Crimson Desert is a real game

[Dreiko]

Not so much "peer pressure" as it was nonstop badgering about "ZMOFG, aLl the STufFZs yoU CAn dO!!!!" I was actually genuinely curious about the game myself before he decided it was the Second Coming of Christ, and when he heard that, it was all the fuel he needed to flood me with videos and shit basically every day for the past two weeks. I honestly think he spent more time finding videos to send me than actually playing it. Think of it like casually mentioning to a friend that your curious what crack feels like, and said friend just happens to have felony-amounts of crack on him at the time.


Meh, we don't tit for tat like that. Read my above response; I was thinking about getting it anyway, he just decided I needed a full-on shove instead of a gentle nudge. You really do have to know him; he becomes a fanatic about anything that excites him, and I've learned to just let him tire himself out like a toddler on too much sugar. Point in case: when the Xbox One lunched with the Kinect 2.0, he spent the months leading up to launch trying to convince me it was going to revolutionize gaming. About a month after he had it in his hands, I got my expected "man, you were right; this ain't shit" bro-pology.


That's precisely what I need to break myself from; I can't expect it to feel like a Souls game. I just haven't played any non-Souls, melee combat-heavy games in literally over a decade; my brain sees "sword and enemies" and goes straight to i-frames, stamina management, which button is my Estus flask, and "I took two hits; why am I not dead yet?" Dare I say this feels almost too easy? Again, I haven't played but 5 minutes, so I'm not judging it yet, just calling out that I'm in need of some major deprogramming if I'm going to appreciate my time with this game.

Bosses definitely are more souls combat than normal mobs. And normal mobs are half musou and half yakuza basically. You wanna use massive AoE moves like the light attack + dash button move that slashes all around you. Or the focus + light attack AoE energy wave to make space, or the grab that makes a shockwave that blasts everyone away. Don’t waste time going against them one by one when you’re surrounded cause unlike Assassin’s creed where they each take their turn, here you’ll be hit by 5 dudes simultaneously and die very fast.


As for the enemies feeling easy, that’s cause you’re early on in a 300 hour game with hard locked level areas and you’re at the earlymost zone.

I was doing those witch side quests at chapter 5 and it had me going against a boss that could legit 1shot me on block and had enough life where you could stun him twice and do a full ass stamina bar combo and he was still alive. Died so many times. I was prolly too underpowered for that fight but fuck him I won and now I have a greatsword that shoots dark energy slashes.

 

[BrawlMan]

Meh, we don't tit for tat like that. Read my above response; I was thinking about getting it anyway, he just decided I needed a full-on shove instead of a gentle nudge. You really do have to know him; he becomes a fanatic about anything that excites him, and I've learned to just let him tire himself out like a toddler on too much sugar. Point in case: when the Xbox One lunched with the Kinect 2.0, he spent the months leading up to launch trying to convince me it was going to revolutionize gaming. About a month after he had it in his hands, I got my expected "man, you were right; this ain't shit" bro-pology.

You know what, I remember you telling me that one before. You are correct.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Bosses definitely are more souls combat than normal mobs. And normal mobs are half musou and half yakuza basically. You wanna use massive AoE moves like the light attack + dash button move that slashes all around you. Or the focus + light attack AoE energy wave to make space, or the grab that makes a shockwave that blasts everyone away. Don’t waste time going against them one by one when you’re surrounded cause unlike Assassin’s creed where they each take their turn, here you’ll be hit by 5 dudes simultaneously and die very fast.


As for the enemies feeling easy, that’s cause you’re early on in a 300 hour game with hard locked level areas and you’re at the earlymost zone.

I was doing those witch side quests at chapter 5 and it had me going against a boss that could legit 1shot me on block and had enough life where you could stun him twice and do a full ass stamina bar combo and he was still alive. Died so many times. I was prolly too underpowered for that fight but fuck him I won and now I have a greatsword that shoots dark energy slashes.

Yeah, I know I'm extremely early in the game; I was just noting that in most Souls games, you open up with mobs that can easily kill you if you're careless. I literally put ZERO thought into my first encounter, and I have no idea what I learned other than attacking makes the things die. It told me about a block button, but I don't know if it actually had any effect because it all ended so unceremoniously. I'm sure the challenge ramps up, but I've been conditioned to feel that I need to force my way in, and not that a game will lay out a plush red carpet for my entrance.

OT, lol, I told my friend how I don't like the combat, and he came at me with all the passion of a MAGA cultist (of which he's not, just an analogy) asserting it's a "me" problem. I challenged him to try Elden Ring before simply believing Crimson Desert is better because it's bloated with "+300 hours" of content. I think I might actually be wearing him down for once; I challenged him to try a Souls game, and he said he would... after he finishes Crimson Desert, a cop out that basically means he hopes I'll forget about that commitment by the time he finishes dicking around in Crimson Desert a couple hundred hours from now.

 

[BrawlMan]

https://www.ign.com/articles/crimson-desert-sells-4-million-copies-in-2-weeks-as-pearl-abyss-open-world-action-adventure-continues-its-hot-streak

 

[thebobmaster]

Gaming is dead because this game I had no interest in has sold millions of copies. Again.

 

[Dreiko]

Yeah, I know I'm extremely early in the game; I was just noting that in most Souls games, you open up with mobs that can easily kill you if you're careless. I literally put ZERO thought into my first encounter, and I have no idea what I learned other than attacking makes the things die. It told me about a block button, but I don't know if it actually had any effect because it all ended so unceremoniously. I'm sure the challenge ramps up, but I've been conditioned to feel that I need to force my way in, and not that a game will lay out a plush red carpet for my entrance.

OT, lol, I told my friend how I don't like the combat, and he came at me with all the passion of a MAGA cultist (of which he's not, just an analogy) asserting it's a "me" problem. I challenged him to try Elden Ring before simply believing Crimson Desert is better because it's bloated with "+300 hours" of content. I think I might actually be wearing him down for once; I challenged him to try a Souls game, and he said he would... after he finishes Crimson Desert, a cop out that basically means he hopes I'll forget about that commitment by the time he finishes dicking around in Crimson Desert a couple hundred hours from now.

Elden Ring is baby mode anyways. Have him play Sekiro. That separates the men from the magic users.


And yeah the first fights are more like button tutorials with some narrative thrown in. Not really challenges at all.

 

[FakeSympathy]

So I have spent the last 50 hours in the game to complete a questline called "For a better tomorrow". Bascially, donate a bunch of materials to your camp.

And holy shit, do I feel burnt out. My reddit post on this:

In the end, this questline is equivalent of Zelda BOTW/TOTK's korok seed collection quest; Crap load of effort going in, shit reward in return. No achievement either.

Well, it also raises contribution level for the Greymanes, but honestly, I haven't found the point in doing so.

Guys, don't do this questline. Just enjoy the game casually. I am actually so fucking pissed off right now, enough to make me not want to play this game for a good while

 

[CriticalGaming]

Guys, don't do this questline. Just enjoy the game casually. I am actually so fucking pissed off right now, enough to make me not want to play this game for a good while

That's a big oof my guy.

 

[FakeSympathy]

That's a big oof my guy.

Probably there for completionists or sadists who enjoy torturous grinding.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Probably there for completionists or sadists who enjoy torturous grinding.

Typical Asian MMO bullshit design.

 

[Dreiko]

So I have spent the last 50 hours in the game to complete a questline called "For a better tomorrow". Bascially, donate a bunch of materials to your camp.

And holy shit, do I feel burnt out. My reddit post on this:

In the end, this questline is equivalent of Zelda BOTW/TOTK's korok seed collection quest; Crap load of effort going in, shit reward in return. No achievement either.

Well, it also raises contribution level for the Greymanes, but honestly, I haven't found the point in doing so.

Guys, don't do this questline. Just enjoy the game casually. I am actually so fucking pissed off right now, enough to make me not want to play this game for a good while

That’s a very long term quest you contribute to gradually. It’s not meant to be something you undertake. It’s like putting savings away to one day buy a boat. Little bit here and there. I think I got the coin and lumber parts down but the minerals I am hoarding for myself for upgrades so they’ll have to wait.

If you wanna improve the life of the greymanes finding all the missing ones goes way further cause it fills in your campsite with all shorts of shops and amenities.

 

[FakeSympathy]

That’s a very long term quest you contribute to gradually. It’s not meant to be something you undertake. It’s like putting savings away to one day buy a boat. Little bit here and there. I think I got the coin and lumber parts down but the minerals I am hoarding for myself for upgrades so they’ll have to wait.

If you wanna improve the life of the greymanes finding all the missing ones goes way further cause it fills in your campsite with all shorts of shops and amenities.

Yeah, i definitely think it was meant as a long-term investment. I was just curious to see what happens if it was completed in early-game.

It does raise contribution level for the Greymanes, but I haven't exactly found how that benefits me.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Yeah, i definitely think it was meant as a long-term investment. I was just curious to see what happens if it was completed in early-game.

It does raise contribution level for the Greymanes, but I haven't exactly found how that benefits me.

it benefits you for not having to do it later.

 

[Dreiko]

Yeah, i definitely think it was meant as a long-term investment. I was just curious to see what happens if it was completed in early-game.

It does raise contribution level for the Greymanes, but I haven't exactly found how that benefits me.

Contribution is a currency you spend at specialist shops. I’ve found one in the main town in Hernand but for greymanes you need to probably reunite with the particular greymane npc before you can cash in your points.

 

[CriticalGaming]

People have begun to get the platinum trophies for the game. Which is longer than I expected it to take considering some trophy hunters are insane.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Reviews have really been underselling this games story. It's quite entertaining and pretty well presented. It's a shame so much of the exposition is tucked away in the glossary and in very easily missable flashback sequences you can watch with your memory helmet but it's not nearly as rudimentary as the reviews even the positive reviews, have made it out to be. There's intrigue. There are a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of flamboyant villains. It's fun, it feels like a DnD campaign. Kind of improvisational at times, yes, but the primary beats are all pretty fun and the setpieces are amazing.

A German preview probably described it best: S.S. Rajamouli's Game of Thrones.

 

[meiam]

Reviews have really been underselling this games story. It's quite entertaining and pretty well presented. It's a shame so much of the exposition is tucked away in the glossary and in very easily missable flashback sequences you can watch with your memory helmet but it's not nearly as rudimentary as the reviews even the positive reviews, have made it out to be. There's intrigue. There are a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of flamboyant villains. It's fun, it feels like a DnD campaign. Kind of improvisational at times, yes, but the primary beats are all pretty fun and the setpieces are amazing.

A German preview probably described it best: S.S. Rajamouli's Game of Thrones.

The problem is the meh stuff is very much front loaded, plenty of early quest are just following the map marker around for some reason.

 

[Dreiko]

Reviews have really been underselling this games story. It's quite entertaining and pretty well presented. It's a shame so much of the exposition is tucked away in the glossary and in very easily missable flashback sequences you can watch with your memory helmet but it's not nearly as rudimentary as the reviews even the positive reviews, have made it out to be. There's intrigue. There are a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of flamboyant villains. It's fun, it feels like a DnD campaign. Kind of improvisational at times, yes, but the primary beats are all pretty fun and the setpieces are amazing.

A German preview probably described it best: S.S. Rajamouli's Game of Thrones.

I think most people judge the story based on the first 3 chapters and kinda stop analyzing. They don’t care this game is very much a slow burn.

 

[Gordon_4]

I think most people judge the story based on the first 3 chapters and kinda stop analyzing. They don’t care this game is very much a slow burn.

Depending on how long those first three chapters take, allowing for the occasional bit of distraction and Bower Birding, it may be that the burn is too slow. There's nothing wrong with taking ones time but if your story meanders around with dull bullshit for too long, its not entirely the fault of the player base for checking out because you couldn't at least reveal ONE part of the larger intrigue.

 

[Dreiko]

Depending on how long those first three chapters take, allowing for the occasional bit of distraction and Bower Birding, it may be that the burn is too slow. There's nothing wrong with taking ones time but if your story meanders around with dull bullshit for too long, its not entirely the fault of the player base for checking out because you couldn't at least reveal ONE part of the larger intrigue.

That only applies to linear games, not games where you can just set forth from chapter 1 and not do any main quests and just explore and get lost in the world for tens of hours. Can you imagine if Skyrim was handled this way? Do you remember its reviews and how each person had their own little adventure based on which direction they set forth towards, all of them ignoring the main quest? Same thing here.

Like I had a good 10 hours before even getting the grappling hook and flight just running around doing things.


I can see if you are a psycho and just ignore 99% of the stuff in front of you and just do the 3 main quests back to back how that could be boring but the same could be said regarding skyrim too and in neither case it would be a reasonable criticism.


I think the issue here is that some of the people judging the game just didn't care to actually enjoy it so they phoned it in, meanwhile most people back in the day were super excited about skyrim and put in the necessary effort towards enjoying it.