Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[Oturan]

Congrats on the plat!

[Cassylvania]

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

Super Meat Boy and Wolfenstein II both have plenty of guides and help. So that's why I'm going for them. Brian aka PS4Trophies posted a Mein Leben walkthrough someone else played through but he was nice enough to post it as a video. With a good amount of practice and experience Mein Leben can be achieved in under 3 - 4 hours, so it's completely doable. I already have the video saved on my computer so when I do get around to the game eventually, whether it's months or even next year, I'll be following the video as help.

 

I hope you're able to get them. I might be willing to try one of them someday, but only if I know I'll really, really enjoy the game. The difficulty in something like Dark Souls or XCOM, for example, doesn't really bother me because I absolutely love those games. Even after I've gotten all the trophies, I still go back to those and give myself challenge runs. With a game like Wolfenstein, though... I don't know. Shooters aren't really my thing. I just like to play the ones that have good reviews (and no MP trophies).

 

53 minutes ago, regularegg said:

The most annoying trophy so far for me is the naturalist one. I literally cannot complete planets. I've spent probably an hour searching for *one remaining species*. I'll probably downgrade the game once I finish all the other trophies and make another playthrough for that one trophy.

 

I remember that being annoying when the game first released too. I thought they patched it to make it easier...but I guess not. The best advice I can give is to just move onto another planet. Sometimes you simply cannot find that last species, no matter how hard you look.

 

I wonder if they plan to add more trophies. I hope not, because I don't have the game anymore...

[Darling Baphomet]

Just now, Cassylvania said:

I remember that being annoying when the game first released too. I thought they patched it to make it easier...but I guess not. The best advice I can give is to just move onto another planet. Sometimes you simply cannot find that last species, no matter how hard you look.

 

I wonder if they plan to add more trophies. I hope not, because I don't have the game anymore...

 

It was actually super easy on release, if I recall correctly. The base game's requirements are to scan 60 creatures, but the updated game changes that to 'scan ten different planets'. And yeah, I've moved on to other planets... twice. I think I'm just going to leave this trophy until I can safely downgrade.

 

They added trophies for the path finder update, so if this is a major content update, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets an additional few trophies. It's *looking* like it'll be something big. Hello games went as far as mailing real life Atlas cards to people. 

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #100 - Resident Evil Revelations

 

See? There was never any doubt.

[Briste]

Awesome! Congrats on the double plat day! Just sat down for some Demon's Soul's and saw your success

Edited February 18, 2018 by Br1ste

[Cassylvania]

31 minutes ago, Br1ste said:

Awesome! Congrats on the double plat day! Just sat down for some Demon's Soul's and saw your success

 

Thanks so much! I'm glad we decided on RER for #100. That game nearly broke me, and now... Now, the nightmare is over. The heartbreak has ended. WE ARE NOW A CLOVER PATCH.

[RockyJokerPL]

Congrats on your plats and an impressive milestone Cassy! You got your first hundred. The hunt for the next one begins

[Cassylvania]

6 hours ago, RockyJokerPL said:

Congrats on your plats and an impressive milestone Cassy! You got your first hundred. The hunt for the next one begins

 

Oh, boy. I can't even think about platinum 200 right now. Though, that reminds me... What is the next milestone? Is it back to being every 10 platinums, or are we sticking to every 25? (Looking at your list, it looks like 125 is next. We're good 'til fall.)

 

It's time we focus on completion percentage. I'm moving the line in the sand. From this day forth, we can have a maximum of six active games. That means if I want to play anything new, I need to finish one of my existing games. Of those six, Lego is probably going to be the easiest to wrap up. There are four DLC packs to work on, and I don't think any of them are going to be very long or difficult. (~1 hour each, based on the guides I'm looking at.) Could probably finish up today, if I felt so inclined.

 

I also want to take a look at the PS Flash Sale...

 

Because that always ends well.

[RockyJokerPL]

4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I also want to take a look at the PS Flash Sale...

 

Because that always ends well.

 

Sales can be harmful for your completion. That's my experience. I did also level up after gaining this and I'm not buying games on impulse anymore. Says the guy that bought four games on Monday... 

 

I suggest you finish Batman. It's so close. And if I have done it, you'll do it too. You have waaaayy harder plats than me on your profile. Finishing Batman should be a piece of cake in comparison to completing Darkest Dungeon.

[Darling Baphomet]

4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I also want to take a look at the PS Flash Sale...

 

Because that always ends well.

 

Last time I saw a good sale, I ended up buying 25(?) games. All good games, but I'm pretty sure it'll take me two years to clear my backlog at this rate...

 

4 minutes ago, RockyJokerPL said:

I suggest you finish Batman. It's so close. And if I have done it, you'll do it too. You have waaaayy harder plats than me on your profile. Finishing Batman should be a piece of cake in comparison to completing Darkest Dungeon.

 

Is Batman: Arkham Knight as difficult as first two Arkham games? Because those seem insane.

[AJ_Radio]

Great job reaching 100 platinums. Certainly a milestone worth going for. 

 

20 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I hope you're able to get them. I might be willing to try one of them someday, but only if I know I'll really, really enjoy the game. The difficulty in something like Dark Souls or XCOM, for example, doesn't really bother me because I absolutely love those games. Even after I've gotten all the trophies, I still go back to those and give myself challenge runs. With a game like Wolfenstein, though... I don't know. Shooters aren't really my thing. I just like to play the ones that have good reviews (and no MP trophies).

 

I really enjoyed Bloodborne so Dark Souls is definitely on my to do list. I may possibly start Demon Souls next weekend, depends on how far I’ll get in Mafia II.

 

Well that’s how I feel about fighting games and racing games. I’m awful at them so generally I don’t go for them unless they happen to be pretty easy. Street Fighter IV to me is probably the same as how you feel about Super Meat Boy. 

 

I bought Super Meat Boy not just for the challenge but also because I’ve been familiar with platformers for over 25 years. I’m good enough to beat the Mario and Sonic games (NES, SNES, Genesis) without much trouble at all. Shovel Knight didn’t pose a lot of difficulty to me, I just need to set aside the time to get the rest of the DLC done.

 

But it when it comes to fighting and racing games, count me out.

 

Wolfenstein is one of my all time favorites. I would get the game that came out in 2009 but I’m not so sure about the online.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Spaz

[Dessane]

Awesome job Cassy, glad to see you did end up doing RER for #100. I'm sure it means even more since it was such a painful game for ya

[Cassylvania]

9 hours ago, RockyJokerPL said:

I suggest you finish Batman. It's so close. And if I have done it, you'll do it too. You have waaaayy harder plats than me on your profile. Finishing Batman should be a piece of cake in comparison to completing Darkest Dungeon.

 

Yes, Batman does need to pay. That game has troubled me for far too long. If this winter is to end, then the Bat must fall... But am I ready? I'm not so sure.

 

3 hours ago, Dessane said:

Awesome job Cassy, glad to see you did end up doing RER for #100. I'm sure it means even more since it was such a painful game for ya

 

The image is pretty cool too. It fits my horror milestone theme. Someday, when custom milestones become a thing, I will be able to unleash the rest of them upon the world!

 

Oh, I should probably mention that we managed to 100% Star Wars, so we're down to only five active games. We won't move the line in the sand again just yet, but Setsuna and I have some unfinished business. After wiping the floor with that asshole wizard that gave me trouble last month, I hopped in my airship, sailed to the big bad's final dungeon, and made short work of the Time Judge. According to the guide, it's just side quest stuff now until the final boss. I think I can handle that.

 

Very soon, four active games will be mine...

[RockyJokerPL]

16 hours ago, regularegg said:

Is Batman: Arkham Knight as difficult as first two Arkham games? Because those seem insane.

 

The plat is not so bad, but it's boring and cheap in terms of bosses, side quests and variety. Also, you have to collect all Riddler's trophies and finish NG+ on which the difficulty is set to Knightmare (haha, funny... not) so you don't see a counter prompt and have to actually look at enemies. 

 

What's difficult is the infamous Community Challenge Pack as a DLC. With enough training it's doable. I think that just Br1ste, Spaz and I have it done on this thread. Sorry if I skipped someone. Feel free to yell at me.

[Cassylvania]

Setsuna and I have a lot of work to get to tonight! Think I'll pop in the game, put on The Office (the US version), and see what kind of damage we can do. If we're ever to reach 100% trophy completion, we can't let these RPGs linger.

 

I should be able to platinum this game this week. Then we can discuss Batsman. (So I can join the ranks of all of you who have already suffered through it.)

[Briste]

On 2/18/2018 at 2:08 PM, regularegg said:

Is Batman: Arkham Knight as difficult as first two Arkham games? Because those seem insane.

Arkham City is actually the game that got me into trophy hunting. For me each game had one challenge that was hard for me, otherwise I didn't have a ton of trouble with the games. In Arkham City it was the VR gliding missions. For some reason I really struggled with those. The camera always got messed up for me and I would somehow screw it up. I didn't find the challenges so bad. The stealth missions, they never change so it is just a matter of learning the order of how to take the bad guys out. Once you get their routes down...it was easy. Jumping over peoples heads makes the combat missions not so bad. The hardest part there is having patience.

 

In Arkham Asylum, I didn't find any of that game particularly hard. I guess the hardest part was the combat wasn't as smooth so it was a little more challenging to keep a freeflow going. In Origins, the MP definitely is what made that hard. The servers dropping made it really frustrating...which is too bad because when it worked...it was pretty fun. I loved the added wrinkle of being Batman and Robin disrupting the gang war. Since I didn't boost that game at all, it was pretty challenging getting the MP trophies, but it was one of my most satisfying plats that I've earned.

 

In Knight, the Point of Impact trophy was my biggest pain. I just could not get 5 shots in a row without taking damage. Similarly to the other challenge trophies in the other games, I found patience to be the hardest part...especially on the not getting hit and perfect freeflow trophies in the DLCs. I absolutely love this series and will continue to eat up any games they make.

 

On 2/18/2018 at 9:39 AM, Cassylvania said:

From this day forth, we can have a maximum of six active games.

That's still quite a bit lol. My limit is two active games...one for my Vita and one for my console. Super Meat Boy is holding up me playing anymore games on the Vita at the moment so the only progress I'm making is on the console. SMB will be my unicorn I feel and I really do hope I can beat it. It's pretty hard to do the no death runs on the vita screen and I may have to try cleaning up the last few trophies on my PS4, but I'm taking a mental break from that game for now.

 

I have one more trophy to get in Demon's Souls before the plat and it's the one for getting all the rings. I could be done now except I screwed up that Pure White World Tendency by playing online. I have to run through the Tower of Latria and get the ring from Rydell and I'll be done. This game was so much fun and a really nice challenge. I could see how this game could be cheesed by exploiting the duping trick to gain souls levels. I did dupe items, but I kept it to the craftables and the healing items. The healing items definitely took away some of the challenge, but my soul level was low enough that a lot of times one hit would kill me anyways so I still had a good challenge. In NG+ I may beef up my soul level a bit since I'm not looking for the challenge anymore and just need that one ring for the plat. The guide on this site is really good to hit everything in as few play throughs as possible. The only real grinding I did was for the Pure Bladestone that took just over two hours of killing one black skeleton and suiciding if I didn't get the right drop. The moonlight and dark moonlight stones didn't take nearly as long. I guess the gecko's drop rates are better. If this game is any indicator of the rest of the series, I'm really excited about my next few months of gaming.

 

5 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Setsuna and I have a lot of work to get to tonight! Think I'll pop in the game, put on The Office (the US version), and see what kind of damage we can do. If we're ever to reach 100% trophy completion, we can't let these RPGs linger.

I love this show! My wife and I are currently rewatching the whole series. We're up to season 8 right now. Dwight was my favorite character of all time until I watched Parks and Recreation and now that title belongs to Ron Swanson. Have fun and good luck tonight!

[Cassylvania]

23 hours ago, Br1ste said:

I have one more trophy to get in Demon's Souls before the plat and it's the one for getting all the rings. I could be done now except I screwed up that Pure White World Tendency by playing online. I have to run through the Tower of Latria and get the ring from Rydell and I'll be done. This game was so much fun and a really nice challenge. I could see how this game could be cheesed by exploiting the duping trick to gain souls levels. I did dupe items, but I kept it to the craftables and the healing items. The healing items definitely took away some of the challenge, but my soul level was low enough that a lot of times one hit would kill me anyways so I still had a good challenge. In NG+ I may beef up my soul level a bit since I'm not looking for the challenge anymore and just need that one ring for the plat. The guide on this site is really good to hit everything in as few play throughs as possible. The only real grinding I did was for the Pure Bladestone that took just over two hours of killing one black skeleton and suiciding if I didn't get the right drop. The moonlight and dark moonlight stones didn't take nearly as long. I guess the gecko's drop rates are better. If this game is any indicator of the rest of the series, I'm really excited about my next few months of gaming.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed Demon's Souls. The Maiden Astraea fight is one of my favorite in the entire series. I remember my first time getting to that fight, after months of struggling through the game, and being like, "Wow, this is awesome." The fight itself isn't much, but the meaning behind it... It was just really cool to see. I think you'll really appreciate all the improvements they made with Dark Souls, though. For as good as it was, Demon's Souls lacked that open world feel, and the bosses were...for the most part, pretty easy to cheese. Especially with that Thief Ring of yours.

 

I never used the dupe trick, but I abused almost every boss fight.

 

23 hours ago, Br1ste said:

I love this show! My wife and I are currently rewatching the whole series. We're up to season 8 right now. Dwight was my favorite character of all time until I watched Parks and Recreation and now that title belongs to Ron Swanson. Have fun and good luck tonight!

 

I just got to season four. The writing in this show is fantastic. Dwight pretty much makes the show what it is, but I really like Steve Carell's character too. I hear he's not in the later seasons, though, which is kinda disappointing. But after what happened with Dexter, I don't expect any show these days to hold their magic for more than the first four or five seasons.

 

In Setsuna news, I finished six of the seven side quests. The only one left requires a 1 vs. 1 battle that I'm struggling pretty mightily with. I'll probably try it again tomorrow, but I spent some time tonight leveling up to 70. Once I finish that quest, I just need to go monster hunting, partake in a mandatory end-game boss gauntlet, and kill the final boss and the REAL final boss (because I'm sure there's a bigger bad behind the big bad, because there always is in JRPGs). Then.... Then I don't know.

 

14 trophies to go!

[Briste]

Demon's Souls complete! I actually was able to take advantage of the online effecting tendency in my favor this time. When NG+ started, I had pure black world tendency in all of the zones. I logged in online to see if I could get it to move more white so I wouldn't have to go as far and I was only two steps away from Pure white. I only had to beat Fool's Idol and Maneater again.

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

The Maiden Astraea fight is one of my favorite in the entire series. I remember my first time getting to that fight, after months of struggling through the game, and being like, "Wow, this is awesome." The fight itself isn't much, but the meaning behind it.

I agree! I thought it was a nice little twist how that fight went. I tried to go into the boss fights blind to try them on my own the first attempt. If I got crushed, I would check out if there was a trick to beating them. For the most part, I was able to beat the bosses on my own. The only one that really gave me any trouble was Maneater. The knock back and fighting two at once was really hard. I ended up seeing you could kill one of them by firing arrows through the fog. Once I got rid of that one, the rest wasn't too bad.

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I think you'll really appreciate all the improvements they made with Dark Souls, though

I plan on starting that up tonight. Looking at the guide here, it seems like there is no real way to exploit the game so I should get the real challenge without temptation. I'm looking forward to a good challenge that's challenging due to difficulty level and not stupid trophies (I'm looking at you 1000 jump rope trophy in FFIX).

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I just got to season four. The writing in this show is fantastic. Dwight pretty much makes the show what it is, but I really like Steve Carell's character too. I hear he's not in the later seasons, though, which is kinda disappointing. 

I liked Steve Carell's character...but sometimes he was just too painful lol. Some of the stuff he does is absolutely cringe-worthy, but the way the cast plays off of him is what makes the show awesome. He leaves towards the end of the 7th season. I didn't think the show would be the same without him, but they do a pretty good job of it..at least through the first 10 episodes of season 8. A couple of the writers are also characters in the show (Ryan and Mose), which I didn't realize at first.

 

There was a blog I used to read back in the early 2000's called "Fire Joe Morgan" where a group of about 4 or 5 guys would write blogs critiquing sports journalism and broadcasting, with ESPN's Joe Morgan being the inspiration behind it. The blog was one of the funniest things I have ever read and eventually the anonymous writers revealed themselves and it turned out that one of the guys was a writer for The Office (Mose). That blog was the reason I started watching the show. I figured if the blog could make me laugh this much, I'm sure I'll like the show. I'm definitely glad I did!

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

But after what happened with Dexter, I don't expect any show these days to hold their magic for more than the first four or five seasons.

This show had the potential to be my favorite of all time. I think the third season with the Trinity killer is possibly the single greatest season of a show I have ever seen. That season finale stayed with me for WEEKS. I was sooooooo disappointed in how that show ended. You could see the writing on the wall starting during the 5th season with Colin Hanks as the guest star...but that last season was absolute trash and dropped Dexter down my list of favorites quite a distance.

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

In Setsuna news, I finished six of the seven side quests. The only one left requires a 1 vs. 1 battle that I'm struggling pretty mightily with. I'll probably try it again tomorrow, but I spent some time tonight leveling up to 70. Once I finish that quest, I just need to go monster hunting, partake in a mandatory end-game boss gauntlet, and kill the final boss and the REAL final boss (because I'm sure there's a bigger bad behind the big bad, because there always is in JRPGs). Then.... Then I don't know.

Have you been enjoying this game so far? I tend to like JRPG's and now that I have finished the Final Fantasy series (to date) I may want to dip back into something different in that genre. Are the side quests fun or tedious? Is the story good (since that is the most important part for me)?

Edited February 21, 2018 by Br1ste

[Cassylvania]

7 hours ago, Br1ste said:

I tried to go into the boss fights blind to try them on my own the first attempt. If I got crushed, I would check out if there was a trick to beating them. For the most part, I was able to beat the bosses on my own. The only one that really gave me any trouble was Maneater. The knock back and fighting two at once was really hard. I ended up seeing you could kill one of them by firing arrows through the fog. Once I got rid of that one, the rest wasn't too bad.

 

With the exception of Flamelurker, I don't think there's a single boss in Demon's Souls that I didn't cheese on every playthrough. Every one of those fights is broken in some way. With the Maneater, you can kill the first one through the fog gate. With the Thief Ring and a bow, you can keep resetting the Old Hero so he never finds you. Even King Allant can be cheesed with poison. I never felt bad doing it, because Demon's Souls is not a very polished game and some of the boss fights can be kinda cheap, but that would be a SIN in Dark Souls. I recommend playing that entire game offline. You lose out on invasions (which some people like), but I think the summons, bloodstains, and messages make the game a little too easy. It's so much more fun to go in blind.

 

7 hours ago, Br1ste said:

This show had the potential to be my favorite of all time. I think the third season with the Trinity killer is possibly the single greatest season of a show I have ever seen. That season finale stayed with me for WEEKS. I was sooooooo disappointed in how that show ended. You could see the writing on the wall starting during the 5th season with Colin Hanks as the guest star...but that last season was absolute trash and dropped Dexter down my list of favorites quite a distance.

 

Think you got your seasons mixed up (Trinity Killer is season 4, and Colin Hanks is season 6), but I agree. Through the first four seasons of Dexter, I thought it was the best show on TV. (That honor now belongs to Breaking Bad, which actually knew when to fold 'em.) But wow, did the show ever TANK. It would have been almost hilarious to watch, if it wasn't so painful. I actually think season 2 is my favorite, though. Doakes was such a great antagonist, and I really liked Lila's character.

 

I'm probably one of the few who didn't mind seasons 5 and 6, but it was clear the writing was going downhill. I consider the show "over" after season 4. (I could say more, but I don't want to go into spoilers here...even if it's impossible to spoil Dexter more than the writers already did.)

 

7 hours ago, Br1ste said:

Have you been enjoying this game so far? I tend to like JRPG's and now that I have finished the Final Fantasy series (to date) I may want to dip back into something different in that genre. Are the side quests fun or tedious? Is the story good (since that is the most important part for me)?

 

I'd say the game is slightly above average. It has great visuals and music, the combat is okay (it's similar to Chrono Trigger, but some of it is needlessly complicated), and the story is pretty standard among JRPGs. It's supposed to be a short game, but it felt like a good length to me. The side quests only take about 20-30 minutes to complete. I finished the seventh one, so I'll be facing the final boss soon.

[Briste]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I recommend playing that entire game offline.

That's my plan at this point. I don't really like MP games all that much. I never even tried the MP aspect of Demon's Souls and I'll probably do the same with Dark Souls.

 

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Think you got your seasons mixed up (Trinity Killer is season 4, and Colin Hanks is season 6), but I agree. Through the first four seasons of Dexter, I thought it was the best show on TV. (That honor now belongs to Breaking Bad, which actually knew when to fold 'em.) But wow, did the show ever TANK. It would have been almost hilarious to watch, if it wasn't so painful. I actually think season 2 is my favorite, though. Doakes was such a great antagonist, and I really liked Lila's character.

 

I'm probably one of the few who didn't mind seasons 5 and 6, but it was clear the writing was going downhill. I consider the show "over" after season 4. (I could say more, but I don't want to go into spoilers here...even if it's impossible to spoil Dexter more than the writers already did.)

You are absolutely right...I binge watched the entire series in about two weeks and I think I merged the Bay Harbor Butcher season with Jimmy Smits season in my head. I thought season 5 was fine with Julia Stiles as the guest star and season 6 was ok up until the finale. Without spoilers, when a certain character discovered Dexter's secret at the end of Season 6, the show tanked hard. I HATED what they did to that character from that point on and it really ruined that series for me. Up until that moment, I loved almost every part of the series. I liked Lila's character too. I thought she opened up a lot of doors into Dexter's character and really added some depth to the series through their interactions.

 

Breaking Bad is in my top spot as well. It's funny because I loved the show and loved the character development throughout the series but did not like a single character by the end of the series. Which to me proves just how good the character development and story telling was. Has their been a more unlikable character than Skyler? I disliked her almost immediately and she just got worse and worse. There was only one episode in that entire series that I didn't like and it was "The Fly" episode. I get what they were trying to show in that episode, but I felt they could have done that in a 5-10 minutes scene instead of an entire episode.

 

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I'd say the game is slightly above average. It has great visuals and music, the combat is okay (it's similar to Chrono Trigger, but some of it is needlessly complicated), and the story is pretty standard among JRPGs. It's supposed to be a short game, but it felt like a good length to me.

Maybe I'll mix it in as a break game if I start getting weary of the Souls games, but it doesn't sound like it's a 'must play' for me. I think I remember you saying the Dragons' Dogma was similar to Skyrim, so I may want to check that game out as well at some point. Well, I'm off to start Dark Souls! Good luck with the final boss tonight!

[Cassylvania]

@Br1ste Good luck with Dark Souls! I know you'll be fine. Based on your profile, it looks like you haven't gotten to the first boss yet, so I'll be interested to hear how that goes.

 

I want to talk more about TV shows, but I'm exhausted today. I'm just going to watch more of The Office and *sigh* continue my Setsuna adventure. They just HAD to put in a pointless grinding trophy. (Actually, a few of them. They all relate to Fluxes, which are completely unnecessary during normal gameplay.) At least I did the boss gauntlet last night. It was a little confusing at first because I read in some places that you have to beat all of the bosses in a row without exiting/saving, while other places said you didn't. The fact that the bosses "reappear" when you leave the dungeon led me to believe you have to do it in one go, but I wasn't in the mood to risk dying on the fifth or sixth boss, and my gambit paid off (for once).

 

Once I get the Flux trophies, I can finally take on the final boss. I should be WAY overpowered by this point.

[donut_plz]

@Cassylvania Looks like you caught up to where I am in the game. I’ll be the first to agree with you too that they are completely unnecessary and game could be beat just fine without them. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around these fluxes anyways. If you've figured them out I’d sure like to know though. ?

[Briste]

15 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Good luck with Dark Souls! I know you'll be fine. Based on your profile, it looks like you haven't gotten to the first boss yet, so I'll be interested to hear how that goes.

Thanks! Last week I had a couple of days off from work so I was able to binge play a little bit with Demon's Souls, but it's back to the grindstone this week so I'm back to only an hour or so each night. I just killed Taurus demon last night and stopped after getting past the Dragon on the Bridge. So far this game seems even more unforgiving than Demon's Souls. I played more as a mage in that game and, at least at this stage of the game, I can't really play that way so I've had a pretty steep learning curve with melee. The monsters seem a little smarter in this one as well and there seems to be some pretty hard enemies pretty early on. I got slaughtered by a black night that was much more powerful than I was expecting. I spent some time around the bonfire there leveling up and buying some basic equipment.

 

I'm not sure if I like this one better so far. I think the graphics are 'better' than Demon's Souls, but it seems more grainy and I don't know if I like them as much. The screen is a little busier and I find myself spending a lot of time looking around to make sure I didn't miss anything. I had the same experience with God of War 3 after playing the first few games in that series. The graphics changed and I had a harder time seeing things on the screen. I also don't really like the change to magic (so far) where you have a limit on the number of times you can cast something instead of an MP pool. Storing inventory is pretty clunky as well. I haven't discovered a way to sort things yet and it's a little confusing to move items around. I do really like the bonfire idea, however I don't really understand the 'Humanity' thing or why it matters if I'm hollow or not yet. I'm only about an hour and a half in so I'm sure I'll figure this stuff out and really like the game, but my first impressions are that I'm not a huge fan of some of the changes made. I'm hoping to ring the first bell tonight but we'll see if I get sidetracked farming souls or exploring again.

 

15 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I want to talk more about TV shows, but I'm exhausted today. I'm just going to watch more of The Office and *sigh* continue my Setsuna adventure. They just HAD to put in a pointless grinding trophy. (Actually, a few of them. They all relate to Fluxes, which are completely unnecessary during normal gameplay.) At least I did the boss gauntlet last night. It was a little confusing at first because I read in some places that you have to beat all of the bosses in a row without exiting/saving, while other places said you didn't. The fact that the bosses "reappear" when you leave the dungeon led me to believe you have to do it in one go, but I wasn't in the mood to risk dying on the fifth or sixth boss, and my gambit paid off (for once).

 

Once I get the Flux trophies, I can finally take on the final boss. I should be WAY overpowered by this point.

That's the biggest downside to Trophy Hunting the JRPG's...the inevitable pointless grindy trophies. Sometimes they are fine when they are in the context of the story, but many times it is just unnecessary and really takes the enjoyment out of playing them. I mean, I guess no one has a gun to our heads making us get these trophies...but I don't understand why they put those trophies in there sometimes. I hope you got some good rest because I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Breaking Bad.

[Avalynch]

14 minutes ago, Br1ste said:

Thanks! Last week I had a couple of days off from work so I was able to binge play a little bit with Demon's Souls, but it's back to the grindstone this week so I'm back to only an hour or so each night. I just killed Taurus demon last night and stopped after getting past the Dragon on the Bridge. So far this game seems even more unforgiving than Demon's Souls. I played more as a mage in that game and, at least at this stage of the game, I can't really play that way so I've had a pretty steep learning curve with melee. The monsters seem a little smarter in this one as well and there seems to be some pretty hard enemies pretty early on. I got slaughtered by a black night that was much more powerful than I was expecting. I spent some time around the bonfire there leveling up and buying some basic equipment.

 

I'm not sure if I like this one better so far. I think the graphics are 'better' than Demon's Souls, but it seems more grainy and I don't know if I like them as much. The screen is a little busier and I find myself spending a lot of time looking around to make sure I didn't miss anything. I had the same experience with God of War 3 after playing the first few games in that series. The graphics changed and I had a harder time seeing things on the screen. I also don't really like the change to magic (so far) where you have a limit on the number of times you can cast something instead of an MP pool. Storing inventory is pretty clunky as well. I haven't discovered a way to sort things yet and it's a little confusing to move items around. I do really like the bonfire idea, however I don't really understand the 'Humanity' thing or why it matters if I'm hollow or not yet. I'm only about an hour and a half in so I'm sure I'll figure this stuff out and really like the game, but my first impressions are that I'm not a huge fan of some of the changes made. I'm hoping to ring the first bell tonight but we'll see if I get sidetracked farming souls or exploring again.

 

That's the biggest downside to Trophy Hunting the JRPG's...the inevitable pointless grindy trophies. Sometimes they are fine when they are in the context of the story, but many times it is just unnecessary and really takes the enjoyment out of playing them. I mean, I guess no one has a gun to our heads making us get these trophies...but I don't understand why they put those trophies in there sometimes. I hope you got some good rest because I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Breaking Bad.

Whether you're hollow, or not is mostly for online interaction. First, and foremost a warning when your humanity is restored you can be invaded by other players in areas you HAVE NOT completed, they'll most likely kill you, and you're going to have a bad time in places like

Spoiler

Darkroot Garden

There is equipment that can only be obtained from being invaded by AI characters, they show up at certain spots when you aren't hollow (Which can easily be looked up). When you complete the area, they cannot invade you, nor can anyone else. Not sure if they're required for any trophies.

 

The perks of being human are you can kindle bonfires! Kindling bonfires means each time you rest at that particular bonfire you get more Estus Flasks! When you die, you can still go back to those bonfires hollowed, and receive the same perks. You can only see summon signs; whether they're to summon people for jolly cooperation (White & Yellow summon signs), or to summon a dark spirit to fight when you're human. AI's such as Solaire will have his summon sign placed before a couple boss fights, but the game is still active enough you'll probably find more than just AI's. They're commonly placed near bonfires, or near boss fog doors. Players usually will place a message down saying "Need Humanity" this can imply it's a popular areas for summons, or they legitimately need humanity. If you rate players message up, they get a free humanity (Could be wrong on this). 

 

I might be forgetting a couple things, but lastly, when you have your humanity restored your curse resistance skyrockets. And curse in this game is HORRIBLE. You do not want to fight any enemies who inflict curse while hollow. Ever.

 

Play as Hollow: No invasions, no jolly cooperation, death by curse, and you turn into a freak (visually). You can still place your summon sign down, and write messages (Requires items) while hollowed. I can't remember if there are any other perks for being hollow.

[Briste]

@Avalynch Wow, thank you for that information. My plan was to play in offline mode since I wasn't sure if I would screw myself in Demon's Souls by playing online. I haven't really done too much research on the trophies. I've been following the guide on here as far as the order to go places so I don't miss anything, but I've been trying to play blind otherwise. I had seen you couldn't kindling a bonfire unless human, but I had read in the guide not to waste your humanity since you will need them towards the end. I have used one so far to kindling the bonfire next to the blacksmith, but that's it so far. Am I missing out by not playing online?