Monthly Archives: August 2018

Clicker Heroes 2 Preview

by Andrew Skelton (Outfoxed)

I share a special fascination with idle games.  There’s something satisfying about watching all of your automation in action that makes it zen-like.  I played countless hours of the original Clicker Heroes, thoroughly engrossed and entrenched in optimal setups, quick ascensions, and rapid growth of power.  That sentence may have confused some people though — idle games are meant to be set and forget, right? Playsaurus announced Clicker Heroes 2 some time ago, and has finally launched a beta version of the game.  I can tell you this much: I’ve already been robbed of hours of my time, just like the original stole from me.

Clicker Heroes 2 Screenshot

The fundamentals of Clicker Heroes 2 don’t differ much from the original.  You progress through several stages of monsters who don’t fight back, butchering them for their sweet, sweet gold.  Occasionally you’ll upgrade to gain more power so you can kill said monsters faster. There are bosses who have substantially more health than their minions that you’re a time limit to defeat.  There are even additional upgrade paths to take beyond just leveling up heroes.

However, Clicker Heroes 2 is vastly different than its predecessor, to the point where some people think it shouldn’t be called a sequel.  Gone are the multiple heroes; you only control one at a time. Gone are the hero upgrades; equipment is the only thing you level now. Gone, too, are leveling ancients for alternate progression — well, sort of.  I’ll get to that. What’s been put in place of all this are genuine RPG style stats. Upgrading your equipment grants you the choice to enhance its stats with things like increased damage, energy, mana, or my personal favorite, haste.

Clicker Heroes 2 Screenshot

Skills are also still a part of the Clicker Heroes experience, though they function far, far differently in this sequel than they did before.  Skills can take either energy or mana, and most of them have a vastly shorter cooldown than they did in the original. These skills ranged from a set number of clicks, to powering up your next clicks, to even enhancing the potency of your next skill.  Some can be turned on and will only turn off when you’re out of energy or mana. Interesting to note: clicking takes energy too, which seems mostly in place to prevent people from just auto-clicking their way through things.

Clicker Heroes 2 Screenshot

The thing that stands out the most about Clicker Heroes 2 is the skill tree.  When I say skill tree, I mean a Path of Exile style skill tree. Seriously, look at the screenshot: the thing is MASSIVE.  As you kill monsters, you gain experience. When you level up, you get a skill point to put in this skill tree. You’re locked into your first few points, but after that?  The power is yours! These points represent a permanent boost to your character, similar in fashion to a rogue-like. See, when you clear a world, you lose all of your equipment, but by investing in these skills, you come out of each world stronger than you started.  The ancients I mentioned earlier, from the original Clicker Heroes? They exist on the tree as what some would consider capstone abilities. There are yellow and blue nodes on the board that grant far more power than a regular one. Some blue nodes even vastly change certain skills.  These are the nodes you want to aim for when putting together your build.

Clicker Heroes 2 Screenshot

Another feature greatly expanded on from the original game is the automator system.  I originally stopped playing Clicker Heroes right around the time they introduced an auto-click system, so I can’t say much on how they operated there, but as you spend points in the skill tree, you’ll unlock additional setups for the automator.  Basically, you start with some basic commands like a base cooldown of four seconds and a multiclick ability. Put them together and bam! Every four seconds you’ll use the Multiclick ability. It can get much, much more complex later, though, and can be used to upgrade your equipment for you, choose upgrades to said equipment randomly, and more.  For players that truly want a hands-off experience, the automator will be right up your alley.

Clicker Heroes 2 Screenshot

There’s a lot to like about Clicker Heroes 2 in its current state.  The animations are smooth and fluid, even when you stack haste like I do (seriously, haste is so wonderful).  The end bosses for each world are massive and impressive, and in some cases ghastly and grotesque (I’m looking at you World 2!).   I’m personally enamored with the skill tree and the massive flexibility it gives me, even as people are endeavoring to optimize builds.  Some people are balking at the price tag, given the first was free; however, there is the promise of absolutely no microtransactions. So far, from the beta, there’s no need for them either.  Yes, there will be leaderboards in the future, but those will hopefully be closely monitored.

Keep in mind that if you get in the beta now, there will be a reset happening soon.  It will be the only one coming, thankfully, but it does need to be mentioned. Also, there is no cloud saving currently, mostly because of the impending data reset.  Clicker Heroes 2 has been an absolute charm for me, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing what developments come its way.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.

Dead by Daylight Begins Scorching Summer BBQ Event

Dead by Daylight - Summer Scorching Event

Starting today (August 7th) in Dead By Daylight, the Scorching Summer BBQ event has begun. Players who complete the challenges will unlock special customization rewards, such as Hillbilly’s “Pro-Pain” Hammer and Kate’s “Free Songbird” slip dress costume. Once you complete your own goals, you can keep playing to gain bonus bloodpoints and help your friends get their items as well. This event lasts from today until August 21st. Every trial will start with two Frozen Cocktail machines and 2 Grill hooks, and by burning BBQ Invitation Offerings, another Frozen Cocktail machine and Grill hook will appear. As a Killer, hook a Survivor on a Grill hook for the first time to gain 1 Survivor Chop and as a Survivor, complete repairs on a Frozen Cocktail machine to grant all Survivors 1 Frosty Margarita. You can only gain Frosty Margaritas and Survivor Chops in Public Matches.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 Digital Preorders Now Available on All Platforms

Valkyria Chronicles 4

Valkyria Chronicles 4 rolls out on September 25th on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Steam via PC. Digital pre-orders are available on all of these platforms, and also comes with a special bonus. This is the “A Captainless Squad” add-on mission. In this side mission, a group of Squad E soldiers find themselves on an impromptu reconnaissance operation after the squad’s beloved medic dog, Ragnarok goes missing. ance operation after the squad’s beloved medic dog, Ragnarok, goes missing. This mission will be available immediately for anyone who digitally pre-orders Valkyria Chronicles 4 when the full game launches on September 25 (after reaching Chapter 10 in the main story). ‘A Captainless Squad’ will also be available as a standalone add-on item for $4.99 in late October. The Playstation Store preorder will also land players an exclusive theme and avatar set.

The console versions of Valkyria Chronicles 4 also features a free demo for players to tackle. In the Valkyria Chronicles 4 Demo, available now as a free download on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, and Nintendo Switch eShop, you’ll join Commander Claude Wallace and his comrades in Squad E as they begin the first steps of Operation Northern Cross. Play through the prologue and first two chapters of the game, as well as an exclusive bonus mission created for the demo. Demo save data, including items obtained, class levels, earned experience, and currency total will transfer over to the full game, so you can pick up right where you left off. Additionally, importing save data from the demo will net you an exclusive accessory for use in the full game.

Retro Review: Shining Force (SEGA)

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Shining Force 1 Review - 4

You can’t say that this is amazing to see in the early 90s.

I did not own a SEGA console as a child, and in fact, did not really have easy access to one until well into adulthood. That was when my roommate brought home the SEGA Dreamcast, which was a wonderful machine. The SEGA Genesis was a powerful machine in its own right, but I owned an NES, then SNES, then the Playstation, and each had incredible roleplaying games that I could not stop playing. But the SEGA had some pretty incredible RPGs that I missed out on for a very long time. In particular, the Shining series is one of the longest-running RPG series for the SEGA consoles that I can think of. In fact, we recently saw a remake of the latest Shining game, Shining Resonance. Shining Force was special; it was a turn-based strategy RPG, which we had not seen the likes of quite yet. In Japan it was less special, thanks to Fire Emblem being alive and well, on their second game in 1992, when Shining Force was released.

 

Shining Force 1 Review - 1

Curse you, Kaaaaaane!

That in no way takes away from the impact Shining Force had though! It was able to compete with Fire Emblem and continue on to this day. In America, it was absolutely unique. We had a wealth of turn-based RPGs, and a few map-based games (but most of those were terrible. Godzilla 2? Rampart?) but nothing at all like Shining Force. The story was fairly simple: the evil Kane leads a force trying to open the Shining Path and awaken the Dark Dragon. Max, the hero of our story is a capable swordsman, but as his homeland is ravaged by the armies of Runefaust, he needs to set out and get justice and ultimately defeat Kane. He’ll group with an array of fantastic characters to do battle at his side. A great deal of the story is left out of the original English release, which is awful, but learning about it later makes up for it, I think. I personally chalk that up to the awful localization issues in the 90s. Most RPGs had disappointing/inaccurate localizations.

 

Shining Force 1 Review - 3

These battles felt huge, and were definitely challenging.

While the story lacks on the original release of the game, the actual gameplay does not in any way. In fact, one of the more incredible things about the game is how many different characters you can recruit along the way. Centaurs, a little alien, dwarves, elves, humans, you name it, you can probably recruit it. Each character class has their strengths and weaknesses, and it’s far more forgiving than its Fire Emblem counterpart. In Fire Emblem, a character who dies does not come back. They’re dead forever. In Final Fantasy Tactics, you have a period of time where you can save them. In Shining Force, if you should be bested in battle, you go back to the last town you visited (minus half of your gold) but you can resurrect them, a’la Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy. As I said, battles take place on a large map, with particular goals, typically beating up all of the villains.

Shining Force 1 Review - 2

HYAAAAAAH!

Characters take it in turns, moving set amounts of distance, and performing actions such as attacking, casting spells, or using items on friends and foes. The level cap is 20, which is not all that unique in this time period (the average level cap seems to be 30 for many RPGs in this era), but at level 10 you have the opportunity to “Promote” a character to give them a new character class and bring new power to them. Now, some characters are just awful and useless, no matter how much grinding and equipment you give them, but thankfully in this information age, you can easily look up a guide on who you should be picking up. Back then, you just had to guess or figure it out through the process of elimination. That was half the challenge I imagine, and that’s certainly a good thing. You can’t just have all amazing badasses from all corners of the earth. Some people are just weak, though they desire to help, cannot do but so much.

Fear the Voice in the Dark: 4/5

Shining Force Review - 5

I missed Gong in my last playthrough.

However, Shining Force is technically not the first Shining game. Shining in the Darkness came out in 1991, and Shining Force is the prequel to Shining in the Darkness. It’s the first one I had the pleasure to play, so that’s where it all began for me. There was a remake of Shining Force also, but it had some contradictions to the original plot in its translation. But this was an RPG that had roughly 30 characters to recruit in a world where you had Final Fantasy 1 (4 characters), Dragon Warrior 1 (1 character), Dragon Warrior 2 (3 characters), and similar. You had unprecedented control over what your squad makeup was, but the balance was weak and like I said, there are some duds. But you don’t have to use them, and it does give some replay value in trying different main squads. Combat cutscenes were also lovely to see, seeing up-close shots of the two characters that were clashing. The gameplay is not super complex, but it is a solid tactics game with smooth gameplay and was a brilliant “start” to a long-standing franchise. It’s also gorgeous in both visual and audio quality, being a very bright, colorful game. Even to this day, it’s still worth a run and I would say it holds up with many of the greats of my youth. Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention is a wonderful title deserving of recognition. It’s also alive and well again! It’s featured in the latest SEGA Genesis collection, so I highly encourage getting it there if you don’t physically own a SEGA. It will give you Shining Force, Shining Force II, and Shining in the Darkness.

 

The Path of Motus

All his life, Motus, a goblin, has lived in the same village, at the foot of the Dark Forest. In The Path of Motus, you will control Motus on a journey through the Dark Forest, and through life. Along the way, you’ll discover answers to mysteries you didn’t know existed, and try to find out who Motus really is, and who he comes from

Features:

2D Platform Puzzler: Travel into and beyond the Dark Forest as Motus, as he grows from a six year old goblin into adulthood, by overcoming various puzzles. Will you become a bully, or will you take the high road?

Words Destroy: Words can destroy, but they can also counter. What path will you choose?