Your 2021 Gaming Diary

[Nicktendo]

37 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Does the R button still move and click like the L button? Could be just some bad contact, which is happening with mine as well. I tried to:

• Go old-school cartridge on it and blow underneath it (I even used a toothpick to keep the button lifted);
• Press the R button more softly. Repeated hammering wouldn't work, but softly keeping it pressed would register.

Depending on the day, either or both methods can spring some life back to my R button. Though it has been a while since it last acted up.

It still moves and clicks, just doesn't register. I think I should try the first method. I'm considering taking my 3DS apart and trying to fix it that way. Really don't want to spend 150 euros on a new device. My screen is also scratched to hell, so a new machine might be the better option... but I plan to play through OOT and MM and I don't want to lose the 3D function. I also have the Capcom Zelda games on here so I really don't know what to do... I'll try a self-fix and see how it goes!

[Hero-of-Time]

14 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

 

I went back and 100%'d The Gardens Between using a guide. I'll probably play thorough it again some time soon. Second Steam game "Platinumed".

*gives nod of approval*

With Panzer Dragoon, are the achievements the same as the trophies? I know the trophy community kicked up a fuss about one of the trophies being that you had to play the game for 100 hours. Seeing as the game is about 4 hours long, it was clear that the developers just shoved that one in there to be annoying. Same as the Fall Guys achievement/trophy for winning 5 matches in a row.

[Nicktendo]

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

*gives nod of approval*

With Panzer Dragoon, are the achievements the same as the trophies? I know the trophy community kicked up a fuss about one of the trophies being that you had to play the game for 100 hours. Seeing as the game is about 4 hours long, it was clear that the developers just shoved that one in there to be annoying. Same as the Fall Guys achievement/trophy for winning 5 matches in a row.

Yeah one of them is for 100 hours in-game. There’s a method on PC to speed it up but I’m not going to bother. 
I think the achievements are the same as the trophies, yes. 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Nicktendo said:

Yeah one of them is for 100 hours in-game. There’s a method on PC to speed it up but I’m not going to bother. 
I think the achievements are the same as the trophies, yes. 

On the PS4 people figured out that keeping the game in a certain menu racked up the time. It was just of being AFK for a long time whilst the game was running. Some just left there console on overnight. Again, stupid achievement/trophy that was put in there to be spiteful.

As for your Zelda marathon, I quite like the idea of playing them and may join you on this adventure. I think I own all of them in some shape or form.

Which ones have you got/plan on playing through?

[Goron_3]

16 hours ago, Aperson said:

After much extensive griding and a complete rethink about how I've been levelling up my character, as well as more deaths that helped me learn the boss battle and it's mechanics... I have finally beaten Ornstein and Smough! As soon as I got to the second phase for the first time and began to realise how much easier that second phase is I felt that if I can find a way to make the first phase take shorter I can beat it. Eventually I realised that instead of just spacing by a pillar and waiting for Ornstein to charge at me, dodging the charge and attacking from there... it was far quicker to just hide behind the nearest pillar that forces both of them in your eyesight. For the most part their attacks cannot hurt you if you are standing behind a pillar and that made it easier to close in on Ornstein and atatack. With about 38 Dexterity or something my +5 Silver Spear did quite a lot of damage to Ornstein with every hit, so much so that Ornstein went down in 9 hits.

 

From there, Smough was mostly manageable and I stuck to a simple strategy of circle strafing around hium, except if he used his Lightning butt stomp. Until I got hit by a horizontal attack while doing this. As soon as I realised that, I changed my attacks and... that was the successful attempt. Remembering the fighting specifics from the Soulcalibur series in how the 8 way run allows you to dodge vertical attacks but still leaves you vulnerable to horizontal moves I started to watch more carefully WHERE Smough was swingin his hammer and punished his vertical moves, rolling back from the horizontal ones. This paid off, I was able to down Smough and now I have the Lordvessel.

 

My next plan is to go to the Catacombs and go after Nito. Supposedly the easiest of the four major bosses I'm supposed to go after. From there I'm going for Seath, then Four Kings and then go after Izalith.

Excellent work! O&S signal the end of the first half of the game. Now you've just got to find the final four bosses and you're all set.

And then you can move on to Bloodborne

[Nicktendo]

5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Which ones have you got/plan on playing through?

Going through LTTP now. Have been playing Zelda 1 and 2 on the NES app over the past few months and made little progress. Doubt I'll see them through to the end.

On 3DS I've got OOT and MM3D as well as both Oracle games, which will probably be the next ones I play.

Wii U I have the two HD remasters, but will put them off until Nintendo announce their 35th Anniversary plans. I have Skyward Sword physical, but it's stuck in Russia. Will either download it from the eShop if I have to (wink, wink, Nintendo) or maybe get it posted in the Summer. I also have the Minish Cap on Wii U VC, which I've never played, so I'll definitely go through that. 

Depending on how fed up I get as time goes on, I could be tempted to download the DS games on Wii U, but we'll see. I'm not desperate to play either.

Link's Awakening on Switch of course. I beat it in 2019, and may run through it again and go for a 100% run with all heart pieces and seashells. 

So plenty to play! Definitely going to start with the 2D offerings and hope Nintendo drop some news soon.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Nicktendo

[Hero-of-Time]

Dude, definitely play through Minish Cap. It's easily one of the most underrated Zelda games. It has a fantastic charm and atmosphere. It's my second favourite 2D Zelda game, with LTTP having the top spot.

[Ganepark32]

Finished up January by completing 2 indie titles: The Pedestrian and Shady Part of Me.

Was surprised that The Pedestrian had released as I hadn't seen any news in it since the PlayStation Blog had done a indie highlight thing a few months back, which included it. But lo and behold, last Friday it was there to pick up on the store so I picked it up on the PS5 and finished it the next day.

I'd had my eye on it since it released on PC so was looking forward to playing it. Its a short puzzle game where you control a stick man on road signs and drawing boards and pretty much involved getting from one door to the other, solving a puzzle along the way to get through the signs in the right order.

That seems simple enough but by the end of the game, its incorporated a bunch of mechanics that add different dynamics to how you get through the areas making it head scratchingly difficult at times. It starts out with things like linking up nodes for doors and ladders is how it starts but the game then has you do things like connect electric nodes to sequentially unlock new signs and then solve a bigger sequence of puzzles.

The addition of hazards, like lasers and sawblades, as well as locked doors, triggers launchpads and levers add flavour in amongst the levels and then a late game addition of a spray that keeps progress in a particular sign while you reset other signs really makes you stop and think your steps out ahead otherwise you'll be banging your head against a wall.

The final area takes an additional twist that I won't spoil but made a nice touch to end on.

As I say, its a short game, probably 3 or so hours, maybe a bit more but I enjoyed the game. It never out stays its welcome and gives just enough variety through the length of the game to keep you going. Haptic feedback is there for the PS5 version (there's a PS4 version available with both an Xbox and Switch version coming down the line) but its mainly for footsteps and things like that. Nothing amazing and doesn't really add much to the experience. Well worth a shot but if you want a bit more, I'd say wait for the sale.

I then finished up Shady Part of Me on the Sunday and again, I enjoyed the experience. I'd played a bit at launch when I was announced and released at The Game Awards and had been meaning to plow on with it so sat down and I did.

You play a young girl who is going through emotional struggles and the game tells the story of her befriending of her shadow and the struggle to overcome her fear of the light, accepting it into her life and accepting who she is. It may not be an entirely original tale but it's well told and narrated, with a great performance from Hannah Murray voicing the girl.

Gameplay takes place through some beautiful yet surreal, dreamist locations with a hand drawn aesthetic. You play both the part of the young girl and her shadow, switching between the two to complete short platforming sections through a series of what are referred to as sessions, acting as overarching points of plot that appear to be a recount from therapy sessions.

The platforming never becomes too difficult and the puzzles themselves are similarly simple, making use of light and dark mechanics to have the girl move through the latter and the shadow to move through the former. Moving blocks as the little girl will create shadows that act as platforms for the shadow and similarly pulling levers will move items of scenery for both characters to move through levels. As I say, simple mechanics but done well enough to propel you through.

Playing the game brought to mind Lost in Shadow/A Shadow's Tale on the Wii, simply through playing the shadow character and solving puzzles as that. It did make me wish that that game wasn't stuck on the Wii as I'd love to play it again.

I loved the look of the game along with the audio. It has the look of a children's book that cosies up to creepy in places to personify the girls doubts and fears but similarly hits on points if dream like fantasy that show her progress and her coming to terms with herself beautifully.

The final sequence on a stage surrounded by lights and solving the puzzles there beautifully ties together the struggles to overcome her struggled and her acceptance of the light and herself.

Its a game that will sadly have been glossed over because of its release window (and thats with good reviews from outlets) which is a shame as the game is a really nice little experience that plays simply with its mechanics but tells a thoughtful story in an interesting way. Sure, some fat could be trimmed to make it more succinct but as it stands, the package is well thought out and well done. Another worth picking up if you want something a little different. Its on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.

Currently playing through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on my PS5, with the next gen optimisations. Already completed on release but I was hankering a single player experience and was very much in the Star Wars mood after finishing The Mandalorian. The next gen optimisation on the PS5 is a bit lacklustre. The game still looks washed out as its only 1200p or there abouts, falling far behind the optimisations for the Xbox Series X version. There's also plenty of frame rate stutters still when it should be a rock solid 60fps so that's a disappointment but the game is still fantastic and really enjoying playing it again. Can't wait for the sequel that Respawn are working on.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Ganepark32

[Glen-i]

On 05/02/2021 at 9:24 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

On the PS4 people figured out that keeping the game in a certain menu racked up the time. It was just of being AFK for a long time whilst the game was running. Some just left there console on overnight. Again, stupid achievement/trophy that was put in there to be spiteful.

And here I am thinking Smash Bros Melee was always dumb in the method of waiting 20 hours of total VS match time so you could unlock Mewtwo...

I'm relatively old these days.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Glen-i said:

And here I am thinking Smash Bros Melee was always dumb in the method of waiting 20 hours of total VS match time so you could unlock Mewtwo...

I'm relatively old these days.

Ah, plugging in the 4 controllers and leaving the game running. Those were the days.

[Glen-i]

8 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Ah, plugging in the 4 controllers and leaving the game running. Those were the days.

Yep, no items, hazardless stage, 1 life. Go to sleep with it running, and spend the next morning trying to beat him up and unlock him.

People complaining about the unlock methods in Smash Ultimate don't appreciate the lengths kids went to when unlocking secrets.

Edited February 6, 2021 by Glen-i

[Aperson]

Made more progress in Dark Souls. I travelled to the Catacombs and after a rather extensive trip, beat the hardest boss ever... PINWHEEL...

 

 

...Only joking of course. He went down in 4 hits and his attacks were very easy to dodge so I was able to get the Rite of Kindling with relative ease. I then immediately died by slipping off a pit in Tomb of the Giants...

 

...SOOOO then I went and backtracked to find the blacksmith... before going back towards the Tomb of the Giants and that's my progress update for Dark Souls.

[drahkon]

Started to become quite anxious a few hours ago and just needed to kinda get lost somewhere else and I remembered @Julius' post about What Remains of Edith Finch, specifically:

On 2/3/2021 at 1:12 AM, Julius said:

turn out the lights, stick some headphones on, and put yourself in someone else's shoes for a couple of hours.

So I did exactly that.

Gotta echo pretty much everything Julius said in his post. It's a wonderful experience. A story not about a mystery but a story about stories.
Perfectly crafted, masterfully executed.
If anybody ever tells me that video games can't be art, What Remains of Edith Finch might be the first game I'll show them.

Experiencing the story was a very calming experience (mostly) and it helped me a lot just now

Edited February 7, 2021 by drahkon

[Scratch]

Today I finally finished The Crown Tundra's Pokedex. I only had a few to go but one of them was the other Regi so I had to do the Regi quest again on my Shield save. But now it's done, which means I've completed all the Galar dex's on my main/Sword save, and I'm pretty much done with SwSh now.

Not my fave Pokemon games, and compared to Breath of Wild (the game I was playing before I started SwSh) I think SwSh could have been better in many ways. That said, they're still excellent games that I enjoyed a lot. And I'm looking forward to whatever's next for mainline Pokemon. Unless it's another Let's Go game with no Pro Controller compatibility DUN DUN DUUUUN! 😱

[Cube]

Played though Concrete Genie and got the platinum. Very charming game, really nice visual style. It's definitely worth a go. 

 

It was fun learning how stuff worked and there were some unexpected gameplay mechanics.

 

 

[Londragon]

Managed to try out Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit when a student of mine brought it into school one day.  2 1/2 hour gaming session in our, now unused, library was a damn fun afternoon. After getting hands on, I have to say that my inital interest in the product, has turned into love for it.  What a solid piece of kit.

[Together] Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

[Dufniall]

I completed a couple of games in the past week, so instead of saving it up until the end of the month I'll share my thoughts now as the memory is still fresh:

Steamworld Dig (Nintendo 3DS)

 

 

I was in the mood for a shorter game and I still had this on my 3DS unplayed, so it was time to finally start this game. It was originally released in 2013, I didn’t know it was that old! It received quite a bit of praise back in the day, and I think in some parts it still holds up, but it’s also been overtaken by other, newer indie MetroidVanias.

 

I think most here have played the game or know it, so I won’t go into the details. Basically your goal is to dig as deep as you can in a randomly generated world, and on the go you will unlock upgrades that make traversing easier and digging faster.

 

I liked the cycle of digging to acquire upgrades to dig deeper to acquire upgrades etc. Although it’s a bit repetitive, you want to keep going and there is always an upgrade in sight that unlocks new options. The game looks good enough, and the steampunk Western setting is pretty entertaining.

 

It wasn’t a hard game, and it is pretty short as well. I reached the end after only 4 hours, so it’s a game you can easily breeze through. I think the puzzle segments could have been a bit more interesting/harder, and it’s a shame there is only one boss battle. Still, I’ve wishlisted Steamworld Dig 2 on the eShop as 1 was pretty enjoyable and I believe the sequel adds a bit more diversity so that can only be good.

 

Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure (Nintendo 3DS)

 

 

This is another game that has been on my 3DS forever (I think it was part of the 3DS Humble Bundle) but a game I never finished. I had around 4-5 hours of playtime on the clock, so I decided to end it once and for all.

Rhythm Thief can best be described as Professor Layton, where the puzzles are traded in for rhythm games. You take on the role of Phantom R, a thief who ends up in a plot where Napoleon wants to regain power. 

 

The game takes place in Paris, and it is fun to see a real existing location in a game like this. Rhythm Thief as said has a lot of similarities with Professor Layton. There are animated cutscenes, locations are presented as static 2D images complete with medals and secrets found by tapping the right spot. The biggest difference is that this is a rhythm game, and not a puzzle game.

 

These rhythm games use the 3DS in a bunch of different ways. There are touch games where you have to slide the stylus to do dance moves or play the violin, games that require button inputs and there was a game that uses the gyro as well. I noticed that with some rhythm games, I actually found it pretty hard to get the beat, and it took me a few tries to complete it. The game can also be quite harsh and a few mistakes already can lead to a failed game. The music is not always very catchy which is not helping.

 

But luckily there are some good minigames as well, and the overall presentation, cast of characters and story is entertaining enough so all in all I enjoyed my time with it. I finished it in around 7 hours and after that I played around a bit to unlock 2 of the 3 extra chapters (the third one involves getting the A rank on all minigames and I wasn’t up for that yet). I’m curious if we ever get a sequel as the story leaves plenty of room for it, but I’m guessing no.

 

Resident Evil 6 - Chris’s campaign (PC)

 

 

After completing Leon’s and Ada’s campaigns in Resident Evil 6, it was time for Chris to shine. I enjoyed Leon’s and Ada’s story. Leon comes closest to the Resident Evil 4 feeling, especially in the areas around and under the church. Meanwhile Ada has a more stealthy approach which felt fairly fresh.

 

Chris’s campaign was a bit of a mess though. No zombies, only J’avo and BOWs and most of the time you go in all guns blazing. I took down choppers with a grenade launcher, had a ridiculous car chase and experienced some bad QTE sequences with sloppy cameras. I can see how this game received mixed reviews with so much variation between the different campaigns. I can see what Capcom tried to do here and kudos for trying different approaches for different characters, but Chris’s campaign is a miss. Also he’s a pretty moody guy, cheer up Chris!

 

So now I only have Jake’s campaign left, curious to see which way this pans out. Going by the cross-over moments with Jake in the other campaigns, at least I think he will have an interesting story.

[Ganepark32]

Ended up playing through Donut County on my Xbox One and finished it in one sitting on Saturday morning. Was looking for something to help finish off some of my Microsoft Reward quests and this fit the bill nicely. Had already played through and platinumed it on the PS4 so it was a pretty swift play through.

Pretty straight forward gameplay that's very much of the Katamari Damacy style playbook: you control a hole that swallows up objects of increasing size with your hole growing with each item it swallows. Occasionally there'll be an additional puzzle element, like catapulting objects out of the hole, filling it with water the gush out to move objects or to us a snake's tail to press a button, but the overarching gameplay stays the same from start to finish. That in and of itself is fine considering the general brevity of the game but the overall package that the gameplay is wrapped up in perhaps aims to be more than the sum of its parts and doesn't land there.

There's a general narrative thread loosely running through the game, with a raccoon called BK controlling the holes under the guise of a donut shop and hoping to get his remote controlled quadcopter. Its silly stuff that never takes itself too seriously but its very much background noise that the game could easily have done without.

Unnecessary narrative or not, the overall experience is a short but sweet one that's fun for the time it runs for but doesn't exactly leave a strong lasting impression, though its clearly not meant to be. With its inclusion of Gamepass, its a fun hour or so and definitely worth a shot. At full price, I'd say pick it up on sale if you want something nonsensical but enjoyable.

Followed this up by finishing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Saturday afternoon. As I'd said in a previous post, I was playing on my PS5 for the next gen optimisations that Respawn released a few weeks back. Sadly, those optimisations fall short on the PS5 and while its a generally more stable game than previously, there's still noticeable frame rate drops and a washed out look to visuals on the PS5 compared to what I've seen of the Xbox Series X version.

Its a shame that they didn't go further with the PS5 version and really lock down the frame rate and push the visuals that bit more.

Nonetheless, playing through the game again was a treat. Its a fantastic action adventure title and though the platforming is a bit too floaty/Uncharted-esque, the action is superb taking that Souls approach to having to learn movements of your enemies and using your skills, parries and force powers appropriately if you want to make quick work of enemies. Once you've unlocked your full suite of force powers and have the combat tactics down, the game feels great in making you feel like a Jedi cutting down stormtroopers and other enemies through. The cinematic moves of cutting through droids or landing a killing blow on stormtroopers as finishers will never stop being satisfying.

It felt just as great playing it a second time through as it did at launch, perhaps more so. I appreciated the Souls bonfire mechanics of the meditation points more here than originally, though it still doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things for the game, and though it takes place between the prequel and original films, there's enough discernable distance between both to not be bogged down by having to play fan service throughout, though it could be argued they played to fan service with the end sequence.

I can't wait to see what Respawn do with a sequel. Some fine tuning of the gameplay is all thats needed and if they're willing to risk not playing to the films, they could really stretch themselves more, much in the same way that The Mandalorian has done (while that show definitely plays the fan service card heavily in places, they play a lot of cards that aren't and its those that made it far more enjoyable to watch for me).

I'm still miffed that they didn't go full hog on supporting the game with other merch. I was saying to the missus that they really should have done a Lego Ideas build for BD-1, which I'd have promptly picked up, but maybe they were testing the waters. Now that this game has done aa well as it has, they may well push the boat out with the sequel.

Not settled on what I'll play next. Moving later this week so things are up in the air there. If I have my internet sorted at my new place, I'll download FF12 when it hits Gamepass on Thursday. I did a toss up between it and the FFX/X-2 package on Switch last year and went for the latter, sadly giving up at Mt. Gagazet (that particular boss battles was enough to put me off, especially as I became aware of further difficulty spikes after that) so I've been curious what 12 is like. Hopefully less difficulty spikes. If that goes well, may try my hand at 7. Either the original before it disappears from Gamepass or try the Remake on PS4.

[Aperson]

Regarding FF12 I wouldn't say its especially hard. Moreso annoying with how long a certain dungeon is and how repetitive it gets >.> It's kind of a Xenoblade-lite in a way in how its a single player MMO style game except they give you more freedom over how your party controls... too much freedom in some way to the point where the game can just play itself. So what I did was have Gambits on every party member but the lead and had my lead pick all the actions.

 

Anyway, alongside Dark Souls, of which I am now finally properly in the Tomb of the Giants after successfully reaching the bonfire (wound up killing Patches after he shunted me into the pit below) I played a whole manner of games... for recording purposes.

 

I went and made the longest Top 10 Video Games of All Time video on Youtube lol...

 

(video removed due to audio issues that need to be fixed).

 

There are more than 10 characters in there, wanted to make things a bit less obvious >.> I've got video chapters to help skip through the video as I know it ended up far longer than I wanted it to. Will note that there are some spoilery aspects to my discussions about some of these games but it was hard to get across why certain games were where without going into slight spoiler territory, though I avoid completely spoiling everything.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Aperson

[drahkon]

Recently, a game that I've been interested in for a long time has gone on sale and I was able to afford it. So I bought it.

It's a Peggle-y rouge-lite dungeon-crawler. Given my love for Peggle and rogue-lites this seemed like a no-brainer. And sure enough: I'm enjoying it a lot.

The random nature of both gameplay mechanics is balanced by each character's skills which let you bounce around, use AoE attacks or fight enemies from a distance. It works surpringly well.
Presentation is nothing special but it's sufficient.

The game is a tad on the easy side, which is always a negative for me

Still, I'm having lots of fun.

A few runs away from the Platinum and I think I'm done with Roundguard after that. A game needs to be truly special for me to go after highscores and leaderboards

[Goron_3]

My aim for this year was complete 52 games. In hindsight, I should have waited before starting Sekiro because this game is about to be a LONG ride. Thankfully I've got Raging Loop on Switch as a second game to play. 

Regarding Sekiro....I honestly wouldn't have guessed this was a Miyazaki game at all. It plays nothing like Bloodborne or Dark Souls, and the world design is much more linear with less emphasis on shortcuts. The combat is interesting - frankly I think the overworld areas have the right level of difficulty (including the mini-bosses) but damn, the main bosses are extremely difficult. Whereas in Dark Souls and Bloodborne you could afford to be patient, your only option in Sekiro is to learn each of the bosses moves, learn when to parry them and then fully commit to attacking for the duration of the fight. It's absolutely brutal. I've just got to what is considered the first big 'skill check' in the game and whilst I'm committed to beating this boss, the pressure of nailing 20-30 deflects in a row just to get rid of one health bar is nuts. Add to that, two or three hits from most strong enemies leads to death and, well, yeah. It's brutal.

I can't help but feel that whilst I'm going to keep playing, I'm not going to have much fun during the boss encounters. General exploration and combat with weaker enemies is superb though, but currently it's not near the level of Bloodborne or Dark Souls. I feel like Miyazaki wanted to make a combat system that didn't just involve the player spamming the roll button. It certainly works to a degree, but the emphasis on deflecting attacks is tough. Very tough.

[Sheikah]

31 minutes ago, Goron_3 said:

My aim for this year was complete 52 games. In hindsight, I should have waited before starting Sekiro because this game is about to be a LONG ride. Thankfully I've got Raging Loop on Switch as a second game to play. 

Regarding Sekiro....I honestly wouldn't have guessed this was a Miyazaki game at all. It plays nothing like Bloodborne or Dark Souls, and the world design is much more linear with less emphasis on shortcuts. The combat is interesting - frankly I think the overworld areas have the right level of difficulty (including the mini-bosses) but damn, the main bosses are extremely difficult. Whereas in Dark Souls and Bloodborne you could afford to be patient, your only option in Sekiro is to learn each of the bosses moves, learn when to parry them and then fully commit to attacking for the duration of the fight. It's absolutely brutal. I've just got to what is considered the first big 'skill check' in the game and whilst I'm committed to beating this boss, the pressure of nailing 20-30 deflects in a row just to get rid of one health bar is nuts. Add to that, two or three hits from most strong enemies leads to death and, well, yeah. It's brutal.

I can't help but feel that whilst I'm going to keep playing, I'm not going to have much fun during the boss encounters. General exploration and combat with weaker enemies is superb though, but currently it's not near the level of Bloodborne or Dark Souls. I feel like Miyazaki wanted to make a combat system that didn't just involve the player spamming the roll button. It certainly works to a degree, but the emphasis on deflecting attacks is tough. Very tough.

Hang in there, I can tell you that the feeling of difficulty definitely goes down a chunk as you progress. The combat in this game is sublime and better than Dark Souls in my opinion. There's one optional boss near the end game in a flashback sequence that is genuinely hard as nails, but apart from that everything is very accomplishable. If it helps, I got the platinum trophy in this so it's definitely within your reach!

Edited February 9, 2021 by Sheikah

[Cube]

I think I'm giving up on Darksiders. Just lots of frustrating things. Combat itself isn't terribly exciting, health management doesn't make much sense in that it's sometimes better to let enemies kill you to replenish health. I've missed chucks of the story because I had to pause the game and it just skips the cutscenes when you do so (either pausing or going to the PS menu). The low health vibration is incredibly annoying and is the first time I've turned rumble off in a game.

The main chunks of the game seem to be Zelda-like dungeons, but the design of them is really dull. Some puzzles are only "difficult" because it's a pain to find stuff in the overly large environments and some require way too much slow walking back and forth between parts of the puzzle. The second dungeon has enemies which are just time consuming because they aren't a threat, you just walk to them and press O to one-hit kill them with a slow animation. Just pointless time wasting.

A lot of the "overworld" just seem like pointless padding as well. A sort-of-Starfox ish section and a really, really boring third person shooter section. The forced "challenges" to open gates are like really boring to do as well. 

I have even more appreciation for Nintendo's dungeon design because even the worst is miles better than these ones. 

[Hero-of-Time]

4 hours ago, Goron_3 said:

My aim for this year was complete 52 games. In hindsight, I should have waited before starting Sekiro because this game is about to be a LONG ride. Thankfully I've got Raging Loop on Switch as a second game to play. 

Regarding Sekiro....I honestly wouldn't have guessed this was a Miyazaki game at all. It plays nothing like Bloodborne or Dark Souls, and the world design is much more linear with less emphasis on shortcuts. The combat is interesting - frankly I think the overworld areas have the right level of difficulty (including the mini-bosses) but damn, the main bosses are extremely difficult. Whereas in Dark Souls and Bloodborne you could afford to be patient, your only option in Sekiro is to learn each of the bosses moves, learn when to parry them and then fully commit to attacking for the duration of the fight. It's absolutely brutal. I've just got to what is considered the first big 'skill check' in the game and whilst I'm committed to beating this boss, the pressure of nailing 20-30 deflects in a row just to get rid of one health bar is nuts. Add to that, two or three hits from most strong enemies leads to death and, well, yeah. It's brutal.

I can't help but feel that whilst I'm going to keep playing, I'm not going to have much fun during the boss encounters. General exploration and combat with weaker enemies is superb though, but currently it's not near the level of Bloodborne or Dark Souls. I feel like Miyazaki wanted to make a combat system that didn't just involve the player spamming the roll button. It certainly works to a degree, but the emphasis on deflecting attacks is tough. Very tough.

Genichiro?

4 hours ago, Sheikah said:

Hang in there, I can tell you that the feeling of difficulty definitely goes down a chunk as you progress. The combat in this game is sublime and better than Dark Souls in my opinion. There's one optional boss near the end game in a flashback sequence that is genuinely hard as nails, but apart from that everything is very accomplishable. If it helps, I got the platinum trophy in this so it's definitely within your reach!

Ah, if it's the fight I'm thinking of it certainly is a toughie. Hands down one of the toughest bosses in any game I've played. Felt very satisfying to get the victory and the platinum. 

You've got the platinum trophies for all the Souls type games you've played, correct? 

1 hour ago, Cube said:

I think I'm giving up on Darksiders. Just lots of frustrating things. Combat itself isn't terribly exciting, health management doesn't make much sense in that it's sometimes better to let enemies kill you to replenish health. I've missed chucks of the story because I had to pause the game and it just skips the cutscenes when you do so (either pausing or going to the PS menu). The low health vibration is incredibly annoying and is the first time I've turned rumble off in a game.

The main chunks of the game seem to be Zelda-like dungeons, but the design of them is really dull. Some puzzles are only "difficult" because it's a pain to find stuff in the overly large environments and some require way too much slow walking back and forth between parts of the puzzle. The second dungeon has enemies which are just time consuming because they aren't a threat, you just walk to them and press O to one-hit kill them with a slow animation. Just pointless time wasting.

A lot of the "overworld" just seem like pointless padding as well. A sort-of-Starfox ish section and a really, really boring third person shooter section. The forced "challenges" to open gates are like really boring to do as well. 

I have even more appreciation for Nintendo's dungeon design because even the worst is miles better than these ones. 

I love the original Darksiders and at the time I actually preferred it over Twilight Princess. I'm a sucker for a narrative that involves demons, angels and gods all fighting for power ( it's why I loved Supernatural ) and so this was right up my street. The character designs are top tier too thanks to Joe Mads input. Dude was one of my favourite comic book artists back in the day.

Despite losing the first game I have yet to play any of the others. It's annoys me that they didn't actually carry on with the story and instead went the prequel route.

[Goron_3]

@Hero of Time Yeah it's Genichiro. The sound of swords clashing is pretty excellent, isn't it? I think I've got his movements down but there's nothing more demoralising than building up his posture meter only for him to start getting it back after you don't land a hit / parry for an age.