Online Saturday - The First Descendant - A Great First Hour!

For Online Saturday i tried out The First Descendant on #PS4. i had heard some good first impressions of  The First Descendant from Nexon , and i was keen on playing an online game similar to Destiny. but i knew next to nothing about The First Descendant so i was hoping for a good tutorial.

I can say that the tutorial in The First Descendant was fantastic. it smartly used gameplay and instructions to teach me the controls. for the more simple stuff, it was a text box on screen. but for more difficult stuff they'd stop gameplay and put up a bigger box with a video showing what you need to do. but with the gameplay stopped, i didn't feel a rush to read everything and could take the time to slowly read it and try to understand. for the most part, the tutorial was smartly implemented throughout this video whenever something new would happen either in-game or in menus. only once did it get in the way when it tried to teach me how to equip better items in the middle of a shootout and i had to dismiss it was gameplay didn't stop as this was during the online section.

I didn't know when the online section was going to come. in the beginning, the game was focused on telling it's story and world building. and then, we were online with everyone! after the story, we were dropped into a hub world full of other players. it wasn't clear which region i'm playing in. i didn't see anyone with Japanese or Asian names and the game didn't ask me what region i wanted to play in.

Whilst this section took me by surprise, the game was much more explicit when it came to the next mission. it used a quick tutorial to talk about public or private play, tho it i must've missed in the tutorial where that selection was. so for the second half, it's all online. the open world elements had enemies randomly attacking and i could engage with them with others in the world. then there were story sections where i could choose to play said section publicly or privately. i chose public each time and each time i either joined someone else playing or someone joined my game. each time was seamless with a simple addition of a player name to my screen.

the first thing i noticed about the gameplay was when i pressed L2 and zoomed into the enemy. it felt much quicker than i expected and there wasn't any lock-on to the enemy either. this isn't a bad thing, it's just one way shooters differentiate themselves. what i found odd was how my character was a big bulky guy and yet moved like someone much nimbler. i may not have fully got used to it during this video, but i was overall satisfied with my progress and the shooter in general.

i had a great time with The First Descendant. it does very well introducing the world, the story, the characters, and the gameplay mechanics. as a free to play game, it's easy to recommend to anyone looking for a shooter in a similar vain to Anthem and Destiny. I'm looking forward to playing more of this game in the future.

Mobile Friday - Dynasty Warriors M - Well Designed For Mobile, But 4.5GB Download First!

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Dynasty Warriors M on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game from Nexon is also out on Android.

Going in i was a little unsure about this game. it has a small file size, which made me worry there would be an additional download, and there were a lot of things you could buy for it, so i was concerned it would push me towards the shop and/or be full of ads. In the end, it was only the file size i had to worry about as in my time with the game, it never pushed any shop stuff or adverts on to me.

But the additional download at the beginning is a let down in more ways than one. it's not great that a mobile game needs an additional 4.5GB of data. at the very least the game warns you about it and your data limits. it took over 7 minutes to download that data and all i had was the same looping video and music. some other games have longer similar sequences, whilst others use this time to introduce backstory, characters, or even a glossary. it's a wasted opportunity and a waste of my time to sit through it.

That additional install might be the only big complaint i have with the game. there are a couple of small ones like poorly implemented controller support, and on occasion it felt like i had to press things a couple of times before they would register. but on the whole, for a game that recently came out, Dynasty Warriors M felt quite polished. 

Once it became clear what type of game it was, i was eager to see if the game would have framerate issues when there were a large amount of enemies on screen but i never noticed any. the switching between characters also felt very smooth and seamless. i particularly enjoyed the auto battle option. as someone who uses trains and busses to commute, there are times on my journey when i need to put my phone away or use it. so having an auto battle is great.

There are a few little touches like that that make the game feel like it was designed for mobile first. another i liked was how the game tried to tie in it's gacha mechanic into the game's story. it's a bit tenuous, but i appreciated the effort. 

The only confusing thing for me was that we weren't playing as the characters on screen. it took a little while to understand that the story on screen wasn't exactly being represented by the characters we were battling as. to me, it made following the story more difficult than it needed to be. There is a chance that things will be made clear further into the game. but that coupled with the additional download probably means it's not making the top of my game of the year list, but it might've done enough to get on there!

(Version 1.2.3 Played)

Online Saturday - KartRider: Drift - 12 Races Across The Infinite Boost, Item, And Crossover Modes

Welcome to Online Saturday.

For today's video i'm back with KartRider: Drift. I haven't played this racing game from Nexon since it launched on PS4 back in April. you can checkout that video here https://youtu.be/61mKJc1G2M8. Back then, it was a very solid racer that looked great on PS4. Since then, the game has received numerus updates and is in it's 4th season of events. as you can see from the icon, it's spooky season so there are new spooky themed race tracks, racer customs, and karts.

In this video i just wanted to race and i was glad to see that there is still a robust online community for this game. Some games found a match as fast as Splatoon 3 does! the only thing that slowed things down was that i'm playing this on PlayStation4. the load times were always worse on here, as in the pre-race lobby you can see how fast or slow the game's loading for other racers. There was only 1 technical issue i had and whilst it only happened twice, it did get in the way of gameplay. what happened was that there was a pause, maybe for a second at most, but this is an online racing game so the action doesn't stop. so when the game unpaused, even tho it was brief, my kart had continued as had the rest of the game. It's hard to say what caused it, whether it's a frame pacing issue or a stuttering issue, but it happened.

Other than that, it was a fun racing game. it is different to Mario Kart so it's not an easy comparison. but as it's free to play, it's one i do recommend you experience for yourself. The Season Pass is also pretty good for free players as we can still earn karts and characters. the store also seems reasonable priced, like things are attainable. The only thing i want them to change is the character and kart screen. it would be nice if it was easier to see which characters have extra costumes. 

Online Saturday - Kartrider: Drift - A Fun First Hour

Welcome to Online Saturday.

Today's video is on a relatively new kart racer by Nexon. i played this game on my PS4 but it is out across many other platforms including Xbox, PC, iOS, and Android.

Going in i expected two things, kart racing and a drift racing style. needless to say this game delivers on them both and delivers a lot more. This game is not just an online game but has single player modes and options to change opponents from other racers to Ai racers. but it's not immediately clear this is the case. i didn't know that the game is set to Ai and Humans as a default until it asked me whether i wanted to switch to human only players. This isn't something i've seen before and it's very welcomed.

The game has many other accessibility features which make it very approachable for gamers of many different skills. right at the beginning it checks what controls you want to use, and whilst this may seem a strange choice it's because it leads from the next cutscenes straight into the tutorial. but these can all be changed in the settings menu. other accessibility features can be added and controls can be also be changed where individual buttons can be mapped. it would be worth checking these out so you can play the game how you want to play it.

As for playing it, it's a lot of fun. the art style is distinctive and looks really crisp. as with any racing game, it takes a couple of races to adjust to the handling but this game is mostly fine from the beginning as the circuits you start with are made to be easy. the Lobby screen looks great but is fairly simple. it gets the job done i suppose and follows a design language similar to Gundam Evolution, of which there are videos in this Online Saturday Playlist. When you go into the mode select, a surprising amount of modes appear. so much that it's surprising the game doesn't promote them more. it defaults to a Mario Kart style racer with item boxes. but in the option mode there are soo many more to chose from. there's a Gran Turismo style license mode that unlocks more difficult tracks as you progress. there's a speed mode that focus more on racing skill. there's a grand prix mode that's unlocked when you get the B1 License. there's a fun Factory Run mode that pits your team against robot's, each lap the last 8 racers are eliminated and the winning team is who ever gets first. there are two more modes, that i didn't try out this video, with a classic Time Attack and a Custom Race.

Overall, i do recommend people trying this game out. it's a free to play game that has a lot to offer, more than what i got to see in the hour i played it. It looks great and other than an issue with my first Factory Run race, ran near perfectly. i had a lot of fun and i won't be deleting this game.

Nexon Announce Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Is Coming To PC's In The First Half Of 2014

Nexon have announced their upcoming PC first person shooter Ghost Of The Shell: Stand Alone Complex is coming out in the first half of 2014. there are few details about the game at present, but Nexon have revealed that the game has cyborgs fighting against each other in a battle for resources and it has a co-op battle mode.
 
Press Release

Nexon Announce Latest Combat Arms Update Brings Nemexis Lab And Assassin Sneak Peak To The Game

Nexon have detailed the latest update to Combat Arms. the Nemexis Lab update brings a PvE map to Combat Arms. the map is based under ground and pits the player against zombies and mercenaries. another new enemy in the game is the Mech Exoskeletons, whilst these can be killed they can also be ridden by players. A

Nexon have also teased a future new character class being added to the game. the Assassin is set to come out in August, but Nexon are letting Combat Arm players get a sneak peak with the new character class on 28th July. for 2 hours, from 6PM, players get access to the Assassin.



Press Release

Nexon Announce They Are Bringing Shadow Company To GamesCom And They Are Announcing A New Game

Nexon Europe have revealed their GamesCom line-up. playable for the first time in Europe, Shadow Company is a free to play online game, from the creators of Combat Arms. the game uses Unreal Engine 3 and features up to 16 player multiplayer. Shadow Company has a early 2013 release date across the USA and EU.

Nexon Europe will also be revealing a new game at GamesCom. details are light, but Nexon have teased the game will be a Naval RTS.

Press Release