Cardfight Vanguard!!: Back in the game??

Helloooooo everyone! Just a short post for today. So I just went to my local cardshop to play a few games with my Kagero deck, if you haven't seen it, check out my deck profile here. Sadly, because I went there pretty early, there wasn't many people playing Vanguard, and in the end I couldn't get to play any games (sadface). But oh well, maybe I will drop by next week at a later timing.

But I am the type of person who tends to spend money if I see what I like, which in short just means impulse buying. Haha. So I got some Kai Sleeves, they look AWESOME, let me show you guys:

Kai Sleevessssssss! Pardon the many 's's. Hehe.

These are for my Kagero Dauntless Drive Dragon deck. Sadly I didn't get to use them. But there's always next time! Also, I recently found Cruel Dragon, the RRR from the newest EB09, very cool. Its' effect is really interesting, its' a superior riding Grade 3, like Ezel but much better. Just because its' a Dragon and its' from Kagero. But for those of you who don't know what it does, this is the breakdown of his skills:

 Cruel Dragon

 [AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your opponent's grade 2 or less rear-guards, and retire it.
[ACT](Hand):[Reveal this card & Choose your grade 2 or greater «Kagerō» vanguard, and [Rest] it] If you put an opponent's rear-guard into the drop zone during the main phase of that turn, ride this unit as [Stand], and choose your vanguard, and that unit gets [Power]-3000 until end of turn.
[CONT](VC/RC): Lord (If you have a unit without a same clan as this unit, this unit cannot attack)

 The picture above may be slightly off-center, but basically that it how it looks like. Its' art is amazing, basically the winning point is the superior ride capability which you can trigger at Grade 2 with Kimnara, The Grade Zero draw trigger and many others like Berserk Dragon or Corduroy. Because Kagero has so many retiring units that are Grade 2 and below, superior riding can help you gain more advantage as the only minus is the -3000 power which can be fixed by sending Artpitch, the Seal dragon draw trigger from your field into the soul for the +3k power. Cruel Dragon can also combo well with Dauntless Drive, especially if you get pushed to 4 damage early and need to claw back some advantage, but do take note that even if you breakride with Cruel Dragon on Dauntless on your turn 3, Dauntless by itself consumes quite a bit of cards to activate the breakride effect to restand. But the fact that if you do breakride and use the restanding effect (which you should unless in exceptional circumstances, but still.), you can get to use Cruel Dragon's Limit Break skill twice because it is a on-attack activation, which potentially means you can retire pesky intercepts before the Guard Phase. But the weakness is that you cant use the effect if your opponent has no rearguards, but then again, isn't it great if your opponent has no rearguards? Because Cruel Dragon's effect uses SoulBlast and CounterBlast, the main thing that will be restricting you will likely be these two variables. So in theroy you can use it 3 times if you breakride over Dauntless, unless you Soulcharge with the Grade 0 Draw triggers. But compared to other Kagero cards, this card's Limit Break may not seem very attractive. The main selling point is the art, ahem* I mean the superior ride, which in a Grade 4 Transendence Deck helps you hit Grade 4 one turn earlier and potentially nets your a HUGE advantage.

But overall, this card is a pretty good card, especially in a Grade 4 centric Kagero deck. But it is useful in a normal Kagero Deck too, just that there are more OP options like DOTE or Blast Bark Dragon. And knowing people, its' likely this card is overhyped and then nobody ends up playing it as a keycard but rather as a Grade 3 ride towards Grade 4. Which I think was the initial intention, which was seen in the manga. Thats all I have today, so until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #8: Post-exams, Review on Legend of Zelda: Link between worlds

SPOILER ALERT: MAY CONTAIN PLOT SPOILERS FOR THE 3DS GAME LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK BETWEEN WORLDS. THIS REVIEW IS DONE BY SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO DO REVIEWS, SO PLEASE EXCUSE ME IF I LEFT ANYTHING OUT. I AM JUST VOICING OUT MY OWN OPINIONS ON THIS GAME. NOW I WILL BEGIN BUT NOT IN CAPS.


Hellloooooo everyone, hows' it going? My exams have JUST ended today, and I am soo excited! Well not as excited as I thought I would be, but oh well. Moving on, I said I would post a full review on the recent 3DS game that I played, Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds, and I'm gonna make good my promise! So here we go....

SPOILER ALERT: Well, the story begins where you, a young boy named Link (Or whoever you chose to name your hero), is summoned to the blacksmith. You are introduced as his apprentice, and immediately, you are tasked with running an errand: to deliver the Captain's sword. You then meet up with the 'bad' guy who has the power to merge into walls, and guess what, he want to revive Ganon using the Triforce of Power! So basically you have to save Princess Zelda, who is captured and imprisoned in a painting in Lorule, the parallel dimension of Hyrule (weird why would someone with the Triforce of Wisdom be so easily captured?) and get the Master Sowrd in order to do so! Then you are tasked with recusing the Seven Sages in order to summon the last piece of the Triforce: The Triforce of Courage! But there's a twist: you have to use the power of merging into walls in order to solve tricky puzzles, and use special tools that are rented/bought.And there is a twist to the story, although slightly predictable: But I'm gonna have to tell you guys to get the game to find out what :)


The laws of Physics aside, since this IS a game, and you don't question how does Link travel between the two worlds and what-not, but the plot is simple, easy to follow, I'd say the game's selling point is NOT the plot, nor is it the cool Master Sword or Hyrulian Shield, but the puzzle solving. As I mentioned in my previous post a few days ago, this games utilizes the 3D capability VERY well, so much so that if you play it in 3D you can really feel the difference for some puzzles, which span different levels at once and with the camera panning from a near top-down approach, the 3D helps to distinguish the depth and height of platforms, making the puzzles easier. Not that the puzzles are hard, but some parts are slightly tricky, and having the 3D functionality helps.

Furthermore, besides the 3D graphics which are practically used EVERYWHERE, unlike ahem* Pokemon *ahem, which I think is gimmicky, a Link Between Worlds showcases the true beauty of the 3DS, and makes me love the 3DS more compared to PSVita. They sure did a fantastic job with this one. I can't compare it to many Legend of Zelda games, because I didn't really play many, but this game easily is one of my all-time favourites, with the option of a harder mode once you beat the story. The controls are easy to use, and the game is VERY VERY forgiving, and I love the fact that you get to explore and choose what dungeons to attempt. The combat is pretty cool too, no fancy combos just your forward slash and spinning slash, as well as shooting Getsuga Tenshos out of your blade (don;t know if that was the right word to use, but haha)

On to the downside of this game. Overall, it is an interesting, fun to play game, but what I felt could have been incorporated could have been maybe a longer storyline? Although I heard its' a remake of an old game, so I don't know how much flexibility they had with this one on the story, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The plot IS slightly disjointed, with bits and pieces as you advance, with little to no cutscenes (that can be a plus side too in some games haha), and there are minigames to help you while your time away as you detract from the main quest. But I felt that the game was really too short, in terms of total playtime, I think i barely hit 20 hours? So replay value not so much, but not as repetitive as Pokemon, which really aside from the graphics and wifi capability, really isn't all that great compared to this.

If you like the Legend of Zelda, or don't have anything to ply on your 3DS for this December, give Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds a shot. Its' worth you money for the 10-odd hours you will be spending on this game, much better than many other games that I have played before. 

FINAL VERDICT:
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Overall Experience (ease of use, connectability, WOW factor): 8/10
Total: 8.7/10

Easily a winner in my eyes. Gameplay is amazing, Use of 3DS graphics is skilful and stunning, 9 for both. 8 for the overall experience just because there is just room to improve, whether plot wise or length of game itself. But buy it, you won't regret it.

Until next time,

Endblade

Random Thoughts #7: End of Exams soon, back to Cardfight Vanguard???

Hello everyone. Hope you guys are doing well. Haven't been up to posting anything for the past few days, I was extremely occupied with exam preparations. Now that I have some time to post something, just wanted to inform everyone that my exams officially this coming Thursday! I am so excited, just because I can start cranking out more posts and whatnot for all those who read this blog. Now regarding Cardfight Vanguard!!, the latest Extra Boosters came out not too long ago, with the EB09: Divine Dragon Progression which came out just three days ago! So to celebrate the ending of my exams prematurely (haha I am mad), I picked up a box of EB09 at my local cardshop! At the point of writing this, I have not yet got to opening up the box and packs, I will do that soon and update you guys on what I pulled. I don't really have high expectations though, if I do get Transcendence Dragon, the Grade 4 I will be happy. But just anything is fine. Just a picture to whet your appetites, depending on what I pull this box I may or may not choose to buy more boxes to open AFTER my exams end at the end of this week.

Hehehehehe....

On a side note, recently I got a 3DS games which ALSO came out on 22 November, its' the Legend of Zelda, Link Between Worlds game. I have been tinking around with it, but I haven't completed the storyline yet, nor have I tried the mini-games. I will most likely post a review of the game once I have finished it after my exams have ended. But knowing that this game is a 3D remake with some tweaks here and there of a old Zelda game, although I did not read the plot or any spoilers, the game itself graphics-wise may not be as impressive as 3D Pokemon sprites, but the function of 3D being used in the game is really mind blowing, the fact that because most puzzles consist of floor and levels, 3D really helps you differentiate the different levels. The almost top-down camera approach gameplay is also notable of past Zelda games that I have played on the DS, I wasn't fortunate enough to own or play a NES or Gamecube, neither did I have the Wii. So I cant give a valued judgement and compare them side-by-side. But for a game which I thought was boring, it really surprised me, not just graphics-wise but also the utilization of the 3D function to optimize gameplay, which was the selling point of this game for me. Well worth the money I paid for it, some puzzles are not as direct and require a bit of thinking, while others once you get the hang of the mechanics are simply a breeze. 

I will post a full review along with pictures once I get to it, I know this post is relatively short, but I'm ending it here. So until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #6: Exams & Phone Games

Hello everyone, its' been quite a while since I last checked or updated this blog. Hope you guys are doing fine. I am in the midst of my exams period, and I just felt like I wanted to post something short just to keep this blog semi-active. And to keep my mind off studying too, haha. Now this blog is becoming less and less focused on Cardfight Vanguard!, and I guess its' because I've lost much of my interest in the game, along with exams which brings me to the excuse of not having time to play. Oh well, I still do watch the Japanese anime and I do check Cardfight Wiki once in a while, but aside from the new cards revealed (which are quite a lot by the looks of it), namely those in EB08, EB09 and BT14, nothing much excites me, the cards are still very much the same apart from a few eye-catching ones, its' just the power creep taking effect, thats' all. Another reason why I sort of semi-quit playing the game was due to the fact that I'm too lazy to find people to play with, my close friends quit playing the game a few months back, I still have my decks with me though, but they don't see any play.

Well on to non-Cardfight related stuff. Just a small update on my life, I am having exams now (haha said that earlier...but oh well) and my exams end on 28 November (just 17 days to go!) and maybe when it ends I might go out to the local cardshop to play some games of Cardfight. But until then, more studying and revising for me then haha. Now some of you that read this blog (if any) may use their mobile devices to read or surf the Net, and I would like to recommend some Smartphone games that you guys should give a shot, you won't regret them!

1) Puzzle and Dragons
Now I have been playing this game for the past 6 months or so, haven't spent a SINGLE cent on this game, although arguably if you want to speed things up you could toss some cash at it. But I personally don't, but it is a much slower process. But I do enjoy it. For those of you who may want to check it out, and give it shot, don't know if it is available in your country, as of now PAD has servers in North America/Canada, Japan, Korea (South Korea of course) and most recently the United Kingdom. I'll put some links for you guys if you are on iOS or Android, and you can go check the respective websites out (NONE of the things below are owned by me and copyrights to everything are Gungho Entertainment's, NOT mine + fan-based web tools to help you out):

Puzzle and Dragons (US Server)

For Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.gungho.padEN

For iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/puzzle-dragons-english/id563474464?mt=8

And a helpful site to get started:
http://www.puzzledragonx.com/

Facebook group for helpful information, tips and tricks:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PADGlobal/

If you don't know by now, with the links I gave you, I play the US server. Although it is behind the Japanese Server in terms of updates and some differences, I can't be bothered to overcome the language barrier and learn Japanese for the sake of the game. Ad the US server is on par in terms of updates as the Korean server and slightly faster than the UK server. Also, the US server is the most populated English-based server. But if you guys don't mind reading Kanji/Hiragana (I don't know which one is it haha), you can go Google PAD JP for yourselves :P.

Even if you are NOT in these regions, you STILL can play PAD (like me here hehehe). For iOS I am not too sure, you could create a iTunes account based in US or JP (depending on the version you want to play) and download the app from there. For Android, what I usually do is that I download the APK.file from the Facebook Group as shown above, or you can click the link here if you are lazy, and update/install from there. Its' really quite simple and easy, I quite like the ease of play in the beginning, although there is a steep curve as you progress and become stuck as I was, but not if you do some research beforehand to plan your steps. Initally it may be difficult, but you'll get used to it.

Now on to the gameplay of Puzzle and Dragons. Now as the name suggests, it is a Puzzle-based game, which has you collecting cards or monsters to fill up your party (much like Pokemon, with the leveling and evolving concept) as well as for the obsessive collector, the chance to Collect 'em All (which is quite a challenge if you don't spend money in the game). Now I am NOT encouraging you to spend money, nor am I dissuading you from doing so, I for one did not spend a SINGLE CENT on the game, and although compared to the people who spend money I cannot compare to them, but I can safely say I am pretty strong, although not exactly top-tier or fantastic. You just need a bit of patience and hey, after all, its' a phone game, why so serious? Just have fun and go with the flow :)

To help newbies, I will introduce to you some jargons and abbreviations which the Facebook Group as well as the Puzzle and Dragons Forum uses, which when I first started took a while for me to figure out, and it really was an experience which I do not want any of you to go though. Hence this mini-guide below:

Jargons and terms used (not exhaustive, or limited to):

PAD/PnD - shorthand term for Puzzle and Dragons
PG/@PG- members of the Facebook Group
PF/@PF - members of the PAD Forums
Helpers/Pals - Friends which you MUST have in order to enter dungeons, you can add them either through the FB Group, or through beating dungeons, which will allow you to add the people you paired up with (subject to the person's approval)
Magic Stones - Given out for free, either during events or milestones in your PAD journey. Also can be bought. Used as a type of ingame currency in order to gain access to stronger monsters/cards.
IAP - in-app purchase, basically just buying Magic Stones.
REM - Rare Egg Machine, the Golden dragon machine which acts as a slot machine type of dispenser. Through this you get Star, Silver or Gold Eggs, which gives you stronger and better monsters to use in your party. (The best being Gold).
Re-roll(ing) - The process by which you clear you ingame data by resetting the app in order to re-do the tutorial and get a free roll on the REM. (Important to note, especially if you do NOT plan to IAP).
Evo Mats - Evolution Materials, used for Evolving Monsters to help them reach the next stage.
Normal Fusion (also known as Power-Up Fusion) - The function in the Menu where you can 'feed' monsters to other monsters for EXP. Also used in Ultimate Fusions.
Ultimate Fusion - the process where you use certain cards/monsters and fuse them to a certain monster in order to gain access to the card's final form. Different from normal Evolution. (like Mega evolution in Pokemon).
Descend(s) - Dungeons with strong bosses which are useful and can be gotten if you clear them, mostly endgame material for your team
Godfest - Events where strong monsters (Gods which are found in Gold Eggs) from the REM are made more likely to appear. Usually an extra 3X chance to appear.
OoH - Ocean Of Heaven, can be found in the 'Normal Dungeons' list as you progress. A well-known Dungeon which people run in order to farm pluses.
Plus(es) - Additional stats which a monster can accumulate (not by levelling up the monster) by feeding monsters with the yellow 'plus sign' in the Normal Fusion function.


(OTHER TERMS TO BE ADDED WHEN I THINK OF THEM)

Some abbreviations of Monsters/Cards which are useful to know (you can copy and past to search these monsters for more information):

ADK- Ancient Dragon Knight
CDK- Chaos Dragon Knight
D'tron - Dark Metatron
SOD Luci- Seraphim of Dawn, Lucifer
Valk - Valkyrie (as well as evolutions of her, most notably Warrior Rose, Graceful Valkyrie)\
Chuchu - Noble Wolf King, Chu Chulainn (somewhat similar to Valkyrie)
Sieg - Earth-rending Emperor, Siegfried (also similar to Valk)
OneTrueGod - Anubis, well known for his crazy power, and yet demanding on skill and luck.

These terms above are just kickstarters to help you in your PAD journey, if you so choose to download and give this game a shot. Overall I rate this game a 8.5/10, higher than my rating for Pokemon X. Although the graphics are nothing compared to Pokemon XY, the gameplay is addictive and fun, with a friendly community to help you every step of the way, and the way the game is built such that there is little to no competition to be the 'best', and you need friends to help each other, I find this game overall a great game, both in gameplay as well as you can progress at your own pace, without worrying that you are too slow or will get left behind. Do give it a shot if you have chance to, trust me, you won;t regret this! Hope you guys enjoyed my post, sorry if I cant update this as frequently as I would like to, but thanks for reading!

FINAL VERDICT:
Puzzle and Dragons:
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Overall Experience (ease of use, connectability, WOW factor): 8/10
Total: 7.7/10

Until Next time,

EndBlade.

ADDITION: If you havent checked out my mini review on Pokemon XY, do check it out here!