I think I have been negatively conditioned by modern television. I have been watching Star Trek: The Original Series on Netflix lately and nearly every episode, I think to myself, “This episode seems to never end.” Not that the episodes are boring or anything, just that they seem long. I then look at the show’s run time and notice that it is 50 minutes. Modern shows only clock in at 42ish minutes.
Month: December 2016
It really is tough for me to find the right words to describe how I felt as I played and then finished up Arc The Lad. My first experience with the series was Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits on PS2 and I had a lot fun playing it. I really liked the strategy RPG aspect of the game and the characters and story were great. Because of that experience, I bought the original Arc The Lad to get a better feel for the PS2 game’s roots. Boy do I have mixed feelings about this.
Gameplay wise, I enjoyed the game. The combat mechanisms, while not as deep as Final Fantasy Tactics, were still fun to explore. The game is a strategy RPG, more similar to something like Valkyria Chronicles than to something like Final Fantasy Tactics. During your characters’ turns, you can move them freely around their field of motion and then choose their action, whether to attack, use magic, or use and item. When attacking, you must take into account your own character’s direction as well as that of the enemy to maximize your damage.
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I first played Alundra way back during the actual PS1 era, back when it was just the Playstation. As a fan of top down action adventure games, such as Zelda, Secret of Evermore, among others, I was excited to play this new franchise. I remember enjoying this game immensely. So when I had the opportunity to buy it again as a PS1 classic, I did so without question.
Even though I have played it before, I was pleasantly surprised to still enjoy it. The game is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for anyone that is a fan of these types of games.
5 CommentsThis is the last Molehill Mountain for 2016 and Andrew was away again. We will not have a podcast on Christmas Eve nor New Years Eve, so you will be on your own for entertainment those nights.
I open the show talking about Arc the Lad, a very short precursor to Arc the Lad 2. I follow it up with some discussion about a Ludum Dare game called Monolith by Rocketdad, as well as a game jam game of my own called Glug Cave. At 18:35, I talk about Facepunch telling unhappy Rust players to just stop playing. At 24:51, I look back at some of the big stories of the year such as Nintendo making multiple headlines, Blizzard launching Overwatch and the closing of GamePolitics. At 47:45, I talk about what I want to see in 2017, specifically the launch of the Switch, the release of Cosmic Star Heroine, and some personal and business goals.
That’s it for the last podcast of 2016. Andrew and I will both be back on January 7, 2017 with episode 31.
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I don’t have the time nor inclination to write up a full blown 800 word article on this, but I still wanted to share my thoughts. So introducing the first Random Tower Quick Thought. These are meant to get something that is nagging me off my chest and to spark a conversation. You don’t have to confine the whole conversation to the opening topic either.
On Monday, December 12, Niantic dropped its latest update on Pokemon Go players. Many people, such as myself, were expecting Gen 2 Pokemon to arrive. Well, they kind of did that. Instead of dropping the entire Gen 2 catalog on us, they gave us just the baby pokemon, minus Tyrogue. However, you can’t catch these new pokemon in the wild yet. You can only get them from hatching eggs. Sounds cool at first.
Leave a CommentWhile Andrew was unable to join me on the Molehill Mountain Podcast this past Saturday, he still had something to say about our signature topic…
1 CommentAndrew is away for the next two weeks, so you lucky ducks get to spend some quality time with EZK. This week, we enjoy some DRM chat. Nintendo’s Super Mario Run for iPhone is reported to require a constant data connection to play and several game developers have decided Denuvo, the supposed unhackable DRM, is not for them and have patched it out of their games.
It may be all EZK, all the time in this episode but Andrew does make an appearance in the chat, which we’ve transcribed below. Next week, he’ll be on a plane where he can’t watch the podcast or play Super Mario Run.
2 CommentsAfter a bit of the usual yammering, Andrew starts the show with a review of Hamilton (18:50), then he and EZK take an unexpected political detour discussing Trump’s feelings on Hamilton (32:40) before debating the Electoral College vs popular vote (37:45). Getting back on track we talk about The Game Awards (52:39) and Playstation Experience (1:09:51).
And, for those that requested it, I’ve pasted a chat transcript at the bottom of this story. Enjoy!
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This weekend gave us two bits of Guardians of the Galaxy goodness for us to relish in. One has me super excited and the other not so much. I don’t really like to dwell on negatives, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself. But first off, let’s look at the really awesome news. A new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer launched this past weekend.
This trailer is serious business. I absolutely love it. I fell in love with the first movie after watching the first full trailer. I still break out into “Hooked on a Feeling” at random times to this day. The character introductions and overall tone of the trailer really set the stage for a great movie. I eventually bought the movie the week it came out on video. I had planned to just rent it first, but my wife and I knew we were going to watch it multiple times and we decided buying it was the best course of action. We don’t regret that decision at all. We both love the movie and my kids love it.
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