Ultimate Collector Screenies 1

The thing about Ultimate Collector is that there is so much to discover (and loot). And make fun of. Like Richard that I have found:

He broke his arm.

That would explain what he made:

His art.

Sorry, Dr. G. Bad joke. :p

I also found this poor little thing:

Poor thing.

When I was young, I used to watch the A-Team a lot. So I was excited to find this:

It somehow fits in my display case.

And lastly, the following definitely explained what happened in the movie:

I knew it, defective magic!

The Grinns Tale: Refined Sets (0.6.1)

Sometimes a new update changes the stats of item sets. This means I have to keep track of when I have taken the screenshots of the sets.

The Rank 4 Refined Sets are really difficult to complete. So far, I have only completed 2 of them.

The first is the Deadly Dandy set for the Adventurer. I was hoping that the set would be called the 'Dashing Dandy'. Anyway, Deadly Dandy has Rage II, an improvement over Rage I of the Dandy set. Combined with Life Steal II, and possibly Fancy Flurry, Deadly Dandy is a potential tank, especially against spell-casters.

Deadly Dandy Set

One of the Rank 3 Adventurer's set, the Stealthy Sneak set, could potentially do more damage in the long run with its higher Speed and Fancy Flurry skill. This set does not include a weapon, so a more powerful weapon from a better set may be equipped. If the Adventurer will be safe from danger, the Stealty Sneak set is better for offense.

Stealthy Sneak Set

It would be a good idea to keep both the Stealthy Sneak and the Deadly Dandy set. That way, two Adventurers may be equipped for Pickpocketing crafting ingredients.

The other Rank 4 Refined Set that I have completed is the Charitable Chaplain. Nothing special to say about it.

Charitable Chaplain Set

It would be a good idea to keep the Sagacious Shaman set. This set has a much higher speed compared to the Charitable Chaplain set.

Sagacious Shaman Set

Haste and the Sagacious Shaman set is useful to speed up two Pickpocket-equipped Adventurers hunting for ingredients in the lower levels of the tower.

Rank 5 Refined Sets are going to be a pain to complete.

The Grinns Tale: Contents

Buddy Rush: Critical Game

Jacky's 'Dragon Charm' inflicts a status on the target causing all attacks on the target to be Critical. This is very helpful for Nagne and Vivich. His Dragon's Aura reduces Skill CoolTime for the entire party.

Nagne's 'Forgetful Nagne' passive skill has a chance to activate whenever Nagne hits a Critical. When that skill activates, all his active skills are instantly refreshed. This allows him to spam skills. His 'Pray for the enemy' passive skill keeps him supplied with MP to power his active skills.

Vivich's 'Aum' passive skill activates whenever she hits a Critical, giving the party a temporary boost to SkillPow. And she heals too!

Put these three together and we have a deadly damage-dealing party which has durability.

Skills activate!

Skills activate, again!

Skully could substitute Jacky with her 'Keen Attack' aura that boosts the party's Critical chances. However, it is not as visually impressive. If a four-member party is allowed, she would be a welcome addition (think Raid).

Skully wants to join. Can?

Buddy Rush: Contents

Ultimate Collector (shopping, collecting)

Ultimate Collector by Portalarium is a game about shopping for collectibles and selling them in garage sales. Players may also decorate their houses and assemble collections. The famed Richard Garriott is involved in the game development so there is some expectation for this game.

My Garage Sale.

The primary method of making money in the game is selling items through garage sales. In order to do that, merchandize for sale is required. One fun part of the game is looking for merchandize (called collectibles in the game) to sell.

In order to gather collectibles, a trip to one of the dungeons, erm, I mean, shops is required. It is also possible to visit other player's garage sales. Once there, the player may loot treasure chests, erm, I mean, peruse the sales racks to consider the items being sold.

Checking an item requires energy (a staple of Facebook games). More energy is required to identify the attributes of the items. Attributes can lower the asking price or raise the value of the item. The latter will potentially increase the price when it comes time for the player to sell that item.

As with RPGs, the player has skills that... er, what I mean is, the player has expertise levels for different classes of objects. Expertise sometimes allows the player to identify an attribute without having to pay the energy cost.

Interestingly, all collectibles are based on real-world items. For each item, there is a short description, along with a weblink to an outside address for more information. A few of the dungeons (er, shops) are also based on real-world retailers such as Macy's.

Yes, the Pet Rock is a real world item too.

Collectibles are not only for sale to generate income. They may also be collected in display cases.

I never realized the value of Barbie Dolls before this.

The idea is to collect items with similar attributes. Completing a set gives bonuses like additional strength or- erm, I mean, collecting collectibles with matching attributes award better Collection Score. Having a high Collection Score will make the player happy. At least, it does for me.

Collection Score also boosts Garage Sale Score, which will increase sales prices by a percentage. That means more income.

There are a lot of Quests available in the game.

Quests also provide background information.

A few of the Quests are to explore new dungeons (er, you know) but most of them involve collecting certain items. Interestingly, many of the Quests provide background information about the items to be collected. Some of them are good historical information while others teach a little more about the game mechanics.

I wish there was some way to review the background information of completed Quests. That information is interesting and worth rereading later.

Another fun part of the game is decorating the base, er, house.

Decorating the home.

House decorations make the place look pretty. In addition, they also improve the Garage Sale Score, which, as mentioned, boosts sales prices.

There is a long tutorial at the start of the game to explain the important game mechanics. This should make it easy for new players to jump into the game.

As with many Facebook games, energy is present as a renewable resource. Energy is used to buy and sell collectibles and it regenerates over time. Again, as with many Facebook games, there are waiting periods involved for certain processes. In this game, it is waiting for offers to purchase items put up for sale.

On the technical side, I find that the game runs a little sluggishly on my old computer unless I lower the graphics quality. Other than that, it sometimes takes a while to load the game images.

In summary, Ultimate Collector is a game about collecting artifacts. The collected items are based on real-world counterparts. The short descriptions that come with each item give entertaining historical information. It is also fun to hunt for collectibles to complete collections, whether required by quests or for personal fulfillment.

I knew it, the sword is Cursed!

Update 28 September 2012:
I forgot to mention that the game is still reasonably playable without friends, just not as fun. One of the game components is repairing damaged collectibles. That requires parts. Parts may be given by friends or found in Trinket Chests.

Other than supplying parts, friends' yards are additional dungeons (...). Bonus energy is available from there daily. And friends are a good comparison of how well the player is doing. And possibly targets for bragging.

Friends also help obtain Event Pass to unlock super dungeons (ok, this joke is getting old) where certain loot may be found more easily. Not strictly necessary since there are many other places to loot.

The game is playable without spending real-world money on premium cash (called PortCash). PortCash is used to buy premium items for houses. However, lower quality versions available for in-game cash is good enough. Also, PortCash is used to unlock a lot of other in-game functions that are not really that necessary if the player is patient enough to wait a little.

More screenshots on this blog:
Ultimate Collector Screenies 1
Ultimate Collector Screenies 2
Ultimate Collector Screenies 3

Buddy Rush: Hungry Betty Junior (1.7.1)

Betty Junior gets hungry after Class Advancement and she is called Hungry Betty Junior.

Hungry Betty Junior

Class Advancement comes with a new weapon, er, 'status'. Betty Junior is now an adult and may now, er, do adult stuff. Like, er, drink beer? Regardless, Betty Junior is considered to have grown and is now larger, as seen in the screenshot above.

Don't know what to make of this.

Class Advancement grants Hungry Betty Junior the ability to summon GrandMa Betty.

GrandMa

When Hungry Betty Junior summons GrandMa Betty, the giant foot of GrandMa Betty stomps onto the ground to do lots of damage to baddies in a large area. The foot is really large and as such will block the view for a short moment. This could hide warning signs of baddies about to pull off some special attack.

GrandMa Betty stomps!

After all the screen shakes, GrandMa Betty leaves behind a giant footprint to show everyone that she had been there.

GrandMa Betty was here!

Hungy Betty Junior's other skills can be found in a previous article.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Light Skully (1.7.1)

Skully becomes Light Skully after Class Advancement. I am uncertain if this is a reference to her alignment, her brilliance, her weight or any of a host of other possibilities.

Skully shows her new gun.

Light Skully receives a pair of new guns as her first weapon accessory.

Golden Revolver

Despite her new weapons, Light Skully does not shoot golden bullets.

No, the bullets aren't glowing either - that's Vivich's Sanctuary.

Light Skully's new Ultimate Skill is named after herself.

Skully Shots

'Skully Shots' deal damage to a fan-shaped area in front of Skully. Unlike her other offensive skills, 'Skully Shots' is much easier to aim and use - just point in the general direction of the target and fire. I have not noticed any difference in damage on targets close to her or at the back of the attack range. However, it is hard to tell since the skill throws out lots of numbers.

Also, Light Skully is pretty much immobile for the duration of the skill. It looks like she is backing from the recoil of her weapons but I think essentially, she is still at the same spot. Again, it is hard to confirm this - when the skill is used, often there is too much going on to see if Skully is hit by an attack and where that attack has landed.

In the screenshot below, the crosshair is aimed at her original position, so it is assumed that baddies will aim at her original position and not her apparent position (the latter is the point where Skully appears to be as she backs from the recoil). My guess is that her contact area remains in her original position.

No, 'Skully Shots' is not a wide-area laser cannon.

Since there is just too many numbers flying all over, it is hard to estimate the effectiveness of 'Skully Shots'. It does look pretty impressive visually, though. As stated earlier, lots of things (including visual effects) happen whenever the skill is used.

Also note that 'Skully Shots' inflicts many hits (hence the large number of numbers). Each hit has a chance to Stun. Therefore, if Light Skully has any Stun bonuses, there is a very good chance for her to inflict Stun with 'Skully Shots'.

As with most, if not all, Ultimate Skills, 'Skully Shots' has a long CoolTime period between use.

Neither is 'Skully Shots' a flamethrower - the fire is from Betty Jr.

Update 5 November 2012:
It seems that Skully Shots have a limited number of hits. If there are a lot of targets in the area of effect, each target will be hit fewer times.
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Light Skully's other skills can be found in a previous article.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Ready Nagne (1.7.1)

After Class Advancement, Nagne becomes Ready Nagne.

Ready Nagne

Ready Nagne receives a newer, deadlier-looking sword as his first weapon accessory.

Dark Blade of Blood

If the hilt is still on the scabbard, what is Nagne holding onto!?

Ready Nagne learns a new Ultimate Skill.

Death No.5

When executing 'Death No.5', Ready Nagne creates five shadows of himself who then attack. Each shadow would try to attack a separate target, if available within range. Otherwise, more than one shadow may attack the same target. This makes 'Death No.5' somewhat flexible, able to distribute damage among a number of targets or concentrate on a single tough baddie.

Nagne's shadows attack!

I assume that the shadows each attacks with a 'Kiss of Death'. The animation is the same and the target is Stunned. However, the Damage Meter does not report the damage done by the shadows so I cannot compare with the damage of 'Kiss of Death'.

'Death No.5' refreshes instantly when 'Forgetful Nagne' activates. Ready Nagne now has an extra weapon in his skill-spamming arsenal.

'Forgetful Nagne', 'Kiss of Death' and Nagne's other skills can be found in this article.

Nagne's shadows attack again!

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: Burning Worrier (1.7.1)

Worrier becomes Burning Worrier after Class Advancement.

Worrier admires his new hammer.

Burning Worrier gets a hammer as his new weapon. He also gets a thicker, more impressive shield, but it is not mentioned anywhere.

No, it's not part of the Lord's Set.

Burning Worrier also gets a new Ultimate Skill.

Hammer of Passion

When executing Hammer of Passion, Worrier tosses a gigantic hammer to crush the baddies. The hammer does damage twice. The first, to a very small area with lots of damage. The second, to a very large area, with less damage but with a guaranteed chance of Stun.

A guaranteed Stun skill is very useful to stop baddies from attacking. Some baddies are immune to Stun, though (Genzir the Storm, who else?).

Hammer of Passion lands on baddies.

Burning Worrier's other skills can be found in Worrier's skill guide.

Here's another screenshot with more action:

Hard to see with so many things happening.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: 20-Day Attendance Reward

With the new attendance system, an accessory is awarded at the end of 20 days of regular logins. I think the system will reset every month.

20 days of attendance collected!

Having completed my attendance, I received:

The Oblin doll!

Hopefully, there will be a different accessory every month.

Update 15 September 2012:
The attendance does not reset after it is filled. Maybe it only resets at the start of every month. It may be possible to skip a day in the middle and still get the 20-day attendance (unconfirmed).
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The prize is claimed from the postbox.

Don't click the wrong button!

I let Botherella try the Oblin doll on. It looked like an Oblin is sleeping snugly on a white bed.

Or an Oblin angel stuck to her back.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Wolfgang chases after the cute Oblin.

Buddy Rush: Silver-eyed Bullseye (1.7.0)

After Class Advancement, Boorseye becomes Silver-eyed Bullseye.

Can't see the silver eyes.

Class Advancement gives Bullseye the Dark Bow as his first weapon accessory.

It's official: he's now called 'Bullseye'.

Silver-eyed Bullseye shoots gold arrows. Gold must be cheap if no one is collecting them to sell.

Treasure chest failed to distract Bullseye.

Also new is an Ultimate skill: Rain of Arrows.

Rain of Arrows

Rain of Arrows drops gold arrows around Bullseye for a few seconds. Thus far, I have not seen 'One Shot One Kill' activate from this skill, though it may cause Stun (with Stun from equips and Worrier's Aura). I'd rather rely on 'Greedy shot' and 'No-yield shot' as 'One Shot One Kill' work with these skills.

Bulleye is cursed with the Rain of Arrows. Betty Junior laughs.

Bullseye's other skills can be found in Boorseye's skill guide.

Update 12 September 2012:
The 8.1 hotfix increased the effectiveness of Rain of Arrows.

Rain of Arrows (1.7.1)

Rain of Arrows now does considerable damage, with several arrows likely to hit each baddie. The skill is good for dealing damage to a group of baddies scattered around a wide area. However, I still prefer 'Greedy Shot' since it works with 'One Shot One Kill' and it has a very short CoolTime (with equipment that has CoolTime bonuses).

Buddy Rush: Contents