Community Awards: The Real Neat Blog Award – December 2019

WordPress Community Awards are always amazing. It’s a great feeling to get various community awards since it feels like recognition of other bloggers for your work and it also allows you to create interesting articles. Today I have the pleasure to receive the Real Neat Blog award from Sanato1 over at his website. He writes amazing pieces on anime, music, games and many other things. Here is a fun fact, we both started blogging around the middle of 2013. Well, I was writing since 2010, but I only started to write in English a few months before he did. Something that’s quite cool is that he’s an attorney and writes about al those various subjects. It’s a really interesting read. Anyways, let’s get into the actual award and the Q&A that’s attached to it. 

The usual stuff

Here are the rules once again:

1. Display the logo
2. Thank the bloggers for the award.
3. Answer the questions from the one who nominated you.
4. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers.
5. Ask them 7 questions.

The questions

1) Is there a game, book, or other work that you’d like to experience but that you can’t because it’s untranslated, not ported, or otherwise inaccessible?

That’s an interesting question. It would be extremely easy to look at various animes or games that didn’t get translated into English.

Of course, various works got subtitles but I’m too slow of a reader to follow subtitles and I honestly prefer works in a language I can understand since I feel that native jokes almost always get lost in translation. For example, if they use in a clever Japanese wordplay in an anime, they have to either translate it in the subtitles or let it slip by.

But, after some searching, I found something that you might not really suspect from me. There was this publisher in Belgium called Transposia. They used to localize games like Freddi Fish, Spyfox, Pyjama Sam, Putt-Putt amongst various other games to Belgium and the Netherlands. One of these series is Skipper & Skeeto which is originally called Magnus og Myggen in it’s native Danish language.

Sadly enough, Transposia wasn’t able to localize every game into Dutch. Various games only got realized in Danish.

Besides my native Flemish/Dutch language, I can speak French and English but I can’t speak Danish. While one of my blogging buddies is Danish, I think it would be a hassle to fully translate the whole game just to be able to play the game.

Surprisingly, some of these titles got translated into English, but those aren’t the adventure games. The translated titles are the edutainment games. But, they would be nice to add to my collection as well. But, that’s for when I have the budget to let them ship overseas from the UK.

2) What’s one work that really affected you or stuck with you in the last year, and why do you think it did?

If you mean 2018, well, to be honest… I have played so many amazing games, I can’t say one single game. Games like Death Mark or Shadow Of The Tomb Raider are two games that come to mind. Most games that stick with me have either an interesting story mechanic or have a really strong message.

Now, if you mean 2019, I honestly think you’ll have to wait until I reveal my top 10 games I played in 2019. But, if you have been reading my articles, I think I have given various hints about the games that are big contenders for the top spot.

If we are talking outside of games, that’s going to get tougher. Then I think I could say the Death Parade anime. Just the whole concept of the show is mindblowing and well written. The ending really touched my emotional strings. I also started watching it around the time that my pet cat Sparta passed away last year.

3) If you could revive one series of works that’s been abandoned or dropped by its creators for any reason, what series would it be and why?

That’s a tricky question and for several reasons. Sometimes it’s better left in the past to let the series or work end on a high note. Sometimes they ran out of ideas and it’s better to end it.

I could talk about animes like Log Horizon and No Game No Life. These animes have a lot of source material to create new season(s) but due to various reasons, haven’t gotten a new season. Now, I could also talk about my wishes for a new Indiana Jones game or a follow up to Time Hollow, Monster Tale, Stella Glow or Etrain Odyssey. But I’m not going to.

There are so many things that could be revived but they might never live up to expectations. I don’t want a sort of Duke Nukem Forever situation on my hands with the franchises I adore.

Besides, there are so many games, shows, music… out there, it’s getting insane. So, I’m the sort of guy the tries to experience as much as I can instead of trying to revive or keep a show alive. Yes, I vote with my wallet on what I want to see.

4) When it comes to music, do you prefer songs with vocals and lyrics or instrumental pieces, or do you have a preference at all?  If you prefer one type over the other, why do you think that is?

I don’t have a preference. But, I do notice that a lot of my favorite pieces of music have vocals and lyrics. Yet, I also have a lot of instrumental tracks that I adore as well. In most cases, these are tracks from shows or games that are quite nostalgic for me.

But, I think I’m going to talk a bit more in-depth in a future music article on this subject.

5) When was the last time you bought a magazine, newspaper, or another form of print media?

Now, if we also include physical copies of games; then I have to say the day of writing this article. I ordered two retro games for quite cheap online. If we are talking about things print on paper, then I have to say; past summer. When I bought an art book of a Wii U game and a strategy guide on a garage sale.

I used to buy gaming magazines often but my budget doesn’t allow that lately. So, I decided to save some money by not buying them anymore. It’s a shame since now that they are dying out, I might not be helping the cause by not supporting them.

6) Is there a holiday you don’t get to celebrate/take off because of family or work reasons but that you wish you could?

Luckily, I don’t have that issue. Since I work in schools, most of the holidays fall either on weekends or during school holidays.

And my family is rather small so we are able to celebrate almost every holiday together. And since this year, I can celebrate Valentine’s Day due to my meeting my soulmate this year.

7) If you had to create a new holiday, when would it be and what would it involve?

I would have a holiday to celebrate godfathers/godmothers and their godchildren. As a godfather myself, I find it a shame that a holiday doesn’t exist for that. Since I find the tradition and relationship extremely beautiful. Because it’s a sort of 3rd parent to the child.

Now, what would it involve? Something similar to Mothers or Fathersday? Where godchildren could make a small present for their godparents? And that the godparents could create/buy a present for them?

I tag and ask:

Now, as the rules state. I have to tag 7 to 10 other bloggers.

So, here we go:

1. LaterLevels
2. TriformTrinity
3. Well-Red Mage
4. NormalHappenings
5. BearedGamer82
6. LividLighting aka Lighting Ellen
7. KillerRobotics
8. VideoGamesNebula

And the 7 questions I want to ask you:

1. Did your view or look at games change since you started writing a blog?
2. Is there something you miss in the current gaming industry?
3. What’s your favorite part about writing a blog?
4. What’s something you wish you owned?
5. What’s something unique about your hometown?
6. Do you think that these kinds of tag questions should be themed?
7. How much time do you put into your blog daily, weekly, monthly, yearly?

I’m also looking forward to the answers of the other bloggers! While I could nominate a ton more of them, I think I’m going to leave it at those eight. Each of these blogs is an amazing read and I highly recommend them!

So, thank you so much for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care!

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NekoJonez Wins Unique Blogger Award

So, thanks to Games With Coffee, my blog is an award richer. In total, I got 2 awards from other websites. Feedspot and MarketInspector gave both gave me an award. In addition to that, my gaming blog got a few other community awards. The Versatile Blogger in 2013, Liebster Award in 2014 and The Blogger Recognition Award in 2017. So, this is the 6th one. Now, thank you so much for the recognition! So before I go in the community part of the reward, allow me to say a few words. 

A few words

So, besides working on my own content and blog each and every week, I like to help and support other bloggers behind the scenes. In 2013, I started with this blog, but I have been blogging since 2010. In 2010, I wrote a Dutch blog that now got deleted and got replaced by this blog: NekoJonez’s Gaming Blog.

While I just enjoy writing articles as a hobby, the fact that people do read my content, like it, comment on it, share it… just makes me happy. It gives me a special feeling when I got support from anybody.

I’m just a hobbyist writer who loves to talk about my game collection & my opinion on the gaming market.

In any case, I can talk about this for hours, but I’m not going to let this part drag on for too long. Thank you for this award and I can’t wait to see what 2018 will bring. Be sure that there will be a lot more collabs and guests featured on my blog!

Question time!

What qualities or characteristics in a villain from your favorite game or series do you admire and why?

I have a few favorite villains, to be honest, but talking about their characteristics might spoil the whole experience in some cases. I do enjoy villains with an amazing twist, something you don’t see coming like in Zero Time Dilemma or in Bioshock Infinite.

Another villain I really enjoy is Sachiko Shinozaki from Corpse Party. The false sense of security she lures you into, that’s something I really like in the Corpse Party series.

To be honest, I really like villains that have a reason to be evil. Those stick out more to me. Even when you see the identity of the villain coming from miles away, like in A Hat In Time I honestly don’t mind.

Even when you know the big bad guy from the start of the game like in Tomb Raider, I enjoy that he has a reason to be evil you know?

What I don’t like in villains is that when near the end somebody betrays you since he or she was the big bad guy all along. Or a bad guy who is just there to be the bad guy. Except when I’m playing a kids game from my childhood, then I can excuse it.

But, that’s not an answer to the actual question. My answer is the villain in Zero Escape Time Dilemma. Without spoiling too much, I’ll say this. After playing the three games in order and getting surprises, twists and turns left and right; the ending to the series is pretty good. It actually stuck with me for a while and made me think about the whole series for weeks after that. The reasoning and the ideology of the bad guy are so screwed up but logical at the same time, it’s something to think about you know? That’s all I’m going to say without getting into spoiler territory.

 

If you could choose any character from any video game to become for a day, who would you choose and what (with their special abilities or powers) would you do in that timeframe?

It was tempting to cheat here, to say something like Hat Kid from A Hat in Time or Link from Majora’s Mask. The reason why is that they can both manipulate time and I could restart the day easily when it was almost over.

Why would I choose Hat Kid? Well, because I want to live in her adventure. I fell in love with the charm of the world and I wouldn’t mind living in it for a while.

Why would I choose Link from Majora’s Mask? Well, I played Majora’s Mask when I was pretty young. I had a fascination with masks/suits that provide you with special powers. This was because I recently saw The Mask movie with Jim Carrey before I played Majora’s Mask.

I was about 9 years old back then, so I always imagined that one day I would find a mask that transforms me into a certain creature when I felt like it. Oh, innocent child imagination is interesting is it not?

Actually, I made up a sort of sequel to the game with more masks and transformations and puzzles. Too bad I lost the papers I wrote it down on to a bottle of water. Yeah…

If I’m allowed to choose a character that can’t mess with time, well, currently I would have to go for Indiana Jones from the Indiana Jones games. I know, I know; he is a movie character in the first place. But, he has appeared in a whole slew of games. And, if I would be able to be him for more then one day, I would love to go through one of his gaming adventures like The Infernal Machine.

And if I have to choose a character that only appears in gaming; well, Frederica from Etrain Odyssey Untold. Oh yes, her personality and all that is so similar to mine in some aspects and her role in the story feel just right for me to be for one day.

And what would I do in that day? Well, just explore the labyrinth with the rest of the gang and have the biggest adventure of my life that only 24 hours can give.

In your mind, what constitutes a Mature, Distinguished Gamer?

A pretty simple answer here, in my opinion, somebody who is able to keep an open mind about gaming. Somebody who plays retro and modern games. Somebody who doesn’t play the latest of the latest game because of the hype train, but plays the games he or she wants to play.

Somebody who helps other gamers with their problems but also sharpens their skills so they look “cool for the young kids”.

If you want to talk about the big names in gaming who for example run the big blogs or own the big YouTube channels, I think that the people who get furthest are the people who stay true to themselves. Somebody I really look up to is Clint aka LazyGameReviews. His gaming skill and maturity he presents his content is just an inspiration to me.

In my mind, people like him are mature distinguished gamers. People who aren’t afraid to say their own opinion. Caddicarus is also a great example.

Somebody who stays true to themselves and don’t go talking about the latest new thing but talk about what they want to talk about. Also, mature gamers don’t talk down to younger gamers or games meant for younger audiences you know.

That’s the short version of my answer, I could talk more about this, but this article isn’t the place for that.

My nominations

While I could nominate a few people Games With Coffee did, I decided to not do that and give a few of my other blogger friends the spotlight. To keep the list a bit short, I decided to pick a few at random, but to be honest, if I could this list would be miles long.

1. OverThinkerY
2. DoubleJump
3. HundStrasse
4. HungryGoriya
5. FalconGameReviews
6. OtakuGamerZone
7. Sheikah Plate
8. LaterLevels
9. IPlayedTheGame!
10. Reaper Interactive
11. AdventureRules
12. RealOtakuGamer
13. AnjimPlays

Amongst a lot of others. Seriously, you all deserve more awards for creating a better community and the work and effort you put into your blog, support me and other bloggers, it’s just fantastic.

So, these are the rules for this community award.

1. Display the award. (See above).
2. Thank the individual(s) who have nominated you and include a link to their blog. A little promotion for their blog is also welcome.
3. Answer the questions asked by the individual who has nominated you.
4. Nominate an arbitrary number of bloggers and have them answer three questions you put forth to them.

What are my questions then? Feel free to answer how much detail you want! Ready, set, here we go:

1. If you were able to erase all memories from one game to be able to fully experience it again, which game would it be and why?
2. If you were allowed to help in the production of a game, which role would you take on and why? The role of producer, voice actor, writer, designer…?
3. What is one of the earliest video game memories?

Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this! Thank you for the award Games with Coffee for the award! The fact that you got it too is well deserved in my opinion.

I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care!

Also, remember if you aren’t reading this on NekoJonez’s Gaming Blog (https://arpegi.wordpress.com), this article might be stolen. Yes, this is a test to see how much theft is still going on by a theft website. So ignore this section, please. Okay? 

Preview: Pillars Of History (PC) ~ Time for History!

Official website

Today, it’s time to take a look at a game that’s still in development. A game that interested me as soon as the developer emailed me about it. Tritan Studio presents an Action RPG in medieval Europe. And in this article, we are going to take a look at the game and I’ll tell you my wishes for the game as well. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the article. 

Personal note

Before we start, I want to stress that this isn’t a paid article. This game interests me so much, that I decided to write an article about it.

Also, the studio is going to start a KickStarter campaign for this game. I advise you guys and girls to take a look at it. Since this game is going to be worth it from what I have seen in the trailers and screenshots they released on Facebook.

Check their website/facebook page on the 20th June 2017 for more information about their KickStarter.  The KickStarter will run for a bit more than a month. So, please support them. Game development is hard and costs a lot of money.

You can also follow the development on their YouTube channel and their Twitter.

What is this game about?

So, you choose between one of seven characters that each have their unique storyline and background. Since this is an RPG, the actions you take decide the fate your character.

Your character development is based on your level progression. There will be also a class-system. Each class has its own basic stats, perks, and weaknesses.

But, you can also develop skills. You can improve these skills with skill points you earn from leveling up. So, you will have to choose wisely on which skills you spend them on.

There will be an exploration system. Since this is an RPG, this is a given.

Remember, like I said in the introduction, this game is set in the Medieval times. What were we doing back then? Of course, we were exploring new territories, nations, acquiring knowledge and such things.  In this game, you will be able to explore settings based on the Balkans and Eastern Europe. And here comes the first interesting catch. When you treat somebody badly, he or she can be serious trouble if you enter their homeland. So, be careful who you anger.

Of course, since we didn’t have the same technology back then, then we have now, exploring is a risky business. You will have to take care of yourself, your horses and your stock. Also, you might have to rely on a pathfinder or other people. So, that will be interesting.

What would an RPG be without interactions? A boring one, no? Like I said before if you anger somebody, it’s quite possible that you aren’t allowed access to a rich town that sells strong weapons or great items. Also, it will be possible in this game that if you play the nice guy, you will receive great rewards and serious discounts.

You will also have to survive from the land. That’s why the Tritan Studio focused heavily on this aspect. There will be a stamina system that can be recovered by rest and food. Nowadays, this might sound easy, but remember, we are back in the time of castles and knights.

So, what happens when you die? Well, you get robbed. Sort of. You lose part of all of your belongings. It’s better than losing your life isn’t?

Finally, let’s talk about the equipment. This will be quite important to your quest. Since, what’s the point of putting so many points in a sword skill, if you aren’t carrying swords? That’s common sense. But be careful, since the class that you choose can change which equipment you can use. For example, priests can’t use the heaviest armor, since they lack the training for that.

My wishes

So, this game has elements from games I really like. For example, the survival and stamina mechanics reminds me to the stamina and survival mechanic in The Legend Of Zelda – Breath Of The Wild. The losing of money and gear upon death reminds me of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. Other games that come to mind are the Elder Scroll games, FallOut, Europa Universalis IV and others.

The reason why I’m so interested in this game is that it mixes elements from games I like to play. So, I’m quite sure it will turn out quite fun.

Another reason is that I’m interested in the history of Europe. When I go on a city trip or on vacation, I love to visit historical sites. As a child, I often imagined living as a sort of superhero in those times. Yeah, those were fun times.

Because the concept of this game interested me when I read the mail, I wanted to write an article about this. But as soon as I saw the screenshots, development videos and other released material… Well, I think I’m getting somewhat hyped for this game.

So, here are something I hope that will happen in the game. The following things are my suggestions to the developers. This might or might not be in the game.

I think it would be amazing if there was mod support for people to create their own quests. This would be an amazing way to give the game some love and make it more alive.

Also, I think it would be great if there is a system to “sort quests”. The mechanic in The Legend Of Zelda – Breath Of The Wild is perfect in my eyes. You have a list of main quests, a list of side quests and such. And you can select a (side) quest and this will give you a marker on your map.

If there is a map system in place, it would be amazing if the map system looks like a map drawn on old parchment. Maybe even a feature where you can draw on the map. But you can’t erase your mistakes, since how are you going to erase ink in those times? So, that would mean that you have to buy a certain map again if you messed up.

A fast travel system would be interesting as well. But make it risky. I think it would be an interesting mechanic if you gave the fast travel mechanic seen in this kind of games a spin. For example, you might loose a horse traveling to a far off location in the mountains. Or, that you need a certain amount of resources to travel to a certain place.

The developer told me that this game will help you to learn a thing or two about history. I think it would be a great idea if you were able to play through some of those stories instead of finding scrolls of those tales.

What I have seen so far, the game looks amazing. The game will be playing in a 2,5 top down view. I can’t wait to play a demo build of this game. This game is certainly going on my wishlist.

Check out their social media and their website if you think that this game looks interesting. Help the developer out by sharing and giving a like if you like the content. I’m looking forward for more screenshots and maybe even a demo. All their links are at the top of this article. But, here they are once more:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – YouTube

So, that’s is everything I wanted to say about this interesting game. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing this. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day.

Arpegi Exclusive: Liebster Award

Aw yeah! I won another award. It’s the 4th award I won. I won one award before with this blog. A link to that article is well, there. Then I won two awards as a member of the ButtonSmashers group. I understand that this is simply a “chain letter award”, but as blogger, I look at it differently! This is an opportunity to promote people and it’s proof that there are actually people reading your blog. It feels special to receive any award. Okay, any good award. So, thank you so much for this nice trophy! But let’s get into the part that you need to do with each one of these sort of awards. Write something about yourself and infect… I mean give it to others. (Totally meant as a joke there.)

Details

Given by: World Of Harley

Received on: 27th January 2014 (Blame my exams for the late article)

Article: CLICK HERE.

Rules

Well, I know this is lazy but here is the rules copy pasted from World Of Harley

So basically you follow some predetermined rules. I’ll post the actual rules below. I have to answer some questions that Airlia put to me, then nominate a further 10 bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It’s a shame it’s only 10 really, there are a lot of bloggers who I’d love to promote.

So firstly, I’d like to thank Airlia warmly for her nomination. It means a lot. If you’d like to check out her blog, you can find it right here. I’d recommend it!

So next up, the rules of the Award are as follows:

1. Each nominee must link back the person who nominated them.
2. Answer the 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator.
3. Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers.
4. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.

Right, now for the questions. Hold tight!

Questions

1. Are you afraid of clowns? Why/why not?

I’m not actually. Do I like them? No, not really actually. To be honest, I don’t really care about clowns. I tend to be natural in this. I don’t mind if I go watch a show and a clown starts doing an act but it’s not that I would allow it to get close.

2. If you could learn any language you don’t currently know, what would it be and why?

Japanese. Because I’m a retro gamer lover and I’m a big fan of games that come out of Japan. I’m so bummed out that some games don’t get a proper translation.

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully still writing articles. My short term dreams are finishing my studies and having a job.

4. Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

My long term plans, well let’s see. I honestly think that I will be happily married and have children. I have a job and I write on some blog because I never got bored of it.

5. If given the opportunity, would you visit space?

Depends. I wouldn’t want to go to space to explore. But if it’s to live there since we destroyed to much of this planet… Well, I would go. But I rather have both my legs… paws, since I’m a Neko, on solid earth.

6. Who/What inspires you?

Other creativity. When I see something that was “out of the box” or “well made” or just creative in general, I tend to like it. I get new idea’s then myself since I’m shown other angles for things. I honestly believe that when you look at things from different angles you can write more interestingly.

So, mostly life experiences inspire me. If I see something that might improve myself, I try to implement it in my life. I have some game developers who inspire me. Mostly indy developers who do something different with for example their Steam description.

7. Would you rather be rich or famous? Why?

Though question. I don’t want to be rich since then I have friends that only are friends because of my money. While being famous sounds interesting, I’m afraid that I won’t have any privacy then. I rather would be a bit famous and have some money. Enough money to be happy with my life.

So, I would rather have a balanced and healthy mixture of the two. But if I really had to choose, well… Give me the famous then. I think it would fit my life style better then being rich.

8. Hot weather or cold weather? Why?

A big no to cold weather. I get sick too quickly in cold weather. And yes, hot weather isn’t my favorite either. I enjoy myself in warm weather that isn’t hot. Like the sun gives those lovely mild temperatures and you have a soft breeze. Love it.

9. What is your favorite genre of music and why?

I don’t have one genre that I can say is my favorite but give me melodic electronic music and I’m happy. I enjoy game soundtracks as well. So, any dance, techno, hardstyle, hardcore… that’s more based on a melody then simply a bass get love from me.

The genre I listen the most to is Hardstyle. Euphoric Hardstyle to be exact. I call it melodic hardstyle myself. Since it’s origins are here in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Other music styles I enjoy are chiptune, 8bit, 16bit, electro, drum&bass, rock, techno, hardcore (tech), Japanese, Vocaloid, dance, eurodance, soundtracks, keygen music ….

Music styles I’m not really a fan off: dubstep, metal, any kind of music where they scream instead of sing …

10. Tell us your quote of the day?

Is this the last question already? Awn! Anyways, let me tell a few of my life quote actually.

Life can’t be said in a line, since it branches off too much.

The past is your soul, the present are your brains and the future are your shoes. Use these three to walk forward.

If life was a shit, would you flush it?

So, let’s wrap it up here for the questions. Let’s go on to the next section!

I give the award too:

I’m so sorry that I’m going to bend the rules a bit on this one. I don’t read a lot of blogs that have less then 200 followers. So, I gave this award to any blogger that deserves more attention in my opinion. Since that’s the idea behind this award, to promote small bloggers.

1. Beer and Joysticks: one of my first friends in the blogging world. It’s truly worth going to their website and follow!
2. Allahweh’s Domain: because I think she is truly worth it! I don’t need to explain more I think.
3. RetroNick: Retro gamer and collector. I recognize a lot of myself in you. So, you deserve this man!
4. TheCredileHulk: I mean, why not? He promoted an article of mine in his weekly recap!
5. Icesabel: Seeing her liking my posts on ButtonSmashers and reading her blog from time to time puts a smile on my face, she is worth it.
6. AfterDarkGaming: Go visit it now! Or are you scared of the dark?
7. Drakulus: Thanks for all the likes and having such an amazing blog!
8. What’s Your Tag?: Mine is NekoJonez, what’s yours?
9. Between Life and Games: He is a friend of a personal friend of mine. And he has a nice blog. Go and check it out!
10. Ryu Sheng: Hi man, we still need to make that RPG podcast/article thing.

The ten questions for the winners to answer.

1. What drove you to start blogging?
2. What’s on your desk / writing area?
3. What would happen if you mix a rhetorical question with a joke?
4. Do you have or had pets?
5. How would you describe your own writing style?
6. What’s the most important thing in a game?
7. What are a few things that break a game for you?
8. Is there a story behind your gamertag?
9. Do you remember any funny answers you gave on a test or exam?
10. What’s your favorite style / genre of games?

Closing words

Now comes the time for me to inform everybody about this award. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Take a look at the blogs I nominated and spread the love.

So, that was everything for this 2nd and last article for today. Thanks again for the award and I hope the future content I publish will still be interesting enough to show that I’m worthy of this award!

Review: Delver (PC – Steam) ~ Thou Shall Explore!

Official website – Steam store page

As a kid I always dreamed of running around in caves and dungeons to explore for loot. I even wrote some stories about it. And my favorite genre of gaming has a lot to do with it. I love myself some great adventure games. But does Delver deliver? How good is it actually? It’s really cheap on Steam and is it worth buying this game while it’s developing? That’s what I’m going to answer today while playing the new October 2013 update. This review might be shorter than my usual reviews since this game has no of every element I usually use to review. We shall see how it turns out. Anyway, let me know in the comments your thoughts about this game and/or this review. 

Let’s “delve” into this!

The game starts off on a path right to the dungeon. The cool thing is, as you die, you don’t have to start completely from square one. You can buy things from the stores. Of course, that depends on how much gold you have obtained from your last run. But here is a flaw in the game that surely will be patched in a future update. I don’t see how much gold I have left. So yeah, that’s annoying. 

The game has a small story, if I can remember correctly. At the start, there are two diary entries you can collect. Yet, starting a new game, I noticed that it’s just some hints. So, according to what I know, this game has no real story. And that isn’t a loss since this game benefits from this. Since each floor and dungeon is randomized.

The game is all about exploring the dungeon. And not about that you should save a princess or something. The goal is to get to the bottom floor and get an orb. With this orb you can escape again. Honestly, I haven’t yet been able to return with the orb.

Great, greater and greatest!

While it adds to the atmosphere of this game, this can become annoying. Like you see in the screenshot, the game is pretty dark. If you are in a well lite room, you might not see many things because of the light. I truly advise playing this game in a somewhat darker room.

The controls are excellent. I never felt that it was the game’s fault of a death. Deaths are permanent! So if you die, you are dead. No respawning, no loot drops. Nothing, only your gold. And this makes for a great challenge. Once you have some great stuff, you don’t want to die. You fight on.

Something I also really like is how the loot works. You don’t get better loot from the stronger enemies. No, you can get a better sword by killing a simple bat. Speaking about bats and flying enemies, there is a problem with them. Their hit box seems to bite a bit off. This causes some moments where I clearly hit the bat yet, it took no damage.

A great addition to this update is how the game now displays status effects, and it’s timer. When you drink a random potion, you now know what it means when the game tells you “you feel warm”. Also, the leveling up system is a great thing. I feel that it’s more fine-tuned than before the update. And I really like it. The stats aren’t overly difficult. They are straight forward. For example, a weapon will say that it can do from 5 to 10 damage. So, if you level up your attack stat, you will easily do the most damage possible with that given weapon.

Managing the inventory is a joy. You need to be on a safe spot since the inventory, like Minecraft, doesn’t pause the game. And dear developer, when you pause a game, the music should stop as well. Anyway, the dragging around of items is a blast. And the ability to pick up items while being in the inventory screen and drag it into it. Great!

Not that easy!

Here is another complaint. The picking up of items from the ground with your action key is a bit frustrating. I had several moments where it didn’t pick up at all. Since there seems to be a set region to be able to pick it up.

The fact that you don’t regenerate health is great. It makes the game more tense. I had many moments where I needed to hide for enemies.

But let’s leave it at that for the gameplay. I haven’t covered it all, but hey, if you’re interested, go check out the game. Okay, let’s look at the length of this review… Wow, I have talked more about it than I expected, and I have a few things left to say. Okay, less stalling more reviewing!

The artwork of this game is beautiful! I really like the art style they went with here. Retro graphics and great animations give this game a different look and sets it apart from all the others. This game really sucks me in to its great gameplay and the visuals actually convinced me to buy the game.

The length might not be that long, but the replay value is extremely high. Since it’s always randomized. In addition to that, the game is a challenge. A real challenge. You can be in luck and get pretty deep into the dungeon. (If needed, this is a moment to get your mind out of the gutter). Or you can have though luck and die really soon.

Advice that I would give the developer too is that there should be more music tracks. The sound and everything is amazing yet, I think there are a handful of music tracks, and it would be a lot better if there were more.

So, I’ll leave it at this note. Let’s go to the conclusion!

Conclusion

The good:

+ Unique gameplay.

+ Great artwork.

+ High replay value.

+ No annoying story to bother you.

+ Great challenge.

+ Randomized dungeons.

The bad:

– More music would be great.

– There are a few kinks to work out with the flying enemies.

– Picking up objects is a tad bit frustrating.

Conclusion:

In my reviews I don’t cover every single thing about the game. Like in this review I didn’t talk about the AI, map system, magic and so on and so forth. With the intention that if you are interested, that you try it out for yourself and that there are still things to learn about the game while you play it. Like the traps.

This game really benefits from playing it yourself. I really like it and often in study breaks for college I play a quick round of Delver. Like a floor or 5… I really need to pay attention with it since when it sucks you in, it won’t let you go easily.

With some more work, this game will become a gem that everyone should play. I truly had trouble finding bad things about this game. But the things I found are flaws that can be patched. And the music is great, yet more music would be lovely. Thanks for reading and until the next time!

Score: 90 / 100

NekoJonez got an award!

So, a few days ago, I downloaded Ace Attorney 5 from the eShop… Nah, let’s wait with that article. Okay, new start. Hello Neko’s, today is a big day, here is my review of Pokemon X & Y. No, wait. I still need to call my classmate since he hasn’t replied yet. Darn it. And I want to write an article so rendering a new video of Evoland is for later in the upcoming week. Let’s see, about what can I write? Another game diary? Well, maybe. I could take my preparation of that and write it on ButtonSmashers. But not now, I want to write an article on this blog. And it should be a review or something since it has been some time since I wrote a review. Okay, which games have I recently finished? Or shall I look online for idea’s? Nah, that’s too cheap. I’m not like that! I use my creativity. Sometimes to google, but that are details… Wait, hold your tails. What is this? My blog got an award?! FOR REAL? Somebody pinch me! Is this really happening? Okay, time for an article that is blog exclusive for this blog! No reblogging this time! 

Name award: The Versatile Blogger 2013

Won on: 22nd October 2013

Won for: Arpegi

Type of award: Community

Given by: Allahweh

Official website: http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/

Post about the award: http://gaminggoddess.net/2013/10/22/the-versatile-blogger-award-2013/

This is such a honor! This means a lot to me. I barely restarted blogging and creating my articles and I get awards like this. This is my first award for this very blog. Apart from the “awards” I get from WordPress like having 50+ likes and such on my blog.

Allahweh, thank you so much for this award. Go click on that post Neko’s and check her blog out. I met her actually not that long ago and she already gave me an award. And being the 2nd in her list, is mind blowing. I now look even more forward to creating content with her!

I think the worth of this award is bigger then some might think. This might be a sort of “pass around” mail clone for blogs, yet this feels extremely different. Bloggers could choose to ignore it, but I see this is a “thank you” for all the hours and creativity I have put in this blog. I even printed out the article and it’s now happily on my notice board. Hanging with one of my favorite magnets. (Because it has a beautiful Dutch saying about a cat.)

There are rules to follow about this award. And so I’ll. Let’s copy-pasta this.

1. Display the award on your blog

2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger that nominated you

3. Present 15 deserving bloggers with this award

4. Link your nominees in your post and let them know they were nominated

5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself

Rule 1, taken care of. Rule 2, done as well. Rule 3 & 4, soon. But first of all, rule 5. Alright, 7 special things about myself.

1. Before this blog, I actually had a Dutch blog. That blog became popular after some exposure on TV. It’s rather long story where I wrote an article about an E3 presentation that went all wrong. I got invited to explain my story on TV, yet it was in the middle of my exams and I didn’t had time to do it.
2. My choose of music is actually extremely wide. My favorite style is Hardstyle and nearly any electronic style. With that I mean, things like Techno, Dance, Electro and others. I dislike any variant of Dubstep, with one exception. Some Glitch Hop tracks I can listen too and enjoy. I also listen to rock, pop, jazz, movie OST, game OST and others. Metal is something I rarely listen too. I’m more of a melodic music fan.
3. My favorite soda is Ice Tea. I remember one day that when I was at the final day of a education to be allowed to work as a animator for the children, like those people that guide youth movements like the Scouts, there was a big party. Since I didn’t like to become drunk, I drunk my favorite soda. As it turned out, I drunk 10+ bottles of it. Of each +/- 30cl. So, over 5 liters. Man, I was shacking of the sugar when I was waiting in front of my room for the door to be opened.
4. I didn’t prepare a lot for this blog. So, that’s why I took up more time then I was hoping. This is a perfect example to show that I’m a big mess when it comes to planning. Sometimes I rush too much and when I look on a later date to the final product, I always want to improve it.
5. My love for writing has been with me for years. After nearly winning a short story contest, it became my main hobby. Nearly all my hobbies have something to do with being creative.
6. One of the creative things I wish I could do is drawing. I’m extremely bad in drawing. Even when I try with an open mind. I made some music tracks in the past but those got lost due to hard drive crash.
7. I love to learn actually. To a certain degree. I’m not a guy that goes reading book after book about history or other subjects. I like to watch shows that cover the history of the gaming industry or a game studio. Also, when I can choose what to watch on TV, I watch to shows on Discovery Channel and National Geographic. But I also watch to my fair share of (mindless) entertainment, those that aren’t meant to educate you.
8. BONUS ONE: As it’s rather obvious, I like and love to tell stories.  I’m rather addicted to that. As clear to the length of the “Seven facts about yourself.”

So, now that I have taken care of that, let’s list 15 bloggers that earn this award as well! So, these are the bloggers I think are worthy of this award. And these are also the bloggers I personally enjoy.

1. Allahweh – I know this is cheating in a way. But hey, who can blame me? I like her content. And there is a saying in Dutch. When I literally translate it, it’s: “You deserved it double and fat.” Yeah, sounds weird. But the mean is that you deserve to have praise or an award for the full 200%. So yeah, now it’s literally!
2. ButtonSmashers – For all the chances and free games, in order to review (and/or enjoy) I receive. Q, thanks a lot and I’m really looking forward to be in another podcast with you.
3. Beer And Joysticks – There is no doubt in my mind that these guys earn this award. For liking nearly every piece of content I publish and talking to me as if I’m a partner of them for years, I think they earned this award. Also, they are my 100th Twitter follower.
4. After Dark Gaming – This guy already gave ButtonSmashers an award. It would feel wrong if I talked about this “Family Award” on my blog since it has been given to the ButtonSmashers. And I might be a part of it… Maybe it’s just a bit of a modest feeling. Yeah, that explains it. Yet, check out this great blogger!
5. What’s Your Tag? – The fact that they present some of their articles in nicely drawing comics is enough for my to give them this award. It’s one of the first people I clicked the “Follow” button for.
6. John Heatz – Clicking the like button on various articles of mine and enjoying my content, I really think he is worthy of getting this award. Also, his blog is really great to keep yourself up-to-date with various gaming news thing-a-bobs.
7. Ryu’s Dreams – I would feel ashamed if I forgot him. The discussion I started with him about RPG’s got so interesting, that he suggested to continue to talk about it in a podcast. And we shall! (And thanks for making my to watch list grow.)
8. Bucket List – One of the first people that liked my content. And this is a rather interesting blog. When I want to go on a holiday, I’ll be sure to check this one out!
9. Icesabel – Just a blog I love to check out when I have time to spare and when I want to read about something different then games. Just the way she writes is excellent!
10. TapThisApp! – I always thought of creating a blog about mobile games, yet this blog covers it perfectly. And from here I should get a lot of idea’s to maybe write a new article of Android game suggestions.

And I’m terribly sorry to break a rule but I am going to leave it with these 10. Simply because I can’t come up with more blogs that really deserve this award. Because when I found my blogs to follow, I rarely look for other ones to read. And since I started blogging again at the end of May, I don’t know a lot of good blogs. So, forgive me for that!

Anyways, I think it’s time for me to watch some video’s and finish some games. So, I can work hard for college tomorrow and write some new articles for you Neko’s. Thanks for reading and thanks for all the support. Go check out the guys I gave the award too myself. They earn it!

Signed

NekoJonez