Puppeteer On PS3 - From Start to Finish - Backlog Conquering

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.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 game Puppeteer. this game came out in 2013 and was developed internally by Studio Japan. this game can be played in 3D and with PlayStation Move controllers, but for this series i'm playing with the DualShock 3.

I really enjoyed playing Puppeteer. the way it told it's story kept me very interested. there were a few gameplay mechanics that could've done with better communication as to how to do them, namely the jumping over obstacles whilst scissoring, and the basic jump. But the frustration with them was fleeting and the characters were fun and charming through to the end of the game. You may want to check out just before the credits as the game does give us one final surprise. If you can't get Puppeteer, i would highly suggest trying it via PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming service or watching a video like this one as it's a game that should be celebrated and not forgotten.

For this video, i took all 8 parts i made and cut out some of the "fluff" between curtains and acts. if i died once, i kept that in, but when i died multiple times at the same spot i showed the first death and when i respawned that's the one where i succeeded. i made a mistake with the volume, forgetting to raise it up and equalize it across all parts, so it's a little quieter than i would like.

Part 1- Act 1 Curtain 1- https://youtu.be/oHrOaXSuSsY

Part 2 - Act 1 Curtains 2 and 3 - https://youtu.be/Ti2e3_u6Hxc

Part 3 - Act 2 - https://youtu.be/AyXafK0G4KQ

Part 4 - Act 3 - https://youtu.be/HFUUYC04mV0

Part 5 - Act 4 - https://youtu.be/0jql54duy8A

Part 6 - Act 5 - https://youtu.be/B6Gwpk6vgks

Part 7 - Act 6 - https://youtu.be/7r6ybvGyc9I

Part 8 - Act 7 - https://youtu.be/9v_nL0_G3Y4

Vampire Survivors - Part 2 - Can't Recommend Streaming It From The Cloud - Cloud Monday

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Vampire Survivors via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Part 1 was the worst or one of the worst experiences i've had streaming a game from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service. thankfully, i do each game twice, on a different day and at a different time, to get a better average of the experience. Whilst i didn't get any disconnections in this part, it continued to be a struggle to play Vampire Survivors.

The biggest issue we have when we stream the game is the degradation of the visuals to the point where it affects gameplay. instead of the small characters, they become macro blocked which means they become larger squares of color. In Vampire Survivors, squeezing past the enemy is a legitimate way to survive but when macro blocking starts it's almost impossible as the narrow gaps are gone and replaced by blocks of color from enemies close to each other. 

Another negative becomes obvious as you get better at the game. to beat a level you have to survive for 30 minutes. but there appears to be no checkpointing and no way to save during a run. If the visuals get soo bad, or if the 20 second disconnection warning appears, there's nothing we can do other than to quit and hope the game saves in-time.

It's hard to think of a useful positive reason to stream this game from the cloud rather than downloading and installing it. I did download it and have played it a few times since and it's such a better experience that i can't even suggest streaming the game if you're curious. Vampire Survivors should only be played downloaded on your console. it's such a bad experience i can't help but wonder why it's on the service at all.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/eAZPIqeNMD4

Random Dice 2 - A Dice Themed Tower Defense Game With Some Interesting Ideas - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Random Dice 2, from 111%, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.

THIS GAME IS NOT OUT IN THE USA (at the time of uploading)

I quite enjoy tower defense style games. with this game having it be dice themed, i was quite interested to see how it would work. i don't think the screenshots in the app store quite got across what sort of game this would be. 

It starts with the tutorial. i thought it was very good. everything was clearly explained and we were shown the basic loop of the game right from the beginning. But the first stage i played without it had weird crystals on it and the tutorial didn't come back to explain this new game mechanic. this was true for the rest of this video. i unlocked a supporter towards the end of the video, and again the tutorial didn't start to explain this new gameplay mechanic. 

Random Dice 2 does try to be helpful and tell us what's happening when things are activated during a run, but they appear at the top of the screen soo briefly that i don't think i ever fully read any of them. the game really needs to pause when these appear so we can learn how things work. there were some modifiers activated throughout this video where i didn't fully understand how they worked.

Thankfully, the core gameplay loop in Random Dice 2 so well taught in the opening tutorial, that i was able to just keep on playing. it seems like you're not meant to win. you're meant to make progress forward, earn gold, and use it to level up so next time you can make progress. Thankfully, we're not on our own. in all modes i was joined by, what was probably, Ai team mates and, i'm fairly sure, real world team mates. This was a fun addition to the game. it's clearly shown which of the two is doing the most work. sometimes it was my team, sometimes it was the co-op partner. i don't know if there was a way to interact with them, but it was needed as our goal was the same, last as long as possible.

Random Dice 2 is a recent release but it's been supported a lot with updates. there were features of the game i wasn't able to check out in this video but it's clear from the skill tree that they are expecting players to play it for a long time. i don't recommend games for their potential, but with how the game currently is i would be happy to recommend this to gamers. i know i'm not going to delete it after playing it for this video.

Version 1.1.2 Played 

Marsupilami 2 - Salsa Palombia On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the Switch version of Marsupilami 2 - Salsa Palombia, from developer Ocellus Studio and publisher Microids.

When i was young, i watched some of the Marsupilami cartoon and enjoyed it. When i saw this game on the eShop i was reminded of the cartoon and i was curious about what sort of game this was going to be.

Thankfully, this is a decent demo. we get 3 lengthy stages to play through. each focuses on the unique abilities of 1 of the main 3 characters, though you are able to toggle between two of them during each stage. the first one is the most tutorial heavy but it's a good tutorial. it shows you what button to press and puts you in a scenario where you can use the move. having not paid attention to Marsupilami since the cartoon, i didn't quite know what moves to expect. 

Each of the 3 levels in this demo felt well designed in such a way to show off each of the characters and how switching between them opens up further platforming opportunities. each stage has a secret level to find and beat and musical notes to collect. Marsupilami 2 - Salsa Palombia, in these 3 levels, didn't come across as a hard core platformer but i'd put it up there with #Rayman in terms of level complexity and how well each level is designed. i thought each of the levels i played were fun and enjoyed them. none of them had sections where i thought the platforming was poor or unfair. 

There are difficulty options to choose from. i kept it on normal but there is easy mode which removes damage from the game and makes it a pure platformer. this would make it a nice option for kids, especially those unfamiliar with platformers or who are younger. but even to me, i can see the appeal of playing it on easy. on platforms with trophies or achievements, it would be interesting to see if difficulty plays a factor in obtaining them.

Overall, as a demo it's good. i would've like screenshots or a trailer at the end. but it does have a link to the game's eShop page. i enjoyed playing it so i went and added Marsupilami 2 - Salsa Palombia to my wishlist!

Need for Speed: Most Wanted On PS3 - Beating The Top 10 Most Wanted - Backlog Conquering

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.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. I was surprised that there were no major copyright issues with the music, except for a couple of countries. So not only enjoy the racing but also enjoy the music. You can see in the top left, when the track changes, what song is playing.

This is a compilation video showing all the races i won against the game's Top 10 Most Wanted.

Vampire Survivors - Part 1 - Simply, A Bad Time - Cloud Monday

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of Vampire Survivors via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I had previously checked out the iPhone version of Vampire Survivors, https://youtu.be/JuPywdS5N2M, and i really didn't enjoy the experience. The reason i'm back trying it on PS4 is because i wondered if it's screen filling small graphics would be too difficult for a streaming service. YouTube, and others, have trouble streaming video with lots of small details like sand or confetti and i thought Vampire Survivors could suffer with issues.

Turns out i was right to be concerned. in fact, i could say that Vampire Survivors is soo bad being streamed from the Cloud that it shouldn't be on the service. Not only did i have stream tearing, when grey would appear on screen instead of the video, there were also frequent macro blocking issues, caused by the small details i mentioned above, and the service disconnected me twice! As well as that, we had the video crash we saw back in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind - Part 1, https://youtu.be/jLALcYNyUJc, in this part.

What doesn't help things is that there is no manual save during a run. there's no checkpoint during a run either. when i got the disconnection notices, there was only one thing i could try and that was stopping the run and getting back to the main menu in time for it to autosave, or to try a manual save. the problem is, we only get a 20 second warning before being disconnected and it takes longer than that to quit to the main menu and save. so when the message comes up, that is it.

For some games i've played, a break up or decrease in visuals isn't too bad. to some degree, i'm able to carry on playing. I know that my character is in the center of the screen, but when things got bad i couldn't see the gaps between enemies. it was also tough to work out how close to me the enemies actually were. So when things got rough, i should've stopped rather than continue. 

Ascent Spire - Roguelike RPG - Great Black And White Graphics With A CYOA Story - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Ascent Spire - Roguelike RPG, from Terrier Games, on my iPhone 14 Pro. 

It was the game's App icon that initially grabbed my attention when i was browsing the store. When i checked out the game's store page i knew i wanted to try this. the art for the Spire, mixed with the game's black and white aesthetic, looked great. thankfully there was art of the gameplay too and whilst i wasn't too familiar with this style of RPG, i still wanted to check it out.

The store page also gives some nice details regarding the game's story and initially i was concerned that the game itself wouldn't be able to tell this story, that it was relying on the user to have read it's store page. thankfully the game starts with the story, going into more depth than the store page, whilst also not revealing everything.

Our character seems to be nameless with no story, but it's possible this is revealed in greater detail the further up the spire we make. there's no story as to why we're able to be reived either. but if we consider that no one seems to know anything about the spire, it's not too hard to imagine that we're coming back because it's a feature of the spire.

Each run is different. Even when the art and the scenario are exactly the same, you can pick the same outcome as before and get a different result. On one hand, this makes smart use of limited art assets but on the other it does become noticeable when we're getting the same background and text combo. It's the same with the music. it's nice, but it's very noticeable when it repeats as there's a pause. The art and music here is great, but for long play sessions, or repeated play sessions, it starts to become noticeable when it keeps repeating.

I thought Ascent Spire - Roguelike RPG was quite accessible even though it doesn't have a tutorial. all the commands needed in a moment are on screen. when you fight, the controls are on screen. instead of pressing arrows to move around, we have to read the options given to us. this is usually a single button but there are time when we're given the choice to, for example, follow or head towards something or to go in the opposite direction. the first time a QTE event happened caught me a little off guard. there wasn't too much extra time to read what my choices were before they were nearly gone. But it was fun in this game that i came across a point where the best choice to make was to not make a choice.

The Roguelike aspect of the game seems lite, and i mentioned above that the why isn't explained. with each run we get a reward and when we have enough of it we can spend it on permanent upgrades for our character. my concern is that some of these upgrades are very expensive and that it may take a long time to fully level up our character. i wonder if the game is built that this isn't needed and, whether by luck or design, we're able to beat the boss/complete the game many different ways. 

The art, music, approach to story, and simple combat make Ascent Spire - Roguelike RPG something i'd recommend to gamers of all experiences. it's something i'd recommend trying at least one because it's something i so very rarely see on the app store. 

Version 1.0.4 Played