Demo Play Thursday - Etrange Overlord DEMO On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation4  version of Etrange Overlord, from developers Gemdrops.

The PSN Store page for this demo doesn't have a lot of information and it has no screenshots. all i knew going in to this was that the save file would carry over to the retail version of the game, which the demo itself never said, and that there was some sort of musical aspect to this game.

Etrange Overlord starts with our death and with all things considered we seem to handle it well. we awaken in hell and it becomes clear quickly that the residents of hell should be the ones scared of me, not the other way round. this opening sequence acts as the game's battle tutorial and whilst it's light on information, it's not the only time we see this tutorial as more aspects of the game's battle systems open up as we play.

What struck me early on is how good the game looks. you may hear in the video that this demo was pushing my PS4 quite hard. all the enemies and characters we come across are vibrantly colored and whilst they may not have fine detail, they do look great. the art style used in this game throughout is nice. a good compromise was reached letting this game look as well as it does whilst also performing as well.

The biggest issue i had was that it was never clear when the game was saving. i admit i got the manual save wrong at the end of the demo, but up to then the only time i could say for sure i knew that game had saved was when i changed some options at the start of the demo.

the biggest, and pleasant, surprise goes to the game's musical aspect. at no point was i expecting the characters to burst out into song. what's impressive is that it fits well in to the game itself. it was surprising, but once i got over that, by the end of the demo i was looking forward to these little bursts of song. another aspect of the game's story telling that i enjoyed was the banter between our main character and some of the demons. they're not afraid to talk behind our main character's back, and she's not afraid to remind them who's the boss and that she can hear them. that sort of comedy wasn't over played and i feel like it worked well.

From the start of the demo, it suggests playing it on Sweets Mode, which makes the combat easier so the focus moves to the story telling. i'd suggest leaving this on as the combat, but the end of the demo, was starting to get a little difficult. the combat systems are good. i enjoyed how combat bonuses appeared and how they can help us. But what i wasn't expecting was when the game had a Capture An Area battle situation. our team had to battle to gain and hold parts of the battle world to win the fight. it was refreshing and i do wonder what other twists are instore later in the game.

I really enjoyed trying out this demo for Etrange Overlord. i never finished it so if you enjoyed what you see, i'd recommend trying the demo for yourself or just get the game. there's nothing here, in the demo at least, that comes across as hardcore. i think it's a decent introduction into RPG's for those who are a little older. i think some of the game's humour might be wasted on kids. 

Cloud Monday - Wall-E - Pt2 - It's Fine And Not Too Difficult With Local Multiplayer Mini Games

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

In Part 1, it was clear to see that these PS2 emulated games on PS4 and PS5 are a great fit for cloud streaming because you can press the Options button at any point and save. this is true for the PS1 and PSP emulated games, too. so with Wall-E is becomes more of a question if the game is worth playing or not.

For me, someone who is a fan of the movie, i'm going to say yes. the interactions Wall-E has with things it finds are just as endearing as they were back when i saw the movie in the cinema. when we met Eve for the first time it was a nice feeling. the game doesn't follow the movie's plot strictly, the start of the game works great as a tutorial for not only controlling Wall-E but also in how the game is built. but as soon as that lazer light appeared i was excited for the stories to converge somewhat.

The HD upscale helps with the graphics. they're not fantastic, but the upscale helps make them look clear and vibrant. the controls are perhaps the weakest aspect of the game. there are moments where they feel too sensitive and moments when they don't. i wonder if this is a result of the emulation, like the game used to run at 30fps on PS2 but now it runs at 60fps and the controls are also doubly sped up. that's just a guess but if you know please put it in the comments.

For me, Wall-E is a fine game to stream from the cloud. but for others, i think that it might be closer to a "Maybe". But these are my thoughts and that tips it into the "Yes" category.

Cloud Monday - Wall-E - Fairly Average Gameplay But You Can Save Any Time With PS2 On PS4

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

Wall-E is one of my favorite Pixar movies. i knew that there were video games, but i never looked to see what they were about. all these years later, Wall-E is now on the PSN store as a PS2 game emulated on #PS4. i was curious as to what kinda game this actually was and so far i enjoyed it much more than i did when i checked out Ratatouille.

With it being soo many years since i last watched Wall-E, things like the music seemed unfamiliar. there's a chance it's the same music in the movie but i don't remember it. The music didn't seem to match what was happening on screen, like they focused on the music being from a supermarket to fit the theme of the game/movie but not what was actually happening in the game. Though i did like that there was a button devoted to playing your own music. i accidently triggered it a few times and it was always nice to hear.

As a PS2 game, it was always going to look a little rough. the cutscenes, for example, don't appear to be full screen nor a particularly high resolution. the game itself is upscaled but not to 1080p on PS4. playing the game is a much more enjoyable experience than watching a cutscene as i think the graphics and art style hold up fairly well. the game, so far at least, is somewhat zoomed in to Wall-E so he's big and easy to see and so are the areas we've played in.

Controlling Wall-E isn't too difficult. there's a fantastic section at the start that uses a maintenance check to go through the game's tutorial. i really appreciate it when games are able to incorporate the tutorial into their story. going from tutorial to the games first level was a surprise as we're having to run away. the tutorial is nice and slow but suddenly the action ramps up and before we know it it's over and things have calmed down. it took me by surprise but it was fun.

I look forward to Part 2 where, hopefully, Wall-E will get to do more different things and perhaps we'll get to see EVE or even get to space. but so far, streaming Wall-E seems like a good way to play it.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On #PSP - From Start to Finish - All The Battles

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 #PlayStationPortable version of #FinalFantasy. 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. 

Combing all 17 parts into one video was too long for YouTube's current 12 hour video limit. so instead, what i've done is include the start of the game up to the first fight, then it's all the fights up to the final boss, and then it's the ending of the story. So you get the start of the story, the fights, the end of the story.

i didn't include the fights that were pointless. for example, there were a couple of times where i died and had to continue from a previous save file. the fights up to those deaths are not included here.

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

Part 17 - https://youtu.be/TwShdgJwuPo

Cloud Monday - F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch - Part 2 - Frequent Autosaves Might Be Enough

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, we learned that the game doesn't have manual saves. This is important to know as one of the disadvantages of streaming games from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is that we're only given a 20 second warning before disconnection. In Part 2, we got new abilities, weapons, and completed an important mission, and still there was no ability to manually save so i'm sure this game doesn't support that function.

If we can't save manually, then F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch needs to have a robust auto save feature. checkpoints are good for a quick restart in game, but to come back to the game we need autosaves. it seems like F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch uses the auto save as a checkpoint. this means that the auto saves are frequent because the checkpoints are. 

It seems like the auto saves, and therefore the checkpoints, happen before a fighting section, before a boss section, before a puzzle platforming section, and when you use a terminal. In what i've played across both parts, this means that i'm only going a few minutes in-between saves, typically as i travel between one point of interest to another. Whilst this isn't as good as a manual save, it's decent enough for F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch.

Because of how frequent the auto saves are, i'm am not going to dismiss F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch. it doesn't get my highest recommendation as a game to be played from the Cloud, but it sill gets one as it's a good game to stream. i would say that if you're not looking for a challenge and are in it for the story play on "Easy" as i found "Normal" difficulty to be what i'd expect "Hard" to be.

Check out my first look in Part 1.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/BUe8W8tXM88

Cloud Monday - F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch - Part 1 - No Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

This is a game i've been wanting to try for a while. the artwork of the world looked so good and i've always been curious as to what type of sidescroller it would actually be. But as part of this series, the most important question is going to be how suitable is it as a game being streamed to my #PS4 via the cloud.

The answer so far is that it's not that suitable. that's not a knock against the game for how good it is as a game. this is about how suitable it is and how well adapted it is for the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Platform. The biggest problem F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch has is that there are no manual saves. the biggest issue this platform has is that there is only a 20 second warning before disconnection.

Another potential issue is that the game zooms out quite a lot. the world on screen does look great, there's no issue with the artwork tho the pop-in can be a little distracting. a couple of times in this part the video we're playing gets some macro blocking or stream tears. because the camera is further out and our character on screen is therefore quite small, these disruptions are quite noticeable and do impact gameplay.

As for the game itself, i'm mostly enjoying it. getting around the world is easy and there are a lot of little short cuts and places to check out. the combat is taking a little time to get used to, you'll hear me say more than once that i would like a dodge. as we're early on, i'm still unlocking abilities. as for the story, it's not revealing too much right now but that could be because it feels like we're still in the tutorial first main mission. some things have been teased and i'm looking forward to playing again in Part 2.

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

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.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On #PSP - Part 15 - Earthgift 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. 

By the end of Part 14 we were ready to take on the final boss(es) of the game, but the guide i'm using suggested going shopping for magic i might've missed. So that was the first thing i did. the guide also suggested taking on the Soul of Chaos dungeons. the one closest to the Chaos Shrine was the first one that unlocked, The Earthgift Shrine. i didn't look at the guide to see what to expect, but ultimately i wasn't too impressed with the dungeon and it's rewards. maybe if i had tried to defeat it earlier in the game it would be satisfying. but in this part, it ended up being a bit of a waste of time. so i left the dungeon and i'm back at the Chaos Shrine ready to take on the end game.

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 14 - The Flying Fortress

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. 

In Part 13 we made our way to the Flying Fortress and this Part focuses on the journey through it to beating Tiamat and getting the final crystal. it was also nice to get to look out of the window at the world below. to finish i got the sword Excalibur so i'm looking forward to trying it out in the next Part. one highlight from this part was discovering that my Master didn't need weapons equipped and now he's soo much more stronger than he had been up to this point.

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

Cloud Monday - Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures - Part 1 - No Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I haven't done many games aimed at a younger audience as part of this series but when i saw there was a game from the Hotel Transylvania universe i thought this would be a good one to try as i've seen the first 3 Hotel Transylvania movies and enjoyed them.

None of the actors from the movies return to voice their characters in this game and for the most part it was fine. the only character that was really noticeable was Dracula. he's voiced by Adam Sandler in the movies, but here i felt that his character in the game sounded the most off but that could also be because he does the most talking in the game.

Much like the previous game i tried out for this series, Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures doesn't have a manual save system. there is an auto save system but it's difficult to trigger. what's really unclear is whether or not there is a checkpoint system and if it's tied into the auto save. i did perish and when i respawned it wasn't at the start of the level but rather somewhat close to where i failed. But there's nothing shown on screen to indicate that there's a checkpoint and i don't remember spotting the auto save whilst traversing a level. So that does mean, even just from Part 1, that i wouldn't recommend playing Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures from the cloud.

The game itself is a little rough. i did find myself fighting the camera a little but some of that could also be down to a little stick drift in my controller. the camera had some lag which could be down to the game being streamed but i suspect that it's an trait of the game as this is something that very rarely comes up in this series. There was some extreme pop-in as well, which is down to the game and not that it was being streamed. you can see fairly close to the camera that objects, shadows, and background elements would appear when directly in front of the camera and disappear when i moved the camera.

After just 1 Part, Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures doesn't feel well designed for being streamed from the cloud but itself has some issues as well.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 13 - The Journey To The Flying Fortress

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 lost at the start of this Part. i knew that i had to head for Lufenia but the guide i was using wasn't as accurate as i would've liked. but i got a hint in Gaia and eventually found it. The Mirage Tower was easier to find and easier to navigate than i expected. But with no Inn this part, i still have to be careful and i made sure to heal my team up at the end as i'm looking forward to exploring the Flying Fortress in the next part.

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

Cloud Monday - Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization - Part 2 - Not Cloud Streaming Recommended

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1 I was surprised that there didn’t seem to be any way to manually save in this game. There are Auto Saves, but they don’t seem to be as smart as I would like for a game being streamed from the cloud. We’d get an auto save when moving from area to area in a town but out in the wild they were less frequent and rarely after a lengthy conversation. 

So to me, it wasn’t surprising that when I was given the 20 second countdown, before being disconnected from the service, I was unable to leave a conversation and therefore unable to trigger an auto save. 

So whilst I’m not going to recommend people stream this from the cloud, I am also not saying Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a bad game. It has a few quirks and I’m certain the sound issues weren’t from streaming it. The combat is solid and I do like how the story lets us learn more about the past, which is useful for those like me who hasn’t played any of these games before, or carry on like we know everything already. 

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 12 - The Sunken Shrine And The Water Crystal

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. 

Most of Part 12 took place in the The Sunken Shrines.  i initially took most of the right turns and ended up at the boss before half way. the dungeon itself didn't turn out to be too dangerous but the boss was the toughest boss we've come across so far. as i took the correct way to the boss, and the water crystal, i went back in to try out the other way and was reward with more loot, exp, and money.

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

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 7 - The Final Part

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Coffee Talk from Toge Productions. I've downloaded it as part of PlayStation Plus.

This is Part 7, the final part.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/px2JkXPMgx4

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/hNdeC5zIv6E

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/SzmUGL0HkGk

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/pe15t9oNvsk

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/hkBmyzf9qH4

Part 6 - https://youtu.be/FANECqWTp68

Cloud Monday - Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization - Part 1 - Lengthy Cutscenes And No Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I know of but have never played nor watched anything Sword Art Online. But i do know that the main concept is that it's meant to fake an MMO. so i was curious if that would extend to how it saves. MMO's will keep track of your character, what they're doing, where they are, and their stats their end but would this fake one? If it did, it would mean i would never have to worry about the 20 second warning before being disconnected.

But after this first hour it seems clear that there are only auto saves in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization and, unless it was somewhere i couldn't find or i haven't unlocked it yet, no manual saves. for some parts of this game, like moving around the main town Aincrad, you trigger the auto save when you exit one area and enter another. this might be doable when a 20 second warning appears. but other than that, it wasn't too clear how and when it auto saves nor what would trigger it.

As is somewhat expected for a game of this type, this first part is full of cutscenes, character introductions, and expositions. this means there are minutes where we aren't able to do anything other than continue the conversation or, by using the L1 and R1 buttons, try and skip through it. skipping isn't ideal as for me, someone not familiar with this series, i'd want to watch them and learn about the past and the present. The auto saves are clear in the top right, but if you're going to get a 20 second warning during one of these cutscenes you're going to either miss out on story tell, assuming it'll autosave when it's done, or have to go back and sit through the same story piece again.

From this first hour, the save system and lengthy cutscenes do make Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization somewhat unsuitable for being streamed from the cloud. We'll see in Part 2 if things improve in regard to this. other than that, and the games odd camera delay, there are positives in regards to it's design and it's suitability. the graphics are simple, big, and colorful, which meant when we had some hiccups with the stream it never got in the way of gameplay. the controls feel responsive and i felt no lag there with the stream either.

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 11 - Dragons, Class Changes, And Onrac

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 #PlayStationPortable version of #FinalFantasy. 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. 

In Part 11 i did a lot of little tasks that didn't seem to be a part of the main story line. In Part 10, i did the Citadel of Trials and got a reward. Here, i was able to take that reward and got a buff to my character classes. one thing that was made clear to me in this part was that the guide i'm using is skipping some of the story telling. twice i went off to different places in this video to get a fairy and a warp cube. from my playing, there were no story reasons for this. but in Onrac i talked to everyone and found people who would've given me the story for finding the fairy. i'd been curious if i had been missing some of the story telling and now it's clear to me that i have. i can understand why the guide skips some of it as it's streamlining the experience. but for me i think i would've liked to have got the story and then used the guide to find out where to go next. i don't think i'm going to change things in the future videos as i've already used it as much as i have.

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

Stories on Tuesday - Coffee Talk - Part 6 - October 2nd and October 3rd

The new game in the Stories on Tuesday series is the PS4 version of Coffee Talk from Toge Productions. I've downloaded it as part of PlayStation Plus.

This is Part 6.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/px2JkXPMgx4

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/hNdeC5zIv6E

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/SzmUGL0HkGk

Part 4 - https://youtu.be/pe15t9oNvsk

Part 5 - https://youtu.be/hkBmyzf9qH4

Cloud Monday - Hotshot Racing - Part 2 - No Save Options During Grand Prix, Empty Online Lobbies

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

In Part 2, my goal was to try out the online features and see if there would be any lag or any issues playing it via the Cloud. i wasn't expecting there to be issues as i've played online modes before in this series. unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else playing online. Initially tho i didn't think this was going to be an issue as it populated the race screen with Ai racers. but under that screen in small text it actually said we would need either 2 or 4 human players to start a race. seeing those Ai racers did get my hopes up. There was another section of the online that had labeled a section Servers. but as it wasn't populating i didn't know if this meant this section was going to show available races to join, available servers to join (as in a named server,) or available servers (as in regional servers.)

With nothing happening online i went back to Grand Prix and even tho the "enemy" tried their best to take me out i did manage to get gold. i only ever played on Normal difficulty level and i found the Ai of the computer racers to be really tough, in terms of their racing ability and their attempts at taking me out. i mentioned in the video that if often felt like i did bad because of them rather than because of my own skill. a comparison i tried to highlight was when they hit me and i would loose control and end up pointing in the wrong direction but when i hit them they had a moment of instability before straightening up like nothing ever happened. simply put, the Ai in Hotshot Racing didn't feel fair.

With their being no saves between races in Grand Prix and no online modes to speak of, the only thing worth doing in Hotshot Racing via the cloud would be either time trial or single races. because of this i can say it's only FINE at best when it comes to it's performance being streamed from the cloud. a game this small is better off being installed locally.

Online Saturday - War Robots: Frontiers - My First Time

War Robots: Frontiers is a free to play game that recently came out on the PSN. i downloaded it to my PS4 when it came out and since then the game has been regularly updated, tho my PS4's update section for the game says it's 1.01 even tho the game is now 1.10. So coming into the game i was confident that i would get a decent gameplay experience. for me, what i was really interested in seeing was how the game would tackle the tutorial as this has been a huge let down across nearly all of the free to play games i've tried out.

Unfortunately, even tho War Robots: Frontiers does have a tutorial it's quite bad. one of the first examples is when you start the first tutorial. it'll explain the game mode you're playing and the requirements to win it, then it'll let you play without explaining the loadout of your mech and what each of the buttons do. the tutorial is against bots and already pauses the action so i really don't understand why it can't do it again to explain my mech's loadout and how to use it. even after the live stream, there's at least one attack on each mech i don't fully understand.

It doesn't get any better on the home screen. this is often the biggest challenge for free to play games as they often fill it with icons and adverts and such, but then don't explain most of it or any of it. Mobile games have the best approach to home screens, usually greying out modes and options we don't need right now, haven't unlocked as yet, or it hasn't explained. War Robots: Frontiers has a busy home screen and there are times it tries to explain stuff but the first couple of times i missed it because it highlights a section ever so slightly and it times out really quick. War Robots: Frontiers really needs to ask the player if they want a tutorial. if they don't, fine let us play. but it we do it needs to take things one step at a time, slowly, and with examples.

And just as importantly, the tutorial needs to be smart and restrictive enough that we can't fail it. i found out near the end of the live stream that i made a mistake in a much earlier tutorial to the point where it had a negative impact on my gameplay as i should've had 4 mechs and not the 3 i used. a smart tutorial would've also been helpful cause the game would've noticed i've not used L2 since it started and it could've told me that i should use it as i felt really stupid when i accidently pressed the button and saw that it zoomed in and was really useful.

War Robots: Frontiers is lucky that the basic gameplay is solid. even tho here in Yokohama Japan i was mostly playing against bots, their ai was sufficient for me to have some really fun games. it's entirely possible that there are more players on other servers, but i don't know because the game never shows that information. it was very frustrating that i wasn't able to pick what game mode i wanted to play or, like Foam Stars, tell the game which modes that it offers i wanted to play. there's only a Play button and we get what we're given. 

So with War Robots: Frontiers' poor and frustrating tutorial, so-so UI and home screen experience, and lack of match information and choice, i agree with my chat that War Robots: Frontiers is fine at best but not really something i want to keep playing regularly. if they overhaul what surrounds the good gameplay and improve the user experience and make it accessible to new players then i'd be happy to stream it again. but as it is, War Robots: Frontiers is more frustrating than it should be and more than what it's gameplay can overcome.