Arcesius' Pursuit of Completion

[Psy-Tychist]

Liking the variety in your choices of games, I think I am being far too trophy whore in my approach.

 

Hollow Knight is one of my favourite games of recent years and I am still disappointed in myself that I haven't finished the Colosseum of the Fool (that comes a lot later).

 

Just a couple of quick tips without spoilers:

• For starting out, always pay attention to Cornifers humming, he may not be accessible in some places immediately, but his maps are very helpful.
• Alongside this, buy the Wayward Compass to help with exploring, unless you like to memorise every place you need to go
• Try out new charms, find fun combinations that work for the way you like to play.
• Watch out for Jellyfish in Fog Canyon, they will be the death of you.
• Remember that Sly is a greedy bug, but he has many things you really need to progress the story and make you stronger.
• If you find a Simple Key, go to the right of Dirtmouth and unlock the door to find Confessor JiJi. She will bring your shade back if you feed her Rancid Eggs.

Hopefully, it wasn't unwarranted this advice and you enjoy Hollow Knight to the fullest.

[Arcesius]

17 hours ago, Psy-Tychist said:

Liking the variety in your choices of games, I think I am being far too trophy whore in my approach.

 

Hey! Well, are you having fun? If the answer is "yes", then what's the problem? But thanks! With Trackmania Turbo I definitely went out of my comfort zone, though... 

 

I know my trophy progress doesn't reflect that, but I'm actually already 13 hours into Hollow Knight ? The game is super stingy with trophies though... Haven't really checked the trophy list (spoilers), but I guess they will start popping at some point... ?

 

17 hours ago, Psy-Tychist said:

• Watch out for Jellyfish in Fog Canyon, they will be the death of you.

 

Well... I wrote earlier that I had saved up 1800 Geos for the lantern, but lost them... Yep, it was to those Jellyfish ? 

 

17 hours ago, Psy-Tychist said:

• Remember that Sly is a greedy bug, but he has many things you really need to progress the story and make you stronger.

 

That greedy son of a bug is the main reason I'm still running around with the "Soul Catcher" charm... I switch that one out for (mini) boss encounters if needed, though. 

 

All in all, I am having a fantastic time with this game, and your advice is very welcome! ?

What I need to do more is check for charm synergies.. I'm mostly sticking to the same ones, also cause I don't really have too many yet, but I'll try to experiment some more..

Edited June 8, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Arcesius]

Update

 

This was a long weekend due to a public holiday on Monday, so it's time for an update! Let's see how we are progressing ?

 

 

Trackmania Turbo 

Now will you look at that... real progress! ? My goal was to unlock the Black Series, and there you go! After struggling with the multilaps #125 and to some extent #130 in Red Canyon, Red Valley was a breeze in comparison... Red Lagoon was mostly fine, though I spent too much time on the full-beach track there due to the horrendous huge jump to the finish line. Since that's the only full-beach track in that subseries, once I cleared it I went back to #109 and hey, got gold after about 10 minutes. So it's true, your skills improve dramatically while trying to master the more difficult tracks... ?

Red Stadium, as expected, was mostly on the easy side. The only problematic tracks were once again the multilaps, especially #155. There is just no margin for error on that one. After getting my 160th gold medal, the Black Series unlocked.... 

 

I then moved on to Black Canyon... It took me a while to get used to the controls of the canyon car (for the last time!!), and finally managed to get my first black gold on #161. I then even got a trackmaster medal on #162! And then.... I got to know my now favorite obstacle in the entire game.. the super narrow loop of death. I tried the track a couple of times but couldn't find a consistant way to successfully drive the loop, so I gave up for the moment (and played some Hollow Knight instead). That's where I'm at, 162 / 200 gold medals.

 

Reading what I just wrote, it might sound like I ain't being challenged by this game. Let me assure you, I feel challenged. This shit is haaaaaaaard, holy hell ? I'm confident when I say that, once I'm finished, this will be the most challenging platinum in my collection. Not once while playing Super Meat Boy did I question whether I would be able to get the plat or not for that game. With Trackmania Turbo, I'm really doubting my abilities to do so. 

 

P.S: Seriously, this is NOT a 70 hour platinum, as suggested by the trophy guide... For most players, I'd say this is easily a 100+ hour platinum. Or is it just me???

 

 

Hollow Knight

I decided to spend more time with this game once I had unlocked the Black Series in TMT. What I can already say is that this game has waaaay more content than I thought! I am getting constantly distracted... "Hmm, there is an open path in the Mantis Village, let me go see if th... -- Isma's Tear acquired -- oh I can swim through this tiny acid pool now! Opens up 50 new areas." ?

 

But after exploring and exploring and exploring, I decided to proceed in the "main quest", if you will, and destroyed the three Dreamers, opening up the Temple of the Black Egg. I haven't been there yet, I'd like to do some more exploring first. ? I upgraded my nail twice now I think, so will attempt the Enraged Guardian again. He was waaaay too fast and kicked my ass when I challenged him unprepared. Now it's time to kick its crystal butt. Same with the Lost Kin... swift little bastard. 

 

What can I say... I'm not done with the game yet, but Hollow Knight is incredible. And I just don't get tired of its visuals.. it's just gorgeous to look at, and incredibly fun to play. I just didn't find too many charms yet that I find useful... and it's not like I'm not exploring the world ? 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Arcesius]

Update

 

Alright guys, this was a rainy weekend here in Switzerland, so there is some real progress to report!

 

Before we dive into the currently open games, I purchased Downwell and Immortal: Unchained, so those have been added to the backlog. I might wait a bit before I start the latter one (I will at least be finishing Hollow Knight first), but Downwell I might start at some point soon(ish), since I guess it shouldn't take too long to complete. 

 

 

Overcooked! 2 - Night of the Hangry Horde DLC

Well this was unexpected... Suddenly update 1.07 was out and with it, the second piece of DLC included in the Season Pass: Night of the Hangry Horde. There seem to be again three worlds, but this time with only three levels each (instead of four). However, there is a new game mode that has been introduced with this DLC: Horde Levels. In those, you need to survive waves of enemies which attack your kitchen and can be fend off by serving them a specific dish. The kitchen is initially protected by barricades that can be repaired with coins earned by serving dishes, but once a barricade falls, the kitchen starts taking damage! ??

 

There is a trophy for beating all horde levels (I think there are nine of those in the DLC) without your kitchen taking damage... No idea how challenging this will be, but the game mode actually sounds like a lot of fun! So far, we managed to three-star all levels in the first world, and compared to the previous DLC (Campfire Cook-Off), they ware actually rather easy. ?

 

 

Hollow Knight 

Remember how I had opened up the Temple of the Black Egg? After some more exploring I finally went there and faced the final boss! Or at least, now that I finished my blind playthrough and could look some things up, the final boss most players will face during their initial run. 

 

I have since been cleaning up some of the remaining trophies, fighting warrior dreams and dream bosses. I also collected all charms now, and I sure as hell was not expecting the rather challenging platforming sections that are found in the White Palace! ? Very, very fun thogh! I also cleaned up the collectibles (mask shards, vessel fragments and Grubs) and completed the Grey Mourner quest, which involved traversing almost the entire map without taking any damage or using fast travel. 

I'm still a bit confused as to what I need to do to get the two trophies related to the Grimm Troupe though.. I've summoned them and I guess I'll be gathering all flames that appeared on my map... let's see what happens then.

Afterwards I still need to talk to some mushroom herald a couple of times, complete my bestiary and beat the Trial of the Fool, which I haven't attempted yet... and then it's time for the dreaded Pantheons... ?

 

What can I say... you all need to pick this game up if you enjoy a good Metroidvania. ? I look forward to writing a full review soon! (I hope)

 

 

Trackmania Turbo 

Canyon is done! Never again! ? I can't believe it... 

 

After unlocking the Black Series last week, I decided to go slowly to not burn myself out. My initial goal was to finish Black Canyon averaging one gold medal a day. Voilà! I actually was a bit faster than that ? There were a couple of easier tracks, but overall Black Canyon was the hardest group to beat in the game so far. Especially the last track combines everything this environment has to offer... 

The track starts with a 10 second helicopter drop, followed by a wallride into a wide looping, from which you jump onto a straight and super narrow road. I swear I missed that road in about 85% of my attempts, landing next to it in the water instead... ?

Assuming you make the jump, the next part is a super tight drift at full speed, typical for canyon, and then some racing-course mid-section that is actually the easiest part of the map. We then get to two consecutive quarter-pipe jumps that are super easy to mess up, because why the fuck not, and after some more narrow-street drifting, to top all of this off, two consecutive narrow loops of death!  Yeah, try to not get nervous driving through those... Most runs past the initial looping would end either at the quarterpipes or final loops.. and we're talking about a 2:30 minute map! 

 

But it doesn't matter.. it's done! ? And to not have to go back to canyon later, I also got about 14 trackmaster medals in earlier tracks, I think that should be enough for the 50 I need overall. 

 

So we are at 170/200 gold medals.. Next up is Black Valley, what seems to be the major platinum killer. For these next 10 tracks I have no particular goals. I'll take it slow, I am mentally prepared for what's coming to be the hardest shit the game has to offer. Bring it on! ?

 

 

 

How are you guys progressing otherwise? 

@Mori, I saw that you got the Nuclear Throne platinum.. man, huge congrats on that one! 

[Mori]

20 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

snip

 

Thanks man, that was quite the game.  Even though the crown grind got a bit tedious towards the end, I still had so much fun. Trials Rising is done for now aswell, and to answer your question a while back, yes CTR Remake is pre-ordered and I am ready to go.  

 

You are making good progress in HK, so have you discovered all areas before fighting the HK? I was baffeled that I've missed two or three areas entirely. 

The White Palace was really nice, but have you seen the path of pain yet? It is not required for the platinum but boy oh boy.  I didnt care to do it myself btw., the Pantheons kept me busy enough.

 

Also good job with TMT. Now comes the infamous Black Valley.  I wish you best of luck and keep calm.  

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Mori

[Arcesius]

On 6/18/2019 at 11:23 AM, Mori said:

You are making good progress in HK, so have you discovered all areas before fighting the HK? I was baffeled that I've missed two or three areas entirely. 

The White Palace was really nice, but have you seen the path of pain yet? It is not required for the platinum but boy oh boy.  I didnt care to do it myself btw., the Pantheons kept me busy enough.

 

Also good job with TMT. Now comes the infamous Black Valley.  I wish you best of luck and keep calm.  

 

Nooo, of course not!! ? I missed a couple of areas before beating the final boss, and many, many other things. Man this game is WAY bigger than I thought! It is amazing though, you were right about that! ? 

I checked the path of pain out.. well that's something I won't complete.. ?

 

 

Update

 

Shall we see where we are? 

 

Hollow Knight

Alright, only late game stuff left to do. I cleaned up all collectables, charms, power ups (had missed quite some stuff, let me tell you!), did the Grimm Troupe quest (I banished the troupe, I was feeling bad for Brumm!), completed the hunters journal... This game is PACKED with content, I sure as hell wasn't expecting so much from a 15$ indie game... Whatever Team Cherry is bringing out in the future, it's an instant buy for me! ?

 

Anyways, I also needed to complete the last trial in the colosseum, the Trial of the Fool. And let me tell ya, that was no joke! ? It took me a couple of attempts to beat, experimenting with different builds. Especially one part in the middle where the arena only consists of walls and spikes for a floor, thus there is no chance to heal for a couple of waves of enemies, was particularly challenging. But hey, I persevered, and that's now done. 

 

I then proceeded to find my way to Godhome, where five pantheons, the only thing I have left to do in this game, await me. Those are boss-rush type of challenges. The first four consist of nine bosses each from the main game, and one additional boss that could not be encountered before. I did the first one so far, which was pretty easy (of course, since it consists of early game bosses). 

The last one, however, wants you to fight against 42 or so bosses in a row! With the last three bosses being the absolute hardest thing this game has to offer... Or so I heard.

I think it will still take me a while to complete this thing ?

 

 

Trackmania Turbo

The reason why I didn't write an update earlier this week is that I just got my 180th gold medal literally five minutes ago. Let me write this out: I FINISHED BLACK VALLEY! ??? 

That's right, it took me eight days to complete this incredibly, incredibly hard subseries. Holy shit, I was already struggling quite a bit with this game, but some of those tracks are completely INSANE. The worst ones were the multilap (of course), which took me three hours to complete, followed by the last Valley track #180 (4.5 hours), which was hard, but honestly a lot of fun to drive, so it didn't bother me that much. But the absolute WORST has to be #178, a completely unfair piece of shit of a track that took me freaking six hours to complete!!! This is longer than it took me to get Zombie Boy or Girl Boy for fucks sake! Six freaking hours to get a gold medal on a track that takes less than two minutes to complete when driven properly... 

 

I am really happy that I managed to pull this off... ? I think I'll do the same thing I did after completing Black Canyon and will attempt to get some early game Valley Trackmaster Medals (I have 10 so far, I'll try to get about 14-15), and then it's time for Black Lagoon! 

 

 

 

By the way, I signed up for the Gaming by Numbers event hosted by eigen-space, I still need to come up with a list of games I wanna complete. Trackmania Turbo and Hollow Knight are definitely going in there, that's for sure! 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Arcesius]

Sorry guys, wall of text incoming  

 

 Platinum #53 – Trackmania Turbo

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 8/10
• 100% Challenge:  9/10

 

The first installment of the well-known (I guess?) Trackmania franchise to be available on consoles, combining the three known environments Canyon, Valley and Stadium, and introducing the new Rollercoaster Lagoon, where the laws of physics don't apply.

A game that will ask everything of you if you even want to see all tracks, and one of the most rewarding platinum trophies once achieved..  

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

A racing game, and nothing more, really. No story, no drama, no cutscenes… Trackmania Turbo focuses entirely on its gameplay, and that's a good thing, because what it does, it does incredibly well. So what is this about? Racing, duh… But instead of long, realistic racing courses, this game is all about ridiculously over the top and rather short time trials, with a strong focus on self-improvement by repeated attempts. 

 

Let's for once start with the "bad" stuff, as there's not much to mention, really. The only human "voices" in the game are some commentators that will scream "What are you doing??" or "Watch out for the paintwork!!" whenever you damage your car, and honestly, I needed to disable those voices a couple of hours into the game because they were getting extremely annoying. Other than that, the music is not very varied and there are not many tracks included in the game, but I didn't mind. With a simple button press you can switch between only music, only sound effects or both enabled, and I would often find myself listening to some metal music on my laptop having only my sound effects enabled in the game. Those, by the way, are often extremely important for driving optimal lines, as the sound of your motor for example can tell you whether you should break a bit before the next curve or if you might be better off drifting instead.

 

In terms of content, the game comes with online multiplayer, of course, and some local game modes, and you can play around with the track creator and even share those tracks for others to race on. But the main part is the incredibly large solo campaign, which consists of 200 unique tracks, divided by terrain and difficulty. Every five tracks you have a 3-lap course, all other tracks are "drive once from A to B", and last from 0:25 to 2:00 minutes, more or less. There are five series, consisting of 40 tracks each:

 

White Series – Start Here;    Green Series – Easy to Pick Up;    Blue Series – Try Hard;    Red Series – Try Harder;    Black Series – Hard to Master
 

 

Each series contains 10 tracks in each of the four environments, and each environment comes with its own car with unique characteristics. Let me describe those environments real quick: 

• Canyon Grand Drift.
  Canyon is all about going full-speed through narrow roads and drifting around tight curves. With this car, one very gentle tap on the break can already send you drifting hundreds of meters, and this is a skill that needs mastering, since in later stages this needs to be executed to perfection on roads with chasms left and right. This environment also introduces the narrow loop of death later in the black series, as I like to call it, which is probably the most difficult obstacle in the game to overcome consistently.
   
• Down & Dirty Valley.
  Despite containing the most challenging tracks in the game, this is without a doubt my favorite environment. The maps in Valley are gorgeous off-road dirt or grass tracks, full of long jumps, high drops and crazy wallrides. Controlling this car requires quite a bit of practice, especially on grass. Oh, and this Valley is also home to the famous Indestructible Twigs of Doom! ? I could get so mad when after a perfect jump my car would just crash against a tiny, almost invisible twig as if it was made of the same material as the wall of a fallout shelter.
   
• Rollercoaster Lagoon.
  Without a doubt the craziest, most over the top environment. And yes, you indeed drive on magnetic rollercoasters full of loopings that would make your head spin, that's not only in the name. Other than rollercoasters there are plenty of tracks through beautiful beaches, which I found incredibly difficult to drive properly, or tracks made entirely of slippery wood. The physics of the Lagoon car are already messed up enough, but the difficult terrain made this environment really challenging at times. Still many of the tracks here were very enjoyable as well.
   
• International Stadium.
  Probably the easiest environment overall, but still containing super crazy regular and dirt tracks full of pillars, discontinuous loopings and long horizontal wallrides. It also helps that this car is probably the easiest to control.

 

If I'm impressed with one thing about this game, it gotta be the learning curve… This is just spot on, and you can actually see how you keep getting better and better, but the next track is always again a tad more challenging than the previous one. When you get back to earlier tracks (for example to get trackmaster medals) after having advanced in the campaign, you notice how tracks that seemed pretty hard at the time are absolutely ridiculous now. The game is also incredibly good at showing you how well you are performing, and at wanting you to get better. You see, you don't simply play an empty track. You can race against the ghost-car of the bronze, silver or gold medal (more on the medal system later), or you can even race against your friends PB on a track (either PS or Uplay friends). Plus, once you have set a time on a track, your own ghost will be racing as well. That way, you keep seeing where you made mistakes, or what your friend did better, and learn. 

 

This, together with the timer saving your time up to hundredths of a second really made the game pretty addictive. I would often say "only one more attempt" only to find myself half an hour later still grinding the same track for a better time. ?

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Let me start by saying that this is the hardest platinum I've achieved at the time of writing. I mean what can I say, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, but I could also have picked a Lego game to achieve that… Nope, it needed to be this beast… ?

 

The game starts out easy enough, introducing the main elements of each environment in the first tracks, which are also relatively easy to beat and also really short. We are talking about tracks of 30-40 seconds in length, although later tracks in the red and black series can take almost two minutes.

The thing is that you cannot simply play whatever track you want. At the beginning you have only access to the first 10 Canyon tracks in the white series, and you need to beat each track in a predetermined time to either get a bronze, silver, gold or trackmaster medal. Once you have gotten at least a bronze medal in all 10 white Canyon tracks, you unlock the next set of tracks. And this continues throughout the game, only that for unlocking tracks in the blue and red series you need to have all previous silver medals, and unlocking the black tracks requires all previous gold medals.

You remember how people were saying that "Sekiro needs an easy mode" to be accessible? Well, they never played Trackmania Turbo then, or at least I didn't hear them complain about its difficulty. This game is really telling you to your face that if you wanna play the advanced tracks and see everything the game has to offer, you need to prove that you have the necessary skill. And skill is all you need, as there is almost no RNG, no bullshit, no nothing otherwise, and the controls are incredibly responsive. You either practice and get better at this game, or you just don't get to see all tracks. Granted, there is a "joker" system where if you beat the silver medal time twice for a certain track, you can unlock a fake gold medal. But, first of all, getting silver medals in the black series can be quite hard as well, so if you get there without the required skill, it will still be pretty hard to keep progressing via fake gold medals and secondly, they do not count for the respective trophies. ? I never used one, and my way of playing was to always get gold in a track before moving on, with very few exceptions. 

 

So yeah, the trophy list is pretty straightforward… Complete the campaign with a gold medal in each track, and hey, while you are at it, get a trackmaster medal in 50 of those tracks. But one thing is being straightforward, another thing is being easy. Already some tracks in the red series were pretty hard to get a gold medal in, especially some of the multilaps in red Canyon, but that is nothing compared to what awaits in the black series. Already even unlocking the black series is really hard, as you need to have all previous 160 gold medals, but beating those black tracks with a gold medal (boy, I'm writing "gold medal" a lot, huh..) can be pretty ridiculous. Especially black Valley is incredibly brutal, and the hardest tracks took me five to six hours to get a gold in. That's six hours attempting a track that actually is only 1:40 minutes long over and over and over again, trying to improve your best time, trying to beat a ghost that seems to be unbeatable.

So yeah, the last 80 and especially the last 40 tracks are really soul-crushingly difficult (with some exceptions), and the entire campaign is just soooo long for being so challenging throughout. This makes it definitely one of the most unforgiving platinums I've earned. ?

 

So yeah, sounds fun! ? Why am I rating this a 8/10 in enjoyment? Well first of all many tracks start with your car being drop from a helicopter... ? And also I think it's fair to say that if you can unlock the black series, you can beat the black series. It might cost you your sanity, but if you are willing to put in the effort, to practice the tracks, to fight off your frustration, then you will eventually obtain one of the most rewarding platinum trophies. And you know why it's so rewarding? Because there was no bullshit involved, this was all you and your determination to improve your skill. You got better.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Briste]

5 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

Let me start by saying that this is the hardest platinum I've achieved at the time of writing.

Wow, congrats on the Platinum! Trackmania Turbo was even harder than Super Meat Boy? I also like to challenge myself from time to time (I Am Bread is my next challenge after I finish up SMB) but I personally suck at racing games so I don't think I would stand a chance at this game. The only 'racing' game I've played since Destruction Derby 2 (other than the Mario Kart games) was in Batman: Arkham City...and I mostly sucked at those and could only beat the time trials by driving in the first person view. I give you props though for staying with it...5 hours on a single, minute and a half track takes a lot of patience and willpower lol

 

Also, I noticed you're from Switzerland and I just wanted to say that I love Switzerland  My wife and I honeymooned there. We took the train to Interlaken and stayed in Lauterbrunnen. Our hotel room overlooked the waterfall in the valley there and it was absolutely beautiful. We chose Lauterbrunnen because my wife wanted to take the train up Jungfrau. I had also read that Tolkien had gotten his inspiration for Rivendell when he backpacked through that area of Switzerland, so that added a little mystique as well...it didn't disappoint. We ended up going at a good time too since it we were there for Swiss National Day. The cows were all dressed up and there was a lot of fun stuff going on. I ended up skydiving from a helicopter while I was there and ate more Rosti and sausages than I care to admit. If I ever moved out of the US, I would move to Switzerland.

[ZoutjeNL]

Wow such an amazing collection of platinums. I love the formats you use in the post really nice to read. I definitely keep following you as you have similar (and great if I say so) taste in games. Keep it up mate, what is the next plat on the list? 

[Fr_0zt]

??

[Arcesius]

16 hours ago, Briste said:

Wow, congrats on the Platinum! Trackmania Turbo was even harder than Super Meat Boy? I also like to challenge myself from time to time (I Am Bread is my next challenge after I finish up SMB) but I personally suck at racing games so I don't think I would stand a chance at this game. The only 'racing' game I've played since Destruction Derby 2 (other than the Mario Kart games) was in Batman: Arkham City...and I mostly sucked at those and could only beat the time trials by driving in the first person view. I give you props though for staying with it...5 hours on a single, minute and a half track takes a lot of patience and willpower lol

 

Well, if I really need to make a binary choice, then yes, Trackmania Turbo was harder (for me!) than Super Meat Boy. There are two main reasons.. the first one is that, like yourself, I have never played racing games besides party games like Mario Kart... ? And Trackmania is not a casual franchise.. there are yearly international tournaments for professional Trackmania players and cups with thousands of spectators and large prize pools, although it's no e-sport yet. So  maybe not the easiest racing game to start with. And platformers... I have more experience with those

 

Then, Super Meat Boy is challenging, sure, but most of the game is actually really doable, even most of the ironman runs. The difficulty ramps up pretty steeply for the last 3-4 no-death runs, and those are the platinum breakers. Trackmania Turbo is challenging from start to end, with a spot-on but still incredibly steep learning curve, and every single track needs almost perfection. I mentioned that the hardest tracks took five to six hours each to complete (for comparison, that's how log Zombie and Girl Boy took me in SMB), but maaaaany other tracks still took one, two or even three hours to get a gold in. ?

 

You let me know how I Am Bread goes! That is another game that is probably more challenging and frustrating than Super Meat Boy... ? I've played Octodad, which doesn't compare at all in terms of challenge but still shares some of the same controls, and I got sooo pissed sometimes... I don't know if I will find the motivation to put myself through IAB... ? 

 

 

16 hours ago, Briste said:

Also, I noticed you're from Switzerland and I just wanted to say that I love Switzerland  My wife and I honeymooned there. We took the train to Interlaken and stayed in Lauterbrunnen. Our hotel room overlooked the waterfall in the valley there and it was absolutely beautiful. We chose Lauterbrunnen because my wife wanted to take the train up Jungfrau. I had also read that Tolkien had gotten his inspiration for Rivendell when he backpacked through that area of Switzerland, so that added a little mystique as well...it didn't disappoint. We ended up going at a good time too since it we were there for Swiss National Day. The cows were all dressed up and there was a lot of fun stuff going on. I ended up skydiving from a helicopter while I was there and ate more Rosti and sausages than I care to admit. If I ever moved out of the US, I would move to Switzerland.

 

Well that's a lot of Swissness for a single vacation ? Dressed-up cows for the National Day, Rösti and mountains.. that sounds about right! I have to say, I'm actually from Spain, but moved here when I was 12 years old... I really like it here, cities aren't overwhemlingly big but still large enough (I live in Basel, which has about 200k inhabitants), and you are very quickly in incredible places... I'm happy that you got to visit and had a great time, it's definitely worthwhile! 

 

 

16 hours ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Wow such an amazing collection of platinums. I love the formats you use in the post really nice to read. I definitely keep following you as you have similar (and great if I say so) taste in games. Keep it up mate, what is the next plat on the list? 

 

Thanks man! Appreciate the comment! And welcome to the page! I see you just joined recently

I'll finish Hollow Knight next, which probably will still take a while, and want to do Limbo, which is only a 100% and shouldn't take too long, and Downwell. Otherwise, a friend is coming over next weekend to rehearse some music and we'll probably start Magicka 2 in coop as well. Oh, and the next DLC for Darksiders III should drop this month, so I'll get to that as well

 

Is this your first PS account? What's up for you after DBH?

 

 

15 hours ago, Fr_0zt said:

 

??

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Arcesus7

[ZoutjeNL]

Good luck with Hollow Knight looks quite the challenge but seeing your impressive list you are not affraid of challenge, Crypt of the Necrodancer that must be one of the most difficult games... I hope you beat it one day! Great, always fun to play co-op games together. Rehearse music that is cool! What instrument do you play? I play guitar myself.

 

I originally am a completionist on PC, I completed over 100 games (quite a few that you completed aswell) such as: Dark souls trilogy, Nioh, Overcooked, Thumper and many more. PC achievements lost its charm, people nowadays rack up an insane amount of achievements which I frankly don't care about. I prefer to complete harder/games that I enjoy. That plus the community in Trophy hunting always looked really nice, plus a small bonus; I love the sound of trophies popping.  I won't be working on DBH fulltime as I play it with someone else. I am still deciding what game I should go for next as solo project. 

[Briste]

13 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

You let me know how I Am Bread goes! That is another game that is probably more challenging and frustrating than Super Meat Boy...  I've played Octodad, which doesn't compare at all in terms of challenge but still shares some of the same controls, and I got sooo pissed sometimes... I don't know if I will find the motivation to put myself through IAB...  

Yeah I've heard the controls are nightmarish...but it was $1.99 so I figured why not? I'm in no rush to get to it, but if I can finish up Space Hulk anytime soon, I will then devote my Vita to finishing SMB. Once that is out of the way, I may casually start up IAB. I have a masochistic pull to also try Crypt of the Necrodancer...but the fact it is a rhythm game makes me nervous. That's another genre I am generally no good at. It took me a week to get the jump rope trophy in FFIX so I can't imagine what it would take for this game...but maybe some day. I look forward to hearing about your trials with that game for sure.

 

13 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

Well that's a lot of Swissness for a single vacation  Dressed-up cows for the National Day, Rösti and mountains.. that sounds about right! I have to say, I'm actually from Spain, but moved here when I was 12 years old... I really like it here, cities aren't overwhemlingly big but still large enough (I live in Basel, which has about 200k inhabitants), and you are very quickly in incredible places... I'm happy that you got to visit and had a great time, it's definitely worthwhile! 

 

Basel looks like a great spot bordering Germany and France. We flew into Paris and spent a couple days there before venturing up to Normandy. We did what all people on their honeymoon do and took a depressing (but awesome) Band of Brothers WWII tour while we were there. From Normandy, we took the train into Bern and then on to Interlaken. It was a great train ride. It was so beautiful everywhere you looked. My wife wants to go to Germany or Austria or Italy for our 10 year anniversary. I don't care as long as there are mountains  How many languages do you speak? I assume you speak at least two. When I was there it seemed like everyone could speak like four or five. Our waiter said he spoke French, German, Italian and 'Gypsy'. He said the Gypsy language was a mishmash of all of the languages since Switzerland borders so many countries. I speak English...poorly so was really impressed with his mastery of so many languages. Which language do you prefer to play your games in?

[Arcesius]

19 hours ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Good luck with Hollow Knight looks quite the challenge but seeing your impressive list you are not affraid of challenge, Crypt of the Necrodancer that must be one of the most difficult games... I hope you beat it one day! Great, always fun to play co-op games together. Rehearse music that is cool! What instrument do you play? I play guitar myself.

 

Hollow Knight is quite ok in terms of challenge. Only the end game is really tough, which is where I'm at... Currently practicing the fight in the Hall of Gods against Pure Vessel, and once that's done I still have to go through the last pantheon, where you fight 42 bosses in a row... ? In any case, it's one of the few games that I can recommend without hesitation, it's so good!

As for Crypt of the Necrodancer.. I really should get back to that. I stopped playing after beating the second zone to focus on Trackmania Turbo, but now that that's done, I'll pick it up again

 

I play the drums, the friend that's coming over plays guitar... Any particular music that you prefer playing? 

 

 

10 hours ago, Briste said:

Yeah I've heard the controls are nightmarish...but it was $1.99 so I figured why not? I'm in no rush to get to it, but if I can finish up Space Hulk anytime soon, I will then devote my Vita to finishing SMB. Once that is out of the way, I may casually start up IAB. I have a masochistic pull to also try Crypt of the Necrodancer...but the fact it is a rhythm game makes me nervous. That's another genre I am generally no good at. It took me a week to get the jump rope trophy in FFIX so I can't imagine what it would take for this game...but maybe some day. I look forward to hearing about your trials with that game for sure.

 

Yeah I've been close to buying it a couple of times for the same reason ? You really wanna do the last ironman runs in SMB on the Vita? ? There are a couple of glitches that could kill your runs, just be aware of those! I've never owned a Vita, but I could imagine it being way easier with a regular DS4... 

I had the same urge to buy CotND... I was thinking about starting it all the time, and when I finally saw it on a sale, I couldn't resist... But it's definitely not a game that I will devote all my gaming time to. I'll play it slowly, the game is too good, and I don't wanna end up hating it. I bought a couple of rhythm games beforehand (Thumper, Beat Saber, Sekiro ?) to see if I like them, and I really do. But again, I'm a drummer, so that's a given. 

 

Ugh, don't remind me of that minigame ?

 

10 hours ago, Briste said:

How many languages do you speak? I assume you speak at least two. When I was there it seemed like everyone could speak like four or five. Our waiter said he spoke French, German, Italian and 'Gypsy'. He said the Gypsy language was a mishmash of all of the languages since Switzerland borders so many countries. I speak English...poorly so was really impressed with his mastery of so many languages. Which language do you prefer to play your games in?

 

I started forcing myself to consume my media in English (games, tv shows, movies) when I was around 14-15 years old. At the beginning I was still using subtitles, but started disabling them eventually (I still use subtitles for shows like Broadchurch, because wtf is that accent ?), so yeah, I play all my games in English (I played Sekiro in Japanese, but with English subtitles), I have my phone and computer language set to English, etc...

 

Otherwise, I obviously speak Spanish and German (Swiss German is "only" a dialect, we learn proper German in school) as my mother tongues, and since I come from the part of Spain right above Portugal, I speak Galician (which is the language of that region: Galicia). In school here in Switzerland I then learned French as the primary foreign language, together with English. And I lived for four years in Finland (which is why my PS account is Finnish), so I have some basic knowledge of that language as well, although I must say I already forgot a lot. ? But yeah, I mostly use German (duh), Spanish (Family) and English in my everyday life. 

 

You don't learn other languages over there at school? 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Arcesus7

[S_y_n_e_IR_g_Y]

Respekt für die ganzen Sprachen die du gelernt hast ???

[Arcesius]

On 7/10/2019 at 10:35 AM, S_y_n_e_IR_g_Y said:

Respekt für die ganzen Sprachen die du gelernt hast

 

Haha, danke! Aber es blieb mir mit dem Umzug natürlich nicht viel anderes übrig… Ausser Finnisch.. das war eher Neugierde, und ich hatte das Glück, von der Uni aus Kurse besuchen zu können

 

 

Update:

 

I finished the latest Overcooked! 2 DLC, which was plenty of fun! The new Horde mode is really great, I'm hoping they include it in the upcoming DLC as well.

We still have a  couple of open games, but some progress to report! 

 

 

Hollow Knight

 

Yep, the endgame is tough… ? The last two pantheons (boss rush arenas) are probably the most challenging thing the game has you do for the platinum. This weekend, after finally finishing Trackmania Turbo last week (still sooo happy about that! ?), I decided to get back to Hollow Knight and spent some time practicing the second-hardest (I think..?) boss of the game, Pure Vessel, which is the end boss of the fourth pantheon (Pantheon of the Knight). Once I felt comfortable beating it, I attempted to complete the pantheon. Two runs ended on the penultimate boss (aaargh! ?), which usually ain't even that much of a problem… Eventually I made it to the last boss and managed to take him down and complete the pantheon.

That boss rush was the only thing I was missing for 112% completion, so I went ahead, finished the game (again) and got the related trophy ?

 

I only have the last pantheon left to do now… 42 bosses in a row… I'm currently practicing another hard boss (Nightmare King Grimm) which I had not encountered in the main game before, and then I'll need to get to the last boss of the final pantheon, Absolute Radiance, to unlock it for practice. This seems to be the hardest boss in the game.. good times!

The plat seems so close, but I'm guessing it will still be another 5-10 hours before it pops             

 

 

Magicka 2

 

This past weekend was all about music, barbecue and gaming. A friend came over both on Saturday and Sunday, mostly to rehearse some music, and together with my girlfriend we started Magicka 2. Man, this game's humor is hilarious ? I love how it just doesn't take itself seriously, at all.. 

We haven't finished the first playthrough yet, but I think it is safe to say that this is definitely a game that needs to be played in coop… Friedly fire is always enabled, making for really fun and chaotic situations, but also allowing for high-damage synergies and complex strategies. 

 

On the other hand, the game throws a LOT of information at you right from the start. "Here, these are the eight elements you can use, you can queue up to 5 elements and cast the result. Now it's up to you... just experiment". It's great, but it is also overwhelming ? And there is no time to think during fights… they are usually very chaotic, with many enemies, and they really hit hard!

 

Like Gauntlet or Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, this game will take a while to complete, since we'll at least do the first playthrough the three of us together, and finding time ain't that easy… ?

 

 

 

Some friends from Finland are visiting us from Wednesday, so I won't have much time to play this week.. But, the last DLC for Darksiders III is dropping tomorrow, so will pick it up immediately and play through it, hoping to at least make some progress. Darksiders III is concidently the first game I wrote about on this checklist... and DLC is still coming out! 

Anyways, unfortunately, finishing DLC doesn't count towards the "Gaming by Numbers" event, but I'm still hoping to get at least 4-5 games done by the end of the event.

 

Speaking of which, I completed my second game for the event! ? A short review for a short game.

 

 

 

 100% #9 – Limbo

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 7/10
• 100% Challenge:  3/10

 

Very short but neat puzzle game that manages to create an incredible atmosphere. This is the predecessor to the critically acclaimed Inside, to which it is very similar in gameplay, structure and challenge.

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

I bought this game not too long ago, and decided to give it a go in-between more challenging games. It was a good purchase, that's for sure. 

Limbo manages to create a very oppressive and gloomy atmosphere with its artstyle and sound. This is actually kinda weird, since I felt very relaxed playing this game due to the simple and straightforward mechanics, while at the same time feeling intrigued and alert at all times. ?

 

Like with Inside, the gameplay in Limbo is very simple. You move in a 2D environment and can both jump and grab objects (some objects at least). The game is composed of 40 chapters, with each chapter simply consisting of one puzzle to solve. Throughout the game, several new concepts are introduced sequentially. The early chapters simply have you grab and move boxes to be able to reach higher platforms, but soon you are looking out for traps and switching electricity, magnets, and gravity itself on and off.

 

A really enjoyable experience, and like Inside, a game that stays in your mind long after you've played it.

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Similar to Inside, all but one trophy for this game come from collectibles (which can be found via chapter select if missed) and simply finishing the game. There is one additional trophy for Limbo that they didn't include in its successors' trophy list and that is "No point in dying". As the name suggests, the trophy is obtained for completing the game in one sitting (not that much of a problem since one playthrough takes about one hour) with at most five deaths.

 

This sounds more difficult than it actually is. After my initial blind playthrough (I knew in which chapters to look out for collectibles, but didn't look up puzzles), I had a go at this and got to the last jump of the game with five deaths. Gravity is automatically switched every five or so seconds at that part, and you need to time your jump right and hit a gravity switch before crashing to the ground. I spent some time trying to time my last jump right in my head, then managed to do so for real, and tried to activate the gravity switch right when I flew by it… But, it seems that I missed its hit box, and could only accept my inevitable sixth death when my character plummeted to the ground…?

 

I was so pissed… ? But at the same time I knew that this run was very doable. And already on my next attempt I finished the game with one single death. ?

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Arcesius]

Well, the next heat wave just hit us. 39°C for the next two days ? Fortunately the office doesn't get too warm.... I hope you are all enjoying your summer! 

 

 

Update:

 

Darksiders III

 

This is the last time I'll write about this game. The second and last DLC, Keepers of the Void, dropped last week. I purchased and downloaded it the morning it released, then quickly spoke to Vulgrim and accessed the DLC.

When I came home from work, there was a patch that I needed to download... Fine, a bit weird that the patch is available hours after the DLC released, but alright... I play through the DLC, do the first wing, then the second, then the third.... And when I get to the first puzzle of the fourth and last wing, some blocks that should move when I hit a certain orb disappear instead... Hmm, weird. I reload the save, close the game and start it again... nothing. I delete the game and download the entire 50 GB again... still nothing. ?

 

Turns out, anyone that started the DLC before downloading the patch cannot finish the DLC due to save file corruption. Seriously??? How can this happen?!? I know the developer is not at fault here, they have no control over the exact timing of how things get released, but I was still pissed. Since there is no ETA for a fix (spoke to the devs and publishers), after my guests left back for Finland, I just speedrun through a fresh new game, completed the DLC and immediately deleted the game. 

 

It doesn't help that the DLC sucks, too! The main enemies are automata, but come on, they don't need to be that boring! There is no enemy variety whatsoever! And the bosses, what a joke... Just a bigger version of the regular enemies, with no lines of dialogue. All four bosses in the wings look identical, only differ in color (one for each of the hollows). You can think of the trolls in God of War, it's pretty much the same. And the final boss? Surprise! Basically just a bigger version of those. 

But wait a second, this DLC was about the puzzles, so those should be fun, right? Nope. They are so self-contained that they offer no challenge at all. Without the glitch, I would have been done with the DLC in about 2 hours. What a disappointment. Let's never talk about this again. ?

 

Hollow Knight

 

Well I went through the Hall of Gods, basically a training area where you can fight any boss you've encountered in the game, fighting each boss available there. I noticed that I was still missing two of them, which can only be encountered in the final pantheon: Sisters of Battle and Winged Nosk. I attempted the pantheon hoping to get to both and luckily I did, but was killed by Winged Nosk. No worries, at least I can fight them now and practice them. ?

 

I've spent a couple of hours now training against the bosses. The two difficult ones, Pure Vessel and Nightmare King Grimm, I can do pretty consistently. But there are other bosses that cannot be underestimated, either. Especially during the pantheon, since you might not enter every fight at full health. That actually cost me my second attempt at the pantheon. I killed Winged Nosk, the one that killed me during my first run, but then entered the next fight against Sly with only four masks of health. Sly is usually no problem if you simply yolo the fight and tank the damage, healing whenever he staggers. But it's pretty difficult to not get hit by him, so with my low health I unfortunately didn't survive the fight... ?

 

I hope to at least unlock the final boss of the pantheon for practice this weekend... let's see, I'm not finding much time to play these days. 

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

 

Well I had an hour the other day and didn't feel like practicing HK, so decided to get back to this one. The third zone is definitely more difficult than the first two. There are lots of open spaces, which also means that there are plenty of enemies that are attracted to you at the same time. Fighting off large mobs can be pretty challenging! ? But the music... It's just sooo good and fitting for the game!  

 

In any case, the first time I made it to the boss I was lucky enough to get King Konga, which is imo the easiest of the four that can show up (I have to say, I have not yet spent any time at all practicing the bosses, will need to do that at some point...). Still, I was able to finish the zone and unlock the fourth one! ?

 

But I'm experiencing some technical difficulties... My Xim4 is working just fine, but the keyboard seems to keep disconnecting every 10 or so minutes. The Xim stays on flashing its lights, and it's not like I have a fancy keyboard, so it shouldn't be eating too much power. I read in some support forums that I should disabe the "vibrate" option for the DS4 and use a fully charged controller, so I'll do that the next time I get to the game and hope  that solves my issue... 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, I wanted to ask... In case anyone that reads this has played Downwell... Is it.. fun? I have it on my system and was thinking about starting it soon. But I'm not entirely sure I'll enjoy it. What is your experience with it? Does the music and visuals get tiering after a while, or isn't it that bad? Appreciate any recommendation for or against this one!

Edited July 24, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Mori]

1 hour ago, Arcesus7 said:

Well, the next heat wave just hit us. 39°C for the next two days  Fortunately the office doesn't get too warm.... I hope you are all enjoying your summer! 

 

Hollow Knight

 

Well I went through the Hall of Gods, basically a training area where you can fight any boss you've encountered in the game, fighting each boss available there. I noticed that I was still missing two of them, which can only be encountered in the final pantheon: Sisters of Battle and Winged Nosk. I attempted the pantheon hoping to get to both and luckily I did, but was killed by Winged Nosk. No worries, at least I can fight them now and practice them. 

 

I've spent a couple of hours now training against the bosses. The two difficult ones, Pure Vessel and Nightmare King Grimm, I can do pretty consistently. But there are other bosses that cannot be underestimated, either. Especially during the pantheon, since you might not enter every fight at full health. That actually cost me my second attempt at the pantheon. I killed Winged Nosk, the one that killed me during my first run, but then entered the next fight against Sly with only four masks of health. Sly is usually no problem if you simply yolo the fight and tank the damage, healing whenever he staggers. But it's pretty difficult to not get hit by him, so with my low health I unfortunately didn't survive the fight... 

 

I hope to at least unlock the final boss of the pantheon for practice this weekend... let's see, I'm not finding much time to play these days. 

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

 

Well I had an hour the other day and didn't feel like practicing HK, so decided to get back to this one. The third zone is definitely more difficult than the first two. There are lots of open spaces, which also means that there are plenty of enemies that are attracted to you at the same time. Fighting off large mobs can be pretty challenging!  But the music... It's just sooo good and fitting for the game!  

 

In any case, the first time I made it to the boss I was lucky enough to get King Konga, which is imo the easiest of the four that can show up (I have to say, I have not yet spent any time at all practicing the bosses, will need to do that at some point...). Still, I was able to finish the zone and unlock the fourth one! 

 

But I'm experiencing some technical difficulties... My Xim4 is working just fine, but the keyboard seems to keep disconnecting every 10 or so minutes. The Xim stays on flashing its lights, and it's not like I have a fancy keyboard, so it shouldn't be eating too much power. I read in some support forums that I should disabe the "vibrate" option for the DS4 and use a fully charged controller, so I'll do that the next time I get to the game and hope  that solves my issue... 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, I wanted to ask... In case anyone that reads this has played Downwell... Is it.. fun? I have it on my system and was thinking about starting it soon. But I'm not entirely sure I'll enjoy it. What is your experience with it? Does the music and visuals get tiering after a while, or isn't it that bad? Appreciate any recommendation for or against this one!

 

Its getting hot in here aswell. No AC unfortunately.  

 

Since I dont know how you tackle Nosk, one advice; only attack him when he flies to the other side. Jump and Down Attack once or twice. Dodge the rest of his attacks. Dont heal during the entire fight, you can heal after it is dead. Its best to learn some moves of Sly because only tanking wont work always and you have to fight Hornet II after him, before getting another bench checkpoint. Though Hornet II isnt difficult, since you can tank her with full health.

 

I hope you can keep your cool when you reach NKG and PV.  

 

 

Downwell is a fun game. I had my issues with it in the beginning, but simply because I was bad at it. I think its worth it if you're looking for a challenge. Music and visuals didnt bother me at all.

[Arcesius]

20 hours ago, Mori said:

 

Its getting hot in here aswell. No AC unfortunately.  

 

Since I dont know how you tackle Nosk, one advice; only attack him when he flies to the other side. Jump and Down Attack once or twice. Dodge the rest of his attacks. Dont heal during the entire fight, you can heal after it is dead. Its best to learn some moves of Sly because only tanking wont work always and you have to fight Hornet II after him, before getting another bench checkpoint. Though Hornet II isnt difficult, since you can tank her with full health.

 

I hope you can keep your cool when you reach NKG and PV.  

 

 

Downwell is a fun game. I had my issues with it in the beginning, but simply because I was bad at it. I think its worth it if you're looking for a challenge. Music and visuals didnt bother me at all.

 

Thanks for the tip! So for Nosk, I down-pogo once on him when he flies from side to side, and at the apex of my pogo I fire a Shade Soul at him if I have enough soul. The most problematic attack is his goo-spit, I cannot always recognize where the opening will be and I end up taking uneccessary damage... ? 

 

Otherwise I had quite some trouble with Xero for some weird reason, but I practiced him now on Ascended (for the correct arena) and found a strategy to kill him without taking damage. It takes a while, but at least it's consistent ?

 

Other than those, I really am scared of the Markoth - Zote split ? I practiced the down-pogo strat on Markoth, but I take at least 3-4 damage in the process, so I'll need to be flawless on Soul Tyrant... 

 

 

I quickly started Downwell just to see how the controls feel and I don't know... ? I think they need some getting used to. I'll probably give it a try regardless and make it my number 4 for the Gaming by Numbers Event. ? With that and Hollow Knight for number 6 I should at least earn the batch. I see you have that one in the pocket

Edited July 25, 2019 by Arcesius

[Mori]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

 

Thanks for the tip! So for Nosk, I down-pogo once on him when he flies from side to side, and at the apex of my pogo I fire a Shade Soul at him if I have enough soul. The most problematic attack is his goo-spit, I cannot always recognize where the opening will be and I end up taking uneccessary damage...  

 

Otherwise I had quite some trouble with Xero for some weird reason, but I practiced him now on Ascended (for the correct arena) and found a strategy to kill him without taking damage. It takes a while, but at least it's consistent 

 

Other than those, I really am scared of the Markoth - Zote split  I practiced the down-pogo strat on Markoth, but I take at least 3-4 damage in the process, so I'll need to be flawless on Soul Tyrant... 

 

 

I quickly started Downwell just to see how the controls feel and I don't know...  I think they need some getting used to. I'll probably give it a try regardless and make it my number 4 for the Gaming by Numbers Event.  With that and Hollow Knight for number 6 I should at least earn the batch. I see you have that one in the pocket

 

That works too, however you are using soul for an attack, that could actually be used for healing yourself later. Down-Pogo (forgot there was a term for it ) doesnt cost you anything. Sure it takes a bit more time, but it'll makes Sly and Hornet II much easier, if you have enough health. Tbh, I havent used any magic at all during my run(s). What Charms are using?

 

Xero was the guy who shoots light swords at you and beams to different locations, right? If so, yeah that sucker ruined one or two runs for me and I really disliked him.

 

Markoth was my nemesis. I cant give you any advice, because I just down-pogoed him and somehow survived. So you also saved that asshat Zote?  Dont worry, he's manageable and not that difficult to beat. As long as you avoid his small wave attacks and his charge attacked (down-pogo during this attack) you'll be fine.  

 

 

Downwell takes time, for sure. The first 1 1/2 to 2 days I really struggled but then it clicked and I was able to rush through the rest of the trophies (and got lucky in hard mode).

 

Yeah I got 4 games done, but there were fairly easy games, you on the other hand? TMT, Hollow Knight, Downwell and Limbo. Thats pretty good.  

Edited July 25, 2019 by Mori

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, Mori said:

That works too, however you are using soul for an attack, that could actually be used for healing yourself later. Down-Pogo (forgot there was a term for it ) doesnt cost you anything. Sure it takes a bit more time, but it'll makes Sly and Hornet II much easier, if you have enough health. Tbh, I havent used any magic at all during my run(s). What Charms are using?

 

Hmm that is actually absolutely true...?  Was only thinking about finishing the fight rather sooner than later, but maybe saving soul is the way to go there. I'm not using many spells either, it's only situational. My charm setup is full melee: Unbreakable Strenght, Stalwart Shell, Mark of Pride and Quick Slash. Maybe I will remove Stalwart Shell against PV and AR, but I feel like it defintiely works pretty well against most bosses! 

 

 

Quote

Xero was the guy who shoots light swords at you and beams to different locations, right? If so, yeah that sucker ruined one or two runs for me and I really disliked him.

 

Right, and the arena is just three platforms, so avoid swords while not falling out of the screen ? He ended my run yesterday, too, which is why I decided to go back and practice him. 

 

 

Quote

Markoth was my nemesis. I cant give you any advice, because I just down-pogoed him and somehow survived. So you also saved that asshat Zote?  Dont worry, he's manageable and not that difficult to beat. As long as you avoid his small wave attacks and his charge attacked (down-pogo during this attack) you'll be fine.  

 

Yeah, playing blindly like you did, I didn't know that you could also just NOT save him.. ? Zote himself is not THAT bad, but he comes right after Markoth, that's what I'm worried about... and NKG in the same split ?

 

By the way, I watched your run on your YT channel and really gave me some ideas how to approach certain bosses. Good job, I mean it! (There is plenty of other impressive stuff on that channel as well... jeeez ?)

 

 

Quote

Downwell takes time, for sure. The first 1 1/2 to 2 days I really struggled but then it clicked and I was able to rush through the rest of the trophies (and got lucky in hard mode).

 

Yeah I got 4 games done, but there were fairly easy games, you on the other hand? TMT, Hollow Knight, Downwell and Limbo. Thats pretty good.  

 

He, I haven't done HK or Downwell... yet ? And I'll also do some easy games I think. I was thinking about Detroit: Become Human and I started Magicka 2, which shouldn't be too difficult either...  I don't think I'll have much time to finish anything else, especially looking at the games in my backlog. Maybe Lumo or some VR title (Rick and Morty is on sale right now), but I haven't purchased any of those yet... 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Arcesius

[Mori]

3 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

Hmm that is actually absolutely true...  Was only thinking about getting over with the fight rather sooner than later, but maybe saving soul is the way to go there. I'm not using many spells either, it's only situational. My charm setup is full melee: Unbreakable Strenght, Stalwart Shell, Mark of Pride and Quick Slash. Maybe I will remove Stalwart Shell against PV and AR, but I feel like it defintiely works pretty well against most bosses! 

 

 

 

Right, and the arena is just three platforms, so avoid swords while not falling out of the screen  He ended my runs twice, too, which is why I decided to go back and practice him. 

 

 

 

Yeah, playing blindly like you did, I didn't know that you could also just NOT save him..  Zote himself is not THAT bad, but he comes right after Markoth, that's what I'm worried about... and NKG in the same split 

 

By the way, I watched your run on your YT channel and really gave me some ideas how to approach certain bosses. Good job, I mean it! (There is plenty of other impressive stuff on that channel as well... jeeez )

 

 

 

He, I haven't done HK or Downwell... yet  And I'll also do some easy games I think. I was thinking about Detroit: Become Human and I started Magicka 2, which shouldn't be too difficult either...  I don't think I'll have much time to finish anything else, especially looking at the games in my backlog. Maybe Lumo or some VR title (Rick and Morty is on sale right now), but I haven't purchased any of those yet... 

 

I think I used the same charms, I am not sure about Stalwart Shell right now.

 

Before NKG you have to fight False Champion, who is a really easy boss and should always get you back to full health.  

 

Well, thanks I guess.  I am glad it helped you a bit.

 

You surely will get those games done before the event ends.  

I probably wont be able to finish 10 games aswell, Prey, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Invisible Inc. all have numbers I've already covered.

If you get the chance to buy Lumo on sale, go for it. Its a fun and somewhat challenging game and also an UR trophy heaven.

[Arcesius]

Well, no game-review yet... Haven't finished anything since Limbo ?

 

Update:

 

Hollow Knight

 

Man that last pantheon. After the struggle with flying Nosk I practiced him and managed to get to Sly with (almost) full health, which allowed me to finish the split. Markoth was alright, but I entered the fight with GP Zote with low(ish) health and couldn't make it past him. ?

 

This guy is just so unpredictable... I hate that fight! His freaking feint manouvers when jumping are so enfuriating! ? But alright, I practice him from time to time, no biggie... Thing is, one attempt at the pantheon takes about 30-45 minutes, which means that I can do 1-2 attempts a day, if that. 

 

I don't really know how to go about this. Yesterday I had two attempts die at Uumuu. At UUMUU of all bosses!! I guess I need to go back to practicing the individual bosses... At least those in the last two splits... ?

 

 

Downwell

 

Maybe I should focus on Hollow Knight, but I was curious and finally started Downwell. I've been playing on and off, in total for about two hours, and on my most successful run so far I died half way through level 4-3, the last level before the boss. On the bright side, I didn't encounter a single shop in that run (I am using Arm Spin mode), so I popped the trophies for collecting 3k and 5k gems.. ?

 

So far I'm really liking this game. I'm still trying to figure out if analog or D-pad is the way to go (I usually play with D-pad, but for certain games like SMB I switch to analog), and I hear hard mode will make me tear my hair out, but I'm not worrying about that yet... It's really somewhat addictive... "Only one more run" is something I'm sure I will be thinking a lot ?

 

 

 

I'm really looking forward to playing some games currently in my backlog, so hopefully I'll have a successful run soon in either game ?

Edited July 30, 2019 by Arcesius

[ZoutjeNL]

Great progress! The temperature is a bit better here in the Netherlands, I hope there too! Unfortunate to read that Darksiders 3 DLC was so disappointing and especially the save file corruption happening, thats one of the worst things that could happen. I was thinking about buying DS3 at some point but all these issues make it less and less appealing. Downwell looks fun, more difficult then I thought, however you are far from afraid from difficult plats! Looking forward seeing the Hollow Knight platinum, in the end the frustration was all worth it

[Arcesius]

On 7/30/2019 at 8:37 AM, ZoutjeNL said:

Great progress! The temperature is a bit better here in the Netherlands, I hope there too! Unfortunate to read that Darksiders 3 DLC was so disappointing and especially the save file corruption happening, thats one of the worst things that could happen. I was thinking about buying DS3 at some point but all these issues make it less and less appealing. Downwell looks fun, more difficult then I thought, however you are far from afraid from difficult plats! Looking forward seeing the Hollow Knight platinum, in the end the frustration was all worth it

 

Oh, I didn't want to discourage people from buying this game... Lemme clarify: Darksiders III is not THAT bad... ? The main game is actually quite enjoyable, at least if you focus on the game and can see past the many technical issues it has.... Both DLC are disappointing, that's true, but if at some point you can get a complete edition for a reduced price and you enjoyed the first two games, go for it! They also added NG+ trophies because this seems to be necessary these days, and the first DLC is a crucible, just like Darksiders II had one. 

 

But if you are one whose enjoyment of a game is negatively affected by technical issues while playing a game (lag, loading screens at the most inappropriate moments, etc...) then this game isn't for you... Because oh boy is the game badly programmed ?

 

I adored the first two games, so this one was a no-brainer for me regardless

 

I see you are playing Bioshock... That's a franchise I never played, but heard only amazing things about it. I might need to give it a shot at some point, even though I usually avoid FPS games ?

 

 

Lemme write about some progress in my usual format ?

 

Update:

 

Hollow Knight

 

I hate the last split in that fifth pantheon... Markoth and Zote in a row are way worse than Pure Vessel or Nightmare King Grimm. I should have left Zote, that trolling piece of **** to die when I had the chance! But of course I had to save him, and now I'm paying the price.

I swapped charms to get more health before that split and yolo the fights and voilà, finally made it to the final boss of the pantheon. Of course I died within 20 seconds, but at least I unlocked her (Absolute Radiance) in the Hall of Gods. I have been practicing this boss for 1.5 hours so far, and I got to her last phase ONCE ? No wonder though, this one is really tough, and without a doubt the hardest boss in the entire game. Many say that they practiced this boss for 5-7 hours... 

 

Begs the question, what were the developers thinking when they created the fifth pantheon? I'm not sure when I'll be ready to attempt the pantheon again, but I'm aiming for this coming weekend. Let's see if I get enough practice on Absolute Radiance by then! My playtime is slowly reaching too high numbers for my liking ?

 

 

Downwell

 

This game is actually pretty addicting and surprisingly fun! So far I've played for about five hours and beat the boss in Normal Mode after reaching it for the fifth time. In these couple of hours I also got all miscellanious trophies, such as completing an entire area without landing (took me three attempts.. in the first two I got to the fourth zone, where this is easily achieved, with the Shotgun and Laser weapon, respectively... Those two are not necessarily fit for that purpose... ?), getting a 100 combo or collecting 5000 gems. 

 

I then just had a glimpse at Hard Mode, and in my first run I died in zone 2-3. Apart from that attempt, I'm taking a break from Downwell to really practice Hollow Knight. Hopefully I won't unlearn the game by the time I go back to it ?

 

 

Detroit: Become Human

 

Ok I felt the need to start a relaxing game, and this one was the perfect candidate (especially since it was free ?). I'm slowly playing through the game with my partner, and she is totally invested in the story! And so am I, don't get me wrong! We are doing a blind playthrough and whenever there is no time pressure, kinda discussing what choices we should make, where we should go, etc... It's pretty fun that way! Like watching a show together, but with interactive elements.

 

The only thing that's slightly bothering me is that my average rarity is skyrocketing with this game ? I almost had it at sub-36%, but I should just stop caring about this ?