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.
we're six videos in and i'm starting to predict when things are going to happen, like i knew there would be a story update in this video and it was a very interesting update. But it's not been an issue as Poison Control has, so far, been able to break the monotony by changing things slightly or by revealing more of the story. one gameplay change came in the 10th Belle's Hell where not only did we have the regular enemies wearing a costume, there were other cardboard cut out enemies to deal with. in the previous video there was another change where money was the goal. Poison Control has done great in changing things up slightly to feel fresh and exciting whilst also dishing out at the right times updates to it's story.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Pokémon TCG Pocket from The Pokemon Company on my iPhone 14 Pro.
I've always been a bit of an admirer of Pokémon TCG, not so much because of the game but because of the artwork. i have never collected Pokémon cards before so i was looking forward to trying this out.
But Pokémon TCG never really matched my enthusiasm. it's a somewhat sterile experience. the excitement i felt of getting a cool looking card was never matched by the experience of getting it in the game. By having little to no fanfare, it comes across as a generic app even tho the experience of collecting is quite personal.
Thankfully, getting the cards is mostly straightforward with a decent enough tutorial on how things work. But there are Ui aspects that give the impression that not everyone was communicating with each other. the home screen has buttons on the top left that look like we can do something, but when you click on them it opens up and we can't. i don't understand why it looks like it's something we can use when we actually can't. it should be greyed out on the home screen or not there at all.
This lack of unity appears when battles are unlocked. i don't understand why some parts of the battle mechanics require us to touch a card, when others require a hold and press motion. there are times when you have to go from one style to another. so when the battle section starts, you'll see i get more frustrated with the overly complicated controls.
But to get to this part of the "game" you have to get to Level 3, something that can easily take 2 days due to the pack cool down timers, which are 12 hours. This feature is locked on the home screen, whereas the example i mentioned above isn't as clearly locked. i don't understand why such a big aspect of the game is locked behind player level, when it doesn't matter.
When you start the battle mode, you don't use the cards you've unlocked. you have to do the tutorial first and for this you're given cards. when you complete it you're given a deck of 20 cards, tho for some crazy reason i wouldn't be able to check out this deck for a while to come. when i stumbled upon the deck menu, i was given the opportunity to create my own deck with my own cards. This is what should've been put behind player level, not the whole game mode but this aspect.
Pokémon TCG Pocket isn't a great user experience. it doesn't feel cohesive, it doesn't match the emotion we the player feel, and it kinda feels a little old. If you want to collect packs, then it's fine. if you want to battle, it's fine. unfortunately, in it's current state Pokémon TCG Pocket is nothing more than fine.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Botworld Odyssey, from the developers Featherweight Games.
I didn't read too much about this game on the eShop before downloading the demo, it was the screenshots that drew me in. the game looks colorful with a wide range of localities. the fighting looked exciting and the robot aspect interested me as i wondered how close to a "Pokémon" style game would they go or would it be more of a "Metabots" game.
the first screen we're greeted with not only makes it clear that we're playing a demo but also provides a way to pre-order/but the game from the Switch eShop. it's always surprising when a game doesn't have a way to pre-order it or buy it from a store. there could've been a message saying this is a short demo, maybe saying outright or giving a hint as to what we can do, either on the first screen or before the next Character Creation screen. very few games do something like this but here it might've helped as i was surprised when the demo finished as abruptly as it did.
the character creation is limited but what we can make looks like it's part of the world. Out of the Buffalo, Rat, Cat, Dog, and Lizard options, i chose to create a cat character and i was satisfied with what was made. then we're thrown straight into the game and the beginning tutorial section. for the most part i found the tutorial section to be good. but it did feel like they were missing out on incorporating the family more into it. and then the tutorial seems to suddenly end right when new things are opening up. the big example in this video is how the game works with 4 robots. i didn't realize that only 3 can be on the field at a time, so it was confusing why we now had a fourth that did nothing.
The fighting aspect of the game is a real highlight. it's simple enough that the games tutorial covered it well enough that i knew what to do, but there's also depth in what we can do. by the end of the demo i was already thinking about how to strategically place my robots to work around the enemy robots. it's too early to tell how this part of the game will grow and change, for example it would've been nice to see how we could swap out a robot for another one in a way to change our strategy. a nice touch was how we, the player character, to interact with the fights and attack.
But i don't think i ever understood how to change my own loadout. i either missed it in the tutorial or there wasn't one for it. the game also failed to have a tutorial for upgrading our robots. it did introduce upgrading them with material we found. but i don't remember it ever telling us to upgrade their Ai or how that system worked.
The demo for Botworld Odyssey is good and after playing it i would be happy to continue playing the game. i just feel that it's disappointing that the tutorial works so well until it doesn't. it's very noticeable when something new happens in the early tutorial part of the game, but there's no tutorial for it. But it's not a big complaint when compared to how good the rest of my experience with the demo was. i'd recommend people check out the demo for sure.
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.
Now the story is continuing, after being stuck in Part 3 and getting unstuck in Part 4, i managed to do 2 Belle's Hells. the first one was simple and similar to other one's i've done. but the second one had a bit more of an interesting design and requirement to finish so it was a pleasant surprise.
Today's video ends at the shop and a discussion had there gave my character some answers but left more for my companion. the way the story is being teased out at a decent pace is really keeping me engaged with it so i look forward to the next video.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tiny Cafe from Nanali Studios on my iPhone 14 Pro.
I have played a few of these animal themed restaurant simulators for Mobile Friday. Campfire Cat Cafe, https://youtu.be/Zhz5-EKj2NM, has been one of the ones i would recommend but i can now add Tiny Cafe to that list, too. These games all tend to have great art style, but then suffer with issues like they're too grindy, Cat Snack Bar, https://youtu.be/hhqyaTmhXw4 and Cats & Soup, https://youtu.be/B5_zo0ov4IM and https://youtu.be/hCvATMGu-9g, being too big examples of this. or if they try to have a story it feels like a side thought and isn't too in-depth, Animal Restaurant https://youtu.be/DZhTicMX4Bo is an example of this.
In the hour i played with Tiny Cafe, i do think i was at the beginning of the grind in terms of the basic gameplay but the story aspect of the game was just getting started and i was interested in where it would go. we not only have the story of our main character, but there's the story of his friend, and the stories of those who visit our shop. these stories are an effective way to get us to come back to play the game.
The start of the game does well to incorporate the games story into the tutorial and it takes us through basic gameplay in a way that's a little handholdy but not in a patronising way. the tutorial was soo good that i was surprised when it failed to do some basic things. there are icons on the screen that the game doesn't tell us about but there was also a way to take a screenshot of your cafe and the game hadn't told us about it.
the characters and their animations are great. For the most part, i enjoyed the art style of the characters and the cooking equipment. but the background details seemed a bit too flat, basic, and not quite in the same style as other stuff. it's noticeable but not distracting. the game does something a little unique where you can not only zoom into a specific piece of equipment but you can also rotate around it a little. Tiny Cafe doesn't just have traditional cooking and cafe stuff, there are some fun things as well like a bath.
I would recommend Tiny Cafe. it's one of the better restaurant simulation games i've played but also one of the better ones with a story as well so i'm interested in returning to see what happens next.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Ys X: Nordics Demo from Nihon Falcom.
Ys is a series that i've heard about but not one i've ever played before. so trying out this demo wasn't just for the site, it was for me too. i was curious about soo many aspects and hoped that the demo would let me know if i want to get the game or not.
Unfortunately, my time with the demo got every increasingly frustrating and i didn't enjoy my time with it. nearly every aspect of the game felt outdated or that it was built for a different console, whether that's the #Switch or maybe if the initially started planning this on Vita. graphically, the PS4 version feels like a downgrade. the lack of shadows make certain items in the game look like stickers, but there's the opposite problem where there are shadows that make characters look like they have scars.
The artwork for buildings looks so bland, and the draw distance is so close to the camera that later on islands in the background started to blend in with the sea so it looked like a wall of a single color. the characters were the best looking thing in the game, but don't look to closely as their mouths don't sync up with their speeches.
I also found the game's story wasn't syncing up with what i was doing and that was probably the most frustrating thing as it meant i was having to pick what to say from a choice of something that makes no sense or something that makes only a little sense. very rarely did the game offer me something to say that i, the player, wanted to say.
The demo also hit a technical issue where i had single digits of frames. this started with the dual battle with the "Princess" and maybe a combination of luck and low difficulty setting meant we could defeat the wolves even if nothing was moving on screen.
Unfortunately, i can't recommend the PS4 version of the Ys X: Nordics Demo, and as my experience with the game was so negative i can't really recommend people getting the game. it felt like it's only for the hardcore fans who are maybe used to the outdated designs and complaints i had through most of this video.
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.
In Part 3, i got stuck in the first major "Dungeon" of the Second Circle of Hell. i tried twice and was defeated twice, right at the end of the Dungeon. so going into this part i thought that would be my first goal. Unfortunately, i seemed to have forgotten to manually save after recording Part 3 so when i started the game for this recording, i realized that i had to basically re-do Part 3 all over again.
Thankfully i was able to defeat the dungeon, which had previously bested me, on my first attempt. This lead the the story twist that i didn't see coming. previously, our goal had been to collect stickers. we get stickers by solving personal hells. with 5 of them, we're able to get to heaven. well, by finishing the dungeon today i got all 5 and headed off to the shop to redeem them. that's when it's revealed that 5 stickers are needed to get 1 Gold Sticker, and it's 5 Gold Stickers that are needed to get to heaven. so our goal, and the amount of videos in this series for this game, as now grown.
I am still enjoying the story and the gameplay is mostly fine. the camera tends to fight me now and then and sometimes the lock-on seems to be aiming at ghosts or just off the enemy. thankfully the story is keeping me going so i am looking forward to the next couple of videos at least to see where things are headed.
