Author: aabicus

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The Sentimentality of Pokémon X/Y

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The other day I was scrolling through my Pokémon Home account looking at all my old Elite Four teams. I’ve played every generation of Pokémon (though Red was a bit of an oddball run), and almost every member of my final teams survived the various transitions into modern day. My original goal, in my nostalgic boredom, was to choose the most sentimental “companion” mon of each team, the one I bonded most with and remember the quickest and most fondly. And indeed, I was able to identify one pretty much every time. Until I got to Pokémon Y,  a game that… [Continue Reading]

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Bullet-jump everywhere, to heck with the consequences!
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My 5 Favorite Mobility Tools in Gaming

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Way back in 2010, Valve gave Portal away for free and it became the first game I ever owned on Steam. Ever since then, mobility shooters have remained my favorite genre in gaming, from PvE/singleplayer games like Quake and Warframe to PvP games like Loadout, Apex Legends and Rocket Arena. (I even made my own in college!) Also known as ‘arena shooters’ to differentiate them from ‘tactical shooters’ like CS:GO and Red Crucible Reloaded, I love their focus on parkour, explosive jumping, aerial control, and general physics abuse in every way the players can find. I’ve spent hours on empty… [Continue Reading]

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How to Not Die in Call of Cthulhu

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This is a sister article to my previous on mitigating Sanity loss, and equally not-recommended because dying horribly should be the expectation (not the exception) in Call of Cthulhu. The whole point is that your characters are delving into things mankind is neither supposed nor equipped to know, and the system is built to run your party ragged and then spit them out as chewed-up gibbering husks. That’s half the fun! However, I’m not gonna pretend there aren’t ways to spec your character out for a bit more survivability than the average joe. I checked the internet to see if… [Continue Reading]

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Mitigating Sanity Loss in Call of Cthulhu

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If there’s one mechanic most people know about the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG system, it’s that investigators have a tendency to go insane and die from witnessing eldritch horrors and learning horrific truths mankind was never meant to know. It’s practically a selling point, I know that was the primary reason I excitedly leapt into my first ever campaign back in undergrad. If you for whatever reason are worried about your player character dying a horrible premature death before you were done playing them, this sadly is probably not the right system for you. But to those people, I wholeheartedly encourage… [Continue Reading]

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My First Day in Sea of Thieves

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Sea of Thieves has been on my radar for ages, not just because Retvik’s written multiple articles about the memorable adventures she’s experienced as a member of SPUFer Bacxaber’s crew. I’d also heard great things from multiple sources from very diverse gaming interests, and at least 2-3 different people on my friends list are in-game at any given point across the last 5+ years, which is usually a very good sign regarding the quality of a title. But still, I dragged my feet on wading in myself, and I’m not quite sure why. It might have been how many people… [Continue Reading]

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World of Peacecraft: The Neutral Pandaren Lifestyle

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In both of my previous WoW articles, I claimed to have played only two characters for my entire on-and-off history with the game. This is essentially true, since the druid is Alliance and the warlock is Horde and that means I can interact with every part of the world between the pair. I’ve never really felt any urge to make more characters since leveling is my least-favorite part of the game. The only thing that ever tempted me to make a third character was learning about a specific quirk through which a player could theoretically reach max level without ever… [Continue Reading]

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How to Find the Age of Your World of Warcraft Character

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During a content lull in Final Fantasy XIV, I temporarily reactivated my WoW subscription to try the new War Within expansion. I’ve had a long on-and-off relationship with this game, having first installed it sometime in undergrad after they added the free trial and taking multiple years-long breaks in between sessions. Nonetheless my two toons, a zombie pirate warlock and a werewolf druid, have pretty storied careers since they’re the only ones I ever play, and like most players I’ve developed something of an affinity for my little guys. So it’s always bothered me that I can’t see their age… [Continue Reading]

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D&D Druid: 5 Wildshapes Your Dungeon Master Will Not Allow

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It’s not happening. All of these are completely rules-legal, but you’re still not gonna get to play as them. There’s no way your GM will sign off on them, unless they’re going for a completely nonsensical setting or don’t mind crippling power disparities. Look upon these Wildshapes, ye mighty, and despair: 1. The Haungharassk Starting with this one because I talked about it in a previous article! This giant snail has a golden shell and even shinier stats, able to carry 9 passengers, climb walls, grant temporary hitpoints and remove curses with a single touch. It is hideously overpowered for… [Continue Reading]

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Stardew Valley – The Pursuit of Perfection

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Stardew Valley rocketed back into the gaming zeitgeist in March 2024 by releasing the much-awaited Update 1.6, which famously ballooned from its “minor quality-of-life patch for modders” beginnings when first announced. Like many players, I’d loved the game back in the day and created many fond memories in the valley, but new releases and the neverending search for novelty had pulled my attention to different (if not always greener) pastures. But the promise of fresh content brought me back, first to prepare my farm by whittling down my in-game bucket list, and second to save on Spring 1 of the… [Continue Reading]

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How to Turn Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) into a Single-Player Stealth Game

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STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection just came out on Steam! I’ve mentioned in several places that the original Battlefront II was my very first gaming love, long before I’d ever played Team Fortress 2 or even created a Steam account. I never actually owned it, I played it (and its predecessor) exclusively on my friend’s Xbox, but our neighborhood gang racked up hundreds of hours playing them and they are incredible. Seriously, these two games are 500% worth playing, even if you just go buy the originals, they work perfectly and have tons of cool mods to boot. The gameplay is addicting and… [Continue Reading]

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