#and apparently ragnarok was the last of the norse games? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

forthegothicheroine · 5 years

Text

Kamigami no Asobi recap, episode 5: Yui, Fighter of Gods

I’m resuming my recaps, now that I’m thinking about dating games/anime anyway! For those of you just joining me now, Kamigami no Asobi (which seems, from my investigation, to translate to “Mischief of the Gods” or “The Gods at Play”) is about Zeus abducting a teenage girl and forcing her to go to high school with a bunch of classical gods (whom he has also abducted with the help of Thoth.) She’s been doing her best to make friends with all the grouchy deities and have tender moments with as many as possible, even though Balder and Apollo have somehow decided they’re dating her based on only a couple conversations.

As a reminder, the following are features in these recaps:

Ragnarok Clock: How much closer is each episode getting us towards the flash-forward to Ragnarok in the first episode? Represented by the Watchmen clock with an extra snake hand.

Where is Odin? I feel like Odin should be here, but he’s not. Thus, I guess each episode what he’s doing instead.

Team __: Which heavenly consort I think Yui should go for in this episode.

Does Thoth push Yui up against a wall? It’s a thing.

Ready now? Good.

This is a Takeru episode, and I know very little about Japanese mythology, so I’m running off to wikipedia before this recap. Turns out he’s more widely known as Susanoo-no-Mikoto, god of storms and the summer, which explains his tiny speedo in the beach episode. He feuded with his sister, goddess of the sun, and was banished to the Earth where he had a series of heroic adventures. In this show, he looks like green Naruto.

Anyway, green Naruto doesn’t want to join any after school clubs in this farce of a high school combined with an existential prison, but Apollo thinks he needs a good dose of school spirit. Dionysus correctly points out that clubs are more fun than actual school- come to think of it, why isn’t Dionysus president of the drama club? That should be his whole deal! Anyway, moving on.

In the library, Thoth is doing what he loves best- pushing Yui up against a wall and demanding to know why she, a mortal shrine maiden, is not making a bunch of gods bow to her will. He refers to “the bimbo” (Balder), “the idiot” (Apollo), “the gloomy one” (Hades), “the imbecile” (Tsukito), “the drunk” (Dionysus), and “the dunce and the beanpole” (one of which is Thor and one of which is Loki, but they’re both skinny so I’m not sure who he means by which insult.) Come on, Thoth, not everyone can be the god of being brilliant. You don’t have to condescend.

Takeru is practicing EPIC HERO SWORDFIGHTING in the forest with a stick when Yui finds him. He engages her in some standard tsundere ‘you don’t actually care about me’ banter, but at least she finally tells him to stop calling her Weed. Yui’s horrible Zeus-given ragdoll abomination tells her to keep trying because the more a guy hates her, the more exciting it will be when they finally get together!

Don’t take advice from ragdolls given to you by Zeus, people.

Bad advice aside, Takeru and Yui actually do bond when he finds out she can use a sword. (It was one of the first shrine maiden things we saw her do back in the first episode, and she keeps periodically practicing throughout the show.) Specifically, she’s practicing the art of drawing out her sword, which as I understand it is the key mechanic in the game Bushido Blade. Plus the old guy in The Seven Samurai killed his sparring partner just by drawing his blade faster, so I believe it. Again, all this seems much more useful for Ragnarok prepping than high school shenanagins.

Takeru agrees to join a club if Yui beats him in a duel, which is a very anime way to resolve things. Yui agrees to hold an EPIC BATTLE against a LEGENDARY MYTHOLOGICAL SWORDSMAN to get him to join a SCHOOL CLUB and this is actually kind of awesome. I can see why people label Yui as one of the best reverse harem genre protagonists; she’s not just a blank slate, she has her personality and her pride. How many other reverse harem protagonists would duel a god to make him join a club?

He wins the first round because, again, legendary swordsman, but he’s also impressed that she didn’t run or show any signs of fear. He demands that she train more in order to fight him, and what if this show just turned into Dragon Ball Z as of this episode? It feels like a real possibility.

He runs her through some Rocky Balboa/Tonya Harding endurance and strength excercises as Hades watches jealously. Too bad, Hades, you got your shippy episode already. At least he’s not kidnap-prone in this adaptation. It’s a cool scene, even if a lot of it is static shots, and if I had video editing softward I’d want to do an old school AMV of this scene set to I’ll Make a Man Out of You.

They even go running in the rain, leading to her slipping and pitching off a freaking cliff. Takeru dives to save her Spiderman style, and it works out a lot better for Yui than it did for Gwen Stacy.

And then he has a flashback of his sister and explodes. What?

Suddenly, Takeru is super buff and dressed like Conan! It’s an improvement, even if his hair still makes him look like green Naruto. He’s earned back the divine powers that Zeus and Thoth stole from him, now that he has learned to empathize with humans. (Did I already mention that’s a weird moral for Zeus of all people to be teaching? Because it is weird.) Zeus is nothing if not inconsistent, however, and punishes Takeru for doing exactly what he was supposed to do. He gets put in a floating energy ball and there’s a pun about him being “suspended.”

Zeus threatens to expel Takeru from the school-prison, which is...exactly what Takeru wanted at the beginning of the episode, so it’s not much of a punishment. Loki is the only one who picks up on this, asking if he can also get out of this by flunking everything. But no! Those who are expelled get turned into eternal statues! This is bizarre, but at least it leads to a great imaginary moment for Loki

And woah, are we calling the guy Zeus-san now? What happened to Zeus-sama? I’d be polite and deferential as all freaking get out around Zeus if I were Yui.

Yui and Takeru get an angsty scene where they both try to shoulder the blame for what happened. Tsukito pops in to explain Takeru’s PTSD from having once seen a goddess fall off a cliff and then got unjustly blamed for it. I don’t know this myth, but we are starting to set up the idea of explaining away the gods’ most heinous actions, which I’ll be able to talk about with (slightly) more authority when we get to The Great Cassandra Retcon. But that isn’t for another couple episodes.

“Everyone always judges us based on the outside appearance”, laments the guy who looks like green Naruto.

Apparently Zeus didn’t actually know that the gods could break their shackles if they felt sufficient emotion, which seems like a pretty big thing to have overlooked. Turns out Takeru having that flashback and exploding caused an earthquake and destroyed part of this pocket dimension, which I’ll grant is a big problem, but still not justification for punishing the guy for doing what he was supposed to be doing. And did I mishear, or did Zeus just refer to himself as -sama?

Takeru tries to swallow his pride and apologize, but Yui (correctly) interrupts and says he has nothing to apologize for. Right to Zeus and Thoth’s faces! Wow! Yui should be starring in the next God of War game! She makes the same point I’ve been making, that learning to care about humans and feel their emotions is exactly what they’re all supposed to be doing. The other teen gods rally around her as she yells at Zeus that he’s the one who needs to learn about humanity and control his emotions, and I think Yui is about to actually overthrow Olympus (Hades makes it clear she’d have his backup) when Zeus finally backs down.

For a Japanese show involving Greek and Norse gods, that was a very Abrahamic episode.

Ragnarok Clock:

Same as last time, as the Norse gods were pretty quiet this episode.

Where is Odin? Odin is on an artisinal mead-tasting tour of craft breweries during this episode.

Team __: Team Takeru, surprisingly. That sword training montage was hot.

Does Thoth push Yui up against a wall? Yes, against a bookcase!

#anime #kamigami no asobi #mythology

20 notes · View notes

rossbowkerdigitalart · 5 years

Text

To me, one of the more important parts of my video game concept is the story, without it the planned trailer and the concept art doesn't mean much, to that end I wanted to do some research on the event in Norse mythology known as ragnarok, this is because the antagonists ofthe story are a cult that wish to bring on ragnarok, believing it will transform the world into a paradise. Of course I'd be taking liberties with the actual mythology so it would fit the mold of my story, but having a good grasp of the source material would help make my own story make sense.

Within the real world mythology of the Vikings, ragnarok was the cataclysmic destruction of everything in the universe, even the gods themselves. If you were to look at the tales from viking mythology as a linear timeline, ragnarok would naturally come at the end. To the Vikings, ragnarok was prophecy of an event that was to come at an unspecified and unknown time in the future, this had profound ramifications on how the Vikings understood the world in their time.

The word Ragnarok itself actually came from the old Norse word of ragnarök, meaning "fate of the gods." The event itself was referred to by a host of different names, such as in an apparent play on words, in some old Norse literature it was referred to as ragnarøøkr, meaning "twilight of the gods," as well as occasionally aldar rök, "fate of mankind," along with a host of other phrases and names.

The first sign of ragnarok the fimbulvetr, sometimes anglicised as Fimbulwinter, a great winter unlike anything the earth has seen. The winds would blow snow from all directions and the sun's warmth would disappear, plunging the world into unbelievable cold. This winter would last for three years without respite, mankind would be so desperate for food and other necessities of life that law and all morals would fall away, only leaving the struggle for survival. It would be the age of war, the string would survive.

Skoll and Hati, the wolves who had chanced the sun and moon across the skies since the beginning of time, will at last catch their prey. The sun, the moon, even the stars would disappear, leaving a dark void in the sky. The great tree Yggdrasil that hold the cosmos amongst its branches would tremble and all the trees, and even the mountains would fall to the earth. The chain that holds the monstrous wolf Fenrir would snap and the beast would run free. Jormungand, the might serpent that who dwells at the bottom of the ocean and encircles the earth, will rise from its depths, spilling the oceans across the land.

These convulsions would shake the ship Naglfar free from its moorings. This ship, which is made from the nails of dead men and women, would easily sail over the flooded earth. The crew of this ship would be an army of giants, creatures of destruction and chaos. And its captain will be none other than Loki, the traitor to the gods, who would have broken from the binds in which the gods had placed him.

Fenrir would run across the earth, his lower jaw against the ground and his upper jaw against the top of the sky, devouring everything in his path. Jormungand would spit his venom across the world, poisoning the air, land and water alike.

Sky would split and from the crack would emerge the fire-giants from Muspelheim. Their leader would be Surt, with a flaming sword brighter than the sun in his hand. As they March across the Bifrost, the rainbow bridge to asgard, the home of the gods, the bridge would fall and break down behind them. Heimdall, the divine sentry, would blow his horn to announce the time the gods fear most. Odin would then got to the head of Mimir for counsel.

Despite what the prophecies have said about the outcome of the fight, the gods would decide to go to battle. After arming themselves, they would got to Vígriðr, meaning "Plain where battle surges" to meet their enemies.

Odin would face Fenrir along with the einherjar, the host if his chosen human warriors that he had kept in Valhalla for that very event. Odin and his champions of men would fight with more courage than any others who have fought before. But this bravely would not be enough, Fenrir would swallow Odin and his men. Then one of Odin's sons, Vidar, would avenge him. On one of his feet would be the shoe that has been crafted for this very purpose; it has been made from the scraps of leather discarded by human shoemakers, and with it Vidar will hold open Fenrir's mouth. Then he will stab the wolf through the throat, killing him.

Garm, another wolf and the God Tyr would slay each other. Heimdall and Loki would do the same, putting an end to the gods treachery, but to great cost to the gods as it meant losing one of their best. The giant Surt and Freyr would also be the end of each other. Thor and Jormungand, the age old foes, would finally have a chance to kill the other. Thor would be successful in destroying the great serpent with blows from his legendary hammer, but the snake would have covered him in so much venom that he would not be able to stand much longer and he would take nine steps before falling dead himself.

After the mighty battle, the remains of the earth would sink below the waves and there would be nothing left but the void, making as though creation had never existed.

After this point in the tale, there are two outcomes that I could find; ragnarok is the end of all tales and the whole cosmos itself, but the other is a new, beautiful green world will rise from the water. Vidar, and 5 other gods: Vali, Baldur, Hodr and Thor's sons Modi and Magni would have survived the death of the old world and will live happily in the new one. A man and a woman, Lif and Lifthrasir, meaning life and striving after life, would have survived the cataclysm by hiding in a place known as the "Wood of Hoddmimir." These two would emerge from their hiding place and populate the land they find themselves in. This new land would be over looked by a new sun, the daughter of the previous one. And all of this would be presided over by a new, almighty ruler.

The latter opinion of how ragnarok would be resolved is the goal of the antagonists of my concept. They are what I'm referring to as the Cult of Permafrost and this cult wish to bring about the events of ragnarok so they can shelter themselves and emerge in the new world which would be a veritable paradise. They aim to accomplish this feat by following the instructions found within ancient tombs that were in turn found within ancient Norse burial sites.

The events of ragnarok would differ from the mythology though, the most drastic difference would be the gods themselves; the gods arent as the Norse mythology describes them, they're in fact a lot more livecraftian in nature. The gods are in fact completely alien, unknowable creatures which vastly go beyond our own comprehension, the very concept of dimensions do not apply to them, even visualising them for long enough, either by seeing or thinking about them would drive you mad. These creatures would be the basis of human religion, whether it be Norse, Aztec, Egyptian; it would all be derived from the existence of these beings.

The Cult of Permafrost in fact worship these beings, learning about them from the previously mentioned ancient tomes and the members known as the "high priests" would be the few that actually came into contact with these beings which often left them deeply scarred, though the cult sees this as a blessing instead of a curse.

Ragnarok wouldn't in fact be a battle like the viking's tales foretold, the entire event would actually be a lot more bizarre. Instead of a winter, Fibulwinter would be an instant freeze that would turn the oceans water to ice, people outside would also turn to ice and would shatter at the smallest impact, this would happen so quickly that everything would be normal and in a blink of an eye, everything would be converted in ice and snow. The initial freeze would quickly die and the world would be placed into a three year ice age, but more severe than any ice age ever seen, fire would refuse to burn and the sun would no longer provide heat until the sun would eventually disappear, along with the stars. It would not leave a void however, the black sky would instead have a dark purple hue and a subtle glow.

Earthquakes would follow as the cult's patrons, the unknowable beings, appeared in sky; their appearance would be so strange, so aberrant that the human minds failed to comprehend it. Their maddening affect would worsen the already violent conflict for resources as people began to destroy each other in their mad delusions. These earthquakes wouldn't make mountains collapse like the Viking tales prophesied, instead great, jagged monoliths would shoot through the ground towardd the sky in sharp angles.

These earthquakes would also break the ices that covered the seas and the oceans would convulce as the water spread across the land, leaving only the hills, mountains and the tall monoliths caused by the earthquake.

Ships that have previously sailed the ocean would sail it again in a ghostly form and anything they touched would turn to dust, be it animal or earth. The same would happen on the men and women that lived on the land as they began to walk the earth again, resuming their lives as if they had never been ended.

Space and time itself would begin to warp, took would slow and speed up. Visable ripples in the air would begin to float across the surface of the ocean and land. Items, people, buildings, even mountain would suddenly in random places before disappearing again. Black holes that warped space around them would begin to appear in the glowing purple sky as the cosmos began to deteriorate. From ripples in the air, unimaginable monsters would appear, killing anything in their wake.

The immosibaly large creatures that the cult so willingly worshipped would descend from their place in the sky and begin to wander the earth, paying no mind to the chaos below them.

The oceans, the land and whatever was left living would then experience the weather changing so rapidly that it could be captured with a blink an eye; the seas would begin to freeze once again before immediately boiling, then freezing, then boiling and on and on as meteors began to crash from the sky. As the large space rocks land into the seas, they would send title waves across what was left of the land, drowning it below the waves.

When only water is left on the planet, the ghostly figures from every point in time would continue their lives as the Cult's gods and the monsters lingered until the black holes in the sky expanded to encompass everything, leaving only those aberrant creatures, allowing them to recreate what they did to this world in whatever reality they would choose.

5 notes · View notes

twh-news · 7 years

Photo

Box Office: ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Is Marvel’s Most Risk-Free Movie

We are now one month out from the release of Thor: Ragnarok ― well, the domestic release, anyway. The 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe opens on Nov. 3 in North America, but it’ll start its overseas roll-out (as does every MCU movie) in advance of its domestic debut. In this case, we’re two and a half weeks away.

Obviously, I haven’t seen the film quite yet and have no idea about its quality. It’s no secret that I’ve adored the trailers, both in terms of its 1980s video game/Star Wars rip-off visuals and its quirky humor, although once again I must remind you that both prior Thor films were pretty funny as well. It occurred to me that this 17th movie, eight and a half years into this gonzo MCU enterprise, is arguably the least risky movie ever in the MCU.

By that, I mean essentially nothing is at stake, and there’s nothing to prove with the Taika Waititi-directed fantasy adventure movie. Putting aside the whole “It’s probably going to do just fine!” argument for a moment, this is the first time, at least since The Incredible Hulk, that a new MCU movie hasn’t been, if not “risky,” then at least in the position of proving that X, Y or Z could bring about an MCU hit. From Iron Man to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, there was almost always some burning question to be answered by the film’s financial reception. But this time out? Yeah, Thor: Ragnarok could pull a Good Dinosaur, and it really wouldn’t mean a damn thing. Let’s dive in, shall we?

First, this is apparently the third and final chapter of the stand-alone Thor movies. So, if this one underperforms, then I suppose the non-existent Thor 4 is in immediate peril. Second, we already know that Marvel movies can do big business outside of the summer season (Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Doctor Strange). Third, this third Thor movie isn’t really trying to prove anything whatsoever in terms of the MCU. It’s not trying to prove that Thor can play in the A-level MCU sandbox because Thor: The Dark World already did that. It’s not trying to prove that MCU fans and general moviegoers will go for far-flung fantasy because Guardians of the Galaxy proved that with flying colors.

If I may do a stroll down memory lane, Paramount/Viacom Inc.’s Iron Man proved the feasibility of the whole enterprise right from the get-go, while Universal’s Incredible Hulk, by doing about as well as Hulk five years earlier, made a slight case for the value of the MCU brand when there barely was such a thing. Iron Man 2 made more worldwide than Iron Man, proving that it was no fluke, while Thor showed (with a then-huge $449 million worldwide) that the MCU could get general audiences into a fantasy actioner based around Norse mythology, anchored by relative unknowns like Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston no less. And Captain America: The First Avenger showed that overseas audiences (and cynical domestic ones) would embrace a character named Captain America.

You don’t need me to explain what Walt Disney’s The Avengers proved, even if it sent Hollywood on a five-year wild goose chase trying to replicate the whole cinematic universe thing. Iron Man 3 made almost as much as The Avengers worldwide and proved that the MCU got a huge shot in the arm from The Avengers. Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier proved that they didn’t need a summer release date for a big hit, while the latter offered evidence of A) Steve Rogers popularity beyond the mere $371 million global gross of The First Avenger, B) the added value of Black Widow as a supporting character and C) the ability to wedge these films into specific genres as a way to differentiate them.

Guardians of the Galaxy was a kind of “We can do anything we want!” triumph, which is why it’s a shame that we’re only getting our first minority-led superhero movie in early 2018 and our first female-led one in early 2019. But I digress, James Gunn’s allegedly risky outer-space adventure, based on characters that even somewhat hardcore comic fans have little knowledge of, proved that Marvel was in itself a brand, like Pixar, and that the biggest marketing draw for an MCU movie was that it was an MCU movie. That came in handy the next year with Ant-Man, as Edgar Wright’s surprising departure and the character’s B (at best) status still yielded and leggy and kid-friendly $519 million hit on a mere $130m budget.

Skipping back two months, while some may have carped when Avengers: Age of Ultron “only” made $458 million domestic (down from Avengers’ $623m) and “only” $1.4 billion worldwide (versus $1.5b for The Avengers), the film (still Marvel’s biggest overseas grosser) showed very little signs of slowdown. And a year later, Captain America: Civil War did almost identical business, give or take, to Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Whether or not the surefire hit had anything to prove, it was a case in introducing new heroes for future franchises, as we met Black Panther and Spider-Man during the Steve versus Tony moral showdown. If nothing else, it showed the consistency of the “mythology episode” MCU May summer kick-off movies.

5.5 years after The First Avenger and 1.5 years after Ant-Man, Doctor Strange showed that the MCU could still introduce a major new superhero, as the Sorcerer Supreme movie pulled in Phase 2/Phase 3-level bucks ($678 million) despite being closer in spirit to the Phase One origin story movies (that’s not a criticism, I would argue Wonder Woman plays like a Phase One MCU movie and The First Avenger remains my favorite MCU film). And then, just a few months ago, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 showed that James Gunn’s franchise could potentially be the new ringleaders of the MCU after Tony Stark presumably steps down from that role in two years, while also proving that an MCU movie without Iron Man could top $800m worldwide.

With $878 million worldwide and counting, Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming proved that A) Spidey was still an A-level property and B) putting him into the MCU indeed increased his value, again showing that the best marketing hook for an MCU movie was that it was an MCU movie. It also showed that Marvel could play nice with others. And through it all, there has been a relatively consistent drumbeat, not unlike Pixar, over the notion that THIS TIME, the movie wasn’t going to work for one reason or another. Thor was too mythical/obtuse for audiences, Captain America wouldn’t play overseas, Ant-Man was too small and too troubled, Guardians of the Galaxy was just too out there, etc., etc. And, thus far, they have essentially batted 1.00.

That’s what makes Thor: Ragnarok somewhat unique. Regardless of whether it’s any good or not (and lord knows I’ve been a nitpicky grouch for the last 2.5 years), the Chris Hemsworth/Tom Hiddleston/Cate Blanchett/Mark Ruffalo/Tessa Thompson/Jeff Goldblum actioner has absolutely nothing to prove and essentially nothing at stake. If by some fluke it flops, it won’t do any damage beyond its own arguably finished franchise, while giving the MCU a “my first kill” theatrical flop. We know that November MCU releases can work, that far-flung MCU fantasy is commercial and that Thor, Loki and Hulk are popular characters. They can get back to “proving” themselves with Black Panther and Captain Marvel. Thor: Ragnarok is essentially a freebie.

#thor ragnarok #speculations

27 notes · View notes

tipco613 · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on http://cryptonewsuniverse.com/best-slots-you-can-play-with-bitcoins/

Best Slots You Can Play with Bitcoins

The online casino industry was one of the first industries to start accepting cryptocurrencies.

The blockchain technology that cryptocurrencies operate on worked well with the online casino industry as online gamblers wanted to maintain their anonymity and not disclose their personal or financial information. Online casinos that adopted cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin – which is the most popular cryptocurrency in the world saw many of their players opt to use Bitcoin as their banking method. Today, there are a number of online casinos out there that allow players to use Bitcoin to play online slots, online poker and other games. Here is a popular choice. Bitcoin’s appeal as a low-key, efficient, and cheap means of money transmission has finally led to its widespread usage in casinos and their video slots. It’s certainly a hit among operators and online bettors seeking lower chargeback risk, reduced fees and a way to get around legacy payment systems. With that in mind, here are the 5 best slots you can play with Bitcoin.

5. Greedy Goblins by Betsoft

Greedy Goblins by Betsoft Software is one of the most popular online slot games that accepts bitcoins. It’s a 5-reel, 3-row, 30-payline slots game that can be played on both regular computers like PC desktops and notebook laptops as well as mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. This magical forest and monsters adventure game features both free spins and a progressive jackpot. This online slot has an encouraging RTP rate of 97.2 percent. The game is the sequel to Once Upon a Time, which also features the same goblin villains on a medieval fable or fairy tale setting. Its plot involves a magical forest setting full of the avaricious and covetous titular creatures going up against the brilliant-minded, adorable elves.

If the game proves to be to your tastes, you should have an easy time immersing yourself into its plot, which involves insatiable monsters keeping a watchful eye on every move you make and every win you get. The value of the coins can go from ¢2 to ¢5. You can also bet up to 30 pay lines with 5 coins per line, so the maximum bet spin should cost you $150 or its equivalent value in Bitcoin. That might sound like loads of money, but Greedy Goblins has an ironically huge maximum payout of 1.2 million credits.

4. Book of Pyramids by SoftSwiss

The Book of Pyramids is an online bitcoin slot by SoftSwiss. This 5-reel, 3-row, and 9-payline video slot has an Ancient Egypt theme and offers up to 33 free spins as a bonus. The online slot can be played via desktop computers, tablets and smartphones. This popular Bitcoin slot game has a generous RTP rate of 97.13 percent. Thematically, Book of Pyramids uses one of the oldest themes in the book when it comes to slots.

It doesn’t break new ground in terms of its Egyptian-themed presentation, as seen in its use of Egyptian artifacts and hieroglyphic symbols like pyramids, tombs (with gold playing cards), the Eye of Horus, the Eye of Rah, the Bastet cat, pharaohs, the scarab symbol (for the scatter), the Ankh, and Egyptian headrests. Although the game trudges through a well-beaten path, it’s still fun to play and easy to understand. Its creators are particular about numerology since all the numbers on the game are quite specific. For example, 3 or more scarabs can activate 11, 22, or 33 free spins. Furthermore, the best paying payout awards you 9,999 times your line bet if you get a 5-of-a-kind line. The second best is at 6,666 times, the third best is 3,333 times, the fourth best is 888 times, and so forth. Finally, the 9-payline slot is able to differentiate itself from other Egyptianesque slot games with its colorful graphics and decoration-rich interface.

3. The Ninja by Endorphina

The Ninja by Endorphina is another popular bitcoin friendly online slot. This online slot has a theme involving a ninja battling against a group of modern-day covert agents. The Ninja slot also features free spins and a 3D wild symbol on top of the ability to deposit and withdraw using bitcoins.

The mobile-friendly game is a 5-reel, 3-row, and 20-payline virtual slots machine. It also features a generous 96.13 percent RTP rate. The fascinating world of The Ninja showcases a feared and famous spy who’s so good he has earned the eponymous title as a badge of honor. The immersive and fun online slot game from Endorphina involves loads of thematic stealthy action translated into slots iconography. In terms of gameplay, it’s filled with free spins and bonuses that are represented by the most beautiful of animations throughout every spin attempt. You’ll feel like a spy gathering loads of intel and gaining hidden money wired to your bank account thanks to the many possibilities of winning cash rewards within the slots. The option to use a cryptocurrency also adds to the game’s mystique.

2. Platinum Lightning by SoftSwiss

This bitcoin-enabled slots game is another SoftSwiss hit and is called Platinum Lightning. This esoterically themed yet casual-friendly virtual slot machine game is a 5-reel, 3-row, and 25-payline game. In terms of reward opportunities, the game includes gambling rounds, a wild symbol, and loads of bonuses. It has a 96.29 percent RTP rate.

Instead of an Ancient Egypt theme a la the Book of Pyramids, Platinum Lightning has an Ancient Greek Mythology (also Roman Mythology) theme this time around, with a dash of Norse and Scandinavian Mythologies thrown into the mix. This has resulted in a hodgepodge of gods and events, like Thor going face-to-face against Hercules (or Heracles) as well as Zeus (or Jupiter) dealing with Ragnarok and the Titans side-by-side with the All-Father himself, Odin. Gameplay-wise, Platinum Lightning also has a lot going for it, from reels filled with mythological creatures like the Minotaur serving as the bonus symbol to Zeus Lightning serving as the Scatter of the game, which you can win if you have 3 or more of the lightning symbol anywhere on the reels. The Wild symbol is the ship that substitutes all symbols in the slots except for the Scatter symbol. To set your bets, click on the 3 lines to open the betting panel.

1. Satoshi’s Secret by Endorphina

Last on our list of best online slots that you can play with bitcoin is Satoshi’s Secret by Endorphina. Satoshi’s Secret is a 6-reel, 3-row, and 20-payline video slots game that’s both mobile-friendly and Bitcoin-friendly. It is currently one of the most popular Bitcoin slots available because of its meta-fictional theme. In terms of its rewards system, it includes gambling rounds, wild symbols, and quite a number of bonuses. It also offers a flat 96 percent RTP rate.

Even though it has the lowest RTP rate among the games featured on this list, it remains immensely popular because it’s thematically about hacking and literally about bitcoins. It offers symbols and icons like the bitcoin sign, letters of the alphabet, and even the symbol for the hacker character himself. Satoshi’s Secret is apparently about hacking for bitcoin, almost to the point that the slots game appears like an advertisement for the cryptocurrency. Its highest paying symbols include the hacker, the pound currency symbol, the euro currency symbol and the dollar currency symbol.

Its plot involves hackers hacking, social engineering, and phishing for the infamous virtual coin. You can choose between coin sizes and set the number of coins per line. It has a Wilds symbol in the form of a chip that has the word “Wild” written on it and it can substitute for all symbols save for the Bonus Bitcoin Padlock symbol. Bitcoin is already used widely in many online casinos and has quickly become a primary funding method at many. Adoption seems to be accelerating, and not just for Bitcoin, but numerous other crypto currencies like Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin as well.

Article Produced By Crypto News

https://usethebitcoin.com/best-slots-you-can-play-with-bitcoins/

#bitcoin #cryptocurrency #markethive

0 notes

ciathyzareposts · 4 years

Text

Ragnarok: Gods and Giants

About how it goes every time I face a new monster.

Playing Ragnarok is a process of repeatedly convincing yourself that your character is getting stronger and you’re getting better and then suddenly getting torn apart–quite literally–by the next level of foe. That’s not quite a complaint, but it’s inescapable that while the main game is about as difficult as NetHack, its worst foes would have the Wizard of Yendor for lunch.

I spent the bulk of this last session finishing up the dungeon beneath the opening forest. The dungeon consisted of 3 levels and 27 screens, and the key plot reason to be there was to obtain Odin’s spear, Gungnir, from Vidur. As I closed my last session, I was having no luck even scratching Vidur let alone killing him. I tried it hastened with Potions of Speed; I tried it invisible; I tried it under the influence of a Potion of Phasing, which doubles your armor class. He still kept killing me in one round.

Maybe don’t eat random mushrooms.

I took time to explore the rest of the dungeon to strengthen my character and hopefully find more valuable items. Some notes from that process:

The levels aren’t all randomly generated. Even when they are, there are rules set on some of them to avoid exits on certain sides of the map. The Temple of Vidur on Level 3 is only supposed to be accessible from a hole on Level 2, not any of the other Level 3 maps. However, a Wand of Tunneling or a pick-axe can undo such intentions–sometimes.

More intrinsics: fire dragons confer fire resistance; “blurs” make you faster (although I think just temporarily); wraiths give you level increases, although at a certain point they stopped working. Through other means that I didn’t fully note, I have also acquired resistances to petrification and death rays.

This sounds so unappealing.

There’s one mushroom that fills you up when you eat it. The others are not worth experimenting with.

Kalvins are horrid, hateful monsters who swipe one of your eyes out with every hit. It turns out that a blessed potion of curing will regrow an eye, but I was so traumatized by my temporary blindness that the next time I found a Scroll of Extinction, I used it on Kalvins.

Worse that Kalvins are Zardons. They can send out a piercing wail that hits you for about 50 hit points at a time from anywhere within the dungeon level. Guess what else soon went extinct?

I’m not sure I should have this kind of power.

One damned hit from a werewolf is enough to give you lycanthropy, which requires a blessed Potion of Curing to cure. Scrolls of Blessing aren’t so common that I like wasting them on this.

On the matter of Scrolls of Extinction, I can’t be the only roguelike player who has secretly thought that if I just find enough of them, I can genocide every monster in the game.

I keep finding Amulets of Quickening, which double my speed and are thus incredibly useful. But they have limited duration, and then they run out, they turn into something called “Eyes of Sertrud.” I have no idea if they do anything in their “Sertrud” form.

A couple of enemy types are capable of reproducing faster than you can kill them. One is these little tiny things called “secitts.” The second are tree creatures called “faleryns.” I had to abandon a dungeon level to the latter creature when they wouldn’t stop multiplying, but I gained about 15 levels trying to kill them all. If I need to grind, I’m going back there.

You guys can have this dungeon level. I’m just trying to get to the stairs.

The best spell scroll combination I’ve found is a Scroll of Blessing with a Scroll of Enhancement. Use the former on the latter and then the latter on a piece of armor or a weapon, and you soon have a +13 (or higher) item. I’m carrying a +14 mirror shield and a +13 silver sword because of that combination.

Some of the scrolls are “diaries,” which give you hints.

Glad I got this hint because I would have thought this was bad.

Something weird happened with my strength. For a long time, it was stuck at 18.99, and I figured that was the highest, but at some point it rolled over to 19-something and has been continuing to grow towards 20 ever since.

At some point, I acquired the “Psi Blast” power. I have no idea when it happened or why. It doesn’t seem to do very much damage.

When I hit Level 20, I got the “Fletching” skill, which allows me to make arrows out of woods. Since “Terraforming” allows me to turn any square into woods, I basically have all the arrows I want. Anyway, I took the game’s offer to change classes and changed to a conjurer. I spent 20 levels as a conjurer, skipping the first offer to change, because I hardly gained any spells. Even after 20 levels, I can only cast “Set Recall” (which only helps if you have a Scroll of Recall), “Reflect,” “Draw Life,” and “Illusory Self.”

Casting spells. I thought I’d have cooler spells.

At Level 40, I changed to a blacksmith. Somewhere along the way, I read a couple of Scrolls of Knowledge and obtained the “Fennling” skill, an extremely useful skill that lets you combine the charges of two wands of the same type. I also got “Relocation,” which lets me teleport on demand, “Ironworking,” and “Taming.” I haven’t really experimented yet with the latter two.

When I was done exploring, I went back to the Temple of Vidur. He still killed me instantly, but this time I had one new item: a Wand of Death. It only had two charges, but one of them took care of Vidur nicely (unfortunately, not before he killed my new companion, whose release so enraged Vidur in the first place). Gungnir was on his body, and apparently I’m too weak to wield it.

The first god falls.

I headed back to the surface and found the forest absolutely swarming with monsters. They’re low level, and no danger, but they’re so thick that I can barely move. Thankfully, my teleportation abilities get me through. They seem to respawn as fast as I kill them. I wondered if Ragnarok had started while I was in the dungeon or whether carrying Gungnir brings the to me.

My reputation must have taken a hit while I was underground.

While I was in the forest, I happened to note an icon I hadn’t seen before. I (L)ooked at it and the game told me it was Thokk, the giantess who refused to cry for Baldur, meaning I’d have to bring her soul to Hela to get Baldur out of hell. I slipped on my Ring of Soul Trapping and killed her with a single blow. I made the mistake of not taking off the ring afterwards, and her soul was immediately replaced by the new slain enemies’. That required me to reload a significantly older game and replay Vidur’s temple again. The second time, I found Thokk in the same area and took off the ring after capturing her soul.

Part of one quest down!

Lacking guidance on exactly where to go, I escaped the monster hoard by jumping through a portal. It took me to Slaeter’s Sea and some other outdoor maps that kind of wrap around the opening forest, including the River Vid and the River Gioll. I can just stroll across the water because I have Skidbladnir (the magic boat) in my pocket.

The River Vid is mostly water.

I soon found out that if you go the wrong way out of these areas, you wind up in the open ocean and you immediately get attacked by Jormungand. The first time I found him, he damaged me for -60302 hit points. (I had a maximum of 452 at the time.) I tried the Wand of Death on him but it didn’t work. He’s also inescapable. I suspect you’re just not meant to go into these areas.

I suppose if I could kill Jormungand, I wouldn’t need to do anything else.

But there’s an enemy that roams the rivers and lakes of this “outer rim” that’s almost as deadly as Jormungand: the lorkesth. He gets like 5 attacks per round and does massive damage. He’s the reason I can’t just blithely stroll through the areas (the other enemies are relatively easy at my level). I have to watch very carefully for their appearance and use my teleportation ability to get to a safe square of land. There’s no outrunning them, since they can move three times for every move I make. If I stand one square away from the water, I can defeat them with throwing weapons and wands, but like any monster they may auto-generate at any time. If I get another Scroll of Extinction, they’re going to be strong candidates.

I like to think I’m skipping these shurikens along the water.

To the west, the world ended at the Bifrost. (Which I have been unable to take seriously since I discovered it’s properly pronounced “beef roast,” although I think it’s cool that the Norse conceived it as a rainbow. So many things in mythology are dark and dreary.) I figured it was too soon to go to Asgard, so I went the other way. Mapping in this game is complicated; I’ll explain more thoroughly in my next entry. Suffice to say that the particular section of maps I was in ended to the west at the Bifrost and east at the River Gioll. The Gioll map had some patches covered in fog and a river swarming with lorkesths, but oddly no other enemies or items on the map. For some reason, my Ring of Locus Mastery doesn’t work, meaning when I teleport, I just teleport to a random place. Something is also causing me to teleport frequently even if I take off my Ring of Relocation.

In the middle of a patch of fog on the east side, I ran into a character named Harbard. He was rooted in place and didn’t pursue me, but if I walked up to him, he killed me in a couple of blows. So I stood a couple squares away from him and hit him with the second and last charge in my Wand of Death. His body disappeared in the fog, but when I walked and stood upon it, the game told me that there was a staircase. Taking it led me to Niflheim.

Hell looks a lot like Maine in April.

I immediately had one of those moments that I described in the opening. I had been killing fire dragons and frost dragons in single blows, so I wasn’t bothered by the “hel dragon” heading in my direction–not, at least, before he killed me in one attack that left me with -1,006 hit points.

My brief foray into hell.

Upon reloading, I tried again, taking pains to avoid the dragon, and I did come across some luck when I stumbled on a Wand of Wishing with three charges. I immediately wished for another Wand of Death, and while it worked fine against the next hel dragon, it did nothing against the unique enemies of the area, including Konr Rig and Plog. I reluctantly returned to the surface and decided to try again when I was stronger, although given the fact that I’ve already maxed in most of the game’s classes and I have incredibly powerful equipment and near-max strength (I assume, since it’s now going up by decimals instead of integers), I don’t know what “stronger” is going to look like.

Still, I moved north from the River Gioll to what turned out to be the mountainous realm of Jotenheim. I expected to meet a lot of giants but mostly found the same creatures from previous areas, including a lot of faleryns, who fortunately didn’t seem to be as interested as replicating as they were in the dungeon. Teleport control still doesn’t work, which makes it hard to explore systematically.

The transition to Jotenheim.

After I cleared most of the map, there remained an impenetrable rectangle of mountains and trees. Figuring it must hold something interesting, I used my “Terraforming” ability to change a tree into regular ground. Inside the rectangle was a small building populated by a large foe named Gymir. He had the decency not to kill me in a single blow, but his attacks were capable of doing more than 100 damage each. I quaffed a Potion of Speed and a Potion of Curing and proceeded to kill him in legitimate combat. He left behind Mimming, Freyr’s sword. I’m too weak to wield it.

My character doesn’t just chop down trees; he changes the very nature of the landscape.

Jotenheim continued for two maps to the north. To the north of that was “Mimer’s Realm,” a map of mountains, lava pools, and fog. A new monster called “iridorns” were introduced. They can kill in a single hit by ripping off your head, although they die pretty easily if you can strike them first. With Mimer’s Realm, I found Mimer’s Well, mentioned in the backstory as the residence of the serpent Aspenth, the transformed version of Gjall, Heimdall’s horn. But I need the “Swimming” ability to navigate there and I don’t have it yet.

My character at the end of this session.

At some point, while exploring Jotenheim, Heimdall’s voice bellowed from the sky:

O great heroes of the world! I must have Gjall to rally the forces of good. Time begins to grow short. The sea rages with the anger of Jormungand. The earth quakes mightily. Loki seems ready to burst his bonds. The moon and sun shall soon be swallowed by the mighty wolves Fenrir and Garm. Surtr is honing his sword of destruction. The evil ones are gathering their forces.

To speed you in your quest, I will use my powers over nature. The lesser creatures of the realm shall grow weary and despair. They shall no longer wish to battle against your might.

This announcement suggests the game has a time limit (and also that Heimdall just removed my ability to easily grind). I’m going to explore to the north a little further, but if nothing pans out, I’ll use my Wand of Wishes for Scrolls of Knowledge and see if I can pick up the swimming ability. At this point, I have three of the six quest items. If I can get one more, it might be worth heading to Asgard.

Time so far: 15 hours

*****

B.A.T. II: The Koshan Conspiracy was going to be next, but I’m not sure how it got on my list in the first place. None of my sources call it an RPG, not even a hybrid. I can’t find evidence that any commenter defended it as an RPG. I’m dumping it unless someone can make a persuasive case. The Adventure Gamer already covered it if you really need to read about it.

That means we get to our first random roll for the next game on the list! Pulling up the list, adding a “Random” column, filtering out games I’ve already played or rejected, we get . . . Xenus II: White Gold (2008). But of course I’m not going to play a game before its predecessor, which in this case is Boiling Point: Road to Hell (2005). That’s also the first game on my list from Ukraine. I can’t find mention of any other necessary precursors. But I’m just kidding because I’m not going to let myself jump that far ahead in one go. The actual next game needs to be in the next year I have not yet played, and a random selection from that year brings us to Shadowkeep 1: The Search by the same author as the Bandor series. Meanwhile, Planet’s Edge gets moved up a notch to Game 358, but I’m having trouble with that one. DOSBox crashes every time I try to leave the intro screen. So the real next game might be Ishar while I try to solve that problem.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/ragnarok-gods-and-giants/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

0 notes