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Xprimentyl

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Good luck. It's honestly more like Bloodborne in some ways then DS1 or DS2.

That being said, so far I like it a lot. I think it and BB are tied for my fav Soulsbourne game. I'm maybe halfway through so my opinion my change.
Never played BB (lacking in the PS4 department.) How does it rank insofar as difficulty for a blind playthrough?
 

meiam

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Never played BB (lacking in the PS4 department.) How does it rank insofar as difficulty for a blind playthrough?
If you've played the other soul game it should be a bit easier than those. I think all soul game have more or less the same difficulty, but since they're pretty similar they tend to feel easier, once you've adapted to the small difference in control.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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The journey through Dark Souls 3 continues.

The Pope is dead. I've passed through Irithyll proper and brought the papacy of Darth Sulyvahn to an end. Which apparently means I'm the new Pope, because if my understanding of Star Wars and God of War have taught me anything, if you kill someone important, you get their job. I'm pretty sure that's how popes are chosen in the real world too.... :) Unfortunately, none of the clerics or Pontiff Knights seem to recognize my new position, so I'll just have to kill them until they understand.

Not as bad as I expected him to be, but I did a few practice co-op battles first. Having Anri alongside as a summon helps a bit.

Also, the Silver Knights are back. And so is Anor Londo. And also those FUCKING DRAGONBOW SNIPERS!

I've also made down to the Irithyll dungeon and that place is just....NOPE. I decided to come back later which is why I've been progressing up through the main city instead.
Imo he was the first challenging boss as in, Bloody Hell this SoB ain’t messin around. I never used summons in this one, but I think difficulty scales with them so it might be a wash. He pretty much sets the tone for most that follow, save a couple.

The dungeon kinda had a Latria vibe from Demons Souls too. But there’s also some DkS1 influence there. One of my favorite locations in the game follows it.

Oh, and keep some prism stones handy for AL, but you probably already noticed something peculiar in a seemingly unreachable tower.
 
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Ezekiel

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Done with my second playthrough of Uncharted 4. I like The Lost Legacy slightly more. Didn't hammer the characterization so hard at the expense of the adventure. Had different directors and writers.

I don't think I know any other games in which the muscles bulge when the arm is flexed. That's neat.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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Finally, finally, FINALLY.... picked up Dark Souls 3.

I spoiled a lot of DS1 for myself having watched multiple playthroughs and soliciting help throughout my own, but I still managed to put more hours into it than most things in my life. DS2 was just a chore, a desparate new girlfriend trying to live up to the standards set by an old one, but I slogged through it, getting help when I got tired of grinding or got lost. DS3 will be my first DS experience where I'm going in reasonably blind. I've not watched any playthroughs, and I don't intend on seeking help unless I get cripplingly stuck. Wish me luck...
So you did end up finishing DS2, cool. Yeah, pretty sure 3 will play like a breath of fresh air for you after that.


If you've played the other soul game it should be a bit easier than those. I think all soul game have more or less the same difficulty, but since they're pretty similar they tend to feel easier, once you've adapted to the small difference in control.
Save for the chalice dungeons and DLC, yeah BB isn’t too bad. The initial few hours is the steepest curve in learning new mechanics, but for anyone who already parried and rolled a lot in Souls it’s a pretty smooth transition. Not quite the same can be said for Sekiro, where you’re basically training yourself into playing an elaborate rhythm game.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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The Talos Principle

Clever puzzles, though I think the game could benefit from a little more variety. I'm done with the first world and so far it's all been jamming doors and redirecting lasers. Environments are pretty but repetitive, graphics so-so, and there's a general sense of cheapness like it was cobbled together from preexisting assets.
 
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Dalisclock

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Imo he was the first challenging boss as in, Bloody Hell this SoB ain’t messin around. I never used summons in this one, but I think difficulty scales with them so it might be a wash. He pretty much sets the tone for most that follow, save a couple.

The dungeon kinda had a Latria vibe from Demons Souls too. But there’s also some DkS1 influence there. One of my favorite locations in the game follows it.

Oh, and keep some prism stones handy for AL, but you probably already noticed something peculiar in a seemingly unreachable tower.
I tend to perfer using summons, because if nothing else, they give the boss someone other than me to focus on, even if only for a moment and having a small window to heal is always nice. There's also the fact that if the boss is tracking one of us, the other one can be running up behind him to get in some hits. And in gank fights, it means having some means of effective crowd control(which for me is always a big deal, because trying track two dangerous targets in these games is rough for me and three targets is downright infuriating).

I haven't played much of DeS but I've heard the Tower is dark and moody and boy, does the dungeon fit that. I mean, ye gads does that place seems creepy as fuck.

Now I'm curious what I'd need prism stones for......I have some, but haven't really needed to use them.

Never played BB (lacking in the PS4 department.) How does it rank insofar as difficulty for a blind playthrough?
BB has certain things that are tricky to pick up on a Blind playthrough. A couple character questlines, for example. There's also an ending you can only get if you do a certain thing that may seem weirdly counterintuitive and requires you to search off the beaten path.
You have to locate 3 "1/3 of an umbilical cord" and eat them and if you're wondering why you would think to do that, Welcome to Bloodborne, where doing gross dangerous things is the norm(Can't imagine why there's a horrible plague turning people into monsters running amok).

As far as gameplay, I found it a bit easier then some of the other souls games, particularly DS2 but I didn't particularly like DS2 and it has better quality of life then DS1 or DeS. The big downside is that instead of Estus, you have blood vials that are a consumable item and you might need to farm them if you find yourself running low(because when you respawn, they're pulled from your storage, not renewed ad infinitum like Estus). I think the fact the hollow/human thing isn't a thing in BB and the combat is much more agile. There's like 2 shields in the entire game: One is a joke(literally a piece of wood with a note about shields encouraging cowardice) and the other is a proper shield but gated behind an optional hard boss.

Don't get me wrong though, some of the bosses are very difficult(Most if not all of the DLC bosses, for example) and some areas are rough. There's at least one boss who sucks because you have to chase him down through a maze (twice) during his fight, all while he's rambling at you.

Dark Souls 3 might be worse for a blind playthrough. There's one ending in particular I'd imagine it's quite tricky to get without knowing what you're supposed to be doing, or even ths it exists. Like BB, it requires you to do things that seem like a bad idea to start with, and it right be appropriate, depending on how you interpret that ending(it's either the best or worst ending, depending on your POV).
 
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Dalisclock

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The Talos Principle

Clever puzzles, though I think the game could benefit from a little more variety. I'm done with the first world and so far it's all been jamming doors and redirecting lasers. Environments are pretty but repetitive, graphics so-so, and there's a general sense of cheapness like it was cobbled together from preexisting assets.
it's made by the guys who made Serious Sam, so thus the infatuation with ruins. Except now they're full of puzzles instead of hordes of enemies.

It does tend to get a little more interesting as you go, but yeah, the worlds do feel a bit samey. Honestly, the dialogues with Milton were more interesting to me then a lot of the puzzle solving.

Also, Climb the Tower.
 
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Chupathingy

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Finally got around to finishing Crash Bandicoot 4. Overall it was good, but there were enough annoying features and levels that dragged the game down a bit. I'm probably going to attempt acquiring and finishing all flashback tapes/levels next, because so far those have been the highlight of the game for me.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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God of War 3 Remastered. Forgot how fun old school GoW is. Such a well-designed game for a linear romp, and the play is very varied. At Hades Palace now. Clancy Brown adds so much to the atmosphere through voice alone.
 

meiam

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Save for the chalice dungeons and DLC, yeah BB isn’t too bad. The initial few hours is the steepest curve in learning new mechanics, but for anyone who already parried and rolled a lot in Souls it’s a pretty smooth transition. Not quite the same can be said for Sekiro, where you’re basically training yourself into playing an elaborate rhythm game.
As someone who absolutely hate parry and refuse to use it, BB was only hard at the very beginning (Father G and his near perfect tracking) but once I got pass that nothing was really that hard (never did chalice cause they were boring, finished DLC and it was a step up but nothing special). I think they front loaded the stuff to force player to change playing style but afterward you can do just fine without it. Plus once you get the canon it's like the revenge for player who don't parry, final boss just melted so fast using it.

I did have to use parry for Sekiro, but it's by far my least favorite soul game for that reason, if I wanted to play dance dance revolution I'd be playing dance dance revolution, thank you very much.
 

happyninja42

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The Talos Principle

Clever puzzles, though I think the game could benefit from a little more variety. I'm done with the first world and so far it's all been jamming doors and redirecting lasers. Environments are pretty but repetitive, graphics so-so, and there's a general sense of cheapness like it was cobbled together from preexisting assets.
Yeah the ascetic didn't really bother me, given the context of the game and what is happening and why. As you find the various audio-logs it feels like it makes sense. I personally love that game, mostly for the story of it, not the actual puzzles. I eventually gave up trying to figure them out, and just looked up the solutions on YT, because I have very low patience for elaborate puzzles. And some of them get very intricate and convoluted.

Also, Climb the Tower.
Yes, do that.
 

laggyteabag

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Trying my hardest to get into Total War Warhammer.

Im having a great time, but it is quite a high barrier of entry, coming from someone who's only RTS experience is from stuff like Age of Empires or StarCraft 2.
 

Dalisclock

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More Dark Souls 3: Dark Harder.

Saint Aldrich is down. That fight was a bit rough, though arguably it was still harder just getting to him. Those Silver Knights have either been doing some level grinding since last time or I just forgot how I'm supposed to fight them. Also, fuck those Dragonbow Snipers. Seriously, fuck those guys hard. I does appear they've learned from the last time, since now they refuse to be isolated, have overlapping fields of fire and man they will follow you to the ends of the earth if you try to slip past them(the only exception being The Darkmoon Chapel, which they refuse to enter

I'm gonna give props to FROM for how well the zone has been recreated in the new engine. The design looks exactly how I remember it(baring the West Wing which is now inaccessible due to rubble in the passage). I knew exactly where to look for the door handle(though I don't remember that spider thing being there before).

Apparently I got Married to Anri by Stabbing her in the head with a special sword because Dark Souls can't do anything the easy way, it seems. Either that or it's all a really awkward metaphor......which I hope it's not because problematic is probably the least of the words to use for it. Also, Priscilla apparently had a daughter? Maybe a sister? Company Captain Yorska looks an awful lot like some other Dragon girl we've seen before. I have a feeling the game will never tell us exactly what's up with that.

Havel: We can't get the stains out either.
Gywn: You will not speak of this to anyone.
*Locks Havel in a tower for eternity*
I do find it interesting how Darth Sulyvan seems to be a major player behind pretty much everything that happened to set this game up and ends up being not that big a deal as far as the boss fight goes, whereas Aldrich is the Lord of Cinder for the area and his backstory is pretty much "Decided men were tasty, got fucking huge by eating men and upgrading to gods, turned into a blob, linked the flame, got buried in a coffin the size of a small building, fucked off to another cathedral(god knows how he got all the way up there) because of course he did". I've read Pope Sith Lord was supposed to be the big final boss for the game early on and at some point they downgraded him despite keeping his plot importance.

Also, the Demon Ruins are a bit disappointing. It feels like the Catacombs of Carthus but with more roots and flame textures. Honestly reminds me of the BB Chalice Dungeons which I also didn't care much for. The only thing I've found so far to make the trip worth it is a Pyromancy book(which is nice because I've been learning some pyromancy for the ability to throw fireballs at some enemies) and an estus shard. No idea what else I'm doing down here other then looking for shinies.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Demon Ruins were one of the more patience-testing areas in the game for me too. Other than some good pyromancer-focused loot and a fun cat-and-mouse style boss fight, it was about as charming as its namesake suggests.

If you want to save time/hassle, here’s what’s attainable there and the greater surrounding areas -

 

Dalisclock

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Demon Ruins were one of the more patience-testing areas in the game for me too. Other than some good pyromancer-focused loot and a fun cat-and-mouse style boss fight, it was about as charming as its namesake suggests.

If you want to save time/hassle, here’s what’s attainable there and the greater surrounding areas -

The Old Demon King, right? I ran across him but haven't beat him yet. I figured i needed to come back later in the game, though as far as I know he's totally optional.

Looking at that map....damn, there's a couple things I want from down there. Guess I'm gonna have to suck it up and go down to get them. I do find it annoying because as shitty as the Demon areas in DS were, they were at least interesting to look at. This feels like a late in game development area that didn't get nearly as much attention but at least they had the decency to make it completely optional(as far as I can tell)
 
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meiam

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Trying my hardest to get into Total War Warhammer.

Im having a great time, but it is quite a high barrier of entry, coming from someone who's only RTS experience is from stuff like Age of Empires or StarCraft 2.
Total war and RTS are actually pretty different beast. Since you can slow down and stop time, good micro control isn't necessary, instead it's more about the overall battle strategy and causing moral loss instead of killing every enemy to the last (although in practice usually the best way to remove moral is also the best way to kill lots of enemy). The frustrating part is usually to find a way for your army not to mess up the formation you want them to adopt while moving(spear on flank, archer behind and such).
 

hanselthecaretaker

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The Old Demon King, right? I ran across him but haven't beat him yet. I figured i needed to come back later in the game, though as far as I know he's totally optional.

Looking at that map....damn, there's a couple things I want from down there. Guess I'm gonna have to suck it up and go down to get them. I do find it annoying because as shitty as the Demon areas in DS were, they were at least interesting to look at. This feels like a late in game development area that didn't get nearly as much attention but at least they had the decency to make it completely optional(as far as I can tell)
Yeah, he was a pretty fun boss. Felt like a mouse trying to outfox a slow-ish cat, taking jabs at it and running away haha.

Flash Sweat pyro spell might help if anything you need is...surrounding by a boiling lake of LAVA.
 
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Ezekiel

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I'm surprised how fun the survival maps in Uncharted 4 are. I'm forced to be much more active than in single player. I aim better too, because I have to. I play alone, though. Don't wanna pay for the sub. Annoying that Chloe, whom I wanna play as most, is one of the random unlockables. They knew people would pay for her.