Monthly Archives: November 2018

The Quiet Man Now Available on PS4 and Steam

The Quiet Man Game Profile Banner

THE QUIET MAN is a title from Square Enix with an all-star development team, including Human Head Studios (Lost Within, Prey, Rune), action director Tatsuro Koike (Yakuza series), renowned comic book writer team Man of Action Entertainment (BEN 10, Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, and the characters and team of BIG HERO 6). Talented Grammy award winning artist Imogen Heap also lends her talent in creating and performing THE QUIET MAN theme song, and original track titled “The Quiet.” The story takes place over the course of one night, players tackle the role of deaf character Dane as he fights his way to discover the purpose behind the kidnapping of Lala, a songstress, by a mysterious masked man.

A free patch will also come out roughly a week after the release called THE QUIET MAN – ANSWERED. It offers answer to the mysteries of THE QUIET MAN by providing another play through with sound and voices. Subtitles for THE QUIET MAN are available in 29 languages, and the title is available for 14.99.

Through November 15, those who purchase from the PlayStation Store will receive the base game, a PlayStation 4 system dynamic theme, and a set of eight PlayStation Network avatars. During the same period, those who purchase from STEAM will receive the base game, as well as a set of seven desktop and mobile wallpapers. Further, those who purchase within this period on either platform will receive a 10% discount.

Little Dragons Cafe Offers New Menu Item Soon: A PC Edition

Little Dragons Cafe Baby Dragon

Aksys Games announced today that their Cafe and Cooking Sim, Little Dragons Cafe is coming to PC on November 15th. Players pick from the twins Ren or Rin, and delve into a story-driven experience where the ultimate goal is to save their sick mother, and run a successful cafe. Yasuhiro Wada, creator of the famed Harvest Moon series is the mind behind Little Dragons Cafe, and while you also grow crops, feed starving customers and explore the world, you also raise and care for an adorable dragon that grows before your eyes. Tasty dishes, a colorful cast of characters, and more await in the adorable Little Dragons Cafe.

KartKraft Now Available in Early Access for PC

Black Delta’s KartKraft is now available in Early Access on Steam, Green Man Gaming, Humble Bundle and other distribution outlets for 19.99. It is also being developed for PS4, Xbox One, and VR headsets, with a plan to officially launch in Q3 2019. KartKraft is an extreme kart racing sim with the most advanced vehicle physics ever produced for a racing game. Master the skill of racing karts on laser-scanned, fully recreated circuits. Accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds with no suspension, while racing against 20 other drivers. Feel your kart bend, twist and bounce on every bump, crack, and curb in the track as you drive on officially licensed circuits from around the world.

“I raced karts for five years and retired after blowing up three red valve Formula 100 motors in the same weekend.  At the same time I was racing, I was studying Computer Science and game development so that I could make games about the sport I love.  KartKraft is a labor of love for me and my team.  It took us longer than we expected, but we are excited to share our first game with our fans,” said Zach Griffin, CEO, Black Delta.

Players can expect regular updates, performance optimization, and other features to be added during Early Access. This is up to and including: Improved physics, lower-spec hardware optimization, 10 laser-scanned, fully recreated circuits, eight additional kart classes, modding support, multiplayer and more. A full list of places offering KartKraft can be found on this link.

Early Access Game Features:

  • Circuits: Three laser-scanned, fully recreated circuits (The Geelong Kart Club, Go Kart Club of Victoria and Paul Fletcher International).

  • Karts: 8 officially licensed kart models – from manufacturers like Arrow, CRG, Deadly, Formula K, Monaco, OK1, Praga, Sodi.

  • Asynchronous PvP Leaderboard Mode: Race against all players to earn spots on the leaderboard; see where you rank against your friends, your country and across the globe.

    • WIth every lap recorded and uploaded, you can see where you competitor brakes, turns and accelerates to gain a competitive edge.

  • Single Player Mode: Players will race against AI, but results will be judged against all other players (available from second week of EA)

  • Levels of Difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, Legend, Adaptive (available from second week of EA)

  • Customization:

    • Kart: hundreds of parts and components that all affect handling. Swap out axles, sprockets, carburetors, rims, hubs, torsion bars, and many more. If you can see it, you can change it. The number of possible configurations will grow substantially during EA progress.

    • Driver: Kit up in the latest gear from Alpinestars, Arai, Freem, Momo, OMP, and Sparco with more being added during Early Access content updates.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Remastered Soundtrack (Music Review)

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Remaster Review

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is considered in America to be a “beginner’s RPG”, a game with training wheels to get newcomers started in a franchise that can be unforgiving and brutal. At the time of its development, RPGs were not popular in America. Sure we had Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, a few other titles, but they were nowhere near as commonplace as they are now. Square felt that we didn’t play RPGs because they were “too difficult”, and so Mystic Quest was specifically designed for an American audience. Looking back, this is kind of an offensive opinion, but I don’t think a “beginner” RPG is such a bad idea. This is the same train of thought that gave us Super Mario Bros. 2 instead of what is now known as Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels.

By the time I had played Mystic Quest, I had already played and beat Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy 2, and a few other more challenging RPGs. I did not appreciate Final Fantasy Mystic Quest for what it was, because I was much too proud. I came to it later and really began to enjoy it. There’s a lot more challenge in Mystic Quest than you might think. If you avoided it because it looks too childish, sod all that and go play it. It also has some of the best and most memorable music of any RPG I’ve played. I very much enjoyed listening to this album, and Sean Schafianski puts together great remasters. You can find out more about them right here. As far as honorable mentions go, Battle 3 (feat. Ro Panuganti) because I did mention the first two battle themes, but I didn’t want to lump all three together. Battle 3 stands out on its own with a much different style. Also Hill of Fate, Fossil Labryinth, and Middle Tower. Every song on here is a treat.

“The soundtrack to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a cult classic,” comments arranged Sean Schafianski. “The blend of rock, jazz, and delightfully cheesy synths was probably the best part of the game! As with the rest of the ‘Remastered Tracks’series, I wanted to stay as true to the original as possible, while still adding in some flair for a modern twist. Performers sometimes took the liberty of a solo here and there, but for the most part, this is the same soundtrack that we all fell in love with. I hope you enjoy this album as much as I did making it!”

Battle 1 and 2 (feat. PirateCrab)(Tracks 5 and 9): As a much younger man, the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Battle 1 and 2 themes were the first to me that really sounded like they were written for an electric guitar. It just … it just feels right. For such a bright, colorful game to have such a metal, such a dark battle theme really did something for me. The original was all synthesized, of course, but it still had that hard rock sort of feel that made every battle, no matter how cute or cuddly the enemy was, very dangerous. I love the keyboard in the background, lurking behind that amazing guitar, they compliment each other quite well. If I had to pick between the two, I love the melody of “Battle 1” more, but the raw shredding on Battle 2 feels far more intense to me. I wanted to put these together because they’re very similar, despite having considerably different compositions. A similar feeling, but a different sound.

Dungeon of Ice (Track 14): What a foreboding song. The song sounds like it echoes, much like sound would in that horrible ice cave. Is there an ice dungeon that’s not absolutely awful to play through? This song is really interesting to me because each note feels played deliberately,  without much use of Sluring (notes played together without separation). Instead, there’s a lot of staccato in the background string, and each note on the piano feels separate from all of the others. Each step in an ice cave must be taken carefully, each jump made deliberately, and so the music for this dungeon, and this remaster also feel the same way. I appreciate that sort of attention to detail.

The Last Castle (feat. Tiago Rodrigues)(Track 22): This song belongs in a Lufia title, and that’s not hyperbole. It would feel right at home in Lufia 2, or on any Power Metal album. By this point, we have visited with all of the Crystals, and it’s time to save this world once and for all. My first time playing, I didn’t realize you could Cure the boss to death (Rohner actually taught me that), and it kind of takes some of the challenges out of the final battle. But this song feels suitably climactic. I can see a hero boldly standing int he wind, ready to kick down the doors and fight his way through one more army of menacing, but cuddly-looking monsters. The Power Metal guitar and drum rolls, coupled with what sounds like brass behind it is really a fantastic addition. It adds a lot of gravitas to the final moments of this adventure.

This has doubtless been one of my favorite albums to review this year. You can find it below:

Bandcamp
iTunes
Spotify