Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 10 - Getting The Airship And Citadel Of Trials

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. 

There were to big things that happened in this part. the first was getting the Airship. whilst it looked cool on screen, i can't help but think that this scene could've had an fmv sequence. the music whilst in the airship is nice. once we had it, the guide pointed us in the direction of the Citadel of Trials. but i don't know why and i feel that it's either the guide of the game, or both, at fault for the lack of why we're going where we're going. for example, it's the game fault if there's no one telling us to go there or the games not pointing us there. it's the guide's fault if the guide is not getting us to talk to the people who would be telling us where to go. so whilst i'm following the guide, i'm not sure about the why we're going where it's telling us.

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 9 - Completing The Cavern of Ice

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 Game FAQS. 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 8 my party was defeated. i didn't save, i didn't bring enough items, and it caught me out. so for this part, i learned the lessons and made it through the Cavern of Ice. some things were a little different this time round as i managed to remember a couple of places in the cavern so navigating it seemed to go smoother. i also don't remember picking up the Flame Sword in Part 8 and getting it here did seem to give my team a bit of a boost.

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 8 - The Party Was Defeated!

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. 

It finally happened, in Part 8 the game managed to beat me. It started fine as i went back to town and stocked up on important goods. but it quickly turned out i didn't have enough. throughout my time in the Cavern of Ice, we were being hit hard and all characters were taking a lot of damage. for the most part we were managing ok, but then we had a fight where the enemy used ice magic repeatedly and defeated my team. in hindsight, perhaps i should've continued my assault and not worried about fleeing or my downed team mates. So i'll try again in Part 9!

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 7 - Mt. Gulg And The Fire 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. 

Part 7 shows my journey into Mt. Gulg down to the Fire Crystal. there were a couple of moments early on where i was being hit hard and nearly lost Duncan again. near the end of my time in Mt. Gulg there was a dragon enemy that i encountered only once but in that encounter it nearly wiped my team in just one attack! i wasn't expecting to come across the boss fight when i did and i was expecting it to be more difficult than it was. i didn't panic and for both crystal boss fights i've had a clear idea what i'm going to do and why and it seems that is working. i ended this video having finished Mt. Gulg and in the next part i'll head to town and stock up before heading off to the next crystal.

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 6 - Getting The Earth 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 #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. 

Part 6 started with some shopping. after my first time going into The Cavern of Earth drained my supplies, i knew i had to go and get more as we'd be going down further into the dungeon. once i was fully stocked up, we went into The Cavern of Earth and came across the Earth Crystal's boss surprisingly fast. one of the problems with Part 5 is just how many battles it took to get anywhere. but here we got kinda lucky. the boss wasn't too difficult either. Defeating the boss played a short cutscene of a statue breaking apart, but that's not where i went next.

The guide i'm using wants me to go after the Fire Crystal next. i'm a little unsure if i've missed out on some sort of story beat or if it doesn't really matter. another example of this is at the start of the video when i went shopping. it was easy to go back to Cornelia but whilst there, i found a shadowy figure and i have no idea what that's about.

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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 5 - My First Visit To The Cavern Of Earth

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. 

Part 5 ended up being a little frustrating. getting to The Cavern Of Earth actually went easier than expected. it's what happened in their that ended up making this part fairly frustrating. there were soo many random battles. there were times when i could only move a step before facing off against enemies. Sure, i got money and experience but it slowed things right down. it took nearly 30 minutes to get to the boss, then i found out i couldn't make any more progress and had to get myself out of The Cavern Of Earth. Then things got frustrating once more as i was unable to make my way out for another 15 minutes or so.

Being in The Cavern Of Earth had used up all of my potions, and then i got back to Melmond only to find there was no general store. i have to go back into The Cavern Of Earth to try and go even deeper, but i'll have to go back to a city from earlier in my playthrough so i can stock up on essential supplies. So that's what'll happen 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

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 4 - My Journey To Melmond

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. 

At the end of Part 3 i mentioned how i didn't know where i needed to go after i went back to the Marsh Cave so i was lucky to have the guide to point me in the right direction. After the cave we headed back to locations from the start of the game and once we arrived i kinda started to remember that there were locked rooms previously.

So with all the back tracking done, i was once again lost on where to go. i didn't remember anyone in the story telling us where to go or even giving a hint. the guide i'm using is more general so i knew the rough direction on where to go, but as it doesn't have a map it still took some wandering around to get there. But once there the map opened up again and i thought best to head to the first town, use their inn, talk to the locals, and try and buy some stuff. Now we're in the town, by talking to people it seems like there's a crystal near by and that there's vampires!

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/QWXAyHh-R0s

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/95BsHWcN6K0

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/eMh6cvudEOA

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 3 - A Crown, An Eye, And A Tonic

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 decided to edit Part 3 like i would normally in this series, and like how Part 1 was edited, so that you get to see the whole journey from A to B. I think i'll keep doing this going forward.

Part 3 was interesting as we managed to finish the 3 main quests we were doing. After finding the Marsh i explored it's 3 floors and found some nice items and beat the boss of the Marsh. We got a crown. so net i had to give that crown to the king from Part 2, and once that was settled we got an eye. In Motoya's Cave, the witch needed her eye back so we set off back there and she gave us a special tonic. i headed back to the elf town and gave the tonic to their prince. feeling better, we obtained a special key and set off to open rooms that had been previously locked. 

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/QWXAyHh-R0s

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/95BsHWcN6K0

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 2 - Getting To The Western Keep

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. 

For Part 2 i wanted to try a different approach. normally, i show everything i do in a playthrough. but with the large number of random battles in Final Fantasy, i wanted to try cutting them out and only showing story progress. so whilst my recording was around 1 hour 20 minutes, with most of the random battles cut out it's less than 50 minutes! Let me know in the comments if this is a welcome change or if you'd prefer i stick to how it used to be. i may put up a community post asking for opinions.

Part 2, in terms of story, was also interesting as we got some things to do. We started in Matoya’s Cave and got a quest there. we visited Pravoka and defeated pirates, earning ourself a boat! next i visited Elfheim and we learned about their Prince and that became a quest. and finally we got to The Western Keep and found a King, who gave us our final quest.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/QWXAyHh-R0s

Backlog Conquering - Final Fantasy On PSP - Part 1 - Getting To Matoya’s Cave

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. I  have played most Final Fantasy games that came out on PlayStation or later but i haven't gone back and played the first 4 games. i have them on PSP so i thought it'd be fun to try out the first Final Fantasy game. this version came out from 2007 and it kept a lot from previous versions. for example, it's mostly built upon the GBA version but updated with the PSOne cinematics, changed to widescreen, and with improved graphics and sounds.

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. a great example is how the guide told me about going to the shops at the start of the game before i set off on my mission. i might've spoken with people in the town, but going shopping from the start wouldn't have been my first move.

Not too much happens in this part. i show off the XMB first before starting the game. then there's a cinematic that means nothing right now, and then it came to squad building. this i wasn't prepared for, i'm so used to playing a set team i wasn't quite ready to pick my own. so i took a few minutes to think it over and then the game started.

This Part shows the journey from meeting the king, saving the Princess, and journeying to Matoya's Cave.

Cloud Monday - Daxter - Part 2 - Trophies And Rewind Make This Great Game Easier To Recommend

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

It quickly became clear in Part 1, https://youtu.be/8O1Ue63OQ7Q, that the PlayStation Portable game #Daxter holds up today just like it did back in 2006. After that part and this, i can comfortably say that this is one of the best PS1/PS2/PSP games emulated on PS4 and PS5. Daxter was already well designed for a portable system, and things like great checkpoints, immediate respawns, and manual saves carry over into streaming this game from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service.

It's not perfect, there are some issues due to it's age and original platform it was developed for. there were times when i felt i was moving the camera and doing button presses faster than the emulated game could keep up with. this meant i was walking of ledges and not hitting enemies as i thought. this wasn't a huge issue, but something i noticed. something else is that it felt hard to walk in a straight line with Daxter. whilst out and about it wasn't a big issue but many levels have narrow ledges and platforms and more than once i ended up walking off and falling. thankfully, the emulated software has a rewind feature so i was able to quickly get back and try again.

Cloud Monday - Daxter - What Made It Great On PSP Makes It Great To Stream From The Cloud

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

Daxter originally came out on PlayStation Portable back in 2006 and it's a game i have played and finished. but it's been such a long time, i was excited to play it again. I've been looking at the new PS1, PS2, and PSP games that have been added to PS4 and PS5 via emulation, trying to find one that still holds up and isn't a novelty or a nostalgia recommendation. Daxter maybe the first one of these games that i've played that i would recommend as a game that still holds up. 

Daxter is smartly designed for the PSP. it's level's aren't too sprawling that they take ages to complete. there's a decent amount of platforming and things to do, but it can take 15-25 minutes to complete it. this may sound like that there'd be a lot of loss progress if there's a disconnection from the cloud streaming service. Daxter also has a great check point system and auto save system which helps alleviate those worries. The service does give us a 20 second warning first and Daxter seems to let us save anywhere in the game and it saves quickly.

These features are similar to what the emulated games can do. via the Options button you can chose to save or load at any point in the game. what the emulation software adds is the ability to rewind. but this isn't as big of deal as in other games because the game checkpoint frequently and is very fast to put us back in to the game.

Other benefits are that the game looks great. it was already a great looking PSP game, but it still holds up well in 1080p on PS4. our character, Daxter, is quite big on screen, as is other characters and things like text boxes and enemies, which mean if there are issues with stream tearing or macro blocking it's still fairly easy to work out what's happening and continue playing like nothing's wrong.

Today's gameplay was a little rough with my connection. i imagine it was a bandwidth issue more than anything. i would say that the camera does take a little getting used to. the emulation software has done a great job of mapping the controls to the right analogue stick and i found them responsive. but maybe they're a bit too responsive for the game itself. it was made with different controls in mind and sometimes i found myself fighting the game. this meant that there were moments where i failed to land a jump as i couldn't work out the 3D space well. But with the rewind feature, i wasn't too concerned. it's just a little frustrating quirk of the game.

Cloud Monday - Resistance: Retribution - Part 2 - The Streaming Experience Is Better Than The Game

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution  via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I have this game on #PlayStationPortable but it's been a very long time since i last played it. Playing Part 1, https://youtu.be/jEs97ouESk8, felt nostalgic but it was a different experience for me as i played it on the PSP rather than on TV using the Dual Shock 3 on PSP option. The only way to make that work well was to adjust the controller speed and overall it felt more difficult and intense than you would've expected for the start of the game.

Knowing that, i did think that part 2 was easier. not just that i had adjusted the controls to make it easier to play, but also it felt like the level design got a little easier. Still, it continued to be an intense experience with game design that made me wonder if this was a PS2 game that got switched to the PS3 because of how much of a console experience it felt like not just in levels design but also with how infrequent the auto save is and how long some sequences are.

Streaming it tho continued to be a great experience. If this was just the PSP game, i wouldn't recommend it. but because it's been ported to the PS4 and got manual saves and rewinds, it's something i can recommend. in this video there was a moment where the stream quality dipped and i got the connection warning but i didn't panic as i could use the manual save and quickly did so. 

So this still comes to down the game itself. like last week, streaming it from the cloud to us is great but is the game itself worth playing. across both parts there have been more technological issues with the game than streaming issues. with the controls being as bad as they are, this basic port makes a bad first impression and i wonder if they could've done more like automatically setting the control options faster. If you're a fan of Resistance, then this is the best way and easiest way to play this game. in that case it's easy to recommend. but i wouldn't recommend this game for people if this is their first Resistance game. I probably wouldn't recommend this to causal shooter fans either. But, personally, i am glad this does exist on PS4 and hope that it'll be further fixed and improved.

Cloud Monday - Resistance: Retribution - Part 1 - Adjust Controller Speeds To Make It More Playable

This week's Cloud Monday video is part1 of playing the PS4 version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution  via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I have this game on PlayStation Portable but it's been a very long time since i last played it. I don't remember much of it on PSP so i was eager to play it again. But i was also curious if this game, being designed around the portable nature and limited battery life of a handheld, would also share game design qualities that would make it a good game to stream from the cloud. 

It does and it doesn't is the simple answer. As a PSP game, it doesn't work well being streamed from the cloud for many reasons. the cutscenes are very long and numerous, the auto save is very infrequent, and there appear to be no manual saves. these don't work well on a service that can kick you off with just a 20 second warning.

But it does work because it's a PS4 and PS5 game. the upgrades the game has received isn't just to the graphics, but Resistance: Retribution now gets access to a rewind feature and manual saves. I showed numerous times that there was no issue using the rewind feature, and when the connection got rough and the warning appeared i was able to very quickly do a manual save from the PS4 game rather than from in side the PSP game.

So, if it's a game that's a great choice to play in the cloud the question then becomes is it a game worth playing. That's tough because Resistance: Retribution has a few issues. this PS4 and PS5 version has already received a patch and needs a few more as it's rough in places. what stood out the most was how out of sync the audio seemed. whether it was the voices, sound effects, or even the cutscenes, at times it didn't match what was happening on screen. then there are other technical issues like screen tearing. As a PSP game, it has another issue regarding the controls. it was a game that could be controlled via a Dual Shock 3 (PS3 controller) and that's how it's played on PS4 and PS5. but the controls are very slow and heavy and really need to be adjusted much faster. The in-game tutorials haven't been adjusted for this either so there was some real trial and error learning how to control it.

With all this learnt in Part 1, part 2 will be interesting as i can focus more on the streaming experience and hopefully play around some of the quirks of the game and this port. 

Cloud Monday - Super Stardust Portable - Part 2 - A Rougher Stream From PlayStation Plus Premium

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing Super Stardust Portable on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service.

I really enjoyed playing Super Stardust Portable on PS4 last week, https://youtu.be/zaOUq0mc6Qc, so i was looking forward to playing it for Part 2 of Cloud Monday. But this week, the streaming experience was much rougher than part 1. Last time, there were issues with macroblocking, but today we seemed to have all the major issues.

it got so rough that the streaming warning appeared for a time! there were stream tears, there were resolution drops, there was macroblocking, and there were times when it felt like it was slowing down and/or stuttering with the controls getting "heavy". there's a chance the latter could also be caused due to the game itself, rather than it being streamed to me. There were a couple of moments when the amount of enemies and particles on screen was really high and this was coupled with streaming/playing issues. 

It's still a fun game to play, but out of the two days i played this game today's issues negatively impacted my enjoyment of it, but it was still mostly playable. if you do have issues, downloading and installing the game is an option, but the point of this series is to see what the streaming experience is like.

Cloud Monday - Super Stardust Portable - Part 1 - A Little Rough At Times But Playable

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing Super Stardust Portable on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service.

I have actually played the PSP version more recently than any other version of Super Stardust, so choosing to play the PS4 version of the PSP game was a bit of a guilty pleasure. i really enjoy the series and was always impressed with what they pulled off on PSP. I didn't go into this PS4 version thinking that everything would be fine. Every version of this game is known for particles and those are typically what streaming services can struggle with.

But i don't think they were an issue. Macroblocking seemed to be the biggest issue i came across. and much like with the recent Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom videos, this games relatively simple art style made it very noticeable when it happened.

i wouldn't say there were any issues with the controls, which is great in a game like this. it was very playable. but the macroblocking and, whilst often very brief, unknown strange happenings did make things a little distracting. it could be that because i'm familiar with the game, i was able to focus more on the game and ignore the minor stuff happening to the stream.

Cloud Monday - Key of Heaven - The First Hour

In today's Cloud Monday, I'm playing Key of Heaven (Also known as Kingdom of Paradise). this was originally released on PlayStation Portable, PSP, and is now available on PS4 and PS5. I'm playing the game on my PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming service.

In today's video, i play the first hour of the game. Whilst i knew of the game, i didn't really know what to expect. so, i was a little surprised that in the first hour of the game there isn't too much to do. There's a lot of story and exposition. There are some battles and for the most part they are easy. but the final battle in the video was truly difficult.

As for the streaming quality, i don't have anything major to report. i found that the game played quite well. there was a little artifacting/macro blocking in the pause menu, but whilst i was playing the game i had no trouble. i'd go so far as to say that the game itself got in the way more than any cloud streaming stuff.

Natsume Announce Mystic Chronicles Comes To PSP And PS VIta On 16th July For $14.99

Natsume have announced Kemco's PSP game, which is playable on the PS Vita, Mystic Chronicles has a USA release date. the game will be released on the PSN for $14.99 on 16th July. Mystic Chronicles is a retro 16-bit RPG that follows the story of Lux, could his world be turned upside down and have him saving the world? Mystic Chronicles features a Guardian Beast system which has you pairing a godlike beast to each character and then setting their AI.

Screenshots


Press Release

Gaijinworks And Monkey Paw Have Released A Launch Trailer For Class Of Heroes II

Gaijinworks And Monkey Paw have released a launch trailer for Class Of Heroes II. this video introduces several of the characters and shows the world and battle system. Gaijinworks reveal this "Western" release of the game has been slightly changed over the Japanese version, they call this version a little more generous so you'll get more gold and experience meaning the game is less of a grind. there is also a new Game+ that will feature extra hard labyrinths, on top of the over 125 you play through in the main game.

Konami Announce Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, Coming Later This Year To PS3, Xbox 360, PSP And PC

Konami have revealed Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 (PES 2014) and announced it's only coming to PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and PC. Konami have announced that the game will run on the Fox Engine, developed by Kojima Productions, and call the move the most comprehensive advance for the PES range since it's inception. this move has allowed every aspect of PES 2014 to be reworked. the main theme Konami have worked with is fluidity, the constant moving of players and switching positions which represent modern football. 

Konami say there are six central tenets that will make PES 2014 the new benchmark in football simulations, you can read in more detail after the break but basically these are the main points provided by Konami:

• True Ball Tech: For the first time in a football simulation, PES 2014centres everything on the ball: how it moves, and how players use it. First touch and sublime control are what set certain players apart from others. The ability to not only read a pass, but to be one step ahead and to know what is needed to gain yards on an encroaching defender. TrueBall Tech allows the player to trap or knock on a pass using the analogue stick with detailed barycentric physics determining the weight shift of the player and the height and speed of the pass, as to how the player’s body will automatically shape to receive it.

• Motion Animation Stability System (M.A.S.S.): The physical combat between players is a vital part of any match, and the new M.A.S.S. component simulates the bodily contact between multiple players within bespoke animations that segue seamlessly into each other. Rather than a series of preset animations that occur under specific circumstances, M.A.S.S. acts instantly to any situation, with the reaction of a fouled player entirely dependent on the direction and force with which they are tackled. Dependent on factors such as their size and power, players will stumble but instantly recover if clipped, barge others off the ball, and use their stature to block players from possession. Similarly, PES 2014 now has more styles of tackle, as opposed to basic foot in or sliding types.

• Heart: Defining what makes football so engrossing is difficult. It isn’t a technical thing, but more an emotional hook. Matches can be imposing for visiting teams, as home support barracks the opposition, and acts as the infamous ‘twelfth man’ by cheering their side on. PES 2014’s ‘Heart aims to recreate the effects of team support, both on an individual player basis and across the entire team.

• PES ID: PES 2013 set a new bar for realism, with its inclusion of the Player ID system. For the first time, players could instantly recognise a player by their faithfully recreated running and play styles. The way a player ran, moved and spread the ball about would be identical to that of their real-life counterpart, and PES 2013 featured 50 players that utilised the system.

• Team Play: Via the new game’s innovative Combination Play users can set up a variety of different tactics in key areas of the pitch using three or more players. These players will make very different off-the-ball runs to exploit holes in the defence or midfield, using the flanks, curved runs, or overlapping play to make themselves available. These moves can be preset to key areas of the field, allowing users to exploit defensive weaknesses beforehand. For PES 2014, that number will be greatly expanded, with twice as many stars featuring bespoke animations and AI.

• The Core: PES Productions have undertaken several years of consultation with PES and football fans to reproduce key elements of the series and implement a wide range of additional improvements.

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Konami have confirmed PES 2014 will be the first game in the series to have the Asia Champions League and it will also exclusively retain the use of the UEFA Champions League club competition.

Press Release