Wormerine

Outer Worlds (Obsidian alrigtish FPRPG, not the best game of all times Outer Wilds) is getting makeover next week. Apparently it won't be a free upgrade for those who own base game and both DLCs, so it is a bit of a bummer. It will be $60 and reduced price for existing owner - how reduced, I do not know.

I didn't try collossal, but did a quick sprint to Morgott for a final achievement using two greatswords (used katanas for my full playthrough). I can't say I felt a difference - jump attack seems to take more or less the same time regardless of weapons I used, and it is simply the best attack to use, almost at all times. I couldn't mix up single weapon swings as easily, but it hardly mattered as my jump attacks did more damage, and staggered enemies more easily.

It is finished. I am actually dangerously close to platinuing the game. I miss All arnaments and all talismans achievements, so I might see how much I am missing, and if I can hunt the remaining ones in my current save. More annoyingly I didn't get the achievement for beating Morgott.... I might leave it, if I feel like doing another playthrough (he culminates what I would consider the good content of Elden Ring, so going that far one day might be a possibility) or I might see if I can hunt down a pre-Margott save somewhere for a quick completion. Great game, but darn, the final areas and bosses really sour the experience. If the game would end upon reaching the Erdtree, and got some extra polish instead, I think it would be better off.

In corpo you have relationship with Jackie, yeah, but I thought it was a professional one. I did feel a more personal relationship always develops in the montage in-between the intro and act1.

MS has so little to do with XCOM formula that it really shouldn’t have an impact. That did give me pause, though Firaxis doing third-person “hand-out and-talk-to-heroes” was an even bigger red flag. Played couple hours - disturbingly little gameplay so far. Combat has potential, though it is difficult to say how it develops. It’s far more casual - and I mean in in terms of handholding and complete lack of tension, rather than complexity. There is cool stuff there - it’s a hybrid of card game but positioning and “board” does come into consideration, so it actually feels quite natural to play as a computer game. Surprisingly I don’t mind writing. It is stilted, and corny but so far it is not without charm. But there is too much of it, keeping me away from being able to actually play the game. In all it is decent - at least it’s quite one of a kind. I am not sure if I will be convinced to make a purchase once the free weekend is finished. One day, but probably not now. oh and it runs like ass - or rather it runs fine, until it briefly doesn’t. So far every mission summary happens at 2FPS per second. Texture loading, geometry popping in, sudden frame dips when skills are activated.

Jake Solomon has left Firaxis. I wonder what it means for the future of XCOM3, but as Firaxis has been succesfully iterating on each Civ installement with a different lead I am not too worried about it. Worth remembering that Enemy Within was developed without Jake's input and was excellent. edit. Midnight Suns has a free weekend on steam.

As long as one stands still and doesn’t actually play the game. My favourite part were cars crashing on smallest bumps, like rail tracks, as if it were a solid wall.

Yeah, Jackie is easily the most well rounded character and it’s shame to see him go so far. Personally his death didn’t work for me as 1) it was spoiled in story trailer for the game 2) most of our relationship was hinted at rather than experienced. I learned more about him during his funeral, than actual act 1.

I played too much of it throughout the years and it runs just fine on gog, but I will probably pick it up sometime later.

Ding, dong! Malenia is dead! That took quite a few hours. In the end I needed some internet wisdom to help me out. First, once I got couple time to the 2nd phase I realised that dodging the Waterfawl dance by distance alone won't cut it, to her increased aggression in phase2. Getting a decent shield drop and farming necessary runes to upgrade fortunately didn't take long. The 2nd stumble was her clone attack I mentioned, for which I just couldn't figure out the dodge pattern. Even after watching couple helpful videos I still didn't manage to dodge it reliably. Fortunately, after stripping my character out of his armor to afford carrying shield, two katanas and still being able to quick roll, and about 3 hours of trying Malenia tasted her first defeat (in this universum, of course). I must say, I started to enjoy fighting her near the end - I suppose that's what they cann Stockholm syndrome. She really demands using whole kit to survive, which I suppose is good for a secret ultimate boss. What isn't good is that those two nasty insta-death attacks, I think are very difficult to figure out what will not result in ones death. I am really not surprised that people who played on launch and didn't have access to guides spent 20+ hours on her.

Elden Ring. Finally reached infamous Malenia. Yeah, I see what the whole complaining was about. First of all, a lot of Haligtree was giving me DS2 vibe with game showing you a problem and than surprising you with almost guaranteed death trap. And progressing through those death traps on consequent runs being tedious. Malenia's first phase is actually quite solid outside the bull**** swirly attack - it feels that surving the phase depends how often and when she will decite to use it. Playing without shield means death sentence if she triggers it after what would normally be a punishable attack. Didn't make up my mind about the 2nd phase yet - I don't live long enough to get a feel of her moveset. Of course bull**** swirly thing is still there, but there also some other contenders right now - I find the attack where she flighs into the air and sends he clones to attack you really difficult to read. I feel like overall the fight lacks distinct audio. If more of her attacks were telegraphed through sounds, I think I would find it easier to figure out what she is doing. Like wind-up to the switly attack is silent, and one would think they would try to indicate what is coming. It feels like they also could imprive chaing of attacks. Getting the same, hard to dodge rush+slash 4 times in a row is not a fun experience.

Double Fine just released another documentary - this time about making of Psychonauts2 (the previos one was about Broken Age, which was very interesting considering how troubles this project ended up being).

Yeah, when you charge extra of an ability to play on release, you don't want that to happen.

Huh, Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t suck? I didn’t expect that…

I actually quite like Anniverary (not so much the other two). I was a teen when I played those, and gameplay taste when it comes to action games have been rather undeveloped. I tried to replay Legend couple years ago, and was shocked how poorly it played. From original games I really liked Tomb Raider1&2 only, and 4th was ok. However, the first "tomb raider" game I played, and one I have the most fond memories of was Indiana Jones and The Infernal Machine.

I am pretty much in the same boat, however, Shadow wasn't developed by Crystal Dynamics but Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex, Guardians of the Galaxy). As such, I don't hope that Crystal Dynamics will change the trajectory of the series, but yeah Rise was decent anyway.

With all this DS talk, I returned to my Elden Ring playthrough. Used secret medallion and with dream am making my way toward Haligtree. I must say there is something greatly unsatisfying about entering new area and fighting the same enemies I fought at level 20, just buffed up to my level. On a positive side - found an enterance to another underground location. I thought I was done with those two surprise extra underground visits ago. Anyway, reached Mogh, Lord of Blood, a fellow I already sparred with in the sewers of the Leyndell, but this time he had a nasty 2nd phase. Took me quite a few tries to take him down.

Crystal Dynamics was supposed to be working with Amazon for next Tomb Raider game so it is possible. If it true, than it would be a good deal for Embracer who bought who bunch of Squares IP for half of that. I am happy to sell Tomb Raider to Amazon hell, if it helps fund new Dues Ex

I do hope DeaSRem will make its way to PC. Bloodbourne is what I have most interest in, but I fear it might need a remaster first to be portable. maybe Sony knows that I am buying their ports just to get Bloodborne one day, and so they will withhold it indefinitely.

If it’s not gonna be horribly optimised I will be positively surprised.

It is strange. Is it a new game? It sounds like a new game. One of my older saves (2nd run) got a bit broken during all the patching that was going on, nothing to the extend that you are describing though. Looking at DLCs at my GOG there are some fig awards that might classify: Fig - Matakau, Fig - Pet Wurm and Fig - Cloak of the Obsidian Order. Plus there is Gaun's Pledge for owners of PoE1. Perhaps go to Steam/GOGs DLC management, and make sure all that you have is installed? Edit. Yes, forum has been very tiresome lately.

Some of the noses bosses are really fantastic as well. DLCs especially. Enjoy!

If one doesn't catch up than Earthen Peak elevator is a dead giveaway. It seems you are still enjoying it more than I did. DS2 is the only FromSoftware release so far, I have no desire to return to.

Not surprising with XBOX going all in on their own digital showcase. BTW, the surprise release Hi-Fi Rush is very fun so far.

Oh man. Yes. Mimimi is a german Independent Studio that in recent years carved it's own nieche making Commando inspired titles. They appeared without nowhere with a really solid demo for Shadow Tactics: Blades of Shogun, that was "like Desperados but in Edo Japan". Interestingly enough the project almost killed the studio, as they went all in on the project - and came dangerously close to shutting down. Smart and clean interpretation of the forgotten genre, with some decent story: With how well they did the formula THQ Nordic hired them to do sequel to Desperados - they IP they were a holder off. Desp3 is pretty much a more polished version of Shadow Tactics, mostly using the same character kits and enemy archetypes with one new addition (which seems to be a jumping point to more fantastical Shadow Gambit). Both titles are very handcrafted in nature, with pre-determined mission order and pre-determined party compositions, so Shadow Gambits ambition seems to be to expand the underlying systemic sandbox those games have going for them. If they look like something you would like, I would recommend giving them a go. They are both excellent real-time tactics. Desp3 is a more polished of the two, with some welcome QoL improvemenets, but I personally prefered the vibe of SHadow Tactics - the M-Rated nature of Desp3 felt a bit off to me. There is also standalone expansion to Shadow Tactics - Aiko's choice, but it is a short DLC mission pack best played after original game. It is standalone, as it's been actually developed after Desp3 before going all deep on project Süßkartoffel, and team didn't want to mess with the old game, but it is best thought of as a minor DLC to the original - similar to the one Desp3 got.