Mobile Friday - Solo Leveling:Arise - One Of The Best Action RPG's Of 2024

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Solo Leveling:Arise, from developer Netmarble. I Played this on my iPhone 14 Pro.

This game is based on the South Korean Web novel 나 혼자만 레벨업, Solo Leveling in English. unfortunately, i've not read this web novel nor have i seen any of the anime episodes. so i can't say how closely this sticks to the story or how much of the story is being told. But this does mean i'm relying on the game to tell it's story and it does a fantastic job of introducing us to the world.

the first 50 or so minutes of this game is the tutorial. it may sound like a long time but i was grateful for it. i felt well prepared for the different gameplay styles. it's not just us playing as the main character of the game. there's a gameplay mode where we play as the support characters. this plays differently as we can switch between them and combo attacks together during the switch. there's a gate mode that's separate from the story where we're clearing out specific areas of monsters. then we can send people to farm those cleared out areas for resources. and that's just what i got to experience as there are more things to unlock as we level up.

The story is told in a couple of different ways. there's animation, that i don't think is from the anime, but it suffers from compression and whilst it's effective it's not that impressive. there's a comic book panel style and there's also a version of that that has moving pictures. and then there's the traditional character models talking on screen. 

But for me one of the highlights has to be the soundtrack to the game. i thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that it's more rock style worked well with the story and gameplay.

The biggest downside to Solo Leveling:Arise is that it's another mobile game that requires an additional download before you can play. this time it's 1.6GB, so it's not the biggest. but it's still too large to download via a mobile network so you must start the game on wifi. It's possible it could stop Solo Leveling:Arise reaching the number 1 game of 2024, but it doesn't stop me recommending the game. i had a lot of fun playing it and it's well worth checking out.

Version 1.1.1 Played.

Backlog Conquering - Tearaway: Unfolded On PS4 - Part 2 - Learning To Jump

Right from clicking the game icon on my PlayStation4, Tearaway continued to impress me by putting me at the last checkpoint from Part 1, https://youtu.be/E3WqJ6MF2Rg. This was impressive because the game didn't ask to continue, there was no menu, all there was after clicking the game's icon was a loading screen and there i was in game. i included the end of that load,  as this is a PS4 so the loading took around 45 seconds.

In part 1, we never used jump because it didn't exist. the X button did nothing but raise a question mark above our heads. instead, the game was mostly designed around us not having it. tho there did seem to be a couple of places where it looked like we'd need it if we were out exploring. Thankfully we got it back and the game feels much better and less limited now. 

Jumping wasn't the only new thing we got access to. after creating clouds, we now are able to generate a gust of wind in any direction we want. we use this in a couple of interesting ways like blowing enemies when they jump or using it to generate or manipulate platforming. near the end of this part, we got access to throwing. our character #iota was able to throw, but now they can pass an object to us and with the motion controls and touch panel we're able to throw things much stronger and much farther.

Tearaway: Unfolded continues to be a fun game to play. the story isn't anything outstanding at the moment, but it's enough to get us to places. but the platforming, light puzzling areas, and even hidden collectables make it one of the most accessible platformers i've ever played. i'm looking forward to what comes next in part 3.

Demo Play Thursday - Blade Jumper On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Blade Jumper, developed by bit paradigm and published by CFK.

The #eShop mentions that this game has one button that does the jumping and the attacking. i was very curious as to how this would work and whether or not it would make the game difficult or not. the eShop page also talks about the game's story and i wondered if it is a difficult game would they be able to tell that story. So having a demo is great for this kind of game as it could answer many questions.

It starts with a cool song that really sets the mood, we find out at the end of the video that this song doesn't loop so don't be surprised when it stops. it also mentions that this is a demo and has a link to the eShop page, something that few games actually do so it was welcome to see.

Once you start, you're immediately introduced to the story, your main character, and what you're task is. there is a tutorial and it's mostly blended into the game's introduction. but with everything using just one button it does take a bit of time to get used to. thankfully, there is graffiti across this first stage that'll help with how to line things up and what force to use.

So far so good, but it's not long after this that i personally started to have issues with the game. i don't enjoy the core gameplay mechanic, i found the jump system to be a chore and when it's coupled with respawning monsters it was frustrating. the whole experience took nearly 50 minutes to complete what turned out to be a short demo. i imagine this could easily be done in less than 30, maybe less than 20 minutes. but i found the learning curve so high and the level design unforgiving so it simply took a long frustrating time.

But i wouldn't say the whole game is frustrating. i actually found myself really interested in the story and the music. i talk about how i would like this game to have a story focused mode, instead of the game focusing on it's jumping mechanics. so the demo did it's job. i got to try out the core mechanics and i learned that it's not for me. it's not a style of game i would enjoy, and whilst i did like the story and would like to see what happens i've also learned that i don't want to experience the story how it's currently being told. i recommend people check out the demo before buying the game as it's more hardcore than it lets on to be.

Stories on Tuesday - Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedalus - The Awakening of Golden Jazz - Part 12

Hello and welcome to Part 12 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 PlayStation4.

In comparison to Part 11, https://youtu.be/653QoTugqm0, Part 12 felt a little less frantic but with an even higher body count! I was wondering if Part 12 might be the final part but it turned out not to be. things slowed down a little and a few days pass across this part. But the threat never goes away and now one of our closest friends is involved the stakes just keep getting higher.

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.

Cloud Monday - Marvel's Midnight Suns - Part 2 - Well Designed To Be Streamed From The Cloud

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Marvel's Midnight Suns via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Right from Part 1, https://youtu.be/IZ948UHlLsM, the slower turn based pace of the combat and frequent auto saves and very accessible manual saves gave me a positive first impression of Marvel's Midnight Suns. In this part that didn't change. i felt at ease playing the game as i was secure knowing that if there were issues, saving wouldn't be an issue. i was able to focus more on the game itself and the story it was trying to tell.

And that brings up a different issue. Marvel's Midnight Suns may work great as a game in the cloud, but does it work great as a game. i chose to play the game with the focus on story so that's what i was expecting. but more and more fluff was being added into the game with little to no explanation how it relates to the game. the thing that triggered me the most was i gifted access to a social network with seemingly no explanation as to how that would benefit me or the story. it was yet another system being added. 

Again, with my focus being on the story and how grim things were turning. i expected the game to have a quicker pace, to want to deal with things. and yet i didn't get that sense of urgency from any of the other characters or in the pace of the game. i don't mind that combat takes time, i feel that the game's combat and mechanics are it's strongest part and i enjoyed the strategy challenge. It's just that in a story with the fate of the world at stake, it didn't feel like the fate of the world was at stake. Like, why do i have options to customise my room, surely this will all be over in a day or two?

The graphics are kinda an example of this ambivalence. Most of the big stuff and the backgrounds look great. even up close some of the stone work looks highly textured and great. and then you get the characters. at times i wonder if they look any better than some characters on #PS3. especially the faces, it's one thing to look emotionless but it's another to also look plastic.

Personally, i feel like Marvel's Midnight Suns needs a remaster or directors cut. something that'll focus it on it's two core things, it's story and it's combat. in a way, Marvel's Midnight Suns would've been perfect on a Pocketable Portable as it's likely a lot of the fluff would've been cut. plus the auto save would've worked great on such a system. the Marvel's Midnight Suns we got is bloated and that bloat feels disconnected from what makes it good. It's possible that it isn't fluff and that it all ties together. but they failed in these 2 hours to tell me that, which in itself could be telling of other issues.

as a game played in the cloud, Marvel's Midnight Suns is a great choice. but is it a game worth playing, that's up to you. i'm not too sure, but the fact it's part of PlayStation Plus and i can stream it and not buy it does help make it more worth playing.

Switch Funday - Tetris 99 - 40th Maximus Cup - Endless Ocean Luminous

There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 40th Maximus Cup is for the Switch game Endless Ocean Luminous. By getting 100 points, you can unlock a Endless Ocean Luminous theme which includes sounds, a background, and unique looking Tetromino.

The side quest, as ever, is to try and win. unfortunately, i didn't manage to make it to the top 10 at all during this cup. I thought that it was very tough just to get into the top 50. often, it felt like i was defending more than actually trying to attack. It did feel satisfying tho so i'm not too dissatisfied with the result.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - May's Eggstra Work Event

For this week's Online Saturday video i'm back on the Switch with Splatoon 3 as it's an Eggstra Work Event on the Jammin' Salmon Junction Map.

Like my #SalmonRun videos, the goal is to get 1,000 points. but because it's an Eggstra Work Event, the main goal is to get the highest score possible within that time. So far, i don't have a great record getting a prize winning score in these events and i don't think i'll get one today. Out of the 8 matches i played, my none of the teams i worked with could beat all 5 waves. we only managed to get to the 4th wave twice. the 3rd wave was surprisingly difficult. one issue was the first couple of waves were so easy that we were doing too good. this meant the game would raise the difficulty of the next stage. so by the time we got to the third stage, the difficulty had often risen twice to more than double what it started at. 

Even tho we didn't finish, i did have a good time. this was the right balance of difficulty because we put ourselves into this position whereas it often feels tough because it's designed that way. the weapon selection was ok, but i had the same weapon for 7 of the 8 games.