Mobile Friday - Puzzle & Dragons 0 - Two Ways To Play, Nice Graphics, Good Tutorial, But Some Bugs

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Puzzle & Dragons 0 from developers GungHo Online Entertainment,  @PuzzleandDragons  , on my #iPhone 14 Pro.

As a casual fan of Puzzle & Dragons, i'm always interested in checking out their new games. for a company who have been making the same game for such a long time, there's also a degree of expectation placed upon them that the latest version of Puzzle & Dragons will have learned from all the previous ones and therefore should be better. so going into playing Puzzle & Dragons 0 for the first time i was really curious how things were going to go.

From the app store page it's not really made clear what the point of Puzzle & Dragons 0 is. the original game is still played by many people and it's still getting content updates. so it was a little disappointing that from the app store i didn't know what i was getting myself in for with this new game. but the app store does show the two different ways to place. the first way is vertical and the screen is laid out similar to how i took the Switch version and made it into YouTube Shorts, with the gems big at the bottom and the action smaller on top. This keeps information at the top of the screen like the time, phone battery, etc. the second way to play is more similar to the Switch version with gems on one side and the action on the other. what's disappointing is that making this mode right or left handed was in a completely different part of the options. i was also disappointed that the color blind feature didn't actually show what it would do. many games nowadays will put the items on screen and show how the feature works. the approach here in Puzzle & Dragons 0 felt a little old and a little lazy because of it.

The start of Puzzle & Dragons 0 is well designed. it begins with a tutorial that takes things nice and slow. we don't even see the home menu for a while as we're introduced to the games mechanics first, then the characters on our team, how to use them, the enemies, and so on. what is a little disappointing is that the game never reminds us that we can go into the options to check out what we've learned. like so many mobile games i've checked out, the tutorial is great until it abruptly stops. there are things about this game i didn't know because the tutorial stopped before showing me. the currency, terms like RCV, things and terminology that are used in the game were completely ignored by the tutorial. it didn't even show us where the options where or how to change the screen layout, even tho when we initially chose it the game said we could change it but never showed us how.

Thankfully, for Puzzle & Dragons 0 the core gameplay is solid and exactly what i expected from a Puzzle & Dragons game. the graphics do look nice, the music feels like an upgrade over the Switch version, and i do like how they use the phones rumble for the big attacks. But the game is still buggy. i noticed a few times i was getting combo's but my gems were still on screen. this was perhaps the biggest bug i came across. The game has hints and tips during loading screens, but on my phone the loads are so short i can't read them all quick enough. whilst not a bug, it does feel like an oversight by the developers. The "new" feature in Puzzle & Dragons 0, for me at least tho it's possible it's in other games, is how we get new monsters. i don't feel like it's explained as good as it could have been and i don't think how it's shown in the app is as clear as it needs to be. much like how the game has slowly introduced us to features, i feel this aspect should've been simplified for the tutorial and the first times we used it and then at Rank 5, it should be fully expanded into what it is. i didn't fully understand how to use this feature. the side menu stuff was never explained so i didn't know to go there to switch from red to other colors. the whole rank system was never explained so i didn't know that was happening until it told me i was Rank 5. this whole system feels like it's been tact on to the game rather than fully incorporated into it.

for Puzzle & Dragons fans, Puzzle & Dragons 0 is fine. it seems to be more of the same. for newcomers to the franchise, the tutorial will be a great start. but the bugs and abrupt cut off of the tutorial means the experience as a whole is disappointingly average from such franchise.

Version 1.0.4 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Captain Blood On #PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Captain Blood from developer SeaWolf Studio and publisher SNEG.

The history behind this game is fascinating and well worth checking out. it started life as an Xbox game, before delays and studio changes meant it was going to come out on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. there would be further delays, lawsuits, but eventually the discs were pressed and Captain Blood was set to come out until it didn't due to legal issues and it was forgotten.

This version of Captain Blood is built upon the original version but enhanced and tweaked for release across the PS4, PS5, Series, Switch, PC, and Mac. looking at it, it felt like the HD versions of Final Fantasy X and XII, which would make sense considering when the game started development, whilst gameplay reminded me of God of War. so for me, as someone who played a lot of games during that era, the was something nostalgic about the game.

Nostalgic doesn't mean good and there were some elements of Captain Blood that felt old. the settings were bare bones, the tutorial was text on a screen, and the check points were all over the place. what i noticed really quickly was how hard it was, too. it certainly didn't feel like a normal difficulty. not only were the enemies sponges when it came to my attacks, they were ferocious in their attacks and the long range attackers especially seemed to never miss.

It was a mostly solid demo, the only reason why it took an hour was because i died a couple of times and tried exploring when i could. I enjoyed my time with it but honestly it's not a great game. there are a lot of things "fine" about it and if i were to continue playing i'd drop the difficulty to casual as at normal the enemies and boss fights were starting to not be too enjoyable. i didn't mind the story on show but the demo failed to capitalise on it as there were no screenshots, trailers, artwork, or descriptions about what was to come in the game's story.

Backlog Conquering - Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition - Part 1

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.

On PlayStation Vita i played Guacamelee but i don't remember getting very far. i'm fairly sure that the progress i made in today's video was me going further into the game than i did on PSV. i may not be able to say what the new content is in Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, in comparison to my first time on Vita with Guacamelee, but i can say that my time with the game so far has been great. This video ended up being longer than i expected as it was difficult to put the controller down.

Stories on Tuesday - Arcade Spirits - Part 6 - Game Over?

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Arcade Spirits from Fiction Factory Games. this is the disc version of the game, published by PQube.

This is Part 6 of my Arcade Spirits story and i got a Game Over. i wasn't pleased that i managed to predict where the story would go in this part, but once it happened the game over came quickly. for a time i thought that was it for this playthrough, that my story was finished. but the game had other plans.

You can check out the previous parts of this playthrough:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/iPaMcNIB-pI

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/BBr3lviaf2s

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/n2QOLAQm--M

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/S0aaJtoLQz4

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/KeyDE9FhxBE

Cloud Monday - Soul Hackers 2 - Part 1 - Over 50 Minutes Before Manual Saves Unlock

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Soul Hackers 2 on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I'm still looking for a RPG that's suitable for being streamed from the Cloud that can rival the best, Disgaea D2 from Nippon Ichi on PS3. Soul Hackers 2 is a recent addition to the Cloud Streaming service so i was curious how a more recent release from Atlus would work.

The game starts with a FMV introduction that saw a little stream tearing and the occasional audio issue that sounded like the volume was peaking. but for the most part is was clear and an exciting introduction to the game. that audio issue appeared a few times during this stream. it will be interesting to see if this continues in part 2.

the game does make it clear what the auto save looks like, but it doesn't make it clear until much later when the game does auto save. throughout this video i was paying attention to the conversations to see if the game would auto save after a conversation or even during one. but i don't remember it doing so. so if we get the 20 second warning of disconnection, skipping the story conversations is probably not going to trigger and auto save.

About 52 minutes in we finally got access to the manual saves and it was here that the game told us when it auto saves, not when it introduced the auto saves at the start of the game. it'll be interesting in part 2 to see how frequently we're able to auto save.

Whilst there was the occasional audio issue, i didn't notice any lag in the controls or anything that i can say was an issue from streaming it. for me, it was fine being streamed to me. but until i got the manual saves i was concerned that this would be another game that wouldn't have manual saves. now i have it, i'm looking forward to part 2 to see how the experience goes. 

Mobile Friday - Arcane Knight: Idle RPG - Good Art And Action Don't Stop It Feeling Generic

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Arcane Knight: Idle RPG from developers Eastmoon, on my iPhone 14 Pro.

On the App Store, i thought the artwork and the trailer for Arcane Knight: Idle RPG were interesting so i wanted to give it a go. it seemed like the main focus for the game was the action and even tho it's an idle game we, the player, still had a decent amount of control over our character.

 Arcane Knight: Idle RPG starts with a pretty decent tutorial but it kinda fizzles out before, i feel, it has finished teaching us about the game. many of these idle games forget to teach us about all the little icons and red dots they put on the screen. but there was another element that i had no idea what was happening because either the game forgot to tell me or the game told me but the information was on screen for too short a time. this happened quite frequently where something useful was put on screen but was only up for a second or two before being removed and not mentioned again.

Thankfully the game does give some advice when our run ends on how to do better next time and the tutorial does try to show us these options. But because of how generic Arcane Knight: Idle RPG ended up being, anyone familiar with this genre will know what to do here. There were moments of poor translation but, again, i knew what to do.

I did appreciate the game not forcing it's shop upon us, there were no ads either. this video is longer than normal as it was easy to play and i didn't feel like i had reached the point where i needed to grind away by putting the game to idle mode. the downside of this is is that the game never explained the idle mode. there was no tutorial for it nor was there a story element for it. i remember reading the start of a warning about it, but the text left the screen far to quick.

Arcane Knight: Idle RPG is a fine game. it looks nice and the action is pleasant to watch. but i found the music and sound effects to be poor and in my time with it it didn't seem to offer anything new or interesting in comparison to the other idle games. It's not a bad game but perhaps it's more for fans of the genre.

Version 1.0.11 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Jack Barau On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Jack Barau.

I had hoped to play this DEMO a few weeks ago, when i first saw it listed on the UK eShop page but when i clicked the Download Demo button nothing would happen and i didn't see the demo on the Switch eShop either. when it finally was available on the eShop i jumped on it and even tho the game is out now i still wanted to give it a go.

The Jack Barau DEMO goes straight into gameplay. there's no trailer, no story cinematic, there's just a world map. i do appreciate that the map clearly shows where the demo ends, but like most demos the game never says if our save file will carry over to the final game. it took me about 20 minutes to complete the demo and another 10 to get all the possible gold stars. once it's finished, there's nothing left to see. there's no trailer showing what's coming in the game, no screenshots or artwork, and perhaps strangly for this game in particular there's nothing talking about the motivation behind this game because Jack Barau highlights an issue on the island of #Réunion of fledging Barau Petrels getting lost and confused by human made lights. the eShop page mentions it a little but with nothing said in the demo it feels like a missed opportunity.

The only other knock against this demo was the odd audio bug that occured on occasion when our character Jack spoke. it sounded like the audio was peaking and distorted even tho it was the same level as the rest of what he said. But other than that it ran great, it looked great, and after some initial adjustments to the controls is played great.

The difficulty of what we played was fairly low but it didn't detract from my time with the demo. i had fun and i wanted to continue playing to get more story and to try and collect more of the fledglings. i'm unsure if there is more than just the island we saw on screen to play through so you'll had to judge whether the price is worth the risk. but if you're curious i'd say try the demo, but i think there's something fun here.

Backlog Conquering - Deliver us the Moon - From Start To Finish On PS4

I played Deliver us the Moon from September 2022 to October 2022, before i had started the Start to Finish Playlist. i recently found my original video recordings so i decided to stitch together all 7 parts of my Deliver us the Moon playthrough on Backlog Conquering. 

I have cut, or tried to, the moments where i died and occasional times when my PS4 would freeze. so the cuts are a little rough due to the audio or camera placements being very different. this is also true when splicing together each part.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/j0csLiQPBCc

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

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/_Tg93U-lKdY

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/q3qXka0U8IM

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/SrBoxHnBoH4

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/bRuBjxfe-G8

Part 7 - https://youtu.be/zhukq2kkGa0

Stories on Tuesday - Arcade Spirits - Part 5 - An Eventful Day At The Beach

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Arcade Spirits from Fiction Factory Games. this is the disc version of the game, published by PQube.

This is Part 5 of my Arcade Spirits story and it went in a direction i wasn't expecting. we went to the beach, one which we had been to as a kid. but it all felt out of the blue and sudden. i wasn't satisfied with the link between Part 4 to Part 5 or why not only staff but some regulars joined us. the game was also VERY keen for us to have a romantic option by the end of our day there. there was a distinct lack of artwork during this part and the day's story didn't make too much sense. for example, twice during this part we get to hang out with 2 of the 3 groups. time wise, it feels like we spend a long time with each group, and yet when we join them they've only just started their activity instead of us joining them an hour into what they're doing. For me, this has been the weakest part of the story so far.

You can check out the previous parts of this playthrough:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/iPaMcNIB-pI

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/BBr3lviaf2s

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/n2QOLAQm--M

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/S0aaJtoLQz4

Cloud Monday - Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition - Part 2 - Bots and Things To Find

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 2 i was able to check out the ghost part of the story and multiplayer. Like the first part, the story is quite long and really slows down the pace before we're taken into the multiplayer tutorial, which itself is quite good. It was just as fast to find a multiplayer game this time, too. But what i hadn't realized about Part 1 was that the multiplayer started out with bots but as we played real players took over.

The same happened in Part 2. when i spawned in to be the ghost character, i took over from a bot and that game was almost over. Unlike Part 1, however, it was only ever me and 1 other player. as i'm new at this, it still felt like a challenge as a ghost and Ghostbuster so i didn't mind. i did see the Ai seemingly doing nothing at times, but overall it seemed quite successful.

We also learnt more about things to find whilst we played. for both Ghostbuster and Ghost teams, there are things to find in the level that give out awards. as a Ghost, i found a page from Tobin's book and as a Ghostbuster i found a newspaper clipping.

So even tho the online community may not be as robust as it once was, i was still able to play satisfying games that provided me XP to level myself up, unlock customisation options, and level up my equipment. i didn't find all the collectables on each stage i played on either. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition has been smartly designed to still be fun and still give players things to do, to unlock, and be able to progress the story even if the community maybe smaller than it once was.

So streaming this from the Cloud has been fine. what issues there have been were noticeable but rarely got in the way of anything. with Macro Blocking, i was still able to tell what was what. there was no lag in the controls as the game isn't a twitch shooter. the weapons take a shot time to charge, which hides any lag if there was any from it being streamed from the Cloud. It is frustrating that i don't know what the penalties are for a disconnection and i don't know when it saves, but because of the type of multiplayer game it is i'm going to say that Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition is a good game to stream from the Cloud. it's not the best, but if HDD space is getting tight then it'd still be a fun experience with it being streamed from the Cloud to you.

Mobile Friday - The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show - The First 5 Acts Of This Magic Themed Puzzle Game

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show, from developers Rusty Lake, on my iPhone 14 Pro.

The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show is a free game released to celebrate the developers 10th anniversary. I'm not typically good at these puzzle solving games, check out my attempt at playing Lemon House: Room Escape, https://youtu.be/HcGGKkGw_qY, for a recent example. But i wanted to give this one a go because i liked the art and i wondered if the magic theme would suit me better.

I found that the focus being on what is on the screen in front of you helped, as well as taking some time to try stuff and to look at the smaller details. so i managed to get through the first 5 acts fairly quickly. i stopped as i didn't want to spoil the whole game, but i did wonder how to get the achievements. i went back to try and earn some, thinking that perhaps it was speed related but i instead found the game to be a little buggy the faster you tried to play it.

The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show maybe a short experience, but it's a great one. i'd recommend it to a lot of gamers and suggest people take it at their own pace. it might make the current top 5 free to play mobile games of the year!

Version 1.0.2 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Labyrinth of the Demon King On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Labyrinth of the Demon King from developer Jacob R. Hudepohl and publisher Top Hat Studios.

Scary games, horror games, psychological games, they're all genres that i don't play because i don't like them. but i was intrigued by the icon and thought i'd give Labyrinth of the Demon King a go. the fact that i couldn't finish the demo doesn't meant that it's a bad game so if what you saw looked interesting i would recommend that you check it out for yourselves.

It's aiming for a PlayStation 1 era look and it gets there but it feels less "janky" than similar PS1 games do so during the video i remarked that it's probably more accurate to call it a "PS1 Pro" style game. at times it felt like this look and the type of game Labyrinth of the Demon King is combined into something that felt old, whilst other times it really worked. from a demo perspective, it's a shame that it's never made clear if save files carry over, and a little disappointing that there was no link to buy/preorder the game from the PSN store.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 17 - The Final Part

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. 

I was right, Part 17 was the final part in my playthrough. as i guessed, we had two more bosses to fight again before we battled the final boss. Garland was the most difficult boss character to fight in the game. i didn't know that he could heal himself and it was demoralising when he did it, effectively going back to full health. more than once i came close to loosing my team. in the end, Sara ended up being my only character to not die during this playthrough.

After the credits i checked out some of the extras. it's clear that there are plenty more enemies left to find in the game. the concept art was nice but because of the PSP screen resolution zooming in on it wasn't that nice. what i did enjoy was the music player. i played a little of all the tracks in the game and i was surprised to see some tracks from other Final Fantasy games, too!

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

Part 10 - https://youtu.be/jb86mpdg_nA

Part 11 - https://youtu.be/h5u0JNtLCmg

Part 12 - https://youtu.be/RbIXaYmSKhI

Part 13 - https://youtu.be/Ps7KNTkX5pE

Part 14 - https://youtu.be/9-eLWGpCIyo

Part 15 - https://youtu.be/olPRCSUgqXU

Part 16 - https://youtu.be/Z2oNbzjmlJI

Stories on Tuesday - Arcade Spirits - Part 4 - Francine’s Arcade Funplex Event

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Arcade Spirits from Fiction Factory Games. this is the disc version of the game, published by PQube.

This is Part 4 of my Arcade Spirits story and it's the culmination of the previous 2 parts, it's Francine’s Arcade Funplex Event. not only was it difficult for the main character of the story, but the choices we had to make were also difficult and by the chart shown at the end of the video, i don't think i made the best choices.

You can check out the previous parts of this playthrough:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/iPaMcNIB-pI

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/BBr3lviaf2s

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/n2QOLAQm--M

Cloud Monday - Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition - Part 1 - Unclear Saves Or Penalties

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I chose this game for a particular reason, i wanted to see how well an online multiplayer focused game would work being streamed to me. normally, it would be a console talking to online servers, and those servers talking back. but with Cloud Streaming, it's my PS4 to the Cloud Server, the Cloud Server to the multiplayer server, back to the Cloud Server, and then back to my PS4. This series has shown that playing games from the Cloud is mostly fine but i wondered if this extra link in the chain would bring noticeable lag in a game mode that typically needs fast reactions.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition is either smartly designed, lucky, or a bit of both because how the weapons work in this game is slower than typical first person online shooters. it reminded me of how on PS3, the Killzone games were slower because of input lag but the game was built around this idea of slower responses because of the weight of everything. because Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition has this build up in the proton pack before it fires, it completely hides any and all lag that could come from being streamed to me.

As i haven't played other online shooters for Cloud Monday, i don't know how the others manage it, but as i've only tried Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition i have to be critical over the lack of information. I couldn't see the game auto saving so i have no idea if saves are limited to the completion of online matches or more than that. there's also no way for me to manually save. even going back to the main menu wasn't clear if anything was saving. If our connection to PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming service degrades, we're only given a 20 second warning before disconnection. With Part 1, i don't know if i can force a save by looking for a match, from having a conversation, or anything. But with an online game there's an extra concern. if i'm in a match and i get the 20 second warning and then i'm disconnected, what happens? am i given a timeout penalty for not finishing the game? i feel like Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition could use the home menu at the start of the game to give Cloud Streaming players information on when the saves are and penalties for not finishing a game, like Press L3 and a text box comes up and details it all.

So after Part 1, there's good and bad when playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition in the Cloud. one positive must be that i found matches quickly and even in my first games i was able to contribute even if a little.

Mobile Friday - Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter - A Cool Turn Based Card Battler Roguelike That Uses Ai

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter, from developers COLOPL, on my #iPhone 14 Pro. I switch between two microphones, the backup recording starts and my normal recording set up finishes, so it may sound a little strange.

The press releases for this game have focused on two things, Kazuma Kaneko has joined from #Atlus and worked extensively on the game and that together they developed “AI Kaneko” to generate cards in this game. But what was strange was that when i checked the store page for this game, the focus had moved away from the game's use of Ai, so i included a copy of one of the press releases just to highlight such promotion of Ai.

The game came across as highly polished which made rough areas really stick out. for example, they did a great job avoiding the Dynamic Island that when it did get it the way it was noticeable. another was a translation error in that English was missing. but other than that, it felt great to play. the music was also fantastic. it hadn't been highlighted in the press releases or on the store page but i think it really adds to the experience. 

there is an additional data download at the start. in comparison to other games i've played with such a download, it's relatively small. but it's still big enough that i wouldn't recommend starting this game on a mobile network. starting it at home isn't an issue as Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter has a cool console feature, the ability to manually save and come back to the game later. the auto save was also noticeable.

The Roguelike element to Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter is fairly simple but i do think the game could've done a little more to make it clearer to the player. when your run ends, you do not carry over any of the cards, items, or currency into the next run. However, the Ai generated cards are logged and you seemingly can pick one to take into the next run. your experience points are also kept. as you level up, you unlock items that can be discovered in the runs. these are one time use items, but you can find many of them. in this video, even tho it's long, i was only able to start a second run so there are plenty of gameplay elements yet to uncover.

I only got to experience 2 Ai cards being generated in this video. the first one was satisfying. it looked good and what it did was useful. the second card that was generated was trickier to use in a run and i wasn't too satisfied with the artwork that had been created. The artwork was fine, it just didn't really match what the card did. for example, the first card was equally defensive and attacking. the picture was a knight in armor. this felt appropriate. but the second card was a guy in a suit, something that didn't match that this was an attacking card. maybe i was lucky, maybe i was unlucky, i can't say. perhaps in the comment section you can talk about your experience. but the game's news section was asking players to report inappropriate Ai generated cards so it's clear the system isn't perfected quite yet.

I think Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter is worth trying. the card combat was good, the graphics and art were great, as was the music, and it worked well together. there are a couple of rough spots and i didn't progress far enough to comment on the story or other gameplay elements. but what i did play was solid and the manual save feature is great for those playing at home or out and about on a commute.

Version 1.0.1 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo from developers Pocket Trap.

I had heard some talk about this game on podcasts i listen to, but after the Pepper Grinder experience i must admit i had some trepidation going in. Thankfully, after playing this demo for a little over an hour i came away feeling positive about the demo itself and the game.

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo has a look the reminds me of the Game Boy Advance era of games and as someone who grew up during this era i feel like they did well in matching the controls to that look. What helps is that Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo feels far more cohesive of an experience than Pepper Grinder ever did is that the controls, the art style, the character design, the music, and more importantly the story and gameplay are all woven together successfully. The demo is also bespoke and shows off the initial introductions, tutorial, and plot of the game. the second demo shows off a different area and the new puzzles and ways of using your Yoyo. the final section to play is, what i assume to be, the first boss battle in the game. 

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo isn't an easy game and whilst loading back to the screen you were on is quick and easy, i'm not sure i agree with the punishment being financial. the demo gives some examples on how money is used in the game and i'm a little concerned that it needlessly punishes the player. But, at the start of the i checked out the game's options and in the difficulty settings you can decrease the financial penalty for trying again. there are a whole host of ways you can customise the game to your difficulty level and this really does make the game very accessible. it's a shame that the game doesn't make it clear if changing the difficulty will affect earning trophies or not.

i would recommend people check out the demo for Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo. the game has links to the PlayStation Store if you want to pre-order the game, as it comes out at the end of the month. 

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 16 - First Two Bosses In The Chaos Shrine

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. 

With Part 15 not really offering much to the overall story, in Part 16 i decided to go and do the end game. It starts rough with the magic using White Dragon and like in Part 8, i think, they do a lot of damage even knocking out a couple of my team. getting off the first floor was a relief as the other monsters haven't come close to wiping my team. But we did end up back on the first floor and even end up going deeper. the levels are large and it's easy to get a little lost. thankfully this means we're levelling up nice so when we come to the first boss, we managed to defeat it whilst i was still buffing my team. i ended the video after the second boss which probably means Part 17 has at least 3 more to go!

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

Part 10 - https://youtu.be/jb86mpdg_nA

Part 11 - https://youtu.be/h5u0JNtLCmg

Part 12 - https://youtu.be/RbIXaYmSKhI

Part 13 - https://youtu.be/Ps7KNTkX5pE

Part 14 - https://youtu.be/9-eLWGpCIyo

Part 15 - https://youtu.be/olPRCSUgqXU

Stories on Tuesday - Arcade Spirits - Part 3 - Mega Arcade Expo

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Arcade Spirits from Fiction Factory Games. this is the disc version of the game, published by PQube.

This is Part 3 of my Arcade Spirits story and it takes place during our visit to MAX, the Mega Arcade Expo. most of our interactions revolve around Ashley and Teo and the hijinks the happen with one and a cool opportunity that happens because of the other.

You can check out the previous parts of this playthrough:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/iPaMcNIB-pI

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/BBr3lviaf2s

Cloud Monday - Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures - Part 2 - It's Own Issues Make It Not Fun

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures on #PS4 via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

In Part 1 we discovered that there was no way to do manual saves in the game. As i said back then, this is bad because with PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service you only get a 20 second warning before being disconnected and without manual saves you are relying on the game's auto save. we have seen that the game will save when you buy collectable cards, but other than that it's been somewhat mixed. With this in mind, this Part 2 look at the game let me focus more on the game itself.

Thankfully, the streaming experience this time was much better than in Part 1. this means that the lag in the controls i noticed are likely game based and not a result of the game being streamed to me via the cloud, but i should also admit that being streamed isn't helping. when this is combined with the obvious poor draw distance, on a technical level it really does feel like i'm playing a worse version of the game, tho i don't have a PS5 to compare it to so it could be equally as bad on there as it is on the PS4.

But it's not just the technical issues that make playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures a bit of a chore. i learnt between parts 1 and 2 that the movie voice cast didn't return for this game so my thought that the voices were a little off was correct. there are gameplay elements that make the game frustrating, too. combat shouldn't be a grind like it is. i have a powerful move that seemingly does little to the enemies, all whom can attack me quicker than i can use that move. the character also gets stuck in animations as they seem to have priority or take a fraction to long. i unlocked the high jump move and when i initialise it i jump up straight vertical, but in order to actually move forward to the ledge i have to wait for the jump animation to finish and then transform into a bat to get some forward momentum. the timing for such a move is tighter than it needs to be.

The premise of the game is good but the execution falls far to short to make it a fun experience. it's also not designed for being streamed from the cloud. not only do i not recommend streaming this from the cloud, i don't really recommend playing this version, at least, of the game. maybe you can try downloading the PS5 version of the game. but as it stands, on PS4 i can't recommend Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures.

Mobile Friday - LEMON HOUSE: ROOM ESCAPE - The Latest In The Escape Room Series Was Tough

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried LEMON HOUSE: ROOM ESCAPE, from developers APARTMENT BACON, on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I've never been good at point and click games, nor have i ever done an escape room. i've seen many of the games from APARTMENT BACON in the charts over the years but not tried one so with LEMON HOUSE: ROOM ESCAPE being the latest release in the series i wanted to finally give it a go.

As this video will show, i'm just not good at LEMON HOUSE: ROOM ESCAPE. there was nothing i found easy. I'm not saying it's a bad game, unfortunately i'm not the right person to judge that. all i can say is that i personally found it tough.

The simple graphics weren't an issue for me, but the music and sound effects didn't add anything to the experience and were a little distracting. for the most part, i thought the game handled the screen space well. there were no additional downloads, making this a decent choice for playing on the go. But there was a banner at the bottom for most of my time playing the game. it mostly only showed a picture for advertising but every now and then it was a moving picture. with this banner being at the bottom of the screen, it was out of the way but it was still distracting.

A smart use of advertising came when i finally wanted to get a hint about the puzzles, as i was stuck. we're given the option to get a hint in return for watching a video. the advert was a minute long, but then it turned out it wasn't just one hint but hints for all puzzles! Honestly, i think this was a bit too generous. i would've liked 1 hint for the first puzzle for free, and then the game could've offered hints for the next 3 puzzles for an advert watch.

Version 1.1 Played.

Demo Play Thursday - The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.

This video is longer than many of the other Demo Play Thursday videos as this demo, and most likely the game too, had a weird mechanic in that it's almost impossible to pause the game during the story telling. I say almost as the player can turn off the auto play of the story but this doesn't give the player access to any of the menus. as you'll see in this video, i was only able to access the menus at very specific points. the start of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a very long story sequence with only a couple of moments where the player has control. i don't know if this will be the case going forward in the game, but as someone who's not played many visual novel style games this was the first time i've encountered such game design.

Now with that out of the way, i really enjoyed my time with the demo for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. i liked the music, i liked the art style, and i especially enjoyed how the game didn't bog it self down with backstory and world building. the demo starts with an apocalyptical event taking place, goes back in time to shortly before it, and then carries on from the event. i wasn't expecting some of the scenes we got or how gruesome some of them were. but it didn't take me out of the story telling either.

graphically, other than some banding i think it holds up well on Switch. but with how long some of the story sequences are, it was disappointing that the game was unable to turn off the Switch's Screen Dimming feature which other games like Loopers has done. You'll see it in this video where it catches me out a couple of times and you may also hear the analogue sticks being pressed but nothing happening on screen as this was my attempt to prevent the dimming.

As a demo, the game doesn't have a link to the eShop page on it's home screen. As a story focused game, the demo has a bigger role to play as it has to try and sell the game's story and hook into the player so that they would want to get the game to carry it on. For me, i was interested in the story enough to want to know more.  as i didn't finish the demo, i don't know if it ends on a cliffhanger. but i feel like i've seen a lot of what the game has to offer, initially at least, to want to keep playing it. i'm not just curious as to where the story will go, i'm also interested in the character interactions and the world in general.

The demo for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy isn't the best demo i've played, but i'm glad i've played it. i was curious about the game before i played it but it didn't really grab me. i would probably have done nothing more than Wishlist it. but now i've played the demo, i'm much more interested in it, even if it does have some quirks that could get annoying down the line. i'd recommend people giving it a go, just beware it's age rating does seem well earned.