The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Gaming PC for Your Budget

Conquering epic quests and dominating online battlefields demand a powerful weapon: the perfect gaming PC. But with countless components and ever-changing tech, crafting the ideal rig within budget can feel like a raid boss of its own. Fear not, adventurers! This guide equips you with the knowledge to slay sticker shock and build (or buy) the ultimate gaming PC for your hard-earned gold.

Raise Your Hand If You're Pumped For Cyberpunk 2077

This is a collaborative post and it may contain some affiliate links.

With just over a month to go before the release of CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, excitement in the gaming community is reaching fever pitch. The dystopian open-world RPG looks set to become the game of the year and is already receiving rave reviews, even before the official release.

Pixabay - CC0 License

What Makes Gaming Fun For You?

This is a collaborative post and it may contain some affiliate links

Pixabay - CC0 License

Gamers aren’t just a generic group of people with homogenous tastes and preferences. And gaming isn’t only one thing - like point and shoot.

Instead, people come to gaming from all walks for life and all kinds of reasons.

The type of gamer you are depends very much on your personality. But do you know what it is about gaming that really motivates you?

Please take a look at these different reasons people cite for what makes gaming fun for them.

PS4 Games That Should Be on Your Radar!

The PS4 has been around for a while but I have not managed to play as many games on it as I did with previous consoles. I wanted to make a list of some of the popular games that I have heard of/ some that I would to play. Please let me know your thoughts on these games and any games that you would recommend!

Final Fantasy VII Remake

This game comes out in March 2020. I never played the original but I have seen gameplay of it. I actually played Crisis Core on PSP which is set just before this game. I have to admit that I preferred Zack to Cloud but it would still be interesting to play this game and find out more about this famous character.

Nintendo Switch Games That Should Be on Your Radar!

There are a number of great-looking video games that have been released recently. I wanted to do a round-up of all the games that look interesting to me and share it with you guys!

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

I originally wasn't sure about this game, having not completed A Link Between Worlds yet but the graphics in this game look astounding and the gameplay looks interesting! I never played the original game that this is based upon. I have loved some of the Zelda games but some I have not. Have you played this game? If you have, what did you think of it?

Getting Back Into Gaming!

My Video Game Wishlist: Games I Would Like To Get/Pre-Order!

Current Reading, Gaming & Anime Plans!

Hi everyone! I wanted to do an update post with my current reading, gaming and anime plans. Let me know if you have read, played or watched any of these!

Reading

I am currently listening to the audiobook for Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. This is Brandon Sanderson's latest release. It is a YA sci-fi, following Spencer, a girl whose father was in the flight squad that protect the people from the enemy known as the Krell. He never returned from a mission and people deemed him a coward, leaving a stain on the family. Spencer wants to become a pilot like her father and at the beginning of the book she is to take the test for flight school. I'm about a quarter of the way through the audiobook. It is narrated well by Sophie Aldred. The story so far is interesting and very character-driven.



I was kindly sent a copy of Mera: Tidebreaker to review. It is written by Danielle Paige and illustrated by Stephen Byrne. I read Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige and quite enjoyed it. This graphic novel is a retelling of the DC ocean Princess, Mera which is so cool!

Three games that I am excited for in 2019

I feel like this year is a great year for games, maybe because all of my favourite game series' are seeing new entries this year! Here are the three games that I am most anticipating in 2019. (Minus Kingdom Hearts 3 which has already been released and I am currently playing)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

My first introduction to the Fire Emblem series was Fire Emblem: Awakening. It felt fresh, it was fun, it had a great storyline and it sucked me in. The Fire Emblem games feature strong characters and you can build relationships between characters of your choice. This is mainly done through putting two characters to work together on the map. The gameplay features maps that progress the story. On each map, you have to use your characters strategically to defeat the enemies and reach your goal. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the latest installment in the Fire Emblem series and it is the first main game to be released on Nintendo Switch. It looks amazing as always. In the build-up to the release of Three Houses, I am going to be restarting/ aiming to complete the other Fire Emblem games I own. These are: Fire Emblem: Conquest, Birthright and Revelation, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and Fire Emblem: Warriors. Fire Emblem: Warriors is a blend of Fire Emblem and another series called Dynasty Warriors. Fire Emblem: Warriors features stories relating to characters throughout Fire Emblem history. However, instead of having a map and moving each character, you switch between characters in a first-person perspective and fight masses of enemies with each attack. I was surprised by how much I loved this game.

The Nostalgia of Pokemon Let’s Go: A Review

Pokemon Leaf Green was my first adventure in the Pokemon world and to this day it still holds a place in my heart. My partner, Bulbasaur and I met many challenges and explored wonderous new places together. Ever since then, Pokemon has been a part of me.

Get Your Game On

This year is set to be massive when it comes to gaming. Year on year we are seeing incredible advancements in the gaming industry and finding some surprising trends breaking through.

The past few years has seen an explosion in online gambling from Bingo to new slots cropping up on various established websites. But whether you’re dedicated to your Xbox One or a die hard PS4 gamer, one thing’s for sure the sheer volume of choice when it comes to gaming is going to work in everyone’s favour.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Let’s Talk About E3: Games That I am Excited for

This week has been great for a lot of gamers with announcements of new games, release dates confirmed and new footage of upcoming games. E3 is essentially a gaming conference for all platforms and you can watch it from the comfort of your own home online. I was really excited to hear more about Kingdom Hearts 3, the eagerly awaited new game in the Kingdom Hearts series and hopeful for a new Animal Crossing main game for the Switch. Unfortunately, we did not get an Animal Crossing announcement but we did get plenty of exciting surprises and I am actually really pleased with what I discovered during E3.

A new set of Pokemon games were recently announced: Let’s Go! Eevee! and Let’s Go! Pikachu!. The graphics looked amazing, a new main Pokemon game, based on Pokemon Yellow featuring a pokeball gadget that you can use to play the game and interaction with Pokemon Go? Yes please! This game is to me, a dream come true and I cannot wait to play it. During E3 we got to see further gameplay from this game and it all looks wonderful.

Aside from Pokemon, I was also thrilled to finally hear a release date for Kingdom Hearts 3! It is coming out in January 2019! I am so excited for this new instalment in the series. Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts are my two main gaming favourites so this upcoming season is great for gamer Lucy. New gameplay for Kingdom Hearts 3 was also shown and I am so excited, I do not want to spoil too much in case you want to be surprised when you play the game, so if you do want to check any of this out, videos are on YouTube.

E3 actually provided me with a complete surprise. A new main Fire Emblem game for the Switch was announced! I absolutely loved Fire Emblem: Awakening on Nintendo 3DS and I still need to complete Fates and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia but I have really enjoyed what I have played so far. Fire Emblem combines the great storytelling and character development of traditional JRPGs with a tough and clever strategy battling system. Fortunately, there is the option to play in ‘casual mode’ where fallen units return after a battle. I didn’t use this when I played Awakening and I ended up restarting the game so many times because I wanted to get through each battle without losing a character. The new Fire Emblem game looks great and it seems to even have a new mechanic of attacking all opponents in one go, something that could make battles shorter.

Another game that I am interested to play is Super Mario Partywhich is essentially a mini game/board game video game on the Switch. I have played a Mario Party game before and it was okay but the board game level could take a while. I think that with an addition on the Switch, the game will play faster and it will be easier to play with others.

We also received slightly more detail on a release date for The World Ends With You: Final Remix on the Switch. I played the original gameon Nintendo DS and really enjoyed it. I am not sure if I am going to play the remake yet but I feel like it would be so fun to play on Switch! It is coming Fall 2018, however, it does not seem to be available to pre-order yet, in the UK, at least!

I love it when E3 comes around and I know that there will be Nintendo Directs until the next one. What did you like from E3?

What I Have Been Up To #3

Hi everyone! Today I am going to be talking about what I have been up to lately, let me know what you have been up to in the comments!

1. Education:

I am hoping to do a masters in creative writing! I have been writing for years, I started with poetry and then also began writing short stories and potential novels. I have been thinking about doing a masters for a while and if I can that will be amazing. I would love to develop my writing skills, learn more about writing and get a masters (hopefully I could pass!).

My Favourite Pokemon Games and What Is Currently Missing from the Franchise

I want to talk about my favourite Pokemon games and what I feel is currently wrong with the Pokemon games that have been coming out. Here are my top 3 Pokemon games:

1.       Pokemon LeafGreen 

This was the first Pokemon game that I ever played and it will always be my favourite. If I could only play one Pokemon game it would be this one.

2.       Pokemon White/Black 2

I loved the Pokemon Black and White games and their sequels. It was the first time I felt like I had seen a lot of new Pokemon and the story definitely picked up. Furthermore, there was an amazing feature of seeing how many Pokemon are available to catch on each route which made catching many different Pokemon a lot easier and more fun.

Why I Want to Listen to Audiobooks More

I haven’t listened to many audiobooks in the past. I absolutely loved the Pride and Prejudice audiobook, having wanted to read this book for a long time but I was put off by the writing style as I had read a sample during my studies that I did not like. The audiobook was a great way to go.

I’ve been in a reading slump for a while and I have realised that I am almost always doing something else. If I have spare time I try to work on my blog. I want to start fitting in gaming again and I thought that it would be a great idea to listen to audiobooks whilst I play games (not when there are big dialogue scenes in the game). This would also mean that I am reading more and I can listen to audiobooks whilst doing social media which I spend a lot of time doing.

Games that I am finding relaxing right now

I have always been a gamer. However, when my mental health dipped I found it harder to focus on video games and I haven’t really played them as much as I used to but I do want to change this. I am trying to relax more and here are two games that I am finding relaxing at the moment. I am focusing on these as these are what I feel like playing at the moment!

Kingdom Hearts Unchained X

I recently restarted this game after losing the account when my phone broke. This is a free mobile game based on the Kingdom Hearts series. You play as your own custom character and you go through levels finding items, opening treasure chests and fighting heartless (the creatures in some of the Kingdom Hearts games). You don’t need to have played Kingdom Hearts before to play this. The game is separated into short levels which is relaxing and fun.

For those of you that do play Kingdom Hearts, this game is a prequel to the original game and I think that it connects to Kingdom Hearts 3!

April Goals

Digital drawing

I got a drawing tablet and started drawing different characters. I want to practice a lot more to hopefully improve my digital art skills.

Crochet
I want to learn how to crochet and try to create cute crochet animals, although I think it will be difficult and unlikely that I can create good creations but I can at least try!

Languages

I am going to try Duolingo, a language learning app. I have wanted to learn Japanese, Italian and improve my Spanish as I only remember a little bit and why waste that when I can learn more? Hopefully one day I’ll be able to use different languages in real-life situations one day!

Instagram

I want to keep posting on my book and gaming Instagram accounts because I enjoy taking pictures of books and games.

Write chapters

I would like to continue writing chapters of my book. I have been editing what I had already written of my first draft and then I intend to keep writing and finish my book.

Read and review

I would like to keep reading frequently and write reviews when I finish books.

This list is so that I actually try some things that I want to practice but just haven’t gotten around to it. I want to dedicate time to learning new things and developing my skills and hopefully I will create some great things.

What are your goals for April?

What I have been up to #1

In the past, I made videos for YouTube and one of my favourite types of videos to make was vlogs. I decided to blog instead of making videos because I am more passionate about writing. However, I thought that I would translate vlogs into blog posts by posting every couple of weeks about what I have been up to lately, I hope that you like these and feel free to comment about what you have been up to!

Writing

I recently joined Wattpad and since then I have been editing chapters of the first draft of my book. I have about half of a first draft and posting chapters on Wattpad has helped to motivate me to keep working on this book that I love. I intend to keep posting chapters regularly and in the future post more books on there. If you are interested in how I edit: I printed my writing off and whilst listening to some old pop songs, I go through with a different coloured pen and cross out things and add things accordingly and then I type up these changes to post on Wattpad.

Things that help me relax

I have anxiety so I don’t often feel relaxed. I am working on improving my anxiety but there are a few things that I have found helpful when I am feeling tense:

1. Walks

Sometimes I feel like I can’t think straight, I cannot decide what needs to be done and when I should do it so I find that going for a walk, even just fifteen minutes actually does help to create mental clarity. By the time I come back from the walk, I have a plan or at least know what I am doing next.

2. Music

I have recently started listening to music again. I use Spotify and just put on a playlist or a particular song that I feel like listening to whilst I do other things. I find that after a while I can be singing along and feeling a bit better.

3. Drawing



I have always wanted to be a good artist but I did not really think that it was possible for me. I thought that I just didn't have the artistic talent. In the past, I have used different artistic forms, including sketching and sewing. I had thought about trying digital art in the past but I just thought that I wouldn't be any good at it. However, recently I began wanting to try digital art so I was fortunate enough to have some gift cards that I used to get a Wacom Intuos tablet. It comes with a pen that you use on the drawing tablet, as well as an art programme. You can also download free art software to use with it. It was actually a lot easier to use than I thought it would be and I have discovered that after I have done a drawing I feel so much calmer! I thought that I would get frustrated with any mistakes that I made and with the drawing not being what I envisioned but you can easily undo any errors and you can keep trying until the drawing looks how you want it to look. Although I don’t think that I am going to be a great artist any time soon, I am using this entirely as a hobby: something that I enjoy doing and that I want to keep practicing. I am currently only drawing fan art because I find it a lot easier to use a reference picture and because I love the characters that I am drawing.

4. Blogging

I love writing blog posts. Similarly to writing creatively, it allows me to pour my thoughts out. I can write about topics that I am interested in and I hope that I am reaching people and that my content helps them/ that they enjoy it. I love the community: everyone is so nice and they are passionate about the same topics or have shared similar experiences or give me advice when I need it. I feel amazing after posting a new blog post, as well as talking to people online. Blogging has become something that I am incredibly passionate about and that I wish to continue and work on regularly.

5. Reading

How could I not include reading on this list? It is so enjoyable and relaxing once my mind becomes completely immersed in the story and when I feel compelled to keep reading.

6. Video games

Some games make me feel really relaxed. For example, watching the environment in Skyrim. I think that it depends on the type of game that you play, some are for a challenge, others for enjoyment but that are not necessarily calming and then there are those that just make you feel calm as you stare at the beauty of the visuals, participate in the cute gameplay or fall in love with the characters.

Thank you for reading! What helps you to relax?