Mobile Friday - Remi Zeros: Card Defense - Good Looking Wave Based Game That Gets The Basics Right

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Remi Zeros: Card Defense on my iPhone 14 Pro.

There were a few things on Remi Zeros: Card Defense's store page that caught my attention. the art style certainly stands out but the screenshots and video also seemed to show how simple the game was to play.

I wasn't expecting the story sequence at the start and because i enjoyed it i was a little disappointed that i never saw anymore story stuff during this video. it's possible that as we progress to other stages there maybe story between them, but i can't say for sure.

The graphical style extends from the story intro into the main menu and into the gameplay. i really thought it was cool how the summon sequence works, taking our character lurking in the background and brining them to the front and they themselves do the summoning. so it was a shame that by the end of the video, with my home screen filling up with icons, that the devs seemed not to be taking full advantage of the phone screen and instead clogging up the middle and detracting from what had once been a cool sequence.

Thankfully the gameplay remained solid throughout. Remi Zeros: Card Defense starts with a good tutorial that makes it clear what to do but also reveals from the start what the basic gameplay loop is. what i will say is that there were a couple of times when the tutorial was trying to be useful but was also dumb because i didn't have the materials to do what it was trying to show me or it wanted to show off a powerful attack but i had already cleared the screen of enemies.

I do have a possible concern and that's making progress in the game could take a long time. it's not clear how much content is in the game but on the home screen it only mentions two stages. i'm wondering if the slow progress is going to be because of how little content there is and that whilst the start may move at a decent pace, it'll require more and more playing to earn more and more souls to level up just once or twice. the game does offer some incentives to watch adverts to gain boosts or daily logins to get rewards, but i'm unsure if it's enough.

But for now, as the game is, i would recommend Remi Zeros: Card Defense. it's great for new players, has a bit of strategy and luck to it which means it differs run to run. everytime you play you earn something that'll help you progress and for now that progress is fine.

Version 1.3.1 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Bubble Ghost Remake On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Bubble Ghost Remake.

Whilst i have played on an Atari ST, i haven't played the original version of Bubble Ghost so i wasn't really sure how it played going in. the eShop page tells the features of the game, but i didn't read that it was about managing a bubble so i was surprised by that gameplay feature. i wasn't expecting the character to be the thing that rotates either, in my mind i was expecting something akin to LocoRoco when you rotate the stage. so the start of the game is a little rough whilst i adjust to how it plays.

Bubble Ghost Remake looks great on Switch. the character art is also great to. playing this on a TV was a great experience. even tho it looked so good, i didn't notice any slowdown either. the game also uses a mix of a comic/book style at the start to tell it's story and that looks just as good. 

But there are aspects of the demo that feel a little dated or not as modern as they could. the first one i came across was the inability to change the difficulty in a level. i can understand why part way through a level it would be difficult to do so, but they could've reloaded the stage at a different difficulty. Bubble Ghost Remake is a difficult game but it's hard to gauge how difficult it is as it's a remake of such an old game. having a demo helps and it really is something i'd recommend people try before playing it. But once you've started, if you think it's too hard your only options are to loose all progress and start over from the beginning at a different difficulty level, quit completely, or just try over and over making slow progress. The other weird thing was having the leaderboards for the speed running aspect of the game not in the speed running section of the game.

I did complete the demo and i can say that at no point does the demo say if the save data carries over into the retail version of the game. there isn't a trailer, artwork, or screenshots once you finish the demo either. but i do recommend people play the demo as there is a lot to play and it'll help you understand how difficult it is, what the gameplay style is, and just how great it looks. personally, after playing the demo i'd set it to the easiest difficulty level as for me i'm interested in seeing the art and the story rather than the gameplay mechanic. 

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 10 - Getting The Airship And Citadel Of Trials

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. 

There were to big things that happened in this part. the first was getting the Airship. whilst it looked cool on screen, i can't help but think that this scene could've had an fmv sequence. the music whilst in the airship is nice. once we had it, the guide pointed us in the direction of the Citadel of Trials. but i don't know why and i feel that it's either the guide of the game, or both, at fault for the lack of why we're going where we're going. for example, it's the game fault if there's no one telling us to go there or the games not pointing us there. it's the guide's fault if the guide is not getting us to talk to the people who would be telling us where to go. so whilst i'm following the guide, i'm not sure about the why we're going where it's telling us.

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

Part 9 - https://youtu.be/DVdc0-6uLXM

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 4 - 28th and 29th 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 4.

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

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

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/SzmUGL0HkGk

Online Saturday - Tetris 99 - 46th Maximus Cup Switch LIVE STREAM

The Quality of the Live Stream at the start is poor but it does improve by the end.

I start of trying to get the Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition theme, and once that's done my chat and i fight against each other to win. I didn't get my win against the 99, but i did get many top 30 finishes and even into the top 10!

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