Settlers of Catan: Explorers & Pirates Review

Now that May has come and gone, Settlers of Catan: Explorers & Pirates has come out! Explorers and Pirates introduces several new pieces, alternative routes to victory, as well as apply a new rule mechanic that many people enjoy. The pieces are as follows:

• Crew: Sheep + Ore. 9 pieces.
• Ship: Wood + Sheep. 3 pieces.
• Settler: Wood + Brick + Sheep + Wheat
• Settlement: Wood + Brick + Sheep + Wheat
• Harbor Settlement: Wheat + Wheat + Ore + Ore

The VP, or Victory Points, functionality works as usual as in traditional Settlers of Catan. The fundamentals of the game feel more like a mix of Seafarers with a tiny portion of Traders & Barbarians. This Expansion bodes little to no similarity to Cities & Knights, Oil Springs, nor Frenemies of Catan.

One will quickly notice this set has no Harbors. That is because by default, everyone gets a maritime trade with the bank at a 3:1 rate instead of a 4:1 rate. The only major loss is being unable to trade a specific resource at a 2:1 rate, but due to the advent of Gold coins and no Cities to produce more, it more than makes up for it.

Interview with shunao

Drawing, gaming, and cosplaying can easily go hand in hand, but which came first and how did one influence the other?
I have been playing video games longer than I have been drawing, although I began both around the same time. Since I have been playing video games since I was about 5-6 years old, I started doodling since then as well. A lot of my art is inspired from games I’ve played, especially RPGs, platformers, and fighting games. My art kind of varies because I get ideas and inspiration from different games that all have different art styles and I try to incorporate their coloring techniques in my piece. I actually didn’t get into cosplay until a few years ago, and the cosplays I do have been from video games as well!

Interview with weee

When did you start drawing?
I started drawing anime when I was around 9 or 10 years old- that was the time when my older brothers and sister, Gebyy, were also getting really into drawing anime as well. Because I was the youngest out of my siblings of course I would look up to them, so I tried to do whatever they did and obviously I sucked the most lol. Gebyy used to be the person that was well-known for her artistic talent and I was always the little sis looking up to her. So I tried my best to get better and better. But as we grew up, my siblings eventually sort of stopped drawing at some point– even Gebyy, but she got back into drawing recently. But yeah as we grew older, I think I was old enough to follow my own path and found a passion for it rather than just thinking of it as a competition between siblings.

Fanime 2013 Convention Report

Fanime started off interesting for me, since last year I remember raging and storming out of Fanime 2012 vowing never to return as a fan attendee given my bad experience at eGaming which indirectly ruined my experience entirely. This didn’t actually mean that I wouldn’t come back, as the convention is close to home and fairly easy to get to. I just happened to notice that the convention’s value shouldn’t be judged on guests and events alone, otherwise unless it was exactly the content you seek, you would almost always be disappointed with that kind of mentality.

Instead of being angry and refusing to attend another convention, I decided to change my perspective to better understand it. I’ve noticed that lately I have been less big on consumption, and was far more interested in the business and marketing side of events rather than the content itself. So I worked hard to improve my skills and obtain Press credentials. Thanks to the wonderful head of marketing at Fanime, I got my opportunity granted, and Fanime 2013 turned out to be perhaps my best convention experience compared to years past.

Well, enough of my own aspect. This review will be generalized, and specifics will likely be opinion straight from me. This is not an accurate assessment of the convention overall, since everyone had a different kind of experience.

7 Wonders Wonder Pack

Oh man, if there was a board game I enjoyed for the entirety of last year, that would be none other than 7 Wonders. Instead of explaining the mechanics of the base game, I wanted to focus on the recently released Wonder Pack!

The Wonder Pack features 4 Wonders that provide new strategies and abilities not seen in the other Wonders. This allows for more variety, without breaking the game. A common pattern found in these new Wonders is that the natural resource each start with, generally have tech bonuses that don’t use the natural resource at all. At times, the focused strength of these Wonders make them seem like superior versions of older Wonders, but in the end they are just as fair as any other ones.

Disclaimer: Upon playtesting, we still randomized Wonders. The purpose of that is to show that the point of the post is not to showcase the flavor of the Wonders, despite doing that.

Another Dead or Alive 5?

With the recent reports of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate being announced, the teaser trailer featured Momiji, a Ninja Gaiden character. While it’s nice that Tecmo Koei is listening to the fans’ demands, I find this situation awkward given that this release may as well completely nullify the vanilla Dead or Alive 5 entirely.

Aerial specific combos seem like an interesting mechanic, though it probably doesn’t differ too much from the Izuna Drop.

Atelier Ayesha DLC

I’m not certain if other people who have played Atelier Ayesha have noticed this but it’s fairly clear that for DLC releases, Tecmo Koei has timed it to match how the Japanese release went. Here’s a short summary of dates to paint a picture.

In Japan …

• June 28, 2012: Atelier Ayesha first edition releases.
• July 4, 2012: Atelier Ayesha BGM pack releases. This includes many (1600+) songs of previous GUST games. Priced at 300 yen.
• July 31, 2012: Cow Paradise DLC releases. Free.
• September 9, 2012: Hidden Paradise DLC. Priced at 150 yen. Marion and Odelia character DLC. Priced at 350 yen.

I’m not certain about swimsuit DLC in Japan since they were partly exclusives. It appears to also be a September 9, 2012 release, specifically for Ayesha and Linca. Wilbell’s swimsuit release appeared to be a magazine promotional material, and later implemented on October 4, 2012. Either way, the swimsuit DLC was priced at 300 yen.