Switch Funday - No Place for Bravery - Issues Don’t Lessen The Story in This Great Pixel World

For Switch Funday, i wanted to play a game i recently bought from Amazon Japan that had been discounted. i bought the limited edition version of the game, it came with a soundtrack, artbook, and bigger exterior case for it.

I knew that it was a pixel art game, but i didn't know the story. what was great was that when i started the game i was given the choice of a story focused approach, in that the battles weren't too difficult, a battle heavy approach, or a Dark Souls style experience. i wanted the story and was more than happy i was given the choice.

The pixel art world looks full of life and was pleasant to explore. without spoiling the video, there certainly were some extremes shown as well as calm. the characters are distinct from each other and from enemies, but there is a glossary if needed. throughout, the pixel world on display was really engaging and if anything i wanted it to be bigger. i wanted to explore inside the other houses and buildings, i wanted more world.

But exploring this world did have some issues. Most of the time when i was walking around the world it felt like the game was stuttering. instead of the screen moving smoothly as i walked, it felt like it was stuttering. and when it came to some story moments, the game had a loading screen. the issue is that the loading in this game takes a long time so it really held back the flow of the game and story.

But i'm not saying the story is bad. i was really getting into it, hence why the long loading times took me out of the experience. i felt that the game's tutorial was well included into the story and it felt natural. the only change i would make is removing the option to Buy Skills as it's really not needed and let the player know they need to hold down the A button when interacting with objects.

It will be interesting to see if the tech issues get enough in the way to distract from the story. unfortunately, there were some smaller issues like random black frames every now and then. this game has been patched already but i hope there are some more fixes to come. i'd like to continue to play this, but i may wait a little while and see if things like the stuttering can be fixed. But the world, the characters, and the story are great, tho they may be more suitable for an older audience and not the stereotypical Switch audience. 

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - August's Unite Weekend

Today's Online Saturday video is on Pokémon Unite. i've recently learned that the first weekend of the month is a Unite weekend in Pokémon Unite. This means i can use any Pokémon i want BUT only in the standard Unite game mode. i had to discover this for myself as it's not mentioned.

So the first video is a ranked match, which my team wins, and then i head to the shop as i wondered if i had to "buy" the free license. i checked the schedule and it took me straight to Unite mode so i guessed i had to change the game mode from Ranked Unite to Standard Unite and this worked.

So in this video, each game i play my team wins and in each match i use a different Pokémon. There's an extra Ranked match at the end as technically it was the first match i did but my recording crashed during it, so i put it at the end at there's no commentary.

Mobile Friday - Geo Gods - Minor Issues Don’t Distract From Solid Card Gameplay

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Geo Gods, another game developed by Arnold Rauers as i had previously checked out Miracle Merchant https://youtu.be/kpCxEvBWk4w, with art by Alba Ballesta González and sound and music by Marie Havemann. I played this on iOS but it's out on Android, too.

Geo Gods is an interesting card game in that it doesn't matter if you win as your score is an average taken from 6 games. each card is a god and the gods are placed onto a garden. each god has an ability that affects the field or the gods in your deck and each god has an elemental type. by the side of the field are 6 elemental power crystals, each with a power target. the goal is to get enough of each type of god on the field to activate a power crystal with bonus points awarded for getting all 6 in a round.

That was the first hint that it may be difficult to get all 6, and in the 6 games i played in this video i never got all 6 crystals. It's an interesting challenge as each god card has an ability that can have a positive or negative effect on either the garden field, your deck, or mana that's needed to put down the god cards. each spot in the garden also has a cost needed to put a card on it, but also a reward that it earns for activating a power crystal. 

This sounds difficult, and in-game the lengthy wordy tutorial does make it seem that way. but the game is still very playable. i may not have got all 6 crystals when i played and i may not have fully understood it, but as i played and tried again i did feel like i was learning and getting better. so it's very playable.

For me tho, some of the wording made things unclear. like after a game it says quit or restart. i feel that both words are wrong as quit sounds like the 6 games are ended and restart sounds like you start the 6 again from the beginning. i also felt that some of the card abilities didn't work as i expected them to from their description. maybe in trying to get the description to fit on the card, their choice of English was perhaps not clear enough.

But those are fairly minor and don't get in the way of some good card playing. what did frustrate me was learning on the home screen that i don't have all the cards because i haven't bought the game. this also meant that  mode, clearly labeled on the home screen, was also unplayable. it left me wondering if i actually can't finish the game because i don't have all the cards, whether those locked cards are more powerful. essentially, it was a bad user experience. 

But as the game has no intrusive adverts, or any adverts, nor does it have an additional download once started, i would say it's a great game to pick up and play. it's a little rough around the edges and that can be patched later. thankfully the core card game experience makes it a game that you can play one match of quickly or sit down and play 6 like i did in this video.

Backlog Conquering - RiME - Part 4 - Bird and Windmill Finished, Game Broken, Robot Awoken!

In part 3 of playing RiME , i didn't finish the section with the windmills and bird, https://youtu.be/lmlH4yN_1r8. I had released the storm from 2 of the 3 windmills, but still had the third and final one. So in today's Part 4, that was my first objective. Once both were done, the next area resumed underwater traversal and it wasn't too bad. there's plenty of oxygen so it wasn't too tense. 

When i emerged in the "Tree" area, then things got weird. corridors seemed to go on forever in one direction and straight ahead could also mean up! i don't know if it was luck or not, but i seemed to navigate it right the first time. this also means that i didn't do any exploration either. But the thing that annoyed me the most was getting stuck on a tree. I needed to walk up it to dive into water. i fell off the first time and on the second attempt i slid on the spot. non of the face buttons or analogue sticks did anything. all my character did was slide on the spot. i had to restart and spend time getting back to this room.

Thankfully it didn't happen again and i ended the video after restarting a robot that seemed to tease a part of the game with more of them. so far i had found other robots, but none of them worked. so i was surprised to find one that did and it was useful. there will be a part 5 as i'm curious how robots fit into this world that seemed devoid of anything technological. 

Backlog Conquering - RiME - Part 3 - 2 Windmills, A Bird, And Lot’s Of Water

In part 3 of playing RiME on PS4, i feel like i continue to make good progress, but i still don't have much of a clue what's going on. Plus, in this video, i'm a little confused about the giant bird and what we're doing to subdue it. surely, if this bird has always been an issue, the fact it still exists should be worrying. especially when we're seeming painting the sky with storms. Is this a permanent thing? is this a "weapon" that was made and never used before? it brings a weird tone to the story of the game.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Summer Vacation Cup 1 - 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 Summer Vacation Cup 1! (2023/7/31 9:00～2023/8/7 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

This Summer Vacation Cup 1 turned out to be a lot of fun. in each game i was up against some strong competition from other players. so much so that i only got 1 win! i managed to beat the boss more times than winning! as i played i managed to get better and better, which isn't always the case, but i didn't seem to have as much luck when it came to the bonus points at the end as i managed to loose out a few times.

This week i played against:

Ikh - Rank 61

Ciel - Rank 66

からす - Rank 56

Matt - Rank 58

mikey - Rank 80

りょう - Rank 62

Cloud Monday - The Ascent - Part 1 - A Near Perfect Streaming Experience From PlayStation Plus

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing The Ascent from Neon Giant and Curve Digital Publishing. I'm playing this on a launch model Japanese PS4.

Apart from a little hiccup near the end of the video, it was a great streaming experience. if anything, it was the game itself that was causing gameplay issues than it being streamed from the PlayStation Plus Premium service.

The game looks stunning, there's soo much detail in the densely packed environments. even on a PS4.But, the in-game text is simply tiny. there was a moment i had to get out of my chair, go to the screen to try and read it. even right up close, i was guessing what it said rather than knowing. the other noticeable issues with the game were screen tearing, stuttering, and pop-in. but those are minor issues that don't really get in the way of gameplay. the small text got in the way so when i play it again for part 2, i will check to see if there's an in-game menu to make the text bigger.

Playing the game was fun. with the world being so dense, it was easy to get feel a part of it. especially with the UI off in the corners not getting in the way. it's the first game i've played where i've actually felt like i wanted a bigger TV, i currently have a 32 inch, and a PS5 because i wanted to be more immersed in a game world. this first hour was enjoyable and the game's story began to be revealed too. this makes me excited to play it for part 2, and who knows maybe i'll play it more!