Graphic_Violins8 takes on the world!

[willythom88]

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom.  And this kingdom, everyone hunted trophies (boo!  predictable!).  The best, with your Copaneles, your DrBloodmoneys, and many more(what is this guy, an ass kiss or something?!), stood at the pinnacle of the trophy hunting elites.  Down in the sewers, however, lived an angry ogre, named willythom88.  He tried to hunt trophies, but his completion rate was so very low (how. low.was it?!).  He was deperate to crawl back out, even if it meant he only had a 50%, or even a 60% completion rate (why do rates matter if you're having fun, gah?!).  He knew there was only one way out.  He'd have to shed his skin, and thus he did.  and he became...

 

Graphic_violins8

(oh wow, a pun?  ya know, he doesn't even play violin)

He crawled from the shadows, and introduced himself to the world under his new moniker.  And with his new moniker, he scrawled on the walls in a terrible font his many achievements, which would only provide sustanance for the minds in this land.  But still, he crawls out to chase more blue and green coated lines on his profile.  And to maybe, someday, if he tries hard enough, he might (oh gawd just get on with it!) be the very best.  Like no one ever was.  (really?)

[graphic_violins8]

And he started it off by signing into the wrong profile and posting it live!  What a dunce!

 

 

Welp, gotta fix it now and bury this.  

 

Astro's Playroom

Time: 5 hours

Difficulty: 2/10

Fun: 7/10

 

This is the best free game ever, as far as I'm concerned.  It's a really jubilant and fun experience.  Also, it's really easy to find the collectibles (no guide was needed, though this is my second time platinumming it so maybe it would be on a first run through).  If you have a PS5, I would kill an afternoon with this.  The act of collecting things, which makes a large portion of the game honestly, is made very fun by the presence of a lab where you can go and interact with the collected things, which are all items from Son'ys almost 30 year history of developing game consoles and hardware.  I recommend this for platforming fans too because it's all very well designed.  I wish there was more of the "power ups" which are actually just temporary weapons you get a handful of times through out the game, but in general, this is a blast.

[graphic_violins8]

At the moment, I'm a little less concerned about trophies, BUT that doesn't mean I've stopped.  My current trophy project is:

 

This is a fairly fun beat um up that I'm beginning to believe either has glitched trophies or the trophy descriptions are misleading.  One of the most obvious examples requires you to hit 30 enemies who are stunned with Finn and Jake.  Finn and Jake are definitely the best characters in the game, and they normally stun these very common enemies with spears.  Still, hasn't popped, and I'm in  world 3 (of 6 I believe). I'm gonna keep plugging away but if I find stuff continues to not pop, I'll likely drop it.  with that being said, I'm also playing...

 

 

So this is my first sincere attempt at a Souls game.  I've never really been into them, as I find the slow combat and general aesthetic of them sort of off putting.  Even the faster combat of Bloodborne never really appealed to me (though I never made it particular far).  However, I tried Sekiro last year, and I really enjoyed it.  now I know, Sekiro and elden Ring are extremely different BUT, I thought maybe I wasn't really given them a sincere chance.  So when I got my PS5, I decided to take a crack at the Bluepoint remake of Demon Souls.  Long story short, I don't care for it.  But, I decided not to give up, and I grabbed Elden Ring on a Gamestop sale. And.  I.  Love. It!

 

Yes, the combat is still somewhat slow, but I guess it's just finally clicking for me. I've recently tried to get back into harder games, instead of power fantasy's I can just blitz through, and this is definitely astounding.  Now, that being said, I've only taken on two bosses successfully so far.  Now, if you want to go in completely blind, I'm going to place this as a spoiler.

 

Spoiler

So, the first boss I fell was a Beastman.  I actually didn't die once against him, but I came close because I just ran in like an idiot and kept pounding buttons like a button pounding fool.  I managed to kill him, but only because I caught my mistake early enough that I started actually watching his patterns.  I wasn't so lucky with the next fight.

 

I made my way through a catacomb and ended up against the Erdtree Watchman.  And he fucked my day.  Repeatedly.  I looked up bosses that I should tackle before the first story one, Margit, and he was repeatedly listed as one of the easiest.  Welp, I must have died 10 times easy.  Even when I got into pattern recognition, I found myself dying constantly.  Turns out, the issue was way more obvious.  I was button mashing again.  I started trying to get into a more rhythmic pattern.  R1...O...R1 R1...O.  Still, I was getting my ass kicked repeatedly  Then I noticed something.

 

I really liked this fights animation.  It was almost stilted and had sort of a stop animation quality to it.  however, his attacks were very very fluid.  Excpt one time.  He walks on his hind legs towards you, and rapidly swings downward.  But then, he sort of resets, like an animatronic.  This was the time to strike.  I got much further doing this, but I would still find myself dying because I would effect to be rhythmic about it.  I'd get cocky, and swing, then he would knock me over, and finish me off before I could stand up.  Then I remembered something silly.  I could summon stuff.

 

I choose to summon what appeared to be a legion of knights, and the distraction was monumentally helpful.  It of course, wiped them out in about a minute, but it was enough time to wail on him from behind.  He snuck his head around and hit me on one occasion, so I learned to again, not get too cocky about it.  My summon died.  Once again, it was just me and him.  I continued my pattern...R1....O....R1 R1....O.  Then, it happened.  

 

I was out of flasks.  I hit him twice and his life bar was completely drained.  But he didn't die.  Fuck.  I had to hit him one more time.  Problem was, he had to do the same for me.  Next strike, someone was gonna die.  He stood and started walking towards me.  I knew I had to time my dodge perfectly.  I was legitimately shaking.  In fact, it was kind of funny.  I had been sort of moving with my character the whole time.  Dodge?  Jut my arms forward.  Swing?  Bob my head.  But in this moment, I was shaking with anticipation.  He was getting closer and closer until...

 

HE SWUNG!

 

And knocked down the remaining pillar!  I dodge, and then immediately slashed him.  And he fell!  It was gratifying.  It was relaxing.  but more than any of that, it instilled confidence that perhaps I could finish, if nothing else, at least Limgrave (the starting area).  We'll see how it goes when I resume tonight.

 

One funny note here is my first death was not at the hands of a monster.  I went to the coast and saw an island.  Ooooo, I thought, I'll swim over there and see if I can level a little.  Maybe find a spawn point (forgive me I've forgotten the name).  Welp....you probably know where I messed up.  If not, give it a shot.

 

Finally, I'm also playing...

 

No trophies, obviously, but I did want to talk about it for a second.  mostly, how much better it is than Breath of the Wild.  I have finished my first temple, and it's much MUCH more gratifying than BotW was.  Now, that being said, I'd like to go back to BotW to see if maybe it's a ME issue.  But 25 hours into TotK, and I'm sold.  Currently, I'm working on two side quests.  One requires me to help with an election, and the other requires me to find a bunch of wells.  The latter is kind of on the back burner, as is the main quest.  The shrines are so much better here, as they mainly focus on puzzle solving.  Which is good, because at least the first temple I did was kind of weak in that area.  My dad text mee the other day to say he got the master sword, but he's 85 hours in to my paltry 25, so I guess that works out.

 

I am working on the Ultra Rare event, thus Battle Crashers, but I'm not rushing it.  My goal is to finish a single tier this year, and I still have 6 months to make that happen.  I'm also going to play Final Fantasy  XVI, and probably set Tears down in the time for that.  Below are some other games I'd like to finish before 2024 rolls in.

 

Resident Evil Village (PS5)

Mary Skelter (Switch)

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure  (Switch)

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (PS5)
 

Edited June 6, 2023 by graphic_violins8

[graphic_violins8]

Final Fantasy XVI Demo Review

Graphics - 9/10

Combat - 8/10

Story - 9/10

 

So before I get too far into this, I loved this demo.  I text my sister about it, and she hates Final Fantasy, just to express my excitement and why this might be the one that makes her like the series.

 

Graphics - This game is gorgeous.  The set pieces are stunning further into the demo, though the opening set piece is a bit bland.  The only other complaint I have is with the character models, specifically the mouth movement.  They look a little stilted and jittery, which would normally be nothing.  However, given the fluidity of man y of the games other animations, they stick out a bit, giving that uncanny valley no where to hide.

 

 However,  both the cut scenes and the character animations outside the faces are GORGEOUS.  I'm not a graphics snob by any means, but damn.  There's a large scale fight in the demo thaqt is stunning.  It is a bit easy to lose track of things in it, but I think that's unavoidable given the situation that is unfolding.  Damn though, and those weather and water effects?  Get out of here with that stuff.

 

Combat - I.  Love.  This.  combat.  I think the DMC comparison is, at least in the demo, not quite on the money.  Maybe it's because I've been playing Elden Ring, but it gives me DMC meets Elden Ring/Dark Souls vibes.  Especially the way boss fights are handled.  There's little "So and So has been slain" title cards after the fights.  The fights are very technical.  It's all really gratifying, like both games I mentioned.  HOWEVER, it's also kind of easy.  Now, that's just an issue for me, as I've been getting into harder and harder games lately.  But I am excited to try "Final Fantasy" mode, even if I have to play through the game once first.

 

Story - Heaven's to Betsy, there's gonna be some INTRIGUE.  I'm excited to see how the story progresses, BUT I do intend to start the story over once the game comes out.  I will be skipping scenes but I do like the relationships between the characters enough I may poke in on some of them ore paramount scenes.  The issue really comes down to the opening, which again, is pretty unremarkable in a lot of ways.  I know it can't be all intensity all the time, but that particular opening is a bit underwhelming, and I wasn't sure I was going to be overly sold on it from the beginning.  Fortunately, it turns around.

 

I'll be dropping my other games when this comes out and lean totally into this.  Very pumped!

 

 

[Mr_Stkrdknmiblz]

Well, your off to a good start as your current profile somehow has a lower completion percentage than your old one…

[graphic_violins8]

1 hour ago, Mr_Stkrdknmiblz said:

Well, your off to a good start as your current profile somehow has a lower completion percentage than your old one…

Correct.  Basically making a cushion of 10 gmes, knocking um out, then moving on.  Rinse and repeat, is the plan.

[Mr_Stkrdknmiblz]

 

5 hours ago, graphic_violins8 said:

Correct.  Basically making a cushion of 10 gmes, knocking um out, then moving on.  Rinse and repeat, is the plan.

If the goal is to keep the percentage as high as possible, then I suggest you work on a couple of games at a time.  But if you feel that approach will work for you, then go for it!