Monday, 29 February 2016

36 Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros - The Very ANGRY Wiggler, Interfering Kameks, Finally Reaching Mount Brrr

Dear Readers,

Today I'll talk about having to deal with Kamek and Paper Kamek again on our way to Mount Brrr. Something unbelievable then happens to Wiggler... as ye'll soon see...

Kamek blocked the path on us with his magic barrier and we had to start a mission to defeat him with bomb buds before he could hit us three times. Hitting him with the first one was easy enough, just caught him at the right moment. He then put up a shield that went away after he warped, so that was the chance to hit him with the second one. After this, he made two fake copies of himself, so we had to throw the third one at the real Kamek.

Covered with three bandages, he flew off and his barrier spell dissipated. Up ahead, there's another Lakitu Info Centre and a heart block. Further on we met Wiggler, who was confronting Paper Kamek about the giant shapes he littered the forest with earlier. Paper Kamek then zapped Wiggler, sending him into a blind rage and attacked us!

Boss time! Wiggler started by increasing his POW. Paper Kamek just floated in the background. After taking our first turns, Wiggler did some shockwave and spit attacks, before chasing after Paper Mario on his hind legs. While being chased, Paper Mario had to use his hammer to knock enemies out of the way. Paper Kamek flew above menacingly too. Unfortunately, Paper Mario got KO'd! Wiggler then brought out Paper Spear Guys. I wasn't too concerned about these cohorts, as a good counter can wipe them out.

After a turn where we revived Paper Mario, Paper Kamek conjured up a papercraft ball and Wiggler chased after us on it! The new move "Boomerang Guard" came up then. With this, Paper Mario turns into a boomerang and we can use him to take turns throwing him at whatever's chasing us. We knocked that ball out from under Wiggler!

On the next turn, Wiggler chased after Mario. I wasn't fast enough and didn't escape Wiggler from landing on him.

After a turn of attacking him, Wiggler flopped down on the ground exhausted. Paper Kamek then came by and floated over him. It was him we were to attack now. He's Lv 16 here. He attacks by firing different coloured shapes at each one of us with his wand. It's easy to determine which to avoid at what moment.

With a few Bros. Attacks and one last move dealing with a paper enemy damaging battle card, we defeated him! It was well before he got a chance to do anything else like perhaps reviving Wiggler's anger! He dropped the POW Gloves for Paper Mario before fleeing limply.

"You haven't seen the last of me!" he said, before flying away. Wiggler thanked us for giving him the most delicious day of his life and said he was very tired. Just then, this sad music started playing and Mario and Luigi exclaimed:

"OH, NO!"

Just then, all these Paragoombas with bowed heads and closed eyes appeared from above in a light and carried Wiggler away! To heaven?

Everyone then started CRYING! Even Starlow! I'd never seen her cry before!

"Why are you so sad?" Wiggler then asked, before descending in his new butterfly form! Happy music then started playing as he offered us all a lift to Mount Brrr. We took him up on it and away we went!

Finally on Mount Brrr! That beautiful music I heard from before when the princesses arrived at the villa is the main theme for this area. Exploring this area is gonna be a treat :) Wiggler is staying here to give us a lift back anytime.

So... what was with that last scene huh? Leading us to believe someone died a sad and dramatic death in a Mario game! Wow!

Sunday, 28 February 2016

35 Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros - The Very Hungry Wiggler's Second Zippy Zappy Fence, Fire Piranha Plants, Flower Rank

Dear Readers,

Today I'll talk about continuing through Gloomy Woods and running into the first Fire Piranha Plants.

Passed the Paper Spear Guy dodge challenge this time! Yeah! :)

On the next screen we came across a load of Fire Piranha Plants. They attack by shooting a pair of small fireballs at Mario and Luigi or a giant fireball at Paper Mario. They also try to use their vine bodies to sling their bulbous heads at one of us. They sometimes do a fakeout one of these as well. Just like the Paper Spear Guys! Trying to keep me from passing the dodge challenge! You'll know if it seems shorter than usual.

It took almost every encounter with these things, but I finally passed the dodge challenge for them too! They kept getting a hit when I was one shy of reaching it and it was annoying for ages!

Anyway I levelled Luigi up to Flower Rank. I gave him an extra gear slot. I did the same for Paper Mario when he levelled up to Flower Rank too.

I found the Filler Gloves but didn't equip them on anyone.

Wiggler was up ahead in front of ANOTHER electrified fence! To blow up the left generator, we had to carry the bomb bud through sticky black goop, like what we had to deal with when racing the Yellow Yoshi earlier.

When we blew up the fence, we tried to follow Wiggler, but then Magikoopa intervened and attacked! The mission to defeat him started.

He also said he was the real Kamek, so I guess I won't call him Magikoopa anymore!

Saturday, 27 February 2016

1 Space Invaders Anniversary - J2ME Goodness!

Dear Readers,

Just thought I'd play some Space Invaders on my old mobile phone! I have a t-shirt that came out during the game's 30th anniversary. This is version 1.2.9 of the J2ME game, which came out on its... 27th anniversary. In two years time, it'll be the game's 40th anniversary.

You can choose to play the game with the Puzzle Bobble stage theme playing in the background, which I thought was a nice touch. There are other Taito game BGMs to choose from too.

I had a few goes with it and got a high score of 6,710 points. For a mobile keypad game, it mercifully only uses three buttons.

Friday, 26 February 2016

11 Final Fantasy Explorers - Facing Bahamut With Joe, Encasing Diabolos With Bix

Dear Readers,

Today, I'll talk about even more online adventures I went on with Joe and Bix.

Quest 1: "Sovereign of the Skies"

Defeat Bahamut. Mount Chaminil Summit. Along the Chaminil trail, I got a Crystal Surge to summon a Flan Princess. She wasn't giant like the other summons, but the notebook says she'll drop something rare if we're lucky. On reaching the summit, the weather was really foggy and blurry due to the snowstorm. However, I was able to do my Snow Banisher cataclysm here and things got much clearer! Bahamut was a tough but exciting battle and it was my first time facing him. Joe said he normally has trouble with him too. We won and headed back to town to meet up with Bix.

Bix changed job to Black Mage! At this stage they were EL 25. I was a bit ahead at EL 62 and Joe was even further ahead with EL 113.

Bix was running around us while I was trying to talk to Cid! He said I'm eligible for the final job aptitude exam. That'll be nice later.

Quest 2: "That Million-Gil Gaze"

Defeat 5 Ahrimans. Arha Marsh etc. This was quite fun. There was a good bit of slowdown as we faced the Ahrimans and Coeurls, so it was like bullet-time combat. I got the last one nicely with an Omnislash. How appropriate for Cloud to say "This ends here!" during it!

Quest 3: "One-Winged Angel"

Bix was pretty enthusiastic! Ran right ahead while Joe and I collected loads of stuff on the way to fight Shiva.

Quest 4: "Terrapin Treasury"

Quick and easy one. All 5 Gil Snappers were right there in Maxon Ravine when we started.

Quest 5: "Inspector from Home"
Quest 6: "The Joy of Collecting Items"

We collected our items quickly. I was able to do a Trance Surge kinda soon, but waited until we fought Shiva to do anything. It was a lot further in the quest but it was still fun!

Quest 7: "Immortal Firebird"
Quest 8: "Aptitude Exam: Geomancer, Alchemist"
Quest 9: "Gale-Force Lupine"

At the end of this quest, Bix was running around but their HP bar was completely empty! How were they not dead? Must've been a very close call! I tried encasing this eidolon but it didn't work.

I started using the fortune teller. It seems to be a good way to spend Play Coins if you have too many. You can get a chance to earn bonus money and crystal points too.

Quest 10: "A Moogle's Treasure"

Joe was getting ready for bed, so Bix and I just did the odd quick quest. We all talked a little bit about other RPGs. I hope Bravely Second is in good supply in the shops...

Quest 11: "Dark Despot"

I remember Diabolos being tough the first time I fought him and that was with three other people! It was just Bix and me this time, so it was quite tough indeed! We really missed Joe's healing powers. We did manage to defeat Diabolos though and I was able to encase him too!

Quest 12: "Wipe Out the Magitroops"

After this quest, Bix got the flashing red LED of danger so they had to charge their 3DS. As for me, I had to have mine charging the whole time we were playing, as it was low in battery when we started.

Thursday, 25 February 2016

2 Bravely Second - Outside Al-Khampis Questing, First Enemies, Desert, Aimee, Meeting Fiore DeRosa

Dear Readers,

Today I'll talk about some more stuff do to on getting started with this game.

The lady by the inn gives us a quest titled "Apron A-missing!" where Master Ginji's legendary apron was stolen by a thief. The rumourmongering lady tells us "A Secret Paradise", where we can find an enemy that can help us train up jobs very quickly. The man in front of the Spire of Learning gives us a quest about learning how to use StreetPass. The man on the bridge tells us about registering friends and passing them. The man at the south gate tells us about updating StreetPass information. The man in the dormitory by the fireplace tells us about summoning StreetPassed users in battle. We head back to the man in front of the spire and he thanks us and gives us some potions as reward. He's able to play the game with his granddaughter now!

On leaving  Al-Khampis, we speak with Agnès and tell her we've met with our "guide". They introduce themselves to one another and Magnolia tells us about rebuilding her homeland.

Now then! The world map! The music is nice and adventuresome. Day and night passes as well. A tutorial about "Rebuilding the Moon" shows up and says that it uses people met via StreetPass to help rebuild Magnolia's homeland. Wow, it's a simulation kind of thing. Like Actraiser or something.

We jump into the first battle too! It's against Harpies. The battle music... isn't as cool as the one in Bravely Default but it isn't bad. It may grow on me!

South of the town, Echo Herbs can be found.

Hmm... when you win a battle, you can get an option to accept a new challenger. Neat idea... it seems like it would save one from walking back and forth in level grinding sessions! There's a bonus multiplier as well, so that's a nice thing to add to the gameplay.

Then we fight Sandhoppers. They like to jump in the air like Dragoons or something. We take care of them easily as well. I like that the bestiary updates without having to examine what the enemies are, though I'm not sure why I thought it wouldn't.

Now I'm going to try something else: turning off the encounter rate entirely! It warns that it'll make it more difficult to gain levels but I'll just experiment for now.

We find the apron and the "Sandswept" chat comes up. Nikolai isn't used to the sandy winds but Yew and Janne are. Magnolia seems to be having trouble too and takes Yew's handkerchief, rather than borrow it. No sign of the apron thief anywhere.

Exploring the desert, there are a few places of interest, but I don't enter them yet. There's also this big sand tornado that seems to have something inside.

Back in Al-Khampis, this cut scene happens. A woman with a gun named Aimee is scolding her two soldiers for losing the apron they stole. So that's who it was!

We bring the apron back to the lady and she gives us an Ether for a reward and says that Master Ginji would make a meal as thanks.

In the dormitory, the one in the pointy yellow hat gives us another quest. "Collect Monster Bones" in a cave northwest of the oasis.

The rumour lady has another one, "The Rumored Adjunct Professor". It's a guy who can be found at the oasis.

The man on the bridge gives us a quest too, to beat up some Goblins that have been attacking crops. It's titled "Goblin Busters".

On leaving town again, we get a tutorial for "Brave & Default".

At night, Al-Khampis has no music but nice atmospheric wind blowing. Very pretty with the lights too. Inside the dormitory, there's no sound at all except for our own footsteps.

Leaving town once more, we get another scene where we ask Magnolia for directions to a cave, but she seems unsure of herself. Is she busted? It would appear so, until Agnès comes in and shows not suspicion, but sympathy! She thinks Magnolia is having trouble with directions, because it's an issue that's dear to her own heart! Nice save for Magnolia there!

We head to the oasis and meet this adjunct professor. He's here and he's introduced as Red Mage Fiore DeRosa. He likes the ladies. He seems to give us a choice to fight him. I wasn't expecting this. I decline to fight him for now. Maybe I should reconsider having the encounter rate turned off?

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

10 Final Fantasy Explorers - Continuing Adventures With Joseph and Bix

Dear Readers

Today I'll talk about some more adventures I went on with my American friends. Joseph and I started and Bix came on a little later. He had his Helldiver with him most of the time. It looks a bit like the Pokémon Fearow.

Quest 1: "The Immortal Firebird Returns"

Defeat Phoenix. Dell'antoni Bluffs. This time I managed to get an Omnislash in on it! I wasn't able to get a Magicite Surge on it in the last session we had.

Quest 2: "Secret of the Underwater Caves"

Defeat Leviathan. Travi Cove. New area for me! This battle was pretty silly and fun. Leviathan did these waves that kept wiping us out and sent us all the way up the beach again and again. Joe's monsters carried on the battle though as they seemed unaffected. Next time we face him I'll have to see if I can take cover. That move is like Surf in Pokémon Stadium.

When we got back to Libertas, Bix joined us. They were a little behind, so we continued doing their newest quests.

Quest 3: "Flame Djinn"
Quest 4: "Ice Queen"
Quest 5: "Thunder Sage"
Quest 6: "Aptitude Exam: Thief & Time Mage"
Quest 7: "Twisted Sister's Garden"

Did a nice victory lap around the tree after defeating Dryad here :)

Quest 8: "Magicite Permit Exam"

I think we went for Ifrit here but I'm not sure.

Quest 9: "Explore North Amostra"

The nice long trekking quest. I got a little nervous on this one, as my 3DS battery LED was starting to flash red with danger. Plugged it in right away after completing the quest.

Quest 10: "A Chocobo's Treasure"
Quest 11: "A Moogle's Treasure"

Cloud Magicite came in very handy against Ramuh here. The 1,000 needle Crystal Surge too!

Quest 12: "One-Winged Angel"

On the start of this quest, we had to wait for Bix while they had to do something, so we did some beachcombing! I also did the Sea Sunder cataclysm just for fun and to impress any ladies around with my Moses powers! Joe made an unintentional pun about Shiva looking really cool. Nice zinger there :)

Quest 13: "Accursed Serpent Eye"

After defeating the 5 lamias, we talked about Zelda memories, as it was the 30th anniversary of the first Zelda game's release.

Imagine a "Hunter" style of Zelda game? The Tingle game that came out here is close enough to being a hunter style of game, as there is lots of scavenging to do in it. You can hire a bodyguard in it as well, which is a lot like being a Beastmaster I'd imagine.

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

5 Splatoon - Pokémon Blue Wins the Splatfest! Blue is Beautiful! Blue is Best! We're Blue, We're Beautiful, We're Best!

Dear Readers,

Callie and Marie gave us the results and had a little bit of trainer banter!

Pokémon Red won in the polls with 64% to 36% in votes.

However, they lost to Pokémon Blue with 43% to 57% in game victories!

The final score is Pokémon Red's 322 to Pokémon Blue's 378. BLUE WINS!

Marie cheered for Blastoise and friends! Callie asked her about the traded Vulpix and how to change the nickname from BLUEISBEST, but Marie ignored her. She's the only one who can change the name! :)

I got the highest title for the Splatfest as Pokémon Blue King, so I won 24 Super Sea Snails. Woohoo!