The first trailer announcing Forged Battalion’s launch on Steam Early Access!
Monthly Archives: April 2018
Fast-Paced Ship ’em Up Maelstrom Releases This Week
Fast-paced fantasy naval battles await as Gunpowder Games’ Maelstrom releases this week (April 11th) into Steam’s Early Access program. Those who purchase during launch week will get 10% off of the 19.99 asking price. Players begin on the outskirts of a large map, shrouded in fog banks to hide in, as well as swift currents and deadly maelstroms. Monsters lurk beneath the waves, and sinking NPC ships/other warships will see those successful captains collecting treasure and powerups (or boons), which grant significant combat bonuses. Once a ship is sunk, the contents of said ship bob to the surface of the water, and whoever gets there first claims it.
As more players sink, the monster-infested ‘Dead Waters’ encroach on the outer areas of the map,
reducing the play area and forcing a climactic showdown. Entering Dead Waters is not an instant
death sentence, but no captain can avoid the wrath of the beasts which lurk there for long. Though everyone receives rewards based on how long they survived, only one ship will remain at the end.
Gunpowder Games Lead Developer Blaine Smith said: “We’re stoked to finally turn the game loose and see how players react to the monsters and chaos of 16 warships trying to outwit each other, trading broadsides and blasting the bits off each other in battle!”
Ragachak’s Top 6 Worst RPG Party Members
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, which teammate sucks most of all?” – Snow White, I think
Not all party members are created equal in RPGs. Some are S-Tier, must-pick choices if you like to stomp all over your enemies. Characters like Sabin in FFVI, Frog or Magus in Chrono Trigger. Karn in Breath of Fire 1, and Bleu in Breath of Fire 2, Rosa in Final Fantasy IV, or Rei in Breath of Fire 3. These are characters that stand above most of their brethren in terms of strength, usefulness, and unique abilities. Nobody wants a character that’s never around, or can do what everyone else can, but weaker. That’s just disappointing, right? This was going to be a top 5, but someone else ultimately deserved to be on this list, and so since I could not winnow it down any lower, it becomes a Top 6! I probably could have just made it a top 10, but I like the challenge of 5 too much, except in this instance. There are some honorable mentions though, characters that maybe should be on here, but are not. Gobi of Breath of Fire 1 is absolutely useless unless he’s being used in a Karn Transformation (which he always is), as is Mogu in Breath of Fire 1. His damage always just seemed to be sub-par, and his only use was to dig for powerful items on the world map.
Goof-Off in Dragon Quest 3 could be on the list, except if you suffer through 20 levels of it, you can transform it into a Sage, making them badass. BeDragon? Come on, it was amazing, don’t lie to me. Dagger/Garnet in Final Fantasy 9 was just the poor man’s Eiko. She was very clearly the superior caster in every single way. Final Fantasy VI was an all-star cast of characters, but some of them were just … not as good. If you could game Setzer’s Slots ability you could destroy bosses in one hit. But if you couldn’t? Enjoy Lagomorph heals, dork! Umaro has lots of physical damage, but there are parts of the game he’s just not viable in, because he can’t cast magic. There’s at least one entire area where he’s an anchor holding your boat down (Proverbially speaking, of course) by having a party member that stands around and does nothing. But how could I mention slots and not bring up Cait-Sith? You absolutely have to have a master of timing to win matches via slots, and one tiny mistake can ruin everything. Slots runs of FF7 (Speedrun) are wonderfully clever and entertaining, but if you fail, that’s it.
So let’s get started!
6: Aerith/Aeris (Final Fantasy 7): Yes, Aeris is absolutely damn useless. The character with the most useful Limit Break in the entire game, and almost no one uses it/bothers trying to get it after their first playthrough. Why? Because Aeris dies. A wonderful healer, the only real “pure healer” in the game, and for 2/3rds of the game, she’s dead and doesn’t come back. So times when you have her in the party, it’s taking away Materia AP/Character growth for characters that could use it. Is she handy to have on the squad and could make several Disc 1 boss fights a bit safer? Yes, 100%. But why would you take her, when you could take someone that’s going to be around forever? Aerith, you just barely make the list, but you are so damn disappointing, despite being incredibly useful. I feel like Aerith and another character on this list suffer from possibly not originally being planned to be playable (at last in my suspicions).
5: Edward (Final Fantasy 4): Sure, Edward is useful in Paladin% and a few other Speedrun categories, but that’s not the main game, the normal story. Sure, every other version of Final Fantasy IV other than the SNES version sees Edward being useful, spreading consumables across the whole party and having better Songs for Bardic Magic. But the regular Edward, the few times you have him in the main party, he probably will spend most of it using “Hide”, where he is off-screen. When he’s Hiding, all you can do Un-Hide, and if he’s too low when his turn comes back around, he dives back into the background again, having a party member who does absolutely nothing. Now, his weapons are amazing and have a high percentage chance (so it seems) to inflict status ailments. Far better than his stupid “Song” ability.
4: Tia (Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals): Tia, for a lack of a better term, is “temporary Selan”. Selan’s your final Magical Girl in the party, and you know that if you played Lufia 1 before Lufia 2 (and why wouldn’t you? Well, that’s another story for another day). Her damage in melee is inferior to Selan, her Magic is almost as good, and she’s frankly, a boring character. She’s your placeholder, your “love interest” until Selan shows up, and it seems like as soon as Selan comes into the picture, Maxim falls head-over-heels and a few dungeons later, they’re married and have a kid. Tia’s big “character growth”? Being able to cry, because she couldn’t cry. She spent a lot of her time being bullied because her name means “Tear”. She’s basically Lufia from Lufia 1 and doesn’t even stick around the whole game. It was a weird choice, and I don’t really understand. Boy, I’d like to talk to the writer of Lufia 2 to ask about this.
3: Mallow (Super Mario RPG): Ugh. Mallow. Mallow’s useful trait is that he can heal and that he is a Tadpole. Yes, totally a Tadpole and not something we’ll learn is false later in the game. His magical damage is pretty good until you get Geno. The instant you get Geno and Peach, Mallow immediately becomes disposable. You can also glitch some of his useful magic away to another character (like Peach) but he’s weak, and ultimately just kind of bland. Why would you use him, when every single other character you get after him (Geno, Bowser, Peach) all do his job much better. Even Bowser, with his absolutely terrible spells still fills a better spot on the Squad. Even Mario is a better spellcaster with his cool physical jump/fireball powers! Mario is a better spellcaster than you: Hang it up.
2: Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics): Now now, I love Meliadoul as a character. Meliadoul Tengille has an awesome sprite for her character panel, the daughter of Vormav (one of the major villains), and is a goddamn Divine Knight, one of the broken, infuriating Church Knight classes, as a member of the Glabados Church. But why is she #2? Her powers are only useful if the enemy has human characters with equipment. Otherwise, none of her attacks deal damage. My first time playing FFT, I brought her to the final battle, expecting humans to be alongside Ajora, but alas, I have a character instead, that stands around and takes hits, and never attacking, because nothing she had was worth a damn. Not to mention, why would you break gear? Now you can’t steal it! Some of the late-game characters have incredible gear that you should want to steal, and not … you know, obliterate it. Isilude/Izlude, her brother, has a cooler title (Nightblade) but sadly, has the same dumb skills.
1: Marle/Nadia (Chrono Trigger): Yeah, that’s right, you heard me! Nadia is the biggest waste of space in any party ever, and I don’t even feel bad saying it! Let’s start at the beginning, she shares a magical element with another character in Frog. Sure, she can heal, but so can Frog. He can arguably do it better, with a better teammate in Ayla. Robo can heal too, and he’s got Shadow Magic! Bows do absolute garbage damage, so you get a character with sub-par damage, with magic that someone else could use (who has great physical damage/high crit rate), and is a part of some incredibly powerful abilities. Sure, Antipode 3 is great, and Poyozo Dance is a fun Triple Tech when you don’t have Chrono. But why on earth would you run Nadia, when you can run Frog? I have a feeling that Nadia wasn’t going to be playable, and when the choice was made, they didn’t want to add yet another element (like wind, for example) and no matter what you think, Water and Ice are the same Element. She has one use: Haste. I can get that on Equipment. You hear that Nadia? You can be replaced with a hat.
Heir of Light Trailer
Form a team of elite warriors and fight incredible enemies in an effort to save a world on the brink of collapse.
CHOP
CHOP is a local multiplayer platforming fighting game stylized with gorey comic-book inspired visuals. The objective is simple to execute, but difficult to perfect: kill the enemy and escape to a portal before dying yourself. Available for Windows.
Features:
Tools of the Trade: Take advantage of the various means of destruction such as boomerang blades, impaling knives, cross map guns or lasers, augmentations, grapples, teleports, and homing missiles among other things.
Diversity in the Murder Place: Pick from 1 of 4 unique characters, over 25 stages, and 3 different game modes.
The Old Adage: It’s easy to pick up and play, but oh so tricky to master.
CHOP Trailer
Jump across gory arenas cutting down the competition and escaping to live-saving portals.
Hunt: Showdown: Evil Waits Unseen
Horrific, nightmarish monsters lurk in the swamps of Louisana in Hunt: Showdown. Are you tough enough to put them down and prove your worth as a bounty hunter?
Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia – What’s new in Battles
Changes have been made to make the battles in Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia true to the time period. Learn more about that here.
Nintendo Switch News – 4/2/18 – 4/6/18
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
Hello, Internet! I’m going to do something a little different with the Nintendo Switch News, as long as I have the capacity to do so. We receive a fair amount of Nintendo Switch news that simply didn’t get covered because we until recently did not cover the Switch outside of my occasional reviews of content. So before I get into the games that came out this week, we’ll talk about some of that fun stuff to get Switch fans excited for more hardware/software! The first bit of news I have is that Astro Gaming is partnering with Nintendo to create an ASTRO/Nintendo Switch headset later this year. They have revealed three tags for their A40 Headsets, with The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3, and fans can get a peek at them at PAX East in Boston at the ASTRO Booth (#13055). These tags are magnetically interchangeable custom-made art for their headsets to personalize their headsets. We have no release date just yet, but take heart, as soon as we do, you will as well.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar had a very successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2015, where 14,175 backers made the development of the game possible. AIrship Syndicate created a unique game, paying homage to the famous console greats. It’s already available on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4, and is on the way to the Switch! May 15th, with an SRP of 39.99. This dungeon-crawling, turn-based RPG is gorgeous and it’s on the way in May. We have the animated trailer below:
Alright, that’s enough looking to the future, what’s out right now?
Ninja-Kid (4/5/2018): More Arcade Archives have hit the Switch, like Ninja Kid from HAMSTER. Ninja-Kid is an action platformer from 1984, where players control “Ninja-kun”, donning a red hood and works to move through various stages, defeating his foes with his shuriken. There are plenty of arcade classics on the Switch, including some like Ninja-kun that may not have been overlooked in the 80s Arcades. (7.99)
Penny-Punching Princess (4/3/2018): Now it’s no big secret that I love NIS (Nippon Ichi Software); as far as I’m concerned, they can do no wrong. I only just found out about Penny-Punching Princess today and I have to say, I already love it. It’s about a stoic, pragmatic girl who only trusts money. Boy, do I ever get that sentiment. She’s out to avenge her father’s death against the corrupt money lenders, the Dragoloan family. A land that used to be ruled by might is now ruled by capitalism. “In short, an era has come where even a Level 1 pleb can defeat a tyrant as long as they have money”. That’s a real bit from the story. I love it. I need it. It sounds absolutely wonderful. (39.99)
Metropolis: Lux Obscura (4/4/2018): Well, this is a “unique” game. Metropolis: Lux Obscura from Ktulhu Studios’ gameplay is based on a motion comic with a non-linear plot, mixed with Match3 puzzle fights. Make sense? It has a dark, noir-style game, and this is a game you’d probably see from Nutaku. The Steam-version has an X-Rated patch, and certainly something a player could finish in a day. But if you like breasts, and match-3 puzzle games, you’ll get your money’s worth out of it. Graphics that remind me of Sin City (which I love), Match3 puzzles (I also enjoy these) and Boobs (Come on. You know me.). It’s worth at least a peek. (7.99)
Super Rocket Shootout (4/5/2018): This is another game that simply has a great title that lures me in. The title really helps sell the game; more publishers and developers ought to learn this lesson. This is a 2D pixel brawler game. It has platfoming and fighting mechanics, adorable stages, cool characters and weapons, and jetpacks! How could you not like this? Plus one of the characters in a convenient blonde/gold Luchador mask does the Hulk Hogan flex-pose. It’s a trip back in time and was originally available on Steam. This is a game I can see people getting together with a few drinks, some pizza and snacks, and just blasting the crap out of each other in for hours without getting upset about it. This game just looks fun, and that’s a thing we’re lacking in games now. Sometimes you just want to blow stuff up and have fun. (9.99)
Claws Up Games
Claws Up Games









