Thursday, December 8, 2022

Pokémon Violet - The Fourteenth Part – Exploring Levincia and Defeating The Electric Gym Leader Iono

In part 13, https://youtu.be/VhVN03tH5YI, I reached the Pokémon level limit with several of my regulars and even had one over the level 34 limit that had started to ignore my commands. So the goal of this video is simple, get my fourth badge and in doing so raise the max level Pokémon would obey me. 

As usual I did some wandering outside Levincia City before heading in, or in my case swimming in! I think I explored all around the city and talked to everyone I could, just in case there was a trade to be done but I didn’t find one. But with the cities being as big as they are, it’s possible I missed a part of it. 

Battling the gym was easier than expected. Iono’s Pokémon weren’t much higher than the last gym I did. Getting the badge only raised the minimum level to 40, too!

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Pokémon Violet - The Thirteenth Part – Finally Defeating Team Star’s Mela and Wandering Around

I did it, i finally beat Mela. 

it kinda took 3 videos, the first time i realised i wasn't strong enough for the grunts, the second time i actually lost in combat, and this video where even after learning from my mistakes it was still a difficult fight. you can hear my emotions when i finally won.

It's a long video because i wandered around, levelling up, checking Tera Raid Battles, and catching new Pokémon. i ventured a bit further away than i had before and caught a handful of new Pokémon i had never seen before. i also spent a little time sorting out the moves of my Pokémon. But we saw that i had reached a level cap, i need the next badge to increase the level of Pokémon who will obey me. I had at least one battle where i used a Pokémon too high a level and they ignored me a bit.

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Amon 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 Amon Cup! (12/4 4PM - 12/11 4PM (PST)) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and my Nintendo Switch is Docked.

This might be my best week ever!
Out of the 6 games, i won the first 4 and finished with a second place. i hoped to win all 5, but the player who came into my fifth game completely blew all of us away. The rules this week were simple with an added bonus for making cross shapes. this meant it was easy and fun to try and make as many combos as possible. The power-ups mostly helped with this two with most of them changing orbs in a way that filled the playfield with many of the same colors.

Pokémon Violet - The Twelfth Part – Defeating The Water Gym and Losing to Team Star’s Mela

This twelfth part of playing through Pokémon Violet started with one simple goal, defeat Cascarrafa Gym Leader Kofu and get the Water Badge. And that was simple enough to do.

After that though i decided to head across the map to the Fire Team Star Base. i had tried to beat them once before, but the grunt outside was several levels higher than my Pokémon so i never went in a gave it a go. This time, i had stronger Pokémon and quickly dealt with the grunts inside. But i didn't manage to beat Mela. Her Torkoal bested a couple of my Pokémon and her Revavroom finished off my team.

I think i can beat her, i just need to choose a better team. i kinda forgot how these worked so only had Pokémon to deal with the grunts. i didn't have much else to deal with her two. I'm not angry or sad about it, going in with as little knowledge as possible, i knew situations like this would happen. it's not the first time i've lost all 6 Pokémon to an enemy.

Monday, December 5, 2022

Cloud Monday - Assassin’s Creed: Origins - Part 2 - A Second Hour of Streaming Issues

Cloud Monday sees a return to Assassin's Creed: Origins this week. last week's video, https://youtu.be/X5e1b-JPh70, was full of streaming issues. so i said i'd give it another go on another day and at a different time. unfortunately, things haven't improved much.

We didn't get as many "Grey Outs" this week, and in some respects i might even say it was a better streaming experience this week. But there were issues. the most common one seemed to be a drop is resolution, to the point in some places that it was difficult to read the on screen text.

So, can i recommend this game be played via PlayStation Plus Premium? No, i can't. it has worked as an excellent demo. but other than that, the experience of playing the game was marred by the streaming issues.


Sunday, December 4, 2022

Switch Funday: Pokémon Violet - 20 Online Random Tera Raid Battles!

I did it again!
i enjoyed doing random online Tera Raid Battles last time, you can watch that video here https://youtu.be/8awMWkwVu7I, so i did it again. i don't know if this'll be a weekly thing or if it'll take the play of a Game Play video, but for now here's a second video.

This is also my first video with the most recent patch, 1.1, and maybe it helped improve online stability. what happened in the first video, but was edited out, was that there were 4 or 5 times where the game said there were no random online Tera Raid Battles. and that could be true, maybe there weren't enough players online when i was. But there were also disconnection issues. whether that was me being unable to join a game it found or all four of us in a group unable to go to a Raid Battle. In This video you won't see it, but there was just 1 disconnection and no issues finding a game.

As for what i caught, well you'll have to watch the video and find out!

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - Trying Out Patch 2.0.0 - Improved Online Stability?

Welcome to Online Saturday!

Patch 2.0.0 was released a day or twp ago for Splatoon 3 on Switch. This patch introduced the new Chill Season. Some of the headline additions to the game were a new game mode for high level players, X Battles, a twist on Salmon Run, Big Run, some new weapons, and the return of the Brinewater Springs and Flounder Heights stages.

Big Run hasn't started yet and X Battles is something i can't join because my level is too low. i was also aware of some bugs that this patch had introduced, specifically for the paint brush and roller weapons. So, going into this my goal was simple, can i notice any changes for me. and Yeah, i think i could.

In the hour or so of playing, one thing really stood out to me, and i'm sure i mentioned it a few times during the video too. the waiting times for online Turf War games were much shorter. typically, they were around 30 seconds to a minute. but, after this patch i felt that the waiting times were 10 seconds to maybe 40 seconds. i also noticed that i had no connection issues during the hour. again, typically, i've found that there's at least 1 connection issue during an hour's play time. sometimes more in a Splatfest. but here, i found it to be rock solid. i also noticed that the players i was playing with also managed to stay together longer than normal.

Of course, this could be for a number of reasons like my internet or a general increase of players playing the game here in my region. but there's always been a lot, so more could actually be bad. that's why i'm strongly suggesting that i think online connectivity has been improved in this patch. But feel free to talk in the comments about your own experiences of this patch.

I'm hoping to try out Big Run when it starts later this month, as well as getting this month's Salmon Run item. so that'll be another video.