Hawke64

Steam keys (from HumbleBundle): Dark Deity Blood And Zombies

Lunacid. Bought a "Health Viai" for 1 coin and drank it (a Health Vial costs 12 coins at the Sanctuary). Entered the (Vampire) Castle and confirmed that the Fire Sword is the best melee weapon.

If Twin Mirror is still available, it would be appreciated. Regarding Soulstice (EGS), it is a very nice action game, similar to the older Devil May Cry, though it felt like it lacked some finesse DMC had.

Double post after struggling to save the first one.

Moonscars The screenshots cover the full game. It is gorgeous. I will add spoiler tags. I guess, it reminded me of Soma. The lore NPC. As it is the only member of the Moon Clergy I came across, I cannot tell whether it is her personal opinion or of the Churn of the Moon. Well, he asked for it. The reasonable response in this situation would be to attack first and ask questions later. What could possibly go wrong. Sympathy is the right word. I don't think it will help them. A major spoiler. Side quests' endings. Final battle and the ending.

The achievements can highlight unusual or unexpected by the player actions (as the developers are the ones implementing the achievements, the actions required are expected). The only game I remember where the achievements enhanced the experience beyond the possible points of interest is Wandersong. Though, it was the only positive quality of the game. Finished Moonscars. Generally, a nice Souls-like/Metroidvania, with the healing system allowing to travel a lot without returning to "bonfires", which was complemented by the game saving your exact location upon exiting (it also partially respawns the foes on reloading, which led to an interesting situation once). Surprisingly, almost all traversal abilities were unlocked from the start, so I was trying to jump-climb all walls. The only issues for me were the side quest design, with the triggers really obscure or time-limited (so I failed the cat-saving quest), there being only 1 ending, and the (lack of in-character) reason to murder the second boss (which I did after trying to go everywhere else; the ability was required to progress). Some side quests had several outcomes, but due to the above-mentioned design, the choice did not feel intentional. The story follows Grey Irma, who is not the Chosen Undead, but a Pristine Clayborn, which is technically different, and trying to find the Integral Vessel, which is supposed to end the plague of clayborns. There are no dialogue choices, but not counting the issue with the second boss and the MC's resulting reflection on it, the logic is fine. Edit. Review:

It is usually on the forums rather than in reviews, though? "How to fix A?" or "I don't like B", often in less polite terms. Some of the aspects I look for might be not mentioned in the reviews, such as whether the keyboard and mouse are rebindable or how the game saves the progress, unless it is something really odd.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220720-do-octopuses-feel-pain While the answer is obvious, the article is interesting.

Arisen I do not think that she has a belt. I suppose, there is 1 outdoors background, which works for any time of day and any crowd density. The NPC does have a no-armour sprite, but neither is a robe. If I understand correctly, the game was written in French, then translated into English. At that point, I had seen Baeli once and was not aware that he had any family. "Your village was called Tosh'Seruc. It stood at the frontier between Pointe Benie and Tosh'Seruc". Lunacid Defeated the Abyssal Demon. Discovered that there it is possible to behead a zombie. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider Felt weird to see both NPCs I killed in my playthroughs. Mass Effect it is not. Accidentally jumped into the ring.

From my experience, Larian games tend to assume some level of meta-knowledge. For the D&D one specifically, reloading after each failed skill check and unexpected encouter made it somewhat bearable, though sending a rogue in stealth forward is an option, it is slow and boring. Level 5 does provide a power boost for all classes, so it might help as well. Just in case, most battles up to the end of Act 2 are optional, though the mandatory ones will require some "creativity" (stacking explosive barrels next to the boss or abusing the AI) to get through if the party is underlevelled. --- Arisen, the VN. I guess, I should not have expected anything different from an EA title, but the "missions" plainly contradict each other - one says that the MC regularly worked with an NPC, while in another the same NPC says we have not seen each other since the prologue; in the prologue, the MC murders large predators with rusty weapons and later trains with the guards, then gets beaten up by a random old man; the text descriptions also do not match the sprites and backgrounds. I was trying to progress through the shapeshifter hunter's quest line, but the next mission is locked (the option literaly has a lock on it) and I have no idea which quest I need to complete in order to unlock this one.

Sekiro. I started NG+ in order to check whether the sequence break with the Puppeeter Ninjutsu was possible. It was not - the Great Serpent does not appear until the Gun Fort gate is unlocked. Arisen. It is a visual novel. The visual design looks fantastic, the writing not so much, the settings are lacking, including saving - 1 auto-rewriting slot. Lunacid. I reached the Sanguine Sea. The name did not lie - it was a vast area, with the floor covered in red liquid and the ceiling shrouded in darkness. The last save point was at the start of the previous area and I could not see another one. But I could see an outline of something on the other side of the area. So, being the reasonable person I am, I jogged towards that mysterious structure. There was another one on the right, but it was less mysterious. The words “Accursed Tomb” appeared on the screen when I entered. I could not see far, so I equipped a torch. As the time for the session was drawing to the end, I checked the first room on the left hoping to find a save point, then quickly looked up the area map. The crystal was in the other room. So, I saved and noticed that I was chased by levitating paintings from the other room, which did not want to burn fast enough from the torch and led me to the Game Over screen. Overall, I am quite happy with the design, story, and exploration, though not so much with the combat and mildly annoyed with the saving system. Also, the skeleton at the not-Firelink Shrine, Clive, offers bits of lore, so now I know who the alchemist is. Installed the quick save mod.

Sekiro Late-game spoilers End-game and ending spoilers Skin mods. Raiden did not feel right, but looked nice. Arisen - Subtitle I Forgot Magical invisible gloves. Got the "Charisma" card after repeatedly choosing "Attack". I guess, being aggressive is charismatic. A whole 1 option. Lunacid Sounds easy enough. Just need to comb several floors of the dungeons. The save point is on the right. The fire was slightly damaging the horse heads.

Sekiro. Finished the game. Spoilers for the late-/end-game ahead. (Also probably the last opportunity to write at length until the winter holidays). Mibu village. There was something unsettling about a single ninja entering a random village and slaughtering the locals. Regarding the mini-boss, O’Rin aggroed when I tried to run past her (because I remembered her being a rather challenging foe), so I turned around and ran to the idol to reset. Then I remembered that it was possible to get her stuck in one of the boulders on the path, which worked. This time, I also found the High Priest, and, after exploring the Fountainhead Palace, I was able to kill him. Unfortunately, it did not help with the state of the village. The Illusion Monk was defeated quickly due to being the last of the open area bosses. After the battle and picking up the suspicious rock, I had planned to return to the Castle and get the Gourd upgraded. Which was prevented by Owl. There were the first noticeable point of character development and several attempts in open combat. Owl’s voice started to annoy me quite quickly, so I muted the VA for the rest of the battle. In general, most of it consisted of trying to bait punishable attacks and not die. I did try to corner him, but was not able to keep the boss stun-locked. The Mortal Blade special attack, on the other hand, was rather effective and the older ninja died. Also the Ministry forces were surrounding the Castle, with the ninjas in red hats running around and slaughtering the Ashina soldiers. At that point I noticed that I had missed several steps in NPC/ending quest lines I should have completed by that point. It turned out (I checked the wiki) that defeating Genichiro moved an important NPC and a quest item to a more remote and less obvious location, so I spent some time picking up quest and important items and got the Frozen Tears required for the Return ending. Afterwards, I also received Owl’s bell and entered the more challenging version of the Hirata Estate. I did not want to fight another ninja mini-boss, so I just ran past and fought Juzou again (after clearing the bandits around). In retrospect, I should have puppetered the purple ninja there. I left Owl be in his arena for the time being and returned to the main story. Which led me to the bridge to the Fountainhead Palace. The Monk took several attempts as well, including shortening phase 2 by jumping on the Monk during casting. At the Fountainhead Palace I discovered that it was possible to swim to the second idol and not die, though I ran out of not-Estus, then returned back to the start and cleared the area as expected. The rest of the area went reasonably well, though I had to use the Puppeteer Ninjutsu several times - the ball players were hitting rather hard. After defeating the main ball player, I could enter the lake safely, not counting the giant carp and the headless. Somehow I dodged the fish, looted the lake, and entered the last part of the Palace - the road leading to the Dragon, whom I was to make cry. So, it was the perfect spot to turn around and wrap up everything. That included mostly the younger version of Owl. I remembered a rather long battle against him on the previous playthrough and decided that the time had come to mod. My audience of one declined my suggestion to use the Jump Force Shaggy skin, so the mods were only to increase the health bar and the deflection window. Owl technically still could defeat me, but with the power of mods and determination I emerged victorious on the first try. The next stop was the Dragon who, after some inelegant lightning reversal in his face and being cut in the eye, cried. The on-screen message told me that it was a “Gracious Gift of Tears”. Then I teleported to the Castle. The Ministry forces were in full offensive, Issin’s corpse was lying on the floor with Emma next to him and the Divine Heir nowhere to be found. Emma told me to follow the smoke trail to reach him and leave Ashina. The only recently reactivated idols were blocked again and I spent several minutes trying to find a way to the Ashina Reservoir, also discovering and defeating another Iaijutsu samurai boss. At the Reservoir, I looked at the spear-wielding samurai boss and ran to the final boss idol. After activating it, I teleported back to the Castle and explored more. The merchant next to the Temple told me that the Sculptor had run out towards the battlefield. With the grappling point burnt, I had to look for another way to get there. From the Grave idol, I saw that the broken bridge to the earlier area was rebuilt. Another Juzou, this time in blue, was waiting on the other side. After careful consideration, I ran past and reached the battlefield with the Demon of Hatred sitting in the middle. I managed to get him stuck in a tree, scale the wall, and bait him into falling to his death. So, the only meaningful battle left was against the final boss. The mini-bosses, including the Headless, were not inspiring at that point. I reached the hill covered in silvery grass, with the Divine Heir being stabbed and Genichiro holding the other Mortal Blade. Even with the land on fire, he still believed that it could be held. Genichiro could not stand against the wider deflection window and resurrected his grandfather, because why not. The grandfather highlighted that I was still getting full damage from the status effects, then pulled out a gun. Still, without hesitation, I defeated him on the first attempt and gave the Divine Heir a slightly cool Dragon Tears ****tail. The Heir became pink fog and the credits rolled. On the first playthrough, I was greatly annoyed by the moveset switch from Genichiro to Issin and the first, Genichiro, phase being unskippable. Afterwards, I backtracked to the fire Juzou, discovered that I still had no poise, and died. The second attempt involved avoiding getting hit and was more successful. I also activated Sir Alonne’s outfit, though the weapon did not quite work with the special attack, so I used the default sword. Another surviving mini-boss was one of the Ashina Spears and again took 2 attempts, as the sword samurai standing nearby seemed to share the aggro range with the mini-boss. The last mini-boss whose location I knew was the ninja with dogs in the Hirata Estate. Using the Finger Whistle every time he summoned the dogs was somehow amusing. There are 3-4 Prayer Beads left and I would like to try and collect them and kill one of the Headless. Then I might try to sequence-break the game with the Puppeteer Ninjutsu by going to the Temple and then killing the Great Serpent before facing Genichiro. I am unsure how I feel about the higher health and deflection mods, but I know that I do not want to fight Issin head-on. In general, the significant moveset changes and ridiculously high damage from the bosses were more irritating, than engaging. Genichiro, ironically, kept his moveset consistent between phases and the damage from most of his attacks did not take a half of my health bar off (except the charged shot and lightning strike). In terms of story, the state of Ashina was conquered and it was not the MC’s problem. Isshin did not seem to care about it (he passively worked against his grandson), while Genichiro was the antagonist, so whatever he was doing was of inadequate quality. I suppose, the Owl/Shura ending provides some reflection on the social status of the shinobi - disposable and unknown. The MC does not seem to care deeply about anything but the Divine Heir’s objective. Is the Dragonrot bad? Is it worth the ability to continue to pursue one’s own goal? Is the Ministry better than the Ashina ruling family for the population? But it in itself is commentary - the two existing social and personal links were to the father, who had backstabbed the MC, and the Divine Heir who had his own personal and exclusive to him decisions to make. So, the Ashina family and the local population were inconsequential. Will post the screenshots later. I acknowledge the length of the post and that most of it is of little interest due to it being statements like "I defeated Bob and it felt good" rather than any reflection or analysis.

Sekiro The boss did not die on this kick. Mixed feelings about killing running monkeys in robes. As expected. Looks safe. I do dislike this mini-boss, but a Prayer Bead is a Prayer Bead. Took some time. And this is where I am not going.

I agree that comfortable controls are crucial, especially for the more action-focused games. I cannot recall any issues with it specifically in Nioh or Nioh 2. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, on the other hand, was extremely uncomfortable (which improved immensely, along with the FPS in Blighttown, in Dark Souls: Remastered) and Dark Souls II was much better in this regard. My hunch was that it was due to me playing with keyboard and mouse, so the people who used controllers might have had a different experience. Now I am unsure. --- Sekiro. Defeated the Headless Ape + the other ape. Can't say that I like it technically as a boss battle (too little space and the bosses' attacks did not hurt/clipped through each other), but it did make sense for the story and design, unlike the Pursuers in the Throne Room of the Drangleic Castle. I love that the environment changes based on the story progress, though I should have gone through that cavern before killing the Guardian (I missed the Bottomless Pit passage earlier in this playthrough), so I would be able to face the bosses when stronger. The forest went reasonably well - I collected everything that was not nailed down, used the Finger Whistle on the not-Juzou's monkeys, let him calm down, backstabbed once, then set him on fire twice. I vaguely remember it being harder on the previous playthrough. The injured monk helpfully pointed towards the area’s main boss and explained how to enter the building, while the boss itself died quickly. The forest was free from the mist, the illusions blocking the passage were dispelled as well. I had no intention to fight the Headless apparition on the forest floor, but probably could try the one at the cave between the Demon Bell and the Chained Ogre later. I am somewhat annoyed by the repeating bosses, though, not too much - each of them still feels more meaningful than it was in Elden Ring.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the game, especially considering that you have played other FromSoft titles. I would like to start with explicitly stating that this is my personal opinion, based on the abilities and experience, and this is the hill I shall defend. I strongly disagree on Dark Souls II - it had very tight and responsive controls, so the avatar was acting as expected. I was dodging in the correct direction, facing the targeted enemy unless sprinting, and not getting stunned from every slap. It was as good as it could be. I am also fairly certain that the target lock was not breaking from me moving the mouse slightly (there were dedicated keys to switch between targets), but I have not checked. Regarding the prosthetics, the shinobi MC is like a witcher - you must correctly identify the foe and use the proper tools to overcome it. If you try to deflect everything directly, that would be miserable, with the purple necromancers (S-something Warriors) being the best example. Not impossible, but more similar to the DS SL1 challenge run. Finding creative ways to avoid open combat is the most fun and enjoyable part of the game for me. A ninja is not a samurai/knight, but a rogue who uses tools and wits to avoid direct confrontations. Genichiro had roughly the same moveset in his lightning phase, but with 2 lightning attacks with reasonably long wind ups that were not possible to deflect (as far as I know, have not tried). In his archer samurai guy phase, it was possible to walk away from his combos, let him finish, then close in and start hitting after he’s done. Or, with deflections, hitting until he parries, parry twice, then hitting twice again, mostly worked - it was interrupting some of his attacks, while the combos, as mentioned, were possible to avoid after he committed to them (ironically, occasionally, I was ending up behind him when trying to Mikiri counter). Though, the Perilous attacks seemed chosen oddly - Genichiro usually was using only 1 type throughout the battle. The Guardian, on the other hand, was tracking much better and had poise, so his attacks were harder to interrupt. The animations, while beautiful, also made it harder to read. He was not the first boss with hidden marks at that point (Genichiro and Lady Butterfly were similar, but their subsequent phases did not change the movesets significantly), but he had the longest phase transition window. Which was the perfect opportunity to have a drink, eat a Pacifying Agent, and apply a box of Divine Confetti. If Miyazaki did not want us to use consumables, why did he give us the time? --- Today’s progress. I have cleared most of the Senpou Temple and obtained the Mortal Blade, meaning that I can go and meet the zombie Guardian again. I spent quite some time on the Folding Screen quartet, because I forgot how to get them into specific rooms. I did manage to chase the hearing monkey successfully (the idea was to get him into the waterfall room, I assume), but not the sighted monkey (as intended, the monkey got stuck in the dark room). Robert’s father went down fine, though not on the first attempt - I kept throwing him into columns instead of the windows. I am somewhat annoyed that the fire and poison did not kill him, but whatever works. I suppose, storywise, he was trying to find a cure for his son’s illness? I cannot quite recall the requirements for the not-bad endings, beyond not facing the Divine Dragon before fulfilling them, so there is quite some time to figure it out or to look up the guides if the former fails. I think there was something with the Divine Child of Rejuvenation, so I kept asking for rice and feeding the old ladies on the cliffs, and the quest line seems to have progressed. Then the Divine Heir told that I was eating the rice incorrectly. Clearly, he was wrong - what is the point of rice if it is not crunchy? On another note, I find it deeply ironic that if Genichiro did not kidnap the Divine Heir, a large chunk of Ashina forces would not have died to the MC’s blade. Including, but not limited to, Gyoubu who was defending the gates, the Chained Ogre, the Blazing Bull, and a pack of feathered ninjas. If I am not mistaken, the “Great Unifier”’s forces invade later on and quite successfully. --- Lunacid. It is a more old-school dungeon crawler. After avoiding the foes for 2 areas, I decided to face them. Which brought some more levels and I learnt to charge my attacks. I can’t say that clicking things to death while walking back is the most engaging experience I’ve ever had, but it is fine. The music and location design are great. There are also quite a few secret doors (the ? symbol appears in the corner when one is in front of you), so I am trying to look at the walls while running. The goal, if I understand correctly, is to kill the Moon Beast and return to the surface. Though, considering that the only person from the surface who was shown directly chops off your arm (which then levitates), while the locals are quite friendly, returning seems less reasonable. The only negative I can point out at the moment is the lack of quick saving, with the checkpoints being placed quite far from each other. Otherwise, the game is quite enjoyable. --- On another note, if anyone would like to team up for writing for the Community Blog, it would be great. Also, if anyone would like to accept 2 Game Pass keys, that would be welcome too.

Sekiro. And there was the zombie again.

Sekiro. Spoilers for mid-game and a long mostly-complaint are below (I have been trying to write longer/higher? text walls). I admire the location design, the style (both artistic and technical), and the stealth and traversal gameplay aspects. The ironic thing is that there are quite a few boss battles with limited stealth options and the open combat and controls, as was mentioned before, are horrible and the MC feels like a wet paper doll. The battle against the Guardian Ape, which I have spent about an hour on, reminded me of it. The boss was moving erratically, occasionally resisting the firework prosthetic tool, and once chain-grabbing me. I am aware that all hand slaps are possible to parry, despite the boss being a giant ape using his hands to hit or slap. The above-mentioned grab attacks also repeatedly messed with the camera - after being thrown into the walls, I was unable to see where I or the boss was. And if the latter was nearby, due to the MC’s inability to face the target it locked on automatically, it meant restarting the battle. The key to victory was to stun the Guardian with the fireworks and use the combat art while he was trying to get up and hope that he would not go for a grab, as the combat art was locking me in the animation. So, the second phase came where the boss changed his type (thanks to the wiki for telling me that a zombie was an apparition) and moveset. Here I would like to add that the getting up animation and the delay between stages were very amusing on the first try, though not so much on the subsequent ones. After several more attempts, I resorted to using the consumables and mostly facetanking the smaller damage. The boss finally fell… only to appear in the next room. On my previous playthrough, I got lost on the way to the Ashina Castle and ventured into the Ashina Depths, thus, reaching that room before facing the Guardian. Back then, it looked suspiciously spacious and empty. Now, there was the Headless Ape standing between me and the progress. So, being low on both Estus and enthusiasm, I retreated and left the zombie be. Still, the Sunken Valley was a gorgeous place - there were giant stone statues of Buddha covered in light snow, while also autumn trees with bright red leaves holding fast to the cliffs. The traversal consisted mostly of jumping between smaller cliffs and grabbing the branches. I was able to reach most foes undetected, including the feathery ninjas and the albino monkeys dual-wielding katanas (they hit like trucks). There also was a Giant Snake shrine. It took 2 attempts to get through and grab the persimmon heart and another one to gather the loot. The snake’s final lunges were possible to dodge with the mist feather prosthetic. Which led me to the Poison Pool and another sniper boss, whose peripheral vision was fortunately quite poor, while the rockets from her comrades were hitting her as well, which was extremely satisfying. Getting to them after killing the boss was less satisfying, but somewhat amusing. I still have no recollection of how I got there before. So, I decided to follow the main objective (to get the Mortal Blade to heroically stab a child) and head to the Senpou Temple. On the previous visit in this playthrough, I missed the way forward and ended up at the Demon Bell and no idea how to reach the Temple itself. The area itself is as beautiful as the Valley, though with more wooden temples and less statues. Also with little but frequent piles of civilian corpses and quite a lot of monks and insects. There also was a field of pinwheels. I suppose, if the main character was more controllable, I would have less issues with the combat. On the other hand, the ability to use different tools or consumables provides engagement, making the enemies feel more diverse and the combat more expressive and interesting. Though, the number of consumables and Spirit Emblems being limited makes one more cautious. Then again, if I cannot start a boss battle with a Deathblow, I feel like the MC’s ninja abilities are not utilised fully. Which is another reason why I disliked the Guardian Ape - the boss’ hearing was perfect and he deduced that a human ninja zipped into the arena to steal his flower in seconds while I was above him. Regarding the story so far, it is understandable and easy to follow - the city-state of Ashina is being conquered, Genichiro, the leader’s grandson, believes that the Dragon’s Heritage (resurrection) would allow it to survive. The last Dragon Heir is the MC’s master and thinks that the Dragon’s Heritage causes the Dragon’s Plague, thus, refuses cooperation. The MC is a ninja and has only his work, so he protects the Heir and saves him from Genichiro, because his father/tutor told him to do it. The Heir decides that he wants to sever the Dragon’s Heritage and to do so he needs to enter the Divine Realm to get Dragon’s Tears. To do so, he needs to find the ingredients to open the portal to the Divine Realm. On another note, considering that the ingredients to enter a spiritual plane of existence need to be burned and probably inhaled, it is an excellent opening for a joke.

Good evening, I am getting the following error, when I try to submit a reply to the blog. The reply is ~800 words. The request is blocked. 20240910T191735Z-16995f768f6qbvvqu1qyadmm900000000hcg000000002st0

Sekiro Went as expected. I am surprised that there was no option to kill him after he admitted to setting the MC's home and master on fire. It took some time, but the Chained Ogre was defeated. Ironic. The shield bearer was still alive at the end of the battle - the boss' sight and aggro range were much farther than the others'. And at this point I turned around and decided to go and meet a giant snake rather than this elderly lady.

The later games are much more demanding in terms of reaction time. The aspects that appeal to me are the level and boss design and the variety of builds (even if I end up playing a sword&board who occasionally grabs the sword with both hands or uses a bow). The former is much rarer in other genres, except immersive sims. --- Sekiro I started a new playthrough, promptly got defeated by the archer-samurai boss (Ginichiro?), and proceeded with the main story. For some reason the game tried to overheat my "new" GPU (got some time ago, but started using actively only now). After playing with the settings, I limited the FPS to 40 in the NVidia control panel and the hot spot temperature remained under 70C. As mentioned above, I like the level design - Sekiro is as close as it can be to a 3D Metroidvania. I tried to go and meet a headless mini-boss early and discovered a path to the Devil's Bell, but got burnt before reaching it and reloaded. I also got through most of the Hirata Estate, except the final battle - I could not defeat the ninja boss without upgrades. The bandit leader took several attempts, including clearing the area around and splitting the aggro with the samurai ally. Though, I still detest the open combat and the controls (the MC flinches easily and cannot look straight even when target-locked). I hope to be patient enough to get to the final boss/younger Owl battle without decreasing the difficulty. Still, this mod looks most delightful: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1713602236

After replaying The Outer Worlds fully, I discovered* that the civilians in Byzantium do try to run away, though not quite far. *It was after I chose the Attack option while looting a certain companion's parents' house. So, there was not much space to run and definitely nowhere to hide (the NPC survived the encounter, but it was interesting to watch).

The Outer Worlds I expected to see a low-int option here. Though, landing on Cascadia is much faster than going through Roseway. I had just enough Stealth skill to pickpocket the armour. End-game spoilers

The Outer Worlds. (Some parts were written during the week/before I finished the game for the third time). It has occurred to me that there is a lot of flexibility in the narrative structure - the player can reach a lot of quests from different points. Some, such as the power generator in Edgewater, are quite straightforward, but they still support the player being murderous. Reed Tobson is the bottleneck which the player unavoidably faces. He starts his dialogue right when you exit the elevator, giving you the information to proceed to the other settlement and the powerplant. Unless he is shot at before entering his office. In which case, the information can be taken from his body and the terminal. On the other hand, there are cases where the quest NPC do not appear before the relevant quest has been taken, such as the bounties from the sheriff in Edgewater. This particular quest chain can lead to lonely targets sitting among corpses, should the player visit the camps in advance. I can’t quite recall where I got the NavKey for the Groundbreaker, but I do remember Welles calling. For Monarch, the next large location, there are MSI and the Iconoclasts. For Sanjar, the items can be obtained before meeting him. For Gresham, the first NPC, Catarina does not appear before the Iconoclasts send the player there. It is explained by Catarina delivering supplies on request, not having a store set up. Consequentially, the next quest requires the items obtained from her, thus, the progression is linear. Unless, of course, one just kills the Iconoclast leadership, successfully completing the main part of the story on Monarch. At this point, the lines come together as the UDL gunship crashes onto the surface. The requirements for the ship to appear is to deal with MSI and the Iconoclasts in any manner. Additionally, if the information broker is approached before these quests are completed, he will just inform the player that he cannot transfer the intel required to Welles. I am yet to break into Byzantium, but I assume that the flexibility comes from the main quest giver there - Welles or Akande. I might be mistaken, since I have not followed the Board quest line. If my blog goes live today, I have just noticed that the civilians in Byzantium do take cover when combat starts. --- I have finished my low-int playthrough without crashing into the sun/central star of the system. By going only for the main objectives and companion quests and trying to limit looting (I kept running out of ammo in Edgewater, then I just kept running away from the enemies, so it got better), it took 8 hours. The previous run took 32 hours. I can't say that the ending was worse (I skipped the Iconoclasts' quest line by killing Graham and Zora). Having low Stealth and Dialogue skills was somehow less satisfying than having low combat skills - fewer choices in quests, more combat. But I did defeat RAM in open battle (well, I kited the boss into the first room and kept it knocked down with companions' abilities), so that's something. --- On Dark Souls 2. I consider it to be the best in the series: it is very comfortable to play with keyboard and mouse there are several paths to choose from (all semi-mandatory, but still) rolling requires stat investment to be viable the bosses can be revived on the same NG cycle teleportation to any bonfire is available (would prefer to have a more interconnected world, but with several quite linear paths, it is good enough) there are some light differences between NG cycles there is poise and the game's speed/required reaction time is generally adequate (it became much worse in DS3 and later games) I can't quite recall the foes' exact movesets, but the hitboxes attached were quite different, so it was good. Regarding the weapons, the appeal of the 2H weapons was in the ability to break poise. I used mostly katanas or long swords, so cannot tell how effective it was. I do hope that it is clear that the points above are very subjective. I also have no intention to try to get all achievements due to the farming required.

Finished The Outer Worlds, while aiming for the more peaceful outcomes (still shot Rockwell without talking). I suppose, everything about the game has been said already, so in the context of Avowed releasing soon (2025?), I am unsure if I should hope for more gameplay depth. The shallow systems work with the satirical narrative, but more complexity for a high-/dark-fantasy epic would be welcome. As well as the less focus on the combat, which is not particularly satisfying* - something smaller, but with more immersive sim elements or stronger story branching. Regarding the environmental storytelling, on one hand, there are party members' cabins with items placed very thoughtfully, then there are level-scaled modern guns or Adreno on the Hope in the areas unused by UDL. So, as mentioned, smaller and with higher attention to details would be preferred to RNG. I guess, I have seen worse itemisation in Divinity: Original Sin 2, but that one was the worst - level-scaled colour-coded RNG'ed faceless trash with no story significance appearing in random crates (it got somewhat better in the D&D game - the unique equipment could be kept throughout the game, but there still was a lot of literal trash). *I can't tell if repeatedly failing to notice being hit in the back is an UI issue or just my low perception. I don't think that there are clear indicators of the direction where the damage is coming from and the first-person view does not exactly help. So, I am very happy that Avowed offers the third-person camera option. Still, TOW was good, because of the quality of writing and world building, not the combat or itemisation. The character creation and development systems were serviceable.