Author Topic: What are you playing right now?  (Read 613906 times)

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Offline Admiral LSD

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Scarface: The World is Yours. I was inspired to get back into it after scoring GTA: Vice City in a recent Humble sale and managed to get it running properly under Windows 10. I’ve been thinking about moving on to something else for a bit, but I cbf switching back to the X360 controller (I’m currently using an ancient Logitech Dual Action because Scarface doesn’t map the 360 controller properly).
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Offline Det. Bullock

  • 29
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Re: What are you playing right now?
So, I've been playing a few things lately:

Crysis (PC)
My PC can play Crysis but apparently not in DirectX 10 since there is a bug that makes the screen black under certain DX10-only lighting effects (for example the flash when the soldier gets vaporized and much more annoyingly the Sun rising shortly after) that cannot be disabled in the options so I had to force DX9 and play only on “high” rather than “very high”.
Sincerely I’d like the suit powers would be less limited, especially the cloaking.
Once I got the sniper scope it became a lot of fun, all enemies wear some kind of body armor so I find myself trying to headshot as many of them from afar or simply use cloak to flank them.
Speed and Strength aren’t really useful in combat and are more for navigating the environment (hell, they could have just conflated them to avoid having to switch while walking around since they don’t seem to interfere with each other) and while I see the rationale for cloaking being so short-lived I would have really liked if it was more forgiving.
It’s a lot like the first Far Cry in that the first part against human enemies is fun then the aliens come and it’s less fun and this time also much more on rails (at least you got some open levels with the mutants in the first Far Cry).
Though on the whole the aliens are more tolerable than the Far cry mutants since at least you have the quicksave button and don’t have to repeat long stretches of a level because something jumped on you from nowhere.
The trouble is the way you move and your fragility are calibrated more with the semi-stealth gameplay of the first part in mind so when you have to basically mow down hordes of the things with basically no cover Serious Sam style it doesn’t feel very natural.
The VTOL part made me miss a joystick, every time there was combat involved I had to reposition the mouse constantly and keeping the alien gunships in my sights was often a pain when they managed to get close enough.
The zero gravity parts were interesting though I’d wish they lasted a bit more, the way they talked about them at the time they were supposed to be long and tedious, I guess I didn’t find them alienating as some people for whatever reason.
It’s shorter than I expected too, about 8 hours.


Then I started Crysis Warhead (PC) and it seems to have the same weird bug of the first with the image on the screen disappearing with certain light effects.
Only this time forcing DX9 only makes the screen having an epileptic crisis (heh) for some reason so I tried to brute force it by trying every possible setting one by one on the very first section of the game (basically you already get the bug towards the end of the first real-time cutscene when Psycho gets the wounded soldier off the VTOL) and it seems putting shadows and shaders above the medium (or “mainstream” according to EA and Crytek marketing people) setting triggers the bug.
I sincerely wonder why such a recent game is giving me more trouble than some real old stuff, perhaps some weirdness of the early Cryengine is clashing with my RX 580?

Skyrim (PC)
Because Steam free weekend, that’s why.
Five minutes, basically only the intro, I’m not sure if I’ll continue since I don’t have much time and I’m not particularly interested in buying the game in the short term but it seems to work well at least, my misadventures with Crysis and Crysis Warhead made me a bit paranoid lately.
The interface is really odd, the fact you can navigate it with a mouse seems like an afterthought and had to use the keyboard for a lot of stuff.

Earthsiege (PC)
So, I finally got around to select the armaments in the single missions and now I seem to actually be able to beat them.
Projectile weapons in particular seem very good, and I didn’t seem to run out of ammo in the scenarios I’ve done so far.
Aiming with the keyboard is a pain (the cockpit is clicky so the mouse is for that, useful for when I forget what does what on the keyboard) but fortunately there is a tracking mode for the turret that even allows to be manually corrected (it isn’t very precise, especially with projectile weapons since they need a bit of lead to actually hit moving targets).
I’ve been playing mostly from my laptop, when I got to my desktop PC I tried to make the HOTAS work with mixed success.
It would have been much easier if DOSbox emulated also the WCS throttle add on and not just the Thrustmaster FCS joystick alone since they seem to be supported by this and a lot of other games.
I’ve found the solution of setting the game to dual stick and DOSbox to 4axis but unfortunately the rudder axis seems to act weird for some reason, I’ll try to disable it completely in CH control manager and see if I can use the same config without the absence of the fourth axis interfering with in-game calibration somehow.

Still, for my first serious attempt at a mech game it seems to be going fine, I had completely forgot of these games until I saw the Pixelmusement videos about them recently where he mentions that almost the entire series is freeware on www.tribesuniverse.com, I remembered playing a demo of Starsiege (which is listed under "Starsiege Tribes" because they chose to put up the compilation disk with the original Starsiege and the Tribes spin off) so I decided to give it a try from the start because I'm OCD like that.  :)
"I pity the poor shades confined to the euclidean prison that is sanity." - Grant Morrison
"People assume  that time is a strict progression of cause to effect,  but *actually*  from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more  like a big ball  of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff." - The Doctor

 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: What are you playing right now?
The interface is really odd, the fact you can navigate it with a mouse seems like an afterthought and had to use the keyboard for a lot of stuff.

You are correct. There a few mods which build a more keyboard and mouse-appropriate interface.

.... but if you are crowd pleaser across plattfroms you can get away with EVERYTHING.



Checked back in on Star Wars: Battlefront 2 ... same old, same old - the post release doctoring and The Last Jedi-dlc didn't do much...

Shadowrun: Dragonfall, now checking in on the Director's Cut.

« Last Edit: April 14, 2018, 03:09:36 pm by 0rph3u5 »
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 
Re: What are you playing right now?
I'm starting up Dark Souls 2 and I'm about half way through River City Ransom Underground.

 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: What are you playing right now?
I'm starting up Dark Souls 2

Scholar of the First Sin or vanilla?
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 
Re: What are you playing right now?
Scholar.

I'm up at the first boss. Boy I love dealing 25dmg with my tiny knife, although this could've been much worse if I hadn't bought the Great Soul Arrow.

  

Offline Sushi

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Finished Subnautica, which was bittersweet because it was so excellent and now it's over. And the replay proposition is pretty limited. (I'll replay vicariously by getting my kids to do it!)

Also played through Steamworld Heist, which was quite good, and started in on Steamworld Dig. (Which so far also seems excellent).

So many high-quality games, so little time! It's a great problem to have.

 

Offline crizza

  • 210
Re: What are you playing right now?
Recently got into CoD Infinite Warfare Zombies.
Fun little game, but after I tried to convince some friends to get the game I realised it is still at 60€ plus the season pass costs 50€. WTF?!

Other than that Zombies coming out of the ground and a miniboss every few rounds is fun, but not when you actually get a respawn and he is in front of the lost & found place, where your upgraded weapons are :D

 

Offline Admiral LSD

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Recently got into CoD Infinite Warfare Zombies.
Fun little game, but after I tried to convince some friends to get the game I realised it is still at 60€ plus the season pass costs 50€. WTF?!

Welcome to the brave new world of digital game distribution, where publishers can keep the price jacked up as high as they want, for as long as they want!
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Offline Colonol Dekker

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Re: What are you playing right now?
On the other side of that debate I bought battlefield hardline and premium (premium gives all DLC) for a total of eight English pounds.  New, on the playstation store.  Been catching up with my younger brother who plays it and it's worth that price.  Multi isn't better than battlefield 4, it's different.
Campaigns I've added my distinctiveness to-
- Blue Planet: Battle Captains
-Battle of Neptune
-Between the Ashes 2
-Blue planet: Age of Aquarius
-FOTG?
-Inferno R1
-Ribos: The aftermath / -Retreat from Deneb
-Sol: A History
-TBP EACW teaser
-Earth Brakiri war
-TBP Fortune Hunters (I think?)
-TBP Relic
-Trancsend (Possibly?)
-Uncharted Territory
-Vassagos Dirge
-War Machine
(Others lost to the mists of time and no discernible audit trail)

Your friendly Orestes tactical controller.

Secret bomb God.
That one time I got permabanned and got to read who was being bitxhy about me :p....
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Offline Col. Fishguts

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Through the power of DOSbox I'm replaying the original US Navy Fighters. For added convenience I made an ISO of my CD (that I mount in DOSbox) so that no noisy CD-ROM is required. Also the Windows Joystick works perfectly.





The game is as much fun as I remember, and for added goosebumps let this run in the background as you sit on the cat waiting for the go.
"I don't think that people accept the fact that life doesn't make sense. I think it makes people terribly uncomfortable. It seems like religion and myth were invented against that, trying to make sense out of it." - D. Lynch

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Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: What are you playing right now?
I'm up at the first boss. Boy I love dealing 25dmg with my tiny knife, although this could've been much worse if I hadn't bought the Great Soul Arrow.

If you think you are struggeling too much, you should pop over to Heide's Tower of Flame and get the Ring of Binding (in Scholar you can't just run through the area but enemies are tougher than the Forest of Fallen Giants but the RoB is very helpful for first timers)
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 

Offline Rhymes

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Better suggestion--skip DSII entirely. I and III are better in pretty much every way (except maybe art design--I'll give DSII this, it looks really pretty).
If you don't have Knossos, you need it.

“There was a button," Holden said. "I pushed it."
"Jesus Christ. That really is how you go through life, isn't it?”

 

Offline 0rph3u5

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  • Oceans rise. Empires fall.
Re: What are you playing right now?
Better suggestion--skip DSII entirely. I and III are better in pretty much every way (except maybe art design--I'll give DSII this, it looks really pretty).

A suggestion, not a better one. Narratively Dark Souls 2 is actually the best of three, even if you don't lore-master it (although since in Scholar you can't unlock the Shrine of Winter without having acquired the Great Souls, which changes the dynamic of the narrative a bit; in vanilla the Shrine would open to you without the Great Souls if you had acquired a huge number of regular souls):

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING
Spoiler:
Besides the main quest Dark Souls and especially Dark Souls 3 are very much a compilation of stories that touch the main quest but aren't really connected to it.

In Dark Souls you have the carriers of the Lord Souls, which have widely different motives regarding the First Flame:
- Gwyn preserved the First Flame by the becoming the first Lord of Cinder,
- The Witch of Izalith drowned her kingdom in an attempt to recreate the First Flame in order to prevent the loss waning of the First Flame from ending the First Age of Fire,
- Seath the Scaleless is indifferent to the First Flame now that he has finally found a way to achieve the immortality he was denied by being born without the scales of an Eternal Dragon,
- the Kings of New Londor sold themselves to the Abyss for the power of the Darkwraiths after the part of Gwyn's Lord Souls they were given failed to satiate their ambitions for power and dominion.
- Nito is content to watch the world decay because he an avatar of death and decay himself,
Either ending of Dark Souls however renders any of these ambitions meaningless as you either become the Second Lord of Cinder or the Dark Lord, both of which play into inevitibilty of the world decaying and dying since the First Flame introduced Disparity into the world. As the state of the world boils down to side effect of the First Flame fading, you can't even say they are responsible for the state of the world.

In Dark Souls 3 you have the Five Final Lords of Cinder whose ashes you have to collect in order to access the First Flame, each of them has turned away from their fated duty as Lord of Cinder due to an overriding obsession:
- The Young Prince Lothric would not leave the side of his undead brother who had protected the sickly younger sibling while their father's obsession with the Eternal Dragons turned him away from taking care of the kingdom.
- The Abyss Watchers were obsessed with destroying the presence of the Abyss in any shape or form, however being humans they too are creatures of the Dark and therefor akin to the Abyss; this caused them to fall on each other despite the pact through the Blood of the Wolf.
- Yhorm the Giant was obsessed with destroying the Profaned Flame, a strange imitation of the First Flame that would not fade but also not give life.
- Aldrich was driven mad by visions of a flooded world and sought to survive in that future only he could see by casting off everything he was and devouring anything to promised to make him stronger once he took it into himself.
- Ludleth of Courland (who is already in Firelink Shrine) has also a strong desire to prevent the World Without Fire.
Again, both their duty and obsession are rendered pointless by the endings, regardless if you fulfil, betray or usurp your duty as the Ashen One - the world will decay eventually (as linking the fire doesn't stop the First Flame from fading anyway) or through your actions (either by letting the First Flame fade and the world return into a darkness without Disparity or whatever will happened once you take up the mantle of the Lord of Hollows). Unlike Dark Souls, there is however a case that can be made that the call for an Ashen One as a measure of last resort can be blamed on four of these five (Ludleth at least came willingly).

Now this idea of strong, destructive obsession is also present in the Bearers of the Great Souls in Dark Souls 2, especially at Bonefire Intensity 2+ when the Great Souls come with names that reference Dark Souls; although there seems to be an inversion of the original theme at play here. However this only exist a thematic through line for the series and is only tangentially related the story that is told through the locations across the critical path of Dark Souls 2 - many of the optional locations don't tie into this (don't ask me what the Executioner's Chariot is about :) ).

The ciritical path tells are more in-depth and coherent story: the tragedy of King Vendrick, the man who could not be link the fire, the king who could not be a Lord.
From the Forest of the Fallen Giants (representing the both the rise and downfall of Drangleigh as a kingdom) to the confrontation at the Throne of Want, the story is one of ambition to conquer both a kingdom and the fated curse of that would come with the fading of the fire*:

*A big fan-theory here: During the events of Dark Souls 2 the threat to the First Flame is not that it has faded as far as in Dark Souls but the presence of Nashandra, which as daughter of the Abyss might snuff out the flame; this is what is calling your Undead to Drangleigh not the immediate need for a new Lord of Cinder.

Vendrick and Aldia tried to prevent the Undead Curse by many means, including trying to recreate an Eternal Dragon and creation of the Emerald Herald. Like al l candidates to be Lords of Cinder of their age they attracted a daughter of the Abyss, Nashandra. Vendrick fell in love with Nashandra and with her help he found the location of the Throne of Want and build a castle there.
Eventually despite his love for her Vendric was able to detect Nashandra's true nature; and faced the crushing truth that he could not claim the Throne of Want (and with it the possible solution to the Curse), Vendrick chose to sequester himself in the Undead Crypt. His isolation guaranteed by his knights, he turned into a mindless Hollow.

Thanks to the more linear approach to how you progress (checking off one location to gain access to another, thank you Fragrant Branch of Yore), the story unfolds naturally - even though you have to do some exploring and reading of item descriptions for that (and you may also miss informative encounters, like returning to the Undead Crypt with the Ashen Mist Heart). On top of that if you put all the pieces together, the story has tangible stakes and plays into theme of an inevitable fall without denying the agency of the characters involved (e.g. Vendrick becomes a Hollow because he choses to, not because he was always going to be) - which is helped by the ambiguous nature of the ending (or both endings, if you are playing Scholar).
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 

Offline Rhymes

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Re: What are you playing right now?
That's an interesting take on the games, and one I hadn't thought of before. Unfortunately it's undercut for me by the fact that Dark Souls II is the least fun to actually play.
If you don't have Knossos, you need it.

“There was a button," Holden said. "I pushed it."
"Jesus Christ. That really is how you go through life, isn't it?”

 
Re: What are you playing right now?
I've beaten the Giant, went over to Heides tower of Flame. Took an inane amount of tries to beat Dragonrider. I think I need to level my INT WAY UP. Gotta get HUGE.
Somebody on Discord pmed me about the Binding Ring. Although I only picked it up AFTER I killed the Dragonrider.

I would probably find exploring and appreciating the environment if each wasn't filled with enemies. It's like I literally can't get a breather. "Gotta fill our death quotas".


I've read up on the lore of DS2, and I have to say. I find it quite boring, just like I find the lore of DS3 boring. Although I might be a bit Biased.  ;7
However, I do enjoy the DLC storylines. Especially the Shard of Manus, who's just really sad and needs hugs.

However, I do not enjoy the retcons that DS2 introduces in-regards to curses and how Magic and Miracles work. Since those had subtle but large implications on how Souls work.



 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: What are you playing right now?
I think I need to level my INT WAY UP. Gotta get HUGE.

Might I suggest that you level up Attunement first? - Being able to carry more spells (and more uses) is going to be more important in the long run (esspecially since the drop for the Staff of Wisdom is earlier in Scholar)

I would probably find exploring and appreciating the environment if each wasn't filled with enemies. It's like I literally can't get a breather. "Gotta fill our death quotas".

The re-design was in part to fix that people were just running through the area in vannila; there it was only filled with the tall Old Knights which despite their reach are unable to stop a sprinting player.

I've read up on the lore of DS2, and I have to say. I find it quite boring, just like I find the lore of DS3 boring.

The interesting elements of the three Dark Souls stories are their delivery, not their content - esspecially through design of the levels: e.g. Aldia's Keep is good representation of how the honourable motives behind Vendrick's and Aldia's quest to cure the Curse and their methods relate to each other (the Entrance Hall is actually warm and inviting - even the giant dragon skeleton kinda works in the room - while when you proceed further every room feels more claustrophobic, despite many having reallly high cellings)

Also, discovery is half of the fun :)

However, I do not enjoy the retcons that DS2 introduces in-regards to curses and how Magic and Miracles work. Since those had subtle but large implications on how Souls work.

The change to what consitutes "Cursed" is a bit of swap in labels. What in Dark Souls is "cursed" as status effect is "petrified" in the other games; Dark Souls II's own "cursed" status effect ties more to direct presence of a decaying force (e.g. the Curse Jars later in the game which seem to have some sort of essence trapped in them until smashed) - that curse is also a seperate thing from the Undead Curse/Curse of Undead which comes with the fading of the First Flame and the appreance of the Dark Sign (though there is some relation to that if you go into the lore of the Dark Sign and the Darkwraiths).

I don't think there is much change in regards to the mechanics of Magic and Miracles through the game, lorewise - however some people who curate the lore have the tendecy to try to build a homogenous system for those and ignoring implied diversity of how Magic and Miracles are taught and contextualized while sharing underlying principles (e.g. Miracles are based on imitation rather than intellect).
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 04:16:45 am by 0rph3u5 »
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

==================

"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 
Re: What are you playing right now?

The re-design was in part to fix that people were just running through the area in vannila; there it was only filled with the tall Old Knights which despite their reach are unable to stop a sprinting player.


I'm not sure being forced into combat is considered good design, in Dark Souls 1. You can risk running past all the enemies, but at the risk of the consequences of them catching up to you before a fog door or if you mess up. The level design of Dark Souls is more suited to picking your battles, not fighting swarms of multiple enemies everywhere. The amount of enemies in DS2 is incredibly tedious and frustrating.

Not to mention it reduces the amount of player agency you have.


The interesting elements of the three Dark Souls stories are their delivery, not their content - esspecially through design of the levels: e.g. Aldia's Keep is good representation of how the honourable motives behind Vendrick's and Aldia's quest to cure the Curse and their methods relate to each other (the Entrance Hall is actually warm and inviting - even the giant dragon skeleton kinda works in the room - while when you proceed further every room feels more claustrophobic, despite many having reallly high cellings)

Also, discovery is half of the fun :)

Actually, the level design in Dark Souls 2 makes the world feel very artificial, it's weird disconnected levels. Combined with an AI that cannot handle your approach if you decide to go through a shortcut, causing them to spaz out as you attack them from the side or rear takes me straight out of any connection I'm building with the world.


Vendrick choosing to become a Hollow, doesn't necessarily change the fact that he was going to become one anyway. Gwyn chose to light himself on fire, if he didn't the world was return to it's previous lifeless state.

Not to mention the fact that instead of letting you explore and seek out your own interpretation on the story. DS2 generally spoons it to you, now excuse me while I break the neck of the Emerald Herald. Or find a mod to get her to shut up, because I want to level up.

Do I need to remind you that the story writers for DS2 were so inept that they had to introduce a character to spoon you even more lore, to the degree they literally take the control out of the players hands as well as forces them into a boss battle later to give you even more story to get people to understand. Aldia was literally added to the game because people were complaining that they didn't understand the lore.

So even if it was told better, I'm not sure they did indeed deliver the story any better than the other two.





 

Offline 0rph3u5

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Re: What are you playing right now?
Vendrick choosing to become a Hollow, doesn't necessarily change the fact that he was going to become one anyway.

Uhm acutally ....MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DLC BELOW
Spoiler:
Vendrick already had a solution of the curse ready as it revealed once you have collected all four Crowns and return to him via the Ashen Mist Heart. This will cause the "warmth" in the Crowns to become a spark of fire, which then prevents you from becoming a Hollow while having one the crowns equipped.

But the bigger point here is that he could not link the fire because he loved Nashandra despite knowing that she was a daughter of the Abyss. Even without the solution it is a different thing from Gwyn, who had run out of options.

Also, the world before the First Flame appeared was not lifeless. It was timeless and without Disparity, meaning that under the rule the Eternal Dragons nothing of note happened, not that nothing existed. And...

SPOILERS FOR THE "The End of Fire"-ENDING OF DARK SOULS III
Spoiler:
Both the lore for Untended Graves and the final line of dialogue in "The End of Fire"-ending suggest that life goes on after the First Flame fades out. It even suggests that is hope in the World Without Fire. (Unless of course you initate the "b-variant" of the ending in which the Ashen One kills the Firekeeper.)

I am with you on the introduction of Aldia but his introduction had little to do with inteptitude.
If you read through the interviews with the devs you will find that they quite early broke from the idea to make it an game with end-of-world-stakes and rather focused on a few, more sentimental themes (longing, home, and memory) to express in the game. That takes away some agency because the sequence of presentation became more important but IMO doesn't make it worse per se. The game follows a different objective and putting aside some gameplay issues serves it well.
This is also the reason why it is a fair suggestion to skip Dark Souls 2. Esspecially if you are here for the empowering fantasy or the end-of-the-world-stakes.

And quite frankly, even as someone who is quite deep into Dark Souls Lore, I didn't need that connective tissue that Scholar-version provides. Its continuty for continuty's sake - and I already said that continuity keeping is dummest thing a fan can do (if you "keep the lore" than understand and maybe enjoy the disparities in the story instead trying to make it some rigid s***)

As for the Emerald Herald, her repetive dialogue in Majula is problematic but hardly breaking the story telling. Its annoying mostly because it is the game mechanics spilling into the narrative extensively (Note: the Firekeeper in DS3 is worse as you mumbles an incantation while you have the level-up screen open, which again you acess by talking to her).
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 07:00:04 am by 0rph3u5 »
"As you sought to steal a kingdom for yourself, so must you do again, a thousand times over. For a theft, a true theft, must be practiced to be earned." - The terms of Nyrissa's curse, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

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"I am Curiosity, and I've always wondered what would become of you, here at the end of the world." - The Guide/The Curious Other, Othercide

"When you work with water, you have to know and respect it. When you labour to subdue it, you have to understand that one day it may rise up and turn all your labours into nothing. For what is water, which seeks to make all things level, which has no taste or colour of its own, but a liquid form of Nothing?" - Graham Swift, Waterland

"...because they are not Dragons."

 
Re: What are you playing right now?
Spoiler:

The Crown was no solution. It was intended as one.

What Aldia did is technically a solution to the problem. But you end up being stuck detached from space and time. Unaging and a blob of fire and charcoal.

[spoiler/]
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 09:30:11 pm by Mammothtank »