I'd argue that slow lurch toward parry window started with bloodborne, they removed shield and really increase the the enemy tracking so that it just became about memorizing frame.
What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
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I thought I beat Cult of the Lamb, but I guess there's more after the big boss. Anyway the game is alright. It's got a great style but is let down a little by the gameplay. The combat is serviceable but something about it just feels a little less than satisfying. It's also pretty easy for a roguelike. I've been playing on hard and only die occasionally, I could go up to super hard or whatever, but I feel that would only make the enemies into damage sponges. I delayed playing the game waiting for the cult management update hoping that would make that aspect of the game more engaging, but unfortunately I was let down. Instead of refining the current systems the update just add some new mechanics that seem to be just for cosmetics and I don't care about cosmetics. I have around a hundred blueprints for decorations that I haven't built because it sounds like a lot of work to make a nice looking cult just for me to look at for a little while. The cult management on the whole is trivially easy and there isn't a difficulty setting to make it harder. I've always had more than enough food and never had any other situations that weren't easily manageable. I had so many happy, high level cult members that I had the combat tree maxed and pretty much everything from the divine inspiration tree I wanted before I'd killed the third boss.
It's a fun enough game, but it could stand to have a bit more depth.
Edit: probably not going to keep playing. Apparently I need to do all the levels again 4 times and beat slightly more difficult versions of each boss again and I just don't feel like it. I beat the final boss and saw the credits, I'm marking the game complete.
It's a fun enough game, but it could stand to have a bit more depth.
Edit: probably not going to keep playing. Apparently I need to do all the levels again 4 times and beat slightly more difficult versions of each boss again and I just don't feel like it. I beat the final boss and saw the credits, I'm marking the game complete.
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Yeah and it’s why I wasted so many bullets on Aholes like the ogre dude and Logarius. The difference between this and ER was Logarius went down much faster via parrying, but the latter is practically a novelty play style because most other ways of playing are easier and will do more damage by far.
I finished Batman Returns (SNES). I am not playing Hard to get the complete ending. Fuck that shit. It's a decent Final Fight clone that's better than FFi2, Rushing Beat 1, and Sonic Blastman I, but there are better brawlers on the SNES than BR.
Speaking Sonic Blastman, I played both games after not touching them in a long time. Sonic Blastman (SNES) is loosely based off an arcade minigame expanded into brawler, with the mini games as bonus stages. It's a single player brawler that has interesting mechanics and contextual finishers a la Battletoads. Based on whether an enemy is stunned or not. There's a unique directional inputs, but once you know the proper ones to dizzy an enemy for a grab to do more damage, you'll be sticking with that move for 95% of the time. The games is slow too, but at least you're fighting completely new enemies each stage. The game is entertaining enough, but once you beat it, you'll rarely want to revisit again.
SB II is a much better game with three playable characters, co-op, an expanded move list, and unlimited continues. You have dash attacks that change based on directional inputs, regular attacks changing depending on directional inputs or keeping your position in neutral, different grab attacks based on directional input, two different super attacks, and a dodge roll. The dodge roll is useful and learning to when time it useful or when trying to close the gap. There is not as much enemy variety compared to the first game, there is a much better mix up of enemy combinations. There's only 5 levels, but you get unlimited continues and proper checkpoints, if you reach a new section of the stage before dying. I hate the last stage, because you fight what you think is the final boss, but not and the game tries to pull a gotcha moment. So you need to one more section is where you fight all of the annoying bosses and sub bosses again, and then to the true final boss. That section should've been cut, because it adds nothing. Still a good game, and I give it a strong 7/10.
Speaking Sonic Blastman, I played both games after not touching them in a long time. Sonic Blastman (SNES) is loosely based off an arcade minigame expanded into brawler, with the mini games as bonus stages. It's a single player brawler that has interesting mechanics and contextual finishers a la Battletoads. Based on whether an enemy is stunned or not. There's a unique directional inputs, but once you know the proper ones to dizzy an enemy for a grab to do more damage, you'll be sticking with that move for 95% of the time. The games is slow too, but at least you're fighting completely new enemies each stage. The game is entertaining enough, but once you beat it, you'll rarely want to revisit again.
SB II is a much better game with three playable characters, co-op, an expanded move list, and unlimited continues. You have dash attacks that change based on directional inputs, regular attacks changing depending on directional inputs or keeping your position in neutral, different grab attacks based on directional input, two different super attacks, and a dodge roll. The dodge roll is useful and learning to when time it useful or when trying to close the gap. There is not as much enemy variety compared to the first game, there is a much better mix up of enemy combinations. There's only 5 levels, but you get unlimited continues and proper checkpoints, if you reach a new section of the stage before dying. I hate the last stage, because you fight what you think is the final boss, but not and the game tries to pull a gotcha moment. So you need to one more section is where you fight all of the annoying bosses and sub bosses again, and then to the true final boss. That section should've been cut, because it adds nothing. Still a good game, and I give it a strong 7/10.
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I have the game's platinum and several runs under my belt and all I can say is I suck at parrying in that game.
The only enemy I ever parry are the big bulky brutes in the first Yarnham area.
Bloodborne may have started the lurch towards parry windows, but it was smart enough to not have it be the only way to get through fights.
I'm all about dodges and spacing in these kinds of games. I never liked practicing parries because failing a shot would result in a face full of fist / sword / other weapon. It just never felt worth it.
Fuckin hell all this time my DD2 character had a double-jump ability in their equipped move-set i just found out even works as one, ffs! Kudo to making it somehow even less adherent to physics than they usually are though. No complaints apart from maybe the increased fiddly input it requires. Frame rate still suuuuuuuucks, nighttime still best time as the lighting appears fine-tuned for moody exploration more than other open world rpgs.
Failling a dodge also results in face full of damage, it's essentially the same things, window for both is about the same and the tracking make a mockery of dodging for dodging sake rather than triggering i-frame. The difference is parrying gives a counter attack that does a shiton of damage and bloodborne made it into a gun so that you could do it from much further away and it would still works and it takes no stamina. Most boss can be trivialize with parry by just standing there waiting. There's a couple of attack that can't be reasonably parried, but they're all attack that you can't really do anything against the boss anyway.
Pretty much the opposite for me, as mentioned above. Not every enemy/attack is parry-able anyways and some are definitely easier than others, so it’s basically up to player discretion for who to use it on.
Oh totally, that is when they introduced those types of squirly move sets. But I that was just one part of the whole thing not the whole thing, and it was fine until they just kept making it worse and worse and more and more.
Also I really love Bloodborne so I don't slag on it hahah.
Also- they made parrying a gun! It's the only video game ever in which I like using a gun!
Oh man, Bloodborne was so freaking cool
Stellar Stabby demo
Could be the strong solvent I just enthusiastically huffed from a jar assuming it was likely water while washing up (accidentally of course, some of us got standards with our solvent abuse ya know), but seemed alright kinda. Monster designs and gory battles stand out with aide from shiny graphics and performance, high frame rate does make set-pieces feel more exhilarating also. The dodge feels like a drunken paraplegic hippo, though a tattered part of my psyche seems to respond to bad dodges in RPGs with a "don't worry poor dodge, with a bit of care you'll be functional in no time!" as if it's been challenged to nurture a bird with a broken wing. Slow combat ain't a bother in these settings neither really, seems to be going for an OG Dark Souls style which is fine.
The character designs are perhaps the most cringe I'll ever see however - Clearly built around a fetishised ideal so narrow and prepubescent I've never felt so alienated from my own orientation knowing adults created this for adults. Revenge of the Sexbots might be a more appropriate title and narrative.
Could be the strong solvent I just enthusiastically huffed from a jar assuming it was likely water while washing up (accidentally of course, some of us got standards with our solvent abuse ya know), but seemed alright kinda. Monster designs and gory battles stand out with aide from shiny graphics and performance, high frame rate does make set-pieces feel more exhilarating also. The dodge feels like a drunken paraplegic hippo, though a tattered part of my psyche seems to respond to bad dodges in RPGs with a "don't worry poor dodge, with a bit of care you'll be functional in no time!" as if it's been challenged to nurture a bird with a broken wing. Slow combat ain't a bother in these settings neither really, seems to be going for an OG Dark Souls style which is fine.
The character designs are perhaps the most cringe I'll ever see however - Clearly built around a fetishised ideal so narrow and prepubescent I've never felt so alienated from my own orientation knowing adults created this for adults. Revenge of the Sexbots might be a more appropriate title and narrative.
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Beat Atomic Heart. Ended up liking it much more then I expected, gameplay is good, sound design is really nice. Even the story manage to pull things together. Did end on a rather... odd note, but thats what dlc is for, which it has.
Got a number of other games.
Valfaris: Mecha Theron. Its the sequal to Valfaris which was a run and gun, but this one is a shootemup. Its pretty good, very metal, for some reason though, its not grabbing me like I think it should since I love shootemups. I think it might be me, which is why I got so many games right now.
God's Trigger. Its Hotline Miami, but with a few special powers and 2 charactes you switch between. Story is you are a fallen angel and you team up with a demon to take out the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Its good.
Zortch. Its a boomer style fps game. Got interesting design. Plays pretty well, but I've had some odd issues where it feels like it just runs slow. Still enjoyable though, shooting feels good.
Picked up Elden Ring again, kinda nice being able to just trounce early newgame + enemies with my end game character. Taking my time with it since the dlc doesn't come out for a few months.
Blazblue Entropy Effect. Its an interesting side scrolling roguelike. You play a robot who is investigating things happening, but in the action stages you take on one of the characters from the fighting game Blazblue. I don't know why it has Blazblue characters in it, plot doesn't seem to have anything to do with Blazblue, but it plays well.
Got a number of other games.
Valfaris: Mecha Theron. Its the sequal to Valfaris which was a run and gun, but this one is a shootemup. Its pretty good, very metal, for some reason though, its not grabbing me like I think it should since I love shootemups. I think it might be me, which is why I got so many games right now.
God's Trigger. Its Hotline Miami, but with a few special powers and 2 charactes you switch between. Story is you are a fallen angel and you team up with a demon to take out the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Its good.
Zortch. Its a boomer style fps game. Got interesting design. Plays pretty well, but I've had some odd issues where it feels like it just runs slow. Still enjoyable though, shooting feels good.
Picked up Elden Ring again, kinda nice being able to just trounce early newgame + enemies with my end game character. Taking my time with it since the dlc doesn't come out for a few months.
Blazblue Entropy Effect. Its an interesting side scrolling roguelike. You play a robot who is investigating things happening, but in the action stages you take on one of the characters from the fighting game Blazblue. I don't know why it has Blazblue characters in it, plot doesn't seem to have anything to do with Blazblue, but it plays well.
Finished Lies of P. Really great game, well exceeded my expectations, interesting story and for once a really robust NG+. Not only do you have access to all the weapons you've gathered, but you also have new dialogue that gives further story insight, and there's an entire new tier of abilities to unlock. I'm probably gonna play through it all over again just for that. The ending I got was also pretty disturbing, so it'll be interesting to see how differently things can play out. I imagine quite a lot, because next to the place where I initiated the final cutscene there was a checkpoint, meaning that there was probably a whole boss fight I missed.
I'm definitely pumped for a sequel. This is a really polished first entry in what clearly has ambitions for a whole series of fairytale-themed games, and I'm all here for it. The biggest thing holding Lies of P back is its comparative linearity and limited exploration. You're not really going to get lost in Krat unlike in Yharnam, and there's no optional places or bosses to discover. But I suppose that works for a more story-focused game.
I'm definitely pumped for a sequel. This is a really polished first entry in what clearly has ambitions for a whole series of fairytale-themed games, and I'm all here for it. The biggest thing holding Lies of P back is its comparative linearity and limited exploration. You're not really going to get lost in Krat unlike in Yharnam, and there's no optional places or bosses to discover. But I suppose that works for a more story-focused game.
I went back and tried the new characters for Double Dragon Gaiden. I love them all! My only complaint is with the new power ups added into the game, they removed the take $500 options, if you didn't want upgrade. Why? It was a great risk and reward system that didn't need fixing. Now there's a turkey that costs $0, but it gives you full health. So either force yourself to buy a power up you might not want, or take food when you're character is already at maximum. Another thing they changed is that your health doesn't automatically get refilled when at the beginning of a new section. If you're at 50 health, and you didn't pick the turkey in the upgrade screen, you start the next section at 50 health! Thus should have been an optional change. It's a minor case of don't fix what ain't broke.
I don't know what to pick up next so I'm killing time playing Fall Guys, SteamWorld Dig and the Wheels minigame in Sea of Stars.
I was marathoning the James Bond movie before they left Prime which didn't leave me a whole lot of spare time left during the week.
I was marathoning the James Bond movie before they left Prime which didn't leave me a whole lot of spare time left during the week.
Its probably not a great sign when your game has oodles upon oodles of reddit posts, YouTube videos, and forum threads pointing out where commonly missed loot can be found.
The loot system in Mad Max is just fucked. Scrap that you pick up yourself is almost guaranteed to be worthless, while scrap from conquered camps comes is plentiful.
Also, I am genuinely sick of entering and leaving my car. Maybe its more realistic or immersive or whatever, but fuck me, when you're doing it hundreds of times in a playthrough, just the extra second it takes for the car to start up really gets on your nerves.
The loot system in Mad Max is just fucked. Scrap that you pick up yourself is almost guaranteed to be worthless, while scrap from conquered camps comes is plentiful.
Also, I am genuinely sick of entering and leaving my car. Maybe its more realistic or immersive or whatever, but fuck me, when you're doing it hundreds of times in a playthrough, just the extra second it takes for the car to start up really gets on your nerves.