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This LP is fantastic. I've been trying to get a handle on this Dark Souls thing since the first LPs for it started dropping, and this is the first one that makes the game make some sense to me. I look forward to seeing what else this game has to offer.
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Jan 29, 2016 19:33
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I'm looking forward to how you treat the second half of the game. I felt it was weaker than the first half, much more linear and with much less to take in and absorb. However, I think this is also an unfortunate consequence of having to pay so much time in the first half. (I'm counting second half as everything past Anor Londo and its branched areas - most areas before and including that are great) For example, the area around the bonfire in Undead Burg. I'm going to assume that we all spent the most time there out of any bonfire, because it was all new to us. We were still getting a feel for the mechanics of the game, when to retreat, when to advance, etc. Going out, getting a few souls, exploring the area, returning to safety. I know that part of the game perfectly, like the back of my hand. So by the time we get deep into the third act of the game, we aren't as unsure anymore. We know what we're doing. Even in unfamiliar areas, we know the mechanics well enough to be able to forge forward and crush - or at least have a reasonable expectation of crushing - anything in our path, short of bosses. And then there's the linearity. Look at just the areas the LP has been through already - Undead Burg links to Undead Parish, Undead Parish links to Darkroot, Darkroot links to Undead Burg, it's all extremely integrated and masterfully built. There are multiple ways in and out of all of these areas. But the third act? There are two parts which have two large areas with no branching and are very linear. You go forward, you finish it, you Homeward Bone, and that's it. Never look in that direction again. Yet with Undead Burg/Parish? For various reasons I was heading back there well into the second act, either to take out previously too-powerful beings (like our friend Havel) or simply to pass through to other areas. Or maybe I'm alone in this idea of it and need to replay once I get a controller. 
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Jan 29, 2016 23:38
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The second half of the game is absolutely weaker, and contains some of the worst parts of the game, but is still worth looking through for what works and what super, suuuuuper doesn't. To the comment about interconnectedness vs linearity, part of me agrees but part of me also does feel like in many cases there really was no satisfying way to tie the whole world up, giving the very real disparity in locations. I do like the way that many locations are visible from other locations, especially in places like Tomb of the Giants (this will probably be one of the few nice things I say about that place), and in some ways the sense of distance between those locations makes the world feel bigger The second half of the game has a lot of the seams that any game has and we'll be exploring as many of those as I happen to notice all in good time, but for now let's continue to focus on the beautiful earlygame as I casually manhandle it:  14 - Goat Simulator (I randomly googled this episode image but credit for it goes to EnigmaSystem on DeviantArt: http://enigmasystem.deviantart.com/art/Capra-Demon-452237624)
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Jan 30, 2016 00:15
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Well, as someone who's trying to follow along:  Near as I can tell, the Capra Demon fight is about a five minute walk followed by about ten seconds of trying to wrestle with the camera to let me... just plain act at all, then start over. Capra Demon seems happy to deal half my health through my shield, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
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Jan 30, 2016 05:43
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ZeeToo posted:Near as I can tell, the Capra Demon fight is about a five minute walk followed by about ten seconds of trying to wrestle with the camera to let me... just plain act at all, then start over. Capra Demon seems happy to deal half my health through my shield, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
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Jan 30, 2016 06:01
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Really digging the LP, especially since your play style is so much different then my own, good to see how the armored sword and boarders get messy. Even got me wanting to reinstall but after Dark Souls 2 I don't think I could stomach the net-code and lagy backstab fishing of pvp again.
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Jan 30, 2016 06:54
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ZeeToo posted:Well, as someone who's trying to follow along: Yeah, upgrade your shield, make sure it's physical 100% resist first. If you're using sorcery or pyromancy, the Capra has a hell of a time staying on the upper ledge. When it falls down the ledge or stairs, fire away or you can do a falling attack for a fair amount. Edit: upgrade your endurance a bit if it's still not working with the shield. Since mobility is an issue, you can also load up your heaviest poo poo and try to tank the capra with high poise and stability. Krysmphoenix fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jan 30, 2016 |
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Jan 30, 2016 07:22
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I really like the lower Undead Burg. It shows you just long everything has been decaying and nature is beginning to reclaim the burg, as the entire capra demon area is covered in greenery and there's a tree growing in the middle of a neighborhood. Also the first time I played DS I didn't beat the Capra Demon until I was like level 60 or something. You see, instead of going to lower undead burg, I had forgotten about the key and just went through Darkroot Garden. And not just the small piece that Vicas showed off, I cleared all of it and beat the boss there. Just me, my uchinagata and elite armor gear that I maxed out. Then when I got to lower undead burg I was like "Wait, why is everyone having issues with this? I took him out in a few hits..".
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Jan 30, 2016 13:45
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I think the second half of the game being less interconnected is fairly reasonable, in a trunk-and-branch sort of way. Like from one bell to the other is the main line, and the rest branches off from it. Now I want to see a subway map of Lordran 
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Jan 30, 2016 13:53
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ZeeToo posted:Well, as someone who's trying to follow along: I always go back and buy Aural Decoy before trying to take on Capra Demon. One cast as soon as you walk through the fog door, and Capra and its dogs will run into the far corner, giving you plenty of time to get to the stairs. That's a narrow corridor, so they line up for the slaughter, and plunging attacks take care of Capra quickly enough. You can probably also use an Alluring Skull to similar effect, but it would take a bit longer.
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Jan 30, 2016 15:48
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The bastard sword, and other greatswords, have horizontal sweeps on the R2 button when two-handed, which does a lot for their utility. Incidentally, I noticed you still haven't picked up my favorite weapon, the claymore, which has the same moveset as the bastard sword plus a couple thrusting attacks. Are you waiting until you actually fight hellkite drake to pick it up? You can bait him into flying away and letting you grab those items and rest at that bonfire in a way that feels intended to me.
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Jan 30, 2016 15:54
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This thread convinced me to do another playthrough of this game. I still can't get into casters so I decided to go for a beastmode 2h character this time. As soon as I got to firelink I picked up the Zweihander in the Graveyard I was lucky enough to get a black knight sword to drop in undead burg and dumped my 4 twinkling titanite into it. I also snagged the Grass Crest shield which I don't think we've seen yet but just use it for the buff. It's definitely a fun (and sometimes frustrating) playstyle as you spend a lot of time dodging or waiting for the right time to do jump attacks or backstabs, but when it works it feels awesome. Edit: Also I couldn't get the tail weapon from the gargyole because I killed him in 3 hits and 2 connected with his body 
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Jan 31, 2016 00:19
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Also, I got invaded while climbing the final ladder before the gargoyles, the guy spawned at the top of the ladder, I kicked him off the ledge and killed him with a jump attack + backstab 
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Jan 31, 2016 00:23
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Krysmphoenix posted:Yeah, upgrade your shield, make sure it's physical 100% resist first. If you're using sorcery or pyromancy, the Capra has a hell of a time staying on the upper ledge. When it falls down the ledge or stairs, fire away or you can do a falling attack for a fair amount. Nidoking posted:I always go back and buy Aural Decoy before trying to take on Capra Demon. One cast as soon as you walk through the fog door, and Capra and its dogs will run into the far corner, giving you plenty of time to get to the stairs. That's a narrow corridor, so they line up for the slaughter, and plunging attacks take care of Capra quickly enough. You can probably also use an Alluring Skull to similar effect, but it would take a bit longer. I don't want to take over Vicas' thread so much as I'm kind of commenting on "trying to copy the LP as a first time player", but thanks for your help. Aural Decoy didn't seem to help too much, but a +5 Cadaceus Kite Shield let me drop him in three tries, with the first two being close.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:32
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Capra's deal for anyone but the heavy armor-wearing tanks is "If you get to the stairs alive, you're fine; if not, you die." Aural Decoy buys you those few precious seconds almost every time. It turns reaching the staircase from a 50/50 proposition into a near certainty.
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Jan 31, 2016 00:55
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Paul.Power posted:Now I want to see a subway map of Lordran There's this if you haven't seen it. Also this 3D map, which is pretty cool not least because it shows the map doesn't cheat the interconnections. (Spoilers, of course.)
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Jan 31, 2016 03:08
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Is there any lore explanation for why the Capra Demon is so small? The other boss demons we've met so far are huge (Asylum Demon and Taurus Demon) and I think that continues on for the rest, so it makes me wonder if it's notable that Capra Demon is tiny compared to the others.
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Jan 31, 2016 06:53
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Golbez posted:Is there any lore explanation for why the Capra Demon is so small? The other boss demons we've met so far are huge (Asylum Demon and Taurus Demon) and I think that continues on for the rest, so it makes me wonder if it's notable that Capra Demon is tiny compared to the others. Well, if he was bigger he wouldn't be comfortable in his bossroom.
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Jan 31, 2016 07:07
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Golbez posted:Is there any lore explanation for why the Capra Demon is so small? The other boss demons we've met so far are huge (Asylum Demon and Taurus Demon) and I think that continues on for the rest, so it makes me wonder if it's notable that Capra Demon is tiny compared to the others. They become standard respawning enemies later. You'll see a lot more of them in the future. https://gfycat.com/IdealisticPreciousGermanspaniel
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Jan 31, 2016 07:23
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7c Nickel posted:They become standard respawning enemies later. You'll see a lot more of them in the future. The Gravelord/Aggression mod is a thing of beauty 
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Jan 31, 2016 10:35
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After the Capra Demon fight I spent the rest of the session cleaning things up and meeting some new friends at Firelink, so this video is a bit slower, but hopefully still interesting: 15 - Cleanup Time Oh and here's an article talking about item descriptions in Destiny, and about what makes an interesting "lore description" in general: https://medium.com/@MammonMachine/aevee-reviews-the-destiny-flavor-text-d44a1ef55b75#.cus17ypgm Vicas fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Feb 3, 2016 |
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Feb 3, 2016 16:44
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It's very telling that Sunlight Medals are described as a symbol of honor, and Lautrec makes it clear that he thinks it's worthless. Contrast with Petrus, who gives you something that's clearly worthless, but acts as though he's doing you a favor. No, really, take it. It's for you. Also, I think the Sunlight Medal's description is the biggest justification for thinking Solaire is Gwyn's firstborn.
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Feb 3, 2016 22:47
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So, Vince of Thorolund illustrates one of the biggest issues I've got with the art direction in Souls games. Everybody's heads are just so very tiny!! Granted, he's wearing fat armor, but that's why he emphasizes it especially. To lay it out: In real life, most people are about 5-6 head-lengths tall. In fantasy art, comic books, etc., people tend to be drawn around 7-8 heads tall to emphasize a "heroic" physique, unless they're supposed to be unusually short or huge, with head-lengths adjusted to suit. Dark Souls characters are roughly 10 heads tall. Unless, of course, you use the "Top Heavy" physique option, which puts them closer to the 7-8 head range, and which, because I cannot un-see any of this, is the only option I can ever bring myself to use. The Tiny Head option, by extension, is the true comedy choice. The most likely reason that they went with this is that, firstly, most of the time you're only seeing your character from the back and, secondly, you're likely to be going fully armored, helm included, and the additional size added by the helm gives the appearance of the "heroic" physique that audiences are used to seeing. In any playthrough of Dark Souls I've watched, nobody has ever once commented upon this, but there you go. Now you know, and can't un-see it either.
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Feb 4, 2016 04:33
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So I got the pc version a long time ago, but the control scheme is... dubious, and I had no controller. After playing bloodborne (which is very fun), I decided I really wanted to play this one. Surprisingly, I found parrying pretty easy to pick up (except for the very earliest enemies with their ridiculously long windup), and I'm doing better than I expected. I even managed to cut the tail on the gargoyle when I was not specifically holding back on other attacks to attempt it. Still had plenty of deaths, of course, but the early game is far more forgiving than I expected, even having watched these videos.
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Feb 4, 2016 04:59
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Mazed posted:So, Vince of Thorolund illustrates one of the biggest issues I've got with the art direction in Souls games. There is also the Onion Bro helm to give your character some more 'human' proportions.
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Feb 4, 2016 05:40
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The onion set is something remarkably special in itself. They brought it back for Dark Souls II and made it easier to get with the DLC; it better drat well show up again in Dark Souls III.
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Feb 4, 2016 08:17
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I'm kinda hoping that when Vicas finishes this LP, he'll cap it off with a highlight reel of a Master Key/glass-cannon sorcerer run to demonstrate just how differently the game can be played.
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Feb 4, 2016 18:18
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The final episode should be using the speedrun route to destroy the game in an hour or so.
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Feb 4, 2016 18:23
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Paracelsus posted:I'm kinda hoping that when Vicas finishes this LP, he'll cap it off with a highlight reel of a Master Key/glass-cannon sorcerer run to demonstrate just how differently the game can be played. I hope so too, every dark souls lp gets dragged down by the magic is too op crowd. I want to see monsters explode. 😅
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Feb 5, 2016 04:07
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This is really cool, I'll follow along.
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Feb 5, 2016 11:25
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Just figured I'd mention, it turns out sometime between the last recording session and now I seem to have snapped the USB connector of my 360 controller (the only controller I have for the computer), so the episodes I wanted to record last Thursday didn't happen I just got the new one I ordered so hopefully soon I'll have the chance to record a new session and put the next episode up without too much of a delay. Thanks for your patience
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Feb 7, 2016 16:21
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Well clearly this demands a bonus episode explaining why the PC port's controls are weird.
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Feb 7, 2016 19:04
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I thought Geop was the hulking man-thing, not Vicas!
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Feb 7, 2016 23:54
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Did Geop sit on your controller wire
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Feb 8, 2016 10:13
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This LP is nice. I like it.
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Feb 8, 2016 14:24
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Well, trying to emulate a control stick with wasd was always bound to be super successful, but they never even changed up the in game prompts. Despite the fact that the port asks you to configure your keys off the bat when you start the game, when you hover over the key in the cell, it asks you to press the A button on your controller. I can't imagine it would have been *that* hard to link the prompt to whatever key you have bound to the action so that the tutorial would actually help you understand what those keybindings you made really did instead of telling you how the game would work if you had a controller. Hell, they could have even provided a little thing on the keybinding menu to tell you what controller button this thing emulates so you could translate through something other than trial and error. It's a shame, really. I think if they'd added proper wasd support with strafe left and right keys, the game would have controlled beautifully. It would have made the game a little bit easier, of course, but I've never found clunky controls or camera to be a satisfying source of difficulty in a game. In bloodborne, I absolutely hated using r3 to lock onto stuff, as you had to angle your hand all weird if you were trying to do any attacks at the same time. Even Zelda 64 had z targetting which was easy to hit while fighting and a snap-camera-forward button that didn't involve changing the angle of your hand to hit. Sorry for the rant, but I found that so disappointing the first time I booted up the game on PC. Took me quite a while to come back to it and only once I had a controller.
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Feb 9, 2016 01:12
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Hello, have a Soul 16 - Into The Depths
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Feb 13, 2016 03:29
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Please wear the sack for at least several videos (and put it on for cutscenes your character shows up in) because it is the best hat (Yes, even better than The one from the invader in The Painted World)
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Feb 13, 2016 04:08
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I've ended up playing ahead now, all the way to Anor Londo, but it's nice to see this move ahead. Taking a lot of your thoughts to date, I ended up appreciating the stuff I probably wouldn't have otherwise by just thinking about how things are put together in this game.
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Feb 13, 2016 04:57
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There's a lot, and Anor Londo is probably one of the best put-together areas in a game. Kind of a shame the crunchtime really starts to show through soon afterwards, but we'll get to that when we get to that
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Feb 13, 2016 05:12
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