The Videogame Battle System Trinity

From my experiences in videogames, there are 3 different kinds of battle systems. There may be more, and if you want to correct me, that is what the comments section is for. But I can basically round up all the gaming battle systems into one of three catigories:

• Turn-based
• Tactical, or
• Hack-and-slash

I'll start off with my favorite. Hack-and-slash! I love games in where you can charge right into a battle and deal massive damage. Also, jumping, running, slashing, shooting, etc makes these kinds of games highly action packed, and makes them incredibly fun and adrenaline pumping. Games like Zelda, Castlevania, and Devil-May-Cry, fit into this category. I love these games because you are constantly in movement, you don't just sit there and wait for the next move. There is always somewhere to go, and some enemy to try new maneuvers on. 

I guess the downside to this is that if you blindly just hack and slash without any method, you could just kill yourself numerous times and make you want to toss the controller away. 

Next is Turn-based, this is a system I was raised on. Final Fantasy, Atelier Iris, and Breath of Fire, all incorporate a turn-based battle system. It is be highly repetitive after awhile, to the point where you just press the same button over and over to beat the battle quicker. Once you have gone into 1 battle, you have basically been in them all, but the wide array on badguys and skills are what keeps you pushing through the game. Not a bad system in my opinion, but not for people who enjoy more active gaming. 

Now to the greatest demise in gaming (in my opinion), the Tactical Combat System. Any Advance War-esque game where you can only proceed in combat via a select number of squares, is just frustrating for me to play. Games like Eternal Poison, Agarest War Zero, Phantom Brave, etc, fall into this category. The fact that I have to spend the first 4 turns just getting to the enemy in the battle field automatically turns me away from this battle style. 

It's very slow, very repetitive, and usually comes with the most idiotic of battle rules (Eternal Poison gives you a game over if you run out of MP, other games give you a certain number of turns to finish the battle before game over). It's like they tried to make a board game and turn it into a videogame, and I think that is dumb. It may just be my bias, but I really don't see a redeeming factor in tactical battle systems. It's good for for certain people who enjoy them, but it has gotten to the point where I just start refusing to play games outright if they have this battle system.

But that is just my opinion, I am sure there are people out there who enjoy it, and I'd like to hear reasons why down in the comments section.

FAQ

What about FPS's and Fighting games?

FPS games like Call of Duty, fighting games like Skull Girls and Mortal Combat, and other games which require high amounts of action falls into the Hack-and-Slash category. The weapon of choice may be different, but the result and way it goes about is still the same. (Basically any game where one can button mash could be considered a hack-and-slash)

The Silent Protagonist

This has got to be one of the most annoying, yet strangely enticing, aspects of many videogames. It is also highly common as well, with notible mute protagonists such as:

• Link - Every Zelda Ever
• Ryu - All Breath of Fire games
• Chell - Portal
• Adol - Ys (He talks through silence)
• Chrono - Chrono Trigger
• Your main character in Pokemon
• The main character of Dark Cloud
• The main protagonist of Cave Story
• Amaterasu from Okami
• Flint - Alundra 2

Among many, many others. 

But is this Silent Protagonist simply lazy writing? Or Genius?

No one will question that it has worked rather magnificently in the above games. In fact, Link from The Legend of Zelda never talks, but he isn't mute. He grunts, screams, and even has "Yes-no" answer box choices. So why would the writers simply make him without a single word of actual dialog?

Well, arguably, in my case, it certainly helps with being in the role of the main character. With a specified dialog to adhere to, it is simple to hop into the books of someone and even pretend the dialog for yourself. This doesn't always work though, it is rather hit-or-miss, but nobody can deny that it has worked like a charm for the Zelda franchise.

I personally enjoy games in which the main character is silent. Because I'd rather have silence (or near-silence) than shoddy, terrible, voice acting, or else horrid character dialog.

Who is your favorite Mute Protagonist?

Graal Online Classic Review

If you took Zelda A Link to the Past, eliminated the storyline, gave it the worst controls ever, made it an MMORPG, and allowed friendly fire, you have Graal Online Classic.  It's kinda like if Ragnarok Online and Zelda ALTTP had a bastard child and named him Graal. It doesn't help that basically all the sprites on here are simply recolors of the original sprites.

The idea seems decent. You pick your character and then make your way through the tutorial, and then through the world to.... uhhhh... do typical MMORPH stuff. Like quests, purchasing houses and houseware, and buying new outfits and headgear. You get a ton of pop-up messages when you just start the game. It happens every time to do anything for the first 5 minutes of the game and it is really frustrating. "Congrats! You opened the menu" I KNOW!

It does seem to have one redeeming quality, at least in the Android version:

ERMAGERD! I'm a motherferken RERKERN!!!!!

There really isn't much to do in this game. There is a decent amount to explore, I guess. But it just seems to be lacking in various different elements that would have otherwise made this game a very enjoyable experience. Although I can't really say that to it's hundreds of thousands of fans.

For a free game it works ok. Even in the PC version, where I can play using Joy2Key, the controlls are better, but the game play is lacking in several areas. Including the fact that you cannot be a raccoon in the PC version of the game

Bubblews Review

Hiya peoples, Lucy here.

Bubblews is a place where you can write about anything and get paid per view, comment, or like. You can cash out once you get 50$, which many people seem to get in about a month.

Most articles submitted to Bubblews, stays in Bubblews. I have not seen any article from this site in my average browsing of the web, but meh. You can repost material from personal blogs you own elsewhere as well, as long as you do not plagerize.

People are only in it for the money. They write crappy articles, or journals of what they did or ate, and cash in. For a site that focuses mainly on social interaction, the majority of comments just happen to be "nice article" or "awesome." There are people who like your post just seconds after it has been posted, knowing they didn't have enough time to even read the minimum requirement for an article, which is merely 400 characters. I have already written over twice that amount in this post.

This site reminds me a lot of Gather.com, which had a very similar method of payment, but which people would not interact often with other users. Also, the majority of people on here cannot grammar very well. Which, as a writer, stabs at me sometimes.

But for the fact that it is in fact paying me for doing very little, I really don't mind. At this moment any amount of funds will help, saying that I am unemployed.

Top 10 Educational Books I Recommend

Yeah, I'm a gamer, but I am also a researcher. I like to read many books on topics that interest me, and so far I have found a decent number of books that I believe are really good at teaching particular subjects. If this is not for you, than please ignore this list, but if you are truly interested, here they are:

10. Discerning Truth - Jason Lisle 

Yeah yeah yeah, Don't shoot me, I know know what you're thinking. "That's Creationist propaganda!" and you are 100% right, it is. Now there are probably better books than this out there, but I am listing it for one reason: Logical Fallacies. 

This good is good on two fronts. It 1. is able to teach people how to argue better by teaching them a wide array of logical fallacies and 2. Teachers you what many Creationists actually think and helps people to find better ways to debate them. But I think this book because it was the first book that I got that ever taught me about so many logical fallacies.

9. Too Good to be True - Jan Brunvand

Snopes in a book. That's all I can really say about it. This book tells you about all sorts of myths and urban legends and shows them to be fake. Like the Spider in the Cactus story, and The Exploding Toilet myth. I remember so many times people who try to scare me with these stories, or teach me these stories as fact, and then would get so upset when I didn't take their word for it. I think this book is a must-have for any household.

8. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

I love a lot of Richard Dawkins works, but The Selfish Gene is one of my favorites. It teaches Altruism and why the human species is inherently selfish. It is a very nicely written work that is able to explain things simply for even readers who are not all that into science to read. 

7. Hungry Hollow - A.K.Dewdney

I love this book, it's just fantastic! It talks about the world in the eyes of animals. Getting into detail never thought possible. Looking at this land, called the Hungry Hollow, in the eyes of a biologist, a raccoon, a bird, etc. Bringing you to smaller and smaller sizes, the biological changes as one shrinks. It's just a fantastic book!

6. What a Plant Knows - Daniel Chamovitz

This book shocked me when I read it. I never thought of plants having any sort of senses, but this book explained in a very scientific way that plants can respond to sound, light, and even touch. Although incorrectly reading this book, you might think that plants are sentient, and they are not. But this book I checked out days before my college science lesson that taught me the same thing. Plants are more awesome than I thought.

5. Raccoons are the Brightest People - Sterling North

Yeah, this technically is more of a documentary than a educational novel. But this book is what really started to teach me that animals did in fact have emotions, and feelings, and lives. Before this book, I believed animals did in fact have feelings, but I did not know anyone else believed the same. I was told that animals are just mindless beings that ran on instinct. 

This is just one of those books that sold me on the case that animals are indeed living creatures with a mind and reason all their own.

4. Some we Love, Some we Hate, Some we Eat - Hal Herzog

This is a wonderful book that explains why we think about animals the way we do and why we eat pigs but eating a cat is considered taboo. Why don't we eat dogs? And why do we test on rats instead of cats? Ad why are we just hate many animals for seemingly no reason? This book is great for those very questions.

3-2. Don't Cross Your Eyes/Don't Swallow your Gum - Aaron Caroll and Rachael Vreeman

These two books are wonderful for teaching about the numerous myths regarding our health that are out there being perpetuated in the world today. I always get annoyed when someone says something unproven and incorrect like "Sugar makes kids hyper" or "Underwear makes one infertile" and these books helps a ton in that regard. 

1. Animals Make us Human - Temple Grandin

Whereas Raccoons are the Brightest People made a point, this book drove that point home. Animals Make us Human is a book regarding how animals react and why. Temple telling us about her work in the field and how her observation from her Autism reinvented the way we view animals. From mindless beings to beings with a different mindset. She helped create a more humane slaughter house existence. 

Top 6 Free-to-Play Hack-and-Slash Android Games

I feel like the Hack-and-Slash Queen. I actually have two different Android products. One Tablet, and a Kindle Fire, which feels better as a controller. Some games are only available on one Android device, but not the other, I never understood that. I am still playing new games on these two devices, but of my main choices, here are my Top 6.

These are free games for the androids, but they are also pretty well made. The catch? In-game advertisements and/or real money in-game purchases. You can ignore the ads and merchandise, but they make the game better if you want to fork over money for it. Seeing as I am very cheap, I don't fork over money for games. So you can get a good gameplay just by playing these games as they are.

Castle of Shadows - This game is a lot like Castlevania, just... meh. It's free. It's fun, but it's meh. The translation is completely terrible! But the platforming and hack and slash notions of the game are extremely fun.

Zenonia 1-5 - Friggen epic storyline and hack-and-slash awesomeness. The graphics just get more and more awesome as the newer games come out. I really like this game because you can just run around and button tap enemies until they die. You can take quests for extra money and experience, it's a lot like a typical cross between Zelda and Castlevania.

Inotia 1-4 - This game series is also a lot like Zenonia. A LOT like Zenonia. But it does not take away from the feel of the gameplay. Still lots of adrenaline rush goodness.

Destinia - A lot like Zenonia, just... with a different name. This game could easily have been labeled Zenonia and I wouldn't have an issue with it. You just take quests for extra money/experience, but mainly, you are fulfilling a storyline in which you are a cliche' powerful character who was once the apprentice of the main evil character. Very fun though.

Third Blade - This game a little different, kinda like Maximum Carnage fro the SNES. You just go from stage to stage and hack and slash at the monsters, then the boss. No real storyline, or anything. Just hack and slash.

Devil Ninja 2 - You start off running. You have to jump to avoid pits and hack and slash enemies like a Mofo. You have bosses and everything, and have to collect as many points as possible. But you're an epic ninja with a sword and slicey-dicey skills.

If any of these games are compatible with your android device, download and start playing! I think they are pretty fun, especially if you are into Hack and Slash games.

Vladis Story: Abyssal City Review

This game is a lot like a cross between Zenonia and Castlevania. Which makes it fun as hell. Yeah, it looks like a good android app game, but this game is actually on Steam, and you can play it with a real life controller! It's a sidescrolling platformer.

The story of this game is that you are in a wreck when fighting the boss, and you then fall under, landing in a different village. You now have to find your teammates, and reassemble. You do this by earning the trust of a village, and running around and slicing random enemies.

The voice acting for this game, or shall I say, his grunts, are kinda.... Well, they stand out. They sound like they were recorded from far away on a cheap microphone. But... that isn't inherently bad. and does seem to play into the game somehow. There is something about that different, not-clean cut audio that makes the game's environment... better.

One thing does make this game grate on my nerves though. Ice Enemies. Uggghhh! Those buggers freeze you, over, and over, and you just want to rip them apart! They are as frustrating as the Medusa Heads in Castlevania. GAAAHH!!! Thankfully, you get potions that heal you halfway when you die and refill at save points.

No matter what character you play as, the main storyline doesn't really change. Just the speech. They should have made a separate story for each character.

This game as a hack-and-slash seems pretty awesome. It's challenging. It's graphics look fine. It's leveling system seems fair. The monsters can be a pain but are not too much. In fact, many enemies are too easy. The bosses are a challenge without being too much of a challenge. Altogether this game is pretty fun to play.

HitBliss Review

I have been using Hitbliss, which is a downloadable program in which you earn money by watching advertisements and spend it on Pandora, rent movies, or buy episodes of popular TV series.

HitBliss allows you to watch minute long ads, and 30 second ads, etc, and you earn a certain amount per ad. It really does not take much of your time, and it looks very well. But... you have to be engaged. There is a timer which you must click before it tuns out to show that you are still engaged and present. The more you click it, the higher trust level you get, and the less you have to click those annoying buttons. Oh, you also cannot go to a different screen, or mute your computer. But you gain your trust level, which is kinda like playing a videogame. You get bonuses for consecutive clicking, as well as clicking it early. It also gets harder to level up as you earn levels, because the message pops up more and more rarely.

You can only use the money to rent movies for 24 hours, get a 1 month Pandora subscription, or buy TV episodes. You cannot withdraw the money, which sucks, but I can see the point in doing that. They want to limit abuse of the system where people watch ads just to earn money and may not even be engaged, or make multiple accounts to earn a ton of money without actually truly watching the ads. They do this by limiting the ways you can use the money. That way, it differentiates between HitBliss and sites like Jingit, which is very similar and does allow you to earn money and spend it like a Visa debit card.

HitBliss allows you to watch the same ads numerous times a day until your limit is full, which is 6 bars. Or 24 ads in total. Which will probably net you about 6 dollars a day... which is your limit. You can only earn 6 dollars maximum until you spend your money. If you love movies, just a little time watching ads a day can allow you to watch them for free. Awesome? Hell yeah. Of course, I rarely watch movies or Tv... Maybe now I can finally catch up with Dr Who.

There are still some bugs to work out, but it's free. So check it out.

Top 5 Ways I Make Money Online

Cents, because you won't be earning very many dollars
Not unless you are wonderful at it

Yeah, I know many of you are skeptical, although I don't understand why. Earning money online is the new frontier. Although you are probably thinking that I am going to scam you. I won't. And to promise you that, I will not add any links to any of the sites or ways I will list. Yeah, I sound like a typical stay-at-home mom now because i am listing ways to earn money online, but hey, I'm unemployed and all the jobs are still taken!

Swagbucks - Not the best choice, but it's here. You like surveys? Searching? Downloads for cash? Looking for random codes? Then Swagbucks is for you. I do very little on that site. Maybe a some searches every now and then, the daily poll. I have cashed out there maybe once a month. But if you are willing to risk it, you can play game tournaments with other people for decent to sizable Swagbuck prizes. Games like Scrabble. You earn Swagbucks and exchange them for prizes, such as Amazon Giftcards and/or Paypal deposits. Not very grand, but it's a few bucks a month if you are bored.

Selling E-books - Anyone can write. Including me. I am a writer, and I self-publish works at Lulu.com. I have only earned a couple of bucks this way, but it's a couple of bucks well earned. Writing is tedious, can be stressful, and includes lots of probono work, like me and this review blog. I may only be earning cents via Adsense, if that. But if you believe you can write something to sell, go for it. Remember, unofficial strategy guides for videogames are able to be sold as long as you have commentary and not add any pictures of the game.

Selling stuff on Amazon and Etsy - Etsy is a site where you need a lot of skill and networking to get people to view and purchase your stuff. Also, you need skill to be able to craft. I earn a little money on there, although i have not sold anything yet in my new store. Amazon is a lot better. You just post stuff online there, and earn money like a mofo... until you run out of stuff to sell. I never used Ebay, so I guess that is good too.

JingIt - I just found this site today, and it seems VERY well made. You watch ads, you earn funds, and you can use your funds via VISA card to spend on whatever you want, for up to 60 dollars a month! Although when you start off, it'll be 40 a month, and even then you may only get 20 or less a month, depending on how you use the site, and if you use it to its fullest advantage.

Hitbliss - I love this site. I never watch movies or TV series often, but I might do so more now because of this site. It's a LOT like Jingit, but you download it. You watch ads, and you earn a little bit of money for each one. You can earn a decent sized chunk of cash, which you can only use to purchase or rent movies or episodes of TV series. It's fast, it looks fantastic, it doesn't take long, it keeps you engaged, the buffering sucks, but hey, they're paying /you/ so it shouldn't matter. Idk how much you can earn with this site. I'll get back to you on that one.

I don't earn much at the moment, but right now, every little bit can help.

SimCity Review

No no no, not the beautiful, new graphics version of SimCity. I am talking about this:

This boring, retched, crappy, captivating game. Even better because you can annihilate your own creations using tons and tons of natural disasters. I got several achievements from the crappy annoying mayor in all of 10 minutes, and my city flourished. 

In this game, you are told nothing. There is a practice level if you are interested, but you are told nothing. You set industrial, commercial, and residential areas next to each other. Then you get a power plant, a police and fire department so you don't get robbed. yadda yadda. This game is boring.

I loved it more when I was younger though. This one one of the same that was more interesting because you were able to play god, which I loved doing as a child. But even then I bore of it quickly.

You basically try to get the mist people and earn the most money, and protect your village from natural disasters. It's ok though, but you cannot torture your people the same way you can in The Sims.

Try it out, you can get the Rom and Emulator for free at sites like CoolRoms.