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laggyteabag

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Finally got around to Baldur's Gate 3. Im really enjoying it, but im currently playing as a dual-crossbow bard, and I feel super weak (Level 5). Most of my arrows miss, and I just don't feel very effective.

Then Karlach runs past as an enraged Berserker, and double-crits an enemy for over 50 damage in a turn.

Im probably going to go back to the drawing board with this one, and respec into something that is hopefully a little more effective.
 
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MOAR Elden Ring, and holy shit, I just beat the Godksin Duo... FIRST TRY!!!! I fully did not intend it, and I certainly didn't fathom it'd be possible. It was just supposed to be a test run to see how bad it was going to be, next thing I knew, the fight was actually going well. As is typical with me, I panic in the face of success; my hands started shaking, I was fumbling trying to toggle my flasks and pots, and I kept forgetting how to toggle two-handing my weapon. But I managed somehow. Wow, first fucking try.

Nice. Still rocking the Bloodhound Fang?

If you’ve been doing Alexander’s questline keep a lookout for him for a nice reward. The last boss here is a…well let’s just say the dude guarding him is a nice warmup. But first if you need to clean up anything back at the capital, now’s the time!
 
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Piscian

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I started Helldivers 2. I have no idea what Im doing, the controls both shit and sluggish and nothing of value is explained in the tutorial. so 6/10 so far.
 

BrawlMan

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RE5 (PS4)- Chapter 3-1 Completed. This is where the game has one of its most open-ended areas and allows you to explore in any order to get the crest door pieces. It is a tough chapter and I almost died about 4 times, but was able to no death the section. The tall villagers with the giant clubs are a pain the ass. Beating this sections unlocks the Lost Nightmare Scenario. I'll save that one for later after finishing the main campaign. I did some Mercenaries again and picked Josh. I managed to get a B Rank on the first stage, and I love his loadout kit. He's busts out the Rock Bottom as his down melee!
 
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Johnny Novgorod

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Prince of Persia: The Snatched Waist

11 hours in and I'm having a blast. Just about everything in the game is a lot of fun. The platforming is a lot of fun, the combat is a lot of fun, the movement alone is a lot of fun, the abilities you unlock are a lot of fun (and translate to every aspect of gameplay), putting the map together is a lot of fun, etc. Coming in hot from Ultros and Tunic the puzzles are a bit of joke but well, what do you want? I'd take this as my date to prom night.

Obligatory nitpicking:

  • The art style they're using for the menus and UI is ugly. Boilerplate ugly. Office presentation ugly. And bland, and antithetical to the Persian motif.
  • You can equip amulets ala Hollow Knight, each worth a number of slots in your necklace. I've amassed so far 20 amulets worth a combined 35 slots, and yet 11 hours I've only unlocked 6 slots (and you start with like 3 I think). Feels out of balance.
  • The map is huge (again, 11 hours in I'm at 30 something completion) but there are tons of dead ends that kinda kill the satisfaction of exploration. You'll find a sneaky fake wall, which leads to another fake wall, which leads to a room with... a bit of money in it? Not even an enemy's worth. And that's it, you just head back three rooms feeling like you've been had.
 

Bartholen

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Finally got around to Baldur's Gate 3. Im really enjoying it, but im currently playing as a dual-crossbow bard, and I feel super weak (Level 5). Most of my arrows miss, and I just don't feel very effective.

Then Karlach runs past as an enraged Berserker, and double-crits an enemy for over 50 damage in a turn.

Im probably going to go back to the drawing board with this one, and respec into something that is hopefully a little more effective.
That's probably the best solution, because that's just not an effective class concept at all without multiclassing. Spellcasters in the DnD 5e ruleset are expected to use their spells as their main mode of offense, and using any kind of weapon whatsoever is usually the last of last resorts when cantrips have unlimited use. Additionally, bards are squarely a support class, so by trying to do ranged combat with crossbows as one you're hamstringing both your character and your party. BG3's classes aren't some open-ended "create character you want" type system like the Soulsborne games, they all have pretty rigid and narrow fields of specialization. If you want to play double crossbows, I recommend playing either a Fighter or a Ranger.

Same thing here with spells. I’ve tried various magic setups but it never really clicked. Spell blading was kinda neat but otherwise with casting it felt like you really need to crank up stats and other slotted buffs to make it effective on most enemies. I’ve also used high Faith for flame stuff which was way more powerful for me, especially on big bosses.
I think I got it last night: faith miracles allow for more general and varied use in conjunction with weapons, while intelligence sorceries focus overwhelmingly on offense. There's miracles like Golden Vow, Electrify Armament, and all the healing spells, which are useful for any build. Spells have 50 different varieties of "shoot a thing that does damage".
 
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NerfedFalcon

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Call of Duty Black Ops 2: Playing on Recruit difficulty feels like you're an invincible action movie hero rather than a soldier trying to survive. Which, for most of the Call of Duty games I'd say isn't that fun after a while, but for Black Ops 2 specifically I feel like it fits the tone fairly well, as well as making the challenges actually worth going for rather than something you can't do at all while you work on surviving. So getting to mow down enemies, run through fire, and generally just kick ass has actually been pretty fun.

I managed to clear all the Strike Force missions without too much difficulty, other than a couple of rough segments, but I didn't lose any SF teams (failed attempts) this time.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Nice. Still rocking the Bloodhound Fang?

If you’ve been doing Alexander’s questline keep a lookout for him for a nice reward. The last boss here is a…well let’s just say the dude guarding him is a nice warmup. But first if you need to clean up anything back at the capital, now’s the time!
Yep, still using the Bloodhound Fang. I've tried branching out and trying other weapons, but I keep coming back to my binky.

And as far as following anyone's storylines, I have no idea where I'm at with any of them. I just wander around, and see NPCs I recognize have apparently moved; don't know why, when, or how. I imagine at this point enough of the quest lines have been broken that it's too late to start caring. Same goes for clean up at the capital; don't know what I'm missing there.

This is the thing about Souls games, and this one especially: when it comes to quests, you don't know what you don't know, and the game does very little (if anything) to tell you, so you have to spoil the game and defer to wikis.
 
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That's probably the best solution, because that's just not an effective class concept at all without multiclassing. Spellcasters in the DnD 5e ruleset are expected to use their spells as their main mode of offense, and using any kind of weapon whatsoever is usually the last of last resorts when cantrips have unlimited use. Additionally, bards are squarely a support class, so by trying to do ranged combat with crossbows as one you're hamstringing both your character and your party. BG3's classes aren't some open-ended "create character you want" type system like the Soulsborne games, they all have pretty rigid and narrow fields of specialization. If you want to play double crossbows, I recommend playing either a Fighter or a Ranger.


I think I got it last night: faith miracles allow for more general and varied use in conjunction with weapons, while intelligence sorceries focus overwhelmingly on offense. There's miracles like Golden Vow, Electrify Armament, and all the healing spells, which are useful for any build. Spells have 50 different varieties of "shoot a thing that does damage".
Faith definitely has more versatility. I hope the dlc adds some more of that for sorceries, because outside of a nightlight, shield booster and status mitigator there’s practically nothing. Maybe that’s another reason why I’ve never really committed to INT builds. When everything else is capable of as-good-or-better damage and typically at less cost, it feels like more of a novelty or style-based play style.



Yep, still using the Bloodhound Fang. I've tried branching out and trying other weapons, but I keep coming back to my binky.

And as far as following anyone's storylines, I have no idea where I'm at with any of them. I just wander around, and see NPCs I recognize have apparently moved; don't know why, when, or how. I imagine at this point enough of the quest lines have been broken that it's too late to start caring. Same goes for clean up at the capital; don't know what I'm missing there.

This is the thing about Souls games, and this one especially: when it comes to quests, you don't know what you don't know, and the game does very little (if anything) to tell you, so you have to spoil the game and defer to wikis.
Yup it’s…a thing alright lol. There’s definitely still QoL stuff that can be improved upon, but at the same time they’ve gotten better at “nudging” without really compromising player agency. The grace sites “pointing” in certain directions, stamps on the map for different invader locations with the Volcano Manor assassinations, stuff in NPC dialog with cues to where they might be heading, etc. But yeah a lot is still left behind the veil of wtf-ery where any amount of exploration wouldn’t prevent a miss unless the player is practically clairvoyant.

The general take-away seems to be “it’s ok” to miss things, as it makes finding things feel more surprising and gainful. Of course, this will bug the hell out of completionists, as the game design is indifferent to what the player finds. FROM basically leaves the spoiler factor up to independent player discretion vs building them into the game. Kinda like the absence of difficulty modes it’s doubtful FROM will ever go the road of most adventure games where there’s basically failsafes in place, whether through journals, checklists, written or vocal cues, or even game progress halting completely until a certain condition is met. Well, actually there are a couple of those, but the last one is something they don’t tell you about either lol.
 
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Gordon_4

The Big Engine
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Finally got around to Baldur's Gate 3. Im really enjoying it, but im currently playing as a dual-crossbow bard, and I feel super weak (Level 5). Most of my arrows miss, and I just don't feel very effective.

Then Karlach runs past as an enraged Berserker, and double-crits an enemy for over 50 damage in a turn.

Im probably going to go back to the drawing board with this one, and respec into something that is hopefully a little more effective.
You are never going to out-damage a fighter as a bard in DnD unless you multi-class in a big way and even then its situational. Not in a month of Sundays.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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Prince of Persia Lost Crown done.
The optional platforming sections and length and speed of the last couple of boss fights overwhelmed me so I dropped the difficulty to easy and gave up on trying to platinum. I still managed to do all but one of the side quests and clear up most of the map, so I got my money and time's worth and very much enjoyed the game.

Mostly I just like how simultaneously retro it felt. Retro in the 2D metroidvania platforming, and new in the slick graphics and art presentation. As someone who sucks donkey balls at platforming I do appreciate the difficulty and accessibility options that allowed me to beat the game when I was feeling ready to be done with it.
The backtracking gets really annoying and I don't know how anyone plays more than one of these types of games a year.

I usually go for something a bit different from one game to the next to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is installing, though I probably won't be able to get to it for a couple of days.
 
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Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
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Hi-Fi Rush is absolutely fantastic... except when it needs to fucking die in a fire with those forced parry sequences. Seriously. Fuck! That! Shit!!!
Have fun with the parry boss.

And the other parry boss.

But real talk, the parry sequences are actually super easy, you can basically just spam the parry button and get the parry off with no timing. It only becomes tricky when you actually need to add pauses and dodges into the sequence.

The parry itself is actually incredible. You can parry basically everything with it (including things you wouldn't think you can, like security laser walls and electrified floors).
 
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BrawlMan

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Hi-Fi Rush is absolutely fantastic... except when it needs to fucking die in a fire with those forced parry sequences. Seriously. Fuck! That! Shit!!!
You'll get used them.

But real talk, the parry sequences are actually super easy, you can basically just spam the parry button and get the parry off with no timing. It only becomes tricky when you actually need to add pauses and dodges into the sequence.

The parry itself is actually incredible. You can parry basically everything with it (including things you wouldn't think you can, like security laser walls and electrified floors).
Took the words out of mouth.

BTW everyone, I just finished Hi-Fi Rush a few minutes ago. This is my second playthrough, but my first playthrough on PS5. My actual first one was on my older brother's Series X. It was great going through again! Now for the bonus modes! I'll be finishing up RE5 later.
 
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Dirty Hipsters

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BTW everyone, I just finished the Hi-Fi Rush a few minutes ago. This is my second playthrough, but my first playthrough on PS5. My actual first one was on my older brother's Series X. It was great going through again! Now for the bonus modes! I'll be finishing up RE5 later.
Sick.

A couple of those post game challenge rooms are brutal though. I think I spent like 45 minutes on the teammate counter attack one (it took me a while to realize that one of the counters doesn't do damage, so you can't use it in your rotation because you'll just waste time with it).
 
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BrawlMan

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Sick.

A couple of those post game challenge rooms are brutal though. I think I spent like 45 minutes on the teammate counter attack one (it took me a while to realize that one of the counters doesn't do damage, so you can't use it in your rotation because you'll just waste time with it).
Right now, I am just having fun with the Arcade BPM Mode. I actually like it more than Rhythm Tower.
 

Casual Shinji

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Have fun with the parry boss.

And the other parry boss.

But real talk, the parry sequences are actually super easy, you can basically just spam the parry button and get the parry off with no timing. It only becomes tricky when you actually need to add pauses and dodges into the sequence.

The parry itself is actually incredible. You can parry basically everything with it (including things you wouldn't think you can, like security laser walls and electrified floors).
I'm fine with parry, any parry, so long as it's optional, a reward for quick reflexes. As it should be. When it's forced in order to proceed, when I could easily just fucking jump and attack like I can any other airborne enemy yet for arbitrary reasons am not allowed to, I get very pissed. Even calling in Peppermint to shoot them won't do any damage, because fuck you.

I have far less issue with the big elite samurai dudes then I have the little aim bots, because of how utterly strict the latter is - one miss in a sequence of 5 or 6 and there goes a chuck of your health with zero progress. And like you said, if there's a pause inbetween it's tricky, which they pretty much all have.
 

NerfedFalcon

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Finished Black Ops 2.

There's parts of it that aren't good. And the parts that aren't good, really aren't good. But at least they don't completely drag down the whole experience, and the good parts are very good. If you get a chance to play it, it's worth it, especially if you played the first one. Overall, though, I'd say that while it beats out some of the worse games in the series I've played, it still hangs in a slot just below Modern Warfare 1 and 2, and World at War.

Switching off Call of Duty for a while to play a different FPS. All my friends have played Halo Reach and say it's one of the best they've ever played; I've had the Master Chief Collection on Steam for quite a while now, so I figure I might as well finally catch up to them all.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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I think... I don't want to finish Sleeping Dogs. I mean for fuck's sake, the game came out in 2012. The same year had Max Payne 3, Assassin's Creed 3, Mass Effect 3 (I have no idea why it's all 3). This game feels like it was made 10 years before these games. I noticed that there are references in the game to Just Cause, Deus Ex, Hitman. Again, the game feels more archaic than these games that came out BEFORE IT.

I hopped on over to the Sleeping Dogs subreddit and there's still a community wondering why this game never got a sequel. Guys... it's because its a mid tier game.

Not sure what I want to play next. There's a pretty big Steam sale going on right now, but I don't know if there are any games left that will scratch the itch I had for Arkham style combat and now also third person shooting.