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Titanfall 2 Is One of the Best First Person Solo Games I've Played In Some Time!

Titanfall 2 dropped in 2016 to a very crowded shooter landscape and such as it was, somewhat under-performed expectations. That said the franchise went on to launch APEX Legends which is one of the biggest free to play Battle Royale games around and as such when I picked up an XBox Series X I decided to give Titanfall 2 a go. I played a bit of APEX Legends and it's a great Battle Royale game but I'm not a huge player of those kinds of games beyond the occasional Fortnite match and after hearing incredible things from one of my friends about Titanfall 2 I picked it up on sale for a handful of bucks digitally.

Titanfall 2 Is Incredible In 120FPS

Titanfall 2 is one of... Read All Titanfall 2 dropped in 2016 to a very crowded shooter landscape and such as it was, somewhat under-performed expectations. That said the franchise went on to launch APEX Legends which is one of the biggest free to play Battle Royale games around and as such when I picked up an XBox Series X I decided to give Titanfall 2 a go. I played a bit of APEX Legends and it's a great Battle Royale game but I'm not a huge player of those kinds of games beyond the occasional Fortnite match and after hearing incredible things from one of my friends about Titanfall 2 I picked it up on sale for a handful of bucks digitally.

Titanfall 2 Is Incredible In 120FPS

Titanfall 2 is one of those games that when Microsoft gave developers the ability to take advantage of the XBox Series X hardware Respawn allowed game to run in 4K at 120FPS. I've heard some of my friends say they don't care about graphics and for the most part I agree with the sentiment. When you're into something fun be it a movie or game the graphics aren't always the most important thing. That said, playing a game at 120FPS is really an incredible thing that gives a game a little extra. If you are getting a console or PC soon capable of this, I'd hold out picking up Titanfall 2 until you can experience it as it's quite special.

The Empire VS The Rebels with Robot Suits

It's a battle tested story. Evil Empire wants to destroy it all and you are part of the scrappy rebels that will stop at nothing to save it. (A planet maybe, I don't entirely remember) Titanfall 2 uses these tropes to the max and the way they blend them makes the gameplay seamless. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I followed everything going on with the story but it serves the gameplay and incredibly lush visuals which is all I could really ask for.

Titanfall 2 clocks in at about 6-8 hours for the main campaign which isn't very long and thank Euclid for that. I know lots of gamers are looking for an epic 5,000 hour game but I'm really not anymore. Time is a premium and frankly, I'm not sure what kind of game could really hold my attention that long anyway. Titanfall 2 doesn't feel long winded and by the time I was wondering when the story would wrap up, it did. The final boss fight didn't really feel like a final boss fight which I really appreciated. It wasn't particularly challenging, which again, seemed good to me. The final boss fight here seemed a bit more like the ending to Kill Bill 2, except with Robot Suits and more shooting and yelling. I suppose in retrospect they aren't a lot a like but I liked it wasn't hard.

Titanfall 3 Please

With the success of the infinite money machine of APEX Legends I hope a new Titanfall single player game is coming but it might not be a big priority for EA. It seems that some rumors have surfaced that EA has given Respawn the greenlight for Titanfall 3 but I'm not sure what form this game might take and a huge game in early discussions is a long way from a potential launch.

A Spoiler-Free Review of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a very good game. It seems I’m on a trend with my gaming lately. I’ve been enjoying open-world games that have a combat system like the Batman: Arkham games. Shadow of Mordor is very much like a Batman: Arkham game crossed with Lord of the Rings, but there are key differences. The main difference between the two is that in Shadow of War, you can build an army of orcs.

At the beginning, you learn that a ranger, Talion, was killed along with his family, yet he is denied death. He was cursed and now pretty much lives again. He can die, but he keeps coming back. He is followed by a wraith, Celebrimbor. This wraith is special, though, and... Read All

Jurassic World Evolution 2 Coming November 9th

Three years ago, I wrote a review for Jurassic World Evolution. It’s an awesome game that lets you build your own Jurassic Park. You can find a link for that review at the bottom of this post. JWE isn’t just a simple park builder, it actually feels like a strategy game. Unless you’re playing in sandbox mode, you can’t just plop everything down and release whatever dinos you want. At first you’ll have access to all you need to get started, but you won’t have access to every dino or advanced buildings and upgrades.

To get dinos, you have to send out a dig team to visit sites around the world to gather fossils. These sites are actually the real world sites where these... Read All

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/11/2021 at 01:44am

I like the new stuff, but I’m disappointed with Campaign mode. JWE felt like a long game. Steam is telling me I’ve spent about 247 hours playing it. I know I went through it’s Campaign probably three times. In order to progress to the next map in JWE, you have to achieve a 3 or 5 star rating for your park. JWE2’s Campaign mode doesn’t even touch this subject. It doesn’t show you things you need to achieve any rating for your park such as amenities. It doesn’t even show you all the cool new additions like the aquatic stuff.

JWE’s 3 or 5 star progression necessity takes time and strategy. This actually makes it fun and prolongs the Campaign. At the same time it also makes the game a bit boring, because you’re often waiting for something to complete (like egg incubation). Fortunately, there’s a great mod that gives you time controls. JWE2 includes this as a feature. JWE2’s Campaign mode only lasts for a few hours. It’s fun, but once I reached that point I was left unsatisfied. An interesting way to look at this though is JWE’s Campaign centered on the archipelago named “Las Cinco Muerte,” which means “The Five Deaths.” Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna are recognizable as they are in the movies. Each island is a new map, although some islands actually have more than one playable area, especially if you have the story DLC.

JWE2 does have 5 maps. They are Arizona, Washington (state), Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Yosemite National Park in California. However, instead of working towards the goal of a park rating, you just have to finish story missions. Those missions are pretty much chasing dinos to put them in an enclosure and that’s about it. That’s pretty much the extent of each map, just in different biomes.

(Continued in next comment as I exceeded the character limit again.)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/11/2021 at 01:44am

JWE2 introduces Chaos Theory mode and it seems to be much closer to JWE’s game play. The point of Chaos Theory mode is revisiting the setting of each movie and doing something different. On the Lost World map, you actually get to build and run the San Diego park, which never got a chance in the movie. It was introduced and the Rexes were supposed to go there, but it didn’t quite work out.

The first map, Jurassic Park, is quite similar to JWE’s DLC titled “Return to Jurassic Park.” That was a fun DLC. The voice acting was great, because you could tell one of the characters sounded much younger. It’s main mission is to fix the park and get it back up and running. It gave us Jurassic Park variations of the buildings in the game. JWE2’s Jurassic Park Chaos Theory mode is similar, but more like a nearly complete tutorial. The only reason I say it isn’t complete is because it doesn’t include things that were not in JP such as the aviary and aquatics. I haven’t finished this one, but I’m quite sure that’s the case. I’m quite sure the mission I’m working on now is the final part of it. I’m not sure how the other maps for the other movies work, but so far Chaos Theory seems to be a great new feature that isn’t disappointing.

I may write a full review of JWE2 after I play more. I just wanted to share my initial thoughts here. I can’t decide how to rate this on Steam. I want to give a positive rating, because I love the game, but my thoughts about it are negative simply because of the brevity of it’s Campaign mode.

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Spider-Man & Doctor Strange Change Reality Into Something Fun In The First No Way Home Trailer!

I’ve been curious how the story of Spider-Man No Way Home would work with Doctor Strange and the multi-verse. After the first trailer dropped I’m no longer wondering how it will work I just want to watch the movie already.

Spider-Man & Doctor Strange will both try and alter reality this winter ONLY in theaters on December 17th.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/24/2021 at 02:32am

Ok, so, Dr Strange was acting super strange here...

The spell he cast was way too dangerous. Is he incompetent, or is he too full of himself?

Or is he an evil variant of some kind...

OR IS HE MEPHISTO??? Lol, hear me out. Why was the Sanctum frozen? Could it be that the place would burn up in Mephisto's presence? Mephisto made a deal with Peter in the comics (I think it was about Peter's wife? I don't remember). Perhaps this is Peter, unknowingly, making a deal with the devil?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/24/2021 at 04:29am

Looks good. I think Agnes is behind strange.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2021 at 05:47am

Finally!!! I think the green grenade (I'm sure that was what it was) confirms Green Goblin. That laugh sounds like the previous Green Goblin (the dad, not Harry, the son) from the Toby Maguire Spider-verse, which wouldn't be a surprise. We obviously see Doc Oc and we've been told that Electro is appearing, too.

I'm not sure about the theories Adam and Will_Ball suggested. I'm not sure why Strange would cast that spell either, which does seem a bit suspicious. It is odd that the Sanctum was frozen, maybe we'll get the answer to that, too.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2021 at 04:48pm

I agree that Dr Strange does act rather…. STRANGE…. 🥁

That said, I am not sure they’d do the same thing they did in the last Spider-Man in the next Spider-Man? It’s possible he may be a more evil variant but that seems very similar to the last Spider-Man too.

Either way, should be a fun ride.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2021 at 04:53pm

Here are some of my own theories. Buckle up.

Ok so what I think is happening here is that Doctor Strange got a note from Disney chair Alan Horn. The memo was essentially “DOC STRANGE PLEASE MESS UP TIME SUCH THAT WE CAN SELL MORE TOYS AND TIE IN MORE TV SHOWS” and I bet Doctor Strange said no. Then Alan Horn made the writers of No Way Home FREEZE OUT the Sanctum because we all know that Disney NEEDS A MCU Christmas movie and to make Doctor Strange cold such that he changes the timeline to be warm.

Ok so what I think happens next is that Green Goblin comes to the MCU from the Gameboy game but his bombs are green instead of the dot matrix pixel grey. Also, Toby Maguire is obviously in this because if you freeze on the last frame of the trailer where they advertise PS5 controllers in the upper right you can clearly see a white pixel. Since Toby McGuire is white this is clearly one pixel of him as Spider-Man.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2021 at 04:54pm

🔥

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2021 at 07:14pm

LOL Well I did find out that the movie does appear to be at least similar to one of the Spider-Man comics in which Mephisto helps him by making everyone forget who Spider-Man is. This came from watching the New Rockstars reaction to the trailer. Maybe Marvel is just teasing us with Mephisto, maybe he'll show up eventually. Also, how does Doc Oc recognize this Peter Parker? I'm also wondering why Peter was on top of a car and then activates his suit. Wasn't he trying to hide his identity or did he just not care and knew he was heading in to fight someone? I'm wondering what's up w/ the train scene, too, as it seems Spidey is fighting Doctor Strange, or rather Doctor Strange seems to be trying to kill Spidey.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2021 at 09:15pm

> Also, how does Doc Oc recognize this Peter Parker?

He’s wearing a Spider-Man suit?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2021 at 09:15pm

> I'm wondering what's up w/ the train scene, too, as it seems Spidey is fighting Doctor Strange, or rather Doctor Strange seems to be trying to kill Spidey.

CIVIL WAR 2!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/24/2021 at 09:44pm

Slashfilm had a good speculation that when Doctor Strange casts the spell, he also forgets who spider-man is. It would explain why in the trailer he seems to be fighting spider-man.

Then again, maybe spider-man wants out of the MCU so he can start his own universe and it angers Doctor Strange, so he fights him.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2021 at 10:17pm

>He’s wearing a Spider-Man suit?

Yeah, but just because he's wearing a Spidey suit (and white I should add), doesn't mean he's Peter Parker.

Will_Ball that totally makes sense! When I watched the New Rockstars reaction, they didn't mention it, but seeing it for the second time, I thought, wouldn't Doctor Strange also forget him? So, that makes sense, though I'm kind of not sure why they'd still fight. Maybe they're not fighting, or if they are then there's definitely a reason.

I'm surprised they didn't show Electro, though I heard there was lightning in the original leaked trailer. I'm surprised that instead of Electro they teased Green Goblin. I also think it's interesting to see that Doctor Strange seems to have a major role in this. So, it seems Sony is adopting more of the MCU than I expected. I thought Doctor Strange was just going to make a brief cameo, but it looks like that assumption was wrong.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/25/2021 at 12:00am

Ok, I need to point out an error on my part. There was lightning in the trailer, I didn't quite notice or pay attention to it until I watched the New Rockstars trailer breakdown. It appears there's some dust clouds, too, which might mean the return of the Sand Man. The Lizard appears to be there, too, though it's difficult to see him. While the actors have denied it, the fact that we're seeing Spider-Man villains from different universes kind of makes one wonder why couldn't other Spider-Mans appear as well? I have so many questions about this movie now, because of this trailer that I'm probably looking forward to it even more now, because I want to find out the answers.

As much as I'd prefer not to, I may just have to go to the theater to see these movies. Shang-Chi comes out next Friday (not this week, but next week).

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/26/2021 at 02:03am

But will we see dancing Toby from Spider-Man 3?

Travis Admin wrote on 08/26/2021 at 03:51am

Boycot unless dancing Toby shows

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/26/2021 at 06:43am

It seems a lot of people didn't like that Spider-Man movie, I feel like one of the very few who did. Granted, I haven't seen it in many years and so my memories of it have faded, with few exceptions.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/26/2021 at 03:22pm

I think it was fine, but had a lot of cringey moments that pulled it down. You could tell Sony was interfering with Raimi’s vision for it so they could force venom into it

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/28/2021 at 01:17am

I don’t remember 3 all that much. I remember I liked it when it came out.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/17/2021 at 03:48am

What to see the BEST trailer ever?! Check it out: https://youtu.be/83N0Bbas3E8

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/18/2021 at 04:50pm

I’d make a new post for this trailer.

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Get a Sugar High From This Candy Box 2 Speedrun

Speedrunner frozenflygone snacks through this unique Candy Box 2 run in a sweet 20:51 time. I’d never considered a clicker game would make for an interesting speedrun but this run delivers. If you haven’t heard of Candy Box 2 and want to take your hand at the clicking action we have a version you can play right now on Cheerful Ghost too.

So watch the run and click the candy fun

https://cheerfulghost.com/games/candybox2

Yum!

A Non-Spoiler Mad Max Review

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Mad Max isn’t new, the first movie came out the same year I was born (1979). The second came out two years later. There is a third, too, which came out in 2015, titled Mad Max: Fury Road. Tom Hardy plays Max in that movie. I think it’s interesting, he doesn’t speak much, but when he does he kind of grunts. The movie also has the creepiest villain I have ever seen!

The game also came out in 2015. I missed a great opportunity to get it for free as one of my tribe mates from Ark offered to give me a key, but I didn’t take him up on the offer. I kind of regret that, but I actually ended up getting it for $4 recently. I really have no idea how or why I was able to get it... Read All

Quake Returns With a Proper Remastered Version

Quake is back with a proper remastered version by Night Dive Studios & all new campaign by MachineGames! If you have Quake on Steam on the Bethesda launcher your version will automatically upgrade. I have Quake on the Bethesda launcher and was happy to see the game update and I checked it out and it looks and feels fantastic. There is a new feature in this version of Quake where you can download Quake add-ons and right now Quake 64 is the only thing you can download. If how iD Software has treated Doom is an indicator I imagine they will add more Quake mods over time that will make it easy for fans to experience even more of this classic.

This new version of Quake... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/20/2021 at 02:11am

I saw Quake under the section of "What's New" under "Home" in Steam and wondered why, thanks to you now I know. I've played Quake kind of recently, so I don't know that I'll play it again soon. I saw a video of it and it looks nice, though finding a comparison video isn't turning out as well as I'd hoped. I've found other videos comparing games that got remastered with their original graphics side by side and that makes the contrast really stand out.

My only question is if the expansion packs have their original soundtrack. The good news about this (which you already know) is that you can download those soundtracks and add them to the game quite easily. I'm pretty sure you have a post here about that.

Thanks for sharing this news!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/20/2021 at 02:20am

I got Quake for free with the Bethesda launcher last Quakecon so it was fun to see it update to Quake remastered today. The TLDR; on the update is that, out of the box, it does everything you have to hack to do that I had in my post. It selects the proper settings by default, adds the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack and everything. It's also coming out on Switch, Xbox, Playstation and the like in a very worthy edition that requires much less fuss to play.

It also comes with all the expansions and an entirely new campaign which I think I'll check out.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/20/2021 at 02:42am

Sweet! Whoa a new campaign?! That might be worth checking out!

Speaking of remasters....I haven't reported it yet, I thought I'd wait until it's officially announced, but I recently read that supposedly we're getting some GTA remasters. I think it's GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. It'd be really nice if they'd remaster the copies some of us already have, instead of making us pay extra for it. Although, paying extra for a remaster makes sense anyway. So, it's cool that this Quake remaster is free for those of us that already own the game. I think I also got Quake for free the same way you did, I could be wrong though.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/20/2021 at 04:12pm

Limited Run Games will be releasing physical versions of quake for the ps4 and switch. They go on sale next week and will be available for about a month.

NIN has the quake vinyl back up for sale too: https://store.nin.com/products/quake-vinyl

Travis Admin wrote on 08/26/2021 at 04:10am

I have been playing this new Quake and it’s really good. For a quick no-effort way to play, it’s definitely the best I’ve played. I’m sure there are some third party engines that can do it better but the entire absence of effort for this, plus cross platform multiplayer and achievements… it’s pretty great. I’ve seen that the new expansions are the same format as the old ones so they can be played in third-party engines which is awesome.

And yeah Will, I didn’t even realize that vinyl was rare. The Walmart in the town I work has had it for months now, and just the other day I decided to price check it and saw that it was basically out of stock everywhere and going for a lot more than retail, so I nabbed it. Glad that others will get the shot too

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2021 at 02:27am

> I have been playing this new Quake and it’s really good. For a quick no-effort way to play, it’s definitely the best I’ve played. I’m sure there are some third party engines that can do it better but the entire absence of effort for this, plus cross platform multiplayer and achievements… it’s pretty great. I’ve seen that the new expansions are the same format as the old ones so they can be played in third-party engines which is awesome.

Agreed. Quakespasm is very good but this seems to make more choices I appreciate by default a bit better (no pixel smoothing by default). They also upres the menu graphics so it isn't so small and Night Dive did a graphical "glow up" that makes things a hint nicer.

https://twitter.com/pripyatbeast/status/1428476843162705923

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Watch The Legend of Zelda Consternation Randomizer

Randomizers in the Speedrunning community are ROM hacks that breathe life into certain old games where a random experience can create a very thrilling run. Recently Games Done Quick showed off a run by Skybilz in The Legend of Zelda Consternation Randomizer which takes the original NES game and mixes up the items with a few other fun bits. In the run you can watch above, Skybilz plays through the Zelda randomizer twice and there are some really fun turns in level 9. Randomizers really flex a Speedrunners game knowledge and require a very deep focus on all the games items, levels and what's required to get to "go mode" which is having all the items such that you can... Read All

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Spoiler-Free Review

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since FF12 was released and it was on the PS2! Luckily, Square-Enix has decided to remaster some of those now “old” FF games, including FF12. This remaster is called Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. It’s a bit obvious, but I think the main part of this remaster is the visual upgrade. I was really disappointed with the original, in that it didn’t look so great, so I believe it most definitely needed this upgrade. It looks better now. Take a look at a comparison video and you’ll see how much better it is.

Be aware though, there are other ways in which this version differs from the original, though I didn’t look to see what they... Read All Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since FF12 was released and it was on the PS2! Luckily, Square-Enix has decided to remaster some of those now “old” FF games, including FF12. This remaster is called Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. It’s a bit obvious, but I think the main part of this remaster is the visual upgrade. I was really disappointed with the original, in that it didn’t look so great, so I believe it most definitely needed this upgrade. It looks better now. Take a look at a comparison video and you’ll see how much better it is.

Be aware though, there are other ways in which this version differs from the original, though I didn’t look to see what they all are. However, I noticed in my Internet searches that some things or ways to get things have been changed or removed. So, if you’re playing and you’re looking for info about something, take notice that what you’re looking at applies to this version and not only the original. One example of this that I ran into was how to obtain Ribbons. Ribbons are an accessory, which makes the wearer “immune to status ailments” according to the wiki. These are rare and highly sought after. I wanted to get some, but it looked like they made some changes, so I wasn’t sure exactly which of the original ways to get them had been removed or changed. Ultimately, because of this, I decided not to spend too much time on it and I just skipped over that, even though it would have been beneficial in some side quests. I think I did see that you can use Cheat Engine (a good cheating program I’ve used in other games), but I didn’t bother with that.

In FF12, the combat system is not quite like other FF games before it. Instead of issuing commands for each character once an ATB fills up, characters will act on their own when they’re ready to act. Although, you can still switch between characters and chose an action for them to do, quite simply. This “Gambit” system allows you to select certain commands to occur on certain conditions. For instance, you could set one up that’s “Foe: lowest HP” and then set up the action to “Attack.” You could also use one that’s “Ally: Status KO” and set up the action to use “Phoenix Down” or you could set up another for the same, but have the action as “Rise” or “Arise.” The list of Gambits has a top-priority, so the lines closer to the top get executed first, as long as the condition applies, if not then the line below it is active, continuing until it finds a condition that applies. So, you’ll probably want all of your healing gambits at the top and your attack at the bottom, so you prioritize healing over attacking (it’s not good trying to attack if you’re KO’d). This may take some learning and getting used to, but once you accomplish that then it’s really not a bad system, it kind of “takes your hands off the steering wheel,” giving your characters some autonomy, even if you pre-selected actions. One thing that confused me at first was that there are different tabs where you can set up different gambits for different battles. Your characters will follow whatever page of gambits you leave it on, they don’t follow each tab, only one tab at a time, so you can create different custom gambit lists.

I love Ivalice! There are some major races, many of which are humanoid, but also like an animal. Humes are humans, as you could easily guess. I’ve never seen a male Viera, but according to the wiki, they do exist. Viera are kind of tall and skinny with very tall ears on top of their heads, which look like rabbit ears. I really love the Viera, one of the main characters in the game, Fran, is a Viera and I really love her. Nu mou have an interesting and canine-like description on the wiki. They are smaller than humes, but live three times as long. I didn’t see many of them, in fact I think the ones I did see were part of a side quest. You’ll see a lot more Bangaa, though. They have a lizard-like appearance. There are also Seeq, which look like pigs. They’re a bit shorter and stouter than humes. There are other races in the game, but these are the main ones. Oh and I can’t forget the Moogles! If you don’t know what Moogles are, you haven’t paid attention to Final Fantasy. They are still little, but now skinnier and they have rabbit-like ears, similar to the Viera, but smaller. They have a “red pom-pom” on top of their heads connected by a wire. Often in FF games, this is actually attached as a tail. They don’t talk much and you won’t see many of them there. They seem to be mostly engineers.

The “jobs” or “class” system is back. Some of these you can choose from are typical FF ones like White Mage, Black Mage, Red Battlemage, Time Mage, Archer, and Knight, but there are more. Each “job” is actually called a “license board.” You earn “license points” (LP) after a battle and you use these to activate a tile on a license board, which is called a “license.” These will give you an ability or a stat increase. This is how you become able to wear different armors, accessories, and use different weapons, magics, and skills. Each “job” uses a different weapon, there is one for Ninja Swords and another for Crossbows, just to name a couple. Each character can have two active license boards (or you can think of this as a dual-job). When you fill one up, you can activate a tile that will let you use another board, but you won’t lose the tiles you activated on the previous board. However, if you go talk to Montblanc, he can let you switch boards, but it will refund you all the LP you used and wipe everything clean. After doing, so you can select another board, fill it up, and select the second to fill up. So, you could actually have a character that’s a White and Black Mage. I changed my characters sometimes. I ended up with making everyone a White Mage first, because White Magic is the best (Arise, Esuna, Shell, Protect, etc.) and then something else. It’s really not a complicated thing and eventually you’ll have more LP than you can use. There are other skills you can learn called “Technicks.” Some of these skills include “Gil Toss” and “Steal.” Some of them are limited to certain “jobs”, so one Technick might only be available to a few different “jobs.” There are plenty of these, though I didn’t use many of them.

So, you need to active the “license” on a license board to be able to use a piece of armor, accessory, weapon, magic, technick, etc. But, you also have to find that armor, accessory, weapon, magic, technick, etc. to use. So, if you have a good sword you want to use, you’ll have to unlock it on the license board and it won’t be available to every job (Mages don’t wield swords, though you could have a White Mage/Knight combo to do so). Everything is scattered throughout the game and many of them are hidden.

I mentioned Montblanc, so I should mention clans. You get put in one automatically. Clans don’t necessarily matter, it’s what you can do in a clan. Basically, there are monsters that people want hunted, so they’ll post something on a board in a bar, for instance. You can see the posts, with limited information about the hunt. Once you’ve accepted it, you have to go speak with the person who posted it to get more details. The game will show you (on a map) where that person is, then where the monster is once the person gives you the info. These monsters are usually tougher than regular monsters. You may need to exercise some caution as some of them may be too difficult to deal with at first. After completion, you’ll have to return to the poster and get your reward. Doing these hunts will increase your clan rank. Each time you reach a new rank, Montblanc will give you a reward. You can also get rewards for defeating certain monsters or achieving other conditions. The higher your clan rank, the better things you can buy in the bazaar. I completed most of these, but not all of them.

There are a lot of things to do. As it goes with FF games, this one is also full of side quests. I don’t recall how many or which ones I completed when I first played this game all those years ago when it was released (I pre-ordered it and was even able to buy a FF12 shirt from a GameStop employee). In this play through, I made it to a point that I thought was a bit more difficult that I’d like, so I took some time away from the story to do some side quests. Eventually, I reached a point where I had to continue the story so that certain things were available. Once I returned to (and finished) the story, I found it much easier. Not long after, I reached the point of no return, which is pretty much exactly where you want to stop to do all of your side quests. The game will tell you when you’ve reached this point. So, the difficulty is like most other FF games where you just have to find better gear (including armor, weapons, magics, and abilities) and level up for things to get easier. You do earn experience points and thus levels, but I read something that said gear is more important than levels.

Oh, you might be familiar with “espers,” which is a term used in some other FF games that refers to large beings you can summon. In most games some forms of these are Bahamut and Shiva, however the only ways in which you’ll see many of those familiar summons is as an airship. However, there are others like them with similar abilities. You can summon them and they’ll fight along side the character that summoned them, the rest of your party isn’t there anymore. The esper will use it’s own abilities and you can use yours. However, your esper can get killed. If that happens, or you get killed in the fight, your esper will be “dismissed.” You’ll have some bars under your name, which shows how much power (not sure what it’s called) you have. If it’s full, you can summon an esper or use a “quickening,” if it’s empty, you have to wait. I think Ethers will restore this energy. Quickenings are pretty much what are usually called “limit breaks.” These are special large abilities characters use to attack a foe. Once one character starts using one, you’ll have a brief period of time to press a button next to a different character’s name, if successfully done, another character will do their quickening and you can try to select another character, until you miss or all the quickening/summoning bars are depleted.

I’ve now only played through FF12 twice, the first time with the original and this time. Getting back into it reminded me the two FF: Tactics games (the second was A2). Both are great games and I miss them very much, I wish they’d bring those to Steam (and consoles, I guess).

Oh and there are other, non-visual, enhancements. One of them allows you to increase the speed of the game. This could make traveling around, fighting monsters, or running away from them easier. I should also mention that random encounters aren't so random. You can see each enemy in your view on the screen or the mini-map. So, you can chose to attack or avoid whichever you want. There's no cut between starting a battle and being in it, it all happens in real-time, which is unlike some other FF games. If you defeat all the monsters in an area, usually you can get out of the zone and get back into it for them to respawn.

That might cover all the major things to talk about. Overall, I think if you like FF games, you’ll probably like this one. While it isn’t my favorite, it’s still pretty good. It does have it’s moments of “eh,” but I think overall it’s good. I definitely recommend checking this out, especially if you’re into FF games.

Let me know what you think about FF12 and this remaster. I wasn’t overly excited about it. I even hesitated to buy it for a while, but I found it at a good discount recently and got it. I didn’t think I’d enjoy playing it (again) as much as I did. Feel free to check out the embedded video for another positive review.

Magic The Gathering Arena Is Now On Mobile And Well Worth Playing!

Magic The Gathering is a classic collectable card game that continues to be the most popular of it's kind. Even during COVID it's more popular than ever and in 2019 Wizards of the Coast launched Magic The Gathering Arena to pitch the game in a new way to compete digitally with other digital card games such as Hearthstone and Gwent. I've tried earlier incarnations of Magic the Gathering in a digital form and found them to be severely lacking in that the user experience made the game a chore to play. Magic the Gathering Arena takes the Magic ruleset and streamlines the experience to make the game more accessible. I'm not an Magic expert so I'm not aware if any rules... Read All Magic The Gathering is a classic collectable card game that continues to be the most popular of it's kind. Even during COVID it's more popular than ever and in 2019 Wizards of the Coast launched Magic The Gathering Arena to pitch the game in a new way to compete digitally with other digital card games such as Hearthstone and Gwent. I've tried earlier incarnations of Magic the Gathering in a digital form and found them to be severely lacking in that the user experience made the game a chore to play. Magic the Gathering Arena takes the Magic ruleset and streamlines the experience to make the game more accessible. I'm not an Magic expert so I'm not aware if any rules were changed in the digital form but it feels like the whole Magic experience.

Magic the Gathering Arena is free to play and as such I think folks should be wary that it might fall into the trapping of more modern free to play predatory game leanings. For instance, as someone that played Hearthstone in it's original form all the way through and then left due to the game becoming more focused on needing to buy packs, Magic Arena feels more than fair if you want to play for free. Right away Magic drops you into a set of tutorial modes that familiarize you with the base game such that you can earn a pretty solid deck for each color. After that you can play quests to earn gold to buy packs and unlock dual color decks that offer you even more ways to play. Right now I have 7 decks they have given me for free and seem to be able to unlock more as I play the game. I imagine you could construct even more decks from the free cards you get too, but as a Magic newb I'm not sure i'd have great results with that yet.

If you want to checkout Magic Arena it recently came to mobile on iOS, Android and you can also play it on PC and Mac on the Epic Game Store. Not only can you unlock a hefty amount of free decks but right now you can use the code PLAYDnD to unlock 3 new packs from the Dungeons & Dragons meets Magic in the Forgotten Realms expansion.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena-welcome