Bjomesphat

I dunno, a 60 hour metroidvania sounds miserable. Hollow Knight wore out it's welcome after 20 hours.

I feel like I'm more likely to play Ender Lilies than this.

8 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

Also, how did Dark Souls save the direction that the game industry was going in? Dark Souls became a huge success due to factors other than just its difficulty. Its art style, world design and play mechanics all had a part in its success.

The allure of the game to the wider audience was its unrelenting difficulty and kind of the status that came with beating it. Yes the game design is immaculate and its greatest strength, but I don't think it gets the same reputation and cult following if you take away the difficulty.

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

Or just find a recap on YouTube that takes 5 minutes? Or read the Wiki real quick? It’s not that big a deal. 

Yeah I probably will. I really don't care that much about this stuff.

29 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

Yeah I’ve tried all that I mean, I’ve tried all these games, the only reasonable way I’ve found is in Elden Ring you can just play it like a castlevania game kinda and level up and with the checkpoints in that game it works out just barely along with the ability to summon players to essentially beat the boss for you. And for that game, I think they sort of did add accessibility in that regard.

 

Other games are too hard or it’s just a silly way of playing that is eh.

 

But also since you can do that they could also just put in some difficulty adjustments on the bosses lol

 

Like I still loved that game but I would have loved it even more with another 30 hours back. I’m also just not sure I could ever do that again with a game without an entire month off otherwise I’d check out at some point in frustration over time as no progress was made. 

 

Idk this discussion always just seems like I’m over here saying I would like this thing and the pushback is always saying the consumer should bend to the company and that I shouldn’t be able to have that because they don’t like the idea of me having it for whatever reason.

 

I guess I’m just never a fan of taking options away just to take them away. I get being indifferent to the idea for sure, but not how people are so against it. I’m just stating what I’d like to see more of here, I’m not advocating for any punishments for devs who don’t do it or anything.

I kind of just wish there was a way to prove you’ve given these games a fair shake before you’re allowed to lower the difficulty. I feel like once you have the option, most people will take that option due to lack of patience, whereas without the option the game forces you to accomplish something you didn’t think you could. I’m only half serious of course because I truly don’t care how people play their games, but I do appreciate the games force you to go beyond yourself, but I do feel for those that just can’t overcome the challenge. 

41 minutes ago, stepee said:

It’s definitely an accessibility issue though in my opinion as certain traits that are inherent to certain people prevent them from accessing content beyond a point. You could use extreme examples to invalidate most accessibility options, but nice things to have are still nice.

Maybe in a game like Sekiro there’s a level of inherent skill required because there’s literally nothing you can do to make the game easier other than playing exactly how the game requires you to play. But for the other From Souls games, there’s always ways to make the game easier, and there’s often a fine line between a healthy challenge and completely trivializing the game. And unfortunately, there’s been quite a few times I’ve trivialized a Souls game and it kind of ruins the experience. Zelda easy is still a fun time, but Souls easy is just boring. 

I certainly prefer games that have a singular difficulty and are specifically tuned to that. And I definitely prefer that Souls games take this approach too. I like that there’s a shared community experience that every single player can relate to. One thing I firmly believe is that Dark Souls saved the direction the industry was going in, and that has 100% to do with no compromises on the difficulty. Dark Souls became a huge success because overcoming the challenge became a feat that people strived for. With a difficulty slider, I don’t think this happens and I don’t think we have as much acceptance in the industry now to letting the player experiencing failure.

I will say, no matter how much you think these games are too hard for you, I guarantee you can beat them. Back when DS came out, my wife who doesn’t play games, and certainly doesn’t play 3D games and has never ever used a dual analog setup, challenged herself to play Dark Souls and ended up making it to the second to the last boss. I didn’t physically help her, but I did guide her experience, and honestly, the games become pretty trivial if you know how to take advantage of all its systems. Perhaps following a guide would be to your advantage because that’s really how you enable “easy” mode, building your character a specific way and going the right way. 

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Time has redeemed Dark Souls 2 | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Maligned by fans initially, FromSoft's sequel has become one of the main blueprints for the soulslike genre.

 

Nah, there's not some DS2 resurgence happening. There's a core group that love it, but most still prefer every other entry.

And the entire premise of the article is really a stretch and really only mentions level design and builds. It's not some radical innovation to have more complex builds. That would happen with our without DS2, depending on if the game called for it or not. I mean, look at Sekiro. Miyazaki was going further and further away from character loadouts before Elden Ring. And as for level design, just because your game doesn't have a fully interconnected world like Dark Souls, doesn't mean you're taking inspiration from DS2. People don't criticize DS2 solely because the levels go from A > B > C, it's because each individual area is designed like shit.

Look, there's no DS2 redemption coming. The game is fundamentally flawed, and no amount of time is going to fix that. The enemies suck, enemy placement sucks, the AI sucks, the level design sucks, the feel sucks, hit detection sucks, the combat timing sucks, half of the art direction sucks, bosses suck, but I will say Majula fucks.

Just found out you have to watch another show to catch up on the story. That's insane. Really makes me not want to even bother with season 3.

2 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

 

Sent. If you have a 50 dollars or under game I can fire off the volley. Preferably PC cuz its cheaper then consoles. Returnal was 53 bucks and I mentally budgeted for another 110 like FF16

Certainly nothing else for me. Someone else should take advantage of your generosity.

You're the man, thanks!

15 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

I can fire off one more volley. Someone ask for something. No one can say Kirby for myself cuz I can't do anything right now. Book 8 of Siege of Terra is out. Been out since Sat and I'm too excited I guess to sit down and read it or listen to it via audible and I wanna do both. But I can't calm down enough. I was so hyped I bought the x13 via affirm over the weekend from Best Buy cuz the x16 is a bit unweildy to be a tablet in most use cases.

@Zaku3

If you're doing anymore, I've been looking forward to playing Returnal on PC. All my funds went to Hogwarts recently, and not sure when I'll get the chance for a new game.

@Zaku3

This a random drawing?

Been away for a bit, mostly due to the birth of my third kid, but started missing the community and have been hanging around a bunch more. Hoping to get Returnal on PC at some point in the near future.

I was actually expecting to really like this one, but came away kind of disappointed. Nothing particular stood out as bad or anything, it just didn't have much atmosphere and I was expecting more dread paranoia like in It Follows.

It always takes me years to play From Soft DLC because I hate having to start over a year later after playing the base game. I'm pretty sure some Souls games, after beating the final boss, either force a NG+ or start a new save, but even the ones that let you go back, it's still hard to pickup the game after so much time has passed.

Hopefully they let you access the DLC from your endgame save, otherwise I doubt I will ever play this. I really have no intention of playing Elden Ring again.

17 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Earns $850 Million, Sells More Than 12 Million Units in First Two Weeks

VARIETY.COM

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"Hogwarts Legacy" has wingardium leviosa-ed Warner Bros. Games' sales, earning $850 million in global sales and moving more than 12 million units.

 

 

 

Very successful boycott. 

The only people that boycott this are those that didn't care about HP in the first place. People boycott when it's convenient. It's not like you saw people unsubbing from Netflix when they didn't drop Chapelle (who probably made more from Netflix telling trans jokes than JK made from this game).

I would love for handheld "minis" to be the next thing. I have a Raspberry Pi in a Gameboy replica, and it's just a fun novelty playing GB games like that, especially with the right shaders.

I'd be there day one for an ACTUAL Game Gear mini, and I might actually do it myself at some point.

18 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I think it was a step back in very, very few ways. Certainly not many. TEW1 is a goddamn mess.

I think TEW1 is visually more interesting, has better atmosphere, I think the pacing and level variety is a bit better. The story is dumb across the board, but I was more interested in TEW1 than the sequel.

Watched this last night and had pretty much the same thoughts.

When shit started going down I was really on board, but when I realized the next 45 minutes was seeing everything through a pinhole light, it became apparent that this is because they have no budget, not just a creative decision. It became a bit tiresome actually and ruined a lot of the tension for me.

The Evil Within is fine, but I hope his next project isn't just trying to recreate the same magic as RE4. I feel like TEW2 was a step in the right direction, but never fully committed to the new ideas, and was also in many ways a step back from TEW.

I played a lot of Octopath 1 but never finished it. I really loved it, but it wasn't an RPG that really compelled me to keep coming back. I think I just didn't care much for the disconnected storylines, and even each individual story was a bit dull.

No idea when I'll get to the sequel though. I have, AT LEAST, in front of me: Persona 5, Xenoblade 3, and Live A Live.

27 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Fuck, I just recently got HBO max, too. I guess I'll get peacock because I want to see them. 

They're pretty good, and as much as I hate to give JK props, the books are even better.

The first two movies are straight up kids fantasy movies. Silly, magical, low stakes, friendship conquers all type stuff, but very charming and creative. I would at least watch through the 3rd movie and determine if you're going to finish the series. It takes a pretty radical turn there and is more reflective of what the IP becomes.

6 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

There's an answer legend for those you can find in the castle. As far as I know, they're never part of a quest. 

 

I'm not going to lie, I cheated the answers to those. I decided I didn't want to consult the cheat sheet every time I found one, so I just googled the answers.

 

40 hours in and I still don't know if I've found all the doors.

Puzzle solution:

One of my favorite mechanics in this game that other RPGs should take note of, you can equip gear for the stat benefits, but choose another piece of gear for the appearance only. This solves the issue (especially in Souls games) of running around looking like a moron because the random assortment of gear you have equipped gives you the best stat boost. 

I can’t imagine listening to every line of dialogue in a game, even well acted ones like TLoU. Sure if it’s a cinematic I’ll watch the whole thing, but if it’s just back and forth dialogue I’ll read and skip. Saves a ton of time.
 

And I t’s really no difference in the experience, tbh. If you’re reading along in your head while the voice actor speaks, and you finish reading the line first and move on, your memory of it is still a fully voiced experience. 

17 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Wife has been talking about wanting to play this game.  She's not much of a gamer, is it easy enough for a non-gamer to pickup?

Yeah. There’s not only an Easy difficulty but also a “Story” difficulty which I imagine trivializes combat or perhaps removes it entirely, not sure. She should be fine. 

I got tired of the terrible PC performance and ended up turning off ray tracing entirely and locking the frame rate to 75, and then I could put everything to ultra with DLSS.

Even though I can hit 120 in many cases, the game just randomly has massive frame drops for seemingly no reason, it’s even worse with ray tracing. I locked it to 75 because without ray tracing the drops never went below that, so that gives me pretty smooth performance.