The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.
It looked like Part 8 would start a little slower but it wasn't long before we're accused of assassinating someone controversial, but important. our retaliation was quick, decisive, but we ourselves fell into someone else's trap and it was costly, causing someone close to join the Furies. once again we're saved from being kidnapped, too!
The Finals is a game i've heard people talk about, but as i don't have a PC good enough to play it (not just in terms of specs, but also the fact that my Laptop likes to restart/crash) and i currently don't have a PS5 it's not a game that was on my radar. i was surprised to see that it got a PS4 release a year after it came out and i was keen to give it a go, but also keen to see if the PS4 version felt noticeably lesser.
I decided to Live Stream my first playing of the game, but i did start it before to do any sign ups and log ins that might be necessary. So this Live Stream is my thoughts of the game as it happens. it starts off well with a decent tutorial on the main game mode. it ran well, looked great, and the loading times weren't bad. so it makes a great first impression. But it's second impression is rough.
We went from a simple, tiny tutorial map that showed how the game mode worked, to an actual game on a, in comparison, ginormous map with other teams and players. the tutorial hadn't told me what all my buttons do and it wasn't with team mates. the enemies in the tutorial were also extremely easy. This was too much and safe to say not only did my team lose, i personally felt terrible because of my own performance. Playing that game did unlock a character type, but again there was no tutorial. the third match was just as intimidating as the second. it was on a different map, too. and once again we lost and i was having a bad time with The Finals.
The fourth game was on another map but this time it felt like i had been matched with players closer to my level/skill level or that having someone higher levelled on our team really did make a difference. i hadn't worked out tactics, something again the game hadn't talk about during the tutorials, so all i knew was i had to get a vault to a cash out point. that was my main focus and it started well. this was the first game i had played where i felt like had contributed something.
But after this i was finally able to try something else, i wasn't being forced/coerced into doing what the game wanted. whilst this was great as i had the chance to play Snowball Blitz, it again also felt like i was being dumped into the "deep end," so to speak. thankfully Snowball Blitz was fun and a very welcomed break from banging my head against the game's main mode.
I did play more Cash Grab modes and more Snowball Blitz games, but it felt like i was getting better in spite of the game rather than because of the game's tutorial and helpfulness. but it shouldn't take an hour or more to get the basics of a game and start to feel useful. especially when The Final's came out in 2023. there was more than enough time to create a tutorial that builds up the game, one that introduces the game mode, the character types, and the home screen. i did not appreciate going from tutorial to game. i was not ready and i only kept on playing because i was live streaming it and making a video. if this was my own free time, i would've bounced. i wonder how many people had that same experience as me and just said no and stopped playing.
The thing is, The Finals isn't bad. there is something to it's gameplay look. there's just enough destruction to the environment to make things a little unpredictable and useful. one i enjoyed was using a rocket launcher to break a roof so the player from the opposing team running on it fell to the the floor and had to take a different route to an objective. momentum isn't quite as good as Titanfall or Mirror's Edge, but it's ok. i would've liked a little more aim assist/lock on with the guns but it often looked like i wasn't the only one having trouble. i also liked how, at the end of a game, i was able to see the game stats of my team mates and it was easy to not only compare my stats but also get a look at their customisations.
The PS4 version of The Finals is a great version of the game. in 2 hours of playing, the only issues i noticed were stuttering/buffering videos and one noticeable freeze. other than that, it worked great. But is The Finals a great game, that i don't think so. i would go so far as to say it's good, but that tutorial start to it is soo very rough it leaves a lasting negative impression that'll take time to get over.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried Wizardry Variants Daphne from Studio 2Pro and Drecom on my iPhone 14 Pro.
This is the final Mobile Friday game of 2024 and this year ends with a good one. i'm not familiar with the Wizardry series, only really hearing about it earlier this year when Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord came to consoles. So going in, i didn't know what sort of RPG it was or what to expect, but the screenshots on the app store did help as i realized that it might be a first person camera style game were you navigate an area step by step.
It starts off with a tutorial that's simple but it gets the basic controls across and it gives us a little time of using the them before the twist happens and we start the game proper! Then, around 8 minutes into the game we're greeted with an extra data download scenario. i'm not a fan of these and Wizardry Variants Daphne has good and bad points about this. the bad point is that for those who download the game, start it to check for a download and find there isn't one, they're going to find out that there's extra download once they've left Wi-fi. most games with extra data do it before the game starts, having it around 8 minutes into gameplay is different and maybe not something mobile players will be used to. on the other hand, the way it's incorporated into the story is brilliantly done and not only that they have smartly covered up the extra download with a questionnaire that helps with creating your character. my character creation was done just moments before the download finished so i got to see some of the trailer that runs afterwards. it's a risky move having such a different extra data download section and i commend the devs for trying it. but i can't help but thing that letting players download it from the start, before the game starts, would also be an option.
Another one of these is seemingly the inability to change the game from right handedness to left hand. i played most of this video with just my right hand and it feels like the game's been cleverly designed around mobile play with a single hand. so not having an option to switch things up from right to left does seem a little weird. Another odd choice is how the text and speech are done. i was surprised by how much of the game is voiced, but when you start the text appears in the bubbles far slower than how it's spoken. it's so much slower i started to get frustrated by it and it really slowed down the gameplay. i think this needs to be clearer in the options or even something that we can choose before it starts, like the handedness i mentioned earlier.
Other than those mostly small things, the game is great. in a way for me, surprisingly so. for how good i thought this game was, i'm surprised that i've heard no one talking about it. i thought the music was great, from the background stuff to the fighting music, it was all nice to listen to. the controls are simple and accessible, to the point where the game's basic tutorial was actually all i needed. gameplay is also simple to understand and graphically it was great. there's some fantastic art, in game graphics, and i actually thought some of the character art was the best looking stuff in the game.
This video is longer than most Mobile Friday videos because the story grabbed me. it's a fantastic first hour with an very early twist to keep our attention and we were in two different areas. i wanted to see what happened next and something kept happening. there's our first story, our second story, what ever happened to our companion, what happened to the king, and the overarching story of what happens every 100 years.
One nice thing i didn't know was in the game was it's Gacha mechanic. like most good mobile games, they found a way to have one if Wizardry Variants Daphne that fits into the game's story. our character has an ability and we pick up bones early on. by the end of the video we find a place where we can use both and there we have new party members. in a way it's a little strange, but the video we get to watch as it happens is unlike any other gacha i've seen and yet it all fits into the game we've been playing perfectly.
I highly recommend Wizardry Variants Daphne. i think it's an approachable RPG for newcomers, it's well designed for mobile gamers, and for someone like myself who's never played a Wizardry game i never felt like i was missing something. you'll need to play to get the extra data download out of the way, but after that it makes a fantastic commuting game.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Fantasian: Neo Dimension, from Mistwalker and Square Enix.
In January 2023 i played the Apple Arcades version of Fantasian, https://youtu.be/RV_P04gnnKI, and i had two main issues with that version that have been fixed with this new console version. i found the touch controls to be too restrictive on my iPhone screen and with the screen being so small i found the text bubbles to be in the way. thankfully, neither are an issue at all. Fantasian: Neo Dimension does retain the save crystal mechanic and whilst it feels appropriate for the era of RPG the game seems to be aiming for it still feels old. the does appear to be a decent checkpoint system that i hope is also some sort of autosave, but i didn't get to try that out in this video.
As a demo, the save system has another frustration in that at no point does the demo say if the save file will carry over to the final retail version. the home screen clearly says that this is a demo and there's a link to get the game from the #eshop. but we, the player, don't know how long this demo is, if it's the full start of the game or an edited experience, nor do we know if our save will carry over to the final game.
And that will probably be important as like the time when i played it on Apple Arcade, the first hour of Fantasian: Neo Dimension is quite decent. i know after playing it i'm interested in continuing the story. i didn't get to the end of the demo in this video but i do feel like i got to experience quite a lot, enough to make a judgement call on whether i want to get the game or not.
Graphically, this Switch version doesn't feel like a downgrade. at no point playing this version did it feel like i was playing a lesser version of Fantasian: Neo Dimension. one great way this comes across is the quality of the video in the cut scenes. another way is how crisp and clear the text is on the screen. it feels like effort was made to make sure things were clear on Switch, and not small due to the resolution difference the PS5 version might have.
Saves were quick, loading was acceptable, and i found the controls to be simple and decently enough explained. the tutorial aspect of the demo does have text on screen but at least this time there are a couple of pictures to go along with the text. This way of doing a tutorial is starting to feel old as more and more games either use videos or gifs to show what the game is trying to teach. there were only two instances where more tutorial would've been nice and that's when there was a down arrow on the text box in the tutorial when it actually wanted an "A" button press and when the hand symbol appears on screen, again pressing "A" is required.
I think this demo for Fantasian: Neo Dimension is successful, not because it's a bespoke demo made for the game but because the start of the game is quite accessible and offers enough story and tutorials to keep the player going back for more.
Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.
Part 13 feels like the beginning of the end. the animosity i felt from the White Poisonette at the end of 12 carried over and developed into a full on fight. but then it took a turn that i didn't see coming, a character appeared we all thought was long dead. the story of White and their Partner tugged hard on the heart strings, but with this new character there wasn't time to mourn as we had to try and survive. this is a much longer video than normal as the story kept on coming.
The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.
Part 7 was just as busy as Parts 5 and 6. it starts with the repercussions from Part 6 and the Shinsengumi suffering from it. next a surprise guest comes to visit and just tells everyone the secret we've been suspecting. they do offer to keep us safe but we disagree, and that might've been a mistake as once again our life ends up being in danger!
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried Age of Empires Mobile from TiMi Studio Group on my #iPhone 14 Pro.
I’ve known of the Age of Empires series for a long time, it’s always been a game I’ve been curious about but I’ve never really had a PC/Laptop that could tackle it. When I saw there was a mobile version, I was really curious as to what they were going to do. Would it be a straight up PC port, would be a bespoke version of the game. Well, after trying out this mobile version, what ever it is I’m no longer interested in trying out other games in the series.
I say it in the video, but this must be one of the best looking bad games I’ve played all year. Bugs aside, the game has issues throughout. However, it starts really strong setting up what I expected to be an interesting story and that’s essentially the last time I saw the story in this one hour video.
Age of Empires Mobile has this issue where it introduces something and then never brings it up again or never explains it. I’ve mentioned the story, but there are gameplay elements. There was a need for a scout, and it never happened again. There are bodies strewn about that we talk about but never acknowledge. We start in someone’s abandoned house but only spend a few minutes there as suddenly a whole town, with castle has been built, but not by us. Tho later we are able to put down things to be built, but it’s once everything has been built.
Another issue is the game failing to answer the question “why”. This happens throughout this video so I’ll keep it to two. The first gameplay mechanic is our boat. I never built it. It was never introduced. It was just there and were tasked to go to an island and beat the bad guys there. Once done, we start earning a coin. Again, it’s never introduced what that coin is used for or that we earn it per hour.
We start the game with a French hero. We have play as that character in a very medieval European world. The game has built a medieval European town for us. And then the game stops and we can change civilization. WHAT? I don’t know why, it’s never told. I have no idea why and it was extremely frustrating at the time. I picked England, as I’m from England, and the game continues as if nothing has happened and it’s not discussed.
Age of Empires Mobile feels like a game with many parts that are not connected. It doesn’t feel like an accessible game for new players, either. I don’t know how fans of the series would react to this game, it doesn’t feel like it was designed for them either. So I don’t know who this is built for, and as it is it’s not worth playing as in a way, do we even play it beyond pressing a button to complete a mission.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation4 version of Train Sim World 5: Free Starter Pack from Dovetail Games.
This is the free to play Starter Pack for Train Sim World 5 that focuses on the Training Center with 3 trains. for this video, i did the first hour and only used the British Class 323 Electric Multiple Unit. i don't know how far away i was from trying out a different train as the Train Sim World 5 does a poor job showing what you've already done, as can be seen at the end of this video.
I don't have many complaints about this Train Sim World 5 free to play game, Dovetail Games have done a great job at creating a decent tutorial for someone like me, someone who has little to no previous experience playing train games or someone who has little interest in trains themselves. i wanted to try Train Sim World 5 as it would be a new interesting experience and i wasn't disappointed. i would recommend this Free Starter Pack for anyone just wanting to give it a go.
I did find that the writing and the voice over didn't quite match. at times, it felt like there was more emotion in the writing than there was in the voice over. but the voice was clear and went at a useful pace. also, it did feel like the loading on PS4 was a little longer than i wanted. but they didn't get in the way of the experience.
My main issues with Train Sim World 5 are what it doesn't teach. i used My First Gran Turismo as an example of a serious game that really tries hard to teach using visual guides. the biggest issue i had when playing Train Sim World 5 was how little i understood braking and how poorly the game does in trying to teach me. i would have greatly appreciated a system like Gran Turismo where they visually show on the track when to brake. Gran Turismo also uses videos to demo what it wants to do, something that could be useful here as for people like myself who aren't familiar with this. touches like this could've really elevated this good tutorial to a great tutorial.
this video ends with a frustrating section. i ended up exploring a new section of the menu and kept coming up against issues. there were sections of the menu that i couldn't access, and when i wanted to check out a custom designed train it seemingly sent me elsewhere. i think this menu system needs to be adaptable for which version of the game you have and maybe even have it's own tutorial.
But i do think that this Free Starter Pack is well worth trying. the tutorial is good, but the game around it isn't as good.
Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.
With Part 12 is a little different as it's the first video where i only managed to complete 1 Bell's Hell. the hell in this video was much much longer than i expected but it did play into the story of the hell so it was still interesting in that respect. There was a nice surprise for finishing this hell but there also seemed more tension between us and the White duo so i wonder if that'll come to something soon.
The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.
Part 6 was just as rough for our character as Part 5 had been. Things aren't going as well for the Shinsengumi either with a character getting sicker, trouble amongst the ranks, and things happening in Japan. it feels like the story is heading towards some big event and i'm excited to see what happens and how it happens.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Infinity Nikki from Papergames on my iPhone 14 Pro.
As you see from this video, Infinity Nikki makes a bad first impression on mobile. first there's an additional 7GB download, then it has to verify the extra data. next it wants to restart the game, which actually means closing the game to the phone home screen. when you restart the game it then spends 4 minutes or so compiling shaders. In all, it took nearly 20 minutes from starting the game to actually getting to play the game. Infinity Nikki is a game that you must start on Wifi, tho i don't remember if ever warning us that it's additional data download wouldn't be suitable via a mobile network.
Graphically, at first glances it looks amazing but if you look around the edges you can see, and not unsee it, that Infinity Nikki is pushing my #iPhone14Pro to it's limits. there is continuous pop-in, to a distracting degree, and the frame rate appears to suffer fairly often. As the end of this video shows, the game still has some bugs, too.
For me, i found it's soundtrack to be just as impressive as the graphics but it too seems to have issues. there are moments when there's no sound and it really sticks out as the back ground music and sound effects in this game is rather good. there were a couple of moments where the chilled relax nature of the soundtrack didn't match the action on screen or the seriousness of the story either.
This mismatch of tone was something i felt throughout the demo. it wasn't just the music. the game has a clothes making mechanic that has no fanfare about it and is just text on screen. whereas the clothes summoning mechanic has more flash around it and feels more of an event. In this video our characters travel to 2 new worlds and seem surprisingly fine about it all. even the locals they meet don't seem to mind a walking talking teddy bear looking character. it reminds me how weird this similar situation felt in the free to play game Palia, https://youtu.be/B-MIuLyos1g. But the one that really stood out the most, and annoyed me the most, was the tutorial. Infinity Nikki has a fantastic tutorial that makes it an obvious choice to gamers who haven't played too many games. and then there are times when the tutorials revert to simple text boxes. it often tells us what button to press to get out of menus, but also at times doesn't. it mostly puts things into context, too, but it completely drops the ball at the Tidal Guidance section.
This leaves the story and honestly, i don't think even after an hour, i fully know what's happening. Infinity Nikki seems to be a bit of a slow burn at the start and i wouldn't be surprised if it would take another hour or two to fully grasp what's happening. We're teased something about our mum, in the first place we visited, but our character seemed not to notice it. We didn't learn too much about the second world we're in or if we're meant to do more than just find the mythical clothes.
I can't help but wonder if the console experience of playing Infinity Nikki is much better than playing it on iOS. this really did feel like i was playing the lesser version of this game, so much so that i don't think i would recommend it to those who could play it on console. there's the ability to log into the game with a PlayStation account but it never really says if there's cross save between phones and PS5. For many games with rough launches i keep the game on my phone and would check back in on my own time. but for Infinity Nikki, i've already deleted the game.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of My First Gran Turismo from Polyphony Digital.
This is a free to play download from the PSN so it's not quite a DEMO, but i thought it was applicable as it's a way in for new players to the series. with this in mind, one thing i was looking for with My First Gran Turismo was whether it was accessible or not to new players. after this first hour with it, i can say that My First Gran Turismo was very approachable and i would recommend it to anyone who's Gran Turismo curious.
The game has a very relaxed approach. it repeatedly makes it clear to the player that they should progress when they want. the game has some great tutorials, too. as well as text on screen and pictures showing specific points, My First Gran Turismo has a demo that uses gameplay to show how it should be done. this can be watched repeatedly so players can pay attention to many different details.
You'll see in this video that retries are very quick in this game as i use it quite a few times. the initial load isn't an issue but i imagine that it's quite a bit longer than the PS5 version. My First Gran Turismo looks great and mostly runs smooth. i did notice a few times some slow down. this was mostly happening in replays. i also noticed some pop-in during replays, too. but when i was actually racing i think i only noticed one drop.
My First Gran Turismo isn't a huge game. by completing a license, you unlock a gameplay mode. there are 4 modes to unlock and in each mode are maybe 3 races. there's also an achievement section that'll show the cars unlocked. i got 10 of the 18 in this video. there weren't any trophies for My First Gran Turismo, but there are leaderboards for many modes so chasing the times of your friends could be fun.
i would recommend My First Gran Turismo for anyone curious about the game. i think it's good for players who like racers in general. i do think the tutorial is good enough for those who aren't experienced with racing games. the relaxed approach is also very welcoming. it's unknown if there'll be updates in the future, but at 11GB it's just small enough for me to keep it on my PS4 to see if there are updates to it, and additions, in the future.
Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.
With Part 10 being as shocking as it was facing off against the Black Poisonette, i wasn't surprised that Part 11 was a little more back to normal. there wasn't any story stuff for our characters, but there were some interesting stories in the Hells we visited.
The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.
Part 4 ended with revelations and surprises so i wasn't expecting Part 5 to be just as exciting and yet it also had it's moments. there was a moment that was significant for the Shinsengumi, but it didn't go well for us. then we had someone appear who we were looking for way back in Part 1. and Part 5 then finished with more trouble for us. all in all, the story is still interesting but i do have a number of questions yet to be answered.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure from Super Planet on my iPhone 14 Pro.
The game's art style caught my attention in the app store but it was the game's Guild Mechanic that made me want to try it. unfortunately, i was not able to try out the Guild feature in The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure as i wasn't able to progress the game enough to unlock it. when i checked out the App Store page, i was concerned that this game may have an additional download but thankfully that wasn't the case.
Right from the start, The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure is a great looking and great sounding game. the intro cinematic/tutorial also makes a great first impression. but after that it's almost relentless. The game doesn't have a tutorial that most other games do, it's similar to last week's King Smith: Forgemaster Quest, https://youtu.be/Jdjm2JGh3xE, in that the game has a mission system that helps teach aspects of gameplay. when there's a mission, you press it and it takes you to where you need to go to complete it. But this means that the main screen starts filling up with icons quickly and at times it can feel somewhat overwhelming.
Other aspects of the game's design have made the game feel streamlined and easy to play. the first example i came across was with the loot. when i obtained a better item, instead of having to go through menus to equip it i could tap a notification on the screen and it automatically equips it. i can visually see the item on my character, too.
But whilst decisions like that make The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure easy to pick up and play, i played most of it one handed, it also means that there are aspects of the game that are not tied into the game's story. the one that stood out the most was the summon system. it doesn't feel tied into the game world at all.
I think The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure would be a great idle game for many players. the ease of play would be good for those who commute, the story helps elevate it above many other idle games, and it will take time to unlock all the features of the game. But it's the game world and how disconnected it feels from the game's story, the tutorial, and the missions, that will probably mean The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure won't win many, if any, awards. However i think it does more than enough right to be a pleasant gaming experience.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Dog Man: Mission Impawsible, from Mindscape.
Dog Man: Mission Impawsible looks like a licensed game from something aimed at kids, and i mean that in a positive way. the art style in the game matches the box art!
The demo starts well with a fun story sequence that sets up the game's story. once we start gameplay, it also starts with a basic tutorial that has good level design built around it so that by the end of the level we're good at the controls. unfortunately, i did find the tutorial to be a bit lacking. for example, i only knew of one button to change character when there was a second.
We only get two stages to play. the first sets up the story and is a solid tutorial level. i assume that the second stage we get to play is maybe the third in the game. it had some nice simple puzzles but i think i got soft locked and had to restart the level again. there appears to be no way to restart from a checkpoint so i retried the level. i still kept the item i had made, but i had to collect the icons once again.
Overall, i don't think Dog Man: Mission Impawsible is great for a young kids first platformer. the jumping in the game doesn't have much room for error and isn't too satisfying. but for older kids i think it would be a good time. for someone older, it's more difficult to say as the two levels we played were quite repetitive and i worry that we may do the same things over and over again. this demo was a bit too short to get a sense of what the final game would be like, but i think it's decent enough to judge how well someone younger may cope with it's platforming.
Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.
In Part 9 we learned more about the Black Poisonette and it was very weird. it looked like we would have to defend ourselves but thankfully the White Poisonette team arrived and we were fine. But the situation wasn't over and in this part it took a turn for the worse and things got even weirder. we did get some new story about the Black Poisonette and about ourselves, but it didn't make things clearer.
The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS3 PSN version of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi. I've not played an Otome style game before and whilst this style of game may not be marketed or aimed at me, i'm still curious to try it out and see what the story is.
Part 4 was really interesting. it started with the end of the attack that dominated part 3, then there was a time skip, and it finished with the group expanding, news about our father, and a surprising act that nearly cost us our life.
