sunsetsanddragonflies

Friday, October 09, 2015

Day Nine // Saddest Game Scene

Hey guys!
Today is day 9 of my 30 day blogging challenge, where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - what is the saddest game scene?

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Okay, so the first one is technically a scene because it's right before the end credits, but it's not like a cut scene - but I'm still counting it because it was unexpected and it made me really sad when I was playing it (and it still makes me sad now, even when I know what's coming)

At the end of Fire Emblem Awakening, you have a choice to make - do you deal the final blow to Grima the Fell Dragon (who is you from the future) and stop his reign forever - basically sacrificing yourself in the process - or do you let Chrom deal the final blow and essentially just put Grima back into slumber for a few hundred years, when he will reawaken?

Obviously, I chose the first option - you can marry people in the game, and on my first play through Chrom was my husband, and I didn't want to put him and the kingdom/shepherds into danger again, plus any future generations - and I was not prepared for what happened next, oh my God. It's a simple scene, but incredibly touching, and when you're playing at 1am and you're not expecting it like me, you may feel a tear come to your eye!

Also, I'd like to mention another scene from a different game that was sad and threw me a LOT.

When I first started playing Xenoblade Chronicles, and I got to play as Fiora for the first time, I decided there and then that I wanted to have her as my main - you can change the characters around, as and when you get them to join your team throughout the game. HOWEVER, I was not aware of the fact that, not long into the game, Fiora gets killed in a Mechon attack. No. I wasn't expecting it at all, and it was ridiculously sad, especially because there's nothing you can do at all to stop it from happening. I was not okay with this - I still am not okay with this, haha, whenever I start a new file I'm like "Nooo I don't want the sad thing to happen!" There's quite a few sad scenes in Xenoblade, but this stands out to me the most.

Thursday, October 08, 2015

Day Eight // Favourite Game Soundtrack

Hey guys!
Today is day 8 of my 30 day blogging challenge, where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - what is the best game soundtrack?

I know I'm really bad at choosing, so usually end up with two or three answers, and today is no different! (sorry if it's boring to have a few, haha, I can't help being so indecisive!)

I definitely have a soft spot for the music in Fire Emblem Awakening - there's one track in particular that I find really relaxing and beautiful, which I listen to a lot when I'm blogging or just want to unwind, and the music fits really well with what's happening in the game.

I also love the music in Animal Crossing games - it's especially cute that they change the music slightly when it rains, and that on certain event days there'll be music especially for the event - for example, there's special music on Easter (which they call Bunny Day). The music is also more upbeat and happy during the day, making you want to do stuff, then it gets more relaxing as it gets to the evening, and even more relaxing at night!

Finally, I really love the music on Xenoblade Chronicles. My all time favourite is probably Gaur Plain, but there's so much amazing music throughout the game - including some pretty damn epic fight music! The music really helps to set the mood and compliments the story and areas perfectly.

If you haven't heard the music from any of these games, I'll include a video link to a song from each game in this post too - also, there's some more games which have amazing music which I didn't include in this list but I may blog about at a later date!

Fire Emblem Awakening - Opening Theme

Xenoblade Chronicles - You Will Know Our Names

Animal Crossing - Opening Theme

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Day Seven // Favourite Gaming Couples

Hey guys!
Today is day 7 of my 30 day blogging challenge (yay, one week in!), where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - who is your favourite game couple?

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

It's pretty much all from Xenoblade Chronicles, so if you're planning on playing it and don't want to see any spoilers, you should skip this whole blog post!

I actually have one actual couple who I really like and think are adorable together, one who it implies get together at the end of the game - but who have chemistry throughout the game - and then I have an "I Wish" couple who I think would really suit each other, so I'm going to throw them in too.

First of all, of course, we have friends since childhood Shulk and Fiora. She's always loved him, and it's not until she's killed by Mechon that Shulk realises the extent of his feelings for her. Luckily, it turns out that she's not actually dead, she's now got the body of a mechon but her memories are still intact, so when he finds her again and rescues her, they have their first kiss and it's freaking adorable! *squishes their faces*

Next, we have kind-of couple Reyn and Sharla. When they meet, Sharla's fiancee Gadolt has been captured by the mechon when they attacked their colony, and she doesn't know for sure but she feels like he's not dead. Sharla and Reyn have some adorable moments throughout the game, and at the very end it shows them fishing together with Juju, so it's pretty much implying that they get together, which is cute.

Finally, that leaves Dunban and Melia. She's wise beyond her years - I'm actually not 100% on how old either of them are - and he's Fiora's older brother, so is responsible and caring. I just think they'd balance either other out well - they're both pretty serious, but Dunban has a pretty dry sense of humour and Melia can joke around when she wants to. It'd just be pretty cute, in my opinion!

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Day Six // Most Annoying Character

Hey guys!
Today is day 6 of my 30 day blogging challenge, where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - which game character do you think is most annoying?

*may contain spoilers*

Before I played Xenoblade Chronicles, I never though that there could be anyone that annoying in a game - sure, sometimes I found Navi from Ocarina Of Time annoying, but it was never that bad.

When I played Xenoblade, however, I discovered that there was the only character I've ever truly hated in it - Juju.

EVEN HIS NAME IS RIDICULOUS AND ANNOYS ME, COME ON.

Anyway, Juju is annoying as hell, and I'm really glad that he's only in a few cut scenes because even his voice annoys me, as well as everything else about him. Luckily, I don't seem to be alone in this hatred - most people seem to hate him.

He also doesn't think about the fact his actions have consequences - he just goes off and does what he wants to do because he thinks he knows best, and in the process he puts himself - and everyone else - in danger and nearly ends up getting himself - and us - killed.

Yes, it's true that eventually he slightly redeems himself further on in the game - and there's a few amusing memes of him knocking around on the internet, which don't annoy me - but he's still just one of those characters that you hate and would quite happily punch in the face if he was a real person (soz but I really would have to)

So, most annoying video game character - definitely Juju *shudders inwardly*

(that's a face that needs punching, seriously - does anyone else agree?)

Monday, October 05, 2015

Day Five // Which Character Would You Be?

Hey guys!
Today is day 5 of my 30 day blogging challenge, where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - which game character do you think you're most like/wish you were?

*may contain spoilers*

This is another one of the questions which I spent a ridiculously long time deliberating over an answer, as there's been quite a few amazing people in games that I wish I could be. Again, I found it impossible to pick just one answer, so I ended up choosing a few.

Firstly - if a character you've created counts, then I'd love to be my character on Fire Emblem Awakening. I love her hair (pastel pink is so pretty, I want it in real life but I can't get my hair pale enough) and I love her headband thing over her forehead. Plus, I've got some epic magic skills and sword skills, and I'd get to have a Levin sword and hang out with people like Chrom, Lissa and Frederick! What more could a girl want?

If a charcter I've created/customised doesn't count, however (which is probably doesn't but I wanted to include my FEA character anyway) then, sticking with Fire Emblem for a minute, I'd probably choose to be Lucina. She's brave (she came back from the future to try and save it from a horrible fate) and, even though she took on a different persona and disguised herself as a male for a while, she's still pretty damn amazing, so I'd love to be her because she's brave and she's Chrom's daughter, so she's learnt how to fight from him - and they're both amazing fighters!

If I wasn't Lucina, I'd quite like to be Melia from Xenoblade Chronicles. She's suffered through a lot of bad things happening in her life (several deaths and people wanting her dead, for example, plus the world she lives in getting put in mortal danger and the whole unrequited love thing) but she's still a fighter, putting on a brave face for her people (she becomes a princess at one point in the game, even though she appoints her brother to take over for a while) and she never really shows her vulnerable side, although she definitely does have one. She's feisty, an amazing fighter and she's friends with some amazing people and creatures - what's not to love?

Sunday, October 04, 2015

Day Four // My Guilty Pleasure Game

Hey guys!
Today is day 4 of my 30 day blogging challenge, where I'm going to be tackling a gaming challenge I found a few weeks ago that I thought looked interesting. In my blog summarising this, I left a photo of the questions, in case anyone wanted to do it, but I'll also copy the question I'm answering into my post every day too.

Sometimes, these posts may contain spoilers for a game - when that happens, I'll warn you before I answer the question, so you can choose whether or not to read on!

Today's question is - what is your guilty pleasure game?

In all honesty, I don't actually have a guilty pleasure game - I love all the games I play, and wouldn't really consider any of them a "guilty pleasure."

However, I do have one game which is slightly embarrassing to admit to now, but when I played it - and loved it endlessly - I was a kid.

This game was Barbie Race and Ride, and I absolutely loved it! I used to spend hours choosing a horse, riding along the courses, and generally just indulging in the fantasy that they were genuinely my horses in real life, haha! I must have spent months only playing that game, and then my Playstation broke and I never got a new one, so had to stop playing it, boo. When I look back on how obsessed with it I was, I cringe a little bit, so that's about as close to a guilty pleasure game I have I'm afraid!

First Impressions // Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer!

Hey guys!

On Friday, I got Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer, and I just wanted to write a quick blog post about it to let you know my first impressions.

I'd been looking forward to it pretty much since I first heard about it, aha. It's always been a pet peeve of mine that, on Animal Crossing games, you don't have very much control over your villager's houses - you can send them furniture, but there's no guarantee that they'll put it in their house, let alone where you want it, and in New Leaf they won't even change their wallpaper or flooring if you send it to them. So, a game where you can choose where to put a house, design their garden and have total control over what goes in their house was always going to appeal to me! Plus, I've always loved the idea of interior design, and used to spend hours on Pinterest looking at ways to decorate houses and refurbish furniture, so this is pretty much my perfect game!

At the beginning, unlike other Animal Crossing games, your face isn't decided by answering questions - you can choose your skin tone, the shape and colour of your eyes, your hair colour and hairstyle! I like this a lot, as sometimes it can be a bit frustrating trying to get a face you like on previous games, and this makes it a lot easier.
I also like that you can connect to the internet and upload a picture of the houses you've completed - it means I can go snooping and see how other people interpreted the brief that the animal gives you (for example, a house for cats to hang out, a fast food joint, or a tea party house) and see how they decorated!
There's also a rating system online, so people can say whether they think your designs are cute/good if you decide to upload them to the HHN (Happy Home Network). You can also enter the code it gives you for your design, so that people can look up the code to find your project, which is a nice touch. Also, there will occasionally be a special character available to design a house for - as far as I know, in the UK at the moment it's Louie the gorilla, and you can unlock the Mario furniture (which is what you can get in the fortune cookies in New Leaf) which is a pretty awesome touch! It's worth noting that, if you decide to accept the challenge, you will have to do it immediately.

After a while, you can remodel the buildings on the high street, starting with the school. You can also choose to remodel a shop, a cafe and a hospital, which I think will be really fun to try, as there hasn't been a hospital on an Animal Crossing game before! No matter what you're doing, unless there isn't a brief for a project, there will be at least one item you need to include in the project - for example, in the school you needed 4 chairs and 4 desks.

Also, after you've played it for a while, you get given a catalogue, where you can choose to spend Play Coins to unlock some new interior touches, such as fish, bugs, fossils and custom designs, so it's definitely worth spending your Play Coins on these - you can do one per in-game day, and they cost between 1 and 5 Play Coins.

I won't say too much more about it, in case any of you are planning on buying it or waiting for it, but I love this game a lot. Some people are apparently already bored of it, as you literally just spend your time working on houses and other projects, but personally I love it, as I like this kind of thing a lot. I'll leave you with some screenshots, and the codes for the houses I've uploaded in case any of you have the game and would like to see what I've done with my houses!