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Friday 31 March 2017

BLOG -- Recap of March

So end of March came too quickly. For a long time I kept thinking that end of March was next week, lol... >_< 

Well, this month was pretty busy. I had lots of work, and to add to the stress, I am sick. I hope it goes away soon! My poor ribs can't take much more of my coughing. 


Outings/Events in March:
- Hung out with friends x3

- Had a dentist appointment *sniffle*

- Stayed over at my sister's place.

- Attended mass for the first time (I was curious).


Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn achievements / news: 
-My subscription is expired again, so no news here

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius achievements / news: 
-I am adding this here because I am still playing this game like crazy and I kinda want some documentation on some of my progress with the game
-My rank is currently 71 (yay I can leave the game alone for 6 hours 45 mins)
-I got the highest individual reward from the March on Ifrit event, meaning I got Y'shtola, yayyy!



Exposures:
(Snack): Power Rangers-themed Krispy Kreme donut -- The filling was too much, but the top layer is nice


Finished...
Watching:
(Movie): Beauty & The Beast (Live-Action) -- This was my first exposure to Beauty and the Beast and I really enjoyed it. I can really support Belle's character and her nature to look beyond outward appearances for love.

- (Movie): John Wick -- I watched this so I could watch the sequel in theatres. I didn't know what to expect except for possible awesomeness (based on reviews that I've heard or watched). I was not let down. Lots of great scenes. I especially loved the scene with Jimmy.

- (Movie): John Wick: Chapter 2 -- This was still enjoyable, but not as much as John Wick. I really didn't like the ending.

- (Movie): Logan -- This movie is awesome! I never watched the last two Wolverine movies and that might be a good thing.

- (Movie): The Bourne Identity -- This was okay. I like the intense music.


Playing:
- (3DS): Fantasy Life

- (PS4): Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X -- I saw the credits so I'm counting this! Overall I did not enjoy this as much as Project Diva F (the first localized game). There were not as many enjoyable songs and making the costumes/items drop randomly instead of being able to purchase them was just a bad move in my opinion. Also I did not like the game giving some personality to the vocaloids -- that's our job (the gamers/listeners). Getting platinum for this is probably near impossible for me, lol.

- (PS4): Caladrius Blaze -- This is a short and fun-ish bullet hell game. I really like the music.


Reading:
- Nothing this month. 


Currently... 
Playing (not all at once):
- (PS4): Dragon Ball Xenoverse
- (PS4): J-Stars Victory Vs+
- (PS4): Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below
- (PS4): iDOLM@STER: Platinum Stars 
- (PS4): Danganronpa 1.2 Reload
- (PS3): Borderlands 2
- (PS2): Chulip
- (3DS): Story of Seasons
- (3DS): Shantae
- (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition   
- (PSP): Persona
- (PSP): Patapon 
- (PSP): Corpse Party
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PC): UnEpic  
- (PC): King's Bounty: The Legend
- (PC): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)
- (Mobile): Dragon Quest III
- (Mobile): Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius


Watching:
- (TV Show): The Walking Dead (Season 6)
- (TV Show): Orphan Black (Season 3)
- (TV Show): Criminal Minds (Season 10)
- (TV Show): Six Feet Under (Season 1 - Episode 3)
- (TV Show): X-Files (Season 4 - Episode 13)
- (Anime): Yu Yu Hakusho (don't remember)
- (Anime): Log Horizon (episode 3)
- (Anime): K-On! Season 2 (episode 19)
- (Anime): Persona 4: The Animation (episode 16)



Reading:
- (Manga): Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori (Volume 13)


That's it for March. Here are a few pics I took this month plus a YouTube video.


 The Power Rangers-themed donuts.

My video game spoil for the month. The story is interesting so far!


A couple coupons I made and gave to a couple co-workers to celebrate Pi Day.



Honest Trailers on Doctor Strange.
It has spoilers so don't watch unless you've watched it!
This so fits what I generally think about Doctor Strange:
"It's okay, but it's no Iron Man"


Thanks for reading! As usual, if you have any questions / comments about anything, feel free. :)

Sunday 12 March 2017

REVIEW/THOUGHTS [VIDEO GAME] -- Fantasy Life

Playthrough Status: COMPLETED STORY (still working to unlock the DLC content)
Approx. Length: 10-ish hours for the story; 70-ish hours for everything else (and is still counting)
Language: English
Played on: 3DS
Also Available for: Not applicable
Type of Game: Action-RPG, stat-building, class-building
Overall Impression: For completionists (like me most of the time), this can be a really grindy game. If you are just looking to play through the story, though -- no grinding required!


SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a "Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.

PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
Well, I am generally a fan of Level-5, so I often like supporting their games whenever possible. When I read that Fantasy Life was being localized and it was developed by Level-5, I pre-ordered it soon after watching the trailer. 


STORY
Meteorites are falling in the land of Reveria, and it's up to you (the player) and a butterfly sidekick to investigate. Along the way, you explore new areas and meet new characters, all with stories of their own. On the surface, the story is as generic as they come. But when the situation and focus becomes more clearer, I think there is a bit of substance.

I will be honest: when I first started playing the game, the story did not grab me very much -- I was more interested in the grindy aspects (will be covered later). That was one of the reasons why it was on my "Currently Playing" list for so long. When I finally did decide to continue and the story's focus became clearer and some characters got more developed, my priorities reversed: the story kept me playing instead of the grind.

THE WRITING
So even when the story put me off in the beginning, I always remembered the writing. I found the writing style blunt, quirky, and often self-aware and funny. I find it pretty refreshing. I'll mention some quirky writings in the "Spoilers" section.


GAMEPLAY
One fairly unique thing about Fantasy Life is that you play one character that can unlock multiple classes -- or as Fantasy Life calls it, multiple Lives. They'll be covered in the next section.

Gameplay-wise, Fantasy Life is broken into seven chapters, and this is how a typical chapter would play out: 

1. Follow the story quests to progress the chapter, which usually leads to a "boss" battle. (optional grinding but slightly limited)
2. Complete all the requests from Butterfly (optional grinding)
3. Either speak with Butterfly after all her requests are done or sleep to go to the next chapter (follow whatever instructions pop up).

While playing through the chapters, there are many other things you can do (depending on what Lives you have unlocked), such as:

-Changing into a different Life (if you have another Life unlocked)
-Mining ores (if you have unlocked the Miner Life)
-Chopping wood (if you have unlocked the Woodcutter Life)
-Fishing (if you have unlocked the Angler Life)
-Crafting recipes (if you have the corresponding crafting Life unlocked)
-Buying and decorating houses
-Buying a pet for your house (if you have it unlocked)
-Roaming around and beating up monsters
-Inviting certain NPCs to join your party (this is not possible while doing the story quests)
-Taking on and completing quests from various NPCs

If you are only playing the game for the story, some of the above features could be missed.

But... that is actually something I like about this game. You have free rein to decide just how much time to put in and what features to unlock for yourself.

THE OPTIONAL GRINDING
I'm talking about the various Lives and the skills associated with them. Levelling your Lives and skills can extend the gameplay length by a lot, depending on what you want to do. There are 12 Lives in total. Each Life has its own set of quests to do. Unlocking some Lives unlock new skills which are still active while in another Life. For example, if I unlock the Miner Life, I unlock the Mining skill. Then I can change to another class and still be able to mine ores because I unlocked the Mining skill. 

Besides the quests for each Life, the bigger grind are the skills. Every Life unlocks skills and they level up through usage. The higher level the skill is, the more stronger it becomes. Also, some gear is dependent on certain skill levels.

Then on top of all that you have your character Level. When you level that up, you gain stat points that can be allocated. The stats affect the performance of your various Lives. For example, more stat points into Dexterity would result in a stronger Hunter (Archer) and Tailor Life. 

I won't go into tooo much detail, but overall there is a lot of levelling in Fantasy Life -- but only if you choose to do it. For me, personally, I enjoy gathering and crafting so much of this grind is fun.

STREETPASS FUNCTION
The streetpass function is very minimal here, but is quite beneficial at times. If you have streetpass on, you can set it up to send out your player card. If you choose to, you can also attach an item to the card. 

If you streetpass somebody, you will receive their player card, and that player will show up as an NPC in the main town. If you talk to the player, you might increase your friendship level with them. If the friendship level reaches 100, that player will give you the item attached to their player card (if they had an item attached). 

It is a very useful feature when you're just starting out.

MULTIPLAYER
I actually just have this section here to highlight / mention that multiplayer exists for Fantasy Life. I have never done it myself so I do not know how it is like and what it entails. From what I've read, you can exchange some items when playing multiplayer.


CHARACTERS
Some of the many characters in Fantasy Life. 
Possible spoiler text is greyed out.

Besides the main characters (you and your Butterfly sidekick), there are a bunch of other characters in Fantasy Life. Some are fleshed out. Some are not. Regardless, most are colourful and with their own special... quirk. My favourite characters are the Butterfly sidekick, and ... I will mention in the "Spoilers" section.

My current character. Just like in FFXIV, I main an archer.
And... just like in FFXIV, I'm leveling all the other Lives, too.


MUSIC
This, to me, was the most lacking part of the game. To me, the music clashed so much with the overall feel / atmosphere of the game that I often played while commuting, keeping the game muted.

I like the sound effects, though!


DLC
I have this here as a placeholder, because I am working to unlock the DLC content. Parts of the content is immediately available upon purchase, but the area portion is not.

According to GameFAQS, this is what the DLC includes:

-New area (currently locked -- I am underleveled)
-Extra character customization features
-New materials, equipment, crafting recipes
-New class rank
-New pets
-Friendship system with NPCs (NPCs can fight with you and get stronger)
-New special currency
-Level cap increased from 99 to 200
-Stats cap increased from 50 to 100 


REPLAYABILITY
I think replayability here depends on how much you want to do in the game after beating the story. If you see no point, then there would be no replayability. If you want to level up your classes some more or you want to decorate your many houses or whatever else, then replayability is there for you

I think for me, once I master every class and complete every quest, I'll be completely done.



CLOSING THOUGHTS
Fantasy Life is a quirky game. I can't say I recommend it outright, but if somebody is wanting to experience a story that's short and sweet (and read some quirky, blunt writing), this is worth it -- at sale price. If you enjoy grinding out various classes and you love gathering and crafting, then this game may be enjoyable to you.


Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free. :)

So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.

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SPOILERS

I'll mention some quirky writings.

There were a lot more quirky moments, but below are some that I actually screenshotted. At least, they are quirky to me.

I really liked what Yuelia said before this line. She said something like: 
"You can have all the time in the world to cover up your emotions." 
I find it sweet and cute -- Yuelia really understands Noelia. :)

Here is the same screenshot as earlier, but with the actual text. Such bluntness! 

I actually find this line a bit out of character. But I also find it very funny. 
I mean, who says that?! Hahaha.


My favourite characters are the Butterfly sidekick, and ...

Noelia! Her trying to come across as emotionless and uncaring is pretty cute. I also really like Celestia. 



If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D

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