Demo Play Thursday - Master Key On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Master Key, developed by the solo dev Achromi .

Master Key is a black and white, tho there are other color palettes to choose from, RPG where you play as a fox who uses a key to attack. the game's e-Shop page made it clear that the aim is for us, the player, to go and explore the world ourselves rather than have the game lead us. This was true with the demo as well. it appears that the game wasn't changed for this demo as there was no mention that we were playing a demo, no mention of whether our progress carried over, and no tutorials.

The game relies on using pictograms to help explain what you need to do in some instances, but i personally found them a little difficult to read once they moved beyond faces that some NPCs would have, or my interpretation of them wasn't right. This lack of information also meant that there were instances where i just didn't understand what was happening, the biggest one being the cup of coffee. the music was faster, but other than that i just couldn't work out if it did anything or not. I also found the shop to be difficult to understand. not every item is labelled with a picture of what it does so i simply had to guess. I highly recommend players get the map as soon as you can. there was a point in the middle of this video where i felt like i was going round in circles and making no progress until i had enough money and worked out one of the items was the map. once i got it, i was finally able to make progress once again.

I understand this is a stylistic choice but clearly a con of it was how it made playing and making progress in the game more difficult. for some players this won't be a negative thing whilst for me and others it made the game more frustrating than it needed to be. But that's why Master Key having a demo is a great thing. It gives people a chance to actually try before they buy, for them to work out if this is something they want to play or not. for me, i'm actually glad i played the demo as there is a lot to like. the music for one is fantastic, i wouldn't say no to getting the soundtrack. the art is also really good. our character looks different from all the other characters. the world isn't overly busy and yet every place we went to looked really good with more than enough detail to make out houses, shops, fountains, and coffee carts.

So even tho Master Key isn't for me, it's still a game i'd recommend people try and this demo is a great way to try it. 

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Getting February's Salmon Run Item

This month's Splatoon 3 Salmon Run item is the Trevally Derby Rollers. Today, and going forward, my new goal will be to get 1,000 points. I had already been doing this for the past few videos but i'll make it official.

This Salmon run was one of the best ones i've ever done. My teams and I frequently managed to beat all 3 waves so i was able to get the 1,000 and do a bonus run. we weren't able to defeat the Horrorboros.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition Quest Mode: All 15 Dungeons From Start to Finish

Welcome to the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

This is, from start to finish, all 15 dungeons in the Quest Mode.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - February's Weekend Splatfest Tricolor - 15 Battles 5 Wins!

Welcome to Switch Funday.

It's day two of February's Splatfest weekend so today's video focuses on the Tricolor game mode in Splatoon 3. Things were only a little better than yesterday. Matches generally took a minute to be found, there was one game disconnected and a couple of games where teams played with one fewer player. Check out yesterday's video at https://youtu.be/qAMJOuPzT_8, it took an hour 45 to play 15 games then and today it took an hour 30!

The goal of Tricolor is for all three teams to play together. two, with only two players on each team, would team up against the third team, who has four players. Unfortunately, this doesn't often work brilliantly and i've never played a Tricolor Sunday with all games working out like that. often it ends up with three of the same team going up against each other. This week, i only did 3 "proper" Tricolor battles and it felt bad. i really did start to lose enthusiasm by the end. I also only ever played as the defending team 4 times so again it was boring doing the same thing soo many times.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - February’s Weekend Splatfest – 15 Battles 6 Wins!

Welcome to Online Saturday.

It's a Splatfest weekend so today's video is on the "What's the best day of the weekend? Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?" Splatfest in Splatoon 3. I chose to join Team Saturday.

The biggest takeaway for me from today, Saturday, of the Splatfest is how bad the online was. I had 4 games disconnect during gameplay and more in lobbies waiting for games. on top of that were times when i waited minutes for a game, with one wait 3 minutes or more. Splatoon 3 has incredible matchmaking in that the wait is typically 20 seconds or less. so for it to be soo long today sticks out even more. i recorded nearly 1 hour 45 minutes of video and cut out the waits and disconnections and the video is about 1 hour 2 minutes. that's 40 minutes of waiting. By the end i was really fed up and my enthusiasm had dried up. i just wanted the 15 games to be over. I can only hope it went better for you.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode: Dungeon 15 - Celestial Black Dragon

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video shows the 15th, and final, Dungeon, Celestial Black Dragon.

Come back next week for what will be the final video, all 15 dungeons from start to finish and credits.

Demo Play Thursday - Mario vs. Donkey Kong On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Mario vs. Donkey Kong. This game previously came out on Game Boy Advance and i feel like there's a chance i tried it out on it, but it was so long ago i don't remember one way or another.

So going into this game, i didn't really know how it was going to play. Other than possibly the first game, i've not played any of the subsequent releases. i've seen trailers and heard people talking about them, but that's it. So coming into this i was really expecting the game to tutorialize what to do and how to play it, not just because it's a #demo but also because it's different from other Mario games.

I was surprised by how unhelpful the tutorial was, what little there was. It's always possible the main game might be a little different as this is a demo that knows it's a demo. the main landing page says demo and it has a link to the eShop. But i suspect that's not the case. The biggest issue with this was the final level with the Mario Toys. i genuinely had no idea what to do and all the game said was guide the toys to the letter blocks. so i walked them to a letter block and they did nothing. it wasn't until i jumped and moved that i realised the toys were following me and have no Ai intelligence themselves.

The demo is only 4 levels and two difficulty levels. the first 3 levels were nice and short with some different platforming and puzzle stuff. the fourth level was the one with the toy Mario's. But it was the difficulty levels that i found most interesting. i started with casual, as it's my first time, but i didn't really know what it was as the game doesn't say what the differences are between them. but after playing i can say that casual adds checkpoints to the levels and a bubble save to the already lives you have. in the normal mode, you only have lives.

I didn't have fun playing this so i'm glad that it's short. it was nice that the demo had a trailer and screenshots for the game. overall, the demo knowing it's a demo was great and a brilliant example of how to do demos. but all that extra detail helped to confirm that this isn't a game i want to play. as well as the poor tutorial, i also found basic stuff like jumping not what i expected and disappointing. i would recommend people try the demo before buying the game as it does feel outdated. it may look nice, but it's accessibility is lacking nowadays. 

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeon 14 - Starlight Sanctuary

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video shows the 14th Dungeon, Starlight Sanctuary. the closer i get to the final dungeon, the harder these are becoming and the more time they're taking. So the remaining few dungeons will come one at a time.

Come back next week for what will be the 15th,and final, Dungeon!

Switch Funday - Pokémon Unite - February’s Unite Weekend

Today's Switch Funday video is on Pokémon Unite. as this is the first full weekend of February, it's a Unite Weekend. this means i'm able to use any Pokemon i want in the unranked online modes. my goal with these weekends is to try out several new Pokémon i don't have and hopefully find some new favorites.

Today, i played at the Shivre City map, it's a 4 vs 4 map so it's a little different from the other Unite Weekend videos i've done. So i came away from this weekend not really feeling great about any of the Pokémon i used. Crustle was a surprise and i scored a lot with it. I don't think i understood Hoopa, and Garchomp didn't seem to have a great selection of moves. Mewtwo was fine, Blissey wasn't, and ending with Lucario was alright but it never felt as strong as i thought it should be.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - February's Eggstra Work Event

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This weekend is February's Eggstra Work Event in Splatoon 3 on Switch. I haven't had much luck with the previous events so i came into this just wanting to get a decent score, one i felt satisfied with, a 1,000 points for the Gatchapon, and if possible finishing Wave 5.

In the end, none of the teams i was on were able to beat Wave 5, but the rest of the goals were met. I say at the beginning that the start of the video is going to be full of failure and things would get better on near the end and that was true. I don't watch videos of the event before i play, i go in knowing nothing. i just hope for a good weapon selection and good team mates to learn with. Match 4 was the start of things getting good and it mostly continued like that from that point on. 

Demo Play Thursday - Jett Rider On #Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Jett Rider. This game, from developers Last Chicken Games is out now across various platforms.

The screenshots for this demo showed the game to be a platformer, but after some rough platforming with Aaru's Awakening, https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxajhuretHJQkryomqkf8HEBq4OSzdaymh, i hadn't been keen to jump into another platformer. But i was also curious as i could be missing out on a decent platformer. But once i knew this was a platformer, i figured it would be a great game to try for Demo Play Thursday.

The main menu is bare bones, it does say it's a demo but that's all the information we get. there are no links to the eShop page, no mention as to what's in the demo, nor is there a trailer for the game. so i did go in not knowing how long things were going to be.

When it starts, one of the first things i noticed was how much was on screen. many pixel art games tend to zoom in on the main character, meaning there's not much extra above, below, or to the sides. but here, i was impressed by the scale of it. It's another game that starts and then jumps back in time, but Jett Rider doesn't take itself too serious so i wasn't too bothered by it.

One thing i mention throughout the video is how lacking the tutorial was. it's decent at the start but then it kinda stops before it's finished explaining how things work or where everything is. This game does feel like one where exploring and dying are gameplay mechanics and a half finished tutorial like this one is actually better than you'd get in other games with similar mechanics. There is a theme of the game perhaps not doing enough to give the player information. an example that comes up in the video is that we level up, the game says our stats are better, but we never get to see those stats. as the player, when anything is improved we have no way of quantifying the improvements, for the most part we only have the word of the game. I did notice with the weapons that when we upgraded them, visually we were able to see a difference in the firing and the larger numbers coming of enemies.

Having accepted that exploring and dying are part of the game, one key factor for me is how long does it take to restart and where it happens. Jett Rider does not have an auto save, it's only manual and only at specific places in the map. so if you explore in the wrong direction from one of these, you could restart and loose progress. i died a few times in this video. a couple of times i died close to the save point. but the other times when i died further away were not fun.

As well as the great visuals and art, i also enjoyed the weapons. each one is visually different, and each has some information saying what they're suited for. using each one was fun. this meant that when i had 4 weapons unlocked and could only use 2, it felt like the un fun choice. Ratchet and Clank is famous for it's cool weapons and lets the user choose which one to use with a radial menu. i wanted this game to have a radial menu so i could have all the weapons. But you can only swap weapons at specific points.

As a demo, it's good. we get some back story, enough of a tutorial, and a decent sample of platforming, enemies, and boss fights. i feel like i could get the game and enjoy it. but the demo also makes me feel like i wouldn't finish it. at each point we reached, new enemies or stronger versions of enemies we had met were introduced. This kept happening so by the time i ended the demo, i was concerned that the game would move away from puzzle/exploration platformer to more of a survival/shooter platformer and getting more difficult. 

I would recommend the game after trying the demo. but i would make it clear that i think it's going to get tough. and it's because of this i probably won't be getting the game but, again, it's not because it's bad it's just because i feel like it's going to be hard in a way i won't enjoy it.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeon 13 - Epody Grove

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video is part 5 and it shows the 13th Dungeon, the Epody Grove. the closer i get to the final dungeon, the harder these are becoming and the more time they're taking. So, unless i'm able to defeat a dungeon quickly, the remaining few dungeons will come one at a time.

Come back next week for what will be the 14th Dungeon.

Switch Funday - Palia - The First Hour

For Switch Funday i'm trying out the free to play Switch, and PC, game Palia , from developers Singularity 6, for the first time. Going into this game i didn't really know much more about it other than there would be some gathering mechanics and farming as i had seen them on the eShop.

I appreciated that it was quick to get from the start screen into gameplay. the game gives us a choice if we want to create a Singularity 6 account so we can link Palia on Nintendo Switch with the PC version. i chose not to and it was straight to a character create screen. I thought the amount of customisation here was the right amount. i felt like i could create something visually nice, possibly distinct, whilst also not feeling overwhelmed by too much choice. i also appreciated how quick the different looks and styles loaded in. it helped make the whole thing feel quick. some of the buttons are small and it may not be immediately obvious how to change some colors.

There was little fanfare when we join the game world. we slightly startled a character, but she was quick to mention we weren't the first human to arrive and essentially told us to go elsewhere. this was not what i expected. I, the player, had soo many questions whereas both my ingame character and the other character seemed not to care. this bugged me throughout the hour as i was continuously looking for story, for the why, for the how, and the game just never gave it to me. 

I found this attitude really puzzling. if there are many humans just appearing, why wasn't there one to welcome me. it would've made the journey from the cave to the town more meaningful and maybe even offer some basic answers, or at the very least set up the next phase of the game. the town's people seem pleased a new human has appeared but not exactly enthusiastic about it. they're more than happy to set me busy work whilst also offering no story and no reason to drive forward.

The first hour ends with the next day arriving and more things to keep us busy. But there's no hint as to what the story is. it feels like we have to do what the town's people quest us to do "because". that's where i feel having a human, or someone sympathetic, meet with us in the beginning would help. they could explain things, encourage us to get settled, say there'll be time to uncover everything. But as it is. this first hour felt like we were just doing quests to get things done, for busy work. it almost feels like the developers had a core gameplay loop, had an idea for the start, but no link between the two.

What's noticeable about playing Palia on Switch is how much the game is pushing up against the limits of the console. at times, the pop-in was very close to my character. and this isn't just stuff in the background but it's also textures. The water especially looks weird, almost like it's thick. But that could be a stylistic choice. In general, the game looks decent on Switch. the pop-in is noticeable but it doesn't affect gameplay. But the stuttering framerate/frame pacing was noticeable and got in the way of my enjoyment of playing the game. it didn't always happen, but it felt like it did.

There are small complaints throughout playing this video but nothing that sticks out as a game breaker. with this being a free to play game that gets updates, there's hope that things could improve. but as they are now, Palia isn't a game i'd recommend to everyone. But if you're looking for a slower pace of game, a world where you can fish, farm, gather, and build, then Palia is worth checking out. it may not be for me, but i can think of a few people i know who would enjoy playing it.

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - 7 More Failed Attempts To Win Panic Parade

Today's Online Saturday video is on #PokémonUnite. My goal in Panic Parade is to beat consistently. So far, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once. All my stats for my Pokémon are level 4 at the start of today's video.

Today, things felt more consistent. my team mates and I were able to get to Wave 13 more often than not. But match 6 was the worst as my team mates seemed incapable of reading map and were more interested in chasing the enemy rather than being ready for them. Tyranitar is a Pokémon i have recently bought and i thought was doing great, but we didn't get to see all it can do. so i will use it again next time. 

I will own up that it was my mistake which meant that the chance we had in Match 7 to win was lost.  But other than that, i felt like i had a great day of play. I had, at times, some great team mates as well. it's just a little weird that after 6 videos, 7 matches each, my team mates and I have only managed to beat Panic Parade once. I got 3 stats up to max level 5 so maybe next time we'll have more luck.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeon 12 - Clayus Prison

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video is part 4 and it shows the 12th Dungeon, the Clayus Prison. the closer i get to the final dungeon, the harder these are becoming and the more time they're taking. So, unless i'm able to defeat a dungeon quickly, the remaining few dungeons will come one at a time.

Come back next week for what will be the 13th Dungeon.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Getting January's Salmon Run Item

This month's Splatoon3 Salmon Run item is the Hacker Jacket and like the other Salmon Run items, my goal is to get the item twice and pick the best of the two to keep. There are some great matches today and a couple of really bad ones. two of the teams i played along side faced off against Horrorboros but we weren't able to defeat it. Ultimately, i went for 1,000 points so there's an extra match after getting the Hacker Jacket twice.

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - 7 More Panic Parade Matches With No Win

Today's Online Saturday video is on Pokémon Unite. My goal in Panic Parade is to beat consistently. So far, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once and unfortunately that continues today. This means that out of the 35 matches i've done, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once. By the final match with Pikachu, all my stats are level 4, so not quite max level. I feel like i played good today, but some of my team mates play like they've never seen an in-game map before. Match 5 was especially annoying!

Demo Play Thursday - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This game, from developers Ubisoft, is out now across various platforms.

This demo came out on the eShop page a little too late to be last week's video. but it was a demo i was keen to play. I've been a fan of the Prince of Persia series since the PS2 and i'm always happy to try out a new one. In terms of style, i've always enjoyed the PS3/Xbox 360 2008 game Prince of Persia.

This isn't the most intuitive demo. there's the first home screen. then there's a couple of settings, and then there's a page for Ubisoft Connect. but the confusing thing is, this page makes no mention of the demo and refers to the game. So it's really now clear if there's any benefit connecting the demo to Ubisoft. Finally, there's a second home screen. but this one is much more customed for a demo, offering links to the eShop. But it does feel more complicated than it needed to be jus to get to this point. There are more settings and it's good to see we can visually see how the game changes with most of them. 

When you finally get to starting the demo, there's a splash screen revealing that this is a custom area. we have been given some things so we can enjoy playing and we're not going to get any story spoilers. some area's are sealed off. This is great, but it never says when the demo ends. this'll be a problem later as the demo doesn't seem to stop, nor does it say that we've explored the demo or finished everything. i feel like there needed to be a better way to tell the player that there's nothing left to see in the demo.

Playing it was a lot of fun. the tutorial is basic but mostly gets things across. But what was immediately noticeable on Switch was how good the game looked. At no point in playing the game did i feel like i was having a lesser experience than someone playing it on a PS5. But the one part of the game i never got the hang off was the parry system. i don't know if the tutorial was missing information or what, but i never really got it. you'll see me die a few times because i try to parry and fail. combat is satisfying, but you do need to do more than just spam the attack button as the enemies felt like they had decent Ai and different types posed different challenges. In the main game this is something that can be patched, but here in the demo i don't expect things to change.

Thankfully, even tho i died a few times the loading to a previous check point was very fast. Loading in general was very fast or there wasn't any. it often felt like a seamless experience. exploring was fun and this game introduces a new mechanic where if you find something you can't currently access, you're able to take a screenshot in game and attach it to your map. so in the future you can backtrack, explore, and solve things you previously saw.

The gameplay in this demo was great. the hassle getting into playing it didn't play a part in my feelings of the game. but my inability to grasp the parry system really does weigh on me as it feels like combat is just as important as exploration. one felt great and the other didn't. after playing the demo i am interested in the game, but i think i would play it on the easiest setting so that combat doesn't become a chore and i can focus on the better story telling and exploration.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeon 11 - Rhea-Themis Temple

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video is part 3 and it shows the 11th Dungeon, the Rhea-Themis Temple. the closer i get to the final dungeon, the harder these are becoming and the more time they're taking. dungeons 6-10 was too long a video so for these final ones i may do them one or two at a time. i wanted to do the 11th and 12th together, but my recording ran out of space.

Come back next week for what will be part 12, and possibly part 13.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - January's Frosty Splatfest Tricolor - 15 Battles 13 Wins!

Welcome to Switch Funday.

It's day two of the Frosty Splatfest weekend so today's video focuses on the Tricolor game mode in Splatoon 3. I felt like it took less time than yesterday to get into matches and there were far fewer connection issues, too. An issue that can plague the Tricolor Mode is where it's 3 teams of the same type fighting each other. thankfully that only happened twice this week.

Personally, i'm amazed how often my team mates and I were able to win and how easy it often was. you'll hear me make the same comments throughout this video in that the opposing teams often did a bad job of inking their home areas. i'm sure it gave us the win a couple of times. Some games were tough and competitive, but overall it was just a pleasant time all round. I can't say i found one team more useful than the other, but perhaps Team Family were the ones inking their starting area the least.