Belated Reviews - Pokemon X & Y - By the Power of The Mega-Stone! (I HAVE THE POWER)

(Please note, my experience with the new Pokemon games is playing Pokemon X and Not it's counterpart Pokemon Y. This shouldn't matter too much in the review as version differences are almost non-existent.)

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another Belated Review. Pokemon has been a franchise that I've spoken in-depth on the Blog. I've talked about how stagnated and unoriginal aspects of the franchise are irritating as balls! and I've even defended Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity from harsh and unfair criticism. And because these things work in threes it's time I did my review. But not just any review! A Belated Review.. for those unfamiliar with the structure it'll work like thus;

I'll be looking at key areas within the game... 

Looky Looky - how does the game look, sound etc?

Clicky Clicky - how does the game play? is it accessible to new users?

Fluffy Fluffy! - what's the story, characters, setting etc. like?

YAY or Nay! - Did I have fun with it, was it entertaining
And then finally I'd pose the question of whether I think it's still a good purchase. This is possibly the most unbelated Belated review I've ever done; as the game only came out last month... But still.. without further ado...Pokemon X & Y

(as Always- SPOILERS!!)

Chapter 1 - Looky Looky

The biggest change for 6th generation Pokemon is the transition to fully 3D. Finally your character can move diagonally and in a full circle. The result of this is a vibrant and genuinely stunning world. The tech of the 3DS is shown in full force. The sound assets are incredible and the music for this one is the best yet. Lumious city's music brought a single tear to my eyes with childish nostalgia (as the sound is still distinctly Pokemon) And there's even a remix of the original battle theme when battling a certain cave dwelling Pokemon. Battles have received a considerable new lick of paint as well. Borrowing from the style of Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon now fight on a three dimensional plain. Animations have received a boost from previous gens, all Pokemon are now rendered in 3D and there are even destructible environments here and there. The game as well as it's formula has been tuned up considerably and it shows.

The main issues however is, yet again, with the 3DS 3D functionality. It's virtually unusable. It's turned off in the over-world as during beta testing the frame rate made walking around almost unplayable. This means the 3D is only used in battles. Now this wouldn't be too bad... if the same problem wasn't here as well. With small early game, not too flashy battles the 3D works fantastically, However you'll start to find that when the game progresses and your moves and Pokemon become more and more flashy.. You'll find yourself counting individual frames as the game is brought to a crawl... Yet again people, I would recommend turning the 3D off for this one. Which is a shame, because the 3D looks actually alright here... when it doesn't effect the frame rate.

Before we move onto Gameplay, I would mention one thing; - Pokemon cries, the sound a Pokemon makes as you encounter it in battle or otherwise. Pikachu, the franchise mascot actually has the cry associated with it in the anime; the classic "pika Pika Chuuuuuu" Bull shit needy teenage girls try to imitate in order to seem more cute. My only problem with it is that it's only Pikachu that makes this detailed sound... Really Game freak? You had the chance to innovate the sound of Pokemon to make them more realistic (as realistic as a plasma firing key chain can be) ... Come on, maybe next gen? Please?

Conclusion - Best looking and sounding Pokemon game to date.

Chapter 2 - Clicky Clicky

OH BOY THERE'S A LOT TO TALK ABOUT. Because I don't really fancy old age I'm going to bullet point as much as I can.. because otherwise this chapter may go on for a bit. 

• A circle pad, linked to a pair of roller skates, faster than walking (using the D-Pad) and running but not as fast as a Bike. You can even teach your player little tips and tricks like 360 spins. This makes getting around for the first quarter of the game much faster.
• Super training. Via playing a small mini-game, the player can boost effort values (EV's) out of combat much faster than otherwise in other games. Different Pokemon behave differently in this game and have their own strengths and weaknesses (Horsea fires quickly but loses a lot of points if hit while Gastly is a slow shooter, but gets more points for powerful shots and loses less points if hit.)
• 454 Pokemon in total (the most in any game to date) without trading from other generations (coming soon) A relatively small array of new Pokemon, which doesn't matter too much. (will build on this in next chapter)
• A new type (fairy type) changes the competitive scene around somewhat and keeps battles fresh and interesting, annoying for old players at first as you'll learn the hard way how badly they can fuck you one of your dragons.
• Much better trade integration with mystery trade (trade a Pokemon with a random trainer) Sometimes you get something good, for example of I got a version exclusive from Y and a full set of the different starters within two days and then other times I got Pokemon you can get from the first piece of grass... experiences may vary. 
• With the added and improved online functionality, online play flows much more fluidly. There's an odd bug where closing the 3DS XL system with the game still playing causes you to lose connectivity, But I'm sure if that's an issue for other people. Apart from this, it's a breeze to connect to the internet, battle with your friends and harass a stranger because he thinks Grass types are the best...
• Pokemon Amie or as I like to call it "Pokemon-Nintendogs" Is okay. The immersion factor with your Pokemon is very much appreciated but it has limited appeal. There's only so many times you can make faces at a Gengar before you start to get bored.
• Late game is pretty poor, with the exception of Battle Mansion,Online play and a mini-side quest. There's no PWT which I was looking forward to seeing. But oh well. Little to know re-playability other than to try out a different way of building your team... I couldn't really recommend playing the game a second time unless you get another version. It's just too much of a slog fest.
• Mega-evolutions are surprisingly balanced and are a fun addition to the already collectable nature of the game. It's also fun to quote He-man as your Pokemon do their best imitation of the transformation sequence... (the amount of times I found my self saying to myself; "I have the power" got rather comical
• The game is too god dam easy! Laughably so. In the entire game I lost one match because I forgot to heal my Pokemon after a relatively somewhat difficult fight. The EXP-share now gives XP to ALL Pokemon in your party. This means that most of the time you'll be several levels over the enemies Pokemon. They do level this out to a degree however come the Elite Four (who all had 4 level 60-odd Pokemon) I was at times 10 levels above them, which made the fights considerably more easy.) While on the subject of the Elite Four, they're the worst yet. They're too easy, a boring/poor selection of Pokemon, they're not hard enough, lack proper AI to make them that extra level of challenge like in the other Pokemon games and they lack that X-Factor which makes the Elite Four battles such exciting battles. I beat the Each of the trainers without evening bringing out 2 of my Pokemon in my 6 Pokemon team...
• Whoever thought Klefki was a good idea is an idiot. Now, while I've warmed up slightly to Vanillite and it's evolutionary lines (yes that is an intended pun) When the suit of armoured Elite Four member, instead of throwing something that could actually challenge you or fit his character, the throws his keys at you; You know that someone is an idiot when they think a key chain is a dangerous weapon... so they added the fact it can FIRE PLASMA!
• No game corner (Pokemon's version of a Casino) and No full safari, there's the friend safari at the end of the game, But when you're like me and have no friends it's pretty useless. This would have helped the end game some what, and it's a missed addition, and an over sight in my opinion.
• Battles still follow the standard formula, while there are sky battles every so often, they're no different from normal battles other than the fact you can only use Pokemon that fly... A little disappointing. 
• Hoard battles are too annoying. You have to watch each Pokemon's fight animation and move animation, it takes the frame rate even with 3D turned off and while it may seem cool the first 10 times it gets old REALLY fast.
• While riding Pokemon is an advertised feature, you'll find yourself doing it a grand total of 3 times, with 1 (that I know of) secret/optional. It's SUPER tagged on at the end and doesn't really serve much purpose other than to slow you down and gawk at the scenery every so often. (The Game REALLY wants you to look around. It will pause the progress constantly to try and make you appreciate your surroundings. While they are pretty, I like doing it without being told to. It's like clapping someone who's asked for a clap... it takes all the real out of it... you're doing it because your forced to not because you want to, which is bad game design. 

Conclusion - Over all- I'm quite happy with the improvements made to the game play.. however some things I majorly question. If you're a Pokemon regular, you'l feel right at home.. if you're new to the series ... You'll like it, but you may be confused with certain decisions.  

Chapter 3 - Fluffy Fluffy - 

This is actually my favourite Pokemon story to date. It actually has characters you actually WANT to meet other than your rival. Now while there's a rather awkward semi-romance"?" scene at one point which made me super awkward (mainly because I'm almost old enough to be her father!) apart from this the story is actually well thought with SOME (though no many) deeper themes, such as war, national barriers and social equality .. as well as some aspects of penis envy... maybe that's just my interpretation of the rival character.......

The major feel I get from this game is that's constantly shouting at you "FEEL NOSTALGIC!" And when I mean constantly I mean every other fucking route! A Gen one starter is just given to you almost off the bat, which, while making me a little emotional seeing the first ever Pokemon I ever experienced (Charmander) I still ended up saying to myself "I wish I was experiencing this fresh. This is highlighted by the lack of new Pokemon.. New ideas are thrown to the side in favour of what fans know and love.. it's like they collected the majority of fan favourites and jammed them together.

As is the curse with a franchise that has been going on for as long as Pokemon has been going... Yes, I feel nostalgic.. Yes, seeing a pidgey on the first route did bring back memories of catching 5 pidgeys in a row because I had no idea that the Pokemon would get cooler later on... And there were many old memories brought back, like the first time I ever caught a legendary (Zapdos) But at times the game felt as if just this way okay for a section.. It isn't... I didn't buy the next gen Pokemon game just so I could have it with a fresh lick of paint... I wanted more improvements... not parallel ones. it's like buying a new bed.. If you want to improve the experience you may for from a Single bed to a Double bed... Or maybe you might throw the idea out the window and just get a new mattress, You don't buy the exact Bed you've got just so you can experience the "new-bed" feeling if you want something new... and that's the general feeling I got from this game.

The back story, if you can be arsed/have enough time to search for it is quite interesting. And while it does mix up the Pokemon formula in a conceptual sense I would have been cool to actually play through it rather than just hear it as a history lesson... I won't spoil it for people who haven't played through the game.. but its like dangling a piece of cheese in front of us and then telling us we could have had it last week... but you can't have it any more.

Conclusion - While nostalgic at times I would have liked it to take more original choices.. the story, while still being my favourite so far, is still just a Pokemon story... which aren't known for their emotional involvement with me.

Yay or Nay? 

I've had a lot of fun with this latest Pokemon game. I've been playing it a lot. It's great fun and while it doesn't change much of the formula of other Pokemon games, it's still a joy to play and experience. Its pumped full of nostalgia and while it may feel like the same-game-again, it's the definitely best I've played in a long time.

However if you're new to Pokemon and/or don't like JRPG's or didn't like previous Pokemon games, this will do NOTHING to draw you in. You can tell this game was made for the fans rather than trying to attract new audiences.  

With this in mind... While I would recommend this game to anyone, I'm a fair believer that experiences and appreciations may vary from person to person, more so then other Pokemon games. It's end game is so lacking I may not return to it until the Pokemon Bank comes out, allowing for more Pokemon to be added.. and with new Online functionality my hopes for DLC are quite high as there's some potential for some amazing add ons. But of course we're talking about Nintendo, the company who thinks charging £4 for a SNES game is a good idea.

With this in mind... go out and try it.. there's a demo on the Nintendo 3DS store page. This game definitely gives you your moneys worth and is good fun for what it is...


Thank you so much for reading.. Please feel free to leave your comments below or on Facebook if you hail from there... But Until next time... My names's Thespianhunter (and the master of the universe) Can we just give up on catching them all yet? But I'll catch you next time... 

A Thespianhunter Rant - Regarding The Weather, Halloween and Other Totally Pointless Subjects

Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to yet another ThespianHunter Rant. Recently in the UK, there was a a "mighty" storm which swept across my mighty island, claimed the life of (know at the time of writing) 6 people and brought British rail and Air services to a stand still.

See, for those who are maybe not native to Albion, they may not realise that the climate of England, while far from dry and humid, isn't frequented by large or even possibly dangerous events in the weather outside flooding or strong seas. Understandably when the news of "freak storms on the horizon" met the eyes and ears of the British public the typical response occurred. No one did FUCK ALL about it. For these, general public, the storm seemed non-existent and the day after the storm, maybe bar a few leaves being blown in doors, the storm had no effect. This resulted in hoards of people going to their facebook and twitter pages ranting and raving about how the storm was "a great disappointment" and that everyone was "over reacting"  ... Mean while, away from from the majority of the population...

Tree's... everywhere... All over the tracks, all over people's cars, all over peoples houses... Almost every city has seen a tree or crane fall over and damage something. General public response? ... Na... never happened.

Every year I rant about this. It's one of my pet peeves and I use the example every time; Because It's not raining by you, doesn't mean it's not raining down the road. Because It's raining down the road doesn't mean it's raining on the other side of the city. The thing is, people's perspectives, instead of expanding, like you think it would with the power of the internet at their hands, it seems, when it comes to the weather or natural phenomenon, people have such a narrow perspective that they can't even grasp the fact that the world isn't centred around their shitty little city in the south of England.

Now, I totally get it, the media blew this one WAY out of proportion. You'd think they were preparing for the end of days or Tornadoes across the British Country side, we get it... if you didn't realise by now the English news media arn't a bunch of morons by this point you are truly a lost cause. But have some sort of perspective for the bigger picture. Please? Better still, who gives a rats ass if you had leaves come through your window or it seems to be a bright and sunny day where you are. I don't give a shite on a normal day, I sure as hell don't give a crap after a storm.... You know.. WHEN ALL THE BAD WEATHER HAS GONE?!

Rant about the weather [ X ]

Halloween.
Hallows Eve
All Hallows Eve
Hallomas

What ever you call it. This date is important for one, single thing... Consumption of Alcohol with friends.... Also known as, just another day!
Why Halloween is celebrated outside of North America I haven't the faintest idea. Infact, the entire holiday is a complete and utter mystery to me. It's full of false assumptions and classic copycatting of our American cousins from across the pond.
The reality of the situation is thus. "Halloween" has NOTHING to do with spooky stuff. Nothing. Halloween was originally a Gaelic festival of Autumn. There were some bonfires, a little dinner and a sacrifice. Standard Gaelic shenanigans  Then the Church came along and buggered the whole thing up by over looking into the situation and feeling that "everything must have had a purpose" See, for those not familiar with the Gauls and Celtics, everything they did was the hold back evil spirits. So the church made it about keeping evil at bay. Then, when the religious nut jobs fled to America to escape the piss being taken out of them over in Britannia. So they sailed on over and started practising all their crazy rituals. Then churches on both sides started calling them Pagan because they would rather dress in black and do bat shit crazy rituals in the night. The nut jobs quite liked their nickname, maybe because it was cool hit and stylish. And, just as the saying "swag" becoming a phrase of escalation rather than a reference of loot or gifts taken from another hundreds of years later, Halloween became a holiday... like Valentines day, another holiday... which means virtually nothing, and only exists because some twat decided to look into it too much.

However, as social norms dictate, I will be dressing up as a priest of a dark religion for Halloween in order to get intoxicated with my friends. But if I catch anyone trying to actually give the holiday meaning.. they shall be the subject of holy Thespian Wrath.

Halloween [ X ]

Cos Players.

Well, this is a can of worms.

When I start this subject, I of course do not refer to Cos Players who take a lot of time constructing their costumes from scratch or those who wear a costume which, is not only put together themselves, but also holds deep meaning for them... no I don't mean these people... I mean the ones who just by the costume on Ebay and think they're the same thing... I of course am referring to "shit players".

I had the luxury of going to Comic Con in London during the weekend, and used it as a brilliant opportunity to look at art and buy swag <-- Please note the correct use of the word SWAG! However, as with many of these events, there were a large amount of Cos Players. Some being awesome, like a very sexy Snow White Jedi Knight *drawl* and Steam Punk Iron Man to name a few. However 2 types of "shit players" stood out, and over all, lowered my general opinion of all the other Cos Players around at the time (I'm not referring to those with "free hug signs" if you need a sign with "free hug" on it to get attention, then I hope you're stuck by Lightning in the coming days!)
1. Ladies, I love ya, no matter what size or shape, no matter what class or race you hail from, I love ya! But please... Know what size you are! I don't wanna see you vagina because your skirt is so small and you don't quite fit into a large. Take pride of how you look regardless of what you're wearing. If you want to be a female Joker and you're... a larger lady... People don't wear a small skirt... No one want's to see that.
2. Don't be lazy! A shitty Mario PJ set isn't cos play... that's the sort of shit you take to a Halloween party.. not as Cos Play.

Cos Play [ X ]


And Finally... THE COLOUR OF SAINT PATRICK IS BLUE NOT GREEN! I will shout in the face of everyone wearing green from this point onward during Saint Patrick's day. "Showing Green" was a one off occasion...  I will cry when I see a New York Parade, I know it!

This has been this ThespianHunter rant. Sorry for the lack of structure lately... I've started Uni... Uni is busy as hell, and don't expect the next part of the Nomad Until December, I only write that when I've got enough time to make each part what I want it to be... (even though I'm not quite happy with how part 1 turned out... however I feel like I couldn't have done that part any better...)

As a teaser for the next Part of The Nomad;... This word... Isn't quite as it seems. The characters Arn't quite what they seem... and pretty much everything... isn't quite what it seems....


My name's been ThespianHunter... Hallowed Be Thy Name... And I'll catch you next time.

A ThespianHunter Rant - Regarding The Deadly Tank of Neptuna

This rant requires that you listen to this track from Croc - Legend of The Gobbos's Soundtrack (it's only 1 Minuite long)

Furthermore: Sorry I've not been posting much on the blog.. I've just started University!            Let me off :D

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another ThespianHunter rant, where I basically talk about something that ticks me off, or something that I want to talk about. Today's rant regards a song from a soundtrack... Now I know that I've been some what rather focused on the whole Video Game music front. Those who have been reading the blog since it's inception will know that Video Game music is something I rate highly (it can be the turning point from a good game to an awesome game) It's an accentual part of a video game. (for me)

I recently went on a HUUUUGGGGEEEEEEE nostalgia trip and played a game on the PS1 that I hadn't played since I was 7 (that's 13 years ago) That game was Croc LEG-END of the Gobbos (which I will most definitely do a Belated review of once I've cleared my packed back log of the things) This game is a odd ball to say the least. I'm actually these days not a fan of it. However when I was a child I LOVED it. I got very scared when in the secret areas, cause I thought the game's bady would jump out from behind me because I was in an area I wasn't supposed to be in. ANYWAY!

One of the game's redeeming factors in the game is it's soundtrack. It's REALLY good... not top 10 good, but still pretty dam good! However there's one little fact that annoys me beyond belief itself. Something that drives me insane! There's this one track called The Deadly Tank of Neptuna. It's featured in ONE point in the game. It's not a theme for the entire level, it's not a boss theme. It's literally a song that plays during a SINGLE underwater segment just before a boss fight. It has a SINGLE minute of play time before going on a loop and you only need about 40 seconds to get through the area which this song features, then you never hear it again.

The most painful thing is... I love this track SO GOD DAM MUCH. It's arguably the best track in the entire game. It's also... interrogating. I remember that as a kid I was PETRIFIED of what the boss would end up being. During this mini segment there are a series of electric gates which you must bypass by passing through them while they turn off. If you got hit, the main character who yelp.. In almost every other section of the game it doesn't carry very far... in this section.. it echoes. There is genuinely something chilling about this track. And then you never hear it again, or anything that sounds vaguely like it.

Why... Why would you do that? I don't really want to hear this song for every under water segment, that would get old rather quick. But variations of it ? Fuck, yes! It's an immense track. it has that chilling scale throughout the piece which is then accompanied by a tune that features maybe in one other song? (I couldn't really place it, but there's something oddly catchy about it, maybe it's because Child me liked it so much) Then, in the 23rd bar it subtly changes the tune, The crashes come through the music echoes and the music carries. You liturally feel like you're in an echo-y underwater tunnel (which doesn't make much sense)

The song is just so chilling... and I have not a single idea why they didn't use the track more, or did a variation on it like they did with other tracks. 

There's the mini rant. I will get onto making the next belated review, I've just had to get a LOT of reading done lately, so hadn't had much time.

Thank you so much for reading, leave your comments bellow on what you think of the track. And I'll catch you next time!

You Canny Always Get What Ya Wanna! - ThespianHunter Rant - Ideas For Games That I Want

Hello and welcome to the ThespianHunter Blog. These are game ideas that I want to be made, but will probably never be done. If a developer want's something to give to me for Christmas.. Here's my Christmas List!

1. Mass Effect RTS. Space Combat RTS set during key points in Mass Effect History (First Contact War, Battle with Batarians, Reaper invasion and other odd events.
2. A Direct Sequel to Shadow Of the Colossus
3. A Pokemon Dungeon Keeper Game where the Player organises a Pokemon Gym
4. A good PC Kingdom Under-fire game
5. A Remake of Black and White
6. A RTS Set in a Zombie Apocalypse. You manage what survivors do, where you get supplies and how you deal with the Zombie invasion. All the mean time dealing with other groups of survivors
7. Too Human 2
8. A total Remake of Black and White 2 where it doesn't suck
9. A total Remake of Fable 2 where it doesn't suck!!!
10. A game where the players presses a button to squeeze a turd out upon a disk of Fable 3
11. Warcraft 4 (not to be mistaken with World of Warcraft 2... no one wanna see that!)
12. An EA game on PC that doesn't use Origin
13. RPG in the 40K universe where the Player plays as an Ork
14. Anno 7010 - Set in space... with a Flotilla of Space Ships!
15. GTA Gotham City
16. Free to Play games without Microtransactions 
17. A FPS set in Supreme Commander where you take control of a ACU
18. A New Crash Bandicoot game
19. Brutal Legend 2 - Invasion of the Pirate Metal
20. Sim City 6 - Good, none watered down version
21. A Star Wars Dynasty Warriors Game
22. A Warhammer Dynasty Warriors Game
23. -Enter Franchise Here- Dynasty Warriors Game
24. War of the Monsters - PC Edition
25. 40K TCG

The Nomad: A Short Story - Part 1

It seems my brain over works itself at night. This is a short story I've been playing around with for a while now. Leave you comments below and I hope you enjoy it.

The Nomad.

She walked across the grassy plains. Hill after hill she kept walking, never looking back and never losing pace. She just kept walking forward, forward across the grassy plains.
This had been the third day of walking, not something to be snuffed at for a young woman to walk across the plains by herself. She left her home and begun her journey, just like any hero would. But she wasn't wanting to be a hero, she didn't even know what a hero was, let alone how a hero would start a journey. This wasn't about glory or some quest that needed fulfilling. This wasn't an act to show the others of her tribe that she was better or more skilled, this was simply a walk across the grassy plains. She had nothing to prove, not even to herself, there was nothing to gain by completing this journey, no long time goal. She just wanted to walk.
The Grass plains had been a hot spot for the tribe for almost a hundred years, known to the Elders as "The Gnoll Plains" Named after the mythical creatures that were said to inhabit it. It was due to this occupation for small humanoid dogs that no one from the tribe would dare risk travelling across the plains without a very good reason to do so. Yet the girl had no reason to walk across the plains, it was just a walk after all. The grassy plains were said to stretch for miles across an entire continent. The Elders said that the Gnoll Plains were "The only connection to the other tribes that exists."
The sun was shining and the green grass filled the air with the smell of tranquillity and peace. The sky was blue with no a single cloud in the sky and the occasional sparrow was the only contrast to the ocean of sky above.  A beautiful day to say the least. The girl's cloths however were a contrast to this beauty. They were made from the skin of animals long since dead and sown together by a mere peasant, clearly no an artisan of apparel. Nay, these cloths only served the function to keep the wearer warm during cold nights. They weren't comfy at all, in fact they itched like a bug bite. The girls skin under the seems in the cloths had become red through her continuous scratching. However She had no time to complain, after all she was walking through the grassy plains and time spent itching was time spent not walking.

As she walked to the top of a hill she gazed over the remainder of the plain still yet to walk. She realised had barely scratched the surface as she noticed the plains were so great that they stretched over the horizon. Her thoughts quickly went to her family that she had left behind in the village, her son and her husband. She could remember the wails of hysterical crying her baby had made as she left the village. She could remember the curses from her husband as he shouted after her calling her all sorts of names. They didn't understand.

Hours pasted of walking, her feet beginning to hurt again. She sat and relaxed, she decided to make the most of her journey and take in the surroundings. She gazed across at the countless hills before her, thinking of the best route to take over them. Suddenly something broke her concentration.  A small dog like head peered over the lip of the hill next to her. It didn't make a sound it didn't move quickly it was just... watching her. As her eyes met it's, it darted back behind the hill trying not to be seen. It was here when the girl realised what she had seen: the head of a Gnoll. She called out to it "Don't be shy little fella... I'm merely travelling through these parts!" She then waited for a response. She heard none. She started to walk away. She she walked to the bottom of the hill she noticed the head again, peering over the hill and watching her as she moved. When the two traded glances the Gnoll disappeared out of view.

This charade continued for a good couple of minutes before the young woman bucked up the courage to approach the little creature at the hill. As she reached the hills top she looked over to see a two foot tall ginger haired Gnoll looking up at her. He had bright yellow eyes and long white teeth. He wore a a small outfit not dissimilar from hers and carried a spear on his back.
"Hello there" she whispered to the creature. It's response was a quite chuckled followed by a huge grin on the creatures face.  The Elders had said that Gnolls were vicious creatures who were to be killed on the spot. Obviously no one had bothered trying to communicate with them as this one seemed friendly enough.
"You hungry?" She asked with a smile as she reached into her back which rested on her back. The creature nodded excitably whilst licking its lips and the thought of receiving food. As the woman pulled out a piece of cooked chicken the Gnoll ran right up to her, she was in touching distance of a creature thought to be merely mythological. As she extended her hand the Gnoll snatched the meat and began to eat it, all the while looking very pleased for himself.
"I'm walking across the plains... want to come with me?" She asked lowering herself to the creatures level. The creature nodded and began to walk in front of her, indicating her to follow. 

She had found someone to accompany her, someone to lead her across the grassy plains. She had found a friend in the most unlikely of places. They walked across the grassy plains. Hill after hill they kept walking, the creature occasionally looking back but never losing pace. They just kept walking forward, forward across the grassy plains. All the while danger, could be just over the next hill...

--To be Continued-- 

ThespianHunter's Top 10 Video Game Soundtracks

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another post in the ThespianHunter blog. It's been a while hasn't it? Well, I've been working on a bunch of stuff lately and haven't quite had the time to write up a post. The Dark Messiah review IS coming, so don't worry about that. To tide you over until tomorrow here's a little list I've been pondering for some time. My favourite Video Game Soundtracks.

Now, here's some little pointers. 1. I'm, by no means, a musician, I can play a didgeridoo and sing a little. But that's it. So I'm not an expert on these things! What I am is a video gamer who likes music and especially soundtracks. 2. As always, this sorta thing is MY subjective opinion. These arn't necessarily objectively the best, just my favourites. and finally 3. I'm ONLY going to list FULL soundtracks and not individual songs from each soundtrack.

With the last point in mind. Here's some honourable mentions to games that miss out on being on this list due to the rest of the soundtrack not making it on the list.

Castlevania - Bloody Tears. If you haven't listened to it... do it... now. Open a tab and go listen to it right now... I'll wait for you... seriously it's amazing!

Street Fighter - Guile's Theme. Ironically it doesn't go with this with this list. But it does go with everything!

Dragon Age Origins - Main Theme. God dam it, it makes me want to ride into battle on the back of a Dragon. But alas other than one other track from this soundtrack... The rest of it just misses out on the number 10 spot. Sorry :(

So with all that out of the way, let's get onto the list... Without further ado...










Number 10.

Heroes Of Might and Magic V

Sometimes it most tried and tested methods succeed. Epic Orchestral themes with Latin opera singing. This would have just missed out on the list (and in fact in the first draft it actually did.) but the more and more I think about it... this game's soundtrack is just epic! The entire game SHOULD/and does portray a greater sense of large scale war. You realise that you're commanding the fates of hundreds even thousands and that undertaking requires a soundtrack to match. Heroes Of Might and Magic 5's soundtrack does that and some. The best soundtracks being from inside the different cities that the player can control. Added with the fact you can have a dynamic and almost cinematic view of the city with the music as accompaniment just makes you appreciate that it's there.


Number 9.

Yeah... So this soundtrack is one of the geekiest, yet funniest soundtracks ever. As with all sonic soundtracks, the fast pace and the pure fun breathed into each track is a joy to listen to. Sonic Adventure's soundtrack is on another level!! Any person who doesn't sing along to it at least once is a fool and should be treated as such! (just kidding) There are also some funny tracks in there that I urge you to listen to..  just expect to feel like a little kid at the end of the soundtrack.






Number 8.

The Elder Scrolls

Technically Cheating due to the fact that this refers to 3 game's worth of Soundtracks. But I can't have one of them on the list without the others. I'm conflicted with the Elder Scrolls soundtrack. I really like it, like really like it, so much so I put it at number 8 on this list. But... I actually prefer to listen to the soundtrack... without the game. Which is, I'll assure you, a good thing that I would listen to a soundtrack when I'm not even playing the game and Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim have very engaging worlds which the music accompanies to make all the more potent. I just think that the soundtracks are just good as of them selves. The reason this isn't higher on this list is because, well... As a soundtrack these would be in the top 3. As a VIDEO GAME soundtrack... it places here. I just don't think they go far enough in accompanying situations in the game. When orchestral, power music kicks in when you're fighting a crab it doesn't really bode well for them game. But as I said, as just a soundtrack, this is fantastic.




Number 7.

Fable

Yeah... Bet that surprised you!
Why so low down the list? Well, The other soundtracks in the list are just so much better. Which should, if anything, excite you for the rest of this list. Go and listen to the Fable soundtrack, all of it. Better still, go play Fable (or wait until the HD remake) and play it with some headphones on. Every track fits with it's setting, the character it surrounds and the situation. It makes the world and everything else stand out and drag you in. You'll find yourself standing still to take it all in. if they mess with even a single track in this soundtrack I'm going to be pissed. (they can add new tracks, sure, but don't mess with something that isn't broken.)


Number 6.

Legend of Zelda

Yeah... so this is an even bigger cheat than The Elder Scrolls. But here me out. I'm not even a big fan of Zelda. I've played a bunch of Zelda games, sure, but I've never been a fan of the series. However what I am a fan of is the music. For me, makes the game more enjoyable. I wouldn't have played Zelda if I hadn't had heard my uncle playing it from down stairs, wondering up into his room being lured in by the fantastic music. When a soundtrack can turn a game from "meh" to "Really Good" You know it's done well. It's emotional, gripping and well... just... great. I want to be a little more objective .. but ... I just can't.. I just REALLY like this soundtrack.


Number 5.

Mass Effect

Sure the ending sucks. We get it. Sure, it left a sour taste in a lot of gamers mouths. Sure, WE GET IT. But don't you dare take it out on the rest of the game. And especially it's soundtrack.
For this list I sat down and listened to it all. Every single track. Then something accorded to me (maybe because of all the times I had played the dam series, maybe because I just have a good music memory) But I could recall, every single scene from the soundtrack (not word for word obviously) and as I did so, all those emotions and memories came back. All the fun I had with all the game, every surprising little turn, all the suspense all the wonder... all of it. Sure, some of the tracks kinda sound like they've been auto-tuned and the general theme changes from game to game (even this is kinda a good point considering so does the entire dam feel of the games) but as a Sci-Fi soundtrack, this one is ace! This is defnetly the dark horse of the list. But I beg you, please, Just sit down, and put at least Mass Effect 2's soundtrack on.. and just listen to it. It wouldn't feel misplaced in a move and that, for me... is a dam good thing.


Number 4.

Persona

Never listened to this soundtrack? Go play the game and listen to it now. You back? Sweet! Persona is on oddball and kinda hit and miss at times. But when it's god, holy shit! Is it good! For me, this soundtrack set's the bar for RPG's. I like it that much. It's just fantastic and seemingly endless! But as I said, a little hit and miss here and there but you'll wont regret your time with it!


So... here's the top 3. These will take a while. So what I want you to do, is I want you to listen to each soundtrack in this top 3. To understand what these soundtracks are like, you must experience them in their setting. Go and spend hours upon hours completing these games and listen to the music! You won't regret it!


Number 3.

Final Fantasy 6.

The greatest RPG soundtrack of all time! Without question. Even with the limitations of the system it was on, this soundtrack blows me away every time. You must have gathered that a Final Fantasy Game would be up here, after all FF7 seems to be in every one's Top music list all the time! But nay, they over look the fantastic Final Fantasy 6 soundtrack! The fools (I kid) Lasting for over 3 hours long. This soundtrack is phenomenal. This game's soundtrack presents everything a soundtrack should have, a musical accompaniment that assists the telling of the story and in a game where no one makes a sound the music becomes the character's voices and that is just something... magical, for lack of a better term.


Number 2.

Journey.

I've tried summing up this soundtrack in a way that sounds somewhat objective. I can't. I can only say this;

Go play Journey. Then you'll understand!

My mere mortal words can't even start to do this music justice. Just go play the game!




Number 1.

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus.

When I do the Belated Review of Shadow of the Colossus It will be the last review I'll ever do. This game isn't a game... it's a piece of art and a master piece at that. The fact that this game didn't make it into my Top 10 List of Favorited games of all time is due to the single reason. Shadow of the Colossus isn't a game you compare to others to do so is to miss the entire point. It would be trying to re-enact a piece of dance by talking it out. This game is like trying to sing a song by painting it. I true work of art.

It's up the top for similar reasons that Journey is just behind it.  The game's music tells you everything you need to know, the music, is the games blood, circulating at all times to keep the game alive. There's you, your horse, the open world, the Colossi and the music... and that's it!

Go play the game if you haven't already. It's simply a phenomenal soundtrack and the best dam one in my opinion.



Well, that's been my Top 10 Video Game Sound Tracks. That you for reading, feel free to leave your favourite video game soundtracks bellow. Until next time, My name's been ThespianHunter, I am the music and this is my song... and I'll catch you next time!

ThespianHunter: Let's Press the Issue

The Mass Effect "Fan-Fic" And The Past & Future of The Blog.

A lot of the posts on this blog are of a semi-formal nature. I don't get a chance to express myself about things outside from gaming or the mass effect writings. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to just share thought on things going on with me. In a segment I like to call "Press the Issue" name after the PCPR radio station from Vice City. So, let's press the issue.

So firstly is what the aim of the blog was to start with. Some of the Facebook readers will know what I'm heavily dyslexic and some of you may be able to tell what I struggle with writing. The blogs aim was to improve some of my skills before I started at university after taking a year out to teach. The over all experience so far has been surprising, fulfilling and at the same time scary and even at times mildly stressful. For one I never expected so many Non-English readers to be the majority of my viewer and commenter base and it's been really fantastic to  get my thoughts and opinions out to all the readers from all over the world. I feel like I managed to do my job (some what) in giving the readers something interesting to read and I hope that it hasn't been too painful to read.

It's really been a test for me and I feel like I've mostly overcome the barriers set out by my own brain. For those who don't know my main issue is finding the words to express my thoughts. I'll often under-sell what I'm thinking or use the wrong words entirely when making a point. I also can't spell and spelling some words that I've used required me to take three minutes to search. Furthermore due to my "interesting" vocabulary it's meant that writing a post can be very time consuming. Thank **** I enjoy it! It's been a brilliant learning experience for me  and has helped in ironing out some of the kinks that cause such hurdles for me when I write. I still don't know how to properly construct paragraphs and I'll probably never will, but it's been fun to try.

The fan fics were an idea that I'd been playing around with for a very long time. I often find myself playing with ideas for a short novel but then (due to my lovely dyslexia and over hurdles) the ideas ether become crap, too "out there" or just simply non-structured. Then the idea came to me "why don't I just write from an all ready existing setting and create characters from there?" I hope the results of which have been as enjoyable to read as they have been to write and I look to end the mini series soon (maybe until the next set of games come out.)

So, really quickly some FAQ's from the "Fan-Fics".

• Why do you refuse to call them what they are; Fan Fics. For me there's a certain stigma associated with Fan-Fics? One of them is that they overly fantasise over characters. I didn't want that, and thought due to the relationship what two of my characters have from the outset I didn't want the reader to start reading with this association in their minds. I wanted to tell them what they were about to read. A short story set in and based around  a pre-existing universe what I'm a fan of. 
• Why "The Nameless Turian"? I like to, in my writings have a character which the reader can reflect themselves upon however still be the basis of the story. Having a silent protagonist is almost impossible (in my opinion) in a novel and thus I had to work around it. What I came up with was the Nameless Turian. The readers don't know his name, and its only refereed to by the opinions of other characters. This allows the reader to make their own name for him and construct what they think he looks like by their own understanding of what a Turian is. And I like it this way.
• What's the planning process? I set a basic plan for each chapter (which sometimes changes in turn for a better idea) and I plan a skeleton for the post on a post by post basis. However despite this from the start I had to things all ready planned out. The main characters and the ending. The rest seemed to fall into place during creation. Originally it was going to be the Blue Suns as the main villains however this didn't make much sense due to them joining Shepard's army against the Reapers, then it was just the Reapers, however they lacked a certain kind of mystery that I wanted from a villain, we pretty much know all that needs to be learnt by the reapers. So instead I picked the band of mystery mercenaries who's intentions are just a pure unknown to everyone, which I liked the idea of. There's that fear of playing Russian Roulette which I wanted to portray. And they're most certainly that personified 
• Is Shepard a Male of a Female and what are they good or evil? I never want the reader to know. I wanted it to be up to the reader to decide who Shepard is. The only this is assumed is that He/She completed the events in the Leviathan DLC. That's it. The story was meant to be separate from the Mass effect Games and that's how it will stay.

So what's the future of the blog? Well I'll still be doing the reviews (and The next in the Heroes of Might and Magic reviews will be out next week) as for the Mass Effect Fan-Fics they are on their final chapter until the next game, whether that will be a prequel and just a continuation will be up to what happens with the game. Regardless I look forward to then. Everything else is down to the reader. You have total reign over what happens. I have ideas for other short stories (though they will be an ORIGINAL idea and not based on anything.) Reviews will still be posted every so often however much less frequent due to time restraints from Uni.  Other than that... we'll just see where the wind takes us.

That's been tonights Press the Issue. Hope you've enjoyed this little insight into my brain. Please be sure to leave a comment in the box bellow. And Until next time.... My name's been ThespianHunter, I dropped a 25KG weight on my foot while writings this.. and I'll catch you next time!

Mass Effect Inspired Writings - The Prentive Disaster - Part 1 - Arrival

Hello and welcome to the next part of the Flaggorn Legacy. Thank you to everyone (all 5 of you) for adding your suggestions they have been counted. Let's get it on! But Please remember I do not own any of the intellectual property owned by Bioware or the Mass Effect writers, I'm merely someone inspired by them.

-- Urgent distress message--

-- Importance level 9 --

-- N7 Mission Request --

-- Unidentified creature attack civilians on the planet Prentive in Turian Space--

-- Operatives deployed >> Turian sentinel [[confirmed]] Human Adept [[confirmed]] Krogan Vanguard [[confirmed]] --  

-- Reaper threat in area at time of message >> N/A --

-- Other details >> Army of Green terrorists assisting the creature - Unlikely Cerberus --

-- Day's until deployment >> immediate --

-- Reward >> thirty thousand credits --

-- Mission status >> Failed --
-- Survivors >> All MIA --

-- New Mission Priority >> Retake Earth --

Sometimes completing the mission is sometimes a second priority, sometimes to fail is to succeed and sometimes to succeed is to fail. This became abundantly clear to Viki as ceiling was still collapsing all around her. The ash and debris began to fall all around the prison complex as both mercenaries and prisoners ran for their lives in blind panic. Occasionally the crescendo of explosions and screams was pierced by the mighty roar of the Scylla and sound of nuclear weapons in the distance. As a single tear ran down her face at the prospect that her life was nearing an end, she remembered what her team mate, her lover had told her only moments ago.....



46 hours earlier -- High Security Prison  Planet Prentive - Jyi System 

The squad had been sitting in the UT-47 Kodiak for a few hours now. They had met up on an Alliance dreadnought and given time to catch up. Flaggorn who had been on mission only days before hand had been catching up with his trustworthy comrades. Viki had started calling the Turian Sentinel "Vulture" due to her being unable to pronounce the name and Flaggorn had started calling him it as well. The name was given for a number of reasons. One being that, Turians somewhat look like birds on earth and that this particular Turian looked a lot like a vulture. Another reason being how the Sentinel would behave in a battle situation against superior numbers; if given the time, he would slowly work away at the enemy force and then when they were weary from a number of engagements he'd pick them off. Much like a scavenger bird. 

Vulture liked his new nick name and embraced it, he even started signing off messages with it as his alias. However when ever he would say the word he'd put emphasis on the wrong parts. Making the word sound more like Val-Ture than Vul-Ture. He liked the number of pet names Viki had been giving him since they'd been together and this one was rather more... clean... than some of the others she called him. 

As well as taking the time to socialise, the Krogan had also informed the pair on his previous dealing with the Emerald Scylla. He took the time to describe their mega-structure underground and their almost endless number that he had seen walking within... while also mentioning how easily he managed to defeat them single handedly. He also cared to mention that in the time he took looking around the base before arriving on the dreadnought he had not found the prised weapon the Drell had demonstrated to him the last time they met. To say this made to couple even more nervous about what they were about to face on Prentive would be a slight understatement. They were, after all, quite nervous already about fighting a huge monster, now it was being probably protected by a formidable legion of Green Mercenaries who may or may not have experimental weaponry? It was grim news indeed.

However all of this was dwarfed by the shadow that loomed over them all. The alliance, Shepard and the army assembled by them both was getting ready to retake Earth from the Reapers. Not only this but the N7 initiative would be the vanguard of the invasion force. Meaning that most of them would be drafted up for a suicide mission very, very shortly. Flaggorn had just finished his final vendetta and was just getting ready to relax for a while, but instead his vacation was to be snatched away from him by a mission he was unlikely to return from. Viki and Vulture had in-turn wanted to just relax for a while. They were even planning to pull out of the N7 initiative all together in order to go about living together away from all the conflict as soon as possible. However every time they thought about it they knew that there wasn't going to be a safe haven for them until the Reapers were annihilated... They were just scared of what that would cost. 

Nevertheless, these doom filled thoughts would have to wait. For now they had a job to do. To stop a mercenary army from destroying the most high security prison in Citadel Space. Prentive, as it was called, was the Turian equivalent to Australia's founding on Earth. A place to put the worst criminals in the galaxy in order keep them away from the populous of other planets. Prentive was an arid desert with occasional pockets of lakes which spanned for miles. It rarely rained during its 200 day cycle around it's pair of suns which orbited each other but when it did rain, it would rain for weeks, only over the lakes. This meant that the only real inhabitable locations on the planet were around these lakes. As a result the Turian government built giant military installations around these lakes in order to take out anyone wanting to free inmates from the prisons. In order to make escape as physically impossible as possible many precautions were put in place. Firstly, the prisons were all ether underwater or underground access to the surface was possible via going through the military bases. Secondly the entire planet was covered in a large shield barrier which was only lowered for Turian military vessels, all supplies were taken to a space station and sent down via convoy of large ships. Thirdly, all inmates were equipped with a tacking beacon, if any of these beacons detected that the inmate they were attached to was even a centimetre above sea level, without being disable by a warden, it would let off a toxin into the inmates body that would react with the brain stem. It would send off singles similar to that which an Ant Queen experiences when its looking to build a nest. The inmate will immediately experience an involuntary impulse to attempt to ether head underground or dig underground. These effects can last for many weeks earning intimates who attempt to escape receiving the nickname "Antmates" Thought despite all these procedures, nothing could have prepared it for the mercenary assault and the giant creature they brought with them.

 The first SOS reports gave clues to how the attack took place. The arrived via a captured Turian War vessel called "The Stygian" a ship that was often used to ferry resources to and from the planet, however was sent to Millian in order to "pick up new recruits" instead an elite force of Emerald solderers overwhelmed and captured the ship. They then replaced the majority of the ships cargo hold with a enormous water tank holding a single Scylla which was then dropped into one of the planets oceans. By the time the Turian military knew what was going on it was too late. Hundreds died in the first hour as the aquatic beast ripped through at a section of the prison that went under water which flooded the majority of the lower levels. Prisoners couldn't escape during the panic due to their tracking beacons, all those who tried anyway were immediately overridden with the Antmate impulse. It wasn't totally sure what the Mercenaries were there for, but one thing was clear: they weren't there to liberate a prisoner. That would require not killing all the inmates one by one execution style as they passed through the different prisons. They weren't there to capture any of the military bases as most of them had been destroyed by the second day. It was now 4 days in, and their intentions weren't the slightest bit clearer at all.

"Thirteen minutes till landing, best suit up!" came the pilots voice whistling through their omni-tools.
"Plenty of time, meat bag! Relax a little, I wanna try and enjoy this shitty little shuttle ride before I get riddled with weapons fire" Flaggorn laughed in response as he loaded spare thermal clips into a compartment on the side of Sar't'too. 
"Just wanted to let you know, sir!"
"CALL ME SIR ONE MORE TIME! I'm not some fancy assed Turian sitting on a throne. I'm a Krogan!"
"Ah! Yes, yes... Sorry Si- I mean ... I mean uh, I mean...."
"HA! Relax Pyjak! Was only pulling you're leg! I get bored on these shuttle journeys. Call me what ever you want, as long as it ain't some soppy little pet name like these too little "darlings" call each other" Flaggorn then proceeded to state a mere small collection of these names whilst putting on his most adorable voice. This was received by everyone with much laughter, even by the pilot who hadn't yet realised that someone was shooting at him.
"INCOMING FIRE, Brace for-" He was quickly cut off as a bullet flew directly through the front of the shuttle and into his head. with no pilot of the controls the shuttle was spinning out of control and accelerating towards the ground.
"No time to wait" Viki nervously whobled to her team "we need to evacuate this shuttle!"
"Bit difficult, meat bag!.. We've only just breached the stratosphere... it's quite a way down!"
"It's ether that or we die... I vote to fall" She slammed open the shuttle door and leaped out! The Turian gasped out crying her name at the very shock of what she done. After mere seconds he followed diving out of the falling shuttle.
Flaggorn was left alone in the shuttle, in free fall, the sound of the air rushing in being the only possible sound in the shuttle. He was a little bit fed up of falling down all the time. He calmly swaggered over to the open door, activated his biotic-amp and jumped out. He quickly picked up speed as he fell and was able to get a good view of the planet from a birds eye position. At this point he was quite the way up, he could see the horizon bend with an endless desert. Every building within eye shot was ether on fire of a mass of rubble, apart from one building. It was tall tower like building, unlike the block like buildings around it. It was also a different colour. Where all the other buildings were industrial grey and quite new, this building was a chalk white and had clearly been there for some time. Flaggorn guessed that it must have been a Prothean ruin but there were no reports of one being on the planet.

He could spend as much time as he wanted in the sky sight seeing but he knew that eventually he would meet the ground unless he some how found a way to land softly. Unlike in the factory where he could just charge around and not worry about hitting the ground, he knew due to gravity and the shear speed in which he was descending that this tactic will only excel at making him a very squashed Krogan. He instead dived to gather his squad mates who were also falling. With the Turian under one arm and Viki under the other he hatched his plan. 

"Viki, when I say 'GO' you fire the biggest singularity you've every created right at the ground. Vulture; When I say 'NOW' I want you to throw a grenade set to 10 seconds at the ground. I'll then charge... Got it?" The two looked at each other bewildered, this didn't sound like a plan to survive but rather a fancy way to kill themselves in the coolest way possible. They both knew however that falling in style was Flaggorn speciality. They merely nodded... and waited.

Time liturarlly files when you're falling through the air and about a minute passed before Flaggorn was ready to hatch his plan. No one was shooting at them any more, probably because no one expected them to survive this fall but they weren't going down today, so to speak. Flaggorn began to shout his orders "Ready?...Now...GO!" The singularity hit the ground as instructed catching the grenade a mere second before it hit the ground. It then exploded furiously with a large shock wave, a shock wave that the three had just managed to catch. this slowed down their descend just enough to be caught in the singularity. They hovered around for a moment and then hit the ground, a lot softly than they would have.

As they looked around inspecting their conditions and pulling them selves up their minds only pointed towards a question... Why on earth was that white tower they saw as they were falling... now glowing green?!


--To be continued--

Thank you so much for reading, if you have a positive or negative response please leave them in the comments below or on the Facebook comments section below this post. Be sure to keep your eyes open for the next part.

ThespianHunter's Belated Reviews - The Heroes of Might and Magic Franchise - Part 1 - Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the ThespianHunter Blog where I talk about all those lovely things that we call entertainment. Set your mind back to your childhood. You're young, you're free, you don't have a care in the world and the world is your oyster. If you were an avid gamer like me and the tender age of eight you may have had a gaming PC and you may have had a classic on there that (due to your age) you had no idea that it was as fantastic as everyone made it out to be! ... That's me when it comes to today's game of Heroes of Might and Magic 3!

Yes I played this game, and I may have at the time completed a selection of missions on there. But that's about it. To me, this game was bloody hard at the age of eight and I would have rather played Pokemon Red any day! But people much older and wiser than myself call this the holy land of turn based "non 4X strategy games" of them all. A game which, if you would refer to yourself as a gamer you should have played and completed 100% and own all the expansion packs and have a tattoo of the Game cover on your ass cheeks.

Me... I'll be honest... I think there are much better "Heroes" games out there although the amount of time I put into this game, as I grew older I had a greater and greater appreciation of this game and (as some of you may know) this game is one of my top 10 games of all time! And in this belated review of The Heroes of Might and Magic Franchise I will go through, all the different Heroes Games that I've had the joy to have played! Including:

Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic 5 ( + all expansions )
and Heroes of Might and Magic 6 ( + all current expansions at the date of July 2013 )

Now, I can hear you reader, shouting out "Bat Thesp Wat bout all da ovar Heroes Games Y aint U doin dem?!" Well, grammatically challenged reader, I'm only doing the games that I have actually played. Right by the side of me I have Might and Magic 8 Day of The Destroyer but in all the five years I've had the game, I've never been able to get it to work on something that isn't a Windows 95! And it's been so long since I've played that game, I would do it an injustice to do a review on it, with my very very limited knowledge! I'm missing a lot of games from my list of the franchise, but I just don't have a clue about them, so I'll miss them out... sorry!

But anyway, with out further ado! Let's get to the review!

(normally I'd put a Spoiler Warning but well... I'll get to that.)

Chapter 1 - Looky Looky

How do I start? Really, how? The only way I really know how is to say how this game looks into comparison to other games.. but ... THIS GAME CAME OUT IN 1999. You know what else came out in 1999?! The original Silent Hill, Pokemon Snap, Even Sonic Adventure, the game that just missed out on being in my Top 10... All of them, 3D games. Heroes 3? 2D. I mean... Look!

That's the battle screen! I would have put the over world map in there too, however let's be honest, the battle screen looks better as an example of the games graphical fidelity.

The defence I think of to describe Heroes 3's look is that it's nostalgic or it's "old school"... You're telling me that a game that came out the same year as Star Wars X-wing Alliance is "more" nostalgic looking? No sorry. The graphics in this game, look dated even for it's age. This game looks is if it was made in 1995 (the year that Mortal Kombat 3 came out) Ironically that's when the first Heroes of Might and Magic came out!

The sound is alright considering, it's much better than how it looks (in my opinion) however the same music will be used, again, and again, and again, and again and again! So you best really, really like the music! Your by your tenth hour you'll just want to play some different music over the top! There's only voice acting in opening cinematic for the game and each campaign, which has it's moments but it's nothing fantastic or memorable. I only know "I think of my beloved Roland and my son Nikolai" because of the cut-scene.

Looky Looky - Conclusion, It's functional for what it is, however it doesn't have much of an excuse considering what other games look and sound like in the time of it's release and even before it. Saying "it's okay because it's nostalgic" Doesn't cut it when you don't say the same for games like Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver which came out before it and look better.

Chapter 2 - Clicky Clicky

The game focuses around your Heroes, the leaders of your army who you control directly on the over world map. They can be from may different factions such as a Demonic Faction focused around Christian Demonic entities such as Cerberus and the Devil, A faction of Orc barbarians, a Jungle focused faction which uses creatures like Hydras, gnolls and lizard men, and an array of many others. Most of these play quite differently, like the Undead who summon units after a victorious round of combat and who can turn captured enemy units into skeleton warriors. However some like the "not quite elven, but elven" Rampart faction who's only special effect is that their units are slightly faster than others.

The game is split into two parts, the first being the over world map.

Here you manage your resources, scout the map find locations in which to explore, such as Naga banks, where you must defeat the guard in order to gain artefacts which your Hero can use or Leprechauns you can find dancing in the middle of a battle field who can give you extra luck in your next battle. The addition to an dungeon plain, where you can travel underground as well as over ground, is a fun addition allowing for strategical map control on certain maps.

In this overworld you can also travel to the different cities and castles that you own, in order to build faction specific buildings, miscellaneous buildings such as markets and taverns to hire heroes for your faction and buildings that allow for the training of different units in your army for gold.

Speaking of gold their are seven resources in this game which you must collect in order to build your epic cities and armies. (From Right to left) these include, Wood (for building) Mercury for building and training certain units) Stone (for building), Sulphur (for building certain high tech buildings and training certain units) Crystals (for building high tech buildings and training epic creatures) Gems (for building High tech buildings and training units) and gold, used in pretty much in everything you do, from buying things to training units. You can ether find these resources scattered around the ground, retrieve them after defeating certain buildings on the map or you can generate them once per day via buildings that can be captured by your... or your enemies.

Speaking of days there's the nifty little feature of the calender which represents each turn made during the game. Each turn represents a day, every week there's a certain event; like a random creature being able to train faster on a certain week and being able to find easily on the map and even a week where every unit that dies in combat is turned into wood... random, but a nice touch! Weeks are incredibly important for a number of reasons. For one, you can only train a set number of units at the beginning of each week, meaning that you have to make sure that your spending your time wisely with the numbers you have, After every week creatures on the map get more powerful, meaning that if you just spend your entire time training units, you'll have your ass handed to you later down the line. This combination means that turtle play pretty much grants only defeat! You're forced to be constantly on the move and spreading your influence. Which is a very good thing indeed.

Now... Heroes... they're a part of of The HEROES of Might and Magic, right?! YES, yes they are. Hugely in fact. Your hero levels up after battles and after finding certain objects on the map. This confers different passive abilities such as units under the heroes command having higher Defence of Moral. The hero can also learn spells that they can use in combat, such as lightning bolts, giant flame walls stopping units from moving in certain areas and even summoning creatures to aid you in the conflict. Not only this but the hero can find loot on their quest and equip them on certain parts of their bodies. Whilst these don't confer any aesthetic upgrades, these can further increase your passives in certain interesting ways. Such as making your units immune to damage inflicted by tier one units such as Skeletons or Imps.

All this over-world gameplay ultimately leads to their battles. The glorious battles. These are as turn based as you get. Each army deploys on each side of the battle field represented in stacks. If you refer to the picture in the Looky Looky section that each of those units would have a number underneath them representing how many units are in the stack. Example being that there are 5 angels represented by a single angel in the stack. As damage is dealt to the stack when a significant amount of it has been dealt a unit will die and the stack will die after all the units in it have been slaughtered. Your units have different stacks and abilities depending on their tier (level) and whether or not they're an upgraded form. Example from Angel to Arch Angel, Arch Angels having the ability to resurrect fallen comrades in battle. Once per turn your hero can cast a beneficial spell in order to help the conflict. Furthermore when attacking a city there will be a siege battle where the invader must deal with defences.

I'm two minds about Heroes 3's gameplay... Firstly, it's fun, their no denying that and it's very compelling with an insane amount of depth and strategy in there. This works a bit both ways due to there not being a detailed tutorial of any kind in this game, instead you're forced to learn as you play, which may be appealing to some people. The second thing is that... well... Due to this teaching yourself style, there's no way of telling that what you're doing is actually any good until the moments comes when you'll ether lose your hero or you wont.

The only description you get of an enemy before you enter combat is a very, very, very rough explanation of how many units are in each stack like "lots" or "a throng" and no explanation of whether or not it would be suicide to attack them. Also the game isn't afraid to dick you over at any time it chooses. Think you're doing well? well surprise here's an enemy hero who is better than you in every way... and he's now attacking you with not a moments notice! Didn't expect this? Well you've lost, gg. This might be interesting for gamers who really long for a challenge, however for me this isn't the case, I like to have details of what I will do when I press the button, rather than just hoping for the best due to my lack of knowledge of the mechanics. Only due to my knowledge of the game since I was an eight year old trying to desperately figure out what the hell was going on did I manage to get some what far in the game... It did take me two years of trail and error though.

Clicky Clicky - Conclusion: Enjoyable and very in-depth, huge time synch in order to be able to be any good at it. Requires a lot of trail and error to play well.

Chapter 3 - Fluffy Fluffy

Without looking online, tell me the story. Can't do it? That's because it's SO DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW. It's drip fed to your very very slowly and very lightly and the beginning of each campaign. The ending is so, so, so, so, so unexpected and so insanely bizarre that it's like taking a trip through the "plot twist forest" with M Night Shyamalan after spending an entire night injecting pure poppy seeds into your blood stream... It's ... weird. It takes off and returns, and sidetracks itself so often that it's, for me, almost impossible to follow, even summaries of the story cut out about 50% of it cause it's so unnecessary. The setting is very nondescript (unless you've played previous games, which it assumes you've done so) to the point where it just turns into a standard stereotypical fantasy setting that doesn't do much to stand out of the crowd with anything other than it's kinda cool looking factions.

I thought of a fun thing to do when a certain Chapter is so particularly bad and all over the place to make it stand out... and I made it ...

Congrats Heroes of Might and Magic 3... You get... THE MOLYN-AWARD! an award that can only be matched, by the quality of Fable 3. 

Fuffy Fluffy - Conclusion - Awful, un-followable, bog standard, and with some very odd plot twists that don't make sense. Just.. BAD!

Chapter 4 - Yay or Nay

It's controversial I know. I know for a fact that people will disagree with me, And I know that some of you will take a torch to me at the earliest convenience. But... I don't think the game play carries it enough for me. Don't get me wrong, the game play (easily the best part) is fantastic, while having a learning curve as steep as a vertical drop! And the game as a turn based strategy game is a classic. However it every other aspect, this game is ether just bog standard or bad. For me, I like a reason to play a game other than just playing it. The gameplay whilst being fantastic has HUGE problems and has aged very poorly in my honest opinion, as has the game.

My honest opinion unless you REALLY like turn based strategy games I wouldn't bother, IF your ether a fan of the later Heroes of Might and Magic games or a huge fan of turn based strategy games, then it's worth picking up if you wanna play something from back in the day. And for $10 for the complete edition (with a bunch of expansions) It's hardly going to brake the bank.

Well, that's been my belated review of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments bellow, maybe even try to prove me wrong? Would be nice to discuss it further.

Before I leave you, fine reader, I would just like to take the opportunity to promote a Facebook Page via the name of DGuy Photography (https://www.facebook.com/DGuyPhotography). FOr readers living in the UK, Mr. Guy is able to work for you at a very modest cost if you require a photographer. For those living outside the UK or for those who have no need for a skilled Photographer, his Photographic art is something to admire. So I urge you to go and check it out!

Until next time, My name's been ThespianHunter, I've got an endless sack equipped right now! And I'll catch you next time!

(Next time, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)