This book is a short read but a worthwhile one. It starts out unassuming with a man lost at sea getting found by a passing by ship. After a few interesting interactions he is thrown off the boat with some other passengers. The other passengers who are from a nearby island help the man get ashore and give him shelter. The man however starts to notice strange things on the island, mainly strange creatures. It is a very intriguing concept that the book talks about and to imagine the creatures that are roaming around the island. It is fascinating to see how the culture of the creatures develops through the book. This book has many interesting concepts that you can see emerge in this small community that mimics the world at large. This just makes the book more relatable as you read through it.
What is DuckDuckGo?
The name can be very deceiving and I honestly don’t know how the creator chose this name, but nonetheless it is a alternate search engine to Google. They pride themselves on being privacy focused and never saving your search data. This means if you are worried about how Google is handling user data then switching to DuckDuckGo may be a suitable alternative. It has all of the features of Google, like being able to convert inches into centimeters, local weather report, and just being a calculator. The search results that you get from both search engines can be a bit different. It seems that DuckDuckGo takes your searches on more literal terms. This is not a bad thing and can even give you better results. DuckDuckGo also has a feature that is called a ‘bang’ search. Basically if you put an exclamation point and then a websites name, or the shorten version, then the search term DuckDuckGo will simply take you right to that website and perform the search. This means if you put in !w, shortcut for Wikipedia, and then the phrase search engines then it will take you straight to the Wikipedia page for search engines. They have most of the popular websites set up to use ‘bang’ search, even google. That is right if you switch to DuckDuckGo and still can’t find what you need you can easily just do !g and whatever you want to search for and it will automatically use Google to search. This means there is no real downside to switching to DuckDuckGo since you can easily get searches from Google if the ones DuckDuckGo provides are not to your liking. Although I have been using DuckDuckGo for my searching needs and there have been very few times where I needed to switch back to Google to find something.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Falsebound Kingdom (Walkthrough)
Here is another walkthrough that I created long ago. Hopefully it will help someone out there who is on a replay kick of old games.
This is a game based off of the yugioh series but is not actually about the card game. It is a fun game to play for hours and you will love the 3D monsters. The game is not hard but it is not that easy and it gives you lots of content to play through. You will be able to collect all the monsters, collect all the magics, and beat all three stories. There are other things besides those three things but just doing those three will take you awhile.
Walkthrough of Yugi’s campaign
After starting Yugi’s campaign, you see a brief story about what happens. When you become trapped in the game, one of your marshals, Shimon, explains the rules to you. I suggest you do nothing to your teams since Yugi’s team is currently the strongest team you have.
Mission 1: War Campaign
For this mission, bring only Shimon as your other marshal. First send Yugi to Phedon, then Shimon to Ruthum. Make sure Yugi arrives at Phedon first and then wait until the Officer arrives at Phedon and defeat him with Yugi. After that send Yugi back to Jakhud if you want a roaming monster. If you get the roaming monster send him strait to Makhad and even if you do not then you still need to send him to Makhad. You will meet Silver Fang along the way and you have to defeat him if you want him to join your party. Finally defeat Etos and then Blackland Fire Dragon comes to your side.
Mission 2: Fury of the Empire
Before the next mission get rid of Kuriboh in Yugi’s team and replace him with Blackland Fire Dragon. The first thing you do in this mission is take over Watthu with Yugi. Then you can find the roaming monster in the forest. After that take over all the bases except Ashton for more gold and experience. Finally take over Ashton and Tristan will join you.
Mission 3: Strategy
You do not have to change your team for this mission. Since Dyethruo will explode at 9 p.m., send Yugi to the mountains directly north of Dyethruo. Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress will join you but you must use Yugi to get him. After getting Winged Dragon of the Fortress, send Yugi back to Yortsun. Prepare for the enemy attack, and after all the marshals are defeated, send Shimon to Phagttuon and Yugi to Dyethruo. After you do that send Yugi to Telenoes and defeat Granus.
Mission 4: Battle for Tsughut
You may want to bring Tristan on this mission. First send Yugi just out of Telenoes, then back in to make him the defending marshal. Wait for the marshals that are moving toward you and defeat them. After that send Shimon to Ithuvak and Bakura should appear. Wait awhile for Bakura to deactivate all the marshals’ defenses and be sure you move Shimon back to Telenoes before he gets to the base. After that send Yugi to take over Ithuvak, and then Ghuashyene. After that send Tristan to take over Rowerful, then Kthujan. Finally send Yugi to finish Kepulia at Tsughut.
Mission 5: Turbulent Waters
First send Yugi to Jokhan and when you get there, hold off and defeat the marshals that come toward you. After that send Tristan or Bakura to Van-Lova, then east to find Enchanting Mermaid. After that send Yugi to Tsughut, then to Thor-Mount, and you will meet Octoberser along the way. Finally send Yugi to take over Gigan-Syip and Mako will now join you.
Mission 6: Badlands
On this mission bring Yugi, Shimon, and any other marshals but make sure you have at least four marshals. The first thing you do is send Yugi to Tower-Pegasi and send Bakura to Tower-Sirius. When Yugi arrives at Tower-Pegasi, he will fight Summoned Skull and If you defeat Summoned Skull he will join you. Wait at Pegasi for the enemy marshals coming toward the base and defeat them. Now, send Yugi to Tower-Centauri. You may want to build a Healer at Pegasi to heal from all the battles. Along the way you fight a band of monsters. Defeat them, then take over Centauri. After that send Shimon to Tower-Deneb. When Shimon is almost there, send Yugi to Air Shrine. Finally defeat Darkness, and Dark Magician will join you.
Mission 7: Crucial Battle
Get rid of all of Yugi’s monsters and give them to Shimon. Put Summoned Skull, Dark Magician, and your next strongest monster on Yugi’s team. If the enemy has any cannons, have a weaker team set them off, then have a stronger team defeat the marshal. First send Yugi just outside of Chitthun to the west, then move him back in and defeat any marshals coming toward the base. After that take over Phostenn with Yugi. Then send Yugi to Nyuaghulla, Shimon to Phostenn, and send Bakura to Nua-Tua. Around now, Joey should appear and you should send him to Nyuaghulla following Yugi. After that send Yugi to Tet-Ran, Joey to Dyovann and Tristan to Nyuaghulla. Shimon will probably have to face some marshals now. After that send Yugi to Kardhyis and Mai should appear around now. Finally finish Haysheen with Yugi.
Mission 8: Refugees
You do not have to change your team for this mission. Scott is now in control of everything and that makes things really hard for you because marshals learn how to fuse. Send Tea north some and the marshals will collide. Now, send Tea north some more and then send Tea northwest and then go west. Now, use icon mode to bring Tea to Craw-Valley. Before Tea gets there, send Joey southeast to where the mountains bend and you will get Baby Dragon to join you without a fight. Also, send Yugi out of Craw-Valley, making sure not to block Tea’s path. When Tea arrives, send Yugi back into Craw-Valley and get ready to fight the marshals coming toward your base. Send Joey to Beyzon if you have time. After you defeat the marshals, send Yugi to Beyzon and defeat Rare Hunter in Vrauson. Alternately, move Joey to Craw-Valley, have all five marshals in Craw-Valley.
Mission 9: Break Free
Make sure you bring Mai on this mission and do not change her team. First send Mai to Ce-Reizo and Shimon to the mountains directly west of Ce-Reizo. Defeat the marshals with Yugi and then send Mai south of the narrow desert path to where it begins to open up. Harpie Lady (Ocupete) will join you there. Shimon should be to wear you sent him now and he should meet Sanga of Thunder, who will join you if you defeat him. After that take over Chelyumn with Yugi and defeat Atensa.
Mission 10: Counter Attack
Take Curse of Dragon off of Mai’s team, and give her Harpie Lady (Ocupete). First make Yugi defending marshal and defeat the marshals coming toward the base. After that send Yugi to Ru-Ma-Pann, and then to Seirauna. Sometime around now, Dark Magician Girl should join you. After that send Yugi to defeat Scott in Maryah-Denn.
Mission 11: Spellcaster
Take Summoned Skull or the other monster besides Dark Magician off of Yugi’s team and replace Feral Imp in Shimon’s team with who you took off, then give Yugi Dark Magician Girl. For this mission bring 1-2 extra marshals, such as Mai and Tristan. First send Shimon to Tower-Pegasi and Mai to Tower-Deneb. After that send Tristan to Tower-Sirius. After that defeat the marshals with Yugi and send all your marshals except Shimon back to Tower-Centauri, and then send Yugi to Researcher Guild. Yugi will meet Time Wizard at the Researcher Guild, and Time Wizard will turn the clock back one day for you. Finally take over Air Shrine with Yugi. Tea should now be freed and Dark Elf should join you now.
Mission 12: Phantom Blast
On this mission bring everyone. First make Yugi defending marshal, make sure he gets sent out on the west side and defeats the marshals coming toward your base. After that send Tristan to Phostenn to set off an event in which Kaiba destroys all opposing cannons. Make sure Tristan goes back to Chitthun and send Yugi to take over Phostenn. Then, send Shimon to Phostenn and build a Healer and an Anti-Ground Cannon. After that send Yugi to Nyuaghulla and Tristan to Nua-Tua. Then send Tea to follow Yugi and after you take care of Nyuaghulla send Yugi to Tet-Ran and Mai to Dyovann. Shimon may have to fight some more marshals. After Tet-Ran send Yugi to Kardhyis and defeat Joey. After you defeat Joey Red Eyes Black Dragon joins you.
Mission 13: For That Someone Special
You do not have to change your team for this mission and Joey must be defeated with Mai. First send Yugi to Beyzon, followed by Shimon, then Mai. After the marshals that are coming toward you are defeated, send Yugi to Vrauson followed by Mai. Attack Joey until he has one monster left and then defeat Joey with Mai. Joey is now freed and Panther Warrior joins you.
Mission 14: Scorched
On this mission bring 4 marshals. First send Yugi north along the coast to find a band of roaming monsters and then if you defeat them they will join you. After that send Yugi back to Tsughut, and send someone to K-Su-Yan. Defeat the marshals with Yugi but If Yugi doesn’t make it in time, beat the first few marshals with Shimon. Finally send Yugi to Telenoes and Shimon to Y-Su-Wak and defeat Strings.
Mission 15: Betrayed
Replace Summoned Skull in Yugi’s party with a Harpie Lady and make sure Harpie Lady is the leader. First send Yugi using icon mode to Jakhud immediately. Yami Bakura moves his troops out almost immediately so you will have to move fast because If you do not get there fast enough, you will lose. Now, at Jakhud, defeat Yami Bakura. Bakura will now be freed and Espa Roba will join you.
Mission 16: A Lost Cause
Before you begin this mission put Summoned Skull back on Yugi’s team and take Shimon only. First send Shimon to Sunny-Plane and build a Barricade and Healer at Anker-Hill. After that defeat the marshals, then heal your team. After that send Yugi to Twin-Rivers, then send Yugi to Shadow Forest and defeat Arkana. After beating Arkana, Dark Magician #2 joins you.
Mission 17: Secret Power
First send Yugi to fight Shadi at Jenonnva and Machine King will join you. After that send Yugi directly south to find Dragon Piper and then send Yugi to Charte-Goallua. After that send Yugi to Phyo-Rente and Beta the Magnet Warrior will now join you. After that send Yugi to Myilluno and along the way, Labyrinth Tank will join you. After defeating Shadi, Millennium Golem will join you.
Mission 18: Face Off
With the Black Luster Ritual you got in the last level, transform Dark Magician into Magician of Black Chaos. You can not use it with Arkana’s Dark Magician. Now on the mission the first thing you do is make Yugi defending marshal and Defeat the enemy marshals coming at you. After that send Yugi to Jark, then send Yugi to Shyi-Hagou, and then send Yugi across the lake to Castle-Rightarm. In the center of the lake, you meet Gaia the Fierce Knight and if you defeat him he will join you. After that send Yugi to Castle-Leftarm. Go and defeat Kaiba by attacking with Dark Burning Magic continuously. He will fuse right when one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons is getting low on Life Points. You may want to send Shimon in, weaken one of his Blue-Eyes until he fuses, escape, then take out the last dragon with Yugi. After the battle Kaiba tells you that Mokuba has been kidnapped and now you have to try and get him back.
Mission 19: Banishment
On this mission bring everyone. First make Yugi defending marshal and defeat the marshals coming at you. After that send Tristan to Dhorminouth-Town and then send Yugi to take over Vestoara-Gate, Turret-Front, and then Tower-Southern. After that send Mai to Kaepe-Town and set off the cannons at Sygh-Varths Gate if necessary, then send Yugi to take it over. Mai, at Kaepe-Town, will meet Harpie Lady (Keraino) and she will join you. Send someone to set off the cannon at Sygh-Varths if necessary and then Defeat Scott.
Mission 20: Hollowed Land of Ishtar
You do not have to change your team on this mission. First send Yugi to Ishtar Gate and someone to Home-Land. Have Yugi defeat the enemy marshals and then send Yugi to Ishtar and defeat Odion. Mokuba will now be freed.
Mission 21: Dream World
On this mission bring as few marshals as possible. First send Yugi to take over the bases one by one. At Memory-Bridge, Alpha the Magnet Warrior joins you. take over Terminal-Bus last and beware of Gate Guardian because he can really put a hurting on your team if you are not careful.
Mission 22: Dark Spirit
Be careful while going around the the main base with Yugi to take over the other
bases. After taking over all the bases, take over the main base. Scott is easy and the deranged man talks of a Dark Spirit. Unfortunately, there is a Dark Spirit and his name is Dark Nite and he controls an Egyptian God so you are about to have lots of fun trying to kill him.
Dark Nite
He uses Obelisk The Tormentor which is a very strong god that is about to wipe the floor with you. You need to just keep attacking with Yugi’s team and you will eventually win or you could attack with two monsters and then Escape, as the gods always attack last. In this battle, Obelisk The Tormentor is at level 1 but if you have already beaten this campaign or another one then Dark Nite comes back as Nightmare and he has a level 99 Obelisk The Tormentor.
Continue reading “Yu-Gi-Oh The Falsebound Kingdom (Walkthrough)”
Book Review: Timeline by Michael Crichton
This was the book that got me back into reading and one of my favorite books written by Michael Crichton. I really like how Michael Crichton did his research on how the science of this would actually work. This makes reading the book very informational and realistic, something that I find very fun when done in science fiction books. You can really get behind the idea of going back in time to medieval days. The way the book is written it truly does take you to the time period and allows you to fully visualize what is going on in the medieval world. The characters that are explored in the book are all interesting and none of them really annoy me while reading the book. That is always something I look at when reading a book, because one really annoying character can really put a damper on the experience of the story, or at least that is what I think. So if you like medieval times and modern science fused together then this book is definitely for you.
What is SOLID?
I know what you are thinking and no not the state of matter but in a software engineer capacity. This is an acronym that stands for the 5 principles of software development.
Single-Responsibility Principle
The first principle is called the Single-Responsibility principle, which says that a class should only have one job. So if you have a class that does some sort of calculation and then you have several other methods that print out the calculation in multiple formats then you may want to extract those out into there own class. That is because that class has become something that now does two jobs instead of just one.
Open-Closed Principle
The second is the Open-Closed principle, which says that objects should not be able to be modified but should be able to get extended if needed. Another way to put this is that it should be easy to modify the behavior of a class without actually having to modify the class itself. An easy way to achieve this is to create an interface for a class and then pass that class into another object.
Liskov Substitution Principle
The third is the Liskov substitution principle and it has a very formal saying to explain what it means. The short version however is that every subclass or derived class should work as a substitute for their parent or base class. This means that any derived class shouldn’t modify the behavior of the parent class. Essentially you need to have a very generic abstract class that you inherit from. Take an example like having a circle class and a rectangle class. Both of these classes need to inherit from a generic abstract class called shapes. This will allow you to implement things specifically for each class without interfering with the other classes. It also allows you to create new shape classes easily.
Interface Segregation Principle
The forth is the Interface Segregation principle, which states that a client should not have to implement an interface or depend on a method that it does not use. So if an interface is needed to be implemented by a class and it forces that class to actually implement a method that it will not be able to actually use, for whatever reason. Then it may mean that a new interface needs to be implemented that does not have the method.
Dependency Inversion Principle
The fifth is the Dependency Inversion principle, which states that a high level module should not depend on a low level module. Instead the modules should depend on abstractions. This means that when thinking of the interactions between the high level module and low level module it should be thought of as an abstraction. This allows for decoupling between the two modules.
These five principles are easy to grasp in concept and can be very helpful when coding. The hardest part is to remember to use these principles as you code and sometimes things will slip by but that is what refactoring the code is for.
Light Novel Review: Overlord
This light novel may be another story about being stuck in a game, or at least a world based on a game, but that doesn’t mean that Overlord is just the run of the mill story. It has a great story where the main protagonist is not just trapped in a game world, but actually taken to another world. Also the world that he ends up in is somewhat different from the actual game. This adds a nice twist to the story since the main protagonist does not have all the information about the world and therefore he can’t be all knowing about the world that he was just trapped in and has to collect information all over again. He is very overpowered compared to most of the inhabitants of the world, as far as we know. The other interesting thing is to see that the game that he was trapped in had non-human characters and he had chosen to be an undead, which means you get to see him slowly lose his humanity because he starts to take on the characteristics of the undead species. It is also amplified by the fact that he has to pretend to be a grand leader that can outperform his subordinates, which are also incredibly strong and smart compared to a regular human. This makes things interesting when he has to pretend to know what his subordinates plans are and not interfere with them, unless he wants them to find out he is an unfit leader. That brings me to all the characters that appear in this story, most already being all of the NPCs of Nazarick. They all have a unique personality that were set up by the other people in Ainz’s guild, or as the NPCs call them: “Supreme Beings”. They essentially worship them as gods and have no sympathy for humanity. It is only Ainzs’ human physice that holds them back from massacring the surrounding villages. The main plot of the story is Ainz trying to find out if the other guild members got stuck in this new world or not, and his subordinates mistaking his wishes for world domination. So if you want a good story with a crazy cast of characters then I would recommend reading this light novel.
Light Novel Review: The Rising of the Shield Hero
This is were the anime was adapted from and I know there has been some controversy over how the story begins, but if you can get past that then it is a great story to read. I like how they made the main protagonists character completely different from most, it makes for a nice change of pace. The whole concept of the world is also unique compared to most novels that have a story similar to this one. This is a story based on being transported to another world that have mechanics like a game, not being transported into a game. This difference is made clear throughout the novels. I admit that there are some parts of the story that can get weird, but I have that thought with most light novels at some point. All the characters in the novel are interesting and have there own motives. It is also the first time that I wasn’t really annoyed by a single character, which is a lot harder then it sounds. So if you are looking for a light novel that will give you a nice change of pace compared to others then start reading this novel. There are currently 21 volumes so you will have a lot of material to read and an interesting world to explore.
What is a Full Stack Developer?
This is can be a common question to people new to the world of development. It actually just has a simple answer, it means that someone is working on the full range of technologies when working on a project. Specifically the developer is not just specialized in one area like the database, front end (HTML/CSS), or just some language like Java. So a full stack developer will be familiar with all of those technologies and how to use them. Usually this will mean that a full stack developer will make more money then someone who just does front end work. It is important to determine what kind of work that you like to do when finding a job. That is because it would be more beneficial to only work in the front end of things if that is what you prefer then force yourself to work all over the technology stack. Don’t forget that this does not mean a full stack developer is not specialized in any area. They may have a specialty in database development but have a good working knowledge of all the other areas. That is about all there is to the question, “What is a Full Stack Developer?”.
How to Refinance an Auto Loan
There are many reasons why you would want to refinance an auto loan. One of the main reasons is to lower the price of the payment on the vehicle. This is a good reason if you can not afford the payment on the vehicle already. Be careful since one of the main ways to reduce the monthly payment is to extend the length of the loan. This will make you pay more money in the long run, so make sure it is necessary to do so. Another reason is that the first place that gave you a loan has some very unfavorable stipulations, like not being able to pay on principle, a high early payoff penalty, or some other charges being added besides the interest. This would be a good case to find a new place to finance a loan so you can get out of those unfavorable stipulations. It would probably be good to get a monthly payment that is actually easy to pay extra money on per month. This will help payoff the loan in a much shorter time span. It will also allow you to pay less interest over the course of the loan as well. One thing to consider before going any further would be the state of your credit score. Make sure that it has risen around 50 points from when you got the loan in the first place. This doesn’t always have to be the case and with some looking around at banks you may be able to find one that will refinance the loan with more favorable stipulations. However, it will probably be safer to raise your credit score some before trying.
If you don’t know how to raise your credit score check out my post on “How do you build your credit as a college student?”. The advice can be applied to non college students as well.
Where do I get the Loan?
After determining if the idea of refinancing the auto loan is a good idea you have to find a bank or credit union that will refinance the loan. It will probably be easier to get a loan from a local bank that you have an account at and if you don’t go to a local bank it may be good to try whatever bank you have an account with first. After that you can try looking into local credit unions, because they usually have better interest rates then most banks. It is definitely preferable to talk to someone in person in order to get the process going. If you meet someone in person then you can tell them about your circumstances and they may be able to give you an idea if you will actually get the loan or not. This can keep you from getting your credit checked multiple times while trying to find a bank that will give out the loan. Make sure to also ask them about there terms for refinancing loans. It would do you no good if the new loan also came with stipulations that were unfavorable. Make sure it is easy to pay on principle only and that there are no extra fees per month for each bill. Another thing to check is how much they will charge for paying off the loan early.
What Do I Need?
Depending on where you get the loan will depend on the paperwork that they will need. Here is a list however that should cover most of the basic paperwork you will need to print off before going to the bank.
- Drivers License
- Title of the Vehicle
- Registration of the Vehicle
- Proof of Insurance (Possibly)
- At least 2 years of Residency information
- Current Job
- Pay-stub (Possibly)
What is an API and Endpoint?
For most developers these concepts aren’t that complicated and are widely used in the project they are working on. However, I do remember that when getting my computer science degree there was no mention of either of these in any of the courses. The only time it was actually mentioned in a class was when a student was giving a presentation, but it never came up in the coursework. This is fine because a degree isn’t supposed to teach you everything, but it is still something to look into before you get a job because you will need to know these things. An API is a set of methods for interacting with an application. Essentially it is a way for you to access information about an application without having to know how the application works. This is done by giving people access to endpoints in an application. These endpoints are essentially URLs that access a certain method that a developer has set up in order to access information from the application. So you can use an endpoint to get data from an API and then use that data in whatever way you need. It is a really simple thing to learn, but can be easily overlooked. If interested then you can click here to get a little more in-depth view of an API.
Also if you have any questions just ask them in the comments.
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