iPhone Friday - FAIRY TAIL Wizard Chronicle - A Simple Gacha Focused Idle RPG With A Good Tutorial

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried FAIRY TAIL Wizard Chronicle from developers GooDRoiD on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I used to watch the FAIRY TAIL and i really enjoyed it. i haven't seen it lately but after playing this i'm interested in checking out what i've missed. I've not played a FAIRY TAIL game before, tho i think in the video i say i've played a PS4 game and i think i mistook a Black Clover game i played for FAIRY TAIL.

At the beginning, there was a bug or two. an error message would appear on screen and most of the time i could clear it, but there was one occasion where i couldn't and i had to restart the game. since i recorded this video the game has been patched but this bug still remains. it's much less frequent now but i have had to exit the game because i couldn't clear the error message and access the screen. as for the the missing apostrophes, they haven't been patched into the game.

There is a data download before you start the game, so it's best to start FAIRY TAIL Wizard Chronicle on Wi-fi before playing it. The video that plays seems to be taken from the anime but because the anime is horizontal and the game is vertical, it doesn't look the best and is often awkward looking.

I enjoyed the character art, it looks HD in quality. it's a shame none of it seems to be animated and that each character maybe only has 1 picture each. the rest of the game's graphics aren't too impressive but it's fine. I did enjoy the game's tutorial. it's simple without being patronising and uses an in-game character smartly to explain things. it's a pretty comprehensive tutorial that's paced to match what's happening in the game until things with red dots start appearing on the main screen. it's at this point the tutorial slows down and we're left to work things out ourselves. What helps with this pacing is that game modes and features are also locked and not accessible until they should be. this helps with us not being overwhelmed in the beginning. 

One of the risks of an Idle game is it's grind. at their worst, i've played games which have hit the grind in less than 30 minutes. with FAIRY TAIL Wizard Chronicle i only just starting hitting it at the end of the video. there are some game mechanics that can delay this grind a little, but for the most part it's a traditional idle game. the gacha and RPG mechanics are more tied together. often, the reward from the gacha has a benefit to our team. you collect characters to unlock them, and collect more of them to increase their star rating, their character rpg stats. these and levelling up characters are tied into missions/quests. so it does feel cohesive and well thought out. it may seem a little much at the start but because it all flows together it's really easy to understand. another thing that helps is that if you touch the current mission, a hand will appear showing where to go to complete it.

I enjoyed my time with FAIRY TAIL Wizard Chronicle. it doesn't do much revolutionary but it certainly is a good solid example of an idle rpg. there's enough here for fans of the series but i'd say it's very playable for those who don't know much about it. because it's an idle game it encourages pick up and play so for commuters it's a good one to play and as it's a vertical game it's fine to play one handed. i'd recommend giving it a go.

Version 1.0.7 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Octopath Traveler 0 Prologue DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Octopath Traveler 0 Prologue DEMO from DokiDoki Groove Works and Square Enix.

The Octopath Traveler 0 Prologue DEMO is a timed demo. as players, we only get to play for three hours. before i started playing i had no idea why we seemed to be arbitrarily limited, but now i've played it i can see why they did it. the game's pace changes depending on what happens. at the beginning, there's a focus on community and the town you live in. you get to meet many of the people, get  to interact with them and learn about them. there's an engagement reveal between two of your friends. for my first hour and twenty minutes, the game is just normal life in a village with some tutorials.

This means what comes next has more of an impact because very quickly village life as we know it is gone and so are our friends. as the sadness takes over things slow down and there's a time skip to when the grief has passed enough for us start moving on. with this desire to move forward, the pace of the game increases and in the last 30 minutes of this demo, or so, we're introduced to town building and set off on two quests. so the 3 hour limit doesn't act as much of a restriction as it provides a push forward.

On PS4, Octopath Traveler 0 Prologue DEMO looks and sounds fantastic. when the village gets attacked, the fire effects look almost too good against the pixel art world. when we're in battle, some effects look simple and effective and then there's the Rage Attacks which go over the top by enrobing the characters in a Super Saiyan light. Sun light and moon light look, much like the fire, too realistic in this pixel world. The music was also very nice. there wasn't a theme that disappointed me. 

Octopath Traveler 0 Prologue DEMO is well worth trying out. having now played it, i'm much more interested in the full game, it's world, and it's story. 3 hours may seem like a long time but it went quite quickly as i played it. at no point did i feel bored or that the game was taking it's time. But for those looking for a more action orientated RPG i can see why it may come across as slow or even old fashioned.

Backlog Conquering - Anthem On PS4 - Part 2

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation 4 version of Anthem. i have previously played around 5 hours of this game back in 2019, but i stopped playing once EA announced they weren't going to update the game. The main reason for picking up Anthem now is that the game servers are going to be turned off on January 12th 2026. With the servers turned off, the game will be unplayable as there's no offline mode.

At the end of Part 1 we were assigned a mission to find someone so we start this part with that mission. what was fun was someone joining our game. they were quick and dealt with the enemies faster than us. After that i did a mission from an NPC, and also explored the local area whilst doing it. This Part ends with us getting a brand new assignment.

Check out previous parts:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/A9yTrycU5gk

Stories on Tuesday - Underworld Office: Ghost Story - Part 2

The new story is Underworld Office: Ghost Story. i'm playing this on iPhone 14 pro.

Now i've played it, i understand how it works. so each video from this one going forward will be it's own chapter in the game. i will continue to blur out the advert at the bottom of the screen. there are full screen adverts during my playthrough and i will edit them out. this will mean that occasionally the music will skip or go from on to off abruptly where i've made the edit.

This Chapter focused on Luke and it can be quite sad at times. i really liked it and i'm glad that any comic relief there was didn't detract from the main sad story. Our character, Eugene, had some personality growth in a positive direction.

Check out the previous Chapters of this story:

Chapter 1 - https://youtu.be/Gte27gt0KuQ

iPhone Friday - Where Winds Meet - It Looks Great With Fluid And Fun Combat, But It's Story Is Slow

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Where Winds Meet from developers Everstone Studio on my iPhone 14 Pro.

When you start Where Winds Meet you really have to play it on Wi-Fi as the game will, without any warning, immediately start downloading extra content. Even when you start playing, there's extra content that can be downloaded at the character creation section and you even have the option to download the 12GB+ data for other regions in the game. it might be worth spending the time now to install everything rather than using up your data as you go.

For me, the other annoying thing about this extended look at the game is it's story. it starts with a great cinematic intro where we're able to join in with, and then it's over and we're with 2 other characters. it's never mentioned, or if it is i completely missed it, who exactly we are in relation to the two other characters we were just playing as. Is the girl we're with the baby from the previous sequence? the story progressed so slowly in this video. our initial goal of getting home wasn't completed. I didn't even finish the side goal we were to do before that. this slow progress really felt slow whilst playing it. i could feel how slow it was. it wasn't helped by how annoying the girl was. i found no redeeming qualities of her and every interaction with her pretty grating. 

The developers did a great job of bringing a console like combat experience to phones. it feels smooth, fluid, and is a spectacle to be hold. But there are soo many icons on the screen that my phone's screen felt really crowded and throughout this video, when i had unlocked it, i was accidentally pressing the tai-chi button.

Version 1.0.4 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Windswept On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the#PlayStation 4 version of Windswept from WeatherFell and Top Hat Studios.

I was in the mood for something not so serious and charming and Windswept certainly has that appeal. the pixel art style is nice with some real nice animations. the music is nice and chill, and the platforming wasn't rage inducing hard. it was tricky at times, but the game gives the player a choice, do the simple platforming to complete the level and/or do the much harder platforming to get collectables.

When i checked out the options at the start of the game, it was clear that it's possible to personalise your gaming experience. if you want to do some speed running, there are options for that, and if you want things to be more difficult there are options for that too. but the base game, as shown in the demo, is quite a relaxed experience. the game never really punished me when i died. This early into the game, the secrets were quite often easy to spot. but there were a few i couldn't work out how to get. thankfully, there appears to be a world map where we can go back to previous levels and try again.

But, as a demo this isn't great. no where on the home screen does the demo say it's a demo. nor does it say what's included in the demo or even if our save file carries over to the main game. i ended my playthrough of the demo where i think it's ended, but seeing as the game never actually says if it's ended or not i could be mistaken. there are no links to purchase the game from the PSN either. i don't know how early or late the demo is, into the game's development cycle, so it's hard to say if the crash i experienced is likely to have been fixed or not in the retail game. 

If you're looking for a platformer to casually play, Windswept is a good choice. if you're looking for one to play and then master, Windswept has potential for you. whilst the demo itself may not be great, the game was quite enjoyable and charming. i'd certainly recommend people check out the demo if they're into the art style

Backlog Conquering - Anthem On PS4 - 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.

Our new game is the PlayStation 4 version of Anthem. i have previously played around 5 hours of this game back in 2019, but i stopped playing once EA announced they weren't going to update the game. The main reason for picking up Anthem now is that the game servers are going to be turned off on January 12th 2026. With the servers turned off, the game will be unplayable as there's no offline mode.

In this part, i completed the intro mission, then there's a time skip, and i did the following mission. in Part 2, i will start by doing the new mission we've been assigned. 

Cloud Monday - Tomb Raider: Anniversary - Part 1 - Can Save Anywhere, Possible Control Lag, But Fun

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of the emulated PS2 game Tomb Raider: Anniversary via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

We have already seen from previous PS1, PSP, and PS2 that have been emulated on PS4 and PS5 that their ability to save anywhere at any time makes them a fantastic choice to be streamed from the cloud. the added benefit of being able to rewind time also makes the experience as a whole feel more casual or approachable. so when looking at these emulated games the question changes more to is it worth your time playing these games.

For Tomb Raider: Anniversary i would say that yes, it's worth your time. this is a remake of the original PS1 game that was released across many consoles and handhelds from 2007. it was released late enough in the PS2 console life cycle that it probably benefited from some of the game design being shown on PS3. this helps make Tomb Raider: Anniversary still feel fresh. a couple of the controls are a little odd by today's standards but fine when compared to games like Resistance, a game released around this time.

I read a little about this remake. it seems like it's not just a PS2 skinned version of the PS1 game. the developers took time to bring over the classic elements of the original game whilst also expanding others, introducing some changes, modernising the controls, and fleshing out the story, as someone who hasn't played the original game, so far it's going great and the open flow of the levels have been fun to run around in.

The only criticism i have so far, as a game being streamed from the cloud, is that there appears to be some lag in the controls. every now and then i came across some platforming that didn't quite go as planned and took a couple of tries or rewinds. right from the start i noticed how i could move the left stick or right stick and it felt like a second passed before something happened on screen. it's difficult to say if it's the developers going for some sort of momentum based movement, but it does take a bit of time to get used to.

iPhone Friday - Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond - Highley Polished, Welcoming, And Has A Great Tutorial

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond from developers Cygames on my iPhone 14 Pro.

Version 1.4.10 Played

Demo Play Thursday - Old School Rally On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Old School Rally from Frozen Lake Games, Astrolabe, and Meridiem.

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - 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.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game #Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/fvi6KUY0vD8

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/bf7Obhhh8K4

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/oMqaSd8rB4k

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/OCL0AqLHW-o

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/6fpsgoVY6cY

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/sTmZpFlQ1Ps

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

Part 8 - https://youtu.be/bLaY4ko2VC0

Part 9 - https://youtu.be/1W14Q9FjASo

Stories on Tuesday - Underworld Office: Ghost Story - Part 1

The new story is Underworld Office: Ghost Story. i'm playing this on iPhone 14 pro.

At the moment, i'm unsure if this will be a chapter each video or not. there is some sort of credit system that's not explained. so in this video, i played through until i ran out of credits, which was the start of Chapter 2.

Cloud Monday - Patapon 2 Remastered - Part 2 - Streaming The Game Is A Good Way To Play It

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

In Part 2 we came across a hint screen, when the game is loading, that revealed that there's no punishment for failing. i actually experienced this first hand when i lost all my Patapon in a mission only for all of them to be unharmed when i did something next. this is an example of how casual the game is. the combination of casual and portable mechanics work well together to produce a game that's good to stream from the cloud.

In Part 1, i highlighted how i was using the pulsing of the screen to help get the rhythm and how pressing options brought up the command list. across both parts doing this might've meant that i missed a turn or two attacking the enemy but i never felt like it was a huge cost to pay. the levels we've previously played change so that when we return to grind items, it's different from the first time we were there.

But i do feel that grinding is an aspect of this game that's unavoidable. i showed in this part how i needed just 1 item  to make new Patapon but always didn't have enough of it even after all the levels i've done. to make new Patapon i'll need to grind out the first hunting level and then to upgrade it i'd need to re-do many other levels. as these levels are short, they can be quickly dealt with, but the whole grinding aspect of the gameplay might be a bit repetitive and a deal breaker for some.

Across two parts i have had fun playing #Patapon2 from the cloud. it's not a perfect experience, but it's good enough where i would probably play this game via the cloud in the future rather than download it. the game wants us to play and win, so when we make a mistake the consequences aren't too harsh. as long as we remember to save before doing a run, there aren't many consequences if we're disconnected.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/t9RhqarCw2k

Online Saturday - Tetris99 - 50th Maximus Cup - Kirby Air Riders

In Tetris 99 it's the 50th Maximus Cup this weekend. the theme to unlock is Kirby Air Riders. i played the Switch version and managed to finish in the top 50 in all the games i played.

Let me know in the comments how well you did!

Mobile Friday - Hungry Hearts Ramen - An Easy To Play Restaurant Game With A Nice Community Story

For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Hungry Hearts Ramen from developers GAGEX on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I have seen these restaurant games from GAGEX in the App Store for a while and have nearly reviewed a few of them, but Hungry Hearts Ramen is the first one i have and i'm glad i did as it was a fantastic time. i didn't set out to record a video this long, i was just having such a nice time with the game that i lost track of time as i played.

Time is perhaps the only issue i have with Hungry Hearts Ramen. throughout the video you'll hear me say how i would like a pause button or want the game to pause during the story segments. there is a day mechanic here because customers come to the restaurant on different days but this isn't explicitly said by the game, rather i inferred it from the customer menu section.

For the most part, Hungry Hearts Ramen does a great job at getting across how to play the game and what does what. the tutorial is simple, telling us what to do via text and pictures rather then showing via a gif. but what was nice and surprising is how they use the customers, the Shrine Maiden in particular, to help remind us what to do.

I've highlighted the community aspect of this game in the title because i feel like each of the characters we've met so far in the game are very well written. they come across as genuine and interesting. mistakes and assumptions are made by our main characters but no one seems to get angry. as we played, we got to know a few of them better than others and in doing so this unlocks more food and drink options in the game. there are also customers who make delivery requests. the game makes it clear there's no pressure to fulfil them if you can't and these customers will call back in the future. but if you're able to their requests, we get even more story.

As well as the community aspect, there is another story that we've barely touched upon in this video. i won't go into spoilers, but this seems to be the second time we've opened a restaurant in this town and there seems to have been more of us the first time we did this. i speculate in the video what might have happened but there's no reason why it can't be sad or happy as the stories we've encountered so far have been both.

Graphically, i enjoyed the art in Hungry Hearts Ramen. it's a simple design that seems to look right for the era. the music is nice, too. but after the hour and a half i played the music was starting to get a little repetitive. 

Hungry Hearts Ramen does have adverts. i don't mind mobile games, especially the free to play ones, having them. but what really impressed me was how well Hungry Hearts Ramen deals with it. there's a TV in the restaurant that will play an add if you want and that'll restore your characters energy. As our characters are old, and they themselves mention about getting tired, the energy mechanic is well tied into the game universe. There is a banner advert at the bottom of the screen throughout this video. but it doesn't get in the way, it's not distracting, and my focus throughout was in the middle of the screen. And then there are the full screen adverts. thankfully the game put's up a little message that we're going to an ad break, plays the ad, puts the break screen up, and then get's us back into action. it's that attention to detail that makes this simple restaurant game feel really polished and something great.

After playing Hungry Hearts Ramen, i can say that it does make it into my top free to play games of the year list. i won't say where, but it's that good and well worth checking out. there's something for a lot of players here and it's all good.

Version 1.0.1 Played

Demo Play Thursday - GIGASWORD On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of GIGASWORD from Akupara Games and Studio Hybrid.

I saw the pixel art on the PSN and thought it looked great, but i hadn't watched a video for GIGASWORD so i was surprised when it started playing how good it was. But what's odd is how there are times when there's no music, not even some ambiance. going from some really great music to nothing at all to then more music was quite odd. You'll have to let me know in the comments if this is the case with the retail release of the game or not.

I quite enjoyed the start to GIGASWORD, i thought the opening segment worked great as a tutorial. the level design and puzzles worked great. nothing felt challenging and progress was nice and smooth. But one problem with this demo is how little it communicates to the player that this is a demo. when you start, there's nothing on the home screen that says "demo", nor is there any links to pre-order/buy the game from the PSN. the demo doesn't say what the limits to the demo are either. so i got to a point in the demo where i couldn't make progress and i have no idea if that's because i missed something or if that's the demo ending.

Or it could be a result of the demo crashing. it's not often that a demo fully crashes in this series, but it happened here with GIGASWORD. i got to the PS4 home screen, submitted the PS4 error report, and loaded up the game again. But once i was back in the game, i never made any progress. You'll have to let me know in the comments if i missed something in the demo or how this differs from the released game.

Even tho it crashed and i'm not thrilled with how little it communicated to me how it's a demo, i did enjoy my time with GIGASWORD. i thought the balance between platforming, puzzles, and fighting was spot on for just starting the game, i really liked the pixel art, and the music was fantastic and cleverly hid the loop. so if you're curious about GIGASWORD, i'd recommend checking it out.

Backlog Conquering - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD On PS3 - Part 9

Welcome to Backlog Conquering. This is a series were i play a game from my backlog that i may or may not have played before. the goal isn't necessarily to finish the game, the goal is to play it. that way, i can have an opinion about it.

Our new game is the PlayStation 3 version of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy from the 2012 The Jak and Daxter Trilogy that remastered the games and brought them into HD. This series is my first time playing any of the games from the initial trilogy, tho i have played the PSP game Daxter.

Check out the other parts of this play through:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/fvi6KUY0vD8

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/bf7Obhhh8K4

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/oMqaSd8rB4k

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/OCL0AqLHW-o

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/6fpsgoVY6cY

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/sTmZpFlQ1Ps

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

Part 8 - https://youtu.be/bLaY4ko2VC0

Stories on Tuesday - High School Dog Simulator - 4 Different Endings Played

For a one off video, i played the iOS Visual Novel High School Dog Simulator from Shibamaru.

The game has 16 endings, but for this video i played through 4 of them. You'll have to let me know in the comments what happens in the other stories.

Cloud Monday - Patapon 2 Remastered - Part 1 - No Auto Saves But Playing To The Beat Is Fine

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

I've not really tried a rhythm game as part of Cloud Monday so it was always going to be interesting whether the delay from streaming from the cloud would make playing the game much harder or even impossible. i admit, i may not have a lot of natural rhythm and i can easily loose focus and loose the beat. so i'll be honest, i can't say for sure if streaming this game from the cloud was the reason for issues i occasionally had or if it was just me.

But Patapon 2 Remastered's attempts at helping the player actually also make it a decent game to stream from the cloud. The game doesn't rely on just audio cues or just visual cues, it uses both. when you watch this video, watch the frame of the video as it pulses to the beat. having both means that if there's an audio issue, you can still see the beat and if there's a visual issue you can still hear the beat. In this part, two or three times we got some Stream Tearing where the video we're watching from the cloud had grey patches in it. but because the i could still see the frame and was often focusing on it to stay on beat, the Stream Tearing was never distracting and i was able to keep the beat fine.

The only real negative i have after this Part is that i don't think the game has auto saves. we're able to do manual saves from the main home area, but once the action starts we're unable to pause and unable to save. i tried to find auto saves, but i couldn't find it. Patapon 2 Remastered also has a weird thing where when you save the option screen backs out as if you hit cancel by mistake. a couple of times i had to check whether i saved or not. Whilst the saving is quick, it'd be nicer if the game made it clearer that it had saved.