• ProgAimerGirl [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      i heard there’s gonna be seven more poison swamps than there are distinct areas in the game. the tutorial will be in the hardest most instagib poisonous swamp in the game. it’ll teach you how to parry by making you fight a slime that looks like a bubble of spit and disintegrates your character model if it touches you. then it’ll make you fight a three foot tall puke green tree that instagibs you but that you will fight periodically with little difficulty later in the game. then you’ll wake up in a different poison swamp but missing an arm (you get the arm back by resting at a campfire)

  • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    I mean sometimes you strike gold with setting and themes. I’ve played all STALKER games, both Metro games and am currently playing the Metro: Exodus and I’d play 20 more of them

      • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        4 months ago

        Oh, true. My PC is too shit for Into the Radius 1 or 2 in VR though. Kind of looking forward to Road to Vostok after that demo rn, warily being optimistic about STALKER 2.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          Yeah. I hope prices come down on vr. It has the potential to become a legitimately transformative technology in teaching, communications, therapy, desig, engineering, it can do so many things, but it has to be something normal people can afford and it ain’t there yet.

    • Paulie [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      4 months ago

      young-sheldon wrong.

      Actually, although Sekiro takes place in the Sengoku era which is just 50 years after medieval times, the Armored knight boss is wearing armor that comes from Europe tying in the medieval themes. Also inspired by Berserk with the inclusion of Wolf’s prosthetic arm which can be fitted with variations of the weaponry added to Guts’ prosthetic such as, the fire cracker (bomb), the canon, shiruken (arrows). Notably the themes of Berserk although subtle still persist as Guts and Wolf share the same goal, to save their loved ones after having been defeated in an arduous battle. Sekiro is technically a “nobody” only because of his title of Shinobi where he is essentially an assassin whose presence is mostly obscured by the enemy. Whilst Sekiro inverts the typical souls narrative of reclaiming the position in power in a “dying world” the end of Ashina, his main priority is to sever the ties of mortality and thus aids Kuro throughout the game in order to fulfill the request. One of the endings does revolve around fire after Sekiro becomes Shura and is engulfed in flame. The final boss of both Shura and Severance endings are husks of their former selves. Shura Isshin is at his lowest power level and near death, Sword Saint Isshin is the version of him after having succeeded in his Coup although badly injured after having lost vision in one eye and other bodily injuries that wouldn’t deem him in his prime.

      But yes it is the best Fromsoft game

        • Paulie [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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          4 months ago

          Headcanon that Sekiro and Issihin were lovers (hence the long dialogues reminiscing over Sake), Isshin’s disguise as Tengu in order to conceal the fact Isshin couldn’t be seen with Sekiro as lovers (shirtless of course). Which makes the final battle even harder because the words “hesitation is defeat” is exactly what Isshin had told Wolf over drinks when Isshin was confessing his love for him. Hesitation to find love within Isshin, to stop the killing and to prevent shura.

          Even under the golden sun, in Buddhism gold represents enlightenment, love, and purity, the clouds obscuring those parts of gold represent Sekiro’s demise and fall to Shura, but they also could be a metaphor for Wolf’s hesitation to actually love Isshin fully. He had to kill Emma because it was his way of fully abandoning that relationship with Isshin, his trust, his love gone but in the end Isshin says “I couldn’t bring myself to hate you”

          • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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            4 months ago

            I meeeaaan, Isshin was very close to Sekijo/Monkey/the Sculptor, just swap him for sekiro in your theory and it’s pretty much canon already. We know Isshin adopted Genichiro and afaik we don’t see any het partner implied for Isshin sooooooo…

            It also already works with Isshin having to sacrifice & save Sekijo from Shura and abandon that relationship for his dreams of ruling the land - he chose his ambition and now in his old age reminisces about such things as, in the moment, hesitation is defeat. We already see the events of Sekijo’s life repeated in Sekiro’s, and he is very much a thematic mirror of the older shinobi.

  • SacredExcrement [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Gotta be honest, I do not care half an iota about the story in these

    The story is always fairly intricate, the world is always beautifully strange, and the environmental storytelling is great

    But I’m not reading a bunch of wiki articles to piece it all together, nor am I watching some self indulgent youtuber have a 3 hour theory session

    I’m here to have a pleasant journey thru said world, marked by a bunch of satisfying fights with bosses the size of a house, not trying to wax poetic about the sad, 250 year backstory of said bosses

    • Parzivus [any]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      It doesn’t help that they cut a lot of content for seemingly very little reason. There’s a whole voice acted questing for one of the merchant guys that explains most of the madness stuff and it’s just sitting unused in the files.
      I did like the DLC better in that regard, though. The shaman village was pretty poignant.

        • Parzivus [any]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          Even then, adding it in an update or the DLC would’ve been nice. It seems like it was far enough along that it wouldn’t have been a tremendous amount of work, but I guess only the people at FS would really know if that was the case.

          • Paulie [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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            4 months ago

            I was disappointed they added nothing to base game like not even 6 player support or the datamined covenants nor the cut quests, it would’ve been cool to hear some dialogue in base game or meet base game NPCs with new dialogue + restoring cut quests but they clearly just focused on the expansion and that alone. It almost feels alien how nobody acknowledges the shadow world even though it’s such an important part in the story

            • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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              4 months ago

              Yeah, as much as I love the game and the DLC, they really should’ve added something to the base game

              I really wish they would’ve done what they did with the DS2 DLCs where even if you didn’t own the DLC you could put your summon sign down in the right place and get summoned into the start of the DLC

  • TechnoUnionTypeBeat [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    With how blisteringly fast and inaccessible the reactions needed for these games are, I can’t wait to see the next one come out where you need literally microsecond accurate dodging on the right frames to beat the first boss

    (I do love Soulsborne games but as someone with coordination and reaction issues, nothing since Dark Souls 2 has been remotely playable for me)

    • Dickey_Butts [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      Elden Ring is for you. Just don’t listen to what gamers say about how to play. Use every tool they give you and don’t be afraid to experiment. Jumping attacks are very powerful and they greatly lessen the need for perfect rolling. Once I got the hang of how the new stats work n junk my build got so strong so fast I just stunlock everything. Magic, ranged, summons, poisons, bleed, freeze, sleep, kiting, knocking things off cliffs - all perfectly valid. It is definitely the best one since DS1.

      • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        4 months ago

        The piss babies that whine about others playing Elden Ring wrong are honestly the worst part of the community. Elden Ring has been beaten by someone using a DDR floor pad, let’s not act like there’s any value or pride to be had in choosing to not use summons.

        • Gorb [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          This goes for all of the games. The definition of “cheese” no longer means beating a boss through a glitch or exploit it now means beating a boss with non reddit approved mechanics.

          I still throw dung over the capra demon boss wall cos fuck that dude.

          I had a friend who refused to use summons and said he had to beat every boss “properly”. He then quit the game while I finished it and had fun doing so.

          I don’t really get what the sense of pride is for. Nobody is watching you play how you like

          • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            4 months ago

            If the game gives you summons and also beefs up the bosses and makes them way more aggro with longer combos than any game before, presumably it’s because the devs balanced those fights around using summons but idk it’s not like Miyazaki did an interview where he said he uses every item and summon he has access to

            • Gorb [they/them]@hexbear.net
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              4 months ago

              I’ve already made a post to this effect. The tools given in the game are more powerful than any prior its definitely intended amd balanced around using them.

              Games that have a specific method of play are made with that intention aka bloodborne and sekiro otherwise souls is use mechanics until win.

          • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            4 months ago

            The only legit run is played at RL1 as wretch with no fast travel and no graces and no potions and no items and no summons and if you crack a smile or enjoy yourself at all you have to restart

      • TechnoUnionTypeBeat [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        4 months ago

        I do play Elden Ring but most of the time I’m getting carried through bosses by player summons, there’s very few I can even keep up with even with NPC summons

        Great game but it is an uphill battle, and there’s no way I’m going after Malenia

        • Dickey_Butts [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          4 months ago

          Def try one of the OP builds. I lucked into my jumping attack build just by noticing I could stun stuff that way and it makes the majority of bosses completely trivial. There are also some like greatshield and health regen builds that make you almost invincible. I think next run I’m going to go full fatroll tank the whole playthrough.

    • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      Play a blocker-poker in Elden Ring. Dodging is barely thing you just stand there with your shield and block and poke all but the most biggest and telegraphed attacks. Super fun and also doesn’t require much reaction time since the only things you must dodge are the huge telegraphed attacks. Big shield big poking weapon. It’s ezpz and still lots of fun.

    • Gorb [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      Might i suggest the fingerprint shield and pokey stick?. Its a tried and true method in every souls game to basically never need to dodge. Its how I beat the final boss in the elden ring DLC and was really easy and required only dodging 1 move the rest being blockable.

      Although I do miss the ol Havels armour and face tank everything strategy from DS1. Manus vs standing still and swinging black knight greatsword