Cloud Monday - Elite Dangerous - No Lag With Motion Controls And The Save Peace Of Mind A MMO Brings

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Elite: Dangerous. I streamed this game, developed by Frontier Developments, via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese #PS4.

When i was streaming Cloudpunk, the big issue in that game was that it wasn't clear if or when the game was saving. When i saw that a MMO was on PlayStation Plus i knew i wanted to play it because like Cloudpunk it won't always be clear that it's saving, but because it's a MMO it's easier to accept that the game is keeping track of what i'm doing and where i am.

But for someone unfamiliar with MMOs, this isn't ideal and it's why i mention it in the video title, so it could help someone. I think that the game's PlayStation Store page could have a sentence or two added to help explain how the game handles saves.

I was a little surprised by how rough the streaming experience was at times, we had the connection warning a few times. But i was even more surprised how well the game held up. Stream Tearing was somewhat frequent and obvious against the black of space. But other than that, nothing really stood out as being off due to streaming. I wonder if the game, being a MMO that is streamed, has some tech built in that helped keep image quality as high as it was.

The only issues i had with the game were the game's own faults. the two that stick out the most was the training ship that kept running away out of bounds, so that part took a long time, and having to que to enter a station. Other than that, i felt it was a decent first hour and a good tutorial that was open about not telling the player everything but there is a book that i could read to learn more. the game does kind of let us go a bit abruptly. i think i would've liked a little more hand holding for the next mission, but that'll be in part 2 when i select a mission to try.

A big positive from streaming the game was how good the motion controls where for looking around the cockpit. i felt no lag from using them. the controls in general felt responsive and suffering from no lag. they do take a bit to get used to tho, i was getting shoot and thrust mixed up a few times.

I do have a couple of concerns with Elite: Dangerous as a game that's being streamed to us. none of them were tested in this video, but there's always part 2. probably the biggest concern is how small the text is. i found it legible all throughout this video. But i worry what would happen if the resolution or bit-rate dropped. But for now, it's a good game to stream.

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

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This weekend is November's Eggstra Work Event. I mistakenly thought, especially early on into the recording, that as well as doing the event i would be able to get this months Salmon Run item but i was wrong. so that'll be another video later. as for this Eggstra work event, my goal changed from getting the Salmon Run item, to getting to 800 points, to what i ended up chasing which was trying to get 1,000 points.

But it was not easy. this might be the most difficult Eggstra Work Event i've done in Splatoon 3. My teams and I only managed to get to the final wave once out of the 15 tries, and only to the third wave i think 3 times. It was the second wave that caused the most issues as it was a glowflies challenge. The other annoying thing was that i kept being stuck with the same two weapons. it wasn't until right at the end that i got to use the other two and i enjoyed using the Splatshot the most. Facing the same challenges with the same weapons got boring quickly. especially when the difficulty from wave 1 to wave 2 was already a big leap, but it was even worse if you did good or great as wave 2 got even harder. Nintendo need to do better at balancing Eggstra Work or patch the game so it can be more dynamic with the difficulty.

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - November's Unite Weekend

Today's Online Saturday video is on Pokémon Unite. as this is the first full weekend of November, it's a Unite Weekend. this means i'm able to use any Pokémon 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. 

As well as the Unite Weekend, there is a Halloween event in Pokémon Unite in the Quick Matches. I tried a quick match but didn't think much of it so i won't do a video on the Halloween Event. it's simply adding Pokémon themed pumpkins around the map and turning your Pokémon into a giant round pumpkin.

As for this Pokémon Unite Weekend, i went in wanting to give Charizard a go, but other than that i didn't have a plan. i wanted to try Charizard for it's long range attacking and i felt it went really well, i had fun. After that, i tried Machamp as i enjoyed being more attacking. i'm not typically a big fan of close range melee, but i actually enjoyed using Machamp. both Charizard and Machamp were so much fun that they could be the next Pokémon i get a license for. As for the other Pokemon, i didn't have much fun with Wigglytuff, Goodra was OK but perhaps i should've tried different moves. Glaceon was fun, but like Goodra i think i didn't pick the best moves for how i play. And i don't think i quite grasped how to use Aegislash. 

Mobile Friday - Mortal Kombat: Onslaught - An Accessible Strategy RPG That’s Good But Has Some Bugs

For Mobile Friday this week i tried out Mortal Kombat: Onslaught on iPhone 14 Pro. this game is from NetherRealm Studios and is out on Android, too.

With the focus being on the recent Mortal Kombat 1 release, I hadn't heard of this game until i found it on the app store. I was curious about so many different aspects of this game that it had to be the next game i played. I could see from the game's app store page that it wasn't a 1 vs. 1 fighting game and that it's star rating wasn't too high.

starting the game we're greeted by the game telling us to download a further 1.745GB of data. Because of this, do not play this game for the first time on your mobile network. that's far too much data to download and will eat into your quota. the first time you play this game should be with Wi-fi. but even then, it took about 11 minutes to download and then install that data, enough time that i had to watch the same video loop 9 times during the intro. during the video i said that that time and video could be better served as a tutorial, but seeing as the game does a great job of that already i'd actually suggest the game use that time and video to tell the story of the characters throughout the series, or what had happened up to the beginning of the recently released fighting game. I've not played Mortal Kombat seriously since the Mega Drive, and whilst i am curious about the new game, i have no idea who most the characters are and what the story is.

With our first interactions with the game being that rough, i wasn't too optimistic about the rest of the game. But i'm glad to say i was wrong. from this point on, the game does soo much right. we get a lengthy opening cinematic that tells some of the back story and setting the scene for this game. we're set on our journey with a mix of writing and in-game cinematics. and then the game uses the first chapter of the story to teach us many aspects of the game via a well thought out tutorial. as i only played the first hour, it's difficult to know if the tutorial continues to be great as you level up and unlock more. i will say that the one thing it missed was the character types. the tutorial does a great job taking us through different aspects of the character but fails to bring up their type, for example if they're support, and how best each type could be used in battle.

the fights in Mortal Kombat: Onslaught are also quite accessible. the characters will do basic attacks automatically and when it comes to their special attacks, we're given the choice to simply press their icon to activate and let the computer use it or we can take control and be, maybe, more precise with it. the difficult of the battles was very appropriate in the first chapter and in the second it said we should start levelling up our characters. i didn't for the first battle and found it more difficult. so i took the game's advice, leveled up the characters, and things went much smoother.

One of the bigger criticisms i have with mobile games is how they push the store onto players. thankfully, Mortal Kombat Onslaught doesn't do this. what's even better is that you can press on any item in the game and it tells you what it is, what it does, and when to use it. the game does have a store and now we can use it with better knowledge of what's on sale and it's value.

Whilst there is a lot of good things to say about this game, the bugs can't be ignored. I don't know if there is meant to be voice acting in this game. i only got it in the second chapter. it could be that it's a bug. but in the opening cinematic to the second chapter there was a bug where the video froze and the audio continued. When i was downloading the game, i noticed on more than one occasion that the download seem to pause before continuing. i wasn't sure if the audio was correct, sometimes i felt like in fights that the audio was lagging behind the action on screen so punches looked like they hit and then i head it, if i heard it all as sometimes no sound seemed to come from punches.

Other than the big download when you start the game, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is a good RPG. i've called it a Strategy RPG, it could also be called a Tactical RPG, and NetherRealm Studios call it a Collection RPG. What ever you call it, the core gameplay and the accessibility is good enough that it doesn't need Mortal Kombat. without the characters and such, it would still be a good mobile game. But with it, i do feel like it's enhanced the core and made it into something better. As a mobile game, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is well worth playing and one that i won't be deleting anytime soon.

(Version 1.0.1 Played)

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