Some updates: Changing of the focus of this blog

Hello everyone, its' been a long time since I last posted, with my passion for Vanguard long gone. However, the urge to blog has not, and I have decided to reuse this blog but under a different focus: to blog about 3DS games and news relating to Nintendo from a casual gamer's point of view.

Previously, I had posted under a subsection known as Random Thoughts, which were things not pertaining to Cardfight Vanguard, and were of my other interests. You may have read my reviews prior about 3DS games like Pokemon X and Y and the Legend of Zelda.

I am a casual gamer, a supporter of Nintendo's handhelds since the days of Gameboy and have a decent collection of Gameboy games as well as the more recent DS and 3DS games, more often than not the titles which either 1) interest me OR 2) are famous, like the Pokemon franchise. I would like to share with all readers my love for handheld gaming, especially Nintendo's games, thus the reason for using this blog again.

I have gotten 2 'new' games, or rather new for me because only recently have I managed to lay my hands on them, and I will be posting my first impressions of them as well as a final review of the two games, which you should check back to look out for. I will not be spoiling any major plot lines or events in any games, or at least I will try not to. Haha.

Do give me constructive advice and feedback on how can I better improve the layout and content of this blog, all suggestions are welcome! Look out for my first review soon!

And until next time,

Endblade

Officially quitting Cardfight Vanguard!

Hello guys. Its been quite a long while since I last posted, and I have decided to cease all posting on this blog. This blog was created to function as an avenue for my thoughts on Cardfight Vanguard!, and with my official quitting of the game (until further notice), this blog has ceased to serve its' intended purpose. This is not to say I will not come back to this blog, its' just that  recently I have been very busy with weekdays being burnt in military training and with the short weekend breaks that I get, I don't have time to even touch the game. I recently looked at the new BT15:Infinite Rebirth cards, and I am glad that Megacolony after all these months, are finally getting their desired support. However, what I find particularly off-putting is the fact that the main characters' clans get so many cards (I ranted about this in an earlier post a few months prior). This is obviously just to push the anime plot further and attempt to remedy the screwed up metagame which was dominated by Link Joker.

That aside, after playing the game are almost a year plus, I realized that the game has little to no strategy required, since most set plays that a deck is constructed upon relies on a boring rise and repeat function whereby you more or less do the same thing regardless of the opponent, with only minor changes to your overall strategy of the clan that you are playing. I think the main problem is that like all cardgames, your cards get outdated FAST and attempts to bring back old units by adding crossrides or Reverse versions arguably fails to refresh the game. One major weakness which limits this game is the problem of sticking to the anime. Which means that Aichi and whatever clan he is using tends to be the one which has the most support and cards in all boosters, and support for clans like Megacolony are long overdue. Another neglected clan would be Nubatama and Murakumo, which play minor roles in the anime, hence the lack of attention to it given in card sets. Well, at the end of the day, Bushiroad is only here to make money from us. I sense that the game will lose traction especially in other countries outside of Japan, much like Duel Masters. This can be attributed largely to the lack of competitive support by Bushiroad in areas like Europe and America, with majority of the competitive scene based in Japan. Also, I think Bushiroad is trying to expand too quickly, which can be seen by their aggressive marketing of their products like Futurecard Buddyfight rather than focusing on creating a more balanced scene.


On a side note, I recently began to pick up Dota 2 again, after not touching it for over 6 months. Apart from the fact that pubbing is an unstable concoction where you may get crappy teammates or awesome ones, so far I have been enjoying my self thoroughly late into the night, as I type this post I have just finished a Dota 2 game 10 minutes prior. With that short post, I think this will be the last you will hear from me for a long time, maybe until I can find something to post and when I have the time again. But for now, thanks for reading and until next time,

EndBlade

Random Thoughts #9: Last day of 2013! Top 5 3DS games of all time!

Hello everyone. Its been roughly over two weeks since I last posted anything on this blog and just to keep this blog alive, as dead as it might already be, I am posting on guess what, my all time 3DS top 5 favourite games! Before I get into that, just a little update about my life, been very busy these past few weeks with Christmas, family and friends. With the year drawing to a close, what better way to end off than with a blogpost here?

Now onto the main bulk of the blogpost, and be warned it may contain some spoilers, although I will try to keep it short and simple, as well as minimize plot spoilage (if that even is a word).

#5: Pokemon X
Now this entry by GameFreak came in at number five mainly because of the memories and fond times I had with earlier Pokemon games, and this was in some sense an adequate reimagining of the Pokemon world with improved graphics and stylistics, although I do miss the ability of the first Pokemon to follow behind you in the HeartGold and SoulSilver games, which I felt was a grear feature they did not carry over to Black and White as well as X and Y. Overall, I would say that the game does not disappoint, and does deliver well in the graphics department, although more functions and a bettet tweaked storyline could be added in the reimagining of X and Y,  which I imagine would be called Z. But if judged as a standalone game unsupported by previous versions and without the ability to use PokeTransporter to be reverse compatible at this time, I feel that the game is lacking in this department and until it gets the app I think it will continue to lack.

#4: Kid Icarus-Uprising
Now this game title was released in 2012, but back then it was a great hit and I thought it brought a novel playing experience akin to playing at the arcade, albeit better since you could bring it anywhere. The storyline was also quite linear and although it was quite predictable, the gameplay more than made up for it, with the excellent usage of the touch screen. Although much could be said about the 3D function which was more of a gimmicky look rather than affecting the gameplay by much, and it made it seem more like a ordinary DS game than a 3DS one. But all in all, an excellent game with well polished gameplay and a easy to grasp and follow game mechanic.

#3:
Moving on to my third most favourite game from the 3DS, I think the recent Legend of Zelda: Link between
Worlds takes the spot at #3. Why? Because it just is awesome in terms of graphics, I have done a more complete review of it in an earlier post, do check that out, so I won't be elaborating much on why it is such a great game and if you own a 3DS and don't have it then you are missing out on the Zelda experience.

Sidenote: Now some of you might be wondering-when is he gonna unveil a Mario game? Sadly, from my perspective, I don't rank Mario games very highly mainly because I just don't like Mario games much (weird huh). So I cant judge Mario games like Luigi's Mansion and Mario Kart and stuff like that. But I urge you to continue readig because up next is my top 2 picks (and you may disagree) of 3DS games which I love.

#2: At the runner-up spot we have the 3D remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, which came out in 2012 and which I thought was the best game of 2012. Bearing in mind that I did not play the one on Playstation when it came out years back, I dove into this game with a fresh mind, although this was not the first Metal Gear Solid game that I have played. I loved the plot, which arguably was very emotional and deep, drawing from concepts like being human, sacrifice and love. The aspect of stealth always appealed to me, and was one of the reasons why I bought a 3DS in early 2012- JUST for games like these. Alas, I know that the 3DS is a gaming console targeted at children, and thus we won't get many titles like these, but the immerse storyline and fact that you could influence some part of the storyline made it less linear and less boring than other 3DS games. The graphics and environment was particularly stunning, and by far it is one of the best looking games on the 3DS. I highly recommend this game even in 2013 if you have not gotten it already, you will not be disappointed by it.

#1: Coming in slightly above MGS 3D is none other than Fire Emblem: Awakening released early 2013 and I think is the best game of 2013. I love games which hinge on strategy and tactics, where one wrong move could mean the PERMANENT DEATH of your beloved characters, and a misstep could be costly especially in situations when your opponents may outgun and outmatch you 3-1. The storyline is immersive and they get you to warm up to your characters where you come to the point that you have some attachment to them. The maps are also challenging if you play on harder difficulties and offers unlimited replay value. One thing that may deter people would be grinding to gain levels and unlocking certain skills, but I find it a necessary part of the game as you see your characters grow as the story progresses. The 'marraige' function also creates some flexiblilty ingame and allows customisation of children, like genetic manipulation. But overall it beat MGS largely due to the replayability factor of the game and potential DLC content if you so choose to purchase the DLC packs. As such I highly recommend buying this game if you get a 3DS or you are sure to regret it

With that, I wish you all a Happy New Year and until next time,

EndBlade

Posting hiatus + Some updates on Cardfight Vanguard!!! And my thoughts

Hello everyone. Trust you guys are doing well, preparing for Christmas (if you celebrate it) because it is less than 20 days away! Some news about posting though, as you all already know I am about to enter the military and as such for this month of December I will not be posting anything, when things begin to settle down in January I may return to this blog and start posting again. Although it might be longe or shorter than what I stated here, which i about a month.

Also, with the reveal of recent Bt14 cards like those from Gold Paladin with the anti-Lock mechanic ot berings a huge change to the metagame. Not because Lock becomes less useful, to some extent it loses its edge and decks which focus onass locking may not dominate the top spots of tournaments as frequently. But I see a change in the meta to another more powerful alternative and it might just skew such that people may not play Link Joker, since in the first place Link Joker suffers under the Limit Break Syndrome. Well what does that mean you may ask? Simply put, it means that without Limit Break or >=4 damage you are effectively useless. Because most Lock skills are Limit Break centric, and with the exception of the breakride there is no easy way to hit high power levels like 26k or even 21k without Locking. And besides, Lock comes at a cost, with people being able to counter Lock with Vanguards that get insane power and/or can restand at virtually no cost (except for in some cases), and with the unlocking skill which I think was just given so that the anime can progress with Aichi becoming victorous at the end. I think that card games tied too closely to the anime may suffer from ingame imbalances, more so in Vanguard which is clan-based, which reinforces the power gap between the main clans and the clans with less screen time. Which I think is a pity because it just does not do justice to a game which has so much potential to shine if it is balanced properly.

Now it just suffers from the catching up of less-used, less popular clans where they get their power boosts very late or their skills are underwhelming compared to the main characters clans. Take for example Neo Nectar's reverse unit. It simply has a recycled version of Lequier 'R', with some slight differences. And more importantly, Bushiroad just seems to just churn these units out to 'get it over with' especially for certain clans ahem* Nubatama ahem* and taking a reactionary approach when it comes to the meta, like a 'lets try this idea and see how it impacts the metagame, then we'll work to fix it' attitude which arguably serves to subject the game to volatility and power gaps.

Well with that food for thought, this is for the last time this month where I say until next time,

EndBlade

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