Last night some friends and I decided to boot up Homeworld the Remastered Collection and play the multiplayer beta. Props go to Argyle Arson and Roland Deschain for agreeing to play a free-for-all in their first experience with the game. Above is our first game together. If you have not played Homeworld I highly recommend it. Initially released in 1999, the 2015 remastered edition updates the visuals without changing the mechanics what makes the game so great. I’ll have more coverage of Homeworld in the future as its legacy on PC gaming and RTSs is significant. Enjoy the video!
Clash Royale – Review
Clash Royale is a relatively new iOS and Android game created by Supercell. Taking place in the same world as Clash of Clans, Clash Royale is a card based tower defense game in which you play against another human player.
My initial impression of this game was very high. The short few tutorial missions taught me the simple mechanics of the game and soon was competing against other players. After losing my first few I quickly learned what strategies worked well and what cards countered others. As I write this I have made it to the 4th arena – Pekka’s Playground.
This game is a lot of fun for those with a competitive spirit. There always seems to be a way for those always wanting to improve to do so. Troop placement, proper countering, and getting a resource advantage are all deeper aspects to the game for players to master.
This game does have its limits in its free-to-play aspects. Essentially as you win you gain treasure chests which are used to gain new cards and to upgrade the ones you already have. Once you’ve filled up your four slots for treasure chests you’ll have to wait until one opens to truly gain anything from playing.
The clan aspect of the game is still a little confusing to me. Besides being able to trade cards with clan-mates, I haven’t gotten much out of that part of the game. Clans do unlock the friendly match function so you can play your friends. It’s nice to be able to challenge friends.
Overall, Clash Royale is an up-tempo and exciting new game for mobile devices. I highly recommend it.
9/10
The Platinum Quest: Completed Fallout 4
Though it took quite a bit of time Fallout 4 did not have the hardest path the platinum. The majority of trophies came from storyline missions. The hardest trophy by far the benevolent leader mentioned in my last blogpost. I have enjoyed Fallout 4 quite a bit. I enjoyed the mechanics and the gameplay, though I do miss a few of the features in past games. To some extent I actually miss weapon durability. It forced me to make decisions based on a weapons availability as well as its ammo. I also greatly missed the karma system from the old games. I loved being rewarded for my decisions to help or hurt people. It incentivized the decisions I made past the immediate context. I always enjoyed how karma shifts the way people would talk to you.
My favorite quest had to be the robot pirate ship also known as the “Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution.” I remember as it blasted off wondering what would happen. Part of me expected to watch the ship blast off into the night sky. The pessimistic side thought the ship might explode kill me for all my effort. I was pleased with the result. The ship essentially flies into a building across the map. As you watch it park itself onto the top of one of the sky-scrappers, you hear the captain boast about its progress and calculate that, at the current rate, they will reach the ocean within a century.
Overall I appreciate this addition to the Fallout Franchise. The emphasis on settlement building and power armor was an exciting change that made Fallout 4 feel unique from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Fallout 4 did not dethrone Fallout 3 from my list of favorite games but did provide a legitimate Fallout experience for the new generation of consoles.
More to come from Underpaid Gamers over Fallout 4 as DlC drops.
The Platinum Quest: Fallout 4 – Benevolent Leader
When I purchase a new game one of the first things I do is look at the trophy list and determine if this game is worth getting all of the trophies/achievements. Fallout 4s trophies at first glance all looked achievable. Therefore I set my sights on that platinum trophy and went to warp speed.
Fallout 4 is undisputedly a huge game. Early critiques complained that the map was smaller than Fallout 3. From my experience so far its not about the size, but rather, the quality and quantity of things to do. Downtown Boston is packed with locations to explore. At this point I have probably put 60 or more hours into the game and am still experience fresh new side quests. Many of which are witty and fun. Most of the Trophies involved the main storyline and are split between the different factions you can choose. On my first play-through I decided to side with the Minutemen and the Brotherhood of Steel. I will say that finishing the game as the Brotherhood was way more fun than as the Minutemen. The other trophies can be easily accomplished in your first run through. A few will require extra effort. One trophy, above all else, gave me the hardest time.
The Benevolent Leader trophy.
At face value this trophy seems manageable. Get a settlement to 100 happiness. I want my people to be happy! Quickly I realized how daunting this challenge actually is. All of my frustrations can be summed up in one word. Glitch. For some reason occasionally as I explored the wasteland my settlements would lose 10-15% happiness. When I would go to my data screen on the pip-boy it would show that I had no beds or food in a settlement! How is that possible! The first time I saw this I quickly fast-traveled to the settlement to see if this was due to a raider or supermutant attack. As soon as I arrived the beds and food reappeared. I realized that it was a glitch. And promptly mourned the loss of all the time I had spent trying to raise happiness.
I eventually earned the trophy.
How I dealt with the glitch was by checking my pip-boy every few minutes to see if the glitch had started. If you can catch the glitch early enough then you can quickly fast travel back to your settlement to fix the issue. All you have to do to fix it is to walk back into your settlement and then check your pip-boy’s data on the workshop. I would usually re-enter build mode then exit and fast travel back to whatever I was doing.
I haven’t earned the platinum trophy yet. However, all I have left for trophies is the storyline quests for the other factions I didn’t choose on my first run through. I also saved my game at a point right before you become hostile to the other factions. This allows me to skip all the boring intro stuff and get right at the faction’s story.
Never forget that old adage: War… War never changes…
UnderpaidGamers 