Another event has been launched this week in Duel Links and as usual, the results are hit and miss. I'm not saying I hate this event - I do enjoy it quite a bit. I just feel that there are a few things that can be improved upon. Let's get into it!
1) Not Enough Stamina
The event is basically traversing a game board area. You collect chest rewards, do dice battles, and duel boss monsters. To traverse each area, you need stamina. You get a set amount and after its used up it replenishes at a rate of 1 stamina every 4 minutes. That is fine in the beginning but it slowly gets tedious once you hit the higher areas with bigger boards. For instance, I am at Area 27 as of writing this post and have 70 Stamina (my max). This amount of stamina seems like a lot but I feel it won't get me past halfway through this board if I am lucky. Dice battles and duel boss battles cost an increasing amount of stamina (along with the -1 for moving to plain new spaces) so you'll use up your stamina quite quickly - especially since the number of dice duels and battles also increases as you go up to higher levels. What about potions? That is fine but only small ones are given for a long time - I've only recently received my 2nd large potion thus far. The point is, the amount of boosting stamina items should be proportional to the amount needed to get back through the board.
2) Disappointing Chest Rewards
Ooh, a treasure chest! What's in it?! Oh, a small amount of gold or a small amount of coins for the lottery. These values appear to have been the same since the beginning of the event and they are quite disappointing. Sometimes, I get a few gems but mostly gold and lottery coins. It doesn't feel very rewarding.at all.
3) Terrible Lottery Pull Rates
Okay, consider that you get a free pull each day (worth 300 coins) plus you can earn 300 coins in PVP battles. If you earn enough each day for at least one pull that would be 900 coins a day for 30 items. I have spent about 600 (I think) a day for the first 4 days or so which equals about 2400 coins or 80 items. In that time, I have pulled 2 UR cards (Zorc and Skilled Blue Magician), 5 SR cards (1 Skilled White Magician, 2 Earthbound Spirits, and 1 Berserk Gorilla). My point is, that I feel like I had a very low pull rate for good cards. I don't know if I have bad luck or if this is the same for all duelists.
4) Disappointing Map Completion Rewards
This is like the treasure chest rewards above. I don't like to nitpick but the increasing time needed to complete each board does not seem to be worth it for the rewards given. Granted, the rewards for Areas 26+ are better than the first 25 but only 1 SR jewel when we get 50 and 100 R jewels for other levels?! We can get 10000 gold but only 60 and 75 gems?! I feel like gems are more desirable than gold so you would think that gems would be the more common reward.
Anyway, the point is that if you are going to sink time (and possibly money) into this event, the rewards should serve as an incentive to keep playing. Right now... I'm not sure if I want to spend so much time on meager rewards. I'll keep playing but probably not as much as I originally intended. Konami, please, fix the rewards to keep duelists engaged or they will stop playing.
Well, that's it for this week. It was quite a rant but I felt it was justified. I hope you enjoyed this post and will follow me so you don't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the current event and suggestions for improving it. Have a great weekend and as always: keep on gaming!!!
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Newest Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee Trailers Showcase Mega-Evolution!!!
I'm back and we have new trailers for the upcoming Pokémon games! If you wish to see the trailers yourself, you can see the English trailer here and the Japanese trailer here. Ready? Okay, let's jump right into it!!!
The English trailer shows us more gameplay, specifically: Vermilion City, the S.S. Anne, and Lt. Surge's Gym. All of the footage looks wonderful and the S.S. Anne is especially impressive compared to its previous 2D incarnations. The gym footage seems to suggest that the gym puzzles will remain the same. That's fine for most gyms but it raises concerns for Koga's gym. If you didn't know (or need a refresher), Koga utilizes invisible walls to create a maze. This is fine in 2D when you can see the entire gym from above but I wonder what it will look like in 3D. Would it even work? If invisible walls were used in reality, they would be glass. You could see them by either smacking into them or noticing all the smudges from previous trainers' encounters with the walls. It just doesn't seem that practical, to be honest. We'll just have to see what Game Freak comes up with for this game.
Next, is the reveal of our favorite Team Rocket trio: Jessie, James, and Meowth - that's right! I am glad they were included in this game since the Team Rocket is a big part of the story. I even like how James is holding a rose like in the anime. Anyway, the last part is the most surprising: mega-evolution! I was certain that since Sun/Moon and US/UM, mega-evolution would never be mentioned again except as a post-game extra. While it's not quite clear if this is the case or not, it is still nice to see mega-evolution will be in the game. It also gives me hope for new mega-evolutions like maybe Butterfree, Lapras, Farfetch'd, or even Nidoqueen! Again, Sun/Moon and US/UM seemed to give the impression that all focus was going to be on Z-Moves and newer mechanics so any hope is great!
If you look at the Japanese trailer, you will see something else. When Charizard is evolved, the button has both an X and a Y on it. Charizard is the only Pokémon with 2 evolutions: Charizard-X and Charizard-Y. My points is: why are both forms shown on the same button? Does that mean there will be a generic Charizardite and you can choose which form you want to evolve into or did the game developers just make a fancy button to show both options despite which mega stone you are holding??? I don't know. It's again not clear but it is something else to look forward to in the new games.
Well, that's it for this week - wait, there is one last thing. I managed to pick up an extra legendary Pokémon code at GameStop last week and decided that I would share it with my readers. Please remember this is a first come, first serve deal. Whoever gets it, please leave a comment below telling us - and maybe tell me about the Pokémon you got: Groudon or Kyogre? Okay, here's the code: A8522PF8M247A8WE . This code is for either a Kyogre (Sun/US) or a Groudon (Moon/UM). The code expires on Nov 28, 2018. Remember, to get it you have to go to your game menu and select Mystery Gift then Receive Gift then Get with Code/Password. I wish you all the best of luck and if I get any more extras this year, I will post them (if I am lucky). Have fun!!
Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the latest trailers. Don't forget to follow me if you enjoyed this post so you won't miss out on future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! Next week's topic will be about Duel Links. See you then!
The English trailer shows us more gameplay, specifically: Vermilion City, the S.S. Anne, and Lt. Surge's Gym. All of the footage looks wonderful and the S.S. Anne is especially impressive compared to its previous 2D incarnations. The gym footage seems to suggest that the gym puzzles will remain the same. That's fine for most gyms but it raises concerns for Koga's gym. If you didn't know (or need a refresher), Koga utilizes invisible walls to create a maze. This is fine in 2D when you can see the entire gym from above but I wonder what it will look like in 3D. Would it even work? If invisible walls were used in reality, they would be glass. You could see them by either smacking into them or noticing all the smudges from previous trainers' encounters with the walls. It just doesn't seem that practical, to be honest. We'll just have to see what Game Freak comes up with for this game.
Next, is the reveal of our favorite Team Rocket trio: Jessie, James, and Meowth - that's right! I am glad they were included in this game since the Team Rocket is a big part of the story. I even like how James is holding a rose like in the anime. Anyway, the last part is the most surprising: mega-evolution! I was certain that since Sun/Moon and US/UM, mega-evolution would never be mentioned again except as a post-game extra. While it's not quite clear if this is the case or not, it is still nice to see mega-evolution will be in the game. It also gives me hope for new mega-evolutions like maybe Butterfree, Lapras, Farfetch'd, or even Nidoqueen! Again, Sun/Moon and US/UM seemed to give the impression that all focus was going to be on Z-Moves and newer mechanics so any hope is great!
If you look at the Japanese trailer, you will see something else. When Charizard is evolved, the button has both an X and a Y on it. Charizard is the only Pokémon with 2 evolutions: Charizard-X and Charizard-Y. My points is: why are both forms shown on the same button? Does that mean there will be a generic Charizardite and you can choose which form you want to evolve into or did the game developers just make a fancy button to show both options despite which mega stone you are holding??? I don't know. It's again not clear but it is something else to look forward to in the new games.
Well, that's it for this week - wait, there is one last thing. I managed to pick up an extra legendary Pokémon code at GameStop last week and decided that I would share it with my readers. Please remember this is a first come, first serve deal. Whoever gets it, please leave a comment below telling us - and maybe tell me about the Pokémon you got: Groudon or Kyogre? Okay, here's the code: A8522PF8M247A8WE . This code is for either a Kyogre (Sun/US) or a Groudon (Moon/UM). The code expires on Nov 28, 2018. Remember, to get it you have to go to your game menu and select Mystery Gift then Receive Gift then Get with Code/Password. I wish you all the best of luck and if I get any more extras this year, I will post them (if I am lucky). Have fun!!
Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the latest trailers. Don't forget to follow me if you enjoyed this post so you won't miss out on future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! Next week's topic will be about Duel Links. See you then!
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