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Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

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  • FINAL FANTASY XIV – Island Santuary

    Posted on September 4, 2022 4:02 am by Offkorn Comment

    The Island Sanctuary is Endwalker‘s version of the game’s ‘expansion-specific restoration project’. Sort of a more personalized version of the Firmament.

    For the most part this area is pretty straight-forward, but there are a few things it will help to know about in advance:

    – Everything can be built at Sanctuary level 9 (level 10 unlocks flying).
    – Pasture and cropland both max out at level 3 with 20 slots. Workshops and granaries also max out at level 3.
    – Each material has a ‘best’ place to farm it from. Logs/Clay along the river to the east and Limestone/Vines along the river to the north, for example.
    – Logs are in highest demand for building materials (upgrading everything will require ~200-300).
    – You’ll ultimately need 9 Garnets, 6 Spruce Logs, and 3 Silver Ore. All of which can only be acquired from specific daily expeditions.
    – There doesn’t seem to be a huge difference between the various animals you can capture.
    – Automating your pasture/cropland maintenance will not give you gathering XP.

    It’s an interesting idea, and fairly well executed… but I do wish there were more personalization options available. You don’t really have much choice with which buildings to construct, and the only visual changes you can make are to downgrade to an earlier tier.

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    2. FINAL FANTASY XIV: ONLINE – Pre-Heavensward As it happens, getting from the ‘end‘ of the base...
    3. FINAL FANTASY XIV: ONLINE – Duty Finder Of course shortly after I posted about not having to...
    4. FINAL FANTASY XIV: ONLINE – HEAVENSWARD The vast majority of the content included in the first...
    5. FINAL FANTASY XIV – 3rd Char Conclusion Just maxed the last class on my 3rd character, meaning...

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    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged Fantasy Final Fantasy MMORPG RPG Science Fiction Third Person Perspective
  • ARIFURETA SHOKUGYOU DE SEKAISAIKYOU: ZERO

    Posted on August 13, 2022 12:39 pm by Offkorn Comment

    This six-book companion series to the main Arifureta storyline reveals how the various labyrinth architects met and were ultimately defeated by Ehit.

    For the most part it’s just more Arifureta; the same type of humor, fetish content, and action style (the main differences being a complete lack of any harem aspects and the inclusion of an actual lolicon-targeted relationship instead of characters who merely appear abnormally young). That said, it lacks the pull of the main series.

    Partly I believe it’s because this is more of an ensemble deal without any real focal character. Supposedly Mieldi is the protagonist, but at first Oscar seems to take that role only for the point of view to sort of fade back into a 3rd-party observer state for the rest of the series. It always kind of feels like you’re on the outside looking in, which brings us to the second half of the issue.

    While the main series has a rather varied group of antagonists… that is not the case here. It’s just the church, the church, and, oh yeah, the church. Fanatics all with zero depth. Making matters worse is that there’s no rhyme or reason to who has what powers. Both enemy and ally side-characters alike are just chock full of completely random unique abilities that appear to serve as stand-ins for their personalities.

    Those two things combined result in a work that’s rather difficult to get attached to.

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    4. ARIFURETA #13 & Arifureta After I-V The last of the main Arifureta novels starts out much...
    5. ARIFURETA #12 & So I’m a Spider, So What? #14 The 12th Arifureta novel is unexpectedly not the last in...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Arifureta Fantasy Romance Ryo Shirakome Young Adult Novel
  • Banished from the HERO’s PARTY #6 & That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #14

    Posted on July 31, 2022 10:56 am by Offkorn Comment

    The sixth Shin no Nakama novel continues from where the fifth left off with a similar mix of laid-back daily happenings and more serious background plotting. While that was pretty much a self-contained story however, this is not. Most of its brief length is devoted to detailing a certain character’s backstory (which will presumably become relevant in future novels) while it ends on something of a cliffhanger.

    Speaking of which, the 14th Tensura novel also happens to end on a cliffhanger. Roughly 80% of it is a bunch of council meetings concerning Tempest’s recent overwhelming victory, while the last 20% or so illustrates that things don’t always go according to plan and there’s always someone out there stronger than you. I must admit I’m curious what tactic the author will use to pull the inevitable reversal to put Rimuru back on top, and hope it won’t just be a rehash of his demon lord evolution.

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    3. Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court #1-2 & Banished from the Hero’s Party #7 The Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga series (subtitle: Suuguu...
    4. Solo Leveling #7 & Banished from the HERO’s PARTY #8 There’s a great deal going on in the seventh Solo...
    5. The Hero Laughs #7 & That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #19 The seventh Nidome no Yuusha novel thankfully keeps the incestuous...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy FUSE Romance Shin no Nakama TenSura Young Adult Novel ZAPPON
  • Wildermyth

    Posted on July 11, 2022 9:42 am by Offkorn Comment

    Picked this game up around the same time as Gordian Quest.

    It’s more of a conventional tactical RPG with multiple storyline campaigns (featuring branching options) along with a randomized campaign function. That said, it also has a roguelike feature in the ‘legacy’ system. Basically, every time you clear a campaign the heroes used get saved and you can upgrade their ranks. Then you can re-use those heroes in legacy campaigns (storyline campaigns apparently require making new characters).

    The storytelling and questing aspects are extremely well done (if a bit odd in their comic panel presentation) while the combat is perhaps unfortunately a little simplistic with only three classes to choose from. I do like how the mystics can interact with the terrain though. That was an inventive touch.

    Basically what it comes down to is if you’re in it for the roleplaying then this game has quite a bit to offer you. If you’re looking for tactical complexity however you’d be better off looking someplace else. It may also be wise for those with a strong aversion to time limits to avoid, as time plays a fairly large role here… though I personally didn’t fine it onerous.

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    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged Fantasy Roguelike RPG Tactical RPG Third Person Perspective
  • Gordian Quest

    Posted on July 10, 2022 12:15 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Picked up this game on sale sometime last month, and it turned out to be a pretty good deckbuilding tactical RPG reminiscent of Slay the Spire.

    While that game’s a pure randomized roguelike, this has an actual story mode to it that plays out like a conventional tactical rpg. It’s also got tons of characters (each with three different decks to mix and match skills from), a wide variety of equipment (both randomized and static), and a ‘relic’ feature which lets you unlock permanent buffs to use across playthroughs.

    Finished the main campaign with a team of Jendaya, Alphonse, and Bertram. Artificer Jenda basically just set things on fire while the golem punched them and wasn’t particularly impressive aside from the Seismic Wave card. Headhunter Alphonse on the other hand is a beast if you go with his Assassin deck; Swift Kill and Assassinate with card draw and a 10-12 card deck results in a non-stop wave of death. I had Bertram go with Artillery, and that seems to have been a mistake. By the time the turrets got a turn Alphonse and the Golem had basically already killed everything.

    Some things to keep a look-out for are low level attribute, power, and resistance runes. Once you get to Act III they can be upgraded with Magic Dust (keep an eye out for this as well). Don’t forget about using your various maps to trigger exploration minigames either (visit Kyreal), as that’s basically the only place to find wandering vendors with otherwise rare/inaccessible upgrade items like Soul Sparks and Chromatic Shards. And don’t forget about Camping, since you can get 2 ‘free’ card upgrades per instance.

    Only other thing of note is that the last boss is pretty damn nasty. You’ll want to have as many buffs as possible along with high Chaos resistance and/or a bunch of health potions to deal with her waves of damage that trigger every 10 cards you play.

    So all-in-all it was an enjoyable experience, even if I did start to get a little burned out at the start of Act II.

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    This entry was posted in PC Video Game Related and tagged Card Game Fantasy Roguelike RPG Tactical RPG Third Person Perspective
  • Wasteland 3 & Triangle Strategy

    Posted on July 4, 2022 10:06 am by Offkorn Comment

    I picked up Wasteland 3 quite some time back on a whim, despite not being particularly fond of its prequel. Played up through clearing the Bizarre location, then put it down to potentially continue later… which occurred around the time I was playing Cyberpunk. So at this point I can safely say I’m not going back to it.

    It’s okay I guess? There’s just this weird balancing issue where you kind of have to max out a couple unique skills on each character as quickly as possible to progress smoothly, while your attribute progression will basically be identical across all characters. I’m not really a fan of the midwestern flavor either.

    Another game I was playing at that time was Triangle Strategy, which I ~think~ I heard about on some forum or other. And as with Wasteland my interest just kind of drained away one day for a similar reason: While the game boasts non-linearity in its storyline decisions it has extremely rigid character upgrade options. You can’t change a character’s equipment and their ability upgrade trees are ~75% generic attribute increases, which gets boring real fast.

    It’s damn near criminal that Final Fantasy Tactics continues to remain one of best examples of a complex, large-scale tactical RPG.

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    This entry was posted in Nintendo Switch PC Video Game Related and tagged Fantasy RPG Science Fiction Tactical RPG Third Person Perspective
  • The City of Brass & THE WORLD’S FINEST Assassin #5

    Posted on June 25, 2022 11:24 am by Offkorn Comment

    S. A. Chakraborty‘s first Daevabad novel, The City of Brass, is rather strange. Pretty much all of the factions involved are terrible in some manner, while the faction the book seems to want to get you to sympathize with by the end (the Daeva) is arguably worst of them all. Character-wise it isn’t much better: The protagonist flip-flops between being highly intelligent/cunning and self-destructively moronic seemingly at random, while the primary love interest is an emotionally erratic, violent bigot.

    If it were a little more consistent in its characterizations or a little less uniformly terrible with its faction behavior I’d say it’d be worth checking out for paranormal romance fans. As it is though it’s just too uneven to recommended continuing the series.

    Something else that can’t be recommended is the 5th Ansatsu Kizoku light novel. I thought the third was bad (it is) but this one blows it out of the water. Just horrific event progression all-around to the point I’ll be dropping this series as well.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Ansatsu Kizoku Daevabad Fantasy History Paranormal Romance Romance Rui Tsukiyo S. A. Chakraborty Urban Fantasy Young Adult Novel
  • ARIFURETA #12 & So I’m a Spider, So What? #14

    Posted on June 23, 2022 3:11 pm by Offkorn Comment

    The 12th Arifureta novel is unexpectedly not the last in the series (if the afterword is to believed, the 13th will be)… that said, it does wrap several things up and expand upon a few things mentioned in passing earlier with all that’s left being the Hajime/Ehit confrontation. While better than the previous novel it ultimately feels like a stalling action however, and I would suggest holding off on reading it until the conclusion is available.

    Kumodesuga‘s 14th entry is also a bit unexpected in that it spends something like half its page count on detailing the world’s pre-system history and Ariel’s past in particular rather than advancing the timeline much. It does advance a bit though, enough to provide a conclusion to the Potimas conflict at least. The actual conclusion of the series will apparently be spread out over two more novels which were originally released within a month of one another. So here’s hoping that stays true for the translations as well (although ideally I’d prefer they be released as a single novel).

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    4. So I’m a Spider, So What? #6-11 Despite heavy misgivings, as I have a mixed history regarding...
    5. Blood Heir & So I’m a Spider, So What? #12 I actually read Ilona Andrews‘ Blood Heir way back at...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Arifureta Fantasy Kumodesuga Okina Baba Paranormal Romance Ryo Shirakome Science Fiction Young Adult Novel
  • House War #4-8

    Posted on June 13, 2022 4:11 am by Offkorn Comment

    The fourth House War book picks up right from the point Jewel left the narrative of the Sun Sword series. And if you haven’t read that series you will definitely end up lost here.

    It and the fifth book are pretty similar in style to the better of those novels so there’s not really much to complain about with either aside from the ever-stronger parallels to the author‘s Elantra franchise. I’ve never really understood why authors will write multiple ongoing stories concurrently since they will almost inevitably bleed into one another.

    Oracle being a good example. This is where things start to seriously diverge from the Sun Sword narrative and become ever more Elantran, with a heavy metaphysical focus. The other key difference with this book is that Jewel gets shunted into a tertiary role while Jester and Finch take center stage.

    Once again, if the foreword is to be believed, the series finale was split into two books. The first, Firstborn, is a bait & switch. The cover and synopsis give the impression the focus will be on Carver/Ellerson, but it’s not. They have about as much page time as Jewel did in the previous entry. Instead it primarily concerns itself with Jewel’s mostly pointless metaphysical travels. Frankly, both Carver’s situation and this book in general both come across as filler. There’s not much to justify either’s existence.

    With that out of the way the action finally reaches its climax in War. I can see what they were going for here, but there are so many points of view to jump between that instead of building tension it just builds exasperation. If this were to be made into a live action series you would have to do a 5-way split screen to properly ramp things up, and that’s just not possible to do (at the length this requires) in text format. That said, the end result certainly isn’t as disappointing as Sun Sword‘s; aside from the catalyst for Jewel’s decision events conclude fairly well.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Essalieyan Fantasy House War Michelle Sagara
  • The Riven Shield & The Sun Sword

    Posted on June 4, 2022 12:15 pm by Offkorn Comment

    The fifth book in Michelle Sagara/West‘s Sun Sword series was allegedly supposed to be the last, if the foreword can be believed. Curiously though it does not come across as the first half of a whole or as something unnaturally extended. It’s remarkably self-contained in its momentum and makes the long, long lead-up worth the time spent.

    The follow-up, however, isn’t anywhere near as good. It barely even feels related. There’s a disjointedness about it along with a lack of decisiveness… rather than being concluded, events merely feel delayed. It’s very anti-climatic in practically all ways.

    Well, here’s hoping the rest of the House War series makes something of it.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Essalieyan Fantasy Michelle Sagara Romance Sun Sword

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