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Lost this run to another croc attack while I was trying to collect to collect spider webs to create a bird trap. Honestly, I probably could have evaded by jumping in my boat and booking it to the nearest water meadow but...I didn’t. Eight or more crocs proved too much for Wilson with a half-broken log suit and a cutlass.

...It’ll probably be awhile before I jump into Shipwrecked again.

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Attempt 🥥

(*Sigh*)

(This was my base, pre-volcano season in Shipwrecked.)

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Time for Something Completely Different!

I actually really like trading card games and collecting IRL. Once upon a time, I was really into collecting Pokemon cards and Beanie Babies along with several much more obscure collectibles.

This time, I’ve decided to give My Hero Academia Trading Cards a shot (even if they’re not very popular). I like the fandom and I enjoy looking at the art, so why not? Plus, it’s an active fandom so they’re easily available!

And naturally, I decided to share this new interest with the internet.

My top two cards in the first pack! Shinso is my first character card (even if it’s only an uncommon rarity (UC)) and Stain’s Slashing Whirlwind is the only ultra rare card I got. It’s difficult to tell in this picture, but his card is shiny and looks very *special*, even if it’s not quite holo. Shinso’s my favorite, though!

The other two UCs from the same pack. They’re okay. The image used for Stain’s ‘Intimidating Presence’ is pretty good.

The rest of the cards, all commons. I’ve gotta admit, the two shadowy Stain cards gave me pause. It takes good lighting to tell they are Stain and not just shadowy Nomu profiles. I really like the Mei card, though!

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Subnautica

I really wanted to like this game. I really did. I love open-world survival games and I’ve watched at least two, maybe three full playthroughs of Subnautica since its full release. It looked like exactly the sort of game I’d enjoy.

...Unfortunately, despite the beauty of the environment, the complex creatures, and the strong basic plot, the actual playable experience - everything after the Sunbeam went down and before I found the last research facility - left me disappointed.

The good, the bad, and the ugly are beneath the cut. Also, spoilers.

The Good:

The Beautiful Environment

The Creatures

The Plot (when it’s present)

The Ending

The Bad:

It was excruciatingly slow

The lava slugs and stalkers

Lack of clarity and instruction

The hunger/thirst/oxygen mechanics

Resource allocation

The Ugly:

Glitches. So many Glitches.

Clipping

‘Accidental’ loss of playability

Playing behind/through the loading screen

Conclusion:

I think my expectations were too high going into this game. I expected so much to like it that I was surprised when it had some pretty serious problems and that made them seem all the more disappointing. In general, I’d recommend it for the impressively complex and beautiful world alone despite the somewhat lackluster integration of the plot.

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Dun dun dunnnnnnn

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Rebuilding the camp, take two. Still a long way to go.

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Attempt 🥥

(*Sigh*)

(This was my base, pre-volcano season in Shipwrecked.)

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(Rebuilding from the ashes. Note the drastically reduced health from an inopportune croc attack and the chests I had to cut down my forest to create. Don’t note the dead doydoy offscreen, the only half of the mating pair I managed to find before volcano season. There’s no point on looking for the second one now.)

(At least Baggins survived. He was holding some extra resources.)

A new boat was the next step after organizing the camp. It looks a little bit different (all of my cloth sail resources burned), but it’s fine.

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Attempt 🥥

(*Sigh*)

(This was my base, pre-volcano season in Shipwrecked.)

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(Salvageable resources. Anything remotely flammable went up in smoke along with every single structure.)

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Attempt 🥥

(*Sigh*)

(This was my base, pre-volcano season in Shipwrecked.)

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Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Attempt 🥥

(*Sigh*)

(This was my base, pre-volcano season in Shipwrecked.)

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Dark Deception Trial

Oh, I also played the first chapter of Dark Deception! Because that’s the only part available in the free trial. I’ll probably buy the whole game after chapter 5 comes out.

I agree with Steam reviewers; so far, the game really is like pacman and a horror movie mashed together. Not very complicated, but the atmosphere and backstory is interesting. Also, Malak’s door-eye just swiveling around while his disembodied voice tells you he can see you was way more hilarious than scary. Bierce, on the other hand, is super sketchy.

It reminds me of a much bloodier and faster paced Bendy. Sort of. I’m not sure why.

Murder Monkeys below the cut.

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Jurassic World Evolution DLC

There are four basic DLCS for JWE. Or, rather, three gameplay DLCs and a bunch of cosmetic and element DLCs that added a few dinos or dino color patterns each that I consider collectively as a single DLC, because they all do essentially the same thing. Add more dinosaurs.

All of the DLCs build on the basic game, though only one actually integrates with it.

My thoughts on each one:

Cosmetic/Dino DLCs: (This includes the raptor squad, herbivore, cretaceous, carnivore, and Deluxe DLCs) I thought I’d regret buying more dinosaurs, I really did, but then they all went on sale and I decided to go for it and...I was happy I did. Some of the new dinosaurs are now my absolute favorites. I never would have bought them at full price, but they were on sale for 50-85% off (each) during the winter sale. The new critters aren’t necessary at all, but...*shrug*. I had fun.

Claire’s Sanctuary DLC: This gameplay DLC was the least impressive. It was okay. I’m glad I played it. But I won’t play it again. Essentially, the plot is that you’re trying to save the dinosaurs on an island separate from the archipelago in the main game from a whole host of things. Only, after you’ve ‘saved’ all of the dinosaurs and prepped them to be transferred to ‘Sanctuary’, you find out you can only take a certain number with you. If you choose highly social herbivores at this point, you’re pretty much screwed once you reach Sanctuary. I didn’t; I’d played enough of the main game to know the basic natures of each animal so I picked the most...hm...sustainable choices. Carnivores and the least picky herbivores. Then there was this whole thing with paleobotany, population management, and limited funding...I honestly don’t remember how it ended, just that the ending was pretty weak.

Secrets of Dr. Wu DLC: My favorite DLC! It’s the only one that actually integrates with the core game and ramps up the difficulty. The fake dinosaurs it introduces are also pretty cool (ankylodocus, stegocerotops (I think?), spinoraptor). The the unmodified spinorapter is a ridiculously expensive and picky critter. If you can’t manage its social needs, you pretty much fail. I enjoyed how you unlock bits and peices of the DLC as you play through the main game and how the difficulty seems to scale with what you’re doing on the other islands. This is the only gameplay DLC that I played through more than once.

Return to Jurassic Park DLC: This one was fine. I enjoyed it more than Claire’s Sanctuary and it hit me right in the nostalgia which kept me pretty happy. Most of the time, this game felt like a mid-range difficulty island in the core game rather than its own thing. It was nice to see the old cast, though. The aviary and raptor pen were nice additions, too. I don’t remember the plot very well beyond ‘it’s the original cast trying to do Jurassic Park right’, but that was enough. Also, I think it’s kind of hilarious how the game keeps using random screenshots from the  movies instead of character images at times because they clearly don’t have the rights to display the actors in every part of the game. It’s not so noticeable when you’re mostly interacting with new characters created for the game, but when they lean towards using the actors...yeah, it’s obvoius. Especially when you scroll through the character list they provide.

In conclusion: I’m glad I bought the DLC. Yes, all of them. I probably wouldn’t have if they weren’t on sale, but for 50-85% off...? Even if I never play them individually again, I still enjoyed the experience and the various additions each DLC made to the main game.

For my own reference, I paid $43.41 for everything added together. That’s the core game, three gameplay DLCs, and five cosmetic DLCs. When not on sale, the same bundle would have been $122.91.

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Update!

It’s been way longer than I expected since my last update. Every time I finish or buy a game, I think ‘Huh. I could say THIS about the game on tumblr’ and then I don’t do it. But I feel like I did. Which leads to my never actually saying a single damn thing.

Since my last post, I bought and played all of he JWE DLC, the original Phoenix Wright trilogy, and Subnautica. I also bought Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster but haven’t gotten around to playing them yet.

I have things to say about all of them, to come soon. At least three posts, probably more for Phoenix Wright because I enjoyed it so much. Hopefully the first one will get up this weekend!

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3154. Extra Hot Cocoa

Hey all! We’re down to the last week for our 2022 Art Calendar from our Kickstarter campaign.

To get your copy of the calendar, please follow the link below:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1576925859/piper-thibodeaus-2022-art-calendar

FAQ  • Twitter  •  Facebook  •  Instagram  •  DeviantArt

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I wonder if anyone - literally anyone - wanted the most recent update. More ways to power up? Why? So the game can fleece its players for more money? I only just barely managed to rank some characters up to level 10 link slots, and now the devs are saying they need to be leveled to twice that to stay competent and said levels can only be gained with even more materials and grinding. Or buying. Did I mention the micro-transactions?

I did decide to stop banking orbs and sank everything I had into the current offerings. I managed to get Yoruichi, Tsukashima, and Hallibel (that splash screen was not necessary) from one and Jugram from the other. Jugram was the only character I even remotely wanted from the second set so I guess I’m glad not to have to do that one again. I don’t like Jugram as a character but he’s one of two characters with 10 second immunity in Brave Souls which is VERY important in pvp battles that rarely last more than 5-7 seconds. Or they didn’t until the 10s immunity became a thing.

My interest in this game is fading...

Brave Souls

I’ve been playing a truly embarrassing amount of Bleach: Brave Souls recently. It’s fun, but it’s one of those endless games fueled by micro-transactions that can easily become a burden on your time and bank account. Endless grinding for power-ups, or $3-75 to just buy the materials straight up? Decisions, decisions…

(…The answer is endless grinding. I make a point of never spending money on micro-transactions, no matter how tempting.)

That said, I love seeing the characters again and the artwork on the ‘cards’ is mostly amazing. I’m not a fan of the ‘paper doll’ style story-telling they do between the quests, but the enormous variety of characters that you can play as and fight against, each with different animations and attacks, makes the drawbacks worth it for me.

Now if only I could get my hands on those ‘beyond resureccion’ versions of the espada…

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Just finished the Chronicles Quest! It was a lot more trouble than the Story Quest, but at least it was shorter. I’ve also finished the entire story, all of the sub-stories, and received the first-run bonus for every power-up quest, character raid, and TYBW installment. I’ve also fully leveled up all of my 1-4 star characters and all but two of my 5/6 star characters. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve run out of ‘easy’ ways to earn orbs.

Oh, well.

I’m not sure how far I want to take this game, to be honest. It’s fun but time consuming. And endless. Increasingly endless, given the updates. However, not keeping up with the daily orders and news means progress can lag quickly if you don’t log in often. Plus, there’s no way to ensure you’ll get the characters that you want because they’re available as summons rarely, without warning, and if you’ve got the orbs to request a summons, you still don’t have any guarantee you’ll get the one you want. Spending ridiculous amounts of real world money on character packs is entirely out of the question. (Although even those are available only every so often with a limited selection.)

On the up-side, I had great luck with the CFYOW summons last month! Now I’ve got the beyond resureccion versions of Starrk, Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Zommari, Szayelapporo, Yammy, and Aaroniero! All I’m missing of that lot is Barragan, Hallibel, Nel, and Ulquiorra. I didn’t even try for the ‘zombie squad’ - I’m not really a fan of those characters.

My current espada lineup (minus standard 6* Barragan and Grimmjow and 5* Nnoitra and Ulquiorra):

Granted, that means I sunk what was left of my orbs into that so I’ve got precious few to try for anything this month, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. Looks like I’ll have to pass on the Cacao Society characters in the current summons.

These are the current options:

I really want the last three (Cacao Society Tsukashima, Urahara, and Starrk), but all I’ve been able to get is the first one (the new Nnoitra Summons). Hopefully, they’ll be available again at a later date when I’ve got more orbs.

Brave Souls

I’ve been playing a truly embarrassing amount of Bleach: Brave Souls recently. It’s fun, but it’s one of those endless games fueled by micro-transactions that can easily become a burden on your time and bank account. Endless grinding for power-ups, or $3-75 to just buy the materials straight up? Decisions, decisions…

(…The answer is endless grinding. I make a point of never spending money on micro-transactions, no matter how tempting.)

That said, I love seeing the characters again and the artwork on the ‘cards’ is mostly amazing. I’m not a fan of the ‘paper doll’ style story-telling they do between the quests, but the enormous variety of characters that you can play as and fight against, each with different animations and attacks, makes the drawbacks worth it for me.

Now if only I could get my hands on those ‘beyond resureccion’ versions of the espada…

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I'm having a really bad day. Do you have any pajama squid or other cute cephalopod photos you could post?

May the many blessings of all comfy pajame’d Cuethulhus be upon thee

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Brave Souls

I’ve been playing a truly embarrassing amount of Bleach: Brave Souls recently. It’s fun, but it’s one of those endless games fueled by micro-transactions that can easily become a burden on your time and bank account. Endless grinding for power-ups, or $3-75 to just buy the materials straight up? Decisions, decisions...

(...The answer is endless grinding. I make a point of never spending money on micro-transactions, no matter how tempting.)

That said, I love seeing the characters again and the artwork on the ‘cards’ is mostly amazing. I’m not a fan of the ‘paper doll’ style story-telling they do between the quests, but the enormous variety of characters that you can play as and fight against, each with different animations and attacks, makes the drawbacks worth it for me.

Now if only I could get my hands on those ‘beyond resureccion’ versions of the espada...

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Among Us: Mobile

No screenshot this time since I’m not playing it on my primary device.

Among Us. The hit game that blew up in popularity during quarantine after years of mediocrity. Everyone’s seen the memes and videos. Most of them are simple and silly. Every popular youtuber has played the game, usually with other popular youtubers.

...And, yeah. I can see why. It’s hilarious to watch the pseudo-scifi murder-mystery parties that form in Among Us lobbies. It’s great to see so many youtubers come together to have fun, especially since so many watchers are isolated in quarantine. We can vicariously enjoy their virtual gatherings.

However, playing solo on mobile, the game lacks most of what makes it so engaging to watch. Every round is a speedrun to complete tasks and every meeting is either short words or long pauses as everyone types their comments and accusations. Usually, the games last less than five minutes, probably less than three, and there’s no chance to attack/defend beyond the most basic requirements.

That’s not to say it isn’t fun, however!

It is fun to dash around trying to complete simple tasks while someone is stalking you (often unsuccessfully) and to bluff in as few words as possible. If you can catch a good lobby, you can stick with the same group for a while and it gets more fun as time goes by. There’s not really anything deeper to it, but there’s no time for that, given how fast the games pass.

It’s not what I expected, but it’s fun in an entirely different way than you usually see online.

...But if you’re playing with friends, I’d use the PC version. Best of both worlds.