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

Welcome to Part 6 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 perused through Steam's Demos Category to see what was 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. Glorious Companions – Early Access
   Explore the open world of Terscara as you advance through the challenging and tactical encounters in this epic turn-based tactical RPG. Form and lead a group of battle-proven companions, delve into the ancient dungeons to collect the elusive vault crystals, and end Xandar's Wraith once and for all.
2. Tales of Arise
   300 years of tyranny. A mysterious mask. Lost pain and memories. Wield the Blazing Sword and join a mysterious, untouchable girl to fight your oppressors. Experience a tale of liberation, featuring characters with next-gen graphical expressiveness!
3. Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge
   Ultionus is a love-letter to the home computer arcade games of the late 80s and early 90s, with colorful 2D visuals, catchy chiptune music by the legendary Jake 'Virt' Kaufman, and 7 stages of hard-as-nails gameplay.
4. Cozy Island
   Take a relaxing walk around a surprise-filled island and build your own secret base! Explore the island, meet cute animals, play fun mini-games, and collect cool toys and furniture. Enjoy carefree and happy moments on the island! Play with your friends and share the fun together!

All links above are to the games' Steam pages.
Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge is also on itch.io!

The verdict?

Cozy Island was a bust. The sound design was annoying and grating and it was designed in such a fashion that one error and I couldn't proceed with the story. The art style was cute in its simplicity, but the character animation had me tilting my head. Why? As my favorite game critic says, paraphrasing, "I don't care how big the world is. I only care about what I can do." And there was NOTHING to do. Just play Fae Farm.

My favorite demo was Tales of Arise! And it reminded me a LOT of Visions of Mana! The design was GORGEOUS! I freaked out, excitedly, a few times at how it looked. I, also, freaked out a few times because I was being chased, but that's another story... The combat tutorials could use some work; it should not have taken me as long as it did to figure out how to block/guard. And I could have SWORN, I was able to switch characters during combat, but couldn't find how to do it. Unless I mistook it for something else, which is possible. Which is a problem. The combat was fun, despite my, temporary lack of blocking. Why biggest frustration with it, however, was when the character I was controlling went down in a fight, I wasn't automatically switched to another one. Nor was there an option to switch. I was literally spectating the fight, waiting for it to be over, but I couldn't remember how to flee if fleeing was even an option while downed. Ending out the Compliment Sandwich, the party banter was entertaining. The character design was sublime. The art style was anime tap dancing on realism. The UI was easy to follow. And it was one of a HANDFUL of games I can remember playing that made me WANT to explore! Normally, I want linear storylines and clear paths, but this one was an exception. Well done! Why had I not heard of this game before? Because I don't pay enough attention to Bandai...

Glorious Companions, which was in Early Access, looked and played GREAT! It was a decent example of Early Access done right! And it was my second favorite. It reminded me a lot of a game called Price of Freedom, NSFW, but was WAY simpler and more straightforward. Price of Freedom had you attacking separate body parts while Glorious Companions was straight-up attacking and defending. The tutorial was easy to follow. It was beautifully designed. Backing up a bit, I ACTUALLY had a tough time picking what class I wanted to play because 3 out of 4 were FANTASTIC! I wished there was character customization, but they might have locked it for either, a) demo and/or b) story reasons. My biggest issue was my inability to add things to the Inventory slots for battle. I was walking into fights with no bandages or potions with no understanding as to why. Which would have been fine had I been able to use them out of battle, outside of camping. And there was no explanation as to why I couldn't. If I missed the explanation, that's a problem. I shouldn't be missing shit in a tutorial. To end on a high note, I LOVED the art design! I loved how it was animated! I definitely intend to recommend this one to my partner!

And that's it for Part 6! 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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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Welcome Gamers!
2:17 - Demos' Intro
2:40 - Glorious Companions - Early Access
54:45 - Tales of Arise
1:53:26 - Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge
2:12:19 - Cozy Island
2:29:46 - Mini Critique/Thank You
2:37:38 - Rendezvous Point Bookshop Plug
2:41:58 - 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 5: All-Star Fruit Racing, Indivisible, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Visions of Mana
• 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 November 5, 2024.