Arcesius' Pursuit of Completion

[Litha]

11 hours ago, Arcesius said:

My son was born on Monday 10 February 2020!

I don't know how to make a joke around this. Instead I will just give you my sincerest congratulations!

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats with your son! Hopefully you enjoy every moment and don't have too many days with lack of sleep. 

[Arcesius]

Hey guys! 

 

Thanks so much for your kind words, it means a lot ? 

 

I've been somewhat less active around here, I guess that's understandable, but I'm soon (somewhat forced) stepping outside of my timeless bubble, as I'm returning to work next week. With that in mind, a short update on what has been going on: 

 

1. I have earned two plats that are missing a review. I already announced #66. Jotun, and I have meanwhile also finished #67. WipEout: Omega Collection. I'm happy about the latter one as well, since it was a PS+ game on my Finnish account, and I'm not renewing my PS+ subscription there, so glad to have gotten it out of the way. 
   
   Look forward to those two reviews soon! 
    
2. With my son at home, it's currently impossible to play anything without a pause button. I managed to get a PB on Aria in Crypt of the NecroDancer the other day, but it has pretty much been the only run I managed to do in the past three weeks. I'm not giving up though! I said from the start that this would be a long term project... It might take a while, but I'm still motivated to keep going. ?
    
3. Since I mentioned that I need a pause button... I started Darkest Dungeon. The game is freaking addictive, and I'm really enjoying it thus far. I have just completed the first year on my Radiant playthrough. I just hope it won't get too repetitive at some point...
   
   I'm currently finishing up the last couple of bosses (from the main game), still have a couple of Ancestor Trinkets to get, and once I have done all Caretaker goals (except the Darkest Dungeon quests) I guess I'll start going for the DLC trophies. 
    
4. I pre-ordered Nioh 2 Digital Deluxe Edition ? I dunno if there is a pause option in that game, though... You can pause in the first game (they added that in with an update at some point), so I'm hopeful. I'm usually against a pause button in these kind of games, but I'm being selfish now since I need one! The game is coming out in a week, and I cannot wait to get to it! 
    
5. Online coop is obviously on hold right now since I cannot commit to anything at the moment..

 

That's all for now ? 

 

[Inuty]

Jotun is a total blast! Hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. A Good challenge for sure.

 

i played the Nioh2 Last chance demo and it wasnt a Pause Button in the Game  sorry For the Bad news

[Mori]

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

You can pause in the first game (they added that in with an update at some point)

 

Wait .. what? How?

[HusKy]

29 minutes ago, Mori said:

 

Wait .. what? How?

 

Go to status menu and then press Options button.

[Mori]

2 hours ago, HusKy said:

 

Go to status menu and then press Options button.

 

Now I look stupid. Thanks my dude, much appreciated.   

6 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Online coop is obviously on hold right now since I cannot commit to anything at the moment..

 

I felt that ..  

[Arcesius]

8 hours ago, Inuty said:

Jotun is a total blast! Hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. A Good challenge for sure.

 

i played the Nioh2 Last chance demo and it wasnt a Pause Button in the Game  sorry For the Bad news

 

It was pretty good ? The Valhalla No-Power bosses were no joke though.. 

 

Oh.. Well, I'm sure I will manage without pausing ? 

 

 

Also, please no spoilers everyone.. I haven't read anything about the game, didn't watch any footage or played the Demo. I'd like to go into the game 100% blind ?

 

 

Quote

I felt that ..  

 

Well, you should have time now to finish Nioh and Dariusburst at least ?

Edited March 6, 2020 by Arcesius

[Arcesius]

Looooooong post incoming! But pictures take a lot of space, so it probably isn’t too bad ? Oh speaking of which.. lately I’ve been trying to use my own trophy screenshots as pictures, at least whenever it was possible.. Just in case you wondered ? I might have gone a bit overboard, but I don't care  

 

Anyways... I promised to return to my reviews, but working from home I’m finding to be more productive than in the office, and also have plenty of stuff to do currently… and when I’m not working, I’m either spending time with my son, or would rather play than write  Still, I don’t want to have a long list of reviews pending, of which there are already three, so here comes the first one!

 

But first, a short update on what’s been going on gaming-wise!

 

Nioh 2:

You can pause the game! ? Still, I have been playing this rather on the weekends when I know that I can sit down for an extended period of time… The game is, at least so far, as good as the first one, and I’m having a blast. But despite there being new weapons to try out, I found myself returning to my beloved dual-swords ?

 

I am currently rocking a poison-build, just to at least vary my playstyle a bit. Inflict poison from afar with poison-arrows or poison-shurikens, roll some additional damage against poisoned enemies on your weapon, use the right guardian spirits and you can be pretty deadly! I though first about running a paralysis build instead (since there is a set that adds damage bonus against paralyzed enemies, but there is no such set for poison), but can imagine that more bosses will be immune to paralysis than poison. Let’s see how this build works out in the long run... Still a loooong way to go!

 

 

Trials Fusion

I couldn’t wait any longer and finally decided to start this one. It is a perfect game for those times when I don’t know how much time I have to play, too, as it is easy to just load a track and, if need be, let the game idle until I can return to my PS4.

 

So far I’ve done everything in the base game except the track challenges, obviously, and the extreme tracks, which are still a bit too difficult for me to do without struggling. Hence, I moved on to the DLC packs, of which there are six. I completed the first one and will soon move on to the next one.

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

I mentioned previously that Aria is difficult to play with a baby at home.. she dies when you lose a beat and, you know, keeping the beat after pausing the game is pretty difficult.

Still, I didn’t want to stop playing the game so I’ve been trying my luck on Speed Demon, which requires you to beat the game with the standard character, Cadence, in 15 minutes or less. I had a very promising run yesterday, but the timer showed 15:53 when I finished the run I think I should get this soon, though. 

 

I also purchased the DLC and once I get Speed Demon, will probably get some things done there. Not my initial plan, but the better option than to put this game on hold  

 

 

 Platinum #66 – Jotun

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 7.5/10

• 100% Challenge: 6.5/10

 

A boss-rush with weird hitboxes and beautiful hand-drawn animations, a game that explores Norse mythology and is narrated in Icelandic. Jotun can be relaxing at times, but it can be incredibly stressful as well, especially when going for that sweet 100%.

 

 

100% Enjoyment and 100% Challenge

 

Let me do this differently this time around. Most of the challenge this game has to offer comes from playing the game on Valhalla mode, where you don’t need to explore anything but just beat the more difficult version of each Jotun (but with a caviat...)

I will hence briefly describe the game, and then move on to write something short about each of the Jotun-fights.

 

 

1. Exploration part

 

This is the relaxed part of the game ? There are five worlds to explore, and your goal is to find an apple (you could think they stole this from Shadow of the Colossus, but it so happens that there is a godess, Ithunn, which is associated with apples and youth… and its her apples you’re eager to get in your mouth (oh boy ?)), sometimes a vista point or two, and a God Shrine which will grant you a power, or upgrade one you’ve already gotten. Finding the shrine will then unlock a gate for the corresponding world that will open the path to the Jotun, the end-boss of that realm, so to speak. The good thing? Shrines are mandatory but are also marked on your mini-map. Finding Apples and vistas is not mandatory to face the Jotun but needed for a trophy. However, once you’ve found the Shrine in a realm, the collectibles you’re missing will be marked on the mini-map! You can thus simply explore without a guide for the best experience without having to worry about multiple playthroughs or whatever. That’s just something I really appreciate in a game, but you probably know that by now. ?

 

Beautiful world with hand-drawn animations and backgrounds, imposing Jotun which manage to make you feel small, and a great excursion to Norse mythology. 

 

 

2. Jotun Challenges

 

Now this is the meat of the game. There are six Jotun waiting to be slayed. And while defeating them is not too difficult, even in Valhalla mode, if you are going for trophies you will have to defeat them with style: Meet Perfect and Shun the Gods.

 

What does that mean? Well, the main challenge in getting the platinum is beating every Jotun in Valhalla mode without taking damage (perfect) and without using God Powers (Shun the Gods). But wait.. What is Valhalla mode again? The Valhalla version of the bosses have an increased health pool, hit harder and either have an additional phase or start doing the nasty stuff sooner. It might not sound like it, but the difficulty in beating these things without using God Powers is definitely much, much higher than for their regular versions.

 

And with all those explanations out of the way…
 

 

Jera, the unmerciful Nature Jotun

 

Would you look at that thing… Jera is an ugly Jotun, at least from the outside. But she protects a flower with her life, and that flower is key to beating her quickly. After taking enough damage, she will be stunned for a bit and reveal said flower within her belly, a weakpoint you should attack if you want to deal significant damage and speed up the battle.

 

But the uglyness is not only physical. Jera fights with poison clouds and summons tentacle-ranks that will give you a lot of trouble when trying to defeat her without taking damage. Overall though, she might be one of the easier Jotun to defeat without using God Powers, but requires a lot of patience. Greed is your worst enemy during this fight, as she can heavily punish any sort of hesitation ?

 

 

Fé, the most precious stone in the dark depths

 

This was the first Jotun that really gave me trouble. Defeating Fé without taking damage ain’t too bad, especially since there is a pretty easy way to force her to get stuck on her throne, making the fight trivial. Not using powers though…

 

It’s not Fé herself that is the biggest threat. She summons dwarves to fight for her, small and large, that will charge you on her command and become a nightmare as the fight goes on. Beating Fé without using God Powers was extremely frustrating, as you need to be extremely patient and cannot simply ignore the dwarves or they will sooner or later swarm you, so you spend a lot of time running around the arena, taking out dwarves just so Fé can summon the next wave before you know it ?. The fight is among the longest fights in the game, and a single mistake can result in death.

 

She will from time to time use her huge shield as a Frisbee, which if timed right can be reflected back at her, dealing a huge amount of damage. Not only that, but she will kill her own minions if they are hit by the shield, which at least is a huge help ?

 

 

Isa, a one hundred foot colossus, made of pure ice and rage

 

Easiest Jotun both to no-damage and defeating without powers, no doubt in my mind. Avoiding Isa’s attacks is easy, but the second phase of the fight can still be a bit troublesome. In that phase Isa will summon a blizzard and the ground will turn into ice, which results in you sliding all over the place and making it more difficult to dodge incoming attacks (such as his charge, with a wind-up of about half an hour.. so it's still feasable). With a bit of practice, though, the attacks can be anticipated and you will learn how to move around in the ice.

 

There is not much else to say here… Isa, for being that huge, you surely disappoint ?

 

 

Hagalaz, made of thunder, clouds and pure chaos

 

I had heard horror stories about defeating Hagalaz without taking damage.. And I can see why she is that problematic. You will be constantly bombarded with small bolts of lightning (you see those on the picture) that are hard to avoid consistently, and as the fight goes on, Hagalaz will first split into two, and later even into three copies of herself. There is just a lot going on at the same time, and if RGN is not on your side, the fight can become (wait, you are still reading all of this? Damn, I'm flattered!) quite hectic. You can either end the fight quickly once there are three Hagalazes (??) fighting against you or you are bound to fail... 

 

That being said, the fight didn’t give me muchtrouble whatsoever. While some other Jotun took me 4-6 hours to defeat (without damage and without powers), I only needed 30 minutes to get a good fight against Hagalaz without taking damage. I guess I was lucky… Then again, I have been praying daily to the RNG gods ever since I started NecroDancer, so they might be on my side ?

 

Killing Hagalaz without using powers was a bit more problematic… There is no way to quickly end the fight once she splits into three, and with all the bolts flying around you can get stun-locked pretty easily and lose the fight. But even so, this one wasn’t as bad as some of the other fights.

 

 

Kaunan, a Jotun of Fire and Lava

 

Ah, Kaunan… Aggressive, relentless, and one of the fights where RNG is half the battle. It is pretty easy to learn to anticipate his attacks and avoid them… However, there are lava-drops falling from the sky that will leave HUGE lava-puddles all over the place, and those are the problem, as they often don’t give you any room at all to move. I lost countless battles to Kaunan (without using powers, of course) due to being cornered by those stupid lava-puddles with no chance to avoid the next incoming attack. And he hits haaaaaaard… ?

 

You could think that it might be possible to just take the damage from the lava... but man even dipping the left small toe takes ~1/5 of your health... There is not much room for error here, a single hit can destroy your health ?

 

 

Odin the Allfather of the Aesir

 

I’m usually quite patient... But this boss made me write a status update about me being frustrated with its design. Man, this one was for sure the hardest boss for me to defeat without using god powers (not so much without taking damage). It took me forever ?

 

It already took me a while to no-power Odin in the normal playthrough, so I knew I wouldn’t have an easy time in Valhalla… but it was even harder than I had anticipated. Odin has an enormous health pool, his (lightning?) spears chase you and force you to interrupt your attacks (or they will hit you, and they do a LOT of damage) and be patient, and his second phase starts much earlier in Valhalla mode. What is his second phase? Well, he summons other Jotun… Yes, he summons the other Jotun. They appear somewhere on the battlefield, execute a single attack (Jera uses the poison-cloud, Isa charges at you, etc…) and they disappear again. Now, initially that’s not a big issue.. Odin will summon one single random Jotun and you can usually avoid taking damage. But as the fight goes on he will summon multiple Jotun at once, and towards the end even all five of them at once. Now, avoiding attacks from 4-5 Jotun at the same time, while rolling around like a madman to avoid Odin’s spears.. NOT EASY. ?

 

Valhalla Odin without God Powers was the hardest fight in the game without question, and it doesn’t help that it wasn’t a particularly fun fight, either.

 

 

For some random reason I thought of recording Valhalla Hagalaz and Odin, no-damage.. In case you are interested, here are the links ?

Hagalaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffn0wBNol5k

Odin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnq1S0ZO_c

 

 

@Copanele: If you ever make a guide for this, it would be fair to put the objective difficulty rating probably around 7-8/10. This is only a 6.5 for me personally when compared to other games on my profile, but I believe it could be a game as polarizing as Downwell due to the RNG involved in some fights... ?

Edited April 3, 2020 by Arcesius

[Copanele]

Super awesome 

6 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

MEGA POST QUOTE

Am glad that you are enjoying Nioh 2 , poison build is the most non-samurai way to approach this  game hahah! I  should buy that game too, but I'd rather wait for DLC. Still trying to get rid of the horror memories of facing the samurai  stooges, Sasuke and Sanada in one go lol.

But back to the  meat of the post - whee finally the Jotun review  I am glad it wasn't  a complete disappointment (and yes I did read the whole post, flattery and such ) But I also envy your RNG praying skills. How in the world did you get so lucky against Hagalaz (the bitchiest boss in the entire game for me) is a wonder! But yes Odin is quite the challenge, he gave me headaches too.

 

When I start the guide for it(damn I forgot about guides! I have a PS4 DmC guide in the works,thanks for reminding me), I do feel like 7/10 is fair. It's not as easy  as an 6/10 but from 8/10  onwards you get bullshit levels of difficulties, so a 7 is only right.

 

Again, well done! Go murder that Crypt of the Necrodancer game!(and stay healthy of course ) 

[ZoutjeNL]

Well done on completing yet another great platinum! And I absolutely love Nioh 2 so far, it improved even more on Nioh 1 with the burst counters and the cores. Unlike you I wanted to use another weapon. Critics complain that its more nioh 1.5 then 2 (I disagree btw) so that is why I decided to go with another weapon to change it up. The Switchglaive is an amazing weapon that I highly recommend it feels a lot like some weapons in Bloodborne which is amazing! You could take the dual swords as secondary so you still have it as backup. 

 

I'm actually surprised that you haven't played a lot of Nioh 2 so far but I understand with your kid it might be hard to get a long session in which is kinda neccesary for a nice play session. Its not a game that I jump in and out for 30 minutes or so. Unlike Trials Fusion which you are also playing I hope you are having a good time! Is this your first time playing a trials game? So close towards the 15 minutes run!! I am sure you are more than capable of doing it I hope to see it on your profile soon

 

Looking forward to the next update! 

[Arcesius]

Thanks a lot guys! Also for reading through the monster wall of text! ?

 

Quote

But back to the  meat of the post - whee finally the Jotun review  I am glad it wasn't  a complete disappointment (and yes I did read the whole post, flattery and such ) But I also envy your RNG praying skills. How in the world did you get so lucky against Hagalaz (the bitchiest boss in the entire game for me) is a wonder! But yes Odin is quite the challenge, he gave me headaches too.

 

Oh it wasn't a disappointment at all! The 7.5/10 rating really refers to the enjoyment of getting 100%... I was having a blast with the game, but some of the Shun the Gods fights in Valhalla were really frustrating. Especially Fé and Odin made me lower the score.. ? But it is a beautiful and unique game that I enjoyed a lot! 

 

 

45 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Well done on completing yet another great platinum! And I absolutely love Nioh 2 so far, it improved even more on Nioh 1 with the burst counters and the cores. Unlike you I wanted to use another weapon. Critics complain that its more nioh 1.5 then 2 (I disagree btw) so that is why I decided to go with another weapon to change it up. The Switchglaive is an amazing weapon that I highly recommend it feels a lot like some weapons in Bloodborne which is amazing! You could take the dual swords as secondary so you still have it as backup. 

 

The Switchglaive looks like a ton of fun.. I thought first about doing a Dual Sword - Omnyo build with it as my secondary weapon, and I might still end up doing that once poison becomes less viable (tick damage caps at 999, so at some point I guess it won't be as useful anymore) ?

 

 

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I'm actually surprised that you haven't played a lot of Nioh 2 so far but I understand with your kid it might be hard to get a long session in which is kinda neccesary for a nice play session. Its not a game that I jump in and out for 30 minutes or so.

 

That's exactly it.. when I play Nioh I want to at least be able to finish a mission, and some of them are rather long... Plus I spend ages looking at my loot after each mission, going over the skills etc.. it's not a game to play in a rush! 

 

 

Quote

Unlike Trials Fusion which you are also playing I hope you are having a good time! Is this your first time playing a trials game?

 

Yep.. ? First time playing a Trials game, but having a very, very good time with it so far! It is addictive, it is beautiful, and it is a lot of fun! However, I'm pretty sure that it will dethrone Trackmania Turbo as the hardest game I've completed (once I actually get 100%, of course ?)

 

 

 

Edit: I just got Speed Demon ?

Edited April 3, 2020 by Arcesius

[det_gittes]

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Yep..  First time playing a Trials game, but having a very, very good time with it so far! It is addictive, it is beautiful, and it is a lot of fun! However, I'm pretty sure that it will dethrone Trackmania Turbo as the hardest game I've completed (once I actually get 100%, of course )

Didn't you at least play Elasto Mania back in the early 2000s? I remember that I had a blast playing that game.

 

And be ready to face arguably the hardest extreme in the DLCs, the Way of the Machine, which comes in the second DLC pack. Some two weeks ago I decided to go for the few remaining trophies myself and I have to say that I've made some promising progress - I am mostly concentrating on the Top Roach. I even got past the last difficult checkpoint once, paused the game, and when I unpaused, I accidentally rode off the platform ? But I still somehow enjoy the Top Roach - the challenge which I really hate is the Afterburner in the Eco Park, I wish this game didn't have this strange mechanics.

[Mori]

@det_gittes I remember playing WotM for the first time, thinking to myself, how the F will I ever finish this insane track? 

 

But once the game "clicks", everything seems manageable.

 

@Arcesius Since you are going to play the DLC first, be aware of Anger Management and the 40 Cube Sides. Anger Management tilted me so much, the name fits perfectly. 

 

Btw. Love the self made Screenshots!

 

[Baker]

You can cheese Anger Management by looking it up in track central. You won’t be on fire, making it easier. Although I recommend just doing it the normal way. After I finished that, the game clicked for me...

[AJ_Radio]

You're nuts for going after Trials Fusion.

 

Quite a lot of trophies you earned for just over a week of playing.

[Arcesius]

17 hours ago, det_gittes said:

Didn't you at least play Elasto Mania back in the early 2000s? I remember that I had a blast playing that game.

 

Elasto Mania? ? Never heard of it. But no, seriously, I've never played anything Trials-related before... 

 

 

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And be ready to face arguably the hardest extreme in the DLCs, the Way of the Machine, which comes in the second DLC pack. Some two weeks ago I decided to go for the few remaining trophies myself and I have to say that I've made some promising progress - I am mostly concentrating on the Top Roach. I even got past the last difficult checkpoint once, paused the game, and when I unpaused, I accidentally rode off the platform  

 

16 hours ago, Mori said:

@det_gittes I remember playing WotM for the first time, thinking to myself, how the F will I ever finish this insane track? 

 

Alright I listened to you guys and since I don't feel like I'm yet at the point where I can beat even Inferno IV (haven't tried again, though) I skipped that DLC and completed "Way of the Abyss", which wasn't too bad ? There were two checkpoints on Deluge that gave me a bit of trouble, but it's done! I'm going to do "After the Incident" next, but I hear that Meteorain is a nightmare, so I might have to move on before finishing this DLC... 

 

@det_gittes I noticed your progress.. Well done! Do you only have Top Roach left? Good luck with that one! Must have felt like a punch to the guts rolling off the platform ?

 

 

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@Arcesius Since you are going to play the DLC first, be aware of Anger Management and the 40 Cube Sides. Anger Management tilted me so much, the name fits perfectly. 

 

Btw. Love the self made Screenshots!

 

Thanks! Appreciate it ? Yeah I thought doing the DLC will naturally make me practice the game, but I might go back and do some easy and medium challenges in the base game as well... I've heard of Anger Management being extremely infuriating, so I'm not really looking forward to trying my luck on it ? 

 

Is the cube challenge is that hard? It didn't look too bad from what I've seen, but I haven't tried it yet... 

 

 

15 hours ago, BB-BakkerJ said:

You can cheese Anger Management by looking it up in track central. You won’t be on fire, making it easier. Although I recommend just doing it the normal way. After I finished that, the game clicked for me...

 

Well now I'm in a dilemma... I will for sure try to do it the intended way, but it's good to know that there is a Plan B in case I get too frustrated with it ? There are a lot of other difficult challenges in this game, so I feel like avoiding one of them probably isn't too bad ?

 

 

6 hours ago, Spaz said:

You're nuts for going after Trials Fusion.

 

Quite a lot of trophies you earned for just over a week of playing.

 

Probably, but it would be worse to ignore the game only because of the challenge. It is indeed a ton of fun, and I'm having a great time with it so far ?

 

My in-game stats show that I've been playing for 11 hours, but I've been idling quite a bit so I'm probably still below 10 hours. I mention this because it is goes to show how I approach all my challenging games.. I take my time with them instead of rushing, as I feel it's the best way to avoid being frustrated and burnt out. It takes me longer to complete a game (not in-game, but overall), but with some exceptions, games stay fun until the very end this way ?

 

 

 

And just for the curious.. Here is my replay of Speed Demon in Crypt of the NecroDancer! Not the cleanest run, but I needed to be fast, so made some stupid mistakes ?

 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Arcesius

[Baker]

23 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

Is the cube challenge is that hard? It didn't look too bad from what I've seen, but I haven't tried it yet... 

 

I will give you a some advice for this one as I’ve wasted many hours going for this. I discovered this way too late myself but once again go to Track Central. There you can practice this skillgame with checkpoints and don’t attempt the trophy until you can run through levels 30-40 without faults. This will probably save you some hours of annoyance. Good luck!

[det_gittes]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Alright I listened to you guys and since I don't feel like I'm yet at the point where I can beat even Inferno IV (haven't tried again, though) I skipped that DLC and completed "Way of the Abyss", which wasn't too bad  There were two checkpoints on Deluge that gave me a bit of trouble, but it's done! I'm going to do "After the Incident" next, but I hear that Meteorain is a nightmare, so I might have to move on before finishing this DLC... 

Yeah, the WoTM and Meteorain are by far the hardest extremes from the DLCs. But the WoTM is super long, so maybe in comparison Meteorain is easier (though even today I'm not a big fan of the last but one checkpoint). I might add that Redlynx wasted some of the potential of the DLC by not making the challenges required for trophies. Maybe I would hate them if they had, but now not many people bother to finish the WoTM in darkness or on the Roach or to play the secret level on Meteorain which you get to by reversing into the shaft. These would further limit the number of achievers  

 

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

@det_gittes I noticed your progress.. Well done! Do you only have Top Roach left? Good luck with that one! Must have felt like a punch to the guts rolling off the platform 

Thanks! No, I have a few more challenges (Pipe Phobia not done yet) but once I get the Top Roach, I am quite confident that I will get the rest, too. When I looked at the number of completed challenges last night, it said 165, but surely quite a few come from the DLCs. I think I may have about 15 challenges left, but most of them super easy, just haven't even looked at them yet. When it comes to potentially difficult ones left, other than the two mentioned I've yet to get Afterburner, which I absolutely detest (Wormholin' was irritating, but Afterburner seems much harder). As for how I felt when I screwed up the Top Roach - frankly, I was speechless more than angry, and then I thought to myself, "Well, I've got here once, I will get here again", but 4 days have passed and still no luck. However, I'm not spending more than 1 hour a day on the track, otherwise I get burnt out and lose motivation to play. So when I play in the evenings, I am also going for the Redlynx to the Sword, right now I have three tracks left (Elysian Skies should be OK, but Seismic Activity and Sleepy Creek will take some time).

 

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Thanks! Appreciate it  Yeah I thought doing the DLC will naturally make me practice the game, but I might go back and do some easy and medium challenges in the base game as well... I've heard of Anger Management being extremely infuriating, so I'm not really looking forward to trying my luck on it  

 

Is the cube challenge is that hard? It didn't look too bad from what I've seen, but I haven't tried it yet... 

Anger Management is very aptly named, the track is objectively not very difficult, but it will take you some time (more than four minutes if I remember correctly) to get to the fourth circle and it's really easy to screw up, so starting over and over is definitely disheartening. But the fire itself is not too much of an issue, so it may be a good idea to practice on this custom track with no fire, and then once you've worked out strats for each circle, you may want to see how it feels with the bike on fire.

 

The Speedcuber was really difficult for me as not only do you need a zero fault run on a very long track (if you consider the sides of the cube as one long track) but also you don't have time to set up jumps etc. because the cube keeps rotating (and this also changes the physics). On top of that, there are custom gravity settings and it is also easy to fault when transitioning from one side to the next. But with practice and patience (and, for all I know, you're willing to practice and you have a lot of patience), you will get it sooner rather than later 

[James_Tonto]

Nice work on Jotun, it's one of those games I own on steam and been meaning to play. After seeing your thoughts and experiences with the game and its bosses, I'm now more eager to install and play it. And then maybe buy a copy for PS4 as well XD.

[Arcesius]

On 4.4.2020 at 0:15 PM, BB-BakkerJ said:

I will give you a some advice for this one as I’ve wasted many hours going for this. I discovered this way too late myself but once again go to Track Central. There you can practice this skillgame with checkpoints and don’t attempt the trophy until you can run through levels 30-40 without faults. This will probably save you some hours of annoyance. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to find that one on Track Central. I usually like to finish an entire set of DLC-trophies before moving on, though, and since I hear that beating the RedLynx times is among the hardest things to do, I think I'll leave that DLC for last ? Yeah, yeah, I'm weird like that. 

 

 

On 4.4.2020 at 3:13 PM, det_gittes said:

Yeah, the WoTM and Meteorain are by far the hardest extremes from the DLCs. But the WoTM is super long, so maybe in comparison Meteorain is easier (though even today I'm not a big fan of the last but one checkpoint). I might add that Redlynx wasted some of the potential of the DLC by not making the challenges required for trophies. Maybe I would hate them if they had, but now not many people bother to finish the WoTM in darkness or on the Roach or to play the secret level on Meteorain which you get to by reversing into the shaft. These would further limit the number of achievers  

 

I actually managed to get Meteorain yesterday... Took me four attempts, but I noticed progress after each failed run. At first I faulted out at the steep ramp you need to jump to... That one seemed impossible to do. The next time I got past that but ran out of time at the next obstacle, the long and steep incline (third-to-last CP). Then I got past that and faulted out at the Log-obstacle that seems impossible to do. 

 

In my successful run I actually managed to get to that second-to-last Log-Checkpoint with "only" 60 faults and within 4 minutes. Let's just say I passed the track with only 4 faults left ?

 

I'm intrigued by WotM.. It's probably a bit too early for me to be attempting these tracks, but I can't help it.. I had a lot of fun going for Meteorain, especially since I really noticed how I was improving, and how I could suddenly pass obstacles within a handful of faults that initially gave me a headache. This game... 

 

Let's just say I'm liking the game so much that I bought Trials Rising from the current sale ?

 

 

On 5.4.2020 at 5:39 AM, James_Tonto said:

Nice work on Jotun, it's one of those games I own on steam and been meaning to play. After seeing your thoughts and experiences with the game and its bosses, I'm now more eager to install and play it. And then maybe buy a copy for PS4 as well XD.

 

Thanks! Yeah it's absolutely worth a try. It is also on the short side, a first playthrough should only take a couple of hours. It's the Valhalla fights that will extend your playtime, but with two exceptions (Fé and Odin without powers) even that was a good time ?

Edited April 7, 2020 by Arcesius

[Baker]

22 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to find that one on Track Central. I usually like to finish an entire set of DLC-trophies before moving on, though, and since I hear that beating the RedLynx times is among the hardest things to do, I think I'll leave that DLC for last  Yeah, yeah, I'm weird like that.  

 

Let's just say I'm liking the game so much that I bought Trials Rising from the current sale 

 

Redlynx to the Sword is really hard. Some track times are easy to beat but Sleepy Creek was a nightmare for me. Yeah, you should save this DLC for last ?.

 

Good you bought Rising. That game is also a lot of fun. And just a quick warning, because you might get tempted: Don’t buy Trials of the Blood Dragon! One of the worst games I ever played.

[det_gittes]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Let's just say I'm liking the game so much that I bought Trials Rising from the current sale 

Ha ha, why am I not surprised? I assume you'll only play it once you're done with Trials Fusion - then you'll really have a fun time seeing how easy that game seems. For sure there will be a few trophies that will give you a run for your money, though  In the meantime, after a one day break I had a 1-fault run going for the Top Roach, fml ? And the fault wasn't even on one of the harder obstacles (but it was not far from the end, which is why I finished the run for practice). 

2 hours ago, BB-BakkerJ said:

Redlynx to the Sword is really hard. Some track times are easy to beat but Sleepy Creek was a nightmare for me. Yeah, you should save this DLC for last .

The extreme is suprisingly easy as it doesn't even require a faultless run, but Sleepy Creek is giving me a hard time, too - I haven't yet figured out a surefire way for the first time-saver, not to mentione the other two ?

 

2 hours ago, BB-BakkerJ said:

And just a quick warning, because you might get tempted: Don’t buy Trials of the Blood Dragon! One of the worst games I ever played.

Sometimes I feel tempted to buy it cuz the game is on sale so often, but then I remember all I've read about it and I always come to my senses. 

[Baker]

1 hour ago, det_gittes said:

 

The extreme is suprisingly easy as it doesn't even require a faultless run, but Sleepy Creek is giving me a hard time, too - I haven't yet figured out a surefire way for the first time-saver, not to mentione the other two 

 

Maybe this will help you out. Skip to 7.00. I saw a lot of video’s of people going through the pipe leaning forward. For me it was a lot easier leaning backwards and doing a little hop. I even screwed up by landing on my front tire at 22 seconds in but still managed to get it. You got this man. Good luck!

 

Yeah, I beat the extreme with 8! faults. Only barely though and everything else in the run was pretty flawless. I don’t have a replay of it anymore. 

[det_gittes]

@BB-BakkerJ Thanks for the replays, I thought I saw your run (as I have you in my friends' list and currently I'm racing against your ghost on the Rock of Rages ), but now that I watched it, apparently I didn't before - and I see that you didn't hit the second time-saver (the one after the billboard - it's possible to take the upper route but I find it hard) and still nailed it - that actually makes the track appear much more manageable, I will definitely try it tonight (also, a good tip about the first pipe - I do indeed lean forward, but it may be a mistake!).