This is part 1 of playing the Nintendo Switch version of Kamiko, from developers SKIPMORE, as part of Backlog Conquering.
I decided to move on from Teslagrad as i just wasn't enjoying the experience. I'm glad i did as this video on Kamiko was much more enjoyable. This is a game i've had for a long time. i remember hearing about it on a podcast where they highlighted the excellent soundtrack and that it can be beaten before the battery on the Switch dies. But since then, all i remember doing is starting the game, enjoying the soundtrack, closing the game whilst i looked for the soundtrack, and i don't think i ever came back to it.
For this series, i've started a new save file rather than use the existing one. I would've preferred a bit more of a tutorial, but as it only uses two buttons it didn't take long to work it out so it's not that bad. The only other thing i would've liked is a map, but again as the stages aren't too big it wasn't much of an issue as it didn't take long to sort myself out.
It's clear that Kamiko isn't designed to be a challenge. It may stop and make you think for a bit, but often you'll be fine. It does mean that when you do get stuck, it is a little frustrating as you feel like it should be easier than you're making it look.
The music is definitely a highlight, but i also do enjoy the art style. They're using a 8/16 bit esthetic very smartly. all the enemies are distinct, the world is clear and easy to navigate, and each of the two stages i've played so far looked different from each other and yet familiar enough to feel cohesive as a game world.
I look forward to part 2 of playing Kamiko as i had a lot of fun with Part 1.
Hello and welcome to Part 4 of the new series here on QTE Gamers!
The goal with Stories on Tuesday is to play games with a heavy focus on their story. this can be Visual Novel games, like today's game, or it can be something more episodic. For me, it's a style of game i've not really explored. i have several games across a few platforms that i haven't played but i bought them because i wanted to. So now the time has come for me to experience these sorts of games.
Our debut game is Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedalus - The Awakening of Golden Jazz. I have the game on PS4 via DISC but i'll be playing the PlayStation Plus version of the game that's been downloaded to my PlayStation 4.
In this part, i died! I'm as surprised as you are. the sequence that lead up to it was obviously quite perilous and i thought i was making some smart choices. But when my in-game character failed to do what i expected them to do, i genuinely didn't know what was the correct choice . This is probably the worst outcome of the game as it's the first time you can die and i died. But i will continue as this is just a flashback and in the game i'm still alive. But once we get back to the "real world", maybe i won't continue if i die! If that's where my story ends, then so be it.
If you're interested in watching the stories unfold without my commentary, head over to Ko-Fi. there, you can subscribe to the "Stories on Ko-Fi" which will let you watch all the stories. This tier will always be one week ahead of the free video on QTE Gamer's YouTube Channel. Or, of course, you can head to https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers and donate via PayPal.
This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.
I have this game on #PlayStationPortable but it's been a very long time since i last played it. Playing Part 1, https://youtu.be/jEs97ouESk8, felt nostalgic but it was a different experience for me as i played it on the PSP rather than on TV using the Dual Shock 3 on PSP option. The only way to make that work well was to adjust the controller speed and overall it felt more difficult and intense than you would've expected for the start of the game.
Knowing that, i did think that part 2 was easier. not just that i had adjusted the controls to make it easier to play, but also it felt like the level design got a little easier. Still, it continued to be an intense experience with game design that made me wonder if this was a PS2 game that got switched to the PS3 because of how much of a console experience it felt like not just in levels design but also with how infrequent the auto save is and how long some sequences are.
Streaming it tho continued to be a great experience. If this was just the PSP game, i wouldn't recommend it. but because it's been ported to the PS4 and got manual saves and rewinds, it's something i can recommend. in this video there was a moment where the stream quality dipped and i got the connection warning but i didn't panic as i could use the manual save and quickly did so.
So this still comes to down the game itself. like last week, streaming it from the cloud to us is great but is the game itself worth playing. across both parts there have been more technological issues with the game than streaming issues. with the controls being as bad as they are, this basic port makes a bad first impression and i wonder if they could've done more like automatically setting the control options faster. If you're a fan of Resistance, then this is the best way and easiest way to play this game. in that case it's easy to recommend. but i wouldn't recommend this game for people if this is their first Resistance game. I probably wouldn't recommend this to causal shooter fans either. But, personally, i am glad this does exist on PS4 and hope that it'll be further fixed and improved.
For today's game i wanted to try out the Game Boy Color game Mario Tennis. I've always wanted an arcadey tennis game that's more on the casual side and i initially went into this thinking it would be one of those games with popular #Mario characters, but right at the beginning i realized that Mario Tennis is not like that.
Even tho i had a Game Boy Color, i had the purple one, i never looked at the Mario sports games on them. i was more into Pokémon, racing, Loony Toons, and platformers. I knew of them, but never bothered trying them. i kept thinking i would play these sort of games on the GameCube. So i was really surprised as to what this game actually is.
And what it is is a super hard tennis game that i couldn't beat. i couldn't even beat the tutorial practice stages! I can't believe how difficult it is. it's like the "Dark Souls" of tennis games. the tutorial practice stages offer no hints how to play and when you fail it's the same canned response. playing against other players is also a very long battle against a CPU that seems to want to win even tho it's a practice game.
Mario Tennis is a Game Boy Color game and yet it feels built around a console experience. it's surprising that a handheld game would have such a long introduction and such long tennis matches without even mentioning if there are manual saves, auto saves, or even how to do it. When i found the save function under "Start" the only thing i could do was save and quit. i couldn't seem to find a save and continue function.
the two highlights for Mario Tennis are the graphics, except for the characters as there seems to be no design language as everyone looks different, and the music. Even the minigames weren't fun and that's what i ended the video with. Mario Tennis is the Dark Souls of tennis games and not one i would recommend to anyone other than people really into tennis and Dark Souls, if such a Venn Diagram exists.
I'm not feeling well today and wanted to relax with some gaming. i chose Splatoon 3 as it's a favorite of mine. There won't be any commentary, other than an intro and outro, as i wasn't feeling great and wanted to just relax. But after 15 games it was time to put it down as it started to be anything but relaxing as i was getting far too into it!
I used this time to try out 3 weapons. The Recycled Brella 24 Mk 1 came out with the 7.0.0 Patch and i was eager to try it as i like using Brella weapons. i had fun with it and will probably use it a lot going forward. i just don't like the Angle Shooter and Big Bubbler it comes with. I didn't enjoy the Foil Flingza Roller as much when attacking with it, but for inking it was very impressive and i managed to get some splats with it's Suction Bomb. The Nautilus 47 is a style of weapon i rarely use outside of #SalmonRun so i used it more out of curiosity than anything else. it did allow me to be more attacking and i got more splats with it than the other two combined. it's not bad so i may look at the other Nautilus variants to see if there's one a better fit for how i like to play.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Idle Lumbercat - Wood Games, also known as Lumbercat: Cute Idle Tycoon, from @treepllainc6467 . I Played this on my iPhone 14 Pro, but it's also out on Android.
This isn't the first game from treeplla that i've played for Mobile Friday. Last year i tried out Cat Snack Bar, https://youtu.be/hhqyaTmhXw4, but the grind in that game came fast and it started not being fun to play. i wanted to know if things had changed after a year in terms of their game design.
From the beginning, it's clear that their character design hasn't changed and i personally think that's a good thing as it helps their games stand out more against all the other idle games with animals as part of the story. I like how bold and bright the colors are in the background and how clear everything is. Whereas the cats themselves are a little more muted or pastel in color. they're also not as clear and sharp as the background but i think it works as it gives them more of a "fluffy" feel.
But by the 10 minute mark i was already feeling the grind. there is a lot of depth to this game and much more to unlock than what is shown in the video. but it's that initial pacing that they don't get right. Many idle games have the same problem, but i feel they tend to succeed in hiding the grind through things such as an expanded tutorial that helps the player not only through the first stage but also into the second stage, using the second stage for reminders.
Whilst i was making some progress, it was also starting to be clear that progress was slowing down to such an extent that it was like the game wanted me to put it down. the amount of money needed was just getting too much. But there's another element that didn't get enough of a tutorial and that's the mangers. I don't know if you can only get them via loot boxes or not. I'm not even sure how or when i can get loot boxes in game outside of the store. The store wasn't introduced and when i opened it there wasn't another tutorial detailing what each of the currencies were and what they did. These are things that could be delt with better that would also help cover the grind.
The only obtrusive advert i came across was from the game itself. i don't mind self promotion, but if that promotion has currencies and things we've yet to be introduced to then it's poorly timed. I do like that there are optional adverts and the game has some interesting benefits for the player when using them. i felt that these were rarely obnoxious and mostly clear. so some room for improvement but what they have is good.
Idle Lumbercat - Wood Games is a fine idle game. it's pacing makes it feel like it wants the player to play in short bursts and that would be good for people who are commuting. there is a lot left to unlock, i just worry that it'll take a long time and feel like it took a long time.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Unicorn Overlord, developed by Vanillaware, published by SEGA, and also released on PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series.
This seems to be one of the biggest releases of the year with the amount of buzz it's been getting. This is a genre that i've played a couple of games in, but i wouldn't say i'm great at it. So trying out the demo for Unicorn Overlord
was actually quite appealing so when it came out i quickly downloaded it and gave it a go.
The demo, and i assume the game, starts of strong with a colorful video showing locations and characters in the game and it looked like a cross between Vanillaware's Dragon Crown design and the design from Final Fantasy Tactics. so, somewhat familiar but also someone different. There's a title page and a decent options menu that details what each option does at the bottom. i only changed sound effect volume before starting the demo and watching the opening story play out.
After about 3 minutes of in-game cinematics it's our turn to take control and unfortunately the game uses on screen prompts for a tutorial but at least the music during this sequence is very epic and great to listen to. what's a little strange is how during this tutorial section it's telling us what to do but then fails to tell us to attack of how it works before our first fight. So there were a lot of unknowns going into the first and then second fight, the main being were the characters attacking automatically because it's a tutorial, because it's the demo, or because that's how it normally is.
We wouldn't find out for a while to come. so the tutorial we got wasn't really a tutorial but rather it was a set of instructions to make the story proceed. once it's over, we get more story, and then comes a time skip to the "present". We get another intro sequence before the story picks back up and we're fighting once again. This tutorial also uses information on screen and i'll be honest, i don't think i fully understood it all. it felt like there was a lot to take in and it was clear by the end of this video that there was a lot left to teach. After playing this demo i'm a little concerned with the tutorial and that this game might not be the most accessible.
But once this section is finished and we set off away from the island with a new old friend the game does give us the option how we want to play the game. do we want to play for the story, do we want to use more tactics, or do we want expert difficulty. So whilst the tutorials might be average at best, by choosing story i know that they're now not as difficult to manage so i feel more confident that i have the time and space to learn without the punishment.
I only played a little bit of this next section but it did reveal even more elements of gameplay like castle management. this demo didn't feel close to finishing, but it also never said how long it is. It was saving along the way but again, it never said if the save is carried over to the retail game. I hadn't read the PSN Store page, i saw it was out and downloaded it so i can play it. it's a shame that a game with this much attention got such an average demo.
So whilst as a demo it's fine, the experience playing the game was great. even on my base PS4 it looked stunning. there's soo much attention to detail, so much movement, and things like the backgrounds and lighting made it all look cohesive rather than great looking characters on top of a background. And the music is fantastic, just from this demo alone i know i want to get the soundtrack. the soundtrack outshone the gameplay more than once in this demo.
So whilst it's not the best demo, the game itself does enough to still shine and i would still recommend people try it out but i would also recommend people just get the game as this is something special.
Why not buy me a Vending Machine Bottle of Coffee over on https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers
