Tag: gaming

Genshin Impact – A New Beginning

Introduction

Genshin Impact is a cross platform ARPG with online co-op features developed by miHoYo. It is an impressive and visually astounding game with various. The gameplay is butter smooth and the details on the characters are at an elite level. The game also adjusts it graphics quite well to streamline performance. It requires a consistent internet connection or you will face continuous disconnection issues.

We start off with a cutscene with the the twins Lumine and Aether fighting against a heavenly being called the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, here we are faced with a choice between the two characters for one to be captured by the divine being. We then wake up stranded on the shores of Tevyat where we encounter Paimon, a companion and a guide that accompanies us throughout the game. As we proceed towards civilization we notice a dragon and later on find a mysterious character trying to soothe it. As the dragon notices our presence it gets enraged and flies of causing the mysterious character to disappear as well.

Next we encounter Amber, an Outrider of the Knights of Favonius. She leads us to Mondstadt, along the way dealing with a Hilichurl camp and informing us that the monsters have been posing a threat to the city by getting closer to it ever since Stormterror’s presence had increased.

After reaching Mondstadt, the city gets attacked by Stormterror causing our character to get caught up by one of its whirlwinds, forcing us into the skies, resulting in a battle with the dragon thanks to a mysterious force that let’s us do so.

As we almost near the end of defeating the dragon it flees away and upon landing back in the city we are greeted by the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, Kaeya. A short conversation leads to the character being invited to the office of the Acting Grand Master of the Knights, Jean and the librarian Lisa, where we are then tasked to explore and destroy three Stormterror’s crystals located at three different temples. Here the mechanics of the game are explained where in how different elements can trigger certain things and how to take advantage of the characters.

Finally after dealing with the crystals we are done with the first quest. This also unlocks the Adventurer’s Guild which has various tasks upon completion reward the character with various items that will help with the overall game’s progression of characters and items. Fragile Resin, Artifacts, Mora, Ascension materials and Experience boosting items are the main drops. Resin being an essential item to unlock rewards and complete events later on.

Don’t Starve Together – Wortox Character Guide

Introduction

Krampus’ partner in mischief and once an unperturbed Imp, joins the constant as a reformed soul. Wortox was introduced as a character very recently and can be unlocked via the Weave mechanic. He can be crafted for 2700 spools, which can be gathered by unravelling(dismantling) wardrobe items or heads of previously crafted curios.

Character Details

Wortox’s is able to collect souls from things that die around him. He can then use these souls for various purposes. He starts off with six souls in his inventory. Souls can be gathered easily by killing butterflies, moleworms and spiders. Wortox has a very big disadvantage when trying to recover from hunger by eating food. He recovers only by 50% of the usual but can be overcome by eating souls and managing sanity. Garland is a key items early on which costs just 12 flowers to craft. Later on once you find better weapons you can live off your souls by killing off the shadows. Once you have a few souls pick flowers or cook and eat green caps once your souls are at the maximum. Picking up an extra soul once the maximum has been reached, that is 20 souls, Wortox will drop half of his stash and lose sanity. Now lets get on to the benefits of the character, his abilities are as follows:

  • Eat Souls to recover Hunger
  • Release souls to heal Wortox and nearby players
  • Teleport short distances, even across untraversable land
  • Teleport to anywhere on map

Eat Souls to recover Hunger

Consuming a soul restores hunger at the cost of sanity for Wortox.

Release souls to heal Wortox and nearby players

After consuming a soul it can be released to heal nearby players for a certain amount of health depending on the number of players within the predefined range of healing.

Teleport short distances, even across untraversable land

Can jump across water and short distances on the currently displayed screen. The cursor first displays “Soul Hop”, teleporting a short distance will consume a soul and then the cursor will display “Soul Echo” for a short duration, which when used will teleport Wortox to the spot but won’t consume any soul.

Teleport to anywhere on map

After opening the map, hovering over it will show how many souls will be consumed and no souls will be shown if a sufficient amount is not present. To teleport, right click on the opened map and press the map key to close it this will the teleport Wortox to the spot you had right clicked on.

Conclusion

Souls can be used to recover from hunger at the cost of sanity but once you get efficient with killing the shadow creatures you will be able to gain the max amount of souls and then recover sanity by picking flowers, crafting garland and consuming cooked greencaps.

Focus on helping your team in gathering distant items. Wortox’s ability to jump across untraversable terrain and teleport to undiscovered regions on the map makes him a good character to scout the map and gather crucial resources while the team focuses on crafting and building. Make sure that you have a sufficient amount of souls before teleporting a huge distance or atleast make sure that you are equipped with a proper weapon that will help you dispatch enemies quickly to gain souls.

Wortox can support the team further by healing players in an area of effect and as the players kill enemies around him it will only further ease the burden of farming souls. Very helpful during enemies like hounds that attack in groups or some bosses that spawn mobs of lesser foes around the players.

Overall Wortox may not be a beginner friendly character as managing souls and his hunger requires a little bit of skill to dispatch enemies at the same time it requires you to carry on with the normal gameplay so beginners might get stuck in an infinite loop of recovering sanity then hunger.

No Rest For The Wicked – An Introduction

Backstory:

Pestilence, a deadly epidemic that once threatened the World now returns back with a vengeance. A plague so deadly that it disfigures humans, causing them to mutate into unnatural abominations. Making them lose their minds without even letting them hold on to a shred of their past selves. These dire times gave rise to an order, the vanguard that stood between that what was lost and that what needed to be preserved. Fierce warriors that successfully managed to rid the lands of the deadly curse. These were the Cerim, still acknowledged for their legendary accomplishments among the denizens of the world. In the Prologue we hear Odessa, a young lady describing the same. Whereas on the other hand we find out that the Ruler of the lands, King Harol is dead and his heir King Magnus has now succeeds him. Apart from King Magnus we are introduced to two other characters, Madrigal Seline supposedly a Priestess and Baurus, a councilor to the former king, who swears fealty to the newly throned king. Upon further witnessing the conversation that takes place at the funeral, we see that the priestess and the councilor dispute on the approach and the current proceedings. Some light is shed on what the current ruler has in store for the Island of Sacra. Further along we can see a fleet of ships making their way towards the island with a rather dreadful plan that has already been set in motion. The intentions of the King clearly show us that he wants to claim Isola Sacra for himself and intends to use the Pestilence as an opportunity to do the same.

Character Introduction:

The character, a Cerim starts on board a ship on it’s way to Isola Sacra. Amidst a very unfriendly and apprehensive crew you meet the captain only to be shunned away as he is more worried about his plight due to your presence onboard the ship. Sent back to your quarters and with nothing else to be done you plan to rest only to wake up to an almost sinking ship. As you make your way to the top you notice that the inhabitants of Sacra are not very hospitable and welcoming to strangers from the mainland. As the final turbulent wave finally sinks the ship the player is castaway to a nearing shore. As they regain consciousness they will notice debris from the ship they were in all around them, along with the captain of the ship who with his dying breath gives you a clue as to where you are right now.

The Journey:

The player has to now make their way to King Ellsworth, the ruler of Isola Sacra. On their way defeating and looting as the usual ARPG experience would be with a slight souls like twist to the combat mechanics. Equipping better gear and crafting necessities that will help them face their first greatest challenge at the gates of the castle whose residents face an adversity that needs to be dealt with.

Stardew Valley – Fresh Start Guide

New to Stardew Valley? Returning back to check out the new update? Well don’t worry, here is a list of things that can help you with starting out on your first day at the farm. These are the little things that we tend to forget when returning to Stardew valley for a fresh start that may cause you to restart all over again.

The Mood Killer: Energy Bar

One of the most crucial aspects of the game and the one that is mostly overlooked till you are finally exhausted. Always keep an eye out for the energy bar, each little action that you perform will drain your energy. Don’t try to clear the farm on the first day itself instead do the following instead:

Step 1: Parsnip Seed Parcel

Enter the house and you will find a parcel of parsnip seeds, collect them and keep them in your inventory for now.

Step 2: North Exit

Clear a path towards the North Exit from which you can leave your farm. Make sure to clear on the small rocks and fallen branches so that you do not waste your energy.

Step 3: South Exit

Clear a path towards the South Exit from which you can leave your farm.

Step 4: Foraging

Now that the exits are cleared start venturing out to forage for collectibles like Dandelions, Horseradish and Clams.

Step 5: Wiggly Worms

If you notice Wiggling worms or Tendrils sticking out of the ground make sure to use a hoe to dig up some cool loot.

Step 6: Farming

Clear the area that is in front of your house to make a small farm, apart from the parsnips you might be able to find other seeds as well from digging the Wiggling Worms. Plant the seeds and make sure to water them.

Step 7: Storage Chest

Start cutting wood till you get 50 pieces to make your first storage chest, in order to store away the Scythe, Watering Can, Axe and other stuff that you may have picked up. This needs to be done since your backpack has only 12 slots in the beginning, which can be upgraded at the store later on once you have enough cash. If you run out of energy just go to sleep and continue the next day.

Step 8: Delivery

Just before making your way to bed, make sure to sell off your foraged items for some cash.

The Ultimate Run Killer: Time Exhaustion

At 12:00 am in the night you will receive a notification saying that it’s getting late, from this point onwards you have 2 in game hours and in real time that is 86 seconds. You will have to rush to your bed immediately before 2:00 am. If you collapse on the road you will end up losing items and the energy bar will be at the level it was the previous day. If you collapse in your house you won’t lose items but your energy won’t recover. The next day you will have to consume Field snacks at the least to restore your energy or you will have to sleep it off.

Tips

  • Don’t go to the beach on the first day instead forage the northern and eastern sides and the place at the Southern Exit from your farm. As you will have to go to the beach to collect the fishing rod the following day.
  • Make sure to keep the things you have in your backpack in your storage chest as it will hamper foraging.
  • Always carry the Hoe to dig up treasure and the pickaxe if you want to go to the mines
  • Collect seeds to make the field snack
  • Don’t waste your time trying to find all of the inhabitants of the village on the first day as you will meet most of them during the potluck ceremony and other events
  • Make sure to collect 300 wood to fix the bridge east of the beach

Top 3 trending MMOs

Introduction:

Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games have been the dominion of level grinders, role players and dungeon diving fanatics ever since they came into existence. As the trend began to rise, new mechanics of raid bosses, pvp, rare loot drops, pets, mounts, companions and base building were well accepted by the community. We are all familiar with the worlds of the evergreen World of Warcraft, the undying Runescape, the community’s champion Guild Wars 2, the massive expanses of Eve Online, the FPS extravagant Planetside 2, the rng madness Maplestory, the sci-fi elite Star Wars: The Old Republic, the niche Elder Scrolls online and the aesthetically pleasing Final fantasy XIV which have persevered throughout the ages. Recent launches of visually pleasing MMOs like Black Desert Online, Lost Ark and New World have had their moments as well and still have a consistent player base.

However we are not here to indulge in these glorious titles but to shed a light on the ones making their way up into being considered as one of the elites. These are some of the recently released titles whose fate shall be decided as the time passes by and how well they respond to their communities. Without further ado I present to you a list of the top 3 MMOs that are well received these days thanks to a sudden interest from the gaming community due to maybe events that surround them or just their appeal in general.

1. Blue Protocol

This is an MMO developed by Bandai Namco, publishers of well known and well received titles such as Tekken, Dark Souls and Armored Core. Currently it’s only available in Japan and will be released worldwide in 2024. The game is hosted on a planet known as Regnas and the player spawns as a spectre that is encountered by a horde of enemies, upon defeating them you are then pacified by Carvain. After the character creation you then meet your companion Feste from here on you start your journey. Blue protocol has a variety of new features the most interesting one is the Echoes. Echoes are companions that aid you in battles and can be crafted from materials dropped by the enemies you defeat. The fighting playstyle is smooth and the world is alluring. There are ways by which you can play the game over VPN but might as well wait as it could lead to an account ban.

2. Fallout 76

With the recent release of the TV series on Amazon that goes by the name Fallout, there has been a recent spike in the amount of players that have returned to Fallout 76. It had an unsteady launch but since then it has improved over the years and since it’s a Bethesda game you can undoubtedly expect one of the nicest communities to help you start with the game. The game is based on a fictional representation of the map of West Virginia called Appalachia. The game starts off with the player being the last person to wake up in vault 76, inspecting the Overseer’s terminal leads you to discover that the Overseer has left the Vault on her own expedition. The first establishment the player comes across is The Wayward, a small bar where you are assigned a task to take out a gang leader, well unless you choose to ignore the place entirely since there is no predefined path to follow. The player will encounter random events that might trigger quests apart from the main, daily and event quests. Apart from this there is a mission that needs to be completed to unlock expeditions, which are missions that take you to different locations apart from the main map. Missions can be completed solo or as a party. If you are familiar with V.A.T.S then there is a slight change in the game since the map has other players running around the game can no longer be slowed down. Hence in this game it functions as an aim assist tool that consumes AP.

3. Palia

The game is named after the world itself, a beautiful place with a community of NPCs all over the place that follow certain routines. As you start and make your way down to the village you will be greeted by NPCs that will take you to a plot of land and assign you the rights to it. You can clear the land and build your home and workshops over here. They also have in game players whose assistance can be of great help, may it be via the requests you put out for materials that you require or something that requires a little bit of team effort that hastens the process and shares the drops with everyone participating. There are a lot of activities that are just purely stress busters in this game. Apart from that the NPCs also favour specific gifts, react to your choice when communicating and also commission tasks that the player can complete at their home or by collecting stuff. There are dungeons with puzzles that the player has to figure out to understand the story behind the world itself. Special events quests that unlock unique storylines are fulfilling. All in all a great game that makes you feel relaxed and help you calm down after a stressful day.

Fallout 76 – Billy Beltbuckles & Atlantic City’s Tax Evasion

Introduction:

The latest update to one of the most popular MMO by Bethesda introduces an entire new expedition location in the game. Atlantic City – Boardwalk Paradise, released in December of 2023 as an expansion to the current map of the game introduces an entire new region and characters for the players to interact with that can be accessed via the expeditions section on the map. Players will require access to the vertibirds as a prerequisite in case they haven’t unlocked them yet. To go to Atlantic city simply open the map and in the expeditions menu select Atlantic City.

Once you get to the new area you will come across quite a few prominent NPCs such as Salvatore AKA Sticky Fingers, Buttercup, Juchi and Jullian Batsuuri, Mother Charlotte and Veracio Cruz who have their own quests that they will assign to the players upon speaking to them. We are not here to talk about them but rather focus on the most interesting quest of them all which is none other than Atlantic City: Tax Evasion. Before proceeding to the mission area make sure that you have tons of ammo and have carried all your correct equipment. This mission may involve defending target areas from a number of waves and having your best equipment will also allow you to complete the missions in a timely manner earning you bonuses at the end.

The Mission:

On your first playthrough you will receive a notification for the mission and will have to head over to the Casino Entrance where you will find a showman holding an NPC at gunpoint. After getting a little bit closer and inspecting the scene we find out that the person who is on his knees is none other than Billy Beltbuckles AKA William, the Mafia’s accountant. Upon eavesdropping on the conversation we find out that the showman is apparently sent by Mother Charlotte to collect her dues from the accountant that the Mafia owes her. We also find out that the Atlantic City Municipal Government is after them as well for the same reason. Upon listening to his whole ordeal we find out that the Mafia cannot help him with his worries and he needs an external source to help him with his problems.

The mission itself is divided into three different phases. First two phases are randomly assigned from a predefined list of missions, whereas the last phase always involves saving Billy from Buttercup. At first we will be assigned a mission from the following:

  • Disable a jammer whilst defending against a wave of showmen.
  • Put down some auditors that spawn around the map.
  • Destroy some evidence by throwing them in trucks whilst dealing with some tax auditors.

As soon as we are done with the set of tasks we are contacted by Billy and summoned to the Neapolitan Casino where we are assigned can be assigned the following missions:

  • Find a vault and swap caps with casino chips
  • Roam around the casino till we find all the bugged locations and destroy the planted devices using a proximity tracker
  • Find and hack a set of terminals used for accounting purposes that have compromising data on them

Bonus rewards will be allocated provided you completed the phases within the time limit. Once the two phases are complete you will receive an emergency call from Billy requesting immediate assistance at the Quentino’s Nightclub. Mission objective changes to save Billy from Buttercup. The place is packed with Munis so make sure you have sufficient ammo. Buttercup himself will be in a suit of Power Armor next to Billy who is tied up.

Ending:

Once you have taken care of the enemies and saved Billy he thanks you only to inform you to be ready for the same set of events for the following week as well. Also if you managed to complete Sal’s missions along the way speak with him as well. Finally head out and make your way to the vertibird that you and your friends arrived in. Speak with Lennox to finally end the expedition.