Friday, February 1, 2013

NOW PLAYING - Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch


NOW PLAYING – Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

So… There be spoilers below!

So I’m playing this game at a fairly moderate pace, not splurging every night but carefully making my way, leveling up to a point where combat is easy, completing all the side quests, and thoroughly exploring the areas before moving on.  I just recruited Esther and gained the awesome ability to Serenade familiars, making them join the party.  I’ve already run around and collected quite a few, and my boyfriend helped me out by backtracking through Golden Grove to catch the weaker ones we missed.

I’m overjoyed that the Familiar Retreat (which finally opens up at this point) can hold up to 400 critters.  That large capacity is tickling my urge to CATCH ‘EM ALL!  Combat is more interesting with a second person, though I need to learn to micromanage a little better because my AI controlled partner always seems to use up all my MP unnecessarily…

Here’s a little screen a took – not with my professional equipment (because I can’t get it to work without my techie friend, who’s traveling at the moment… sigh), but a simple picture of my TV screen.  You can see my full lineup there, although it’s focused on my level 20 Mitey.


Our favorites have become the Sprout Sprite (evolved Seed Sprite) and the Sunshine, both of which favor magical attacks over standard strikes.  Can’t wait to dive deeper into the game to find more!

My Love for Archers

My Love for Archers

For as long as I can remember, long range combat has been my forte in video game, and I’m particularly attracted to archers, second only to spell casters.  This affection has bled into most other media I consume – Hawkeye from the Avengers movie (and Jeremy Renner himself) makes my heart flutter, Legolas is by far the coolest elf ever, Katniss in Hunger Games is an inspiration to me, and I just recently fell in love with Princess Merida from Brave.

Hubba hubba!

In FPS titles (which I only occasionally play), I prefer the sniper rifle over any other gun.  In other video games, I look for characters that favor a bow – the Rogue class from Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, the Amazon from Diablo II, Viola from Eternal Sonata (who is THE hardest hitting archer I can think of), Raimi Saionji from Star Ocean: Last Hope, Shana/Miranda from Legend of Dragoon, Bo from Breath of Fire, Huang Zhong from the Dynasty Warriors franchise… I could go on and on.  In Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Archery is my highest level weapon skill and my primary method of attack.

With Viola, the farther you are from your foe, the harder the hit!   Ouch!

I’m not dissing those rough and tumble melee fighters, but that’s just not my style.  I prefer to stay out of range and take out my foes before they have a chance to close in.  Don’t get me wrong – I’ll always prepare for hand-to-hand combat because it’s inevitable (my character in Skyrim can swing a mean one-handed sword, too), but I prefer keeping my distance and avoiding more “intimate” encounters.

Are you an archer at heart, or a dedicated tank?  Do you keep your distance and carefully plot your moves, or put on the best equipment and wade into the fray?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

Skyrim DLC Dated for PS3


Skyrim DLC Dated for PS3

You heard that right, Skyrim PS3 owners.  We’ve finally got a solid date on the release of our long awaited DLC Dragonborn (2/12), Hearthfire (2/19), and Dawnguard (2/26).

Remember to MARK YOUR CALENDARS because we get a 50% off discount for the first week after each release!


Check out IGN’s full report here.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Wii U Console Price Standing Firm


Wii U Console Price Standing Firm

For those of you hoping for that rumored price drop on the Wii U, Nintendo has steadfastly claimed there won’t be one in the near future.  Seeing as they just made a huge announcement regarding their upcoming line up, I’m actually not all that surprised.

Read the article from IGN here.


PlayStation 4 Announcement Coming Soon?


PlayStation 4 Announcement Coming Soon?

So what’s going on behind the scenes at Sony?  Are they preparing to disclose more information about their next gen console?

Read the article from IGN here.  Pretty exciting stuff!  That’s definitely on my list of things to buy if so!