{"id":75,"date":"2014-04-03T14:39:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T19:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=75"},"modified":"2014-04-30T19:50:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T00:50:01","slug":"mario-kart-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=75","title":{"rendered":"Mario Kart 8!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lYBz6HWBw3A\" target=\"_blank\">new Mario Kart 8 trailer<\/a> came out which shows some of the new courses and items. The items seem interesting enough, but I am mostly really excited about the courses. I love seeing the remakes (MOO MOO FARM&#8211;I have the theme for that course on my playlist) and it&#8217;s actually gotten me a bit more likely to get the game at launch.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, I&#8217;m still a bit apprehensive due to the reasons I haven&#8217;t been enjoying Mario Kart that much in the latest installations:<br \/>\n1. Winning in each difficulty wasn&#8217;t enough&#8211;you need to win and do a certain amount well as well. This is especially frustrating with character unlocking. <\/p>\n<p>2. Drifting is something that originally wasn&#8217;t really needed to win the courses in single player which was good, as I&#8217;m awful at drifting. It was more for just your really hardcore friends. Unfortunately, this has become more and more common in just the normal gameplay (Similar to how Gen 3 in Pokemon started a whole area that you will have to pray for luck in order to complete it if you do not play competitively&#8211;I still don&#8217;t play competitively and as a completionist, those areas in each game since always ruin some of my gaming experience) which can be frustrating as no matter how hard I try, drifting and I are not meant to be.<\/p>\n<p>3. Customization being stat based. &#8220;Look, you can customize your kart!&#8221; &#8220;but these parts are totally the best parts&#8221; there is truly no point in customization if you&#8217;re still forced to be a certain way to be the best\/have any chance. Characters have always had stats, yes, but it still had a lot to do with how a person plays&#8211;a kart that gives you max in all 3 categories will obviously be better than one that&#8217;s rather low in everything due to being an easier to get kart. <\/p>\n<p>I ended up not bothering to get all the characters and kart parts in 7 due to frustrations and it&#8217;s the first Mario Kart I didn&#8217;t complete so I&#8217;m hoping 8 won&#8217;t be like that. <\/p>\n<p>I have no desire to play online&#8211;I&#8217;m more of a just with a few friends or by myself player. That said, I do hope the special Online challenges that they did on the Wii version make a return in this game. I was never particularly good at them, but I had SO much fun doing each one and seeing what they&#8217;d bring each week.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, a new Mario Kart 8 trailer came out which shows some of the new courses and items. The items seem interesting enough, but I am mostly really excited about the courses. I love seeing the remakes (MOO MOO FARM&#8211;I have the theme for that course on my playlist) and it&#8217;s actually gotten me a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,46,10],"tags":[430,441,442,428],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mario","category-mario-kart","category-wii-u","tag-mario","tag-mario-kart","tag-mario-kart-8","tag-wii-u"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mario Kart 8! - Crystal Dreams<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=75\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mario Kart 8! - Crystal Dreams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently, a new Mario Kart 8 trailer came out which shows some of the new courses and items. 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I've been enjoying the courses a lot, though, my index finger hurts from how much drifting is required (how much I suck at said drifting doesn't help). I won't talk too much about issues though as I do plan to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3DS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3DS","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=470","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":1},"title":"Mario Kart 8 Review","author":"Jen","date":"June 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mario Kart 8 is the newest (and 8th if you couldn't guess, minus the Arcade versions) installment of the Mario Kart series. It brings quite a bit of new stuff while still retaining many old features. While the courses are fun to race on, I feel that's the main thing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mario&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mario","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"mk8boxart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/mk8boxart-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":189,"url":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=189","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":2},"title":"Mario Kart 8! Revisited!","author":"Jen","date":"April 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So, I will admit I wasn't too hyped up about Mario Kart 8. I had been disappointed with 7 and hadn't truly enjoyed a Mario Kart in a while (My favorite things with Mario Kart for the Wii were the special downloaded course tournaments each week--I do hope those make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mario&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mario","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"princesspeachkart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/princesspeachkart-300x192.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2004,"url":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=2004","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":3},"title":"Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 (and a bit of Pack 1) Thoughts","author":"Jen","date":"April 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To start, I will say I like this DLC more than the first set. The first set wasn't bad at all, but I just didn't enjoy it as much. Wario's Gold Mine being remade is nice and I think Dragon Driftway is really cool, but the only course I really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mario&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mario","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"pinkwoolyyoshi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pinkwoolyyoshi-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1574,"url":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=1574","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":4},"title":"Nintendo Direct &#038; Themes","author":"Jen","date":"November 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Now, I'm going to start now and say I won't really go into everything. I may make a few comments on things, but I will be skipping stuff. I'd also highly recommend watching the direct regardless. I will start by saying Majora's Mask is nowhere near one of my favorite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3DS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3DS","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/kirbysuit.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5021,"url":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?p=5021","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":5},"title":"On getting to try the Nintendo Switch!","author":"Jen","date":"January 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"So, Mark and I were able to check out the Nintendo Switch this afternoon (Saturday afternoon incase I end up not publishing this until Sunday :P) and while we didn't really record too much (The one requirement is we needed to try and record hands in the shot which wasn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;LoZ: Breath of the Wild&quot;","block_context":{"text":"LoZ: Breath of the Wild","link":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/?cat=950"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/switch2-150x150.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/switch2-150x150.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/switch2-150x150.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/switch2-150x150.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crystal-dreams.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}