Beastie Bay (Android): Falling back off the Wagon.

What the hell is wrong with all of you? On several occasions on this site I have given a cry for help. I have an addiction.  Sometimes I stave it off for a while but eventually fall back into a bad habit and it consumes my life for weeks, sometimes months. It takes a lot of effort to get the willpower to stop but after a while I find a new version of it and BAM, I'm right back off the wagon (a phrase I have never really understood).

My drug of choice comes from delightfully 8-bit smack addictions that come from the fine people at Kairosoft, in yet another one of their goofy simulation titles. Now as I had mentioned in my first omniderp video their last one I played, Kairobotica, I noted that they started to get the knack of making the games more engaging by making the battle like a turn based JRPG instead of simulation. Now I am actually participating instead of watching. So naturally I was like a moth to a flame when they recently they started advertising a free game called....

BEASTIE BAY(Android)

So how do I explain a Kairosoft simulation without it coming off exactly like all the other ones I have previously done? Well, I suppose I can't in a way. The games always have a functional similarity between all of them and the major thing that changes between them is usually just the setting. In Beastie Bay, you're little Kairo-doofus finds himself stranded on an island with his faithful Dog/Cat/Duck. With not much else to do, naturally you decide to make it the best resort ever. You do this by building houses for you and your pet, and then scavenging for food and lumber.

As you play and progress, areas become unlockable for you to explore. In typical Kairosoft fashion this is done by sending your character to investigate which is done so automatically, but occasionally you will be attacked by the wildlife. In this situation your faithful companion will take to the forefront and fight to defend you. Each of the beasties break down into various elemental types such as normal, fire, water, lightning, ground, wind, and I believe ice. As you battle there are various types of bait that you can use to befriend them and have them join your team.....

Wait a pocket monstering second, did this come off as a bit like Pokemon to anyone else? Well, yes. The game's RPG mechanics borrow heavily from the core basics of the Pokemon franchise but I will say that the there are plenty of differences too. First off all, the beasties are fairly original in design. You may be able to trace similarities to monsters in other games but there weren't very many if any I could immediately trace to a Pokemon game.

And unlike in Pokemon, your beasties serve more of a purpose than a listing in a pokedex and a taken up slot in your computers box or whatever it was. When you build a house for your beastie on the island, they will continue to harvest wood and food which you need for building and exploration while not in your party. Depending on their surroundings, they will build various style of homes or attractions for the visitors to your island to spend money on. Money you can use on supplies, building, weapons and items for your travel.

The combat in Beastie Bay as I just mentioned is fairly similar to Pokemon in it is traditionally turn based with beasties only getting a handful of special attacks but its got a major difference to it as well. In this you have a party of 3 that can be out at one time, as can the enemies. If you set up of team of similar typed beasties, they will get a stat boost. Also, when you flee combat it takes you all the way out of the map you are exploring. The plus to doing this is if you come right back, you maintain your treasures you found along the way and may pick up at the spot you left off. So if you make it 70% in and find a particularly rough enemy you have to option to flee, rearrange your team, come back and get right back to the fight.

I found the simulation aspect of this game much more difficult than previous ones because its harder to figure out how to make different varieties of buildings. I know you want to build things with higher civilization and nature bonuses and get power to them, but I've never really found a way to include all these things and then have them laid out in a manner that visitors can reach them. I only ever make the same few buildings because I'm not sure what I need to change to get better housing or attractions.

When you complete the game (IE: get through 16 years of game time), you have the option to purchase a carry over data that allows you to start your new game with the majority of your unequipped items and exploration item levels in tact, as well as one of the beasties in your current party as one of your new starters. Its handy because you breeze through the beginning, but it makes capture hard because you kill them too easily. Actually, that may not be true since I haven't tried to catch one with full health. But it does give you a visual indicator when they are near death, which seems to lead into the theory that it affects capture.

I really can't really go into much more detail about the game without rehashing things I've already said about other Kairosoft titles. But this does have me thinking about them. Many of these, if not all but this one cost about 5 bucks on the respective marketplace for full versions. As far as apps go, that's not cheap. Yet here I am blissfully throwing them another 5 dollars every time I notice they sling a new one at me. And I think I might have figured out why.

You know when you think about an old game you used to play on your Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Atari, or  Commodore 64 (god I'm so old) and you get these warm fuzzy feelings about your favorite titles? Some of us dust off the old console and fall right back into blissful happiness getting back into it. I myself can always pick up River City Ransom and shred that bitch in 16 minutes. Now think about some of the newer games you have. How many of your dopey new FPS's do you go back to after the new one comes out? How many of you play a newer RPG again after you've beaten it? New games are fun, impressive looking, but have like zero lastability and most of them get traded.

I think Kairosoft realized that many of us have a passion for retro style gaming. They commit to focus on simple 8-bit sprites and sounds trigger a nostalgic charm that easily hooks anyone in their 20-40's. Their simple character design style is interesting, charming, yet familiar. And even though the majority of the games they produce are simulations with very little game interaction, they all have a highly addictive quality about that makes them engrossing, engaging, and very difficult to put down.

Now they are taking their titles and while not abandoning the style that created quite the fan base, now they are incorporating simple aspects from games of that past era to make their games feel new and familiar at the same time much like the original Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior. Its actually rather genius. But if stupid games like Farmville, Diner Dash, or even the more popular Sim City has shown us anything its that you can pretty much take any premise and make a game out of it.

With no shortage of western and Japanese culture to draw from or parodies like this one to produce, Kairosoft is obviously not dry on the idea well. And I can say without doubt that if their next title is something ridiculous like Waste Management Story, Antique Store Story, or Gay Bathhouse Story those rat bastards will find a way to make me love it for 5 bucks a download. (Please don't make that first or last one Kairosoft, I was kidding and don't want to have to explain why I have Gay Bathhouse Story on my phone).

That being said, I will say it was pretty cool to throw out their most in-depth game yet for free. Kudos, Kairosoft. So since it doesn't cost you a dime, I definitely say its worth a download. The only fault I can really think of is if this is your first Kairosoft game, it may set the bar too high for the past releases to compare.

Hasn't stopped me though....
Good lord it hasn't....
Somebody help me...

Rage Quitter Omniderp: #1

Don't have much to write about lately, so I whipped up this vid for you. Enjoy

My Rebuilding Silent Hill article.

Kairosoft Simulations Part Deux (Iphone): I have a problem and need help, Why can't you people see that?!

So yeah, fuck Kairosoft. Months ago in the early stages of this blog, I wrote a review of a series of mobile simulation games, namely: Game Dev Story, Hot Springs Story, Pocket Academy, and Mega Mall Story. Those games were like 8-bit heroin to me an I couldn't stop it. Hours upon hours I would waste on these. But eventually was able to kick that habit and stop playing those games. But foolish, foolish me. I rcently checked the app store to find out that they released 4 more simulations titles and god damn it after an hour or two on one of the demo's, three of the four of these stupid games ended up on my phone... So here we go again...

GRAN PRIX STORY: (Iphone/Android)

Gran Prix Story is pretty much exactly like it sounds. You are the owner of a race team and you have to train and develop a driver and his team of mechanics to build yourself a car and research its parts to win races and earn more money to expand your facilities and team. This is the game that is most representative of the the original Kairosoft stimulation Game Dev Story.  There is no building simulation so all you need to focus on is the numbers that pop up for you. As you win races you earn prize money, and with that prize money it allows you to build new cars. As you build and race you can get research points to upgrade the gear you have to research to make new stuff. You also can get sponsors who pay you every year and will help you unlock more sponsors or new gear. As you win races you will get invited to a Gran Prix. Win a Gran Prix and it moves you up the next cycle. Its pretty simple and I really got hooked on this one.

Here is my pro tip for this one. The Protocar will be one of the fastest you can get early. Build car parts that best support handling. On long straights speed is good but on dirt or ice roads you are boned. I had a Protocar with Ice tread tires, a V12 Engine, and a Supercharger and that pretty much will carry you through most of the game. Its also is a good idea to higher mechanics with the best TECH score. It will help get more research points faster and when your racer gets an aura, use it for training or when you start building a car or installing parts for the best effects. Once you've maxed what you use, start leveling things to half to unlock new cars and parts.

POCKET LEAGUE: (Iphone/Android)

Pocket League is a soccer management simulation. You start off with a base team of scrubs and you train them at your facilities to booster up their stats. They can train on the practice field or use the facilities you build to earn more skill points. You can play in exhibition games to get some start up capital but you won't earn bigger bucks until you start winning some cup games. Defeat all the teams in the cup to win money and gather up high profile players in free agency. Try to max out their stats and crush your opponent. Its pretty cut and dry.  You can place new facilities as you expand which allow for different training or coaching options. I don't think I ever beat the world level of this game though. And music for this one was a bit more annoying than all the rest. It has smaller sprites too, perhaps to get the whole soccer field size right but eh, seemed less detailed to me.

My tips for this one is get yourself a Superstar player as soon as you can afford it. Probably some kind of Striker who can play FW and maybe a world class Goalie. Put your team in the 4-3-2-1 arrow formation and teams will find it difficult to reach your goal, and your striker will be able to outplay the opponent and score pretty much on a whim. Once you have that in place you can start fleshing out your team by working your way down the arrow hiring more superstars as you go and the cap will allow for it. Once you get three FW's just start training them to their max potential and you'll be winning games by double digits till the World League.

OH! EDO TOWNS: (Iphone/Android)

Oh! Edo Towns is true to its roots and is an actual civilization simulation game. You are the lord of a feudal domain and you are basically trying to raise a popular and prosperous city for your citizens. Starting off with simple farmers you make money and open up new plots for people to move in, as the economy grows you begin to build businesses for people to spend their money and earn skill points. As they attain more skills they can eventually change their professions to artisans, merchants, warriors, or eventually vassals. Like many of the other simulations they release placing certain buildings perform better when placed next to other compatible buildings. Your artisans can also create items that increase citizens or buildings yield, which ultimately brings more people to your village.

Unless you watch a lot of anime and have a pretty reasonable grasp of Japanese culture, you may not know what some of the building types are or what their use is, so it can be a little frustrating to figure out. This is the one I had the most trouble with getting grasp on. The one thing to remember is unlike some of the other sims, the people have limited move distances, so start off small. Build some homes together, build some shops nearby, and build some fields near by in the other direction. If you place shops or jobs too far away from citizens homes they wont work and won't earn you money. Eventually they will be able to get horses which let them travel farther, but build in blocks. Its the best way to go.

VENTURE TOWNS: (Iphone/Android)

Lastly, there is Ventue Towns. I haven't purchased this one yet because its boasting a rather steep 3.99 price tag in my opinion. From what I gather from the the reviews and app description, it appears to be a more westernized version of Oh! Edo Towns. I can tell myself that because it's nearly the same thing, I don't need to buy that one. But I give it about 10 days or so and I'll probably break down and play this one too.

Seriously people. Its an addiction and I can't stop. WHY is nobody helping me?! They should not be as addicting as they are. But for whatever reason, I continue to buy and waste time with these. And god damn it if I have to suffer, I want others to suffer with these too.... And want to know that I was responsible...

KairoSoft Sims (iphone): Crack addiciton in 1's and 0's.

During this dry spell when I have nothing coming out I went browsing around my Iphone to look for something new to do to fill the gap. That friend who suggested to me to try Infinity Blade earlier in the life of my Iphone contract introduced me to a Simulation game called Game Dev Story. I hate him to this day for that. I don’t know what it is about simulation games, by all definitions they should be boring as hell, but the second I get started with one I become physically unable to put them down. They become my sole focus in my existence. Maybe it’s the classic sprite animated charm or the simple midi sound track or the goofy parodies on the names in these games, but I don’t know why I keep falling for it.

KairoSoft Simulations: (Iphone/Android)

      

So out of curiosity I downloaded the game. The premise is fairly simple, you start a game development company and your objective is to make as much money as you can. The more you make, the more you can expand, hire new employees, purchase licenses to develop for consoles, and eventually create your own console.  The whole game is very menu driven and if you have happened to be a gamer in the past 20 years, you generally know what consoles will be successful despite the parody names. What made this game hilarious to me is the horribly offensive names I could think of for my game company and names I could come up with, most of which I am unable to provide for the sake of keeping this article PG. I don’t know why I found the game so entertaining, but I've played it through 3 times.

That was several months ago. The problem is when I was looking for something new to play, I found out that they produced three more simulation titles, and like the idiot I am I purchased all of them. Next up is Mega Mall Story, and much like the last game, the premise is pretty cut and dry. You want to try to become a five star mall, run the competition out of town and try to build up the surrounding community to raise your traffic. As people start to come to your mall, they give gifts and introduce ideas for new stores to bring in. You can hold sales to increase the amount of people to come in and placing the right stores next to each other raises their reputations.  You can hire floor associates and if they provide good customer service to people they give you hearts which you can use to upgrade store stock or quality. While some of the stores you earn are a little bizarre (my mall certainly doesn't have a casino or planetarium), this one was surprisingly addicting to play.

The one that I am currently playing is Pocket Academy. I have recently started playing it so forgive me if the review is a little narrower in description.  As you have already guessed, the objective to this game is to create a successful academy. You train your students and the more you do you can increase the level of learning to get more tuition money. That allows you to higher better staff, aside from teaching; the staff wander the halls and get you points to spend on new amenities for the university.  In addition to this your students can help in local events to earn money for your school as well as create relationships amongst the students, romantic or platonic. What makes this game different from the previous two is that you have a much more freedom in your construction of the academy.  Unlike Game Dev Story where you get no building at all and it’s all done for you or Mega Mall Story where basically place buildings in blocks of 1-4 spaces, Pocket Academy opens up the map for you to construct, much in a manner you would expect like in The Sims Series.  It’s still fairly early on in my play through so I’m sure there is more for me experience and unlock, but it’s looking to be just as addictive as the previous two.

Or if going back to school isn’t your thing, you can try your hand at Hot Springs Story.  I only have played the demo for this game, but it plays a lot like if not exactly like Pocket Academy does. You start off with a small spring you have to expand it. As you do you can add different amenities in the same way of the previous mentioned game and you can sway business depending on what clientele you advertise to. Like Mega Mall Story, you can you expand and invest in the surround community to try to bring more people to your spa. What I am noticing about this game and Pocket Academy is that in this one it forces you to plan your building more carefully as money is not as prevalent as the first two titles. That being said, they do open up a new dimension to the game. This is the next one I have on the chopping block.

You can pick any one of these you want. Their all about 2 or 3 bucks on the Iphone App Store or Android Marketplace and every single one of them should keep you distracted for a good number of hours. Plus, if you are like me and looking for more, Android users can download their newest title Grand Prix Story, with an Iphone release in the near future. 

Now they just need to make a Sim Game Rehab Story and I'll be all set.... Damn you KairoSoft... Damn you...