Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 8 - The Party Was Defeated!

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it. The newest game in the Backlog Conquering series is the PlayStation Portable version of Final Fantasy. this is the downloaded version of the game, but it is also available on UMD. To help with this playthrough i'm proudly using a guide from GameFAQS. here's the link, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/psp/937909-final-fantasy/faqs/55625. i'm not following it exactly, but it's useful to have. 

It finally happened, in Part 8 the game managed to beat me. It started fine as i went back to town and stocked up on important goods. but it quickly turned out i didn't have enough. throughout my time in the Cavern of Ice, we were being hit hard and all characters were taking a lot of damage. for the most part we were managing ok, but then we had a fight where the enemy used ice magic repeatedly and defeated my team. in hindsight, perhaps i should've continued my assault and not worried about fleeing or my downed team mates. So i'll try again in Part 9!

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/QWXAyHh-R0s

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/95BsHWcN6K0

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/eMh6cvudEOA

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/LCrkwFxlEJs

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/6SKK1o1QGV0

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/lrgjxlOgUiI

Part 7 - https://youtu.be/0zQLSh9TjaQ

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 2 - 24th and 25th of September

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Coffee Talk from Toge Productions. I've downloaded it as part of PlayStation Plus.

This is Part 2.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/px2JkXPMgx4

Cloud Monday - Two Point Campus - Quick, Auto, And Saving On Exit Are Great For Cloud Playing

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Two Point Campus on #PS4 via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

I have Two Point Hospital on #Switch but i've never started it, so going in i wasn't too sure how it would play. thankfully the game has a fine tutorial that's helped with enough of the game's basics, but i've had to use experience and guess work for some of it.

one of the highlights about playing Two Point Campus is the save system and it's something the game should really highlight as it really helps when playing it from the cloud. with the PlayStation Cloud Streaming Service there's only a 20 second warning before you're disconnected. this makes being able to manually save or a very frequent auto save important. Two Point Campus has 3 different ways it saves, it seems to have a decent auto save that i've set to monthly, it has a Quick Save tho it never really defines what that means, and there's also save and exit which i didn't show in the video but it's something i experienced.

It wasn't the best streaming experience i've had. right at the game's title screen, we could see zebra striping artifacts on the screen. there were moments of macro blocking throughout this video, and there was even a time when nearly a third of the top half of the screen went grey. 

I switched the UI to Big, in the settings, so that helped make things more legible for those watching this video but it also meant things were still fine during the brief moments of macro blocking. the game's artstyle also helps with this, as does the game's ability to zoom it.

Overall, my time with Two Point Campus during this first part was pleasant and much less stressful as i knew i was able to save very easily. i'm looking forward to trying out part 2 because of this experience. 

Demo Play Thursday - Boxville 2 on PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Boxville 2. 

Back in September 2023, i checked out the demo for Boxville, https://youtu.be/cCxmbi3-Kio, and really enjoyed the art style. in that demo it was clear that the story was skipped so not to spoil it but we were playing from the start of the game. with this demo for Boxville 2, it just throws us into gameplay after the starting animation.

Point and click games aren't a genre i do well at, so in this demo i tried to explain my thought processes as i played so you could understand what i was doing. but by the end of this video, i don't think i had finished the section in the demo. but the game doesn't give us any information so i don't know for sure if i was finished, if i wasn't finished, or if this is how it should be played. but what was really frustrating with the demo was how it ended. most games take us back to a home screen, some games will have a trailer and/or screenshots at the end. this game was stuck with either the screen saying it's a demo or the pause menu.

This lack of information from the game wasn't good. it felt like it was designed for those who have played Boxville before and knew what type of game this was and how it plays. there's no tutorial, no introduction, no progress meter, and no hint system. for me, someone who's not familiar with the genre, it feels like a hardcore point and click game and not one that's approachable for new players.

It does look great, i really enjoy the art style and humour. and whilst it's not a great demo, i would actually recommend it. Boxville 2's hands off approach could be interesting for "souls like" fans and this a great way to try out a point and click adventure game that's just as hands off.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 7 - Mt. Gulg And The Fire Crystal

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it. The newest game in the Backlog Conquering series is the PlayStation Portable version of Final Fantasy. this is the downloaded version of the game, but it is also available on UMD. To help with this playthrough i'm proudly using a guide from GameFAQS. here's the link, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/psp/937909-final-fantasy/faqs/55625. i'm not following it exactly, but it's useful to have. 

Part 7 shows my journey into Mt. Gulg down to the Fire Crystal. there were a couple of moments early on where i was being hit hard and nearly lost Duncan again. near the end of my time in Mt. Gulg there was a dragon enemy that i encountered only once but in that encounter it nearly wiped my team in just one attack! i wasn't expecting to come across the boss fight when i did and i was expecting it to be more difficult than it was. i didn't panic and for both crystal boss fights i've had a clear idea what i'm going to do and why and it seems that is working. i ended this video having finished Mt. Gulg and in the next part i'll head to town and stock up before heading off to the next crystal.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/QWXAyHh-R0s

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/95BsHWcN6K0

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/eMh6cvudEOA

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/LCrkwFxlEJs

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/6SKK1o1QGV0

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/lrgjxlOgUiI

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 1 - 22nd and 23rd of September

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Coffee Talk from Toge Productions. I've downloaded it as part of PlayStation Plus.

Coffee Talk is one of those games i've heard people talk about, i've seen it online and in shops, but i know next to nothing about it other than there are stories being told. when i heard it on podcasts, people talked about it without getting specifics. so there are moments in this video where i'm by surprised by things. the biggest being that this isn't a game with just humans. 

I have downloaded this game from the PSN as it's part of PlayStation Plus, but i'm having some tech issues with it. it'd be interesting to know if anyone is having similar issues with the PS4 version of this game. i know it's built on Unity and there's another PS4 game i'm playing that's crashing to XMB that's also built on Unity so maybe it's a Unity issue. i haven't edited it out because the music in the game continues whilst the gameplay seems to have paused. in future parts, i'll just keep quiet so we can all enjoy the music.

An unwelcomed surprise was when i had to make Latte Art. i have no idea what i had to do, there was no tutorial or practice before the day started. so the panic is genuine and i wasn't happy with what i made. it's worse than when i played Tearaway as in that game i'm able to try and reset and try again. in Coffee Talk i don't think there's a way for me to do that, i think i can only choose to trash the drink and start again. trying to make a drink is also a little difficult. i don't know a lot of coffee drinks so most of what i'm making is just me guessing. this has resulted in my first bad drink already.

But the point of the series is to play the story that we get. so it's possible my drinks and mistakes will lead to a slightly different story. if it does, let me know in the comments how my couple of days differed to yours.

Cloud Monday - Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings - Part 2 - It Has Bugs And Issues, But I Recommend It

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Across both parts, it's become clear that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings isn't the best game ever made. I'm not sure whether this is unique to this emulated version of the game or if the original also has it's own problems. but these aren't game breaking bugs and are minor frustrations at most. but they are noticeable.

There's also no denying that the game design is well suited for playing the game from the cloud. But, as we've also seen across both parts, there are moments when it doesn't work quite as well. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings plays like a movie and there are often cinematic moments. but when there are moments of stream tearing, it does kinda take us out of these cinematic moments. it's because of this, i would also recommend downloading the game to try and preserve the cinematic mood.

personally, i'm going to continue playing Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings from the cloud. i'm satisfied with the performance of it being streamed from the cloud. i have enjoyed my time playing it and i genuinely want to see where the story goes. it's not the best but that doesn't stop my enjoyment of it.