Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below Fun To Play Once

Let me get this out of the way first. I do like games like Dynasty Warriors and they are fun to play when I just want to relax and do a few minutes of hack and slash, so I didn't mind that Dragon Quest Heroes seemed to be a mashup of Dynasty Warriors, Tower Defense, and Hyrule Warriors. It was different and not like Dragon Quest 8 and 9 which I loved, but I did find myself having fun with it. The graphics are beautiful and you have over 10 characters from the various Dragon Quest games to choose from to be in your party. There are a lot of references to the Dragon Quest lore which is fun as well.

First fight with a dragon!

The tutorial for the controls is easy to follow and the game play controls handle really well. The battle system for the most part is pretty decently thought out and you can play a quick mission here and there. You can switch back and forth between your party members with a quick press of a button which is handy. The story isn't as good as previous Dragon Quest games with a pretty thin plot and a rather sub-par ending. The thing that really shines is the various special battle moves characters can do and the tension gauge. As your heroes land hits on monsters, the tension meter builds up and once it's full you can unleash a chain of powerful attacks that will defeat your enemies.

Tension attacks really pack a punch.

There are side quests you can do while doing the main story; mainly fetch quests or defeat a certain number of monsters. That can get tedious after a while because you revisit some of the same dungeon areas. There's a lack of exploration as you basically just go from one dungeon crawl area to another. Sure the airship town is cool, but I would have liked an opportunity to at least get to check out areas freely rather than have a go from point A to point B situation. Level grinding is pretty easy especially with the live weekend events they have where you can get extra EXP for your heroes (20% this weekend), rare items, and bonus gold. With all the battles your heroes do you can earn more than enough gold to buy weapons and gear for your party which is pretty great. The addition of monster medals is also a plus. Monster medals drop off any monsters you defeat and you can use the medals to summon those monsters to fight alongside you.

A town with everything you need all on one ship!

While I did like Dragon Quest Heroes, I did not love it the way I have the previous games. It is good, but it's not perfect. I understand they went in a different direction and for the most part it works and is fun up to a point. In many of the missions there's usually an object that must be protected from the onslaught of monsters and strategy is crucial here as well as deciding your party setup and which monsters to summon. However, sometimes the strategy isn't enough because there can be hordes of monsters that can overwhelm your party and as you're struggling to zip to and from different areas, it can be frustrating as you try to read a very cluttered map. Sometimes you will fail a mission and have to try again from the beginning. The one good thing about that is all your EXP and items you've gained carry over. It can get repetitive and I did find myself a little bored as I progressed. I tried different tactics if I had trouble with a mission and trying different things does help to an extent. The AI can also be incredibly stupid. There were a few times where I had a party member just standing there doing nothing while they would be attacked by enemies. 

Early dungeons start out okay and then it gets complicated.

The game play overall is good, but it's not great. Dragon Quest Heroes is fun to play once and not at full price especially with only 30 hours of play time. I'd suggest waiting until it goes on sale or buying it used. It pains me to say that because I love the Dragon Quest series, but this game could have been better and it just felt so much like a Dynasty Warriors/Hyrule Warriors clone in places which left me a little disappointed.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Endless Fun

Happy clients are the best!

I love the Animal Crossing games because for me they are a lot of fun. I really enjoyed Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but I didn't like some of the time constraints that were involved. Plus that Tom Nook really has a racket running the town. I was pretty excited for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer the more I read about it. Then I started playing it and I absolutely loved it because there are no time constraints and it's so much fun to play. In the game you are an employee of Nook's Homes and design homes for the various animal villagers based on their interests and suggestions. You can also decide where to place a client's home when the map pops up. A mountain home, a beach house, or a desert oasis are just some of the choices. You don't just design homes however. You can also design a variety of buildings for the town such as restaurants, shops, and a school. Dragging and dropping items is a nice change from the pushing and pulling items to move them. This also makes it easier to fix mistakes or undo something. It's also easier to customize colors and patterns and as you progress you can unlock even more items for your designs.

   

Oh, a cute little cafe design!

You can also decorate the outside of a client's house, choosing a variety of roof colors, house colors, and items for their yard like gardens and swings. You can also revisit clients and do things like a house upgrade or even redecorate their home for them. Another cool thing is the Happy Home Network. You can upload any house or building you've designed and you can visit other people's homes and rate them. You can take pictures of your designs and post them to social media as well showing off your creative skills which is pretty neat too.

You can design an awesome yard for your clients.

There are also themed contests via the Happy Home network such as a candy house or a Halloween house. There are also Amiibo cards which look like Pokemon trading cards and they work exactly the same way that the Amiibo figures do without all that extra bulk. The Amiibo cards work exclusively with the New 3DS and New 3DS XL. If you want to use them with the old 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS you can use the NFC Reader/Writer accessory.

 After you've designed a couple of homes, you'll get the whole introduction to the Amiibo cards and how to use them as well as having an Amiibo phone in the Nook's Homes office. You'll be prompted to use an Amiibo card and when you do you'll be sent to the client's home where you can design to your heart's content. Each Amiibo card has different characters that you can design for. Another cool feature with these is if you have friends who have Amiibo cards, you can share furniture simply by visiting a client by tapping the Amiibo card to your friend's screen and if you do it twice the character will remember all their furniture. It's a fun way to socialize and get more items for your designs. 

A forest of books!

I do wish you had your own house to decorate as all the designing only happens in town or in a client's home. That's not a big deal though because you can design the buildings any way you want and I put a lot of my own personal touches in things like the school and a concert hall. There's also lots to choose from with the designs and items making for a unique and entertaining experience. This is all about creativity and just having a good time with it. I'm still playing the game, trying out all these different things as well as checking out other people's awesome designs. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer overall is a great game full of endless fun. 

Designers unite!

Dragon Age Inquisition Trespasser DLC Review: All The Bells, Whistles, and More

 Many folks know I was deeply disappointed with The Descent DLC for Dragon Age Inquisition, so of course I was skeptical about the Trespasser DLC. Then I watched the teaser trailer for it and then watched it again. It gave me hope because it not only looked interesting, it promised answers to many of the questions we were left with at the end of the main story line and as this is the final DLC it promised to give an ending to the story. 

The beginning of Trespasser took an interesting perspective setting the scene two years later after the events with Corypheus. What happens when a world that needed saving no longer needs saving? is the main question of Trespasser as it begins at The Winter Palace for a meeting with the Exalted Council. 

The Inquisition on parade at The Winter Palace

 I played this DLC on my female Qunari Inquisitor. For the first few minutes I enjoyed actually getting to run around different areas of the Winter Palace and catching up with old friends. There are some really nice revelations with them; one of them with Cole caused me to smile a lot. My Qunari had romanced Sera and there is a scene with them that had me grinning from ear to ear because it was so sweet. There is also a nice moment with whichever character you chose to be the new Divine. 

 The story then moves on to the Council meeting and the debate over the purpose of the Inquisition when the Inquisitor and friends discover that their actions and meeting have drawn the attention of the Qun and they must work together for one last mission to save everyone in Thedas again. Their quest brings them through the Eluvian crossroads and as you travel through many Eluvians you learn more about the history of the Elves and how a certain old friend is a big part of it. 

Eluvians, a faster way to travel!

 As your journey continues, there are new abilities with the Anchor for your Inquisitor, but the mark on their hand is also slowly killing them. It puts into perspective for the key members of the Inquisition the possibility of the Inquisitor dying and what that could mean for everyone as well as what the future could hold. Many of the conversations my Inquisitor had with her friends pondering what it could mean had me smiling sadly, because these were characters that I had come to care about and it is always hard to say goodbye, but goodbyes happen and people move on. 

 The environments in Trespasser are beautiful making for fun exploration. There are a few interesting puzzles as well. You pick up more lore and hints about various characters which include some insights about your current mission. There are highlighted spots where you can listen to observations from people in your party; some are touching and some are humorous adding more to the story. 

Exploring areas behind the Eluvians

 The battles with the Qun while a little trying which included a boss battle, (seriously, why does everything have so much health?) were not nearly as frustrating or impossible as some of the battles in Descent. You also learn some things about the Qun and the threat to Thedas. And of course it wouldn't be Dragon Age if there wasn't at least one fight with a dragon, but that had an interesting twist to it too which actually gave you a choice about the situation. 

Inquisitor and friends battling Qun soldiers

 As you get to the end, there are some big reveals in Trespasser. A lot of the big questions get answered and it does give a sense of closure to the Inquisition story. Without spoiling it, there is even a hugely deep conversation with an old friend that brings to light many things and hints at what the future may bring. Trespasser does wrap things up very neatly and gives you a sense of finality to the game with a proper ending. Whatever you decide to do with the Inquisition's fate, you do get a lovely moment with artistic sketches that shows you what happens to all who were involved in the Inquisition. The one with Varric had me giggling, because it seemed so hilarious and yet it was perfect for him. 

A gorgeous view for the Inquisitor and an old friend

While it was sad to say goodbye, I wouldn't have it any other way. Trespasser did a great job of giving a solid ending to Dragon Age Inquisition and setting up the next location for the possibility of Dragon Age 4. So perhaps it's not a permanent goodbye and we may see the Inquisitor and their friends in one form or another in the next game. Trespasser definitely redeemed the Dragon Age Inquisition DLC in my eyes after Descent because it had all the bells, whistles, and more. It's definitely worth checking out and absolutely worth playing. Just a little side note, sit through the credits because there is a hysterically funny and adorable moment with Cassandra. 

Dragon Age Inquisition Trespasser DLC

While I was disappointed with the Descent DLC, the trailer for the Trespasser DLC does look promising. I also enjoyed that some familiar faces appear in the trailer. I felt some of that excitement that I had for Jaws of Hakkon which I loved. I really hope that they improved on the play through and learned from some of the mistakes that were made in Descent. You can check out the awesome trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUQKGFMfXx0&feature=youtu.be&sf40117604=1

Dragon Age Inquisition The Descent DLC Review: Wait Until It's On Sale

I really liked The Jaws of Hakkon DLC. It offered a lot of new lore, some great story insights, and awesome items for my Inquisitor. I was very excited about The Descent when I saw the trailer for it because it showed a lot of the Deep Roads. The Deep Roads was one of my favorite explorations in Dragon Age Origins because it was quite creepy and added that atmosphere of danger to the adventure. So of course I got The Descent DLC. It started out pretty well, introducing a couple of new characters for this part of the story. There's even more interesting lore about Dwarves and their history. 

Riding the elevator down to the Deep Roads  

Basically there are earthquakes happening and The Inquisition is sent to The Deep Roads to investigate. There are all kinds of side tunnels and rooms to explore with a ton of great items for your party members ranging from weapons to upgraded armor. One room had a puzzle that was a familiar one because it was in  Mass Effect which was interesting and it gave you a pretty nice item once you solved it. The other areas you get to see are vast and colorfully beautiful. I spent a good few minutes just looking around at all of it. The designs for it are rather impressive. 

The Inquisition ready to explore the Deep Roads

Then the fun stops. I'm not kidding. I wish I was. Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love the Dragon Age series (yes, even Dragon Age 2 in spite of its many many flaws) so it is really disappointing to me to have to write a less than stellar review especially considering the fact that I greatly enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition and the DLC Jaws of Hakkon. The Descent just doesn't quite have the bite that Jaws of Hakkon did and there are many frustrating moments in it as well. 

 The separate war table for the Deep Roads is not only impractical, it makes no sense. I didn't understand why you couldn't just have the Deep Roads missions on the war table map back at Skyhold. Having two separate war tables just seemed like a convoluted way of doing things. I also found it mildly irritating that when my party would unlock an operation we would have to go all the way back to the top level just to do the mission from the war table. I did like that you got more influence as you sent your scouts on the various missions and sometimes you would get a few good items also. I did unlock the fast travel areas on the area map as quickly as possible so it made going back and forth easier. 

Oh look, another elevator for traveling all the way back to the top. Again.

There's hardly any Darkspawn. When I think Deep Roads, I think tons of Darkspawn. That's what makes the Deep Roads so frightening; the thought of hordes upon hordes of Darkspawn coming for all of Thedas. With the exception of one pretty epic battle, there's practically no Darkspawn at all. The combat is uneven. In some areas it's alright and in other areas, it's ridiculously hard and I had the game set to casual. When a game's combat is uneven like that, it makes for some pretty annoying boss fights (more on that later) and a ton of frustration. Let's talk about this Bioware. Let's talk about how you need to look up the meaning of casual and learn that when a game is set to casual i.e. the easy setting that's what it SHOULD be! I had horrifying flashbacks to Dragon Age 2 and the Last Straw battle as I played The Descent. Yes, it was that bad. I don't mind a challenge, but when it's on the easy setting, I expect it to play like it's on the easy setting. I actually had to check the game settings to make sure it was on casual because I really thought for a minute I had accidentally set it to Hard or Nightmare mode. It was on casual, so no I wasn't crazy, but I think you guys might be because you don't know what CASUAL means!

Believe it or not, this is one of the easier battles.

This brings me to the boss battle in The Descent. Bear in mind, the game was on the casual setting as I attempted this. My party wiped three times and every time I tried to revive a party member the boss would slap them dead. I even had Vivienne in my party who is basically unstoppable as a Knight Enchanter and still we got spanked hard. I swore. A LOT. I tried different party members, different strategies, and even invoked Cthulhu to help me win that damned boss fight. (The last part is a joke. Don't invoke Cthulhu, that's how you get sea monsters.) The one consistent thing was Blackwall. If you do this fight, bring Blackwall. Blackwall is by and far the best tank in Dragon Age Inquistion because he's crazily overpowered especially if you fully unlock his Champion skill tree. Out of all the fights I lost, he was the only one standing right until the end. Eventually after a ton of swearing and one more try, I did beat the boss. Did I feel good about it? No, not really. I felt pissed off that it had taken that much damned effort for one freaking boss on the easy setting. 

At least the scenery and surrounding areas are pretty.

 The story ending to the mission did not make me feel better either. It left me sitting there wondering what just happened because it gives you more questions than answers. It did not have that sense of closure that Jaws of Hakkon did. It also made me want to slug one of the characters. I wondered if the writers just got bored or deliberately left it like that as a possible opening for more DLC stuff. Either way, there is too little reward for too much effort with The Descent. While I did find the history and revelations about the Dwarves interesting, I wished for just a bit more. Without spoiling it, I did like the one character who was introduced a lot and I was pleased to hear David Hayter doing the voice acting for them. The areas further down are pretty and add some great atmosphere. However, I did not have as much fun playing The Descent as I did playing Jaws of Hakkon. In fact, it was downright frustrating at times and I feel it's not worth paying full price for. Jaws of Hakkon is on sale right now and that one I highly recommend buying. With The Descent, you're better off waiting until it's on sale. I really hope that the next story DLC will be better than this because The Descent was really not up to snuff.

New Dragon Age Inquisition DLC: The Descent Teaser Trailer

Dragon Age: Inquisition has went above and beyond my expectations. I'm currently doing my fifth play through (I know, but it's fun for me!) and enjoying it just as much as the first one. The Jaws of Hakkon was a great DLC because it had a lot of interesting lore and you finally got a chance to see the Avvar and learn more about their history and culture. I have to really like a game to purchase any DLC at all, so I was glad this first one was great.

I am pretty excited for the next DLC titled The Descent. I watched the trailer twice. It looks like you get to explore the Deep Roads which is very cool as I liked the creepy atmosphere of the Deep Roads in Dragon Age Origins. This looks even better and it looks like you may get some more Dwarven lore and history which is also fantastic. I can't wait to play it!

You can check out the trailer for Dragon Age Inquisition: The Descent here:

Final Fantasy XV Malboro Trailer

I played the demo on the PS4 for Final Fantasy XV and it looks amazing. Seeing the teaser trailer with a Malboro fight is even better. I can't wait to play this game because I'm a fan of the Final Fantasy series and this looks great. You can check out the video on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/FinalFantasy/videos/1032171660150926/?fref=nf

I for one can not wait for the game to get here. The release date is December 31, 2015. It looks like it's going to be an awesome year for my gaming! In the meantime, I have a lot of games to play. I still have to finish Final Fantasy Type 0 and a couple of Assassin's Creed games to play. So I'll have a lot to keep me busy until Final Fantasy XV arrives.