Last Game you have played...
- Thread starter Zoombie
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Well Hello Neighbor 2 is broken ATM. It's glitchy to the point it's unplayable. My son and I were playing it together for the first couple days and he was loving it, then we ran into a glitch where if you get caught sometimes your stuff disappears from your inventory and you can't get it back. It's happened two times, forcing us to start over. So my son got frustrated and said he's not going to even bother playing until they patch it. He says it was the same with Five Nights at Freddy's, and this is the same company that made that game. Eventually they fixed it. It's just annoying because now I have a $40 game just sitting here that nobody wants to play.
I've been playing Dark Souls 3 (not having played 1 and 2; they looked a bit dated) and Lost Judgment (a Ryuu ga Gotoku game). Ds3 is dripping with atmosphere, though the lack of being outright told the story and lore isn't my favorite method of storytelling. I beat Pontiff Sulyvahn, one of the bosses, and oh man it was satisfying.
Lost Judgment deals with bullying; specifically in Japan. Of course it all spirals into a bigger conspiracy (what RGG game doesn't?) but I'm loving it: sub-stories, combat, mini-games and themes. Are vigilante bully-hunters justified, moreso when the bullies are unrepentant and innocents are caught in the crossfire? Is the law flawed when they cannot punish minors for bullying-pushed suicide?
Lost Judgment deals with bullying; specifically in Japan. Of course it all spirals into a bigger conspiracy (what RGG game doesn't?) but I'm loving it: sub-stories, combat, mini-games and themes. Are vigilante bully-hunters justified, moreso when the bullies are unrepentant and innocents are caught in the crossfire? Is the law flawed when they cannot punish minors for bullying-pushed suicide?
Oh, Pontiff Sulyvahn is an incredible fight. Though I swear he must be wearing heelies or something, with how he can zip across the room to punish you for trying to heal (look at his legs and tell me they actually move).
I played and loved Dark Souls 1 and 2 back in the day...but then I went and got used to faster soulslikes, like Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and Nioh. Now, going back to Dark Souls 1 in particular just feels unbearably clunky, like trying to fight and dodge and generally save (???) the world with my feet stuck in buckets of half-set cement.
I beat DS3 two days ago with a pure STR build, now trying to rush my way to the Cathedral and respec into a DEX/FAI weapon buffing build. Parrying and riposteing Pontiff felt so satisfying. Coming from Sekiro and being a 'go from A to B in a straight line' kind of guy, the NPCs in this game were far harder to find (didn't even know Sirris, Yuria, Orbeck and Cornyx existed until I looked them up), and I was shocked that Soul of Cinder was not parryable despite being humanoid.
I can definitely see how coming from Sekiro might inspire a very different playstyle. Personally, I had trouble with Sekiro, because I played all three Dark Souls games and Bloodborne first and became very comfortable with dodging as a sole defensive strategy. Being forced to stand my ground and parry took a lot of getting used to.
(And the NPCs and associated questlines in Fromsoft's games do tend to be frustratingly obscure. It's easy to miss or accidentally sabotage them unless you're playing with a walkthrough open in another window.)
I liked it in Sekiro when the game told me what couldn't be parried with a flashing kanji, as opposed to foes like Soul of Cinder not being parryable despite being a humanoid. Literally had to look it up beforehand cuz this game makes me anxious as to what can and can't be parried.
Also, yes, my second playthrough I now use a walkthrough guide so as to miss nothing (though I didn't know that buying dark miracles from the blind nun locks her out of being a fire keeper. Sigh).
Also, on another note, I've dropped Bloodborne a long time ago because I wasn't good enough to deserve to continue playing. Beat Cleric Beast and Father G, but I don't know, I played like a coward and turtled when the going got tough, at odds with the Regain mechanic. Watching Jacksepticeye, a megafan, play it is putting ideas in my head to pick it up again, but I don't think I'm good enough. And even if I am, there will always be someone better.
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I'll admit, this really doesn't make sense to me. Not meaning to disrespect your feelings at all, but is the point of playing these games to be the best that ever was? In that case, only one person, or at most a tiny handful of people, would be worthy of them. The point, to me, is just to experience these worlds and challenges for yourself, and find your own ways of overcoming them, and enjoy the sense of triumph that comes with that.
On a more technical/playstyle level, I know that, when I first played Dark Souls 1, I was all about turtling and creeping around corners with my shield up. When I ditched it in later playthroughs, I felt naked at first, but as I grew more used to it, there was such a greater sense of mobility and freedom. Greater risk, yes - I could hang back to learn a boss's patterns, but sooner or later, I was going to have to throw myself into that dance and start dodging. But it also felt so much more dynamic and graceful and aggressive. I don't know if this is what you're doing with your DEX/FAI build, but might playing without a shield in something like Dark Souls 3 help you practise for the generally more aggressive combat of Bloodborne?
Oh, I've stopped using a shield since my first STR run since it's useless outside of parrying Pontiff and maybe blocking during the second half of Dragonslayer Armor fight (that shield bash comes out fast). Two-hand Ultra Greatsword for that extra damage. In my DEX/FAI build, I use Uchigatana so I can buff with Dark Blade, then two-hand, go into hold stance and parry. It's been a blast, might go get Black Blade katana and go all-in on this build.
Oh, this is one of my hang-ups I admit is very irrational. It's hard to explain since this is due to self-esteem issues. Even when beating Father G, I felt I didn't deserve to continue playing since 1) I played so badly, and 2) my play style when panicked (backwards rolling in a Soulsborne game, heurgh) is at odds with BB wanting you to throw yourself into the fight. Best I can describe it is not so much cowardice (though the cynical me is not opposed to being called such) as it is overcautiousness which I never experienced in Sekiro. I don't know why I feel so scared playing Bloodborne, which makes me so cautious which is not how Bloodborne is meant to be played.
Besides, I'm not a good player, and even if I were, anyone else could do it given enough time, so whatever I accomplished wasn't even that special anyway.
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