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Bloodborne...on the PS4, and definitely not on PC. For real this time. Yes, I know I already did this that one time a couple years back, but it's for real this time. You know, I could swear the atmosphere of this fight felt...different somehow the first time I played it nine years ago, but I can't put my finger exactly on what the difference is. It's like there's some mysterious kind of...audiovisual component missing or something. I just can't put my finger on... Oh, yeah, that's it. Huh, weird...guess he didn't feel like chatting today. (I had to play the game at literally 360p, which is what you're seeing in that video stretched up to 1080p, because my damned GPU doesn't have enough VRAM for anything higher and running on even 480p kept causing the game to explode...I guess I shouldn't have cheaped out on my GPU after all, although maybe by the time the emulator isn't completely broken i.e. sound works, it won't need quite so much? IDK: for rendering at 360p, it still looks pretty alright all things considered...).

It gets weirder, because after I hit it for the first time, subsequent hits did use inversion. I got 22.4s on hits, which is closer to 30*1.1*1/(1-(0.35+1-1/(1-0.45))) = ~22.5s rather than 30*1.1*1.35*(1-0.45) = ~24.5s This does need a full test.

If only we can get it with anyone other than Tekehu... With 10 PER and no head slot , that's more than 20 accuracy difference compared to the MC I haven't used him offensively since forever ago, maybe worth it if I run a party with full fortitude debuffs I was going to ask if we're sure duration also uses inversion, but I decided a quick test and found AWT has an advantage over miasma: it seems to apply its full duration on graze (at least main target), while miasma's graze has the normal -50% duration penalty. And I think duration might not be using inversion: my character with PL7, 17 INT hits Doru with AWT for the first time, if it's inversion, it should be 30*1.1*1/(1-(0.35+1-1/(1-0.75))) = 9.04s however the effect was actually 11.2s, seems to be just 30*1.1*1.35*(1-0.75) = 11.1375s with some rounding problems.

I saw Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Alien: Resurrection on a double bill when they were released. Lol.

New version is uploading, but I can't recall who gave me the script to reduce missing NPC in Serpent Crown (please claim to get your legit credit) : Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

We can learn new things of this game after so many years! Only because they decided to use inversion in the first place and nobody can be sure about basic mechanics lol

I’m almost stridently confident that graze is not multiplicative. i wonder if AWT is implemented in a weird way (sounds like it) where the debuff duration is calculated separately, like not a part of the initial effect, because if it grazes as part of a separate step instead of as the same calculation step a graze becomes indistinguishable from multiplicative penalty. edit: actually I only know for certain that graze is not multiplicative when it comes to damage, it is very possible graze is multiplicative for durations, because crits ARE multiplicative for durations! This is actually a nice discovery

So here's all the results: First graze with AWT: 11.2s subsequent hits/grazes with AWT: almost always 22.4s, fits inversion miasma graze: 3.4s, only makes sense if we get 6.85s with inversion, then *0.5 from graze miasma graze after AWT: 8.5s, only makes sense if we get 17.0s with inversion, then *0.5 from graze So far the conclusion I can get is, duration does use inversion, but graze is multiplicative. And AWT is super weird: The first hit or graze will apply -5/-10 RES first, then calculate the durations seperately, and can graze. So the 11.2s was actually 22.4s*0.5 (graze), not from non-inversion. Even if I hit a creature with 35 RES, it's calculated with 25 RES. I'm sure miasma does not behave this way. If the target has -5/-10 versions on it, subsequent grazes of that version count as hits and give full duration I can get as many as 3 or more debuffs called AWT on the target, seems due to my charater being killed and instantly revived, and they count as different spells? This might mean AWT from multiple casters can get even weirder. They don'y stack ofc, just durations can get funky.

Another giveaway on GOG. https://www.gog.com/en/game/whispering_willows

very interesting finding! i think this bears further testing (edit: also in part because typically when I do math I get answers that match the game down to the tenths, so I want to be certain nothing's being missed), because my memory tells me that I did some math/testing and was pretty sure that below-average resolve added additively to durations, it would be weird if it functioned additively in one direction and then in a different system (non-inversion) in another. i'm happy to be corrected, but it would be a pretty big deal if below-average resolve adds duration multiplicatively instead. if it is multiplicative, then in general debuffing resolve is even stronger. inversions are weird and non-linear so if you're deep in the hole it's more punishing than multiplicative, but as you get more out of the hole it becomes weaker than multiplicative, and then you're at the point that the sign flips and it's purely additive. for most cases (e.g. not dorudugan) debuffing resolve would then be pretty good support. for an enemy at 10 resolve, landing a resolve affliction to get +15% additively to debuff durations is one thing, but 1.15x on your debuff duration is a whole other (actually quite good) thing.

i agree. i don't think i seriously used miasma until relatively recently, and only because the run before those i had used arkemyr's wondrous torment to incredible effect against dorudugan (i even wrote a build up relying on it here somewhere in the forum history). those spells don't exactly scream "i'm incredible!" but frankly they are. debuffing resolve by 10 in particular is a really subtly effect, not just making enemies easier to hit but making all your DoTs and debuffs much more powerful. the inversion math means that against enemies with above-average resolve, it's comparable to +10 intellect for your party and if we saw that on a buff we'd all agree that's a stupidly powerful buff for everyone. (against dorudugan in particular, they go from 35 resolve to 25 resolve... that's +260% worth of debuff duration increase thanks to inversions, essentially +52 intellect to everyone trying to land an effect... including refreshes of miasma/arkemyr)

Depends. Has lower PL scaling - but has no friendly fire. I slept on Miasma of Dull-Mindedness long enough. Imo one of the best spells in the whole game. Also because there are so many good other spells that target the Will defense. I usually also don't pick many spells but rely on grimoires - but Miasma is one of those I almost always pick.

It does (armor and weapons) - but those spiritshift "items" don't have any 3D-model, so your phantom looks like your normal character with bare hands. But it is actually holding invisible claw/tusks/whatever and also wears an invisible (decent & scaling) natural armor with 0 recovery penalty. It may happen that the phantom's attack animation gets a hickup because the game wants to play the attack animation for claws for example - but the phantom's character model doesn't have the corresponding "moves". Oha, I didn't know that. 👍 Edit: a sorcerer can keep the natural weapons from spiritshift as permanent items if he casts Kalakoth's Minor Blights and then spiritshifts. The Blights will cycle to a different element and replace the natural weapon in your hand. You may not be abe to use the Blights because again: clash of attack animations (->jitters). But after spiritshift is over (and Blights' duration, too) you will end up with a claw item in your hands. You can do that as often as you want (and then keep two of those for dual wielding or so). Also works with Fearsome Brute's fists by the way (which are pretty awesome weapons which make a cool metal clang sound on hit).

it felt really good to me with ring of focused flame, scion of flame. with those two things added in, it's pretty much an S-tier weapon (better than other summoned weapons imo, with possible exception of woedica's fists), any martial would love to have that weapon. with some wizard buffs (esp deleterious alacrity of motion, and arcane reflection is actually relevant bc you're so constantly close enough you'll actually get targeted by spells) it felt very satisfying to basically zip around, untouchable, and burn everything. it's not an unfair build, but still a strong one. spiritshift was a nice fallback against fire resistant/immune/absorbing enemies. edit: wall of draining is always going to be unfair, but when you do get wall of draining you can extend even small duration wizard buffs (eldritch aim) and cat's flurry from druid (+33% action speed). edit 2: all summoning weapons kind of hit a low-point mid-game because they're not scaling as fast as weapons as you typically find, so depending on when you tried it, it might not have felt as good. but +10 acc and +1 PEN really help firebrand continue to feel very strong even it's stuck at fine or exceptional scaling way too long. edit 3: this is a kind of build that really benefits from AI scripting. there's just so many fast-cast buffs you end up wanting to cast from wizard that I had an AI script just for this build to go through: deleterious, reflection, ironskin, fireshield, infuse with vital essence, etc. and because they all have no recovery, there's no real action economy issue to just spamming these all at start of fight. arcane dampener from bad guys suck a lot but deleterious (or fleet feet early on) + fast runner (normally not available to wizard but you get from druid) + possibly some boots makes you so dang fast you can just run away from most fights until the enemy wizards waste their dampener on someone else. edit 4: oh yeah, as boeroer mentioned, i completely forgot about the interaction with phantom. honestly i don't think i used that for my build (it's been a while), i just completely forgot about it for my build, was too focused on zipping around with firebrand, but it definitely would amp up the general power and utility of the multiclass. i forget if spiritshift also copies over to phantom. warning though that i just remembered (and i noted this in my guide) - sorcerer has a really weird bug, where if you switch grimoires while spiritshifted you lose all the spells that come from grimoires. you can get them back after combat if you're not spiritshifted and you switch grimoires again, but it's a pretty nasty bug and if you do go down a sorcerer route you should really make sure to be careful about it.

You need to watch Mortal Kombat Annihilation next

Well, you would only use Blood Sacrifice once you run out of spell uses I assume. And then you'd turn visible soon anyway. The drawback of the Bloodmage and the Assassin (receiving more damage) doesn't matter much when you're invisible a lot. The other drawback (no Empower) isn't really one for most players because they don't use Empower in the first place. But another wizard subclass like for example Illusionist (or no subclass) also would work of course. You can use Empower once per fight to regain spell uses without breaking invisibility.

No! I acknowledge that he SAID he doesn't agree with it once it became apparent that it was deeply unpopular! Again, he is a liar!

Yes. He is constantly lying. He supported abortion bans and suddenly walked it the heck back and tried to downplay it when he realised what a deeply unpopular move it was.

^ I'm not into such games, but from everything I've seen/heard re: Concord, it just didn't offer anything interesting enough to move players from other games to that one. There are only so many games a single person can dedicate themselves to, and MP games that need constant regular players --- just can't expect many dozens of them to all be hugely populated. I guess the dev/publisher hope is always that yours will be the next big thing, but perhaps there isn't going to be a next big thing again for a while. I mean, even outside of online games, you have the same situation with other genres. City builders, survival, open world rpg etc - how many of those do we all need per year. Why should I play this or that when I can just keep playing 7 Days to Die. It's getting so most of these games kinda look exactly the same on the surface. I love my smaller dev/indie games, but even that is horribly oversaturated these days. And worse, many of them look more and more like pure asset flips/all the same art/3d model with almost no innovation/uniqueness. Sure many may still be "ok" or at least pass the time but...it gets tiresome trying to navigate it all. Consumer burnout cycles. Concord maybe just hit a bad timing.

It does look reasonably good in this resolution, though the muted sound is more noticeable. --- Lunacid. Found the most OP spell (Ice Tear) for my non-magic build and defeated 2 bosses in the (Vampire) Castle (one technically was a mini-boss). The game also highlights why I had less issues with Dark Souls not having maps - open areas with visible landmarks are much easier to navigate than similarly-looking corridors. I have also found a mimic. After losing ~200 coins to it, I decided to reload and avoid it. Dustborn (demo). The demo used several disconnected scenes to show different gameplay systems. The game is techinically similar to Dreamfall or The Walking Dead, but with rhythm mini-games and combat. The graphics and visual style are beautiful, and I liked the music, but the combat animations or physics are lacking (the regular attacks had little impact; the abilities were fine, though). I guess, if the MC had a sharp weapon, I would like it more - while Batman-style non-lethal combat is narratively fitting, it is less satisfying in the context (a party of D&D bard-like mutants are crossing a post-apocalyptic version of the US to deliver a mysterious package, so leaving the foes alive and being able to report does not seem like a reasonable course of action).

Actually, never mind with the Brute question. I found some older posts that explained the advantages of Berkserker/Devoted with Morning Stars

tbf when i did a sorcerer the healing was not really a factor. it was rather more about firebrand and/or spiritshift (the latter of which can be extended with wall of draining) in combination with wizard buffs and such. either way imo sorcerer is a whole different animal/playstyle than pure wizard and it doesn't make for an easy "which is better" question.

A man of culture 95% sur it is the former. For some reasons it has been coded differently. And since it is hard coded, it is unlikely to be changed.

Are people blaming wokeness on Concord being a failure? I thought it was market oversaturation.

You're a legend! Thank you for such a detailed and thoughtful reply! Both of these options seem appealing, but the standard passive healing tank seems like the safer pick. This is so cool--I'm sold on this character as my cc/debuffer. I didn't know that the Assassin's 25 accuracy was global, so thanks for clarifying. And I love this idea too. I've seen this idea mentioned in some of your prior posts. Sounds very strong. Given all of your input and the fact that the Spellblade (assassin/wizard) sound so fun, I'm now questioning my Battlemage pick. It seems too redundant to have both an assassin/wizard and a fighter/wizard. What do you think? Is Citzal's Spirit Lance worth the redundancy? I'm trying to think of something that has synergy with the rest of the party... Here's my updated list: Herald (paladin/chanter), Kapana Taga and Lethandria's Devotion ?? Priest Spellblade (assassin/wizard) Seer (arcane archer/ascendant), Frostseeker

Also say you are going to hit them with a fire attack that gives an attack against a defense. A lot are reflex defense for fire. Like say example of fan of flames. But if you attack with something first that makes reflex weaker then choosing the order to apply these effects rationally makes you more efficient. So example I can't remember if 'daze' hurts reflex defense but if it does then apply daze first and then fan of flames rather than the reverse. Note: fan of flames you can avoid some friendly fire with careful positioning.

Being unable to hold your mutagenic blood is a skill issue. Should have invested more into Fortitude saves.

I guess it's too late now, but for being a Cleric that monster didn't even bother to cast a buff or a cc spell. Someone should help him with his build tbh.

That’s sort of limits their trustworthiness to impacts in the city of Tel Aviv, doesn’t it? Not knowing those media, I would be surprised if they didn’t get most of their information as third hand information, handed down from the people affected to the official Israeli channels and finally the curated version to said media. I would wait 12-24 months for independent media to have fact checked the various claims. Heck, they could all be right, missile defense being no good and the Iranian missiles slaughtering cows and grasshoppers on farmland 🤷‍♂️ edit: fixed various typos graciously brought to you by my phone