Hawke64

Seven: The Days Long Gone Found out that I can choke out opponents non-lethally and had my first unavoidable combat encounter. Considering that all previous missions I played as a proper thief (no kills and no detection, if possible), my equipment and build weren't exactly right for the situation. But I had some healing items and damage boosts and managed to stun lock the boss (pretty sure that it was a boss battle), so it ended well.

Devil May Cry V Completed the Bloody Palace with V. Spent 3 days (5-6 hours) on the last floor. The battle was ridiculously easy with Nero and extremely hard with V (couldn't stagger the boss reliably, the familiars were getting KO'ed too often), but now V can damage things with the cane (the reward for completing the mode).

Seven: The Days Long Gone Discovered a working crafting station in an abandoned safehouse and realized that I was supposed to collect and dismantle all the trash loot I've found. Crafted several small healing items and moved forward. Reached the 4th zone. Devil May Cry V Cleared the 70th floor as Dante by dropping a meteor on the furies (ninja-lizards). Not my most honorable battle. Edit. Cleared the Bloody Palace as Dante. Only one character to go.

The Witness is free on Epic Games Store and it runs without EGS.

Seven: The Days Long Gone Feels like "Gothic meets Thief", but isometric. There's a prison island, a pre-defined protagonist, a lot of skills (which I haven't figured out how to activate) and a lot of loot. Also it's possible to climb almost everything. Currently trying to find a merchant with more than 30 [local currency] to sell them the equipment I acquired from bandits. Started the Bloody Palace with Dante in Devil May Cry V. Reached the 17th floor. The enemies so far seem the same as in Nero's version.

Devil May Cry V Cleared the Bloody Palace with Nero.

On the lower difficulties enemies are rather passive. On Son of Sparda (hard) and Dante Must Die (very hard) they become more aggressive (and on DMD they also get quite significant HP boost). Though, DMCV still feels easier than DMC3. Also completed M12 in DMCV on Hell and Hell. After several crashes (edited the *.ini file and it should work better now) and defeats (2 furies aren't something I'd like to face on this difficulty), I found the way to skip most of the battles and reached the boss with all Golden Orbs intact (1 HaH Golden Orb = getting hit once).

Devil May Cry V Unlocked the Hell and Hell difficulty and the super costumes (infinite DT). All was going well in Nero's missions, but the game started to crash randomly (no warning, just "DevilMayCry5.exe has stopped working") when I reached M09 as V. It took 5-6 attempts, but I completed it. Tried M10 as Dante. It's the only character I can't use effectively and the game has crashed at least twice during the mission. Not sure, if I should wait for the next patch or continue as is.

Devil May Cry V Either DMD has a very accurate name or I'm terrible with Dante. Completed M11 and M12 mostly by using Golden Orbs and got my very first D rank. Then breezed through M13 with Nero and got an S.

Devil May Cry V Got through Mission 7 on DMD (one of the highest difficulties, Hell and Hell might be considered easier, Legendary Dark Knight isn't available). The NPC partner was KO'ed during the boss battle, but I still got the "Good Teamwork" bonus somehow. Found out what "Sweet Surrender" (a Devil Breaker/DLC) does. It's basically a small green star from DMC3-4 (restores HP). Seems slightly unfair to make it a paid DLC and bind to the Deluxe Edition (not purchasable separately).

Does EGS allow to run games offline (from its *.exe), like Steam? Or it's "online only"?

There's a story, but it is rather underwhelming. The background of their conflict in the second chapter was more interesting, than its resolution. Spoilers for the 4th chapter: I'd like it to be the central part of the plot, instead of the kingdom-ruining fey.

Devil May Cry V Heavy end-game story spoilers: Also upgraded the game to the Deluxe Edition. I really like the "Sworn Through Swords" battle theme.

Devil May Cry V Experienced the point where the camera became an issue in the battle against Malphas. I could not change the camera angle when the boss charged at me and was getting hit repeatedly, so it took several attempts, three Devil Breakers and one golden orb (instant revival) to defeat the boss. Screenshot:

There's an option to disable auto-focus on important objects (not targeting) for camera. Also the camera exploit (demons that you don't see can't attack you) is still there. I'm playing DMCV too and so far it's been great. The combat and animations are fluid, which is rare, because usually they are mutually exclusive. I can't quite get used to the dodge mechanic after Bayonetta (it had a separate key for dodging, DMC requires to press [Jump]+[Left/Right]), despite completing DMC3:DA-SE and DMC4 (SE). Also the keys for Nero's analogue of Helm Breaker (mid-air-to-ground attack) were changed from [to target]+[Attack] to [from target]+[Attack]. Less intuitive, but easier to spam. The most important thing, though. V's demonic eagle-like giant pet bird. He looks so incredibly fluffy and soft. I'm not sure how hard it was to animate him, but it's so amazing. Also the game supports 5-button mice and (for me) crashes every hour (had 4 subsequent crashes in V's first mission).

Dark Souls: Remastered Met Priscilla and the Everlasting Dragon and didn't cut their tails. It was hard. Defeated Gwyndolin. Took 5 attempts - 2 to discover that magic attacks ignore columns and 1 to discover that arrows stun me (I rarely get hit with a fantasy analogue of sub machine gun). I skipped this boss in the PtD Edition and I don't remember anything similar in DSII/III (the battle against Aldrich was in a conventional arena, though some attacks were the same), so there were some surprises. Edit. Completed Artorias of the Abyss (DLC). Kalameet was the most difficult boss in the game for me, partly because of the camera and target lock. Without target lock it was hard to face/avoid attacks of the dragon, with target lock it was hard to hit him.

Dark Souls: Remastered. Defeated Seath the Scaleless. The hard part was to not let his tail clip through the walls. After 15 minutes of running around him in circles I got the Moonlight Greatsword (which I can't use effectively). Defeated Knight Artorias. Took 3 attempts. He seemed to vary the length of his combos, depending on his remaining HP and my position.

I just lowered the difficulty to "Story" for these chapters. It still took several hours to find the third key in the House at the Edge of Time.

Dark Souls: Remastered. Acquired the Lordvessel. Explored the Darkroot Garden. Somehow after Sulyvahn's dogs with their odd hitboxes, the Royal Rat Authority and even the forest cats Sif, a mandatory boss, feels much less dangerous (except the obvious hit in the feels). Realized that my favorite armor is basically a pajama with protection from poison, as I can't roll if I wear anything heavier. Tried to ascend my Uchigatana +10 to the Chaos Blade and tested it at the nearest giant guards. They took 3 hits, but damage to my health was rather inconvenient.

Dark Souls: Remastered. Watched as Mildred obliterated Quelaag. Indeed, true warriors need no armor. Returned to Undead Burg and went to explore the Depths.

Dark Souls: Remastered. Reached Blighttown. FPS are stable, but it's still Blighttown.

I think I've completed the main story of Toukiden 2. Tried to trigger the final mission, but it was behind ~30 story-free combat encounters (you get dropped into an arena, defeat an Oni (or several), teleport back). It's not bad, but it feels tedious, because most of the Oni were in the main story missions already. Also my tolerance for animu BS decreased since Toukiden Kiwami and I realized that making a village in the middle of nowhere the central hub was a terrible idea. I get that in post-apocalyptic setting you can't have many nice big cities, but Fallout had at least 1 per game. For what it's worth, Toukiden 2 is better than Kiwami in many aspects (more open world, clearer main quest progression, more 2-phase large Oni, graphics). Expecting any improvements in terms of story or the quality of port (including English dub) would be too optimistic.

Same. But, I think, the cut-scenes and dialogues are better*, than in TESV, though it was odd to be unable to move during those. Combat feels as bad as it was, which is quite disappointing. Thus, if there are stealth and diplomacy, I'm going to master them. *The "crispy meat" scene was kind of hilarious, the graphic effects (especially lighting) were on point.

There are independent developers. Speaking of which, The Game Bakers announced their new game, Haven. Judging by the screenshots, there are combat and VN elements. I enjoyed their first game (Furi, boss rush with bullet hell elements; it took 2 attempts to get into, but it was worth it), so whatever genre Haven is, it'll be good.

Anthem – our Live Service begins Somehow it makes me sad to see a studio, I associate solely with SP RPGs, developing a "service". And if Anthem succeeds (unlikely, but not impossible), microtransactions, mindless grind and poor KB&M controls may become core design elements of the future Bioware games.