What are you currently playing?

[Bartholen]

I'm at the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree, and holy fuuuuuuuuuuuck it blows. Like actual, fetid dogshit. Worst boss I've faced since the end of Doom Eternal's DLC, and quite possibly the single worst boss Fromsoft have ever created. Yes, including Bed of Chaos. I'm legitimately wondering if they playtested this properly, because it's so terrible it might actually be broken. I literally have no idea what the game plan is supposed to be in the fight.

• Dodging's out of the question, because the boss literally attacks faster than you can dodge and there are lingering hitboxes.
• Blocking's out, because the boss attacks so relentlessly with both physical and elemental damage that even if your guard doesn't break, the sizable chip damage still rips you apart.
• Summoning's only half reliable, because even with an NPC summon and a Mimic Tear the boss aggros to me like 70% of the time.
• Cheesing with status effects is out, because the boss rushes half the battlefield in like a second.
• And I don't even want to think what trying to play through this with a magic build might be like.

And as per the MO of these DLC bosses, it's real-time turn-based gameplay to the max, where the boss attacks like 7 times, leaves a window for maybe 1 or 2 hits (assuming you even manage to get within striking distance), and then starts another interminable attack chain. The only way I'm even getting to the second phase is with a turtle build and a blood-infused Antspur rapier, and even that has only middling success.

But then we get to the second phase, where I don't even know if I've seen all the bullshit they've pulled. Let's start with the giant explosion that's so big that if the boss rushes next to you and then decides to use it, you literally can't escape its radius in time unless you start running the nanosecond the buildup starts. Then there's the instant kill attack, which might actually be one of the least of this boss's offenses. There's more lingering hitboxes, framerate-destroying clone attacks, an excess of flashy effects covering the screen... it literally does almost everything wrong. This classic youtube clip summarizes my thoughts perfectly:

 

[FakeSympathy]

I'm at the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree, and holy fuuuuuuuuuuuck it blows. Like actual, fetid dogshit. Worst boss I've faced since the end of Doom Eternal's DLC, and quite possibly the single worst boss Fromsoft have ever created. Yes, including Bed of Chaos. I'm legitimately wondering if they playtested this properly, because it's so terrible it might actually be broken. I literally have no idea what the game plan is supposed to be in the fight.

• Dodging's out of the question, because the boss literally attacks faster than you can dodge and there are lingering hitboxes.
• Blocking's out, because the boss attacks so relentlessly with both physical and elemental damage that even if your guard doesn't break, the sizable chip damage still rips you apart.
• Summoning's only half reliable, because even with an NPC summon and a Mimic Tear the boss aggros to me like 70% of the time.
• Cheesing with status effects is out, because the boss rushes half the battlefield in like a second.
• And I don't even want to think what trying to play through this with a magic build might be like.

And as per the MO of these DLC bosses, it's real-time turn-based gameplay to the max, where the boss attacks like 7 times, leaves a window for maybe 1 or 2 hits (assuming you even manage to get within striking distance), and then starts another interminable attack chain. The only way I'm even getting to the second phase is with a turtle build and a blood-infused Antspur rapier, and even that has only middling success.

But then we get to the second phase, where I don't even know if I've seen all the bullshit they've pulled. Let's start with the giant explosion that's so big that if the boss rushes next to you and then decides to use it, you literally can't escape its radius in time unless you start running the nanosecond the buildup starts. Then there's the instant kill attack, which might actually be one of the least of this boss's offenses. There's more lingering hitboxes, framerate-destroying clone attacks, an excess of flashy effects covering the screen... it literally does almost everything wrong. This classic youtube clip summarizes my thoughts perfectly:

OMG, tell me about it! My first playthrough was with pure INT, and it was a miserable time. There really aren't too many new spells or staves that you can play with, so you just basically bring stuff from the base game. And even with max scadutree blessing, this boss was impossible for me. All my spells did mediocre damage even with the talisman that's supposed to max out the sorcery damange output.

I REALLY hated that big AOE in the 2nd phase. The danger area is ridiculously big and the laser blasts afterwards ruins my positioning.

Normally I would join in on the meme and say "git gud", but not for this boss; I would recommend everyone to just co-op this boss. That way someone else can keep the boss aggro-ed while you hit from the sides.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

OMG, tell me about it! My first playthrough was with pure INT, and it was a miserable time. There really aren't too many new spells or staves that you can play with, so you just basically bring stuff from the base game. And even with max scadutree blessing, this boss was impossible for me. All my spells did mediocre damage even with the talisman that's supposed to max out the sorcery damange output.

I REALLY hated that big AOE in the 2nd phase. The danger area is ridiculously big and the laser blasts afterwards ruins my positioning.

Normally I would join in on the meme and say "git gud", but not for this boss; I would recommend everyone to just co-op this boss. That way someone else can keep the boss aggro-ed while you hit from the sides.

Guys have you tried just doing other stuff to level up? I mean the game gives you so many options. Use summons or try different weapons. This game doesn't hold your hand but is actually very accessible.

(extremely /s, just in case it needs saying)

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Speaking of final boss resistances, a mage was solo'ing with one of the new shields and the deflect physik+scholar's shield, almost playing it like Sekiro to good effect -

Spoiler

As with base game it wasn't all meant to be figured out in a week or two, by the average person at least. Even with all the complaining about difficulty again like every game before it there's already no hit run videos on all the bosses. I do feel this ceiling can only go so high though, and while I still enjoy this latest iteration I welcome FROM doing something fresh in the future; hopefully on a new engine.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Sorry I haven't been in in a while; mostly just been playing Runescape and the same old stuff. I made a little bit of progress in God of War 4 and I'm hoping I can get more done tonight. Also picked up a game called Last Call BBS on the Steam sale; it's a game of several smaller games, framed as you downloading pirated games for your legally-not-an-Amiga. Since it's a Zachtronics game there's a few different forms of programming games and two versions of solitaire, but there's also a pen-and-paper puzzle, a Gunpla simulator (which also simulates the feeling of having one part left over that you don't know where it goes), and a minigame from a previous game (which is impossible, don't even try).

Overall I think it's pretty neat, though perhaps not the best starting point if you've never played a Zachtronics game. Look into Opus Magnum or Infinifactory if you want to try their stuff out, or Exapunks if you don't mind getting a little more involved right off the bat.

(Oh yeah, and Zenless Zone Zero comes out in a couple of days, so I'm probably gonna get stuck hard into that once it does.)

 

[Casual Shinji]

Guys have you tried just doing other stuff to level up? I mean the game gives you so many options. Use summons or try different weapons. This game doesn't hold your hand but is actually very accessible.

(extremely /s, just in case it needs saying)

Considering the more than a decade of 'that bad thing about [insert Souls game] actually makes it good', yeah, unfortunately it does need saying.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Guys have you tried just doing other stuff to level up? I mean the game gives you so many options. Use summons or try different weapons. This game doesn't hold your hand but is actually very accessible.

(extremely /s, just in case it needs saying)

I have. And even with maxed scadutree blessing, maxing out three different spirit summons (Tiche, mimic, and Andreas) and respecing to have more HP, I still was getting my ass kicked. I just think the INT builds kinda got shafted with the DLC. Sure, there is a talisman that boosts sorcery damage and some new spells, but I don't think they aren't enough meanwhile I see so much more options for other builds.

Now dodging and stamina management is definitely something all builds needs to learn. but how much you hit and can get hit without dying is where I feel needs a bit of balancing. Because goddamn, I feel casters (sorceries or incantations) can only take so much damage compared to more physical/hybrid builds.

 

[BrawlMan]

(Oh yeah, and Zenless Zone Zero comes out in a couple of days, so I'm probably gonna get stuck hard into that once it does.)

I am thinking of picking this up. I don't do Hoyoverse games, but this will be first because this game has big style and identity of its own. Anything I should be prepped for or know about in ZZZ gacha wise? I know Hoyo don't abuse much, but I want to be on the safe side?

I've been bumming around playing Steam again. I am loving the shit out of Slipstream! I do hate the rubber banding AI though. Why? I am going to play Super Crush KO next!

 

[Worgen]

I've been bumming around playing Steam again. I am loving the shit out of Slipstream! I do hate the rubber banding AI though. Why? I am going to play Super Crush KO next!

In version 2 or so of Slipstream the maker turned off rubber banding completely and it caused a lot of other issues so its back on. The patch notes gives more info.

 

[BrawlMan]

In version 2 or so of Slipstream the maker turned off rubber banding completely and it caused a lot of other issues so its back on. The patch notes gives more info.

I did not know that, and I didn't even bother looking at the patch notes. Thank you for the info.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I am thinking of picking this up. I don't Hoyoverse games, but this will be first because this game has big style and identity of its own. Anything I should be prepped for or know about in ZZZ gacha wise? I know Hoyo don't abuse much, but I want to be on the safe side?

Assuming that Zenless is going to use basically the same system as Genshin Impact and Star Rail, the 'pity' rate for 5-star drops is every 90 pulls. Additionally, when you do get a 5-star drop on one of the limited banners, you have a 50/50 chance of it being the featured character/weapon or one from the generic 5-star list available through the standard banner. If you got a 'generic' drop last time, your next 5-star drop from the character or weapon banner (depending on which one you used) will always be the featured drop, even if the specific character or weapon being featured has changed since then. Also, you can't get featured characters except during the period where they're featured. The standard banner works similarly, but your 5-star drop can be any of the generic 5-star characters or weapons at random, with no guarantees.

First rule: Do not pay for anything. Considering that 180 pulls are required to guarantee getting a limited 5-star character to drop, and that the most expensive bundle you can pay for will only get you 82 pulls... the first time, and 41 thereafter, it simply isn't worth it. Besides, even if you miss someone you really wanted, they'll come back around sooner or later, and in the meantime another cool character will absolutely come up.

Addendum: If you feel like the game is good enough that you want to pay some money to play it, there should be an option that gives you a small amount of gacha currency on login over the next 30 days, which you can treat as a 'subscription' if you want, but even then you still only get at most 18 extra pulls over the 30-day period, so it's not really great value even then. Never, ever buy pulls directly or the seasonal battle pass expansions.

Second rule: Unless you have a lot of pulls stacked up and you're really excited for a new character, don't pull on the limited weapon banner. 3-star and 4-star weapons that you receive over time are more than sufficient to handle any of the game's content, especially for a skilled player.

Third rule: Pulls come in three forms - well, four, but one's a special type separate from the others. The three main forms are the limited pulls, standard pulls, and the currency that can be exchanged for either limited or standard pulls. Since the rate from currency to pulls is the same regardless of which you convert to, do not use your currency on standard pulls for any reason. You get plenty of them just from playing the game normally, and the limited banners are much better value.

As far as I'm aware, currency can't be turned into the fourth type, so don't worry too much about it. Unless it turns out that it can, in which case, you probably still don't want to use your currency on them.

That's everything I can think of offhand. If I think of anything else once the game drops and I'm actually playing it, I'll post an update. Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Bartholen]

Probably not going to finish Shadow of the Erdtree. I've had enough. I don't know what I would consider this DLC if someone else had made it, but by Fromsoft standards it's an fucking abysmal travesty. It's not a case of lacking everything that makes their games good, but them seemingly having completely lost the plot on what makes their games fun. Elden Ring is fun for the most part. Shadow of the Erdtree, for the vast majority of my playtime, has not been.

I've harped on the world design plenty already, but perhaps my biggest grievance with it is how it feels like a betrayal of Fromsoft's previous world and level design. In their previous games if you took your time and observed the environment, you could almost always infer pathways and notice things that weren't immediately obvious from the layout of the levels. This would be things like Undead Burg's layout in Dark Souls or the Grand Archives in DS3. If you saw something in the distance, you could always reasonably follow the level design to get an approximate idea of where the entrance to those areas might be.

Shadow of the Erdtree bins that concept and puts it on a ship to Oman. The layout of the world is so obtuse and so unbelievably unintuitive that it honestly reminds me of Dark Souls 2 in how nonsensical it is. And there's zero consistency to it: certain areas are accessed by careful drops, others by spirit springs, yet others by finding one incredibly specific pathway that's just arbitrarily designed to link to another area, or to a mile long elevator that just shows up at a certain location because reasons. Because the map is so overlapped with itself, it's pointless to try to get an idea where these linking paths might be. All of this has left me with the realization that SotE's world isn't an actual open world: it's a series of isolated zones separated by incredibly specific pathways.

I just hate how empty the world is. Before I was maybe even halfway through the DLC, every time I entered a new area I just rolled my eyes and went "Oh boy, another pretty but empty huge map for me to run through and find fuck-all" in my head. And it turned out to be true every. single. time. The Abyssal Woods, the Cerulean Coast, the Coffin Fissure, the Hinterlands, the list just goes on. By the end I lost all interest and just sprinted through them. Surprise surprise, there were never any real threats or obstacles you actually had to pay attention to, just run past everything and you're fine.

The last few bosses I fought (Consort Radahn, Mother of Fingers, Knight of Putrescence) all fell into what I guess I'd call "JRPG boss attacks". Ie. long, showy attacks during which the boss cannot be harmed, and all you can do is dodge and wait your turn. It's a part of the "real time turn based combat" I talked about earlier, and it's annoying as hell.

The Shadow Blessing System can choke on a fat one too. It's nothing but a gameplay lengthening scheme, a mindless chore that will seriously hurt further playthroughs of the DLC. I've seen people compare it to leveling in the main game, but it's more akin to the "Vigor tax": a mandatory requirement for the game to actually be enjoyable. There's no choices to be made, you just upgrade the blessing and that's it. And you have to do it, because without the blessing the DLC is even less fun than with it. It makes it so that unlike previous Fromsoft DLC, you can't even sprint to the actually fun parts and ignore the rest.

I've also had it with the obtuseness. It works in more contained games to a certain extent, because there are only so many places to explore. In an open world game it runs into what I heavily criticized about Fear & Hunger: no one's going to finish this without the wiki. There's a doorway that opens up an entire section of the map which is opened by making a gesture next to a statue. I'm pretty sure that mechanic is never used in the main game once, and there's basically zero indication for it whatsoever. The storytelling is as impenetrable as ever, despite the main game making things a bit more comprehensible. I watched the ending cutscene on Youtube, and it was one of the most unsatisfying conclusions ever.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I just finished Binary Domain and I was delighted to learn that who I assumed was an underpaid Chinese-American voice actor was actually award-winning actress Laura Bailey putting on a really shitty Asian accent. What a game.

 

[BrawlMan]

Mighty Final Fight

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

I just finished Binary Domain and I was delighted to learn that who I assumed was an underpaid Chinese-American voice actor was actually award-winning actress Laura Bailey putting on a really shitty Asian accent. What a game.

Those were indeed the days. Had similar experience playing the recent port/release of Beyond Good and Evil last night hearing the mechanic rhinos in the garage tow-truck shop area talk with the whitest of fake Jamaican accents around since Chet Hanks.

 

[meiam]

I just finished Binary Domain and I was delighted to learn that who I assumed was an underpaid Chinese-American voice actor was actually award-winning actress Laura Bailey putting on a really shitty Asian accent. What a game.

I wish they did more game like these, just a bizarre (possibly parody?) little game.

 

[Bartholen]

I ended up finishing SotE after all. The tactic I went with was turtling behind a greatshield solo, and poking the last boss to death with a blood-infused Antspur rapier. No learning attack patterns, no stacking buffs, just hold L1 and spam R1 until the boss dies. If Fromsoft can make a total bullshit boss, I can bullshit my way through it. What an absolute crock of a final boss. Not touching Elden Ring for a good while.

 

[laggyteabag]

Still playing around with Gears: Tactics.

For whatever reason before jumping in, I decided to download a few recommended mods, which has made the game very tough, but not in an unenjoyable way. The primary mod here is one called Ukkon's Wrath with just about doubles the amount of enemies found in every mission. Whilst this obviously adds an extra challenge, it also gives more opportunities to generate some more action points through executions. What basically follows, is each encounter essentially functions as a complex combat puzzle, as you need to juggle each soldier's action points to generate as many bonus actions for your entire squad as possible in a given turn.

So far the plot does seem really simple, and I haven't come across any plot twists to spice things up. But as it stands, Im enjoying each mission as they come, and I haven't played/replayed enough of the same maps/modes yet for it to become tiresome.

Im excited to continue playing this one

 

[Gergar12]

When Does Zhu Yuan Come Out in Zenless Zone Zero? Answered

If you're wondering when Zhu Yuan comes out in Zenless Zone Zero, here's everything you need to know about that.

www.escapistmagazine.com

...

ZZZ/Zenless Zone Zero sucks, TV puzzles that stop the tempo of the combat gameplay which needs more polish. I can't tell the S-rank, and A-rank characters apart.

HSR/Honkai Star Rail has massive power creep in the latest region/rooster of characters.

Genshin Impact is stale, slow-climbing, power creep with the Fontaine characters, and yapping Paimon.

All hail WW/Wuthering Waves which funny enough comes from a place I was born in. It fits my theory that you need a balance of male and female characters which CN/China does not agree with me on due to the fact they hate this game. The combat is good, as is the character design(They need more characters tho), and the world looks amazing. Just don't read the story.

That said I have spent too much time playing WW, HSR, and Genshin recently due to how behind I am. (You need to play every single day I kid you not)

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Tried and dropped Cyberpunk 2077 before I even got to meet Keanu Reeves.
I was hoping that the pretty visuals and the fact that it came from the same studio that made my favorite game of all time would help overcome my dislike of shooters and first person gameplay but unfortunately it could not. At least I allowed for this possibility by using trade-in credit to buy a physical copy I can sell.