What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

Started by Sabby, May 31, 2009, 12:45:35 PM

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Brandon

Quote from: Capone on January 22, 2012, 08:43:46 AM
"Hey Mister, can you please save my puppy?"

"Fuck her puppy! If she can't save her own puppy, then she deserves to die! What? You're saving the puppy? You're a fucking idiot you fucking cock shit!"

"Here Mister, have 200 experience and 30 Gold!"

"You're a fucking cock rack you sucking fuck shit! Stupid!"

I'm sorry, but Morrigan is a bitch.

Overanalysis of a character followed by blatant exageration of something that was never said in any of her dialogue does not make a convincing argument
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Inkidu

#4651
Quote from: Brandon on January 22, 2012, 08:54:01 AM
Overanalysis of a character followed by blatant exageration of something that was never said in any of her dialogue does not make a convincing argument
It's called hyperbole. Anyway, Morrigan is probably the most one dimensional character in Dragon Age: Origins. Do anything good even for pay and she ignores you or thinks you're a wimp. 

EDIT: Dark Souls is turning into a whole pile of what's the fucking point. Why have humanity? You're just going to die, why bother trying to pick up your souls you're just going to die. Plus the scaling of the game is shit. If it weren't for the boss monsters you could never level up and be golden.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Capone

Except several times she blatantly states that her philosophy is basically "the weak should die and the strong survive". It's supposed to be her whole angle because of how she was raised, yes, but she's not even open to new ideas. Her persona itself is ludicrously exaggerated to the point that the only way you could possibly be a fan of the character is if you use Richard Dawkins' books and essays as wank material.

Now Leliana.

Dreamy sigh...

Though she has her own crazy moments, too. >.>

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
I mean, if you romanced her and then chose to die at the end of the game, she basically became depressed until she had a dream, said she was going to reunite with her love again, and then vanished, allegedly having died or killed herself somehow. Crazy.

Basically, the only way for Morrigan not to be a bitch is to do everything her way. Which, by definition, is a bitch. Other characters will tell you they don't approve, but they don't insult you about it.

Inkidu

I learned what Dark Souls represents. It's a Hell simulator. You're condemned to fight and die over and over again. Scraping forward inch by inch only to have your progress stripped from you. Hours gone in a blink of the eye. That's not fun, that's the literal definition of many cztures' representations of Hell.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Hemingway

Your spiral into madness is exactly the reason I think Dark Souls is one of the more refreshing games of the last few years.

It hates you and wants you to die, and it never pretends otherwise. Unlike a lot of games, though, I always feel like dying was my own fault. It's not like those games where one attack knocks you down, and then the programmers thought it would be a good idea to have the enemies kill you while you're down, with no chance in hell of escaping. It's also a game where I don't feel bad about playing dirty. I wouldn't normally feel good about avoiding direct confrontations with enemies, luring them into fire instead, but in this game, playing fair against enemies who don't is a sure way of getting killed. When you actually pull it off, though, and figure out how to kill some difficult enemy, you feel like a real master.

Then some new enemy comes around and takes you down a few notches, so it's all good. Unlike some games - most games - there's not a horde of regular enemies to go through between interesting encounters. Not only can even the weakest enemies potentially be deadly if you screw up, but you rarely go through more than a dozen or so before something huge appears wanting nothing but your death, stopping at nothing to achieve it.

Inkidu

Quote from: Hemingway on January 22, 2012, 02:25:25 PM
Your spiral into madness is exactly the reason I think Dark Souls is one of the more refreshing games of the last few years.

It hates you and wants you to die, and it never pretends otherwise. Unlike a lot of games, though, I always feel like dying was my own fault. It's not like those games where one attack knocks you down, and then the programmers thought it would be a good idea to have the enemies kill you while you're down, with no chance in hell of escaping. It's also a game where I don't feel bad about playing dirty. I wouldn't normally feel good about avoiding direct confrontations with enemies, luring them into fire instead, but in this game, playing fair against enemies who don't is a sure way of getting killed. When you actually pull it off, though, and figure out how to kill some difficult enemy, you feel like a real master.

Then some new enemy comes around and takes you down a few notches, so it's all good. Unlike some games - most games - there's not a horde of regular enemies to go through between interesting encounters. Not only can even the weakest enemies potentially be deadly if you screw up, but you rarely go through more than a dozen or so before something huge appears wanting nothing but your death, stopping at nothing to achieve it.
It's exactly like those games where one hit knocks you down and then they hit you again, exactly. :\ Don't believe me fight any black knight or big demon.

I would agree if it didn't become boring really quickly. I have spent more time looking at the same area of a game than I ever have. It gets boring, it's a grind, it's a slog, especially if you lose all your souls. You spend time after time going through the same areas. I like the depth of the world, I like the meatiness of combat, but if you've died once you've died a thousand times. 

Sadly, all these problems could easily be fixed by a difficulty selector, and I'm not saying that because I think it should be easier, or dumbed down. I'm saying it because the level scaling is worse than Oblivion's. :P It's easy to make a difficult game, it's easy to make a punishing game. It's not easy to make a challenging game, and Dark Souls fails at doing that.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Sabby

Well, I just found out I can run ME3 on all the highest settings... so, I can stop grinding on the first two games for saves x.x already have my 4 save files downloaded and saved, just need to past them in to my ME3 save folder when it comes out.

Hemingway

Quote from: Inkidu on January 22, 2012, 04:12:21 PM
It's exactly like those games where one hit knocks you down and then they hit you again, exactly. :\ Don't believe me fight any black knight or big demon.

I would agree if it didn't become boring really quickly. I have spent more time looking at the same area of a game than I ever have. It gets boring, it's a grind, it's a slog, especially if you lose all your souls. You spend time after time going through the same areas. I like the depth of the world, I like the meatiness of combat, but if you've died once you've died a thousand times. 

Sadly, all these problems could easily be fixed by a difficulty selector, and I'm not saying that because I think it should be easier, or dumbed down. I'm saying it because the level scaling is worse than Oblivion's. :P It's easy to make a difficult game, it's easy to make a punishing game. It's not easy to make a challenging game, and Dark Souls fails at doing that.

Black Knights are - or can be - a pain, true, but they're largely optional, so it's not a very good example. It's also highly satisfying when you figure ou how to kill them, I find. Because there isn't one of them that doesn't have some weakness or another. Of course, because the game doesn't highlight their weakspots so to speak, it can be hard figuring it out. It's also a matter of stats. If the example of getting knocked down is a problem, raise your poise. Or maybe you need to wear lighter armor to dodge better.

I have to disagree with you completely on your final conclusion there. It's meant to be a difficult game, it's meant to be punishing, and being able to have a lower difficulty than the standard one would be missing the whole point of the game. I've also played my share of frustrating games. I've been playing Dark Souls for a good 8 hours, and it's yet to actually frustrate me. I do, however, notice that I get better every time. It's difficult, it's unfair, but it's not utterly random. At least that's my experience. It helps that, at least as far as I've gotten, bonfires are located conveniently close to where you might expect to die a lot. It's not like most games where every time you finish a wave of enemies there's a save point, but still.

Brandon

Quote from: Inkidu on January 22, 2012, 10:21:54 AM
It's called hyperbole. Anyway, Morrigan is probably the most one dimensional character in Dragon Age: Origins. Do anything good even for pay and she ignores you or thinks you're a wimp. 

I would guess you havnt played with her much then. I had a whole relationship going with Morrigan when I was playing a two handed warrior. There were a few points where my good character almost had her in tears and had her reassessing her philosophy. She really is much more complicated then people make her out to be, problem is she's so off putting that most people give her a pass and never try to learn more about her.

Quote from: Inkidu on January 22, 2012, 10:21:54 AM
EDIT: Dark Souls is turning into a whole pile of what's the fucking point. Why have humanity? You're just going to die, why bother trying to pick up your souls you're just going to die. Plus the scaling of the game is shit. If it weren't for the boss monsters you could never level up and be golden.

Dark souls is a game where you have to slow down and take a very cautious approach to it. You dont rush into a room at first, you stand in the doorway and figure out if there are any hidden enemies and how best to seperate them. Dont be afraid to pull enemies back to a safe and open area and kill them one at a time. Likewise when you first encounter a new enemy keep your shield up and learn its attacks. Once you have the tells for the attacks figured out that enemy becomes much easier. On that note, get yourself a good shield that blocks 100% physical damage and build enough endurance so one hit wont break your guard.

Also keep in mind that you dont have to fight every enemy head on. You know that taurus demon? Hes easy if you
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Climb the tower and use a plunging attack on him. Then you manuever around and do it again. I think it takes 3 plunging attacks to kill him.

Also dont be afraid to farm souls or items, if you need humanity you can keep killing rats or the Cthulu looking things in the Dukes archives.

Also, know your weapons. If your using a big two hander like a Zwienhander your powerful but slow, able to break most enemies guard in one hit and knock them to the floor if you catch them between an attack. If youre using a scimitar you have an average weapon in all departments. If you have a bandits knife you do low damage (unless the bleed kicks in) but your can do many and fast attacks. On that note, keep in mind that heavy armor and high damage is not the way to handle every fight. I found many bosses where mobility was the way to approach a fight and ensure that you didnt get hit
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Inkidu

Quote from: Hemingway on January 22, 2012, 07:41:22 PM
Black Knights are - or can be - a pain, true, but they're largely optional, so it's not a very good example. It's also highly satisfying when you figure ou how to kill them, I find. Because there isn't one of them that doesn't have some weakness or another. Of course, because the game doesn't highlight their weakspots so to speak, it can be hard figuring it out. It's also a matter of stats. If the example of getting knocked down is a problem, raise your poise. Or maybe you need to wear lighter armor to dodge better.

I have to disagree with you completely on your final conclusion there. It's meant to be a difficult game, it's meant to be punishing, and being able to have a lower difficulty than the standard one would be missing the whole point of the game. I've also played my share of frustrating games. I've been playing Dark Souls for a good 8 hours, and it's yet to actually frustrate me. I do, however, notice that I get better every time. It's difficult, it's unfair, but it's not utterly random. At least that's my experience. It helps that, at least as far as I've gotten, bonfires are located conveniently close to where you might expect to die a lot. It's not like most games where every time you finish a wave of enemies there's a save point, but still.
Dodging is freaking pointless. Most enemies have tracking attacks anyway. If their were actual challenge to it instead of rote memorization I would hold it higher regard, don't get me wrong. It's a decent game. It's as close to a table-top game in a video game as you're probably ever going to get, but it's certainly not as good as everyone says it is. It's a lot of little things that just make it annoying a frustrating for me. Combat isn't actually high up their. I hate backtracking and grinding more than anything.

Brandon: Romances don't count because they always make one of the romancees question his or her world view, which leads to incongruous tearful moments. However, if you're not trying to get into her witchy panties and take her to every quest her world view never changes. This makes the romance stuff kind of pointless as there's no outward character development, but that could be said about any of the romance options. Morrigan is still cold and Darwinist as ever. Even a high persuade skill only amounts to her going, "Pfft... fine"

Also it takes four plunges.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Playing a holy knight type, but I grabbed a shortbow and arrows just to have the ranged option. Well I started shooting this dragon in the tail trying to kill him. I didn't kill the dragon, but I shot off his tail and now have a game breaking sword
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Capone

Quote from: Inkidu on January 22, 2012, 08:55:53 PM
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Playing a holy knight type, but I grabbed a shortbow and arrows just to have the ranged option. Well I started shooting this dragon in the tail trying to kill him. I didn't kill the dragon, but I shot off his tail and now have a game breaking sword

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Yeah, I found out at some point that any boss with a tail, you should try and cut that tail off because it's like a weak point and drops special items.

I think in order for me to really get through the game, I'm going to need to learn to grind again. I kept dying on the first boss, so if I go back to play, then I need to just keep hitting that bonfire before him to heal while collecting souls, gradually leveling up a bit. I still don't know which stats would be best to update, though.

I did learn for the first boss, though, best strategy is to switch to two-handed and plummet down from above.

Anyway, beat the Resident Evil Revelations demo today. That's going to be difficult, definitely, but it has that old feeling back. RE4 controls with REmake atmosphere. Could be quite the winner.

Wolfy

Quote from: Capone on January 22, 2012, 09:51:58 PM
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Yeah, I found out at some point that any boss with a tail, you should try and cut that tail off because it's like a weak point and drops special items.

I think in order for me to really get through the game, I'm going to need to learn to grind again. I kept dying on the first boss, so if I go back to play, then I need to just keep hitting that bonfire before him to heal while collecting souls, gradually leveling up a bit. I still don't know which stats would be best to update, though.

I did learn for the first boss, though, best strategy is to switch to two-handed and plummet down from above.

Anyway, beat the Resident Evil Revelations demo today. That's going to be difficult, definitely, but it has that old feeling back. RE4 controls with REmake atmosphere. Could be quite the winner.


Were you running low on Ammo by the end? Cause I was....though that may be because I can't shoot worth a shit. :/

Brandon

You dont have to romance Morrigan to see the other sides of her character. For example if you take her inside the mage's place
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
She says they should be left to their fate because they didnt stand up for themselves and use their power to stay free. Theres an option where your character says something like , if things were different you could be in their same position. Then she says something like "Mother always says that things are the way they are because they couldnt be any other way. I often wonder if that is true." Its a great moment of her character where she doesnt apply the same philosophical tendancies she grew up with.

Anyway, back to dark souls. Dodging is pointless against some attacks because they do track but most of them dont. Thats where you have to learn which ones do and which ones dont. Dodging becomes absolutely neccessary with some of the bosses unless you have an amazing shield and the stamina to support blocking. There are also unblockable attacks but those are either backstabs or special moves on bosses, again you need to know the tells to roll out of the way at the right time. The challenge is in practicing till you can take out the boss. You have to know how and when and in what way to respond to everything they do.

Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Capone

Quote from: Wolfy on January 22, 2012, 09:53:25 PM

Were you running low on Ammo by the end? Cause I was....though that may be because I can't shoot worth a shit. :/

I had zero ammo by the end of the demo because that last monster wouldn't die. More than a clip of pistol rounds plus a grenade didn't kill it, so I sprinted to the elevator and fled. Good thing that was the end of the demo, or else whatever came next would have required me to use the knife.

I'm gonna probably give it another go round and see if I can figure it out. Resident Evil 4 was obnoxiously hard to me when you first reached the village, but now I have it down to a science.

Wolfy

Quote from: Capone on January 22, 2012, 10:08:14 PM
I had zero ammo by the end of the demo because that last monster wouldn't die. More than a clip of pistol rounds plus a grenade didn't kill it, so I sprinted to the elevator and fled. Good thing that was the end of the demo, or else whatever came next would have required me to use the knife.

I'm gonna probably give it another go round and see if I can figure it out. Resident Evil 4 was obnoxiously hard to me when you first reached the village, but now I have it down to a science.

So you're saying it's back to what Survival Horror should be (According to some people) I.E., you run instead of fight?

Capone

Maybe. The monsters don't follow you through doors, at least not in the demo, so it might actually be a good idea. There's a couple of situations where running is certainly a plausible option.

Inkidu

Quote from: Brandon on January 22, 2012, 10:01:30 PM
You dont have to romance Morrigan to see the other sides of her character. For example if you take her inside the mage's place
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
She says they should be left to their fate because they didnt stand up for themselves and use their power to stay free. Theres an option where your character says something like , if things were different you could be in their same position. Then she says something like "Mother always says that things are the way they are because they couldnt be any other way. I often wonder if that is true." Its a great moment of her character where she doesnt apply the same philosophical tendancies she grew up with.

Anyway, back to dark souls. Dodging is pointless against some attacks because they do track but most of them dont. Thats where you have to learn which ones do and which ones dont. Dodging becomes absolutely neccessary with some of the bosses unless you have an amazing shield and the stamina to support blocking. There are also unblockable attacks but those are either backstabs or special moves on bosses, again you need to know the tells to roll out of the way at the right time. The challenge is in practicing till you can take out the boss. You have to know how and when and in what way to respond to everything they do.
Eh, no. She questions what she grew up with, but that doesn't mean she doesn't apply it. Honestly, you never get to see her apply it or not anyway.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Sabby

Survival Horror would probably be best if half the time, the only things you engage are between you and the fucking door :P and doors are made of plywood.

Or you could be like Clocktower 3... that game understood what immersive interactive horror needs. Sailor fucking Moon using her moon beam powers to fight Team Rocket-meets-Jack the Ripper.

It's Japan! They master creepiness!

Capone

Quote from: Sabby on January 23, 2012, 03:39:40 AM
Survival Horror would probably be best if half the time, the only things you engage are between you and the fucking door :P and doors are made of plywood.

Or you could be like Clocktower 3... that game understood what immersive interactive horror needs. Sailor fucking Moon using her moon beam powers to fight Team Rocket-meets-Jack the Ripper.

It's Japan! They master creepiness!

...but...we're talking about a Japanese game...

I was actually expecting the monsters to be able to go through doors. I intentionally spun around in a rather cramped room and left it thinking they'd crash through, but at least I'd have more distance. Nope.

That's basically where I re-learned how to pop some caps, run around the room, pop some caps, run around the room, pop some caps.

Wolfy

Quote from: Sabby on January 23, 2012, 03:39:40 AM
Survival Horror would probably be best if half the time, the only things you engage are between you and the fucking door :P and doors are made of plywood.

Or you could be like Clocktower 3... that game understood what immersive interactive horror needs. Sailor fucking Moon using her moon beam powers to fight Team Rocket-meets-Jack the Ripper.

It's Japan! They master creepiness!

Just like you master my heart? ;D

Anyway, I'm playing Star Wars The Old Republic.

Hemingway

This is what I get for being late to the party. I can't get my hands on Uncharted. Uncharted 2 & 3, no problem, but I've never played a PS3 game before last week, much less that specific one! Other games are proving elusive, too, like Guns of the Patriots.

Sabby

Your really not missing much with Uncharted 1. If you'd like it, Uncharted 2 is the superior game and there's really no need to play the first if you want the full experience of the second. I hated it, but mostly for the plot and characters. The gameplay is....... good? It's not terrible... it's like taking all the generic parts of games there's days and then throwing as much money and attention at them as possible. It's a turd to me, but it's a polished, impressive turd.

Hemingway

Unless there's absolutely no story connection whatsoever, I don't see how that can possibly be true!

Sabby

There's no significant connection, no. I played Uncharted 2 before Uncharted 1, and never felt at a loss. When I went and played Uncharted 1, I never finished it, but in the hours I played, there was nothing I really needed to know at all, so if there were any bombshells that were yet to be dropped, they didn't have much weight on the sequel.

Hemingway

I still prefer to start at the beginning.