Sunday, June 20, 2010

New Pokemon Games: Heart and Soul

With my previous post of the oldest version of Pokemon (Yellow), now I'm gonna write about the newest Pokemon game so far, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. I just finished the third gym, but I think it's gonna be one heck of a game. =))

Well, HeartGold and SoulSilver are remakes of Gold and Silver games of the Gameboy Color generation. Basically, the story is the same, there are some noticable differences.
1. The female main character/pseudo-rival is now a different character.
2. All berry trees are changed to Apricorn Trees, where you can get Apricorns, obviously hahaha, which can be kept in the new item, Apricorn Case.
3. Chasing the Farfetch'd is harder and needs tactics.
4. The gyms' design are now different. I guess you can say it's much cooler. I had a bit of trouble on my first try, or maybe I was just sleepy, I dunno. hahahahaha
5. You can now look at the Kanto Gym Badges. Before in the old games, you can't see those badges.
6. After beating Red, you can get from Professor Oak one of the following Pokemon:
Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle.
7. After beating Red, you can also get from Steven Stone on of the following Pokemon:
Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip.
8. The legendary Pokemon from other versions can now be battled and caught.
9. The Fighting Dojo, where you can get Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee in beating the Dojo leader, is now used as a place where you can battle the Gym Leaders for rematches, like the Sinnoh Battleground in the other generation IV game Pokemon Platinum.
The other non-noticeable differences are music and character sprites. For the other differences, I'll let you find out for yourself. =)

For me, the best starter Pokemon to get is Chikorita, since in the Pokemon Center in Violet City, you can get Mareep, Wooper, and Slugma as eggs by talking to Primo, the guy beside the PC. So, you have a Grass, Thunder, Water, and Fire-type Pokemon, respectively. Then, you can get a Bellsprout then trade it for an Onix. You have a 5-Pokemon team. The only problem is the first gym is a Flying-type, which is the weakness of Grass-type Pokemon. Then after beating Red and getting Charmander from Oak and Mudkip from Steven, Your best line-up could look like this:

In HeartGold:
Meganium(Grass)
Charizard(Fire, Flying)
Swampert(Water, Ground)
Tyrannitar(Dark, Rock)
Raikou(Electric)
Ho-Oh(Fire, Flying) in respet to the version mascot, but you can change this to a different Pokemon, preferrably Xatu(Psychic, Flying), Espeon(Psychic), or Gengar(Ghost)
You can also use Ho-Oh as your main Fire-type Pokemon if you want to teach Charizard Shadow Claw, Air Slash, and Dragon Claw.

In SoulSilver:
Meganium(Grass)
Charizard(Fire, Flying)
Swampert(Water, Ground)
Tyrannitar(Dark, Rock)
Raikou(Electric)
Lugia(Psychic, Flying) This is a strong Pokemon that can learn Water-type moves and is better than Ho-Oh, so, it's preferable to play SoulSilver. But, hey, it's up to you on what to play. ;)

This all for now, I can help you out next time about this or other Pokemon games. Just comment below. ;) Till next time. As Gary says, "Smell ya later."

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Old School Pokemon: Yellow Version PIKA!!

Yo!! Got nothing to right now, so I guess I'll be going to go "old school" and write about Pokemon Yellow. Yellow is a nice game to play. I enjoyed the fact that getting all 3 starters from the Red and Blue games is possible. The problem is only that it won't be worth expertimenting your line-up, like in Red/Blue where you only get one starter. In Yellow, your line-up will be filled with Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, and then if you add Mewtwo to your team, then you only have one slot left. It's still a fun game to play. :) The most troublesome part in the game is the fact that Pikachu can't evolve into Raichu since it refuses the Thunderstone. Now, you might ask why I want to evolve Pikachu. It's because Pikachu has low HP and Defense. All your Pokemon(at level 70up) in their final evolutions have 200+ HP but Pikachu is left with 150+.

Anyways, I just want to share my team to you :))

Pikachu lvl.58
--Thundershock
--Thunderbolt
--Thunder
--Mega Punch

Mewtwo lvl.70
--Bubblebeam
--Psychic
--Fire Blast
--Psywave

Snorlax lvl.51
--Body Slam
--Surf
--Strength
--Earthquake

Venusaur lvl.53
--Razor Leaf
--Sleep Powder
--Solarbeam
--Body Slam

Charizard lvl.57
--Slash
--Fly
--Flamethrower
--Fire Spin

Blastoise lvl.52
--Bite
--Skull Bash
--Ice Beam
--Hydro Pump

Hmm... you might ask why I taught Fly to Charizard (I ask myself the same thing hahaha). Well,
1. I wanted to use Snorlax :)
2. Snorlax has high HP even if it's in a low level. Flying-types have low HP.
3. Snorlax can use Surf and Strength, which saves space for my Blastoise and either Venusaur or Charizard. I saved a Move slot for Venusaur to teach it Earthquake only to find out that Venusaur can't learn Earthquake. :( That's why I taught Earthquake to Snorlax and taught Venusaur Body Slam instead
4. Adding another Flying-type Pokemon in my team will add another Thunder-weak Pokemon to my team (I already have two, namely Charizard and Blastoise).

Getting Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise to learn their strongest moves are hassles that you can't afford when about to face the Elite Four. Venusaur learns Solarbeam at level 65. Charizard learns Fire Spin at level 55. This move at this point is for me the strongest fie move since your opponent won't be able to move. Yoi can trap your opponent with this kind of moves. Blastoise learn Hydro Pump at level 52. So, here are tips to help you get those moves.

Don't evolve Bulbasaur until level 48, Charmander until level 49, and Squirtle until level 42.
They learn their respective strongest moves at these levels. Then if you want to immediately evolve these Pokemon out of battle, just use a Rare Candy. I don't really see the use of Rare Candies in this game other than this. I don't really use my Rare Candies. I don't even buy Status healers. I just use the money I save to buy Potions and Ultra Balls.

When starting out, I concentrated on training only the Pokemon that I will use in the end of the game. My Pikachu was level 13 before I battled Brock. Then he was level 21 when he battled Misty. My Charmander was level 16-17 at that time too. Before I battled Lt. Surge, my Bulbasaur was level 24, Charmander was level 22. When I reached the Elite Four, my pokemon were level 50+. Yeah, it's hard to train them, but you have 6 Pokemon everywhere you go and put them in equal levels, your Pokemon will be at very low levels. I tried that before and my Pokemon were only around level 45 when I battled the Elite Four.

BTW, just in case you were wondering my team for the other Generation 1 games, it's:
Venusaur
Arcanine
Gyarados
Snorlax
Mewtwo
Zapdos

Charizard
Exeggutor
Gyarados
Snorlax
Mewtwo
Zapdos

Blastoise
Exegguutor
Arcanine
Rhydon
Mewtwo
Zapdos

Train hard and remember:
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!!

As Gary says, "Smell ya later!" :))

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Zombies Approaching: PvZ Review and Survival Endless Tips

A tower defense game made by Popcap Games that hit the computer on May 2009. It's highly addictive and won a lot of awards. Its concept of using plants to fight against zombies is cute and unique. It has been released in a number of consoles like the XBox and the iPhone. The theme is really cute and catchy. When you finish the adventure part, you can watch the video sung by a Sunflower. Playing the game is really fun. I had a hard time getting off the game.

I enjoyed playing the Mini Games, Puzzle Mode, and the Survival Mode. In the Puzzle Mode, you can play as the zombies. In the Mini Games, you can play PvZ versions of Insaniquarium and Bejeweled. You can also play bowling PvZ style. The Survival Mode's Survival Endless is the most difficult(obviously). There are different ways players use to have a high number of flags. I admit that the way I played the game I got from the internet.

What I did was at the first and 2nd flag, I used 2 Sunflowers (1 was the Imitator), Twin Sunflower, Coffee Bean, Fumeshroom, Gloomshroom, Lilypad, Cattail, Pumpkin, and Potato Mine. I filled the 6 spaces with Sunflowers but only upgraded 2nd and 5th row, 3rd and 4th column, and also the 3rd row 5th and 6th column, and the 4th row 5th column Sunflowers to Twin Sunflowers. I used the Potato Mine to beat the zombies early in the level. Once I placed half the Sunflowers, except in the 3rd and 4th row 1st column, I placed Cattails in those places.
Now when I have enough money, I place, in order, Fumeshrooms, then Pumpkin, then Coffee Bean, and then the Gloomshrooms. Keep in mind that I placed them in the water. The first ones I placed in the 2nd to the last column then, I placed them in the last column. then the 3rd to the last. You should now have only 1 space in the water. Then you can put Pumpkins in the Twinflowers and the open space(put a Lilypad in the open space)....

OK, even I'm getting a hard time to understand this. hahahaha
How about if I show it to you this way:
S- Sunflowers T- Twin Sunflowers F-Fumeshrooms G- Gloomshrooms [ ]- Pumpkin
L- Lilypad C- Cattail _- open space

At the first flag, it should more or less look like this:
S S S S S _ _ __  __
S S S S S _ _ __ __
C C L L _ _ F [G] [G]
L L L L _ _ F [G] [G]
S S S S S _ _ __ __
S S S S S _ _ __ __
At the second flag, it should look like this:
S F S S S S __ __ __
S F [T] [T] S S __ __ __
C C S S [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
S S S S [T] [L] [G] [G] [G]
S F [T] [T] S S __ __ __
S F S S S S __ __ __
*Notice I only placed the Pumpkin on the upgraded plants and the Lilypad. Look at the next step.
At the next round, you need M- Melonpult, W- Wintermelon, _- Spikeweed,= Spikerock, Magnetshroom, g- Gold Magnet, [ ]- 2 Pumpkin, Gloomshrooms, Cherrybomb

At the third flag, it should look like this:
[W] F M M M [S] == __
[W] G [T] [T] S S == __
C C S S [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
S S S S [T] [g] [G] [G] [G]
[W] G [T] [T] S S == __
[W] F M M M [S] == __
At the fourth flag, it should look like this:
[W] G [W] [W] [M] [M] == ==
[W] G [T] [T] S S == ==
C C S S [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
S S S S [T] [g] [G] [G] [G]
[W] G [T] [T] S S == ==
[W] G [W] [W] [M] [M] == ==
At the next round, you need K- Kernelpult, CCCC- Cob Cannon, Lilypad, 2 Pumpkin, Spikeweed, Spikerock, Wintermelon, Cherrybomb, Jalapeno

At the fifth flag, it should look like this:
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [M] == ==
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
C C K K [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
S S S S [T] [g] [G] [G] [G]
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [M] == ==
*Notice that I didn't place the Cob Cannon at the 2 Kernelpults, it's because either I ran out of Sun or it's cooling down.

At the sixth flag, it should look like this:
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [W] == ==
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
C C CCCC [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
K K CCCC [T] [g] [G] [G] [G]
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [W] == ==

In the end it basically should look like this:
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [W] == ==
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
CCCC CCCC [T] [T] [G] [G] [G]
CCCC CCCC [T] [g] [G] [G] [G]
[W] [G] [T] [T] CCCC == ==
[W] [G] [W] [W] [W] [W] == ==

To maintain this, you need: Spikeweed, Spikerock, 2 Pumpkins, Cherrybomb, Jalapeno, Squash, Coffee Bean, Iceshroom, and Blover.

That's all the zombies I can take. Til next time... :]

Warcraft III DotA

Defense of the Ancients, or DotA/Dota for short, is a very addictive game. It is a good startegy game, where two groups, the Sentinel and the Scourge, fight for ownage, as the game says when your team is owning, of the other team's base. It is based on tne "Aeon of Strife" map in Star Craft. It is dubbed by Gamasutra as "the most popular free non-supported game mod in the world. The game has been featured in several world tournaments.

It is one of the highly played by Filipino youth today. I, myself, don't really like to play, but I do know how to. When the 6.60 and up maps were released, there were a lot of changes to the characters and items. I had to really adjust until 6.64 AI maps were released. I missed the old Lightning Revenant, which was my favorite player. I can honestly say that with my unorthodox build for Razor, which consisted of Mjollnir, Power Threads (Agility), 2 Vanguards, and 2 Butterflys, I could turn the game around. Now, I'm having a hard time using the new set of skills.

Now, you might be thinking, what do I get from playing this game? I find that hard to answer when playing alone, except maybe by answering "Just to waste time," then have a grin on my face. But, when playing with other people, then that's a different story. Playing with your friends increases teamwork with each other, and you get to be closer friends. Playing with others lets you meet new people, even if it's just over the computer screen.

The only problem I see is when you get too addicted to the game, you might forget everything else. There are cases where teens just play the game all day, forgetting to do their homework or even going to school. Oh, and I find that when you play this game, your cursing habit might increase, especially when you are about to kill the opponent, then suddenly his/her (yes, a lot of girls play the game, too) teammate shows up and pwns you, or worse your target might kill you before you do ($#&@*!! hehehe).

It's ok to paly as long as you set your priorities straight. :)

Oh, if you want me to give you help on some heroes, just comment the character name and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

What do you want me to write about?

Hey this is my first time to blog. I don't really know what game to write about. Some of my friends suggested that I write about DotA and Special Force. I guess I can do that, but I need more ideas. :D I wanna know what you enjoy playing or want to play. Hope you can help me out.