Another Code: Journey Into Lost Memories (Another Code Recollection) (Switch)

 

The original cover

The Sequel came to the wii in 2009 and begins 2 years after the original game and Ashley is visiting her father on a camping trip near his workplace but as soon as she gets off the buss, Richard Robins doesn't show up and a boy steals her bag. And from there it spirals away with mysterious secret agents, holograms, another ghost and a damn another... Another Machine. People gets shoot at, mass hypnosis, a company bankrupted by an evil CEO and so on. This game's story gets bonkers and it actually have less ghosts than the original. 

The boy is Matthew that have run away from his uncle to look for clues about his dad that disappeared 5 years ago. He was the CEO of a resort company that tried to develop the area around the lake that they are staying at, but got blamed for polluting the lake. Turns out that that the company Richard works for had created an Another machine that stored memories in liquid form that was polluting the lake, but the CEO covered it up by infusing memories into the townspeople so that they turned on the resort company. And Matthew was constantly... or rather from the background a couple of times, followed by a ghost who turns out to be his younger sister that he failed to save as she fell from the clock tower near the lake. That scene broke me as he learns the truth and breaks down, and then his ghost sister shows up and forgive him and that started the tears leaking and then a bright light and there mother that died in sickness shortly after the incident appears and takes the girl away and the floodgates are open. God Dammit!

That's the emotional highpoint of the game, the following part is running up and down a lab in water opening doors and such... sounds like the first Resident Evil Revelation game. It's bonkers since one of the more mysterious people in the game Ryan is revealed to be pretty much a manifestation of a boy that died 15 years ago as he was tested on by his father, the CEO to try to take him out of the PTSD that happened when his mother saved him from a car accident, but she died from that and caused Ryan to shut himself out of the world. So it's really sad, but there is a bit of botched moments. For example that father CEO, really isn't described as caring so much for his son, I gather that's how that is, but he is described by the computer Ryan that he only cared for the machine. Maybe it's hinting on the computer not getting the emotional investment the father put into it to save his son, but there is no break down scene, and the one Ryan tries to resurrect is Ashley's mother by overwriting Ashley's memories and not his father.  There's a disconnect there.

9 hours to play through so it's a bit bigger, but it's a lot more drama since there is more people around and I don't jive with that. Probably due to not connecting as well as with Matthew's emotional story. There's some stories they could have milked more, like Charlotte and her missing daughter that ran away with the photographer... I don't think we had a picture of them until the end? Come on, make me cry more damn it, make me feel something! Prove that I'm human... *ahem* Where was I? Oh yeah, overall a good collection, 16 hours total for both games. Second game was a bit harder on finding the origami cranes so I missed two of them. You really need both of them since if you haven't played them the second game gets a bit strange with the one ghost. I thought it was supposed to be more ghosts in the game, but instead we got holograms pretty much.

Read through the plot of the original version, and that seems to change dramatically, since there Ryan seems to be a real person and all is just an inheritance dispute... again. Yeah, the hologram story seems better now. Also, someone mentioned that Matthews ending wasn't part of the original game, but supposed to be a spin-off game with him as a main character, but since the company behind the game went bankrupt after this it wasn't meant to be so they pushed it in here. And it worked for me!

Another Code: Two Memories (Another Code Recollection) (Switch)

Should've known that her crying on the cover would indicate what I was gonna experience!

Continuing with the puzzle games I picked up this remake of one DS and one Wii game from the middle of the 2000's. Never played them before, but as soon I saw the trailer for them I just got a feeling I needed this. So after a month I started playing. So it start off with Ashley Mizuki Robins that the day before her 14th birthday have been invited by her father which she thought where dead to meet him on Blood Edward Island... charming name. It's an old island with a mansion and an abandoned mine where you solve puzzles... haven't I already played this game?

Well, she's there with her aunt, the aunt goes missing so Ashley has to look after her. After a moment she meets the ghost boy D that hangs around the mansion for 60 years. Together they uncover everything from D's family the Edwards that lived on the island and what Ashley's dad (Richard Robins) have been doing all along as well as the reason for Ashley's mother's death. Apparently D died by an accident as he ran from his uncle Henry that had been forced to kill D's father Thomas that in desperation tried to steal the inheritance of the family. Ashley's father meanwhile was working on a machine together with Ashley's mother, a machine called Another that was supposed to be able to erase memories in order to be able to cure PTSD and other trauma's... what ever it does, it sounds really bad for what it can be used to, creating false memories and all that. Especially when we are talking AI deepfakes and such? Of course Richard's assistant Bob was prepared to steal the machine and collaborated with someone to do so. He even killed Ashley's mother 11 years earlier.

I liked this game, it was a fun puzzler and I finished it within 7 hours. Puzzles on the easy side since you can photo anything (even though a 10 photo limit, but you can really see what you are supposed to photo). The most observant thing you have to keep looking for are these origami cranes you need to scan to get some information about Richard Robins, which I got all of them. The ending is kinda sad, but I think I foresaw it pretty early and since D's death was an accident I really can't say I felt the emotional strings being plucked so to speak. All in all I got vibes from the Famicom Detective Club and like that, there is a sequel that follows directly in this collection.

Legend of Steel Empire (Switch)

 

Flying Through the Danger Zone!

The fourth outing of Steel Empire (or known by me as Empire of Steel), the steam punk shooter where you protect the Silver Head Republic against the evil Motorhead Empire and the evil Emperor Sauron... or Styron in this version. This is a port of the 3DS version I've written about here. Not much to add here, except there is no 3D effects and that might make the game worse in parts, especially when you have foregrounds like in the cave level. Another question is why they changed the name of the game?

Still enjoyable,  the re-playability lies in finishing the achievement picture and I recall that I only had 1 piece left on the 3DS (finishing the game without losing a life on very hard), might not do all that. Finished it on easy. The only negativity I might have on this version is that the translation seems a bit off to me this time around, especially in the story text, but also the achievement text due to me unlocking pieces which I shouldn't have (and pieces I should have gotten I didn't seem to get)? I thought I at least got over a million points, but I didn't get the piece.

Small nitpicking, still the best shooter I've ever played!

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)

 

A return to their roots.

As of writing it's the end of February and I haven't played any video games beside some levels of Super Mario Bros. Wonder when I was at my sisters place the weekend 13 days after Christmas, and before that nothing since early December. As usual I'm not too inclined to play games during this time, and usually I get over it with a puzzle game. The game for 2024 was apparently Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Nintendo Switch.

It's a remake of a 2004 GBA-game (which make it the second GBA-remake I know of after Advance Wars Switch-game) which I have two versions of on 3DS and Wii U. Never finished though. I finds that being the best thing about remakes, improvements to ease off play that actually allows me to finish them. Yes, I played casual mode that took away the timer which is new for the remake. The mode also gives you five bubbles instead of using extra lives taking some stress out of getting hit (in most levels it doesn't even hinder you from getting a gold star compared to the original). It also seems that they've added 2 set off overworlds since looking at the original it just seems to be 6 overworlds compared to the remakes 8. Since I don't intend to play through the GBA version I won't know unless I'm stuck somewhere with my 3DS and can't muster anything else to do.

Story is that one day Donkey Kong is zapping through the TV-channels when he stumbles upon a commercial for a new toy called Mini-Mario, he rushes out to get one (as the commercials message of "gotta get them all" repeats in his mind, think it's a jab at the Pokemon tagline). The stores is sold out so he rushes to the Toy Factory and steals them from the Toad workers there and Mario just happens to be there so he follows the Kong in order to get them back. He jumps and platforms his way through a set of 6 levels collecting mini-Mario's so that he can use them to collect the letters T-O-Y so that they open a chest he can put them in to get 6 hits on a boss level with Donkey Kong. Both the music and gameplay evokes the Donkey Kong arcade game and the Nintendo 8-bit series. After that you get a new set of levels and continue that for 8 overworlds to fight the big boss and then you do that all over again for the plus levels so that you can fight the final boss, Donkey Kong in a giant Kong Suit. Credits roll.

Then there is 10 extra levels that you unlock by the amount of gold stars you have, in the end I had 112, missing the boss fights. So in total. 130 levels to complete everything, but I don't feel the need to overextend my enjoyment. Took me a weekend of on-and-off play to get through it and that felt enough. A couple of days and I'm ready for something else during my half-week vacation.

Dragonsbane: The Awakening (Drakar och Demoner: Uppvaknandet)

 

Why does it have to be spiders?

As noticed, I haven't been playing games lately, but reading books. Finished up reading the collection on H.P. Lovecraft after 5 years. Interesting concepts in his stories and such, but man, it was hard reading at times. So afterwards I read through this book that is part of the new release of Sweden's own Dungeons and Dragons game, Dragonbane or Drakar och Demoner (aka Dragons and Demons, most speculate that direct translation would have been to close to actual Dungeons and Dragons). I actually bought it since it had an adventure for the game in it and I actually wanted a book in Swedish since otherwise it's just english books like Dragonlance, Jules Verne or Tolkien I have laying around and Tolkien is the only one I have some Swedish versions of, but new translation with the worse names and such. 

Still, this book was written by E.P. Uggla and follows the adventure of Tamea, a 13 year old girl that one days awakens when her tattoo begins shining and causing pain on her. She believes it has something to do with her older brother that have the same tattoo, but it causes her father to decide on marrying her away so she leaves on her own.

Also on the adventure is Verven, an half-elf, half-orc that lives on stealing from passersby that gets caught in a swamp and the assassin mallard Gizma that are looking for revenge on Tamea's brother for killing her assassin clan. So basically, no one trust each other and there is snark to go around for this group. They have to fight elf-ear collectors, spiders and avoid Tamea's bodyguard that looks to bring her back home. I enjoyed it for what it was. Easy to read and a fun adventure with the right emotional payoff in the end. Worst offender for the book is that it pretty much ends on a cliffhanger and a couple unanswered questions so I guess I have to lookout for a continuation. 

Well, that's for the story, the real worst offender (and the reason I had to write about it and get it of my chest) is that the language they use at times is atroucious to my sensibilities. Probably hard to express in english, but take for example in the early chapters they talk about "tjejer", which means girls, no problem, the problem is that is a loanword from Scandi-Romani from the 20th Centuary. It's a fantasy setting, it breaks my immersion and they used it twice. And I know it's nitpicking but I can't stop thinking about it. Another example is that they peppered the text with english words as is. One instance Verven thinks about how stupid this is that he is walking to the Vale of Mists with the exact quote (except where I censured it, gotta think of the kids) "Dimmornas f***ing dal". What are you doing? They also throw in "Fine" and "Yes"! It's probably fine in a roleplaying game table, but I'm trying to get immersed in this world and english words that come out of nowhere is kinda bothersome! I know it's petty since there is only 5 times this happened in a 200-page book, but it bothers me! Not only me, I read a blog reviewer also mentioning it!

Doesn't help that I've been listening to Prancing Pony Podcast that talks about Tolkien's world in the Silmarillion and so on, and they stress that language came first and then the world. Language forms the world and therefore the world is so easy to get lost in since it's coherent. Here they break that immersion with the language. Adding insult to injury a long time ago I myself tried writing my own fantasy world and books around it and I got stuck at the language. I deduced that since I wanted different languages, but since I wasn't a linguist I made some choices. The Gods would have closer to latin since I equated them with Romans both in dominance and appearance while the elven kind was closer to ancient greek and philosophies and such. Names reflected that and names for places and such could have different names, but the same meaning depending on who said it and so on. It makes the world more alive, and this is just the cheapest way you do it. And they didn't bother here! Hell, I began looking for different names for elves since it wouldn't jive with the languages and therefore I made them different from the elves of Tolkien or Warcraft or whatever, the language creates the world. It's the same reason there's this discourse in social media (in February 2024) about the yellow paint in game design. In visual media the design creates the world and when someone paints the ledges yellow without reason it breaks immersion. I so have the pulse on the world 1 year after the discourse that will probably die away within a week! Better throw in a Cerveza Cristal reference while I'm at it!

What a strange time on social media

Now, I ended listening to an interview with the author on youtube and she explained that apparently she had very little time for writing the book, and maybe its just an effect of that, and I can understand that. Still, one might have thought that one of the biggest book publishers in Sweden might have someone proofread and actually question some choices, but I guess the cash needs to flow and we don't have time for that (or afford it). Who cares about quality, right? She also mentioned that the second book is on it's way in august 2024 and she had more time writing it this time. Maybe it gets fixed, but since it's part of the first book that's part of the world now I guess! Yeah, 3 paragraphs for 5 words in a 200-page book might be overkill for my part. Then again, reading about the Dragonlance books (which I'm reading at the moment) someone mentioned that the harshest critics seemed to have the thoughts of "I could have written that", and truly, it might just be jealousy.

Drakborgen - Bokspelsäventyret (DungeonQuest - The Book Game Adventure)

The greatest fantasy game Sweden ever produced! Now in book form!

Haven't been playing that much video games since Christmas 2023 (it's February as of writing, so my usual video game fatigue). So instead I've been reading books and one book I got was the choose your own adventure of the board game DungeonQuest (or Drakborgen, aka Dragon's Keep) that was released in 2023 and I got my hand on this January. Written by one of the original designers of the board game, Dan Glimne. Basically you play as an unnamed swordsman (or woman) going to the dragon's keep and trying to get your hand on some treasure and survive the ordeal.

Sounds easy enough, you generate a character, grabs some dice and head in. Dubbed my character Tyrell the Swift after my Dungeons and Dragons Bard I used in my characters backstory back in 2012... I'm feeling rather old all of a sudden. Anyway, we go in. Enter one of the towers, pass a door (since I know about the traps from the board game I stay away from there) and sees two dark elves guarding a passage, trying to ward me off. Offence is the best defence so I attack and does rather good. I continue and suddenly I'm attacked by invisible bees (?) that stung me to death. That was that, The Keep 1 - Tyrell the Swift 0.

Tyrell the Swift the second went the same way, but lets try the door this time and... Tyrell gets his hand pierced. Knew it. Well, let's continue down this corridor and.... fail the luck check by 1 and gets swallowed by a trap door, killed again. The Keep 2 - Tyrell the Swift 0

Well, Tyrell the Swift the third went back and was more lucky to notice the trap door and jump over it. Meets a mountain troll I quickly dispatches without taking a hit.  Entered a big room with a statue. A red jewel adorned the head of the statue and greed begins to flow within me... but I decide to continue. Fight a though skeleton. Fall through some stairs, find a key that I use to open a secret door that takes me to the treasure chamber! Third try baby! Of course it's Tyrell the Swift the Third that gets there!

I grab 500 gold coins and decide to get out of here. Runs through a corridor, I hear a scream at one end of a room, decides I better go on the opposite side and just runs for it. Well, I'm prompted to guess two numbers, roll the die and one of them shows up. Immediately a spike pierces the foot, the torch goes out and the character just gives up. Dying in darkness. I had to look it up and had I just rolled another number I would have gotten out. The Keep 3 - Tyrell the Swift 0.

That was fun, now I got a craving to sit with the book and chart it in excel to find the most efficient way (or maybe the one with highest probability to survival). I maxed dexterity and choose a rather high luck since I knew that in the board game it was important (apparently it didn't help Tyrell the Swift the second). I also tried to map it out with pen and paper, but after some rooms it wasn't as descriptive about if it was left or right or such things, probably mirroring the fact at the character getting more lost in the keep as the day goes on. There's 500 passages in the book and there is some fun things with the numbers like, the treasure chamber is pretty close to the middle of the book (you have gone halfway through the adventure) and that if you loose a fight against a monster, you get to passage 13 (the unlucky number) and the adventure ends. 

Only exist in Swedish as far as I can see while writing this (February 2024) so if you can't read Swedish though luck. If you can read it's rather interesting. There's also pictures in the book, mostly taken from the different cards of the games. As mentioned, the author Dan Glimne have added things that doesn't appear in the original game, like the statue for example. Haven't played these kind of book games before so I can't compare it to anything. I don't know if the character sheet and die use is that common with these kind of books, but it make it more authentic to a DnD game at least. A pity that you can't change weapon since sword is a bit of a cliché and you can't roleplay as most of the characters from the game. So go and read it if you get the chance.

A DnD Tale: Tomb of Annihilation - Across the Great Sea (Part 1)

 

It's no mine, it's a tomb!

And so the adventure continues. Having found the vault of dragons and getting the hand on the second piece of the rod of law they have been hooked in by Volo to travel to Chult in order to find another treasure in the jungles. They spend three days preparing the departure, getting passage with one of the traveling circus ships and loading it with Volo's books he plans to sell in Port Nyanzaru (which my middle sister realized means something like cat ape which probably is a reference to the Tibaxi catpeople who lives there). Parker has no intention of following them so he sends word to Candlekeep to his college Destinova Blackstar, forest gnome wizard that arrives to Waterdeep on the day of departure. They travel for 21 days across the ocean until the ocean where they face of the giant dragon turtle Aremag who guards the bay, who they are able to convince that they don't have any money, but he warns them that he will have an eye on them when they leave, IF they leave. They then began looking at what they had an they realized they have something like 7 000 gold each... oops!

They enter port and finds the quiet inn and see the bill board with the guides and have to decide where to go. They spend the next day gathering information on what is going on in Chult. They find the tale of the missing airship the most interesting since they see a way to get out of Chult while avoiding the dangers of Aremag. They get provisions to survive 60 days in the jungle, 2 canoes, insect repellent and four rain catchers to make the travels bearable. They also learn that they need a charter from the flaming fist in the fort up north. They decide to head there by themselves without guides since they want to save in on the fees for the guides... I told you they had 7 000 gold each right? Unbelievable cheapskates! The trip to the fort goes rather smoothly really. The only incident is when Destinova looses his rain catcher when a group of flying monkeys fly by them. They get to the fort, pay for the charter and learn that the flaming fist takes a cut of half the treasures they find which spurs them to get the airship even more as well as push away some guides since they fear they will snitch on them. 

So they head back to port, this time experiencing extreme heats causing them exhaustion several times, they find a trio of sea hags near a canoe trying to lure people near the water to drown them. Our heroes hit them with a mage hand in order to see if they really where dead, which they weren't so after that they have been haunted by the canoe over the rest of the days, so from now on the sea hags is after them. They find a tibaxi hunter that tell them to get a guide, a chwinga spirit steals Hope's crowbar and leaves a couple of nuts in exchange. They pass by a group of lizard folk and some red wizard group and a couple of dinosaurs. They only got lost twice while traveling. After a tour of 22 days they have returned to Port and decides to go with the guide Eku after Shalida gave them strange vibes. Which might speed along the game. She will probably hint them towards Nangalore and the spirit Naga and from there straight to Omu, unless they first wants the wreck of the Star Goddess. And here ended the first session.

Overall, I will probably use the excuse of the guide to heighten the encounter DC to 18-19 instead of 16 since it happens to often otherwise for such small things (especially when they don't need to level up since they already are level 9). Another thing is that I got the dungeon master screen for the game and it speeds the game along really well. A miss in accessories on the other hand seems to be the game mat maps you could buy. I thought that would help and avoid using the map in the book, but hex grid is really hard to see making it hard to count the hexes and they are a bit smaller so the little screw that represents the party is just a bit to big, but not with the map that came with the book. The city maps on the other hand in the set works really well. But it's the hex map that I would wish worked better. So if they find the airship and fix it I might let them turn it upside down so that they can see everything. But I also assume they will go the airway towards Omu and fight the gargoyles guarding the city.