Switch Funday - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

For today's game i wanted to try out the Game Boy Color game The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. I was always curious about games that had two versions. i played a lot of Pokémon Gold on Game Boy Color and would trade with others who had Silver. So i knew how two versions like that would work. But here, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is one of two The Legend of Zelda games that together tell a bigger story.

I started with The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages because, when i was young, it's the blue version and i like blue. but i do intend to try The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. Whilst this will be my first playing these two games, i did have and did play the Game Boy Color version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX.

I remember how good The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX looked back in the day, but what surprised me was how good The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages looked on my TV screen. The music was great, too. i was taken aback by how nostalgic it felt and there was a wave of awe that a game from a console i loved playing looked so great and felt so good in this modern era.

But again, the disadvantage of this system is that there are no game manuals. as a kid, i would've read the manual and learnt about the games. So it's a little embarrassing how long i thought the game was auto saving. the game does have in-game help and a tutorial of sorts, via statues, but in this period manuals were also a tutorial for the game and even offered back story. so it did feel like i was missing some of the game.

What i played was enjoyable. remember, i went in wondering how this story would be told and whether it would feel like a story or part of a story. From the first hour i spent with it, it did feel like it's own story. i saw a couple of hooks for The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, but they never felt like they were gate keeping the story.

The pacing was decent with navigating the world the only thing slowing me down. i did find a few of the character names surprisingly boring and i do wonder what ever happened to Ralph!

If you have Nintendo Switch Online, i do recommend The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. it doesn't really feel old, it looks amazing big on a TV, and the soundtrack still holds up. Plus, with the Switch version you're able to save and rewind which makes it even easier to play.

Online Saturday - Foamstars - Season 3 And Chloe Noir Gameplay

For Online Saturday i'm back with Foamstars, from Square Enix and Toylogic. Foamstars is out across PS5 and PS4. I'll be playing the PlayStation4 version of it. 

Season 3, MYSTERIOUS SWING, has just started so i went back into Foamstars to check it out. In this video i was able to try out the new character Chloe Noir, she can be bought as part of the Season Pass or can be earned in-game for free by reaching Season Pass level 31. Everyone can use her in the Extreme Party Mode and i played 4 games of 4 Vs. 4 where everyone is Chloe Noir!

Other than that, i warmed up with a couple of Smash The Star games and once again tried Rubber Duck Party in my attempts to win that mode but once more my teammates and i failed to win it. it is still the only mode i've played where i've yet to get a win.

Demo Play Thursday - The Land Beneath Us On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of The Land Beneath Us, developed by FairPlay Studios and published by Dear Villagers.

This demo is another that i chose to play because the screenshots on the #eShop page look cool. But i didn't read what the game was actually about before i played it so i was a little surprised that it was a Rouge Like. It doesn't reveal that it's a demo when you start, but it did have some cool music and story that got me hooked and wanting to play.

After an interesting introduction, we're dropped into a tutorial world that does a great job explaining what's happening and often has pictures. I feel like gifs or short videos would've been even more helpful. But after that we're dropped into the world and the difficulty is evident from the start. I feel like the tutorial does a poor job in setting what our expectation should be for the initial difficulty, but that could also be true to for the game itself as it's initial level(s) could be smaller and act as putting the tutorial into actual practice.

It's never made clear in this demo how long it actually is. I think i found out it's just the first task of completing Llosgi but i'm not sure as i think the demo broke and let me continue back to the main room without the reward i should've got. I should've been able to take that reward and upgrade my character, but when i went to do so i didn't have the item i got from beating the boss. I'm thinking i'm not supposed to see this and rather it's more that the demo broke.

To get to the boss, you have to travel to stages across the level. we have some choice by choosing a teleporter to take us from one stage to another stage. But i forgot from the tutorial and the game doesn't seem to remind us again so i had to try and learn as i went. 

This Rouge Like has a couple of mechanics in play. when you play, you're collecting gold that can be used across this run and at shops and item chests in the stages and you're collecting souls that are kept when you die and that can be used to upgrade your soul tech. But upgrading via soul tech never really felt like it did much. numbers increased, but in the actual game i didn't feel a benefit from it. especially compared to the things i would loot or could buy. This made playing the game feel more random and luck based than perhaps was the intention. i mention it in the video that it wasn't satisfising to beat the boss because i felt like i did it because i got lucky in getting epic items rather than because i had been levelling up and improving. 

Unfortunately for The Land Beneath Us, this demo has made the gameplay feel luck based rather than skill based and that's something i'm not looking for in a Rouge Like. Rouge Legacy 2 is example where the things i bring back when i die are used to improve my skills and my abilities and i feel it in game. the random luck element of that game is our character's class and skills. But because of our levelling up, even these feel like they get better. But crucially, those random elements have pluses and minuses about them and they're easily understood by the player so each run may not beat the game but each run has it's own uses. But because The Land Beneath Us is soo random and luck based, a couple of the runs i had felt like a waste of time. especially when the cost of upgrades ramps up quickly and yet i don't feel any benefit from them.

The Land Beneath Us has some great graphics and music and ideas. But the gameplay doesn't quite match that level of quality. it feels like it needs rebalancing at a minimum. As the game isn't out, i would still recommend playing the demo as whilst it's not the Rouge Like i'm looking for, maybe it's one you'll enjoy as there are some great aspects of the game.

Backlog Conquering - Kamiko On Switch - From Start to Finish

This is my playthrough of the Nintendo Switch version of Kamiko from start to finish. i cutout my deaths but, due to editing difficulties, left in backtracking and mistakes. There is no commentary in this video so please enjoy the amazing soundtrack.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/4bmi0nwJzzo
Part 2: https://youtu.be/cXD9PhFPtnQ

Stories on Tuesday - Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedalus - The Awakening of Golden Jazz - Part 7

Hello and welcome to Part 7 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 PlayStation 4.

In part 6, https://youtu.be/Fo3rUd-CEoU, we learned more about our Grandfathers friends and past. one of them was suspected as being the person who killed him. during our investigations of him, he told us about a town and Daedalus. So in this part, the start of Chapter 3, we set out to this town and began our investigations. this lead us to uncovering events that happened 20 years ago and we quickly learnt that there are those in the town who want us gone.

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.

Cloud Monday - Black Knight Sword - Part 1 - It’s Not A DEMO, It’s The Full Game!

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS3 version of Black Knight Sword via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I have know Black Knight Sword was on the Cloud Streaming Service and even when it was #PSNow. But it's always been listed as a DEMO, and if this is true for you too please mention it in the comments, so i've never tried it. I didn't know anything about it either, other than that i've always liked the artwork in the icon. So this video, and part 2, is me being curious if it really is a DEMO or if it's the full game.

I can say that yes, it is the full game. in this part i earn a couple of trophies, something you can't earn in a DEMO. so the listing is wrong, out of date at best, and probably a hang over from the PS3 PS Now days.

it's hard to say what Black Knight Sword is as there's no story to guide us. it bleakly starts and hints that maybe we're dead, but doesn't answer were our suit of armor comes from nor what's happening in the world around us. It all looks good but at times i want the screen to zoon in a bit more. The screen is surrounded by theatre style curtains and the game comes across as some sort of performance. But again, there's no context for any of it, the game just wants us to play.

Black Knight Sword is quite fun to play. i started on normal but i think i would change that to Easy and would recommend people to start there. on normal, whilst the combat is fun and easy, the enemies do seem to be sponges and seem to take more hits than you would think to be defeated. A nice aspect of the game is how wide the levels are. it feels like there is often more than one way to get across a level, and with collectables to find it does feel like it's designed to be played through a couple of times.

As a game being streamed to me, i had no issues with the controls. i felt no lag and they felt very responsive. there were no graphical issues either. like many PS3 games, streaming Black Knight Sword was a pleasant experience. But, and it's a big asterisk, there are no manual saves nor are there specific save points. It's all tied into the games checkpoint system and there doesn't seem to be any visual cues as to where or when it happens. So in the event of the service giving us a 20 second warning before disconnection, there's nothing we can do but hope that the last save wasn't too far from where we currently were.

Switch Funday - R.C. Pro-Am - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

For today's game i wanted to try out the NES game R.C. Pro-Am from Rare. This was a recent addition to the service and a game i've heard many people talk about for a long time now. I was quite eager to give it a go, but i didn't really know how it will play. I've got experience playing top down racers like Micro Machines and behind the car racers like Moncao GP, both games on the SEGA Mega Drive. But this was a side on isometric game with graphics that surprised me.

R.C. Pro-Am is a fairly early NES game so i was surprised by how good it looked. sure, there are few cars on track and not all the screen is used, but what is on screen is very clear. The only issue i had was that i felt like the controls weren't as tight enough for how narrow the tracks were.

On real highlight was the soundtrack to the game, all the music i heard was fantastic and i really enjoyed listening to it. I was caught of guard by the game going straight into racing. i imagine the game's manual would've explained things a bit more as i had to learn whilst playing. Early on, i didn't know that i had weapons, but once i learned there are weapons i fully enjoyed using the rockets.

I hope the sequel, R.C. Pro-Am II, comes to the service as i imagine it's a more refined and impressive game than this was. But R.C. Pro-Am is well worth trying, there are a lot of positives and using the #Switch save state feature means you don't have to worry about starting from the beginning. Tho i kept doing that as i felt like i was learning each time i tried again.