Android, the droid, what's the difference?

August 21, 2015

Baby steps into gaming on the phone.

It wasn't until February of this year that I got my first smartphone, I ran behind the facts in this as badly as anything. Especially for a software developer, I'm notoriously not into gadgets. But when an acquaintance and I were looking for an address after getting off the bus, weren't sure which direction to go, and he pulled out his phone and calling up navigation, I knew this is something I had to be able to do also. After that I grabbed my phone, a not-too-new and thus affordable model, namely a Samsung Galaxy Core. It runs Android, probably an older version, not sure, never looked into it.

After learning how to swipe (horizontal only apparently, clearly something everybody in the world but me already knew), I learned the screen does not appear to pick up a stylus, so it's down to my clumsy fingers instead. I never really considered gaming on it, given how much trouble I felt I'd have controlling it. Made the plunge recently after all due to recommendations on Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Fallout Shelter. Both downloaded, have only had time to try the former so far.

And it's not really cooperative. On my home wifi, it frequently cuts out completely in the bedroom (where my wifi signal does appear to be spotty). In the living room this doesn't occur, but it is noticeably slow, often I press a menu option and then have to sit and wait until it decides to do something based on my click. Frequently my phone goes on auto-standby while I'm waiting, so I've learned to just finger the screen a bit to prevent that, but clearly there's room for improvement here. Will have to figure out how to keep the standby from activating so quickly (hopefully can make this depend on the app being run?), and figure out if the reason why it's slow is my connection, my Android version, or just something this game does.

And I need to try Fallout Shelter already, too.

Most recent blog posts from Peter Butter...

Goodbye, Legend of Legacy...

There was another example I could have given.

Two PS2s, one gamer.

Most recent blog posts from Peter Butter...
Goodbye, Legend of Legacy... There was another example I could have given. Two PS2s, one gamer.

Feedback

jerec - August 21, 2015 (03:11 AM)
The game only uses the wifi or mobile data to download stages, as far as I know. The game has pretty shocking performance, particularly on older model phones. It's not so bad on my phone (one I bought late last year), but I've heard a lot of people have found it very laggy.

JoeTheDestroyer - August 21, 2015 (03:46 AM)
Lately I've been playing a freemium horror-based dungeon crawler called Dark Meadow. It's not bad. I think my main problem is that it's a bit grindy.

overdrive - August 22, 2015 (11:23 AM)
Yeah, for me, Record Keeper works well with my phone. Occasionally, it'll lag or even shut off/restart, but that's fairly rare and it always worked well afterwards. And sometimes, the connection isn't great and it'll take a while for things to load up.

Speaking of which, you'll learn to love days like Saturdays when you get a gil-based daily dungeon. Honing abilities can be expensive as hell. I accepted the "quests" to hone the four "break" spells (Power Break, Mental Break, etc.). Had enough parts to do three of them. $25,000 each. I went from pretty wealthy to flat broke in one minute. Today, I can regain all that and more.

sashanan - August 23, 2015 (05:38 AM)
I've only seen Record Keeper on my own phone so I don't know what speed is "normal", but I get the impression that if I press a button and it doesn't make the squeak sound, or if it does but then it takes up to 10-20 seconds for something to happen based on that, it's not performing the way it's supposed to. In battle it's a bit better, but outside of battle menu navigation is atrocious. I suspect it can do better, but I'll have to see what I can do to help it in fiddling with settings or updating Android or whatever.

Dark Meadow is more problematic, I cannot get it beyond switching infinitely between startup screens about the Unreal engine and the developer. No game starts.

JoeTheDestroyer - August 23, 2015 (07:02 PM)
You're not missing too much with Dark Meadow, honestly. It's humorous occasionally and somewhat impressive for a free game, but most of the game's length consists of seemingly endless sessions of grinding and farming to become powerful enough to handle the next boss.

Roto13 - August 24, 2015 (02:58 PM)
I played Record Keeper for months but eventually the new content started requiring a guide (and a very, very specific team with very, very specific abilities for each boss) and way too much stamina. Plus, it runs like crap on everything. It communicates with a server every time you make a menu selection outside of battle and it takes forever.

sashanan - August 25, 2015 (04:27 AM)
Thanks for the input. That would certainly explain the delay. Perhaps it would run better if I used mobile data over my wifi, but then again, perhaps not. Its range is limited but its speed should be okay, and I get very little data to spend in my plan anyway.

sashanan - August 27, 2015 (01:37 AM)
And then Record Keeper disturbed my sleep around 4 am this morning by making the phone buzz to announce FFIX's Eiko is temporarily winnable in one event or another. Every other app I can easily change the setting on so it only makes announcements silently, while still allowing the phone to remain on so I can be called awake in an emergency. On this, at least at that time of night, I could find no settings menu in which I could accomplish this, so the obvious solution - just ditch the app - won out.

Hopefully once I put a little time into Fallout Shelter, I'll end up liking that one more.

Feedback
	jerec - August 21, 2015 (03:11 AM) The game only uses the wifi or mobile data to download stages, as far as I know. The game has pretty shocking performance, particularly on older model phones. It's not so bad on my phone (one I bought late last year), but I've heard a lot of people have found it very laggy.
	JoeTheDestroyer - August 21, 2015 (03:46 AM) Lately I've been playing a freemium horror-based dungeon crawler called Dark Meadow. It's not bad. I think my main problem is that it's a bit grindy.
	overdrive - August 22, 2015 (11:23 AM) Yeah, for me, Record Keeper works well with my phone. Occasionally, it'll lag or even shut off/restart, but that's fairly rare and it always worked well afterwards. And sometimes, the connection isn't great and it'll take a while for things to load up. Speaking of which, you'll learn to love days like Saturdays when you get a gil-based daily dungeon. Honing abilities can be expensive as hell. I accepted the "quests" to hone the four "break" spells (Power Break, Mental Break, etc.). Had enough parts to do three of them. $25,000 each. I went from pretty wealthy to flat broke in one minute. Today, I can regain all that and more.
	sashanan - August 23, 2015 (05:38 AM) I've only seen Record Keeper on my own phone so I don't know what speed is "normal", but I get the impression that if I press a button and it doesn't make the squeak sound, or if it does but then it takes up to 10-20 seconds for something to happen based on that, it's not performing the way it's supposed to. In battle it's a bit better, but outside of battle menu navigation is atrocious. I suspect it can do better, but I'll have to see what I can do to help it in fiddling with settings or updating Android or whatever. Dark Meadow is more problematic, I cannot get it beyond switching infinitely between startup screens about the Unreal engine and the developer. No game starts.
	JoeTheDestroyer - August 23, 2015 (07:02 PM) You're not missing too much with Dark Meadow, honestly. It's humorous occasionally and somewhat impressive for a free game, but most of the game's length consists of seemingly endless sessions of grinding and farming to become powerful enough to handle the next boss.
	Roto13 - August 24, 2015 (02:58 PM) I played Record Keeper for months but eventually the new content started requiring a guide (and a very, very specific team with very, very specific abilities for each boss) and way too much stamina. Plus, it runs like crap on everything. It communicates with a server every time you make a menu selection outside of battle and it takes forever.
	sashanan - August 25, 2015 (04:27 AM) Thanks for the input. That would certainly explain the delay. Perhaps it would run better if I used mobile data over my wifi, but then again, perhaps not. Its range is limited but its speed should be okay, and I get very little data to spend in my plan anyway.
	sashanan - August 27, 2015 (01:37 AM) And then Record Keeper disturbed my sleep around 4 am this morning by making the phone buzz to announce FFIX's Eiko is temporarily winnable in one event or another. Every other app I can easily change the setting on so it only makes announcements silently, while still allowing the phone to remain on so I can be called awake in an emergency. On this, at least at that time of night, I could find no settings menu in which I could accomplish this, so the obvious solution - just ditch the app - won out. Hopefully once I put a little time into Fallout Shelter, I'll end up liking that one more.

© 1998-2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.