Sulphur on 25/7/2024 at 12:52
Yeah, TW3's shadow hangs heavy over it. It started with Origins, actually, where you can see that they contextualised the side quests within the world much more than they did previously. It was a welcome change, though many side quests still boil down to generic fluff in the end, instead of providing an interesting avenue to explore the world and culture (though I must say, I greatly enjoy any time Odyssey decides to be funny, especially the entire run of Minotaur-themed quests in Pephka, and the quest where a dude locks himself in a cage to avoid harming his mom and dad due to a prophecy).
The Mercenary system is basically a Nemesis system-lite with the none of the character and much of the fun filed off. A shame, as I say, and for reasons I have said. I wonder if I can stop complaining about these games someday?
The answer is No. But Shadows looks promising! Maybe. Kind of.
Malf on 25/7/2024 at 13:27
Hah, I've just remembered recording this from Origins:
[video=youtube;_QWziRdzR7c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QWziRdzR7c[/video]
Thirith on 25/7/2024 at 14:28
The Ubisoft games, especially the Assassin's Creed games, have things about them that I really like, but especially with the current mega-games I simply burn out on them a long time before I'm even near the end of the main storyline. It's a shame, because there are positives in Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla that you don't really find in other games, but these days I get tired already when I hear how big these fuckers are, and that's simply not something I enjoy any more. Even if there was more substance to the games, I'm simply not in the market for something that wants me to dedicate the next half-year to it. I don't need every game to be a couple of hours in length, but anything that expects me to put in 40+ hours at least will have to come up with very good arguments.
Sulphur on 25/7/2024 at 16:20
I feel the same way, honestly. I have to push past the feeling of exhaustion before I get on with them, but once you're in, the quest design is bite-sized enough for me that I can partake for half an hour or an hour and then get on with something else. I'm traditionally not a fan of this sort of thing, but in practice I appreciate not having to commit an entire slice of clockface to a session on days I just need something light to pass the time with.
Quote Posted by Malf
Hah, I've just remembered recording this from Origins:
Hah. I do like how the systems-y jank works in Origins sometimes like that. The plague arrows were pretty good for that. I may have made Bayek an unrepentant psychopath in a temple once with them (only a little more than the game itself makes him out to be). Here are some screenshots, with a bonus horse:
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/re5a2sx.jpegInline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/Iz0ZGo0.jpegInline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/8gu9JJz.jpegThirith on 27/7/2024 at 09:08
I did get started on Nine Sols, a recent Metroidvania game that's been called the Sekiro to Hollow Knight's Dark Souls, and I can definitely see it. The comparison also holds because, as with Sekiro, I suck at deflecting attacks, which I foresee will be a problem. It's annoying with these games: I'd consider myself to have a fairly good sense of rhythm (due to having played a bunch of instruments in a bunch of bands and orchestras for a few decades), but I find it very difficult to get into the right rhythm with so many of these games. It makes me wonder whether I'm trying to rely too much on a musical sense of rhythm, when what I'd need is more a sense of timing that isn't musical so much as learned. Or perhaps I'm just clumsy.
Sulphur on 27/7/2024 at 11:52
With Sekiro at least, it's about reaction timing and learning enemy moves. There's a little rhythm, but given that enemies can choose from a repertoire of moves, there's not much use in hoping the entire battle follows a set cadence. Also, reducing input lag if there's a bunch from devices in the chain like your TV/monitor helps.
Thirith on 27/7/2024 at 13:30
Sure - it's less about a set cadence for an entire battle for me than it is about how the visual (and sometimes aural) clues are timed in connection with the deflect window. I'm not expecting Hi-Fi Rush, but these games tend to click most with me when there's an underlying rhythm to the timings. I suspect there is with Nine Sols, based on a couple of videos of boss fights that I've watched, but I'm definitely not there yet.
salass00 on 28/7/2024 at 17:37
I took a break from Shadow of the Erdtree as I was two weeks at my family's summer place (no computers or electricity there).
Since coming back I've been playing Darkest Dungeon 2. On my first run I beat the first chapter (Denial). The initial party composition was: man at arms, highwayman, grave robber and plague doctor. I lost the man at arms half way to the inn in last region before the mountain and had to replace him with the duelist (a character that was completely new to me as she wasn't in the previous game).
In the final boss fight I lost the grave robber early on. I might have been able to keep her alive if I had healed her with battle medicine but I was counting on getting a better heal with one of her self heals and she was still at an okay health level I thought. One attack to her to death's door and the second killed her. Not healing was a terrible call as I forgot I had taken off her absinthe skill and the corpse removal/heal skill (dead of night) wouldn't have worked as the locks don't leave corpses as I found out later in the fight. I also lost the duelist just before the end of the fight so the only survivors in the end were the highwayman and the plague doctor.
My second run (chapter 2: Resentment) with the same composition I got to the last inn before the mountain but with only three party members and no replacements available. Man at arms died first again and was replaced by the duelist who died pretty quickly again. Not seeing much chance of beating the boss with only three characters I ended the run early on the inn so that I could keep all my memories/candles earned.
After this I had just mainly terrible run after terrible run with varying compositions. My first really powerful run at chapter 2 was with: leper, man at arms, grave robber and plague doctor. Leper was the heavy hitter and MVP in this composition with trinkets increasing his DMG and one hitting enemies with chop, and using reflection whenever necessary to get rid of blindness. The man at arms was tanking, the grave robber was for corpse clear and getting rid of block/dodge tokens and the plague doctor was for further buffing the damage of chop (invigorating vapors), healing and sometimes DOT, also ounce of prevention (increased blight/bleed/fire resist for the entire party for three turns). I beat my first lair boss (dreaming general), killed some mini-bosses (chirurgeon, antiquarian) and got to the last region mostly without any trouble before suddenly having a complete party wipe against the collector (a repeat mini boss from the first game) who this party was really ill equipped to deal with (I could kill his adds easy enough but as he resummons so fast I never got much opportunity to do real damage).
On my last attempt (same party comp as above) I did however finally manage to see the final boss of the 2nd chapter and I survived for long enough to get an understanding of how it works/needs to be dealt with. This time I did not run into the collector but I had a disastrous battle right before the last inn where I last both the man at arms and the plague doctor who were replaced by highwayman and vestal. This may have been somewhat of a blessing in disguise as somehow I had completely avoided having a single positive inter party relationship on this run and had gained some pretty bad negative ones.
henke on 29/7/2024 at 15:13
Speaking of Darkest Dungeon, I've heard some comparisons between it and the game I'm currently playing. (mainly due to the stress effects I think)
I've been playing a lot of
Aliens: Dark Descent for the last couple weeks. Very compelling real-time squad-tactics stealth/action game. I'm not big on real-time tactics games, but the gameplay here is quite accessible. You move your squad as a single unit, and when you ask them to pick something up or hack a door, one of them is automatically assigned to the task. This system works remarkably smoothly, and there's only been a few times when I've wished I'd had more direct control of my soldiers. The game uses a XCOM-like structure where between missions you're back in your stranded spaceship, the Otago, leveling up your units, researching new tech and making weapons. While the controls and gameplay is smooth, the whole experience isn't. There's bugs here, and I ain't just talking bout the xenomorphs. Playing on PS5 I've had units get stuck in elevators, save-points not working, and low framerate bugs.
Difficulty ramps up at a good pace and feels appropriate for most of the game, except mission 6 which is a big difficulty spike. The hosts of (
https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/aliens-dark-descent) Three Moves Ahead had a hard time with this one as well. Often when the game gets really difficult it's because of scripted events locking you into situations that don't feel entirely organic. Often you'll need to replay these segments, and knowing what to expect the second time through makes them considerably easier.
The main thing that alleviates frustrations with the bugs and scripted events is that the game is quite generous with saves. The game will save before major events, and whenever you seal your units into a room to rest. Resting also relieves stress. Yeah, stress, that's a big factor in this game. As your soldiers become hunted their stress will go up, making them less accurate and more panicky. Over time they will develop traumas, and need to go see the Otago shrink, taking them out of action for a few days.
Overall, this is my kinda tactics game. It's quite low on random dice rolls determining things. Instead it's line of sight and positioning, things that are actually under your control, that determine how things will play out. The mood is great, it captures the atmosphere of the early Aliens scenes as well as Isolation captured the mood of Alien.
I'm about halfway through the campaign now. Not so long ago a timer started counting down towards an end-game event. I would have 25 days to complete a set of objectives. I've completed some of them. I have 9 days left. If things don't work out I guess that's it for my run. Game over, man. Game over.
Malf on 29/7/2024 at 15:23
I need to get back to that at some point.
I struggled with defining what should be the end of the first mission,and couldn't determine if I'd failed some abjectives because I exited too early, or whether those objectives would still be available to me if I revisited the area.
I think I maybe tried to do too much, but at the same time, I don't know if I'd done enough.
It was also maybe just a bit too intense for me, especially for the amount of time it seemed to take to "complete" that first proper mission. It just didn't let up!
