Disk Jam Isn’t the Windjammers Remake We Needed but the One We Deserved
A good opening throw is key
Disk Jam is a game that’s a reimaging of an older game called “WindJammers“. That game is a true relic as it’s a unique sports game and a whole ton of fun. This game tries to recapture the magic of WindJammers and it does a stellar job of it. Just ignore the first match as the person seems to just stop playing. A wins a win, though.
Disk Jam Keeps Matches Short and Sweet
You can throw some pretty impressive disk maneuvers
A match in Disk Jam takes a total of about three to five minutes when all is said and done. I failed to notice in the early going how the point system works but I eventually figured it out. The number counter in the center of the arena goes up the longer the disk is in play. Allowing you to get a pretty impressive lead if you play a bit on the defensive side. The basics are that you need to throw the disk soon after you get your hands on it. If you throw it as soon as you get it you throw a “Perfect Throw” and it goes a little faster which is helpful. I’m not very good at it.
Disk Jam Is Pretty Barebones for Now
Online and Split Screen for 1v1 or 2v2 is about it for now
Disk Jam is a game made by two people according to the news box on the side of the screen. What we have now is really impressive and just straight-up fun. I’m willing to wager that the developers are going to try and go the Rocket League route. Get a big player base and just keep pushing out content, which is awesome. I for one am greatly looking forward to seeing this game expand and becoming something amazing. Unfortunately, at the end of the video, the online service broke forcing me to stop playing. After some of these bugs have been ironed out I bet this game will be something everyone’s talking about.
After conquering the burning town on fire we end up jumping right into the first boss fight we get a fairly intense showing. Phasing in with two giant wrecking balls, we see a bigger scarier version of the minibosses we just got through taking out. The fight isn’t too hard to be honest just have to be patient is all. Dodge when needed, attack when an opening arises, and retreat to take a quick breath. I was floored that I was able to topple this big guy on my first shot. Although after losing to him so many times from the beta I really shouldn’t have been.
After some calculated strikes, he decides to drop his chain balls and instead hurdles them at me. This requires picture-perfect timing to dodge; also he does get a lot faster and his openings shorten. Patience, healing items, and a ton of luck are the sweet taste of victory.
Instead of explosions NIOH has burning ships to walk away from
The Big Ol World Map
We get a quick cutscene after the battle but the stories not really why we’re here; although that cat is adorable. Getting to a map we get to see the whole world of NIOH, it’s pretty big with a lot of places to go explore. We can stop at what’s called the “Starting Point” to go to a shrine, visit the Blacksmith to upgrade weapons, sell weapons and change hairstyles, and hit up the dojo to train. After taking a quick look around we jump right into the next main mission for a whole new land to explore.
The world map in NIOH is pretty big
NIOH – Jumping Into The LimeStone Depths
Jumping down into a cave we meet a talking cat, which is fairly unexpected. We get a little backstory on why the cat can talk to us and then it’s back into the action. Although it’s a new area the land stills familiar as long as you’re on your guard. Moving through the caverns we come to a cliffside that takes some careful footwork to not fall off of. The next cavern allows us to face a variety of enemies that require different tactics to vanquish. Unfortunately, I take a wrong turn by opening a door and get surrounded, but fortunately, I was able to grab a key before dying.
NIOH is just full of surprises but this spirit cat is just adorable
NIOH – Pushing Forward Against The Odds
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, the next section is primarily just pushing forward towards the next shrine. Take a dip in at the nearby hot springs to regain some life and mowing down a lot of enemies. After I get to the safety of the next shrine things take a turn as I explore more than I should have. Falling down a cliff causes me to get lost and try my best to run around for an exit back to the safety of the shrine. It takes some doing but I can return to the shrine and take a breath.
How was your fight against the first boss in Nioh leave a comment below letting me know!
After a strong start, today’s episode starts with a bang as we’re thrown into the claws of a new machine creature called a Sawtooth. After a brief catch up with Rost where we explain that we completed to give back the beads to Grata, get the Tripcaster from Karst, and proceeded to craft fire arrows. To wrap up the conversation we tell Rost that we’re not going to be a total asshole to him once we complete “The Proving“.
I’m perplexed by the laws of the land thing that are happening in the game. On one hand, it kind of makes sense to shun outsiders from your specific tribe. But it seems sort of insane to have laws in place that strictly forbid it. Did something awful happen in the past that justifies this? We don’t quite know yet as everyone keeps it very vague and confusing.
It’s not just me that thinks this should have to be something you have to say to someone who raised you, right?
Horizon Zero Dawn Throws You Right Into The Sawtooths Clutches
After a quick nap at the campfire, we head to the gates and the guards silently open them for us. The path before us is laid with destruction, we see a cabin on fire in the distance and a new creature burning beside the path. We learn that it is a Sawtooth and how it takes a lot of effort to bring one down, as I’m about to find out. Continuing down the path I pick up some items, climb a hill, and out pops the Sawtooth.
It’s only scary if you look at it… oh god run!
Rost being a complete waste here just expects you to figure out how to take down the beast. If games have taught me anything you always aim for the obvious bright parts on the enemy. Much easier said than down in this scenario. Especially after I proceed to screw up this hunt as much as possible. Trying to learn the Tripcaster on the fly doesn’t work out so well.
Just Me and The Sawtooth
After getting the Sawtooths attention I move to a nice stealth location in some large grass. He follows me right into the thick of it and I get a stealth strike that does a nice amount of damage. Then everything falls apart, as the Sawtooth shows it malice. It’s fast, tricky, and sneaky in one scary package. Once it knows your presence its a fight for survival.
When I said run, I meant RUN FASTER
Running in circles doesn’t accomplish anything so I take a stand and try out the Tripcaster. It shoots out a rope that you can use to make a tripwire to electrify your enemies. Aiming behind I can shoot out a quick line that the Sawtooth runs directly into. This stops it in its tracks and buys me time to strike for some massive damage. Utilizing my new fire arrows I aim directly for the yellow canister under its belly. This creates a nice big explosion and leaves the beast with little health. A quick getaway and can get behind the Sawtooth and finish it off with some quick arrows.
All In a Days Work In The Wilds
After taking down the Sawtooth we meet back up with Rost. We learn that once we pass “The Proving” well become a Brave and be expected to fight for the Tribe not just look out for one’s self. We have been practicing just for our gain but that’s all about to change.
Changing lanes seeing as how this will be the last chance we have to do anything before we go onto “The Proving”. We tackle the side quest that I had received in the last episode. A quick jog and were faced with saving Arana from a pack of Watchers.
Sidequests are surprisingly Elaborate In Horizon Zero Dawn
You can have a multitude of conversations throughout a side quest
Some quick stealth takedowns and we’re safely able to talk to Arana. During the stealth, the world’s weather starts to change to a rainscape and it starts coming down hard. It doesn’t affect gameplay but the character makes a comment which is a nice touch. We learn that a Watcher took her mother’s staff and that we should go retrieve it.
A cool detail is that we use our ability to track where the Watcher went and follow a nice clear path. A short hike brings us to some snowy peaks. Climbing to the high ground allows us to survey the situation.
Scouting and Planning to Bring Down The Machines
Being able to scout the area and plan an attack is a useful thing to do
Surveying the situation shows is that there are five machines in total. Planning an attack and executing it is essential here. Don’t worry I manage to blow it spectacularly. Trying to take out the closest one screws up stealth in a big way as being tossed down a hill is never a good thing. Luckily I’m able to recover and take them down by aggroing them one by one until only the true target remains. Quick stealth kill later and we have recovered the staff, now just to turn in the quest. We receive thanks as well as a spear damage upgrade for out troubles.
I am truly sorry to report that my recording of the first part of this series was completely broken and unsalvageable. I was unable to piece the recording and audio together in a way I was happy with, so I scrapped the entire episode. Thus explains why this one’s opening won’t make sense without the context. For this, I apologize but no point crying over something I couldn’t control.
Horizon Zero Dawn for the PS4 is Awe Inspiring
What I will say is that the opening for Horizon Zero Dawn is just fantastic. It manages to build a harsh world in moments. It allows you to sympathize with Alloy, the main character, and sets a tone of fear and awe. After being a hero for a man who had fallen and was about to be killed by the roaming robots. We come out to get hit in the face with a rock and have a choice to make which is where this episode begins.
The choice wheel is pretty interesting
Growing Up One Montage at a Time
Rather than being a simple good or evil choice, you get some interesting stand-ins. From what I’ve seen in the future this will change based on the situation laid before you. You can use your brains, brawn, or heart in this first choice. Deciding not to make the situation worse I decided to drop the rock and let the kids be on they’re way.
Rost, our fatherly figure walks into the scene as we explain what happened and gather some useful knowledge. We learn that we could be accepted if we accomplish something called “The Proving”. But it will take a lot of training and years to be ready. Thankfully this boils down to a quick montage, that’s honestly fun to watch. The part where they transition from young Alloy to teen Alloy is just fantastic.
They grow up so fast when the story demands it
Horizons Missions Structure
After being placed back into gameplay we learn that it’s just two days before “The Proving” but Rost is nowhere to be found. After checking out the menus and grabbing some of the local plant life we find Rost atop a cliff overlooking the world. We learn that we’re ready to take on “The Proving” but we need to get some fire arrows, help old Grata and prepare for something that goes down at night. We hop off the cliff onto a zip-line and begin our adventure in full.
Getting around the world in Horizon is fun
A quick trip and we arrive at Old Grata who won’t talk to us directly since we’re an outsider. But thanks to her ramblings we piece together that we need to go retrieve her beads. Which I’m still confused as to how they got way across the map in the first place, but I digress.
Hunting Animals and Robots
The general gameplay is fun, you use a bow to hunt animals and takedown robots. You can craft new arrows on the fly thanks to all the consumables you pick up along the way. We start with some rabbits but soon enough take on the robots that roam the world. If you make every arrow count than taking them down isn’t too much of a challenge. Just dodge when needed, take aim with the bow and use stealth in tall grass to your advantage. Using parts collected from downed enemies you can improve your bow with some slight perks.
You can modify weapons in so useful ways.
Getting SideQuest Distracted
Climbing in Horizon Zero is a lot like Uncharted’s
After climbing to where the beads are for Grata, we start our trek back. After a super cool rappel down the cliff. We run into a person who has been hurt by the robots, he gives us our first side quest. We have to save his daughter and the rules of talking to an outsider be damned. Unfortunately, I am only level 3 and this quest recommends I be level 4 so I’m going to have to hold off on helping him. Returning the beads to Grata we get a pretty lazy thanks as she still doesn’t talk to use directly but I suppose it’s the thought that counts.
Stealth and Tripcasters
For the last length of this episode, we try out some stealth on some honestly dumb robots. When you whistle to make robots come check you out in the tall grass, they come one by one. This makes taking down a whole herd painfully easy. As once you got the jump on them it’s already over. But being able to go from stealth to open combat and back to stealth is pretty exhilarating.
The first character who isn’t a total asshole to an outsider
For the ending we meet Karst who isn’t afraid to talk to an outsider, he’s a cool character that we’ll probably see a lot of. Seeing as he’s the shopkeeper who’s willing to help us. We buy a TripCaster which is an electric trap setter and call that an episode.
For today’s video, I thought I’d try something new, throw an idea at the wall and see it works out. Having gotten all five of the Zelda Amiibos that came out this past Friday making an unboxing video felt like a fun idea. It was a surprising amount of work to put together. After setting up a shooting area, placing a makeshift tripod, and moving a few tables everything was ready to go. This was my first attempt ever at something like this, I was fairly nervous which upon reviewing the footage it shows all too embarrassingly.
Besides stepping a bit out of my comfort zone I also tried my hand at producing a full 4K video. This was accomplished with an iPhone 7 Plus which was easy to place, adjust, and just start recording, I was impressed, to say the least. The problem came after recording the footage, moving the video off of the iPhone was a big chore since the file size of the video was so big. But after a few tries, I was able to rip it out of my iPhone using a file management tool.
They are easily the coolest looking Amiibos to date in my opinion
Editing Is a Big Time Sink
Changing up the way that my videos are normally prepared was a bit scary. But this is my first big editing venture, It may not seem earth-shattering but I’m damn proud of this video! We’ve got underlying music, courtesy of Bensound.com who makes awesome royalty-free music; check it out. Filming the video was the easy part, getting the audio and everything to flow in a final version was the tough part. It took a lot of courage for me to do this video. After a full weekend of hard work, I’m glad I made something I can be proud of.
Music used in the video: Jazzy Frenchy – Bensound.com
Coming from the last episode this one was cathartic in a certain way. I turned the tables on my biggest opponent yet. I jump right into the fight that gave me so trouble last time. This time I’m ready to be able to topple the big guy. Now there were about 4 or 5 fights before this one with recordings that I’ll never show. I wanted to start the episode with a victory, this, in turn, allowed me to march forward and let no one stop me from returning to the shrine.
It’s the small victories that feel special
Taking some time off-screen to practice, upgrade my character, as well as level up, gives me the needed skills to beat this big roadblock. Utilizing dodging, Kai Blasts, and well time strikes I take him down in little to no time. This is cause for a great celebration and I maybe scream just a tad too much but screw it; it felt amazing!
Conquering The Town on Fire
Moving on forward past the defeated roadblock, I am finally able to see the rest of the town on fire. Moving around my newly opened part of the town I dash across rooftops, defeat some ground riddled enemies and scout out a pretty interesting shortcut. Dropping down a water barrel allows for a quick way back to the shrine for which I am well acquainted.
Kicking a water container to extinguish the blaze below and open a shortcut
The only problem is that between the shortcut and the shrine is another miniboss guarding the way. Now the first one was an ax wielder, this one has two blades. I decide to clear out a little more houses so I don’t have to on the way back. Then I dive headfirst into the second miniboss to open the way since they don’t respawn like a normal enemy.
Sometimes You Gotta Stumble to Get Back Up
Two swords are always more terrifying than just one
Rushing right past the miniboss as he spawns in I sprint back to the safety of the shrine. This is so if I die I can reclaim all my Amrita without worry. After fighting the one with the ax, I’m just not ready for this one’s speed. He’s far faster than what I have been used to just far and I take misjudge the distance causing me to die. Reclaiming my Amrita as soon as I spawn I level up a bit and charge right back into battle with the two-bladed giant. This time I’m more prepared and more powerful, allowing me to take my time and take him down. Thankfully I get enough Amrita for another level up before I try to get that dastardly door open so I can face the level’s final boss.
Opening a door can be just as fulfilling as toppling a boss in NIOH
Hey, if you’re playing NIOH let me know in the comments below or on my video up above.
