Cloud Monday - Two Point Campus - A Fun Game That's Well Designed To Be Streamed From The Cloud

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Two Point Campus on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

We found out in Part 1 that the game has a great auto save, and two manual save options. this is great for any game that's being played from the Cloud as currently Sony only gives a 20 second warning before disconnection. this means, should we get this countdown, we should be able to safely save if and when it's needed. this makes playing the game a much more relaxing time as we're very much in control.

But that's not to say the experience across both parts has been perfect.  in both videos there have been mostly minor issues. what we're playing is a video stream and at times the video has had issues like macro blocking, where instead of fine details there are larger squares of colors, and some stream tears, where there are streaks of grey across the screen for less than a second. Whilst they have been noticeable, they haven't got in the way of the gameplay experience. this is mostly due to the games design as well, the ability to zoom in or swing the camera around helps remove and issues with the video and when there are issues it's still mostly clear what everything is due to the simple art styles.

the bigger question is if Two Point Campus is worth playing. I think it is, but it's not a perfect experience. the tutorial is poor and/or not very smart. in Part two, the example that frustrated me was when i needed a loan, the game's advisors told me i needed a loan, but then never told me where it is or how to get one. so i went a few months deeper into debt as i expected the game to bring it up itself seeing as it mentioned it. i also have small annoyances with placing objects, but that could be a me thing. what was a little surprising was how i took the lessons learnt from the first part, when it came to designing a school, and applied them at my second school only to find that those lessons learnt weren't really needed as a whole bunch of new stuff was needed to be done instead. i can't help but feel that the pacing there was a little off, or the advisors could've said something at the start before i spent all that money.

Demo Play Thursday - Battleminer Giants on PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Battleminer Giants from  Wobbly Tooth Games. 

I wanted to try this demo as i really liked the artwork of the solo giant enemy and the solo adventurer. a part of me hoped that this was going to be some sort of Shadow of Colossus kind of game, but the brief description on the PSN Store made it clear that it wasn't that. But i was still interested in trying it.

This is a short video because it is a short demo. there's only one thing to do, defeat the giant enemy. i failed in my first attempt, the enemy defeated me. but this broke the demo as i couldn't workout what to do when i respawned in town. i can't craft and there were no stores to purchase items at as my bow had broke. it was this point where we learned that the demo has skipped the earlier tutorials in the game and has put us at the first major activity. as i couldn't do anything, i had to quit and try again.

the second time i was much more successful, but in beating the giant enemy i triggered the demo to end. there appeared to be a save system but at no point did the demo say if saves would carry over to the final game. there were no trailers, screenshots, or artwork when we beat the demo either. i was surprised that there were no links to getting the game from the PSN either.

Even tho i like the "boxart" for this game, now i've played the demo for it i'm not interested in getting it. the defeating giant enemies part of it was nice and then taking parts from the bodies of said enemies was a fun challenge, too. I'm not big into crafting games and as this demo didn't showcase that aspect of it's gameplay i don't know how it'd work in the final game.

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