general gaming

[bronze abyss]

console only im guessing

[little badger]

Yeah they usually release the PC version 1-2 years after the Console version.

[hushed onyx]

I really want to play Rimworld but I also really want to play Equestria at War

[green fulcrum]

We got GTA 6 before Half Life 3.

[river veldt]

Tyler McVicker, a reliable Valve leaker, has actually been talking about HLX for a long time, and recently said that it's apparently being playtested religiously

[sacred grove]

There's a reasonable chance that the next Half-Life game will be announced this year. Not released, but announced

[river veldt]

ye

[cunning galleon]

race car

[austere moss]

half life 3 coming tomorrow be ready

gaben told me

[sacred grove]

DeltaruneHL3 tomorrow

[austere moss]

LMAO

it's all coming together

[quiet swift]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A2Z6aeEQmgE

[gaunt marten]

https://youtu.be/r3YLcV33i80

Really really longathon is going on. This is one of the shorter games of the event with 3.5 hours

[wind stump]

lol

[quiet swift]

Interesting. Theres a game studio in LA and I signed up (and qualified) for testing it. Project Tundra. Might be an action/rpg from what the questions were asking

[random steppe]

Ok, I finished Expedition 33
They stuck the landing so hilariously hard.
I was a bit worried because it is an easy ending to fuck up, with the way they get to it, but no, it's exceptional from start to finish

[quiet swift]

Still struggling with timing parries and dodges

[fickle garnet]

Same

The system is fun tho

[arctic fern]

frostpunk 2 has a beta out of their new systems, so im a play an endless mode on stream because why not

[random steppe]

The parry timing is really hard, one thing that helped me, is that a lot of moves have visual or sound cues you can use to time the button presses to, once you see them

For the critical path (story specifically) parries are also pretty optional (even though they are pretty badass)

And dodges are easier

They become mandatory if you want to take on certain optional enemies or kill stuff you are severely underleveled for

[wind stump]

the children

they yearn for the mines

[quiet swift]

Oddly enough, I've had easier time with parries than dodges. I did look up some videos/tips and try to hear the queues but it works best for visual ones for me

The early optional spearman guy (who does the occasional double stab) was annoying but eventually got it

[random steppe]

E33 won't get out of my brain anytime soon, I need like, a month to decompress from all of that.

I haven't been this obsessed with a game since Hollow Knight

[quiet swift]

I did unfortunately get spoiled by a comment regarding the end of Ch1 though

[unreal idol]

I've been seeing this game mentioned a lot

[random steppe]

Dude, that's like, not even that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
This story goes fucking far

[quiet swift]

Good good, and yeah, I figure. I think that event is telegraphed from the get go, honestly, so not the biggest spoiler

[unreal idol]

What kinda game is it?

[quiet swift]

Final Fantasy a la western design

[random steppe]

Ok so, Persona Dark Souls made by French people, kinda

[quiet swift]

[random steppe]

And I am half joking

[quiet swift]

Turn based persona dark souls, yeah

[unreal idol]

[random steppe]

Final Fantasy as for story structure

[quiet swift]

[unreal idol]

Interesting

[random steppe]

If you have an hard time with tight timing the easiest difficulty relaxes the timing for the dodges and parries

The story and music alone are super worth it, so if the gameplay sounds frustrating to you I would still consider giving it a go and dropping the difficulty a bit push come to shove

Also tbh, in normal difficulty if you explore a lot you are gonna end up above the difficulty curve pretty fast

[unreal idol]

The only souls-like Ive played is AC6

[random steppe]

Specifically from Souls (well more sekiro to be precise) it takes the fact that when enemies attack you get to either parry or dodge their attack

The combat is classic turn based JRPG but you have this addition that makes the thing a lot more active than your standard Persona or FF

[unreal idol]

Naruhodo

[random steppe]

Also the story isn't quite as long as a Persona or a FF game, which is appreciated on my part.
I always loved those but the time commitment is always a bit too steep

[quiet swift]

Yeah, that mechanic makes it souls-like, but otherwise it feels story/design wise like a Final Fantasy

[random steppe]

I also heard that the New Game + is super fun and makes everything a lot harder, I might actually go for it

[quiet swift]

Also, they were smart and didn't price it high. It's what, 49$ for the full game? and It's on gamepass. They priced it there because they purely wanted more people to play it

[random steppe]

Played it on Game Pass, if they ever come out with a DLC I'll definitely buy it on steam on release of that.

[quiet swift]

I saw an article that supposedly quoted the director saying 'based on this reception, DLC is likely"

[unreal idol]

Sounds neat, I'll look up some gameplay later

[quiet swift]

Make sure to look up trailers or something like spoiler-free early tips. This is a spoiler landmine game

[random steppe]

don't believe that article, the devs said they never said anything of the sort, and they are still essentially reeling from the reaction to the game which they absolutely didn't expect.

[quiet swift]

Fair 'nuff

[random steppe]

Basically the official word of that for now is "We have no idea"

[unreal idol]

What's the name of the game again

[quiet swift]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1903340/

[random steppe]

Honestly I do want a sequel already

[unreal idol]

Thxo

[random steppe]

I would be floored if this doesn't get GOTY in december

[quiet swift]

Fingers crossed!

what else has released so far that would be a contender otherwise?

[random steppe]

Ghost of Yotei or Death Stranding 2 are the two games that might actually stand in the way

[quiet swift]

Ahh, right

[random steppe]

Monster Hunter Wilds was also very well recieved

Silksong

GTA was delayed so that's out of the picture for now

[quiet swift]

Apart from the tech issues, yeah, MH Wilds is the only other big release I can think of that's already out

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/new-games-2025-upcoming-pc-release-schedule/#section-upcoming-pc-games-in-january-2025

[random steppe]

Listen, I'm the biggest HK fan and I can't see myself liking Silksong more than this, they'd have to pull some fucking miracles to make even me change my vote.

But also to be fair, I'm full on in E33 honeymoon phase

just having finished the story

I literally went into this maybe a few weeks after finishing Metaphor and that game is lucky they didn't release at the same time.
For how good Metaphor is, E33 is just better IMO.

[quiet swift]

Okay, other big releases this year:
Jan: Nothing big really? Spiderman 2 on pc but eh, didn't make waves.
Feb: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Civ 7, MH Wild, Avowed, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza
March: Split Fiction? AC: Shadows, Inzoi
April: TLOU 2 remastered I guess? RuneScape: Dragonwilds, Oblivion Remastered, expedition 33

[random steppe]

Oh right, Split Fiction is another one that was definitely super well recieved

And KCD2

[quiet swift]

May will have Doom, Elden Ring Nightrein, Onimusha 2 maybe?

[random steppe]

Doom maybe could compete, I feel light ER Nightrein will not make as much waves

[quiet swift]

So far the list I'd say is MH Wild, Split Fiction, E33

[unreal idol]

Oh so the combat is like SMRPG/Legend of Dragoon

[random steppe]

I can't guess that list this year, it's already to the point that if Death Stranding and Doom are both amazing, there might not even be space for MH, it's a crazy year

[random steppe]

Yes, even tho the attack phase isn't quite as intense as LOD

The intense one is the defending part

I haven't played Super Mario RPG so I can't comment on any similarities for that, but yeah I heard it was also doing something similar

[unreal idol]

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the trailer

||I have no idea what I just watched||

[random steppe]

(there is one fire move that if you fuck it up, you do blow yourself up, but that's only one move, usually you either interrupt the combo or more commonly just do less damage.)

[fresh bane]

I know why people use terms like Persona or FF to refer to games like Expedition 33 but it's just funny to me because from what I've seen of the game it doesn't seem to have any Persona-like gameplay systems and FF hasn't been turn based for a while now

[random steppe]

I mean, the turn based combat is extremely persona

It even has the normal attack / skill / ranged attack that persona games have

[unreal idol]

What's the basic gist of the story?

[random steppe]

The premise is that, ||you start in Lumiere, in the distance there is a monolith with the number 34 on it, every year a huge figure called the Paintress raise, delete the number and write the next one in a countdown fashion on it, and everyone of that age or up just dies.||
||And every year people who are next to die, organise an expedition to try to stop this before the next year comes around||

[gaunt marten]

This stuff is in the trailer so I wouldn't count it as a spoiler

[random steppe]

You are in Expedition 33 because ||it's what's written on the monolith when you sail towards the main land||

Just being extra careful but yeah

And even if you didn't watch the trailer, all of this is clear in like, 2 hours of gameplay tops

[unreal idol]

Interesting

[gaunt marten]

It's one of my pet peeves when someone adds "ress" to a gender neutral word

Fucking hate that part of Crosscode because it sounds wrong every time I read it

[random steppe]

I think it works well in this case

"The Paintress" is a suitably foreboding name for a mysterious antagonist, and also, in French which is the game original language it is gendered, so not doing it would feel less accurate in a localisation sense.

I can live with "The Witcher" which is a much more egregious abuse of the english language

[unreal idol]

That name always sounded goofy to me

[random steppe]

The only reason it's acceptable is that the games are 100 hours each so by the time you are halfway through one, you are pretty much fine with it, or you die

[quiet swift]

https://www.ign.com/articles/conquest-dark-hands-on-preview-vampire-survivors-cosmic-horror-conan-the-barbarian-yes

This one looks fun

[fickle garnet]

The Expedition 33 combat is so fucking good. Might be my favorite combat system in a turn based game like this

[cerulean herald]

I wanna try Metaphor and E33 soon

[random steppe]

Both are exceptional games

E33 I think is the most consistently good of the two, but as I said earlier I'm in the honeymoon phase with that game so I don't know how objective I'm being

Metaphor I liked maybe 80% of the story, but it did drag a bit a few times, and also I think the last stretch is good but not Persona 5 good

Which admittedly, is a high bar to reach

[cerulean herald]

I think I heard about that with Metaphor's ending, it can be tricky to wrap up a story, though it seems like an overall fun game either way from the looks of it

[green fulcrum]

Apparently it was the composer's very first game soundtrack. He was just some random dude they found.

And he just created like 8 hours of purely euphoric orchestral love-making for the ears.

[random steppe]

It's insane I know

The founders of the studio did an interview with Pirate Software recently and it's pretty interesting

They talk about the composer, but also it seems like it was a thing that it happened with a bunch of people they onboarded.
It was covid times, everyone was at home, so they kept sending emails "listen, I'm making a game wanna come on" and everyone was like "fuck it, why not, I'm not doing anything else with my life"

[cerulean herald]

This reminds me of how the Palworld devs just randomly found some dude who did gun animations and hired him to the animating of the games firearms
Apparently the guns in the game are animated very accurate to reflect their irl counterparts

[random steppe]

It's also suprisingly varied as an ost.
Sure the bulk is orchestral, but there is electric guitars, some clearly euro dance influenced tracks, it's really a bunch of stuff

Which I guess, when you make 8 hours of music you probably want to put some variety in the mix

[cerulean herald]

Do you have a favorite(s} from the OST

[random steppe]

I'm still going through the OST to find the titles, since it's so big, but this is definitely one of them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kMbTzomh94

Avoid the comments, spoilers are abound

Actually wait

This is from the actual composer

He should get the views

[gaunt marten]

For the Topic channels, the rights holders get the money but the channel and videos are managed by YouTube automatically

[random steppe]

It's at least well sourced

[fickle garnet]

Expedition 33 is my GOTY so far

It's sooooo good

I'm only on act 1, but I already love it

[random steppe]

Same for me, to be fair though, I didn't play many games that came out this year yet.
More relevant is that this is probably going in my top 10 of all times, unless it's one or those games that I like less the more I think about it

So far it has been the opposite

[green fulcrum]

It is for a loooot of people. If it doesn't at least get nominated this year, I'm calling bullshit.

I could also see Doom: The Dark Ages being nominated too, potentially.

Not sure what else.

[random steppe]

We talked about it earlier.
A few good possibilities are

• MH Wilds
• Ghost of Yotei
• Death Stranding 2
• Kingdom Come 2
• Silksong (assuming)

[green fulcrum]

Oh yeah, Kingdom Come 2 is another good one. Lot of RPGs this year.

[random steppe]

Oh yeah and for completion adding

• Doom Dark ages as you mentioned
• Split Fiction
• Blue Prince was also extremely well recieved

[green fulcrum]

Hell, lot of RPGs this past five years.

[random steppe]

This year has been scary good so far

[slim thorn]

if this keeps up I'm gonna have to gasp play an RPG

[green fulcrum]

A repeat of 2023's Game Awards with so many heavy hitters would be FIRE. 🔥

[green fulcrum]

I can give you a lot of good recommendations if you'd like.

JRPGs and CRPGs.

Mostly turn-based though.

[random steppe]

And let's not forget, Switch 2 is coming and while I don't follow Nintendo stuff, that is gonna make some waves too

[fickle garnet]

Doom will probably top E33, but that just might be personal bias

[green fulcrum]

Well, it isn't out yet. Previews are great, but people need the whole experience first before coming to a conclusion.

[fickle garnet]

I still need to finish BG3

[fickle garnet]

I know. I'm playing it day one

[green fulcrum]

And, well, the conclusion to E33 is that, at the very least, it deserves to be nominated.

[fickle garnet]

Definitely

[green fulcrum]

If not sweep the whole damn show

[fickle garnet]

E33 should win best soundtrack

[gaunt marten]

E33 should have a convention for its fans

[green fulcrum]

Coincidentally, both E33 and BG3 have Jennifer English voicing a main character in them. She's a good luck charm, it seems like.

[gaunt marten]

And other videogames I guess. Let's call it E3 for short

[fresh bane]

I'm gonna settle for probably watching a streamer I keep up with that's playing Expedition 33 and really liking it, I don't know if I have it in me to dedicate a bunch of hours to another RPG when I still haven't even finished 3 rpgs I sort of abandoned since like last year now
But to be fair I have heard that expedition 33 isn't that long anyways, not that it's short but I heard it's a more focused experience than a JRPG that you could be playing for 80 hours

[slim thorn]

I already thought of making that joke, you can't finish the joke before me

[gaunt marten]

Joke???

[slim thorn]

and Nire just accidentally doubles my interest in E33

[green fulcrum]

I'm gonna be sloooooooowly working my way through the mountain of C/JRPGs that I have in my Steam game list.

[random steppe]

E33 has probably at least 3 or 4 awards in the bag

[random steppe]

OST, best RPG, probably best performance to Jennifer English for Maelle

[gaunt marten]

Ohhh

They called it Expedition 33 because that's how many people work in the core studio

[random steppe]

I think that when they picked the title it wasn't the case

But it is now

[green fulcrum]

Oblivion Remastered losing Best RPG to Expedition 33 is gonna hurt Bethesda so bad, especially after being snubbed HARD in 2023 with Starfield.

[gaunt marten]

Fuck reality. My headcanon is way cooler

[slim thorn]

someone brings a plushie into the office just to say it's the 33rd employee

[random steppe]

They have a dog and they count him as an employee

They are way ahead of you

[slim thorn]

is there a dog in the game

[random steppe]

It's a complicated question to answer

Let's say there is a dog in spirit

[green fulcrum]

Also, look wat what I'm dealing with here, lol...

And I have nine more on my wishlist, including Expedition 33.

[slim thorn]

there's a furry joke in here somewhere

[fresh bane]

I'm not gonna say that the remastered isn't cool and deny all the work that went into it but should it really be up there as Best RPG of the year when it's a game that already came out?

[fickle garnet]

These next two months are so exciting for me. This month I get Doom, and next month I get Death Stranding 2

[fresh bane]

I kinda feel like it's more unfair that Oblivion would win over Expedition 33

If *

[slim thorn]

heck yeah, sequels

[random steppe]

I mean let's be honest, they are programmers, if half the team isn't furries I would be surprised

[green fulcrum]

I mean, they changed the rules about Game of the Year solely so that Elden Ring could be nominated a second time, even though it came out several years prior (and won the first time too).

No, the DLC was NOT a separate game, it needs to stop being treated as such. It's the same damn game, just an expansion.

[fickle garnet]

They should change them back

[slim thorn]

some day, it will be possible to have a game awards thingy without immediately devolving into Ship of Theseus debates

[random steppe]

I mean... When you make a DLC that is as long as a game, with plenty original content, it's also kind of weird you gatekeep it from the main ticket only because it is technically not a standalone product

[fresh bane]

Shadow of the Erdtree was kind of an outlier example I think

It really was like Elden Ring 2 in a way

[slim thorn]

but that day was like twenty years ago, and it's gone now

[green fulcrum]

No it's not. It's not a new game. It's new content for a previous game. A previous winner, I might add. Nominating it a second time is an insult to other game devs who have worked hard to create something entirely new.

[random steppe]

I kind of like expansions and they got rarer and rarer Nowdays

[slim thorn]

btw, someone claimed there was a literal rule change to allow this dlc/expansion to be considered a new game; is that true?

[green fulcrum]

They can only nominate a certain amount of titles. Once that limit is reached, that's in. No more contenders. Elden Ring getting a second chance at an award it had already won was a bullshit decision.

[fresh bane]

I do like that people were referring to Shadow of the Erdtree as more of an expansion than DLC I don't know, I liked that

and it kinda was

[green fulcrum]

Yes, it's true. They changed the rule, and then immediately afterwards nominated Elden Ring again. Everyone could smell the money changing hands.

Expansion, DLC, it doesn't matter what it's called, it's attached to a previous game, and thus not a standalone game in its own right. It deserved awards and praise, but it was not a Game of the Year.

[random steppe]

There is something to say hwne you make a profound addition to an existing product that elevates it above and beyond.

• Diablo 2 LOD
• Starcraft : Brood War

If these came out today I would like to see them as contenders for the big prize

It would feel insufficient to gatekeep the incredible job these devs made in elevating the product

[green fulcrum]

I wouldn't, for the same reason. They're good expansions, but they're expansions, not separate. Without the previous game, they wouldn't exist.

[slim thorn]

that last sentence seems like an objection to all sequels/series as well?

[fresh bane]

I'm fine with it, but I think I'd generally agree with you on a general basis, but for Shadow of the Erdtree specifically, I was fine with it

Ultimately I think Metaphor ended up winning best RPG anyways which it totally deserved

[green fulcrum]

No, that's different. A sequel is a separate game. It could theoretically exist without its predecessor, it'd just have a different story. An expansion, however, is intrinsically linked to the game it's attached to. It cannot exist without it. Therefore it's unfair to qualify it as a separate game because it isn't a separate game.

[slim thorn]

from what little I know of SotE, it does feel like they could have released it as a standalone "Elden Ring 2" game, but it's just cooler and more immersive to have an in-game lore-justified warp point to the SotE content inside of the first game?

I mean if we really want to play this game, what do we call sequels that import your save files from the first game

there's fuzzy cases everywhere

[green fulcrum]

If they had released it as a separate game then there would be no debate. But they didn't. They attached it to the first game, and thus it's unfair to call it a separate game, because it isn't.

Because you're not turning on Elden Ring: SotE to play Elden Ring: SotE, you're turning on base game Elden Ring to play it. Do you see the conundrum?

[slim thorn]

google is telling me this was not a rule change, merely a FAQ in the year of SotE to which Game Awards clarified that "Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination."

[green fulcrum]

Except that it wasn't there previously.

People checked

[slim thorn]

if we're gonna keep harping on this then I'm gonna have to ask for a citation

and, like, the content of the change; if it was just a clarification, then there's nothing morally objectionable to clarifying rules in a year where those specific rules suddenly became more important

(separately from the question of what the rules should be)

[fresh bane]

If it had like 2 or 3 more areas then it could've easily have been Elden Ring 2 but ultimately it still kinda sits between DLC and sequel which is why I think calling it an expansion fits so well and why I ultimately am fine with it because I do still believe it was a very unique case

[green fulcrum]

https://www.thegamer.com/the-game-awards-confirms-shadow-of-the-erdtree-eligible-for-goty/

However, it was also noted by Polygon that this clarification was added today, as a trip to The Game Awards website on the Wayback Machine reveals this clarification didn't even exist until recently. That means a lot of video game publications that submitted ballots for potential nominees wouldn't have known whether Shadow of the Erdtree was eligible for the award or not, meaning it's unlikely to show up. It's still possible though.

[slim thorn]

yeah, the more things I check the more it looks like a clarification rather than a change

oh they even allow early access games

[green fulcrum]

Okay, fair enough. If I'm wrong and it's not a rule change but a rule clarification, then I can accept that.

But it's still a scummy move to add the clarification and then announce a previous winner is back in the ring, and if the rule existed before, then it's a scummy rule, as it emphasizes big name brand recognition over game recognition.

[slim thorn]

it feels more likely that there just weren't detailed "rules" about what counts as a "game" until they hit enough years where enough of the big releases were weird ambiguous cases like this that it needed clarification

so moving on from that

as for whether SotE should be involved, whether or not it's eligible in a strictly legal and technical sense

I think that comes down to the basic philosophy of what an awards show is for

and I think it'd be more productive to discuss that directly, since I'm pretty sure actual award shows like Game Awards do not have exactly the same takes that a lot of us do

IME this often ends up being a spectrum between "popularity contest" and "raising awareness of niche media"

and a big reason why I personally have not paid attention to any award shows of any kind for multiple decades is that they basically all skew heavily toward "popularity contest", which I'm just not interested in

I'm not going to call it morally wrong, but I'm not gonna watch it either

[river veldt]

besides Dark Ages and Mario Kart World i can't think of any other games im super excited for 🤔

[green fulcrum]

The Game Awards are, at the end of the day, a business, and they emphasize viewership and profits over actual quality. The host and musicians and viewers and guests and developers may all love games and genuinely enjoy celebrating them, but the actual suits in charge don't really care as long as their profit numbers go up. As far as they're concerned, they can do whatever they like, and we will like it, even if we don't.

[river veldt]

i still need to play Spider-Man 2

[fresh bane]

I guess in that way the game awards successfully managed to replicate the same thing hollywood does with the movie awards

[random steppe]

My main objection is that I really like when devs do expansions that are really worthwhile and feel like a whole new game worth of content, and I don't think the industry is best served by putting incentives against it.

In fact I feel that a lot less games doing real expansions in favour of less ambitious pieces of content is a main part of what went wrong in the industry.

Good dev work is good dev work and it's good when it's recognised

[fresh bane]

I don't think anyone would be against that but correct me if I'm wrong but what other recent examples are there of other games doing what Shadow of the Erdtree did?

[slim thorn]

ironically the Oscars were doing a decent job at highlighting more movies than just the usual blockbusters... but the niche winners were often a huge pain in the ass to actually get a copy of, which was often the only reason I didn't watch them

[river veldt]

i never got into BG3 idk why

[slim thorn]

I mean there's a constant stream of games that release some significant content update post-release, I don't offhand know of one that jumps out as exactly like SotE, but that feels like a weird target when all the most non-ordinary thing about it is how goddamn hyped up everyone was for it

[gaunt marten]

They should have steam for movies

[river veldt]

maybe cause it doesn't run very well on Steam Deck

[green fulcrum]

Good dev work is good dev work and it's good when it's recognised

This we can agree on. 🤝

[fresh bane]

Yeah but ongoing support is different from an expansion that took 2 years to get there, I think they even have a specific category for games with best ongoing support which is precisely games that continue to get content updates and such, pretty sure BG3 won that one

[random steppe]

Well it's unique in recent history in scale and quality of an expansion, that said, the ones I cited earlier, if released today, I feel should get the same treatment (Diablo 2 LOD, and Starcraft Brood War)

[green fulcrum]

Not every RPG is for everyone. Plenty of people didn't get the hype either, it's okay to feel underwhelmed or meh about something.

For me it hit every single button, once it got over its needlessly edgy phase in early access (the characters were wildly different, with almost none of them being good-aligned and almost all of them being evil, selfish assholes).

[river veldt]

i just think i don't like RPGs

[green fulcrum]

And that's okay!

[river veldt]

wait that's bot true New Vegas is one of my favorite games

idk

[fickle garnet]

I really need to finish BG3. I've almost had it for a year and still haven't finished it

[slim thorn]

"RPG" got so diluted and intermingled I think everyone ended up with some variation of either "I don't like RPGs except that one" or "I only particularly like this one subgenre of RPGs"

[random steppe]

I will even add to the list "Xcom 2 :War of the Chosen" as a fully transformative expansion

[gaunt marten]

I don't like RPGs unless they have at least two kinds of RPG in them, like Borderlands

[river veldt]

i wanna play Borderlands 2 someday

[green fulcrum]

I never made it to Act 3, sad to say. I was waiting for it to get more stable, and then I just forgot to continue. I'll be starting it up again eventually, once I get around to it, now that I finally have the space to play it on my computer without worrying about clogging things up too much.

[slim thorn]

as a teenager I thought I was "I only like action RPGs" but as the terms and genres have evolved I've ended up at "I don't like the RPG parts of RPGs except when it's Disco Elysium"

[fickle garnet]

Part of the reason I slowed down with BG3 is because it got really hard in act 3

[green fulcrum]

Is...Borderlands even an RPG?

[river veldt]

ye

[green fulcrum]

TIL

I thought it was just a shooter

[gaunt marten]

It has stats and roles

[river veldt]

i liked what little i played of Disco Elysium i should pick it back up

[slim thorn]

I believe "looter shooter" is the single best genre term for Borderlands, but whether that overlaps with "RPG" is a reasonable debate

[river veldt]

Randy.....

[fickle garnet]

I'm on act 3, and it feels really difficult

[random steppe]

It has a very Wow talent tree

[gaunt marten]

And classes!

[river veldt]

i guess for a long time i hated shooters until i played Doom and Half Life

[fickle garnet]

I got Borderlands 3 free, but idk if I'll play it

[gaunt marten]

My second favorite is the class that's all pony references

[green fulcrum]

I've heard that Act 3 gets wild and is massive.

[river veldt]

is this real

[slim thorn]

honestly this makes me wonder what shooters you played before, since those are such standard recommendations
like, imagine someone saying "I hated RPGs until I played Final Fantasy"

[random steppe]

BG3 didn't feel especially difficult in act 3 to me, but I started being very strong throughout act 2
What Act 3 had on launch as a negative is that it was significantly more buggy than the previous 2 acts, so while before you were trying real hard or mess with the game to see how far you could push it, act 3 doing so resulted in actually breaking the game in unintended ways

[river veldt]

CoD

[random steppe]

As a result it was a lot less fun

[slim thorn]

oooh yeah, if you started during the WW2 surge that would make sense

[river veldt]

no, Black Ops 2

[slim thorn]

oh

[fickle garnet]

I'm not very good at tactical games tbh

[slim thorn]

<insert age jokes>

[river veldt]

to be fair, i have only been a Nintendo guy until very recently

[fickle garnet]

Or strategy

[slim thorn]

but Metroid Prime is a shooter

[river veldt]

i hadnt played it yet !!!!

[green fulcrum]

Yeah, that's par for the course with Larian Studios, unfortunately. The first act of their games is always the most polished due to being extensively playtested by players who can pinpoint with accuracy all the bugs and glitches, and the last one is a broken mess on release. It happened with Divinity Original Sin 2 as well, since that one was early access too.

Luckily they (mostly) fixed everything after a few patches.

[slim thorn]

I'm kidding

"Nintento people" didn't know Metroid existed until Dread came out anyway

[random steppe]

Usually me neither but I played several years of D&D 5e so I am deeply familiar with BG3 system and how to absolutely break it apart

It is the one exception

[gaunt marten]

https://www.lootlemon.com/class/gaige#_415145040050_000000000000_000000000000

[river veldt]

HEY ! i played Metroid 1 for a little bit until i got lost (so about 3 minutes in)

[fickle garnet]

False! I played one of the Metroid games on the Wii

[gaunt marten]

She has three skill trees. Swap between them with the arrows and click on the icons to see names

[river veldt]

holy shit 20% cooler

[slim thorn]

personally I got into Metroid back when the GBA was my first handheld, and I got Fusion and Zero Mission after their rave reviews

which in retrospect is maybe the ideal time since the pre-Fusion Metroids have significantly more stumbling blocks for new players (and for me, reasons to replay the newer games instead)

[river veldt]

do you think it would be sacrilegious for Nintendo to remake Super Metroid

[gaunt marten]

No

[slim thorn]

I don't, but Gamers ™️ would

[gaunt marten]

The original super metroid still exists and still ruins my day

Just yesterday it broke my archipelago game even though I wasn't the one playing it

[fickle garnet]

I'm not really familiar with D&D as a whole, I've played it before, but I'm definitely not good at it

[slim thorn]

to my surprise the archipelago people decided that one was paper mario's fault instead of super metroid's, but either way it's resolved now lol

[river veldt]

i'd love a Super Metroid remake with Dread movement

[gaunt marten]

A super Metroid remake where your power ups and enemies are replaced with Super Mario ones

[river veldt]

maybe the most zoomer thing ive ever said ? idk

[gaunt marten]

Screw attack? No, you're going to bounce on goombas

[slim thorn]

nah, the cliche zoomer thing would be not knowing that Super Metroid exists

[fresh bane]

That's just Metroid 2 Samus Returns

[slim thorn]

or, well, Metroid 1

[river veldt]

the baby

[slim thorn]

I do like how the only consistent story beat in the franchise is "literally any alien is endearing if baby"

this is why we've never seen a baby Space Pirate

[river veldt]

are there any baby X parasites

they're already kind of cute

i wanna eat them

[slim thorn]

at a parasite level I'm not sure there's much distinction between baby and adult

[river veldt]

nintendo please make x parasite gummies

[gaunt marten]

Are there any baby samuses

[slim thorn]

the official manga shows a younger Samus, not baby but I think that's as close as we get

[river veldt]

imagine Samus sending her DNA to one of those dna places that tells you all your heritage

[fresh bane]

They haven't made Metroid Island yet showing her going on adventures as a baby with her Chozo dad

[gaunt marten]

I too have seen this

By Hoshizora Lone

[river veldt]

Spanish ?

[slim thorn]

it gets extra weird when sci-fi allows your DNA composition to change after birth

[fresh bane]

Her VA for Dread is Spaniard

[gaunt marten]

Nikki Garcia

[river veldt]

oh !

anyway the other RPG i like is Pokémon

i tried Persona 5 but stopped after it felt like i was still in tutorial after like, 10 hours ????

[fresh bane]

That's how superheroes are made

[gaunt marten]

Cap

This is Japan

[slim thorn]

see to me this is one of those "is that part of what defines an RPG?" tropes

[fresh bane]

It worked for Spiderman it works for me

[gaunt marten]

Persona 5 has 80 hours of tutorials followed by 30 of gameplay

[random steppe]

To be fair, Atlus is pretty unique for that kind of stuff

[fresh bane]

You should try Shin Megami

[gaunt marten]

Tales of Berseria had 60 hours of tutorial

[fresh bane]

It's like Persona but instead of trying to flirt with your schoolmates you're trying to flirt with the demons

[slim thorn]

I genuinely have no idea if Flitter is joking right now

[random steppe]

Normal Jrpgs without in depth social mechanics don't usually introduce new mechanics for 20% of their length

[gaunt marten]

Not joking

Literally had tutorials for 80% of the game

[slim thorn]

ftr I have watched a full playthrough of Persona 5

so I can personally confirm tutorials are not that large a part of it

[gaunt marten]

#manechat message

Oh yeah I am joking with persona since I didn't play it

[random steppe]

Ok I am not gonna comment on Tales games because I decided the people that play them scare me and every time I tried one was way too weeby for me (which is saying something)

[slim thorn]

and this is what people who like RPGs say about half of the big RPG series

imagine me debating whether to make a 200 hour commitment to a game I'm statistically guaranteed to have mixed feelings about

[gaunt marten]

I prefer games with shorter tutorials like

Sorry I ran out of uses for the name

[river veldt]

gonna be real i only tried Persona 5 because i liked the music and i liked playing as Joker in Smash Bros

[slim thorn]

more seriously, pretty much everything I saw of P5 I liked but also have nothing interesting to say

the weirdest part for me is that because I've been to Tokyo irl, the first act had a lot of "wait, have I been here?" moments

[random steppe]

I like persona games because I care about themes and style a lot, and that alone can keep me going through the tutorials

[gaunt marten]

You would like TWEWY

[slim thorn]

...just because it's set in Tokyo?

[gaunt marten]

No because it cares about themes and styles a lot

[random steppe]

Yeah, I heard good things, but it's on Nintendo hardware and it's probably not worth it to buy it for that alone

[gaunt marten]

It was also on iOS

[fresh bane]

I have an interesting view of Persona because my experience with it was religiously playing P3P back in like 2014 and a little bit of P1P after and then I got stuck on this one table boss in 3 and literally never played it again and have not cared to look into any other Persona games after and managed to completely avoid the entire phenomenon that was and still is P5

[random steppe]

I don't think I would want to play a serious game on phone even if I had an IPhone so that's also a no

[gaunt marten]

It made touchscreen gameplay work

[slim thorn]

I was barely aware of Persona's existence until Tale wanted to replay them, and now I've seen all of 3, 4 and 5

[river veldt]

Persona's velvet room was inspired by the Black Lodge waiting room from Twin Peaks so that's pretty cool

[fickle garnet]

I have no interest in persona tbh

[fresh bane]

I still wanna go back to SMTV because I was genuinely enjoying my time with it, I think I probably like SMT's vibe more than Persona

[slim thorn]

I'm just happy I got The Choice ™️ right in P4

[fresh bane]

I'm perfectly fine with my only knowledge of Persona 4 being this video now until the end of time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQ_6geAKwE

and that one dancing video from that dancing game

[cerulean herald]

I rember when 2snack's fallout video was at the time my only knowledge of fallout

[fresh bane]

I remember when the fallout video was the shiny spanking new video he put out

that was 8 years ago....

[river veldt]

oh shit Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are on sale

tempting

[gaunt marten]

The studio behind them was recently shut down

[river veldt]

no ! D:

how rpg-y are the Kingdom Hearts games

[random steppe]

7 feels right

[slim thorn]

having played basically all of them, I have no idea how to answer that

there's a lot of menuing to manage gear and stuff

[river veldt]

it's not turn based though right ?

[slim thorn]

there's a lot of 100+ hour storytelling with dozens of characters that from the outside looks absurdly convoluted but if you get into it it's unforgettable

[fickle garnet]

All i can think about when someone mentions KH is that clip of goofy getting blown away by the snowstorm

[random steppe]

There is levels, abilities, magic, gear...seems RPG enough

[slim thorn]

correct, Kingdom Hearts has real-time combat

back when KH1 was new we called it an "action RPG"

(I understand that term has changed meaning since then)

[gaunt marten]

Watch a video of it

[fresh bane]

Is it not an action rpg still?

[slim thorn]

I plead the fifth

...which is probably an illegal manuever in this country

[random steppe]

I have no interest in getting back in the saddle with KH, but from a guy I sometimes watch told it, they solved the problem with the story being convoluted by having Goofy bringing up all the backstory you need at any point of the story, which is incredibly funny to me

[river veldt]

i wanna try KH but am a tiny bit intimidated

[slim thorn]

so, KH did earn its reputation for overcomplicating things, but that only becomes a problem after KH2

[fresh bane]

Just play 1

[slim thorn]

so it should not stop you from trying the original KH1 game and seeing if that works for you

[river veldt]

we've talked about it before, but 1.5+2.5 is a good enough place to start, yes ?

[slim thorn]

1.5+2.5 is the ideal place to start

[random steppe]

The funny part is that Donald Duck was the obvious person to be that, because he is a mage in KH, and the obvious pick for loremaster, but no one can tell what the fuck he says so having him explain would defeat the purpose.

[cerulean herald]

how many KH games are there in total?

[fresh bane]

It's only missing stuff that's only important once you finished literally all the other games

[slim thorn]

like any franchise this large, depends how many spinoffs you consider worth counting

[fresh bane]

I would arguably say that original Chain of Memories is better than the remake version they include on all compilations but that's just me

[fresh bane]

too many

[slim thorn]

to me this falls firmly into "please don't scare off the new players"

[river veldt]

idk why i'm intimidated when im a big FNAF guy which has the most insanely convoluted lore ever. maybe because i followed the games as they came out idk

[random steppe]

Is Birth by Sleep in this collection or it's a video presentation like some of the other mobile console games?

[slim thorn]

I guess FNaF is more "arcane" than it is "convoluted"; once the clues are fully decoded the answer's not that hard to follow

[random steppe]

I don't remember

[slim thorn]

1.5+2.5 does contain BbS and it's the actual game (in fact that's how I played BbS)

358/2 Days and Re:coded are the weird mobile spinoffs that get reduced to "cutscene compilations" in the collection, which most people seem to agree was a good thing anyway

[random steppe]

Makes sense

I have fond memories of BBS, it's kind of a badass game at moments

[river veldt]

"358/2 Days" is a crazy title

[slim thorn]

it makes sense in context but it is one of the easiest to make fun of

[fresh bane]

Yeah but with FNAF you go from 1 to 2 to 3 with Kingdom Hearts it's going from 1 to this spin off on a different console that was kinda meant to be a port of the first game but they decided to make it a sequel back to the original console with the second game then going into this 2008 mobile game that people wouldn't have had the chance to even obtain then then going into another different console where the game is actually a prequel to the second game but a sequel to that first sequel/port, you get the point

[slim thorn]

and the collections fix ^that

which is why I went from "played nothing after KH2" to "played basically everything" so fast in the runup to KH3

[fresh bane]

Basically just play the first game it's gonna be fine if you don't like KH1 you're probably not gonna like the rest of the franchise

[slim thorn]

I feel the need to remind Cap that you don't have to worry about anything outside of KH1 until you've already finished KH1 and decided you want more lol

[fresh bane]

Honestly that's a golden rule for any franchise ever the same with games like MGS, just play the first one, go from there

[slim thorn]

well, for Metroid I'd recommend a later starting point

but yeah with KH, KH1 is the only sane place to start

[fresh bane]

I'd still recommend the first game for Metroid just the objectively better remake version

Same for RE1 I guess

[slim thorn]

yeah, Zero Mission would be a contender for me

[random steppe]

Actually to be fair, in JRPG games having to play them sequentially seem to be rarer than in other genres

[fresh bane]

Although RE1 is now easily accessible on PC too thanks to GOG so hey

Kingdom Hearts is another interesting franchise to me because on the lead up to KH3 I was like yeah this seems interesting enough I'll play through the entire franchise why not and I played through KH1, Chain of Memories and KH2 and after finishing 2 which was a perfect experience I just went ''yeah I'm good''

and I have been good since and I'm perfectly OK with that

[slim thorn]

can't argue with that

[random steppe]

I did play BBS on top of it but I am also not super interested in seeing more

[slim thorn]

I took the multi-decade break after 2 as well

[river veldt]

was KH3 good

[slim thorn]

oh I loved it

I'm sure objective analysis would tell me some part of it was factually terrible but I don't care it was everything I wanted in a 3rd proper KH

[random steppe]

I think the consensus was that it was super convoluted and impossible to understand unless you are deep in it, but also, KH fans are all deep in it, so it doesn't matter.

[slim thorn]

the only real problem is the franchise took way too long to get from KH2 to KH3

which the collections help, but it is still too long overall

[fresh bane]

I did watch BBS after 2, but after that I was fine with not playing Dream Drop Distance and it was around the time I started developing these mixed feelings of ''oh this is getting ridiculous now'' and completely lost interest in keeping up with the franchise after

[slim thorn]

DDD is the one that really went off the rails with overcomplicating things

[fresh bane]

I know a lot of people embrace that and really really like that about KH, I kinda bounced off of it completely and in my head I was like yeah KH2 seems like a good point to end it and that's good enough for me

[river veldt]

when will Gravity Falls be in Kingdom Hearts

[slim thorn]

lol

[random steppe]

DId they put Star Wars in yet?

That would unironically go pretty hard

[river veldt]

does that count ? cause all the Disney stuff so far has just been Disney right ?

dont listen to me

i forgor about Pixar

[random steppe]

Make a Lightsaber Keyblade

[slim thorn]

I couldn't tell you the exhaustive list

but there was no Star Wars in what I've played

[river veldt]

that would be cool

[fresh bane]

https://tenor.com/view/dark-side-sora-kingdom-hearts-gif-7523762

[slim thorn]

in the context of all the other magical nonsense going on in KH, "lightsaber" is not actually that special

and yeah Xemnas did it first

[river veldt]

omg Frozen is in the third one

[gaunt marten]

I definitely don't appreciate it when Piglet and Sephiroth fight

[river veldt]

is this real

[slim thorn]

KH2 in general might've been my chuunibyou peak. I can recognize how dumb parts of it are now but at the time I was 100% on board with every moment of it.

[gaunt marten]

You'll have to play to see it for yourself

[river veldt]

"chunbibyou"?

[slim thorn]

oh crap this isn't #1019691076497444975

[random steppe]

I didn't play the recent title so I don't know, but both Piglet and Sephiroth are canon to that universe, so it could happen

[slim thorn]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūnibyō

you might say it's a very specific kind of cringe

[fresh bane]

I don't even wanna say exactly what it was knowing someone is present in chat who might be interested in playing the games but I'm just gonna say that I still fondly remember getting really excited during that pretty little fireworks show at the end of 2 and I know it's still one of the most iconic little sequences of the franchise

[gaunt marten]

Oh I'm not even the first person to make the joke
https://old.rxddit.com/r/TwoBestFriendsPlay/comments/a12djw/there_are_two_things_that_the_kingdom_hearts/ean9gum/

[fresh bane]

It's one of those kick up your feet and loudly go ''OOH!!'' type of moments

[river veldt]

POOH BEAR NOOOO

[slim thorn]

tbf there's less of these silly crossovers in canon than you might expect because most of the "worlds" keep to themselves until a hero or villain barges in

[fresh bane]

I like that there's one FF character in Kingdom Hearts whose name is completely different in KH vs what FF fans call him

[slim thorn]

especially in the early games, some of Mickey's scenes probably have the strongest element of "there's no way that's canon" "it's literally canon" because his full role is intentionally obscure for a while

[fresh bane]

So you can tell who is a fan of KH or FF depending on how they say his name

[random steppe]

Oh, the Squall/Leon situation, I see

[slim thorn]

I don't even know who Nire's referring to, but I've "only" played two FFs

[river veldt]

isn't Cloud in KH

[slim thorn]

he's in KH1

[cerulean herald]

iirc KH is sorta? a Final Fantasy spinoff?

[slim thorn]

eeeeeeh

no

[fresh bane]

Cloud is in all the KH games I played and enjoyed

[slim thorn]

I'm going with no

there are FF characters in KH, but there's also characters from dozens of Disney franchises, often with a roughly equal role

[river veldt]

that's cool

[fresh bane]

It is Squall/Leon, it's funny because his name is Squall Leonhart and they just kinda took his last name and shortened it and went with that for some reason

[slim thorn]

and KH's own main plot is a wholly independent and original thing

[river veldt]

im trying to think of my favorite Disney stuff i would want in a KH game

Fantasia ???

[slim thorn]

I'm still surprised we got Tron in KH

there are Fantasia parts in the KHs

[random steppe]

The thing that works, is that Squall is enough of a dork to actually use a pseudonym when in another parallel dimension

[cerulean herald]

when did the last KH game come out

[slim thorn]

speaking of chuunibyou

KH3 was 2019

[river veldt]

we got a KH4 teaser recently

and Sora looked real

[fresh bane]

Kingdom Hearts isn't literally a Final Fantasy spin off, like it's not part of the Final Fantasy series, but I do kinda think of KH characters as Final Fantasy esque characters, spiritually

[slim thorn]

I'm aware

[fresh bane]

I am not a fan of real Sora

but I'm on the minority there I guess

[slim thorn]

come to think of it I never beat any of the optional superbosses in the KH games

(partially because most of them were added in the Final Mix versions that came out after I played them)

I have no strong feelings about "real Sora"

[random steppe]

I did beat everything there was to beat on the PS2 version of the games

So not Final Mix

[slim thorn]

I've seen far too many trailers and previews that had absolutely nothing to do with the real game to have any feelings whatsoever until there's a new game

[fresh bane]

I never went any further than the main story progress in most KH games I played

But that's because I played them back to back

[random steppe]

The Sephiroth fights were pretty incredible at the time

[slim thorn]

I remember them being hyped up at the time

[fresh bane]

So 1+2 was like 80 hours in total and then Chain of Memories is like, 20 hours

[slim thorn]

I did briefly attempt them and quickly went "lol nope"

[fresh bane]

I didn't want to bring up Sephiroth just because I don't wanna spoil too much knowing there's someone in chat who wants to play the games but that's another thing I never bothered to do

I think I only did the colisseum thing a couple of times

[slim thorn]

I did complete most other stuff, including the KH1 colisseum

[random steppe]

They weren't that bad if you abused invulnerability frames of certain abilities, but also it was a time before youtube was as big as it is now, and info wasn't so readly available that you could easly look up an easy strat and build

[slim thorn]

tbh there's not that much to do beyond the main story and the world stories, I only remember skipping the superbosses

[fresh bane]

The one thing I was really into for KH2 was the gummi ship

[slim thorn]

I think KH1 even forces you to be aware of the Hundred Acre Wood? that feels like the "most missable" chunk

[river veldt]

does it explain how Sephiroth is alive even though i defeated him in FFVII

[fresh bane]

I remember finishing KH 1 and having so many complaints about some things like the combat and the ship sections and some story stuff and then when I got to KH2 literally every single one of those complaints I had was adressed and being just completely delighted

[random steppe]

Same logic as to why you are replaying the beats of the disney stories

[fresh bane]

Not really Final Fantasy characters just show up

You only really get any significant context for Disney worlds and characters

Those are the ones where you actually interact with those characters in certain points of the stories and you get to see some events play out and all that, but Final Fantasy characters are always just kind of hanging out or passing by

[river veldt]

o

[slim thorn]

this is part of why KH is not a spinoff or sequel or whatever to any of the other franchises

the events of those other franchises are mere inspiration, all of them replaced by new KH-specific lore whenever it's convenient for KH

[fresh bane]

I think the only semblance of a continuity there is is some characters like Cloud and Tifa changing appearances from 1 to 2 but I think that's just because Advent Children had just come out at the time so they probably wanted the current version of the characters to be in their game

[slim thorn]

to be clear, there's all the usual continuity within KH

[fresh bane]

I kinda always found the Kingdom Hearts original characters to be the Final Fantasy characters in the franchise, with some actual FF characters sprinkled around for extra flavor
like Sora is a Final Fantasy protagonist, but not literally, because it's not Final Fantasy

[slim thorn]

the main story definitely has a lot of JRPG tropes

[river veldt]

he's a Jarth

[slim thorn]

I could say more but then we'd just be spoiling Cap

[fresh bane]

Yeah I don't wanna spoil that moment where Mickey and Sephiroth team up to defeat the final boss

I realize now after I sent that message that that sentence COULD be true

[slim thorn]

Poe's Law is in full effect with this franchise

[river veldt]

can i post a twitter screenshot it's relevant i swear

[fresh bane]

Only if it's really funny otherwise you'll be banished into a random disney world

[slim thorn]

but specifically ||Monstro||

[slim thorn]

this feels weird now that I'm playing one of the Fire Emblems with an actual Marth in it

[fresh bane]

Sora would be a Jarth ,except for the fact that unlike Cloud he's not a brooding serious anime boy, he's just your average airhead, kind, and loveable cheerful shonen protagonist

[river veldt]

he does have a Jarthblade

[slim thorn]

jokes about how cliche FF7 Cloud is are extra funny when you get the historical context that him being a broody aloof jerk ||and not the chosen one|| was a massive subversion at the time

[river veldt]

i love you FF7

[fresh bane]

Yeah but I came to exist way after FF7 and started even getting into anime way later

I was negative six years old when FF7 came out

[slim thorn]

I feel like a similar thing happened with Evangelion and Madoka

[fresh bane]

I vaguely know what you're referring to with that but unfortunately I never got into either of those genres to really be super knowledgeable about it

[slim thorn]

I'm not huge into either, but enough to have some impression of what "normal" was being darkened and grittified

[river veldt]

i should watch Evangelion some day

[fresh bane]

My favourite little factoid that might be related to that is how so many popular anime franchises were in some way shape or form directly or indirectly inspired by Devilman

[slim thorn]

I recommend the Rebuild movies for a first Evangelion experience

[fresh bane]

and if not, then they were inspired by a work that was directly inspired by Devilman

Knowing that especially in Japan Evangelion is still massively popular is pretty crazy

and I don't mean ''oh yeah the people who watched it still like it'' kind of way, I mean it's still really popular

[slim thorn]

I don't think I fully internalized it until I saw some completely unrelated JP media refer to "NERV" as if that's just a name anyone would recognize

[river veldt]

oh ?

[slim thorn]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebuild_of_Evangelion

compared to "original" Eva, this is shorter, has a way higher budget, and is arguably less confusing (lol), but also changes a lot of things so it doesn't spoil the original if you finish these and decide you want more

[river veldt]

interesting

[slim thorn]

also I like Mari

[robust latch]

yeah the rebuild version is quite nice and sooo much prettier

[river veldt]

ah dang it Netflix only has the original series and movies

[slim thorn]

awkward

[robust latch]

guess its 🏴‍☠️ time

[slim thorn]

(on the off chance you do decide to watch the original series first, I'll just tell you now that it's important to watch the End of Evangelion movie after finishing the series)

[fresh bane]

I like how this is just Kingdom Hearts too in terms of how to get into it

[river veldt]

noted

[cerulean herald]

is it just the 4 films, or is there more to this reboot

[slim thorn]

just the 4 films

[river veldt]

what about the other movie here

[slim thorn]

the simplicity is part of the appeal in recommending it first

[cerulean herald]

sweet

[slim thorn]

what's it called? (the only other "eva movie" I remember is one of those highlights of the TV series things we'd normally ignore)

[cerulean herald]

oh those recap thingys

AoT had those

[river veldt]

"Evangelion: Death(True)^2"

[slim thorn]

ok yeah that's the recap

[river veldt]

oh ok

[slim thorn]

honestly, the title gags even write themselves

Evangelion 358/2 Angels: You Can (Not) Comprehend

[river veldt]

all i know about Evangelion is that some designs from it inspired Jean Jacket's final form in Nope

[slim thorn]

oh

well as far as the actual content of the show

[river veldt]

it's also robots i think ?

[slim thorn]

the main thing you should know is that it's a darker and grittier subversion of mecha/giant robot anime

and one of the biggest aspects of this subversion is the protagonist being... kinda awful at doing protagonist-y things

which is also the most divisive aspect of the show: either it's a brilliant character study, or Shinji's just a whiny obnoxious brat you wish you could punch through the screen

there, you've been warned

[cerulean herald]

does he get in the mech

[river veldt]

oh yeah i know that from memes

"get in the robot shinji"

[slim thorn]

you will see why it's a meme pretty quick

[slim thorn]

the scene where ||Rei's gurney rolls right through the Eva hangar past Shinji is one of my strongest memories because it's so absurd at first glance, and then you realize Gendo's doing it to mess with him||

[rancid herald]

don't do it it'll ruin your life

[river veldt]

why 😭

[slim thorn]

I don't think Cap is capable of having their life ruined by a TV show

the worst case scenario is we get bombarded with questions like "do you think Doomguy would get along with the screaming octahedron?"

[cerulean herald]

well surely Madoka then is a lighter more uplifting anime than Evangelion

[rancid herald]

to truly understand you must first watch Evangelion

[slim thorn]

"understand" might be the wrong word

[cerulean herald]

how different are the rebuild films from the original anime

[slim thorn]

the first two are very similar, with the main difference being the new Eva pilot Mari

the third and fourth are an original plot that has minimal overlap with the original series

[light gate]

Me: “I wonder if I’ll stumble upon bugs… so far Oblivion Remastered has been holding up well!”

Todd Howard’s ghost/soul: “i am so glad you’ve said that.”

[cunning galleon]

?

[wind stump]

Monotagari-ass writing

[gaunt marten]

It's time to play Nine Sols

[gaunt marten]

https://i.imgur.com/QEKA0Zh.png

I failed at this room a few times, so I went ahead and changed my whole setup to help with it

Turns out I just missed one wave

[slim thorn]

iirc I originally cleared that room first try effortlessly, then on replay I skill issued so hard it took 10+ tries for no apparent reason

[gaunt marten]

They should just give me a dead body

I earned it

[quiet swift]

👀

[slim thorn]

oh it takes more than that to earn this particular dead body

[quiet swift]

Taken out of context...

[slim thorn]

||how fitting that we're discussing Dr Strangelove in manechat right now...||

[wind stump]

HAHAHA

[gaunt marten]

Oh that was the guy https://i.imgur.com/K66lbGp.png

I expected a different kind of ninja

[slim thorn]

wouldn't be very ninja-like if you were expecting it

[gaunt marten]

Lame ass nerd doesn't even have a regular tao fruit ||https://i.imgur.com/ZGN6vbx.png||

[slim thorn]

when the enemy drops are lore-accurate, and you wished they weren't

[gaunt marten]

I like the fight, especially how you always have enough arrows to interrupt all of his bad attacks

[slim thorn]

on my original playthrough I was pleasantly surprised to beat him in only 2 attempts, felt like I'd finally got gud

||then I met Fuxi||

[gaunt marten]

Took me like six

[cerulean herald]

it took me way too long to figure out the rotating balls dictate what attack is used next
actually I think I've beaten him without knowing that

[gaunt marten]

There was a tutorial for it at the start of the fight

Next time I get to fight the pair

At which point I'll have eight seals, which means I need two more

||Why don't I have mine, anyway? I guess I'll find out||

[slim thorn]

I have a theory for that but it might be a spoiler to explain it this early, unsure how much you've pieced together about the pre-game timeline

[gaunt marten]

I've not been paying much attention. I'll stitch everything up the second go around

[astral steeple]

https://mynintendonews.com/2025/05/03/nintendo-suing-accessory-manufacturer-genki-which-showed-off-switch-2-early/

[river veldt]

play stupid games win stupid prizes

[gaunt marten]

What's the game?

[fresh bane]

Fun Switch 2 fact, they're not gonna release Switch 2's for pretty much all of south america for the first year

[river veldt]

that sucks, why ??

[fresh bane]

According to them, it's because of the lack of a regional eshop, so they can't implement any business strategies or support

But I think it's just because they know we're on a majority too poor to even buy them so they don't even bother

they probably think it's too costly to release them all around south america for the little profit they'd be able to make

[gaunt marten]

Wait, so Nintendo won't release the Switch 2 in South America because Nintendo won't make a regional eShop for South America?

[fresh bane]

Sort of

[gaunt marten]

Preorders are still open

[visual hill]

they are focused on countries with higher spending power first

it's not the first time we see this, countries that are less "mainstream" often get the short end of the stick

[gaunt marten]

Yeah no very understandable

It's just that the reason they have given is invalid

[visual hill]

regional pricing isn't really a thing for Nintendo games either IIRC

it's not Steam 🙂

[fresh bane]

https://youtu.be/zJ6Tjh_FIAk?si=gCY98Ed2F853yIfP

this is so horrible, I love it

[river veldt]

ooh the Dead Space remake is on sale

it was good yeah ?

[quiet swift]

Only version i played was remake, had fun with it 👍

[river veldt]

i'll have to see how it performs on Steam Deck

[slim thorn]

yes, the Dead Space (1) remake is a strict improvement on the original, which was already very good

(I played OG and remake, both when they were new)

[river veldt]

how spooky is it

[quiet swift]

More jumpscary than spooky imo, there's a lot of what you'd call... body horror, I guess? A lot of very weird looking fleshy creatures/mutations

[quiet swift]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fallout-1-and-2s-source-code-isnt-lost-after-all-thanks-to-one-hero-programmer-i-made-it-a-quest-to-snapshot-everything/

[minor plover]

I remember talking to Heineman during the Descent:Underground kickstarter (Descent was another Interplay game; DU unfortunately failed and ended up being bought out by a shit ass "put fake crypto in everything" game dev team that doesn't know how to make a 6dof.)

[green fulcrum]

Reminds me of that one intern(?) who saved Toy Story 2 after the entire film got deleted, but they had a backup because they figured something like that would happen.

[cerulean herald]

yeah that was Galyn Susman, tho not an intern
sadly she was laid off in 2023

[green fulcrum]

Saved the movie that basically catapulted Pixar into legendary fame and glory for decades (the first Toy Story made a splash but it was the second that made waves), then gets laid off for her troubles with not even a thank you.

[visual hill]

Remake has big traversal stutter problems unfortunately, but the upgrades are worth it over OG

it's like Jedi Survivor, the issues were slightly alleviated by patches but not quite completely fixed

to this day, the best way to play them on PC is to cap them to 30 FPS to make stutters less noticeable...

[visual hill]

since she talked about it, it means the source code can't mysteriously appear online now 😛

like what's happened with many games, e.g. WipeOut

that said, both Fallout 1/2 already have working reimplementations IIRC

[hushed onyx]

Really? I didn't know the second was any particularly big deal. The first, sure, because it was one of the first CGI films, but by the time the second came out Pixar was established and had a good reputation.

[visual hill]

I remember playing the demo of Toy Story 2 as a kid

I don't remember if I watched any of the Toy Story movies actually...

[slim thorn]

huh, never noticed that when I played

[gaunt marten]

Hi

Let's play a bit of Nine Sols

It's time for this boss https://i.imgur.com/kr02PJt.png

With the following build https://i.imgur.com/hMZK47r.png

[arctic fern]

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx6z_evWmDlhYfhsIdc8FaxFmPX8ERBmob

I dont know why this post got me laughing so hard, but it did

[bronze abyss]

viper is always hilarious

[gaunt marten]

That was fun ||https://i.imgur.com/J4NYca8.png||

[slim thorn]

I had a feeling you'd get through that way faster than I did

[gaunt marten]

I actually gave it a few tries before deciding to fully explore the grotto of scriptures and the other areas fully

I think in total this was like ten tries

Using normal arrows to interrupt the big guy's move so I can dodge the other attacks was what I needed to figure out

[slim thorn]

it's interesting how much you're using interrupt arrows while I never did; since arrows are limited I just never considered that as a serious option

(I didn't fully understand that EQB offers infinite arrows until later)

[gaunt marten]

Yeah!

If I didn't have arrows I would probably do a damage race build

||https://i.imgur.com/I2yTsP7.png|| You idiot, you start with the bad news so the good news leave you on a positive note

Wow, what the fuck. This too is a pointless option

[slim thorn]

I mean, of course that one is, the two news-es are the same either way lol

[gaunt marten]

Well I wanted them in the other order

But fucking Kuafu overruled me and asked for the good news first

[slim thorn]

oh

...have I never picked that choice

[cerulean herald]

Was my logic as well, but this game loves to trick you with the illusion of choice

[slim thorn]

I guess I never felt an "illusion" there since the dialogue choices seemed obviously cosmetic to me (until right at the end ofc)

[fickle garnet]

How difficult is Nine Sols?

[gaunt marten]

Actually pretty hard

They have a "story mode" difficulty where you can configure the difficulty settings to taste

The game has one achievement locked behind beating it on standard mode

[fickle garnet]

Interesting. I want to play it, but I am unsure if I'll be able to handle the difficulty

[cerulean herald]

Oh for sure, I figured it was a mostly linear storyline
But I still think it's a bit funny where your early choices don't matter still good cosmetics tho

[gaunt marten]

You can absolutely handle the difficulty in story mode

If you want to get all achievements, it can be a bit frustrating but it's nothing impossible.

It's around the difficulty level of Dark Souls 3 or Death's Gambit

[cerulean herald]

Who would you say has been your favorite boss so far

[gaunt marten]

I haven't had enough time with them to make a strong preference. I like Yanlao and Ji

[slim thorn]

the standard answer is the final boss, so it's hard to have an opinion before endgame

but for me Jiequan was a close second best boss

[cerulean herald]

Ah I meant in terms of battles, sorry if I wasn't clear, but those are good ones yea

[slim thorn]

and yes anyone should be able to handle Nine Sols in story mode, there is absolutely no shame in starting there if difficulty doesn't appeal to you (I know some people have gone back to replay it on standard mode later)

[cerulean herald]

I should replay on standard, but just the idea of the later bosses
At least I have hindsight now

[slim thorn]

I managed to push through standard mode on my first playthrough... so when I came back to it as a randomizer game, I added mods to make it harder than standard

[wind stump]

🖖

[slim thorn]

turns out Jiequan is really fun when he just randomly spawns extra shields and bombs and is 50% faster on top of all the usual attacks

(did you know you can hold both attack and parry buttons to charge a Charged Strike and Unbounded Counter at the same time? that was surprisingly useful)

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, this game, like other games in the genre, is a lot easier with the benefit of hindsight

[gaunt marten]

There's a jade that tells you that

[slim thorn]

I did notice that much later, you're probably paying way better attention to the jades than I did at first

[fickle garnet]

This is good to know

[slim thorn]

I still want to do that "level 0" final boss challenge at some point, I just haven't been in the zone enough lately to make a serious attempt

[wind stump]

[slim thorn]

always love a main menu bg change

I think that's everything I want to do in Magnolia done now. Both endings done, every room on the map is blue, and the only achievements I see left all fall into "farm currency to buy more stuff".

[bitter stream]

nicely done

[cerulean herald]

I'm kinda interested in trying that out, is there another Ender game from what I've seen here?

[bitter stream]

yeah, I think there's 2? let me have a quick check

I think ender lilies is the first one?

yeah, Ender Lilies then Ender Magnolia

[slim thorn]

correct

[cerulean herald]

Sweet

[glad girder]

https://www.yankodesign.com/2025/05/02/this-nintendo-wiiu-revival-console-could-be-the-ultimate-sidekick-to-the-switch-2/amp/

[gaunt marten]

||https://i.imgur.com/FcWiE0y.png|| The end of the game?

This is the only item in the game I have not found ||https://i.imgur.com/SQzjdN5.png||

[slim thorn]

do you want actual hints/spoilers on missable stuff before you get to the point of no return?

[gaunt marten]

Depends. Is it a real point of no return or do you actually get to return after?

[slim thorn]

It's sorta in between. After it happens you're locked in until credits, but after you beat the game reloading the save will put you back before the PonR.

[gaunt marten]

I'll be fine then

[worthy rose]

Expedition 33, aka Final Francetasy

[visual hill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtSDwwZqJ5A

[gaunt marten]

It would have been really cool to have a second, harder version of the central transport hub elevator fight on the way up

[slim thorn]

I think the fights on the way out of Institute are enough for most players

[gaunt marten]

They should remove those

They fucking suck

A vertical side scroller is more thematic AND way cooler

[slim thorn]

I don't personally have a horse in this race, but I do find it funny how many people have strong opinions about The Hallway

[gaunt marten]

It's long, slow, and for some reason enemies can hit you from offscreen

[cerulean herald]

Nine Sols but it's now a beat 'em up

[gaunt marten]

||https://i.imgur.com/14XjRBF.png|| You have tails?

[slim thorn]

I believe when the 9S server theorycrafted that one, the conclusion was "probably not; she's being metaphorical"

[gaunt marten]

Lies

[slim thorn]

||although if you saw all of her research, there's arguably a semi-literal meaning in this specific context||

[gaunt marten]

You can check my achievements for that

[slim thorn]

nice

[gaunt marten]

8. I can't get the timing right on these parries at all

[slim thorn]

she's good at misleading you on those

[gaunt marten]

Also, why do her talismans override mine?

[slim thorn]

she's built different

[gaunt marten]

I killed more people. I'm eviler therefore my attacks should be redder.

[slim thorn]

hilariously, one of the legit speed strats is to jump just above her talisman hitbox, and talisman her forehead, so you're both doing the animation in synch but only yours is doing damage

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, I did that a few times!

11. The problem with her parries being timed weirdly is that I'm relying on hedgehog jade for the majority of my damage

[slim thorn]

ow

[slim thorn]

also, I love how it's canon that Yi is just tiny for a Solarian and this matters in gameplay

[cerulean herald]

short king

[gaunt marten]

16. This is the first time I managed to fully parry one of her combos.

[slim thorn]

I had a feeling you'd get it faster than me

[gaunt marten]

18. So Breather jade and stasis jade are not doing me any good. Maybe recovery jade?

[slim thorn]

the most consistently popular jade in this fight across a wide range of players seems to be Divine Hand, though ofc that only helps if you're comfortable UCing a bunch of stuff (I was not my first time)

[gaunt marten]

19. Must be for later phases. So far the furthest I managed is half her health bar

[slim thorn]

oh, UC is useful even on non-crimson attacks because it does internal damage to enemies

[gaunt marten]

All parries inflict internal damage to enemies the way I run them

[slim thorn]

ah right you're using that other jade

I don't know the exact numbers on these

personally I didn't do any UCing until phase 2 anyway or any damage dealing jades ever since I was so thoroughly in "please don't hurt me I'm scared" mode

[gaunt marten]

22. You cannot unbounded counter a talisman attack, but you can dodge through it.

That is the only non-explosion attack I know of where that's the case

[slim thorn]

somewhere there's a list of all the attacks you can't UC in the whole game, and it's like 3 things including her talisman (and I think the other 2 are before you're supposed to have UC anyway?)

[gaunt marten]

23. I like how fast you can return to the arena after a death. If this were lady Ethereal, I would be at attempt 10

25. I need to find a good opening for a five-charge full control hit

[slim thorn]

oh right you're doing full control stuff already

[gaunt marten]

26. It's not set in stone. Doing qi blast is also a good option since arrows are a guaranteed healing window

[green fulcrum]

What's with the numbers next to all the messages?

...I can't even highlight or click on them with my cursor. Tf?

[gaunt marten]

27. The numbers are how many attempts I have been on the final boss. You probably can't click them because discord has funny list handling stuff

[green fulcrum]

Oh

Tough boss

[cerulean herald]

I had to stop fighting the boss after a while and continued the game the next day

[gaunt marten]

It's a tough game

[slim thorn]

I bet Flitter gets it on day 2

[gaunt marten]

32. It's bullshit that so many players got that achievement

[slim thorn]

apparently it's at 23.0% today

[cerulean herald]

more ppl are playing it bc of this channel

[gaunt marten]

In much easier games the percentages are closer to 1% https://i.imgur.com/i6TZjN1.png

[slim thorn]

honestly, me making a randomizer for it might have gotten a few more people to play it

(I need to add random spawn to that...)

[gaunt marten]

38. There are two openings for 5-charge attacks

[slim thorn]

uh... her talisman, and delayed slash ?

[gaunt marten]

40. Talisman doesn't count because I can't get it consistently. It's the delayed triple slash and the short-range triple slash

42. The hat from the trailer should make a comeback for the first phase

Would be way cooler if she would take it off in the second phase

[slim thorn]

the time for hats is long behind us

||tbf it's literally been many years, she probably just lost the old thing||

[gaunt marten]

55. The webbing on this sphere seems inconsistent each attempt

https://i.imgur.com/x9SrS8l.png

[slim thorn]

think that's enough attempts for one day

[gaunt marten]

No

[slim thorn]

well now I feel like some L0 practice myself

[cerulean herald]

go for it

[gaunt marten]

59. Made it to phase 2. What the fresh hell is this

61. Let's take a break. I'm making it to phase 2 almost every attempt now, but I'm struggling to decipher her full-screen attack

[green fulcrum]

What boss is this? I'd like to see on youtube what you're facing

[slim thorn]

Eigong, the final boss of Nine Sols

(I'm streaming "level 0" attempts on her, Flitter's fighting her vanilla for the first time)

[green fulcrum]

Oof, that looks difficult

[gaunt marten]

I want to stream it myself, but alas, my computer can barely run the game

[green fulcrum]

Also, that boss theme is GORGEOUS.

[gaunt marten]

They all are

The game's environmental music kinda sucks but the boss themes are all bangers

[green fulcrum]

It's like a 2D soulsborne game, at least for the bosses

[cerulean herald]

it really goes off at 3:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pcocHtED64

[slim thorn]

a lot of my favorite metroidvanias have a soulsborne philosophy to difficulty, including this one

[gaunt marten]

Not that any fight I've had made it to minute 3

[gaunt marten]

Sekiro style parrying based Metroidvania

[cerulean herald]

and its furry

[gaunt marten]

4 AM walks are good for you, but I'm not sure the dust storm is

[bitter stream]

oh dear, stay safe

[gaunt marten]

I'll be fine. It's not the kind of storm that strips flesh from bone. Just the one that annoys asthmatics

[bitter stream]

fair enough, do masks help at all? or is that just worse all around

[gaunt marten]

There probably exist masks that help

[river veldt]

oh pretty !

the palm trees with the buildings in the background is cool

[plain harbor]

Playing Battlefront II (2017) right now. First Galactic Assault match I went in (Kashyyyk) was hacked to be endless (one side's objective vehicles wouldn't move, couldn't be damaged), so I left that one. Every other match since has been surprisingly tame. No hacking that I could see. Still, the hackers are there, using whatever program they use to hide themselves in the lobbies so they can't be reported/banned.

[gaunt marten]

62. I'm back

[gaunt marten]

73. The big wave attack thing is really weird

[slim thorn]

Level 0 Egg: PHASE ONE DEFEATED

[gaunt marten]

Nice work

Wow 144 fps

I'm hovering around 38

[slim thorn]

very happy with that result for a completely impromptu session and also only the 2nd(?) time I've actually done any level 0 attempts

[gaunt marten]

I'm definitely impressed

80. Like with Lady Ethereal, I'm beginning to notice a pattern she usually follows at the start of each fight

[slim thorn]

DAO probably noticed I always started with the same dash -> 2 hits -> start parrying because that opening is so consistent

phase 2 is also locked to a specific opening attack (not a spoiler now that you've died to it )

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, I still have yet to figure the attack out

[slim thorn]

want to discuss it or keep figuring it on your own?

[cerulean herald]

one thing that always got me was the "is she going to use a talisman, or throw down a nuke"

at least the former is more common

[slim thorn]

the funny thing with talismans is that she can do 1-4 of them in a row (pretty sure 4's the max?) but it's so often >1 that in practice most talismans come after another talisman

[gaunt marten]

Advice wouldn't be unwelcome

[slim thorn]

that's actually one of the biggest openings where I should be going for extra hits in level 0 but, as you saw, I'm just kinda not right now

[gaunt marten]

82. The phase 1 talismans are highly effective sources of internal damage and qi charges, so I avoid using my talisman at that time

[slim thorn]

so the phase 2 opener or "wind blade combo" always goes red -> white -> white, then the 4th part is either another red, or the familiar delayed slash from phase 1

the biggest trick to it is that the hitbox fills the whole screen at once; your position is irrelevant

thus a lot of people find it easier to dodge/parry/UC its parts by watching Eigong's animation, particularly the moment she unsheathes her sword

(also if the 4th part is red, there's a delay so you have plenty of time to UC that one too; it's up to you whether to UC or dodge the red parts)

[gaunt marten]

It doesn't fill the actual whole screen because if I'm too far my unbound counter misses

[slim thorn]

huh, ok

[gaunt marten]

The delay on the fourth part is actually what gets me!

Also, I made it to phase 2 taking only one hit! ||https://i.imgur.com/prgF3Wn.png||

[slim thorn]

oh lol, I personally find it easier when I can do the same thing on both reds

[gaunt marten]

I'm using divine hand, so by the time my first unbound counter ends I don't have time to get my bearings to prepare for the next one

I'll try immediately charging up the next one

[slim thorn]

hm, divine hand shouldn't affect any of the timings, it just means the white slashes get UC'd if you chose to UC the first red slash

[gaunt marten]

Yes, that works

[slim thorn]

(that's part of why people like it; you've gotta learn these timings anyway, so more UCs for free is hard to argue with)

[gaunt marten]

85. It hurts the most when she does her "come back, you coward" long reaching melee attack while I'm trying to recover internal damage.

[slim thorn]

I remember in my original round of attempts I would often try dashing through her basic combos, only to learn that she is really good at turning around mid-combo

at least for me, the only way to squeak in a heal or wait for internal damage to recover is to just keep parrying until she chooses to do one of the attacks that gives a real opening; getting farther away from her doesn't help with the basic combos

[gaunt marten]

Dashing away does work in most cases. I just need to figure out how to time a parry on the one attack that can reach me

I am using the jade that makes healing internal damage faster

[slim thorn]

oooh, makes sense, I never used that one

[gaunt marten]

Why would you when the other one is so much better?

This is the one fight where I don't get many opportunities to land regular slashes on her

[slim thorn]

the irony that I'm doing the version of it where sneaking in more regular slashes is half the strats

[gaunt marten]

88. I bet you can figure something out. I just don't wanna because it seems more effective to stack up internal damage and explode it

[slim thorn]

another reason people love Divine Hand because if you combo-UC all her combos, you can get some truly ridiculous ID stacks

I know some people have done "ID only" Eigong kills (with only one regular blow at the end of each phase) just for the heck of it

[gaunt marten]

I hate how bosses get to claim all the internal damage on me if they hit me, but if I want the other way around it has to be via talisman

[slim thorn]

I headcanon that it's a bizarre side effect of Yi being

(ofc the serious answer is balance, Yi's basic slash is fast enough to sneak in between many boss combos, blah blah blah)

[gaunt marten]

91. It's funny how during phase transitions her hairbun pulses.

[slim thorn]

||that... will make more sense in true ending ||

[gaunt marten]

I don't even need to read this spoiler to know what it says

93. My body is telling me to stop here.

I'll be back tomorrow with more attempts

[cerulean herald]

yeah it was one of those boss battles where a break was needed in between

[cunning galleon]

Cole

[visual hill]

that game really needs private servers that could be moderated by the community

it's in a perma-bot crisis mode, even TF2 managed to get out of it

[wind stump]

[cunning galleon]

I dug a hole and cut down so many trees

so close to rage quitting during my 2 week Minecraft phase

[little badger]

Gears of war coming to PlayStation

Also comes with multiplayer and can be played in 4K at 60FPS

And has a 120FPS mode

[wind stump]

now kiss

[cerulean herald]

Who's best girl in Neptunia

[arctic fern]

i tried playing the saints row reeboot thing just now
the one that killed volition
its... average at best

i found it clunky and unfun to play tbh

and annoying

also flat

i didnt get far before giving up

[wind stump]

this one

[visual hill]

interesting, I wonder why singleplayer can't do 120 FPS

game logic bugs specific to SP they didn't fix? Or just a CPU limitation that means it's unviable on consoles

[fickle garnet]

I think what blade was saying Is that it can only do 60 fps in 4k mode and 120 while not in 4k

[visual hill]

no, the press release says MP does 120 FPS, story does 60 FPS

I've seen the opposite happen (fighting games only allow 120 FPS for local play, not online for fairness reasons)

I think that one is silly personally, especially since the game still runs its logic at 60 Hz with interpolation, so the latency is roughly the same as 60 FPS on a 60 Hz display

[slim thorn]

weird, that does feel like something you'd only do to pacify people who realize latency matters, but somehow never learned that frames and updates have been different things for decades

[fickle garnet]

Oh huh, that is weird

Anyways I finished act 1 of Expedition 33

[gaunt marten]

Only 32 to go

[cerulean herald]

is Expedition 34 in the works yet

[fickle garnet]

If it was, it would be a prequel, but I don't think they're making another Expedition game

[gaunt marten]

Hi

Let's play some more nine sols. Last I played I tried to beat the final boss 93 times and failed.

[cerulean herald]

goodluck!

[slim thorn]

chill beats to meditate to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhKQqo3OAtM

[cerulean herald]

what's your favorite song from Nine Sols?

[slim thorn]

I think I'd have to listen to the whole OST separate from the game to make a conscious choice; I'm the type that just doesn't remember 99% of background music even when I remember the fact that there was great music

[cerulean herald]

fair

[slim thorn]

the true ending track seems like a likely candidate though

[gaunt marten]

I did buy the OST so I can give the individual songs ratings

[random steppe]

If they are making something else in the franchise, my guess is that it'll be called Clair Obscur: Something

We won't know for at least a year if they are though, my guess is

From all the interviews the team didn't expect to be making something that would be considered so highly and are basically in a state of disbelief, so they'll have to stop reeling and have a few meetings before we know what they plan to do with their newfound fame

[slim thorn]

here's hoping they don't follow Disco Elysium's example

[random steppe]

Agreed

Seeing the studio leads talking in interviews, it doesn't seem likely they'll implode anytime soon at least

Without any spoilers, the Clair Obscur franchise begs to be expanded upon, it would be tragic if it never happened

[gaunt marten]

Break down and split into five studios each trying to make a spiritual successor?

105. I'm consistently nailing the first phase and bombing the second.

[cerulean herald]

is there a specific attack(s) youre struggling with

[gaunt marten]

I keep trying to treat phase 2 dashes as phase 1, and I'm still working on the timing of the other new attacks

Also, I noticed that a bunch of her attacks don't have a good sound cue to parry

110. Phase 2 was just one talisman explosion away.

110... There's a phase 3!

I did not get a single hit in

[slim thorn]

surprise!

[cerulean herald]

I think you may get it today

[slim thorn]

there is no phase 4, ftr

[gaunt marten]

Let's not be too hasty. I only have like five hours and it's time to take a break

I think I want to swap from full control to qi blast so I get arrows to interrupt her phase 3 attacks

[slim thorn]

but also, phase 3 is true ending only; for some reason I was sure you hadn't met all the conditions for true ending

[cerulean herald]

imagine

[slim thorn]

(my first playthrough was normal ending, so the times I was quoting before were just for surviving phase 2)

[gaunt marten]

I was missing one item

It was money

[slim thorn]

ah

[fickle garnet]

I'm missing that item irl😔

[slim thorn]

in my case I believe I got all the items, but somehow one of the FSP sidequest triggers didn't happen for me by the time I went to endgame, so I realized there was a true ending only after doing normal (and I'd spent so long on normal already that I decided to downgrade to story mode to see the true ending)

[slim thorn]

heh, one of the people working on a harder Eigong mod is talking about a 4th phase

[gaunt marten]

Oh yeah, I always rest and check to see if everyone got new dialog

[cerulean herald]

Nooo

Also what's FSP?

[slim thorn]

Four Seasons Pavilion

[cerulean herald]

Ah

[gaunt marten]

Okay, so the move where she leaves the screen and slashes across twice followed by pausing in the middle for a third slash is the one that got me. I'm used to tracking her with my eye. I need to figure out how to predict it so I'm not left panic parrying

[slim thorn]

fwiw, community calls that one "judgement cut"

the good news is it only has two patterns (the 3rd cut being either straight and white, or diagonal and crimson), so once you know it's coming it's relatively easy to react to, not unlike phase 2's wind blade combo

[gaunt marten]

I reserve my judgement on that name

[cerulean herald]

Can you unbound counter the 3rd crimson slash? I always just dodge it

[slim thorn]

nah, you can't UC in the air