What are you currently playing?

[Casual Shinji]

If weapons didn't break you would just pick your favorite couple and leave the other 30 to collect dust on the shelf, at least this system gives you a reason to use the all at least a little. Adding a drain to resources isn't a bad thing, considering the in the typical Zelda game you end up with a thousand rupees in your wallet and nothing to spend them on by the halfway mark. Except weapons really aren't since the game gives you so many, and they restock in the world, every bloodmoon I think.

That's the problem. That your weapon pool is in this constant cycle of being drained and then restocked, only to be drained again, which you then have to restock. Over and over and over. It's not difficult, it doesn't add tension, there's no skill involved, it's just busy work.

Plenty of open-world games exist where you just have a set number of weapons in your arsenal that stay with you, or that have an economy that allows you to buy and sell and repair weapons. This all works fine, so what is the point of BotW's durability system other than to sustain its own existence?

I'm not really going to argue with your comparison to the traditional Zelda formula. If you judge how well BotW does strictly compared to how it adheres to the formula it's going to do very, very poorly. BotW is a huge departure from the rest of the series in pretty much every way, but it's still a good game in it's own right.

I think BotW is one of the best games ever made, but that doesn't make the whole durability weapon nonsense any less of a hassle.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Tried the upgrade for Horizon Dawn Zero with basically no expectations, already assuming disappointment waits around every corner no matter what or where, settled with the likelihood of hating myself for deciding either way. And tbh kinda surprised to see maybe a hint of more effort than the average, like I don't know if I'm mad or there's a whole different texture to the world now - more tangible and...earthly? - these words could all be wrong cause I don't know what I'm trying to describe, is it a filter? A literal swap of textures? Wait, did characters physically emote with their whole bodies in the original too or is they newly plugged? There's bits in the air! What are these bits?? Can I grab them? Frolic romantically with them???

Ok, alright fine, it merely looks so damn good. Yes I'm shamelessly indulging the shallownss of enjoying a fave game in its peak form for a tenner, if that's wrong well I don't wanna be right! Omaybe some shame

I tried it too, but I can't say it left much of a positive impression on me. It looks nicer I guess, but it also looks kinda weird. Character skin looks way too soft and waxy, like someone dailed the sub-surface scattering up a tad too much. There's a lot of glitching during cutscenes, and every character that isn't Aloy looks and animates a bit janky.

And maybe this is me being spoiled by the open-world lighting and effects of Forbidden West, but the open-world of HZD remaster looks kinda tepid by comparison. If the goal of this remaster was to bring HZD up to par visually to its sequel... nah.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

what is the point of BotW's durability system other than to sustain its own existence?

Because if durability didn't exist, you'd just go straight to Hyrule Castle, grab a Guardian or Royal Guard weapon, and breeze through the entire game without engaging with the weapon system at all. And there are reasons to engage with it, which I've already brought up, such as stealing enemy weapons as a battle tactic. Without durability, the only remaining line would be as above, which was my point to begin with: removing durability and doing nothing else would not automatically make the game better. You'd have to change a lot of things to compensate, and I feel like if you changed enough things to make it work, you wouldn't really have Breath of the Wild anymore.

Still, I admit some culpability in this argument going as far as it has, as the person who essentially started it. I think we all know where each of us stands at this point, and I doubt anyone's mind is going to get changed.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm playing Afterimage, a Metroidvania from Chinese studio Aurogon.

People call it Hollow Knight meets Ori, but I don't know. Maybe in terms of production value. There's a wealth of variety in terms of enemies, biomes, pickups, mechanics, you name it. It's all presented in that format that looks hand-drawn but the animation feels a bit puppety and with zero heft to your attacks or movements.

There's a soullessness to the game. It's dense with content and massive in scale but you never get a sense of personality from anything or a satisfying feeling of progress or discovery. I'm tempted to dismiss it as just another Symphony of the Night reskin, but I've played actually compelling SotN reskins like Bloodstained and Deedlit.

It's not a bad game by any means, just kind of uninspired in a deceptively garish way.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Because if durability didn't exist, you'd just go straight to Hyrule Castle, grab a Guardian or Royal Guard weapon, and breeze through the entire game without engaging with the weapon system at all. And there are reasons to engage with it, which I've already brought up, such as stealing enemy weapons as a battle tactic. Without durability, the only remaining line would be as above, which was my point to begin with: removing durability and doing nothing else would not automatically make the game better. You'd have to change a lot of things to compensate, and I feel like if you changed enough things to make it work, you wouldn't really have Breath of the Wild anymore.

But you already can go straight to Hyrule Castle to beat the main Boss, the marketing even brought it up before release. And nothing that couldn't be fixed by some parameter that would stop you from immediately going to Hyrule Castle.

And I'm not advocating to remove the durability and doing nothing else, that's exactly the problem BotW has. It incorperates gameplay systems that are interesting at first glance, but then doesn't give you any means of countering them. The weapon durability making you grab what you need on the fly, the rain making walls slippery, the stalfos that come at night; all neat the first few hours, but the further you get the more it becomes this hassle you'll just choose to ignore. Needing to skip through the blood moon cutscene everytime it triggers, that's another one.

People like their weapons in videogames, and they will automatically apply worth to a new stronger weapon when they find it. It's generally a great feeling to find a new sword with higher stats, it makes you want to go and fight enemies that previously gave you a hard time. Yet the weapons in BotW mean nothing, despite the variety and stats they might have, because they WILL break. Not they MIGHT break if you're not careful or don't find a way of keeping them in good condition, no, they WILL break.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

[snip]

At risk of sounding rude, allow me to be clearer than I was last time when I said this:

Still, I admit some culpability in this argument going as far as it has, as the person who essentially started it. I think we all know where each of us stands at this point, and I doubt anyone's mind is going to get changed.

I am done with this sub-thread. If you really want to keep it going, go to Hot Takes, but I might not reply to you there either.

Back on topic at last: DSR Chapter 5 done. I no longer have any frame of reference or expectations, and will continue to play the game as a standalone work from here.

Feeling pretty starved for ammo for the first time so far; according to some Reddit posts I read I need to be using Kinesis more to compensate.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

(Missed the edit window to post this. It's not that I care about getting the last word, and I'm fully aware that I essentially started this conversation. The reason I'm calling it quits is because I don't like talking in circles, and I know that's exactly where we're all going if this continues.)

 

[Kyrian007]

Didn't look at the thread until the weekend was over, bit of a road trip. But where I stand, I like the decision on weapon durability Nintendo made. It was the major complaint about BotW, and not only did they stay the course on it... they doubled down. The Upheaval actually makes weapons weaker and they degrade faster. 2 reasons I think that was brilliant. The first, it forces you to engage with and experiment with fuse. And then when you find some combinations you like, then to farm components you like (blue lizal horns anyone?) Forcing you to adventure and engage the enemies. And 2nd reason... pure spite. "FU whiny fanboys. Weapons break too easily... this time they will be made of elmer's and popsicle sticks, and you'll LIKE it. We'll even write it into the lore to reallllly grind the point in." I gotta respect that.

People like their weapons in videogames, and they will automatically apply worth to a new stronger weapon when they find it. It's generally a great feeling to find a new sword with higher stats, it makes you want to go and fight enemies that previously gave you a hard time. Yet the weapons in BotW mean nothing, despite the variety and stats they might have, because they WILL break. Not they MIGHT break if you're not careful or don't find a way of keeping them in good condition, no, they WILL break.

Yup. And that to me is a feature, not a flaw. Classical conditioning is... find a really great weapon, use it to defeat a lot of tough enemies, get attached to said weapon because how it helps make you feel powerful. When you want to utilize that conditioning and take power away from the player to up the stakes and guarantee a more visceral response... you have the character lose the weapon, or in really severe cases take it away and have it break or whatever. TotK doesn't use that conditioning, it subverts it. It is the game saying "don't get complacent, stay on your toes." I love that BotW and TotK are up front about it. "No, don't get attached. Don't overprepare, be very ready to improvise. Don't overthink, be ready to roll with whatever situation the game throws at you."

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

I tried it too, but I can't say it left much of a positive impression on me. It looks nicer I guess, but it also looks kinda weird. Character skin looks way too soft and waxy, like someone dailed the sub-surface scattering up a tad too much. There's a lot of glitching during cutscenes, and every character that isn't Aloy looks and animates a bit janky.

And maybe this is me being spoiled by the open-world lighting and effects of Forbidden West, but the open-world of HZD remaster looks kinda tepid by comparison. If the goal of this remaster was to bring HZD up to par visually to its sequel... nah.

Such is the power of expectations. Try to maintain them and they increasingly rebound to bite you in the ass, greased along by underlying law of diminishing returns. But if they're kept low, like super low down on the rainy pavement held under the world's shallowest puddle frantically kicking until the last sign of life fades unceremoniously away...then a whole universe of tiny lil surprises open up. Ok, admittedly there are some trade-offs: yes life will emanate a constant low-key misery, yes people looking for hope will be routinely disappointed, yes party invitations start to disappear, yes anyone who could ever love you get slowly pushed away if not blighted by the same despair, and yes the chances of it all ending in suicide remain about the same - However...all those lil surprises accumulate over time to where a hobby, and maybe even life itself could be worth dragging this heavy burdened sorry ass out of bed to sustain its meaningless existence a day or two longer for.


Also weed helps lol

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Into the breach. Ah so now I understand what all the fuss was about centuries ago when it first came out. Makes an alright companion to the new Dragon Age: SkyCastle Hub ship edition.

 

[meiam]

Into the breach. Ah so now I understand what all the fuss was about centuries ago when it first came out. Makes an alright companion to the new Dragon Age: SkyCastle Hub ship edition.

Into the breach didn't make much of fuss by itself, it really was mostly well known as "the other game by the FTL guy".

 

[Worgen]

Beat chapter 4 in Darkest Dungeon 2, after how hard chapter 2 was, the rest seem not too bad once you get to the bosses. Chapter 4s biggest hurdle was the powerful oblivion enemy before the final inn. I had an annoying habit of losing a damage character before that encounter and if you don't have the right damage that guy will just be unkillable and fuck you up.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Into the breach didn't make much of fuss by itself, it really was mostly well known as "the other game by the FTL guy".

Well, I meant the fuss made by certain podcasters I listened to around the time of its release and critical reception overall, I should've specified sorry! Also FTL is something I been waiting to be ported to console forever am almost ready to give up lol.

 

[Drathnoxis]

But you already can go straight to Hyrule Castle to beat the main Boss, the marketing even brought it up before release. And nothing that couldn't be fixed by some parameter that would stop you from immediately going to Hyrule Castle.

I think what he meant was that you could go to Hyrule Castle, pick up all the end game weapons there, leave and then steamroll the rest of the game. Obviously the game would have to be rebalanced if durability was removed and they wouldn't be there.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished my NG+ Run for Shadows of the Damned: Remastered on Demon Hunter difficulty. I got all upgrades achievement. I'll save my fresh Legion Hunter playthrough for later.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Chapter 6 of Dead Space Remake down.

I've realized something I don't really care for in Dead Space, and I think it's the reason why I've been running out of ammo: that I can tell, Isaac basically has no real way to dodge attacks. If an enemy gets into close range and you don't immediately kill or Stasis them, you're taking damage, and with how often enemies love to sneak up behind you, that'll happen a lot. When enemies launch projectiles, Isaac often can't move fast enough to evade them if you even see where they're coming from. And nothing's worse than those tiny swarm bastards who are too small to really see or aim at, and grab you to deal extremely fast damage over time and force you to mash X to tear them off - and while you're doing that, you're not shooting at or running away from the other bastards, so they can get some free hits too. The Leviathan boss fight was like that a lot too, with the added benefit that when (not if) it hits you, you physically can't fire your gun for a few seconds, giving it time to remove its weak points again.

And because the game has to keep putting health kits in lockers and enemy drops, it's not giving me ammo to handle the next enemy behind it, who as a result gets another hit in on me...

I don't know, I'm perfectly willing to admit that this is probably a skill issue, but when Leon had so many ways to evade incoming attacks even in the original RE4 with its tank controls, Isaac's supposed greater mobility is undercut by his total inability to dodge.

 

[BrawlMan]

I think it's the reason why I've been running out of ammo:

How many weapons you got on you? The ammo drop rate works by giving you ammo for whatever weapon you're currently not using and are low on. There is way to manipulate the system, just like the original. Try to keep no more than 2-3 weapons on hand. If you go above that, the drop rate will work "properly" and will make the game harder for you on those drop rates. Sometimes it's best to keep to have only one weapon, so you''ll get constant drops of ammo. This is what many players do for their Plasma Cutter only run, and works in both versions of the game.

When enemies launch projectiles, Isaac often can't move fast enough to evade them if you even see where they're coming from.

For most projectiles, you can use Kenisis in the remake, catch them, and toss them right back at Necros. While Isaac doesn't have a traditional dodge, most of the projectile Necros have a wind up attack that is telegraphed. Giving the player ample time to move out the way or just shoot the weak points if you have the ammo to stunlock them and cancel their attack(s).

Leon had so many ways to evade incoming attacks even in the original RE4 with its tank controls, Isaac's supposed greater mobility is undercut by his total inability to dodge.

Leon only dodges when a giant button prompt tells him to do so. It's fun, but it still doesn't make the tank controls any less annoying and outdated for me. Garcia Fucking Hotspur (Fucking is his literal middle name) has a dedicated dodge button and can move and shoot at the same time in Shadows of the Damned. At least RE5 gives Chris and Sheva more melee options, team up attacks, and allows you to insta-kill enemies, if you stun them from behind. Isaac can at least shoot and move at the same time. I'll stick take those character kits, over OG RE4 Leon's move set and abilities.

 

[laggyteabag]

I finished Ghosts of Tsushima, and I really loved it. For one, this game is remarkably gorgeous. The grass density is insane, and it seems like everytime I feel like I have seen the best vista that the game has to offer, I end up finding one even nicer 10 minutes later. This game is just oozing production values, and I was constantly just taking the game's atmosphere in.

I thought the combat was really satisfying and stylish, but I do wish the stances had more to them. As it stands, you just switch your stance based on the enemy that you're fighting, and suddenly your heavy attack does more stagger damage, and that is about it. The animations change, but its not like you really unlock any different moves or combos to pull off. I think a harder difficulty would serve this game really well, so I might give that a try at some point.

I admittedly didn't engage much with a lot of the side-content, but I did all of the character missions. The game didn't overstay its welcome, and Im looking forward to revisiting shortly for the DLC content.

Yeah, really loved this one.

Otherwise, im playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I would say it is a hot take to say that I am actually enjoying it, but it feels weird to say that about a game that has received largely overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and is currently Mostly Positive on Steam (74%, 120000 reviews), which makes me feel like it is not a hot take at all.

Im playing as a Mage, and I'm really enjoying the combat. I was concerned that the game would feel very limiting with you only having 3 abilities, plus an ultimate, but between all of your God of War (2018) style combos, as well as the runes, passives, and companion abilities, I already don't feel as restricted as I did in Inquisition.

I haven't recruited all of the companions yet, but I so far don't find the writing to be as dire as many have reported - aside from the occasional clumsy moment of spouting exposition to someone who shouldn't need it. One thing to note though, usually when I play an RPG, I can pretty easily say who I want to romance from the get-go, but here, so far I'm not really interested in anyone that I have met. Bellara and Harding both fall somewhere on the "quirky" spectrum, I'm really unsure about Neve's voiceacting, and I've only just met Lucanis. And two of the three remaining companions are an old dude, and one of Veilguard's signature ugly Qunari. We'll see how this goes. It is still early days.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

How many weapons you got on you? The ammo drop rate works by giving you ammo for whatever weapon you're currently not using and are low on. There is way to manipulate the system, just like the original. Try to keep no more than 2-3 weapons on hand. If you go above that, the drop rate will work "properly" and will make the game harder for you on those drop rates. Sometimes it's best to keep to have only one weapon, so you''ll get constant drops of ammo. This is what many players do for their Plasma Cutter only run, and works in both versions of the game.

I knew about that, but as mentioned, my health is constantly low because I can't avoid attacks very well, so I get health kits instead of ammo drops, leaving me in a vicious cycle of not having ammo.

For most projectiles, you can use Kenisis in the remake, catch them, and toss them right back at Necros. While Isaac doesn't have a traditional dodge, most of the projectile Necros have a wind up attack that is telegraphed. Giving the player ample time to move out the way or just shoot the weak points if you have the ammo to stunlock them and cancel their attack(s).

Didn't know that. I'll give that a shot next time.

Leon only dodges when a giant button prompt tells him to do so. It's fun, but it still doesn't make the tank controls any less annoying and outdated for me. Garcia Fucking Hotspur (Fucking is his literal middle name) has a dedicated dodge button and can move and shoot at the same time in Shadows of the Damned. At least RE5 gives Chris and Sheva more melee options, team up attacks, and allows you to insta-kill enemies, if you stun them from behind. Isaac can at least shoot and move at the same time. I'll stick take those character kits, over OG RE4 Leon's move set and abilities.

When an enemy takes a swing at Leon, if you catch the telegraph in time, you can usually step back, to the side, or even past them to avoid it, even without a big flashing dodge prompt appearing. And that works in the original game, too. When an enemy starts winding up a swing at Isaac, in my experience, it's usually already too late to get away from it, because the hitboxes on those attacks are huge and Isaac is not that fast. Hope you're quick on the Stasis draw, and facing the right direction.

 

[BrawlMan]

And that works in the original game, too. When an enemy starts winding up a swing at Isaac, in my experience, it's usually already too late to get away from it, because the hitboxes on those attacks are huge and Isaac is not that fast. Hope you're quick on the Stasis draw, and facing the right direction.

Most of the time, you can prevent being hit. Even if it's a surprise attack. For the monsters that run or walk, just shoot them in the legs. That's the best way to deal with those as you'll be fighting them most of the time. Also, consult with this:

FTR, It's for the original Dead Space though. Seraphim17 doesn't like to remake. It's mostly for pettt reasons why he dislikes it ththough. I am not going to discuss it here.

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