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.
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.
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.
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.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out The WereCleaner from developer Charlie Heatherly. I Played this on my iPhone 14 Pro.
The premise of this game, a cleaner who's a werewolf doing the night shift, was all i needed to give this a try. It's very new, this might be the launch week, and it's not a game i had heard about, but the screenshots on it's app store page combined with the little bits of information about the game were enough. i was very curious and just had to play it.
You start The WereCleaner during your day shift so you're human. this acts as the games story introduction but i feel it could've or should've given us the option for a tutorial. it might've been difficult, but i feel it's possible the developer could've used our interactions with Daryl as a way for our character to talk about their job, thus being the tutorial, and Daryl replying with something about keeping his current one. The game does provide text on screen between stages but i worry that this might be easily missed as this isn't something i've seen much in other games. Those text boxes are done up very nice and do provide most of the information needed, with our imagination on how we can use it filling the gaps.
As a Clean 'em up, your goal in The WereCleaner is simple, clean up all messes within the 5 minute window. the problem is that as we're a werewolf, we will kill anyone who spots us in the same location as us. killing them, and then eating them, and then cleaning up that mess uses up time which is were the stealth element of the game comes in. the other characters have a timer above their heads and when it reaches 0 they move. we need to avoid them whilst also making our way across the stage or cleaning. it's a difficult balance that i didn't quite master. i felt like this challenge was well managed at the start, but by the 6th level i was on the difficulty had spiked.
We are given tools to help us clean and the info card before the level also talks about how we can use it against the other people. but it's one thing to read it and another to do it and it's this using the tools that didn't quite work how i expected. one tool is throwing a ball of trash. the other humans will pick it up and put it in the bin, clearing a path for you. but what i didn't anticipate was them putting it in a bin near us. Another item is the Knap, a bag we can use to pick up critters or a bag we can put over the heads of humans. But nearly every time i tried to use it it failed because i would instinctively kill the person i was trying to knap.
Another example where things are a little rough is in the controls. more than once i noticed and commented on how the on screen buttons didn't match what cleaning item i was using. i had heard the game make the noise that i had changed my tool, but on screen the buttons for that tool hadn't changed. so for a while it was a little frustrating not knowing what tool was equipped. by the end of the video i was getting used to it, but it's not ideal.
So whilst The WereCleaner does have some small issues and a few bugs, the core idea and presentation is still really good. so much so that it's already in my Free to Play Mobile Game of the Year List and i'd happily recommend it to anyone looking for something interesting to play. It's a shame there aren't pocketable portables from Sony or Nintendo as this is something i would've enjoyed on those platforms. On phone it does work well, but i can't help but feel that the controls would be better with buttons than touch screen.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Korean Rail Driving Tour: LRT Uijeongbu, published by 14Dimension.
I have never played a train simulator game before and when i saw this demo come out on Switch i thought i should give it a go. starting the demo gives no hints that you're actually playing a demo. it looks and feels like the full game.
There is no tutorial either. for me it was very frustrating as not only did i not know what buttons to use, i had to use my intuition and the on screen speed prompts as to what i need to do. so needless to say i only manage to get the train from A to B three times and neither time was perfect.
And that's the end of the demo! it only allows us to play one section out of 15. i did like how it uses video from a real train doing the same route, it means i got to see somewhere new. the music was also surprisingly epic, and i left it playing at the end. but overall all, it's a poor demo that doesn't even have an option for us to purchase the game from within the demo like many do. I'm glad i tried it as i got to play a genre i've never played before, but it's a bad demo and difficult to recommend for people to try beyond curiosity like i had.
This new Backlog Conquering game is being played on PlayStation 4 but it'll cover the PlayStation Vita version as well. on PSV, the game was released as Tearaway back in 2013 and i do have that version. Like this PS4 version, i haven't finished it either so this is my chance to tackle Tearaway twice! ( i know there are differences in the controls and how you interact with the games, but you know what i mean.)
The start caught me by surprise as the game starts it's narrating before it's even revealed all the developer logos. It's a bit long, but it's uniqueness works for me and it gets to the point where the narrators interact with "you" and thus begins the events at the start of the game.
another thing the game does well is it's tutorial. it's impressive how it manages to balance telling us how to something whilst giving us the chance to use it with some imagination. One of the better features is the "Squirrel" as this guide will pop up if it thinks you're struggling to offer advice. so many games don't offer help after the tutorial and just leave it up to the player so it's nice that this game will try and help. It doesn't make Tearaway: Unfolded feel too easy either, but it's nice to have regardless.
It takes time, when playing the game, to get used to not having a jump button. i could see places i wanted to reach and for most of this video my first reaction is to press X for jump. as i played, what i learned is that there are ways to get anywhere if you're meant to get there. this often takes shape as ramps, flowers, and spring jumps. part of the puzzle is seeing somewhere you want to go, maybe there's a collectable present you want to get, and working out how the environment is set up for you to get there.
I really enjoyed what i've played so far so i will do a few more parts at least. i'm curious if the game does anything fun when you come back to the game. i'm also wondering if there'll be any more fun interactions with the controller. i know that we're able to backtrack with our current abilities so i may give that a try in part 2 as in this part i already found a white mystery and later in this part i was given a tool to deal with it.
