What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind

[Mamoulian War]

Goal nr. 1/2024 has been achieved

January 29, 23:00 – My first finished game of 2024 has become Dark Souls: Remastered on PS4. I have reached the Dark Lord ending after almost 80 hours and 292 deaths, which I have accumulated, while trying to get every item in game, and fulfill all prerequisites for Platinum Trophy. And due to the personal challenge, I have also cleared the all DLC areas and bosses, which are not needed for it. At the end I had to finish Gwyn, Lord of Cinder in 1 on 1 fight, as I have failed Solaire's quest due to visit of Lost Izalith sooner, than required. This is the first time, that I have finished Soulsborne game with melee character build. The side-effect was, that I have died much less to trash mobs, but most of the boss fights were much more challenging.

[Hawke64]

Alan Wake. Finished the main game, started the DLC. The story is nice, the technical aspects of the gameplay, where the MC cannot hit in melee, sprint for long, or dodge reliably (might be the "git gud" thing) could be better. I suppose, the MC wasn't working out, unlike the Control MC, who could sprint indefinitely. In terms of structure and pacing, Alan Wake feels tighter than Control, though losing all gathered weaponry at the start of each episode was unpleasant. The music was excellent.

Slay the Princess. The developers were quite compelling in their post, thus, I purchased the game on GOG. The art style and the voice acting (which I kept on, because the Voices/characters had too similar fonts, except the Princess) were very expressive and fitting, while the length of each scene aligned perfectly with my attention span. The most important aspect for me was how much the game reacted to my choices and how many branching paths were there. After finishing the game, I can confirm that there were many more than I have experienced (checked an achievement guide) and I would like to try some of them.

[Keyrock]

On 1/29/2024 at 8:41 AM, Hurlshort said:

I mean, if it's a chain restaurant, and he didn't enjoy one chain, it's safe to say he isn't going to enjoy another.

I'm assuming what you meant was if someone didn't enjoy one store in a chain it's safe to assume they wouldn't enjoy another. For example, if you didn't enjoy the McDonald's on 3rd street you won't like the one on western avenue. What it seems like you wrote is that if you didn't like one chain of restaurants it's safe to assume you won't like another chain of restaurants. For example, if you don't like Popeye's then it's safe to assume you won't like Chick-fil-A. If you did actually mean the latter then I definitely disagree.

[Mamoulian War]

Started NG+ today in DS1R. Cleared first four bosses. Asylum Demon, Taurus Demon, Bell Gargoyles and Stray Demon. And got last miracle for Miracle Trophy. 82% of all trophies is done. I think, it will go little bit faster now, although I have done few stupid things already, and lost around 100k Souls

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, Keyrock said:

I'm assuming what you meant was if someone didn't enjoy one store in a chain it's safe to assume they wouldn't enjoy another. For example, if you didn't enjoy the McDonald's on 3rd street you won't like the one on western avenue. What it seems like you wrote is that if you didn't like one chain of restaurants it's safe to assume you won't like another chain of restaurants. For example, if you don't like Popeye's then it's safe to assume you won't like Chick-fil-A. If you did actually mean the latter then I definitely disagree.

Nope, it was definitely more like the McD's example. I suppose it would be more like, if you don't like this Chef's restaurant, you probably won't like his new location even though the menu is different. Larian makes a certain type of game, regardless of new setting and characters.

Edited January 30 by Hurlshort

[Wormerine]

On 1/30/2024 at 8:40 PM, Hurlshort said:

Larian makes a certain type of game, regardless of new setting and characters.

At the same time, I think one can like BG3 and not D:OSs. The game is different/better enough. 
 

However, if one’s issue with D:OS was Larian (design goals and ideals), than yeah, BG3 will probably annoy that person as well. 

Edited February 1 by Wormerine

[Mamoulian War]

Three more bosses down in DSR. Capra Demon, Gaping Dragon and Quelaag.

I made some stupid mistakes again and lost another 100k souls I tried few attempts against Bridge Dragon, but I got burned like a chips, because somehow the same tactics I did against it in PS3 version, does not work and I am getting big fire blast into my back, which burns all of my HPs in one shot, even if I have fire stoneplate ring and the fire resistance pyromancy buff. So I am for now clueless how to defeat it.

[Wormerine]

21 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

So I am for now clueless how to defeat it.

If I remember it right, I stocked up on ungodly amount of giant arrows and chipped away at his health but targeting his tail from underneath the bridge. 

[Mamoulian War]

7 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

If I remember it right, I stocked up on ungodly amount of giant arrows and chipped away at his health but targeting his tail from underneath the bridge. 

 

Thank you. In NG I was able to get him down easily with my damage output, and in NG+ I was already able to cut off his tail with melee as well. That part of tactics until you cut of his tail on the bridge still works, but then, it starts to behave differently and start to fly and spew fire a lot more than in PtD Edition of the game. I will try it out again after I get some more bosses down, but I would prefer classic fight with him. Cheese kill with arrows will be last resort

[Mamoulian War]

Little bit slower today with DSR. Iron Golem and Priscilla has been defeated. The plan was Smough and Ornstein, but I have just decided to pick the easier fight and went for Painted World   Today, I made much less stupid moves, so Not lost a single soul

[BruceVC]

Im 20 hours into PoE2  and still  loving it

I appreciate the whole design of  finding islands  and exploring  them,  its  a  good  way to motivate exploration especially if  you need supplies on a long ship voyage 

I also decided to implement Level  Scaling but only upwards, this was strongly recommended  from people on Codex  who pointed  out combat becomes too easy if you dont do this  and the level  scaling is only by 4 levels so you wont find a level 10 rat, if the rat is level 2  it  will only scale upwards to  6,  which is silly and unrealistic 

Anyway it has made me much more  strategic in battles. I was  using the  AI most  of the time for my companions and now Im  micromanaging more 

Im also  really  enjoying the broader narrative and interacting with the gods and understanding what are Eothas motives,  I can see  myself  having to make  huge and difficult   decisions later on similar  to  the end of PoE1 but this time I understand more about the lore and history of the  game  world  so my final  decision about who  I support should be better   informed  

Im pursuing Romance with Xoti, Im helping  her  with her soul burden journey and I love her cute  Southern accent 

 

 

[the_dog_days]

On 1/31/2024 at 3:17 PM, Mamoulian War said:

Capra Demon

No one bothered to tell FormSoft the English translation does nothing but conjure a mental image.

[Bartimaeus]

On 2/1/2024 at 7:09 PM, Mamoulian War said:

Little bit slower today with DSR. Iron Golem and Priscilla has been defeated. The plan was Smough and Ornstein, but I have just decided to pick the easier fight and went for Painted World   Today, I made much less stupid moves, so Not lost a single soul

My rule whenever I started an SL1 character was that if I died and then died again before I recovered my souls, the game was over and I had to delete that character. Why? I don't know: as an SL1 character, you don't need souls. Principle of the matter, I suppose.

[Mamoulian War]

6 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

My rule whenever I started an SL1 character was that if I died and then died again before I recovered my souls, the game was over and I had to delete that character. Why? I don't know: as an SL1 character, you don't need souls. Principle of the matter, I suppose.

I wish my reflexes would be that good Sometimes, I am getting to much comfortable in the game, and then I always do some stupid stuff, like run in between three Painting Guardians, directly into a backstab

[uuuhhii]

why are that grandblue game take 50gb

it look like a 10 year old mobile game

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, uuuhhii said:

why are that grandblue game take 50gb

If it's the same game I saw on Twitch today then it's probably for all the ****ing particle effects. 

Yesterday I caught a stream of the new Suicide Squad game and I could barely make it through 10 minutes before I had to change it because it was a particle effect bukkake constantly assaulting my eyes. Different people have different tolerances, for example I don't usually get motion sickness in situations other people do, but this constant visual explosion of colors in my face was legitimately making my head hurt.

Not to be outdone, I saw a stream of Granblue something or other today and I barely lasted 5 minutes. The characters were level 30ish, so I can only speak about what I saw, maybe other portions of the game are different, but the ludicrous amount of colorful explosions constantly covering the screen was brain-melting. To make matters worse, there was constant non-stop chatter from the companions, to the point that they were practically talking over each other. Just a non-stop attack on my eyes and ears. Had I not turned the stream off I would likely have had a stroke. It was a ****ing nightmare.

Developers, y'all need to chill the **** out with the particle effects. Completely filling the screen with colorful explosions to the point that you can't understand anything that is happening is not a good thing.

[uuuhhii]

3 hours ago, Keyrock said:

If it's the same game I saw on Twitch today then it's probably for all the ****ing particle effects. 

Yesterday I caught a stream of the new Suicide Squad game and I could barely make it through 10 minutes before I had to change it because it was a particle effect bukkake constantly assaulting my eyes. Different people have different tolerances, for example I don't usually get motion sickness in situations other people do, but this constant visual explosion of colors in my face was legitimately making my head hurt.

Not to be outdone, I saw a stream of Granblue something or other today and I barely lasted 5 minutes. The characters were level 30ish, so I can only speak about what I saw, maybe other portions of the game are different, but the ludicrous amount of colorful explosions constantly covering the screen was brain-melting. To make matters worse, there was constant non-stop chatter from the companions, to the point that they were practically talking over each other. Just a non-stop attack on my eyes and ears. Had I not turned the stream off I would likely have had a stroke. It was a ****ing nightmare.

Developers, y'all need to chill the **** out with the particle effects. Completely filling the screen with colorful explosions to the point that you can't understand anything that is happening is not a good thing.

couldn't handle all the flashing light in recent year too

most game are made for young people that most likely didn't even notice the excess light pollution

[Keyrock]

I've been spending the last several hours, and will continue to spend many hours on Dondoko Island, which is a "mini"-game within Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. It's a mini-game by virtue of being a game within a game, but there's nothing mini about it. It's an entire full-featured Animal Crossing game, not in any way, shape, or form stripped down. There's also an entire full-featured Pokemon game inside LaD:IW called Sujimon, but I haven't messed around with it much beyond the introductory tutorial, and likely won't. Nothing against Sujimon, but there are only so many hours in my life and LaD:IW on its own, without either of these 2 "mini"-games, is already a rather lengthy game. Rather than half-ass either "mini"-game, I'll mostly ignore one and go whole hog on the other, and Dondoko Island, I choose you.

Anyway, Dondoko Island is pretty great. There are these bad guys who have ruined this resort island by dumping garbage on it. Your task is to clean up the island and rebuild it into a thriving vacation destination. The bad guys are not keen on this, they'd like to continue dumping waste on this island and thus will try to stop you. There's only so much you can do in a day so it's about figuring out what you want to prioritize, whether that's beating up bad guys, cleaning trash, fishing, catching bugs, building, etc. I'm still in the early stages but it's very enjoyable so far. I like that there are different style scores you can increase: Elegant, rustic, pop, and sleaze. Naturally, I'm going full-on sleazy. My Dondoko Island is going to be a den of debauchery. I have a slogan set up and everything: Dondoko Island: Down To ****. 

Edited February 4 by Keyrock

[Hawke64]

Alan Wake: American Nightmare. Finished. The protagonist is actually controllable and can reliably dodge, the variety of weapons and foes is much higher, and the story is on the same level. The NPC designs, animations, and cut-scenes are noticeably worse. Still, it took 3 hours to complete the story mode.

Strayed Lights. Started. It was looking like a nice action-adventure about a spirit of light whose parts were scattered throughout the world. There are no spoken dialogues, but the visual design was very bright and clear (very orange, very blue, and occasionally purple). It promptly tried to fry my CPU, so I was rather happy that I got it in a bundle. Probably will replay on another PC later, though.

Itorah. Started. A Metroidvania. The protagonist is silent, the battleaxe is talkative, the environments are beautiful. The keyboard controls are rebindable, mice are not supported at all.

[Malcador]

D4's new season isn't as bad after the patch. The traps in the dungeons are irritating still.  But clipping along pretty well, the robot does well enough, I like the ability to give me energy.  Trying a flurry poison rogue again, but maybe will try cold just to be different.

Realized I own Citizen Sleeper as well, might as well start that

[Mamoulian War]

After few days of break while “driving” around Spa, I went back to Dark Souls Remastered and cleared Smough and Ornstein. On second try This time no cheese, but went for “Super” Smough this time, as I was still missing his soul and armor. Also, crafter Scythe from soul of Priscilla, which made clearing the room in front of the fight a walk in the park

Then I have decided to try out the Bridge Dragon in a non-cheese way. And failed again. We’ll see how that goes next time, after clearing few more bosses.

[BruceVC]

36 hours in to  Deadfire and its still lots of fun

My party is level 12 and I use the skull quest rating system to decide if Im ready for a quest and its generally accurate. I decided to do the Bekarna's Folly after robbing from Arkemyr

And I ended up having one of the hardest and most exciting battles with the foul and arrogant lich Concelhaut, he slaughtered me the first 2 times but then I changed my strategy. I kept my party at the bottom of the stairs as you enter the roof of the observatory but sent Eder in solo mode to draw aggression and run away back to the rest of my companions

That worked and I was able to separate Concelhaut allies and defeat them all in 2 separate battles , it was still really hard but I was victorious

I love the strategic nature of these types of hard battles in party based isometric RPG. I enjoy how literally each turn matters and how you assign combat tasks to your party and then you wait to see the results 

[majestic]

Barbarian in season three is great. As long as I hit at least three enemies, my charge has a cooldown of 1.5 seconds. Feels like plowing through enemy groups with a freight train. Ran into The Butcher in one of the Nightmare Vaults. I heard his signature "Ah, fresh meat!" and then he was dead. Instantly.

Yeah. Guess they really made charge a bit OP.

[Mamoulian War]

Little bit less productive DSR today, only Moonlight Butterfly and Pinwheel defeated. Everything else was me getting stupid and unlucky at Darkrootbasin Hydra and Titanite Demon at Anor Londo.

[kanisatha]

Still working through the Palace of Ice DLC of Solasta. I'm enjoying it so far. The factions questlines are not mutually exclusive the way they were in the previous DLC, and I'm actually liking that. And they have been interesting so far. Just now reached level 15 with my party.