Chase the Danger

This is a blog about things that exist!

[shencomix]

Interesting times.

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[chasethedanger]

This, except I go outside because that’s where the Pokemon are

[chasethedanger]

Metal Slug and Its Ports

So I am a massive fan of Metal Slug. I’ve played many hundreds of hours over the years, there’s not a single console I own that I don’t have a copy of one of the Metal Slugs for. Once upon a time, I completed Metal Slug 3 without continuing, on the beautiful wonderful PSP port.

I recently bought the PS3/PS4/Vita port of Metal Slug 3.

I am not impressed.

There is button lag, there is gameplay lag, and it’s just not acceptable. I have not played the PS4 version, but the Vita and the PS3 show the exact same issues. This is unacceptable given the power of the consoles, especially compared to the PSP which had a flawless version.

I have no idea how you’re supposed to get the trophy for beating it without continuing given the issues the port has. Even allowing for the different controller, 25 continues to complete the game is over what I would normally achieve.

Why do SNK keep releasing shitty Metal Slug ports? Why do we keep falling for it? It’s sad :(

[chasethedanger]

Thoughts Whilst Reading the Oldest of My Pocket Bookmarks

* Some of this stuff is super old. There was an article from when Kingdom's of Amalur was just about to come out and it was just so optimistic about the studio!

* The vast majority of the articles are related to videogames - some things never change. Is it that people are prolific when it comes to writing about videogames, or do I need to broaden my horizons? (Or both?)

* None of the older articles are on Pocket's curated lists, which makes me wonder about Pocket's algorithm for this - obviously popularity is a large part of it, but what are the other factors?

* Most of this stuff is pretty interesting to this day, but peculiarly there is the occasional real bookmark in the list, such as GRR Martin's Livejournal. I have to wonder what I was thinking - was it by accident?

* It takes me a full minute to scroll to the bottom of the list. It is a damning look at just how few articles I read as opposed to how many I save.

* PC Gamer has used the Democracy games to test our political parties manifestos for two elections in a row. Everyone dies to the Liberals, the Patriots or is kicked out for spending too much. Just like real life.

* There are several delicious-looking recipes that I obviously intended to try out the moment I left mum & dad's. Obviously I will be trying them out shortly.

* I have no excuse for how little I read, as in one day I have managed to clear many bookmarks. Admittedly, not all of them have been fully read, but the ratio will probably be very similar with my newer articles.

* The inability to click on the bottommost article just after archiving an article is really annoying.

* Surprisingly few articles lead to a 404.

* I don't know why I avoid reading my bookmarks, because I really enjoy it! Brains are silly.

[chasethedanger]

80 Days

Many words have been written about the witty and gorgeous 80 Days, so there is little for me to add.

I have played but one game of this, and I have had my fill. Whilst it is lovely indeed, I get anxious about missing things, and I failed in my task - it took me 100 days instead of 80!

I am not really a person who plays games over and over, but if you are one of those kinds of people, you'd be wise to give this a shot - especially now it's coming to PC!

[chasethedanger]

Hero of the Kingdom II

AKA Pretty McRelaxerton Game Part Deux!

This one is bigger, just as pretty, and has a good little story too.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this game that I haven’t already said about the first one, honestly!

But seriously, it’s a nice little relaxing look-for-stuff-and-manage-resources game. Pick it up!

[chasethedanger]

Hero of the Kingdom

This little beauty is Hero of the Kingdom!

Hero of the Kingdom is part resource-management, part sit-back-and-be-soothed-simulator. You are a boy who grew up on a farm. Suddenly! Bandits!

You are drawn into an adventure!

This adventure will take you all over the world via the medium of pretty pictures. There’s not a huge amount of interaction, but it’s so gosh-darned lovely looking, and the story is nice enough, and managing your resources is pretty fun. I enjoyed figuring out where to get stuff I needed.

There’s some puzzles, but they’re not really that difficult. In case I haven’t stated it enough, this game is a joy to putter around in. And sometimes, all you want, all you need, is a pleasant thing to putter around in. Play it the next time you’re a bit stressed.

Trust me!

[chasethedanger]

Making My Virtual Pet Shop Fun

I am now approaching 100 days on My Virtual Pet Shop, having gained 26 levels and finally unlocked the last item. All I have left now is to upgrade everything which would appear to be a long, long grind.

Whilst the game is incredibly adorable, I’ve been struggling with the idea that it’s not a good time management game, or that it’s even particularly interesting. Let me explain why.

Time management games that run on an in-game daily system, such as Diner Dash or Burger Shop, usually have a single area in which to play. My Virtual Pet Shop is one of these, in which all of the play occurs within the confines of your shop. You earn money to buy stations and to upgrade said stations. Every time you level up, which usually takes three or more days, you unlock a new station or upgrade which you are then allowed to buy with coins. This then takes time to be delivered to your shop, which you can speed up with stars. You earn coins from customers, and stars are earned from levels and ads.

This is where My Virtual Pet Shop falls down.

If you have a daily system, it’s all about keeping the player engaged and pressing forward. You need little carrots between days to keep them playing. This might be Diner Dash’s cake toppers or Burger Shop’s strawberry milkshake. In good time management games, you are getting something new to look forward to every other day - you rarely have to save to get your next item. In My Virtual Pet Shop, you are waiting at least 3 days to get your next item, but if you haven’t earned enough cash in those 3 days, you have to wait even longer.

So you wait 3 days to unlock your item, and a further 2 days to be able to afford it, but wait! There’s more! Once you have bought your item, you have to wait for it to be delivered! This seems to top out at 20 hours, as far as I can tell. So that is 5 in-game days, and 1 real day. You have virtually no carrot to look forward to!

How would I fix this? One of several ways: - Increase the amount of coins you can gain from each day allowing you to buy your items when you unlock them. - Reduce the amount of experience required to level up leading to more unlocks leading to more choice in selection. - Remove the delay in delivering your items allowing you to utilise what you have earned immediately.

These changes would compromise little the free-to-play model that Tapps has chosen, but would make the experience more enjoyable for those who decide to give it a bash. I say this as a person who is experiencing burnout on the game far earlier than I might have despite the money I spent to smooth the experience. If I am growing tired, one can only imagine how boring the vanilla experience would be.

[chasethedanger]

My Virtual Pet Shop

What do you get if you combine animals with a time management game?

My Virtual Pet Shop!

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to My Pet Shop. Things unlock when you level up, at which point you buy them with coins then wait for them to build themselves or be delivered or something. But, you guessed it! There’s a premium currency, stars, and you can speed it up with the stars.

It’s a bit disappointing really. It’s super cute, and I want to really like it! But there’s just not a lot here. It’s not getting any more difficult, and every level is the same. There’s not really a lot to work for. Granted, I bought a pack for £5.49 for some money and stars and skins and extra “take these pets back” space (which is a mad! mad! price for something in a boring free game, but I prefer to play these games as the developer obviously meant and Tapps is a generally unpredatory free game developer and I want to reward them for that). Maybe it would be a bit more interesting if I waited, but I suspect not given my last item wanted 19 hours to be delivered or whatever.

But, like I said, it’s very cute and rather inoffensive, so I’m not upset at having given them money. I’ll probably play until there’s nothing else to do, because look at those cute little doggies! eeeee

[chasethedanger]

Time and it’s getting awayness

Random gif is so cute!

So I’ve not posted in time and a half, because I’ve become one of those terrible people who fall off the map when they fall in love. Sorry!

What I’ve been doing in the meantime: * Playing videogames (mostly Platypus Evolution, but also Geometry Wars 3, some random games, and most importantly The Witcher 3!) * Working (bit sick of my job right now truth be told) * Being loved up (my young man is absolutely amazing wow) * Reading (I found a second-hand book store and got The Female Eunuch, a 1957 edition of Great Dialogues of Plato and the most beautiful History of the Peloponnesian War I’ve ever seen for a grand total of £5)

Seriously, isn’t it absolutely fabulous?

I also bought a bike in order to save money but mostly because I needed some exercise structure and I figured a bike was the best way - I’ll be saving £50 a month in bus fares and getting an hour of cardio a day, is that not a great deal?

It’s a cheapo £130 one from Halfords, but it’ll have paid itself off by October and it gets a free checkup in a couple months so I can’t really grumble. What I will grumble at, is the bike I bought from Argos the week before.

I bought a bike online from Argos, brand new, and it came like this:

That is a rounded bolt for the seat, which made it unusable. It took them a week to take it back and it’ll take another week to get my money back which is inexcusable. Avoid Argos!

Anyhoo, I’ll be making an effort to post more often - I want at least one post for every game on my games spreadsheet so stay tuned folks!

[chasethedanger]

Hyperspin

So what have I been doing in the time since my last post?

Sleeping!

(Also the Hyperspin project!)

For those not in the know (basically everybody) Hyperspin is a prettyful frontend for emulators and stuff. Any time you see a custom arcade cabinet with multiple games, it’s almost certainly running this.

It’s a bit of a pain to get going - it took me a couple of days to get the right combination of programs and backends - but it’s so purdy!

I am now running all of my emulation through it, because it’s got a good randomiser so I never have to decide what to play! The videos and themes help a whole bunch to make it such a friendly experience (once you get it running!).

My favourite bit about it is all of the faffing you can do with it. You can change anything, put anything you want in, and if you so desire, it has all of the boring repetitive tasks you need to help you through your podcast backlog!

(The above is the backlog of podcasts that once upon a time I was caught up with, before work madness intervened. The other 3866 podcasts... well I was powering through back catalogs like you wouldn’t believe and I like to be prepared!)

So anyway, I am entirely in love with Hyperspin! If you’re interested, give me a shout and I’ll point you to exactly the programs that you need in order to get it off the ground. (Two! Days!) I’d love to share the love :)

[chasethedanger]

Here’s a bunch of pictures I took at Play Blackpool this past weekend! I played so many things, including but not limited to: a jockey simulator and TxN on the Oculus Rift (the Rift might be really interesting once it’s out!); Steel Battalion, including the full, massive controller; many, many arcade games, including the original Star Wars (which is amazing!) and Point Blank 2 (twice!); R Type on an actual, real-life PC Engine; Aliens on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where I accidentally set off the self-destruct sequence and couldn’t figure out how to turn it off; Wulver Blade, a beatemup due to come out in September; a full-on F1 simulation with a full size car (it was so good and felt so real omg); and loads of shmups, two of which I got high scores on, Azeal and Super Stardust Ultra!

I also went to an Ask Me Anything with Jeff Minter and think he’s a really cool guy. I especially liked how he went on a tangent about Skyrim for several minutes!

Overall, I had a great time, and I think I've rediscovered a love of videogames that I hadn't realised had left me. Gaming has left me cold recently, and being surrounded by so much love and by games that are just happy to exist has reinvigorated me!

It has made me want to go back and play loads of old games, so that’s what I’m going to do!

[chasethedanger]

These are some pictures from my recent trip to Stirling, Scotland. It is a delightful place, and I left half of my heart there. It has everything. It’s even got a castle!

Also, the food is excellent and I can't recommend it enough. Go to Brae and try the chicken supreme!

[chasethedanger]

The Plan

Until recently, I had a plan. My plan was to find a nice little job doing something I enjoyed, buy a little bungalow, and live out my days happily with 2 cats and a dog. I didn’t have much of a timeline for this, but it was my hearts desire.

Another person never factored into the equation at all. I had come to the conclusion that romantic love wasn't something that was meant for me. I cared for people, but in an arms length kind of way. Affection was given begrudgingly, sex was had to maintain.

Of course, this has all changed. I have, at the grand old age of 26, found someone who makes my blood sing. I understand why people do crazy things in the name of love. I understand why the touch of another is to be sought after. Suddenly, I get it.

I know not what the future holds, but I now know it will be full of love.