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Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)'s Notebook(5)
Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)
Real Racing Next Impression
being a racing game fanboy, you know I won't miss this chance to try the pre-alpha build that has scattered around. Next is essentially FireMonkeys' take on bringing Real Racing franchise to the next level, bringing new graphical fidelity and gameplay improvement over the last game which has been around for years.
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Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)
Games with gamepad support
2021 and we're on a point where games keep getting more and more demanding to the point a Snapdragon 800 series chipset (845 and above) is becoming the standard of mobile gaming. Graphics have improved over the year, gameplay for the bigger titles have become more and more eccentric, and more has been implemented by the dev, depending on what kind of game you prefer.
One thing that hasn't improved is a proper gamepad support, especially the type of mobile ARPG with virtual analog stick on the left and your main combat button on the right. Depending on the game, the amount of combat buttons will vary.
To me (it's a subjective matters anyway), playing games with real button is and will alwyas be the best way, regardless if it's mobile game or PC / console game. Having your screen displaying the full game while all the buttons on your gamepad mapped is really great as you can view the game without either: a) having virtual buttons blocking your way, or b) having your thumbs distracting the view.
this led me to owning two different telescopic gamepad, IPEGA Red Knight (firat one I own as a gamble) and GameSir X2 (my current favorite, price doesn't lie), which both are bluetooth gamepad. I started testing some games I would like to play and there are some games that do have native support, some are great and some are... pretty bad.
Here's my finding so far for games that dochave native gamepad support:
1. Guardian Tales: near-perfect gamepad support (some part of the mini game lacks gamepad feature but it's understandable, and the quick-time event albeit showing you touch input actually allows you to use gamepad, swipe being analog and touch being face button), only weak point is that it's missing key binding.
2. Zenonia 3: there is a "remaster" version circulating around Reddit, so I gave it a try. To my surprise, it does have gamepad support even though it's a bit finicky (it's a very old game afterall). The virtual button is also still visible so that doesn't help much, at least you can resize 'em so it's not that distracting.
3. Punishing Gray Raven Global: I.... don't understand why this game has a pretty bad support. I get that the game has ping system that won't work well with gamepad (this will work well on a telescopic gamepad with removable right pad), but even the analog input itself is really bad, you either stop or fully running, and you can't move diagonally, which is really bad. Rebind option doesn't help when the overall control feels meh.
4. Assoluto Racing: it's a simcade so of course it has a quite decent gamepad support, and a weird one as well. You can bind buttons freely which is a good thing, but for whatever reason the binding will always reset for every game launch, meaning you will have to rebind everytime you want to play. Bummer, but hey ho it plays fine so I ain't complaining.
5. CarX Drift Racing 2, good support that sadly lacks binding option
6. literally every emulators you can get, PPSSPP, RetroArch, Lemuroid, etc. they are the best way to give your gamepad a best use-case as those games are made for gamepad in mind. So yeah, if you are looking for a break from gacha games where you're limited with stamina, consider getting a PPSSPP and play something like Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity.
And with that I realized I should also mention games that don't support gamepad without third party options:
- Genshin Impact (only for Android version)
- Girl Cafe Gun
- Legend of Neverland (good lord this game is so generic)
- Sword Art Online Integral Factor
- Real Racing Next Pre-Alpha
List will probably be expanded in the future. If you have tested other games with gamepad support, feel free to leave it in to comment along with how decent the support is. Do note that I will ignore games that can be binded with third party app like GameSir World, Octopus, etc. Read Note
One thing that hasn't improved is a proper gamepad support, especially the type of mobile ARPG with virtual analog stick on the left and your main combat button on the right. Depending on the game, the amount of combat buttons will vary.
To me (it's a subjective matters anyway), playing games with real button is and will alwyas be the best way, regardless if it's mobile game or PC / console game. Having your screen displaying the full game while all the buttons on your gamepad mapped is really great as you can view the game without either: a) having virtual buttons blocking your way, or b) having your thumbs distracting the view.
this led me to owning two different telescopic gamepad, IPEGA Red Knight (firat one I own as a gamble) and GameSir X2 (my current favorite, price doesn't lie), which both are bluetooth gamepad. I started testing some games I would like to play and there are some games that do have native support, some are great and some are... pretty bad.
Here's my finding so far for games that dochave native gamepad support:
1. Guardian Tales: near-perfect gamepad support (some part of the mini game lacks gamepad feature but it's understandable, and the quick-time event albeit showing you touch input actually allows you to use gamepad, swipe being analog and touch being face button), only weak point is that it's missing key binding.
2. Zenonia 3: there is a "remaster" version circulating around Reddit, so I gave it a try. To my surprise, it does have gamepad support even though it's a bit finicky (it's a very old game afterall). The virtual button is also still visible so that doesn't help much, at least you can resize 'em so it's not that distracting.
3. Punishing Gray Raven Global: I.... don't understand why this game has a pretty bad support. I get that the game has ping system that won't work well with gamepad (this will work well on a telescopic gamepad with removable right pad), but even the analog input itself is really bad, you either stop or fully running, and you can't move diagonally, which is really bad. Rebind option doesn't help when the overall control feels meh.
4. Assoluto Racing: it's a simcade so of course it has a quite decent gamepad support, and a weird one as well. You can bind buttons freely which is a good thing, but for whatever reason the binding will always reset for every game launch, meaning you will have to rebind everytime you want to play. Bummer, but hey ho it plays fine so I ain't complaining.
5. CarX Drift Racing 2, good support that sadly lacks binding option
6. literally every emulators you can get, PPSSPP, RetroArch, Lemuroid, etc. they are the best way to give your gamepad a best use-case as those games are made for gamepad in mind. So yeah, if you are looking for a break from gacha games where you're limited with stamina, consider getting a PPSSPP and play something like Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity.
And with that I realized I should also mention games that don't support gamepad without third party options:
- Genshin Impact (only for Android version)
- Girl Cafe Gun
- Legend of Neverland (good lord this game is so generic)
- Sword Art Online Integral Factor
- Real Racing Next Pre-Alpha
List will probably be expanded in the future. If you have tested other games with gamepad support, feel free to leave it in to comment along with how decent the support is. Do note that I will ignore games that can be binded with third party app like GameSir World, Octopus, etc. Read Note
Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)
CBT, what's different?
having played the CBT for Japan (thanks to the lottery they did soon after the CBT server went live) I gave the game a try to see if there's any difference other than the reworked illustration
found out there is, which isn't surprising at all. with JP, Yostar really aims to localize the game to full extent by adding voices to every characters, and even main cutscenes (at least on world 1) are fully voiced, and that's already a major improvement. And then little princess' voiceline is also re-recorded, it's nearly the same sentence and meaning so I don't see the reason why they did it but I guess it's for the consistency or something idk. Also, remember the red-haired woman that tries to mess with you? she got her own illustration. that's weird but okay. (Edit: found out it's also a thing on Global but I forgot about it)
and then knight (aka you as the main character, be it male or female) has different voice you can choose, which.... is weird but also fascinating.
and while we're on the topic regarding the change, the illustration isn't all that good and some actually misses the character's trait. One example being Amy which doesn't look like she has dual personality (you can check this one on heavenhold site for Global art and GuardianTalesJP Twitter for the reworked illustration and see the difference), and then Marianne which looks like a snotty annoying brat (or kusogaki if you prefer). I really wish the reworked illustration stays true to the character. but oh well, beggar can't be a chooser.
don't expect the game to have English language option considering there's already Global version. The option is there but it won't do anything, pressing won't display other language to choose. The only reason I can think of as of why it's there is because it's something they don't bother removing at the moment as they would rather focus on what they aim to change or improve.
To sum it up, here's my rating for the CBT
graphics: 8/10
Would've give it a solid 9 but I'll just put it one score lower with the reason being illustration not really conveying the character's personality or trait. other than that, the pixel art is really great and very expressive when it needs to.
gameplay: 10/10
t's not your typical corridor simulator. While the stages are linear, you will get the feel that it's meant to be explored as there are path you can take to look hidden stages you can unlock and coins to look for. Each hidden stages also has a story to tell which can be anywhere absurd to "isn't this a bit too far, but okay I get you". And also unlike many corridor gacha games, main stages including its passages can be accessed how many times you want without needing to pay for stamina, basically one time payment and you get permanent access in case you want to 3-star the stage or to look for hidden stages. Ain't that neat?
story: 9/10
perfect for people who loves dumb story, this game easily offers a lot of references from other series, if you want a heavy story you need to proceed really far for the plot to drive its way, but JP CBT only has up to world 4, hopefully the release will cover up to world 11. And I need to remind you guys that this game shines in story so if you don't understand JP yet still want to play Yostar's offering then please get the Global version too so you can appreciate the effort Kong Games has done
sound: 8.5/10
if I have to include added voicelines then yes it's a pretty massive improvement
value: ??/10
it's hard to rate this as this is CBT, but if it follows the Global then the game is easily 10/10 for being very generous in gems
that being said, included are some screenshots I took from the CBT phase. Read Note
found out there is, which isn't surprising at all. with JP, Yostar really aims to localize the game to full extent by adding voices to every characters, and even main cutscenes (at least on world 1) are fully voiced, and that's already a major improvement. And then little princess' voiceline is also re-recorded, it's nearly the same sentence and meaning so I don't see the reason why they did it but I guess it's for the consistency or something idk. Also, remember the red-haired woman that tries to mess with you? she got her own illustration. that's weird but okay. (Edit: found out it's also a thing on Global but I forgot about it)
and then knight (aka you as the main character, be it male or female) has different voice you can choose, which.... is weird but also fascinating.
and while we're on the topic regarding the change, the illustration isn't all that good and some actually misses the character's trait. One example being Amy which doesn't look like she has dual personality (you can check this one on heavenhold site for Global art and GuardianTalesJP Twitter for the reworked illustration and see the difference), and then Marianne which looks like a snotty annoying brat (or kusogaki if you prefer). I really wish the reworked illustration stays true to the character. but oh well, beggar can't be a chooser.
don't expect the game to have English language option considering there's already Global version. The option is there but it won't do anything, pressing won't display other language to choose. The only reason I can think of as of why it's there is because it's something they don't bother removing at the moment as they would rather focus on what they aim to change or improve.
To sum it up, here's my rating for the CBT
graphics: 8/10
Would've give it a solid 9 but I'll just put it one score lower with the reason being illustration not really conveying the character's personality or trait. other than that, the pixel art is really great and very expressive when it needs to.
gameplay: 10/10
t's not your typical corridor simulator. While the stages are linear, you will get the feel that it's meant to be explored as there are path you can take to look hidden stages you can unlock and coins to look for. Each hidden stages also has a story to tell which can be anywhere absurd to "isn't this a bit too far, but okay I get you". And also unlike many corridor gacha games, main stages including its passages can be accessed how many times you want without needing to pay for stamina, basically one time payment and you get permanent access in case you want to 3-star the stage or to look for hidden stages. Ain't that neat?
story: 9/10
perfect for people who loves dumb story, this game easily offers a lot of references from other series, if you want a heavy story you need to proceed really far for the plot to drive its way, but JP CBT only has up to world 4, hopefully the release will cover up to world 11. And I need to remind you guys that this game shines in story so if you don't understand JP yet still want to play Yostar's offering then please get the Global version too so you can appreciate the effort Kong Games has done
sound: 8.5/10
if I have to include added voicelines then yes it's a pretty massive improvement
value: ??/10
it's hard to rate this as this is CBT, but if it follows the Global then the game is easily 10/10 for being very generous in gems
that being said, included are some screenshots I took from the CBT phase. Read Note
Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)
does anyone know for the solution of AR not working? It shows black screen for me (same case to Hololive's app)
I'm rolling Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and I have ARCore installed through third-party app. Does this have anything to do with the phone not supporting AR mode? Because as I remembered AR worked fine with Deresute's AR. Read Note
I'm rolling Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and I have ARCore installed through third-party app. Does this have anything to do with the phone not supporting AR mode? Because as I remembered AR worked fine with Deresute's AR. Read Note
Spades Hiroki (SpadesHiro)
anyone having issue where the game instantly closes the moment you boot it up? I just wanted to preload data but it doesn't let me past the black screen.
To be more precise, what caused this issue? OS? Rooted device / custom rom? Or just the game in general? Read Note
To be more precise, what caused this issue? OS? Rooted device / custom rom? Or just the game in general? Read Note