Mobile Friday - The New Denpa Men - An Underwhelming Switch Port

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried The New Denpa Men on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I've tried the Switch version of The New Denpa Men and over two videos i found the experience to be somewhat old fashioned and slow but nothing great nor bad about it. It was a port from the 3DS, so this iOS version is a port of a port.

Unfortunately, it sticks far too close to the Nintendo Switch version. the biggest issue how often the screen resolution changes. sometimes it uses the full iPhone screen. other times, there are black bars at the sides making it closer to a Widescreen TV aspect ratio. Another noticeable issue, well maybe not an issue but something that sticks out, is how some of the graphics look really good and maybe even clearer than the Switch version and others looks straight from the 3DS version of the game. 

The one big change from the Switch version to this version is how you get Denpa Men. on phones, you'll scan QR Codes and then collect the Denpa that appear. you can hit manner mode and that'll remove the video feed from the camera. But much like most aspects of The New Denpa Men, it's never really explained why this is needed in the first place or even what you should be looking for. i complained with the Switch version that the lack of tutorials and explanations hurt the game because i never felt like i was getting the most of what it had to offer. and again, that whole style has been ported to phones and again for me it just doesn't work. 

This port, much like the console port, feels like it's designed for fans of the series whilst offering little as an introduction for new players.

Version 4.0.0 then 4.0.20 Played.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 9 - Completing The Cavern of Ice

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 Game FAQS. 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. 

In Part 8 my party was defeated. i didn't save, i didn't bring enough items, and it caught me out. so for this part, i learned the lessons and made it through the Cavern of Ice. some things were a little different this time round as i managed to remember a couple of places in the cavern so navigating it seemed to go smoother. i also don't remember picking up the Flame Sword in Part 8 and getting it here did seem to give my team a bit of a boost.

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

Part 8 - https://youtu.be/yehXjEWljbM

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 3 - 26th and 27th 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 3.

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

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/hNdeC5zIv6E

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