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[Xprimentyl]

So I spent way more time than I needed to in Blighttown because I didnt't realize the big cobwebbed thing in the distance wasn't just part of the scenery, but the entrance to the big tiddy spidertaur boss fight. She was kinda easy (two tries). Really all of Blighttown wasn't half bad compared to Valley of Defilement. From memory that place was way bigger and considerably more unforgiving, with its huge swathes of poison shallows and all the ways the game would trick you into falling to your death. Blighttown is also surprisingly "generous" with its two bonfires.

I kinda miss the Demon's Souls style of progression where you'd go through these circular gauntlets that, without realizing it, would take you back to the beginning with a shortcut while also opening the way ahead. Areas in Dark Souls are connected in amuch more labyrinthine way, but the structure within each area itself is usually pretty linear.

@Xprimentyl @NerfedFalcon What's something good to do before heading to Sen's Fortress? I haven't cleared all of Darkroot Garden/Basin yet (made it to the Ents/Wargs after the Hydra; couldn't find the Golem). There's Demon's Ruins, Valley of Drakes, New Londo and Undead Asylum (where I think I did everything but beat Stray Demon).

Like @NerfedFalcon said, there is a key item in the Asylum, but using it can leave you "stuck" if you're not ready. I'll spoil it for caution's sake the doll you find in the asylum gives you access to the Paint World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, but without the Lord Vessel to open bonfire teleportation, youre stuck there until you get past the boss..

But beating the Stray Demon nets you a much coveted Titanite Slab which, as stated, you won't need anytime soon, but is a precious resource.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Like @NerfedFalcon said, there is a key item in the Asylum, but using it can leave you "stuck" if you're not ready. I'll spoil it for caution's sake the doll you find in the asylum gives you access to the Paint World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, but without the Lord Vessel to open bonfire teleportation, youre stuck there until you get past the boss..

But beating the Stray Demon nets you a much coveted Titanite Slab which, as stated, you won't need anytime soon, but is a precious resource.

Honestly, I think Johnny will be fine. I did it my first playthrough and didn't have a problem, and this isn't his first soulslike. He probably has the item already anyway since he said the Stray Demon is all he has left in they Asylum.

 

[Ezekiel]

The money amounts in Red Dead 2 are so small that nothing ever means anything. Like, there was this widow with a little boy whom Arthur came to collect the husband's debt from, and after she explained that she had nothing left and her crappy little house was being taken I chose to absolve the debt and give her some money. But it was only 55 dollars, out of 2,600!

 

[Worgen]

The money amounts in Red Dead 2 are so small that nothing ever means anything. Like, there was this widow with a little boy whom Arthur came to collect the husband's debt from, and after she explained that she had nothing left and her crappy little house was being taken I chose to absolve the debt and give her some money. But it was only 55 dollars!

In todays money that would be $2,066.

 

[Ezekiel]

In todays money that would be $2,066.

55 dollars out of 2600. Arthur is dying. He ruined the lives of these people.

 

[Worgen]

55 dollars out of 2600. Arthur is dying. He ruined the lives of these people.

Games let you accumulate a ridiculous amount of money rather easily. Right now you are running around with about $100k in todays money.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Like @NerfedFalcon said, there is a key item in the Asylum, but using it can leave you "stuck" if you're not ready. I'll spoil it for caution's sake the doll you find in the asylum gives you access to the Paint World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, but without the Lord Vessel to open bonfire teleportation, youre stuck there until you get past the boss..

But beating the Stray Demon nets you a much coveted Titanite Slab which, as stated, you won't need anytime soon, but is a precious resource.

Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't warp out of the Painted World even if you have the Lordvessel. But by the time you get it, you're almost certainly strong and/or skilled enough to fight your way to the exit.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Like @NerfedFalcon said, there is a key item in the Asylum, but using it can leave you "stuck" if you're not ready. I'll spoil it for caution's sake the doll you find in the asylum gives you access to the Paint World of Ariamis in Anor Londo, but without the Lord Vessel to open bonfire teleportation, youre stuck there until you get past the boss..

But beating the Stray Demon nets you a much coveted Titanite Slab which, as stated, you won't need anytime soon, but is a precious resource.

Pretty sure Priscilla is optional as long as you don’t attack her. It’s just getting that far can be a test of patience if you accidentally enter the place too early. IIRC the bonfire in Painted World would also need to be activated before you can warp to it, but you can’t warp out of this one so even having the Lordvessel there is futile.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Off to Anor Londo!

So Sen's Fortress was the first time in the game I got frustrated. It's the freaking boulder mechanism at the top. Unlike every other instance of changing the environment in some capacity - doors remain open, ladders remain lowered - the boulder mechanism resets (not sure why) even if you don't rest at a bonfire. That felt like a betrayal of the established mechanics. Like if there was an enemy resetting the mechanism at the top that respawns when I take a breather at a bonfire, fine. Cruel but fair. But it was no fun to discover that the thing was reset as I was running back up from Logan.

Maybe it's on a timer and I just got unlucky, I dunno. Still doesn't explain why the busted down wall would reform at bonfires though.

I also took a guillotine at the last possible second enroute to a bonfire that's way at the end of the area. Those mad dashes across beams were no fun. Blighttown had nothing quite as frustrating. At least it's not a very big area.

Beat Iron Golem in two tries. Took me a minute to realize you can roll between his legs, and that you can stagger him forever by attacking both legs (?). Rewatching the video it's probably the most fun fight so far, because it's a pretty good showcase of my thought process throughout, and I go from panicking and getting my ass handed to figuring out a strategy on the fly. Most bosses I kinda just lock on, circle around, bait their attacks, figure out the combos and then just wail in between their clockwork reprieves.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Finished Chapter 7 of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

One of the things that I actually like about this game is that, on normal difficulty, it doesn't pull its punches. A lot of what I'm about to say sounds like a negative at first: you can't really cancel out of anything, dodge rolls have no I-frames that I can detect, and while enemy animations are pretty long, so are yours - if you get stuck in one at the wrong time, you'll leave yourself wide open to an absurd amount of damage. The thing is, for a better player than I am, that 'absurd amount of damage' is completely avoidable, and even so there's lots of ways to mitigate it instead of taking it all on the chin if you try hard enough. Guarding also boosts your ATB gauge, Barret's tank skills let him pull more than just aggro while staying mostly out of trouble, switching characters lets you hit enemies from one direction while another character is pinned down. All those tactics, as well as the classic 'hit enemies with their elemental weakness', mean that tough regular encounters and especially the big boss fights take actual tactics and skill to complete, at least without burning a whole lot of Phoenix Downs and other items.

But you also have those Phoenix Downs and other items to keep you moving forward even if you suck like I do (I had to use two during Airbuster), as well as easy mode if you suck even more than I do and just want to see what happens next.

I bring this up because, looking back on it, the original game is just kinda easy for most of the time. Regular enemies are usually beatable with just 'hit them a lot and heal if your health gets low', and most bosses are the same, except for longer. Even the Guard Scorpion's mechanic of 'don't attack at certain times' is only really used by the Scorpion itself and then forgotten about (which happens in almost all the ATB Final Fantasy games, admittedly). Only certain late-game and optional bosses require you to bring specific skills to handle them, and even fewer require you to make more complex decisions during the battle than 'lead off with Big Guard and heal if you get low'. Remake's bosses genuinely take skill and tactics to handle on a level that puts even Kingdom Hearts's regular bosses to shame, while also making each and every one of them a unique and memorable spectacle, and I think that's one of its best qualities, both as a standalone game and as a remake (inasmuch as it is one at all; more on that later).

Anyway, Chapter 8: Aerith finally joins the party, and you get to spend quite a bit of time with her. Which is good, because she's probably the hardest of the four PCs (so far) to grok, with her focus on magic and buffing skills over direct offense. And with what I said about tough bosses about to become very relevant in Chapter 9 (I didn't get that far myself but I've heard things about Hell House), I'll need to get a handle on how Cloud and Aerith work together as quickly as I can.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't warp out of the Painted World even if you have the Lordvessel. But by the time you get it, you're almost certainly strong and/or skilled enough to fight your way to the exit.

Pretty sure Priscilla is optional as long as you don’t attack her. It’s just getting that far can be a test of patience if you accidentally enter the place too early. IIRC the bonfire in Painted World would also need to be activated before you can warp to it, but you can’t warp out of this one so even having the Lordvessel there is futile.

Hmm, I don't recall the Painted World being entirely inescapable, even with bonfire warping enable, but then again, I rarely, if ever, found myself going there more than once. And @hanselthecaretaker2, yes, Priscilla is optional, which is why I used the very specific wording "until you get past the boss."

 

[Xprimentyl]

Off to Anor Londo!

So Sen's Fortress was the first time in the game I got frustrated. It's the freaking boulder mechanism at the top. Unlike every other instance of changing the environment in some capacity - doors remain open, ladders remain lowered - the boulder mechanism resets (not sure why) even if you don't rest at a bonfire. That felt like a betrayal of the established mechanics. Like if there was an enemy resetting the mechanism at the top that respawns when I take a breather at a bonfire, fine. Cruel but fair. But it was no fun to discover that the thing was reset as I was running back up from Logan.

Maybe it's on a timer and I just got unlucky, I dunno. Still doesn't explain why the busted down wall would reform at bonfires though.

I also took a guillotine at the last possible second enroute to a bonfire that's way at the end of the area. Those mad dashes across beams were no fun. Blighttown had nothing quite as frustrating. At least it's not a very big area.

Beat Iron Golem in two tries. Took me a minute to realize you can roll between his legs, and that you can stagger him forever by attacking both legs (?). Rewatching the video it's probably the most fun fight so far, because it's a pretty good showcase of my thought process throughout, and I go from panicking and getting my ass handed to figuring out a strategy on the fly. Most bosses I kinda just lock on, circle around, bait their attacks, figure out the combos and then just wail in between their clockwork reprieves.

Yeah, Sen's is a pain in the ass, but once you learn it, like Blighttown, you KNOW it, and it's just an inconvenience in subsequent playthroughs. Sen's killed me dozens of times my first time, but I don't think I've died in there from anything other than carelessness or impatience since.

But welcome to Anor Londo!! Please share videos as you are about to meet the infamous Archers, arguably the most infuriating part of the game! Generally speaking, I'm not into schadenfreude, but there's a sick part of me that gets a little giddy when players first meet the Archers. If you come back with that "I did it in two tries" bullshit, I'm calling hacks and discrediting your entire playthrough. The Archers remain the one part of the game I still struggle with.

 

[Worgen]

Anyway, Chapter 8: Aerith finally joins the party, and you get to spend quite a bit of time with her. Which is good, because she's probably the hardest of the four PCs (so far) to grok, with her focus on magic and buffing skills over direct offense. And with what I said about tough bosses about to become very relevant in Chapter 9 (I didn't get that far myself but I've heard things about Hell House), I'll need to get a handle on how Cloud and Aerith work together as quickly as I can.

On my initial playthough of FF7 Aerith was the one I used the least, but on my hard playthough, she was my carry since she could regen mana and I finally got used to how to play her.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Off to Anor Londo!

So Sen's Fortress was the first time in the game I got frustrated. It's the freaking boulder mechanism at the top. Unlike every other instance of changing the environment in some capacity - doors remain open, ladders remain lowered - the boulder mechanism resets (not sure why) even if you don't rest at a bonfire. That felt like a betrayal of the established mechanics. Like if there was an enemy resetting the mechanism at the top that respawns when I take a breather at a bonfire, fine. Cruel but fair. But it was no fun to discover that the thing was reset as I was running back up from Logan.

Maybe it's on a timer and I just got unlucky, I dunno. Still doesn't explain why the busted down wall would reform at bonfires though.

I also took a guillotine at the last possible second enroute to a bonfire that's way at the end of the area. Those mad dashes across beams were no fun. Blighttown had nothing quite as frustrating. At least it's not a very big area.

Beat Iron Golem in two tries. Took me a minute to realize you can roll between his legs, and that you can stagger him forever by attacking both legs (?). Rewatching the video it's probably the most fun fight so far, because it's a pretty good showcase of my thought process throughout, and I go from panicking and getting my ass handed to figuring out a strategy on the fly. Most bosses I kinda just lock on, circle around, bait their attacks, figure out the combos and then just wail in between their clockwork reprieves.

Yeah the boulder is BS, it's unfortunate. There is a lizard man at the top and the implication is that he is supposed to be controlling it... but it'll still change direction to try to kill you even after he's dead.

 

[laggyteabag]

Did a very quick replay of the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017's) campaign, because I fancied some quick Star Wars action.

The presentation is frankly incredible, but the gameplay is pretty lame.

You play as an Imperial soldier just after the end of RotJ, who (after about two missions) realises that the Empire are actually the bad guys, because the late-Emperor enacts the bat-shit crazy plan to basically make nuke a whole bunch of planets - including loyal Imperial ones - because fuck them, I suppose. You then join the Rebels, and complete a few missions (occasionally starring Luke, Leia, Han and Lando), before the game culminates in the Battle of Jakku, and then a final epilogue taking place concurrently with The Force Awakens. It is ultimately serviceable, but I think it would have been nice if they did more with the whole "she is a loyal imperial" thing, before the inevitable and rather cliche defection.

A rather unexpected side-effect though, is that I actually understand who the First Order are now, because I don't think the films ever really explained that, other than just effectively saying "they're here, they're evil, and they're clearly Empire-adjacent". So thats neat.

But as I say, the gameplay is really where this gets let down, namely because you can only hold one gun at any given time, and the enemy variety is pretty much just "Stormtrooper", and "Stormtrooper but with more health and a machinegun". They do admittedly try to mix things up by having you play as one of the hero characters (Luke, et al), or every other mission being one where you fly around in an X-Wing or Tie Fighter, but the gameplay is still very, very simple.

At least it is short. I completed it in a couple of evenings. And again, the presentation really is remarkable.

 

[BrawlMan]

Welp, I finished all of Doom PSX. Both Ultimate and Doom II have been completed. This conversion still holds up well with its neat lighting effects and gameplay. The only flaw is that you can get lost a couple of times, even with the map, your character can get stuck on walls/objects more often than the PC version, and that certain are really obtuse or annoying. Granted, Doom 64 is actually worse with the puzzles, but has brand new original levels all over the campaign. I suggest playing Doom PSX at least once, if you never have, or play the modded PC versions with the PSX soundtrack.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Please share videos as you are about to meet the infamous Archers, arguably the most infuriating part of the game! Generally speaking, I'm not into schadenfreude, but there's a sick part of me that gets a little giddy when players first meet the Archers. If you come back with that "I did it in two tries" bullshit, I'm calling hacks and discrediting your entire playthrough. The Archers remain the one part of the game I still struggle with.

Well, I did it in six but dumb luck was on my side.

Spoiler: First Try

I waste an inordinate amount of time fighting the guards and the devils because I don't know which way is forward yet.

Spoiler: Second Try

I try a ranged battle but give up as soon as I see what a pittance my bow damage is. I make it to the ledge in try zwei but take the wrong turn and realize the ledge will be most of the battle.

Spoiler: Sixth Try

I keep making it to the ledge in tries 3, 4 and 5 but fall down every time when fighting and blocking the rightmost archer's attacks. By this point I don't even bother with the "flying" devils anymore. In try 6 I decide to try and bait the archer towards the buttress so I can run past him there, but he falls to his death when I'm not even looking.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Well, I did it in six but dumb luck was on my side.

Spoiler: First Try

I waste an inordinate amount of time fighting the guards and the devils because I don't know which way is forward yet.

Spoiler: Second Try

I try a ranged battle but give up as soon as I see what a pittance my bow damage is. I make it to the ledge in try zwei but take the wrong turn and realize the ledge will be most of the battle.

Spoiler: Sixth Try

I keep making it to the ledge in tries 3, 4 and 5 but fall down every time when fighting and blocking the rightmost archer's attacks. By this point I don't even bother with the "flying" devils anymore. In try 6 I decide to try and bait the archer towards the buttress so I can run past him there, but he falls to his death when I'm not even looking.

You have no idea what joy.this brought me; thank you for sharing!! "12?" Yeah, you were gonna "need a bigger boat!" But you're not the first or last to entertain the ranged game for the Archers!

But good job! "Luck" is often a factor for me when it comes to those guys, and I've NEVER had the luck you had!! I wish you made this a full playthrough; I'd watch!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Well, I did it in six but dumb luck was on my side.

You have no idea what joy.this brought me; thank you for sharing!! "12?" Yeah, you were gonna "need a bigger boat!" But you're not the first or last to entertain the ranged game for the Archers!

When I did this, my solution was just to bring the heaviest and most stable shield I could find and put that between me and the archers instead of trying to roll through arrows. As for getting past them on the ledge, I don't even remember how I did it, just that it took me a dozen more attempts between figuring out I had a greatshield and actually getting to the next bonfire with it, and that wasn't a fast process in the first place. For all that I'm able to give out sage advice now, I had a hell of a struggle beating the game myself back in the day.

And speaking of struggles, you're about to hit one of the ones that gets everybody, regardless of their playstyle or prior skill level. Yes, it's nearly time for some 2v1 action against Tom and Jerry, Mario and Luigi, Barkley and Jordan, Abbott and Costello, and whatever other hilarious duo names you can think of. I would spoiler that, but I feel like knowing it at most an hour ahead of time isn't going to spoil all that much, if you didn't already know it was coming through cultural osmosis anyway. And this way, you can be at least slightly more prepared for it.

It won't help.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

FF7R1: Chapter 8 down. Finished all the side quests, though a couple of those fights went pretty badly, Chromogger in particular. Surprisingly, Shiva didn't give me any trouble whatsoever; I've heard that the summon bosses are all pretty tough, though I guess it's different struggles for different muggles. Next up, Wall Market, which everyone was afraid would be neutered in the translation from 1997 mores to 2020. From what I understand, that wasn't quite the approach.