3ds — Page 29

Picross e3 (3DS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 22/06/2014 Written by deKay

Ta dah! There’s not much to say, really. It’s more Picross and I completed it.

I have two things to mention, though. The first is about the length of the game – it’s a good 8 hours shorter than Picross e2 (and about an hour shorter than the original), which is a bit disappointing.

The other thing is the Mega Picross puzzles. I don’t like them. They’re like normal Picross puzzles, only the numbers sometimes – but not always – span two rows or columns. For the easier puzzles, that’s fine, but some – the final one especially – don’t seem to be possible without guesswork, or at least some pretty shaky assumptions. It just adds a level of complexity that is unnecessary and unneeded.

Still, I did enjoy it, despite these two issues. Roll on e4…

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 14/06/2014 Written by deKay

Before you complain that I can’t have completed it, because it’s Animal Crossing, hear me out. Sure, you can get 100% of the items in your catalogue. Or maybe get a Perfect Town rating for so many days. Or win all the trophies. There’s no real way to complete Animal Crossing as such, but you can complete certain goals.

I set myself a goal, and today, I hit my target.

What goal? To play Animal Crossing: New Leaf every single day for an entire year. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. 366 consecutive days. I’ve experienced every season, every event, every holiday, festival and scheduled special happening. 366 days. 500 game hours. Good grief.

Previous games in the series had either been played less frequently, or for fewer months in total (specifically the Wii version, where my Wii died after three months solid play and I lost my saved game), so this is the most, and most frequent, I’ve played an Animal Crossing game.

And it was fantastic. Never once a chore, no matter how repetitive. Always a joy, no matter the weather or villager mood. So much to do yet so little done. I’ve just realised, in fact, that I’ve not even been to the island since Christmas. I’d totally forgotten it even existed!

I’m not done yet. I’ll still play it, checking in every now and again, but I’m done with daily play. In a way I’m sad, but I’m also relieved because I can play some other games now instead.

Things I’ve been playing recently

Posted on 18/05/2014 Written by deKay

A few things that might not warrant a full post each. Or I’m lazy. Or both! Or neither.

Super Mario 64 (Wii U)

Technically, I’ve been playing this on the Wii U, but it’s actually the N64 game on the Wii Virtual Console via the Wii U. Erm, but anyway.

I’ve not got very far in, and playing it was mainly to entertain my daughter, but I’ve picked up about 15 stars. It’s still one of the best games ever made, and as good as Super Mario 3D World is, this still bests it by a considerable margin. Not bad for a game that’s 18 years old!

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)

It was my birthday, and the animals threw me a party! And some sent me (terrible) presents. But the thought was there.

I’m now just 4 weeks away from having played this for an entire year. I’ve still got so much to do – I’m nowhere near filling either the museum or my catalogue, and I still don’t have a police station. Still, I did manage to get a new tree stump pattern I’d not managed before. Looks like I might be playing this even after my 365 day stint is up…

Nintendo Pocket Football Club (3DS)

I’ve been promoted to the third league (the one with the football as the logo), and spent the summer training, playing Italy a lot (which gives you loads of cards), buying some new players (some of mine have aged already, and are dropping stats!) and preparing for the new season.

Which started badly as I lost my first game. Thankfully, it was only to the team that had just dropped down from the next league up, so I should still be able to beat everyone else. In fact, I have beaten two other teams already, so things are looking up!

I wish my striker, Jaimie, could manage more than two matches without getting injured though. Useless.

Nintendo Pocket Football Club (3DS)

Posted on 28/04/2014 Written by deKay

Those of you who know me are well aware of my level of love for football. The world’s most popular sport. The beautiful game. It’s all rubbish, innit. 22 overhairdressed pansies kicking a bit of pig around for 90 long minutes. Have you seen Robbie Savage? Good lord.

My forays into football games have been short and infrequent. I’ve booted a ball about variously over the years in PES and FIFA and so on, but nothing has ever held my attention since Sensible Soccer. And not even the XBLA remake – the original, on the Amiga, in the early 90s.

I did once get slightly addicted to a football manager game, which may or may not have been Football Manager (not the Kevin Toms seminal classic for the Spectrum), but that’s it. Until now.

Some months ago, perhaps years, Nintendo released shots of Calciobit. A 3DS update to a GBA game of the same name that I’d never heard of. It looked a lot like Sensible Soccer, but it appeared to be a management simulation. Interest pique++, but the chances of it ever appearing outside of Japan were slim to none, and so I was disappointed. Disappointed about a football game that might not come out in the UK. I’ve changed, man.

Then some astounding news – Nintendo were translating it and punting it onto the eShop as Nintendo Pocket Football Club. And I was there, virtually queuing up for a Day One purchase. That was about 10 days ago. I’ve sunk over 30 hours in already. Hooked.

Things started out badly. My squad simply couldn’t play. I lost almost every game in the bottom league for the first half of the season and although I’d then figured out how best to obtain and use training cards (protip: play online lots) it was by then too late and I finished in 3rd place. My first, and only, Cup match ended with my pink boys (home strip is rainbow, away is pink, because reasons) suffering 7-0 loss which I couldn’t bear to watch after five minutes. Shambles.

Thankfully, my second season following an intensive summer of training couldn’t have been more different. Just five matches in and I’m top of the table with a 5 point buffer. The problem I have now, though, is I’m overworking my best players. I’ve had Jaimie – my star striker – injured twice already due to playing him hard, and I’ve been needing to introduce fallow weeks in the schedule to stave off player-death. Frustrating when all I want to do is train them and train them and train them.

Pansies.

Oh, and if you want to see my stats, click here.

999: completed!

Posted on 09/04/2014 Written by Xexyz

It was the good ending - I had managed to fulfil all the requirements through the story (more by luck than judgement, I fear), so I found out about the experiments of the past, the identity of Zero, the way that bracelets worked, and the truth behind the multiple doors marked with a 9. If you're going to play this yourself, don't read any further.

There were many questions left unanswered. Of course, the whole game ends on a cliffhanger note - where are June and Santa, what was Lotus doing by the side of the road, will the timeline heal itself to allow Akane to live? Was Akane there the whole time through the story, or was she just imagined? When she felt faint, was that because Junpei was facing puzzles that might have led to him being unable to get to the incinerator?

Some of the mathematics towards the end of the true ending were a bit of a stretch, as well. Suddenly moving to base-27 and then converting that to a digital root was very odd. Revealing that June's bracelet was number nine means that there were two number nine bracelets and no number six - but a convenient O which is six as a digital root. It felt that after playing the game according to the rules, everything was being broken at the end.

Still, an intriguing game, which shows how videogames can present a story in a way that film or books cannot.