What Games are you playing 2016?

[Grefter]

REAL TALK

It is because people are listening to tracks outside of the context that they originally present them.  In isolation something that is designed as a backing track for something else reads very flat, because it was just supposed to sit in the background not doing much.

In isolation it just sounds closer to white noise than a piece of music that is meant to be a standalone piece of media.

It cuts the other way as well.  When Otherworld is on I don't care about the Jecht fight even though it is really good.  I am to busy dreaming of a better world where I am fighting a giant 3D model of something like the Beast Rune that has the dog heads attack in synch with the beat.

[Fenrir]

The kickstarter Matsuno dudes would have raised nothing if Matsuno's name wasn't there



Melodies are pretty cool. I dig melodies and would definitely recommend melodies to my friends.
I haven't heard any Crimson Shroud track in isolation yet I'm still underwhelmed.
FFT is also pretty good at conveying atmosphere through its melodic tracks, but its tracks also are super memorable and make you 100% pumped up. That's just a net positive. Melodies win.

Overall melodies make your games better unless they are this quality.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6o47N-aYd08

I feel that there are some exception; soundtracks that work really well without them (Drakengard, Souls), but Sakimoto's work isn't one of them

[Grefter]

ITT, no DS3 talk.

what are you guys even doing

[DjinnAndTonic]

I feel like RPGs lend themselves to melody-heavy bgms due to the general amount of otherwise empty sound in the games. Even now most games don't have full voice acting for every NPC, and even if they do, there's tons of games that are heavy on exploration and walking that need something to make that time less dull. You can call it atmospheric but I feel like that works better in a movie where you can time story beats to musical beats.

Counterpoint: horror games pull it off, but there's very few RPG settings that are really trying for that horror atmosphere.

[Cotigo]

ITT, no DS3 talk.

what are you guys even doing

wtf do you think

[Fudozukushi]

ITT, no DS3 talk.

what are you guys even doing

Lemme fix dat right quick.

Dark Souls III: Return of the Revenge of the Reckoning's Reveangence: First Order of business.  Fixing my TV setings.  Literally never used the thing and the brightness is at 90!  The in-game flame/dragon test would ave required a 0 to work and some later areas are still pitch black even at a 5.

Anyway, swanky, menu music is way too epic to be menu music.  Opening cutscene is back to delicious mythological stuff.  Can't wait to kill these dudes again!  Character creation I go with a Knight named Kane because I am an unoriginal hack.  (I was tempted to try the Herald though.)  Using shields again feels so damn weird.  The Cemetery of Ash is a tutorial and it doesn't have that stupid tree drop like in DS2 so it's unremarkable.  It even has a "DO NOT VENTURE" place.  *sniff* just like I always wanted.  Tutorial Boss IG is also completely—sweet Jesus WTF was that!?

Okay, well, it's still a tutorial boss and dies in one go but whaaaat.

There's still some more level to go before... wherever.  I explore around a bit more and promptly run into the bushido master who three-shots me and can swing five times in a row.

Repeat this four more times until I kick the bastard off the cliff and get his uchigatana.  Hanzo steel run go.

Proceeding onwards to... Firelink Shrine.  Looking kind of Kiln of the First Flame these days.  Nice smouldering thrones.  Hello Crestfallen, COOL SWORD!  New Fire Keeper, and we're sticking with hub leveling again.  Merchant woman and — hello Old Friend.  Good to see you keeping at it.  Dude on the throne just chillin'.  Our Mission: Go and drag the useless goobers who should be sittin' on these thrones home.  How we fit the giant in here we can worry about later!  Firstly, to Lothric!

Warp is available from the get-go again, along with storage box and spell atonement.  The Blacksmith now handles Estus Reinforcement from shards, while the central bonfire takes the +1 item.  Repairs are following DS2 mold but don't seem to be made of paper anymore, though that can change.

At the High wall there's no bonfire.  Oh, wait, there it is right outside.  I got two paths, left, and right.  I choose right because I'm always right, ha-HA!  Fight through some dudes, already have fucking dogs everywhere.  Up this staircase — what the holy fuck was that!

Ok, let's limp away with a sliver from that and come back fully estused up.

Yeah, that doesn't go well either.

Alright, lucky left!  Dudes, dudes everywhere.  Also plenty of shit just dead on sticks.  Also HUGE corpses just everywhere.  Find a cute little hidden path but eventually bite off more than I can chew and bite it.  Attempt Whatever: Go!  Get further, then enjoy a classic Souls experience.  There's another bonfire right nearby too, so I can start playing around with how to deal with that.  Except I get jumped and stunlocked to death from full health.  YEP.

Some testing at the Classic finally gets me by.  With a wonderful present waiting within.  I think that's the fastest enchanted weapon ever.  Too bad it does barely more damage than the uchigatana.  I grab the rest of the loot nearby and die on a fall.  Then have to do it all over again because my souls placed stupid.  The soulpatch is really obvious now, thank bacon.

Forward, find some more stuff.  Find a locked door.  Find a surprise; crystal lizard.  We're at stones like DS2, again.  Some small path splits here.  I have to take some retreats, and some deaths along the way.  You also will just randomly gain estus charges back.  I'm not even online.   Eventually I make it to obvious ominous boss room in tact!  Oh, ok.  So covenant "rings" are now just there own slot now.  Maybe way of blue/sentinals will actually work since you're not wasting a ring slot now.  Some more clearing out the area, opening a shortcut and planning out route.

BOSS TIME! VoBV  Big, crazy dude.  Totally rad first real boss.  He takes damage like a wuss, but he's damn ferocious.  Took three tries to best him.  I will blame all my loses on dodge lag.  The boss's hit detection, meanwhile, was fantastic.  None of that DS2 whiffing when you hit, and getting hit when the enemy clearly misses crap.

Boss defeated, path secured and — not you knuckleheads again!

Okay, whatever.  Big broken bridge now leading to the Undead Settlement.  And what's that happening in the distance?  TROUBLE!  Also an NPC!  Which reminds me I should go back to that jail cell.  TWO NPCs now!  Both of them sort of, teleport to Firelink and agree to be my minions.  Yay?  I find what one of them wants soon after.  The other is the sorcery trainer.  He also does some weird leveling thing?  I dunno.  Further within, we run into the new fat ministers.  The Evangelists.  They're great!  Also they are horribly powerful.

Pathsplit here.  3 ways forward which becomes two ways forward when I fall into a hole that loops back.  I find the Warriors of Sunlight emblem next to some delicious estus soup.  I backtrack to go across the bridge path which leads to some trouble.  I see a path down, but I'm low on health so book a retreat.  Lo and behold said path leads to a bonfire.  This eventually leads to the pyromancy trainer.  Some more muckery goes on and I die a couple times.  I eventually run into a new NPC who's clearly not compensating for something. 

Past him is a lift, that's activating revealing a Good Friend.  He talks about something I haven't seen apparently and can't figure out how Dark Souls' lifts work.  I head down to the basement and die.  On the way back, an enemy traps me in a corner and I die.  I didn't need a level's worth of Soul anyway!

Manage to kill basement enemy and get a sweet-ass sword that requires Twinkling Titanite to upgrade.  Bah!  Heading up the tower, Good Friend has learned the secrets of the lift.  The Pal up top agrees to be a bro.  Good times.

I head over to Pal's zone and now finally see what Good Friend meant.  Good thing he's a Pal now!  I get a upgrade item for old lady shop which gets the requisite sewer key.  This leads to old bones feelin' better days, a shrine to Velka of all fucking things and yet another new NPC.  The miracle trainer this time.

I have enough titanite to finally get Uchigatana to +3 and to Large Shards we go.  Upgrades are 2/4/6 this time around.  Ugh, I want to use all the weapons but can't!  Can't upgrade armor either.

I check back at Firelink and a hunter from Bloodborne's popped up.  He laughs and throws cracked red eye orbs at me.  I have another boss coming up that apparently has what one of the starter NPCs wants.

Random Crap:
-Poise is DS2's completely useless version.  I love getting stunlocked by shit staring at me too hard!
-Enemy's are unrelenting as all hell.  Damn near every other thing feels like the Drakekeepers in Dragon Shrine for how often they attack.
-The weapon skills are not particularly impressive so far.  I kind of like the defense-boosts though?
-Things are pretty linear so far.  There's a lot to do in zones, but you're pretty much funneled compared to DS2's sprawl.
-Fire is great for wrecking, what I'll dub, "tar monsters".
-Wooden Small Shields have more stability than metal medium shields.

[Grefter]

My experience is

Start a Pyromancer Die to tutorial boss 5 times and hate myself.

See Crestfallen.  Oh I need to check if that is what I think it is.  Roll Knight.  Faceroll the tutorial boss (starting with a 100% block shield is mad funny times).

Die repeatedly to Crestfallen enough to confirm that this indeed is a Claymore you can gank an NPC for.  Uchi right there as well.

its like they took DS and then decided nah lets remove the fuckery.  As long as you are of the school of though that Claymore and Uchi >>>>>>>> MLGS.

Also I had option paralysis on where to put stats so went Attunement and a bit of Int.  Because that has always been smart (this was dumb and I regret it already).

[Fudozukushi]

There's a Claymore in Highwall actually.

[Grefter]

Yeah but that is like not literally 2 minutes into the game.

Also asking for a relative.  Seen a Zwei?  I googled where to find a Greatsword for my brother but it might not be the same moveset which is what he is after.

[Fudozukushi]

Just 3!

Haven't seen it.  I think I've found an enemy in Undead Settlement that might drop Flameberges, for what little that's worth.

Lothric Knights might drop a sword, too.

[Grefter]

I tried to be a cool dude like Fenrir but I am not that cool.  I googled and now have knowledge but now I am a nerd and not a cool guy like Fenrir so will be posting less (just to not stomp all over the discovery elements since I know it is a big deal for you guys!  I am just not built right for it.)


but I am serious Fenrir you are the best I hope that didn't read as sarcastic.  i don't want to do anything to sap the joy out of your posts

[Cotigo]

I forgot to buy RAM to upgrade my PC to the minimum specs so I am playing Dark Souls 3 the powerpoint slideshow.

Got to the first non-tutorial boss and he was really easy except for the fact that my computer makes his big moves impossible to dodge accurately so I'm just gonna wait for the ram to come in I guess.

Notably, I got through the first area, decided I was done using the Scimitar and grinded against the Weeaboo near Firelink for what was probably a half hour thanks to load times (2-3 minutes per death, I really hope that RAM upgrade fixes it).

Eventually I realize I can buy an 82% damage reduction shield which makes Weeaboo doable with my framerate. Then immediately after I bought it, I somehow went around Firelink in such a pattern that he ran off a cliff offscreen. k.

Uchi's mine, I upgrade it to +1 and go back. In literally the next room, the room immediately after I said fuck it I'm done with the Scimitar and backtracked, I find the Rapier. In another room I hadn't explored yet I find a 100% damage reduction shield.

This fucking game.

On the plus side, in the room with the Rapier, the mob stares at you as you approach. If for some reason he accidentally walked into fire, and you move into the corridor leading up to his room, he won't move as long as you stay still and will kill himself on flames.

This fucking game.

[Fudozukushi]

Crestfallen actually uses a Bastard Sword.  On that note, I found the Zweihander!

Dark Souls 3: Looked around the Undead Settlement some more for loot.  Found loot.  hung my head at naked midgits super armoring through my attacks while my steel-clad ass gets stunned by rusty sickles.  Met up with Good Friend and we had a Good Time kicking ass.  The big bad demon we defeated to do so has given me inklings for just what is happening...

After that is a sudden bounty of gear, Flynn's Ring, Cloarthy Ring and Mirrah clothes.  I managed to scrounge up just enough souls to buy the 20K key.  It really wasn't worth it. Just wait until souls are free-falling.  Bloodborne hunter guy gives me a key to Highwall and I go there and get a Red Eye Orb.  Wow that was easy.

To the BOSS!  CRGW is weird and huge and honestly easy.  I won't even say HE got a win off me because a stupid add did it.

This gets me a thing and I can get boss soul stuff now woo-hoo!  One of those is supposed to act like Bloodborne's regain mechanic but it doesn't seem to work.

Still only have one path forward.  To the Road of Sacrifices I go.  Enemies here are fast, loud and aggravating.  I'm really not liking this chain-stun deal.  It's made all the worse with your slow stand-up time and enemies damaging you while you're face-planted too.

I eeke my way through to another bonfire and some NPCs.  Elite Knight Set remains eternal.

Next comes the hilarious bullshit of a large club flying smash not pancaking a normal human-sized mob.  Enemy super armor is ridiculous.  Somewhere along the way I find what appears to be the advanced sorcery trainer but INT check goooo.

Then boss.

Then death.

Muck around finding stuff, run into some enemies that drop the great club and exile greatsword + another bonfire.  I actually have options!  Though I bet the boss is a dead end.

I came back to Firelink for yet another new NPC to show up.  Crestfallen gives me a rock, and Greirat returned with the Zweihander in stock.  Groovy!

[jsh357]

Currently still trying to beat the weeb. Game feels a lot like Bloodborne.

[Niu]

Melodies are pretty cool. I dig melodies and would definitely recommend melodies to my friends.
I haven't heard any Crimson Shroud track in isolation yet I'm still underwhelmed.
FFT is also pretty good at conveying atmosphere through its melodic tracks, but its tracks also are super memorable and make you 100% pumped up. That's just a net positive. Melodies win.

Crimson Shroud is Sakimoto.bot at its lowest of low. Even worse than the trashes he composed for the Valkyria Chronicle games.
So no, no one is defending Crimson Shroud here.

[The Duck]

FENRIR BEFORE YOU GO ON A DARK SOULS 3 BINGE THAT I CANNOT FOLLOW IN FOR ANOTHER YEAR OR SO HAVE YOU PLAYED ENTER THE GUNGEON AND IF SO IS IT ANY GOOD IT LOOKS NUCLEAR THRONE-Y.

[Grefter]

We have already established that I am not Fenrir, but all reports I have seen say its kind of hits a sweet spot between Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne.  Favours the harder side and has rarer pickups than BoI but more varied moment to moment play since you can swap weapons.

If that helps.

[Fenrir]

I actually probably won't play Dark Souls 3 in a while? Man!


I have played Enter the Gungeon. I don't like it. It looks especially bad compared to NT, which has come out way earlier yet avoided all the game design problems Gungeon has embraced.

Nuclear Throne goes by much faster, is more intense, has way better gunfeel if that is an actual world - Gungeon has more RNG (for good or bad), feels pretty slow, has enemies that don't react to your hits too much, has money you can spend, upgrades, more bloat. NT is pure action, Gungeon has a fair bit of moving between rooms and visiting shops.

In fact Gungeon is actually way way closer to Binding of Isaac.
Buuuut Binding of Isaac is still superior, aside from being really really fucking gross. The main appeal of BoI is the synergy between all the items you get - you often get crazy fun combos you'll never get again, ever. There's an addiction in replaying to see what you'll get next time. Gungeon doesn't really have that, or much to set it apart in general, really.

In Gungeon you start with a terrible unlimited ammo gun and eventually find better guns with limited ammo. Unfortunately, while the guns I've gotten look different (this one shoots letters!), they feel really similar to each other. (Yeah the gun that shoots letter is basically another assault rifle like lol) Just comparing the spread between the NT shotgun and Gungeon shotgun makes me sad for Gungeon. NT's has massive spread and awesome utility, Gungeon's is just another gun.

The different design philosophies show in ammo usage 
NT doesn't have you run out of ammo unless you have terrible aim or make a mistake (like equipping two ammo intensive weapons) Running out of ammo is death in NT.
Gungeon has more RNG, so it has to give the player a viable solution in case he mights run out - which is often. This is really bad because enemies are pretty bullet spongey already. Running out of ammo in Gungeon is worse than death, it is pure tedium.
BoI has lots of RNG, and pragmatically just always gives you unlimited ammo.

2 hours into the game and the first floor already felt really boring - The floor is large, you need to get to every room to get $$$ for later floors, enemies are super easy but bullet sponges, and you might not even get a gun at all there. FUN

Gungeon also doesn't really have much charm or style going on. Everything is a bullet. It's kinda lazy.
This is very important because the chuptzah in NT / Necrodancer / Sunless Sea make me come back.

[Grefter]

Oh yeah pacing was a noted thing as well.  Enemies are HP sponges yeah?  Makes nothing really feel like it has impact.

why haven't we got fenrir log entries of sunless sea

Fire Emblams - So the Enter the 36 Chambers map where you learn kungfu or whatever is like literally the same in Norende mode as is in Hoshigami?  Except the enemies don't have different weakness based on side of the map? 

I guess it happens earlier, but that is overall weaker map than it was in Birthright.  Again might be an artifact of EZPZ mode.  but omg there was enemies with actual skills on this map in EZPZ mode cheats cheats cheats :O  (It was Oni Berzerkers still had Seal Resistance and I don't think there was any Magic using enemies other than Staves?)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Not sure about Normal, but on Hard Rinkah has some mages with her (and the boss has some minions with Bolt Naginatas but they don't matter since you can just wreck the boss). Each room was kinda set up as a bit of a puzzle, with Counter Archers in one, Lunge Ninjas in another, Seal Res + mages in a third, the introduction of the cheese that is the Hexing Staff in another, and a tricky little setup featuring a powerful Life or Death myrmidon pairup.

It's still one of the easier Conquest maps overall but yeah, I certainly found it harder than its Birthright equivalent playing both on Hard FWIW.

EDIT: I also feel obligated to mention I died twice, once from forgetting about Counter and once from underestimating just how deadly the lunge debuff chain would be.

[Grefter]

Ahh yeah it would be EZPZ mode in play there.  Hexing Staff was still there, Lunge was as well.  There might have been squishy mages I forgot about, but there no Bolt weapons and the Samurai pair ups had no skills.

It mostly just sticks out as weird for enemies having skills on easy peas than anything else.

[The Duck]

Hmm. Things being too RNG dependent doesn't appeal to me after Nuclear Throne. I'll probably pass until it's on sale somewhere. I needed something to play and may choose Hyperlight Drifter or keep on with Crypt of the Necrodancer and Darkest Dungeon. Or I might start Stardew Valley.

[Sierra]

Dark Souls 3: The camera's's souls is strong with this one.

I rolled a warrior because I knew if there was a caestus then I would have to try it and warrior has the highest starting strength. I immediately unequipped my shield so I could get under 50% equip burden and haven't ever put it back. This is occasionally inconvenient but I'm managing well enough with just dodging, probs because Bloodborne just made it feel more natural. I'm still using the starting battle axe and wish I wasn't. The stagger potential is great but the moveset just isn't my style. I've found lots of other cool stuff! I've already found a caestus and a whip and a great scythe and those are like my favorite implements to flail ineffectually at enemies with, right? But nothing else is upgraded enough to be statistically worth it just yet (I'm building up the butcher's knife to replace the axe).

The Nope Nope Nope tally in this game is already outrageously high, I'm more scared exploring castles than I was anywhere in Bloodborne (Fudo can surely guess why). It's sitting just a notch above the Omigod Omigod Omigod I'm So Dead Wait What How Am I Still Alive score. I've had one death so far and it was to the tutorial boss. This is probably because when I see messages telling me not to go to a place, I do not fucking go to that place.

Random details time:

If you two-hand the caestus then it magically becomes two caestuses. Caesti? Whatever.

Fudo, where did you find the sunbro sign? I think I missed it, because I'm well into the woods now.

I was going to say that the hollows who are not hollows are the worst enemies except no, it's just dogs, it's always fucking dogs, forever. Fromsoft dogs are so insufferably frustrating in every incarnation.

We're back to having to warp to the hub to level and also not being able to use multiples of the same soul item at once. Sigh.

Game is weirdly linear so far, I haven't had any really significant alternate exploration options.

Also nobody in Fromsoft games knows how to make a graveyard ever. Sure just stack those tombstones on top of each other.

EDIT: the weirdest bit was just meeting a very familiar person who said very familiar things and I couldn't tell if it was a joke or who it might be on if so. I still can't.

[Fudozukushi]

In the Undead Settlement, when you go into the dark building, after the great tree-burning rave, with Michlosh's fanboys within, there's a kind of hidden hole in the floor that drops into a room with the sign (and delicious estus soup).

[Sierra]

Noted.

Also my great regret at this time is not changing my character's default hairstyle. I didn't even look at the other options, what the fuck Cid. I won't actually restart because of this but I kind of want to.