Overview
Well, I'm sure everyone has seen the news. The end of MassForTheDead is upon us. I started in early November. After doing all the story quests and some other things I ended up with only 3 5-star people, and sort of quit because the odds were horrible. I can't remember the exact number of rolls, but I saved every single Choas Stone.
I quit around Thanksgiving, it isn't that the game isn't fun, but the odds were horrible and the prices made no sense. I will get into the problems with this game later, but eventually, I started back up before Xmas. I had better luck this time, while I didn't get any xmas people, but I had decent luck getting other 5-stars.
It's a fun game, but it has many problems. As a developer, I somewhat expected it to fail, but I really was hoping that it wouldn't. I actually mentioned many of the reasons behind it in my review on google play. I shared my review with a few others, but I didn't actually make a post about it. However now I guess it's the last chance I get.
I hope that the creators of MFTD see this... because many of these problems I feel almost anyone could come to the same conclusion as me.
NOTE: My language gets a little spicy, do forgive me for not being PC.
Online Only
One of the biggest problems with the game is it being online only. This means that if the game servers are shut down... simply the game doesn't work. Meaning if the game ends in 3 months (like now) everything you have to spend was pretty much wasted. It isn't like steam where you can buy and sell skins or items... you buy a digital product with the potential chance of it being taken away from you at any time.
No one likes this... I would like to blame the devs, but typically it isn't them who make this decision. It's almost always someone higher up, but either way to be honest it was retarded.
It should have been an offline game, are at least playable offline people wouldn't have felt so bad by buying stuff, since they could still use it after the servers are shut down.
Multiple Versions
Having multiple versions of the game is stupid. Simply stupid. It is already hard enough for developers to support Android, Apple, and say the web... but now they need to support Android (jp), Apple (jp), Android (globe), Apple (global).
You rarely see this in western games... However, it is pretty common for Asian games. Rpgs especially almost always get a special global version. My only guess is because of location and language... however you should have designed your app to work with multiple languages. This is web dev 101, you space things out or have scroll bars or cut it off with a popup to give the full name or details. There are tons of ways around this... It's the same story with locations, you should have designed the online game from the ground up to be usable with multiple servers.
I don't want to go on forever about this, but it's basic things. Just add multiple languages, that was it. All you needed to do, yet tons of games every year get a "global" version just for it to die a few years later. STOP IT. Make 1 version, with servers globally. Not enough people in Germany?... shut that server down and move them to another server.
Sorry for the rant on this part, I've played at least 20 games they forced you to play the global version and ended up shutting it down after a year or 2. Honestly, at as dev it drives me crazy they do this. People don't care you have a special ____ holiday or whatever... AWESOME, cool you have a holiday about some cucumber god, ok let us play it, we don't need a second version.
I guess what I'm trying to get at... Crunchyroll shouldn't have been involved in the first place. Maybe as translators, but AAAaaah fuck me dude, why do they keep doing this?
Worse than Gambling...
You buy "chaos stones", which give you a chance to roll for people in the game. Aka gambling, but instead of getting a chance for money, you get a digital item that could disappear at any moment when they shut the game down. At least with gambling, you have a slim chance of getting your money back.
There have been many countries trying to put regulations on loot boxes in games... I'm pretty sure this game would eventually fall into that category. If they are not forced to change it, at the very least they will probably make it 18+ or the local equivalent. Some countries have been trying to force similar taxes onto these types of apps that casinos have to deal with. Potentially they are going to run into an issue with this game because of the random aspect.
They continue to make it worse by having "free" Choas Stones mixed with "paid" Chaos Stones. Honestly, I'm surprised some mom hasn't created a Facebook group about how it's tricking their children. Anyway, I don't care about this, but it is something to note, that this will probably be brought up against them later on.
I know some people will probably argue saying baseball cards, or pokemon cards are similar... however you are getting a physical object. You have it forever, you can sell it, trade it, lick it. It's yours forever. Yes, they are both random chances, but as I explained above... at any moment you could lose it. I could go on with other things, but I'm ranting, so we will leave this here.
Price
... do I have to explain this. The prices are INSANE, let's just forget about it being something you could lose at any moment or the random chance. There are many packs and things for $32.99. Let's look at one. 515 paid stones plus some other stuff. That is 1 roll or ten items... WHAT?!?
Look at any other game, even the MOST money-hungry games like Clash of Clash or Fortnite are 1/4 of this price... and they are games that have been around for years, with tons of content, and tons of game play, and large player bases.
It's like paying $30 goto a movie... or $15 to goto another movie at a better theater, that also in 3d. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE OVERLORD. I love it, I read at least 2 novels a month... but the prices for MFTD are just crazy. Personally, I bought VIP, I think that it's a decent price to support the game and help them developed it... but to be honest for $20 you don't shit. I understand they need to make money, but I 100% guarantee if they cut the price in half, they would more than double their sales. Many of the people reading overlord are younger in high school or college... I can't imagine they are looking forward to throwing down $32 for a roll at 10 cards? (or whatever you call it)... however $16? it far more reasonable. How many of would have bought a "pack" for $16 yet didn't because it was $32?
I'm an old (not really old, 31), and I didn't because it's a ripoff. I just feel like I'm getting bent over around back.
Summary / Horrible
LMAO, guys... honestly this game I love it. I love Overlord, but some of the ideas behind it were horrible. It isn't just 1 of them... but when you add them up all altogether I knew it wasn't going to last long.
What is even worse... they announced they are closing the game down... YET you can still buy shit. YOU CAN STILL BUY DIGITAL ITEMS that will be gone in 2 months. WHAT THE FUCK?!? Am I'm crazy, or is this just me or is this a total douchebag move?
They don't force you to see the notification, nothing pops up... just a quiet little whisper "psst, the game ends April". I will admit, they are at least shutting it down in march... Do they are not a complete scumbag... However, it should have been locked the moment they announced the ending of this game. People love this game, they are dedicated to it. They have spent thousands of hours grinding just to save up for the new stuff coming out next week. I'm sure there are people who just bought stuff yesterday...
What is even worse, I'm pretty sure someone knew about this at least a week ago. I can't imagine some CEO just say, yea I'm done, lets tell them today the game ends. There were meetings, discussions, multiple companies involved... probably a public relations person who spend a day to come up with that announcement.
I'm going to end it here, while I wasn't surprised I wish it continued or was offline as its a fun little game to play throughout the day.
submitted by Re-posting in compliance with the board's rules.
Hi All,
I did a lot of searches but I could not find what I was looking for, so I thought I would ask.
What I'm looking for:
- Squad-based tactical RPG with charactegeaskill customization Edit: just to clarify the squad-based tactical RPG. I'm thinking of a system where you have opposing parties standing literally in each other's faces in two rows. (or four in a front row, back row setup.) participants with diverse abilities, no tactical movement. the tactics is more picking the right party composition and use the right skills at the right time. FFT and XCom are excellent games in their own right but have "too muc" tactical movement, not something I can just play while riding a single metro stop.
- A quick jump-in, jump-out playstyle - something you can play for 5 minutes during a quick coffee break
- Grinding is fine
- Paid app is fine (or free-with-IAP-upgrade for a sort of "deluxe version", á la Cyber Knights Elite version)
- Single player gameplay (offline would be even better)
What I'm not looking for:
- Map exploration (not compatible with a few quick rounds of play when you lose track after not playing for a few days...)
- Any kind of microtransactions (except for the IAP outlined above)
- Action RPG (usually has no squad members, real-time gameplay isn't tactical, and usually involves exploration)
- Anything in first person mode (like The Quest)
Some examples and what my problem is with them:
- Sonny (ticks literally all the boxes but it's something I finished in two days, and you cannot buy your way out of the ads)
- Star Renegades (not available on mobile)
- Angry Birds Epic (microtransactions and a lot of idle time)
- Marvel: Avenger's Alliance 1 (microtransactions were bearable even though it had a lot of idle time, but this game was shut down a long, long time ago and all the spiritual successors got p2w even for PvE, like MAA2 - shut down -, or MSF)
- Cyber Knights (too much downtime and a lot of map navigation)
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (oh boy those microtransactions; full rng roster building)
- Heroes of Dragon Age (... even more microtransactions; full rng roster building)
- The "original" FF series (too much exploration, hard to jump in and out - I have most of them but I cannot really find the time to properly play them. I finished some but I don't want to start another one.)
- KotOR or any of the Beamdog games (neither are really good to just quickly jump in and out; plus I played all of them multiple times on both PC and Android. modding them is painful and controls on mobile are straining my carpal tunnel.)
Any recommendations?
Cheers,
-blarke
Edit: Disgaea is exactly what I was looking for, thanks all!
submitted by While not as pronounced a change as going from ME1 to 2, Mass Effect 3 still plays a little differently from its predecessor and implements a few key changes in its mechanics, most of which are for the better, but a few of which don’t work as well and are a little puzzling. First, the movement in ME3 just looks and feels smoother, especially when popping into/out of cover, you seem to run faster somehow (especially inside the Normandy, where you always felt sluggish in ME2), and the game finally adds a dodge button – maybe more essential for a vanguard (who spends a lot of time in close quarters combat) than any other class. ME3’s decision to add two levels of tech tree to those from ME2 and let you keep your exact character (and skill point allocation) do a great job of making you feel like you’re actually getting stronger, and adding a new power or two to each class makes them feel like they’ve evolved but still kept their core intact. It was a brilliant way to build on ME2s gameplay foundation, although adding a second passive feels a little redundant.
The vanguard benefits hugely from the introduction of Nova, which really changes the class by giving it a direct-damage biotic power, whereas its powers were more utility oriented in ME2 and it had to rely more or less just on weapons for damage. Charge also seems to have a faster cast time and fewer issues in locking onto targets, especially over uneven terrain. In fact, if I have any complaint with how the vanguard plays in ME3, it’s that charge/nova feels so OP that I have to consciously remind myself to use a gun and play it like a shooter just a for a change/challenge, sometimes (especially with the Nova half-blast evolution, which makes using it less risky or lets you double-cast it by which time charge will have cooled down again with a light loadout). Your starter shotgun, by contrast, takes 3 solid headshots to land kills in early levels. This may make vanguard the single most dynamic class across all three games, and while ME2 might be my favorite in the series, if I had to pick a favorite single piece of gameplay from the trilogy, it would probably be one of frantically charging around and blasting enemies everywhere with nova – my best moment so far involved double-blasting nova and sending a guy like twenty feet through the air and ultimately off the map. In fact, biotics in general feel a little more OP in ME3 (maybe to compensate for their lowered utility in ME2), as more different powers seem to combine and detonate than ever before, making Liara a no-brainer as an early squadmate to bring on every mission, with her sub-3-second cooldown on singularity (pretty devastating combined with charge or Kaiden’s reave). By contrast, the infiltrator’s time dilation for sniping actually gets nerfed and is significantly less impactful here (fortunately still good enough to shoot through the eye-slit in those body shields, though).
ME3 expands the weapon, armor, and add-on system as well, resembling ME1 more than 2 in that respect, and while the complexity is easier to navigate and better implemented, here, it still might be a little overkill. Upgrading from 3 shotguns to 10 doesn’t seem necessary, especially with about 5 of them being pretty similar human weapons, and do there need to be 2 chargeable ones? SMGs, a side-arm, are handled a little bit better, with only 4 or 5 total options, while there seem to be a nearly endless list of different heavy pistols, many of which feel basically the same. But being able to upgrade weapons from level 1-10 also, ironically, locks you into whatever weapons you’ve started to upgrade and prevents you from trying out the dizzying number of options, as a better gun on level 1 will still not compare to something you’ve piled your resources into upgrading, so this mechanic kind of undermines the game’s weapon expansion. And with every weapon getting 2 attachments (also upgradeable) the number of potential loadouts is a bit too staggering and I end up spending way more time than I’d like on equipment screens. The fact that every class can now use every weapon compounds this, and while I guess it opens some new strategic options – like trying a sniper on your vanguard – there’s not much real utility or value here (maybe aside from the opening scene, where Shepherd scavenges an assault rifle off the battlefield). Also, while I’ve never played a pure soldier in ME3 so I don’t know how tank-y they are, I can say that automatic weapons are almost useless for a vanguard given how quickly you take damage when out of cover. All weapons do feel better in ME3 over ME2, though, in part because of the sound design, which now provides a satisfying crunch when a target takes a hit. Armor effects are also much more noticeable here, and again you can combine a nearly intimidating number of options. Stacking their bonuses feels a little broken at times; soldiers and infiltrators can benefit from as much as a 50% weapon damage boost, and a vanguard with Inferno Armor and the right pistol attachment can boost power damage by nearly the same amount (or maybe it’s even more). I loved ME2 because it put the action in action RPG and simplified and streamlined sections like this, and ME3 cranks up the strategic, number-driven-bonus and equipment balancing elements a little too much.
The health system – regenerating health only to the nearest bar and full shields – resembles ME1 more than 2, and on higher difficulty levels, healing feels almost meaningless because of how quickly you’ll just lose that health. Especially because you seem to take more hits while in cover in ME3 than in any other game in the series. The game also thankfully does away with the overused and tiresome hacking mini-games (they always become tiresome, don’t they?) and scanning for minerals, and allowing you to purchase upgrades straight from the Normandy feels like something that should’ve been added sooner. The game also automatically removes helmets in most cutscenes, allowing you to equip one without feeling like a robot.
Some of ME3’s story decisions are a bit surprising, too; with ME1 being generally well-received but ME2 receiving universal acclaim, game-of-the-year level accolades and 9.5 level metascores – and ME2 also having Shepherd’s new team so highly in focus, both as his objective and as a source of so many missions and relationships – why would you flush the superior ME2 cast and return to the lukewarm ME1 squad? Yet that’s exactly what ME3 does, as Grunt, Legion, Thane, Mordin, Miranda, Jacob, Jack, and Samara/Morinth are all jettisoned, and you’re instead stuck with newbie James (why? Why should I start to care about a new guy when there’s already 10 crewmates I want more of?), and Ashley/Kaiden, both of which feel duller even than Miranda/Jacob, whose personal demons Shepherd’s at least seen and helped to fight off, giving room for deeper dialogue options, there. The most interesting aliens – Legion, Thane, Mordin – are all gone, although they’re still utilized in interesting, albeit brief ways. At least they were smart enough to bring Garrus back, but Tali could’ve just as well been traded for Legion (the Geth don’t even need that one robot body, do they?). And Liara, who already felt like 2 different characters between ME1 and 2, kind of feels like another one, here, as she gives up information brokering and the cold personality that went with it and goes back to Prothean research and a warmer demeanor, although still different from the nerdy, awkward one of ME1. She feels like a bit of a random inclusion – maybe fan service for those who missed her in ME2. EDI makes a little bit of sense as a new squadmate after she’s given free reign near the end of ME2, but altogether, I find the ME3 squad disappointing. ME3 also starts out very slow, with the first couple hours dominated by cut-scenes that make it feel like a long time before you’re really the one in control – although the opening battle on Earth, with all the explosions and environment being destroyed around you, is a great sequence.
A technical note playing on PC – the game runs via an Origin client, which is good for… just about nothing and has only ever caused trouble as it constantly forces you to update it and sign in over and over again. I guess at this point, I’m just lucky that it isn’t preventing the game from running at all, as has happened to me with some other PC games of the same generation (I think original PC copies of Bioshock have been pretty much permanently deactivated/made unplayable by online verification services that are no longer operating – I might have the title wrong, but I know that’s definitely the case for a few of my PC games from a time that isn’t really so long ago). ME3 also multiplies your “war resources” by a “readiness factor” that starts at 50% and requires you to play the multiplayer to increase it, which is an absolutely dreadful mechanic. First of all, these days, the multiplayer servers are empty (if they’re even still running), secondly, docking you 50% is huge and game-changing. I hate multi-single-player crossover anywhere it shows up, and this is a perfect example of why. Any increase you gain via multiplayer also returns back to 50% over time, although there’s a way to keep the Origin client offline (or maybe manipulate the clock) on PC to stop this from happening. The mechanic remains a pain in the ass, regardless, especially because it becomes very difficult to marshal enough resources for certain ending options together. On PC, again, you can also mod war asset values to negate this (I like to multiply them by 1.5 instead of 2 to make it a bit more challenging - contact me if you want that file to save yourself the time).
Altogether, even after just the first couple hours, ME3 is an interesting mixed bag – it nails so many small refinements and evolutions to gameplay that it’s almost impossible not to see it as the pinnacle and culmination of the series, but it also muffs a few bigger things – the multiplayer-determined “readiness factor,” the jettisoned ME2 characters, the overcomplicated loadout/customization options. These have always stopped me from favoring it over ME2, which, for all its technical glitches and its less-refined gameplay, still seems more elegant in its design.
A final note on ME3; despite my previous meta posts staking out my anti-DLC position in general, I do have the Citadel DLC for ME3 (at least, I think that’s the name of the one I have), and I think it fits into the game well. It’s one last party with all your friends before the end of the world. Who wouldn’t want that?
submitted by There was lots of unclear information I found online when I started playing. So here's some basic information about Ark. This overview will start by providing some general background information, followed by a description of the actual gameplay.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Ark is a 3D survival game. You can play it in first and third person view. You will start with nothing somewhere in a dangerous land full of dinosaurs.
The base game itself takes place on a single hand-crafted map called, The Island. It's not procedurally generated (although, you can setup a custom game on a procedurally generated map). There are three paid expansions that can be purchased as a bundle. And two more "Genesis" prequel expansions (the second hasn't been released). While I personally highly recommend the first bundle to continue the adventure, I don't recommend the prequel games (if you want to research these to see if you may be interested, I suggest doing so after getting a bit into the base game).
Over the years, free DLC add-ons were implemented into the game, called "Official Mods". However, despite all of them originally starting out as third-party mods, they are no longer actual mods other than the branding (name). These fully first-party add-ons, include four additional full maps, and an alternative mode of play. All free.
Currently, third-party mods are available only on Steam. The developer offers a sponsored mod program to provide financial assistance for some of the mods. Some of these may eventually be integrated into the base game like the Official Mods mentioned previously.
In terms of benefit, many users enjoy mods (third party). Some don't consider the game worth playing without certain ones. Personally, just like Minecraft, I myself don't use any mods at all for ARK. I prefer to experience the game as is with no alteration to interface or anything else. Sure improvements are always great. But overall, the base game offers everything needed to play through, and function.
Mod availability for Epic Game Store is currently pending. There is no set date for whenever their mod support goes live. (Note - "Steam version" and "Epic version"' are a bit of misnomers. They are the exact same version of the game itself on PC. The difference strictly has to do with their respective clients when accessing the internet. However, like many games that are exactly the same, users will use "version" to distinguish clients.)
For users who hate bloatware, ARK is also available, in Windows 10 shop. No known mod support coming.
In terms of actually starting a new game (using the base game as a reference). There are a few ways to do so with two major categories. Host/Local and Join ARK.
The Host/Local method means that you intend to play on your machine, or set up a game to host on your machine for users to log into. Using this method, you can start a fully offline single-player game. You can host a co-op session that runs your single-player game in a way that other users may join. Or you can setup a dedicated server for an empty game, meant to run 24/7 for users to log into, and play.
The Join Ark method is how you can play by joining a game online. It's not like an MMORPG where you create a character, and you will be loaded onto a server in your region to start playing. There is a list of official servers that are run by the developer. Pick one to join, and you will be able to create a character to start playing on it. There is also a list of unofficial servers, which are the same thing, but hosted by users. You can also find co-op sessions to join.
THE ISLAND
For the sake of simplicity, I'll explain everything from perspective of single-player PVE according to the base game. This is the map where the main game and story take place. The game is extremely open ended, allowing you to do whatever you want while surviving and living in the world. Part of this is an overarching mystery and goal you can pursue.
Beating the game is known as 'ascension'. Which I'll explain a bit more about later. The story then continues through the three paid expansions, followed by the prequel expansions. The free "official mod" add-ons are completely independent of this. Each add-on actually has their own distinct scenarios to enjoy.
You appear on The Island naked with a strange implant on your arm. This implant acts as your inventory and crafting menu. You will need to monitor your food and water. As well as watch out for danger. Collect resources used for crafting. Craft items and structures.
There is a day/night cycle. Temperature/weather is another factor that can affect you. There are different biomes to explore. As well as underground caves. While most of the adventure is on land, there's also a huge amount of exploration that can take place under the sea.
There are two types of damage. One is HP (health/life). Damage leads towards death. The other one is Torpor (consciousness). Damage leads towards unconsciousness (although excessive torpor damage can lead to death). Certain weapons are geared towards certain types of damage. For example, a sword will damage HP. Whereas a club wil damage Torpor.
Aside from necessary ingredients, what you can craft is based on engrams you've unlocked. For example, an engram for a torch gives you the ability to craft a torch. So for anything you want to craft, you'll need the engram for it. Engrams aren't something you find around the map. They exist in your implant menu. Engrams can be unlocked using engram points that you receive as you level up.
As you play the game, you will gain XP (experience points). For each level you gain, you will receive one point to put into any one of your stats. You will also receive engram points to spend on engrams that you wish to unlock.
With very little exception, you can tame just about any dino. To do so, you will need to deal damage to its Torpor to render it unconscious without killing it. By feeding the dino, while keeping it safe and fully unconscious, it will eventually become tamed. Once fully tamed, the dino is all yours forever.
Feeding a dino during the taming process requires placing food in an inventory that becomes available when it's rendered unconscious. As it eats the food, it will slowly progress a taming meter until it becomes fully tamed. Different dinos accept different types of foods. Different foods will give varying degrees of taming progression.
If a dino isn't kept unconscious, it will eventually wake up. If this happens, you will lose all taming progression, and have to start over from scratch with rendering it unconscious again. There are a few methods to keep the dino unconscious during the taming process. The main one being to craft a concoction that you feed it every so often to keep it passed out.
In terms of actually playing through the story to beat the game for ascension, the most important thing to know is that it is a mystery. Therefore, this is the absolute bare minimum spoiler-free information that is needed to understand how to go about getting started. There are dozens of explorer notes hidden all over the map for you to collect. All of them will be listed in your implant menu as collectible slots for you to fill. There is a creature you will likely eventually tame that has the ability to locate these notes. This aside, everything else you need to know will come from the information you gather from the explorer notes as you progress through the game.
The game experience is such that you're meant to die every once in awhile. For most users, it can be pretty often. You will experience gains and losses. Including losing beloved pets. That's why it's really important to keep in mind that this is a survival game. Therefore, planning and utmost caution is important for everything you do.
The breadth of the game requires way more information to understand. This is just meant to scratch the surface to give a basic overview without going into too much detail. Namely for users who have never played, and want to know what the game is about.
One piece of advice I'll give regarding what I just mentioned about survival. Understand typical RPG progression, and avoid getting ahead of yourself. Hunting dinos takes some planning and preparation. Don't waste time trying to hunt dinos that are too high to be worth the extra effort. Because it will often backfire. Check saddle engrams when deciding on dinos to pursue. There is a saddle for each type of dino. Thus, avoid trying to capture dinos that require a saddle you're unable to unlock at your level. It generally means they're too high for you to take on effectively.
submitted by Be warned, this'll be a lot.
so first of all, just a little about myself. im not an rpg fan. it happens every few years where friends would get hyped for an upcoming rpg, the internet would get hyped, i look at trailers and gameplay, id temporarily forget that i dont like rpgs and i get hyped too. wether its the elder scrolls, dragon age or the witcher, i end up playing those games and after a few hours i realize, oh yeah i actually dont like rpgs and this is boring. i dont like lengthy dialogue, i love good storylines and good characters but the media of videogames has never clicked with me when it comes to stories in games. i can fully enjoy that in a movie, a series or in an anime but in a videogame, it just never clicked. what i do love are competitive games, wether its starcraft, trackmania, cs go, league of legends, rocket league and my biggest passion racing games, more specifically simracing. and id consider myself fairly good at competitive games, i usually end up in the top 2-5%, wether its diamond in league, champion in rocket league or a 3k irating in iracing, im not elite but im better than most playing. so i like challenges. and thats where dark souls comes in, dark souls has this stigma around it, its a really hard game to beat, its a
challenge. from what ive known it doesnt have that much dialogue and very few cut scenes, so my distaste for rpgs wouldnt be so prevalent here. the game also supposedly has great fighting mechanics and im always a fan of fun and deep gameplay mechanics. however things that go against dark souls for my personal taste is that i personally very much dislike horror, i get paranoid quickly, even of bad horror movies. but move a step backwards towards just being creepy and i can endure it and even be fascinated by it, as long i dont get screamer after screamer. as it says in the title tho, i finished it and it was an awesome and great experience that id recommend to everybody.
my first attempt in 2013 we write the year of 2013, totalbiscuit, a youtuber i followed religiously has manged to have a hundred thousand people signing his petition for a pc port of dark souls. and incredibly enough, thats what we got! dark souls prepare to die edition. admittingly it was a terrible port that had to be fixed by fans but at least we got it. so i bought it. steam says last time i played that was december 2013, i have vague memories, i remember struggling a lot against the gargoyles which i did beat barely at the time. but i think it was the capra demon that made me quit in 2013 after 9 hours of gameplay.
now fast forward 7 years with dark souls always being at the back of my mind, corona times left me with a lot of free time and i figured now i will give it my all to enjoy and finish this piece of art. i bought dark souls 3 on a sale for cheap bucks, read some about it, wanted to start with dark souls 3. in the middle of the first cut scene i said fuck it, ill start at the beginning, ignored the prepare to die edition and went straight to buy the remastered edition. i have a samsung 49" 5120x144p monitor because of my simracing committments and i can gladly report that dark souls works pretty well on that resolution. not 100% well, the right side of the hud is a little bugged but all the options were still visible and working just fine but well enough for me to play on that resolution.
my story of dark souls here is the big part of the post, the game itself of course. first and foremost before we get started, it took me 31 hours but i didnt play it blind. im happy to admit that i couldve probably not defeated the game blindly and absolute big respect to anybody who has beaten the game blindly in his first playthrough without googling or youtubing or anything. you got my respect. a few more words about my approach, at first i followed a 100% guide until the gargoyles. since ive already played a bit in 2013 i pretty much knew most things until the capra demon but the 100% guide did a lot of stuff i would never know of myself and when it came to buying items for the future, i kinda felt stupid buying these items without properly knowing why. many gamers here recommended to play the game as blind as possible, so after the gargoyles, i decided just to do that. that was my philosophy, get as far as possible without looking anything. only when i hit a wall that i could not figure out myself, i would look up how to progress on youtube.
soooo lets get this started. like everyone of course i started at undead asylum, dont remember much of noteworthy here. i remember people writing you can learn parrying here well, i attempted to and failed miserably. the first boss asylum demon wasnt too hard, so we move forward to firelink shrine. at that time i still followed the 100% guide, so i killed that golden warrior dude by kicking him off the edge. quit game, re-enter and you get that nice ring.
fast forward, we get to the tarus demon, kill the archers on top, get the plunging attack and still fail miserably 5 times. in the end i only defeated it because it fell off the bridge, felt like a cheap win, like i didnt really deserve it but hey, ill take it. get the dragon sword, fail miserably at that giant metal pig a few times. got to undead parish, at that point i was still following the 100% guide, so of course i summon lord solaire and we manage to beat the 2 gargoyles first try. ring the bell and this is where i stopped the 100% guide and moved on, on my own. in the 2013 playthrough my next opponent was capra demon, i vaguely remember where that was, so that was my next destination here. and surprsingly i beat the capra demon first try here with the dragonsword. i dont know if the dogs died from his attacks, but they somehow died without me focussing them directly and the demon itself wasnt very hard. i was thinking to myself, i gave up in 2013 because of him? but well, celebration wasnt long because i couldnt figure the fuck out where im supposed to use this key for. google here i am aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand its a door right there.
actually i have to edit myself here. i think after this i went to darkwood garden, killed some plants and these statue soldiers, no big deal, got to the moonlight butterfly boss. now now, it wasnt that easy of a boss for me, i still killed it first try but i was just hella bad at dodging his things so i even had to use a humanity to full health but ay, 1st try is 1st try, right? go to the hidden path, kill everything, still be surprised why i cant open that one big door next to the hidden bonfire.
edit over into the depths we go then. i fucking screamed the first time one of those black things jumped on me from the ceiling and kinda ate me, jesus christ man. barely killed the big rat, absolute barely. then come the monsters with the big ass creepy ass eyes, i didnt know what that bar was but i just kinda tried to avoid it. find that npc guy, go on, take on the gaping dragon. failed a few times and then it happened. i got cursed, instant death and permanent health loss. so first thing i did was panic, naturally, always important to panic when stuff happens. second thing of course, google. a quick google how to remove that shit, so i ran back, bought one of these things that removed it, went back in there and watched the fuck out not to get cursed again. beat the gaping dragon like the 7th or 8th try, hes not that hard to be fair but i think at that point still my hardest boss but i think it was also the first boss ive never encountered on my previous playthrough. i dont know where the fuck to go after the boss fight. i go to the edge where he arrived. a note on the ground said jump, i jumped, i died. fuck you. i get my souls back and remember there was a locked up door near that npc. so i go there and ayy, it opened.
BLIGHTTOWN oh blighttown, deary me.
was a little dark, the monsters looked weird, fuck the flame dogs of course, i remember i had a crap ton of souls from the boss and i was scared to lose them, i was out of flasks and i was desperately searching for the next bonfire, 10 minutes past, 20 minutes past, still couldnt find it. good friend google comes in, i look up videos on where it is but they didnt help much because i didnt know where the fuck i was either. turns out i was just 10 seconds away from the bonfire the whole time..................................
anyways, i go down there, toxicity hits of course but i got a few of these anti toxin plants from the darkrood garden thingys. thought to myself theres gotta be a bonfire here, google, oh its the tunnel right there. so i took on my poison armor which BARELY was enough not to get toxicated. oh and i didnt have the ring that stops you from being slow in the water, never found that, dont know where that is still, fuck it. but my rolls wer still full force, so there we go. got to the spider girl, im bad with names, ive got a wiki on my 2nd monitor here, "chaos witch quelaag" and she was the first boss that gave me a real challenge. i think at the time my claymore was +5 and just about to be better than the dragon sword. it was that time when i just figured out that holding your weapon with both hands actually means more damage, lol. so this is the first time i kindled a bonfire and seeked help from another player. i didnt want to summon a player from the bonfire but rather in front of the mist. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand i get invaded, fuck. dude with his giant club followin me around but he stopped when i entered the spider webz. also dont attack these creepy ass people with nests on them. i killed them first time and then spawn like lots of little worms that fucking destroy you. they really fuck you up, that was the last time i messed with them. so after like 2 hours and i dont know, 10-20 attempts, i finally beat that bitch alone, ring the 2nd bell, saw the sen fortress opening, actually knew where it was for once, naively still moved forward. joined that spider convenant for the bonfire, kty.
so i didnt move to sen fortress but continued in the demon ruins. immidiately theres another boss, ceaseless discharge, fuck that guy, honestly, fuck him. so he had 2 attacks. one where he just slapped you, if he just did that, i couldve defeated him by my own, dodge, attack his penis, rince and repeat. but he has a 2nd attack. that fuckin fire laser beam and i could not dodge that shit, im telling you, that shit was impossible to dodge, so impossible that i looked up how the fuck you could defeat him. and well there were 2 ways, the one shot method and the one where you take that one narrow gap on the way. i took the one shot one, worked fine, thank you, fuck off. onto the 10 taurus demons. spend a solid hour there, was never able to defeat more than 3 of em. went on the right with the capra demon, killed him. but then i saw 50 capra demons, i was thinking fuckin hell, that looks wrong. completely forgot sen fortress was open, googled, been told sen fortress was open, go there, and i go there. i mainly skilled vitality and endurance like the pussy that i am, at the time i had a claymore between +5 and +10 cant remember. yeah sen fortress very fun of course, lots of fun, died like 20 times on my way there. and there was this moment. a certain guy called siegmeyer of catarina, had to look up his name. sitting there. on the edge. now listen, i CANNOT be the only one who thought here "its...tempting to just kick him..." but i wouldnt do that. im a guy of honor, im the hero of this story, im justice, i will save this world, jk lmao i kicked him outta there. felt a little bad, not gonna lie but he had it coming. find the rather hidden bonfire thanks to firemarks on the ground. kill the giant throwing the big stones with like 100 arrow shots, cry when i die and realize hes there again. killed the iron golem, rather easy boss as well, 1st try.
so we move on to ANOR LONDO oh boy. anor londo. admittingly it looks very beautiful, breathtaking view, finally an area thats not full of disgusting filthy monsters. nothing noteworthy happened the first hour, i killed the gardoyle (barely), didnt know where to go, google, ah of course i have to climb onto that building. get the bonfire on the bottom level, then... you know whats coming now, dont you? you know exactly what the fuck has happened next. THE FUCKING ARCHER CLUB, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. i cant even. i get hit from behind and my character would fall off while standing up, LIKE TEN TIMES, WHAT THE FUCK? i must have spent like 2 hours full of frustration and desperation. this was my first of two scenarios where i concluded: fuck anor londo. and the second scenario will surprise you, its not the one youre thinking. get to the bonfire, meet the solaire dude, cool doode. move my way through, kill the knights aaaaaand here he is. here he fucking is. the 2nd titanite demon. now, i killed the first one after my claymore was +10 i think, it was rather easy, that titanite demon below the first blacksmith. BUT THIS ONE? WHAT THE FUCK? too little space, too stupid to dodge his jumping move, barely dealt any damage, what the fuck? after 2 or 3 hours, you know what, i just gave up. i gave up. i told myself, you know what, its an optional boss, fuck him, lets just walk past. so i walk past, find the 2nd blacksmith with his morsecode blacksmithing like hes playing a triangle, cool dude, never killed a blacksmith in the game, useful guys of course who never messed with me passive aggressively like many npcs. kill the peeps in the hall and here we are. orn fuckin stein and smou fucking gh. now you would be surprised, i was only a single hit away from beating them just on my 2nd try incredibly enough. these two felt like cheesecake compared to that fucking titanite demon. so here was my strategy: i had a claymore and the heavy attack from the claymore WHILE SHIELDED deals nearly as much damage as 2 handed. so i ran around to single out the fast dude, blocked his attack, theres a brief moment where i could attack, did my heavy attack and immidiately kept running away, rince and repeat, until he died. of course takes a bit of time and patience, requires you to move intelilgently around the room but it worked. well almost. 3rd try i was like, you know what, this meme solaire dude is here, might as well let him help you. so i do humanity n stuff aaaaaaaaaaand i couldnt find his summoning sign............ cool. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand i got invaded aaaaaaaaaand backstabbed, cool. another humanity, this time i just summoned somebody at the bonfire, we beat these 2 dudes up, it really wasnt fair for them. unfortunately my summoned guy died when ornstein was like 10% and the other one was already dead, so big F for him please, we had it pretty much won and he dies. but i finish it alone. move up.
AMAZING CHEST AHEAD absolutely glorious. try holding with 2 hands. so after she was done talking, i wondered if you could attack her since she was on a podest you couldnt get on. usually npcs dont mind a single blow. so i took out my cheap ass short bow which deals like 30 damage. attack her and she dies instantly. i get a massive panic attack, what have i done? why is all dark as fuck now? can i reverse this? panic a bit more, feel really really bad. sooooooo yeaaaaaah i got the lord vessel right? ok i walk down the stairs, all the npcs are gone, there are like 2 or 3 human like npcs that tried to fight me, then i got invaded, ofc i still had humanity on. so i run away from the 2 npcs, get followed by invader, meet that other girl down the ramp, i fight 1v2, actually did decent dmg on the invading guy but then another invador joined and i got fucked. yeah, cool. got down there, whooped their asses offline now, went up again, the golden fog was still there, google what the fuck am i supposed to do now. turns out at the lower stage there is a boss, dark sun gwyndolin (definitely didnt just look that up), kill her easily, move back to firelink shrine since i had an upgrade for my estus. notice...a weird sound...go to firelink shrine...
WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK IS THIS? jesus fucking christ almighty that looks creepy. i nervously mind my business, level up, upgrade stuff until...yeah well...had to approach that boss at some point, right? so i go there, waiting for it to throw a powerful toung into my face or something...and...and...it bloody talks to me -.-
yeah that was quite the relief, blablabla convenant, blablabla, yeah sure ill go to your hell, sure ill fire up the lordvessel, why not. the golden gates disappear and thats where i went next. i was already best friends with anor londo, so naturally thats where i went next. the dukes archive. actually i did a second weapon at the time bcause i had plenty of ressources left, did a quick google on what could be good and decided on the gargoyle halbert, bloody love that weapon, insane range, faster attacks than the claymore, loved that weapon. however, i decided to make it lightning so i would use the claymore again, once the claymore outscaled the lightning halbert (which never happened btw, i went 20 dex/str and focussed on vit and end)
so i get to seath the scaleless and i die. of course i did. i ran there again, died again. third try i yolo'd, stiraght up ran into him as close as i could. and believe it or not but if you stand at the very upfront pixel, his attacks actually do not hit you. so i stood there, tryna attack him melee whcih didnt work, he kept doing his same attack. got my bow out, attacked him a few times and then i noticed he regenerates his health immidiately. at that point i realized, i probably cant kill him rn. so i clear the libraries, found another bonfire, was clueless what to do next, so i googled. OF COURSE you had to reverse that one pair of stairs, HOW COULD I NOT COME TO THAT, fuckin dark souls man. kill all the blue thingys, dont know where the fuck to go, fall down the cliff. realize i had to go to the middle, go down the pretty cool crystal area, walk around, fall down a lot, realize you can walk on...nothing, still fall down a lot and at some point i reached him, seath the scaleless, took his item, oh its actually something you can attack, killed the boss, wasnt too hard, first attempt. tho i died many times getting to him (MANY MANY TIMES FFS).
that was that, next up was demon ruins, got to the demon firesage, he fucked me up good, died like 10 times tho it was very late into the night and i was very tired but i got him. and then...tears...solaire has gone mad and attacks me. the only friend you had in that game. i didnt see that coming at all, im glad i never got spoiled of that part, tough stuff. yeah another titanite demon, fuck him man, i tried like 2 or 3 times then i just fucked off and ignored him. and then...
these bloody dudes . the first one you see from the side, now they are incredibly weak, i 2 shot them with my halbert and their attacks are bad but jesus, those thingslook absolutely terrifying, i was utterly disgusted by them. oh yeah somewhere along the way, centipede demon happened. on one bonfire you can already see him, i shot him with a bow but it just went through, it hought hed attack me on the temple but he didnt. a burn thingy on the ground said right, so i ran to the right finding a big piece of ground, once he came to the ground, he was easy, 1st attempt kill. back to topic, bed of chaos was next. my god, what a piece of shit boss. so i run up to him and shoot my bow, deal 0 damage and once again, somethings off. i go to the right side, kill that thingy off and the ground disappears, i go to the elft side (maybe died a few times) killed that, but still nothing. was clueless, googled, ofc you had to go to the middle aaaaaaaaaand oneshot. meh. i mean i died many times but meh.
so next up
the catacombs. find ground thingys, "divine", i thought they meant divine blessing, didnt use it but didnt know how it would connect. i had a tough time with it, googled, divine weapon, ooooooooooooooooooooooh. had a +6 bastard sword (before i got the claymore) left, made it divine and +5 while we at it. made it a fuckton easier, then came pinwheel- yeah
anyways, i climb up the ladder and its absolutely dark, you could see nothing, nada. remember some npc dropped a lantern, took it into my right weapon, didnt work, attempted to walk without, died. but then i figured out how to use it, with my shield, as a shield replacement it worked and hey, at least i can see 1 meter now. but still it was cancer and i was used to fighting with my shield. of course died a fuck ton, found the first bonfire, find a guy, as most npcs passive aggressive, dude pushes me down the small cliff. alright, i see, i see. find a woman, killed her dead friends, np bae. find my way up, talk to the guy, i say im not gonna kill him. once the dialogue ended, i killed him. see these skeletton dogs, and theyre fuckin tough mate, i musta died like 10 times to them until i reached the next bonfire. once i did that, i somehow figured out the way to the next boss, nito. now nito, fuck nito. tips said try luring it out, his skelettons were so annyoing, and everytime i got close, they fucked me over. died like 10-15 times full of frustration. then 200IQ play, what if....what if....what if i kill these skelettons with my divine sword? did it, they couldnt be revived and the nito alone was a piece of cake.
so yeah, had killed the 3 bosses from the golden mist, thought i unlocked that lord vessel door, didnt, remembered there was a dragon area after darkrood garden. went there, killed that big dragon (mini boss) rather easily, just stay on his side. get down to new londo ruins. find an elevator.......and it brings me to firelink shrine,
visible facepalm.
couldnt attack the ghosts BUT I REMEMBERED, HAHA, i need a curse to attack em. so i fucking port myself to the depths, purposely get cursed, run back there, and the first thing i find are these temporary curses............................................................................................................................
well anyways... find that npc on the roof, he seemed arite, i read a thing things about killing him later on, i didnt, never did. moved the water out, opened the gate, realize where i was (had quite a few "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, thats where i am rn" moments). some new dudes that drop titanite chunks, thx for armor upgrade. went to that mist in the small thingy. walk down 30 minutes of stairs, thinking like...eh what now? guess ill jump down. died. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????HUH? google of course, you need a specific ring, OF COURSE HOW COULD I NOT KNOW THAT? piece of shit game, look in my inventory I DIDNT EVEN HAVE THE BLOODY RING,
googling intensifies you get it from the wolf boss which i never figured out how i could get there.
googling intensifies even more, OH I HAVE TO BUY THE THING FROM THE BLACKSMITH, HOW CAN ANYBODY KNOW THIS STUFF? get in there lewis, take out shrooms, man these shrooms, i felt bad man, the young ones were just playing around, running to their parents, coming back to me and falling on the ground by accident, felt bad man, thats all im sayin. killed the wolf, was fairly easy with my lightning gargoyle halbert +4 by now. actually had no flasks going in because i wasted all of them against these rather tough 3 cat thingys. anyways, run back to the four kings boss, jumped down there straight, died. realize i hadnt equipped the ring, go all the way back there again WITH THE RING EQUIPPED, took my usual dodging patient approach that got me many boss kills, didnt work out so well here. time is of essence here and if i didnt hurry the fuck up, more would spawn. so eventually i noticed, actually, these little shits dont do that much damage, so i just ate their little damage and just straight up spammed two handed rb and it worked. 5th or 6th try i think? alright, now had all souls right? yep, back to that thingy, unlock the door, white nothingness around the stairs, curious if i can walk on them, nope, fall down. some easy knights and here is
the final boss. absolute epic scenerey, took my camera out, shot plenty of pics for mysouls.com. 1st attempted, got fucking rekt, dont think i even landed one shot. thought to myself well, i guess this is the first boss thats gonna fuck you up for a long time. i beat him 3rd try. without help. you can call me the parry master, not. i didnt parry a single of his attacks, in fact, it didnt even cross my mind to parry him because he had a huge fire sword. so how did i beat him? well, i dont know if it can be called cheese, ah it probably is cheese, not gonna lie. so basically, when you build distance, he flies to you, right? you barely have any time to heal up and stuff. but here is what i found out you can easily do: hide behind a pillar. if you do that, his distance between you and him would always be a bit bigger than otherwise, so you can heal up easily and avoid his attacks more easily. it was still close at times and i probably got lucky for beating him on the 3rd attempt but i did it. so whenever i saw an opening in his moveset, i would step slightly to the right, 2 hand my halbert and bam, one little hit, then immidiately back on the defense. and thank god for this halbert range man, i wouldve been terrified to get any closer.
so credits roll and the game starts new which i was kinda disappointed. i realized i missed some stuff and hoped i could immidiately get there but whatever, so yeah, that was my first playthrough of dark souls remastered and any soulsgame in general. i thank the one guy who read the entire thing, may the sun praise you.
any boss i havent mentioned i havent encountered, i never encountered stray demon bcause i never went back there and i never encountered "crossbreed priscilla" whoever the fuck that is. i looked up the hardest dark souls bosses to reflect on my success only to realize that most of them were dlc bosses that i havent even encountered -.-. i think i tried to touch that painting in anor londo a few times but it never let me through. and i never got the golden thingy at the hydra because apparently i killed it before having the lordvessel, so that kinda never happened....
IF YOU DIDNT READ EVERYTHING, AT LEAST READ THIS PART i just want to say im uncertain what to do next. wether i should do this NG+, wether i should replay it on a different class, like a more spellfocussed character since i barely did anything spell related in my playthrough. or should i move on to dark souls 2 or even 3 first? i like to move on from game to game so dark souls wont have my attention forever and it will never be THE game for me, ive already declared sim racing to be my gaming love. if i replay dark souls remastered, it may very well be the case that i wont have much motivation left for ds2 oand 3.
closing thoughts a truely unique experience, a game that gives you a crap ton of freedom in how and where you approach things. theres a huge variety of enemies and areas, all well done without typical exposition. the visuals and the sounds tell the whole story, you feel the atmosphere, the despair in the air, its a world full of sins and no heroes, do you play the hero? maybe, maybe not, maybe were the worst of them all. and despite the freedom, it doesnt feel like you play the game, it always feels like the game plays you. the game is prepared for any step you take and has an answer for it, despite the endless amount of choices you can make. the game doesnt mind you missing areas, npcs, bosses, thats all up to you to explore, to figure out or not. its a game that i will remember for a long time, even if ill never touch a souls game again from now on.
thank you for this great experience
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