"Let's Play Some Demos!" Video Series YouTube Playlist

Welcome to Part 5 of the Let's Play Some Demos! | LPSD series!
In sum, these videos and streams aim to introduce gamers to, usually, Indie games!
For this episode, I, once again, looked through my Steam Wishlist to see who had demos available.

For those who are new, the purpose of this video series is to provide commentary and feedback on the games for educational purposes.

Today, I played demos for 4 games:

1. All-Star Fruit Racing
   A high-speed multiplayer racer with a unique power-up system! Combine different juices for a range of attacking and defensive abilities. Drift through looping bends. Soar over monumental jumps, and defy gravity around tubular tracks in an explosively colorful racer!
2. Indivisible
   Indivisible is a hand drawn action RPG platformer from Lab Zero, creators of the critically acclaimed Skullgirls! Set in a huge fantasy world, Indivisible tells the story of Ajna, a fearless girl with a rebellious streak who sets out on a quest to save everything she knows from being destroyed.
3. SaGa Emerald Beyond
   FORGE YOUR OWN TALE The latest standalone entry in the SaGa franchise, SaGa Emerald Beyond, brings together the very best elements of the beloved series to offer each player their own unique gameplay experience.
4. Visions of Mana
   Explore a world of elemental spirits and adventure in the latest Mana action-RPG. The protagonist Val and his childhood friend Hinna, the newly appointed Alm of Fire, set off on a journey to the Mana Tree.

All links above are to the games' Steam pages.

The verdict?

All-Star Fruit Racing and SaGa Emerald Beyond were removed from my wishlist, to my dismay.

Fruit Racing crashed 3 times; not much else needs to be said. SaGa, however, wasn't fun. It looked great, visually, and it had an interesting start, but once I started being able to do things, it went downhill. The music was better than I expected it to be; too bad I had the volume so low. The Timeline mechanic reminded me of Othercide, which made me smile, but that was about it. I was NOT expecting the Scottish accents. If the game depended upon my having prior knowledge to enjoy it, I missed that. The art style was excellent! The animations were smooth! The game looks gorgeous! How they did their turn-based combat, however, left much to be desired.

My favorite one was Visions of Mana, to my surprise. It reminded me a LOT of Final Fantasy XV, which makes sense since they're both Square Enix games. One would expect some familiar elements. The character banter was fun to listen to; the combat was intuitive until the camera got annoying. PUPPY MOUNTS! Anyway, the art style was consistent; if there's a name for it, I forgot, but the art style was realistic enough to be believable while also being stylized enough to be unique and fun. One thing that annoyed me, but probably shouldn't have since I wasn't familiar with the series, was all the exposition in the beginning. It probably had to do with the voice acting being meh. I've already forgotten the character's names, except for Val, the protagonist, but I do remember thinking whoever voiced the Kitty Cat, whose name I regret not remembering because he holds a dagger in his tail when he fights, was trying too hard. I LOVE that game regardless. It's one of a handful of games I've played that made me WANT to explore!

Indivisible was a close second, despite the fact it pissed me off in the end. It was trying to introduce how to flee a battle, but, no matter what I did, fleeing didn't happen, which forced me to end the demo early. However, I was having a BLAST up until that point! Once I got a hang of the combat system, mostly, I was grooving! I had trouble figuring out which party member was being attacked so I could block the attacks, but it didn't stop me from wishing there were more games like it! When playing with a controller, each party member was attached to a particular button. All you had to do to make them attack was press a button. There was no menu or anything to sort through, just a slight alteration of a turn-based combat system. As their attack recharged, you could press the button once you were able and could either have a couple people attacking or have a barrage of attacks rained down on the enemy! It was SO MUCH FUN to watch! Fun art style, and nice, little touches with the animations! I DEFINITELY want this one! Despite the fact it showed up in the video as a tiny rectangle even though I made it full screen.

And that's it for Part 5! Thank you for reading!
If this series of videos is something you're interested in, they are available on YouTube, The Titans' Discord, Steam, Rumble, Odysee, and Ko-fi!
Don't forget to hit the Subscribe and/or Follow buttons to know when there's more!

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The Sunday, October 20, and 633rd, Artist Shout-Out goes to FestivalOfRavens!
Check them out here!

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Welcome Gamers!
1:19 - Artist Shout-Out
3:25 - Demos' Intro
3:48 - All-Star Fruit Racing
8:21 - Indivisible - Don't know what's going on with the small rectangle
44:05 - Be Right Back
1:20:36 - SaGa Emerald Beyond
1:58:31 - Visions of Mana
4:13:38 - Mini Critique
4:17:54 - Thank You/Closing
4:19:02 - Rendezvous Point Bookshop Plug
4:21:14 - Farewell

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• Pilot: CrossCode, Dumpy & Bumpy, Ynglet, Zero Ranger
• Part 2: A Dance of Fire and Ice, 2064: Read Only Memories, Death and Taxes, Underhero
• Part 3: TEKKEN 8, Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition, Secrets of Grindea, Forspoken
• Part 4: Death's Hangover, Fae Farm, Fate/Samurai Remnant, Mini Settlers
• Part 6: Glorious Companions, Tales of Arise, Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge, Cozy Island
• Part 7: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Cursebane, Dex, The Lady Puppet
• Part 8: Detroit: Become Human, Little Goody Two Shoes, Luma Island, Tinkerlands
• Part 9: Backpack Battles, Glaciered, Ratopia, Slime Rancher
• Part 10: Captain Contraption's Chocolate Factory, Maid Cafe on Electric Street, Neon Noodles, Tiny Glade
• Part 11: Critter Café, Grimoire Groves, Pixel Cafe, Wizdom Academy
• Part 12: AdventureBarStory, Bone's Cafe, DELTARUNE, Mudborne
• Part 13: Food Truck Simulator, Magical Bakery, Magical Delicacy, Seaside Cafe Rush Hour
• Part 14: Chef's Tail, Espresso Tycoon, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, Tavern Talk
• Part 15: Chicken Journey, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, Terra Memoria, Until Then
• Part 16: Cornucopia®, Hipster Café, Let's Café, Spells & Secrets
• Part 17: Doloc Town, Feed the Cups, Manitas Kitchen, Mushroom Picnic Party, Rift of the NecroDancer
• Part 18: Meadgard: Beer and Plunder, BOKURA: planet, Teeny Tiny Town, Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos
• Part 19: Dungeons of Hinterberg, The Mildew Children, Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, Yaoling: Mythical Journey
• Part 20: AI LIMIT, Harmony's Odyssey, Last Time I Saw You, Whiskers & Wizardry
  
• Part 21: Constance, Dragoon Ascension, Kara Fantasy, Welcome to Elderfield
• Part 22: Crowncity, Dungeon Alchemist, Parliament of Hell 1796, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
  
• Part 23: Tuesday, March 11th
• Part 24: Tuesday, March 18th
• Part 25: Tuesday, March 25th

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MORE INFO & TO SUPPORT

- About MonriaTitans | WGS
- Rendezvous Point Bookshop
- Artist Shout-Outs Criteria
- The Titans' Discord
- Throne Wishlist
- #SubOffTwitch
- YouTube
- Rumble
- Odysee
- Twitch
- Steam

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Originally published to https://opinionsandtruth.wordpress.com on October 20, 2024.