What are you playing right now?

[Mamoulian War]

Moar Dork Souls

 

TBH not much to be talked about this time, because well one very interesting boss fight But first, I have talked with Lord's Blade Ciaran, who mourned passing of Knight Artorias. She asked for his souls, which I do not want to part away at the moment, and she wears very nice suit of armor, so despite not being very happy about that decision, I have decided to start fight with her. The reward was said armor set and two nice weapons.

 

After that, I went back to Oolacile Township and slowly moved through all the bloathead enemies, until Dark Phantom Marvelous Chester decided, he needs to kick my ass. It ended for him not as good as he anticipated Running more around the ruined city netted into finding a key. I ran back to a tower near Artorias' arena, and set Gough free. After little bit of friendly chit chat, he took his uber giant mega bow, and shot an arrow towards the big badass dragon flying around and managed to hurt his wing and feelings.

 

And now the fun has started. I run slowly towards the place, where the dragon fell, and what a surprise, there was a new fog gate I've spent all my souls, and went back to see how it will go. And I must admit it went pretty fast. For me, and for dragon, too. But with more satisfying outcome for the dragon... "OK, so this guy has a tail weapon, OK, next time, I'll try to cut it, before he kills me.", was what I've said to myself. It also did not went as planned this time either I have not touched his tail at all. My closest weapon swing was like two kilometers away. This will be tough... And it ****ing was. The first evening, I had probably 20-30 attempts to learn the encounter and what I have to do to force him to use his tail against me, so I could hit it. So much frustrated, I have even tried to summon someone for help, but it looks like the DLC on PS3 are probably playing two more people beside me and both of them are PvPing only I rather went to bed, and started to thinking, if my stubbornness is worth dying again and again and again and again and again...

 

Before falling asleep I have watched few videos, specifically for the solo tail cut strategy, and I have found two interesting solutions, which I should be able to execute. Next day, I've tried both, and found out, that I am able to execute only one of them After founding that out, after reviving at Bonfire, I've changed all my spells to Pyromancies, and went to learn better how to execute the tailcutting strategy. Right in the first attempt, I forced the dragon to try to hammer me down with his tail. But to my big disappointment, the Great Combustion pyromancy completely missed the tail. It's hitbox was to close to ground to hit him with the spell I died shortly afterwards. I've kicked out the spell out of my list and used both versions of Firewhips and Firestorms. After a while, I found out, that the Firestorm spells are much better for the job. It took me another 10 or so attempts to be able to execute it without getting to much damage from his other moves. At the end I needed to hit his tail 4 times with Firewhip spells to cut his tail off. As soon as I managed it, I was so excited about it, that Kalameet killed me few seconds later But the goddamn Obsidian Sword was finally mine! ALL MINE!!111ONEONEELEVEN!!11!

 

All that running and noobing around had one good side effect, I have learned pretty well all of Kalameet's moves and attacks, and my next attempt, ended up victorious for me, and without single sip from Estus Flask. I was surprised to see that. All in all, the the whole fight with Kalameet was the most epic bossfight ever in history of my gaming, which I was able to beat. I really do not remember, when was the last time, when a game was so challenging to make me yell "**** YEAH!" (in slovak of course ) after landing the last blow. And this fight made me to do it twice!!!

 

I have spent probably more than two hours fighting him, but the feeling when I've finally made it was fantastic! And it reminded me, why I loathe so much the current "PREZZBATTON4WIN" game design, which most of the today's games are doing No excitement even after killing the main boss of the game means, that the time getting there was not really worth it, and is just another waste of time. Thankfully some Indies make this right, and GOG and Japanese developers offer lot of them, to my liking.

 

Anyway end of ranting, and back to Gough. He congratulated me, and offered me smaller version of his ultra bow. I have happily accepted his offer. After that, I have decided to pay a visit to Marvelous Chester, and speaking to him, he kind of mocked me, and bitched about our last black phantom incident. I have decided to defend my honour again, and I've challenged him to duel! The reward was nice armour set on his corpse

 

After that, I have spent some time just farming for items, which I still missed in my inventory for 100% playthrough and kindling all the bonfires in the game to the max capacity. The hardest to get was Oolacile Catalyst, from the Bloathead Sorcerers. This alone took me more than hour, but during that, I was able to farm enough souls for more than 5 or 6 Soul Levels, so now, I am SL 99.

 

Today, will be my first attempt against Manus. I've heard good things about the fight as well

[marelooke]

Chugging along in my Fallout 4 playthrough and since I've cleared most side quests and both DLC I turned my attention to tying up the main story.

 

So at lvl127 I went to find Virgil in the Glowing sea, which resulted in a hilarious series of fights as enemies in story missions apparently don't scale, or their armor doesn't at least.

 

Then I made it into the institute and within 5 steps I ran into two progression halting bugs:

• there's a quest to insert a hack program in a terminal. I simply couldn't insert the holotape. Apparently I was carrying too many tapes and the code couldn't handle this (the quest one was the one-but-last in the list). Some great coding right there. Dropping all my other tapes somewhere fixed that one.
• when talking to Father I missclicked and gave a response that indicated I didn't want to work with him, then came around later in that conversation and Father told me to meet the division Heads. however the game still treated it as if I'd decided to just get the hell out of the Institute and the quest target was to take the elevator.
  Talking to Father again resulted in getting another chance to stick with the Institute questline, except it didn't work. I got told to meet the division heads (again) but now the target to take the elevator to leave disappeared and the entire quest basically broke down. No way to exit the institute, no way to continue the questline. *sigh*

And then people wonder why I call this game a technical trainwreck...

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Chugging along in my Fallout 4 playthrough and since I've cleared most side quests and both DLC I turned my attention to tying up the main story.

 

So at lvl127 I went to find Virgil in the Glowing sea, which resulted in a hilarious series of fights as enemies in story missions apparently don't scale, or their armor doesn't at least.

 

Then I made it into the institute and within 5 steps I ran into two progression halting bugs:

• there's a quest to insert a hack program in a terminal. I simply couldn't insert the holotape. Apparently I was carrying too many tapes and the code couldn't handle this (the quest one was the one-but-last in the list). Some great coding right there. Dropping all my other tapes somewhere fixed that one.
• when talking to Father I missclicked and gave a response that indicated I didn't want to work with him, then came around later in that conversation and Father told me to meet the division Heads. however the game still treated it as if I'd decided to just get the hell out of the Institute and the quest target was to take the elevator.

  Talking to Father again resulted in getting another chance to stick with the Institute questline, except it didn't work. I got told to meet the division heads (again) but now the target to take the elevator to leave disappeared and the entire quest basically broke down. No way to exit the institute, no way to continue the questline. *sigh*

And then people wonder why I call this game a technical trainwreck…

 

I recently played a heavily modded version of F4. Non-immersion breaking, btw, and fixing some stability issues, too. 

 

I was doing some work for the Brotherhood and made the teleporting device at their's. When I went in the Institute I wanted to join up, then when I talked with one of the department heads, the speech wheel didn't give me the options concerning Father's quest. It was locked into BoS related stuff. This is pretty game breaking. I had to use console commands to get through it. Later I had another problem with a door not opening for a quest, so yet more console commands. F4 is serious ****e when it comes to main quest and writing in general.

 

LOL!

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Right now I am playing Underrail and this game puts to shame most big tripple A titles. 

 

Highly recommended, especially for the true F1 fans. 

[majestic]

Right now I am playing Underrail and this game puts to shame most big tripple A titles. 

 

Highly recommended, especially for the true F1 fans. 

 

Is the map update out yet? I remember some very delicious whining from "haadcoah" d00dz that resented the very idea of the game having anything than a self-drawn map.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

 

Right now I am playing Underrail and this game puts to shame most big tripple A titles. 

 

Highly recommended, especially for the true F1 fans. 

 

Is the map update out yet? I remember some very delicious whining from "haadcoah" d00dz that resented the very idea of the game having anything than a self-drawn map.

 

 

I've no idea what you're talking about, brother. 

 

Care to elaborate a bit?

[majestic]

 

 

Right now I am playing Underrail and this game puts to shame most big tripple A titles. 

 

Highly recommended, especially for the true F1 fans. 

 

Is the map update out yet? I remember some very delicious whining from "haadcoah" d00dz that resented the very idea of the game having anything than a self-drawn map.

 

I've no idea what you're talking about, brother. 

 

Care to elaborate a bit?

 

http://www.underrail.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=170:global-map&catid=43:dev-log&Itemid=61

 

The incliners were whining their ass off. Because maps are decline!

 

Errr. Sorry, KKKodex terminology. Games that actually have useful features such as automaps are decline because automaps take away from the hardcore experience of drawing a map yourself.

 

Underrail didn't have maps in the beginning. Now it might have. Or not, hence me asking. I haven't played in years.

Edited July 27, 2018 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

What does that mean, "maps are decline"? No usage of the word "decline" is an adjective as far as I can tell.

[213374U]

Shorthand for "practices and decisions that contribute to the decline (in quality) of games in general and RPGs in particular". Functionally it's a noun rather than an adjective, i.e. "maps are the devil".

 

#justcodexthings

[Gfted1]

And "incline" means the opposite.

[majestic]

Shorthand for "practices and decisions that contribute to the decline (in quality) of games in general and RPGs in particular". Functionally it's a noun rather than an adjective, i.e. "maps are the devil".

 

#justcodexthings

 

Yeah well, I just think using decline as an adjective highlights the innate silliness of the term when it is applied to convenience features.

 

I grew up drawing maps, exchanging currency (both for weight and for different areas) and carrying food around. I miss none of these things if they don't show up in modern games.

 

Funny how Grimoire: Herald of Incline has none of these things and is still celebrated.

 

edit:

 

Oh, and sorry, should have known better than to drag KKKodexian lingo here.

Edited July 27, 2018 by majestic

[Zoraptor]

Grimoire is incline due to Cleve being a neanderthal, living in a bunker, having a titanium skeleton and actually producing a game after 20 years; not due to the game itself.

 

OTOH certified decline games (anything Beth post Daggerfall, anything Bioware post BG2 etc) are pretty well defined, as they've been played 7 times, just to make sure they really are decline.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

AH... ok.

 

Well, I certainly can't participate in this discussion other than saying that in Underrail the map is uncovered by you. Each new zone you visit is automatically uploaded to you map, and since in the universe of Underrail portable PCs--like the one on your wrist or a few other that you find--have maps I don't find it... annoying, I guess... in any way. Personal opinion, ofc.

 

Now, if there is anything of interest on the map - a locked door or a very strong enemy, you will have to put notes concerning those, and those will help a TON. 

[HoonDing]

If I lived in Australia, I'd make a bunker too tbh. Even koalas want to kill you.

[GhostofAnakin]

Before putting away Vampyr for good, I ended up trying a second play through.  It ended at the "boss fight" in the cemetery.  I found it the most frustrating fight in the entire game, largely because it was as strong as any of the late game bosses, but too early on so your character was still relatively weak.  That one boss fight will prevent me from ever finishing a second time.

[213374U]

Yeah well, I just think using decline as an adjective highlights the innate silliness of the term when it is applied to convenience features.

 

I grew up drawing maps, exchanging currency (both for weight and for different areas) and carrying food around. I miss none of these things if they don't show up in modern games.

 

Funny how Grimoire: Herald of Incline has none of these things and is still celebrated.

 

Yeah, same here. I'm really not a fan of padding, be it "old skool" or new. Repetitive tasks and chores are something I get paid to endure, not the other way around.

 

The one debatable element that gets brought up consistently as an example of decline is quest markers. I mean, I can't deny that constantly beelining for the next step in FNV did detract from the exploration, but... I really don't have the time to look up and down for whatshisface that I need to hand this parcel to.

 

Never played Grimoire. I kinda got the impression it was a meme/in-joke product, especially considering the price tag. Couldn't get into Underrail either. Too hardcore for my taste, maybe.

Edited July 28, 2018 by 213374U

[Mamoulian War]

Quest markers are mixed bag for me. But TBH, I do not think, that quest markers by itself is the issue, it's the bad quest design, which depends solely on the quest markers and do not give you enough info in journal. So if the game offers turning them off, you get most likely lost :/

[Majek]

Hey Mamoulian War nice going with the tail. That is probably the most difficult one doing solo in the series. o.ob

[Mamoulian War]

Thanks, it was really very intense fight, but compared to Smough&Ornstein and later Manus, I did not feel frustrated at all, when I was unsuccessful. The fight is hard, but fair and even with slower reactions, you still have chance to learn his moves and defeat him without need for cheesing. Manus on other hand, It really felt to fast and to random for my old age

[Hawke64]

Alpha Protocol.

Saved Madison Saint-James, Marburg escaped, though. It was rather odd to hear "They were my men! You will pay for this!" after shooting down the second wave of reinforcements ("Shadow Operative" was on cooldown and the tranquilizer didn't work fast enough, so I switched to assault rifle) . What did he think I would do? Surrender?

[Mamoulian War]

After 80 hours I have just finished Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition, with caster toon.

 

After farming the **** out of Humanity Phantoms and kindling every single available bonfire in the game, I have decided, that there is finally time to go against the DLC boss, Manus, Father of the Abyss. First two tries, I have tried to summon Sif the puppy, but the boss did very short work with me both attempts. Small Sif was not able to tank him, so I just rather stayed hollow and continued with my futile attempts at killing him without spending Humanity. I really do not know, how many failed attempts I had, probably 15+, because this boss compared to most other in the game was for me really unpredictable, because he mostly moved and attacked to fast for my old reflexes. I was most of the time not able to predict his 3-hit and 6-hit combos, which most of the time destroyed me I really have not wanted to cheese him, so I run back and back again, until I was little bit lucky with his attacks, and I was finally able to kick his Mananus.

 

As soon as he was defeated, I have saved princess Dusk, and got reward from Elizabeth for doing so. Now was the time to run around and get specific weapons and armor from few NPCs. I really did not wanted to kill them, but it was the only possible way, how to collect these items So after a while, all three blacksmiths were dead and with them also Hawkeye Gough. Before them, I have also traded Manus' soul for last Sorcery missing in my collection.

 

Now was finally time to face Gwyn Again. Because I was able to finish Solaire's quest, I found his summon sign on the way to the final boss Gwyn. Few spells shot his way, and he went down fast. The new spell really helped a lot. It made tremendous damage to him.

 

The credits rolled fast, and I have decided to go against Asylum Demon in NG+ straight away, because I was still missing his weapon drop. To my surprise, the Pursuers spell almost one-shot him He was left probably with 20 to 50 HP, after the first shot. I was so surprised, that I have lost concentration for a second, and he almost one-shotted because of that. So I rolled to the side as fast as possible, and finished him off with another Soul Arrow, and finished my game. For now.

 

I am currently at 91% of trophies and I am missing few armors and weapons for owning everything in the game. Next week, I'll be going on a business trip, so I do not know, if I should start going after few bosses now, or just wait until I am back. Need to finish NG+ and get to Anor Londo in NG++ for last few trophies.

[Bartimaeus]

...Uh, did you face the final boss of the DLC before you murdered everyone, Kalameet?

[Mamoulian War]

Yup, Kalameet was few days ago, I killed him before Manus, but before I spent few hours on trying to figure out how to cut his tail while solo As far as I am aware, I have done everything possible in this second playthrough. I thought the final DLC bass was Manus not Kalameet

[GhostofAnakin]

Started up XCOM2.  My poor redshirts from the tutorial, I hardly even knew you.

[Majek]

Yup, Kalameet was few days ago, I killed him before Manus, but before I spent few hours on trying to figure out how to cut his tail while solo As far as I am aware, I have done everything possible in this second playthrough. I thought the final DLC bass was Manus not Kalameet

The final boss of the DLC is old Sif. ;_;