Cloud Monday - Dodgeball Academia - Part 1 - THE UNDERDODGES ASSEMBLE!

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing Dodgeball Academia on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming service. This is a game that came out a couple of years ago from Pocket Trap and Humble Bundle.

This is a game i didn't know about, but thankfully it's description on the PSN gave me enough to understand that it's not just a dodgeball game but there's school life and team building, too. It's a recent addition to the service and i picked it as i thought it's bright colorful graphics and artstyle would be an interesting challenge for cloud streaming as issues like Macroblocking would be very evident should it appear.

And it did appear. actually, there were a host of issues throughout playing the game. as well as the macroblocking, there were resolution drops, stream tearing, and stuttering. at times, it did feel like some blurring and blurring might've been from the game itself rather than from streaming it. however, the controls felt fine and i couldn't notice any lag from them.

Whilst these issues were rarely a problem, they were noticeable. But i did forget to do the internet speed test after i was done so i can't rule out the issue being my end this week. i don't think the issues got in the way of gameplay tho. the visuals are big and bright which meant that even when the resolution dropped, i could clearly see everything and when there was macroblocking it didn't cover up any object.

The game also has a robust autosave function as well as the ability for the player to save manually by bringing up the main menu. This means that if there ever is an issue with streaming and the cloud streaming service decides to terminate the stream, there's a higher chance that we can save before it kicks us off. so far, whilst not perfect, i do have to say that this is a good game for streaming so far. there'll be a part two where we can get a sense of how it is to stream it overall, and hopefully i'll remember to do the PS4 internet speed test.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Ice Cream Tricolor - 12 Games and 3 Wins - Many Disconnections!

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This weekend is the Ice Cream Splatfest. Yesterday, Saturday, was the first day and i got in 13 games with 7 wins https://youtu.be/flBuwuQ2ncs. Today was the Tricolor event and it didn't go as well.

Today's big highlight was the poor internet connection. i had 3 matches disconnect, several disconnections from the lobby, and longer waiting times than normal. it was probably the worst since the first month or so.

Tricolor is always harder than the normal Turfwar event. and it really showed across these 12 matches. there were some big losses both when my team was attacking and when we were defending. we got in 3 wins, but i wouldn't say either of them were as big as some of the losses we had. what was fun was that in the last match my teammate and i nearly got the best score as attackers but right at the end the other attacking team just beat us to the best score. What was a little strange is that i didn't feel as comfortable with any weapon i used unlike yesterday. this is probably due to the stage the Tricolor event was taking place on.

After playing across these two days, i feel that Vanilla will be the winning team.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - July’s Ice Cream Splatfest - 13 Games, 7 Wins!

Welcome to Online Saturday.

It's a Splatfest weekend so today's video is on the Ice Cream Splatfest in Splatoon 3.

this has to be my best, or one of my best, days of playing Splatoon 3 ever! My teams and I managed to get 7 wins out of the 13 games i played. nearly all the battles were against Vanilla and they were tough. whilst playing them, when we won it rarely felt like an overwhelming win. But the competitiveness made it really fun and enjoyable. the stages also help, most of the matches i played were in more open areas which allowed for a lot of movement and inking.

Mobile Friday - Liquid Cat Puzzle - A Cute Smart Puzzle Game That Handles Adverts Smartly

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Liquid Cat Puzzle by Hoshiyadori.

I chose this game mostly because i liked the art style and thought the cats looked cute. i was curious as to how Liquid Cats would be used in a game and how the puzzle sections would work.

First off, in this video i don't really find out an answer about the Liquid Cats. but this game does have a little story so we do know that something happened to the seas changing them from blue to rainbow and since that happened the Liquid Cats had started appearing. we also know that they drink much more water than normal cats. in what i played, Liquid Cats are more like a collectable that gives the player certain power ups and abilities. so one goal of the game is to collect them all, to level them up, and to find the best team for each scenario.

The two main modes are Puzzle Mode and Battle Mode. Puzzle Mode acts like the game's story mode. by completing all the levels in a stage, you unlock more of the story. Battle Mode is, i assume, an online mode where you face off against 3 other players to see who can get the highest score in 1 minute. i was surprised by this mode as it seemed to work really well. tho i'm not too sure how the ranking system works or how it matches players together.

As i played i unlocked two other modes, VIP Stage and Event Mode. VIP works with tickets you earn in-game and its a place where you have to beat increasingly difficult stages. but in doing so you unlock rarer Liquid Cats that are stronger than the normal ones. The Event Mode seems to be something that'll change meaning the available Liquid Cats will also change with each new Event.

One of the biggest praises i can give the game is how it manages adverts. this is a free to play game and in recent weeks i've played many which have been lazy in dealing with adverts. those games have taken up the whole screen, disrupted game play, and generally been rude with them. this game does have adverts but they only take up the middle of the screen. they're not long and this screen also comes with a useful tip. by the time you've read it and understood it you're often free to continue as the advert has finished. the game also gives warnings about them. on the home screen, a balloon flies across the screen. i went to pop it and the game warned me that it'll play an advert and i'll get a reward. this is how games should use adverts.

because of this, i can actually recommend this game for those playing outside of wi-fi. there's no additional download either. there's a lot to do in the game, so much so i won't actually be deleting it and i'll play it in my own time. if i have to pick a negative it's the soundtrack. it doesn't quite match what's happening on screen. it's a bit too chiptune whilst the graphics and clear, bold, and cute. the chiptune music felt a little bit rough and harsh. but on phones it's easy enough to play games in silence so i don't consider it an issue. so please, try Liquid Cat Puzzle!

Backlog Conquering - Foul Play - Part 6 - Finishing the Game and Breaking it!

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

This is part 6, the final part, of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.

In part 5, https://youtu.be/qRXv9-BjQzE, i had completed the fourth play leaving the fifth play. there were only 2 acts in the fifth play but as i managed to break the game, i had to do Act 2 twice. you'll see that in this video.

As i'm a big fan of the story of this game, and how it's been told, i really enjoyed that the start of this video began with a cool plot twist. more so as i didn't see it coming. what's great about it is how well it fits into the game's story and yet still be a little ambiguous. up to this point the game had been using a theatre performance to tell the story of something that had happened in the past but now the twist has happened, is this still the case? i don't want to spoil it but at the end of the video i do give my point of view.

As for how i broke the game, well it's weird because i repeated something i did earlier that worked fine but this time it didn't work and the game got stuck. it needed me to attack the boss, but i could only do so in a specific way. however, i activated my flourish (L1 Button) and i could no longer continue to attack the boss in said specific way. this meant the boss wouldn't attack me nor could i do damage to it. so to be safe i ended the act and tried again. thankfully Act 2 is just a boss battle and i did it the next time.

This has been a fun game to play. the fighting got tedious more than once, and the combo system was frustratingly unforgiving. but it oozes charm and plays into it. the artstyle, whilst somewhat simple, is bold and colorful and fully plays into the theatre gimmick of the game. it's so noticeable that i based my opinion about what happened based on it! i do recommend people try this game. i'd suggest switching the difficulty to the easiest mode so you can get to the story, the characters, and the world much quicker than i did playing it at normal.

Backlog Conquering - Foul Play - Part 5 - Finishing the Fourth Play

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

This is part 5 of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.

In this part i finished the fourth but had to stop as my recording equipment seemed to be having some issues. there's some minor breakups in the footage near the end, but it should be clear what's happening on screen. It's hot here and i think this was simply a temperature issue as that was the fourth or fifth video i had recorded.

This felt like one of the easier play sessions i've had with this game. in part 4,  https://youtu.be/-ZlAxJCLM5Q, i got my first 5 star review and that continued into this video. But it's not just the game saying that i'm doing well, it also feels like i'm doing well too. it must be a combination of practice and unlocking new moves.

The story continues to be it's own unique thing but as it's started to come to a conclusion i've got more into it. again i mention how the combat is getting in the way of a fun little story. There will be a part 6 as i have the final play left and i want to know what happens.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Pixel Sherias Cup - 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 Pixel Sherias Cup! (2023/7/10 9:00～2023/7/17 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

It had been a long time coming but for the first time in a long while i managed to beat the boss! i didn't play against many other players, but there was only one game when it was just me. i had owl and YURI for most of the games and it was really tough to beat owl, even when i beat the boss too. i don't think i fully understood the gimmick, but i understood it well enough to get some great results. this was a fun week.

This week i played against:

YURI - Rank 74

owl - Rank 68

あーし - Rank 69