Elden Ring / Sekiro / Souls / Bloodborne / Souls-likes

Everyone is dead except for The Sword Saint. Only done a little probing/experimentation with him but he definitely lives up to the hype. Gotten to phase 3 of 4 a couple times but with no resources left at all. Ready for the long haul.

One interesting thing about Sekiro compared to other Souls games is that I have ZERO interest in NG+. Unlike other Souls games in which you can level indefinitely (soft caps notwithstanding), in Sekiro it's feasible to max your character in a single run. All memories, all prayer beads, all skills. 

I mean yeah you can use the Dragon Mask to keeping pumping points into your attack stat, I guess, but that's not enough of a hook to revisit. I'd rather start a new game so I can accrue all the rewards again along the way.

Still bummed there's no DLC for this thing ... yet.

Exactly the same as with Bloodborne, I loved Sekiro so much I had to replay it immediately. Second playthrough took 18 hours, after the first took 58, and the only bosses that killed me even once were the final 3 heavies and Genichiro. That is some fucking learning curve.

It miiight be the first game I ever go for the platinum for, because I think the only 2 difficult things left would be the 2 bosses from the quicker ending. And I'm sure to have a bunch of time on my hands soon.

Yeah your 1st guess was who I meant. Those ended up being the final 3 in both playthroughs and the first time through they all took like 3 hours. True Monk isn't a pushover either though.

I just don't think I've ever experienced anything in gaming that feels as good as a well executed Mikiri counter, or a lightning reversal, or any of a dozen other things. That satisfying "thwump" sound when you finally break past their defense and make contact with their body for a vitality hit. My god. And it looks so gorgeous too, and the progression of the day makes it so old areas feel different and it's not even a chore to retrace your steps.

I actually did okay on the rooftops the first time. Woo Guy did wreck me hilariously of course but I think that was the only time I died. I did run for the window to the antechamber as soon as I saw it but I fought my way to that point pretty well.

The second time yeah, fuck that. I knew some bad shit was probably going down since you couldn't warp to the idol so I wanted to get there asap anyway, and then the legions of knockoff shinobis just made that easier.

Gwyn is slain and the flame has been linked.

That was a wild ride. I feel like I played 2 different games, the first half 3 months ago where it was very slow and plodding, I had to walk through the same areas a dozen times to get to where I wanted, and everything was dark and dingy.

Then the second half that I played over the last week (averaging over 3 hours per day, doing fine here) where I two-handed the scythe, rolling/dodging instead of using a shield, and could warp all over the world to my heart's content, sometimes to visually arresting areas. Figures I quit previously right before Sen's and Anor Londo, probably the highlights of the game.

Towards the end I was thinking that the bosses were pretty weak/uninspired, mainly because the 4 Lord Soul guys were either pushovers (Seath) or just fucking annoying (Gravelord Nito and especially Bed of Chaos), but then the DLC bosses totally redeemed it. My heart was pounding at BB/Sekiro levels for Artorias, Kalameet, and Manus. And obviously I missed a ton of the actual story and will be watching a bunch of lore vids now, but even still, seeing the words "Kiln of the First Flame" pop up and linking the fire gave me chills.

DS3 is shipping as we speak.

No I agree, it's just there's enough that I just plain missed that it's nice to fill in the margins.

As I said in the Shoutbox I had no idea someone named "Darkstalker Kaathe" even existed or that there was an alternate ending. I would have missed the Dark Sun Gwyndolin boss if I hadn't accidentally glimpsed that there was a second boss in Anor Londo while looking up something else, and I also fucked up all the NPC questlines. Apparently Solaire is supposed to be like your buddy throughout the whole game? But I met him twice and the next time I saw him he was trying to kill me.

I started the Undead Settlement last night and then like 4 hours later I just snapped out of it without realizing how much time had passed. Holy shit. This might be my favorite one yet if this is an indication of things to come. Just such a massive sprawling level that rewards intense scrutiny and exploration. I literally yelled out loud when I found my favorite weapon, the Great Scythe, and when I found Siegward on an elevator.

And then that little sidepath that starts with the Siegward encounter turns into like a half hour adventure that's 100% optional but has a shitload of viable outfits/rings and such. God, so much fun.

I've slain the Curse-rotted Greatwood which was a pretty fun if gimmicky fight and just took a look at the Road of Sacrifices. Seems surprisingly linear overall so far, like I had to do the levels in this order, but if they're all designed this well who cares.

You’ve still got Nioh and Nioh 2 to look forward to my guy

I have soloed it, but I find this one much more manageable by summoning an (NPC) ally. Been awhile so I can't remember the NPC's name. In Phase 2 I do my best to avoid Friede completely and just run down Ariandel's health. Usually pretty quick.

Really hard but great fight. 

It's Slave Knight Gael, the guy who initially warps you into Ariandel by asking you to touch the scrap that's left of their pocket dimension painting. Considering his role in the DLC I'd say it's one of the very few times where summoning actually makes sense within the story and might even bond you to the character considering how difficult the Friede fight is otherwise.

Can't give any tips either considering the one time I actually manged to beat her was all a blur. Her third phase verges on unfair in a way most of the Soulsborne games manage to otherwise avoid, just being hyper punishing for the sake of it 

Well she's dead. I do wish I had done it without Gael, and now I'm actually pretty sure I could, because I finally found a fairly big opening to attack her in that final phase, after she goes invisible. But I did scream "yes!" over and over so couldn't have been that hollow of a victory.

24 tries for her vs. 55 for the Nameless King, but every time I died to the latter I blamed myself (or the camera), whereas with her every time I died I felt like it was complete bullshit. Still an all-time great boss though.

Slave Knight Gael is slain and the lady is painting a new world with the Blood of the Dark Soul.

Final hours and bosses were extremely thrilling and a great conclusion to the series. He said, having only played 2 of the 3 games. The Ringed City is probably like the toughest area in all of these games I want to say. 3 of the 4 bosses are all-time legendary fights, but even the regular streets of the city are insanely tough. Giants with boss-level health pools, judicators that summon instakill mobs of archers, just the regular Dragonslayer Armour boss as a regular enemy, sets of multiple ringed knights, etc. Oh my god and those fucking angels in the swamp. FUCK them.

I'm sure this is an extremely banal observation but like, this played a lot more like Bloodborne 2 than Dark Souls 3, at least for me. I don't think I used my shield for more than an hour or so out of 60 hours. Only found it useful for straight up 1v1 fights with tough knights or whatever. I was also wearing an extremely Bloodborne-esque outfit for most of it (Fallen Knight helm/gloves/leggings with Firekeeper or Jailer robes, extremely badass), so that probably helped. But I've raved enough about Bloodborne that that's obviously a good thing. Also as usual, I'm sure I missed the vast majority of the lore, but especially during the end, I really felt the weight of it. Fighting for the Dark Soul at the literal end of the world in a giant ash heap. Just awesome. Even though he was far from the toughest fight ever, my reaction when beating Gael was maybe my most exuberant in the entire series, I just really felt like I had finished some epic quest.

I kept track of how many tries each boss took me if that is interesting at all.