Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing The Ascent from Neon Giant and Curve Digital Publishing. I'm playing this on a launch model Japanese PS4.
Apart from a little hiccup near the end of the video, it was a great streaming experience. if anything, it was the game itself that was causing gameplay issues than it being streamed from the PlayStation Plus Premium service.
The game looks stunning, there's soo much detail in the densely packed environments. even on a PS4.But, the in-game text is simply tiny. there was a moment i had to get out of my chair, go to the screen to try and read it. even right up close, i was guessing what it said rather than knowing. the other noticeable issues with the game were screen tearing, stuttering, and pop-in. but those are minor issues that don't really get in the way of gameplay. the small text got in the way so when i play it again for part 2, i will check to see if there's an in-game menu to make the text bigger.
Playing the game was fun. with the world being so dense, it was easy to get feel a part of it. especially with the UI off in the corners not getting in the way. it's the first game i've played where i've actually felt like i wanted a bigger TV, i currently have a 32 inch, and a PS5 because i wanted to be more immersed in a game world. this first hour was enjoyable and the game's story began to be revealed too. this makes me excited to play it for part 2, and who knows maybe i'll play it more!
For Switch Funday, i played Pokémon Unite. i've played a little bit over the last couple of years. often logging in to get some item or to check out an event. so whilst i do some complaining in this video, these aren't surprises to me as i've been complaining about them, not on video for this site but personally, since the game came out.
The second anniversary began on the 21st July and the main thing i wanted to check out was the new game mode. in this new Panic Parade! mode, your team of 5 Pokemon have to face wave after wave of "enemy" Pokémon whilst also protecting a Tinkaton. i wasn't able to beat this mode, getting stuck at Wave 10 a couple of times, as it's genuinely quite difficult. But it's also refreshing different from the game's main 5-on-5 Unite Battle Mode whilst also sticking to familiar rules.
As for my complaints with the game, i'll say that Unite and Panic Parade are fun and i don't have issues with them. i would like me favourite Pokémon, Jumpluff, in the game but i imagine many others would also like theirs. Even after 2 years, it's a little surprising and annoying that the game's main home screen is awash of buttons and icons and in my case lot's of little red dots. and these menus are often just a little slow to load to be annoying, too. i would like to load into the game and be given the choice to deal with all the red dots or just play. i wonder if i can link my Switch account with the game version on phones just so that it maybe easier to deal with all that stuff on phones.
But it was nice coming back. i didn't realise that Panic Parade is a limited time thing that ends in, at the time or writing, a day or so. but i may continue to play Pokémon Unite more than before as i had fun. and who knows, maybe i'll eventually begin to understand the whole Energy Rewards thing!
Today's Online Saturday game is from this month's PlayStation Plus selection. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War was added as a free game to download for PlayStation Plus subscribers and i was curious as to whether the online was still popular considering this is an older Call of Duty game.
The last Black Ops game i played was Call of Duty: Black Ops III but i only played the single player story mode, in the video i thought i played it on PS3 but i think i was wrong and i played it on PS4.
When i played Warzone 2.0, https://youtu.be/-F5LygJiO2U, i had such a bad experience that i actually deleted the game after making that video. So i came into this a little cautious with low expectations. The main menu has 3 options, and as i wanted multiplayer i selected that. i wasn't expecting there to be a video for it tho, i have no context for it so it came across as unnecessary fluff.
But after that, when i got to the multiplayer menu, i was pleasantly surprised how accessible it all was. each mode had an option to see what it actually was. it wasn't cluttered either, nor were there many messages. to me, it was clear what my options were. pressing L1 or R1 would change the menus and i felt that these could've done with the same treatment as i didn't really know what any of it meant. but at least it was simple enough to explore them and i was mostly able to work it out for myself.
It did take longer to find games than i expected. but, seeing as i didn't play this at launch i have no context as to how long it used to take. so if you have that information, please let me know in the comments. thankfully i was able to use the time to explore the menus more, unlike Gundam Evolution.
I'm playing this on a launch model Japanese PS4 so loading did seem to take a little while and even when it got into a game textures took extra time to load. that coupled with the waiting time did give this game a slower feel to it. But i went into it assuming that maybe the case as no game i've played as matched up to Splatoon 3.
with so much loading, i would've liked the loading screens to have provided some more information about abilities and classes. But i won't hold it against the game as it does have a bot mode where i could learn all that stuff. I also don't take multiplayer too seriously so i didn't mind learning as i played in each game. one nice thing about the maps i played was that they weren't too small. there was enough room so that i didn't die as quickly as i spawned in. there was time to explore the map, time to try out stuff, and time to beat other players. i didn't feel like i didn't have a chance, i felt like i could contribute even tho it was my first time playing it.
Overall, i found Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War a very accessible game. it may not have as many people still playing it as when it did at launch, but there's enough so that waiting isn't too long. i had fun and even tho it takes up a lot of space and i think 6 downloads, i won't be deleting it. i may not do a video on it, but i may play the single player mode as well as some more multiplayer. but probably not zombies, they're too scary for me!
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tower of God: NEW WORLD by netmarble on my iPhone Pro 14.
This game came out this week and it's not often i play a brand new game. especially one that's highly anticipated as this game is based on the Webtoon Tower of God, and it's subsequent anime. I've not seen either, tho i think i've seen a trailer or two for the anime.
on the iOS App Store, there are a couple of images, but they don't really get across what this game is, and honestly i didn't read the description. so starting the game, i didn't quite know what to expect. i liked that the game asks if i wanted to download all the voice data. so this means that the game is playable but it either downloads the voices as and when it needs them or is silent. i chose to download them all and it's a download, 2.62GB! But after playing the game, it's something i would recommend doing. i'm on Wifi so i wasn't worried about data caps, and if you're on Wifi i think you should go ahead and download it as i found the voices to be well done and in such a story heavy game i do think it adds to the experience. Plus, there's a cool video that plays whilst it downloads the data and when the video finishes there's information on a bunch of the games characters with cool art.
There is a lot of story in this game and for some, that's not what they want in a mobile game. the game is designed as a mobile game first. a great example is how battles work as i didn't control them. i have an option to use special moves or i can let the game use them automatically. meaning, as a mobile gamer we have the option to watch the action which can be useful when commuting. Another impressive way the game is designed with mobile in mind are the graphic options. i accidently started the video with low settings and around half way changed them to highest. but low the low settings actually looked quite good, plus my phone didn't heat up and it would help with battery life. once i changed to the highest settings i quickly felt my phone getting hotter and by the end of the video my battery was lower than expected, too. so if you're far from a battery pack or charger, you can set the graphics to low and still enjoy it. but if you're at home or plugged in, you can set it to the max your phone can do and enjoy the graphics.
The game has a unique graphically presentation because it isn't limited to the phones screen. the characters are big, everything is big and fills the screen. but there are often times they go beyond the screen, almost as if the game was designed for bigger screens like iPads. with everything being so big and the graphics and artstyles working so well, it's easy to get lost and be absorbed into the world. i wasn't distracted by anything, it was incredibly effective in grabbing my focus. it's kinda cinematic in that respect.
Something else that's unique about the game is what kind of game it is. it would be difficult to say it's simply an RPG. what we play as "ourself" is more RPG than what we play when we're Ban. His side of the game is more like a story based game. it's interesting that these two stories are split. "Our" story is the Adventure Mode and Ban's story is the Story Mode. it looks like both need to be played to get the full story. as i've not watched the Webtoon or Anime, i don't know how accurate either is, but if i was to guess Ban's story would be closer to the Webtoon/Anime and "Our" story is probably new. I put "our" in quotes because i don't know who i am in the game. we have a name that we create, but other than that there's not been any physical representation of us in the game. so i'm playing it, but i don't know who "i" am.
The game isn't perfect. i feel like the tutorial could be better incorporated into the story and spaced out a bit more. i feel like the shop is available too early and not explained as we have no sense of worth/value in this game and yet the game expects us to be able to make a purchase decision. And by the time the video ends, i felt like the game could've chimed in with a reminder to level up as the battles were beginning to take longer. but in the grand scheme of the game as a whole, this are minor quibbles.
Tower of God: NEW WORLD is a game that i recommend. it's one you could play straight from download, but i would download the voice pack first and then go out and play the game. i played for an hour and barely scratched the surface of this game. there were many other modes and menus locked. so for a free to play game, it offers a lot and doesn't throw endless adverts at you either.
After getting stuck at the end of the first video for RiME, https://youtu.be/dEA0laV7RbA, i had a quick look at a YouTube video for the solution and found out i was soo close to the answer. so i started this video, part 2 of playing RiME as part of my Backlog Conquering series, by solving the puzzle.
After the puzzle, i didn't know what to expect. i stopped watching the video as soon as it showed the solution, so once more i was off exploring and solving the puzzles as they came. Part 2 feels a little different to the part 1 video as i didn't find any pedestals with glyphs on them this time and the puzzles seemed to be a little more complicated, or that i didn't solve them too quickly.
The game continues to look stunning and it continues to push my PS4 so hard the fans are actually really loud, so loud i tried to edit them out of my audio. But the game's story hasn't really grabbed me. i don't know if i've missed something or i'm not quite understanding what's been shown to me, but the drive for me is exploring the world in the game. so there will be a part 3, but my enthusiasm for the game has dropped a little and getting messed about by the autosave system didn't help.
at the end of the first video, i quit after an auto save as there's no way to manually save. but when i started RiME for part 2, it was immediately clear that things weren't as i left them. it almost felt like the area i was trying to solve reset. it was frustrating having to do stuff that i had already done to get to the puzzle i was stuck at and because i was unhappy with it i didn't go back to do the side areas that i also did in part 1. i can only hope that things will go smoother at the start of part 3.
RiME is the new Backlog Conquering game. i'm playing this on my launch model Japanese PS4 and it's a PSN download, i think there was a disc version of this game in some markets.
I've had this game for a while and i don't really know why i never played it. i think that it maybe wasn't as good as people had hoped for tho i don't really remember. i do remember there being some hype around this game.
It quickly became clear that this is a game that leaves it to the player to work it out. it does offer some hints as to what you need to do. for the first part, there were pillars of light and there was fruit strategically placed next to animals. but as i moved to the second area, i felt like there were fewer hints and that did lead me to stopping the game because i had been stuck for 5 to 10 minutes.
I did have fun exploring. there was no sense of urgency nor anything that seemed out to kill me. so it was nice to do it at my own pace. But it did feel a little dated in that your character is unable to climb and seems not able to jump high at all. i can understand why this character can't jump, it's to confine you to an area. the game may look like an open world but it's actually several gated areas. i have done the first area and i'm in the second, and yet i don't really know if i've finished the first area. there are many collectibles in the game but there doesn't seem to be any record of how many you need to find in area. maybe this'll be something that'll unlock at the end of the game or maybe i'll get a in-game map later.
There will be a part 2, but getting as stuck as i did at the end of part 1 has taken the wind out of my sails, so to speak, and completely halted any momentum i had up to that point.
Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!
I play and earn all the achievements from The Ilmina Cup! (2023/7/24 9:00～2023/7/31 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.
I wasn't able to play this on Monday when the new cup started, playing on Tuesday usually means there are fewer players online. but it was still competitive and i never managed to beat any of the other human players. when it was just me versus the computer, i did manage to get a couple of wins. But ultimately, i was never able to defeat the boss even tho i got there a few times. i feel like i understood what i needed to do, but was either unlucky or not quite right. This cup was also the first time in a while where i felt held back by using a controller as everything felt slower, and less accurate, than what i wanted to do.
Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing Dodgeball Academia on my launch model Japanese PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Service. In part 1, https://youtu.be/8VHNzvngNfg, there were a few minor issues with streaming the game but nothing that got in the way of gameplay.
I'd say that today's part 2 went even better. there were a couple of noticeable things but they were slight and didn't get in the way of gameplay. because they were slight, there's a chance they were from the game itself rather than from streaming it from PlayStation Plus Premium to me.
As for playing the game, well it was a pleasant experience. both parts have been enjoyable. by the end of this part i came to the conclusion that it's a bit slow for a sports game but if you treat it like an RPG, then it becomes surprisingly approachable kinda like a Pokémon game. if you've played one of them, certain things about this game instantly became familiar, but it also has plenty of it's own unique ideas. coupled with the whole Dodgeball world, Dodgeball Academia feels familiar but also new and interesting. these two parts are still in the tutorial phase of the game, but because it's been soo well integrated into the story it doesn't stick out. it feels natural and very well crafted to ensure that you are always ready for what's next.
In part 1 i talked about how the game's generous Auto Save and ability to save quickly make it a game that's great to stream even if it wasn't designed for it. In this part, that auto save helped me out when i got stuck in a quest i couldn't finish. it didn't save after each battle, it saved before them. so thankfully all i needed to do was load that auto save and i was unstuck. the game was also helpful in saying that i had side quests unfinished and if i went to the next episode, i wouldn't be able to do them. coupled with the tutorial i mention above, it's clear that the focus for the game is letting the player play in accessible ways and it makes it a great choice for not just streaming but for playing in general.
I checked and i hadn't got this month's Salmon Run item, See-an-Enemy HUD (It looks like the scouter from DragonBall Z) so i decided to have a "relaxing" time with Salmon and get it.
It wasn't too bad, result wise, today as my teams and i managed to complete the third wave in half of the games. we faced off against the King Salmonid once, but we could only get it down to about half health. we faced it on the smallest stage, too, so it was extremely difficult.
One nice thing about this weekends Salmon Run was that i enjoyed more of the available weapons than normal, but i did seem to get the one i don't like a little too frequently. i also noticed, and complain about it in the video, that it felt like there was less communication from my teammates than normal.
Even tho this is my 6th video on Gundam Evolution, it's the first one since it was announced that the game will be closed on 29th November, https://gundamevolution.com/en/news/195.
It's sad to see it go soo quickly. it's not perfect, i'm complaining in every video. but there is something to it, there are many aspects of the game i enjoy. it feels like a good first attempt and i genuinely would be excited to play the sequel. but i doubt it'll come anytime soon, if at all. Here in Japan, there is still a good number of players on PlayStation. it doesn't take too long to get into games.
So what went wrong. well, in my opinion after spending nearly 8 hours with it, i do think the name is bad, i believe the roster of Gundams is far too small, the number of maps is too small, having 3 unbalanced economies is just frustrating as it doesn't feel like a free to play game i can complete without spending large sums of money. the loot box system is ruined by the sheer numbers of different items it can unlock meaning as players we'd need to get far too many of them, but getting the loot boxes is difficult without money.
when it comes to gameplay, a lot is done right so it's the little things. respawn times are a tad too long whilst the amount of time it takes to kill you feels too short. many of the special moves seem like a waste and many attacks don't have weight behind them even tho you're in a Gundam. like the guns are fine, but i wouldn't say they're satisfying. there's a disconnect between the movement of the Gundams on screen compared to those from anime as well as the Gundams being far too fragile in comparison.
If i could help with a sequel, i'd firstly put in many many more Gundams and leave customisations as pay things to unlock. i'd lean into it being not soo serious so we could get mechs from other games or other anime or even crazy ones, like a Hello Kitty Mech! More maps, bigger maps where you move across them going from area to area as you complete objectives similar to Star Wars Battlefront. to make a better sense of scale, battles could be similar to Warhawk, which i might've got wrong in the video, where there are those in mechs, those on the ground, those up in buildings, or it could do what Eve and Dust 514 tried of battles across space and land.
the point is, there is a lot to like about this game but it's not without it's faults. it's up against some heavy hitters, games that are sequels in a series like Splatoon 3 and Overwatch 2, and games that have been around for a while which have a made a name for themselves and are far more polished, like Apex Legends, Fornite, and many others. I will keep playing as for me it's one of the better online games i've played. but who knows, will loosing this game mean i try Fortnite?!
Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!
I play and earn all the achievements from The Roche Cup! (2023/7/17 9:00～2023/7/24 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.
It was great fun playing against so many other players. it felt like a real fight to get into the top 3, so the fact that i managed it in nearly all my games makes me feel very happy. but i don't think i ever truly mastered this event, even tho i did win a couple of times. when i got to the boss i couldn't even do half damage to it, that's why i think i didn't fully get what i had to do. if you see what i was doing wrong, please let me know in the comments.
Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing Dodgeball Academia on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming service. This is a game that came out a couple of years ago from Pocket Trap and Humble Bundle.
This is a game i didn't know about, but thankfully it's description on the PSN gave me enough to understand that it's not just a dodgeball game but there's school life and team building, too. It's a recent addition to the service and i picked it as i thought it's bright colorful graphics and artstyle would be an interesting challenge for cloud streaming as issues like Macroblocking would be very evident should it appear.
And it did appear. actually, there were a host of issues throughout playing the game. as well as the macroblocking, there were resolution drops, stream tearing, and stuttering. at times, it did feel like some blurring and blurring might've been from the game itself rather than from streaming it. however, the controls felt fine and i couldn't notice any lag from them.
Whilst these issues were rarely a problem, they were noticeable. But i did forget to do the internet speed test after i was done so i can't rule out the issue being my end this week. i don't think the issues got in the way of gameplay tho. the visuals are big and bright which meant that even when the resolution dropped, i could clearly see everything and when there was macroblocking it didn't cover up any object.
The game also has a robust autosave function as well as the ability for the player to save manually by bringing up the main menu. This means that if there ever is an issue with streaming and the cloud streaming service decides to terminate the stream, there's a higher chance that we can save before it kicks us off. so far, whilst not perfect, i do have to say that this is a good game for streaming so far. there'll be a part two where we can get a sense of how it is to stream it overall, and hopefully i'll remember to do the PS4 internet speed test.
This weekend is the Ice Cream Splatfest. Yesterday, Saturday, was the first day and i got in 13 games with 7 wins https://youtu.be/flBuwuQ2ncs. Today was the Tricolor event and it didn't go as well.
Today's big highlight was the poor internet connection. i had 3 matches disconnect, several disconnections from the lobby, and longer waiting times than normal. it was probably the worst since the first month or so.
Tricolor is always harder than the normal Turfwar event. and it really showed across these 12 matches. there were some big losses both when my team was attacking and when we were defending. we got in 3 wins, but i wouldn't say either of them were as big as some of the losses we had. what was fun was that in the last match my teammate and i nearly got the best score as attackers but right at the end the other attacking team just beat us to the best score. What was a little strange is that i didn't feel as comfortable with any weapon i used unlike yesterday. this is probably due to the stage the Tricolor event was taking place on.
After playing across these two days, i feel that Vanilla will be the winning team.
It's a Splatfest weekend so today's video is on the Ice Cream Splatfest in Splatoon 3.
this has to be my best, or one of my best, days of playing Splatoon 3 ever! My teams and I managed to get 7 wins out of the 13 games i played. nearly all the battles were against Vanilla and they were tough. whilst playing them, when we won it rarely felt like an overwhelming win. But the competitiveness made it really fun and enjoyable. the stages also help, most of the matches i played were in more open areas which allowed for a lot of movement and inking.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Liquid Cat Puzzle by Hoshiyadori.
I chose this game mostly because i liked the art style and thought the cats looked cute. i was curious as to how Liquid Cats would be used in a game and how the puzzle sections would work.
First off, in this video i don't really find out an answer about the Liquid Cats. but this game does have a little story so we do know that something happened to the seas changing them from blue to rainbow and since that happened the Liquid Cats had started appearing. we also know that they drink much more water than normal cats. in what i played, Liquid Cats are more like a collectable that gives the player certain power ups and abilities. so one goal of the game is to collect them all, to level them up, and to find the best team for each scenario.
The two main modes are Puzzle Mode and Battle Mode. Puzzle Mode acts like the game's story mode. by completing all the levels in a stage, you unlock more of the story. Battle Mode is, i assume, an online mode where you face off against 3 other players to see who can get the highest score in 1 minute. i was surprised by this mode as it seemed to work really well. tho i'm not too sure how the ranking system works or how it matches players together.
As i played i unlocked two other modes, VIP Stage and Event Mode. VIP works with tickets you earn in-game and its a place where you have to beat increasingly difficult stages. but in doing so you unlock rarer Liquid Cats that are stronger than the normal ones. The Event Mode seems to be something that'll change meaning the available Liquid Cats will also change with each new Event.
One of the biggest praises i can give the game is how it manages adverts. this is a free to play game and in recent weeks i've played many which have been lazy in dealing with adverts. those games have taken up the whole screen, disrupted game play, and generally been rude with them. this game does have adverts but they only take up the middle of the screen. they're not long and this screen also comes with a useful tip. by the time you've read it and understood it you're often free to continue as the advert has finished. the game also gives warnings about them. on the home screen, a balloon flies across the screen. i went to pop it and the game warned me that it'll play an advert and i'll get a reward. this is how games should use adverts.
because of this, i can actually recommend this game for those playing outside of wi-fi. there's no additional download either. there's a lot to do in the game, so much so i won't actually be deleting it and i'll play it in my own time. if i have to pick a negative it's the soundtrack. it doesn't quite match what's happening on screen. it's a bit too chiptune whilst the graphics and clear, bold, and cute. the chiptune music felt a little bit rough and harsh. but on phones it's easy enough to play games in silence so i don't consider it an issue. so please, try Liquid Cat Puzzle!
This is part 6, the final part, of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.
In part 5, https://youtu.be/qRXv9-BjQzE, i had completed the fourth play leaving the fifth play. there were only 2 acts in the fifth play but as i managed to break the game, i had to do Act 2 twice. you'll see that in this video.
As i'm a big fan of the story of this game, and how it's been told, i really enjoyed that the start of this video began with a cool plot twist. more so as i didn't see it coming. what's great about it is how well it fits into the game's story and yet still be a little ambiguous. up to this point the game had been using a theatre performance to tell the story of something that had happened in the past but now the twist has happened, is this still the case? i don't want to spoil it but at the end of the video i do give my point of view.
As for how i broke the game, well it's weird because i repeated something i did earlier that worked fine but this time it didn't work and the game got stuck. it needed me to attack the boss, but i could only do so in a specific way. however, i activated my flourish (L1 Button) and i could no longer continue to attack the boss in said specific way. this meant the boss wouldn't attack me nor could i do damage to it. so to be safe i ended the act and tried again. thankfully Act 2 is just a boss battle and i did it the next time.
This has been a fun game to play. the fighting got tedious more than once, and the combo system was frustratingly unforgiving. but it oozes charm and plays into it. the artstyle, whilst somewhat simple, is bold and colorful and fully plays into the theatre gimmick of the game. it's so noticeable that i based my opinion about what happened based on it! i do recommend people try this game. i'd suggest switching the difficulty to the easiest mode so you can get to the story, the characters, and the world much quicker than i did playing it at normal.
This is part 5 of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.
In this part i finished the fourth but had to stop as my recording equipment seemed to be having some issues. there's some minor breakups in the footage near the end, but it should be clear what's happening on screen. It's hot here and i think this was simply a temperature issue as that was the fourth or fifth video i had recorded.
This felt like one of the easier play sessions i've had with this game. in part 4, https://youtu.be/-ZlAxJCLM5Q, i got my first 5 star review and that continued into this video. But it's not just the game saying that i'm doing well, it also feels like i'm doing well too. it must be a combination of practice and unlocking new moves.
The story continues to be it's own unique thing but as it's started to come to a conclusion i've got more into it. again i mention how the combat is getting in the way of a fun little story. There will be a part 6 as i have the final play left and i want to know what happens.
Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!
I play and earn all the achievements from The Pixel Sherias Cup! (2023/7/10 9:00～2023/7/17 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.
It had been a long time coming but for the first time in a long while i managed to beat the boss! i didn't play against many other players, but there was only one game when it was just me. i had owl and YURI for most of the games and it was really tough to beat owl, even when i beat the boss too. i don't think i fully understood the gimmick, but i understood it well enough to get some great results. this was a fun week.
Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing the newly released Rogue Legacy 2 via the PlayStation Plus Premium service on my launch model Japanese PS4.
In part 1, https://youtu.be/WzCKzpCKwXA, the streaming was a little rough at the start but was great for most of it. in part 2, this video, it was more rough. more than once the warning symbol appeared! at least once i couldn't see what the issue was, but for the others it was clear on screen what the issues were.
Even tho there were issues, i'd say that it didn't get in the way of the gameplay. controlling and navigating the world was still possible, it's more a visual thing. But in a run based game like Rogue Legacy 2, it can be anxiety inducing. there seems to be no way to save mid run, so each time the warning symbol appeared it did get to me a little. i say in the video that my only option is to die. it's a shame that even tho Sony's making a push for cloud streaming, there doesn't seem to be much effort in dealing with these issues like my adding save states.
Ultimately, i had a great time playing Rogue Legacy 2. it's an improvement over the first game, which itself was good game that i finished, and i'm sure i've just scratched the surface of the story and world. But, is it a game to stream? i'd say the first hour or so is probably fine. but the further you go into the game and the longer the runs become, it might be less anxiety inducing to install the game than stream it.
For Switch Funday, i decided to play a game i now regret to have not played earlier. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a game i've had in my Switch back catalogue for a long time now and i don't really know why i've not played it.
Going in, i had a rough idea as what to expect. when this game came out back in 2017, it was all over podcasts, websites, and most video game places i visited. thankfully i have either forgotten discussions about the story or i managed to avoid it because i had no idea how they'd bring these two worlds together.
the introduction movie tells the story of how our world, the Rabbids world, and the Mushroom Kingdom collide with someone inventing a merging device here, the Rabbids visiting and taking/breaking it, before their washing machine vehicle gets hit creating a wormhole of sorts to the Mushroom Kingdom where further damage is done by out of control merged Rabbids leaving it up to Mario and a couple of hero Rabbids to save the day. it's ridiculous but in a fun way and the cinematic looks great!
the game starts introducing battle mechanics and teaches us across a few battles very well. but it's not perfect, i didn't fully understand the jump mechanic or the need for it nor does it mention that i can't slide afterwards. the tutorial also didn't mention anything about character health so when i lost Mario, i really didn't know what was going to happen. the next battle he was back with 10 health, but i had to find that out for myself. another thing the game doesn't tell you about are the items in the mystery boxes i found. it wasn't until i got to Peach's castle that things were explained. but this was quite a while into the play session.
Other than that, for the first hour i don't really have any other complaints. i had a great time with it, better than i imagined i would have. it looks fantastic and during it i remember saying how dense the world looks. the battles are fun, if a little lacking with no recovery options so far, and the Rabbids haven't worn out their welcome so far. i do worry that there'll be a time when they do, but for a first hour it's a really good one. I've seen that this game can be over 20 hours long so i do worry if the story and game mechanics can support something that long. let me know in the comments if it does.
Today i'm playing Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. This weekend it's a special event where you can earn a Pikmin 4 theme by earning 100 points in the 34th Maximus Cup.
Maximus Cups are a welcomed reason to pop back into Tetris 99. of course the goal is to get enough points but the other goal is to try and win. I've played Tetris 99 a lot but i've never managed to win. unfortunately, i didn't win today either. i got a couple of top 15 finishes, but it's really tough.
It's a nice theme, tho i'm not too sure about the music. Let me know how the cup went for you. did you get a win?
This is part 4 of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.
In this part i finished the third play and did the first act in the fourth play. i've nearly finished the game as after the fourth play there's only a couple of acts in the fifth play.
This went really well. some new trophies were a welcomed bonus and i even managed to get a couple of 5 stars for the first time, too. at times it felt fairly easy to play. as i've gone on, i've unlocked new moves which has made the combat easier to do but also easier to manage the enemies. this meant that i was finally able to get 5 stars. the enemies themselves were a mix of easy to deal with baddies with swords and annoying combo breakers that either used tentacles or electricity.
The stories continue to be interesting and our main characters are delightful. together, those things are what's driving me forward and wanting to complete the game. i feel that, and have done since the start, the combat takes a little too long and there's too much of it. so if you try this game, go for the easier difficulty so you can enjoy the story and characters more.
Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!
I play and earn all the achievements from The Suou Cup! (2023/7/3 9:00～2023/7/10 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.
It was nice to be up against human opponents in each game that i played. i managed to get a couple of wins early on, but i was up against some really tough players in the last few matches. i still managed top 3 finishes, but this is yet again another video where i managed to get to the boss but i wasn't able to defeat them. at least once tho i got the boss below half health!
Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing the newly released Rogue Legacy 2 on PlayStation Plus Premium.
I have played and completed, tho not platinumed, the original game on PS3 and was looking forward to playing the sequel. i know on PC the game was released in early access and built upon until it got it's release. So i had high expectations.
I feel that it mostly met them. it looks amazing and at it's core is the original game that i had soo much fun with. but there's soo much more added content and added accessibility. i also appreciate that it's honest and clearly explains what the options do and some of the negatives of those options.
The only issue i can't work out is whether the controller lag is the game, playing it via the cloud, or a combination of both. it was almost instantly noticeable from the beginning, enough that i had to go into the options and turn on Enable Super Inputs. whilst this instantly made the game feel better to play, it did add screen tearing and it was noticeable.
As for streaming, the first few minutes were a little rough with an occasional Macroblocking issue and Stream Tearing. but the rest of the game afterwards was very solid and i'd say i had no further issues with it.
I have never played any game in the Fire Emblem series, so when Nintendo announced the GBA version of Fire Emblem is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service i was eager to try it out. Going in, i wasn't really sure what was going to happen. i had heard games in the series have a death mechanic and a relationship mechanic, but i didn't know if this game did or if it did to what extent it has it.
I'm glad i played it as i had a good time. it kinda felt like a console game due to the slow pace, not in a negative way, of the story and the amount of tutorials the game introduced us to over the first couple of chapters. i came away thinking that this might be a long game. but the first hour i played went really well.
the world was nicely introduced, our main character's story was simple and then there was a twist. it was nice that when i mentioned a character was being annoying, it was clear it was intentional and brought up in game. the in-game art looks great and clear on my TV. the only downside of seeing the game this big was that some of the text was a tad blurry or not as clear as i would like.
Nothing about the introduction seemed overwhelming and i appreciated how the game managed it's first hour. some of the story is a little predictable but it never really detracted from the game. i'd go so far as to say that Fire Emblem did enough in this first hour to get it's hooks into me and i'd be up for playing more of this game. i really do recommend people give this a go.
I'm back after a little birthday break with a Splatoon 3 video. this first weekend in July is a new Eggstra Work event. this, i think, is also the first time that this event is open to anyone and not limited to you and your friends.
As this is the first time i've played this event, i wasn't too clear on the rules, but quickly understood that the team i'm on will face predetermined waves of enemies. whilst playing i thought that it was only 3 waves, but i had a quick read and it looks like it could be 5 waves. However, my teams never managed to defeat the third wave.
Whilst it was interesting facing the same waves over and over again, it got tiresome being stuck with the Slosher every game. i think i played 10 games and never got a different weapon. i tried backing out, i was put into different teams, but nothing changed. i always got the Slosher. ultimately, it was fine, but it's not my favorite Splatoon 3 event. it will be interesting to read in the comments if anyone else managed to beat the 3rd wave or even completed it.
