Mobile Friday - Flat Machine - Try Things Differently Each Run. I've Beaten It, But Not Finished It.

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Flat Machine, from Zxima, on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game is also out on Android.

On the Store Page, Flat Machine is described as a Gatekeeper Adventure and that got me excited. i haven't played a "Gate Keeper" style game since Papers Please on the PlayStation Vita but i do enjoy that style so i was excited to try this game. 

The biggest disappointment whilst playing the game is the tutorial, but having played and beaten the game i will accept that having such a poor tutorial could be a deliberate choice. But i found it frustrating as it took at least two deaths to learn the basics before i felt i was actually playing the game. the game could use it's world and characters to create a good tutorial.  The village chief is a character, he found us, he put us there, so it feels like not having him with us before, during, and after the first battle as a tutorial, is a wasted opportunity.

There seem to be two goals, levelling up and beating the Flat Machine. Levelling up wasn't detailed until it happened, but it did happen it seemed like doing so is one way to make beating the Flat Machine easier. In this video, i beat the Flat Machine and it turns out it was 1 of 7 possible endings. what's great is that the game gave hints as how to get the other endings so there is replayability in not just levelling up but also in trying to find all the ways to beat the game. 

I would've liked a little more BGM, but the battle music and Flat Machine music was cool. i did enjoy the character art, it looked big, colorful, and detailed. but maybe a little more variety in enemies would be nice. What i did appreciate was how the game delt with in--game ads. the game made it our choice. if we wanted to, we could watch an ad and be revived. or we could watch an ad and have a bonus. it's respectful to us the player, our data plans, and gaming on mobile.

Flat Machine may not be the best game, but it is a satisfying one to play and one to keep on your phone as it's getting updates. so i do recommend Flat Machine, but the beginning is a little rough with it's poor tutorial.

(Version 1.07 Played)

Demo Play Thursday - Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the #PlayStation4 Demo of Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2. This game, from developers CyberConnect2, is already out across all platforms but this demo came out this week on the PSN Store.

The icon for this game is striking and really grabbed my attention. for the most part, this style continues into the game. The main screen was nearly perfect. it said this was a DEMO, it gave us links to buy the game, but it never mentioned how long the demo would be or whether our saves would be carried over into the final game. Thankfully, the PSN store page does have this information. in this video i did the first chapter and this demo has 2 more. so, in all, the first 3 chapters of the game are included in this demo and my save would be carried over to the final game if i were to play it. One further good point about the main page is the option to watch what happened in the first game. unfortunately, there's no speaking, no subtitles, so it is left to our imagination as to what happened. But at the very least i do appreciate the effort put in to including such a recap.

For the most part, i had a good time playing the game. Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 doesn't have the best tutorial as some parts are taught a little out of sequence or don't quite carry you through all of it, but it is good enough that i didn't feel overwhelmed by what was happening. What i found distracting from the experience was how the story was told. it felt like the story was jumping around time for no particular reason. it detracted from the story telling and was never really explained why it was done this way. If anything, it detracted from an actual time based mechanic introduced later in the demo.

Graphically, it only looked like the PS4 would loose out to the PS5 when it came to the 3D art used with the characters in-game. all the other art, backgrounds, 2D characters, and such, looked crisped and detailed. but in the 3D sections things looked a little soft. it was still clear who everyone was, but it was only distracting because of how much crisper and detailed the rest of the art had been up to that point.

I do think this demo has some bugs. at 3 points in the demo, it freezes on me for tens of seconds up to over a minute. i do have an old PS4 so that could be part of the issue, but when you take into account all the tiny second or less pauses that occur in this demo i can't help but think it's buggy. another possible bug is the lack of Japanese voices even tho i had toggled that option on in the options. it could be it's a style choice and the Japanese voices are only used for battle sounds, but that in itself is weird because in those moments there were no subtitles.

So, with weird story telling and bugs, this demo gives us a mixed view of Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 as there is a lot to like but clearly there are things to be concerned with.

Backlog Conquering - #CounterSpy On #PS3 - From Start to Finish

This is a run, from start to finish, of my second attempt to finish CounterSpy. A couple of cuts were made to remove an extra run i did and at the end going to the credits.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeons 6-10

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video is part 2 and it shows the second set of 5 dungeons in Quest Mode. i had already finished up to the 10th dungeon, but it was nice to come back and try out some of the new teams i have unlocked since i've been playing Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition.

Come back next week for what could be the final part.

Switch Funday - Pokémon Unite - January’s Unite Weekend

Today's Switch Funday video is on Pokémon Unite. as this is the first full weekend of January, it's a Unite Weekend. this means i'm able to use any Pokémon i want in the unranked online modes. my goal with these weekends is to try out several new Pokémon i don't have and hopefully find some new favorites. 

I think i have influenza so i chose not to commentate after the intro. it also meant i wasn't playing my best and with some Pokémon i wasn't have a great time. The Pokémon i enjoyed the most using was Tyranitar. it's not a Pokémon i see often being used and i don't know why as it is strong and i thought it delt a lot of damage. I didn't find the new Meowscarada fun to use, i felt the same with the recently released Mimikyu. Lapras was far to slow and didn't seem to have enough bulk or deal enough damage. Espeon and Dragapult were fine. i did enjoy Dragapult's Unite Move, but i don't think i enjoyed either enough to buy them.

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - Another 7 Panic Parade Matches, But No Win

Today's Online Saturday video is on Pokémon Unite. My goal in Panic Parade is to beat consistently. So far, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once and unfortunately that continues today. even with the better stats my Pokémon had, in these 7 matches we didn't really come close to beating Panic Parade.

I discover a great set for Venusaur that worked well and that i enjoyed using. so try out Sludge Bomb and Petal Dance!

Demo Play Thursday - Gates of The Mind On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Gates of The Mind. This game, from developers Gaga Game studio is set to come out later this week.

On the eShop page the game describes itself as a "...2D Hardcore Platformer" so i was curious to try it out to see what the level of difficulty actually is. Unfortunately, i don't think calling it difficult is the right word. i think unfair is more accurate. this is a short demo that i assume is from the start of the game, and whilst there is an attempt at a basic tutorial of how the controls work, the game fails at tutorialising how the game works. only through trial and error can that be solved.

One issue with this is that i broke the demo and had to die at one point. there was another where a dangerous enemy was able to damage me whilst i was in the air, even tho their attack hit the ground, and once it hit me even tho it was off screen! if this is the start of the game, it's going to throw a lot at the player and most of it will be unfair and in a way specifically to damage the player.

the music and sounds in the demo are also suspect. the sounds especially seem to be mistimed for the most part. ultimately, even tho this a really short demo, it was enough for me to learn that i don't want to play it. even if they're able to patch the bad English, tutorials, and level design, it won't fix the basic issue of the games design. i can't recommend Gates of The Mind.