The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Syt]

 

[Oexmelin]

 

And now have miraculously beaten Friede without summons.

[Syt]

Nice. How much of a surprise was phase 3 on Friede when you first got to it?

I find DS1 to be the more chill experience; the combat has a certain cadence to it, almost like a rhythm game. DS3 is a bit more hectic.

Are you using a guide or playing blind? There's at least two areas in DS3 IMHO that I think can be missed.

Also, DS2. It's the bête noir of the bunch, but I think it's still a good game in its own right. It tries adding a bunch of new mechanics - some are cool, some are not - that can throw off players of the other two, and it drags out longer than it should be. It also feels more video-gamey than the other two. The DLC is quite excellent, though, possibly the best in the series (except Frigid Outskirts, fuck that ). On top of that, while I think the Scholar of the First Sin edition is the better version, it also ramps up the difficulty in zones. During the early game I died countless times trying to traverse an area and then killed the boss first try. On the plus side, enemies stop spawning if you've killed them 12 or so times (there's ways to make them respawn after that, though, through consumables).

[Oexmelin]

Honestly, not that surprised. I don't think I ever held the idea of "two phases" to be a hard and fast rule. For some reason, I think I always kind of expect three phases (good old rule-of-three in video games). I weirdly think that the Crystal Sage took me more by surprise, and I got really frustrated with trick-boss Yorm (which led to poor Siegward's demise).

I go in half-blind (one-eyed?). I do a couple of slow exploratory runs, figure out where the bosses seem to be, and because I am a completionist, I look up a guide to figure out if I missed something important. I find it easier in DS3, which is more linear. DS1's area are great, but have a lot more nooks and crannies. Plus, I play offline, so I don't have any messages that could point towards illusory walls and the like.

I did find Archdragon Peak, if that's what you are refering to.  But I can't think of any other "hidden" area?

[Syt]

The other one would be Smoldering Lake and Demon Ruins which is a bit out of the way. But if you do the Anri questline, you will probably have gone there. There's also the self contained poison area near Oceiros, but that one's quite easy to find, I think.

I've seen the third phase in the Friede fight surprise some, especially since it gives you an item reward after the second phase.

DS1 is indeed a bit sillier (like the descent to Ash Lake being hidden behind TWO illusory walls, or having to go back to the asylum to pick up the doll to go to the Painted World ... not to mention the process of unlocking the DLC ).

Good on playing offline - the servers are currently offline, anyways, since someone alerted Fromsoft to a potentially super dangerous exploit that could be used to hijack people's computers.

[mongers]

Enjoying playing the nicely casual 'Hero of the Kingdom' series.

[Oexmelin]

I don't think I ever got such a sense of melancholy as I have playing the Dark Souls games. Perhaps Planescape Torment, back in the day.

I have beaten Slave Knight Gael - only the final boss remains and I find myself stretching things out, not really wanting to be done with the game? It's very strange. 

[Syt]

Well, (minor spoiler, maybe) new game only starts if you want it to, even after killing the final boss. (not like in DS1 where you kill the boss and the game ends)

And when you restart the campaign, the enemies have more health and hit harder, and you can make different choices with the NPCs.

But as they say: there's only one first playthrough for Souls games. And melancholy is the base mode of the games.

Of course you can also set it aside till Elden Rings comes out later this month (though I'd probably wait for reviews).

Sekiro would likely be an imperfect follow up. Much more story driven and linear, and much more focused on a single style of combat (and very built around timing your parries).

[Oexmelin]

Ah, thanks, did not know that. I thought the endgame was automatic.

There is a part of me that would indeed like to replay, but - at least to me, a casual gamer - it's quite tough, and means I have to devote my limited gaming time to *only* this (and usually after teaching, because then I am brain dead anyways). And yes, discovery gives way to challenge in the case of NG...

Sekiro looks super hard. I'll probably need a more relaxed palate cleanser for a bit.

[Syt]

Elden Ring is currently being advertised as easier to get into (remains to be seen, of course), and will have an open world, plus a number of "normal" DS dungeons throughout. PC Gamer have a gameplay preview if you're interested: https://youtu.be/ep_PhLPLJxI

I will likely hold off for a while, as I don't play much these days.

[crazy canuck]

Lost Ark seems a thing now - anyone going to try it out?

[Iormlund]

I was going to ... but it seems there's such an influx their servers have collapsed under the weight and EU Launch has been delayed.

The anime aesthetics really tun me off, but a WoW mate has been singing high praises (he's been playing at the Russian server for a while), so I'll try to join his realm and check it out.

[crazy canuck]

I shelled out 17 bucks to get in yesterday to kick the tires before the masses descended on the servers.  I was prepared to hate it - the anime art is a big negative.  But the game mechanics are very compelling.  It feels a lot more like a really good ARPG with multiplayer.  It does not feel at all like a WoW MMO time grind.

[FunkMonk]

I will be giving it a go, despite the anime. It's supposed to be a really solid MMO with ARPG combat mechanics, which is something I'm very interested in. And it's free.

It's just that I know I'll feel embarrassed when my wife walks into the office and my toon is running around half naked with her huge boobs bouncing around 

[Syt]

Someone made a Bloodborne "demake", creating a version of what it would have looked like on PlayStation 1 (only the first area, if I understand correctly). People have too much time. You can check out LobosJr's gameplay of the release version: https://youtu.be/1KLHtAeH33s