What Are You Playing?

Walter said:
The game ends precisely where it should.
Joel made the wrong choice, but it was really the only option that guy was going to take -- obviously. Marlene grossly misjudged him. She knew Joel's brother, and should have known about Sarah as a result. So that's all on her, as far as I'm concerned. I could feel no remorse over his decision, even though a vaccine could have been the thing that humanity rallied around and began to heal. At the same time, it wasn't as if Joel was going to let the world take another loved one away from him.
Though I was genuinely surprised that none of the emotional punches in the game left much of an impact on me. I was more fascinated with the world and the craft of how the team constructed these scenes than the content of most of them, but I conclude that's a problem with me, not the game.

I personally wonder if it was really the "wrong choice" in the grand scheme of things. While Joel's intentions were selfish in and of themselves, I personally didn't trust the Fireflies for a second. From what we see of them over the course of the game, they come across as woefully incompetent, and by the time we catch up to them, they're dangerously desperate. And somehow, I'm supposed to buy that they've figured out how to harvest the supposed cure from Ellie after examining her for a few hours with what limited equipment and expertise they've got on hand? I dunno, they just seemed too eager to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Welp, congrats on surviving that zombie apocalypse in any case. May the Good Blood guide you when you tackle the werewolf apocalypse.

Just finished Nioh. It was pretty good, and nice to see someone else take a stab at a Soulsborne-like game, put it in a new kind of setting, and even experiment with things From Software hasn't done before, even if a lot of those things didn't quite work out. I liked the different stances you could adopt, and I liked how you could learn different special attacks and even make your own custom loadout for them, but both ended up being so situational that they might as well have not even been there at all. I really could have done without the gear system and the way the inventory worked though. It's just not worth sorting through all that crap to see what's really better for your build, but even getting rid of it at the blacksmith is a boring and tedious affair that takes too much damn time. There is no way in hell I'm going to go the Diablo route of trying to grind for better gear in the post-game, I'm not feeling any urge to get the DLC, and even replaying Nioh seems like it could be a daunting task. I really hope Team Ninja addresses this in the sequel (hell, I'd prefer they just copy what From Software did), because if they don't, I might very well skip it.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Cyrus Jong said:
And somehow, I'm supposed to buy that they've figured out how to harvest the supposed cure from Ellie after examining her for a few hours with what limited equipment and expertise they've got on hand? I dunno, they just seemed too eager to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

I have to agree. It never felt to me like they were actually sure to succeed. They were just willing to take the shot because they didn't care about Ellie's life. It was completely unethical, even though she had given her approval.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Cyrus Jong said:
I personally wonder if it was really the "wrong choice" in the grand scheme of things. While Joel's intentions were selfish in and of themselves, I personally didn't trust the Fireflies for a second. From what we see of them over the course of the game, they come across as woefully incompetent, and by the time we catch up to them, they're dangerously desperate. And somehow, I'm supposed to buy that they've figured out how to harvest the supposed cure from Ellie after examining her for a few hours with what limited equipment and expertise they've got on hand? I dunno, they just seemed too eager to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Aazealh said:
I have to agree. It never felt to me like they were actually sure to succeed. They were just willing to take the shot because they didn't care about Ellie's life. It was completely unethical, even though she had given her approval.

That may have been why each of you chose as players to rationalize the decision, but that clearly wasn't why Joel made his decision. His was as a selfish, protective father-figure. The final audio recordings indicated that this was the breakthrough the Fireflies had been searching for, but it came at a high cost (not too high for them!). Where I personally disembark on the Fireflies' plan is how they intended to distribute the vaccine. The whole country is utterly fragmented. It would have been no easy task, with several pitfalls along the way to make such a plan work. But as far as their capability of developing a vaccine? The game made it seem likely they could have, despite the ineptitude of their overall organization.

Beyond that, narratively that's not where the game wants you to be placing your attention. It puts the betrayal squarely in Joel's hands. And the biggest betrayal was Joel lying to Ellie's face about it ... but at that point, there was no going back, I suppose.

In other gaming news: Wow Bloodborne kind of runs like ass on PS4. Particularly after playing the buttery smooth Spider-Man and Last of Us, this is ... whew, like being on an underpowered PC.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Walter said:
In other gaming news: Wow Bloodborne kind of runs like ass on PS4. Particularly after playing the buttery smooth Spider-Man and Last of Us, this is ... whew, like being on an underpowered PC.

Really? I never had any issues with it running badly. What parts are running bad? Maybe do a full reinstall on it?

On a personal note, I finally finished RDR2. The narrative is awesome, but my god the pacing is atrocious. Going to do the trophy grind for it most likely, or hop back into Uncharted 3 (Walter, if you're reading this, I highly recommend picking up the Uncharted series).

Unshaken by D'Angelo took me to a spiritual high while playing RDR2. I've had the song on repeat for days. I would easily play it all over again just to hear that song.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Johnstantine said:
Really? I never had any issues with it running badly. What parts are running bad? Maybe do a full reinstall on it?

Well I'm only in Central Yharnum, haven't tested other areas. But after doing a search, it seems to be a pretty widespread problem. Game is capped at 30, and there are frame pacing issues that drop it below that. It's noticeably chuggy for me, which is a shame, because I want to admire the world they made.
 
Picked up Super Smash Bros Ultimate this morning and working on unlocking all of the fighters. Friend code is SW-2538-3479-0495 for anyone down to Smash.
 
Sareth said:
Picked up Super Smash Bros Ultimate this morning and working on unlocking all of the fighters. Friend code is SW-2538-3479-0495 for anyone down to Smash.
:guts: same. my FC is 1288-0327-3123. Working through world of light. I have about half the map unlocked. hopin this will be better than subspace
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
Aw, I should have mentioned Griff, Last of Us Remastered was just $5 in one of the recent PS store sales.

Doh! Well, I'll see if it goes on sale again for Christmas and if not just spring for it anyway. I mean, I paid over twice that for Red Dead Revolver the other day and it's still very much a PS2 game.

Cyrus Jong said:
Welp, congrats on surviving that zombie apocalypse in any case. May the Good Blood guide you when you tackle the werewolf apocalypse.

Ugh, zombie apocalypse, THAT was why I avoided it! I love Romero's zombie classics, and Resident Evil, and personally zombies scared me more than anything when I was young, but man do I despise that over-saturated genre today to the point it's usually an automatic no. I'll still play The Last of Us on Wally's recommendation that it's transcendent, and I was pleasantly surprised by RDR: Undead Nightmare.

Cyrus Jong said:
Just finished Nioh. It was pretty good, and nice to see someone else take a stab at a Soulsborne-like game, put it in a new kind of setting, and even experiment with things From Software hasn't done before, even if a lot of those things didn't quite work out. I liked the different stances you could adopt, and I liked how you could learn different special attacks and even make your own custom loadout for them, but both ended up being so situational that they might as well have not even been there at all. I really could have done without the gear system and the way the inventory worked though. It's just not worth sorting through all that crap to see what's really better for your build, but even getting rid of it at the blacksmith is a boring and tedious affair that takes too much damn time. There is no way in hell I'm going to go the Diablo route of trying to grind for better gear in the post-game, I'm not feeling any urge to get the DLC, and even replaying Nioh seems like it could be a daunting task. I really hope Team Ninja addresses this in the sequel (hell, I'd prefer they just copy what From Software did), because if they don't, I might very well skip it.

I mostly ignored all the annoying shit in Nioh, gearing etc, just put on the most recent/highest level/most powerful shit and forget it and played it like Dark Souls and that maximized my enjoyment. Speaking of the custom loadouts, there's some spells and ninja skills that can really make the enemies, even bosses, a joke, like where you can knock them down at will. The DLC really is super annoying though, and I'm still a couple bosses short of completing it, but I think I'm going to pull a Wally on this one and leave it incomplete. I want to take that concept to the extreme and lose interest in a game during the final boss fight with like one hit left to win:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLPcQYli_4&feature=youtu.be&t=116

:ganishka:

Johnstantine said:
On a personal note, I finally finished RDR2. The narrative is awesome, but my god the pacing is atrocious. Going to do the trophy grind for it most likely

It's a weird thing with this game where you love it, it frustrates you, and when it finally gives you satisfaction you end up lingering on the parts that originally frustrated you. =)

Walter said:
In other gaming news: Wow Bloodborne kind of runs like ass on PS4. Particularly after playing the buttery smooth Spider-Man and Last of Us, this is ... whew, like being on an underpowered PC.
Walter said:
Well I'm only in Central Yharnum, haven't tested other areas. But after doing a search, it seems to be a pretty widespread problem. Game is capped at 30, and there are frame pacing issues that drop it below that. It's noticeably chuggy for me, which is a shame, because I want to admire the world they made.

Damn, that's a fuckin' tragedy duder! I don't recall having issues to that extreme and I have the old ass launch model (is it possible they somehow cheaped out on components with later generation slims?). I don't recall it being a distraction, but maybe I just didn't notice because it was the first PS4 game I played and I literally tried no other until it was done, or I could also just be more inclined not to mind it because I've played quite a few games with lower settings on underpowered PCs and laptops. I played ME1 and 2 on like a $400 Toshiba laptop, and I'm pretty sure they and Diablo III killed it prematurely. :guts:

Anyway, I hope there's some way to mitigate it, but by the way, how is Spider-Man in your opinion? Another one I was interested in but haven't pulled the trigger on yet.


Red Dead Online - Now I have a scope on my carbine for some light sniping and a pump-action shotgun for close range... try to grief me at your own peril because I'm dangerous. :badbone:

Also just grabbed Into the Breach and Crypt of the NecroDancer on sale! Considering the new Tomb Raider at half price too, but I'm still a bit burned having paid almost full price for the last one and then not playing it until it was on sale for $5 anyway.
 
Griffith said:
Ugh, zombie apocalypse, THAT was why I avoided it! I love Romero's zombie classics, and Resident Evil, and personally zombies scared me more than anything when I was young, but man do I despise that over-saturated genre today to the point it's usually an automatic no. I'll still play The Last of Us on Wally's recommendation that it's transcendent, and I was pleasantly surprised by RDR: Undead Nightmare.

I have similar reservations about anything related to zombies. They're just way too numerous, and I always found them to be a rather boring and limited as far as monsters go. I only got into the last couple of zombie games I played (The Last of Us and Dying Light) because my brother-in-law made me check them out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given them the time of day.

I mostly ignored all the annoying shit in Nioh, gearing etc, just put on the most recent/highest level/most powerful shit and forget it and played it like Dark Souls and that maximized my enjoyment. Speaking of the custom loadouts, there's some spells and ninja skills that can really make the enemies, even bosses, a joke, like where you can knock them down at will. The DLC really is super annoying though, and I'm still a couple bosses short of completing it, but I think I'm going to pull a Wally on this one and leave it incomplete.

I meant the weapon abilities you buy with Samurai points. I have no complaints about the ninjutsu and Onmyo spells, those got stupid powerful. It was actually kind of refreshing that you could actually get new spells whenever and wherever you wanted, provided you had the points to spend. I'm always reluctant to play a mage or rely on any kind of magic whatsoever on first go through a typical Soulsborne game because you don't know where all the spells and vendors are the first time around, and depending on how you proceed, you might end up going long stretches without anything new, or missing them entirely, but Nioh really gives you freedom to experiment with them.

Anyway, I've personally never had any issues with Bloodborne's oft-criticized frame rate before, but after playing Nioh at 60fps, I decided to give it a go to see if I would notice anything now. Made a fresh new character, grabbed my trusty Hunter's Axe and Blunderbuss, went and fully explored Central Yharnam and the Aqueducts from top to bottom, killed the Cleric Beast, and...yeah, I can now see why a lot of people would be put off by it. Coming directly out of Nioh or anything else that runs as smoothly, it does feel considerably less fluid, particularly when you're panning the camera around. I can adjust, but I know that can be difficult for others.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I can relate to zombie nausea at this point in media, but Last of Us is not held back by the faux-zombie setting. They "infected" are mostly used as a vehicle for the plot, and in terms of the dramatic tension and danger element in the game, it's certainly humans, not the infected.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished Mega Man 5 on Friday. It was a lot less difficult than the previous MM games, but I still enjoyed it. It was more MM, after all. :guts:

Next up: Final Fantasy V!
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:
It's a weird thing with this game where you love it, it frustrates you, and when it finally gives you satisfaction you end up lingering on the parts that originally frustrated you. =)

Yeah, sadly I'm taking a break from it.
I went to all nine graves and it took me the better part of two hours. The remaining trophies I have are all either online, story-based to where I have replay, or completing challenges.

Back to finish Uncharted 3, I suppose.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
I can relate to zombie nausea at this point in media, but Last of Us is not held back by the faux-zombie setting. They "infected" are mostly used as a vehicle for the plot, and in terms of the dramatic tension and danger element in the game, it's certainly humans, not the infected.

Well, like I said I'll grab it because I'm always looking for those transcendent experiences (in games, not IRL =). It's funny, I thought for a sec I might actually have it for PS3 from the games I got from my brother-in-law, but unfortunately he only played the demo. I do have GTA5, IV, LA Noire, Spec Ops among others to play though... BTW, Wally, I'd highly recommend you try Red Dead 1 on PS Now. You can get a free week long trial subscription and if you have the time or plan accordingly that's plenty of time to complete the game (about 20-25 hours focusing on story missions). You can also get the Japanese version of Demon's Souls on there... but I don't know if the PS Now version of these games is worth the effort of playing it in Japanese, but I know you've done it before.

Rhombaad said:
I finished Mega Man 5 on Friday. It was a lot less difficult than the previous MM games, but I still enjoyed it. It was more MM, after all. :guts:

Next up: Final Fantasy V!

I have fond memories of MM5, lots of silly fun ideas, and it nerfs the Mega Buster so you can't keep it charged through damage, which I think is for the best, but it also marks when they basically ran out of gas on the main series. After that they're pretty mediocre for a while, and even the SNES version, when X really took the mantle. It wasn't until MM9 that the main series got interesting to me again.

Johnstantine said:
Yeah, sadly I'm taking a break from it.
I went to all nine graves and it took me the better part of two hours. The remaining trophies I have are all either online, story-based to where I have replay, or completing challenges.

Back to finish Uncharted 3, I suppose.

Well, it sounds like you actually finished it, unless you got caught up visiting the sites instead of finishing the epilogue? But maybe you're talking about something else. I've done the game to death and am still finding out things I had no idea about.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:
Well, it sounds like you actually finished it, unless you got caught up visiting the sites instead of finishing the epilogue? But maybe you're talking about something else. I've done the game to death and am still finding out things I had no idea about.

I keep getting sucked back in. The more I play, the more I discover just how little I actually did in the game.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Griffith said:
I have fond memories of MM5, lots of silly fun ideas, and it nerfs the Mega Buster so you can't keep it charged through damage, which I think is for the best, but it also marks when they basically ran out of gas on the main series. After that they're pretty mediocre for a while, and even the SNES version, when X really took the mantle. It wasn't until MM9 that the main series got interesting to me again.

That sums it up perfectly. I've read a lot about Mega Man, and that seems to be the general consensus for the main series. Mega Man X took things in a better direction (can't wait to play it), and then they did some fun, innovative things with the Legends games (can't wait to play those, either). I enjoyed Mega Man 5, just not as much as the others, and you could tell their hearts just weren't in it anymore.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Johnstantine said:
I keep getting sucked back in. The more I play, the more I discover just how little I actually did in the game.

Same here, I was going to say I've found like a second wind but it's more like a third or fourth. Counting online I have like three different saves I'm currently playing and I haven't even restarted with a full-renegade Arthur yet; which is supposed to be significantly different in many ways big and small, yet implemented subtly. Goddamn this game, I keep finding and figuring out these weird details and mechanics while my wife deadpans, "Is that really necessary?" Yesterdays where when I accidentally hit a signpost full on with my horse and disintegrated it, the signs, the post, the rock it set was in, everything; if you just clip one, you may only knock off one sign or an appropriately sized corresponding piece. =) The other was that
Arthur and John have different handwriting in their journals and Arthur is a significantly better artist when you've cataloged the same things despite John claiming he's become "something of a draftsman" himself, I compared =). Yet they basically have the same dialogue during Stranger missions, which makes sense because you're fulfilling the same role!
It's so weird how the very un-gamey parts of this game make the normal game stuff seem somehow unsophisticated despite being completely reasonable. But yeah, for a game I was kind of tired of a week ago I spent way too much time this weekend just riding around hunting legendary animals, doing stranger quests, and just experiencing the world, maaaaan. It's like I'm finally living the life Arthur wanted to. :carcus:

Rhombaad said:
That sums it up perfectly. I've read a lot about Mega Man, and that seems to be the general consensus for the main series. Mega Man X took things in a better direction (can't wait to play it), and then they did some fun, innovative things with the Legends games (can't wait to play those, either). I enjoyed Mega Man 5, just not as much as the others, and you could tell their hearts just weren't in it anymore.

Oh, just wait until Mega Man VI, even Dr. Wily is phoning it in at that point. =) The X series eventually goes through the same thing too, and then offshoots to the Zero series, etc.
 
Finally unlocked all of the fighters in world of light last night, and stopped playing just before doing the true ending, not sure what to do before i do the true ending so i'm just kinda not gonna do it lol. The movement in this game is a bit awkward, and i don't even like the character i used to man, smash ultimate is a bit weird. Also the online structure is kind of crappy imo but its whatever i guess. getting put into 4 player battles when you put your preferred rules on 1 on 1 isn't exactly ideal
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:
Same here, I was going to say I've found like a second wind but it's more like a third or fourth. Counting online I have like three different saves I'm currently playing and I haven't even restarted with a full-renegade Arthur yet; which is supposed to be significantly different in many ways big and small, yet implemented subtly. Goddamn this game, I keep finding and figuring out these weird details and mechanics while my wife deadpans, "Is that really necessary?" Yesterdays where when I accidentally hit a signpost full on with my horse and disintegrated it, the signs, the post, the rock it set was in, everything; if you just clip one, you may only knock off one sign or an appropriately sized corresponding piece. =) The other was that
Arthur and John have different handwriting in their journals and Arthur is a significantly better artist when you've cataloged the same things despite John claiming he's become "something of a draftsman" himself, I compared =). Yet they basically have the same dialogue during Stranger missions, which makes sense because you're fulfilling the same role!
It's so weird how the very un-gamey parts of this game make the normal game stuff seem somehow unsophisticated despite being completely reasonable. But yeah, for a game I was kind of tired of a week ago I spent way too much time this weekend just riding around hunting legendary animals, doing stranger quests, and just experiencing the world, maaaaan. It's like I'm finally living the life Arthur wanted to. :carcus:

I haven't gone full renegade yet,
but I am definitely treating John more differently than I did Arthur. I know how John turns out eventually, so it's not like it matters.

Arthur is the better character. He changed naturally, whereas John had to try to change

Also, apparently no one has had the same experience with this game. My friends are telling me all this stuff they've had to do with characters that don't even exist in mine. I randomly came across a serial killer and a vampire, as well as a mad scientist, but they haven't on two playthroughs. Just overall kind of crazy how this game has evolved.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Johnstantine said:
I haven't gone full renegade yet,
but I am definitely treating John more differently than I did Arthur. I know how John turns out eventually, so it's not like it matters.
I did the same thing at first, and I'm still more trigger happy in the end/post game.
I feel justified because John's not a bad guy but he will blow you away if you start shit with him. =)

Johnstantine said:
Arthur is the better character. He changed naturally, whereas John had to try to change

I agree with this, or at least agreed with it immediately following the game; I think I need more time and perspective and to maybe replay Red Dead 1 to know for sure. It's pretty biasing when you just spent 60 hours with a character, but I did fall in love with Arthur.
It helps John's case that I'm doing a lot of missions with him now and getting re-acquainted with his specific charms, but I do think Arthur has more depth, nuance, and humanity while John's more iconic.

Johnstantine said:
Also, apparently no one has had the same experience with this game. My friends are telling me all this stuff they've had to do with characters that don't even exist in mine. I randomly came across a serial killer and a vampire, as well as a mad scientist, but they haven't on two playthroughs. Just overall kind of crazy how this game has evolved.

Yep, I've seen or heard of all that stuff, and there's all sorts of other weird things out there to find, and even having read about a lot of it I still haven't come across them...

Another comment about this game and how much it stretches the form is that it's still very much a traditional 3rd person action/shooter, it's not reinventing the wheel with its controls or interface at all, the core gameplay (ride and shoot) isn't that much different from RDR1 or any number of games like it, but they just added a shit-ton of extra options and features on top of that very traditional game framework, with an emphasis on "realistic" movement/motion in regards to momentum. It's weird because it has all this hyperrealistic stuff, but it's more cinematic in its presentation, next to like pushing R1 to switch your gun with one on the ground. Or, your hat comes off and you have to go get it and it'll be on the ground later, but you can also just re-select it in your horse's inventory (same with your horse itself if you become separated; it won't just respawn to your whistle, you gotta go back or be in range... unless you go to a stable, THEN it's magically there). It's a weird mix of realism for the sake of presentation, like it's only pretending to be a life simulator, next to pragmatic game mechanics for convenience and play-ability that it circumvents half the time for the sake of a more cumbersome sort of reality. Again, it's a great, weird, game.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Griffith said:
Oh, just wait until Mega Man VI, even Dr. Wily is phoning it in at that point. =) The X series eventually goes through the same thing too, and then offshoots to the Zero series, etc.

Yay...

:ganishka:
 

I know that I know :)

My post our worse
Red dead redemption 2 :ubik:

fallout new vegas (favorite game of all time)

fallout 4 (alright game)

and I am playing through the uncharted games.

Walter said:
I can relate to zombie nausea at this point in media, but Last of Us is not held back by the faux-zombie setting. They "infected" are mostly used as a vehicle for the plot, and in terms of the dramatic tension and danger element in the game, it's certainly humans, not the infected.

I know someone is exited for the last of us 2 :carcus:

Sareth said:
Picked up Super Smash Bros Ultimate this morning and working on unlocking all of the fighters. Friend code is SW-2538-3479-0495 for anyone down to Smash.

wait thats already out oh my Godhand MOM get the credit card
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I've played about 7h of Below since last week or so. It's what's kept me from Bloodborne for the moment.

HTML:
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Looks cool, doesn't it? Well, I'm actually pretty disappointed after being excited for the game for ~5 years. It's the successor to Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery (remember that one?). And more than any polished indie darling I can remember, this game feels fundamentally crippled by game design decisions. And for a game 5+ years in the making, I expected something more than what we're given.

Much of the game was kept well under wraps throughout its development. It wasn't until the release a few days ago that it was revealed exactly what it is. Turns out, Below is an exploration-roguelike with a survival mechanic (hunger/thirst/cold). But added to that, there's a light/dark mechanic that comes with a huge setback. Your lantern is super useful. It reveals secrets, keeps certain things at bay, opens key doors. Oh, but wait ... you died down on Floor 4? Better go fetch that lantern -- starting from the very beginning :ganishka: . Your character depends on a ready supply of food and water, but the game doesn't exactly dole that out at an even pace. It's a rogue-like afterall. So there aren't consistent sources of these vital ingredients each run. So better hope you got a good rng roll for food supply this run! :puck:

This "everything sucks until I get my goddamned lantern back" feedback loop was palatable until, ohhh Floor 9. Where I've just died again (one-shotted by a new enemy, fantastic!), and my options are to go back in, using shortcuts, maybe 3 floors behind where I need to be (1h or so). Or just never play it again. Probably doing the latter.

It is beautiful though. You can just drink in the atmosphere in each room (just don't admire for too long, you'll starve). Great art direction, every light source creates dynamic lighting, which looks gorgeous in the minimalist design, and the soundtrack is eerie and atmospheric. And it does so many things that I love in other games, in particular how game mechanics are conveyed in-world without text. You experiment and figure stuff out on your own. Love all that! It's just super punishing the more that you invest in it, I'd say even moreso than Souls games, where at least the last bonfire is just a few rooms away, not 2h of pain. And ultimately, it's just not that fun to play for hours on end. Bit of a bummer, given all the hype over the years for its secrecy and pedigree.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
I've played about 7h of Below since last week or so. It's what's kept me from Bloodborne for the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1kTgVuFWzh0


Looks cool, doesn't it?

https://youtu.be/_5o8jwqKsDE?t=46

Not really... :carcus:


Speaking of not cool, in RDR2 I'm now exploiting glitches to travel to unreachable parts of the map and hunting LEGENDARY animals (very prestigious use of time while ignoring your family). I might need to start playing Bloodborne again just to wean myself off, "just hook it to my veins!"
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
https://youtu.be/_5o8jwqKsDE?t=46

Not really... :carcus:

The 3h I put into Bloodborne so far felt like homework. I'm going to give it an honest shot because you like it so much, but my initial impression just confirmed what I felt in DS3: Souls fatigue.
 
Walter said:
Looks cool, doesn't it?

Hmm, I don't know. It looks very indie that's for sure, but I don't really like the whole aesthetic, kinda looks like a quirky phone game to me.

Walter said:
This "everything sucks until I get my goddamned lantern back" feedback loop was palatable until, ohhh Floor 9. Where I've just died again (one-shotted by a new enemy, fantastic!), and my options are to go back in, using shortcuts, maybe 3 floors behind where I need to be (1h or so). Or just never play it again. Probably doing the latter.

Is it not possible to reset the whole game and begin from the first floor with your lantern? That way you would probably get to where you were much faster, this time with new knowledge of the environment. If not, then it's probably not worth it.

Playing whilst knowing that you're eventually gonna lose all progress and have to start over is the classic, stripped down rogue-like formula, but having the game get increasingly more difficult and tedious the more you die in a rogue-like, where you're gonna die many times, seems like bad game design and kinda unfair to me.
 
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