Mamoulian War

Next two bosses in DS2 defeated. Old Iron King and Congregation (yes i know, I know ) Pretty straightforward this time, although, as always, I have messed up few times Both Iron Keep and first half of Brightstone Cave Tseldora, were more like training in patience than anything else, as the mobs have been pretty aggressive again, but doable. In between running from a bonfire to a bonfire, I have visited the Belfry Sol for Mad Warrior Bell Keeper Covenant grind, which is needed to be leveled to rank 2, due to one spell needed for Platinum Trophy is available only by this means. Pretty boring grind... And what makes it even more boring is, that you cannot predict when he spawns, so you have to run up and down the ladder like a clown, until it spawns. On PS3, you can hear the Blu-Ray spinning loud every time, he spawned, so all you need to do, was to spawn Rest at Bonfire button until you heard a loud noise. Not anymore on other platforms Anyway, Old Iron King has been defeated on second try with the help of local summon, due to me typically dropping to lava due to losing focus for a second or two Congregation on the other hand, has been defeated on first try of course. The only issue were the Falconer Guys running and sniping around first bonfire, which are new in SotFS version of the game, and me forgetting how to spawn Bernhart of Jugo for his quest. So I had to backtrack a lot a clear the road to the boss room few times, before I could finally enter the fight. I have also picked up few of the loots around the second bonfire at Tseldora, and asked Blacksmith Ornifex to craft my first boss weapon - Dragonslayer Spear, whih I loved to use in my DS Reamster walkthrough. Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to wield it this time, as it needs much much more Dexterity to use, and I am investing more into Strength and Faith this time around But we'll see. Lightning Heide Lance+4 is fine substitute for now.

In Mali it is about two or three Gold Mines, which Wagner/Russia directly controls.

According to this commentary, the situation after the departure of French deteriorated even more, due to the behaviour of Wagnerites and their low numbers. https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/mixed-picture-how-mali-views-wagner-group And here is an insight into how things played out in Mali. To no one’s surprise the culprit behind spreading anti-french sentiment were Russian troll farms, and few guys, who emerged out of nowhere, with deep ties to Russia and their money, which in the end, staged the coup https://hrf.org/russias-influence-in-mali/

Yes you remember it correctly. I had an encounter with it already, and I am now a proud owner of a Ring of Blades+1

These were part of Azawad rebels who are trying to get their independence from Mali.

Three more bosses down. The Rotten, Najka and Smelter Demon. And I have experience again the biggest flaw (from my POV) to the SotFS version of the game compared to the vanilla one. First The Rotten. As always, Black Gulch is an area, which I try to avoid as much as possible. Again, few comedy wipes, especially one, after which I have cleared almost whole are from the statues for Lucatiel summon not be poisoned, just to be eaten by one of the "grabbers" hidden in on of the tar ponds But all in all, the experience was more positive than the one, which I had in The Gutter . Because it was already to late at Saturday evening, and Lucatiel needed to stay alive, I have decided to go for a comedy kill, and have summoned two more available summons It went as expected, despite Lucatiel getting a lot of beating. But in few minutes, The Rotten has been "clubbed to death" in a few minutes. Next one was Najka. The area of Shaded Wood is the same as before, so I moved as slowly as possible through it, with one or two wipes, while learning, that using a Spear without the ability to lock to "ghosts" is not my forte. After changing to Mace, I moved through the area, picking up all loot like a breeze. The next area after the next bonfire has been changed for better in SotFS, compared to vanilla game, so I have not spent a lot of time trying to get through, as I have used to. I have bought a ring to talk to Manscorpion Tarkus (or what's his name), and moved to Najka. I have found on my way to the fog gate another summon sign, so I have used it, just for the giggles, but this turned the Najka fight to laughable level, so I was not very amused. But yeah, one more boss down. Next one was the Iron Keep. And this is the area, which they IMHO changed for the worse, even though, they put less archers in there. But the same as the Gutter, they made the melee mobs aggro range into ridiculous levels. My face spent a lot of time eating the ash, so I have decided to go for more relaxing area and try to fight the big rat there. Doors of Pharos. Area is OK, but I am definitely under-leveled or my melee build is sub-optimal for my skills (or more for lack of them ), and I got destroyed instantly in less than 10 seconds. So I had to pass this boss for now after two attempts. That meant, that I had to go involuntary back to Iron Keep. I brought as much patience to the keep as possible, and after few unsuccessful attempts, I have finally found out a way, how to deal with the new mob setup and their new aggro management, and was able to get to fog gate, just with the use of two Estus Flasks. I have summoned Lucatiel again, and in third phase, I have messed up, as I have forgotten one of Smelter Demon's moves with flaming sword, so I have been defeated. But this gave me another chance to test out my tactics for beating the trash mobs, and it worked again. So hopefully in NG+ I will be more confident about going into this area. Second attempt on Smelter Demon was this time successful, despite me making few stupid mistakes again But the end result is what counts in the end Deathcounter has increased from 59 to 79 during the travels in areas around these three encounters.

Touareg rebels in Mali have ambushed convoy with Russian Wagner terrorists in the northern province bordering Algeria. More than dozen casualties has been reported, including of the owner of the Grey Zone propaganda channel. Later the Touaregs has been spreading photos of them celebrating holding Ukrainian flag. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/07/29/7467948/ EDIT: Touareg rebels also promised to hand out the captured Russians to Ukraine. It is said, that Among them, there is also a guy, who commanded campaign against Soledar, before Wagner mutiny. Although It is not known yet, if he actually survived the ambush.

A little bit more of DS2 again. Two more bosses down and then The Gutter. My oh my… I do not remember it, to be so ****ing ridiculous in vanilla. The hollows do not deaggro at all, so bloodstain runs have been almost impossible. After I got gifted with a surprise gangbang by the hollows, I rather stopped to run completely. The pinnacle of futility in this area was, that I have missed one sconce for summoning the Gutter Denizen Invader. So I had to rerun it again… and wiped few times again All of that in conjunction with a headache I have today The bosses, which I’ve defeated were Mytha and Belfry Gargoyles. While clearing their areas on the way to them, I had only 3 wipes, on the way through The Gutter, which took me almost 2 hours, I died 10 times (Or 11) I have forgot the deathcounter, at which I have started the Area. Next in line either Black Gulch or Shaded Wood, as I have already rescued the petrified Pyromancer, which unblocked the road. But I feel a little bit down after The Gutter experience…

Huntsman Copse has shown again, why I hate that area. The way to Skeleton Lords was not that bad, but I have made some stupid and ridiculous mistakes as well. Moving slowly helped out though. What I liked the most, was that they moved the key for the locked bonfire closer to it, which IMHO saved me from more wipes. So after a hour of slow grind, I have finally entered the Lords arena, with a help of single summon. They also changed this fight. The first Lord spawned 8 small skeletons, and while I was slowly fighting them and trying not to die, my summon finished off the second Lord. Thankfully after that he joined the clearing of adds, but still I had my hands full with trying to stay alive, especially due to Armored Skeleton adds, which have been jumping out of reach of my mace, when I have swung with it. I somehow survived, and started to fight the last Lord. This one spawned only two Bonewheel Skeletons, which made the last seconds of fight much more manageable than trying to outrun 4 of them in vanilla DS2. After that I had to decide where to go. As the way to Executioner’s Chariot is for me as awful part of game as Shrine of Amana, I went towards Covetous Demon. They changed this area little bit as well, but it was still manageable, although trying to outrun and defeat the ambush of fat Artificial Undeads with melee only, would be worthy addition to Benny Hill Show iconic chase scenes I ended up alive to my surprise After that I had again few comedy wipes, but all in all, getting to Covetous Demon seemed to me little bit easier with melee guy, than with caster. He was defeated on first try with no summon at hand. Then, there came the most painful experience in my current run, the gauntlet before the bridge to Executioner’s Chariot. Even the shade I have summoned few time’s did not helped me. The guys up there have some stupid aggro mechanic or something, as there have been attempts, when I had no problem to pull them one by one, by entering into their aggro range and then there were the attempts, when they have attacked me all at once I was not able to find any pattern, why was that happening, and how to be 100% sure, that it will not happen. All in all, the sum of the wipes on these guys, before I have made my final attempt at Chariot, was more than 50k souls, which is pretty serious amount of souls at my current stage of game. The Chariot itself, was not that bad, the only issue was, that I had a lack of sleep due to my arm injury, and I was getting extremely tired at the end of my gaming session, but my stubbornness outplayed me, and “forced” me to stay behind my PS4, until I defeated the boss. Of course, that cost me few more wipes, due to my reflexes being even worse than usually. Not to mention, that I had a “brilliant” idea to attempt the bossfight, until the trash mobs drop me the Lizard Staff. And yes, in my state of tiredness it was really as stupid idea as it sounds Thankfully I was so tired in the end, that even my stubbornness gave up, and I have defeated him after few tries, when I was able to survive the previous gauntlet. Summary of today: 3 more bosses down, with deathcounter stopping at 41. (16 for today)

I had little bit of time today again, so I have continued to play DS2 again. Spent whole time at the Bastille and moved slowly to Ruin Sentinels. But before that, I had few comedy deaths. 6 in total today. I have also encountered the Forlorn Invader for the first time, and emerged victorious To my surprise, this one spawns even if you are in Hollow Form. During picking up all of the items around the area, I have encountered 3 mob Pursuers. Two of them I have defeated on the first try, but the one, near the crossbowmen on wooden constructions was pain in the ass, and died there few of the times, while trying to avoid the fire bolts and dogs trying to bite my ass off. I have also rescued Straid, but I do not have required attributes for any of his spells yet Anyway, after wandering a little bit around, I went for the Ruin Sentinels. This fight kicked my ass in vanilla DS2, so I have decided to summon both the summons, to have relaxing time today and were victorious after first try. Next in line Huntsman Copse. Which trash mobs I hate almost as much as Shrine of Amana. I planned to visit Gargoyles, but I have used all of my Pharos Stones, so they will have to wait a little bit for our encounter.

Russia is also threatening Armenia, for their desire to move closer to the “West”. in other news UA soldiers of 31st Brigade escaped dangerous encirclement in Doneck Oblast in full force. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/07/25/7467405/ and Guardian interview with General Syrskyi https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/24/i-know-we-will-win-and-how-ukraines-top-general-on-turning-the-tables-against-russia

DS2 again after day of break. Had only 1 and half hour of free time today, so I have decided to go for Old Dragonslayer and not Ruin Sentinels. The summon near Dragonlancer helped me to defeat the Dragon guarding him, despite me being to slow and being hit by his fire few times. Got stomped by him few times as well, but in the end, I have been victorious and now I have one very nice shield, which raises Item discovery as well The summon survived, so I went right away after Old Dragonslayer, and defeated him on first try. From his soul reward, I bought the Silver Cat’s Ring and dropped naked into the pit of Majula and started my move toward Royal Rat Vanguard. I had not very nice memories of this fight, when learning it for the first time on PS3, and they came back in first attempt as soon as I got poisoned by him, and eaten some dust. Despite that, I found the first attempt pretty promising, and I found out, that I can soak a lot of damage with heavier armour, compared to the cloth I wore as sorcerer, which did not saved me much. All I had to do, was running a little around the arena, occasionally chug some Estus or Lifegem, and the victory has been mine on second attempt. As always Firebombs helped a lot during the fight. Deathcounter is currently at 19, and my plan for next session is clearing of Bastille

Pursuer down, and to my surprise on a first try. And it happened at the elevated platform next to the exploded wall. I have summoned the shade behind the door locked by Soldier’s Key, and cleared the area, before climbing the ladder. The funny thing is, that soon after the start of the fight Pursuer knocked him down and he was not able to find a path back to ladder so I had to finish around 70% of his HP alone. It was anything, but walk in the park, the only thing, which saved my ass was higher level and Old Knight armour chest piece, which soaked a lot of damage. But, I have to admit, this platform gives much better opportunity to defend agains the Pursuer compared to his arena, due to being bigger. The downside is, that it is easy to drop down, if you are not watching the surrounding. In the end, it was a good decision to leave this boss for a later time, after clearing No-man’s Wharf. The extra levels and gear helped me a lot. Next in line will be the Ornstein Cosplayer, whose name I can’t remember now Of course, first I have to get through the big dragon guarding the cathedral, which might be also an issue for me In that case, I will have to go to Skeleton Lords or Ruin Sentinels. I sucked big time in vanilla DS2 at Sentinels and even bigger time at getting through trash mobs before the Lords. So I am not looking much forward to my next play sessions 16 wipes after 9 hours of playtime.

There was pretty quiet for a long time. The noticeable “brewing” started when HAMAS attacked Israel, and something is happening there now and then. In other news, Russia is most likely preparing Special Military Operation in Georgia as well. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/07/21/7466741/

Dragonrider and Flexile Sentry have been defeated. I am still trying to get back into the controls after not touching controller for three months, so I am using summon mechanics at bossfights. It’s much easier that way, but if the game offers me helping hand, I do not say no The other good thing is, that it looks like, I became much more patient than few years ago, when I have played it for the first time, so after three bosses only 15 wipes. This will probably change a lot at the Pursuer, but we’ll see on PS3 I have spent more than 3 hours and countless wipes to get through No-man’s Wharf, today just 1 and half and 2 wipes. Not bad, not bad. Mace is fine weapon and Old Knight Chest armour helped me a lot with mitigating damage. Although, I am running a lot out of Stamina due to this combination.

It is brewing in Dagestan again. Locals are starting to attack Dagestani “collaborators, who served in Russian Army in Ukraine.

After almost three busy months, when I spent about 1 hour per week on gaming, I have finally found some more time during today, and started Dark Souls 2: SotFS on PS4. I have cleared few areas and I had some comedy wipes already I have defeated The Last Giant, and I’ll be deciding if I should go for the Pursuer or Dragonrider. For me, It’s easier to get to Pursuer, but it’s easier to defeat Dragonrider. So for now, the winner is Dragonrider. We’ll see how it changes tomorrow, when my ass will get kicked few times Anyway, I started this time with Cleric, as I plan to go for melee Paladin-like lightning build, so the toon needs a lot of Faith. If I get steamrolled to much during my playthrough, I will still have chance to switch to Hexer caster, which should be easier to play for my skills. But hopefully I’ll get as far as possible into the game, before I will have to switch.

I am planning to start DS2:SotFS playthrough, but I am still considering what build should I go for. How hard is it to defeat Fume Knight with melee? My reaction time is not, what it used to be, so melee will bring me some troubles. Is there a chance for a guy with bad reflexes to beat him, or should I go for Hexes right away?

Japanese lawmaker is considering to start an investigation against Ubisoft, due to the cultural appropriation and other cultural inaccuracies present in their latest checkbox simulator. https://nichegamer.com/japanese-politician-investigation-assassins-creed-shadows-inaccuracies/

Have any of you tried the Bonus HK Campaign? The pacing to me seemed a little bit better than in the OG HK campaign

I am with you on this one. The three Shadowrun games were exactly what I was itching for, when I have played them. They had some flaws for sure, but I still consider them brilliant masterpieces

Finally, I have uploaded all of my DSR NG+ victories to Youtube, soo, if anyone would like to see, how my first ever melee walkthrough of the game went closer to the platinum finish line, feel free to enjoy disclaimer: this old man still needs to git gud

From what I’ve read, the Gothic Remake was really bad. The question is, was it bad due to the PB, or Embracer? But it might give us few hints, why they have been closed.

Browsing the links at the Piranha Bytes closure I have found one more sad news, which I have completely missed in the past (march 2024). Embracer sold Gearbox to Take Two. With Homeworld and Duke Nukem as well Which means, we will probably never see this franchises again, or completely watered down with billions of microtransactions... https://www.gamesindustry.biz/take-two-to-acquire-gearbox-from-embracer-for-460-million

@xzar_monty Would you be willing to elaborate a little bit on this? Is this a serious newspaper? And how real/known/serious are these guys around Finland? https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/0f398e0d-0324-4a15-b64d-96aa1d0b9087