Gaming Chopsticks Holder hands-on impression & Tales of Arise DLC annoyance [Now Gaming]

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-09-12 12:56 (JST)
Translated by. Aki Oshima

Now Gaming is a weekly digest that provides a quick overview of what our writers had played or found interesting in the world of video games. Here we have the translated version of this week’s Japanese edition of Now Gaming.

People who eat potato chips with chopsticks, meet your new best friend

by. Taijiro Yamanaka

The Gaming Chopsticks Holder finally arrived this week. This product allows gamers to use chopsticks to snack without dirtying their fingers while gaming. It is designed to move like a pair of tongs: You pop the chopsticks into the grooves and they act as extensions of your index and middle fingers, and you move your fingers in a scissor motion to pick up food. It doesn’t require much force to grip so it felt quite natural to operate. I could easily use a gamepad or a mouse while I snacked.

So, let’s gather some snacks and put the Gaming Chopsticks Holder to the test. It’s weird to use chopsticks like this but I was surprised by how easily I adapted to it. I was even able to pinch and pick up peanuts. Though, the narrow range of movement between the chopsticks means while it’s a piece of cake to pick up things like potato chips, bigger snacks like popcorn are harder to wrangle. The grip strength is too weak for any food of substance, so I imagine it would be difficult to eat a proper meal with this holder. Though I don’t presume there’d be too many people who would sit down for a full-on meal while gaming.

I wanna go to Iki Island

by. Aki Nogishi

I’ve been playing Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut every day since its release, and I have finally completed Act 1 of the main story. It takes time to advance the story when you can search for hot springs to soak in or chase behind foxes. But the best part of open world games is the freedom to take scenic detours, so I’m in no rush to move forward with the main quest. I have a feeling that I will enjoy exploring more of Tsushima.

I have made enough progress that I’ve unlocked the option to visit Iki Island in this director’s cut edition. I’ve already completed the first quest and I was shocked at how unreasonably strong the Mongols are here and was startled when my controller started singing to me. When I finally managed to beat the Mongols after a lot of struggle and boarded the ship set for Iki Island, a prompt came up to warn me (and I paraphrase), “The story ahead is quite long and the enemies are mighty strong. Are you sure you want to go?” Is it even conceivable that there are even stronger Mongols hanging around in Iki Island? I got cold feet at that thought so I decided to continue on with maintaining peace and security in Tsushima for now.

There’s no need to push it so hard, I will buy it…

by. Ayuo Kawase

I’m currently obsessed with Tales of Arise. Now I’m at the point where I’ve passed the early stages and the plot has thickened, and I have no complaints at all. This game is jam-packed with everything that made the Tales series great and it has such thoughtfulness for satisfying gameplay. The combat is not only splashy and exhilarating, but uncompromising in the most fun way possible. The story is solid and I feel content that there isn’t a character that spoils the whole show. I’m especially happy with the exploration part. The world is massive with huge dungeons, but the mini-map system is so outstanding and it even enables you to see the entire map from the beginning. This eliminates a lot of stress for the player and it feels good to just focus on the gameplay.

One thing stood out to me, though. The DLC for Tales of Arise is quite forceful with its promotion. The exclamation point (!) is very insistent on making its existence known, whether in the option menu or at the camp. The types of DLC include EXP boosts, cosmetics, and combat skill upgrades. The merit of these DLC aside, the relentless demand for attention is distracting. I’m all for DLCs and if their profit means a sequel, that is a good thing. However, seeing the DLC promoted every single time at camp takes away from the immersion of the game. I feel that Tales of Arise is a great game so far and I’m very happy to spend more money on it, so I hope they can come up with a better way for players to feel good about dropping bucks for it, too.