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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 4 - Backlog Conquering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Version 1.6.0 Played 

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 3 - Backlog Conquering

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

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

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

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

Dusk Climber - An Accessible Game With Beautiful Backdrops And Daily Challenges - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Dusk Climber, from Ivan Onoprienko, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.

The game's developer got in touch and brought this game to my attention. Dusk Climber is unlike any game we've played for quite a while and it was that aspect that made me interested in checking it out.

I was greeted by a welcome message from the developer and it came with a gift. unfortunately, the game didn't come out and say that this gift was some of the games currency. as i played Dusk Climber we learned that it's used for retrying and for cosmetics. at the time, there were no clues as to whether or not this was a good gift but after playing it and seeing how slow collecting 100 crystals could be, i can say that it was a good gift.

This lack of information, or not providing quite enough information, happens throughout Dusk Climber. the game does have a tutorial, and an option to replay the tutorial, and whilst that's useful at the start of the game it wasn't long before i was being introduced to owl nests and safety ropes. For the owls, i eventually saw in the top left that reaching those created a checkpoint. But for the safety ropes, the game never said what they were used for. Another example would be how the App Store page showed the camp and save system, but when i played the game it wasn't until the final run when i stumbled upon it that i realised the Save Progress it was talking about was the checkpoint system rather than some pause and save feature like you'd get on consoles.

The tutorial was useful though. there were on screen messages as well, an early one being that some platforms are old and unstable or reminders that we've run out of stamina and need to touch the screen three times to pull ourselves up. Retrying is very quick, or continuing from a checkpoint is quite cheap. this meant each run i did, i went further and further. I finished this gameplay video by reaching the next biome and it was satisfying. By reaching this new area, i now have the option to continue playing from the first one and working my way up or start from the second one. If i get tired from that aspect of gameplay, there are daily challenges i can try too. There doesn't seem to be a limit on how many times i can try it either. Dusk Climber also has leaderboards and after my final run i ended up 18th globally. So there are various options regarding how to play Dusk Climber, giving it some replay-ability. 

The controls are simple and relatively straight forward. you can move your character by tapping the screen. by holding the screen and sliding your thumb you can see the arc of possible jumps and when it lines up with where you want to go you can let go and then tap the screen to pull yourself up. depending on which way i was jumping meant i would switch between my left and right thumbs. With no countdown timer, there was rarely any pressure to make fast jumps. it was nice being able to play Dusk Climber at my own pace and with the checkpoint mechanic it's possible to play it in little chunks, great if you're commuting. 

As i played Dusk Climber i had some thoughts as to what could be added, what could be tweaked, and what might need a little more work done. But as it is right now, i do think Dusk Climber is worth your time. for me, it's a style of game i've not played as much so in that respect it's interesting, but the game as a whole is worth your time and it would be interesting to see where the developer takes it going forward.

Version 1.0.6 Played

Cave Story+ On PC - Part 2 - Backlog Conquering

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

Platforming continues to be the most dangerous aspect of playing Cave Story+, it got me a few times during this video. i've mostly been OK with the enemies, defeating them in one or two tries. But it's the platforming that's still taking time to get used to. i had to do some precise platforming in this video and the momentum my character has when they land caught me out a few times. It's like my character slides just a little when they land.

I'm still not all there with the game's story. it feels like we've interrupted their story and as we don't remember ours both sides to the games story feel incomplete. but we made progress with their side in this video. I ended this part before we get to make a bomb so there will be a Part 3 where we'll try to finish the rescue attempt we started in this part.

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

My Laptop Specifications:

Dell Inspiron 15 3525

16gb RAM

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U 2.10GHz

Integrated Graphics VRAM: 495 MB

Tetris 99 - 57th Maximus Cup - Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave - Switch Funday

There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 57th Maximus Cup is for the Switch 2 game Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. By getting 100 points, you can unlock it all.

I was surprised by how tough this was. i was knocked out in the first match 94th place in about a minute! It wouldn't be the first time either as at the end i showed that if i focused on building up i would be punished. what i noticed in this Cup is that the goal was to build low and focus on the combos. typically i feel like i'm able to start building up and then go lower as the match goes on. Thankfully, i got a little better as i changed my approach and ended up with a Top 10 finish!

Lumi Master - A 2.5D Monster Catching RPG With Great Graphics And Simple Controls - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Lumi Master, from Bilibili Game, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.

When i checked out this game's App Store page, the screenshots looked nice but didn't really get across how the game was played. So i was curious to play Lumi Master and see if it had a different take on the Monster Catching genre.

Initially, we're greeted with a download screen which is a bad first impression. there was no heads up, no warning, and even when it was downloading there was nothing on screen to say how much was being downloaded. thankfully it was over very quickly so it's not that much data, but it was still rude.

Next we're taken straight to choosing our Lumi. i went with the grass "starter" #Zorrat. the catch mechanic involves throwing cards at the Lumi. the better the through, the more your odds of catching the Lumi increases. as i played, i would obtain cards that increased the odds of catching them.

Moving from place to place was a little strange. there is no map or world we can move through. instead, there's only forward and it's done from the first person perspective. It's something i've noticed some mobile games doing this year, but Lumi Master is the first one of these that i've played.

In this video i play through the first couple of areas. the goal is simply catch all the "basic" Lumi to unlock the ability to catch "rare" Lumi from that area. once all are caught, you can move onto the next area. so in Lumi Master, the focus is more on the catching and getting them all rather than any indepth story line.

The game does have a character creator, but it's strange that i wasn't able to access it from the start. the game never pointed me to it either. i was exploring some options that the game hadn't introduced and found it. it's basic but does show signs that they're going to be adding customisations that you earn from progress or that you can pay for.

Lumi Master's tutorial was also surprising lite. Initially, it seemed useful. it focuses on the how to do something rather than any in-game "why" reason to do something. but at times it was too quick. i'd try to read the on screen messages and it was gone far too quick, so it's possible i missed an explanation or two. thankfully, we're told the basics and can play fine but when we get to the housing and battles, we may need to fail a couple of times to learn.

Lumi Master feels like a game designed for mobile use. i played it with just one hand. other than the battles, i didn't demand too much of our attention either. But if you have time, there are lots of little touches that help make it feel more "alive". for example, in the home area it's not a static picture. there's lots of little animations of the Lumi working and walking around. There's also extra information about the Lumi if you want to read it, but it doesn't feel something you have to do.

I enjoyed Lumi Master and feel it's a great 2D Monster Catching RPG. there's something for newer players, something for more experienced players, and there's still plenty left to unlock. On it's App Store page it talked about trading Lumi and that's something i didn't get to in this video.

Version 1.5.4 Played

Flamecraft On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the Switch version of Flamecraft, from developer Monster Couch.

Before i played this demo, i didn't know that the game was already out as a board game. i was drawn to trying it out because i liked how it looked. my only concern was that on it's eShop page the screenshots looked crowded and tough to understand. 

I started by checking out the game's tutorial. whilst it's great that it goes into great length and takes things step by step, it took around 35-40 minutes. thankfully, there is an in-game reward for doing it. i am glad i tried it, but i think i would've liked a little more help or reminders in the game itself.

The match i did didn't take too long, around 15 minutes. i didn't win it though. i came second. even though i didn't win, i don't really know how i came second. the game doesn't have a way to explain what happened. i was playing against two bots and i remember a point when both of them got more points than me half way through and the only way i was able to close the gap was by using cards that granted bonuses at the end. i would've liked, on my turn, a helper that could've given me some suggestions or at the end, a helper that explains how well or bad i did and what i could try next time.

Ultimately, i didn't play it wrong. the tutorial was good and i remembered enough of the basics to not finish last. i would certainly recommend players try out the tutorial. if you already have the board game, then this is a well implemented digital alternative that's suitable for situations like travelling on a plane or in a hotel. I would recommend Flamecraft for new players and those with the board game.

Cave Story+ On #PC - Part 1 - Backlog Conquering

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

For the first time, Backlog Conquering is tackling a PC game. i have been using Steam for a long time and i have some games that i might've played a little and not finished or games i've not played at all. according to Steam, i'd played around 40 minutes of Cave Story+ over a decade ago so i really don't have memories from it. 

What's interesting for me is that the PC version of the game got updated to match the #Switch version of Cave Story+. So the music and graphics were very different from what i remembered the game looking like. i was initially concerned that my low powered laptop might've struggled but it played great. i was taken aback by there not being a tutorial and the jump in this game certainly takes some time to adjust to. But the music was really nice and i do like these modern graphical style to the game. i look forward to playing more in Part 2.

My Laptop Specifications:

Dell Inspiron 15 3525

16gb RAM

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U 2.10GHz

Integrated Graphics VRAM: 495 MB

Aniimo - A Bad First Impression, But Has Some Interesting Gameplay Mechanics - iPhone Friday

For this week's iPhone Friday i tried Aniimo, from Pawprint Studio, on my iPhone 17e. This was recorded using the phone's screen recorder function with my audio recorded onto my computer.

Aniimo describes itself as an "Open-World Creature Collector" and in this video i do get to see that side of the game. But it's not without faults. 

Aniimo makes a bad first impression. it immediately starts an additional data download. there's no warning, no message about doing it over wi-fi instead of a mobile network, it just starts it. The amount of data being downloaded is also large, coming in at over 11B. But even when that's finished, we still can't play the game as it has to prepare the shaders. in all, it took nearly an hour before i could even start the game. Then we're forced to sign up to the game, there is no guest option. i always prefer to sign up as a guest and then if i like the game i'll sign in with Apple. 

The character creation screen is next but i had a couple of tech issues here. there is a lot of fine detail to play around with and we could spend a lot of time here. but i had trouble with the costume aspect and then when i went to start playing the game it took me back to the start of the creator with an error message. I don't know why this wasn't dealt with when i initially tried to move on from this part, rather than at the end when i want to start the game.

With how long it took to download the additional data and install it, my phone was quite warn and the game decided to set the graphics to low. i didn't realise this until near the end of the video. there are moments when the low setting really does look quite poor. often some graphics would look out of focus or too soft. But this isn't the reason for when i got stuck against a plant quite early on. the game describes itself as open-world, but there are invisible walls to watch out. i got stuck on one and the game didn't notice. i didn't know how to unstick myself and it took a little time before i opened the options and found a way to manually unstick myself.

The last thing that gave the game a bad first impression was how, at times, the game was poor at telling it's own story. right at the start there's an example where it's clear that our character can't catch anything because we don't have the equipment. But the game then makes us catch something. We do have a camera and we use it a couple of times. but then when i want to use it, for no provided reason i'm unable to. There are moments like this throughout this video and you can hear me constantly questioning what's happening.

Thankfully, Aniimo has some really interesting ideas that made me want to keep going and seeing what it has to offer. for me, i kind of stopped caring about the story by the end as it was the game mechanics that i wanted to try out. a fun one is the #Twine mechanic. this is poorly introduced earlier when we're first up against boss enemies. But by the end it's revealed that the game will automatically turn it on when appropriate. so i was able to just run into water, Twine would then activate, and now we're one of our caught monsters, one who can swim. we can Twine with them to attack, to fly, or even to help capture other monsters.

This first look wasn't able to show off the House mechanic, that was revealed by the App Store. nor was i really able to do more with research. i also had a couple of eggs that i didn't know what to do with. What's important is that i wanted to keep on going, i wanted to see these things, i wanted to explore the world and find hidden chests. I also wanted to learn more about the monsters in this world as a couple of rare and powerful ones are teased to us throughout this video.

So Aniimo makes a bad first impression. it has story telling issues, it has tech issues, and it doesn't always give the player enough information. thankfully the game mechanics are good enough to earn a thumbs up. But this mobile version needs work and i would understand if people held off and waited for a few updates to come out for it.

Version 1.0.3 Played

Another Eden Begins On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the Switch version of Another Eden Begins, from developer Studio Prisma and publisher Wright Flyer Studios.

The eShop page for this game describes it as an RPG designed by RPG fans, specifically highlighting Masato Kato who has worked on a number of RPG games either with Square or freelance.

Another Eden Begins did feel like a RPG that ticked all the boxes. though at times this did make the game feel a little predictably and troupey. I wouldn't say it made the experience bad, Another Eden Begins is a solid RPG, but it certainly didn't make the game feel special. From the 2-3 chapters i played, of the 6 available in the demo, i don't think i worked out what the game's unique hook or gimmick is. the eShop page says that New Game+ is a feature and there are multiple endings to the game. 

I played on Switch and i thought the game looked great. As with many, if not nearly all, games that use character art i felt like there wasn't enough. often the character art didn't match the emotions of the scene. the characters were still on screen and often those showed more emotion that the art. But not with all characters. some characters felt like they had less art and their models had less motion and emotives. It's just another example of how fine it was to play, but how it's also not going further to get a 8 or 9 out of 10.

Some of the story didn't make sense. one part in particular made no sense as the weapon shop guy was supposed to have the day off and be closed, but the shop was open and he helped out seemingly free of charge. magic also seemed a little tact on. there were orbs floating around that we can interact with, there was an explanation of how important the orbs were, but they never did anything. And the cats, towards the end of this video, were another frustration as it seemed like they would follow us and help out but i never saw them help.

Another Eden Begins is fine to play. it's looks and music are at a higher level than the world and it's story telling. the pacing maybe a little slow, the loading a little long, but it's still a game i would be happy to play, maybe more of a PlayStation Plus kind of download rather than purchase at full price.

Puppeteer On PS3 - From Start to Finish - Backlog Conquering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Version 1.1.2 Played 

Marsupilami 2 - Salsa Palombia On Switch - Demo Play Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Version 1.0.4 Played 

Astral Bounty On PC - Demo Play Thursday

This week's DEMO is the Steam PC version of Astral Bounty, from developer Weepel Games.

Full disclosure, Weepel Games got in touch about Astral Bounty and brought it to my attention, but i was unable to play the demo before it came out on Steam and what i played was from the store, rather than it being sent to me.

Fans of the channel will know that i'm not great at side scrolling shooters, regardless of whether it's vertical or horizontal, but i'm always up for trying a new one as i'd like to find one that i can improve at and still enjoy playing. i knew that Astral Bounty was going to be tough as it describes itself as "Astral Bounty is a brutally hard 2D arcade sidescroll shooter" on it's Steam Store page, https://store.steampowered.com/app/4952490/Astral_Bounty/.

I didn't finish this demo but that wasn't because it's a bad demo. i was surprised how generous Astral Bounty was with it's checkpoints. one way developers make a game tough is by reducing or completely removing checkpoints. Here, they're optional. the game's store appears several times during the demo stage i played and whilst i could spend my money upgrading my ship, i also had the option to respawn at the store for a price. as i learned how to play the game and got better, i stopped using the first and then second stores as revival spots and could focus on buying upgrades and progressing further into the level.

So whilst the start of the level got easier, it always got tougher as i got further into it. Sometimes this was due to new enemies, sometimes there were level hazards, and there are times when both are combined. But it's not like i could never see a path through, my failure to progress to the end felt more like skill issue rather than the level design being unfair.

Astral Bounty ran smoothly on my old low powered laptop, but there were very short but noticeable hitches in the frame rate when a new song started for the first time. i found the controls responsive, but a couple of the upgradable attacks i tried never seemed to work right so it's possible there could be a bug or two. the game doesn't have a release date on Steam so it could also be quite early into it's development.

As a demo this could be better. at no point do i remember it ever saying that it was a demo. there were no screenshots, no links to get the game, and no trailers showcasing the rest of it. thankfully the demo runs well, controls well, and the restarts are fast. So, as a demo it may not be great, but as a game it seemed all right.

Why not buy me a Vending Machine Bottle of Coffee over on https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers

My Laptop Specifications:

Dell Inspiron 15 3525

16gb RAM

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U 2.10GHz

Integrated Graphics VRAM: 495 MB