Heh? Obviously Dark Souls is notoriously hard, but I've never heard of someone getting stuck because they didn't know where to go. I always found the environments really straightforward to progress though. I don't even think that's supposed to be a hard part of the games. Where the hell were you?

Nah I can totally see how that would happen. The games are massive and convoluted; it's really easy to get lost and not know where to go 'next,' as much as that can be applied to a Souls game.

My first run through of the first Souls game I accessed the bottom of Blighttown first, and climbed my way up, thinking that was the way to go, and it took me forever to realize I was moving in the opposite direction. Same with DS2 and not knowing where to go when you get the Ashen Mist Heart.

It's been so long I can't even really say. It was super early. Pretty close to the rotted greatwood. I remember just running in circles through that area outside where the large witch woman is. I need to go back and try it again.

Undead Settlement, dilapidated bridge shrine. I loaded up my game and that seems to be where I got lost. And I figured out where to go nearly immediately.

You have so much game left! You're in for a treat. I'm kind of glad I played DS3 before DS1, as the "nostalgia" didn't bother me. I'm seeing now why people call it "Dark Souls 1.5."



I've been using the Zweihander, so that's how I've felt for most of the game so far. It's +10 right now, and made short work of Quelaag, Sif and the Iron Golem.

O&S definitely lived up to the hype. The boss I've died to the most so far. I'm so happy I can finally warp!

So how many people are aware that Vintersorg has arranged video game music for orchestras? Because it fucking rules! The Bloodborne performance alone is fucking BONKERS!

Yeah I posted the Bloodborne suite in the FFA thread a few months back. Definitely one of the greatest single pieces of music I've heard in an age. Incredibly moving.

Wish I could say I enjoyed it more! I'm too spoiled by Sekiro. My knight on DS3 feels like I'm wading through jello at all times. The combat is just so boring to me. I'm not sure I'll ever finish it. I do still want to try Bloodborne again.

Ps4 flash sale right now is mostly junk but they've got Child of Light for less than $5 and the reviews are glowing. Think I'm gonna do it. Haven't played anything with turn based combat in ages.

With Sekiro finished I think I'm gonna try to go back and finish a few games I really enjoyed but never finished. Top of my list is Momodora 4. Also want to get back into Furi. Axiom Verge still has me. I'm frustrated with The Messenger but I do want to beat it.

Hours later edit: MOMODORA RULES I'M A KITTY BUT I CAN STILL ATTACK BEST GAME EVER!

I splurged on cheap indie games again, while plowing through Dark Souls. I'm at Gwyn in the main game, and I still have Kalameet in the DLC.

This is by far the most annoying fight ever, solely because I want to cut off his tail. I could have killed him 10 times by now.

Otherwise, 10/10 will go straight into NG+.

I have a controller problem with my PS4.

Hours later edit: I resolved the problem.

Get directly under the tail: you will bait a super dumb tail attack that leaves him open for few seconds

MaleficDevilry: what indie games did you get?

This is my first ever Steam Summer sale and I'm pretty fucking blown away. EVERY game is on sale? Like God damn. I'm broke but they had Bloodstained Curse of the Moon for 5 bucks so obviously I grabbed that. Oniken was 74 cents. 79 cents after tax. Of course I bought it! Oh and Steel Sword Story is like 3 dollars so I grabbed that too. It's clearly a game someone made in their spare time but I kind of love that. Simple mechanics like being able to slash up and downwards in a platformer helps so much. It's like Hollow Knight set a standard you know?

The rest I'm too broke for right now but almost everything on my wantlist (that's out) is on sale. It's bonkers for real. Touhou Luna Nights looks amazing and is marked down to about $11 bucks. It'll be mine Friday. Ghoulboy. Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. Not a Hero. Cave Story+, Valdis Story, Graveyard Keeper, Trysaria (early access).
Uhhhh....my wantlist is stupid tbh. But mostly things that aren't out yet.

Please don't sleep on Katana Zero guys. Especially if it's on sale.

Yay, I'm not the only one who did that!

(And I didn't take the Master Key either, I just got the Lower Undead Burg Key, missed the door for it, and kept running through the church past the titanite demon into the forest...)

I started playing hidden picture games recently. Pretty entertaining games with interesting plot. My favs are A Plot Story and Catch The Wind. I can play them for hours.

I'm on PS4 exclusively, so no Katana Zero or Steam sale for me.

Some of these might not count as "indie" but I digress...

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
Journey
Mark of the Ninja Remastered
Momodora
Mount & Blade
Rain World
Shadow Blade Reload
Titan Souls

I ended up buying Castlevania: SoTN and Aragami too.

I wrapped up DS1 and and gathering lord souls in NG+ already. I will probably start DS2 this weekend.

I got the 911 operator game it's really interesting. It is kinda repetitive in some ways but it is really realistic. I like that you can use any city even really small towns. I'm guessing they use Google maps to do this. For 5 bucks I say get it!

@Malefic you got some jams though! I'll never forget playing through Journey the first time. It was way back when it first came out and I'd never really experienced that whole "video game purely as art" vibe before.

I've always been curious about Rain World. Let me know!

Graveyard Keeper is now on PS4 super highly recommended. First management game I've ever played but the twist is you get to be a scum bag. Burn bodies or float them down the river to save space. I've also supplied the local bishop with materials for a witch burning. It's pretty addicting. I have a corpse shoot.

Edit: I just became a local Prior. Gotta swindle a congregation. Great game.

It's hard to explain how much I love Graveyard Keeper so let me just run down a few highlights:

- I skin dead bodies to make paper for alchemical studies

- I harvest flesh from dead bodies to sell back to the towns people as food grade meat.

- If I mangle a body to the point that it will bring down the aesthetic score of my graveyard it gets chucked into the fucking river.

- A communist donkey brings me the corpses and rants about not receiving enough carrots.

- I grow carrots and hemp. I have a compost heap for the gardening waste.

- I bought this game yesterday and have 16 hours into it already...

I was really into SimCity and Rollercoaster Tycoon as a kid. That game sounds like the version I would play as an adult.

Aw man, this shit was probably made for you then!

I'm growing hella carrots to get the bodies flowing again, damn donkey went on strike. Once my corpse money is back on point I'm gonna be making moves. My church holds like 10 people and they give me "faith" every Sunday that I then turn around and use in my dark alchemical research. Suckers.

I'm experimenting a bit with my less used Sekiro prosthetics lately and i can safely say that this mechanic is on par with Bloodborne's transformation attacks in terms of coolness.

In particular Sabimaru and Mist Raven trivialize some bosses-minibosses: the first even when the poison effect is not relevant is wonderful to shred the last bits of posture of small enemies like the lone shadows (in particular after the mikiri) and the latter is at times a straight up better version of firecracker: sliding behind the corrupted monk mid-combo and landing five hits in a row is priceless.

Story wise i'm a bit stuck with Owl Father, but i think i will overcome it. The pace is just intense and he punishes hard every error, but it's a damn awesome fight

Ps: i really, really hope for additional content. To make the game complete a Tomoe duel must take place somewhere.. they just need to add another buddha bell

I am still holding out hope for a DLC. I fully expected the bell mechanic to be for future DLC content.

Have you done Demon of Hatred? Owl Father is easily top 3 hardest in the game.

I've found it randomly in my other playtrough and i died quickly one time: i still have to fight it properly... Seemed very, very tanky, and a bit familiar

Sekiro DLC, while not confirmed, is basically a guarantee. It's deeply embedded in the modern From formula and I doubt they'd stray at this point, especially since Sekiro had the biggest launch of any of their games to date.

Insiders on ResetEra have hinted that it might not happen actually. Makes me very sad. I hope they're wrong.

Also I've started re-invading in Dark Souls 3 and I'm addicted again. Sigh.

That would suck infinitely there is a lot of room to expand the story, and this combat system it's too good to end here..

By the way i finally beaten my remaning bosses! SSI wasn't excessively hard save for the crazy second phase (still a damn cool ending fight) Owl has a tricky moveset and a lot of damage, i would say that he was the human boss that gave me most troubles

Demon of hatred instead was a massacre, i died a lot and i had a hard time before figuring out how much hits i could do before running away and how to close distance between him... Also the fight lasted an eternity. Overall not a favorite

I still have Emma to face on my first save file, we'll see if she matches the ones above

I came back to it after a years absence to try and finish NG+7, but the DLC's are completely wrecking me

So the Guardian Ape is like...waaaay way harder on NG+ for some reason. I think I've just completely forgotten how to fight his first phase. Do I just run away and slap him a few times where I can? That seems counter-intuitive to every boss fight. I'm excited that he's the first one to really give me any trouble. Although I am a total BIH and had to ask for the charm back. I hate chip damage. I just wanted to have a goofy fun playthrough cause my first one was so slow and serious.

If i remember well you had to wait the end of his long-ass combos to get few hits on the head, wich stuns him... also the firecrackers, flame vent and the Mortal Blade are crazy effective on the first phase

Only fought twice on two ng playtroughs, i've yet to start my ng+ savefile... I think i will hold the charm

They take the MB away when you start NG+! You get to keep all your other gadgets and items though, so it's a fair trade. I was racking my brain and I guess maybe that's what I did, the dodge dodge attack method. I really must have wiped that from memory because I'm so used to fighting his 2nd phase. God it's so much easier when he picks up a sword.

I want to be able to say I beat a charmless run but I'm not sure it will ever happen. Literally the first person I fought gave me hell. Not even a mini-boss just a regular foot soldier. The chip damage is reeeeaaaal.

I'm kinda map-drunk by my first playtrough (the one that landed me in mibu village before visiting the castle, i'm still figuring out )
But if i remember well the temple chimps can be fought before the guardian ape, if it's not gone forever you should be able to get again MB for the fight

I still have not fond memories of the demon of hatred, chip damage even on basic soldiers is a big no. I wanna rejoice with my l1 spam and occasional mikiri counters

Oh yeah I think you're right. I was wondering how I got myself turned around. I definitely found Senpou Temple before the Guardian Ape last time. The map is really fun, I've found a few "secret areas" on my second playthrough that I never noticed before. A prayer bead or gourd seed here and there.

I was SO COCKY when I started my NG+ I was like take this fucking charm you simpleton I won't NEED it. And I 100% had plans to ring the demon bell but uh...nope. I love the feeling of being able to stop ANYTHING with my sword. Chip damage was a deal breaker for me. Just killed my fun. I'll probably never truly get good but I'm enjoying the hell out of my second run. Stomping Genichiro into the ground was just as satisfying as I expected. Lady Butterfly got that work real easy too.

Also Momodora IV: Reverie under the Moonlight is a fantastic game but I beat it last weekend and got the most anticlimactic "bad ending" I've ever seen. Literally you defeat the final boss second phase and then she kills your character and "Bad Ending" flashes up on the screen, then credits roll. Uhhhhh...wow. That's a REALLY bad ending guys.

I'm banning myself from buying another game until I finish at least 10 more. GameStop has a buy 2, get 1 free deal on used games...

Darksiders 3
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Metro: Exodus

I've been hopping between Dark Souls, NG+ and Hollow Knight's pantheons this weekend. Tempted to go into NG+6 for Sekiro. What was that about playing new games?

Hahah I'm under a similar 'ban' but it's purely fiscal. I didn't really get to work the steam sale the way I wanted. I view games like books though. I don't always buy something with the intention of playing it immediately. I like having some games on the back burner. Options!

You guuuuyyyys! I think I finally found a spiritual successor to Hyper Light Drifter. Lucah: Born of a Dream! As I said above, can't afford it right now, but it looks VERY similar and the reviews are speaking to me.

Fuck it, I bought it while it's still half price. I can eat ramen this week.

I started HLD but the graphics turned me off after 10 minutes. I need to give it another try.

What are your favorite games of the last 5~ years, Jonpo?

If you don't like the way it looks it's gonna be a slog. I'm obsessed with the game in general and the pixel art is a big part of that. I really want to beat NG+ but I'm rusty and pretty much everything 1 or 2 hit kills you.

Honestly five years ago the only game I cared about was Rocket League. I didn't really care about single player or story driven games at all. HLD was a big turning point for me and massively informs what I love and seek out now. Although there aren't many other games doing "Zelda on steroids" like HLD, but it helped me find my love for a "retro" experience.

I'm struggling to make a top 5 because I've been so late to the table on a lot of games. I'm not even sure what years most of them came out. Hollow Knight, Specter Knight, and Hyper Light Drifter are the quickest references for what I'm constantly on the hunt for. But I also pour hours into Brawlhalla ranked matches. Nidhogg 1 was one of the weird titles that helped me realize what I love in gaming. I'm okay with dogshit graphics if there's super satisfying gameplay. Ummm man so many crazy good games. When did the first Hotline Miami come out? I go back to that one all the time. The Messenger was super fun but I got bogged down at the end and never finished the second half.

Dark Souls II (never beat it), Nioh (never even close to beating it) uhhh obviously I'm obsessed with Sekiro. Celeste is amazing. Super Meat Boy (never beat it). I really do want to finish Nioh. Or at least fight the Giant Toad. I'm eternally obsessed with the Giant Toad. I want to learn how to make pixel art games in Unity so that I can make my own spin off bootleg with him as the protagonist. And he'll have a REAL fucking name not just 'Giant Toad'. Disrespectful.

I have a real problem with not finishing games. I'm still down to play Nidhogg 1v1 online if anyone wants to. (Bats eyes at acid_bukkake). I did lose my microphone though so you won't be treated to my silky bass tones.

Sorry I'm high and rambling. You opened a can of worms.

I'm familiar with most of those, so I'm on the right track. I took a hiatus from gaming from about 2009-2017. So I've been playing catch up.

You NEEEEEEED another mic, brah. That smooth voice and positive attitude is something that needs to be shared with the masses. Dead serious. New mic and everybody here on PSN needs to play at least one game with you. Y'all will understand.

#churchofjonpo

I'm down for co-op in something Soulsborne. PSN is realsouthcity

The only one that I don't have a character yet is DS2. Everything else I have characters at varying NG+ cycles.

Hahah we're on such opposite waves! I've never finished a Soulsborne game except Sekiro! Honestly they don't hold much interest for me anymore. Sekiro spoiled me. I was determined to finish my playthrough of DSII: SOTFS because I put like...70 hours into it...but in the end I just hate the ultra-stiff combat. I LOVE the character customization, world building, level design, and the boss design. But I hate rolling around turning somersaults when I'm supposed to be a ferocious warrior.

I would like to finish Bloodborne, but I'm more interested in doubling back to beat Nioh. I was about to beat Umi Bozo or whatever the stupid gelatins name is right before I got sidetracked with Sekiro and some other things. I've been watching Nioh videos at work all day and I'm ready to get back into it.

You suck!