Dragon Quest I+II 2D-HD Remake (Switch)

Effectively doing a “machete order” of the original three Dragon Quest games, these assume you played the DQ3 2D-HD Remake first and lead you through the further saga of Erdrick’s descendents.

( Read more... )

Overall: This reminded me a lot of Sword of Mana, where they took the bones and built out new plot, characters and mechanics to make a totally new thing. I think DQ3 HD-2D worked for me because it was very close to the original game, with some quality of life features and more random stuff to find to reduce grinding. The open-world parts were still generally open. I&II presents the illusion of an open world but hits you with all the "you can't go here / the thing you'd get here won't spawn yet" tools in the box. It doesn’t reward your knowledge of the original game but keeps the difficulty and need for periodic grinding relatively high. It’s an interesting game but it didn’t give me the experience I was hoping for.

Friday Teas – Pirate Pride Sampler

Irritatingly, Friday Afternoon Teas do offer steeping instructions for each tea on their website. These should really be printed on the packet, or failing that, included in the box on a card. Many of these teas wanted to be steeped at 185 degrees instead of boiling, and I had to look up individually which was which.

This box was blends nominally inspired by the show Our Flag Means Death. As with last time, I’ve ordered them from my favorite to my least favorite.

Stede’s Orange Marmalade - Black tea, orange peel, bergamot oil, natural vanilla flavoring, gold lustre dust. This one tastes good but smells amazing; Rebecca particularly liked it. (The lustre dust is entirely unnecessary.)

Queen of Hearts – Black tea, peppercorns, rose hip and rose petals. Black tea with a hint of rose and a tiny bit of pepper bite at the end. Nice.

Blackbeard’s Delicacies & Tealights – Black tea, sweet violet, natural vanilla flavoring, lustre dust. Probably a tie with the Queen of Hearts; the violet and vanilla are subtle but a nice addition to the tea.

Ooh, Daddy! - Black teas, cross sprinkles, spicy ginger, black peppercorn, butter rum flavoring. There’s a little bite from the ginger and pepper, but the butter rum just gets lost and the sprinkles continue to add nothing but ugly color.

I Could Be Family – Roasted green tea, cinnamon, allspice, clove, pineapple, allspice, vanilla, and blue sugar sprinkles. The smell is overwhelmed by “spicy cinnamon” and while the flavor is more subtle than you’d expect, most of the nuance is still lost to the spices. I don’t think the sprinkles are adding any value.

Moonglow – Heather flower, lemon myrtle, moon sprinkles, lavender, yarrow flower. Contains no tea, smells strongly like potpourri in the packet, but once steeped it’s…inoffensively lemon?

Stabbed By Jim - Green yaupon holly, yerba mate, annatto seed, orange peel, blood orange, shaved coconut, orange sprinkles, lime peel, natural coconut flavoring. (This one is noted on the website to be “hyper-caffeinated”, by which they mean 80 mg, twice the caffeine of the average black tea or still less than a weak cup of coffee.) The coconut and citrus contrast come through decently, but there are weird overtones and aftertastes that don’t really work for me.

Mexican Chocolate Mate (Bonus tea) – I think I just don’t like yerba mate? This mostly tastes like cinnamon tea, with that weird yerba mate aftertaste. The chocolate doesn’t particularly come through.

In general, I was unimpressed with the lustre dust (I don’t need sparkly bits in my tea) and I don’t think sprinkles actually added anything to any of these, even any real sweetness. But they’re good at making black tea blends, especially when they focus on one or two primary flavors.