Final Fantasy Record Keeper

Another smartphone game which I am playing now is Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
As usual, it's only on the Japanese app store.
You can sign up for an account by registering a local address.
The official site is http://ffrk.jp/



So why this over FF Agito and the FFVII bike game?
Firstly, it's less repetitive. The above two titles were very very repetitive.
Literally, I had to play the same thing over and over and over again and I hated that.

This game brings you back to a very old game playing style that has all the mobile app game elements to it. It also hardsells nostalgia and that is very hard to resist for a guy with a long history with the title Final Fantasy. To make things even for all the titles, they pixelized everyone, throw in music from every title, put in monsters and bosses from the titles that when you look at them and if you played the respective titles, you would recognize in an instant and would probably have a mini flashback of somesort. The FFVIII parts hit me very hard as that was the first FF title I played. It was very exciting to see some of the boss fights like Ifreet from the first cave.

The game element is simple.
You have a party of 5 characters, each can be equipped with an offensive item, a defensive item, a carry item and 2 abilities.
Each character has its own set of what he can be equipped with exception to the main character who is a swiss army knife but has bad stats. A jack of all trades but a master of none is a very appropriate saying for him.
I can have a white mage with a rod, a cloak, an amulet with Cure and Cura. Etc.

Each character has a limit break ability but is usually crappy. They are all unusually crappy for a limit break by the way.
Some items have limit break skills in them that are either character specific or universal and these limit break skills are much better in terms of damage/effect.
You get these from the gacha mechanism (sadly).

Items can be leveled up using a gold color ingot for weapons, a purple color ingot for defensive items and other items. You can evolve them with 2x the same item at max level to unlock a higher level range.

You can also level up characters with Grow Eggs that feed Exp.

I came into the game late (3 months past its release) and they recently introduced a way to break past the original lvl 50 limit (to lvl 65) with a memory crystal which could be a specific stage reward or from an event stage reward (limited release essentially). Thankfully, with this new upgrade to the game, they are re-releasing the older limited characters which I have already missed so I think I can get all the characters in due time. (Yay!) The memory crystal also unlocks ability materia that can give your characters and edge in the game and these materia can be equipped unto any other character that has the memory crystal unlocked.

Anyway, the basic story line is like this:
Something is stealing away the memories of the FF games so the main character is sent to go into these memories to help preserve them.

You get to find some characters who will become usable as you go along and hopefully you'd be able to make your FF dream team.

When playing, I'd direct you to the wiki which can be interpreted using Google Chrome's rikaikun add-on if you need. It tells you what you need to know to plan your team or to beat the bosses.
Certain criteria unlock a better score so that you can get a reward for the master grade (very important) or you could just try it again after you see what the criteria is which is usually not dying to the boss or using the boss' weakness.

Also, if you put my invite code of eDSS6 into the menu -> friend invite ID, you get a mythril crystal that you need to play gacha with.
(I'd get one too as with all social games.)

I'm now training my team to unlock some ability materia while I figure out how I want to do my dream team.

How to block game invites on Facebook (iphone)

It's been annoying that people keep spamming Pirate King invites so I went to figure out how to stop those. So here are the 5 steps to stop all that nonsense.

1) On the iphone app, tap the "More" button at the bottom.

2) Tap on "Settings".

 3) Tap on "Notifications".

4) Tap on "Mobile Push".

5) Scroll down to find "Application Requests" and "Application Invites" and uncheck those.

Voila.

Final Fantasy VII G-Bike

Recently, Square Enix released a new smartphone game. Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, based on one of the mini games that was in the original FFVII. It's the mini game where you had to guard the little van if you can recall. Otherwise, you could go back to the gold saucer to play it. I think you can find it there.

Anyway, it's available on the Japanese apple store. I don't use Android so I cannot tell if it's ENG/JPN location protected there too. If you need the official link, it's http://www.jp.square-enix.com/ff7_gbike/  .

(You can make a Japanese app store account by registering a Japanese address (take a shop address or just google map a random place).

You go around using Cloud on his bike.

This game is kinda like those running games where you have to jump over stuff, go under stuff, attack enemies. It's has the best graphics for that genre though. The basic gameplay is still just that.

You get to add a support character (once per 30 mins, sometimes you get to use the character again so I don't know the exact logic yet). Tifa shows up when you fight a boss to do FinalHeaven for a little more damage at the end of your limit break sequence.

You get to see the limit breaks only when you fight bosses and the limit break is determined by the weapon you hold. So far I've seen BladeBeam (Buster Blade), Finishing Touch (Butterfly Edge/Murasame) and Meteorain (limited boss mission).

 If you have the support character, the limit break transits into another by that character (currently only Tifa)

Tifa is all ready to give a good punch.

BAM!

TIFA!!! <3

Their first limited edition Boss mission has Bahamut in it. (The very first you summoned in FFVII).

You can get the limited edition Bahamut bike using the parts. It's kinda late if you start now...

His intro scene.

MEGAFLARE!!!

Getting punched by Tifa~

You level up weapons/bikes using items (which you get from the end of a mission at the roulette).

I would advise against using the gems unless it's a rare item and it's just beside the one where you landed on.

After some time, I realized that what you need can be gotten easily from the missions that have it as the reward. If you hit 100 pts they put more of that on the slots so it becomes much easier to get that particular item.

It's still a game in its infant stages so it's a very good time to get into it. =)

I like how fast the points charge with time and it seems like the game would get better in time.
I'm a sucker for FF games with all the nostalgia (Currently playing FF Agito on the phone too).

Solforge

I was under the impression that Solforge was only available on the ipad like the Mtg games.
I randomly saw Solforge being promoted on starcitygames' e-mailer so I tried searching it up in the apple itunes store and there it was.

I downloaded it, spent 3 minutes figuring out what was going on, then played a few games and was elated to find that I had some free packs, cards and silver along the way. I went online to try understand how deep the reward program went.

So daily, I would have to login (1 bonus), win 3 games (1st win and 3rd win bonus) and win an online game (to get an event ticket). I would be able to slowly get more cards and play in a free draft weekly.
(This is my current plan.)

I did find out that starcitygames is giving away free draft tickets to people who spend >$5 for physical product at their store and for their SCG opens. Unfortunately, they still do not have free shipping overseas but it does make me want to get something next time. I was considering getting digital products (like e-books) but they only give it to physical products so I'll pass. They seem to be doing some free local shipping so perhaps they will do free international shipping soon.

The game mechanics are good and simple to understand but there are 2 dimensions to figuring out how they work since you have to make plays that would be good later on because of the leveling system of throwing the next level card into your discard pile when you play one, to be reshuffled when you level up every 4 turns. You see 25 cards out of the 30 card deck at level 1, then the deck size increases as the game progresses. The diluting of the deck functions similarly to that of Ascension (without the exile functions) so you might end up with crappy level 1s facing level 3s. (eep)

I'm still pretty new to the game and am reading up what people are saying so that I can prepare for my first Solforge draft. =) I look forward to it.

Super Sonic in Sonic 2

So I spent some time getting Chaos Emeralds and ground through the Special Stages.
There is a trick to doing the Special Stages which I'll share:
In Emerald Hill Zone 1, you can get quite a good number of rings and there is a 1-up box hidden in a passageway just at where you go down two loops and there are 3 springs trying to bounce you up.
To enter the passageway, you can run down the two loops instead of using the yellow spring (which is too fast) and try to move right into the wall just before the red spring that is facing downwards.

Anyway, the iphone version has two features that would help you collect the Chaos Emeralds more easily.
First, you can redo the Special Stage at the cost of 1 life by using the "restart" function when you pause.
If you run out of lives, you can lose and get more lives again.
Second, you can use one life to restart the zone and reset all of the Star posts so that you can go into the Special Stage again.

Anyway, I got all of them with Tails to find that it did not matter at all.


I redid it with Sonic and Tails...


And there was a difference...


Super Sonic!

Secrets of Sonic 2

It has been awhile since I have played Sonic 2.
It is a frustratingly difficult game.
I kept dying in the flying fortress zone and ran out of lives eventually.

I'm not sure when, but they redid Sonic 2 like they did with Sonic 1. (YAY!!!)
This time, Knuckles is playable from the start. (double yay!)

I was curious as to what the achievements were and noticed a Hidden Palace Zone mixed in there.
I've never heard of it. Anyway, I found out that it was accessible from here (below), in the Mystic Caves Zone 2. Annoyingly, this (I suspect) used to be the pit that would trap you as you could not get out and you could not die. You could only stay in it until you timed out if you fell into it.

Anyway, you can drop into it this time and not just rot to death.

This is the Hidden Palace Zone.

And this looks like a prototype Master Emerald.
(It's a rock that breaks and has a spring in it.)

Eggman with a Trombone!!! I took awhile to figure out how to beat him.
I shall not spoil it here.

And cleared... Goes straight into the Oil Ocean Zone.

And there is a Stage Select cheat too!
Go into the no saved mode, tap the S, E, G, A in the opening screen (you should hear a ring sound) and keep 2 fingers on the screen. Then, the title would come out and you'll go to the stage select. Hidden Palace is there but you can't access it (maybe you would have to find it first).

Also, if you need to find out where you can get the Save Posts in Emerald Hill, you can use the maps found here. A special stage guide can be found here. The special stage is so difficult. You can retry but you'll lose a life while you're at it. You might want to stock up on life to get all the emeralds by Emerald Hill Zone.
 I hope there is Super Tails and (Hyper?) Knuckles. I'll post some pictures soon. =)

iphone app: Ascension: Immortal Heroes

After waiting for a really long time, the iphone app for Ascension is finally updated!
I was worried that with the PC/android ver in the works, Stoneblade would totally forget about the iphone ver. I'm happy about there being an update. =)

I pay for good games. =)

New Main Menu.

With 1 more expansion in the selection screen.

One of my better scores. =)

More trophy monsters, a new soulgem mechanic and new everything! Hope to see updates again!

Dot dot dot

Knuckles is so slow that he can even die in the game credits.

I've got nothing to say other than the developer screwed up big time.

Knuckles dies in the below part of the credit roll. He fails to move down fast enough and gets poked by the spike. He revives from the start of that particular scene, repeats and dies again until you run out of lives and Game Over.

I found out that his jump isn't as high as Sonic and Tails. That itself is crappy but dying in the credits? That's just plain unbelievable.

Sonic 1 secrets for the achievements

I was wondering where 2 of the secrets mentioned in the achievements section were. To be honest, I tried but couldn't find anything for the Labyrinth Zone act 1 secret. I might have missed it as it is small. If I'm not mistaken, if you go down and activate the platform that goes up into the spike (the left one) from below the area in the screenshot below and climb back up, you get to unlock this small little platform that can hardly be noticed even if it's in front of you.

In the below picture, it's above the pole closer to you.

And it moves to the secret area to the right... The below picture shows it much clearer with it visibly above the waters.

Then there is the Scrap Brain zone secret transporter. I didn't have a clue at all as to what it was so I searched and found this video which shows 2 secrets in act 2, the first being the 50 rings transporter and the other being that secret disappearing platforms that you need to know is even there.



And I also found out, to my horror, that Knuckles can't jump as high as Sonic or Tails!!!

If you want to know the secret area of marble zone 3, it is at where there are 2 of those spiky dropping platforms with the chains pulling them up. There is a hole in the wall. Alternatively, you can enter from the other side which is under the spikey dropping platform,to the left wall, directly under the area where you need to hop across to get to the outside before the boss.

The game actually has quite many secret areas. Like under zone 2 of Green Hill Zone which I have no idea how my dad had the idea to jump past the first spikes down years ago. LOL!

2X SR for Vanguard Craywars!

Since my last update on the Vanguard Craywars game, I managed to get the SR from the limited dungeon tickets last week. This week's limited dungeon is different and has a mini Wingal which has a cost of 33, a third of the original. Kinda like the GC slimes I guess whereby their primary function would be to help level up. (Leveling in this game is such a pain because it takes so much resources to level up)

Just today, I managed to get my second SR from the  SR breaker's "gacha".

Below is the deck that I'm using (reshuffled as of now to make better use of my high level SR). 

Also, I managed to grind out more than enough R+s to fill up the slots so my main priority would be to level my 2 SRs and get more cost points so that I can fit in another R+.

I also recently unlocked the territory fight function of the game whereby two side try to take over some cannon batteries to shoot down the other team's life total in a field designed similarly to the dungeon. My team is still kinda weak (I did just start playing 2 weeks ago) so I don't usually contribute much.

Here's a little overview of how it works:

There are 2 spawning points. So you revive here.

Your key objective is to deal damage to the enemy's main core.

That can be accomplished by attacking it directly, behind enemy lines, or by employing the help of the cannon batteries.

You can activate each battery by going onto them and they start a 90 sec countdown.
The enemy team can steal it (without it going back to 90) by going onto it so a late steal is very powerful.

You use both your field deck and dungeon deck in this part of the game. Basically, if your team is strong, you can press your way into all the opponents and they pretty much can't lift a finger. 

Sidetalk:
I think one of the cards I ordered was a Kumamon (promo) and I noticed a Pucho with its picture on it so I bought it. I am guessing it is the Kumamoto prefecture mascot or something.

Knuckles in Sonic 1 Unlocked !!!

First I tried doing the time attack mode (which was very boring and hence long) and I managed to get an accomplishment for <45mins that but Knuckles didn't unlock.

That left with one final possibility: getting all the Chaos Emeralds.
(Possibly harder than just zooming past the stages)

I did get some practice of the Special Stages in the time attack mode but I still have to say that it is still not a simple feat to do given its faster than normal moving speed or even without that.

Anyway, I restarted my Tails saved game (being the most powerful character and all) and proceeded to get all the Chaos Emeralds using the iphone's home function and closing the app to restart whenever I was ejected from the Special Zone. (I'm sorry but I would not be able to "naturally" collect all the Chaos Emeralds.) Also, just getting the Chaos Emeralds is not enough. You have to clear the game as well.

So I finally get to see the difference in the ending...

With GIGANTIC flowers in the background...

And a no longer smug Eggman...

What a familiar sight... Straight from Sonic and Knuckles Lol! I guess it's a little too much to ask for a new title screen.

Knuckles playing around...

And doing his usual climb...

Notice the K.T,.E name...

Shadowboxing Knuckles. =)

Taking some Labyrinth shots would be fun. =D