it used 2D graphics only and thus has stood the test of time much better than 3D counterparts.

Music: Pure Zelda, that’s all that need be said.

Overall: If you’ve never played Minish Cap you ought to, it’s a fun adventure that can last you a good 30 hours if you take your time.

For those who like: Zelda Games, Action, Adventure, Excellent Gameplay, Awesome Artwork.

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

Retro Game Friday: Link’s Awakening

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering one of the first Zelda games I ever played! It’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening!

Plot Synopsis:After the events of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, the hero Link travels abroad to train for further threats. A storm destroys his boat at sea, and he washes ashore on Koholint Island, where he is taken to the house of Tarin and his daughter Marin. She is fascinated by Link and the outside world, and tells Link wistfully that, if she were a seagull, she would leave and travel across the sea. After Link recovers his sword, a mysterious owl tells him that he must wake the Wind Fish, Koholint’s guardian, in order to return home.

Plot: This is one of the few Zelda games that doesn’t take place in Hyrule at all, with Oracle of Ages, Seasons and Majora’s Mask being the ones I can remember off the top of my head. The plot is pretty great as well.

Characters: Marin is the best character and I love her, but there were plenty of other Nintendo series cameos including Goombas and Chomps. It was a fairly odd game. Oh and the Shopkeeper was awesome as well.

Gameplay: The game plays like a lot of other 2D Zelda games, with the player being able to assign items to the A and B buttons and using them to solve various puzzles. This is also one of the only entries in the game where you could actually steal something from the item shop, although doing so would instantly change your name to THIEF.

Art: It’s aged pretty well, and it was revolutionary at the time, especially since it was made for a handheld console.

Music: Pure Zelda.

Overall: If you’ve never played the game, you really need to.

For those who like: Zelda Games, Action, Adventure, Puzzles, Great Gameplay, Fantastic Story, Awesome Characters.

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