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

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

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

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

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

Cloud Monday - Legasista - Part 2 - The Cloud Is An OK Way To Play If You Don't Have A PS3

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Legasista via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

After over 2 hours of gameplay, i wasn't able to finish the tutorial for Legasista so there are still some questions i have about this game that i wasn't able to answer, the main being whether you're able to save in the dungeons or not. during the tutorial, i wasn't able to, but i wondered if in longer dungeons if there would be save options. if you know, please let me know in the comments.

You're able to manually save before you enter dungeons in the hub world. there is an auto save option that has to be turned on. it will save when you return from a dungeon but as we found out in this video it won't save until character conversations have finished. there is an option to press Start to skip the conversations to try and trigger the auto save or manual save, but there doesn't seem to be a way to read the conversation that was skipped.

Having some way to manually save is better than nothing. Legasista is also a game that hasn't been re-released on other platforms, it's only on PlayStation 3. so streaming it from the cloud is an OK way to play the game if you don't have access to a PS3. but it's not perfect and a disconnection could set you back a lot if there's no way to save in a multi level dungeon.

Cloud Monday - Legasista - Part 1 - Unable To Save In The Starting Slow Tutorial Dungeons

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS3 version of Legasista via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

Legasista is a game i own on PlayStation 3 but not one i remember starting so whilst this isn't a Backlog Conquering video it's adjacent to that playlist as well as this Cloud Monday playlist.

Some of the PS3 RPG's i've played for this playlist have done well and been fine streamed from the cloud. in Legasista, you're able to save before you go into a dungeon and, if you turn it on in the options, the game will auto save when you come out of the dungeons. but at the moment i've been unable to save whilst i'm in the dungeon. so far, i've only been doing tutorial dungeons so there's a chance that when i get to the "real" dungeons the situation will change. you'll have to come back for part 2 where i hope to make it that far into the game.

I had a solid stream from the cloud today and noticed no visual artifacts in the video we were watching. there was maybe 1 or 2 slight audio blips, but other than that even the controls were good today. If i were to get macro blocking, there's a good chance it wouldn't matter too much. the background assets repeat frequently, so if some of them were a bit blocky because of the macro blocking, i would still be able to understand it as those assets are used elsewhere. The characters don't have fine detail, but they do make great use of lighting and are quite big on screen, so whilst it would be noticeable, we would still be able to understand what's happening. the text tho is my main concern. there doesn't seem to be a way to make it bigger and i've been unable to bring up the text log of what's been previously said, even tho it's in the options. with the game audio in Japanese, and no way to change that, macro blocking in the text could be detriment to the story.

Cloud Monday - Cyberpunk 2077 - PT2 - Shooting Is Affected By Controller Lag

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I noticed it in the first video, especially during the tutorial, that there's noticeable lag in controller inputs. for the most part, most other games i've played as part of this series haven't had this issue. the worst i remember was Rogue Legacy 2, but that had in it's options a "BETA" feature to improve latency in the controls at the expense of some screen tearing. a quick look in the options showed that the game seemed to be in a console controller mode and couldn't be made more sensitive. 

What this mostly means is that it's going to take longer to adjust to the games shooting mechanics. i personally found it difficult to aim and keep the aim constantly on an enemy. it's hard to say this early into such a long game whether this is something you can adjust to your self or if you're able to spec your character, by stats or equipment, in such a way that it minimises the negative effects. If you play this game via the Cloud, it'll be interesting to hear from you how you dealt with the shooting and controller lag. the tutorial does show how you can use hacking and melee combat so you're not strictly forced to always use guns. it could be a simple change of play style at the start of the game, until upgrades and better equipment make the shooting better, is how you should play it.

The quality of the video stream we got in this part wasn't as good as it was in Part 1. it was mostly Stream Tearing, where one or two of the frames of video we got were lacking information, so there were little bits of gray on screen. in a game as stylised as Cyberpunk 2077 it was noticeable and whilst it didn't affect my gameplay i can see how it happening whilst driving or during a shoot out would be quite a negative experience. In this part i did get to the infamous driving shoot out section and it was rough. the framerate dropped lower than i had experienced up to this point and this made the shooting even worse. this wasn't a streaming issue, this is just the game.

It's difficult to say whether Cyberpunk 2077 is a game better streamed than downloaded to console. it already has it's own issues regardless of how you play it. But streaming it does seem to add one or two more. it's a big download and it's not going to get patched anymore or get any of the DLC so i think i would prefer to stream this from the Cloud rather than having it take up space on my HDD. the streaming experience isn't great but it doesn't detract from the game too much. Let me know in the comments what you chose to do.

Check out Part 1 at - https://youtu.be/ALv_ddXCx9Q

Cloud Monday - Cyberpunk 2077 - PT1 - Many Save Options And Frequent Auto Saves, But It Did Crash!

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 is quite infamous as the game was removed from the PSN because of the state of it at launch. it's 5 years later and the game has received numerous patches since launch and it's now available to play from the cloud. at around 64GB, cloud streaming such a big game is an interesting option so i was curious how it would hold up.

I haven't played this game before, nor do i have anything that can play this game other than the PS4, so for me the version of the game i get from the cloud looked great, apart from people's faces as for the most part the people we met kinda looked ugly. i also enjoyed the soundtrack. there were no audio issues from streaming it and the video quality was solid throughout, even with film grain turned on in the options.

But something that was immediately noticeable from the start was control lag. It's very rare for this to happen and so far only Rouge Legacy 2 had an option to solve it for cloud streaming. In Cyberpunk 2077 it's noticeable in two situations mainly, navigating the UI and gunplay. Cyberpunk 2077 does have extensive options, but there's nothing listed for cloud streaming. the options seem to say that they've been adjust for an optimum console experience, but don't say anything about a cloud streaming experience. it's too early to say if this will be an issue as we might be able to adjust to it over time or we may get upgrades which improve our shooting abilities.

As with any game being streamed, being able to save quickly or having a frequent auto save is very important. if we're going to be disconnected, there's only a 20 second warning before. by pressing options we're greeted with a couple of save options but neither explain what they do. unfortunately, we'll find out in Part 2 how good the auto save feature is as in this part, Cyberpunk 2077 crashes. 

i had just finished the tutorial, and it's a pretty good one showcasing that there are many different ways in dealing with enemies. but in the transition from tutorial back to the game, it seemed like the game hanged. it's a familiar experience to me as this happens on my PS4 when i play many Unity games and can be seen in my Foamstars live streams. but unlike in my experience when things continue like nothing had happened, in Cyberpunk 2077 the screen was very wrong and i couldn't use the options. i had no choice but to quit the game, so tune into Part 2 next week to see whether the auto save triggered after i completed the tutorial or not.

Cloud Monday - Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension - Part 2 - It's Fun And Not Just For Kids

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS3 version of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension 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 but the auto save is frequent enough. after playing this part, it feels like that if there is a disconnection you could lose as little as 5 minutes of progress. it's not perfect but it's better than a lot of games we've played in this series. 

Playing a couple of hours of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension has also shown how many different gameplay styles there are. in this video we have some traditional platforming, we have a flying sequence similar to Space Harrier, there's even a sequence where we set up turrets and fight off waves of enemies. none of these gameplay types over stay their welcome which means for me that across both parts time seemed to fly.

I've said a few times now that i've never watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb, nor have i watched the movie this game is tied-in with. there are some characters and situations i don't know the back story for. but in general, the story has been fine, the characters have been good, and it's not been too quippy either. with the shifting gameplay styles and mini-game breaks, i would recommend Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension as a game that's good for kids to play, but also for those who, like me, don't know much about the show and haven't watched it as the game doesn't require this knowledge from it's players. 

Cloud Monday - Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension - Part 1 - Frequent Auto, No Manual Saves

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS3 version of Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

I've never watched an episode of the Phineas and Ferb cartoon but i am aware of the cartoon. i thought that maybe the audience would be younger than those who watched the Ratatouille which might mean a different take on a platformer. Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension did come out around 3 years after the Ratatouille game.

One of the key things we look for is the game's save system. when you only get a 20 second warning before being disconnected, being able to save or know when you last did is very important. unfortunately, Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension does not have manual saves. the game does have an auto save system which uses the PlayStation 3 saving icon instead of creating one unique to the game. the auto save system is fairly robust, most often saving when entering a new location/room as well as when you complete the mini game between levels.

The gameplay was quite fun. most of the mechanics i've come across so far are simple and when there's been puzzle stuff it's been easy to work out. the tutorial has popped up each time something new has been introduced and has been rather useful. shooting also has some sort of aim assist on, so if you shoot forward it'll hit enemies above and below you.

So far, my experience with Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension has been much more pleasant than across 2 parts with Ratatouille.

Cloud Monday - Bluey: The Videogame - Part 2 - Frequent Auto Saves Work Well With Game's Design

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Bluey: The Videogame on #PS4, via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

Returning to Bluey, after Part 1, let me focus more on the game's design. we learned that it does not have a manual save and we know what to look for when it auto saves. Now i could focus on the gameplay, it was clear just how frequent the Auto Save in Bluey actually is.

There is a story in Bluey and each part of that story is broken up into segments. each of those segments is broken up into small gameplay chunks. a good example in Part 2 is when we went looking for treasure. the story was we went looking for it with our family and grandad. but that is broken into walking sections, platforming, and cleaning sections. each of these is tied together by conversations. so you'd walk for a minute, some talking would happen, then it auto saves as you start the next platforming section.

When PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is going to disconnect you, it only gives us a 20 second warning. across both parts it's clear that if this happens during the story there's a high probability you've just triggered the auto save or are about to. if you're disconnected, your only going to loose a minute or two of gameplay.

Walking around and collecting stuff outside of the story mode is even better as each time you pick up a collectable, it auto saves. early on this means you're saving very frequently. if you get the disconnection warning, i don't see it as much of an issue. you have either just picked up something, are about to pick up something, or are looking and now know where not to look.

I will say that Bluey is a great game to stream from the cloud. But, whilst the game's design works well on the platform, it's fair to say the game itself comes with it's own amount of jank. so whether it's worth playing or streaming is up to you.

Check out Part 1 for more:

https://youtu.be/wtJFAazufNE

Cloud Monday - Bluey: The Videogame - Part 1 - No Manual Saves But Very Frequent Auto Saves

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

It's been a while since i had a look at a kids game as part of this series, and a modern one at that. The emulated PSP games on PS4/PS5 include kid's games like Up and we have seen with Daxter, https://youtu.be/5-KKF2d-rv4, that those games are easy to recommend to stream from the Cloud. i was wondering if a modern PS4 release would be designed with the Cloud in mind itself.

The quick answer is I don't know! Whilst Bluey: The Videogame doesn't have manual saves, it does save very frequently. it's possible this design decision was made with kids in mind rather than streaming it from the Cloud, but what ever the case streaming it does benefit. It would be nice if the game said what the auto save icon was. after playing a while i noticed a green insect appearing in the bottom right so i tested it. i quit the game after it appeared and reloaded the save. i was right back where i was with all progress.

So, if you're curious about Bluey: The Videogame, but don't want to download it. it does seem that streaming is a good way to play it. an added bonus to streaming is that the game is already up to date, so i was playing with all the additional content and fixes. but Bluey: The Videogame is still a bit rough and jankey. it's not the best game playing experience. 

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.

Cloud Monday - Battlefield 2042 - Part 2 - Go To "Portal" And "Browse" For Online Matches

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Battlefield 2042 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, i was unable to find an online match. so my goal in this Part was to try every online game mode and give said mode 5 minutes to find a game. Because i did this, i found where the Battlefield 2042 community is, they're in the Portal Section, so use the Browse option to pick the best game near you.

The video i got from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming service wasn't as good as in Part 1, nor was the audio. with how short you're alive for in this game, the visual issues weren't much of a problem. but the audio was a little frustrating. it sounded either low quality or like it was too loud for the speaker but then that sound is played back to me at a normal sound. 

What was frustrating about Battlefield 2042 in Part 1 continued here. if the community is all in one place, why haven't the developers changed the UI to send us straight there. there was a Conquest 64 mode being highlighted instead. it baffles me why the developers chose to copy the poor Call of Duty UI and then have no tutorial for how it plays. i still don't know how to lay on the ground.

But with how bad the game is, streaming it does become an option. there's not much of a community behind it so installing the game onto your PS4 could be seen as a waste of space. but now we can stream it from the cloud, well you can check which, if any, modes are populated without having it take up space on your PS4.

Cloud Monday - Battlefield 2042 - Part 1 - Unwelcoming For New Players, No Online Matches Found

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Battlefield 2042 on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

It turned out i knew nothing of this game. i thought it was a traditional Battlefield game in that it would have a single player mode and a multiplayer mode. but from this video it looks like there's only online mulitplayer.

Apart from a cool opening cinematic, the rest of my experience with Battlefield 2042 wasn't great. there was no tutorial, it placed us into a game mode that resembled some sort of Dynasty Warriors Muso game. but with no context, i set of walking to the objective not understanding how large the map was. there was no tutorial on the controls. there were tiny icons with controls on them but when selected they had even tinnier text. 

What was frustrating about this first mission we did was how un prepared for it i was. if i new there were going to be tanks, i wouldn't have picked a class that can't deal with them. i never found a weapon to deal with tanks either. it was weird that the game made us choose a class without really telling us what the class does or even how suited it would be for the map we're forced to play. it's an immediate example, and one that's repeated over and over in this video, of the game simply not giving us the information we need.

I have tried on 3 separate occasions 3 different Call of Duty games, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 https://youtu.be/-F5LygJiO2U, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War https://youtu.be/Iudl4sz5Kd8, and Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile https://youtu.be/4PhpBH6yceQ, and all 3 games have the same problem with poor UI and a poor user experience. i don't know why Battlefield 2042 has copied this. what's weird is that there are great accessibility options presented to us before the game starts and then we're presented with some copy of the Call of Duty messy home screen and interface. it really made me think that the game isn't designed for new players, rather they set out to poach Call of Duty players by offering them a familiar experience. 

Once i worked out that this was a multiplayer only game i set about to trying it. i picked a mode and after some waiting the game would connect me to a match. But it didn't. It says "Game Searching" so i understand what that means. then it changed to "Game Starting" but what happened next was not what i expected. instead of joining a game or lobby, it actually created a lobby for me and we have to wait for people to join. in this video, no one ever did. i don't know what region the servers are connecting to as that was never revealed to me. all i can say from this first video, or two, is that no one is playing Battlefield 2042 online. even with cross platform play enabled.

The stream held up fine and i noticed no issues with the video or audio. but this PS4 version was suffering from long load times, pop-in, and the image quality didn't feel 1080p, rather it felt a little soft and under textured. 

Cloud Monday - Sand Land - Part 2 - I'd Recommend Streaming It From The Cloud

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Sand Land on PS4, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4. My laptop crashed whilst recording this video so my audio is from my backup, from my Mini Disc MZ-RH10 player.

Part 1, https://youtu.be/rKMnNyzb70s, went very well. it was a near perfect streaming experience that allowed us to focus on the game itself. the streaming experience in this part wasn't as great, but it was solid enough for me to come to the conclusion that Sand Land is a great game to stream from the cloud.

we learned that we get access to manual saves very early in the game. in this part we found where the auto saves are listed and that we get useful information like the time of the auto save. this means, when we get the 20 second warning before disconnection it is easy to manually save. a concern i had specific to this game was the sand, dust, and particles on screen. some streaming services, including YouTube, struggle with this and it can result in a degraded video being streamed to us. across both parts, i felt that the video we got never changed.

Visually, Sand Land looks fantastic on my PS4 and with how big the characters are on screen, when we had a little stream tearing it never really got in the way of us seeing what was on the screen. whilst we didn't have it in either of these parts, i would suspect that Macro Blocking would also not be much of an issue because of how big the art is and how it isn't reliant on fine details.

We're early into the game, How long to Beat says Sand Land is about a 20 hour game, so there could be issues later into the game. but there was nothing in these two parts that has got me concerned. if you're interested in Sand Land, streaming it from the Cloud is a great way to experience the game and i'd recommend doing so.

Cloud Monday - Sand Land - Part 1 - Video Isn't Effected By Sand, Quick To Get Access To Saves

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

I checked out the DEMO for Sand Land, https://youtu.be/Vb6Z6DHvTJ4, back in March 2024 so i knew what to expect from the game. the difference here is that back then, the demo was installed on my PS4 and this time it's being streamed from the cloud to my PS4. What i'm focusing with Cloud Monday is how the game's save system works and whether or not all the sand dust in the air makes the drops the quality of the video i'm watching, much like how YouTube struggles with fireworks and confetti. 

This was one of the clearest streams to my PS4 i've had in a long time. if there were any issues, they didn't last more than a second. the game looked great throughout and the stream didn't seem to have any issues with the sand and dust. i didn't notice any drop in bitrate or resolution whilst playing this part of Sand Land.

The game makes it clear what the auto save symbol is and i did clearly see it during gameplay. but, i was never able to see the actual auto save file. so, at the end of this video, my guess is that it auto saved after the fight but i'm not too sure and would have to check my video. Thankfully, i got access to the manual saves in less than 10 minutes. getting to the save option and saving also seemed quick. on PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service, we're only given a 20 second warning before we're disconnected. unless we're in a cutscene, which we can skip, getting to the save menu and saving should be fine.

It's only been 1 hour, but i've enjoyed my time with the game. the characters are fun, the world has an interesting story, and it looks great on my base PS4. i'm looking forward to the next part and maybe i'll keep playing it in my own time.

Cloud Monday - Humankind - Part 2 - Great Fit For Cloud Gaming, Poor Fit For Consoles

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing #Humankind on #PS4 via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model #PlayStation4.

In Part 1 we learned that the game saves after each turn and that it also has manual saves, too. this already makes it a great fit for being played in the Cloud as we're only given a 20 second warning before a disconnection. but by the end of that video, i was starting to wonder if the console port was actually worth playing.

i could hear audio issues and now we've had a much smoother streaming experience in this Part 2 i feel like the audio is just poor in the game. This PS4 port also felt like a degraded version of the game because of the visuals. we got to meet more characters in this part and each of them looked low quality. from my recordings, i know that the game isn't 1080p either, tho i don't have the ability to determine what resolution it runs at. But the thing that bugged me the most about this port was the apparent decision to prioritise esthetics of accessibility. 

The menus are a joke. you'd really have to get right up close to your TV to read them and the game has no options to increase the size of them either. the tutorials were also frustrating because of their size but also in their timing. there were other minor inconveniences like the camera and cursor being separate meant that i would often see something i'd want my troops to investigate but would have to wait for the cursor to manually move from where it was, resetting the camera to that spot.

There were aspects of the game that gave me the "one more turn" vibe and you can see that by the end of this part. but it wasn't satisfying, i wasn't enjoying my time with the game. so whilst this game is a good fit for being streamed from the cloud, i don't think it's a good fit on the PS4.

Cloud Monday - Humankind - Part 1 - Auto Saves Every Turn Make It A Good Choice For Cloud Streaming

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

I don't have too much experience with games of this genre in recent years. So a part of me went into this video expecting things to be slow but also hoping for a great tutorial. i found the tutorial to be disappointing throughout this video but thankfully it wasn't slow. Humankind not only plays at a decent speed it also is very quick in between turns. It's just that it doesn't give out information, and when it does it was often a turn behind or even getting in the way of what it was trying to show. thankfully for Humankind, the focus of this series is checking out how suitable a game is for being streamed from the cloud.

it was hugely surprising that the game never showed us or told us how the auto save system works. Soul Hackers 2, the previous game in this series, made it clear what the auto save was, when it worked, and proudly displayed it on screen when it did. With Humankind, i didn't discover that it was auto saving until i went hunting for the manual saves. thankfully, the manual saves were clearly labelled so it was easy to work out that the game is saving at every turn. that is fantastic news, as we the player are only ever given a 20 second warning before we're disconnected from the game. this means, if our turn is just starting we can wait out the countdown. if we're finishing or have finished our turn we can press square to end our turn and the game will auto save for us, and of course there are manual saves.

Whilst this aspect of the game was great, playing it was rougher than i would like. it didn't come across as very welcoming to new players to the genre. it also wasn't very accessible in some respects because i was unable to increase the size of anything. i don't sit close to my TV and it's not that big, so there were times when i couldn't work out what buttons it was showing via pictures.

Going into Part 2, what i will be interested in is if the time between turns grows larger and larger. at the moment, saving and ending turns seems very quick and under 20 seconds. but if it grows too large, maybe even the auto save won't be great.

Cloud Monday - Soul Hackers 2 - Part 2 - I Would Recommend Streaming This From The Cloud!

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

It's a bold title but one i stand behind, i do recommend streaming Soul Hackers 2 from the Cloud to your PS4/PS5. it's not like a 10/10 rating as that initial wait for manual saves to unlock is far too long and there is soo much talking across both these parts that if we did get the countdown we'd be loosing out on story so we could save manually. But once it's unlocked, i was able to save even with an enemy rushing to attack me.

It's not just the manual save either. at the start of this part we got a basic breakdown as to what happened previously, when i played for Part 1. so a re-cap is very much welcomed. There's another bonus, one i only spoke about today for the first time in a video but for those who have caught the Live Streams it's something i've mentioned before. Unity typically runs poorly on these launch model PS4s so being able to stream the game was great as it enabled me to play the game at a better quality than if i had played it locally on my own PS4. 

I went into the options early on this part and changed the camera sensitivity and it instantly made the camera movements much better. it was just a slight change and one i would recommend. 

Soul Hackers becomes one of very few RPG's that i would recommend streaming from the cloud. if you are curious about this game, streaming it would be not only a safe way to try it out but a way to carry on playing it if you enjoy it. i'm playing it with a focus on story and for me i'm enjoying that balance but i can see how the combat and demon capturing/training mechanics would be more important and perhaps more interesting at higher difficulty levels.

Cloud Monday - Soul Hackers 2 - Part 1 - Over 50 Minutes Before Manual Saves Unlock

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

I'm still looking for a RPG that's suitable for being streamed from the Cloud that can rival the best, Disgaea D2 from Nippon Ichi on PS3. Soul Hackers 2 is a recent addition to the Cloud Streaming service so i was curious how a more recent release from Atlus would work.

The game starts with a FMV introduction that saw a little stream tearing and the occasional audio issue that sounded like the volume was peaking. but for the most part is was clear and an exciting introduction to the game. that audio issue appeared a few times during this stream. it will be interesting to see if this continues in part 2.

the game does make it clear what the auto save looks like, but it doesn't make it clear until much later when the game does auto save. throughout this video i was paying attention to the conversations to see if the game would auto save after a conversation or even during one. but i don't remember it doing so. so if we get the 20 second warning of disconnection, skipping the story conversations is probably not going to trigger and auto save.

About 52 minutes in we finally got access to the manual saves and it was here that the game told us when it auto saves, not when it introduced the auto saves at the start of the game. it'll be interesting in part 2 to see how frequently we're able to auto save.

Whilst there was the occasional audio issue, i didn't notice any lag in the controls or anything that i can say was an issue from streaming it. for me, it was fine being streamed to me. but until i got the manual saves i was concerned that this would be another game that wouldn't have manual saves. now i have it, i'm looking forward to part 2 to see how the experience goes. 

Cloud Monday - Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition - Part 1 - Unclear Saves Or Penalties

This week's new Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I chose this game for a particular reason, i wanted to see how well an online multiplayer focused game would work being streamed to me. normally, it would be a console talking to online servers, and those servers talking back. but with Cloud Streaming, it's my PS4 to the Cloud Server, the Cloud Server to the multiplayer server, back to the Cloud Server, and then back to my PS4. This series has shown that playing games from the Cloud is mostly fine but i wondered if this extra link in the chain would bring noticeable lag in a game mode that typically needs fast reactions.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition is either smartly designed, lucky, or a bit of both because how the weapons work in this game is slower than typical first person online shooters. it reminded me of how on PS3, the Killzone games were slower because of input lag but the game was built around this idea of slower responses because of the weight of everything. because Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition has this build up in the proton pack before it fires, it completely hides any and all lag that could come from being streamed to me.

As i haven't played other online shooters for Cloud Monday, i don't know how the others manage it, but as i've only tried Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition i have to be critical over the lack of information. I couldn't see the game auto saving so i have no idea if saves are limited to the completion of online matches or more than that. there's also no way for me to manually save. even going back to the main menu wasn't clear if anything was saving. If our connection to PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming service degrades, we're only given a 20 second warning before disconnection. With Part 1, i don't know if i can force a save by looking for a match, from having a conversation, or anything. But with an online game there's an extra concern. if i'm in a match and i get the 20 second warning and then i'm disconnected, what happens? am i given a timeout penalty for not finishing the game? i feel like Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition could use the home menu at the start of the game to give Cloud Streaming players information on when the saves are and penalties for not finishing a game, like Press L3 and a text box comes up and details it all.

So after Part 1, there's good and bad when playing Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed - Ecto Edition in the Cloud. one positive must be that i found matches quickly and even in my first games i was able to contribute even if a little.