What game are you playing?

[Noisy Humbucker]

I think Borderlands 3 is radically superior to Borderlands 2 in the gameplay department. The first playthrough doesn't feel as gimped as your first BL2 playthrough, and unlike BL2, all the base game characters were actually viable in endgame and playing them solo didn't feel like you were just stringing together Fight for your Life/Second Winds to get through every level. Just too bad about the awful story and dialogue!

Gameplay - yes (including vehicle controls). Just about everything else including level design, not so much (to me).

 

[MFB]

Ugh, Nioh is kind of infuriating me already, I hate the healing system right away; I mean consumables is one thing, but limiting you to THREE in the beginning? Holy shit that is insultingly low, given that certain attacks can do half to all your health.

The mob in level two at the top of the hill also sucks, like, I'm good with ki management and activating the pulse for it, but all of them can do combos and have different weapons types, so you can't easily be near or far from them. One hit and you're forced to heal, which opens up for attacks from three other guys. I lured a few of them out and they still manage to hang up at the end with axe/spear, so that wasn't fun.

 

[wankerness]

Ugh, Nioh is kind of infuriating me already, I hate the healing system right away; I mean consumables is one thing, but limiting you to THREE in the beginning? Holy shit that is insultingly low, given that certain attacks can do half to all your health.

The mob in level two at the top of the hill also sucks, like, I'm good with ki management and activating the pulse for it, but all of them can do combos and have different weapons types, so you can't easily be near or far from them. One hit and you're forced to heal, which opens up for attacks from three other guys. I lured a few of them out and they still manage to hang up at the end with axe/spear, so that wasn't fun.

Nioh’s healing system is kind of like Bloodborne, though - you can loot more during the level and thus have well over the cap that gets refreshed at the shrines, plus if you use them you can often find more in the level.

Something that makes a HUGE difference is getting the shrine blessing that increases the number of healing items that drop. That's definitely the best one early on, don't be tempted by the one that slightly increases EXP. You can get shrine blessings after you've rescued a few kodamas (little green guys with hats that are hidden through the levels). You also get an increase to the number of potions you can hold based on the number of those little guys you rescue. I think this number starts at 3 on every "overworld" and increases based on the number of Kodamas you find. And I think the ninjutsu skill tree (maybe it's magic?) has skills that increase the base number of them, too. Basically you're heal-starved at the beginning of the game if you are messing up a lot and don't have that heal blessing yet, but it gets better. I don't think it's nearly as bad as Sekiro where you have the same low number at the beginning and you can't refresh them without actually resting at a shrine.

I don't know what mob you're referring to at the top of the hill. I'm guessing either the big skeleton guys that drag the axe, or the basic bitch demon (that still can 1-shot you if you have low armor at the beginning of the game), or maybe the fire wheels which are like the skeleton wheels from Dark Souls only somehow worse. The big axe guys are really easy cause they have like two attacks and are slow, but they can pretty much 1-shot you if they hit you with the big slam. They run out of ki really fast. I would usually just go after them with the spear strong pokes and they couldn't do anything.

What weapon are you using? Spear is probably the easiest - mid stance spam strong attack is the easiest/most boring way to play. Axe can also be very easy if you wear heavy armor and just mash the high stance strong attack and stunlock everything. Your evasion sucks but once you learn proper spacing to hit monsters from just outside of their attack range you can really demolish most of the game with it.

Kusarigama is pretty good, but definitely weirder and harder to master. Odachi (BIG katana) is probably about as easy as Axe and Spear. Tonfa are pretty darn good but you'd need DLC (or the "complete edition") to have access to them. Katana is like, the most varied weapon in terms of abilities and stuff but has a really high skill ceiling and is pretty bad if you aren't great with it, cause it has like zero stagger on enemies.

Don't level like dark souls and try pumping your "damage" stat, you want to basically level all stats somewhat evenly to like 20 or 30. You get huge bonuses from about levels 1-20 but then it falls off quick, and your damage/survivability is primarily based off gear, not stats. Once you're really high level you can dump stats into whatever most boosts your weapon of choice, but it's not a good idea on first playthrough. The only good stat to boost like crazy on a first playthrough is stamina, if you're doing an axe build, cause you'll need it to equip heavy armor without the game's equivalent of "fat rolling" and it also boosts the axe damage besides. You can also go spear build and pump the "body" stat (the game's health stat), cause for some reason that's what boosts spear damage and it also increases survivability, just not by that much.

 

[TheBlackBard]

Tried Flintlock: Siege of Dawn and at first I was worried because it was said that it was along the lines of Souls difficulty, and thankfully I found that wasn't the case. However, this did not stop what I did play from being very pedestrian and derivative. After playing a game that felt like a mash-up of better games I've played, there's no soul here. Not in exploration, not in upgrades, it feels like a very stripped down mash-up of God of War and some of the Souls games. Feels like a copy/paste job. Shame, because what I saw in the trailers had me a little excited, at least to play it.

Bought Dragon Quest 11 and so far this has been a pleasant surprise. Turn-based JRPG, pretty cutesy, and I was told it was a good starting point to get into Dragon Quest. I needed something a bit more relaxing, and if I'm honest, maybe a little less dark in terms of thematic material. And yeah, so far there isn't much that I haven't seen before, but it feels like the devs really enjoyed making this game, it's got some heart for sure. 6 hours in, going to see where it takes me.

 

[gasolinedreams]

You can also go spear build and pump the "body" stat (the game's health stat), cause for some reason that's what boosts spear damage and it also increases survivability, just not by that much.

First time I played Nioh 1 I co-oped with my brother and a friend. My brother was using spear and pumped levels into Body and honestly his build turned out a lot tankier than the builds me and my friend were using that playthrough.

 

[MFB]

I don't fucking get it, I went out and got several extra levels today splitting it between stamina/ki/strength - all of which also increase life but not as much as directly - and still fucking NOTHING. In low stance I hit for mid-40s, my mid-stance is high 60s, and I don't dare try high stance on him because the attack window is so small. I've got him into Phase 2 a couple times but not enough to feel even close to confident with. This chip damage feels like endgame Radahn all over again and it's the SECOND boss!

I also found FOUR extra Kodsma today, but I'm still only starting with four healing items! What the fuck gives? I see 8 of these little fuckers chilling on the shrine and for whatever reason the game is throwing me a middle finger saying, "you figure it out, stupid!"

This feels like Team Ninja adopted the OG Xbox Ninja Gaiden into a FS formula, and that's not a compliment

 

[phillybhatesme]

Can I plug here? I streamed some Super Mario World rom hack earlier called Sweet World. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, rom hacks are essentially fan-made renditions of the old game. Levels and enemies are laid out differently, some sprites are different or new, and sometimes you have to do tricks in order to proceed.

I haven't streamed in about 15 months and had a great time. I put some highlights on YT which you can watch below. Or delete my channel plug if that's against the rules.

 

[wankerness]

I don't fucking get it, I went out and got several extra levels today splitting it between stamina/ki/strength - all of which also increase life but not as much as directly - and still fucking NOTHING. In low stance I hit for mid-40s, my mid-stance is high 60s, and I don't dare try high stance on him because the attack window is so small. I've got him into Phase 2 a couple times but not enough to feel even close to confident with. This chip damage feels like endgame Radahn all over again and it's the SECOND boss!

I also found FOUR extra Kodsma today, but I'm still only starting with four healing items! What the fuck gives? I see 8 of these little fuckers chilling on the shrine and for whatever reason the game is throwing me a middle finger saying, "you figure it out, stupid!"

This feels like Team Ninja adopted the OG Xbox Ninja Gaiden into a FS formula, and that's not a compliment

I need more info on what you’re doing to tell you what to fix. What’s the second boss? Vampire lady? What weapon type are you using? Are you farming the player graves? That’s by far the best way to get early gear. Though if you’re playing offline that’s not an option.

As I said in the last post level is pretty irrelevant to survivability except as in it fills out your talent points, this game’s all about gear and talent trees.

 

[MFB]

I need more info on what you’re doing to tell you what to fix. What’s the second boss? Vampire lady? What weapon type are you using? Are you farming the player graves? That’s by far the best way to get early gear. Though if you’re playing offline that’s not an option.

As I said in the last post level is pretty irrelevant to survivability except as in it fills out your talent points, this game’s all about gear and talent trees

I'm at the stupid demon village, the dude in the boat who's the same as the one at the end of the first level (Tower of London) basically, just with the steel balls. I've beat him on my last playthrough and have no idea what I'm doing differently, besides being slightly more aggressive.

I'm running a sword, single hand not two pair, I've gotten armor off the revenant graves but none of it is really crazy or anything. I'm also right at medium load already, but no idea how much it slows you down since there's no visual representation like fat roll.

 

[TheBlackBard]

Can I plug here? I streamed some Super Mario World rom hack earlier called Sweet World. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, rom hacks are essentially fan-made renditions of the old game. Levels and enemies are laid out differently, some sprites are different or new, and sometimes you have to do tricks in order to proceed.

I haven't streamed in about 15 months and had a great time. I put some highlights on YT which you can watch below. Or delete my channel plug if that's against the rules.

I'm not a mod or an admin, so take this with a grain of salt, but quite frankly it'd be a nice break from anything Souls and every other bastardization of it to see some more variety, so feel free.

 

[MFB]

Switched to spear and finally beat him, I guess one thing I wasn't doing before was multi dash to try and avoid his steel ball toss (which also requires odd timing), since one of them alone isn't enough to clear the geometry of the ball itself. I played pretty aggressively on that one too but no worse than any other time either, not sure what happened, I think the game pitied me.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

I'm playing Witcher 3 + DLCs for the first time, I'm about 60% through the main story - I quite like the story, but feel the controls and combat are a little clunky at times. I'm looking for what I want to play afterwards, Most of my gaming tends to be more on the sim/strat side and less on the action/rpg side, but I could be convinced to lean more into it. I liked BOTW quite a bit (TOTK is a bit less engaging for me). I'm not sure I'll like a Souls-like game, and don't want to drop the coin for one if it's not my thing. Online/co-op isn't my thing either.

I have the following on my saved for later list, (some/most aren't there to scratch the itch of what after TW3):
Kingom Come: Deliverance, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring (from the hype), Manor Lords, FrostPunk 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and Tiny Glade

 

[wankerness]

I need more info on what you’re doing to tell you what to fix. What’s the second boss? Vampire lady? What weapon type are you using?

As I said in the last post level is pretty irrelevant, this game’s all about fear and talent trees.

I'm at the stupid demon village, the dude in the boat who's the same as the one at the end of the first level (Tower of London) basically, just with the steel balls. I've beat him on my last playthrough and have no idea what I'm doing differently, besides being slightly more aggressive.

I'm running a sword, single hand not two pair, I've gotten armor off the revenant graves but none of it is really crazy or anything. I'm also right at medium load already, but no idea how much it slows you down since there's no visual representation like fat roll.

Single sword is like, paradoxically the weapon I’d least suggest to beginners. It doesn’t stagger at all, so you can’t stunlock enemies like you can with a lot of other weapons. Also it’s too short to be able to hit demons in the horns (that usually instantly stuns basic demons and that boss you’re talking about). Axe high stance heavy or kusarigama high stance heavy twirl attack is probably best for that, but if you get good with spear in high stance that can work too.

Dual swords I forgot about. They have some moves you can learn which turn them into totally unfair human boss destroyers, but they have the same lack of stagger problem that regular katanas do against demons.

But yeah you are seeing how the combat just is in this game. It’s WAY more twitchy reaction speed required until you learn sloth. Bosses can just up and 1-shot you at the beginning of the game. I usually ended up practically hyperventilating cause I had to be so much more “on” than in a game like dark souls. You just have to get sloth and then everything’s easy!

Hino-Enma is the major boss that makes people quit. I think it’s the second boss. That one you fought is first.

 

[MFB]

Yeah, vampire lady is the place I quit last time - conveniently up next - so we'll see how it works this time; but I'm pretty sure I wasn't bothering with stances, or accurately ki-pulsing to recover quickly etc. I don't have any issues running thru the main levels themselves, although the Yokai "portal" or whatever you wanna call them that are just randomly dropped are also a pain in the ass; but with just humans, it's easy enough to do a little 4 combo in low stance, pulse, and then combo again and finisher.

I started unlocking more skills, and using Ungyo points or whatever to help up my healing/toughness/etc, it ain't much but it helps (hopefully)

 

[wankerness]

Yeah, vampire lady is the place I quit last time - conveniently up next - so we'll see how it works this time; but I'm pretty sure I wasn't bothering with stances, or accurately ki-pulsing to recover quickly etc. I don't have any issues running thru the main levels themselves, although the Yokai "portal" or whatever you wanna call them that are just randomly dropped are also a pain in the ass; but with just humans, it's easy enough to do a little 4 combo in low stance, pulse, and then combo again and finisher.

I started unlocking more skills, and using Ungyo points or whatever to help up my healing/toughness/etc, it ain't much but it helps (hopefully)

Hino Enma is just a ridiculous bitch of a fight at your low level with like no skills available to be unlocked. I would very, very highly suggest getting Onmyo Magic high enough to learn "Guardian Spirit Talisman." The first time you hit her with that (assuming you chose the fire guardian spirit, anyway - dunno if the other two work the same way) she's stunned and falls to the ground and you can take off like 1/3 her health. Then you just have to get her to like 40%, pop living weapon, and she's dead. The fight deserves to be cheesed. It CAN be won but it's ludicrous - all her attacks build up paralysis on you, which can only be cured at low levels with a rare item that you have to get from the level, meaning you're screwed if you run out after a bunch of failed attempts. There's a cure for it in the ninjutsu tree too, but good luck having the skill points to get that before fighting her.

The third (?) boss is also kind of ludicrous, but not as bad as her. Seriously you just need to cheese your way through via living weapon abuse as soon as the bosses hit like 45% health and get to the point where you get sloth and then everything opens way up.

Regarding equip loads, there's like, no benefit in this game to using light armor. It basically just means you're guaranteed to get one shot by everything. I don't think it affects dodge timings or anything like that, I think it just affects Ki regen speeds. If you're in light armor, yeah, your ki regens faster, but if anything hits you you're done, and once you learn how to ki pulse with stance changes you're basically never going to run out anyway.

Definitely stay at medium load or you will have a bad time and always be out of ki. The penalty for heavy load is severe.