Dragon Ball Xenoverse!!!

This post is about a game I bought a couple days ago (at the time of this post) called Dragon Ball Xenoverse. If you could not tell it's based off of the critically acclaimed anime/manga franchise Dragon Ball Z.


LOGO!!!

Now before we get to this game I did my research (plus I actually watch the anime) so there are a few things you need to know in the event you have never heard of dragon ball z.

First, the series has the titular "dragon balls" which are orange round spheres that, when you collect all seven, summons a dragon that will grant whoever summoned him a wish as a reward for their efforts. The dragon, named Shenron, will grant any wish as long as it does not make you stronger than Shenron or the person who created him. So no, you can't wish to become a wish granting dragon. Though that would be awesome.

Second, the series has LOTS of aliens in it. Even the main hero of Dragon Ball Z is an alien. That looks like a human.

Third, this series is of Japanese origin. Hence, the opening theme song in this game is in Japanese. It's not my fault you can't understand it if you don't know Japanese.

And finally, 90% of the major characters are stronger than Super-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and just about every superhero you can think of. Just look at the character Frieza. He blew up an entire planet just by pointing his finger at it.

Anyway, now onto the game. NOTE: IF YOU JUST NOW HEARD OF DRAGON BALL Z AND WOULD LIKE TO GET INTO IT, THIS BLOG POST MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS.

The Story of Dragon Ball Xenoverse is basically, super far into the future a character every dragon ball fan loves (a half human half alien swordsman named Trunks) uses the dragon balls to wish for a warrior to protect time itself because a a duo of time travelers are messing up Dragon Ball Z. And making villains stronger than they should be. Like this.


Need I say anymore?

And when Trunks makes his wish, Shenron gives him your character. You create your own character by the way. So all you D.B.Z. fans out there can finally live out those fan-fictions of a Saiyan version  of yourself fighting alongside characters such as Goku (he's the guy glowing red in the picture above) and Piccolo.

The story is a unique change in Dragon Ball Z video games, because previous Dragon Ball video games were just a shame-less rehash of the anime. The anime is good and all, but still.

Now for game-play. Like I said, you create a character that can be from one of five races: Earthling (the Dragon Ball version of humans), Namekians (tall green dudes with stretchy arms), Majins (Giant Kirby-esque creatures that are adorable and hilarious), Saiyans (visually identical to humans, but with superpowers) and the Frieza Clan (lizard/dinosaur people with magic). Furthermore you can choose gender with the Majins, Saiyans, and Earthlings.


Example of a player created character.

As Dragon Ball Z is a fighting manga/anime series, there is a LOT of fighting in this game. Basically your character moves around in full destructible environments. You have light attacks that are fast, but don't do that much damage, and strong attacks, which can be charged up for stronger blows.

You also have a projectile, though what it does will depend on your character's race (EXAMPLE: Saiyans can rapid fire homing shots, while the Frieza Clan shoot a single slow moving energy ball that freeze foes in place).

Also, all five races can fly. How do they fly? I don't know. Ask Bandai Namco! But that means that the all fights allow for 360 degree movement at almost ANY angle. Which is really cool.

Another thing to note is your character can have four "Super" attacks equipped. Super attacks are stronger than regular melee attacks but consume a little energy gauge directly below your health bar. Then there are ULTIMATE attacks. Basically Ultimate attacks are screen nukes. Some of the really good ones (i.e. Death Bomb, Special Beam Cannon, etc.) are almost guaranteed instant-kill moves, but only if they connect.

And when your not fighting you can explore a town with a hilarious name (Tokitoki City). And you can gather the seven dragon balls and summon this guy...


Shenron!

You can even have Shenron grant you a wish and there are some really good wishes like getting a stupidly overpowered Ultimate Attack, or a instant Level Up (your character levels up as you play the game. The higher the level the stronger your character).

for more info please go to the wiki.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate!!!

This post is about Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (which came out roughly a month ago). First of all I do not have this game because something really obnoxious is that it's a 3DS exclusive. Which is annoying to me because I have no handheld video game systems whatsoever.


LOGO!!

For those that do not know what Monster Hunter is (and you probably should because they are great games and I blog about them a LOT) Monster Hunter is a action/role-playing game franchise where you fight epic bosses, and turn the in-game rewards into weapons and armor to help you fight tougher bosses. 90% of the time tougher bosses give better gear.

Anyway, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is the most recent game in the franchise (ignoring the Japan exclusive Monster Hunter Frontier), being a Western remake of Monster Hunter 4. How is it a remake? The addition of new monsters (most of which are from previous games) and giving all the previous monsters English names (even though some of the translations are silly, like Goa Magara somehow translates to Gore Magala. Basically the same thing! And Dara Amadyura translates to Dalamudur, though that translation does kind of make sense)

 
Gore Magala!

Anyway Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has a heavier focus on the story. It's not going to beat Xenoblade Chronicles or Ni no Kuni in the story compartment. Speaking of which a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles X is coming out tomorrow (at the time of this post).

The story of Monster Hunter in a nutshell is basically, your Hunter is hired by the Caravaneer (a dude with an amazing cowboy hat and equally amazing accent) to help him learn about a shiny gold thing he found a few years ago called the Article (yes. Don't judge him by what he finds).

Oh and you have to also pursue Gore Magala in the meantime because it can spread diseases around entire countries in a matter of minutes. Basically a plague starter. So yeah, nobody wants a terrifying dragon thing spreading the plague everywhere. Actually, now that I think about it, Gore Magala just looks like a bigger angrier version of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon!

But anyway, despite the fact that story is of major importance this time around, it still has the fun good game-play of a Monster Hunter game. You choose a weapon type from one of fourteen (technically twelve as two weapon types are identical but one is bigger than the other). My favorite out of the bunch? It's a tie between the Great Sword and the Gun-Lance. And Yes, the Great Sword is as GREAT as it sounds. Puns! In fact if you've never played a Monster Hunter game before here is a overview of some of my favorites.

SWORD AND SHIELD!



The Sword and Shield is a simple weapon with lots of combos and is relatively fast, but it has poor reach and most Sword and Shield weapons suffer from a low Raw Damage stat (basically how much damage you do per attack). It got a buff in this game and now has a charge-able jumping slash attack that enables infinite combos. This is designed to be a weapon for beginners.

GREAT SWORD!



The Great Sword (one of my favorite weapons) is often ignored by beginners because this Weapon type is painfully slow. BUT IT HAS THE BEST RAW DAMAGE STAT OUT OF ANY WEAPON IN THE ENTIRE GAME. It takes practice to use properly, but like I said, STRONGEST ATTACK IN THE ENTIRE GAME. Plus there is a passive ability you can get called Critical Draw that triples the power of the Great Sword (but only the very first attack). BOOM.

GUN-LANCE!



Is it a gun? Or is it a lance? IT'S BOTH!!! Even though it technically is not a gun because it does not have a projectile. It works in a similar way to a shotgun, where each shot spreads out and is stronger at point blank range. Also it has the highest vertical reach out of any melee weapon. Plus it comes with a shield that can block most attacks.

INSECT GLAIVE!



This weapon type is new to Monster Hunter. It's a bo staff. That comes with a pet beetle. It's difficult to upgrade because you need to feed said beetle a couple of times before actually upgrading. Anyway, it has been deemed overpowered by many people because it can do everything several weapon types can do, but better. It has the reach of the Long Sword weapon type which has the same vertical reach as a Gun-Lance, but the speed of the Sword and Shield, and the ability to buff up the user like the Hunting Horn. Finally, The Insect Glaive has a pole-vault which is very helpful because attacking a monster in the air sometimes triggers a quick-time-event where you have to attack repeatedly while avoiding being bucked off. Winning instantly trips the monster in question, making it vulnerable to attack. All weapons can do this, but the Insect Glaive is the only one you can do without needing the hunter to jump off a ledge first.

CHARGE BLADE!



The Charge Blade is a giant Sword and Shield that trades speed for power. It can also transform into a Charge Axe to become even stronger at the cost of even more speed. While in Axe mode this weapon type has perhaps the flashiest attack ever. Ultra Burst! This weapon unleashes what is basically a series of epic explosions that inflict either stun or simply do a boat-load of damage. BUT while in Sword and Shield mode the Charge Blade can charge up (duh) and a charged Charge Axe is even stronger but NOT at the price of speed.

Anyway, that is enough about weapons (these are my favorite and if you want to learn about the others, please go to the official wiki) and they added a little thing that is really cool. You have talking cat sidekicks. The talking cat people called the Felynes have been important to Monster Hunter ever since Monster Hunter 1 released back in 2004. This Blog Post is being published in 2015.

And finally, the final boss of Monster Hunter 4 has been fixed quite a bit because the fight itself had some annoying glitches and hit-box issues (You hitting it when your weapon didn't even connect, It's attacks hitting you when they clearly missed, etc) so now he no longer has hit-box problems.

For more info please go to the wiki.

Code-name S.T.E.A.M.!!!

This post is about a video game called Code-Name S.T.E.A.M.. In case you are wondering what "steam" stands for (because It should be obvious that it's an acronym) it supposedly stands for "Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace."


LOGO!!!

This game is interesting because first of all it takes place in a STEAM-punk world (see what I did there!?). In case you don't know, Steam-punk is a rarely used style/genre of science fiction featuring less advanced tech than what is normally seen in science fiction. Normally involving STEAM.

Basically the premise is alien invaders are making a mess of the planet. Abraham Lincoln (yes, Abraham Lincoln. Just go with it) assembles a strike team of characters from American Literature and folklore (and for some strange reason, the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz) to fix things. And they have steam-punk weapons and armor. While this may seem like a half baked mash-up of desperate ideas on paper, it's surprisingly well executed in action.

Now for gameplay. This game is a turn-based 3rd Person Shooter. Your characters (you have a total of four in battle at once). All the characters in the game are wearing steam-powered suits of armor, and the steam is the in-game reason why combat is turn based. Every step consumes one unit of steam, while attacking uses between 2-5 units of steam. Having leftover steam at the end of your turn means your characters will shoot enemies on sight in the middle of THEIR turn (this is called Over-Watch Mode). However they can do the same to you. Furthermore every character has special move they can use once per level that 99% of the time is a screen-nuke.



Oh, and all the playable characters are from American folklore. Which is funny to me because I just LOVE watching Tom Sawyer and the Cowardly Lion beat the living snot out of alien invaders.

Speaking of which here is a list of characters.


Henry Fleming from the Red Badge of
Courage!



The Lion from Wizard of Oz!



Tiger Lily form Peter Pan!



Abraham Lincoln! (the only character who is
NOT based off folklore as Abe was a real
person in American history)



Tom Sawyer!


And there are a few more characters BUT another set of characters are exclusively off limits unless you bought some of those "Amiibo" figures that Nintendo and Game-stop are selling. In other words, Nintendo Skylanders (P.S. Spyro is dead because of Skylanders. I want a REAL Spyro Game! Not a game that happens to have Spyro in it!).



Fire Emblem Characters!

Marth, Ike Robin, and Lucina are all playable in Code-Name S.T.E.A.M.! In case you don't know, Fire Emblem is a turn-based strategy game made by Intelligent Games, who are also making Code-Name S.T.E.A.M.. But you cannot play as them unless you have the appropriate figurine. That is how NFC should be used in my opinion. Don't make them mandatory but make them required to unlock bonuses. Skylanders makes the figurines mandatory at all times and Disney Infinity doesn't even take advantage of NFC as there's no real reason to switch characters.

But enough about that. If you want to learn more about this game, please go to the official website. Also I apologize if you never heard of any of these characters because they are from American literature. But I am going to be honest, I never heard of any of these characters with the exception of Tom Sawyer, Abraham Lincoln, and the Cowardly Lion and I am American. So yeah. Learn something new every day!