New Gundam Shows Announced

As a big Gundam fan, hearing about the news about new Gundam shows gets me really excited.  I like the games, build the Gunpla and watch the shows.  While there's only one show confirmed, the other one is still not confirmed but is heavily talked about in Japan just right after its 10th anniversary.

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative  This show is set to release in episodes similar to how Gundam UC OVA set were released, movie episodes that were done once per 6 months.  While we do not know when the next ones do come out, the first part will be released in November 2018 at cinemas in Japan.  When Gundam UC was being screened at cinemas in Japan, we did get a similar screening event here in the Philippines which was a limited one day screening in which tickets can't be purchased but can be obtained when you buy model kits from shops supplied by Bankee Trading (Toy Kingdom, Toys R Us, Toy Town) this is also the time when I got hooked with model kits as we had to buy a kit to watch the show.  This happened for the whole 7 episodes of the show, I'm not sure if we are going to get the same thing for the new Gundam NT show as foreign films, Japanese Anime and Live action films now do get better screening than 6 years ago.  The quality of the animation, music and the art of this kind of show is very much different than the regular tv released Gundam tv shows due to the budget and the time it takes to finish one episode.  

Planning / production: Sunrise

Original work: Hajime Yaechi 　Yoshiyuki Tomino

directed by: Shunichi Yoshizawa

Screenplay: Harukoshi Fukui

Original Character Draft: Kumiko Takahashi

Character Design: Kim Satoshi

Mechanical design: Hajime Katoki    Eiji Komatsu

Color design: Suzuki Takako

Director of Photography: Akitaro Asaka

Art Director: Yukiko Maruyama Yoshimi Mine

Special Director: Kumiko Taniguchi

Sound Director: Eriko Kimura

Edit: Daisuke Imai

Music: Hiroyuki Sawano

The production cast is similar to Gundam UC, being a big fan of Hiroyuki Sawano's music and work done by Tomino this show is going to be fantastic.  Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative is set 1 year after the events of Gundam UC so if you haven't watched Gundam UC yet, make sure to watch that first.  While there are 2 formats for that show (OVA and Tv series)  I recommend watching the OVA instead (just my preference)   Universal Century fans will rejoice once again after this gets released.  They will surely release new model kits from this show as Bandai uses their new shows to release newer model kits. 

Gundam 00  There was an event during the Gundam 00 10th anniversary called Gundam 00 Festival 10 Re: Vision on which the voice actors conducted a live performance of a new story after the events of the movie Awakening of the Trailblazer.  While this was done as a live performance for the anniversary, there are rumors that this might become an actual sequel to the movie as it also includes new art, story and is being talked about in Japan.

Bandai likes money, so if they want more, they should just make this happen and sell more Gunpla with it.  Even if the 2nd season and the movie was not as good as the first season, I'm still looking forward for this concept to be made into a series or atleast an OVA for the fans.  We still don't have much Gundam 00 Master Grade kits aside from Setsuna's suits and that GN-X.  I hope this time they decide to make more than just Setsuna's suits.

Seven: The Days Long Gone 2018 Review

Seven: The Days long Gone is an open world isometric RPG set in a mix of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk environment and magic. You can think of it as Dishonored in 2D.

You play as the Master Thief Teriel tasked to investigate and explore ruins, dungeons, jungles, and fortresses. The main part of the game starts on The Prison island of Peh. The world is really huge, there are lots of areas to explore, hidden areas, hidden bosses, secrets, puzzles to uncover. The game doesn't really hold your hand and take you where you need to go. You're free to explore the map from the start of the main game. 

There's a lot of things going on in the game that wasn't explained so you really have to pay attention and struggle a bit when trying to figure out the use of the loots you find from enemies and crates. At first, I tried to get as many loot as I can but it didn't really matter since you have to get recipes first before you're able to craft something worthwhile. Another thing is the factions, there are several of them that you would encounter but there weren't much rewards to side with anyone of them. 

Progression in this game isn't tied with experience points or levels. After progressing the main quests, Nectars will be introduced and you will be able to detect them when you're near one which will allow you to equip passives and active skills to your slots. There are very few selection of equipment which made me think if they really need equipment loots. The default armor was the same set I had equipped all throughout the whole game. Armor sets with higher defenses lower your movespeed and enemies doesnt really hurt that much even bosses. You could carry full armor sets of enemies and use it as a disguise but I find it tedious so I went thru the regular sneaky tactics. 

Side quests are quite intriguing at times but some would require you to go from end to another end of the map just to speak to an NPC for a sec and ask you to go to the other end of the map. Some of the quests were bugged and you have to deal with it displayed on your quest log for the whole game.

Overall a great game and worth your time. Exploring sci-fi cyberpunk magic-infused ruins are something you won't see from popular RPGs and the story is not from a generic template which will also take your actions or decisions into account. 

Upcoming 2018 Games on PC I'm Looking Forward to Play

Aside from the big games that will be showcased on E3 for multiple platforms, here are some PC Games I'm looking forward to

1. Battle Princess Madelyn  - Release date TBA hopefully in 2018

A unique Indie Action Adventure game that takes inspiration from the classic Ghouls N' Ghosts and Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap.  The hand drawn art is great, just like how the older games from the SNES era were made.  You can play the game in Arcade mode rushing through the levels or complete the story by taking quests and helping the people.  Along with hidden collectibles, 10 types of weaponry to use and a ghost companion that has unique abilities that evolves through your progress that can help you with puzzles and unlocking different areas in the game.  If you miss playing games from the Golden Age of gaming this is one game you will surely look forward to.

2. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night -  Release Date 2018 Exact date will be announced on or before E3.

This is pretty popular to fans of Castlevania but some might have forgotten about it due to its long absence after Konami shifted its focus on mobile games and Pachinko machines.   If you enjoyed the Castlevania games like Symphony of the Night and the following ones from the Nintendo Handheld ones like Portrait of Ruin and Aria of Sorrows you will surely enjoy this when it gets released.  While this is no longer Castlevania, everything else that made it the series we enjoy is here.  Some of the key makers of the previous Castlevania games are also here with Koji Igarashi as Producer and Writer, Michiru Yamane with the Music and Yuji Natsume on the art, sadly Ayami Kojima who previously did the art for SOTN will only help with the packaging artwork for physical copies of the game.  There have been several updates throughout the development of this game which just makes me more hyped to play this with the same progress style of Castlevania games, multiple characters available to use, boss rush mode, equipment and abilities. 

3. Chasm - Release Date June 2018

An upcoming 2D Adventure RPG Indie game releasing soon this June.  The game is similar to the previous 2D Castlevania games with different equipments, the backdash, dodging enemy projectiles and exploration.  Unlock new areas with different abilities and a touch of procedural styled dungeons for multiple playthroughs making your next game restart a new adventure.  Make sure to watch the vid to see how butter smooth the gameplay is.

4. Sword of Ditto - Release Date Late April 2018

A fun top down adventure game that can be played solo or multiplayer.  You can use melee and ranged weapons.  This game is enjoyable even on multiple playthroughs as your previous adventure's success, great deeds and failures can be discovered by the next one you play as.  You can also complete any dungeon in any order with main quests and side quests along with it.  This game is releasing soon with a special discount for pre orders, for those who are still on the fence, just check out the reviews once the game gets released.  The price is good enough to dip in early but in any case, feel free to wait for the release date instead.

5 Useful Mobile Apps for Lazy People (Android)

Having a mobile device now gives you more than just call and text.  While most just use their mobile devices for occasional browsing, playing music and watching videos here are some apps available on Android that we recommend that may make your life easier.

• Spotify  While this music streamer is popular, I know people that plays music the old way on their phones.  They either play them from Youtube or download mp3 files on their computers then transfer it to their sd cards which has now become tedious specially if you have a lot of genres and playlists which you will have to sort out and add separately.  Spotify makes playing music more convenient as you can search for the daily top music, weekly charts, search artists and albums then create your own playlist.  Gone are the days when people will ask you if you have this song saved on your phone as you can simply search it on the app.  Even OPM songs are added as soon as the artist launches their soundtrack or album.  While the app is free, the difference between the paid version (which is still cheap) is there are no ads and you can select what you want to play instead of getting your music list on shuffled play.

• Gboard The best Android keyboard available on Android.  Built in keyboards from your Android device is usually enough but this one does it even better with the added Google search feature removing the need for you to switch to a different window to search for something and paste it on your conversation.  Voice typing is even better specially if you are very lazy to use your fingers to type in your responses.  Heck you can even include gifs in your conversation even on sms.

• Grab This is already popular but I still see people at work making the effort to hail cabs.  Seriously people, some of them still rant about their taxi driver asking for added fare or refuse them service if they don't like the drop off location.  Just learn to use the app, its smart enough to know where to pick you up and where to drop you off.  The drivers are nicer, cars smell nice and looks neat.  You even earn points for frequently using the app that you can use as discount for your succeeding trips or discount for stuff they offer.  Some of my friends that usually drive to work even chose to use this service as they are too lazy to drive to work and to look for parking space.

• Honestbee  This one got recently popular in the country due to the convenience it gives its customers.  I know somebody at work who is tasked to order us fruits on a weekly basis, what he usually does is go to the mall to buy them in boxes worth 10k php of fruits, bring them over the taxi bay and bring them over to work.  I told him, why not use Honestbee instead since you can order from Robinsons Supermarket and get them delivered directly to work without the hassle.  He was hesitant at first as he won't be able to select the fruits directly as some might be rotten or such.  I told him that I doubt he inspects 10k php worth of fruits when he buys them directly and you can refuse complain or refuse the order if they delivered it incorrectly or deliver a bad batch.   You can even use this app to buy tickets, get restaurant food delivered and laundry.

• Eatigo  Do you eat out a lot with friends, family or your significant other?  Want to save money while enjoying good food? Hate roaming around malls and restaurants just to check if there is a vacant table for you?  Forget the pre historic method of dining out and use Eatigo.  Aside from being able to reserve tables on mobile, this app notifies you of promos and discounts for specific restaurants.  There's no need for you to pre pay when you reserve for restaurants you plan to eat at and you will receive an email and sms for your reservation.