Jim Sterling Plays Fidget Spinner Simulator

League of Legends Preseason 5: Zyra Jungle

Let's talk about what happens when you put a plant in the jungle.

Zyra jungle has always been interesting. Her plants take damage differently from any other pet, based on number and nature of hits rather than having actual health. Because of this, jungle Zyra actually works best if you focus the little minions first, contrary to how some other junglers work.

Zyra wasn't a major jungle pick in season 4, but one of the changes for season 5 is making the jungle much tougher. Because of the unique way her plants work, I predicted that Zyra might not be hit so hard by these changes, and preliminary testing suggests that to be true. She still operates largely as well as she did in season 4. When everyone else is taking a hit and she isn't, jungle Zyra may become a thing.

One of the biggest changes of the preseason is that dragon a much bigger deal. He also has a new attack which is somewhat abusable. Certain champs, like Nidalee, Pantheon, and Fiora, can use either movement abilities or autoattack blocks to take down dragon solo at very low levels. Explaining my Zyra tactics to a friend, he asked if Zyra could take dragon at level 2. Lo,

(burning Flash isn't really necessary, but can be used to avoid river wards)

I'll be giving her a shot this preseason. Let me know if you find any other interesting picks for this new, untamed world!

Paragons of Game Design 1: Dark Souls

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Commence a new series of blog entries: Paragons of Game Design.

In these posts, I'll be highlighting games that are examples of outstanding design and highlighting just why they are. First up on our list is one I've hinted before:

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Crab Battle

The Best/Most Horrifying Skyrim Mod Ever

264 Lasers

A Day in Dracula's Life

The Mysteries and Truths of Final Fantasy VII

(Note: this article contains massive spoilers)

Final Fantasy VII is a legend. It is frequently cited as one of the best games of all-time, and its reputation is well deserved.

That it still holds up 17 years later is a testament in itself, but it's hard to describe just how incredible it was back when it first came out. For comparison, here's a clip of a fairly well-respected game that came out on the same system eight months after Final Fantasy VII,

Dark Souls Challenge

My friend, Massack, and I are huge fans of the Souls series. While Dark Souls has a reputation of being incredibly difficult, this can be misleading to those not familiar with it, because unlike so many other games, it does difficulty right. So, while the game can be tough as nails, with intelligence and learning you can make amazing leaps and bounds in mastering it. Up to the point where we were talking about how it had become too easy and started thinking of a way to reclaim that tension. Enter this challenge. Partially inspired by the Nuzlocke, the idea is to make Dark Souls even more grimdark and gritty-realistic than it already is.

Here are the rules:

1. If you die, you must unequip everything you were using, and may not use that, or anything else you were carrying until you retrieve your bloodstain. If the bloodstain disappears, it is considered lost. You must drop it all and may never touch it again. Items that can not be dropped are exempt from this rule. (i.e. estus flasks, keys, etc.)
2. If you die in hollow form, you are considered to have gone full hollow. You lose.
3. No farming humanity. You get what you find.
4. Summons work like invades, you are allowed 1 summon at a time. If the summon is defeated, you may not resummon until you rest at a bonfire, defeat the level, or are killed.
5. Weapons and armor require that you drop one of their upgrade materials for every 100 points of durability you repair, regardless of method. If you don't have the materials, you can't repair the weapon. I.E. A +6 regular sword would require you to drop large titanite shards for every 100 points you want to repair, while a dragon weapon will require a dragon scale for every 100 points you want to repair. Items upgraded to max by slabs are an exception and may be repaired with chunks of the same type.
6. An item that shatters can never be repaired, and must be dropped. 
7. You can only use your repair box to repair what you can upgrade yourself. Anything that requires an ember to be made can only be worked on at a smith that can use that ember, with that ember, unless you are using Repair Powder or the Repair spell.
8. (No cheating or exploits.)

 It worked.

On Mega Man (Part) 2

As I mentioned in Part 1, Mega Man 2 is a great NES game (remember that when you're reading this, because it will be very easy to forget.) However, I don't think that it's particularly good compared to the rest of the series. And by "compared to the rest of the series" I mean that out of all the genuine Mega Man games I've played (X 1-6, Zero 1-4, Legends 1-2, Mega Man 1-2, & Bass), I'd rank it the worst. Yes, even below the first game.

The reason for this comes down to gameplay design.

On Mega Man and Greatness

So, I've discovered I'm a heretic.

Here's how it went down: I've been on another Mega Man music kick. It happens every now and then because the proper terminology for the series' music is "fucking fantastic". Also, this video might have had something to do with it: