S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. It’s not over

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a new First Person Shooter and horror game developed and published by ‘GSC Game World‘. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to be coming out on the Xbox Series X and PC. The release date has not been given but we’ve got clues. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is again one of those games we never heard off and didn’t care about. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is looking big though. Let’s take a look.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is big. Let’s just start off with that. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been described as an open world game. The developers specifically said, “The zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is one of the biggest seamless open worlds to date.” This is. Abigails claim to match the size of the game. So expect loads of exploration, multiple locations, quests, discoveries and more. 

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 story itself is suppose to be the heavy focus of the game. What we know about this game is that it’s trying that game technique where the players decisions make a difference. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to feature a non linear story where the choices you make has both short consequences and effects outcomes on a global scale which would make sense as it’s an open world game. Many games try this and don’t do it well. Hopefully S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers learn from others failures and do better.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an Xbox console exclusive and has a certain green badge. You know what this means. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120FPS.” So expect top the highest levels of performance of the Xbox Series X.

There is a lot going on in 3. There is multiple endings. The story branches off. Players need to keep this in mind when going about objectives, completing the story and whatever side missions are available. Multiple endings off course mean replayability is here. Now will it be clear on how to get the different endings or not. We at X35 Earthwalker for the most part enjoy multiple endings as you get to see what you truly got when you do a blind run of the game.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 being open world there are many locations and quite a bit of mystery. We have seen what looks like facilities for experiments and growing creatures. There are large woods which must be risky to explore at night. There are underground sections which may require certain equipment to explore like masks for breathing. There are houses, wrecked structures and what looks like ruined civilisation. 

We checked out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and saw some interesting things. There are mutants and anomalies. Some of these creatures just seem straight up supernatural and have big effect on the environment. One looked like an enemy from Skyforge, a water elemental being (we hate them). It was cool and you should keep your distance. Don’t get distracted as there are other threats around so put your gun to use. First person shooter and horror is a nice combination. The horror tends to be lacking. They need to make sure the horror is strong. If it’s horror then players should be afraid. 

Overall S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 seems like a good game. It isn’t a special game nor has it made us want to play but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a good fan base and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 did get the attention of a number of gamers during the Xbox Showcase 2020 so the players will be there. Concerning the graphics they said “The trailer demonstrates the level of graphics and atmosphere we are aiming to achieve on release.” Well do your best guys. The developers ‘GSC Game World’ have done a good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what’s happening later. Now S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may have horror in there but it’s never capable of scaring… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Coffee Talk. Amazing and relaxing

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Coffee Talk has been classed as a visual novel game or simulation or adventure or whatever… to us it’s a coffee game. It was developed and published by ‘Toge Productions’. Coffee Talk came out on the Xbox One, Nintendo switch, Playstation 4 and PC. Coffee Talk got our attention and we decided to take a look and ended up playing it. This isn’t normally our type of game but this was amazing. This G-blog is going to be quick fire. Let’s take a look. 

The world of Coffee Talk is a familiar one. Not on the surface but once you meet the ‘people’ you’ll understand why. The game takes place in America, Seattle… in the year 2020. A great year for us by the way. So this game is as modern as it gets. The citizens aren’t humans, well not all of them. There’s werewolves, orcs, nekomimis, dwarves, vampires, elves, succubus (demons), mermaids and even an alien. There are a bunch of non human beings but with human problems. You as the player is a Barista (dude who serves drinks). Your job is to serve drinks… that’s it. No seriously, that’s what you do. The customisers come in and you just serve them, listen to their problems and hear what’s going on. Oh and just relax.

Let’s quickly sum this up. The coffee shop only opens at midnight. So it’s a late night place. When a customer comes in, they will normally sit down and order a drink or start talking to you, which ever is first. You must then make that drink for them. There are ingredients for the player to mix and combine to create different drinks. For example you can use coffee as the base, primary and secondary to create espresso. Over time you unlock more ingredients which means more options. This is important as some customers mix things up and ask for a specific drink which has specific ingredients. If you don’t know them, then you will mess up an order which doesn’t help your customers relax. There’s a load of different drinks and you have to discover them for yourself. Our advice to gamers is to experiment and try to learn as many drinks as possible.    

Coffee Talk is all about relaxing and listening (well for us reading) to others and hearing what’s going on. Hearing their stories in the night time of Seattle. You can tell Coffee Talk was inspired by the feeling of having a warm drink at night or maybe after escaping the rain and trying to warm up and talk with your friends. It rains quite a bit in that game. What adds to the atmosphere is clearly the music. Even better you have control over the music. You can through your mobile phone device cycle through and select the music you want playing. Coffee Talk does have a very good selection and some are more relaxing than others while some are more bopping and can get the body moving but still on the chill side. The music plays a big part for us and we are glad that’s it’s there. We certainly know our favourite tune, that’s for sure.

To make things even more relatable and interactive there is a social media that everyone seems to be using called Tomodachi. All the characters in the game are using this. As you interact with the characters you will gain access to more information concerning them in Tomodachi. As you can see below there are four stages to each character. In stage 1 the bar is empty and all you can see is the name of the person. Stage two you get simple basic information. When you max it out you’ll see their hopes, bit more personal information and even their likes. So make sure to come back from time to time to see the new information and learn more about them. It was interesting to learn more about Freya. Makes things more relatable for sure and realistic.

As you listen to characters and go through the days, you will see their stories continue. For example you see how things with Freya develop concerning her goal to become a successful book author, you get to see her hard work and struggles fuelling up on espresso (unhealthy). You will see Rachel and her issues with her dad, here she is right and wrong and what drama surrounds that. You are in their business and they tend to be comfortable and come to you and your coffee place. It’s the get away from everything else. A place to chill, relax, drink and talk. Every character has a story and will unfold. Even the Barista (you) has some mystery and it’s up to the players to try and figure some stuff out. A lot of what we are hearing from these characters sounds similar to what we have heard in real life in some cases. So anyone whom plays this will understand or relate. 

As we said before, Coffee Talk isn’t our type of game at all but this one got our attention and we had a great time with this game. Like we got real into this game. Very few games have done what Coffee Talk has done to us. We even started a little tradition where before we play this game we must make a cup of green tea. We had to be prepared. So yes Coffee Talk is a visual novel as it’s a store for sure containing stories. It’s a simulation as you take the role of the Barista. It is an adventure as each day you go in hoping to get an update on the characters situations. It was exciting getting to know what will happen and how we can make it all more exciting or cheer someone up with a drink.  In addition there are extra game modes like where you have to try to serve as many correct drinks as possible in a period of time from memory. There’s a bit of extra content but we did wish the main story was longer. We wanted more. Yes, we know there’s endless mode.

Sadly, Coffee Talk is another great game that got little to no exposure. We haven’t heard anyone talk about this game. What a shame. This is something way more people should be playing. No it isn’t as huge and detailed as Halo 5 Guardians or Final Fantasy XV but it’s excellent at what it is. It does what it says on the box. We plan to make more videos of this game in the future. The best way to play Coffee Talk is to play at night, alone and with a warm drink. The developers did an excellent job. Now Coffee Talk might be fun and relaxing but it’s no where near as relaxing as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Halo Infinite. The next big thing

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

 

Halo Infinite is the new First Person shooter game developed by ‘343 Industries‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Halo Infinite is said to be coming out 2020 later this year on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs. Halo Infinite is the number 1 game we are excited and waiting for right now. Let’s take a look.

Sadly but predictable, Halo Infinite is getting some hate from basically fake halo fans and playstation fanboys. Let’s address this firstly. You have some people who wanted Halo Infinite and pretty much every Halo game to be exactly like Halo 1 (combat evolved). They are never happy. Just complainers. There’s sprint, they hate it and it’s not Halo. Like for starters spartans are super soldiers… THEY ALL SPRINT! There’s abilities, it’s not halo. There’s precision weapons besides pistol and sniper, it’s not Halo. If that’s the case then go back and play Halo 1 and stay in the past. Be happy. Off course developers must try new things and bring in mechanics that allow for new tactics and strategies. Now concerning playstation fanboys (not playstation fans) it’s predictable, they are mad and will be negative always. From the games we have seen from both consoles we think Xbox Series X has it by a landslide. They have over 20 exclusives while the only games from PlayStation that interests us is project Athia, the Sack boy game which looks very good and that horizon game with the machine like creatures. We don’t care for racket and clank or demon souls but that’s our opinion. Lastly people talk about the brutes face graphics. It’s not hard to understand that it’s a work in progress, not final build. Stop being stupid, they obviously just needed functioning models for their gameplay. So now that’s out of the way.

The first thing that hits you concerning Halo Infinite was the visuals. The environment, the hills, the grass, the sky etc all looks excellent. Clearly hard work went into that. Now that Halo Infinite is going in the open world direction with certain attributes, getting great visuals is harder to do. They did it very well. Now we wrote about Halo Infinite before the Xbox showcase 2020 and we can proudly say that we predicted this game accurately. Not surprising though. After all it is X35 Earthwalker… the universes ultimate strategist, the legendary soldier himself. One of the things we predicted about Halo Infinite but got to see in the gameplay was wildlife. We saw what looked like gerbils or something small run away after hearing loud noises near the start of the gameplay. We believe there will be much more. There’s going to be deers too. We hoped that maybe there will be wild bears who can try to attack Master Chief and the enemies. That would be cool. Even the animations of the animals were very good.

We made this clear in our video but we love good video game maps. The map in Halo Infinite is the best one we’ve seen. The amount of details is excellent for sure. Look at the lines on the hills and high ground. This shows elevation. The solid structures like borders are clearly identified on the map. The colour choice is a good one. Blue and black works very well together. Black is one of those amazing colours that makes so many things look good. Combine it with blue which reminds people of water, the ocean, cool and bright and you’ve got a great combination. This literally reminds us of the ocean but as you go deeper. The markers are a completely different colour making things stand out, so you literally have to be blind to not see them. This Halo Infinite map gives loads of information. When a symbol is highlighted we get our objectives, the conditions and more info. The map does remind us of the one in Final Fantasy XV even though it’s a very different style but both are excellent maps.

Now Multiplayer and Forge has been confirmed. Now Halo always had great multiplayer. After it all it helped revolutionised multiplayer so it has a standard to set. Now Halo 5 Guardians had the best multiplayer and multiplayer mode… Warzone. Hopefully Halo Infinite has the classic modes like slayer, big team slayer, oddball, capture flag. We also hope they bring back Warzone too. Now on top of that we know that forge is coming back too which is a smart move. Forge is crazy. Halo 5 Guardians had the best forge. Even in earlier games like Halo Reach and Halo 4 people created some really cool things in forge. People made full fledge parkour maps and racing tracks for mongooses. You literally had kill zones to kill you if you fell of the track and respawn you to keep racing. There were teleports connecting parts of the race track with gravity lifts for jumps. People made Mario kart in Halo. Things got even better in Halo 5 which had a superior and better forge. Some even made a pac-man in Halo 5 Guardians in forge. So forge has to come back and we are glad it is.     

Once again we do like the idea of open world and Halo is very capable of doing it. We here the campaign will allow pretty much access to all over the ring world… Halo. We already checked out some Halo Infinite gameplay so we are leaving our gameplay analysis video down below

Overall we are excited for Halo Infinite and believe definitely it’s going to be the next big thing having secrets and collectibles all around the ring world with surprises. They need to prevent Halo Infinite from being predictable as we are facing a new powerful enemy. The developers 343 Industries are doing a fantastic job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are looking forward to Halo Infinite and this whole new battle. Now Halo Infinite may be the next big thing but it’s incredibly small when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. Woah

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is a new online action Role Playing Game developed and published by Sega. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is said to be coming out 2021 on the  Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis does look like something real big. Let’s take a look.

Now we have never heard about Phantasy Star. Not at all. Never. We saw this being showed at the Xbox showcase 2020. It did get our attention as it was big, fast, pure action and definitely flashy. We saw a big open world and reaction combat with dangerous looking enemies. We don’t know if the enemies are dangerous or not or how easy the game is or not. This won’t be a big or in depth G-blog post.

Now we definitely like open world games with big action. Final Fantasy XV did very well with this. Now the developers of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis made a very big statement. Read this, “We are working very hard to offer players unparalleled character customization, limitless adventure, and the best action online RPG available on the Xbox One or PC”. This is a big job for sure. Through a bit of research we learnt that Phantasy Star online 2 is praised for it’s character customisation. So we will see if that’s true for ourselves.

The Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis developers said “limitless adventure”. That’s huge. This can be done but either has tons of development work or repeated similar task for grinding etc. We aren’t sure what route Sega will take to do this but hope they do it well. A number of gamers are looking for a open world game that is actually limitless but most developers don’t know how to do that properly. 

We checked out some Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis gameplay and it looks very good. There’s lots of mobility. You can slide around, dash, suspend and attack in the air and sprint around to get different angles or avoid attacks. There’s quite a bit of options here concerning combat. Speaking of options you can not just use your blade but firearms too. So depending on the enemy or what’s going on, players can either get up close or gun them down. There’s loads of lights and colours showing a vibrant game with life in it. We are liking what we are seeing.    

Overall Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis looks like it’s going to be a good game. There are great MMORPG games like Tera and Skyforge which have made some annoying mistakes concerning playing solo or in a team, advantages of guilds/teams and access. We hope Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis does it well. The graphics are excellent and sounds are very good. The developers ‘Sega’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing what Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis truly has to offer. Now Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis may have tons of world and action but it’s far too small to be recognised when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Warhammer 40000: Darktide. Emperor pleased?

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Warhammer 40000: Darktide is a new action first person shooter game developed and published by ‘Fatshark’. Warhammer 40000: Darktide is an Xbox exclusive said to be coming out 2012 on the Xbox Series X and PC. Now this game has gotten a lot of people’s attention. Now none of that matters, what does matter is that it got our attention. Let’s take a look.

Now X35 Earthwalker checked this out and we got a healthy amount of information. In the world of Warhammer 40000: Darktide it seems that team work is heavily emphasised. Even in the trailer it’s a team of four with one of them being wounded. These four people are in Tertium, which is a hive city. Players with others will be in another battle between of the imperium vs the chaos factions. This isn’t your friendly neighbourhood hive city. It’s busy, populated and full of enemies… whole hordes of them. They have been described as “enemies you have only seen in your nightmares”. You get to face them.

Now we hope they do look like nightmarish creatures. Many games try to say their enemies are terrifying and scary but fail. We end up blowing through them like they are trash without a care in the world. Nothing scary about them. So Warhammer 40000: Darktide need to bring forth actually scary enemies which isn’t hard to do. Once again if we were put on development teams or better yet in charge we would bring out the best stuff. Like seriously, make them actually scary. Make things dark, have creatures of different speeds, give them scary noises that range in sounds. Have creatures that pounce from the dark with serious consequences. We won’t say more.

Now what we also know that’s great news is that the developers are getting rid of some cheap strategies. They are focusing on making melee and being up close essential in Warhammer 40000: Darktide. Now players can’t play cheap and hide behind powerful ranged weapons all day long which makes the game boring. Now one way of doing this would be to have enemies the are so fast that aiming and shutting isn’t the best option. They could amp up the number of enemies to make it so that you can’t mow them all down with firearms or don’t have time to reload. Either way we hope they do it make that variety in combat is needed, specifically melee.

Apparently there’s more going on down in Tertium. There’s a cult called ‘Admonition’ in Warhammer 40000: Darktide. Their goal is to have control of the planet Atoma prime. They will destroy those who live there and bring an overwhelming tide of darkness. Your primary goal is to sort this cult out. To get rid of the enemy before the whole city becomes a messed up chaotic place (like it isn’t already). Now remember that Fatshark are the same people who developed Warhammer 40000: Vermintide so that excites a number of fans but not us. We didn’t like Warhammer 40000: Vermintide 

There is no gameplay but from the information we gathered on Warhammer 40000: Darktide we basically know what it’s going to be. It’s 4 player co-op, in a dark place, facing hordes in first person action with serious monsters who are chilling in the dark. Sounds like our kind of game. Just make sure it has local co-op. Those games that only has online co-op are just wasting our time. From what we have seen it looks good and we like the concept. They just need to deliver. 

Overall Warhammer 40000: Darktide looks like it’s going to be a very good game. We have high expectations and know exactly how to make Warhammer 40000: Darktide awesome. They better not mess up. We at X35 Earthwalker are definitely looking forward to Warhammer 40000: Darktide. The developers ‘Fatshark’ have a lot to do… do your best guys. Now Warhammer 40000: Darktide may have nightmarish enemies but those enemies are a joke when up against… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is a new action role playing game developed by ‘Cyanide‘ and published by ‘Nacon‘. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is said to be coming out the 4th of February 2021 on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PS4 and PC. We heard there are werewolves in this game. Well there’s more to it but hey. Let’s take a look. 

Now Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is set in a dark universe that has werewolves in it. Now that should already get some people excited as there are way more vampire games. Basically players control a character called Cahal. He was born under a full moon, and proud werewolf Warrior of the Fianna Tribe. So yes he is a werewolf basically and a strong one at that. Cahal also use to be a protector of gaia. What’s gaia? Well basically it’s the earth. We will explain.

In Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, gaia is in a battle against the Wyrm which is a cosmic force all about destruction and decay… so not friendly. The wyrm is getting help from Pentex, a multinational corporation who want nothing more than to feast on the corpse of gaia. Cahal (the main character) who willingly went into exile because he lost control in his werewolf form is coming back into action, to help his tribe and off course also help gaia. 

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood doesn’t keep things basic. Cahal is has three forms. His human form, his wolf form and his werewolf form. His human form is best for interacting with people because as you know werewolves can be scary and cause people to run away or attack you. The wolf form is the best for travelling around because of it’s fast movement and it’s also capable of sneaking around so it’s the stealth form. The werewolf form is all about the combat, the fighting and destruction. So players need to know where to use what in Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.

Now remember this. Your greatest strength is also your greatest threat (sort of). Your werewolf form thrives and goes in with the rage. The rage is your weapon but if you don’t control your rage it will probably lead t your death. This is because when you lose control you give the chance for the wyrm enthrall to consume your soul. That’s right Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood isn’t going to let you go completely crazy. 

Lastly the type of enemies we have seen. Well humans are in this world confirmed and we know that Pentex is a human corporation and so as the enemy we expect human based enemies. Now humans can’t stand up to a werewolf without the right tools. So we expect powerful weaponry and powerful machines like power suits maybe. Not something as high tier as Optimus prime but something powerful. We did see an image of a dude in a exoskeletal construction machine that you control with your body. Reminds us of the machine Ripley used used in her battle against the queen xenomorph alien in the movie ‘Aliens’. So that’s interesting. 

We checked out some Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood gameplay and it’s what we imagined actually. When you go into werewolf mode you run around slashing and smashing enemies around, even joggling some. Some enemies are too big and sturdy so you may have to leave them for last. Lost of humans with good weaponry to put you down and you can even square up with other werewolf enemies. Werewolf on werewolf violence is always encouraged around here. So get ready for it. It’s definitely action with abilities. 

Overall Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood just seems like another action game all about wild fighting. Reminding us of Dante’s inferno and god of war in some ways. There’s much more to learn about this game. We like werewolves and like the multiform game mechanic. Like alucard being able to turn into a bat, gas, or wolf. The developers ‘Cyanide’ have done a good job with this game. Now werewolves may be destroying with their rage but even that can be slapped away by… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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xCloud streaming with Xbox. What’s that?

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

This is going to be a quick blog post. xCloud is currently in it’s preview state. Project xCloud is Microsoft’s project and it’s got some stuff to hit gamers with.

Now what is project xCloud. Basically it’s an Xbox game streaming app that allows gamers to play Xbox games on their phones and tablets. That’s putting it simply. You can currently play over 50 Xbox games (popular ones) on your phone (android ones) or tablet. Using your mobile network or wi-fi you can stream directly from the cloud.

Remember that we said project xCloud is currently in it’s ‘preview’ state. During this state you don’t even need to buy, own games or even the console. They will be adding new games in time. 

It’s instruction on how to participate and help review and test it is actually very simple. First you need to register for project. Then you will get an email containing what will take place and information. Next, make sure you have the Xbox game streaming app. Then pair your controller up through blue tooth with the desired device. Finally play games and send feedback. 

We heard that Microsoft is going to make xCloud free to its paying Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in September. Phil spencer said, “Over time we will continue to expand how we introduce streaming as part of the platform, and playing games that you own that aren’t part of the subscription”.

Overall it is a good idea to expand and give more options to your players. Project xCloud will provide some of things. How useful it will be seems pretty low though. Sure this means you can play games like Sea of thieves and Gears 5 on the train, at lunch break etc which is good but when we play games like that we like to be stationary, sitting down and relaxed where playing on a big TV and gaming console is a better experience. So it’s options but limited ones. Still good to have though. Now project xCloud may provide options but those options make no difference when it comes to… the ‘Earth Walk’

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Get revenge soon

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a new action role playing game developed by ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio‘ but published by ‘SEGA‘. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PC. This game did get our attention but by only a medium amount. We are curious as to what this game has got. Let’s take a look.

In the world of Yakuza: Like a Dragon players control Ichiban Kasuga. This guy is a yakuza… and a low ranking one at that. His boss is someone he has complete loyalty and trust in but gets betrayed… shot and off course left for dead. Off course he is out for answers and by the looks of it… revenge. It makes you wonder though. Why didn’t the boss and his people kill Ichiban right there and then to make sure? Did the boss want Ichiban to survive?  

Not much is known about Yakuza: Like a Dragon. What we do know is that all this takes place in todays Japan and you are armed with a bat. Off course it isn’t a regular bat but incredibly deadly and powerful. This is where things get comical and we like that. It sort of reminds us of ‘Saints row the third‘ and ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the world‘. In a sense that this is super serious gang realistic thing. It’s more comical, more fun, more silly and relaxed. Just get in there and get ready to give a beat down with some serious action. This is a good approach and the right approach. 

The biggest difference in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is that it’s combat is now basically a party turn based RPG. So give commands, get strategic about it and make your turn count. There are multiple different abilities with some being funny. One guy used a move called Pigeon Raid where you throw beans at an enemy and then a bunch of pigeons come along and attack the enemy. Yep we got stuff like that in this game. That should tell you a lot already.

We have seen that there are physical attacks and what can be described as magical attacks. For example we mentioned Pigeon raid but there’s also Pyro belch which targets one enemy but has area of effect and can caused the enemies to get burned. There’s a physical attack called ‘push and shove’ which let’s you shove an enemy with a cane which has a chance to stun the enemy. They have power rankings too like Light, medium and heavy. 

Yakuza: Like a Dragon has been optimised for Xbox Series X which means “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120FPS.

We checked out some Yakuza: Like a Dragon and it’s not what we though it would be and old fans of the series will notice the heavier differences. It’s a very simple thing to understand. It’s action, it’s RPG, it’s strategy, it’s relaxed, it’s comical in a way. There’s humour and it’s about smashing your enemies. Not only that and what really stands out is that there are some powerful enemies you will face. These guys don’t play around and they will not let you do as you please. The enemies are really interesting looking and even from a trailer we haven’t been this interested in enemies in a video game in a good while. We want to know more about these suckas. 

Overall Yakuza: Like a Dragon looks like it’s just going to be a wild ride for sure. Abilities, weapons, allies a whole city and some cool enemies who ain’t about to let you do as you please. Yakuza: Like a Dragon actually looks like a fun action game to play where it’s not 100% serious and stiff but flexible, silly and just straight up have a blast. In time we will learn more. The developers ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will be waiting for the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Now Yakuza: Like a Dragon maybe have a powered baseball bat but even that is a weak toy compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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HITMAN 3. Death awaits. Wait why?

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

HITMAN 3 is a new stealth game developed and published by ‘IO Interactive‘. HITMAN 3 is said to be coming out in January 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC. HITMAN 3 has been described as the conclusion to the assassination trilogy. Things are about to get real serious in the assassination world. Let’s take a look.

What’s the story in HITMAN 3? Well Agent 47, aka baldi, is back and this time he’s handling the most important contracts of his assassinating ‘career’. This time something is different. Sure he is being backed up by his agency handler Diana Burnwood… BUT!… he is working together with his long lost friend Lucas Grey. Teams overall are better than solo. The words “Death awaits” is a recurring thing and we are not sure why. Maybe HITMAN 3 is the game where agent 47 dies. Maybe not. After all will no one not notice and want revenge?  

Now this mission that agent 47 is on is suppose to be the most important ones yet. The goal is to wipe out the partners of Providence. When you make your target people like the partners of Providence then you know real trouble is coming your way. You don’t wipe out one important person and think nothing bad will happen to you. As you carry out your mission, things will get harder and harder. The action will become more intense.

Expect a lot of scenery and environment as your mission takes you across the world. Sandbox locations included. Now the theme of freedom is quite strong with this game. A good number of these  modern games especially lately and with next gen aim to have open world and more freedom for players. This is a quote from the developers website, “We’ve made sure that players will have unrivalled freedom to complete their objectives and the game world will react to everything they do. All of this is made possible by our award-winning Glacier technology, which powers HITMAN 3’s immersive game world to offer unparalleled player choice and replayability.”. Multiple gems have tried the whole consequence thing. We think HITMAN 3 has the world and setting to do it. Just don’t mess up developers. 

We were never fans of the HITMAN series but from our experience with the games like HITMAN Absolution we know they are good games overall. HITMAN 3 won’t function as one game. In HITMAN 3, players can play all three games and carry some content over. There’s a whole section explaining this on their website so we will just quote it here, “The World of Assassination trilogy is fully realised with HITMAN 3 and we are establishing our new game as the ultimate place to play all three games. Players of our previous HITMAN games will be pleased to know that it will be possible to ‘import’ locations that they own from the previous two HITMAN games into HITMAN 3, essentially putting all 20+ locations from the entire trilogy in one place. Playing the entire trilogy from beginning to end, from within HITMAN 3, also means that the progression systems in HITMAN 3 work across all locations. You can unlock an item in Dubai and take it with you to Paris, for example. We’re pleased to say that HITMAN 2 players will have the option to carry over their hard-earned unlocks and progression into HITMAN 3.”

We checked out some HITMAN 3 gameplay and it looks like another HITMAN game. The graphics are great, the environments are excellent. Same formula so far. You know what you got to do and you sneak around. You stay undetected, pay attention to routes, blind spots, hiding places,  using everything to your advantage. You have different disguises and stuff to wear but ultimately the prize is that kill. It’s HITMAN… what do you want from us? It’s not suddenly going to be Halo. Off course more information is going to come out. 

Overall HITMAN 3 just seems like another HITMAN game but obviously bigger, more action, more intense, consequences to your actions, allies, three games in one, carry over content, more freedom and whatever extra they be bringing. HITMAN 3 has a big opportunity here so don’t waste it. Now the developers ‘IO Interactive’ have done a very good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will leave an ear open for what HITMAN 3 be up to. Now HITMAN 3 may be sneaking up on gamers but one thing it can’t sneak up on is… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Raid: Shadow Legends. Too many bad issues

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Raid: Shadow Legends is a popular mobile turn based RPG developed and published by ‘Plarium‘. This game came out in 2018. Now this game is popping up in so many places. Those annoying youtubers are promoting them and being sponsored by Raid. So with Raid popping up in many places it must be good… wrong! Let’s take a look.

Speaking of youtubers funny that we never hear them give an update or talk about how things are going for them in the game Raid: Shadow Legends. We wonder why… Anyway. We won’t waste time. The first thing you will notice that every time you log into the game a micro transaction will pop up in your face. Yes, every time you log in a deal is thrown in your face. Not just 1, 2, 3, literally at times it was 5 deals one after the other in our face. The developers are literally coming to your door as salesman one after another trying to get you to buy… at four different times in the day. That’s why we have our shotgun ready. So developers are REALLY after your money. Yes we understand that game design is a business. Plarium needs to make money like any other business. This is too much though.

 

The reason they come for your money so hard is because Raid: Shadow Legends is literally based on money. Sure the game is free but it’s clearly pay to win. We can literally say so much about this but many have huge problems with Raid: Shadow Legends and literally bashed this game… and for good reason. ‘The Gamer’ literally said on their website “Raid: Shadow Legends is absolute trash and we’re not afraid to say it”. It gets better as they then gave a paragraph explaining how essential spending real life money for success in this game is. They said, again on their website, “Are you stuck on a particularly difficult dungeon and don’t want to grind for more gear? Use your Visa! Do you need more silver to equip a new weapon, because for some reason that costs in-game currency? Break out the MasterCard! Are you dissatisfied with your rank in Arena against the teams boosted by other players and their credit cards? Then spend more money, or forever stay in the lowest ranks of “competitive” play, you filthy, poor casual”. This made us laugh but honestly this is true. Legit. 

Everything revolves around money, why? Because the game is so grindy that it makes you want to speed this up. Humans don’t like waiting. Lag makes people mad, a slow computer gets on our nerves etc. Everything in the game can be sped up… with money. You can buy all the silver you want. You can buy the gems. You can buy artefacts. You can buy champions. You can buy training slots. You can buy levelling up beverages. You can buy chicken which are used to rank up your champions. You can buy anything you need. It’s literally pay to win. If you and your friend start Raid: Shadow Legends at the same time but you are regular you with your comfortable minimum wage job while studying for example but your friend has a rich uncle who spoils him. In the first day of playing this game, you who is playing naturally will get some uncommon champions maybe a rare get to maybe level 10 (we forgot how fast you level up in the start) find some artefacts none good but it’s better than nothing. Your friend because he got lots of cash from his uncle can have a full level 60 squad of champions with some legendary champions and full mastery without having to face the minotaur. We aren’t joking! You can literally do it all in a day if you have enough cash. To give you an idea of how strong a legendary champion is here’s the order: common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary. So just think about this.    

Let’s talk about this grind. Everything is a grind. Levelling up is done fastest when you repeatedly do some of the hardest campaign levels you can do over and over again. So set the speed to 2x and ‘auto’. You don’t even need to play really. This is harder because each action requires energy which you have a limited amount of daily unless you buy more with money. In order to ascend your champions you need to collect the respective potions (magic, spirit, force, void, arcane) which you get from fighting in the respective dungeons same way with campaign. To make it grindy-er these fights also cost energy and you need a combination of the potion of your champions type with arcane as arcane is needed to for all ascensions. This means more fighting. Also the dungeon types are open on different days. So for example the magic dungeon might be open on Mondays, spirit is open Tuesday, force is Wednesday you get the idea. There is lesser, greater and superior potions of each type but we will get into that later in the blog post for a serious reason. In order to get your champions mastery, you need to (you guessed it) fight again but this time against the minotaur in his dungeon. If you win you get scrolls. There’s three types of scrolls, basic, advanced and divine. The type of scrolls you can get it decided by the difficulty of the dungeon. So you can’t get red scrolls until you get real strong in the game to defeat the dungeon. Which means come back later until strong after lots of grinding to get that strong. You need 5-30 basic for the first set of masteries, 80-120 advanced for next set and 200-350 divine for the final set. If you get strong enough like we did you can face stage 15 which is a level 185 minotaur. You can win from 24-32 basic, 11-16 advanced, 6-12 divine. Hold up… it gets worse.

So quick maths to fully max out your masteries concerning the divine scrolls you need 200+350= 550. 550/12 (it’s based on chance, so you won’t get 12 all the time) = 49 rounded up. Your champion will need to do this 49 times to complete one branch and that’s not counting the basic and advanced scrolls since you go through the masteries in order, you must max out the basic first before moving to advanced before moving to divine. If we counted basic and advanced it would be 49+15=64. Notice we said ‘one branch’. You can do only two branches and both cost the same except for the second branch can’t have the final category so double it. 128-29 (the last category of the second branch) = 99. So basically 100 times. Wait, notice even earlier we said “your champion” and not your team. Every time you successfully complete a minotaur dungeon ONLY ONE champion of your team at RANDOM gets the scroll prize. So the first time you win Athel might get the 12 divine scrolls but the second time your Frostking might get the 12 scrolls and the third time might be your Coldheart. Get it yet? The developers, to increase the level of grind made it so that your whole team doesn’t get the prize but only one. So it’s 100 times per champion! So your full squad of 4 or 5 means 400-500 times of repeating the minotaur dungeon. Oh and each attempt in the dungeon at this level costs 14 energy and at profile level 54 (what we were) you only get 124 energy daily so that’s 8 (as a whole number) attempts with what you got. Yes energy slowly comes back during the day so you might fill up your energy three times in a day so lets say 24 attempts each day. That means to fully max out your team of 4 you will need 400/24=17 (16.6) days of nothing but minotaur dungeon to fully max out your squad. It gets worse! Remember that the amount of scrolls you get per win is based on chance. We said on the highest difficulty dungeon you can get between 6-12 divine scrolls. We high balled the amount in our maths to show you the shortest amount of time. If you get 8 or 9, or even 6 the it’s going to take even longer. IT GETS WORSE! When you start the game you aren’t as strong as we were, you would need to start at lower level dungeons which give lower amounts of scrolls. For example stage 8 you can get 8-12 basic and 1-3 advanced, divine isn’t available at this level. It is available at level 11 but only 1-3 divine scrolls. So it would take forever. This is the definition of grind. 

We mentioned chance in the last two paragraphs but here’s where the chance gets real bad and one of Raid: Shadow Legends big problems. They don’t give enough information concerning chance. The lesser, greater and superior potions are dropped at chance. There’s even a chance you won’t get potions at all but a beverage for levelling up etc. We don’t know the chance of the drop. They say the higher difficulty of the dungeon gives a better chance for a greater and superior potion but how much more? What’s the chance. Weirdly we have received more superior and greater from lower levels instead of the higher levels. That’s weird. Even the whole artefacts are base on horrible chance. When you complete a campaign it’s all chance what you get in terms of the level of it and what stats it has. The worst is fighting the giant spider dungeon for rings, amulets and banners. Whenever you beat the spider queen thing, it’s all chance if you get a ring, banner or amulet. It’s all chance what level you get. It’s all chance what faction you get it for. So if you wanted to get a 6 star banner for Athel it becomes a nightmare you can’t control as you might get a banner but it’s the wrong level or you finally do get a level 6 banner but it’s for the orc faction so Athel can’t use it. Plus getting level 6 is harder than getting level 4 obviously. We have tried numerous times to get a specific banner or amulet and just don’t get it regardless of the number of times we tried. Remember that all the time we try to get a specific item from the spider queen we aren’t doing the minotaur, so no mastery for us. The chance gets worse in Raid: Shadow Legends. Shards is the main way to get champions. The type of shard has different chances for getting certain rarity of champions. Let’s focus on what matters here. When using an ancient shard you have a 0.5% chance of getting a legendary champion. 0.5%!! This means 1in 200. That’s like having 200 cards on a table face down and only one of those cards is the winning card. This game allows double of champions from shards so you can sacrifice to level up abilities. So after you pick a card, the whole table is shuffled with that same card back in the deck for you to pick again. Now if you use the sacred shards which is the main way to get legendary champions you have a 6% chance to get one. 6%! To give you an idea of how rare sacred shards are you only 1 every month! That’s if you do your daily and weekly quests with the monthly quest. It’s so bad that many have complained about this online. If you want more sacred shards then you have to BUY them. h and they aren’t cheap. Make sure you have a friend with a rich uncle.

So basically Raid: Shadow Legends has so much grind, the most grind we have ever seen in a game. So players get annoyed and want to speed it up. You speed it up by spending money which many are tempted to do as they keep throwing their deals and shop at you. Players buy gems because gems can be used to pretty much get anything else like full maxed out masteries. There’s a offer of £100 for 4200 gems. Do you know what we could buy with £100… not 4200 gems that’s for sure. Players use real money to everything else. The sacred shards are in packs that cost £49 and £29. The dumb part is  that the cheaper of the two has better stuff than the more expensive one. So if you want to have four attempt with sacred shards to get a legendary champion you will need to spend £116. Plus the £100 for the gems so that’s over £200. We checked online and some people have spent over £1000 on this game over time. One dude spent £2400 over 4 months. Some have spent more over time but never realised how much they put into this game. According to ‘sensor tower’ Plarium got 7 million in estimated monthly revenue as off May (check for yourself as we don’t know how reliable that information is). People need to manage their money better. Plarium will never earn a single dime from us and no we didn’t even spend over £50 over our months of playing the game. 

So we won’t try to defend Raid: Shadow Legends. We abandoned Raid: Shadow Legends. If you want to advance in arena against other players you need to spend as so many people in your low ranking like silver have full squads of legendary characters all level 60 with masteries. You will never catch up to them unless you spend or play the game for two years. Too much grind, too much money hungering and too much hidden and bad chance makes Raid: Shadow Legends a terrible game. We stopped having fun and got frustrated. There are more problems like the mission objectives, unbalanced characters etc but we will stick to the grind, chances and spending. We are literally being merciful, there’s so much more to say. Now Raid: Shadow Legends has so many problems which will forever keep it away from… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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