LadyCrimson

D2...the sorceress kicked butt. Necro was ok too but I probably started/made 30+ mages and 2 to 3 of any others. Only ever got one to 99 tho. Zillions of 8plyer cow runs, was never doing that again. Normally Id stop around 70ish, after I finished Hell dif with one, and theyd become a mule.

@Bartimaeus I tried to watch Wailing because of reviews. I didnt finish it/could not get into it all.

I could be home playing my game but instead hubby is dragging me to Sac because he is still curious if he would like to buy there. I am already bored. ...also, finger typing on a phone will never not suck

The game gave me this item which when active makes party and enemies do 1 damage. Obviously a way to (inefficiently) work on artes/skills proficiencies. So last night I turned it on, selected only a handful of desired artes for each party member, put AI in full-Auto, entered combat with a large mob, and went to bed. I woke up and they were still going at it.

^ I have Cat Quest on PS4. I liked it but then I stopped for some reason. I need to start it again one day. =============================== Does everything on this planet have bunny ears? I was hoping for more outfits (or even just recolors) that would make my team more color co-ordinated, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind. ...what? Is the AI actually lecturing me on being smarter in combat when I have to save them constantly? Pffft. Magic bullet time.

Tales of Arise: ---more main plot then: "This seems like a good spot to do some sidequests that have suddenly popped up all over the place." Oh btw, I'm clvl 38-39. ---take side quest, party is all "Yeah! let's do that!" ... get to spot, gigantour boss fight. Trigger/enter the battle, start title says: "ENEMY NAME: LEVEL 54" ... last 2-3 minutes, wipe (3 tries) ---take side quest ... "ENEMY NAME: LEVEL 57" ... last 90 seconds, wipe. (couple tries) ---next: ... a dungeon you can't leave/must finish once entered. Step in middle of rooms and a plethora of stuff drops on your head. "ENEMY NAME/S: LEVEL 60+" ... last 20 seconds, wipe (tried 3 times) ---I'm sensing a pattern to these new sidequests....are they supposed to be later? ---next: ... "ENEMY NAME: LEVEL 42" ... "I can handle that right." Yes, I did, in 3-4 minutes. ---take side quest. Fishing! Maybe it's an easier one. ---Dungeon: "ENEMY NAME/S: LEVEL 43-54" - but they're just mobs, I can handle those. Barely. Near-wiped a couple times, but I made it. Got to lvl 39-40, too. ---Get to big room. "ENEMY NAME: LVL 56." ... I am NOT coming back. "LEROY....." - wipe in 1.5 minutes. Sigh. ---2nd try ... 25 minutes of running/evading Dohalim around in circles forcing him to cast his Fairy Circle (thanks DLC) and a buff or two over and over, plus using up lots of healing, CP (mana) and revive consumables (I usually like to win trying not to use those). And finally - "I WIN!" *puffs up chest* AI-healing is ok but yeah...can't rely on it at all when they're that much more powerful than you. They are too slow/easily distracted. Game never tells you level of enemies until you're in the combat circle already. What it does do is warn you with short VA quips from your party as you approach, but who pays attention to that? Anyway, guess I gotta get moah power....or git gud. More likely, the former.

Arise doesn't explain a ton of things very well/accessibly, far as I can tell. Occasionally I'm probably just unobservant but, like ... crafting accessories works this way for half the game. Then at some point they added a new feature, which I only realized when I went to the craft menu and there was suddenly a new option in there. Same thing with this farming animals menu. They added a new animal you could "farm" (because of a side quest I think, no idea if it shows up before or after you discover the quest) and I didn't know until I camped and looked at the menu of the store guy (at every camp). Just a lot of out of the blue things. I also didn't realize that the Title circles, if you hovered over their center, would tell you what you needed to get them - like "catch a boss fish" or "cook this recipe while camping" or "do a side quest"... but at the same time, some new (empty, don't have) Title circles just seem to appear at certain points all of a sudden. Probably when any quest/action becomes actually available. I became better at combat and try to do everything legit, but the bosses or some side bosses. I just don't get some stuff and end up turning on WeMod and just enjoying the fights visually. Pffft.

Oh gawd ...

Am I boring everyone yet? I've reached a point where most screencaps are spoilers, anyway - so here's a different picture for you. A character is in there somewhere, can you see him? Additional: story started feeling too "serious" so I took off all the bunny/ears and things. I was also tired of never seeing the young mage's eyes in cutscenes so I gave her a different pair of glasses. Pretty! Fire always makes things better.

It is. A trend. I try to be patient but it's starting to be a tad annoying, because almost none of it feels important to furthering plot or chr. arcs, at least not for me. I'm clicking thru most skits faster and faster and faster ... Death Stranding had some super long cutscenes and things but at least they were intriguing sometimes...Tales of Arise writing is just long, dry repetition. Male lead is particularly one-note. I won't explain but ... sigh. ...my husbando makes it worth it tho. ...and the environments keep getting prettier/better. I just wish some of the areas were a little bigger. Don't need "open world" or huge, just ... a little bigger.

I post this not so much because I'm all that enamored of the song (or band) but ... I guess they've really become some kind of global phenomenon. After "Dynamite" they appear to be moving towards making most of their songs sung in English. Which, as a non-Korean speaker, I find a little less charming (and I still have a hard time understanding some of their English spoken singing). But ... supposedly they're the first band since the Beatles to have 3 albums reach #1 on Billboard in a year. Special UN Assembly envoy for the S. Korean President (edit: re: Sustainable Development Goals). Billions of YT views. They've been around long enough now that most of their members are in their late 20's. The power of youthful fans - and social/internet media access - can be a powerful thing. And I think it's a good thing. Music, as it can/does, bringing the world together on global scale. I can dig it.

^ While I'm all for making sure contracts are legally honored/full-filled/one isn't being purposely ripped off etc, I still yet always have a little bit of a hard time being very sympathetic to someone who made 20 million wanting another 50 million so desperately they'll hire mega expensive lawyers and sue. Nothing against her in a big sense, I don't live in that world after all, thus I will never understand it - and perhaps it's also because if I made 20+ million (even with the tax bite) on top of any other excess funds/savings from previous works, I would have said "nice knowing ya all, I'm retired from this fame-game now, bye." ...but that's probably why I'm not famous.

I have decided. Hootle is the best character in the game. a master actor of expressive feeling ... a shoo-in for the Owl Academy Awards. Still haven't controlled her. I just switch to take scenic pics sometimes. You will get knocked through the air and onto your backside, often. The beachwear DLC outfit for my husbando was also worth it. Hey, there's a bikini DLC for the shield-woman, so fair play. Thanks, Bandai Namco. Can't tell if Rinwell's grin = appreciation or mocking laughter.

Yeah those Fetishes were super annoying, especially if a crunchy sorceress. On the other hand. teleport let me avoid them a lot of time. Those Act 2 tomb guys who raised the dead or summoned skeletons or something could be a serious PITA too if you didn't kill them fast enough. Actually, thinking back on it, I think I liked Act1 the best, then Act 4, then Act5. The only reason one went back to Act3 was to farm Mephisto over and over and over and ... honestly the main appeal for me re: Diablo games was starting completely over from lvl1 and the loot hunt. Which was sort of missing in D3 - loot just wasn't as fun, stats/uniques/sets etc wise, imo.

Act 2 was always the least interesting Act, outside of Hardfore Chr. Killer Mr. Duriel. I would almost never go back to it/farm there with high level characters. I haven't bothered yet because honestly I played D2 for 3-4 years, maybe 4k-5k hours. The remake looks good and more stash sounds nice (although I had D2 mods that allowed that in single-player anyway) but I have a feeling after an hour admiring the new look and any QoL changes, I'd stop caring. Perhaps one rainy day. Tales of Arise: progressed story. There was this huge segment (20-30 minutes?) of nothing but dialogue cutscenes and skits, all mandatory or auto-triggered. One after another after another. That's a bit much. I hope that's not the start of a trend, but oh well whatever. I still love the action/environment etc. so I can put up with it until post-game anyway. They weren't all boring, but again the general writing style doesn't really work for me. They're either preaching or giving each other inspirational "you/we can do it!" speeches or something and because they go on for far too long I sorta fall asleep.

Spent most of the day first grabbing video stills from then editing/compressing game videos, because apparently the difference between recording in constant 3-12 minute bursts in high-quality 4k all the time vs. using 1440 (what I'd usually do) = sucking up 1.5-2TB of space in no time. Oh sure, the disk I record to started with 3TB free, but every 2-3 days you still gotta clean house before it gets out of hand. I hate losing quality tho. Edit: every video taking 20-40 minutes to render drives one batty too. Hurry up! eg, I need an 8TB disk...although, that might not be enough either. Do they have 64TB disks yet?

The problem with being a caster who has to stand still for a long time to cast some spells.... ...is that sometimes they catch up to you. JRPG's - the place to get all your culinary advice. Maybe because of all the chaos but I didn't notice at first that these things weren't just a strangely shaped, singular creature. Now that I've noticed, they're kind of cute. I suppose I need to play the dedicated mage someday (figure in the lower-center). Only one I haven't tried as combat leader yet. I'm not that fond of her character (outside of her owl), so I sort of avoid her...her spells are nice, but I prefer having two who can damage and heal, so I don't really need her.

*yawns, blinks blearily* ...two artes at 4 star, several at three star, a smattering at 2 star. ...5.5 chr. levels gained (not a lot considering the hours spent), meaning I'm a bit over-leveled for where I am, now. ...player's combat ability/understanding improved a lot from pure repetition. Still totally suck at evading, but have figured out pulling only r-trigger makes chr. spin to one side a bit to avoid, so that helped (no two-button/two hand pressing). ...upped difficulty to Moderate (there's Story, Normal, Moderate, Hard - 1 other I forget) and can now auto-combat defeat some stronger special enemies. Which is great when you want to video record stuff with the HUD disabled. ...time to progress story a little further. ...having all the party members increases their humor/personality interactions, making them all feel a bit more "there". Yup, maybe it took a little while to seriously warm up to it, but I'm lovin' this game. Still nowhere near as much silly fun as FFXV but it still hits my obsessive-brain.

Yeah, especially when you're just playing on "normal." I'm not even quite half-way through the main story yet I think. But I'm a stubborn jack--- and I am going to get all my fave artes to star-3 or 4 at least, darnit. I spent days and days and days killing that giant damage impervious mech in FFXV so I could have 6+ of the top accessory (on console no less) and this game's grind will not defeat me! Besides, I have the perfect spot for farming skills on mobs over and over. (you don't get much XP btw for repeated farming, purely about lvling those artes...). edit: on the bright side, all the things mobs drops is making me 'rich.'

I finally realized that yeah, those artes (skills, spells) all my chrs are using level up. There are five star rankings. To get a new star the chr. has to use the specific arte a certain number of times, ever increasing (100, 500, 1000, 2000 etc). Increases damage, occasionally unlocks a new arte or an improved version of the arte. But the AI is terrible about this, even if you uncheck most of them so it can only pick from/use a few. Thus I spent the last two days controlling the two chrs. I like to be "leader" (I control them) trying to manually spam-fight mobs just to raise 4 or 5 each of their skills. One skill or skill combo, done over and over and over and over. Ffffffffffffffffffff....it's definitely faster than the Ai would ever do, but still takes forever, especially spells with longer delays. Plus it's boring...got a few to three stars at least. I guess 5 star in many skills for all the characters would be an end-game grind. Maybe I could try using only two in the party so enemies wouldn't die as fast/you could spam more attacks each combat...

Attack animation picture spam! Not combat or a party character but ... ... the samurai outfit DLC for my husbando was worth it, far as I'm concerned.

(You'll have to imagine everything overlapping each other constantly+loud sound effects, sometimes drowning each other out...) It's on! You're mine! Out of our way! Elusive Deity! Rotating Piledriver! This ends now! Rising Phoenix! Annialhation! Death Bolt! Stalagmite! Resonate with the Earth! Stalagmite! Resonate with the Earth! Stay away from my friends! Hold nothing back! Azure Storm! A thrilling performance! Raging Lunar Storm! Gemini Aqua! Flame of Fury! Benediction Light. Shine, Radiant Light. Demon Fang! Double Demon Fang! Demon Fang! Double Demon Fang! Armor won't save you! Crush! Another incantation ruined. (casting interrupted) I'm such a failure. (KO'd/dying) Magma Ray! ... Back into the fray. I'll bring you back from deaths abyss. (resurrection spell) Talon Hurricane! Now I'm in the groove! Catapult! Searing Flame! I never miss! Tempest! Now I'm real mad! Swallow Blade! Eat this! Regeneration! Regenerate! I won't lose, not now, not ever. Rising Wyvern! Mirage! I'll grind you into dust! Devastation! Swallow Dance! I'll tear you apart! Elusive Deity! Rotating Piledriver! Behold! The Earth's Pulse! Tectonic Vision! (special big attack) (....I don't think I've ever played a game with so much constant audio "noise" in 90-120 second fights, it's like being in a small room full of people trying to outshout each other - wonder if I'll think other games are too darn quiet, now) Re: the game itself, currently amusing myself with grinding for a few chr. levels and some crafting material as a break from just plowing through the linear plot.

Well, Keto has helped with "brain fog" feelings but I still feel like my brain is not the same. Basically almost falling into coma last year etc, I just feel slower, much more forgetful, unable to concentrate/stay on track, lose train of thoughts, sometimes even not making real sense while trying to converse, mental tasks that were easy take longer to focus/finish, blah blah. Those days right after getting out of hospital hubby said he was worried I wasn't going to recover in that sense at all, so it must've been pretty bad those first days home. I mean, on the surface I'd probably seem fine/normal "aging" to folks but y'know, spouses know you. Anyway ... I was never a genius, I'm far better than then, now, I don't think it's getting worse, and I'm not saying I'm at Joe Biden levels, but it's a little distressing to notice. (edit) Like when I'm simply paying bills online and I'm staring at the webpage for way too long with papers in hand without typing anything before I realize I'm still sitting there doing nothing, as if I don't recognize initial intention/what I'm doing). That all said ... apparently the parts of the brain that allow one to obsess on simple tasks like ... a game you're enjoying ... seems fairly unimpeded (I just can't handle "mastering" combat anymore...) So I think I'll go do that some more.