Mister Jack

I think spending all that time with Sekiro has actually made me better at other games. I fired up Bloodborne for a couple hours, but since it's been so long I completely forgot where everything is and I accidentally wandered into the Father Gascoigne boss fight, which is infamous for turning players into red smears on the floor. I thought "Aw shit, I'm not prepared for this at all. I haven't even done any weapon upgrades. I'm going to get my fucking ass kicked." Ended up beating him on the first try. Didn't even have the music box. Having to learn to deflect made me much better at pulling off visceral attacks this time around. I mostly avoided them the first time I played because I could never get the timing of my gunshots down. It feels much easier now, probably because the timing is more generous than Sekiro's deflects.

Dark Souls III Yeah, this one was much better than the first one. The QoL changes were sorely needed. Menus are much easier to navigate, crafting materials are much easier to come by, the curse status doesn't completely fuck your game until you get it cured, boss fights are more interesting, and while I know it's a controversial change, I like having my shops and blacksmith all in one place so I don't have to run all around the entire map just to get an upgrade. In fact, about the only thing I don't like is that now you have to talk to an NPC to level up when before you could do it at any bonfire. If I had to give the first game points over the third for something, it would be the level design, but only for the first half. The first game's world has higher highs, but this one had a more consistent quality throughout. I actually struggled with the difficulty for a while, but ironically enough, once I stopped playing like Dark Souls and started playing like Bloodborne I had an easier time with it. I guess that's another thing people don't like about this sequel but it didn't really bother me. I tried fighting the DLC bosses after the story's final boss but they are absolute motherfuckers and I think I'm gonna have to grind some levels or respec or something because they are so overpowered that it is actually kind of obnoxious.

Well since I'm going through all these From games recently I might as well do Bloodborne again. I played through it once before, but I didn't have the DLC back then so I'm gonna play it fresh. I'm generally better at these games now too, so I think I won't flounder about as much as I did the first time I played it.

I'm glad they did. It's not very hard but he runs around so much it's kind of tedious to chip his health down.

It seems From put out a patch today that buffed several shinobi tools and combat arts in order to encourage usage, as well as reducing spirit emblem costs. Not only that but they reduced the health and vitality of one of the bosses because it was taking too long to fight. No, not THAT boss. So congrats fellas. We officially beat the harder version of the game.

I still had to fill out a few skills on the other trees first so I guess that would explain it. In an unrelated note, I realized something earlier. Did anyone here ever actually use this particular item? I played through the game three times and never once used the fistful of ash. I have to wonder if maybe I would have had an easier time if I did.

Holy shit, how does anyone say Dark Souls 1 is the hardest of the trilogy? I am having so much more trouble with 3. Not as much as Sekiro, granted, but this feels way harder than the original Dark Souls. Enemy AI is much more aggressive and they like to travel in packs far more often. Even the common sewer rats are a legit threat this time. Not only that, but enemies are also fond of combo attacks where if the first hit connects, every other hit will also connect which can drain almost your entire life bar in one go. You start with fewer Estus flasks and on top of that it seems much easier to have your guard broken. I'm dying more to the trash mobs than to the actual bosses, which are a lot more manageable by comparison.

Kind of a weird way to honor the destruction of one the world's most important historical buildings but OK, free is free I guess.

It only took you an hour? Which new game+ were you on? It took me way longer than that.

I don't think Sony is ever going to make that mistake again. It cost them way too dearly. Even without this leak I think, barring massive inflation, $499 is the most they would dare.

A while back there was a pastebin leak about the PS5. It wasn't given too much weight at the time, but a lot of stuff on there has been proven right with this recent info, so if anyone wants to see it again, here it is. https://pastebin.com/PY9vaTsR

This is the best way to grind for skill points. It'll still take hours, but fewer hours than it would take otherwise.

I'm still on the fence about DS2 so I decided to go with this. Usually I feel compelled to play all the games in a series in order, but I don't understand this plot in the first place so idgaf this time.

You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference.

Dark Souls Remastered This was an interesting experience, because I was playing it with the mindset of a guy who didn't like Dark Souls before but was willing to give it another chance. I've come around to it for the most part. Exploring the big, interconnected world with sword and shield in hand is pretty fun when everything lines up just right, and most of the bosses are pretty fair, although after playing Sekiro they weren't nearly as hard as I expected. There were a small handful of bosses who gave me some trouble, but never anything like the hardest bosses in Sekiro. I would die maybe 4-5 times instead of 20-30 times. While I would consider my overall experience to be a positive one, I do have complaints. Even for a remaster, the graphics have aged like milk, but if I"m being honest this doesn't really matter to me that much. That said, it's still worth pointing out. The story is so obtuse that I had no idea what I was doing or why, and I really tried to make sense of it. I know people like to dig into the lore on wikis and such with these games, but if you don't give me some idea of what's going on it's hard to care. Both Bloodborne and Sekiro are better about this. I'm not asking to be spoonfed all the lore bits, but give me something. Having to read a bunch of item descriptions to maybe wrap your head around the plot only feels slightly better to me than having to read a bunch of Codex entries for Destiny's lore. In fact, at several points I had to look up where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to do because I was just completely lost. Graphics and story are ultimately minor quibbles for me, and thankfully the gameplay mostly succeeds. There are some little niggling issues that bring it down a bit for me, though. There's no indication for when you're properly lined up for a backstab. Not the end of the world, but it would have been nice to have since I whiffed more than a few backstabs due to not being exactly where the game wanted me to be. A much bigger issue for me is that fast travel takes waaaaaay too long to unlock. I'm sure some people would argue that fast travel ruins the sense of exploration, but I got real sick of running back and forth between the same areas multiple times because I had no other choice. On that note, some of the bonfires (checkpoints) are spread way too far apart. Some areas don't have bonfires at all, which means if you die not only are you doing the entire area over again, but you actually get sent all the way back to the previous area and have to run all the way back because that's the only bonfire that's nearby. Sekiro's idols were much more thoughtfully placed, and were often situated right by a tough boss so you don't have to waste a lot of time retracing your steps. I don't buy the argument that retracing your steps is supposed to be part of the DS challenge. I've already beaten these trash mobs multiple times. Hell, after a while I would just run past them to get back to the boss I actually wanted to fight. If you insist on not putting the bonfires by the boss, can't you at least put one bonfire in every area so I don't have to run through the entire level again? Even with shortcuts it got really annoying in certain regions. Speaking of which, the second half of the game feels rushed and even lazy sometimes. I can't believe they actually made an area where you're required to run across invisible pathways to reach the boss. That shit should only be used for optional side stuff, and even then I don't like it. It's completely immersion breaking because it feels like a programmer trick. I also wasn't fond of how many narrow walkways there were, usually with enemies trying to knock you off. These were the only deaths that really felt cheap to me. That's a lot of complaints, I know, but the rest of the gameplay made up for it. I liked trying out different builds and weapons for different situations, and I enjoyed finding ways to take down bosses several times bigger and stronger than myself. There's a really good foundation here that just needs a little extra polish, so I hope the later entries in the series show some growth.

That is cheap as hell but I might go back and do that just because it's hilarious.

Yeah I definitely feel like the first half is a lot better than the second. You're right about Bed of Chaos. That boss was an absolute train wreck. Demon Ruins, Crystal Caves, Lost Izalith, I didn't really enjoy going through any of those places. I'm hoping the DLC areas are better, although I find it kind of dumb that they hid their own additional paid content behind an NPC I probably never would have found if I didn't look up how to get to her. I know the internet means you can never really get truly stuck in this game, and maybe the developers even intended to make it this way to encourage a community, but I don't really like having to stop to Google things. I'm kinda surprised you never played Bloodborne since you clearly love these games. Unless you just don't have a PS4, anyway. If you ever get the opportunity I'd definitely recommend it.

So how is Dark Souls 3 compared to 1? I'll probably wrap up the remaster in the next couple days and my feelings are kind of mixed. I don't hate it anymore, but I don't particularly love it either. Some of the areas and bosses are great and a lot of fun to explore, but then there are other areas and bosses that are just terrible. In fact, one boss in particular that I just finished with might be one of the worst boss fights I've ever played in a game. It's hard to ignore that some parts of this game feel really clunky and not very well thought out. Which, yeah, it's the first Dark Souls so I get they were still figuring things out, but I just wonder if DS3 is a smoother, more polished game by comparison due to From's years of experience making the series. DS1 feels like a good game that had the potential to be a great game with a little more work. I'm not even going to bother with DS2 because everything I read about it makes it sound like a hot mess that I want no part of.

I mean, I did summon Solaire but why wouldn't I do that if he's available. I also summon other players when I see them because I like playing co-op. I'm not looking to prove anything by restricting myself here. Like you said, I got through Sekiro so it's not like anyone can call me a filthy casual. Even then, I've only had the opportunity to summon other players a few times. I guess the first game is past its peak of popularity or something. Also I did take the master key because it sounded the most useful. Guess that was a mistake.

Blighttown is the only area that's given me a lot of trouble so I'm getting through the rest of it at a pretty good pace so far. I'm also using a guide to make sure I don't go to areas that are too far above my level because fuck that noise.

Make Pokemon Snap for the camera and I'll buy it.

You can repair weapons at bonfires, but only if you buy that repair kit first to unlock the functionality. Since I never came across that kit, I had to backtrack a hell of a long way to get it once I needed it. So far that has been by far my worst experience playing this game. I was dreading that dual boss everyone says is the hardest in the game but I ended up beating them on my first try. At least where combat is concerned, this game is a breeze compared to Sekiro. The vast majority of my deaths have been due to falling, which is far more frustrating than getting killed by an enemy.

So I decided to give Dark Souls another chance and I've played long enough now to form an impression. It's alright. Mostly. When the game is progressing at a decent pace it's relatively fun. The combat in this is still my least favorite out of the Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro group, but it's serviceable. However, while I can appreciate that they wanted to give you as much freedom as possible with minimal interruption, there are some things they really needed to convey to the player that they just don't. I found a pretty good sword and made it all the way to Blighttown with it when it lost its durability. I had another sword with a decent enough attack value, and yet it was doing next to no damage. Turns out, the weapon's attack value on its own means very little. You have to take modifier values from your STR/DEX stats into account, as well as blacksmith upgrades, of which I had zero because I had never needed it until now. I couldn't repair the sword that I was using either because to do so you need to either go all the way to a blacksmith, which are spread out REALLY far, or you have to own a repair kit that you buy from a merchant in one of the early areas. Obviously, the game doesn't tell you about this repair kit. I didn't notice it before and had to look it up online to find out it was even a thing. Mind you, by the time I found out about it I was stuck in the fucking Blighttown swamp with no weapons worth a damn, no fast travel, and a hell of a long way to walk to get that kit. I almost rage quit the whole game right there, but I held it together, went all the way out of Blighttown (again, with no viable weapons), and back to one of the first areas of the game to buy that kit. Then I had to go back through Blighttown again to get back to where I was when all this shit went down. It took two hours to do this when you factor in all the times I died attempting it, and none of that time was fun. I'm willing to overlook it this time but if the game pulls another nasty surprise like this on me then I'm going to be very tempted to drop it. I'm fine with the enemies and bosses being hard, but inconvenience and tedium shouldn't be part of why the game is challenging. Also, Blighttown can suck my nuts. Putting that many narrow walkways and instant death pitfalls in a game that barely even has a jump button is horseshit. I always hate it when games without platforming controls insist on putting in platformer sections.

Samurai Shodown

It occurs to me that barring any delays, we have four samurai games coming out this year from four different publishers. I'll probably play them all, too.