About Life~!
Just a follow up to the post I made back in December where I wrote about some health issues I have namely high blood pressure and an enlarge thyroid gland. Well, the ultrasound lab results for the latter showed negative so the family doctor still doesn’t know what the cause is but, as I mentioned before, the thyroid is still working as it’s supposed to so he’s suggested to do a check up on it every few months or so.
The blood pressure bit’s not really changed. But it could be because I’m not following the DASH diet to a T. ^^ In fact, I’ve been eating more meat than I should. 😦 The good thing is that I HAVE definitely lost weight. The problem is reducing it further. It’s currently hovering at a point that’s about 6 – 7 pounds less than I used to be at. But there were several days where it was even at lower than that. I suspect the recent intake of white rice and meat (and trying to eat as much as of the homemade loaf of bread as fast as possible) contributed to that.
Anyway, the good thing is that the there hasn’t been any drastic change in blood pressure. I just wish it would show lower values though consider weight loss has happened! But since my hypertension could be something I inherited from my mom, I sometimes wonder if it’ll ever go down. 
Now for the happier things!
About Games~!
First off, I would like to say that I FINALLY GOT THE FUCKING TALKING TURKEY IN TINY FARM!
For the longest time, I insisted that the damnable Talking Turkey breeding quest was messing up the chances of me obtaining the animal. After all, that quest was the SAME ONE from Thanksgiving. While I didn’t try breeding my Black Turkeys every single day due to all the new events that kept popping up which had me move the parent turkeys back into the storage barn, I have to had tried over 50 times in total. Maybe even more. It was infuriating because I tried breeding the damn things at various levels, with a Brown Turkey, in the Breeding Barn, and no Talking Turkey would ever be born! So once I saw that screen above, I was all “Halle-FUCKING-lujah!“.
I have truly never had as much trouble getting an animal as this one. (Legendary animals excluded since I don’t even bother with those. The chances of getting them are abysmal.)
Fun fact: Tiny Farm is probably among the few freemium games that I play where I have spent less than $20 in in-app purchases. ^^
Elemental Kingdoms
With that out of the way, I must now talk about my latest obsession. It’s a freemium mobile card RPG called Elemental Kingdoms. (iTunes Canada site: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/elemental-kingdoms-ccg/id688620158?mt=8 Play Store Canada: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.perfectworld.ek As far as I know, the game is available in many countries so check your local app stores~!) I suppose it’s fairly new since the posts from the official Facebook site began last year. I’m not going to yak about its gameplay since a video will probably be more useful so here’s a YouTube vid of someone’s gameplay of the tutorial:
What pulled me in was the fact that the gameplay is simple but enjoyable and strategic and the fact that the game showers early level players with rewards with almost everything you do (such as purchasing a gold pack for the first time, getting certain cards for the first time, etc.). Unsurprisingly, those rewards dwindle in frequency as you level up … unless you go nuts with buying premium currency. With the premium currency, known simply as gems, you can replenish energy which will allow you to continue questing or through dungeons at a faster (or maybe that should be regular?) pace. Without the use of those gems, you’re forced to wait a good few hours before your energy gauge becomes full again as you get 1 energy point per 10 minutes. Currently, I can have 50 energy as my maximum so you imagine that’s a pretty long wait.
You can also regain lost energy by befriending other players but you can only receive 1 energy point with a maximum of 12 per day. 9__9 And yes, you can have more than 12 friends. 😛
I participate in the PvP arena battles as well as the Demon Invasion events mostly for the gold rewards. Well, the arena fights are for the sake of the clan too since each fight — whether you win or lose — contributes to clan level points.
Anyway, I desperately need gold! In my infinite wisdom, I chose a few 4 – 5-star cards so while most or all of them are at level 5 now, it’ll take a lot of experience and money to get them to their maximum level of level 10. To compound matters, Demon Invasion card decks typically require a whole set of OTHER cards to counter the skill sets of the terrible bosses you’ll fight. Naturally, this means that my money will also have to be put toward building those up. Thankfully, some kind players at the forum at the superbly informative and useful site, Elemental Kingdoms Strategies, gave some pointers on dishing out some decent damage in a DI battle with some 2-star cards.
So yes, the dev doesn’t allow players to buy gold but since so much of the game relies on that currency, it may be for the best. I can imagine the system may very well break if everyone could just fork out their credit cards to fast track through the entire game. It will also put players unwilling to engage in-app purchases at a massive disadvantage especially in the Arena.
Here are some random screencaps from the game:
This post is getting kind of long so I’ll be quick about the other two games I want to mention~!
Block Legend
It’s not free and there’s no in-app purchases either! It’s a game that everyone should play because it’s fun and full of silly humour and parodies~! My favourite character so far is Shootdius. XD It’s the space jet fighter you see in the screencap below.
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DotWarriorGames.BlockLegend
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/block-legend/id827412250?mt=8
Tales of Link (テイルズオブリンク)
I’ve been playing this for the heck of things. The game is essentially Thousand Memories with Tales characters. After all, Bamco commissioned the same developer to create Tales of Link. 😛 Honestly, I think I may like the game it’s based off of more not only because it’s the original game but because weapons and equipment don’t max out so damn fast. It’s such a pain to hope that you’ll get drops for evolve material in this one. Also, those original 1 – 2 star characters are also nigh useless and weak. You CAN, however, stock up on multiples of them and evolve them. Too bad it costs a crap ton of LP to make them slightly stronger. Still, if you’re not up to saving up on or buying those Hero Stones (the premium currency), beefing up wimpy ass characters may be the only way to get anywhere in the game.
Of course the draw of the game is undoubtedly the fact that you can put together your dream team of Tales characters. The problem is that it can get prohibitively expensive because they’re only available through the premium gacha option or from finishing certain special quests. Trying for the latter requires high level teams to be decked out in strong gear and maybe some Hero Stones to continue after some game overs. :E
At the moment, the game is only available on the Japanese Apple App Store. An Android version will eventually be published.
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/tales-of-link/id793729153?mt=8
koukoupuffs 