Mobile Friday - Sumikkogurashi Farm - The First Hour With Version 5.0

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Sumikkogurashi Farm, also known as Sumikko gurashi Farm: Gonna Make a Garden, on my iPhone 14 Pro. The game is also out on Android and whilst it's not new, it has been celebrating over 5 million players recently and in this video i started the game with the recently released 5.0 release.

Simply put, this is a game where you inherit a farm and it's up to you how you make it. the game's tutorial tells and shows you the basics, but stops short. once the tutorial lets go of you, the screen is awash of red exclamation marks, a huge map full of things you can interact with yet or aren't high enough level for, and it expects you to play. all the tutorial needed to do was take me to the Quest, Running Start, or Order sections, do one with me and then let me continue. so in the beginning of taking control i'm a little lost.

It also takes some time to understand the rhythm of the game. you need experience points to level up and money to buy things. but the game does a bad job of explaining how to get both regularly and it takes nearly the full 50 minutes with the game for me to get a sense of the rhythm needed to progress. before that, the game's speed had slowed down and had begun to feel like a grind. This is a game where you are meant to do things, turn it off, and come back to it later. there's very little to do with the game whilst you wait.

But these complaints are not unique to this game, they can be used to describe nearly every other farm management game, as well as other styles of games. with that said, there are many positives that set this game apart. the biggest is the theme, Sumikko gurashi (すみっコぐらし). the game is full of these characters as well as costumes to dress them up in. the world design feels very appropriate, as do the bright vibrant colors. as this is the 5.0 version of the game, there is also a huge amount to uncover as you play. 

In this video i got to level 10 and it already felt like the game was opening up. i ended the game knowing that i could buy a train station, i could help with global goals, and i had barely started to understand the Events taking place and the bonuses associated with them. And then there's my own house and decorating it, as well as decorating and designing the layout off my farm. near the end of the video i went to other farms and they were all very different from each other.

Sumikkogurashi Farm isn't a game to be played for an hour straight. it's to be played on and off. it can use notifications to inform you when it needs to be interacted with. when you do play it, there's always a few things you could be doing. I would say this would make a great commuting game apart from that there was an extra 93 MB download. the game does ask you first before downloading it. But i'd still say it's probably best to get the tutorial out of the way, as well as that download, and then play it whilst your out and about.

Backlog Conquering - RiME - Part 6 - Taking 30 Minutes To Complete The Robot Room Puzzle

At the end of Part 5, https://youtu.be/c96t5xE35-s, i was left in a room with robots at one end. i had a look around but couldn't work out the puzzle so i left it for this Part 6. 

But i would be stuck in this room for 30 minutes! it's a little embarrassing how long it took for me to solve this room. once i finally got out of the room, the rest of the video went really smoothly. it was a little strange to have the dark creatures no longer attack or pay much attention to me. it seemed that each time i met them they'd react differently. the rainy maze looked impressive, as does much of the game, but it actually felt easy to get through. during the video i commented if i had brute forced my way through the maze like section rather than navigate it as it was intended. ultimately, whilst the maze looked nice, it seemed somewhat pointless.

Backlog Conquering - RiME - Part 5 - Dark Creatures Attack and I Build A Robot

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. 

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Summer Vacation 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 Summer Vacation Cup 2! (2023/8/7 9:00～2023/8/14 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

This Summer Vacation Cup 2 was not as fun as last weeks Summer Vacation Cup 1 because i wasn't up against many other players in each game. it was only the last game when there were two other players. I also don't think i quite understood the gimmick this week as even tho i got to the boss a few times i was never able to defeat it and a couple of times some of the lower enemies caused me trouble. But i finished mostly in the top 3 and i did get a big win so it's not all bad. 

This week i played against:

ユウ - Rank 58

なおや - Rank 71

しんあゆ - Rank 52

TA KU TO - Rank 58

れ！いんい_TN_ - Rank 73

Cloud Monday - The Ascent - Part 2 - The Journey to Grinder

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing The Ascent from Neon Giant and Curve Digital Publishing. I'm playing this on a launch model Japanese PS4.

In part 2, the main goal was to get to Grinder, so for most of this video that's what is happening. there are a couple of side quests, several battles, and a couple of deaths. but all this happens so i can get to Grinder.

Much like part 1, https://youtu.be/gISw0NS3hf4, the streaming experience from PlayStation Plus Premium was near perfect. and like that video, the only issues i had happened at the end. The game has it's own small issues like stuttering, which i assume is the game loading stuff in the background, and text being too small. But as a streaming experience, across both days i feel that it was really great. up there with some of the best i've experienced so far. But, it's checkpointing system isn't perhaps the most suited to being a streaming game. 

I do recommend this as a solid choice for streaming from PlayStation Plus Premium. personally, i quite enjoyed the story and world in the game as well as most of the gameplay. But there are still issues with the game even tho it came out over a year ago and by this point will they ever be fixed. Maybe on PS5 they aren't an issue. but i'm playing on a PS4 and this is what i experienced. it's checkpoint system could mean a lot of back tracking if the service kicked you off for a bad connection. all that combined is why i say it's a solid choice, but not as perfect as Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness was in Part 1 https://youtu.be/4acBC6x5XXI and Part 2 https://youtu.be/oUmQIvOuOY0

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.