For daily chatting, neat videos, and fun images.

Time for Japanese ponies!

Apple Bloom speaks kansai-ben... so cute.

I have a sudden craving for pudding... be right back.

Hmm... I will take this chance to talk about an awesome game.

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

Wikipedia

This game is one of my favorites. It's like Tales of Phantasia: the fight are made in a side-scrolling platform. The game is light hearted and offers a weapon crafting system. The music is pretty good... and it offers many choices to the player. I recommend it to everyone.

449854
*noms pudding*
Dang, I don't have a GBA.

449858

Hmm... which videogame consoles you have?

449859
I own a DS, and I have access to a Wii and PS3 (when my brother lets me). My PS2 is in storage right now. I still have my computer games though.

449860

Ah, I know another good game then. This one is a bit more popular.

Anno 1404 <- For PC
Wikipedia

Anno 1701 <- For DS
Wikipedia

The Anno series is a misture of city building, economic manipulation and trading. The main idea behind it is to settle islands, bringing citizens and fulfilling their wishes. The happier you citizens are, the more they advance... and as a result, your civilization advance too. It's really worth giving it a try.

There is a demo for 1701, if you want to check it out.

449867
Hmm. I'll have to look into those. Do you like fantasy?

449868

I sure do.

449870
Then I have a suggestion for you.
"The Book of Unwritten Tales" for the PC.

It manages to poke fun at nearly every fantasy game out there, while still having an interesting story line. That, and the gnome is so adorable. /)^3^(\

449872

I gave it a look. Seemed pretty cool.

I am also happy because it seems it will play on my notebook. I will try to find it where I live.

You have three consoles, yes? You and your brother must have a lot of games.

449879
He has a lot more than I do. My hand-eye coordination is pretty bad. I tend to fail epicly at most games.

As for the Book of Unwritten Tales, it's available on steam. They also have a website: http://www.unwritten-tales.com/

449882

Hmm... I see.

So you prefer puzzles and turn based games, right? Do you have Civilization?

449884
I found Civilization kinda confusing. I do own all of the games in the "Age of Empires" series.

449885

Age of Empires is pretty cool.

Age of Mythology is one of my favorite ones. Especially because of the plot. My favorite mission was the last one, where you have to build a wonder.

I also played Age of Kings. Whenever I played I would always make the map look like a desert, because I usually harvest a lot of resources. XD I also remember that for some reason it was easier to get Gold than to get Stones.

About the campaign, I loved the French and the Mongol one. In fact, the mongols were one of my favorite civilizations.

449887
I liked to play India since they get elephants. I also play Japan.

449888

Japan was pretty cool. And so was Turkey.

I loved the Turkey shooter. I would usually prefer to make him rather than archers. Basically my final army would be Paladins, ranged units like Archers or Muskets and Trebutchets. Trebutchets are just so wonderful to crush walls, towers and buildings. But they are very expensive too.

449890
My Indian army: Elephants! Elephants everywhere! Muwahaha!
I liked the Japanese shrines for the local wildlife, and you gotta love samurai.

I found the Native American races hard to play. They seemed really outmatched by the European/Asian groups. It's probably pretty accurate though.

449892

Elephants are pretty awesome!

The only con that I remember is that they cost a lot of food... and pikemen has bonus against them. Still, pikemen has bonus against Paladins, so I can't say much.

And food really isn't a problem. Hunting and foraging at the start... then you can live pretty well just from farming. I would usually harvest insane amounts of food in a single play.

Samurai are pretty nice, just like many unique castle units. For example, the English longbows.

About the Native American... I played only the demo from the expansion, so I can't say much. How are they?

449899
They can't build walls, and they don't get much in the way of siege equipment. Some of the bonuses like the firepit buffs can be nice.

449902

They can't build walls?

Now I see why they are always getting outmatched. One of my favorite structures are walls. Walls and towers. In fact I see towers as a way to cheat the population cap.

Also they don't have siege weapons? They must get beaten pretty bad when attacking a castle. Are they quick to grow? If so, perhaps they are designed just to rush against your opponent while he is in Feudal or Dark age.

449907
Honestly, I'm not really sure. I was never very good with their civilizations... I admit to resorting to the use of George Crushington in some of their campaigns.

449910

I know that feel.

In Age of Kings (Age of Empires II), I just couldn't beat Barbarossa campaign. The first mission where you fight against several players... it's pretty hard.

Genghis Khan also had some pretty hard levels... but I managed to finish it! I guess it's because, like I said before, I also love playing with the mongols.

From the Age series, only the 'Age of Mythology' and it's expansion I finished without cheats.

449914
I'm Age of Empires 2 you use the cars. I tend to use the cheat codes when the enemy won't let me build in peace.

449915

Yeah, things get pretty rough when you are attacked at the beginning. Especially when you have many opponents.

It seems that AI players like to pick right on the human one. Still, I have some tricks to beat them... most of them to take advantage of their AI. For example, I like biting a group of enemies and bringing them to another player base.

Another good trick is making an open wall. The enemy usually tries to go through the quicker way... even if there is a line of ranged units waiting to him.

449918
I do the open wall thing too. You just stick a car/crushington in it and you can build your empire in peace. Plus they can't steal your resources.

449919

The car is pretty cool too.

Still, I usually make military units pretty fast. Not only for defense... but to annoy enemies as well. Especially those peasants digging for gold and stone far from their cities.

And that sure is plus: being able to get resources and build on peace. Oh, do I love building! I usually build a lot: I love being able to replace my soldiers quickly.

449920
I just send a villager to those mining spots to put in a guard tower. It confuses the NPCs

449921

I never tried it before. I will try to find my CD so I can give it a try.

One of my traits when I play Age of Empires, Command and Conquer and other strategy games is that I always strive to keep them alive. That really helps, especially in more expensive units like Heavy Cavalry.

449924
I know. I feel bad when even my villagers die.

449925

So do I.

This is why I always send a recon unit with them. If there is trouble then I can quick retreat.

Still, it's pretty hard to keep watch... especially when you go to pick resources from afar. When I am playing with friends, I also have to make protection for my caravans.

Now if only you could put a gate over the train tracks.

449931

Hmm... I didn't get to see trains. Is it a feature from Age 3?

449937
Yes. There are trade routes that start out as a human drawn sled, which you can upgrade to a stagecoach, and then to a train. You can't put walls over the pathways, so it leaves a gap in your defenses.

449940

Hmm... I see. And it's objective... is it still to just make gold?

449941
They can produce gold, wood, food, or experience towards your next shipment from homebase.

449942

Ah, so they are even more useful!

To tell the truth, I usually only make caravans because raw gold is usually mined pretty fast. And food and wood gets cheap pretty quick at the market.

But... what is experience in Age 3?

449944
You earn experience for doing anything and everything. You have a "homebase" which is the capital city of whatever civilization you are playing as. As you gain experience, your colony levels up and you get to pick from a "deck of cards" which contains units, supplies or useful upgrades. Whatever you pick gets "shipped" in from the capital. Some of the experience rolls over into your home city, which can level up as you complete skirmishes. As the city levels up you can pick new cards for your deck, and even customize how your city looks.

449949

Hmm... and does it also have stones?

Because from what I saw the Age series love having four resources:

Age of Mythology: Wood, Food, Gold and Favor.
Age of Empires II (Age of Kings): Wood, Food, Gold and Stones.

449953
They took out stone. I guess you could say experience is the "resource" that replaced it.

449958

I knew it!

Age of Empires always keeps the four resource formula. And Wood, Food and Gold are always there.

449963
If the formula works well, why change it?

449967

That is true.

Food for units, wood for buildings and gold for advanced things. I am kind of happy: stone always ended super expensive in Age II... that sounds pretty easier.

449969
That and you had to task a section of your villagers to go mine it.

449971

So true. Still... I didn't mind it so much. Because I usually make a lot of villagers anyway.

If I remember right, I usually made 10 (Food), 5 (Wood), 5 (Stone) and 5 (Gold) at the start. Then I would go to 15 - 10 - 10 - 10. After gold and stone are gone, I would have 30 Food and 15 Wood. And to make 50, I would make also a few fishing boats or caravans.

449979
The stone nodes always seemed to run out too quickly for me.

449981

True. I would usually find myself running after stone far more than gold.

But that is also because of how market works. Because I sell a lot of food, food is super cheap. Because I use a lot of stone... well...

It's not my fault that I enjoy making huge walls, full of defense towers and two to four castles.

I usually makes layers in my city: I like to have a big area inside and outside, giving me ample space to position my units and lots of buildings. I just love having a lot of everything: resources, building or units.

It's a pity that population cap keeps getting in my way!

449988
I know... you get your town all nice and neat, and then you can't afford the high end upgrades.

449991

The last upgrades sure are expensive. In special the Elite upgrade for unique units.

But I don't think there is one that beats Omniscience, in Age of Mythology: the cost is 100 gold... for every enemy unit on the map!

449997
I don't usually bother with that one.