Demo Play Thursday - Frogun Encore On PS4

There's no commentary with this video as my computer locked up during recording and i lost it all. Frogun Encore itself also crashed on PlayStation 4 and i kept that in the video. i've had demos be buggy, but this demo was the first one to actually crash and take me back to the PS4 XMB. Thankfully it was saving my progress, tho i don't remember the game actually telling me it was, so i could continue the demo and finish it.

I haven't played the original Frogun game from Molegato, but it's one i knew off and did want to try. going into Frogun Encore i wasn't sure whether it was a sequel to the original or a re-release of it. I think it's a sequel from what was said in-game. but this demo itself does little to promote itself. there's no link to the PSN from the home screen, no trailer or screenshots when you finish it.

Even tho things were going wrong whilst playing it, i actually had a good time with Frogun Encore. i feel like the initial level and tutorial aren't a great match. the tutorial is great, but the start of the level is a little full on whereas we've not had time to adjust to the jumping or getting around the level not just by walking but by our frog's tongue. 

But it doesn't take long to get up to speed. thankfully the game isn't too demanding when it comes to lives. we get 6 hits on us and if we do die, we're sent back to the checkpoint quickly with little to no punishment for it. it felt like #Tearaway #Unfolded, as i've been playing that as part of Backlog Conquering, in that the levels had little puzzles that were easy to understand and complete. the levels weren't expansive, but are well designed. and the overall design is full of charm and it very clear what it what.

One surprise was the soundtrack! just from this demo i know it's one i wouldn't mind owning. i hope they make it easy to get or at the very least stream. This demo is one i would recommend as it's just a fun platformer. since i played the demo, i've gone on to #Wishlist the game and i think for some people, they could just go ahead and do that 'cause it's just that good and fun.

Backlog Conquering - Tearaway: Unfolded On PS4 - Part 8 – Reuniting With Our Companion

We finished Part 7, https://youtu.be/-XtICrIrFek, in The Caverns and that's where we spend most of our time in this video. Visually, The Caverns was kinda cool, but the gameplay wasn't as inspired as other sections of the game. 

there were no new gimmicks and the new uses of the controller were quite short lived. the Minecart section was fun and it was interesting pressing buttons to move the track, but it was far too short. it was used once and not again.

There didn't seem to be much progression in the story. the only highlight being when we finally reunited with our companion. but this to was short lived as the freed Wendigo either looked after it as a pet or maybe it's a baby Wendigo. unfortunately, we won't know happens to them because we finished Part 8 reaching the Liar of the Scraps and they couldn't follow me.

Stories on Tuesday - When the Past Was Around - From Start to Finish

I have stitched together all 4 parts of my gameplay of  When the Past Was Around into one video, from start to finish of the game.

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/BAntYXUdGY0

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/BV3uaGfp1M8

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/61wtpGQNsHQ

Part 4 - The End - https://youtu.be/Zvx1id_ilKk

Cloud Monday - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus - Pt2 - Let Down By Controls And Camera

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS2 version of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1, https://youtu.be/tphGJ4lCw88, the charm of the game was very evident. it was also nice how each section we had to clear was nice and short and different from each other. that continued in this section with the boss also being different and unique but importantly only needing 4 hits to be defeated. The level design is mostly solid as well. the gameplay doesn't feel like a chore, nor does it feel like it's dragging on.

But it's really hampered by the controls and camera. the controls are just too sluggish. i don't think that this is a result of the game being streamed to me via PlayStation Plus either. I wonder if it's because PS2 games used a cable to connect to the console and had a different polling rate than Bluetooth controllers. basically, does the game check on what's being inputted fast enough. it's a frustrating experience pressing a button and often not seeing it happen on screen fast enough and then occasionally seeing it happen on time. it makes the jumping difficult. 

An example of this is the boss at the end of the video. for a while i couldn't jump up and down and press the button fast enough to start the next up jump before i was hit. the boss was moving faster than i could. so i had to try and start a little ahead of the boss so by the time he had caught up with me he got tired and i could hit him. i doubt this was the actual strategy, tho if it was please say so in the comments, and instead it's a result of the weird controller lag.

I'm not saying it's impossible for it to be caused from streaming the game. but i've played enough of these games to know that it's only ever been an issue in one other game. 

The camera was also another frustration. i felt like i was fighting it too often and it kept getting caught in the level. I had to make some jumps based on guess work. what really didn't help was that i couldn't change the camera to inverted. back in the day, it was a somewhat normal camera scheme, but nowadays inverted is the norm. 

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus very much feels like the first game. it has great ideas and some not so great. what i'm curous about, and may check out in the next video, is whether the PS3 HD version of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus controls any differently. if it does, would i prefer to have better controls and camera or the ability to save and rewind. i'm very curious to try the PlayStation 3 version.

Switch Funday - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

Back in April i tried out The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, https://youtu.be/vaZbeMvjHr0, and i had hoped to try out The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons soon afterwards but i never got round to it until now.

So even tho it's my first time playing this game, i have a basic understanding of how it might work because of Oracle of Ages. but what i really didn't know was the story and i quite liked this story. it's simple, but i think it was effective but most importantly it was clear what we needed to do.

The graphics are great, the music is great, which meant i was the only downside as it took far to long for me to realise what i needed to do with the bombs. Perhaps the game could've given a hint, but this is from a time when game manuals would also be the tutorials and give hints. in the end i did work it out so it's not all bad.

Both games are good and with the emulation software, being able to rewind and save anywhere is fantastic. it's a shame i can't play either from the Switch Online App as i think the games and emulation software would be great as a phone game.

Online Saturday - Rocket Racing - Not Very Welcoming For New Players

*Apologies for the microphone issues. i'd understand if you don't want to listen to me in this video. So i have uploaded another video which is just the racing and no commentary. you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/-JWYdT-rPlg.

For Online Saturday i played the PS4 version of Rocket Racing from developers Psyonix. it's an online racing game built on Fortnite tech. It was my first time playing it. i was surprised that the install for it was over 60GB! it must've downloaded the whole Fortnite game. however, i don't know for sure as there's a lack of information on the PSN Store page.

This lack of information from the game to me was frustrating throughout this video. it's a shame because the actual gameplay was fun and the tutorial was great. but there's no tutorial outside of the game. and for me, who's never played this before and never used this lobby before, it just wasn't intuitive enough. this happened early when i ended up doing the tutorial twice as i thought pressing up meant doing the tutorial instead of it meaning choosing game mode.

I also had an issue with my first try of the Metalica stage as there was no audio and no sound effects! i quit the game to change settings on my PlayStation 4 so i don't know if it was quitting the game that fixed it or the settings. but this, combined with no tutorial for the lobby screen just gave a bad first impression.

These  lobby screens on console are often poor, my first video on Trackmania https://youtu.be/we766gY1WPw, and Pokémon Unite https://youtu.be/OMKdxzCkOwI, are examples of this. even the recent Star Wars: Hunter game has a busy lobby screen https://youtu.be/648VolmhSuA but at least that game tried to explain it all. Rocket Racing made no attempt.

There were also issues when trying to play some levels made by other people. none of them would load and i don't know why. i could only get the Metallica stage and the Ranked Mode stages to load. Again, Ranked mode wasn't really explained. i don't know what stages are on it, i doubt i played against real people in a couple of stages, and progression wasn't explained nor do i know where any of that stuff is.

Gameplay is good, tho i would have liked the game to explain how to do boost starts, is just that everything else about Rocket Racing was a frustrating mess and just not welcoming to new players. all it needed to do was, when the game takes me back to the lobby after the tutorial, ask if i wanted a lobby tutorial or not. it's hard to recommend Rocket Racing for new players. but if you have time to figure it all out, the gameplay is fun. but there aren't many people playing it so waits could be long.

Mobile Friday - Tokyo Debunker - Fully Voiced Characters, Good Design, And A Story I Want To Read

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tokyo Debunker, from developers ZigZaGame. i played this on my iPhone 14 Pro.

Tokyo Debunker is a game that hasn't really topped the mobile charts, but it has stuck around since it was released. it's one of those games who's App Store page doesn't really reveal what the game actually is. So i was very curious about it and was excited to give it a go.

In the hour i played of Tokyo Debunker, it comes across as a story focused game. but it's told in a manga/comic book style. the characters 3D on a 2D background, or that's how it seems because they have a subtle black outline to them that adds depth to them. I haven't met that many characters, but each i have met were very different from each other. what really helps is that each of them is fully voiced, too.

There is gameplay here, but in the hour i played there wasn't much. from the first hour it's a little difficult to work out how the story and the gameplay segments fit. i can speculate that we're going to go to areas and in the story there'll be enemies which we'll then have to defeat via gameplay before we're able to continue the story.

as well as fighting, we also tried out a rhythm based mode and a school building mode. i didn't do well with the rhythm mode, but thankfully we're able to replay them and get the rewards we missed. the school building mode is fairly typical for a idle game. you spend money to build a classroom. you add a character to the room and now it earns money. you can upgrade the classroom and earn more money. whilst it seems separate, it does tie into the fighting. you need items to upgrade characters and these are eared from the classrooms.

Another highlight is that this game didn't install extra game data when i started it. nor did it force the shop upon as at the earliest opportunity. the tutorial is decent, too. overall, Tokyo Debunker's first hour makes a great first impression. if you're looking for a story focused game, i'd recommend giving it a go.

Version 1.3.1 Played.