VIDEO GAME: Honkai – Star Rail (2023)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Honkai: Star RailYear: 2023Rating: TTime Played: ~4,700 minutes / ~78.33 hours Having played Genshin Impact by MiHoYo, I thought I’d give their next game—a sci-fi based adventure—Honkai: Star Rail a try. While Genshin Impact is more of an open-world adventure akin to Breath of the Wild, Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based RPG similar to early Final Fantasy games. Both follow the “gatcha” mechanic for obtaining new characters, so a lot of the consumables had similar uses for powering up the characters, just with different names in each game. Surprisingly, while I liked the exploration in Genshin Impact, the ability for Honkai: Star Rail to run automatically made me like it more. Since most gatcha games try to get you to spend money to get good characters and spend even more time grinding materials to upgrade these characters, I can appreciate how I only needed to get one set of the traditional RPG roles to max build out before I could let...
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VIDEO GAME: Pokémon Masters (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Pokémon Masters Year: 2019 Rating: E Time Played: 50,800 minutes / 846.5 hours A defining feature of the Pokémon franchise has not only been the amount and variety of Pokémon the player can catch, but how the characters who use these creatures for battles also have unique traits and personalities. While these characters might have more screen time in the anime compared to their in-game representation, they ultimately have a favorite Pokémon that they use for battling. Pokémon Masters fulfills the dream of many fans by allowing us to actually play as high-level trainers. This game is a free-to-play gatcha mobile app, which should tell you all you need to know about it. The gameplay is simple, but the "gotta catch 'em all" mechanic is collecting all the different characters. This includes "Synga Suit," holiday costumes, and a glut of other variants of the fan-favorite characters. There are plenty of ways to upgrade these characters, most of which require you to battle other trainers for...
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VIDEO GAME: Animal Crossing – Pocket Camp (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Animal Crossing: Pocket CampYear: 2017Rating: ETime Played: ~150 hours Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, I had played none of the previous entries in the Animal Crossing franchise. Once I got into New Horizons, I was hooked on the gameplay mechanic and wanted more. Luckily, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was a free and easy way to continue playing an Animal Crossing game even if I didn’t have my Switch on me. As a free-to-play mobile game, I could log in and do the daily tasks that most Animal Crossing games have, just with the convenience of it being on my phone. While I didn’t play this game at launch, picking it up around 2020, it was clear that some of the standard “predatory” free-to-play practices had been added a few years prior. It locked a lot of the rare or seasonal items behind loot boxes that required real money to purchase. Even some of the “free” items came with extensive time...
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VIDEO GAME: Mega Man X Dive (2020)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Mega Man X Dive Year: 2020 Rating: T Time Played: 23,340 minutes / 389.00 hours Having played almost every single Mega Man X game, the one thing I felt was missing from these games is the variety of player characters. Sure, you can start playing as Zero in Mega Man X4 and as Axl in Mega Man X7. You can even play as Vile in Maverick Hunter X (a Mega Man X remaster). But what if you could play as the Mavericks? Heck, what if you could play as Mega Man from other Mega Man franchises? Mega Man X Dive delivered on this premise. As a free-to-play mobile gatcha game, most of the gameplay was rather shallow once you'd gotten through all of it. The new content wasn't much different from previous events, boss rushes, or speedrun challenges. At a certain point, all I was doing was collecting resources to power up the characters and weapons I had obtained. I'm disappointed that the end-of-service is...
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