What games are you playing now?

Nevermind, found the solution. The flamethrower (which is an optional weapon, hidden pretty well in the game, in the sense that you have to talk to a certain NPC with the game world in a certain state) makes ash out of them quite fast. Otherwise they'd be a serious pain in the ass. Really sadistic of the developers to hide it like that.

Anyways, progressed quite a lot. Cleared all of Upper Cathedral. And now I'm exploring Cainhurst. Lovely.

Huge progress. I practically finished the main campaign of Bloodborne, except for the final fight. But credits will roll after that. So I started the Old Hunters expansion. Had a long treck with no save points, and I was seriously starting to get scared I'd lose all this progress. Even stumbled on a cave where I managed to kill some of the inhabitants, until I noticed the silhouette of something resembling the Bloodstarved Beast. That's when I got the hell out of there.

But I did ultimately find, not a save point, but a huge shortcut right into my home base. Fantastic. I was so relieved. There's no feeling like making a big run, through multiple near-death experiences, and finally coming out on top. And not losing your points. It's horrible when it fails, but you get a fantastic rush when you pull it off.

I am steadily making progress with Fell Seal, didn't play yesterday due to the holiday and craving ham/turkey/chocolates, but today I return to the saddle. I picked up some bug-like dude as my most recent party member, so I'm redoing a map or two to get him some experience, as well as testing his worthiness to maintain a spot on my lethal roster.

Just finished the Luculla Mines in D:OS. What an annoyingly designed area that is. Just not fun at all. The forced stealth in a game that doesn't do stealth very well was a terrible idea.

Stopped playing D-OS2 after completing the island chapters. The game just doesn't manage to hook me. It worries me for BG3.

Having a blast playing Fantasy General 2. I'm still in the original campaign, it certainly take a lot of time to complete. Love how the game blend the RPG element in this Turn-based strategy game.

In Fell Seal I'd been giving my new acquisition, Bug-boy, a chance to make a place on my lethal roster. Sadly he's failed the test, so on the bench with him! Today I'll bring back one of my superior melee folk and continue the quest. I'm not sure what build is optimal for Bug lad, but he certainly doesn't cut it as a melee guy, and I've already two sufficient healers, so his audition flopped.

And speaking of Fell Seal, today after benching Bug-lad and bringing out one of my stalwart slayers, I ran into a fight that left me breathless!! It all started with finding this mysterious artifact on a battle field, crafting it into some accessory thing that let me overhear some covert conversation, then pursing those folks to a fight that knocked my socks off. My main character and two others were under twenty hit points when the fight wrapped, I think it took me two hours to complete in real time due to the opposition having rebirth on literally each and every opponent. At the victory celebration all I seemed to have acquired was some sword that seems worse than half my other gear, rofl.

I have tried Fell Seal a couple of months ago and I admit I was a little disappointed. It lacked one element I tend to value very much in the games I play which is the freedom to explore. The game is mostly a series of tactical battles with some complex character buildings. Dialogs are mostly cosmetic, there is no roleplay decision, no exploration. I'm sure quite a lot of people enjoy those tactical games, but I don't.

I had pretty much the same relation with the Banner Saga series. I very much wanted to like those games, but I just couldn't :-(

More progress in Bloodborne's expansion. Killed Lady Maria. After about 10 times of always dying in the last phase, where she basically stunlocks me to death with her across-the-room slashes, I cheesed her with Augur of Ebrietas. And pushed her into a wall where I could stunlock her myself. I didn't even feel sorry. God she was annoying.

I noticed a pattern with this game. I love the exploration and fighting the normal monsters and even the occasional minor boss, but I absolutely dread the major bosses. I don't think I've had fun fighting any of them. I just do my best to be done with them. And I notice other people loving the boss fights. Loving the challenge. Loving to need to dance around, or learn patterns, and all that. I just think of bosses as something in the way of my exploring. The only way I like the boss encounters is that their lore is awesome. They have significance with the story. And mechanically I can also appreciate how well they are designed and made. There's a boat load of them (20+ I think) and each one is unique. But the razor thin margin to most of them is a pain in the pass. But I guess that's the only way you appreciate winning, after you're done. If it took a real toll on you.

Anyways, I've started my fight with the only optional boss in the expansion. One I completely missed, and don't think I'd have discovered without watching a guide hours after I've been through that area. And, the boss itself, Laurence the Vicar, is another pain in the ass. He has a huge health pool. You feel like you're just chipping away at a mountain. Oh yeah, he's the first Cleric Beast apparently. And he's on fire. I am not amused. Of course, he killed me right at the end of the fight. After 5 minutes of grueling fighting and dodging. At least that was a good thing about fighting Lady Maria. She made quick work of me and could restart really fast. Laurence on the other hand is miles away from a lantern, where I respawn. I am, again, not amused.

But man, to end on a happier note. The level design is amazing in the expansion. It was fantastic in the base game. And that continues in the expansion. They reuse some of the assets in the main campaign, but in a twisted way. It's fantastic to recognize some of the landmarks from the base game. They really have managed to build some of the most fun worlds to explore. Just amazing, each and every one of them. And the feeling of gaining ground, and finally reaching another lantern after loads of exploring, or finding a shortcut is amazing. And that's just the design. The look and feel are also out of this world. Loved Lady Maria's huge labyrinth of a laboratory. Really kept me on my feet as to where I was going. Also just reached a cthulhu-inspired fishing village. Because of course there had to be fish-men to fight. The atmosphere is just fantastic. So dreary and forbodding.

All in all, this game is proving to be just packed to the brim with content. I feel I've been playing this for such a long time. And I still have, from what I hear, quite a bit to go to finish the expansion. Plus after that I have to loop back and finish the main campaign. Those are two boss fights are seriously don't want to do. I hope to god I'll be overleved enough. Not that it matters very much. I've had my ass handed to me by bosses I thought I overleveled.

I love the souls likes for their exploration and sense of adventure. I think we really needed that in gaming, but the original ones from fromsoftware are too punishing (and too little rpg). Outward probably comes closest implementing it in a proper rpg.

---

Octopath traveller. I just picked up the fourth character. Having fun with it, but it is starting to get a bit too repetitive. Not the combat which is good, but everything else is too straightforward and simple (no exploration, no puzzles, no dialog options, same flow when picking up characters, etc.). I hope it will open up after getting all characters.

I find quite a bit of exploration value in a game like Fell Seal. Every spot on the map has potential value, you must explore every inch, leaving no stone unturned. Sometimes you need to find a switch, others you'll need to be able to hover/fly, and some require a high jump score. Often the prizes are hidden exceptionally well, as treasures should. I like the concept a lot.

I reached the final boss of Bloodborne's expansion, and he's seriously kicking my ass. Kos. That name will haunt me. From the miniscule damage I do with normal swings, I guess you pretty much only have a chance using visceral attack after you stagger him. Which means pin-point precision to fire my gun or augur. And after I get him down to 50% he turns eratic, fast and random as hell. He's already fairly fast but after 50% he enrages a lot more. And just pummels me to death, with his placenta. (myeah, you read that right )

I tried it about 5-10 times, and I'm seriously tired of this difficulty. I'll probably try again tomorrow. But I also have a sneaking suspicion this might be where I'm ending it. Especially since after the fight with Kos, I have 2 more endgame boss fights, which I hear are also hard as nails. So 3 frustrating fights back to back. I have a feeling I might be calling it quits. I've gotten most and the best off of this game. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. But just the thought of dozens and dozens of retries for 3 hard fights, does not amuse me.

Awaiting your post from a couple of days from now when you tell us you got back on the horse and finished the game.

JFarrell71 said:

Awaiting your post from a couple of days from now when you tell us you got back on the horse and finished the game.

Click to expand...

From your mouth to god's ears

danutz_plusplus said:

I tried it about 5-10 times, and I'm seriously tired of this difficulty. I'll probably try again tomorrow. But I also have a sneaking suspicion this might be where I'm ending it. Especially since after the fight with Kos, I have 2 more endgame boss fights, which I hear are also hard as nails. So 3 frustrating fights back to back. I have a feeling I might be calling it quits. I've gotten most and the best off of this game. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. But just the thought of dozens and dozens of retries for 3 hard fights, does not amuse me.

Click to expand...

To help you out, are there any NPCs you can summon just like in Dark Souls, or summon online players to help during boss fights? I don't know myself as I only played the start of it few years ago and did not continue.

SpoonFULL said:

To help you out, are there any NPCs you can summon just like in Dark Souls, or summon online players to help during boss fights? I don't know myself as I only played the start of it few years ago and did not continue.

Click to expand...

Nope. You are alone in this one. No npcs. And I’m offline.

I did see some strategies I could try, but as usual it will be hard to pull them off.

Finally finished L.A.Noire...... what a Superb Game....really enjoyed it.....Now i Need More Detektive games

After some tries, I finally managed to defeat the expansion end boss, in Bloodborne. And have returned to the main campaign. But, I chickened out of that with the ending I chose for this run. Basically there are three endings, and the most "positive" one is one where you don't have to fight anyone else anymore. Tired and beaten I chose that, and really enjoyed the sunrise it ends with. It really put all the horrors I went through to finish it, into perspective. What an amazing game.

But, I've now started New Game +, and my plan is to see the other endings in the this and the next New Game ++. If I make it that far. I assume, if I'll have the patience to go through all of this again, I'll have the courage to choose an ending where I actually fight somebody. But I suspect I might not. We'll see. So far into the NG+, I'm really overpowered and can breeze through most things. We shall see when I reach one of the annoying bosses.

But I'm glad I'm done with my first playthrough of Bloodborne. Absolutely fantastic game. I'll try and scrible some remarks in the finished games thread.

L.A Noire is such a great game, played it through a few times and know I'll do so again in the future. Possibly the best detective game that I've played to date, I don't think anything else really comes close.

I've been playing Disco Elysium, but I'm getting tired of the clothing game.
Whenever I see a check in a dialogue, I have to change clothes to improve my chances before trying. I accept whatever result I'm given, but not whilst I'm wearing the specific item that gives me -2 to that dice roll.