Cloud Monday - Rogue Legacy 2 - Part 2 - Rough Streaming Leads to Run Anxiety

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing the newly released Rogue Legacy 2 via the PlayStation Plus Premium service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

In part 1, https://youtu.be/WzCKzpCKwXA, the streaming was a little rough at the start but was great for most of it. in part 2, this video, it was more rough. more than once the warning symbol appeared! at least once i couldn't see what the issue was, but for the others it was clear on screen what the issues were.

Even tho there were issues, i'd say that it didn't get in the way of the gameplay. controlling and navigating the world was still possible, it's more a visual thing. But in a run based game like Rogue Legacy 2, it can be anxiety inducing. there seems to be no way to save mid run, so each time the warning symbol appeared it did get to me a little. i say in the video that my only option is to die. it's a shame that even tho Sony's making a push for cloud streaming, there doesn't seem to be much effort in dealing with these issues like my adding save states.

Ultimately, i had a great time playing Rogue Legacy 2. it's an improvement over the first game, which itself was good game that i finished, and i'm sure i've just scratched the surface of the story and world. But, is it a game to stream? i'd say the first hour or so is probably fine. but the further you go into the game and the longer the runs become, it might be less anxiety inducing to install the game than stream it. 

Switch Funday - Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - An Fun First Hour

For Switch Funday, i decided to play a game i now regret to have not played earlier. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a game i've had in my Switch back catalogue for a long time now and i don't really know why i've not played it.

Going in, i had a rough idea as what to expect. when this game came out back in 2017, it was all over podcasts, websites, and most video game places i visited. thankfully i have either forgotten discussions about the story or i managed to avoid it because i had no idea how they'd bring these two worlds together.

the introduction movie tells the story of how our world, the Rabbids world, and the Mushroom Kingdom collide with someone inventing a merging device here, the Rabbids visiting and taking/breaking it, before their washing machine vehicle gets hit creating a wormhole of sorts to the Mushroom Kingdom where further damage is done by out of control merged Rabbids leaving it up to Mario and a couple of hero Rabbids to save the day. it's ridiculous but in a fun way and the cinematic looks great!

the game starts introducing battle mechanics and teaches us across a few battles very well. but it's not perfect, i didn't fully understand the jump mechanic or the need for it nor does it mention that i can't slide afterwards. the tutorial also didn't mention anything about character health so when i lost Mario, i really didn't know what was going to happen. the next battle he was back with 10 health, but i had to find that out for myself. another thing the game doesn't tell you about are the items in the mystery boxes i found. it wasn't until i got to Peach's castle that things were explained. but this was quite a while into the play session.

Other than that, for the first hour i don't really have any other complaints. i had a great time with it, better than i imagined i would have. it looks fantastic and during it i remember saying how dense the world looks. the battles are fun, if a little lacking with no recovery options so far, and the Rabbids haven't worn out their welcome so far. i do worry that there'll be a time when they do, but for a first hour it's a really good one. I've seen that this game can be over 20 hours long so i do worry if the story and game mechanics can support something that long. let me know in the comments if it does.

Online Saturday - Tetris 99 - 34th Maximus Cup - Pikmin 4 Edition

Welcome to Online Saturday!

Today i'm playing Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. This weekend it's a special event where you can earn a Pikmin 4 theme by earning 100 points in the 34th Maximus Cup.

Maximus Cups are a welcomed reason to pop back into Tetris 99. of course the goal is to get enough points but the other goal is to try and win. I've played Tetris 99 a lot but i've never managed to win. unfortunately, i didn't win today either. i got a couple of top 15 finishes, but it's really tough.

It's a nice theme, tho i'm not too sure about the music. Let me know how the cup went for you. did you get a win?

Backlog Conquering - Foul Play - Part 4 - Finishing the Third Play

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

This is part 4 of playing Foul Play on PlayStation 4.

In this part i finished the third play and did the first act in the fourth play. i've nearly finished the game as after the fourth play there's only a couple of acts in the fifth play.

This went really well. some new trophies were a welcomed bonus and i even managed to get a couple of 5 stars for the first time, too. at times it felt fairly easy to play. as i've gone on, i've unlocked new moves which has made the combat easier to do but also easier to manage the enemies. this meant that i was finally able to get 5 stars. the enemies themselves were a mix of easy to deal with baddies with swords and annoying combo breakers that either used tentacles or electricity.

The stories continue to be interesting and our main characters are delightful. together, those things are what's driving me forward and wanting to complete the game. i feel that, and have done since the start, the combat takes a little too long and there's too much of it. so if you try this game, go for the easier difficulty so you can enjoy the story and characters more.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Suou Cup - Achievement Run

Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!

I play and earn all the achievements from The Suou Cup! (2023/7/3 9:00～2023/7/10 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

It was nice to be up against human opponents in each game that i played. i managed to get a couple of wins early on, but i was up against some really tough players in the last few matches. i still managed top 3 finishes, but this is yet again another video where i managed to get to the boss but i wasn't able to defeat them. at least once tho i got the boss below half health!

This week i played against:

あーし - Rank 69

パーリナイ・ギャル - Rank 59

チーうし - Rank 64

WHZ - Rank 61

スージーとブヒブヒ - Rank 94

Cloud Monday - Rogue Legacy 2 - Part 1 - Enable Super Inputs For A Better Experience.

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing the newly released Rogue Legacy 2 on PlayStation Plus Premium.

I have played and completed, tho not platinumed, the original game on PS3 and was looking forward to playing the sequel. i know on PC the game was released in early access and built upon until it got it's release. So i had high expectations.

I feel that it mostly met them. it looks amazing and at it's core is the original game that i had soo much fun with. but there's soo much more added content and added accessibility. i also appreciate that it's honest and clearly explains what the options do and some of the negatives of those options.

The only issue i can't work out is whether the controller lag is the game, playing it via the cloud, or a combination of both. it was almost instantly noticeable from the beginning, enough that i had to go into the options and turn on  Enable Super Inputs. whilst this instantly made the game feel better to play, it did add screen tearing and it was noticeable. 

As for streaming, the first few minutes were a little rough with an occasional Macroblocking issue and Stream Tearing. but the rest of the game afterwards was very solid and i'd say i had no further issues with it.

Switch Funday - Fire Emblem - My First Time - I Had Fun

Welcome to Switch Funday!

I have never played any game in the Fire Emblem series, so when Nintendo announced the GBA version of Fire Emblem is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service i was eager to try it out. Going in, i wasn't really sure what was going to happen. i had heard games in the series have a death mechanic and a relationship mechanic, but i didn't know if this game did or if it did to what extent it has it.

I'm glad i played it as i had a good time. it kinda felt like a console game due to the slow pace, not in a negative way, of the story and the amount of tutorials the game introduced us to over the first couple of chapters. i came away thinking that this might be a long game. but the first hour i played went really well.

the world was nicely introduced, our main character's story was simple and then there was a twist. it was nice that when i mentioned a character was being annoying, it was clear it was intentional and brought up in game. the in-game art looks great and clear on my TV. the only downside of seeing the game this big was that some of the text was a tad blurry or not as clear as i would like.

Nothing about the introduction seemed overwhelming and i appreciated how the game managed it's first hour. some of the story is a little predictable but it never really detracted from the game. i'd go so far as to say that Fire Emblem did enough in this first hour to get it's hooks into me and i'd be up for playing more of this game. i really do recommend people give this a go.