Yearly Archives: 2019

Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Available on Nintendo Switch

Versus Evil and Obsidian Entertainment released Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition on the Nintendo Switch today, for 49.99. There is also a 20% discount until August 15th. The deep and incredible adventure found in the Pillars universe can now be played on the go with the full Pillars of Eternity game, as well as the two-part DLC, The White March: Parts I & II. Major updates that the PC version enjoyed will also on the Switch release, such as an increased level cap, expanded AI options, and new difficulty levels to challenge.

Still There Announced as Upcoming Psychological Game

Iceberg Interactive and GhostShark Games have a new title coming out in November 2019, for the PC and Nintendo Switch: Still There. The game asks “How far is far enough?” Players will evade the past, welcome oblivion, and make the perfect Italian coffee in Still There. It will offer a psychological adventure about grief, technical puzzles, and dark humor. You will need to maintain your space lighthouse by solving challenging puzzles and completing daily tasks. Responding to emergency situations will be key as will taking vital decisions while you unravel the emotional story of Karl’s past.

Ragachak’s Favorite Superbosses in RPGs

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Ragachak's Superbosses - Warmec

The first Superboss technically was Warmec in Final Fantasy 1, though in all honesty, he’s just a really rare, ultra-powerful fight. It would be far too easy to just populate this with Final Fantasy Superbosses because there are just so many of them that were bone-breakingly difficult. But Warmech is really where the concept began as far as I am concerned. However, before I go any farther, a bit of a caveat: No Remake Superbosses. So, none of the Final Fantasy remake Superbosses can be on this list. That counts Kaiser/Czar Dragon from Final Fantasy VI, even though he was supposed to be in the game but was not. But what is a Superboss? A Superboss is an incredibly powerful, optional boss. These are not always post-game encounters, and in fact, many are in the main course of the game. They can be avoided or skipped, and more often than not, are harder (much harder) than the actual final boss.

There are, of course, honorable mentions! Red, from Pokemon G/S/C, he’s a nice example. Red is an optional battle on Mount Silver, and he’s absolutely not to be trifled with. His squad is leagues better than anything you do battle with in the Pokemon Leagues (either of them), and will not go easy on you. He stands alone on the top of the mountain, waiting for anyone foolhardy enough to try and take him down. In normal playthroughs, he just smashes whoever shows up the first time, and that’s it. Then you realize that even being on the same level as him (Pokemon levels, that is) is not enough. The Dark Aeons of Final Fantasy X count, because the International Release is not a remake. I didn’t include them because honestly, those fights make my blood boil, and are deserving of their own write-up. If you aren’t aware of where they are in the world, you can accidentally get into a fight and immediately die.

Ragachak's Superbosses - Demi-Fiend

Demi-Fiend (Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner): That’s right, the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is an optional superboss in another of the SMT titles, Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner. Easily the hardest boss in the game, possibly in all of the DDS/SMT games, Demi-Fiend can only be fought in a New Cycle+. Many of his attacks have an incredibly high critical hit chance, and his Gaea Rage can hit for up to 30,000 damage on all characters. He can also summon be some absolutely insane demons, and for every two demons summoned, Demi-Fiend will Gaea Rage. Technically, this boss has 27,000 hp, because once you get him to half hp, one of his demons will heal him back to full (gratefully, this only happens once). I can’t think of too many bosses that are honestly harder than him, and I’m sad to say I did not defeat Demi-Fiend.

Ragachak's superbosses - Culex

Culex (Super Mario RPG): For such a light-hearted, fun RPG, I was really surprised to see Culex the first time. After all, a boss that is a tribute to Final Fantasy IV, hidden away in the depths of Monster Town in Super Mario RPG? He is the Dark Knight of Vanda, and his 4,000 HP is pretty high for Super Mario RPG. He can cast an assortment of spells, and his elemental crystals can also attack. His stats are absurd, with 250 Attack, 100 Magic Attack, 100 Defense, 80 Magic Defense and 50 Speed. You can kill the Crystals separately, but if your magic defense is strong enough, you might just want to kill Culex first, since the other crystals will die without him there. You need a Shiny Stone in order to open the door to fight him, and he’s a worthy challenge. I included Culex more for the surprise factor though.

Ragachak's Superbosses - Indalecio

Indalecio (Limiter Off) (Star Ocean: The Second Story): This is another boss I rightly have not beaten, because Indalecio/Gabriel (Limiter Off) is absolutely damn insane. However, I didn’t know any cool tricks of builds to deal with him (Bloody Armor/Agol Shield on Chisato for example)Even having max HP, he can still wipe your entire party with Earthquake, just because he’s Indalecio. Most people I’ve talked to say he’s considerably more different than Iselia/Ethereal Queen unless you leave his limiter on. Then he’s not such a task to beat. His physical hits (Divine Wave, Divine Comedy, Normal Attack) also cause petrification, because why not? Oh, and he has 1.5 million HP, in Star Ocean 2! He’s terribly difficult. Not unbeatable, but absolutely infuriating, and if he should Earthquake, you’re pretty much dead.

Ragachak's Superbosses - Shinryu

Shinryu (Final Fantasy 5): Omega and Shinryu are technically the first real, legit Superbosses in the Final Fantasy franchise, but Shinryu was my favorite between the two, if only by a narrow margin. If you aren’t protected against it, his opening Tsunami will hit for easily 8,000+ damage and can cast a plethora of Blue Magic (making him worth challenging if you lack these spells). He can petrify, poison, zombie, old, he can cast Mighty Guard on himself, and has Fire, Ice, Water, and Lightning elemental attacks. Most of his attacks are AOE, making this divine dragon truly one of the most terrifying bosses I’ve dealt with in any Final Fantasy game. Shinryu is a mighty divine beast, but he can be overcome with the right set up and proper gear (Coral Rings, Ice Shields).

Ragachak's Favorite Superbosses - thumbnail

Uber Prinny Baal (Disgaea): In Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, there is an optional area, Baal Castle that you can unlock. Within hides Tyrant Baal, which is already overwhelmingly difficult (189k stats at least), but after you defeat Tyrant Baal, Baal takes a new form: Uber Prinny Baal. Uber Prinny Baal is at least level 6,000 and has at least 6,000,000 HP. That not enough to terrify you? His bare minimum stats are 394K, and while he uses Prinny attacks, they are souped-up beyond belief. It’s important to steal his gear because of 1. It’s incredible and 2. It will weak him, even a little bit. Prinny Baal appears in several other Disgaea games, but this is his first, and honestly, it’s my favorite. The idea of the greatest challenge you can overtake being an adorable Penguin demon? That’s just perfect in my book. He’s also a Prinny that cannot be killed by throwing him. Uber Prinny Baal is the epitome of Superbosses. He’s on top of the mountain.

Who are your favorite Superbosses though? We’d love to know!

Oxygen Not Included Review

By Terris Harned (NWOrpheus)

I never actually played Dwarf Fortress, so in some ways I’m a latecomer to the colony survival genre. I did play Gnomoria and Banished, and I reviewed Judgment: Apocalypse Survival early on in my career with OnRPG and MMOHuts. I’ve also logged a fair number of hours with Rimworld. It’s not a stretch to say that I have a reasonable amount of experience with the genre. As such, when I say that Oxygen Not Included (ONI) is by far my favorite colony survival game, you should pay attention.

There’s no one element of ONI that makes it excel above the others that I play; it’s the whole package. Perhaps I’m biased, as I purchased the title when it first hit early access on Steam in 2017, and I’ve watched it grow from a seedling into a beautiful flower. Whatever the case, I absolutely adore this fun little sandbox-in-an-asteroid game. Though my 162 hours of playtime is dwarfed by other players in the thousands, I love ONI just as much.

The story of ONI revolves around a trio of clones who find themselves in a small chamber in the center of an asteroid. How the clones came to be inside the asteroid is a mystery that the game teases and hints at. Suffice to say, it is your job to ensure that the clones, called duplicants (or dupes), survive.

To that end, your colonists will need food and water, a place to make waste after eating food and drinking water (preferably not the floor), and a place to sleep. You’ll also have to make sure that your dupes practice good hygiene and wash their hands after using the potty, or they’re liable to end up with a nasty case of food poisoning. Temperature also comes into play, as dupes that find themselves in environments that are too hot or too cold will find themselves stressed out and possibly prone to illness. And of course, you’ll need to make sure they have oxygen to breathe.

Before you worry about any of that stuff, however, you’ll have to select your starting asteroid and colonists. The latter is done at a sort of 3D printer that processes primordial goo into various useful things. On Cycle 1 you’ll have to select three duplicants to get your colony started, but every three cycles after that, you’ll be able to select from four different items. At least two seem always to be duplicants, but the other options can be a variety of useful items, from animal eggs to food to algae (used to produce oxygen).

It can take a minute to find a team that compliments each other, but it’s worth it.

 

Your starting duplicant selection can be fairly important. Thankfully, you can click the reroll button an infinite number of times on each of the three duplicants until you get a set you want to work with. Each dupe has at least one positive and one negative trait. There’s a huge selection of these, so I won’t list them all, but I recommend staying away from the ones that increase your hunger or make you have to use the restroom more often, at least in the early stages.

My favorite traits in the early game are ones that increase digging and building skills, since you’ll be doing these activities a great deal more than anything else at the start of the game. There are eleven attributes in Oxygen Not Included. Don’t worry if a duplicant doesn’t have great attributes across the board, as they will typically level up through usage and through the skill system, which I’ll cover a bit later.

The attributes, and what they improve, follow: strength, carrying capacity and tidying speed; construction, how fast things get built; machinery, how quickly machines are used; athletics, duplicant’s movement speed; science, research speed and skill point gain; cuisine, how fast food is prepared; creativity, the speed at which decorating jobs are done, such as painting or sculpture making; excavation, block removal speed and combat ability; medicine, medical care; agriculture, speed with dealing with plants; husbandry, how quickly the dupe tends to animals.

You might notice every single attribute in some way relates to how quickly you do something. This is because efficiency is the key in ONI. Every day your dupes use a certain amount of oxygen and food. You’ll want to make sure you’re utilizing your time as best as you possibly can.

The final thing you’ll notice is that each duplicant has between one and three interests. Interests reduce the morale requirements on the skill board, a feature which allows you to increase your dupes’ attributes and earn a snazzy hat associated with the skill.

Much like Team Fortress 2 players, those duplicants love their hats.

 

Skills used to be called jobs, but they changed the name along the way. Whenever you pick up a skill from the skill board system (accessed through the HQ/3D Printer), it increases the morale requirements of a duplicant. IE, the more useful the duplicant is, the higher their demands are. When a duplicant learns a skill that they have an interest in, however, there is a reduced morale cost, as it’s something the duplicant enjoys doing anyway.

Choosing duplicants that have interests that coincide with a single high attribute can be a great way to min-max. On the other hand, if you choose a duplicant with several interests you can make a nice well rounded colonist. It all depends on what you feel your needs are at the time.

Once you start the game, the first thing you’ll want to do is locate your water sources. Since each asteroid is randomly generated, unless you pick a seed you like to reuse, you’ll have to look around. Since so many things require water, like hand washing stations, you’re going to need to find where it’s located quickly. Building your bathrooms closer to water will reduce the time dupes spend going back and forth from the manual water pump to the bathroom, thus increasing your efficiency. Later on you’ll be able to research an automated water pump, which will alleviate this issue.

Oxygen Not Included is a game with a lot going on all at once. Thankfully, you can pause the game to look around and get your bearings, give commands, et cetera. There are also three speeds of play. I tend to spend the majority of my time in the game letting things run on the fastest speed, because I’m impatient. If I need to slow down and see how things are working, it’s nice to be able to do that though. Usually I’ll slow or pause the game when I’m going through the many different overlay panels, which are incredibly useful. It’s easier to show these to you than to tell you about them.

I also really enjoy the priority system in Oxygen Not Included, compared to some other colony sims. There are actually multiple levels with which you can prioritise as well. Each duplicant can have their own priorities set, from “avoid this task” which is an X to “do this first if it needs to be done” which is two up pointing triangles. Dupes will do tasks on the left side of the list first, and then move to the right, but will prioritize something that is marked high priority to the right of something that’s lower priority to the left.

I know it sounds somewhat complicated, but really it’s very intuitive as you get going in the game, and the game has a robust set of tutorial pop-ups that will help you along the way.

In this GIF you can see Abe will do care tasks before research, but he’ll do farming and then digging before he does either of those.

 

In addition to general priorities, individual tasks can be given priorities as well. For example, if I want to ensure that cooking tasks are done before cleaning tasks, I can set the microbe musher (a food creating station) to priority 8, and the cleaning tasks to priority 7. This helps make sure that things keep running smoothly without you having to micromanage your duplicants. Which is good, since you’re really not able to do so anyway.

If I had one complaint about Oxygen Not Included, it would be that crafting stations don’t have a “build to” as many similar games do. That is to say, I can’t go to the microbe musher and say, “make mush bars until you have 10”. I can tell it to make 10 bars, but if 2 get eaten while I’m making those 10, then I’ll only have 8. You can tell your dupes to make them forever, or at least until you tell them not to, but this can be fairly wasteful. Really though, this isn’t that big of an issue.

If you read my articles, you know it’s not often that I give scores of 4 or higher. Oxygen Not Included is an easy 4.5 out of 5 asteroids in my book. If it was the first colony survival game ever made, I would probably have given it a straight up 5, but with its charming aesthetic, its ambiance creating background music, engaging sound profile, near infinite replayability, customizable challenge level, well arranged user interface, and just damn good gameplay, it’s no wonder that ONI has such a large and engaged community of ardent fans. Klei continues to be a game studio that stands tall.

 

Ashes of Oahu to Launch in August

Wyrmbyte announced today that their open-world action title, Ashes of Oahu is ready to go, and will launch on Steam on August 29th, 2019. Wyrmbyte is ready to invite players into the closed beta for the title, and the five-man team wants to make Ashes of Oahu as memorable as possible. Anyone who pre-orders the game will be granted closed beta access, so they can help contribute to the crushing of bugs in this post-apocalyptic landscape.

This isn’t the only way to get access to the beta though. The Ashes of Oahu Discord is one way, or by signing up for the community newsletter, people have a shot at joining. Wyrmbyte will randomly select members to join the closed beta. In addition, those who pre-order  will receive three days early access to the title.

DayZ Releases 1.04 Update

DayZ Update

A new update dropped for DayZ today, on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4, which brings some major improvements to the game. The biggest of these is a major player request, and that’s private servers on consoles. This will let players group together reliably on the console iteration of the game, and these servers are provided by Nitrado. However, an update this huge resulted in a server and character wipe, so players will, unfortunately, have to start over. This update offers new weapons, grenades, and a throwing mechanic, as well as improved medical gameplay. There are several issues that were also addressed, such as duping, server hopping, and frame-rate issues. A physical edition of the Xbox One and PS4 editions are also available now, courtesy of Sold Out Games.