When Did This Happen!?

So I checked this last night, but I'm going to just mention it now because I feel like this happened out of the blue. So I was checking on the stats, which I don't do too often, because I wanted to see if the Fire Emblem Awakening Randomizer post was still accelerating in views as it was previously. Well, as of right now it sits at 468 views! 468!! That is a lot, to me! Not only that, but out of nowhere, the Minecraft PS3 Trophy Guide is now sitting at 193 views! Like, when did this happen!?

I admit, I didn't check the stats much since I last looked at how popular the Fire Emblem Awakening Randomizer was, and I think we were a bit over 2,000 page views for that. In fact, let me go find that... So on February 19th, the 6 month anniversary of this blog, I noted how the Fire Emblem post had 220 views, that January was the most popular month with 620 total views, and that the blog itself had 2,793 views as a whole.

Yeah, that's changed.

- Fire Emblem Awakening Randomizer now sits at 468 views and counting.
- March is now the most popular month, reaching a total of 665 views, which must explain what time period all of these views came in for the Minecraft Trophy Guide.
- The blog, as of right now, sits at 3,807 views! That means that in the 47 days since February 19th, this blog has received 1,014 views. Over a thousand views in just under 2 months!? That is insane! And that makes me so happy!

Like seriously, that really makes me happy that you, whomever you are, like to come by and look at my blog. Even if you don't say anything or follow me, or whatever, it still means a lot to me, so thank you. March has been... a really rough month for me, so I'm very happy that you all still want to view my stuff. Seeing that my 2nd most popular post is a trophy guide makes me even happier as it means that you're either looking at it at a glimpse, or you're using it to help yourself reach those trophies, and that's awesome!

Just.. thank you, everyone. You all really mean a lot to me, and I'm glad for your continued support as I ramble about stuff all the time. Thank you.

Have a nice day!~

Assassin's Creed II Trophy Guide

Welcome to the trophy guide for Assassin's Creed II. This list is pretty straightforward, but some of the trophies are a bit harder to unlock. Let's not wait any longer, let's go for it.

Master Assassin Unlock all trophies.

As always, nab every other trophy and this is all yours.

The Birth of an Assassin Be reborn as Ezio Auditore Da Firenze.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Arrivederci Abstergo Break out of Abstergo.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Welcome to the Animus 2.0 Enter the Animus 2.0.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Pain of Betrayal Complete DNA Sequence 1.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Vengeance Complete DNA Sequence 2.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Exit the Son Complete DNA Sequence 3.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Bloody Sunday Complete DNA Sequence 4.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Undertaker Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the catacombs under Santa Maria Novella.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Conspirators Complete DNA Sequence 5.

Story-related, can't be missed.

An Unexpected Journey Complete DNA Sequence 6.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Bleeding Effect Complete training and reenter the Animus.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Merchant of Venice Complete DNA Sequence 7.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Impenetrable Palazzo Complete DNA Sequence 8.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Masquerade Complete DNA Sequence 9.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Bianca's Man Complete DNA Sequence 10.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Prophet Complete DNA Sequence 11.

Story-related, can't be missed.

The Vault Complete DNA Sequence 14.

Story-related, can't be missed.

An Old Friend Returns Escape the hideout.

Story-related, can't be missed.

Myth Maker Find the 8 statuettes in Monteriggioni.

The statuettes are hidden all throughout the stronghold. Find all 8 of them and return them to their pedestals to obtain this trophy.

Vitruvian Man Unlock all 20 pieces of Subject 16's Videos.

Through the game, you'll discover glyphs while using Eagle Vision. Going up to it lets you enter a puzzle that unlocks one piece of a movie called "The Truth." Some of the puzzles are easy and some are more difficult. There are plenty of video guides on how to do the puzzles, as I admit I absolutely needed them so many years ago (Back in 2011, but still).

Street Cleaner Hide 5 dead bodies in a Bale of Hay.

Really easy one to do. Kill someone, grab their body, and toss them into a Bale of Hay. Do this 4 more times and this trophy is all yours.

Fly Swatter Kick a Guard while using the Flying Machine.

This is done in one of the missions where you use the Flying Machine. Approach a guard while flying and hit Square to kick him. Easy and out of the way.

Messer Sandman Stun 4 guards at once by throwing sand in their faces.

When you're unarmed, hold Square to prepare to throw sand. When 4 guards are close to you, unleash it and you'll blind them and open them up to being attacked. If you get 4 guards at once with this, the trophy is yours.

Doctor Perform an Air Assassination on a Poisoned NPC.

This might take a few attempts, but it's not too bad. Find a place where an air assassination is quickly accessible and possible, then poison an NPC and quickly air assassinate them before they die of poison. Might take a few attempts, but it's otherwise not bad.

No-hitter Kill 10 enemies while remaining in conflict without being hit.

This one is a tough one, as it requires you to remain in open conflict and defeat 10 enemies, and take no damage. Find big areas to fight in, possibly in Venice, and just take on some guards with your best/highest damaging weapons, and try your best. If you still can't get it down, there are plenty of video guides out there for a visual look.

Kleptomaniac Pickpocket 1,000 Florins.

Just keep pickpocketing, really. Or do the alternative, and easier solution, in my opinion. Get your wanted level up high, then find a herald to bribe. After bribing him, immediately pickpocket your money back. The higher your wanted level, the more money it'll take, which means you'll pickpocket more money. Getting 1,000 Florins isn't as hard as you might think.

Lightning Strike Sprint for 100 meters.

This requires you to sprint, nonstop for 100 meters, which isn't that bad. There are a lot of areas that have open stretches of land, so it might almost be impossible to miss this in certain situations, but otherwise, just sprint as much as you can, and you'll get this after 100 meters in one go.

Sweeper Sweep 5 guards at once by using a Long Weapon.

This has a similar criteria to Messer Sandman, but the focus is on a Long Weapon, instead of being unarmed. Holding the Square button will get you ready for a sweep. Just try your best and have the guards in some close proximity to you.

Venetian Gladiator Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside Santa Maria della Visitazione.

See Choir Boy.

I can see your house from here! Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Torre Grossa.

See Choir Boy.

Hallowed be thy name Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Basilica di San Marco.

See Choir Boy.

Prison Escape Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Rocca di Ravaldino fortress.

See Choir Boy.

Choir Boy Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo).

Assassin Tombs open up to you as you play through the game and appear on your icon as the Assassin symbol. Besides obtaining some money and trophies, as well as more synchronization, completing all of the tombs grants you access to the Armor or Altair, the best armor set in the entire game. It is well worth the wait and effort.

Assassin For Hire Complete your first assassination mission for Lorenzo Il Magnifico.

Assassination contracts are mostly for extra money and extra synch. However, if you're after either of those, it's in your best interest to complete the contracts. It's, again, well worth your time.

Macho Man Defend a woman's honor.

As you play through the game, one of your side missions involves helping a woman, usually with beating up her husband who is cheating on her, in order to set him straight. It's pretty straightforward so there's nothing too hard about it.

Steal Home Win a race against thieves!

And finally, you can also race thieves at points in the game. If you've done any kind of checkpoint race, you know what to expect here as well.

Show your Colors Wear the Auditore cape in each city.

See In Memory of Petruccio.

Handy Man Upgrade a building in the stronghold.

Throughout the game, you can return to your stronghold to rebuild it and to make it have more value, which gets you net profits. It also allows you to use Monteriggioni as a hub, of sorts, where everything you want is right there, like tailors, banks, etc. Upgrade one building and you're set.

I like the view Synchronize 10 View Points.

If you're going for 100%then view points are probably very high on your list, as they reveal all of the icons that you'll want to see on your map, like Tailors, or Blacksmiths, etc., so 10 is no problem.

High Dive Perform a Leap of Faith from the Top of Florence's Giotto's Campanile.

There's a view point on this building, and since you Leap of Faith from every view point, this isn't hard to miss, but just make sure to LoF when you reach this building.

Mailman Intercept a Borgia Courrier.

Occasionally, you'll see a courier running around, and he will run from you when you approach. Chase him and tackle him to the ground. Then this trophy is yours.

Tip of the Iceberg Use your Eagle Vision to scan a Glyph in the environment.

See Vitruvian Man.

A Piece of the Puzzle Unlock a piece of Subject 16's video.

See Vitruvian Man.

Art Connoisseur Buy a Painting from Florence and Venice.

Simply buy any painting from both places. You can nab this as early as the first time you reach Venice and can reach an art shop.

Podesta of Monteriggioni Reach 80% of your stronghold's total value.

It requires a lot of money and you have to keep upgrading your stronghold. Just keep checking back once you get more money and see what you can upgrade.

Perfect Harmony Tint your clothes with those colors: Wetland Ebony and Wetland Ivory.

You can get these when you reach the Wetlands, so tint your clothes to both of those at least once, and you're all set.

In Memory of Petruccio Collect all the Feathers.

I won't lie, finding all of these feathers takes a very long while. I used online maps in order to find the feathers. Collecting all of them grants you the Auditore cape, which you can wear in every city to obtain Show your Colors.

Red Light Addict Spend 5,000 Florins on Courtesans.

Just keep on spending, really. 5,000 seems like a lot, but it adds up quickly.

Man of the People Toss more than 300 Florins on the ground.

Once you have more than 300, just keep throwing Florins on the ground and you'll nab this in no time.

Victory lies in preparation Get all Hidden Blades, Item Pouches, and Armor upgrades for Ezio.

Best saved until post-game, when you have a ton of money and when you have the ability to purchase everything quickly. This could potentially be the last trophy you earn, but you'll grab everything in time.

And that's all for the trophy guide. I hope it helps you all nab the platinum. This isn't too hard to get, but a few things might prove tricky. Just keep trying and I know you'll get it in no time!

*As this platinum did not have any time stamps, I'll make assumptions based on my memory. It took me roughly a week to finish this game, from my first trophy to the platinum. My first trophy was "The Birth of an Assassin," and my final trophy was most-likely "Victory lies in preparation," along with the platinum, "Master Assassin." This platinum trophy is the first platinum trophy I have received.*

Have a nice day!~

Assassin's Creed II

Ah, the first game I ever actively trophy-hunted. Sure, my first trophies were from Marvel vs Capcom 3, but this is the first game I actually attempted to grab every trophy in, and succeeded. This is my first platinum, and there are no time stamps, so that's how long it's been.

But after playing Assassin's Creed, my best friend let me borrow Assassin's Creed II from him, and later on let me borrow Brotherhood after. But I had a lot of fun in this game, I always do. I'm just glad that it, essentially improved upon everything that Assassin's Creed did. I love being able to explore more, having more to do, having things to buy, etc. It just feels like a much-better game to me.

I never understood why a few of the sequences were gone, I have no idea why it jumps from 11 to 14, but when I later read the novel, I learned about the events in those sequences. It's been a while, so I don't remember if the missing sequences were DLC or just not in there entirely. Either way, still a lot of fun.

As with any game that gives me any kind of control or freedom, I always do everything I can first, then I go on to the story. But again, I just love everything in this game, from the characters and story and music, just everything is wonderful.

Anyways, that's all for Assassin's Creed II, I hope you look forward to tomorrow's trophy guide. I'll see you all tomorrow!

Have a nice day!~

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Another Zelda game that I spent so much time playing when I first ran through it, and I honestly really love the whole concept of shrinking in size.

This was the first GBA Zelda game I played that wasn't the port of Link to the Past or playing Four Swords (mainly by myself by using 2 GBA's... yeah, I'm sad, I know) so this was a lot of fun. I still is a lot of fun. I love returning to old areas with new items to discover secrets and cool, new things, as with every Zelda title. I especially like using the Mole Mitts to discover hidden caves and see what lies within them.

I love the shrinking mechanic, as well, being able to diminish in size to discover secrets and small opening in things, it's fun and I love how it's used in dungeons as well. The game just feels expansive, which is pretty good for a GBA title, and also just like home for a Zelda title.

I remember going nuts trying to find Secret Shells to collect more figurines and hunting down Kinstones so that I could fuse all of them and discover every secret, and to fuse with Tingle and his brothers to collect hidden secrets. I also remember hunting down the Swordsmen so that I could learn all of the Hidden Sword Techniques. Everything just feels like something that you want to see in a Zelda game, and that always makes me drawn to it.

That's it for Minish Cap. Thank you for reading and I'll see you again tomorrow.

Have a nice day!~

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

If I don't count Majora's Mask (since I never beat it as a kid, which means I clearly wasn't paying attention to the back-in-time mechanic that's clearly spelled out for you), then Wind Waker is my first proper Zelda game, and I always hold it as such. And despite the skepticism it received back when it first came out, I loved the cel-shaded, cartoony look that the game had going for it.

When I first got this game, it was part of a "Zelda Bundle" that was being advertised by Nintendo Power at the time. If I subscribed to Nintendo Power with the card that I had, I would also receive the following as well: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the strategy guide for the game, and the Ocarina of Time GameCube disc, which also included Master Quest and was my first exposure to Ocarina of Time, as I hadn't even heard of it during the Nintendo 64 days, strangely.

I always have fun when I come back to this game. It's typically the same formula for me, just going through the game as normal, grabbing the Pictobox as soon as I can, getting the Deluxe version as soon as I can, and working on figurines as I play through the game. Once I complete the Forsaken Fortress, I take the time to start exploring everywhere I can possibly go to with what tools I have. If I can't do anything else, I'll come back after obtaining the items from the Earth and Wind Temples.

Honestly I can spend hours just sailing the sea from island to island, mapping out my sea chart with the help of Fishman and always having a ton of bait, hunting for Heart Pieces and Rupees as I travel the sea. This game has a nice place in my heart for just how memorable it is and how much fun I have just playing it.

Here's a fun little thing that happened once. Do you remember the theme that plays while you're out sailing the Great Sea? One year, in high school, for 9/11, at the end of the morning announcements, they had one of those "Never forget" pictures for 9/11 (It was a minimalistic image of the towers, with "9/11, Never Forget" under it) and the music that started playing was the Great Sea music! I'm serious, I could recognize that tune anywhere! I thought that was pretty silly, but also cool.

But anyways, that's enough for now, I could go on for a while. But I love this game, a lot. I love Zelda as a whole but this game gets a pretty high spot, honestly. Thanks so much for reading, and I will see you again soon with another Zelda game.

Have a nice day!~

Weather Poll

Today's post is just going to be a quick, new poll for the week. Just want to ask if everyone wants the Spring weather to finally get here (It's been a little chilly here despite it being up in the high 50's, low 60's. It's those wind chills!). Poll ends in a week, as always, and I will see you again tomorrow for a Zelda game!

Have a nice day!~

Platinum Tales - Assassin's Creed II

My first platinum trophy, earned way back in September of 2011. Man that was almost 6 years ago, huh? For the most part, the trophies in this game weren't difficult to get. 18/51 of the trophies are story-related, the ones that aren't story-related aren't too difficult, save for just a couple of them. Let me run down the list and explain them.

Street Cleaner, which asks you to place 5 dead bodies in a bale of hay, is pretty easy. In fact, that might have been the first trophy I got that wasn't the story-related stuff. Once I could, I simply killed 5 guards and hid them away. Easy.

Venetian Gladiator, I can see your house from here!, Hallowed be thy name, Prison Escape, and Choir Boy all relate to going through Assassin Tombs, which I always made sure to find asap, as I always try hard for 100% completion, so these weren't anything difficult for me.

Assassin For Hire, Macho Man, and Steal Home all relate to optional things, and because they're optional, I went for them as fast as I could. Assassination contracts, defending the honor of women, and racing a thief were all easy for me.

Maybe I should just go down the list in order now, huh? My fault, let's see...

Myth Maker, which has you find all 8 statues in Monteriggioni, was more difficult as I couldn't clearly see the statues, so I know I needed to find a video to locate them all. Vitruvian Man was a long process, having to not just find all of Subject 16's glyphs, but also solving all of them. Again, I will admit that I used videos to help me solve these as I had some difficulty with them. Fly Swatter was pretty easy, as kicking a guard while using the Flying Machine was as simple as moving towards them and attacking.

Messer Sandman was tricky, but with 4 guards around and with some good timing, throwing sand in the faces of 4 guards isn't too bad. Doctor is a little tricky. You have to poison an NPC, then quickly air-assassinate them before they die of poison. Not too hard, but it might take a couple tries if you're not careful. No-hitter was definitely tricky. Killing 10 guards in the same conflict while taking no damage is a little tough, and requires a large amount of guards near you. Some areas are good for this and it really requires you to know how to handle enemies.

Kleptomaniac is easy if you just keep pickpocketing people. 1,000 florins isn't as much as you think it is. Lightning Strike is also easy, as sprinting for 100 meters is easy if there are long stretches of land around you. Sweeper is similar to Messer Sandman, but you have to use a long weapon to trip 5 guards. Not too bad, but you need to have decent timing too.

Show your Colors is linked to In Memory of Petruccio, as you obtain the Auditore Cape after collecting all 100 feathers, which I needed online maps to find as those feathers were really hard to find, in my opinion. Wearing the Auditore Cape in each city is far easier, by comparison. Handy Man was easy as you just have to upgrade one building, and you'll want to upgrade as many as you can, really. I like the view and High Dive are linked, as the Giotto's Campanile is one of the places where you synchronize a viewpoint, and doing a Leap of Faith after is pretty much what you do for every viewpoint.

Mailman isn't too bad, you just have to find a Borgia Courier. Tip of the Iceberg and A Piece of the Puzzle are linked, as scanning a glyph and completing a puzzle go hand-in-hand with each other. Art Connoisseur is pretty easy but you have to get further in the game to reach Venice to buy art. Podesta of Monteriggioni is a longer one as you must reach 80% of the stronghold's value, which takes a while and a lot of money.

Perfect Harmony is easy but you need access to the Wetlands later in the game to get those clothing tints. Red Light Addict is easy, just get more than 5,000 florins and keep spending them on the courtesans. Eventually you'll get it. Man of the People is super-easy, just keep throwing florins down until you get the trophy. And finally, it takes time and money to get all of the things needed for Victory lies in preparation.

Well, I don't know if this is any good or not, but I always had fun playing this game. Maybe sometime I'll revisit it and I'll replay it all the way through for 100% again. I hope you liked this, and thanks for reading as always. I'll see you again soon!

Have a nice day!~