How was Splatoon's first Splatfest?

This past weekend Nintendo's Splatoon had it's first community event, titled Splatfest. For this one day event you were to choose a side, either Cats or Dogs (it will change each time they run Splatfest) and you will be matched up with players of the same chosen side and face off against the other team. For 24 hours the focus was on who was better, Cats or Dogs, and not so surprisingly Dogs came out on top.

How the event worked was instead of the usual modes that you would play, all were replaced with Splatfest, and unlike the usual 2 map, 4 hour rotation, these 3 maps stayed the entire day. I heard some people were a little tired of playing the same 3 maps for the whole day, but there were some other little changes that seemed to make it less painful for most. Most importantly you had the option of staying together with the team that you were matched with. If you had a stinker of a team, then you'd just get matched up with others if you liked following the games. However, if you and your teammates really clicked you could stick with them. No idea why it isn't like this in the regular modes, but i'm sure down the road that could change.

It also had a little ranking system similar to what Destiny uses in Iron Banner, where you got xp at the end of a match, whether you win or lose, and you rank up, from being a fanboy or fangirl to king or queen. As well though, you are awarded super sea snails which you can use to upgrade gear or reroll abilities on gear owned. The ranking and snails get players to keep on playing, and striving for the best gear and title. Also what should be noted is that the higher your rank, the more snails you will be awarded, so it's best to keep playing, rank up, and get even more snails.

The event seemed to go off rather smoothly, though I expected either of the last couple maps to finally be unlocked in this Splatfest; i'm sure however they'll pop up soon enough if not for the next one. Sadly I was only able to get a few games in, but they were very intense, fun, and different enough that it made the daylong event seem like something to get excited about when they announce the next one.

All in all, Splatoon continues to be one of the games that has lived up to what I had hoped it would be and something that I definitely need to spend a bit more time on. If you have a Wii U and don't have this game, well, rectify the situation.

My Top 3 Most Wanted Games

So now that E3 has come and gone, and we are excited once again about what is coming out in the near future, I just wanted to touch on what games I am most excited about. There are more than a couple that I can't wait for but I thought I would quickly recap the ones I am most excited for.

3) Horizon - PS4

Guerrilla Games is best known for their work on the Killzone franchise but they are finally breaking out of that bubble and working on a brand new IP and it looks stellar. Horizon is a post-post apocalyptic action RPG and from what i've seen and read so far, it should be pretty amazing. Graphically the game looks insane already, and it follows the main character as she journeys across the landscape taking on giant robot dinosaurs (that's basically what they are). It looks like it mixes things like the Witcher with Monster Hunter, and you can get pieces from the robots you take down and use them to craft new gear and such, like a MH game. Definitely can't wait for this to come out.

2) Last Guardian - PS4

This game originally was announced almost a decade ago, originally for the PS3, and it seemed to die, but thankfully Sony has brought it back. It is from what used to be known as Team Ico, a small team, and it's about a boy and his umm, bird cat monster thing, as you traverse desolate castles and build a bond between the two. You should just watch the video and then you'll know what i'm talking about. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two of my all time favourite games so I am very happy to see that this isn't dead.

1) Fire Emblem Fates - 3DS

I love the Fire Emblem series. I love strategy RPGs and this series has been at the top of my list for about a decade now, and thankfully since Fire Emblem Awakening did so good we are getting a new one. Apparently there are two versions that you can get, a White one and a Black one, with the White version being the traditional one starring characters like Marth and Lucina and so forth, and is a bit more straightforward. The other version, Black, is apparently a bit more of a challenge. Thing is you buy one of them, and if you want the second one you pay an extra $20 to unlock it. I am very excited for this game, even if I don't like how they're handling the versions. However, there is so much content to the game and things like online vs modes, so we will definitely get a solid bang for the buck. This is out in the spring and it will definitely give me something to do when i'm gaming on the go.

What is going on with Nintendo?

So I haven't talked about the Nintendo E3 press conference, or digital event, as it's been a couple crazy weeks since then, but thought I would share some thoughts on what's gone on.

Mostly, I was pretty disappointed.

If you read this blog at all then you'd know that I am a big Nintendo fan. I'm a dad and just want nothing more than to play Nintendo games with my kids as they grow up, as I grew up on the games and love them and love the new games. I look forward to E3 time and seeing what is coming up from Nintendo, but sadly, there's not a lot really, especially for Wii U.

I know that they have stated that they don't like to show off games in the far off future like Sony or Microsoft do, and that's also probably because they're making games for the new system, the NX, and are more focused on that. But when you don't even show off anything to tease with the new Zelda game that they have insisted is still coming out next year, well I was pretty bummed.

The new Star Fox looks pretty underwhelming in my opinion. I'm sure it'll be fun, but when it comes out in November I'll be playing Battlefront more than likely. At least Xenoblade Chronicles X is out in December just after my birthday, which I am excited for. They did show off Yoshi's Wooly World, which looks cute, and for some reason is out all over the world except for North America. Guessing they wanted to stagger the release so they had some bigger titles for the fall, plus to give them time to make Yoshi amiibo for us? There was a new Animal Crossing party game teased but mostly looks to once again make use of amiibo, and gameplay wise looks like a less skilled version of Mario Party (so even more so based on chance than regular Mario Party). There was a lot more for 3DS, but the "Metroid" game looks pretty bland, and the new Zelda 3DS game is also not that interesting to me.

Not sure what I was really hoping for, but it just seemed that a number of the games were made to sell me amiibo, or were just some generic titles with IP slapped on it. I know that they are aware of the general disappointment that was in the air following the digital event, and have said they will do better to communicate better and create better experiences, and I believe them, but still after that event i'm still bummed about release calendar for Nintendo games for the rest of this year.

Maybe next year will be better.

On Destiny

I just went back and looked at what I had written about Destiny, after having played the Alpha and the Beta. It's been about ten months since the game came out, and while I have also picked up a number of games here and there, really the bulk of my time still goes into Destiny.

It has definitely not quite lived up to my original hype, and has fallen quite short as far as the story goes. There's hints of greatness still in the game, stories that are waiting to be told, but for whatever reason it just hasn't happened yet. The original lead writer on the game left a little bit before the game came out, and many have hypothesized that the original story that Bungie wanted to tell had some ambiguous greys in it and wasn't strictly a black and white affair with guardians of light versus the Darkness. The theories do make some sense and I can see having had that story scrapped and moving eventually towards something else happen, and the patch job was a bunch of grimoire cards that were hastily written up and tossed on the website.

Regardless, Destiny has been a great social experience and that is why I have put hundreds and hundreds of hours into the game. I've gotten to play and stay in touch with my brothers back in Alberta, my former coworkers, game with new coworkers, but mostly meet a ton of new friends in the clans I have been a part of, whether it be Dads of Destiny or my favourite Christian chums in Below the Cross. I have done countless raids, done my weeklies every week, even participated in a couple Iron Banner events even though I'm terrible at pvp, but I still have fun because of the people I play with.

Lately there's been a lot of controversy over the pricing of the upcoming expansion the Taken King, and especially the pricing of the legendary versions that have some exclusive items attached. I'm kind of interested in the class items but not for the money, and after the uproar and lashing back against Bungie I'm glad they have at least put the items up for sale, even if the price point is pretty steep, I think anyways. A lot of people are saying they are done with the game, have moved on, but I'm pretty sure i'll pick it up. Because it's about the social experience for me and I still have fun with the game. Just hoping that they start to fulfill on the game I had originally gotten excited for and add a great story, because the opportunity is there, and hopefully Taken King gets it back on track.

Ocarina Adventures

I have been enjoying Ocarina of Time 3D a lot more than I did the last time around. I'm still at the beginning of the game but am finding it much more enjoyable than my first time playing it. Yes, I know it's blasphemous that I haven't beaten the game, let alone made it very far in at all really, but I never had an N64 back in the day.

After my time with the SNES I made the jump over to the Playstation, mostly thanks to Square and their development for Sony's fledgling system. I make it no secret that FFVI is my all-time favourite game and all i wanted was FFVII, more than anything pretty much. When Nintendo started showing off the N64 I remember being wowed by Mario 64, and really interested in Wave Race, but there wasn't a ton that I wanted. However, Sony had lined up a great number of publishers for their new system and I eventually got one with Beyond the Beyond (a terrible game btw, stay far away from it). My good friend had an N64 and I would play Ocarina with him and really liked it, but it was never enough for me to warrant purchasing one.

That reminds me, I need to buy an N64.

Anyways, I've been enjoying Ocarina 3D. I really enjoy the areas and my first time going through that monstrous field is still as impressive as the first time I played it. It still feels epic, even after playing newer RPGs like Dragon Age: Inquisition. Looking forward to playing it some more this week, and perhaps Link Between Worlds if I can snag it for cheap.

A Recap of What's Going On

Well it has been a while since I posted on here, and I have decided to get things back on track. I will be writing more frequently about whatever I am playing, as I have quite a bit on the go and more coming up.

Mostly I have taken a bit of a breather on Destiny. I have one character, my Warlock, at level 32, my Hunter is level 31 and then my lowly Titan is level 4 (he was made mostly to store items on as my vault is full). I have beaten Crota on hard once, and normal many times, I have SUROS, Gjallarhorn, multiple Icebreakers and more now, so there isn't much for me to do, other than pop on tuesday mornings to do nightfall with my buddies, or raid on the weekend with my brothers and friends. The new dlc isn't coming out until late April or probably May so i'll just take it easy until then.

I have gotten back into Dragon Age Inquisition though and it's been great. Such a fantastic game. Amazing world, crazy environments and very memorable characters. I am technically halfway through the game though I have only put about 20 hours into it. I have also really only been to 3 of the 10 areas so I have a long ways to go. Multiplayer on that is also fantastic, I highly recommend it.

As for what's next, well I am still trying to track down a copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. That game looks like so much fun and quite a few of my friends have been playing it. I however did just start Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and this time I am going to stick with it and actually get somewhere.

That's it for now, maybe i'll update on Zelda in a day or two. Cheers all!

Wrapping Up The End of The Year

Well the last couple of months have been pretty crazy for me. Me and my wife welcomed our second child into the world and thus life has been busy. I haven't had a ton of time to play, but when I have, well it's been Destiny. After almost 3 months and over 60 hours (which is a lot for me) I still come back to Destiny day after day. A lot of people have had issues with it and dropped it after weeks, but whenever I have friends online we are all over it, and if not then i'm just working on bounties and such. So i've been mostly playing Destiny, however I also picked up Dragon Age: Inquisition as well as Diablo 3 for the PS4 so I have quite a bit to play. I've been busy but I am going to start on my year end list pretty soon, just wanted to touch base on how life has been and what I have been enjoying.

Also, the Wii U has been out for 2 years now and I love it even more than when I first got it. I play Destiny a lot but as far as flat out fun games, and fun times when people are over, it's all about Nintendo and their system. If you don't have a Wii U, Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros yet, well get on out there and pick one up. Trust me, you won't regret it. Best exclusive library and next year there are even more great titles coming out. Until next time, keep on gaming.