These people need to realize that the truest combo is soap into water.
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Archived from November 28, 2017. — Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/thelifecast
Archived from November 27, 2017. — Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/thelifecast
The other day I was in Target with my dad buying Christmas lights as we started prepping for the holiday season. At 21 I’d gotten used to gambit of “What do you want for Christmas?” over the years my selection grew more mature and sophisticated (I think I actually wrote Roche Brother’s gift cards so I could get groceries), but I don’t feel that way this year. This year, I’m hopped on the band wagon and told my dad I liked the Nintendo Switch and thought it was a really cool system– he scoffed at me and brushed it off, saying he preferred the PS4 to, “just another Mario system.”
While he’s not wrong about that, I felt hurt that he brushed it off so callously. Not a sort of, that’s nice or you can buy that with your own money, but an answer filled with… almost disgust. I know it’s silly to get all worked up about something so trivial, but when I backed up my case, saying a ton of my friends play the Switch, he again just gave me rude remarks.
Mario Odyssey is incredibly fun and the worlds are gorgeous. The base game isn’t too long, but with 999 moons to collect, you’ll be busy for a while.
Snipperclips is silly and cute. That’s really all I’ve got. As the younger sibling, my childhood was filled with backseat-gaming and begging for co-op modes. Snipperclips delivers in a cute little package.
Stardew Valley is on the Switch. Let me say that again Stardew Valley is on the Switch. It’s similar to Harvest Moon apparently (I never played Harvest Moon), but I’ll take people’s word for it. Anyways… farming? Mining? Romancing? Building friendship? Betraying your loved ones for corporate greed? Any of that sound interesting?? Get it!
Just Dance 2017 made me want to get up and move for the first time in years. It’s not a secret, I’m a little tubby, but the only exercise I ever really enjoyed was dancing, problem is, it’s incredibly hard to get over that anxiety hurdle and actually do it. Now you’re saying there’s a game that only gently judges you AND has choreography already made? Sign me up!
I don’t like Zelda. We didn’t really click much when I was growing up.
As stated above, my dad really isn’t fond of Nintendo so while everyone else grew up on the Gamecube and Wii, I had the Playstation 1/2/3 and Xbox (360)… I should confess I did own a Wii and a Wii U, but had no one to really play with.
So I never really had a chance to play Zelda. It was always daunting and massive and I frustrating. I attempted Ocarina of Time and after sinking 10 hours into the game (9.5 of which were accompanied with a walkthrough), I gave up.
I did enjoy A Link Between Worlds, but from what I gather, it’s hard to dislike that game. Now, back to Zelda.
Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game. It’s still hard and frustrating and massive (oh boy is it massive), but if you’re stuck you’re not locked into a certain area. I personally struggled with the Zora guardian so just said fuck it and went to the Rivali. Now I can make air shafts under where I stand and it’s pretty incredible.
I would love to have a Switch if only for Zelda. I only got my one guardian freed, but my experiences up until that point solidified it as one of my games of the year.
Without getting too in-depth about that, because maybe you’ll hear from me again on the subject (MAYBE), I leave you all with this. As someone who doesn’t own a Switch… it’s worth it. It made me like games I didn’t before, gave me an opportunity to play cooperatively, and made me want to get up and move. And let’s not forget that Pokemon will be phased out of 3DS in the next generation, finding its new home on the Switch. Fire Emblem game coming soon? Access to more triple A titles and (N)indies galore.
Original Art by: Cuteosphere
If you can, buy a Switch. Take it from someone who doesn’t have one.
NOPE that’s Pocket Camp, not my notes!
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Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is one of many things to me. Animal Crossing has always been a healthy channel for my anxiety. Up until now, I’ve found that toting a 3DS everywhere is a bit unwieldy, and you get some looks when you’re not in a group of people who already know what the thing is. Phones are inconspicuous. People expect you to have games on your phone. And this is one that’s really worthwhile.
The Lifecast’s Dungeon Master shares another one of his homebrews. This time the Earth elemental focused sorcerer. The Terramancer!
Cover Image by Nargyle.
To close out this miniseries, we come to my most favored record: The Uncanny Valley. It’s not video game related at all (unless you consider the artist’s cameo in Hotline Miami) but I think it’s great nonetheless. It’s probably my favorite atmospheric album, if not my favorite album of all time. But after all, who would I be if I didn’t at least collect records that aren’t video game related? Maybe a more niche collector, but that’s not the point. The point is that this one’s my favorite. It’s also the only deluxe edition I own. How I obtained it is irrelevant.
We catch up on games we’ve all been playing and ones we’ve been meaning to get around to, then dive into the news of the week. Dan attended Redbull Battlegrounds over the weekend and talks about having that major in Boston.
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Without question, one of Sony’s most popular, and bankable, video game franchises is Uncharted. Nathan Drake’s pulpy-blockbuster film styled adventures have wowed gamers with its simplistic, yet tightly refined, gameplay, impressive action sequences, and overall consistently great stories.
The four main games in the series have won a variety of awards including a few Game of the Year awards.
Now, the series has reached another milestone: it’s now officially an age where people can create retrospectives on it!
While an entire series retrospective would be great (and potentially something later on…) we’re taking a look at the first game as a curiosity. What made Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune so appealing? Or better yet, how did it become a franchise?
“Greatness from small beginnings…” Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune development
After Jak 3 wrapped up, Naughty Dog decided to create a brand new IP. The new series was a drastic overhaul in terms of art and design, as up to this point their games were cartoonish and stylized. This time around, Naughty Dog wanted to create real people. They also wanted to make an action game that was less videogame-like and far more cinematic. Amy Hennig, who served as the creative director and writer of the first three games, took cues from old-school adventure films from the 40s, as well as colorful summer blockbusters of today. Thus, the core concept behind Uncharted was born
How is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune?
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune tells the story of Nathan Drake, a supposed descendant of Sir Francis Drake, who is on the trail to find the lost city of El Dorado (cue recently-praised-for-some-reason-reference to The Road to El Dorado). Drake is accompanied by his grizzled, wisecracking mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan and television host Elena Fisher. Along the way, some old enemies of Drake and Sully come back to take the gold… The adventure involves an ancient curse, old Nazi U-boats, and more than several gunfights.
From the moment you boot up the PS3, you’ll notice something that was missing from games circa 2007: color and personality. The opening cutscenes still hold up in terms of how well animated and acted they are. Nathan Drake is almost immediately likable as a rougish everyman when he and Elena encounter some pirates. From there, all the characters fit right in place with the game and all exhibit real chemistry with one another. Nate and Elena aren’t immediately love interests, but rather work together throughout and Elena even holds her own in the action.
Not to go off on a sort-of tangent, it’s nice to see a legitimately interesting female lead who is well-rounded and doesn’t seem like she’s just there. As the series progresses, Elena becomes one of the franchises most likable characters.
Throughout the game, the story will keep you hooked. It feels like an old-school film serial, as plot points have the melodramatic “Okay, and now what?” motif. For example, Drake is searching through an old German submarine, fights off bizarre creatures and then finds the bad guys right there. Another point of the game has a huge fake-out that gets revealed 3/4ths in and then transitions into another plot point involving an underground city!
At its core, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is a cover-based, third-person shooter. In terms of new features, for those familiar with Gears of War, the shooting will make you feel at home. But something about it feels smoothed out. Same goes for the platforming, as it is always fun to jump from ledge to ledge or swing across the ocean on some ancient temple.
The game’s level design ranges from linear, but fun, platforming to wide-open gunfights that transition into one another with ease.
One thing that keeps Drake’s Fortune from being boring is the fact Naughty Dog changes things up. From one minute you’re in a jungle with ancient ruins, and then you’re in an old Nazi compound, and then you’re in an ancient church. Every environment is gorgeous to look at and just oozes with color. The jungles and water effects are two standouts in the graphics department. Naughty Dog tends to set their platformers in tropical, outdoor environments and this is no different.
In conclusion…
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and the rest of the series as a whole, embodies Naughty Dog’s spirit of consistency. Many of their games have an underlying development theme of “not doing anything new, but rather doing everything right.” In the same way, Indiana Jones was a celebration of adventure film serials and tropes, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune celebrates the same tropes but within action video games. The game does not do anything truly new or revolutionary, but rather sets out to entertain the player till the end.
And in that regard, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune succeeds in nearly every category.
Uncharted as a franchise has stood on its own based on these merits, with each game just looking to be more entertaining than the last.
By having so many different artists with different styles on one soundtrack, The Game Bakers gave each and every boss a personality that the player gets to know through their music.
The Paladin’s have a unique feature where their level 20 class feature is based on their class archetype. (sub-class) These are far and beyond my favorite as it makes it so you could have two paladins in your party and yet they would feel completely different from one another. So I’ve always liked to think about what archetype based level 20 class features I would make for each class. So I’d like to share my homebrew for the guardian of nature, the Druid. I’m going to have one for each of the subclasses except Moon since Archdruid is already a perfect fit.
Archdruid being the Level 20th ability always bothered me. The Moon Circle gets significantly more out of unlimited beast shapes. So it only seems right that I correct that here tonight.
At 20th level, when you are located in an environment similar to the land where you became a druid you can cast a 9th level spell without expending a spell slot. Adding an additional 1 hour to the casting time.
You can use this again after finishing a long rest.
I like the idea of the Land itself granting the Druid power, almost like Goku’s spirit bomb. Like the land itself is rewarding the Druid for their devotion and protection.
This feature focuses on the land specifically unlike many of the other features. The Druid will have to understand their landscape to make the most out of this feature.
Circle of Dreams:Decided to continue and add 20th Level Features for the new Subclasses in “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.” First off here’s the Circle of Dreams a subclass that focuses on using the good parts of the Feywild to heal and support their allies.
At 20th level, when you take a short rest you maniputed and warp the flow of time around you. You can all other creatures within 120ft gain the benefits of a long rest during the duration of a short rest.
One of my favorite aspects of the Feywild is how time there is convoluted. So it made sense to me that a Druid of this strength might be able to utilize that power. Being able to turn all Short rests into Long Rests is an insanely strong ability, and one deserving of a 20th Level skill.
I wasn’t specific about how much time was saved as I’d like the ability to be compatible with variant rules on Rest Time.
At 20th level, whenever you cast a spell that summons/conjures a creature, it is not considered a concentration spell for you. If there is a downside to losing concentration on the spell the downside is ignored. The creature remains loyal to you.
However you can still only have one instance of that particular spell active at one point.
I dig this ability because it it cements this subclasses’ role as the summoner. Since the spells are no longer concentration spells it means you can have multiple summons of different types up at once.
This is potentially dangerous as it could clog up initiative but with the right DM /player relationship it can work out.
Alright that’s it. Lemme know what you think in the comments or @TLCStageHazard. If you’re interested in other homebrews here’s one that turns The Legend of Zelda’s Link into a 5e Ranger.
Cover Image by Takeda11.