Sacrificing: Scrolls or Resources ?

 

 

 

One of the big mistakes I’ve seen from new players is sacrificing for scrolls when they should be sacrificing for resources. I’m going to explain the different situations you will encounter during play, and how I generally deal with them.

You should be sacrificing for either scrolls or resources every single turn, unless you are confronted with a situation where you are forced to play your hand without doing either. For example, you may have a Burn and Spark - which you desperately need to get rid of a Great Wolf.

At the start of the game, you should always be sacrificing for resources over scrolls. If you don’t build up your resources early game and your opponent does, then you will not be able to keep up with their field presence. This will allow them to have control over the game and you make things unnecessarily harder for yourself. As a general guide, I would say that sacrificing for scrolls when you have 5 or less resources is incredibly dangerous. That’s not to say that you should stick to 5/6 resources. I usually try to get to 7 then focus on sacrificing for Scrolls unless I have a decent opportunity to sacrifice for resources.

While it can be daunting to continually sacrifice for resources while your enemy is playing more creatures at the start, eventually you will get to the point where you can play 2 or 3 scrolls a turn (depending on their cost). In these early stages it is vitally important to make use of any scrolls that will let you draw scrolls, Sister of the Fox, Burn and Pother are a few examples of low cost scrolls which allow you to draw. This will give you more options when it comes to sacrificing.

Sometimes it is necessary to gain more resources even if it means you will have no scrolls in hand. However, this will also largely depend on your opponent. If they have less resources than you, then it is safer to sacrifice for scrolls (although not ideal) if you really need to. It can also be tempting to try and draw into a certain scroll. For example, if your opponent has played a Kinfolk Brave – you may want to find a Spark to get rid of it. But it’s much more worthwhile to sacrifice for resources, play a structure, then a large creature and deal with the threat when you can.

During the late game you should be keeping a close eye on your opponents resources. Make sure you don’t fall behind them by too much. If they are on 8 and you are on 7 it should be ok, but if they’re on 10 and you’re still on 7, then that’s potentially 1 more scroll a turn they can play (an extra Burn, Skirmisher, or Mangy Wolf coming your way!). 

If you keep this advice in mind when playing you will be in a strong position and will be able to make the most of the scrolls in your hand.

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Dust: An Elysian Tail

Dust is a game that harks back to the good old days of Castlevania and Metroid, a 2-D side-scroller with fast paced frantic combat and RPG elements, with a solid story built in to boot. First of all the game is just beautiful to look at, the hand painted graphics and character design is brilliant. Considering that everything in this game was made and designed by one man is truly inspiring.

The combat strikes the perfect balance between being easy to pick up but hard to master, the basics of combat are introduced at a steady pace, making it easier to get to grips with. With one button letting you do a basic attack and another letting you perform a heavy attack, holding down the heavy attack will make you spin your blade. On top of this you can dodge left and right and have a button for magic, whilst the magic is very weak when initially cast, if it's combined with your spinning heavy attack then it will create mass homing missiles or pillars of fire depending on the selected magic.

The story of the game is deftly told with a strong cast of voice acting and beautiful animations, the main character is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, who's other notable performances include Izaya from Durarara and Renton from Eureka Seven. He really brings the character of Dust to life. Fidget  Dusts main companion throughout the story provides often needed comic relief and a few hilarious 4th wall breaking comments such as early on she screams "mash all the buttons!!!" during one of the first fights you encounter.

The RPG elements of this game are well done being able to level up and assign a stat point according to your play style. There is a crafting system as well enabling you to craft items found in the field. However something I haven't come across before which I loved was the ability to sell materials you find to the merchant who will in turn then be able to stock them for you. This removes the need to grind X monsters for Y material which is a breath of fresh air for the genre.

If you enjoy the Castlevania sides scrolling action of ages past or just enjoy a game with a good story and fun combat I can't recommend Dust enough. Truly worthy of more praise than it has received thus far.

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The Scrolls Resources

 

 

 

With beta just around the corner, we thought that now would be the best time to go through the three resources in a bit more detail. When you log into the game, you will be asked to choose your first precon deck from the three resources. You will be able to buy the other precons later using gold or shards. For many alpha players who experienced a pre-beta reset, choosing their precon deck was a difficult choice to make. This guide will hopefully help both old and new players make their decision.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growth

Growth is the most aggressive resource and has little to offer in terms of defence, but what Growth lacks in defence it more than makes up for in terms of synergy. Creature wise, there are the lesser Bunnies and Rats, the Kinfolk and Wolves. 

The way Growth decks work is by overrunning the field with small creatures, which then buff the larger ones such as Great Wolf and Kinfolk Jarl. When Growth has enough units on the field, the player can then focus on countdown resets which Growth seems to have an abundance of. This means that when Growth has reached this level of control, it’s very difficult for an opponent to recover.

There are a lot of attack boosting scrolls, such as Ancestral Totem, Champion Ring and Crimson Bull. This means that even the weaker creatures can become a problem for the opposing player. It also allows unexpected attacks where a player may have left a unit unguarded, believing that the damage wouldn’t be sufficient enough to destroy them.

Growth also has field wipes in the forms of Quake and Frost Gale, allowing the player to regain control of the field. Once the field has been wiped, they can then draw scrolls using Sister of the Fox and Fertile Soil. 

Overall, Growth is aggressive and fast. However, it does have its weaknesses. For example, if the key units in a Growth deck (such as a Great Wolf) are removed in play, it can be difficult to maintain control of the field.

Order

 

 

 

Order has more of a balance between aggression and defence. Order’s strength comes from unit placement, forming ranks and buffing units. Orders creatures include Spearmen, Skirmishers, Infantrymen and Generals.

 

Order also has strong defensive structures, such as Waking Stones and Obelisk. These can be used to guard the attacking units such as Skirmishers. There is also Mangonel, which is Order's offensive structure and can be used as field wipe.

The Infantrymen, while not powerful by themselves can be used to buff other creatures. There are two types of Infantrymen, one buffs health while the other buffs attack. As they only buff the creatures on the same row, it is extremely important for someone playing Order to maintain ranks and keep units close together.

Order can also unleash quick, unexpected attacks. The Honorable General reduces adjacent units countdown by 2, triggering their attack. This can then be combined with an attack buff such as Royal Vanguard or focus.

 

One of the unique features of Order is the scrolls which affect units positioning. Scrolls such as Horn of Ages, New Orders, Flip and Pother may not seem that strong, but causing a unit to move infront of an attacking Skirmisher is an extremely effective strategy.

 

Overall, Order is well balanced and has the opportunity to devastate opposing players once ranks have been formed. However, Order's biggest challenge comes from decks which disrupt their formation.

 

 

 

Energy

 

Energy is the most defensive of the resources, and has the most effective structures. Most of Energy’s creatures have Ranged or Lobber, meaning that they can avoid certain affects such as Spiky or Vitorial Aura – which would affect a melee attacker. Creatures include Gravelocks, Automaton’s and the mighty Iron Orge.

Energy starts off a little slower than the other resources, but what it lacks in speed it more than makes up for in defence. Energy also has the most removal of the resources. With scrolls such as Inferno Blast and Thundersurge, Energy can devastate big groups of enemy units. It can also use Spark and Burn to remove any early aggressors and establish a line of defence (or attack). 

The synergy between the Gravelocks can be dangerously overwhelming for an opponent to deal with. As the Elders buff each other’s attack and health, it is vital to keep them in play. The Cannon Automaton’s are extremely powerful as all damage dealt to them is decreased by 1. This makes them effective as both defence and offense.

Structure wise, Energy has a lot of offensive structures such as the Destroyer, Catapult of Goo and Ether Pump. These can not only deal damage to your opponent, but can also distract them while you place more creatures on the field. The Machine Priest can control them, while the Tool Initiate can increase their attack.

Energy also has powerful Spells and Enchantments such as Potion of Resistance and Plating, making it harder for the larger units to be destroyed. The Iron Orge is most powerful of the Energy creatures, but due to his 3 countdown reset he is not an easy scroll to play. In terms of countdown reset, Energy can make use of Bombard and Iron Whip. 

Overall, while Energy is slow to start, due to the amount of removal and strong creatures – Energy is by no means weak.
 

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London MCM Comic Con

Britain's biggest festival of popular culture, MCM London Comic Con showcases the finest in films, videogames, comics, sci-fi and anime.

This was both Hurr and Durr's first ever Comic Con and whilst the queues were long, the venue was jam packed, and a bit too often there was a unpleasant smell in the air, we both had an amazing time.


Once we got through the queue and inside the main expo, there was a lot to see (if you can manage to navigate through the sea of people).

Here are some of the stalls we saw:

Note the awesome Buster Sword - Hurr is totally going to buy that next time !


But what really made the day for us were the simply stunning cosplayers we saw. There were actually more people in cosplay than not !

 Here are some pictures we took of them.

Wakka - Final Fantasy X
This Wakka cosplay was Hurr's cosplay of the day, so much attention to detail and the guy has pretty much the same face as him !

Group Photo:

Leonardo - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Lucy Heartfilia - Fairy Tail

Light Yagami - Death Note

Jacket - Hotline Miami

The Hotline Miami cosplay was Durr's cosplay of the day, being the massive Hotline Miamai fan that he is !

We're not entirely sure what anime this group was from, but they did look amazing!
The sword on the right must have been the biggest we saw all day.

Psychomantis - Metal Gear Solid
This guy was a lot of fun, he even played along with us to take the famous 'puppet' shot.

Vanille - Final Fantasy XIII

The guy on the left looks incredible, unfortunately we're not sure where he is from.

Koanashi - Spirited Away

Jack Sparrow - Pirates of the Caribbean

Dude with chainsaw for a hand?

Ryuk - Deathnote

 Hellboy (girl?)

Group Photo:

Batman - Batman

Scare Crow - Batman

Cat Girl - ????

    Guy on the left - ????

Hunter - Left 4 Dead
We met this cosplayer on the tube and I have to say, no one was happier to have their picture taken than he was ! As a first cosplay we thought it was great, keep it up dude !

Mental Mexican man - Mexico?
(On the other side of the sign he had YOMO - You're Only Mexican Once)

Iron Man

Yuna - Final Fantasy X

Rinoa - Final Fantasy VIII
(Moogle belongs to Hurr)

Borderlands 2 Group

Catherine

Witch - Left 4 Dead

Tifa - Final Fantasy VII

Cloud - Final Fantasy VII

Venom - Spider Man

The most detailed painted cosplay we saw there, no idea how she got her face that shape but it looked scary and awesome !

After being around so many cosplayers, Hurr & Durr have decided to go back to MCM in October and cosplay for the first time ever ! It's going to take a lot of hard work and dedication but we think we can pull it off. So watch this space !

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Scrolls alpha reset and the introduction of shards

 

 

So the Scrolls alpha players have had a few surprising changes to some Scrolls in recent patches. Ducal Spearman’s attack has been reduced to 1, Cannon Automaton now takes 1 less damage from all combat damage, and Unleash Inner Power now reduces health to 2. Tool Initiate has got a new skin, and his scrolls design has also changed to better reflect his ability.

Yesterday the big reset took place, meaning that all Scrolls, rankings and player statistics were wiped clean. When you log back into Scrolls now you will be asked to pick one of the three precon decks as your starter deck. Unlike previous patches, you will not have access to all three precons from the start. My understanding is that the alpha reset was designed for Mojang to test out their latest feature, shards.

Shards are Scroll's currency which you can buy with real life money to buy Scrolls from the store. The scrolls which you can buy with shards are unique to each player and will change each week. This adds an element of randomness and encourages players to trade with each other more. It also means that buying a large amount of shards won’t immediately mean you can buy a decent deck straight off the bat. 

From what I’ve seen of the reset so far, many alpha players are taking advantage of this. For my first couple of games after the reset I decided to play with the precon as it was. I went with the Energy precon as I have grown to really like playing Energy recently. I was pleased to see that not all players had chosen Energy and I actually played games against all three resources.

My first encounter was rather surprising, I had played an Iron Orge and while I sat there all pleased with myself my opponent cast Violent Dispersal on him. Poof, gone ! It hadn’t occurred to me that people may have brought shards already, and that I shouldn’t play so recklessly on the pretence that everyone is still using precons.

Overall I think the introduction of shards will add an interesting element to the game. They are fairly priced and well worth the money if you are a big Scrolls player. Considering that alpha players will also be entitled to 10% credit back on any shards they buy between now and beta release, I will definitely be investing in some !

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Catherine & Katherine

I have recently come into possession of a game I had long been wanting to play, but due to financial constraints, lacked the ability to do so. That game is Catherine and whilst I have yet to complete it, it's certainly been a hell of a trip so far. Catherine is a very unique game, both in style and substance. The game blends a story of fidelity and relationships, mostly being told from a bar, through cut scenes and a frantic puzzle based climbing game. The two seem starkly different, but the story manages to explain how the two intertwine beautifully.

The main story line follows the protagonist Vincent and his interactions between his long term girlfriend Katherine, and the flirtatious and much younger Catherine. Without spoiling to much lets just say things get very complicated in this love triangle.

For half of the game you will be climbing a tower made up from blocks. You can only climb one block at a time, so you must create stairs of blocks by pulling and pushing them into a desired place. Whilst this sounds straightforward enough, some of the blocks will fall apart under your feet and some are even traps which will kill you should you linger on them to long. All of this combined with the fact the floor falls away leads to some very frantic (not to mention frustrating) moments.

In between these floors you will come to a rest platform and meet 'sheep' who are also trying to climb this wall. You can choose to chat to your fellow sheep to learn techniques or encourage them to keep climbing, or should you choose belittle and discredit them. Also on each of these platforms you will be asked a question before you can proceed. For example one of the very early questions asked is "Is marriage the point where life begins or when it ends?" Once you have given your response you are presented with a graph showing responses from both men and women. Some of the responses are surprising and interesting to say the least!

The other half of the game is spent in the Stray Sheep bar chatting to your buddies, drinking beers and meeting the various patrons who enter the bar. Whilst exploring the bar you will receive text messages from either Katherine or Catherine, which you can reply to. Depending on how you reply and your interactions with various bar patrons, will effect a meter which will determine the outcome of the story. How this meter is affected is very vague, and as you play you will gradually come to understand how actions effect it.

If you're looking for something very unique with a mature story line I highly advise playing this, for anyone aged 21-35 the story of this game will speak to you on many levels. Great title, frantic fun game-play, can't recommend enough. One last thing, some of the bosses in this game are terrifying truly... horrendous.

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