Fun

Adventures in Mobile Gaming – Merge Dragons/Magic

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As I mentioned in my previous post about Cat Game, Merge Dragons and Merge Magic were two games that I got really into during my 4 months working at home.

Both games are essentially the same. In one game you have different sorts of dragons that you can collect and merge to create better ones. In the other game, you have creatures such as dryads, centaurs and pixies.

Above is my current camp in Merge Dragons and below is my current garden in Merge Magic.

Other than the colours, they’re pretty similar.

As the names suggest, the main action of these games is merging objects together to create new objects. There are levels you can play and quests you can complete in your camp/garden to get stars. The regular yellow stars give you items. The purple stars give you gems. As with anything in this game, the more you merge the stars, the better items you get. Always merge your stars to their largest size.

On weekends, there are special events. Usually the games rotate between weekend so that there isn’t an event in both games at the same time. But, other weekends, there is an event in both games and then you have to get crafty. (More on that later)

Events give you a whole new map to heal, collect items for points and complete quests. Completing the events will get you awesome stuff, which always includes a new dragon/creature or two.

While the events give you awesome prizes, completing them can be tedious. In order for your dragons/creatures to work at harvesting stuff, the game needs to be open and in the event. No progress will be made if the screen of your phone or tablet is locked. This means that I usually leave the game running while I’m doing other things and let my dragons/creatures work away.

Considering it can sometimes take the whole weekend to complete an event, the developers having an event in both games as the same time can be quite annoying. If you play both games, you may have to get creative. Personally, i have two iphones, though I only use one as an actual phone. I can switch between games on different phones. Hardcore nerd? Yes, yes I am.

What I really love about these games is that there is always something to do. Even if you never play any of the levels or participate in the events, there always so much going on in your camp/garden (especially when you have more than a few dragons/creatures) that you can easily spend hours playing. And if you decide that you don’t want to play for awhile, your dragons/creatures will still be there when you return like no time passed at all.

I would highly recommend one or the other of these games. If I had to choose one over the other, I think I would choose Merge Magic. This is purely for aesthetic reasons and nothing to do with the game itself. I just happen to like the colours and the creatures better in Merge Magic.

Would I recommend playing both games? Yes and no. I like and enjoy both but as you get higher in levels, unlock more of your camp/garden and get into the events, playing both games could get demanding.

Either way, the choice is yours. Play both, play one or play none!

Do you play Merge Dragons or Merge Magic? I’d love to see your progress in the comments!

Thanks for reading.

Adventures in Mobile Gaming – Cat Game The Cats Collector!

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During the 4 months that I worked from home ( due to Covid 19), I found myself less inclined towards reading and more towards playing games on my phone. I started out mostly playing Merge Dragons and Merge Magic, but the game I want to talk about today is Cat Game.

From the name, I’m sure you can guess, this game is all about cats! You start off with a tower with only one floor and a basic cat. As you send your cat out on deliveries you get supplies to craft materials and unlock new cats. You use the materials you craft to create various decorations for each floor. Each time you level up, you unlock a new floor.

Sounds pretty simple right? Sounds like it would get boring pretty quickly? Well, it would if it weren’t for the events. The events are my favorite part of the games. There are two types of events: mini events and club events. Mini events consist of 3 parts that last 5 days and are spaced a few days apart. For these events, you gain points for doing exactly what you would normally do playing the games. Prizes include gold (the currency of the game) new cats, new decorations, gems and special keys to get special cats.

If you are part of a club (and it is highly recommended that you be part of a club) you also earn points collectively towards prizes.

The other type of event is the Club Event. This is the same basic idea, but instead of using the standard gold, you play mini games to earn tokens that you use to craft materials and those materials are used to create a special floor with it’s own special cats and decorations.

As with many mobile games, there are options for in game purchases (with real money) that will get you exclusive floors and exclusive cats. There are a few to choose from including a Garfield floor.

Sounds like fun?

Well, if you like cats, this is certainly a cute and fun way to pass some time. Want to follow my progress and see all the cute cats I collect? Follow me on Instagram .

Do you play Cat Game? Let me know in the comments.

Random Update – August 17, 2020

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Sooo, it appears that I haven’t posted anything here since March, which coincidentally ( or not so coincidentally) conensited with Covid-19 getting pretty bad and the whole world shutting down.

Like many people the world over, I started working from home at the very end of March, and following the advice of medical professionals, I stayed at home as much as possible. I really only went out to get groceries or for a walk.

Being inside all the time with nowhere to go, one would think that a book lover would devour books! So I assumed as well, but, unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead I fell into a book slump and have only read about 4 books since my last post. Not great considering it’s been around 5 months.

During this time of physical isolation, many people turned to social media to make up for the lack of contact. I did not do this.

So, what did I do? Well, instead of losing myself in another world of a book, I instead lost myself to mobile games and youtube videos. Probably not the best way I could have spent my time, but what are you gonna do?

Well, the world has begun to open up again and I’m back working in the office, and wouldn’t you know it, my motivation to read has returned! Hopefully, there will be some actual content posted soon! Til then, adieu!

Adventures in Video Gaming #2

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If you read my Adventures in Video Gaming #1 you’ll know that I started playing Lollipop chainsaw and got stuck in stage one. Well, not one to give up quite so easily, I tried and tried again. After about 10 attempts, I decided to change the difficulty to easy, and wouldn’t you know, it took me one try to get past that part.

I’m not exactly a great video game player, so I feel no shame in playing on Easy mode. I want to have fun playing games, not die constantly. I’m more the kind of player who mashes buttons and things die.

I’m more than a little proud to say that I finished the game yesterday all by myself, without having to look up anything in a walkthrough online. The only time I got stuck again was at the end with the final boss. Even on Easy that was really difficult to get past. I soldiered on and eventually beat the game.

So, what did I think of it? Well, first of all it is rated M and it has that rating for a good reason. There’s a fair amount of foul language, blood, gore and sexual innuendos. Not to mention the fact that the main character, Juliet, is wearing a cheerleader uniform through the whole game while swinging around a pink chainsaw and doing high kicks. Panty shots abound. This game is clearly geared towards a more male audience.

Normally, scantily clad women in video games annoys me, but in this case it didn’t really. Juliet is a cheerleader and therefore it makes sense that she’s wearing a cheerleader uniform. What really bothers me is when women are supposed to be warriors but their “armor” doesn’t cover their stomachs or half their legs.  anyone with half a brain would know that leaving your midsection exposed in a battle is a really bad idea.

Overall, if I were to give it a rating, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars. the game play was simple enough for someone like me to play enjoyably without having to do really fancy moves. It loses a star for the stupid sexual jokes and innuendos.

Happy with my accomplishment but still feeling like video gaming, I decided to revisit Heavenly Sword. I first started playing Heavenly Sword years ago and did fairly well at first. The main character, Nariko, is a sword wielder, who draws the Heavenly Sword even though it’s forbidden to do so. Playing as Nariko is fairly simple, and suites my button masher style quite well.

Unfortunately, after a while you have to play as a different character, Kai. Although Kai is a cool character, if a bit deranged, she uses a bow and arrow only. for me, that sucks. I have the worst time playing first person shooter games because I cannot aim to save my life. Literally.

So, playing years ago, I stopped at a stage where kai is the playable character. coming back to it yesterday, I was again playing as Kai. feeling a bit boosted after beating Lollipop Chainsaw, I kept playing Heavenly Sword long after I would normally have quite in frustration. I actually kind of got the hang of it and managed to progress back to a stage where I played Nariko again. I even finished the chapter I was playing at the time. There, I chose to stop.

Are you a gamer? Have you played either of these games? If so, what did you think? Are there other games that you like that you would recommend?

Adventures in Video Gaming #1

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lollipos chainsawSo, as my brain continues to recover from the cold germs that has invaded it and my concentration has not yet returned to the right level for reading, I have decided to play the videos games I have that I haven’t played/finished. Scarily, there are a lot more than I remember there being. I think they multiplied while I wasn’t looking.

Anyway, I decided to go with Lollipop Chainsaw as I had briefly played it at a friend’s how and I remember liking it. I bought the game for myself so I must have liked it. It started out well, as I chainsawed my way through various zombies and made it through the prologue no problem. I had to continue a time or two as I didn’t pay proper attention to my health and accidentally died, but I was getting the hang of it and, I thought, doing pretty well.

Then I got to a part in Stage 1, in the High School, where i came to a part where there is a giant pile of dynamite and I have to keep zombies that are on fire from getting to it. At first, the zombies appear one by one and move pretty slow so they’re no problem, but after a while they pick up the pace and appear in twos and threes. I’ve managed to kill 15 out of 24 required zombies before one of those bastards gets by and sets the dynamite off.

I tried several frustrating times to pass this part and just couldn’t do it. I’m not really sure what my problem is. Am I not strong enough yet? Maybe. It seems like Juliet can’t move fast enough to get to some of the zombies before they get to the dynamite. Then things go boom and I’m dead.

See, this is my problem with video games. I learn how to play them, progress along fairly well, then I get to a point that I just can’t get past, get frustrated and give up. Then, by the time I’m no longer annoyed with the game, I’ve forgotten how to play it and would have to go back to the tutorial to relearn the moves.

This is probably why I have so many unplayed/unfinished games.

Have you played Lollipop Chainsaw? Any tips on getting past the dynamite and fire zombies part?
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Random Update

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January was an epic reading month for me! I was on an amazing roll, getting through book after book! It was awesome!

February started out pretty good but then I got sick, and when i get sick, my level of concentration drops to watching animated movies while playing games on my phone with my cat in my lap. (the cat has nothing to do with me being sick, he’s always sitting on me). Therefore, my reading has come to an abrupt stop. While this bothers me, I know there is no point in trying to read until this cold goes away and my brain returns to fully capacity. I won’t remember what I read in this state and that is never good. Especially if I’m going to review the book afterwards.

So, now I’m starting to get a little tired of watching movies and have thought what else I can do to keep myself occupied while I recuperate. Well, the answer that came to mind is is video games. I have several games (probably like 10) that I have never played. Why, you ask, do I have so many unplayed games? Well, probably for the same reason I have so many unread book and undone puzzles. It’s much faster to shop than to play/read/build.

Anyway, I was thinking I should give some of these games a shot, since I obviously thought they looked like fun or wouldn’t have bought them in the first place.

Also, between movie watching, I’ve been on YouTube. I found an interesting channel of these people who make music videos using video game footage and creating their own original songs to go along with the videos. They are very cool. They’ve done all kind of game videos and the songs are amazing. A lot of it is rap, just fyi. You should check them out here.

Anyway, my next post my be a book review, since that’s what this blog is supposed to be about, or I may change it up a little and talk about whatever video game I decide to play.

Want to help me choose? I have Devil May Cry, Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim, Lollipop Chainsaw, Mortal Kombat (forget which number. i have one for ps2 and one for ps3). Any recommendations?

Crazy Idea!

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I have this crazy idea! What if someone wrote a “romance” novel where the first two male and female characters didn’t instantly fall in lust with one another? What if it wasn’t completely obvious who the main character of a book series was going to end up with? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you couldn’t predict exactly how a romantic relationship was going to develop?

shocked

Mind blowing thought, isn’t it?

The Goodreads Tag

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I saw this on Captivated~by~Fantasy‘s blog and thought I would give it a try, so here we go:

1. What was the last book you marked as ‘read’?

The Second Empire – Monarchies of God #4 by Paul Kearney (my review here). Not the best book I’ve ever read but not the worst either.

2. What are you currently reading? 

Ships From the West – Monarchies of God #5 by Paul Kearney

3. What was the last book you marked as ‘TBR’?

Grudgebearer by J.F. Lewis

5. Do you use the star rating system?

Yup. Most books get rated a 3. It has to be really good to get 4 or 5.

6. Are you doing a 2017 Reading Challenge?

Yes, I’ve participated since i joined Goodreads in 2015 and have set a goal of 100 books each year.

7. Do you have a wishlist?

I suppose you could call it a wishlist. it’s more like a list of all books in a series that i bought the first book for, plus i mark releases in the calendar in my phone.

8. What book do you plan to buy next?

Kamisama Kiss Vol. 22

9. Do you have any favorite quotes, would you like to share a few?

“There is no knowledge that is not power.” This is actually from a Mortal Kombat game i played as a kid but it stuck with me.

10. Who are your favorite authors?

L.J. Smith is by far my favorite author. She wrote the kinds of books I wanted to read when very few other people were. If you choose to read any of her books, make sure you’re getting the stuff she actually wrote, not the new books that were written by other authors “based” on her works.

11. Have you joined any groups?

Yes, i joined a few and created one of my own: Fantasy and Manga Lovers Unite