Highlights from the Temple of Trails II

Highlights from the fruits of the past few weeks of grueling effort. =)

Fortona Evil !!! I think its skills are better than the good one but I don't have any intentions to reborn them (or level them).

Fortona Good !!! (Managed to get both. Phew)

The overly paranoid slime... "Me Slime! You humans? Dun bully me!"

Probably the cutest character in the game... I still wonder what the axe is for.

The masochist slimes~ "Bully me!" Thankfully my routes were both the ones where I had to interact with the slime. HAHA! I had a nice chuckle and I like the big slime character arts.

The dumb looking clown Pierrot who wants to come along with you too...
I can bring Fortona along but not you. Sorry. (Unless you become a guardian)

Iphone Apps magazine with Guardian Cross Code and intro to Monster Hunter apps~

So today I was at Kinokuniya and I looked through some of the Japanese magazines.
I noticed there was one that was similar to the Famitsu iphone & Android...

These magazines showcase a ton of mobile games and usually have some promo stuff you can get in game that are limited to a one time use code. The last one I got was the other title that had promos for Guardian Cross except for that particular issue.

 So I checked my iphone and saw that the name matched. Obviously, I bought it.

After I got home, I opened the magazine and cut open the serial codes page (it's sealed up).

Typed in the numbers into there...

And voila! They added it to my stash...

And I received it into my collection.

Hestia, with her ability lock. I might try to get an Ace in the future when she becomes available to hunt for those short periods of time. She looks like she was selling matchsticks in the winter and helped people to light the matches up. =x

From Wiki: In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family and the state.

One of the 3 pages on Guardian Cross which shows the recent FFV tie in and the promo card notice...

SAO iphone app.
Everything you probably can think of has an iphone game in Japan that is the same genre with slight differences but ya...

"Monster Hunter Massive Hunting" app...
Promo item doesn't look impressive. Come on. I got that heavy sword so early in the game... =(
I might consider trying the game next time... but I had better redeem the code first over the next few days.
(Codes usually have an expiry date to them)

Monster Hunter Card Master G app.
They should have just tried to port the card game of Monster hunter to the phone.
(They had an actual card game but I don't think it lasted long. It might still be around, just that I don't know.)
I'd probably try the other title over this...

Just FYI, to set up a Japan itunes account, all you have to do is pick up a local address somewhere (say a shop) and use it for registration. Once you have one, you are free to download any free to play apps from the store.
(You just can't make purchases even if you want to unless you buy the itunes store card through internet or something. They need you to pay through the itunes store that you downloaded the game from.)

Vanguarding

I am midway of clearing the game on my second try. I've already gotten a grasp on the game and its intricacies. I probably can share about my findings soon.

Vanguard as a game is very well done in its gameplay, pace, deck building, randomness and its appeal. I am not a fan of how most cards are stuck to their own clans but that plays out one of the game's core mechanics.

For the 3ds game, it is very nicely done. I get to clock games and play against a variety of decks. I guess there is a limit to how good the AI can be since they cannot read into your future moves to try disrupt you. Still, you get very decent gameplay (if you discount their possibly not optimized decks).

I tried one online match but I did not play it well so I ultimately lost as the game dragged out. I want to secure some promo cards to complete the blaster deck before I challenge people again. (The promo blaster blade has no ability? Thankfully their trial decks come with playsets of everything)

Against AI, I have tried some other clans but those need much more polishing (and more cards).

Cards are surprisingly hard to procure. A playset of a common would need me to crack about a full box (of 30) and some high rarity cards may need 2 full boxes to see one.

Now, I'm not rushing to clear the game so I'll try to find out where the promo cards are hiding by playing every side game.

For the iphone app, I think the game might be one that you can eventually get a full team of the highest rarity for (I didn't get anything past R of N, R, R+, SR) since the means to get them are not exclusive to money payers.

The game takes some time to play because of its monopoly die roll system and the fact that you need connection for each roll.
The main parts I dislike are:
-the fact that stamina takes 10mins to charge 1 pt and it takes a few pts to make a roll
-the fact that your battle pts don't let you fight twice without a few more pts of recharge on the field

Gameplay otherwise is fine. If they tweak the above 2 points, it would be a very decent game I guess.

Temple of trials 2 - update 3

At level 40, the guard mistakes you for some helpers and wants you to help clear up the storage but says not to take the treasures.
My choice: Take the pots.



At level 50, the guy tells you not to press the button.
My choice: go for the door.
(I kinda want to know what happens if I press the guy but refrained from doing so)

So I managed to get to level 51 and face the boss who had Fortona Good and got a few stones for it. I was saddened to see Fortona's pic to be the same as Alm Fortona.



I guess you can't get both Fortonas reborn then. :( Maybe you can only get Fortona at try #3 and #4 again...

Temple of trials 2 - update 2

At lvl 30, the witch wants to complete her ritual and needs help. Crack the pots in the order of right -> left -> center.
My choice: crack as requested.

3DS: Vanguard - Ride to Victory

 

I got my 3DS package delivered today...

(Arrived in the country on Sat but FedEx couldn't clear the customs for it, held the package till end of Monday, wanted to send on Tuesday but sent to my home instead of my workplace where I told them to send to on Sat. So I FINALLY got it today.)

 

The 3DS I got was pink because it was the cheapest of the bunch. The next was at least $20 more.
To be honest, I initially thought I could get this at $200-$300 but ended up spending $300+.
I probably won't be buying anything next month.


 

Unpacked the game =)

 

I picked a girl for my character. Hard to tell from the above pic why... 

 

 

Here are the 6 characters to choose from.

 



 

I picked the Royal Paladin Starter so that I can get to my Blaster deck the quickest.

 

They gave me a free booster and I got Alfred!

Here are some codes (the ones in red) to get the promo cards, which you get a playset of.
How generous.

 There are 2 more cards, sleeves and a playmat.

 

 

Packs sure are cheap for Vanguard. I start out with 3350 of the currency and each pack costs 100!

The other games so far have packs at a higher price but maybe the money won from battles were higher. I don't recall that part.

 

I remember needing that for my first iteration of the deck until I figure out whether or not it is the better build. Now, he's a grade 1 to ride off Wingal Brave.  I spent some packs on the Shadow paladin pack and managed to get 1x Blaster Dark in the last pack.

I played a match vs Morikawa and I won, netting me about 7 more packs worth. 

 

I cashed it and I got Wingal Brave!

 

 

A game against Izaki and I got enough funds to buy out the box to get Majesty Lord Blaster in the final pack. (They sure know how to keep people at the edge of their seats)

 

Soooooooooo... It turns out that I can't actually charge the 3DS by plugging the charger into the socket. Upon google searching and reading tons of questions/answers, the voltage difference may be a possible reason as to why I can't charge the 3DS at all.

I think and I hope that getting a local 3DS charger would fix this but that also means I am stuck without being able anything more for today. T.T

(While I was going to ask shops about the 3DS, I learnt that it was region restricted like some game systems which means that I can't buy Japanese games at many places and I can't buy normal games to put into the 3DS. What's with that Nintendo??? That was why I gave up and just ordered everything online. I can only hope that the locally bought charger has nothing against the JP 3DS. I'll ask but it had better not be unusable.)

 

Here's my updated blaster page with the 2 new promo Blaster Blade and Dark on the sides of Majesty Lord Blaster. I just need to get one of the trial deck art for Blaster Blade and I would have 4 different art for it. I heard that Shadow Paladins may have a trial deck in June so I hope Blaster Dark (who has a cape in that art) is not a different Blaster Dark.

Temple of trials 2 - update 1

For those of you who want to know what the context of what is happening on every 10 levels, I shall help explain.
I will be trying the good side until the bad side is confirmed. The previous one had some ambiguous scenarios but it usually meant the more troublesome route. That rule cannot be followed this time.
I will leave the evaluation of what to do to you.

Lvl 10: Doggy hood bandit wants you to join him to get the people.
My choice: kick His ass (you get some stones).
Other choice: smack the people and take their stones.

Lvl 20: 2 girls are using the Hansel and Gretel idea of dropping stuff to form a trail back. They used stats stones for that. Lol.
My choice: pick the exit (get nothing).
Other choice: take the stones and make the girls lost.

And I managed to beat the 10 alm valentine specters (!!). Phew.