ThePigMarcher

It's likely that your skills have just declined. I got one hit away from beating that boss on the first attempt, until I rolled INTO its combo instead of evading to close in for that final hit. A couple of attempts later (as I started to rush it on attempts two and three) and it was dealt with. I had a lot more difficulty on the next boss (in a sub-mission), which initially appeared to be easier than it proved to be. I just need to do the final DLC boss now (and one more sub-mission) which has also given me more trouble than it should. After looking at the DLC trophies a couple really stand out and will take some considerable grinding for gear and (it appears) completion of the newly created NG+2. Given some of the struggles I've had in the NG+ so far, I don't see those trophies popping any time soon. Although I love the fact that the DLC has bought with it trophies to keep you invested in the main game.

Unfortunately it's been patched which is typical, as I only found out about it after the fact.

Will be picking up the season pass today, having got back into the game over the last couple of days, just so damn good. I'm about halfway through the NG+ and still need a couple of trophies for the Platinum, one for finding all Kodama (which will come easily enough) and the bloody blacksmith request one. Unfortunately I made the mistake of requesting discounted items/forging/soul matching etc early on which has resulted in making it far harder to spend the required funds to get the requests. Oh well, I'm sure that trophy will come soon enough.

Just played through What Remains of Edith Finch and what an absolute joy it was, just utterly beautiful story telling. I was dubious about spending £16 for 2-3hrs worth of game but considering I'll often spend more than that on a takeaway I thought why not and I'm sure glad I did. Despite the brevity of the game some of the family members' stories will stay with me for a while, some were also done in such an inventive way and I really loved the level design of the family home. I did miss a couple of trophies and those were early game ones, largely before I fully figured out what was going on but I can easily return to those as a chapter replay becomes available on completion, not that you really need it given the games length. I could easily see me wanting to go through this again at some point down the line anyway.

Ha! You may be right. I just thought (after getting the payment taken so early they might have shipped yesterday), or at least I hoped they would, guess I've been spoilt in the past . Anyway, point is now moot as I've also since received the dispatch email.

Still processing at shopto. I have no complaints about them shipping on Monday, although I often get a lot of Tuesday releases on the prior Saturday. However, I do object to them taking the payment five days before shipping (was charged on Wednesday).

That's also what I was intending to do, however, I've not read anything about cross-save etc. Also, according to Ska Studios' twitter there could well be a separate trophy list, as that is what they requested, whether that proves to be the case we'll find out soon enough. That said, I'm still excited to go back and give this another playthrough and I hope it really holds up well on the Vita.

Three CD set (with a bonus 4th disc for initial orders) releasing in Japan on March 29th. No news on a Western release although I'm sure something will follow in due course. Either way, I'm sure someone will torrent it shortly after. I downloaded the OST for the previous game not long after originally playing it and it still gets a frequent listen even now. By way of a progress update, finished Ending B after spending ages in that playthrough trying to do some of the sidequests I'd previously missed, and the game is fast appraoching 'masterpiece' status. I would love to say more but all I will say is that you NEED to get to Branch C as quickly as possible

Completed Ending 'A' earlier and all I can say is 'wow', what a truly fucking amazing game. I would love to elaborate but the story is crazy good, maybe not quite up there in the emotional rollercoaster stakes of the previous game but still an excellent story in its own right. The last few hours in particular really upped the ante and were just incredible. The combat remains absolutely brilliant throughout and the depth, by way of how you choose to spec your pod, is simply breathtaking. Whilst the environment/world could do with being fleshed out a little more it didn't become too much of a chore to explore, especially once you unlock fast travel. In the interim you could always ride a couple of animals to aid getting around. Some of the sidequests are also interesting although there is also a fair share of fetch quests. That said, due to my advancing the story many got locked out and I've only done 35% of them so far, there were also some that were seemingly beyond my level so I'll see how that plays out. It was also great to see the return of some previous characters. I've gone straight back to continuing after Ending A and the game continues to surpass itself, I can't wait to see what lies ahead and there appears to still be a hell of a lot to do. If you have even the slightest interest in this game you really need to grab it at the earliest opportunity and it's crazy to think that in a year that has already given us the brilliant Horizon (which I still need to finish :blush) and the fantastic Nioh there is another, IMO, early contender for those GotY lists. Yes, it really is that fucking good.

My copy arrived this morning and I've managed to put a few hours into it and so far I'm bloody loving the game. I've only done the first few bosses, who have been incredible and on one occasion truly bizarre but the game is shaping up nicely. The story hasn't properly taken off yet although that could be just me having a what the hell moment really early on (the sequence shortly after the bit where the demo ended) but the premise is certainly there. I've not done too much exploring yet and have mostly just cracked on the early missions, although I have found one hidden weapon and I do intend to set about exploring a lot more from this point forward. The world is a little sparse but given the narrative that is to be expected but it does look nicer than I expected it to and there has been one truly brilliant and equally bizarre location already. I do think I may have been better off starting on a slightly harder difficulty as I've only died once so far and even that was down to my pressing the wrong button to heal. Also due to the way death is handled, if you play online you can get free healing and items should you choose to retrieve the dead bodies of other players. On that note,the way death is handled is certainly interesting and I am curious to learn more about that, so maybe a couple of suicides beckon. It also goes without saying that the soundtrack is absolutely incredible, although I'm not yet convinced that it surpasses that of the previous game. Then again, that game boasts my favourite game soundtrack of all time so topping that would be a tall order. There are still a few other gameplay mechanics that I'm trying to get my head around but so far so good and I expect to spend a significant amount of time with this, although that's also dependent on how I can decide to manage my time between this, Horizon Zero Dawn, Tales of Berseria and Nioh's NG+, all games equally deserving of my time.

Played a couple of matches on my sub-account and promptly deleted it. Thought it was utter shite.

I could be wrong but it's likely due to there being limited twilight missions. I noticed yesterday that one of the ones that cycled in had the check symbol showing that I'd already completed it, so I do wonder just how many/few there could be. It would be nicer to have more but it's not a huge issue for me, considering how much else there is to do in the game. I made a start on the fifth region yesterday (although there is still a duel in region 4 that I need to go back to) and it was first time I've ran into a mission where I really didn't like the level design. Admittedly, it was nice what the team were aiming to do but it just didn't gel with me so I'm hoping that I don't have to revisit it for any sub-missions. I'm not sure if it's because of familiarity with the game mechanics but the last few bosses have also been a little on the easy side so I'm hoping that things get ramped up again. That said, still an incredible game and despite it only being February, I'd be surprised if this isn't in my thoughts when it comes to deciding my Game of the Year in ten months time.

Yeah that guy was a bastard for me as well. I ended up moving on to the next area to level up and grab better gear before returning to him, even then he still caused me a few issues. I'm still currently in the third area as I've slowed my progress a little to offer myself up for summoning, although I should really think about moving on again. In that area, I've only done a couple of main missions (including a boss that caused quite a few problems) and a few side missions, one of which was a bastard until I lucked out. I can't say more than that for fear of spoilers. I've also opened up 'Clans' which is just something else to add to the online experience although I spent far too long just deciding which one to join, especially as benefits/gains are largely insignificant anyway. As for co-op experiences, I'm mostly trying to help others with Umi-bozu as that boss seems to be a sticking point for a lot of others. That said, I've also got to the stage where it feels like a waste of time and just today alone I must have joined 15+ hosts and NOT ONE of them lasted long enough for us to beat him. However, due to the layout of that level I've also had a bloody good laugh at some of the misfortunes of others as well as the odd balls-up by myself. Absolutely incredible game.

I've now managed to get through the first three bosses as well as a bunch of side-missions. Those first bosses are all ones that were in the various demos so it wasn't too much of a struggle as I knew what to expect, I can see how anyone going in blind would have difficulties however. There is one sub-mission that I just haven't been able to get past yet so I decided to move on to the next main mission. As for that next main mission, my fears about lowered difficulty were soon put to rest. I didn't have too many issues getting through the level itself, other than dealing with significant status effects, you'll know when you get there, but the boss itself is kicking the shit out of me. I tried numerous attempts last night and didn't even get close although I am closer to devising some sort of strategy. It doesn't help that I haven't found many kodama in the area so haven't been able to pick up the 'healing bonus', making farming elixirs harder. I'm only entering the boss fight with 3 or 4 elixirs which is far from ideal. As for my build, I'm also going with Kusarigama as my main (found a fairly decent fire one which I'm soul matching when funds allow) but I'm also using dual wielding a fair bit too. I just prefer using the faster weapons over the slower more hard hitting hammers, axes etc. As a result I've mostly been focusing on building the required stats for those weapons although I have stuck a couple of points in magic and dex so as to have some useful magic and ninjutsu options available.

My copy arrived yesterday morning (will definitely be using Simply Games again) so I've managed to put a few hours into it and in summary, I'm fucking loving every minute of it so far. There is so much to love about the game as many of you who played the previous demos will know. The combat is simply incredible and really freaking responsive, the detail that has gone into the lore is incredible, the various options to customise gear through the blacksmith is deep as hell (in fact I've spent as much time disassembing, crafting gear etc as I have playing). I also love that there's an in-game achievement system which also allows you grab permanent stat bonuses and there's a lot of mini-tasks to do. One minor issue is that so far, the game hasn't been as challenging as I expected. However, that could be down to familiarity as all the areas I've seen so far (bar the opening) are ones I've played previously in the demos. That said, I did run into one sub-mission that caused a few problems. I've not really dabbled with the co-op yet as I always like to solo these 'Souls-like' games on my first playthrough although I did decide to help one guy beat one of the bosses. I do expect that I'll be doing more of that in the future however. So far, so freaking good.