Out with August!

It's been a while since I talked about good money habits, and school month looming is as good a time as ever to start preaching! A few months ago, I joined a gym, and it's been going really well. An ideal balance between frugality and practicality would be if you can work within walking or biking distance and get some good exercise every workday without thinking too much about it. The problem for me was that the work I've been doing since February changes location daily, and walking long distances got to be boring with the same starting point. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind when joining a gym.

Reading my kindle for an hour burned off that burger!

Math: My public gym charges $4.75 per visit, and most gyms (that arrogantly call themselves clubs) have an ugly, disgusting and painful $50-100 initiation fee. I hate this. This was the number one barrier for cheap ol' me. LA Fitness wanted that $100 startup, and $30 per month to use their gym. The monthly part is fine, but the rationale for the startup fee is completely unraveled when you take the option I took: 4 months for $129. While a yearly option would have been even more of a savings; I still pretty much dodged that silly initiation fee. Math tells me I have to go at least 27 times over 4 months to make it worth it. Luckily, I've used the gym 3-4 times per week and got my value about 2 months into the membership. I think I'm at the point of my life where the desire to stretch my dollar is enough to get me out of the house and into the gym, unlike previous attempts. Also, the gym is a 20-minute walk to and fro.

Guru of gainz: While I'm not an expert, I have some advice: slow the hell down! While there are dozens of techniques and workout plans, it's pretty universal that you need to wait between sets. Most of the advice points to a whole minute, but perception of time is funky. Setting a watch every time is a bit annoying, but a minute is longer than you think. A rule I use is the time between choruses of whatever song is playing. Most pop music is 3 minutes and has 3 choruses, and if you're listening to something more sophisticated *adjusts tie and brushes off shoulders,* the choruses are probably spaced even further apart, which is good for your resting.

Also, slow your rep roll. Quick, jerky motions don't help as much as long, confident, even strokes; I follow the advice to do one count up, two counts down on bench press, for example. Other than that, follow your plan to your heart's content!

This is all I need...substitute the gnarly sponge for a carafe and half and half, dho.

Lastly, since school is starting for some of us, let me remind you that your habits are about to change. Check those subscriptions before you start the next chunk of the year with a lot less free time and trim the fat! Game of Thrones is over, and that HBO.com subscription is $15 per month that could go into something else. Well, make sure you've watched The Wire, first. Also, pumpkin spice lattes are around the corner: you've done without them for most of the year, why start this $5 per drink habit again? Now is a great time to grab a bag of beans/grounds (I prefer LaVazza), dust off your coffee maker or espresso machine, and wake up 5 minutes earlier. You're saving yourself $50 per hour of labor after cost of good coffee and your favorite accouterments (<--spellcheck told me its spelled that way).

Pyre: Another SuperGiant star in the sky

I just completed Pyre and want to talk at length why this just might be my favorite game of 2017. There are minimal story spoilers coming, and there is a ton of things to experience about this game.

Some of your competition aren't bad guys.

You, the Reader, start out in the Downside, a dimensional prison that criminals are sent to for their transgressions in the Commonwealth. As you meet other friendly and less-friendly exiles, you learn that you can earn freedom through Rites, which is where teams of exiles try and extinguish each others' pyre flames. You start to learn that there is a bit of unfairness in how your party was banished from the Commonwealth, and that this world above is quite corrupt. As more of your party is freed from the Downside into the Commonwealth, they make plans to execute a revolution. As the matches continue on, you realize that the amount of chances to transcend are limited, and learn that your competition also has legitimate reasons to pass onto the land above and take their part in the other society. 

Here's where the game really starts to shine: the story progresses whether you win or lose any of the Rites, and the amount of story options and paths opens greatly. In my experience, every other non-linear game I've played has Game Over screens, or progress is otherwise halted if you can't get past a certain point. While I only continued through defeat a few times, I'm pretty sure you can complete the story without winning anything. There's also an incentive to lose every chance to escape because your group makes meaningful connections to one another, and sending them over means you break up friendships.

Always count on ol Bertrude for sentimentality.

Even the Slugmarket is delightfully weird.

Supergiant games always deliver audiovisual masterpieces that set you in worlds with unique characters and engaging gameplay. The bright visuals and art are augmented by a quality musical score that is pretty organic. Occasionally, the guitar or percussion will be muted when a character says something important, and the tracks each have a spontaneous finish when a particular scene or piece of dialogue is over.

This becomes especially apparent at the end of the game, where you read a bio about everyone you've encountered. You're accompanied by a bard, who has a unique role of keeping morale, knowing the rules of Rites, and has a special relationship with the Gatekeeper that hosts the Liberation Rites. These two end up singing a duo at the key battles of Pyre, and impressively sing about each character's epilogue in the game's final song. Based on my choices, I think the lyrics can change, having at least 2 possibilities, and that is something I've never seen before. I'll confirm this on my next playthrough, but details like this kept me covered in goosebumps during many parts of the story.

Ultimately, Pyre is unlike anything I've ever played, though it keeps Supergiant's signature features of games: great color palette, interesting characters, an eccentric narrator, an emotional soundtrack worthy of listening to separately, and well-tested, bug-free gameplay. Play it now!

And this game has passed my test, as being awesome.

August ventures in Controllerville

Between now and my last game-related post, I have gone to Korea, suffered 90-degree summer weeks, and started about 10 games. Summer is my least favorite season by a long shot. Spring brings enough warmth and a reason to go outside, but has these things called wind and rain to cool stuff down. Summer is just a miserable 3 months, and considering I've been in Asia for almost half the summers in my life, I know miserable weather intimately. That said, a couple fans and cold drinks kept me in the chair, gaming on.

First up is Until Dawn, one of PS+'s free July games, and a playable movie in the slasher horror style. The game is exciting enough, and the writing is pretty average; your 8 characters have a few good lines, some bad jokes, and some questionable relationships. The worst part about this game, and the horror genre in general is two particular tropes; jump scares and illogical eyesight. The game takes place in snow-covered forest, and I've jumped out of my chair half a dozen times from crows and caribou - two things that I am absolutely not afraid of. Also, like movies of the genre, there are parts where a character is scared because they can't see what the camera can't see, as if they have no peripheral vision. I think these two features undermine the genre and cheapen the experience. If you want a good movie within the genre, you'll just have to watch Get Out, by my man Jordan Peele. Also, this game has one constantly-overwritten save file, meaning your consequences are permanent. This is a neat feature that would be neater if I weren't trying to get trophies with minimal playthroughs.

Shovel Knight is a 16-bit style platformer that was developed by Yacht Games, who is clearly a fan of the genre. The rockin 8-bit soundtrack that is among the greatest OSTs out there, the gorgeous 2d sprites and the legit challenges via enemy AI and tightly controlled and timed jumps make this game one of the best in its genre. My only issue is that to get all the trophies, you have to beat the game a total of 7 times, with 3 of those times being without dying. However, you can restart the entire level and try again if you do die, so it's not sadistic, just a bother.

Died? Rewind!

Mm...that's one Doomed space marine!

Duke Nukem 3d: World Tour is exactly what you'd expect: a bawdy, wise-cracking smartass hero who knows he's the man. This game translated very well from the PC to the controller, and you can even use cheat codes and still get trophies. However, that's not even necessary, as there is only one difficulty-based trophy.

Can't tell if that's the monster's nads or its heart.

It's a great example of a trophy list where the devs just want you to enjoy and finish the game. Duke Nukem still holds up because the weapons are fun: you'll pretty much use the chaingun and shotgun the whole time because anything with explosives will kill you, and the other novelty weapons like the freeze and shrink rays have limited effectiveness. This was the only game I platinumed outright.





Xenoraid was on sale for $2. I had such a great time with Xeodrifter that I figured games that start with X must be badass. It's true! This game is a top-down shooter with the gimmick that you have up to 4 different ships that have upgrades. There are a few hard trophies such as killing X amount of enemies in survival, but it's an enjoyable game overall with no major flaws.

Pyre has SuperGiant's usual glorious art. This locale is part of the overworld, which is basically purgatory.

Last, but very far from least is Pyre, by one of my favorite indie developers SuperGiant Games. I blindly preordered this game because I enjoyed Bastion and Transistor so much. Pyre is quite unique, but carries the dev team's signature beautiful graphics and amazing soundtrack.

The actual gameplay is split between a choose-your-own path and...street soccer. Pyre's setting is that you're stuck in some kind of spiritual prison, and the way out is to perform Rites before other wandering groups of people. A Rite is where your triumvirate (group of 3) use a celestial orb to extinguish the enemy team's pyre. Yep. I was pretty surprised to discover this gameplay, expecting it to be the isometric beat-em-up with leveling abilities that the last two games were, but am quite happy to have something as cleverly put together as this.

This 2017 administration is a giant mound of trash

2018 will be the first year will I will not hand over my income tax willingly. I think of the benefits I got from a public education, hospitals. More recently: the ease of voting and well-maintained roads. At the same time, between the local police being worthless and my 2 calls to our inept city hall to try and tackle my apartment's water issue, I have come to really resent paying both local and federal tax.

The events in Charlottesville over the August 12-13 weekend were a tear in American fabric. The President had an easy pitch to hit a home run and simply condemn the troublemakers and denounce the obvious evil at work. Instead, he screwed it up, as he screwed up his major platform promises of building a wall, restructuring healthcare, and making America great again.

Republicans and traditionalists like to look to the past for inspiration, usually while failing to handle the present and of course ignoring the future. Building a wall along the border of Mexico ignores the recent slowdown in immigration because their economy and quality of living are improving quickly. Repealing a past change that a nontraditional president (Obama) made, not giving a shit about the tens of millions who would lose their coverage. And obviously, Republican/nationalist/traditionalist slogans like "Make America Great Again," and "Take XYZ back," are calls that current conditions suck and going back in time will solve today's and tomorrow's problems.

You know what else was back in time? Blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious elitism. Obviously, the majority supporters of this won't come out and say they want this, and instead are building a backwards path that is super vague about the future. Under the elephant party's fetishism of the old days, they ignored the fact that a ton of corporations didn't really share their tax breaks with employees, and people were independently allowed to fall on their asses and spent generations trying to crawl out of the muck.

What I'm saying here is nothing new, but it obviously still works. The 2016 election was split pretty close down the middle, despite the vile collection of candidates that ultimately chose the "most successful" of them all to represent the party. But if that's the case, what the hell does success mean? #45 inherited wealth built on denying minority tenants, not paying people back, and lying out of his ass. He sure made a ton of money doing it, though.

And now a huge amount of tax-payers are hoping against hope that he gets nothing done, as his agendas are all crap. The alternative? If #45 gets impeached, we have to deal with a real Republican who will get worse things done. This. Really. Sucks.

While America holds its breath and keeps politicians busy countering the administration's terrible business and political ideas, we're completely blocked from progress. Every 6 months, these cockroaches try and slide in a business proposal that ultimately undermines internet - the sixth human sense - functionality. The Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is burning up resources for how people get into school, rather than focusing on making it worth going to school. The EPA is just a castrated, gutted, ineffective mess. The Department of State is being replaced by inexperienced yes-men, as the existing employees are cut off from advising Rex Tillerson. The list of crimes-against-Americans goes on and will keep coming. Just wait half a day and you'll find an article about who isn't doing their job, but still making more annually than what the average citizen makes in a decade.

#45 appointments have been highly successful at minimizing the government - the heads are all pretty much the antithesis of their departments. As a result, I don't want to pay taxes towards these government bodies that are just dismantling their ideals. These people do not deserve to be paid, and they are not working for the public's interests. Ultimately, I don't want to go to jail, so I will pay my goddamn taxes, but I will stretch that shit to the legal limit, so the money will have a chance to devalue and inflate. I'd love to pay with pennies, but that would have to be mailed, and postage would cost a grip.

FFXV DLC: F MINUS and other stuff

HREEEE

Downloadable content is a wonderful theory. Who doesn't want more of their favorite games? How about an expansion on some great IP? More levels, more equipment, how does that sound?

Your favorite studio might release an extra episode to your best game, adding an additional 10 hours of engaging storyline, maybe with a new character and some new items. I feel like Blizzard is the perfect example. The hefty expansions usually cost half the cost of the game, but they're generally a massive overhaul that both adds content and usually a extra mechanics to that combine with the basic game and adds depth. Brood War was an expansion to Starcraft that gave all 3 races more units, introduced the burrow mechanic, and added a 4th chapter in the campaign, complete with more cinematics. And new music tracks.

What could be as sweet as one of these? I thought that Final Fantasy XV, one of my most enjoyed games in the last 10 years, would follow this pattern. Sadly, Episodes Gladiolus and Prompto both suck. Both of these cost $5, and offer a total of 2.5 hours of story content that fills in two very intentional gaps in the main game's storyline. Now, my FFXV playthrough was over 100 hours, so the ratio is underwhelming. The next slight comes from both modes having a one-on-one boss fight that showcases that the game's battle system was designed for facing mobs and large bosses, not for dueling. These two 3-minute battles will take hours to master, and only half the challenge is in intentional design. You'll spend the other half of your stress battling the terrible camera, and the random stumbles and shit your character makes in timing-sensitive fighting. The result is a crappy experience that detracted seriously from my opinion of the game. If the same dev team that made the base game put this junk out, I would be surprised. Also, Gladiolus's music sucks. The original FFXV score is a masterpiece; the one new heavy metal track you get isn't.

Prompto's playthrough is a little more fun, but if you're hunting trophies, it's ruined by this racing course on a ski-mobile. This piece of junk randomly flips over, and the camera is your worst enemy. I can't recommend either one of these DLCs unless you really want a crappy experience. I really hope Episode Ignus is better than Prompto, but who knows. Anyhoo, in completing as much as I could of this, I got the keys to the kingdom; access to my friend's digital library. Sony totally allows sharing digital games, as long as you activate the profile you want's account as the Home system and download it. Then, you log in as your own profile and you have access to it. Find a friend and agree on a few games you both like. Then, take turns paying for them and sharing them.

That said, this week was super productive: Battle Knockout Trivia, Infamous: First Light and Strider. The first game is a half-hour trophy list to get 100%, and has some decent highschool-level trivia, with a Japanese-accented English-speaking host. I didn't check the credits to see if it's actually a Japanese guy or if the game just thinks accents are funny.

Infamous was great. The game has a gorgeous aesthetic, with your character controlling neon at night, and takes place in Seattle (what-what!). The controls are super responsive, and the 4-hour playthrough of this standalone expansion is a little less than half that of the original game. You're then rewarded with some battle arenas to just let loose with all your powers and beat as many waves as you can. This is a stark contrast to how dreadful FFXV's DLC was.

Gravity orb-jumpin'

Strider is a slick 2d action game with platforming and hype music. This is a sweet update to an old Sega Genesis favorite.

Gaming Goals in 2017: Mid-year Checkin

I'm sure you do, Akash.

We are a week past being halfway done with 2017, which has been the absolute worst year for employment, but great for personal health and gaming. The biggest change, while not the most frugal of options, is that I joined a gym. Simply walking long distances just wasn't quite enough, and Seattle's handful of 90-degree days just make that a lot harder. The frugal part is that I've consistently gone at least 5 days a week, making the most of the $1/day that this costs me, compared to $4 per visit at the city gym. So, while that does compete for free time, I've still gotten quite a bit of time to mash the controller for dopamine.

Breath of the Wild is losing me. Between uncustomizable controls, way too many obscure puzzles, and the stupid survival element, it's just the wrong combination of game for me. I've put at least 25 hours into it and still have 4 heart containers, and die in 2 hits. But before I journey, I have to cook, but before I cook, I have to get ingredients. I personally despise survival games like Minecraft, Terraria, and this major component of Zelda: BotW. The game's got another 5 hours of my attention before I play something more fulfilling. I really want to like it!

Other than that, I've been hammering away at June's free Killing Floor 2 (on PS+), and spent a week or so knocking out a few added-on trophies for Gems of War, which is still free-to-play and still awesome. I think I harped on the graphics of Killing Floor 2 in a post, and I take it back. I had had gore turned down, and the monsters didn't dismember quite as much as they do on FULL GORE mode.

With all that out of the way, let's get to the Gaming Goals update: I've played five of the games on the list, acquired 2 on PSN Flash Sales, and am one week away from Final Fantasy XII, meaning I'll have covered 7 of the 10 games I wanted to in the first half.

Antipode? I smell Chrono Trigger...

One of those is called I am Setsuna, a classic-style JRPG released by SquareEnix. I feel like this game had almost no promotion on the PSN, which is a shame. The writing is a pretty standard Japanese story: Setsuna is going to be sacrificed and gathers members to protect her on her final journey. What makes it super Japanese is that the whole story is laden with sadness, and Setsuna constantly questions members if they'd really do that for her. She's surprised by people's dedication, and so overly emotes herself to being positive and innocent that it ends up being quite sappy. Also, the entire soundtrack is piano, adding to the melodrama, though it's pretty unique and amazing how distinct the tracks sound with one instrument.

Dual Tech? Sick!

The battle system is pretty much Chrono Trigger, with Techs (magic attacks) that can be combined to make crazy combos. The game is also super linear and doesn't have a whole lot of challenge, save 2 particular boss battles that eat your party alive. Other than that, nothing gives you too much trouble until you hit the final boss and the game world unlocks completely. At that point, you can return to the world, where there are hidden nasties all over the world map that require some massive grinding. Classic. JRPG. For me, this was a welcome change to FPS games and Zelda, and I am pretty damn pleased to have completed I am Setsuna.


Since we've crossed the halfway point of 2017, I'd like to add some more games I want to complete this year: Steamworld Heist, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Shadow Complex Remastered, Tearaway Unfolded, The Walking Dead 2, Pyre and Abzu. as well as finish Titanfall 2. The only one of these I don't have yet is SuperGiant Games' (Bastion, Transistor) Pyre. The majority of these were free PS+ downloads, but putting them here means I will commit to them and hack away at the stack. Remember, for the perfect marriage of anti-hoarding frugality and trophy hunting, I'm trying my damnest to stick to 3-games-out, 1-game-in. Also, I realized I've been applying this incorrectly for a year! Somewhere along the way, I simplified 1 disc-based game and 2 downloaded games into 2 games. Silly me! The best on my wallet would of course be to simplify to 3 games completed before paying for another.

I'll keep you posted! With my massive disappointment in the game of the year, Breath of the Wild, what was your huge gaming disappointment?

Springtime Gamin III

Mega-babe Fairy. Finally found the Breast of the Wild.

I started over on Breath of the Wild, and am making my way across the abso-friggin-lutely huge terrain, getting distracted from main quests and finding too many things without an easy way to track them.

2 con-babe sisters Sasha and Fiona.

Tales from Borderlands was one of May's free PS+ games, and quite a good ride. The game is what you'd expect from a TellTale/Borderlands crossover: the cell-shaded laughing-in-hell charm of a Borderlands game mixed with the wit and comic-book-style of a choose-your-own-adventure game.

The cherry on top is that no matter how you play, you get the platinum trophy by the end of the 10-hour endeavor. Mad shout outs to the composer, though, who went out of his way to create an amazingly done credits sequence song for each of the 5 chapters.

Choices, choices.

Tdtdtdtdtdtdtdtdtdtdt!

This month's free PS+ games were Life is Strange and Killing Floor 2. I've already written about the first title, which, as much of a burn it is to have paid for it only a few months ago, is a fantastic title to give away. Killing Floor 2 is a ton of fun. Fast-paced co-op zombie survival with classes that you level up through playing the maps over and over. It feels like more of an expansion than a fully-developed game, but damn is it fun! I say that because of the limited frames of animation, the graphics quality and system operation (super loud fan for processing that shouldn't be intense), and the quality of sound. None of these are terrible, they're just not hundred-million-dollar projects like Call of Duty, Mass Effect, or Final Fantasy. In other words, this game feels like it belongs on the previous generation. Again, it's incredibly fun to blow away zombies!

Access to sunken areas granted.

Last on the trophying was Xeodrifter, the 8-bit Metroid-style alien hunter game. The soundtrack, graphics and gameplay are all perfectly NES-era. You start off in a rocket ship and can go to any 1 of 4 planets. One of those has monsters that move really quickly and kill you, so you painfully learn to turn back. While exploring another planet, you might find an screen that you just can't pass. The game doesn't tell you what you're looking for, and even has its own alien alphabet. Instead, like Metroid, it guides you to follow the right path based on obstacles that you can traverse as you gather more equipment and items.

Rekt the boss with a few hits to spare!

The bosses have predictable attack patterns, but also can destroy you quickly. However, after 5 minutes or so, you'll be able to beat that boss if you're learning from mistakes. The other test of memory is trying to remember where in the maps you got stuck and knowing to return. You can of course follow a guide, but I found most of the stat-boosting collectibles and completed the game in about 3 hours. So, like the quintessential NES game, it encourages you to explore and try things without exposition, the soundtrack is super cool, and the game punishes you for mistakes, but the whole experience is short and pretty awesome. I think Xeodrifter is easier to recommend because it's a small commitment to a great afternoon.

That's right, Sigma and Ultron merged. Wait, what?

Finally, the demo of Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is currently free to download, and lets you play a section of story mode. This 30-minute session is pretty easy, and the matchups are against throwaway henchmen bots, rather than characters in the game. The graphics are super smooth, and every character gets a shiny metallic look, which is pretty neat. The character design, however, is a different story. I think Ryu hasn't ever looked like a Japanese person, but his new wide face, hawkish nose and large eyebrows make him look like a dinosaur. Chun Li has looked super European for a few games, but the SF community is making a big deal out of this being the ugliest Chun Li to date. Also, you've got King Arthur (Ghosts and Goblins) that runs and moves like a dork, and Dante (Devil May Cry) who's known for being over the top and his move set matches that. Finally, there is Ultron-Sigma, a mashup of a total Marvel badass and...Mega Man X's nemesis. This game's setting is all kinds of crazy. However, if I had the characters from the dozen games and universes, I'd be crazy, too. Ahh well, the fighting is smooth, combos and super moves are easy like an MvC game should be. Get the demo!