A pun about Souls, or something. It's a genre, innit - The Bear and Badger

acemuzzy

Tried to pay the beta but fucked the timing

Facewon

Facewon wrote:

Second area of Remnant is so much better than first. I was down for first, but this second area is aces. Like 3rd person Doom with a much more considered pace. My only current gripe is the time it takes to use anything, health, power up whatever, the animation takes absolutely forever. May need to co-op some of the bosses. Have managed to solo all so far, but this latest one, I need to be able to get radiation meds in. Would be nice to at least jog while taking them. (Clearly, the slow animation is to encourage teamwork in co-op) Other than that though, it's freakin great. And I have tried different weapons and they're fun enough, but my opening rifle and pistol upgraded are still awesome to use. Really really slow to get more armour though.

Facewon wrote:

Yeah. Solo so far. I'm not finding it that difficult, mostly. It is, so far, 100% fair in systems. Once you understand what the music and voice cues mean, and suss a few of the harder enemies, if you take your time, you can do most things. I do wonder what it'd be like with one of the cqc builds though. I've gone the ranger, and the starting primary is just a fucking beast. Game deals out crit damage pretty liberally, and base damage is not shit, so vast majority of enemies, even in second area, are 90% of the time 1 or 2 shot kills. I also pumped a bucket of trait points into the ranger specific trait shadow warrior or whatever it's called. Basically means dudes stay with their heads up ass for longer. I creep my way forward real slow. Anti-speed run.
Multiple death bits so far for me:
- basically the first bit in the sewer where the big fuckers with the double sword arms appeared. Took me a while to get timing on their heavy attack window. Also where the big dragging sword dudes really fucked me, because they close distance so fast and there's not a lot of room.
- First boss and church. Both tough because I went in with wrong mods. Church is particularly annoying because it's 2 minutes, but the first 90 seconds is a piece of piss, and then the last 30 secs is a clusterfuck.
I've had a few other deaths to reg enemies through being too gung ho, and also in new areas before getting the right cure quick assigned. I am just playing on normal though.

Facewon wrote:

Second area is much much better. It's yellow, but it goes full SF. Seriously great. I didn't notice an option to change voice. Certainly can't see way to do it now. Will check again

stonechalice wrote:

I played this when it first came out and playing solo I couldn't beat the second boss no matter what. It was impossible. I'm assuming they've patched it since. Must give this another go.

Facewon wrote:

How very dare you. I'm up to the

Spoiler:

chimilarian or something. Big demon looking thing with an overshield you have to knock off first. had him within a quarter health on second go, but got caught on one of his low health moves.

Facewon wrote:

Well, he was end of level and I'm on to the third. Winning. (Yep, PC)

Now, in the right spot.

Mid level boss third section done. Bit of a prick, one of those big down swings that tracks your roll. Took about a dozen tries, but basically had tactics sussed within 2-3 goes. Then discovered an even cooler quick start to get him to half health safely around 5th go.

Being ranged and having pumped points into weakpoint damage has paid off hard. Most enemies are still one shots most of the time with main gun. And stronger enemies and bosses still take a fucktonne of damage from it. Also has fire damage mod which is currently rinsing everything too.

Now have a stockpile of 5-6 guns I'm yet to even try.

acemuzzy

Hold the phone, I've still got a £10 Epic voucher thing so Mortal Shell is only £15... Might go in lads!

Djornson

Do it! I gave up on Surge 2, solid game but there wasn't any atmosphere. I think soulsborne has amazing atmosphere, thats what i miss from others the most.

Curtis

I'm enjoying Mortal Shell now its properly clicked.

Hard to believe it was made by 4 guys. I know its not a big game, but whats there is really polished.

Facewon

Oh, keep info coming.

acemuzzy

I got it downloading. First soulsy for a while for me, hope I'm still gud etc

Facewon

What I assume is the final area fo the third "world" in remnant scary AF. Game still largely avoiding jump scares, and cheap shots like the fake chest fuckers from DS, but it's still pretty fucking grim.

Sound folks deserve a big nod too. The fuckers.

JonB

I've just been given Mortal Shell to review. Better late than never. I'm looking forward to it now I know it doesn't drag on too long.

Curtis

...

acemuzzy

Spoilers!

Curtis

Sorry i'll delete it.

Thats only information i gleaned off the internet, not by actually playing the game myself.

JonB

First impressions are... quite bad. The first big area isn't well designed at all.

I suppose I don't really get the point in making Souls, but not as good. Hopefully it's got more to offer once it gets going.

acemuzzy

I've had an opening dabble. Enjoying it more than Jon I think - at least, feeling noob, feeling there's lot to learn, feeling it's fair in needing to git gud. Very confused about what's where and what I'm meant to be doing / where I'm meant to head, but isn't that the soul's way??

Curtis

I found that once i stopped thinking of Harden as a shield and more of an offensive tool, it made the combat way more interesting. You can throw it up in the middle of combos, or use it to delay follow-up attacks after a whif.

Its a neat mechanic. Play around with it.

acemuzzy

Spoiler:

Curtis

Meh. Not sure i'm feeling Mortal after all. Its all so very predictable and by-the-numbers. Probably didn't help that i was getting frustrated with the stamina management of the Zweihander. I really don't do big weaopns.

Reckon i might throw some cash at Remnant and play that new DLC.

acemuzzy

God I suck at this. Much gitting gud required, I've barely got anywhere

Facewon

If we recall the souls like vids posted earlier, one of the games dude actually recommended was lacuna. On special for aus$8 (a pint, about?).

Nabbed it.

JonB

Mortal Shell - I've done the necessary in the opening area and after much wandering found myself in a new area. But I decided I wasn't really ready for that yet and still needed to explore the first part more. Getting back was a pain, but I've managed that finally. Now I've explored the opening area more and powered up a bit.

But it's still really confusing. I ended up dying with a load of souls after exploring a lot, and now can't remember how to get back there from the save point.

At least I got myself a new weapon from the other area I found.

JonB

And why the fuck are healing items respawning on a timer? What a stupid design decision.

acemuzzy

I'm still in the first but but have had visions of where to head next... sine of which I've started to place.

Being trying to practice parrying. Still have worked out if you can't parry at all till it's lit, or just can't do the health recharge thing. It seems easier once lit, certainly...

JonB

I'm struggling with the parry timing, but I think it's supposed to be possible on any attack unless the buckle thing flashes red as they're winding up.

Overall, I do quite like the combat now. You can be pretty aggressive with it.

I also quite like the other new area I've found, after mostly clearing out the opening section (I think). Athough I think I've just got screwed - I'd powered up my new weapon quite a lot, then used a mystery item which switched me back to the sword. Now I'm not near a place I can change back.

Curtis

The starting area is hella confusing when you first start playing. I've seen a map and its not actually that complicated, it just all looks very similar. There are certain 'signposts' that help but it takes a few laps to figure out where each branch leads.

JonB

Curtis wrote:

The starting area is hella confusing when you first start playing. I've seen a map and its not actually that complicated, it just all looks very similar. There are certain 'signposts' that help but it takes a few laps to figure out where each branch leads.

Yeah, it just needs more variety. I'm still struggling to remember which direction everything is in.

But I'm enjoying this more now. Got to the end of one new area and did the boss (first time, but it took ages because I was stuck with an underpowered weapon), then returned to the hub. I like how that all works.

Now back to the other area I went to accidentally earlier, and it's already clear I'm better equipped for it now.

Mechanically, it is all a bit predictable and repetitive, but there are some nice ideas.

Dinostar77

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-08-21-chinese-action-game-black-myth-wukong-is-taking-the-internet-by-storm

Looks very nioh and souls like.

Gameplay starts around 5:50min

Facewon

Posted that in the general games thread.

Looks more brawler too me. And Anthem trailer vibes are strong, as I said. We'll see.

Facewon

Get the feeling I'll be attempting this Boss a fair few times.

Lets call her Barbara. I assume I can avoid spoiling that.

There's a lot to dodge.

Curtis

Souls or something:

The new Remnant DLC started so strong, like an RE4 farm writ large. Then it jumped into re-used assets and locale, with an annoying, and repetitive puzzle element thrown in. Run here fast, dodge that, pump ammo into yet another glowing/throbbing orb! Why? To progress. I'm not in the mood for that lazy shit.

I restarted Mortal Shell this afternoon on a new savefile, and blitzed through the early encounters. Then i stopped and asked myself "whats the point?". There was no answer, so i quit. It is what it is, and its not special, so why bother.

Same goes with Hellpoint. Its fine but its not doing anything other than going through the motions in a C-Rank Souls kinda way. Again, why waste precious time and life force playing mediocre games?

In summary: Souls is good for a reason. Miyazaki being the key factor. Souls-likes need to stop. I know the developers behind all these facsimiles are fans too, but mimicry is not the way to go. Try something new. Don't try to piggy-back FromSoftware, who invented, refined and mastered this shit!

Facewon

There is defo an element of folks needing to be sure that the game they are making is suited to Souls style.

At least the base of Remnant is rock solid.

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