DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY - Great Music And Graphics, For Fans Of The Series - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY, from Square Enix, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my laptop.

As a fan of the series, more so the PSP games than the PS4 version, i was eager to try out this mobile version. from the screenshots on the App Store page it seemed like some aspects of the gameplay had been simplified and built around mobile play. but the icons on the screen did give me some doubt about whether the mechanics were complicated.

There is a data download at the start. thankfully there's a cinematic video to watch whilst it's happening in the background. i enjoyed it but felt that it finished too soon as i wanted to see more of the fight, like with the PSP games having fighting cinematics at the start of them. the video is also too short, i had to skip over the rest of the download.

The way the game starts is a little weird. we're introduced to the story and just before it gets to the fight, it stops and the game begins it's tutorial. When that's finished, the game returns back to the story and instead of it being another video we're now in control of one of the characters. With the fight done, the game opens up and reveals it's home screen. most of the icons on the screen are detailed and when we go into them there's a decent tutorial. 

For some, i can see how this tutorial might feel lengthy and at times it repeats itself as a reminder to the player. But when it's compared to some of the other tutorials in mobile games it's up there as one of the best. it will help people adjust to this game's mechanics, which are different from those on PSP and PS4. If i were to pick a fault with the tutorial is that it doesn't offer suggestions. for people new to Final Fantasy or the Dissidia series some terms may not be familiar. When the game asks us to equip moves to our character, it will auto select the passive ones, but when it comes to the active moves it's down to us. in there's not a lot of choice but there's also no suggestion as to what's best out of what we've got. if the game isn't going to auto pick our active moves it would be nice if it could suggest some, explain why they may work, and maybe even give us a training room to test them out.

the music is a different spin from previous Dissidia games. the PSP ones were a little more heavy, leaning into the Black Mages style of music. the PS4 version felt more like remixes that kept things sounding familiar. in DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY the music feels a little "brighter" or "happier" whilst also sounding familiar enough to be recognised. i did enjoy this take on the music enough to want to get the soundtrack to the game.

The one aspect of gameplay i don't think DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY has got quite right is the camera. i fully understood how to control and do moves and such, but the one thing i had trouble with throughout this video is the camera. i wonder if gyro controls would be one way to alleviate some of my issues with it. I found the camera awkward to control and at times a little unpredictable. it's such a issue that it may be the thing that takes DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY out of Game of the Year contention. it gets soo much right and it does feel like it's been designed from the bottom up for phones. and yet it's camera feels like an issue that's not yet been solved.

There is a lot to like with DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY but at times it does feel a little too dense. there is a tutorial but because the game's mechanics are dense it too can feel dense. for those who have played previous Dissidia games, most of it makes sense and is similar to what has been before, even the bad camera as on PSP it was rough at times. so for fans, DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY is a must play. but for new comers it may take some time and effort to fully get it.

Version 1.8.1 Played 

Rhythm Roll On PS4 - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the PS4 version of Rhythm Roll, from developers Dinomore Games.

As a demo experience, Rhythm Roll isn't great. it doesn't mention that it's a demo, has only one setting, and doesn't even track progress during the demo. we do get to see a list of music in the game, but we can only play 3 of them, each having a short or long version of the song.

There is no tutorial and whilst the controls are simple it did take time to learn how to play the demo. i do think that the first music stage on offer is too hard and i found the other two much more easier and better warm ups for the first stage, which i did beat by the end of this demo.

Personally, i did like the music. i liked the aesthetic, too. i like to play music games that are quite simple. in Rhythm Roll all i need to do is get my ball over the highlighted sections as they appear. there are no power-ups or leaderboards in this demo but there are lives and it's not too hard to recharge them as you play. it was nice to listen to the music and simply move the ball. it reminds me of other rhythm games i play like Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line where it's button presses. in this and that game, the music is already playing, i just need to get to the end.

So whilst the demo experience for Rhythm Roll isn't great, i did have fun with the game. if you're not a fan of this style of music then it's not for you. i don't know if there are other styles as the demo doesn't offer any hints as to what the other tracks are like.

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 5 - 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.

I had hoped that by exiting through the door i would've left the labyrinth. i was wrong, there was still more to go. The Boss Fight with the water was tough but i never thought that it was the core. my companion seems to die during it and we act like it's nothing. i did like the side scrolling boss fight in the water, that was unexpected and not that bad. But i did get stuck at the end on what seems to be an optional boss fight against 2 dragons. let me know in the comments if it's worth beating them or if i should skip it.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/GVjowJ8wdYQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/267vgi8Bpe0

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/EfyFIPrR5ZU

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/MtNVbSdJHQo

Queen's Blade Re:Build On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the Switch version of Queen's Blade Re:Build, from developers SE Mobile & Online and Creek & River.

Queen's Blade Re:Build has some interesting ideas for a card based battler. i've played several as part of my Mobile Friday series, and a few on consoles, and there's a couple of interesting ideas here but i don't think the game has the polish it needs to successfully pull them off.

The first idea is real time card battling. so the clock is counting down so you have a set period of time to complete your turn before it's the computers turn. initially this isn't much of an issue in the demo as we only have a few cards and the computer enemy isn't too difficult. But there is a point in the demo where i turned it back to turn based battling as it was starting to get a little overwhelming and i wasn't really able to explain the moves i was making.

The other mechanic that i don't remember seeing before is that cards are not always instantly activated and used on the turn they're played. Cards that give other cards a boost will activate on the turn they're played. But cards that attack the enemy have a set amount of turns that must be played before they are activated. This adds some interesting elements to the battling, for example if the enemy places an attack card that has a higher attack than any of my card's defense i can either play the card and get a card that can buff it on the next turn or play a different card elsewhere and pull a card that is strong enough. another way this is shown in this video is that i may have a card that requires a certain amount of energy to play, more than i currently have. if none of the enemy cards are going to attack this turn, i don't have to play anything, gather more energy, and then play my card.

What i mean by this game needing more polish is that nearly all the fights in this demo felt like they were decided by luck rathe than skill. None more so than the final boss i attempted. i feel like there was nothing else i could've done in the fight, like i was destined to loose it with how my cards were delt. 

The music is nice and the art is big and clear. it runs well on Switch. But after playing the demo, i'm more concerned about the fighting and i'm no eager to give it another go. If i was playing it wrong, then maybe the tutorial needs to be re-worked. if i really never stood a chance, then how the cards are dealt needs to be re-worked. Queen's Blade Re:Build has some nice ideas but doesn't quite pull it off. i think some more hard core card battlers might be up for the challenge, but for more casual players like myself i think i'm going to pass on it. But i am glad i checked out the demo and it's take on card battling.

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 4 - 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.

I was stuck at the end of Part 3. i wasn't sure where to go. so i had a quick google and saw the clue that i needed to look for paw print blocks. i checked my video from part 3, cringing at the poor platforming, and saw that i walked past two different sections. so in this part, the first thing i did was explore those two sections, get the dogs, and continue the story. i felt like i made quite a bit of progress in this part and ended it at what i think is going to be the end of the labyrinth. i do wonder if the two characters who turned into a cloud of dust are actually gone or not.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/GVjowJ8wdYQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/267vgi8Bpe0

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/EfyFIPrR5ZU

DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow - A Simple Well Made RPG With Lot's Of Story and Online - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow, from Square Enix, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.

DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow is a game i've had on my iPhone maybe since it came out and yet i've not really heard anyone talk about it or seen much buzz for it. So i'm glad i checked it out as it could easily make the Game of the Year list for games which have an additional download.

The way DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow handles to additional data downloads is refreshingly polite after some recent rude games. there's a tiny initial download before the character creator and tutorial part of the game and then there's a much larger download before the main game. both times the game asks before downloading them and suggests using Wi-Fi. for the first one you're probably fine using mobile networks but the second download was over 1GB so use Wi-Fi for it.

From the tutorial, it's clear that the controls are very simple and more importantly they don't change when we go from the tutorial to the main game, which has happened in some games this year. there is a joystick control to move our character, there's a "super" move button, and there's the option to switch between characters. in battles the screen is uncluttered and it's clear to see enemies. What was nice was how clear it was to see when the enemies were about to attack. for simple attacks the enemies have an obvious tell and for big attacks a red line appears showing the area that will be hit from the attack.

As you defeat enemies, you get to level up your attacks where you can choose between different power ups. sometimes these grant you new powers like ice arrows and other times it grants power ups to those abilities like seeking so the ice arrows now seek out enemies.

The only thing that DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow stumbles with is the roguelike aspect to it's gameplay. it's mentioned on the game's App Store page but after nearly 2 hours of gameplay i have no idea what it means by roguelike. if i had to guess perhaps it's the choosing of different power ups. when a run fails, we don't keep any items or experience gained from that run but we don't loose stamina so maybe that's why it calls itself a roguelike.

In the near 2 hours i played of DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow, i didn't get to see it all. there is a surprisingly huge amount of story. there's story for the main quest and there's more unlockable story that i never got to see. Each stage is short and it's clear that the game is designed around mobile devices. so whilst there's a lot of content, you're able to tackle it little by little or in larger goes. I feel that DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow is great for new comers or more experienced players and is well checking out.

Version 1.6.0 Played 

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 3 - 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.

The Platforming was, again, a little tricky. once i worked out what i needed to do it didn't take too much time to get the bomb and progress the story. There was a lot of information in this part for most of the characters, including us. What caught me by surprise was when we discovered another robot. This part ends with me getting a little stuck in terms of where to go and frustrated with the platforming. i may have to look up where to go next. maybe there's some gaps in walls as i can see a dog and a teleporter but i'm not sure how to get to them.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/GVjowJ8wdYQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/267vgi8Bpe0