Arcesius' Pursuit of Completion

[Briste]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Well, it looks like I won't be getting a new game completed any time soon... I'm actively playing three games at the moment, making slow progress in all of them. And a fourth game is likely to be started soon as well. 

 

I'm in this exact same situation lol I only get an hour or two a night to play, and I have four 'active' games I'm trying to juggle...not sure I want to do this again  I am really enjoying all of them (well not MLB The Show 19 so much anymore) and having a real hard time picking which one to play. When I'm playing one, I'm thinking about the other. I feel like I need to just focus on Alice since that is the shortest one to clean up my active game list. I started Path of Exile, which if you closed your eyes, you would think you're playing Diablo. It's actually a lot of fun if not completely overwhelming with how expansive the skill tree is.

 

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

P.S. @Briste, we just haven't found the time to play on weekends so far, otherwise I would have asked you if you have time to join.. Haven't forgotten about that!  

 

No worries  if it works out it works out, if not maybe something else will sync up. Time zones won't make this easy for us lol

 

 

[Arcesius]

On 10/31/2019 at 1:04 PM, Copanele said:

Oh dear someone else knows about Eitr!!! God I am waiting for that game for too long ( and they keep releasing small bits and pieces of information but nothing concrete. Still losing it every time I am hearing that "theme"they released). The moment it hits the shelves I am getting it, as long as it doesn't cost $60 or something similar.

 

Oh I get you... I have been waiting for this one as well, but with Devolver Digital publishing it I'm sure it will be great once it's ready! And I prefer to wait for something amazing than having another broken game at launch... 

But yeah, they have been pretty silent.. I kinda decided a while back that it's not worth fishing for information. It will hopefully be out some day, and I will get it for sure  

 

 

Quote

Anyway, I also preordered Death Gambit and played it day 1...what a mess it was, literally made me throw the controller with all the crap it had. But now that it's fixed I guess it's playable? Heard they will release a massive DLC with some improvements and areas. Curious how your playthrough will go the more you advance in the game.

 

Hmm, that it's getting DLC is news to me... Maybe I should have waited then before starting the game ? 

But yeah, from what I've played thus far it seems to run smoothly... Haven't encountered any glitches yet, and the game controls pretty great! The bosses I've fought so far were quite varied, the artstyle is great, I really like the voice acting... Really good first impression! I hope you will give it another chance at some point! 

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Briste said:

I'm in this exact same situation lol I only get an hour or two a night to play, and I have four 'active' games I'm trying to juggle...not sure I want to do this again  I am really enjoying all of them (well not MLB The Show 19 so much anymore) and having a real hard time picking which one to play. When I'm playing one, I'm thinking about the other. I feel like I need to just focus on Alice since that is the shortest one to clean up my active game list. I started Path of Exile, which if you closed your eyes, you would think you're playing Diablo. It's actually a lot of fun if not completely overwhelming with how expansive the skill tree is.

 

Right... Yeah it's currently the same for me, I also don't have much time atm, which is why I want to get a bit further in NecroDancer before I start a fourth game... But the temptation is there! ? 

I had a look at Path of Exile and it really looks indeed very similar to Diablo III. And it is UR... ?

 

I see that you have played DD a bit more... Have you given up on getting Zombie Boy done for the moment?  

 

 

 

 

Well, it didn't take long. When I got home from work yesterday I had around half an hour to spare... That was apparently enough to clear Melody! Beat her unique boss, a second version of The NecroDancer himself, the first time I got to him. She was really fun to play! 

 

Next up will be Cadence's uncle, Eli... He doesn't have a traditional weapon like the other characters do, but instead an infinite stock of bombs that he can kick towards the enemies. Yet another very unique character to play. It should be fun! ?

Edited November 1, 2019 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

On 2/18/2019 at 4:49 AM, Arcesius said:

 

Backlog

  Hide contents

• Crypt of the Necrodancer
• Diablo III
• Death's Gambit
   
• The End is Nigh
• Divinity: Original Sin 2
• Phantom Trigger
• Trials Fusion
• Enter the Gungeon
• Alienation
• Superhot VR
   
• The Binding of Isaac
• Lumo
• Nex Machina
• Pier Solar and the Great Architects
• Final Fantasy VIII - Remastered
• Blasphemous
• The Surge 2
• Code Vein
• Badland
   
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Biomutant
• Super Meat Boy Forever
• Eitr
• Nioh 2
• Ghost of Tsushima
• Elden Ring
• Final Fantasy VII - Remake

 

 

Alienation and Nex Machina both look tempting. Such a shame Housemarque couldn't get the attention and sales anymore, their titles are better quality and decent than a lot of shit I've seen this past two years.

 

Honestly, I may just pick up Lords of the Fallen since I see it on sale so many goddamn times. It often gets compared to Dark Souls but is more of a poor man's version of it. Definitely heard a lot of people getting frustrated with the game.

 

20 hours ago, Briste said:

I'm in this exact same situation lol I only get an hour or two a night to play, and I have four 'active' games I'm trying to juggle...not sure I want to do this again  I am really enjoying all of them (well not MLB The Show 19 so much anymore) and having a real hard time picking which one to play. When I'm playing one, I'm thinking about the other. I feel like I need to just focus on Alice since that is the shortest one to clean up my active game list. I started Path of Exile, which if you closed your eyes, you would think you're playing Diablo. It's actually a lot of fun if not completely overwhelming with how expansive the skill tree is.

 

I may sound picky and like an asshole but having that one trophy for getting to a certain record in Diamond Dynasty in MLB the Show 19 killed my motivation for getting the game.

 

They should of stuck with what they did for MLB the Show 18. The only 'online' trophy I think is downloading an item from the Vault, the rest of the trophies is basically what you would expect out of a sports game. I had to readjust player stats when I did Madden NFL 11 so MLB looks to be the same deal.

 

Having one online trophy that takes the bulk of your time was just stupid and unnecessary.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Spaz

[Briste]

6 hours ago, Arcesius said:

I see that you have played DD a bit more... Have you given up on getting Zombie Boy done for the moment?  

 

I haven't given up...but the repetition to get better at each level was a little tiresome. After spending the past several months, spamming the same thing every 20-30 seconds for the 40k kills...I just wanted to do something that progresses and changes lol I'll be focusing on DD for now on my Vita and I will definitely go back to SMB before picking up anything else on the Vita. I added it as a game in the UR event just to remind myself I need to do it

 

Great job on the Necrodancer progress! I am really intrigued by how hard it is...but don't know if I'm there yet with giving that game a try. I generally suck at rhythm games and feel like I would get frustrated too early on.

 

6 hours ago, Spaz said:

I may sound picky and like an asshole but having that one trophy for getting to a certain record in Diamond Dynasty in MLB the Show 19 killed my motivation for getting the game.

 

They should of stuck with what they did for MLB the Show 18. The only 'online' trophy I think is downloading an item from the Vault, the rest of the trophies is basically what you would expect out of a sports game. I had to readjust player stats when I did Madden NFL 11 so MLB looks to be the same deal.

 

Having one online trophy that takes the bulk of your time was just stupid and unnecessary.

I agree. The Welcome to the Chip trophy is brutal...plus the matching system is ridiculous. So far I have 415 points towards the 800...but my record is 8-11. I'll probably be stuck around 400 points for the foreseeable future since I'll lose points for every loss above it. I'll get to 450, go back to 395, etc. I'm a bronze level 27 in the game and they matched me up with a diamond level 100. My record was 8-10 and his was 697-812...needless to say he put up a 9 spot in the second inning and I forfeited...because why waste 45 minutes on the game I know I won't win. The most runs I've scored in a single game so far was 5...I'll play one game a night and see how long it takes...MLB The Show 18 was definitely a much easier game, even if the rarity says otherwise. 

[AJ_Radio]

7 hours ago, Briste said:

I haven't given up...but the repetition to get better at each level was a little tiresome. After spending the past several months, spamming the same thing every 20-30 seconds for the 40k kills...I just wanted to do something that progresses and changes lol I'll be focusing on DD for now on my Vita and I will definitely go back to SMB before picking up anything else on the Vita. I added it as a game in the UR event just to remind myself I need to do it

 

Great job on the Necrodancer progress! I am really intrigued by how hard it is...but don't know if I'm there yet with giving that game a try. I generally suck at rhythm games and feel like I would get frustrated too early on.

 

Impossible Boy has been my roadblock for a long time. Gets irritating when you die 15 - 18 levels into the no death run. Kills my motivation to try anymore during the night so I keep putting it off and playing other games.

 

Since I've been extremely close, I'm not giving up. Will try to get it this month, I've waited long enough.

 

7 hours ago, Briste said:

I agree. The Welcome to the Chip trophy is brutal...plus the matching system is ridiculous. So far I have 415 points towards the 800...but my record is 8-11. I'll probably be stuck around 400 points for the foreseeable future since I'll lose points for every loss above it. I'll get to 450, go back to 395, etc. I'm a bronze level 27 in the game and they matched me up with a diamond level 100. My record was 8-10 and his was 697-812...needless to say he put up a 9 spot in the second inning and I forfeited...because why waste 45 minutes on the game I know I won't win. The most runs I've scored in a single game so far was 5...I'll play one game a night and see how long it takes...MLB The Show 18 was definitely a much easier game, even if the rarity says otherwise. 

 

MLB the Show 17 was easier and it's online trophies weren't as bad. The only MLB game I can think of apart from the old ones on the PS3 that was hard was MLB the Show 16. Mad respect for anyone who got that game finished.

 

I was hoping for another list like MLB the Show 18, but they had to ruin it.

[Arcesius]

On 1.11.2019 at 11:27 AM, Spaz said:

Alienation and Nex Machina both look tempting. Such a shame Housemarque couldn't get the attention and sales anymore, their titles are better quality and decent than a lot of shit I've seen this past two years.

 

Honestly, I may just pick up Lords of the Fallen since I see it on sale so many goddamn times. It often gets compared to Dark Souls but is more of a poor man's version of it. Definitely heard a lot of people getting frustrated with the game.

 

Absolutely, I'm waiting for Nex Machina to go on sale, I've only heard great things about it and cannot wait to play it soon. Alienation should be fun as well, it looks a lot like Helldivers, Gauntlet, Magicka and the like, but with more variety and an actual mission structure. Looking forward to that one as well!

 

As for Lords of the Fallen... It's not the best game, but I had my fun with it.. It overstayed its welcome however, since you need to do 3 entire playthroughs for the plat. In any case, it might be a weak soulslike if you want to compare it to the original Souls, but it is an ok game otherwise. And hey, for the 3$ or so that you pay for it when it is on sale, there is really not much to complain about ?

 

 

19 hours ago, Spaz said:

Impossible Boy has been my roadblock for a long time. Gets irritating when you die 15 - 18 levels into the no death run. Kills my motivation to try anymore during the night so I keep putting it off and playing other games.

 

Since I've been extremely close, I'm not giving up. Will try to get it this month, I've waited long enough.

 

Good luck man! I know it is frustrating to die so close to finishing the run... But you already got that far, so you can definitely get it done. 

 

 

On 1.11.2019 at 5:42 PM, Briste said:

I haven't given up...but the repetition to get better at each level was a little tiresome. After spending the past several months, spamming the same thing every 20-30 seconds for the 40k kills...I just wanted to do something that progresses and changes lol I'll be focusing on DD for now on my Vita and I will definitely go back to SMB before picking up anything else on the Vita. I added it as a game in the UR event just to remind myself I need to do it

 

If I've understood correctly, you play your vita while watching TV with your wife? I dunno if I would have managed without a bit more concentration ? Whenever I would practice any of those runs, I would take my block for taking notes (such as level order, character for each level, etc...), place myself in the perfect distance from the TV and be totally focused.. which is why I would only play about an hour at a time. 

 

To me it never really felt like a chore, cause I noticed how I was improving. Actually, finding strategies for consistency is one of the things I enjoyed the most  

 

 

Quote

Great job on the Necrodancer progress! I am really intrigued by how hard it is...but don't know if I'm there yet with giving that game a try. I generally suck at rhythm games and feel like I would get frustrated too early on.

 

Hmm... It's not really a rhythm game I would say. You can describe it as a turn-based roguelike dungeon crawler with very short rounds (1 beat). The music is so perfect and catchy, it is not difficult to stay on the beat at all ? 

 

That being said, I also got Eli  cleared yesterday... ? But, all the hard characters are yet to come.. Plus, one single clear with each of those means nothing.. Eventually I'll have to clear all 9 characters in a row and without dying... and do the same thing without picking up any items, i.e. with the starting equipment (among other difficult challenges...)

Sooo... I'm happy with my progress, but I haven't accomplished anything yet I'm afraid.. ? There is a reason why only 5 people have the plat... 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

4 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Absolutely, I'm waiting for Nex Machina to go on sale, I've only heard great things about it and cannot wait to play it soon. Alienation should be fun as well, it looks a lot like Helldivers, Gauntlet, Magicka and the like, but with more variety and an actual mission structure. Looking forward to that one as well!

 

Gauntlet pretty doable solo?

[Arcesius]

On 11/3/2019 at 0:00 AM, Spaz said:

Gauntlet pretty doable solo?

 

I'd say it is even easier solo. ? Though for sure more fun to do in coop.

 

I played first through the campaign on "normal" with two other people, but did the "hard" playthrough solo. The number of enemies scales with the number of players, and playing with 2-3 people on hard can be quite overwhelming to be honest. 

 

That being said, the final boss on "hard" probably needs a couple of attempts, but the worst trophy is getting to floor 50 on endless mode. That one is no joke... the last teleport is on floor 36, so you need to do 37-50 in one go without dying, and that took quite some time to do... You cannot become OP in this game, there are no RPG elements, so it really just comes down to skill. 

 

Other than that, as you know, most of the game is just a huge grind. You need to farm kills, ability kills and cumulative damage with each of the four characters, and it certainly is a mindless grind. It isn't the worst grind ever (from my list that honor goes to Red Dead Online ?), but it will take some hours for sure. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Arcesius

[Briste]

On 11/2/2019 at 2:02 PM, Arcesius said:

If I've understood correctly, you play your vita while watching TV with your wife? I dunno if I would have managed without a bit more concentration  Whenever I would practice any of those runs, I would take my block for taking notes (such as level order, character for each level, etc...), place myself in the perfect distance from the TV and be totally focused.. which is why I would only play about an hour at a time. 

 

To me it never really felt like a chore, cause I noticed how I was improving. Actually, finding strategies for consistency is one of the things I enjoyed the most  

 

Yeah, that is generally how I play on my Vita...I'm good at tuning out the TV though (too good at tuning out my wife too if you ask her lol ?) I may end up doing something like that as I get closer...I just hadn't played in a while and was getting my mojo back. It wasn't a chore so much as I just didn't want to get stuck behind doing a repetitive wall right after Space Hulk. I thought it'd be nice to get that other monkey off my back...but I just wasn't quite into it. Conversely, I'm really liking DD a lot. I think I've finally figured out enough where I'm not really confused about what is going on. The only thing I wish, was that there was an extra row to stash loot. You need to bring a ton of different items with you on treks in, which take up valuable inventory space and the loot you get takes up a lot of space too. You end up either needing to skip Curio's because you don't have the item needed to open it safely or throw out the less valuable loot to make room for the more valuable. I mean it adds to the challenge, but you never have enough room. I think you'll enjoy DD. My new favorite class is the Hellion.

 

Did you find the notes help? I feel like I'll just need to do it enough times where it is muscle memory.

[Arcesius]

13 hours ago, Briste said:

Yeah, that is generally how I play on my Vita...I'm good at tuning out the TV though (too good at tuning out my wife too if you ask her lol ) I may end up doing something like that as I get closer...I just hadn't played in a while and was getting my mojo back. It wasn't a chore so much as I just didn't want to get stuck behind doing a repetitive wall right after Space Hulk. I thought it'd be nice to get that other monkey off my back...but I just wasn't quite into it. Conversely, I'm really liking DD a lot. I think I've finally figured out enough where I'm not really confused about what is going on. The only thing I wish, was that there was an extra row to stash loot. You need to bring a ton of different items with you on treks in, which take up valuable inventory space and the loot you get takes up a lot of space too. You end up either needing to skip Curio's because you don't have the item needed to open it safely or throw out the less valuable loot to make room for the more valuable. I mean it adds to the challenge, but you never have enough room. I think you'll enjoy DD. My new favorite class is the Hellion.

 

Yeah I understand what you mean... You need some sense of progression, but of course Space Hulk was a monotonous, mindless grind, while SMB is about improving skill. Still, I get it  

 

I might get DD eventually... I just love the artstyle, and turn based games have always been my thing. But I don't lilke that my backlog is getting longer and longer (I know it's nothing in comparison to most here... ?), but I guess there's no way around it, especially with the games I play.. Plus, Cassy already knows everything about this game, and you are about to know everything as well, so that's a great source for advice right there ?

 

 

Quote

Did you find the notes help? I feel like I'll just need to do it enough times where it is muscle memory.

 

Yes and no... For me, I always remember things better if I at least write them down once... Of course most is muscle memory, and eventually I didn't use the notes anymore, but while finding strategies I wrote something short about each level, and with which character I wanted to play it. 

 

Some notes are actually useful, like (and I'm writing exactly as I wrote them in my book...)

• 6-1X: Alien Hominid! Double jump at highes point of background building. 
• 6-10X: Start RIGHT AWAY!
• 6-13X: Jump on lowest platform mid-lvl and immediately walk off to the right. 

Some are not so useful: 

• 6-15X: Git gud.
• 6-17X: Use Meat Boy and pray. 

? What was I thinking.. 

 

Oh and my secret weapon... This is how my desk at work looks like: 

 

 

Make sure to do anything you can to please the SMB gods! ?

Edited November 5, 2019 by Arcesius

[Mori]

5 hours ago, Arcesius said:

 

 

Make sure to do anything you can to please the SMB gods! 

 

Where can I find those?

I need them in my life.

[HusKy]

7 minutes ago, Mori said:

 

Where can I find those?

I need them in my life.

 

I was also curious, so here you go: 

 

[Mori]

2 hours ago, HusKy said:

I was also curious, so here you go: 

 

You're telling me I need to be creative to get them?  

[Arcesius]

On 11/5/2019 at 3:50 PM, Mori said:

You're telling me I need to be creative to get them?  

 

Haha unfortunately yes ? But regular paper is enough, I just used a bit of glue in addition to give them more stability  

Dr. Fetus is from the same page as Meat Boy above, and you can get Bandage Girl from here. 

 

You better get them assembled before Super Meat Boy Forever releases! ? (which is gonna be... when? Nobody knows. ?) 

 

 

[Inuty]

I crafted a wedding present for a friend of mine with Batman figures  Can take some time until you finish the first figure but it´s really worth the effort  

[ZoutjeNL]

Those meatboy cubes look so cool! And I agree I played a bit of Nex Machina on pc and it was a blast one of the best twin-stick shooters I played. Housesmarque really is a great developer! 

[Arcesius]

I wasn't expecting to write a review on this game, but browsing the store the other day I saw that it was 50% off… So it basically went from my wishlist to my list of completed games within a couple of days…  

 

I'm talking about…

 

 

 Platinum #60 – Lumo

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 5/10
• 100% Challenge:  5/10
   

Remember how gaming was in the late 80s and early 90s? No? I was more concerned with learning how to walk back then, so yeah, me neither. But, it seems that Lumo was inspired by games from around that time. A tribute to the first isometric puzzle platformers, but how does it hold up when played without nostalgia goggles?

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

Let me start with something completely insignificant, but that I want to get out of the way. Lumo gotta have some of the ugliest trophy images I have earned yet. I'm not kidding, those might be a throwback to the 80s as well, but man I cannot stand them. At least the platinum image is somewhat cute, but what the hell is this?

 

                    

 

Ok maybe the last one ain't so bad… But that style sure isn't for me… ?

 

Anyways, that out of the way, what is Lumo about? Well, it is a puzzle platformer with an isometric camera, duh... You move from room to room as this little Vivi-clone (but way less cute, obviously), find collectibles and solve single-room puzzles or overcome challenges. The puzzles are overall pretty basic, ranging from pushing ice blocks around to reach switches, to redirecting light sources using mirrors.

 

But the main focus of Lumo is in its platforming. Throughout your playthrough you'll encounter moving, collapsing, invisible, slippery or timed platforms, spike traps, fire pits and other sorts of obstacles you'll have to deal with while looking for the switches needed to progress to the next area. And here, the isometric camera will be your worst enemy and needs some getting used to. There are many instances where a jump seems straightforward but will result in death due to the deceiving perspective.

 

 

During the playthrough, you'll move from the starting area, where you get the ability to jump, to a church-themed area which gives you the first and only power-up, a "wand" power to make invisible platforms visible, over to the ice world, where things get significantly more challenging. Everything you've learned there is then put to the test in the final area, the mansion, where old obstacles are plentyful and new obstacles are introduced as well.

 

The soundtrack is for the most part just atmospheric music, and while it helps create that sense of loneliness and wonder, it also gets boring pretty quickly… ?

 

Overall, one playthrough should only take a couple of hours and is quite fun, but once the puzzles are solved, there is not enough gameplay there to keep things interesting, which is why it's good that it is relatively short.  

When it comes to trophies, though…

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Out of the 43 trophies in the game, 36 are entirely missable. Soooo… yeah… ? 

First of all, there are five types of collectibles… The worst ones are the ducks, as there are two trophies tied to finding all 32 of them. To collect a duck, you need to jump on it and safely exit the room. Only then it counts as collected, and there is a trophy for finding all ducks, and another one for never dying while "holding" a duck (that is, never dying between jumping on a duck and exiting the room). That is no easy feat, mind you, as most ducks are rather hard to reach! That trophy seems to be a bit tricky to get for some, at least according to what I've read, but luckily it popped for me without any issues. 

 

You also need to collect all 60 coins, as 10 are needed to play each of the six minigames found in the so-called "warp-zone". Those are arcade-style minigames that can only be attempted ONCE. There is one extra trophy attached to each minigame for achieving something special, mostly for completing the minigame with a set amount of time remaining, etc. I found one minigame where you are a giant bouncing ball to be rather challenging to complete in the required time, but after some attempts (back up your save, kiddos! ?) I got the hang of it. There is another difficult minigame with a rolling ball and reversed controls, but I just held the controller upside-down… ? 

 

And then there is Old Skool Daze!… The ultimate tribute to the arcade games of old. You need to play the entire game in Old School Mode, that is, in one sitting, with no save-states and limited lives. You are given 3 lives at the start of the game, and can collect some more along the playthrough.

When you are playing this mode, every single jump can make you nervous, as the camera really doesn't help feeling confident with the positioning. I didn't feel like practicing challenging sections on a regular playthrough, so I went for Old School Mode right away. On my first attempt, I managed to get past the ice world and into the mansion, but I had already lost too many lives by then and my run ended pretty shortly after. ?

But I learned from that run, and on my next attempt the day after, I got into the mansion having only died twice until then. Every death in the mansion would still make me super nervous, but I took my time and, luckily, got to the end with some lives to spare.

 

However, I can see this trophy being super frustrating, so I still need to give the game a 5/10 in challenge... Maybe a bit higher

Edited November 21, 2019 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

What do you think of Diablo III so far? 

 

Most of the trophies have fairly high rarity. Either the game is fairly easy or a lot of people are sticking with it. 

 

Still need to purchase the Necromancer DLC.

[Arcesius]

5 hours ago, Spaz said:

What do you think of Diablo III so far? 

 

Most of the trophies have fairly high rarity. Either the game is fairly easy or a lot of people are sticking with it. 

 

Still need to purchase the Necromancer DLC.

 

I had already played through the base game on the X360 a couple of years ago... The game is piss easy, that's for sure! I'm playing it with @Mori and I think I can speak for the both of us, we are having a blast... It is one of those games that even if you don't need to pay attention to what you are doing, is still super fun ?

 

The trophy list could have been much more challenging and grindy, but there is nothing difficulty-related, and that definitely explains the high trophy rarities. We have been cranking up the difficulty whenever we could, as it rewards you with more XP and gold, and lessens the grind... But even then, healing is almost never necessary... 

 

However, we are about to start the 500 bounties grind, and need to get 4 more characters to max level (plus the hardcore character)... So let's see how much fun it still is when we are close to the platinum ?

 

You definitely should get the DLC! The fifth act introduced there is probably one of the better parts of the campaign. 

 

Still prefer Diablo II though. 

 

 

 

You know what is not so easy? Beating the bosses in Death's Gambit on Heroic.. ? I beat Eldritch Council last night, and it took me freaking 41 attempts! (there is a death counter for each boss). That's right, 41 attempts! ?

Still have one more boss to go. But this game would be sitting in the 1-2% platinum rarity if it wasn't for the debug room that was present in previous versions of the game, allowing you to be invincible and deal 2000% more damage (no kidding).

 

It is easy to see that the rarity would be that much lower.. there have been 3 platinum achievers since August, where the debug room disappeared... I'll get it though! ?

Edited November 22, 2019 by Arcesius

[Arcesius]

Update

 

The Black Friday sale sucks... Code Vein is still being offered for 50€, so that's a big nope. But they still got me... I purchased Remnant: From the Ashes ? That one looks like a lot of fun! And since I thought Immortal: Unchained had some good ideas, let's see if Remnant implemented those a bit better. 

 

Otherwise, I think I'll start something new soon, but for the time being, let's see where we are on the three open games... ?

 

 

Diablo III

The first campaign playthrough is done! It didnt take all too long, and really was a walk in the park. We ended up playing on Torment II difficulty and would still destroy everything with ease, but that way, thanks to all the extra XP you get on higher difficulties, we easily got our first characters up to level 70 before starting the last Act. 

 

After clearing the campaign, I cleaned up all necromancer-related trophies (since those should be done solo anyways), and I now have the DLC at 100% ? I guess we'll start doing bounties and rifts next, but with new classes to work towards getting six characters up to level 70. 

 

Still some way to go!

 

 

Death's Gambit

I think I got the hardest trophies done... Beating the last two bosses on heroic was really challenging, holy shit ? There is a level cap in NG, so at some point you just cannot get stronger, and those last two bosses have so much health that you cannot just yolo the fights... You need to learn to avoid their attacks perfectly, and the fights are quite long and chaotic... 1-2 hits and you're dead. I already mentioned that Eldritch Council took me 41 attempts, and Endless was in my opinion harder, as her fight has five phases, and each phase has one unique curse (deal 70% less damage, die if you run out of stamina, etc...). 

 

I hear you say "But dude, the trophies are not even UR, so how challenging can they be...?". Well, as I mentioned above, most platinum achievers used the debug room to cheat most trophies, and they would without a doubt be UR if that debug room had never existed. However, like with Hollow Knight, I'm really happy to have done those legit, as it felt really satisfying! ?

 

I only have one last trophy to get: Kill the final boss without quitting the game and in under 4 hours from starting the game and without leveling up

That one I think sounds worse than it is. I played through the game without leveling up the other day and reached the final boss after around 4 hours. Most of the time I had no idea where to go, and I also got stuck on some bosses since I didn't know how to approach them at level 1. I'm confident that I can get this on my next attempt now that I know where I'm going and how to deal with certain areas and enemies... Problem is, I rarely have 3-4 hours of interrupted gaming time, so we'll see if I can get it this coming weekend! 

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Yup, I am still playing this one... But have reached the first major difficulty spike. I already cleared six characters, have still three to go, and I am currently working on Monk. After six hours of practice I can say.. Monk is a fucking nightmare! ?

 

So when you kill an enemy, they drop gold. You know what makes Monk difficult? If he steps on gold, it's game over. Instantly. Oh, and everything that usually doesn't drop gold (like enemies during boss fights, for example) now drop gold as well! Because why not! It might not sound all too difficult, I mean, dude, just avoid gold.. ? but it is brutal, believe me. I have reached Zone 3-2 twice now, so I'm making progress, but one single mistake and it's back to Zone 1-1.

 

It is absolutely crucial to keep track of your damage output as well.. Say you deal 1 damage and want to kill some enemy with 2 health.. you attack twice, it's dead, now there is gold lying where the enemy was. Now imagine you deal two damage but think you only deal one... First strike, you kill the enemy, second strike (cause you think you need to attack twice)... yep, you just stepped on gold... ?

 

On many runs I would just be doing fine, but then your wires get all crossed and just like that, without explanation, for no fucking reason, you just step on gold... I hope to clear him soon and unlock Bolt! That one runs on double-tempo, but should be a fun challenge I think ?

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Arcesius

[AnEldritchThing]

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

The Black Friday sale sucks... Code Vein is still being offered for 50€, so that's a big nope. But they still got me... I purchased Remnant: From the Ashes  That one looks like a lot of fun! And since I thought Immortal: Unchained had some good ideas, let's see if Remnant implemented those a bit better. 

 

Hope you end up liking Remnant. I've been having a lot of fun with it.

[ZoutjeNL]

Remnant is a cool game, I completed it on PC recently. It is a great experience in co-op but keep in mind that some story trophies are only for the host so that kinda sucks. Can also be played perfectly on your own! 

 

Nice job on Diablo 3! I picked it up this week for Black Friday and I am excited to play it. I played it on the PC a while ago but with Diablo 4 being announced I felt the perfect time to get back to it. 

Good luck with the Death Gambit under 4 hours I am sure you can do it! 

 

Oh and I agree with the sale sucking. I bought some Physicals that were nicely priced but overall the sale is pretty lackluster. 

[Mori]

4 hours ago, ZoutjeNL said:

It is a great experience in co-op but keep in mind that some story trophies are only for the host so that kinda sucks. Can also be played perfectly on your own!

 

That's not great news. Are those trophies unmissable? Since the game requires multiple playthroughs anyway, it shouldnt be a big issue then, right?

 

Edit: I looked up the guide. It also relates to sidequest and meeting certain NPC's .. hope this dont turn out to be annoying as hell. Dont even know why devs do that kind of stuff in the first place.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Mori

[Arcesius]

On 11/29/2019 at 1:26 PM, ZoutjeNL said:

Remnant is a cool game, I completed it on PC recently. It is a great experience in co-op but keep in mind that some story trophies are only for the host so that kinda sucks. Can also be played perfectly on your own!

 

Oh, I also didn't know that some trophies only pop for the host... ? But the game looks very fun regardless, so I hope it won't be too tedious to do some things twice ?

 

 

I only wanted to quickly check-in... Haven't had much time for gaming lately, nor for writing around here... I got the platinum on Death's Gambit, but I haven't found the time to write a review yet. I hope to have one soon! Otherwise I have also made some progress in other games: 

 

 

Pier Solar and the Great Architects

This game has never been offered on a sale, so I just went ahead and purchased it at full price. It's been quite some time since I last played a JRPG, and I really am in the mood for one. I'm only 4-5 hours in, but so far I'm having a good time with Pier Solar! ? It was originally released on the Genesis, but you can select upgraded graphics and sound on the PS4. It still looks old-school, but it doesn't make your eyes and ears bleed ?

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

I finally cleared Monk! Remember? The one with the "vow of poverty" mechanic? The one that instantly dies if he steps on gold? Yeah. I dunno how, and after watching my run I have to admit that I got lucky in a couple of places... But that doesn't matter right now ?

 

Beating the game with Monk unlocked Bolt, a character that plays in double-tempo. She (and Coda) is the reason why platinum-achievers recommend playing with a keyboard... On the fastest song, the Death Metal boss fight, you are required to enter about 6 inputs per second.... Try doing that with your left thumb only on a controller... It's possible, but it requires a lot of training... 

 

In any case, I haven't been able to practice much with her yet, but I at least cleared the first zone. I think this one will be more fun than Monk, but also quite challenging. My hope is that becoming proficient at double-tempo play will make normal-tempo characters easier as well. 

 

 

Death's Gambit review soon.. I promise! ?

[Arcesius]

 Platinum #61 – Death's Gambit

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 8/10
• 100% Challenge:  6.5/10

 

 

Death's Gambit, a 2D pixelart action platformer with deliberate combat. Sounds familiar? ? Regardless, Death's Gambit is a fun albeit short game that offers a decent challenge if you are going for the platinum. Let's see how it did, shall we?

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

What is a "soulslike"? Well, according to many game journalists, anything that provides some sort of challenge. That seems to be all that many people see in the Souls games, their difficulty. Who hasn't talked to their non-gamer friends about Souls only to hear "Ah, is it that brutally difficult game? Yeah, I've heard of it". But, let's be honest, Dark Souls ain't hard per se, now is it? What makes it different than other action games, however, is the deliberate and methodical combat, paired with some sort of restriction, like the genious stamina meter. Coming from games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, where button-mashing is a possible, playing Souls like those games will get you killed 99% of the time. Don't get me wrong, DmC and Bayonetta have deep combat systems, but they are much more beginner friendly, too.

 

Why this unnecessary paragraph about what I think defines a "soulslike"? ? Well, because Death's Gambit is not only "soulslike"… It is Dark Souls in a pretty 2D and pixelated dress. And while many other games copy Dark Souls and try to hide it, Death's Gambit is very frank and open about it…

 

 

Now, is it good? Hell yeah! Is it perfect? Far from it. The game was a mess at launch, full of game-breaking glitches, full of bugs, almost unplayable at times… But the devs didn't give it up, and now that I finally got to it, I can say that I have not encountered a single glitch in my time with Death's Gambit. (And I believe a massive DLC is coming soon...)

 

You start the game by picking a class and starting item from a character creation menu that could have been implemented by FromSoftware (though without character customization, this is 2D after all). Once you pick your class, your journey begins…

The plot is straightforward. You have signed a contract with Death itself, and are thus, immortal. Why is Death recruiting you? Well, the source of immortality needs to be destroyed, obviously (or he'll / it'll be without a job very soon ?). Funny thing, you can, if you want, tear up your contract, enabling perma-death. Pretty neat for someone looking for a tough challenge!

 

On your journey, and in full Dark Souls fashion, you traverse unique areas (there is your snow area, your dark area, your castle,… you get it) and face about 13 bosses, many of which are over-the-top but well designed and really fun to fight. And here is where we need to talk about weapon variety and combat in general. The first point I actually see as something positive and negative at the same time… You see, there are a couple of different weapons to choose from… But for each type of weapon, there is only one single model! So, if you go with the daggers, you will be using the same daggers for the entire game (of course you can upgrade those, more on that later). On one hand I think this was a good choice, since the game is rather short, and loot is not the focus, and you don't need to balance that much. But that also plays into the general feeling I have of loot not being all that great. Whenever you see a chest, or an item lying around… You won't be super excited about it, as it's probably just gonna be another consumable that you won't be using anyways…?

 

Now, about upgrading weapons… That's a bit more problematic… You can upgrade weapons and equipment up to +5 with Soul Stones, and each level requires more stones than the previous one. Those stones can, if you really wanted to, be farmed… But from +6 up to +10 you need Immortalite Stones, and those are limited. There are not even enough stones in one playthrough to get a single piece of equipment all the way to +10! That's an odd design choice, to be honest. There are about 36 or so such stones, and 32 are required to get a weapon from +9 to +10… ?

 

As for the combat system, you know it by now. Enemies have attack wind-ups, you cannot interrupt your attacks and are restricted by a stamina meter. You can parry attacks to open up your enemies to devastating ripostes or roll, which grants you some i-frames. Enemies can stun you if your block drains all remaining stamina… and I've heard complaints about the stamina meter being implemented poorly, and that leveling up endurance is a must… But I finished the game on level 1 without much trouble, so that argument is out of the window (there is a trophy for that… more below).

What's also neat is that, in Dark Souls 3 style, you also have special attacks that require energy to be used, a resource which is gathered by attacking enemies and is slowly drained when you are not fighting. Those special attacks can be pretty awesome, inflicting bleed on foes or increasing your damage output for some seconds, but they cannot be spammed.  

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Let me start with the following: In the first couple of patches, there was a debug-room available that could be used to become invincible, warp around to any place, get all items, get all abilities, etc… Most platinum achievers have used this room to unlock all trophies.

The room has disappeared in August, and there have since only been four platinum achievers including myself. I am confident that, without that debug-room, the platinum rarity which is now sitting at 4.77% would be somewhere around 2%. ?

 

Most of the trophies are straightforward… you just need to beat all bosses, and there are only a handful of miscellaneous trophies. Not unlike Salt and Sanctuary, a game very similar in style and where you have to defeat the first boss (that usually kills you), there is also a challenge here regarding the first boss, Owlking: You need to defeat it using only kicks.

 

The trophy list then gets more interesting… After you beat any boss, you can challenge it to a rematch, but you'll face a much stronger "heroic" version. You'll need to beat all bosses on heroic for the plat. For some weird reason, one single boss becomes unavailable if you progress too far in the story! I didn't know this, since I almost always do a blind playthrough first, so that meant one additional playthrough for me… Weird design choice. ?

 

Now, most bosses on heroic are fine, but the last two are just ridiculous… There is a level cap in each NG cycle, so at some point you just cannot get stronger… And as I mentioned above, there are limited resources for upgrading your gear, so it really comes down to skill.

 

I mean look at the Eldritch Inquisitor…. You need to go through four phases first, which look something like this:

 

 

 

When the blood level reaches 100% you're dead.. so it's a fight against a bullet-hell, enemies, bomb-traps, missiles… and time. Once you have dealt with all four phases, the Inquisitor itself will appear, and the fifth phase begins, where you'll be dodging the same attacks as before, as well as new attacks, while the blood level keeps rising…? Took me freaking 41 attempts to get this one done.

 

Let's not talk about heroic Endless… Again a five-phase fight where your character is crippled by curses… EZ. 

 

 

Then there is "The Perfect Run", which is a fun and decent challenge, and not as hard as one might think. You'll need to finish the game in one sitting in under four hours and without leveling up.

Routing this challenge was fun, figuring out where it was worth farming for equipment, what class and abilities to use, how to approach each boss… There is not much information out there as most platinum achievers didn't do this legit, and as far as I can tell, there is only one recorded run that uses abilities that have in the meantime been nerfed. ?

 

 

Overall a very nice game that offers a decent challenge. If you liked Salt and Sanctuary and similar games, maybe you'll find something for you here!