Online Saturday - Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Returning After Two Years

Welcome to Online Saturday.

I was a big fan of Star Wars Battlefront 1 when it first came to PS4. it looked great, played well, and even the front page felt big and fresh. Battlefront 2 felt like it was released too soon after Battlefront 1 and at the time it was perceived that this was done as so they could have a game out with microtransactions and make more money from. So i didn't get it then. changes were made and it eventually came to PlayStation Plus and that's when i decided to give it a try. but i bounced hard off it. i don't know why but my guess would be the layout and interface is one reason. another could be that the cards and progression system was still there. the microtransactions had been, mostly, removed, but making progress wasn't as fun. playing against other players was also not great as for a new player it felt unbalanced.

the last time i played the game was early 2021 and i have no memory of it.  nor do i have much memory of playing it at all. So coming back to it today it did feel like playing it for the first time. which also meant i didn't understand a lot of the menus, couldn't find stuff, and even at one point thought i was stuck in matchmaking as there was no prompt on screen as how to back out of it. 

Playing it tho was kinda fun. at times there were moments when it felt unbalanced. in the first game i mention how it felt bad that were were camped outside the enemy spawn area and that it seemed like there was nothing they could do to win. it reminded me of the bad playing experiences i had with Overwatch 2 on PS4, https://youtu.be/-SnE9VBwpBU, and Switch, https://youtu.be/WBPiTq5yFHE. In the second game i had that experience where i was defending and it felt like i had no choice but to lose. 

I remarked at the end that i doubt there are huge numbers of people still playing it. the first game i was in didn't continue into the next round as it couldn't find enough players. but starting a second game was fine. my guess is that if you just join a quick match you're probably fine. but doing anything more specific might be more difficult due to the lack of players.

Ultimately, i don't think i'll delete the game just yet. i may play it a couple more times. but, everything but playing the game isn't a great experience and it certainly isn't toppling Splatoon 3 as my multiplayer game of choice or recommendation. If i find another game more enjoyable, that might be it for Star Wars Battlefront 2. it's a bit of a shame there aren't plans for a third one, i feel that the lessons learned from 1 and 2 could've made for a good game. but a part of me wonders if it would've been great or remained dated looking with some other gimmick getting in the way.

Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade - Fallen Knight - The First 50 Minutes

This eleventh video in the new Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series is on Fallen Knight. I Played this as part of my Mobile Friday: Apple Arcade series, but it's out on other platforms such as the Nintendo Switch. 

This is a game i downloaded near the beginning of the Apple Arcade series, but only recently had i noticed that it was being updated. this brought it to my attention and it's the main reason why i chose to play it this week.

Like many games in this series, i went in knowing little to nothing about it other than the pics on the app store. i hadn't even watch the trailer for it. and for the first time i think that had a negative impact on my playing experience. i had no idea how difficult/unfair the game would be and you can hear in my commentary my enthusiasm for it get less and less. it's made clear in many places that the game is not easy and in hindsight i should've gone with casual mode instead of normal. 

I say unfair because i'm not entirely sure the game is simply difficult. there was a move in the tutorial i couldn't pull off as it wasn't clear what exactly i had to do or what i was doing wrong. in that tutorial i was shown how to parry, but in actual game play i was unable to regularly do it as the key red flash the tutorial had shown us seemed to be used all over the place. In that tutorial we only fight against one enemy and yet in the first stage there are a whole host of enemy characters. there was even an instance where i was hit whilst respawning.

It's not all negatives with this game, the music is great  though it did feel strangely loud. it also looks good with minimum impact from the dynamic Island. but the frustrations are more numerous. even the main home screen was confusing as there was nothing pointing the way. i assumed we could pick anywhere to go as it was never explicitly stated, not even with a simple pop up prompt.

This lack of information runs throughout. i have little to no idea what's happening with the story other than the knights seemed to have splintered into two groups, each saying they are correct. i have no idea if i'm playing the good guys or bad guys here. sometimes there was information but it was on screen soo briefly i had no idea what it said. but the time i spotted that it was on screen and started to read it, it was gone.

This isn't a new game and it had been patched many times and received a few content updates. but it didn't feel like it, it felt like i was playing a beta, something that wasn't quite all there like it needed more polish. it would be interesting to hear in the comments from players more used to difficult games what you thought about it. it would certainly give everyone here more information before they tried it.

Backlog Conquering - Pyre - Part 10 - Choosing to Lose And Losing

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 10, of playing Pyre on PlayStation 4.

This is a bit of a strange video. The title kinda gives it away. it finally happened, a story plot point i've been expecting to happen finally did and it was handled well.

I've been expecting the game to give us the twist that maybe, sometimes, it's best to not win and let the other team win. in this case it was the Liberation Rite and the opposing team was the only team where i was unsure about their "leader". You see, their leader seemed the most unhinged and most set on revenge. i was concerned as to what she would do, so when the game suggested on letting her win i thought about it for a second or two and kinda agreed. i felt that things would be less dangerous if she was gone than if she stayed.

However, the second Rite i did i lost all on my own. the Rites had been getting more difficult and the Liberation Rite was difficult, too. But i performed poorly and probably put out the wrong team. i couldn't keep up with them, nor could i control my own team good enough. choosing a titan was probably the wrong move, too. 

There will be a part 11, i'm interested in using a new character we got on our team. but my enthusiasm is starting to wean. 

Backlog Conquering - Pyre - Part 9 - Getting to the Second Liberation Rites

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 9, of playing Pyre on PlayStation 4.

it's been a while since part 8, https://youtu.be/sKA3UN479eU, and in that episode the world opened up and we got a lot of lore. in this video, there continued to be more lore of the world being revealed, but importantly we got some nice little story extra's which helped focus the experience back to the rites.

The rite games were still fun and definitely more difficult than the first time through to the Liberation Rites. i did win all the games i played, but they weren't exactly convincing wins. this meant that by the end of this video we are once again ready to take on the Liberation Rites. i have decided that i want Ti'zo to be the next one to leave. i feel like he's spent the longest, and maybe roughest, time in the Downside and he seemed interested in the Commonwealth. in the next video, part 10, we'll see if i can win it. 

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Valentine Cup 2 - 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 Valentine Cup 2! (2023/2/13 9:00～2023/2/20 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

Last week's Valentine Cup 1 video, https://youtu.be/8XiX8VErAN4, was tough because i was playing against many skilled opponents. But this week's video starts with me fighting against the computer as for the first couple of games there was no one else. things improved and got more competitive later one. the gimmick this week wasn't as clear and i thought i knew what it was but ultimately i was guessing. that would help to explain why i found it so hard against the final boss, and even tho i did beat it once it was during a game where i felt i played fairly poorly. i think i always came in the top 3 this week, which is great and the main reason why this week's video is shorter than most recent ones.

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - February's Chocolate Splatfest - An Hour Of Tricolor!

Welcome to Switch Funday.

As it's a Splatfest weekend, today i wanted to focus on the Sunday exclusive game mode called Tricolor. In previous Splatfests, this game mode hasn't worked as well as i would like. at most i'd get into 2 or 3 games and often there would be a disconnection causing the games to end. The game had been updated so i went in hoping for better, but i was expecting things to stay the same.

But this whole video is an hour of just Tricolor games! there were no disconnections either, unlike yesterday where we had 3 i think. this video is a first for myself, i've never experienced a Tricolor mode like it. i'm very happy that Nintendo finally fixed it, but also disappointed that it took them soo long to fix the Tricolor mode.

As for the hour, i think my team managed to win a couple of times. but for the most part it's an hour of White and Dark Chocolate teams kicking my team's butt.

It'd be great to hear if the mode was fixed for other players in other countries so let me know in the comments.

Online Saturday - Splatoon 3 - February's Chocolate Splatfest - A Poor Hour For Milk Chocolate

Welcome to Online Saturday.

The Splatfest for February is a three way fight between Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and White Chocolate. At the start of the video you see that White Chocolate has the early lead from the sneak peak, and throughout you'll see that some of the strongest teams i come up agianst are fighting for White Chocolate.

Throughout the hour, the level of competition is very high. i have a couple of huge losses, but also get a big win. What was a little strange, as you'll see, were the few disonnection issues. for a while know, whilst playing the normal online modes, i haven't had an issue with online play. but today there were some disonnections and a game ended early, too. it was easy to notice that the wait for a game was longer than normal, going from 10-30 seconds to sometimes over a couple of minutes.

But i had fun. even tho it was harder and i had fewer wins, Splatoon 3's online multiplayer continues to be enjoyable and my go to online shooter. you can watch the videos for other games and just hear in my voice that my excitment doesn't waver.