Rant 1161 / Shadowrun Returns Is Refreshing - 2D Turn-based RPGs Are Rare These Days.

Twice in recent months I've had to sleep very little just for a single night.

From this, I've learnt that sleep can really be stored. If you sleep well normally, one night without sleep won't affect your mind.

I expected myself to be tired from the morning onwards, but even without exercise and caffeine, I was fine. With exercise, I was at 100% although it took longer to start my engine.



Anyway, I learnt from the new trainers at RT that jumping is important for static cardio for weight loss, so I'm incorporating a lot of jumping in my routine now. Three minutes of jumping exercises heats me up more than 10 minutes of cycling, so I have no doubt about its efficacy.





















Spartan Wars is dying. Been playing it for a month now and it's getting a little boring, mainly because nobody attacks me and I'm really far from anyone. Used to have a few neighbours but most of them have left the gaming while the remaining ones are either slightly stronger than myself or weaker.

Recently, there was an incident but it didn't do much. Someone hacked into the server and gave 101k pearls (ingame currency that can only be bought with real cash) to everyone who had bought pearls before.

I didn't get any, but plenty of others did.

It's surprising how many people got them; I thought it was pretty stupid to spend money on a game like this. Moreover, it isn't cheap. A relatively tiny purchase can easily cost as much as a whole game in the app shop. Even FF4 is only S$20, while the smallest amount of pearls one can buy costs US$6 (S$7.80).





Meanwhile a new clone has emerged and it's far better than Spartan Wars. The prices in Game of War are just as ridiculous but again, plenty of people are buying. It's even easier to tell here because everytime someone buys gold, everyone in his alliance (aka guild/clan) gets a little something too.

No wonder there are so many games like this out there.
























So Game of War is really heating up my iPad, forcing me to remove the cover last night.

You know what? The unprotected iPad actually feels much better!

Not sure how I can keep using it this way though. I have the pouch but I think it's going to be inconvenient if I want to use it while walking outside, like when I need the map.



















Recently saw the ad saying that there was a 10% discount off Comfort cab fares if the Mastercard Paypass  was used for payment.

After checking the list of NFC-enabled phones, it turns out that my Lumia 520 is not... but the 620 is. They had both cost the same but the specs on the 520 was better. Oh well, I couldn't have foreseen this anyway.



























Shadowrun Returns turns out to be better than expected.

Riding on the Kickstarter classic RPG revival wave started by Wasteland 2, it had appeared to be a promising game. However, without any experience with any Shadowrun games, I had backed it just because it looked good.

It was only some time after the KS campaign that I thought about it again and noticed the stupidity.

Regardless, it's a good game so everything is ok. This is just one of those rare occasions when stupidity is rewarded.

Shadowrun Returns is an RPG with turn-based tactical combat gameplay. More interestingly, it combines both sci-fi with fantasy to create... something like Mass Effect. Ok, so at least ME changed the names to make it less like magic, while over here they really are elves, dwarves, orks and trolls and people actually use magic and summon spirits.

The game is set in the future where drones and cybernetic body parts are commonplace. Some time between now and the game's present, an event known as the "Awakening" caused these fantasy races and magic to come into being. Hence, now there are people who can handle both, like Dr Castle who is both a shaman and a medical doctor.

Equipment can be bought and equipped, body parts can be replaced by cybernetics at a cost of your essence (the thing that makes a human human), and the level system is like the one in Mass Effect.

4 hours into the game so far and only a very minor bug has been found, so my 15USD hasn't been wasted at all.