Backlog Conquering - Aaru's Awakening On PS3 - Part 2 – Learning by Dying

I'm currently playing the PlayStation 3 version of Aaru's Awakening, from developers Lumenox, as part of Backlog Conquering. the first part, https://youtu.be/MbJ6A1BeL7U, revealed the game as being a platformer that has puzzle elements and enemies to deal with. But we didn't get much of a story and i felt a disconnect from the beautiful world we're playing in and the creature we're playing as. I hoped that in Part 2 something would be introduced that helped deal with that disconnect.

The story is mostly introduced at the end of each section. so for most of this video i'm trying to solve the platforming puzzles or working out how to deal with enemies. At times it does become a little frustrating as i feel like i'm doing the same thing but i'm not getting the same response in game. it could have something to do with the stick drift i'm having with my DualSense 3 controller or it could be that the game lacks a little bit of polish.

But what truly became clear as i tried to make my way through this section is that there are times when you have to die in order to learn how to progress. I say in the video that i'm not a big fan of this method of story telling and by the end of this video i've certainly become resigned to such gameplay mechanics. Like in part 1, this is also true with the final boss fight at the end of the section. at every phase of the fight, you die when something new happens or the action takes place in a different location. thankfully, the game does seem to be designed around such a mechanic as it very quickly takes you back to the last check point. even more gratefully, each phase of the boss fight is a checkpoint, so even tho i died a lot it did feel like i was chipping away at it.

What made this part feel good was the story. it doesn't fully address the issues i have, but it did make me realise that having those feelings was the point as it's revealed my character is starting to have them. it reveals that it's a not so subtle way of saying you shouldn't blindly follow orders. This was enough to feel satisfied at the end of this part and for me to want to play more so there will be a part 3.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Quest Mode - Dungeon 12 - Clayus Prison

Welcome to one of the final Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday videos! 

With the series being retired on YouTube and finishing over on Ko-Fi, https://ko-fi.com/qtegamers, i'm celebrating by showing off the Quest Mode.

This video is part 4 and it shows the 12th Dungeon, the Clayus Prison. the closer i get to the final dungeon, the harder these are becoming and the more time they're taking. So, unless i'm able to defeat a dungeon quickly, the remaining few dungeons will come one at a time.

Come back next week for what will be the 13th Dungeon.

Cloud Monday - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Part 2 - Maybe Not The Best Version Of The Game

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS3 version of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In part 1, https://youtu.be/ckR9cha291o, it was clear that playing Oblivion via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is a good way to play the PlayStation 3 version of the game. the ability to manually save quickly and that the game clearly shows when it does auto saves are big positives as the service only gives you a 20 second warning when it's going to disconnect you.

For today, whilst i was playing the question that was one my mind moved from whether this is a good game to play in the cloud to is this a good version of Oblivion to play.  Something i repeat throughout this video is how there's a disconnection between what i feel as the player and what happens in the game due to the game not supporting rumble (DualShock3). Oblivion came out when Sony was focusing on Sixaxis, that and they didn't want to pay for DualShock tech licensing, and unfortunately the game, or this version of the game that's available in the cloud, was never patched by Bethesda to support it, or trophies.

By the end of the video i was getting the feeling that if this was the only version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion you had access to, then you'll have a good time. But if you can get it, or have it, on another platform like Xbox then it's highly likely that'll be the better version of this game to play. 

Switch Funday - Splatoon 3 - Getting January's Salmon Run Item

This month's Splatoon3 Salmon Run item is the Hacker Jacket and like the other Salmon Run items, my goal is to get the item twice and pick the best of the two to keep. There are some great matches today and a couple of really bad ones. two of the teams i played along side faced off against Horrorboros but we weren't able to defeat it. Ultimately, i went for 1,000 points so there's an extra match after getting the Hacker Jacket twice.

Online Saturday - Pokémon Unite - 7 More Panic Parade Matches With No Win

Today's Online Saturday video is on Pokémon Unite. My goal in Panic Parade is to beat consistently. So far, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once and unfortunately that continues today. This means that out of the 35 matches i've done, my team mates and I have only managed to beat it once. By the final match with Pikachu, all my stats are level 4, so not quite max level. I feel like i played good today, but some of my team mates play like they've never seen an in-game map before. Match 5 was especially annoying!

Demo Play Thursday - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This game, from developers Ubisoft, is out now across various platforms.

This demo came out on the eShop page a little too late to be last week's video. but it was a demo i was keen to play. I've been a fan of the Prince of Persia series since the PS2 and i'm always happy to try out a new one. In terms of style, i've always enjoyed the PS3/Xbox 360 2008 game Prince of Persia.

This isn't the most intuitive demo. there's the first home screen. then there's a couple of settings, and then there's a page for Ubisoft Connect. but the confusing thing is, this page makes no mention of the demo and refers to the game. So it's really now clear if there's any benefit connecting the demo to Ubisoft. Finally, there's a second home screen. but this one is much more customed for a demo, offering links to the eShop. But it does feel more complicated than it needed to be jus to get to this point. There are more settings and it's good to see we can visually see how the game changes with most of them. 

When you finally get to starting the demo, there's a splash screen revealing that this is a custom area. we have been given some things so we can enjoy playing and we're not going to get any story spoilers. some area's are sealed off. This is great, but it never says when the demo ends. this'll be a problem later as the demo doesn't seem to stop, nor does it say that we've explored the demo or finished everything. i feel like there needed to be a better way to tell the player that there's nothing left to see in the demo.

Playing it was a lot of fun. the tutorial is basic but mostly gets things across. But what was immediately noticeable on Switch was how good the game looked. At no point in playing the game did i feel like i was having a lesser experience than someone playing it on a PS5. But the one part of the game i never got the hang off was the parry system. i don't know if the tutorial was missing information or what, but i never really got it. you'll see me die a few times because i try to parry and fail. combat is satisfying, but you do need to do more than just spam the attack button as the enemies felt like they had decent Ai and different types posed different challenges. In the main game this is something that can be patched, but here in the demo i don't expect things to change.

Thankfully, even tho i died a few times the loading to a previous check point was very fast. Loading in general was very fast or there wasn't any. it often felt like a seamless experience. exploring was fun and this game introduces a new mechanic where if you find something you can't currently access, you're able to take a screenshot in game and attach it to your map. so in the future you can backtrack, explore, and solve things you previously saw.

The gameplay in this demo was great. the hassle getting into playing it didn't play a part in my feelings of the game. but my inability to grasp the parry system really does weigh on me as it feels like combat is just as important as exploration. one felt great and the other didn't. after playing the demo i am interested in the game, but i think i would play it on the easiest setting so that combat doesn't become a chore and i can focus on the better story telling and exploration.

Backlog Conquering - Aaru's Awakening On PS3 - Part 1

The new game for Backlog Conquering is the PlayStation 3 version of Aaru's Awakening from Lumenox. This game grabbed my attention because of it's PS3 XMB Game Preview, https://youtu.be/zarm7HwyTrQ. It's a long beautiful preview that's visually stunning. and yet i had no memory of this game. i don't remember getting news about it, when QTE Gamers was a news focused site, nor do i remember people talking about it when it came out. So i've been curious about this game for a long time and decided to play it for Backlog Conquering.

In-game, the beautiful backgrounds, the intricate world design, the clear monsters and hazards are all visually great but they also reminded me quickly of a previous Backlog Conquering game i tried called Outland, here's part 1 https://youtu.be/eCNE0cQbRZk. the more i played Aaru's Awakening, the more i started to compare the two negatively. 

in this part, i did the first tutorial section and the second section. in doing so i got glimpses of the story, but the world and the story didn't seem to tie together. my concern going forward is that the game will be a game and tell a story that is set in the game world without tying the two together and will focus on the platforming and enemies rather than the story. Already it feels like the gameplay mechanics game first and the story came second and the game wants you to focus on the mechanics. There'll be a part 2 so things could change.