Demo Play Thursday - Star Ocean: The Second Story R On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Star Ocean: The Second Story R.  This DEMO, from developers Gemdrops, is also out on PS5, Switch, and PC.

Star Ocean is a series of games that i've never really played. i think i have a couple of the games, but even then i've maybe only played an hour of each. There's something about them that doesn't seem to grab me, but it's been so long since i last played one it's difficult to remember exactly why. But seeing this remake of the second Star Ocean game, especially with it's unique art style, had a DEMO got me interested as it offered a way to try the game without buying it.

As a DEMO, it's great. before the game starts, it clearly says what this DEMO is, what it's limitations are, and where/when it ends. It's most of the start of the game, which means that it also includes the tutorials for the game. So in this DEMO we get the backstory to what i presume is the first game, Star Ocean: First Departure R, first before it moves onto telling this game's story. in the hour i played we also got a lot of world building and some useful, tho not great, tutorials. the last tutorial i got was how to parry but i couldn't get it to work. the game tells us how to do something without showing us. it feels like a waste of screen space that could've been used to show us rather than just telling us.

The standout feature of this DEMO, and the game itself, are the graphics. it's a mix of pixel art, similar to the style introduced by Octopath Traveller, and 3D environments. it mostly works fine, but on PS4 there are moments where it looks like the characters are floating on the world as there's a lack of shadows by their feet. also, near the end of the video i did find navigating the overworld a little tricky as it was a bit difficult to know what our character could and couldn't walk over. One nice addition, that i didn't go into in this DEMO, is the ability to switch the game soundtracks from the original PS1 version to this new one's soundtrack.

As a DEMO, i felt that it works well. it could've been a bit better here and there as a DEMO, but as a representation of the start of Star Ocean: The Second Story R i feel that i does a good job in highlighting how accessible the game is to new players whilst also slowly introducing us the world without it feeling overwhelming. it's a very accessible DEMO which leads me to suspect that at the very least the start of Star Ocean: The Second Story R is also very accessible and maybe even a decent choice for people new to Star Ocean or new to RPG's in general.

Backlog Conquering - #Abzû On #PS4 - Part 2 - The Next Two Shrines

Part 2 of playing the PlayStation 4 version of Abzu, a game developed by Giant Squid and published by  505 Games, started amazingly. It's not something i remember seeing before. When you get to the home screen, it's background has changed to the location we finished part 1, https://youtu.be/R_MvXOPcm4o. This isn't a surprise as the Rime videos had the same thing. But what i hadn't expected was that when you hit continue, you go to the background and play the game. I never suspected that the background was the actual game paused, i thought it was art. it's a really cool effect.

As for the rest of the video, i continued to find myself awestruck throughout. i'm going through it at my own speed, taking time to enjoy the scenery and exploring a little. If i have to criticize something, i'd say that the story is still difficult to parse from the art on the wall. the ruins in the world also don't point towards what happened in the past as we have the technological doors contrasted with the stone ruins throughout. so my drive to continue playing isn't the story but more the experience and seeing what the game has to show.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Halloween Cup 2 Revival - Achievement Run

Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!

I play and earn all the achievements from The Halloween Cup 2 Revival! ( 2023/10/30 9:00～2023/11/6 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

This week is the Halloween Cup 2 Revival. i have played this cup before, https://youtu.be/G3xMouT-Dlc. Just like that video, it wasn't as straightforward in this revival. i was up against some tough human opponents once again.

Last week, https://youtu.be/MKiG0MmX-8Q, in Halloween Cup 1 i only played against 1 other player so i moved my gaming time back to Monday in hopes of finding more to play against. the level of competition against those i found was high but it often came down to the end of game bonuses to work out who would make it into the top 3. the Ai characters, once or twice, also got the end of game bonuses. In the final game, i did manage to get a win against the computer, but against the other humans i could only manage a 2nd or 3rd. even tho the results weren't what i was aiming for, i still had a fun time playing against them.

This week i played against:

ユルてィム - Rank 75

しゅうさ - Rank 64

$$ - Rank 73

EODM - Rank 70

れ！いんいん_TN_ - Rank 74

Cloud Monday - Cloudpunk - Good Game To Stream From PlayStation Plus But Unclear Saves Are An Issue

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Cloudpunk. I streamed this game, developed by Ion Lands, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

In part 1, https://youtu.be/o3KbvReYduI, i had a great experience streaming the game from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service. there were the occasional hiccups throughout my time with the game but nothing that seriously impacted my time and my enjoyment of the game. they were simply noticeable.

For the most part, that continued into this part 2. I felt no lag in the controls and the streaming issues we had didn't get in the way of gameplay nor my enjoyment of it. But there were more noticeable streaming artifacts than in part 1. there were Stream Tears, where grey appears on screen, and it felt like there were bit rates drops, where the video looked like "1080p" but not too detailed. 

A lot of the games design, intentional or not, helps mitigate the issues i had streaming the game from PlayStation. Most, if not all, of the conversations in the game are voiced and also have subtitles, if you don't accidentally hide them,  so if there is macro blocking and the text becomes illegible, then you can listen to what's happening. If the bit rate or resolution drops, you can slow down or stop. most of the game so far is us delivery items in our vehicle but these don't go fast and we don't move fast when walking so i never felt like i was headed to a crash. and i could simply stop and wait for things to get better. So for these reasons, and more, i do recommend this game as something that's streamable from PlayStation Plus and that it's a good game in general.

But...it's unclear when the game saves. And in a game that's being streamed to us on a service that can kick us off with just a 20 second warning, it's a little frustrating. I ended this video not knowing when the last save was, would i have to talk to the Coffee Man again or was the save when i landed. i don't know. The game has some other small issues like a so-so tutorial that i can work my through. But this save issue is big enough to give me pause and it's something i must add when i recommend this game, 'cause i do recommend it.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Halloween Splatfest Tricolor - 15 Battles 8 Wins!

Welcome to Switch Funday.

It's day two of the Splatfest weekend so today's video focuses on the Tricolor game mode in Splatoon 3. I found that in nearly all games, it was very competitive. some games were more challenging than others, but overall it was a fun Tricolor and a fun Splatfest overall.

But, the online was even worse today than Saturday. the video file for this is over an hour and a half long. It took over 3 minutes for some matches to be found, there were also disconnections in the lobby and in-game, too. there was one game that lasted about 10 seconds! I haven't seen a splatfest with this many bad internet issues since around the launch of the game over a year ago.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - Halloween Splatfest - 15 Battles 7 Wins!

Welcome to Online Saturday.

It's a Splatfest weekend so today's video is on the "Which Would Be The Best Friend" Splatfest in Splatoon3. Our choices are between Skeleton, Ghost, and Zombie. I chose to join Team Ghost.

This was a fun Splatfest. i would say that it felt like the wait between matches was the longest it's been since the game launched. typically i'd have to wait 10-30 seconds at most but during this Splatfest i had waits two minutes or more. Other than that, it was fun because of how competitive it was. there were some real close games and others that ebbed and flow between the two teams. it was nice to get 2 x10 wins in this Splatfest, i rarely take part in them and even rarer win them. so to win two feels special.

Demo Play Thursday - CRYMACHINA on PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of CRYMACHINA.  This DEMO, from developers FuRyu, is also out on PS5, Switch, and PC.

The reason why i chose to play this demo was because it's game icon on the PlayStation store looked soo cool. i didn't even check out any of the screenshots or videos on the store. i simply saw the icon and downloaded the DEMO.

I didn't finished this DEMO, but i played enough to know that it wasn't specifically built as a DEMO. it's simply the start of the game. But, in a way, this is good as we get to see the back story, the tutorials, and even some world building. In that sense, it's a great DEMO. But, what wasn't made clear at any point is whether or not our save will carry over to the final game. It's possible that it will say so at the end of the DEMO, but i didn't get that far. if you know, let us know in the comments.

The combat in this DEMO is a highlight, and potentially exciting for the full game. the controls felt accurate but also spamable for new comers, the tutorial was clear, if a little basic, and the visual affects were showy and added a cool factor and heft to what was happening on screen. But the DEMO made it clear early on that there's a casual mode which'll make the combat easier if you'd rather focus on the story.

As for the story, as this is only a short look at the game it's understandable that there are a few questions left answered. but the game does a good job of having the main character ask the questions that we, the gamer, would ask. I would say that it works. enough has been revealed to put the game in a world, some things have been explained well enough to explain game design choices, and some things have been teased as to what we're going to be doing in the story. But there's no hint of a twist as yet so it's hard to say whether the game as a simple story to tell or if everything's not quite as it seems.

Graphically, it feels like this DEMO is taken from a near end or final build of the game. it looks great and i was surprised how much i liked the architecture style. The main character designs may be a little busy, but they are distinct from the bad characters in the DEMO. everything considered, i would say this succeeds as a DEMO even if it's not really designed as one. so perhaps it's best to say that the first hour of this game is approachable for casual and hardcore gamers, and after playing it i am much more interested in it than i was before. so i recommend people play the DEMO, one way or another it's a good one.