I didn't notice this post. Sorry for replying so late. And to answer your question: everything. Combat is fun, challenging and extremely rewarding once you master the basics. The story is quite simple, but the script is really well crafted and it results in a fun, engaging experience. Graphics are beautiful, honestly; sometimes I wonder around just to look at the landscapes and take screenshots of things that I like. I know a lot of people complain about the bugs, but most of those complaints come from early 2018 so I guess those bugs were fixed because, so far, I've only encountered a couple, and none of them were game breaking. I read in an earlier post here that the "simulation" part was too much work to do and it felt like a chore (or somethin like that), to me, that's a bit of a stretch, just make sure to keep Henry well fed, rested and clean and you'll have no troubles.

Youuu guuyyyssss it finally happened. I'm obsessed with Dead Cells. I've only done maybe 8 runs? Spread out over...well whenever it came out for PS4. I think I bought it pretty early. I've still not beaten the game but I reached the Throne Room last night and got the Hand down to about 1/4 health on my first try. I'm feeling super energized/motivated to keep making new runs. On my best run so far I was using some kind of Boots that dropped with ridiculous stats at the very beginning of my run. Oh and I also got the Frost umm..Orbs? It's like 3 frost balls that go out and slow down mobs instead of freezing them. The synergy between this and the boots was so fun. Just running around like a mad person kicking the living shit out of slowed down baddies. Oh I also used a shield for the first time, cause I heard parrying makes the Castle a breeze. It definitely helped. Parrying is SO EASY and really fun. Although it gets hectic with too many things on screen at once.

Watching other people play blows my mind. Currently watching a 5BC, Cursed, hitless run on youtube. Some of these weapons and mutations you get later in the game seem SO FUN. I want Kid's Axe (or whatever) and Owls of War!

Any general tips/tricks you want to drop for your boy, I'm open to hearing them. I still feel pretty new at the game and like I don't fully understand ANYTHING, but it's so fun. Each run hooks you just a little more than the last. I just got to the Ossuary for the first time last night and did NOT handle that very well. I don't have the rune for wall-jumping yet and I really want to obtain that.

My strategy in dead cells is to just dump most of my points into fully-upgraded crossbows and cheese the shit out of the bosses. I know they nerfed crossbows a bit in the last patch, but it's still fun. So far I've beaten the game three times.

Hahha okay duly noted. I haven't even touched a Crossbow yet. I am putting some cells into unlocking an Ice Crossbow, which I'm sure will be fun. But so far I'm finding the "slowed" effect helps me a lot more than the frozen effect.

I feel like things are starting to make sense in Dead Cells. I'm getting to the Hand rather easily now. Ice Crossbow rules. But omg I got a III-L or wtfever 'Quick Bow' with all kinds of dope multipliers. It wasn't enough to beat the Hand but it was one of the most fun runs so far.

I understand now how important those first few "no hit" doors are to get your run started on the right foot. I'm unlocking stuff so much faster now with those 20 cell bonuses.

Feels a lot like when Risk of Rain finally clicked and I became Death incarnate.

Yep. It's a masterpiece, although while I have more than 100 hours in the thing, I still haven't beaten it. The main story doesn't really drag it's just... really, really long. I left the game at the Monastery because I just got too overwhelmed with choices, and the drive to keep playing had faded because literally everyone in the game couldn't do any damage to me, and I could kill them in a single light hit.

I found a deluxe edition of Demon's Souls at a reasonable price. Time to buy a PS3 I guess.

I feel bad for neglecting the 20+ indie titles on my PS4 but...

Question for the Sekiro players, is there any boss (the ones that drop memories) that I can kill before Genichiro other than Lady Butterfly and the horse guy?

False Corrupted Monk. You have to jump into the big hole in the dungeon. Not exactly an easier fight than Genichiro...

Mibu Village is something that most players won't experience until after Genichiro.

I'm at the monastery right now with 53 hours of gameplay, I guess I've done way fewer side quests.

I thought he was a mini-boss, thanks

Mibu Village boss, but getting there is pretty hard, you need to beat Snake Eyes Shirahagi and she's no joke.

You can't beat other major bosses (just some mini-bosses like the aforementioned Snake Eyes, or Seven Spears, etc.) but you can explore a lot of areas, such as Senpou Temple (the boss there only unlocks after you beat Genichiro), the Ashina Reservoir, etc.


She

I need to stay off eBay. I ended up buying the original Dark Souls Collector's Edition to go with my new Demon's Souls one. I want to get the Dark Souls Trilogy box and the Bloodborne one, but those carry hefty price tags.

I just realized Remnant: From the Ashes isn't coming out on PS4 right away. Sigh.

Is there any interest in Remnant: From The Ashes here? It's from the developer that made Darksiders III, and it seems like a Dark Souls with guns, (I hate using that descriptor). The customization looks pretty neat, and I think the only non-Dark Souls aspect is the biomes are randomly generated with some key story stuff that always spawns in.


I fired up a crisp, new save in Dead Cells a few weeks ago after having dumped... 200, 300 hours into it? Clipped The Hand Of The King on my first run and have been putting all cells into the Legendary Forge. I don't know if you know the "secret" that you discover after you beat The Hand Of The King for the first time, but I'm in the middle of that grind at the moment, after not even knowing the "secret" was a thing.

There's tons of great mix and match weaponry in the game, you're bound to find a few combinations that work for you, well at least until you hit the next biome! For Brutality, I love using Valmont's Whip, Spiked Boots and Hayabusa Gauntlets for quick hits. For Tactics, I like Pyrotechnics, Explosive Crossbow, Quick Bow and Knife Dance. For Survival, I love running Shovel and Powerful Grenade.

If you need some run help or advice, let me know. I'm absolutely obsessed with this game.

It took me an entire afternoon to "beat" Genichiro and then I discovered it was only his first form, so I said fuck this and decided to get overpowered. I managed to reach ghost Corrupted Monk and to kill every mini-boss except the ghost types and that woman with the guitar before killing Genichiro for real heh

Me! I mentioned it right above you. I'll be waiting for whenever they announce the PS4 version.

I took a dive into Dark Souls 2, and this game is trash. I definitely see why it's the "ugly duckling" and I have yet to see any redeeming qualities.

It has some good areas, few interesting weapons/bosses and cool stuff like a more than decent pvp and powerstance

...one the other side: ungodly annoying invaders, bullshit sections,some extremely dumb bosses and my least favorite resurrection mechanic

The sl1 run was refreshing tough: i did it without a guide and it had a very nice weapon variety

Dark Souls 2 is far from trash. Git gud.

So, I put in several hours into Dead Cells yesterday, captured my third boss cell and my fourth boss cell. 4BC is absolutely kicking my ass. Malaise management and teleporting enemies is giving me nightmares, but I think I've hit on a loadout that I can carry through with. Just need to be even more careful than 3BC.

It's not trash, but compared to 1 and 3 it's very, very weak. It's a No Prayer for the Dying to 1's Powerslave and 2's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

I actually just started this game, also. Sekiro tried to kill my love for these games, but I needed more and I realized that I never played this game, because of how intimidating it sounded all those years ago.

Anyway, after finding the ring that lets you keep 75% of your health (the half health bar after dying too much in a fucking DARK SOULS game almost made me quit) I’ve found that I enjoy this game and may go back through the first and third again if I get through this one.

I don't need to "git gud." It's just not that good of a game compared to DS1, DS3, Bloodborne or Sekiro.

It's almost as if the team that made it missed the entire point of what makes Dark Souls fun AND challenging.

Haha man you're more dedicated than I was. I cleared it a couple of times on normal and decided I was good. That final guy is just a bastard, and I'm not good enough to beat him without a super badass loadout. As much as I love roguelikes, it really doesn't jive with the Dark Souls "die a million times to learn a hard boss" ethos. Imagine if every time you died to a boss in Dark Souls, you had to start from the very beginning? You'd want to shoot yourself in the face by the time you got to the later bosses.

Dark Souls 2 is awesome. It has the biggest build variety and largest amount of customization options (including Fashion Souls!) of the entire series. The power-stancing mechanic is the coolest thing. It has the best magic system, and the most content by far (especially if you include the DLCs). It has excellent and intricate levels with tons of secrets, like the Lost Bastille, No Man's Wharf, and Huntsman's Copse. It has the best PvP covenant (the Bells). It's also the most challenging game in the series when played in Hard mode (yes, it has difficulty settings!).

Poor furtive Demon's Souls, so easily forgotten...

I acquired my fifth boss cell this morning. I struggled really hard, and even skipping one or two scrolls spelled doom for me in High Peak Castle, so when I restarted, I made an effort to get every scroll, cursed or not, that I could find. I have one or two simple trophies to clean up for this, and I can finally lay this game to rest. I've loved the experience, and I will more than likely revisit it even when even more content comes out.



The way I play games now is very deliberate: I like to take my time and really dedicate to a game or two at a time and stick with them. I think Dead Cells lends itself to this. Also, the game is built to be short, so a complete run is around 45 minutes (give or take), but while you go through, there's new enemies to fight, new biomes to see and new things to unlock and make progress towards.

The first time I started playing, I think it took me... 15, 20 hours to beat The Hand Of The King? I think I got to him a few times and died immediately, but I kept making progress and unlocking mutations and weapons to help in the fight. The simplicity and tightness of the weapons make the enemies punishing at first, but you learn their tells and attacks and it becomes manageable. The randomized aspects of it begin to decrease as you unlock items and boost the stats of what you find in a level, but the game never feels unfair.

I think Wizard Of Legend is a similar game that leans into harder/random RNG in a way that feels like I'm too reliant on what the game gives me, along with some hit detection issues and some real bullshit boss encounters.

I'm very pleased to read Morrigan's defense of DS2 because SOTFS was my first ever From Soft game, and still holds a very special place in my heart. Yes, everything is brown, and yes, the combat is clunky as a mug. But there's just nothing like your first From Soft experience is there? The whole world still seems like a living, breathing, mystical thing to me. I constantly felt like an explorer just setting out to find new secrets or discover a new area. I remember feeling honest and utter despair in the Forbidden Woods or whatever it's god damn called with the invisible mobs and howling trees.

I still never beat it. I think I'm just before the Smelter Demon encounter? Is that a thing? I'm in a castle where everything is lava. Sekiro ruined me a bit for the older Dark Souls fight mechanics. I just feel slow to an absurd degree, even in light armor. But I'll never stop loving SOTFS. It showed me a whole new world of gaming.

The only games I really like by From Software (played all of the SoulsBorne stuff, all of em are kinda meh to me) are the Armored Core series which I absolutely can't wait to have a new addition. It's been so long and I need that glorious mayhem back in my life.

Well.. I hope they never return to Armored Core and continue making Souls-likes.

No it's not I'd say this applies to Harvest Valley/Earthen Peak and Shaded Woods, maybe Tseldora and Aldia's Keep (more grey and mushy than "brown", but still ugly), those places don't look good at all. But it does have many beautiful areas. Majula. Heide's Tower of Flame, Lost Bastille, Iron Keep, Shrine of Amana, Dragon Aerie/Shrine, Belfry Sol, Doors of Pharros, and all 3 DLC areas all look really good for the most part.

I had Armored Core 2 Another Age on the ps2:
The controls were the clunkiest thing ever, but the customization and the missions were pretty damn good

I still haven't beat the 3 AC fight in the desert!


For the Ds2 Areas: i'm the only one that finds entrancing the background of Huntsmen's Copse? The glitchy ravens spoil it a bit, but i like that eerie woodland more than i should

Armored Core was awesome but just never quite got it right. The customization is breathtaking and the original game was one of the first PS1 games I ever played way back when I was like seven years old, so it's always had a place in my heart, but they never really got the controls right. Always super clunky and sluggish. If they kept the customization the same and had controls like Zone of the Enders (or at the very least didn't artificially inflate the difficulty by allowing enemy ACs to do shit yours couldn't (like have unlimited boost and the ability to fire shoulder weapons from the air)) it could've been one of the best damn games ever. I'd love for From to give it another whirl but they've hit such a goldmine with the Souls formula that I don't see them ever going back.

Ah I never felt that way about the latter AC games. Maybe if you're talking about the super old original PS1 games then yeah but the PS2/PS3 games are amazing and have really great controls.

Turn that frown upside down it was a bit of the old hyperbowl for comedic effect! I actually think there are some gorgeous locations in DS2. The first time you walk into Majula and Heide's Tower of Flame of course.

Iron Keep! That's where I stopped playing. I think I'm like...right outside the boss room.

Have you guys seen the spiritual successor to Momodora IV: Reverie under the Moonlight? I'm real curious. The graphics look just a little "off" to me somehow, but the gameplay looks undeniable and it's clearly a continuation of that story. I've been wanting to replay Momodora IV lately anyways, try to get the proper ending and "perfect" a few bosses. But I'm stooooked on how this new game, Minoria, looks. Although how it actually looks still needs a bit of fine-tuning I think.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/940910/Minoria/

One of the main issues with DS2 imo is the clunky way they attached many of the maps together; I thought I heard that one of the creative directors was fired late in the game's development and the replacement had to stitch things together without knowing what the original plan was. I'm guessing they were trying to cover it with the whole "time and space are distorting" atmosphere that the other soulsborne games do so well, but it never felt as subtle and natural. But, as Morrigan and other said, the game still knocks it out of the park in many areas - I love how silent and abandoned Castle Drangleic feels (plus that super-atmospheric climb up the mountain in the storm to get there), Iron Keep is amazing, that area with the lion soldiers and wailing pots is super-creepy, the giant bridge over the abyss toward the end of the Undead Crypt...and of course, the DLC is where they finally pulled everything together and delivered levels that stand with the best of DS1 and 3.

I'm more turned off by the mechanics, and the slight changes to the "standard" controls these games use. Even the simple act of opening a door looks glitchy. And stabbing people in the crotch after a parry? Jesus.

I'll probably trudge through it later, but I'm not drawn into it after 2~ hours like I have been with every other game.

I have been playing a lot of No Man's Sky lately, especially since the big update. A lot of improvements have come and a lot of changes that make the game a pain in the ass have also come. Any base you have now has to have power to it. To do this you have to set up a solar farm, with generators and cables running everywhere.

I'm picking up Remnant this weekend. Hopefully it'll be the first "Souls-like" I enjoy. I haven't liked anything that isn't made by Miyazaki.

(As you can guess, I'm still not enjoying DS2)

DS 2 was my first introduction to Fromsoft as well, and I still really like it (DS 3 for me is king though out of the three) - beaten it twice, once offline without the DLC's, and a second time co-op with SotFS. I will be going through it again at some point in a three way co-op bashing sometime soon... those DLC's are pretty damn awesome. It certainly does have a unique atmosphere of it's own, especially in Huntsman's Copse, No Man's Wharf, Heides Tower, Shrine of Amana etc and some shitty bosses too, like The Covetous Demon, Royal Rat Vanguard and Congregation, but overall it's an enjoyable romp. It also has an area worse than Blighttown in the fucking Gutter and Black Gulch ugh.

In related news, going into DS 3 again with two co-op buddies, and goddamn it's an invasion hotbed!

I love the Gutter lol... great area, very moody, requires the torch mechanic, and the Scholar version with all the sconces unlocking a little secret was neat.

The Black Gulch can get fuuuuuucked though xD total troll area.


Gimme your platform/level/area, I wanna crash your party

Just started DS2 today after playing through Salt and Sanctuary (fun little game!). Getting wrecked in the first real area by those giant armored turds with maces, but enjoying it and feel like I'll definitely play it through. It's the last Soulsborne game I'm playing, started at DS 3 then went to BB, finished DSR just before Salt and Sanctuary.

Any suggestions on that opening area in terms of adjustments I should make? I felt like my start to DSR was a lot smoother, but assume I just need to spent some time getting good here.