Teppen is the key to life

I recently upgraded my phone, and now have more than 4 hours of use between charges. Such luxury means that I've ventured back onto the App Store in search of new mobile games. Much to my surprise, the biggest games are in some cases the same titles I was playing when I first got my last phone (in some cases, it was the phone before that). Marvel Puzzle Quest, for example, recently celebrated it's sixth anniversary. Marvel Contest of Champions, Subway Surfers, Jetpack Joyride and Pokemon Go are still in the charts and promoted prominently.

I happened across an ad for the Capcom-themed trading card game (TCG), Teppen on Twitter. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Teppen feels like a cheeky name, given that Capcom is know for its legacy of fighting games, and Bandai Namco's Tekken is still a competitor after 20+ years. Either way, Teppen revolves around playing two types of cards:

• Action cards, that function similar to spells in Hearthstone. 
• Unit cards, that play characters with attack and health values into 1 of 3 lanes. 

The cards are grouped into 4 different colours, which then correspond to character archetypes. My only basis for comparison in terms of TCGs is Hearthstone, and black characters (Resident Evil villain, Albert Wesker and Monster Hunter alum Nergigante) play like a Warlock, with a heavy emphasis on sacrificing health to play big, damage-dealing units as well as the Revenge mechanic which summons dead units back to the board; red characters (Street Fighter mainstay, Ryu, Monster Hunter's Rathalos, and RE protagonist, Jill Valentine) play like a combination of the Mage and Hunter classes, dealing big damage direct to enemy units and the hero with action cards and units that deal damage when played; green characters Mega Man X and Chun-Li have a focus on healing and buffing health for units in play as well as the hero, effectively making them a hybrid of the Priest and Druid classes; finally purple characters Dante (Devil May Cry) and Morrigan (Darkstalkers, an older fighting game not iterated on for quite some time) feel like something new, with a focus on staggering (halt) units, and pushing them back into opponents hands.

Each character has 3 powers (2 need to be unlocked for each) which are charged by playing cards up to a certain cost threshold, and do everything from summoning dead units, to killing units impacted by conditions like halt. Cards are played when you've charged enough 'MP'. There aren't turns, strictly speaking, until action cards are played. The order that action cards are played (from last to first) can then nullify or effectively mitigate spells that are first played by your opponent. It's an interesting system that I'm still coming to grips with.

Upon playing about 10 matches, I was hit with two, strong initial thoughts:

1. Few people seem to understand the game, and I'm not even talking about the current meta. By playing a unit-heavy game I was able to strong-arm all opponents just by keeping damage on the board. 
2. The game is horny as hell. This was very much apparent when watching Morrigan's ability animations, but there's fan service all around. I get that Morrigan is a succubus and, by her very nature, is supposed to be a sexual being, but it feels like there's a little too much bouncing and jiggling for me to recommend this to anyone and everyone (or to play it in public without making sure someone isn't watching over your shoulder). 

Now with about 100 games under my belt, it feels like more and more people are playing towards the current meta which is very Wesker-centric. Certain black deck mechanics are overpowered. Wesker playing the Ouroboros power summons the most powerful dead unit back to the board. There is a cheap card (from memory it costs 1 mp) that sends your highest cost minion to the graveyard. Units can be re-summoned from the graveyard multiple times. You see where this is going, right? It's also problematic that cards that can destroy enemy units when a friendly unit is sacrificed can be played without a friendly sacrifice on the board (no risk, all reward). Rounding up this absolute Balance Salad is the 3 card per deck limit (i.e. higher than Hearthstone) for all cards except legendary-tier cards. Ranked play can get very frustrating very quickly. 

Qualifying rounds for the Teppen World Championship were open to the public on Saturday and, while it was a genuine rush to be able to jump into qualifying against the best in the Asia Pacific, that feeling was quickly muted by an absolute swarm of Weskers. I won my first 2 matches, only to be owned unceremoniously by about 20 successive Ouroboros decks. All up I played 40 games, and I think I won about 10. I'm not saying I thought I would booking flights to Japan for the final, but I was hoping to do better.  

Finally, for a free to play game with micro transactions, Teppen has so far been an extremely generous game. Packs include 6 cards (and can contain a secret, seventh card), and there were several promotions running over the last 2 weeks that offered me about 30 free packs after completing several single player missions and about 50 ranked matches. Now the initial promotions have been exhausted, it's significantly stingier, but I have a solid base to work from. 

Teppen, may not be the key to life as Tekken once was for me in during high school and undergraduate, but it is a solid distraction when required. If you don't mind a bit of fan service and can handle some significant balance issues, I would strongly recommend giving it a go. 

Return of the Mack

For the last 5 years I've been focused on my career in tertiary education administration. That, for lack of a better word, dedication has paid off, but I feel like something is missing. I've been enjoying a lot of things (books, video games, music, life) uncritically; instead using what little energy I have to write about processing the grief and anguish of losing loved ones. 

It's time to start picking apart the inconsequential stuff that I love again. I don't feel whole unless I'm searching - sometimes harder than I should - for something to not love in what I love. I'm planning to write more condensed feelings on what I'm reading or playing at a given time. If you're looking for detail, you've got Google.

For the last 2 weeks I've been on holiday in Queensland enjoying some wonderful, non-media related things. My oldest friend got married. I've got another niece. Life is good. I also got to do some things that weren't playing Apex Legends, so that feels like it's worth unpacking. 

Impressions of the Nintendo Switch Lite
As a fool who enjoys more disposable income than he should have access to, it was imperative that I picked up a second Nintendo Switch for my recent travels. While it is an entirely unnecessary purchase if you already have a Switch, it is well worth considering if you've been holding off and are more interested in gaming on the go. 

The Switch Lite lacks the ability to output to your TV, but it feels like the perfect portable. It is noticeably more lightweight than the standard Switch (even though it's only approximately 120 grams lighter). It also doesn't feel like it's going to snap if you're holding it with one hand while fumbling through carry-on luggage; something you can't say for the Joy Con hinges on the original model. I've also found my hands cramping less often with the Switch Lite, particularly if I'm playing in bed or lying on the couch. Unless I know I'm going somewhere with a TV to hook the dock up to, I'll most likely opt for travelling with the new model. 

Having 2 Switches is not all bubblegum and rainbows though, as Nintendo's approach to digital rights management exposes the secondary console to mandatory online license checks before booting up any titles bought through the eShop. It's not the end of the world, but it does present some obstacles in the event you're travelling with both machines (Carly is partial to Mario Kart and Lumines, so this was a small problem).    

The Switch is a great machine, and the Lite is a wonderful, stripped-down variation on it. 

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 
I've heard Link's Awakening referred to as a "bite-sized" follow up to Breath of the Wild (BotW). To that, dear reader, I reply "FOH!" Link's Awakening is, with few exceptions, a faithful recreation of a game I underestimated when I first played it on the 3DS Virtual Console several years ago. For a game that is mechanically very similar to its Gameboy Colour predecessor, it still tripped me up multiple times and kept me glued to the Switch Lite whenever I was free. 

It took me about 15 hours to get through in the end, and it would have been longer if I didn't resort to consulting a walkthrough for some of the dungeons. I don't have what I'll dub "Zelda Brain," the condition required to understand the puzzles and fights that exist within any relatively linear Zelda game. BotW was the first game in the series I actually completed, and I think that had to do with 2 things: it's breathtaking and accessible world, and the freedom it afforded me to explore and experiment. Link's Awakening doesn't have much in the way of freedom, but Koholint Island is still an inviting location. The new aesthetic and updated soundtrack kept driving me forward, and it was well worth persisting with. 

While Link's Awakening is still enjoyable, it does show it's hand relatively early. Some locations are gated off for items acquired later on, but the experience of playing through those locations is largely similar. Also, while it's not fair to call some of the solutions to later puzzles and boss fights cheap, I would say they involve subverting (or ignoring) established patterns and mechanics to affect artificial difficulty spikes. There was a boss fight where even the authors of guides and walkthroughs failed to agree on the solution. Did the boomerang really work for the crew at Polygon? The frustrated young creator of a forty second YouTube clip and I would care to disagree!  

Untitled Goose Game
I am lucky enough to have met one of the creators of the goose game in my professional life, and I'm so thrilled for the success their work has enjoyed. I played through the first section of the village with my mum watching over my shoulder, and we were both chuckling as I harassed the hapless gardener into donning his sun hat. I'm yet to return to goose, but it is well and truly taking the gaming world by storm. Rightly so! 

In a trance

I log into Destiny 2. I complete the same activities I've completed one hundred times before. I unlock guns I've used in a game I played 4 years ago. I unlock ornaments I'll never use. I do the same thing a slightly different way and don't bat an eyelid.

It's like I'm in a trance.

I answer emails. Sometimes the question is meant for me. Sometimes it's meant for me as if I was in the same role I was in a month before. I pore through spreadsheets and documents and websites. I write notes. I crack jokes about an industry obsessed with disruption but resistant to change. I do the same thing in a slightly different way and don't bat an eyelid.

It's like I'm in a trance.

I look at my phone. "No calls today, he doesn't recognise me." I think about the times my father told me I was wasting my life playing video games and reading comic books. How the best of years of my life were passing me by while I sat in front of a monitor. I think about the last time we talked and our discussion made sense. I forget to blink for a few seconds. I do the same thing in a slightly different way and don't bat an eyelid.

It's like I'm in a trance.

This isn't a rut. I can look back on the last few years and point to achievements, to meaning. I don't have to look far. This isn't about my lot in life and what I've got to give. This is about waiting. This is about the twist I know is coming that I know will break my heart. I forget to blink for a few seconds.

You'd never wish death on anyone would you? But you wouldn't want your loved ones to suffer either. I'm not just talking about those that are sick, I'm talking about those who have to see sickness take hold too. Mum looks at her best friend, searching for a gaze he can't return. Mum just wants to hear her name. Jack doesn't blink for what feels like hours.

It's like he's in a trance.

Months earlier, I stood behind Dad as he feverishly worked at a panel of locks and knobs. Nothing hides behind the locks and the knobs open no doors. Dad says he's busy when I ask how he is. Dad gestures at the floor and asks for his tool. I see a doll and a teddy bear and ask for guidance. Dad crouches to the floor and searches with me.

I look at the man who raised me and search intensely for a gaze he won't return.