Mobile Friday - Alchemists’ Garden - The First Hour

Today is Mobile Friday and i'm playing Alchemists’ Garden. This is a game that i had been seeing ads for and they got me curious. it showed the game has a battle mechanic similar to Puzzle Quest. Other than that, i didn't know what to expect as each ad seemed to show different aspects of the game. So it was unknown what i would see and when.

This video shows the first hour of the game. it shows there is a small additional data download, a small un-skippable tutorial, and how the game opens up and encourages the player to explore it.

Backlog Conquering - Rain - The Second Part

This is the second video for Rain. This part isn't quite an hour, but starts immediately at the start of Chapter 3. There is no Part 1 as, for some reason, that video didn't record video. it did record audio from the game and i also was commentating. so there's a chance it'll be an unlisted video in the near future.

As for Rain, this PS3 game played really well. apart from the initial load screen, there was no obvious loading whilst playing. Gameplay tho is less positive as sometimes it's very clear where you're to go. then there are other times when it's not clear what you should be doing next. to help overcome the latter, i do die in this video many times.

Puzzle and Dragons Tuesday - Puzzle and Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition - Artemis Cup - Achievement Run

Welcome to Puzzle and Dragons Tuesday. This week it is the Artemis Cup. Like other recent videos, this took me less than an hour to complete. Whilst i felt like this wasn't my best performance, i did manage to get a couple of wins this week. However, like last week, there was a lack of other human opponents. i think at best i had a game or two with 3 or 4 other players. The Gimmick this week was also fairly easy, i did find it sometimes took a little more time to set up than i would like. But i never defeated the final boss. most of the enemies felt stronger this week.

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.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Splatnet 3 and Anarchy Online Games

Welcome to Switch Funday.

This video is a little different as i start on my phone with the Nintendo Switch Online app!

The app is an interesting part of the Splatoon 3 experience. I go through each part of it, showing how it works, and i make some changes to my character in the app.

I then go into the game and show that those changes have been made already. I then show were you go to get stuff you ordered via the app, stuff that is often somewhat unique and cheaper than usual.

I finish the video by playing the Anarchy game modes. i don't get to play all playable game types though, the video was already getting pretty long. But i do show off the two Anarchy Game Modes. 

This video does feature more disconnects that normal. i speculated that maybe it was some players getting salty and quitting the game. but i honestly don't know. i've played the game for hours and whilst there is usually one disconnect, there's never been this many. Getting into games was a little longer than usual, too. my guess is that the Anarchy game modes aren't as popular as Turf War.

Online Saturday - Starlit K.A.R.T. - Is it Online???

Today's Online Saturday video is a little different. The game is Starlite K.A.R.T. (Kart) and i'm playing it on PS4. It's a free to play kart racing game that i assumed had online multiplayer. But, after playing it i'm not so sure. As a kart racer it's good. The tracks are fun, the music is nice, and there are plenty of powerups. i feel that it needs an extra kart to choose from, and putting the fastest speed behind a paywall, and not say game progression or in-game currency from playing it, sucks. But there is still plenty there to play.

But is it online? I don't know. a quick google search doesn't come up with answers either. there are 4 game modes, Cups, Versus, Bosses, and Challenges. Versus is couch gaming and cups is versus the Ai. Bosses is you playing against...well...bosses! Challenges tho, it's unclear who you're racing against as it's never said if it's other players, Ai, or a mix of both. If you know, please let me know in the comments. But, as a game mode itself it was fun and i didn't win everything, there was some challenge to it.

Mobile Friday - Candies 'N Curses - The First 50 Minutes

For today's Mobile Friday i'm playing an older iOS game called Candies 'N Curses. This video shows the first 50 minutes, but if you're interested in the game, you can play it in short bursts rather than in one long session like i did.

It's a game that hasn't been updated for a bit and it works mostly fine. i had a couple of issues where swiping down sometimes brought the whole screen down. it would obscure the bottom part of the game which does affect gameplay. there was also a slight issue where a notification seemed to be cut off a bit by the FaceID notch.