#also infinite my beloved he deserves another chance in a game Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[luisleyyaoi]

Imma be real with y’all since April Fools is over.

The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog is genuinely, unironically, one of my favorite Sonic The Hedgehog games and I WILL be talking about it nonstop

[intrepidguardian]

Tumblr Aether Revolt Set Review - Blue

Aether Swooper

S- So remember that servo token deck I was talking about...?

IG - While not super impressive, two evasive power over two bodies isn’t the worst rate.

 Aethertide Whale

S- I think this is a better version of Aethersqual because of etv is easily abusable especially with Panharmonicon

BP - Great energy enabler! If you have enough mana you can reliably gain some energy and if you have infinite mana for some reason you get infinite energy! But besides Limited, I don’t think this card deserves any play elsewhere.

LU - Feels off color for energy decks. Probably too slow for standard. Control decks will just play Torrential Gearhulk.

IG -  Not a very exciting whale.

 Baral, Cheif of Compliance

A- *just keep booing and interrupting people mid-sentence with boos *

S- As much as I hat to admit it, I think this cars s going to be good in control decks

BP - Ohhhhh boy! Blue players everywhere just got a big christmas gift! This card is play ridiculous, especially in EDH where it’s going to give you sooooo much value. I’m sure some decks in Standard will play it and maybe some combo decks in Modern, but that seems less likely. For sure one of the best cards of the set, hands down!

LU - A good card for some decks. I wouldn't be surprised to see this guy in Grixis control and Dynavolt Tower.

IG -  A lot of control players may be excited for this card because it gets you closer to doing multiple things in a turn, but I’m never looking forward to casting creatures in control decks that don’t generate immediate value.

 Baral's Expertise

A- *continue to boo *

BP - One of the other best cards of the set imo, being able to bounce 3 things AND cast a free spell??? Granted it costs 5 mana, but the amount of value this card will generate in standard control decks??? Also, amazing EDH card and potential Modern playable in Jeskai or UW Control lists.

LU - One of the best of the Expertise cycle. I can definitely see this being played by control decks. Bouncing opponents things and getting free Planeswalkers or draw spells is exactly what they need. 

IG - Probably one of the best cards in the set. UW Flash in particular may be looking forward to this card against faster decks that can establish themselves a turn or two sooner. Bouncing three powerful creatures or vehicles and getting to drop Gideon on a near-empty board could greatly swing a lot of matchups.

Bastion Inventor

S- Gaze into the Iris

A- It's funny you make that reference when you have “Bastion” in the name      

IG - Generally not exciting, but it’s always good to keep your eye on cards that can become cheaper.

Disallow

A- *more booing but louder now *

S- Oh look. A counterspell that can stop my activated abilities. I'm not bitter.

BP - Long overdue Voidslime reprint! The card is nice, especially in EDH, having a counterspell that has some flexibility. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of it in Standard as well but that’s about it.

LU - Great counterspell for the upcoming standard. Countering Aetherworks activations and planeswalker abilities makes this preferable to Void Shatter in most scenarios. Will be played in almost all control decks.

IG - Beats planeswalker ults and resolved Aetherworks activations. UW Flash and most other slow blue control decks would love to have access to this.

Efficient Construction

BP - Remember when we talked about Sram and casting a bunch of 0cmc equipments? Here is another card that goes well with that! Why not get some 1/1s out of the deal! I’m sure some fringe decks will play this is standard for combo purpose, MAYBE will see a bit of EDH play, but it’s not a huge card to freak out about.

IG -  Not very efficient on rate, but could make a splash in a Metalworks Colossus deck.

Ice Over

A- What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!!!!!!

IG - Usually these cards get shelved for removal spells from other colors, but this effect can spring up in Standard now and again.

Illusionists Stratagem

A- Can't go a set without having to read one of Jace's edgy mindreader quotes he probably practices in the bathroom every morning hoping desperately he actually gets a chance to use them.

IG - Flicker two creatures with a cantrip? Maybe in a UW Flash deck with Reflector Mage, but that already feels like a longshot. (Edit: Hindsight is awesome)

Mechanized Production

S- That servo deck is looking pretty good right now

BP - Ohhhhh another alternate win-con! You get to copy an artifact each turn and if you ever control 8 artifacts with the same name you win the game! First thought are clues, which are easy to get to 8! Definitely an interesting card, though I doubt it’ll see much play.

IG -  It’s an exciting card and I’ve seen several brews getting ready to copy a bunch of Clue tokens or Servos. In the right deck, this could make some waves in Standard.

Metallic Rebuke

A- Can Tezzeret ever make something that doesn't look like it came straight out of my nightmares?  Like I get you have an aesthetic, my dude, but maybe chill the fuck out? Maybe?

S- I can turn this into a mana leak. Sign me up.

BP - I’m very interested in this card as, if you control 2 artifacts, becomes a 1cmc mana leak, which can be HUGE. I’ll have to try it out a bit, but keep an eye out for this as it could be a big thing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this card in Vintage or Legacy.

IG - A lot of hype around this card as being “Aether Leak,” and I agree that it could be good in the right deck (like, you know, UW Flash), but it’s still a bit of a stretch. Even with that, it’s probably still better than its closest competition, Spell Shrivel.

Negate

A- HOW DOES IT FUCKING TASTE, JACE!?!?! HOW DOES IT FEEL!?!?! FEELS REALLY BAD DOESN'T IT WHEN THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT WEDGED DIRECTLY IN YOUR ASS!!!!!!

IG -  Shut up, Jace.

Quicksmith Spy

S- I really want to use it's ability on a clue BP - Very interesting card that turns an artifact you control into a draw engine. I doubt it’ll see much play though, but it’s a fun and original card that deserves a bit of attention.

LU - i don't think this will be strong enough for standard play. Too weak to removal and there are a lot of better things to be doing at 4 mana.

IG - Maybe not fast enough for Standard.

Reverse Engineer

S- So.... treasure cruise. BP- Ohhh man! “Draw three cards” is one of the most beloved words in magic, and potentially casting it for 2cmc is pretty sweet. In the right decks this card will generate great value! But since it’s restricted to artifacts I doubt we’ll see a lot of it.

IG -  Not very impressive to look at, but in the right deck, this could become a pillar of … that right deck. Getting three artifacts on the field is easy, but having to tap them potentially in lieu of an attack could make this much more fair “two mana Treasure Cruise.”

 Salvage Scuttler

A- CRAB BATTLE

IG -  Has some value in stalled board states, but probably can’t make the cut.

Trophy Mage

BP - Blue is for sure getting the best cards this set! For 3cmc you get a 2/2 and you get to search your deck for an artifact with cmc of 3 and put it in your hand! Tutor effects are always a big deal and this card comes & fills a need that player had! I really love this card and I think it’s very powerful!

IG -  Go get a Dynavolt Tower or a Cultivator’s Caravan? Seems great in the right deck. Also completes the cycle of mages who like to collect stuff.  

Whir of Invention

S- SO.... THOPTER DECK

BP - Speaking of tutoring cards! Blue just got it’s own Chord of Calling! This is maybe my favourite card of the set because it’s so flexible and is good in SO MANY situations. Getting to tutor an artifact straight into play is HUGE and being able to tap artifacts to pay for the cost is even bigger! Sure, the least it’s going to cost you is 3cmc but it’s still very cheap to grab ANYTHING you need from your deck!

LU - I like Improvise on this guy, make this seem playable in artifact decks.

IG - Chord of Calling for artifacts. With so many combos baked into this set, being able to tutor up a combo piece at instant speed could push one of those combo decks to tier one. Which one could it be? Aetherworks Marvel? Something new, maybe?

[terryblount]

Mortal Kombat 11 – Review

Mortal Kombat is more than a game: it is the closest thing we as gamers have to a counter-culture. It is an I.P. that has consistently laughed in the face of censorship boards by never compromising on giving fans the unfiltered carnage of close combat. This was literally (part of) the reason why there exists an ESRB rating system today.

What’s more, this violence is not just for looks – it is also about skill. The genius of Mortal Kombat’s formula has always lain in demonstrating the player’s fighting ability through how sadistically they can crush their opponent. You don’t just K.O. an opponent in this game; you FINISH THEM!!!

Is it weird to admire the way blood is animated in a game?

I am quite pleased to say that this 27-year-old spirit of Mortal Kombat is alive and well within the eleventh arrival. Let’s not beat around the bush here. This is essentially the perfect fighting game, and players and pros alike will surely regard it as one of the best this series has ever produced. This is because Mortal Kombat 11 manages to include every modern convention that works, while being mindful of the old-school novelties that cemented the I.P. in gaming culture.

Time and time again

In the single-player ‘kampaign’, Earthrealm yet again comes face to face with an apocalyptic threat. The story opens with a now corrupted Raiden (see MK XL) decapitating the elder god Shinnok as a message to anyone who dares to threaten his domain. This was was a most serious error in judgement as Shinnok turns out to be the son of a new character, Kronika – the guardian of time itself.

“But know this–the arc of the universe bends to my will.” – Kronika

Needless to say, Kronika is rather unhappy not just about her son being reduced to the usefulness of a bowling ball, but also due to the balance of good and evil now being uneven. She vows to restore equilibrium in the timeline up to the events of her son’s beheading, but is also aware that Raiden and the Earthrealm gang could present a troublesome thorn in her side in any dimension.

Kronika therefore merges the past and present together, and teleports an army of Netherrealm’s most formidable villains, like Baraka and Shao Kahn, from the past into the present as her insurance policy. As per usual, the player will represent the fight for Earthrealm’s fate from the perspective of Johnny Cage, Kotal Kahn, Kung Lao, and other classic and contemporary characters.

I get that the whole time travel motif has been done to death, but the team at NetherRealm have once again shown their practiced hand for storytelling. They have wisely used the motif of temporal distortion as a McGuffin to re-imagine and bring back some of the franchise’s most beloved figures for the modern gaming climate.

Johnny squared!

This makes for a deeply interesting plot with some exciting and unexpected alliances forming or breaking between characters from different time periods (because their major clashes haven’t happened yet). More than that, Netherrealm sets up the opportunity to introduce characters like Cetrion and Geras who have fighting abilities centred on the manipulation of time.

Overall the story really oozes the kind of cinematic quality that would make Marvel Studios sweat bullets. The combination of excellent graphics, captivating voice acting, and the return of favourite characters will most definitely have new fans engrossed, and old fans spiralling into nostalgia.

In with the old, out with the new

Objectively speaking, Mortal Kombat 11 plays it extremely safe. This game demonstrates the old adage that players are bound to enjoy what lies in their comfort zone, and it is not necessary for sequels to reinvent the wheel. Instead, MK 11 goes for the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but make it a whole lot prettier’ approach.

Indeed,  MK 11 plays just as slick and precise as every game Netherrealm has developed thus far. What can be perfected has been tweaked, but a whole slew of small changes collectively add up to an experience that will still feel fresh and engaging to long-time players. Not much is new here, and I am very happy about that.

You get to see quite a lot of Sub Zero’s face in this game.

So aside from the single player campaign, the ‘Klassic Towers’ mode also makes a return in which the player must defeat a sequence of opponents to ascend up the tower. Except for infinite modes, these always end with Kronika as the final boss. Defeating her also gets you a brief cut scene that fills in some story details specific to the character you happen to be playing much like Tekken or Street Fighter.

You will not find the ‘Living Towers’ of the previous installment as Netherrealm has ditched this mode in favour of the ‘Towers of Time’. These differ from Klassic Towers in that opponents get more challenging as you approach the top, and players are also permitted to activate certain modifiers (they unlocked as loot) either for one match, or for the duration of the entire tower.

As an example, you can assign Jade one or two of Cyrax’s cyber webs to fire at her opponent stunning them momentarily. Alternatively, the match might have a vampire modifier in which the player’s health bar drains constantly to the opponent’s, so it is best to finish the match sooner rather than later. These towers can certainly get infamously punishing, but the game drowns you in rewards for completing them.

Lemme smash! This is who you will be playing in the Krypt. Note the three currencies in the bottom of the screen.

The Krypt is back again, of course. This time the event plays out on Shang Tsung’s island (see MK 2011) during which you open chests, smash vases and crush meteorites for some sweet loot and unlockable goodies. The Krypt also adopts a third person perspective now which only makes the act of swinging around Shao Kahn’s colossal hammer at vases and statues all the more gratifying.

Light puzzle solving is also a way of collecting some treasures, and it is clear that the developers really want the player to enjoy exploring for goodies to make your game more interesting. I have always been intrigued and, a little creeped out by this subsection of Mortal Kombat games, so it’s nice to see it return here. It’s really beginning to feel like a crucial component of the experience.

Kompletely Unreal

I have never been shy to express my admiration for the Unreal Engine, but what Netherrealm has achieved on a visual level in this game is outright astounding. Here we have a super modified version of the Unreal Engine 3 no less, throwing around particles and rendering high definition textures like it is trying to put Frostbite and Unity out of business.

Even though certain sections of the game have been mysteriously capped at 30fps (most of which can now be fixed by a mod), this game flows on the PC like butter down a centrefold’s butt cheek. In contrast to Mortal Kombat XL, the vibrant graphical tone of MK11 really throws the bountiful details of the visuals into sharp relief. I feel like the unique cast of characters that has always defined this series finally get the representation they deserve.

Damn this game is beautiful. This allows for particularly dramatic cut scenes.

The environments and fighting arenas have also been given the deluxe visual treatment through dramatic lighting and environmental effects. I found the arenas to have an enigmatic and refreshing feeling to them, and a particular favourite of mine became the decaying Shaolin temple where the corpses of dead monks observe your match. I clearly have issues.

They are noticeably the tightest fighting planes that Netherrealm has implemented within one of their games, but this has the pleasing outcome of somehow making the action feel closer… more immediate. The close-quarter combat also places more importance on finding openings in the opponent’s technique rather than just  flying from one combo to the next.

Combos are still just as important, but it is clear that MK 11 wants shorter, more potent moves to play a bigger role too. This means that the one guy with supersonic thumbs you always get paired with online is less safe than he thinks this time round. You know who you are!

The fatalities and other post-match tomfoolery have, naturally, also been given an obvious graphical upgrade. Seriously, seeing brains being splattered and bones being shattered in this level of realism is not at all for the faint of heart. Be that as it may, I nevertheless have a hard time imagining a more beautiful, albeit visceral fighting game.

The very definition of fighting chance

As I mentioned, the roster of fighters is a mixed bag of old and new characters including the original 7, but like all the other yobs on the internet, I feel like some characters leave a conspicuous absence. Where the hell is Goro!? I also miss, Takashi who had a snappy and responsive feel in his fighting that appealed to my playing style in the previous game.

Perhaps old Goro will get his chance with DLCs, but the roster is still a bit smaller than I would have liked. It is once again too obvious that most of us will be expected to fork out more of our hard earned cash as extra content later down the line. Netherrealm has chosen quality of quantity, but this rather anemic roster just smacks too much of leaving room for microtransactions.

At least Geras more than makes up for my four-armed favourite being conspicuously M.I.A. His time-travelling abilities allow him to execute a punch, blink back in time, and execute another attack before my opponent could even find a moment to move. I also liked the beefy, warlock look he had going on which looks particularly slick during fights. Definitely my favourite new character in this game.

Geras warping back in time behind his opponent. Cannot remember who the other is… uhm was…

It also helps that the developers have really gone the extra mile to give MK 11 a truly comprehensive and helpful tutorial segment. They even included a lesson on frame times and hit advantages – something I usually ignored and left to subconscious strategy until I actually paid attention to it in this game.

Best of all, for the really nasty combos and chained assaults the game will actually demo the move on screen with button prompts. I am embarrassed to admit that some combos in previous games took me upwards of an hour to get right. With this new system, it was ten tries tops. As such, newcomers to Mortal Kombat, and fighting games in general, will undoubtedly feel more welcome than ever before.

On the subject of techniques, MK 11 has swapped out X-ray moves for a new system called ‘Fatal Blows’. Like X-ray attacks, they are once-off, deadly attacks taking you microscopically close to your, or your opponent’s, cracking jaw and rupturing internal organs. Except there is one crucial difference: Fatal Blows can only be activated in the last third of your health.

In other words, if the player has only been maintaining a slight lead with their opponent throughout the fight, the last section becomes indescribably tense. You can no longer rely on short-distance techniques or longer combos to win because if you allow even one opportunity to have a Fatal Blow performed on you, you’re toast.

Let us have the talk

So what exactly is the deal with this grind getting everyone all upset? Well, the manner in which MK 11 deals with in-game currency makes us all want to gather our raincoats for the inevitable microtransaction storm that is surely going to hit soon. At the time of writing, MK 11 has very little to offer in the way of DLC on Steam.

Still, something tells me that this will change soon not just because this is the nature of our industry, but because fighting games are also particularly lucrative opportunities for monetisation. They always have been because it is so satisfying seeing no grey blocks on your roster, or adding some cosmetic personality to your favourite fighter.

This is my only major issue with MK 11 because it feels like there is simply too much being gated off from the player when you start the game. Every time I completed a fight, the game goes through a huge pomp and circumstance to inform me of all the different currencies I just earned. Not that the handouts are even that generous mind you.

You read that correctly. This time there is not just the Koins  used to unlock outfits, fatalities and modifiers for tower modes. Even in the Krypt, you now have to juggle multiple kinds of currency units like hearts and soul fragments if you want all off the riches the hidden content has to offer. Oh, and the Krypt chests are randomised so your friend may find a liquid metal suit for Sonya Blade in the same place you get concept art…

Playing around with some of the unlockable skins and finishing moves.

Even though I have never really cared much about cosmetic items in the games I play, I don’t like the sense of gaminess MK 11 creates with the endless pop-ups eagerly informing me how much I have earned. I am playing because I am having fun, and this just feels like Netherrealm is trying to force me into some scheme inevitably leading to microtransactions.

FINISH IT!!

In case that last section threw you off a bit, I want to state again that Mortal Kombat 11 is essentially fighting game perfection. This game is completely saturated with the kind of creative vision that has been the worked into the design of my favourite fighting games. This game looks great, sounds great and feels great.

If Netherrealm vow never to turn the superfluous currencies online into an evil plot of monetisation, I will not need another fighting game for the next ten years at least. Combined with an excellent story, this will become an essential classic in your Mortal Kombat collection.

Remember to check out our Mortal Kombat 11 performance analysis!

Tight and refined combat

Tutorial section

Story

Excellent visuals and sound

Design of new fighters

Temporal fighting abilities

Somewhat limited roster

Too focused on currencies

          Playtime: About 28 hours total. 10 hours on the single player campaign with much of the remaining time spent online.

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox Controller (Thanks to my friend Niel for lending me his!!)

Mortal Kombat 11 – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/