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Post by Lone Locust of the Apocalypse on Feb 18, 2017 16:38:55 GMT -5
Bloodborne - the best interpretation of Lovecraftian themes since Alien
I love this game.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Feb 20, 2017 9:43:24 GMT -5
Bloodborne - the best interpretation of Lovecraftian themes since Alien I love this game. I've always contributed part of this to the primacy effect, as it is the first "Souls-like" I played, but Bloodborne is my favorite of them all, too. I love the world, I love the lore, and I love how it plays. |
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Post by LazBro on Feb 28, 2017 15:05:55 GMT -5
Ringed City is just a month away. I wonder what Vaati is going to do when it's all over.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 1, 2017 15:05:06 GMT -5
I kind of expected him to be making Nioh videos by now. Maybe he'll do Salt and Sanctuary or Hyperlight Drifter? I'm not seeing any lore content for Nioh coming out, further reinforcing my suspicion that there ain't any meat on them bones. Though I still do want to play it. By virtually every account I've seen, it is a good and fun game that should appeal to most Souls fans. Salt & Sanctuary analysis videos would be awesome! I've already read a 90-page write up on the game's lore, so I know how dense it is, and I would love someone like Vaati to tackle it with his signature poetic finesse. Though it's tough to bring the lore of that game together into any cohesive statement, or even arcs, because that world very much, by design, does not make sense. |
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Post by LazBro on Mar 10, 2017 12:13:22 GMT -5
Our long-running, semi-monthly Pathfinder campaign is about to come to an end in maybe the next 3-4 sessions. This is intimidating, because it means I need to either nut up or shut up about running a Bloodborne campaign.
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Post by LazBro on Mar 27, 2017 14:20:24 GMT -5
Tomorrow mother-effers!
I've been trying, and failing, to read sparingly, but early reviews indicate that The Ringed City DLC is better than Ashes of Ariandel by leaps and bounds. It's much bigger and longer, with more bosses, more enemies, devilish encounter designs, and lots of great lore to piece it all together. Word is pretty consistent that the DLC is hard as balls, too. I don't actually know how to activate the DLC, but I'll probably look that up so I can jump right in. The developers recommend characters at SL 125 to start, and I think my original halberd knight is somewhere around that. Should be fine.
I was thinking about "getting sick" tomorrow so I could have some alone time with the game, but I actually have a non-work reason to be on the side of town my work is at (which is 45 minutes from my house), so I'm not going to take a day off only to have to go all the way out there anyway.
Wednesday on the other hand...
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Mar 28, 2017 0:20:57 GMT -5
Hotchi motchi! The new DLC is friggin' hard.
Right now I'm in this swampy stealth section (yes, stealth) that's kind of miserable but also kind of neat. Most of the new monsters so far aren't so bad, but even the little dredglings hit like a truck. I wonder how much of that is because this is a NG+ character. I've already found a +3 Ring of Steel Protection and a +3 Covetous Silver Serpent Ring, so those were nice finds. No bosses yet, but I'm very early on.
I had this feeling that they were going to pay homage to the very first Dark Souls DLC and start it off with a nasty boss fight, like the Sanctuary Guardian, but nope. My gut was wrong on that one.
There have already been some series callbacks though, and I'm digging it a lot.
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Post by LazBro on Mar 29, 2017 8:20:54 GMT -5
Pushed through the swamp, which was a tough but fun area built around a mechanic not seen since Demon's Souls (and done much better here). It's probably my favorite poison swamp level across the whole series. Then I made it to the first area boss. I guess I won't spoil the name, but if you watched any of the pre-release material then you've seen this boss before. It's the one from the trailers and preview event videos. It's also a real motherfucker. Like, if you've ever fought Yhorm without the Stormruler, imagine that health pool, only on a fast boss with a large and aggressive move set, AOE attacks and no apparent weaknesses. Probably it was my build, but I couldn't do more than chip damage to this thing. It took me about an hour and a half to finally beat him, and that was maybe six attempts. It's a LONG fight. The only public tip I'll offer is: patience. Pick your spots, take your time, don't rush. ALL of his attacks are avoidable, if you're patient. Okay, into SPOILER territory:
- So while the "mad dash and then hide" mechanic ruins what should be an awesome boss encounter with the Dragon God in Demon's Souls, as the general level mechanic in Earthen Peak, it really works. It embodies "tough but fair," and every death reveals a little more of the path, or a new way of doing things. You always feel like you're making progress. And what saves it from being an unbearable grind is the permadeath of the angels. Slicing down those host pilgrims feels so good.
- It was nice of them to show some love for Dark Souls 2. Except for in a couple spots, DS3 often acts as if its immediate predecessor doesn't exist, and that's always been a shame. The return of Earthen Peak, with its windmills, poison swamp, and busty desert pyromancer ladies was neat. But remember, I'm on record already that I like that stuff. The Anor Londo reveal is my favorite part of the base game. Hook those callbacks up to my veins!
- Slight disappointment: unless I somehow missed it, Earthen Peak never got a title card. It's just part of the Dreg Heap. Sad.
- The Demon Prince is a frustrating but good boss. For sure it's their best attempt yet to capture that Ornstein & Smough ExperienceTM, beginning as a gank-boss and then finishing with a tough final version with a greater move set. The first phase is surprisingly manageable. I only died to the Demon in Pain and Demon from Below once, and it was by choice. I'd gotten to a poor start and then was hit with toxic, so I decided that I just couldn't even, and I let them kill me. Pushing through them to go up against the prince became a chore. I hope and trust that the Demon Prince has some weakness I wasn't properly exploiting, because jesus christ what a health pool. He's really not that hard once you learn his moves and if you can stop yourself from being greedy, but it took forever. In what would become my victory match, I almost threw away 15 minutes worth of work by getting greedy in the last leg and trying to brute force the last 4-5 hits. Scraped out with a win though.
- Kill the Demon in Pain first. The order in which you kill the bats will determine the move set of the Demon Prince, and the version if you kill the Demon in Pain first is much, much easier. The move set you want has the laser attack, not the meteor swarm (which is practically an insta-death).
- My soul freshly embered and my ego thoroughly stoked, I headed into The Ringed City ... and was immediately put back in my place by 30+ ghost arrows. It was 1:30 in the morning by that point, so I chose to give it a rest.
This is really good shit so far.
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Post by LazBro on Mar 31, 2017 8:14:31 GMT -5
I took yesterday off of work, so I had a lot of time to spend with the DLC. It's for sure a step above Ashes of Ariandel - longer, more challenging, more variety, more complete.
I've made it to the final boss encounter (ahh, the last Dark Souls boss maybe ever... *tear*), but I haven't been able to beat him. Though even in my first few plays I had some close-ish runs, and I consistently get to his final phase, so I think I'll wrap it up before too long. It's a great, great fight! Probably one of the best bosses across the whole game. Fans of the Artorias fight will like how this one plays.
I have not found the optional boss, though I know what it is. Just not where.
The 2nd required boss was lame for me. It's an Old Monk/Mirror Knight PC invasion kind of thing, but since I was playing offline like I always do, it was just some stock NPC fight. Pretty much as disappointing as the NPC version of the Old Monk. I would have much rather they gone with the fight that it appears to be before the NPC takes over.
I don't have time to dig into my spoiler notes right now, so maybe I'll be back later.
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Post by LazBro on Apr 3, 2017 8:49:31 GMT -5
I am victorious. It's bittersweet, because except for putting the hurt on the final optional boss, who's a real motherfucker, this means I have finished the last of the Dark Souls content. I still have plenty of lore questions left that the YouTube lore community has yet to answer, so I wait with eager anticipation of all the story analysis yet to drop. At least I have that to look forward to. In summary, The Ringed City is a terrific addition to the overall game: challenging but fair, awarding different play styles, offering encounter designs unlike anything in the base game, and at this point making at least the promise of a robust lore to conclude the series. It has a finality to it that feels right. In quality it's not quite up to Bloodborne's The Old Hunters DLC, but it's close. Finishing up The Ringed City got me jazzed to play more Dark Souls in general, so I just kind of kept going. This is the same character I had just finished Ashes of Ariandel with, so I picked up the main game from there, in the Catacombs of Carthus, and push through up to the Twin Princes boss fight. Figure I may as well finish up the run. Anyway, SPOILER thoughts below:
- Slave Knight Gael is an awesome fight. Like Artorias, another once-proud warrior corrupted by the dark, Gael is a humanoid who fights like a beast, at least at first. (Actually, in later phases, he becomes Martyr Logarious.) The sprawling arena, presumably showing the entire age of fire (or age of man?) crumbled to ash is a pitch perfect setting. After all this, we've come to the end of the world, just one unkindled ash against this ragged man overcome by the abyss, utterly insane, yet resolute in his mission to recover the dark soul. This had all the hallmarks of a "git gud" fight. My first attempts against him, he would have me down to half my estus by the 2nd phase, and it would drop precipitously fast from there. But by the time I beat him, maybe 8-9 tries, I could get him to his 2nd phase with hardly a scratch. And his 3rd phase not much worse for wear either. He's very learnable.
- Lore-wise the community has already submitted quite a lot about Gael. A version I like comes from YouTuber ParagonDS, who interprets the events thus: Gael, having finally tracked down the pygmy lords in The Ringed City, finds them dried and wasted. They no longer have blood, so he cannot take the blood of the dark soul as pigment for the painter girl. Knowing it will mean his ruin, he consumes the pygmy lords, and the dark soul with them, so that his blood may become the pigment. Only of course, in doing so he loses all control. It is up to the unkindled ash to defeat Gael, take the blood as pigment and give it to the painter. Considering that he's an NPC exclusive to the two DLC's, they cut quite a heroic and tragic figure with Slave Knight Gael. You feel for him.
- My two attempts against the optional boss, Darkeater Midir, were laughably short. My hits barely scratched him, and his tail swipes could take nearly 2/3's of my health, whiled embered even. I chose to give it a rest. I like the idea of one last big dragon fight for a boss, though. Especially since the Ancient Wyvern is such a non-event for most players (I like it.)
- Plenty of lore questions remain:
What is the importance of Filianore's sleep?
Why does it go to shit when she wakes up?
What is that place where you fight Gael? Or maybe rather, when is that place?
What's with the egg? Is it Darkeater Midir's?
What does this have to do, if anything, with the base ending of Dark Souls 3?
Why do the DLC's shift the story so heavily unto these painted worlds?
Whoops, have to go to a meeting now. Anyway, I guess that's enough.
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Post by LazBro on Jun 9, 2017 21:17:18 GMT -5
Motherfucker hit a million subs: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y7E3_L0MUcAnnoyingly, he didn't end the video with any kind of preview of the future. So curious to find out where a content creator like Vaati goes from here. |
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Post by LazBro on Sept 28, 2017 16:01:08 GMT -5
Best to Worst Level Design: 1. Dark Souls2. Bloodborne3. Dark Souls 2 (DLC areas) 3. Demon's Souls4. Dark Souls 34. Dark Souls 2 (base game) Discounting Dark Souls 2 (DLC area), which I haven't played, I agree. Though it's a close race for me between Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 3, because while Demon's Souls has some stellar level design (Boletarian Palace, Tower of Latria), it's also got some I think are kind of crap (Shrine of Storms, Stonefang Tunnel (mostly)). Really the only level I don't like in Dark Souls 3 is the catacombs. Too been there done that. |
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Post by LazBro on Oct 5, 2017 15:03:27 GMT -5
Will you be giving us your best doggos?
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Post by LazBro on Oct 9, 2017 14:44:51 GMT -5
I really enjoy delaying nightfall as long as possible and going to Hemwick and Yahar'gul while it's still twilight. It does seem odd that you can go to Yahar'gul before the paleblood moon rises, though, given that the "Behold! A Paleblood moon!" note is already there if you go at twilight or at night. Yeah, I always put off fighting Amelia until there's literally nothing left to do but that. For one, like you said, Hemwick during twilight is awesome and well worth seeing. I actually prefer it that way. For two, Amelia is still pretty tough for me, so the extra grinding the goes along with cleaning out Hemwick Charnel Lane, Old Yarnham, Yahar'gul (well, part of it) and the Healing Church Workshop is appreciated. It wasn't until my second time through the game that I even noticed Hemwick Charnel Lane looks so different at night. Even from my first playthrough I'd always done Hemwick first, so the only reason to go back is to go to Cainhurst, which I did the first go round but didn't notice the art change. I actually played some Bloodborne myself yesterday afternoon. The first push of the game - Central Yarnham, exploring Cathedral Ward and into Old Yarnham - is just so strong from a gameplay and level design standpoint. Clearing out those first 3 maps (and on one life, no less) is so rewarding. By contrast, I'm already sick of the High Wall of Lotric, and that's the younger game! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2017 17:12:48 GMT -5
I really enjoy delaying nightfall as long as possible and going to Hemwick and Yahar'gul while it's still twilight. It does seem odd that you can go to Yahar'gul before the paleblood moon rises, though, given that the "Behold! A Paleblood moon!" note is already there if you go at twilight or at night.  |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Oct 10, 2017 11:47:31 GMT -5
I really enjoy delaying nightfall as long as possible and going to Hemwick and Yahar'gul while it's still twilight. It does seem odd that you can go to Yahar'gul before the paleblood moon rises, though, given that the "Behold! A Paleblood moon!" note is already there if you go at twilight or at night. Love Jeff with the red N64 controller. Just reminded me that I collected those at the time. Up in storage I have the following: 2 gray, black, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, clear (which was also a turbo controller) and most coveted of all: gold. Of course in hindsight collecting these controllers was stupid, but it seemed fun at the time. |
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Post by LazBro on Oct 16, 2017 8:58:50 GMT -5
I absolutely decimated Amelia last night. The fight couldn't have taken more than 15 seconds. No damage, two visceral attacks, never even entered her 2nd phase. I've seen top-tier speed runs that didn't drop her this fast. I was proud.
Also, considering how many hours and deaths it took me to clear it my first time through, there's something so satisfying about 100% clearing the Forbidden Woods in a single no-death run. My favorite part is risking all those blood echoes by going after the Shadows, and then winning!
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Oct 16, 2017 9:50:17 GMT -5
INSIGHT: Bloodtinge is Based God DPS. You just DELETE enemies-- nothing can resist Blood damage. I killed Amygdala by shooting it in the goddamned head with a Repeating Pistol! My Chikage just mulched Rom and Ebrietas before they could get back on their meteor-shower bullshit. Even the infamous Bloody Crow of Cainhurst--turns out he can dish it out but he can't take it. Bloodtinge is just a bonkers stat. Get Skill to 25 so your parry Viscerals do good damage, pump Bloodtinge to 50, and you won't really need Endurance because you're going to be killing enemies before they can get close enough for stamina management to matter. Right now I'm dicking around in the Lower Hintertombs playing Cainhurst gunslinger with the Reiterpallasch and Evelyn all like Most of the speedruns I've seen used a Bloodtinge build. Looks fun. |
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Post by LazBro on Oct 23, 2017 9:37:25 GMT -5
This weekend I delved into Ailing Loran between excursions to the Research Hall and Fishing Hamlet. Boss fight-wise, this weekend encompassed some of my all-time favorite boss fight experiences (Ailing Loran Blood-starved Beast, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, Orphan of Kos) and some real tedium as well (Living Failures and Abhorrent Beast). I still haven't messed around with the chalice dungeons much, and have never fought the Queen, for example. Your comment reminded me that I've never beaten the Abhorrent Beast in a straight fight. I tried to take him several times in the Forbidden Woods area, but always got my ass kick. I finally settled for hanging back in that little hallway and cheesing him with poison knives, which are super effective on him. |
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Post by LazBro on Oct 23, 2017 9:41:20 GMT -5
#GeneralOvershare
I know he's regularly ranked among the easiest bosses, and I don't disagree, but in the many times I have played this game through to the end, I have never beaten Micolash on my first try. He always gets me with A Call Beyond the first time around. Every. Time.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Nov 27, 2017 11:49:01 GMT -5
The gaping dragon reveal is just wonderful.
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Post by LazBro on Jan 11, 2018 9:21:33 GMT -5
Despite putting ... let's see ... 112 hours into the PC version, and however many hours I put into the PS4 version before that, I'm still not very good at Dark Souls 3. I mean I can beat it well enough, but bosses like Nameless or Sister Friede still take 8+ tries to topple.
And even easier bosses, like the Crystal Sage, can be depressingly close bouts.
Anyway, just finished a NG run with both DLCs. I'd been craving playing them again, since I'd only played each of them once, and on a NG+ run at that. I'd always felt that they were robust enough, especially Ringed City, despite what other people had said, but this time ... knowing the path, knowing what I'm doing, yeah they're pretty short. I mean, of course Ashes is short, but Ringed City didn't feel especially long either. The difference between spending 2 hours on the swamp area, or one-shotting it, I guess.
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Post by LazBro on Jan 11, 2018 13:37:11 GMT -5
Oh, there's a DS1 remaster. Not sure I'll pick something like this up for a console, but if the updated version ever makes its way to PC. Sure. I mean, why not?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 15:08:41 GMT -5
Oh, there's a DS1 remaster. Not sure I'll pick something like this up for a console, but if the updated version ever makes its way to PC. Sure. I mean, why not? It's funny, because literally yesterday @matt1 and I were complaining about how every games podcast's year-end episode was annoyingly dominated by people wanting every game ported to the Switch, and then the very next day Dark Souls for Switch is announced. Between this, LA Noire, and Skyrim, the Switch is shaping up to be the best console of 2011. I am glad though that I can finally check out Dark Souls on PS4. I know you can play it on Xbone, but I haven't touched that console in months. I do believe it is on the psnow service, but even with the best internet it isn't that good. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Apr 3, 2018 19:43:32 GMT -5
They never promised different, but the DS1 Remaster is looking basic AF. |
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Post by LazBro on May 8, 2018 8:23:59 GMT -5
Late to this, but turns out players who own the Prepare to Die edition on PC will get a discount on the remaster. Down to $20. That probably pushes it into day one territory for me. It's a bare bones remaster for sure, but I'm really excited to play the game at 60fps. Even with DSFix I haven't been able to get that to work consistently. If FF12 Zodiac Age is any evidence, even just that change can be mind-blowing. Plus the last time I was playing PtD Edition, the game inexplicably wigged out in Sen's Fortress. Started crashing at the same point every time through. So, the remaster will hopefully get me around that problem as well. |
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Post by LazBro on May 21, 2018 7:32:41 GMT -5
In other news, it's weird to me that Remastered isn't on Steam yet as its own product. I know Prepare to Die Edition is no longer available for purchase, but that's still the only Dark Souls 1 listed on Steam. Either that page should be hocking Remastered, or it needs its own page already.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on May 21, 2018 21:18:57 GMT -5
In other news, it's weird to me that Remastered isn't on Steam yet as its own product. I know Prepare to Die Edition is no longer available for purchase, but that's still the only Dark Souls 1 listed on Steam. Either that page should be hocking Remastered, or it needs its own page already.
They announced earlier that prepare to die would disappear May 1st I believe but yeah, I find it weird it's not up for pre-order? |
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Post by LazBro on May 22, 2018 7:50:21 GMT -5
So will the Gravelord Servant covenant actually work now? I haven't seen anything mentioning if they removed the NG+ restriction on it yet. I haven't heard on this yet. Though, since I have no interest in PVP, when the videos I've watched got to the multiplayer stuff, I tended to move on or zone out. |
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Post by LazBro on May 23, 2018 19:06:28 GMT -5
I still don't know why the H they waited so long, but Remastered is up on Steam and downloading as I type. I'm too excited for it, I realize. This is barely even a remaster after all. But nevertheless it'll be on my plate soon, and I'm happy to be the guinea pig.
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