Dark Souls - Part 3

Writing this on my iPad, so excuse any AutoCorrect-induced grammar

I got something I hadn't got in a while playing Dark Souls...an achievement (two achievements, to be honest). I'm not usually someone who cares about my GamerScore on Xbox Live, but it caused the biggest grin to appear on my face, simply because it reassured me that I was making significant progress. Something I hadn't done in a long time, due to constantly restarting the game.

An aspect I love about Dark Souls is the non-linear nature of the game. Past a certain point, you have a multitude of places you can travel to in the world and stand a chance of not getting destroyed by an enemy in two hits. So I did exactly that! Really, once you complete the first task you are given in the world, you would travel to the next objective through an area called The Depths (charming, I know). However, being the rogue-ish type I am, I took a shortcut. Granted this shortcut was littered with poisonous bastards, but it cut about three hours out of my journey.

Of course I taunted when I beat her

Quelaag was a bit of a pain in the ass to beat. She wasn't overly difficult in any sense, she just had a lot of health that took a while to whittle down. And I think it was smart design: the Taurus Demon and Capra Demon were both fairly quick fights, with both bosses having little health. Quelaag represents a change in pace for the game, with bosses suddenly require just as much patience as they require understanding.

Despite me taking a shortcut, I did decide to travel through the Depths and clear the boss there, just for the experience and Souls (currency in the game), and boy...it was disgusting. Giant rats, ooze monsters and a dragon that can only be described to people who have seen the movie 'Teeth'. It was horrifying!

I get creeped out by this picture

But again, the Gaping Dragon was similar to Quelaag, requiring patience and knowing when it was safe to attack, rather than the reckless abandon of early boss fights. It was a welcome change of pace, but I'm looking forward to seeing them vary it up, with more human-sized boss fights, rather than the monsters I am currently facing.

Overall, I'm so much more stoked about Dark Souls than I've ever been watching YouTube videos of these bosses being beaten. I'm not doing with the amount of skill some of them are doing it with, and there may be a lot of trial and error involved, but Dark Souls rewards you for wanting to get better, and it feels so good when you do.

Dark Souls - Part 2

Vereor Nox

I haven't made substantial progress since the last update, but I have killed the Capra Demon (fuck that guy!) and I remembered to take screenshots of some places by backtracking, so let's get to it!

Dark Souls is an oddly pretty game

So, I've finally killed the boss that has always had problems with, and now I feel so happy with myself, I'm tempted to just stop here! But I can't Lordran needs my help, because I'm apparently the only one who gives a shit about being Undead in this world, and wants to solve that problem, but I guess that's why the first NPC you meet is titled as "Crestfallen Soldier".

Although they are probably never going to be at the forefront of any conversation about Dark Souls, I absolutely love the narrative and characters in this game. The story is by no means deep, and the characters are fairly archetypical, they all fit together in this bleak and desolate world really well. And call me crazy, but I love narratives where the player can get as much information as they want, depending on how deep they delve into the fiction. 

Who the fuck is "Sir Onion"?

If the player wants, they can simply progress through the story, ring the two bells and continue doing what they are told, and see the story out. However, as YouTubers like EpicNameBro do, they can do the research into the items, their description, gathering lore information from the smallest details, like where a character is in the world. And I think that's insanely interesting, and it's always a nice touch there those whose make an effort get rewarded for their digging.

Yup, name makes perfect sense

So, now that I'm going into uncharted territory with Dark Souls, I'm super excited again! This should be fun, I'm pretty sure I'm going to a lava-based area now, so that'll be a pain in the ass, no doubt. But I'm pumped, and I'm going to fucking finish Dark Souls this time!

PS. Ok, so this may be considered cheating by some, but Dark Souls is a draining game, like...really draining. And updates may be slow when I become stuck in an area and can't make any forward progress, so in the coming days, I may be starting updates for another game , just so I can keep writing, and know I can take a break from Dark Souls as needed, so look forward to that!

Dark Souls - Part 1

I'm Simply...Crestfallen

Well, I knew this would happen eventually when I started this challenge, but I may have completely forgotten to actually take screeenshots for the blog...my bad! I play Dark Souls with the controller (because I'm not a maniac) and sit on my sofa, which means the 'Print Screen' button is forgotten about, so I'll skip having photos in this entry.

My history with Dark Souls is...troubled. I adore the game, I would probably say it's one of the best games of this generation. However, I've never played past one of the first bosses because he kept kicking my ass. Instead, I got my kicks by watching playthroughs, listening to discussions, and losing my shit over people speedrunning the game in less than an hour.

This time feels different though. For once, I feel like I could walk into the boss that keeps killing me and murder his demon ass fairly easily. And it's made me sit down and wonder why I feel differently this time and I could only give one answer: I'm not relying on skill anymore.

As I mentioned before, people make Dark Souls artificially hard for themselves by trying to dodge every attack and make it through on the bare minimum, stats and equipment-wise. I was the same, but some simple research made me realise that there is little advantage to doing that. So I tried this new tactic and found myself breezing through the game as far, even killing a boss I had never encountered before by taking a route I stumbled upon to find it. Enemies that were one-shoting me in previous playthroughs weren't even breaking my guard on this new, tank-focused, character. 

I'll go into detail about why I feel Dark Souls is one of the best games of the generation in a future update, but for now, I'm ready to fight this bloody goat demon and finally kill the bastard!

Dark Souls - Introduction

Foreword,

Well, it's been a while. University has put the challenge as it once was on hold, but now that I've got no idea what to play after finishing games like Arkham Origins, Gone Home, Stanley Parable and Gunpoint, so I will go down from A-Z, playing the games I want to play, not all the games. Too much uni work has made it impossible for me to sit down and play and a terrible game and have fun laughing at how bad it is, so instead I'll play all the good games I own!

Also, I did finish The Bureau, but it was too long ago to remember how I felt about it apart from the ending was a clusterfuck and made little sense. So onwards!

I've spent a lot of time in Dark Souls...like, way too much. I began on the 360, before transitioning to the PC when it was cheaper to get the full game with DLC on Steam, than just the DLC on 360. However, making progress is hard in Dark Souls...

And to be honest, I've never felt like Dark Souls is artificially hard, like the hard mode in most games. A vast majority of player deaths are down to the player's fault, the game is never cheating the player. Each problem can be approached in a methodical way and can be solved without too much difficulty. People who say Dark Souls is a 'high skill' game are playing it wrong. You don't need to have split-second reaction times, they are choosing to make it that difficult by wanting to play an evasion character.

I tried that, and it's always failed. Now it's time for a different approach...I'm gonna tank every single hit that a motherfucker throws at me!

I've learnt a lot about Dark Souls by watching an awesome YouTuber called EpicNameBro, who I would recommend anyone interested in the game check out.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Part 1

Welcome To XCOM

So, about 8 hours into The Bureau, and I've come to a conclusion about myself: I should never be allowed to lead a group of soldiers in any situation. The very first combat scenario where you can actually lose a guy, I did. We hadn't even left the base, and he was shot dead! Under my command...

Poor bastard never even got to kill anyone

But anyway, on to more positive notes! The Bureau is actually pretty awesome so far! The shooting is solid, the combat can actually be tactically challenging and Carter is a drunken badass. Like seriously, you can straight up get him wasted in the middle of the base at one point and no one bats an eye. Granted, the game isn't without flaws, like the story being a bit haphazard, but generally good voice acting makes it a decent trip anyway.

The 60s aesthetic is pretty awesome too. It's pretty neat walking around the base and just see everyone is waistcoats, smoking like there's no tomorrow. The game even has a thin layer of smoke in some rooms that add to the effect and it's goes a long way to add to the atmosphere in really nice way.

Alien invasion? Nothing a little whiskey won't solve!

For a game with such a troubled development, The Bureau has been pretty good so far, solid in most aspects, but not groundbreaking in any way. I guess we have to see how the second half of the game holds up to get a full opinion.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Introduction

If you had told me that XCOM, a classic turn-based strategy game, would be mixed with Mad Men-like aesthetics, wrapped up in a Mass Effect-style third person shooter, I'd laugh it off as a publishers wanting to boil everything down to the lowest common denominator to sell more copies. And to be fair, gamers did whenever this game was first announced. We asked why an XCOM game in the style of the original couldn't exist in the 21st century, and we got what we wanted in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and it was awesome!

It's time to slap some asses and kill some aliens

But what happened to the game that was announced? Well, it went dark for a year or two before being repackaged as The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, set in Cold War-era America when aliens makes first contact and start a planet-wide war. And it plays exactly like they promised: Mass Effect, right down to the squad combat and the strangely similar powers you can unlock for William Carter and his soldiers, and even having a hub area to return to and talk to your colleagues.

However, it still manages to capture some aspects of XCOM, namely, the permanent death of your squad members, the customisation and even the enemies you face are all enemies that are in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

So I go into The Bureau cautiously optimistic, Yes, this is a game with a troubled development cycle, but it's also set in a fantastic universe, and is taking aspects from the original series, and from one of the most critically acclaimed third person shooters in recent memory. And it looks like Mad Men, which is just the icing on the cake, to be honest.

Borderlands 2 - Completion

Danger! Excitement! Mustaches!

There have been some pretty massive swings in my mood while playing these last two add-ons, and it makes writing up my feelings of Borderlands 2 overall much more difficult. On one hand, the game is brilliant in what it sets out to achieve and be: an FPS-action RPG. On the other hand, there are some glaring flaws that are made much more apparent while playing through the DLC. But let's talk about the final two add-ons first!

All style, no substance

Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt brought to the forefront a problem that is hard to notice in the main game: when there are no good characters driving the narrative, Borderlands becomes a very bog-standard shooter that can border on kind of terrible. The reason this became so apparent was because, other than Hammerlock, a feeble excuse for a villain  and a small cameo from Claptrap, there are no other characters relative to the story. Hammerlock isn't bad, but not well written enough to be the core focus of a plot.

It became so bad that after the first set of side missions, I just tore through the main plot line and let the rest of the content alone. The only one positive I can draw the experience is the location is really nice, and looks really refreshing compared to the rest of the main game. Other than that, there is no reason to play Big Game Hunt, unless you hate yourself.

Now we're talking!

Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon Keep is one of the most imaginative pieces of DLC I've seen for any game. In an era where DLC is usually just a bunch of reused assets from the main game, it's nice to see a developer basically design an entirely new style of game and give it out as DLC. It's been done before with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and I hope it's a trend that continues in the future. Placing the Borderlands character's in a Dungeons & Dragons setting works surprisingly well and breaths new life into the game.

The humour hits, the new enemies are genuinely unique, and the area is nice and suits the setting. Making the entire game take place in Tiny Tina's head is pretty smart as well, as it allows the game to change on a whim, such as the first first encounter changing when Lilith complains about the difficulty. However, it all kind of falls apart...

Best gatekeeper ever!!

It becomes really clear in most of the boss fights are balanced with co-op play in mind, and I don't blame because that's what makes Borderlands much more fun and enjoyable, but it ruins it for people like me who are playing by themselves. Bosses that have a near-one hit kills, leaving the player with nothing to kill in order to revive themselves are a recurring problem and makes the game much more frustrating.

If I had to rank them, I'd say that Mr.Torgue's Campaign Of Carnage is easily the best DLC if you just want pure, unadulterated mayhem and fun, with Assault On Dragon Keep coming second. Pirate Booty and Big Game Hunt aren't worth looking at unless you really enjoy the combat, or are playing it with a group of friends.

A diamond pony...as a queen

All in all, I still liked Borderlands 2 after playing 65 hours of it, but not as much as the first one. It has it's flaws, there is no doubt about that, but it still manages to have a lot of charm and laughs along that way that make it easier to look past the flaws and just enjoy yourself. A lot of my problems probably could have been lessened if I had a group to play with, but then that raises the bigger question of why should a game be unbalanced for solo play. The characters are still great, the gunplay is still fun and the stories told can be nonsensical in their own, awesome way. It's just such a shame that so many flaws stop this from being a much better game than the original, but I look forward to seeing what comes out next, especially if they finally take the MMO-route with the franchise.

To the future...

Next up...The Bureau: XCOM Declassified!