Magic

Unearthing the Unique Depth of Testament: The Order of High Human – An Honest Review

July 22, 2023 Reviews

Truth is what we’re best known for and I’d like to start this off with an honest one: Testament: The Order of High Human is expected to be perfect and is not. It is a beautiful, gorgeous game with deep lore and very fun puzzles with some decent combat. It has an old school scrappy developer vibe to it that makes a lot of old games endearing with graphics that appeal to the modern eyes. We don’t use numerical rankings because it’s sitting on 6/10 on Steam right now and is at “All Reviews: Mixed” on a sample size of roughly ~20. I don’t think games that have the artistic depth that Testament does deserve to be put on a numerical scale where anything below 8 is a waste of your money. There’s an audience out there for Testament who love this style of game and when it comes to…

The Best Retro Handheld 2024

March 31, 2024 Editorials

I recently purchased this really fun Game Boy refurb called “Pastel Boy” from Vapor95 which is a reseller for Gamerchanger Mods. They took a case from MizuCat (which was limited to 50), some upgrades and voila: you get a new Game Boy. I haven’t received it yet but it got me hankering for more: I realized this wasn’t a Game Boy Color. This was, by all accounts, a wonderful decoration for my house and nifty toy but it wasn’t really useful. I needed something where I could bring my massive library that I have amassed of portable games around with me and the Zelda Game & Watch is really useful, but it only has Zelda. I don’t want just PSP either, I want GBA! Luckily that’s where retro handhelds come in. Steam Deck / ROG Ally These devices are now more aesthetic or price based – $150 or less to…

Diablo 4 Class Tier List – 2023

June 4, 2023 Tier Lists

Diablo IV is a powerhouse of top down clicking loot harvesting demon slaying mania and you can do so with a selection of classes. The question is, which class is the most optimal and then what would be the primary core skill? Let’s take a look at our top picks for the wanderer in Diablo IV. This list assumes playing solo, since group dynamics can make up for a lot of weaknesses and turn a lot of eh builds into something stronger. Since there’s so few classes in Diablo 4, we’ll break it down to a tier per class. S Tier Necromancer (Bone) The Necromancer’s minion builds are strong in the first 50 levels, but towards the endgame you’ll be thankful to take the bar space back and choose from some powerful abilities instead of taking the golden along. Right now, the bone abilities like bone spear make the Necromancer…

Understanding Final Fantasy and What Order to Play

March 25, 2023 Editorials

There’s a lot in the world of Final Fantasy. I mean a lot. There are a total of 13 mainstream non-MMO games and a ton of spinoffs like the Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, etc. I’ve recently gone on a binge of replaying some of the older titles and it’s made me go huh – how would you even get started in the series. If you started for instance at FF8, it would be so confusing. I wouldn’t think much of the series. I started with FF1 and FF3 (US) and skipped until 10, 12, and then went back to 7 and 8 which made them all make a lot more sense than if I just started with 7 or 8. So I’ve put together my thoughts on the best order to play and various issues with some of the games. These are my opinions and are not universally shared. For some,…

Forspoken Early Game Boss Guide and Tips

March 24, 2023 Guides

Forspoken is a isekai video game that has you in a magical world working to get back home. The start of the game really sets up the rest of the game and is likely the hardest part to get through so we’ve got some tips and tricks for the early part of the game to get you up and started. This guide works for Xbox, PS5 and PC since all three games are the same. If you’re looking for the best platform, PS5 is likely to run it the smoothest unless you have a beefy PC. If you’re having trouble running the game on PC then don’t hesitate to turn the settings down and make sure to close all the background applications. There’s a demo available for PC players hesitant to purchase. It’s recommended to try the demo first to see how you like it before buying on PC. Down…

The Meeting-Driven World of Video Game Development

March 24, 2023 Editorials

For those of you who have ever worked a job that had any kind of meeting this may actually resonate differently than those who haven’t. When video games are developed there are, surprisingly, a lot of meetings that occur. When we’re talking meetings we’re talking a lot of meetings. So many meetings that it’s actually kind of fascinating to think about. None of the below is really applicable to single developer games that don’t utilize outside contractors. Single developers naturally work entirely alone on their own game and purchase / generate all the assets and resources themselves. Single developers who contract out work still have meetings, interestingly enough. Meetings and Video Games So there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. You have the product team, that’s the developer and the game designer along with their associated analysts and support staff. You have a technical team that’s got a considerable…

Choosing a Class / Job in FFXIV Handbook / Guide

February 1, 2023 Guides

There’s a lot to picking your first class and then subsequent job in Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) to take into consideration. Seasoned and new players alike can have difficulty choosing which job to play and it’s especially relevant for new players who have to stick with the first class they pick for awhile. Getting stuck on that class selection screen is a real reality with so many classes in FFXIV to choose from. The first thing we go over is picking your class and you’re stuck with that until level 10. Then at level 30 you can change to jobs which grant expanded abilities. Then at level 50 there are new jobs to unlock based on expansions and other considerations. So we go into what all the different classes / jobs do in the game, how to acquire them and what they do. So consider this a one stop shop…

Top 10 Weapons in Minecraft Dungeons (Ranged & Melee)

July 15, 2023 Guides

Having the right weapon at the right time isn’t always possible in a randomly generated loot crawler like Minecraft Dungeons. That’s alright though, there’s plenty of weapons all around that will knock your enemies off the map and take down even the toughest bosses on the highest difficulties. If you’re wanting to know what are the best weapons in Minecraft Dungeons are along with their special abilities then look no further: Top 5 Melee Weapons: Top 5 Ranged Weapons: These are the best melee and ranged weapons in Minecraft Dungeons. The game is pretty cool though with all the weapons. Sometimes it’s more about what makes you happy and what mods you get than the actual weapon type. These unique-ish weapons above though will come generally with special abilities that’ll give you an edge ontop of the mods. Hope this list helps you out. Happy hunting in MC Dungeons!

How to Fix Diablo Immortal Crashing on PC After Starting Game

June 28, 2022 Guides

If you’re on PC and frustrated that Diablo Immortal won’t start then you’re not alone. I, the author of this article, spent nearly a month struggling and searching for an answer and I finally found out what is causing it and how to fix it. We’ll start with what the problem is and then follow-up with some sure fire fixes to get you into Diablo Immortal and playing. What’s Happening The game security system in Diablo Immortal seems to crash the game if it finds any interaction with a third-party app. This triggers right after the game loads on the “Starting Game” screen with the Repair Client on the bottom left. Various apps like Discord, GeForce and a myriad of other apps can interfere and trigger Diablo Immortal starting. USB and Bluetooth peripherals can also trigger a crash. The other issue, which I actually haven’t seen any of, is the…