Videogame Discussion Thread

I started Elden Ring last July, was almost immediately engrossed, paused for a bit to play through Dark Souls 1, finished Elden Ring and then started in on the DLC and wrapped everything in November. Love your review, I agree it's a real masterwork. I played a DEX/INT Spellblade for most of the run, and took so much time doing almost everything that by the end I was level 200+ and using a lot of FAI as well (Sword of Night and Flame etc.). It took me the better part of a week playing 2-3 hours a day to beat Radahn, but I finally managed it without cheesing. I didn't cheese anything, actually.

I spent a couple of months trying to find something else but nothing 'clicked' and have recently picked up Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. I've found it very enjoyable, coming as it did on the heels of a historical interest in the time period ableit in England and not Bohemia. I spent the better part of 50 hours doing side quests/leveling up skills before progressing the main story. I can't wait to see where the modding community takes it.

 

Honestly, I can see hitting those levels when you do the DLC. Most hybrids don't really kick off till 125-150. And the balancing for the DLC is like NG+. I personally don't bother capping unless I'm doing PvP meta. With the way the soft and hard caps work, every area plateus at certain points and you're doing lateral progression. You get steady little upticks in defense stats, but it mostly just makes it more interesting, allowing you to actually use more of the later game options provided and be more experimental in general. No such thing as over-leveled for late-game stuff. You will hit hard power caps and power becomes all about knowing how to create synergy.

I think my first character ever was also a dex/int spellblade, 80/80. Way more interesting than I expected, with a ton of very powerful offensive options. Yeah, you can be a stoopid spamwizurd. But the 'weaker' options are where efficiency and synergy make it interesting and arguably make you more effective than just using the strongest magecraft available. I never even bothered with the darkmoon greatsword. After I got tired of the moonveil, I actually went for the Wing of Astel, which is a curved sword that has a unique moveset - the regular R2 sends a magic projectile on the tail (charged sends a double volley.) And it costs 0 FP. The unique ash, Nebula, casts a field of exploding gravity balls in front of you that do a lot of poise damage. And there this little dance you can do using nebula, backsteps, and those R2's to control the fight dynamic. Nebula's barrier also gives you good opportunities to place gaps and start casting spells. Lots of cool chaining opportunities, which to me is the best part about magic casting in the game. Incants have more range to them overall, but they don't have that "magic" synergy that lets you slot handfuls of them in sequences that then let you systematically shut down anything and everything.

Sometimes I would just pair it with the mantis blade and take advantage of the curved powerstance set on top - just a lot of ways to continually apply pressure and punishment. Two handling the mantis blade gives you a charged R2 that's a fast-deploying EXTENSION attack. The blade unfurls like a mantis arm. I would use the stagger from it to chain into nebula and then send out R2 projectile volleys from the Wing of Astel in the right hand.

Did you ever use the Star-Lined Sword, the DLC katana? I think that's my favorite katana in the whole game, and it's contender for ultimate spellblade weapon with that sick 3-part-combo AoW. I enjoyed it even with my DEX/FAI because most of the scaling is in DEX. Things like winged sword insignia talisman (rotten version ftw,) twinblade talisman, and thorny cracked tear stack readily through the combo, allowing you to tab up hilarious damage quickly, but with way more style and fun-factor than something like Bloodhound's Fang. Can't wait to have two and dual-wield them.


My Tarnished's time in these forsaken lands, malformed by rot, has only broadened her conception of discord. Her spirit darkens, only brightening the flame within. As she gazes upon the rolling hills from atop the arduous plateaus of Dragonbarrow, each depraved biome virulently fertile with its own twisted contortions of life, she sees only kindling, and assurance that destruction shall be her only master.



Real talk though, when I visit Caelid, I think of that one time Werner Herzog talked about the jungle.

"The trees are in misery. And the birds are in misery. And I don't think they sing, they just screech in pain."

 

Wing of Astel is one of the weapons I fully upgraded in my playthrough. I found the Nebula to be very effective at doing damage to large bosses due to it's area of effect, and it does a lot of poise damage. I would get under the boss and dance around casting Nebula as you described. It also synergizes well aesthetically with the Spellblade armor you get relatively early in the game, and which I wore for at least the first half of the playthrough until I had enough Stamina to wear heavier gear.

I started NG+ directly after my playthrough and rolled a Samurai power-stancing katanas and using a bow instead of spells for ranged duties. I made my way deep into Altus Plateau and was still enjoying myself but realized I'd seen enough of Elden Ring for the moment. I'm not sure that Nightreign is something that's for me, as I don't have the time to coordinate cooperative games but I may be proven wrong. Until then I continue to play KCD2 when I have time for gaming, and intend to finish Dark Souls 3 on the PS5 at some point, which 'feels' the closest to Elden Ring combat of any of the Dark Souls games.

 

Elden Ring Nightreign. It's good. Bosses are proper tough. No quick hitting matches unless you die at a boss though. But loads of funstration!

 

I'm intrigued but wary - how well do they handle the co-op component i.e. finding partners, communication in-game, how good is the general run of players etc.? I don't make time to play games at fixed times, so I would only ever play with randos. Alternately, how playable is it solo in your experience? Would it be worth giving a try if I had no intention of ever playing co-op?

I've been messing around with Hades 2 when I want to game. Hades 1 was one of my favorite games of all time. The environments in Hades 2 aren't tight and interesting enough, the relationships/story is too convoluted (but still a clever take on the Homeric myths), and I don't experience new systems as a big upgrade, but the nuts and bolts of the combat is still excellent.

 

I'm getting too old for funstration. Really highlighted by my playthrough of Doom Dark Ages.

I absolutely loved Doom 2016 when it came out. Gameplay was crazy, manic, easy to see where you win/lose, but ultimately fair and *fun*.

Then, I found that Doom Eternal was just annoying. If you didn't have the exact right ammo, to deal with the exact right enemy, and immediately execute the perfect gun/mod switches, you were absolutely boned. A cacodemon kill is one shotgun shell from a particular mod, or 100 bullets then death. Just annoying.

Dark Ages didn't have that same gun/ammo requirement, and I did have stretches where I was stringing together some genuinely incredible symphonies of blood and violence. But miss one single shield counter, and it's rapidly cascading failures to almost instant death.

Soulslike hold zero appeal. I don't need deliberate frustration in my life. That's what family and coworkers are for.

 

Any gaming I do these days comes in the form of random online idle/click/farm type games. Load game, click a button/building/resource to buy the next upgrade, get a little mini ping of dopamine, then do nothing and check back on it in a few hours. If/when I get to the point where I have to start doing active play or do specific sequences of whatever or gods forbid I start looking up the wiki, then it's time to quit because who has time for that sort of thing now?

 

Heh, you ever play Universal Paperclips?

https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html

 

I love the old iD shooters - Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake, etc. I think I have played more third party Quake maps than any other game, but I agree I found Doom Eternal's emphasis on acrobatic movement to be excessive. I want to shoot things, not worry about synchronizing my pivots and jumps and correctly pirouetting on my toes like a ballerina.

 

The movement I didn't have a problem with. That's how I used to play Quake back in the day (that multiplayer mod with the grappling hook was *awesome*), and Halo more recently, jumping round like an idiot. But I had huuuuuge issues with weapons and resource management in Eternal. You *had* to use this weapon on this enemy, and you *had* to use that powerup at this time to make sure your ammo/health/armor was good. Accidentally hit the wrong powerup button, and you're dead.

 

I did not get that far before I moved on to something else.

 

I haven't played solo, most of the people playing are worthwhile teammates so far, queuing works pretty well, so not a long wait since the first couple days of launch! My little brother has played solo, and he likes it. If a player loses connection or quits the game seems to scale down to manageable for two players. My comment of souls like is unfair, is more polished, no glitch deaths. It's elden ring... fucked pubg while fortnight was watching... and had a baby pretty much. But everyone knows what it can mean when you bring up souls! I am way more happy with it than I thought I would be. That's for sure.

 

But ya, don't buy the game because I said I like it! I would feel like shit if anyone wasted money on my opinion!!

 

Godsdammit, I'm gonna wind up sinking another week into this aren't I?
Though it looks like it only operates when on an active tab, which might inconvenience me enough to close it.

 

That looks so very strange!

 

Spoiler alert, you turn the entire universe into paperclips. But if you want something to click.....!

 

I share your opinion on Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, while I'd looked forward to completing each and every level in Doom 2016, Doom Eternal....not quite. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit I'd not yet finished the game as I'd lost interest....something in the gameplay did not quite jell with me. As for Doom TDA, I've yet to buy it, first Doom titled game that I've missed since....I dunno, Doom 3 I guess.

As for Soulslike games, I'm not a big fan of it either, but seeing that there a slew games from China (Wuchang Fallen Feathers, Blood Message, the former being more Soulslike I guess), I think we'd better learn to appreciate Soulslike games. Blood Message looks (from in-game cut-scenes) looks to be something like Assassin Creed Shadows....done right. I mean a game set in ancient China that *gasps* does not feature any POC, Caucasians, etc.....imagine that! Some very vocal minorities and activist game journos are so gonna hate on it.

BTW, I'm playing Stellar Blade Complete Edition and I like it, mastering the controls is quite a challenge.....but playing it, let alone mastering it, with just one hand is proving to be quite daunting, but I'm up to the challenge!

 

Yeah, I loved 2016, but Eternal was a bit too matchy-matchy for me. It didn't feel like Doom, which is about senseless brutality with whatever weapon you prefer or have left. 2016 retained some of the vibes of Doom 2 where you could take down the Cyberdemon or Spider Boss with the basic shotgun on any skill level if you were bloodyminded enough and you didn't have to go all paper scissors stone on their respective asses. I bought Eternal against my brother's advice, he warned me and damnit, he was right.

I don't mind fiddly per se, I've been a sweaty MMO raider and things, but I just don't want it in my Doom.

Oh well, Arbites update for Darktide just dropped. Since that runs beautifully these days (apparently ran like utter shit at launch), I shall lock in there for more fast-twitch mindless slaughter. Other than that, I'm getting back into Hades 2 and considering picking either Satisfactory or No Man's Sky back up for some buildy-buildy fun.

 

Ultimately, I think I enjoyed Dark Ages considerably more than Eternal. Every weapon can kill every enemy, and once you embrace and properly use the shield, it is a beautiful part of combat.

Just an example. Trying to take out a cyberdemon from long range is not easy. But get right in their face, shield parry their short-range attacks, shotgun and mace in the face is extremely satisfying. Or any weapon, really - with the 'vampire' skill, rocket splash damage gives you health instead. Also, ultra-mobile enemies like revenants can be killed using conventional FPS shooting, but hit them with a shield charge or shield throw lets you get close enough for some intimate shotgun action.

 

Still playing KCD2 for what feels like months now. Though i did check and it's been 110h and i'm probably 2/3rd of the way through? Haven't gotten around to expedition 33 but this is so far my game of the year.