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Besides my never ending (and constantly failing) quest to reach The End in Minecraft, I have now sank my teeth into Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

By the way, do we have any fans of the TRPG that is Shadowrun Returns?

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"So, are you a fan of the Fett?"

"Nah, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

Dude i just got a 3Ds and Pokemon X. What have I been missing? By far the best Pokemon game ever made. Efck Yeah.

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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

Started playing Seiken Densetsu III for the first time. Pretty darn good game. I'm also trying to record a Let's Play of Final Fantasy IV and am for the most part failing miserably at using my software effectively... I'll get this figured out eventually.

I was actually trying my hand at The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall a short while back. It has a few interesting things about it, (such as the ability to dump all your loot from a dungeon crawl into a wagon without actually leaving the dungeon), but in the end, it's far too repetitive and dependent on knowing how to OP your starting character.

So having now played every TES in the main series except the first one, Arena, I think I can confidently say that the only one that adequately facilitates the build I prefer is Skyrim. Which is a shame honestly, because it's the worst designed in the entire series.

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

I haven't posted in this thread since August. Here's what I've done recently:

Heroes of the Storm - still playing this. Really excited for the Cho'gall launch in a few days (one hero, two players!)

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ditto. Have all four completed item sets for my season 4 Witch Doctor.

Far Cry 3 - Hell of an open-world game. I like open-world stuff, but also don't usually like first-person shooter games. Far Cry 3's open world is lush enough and the shooting is good enough that it all works. I died quite a lot for playing on Normal, but this is an excellent shooter that has me curious about the other games in the series.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - Better than the first DGR, but you absolutely need to play the first before you play the second. The cases are more convoluted and challenging, the trial segments have more gameplay variety, and the resolution is a little more satisfying. Both DGR games have insane hi-jinks and interesting characters, so I'd recommend both. Must-plays for Vita owners.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe - I haven't really *loved* a Kirby game in almost 20 years (really). Adventure is a great NES game, Dream Land 2 is a really strong Game Boy game, and Super Star is one of my favorite SNES platformers. Triple Deluxe is now the fourth Kirby title that I've really enjoyed. Really great selection of powers, stage design that is colorful and loaded with hidden goodies, and the gimmicks and boss battles are excellent.

Undertale - weird, subversive indie RPG. Hilarious dialog and characters, surreal setting and situations, and the interesting twist of being able to resolve any random encounter peacefully instead of with violence. I did a "normal" run of the game, playing about half-violently and half-peacefully. The end sequences are... extremely memorable. I need to try and a "pacifist" run of this game ASAP. Really fascinating exploration of the JRPG genre, using a mix of NES-RPG and shmup mechanics.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Since the last time I posted here I've probably played various odds and ends.

Here are a few:

Eternal Senia

An action RPG using the RPG Maker engine. Available on Steam for free.

It was developed by I think a Taiwanese dev. The action RPG part of the engine was custom scripted. The characters are expies of a couple characters from Ragnarok Online, but I think they have different personalities than their originals; regardless, knowledge of that game is not needed to enjoy this game. The music is royalty-free music but very well-chosen. The dev added many pretty portraits for the characters.

The game is a relatively straightforward action RPG, where you run into enemies to attack them. You also gain a few special abilities, like a rush ability, an area-of-effect ability, and a ranged attack. The game has a number of optional sidequests, which you can use to get the best equipment in the game. You can also choose, before entering each main boss arena, whether you want to fight an easy, normal, or hard version of the boss.

The game's most prominent feature, however, is its story. It is a deeply emotional story. It'd be hard to say much about it without spoiling it, but basically it's the main character's quest to seek her caretaker and adoptive older sibling, who has gone missing. The backstory is revealed in due time, through a series of flashbacks. There are three endings.

The script, translated from Chinese, is a little grammatically rough at times, but it suffices quite well. Besides, you might be too teary-eyed to pay too much attention...

There is a developer commentary that becomes available after you get the third ending.

Freedom Planet

A 2D action platformer, with a clear inspiration from the Sonic games but also clearly distinct from them. (Apparently it began as a Sonic fangame.)

The story is about a small team of cartoony anthropomorphic animal action heroes who set out to save their planet from an alien antagonist whose schemes are causing chaos and war. The story plays out like a children's cartoon, with a good dose of fun and humor but underlying save-the-world drama -- and it can get quite dramatic further into the game. The environments and character designs have a brilliance that matches that aesthetic, as well as a high level of attention to detail (e.g. many distinct sprite poses). The soundtrack is also well-suited.

Has three playable characters -- Lilac, the dragon-girl, has a shinespark-like abiilty and melee attacks. I haven't played either of the other two, but Carol (the wildcat) has a motorcycle that can ride up walls, and the third character seems to be able to create cubes and use shields (I wonder if she was inspired by Lyle in Cube Sector?). Two more playable characters are expected in DLC yet to come.

"I won't give up! Let's go!" ~Lilac

Kisima Inŋitchuŋa a.k.a. Never Alone

This is a 2D puzzle platformer that was developed in part by the Iñupiat, an ethnic group that lives in northern Alaska. The story is a journey of a girl and an arctic fox who seek the source of an endless series of blizzards. It's actually an adaptation of a folk tale (the one called "Kunuuksaayuka" if you're curious).

In single-player, you control either of them at a time while the AI controls the other characters. The game can also be played co-op. The presentation is beautifully atmospheric and cinematic, and uses 2.5D (i.e. 3D features 2D gameplay) for its levels (and animated "carvings" for its storytelling cutscenes). Dsepite being cinematic, the game actually gives the player control through a number of key high-tension sequences, and does its duty in challenging the player with interesting puzzles. By the way, don't assume that you can take forever to come up with a solution...whatever it is you're standing on might not hold for that long!

The graphics can be a tiny bit glitchy occasionally, but these problems do not affect gameplay at all.

A series of unlockables in the game are short video clips that allow you to learn more about the Iñupiat culture and way of life. There's also a DLC that presents another folk tale.

The game's storytelling is fully voiced in Iñupiaq. The Cultural Insight videos are in English. Subtitles are available in a variety of languages.

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Also did another successful score run of Spelunky (freeware v. 0.99.9) yesterday. Beat my previous high score. Took like 86 minutes, in part because I bombed out the City of Gold and also exploited a set of yeti bodies and a rock to get 99 HP.

In the course of doing so, I discovered that the thwomp-like enemies in the last area don't do instant kill damage. They actually just do very heavy damage very fast. I got partially clipped by one of them while at around 90 HP, and I unexpectedly survived that momentary encounter...with 45 HP. I guess they're probably programmed like explosions are, dealing damage per frame of contact.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 16th November 2015 07:41

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

I've taken to playing Phantasy Star II, and I'm trying to get to where I can beat Double Dragon II without being knocked out.

Other than that I'm kind of lethargic about games lately.

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X is blue.

Guess I've streamlined what I'm interested in playing, if only because they're games that I can dose on 30 minute runs and not get immersed in too much.

They're called Duke Nukem 3D and Freedom Planet on the PC, both of which I got from GOG.com, which I recommend for anyone daring to wonder this flawed PC land. On Android, I've been fluctuating. Yesterday I played a bit of Rayman Fiesta Run, then Monument Valley, and I'm looking to finish off Rotate It! once and for all.

Duke Nukem 3D is the best shooter I could find on the planet. No Dooms or Half-Deads can dispute that, between giving you a quite talkative of a protagonist to giving you short yet fun environments to play in. As for Freedom Planet, well, I've been trying to make this no-deaths run, and I just recently served the boss proper in Jade Passa- I mean Jade Creek. Its hard at Normal difficulty.

Rayman Fiesta Run is Rayman with automatic running, yet I think it still contains those devious levels which kill you if you blink for a second. Monument Valley is a short game but is meant to enjoyed for its environments and the occasional mindscrew, and Rotate It! is your pipes matching game with 220 levels with zen (no time limit) and challenge (time limited) modes.

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

I completed VVVVVV.

Trinkets found: Twenty
Game Time: 3:32:13 (though I left the game running many times while I took breaks from difficult rooms)

Total flips: 4797
Total deaths: 1418

Hardest room (with 221 deaths): Edge Games

Honestly, Edge Games is harder than the Veni, Vidi, Vici segment. The latter may look more intimidating, but it's far easier to understand and strategize for after some practice. It also has breather segments, like that one screen where all you do is drop up or down without moving. Edge Games, on the other hand, doesn't give you much of a breather; you just do it all at once.

Pretty fun game. The music is great. The fast respawn time is also nice.

Also evidence of how great music can make something so much better. I don't think I'd have enjoyed The Tower as much without its music, and I'm pretty sure the awesome music that played while I conquered Veni Vidi Vici was what kept me from raging at it and losing my calm.

Difficulty-wise, I'm not sure why people say this is an extremely hard game. It's got some difficult segments, but if anything 100%ing main game is about on par with 100%ing Guacamelee -- probably even less difficult than that by a small margin.

(I usually count Guacamelee as right about the threshold of my willingness to tolerate irritating difficulty. It's sort of a measure of "how frustrated does a game make me".)

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Currently playing both Destiny and Godzilla for the PS4. Very casually playing Thief for the ps4 as well.

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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

Whelp I'm back to mainlining Skyrim after Daggerfall stopped doing it for me...aaaand got myself right back into the terrible habit of grabbing more than I have reason to get and finding myself pushing my carry weight limit every five minutes... le sigh. Skyrim, I wish I knew how to quit you.

...seriously...

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

lol I also have that problem when i play skyrim.

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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

I've mostly been playing GTA V recently, primarily in single player but often with Tiddles in Online as we kill time and chat. Vice City will always hold a special place in my heart, but there is no way that V is not a better game than pretty much every other GTA put together. I just genuinely can't see a way they can top it with another game in the series, despite all the typical Rockstar shenanigans that take away from the experience at times.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 25th November 2015 15:07)

I've mostly been playing GTA V recently, primarily in single player but often with Tiddles in Online as we kill time and chat. Vice City will always hold a special place in my heart, but there is no way that V is not a better game than pretty much every other GTA put together. I just genuinely can't see a way they can top it with another game in the series, despite all the typical Rockstar shenanigans that take away from the experience at times.

I just wish online was a bit more stable.

in Rogue Legacy I've gotten to the point where I have opened up the way to the final boss, but it's just really irritating to try to beat him because he hits very hard and I don't know how to survive aside from kitting the hell out of him using unlimited flight in dragon form. Dragon form, however, has very little HP, meaning I need to pump a bunch of money (and exploration) to get better stats and equipment.

This dynasty's quest for revenge and/or answers has taken at least several millennia by this point..

So instead I put it down and played through Momodora III. It's an action platformer, in a visual style strongly reminiscent of Cave Story. It's also relatively short -- my first playthrough took about 2.5 hours, and then I did a second playthrough to try to get some additional achievements (one of which has story value). (The time-based achievements require a fresh save file -- no New Game + allowed.)

The game exhibits a high degree of polish, with lots of interesting sights and environments and very pretty music to go along with them. It's just too short to be able to develop them fully, so you're left with sorta a poetic understanding of it, where you've gotta fill the details in yourself. It's definitely beautiful enough to inspire imagination though.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 28th November 2015 06:47

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Templar Battleforce.

I have a problem. For those of you who are fans of Steam Train, the premise is that there's too many games, and they're forced to play them. Well, there's my problem. I buy all these cheap games on Steam. Now I'm trying to play them all.

Templar Battleforce is actually decent. It's a turn based tactical rpg involving Mecha vs Bugs.

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"So, are you a fan of the Fett?"

"Nah, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

I beat Rogue Legacy.

I basically outfitted a dragon with four speed runes and kited the final boss's first form to death.

This time I was more careful to not to panic on the second form, and simply stood back and observed its patterns. I'd also watched a video, so yeah.

Second form was relatively easy. Took it down on, well, second try.

Funny thing: the game counts number of kills you've had on each enemy. These are displayed in the epilogue. The final boss's first and second forms are listed separately...but they do not count separately. If you've beaten the first form twice but the second form only once, it still shows that you've only beaten each once.

Quote

I have a problem. For those of you who are fans of Steam Train, the premise is that there's too many games, and they're forced to play them. Well, there's my problem. I buy all these cheap games on Steam. Now I'm trying to play them all.

I'm not a fan of Steam Train, but I am a frequent visitor to the Steam Community Forums, and I've seen this complaint quite often -- i.e. complaints about the recent prevalence of indie/casual/hidden-object/anime/visual-novel/kiddie/2D/pixel/platformer/"simple"/"retro"/"8-bit"/"NES"/"walking simulator"/[insert any other term you dislike] games.

I like pointing out in response that Steam was a useless platform to me a few years ago until they started carrying games that I liked more.

But yeah, I know your feel. Too many games on the backlog, not enough time.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 30th November 2015 23:16

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

@ ranger51 I personally enjoyed GTA 5 but San Andreas is still my favorite. 5 didn't utilize the huge map as well as san andreas did because they only had one city. I think the wilderness would have been more enjoyable for me if i had more of reason to go out there than (I havent been out there in awhile) san andreas's 3 cities gave people a reason to go out there to go to one of the other cities. I also wished they would have kept the concept of doing missions for the properties you buy to build them up into better businesses. But I do agree. How are going to top themselves between these 2 games.



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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

Happy wars special match.I am attempting to level up my gear and rank up so I can wear heavier stuff since my new weapon weighs 12 because it is an evolved platinum knife.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I still keep playing and sucking at Civilization IV. This game constantly kicks my ass. But it really is brilliant.

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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

Playing through Torchlight for the first time. I'm playing a character who dual-wields a pistol and a wand. On like dungeon level 20 now.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

I'm still playing Freedom Planet like mad. Collected like all the cards except two, had to look them up in a guide, and they somehow were the most sneakiest cards in the entire game.

That and this time I beat the game with Carol (besides beating the game with Lilac) and went up with Milla up to stage 8, and that's awesome, considering how weak Milla is when it comes to her health. Soon it'll be all about the in-game achievements, to make sure I 100%'ed it.

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

Started playing Hotline Miami the day before and finished it off midnight yesterday. Was quite a fun ride, though I've no way to pinpoint my feelings towards it. Its a mix of many things when it comes to the story. This is the version I got from GOG.com.

Also went back to finish off Milla in Freedom Planet then I stopped once I heard someone on the GOG forums say "free DLC" which will add Milla's Adventure Mode (hence the stop) and... the really neat thing is Torque. So yay.

Also on my Android, I installed Super Hexagon. As many others have told you about the game, its insanely hard mainly because you need to have quick reflexes and quick thinking and knowing when to move and when not to move.

Further listing, I restarted playing Jetpack Joyride on my Android as well daily. There are some missing daily challenge extras that I can gain by collecting 3 letters (S.A.M.) to summon the Strong Arm Machine once per day, and doing that per each 5th day in a row grants me the clothes reward exclusive to it. I can always buy them via IAPs, and I can even do that with Amazon Underground which allows free IAPs for Jetpack Joyride, but I'm still doing it the hard way. If it can be gotten without IAPs, then I shall.

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

Things changed a bit. As I'm closing in on the final exams...

*Super Hexagon still gets the occasional play especially in the metro. Having reached 60 seconds in the all previous 5 difficulties, the 6th is another can of worms...
*Throw in VVVVVV to the list, Android port. Actually its my second time beating VVVVVV this time around. The game remains just as spiky, just as cool with its soundtrack, and just as weird, and with the same cast. Veni, Vidi, Vici! is still the peskiest of the pesky, and I've happened to collect all the trinkets. Again. But hey, let's not get started all about Super Hexagon Gravitron this time...
*And I just beat Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers today. Its a great concept, slicing rocks and then pushing them or pulling them around to manipulate the landscape, but that's if you have the patience to do it all. Hopefully the game itself is short, but the levels do take their time.
*Plaster an occasional run of Freedom Planet to speedrun a stage.
*Another occasional thing is a playthrough or two of Castle Doombad on Android. A tower defense where you're the evil mastermind who needs to defend his hostage princess from heroes invading his palace to take back the princess... and you finish them off in evil-fashioned ways.

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

Currently doing a replay of FF8. Decided I'm going to try and get most of the final weapons on disk 1 to do something different. Probably not doing quistis's due to the energy crystal grind on disk 1 is BS. Already have Zell's and Selphie's and am gettting the pulse ammo from the second Laguna dream sequence right now.

Also am still playing Thief (PS4) for youtube but we only record for that once every two weeks.

This post has been edited by TrueBOSS on 30th December 2015 02:34

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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

I just beat Ultionus, which I just revisited because it just got Steam Trading Cards.

It's a platformer made by Last Dimension (a mostly-one-man indie studio consisting of DarkFalzX, with music for this game done by Jake "virt" Kaufman). The game is heavily influenced by and an homage to (and made with the blessing of the dev of) a much older game called Phantis, a.k.a. Game Over II.

The first level is a shmup level but the rest of them are platformers. One of them plays out a bit like a rail shooter. There are about six levels. There are also three difficulty settings; I forget what the difference is between them but I picked Normal I think. Beating each level unlocks that level for level select where you can select other difficulties.

The sprite art is gorgeously detailed, as with all of DarkFalzX's games.

The controls at first seemed rather stiff in that you move slowly and can't fire all that fast either. That sorta blindsided me when I first played the game, though coming back to it, I think I saw it coming and thus I didn't feel that annoyed at it. That said only in the last level did I suddenly discover, upon experimentation, that I could shoot diagonally upward (up + shoot). This turned the final boss from a really tedious slog to something that was reasonably manageable.

Also the keys can't be rebinded to Z jump X shoot; they default to X jump Z shoot, and can let you X Jump Y shoot and some WASD-based combination that I didn't use.

I didn't get the best ending though, because I didn't rescue Balzac in every level. Well, at least Serena got to have her petty revenge against the Space Prince. "Still Worth It".

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 31st December 2015 11:28

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Heh, I got that game from Desura not long ago, in an effort to take all of these Desura titles to my home before Desura and them vanish.

Six levels long? If so, I may get around to playing a level or two per day, I dunno.

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

Quote (TrueBOSS @ 29th December 2015 21:33)

Currently doing a replay of FF8. Decided I'm going to try and get most of the final weapons on disk 1 to do something different. Probably not doing quistis's due to the energy crystal grind on disk 1 is BS. Already have Zell's and Selphie's and am gettting the pulse ammo from the second Laguna dream sequence right now.

I've played through FF8 in so many different ways but definitely its fun trying to at least get the Lionheart on Disc 1. What Energy Crystal grind are you referring to? Triple Triad?

Last few playthroughs I've been both trying to do a no level up and get the final weapons on Disc 1. Not easy stuff, if only because grinding Triple Triad and no EXP battles is boring stuff.

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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

*Status sitrep on Freedom Planet: I beat Milla's levels. All of them. With that, I beat the whole game minus the achievements (6 or 5 remaining). Now to wait for Milla's adventure mode and Torque's gameplay.
*Status sitrep on Super Hexagon: I finally beat Hyper Hexagonest, and therefore, beat the game. I'm satisfied. I got all my Google Play Games achievements too.
*Open Hexagon. Yes, that's an open source knockoff of Super Hexagon, and it does a lot that Super Hexagon never finds itself doing, including painstakingly easy levels and One-Winged Angel levels (one level reminded me of the backdrop of that one final boss, no kidding!). Its free for starters.
*Soon, I will go back to my second playthrough of Hitman GO. I beat it the first time with all achievements in the Amazon Appstore version of the game. I will beat it with all the achievements in the Humble Bundle version of the game with Google Play Games achievements.

This post has been edited by Pooka on 2nd January 2016 23:05

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

Getting the antlers (a cosmetic headgear item) in 100% Orange Juice.

Basically, an excuse to play some 100% OJ during this holiday season, because they drop for the characters that you use.

Event is still going, FYI.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 7th January 2016 00:45

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )