<- 1  -   of 1198 ->
^^
vv
List results:
Search options:
Use \ before commas in usernames
hard to explain since I haven't played the game in years. surely there's a youtube video out there that explains the concept in detail and a digestible fashion
I spent an entire day looking for the stagecoach.  I ended up having to cheat and look online.  The one clue they give you is shit, because the area it points you to is the area that I spent the entire time looking for it.  I never imagined that it would be INVISIBLE unless you stepped into a certain spot.  That's just awful design.

And when I went to Iosefka's clinic, I found her to be hostile.  I had no clue as to why, I just knew that she was an NPC that I was supposed to talk to and I was looking forward to finally being able to do so. It turns out that I had the ability to talk to her a long long time ago.  Like half of the NPC's in the game, you have to stand in a totally inconspicuous spot to talk to them.  Another terrible design choice.  You can walk by something a thousand times and have no idea that it's significant because it's not any discernable from all the other details in the environment.  One window or door just happens to be important while the other 10,000 windows and doors in the area are just part of the background. Who thought that was a good idea?  I've missed nearly every NPC in the game because of this.  They're nearly impossible to miss in all the other FROM games, so I have no idea why they decided to hide so many of them in this game.

So then I got the Cainhurst Castle, and I was totally excited because I remember really liking this area the last time I came here.  I can't get past the very first enemy in this area.  I've died more times just trying to kill the first bloodsucker than I have in the entire game so far, and the last time I played this game they gave me no trouble at all, so I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.  Most attempts I don't even manage to land a single blow.  I'm unable to dodge most of their attacks, and they dodge almost all of mine.  I don't remember what I used to kill them before but they were easy.  I'm using ludwigs sword.



One shall stand, one shall ball.
Ludwig's Sword in it's greatsword form handles those enemies well enough, think the L2 and R2 moves can stagger them pretty reliably and have good reach. The real trick is to just run by them and to the castle door because those enemies are a mistake.
Edit history:
Opium: 2019-01-08 01:02:58 am
I'm finding that they're too fast even for me to hit them with R1 in normal-sword mode.

Could Insight have something to do with it?  I still don't understand how Insight works, just like I don't understand a lot of how this game works. 

I also think I might be underleveled for this area.  I just watched a couple of vids and the guys in those vids were way stronger, using weapons and armor I haven't seen before or don't have the stats to even use.
I've been relying on visceral almost exclusively throughout the game.  Still can't figure out how to stun these guys.  I've shot them dozens of times and it never stuns them, so I don't think you can. And you can't do the rear stun because they kick you.
One shall stand, one shall ball.
Cainhurst is kind of a late game area but those bugs outside are by far the toughest part.

Insight doesn't have any effect on them far as I know. Mostly it exists to make Frenzy an even more annoying status.
Dood Trigger™
Earthbound, a few hours in. Currently in Threed, aka zombie town.

After playing a bunch of traditional fantasy RPGs, the modern setting in Earthbound feels pretty fresh. Instead of shields and axes, you get baseball caps, yo-yos and pizza. The writing is really good... I mean, within two hours of story you get to expose a creepy religious cult that wants to paint everything blue. And the characters are all weird and adorable.

Sadly, the battle system here is in the style that made me avoid RPGs for the longest time. It's just text windows, a static image of the enemy, and a ton of randomness. Just isn't very interesting to me. And I don't know if I have the worst luck, but the RNG seems heavily against you in this... regular enemies are strong, status effects are nasty, and my attacks miss all the time. Also, when new characters join the party, they... start at Level 1, forcing you to grind exp from scratch again. At least the text during battles is funny, like the Annoying Old Party Man (that's his actual name!) using an attack where he complains about today's youth.

Inventory is a pain too. Equipment, keys and consumables all use the same limited space, so you're constantly trying to make room for stuff. And this is like Silent Hill 4, where 3 health drinks require 3 separate inventory slots. I just met a new character who starts with a couple of items, and five minutes later I was already out of space. :\

I do like how you don't have to fight weaker enemies anymore after a certain Level. They just give you the exp and the fight's over, haha. Another nice thing is that you can see the enemy before engaging in combat, and sometimes even scroll them off screen if you don't feel like fighting.

I'm enjoying the game, more so for the writing and atmosphere than the gameplay. They really nailed the mood of these areas. So comfy... or eerie, depending on the place. I also love the art style... it's appealing in its simplicity, colorful, and the isometric view is nice.
One shall stand, one shall ball.
It's not really mentioned in game iirc but yo-yos have reduced accuracy. So if you're using one and missing a lot that's why. It does feel like you miss too often either way, especially early on. It gets better. Mostly. Maybe. I don't recall much missing toward the end, at least.

I love Earthbound but I am of the general opinion that it's not actually a good game since it's gameplay is largely goofing on like old school Dragon Warrior or whatever bad JRPGs from way back. But everything that isn't that is great and fun and I forgive the garbage. Happy Happy Village is still one of my favorite places in a video game, it's a real solid joke.

Enjoy the ride.
Dood Trigger™
I'm using a baseball bat now, still misses a lot :\ Maybe things'll get better as I level up some more.

OMG, the thief dying. "Before I die, here's my last haiku..." That was too funny.
I decided to give up on Bloodborne again.  I just don't get it.  I played for 64 hours this time, and spent probably 20 hours wiki-diving trying to figure out wtf is going on.  This game just will not click for me.  It's too bad because I really love the atmosphere and the music. 

There's very little clue as to where you're supposed to go, or what you're supposed to do.  I still don't understand what the main goal of the game is, and I've put in more than 100 hours between my two play attempts.  So I end up looking online, and all that does is cause more questions because the state of my game will be different than what I'm reading about, so then I have to try to figure out why my game isn't the same as what I'm reading about online, and it's like one of those choose-your-own-adventure-books with 100 different paths.  I have to try to remember my choices so I can work backwards through the choose-your-own-adventure paths just to try to figure out what's happening.  I'm forever finding out that I was supposed to do something a long time ago that I never would have done unless I had a clue.  This game just doesn't make any damn sense.
Don't think I understood much about what was going on and what my objective was either. The game felt pretty linear so me so that never bothered me much
Dood Trigger™
I think I'm a little past halfway through Earthbound. Just entered Summers.

The battles are still very tedious, and nothing is ever convenient (oh, you want to store 4 items? Just call this number, skip text, select 3 items one at a time, wait for the delivery/pick up service, pay $20... and repeat the process for the 4th item). It made me wish I was playing Secret of Mana, haha.

But the story and writing are still 10/10. There are so many crazy places and characters in this game... Happy Happy Village, Moonside, freaking Saturn Valley too. I love the Runaway Five, haiku thief, dungeon man.

They also did an amazing job creating the world and showing/telling you about places. Most areas have their own style, culture and atmosphere. Usually someone in town will tease the next area, or you catch a quick glimpse of it like when the spaceship thing flies above the desert and Fourside. The map is always really clear and helpful too.
Quote from ryu:
Don't think I understood much about what was going on and what my objective was either. The game felt pretty linear so me so that never bothered me much


Well I spent a long time hating Nightmare Frontier, only to find out that it's optional.

So then I went through the castle, only to find out that was a dead end and I didn't have any reason to go there either.

So I'm not feeling like it's linear.  It feels all over the place.
I like turtles.
I've been taking longer breaks from my Godhome adventures in Hollow Knight. Grey Prince Zote has been by far the worst experience thus far to do damageless, and that's after I went out of my way to tackle several others that were far more infamous in the community for their difficulty. Honestly I kind of wish I had stopped before starting this content, but now I feel obligated to finish everything. Unfortunately, it seems really likely that major burnout could occur before I do and ruin the game for me. A shame, because the other 106% per the completion meter is some of the best I've played in a video game.
yeah that doesn't sound like it's worth it
Playing Vesperia for the first time. It's pretty fun so far. The graphics and art direction have aged spectacularly in this game. It's a shame that the towns are kind of tiny compared to more recent JRPGs.
I prefer small and concise towns. The huge towns were the only thing I disliked about Arc Rise Fantasia for example
Dood Trigger™
Finished Earthbound. Not sure how many hours, but it took me 6 days.

The game is pretty cool. I liked it. But as I said before, I liked it more so for the writing and atmosphere than the gameplay. The gameplay never got less tedious IMO, so it was a bit of a struggle getting through it.

The story is fantastic, though. I'm not even sure I understand what happened in the end, and I think I'm a little bit scarred for life. Holy moly, Giygas is terrifying. How is this a game for kids? That theory that he's some sort of fetus is too good to be debunked. And yet it was, apparently. This is why we can't have nice things (or deeply disturbing things).

I would definitely say that Chrono Trigger, FF6 and Super Mario RPG > Earthbound. But I'm glad I played it.

Just waiting for REmake 2. I did get Dad of War, but I'm not sure if I want to start another big game now.
kids back then were more mature than today's adults lol
One shall stand, one shall ball.
I mean a vast unknowable force of evil can be whatever you want it to be, really. I don't know that a fetus in a weird machine would deserve the headbangin-est boss theme the on the Super Nintendo but that's just me.
One shall stand, one shall ball.
I can't believe the most metal-ass boss music ever devised came from this goofy gem of a video game. SNES rocking the hell out of that double bass pedal.
Quote from ryu:
I prefer small and concise towns. The huge towns were the only thing I disliked about Arc Rise Fantasia for example

I dunno. I like towns that serve as more than pit stop's in the game's story. Look at games like Xenoblade or Dragon Quest XI. The town in those games are large, but that size serves a purpose.

Quote from tomatobob:
I can't believe the most metal-ass boss music ever devised came from this goofy gem of a video game. SNES rocking the hell out of that double bass pedal.

Well, this theme exists - and it's from two years prior.
Dood Trigger™
One last SNES playthrough before Resident Evil 2 Remake consumes my life:

Mega Man X2 (Low%, buster-only)
This means: default health, no armor or Sub-Tanks, no Zero parts, and no boss weapons allowed. I've done this before, and I think I had a harder time then.

Castle bosses are tricky. Violen's spike ball is hard to predict, and if you get a bad brick pattern, he'll trap you. Plus hey, 3 hits and you're dead! Serges is a bit more manageable, at least. You can plan the order of cannons to be destroyed (I do bottom to top), and his second phase is fairly mechanical with the alternating orbs. Agile is free.

The last 3 bosses are an endurance round. Skipping Zero would require collecting his parts, and then this wouldn't be Low% anymore. So you have to do 3 bosses with one energy bar (well, sort of). Zero is easy, but the charge shot only deals 1 damage to him, which gets pretty tedious. Wolverine Sigma is fun, fast paced, and all his moves are predictable. Virus Sigma can be chaotic, but the enemies he spawns tend to drop energy, so with a little luck you should be near max health more often than not. For his disappearing pattern, dashing right before the head reappears seems consistent enough.

There are little things you can do to increase your chances, like stocking up on lives before each castle stage (always helps to respawn right next to the boss), and using a dash shot instead of charging when possible (they deal the same damage).

I had less trouble this time overall, so I'm happy. Finished in about an hour and a half, unlike my previous run that took like 3 hours.

Cool detail about X2: if you beat the game without collecting any armor parts, Zero appears briefly during the bike ride part of the credits. You can still get Sub-Tanks and Hearts for this cameo, so it's not too hard. Still, pretty cool how they thought of challenges like this.

One shall stand, one shall ball.
Quote from Idkbutlike2:
Playing Vesperia for the first time. It's pretty fun so far. The graphics and art direction have aged spectacularly in this game. It's a shame that the towns are kind of tiny compared to more recent JRPGs.

So, since you haven't played it before, how does Patty's place in the story feel to you?

Having played the version where she doesn't exist I just keep laughing at how many of her lines in the story scenes are essentially "I'm also here!". It's like late game events in FFVI where they couldn't be sure who'd be present so they'd just have a bunch of generic lines while the important people to talk around them lol. But I wonder if it's different for someone who hasn't seen the whole thing without her, like maybe she fits in better when you don't have the previous version of a given scene in your head.