|
Wayne posted:Haven't even heard of that! My dad kept playing them up through Myst... 3? the one after Riven and they changed developers and all that, but he was always more of a glutton for adventure game punishment than I was. Luckily at least the first two Myst games don't get too adventure game-y, at least as far as item management goes. As for talking points, I tried to keep things going, but I tend to get really absorbed in whatever I'm playing. It's part of why I put the LP in here instead of making its own thread. Unfortunately everything is already recorded, since we did it in just a couple sittings. I'll definitely prepare some stuff for when we eventually do Riven, though!
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2016 05:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 10:26 |
|
|
Stoneship is the first one that ends up being a bit pain. It's a few episodes. --  Episode 3.5 - Stoneship Lore Episode 4 - Rough Waters --- Episode List: Playlist Episode 1 - The Stranger Episode 2 - Groundwork Episode 2.5 - Channelwood Lore Episode 3 - Ewok Village Episode 3.5 - Stoneship Lore Episode 4 - Rough Waters mikeycp fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Mar 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2016 19:02
|
|
|
mikeycp posted:Unfortunately everything is already recorded, since we did it in just a couple sittings. I'll definitely prepare some stuff for when we eventually do Riven, though! Ahh, gotcha. Yeah, I think that's another reason adventure/puzzle games aren't as popular anymore. When all the review sites measure quality with some kind of "fun"/hours played and those games don't take long at all once you know what's what... yeah. Speaking of "fun," how's about that Galamoth? Especially fighting him without the Beryl Circlet? Yup. Galamoth. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2016 19:20
|
|
|
The best thing about Galamoth is that you can stunlock him by punching him repeatedly in the back of the head. Without that, an all-bosses punching-only run would be very painful.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2016 20:04
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:The best thing about Galamoth is that you can stunlock him by punching him repeatedly in the back of the head. Without that, an all-bosses punching-only run would be very painful. Ooh. I didn't know about that trick. I always just cheesed him with the beryl circlet. I'll definitely have to give that a go next time I play.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2016 09:02
|
|
|
LogicalFallacy posted:Ooh. I didn't know about that trick. I always just cheesed him with the beryl circlet. I'll definitely have to give that a go next time I play. Note that you have to get into position for this basically immediately; if he moves from his initial position then you're stuck doing the fight normally. So the process is something like enter boss room -> jump up -> morph into bat -> Wing Smash through Galamoth -> land on little platform behind his head -> re-enact Fist of the North Star on his neck.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2016 16:15
|
|
|
 Combat Lobster and I try to go through the spin-off of spin-offs of Fabulis Crystalisysis. Type -1
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2016 15:38
|
|
|
Oh hey! After 3 months on break (while we took the time to finish River City Ransom) we're finally back playing Duke Nukem 3D! Hella psyched to continue the third campaign. Took some time to get back into the rhythm but I really missed some good ol' runnin' and gunnin'. Playlist of the entire series over here!   Part 20: THE SKY IS making GBS threads PIGS crab avatar fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Mar 20, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2016 23:27
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:The best thing about Galamoth is that you can stunlock him by punching him repeatedly in the back of the head. Without that, an all-bosses punching-only run would be very painful.  Interesting! I assume you'd have to find ways to cheese most bosses like that, since Alucard's damage is so low. I assume "punching-only" doesn't count the Blue/Jewel Knuckles or Fist of Tulkas, that would be a lot more viable!Now we're at the penultimate stream! Like I mention in the description, I cut out the first part due to a combo of Twitch issues and, uh, operator error at trying to figure out the best route.  ...cat damage.   Up All Night to Get Lucky, Let's Stream Symphony of the Night 22Just when I thought we were out of bosses to fight, Frankenstein's  "" "" 23
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2016 22:46
|
|
|
Wayne posted:
Ah ha ha ha ha ha, no, you're better off barehanded rather than using the Jewel Knuckles at least (Fist of Tulkas is pretty good though; I forget about Blue Knuckles). If you stand really close to enemies, then Alucard's punch hits twice. It's also super spammable and does either blunt damage or untyped damage; in any case, it does good damage against a lot of enemies that are resistant to slashing attacks like most of your swords produce. Punching is actually more powerful than the weapons you can find in the early game, if you can cope with its short range. It is perfectly possible to beat every boss without ever using any weapons or spells or armor. I've done it, though I did resort to throwing subweapons against Beelzebub because he's kind of annoying to reach otherwise, and by the end I was kind of sick of it so I ate a million pot roasts against Dracula.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2016 22:56
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Ah ha ha ha ha ha, no, you're better off barehanded rather than using the Jewel Knuckles at least (Fist of Tulkas is pretty good though; I forget about Blue Knuckles). If you stand really close to enemies, then Alucard's punch hits twice. It's also super spammable and does either blunt damage or untyped damage; in any case, it does good damage against a lot of enemies that are resistant to slashing attacks like most of your swords produce. Punching is actually more powerful than the weapons you can find in the early game, if you can cope with its short range. Speaking of unarmed combat, even when wildly impractical, I would chain divekick stomp enemies until they died whenever I could get away with it like I was Vampire Mario. Medusa stands out as "Why did I do this?!" because while they are a boss where that is incredibly easy to do safely, it also took forever because she resists blunt. Would have been much faster just to punch them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 00:12
|
|
|
Dark Souls II, NG++ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-txs9g1xR70 So I'm back with these. Nate and I had scheduling conflicts for a while, but that's over for the time being. This video and the next still have the old style of dialogue recording (ie, most of it), but past those I understand that the primary draw is in how the gameplay changes. Anyway, my build? (Wayne asked about this a while ago.) I've made a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the exact numbers, but at the least I've hit soft caps in everything and hard caps in a bunch of things while grinding for Twinkling Titanite in a certain endgame location.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 15:19
|
|
|
Man that compass puzzle was a pain. I haven't edited it yet, but I feel like there should only be one-ism more episode of Stoneship. -- Episode 5 - Lost at Sea --- Episode List: Playlist Episode 1 - The Stranger Episode 2 - Groundwork Episode 2.5 - Channelwood Lore Episode 3 - Ewok Village Episode 3.5 - Stoneship Lore Episode 4 - Rough Waters Episode 5 - Lost at Sea
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 16:42
|
|
|
Episode 20, in which I completely misread a reference. My life would be so much better if I actually paid attention to what's in front of me (such as the movie poster near the spawn point that clearly says what the movie set reference is about). Do any of you LPers have trouble following details in the games you play because you're so concentrated on talking without long pauses? Part 21: JENNY FROM THE BLOCK Watch the entire series over here!
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2016 22:27
|
|
|
Dark Souls II, NG++ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Sw37FBfYI This time around I've been running with the Leydia White Set (which looks cooler if you don't have legs, but oh well) and the Crypt Blacksword. It's funny how spoiled for choice one is in DS2, but surprisingly there's no Ultra Greatsword (the weapon class that includes the Crypt Blacksword) with innate lightning damage on it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2016 01:04
|
|
|
NGDBSS posted:I wonder what would happen if they got the mangaka for Blame, because he was also an architecture student
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2016 18:22
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Punching is actually more powerful than the weapons you can find in the early game, if you can cope with its short range.  SotN is a pretty easy game, but that's still really impressive! If I do play it again, I'll try punching a bit more (and the blocking thing Z mentioned). Ditto the dive kick; my controller just wasn't having it the first time the chat told me about it, and by the time I figured out how to make it behave I forgot you could even do it. The Blue Knuckles ended up being one of my favorite "midcard" weapons, it's fast and the natural uppercut attack deals with the big weakness of the normal punching animation.We're almost at the end now! There's these two, and next update will be the final battle and a brief romp in Richter mode! I guess after that I'll get ahold of CJ to put a link to the playlist on page 1. First up, the last part of stream 6, dealing with another boss I'd totally forgotten, the giant Bat. (Seriously? From Galamoth to Frankenstein's  Up All Night to Get Lucky, Let's Stream Symphony of the Night 24And next, exploring the last few bits of the Inverted Castle I couldn't earlier because of misinformation about the Wolf relics. (Some people in the chat said you didn't anything and you could always dog-paddle once you got the Holy Snorkel, not true.  ) I cut the weapon showcase part, it's basically a reminder of how awesome dual Crissaegrims are, which you'll be seeing soon enough anyway! "" "" 25
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2016 19:23
|
|
|
I actually managed to find a secret level. It's a bit of a mindfuck :O Part 22: WAT DIS?! Rest of the series over here!
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2016 22:44
|
|
|
 I let's played the first 2 DKC games what feels like forever ago. I told myself I wouldn't LP DKC3 since I never cared for it that much, at least, not in the way I did for the first two. Lately I've been getting the itch to LP something though, and have it be a relaxing thing. This LP doesn't have all the bonuses, or the DK coins, or the banana birds, or whatever other weird collectable DKC3 has. Some would say that is as much attention DKC3 deserves. I'm just playing through the stages and airing my thoughts about it. What I like, what I don't! I'm probably gonna run out of thoughts before the game is over, and will be looking for co-commentators. Dunno how I'm gonna do that since I'm doing this live, though. I haven't thought about anything related to LP tech since 2013. Anyway!  01: Lake Orangatanga Gonna try for an update schedule every Wednesday and Weekend!
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2016 02:17
|
|
|
Dark Souls II, NG++ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsuXsWC8O-I Based on Nate suggesting it, I decided to try out the Black Dragon set with the Black Knight Halberd/Rampart Golem Lance. This was a bit of a mistake, mostly because Dark Souls II has significant sweet spots on several of its weapon classes. Such as halberds. Regardless, at least lances aren't so wonky (if a bit slow).
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2016 21:59
|
|
|
Alright, let's bring it on home. First up, the grand finale of the Luck Run. I always liked the ending (cheesy voice acting and even cheesier ending theme aside), it's short and poignant, and completely forgotten about when Dracula shows up again anyway.  Up All Night to Get Lucky, Let's Stream Symphony of the Night 26And then the week after that, I decided to do a bonus video trying out Richter mode the first time. It goes about as well as expected. Still fun, but not enough to keep going with it, so... that's that! Thanks all for watching and talking about Castlevania, really enjoyed it.  I'll probably do Portrait of Ruin someday, then maybe one of the games y'all were discussing earlier. RICHTER Mode Stream, Part 1 RICHTER Mode Stream, Part 2--- NGDBSS posted:Anyway, my build? (Wayne asked about this a while ago.) I've made a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the exact numbers, but at the least I've hit soft caps in everything and hard caps in a bunch of things while grinding for Twinkling Titanite in a certain endgame location. I guess the Agape Ring is Scholar-only, right? I ended up a little ahead of Mog in SM too for our LP, since I farmed a few things for Awestones and drops. I know exactly where you're talking about, did the same thing, heh. And yeah, exact stats or not, that's always been my problem with the NG+ mechanics in the Souls game. The second cycle isn't too bad (and I'd argue you're "supposed" to play at least that far, since they add a lot of challenge after that, at least in DS2), but after that you're getting diminishing returns on everything and levels cost insane amounts of souls, it's just balanced really poorly.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 22:21
|
|
|
The Agape Ring isn't Scholar-only, but it certainly wasn't in the original release of the game. Rather, it was added in for the final Scholar of the First Sin update to the original game as a thing you could purchase from Straid. That said, DS2 has fairly relaxed scaling on souls required to level compared to the other games in the series. My soul memory on this character (very little of it wasted by deaths) is at ~270M, which is enough for a soul level at about 700. With that in DS1 or Demon's Souls (the two use nearly identical level scaling), you'd only be able to reach a soul level somewhere between 400 and 500. But regardless, if you're getting diminishing returns on your scaling then you're already doing reasonably well for yourself, at least so far as that's possible in a Souls game. Hitting all the soft caps is easily possible without any grinding within NG+, which means that your character is capable of using just about anything to near-maximum effect. (I have two characters on Scholar who've hit most of the soft caps at SL ~200 without proceeding to NG+ or grinding, and I specifically had to hold down their levels to keep from going past a soul memory threshold.) Anything further is mostly there for the sake of vanity. And honestly, this is generally how a number of New Game Plus mechanics have worked ever since Chrono Trigger first popularized the term - the protagonists are at the height of their mechanical power, and thus the whole point of gameplay is to try out weird and interesting things that were impossible on a new game due to how the narrative gates things. (This is how Chrono Trigger's NG+ worked.) Or if they're not quite at that height, at least they still have access to a number of abilities they otherwise wouldn't. (I just finished reading the Final Fantasy X-2 LP on the archive, and this is how theirs worked.) But where the Souls games make this different is that the challenges scale as well (to a point), so that you're not just steamrolling the Ruin Sentinels with Chaos Fireballs or Black Tyranno with Luminaire. What about you, Wayne? What do you normally expect from a New Game Plus mechanic?
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2016 23:02
|
|
|
Time for the infamous Organ Puzzle! (Soon to be followed by everyone's main complaint about Myst. Next Week.) -- Episode 6 - Maestro --- Episode List: Playlist Episode 1 - The Stranger Episode 2 - Groundwork Episode 2.5 - Channelwood Lore Episode 3 - Ewok Village Episode 3.5 - Stoneship Lore Episode 4 - Rough Waters Episode 5 - Lost at Sea Episode 6 - Maestro
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 18:51
|
|
|
have you considered that maybe you;re just bad at solving puzzles dude
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 21:18
|
|
|
 Me and my brother played a bit of Caveman Games, a weird old NES title. Put your eyes on it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NNPPQaBB2Q Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Mar 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2016 21:33
|
|
|
corn in the bible posted:have you considered that maybe you;re just bad at solving puzzles dude Every day of my life. Is there anything in specific this refers to, though?
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2016 03:09
|
|
|
The year is 1994. The 3DO is at the height of its power. The Sega Saturn and PlayStation are right around the corner and the Nintendo 64 is still a few years away. Yes, the 3DO is at the height of its mighty power. This king of consoles, this emperor of electronics, this suzerain of the television screen is about to have its hold on the console market secured by the release of a mighty, mighty video game. A game that is far, far ahead of its time. A game that predicted Let's Plays by, in effect, LPing itself while you played the game. A game so meta that its irony caused 3DO consoles to set fire. A game so caustic and acerbic that it then set fire to those games. A game so extreme that it was necessary to re-release it on the other major consoles with the subheading of "EXTREME" just so that its title would be more descriptive and accurate. This game is, of course, the well-known and beloved OFF-WORLD INTERCEPTOR!!!!!   I played this game a bunch as a kid because I had no concept of what was good and bad. It's a good thing this game was rad as heck! I played the Saturn version a bunch--the aforementioned "EXTREME" version:  Sadly, I know longer own a Saturn or a Saturn copy Off-World Interceptor Extreme, so we'll have to make due with the PlayStation version:  Heck yeah! Look at that kickin' rad box art! This game IS art. Off-World Interceptor is a game set in a dystopian space future where a space government hires space bounty hunters to hunt space criminals for space money played by a couple of Proto-LPers. Yes, by Let's Playing this game I am in effect Retsuprae-ing it. What I'm saying is this game is way ahead of its time. Some critics recognized its greatness, such as GamePro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-World_Interceptor posted:Reviewing the 3DO version, GamePro criticized the music and "slightly hokey" sound effects, but praised the graphics and cutscenes, and concluded "Once any early frustration wears off, OWI's great graphics and game play will drive you wild."[4] Some reviewers were elitist snobs and took every opportunity to dump on this gem of a game. Typical IGN, amirite??? http://ca.ign.com/articles/1996/11/26/off-world-interceptor-extreme posted:On first try, Off World Interceptor is a lot of fun. But you soon begin to realize it's pretty much a one-trick pony. Each race is exactly the same, barring some minor changes in the tracks. The graphics are passable, and the control decent enough. It's just not an entertaining enough game to hold your interest. The well-regarded and venerable Sega Saturn magazine gave a more well-balanced and tempered review of the game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-World_Interceptor posted:Reviewing the Saturn version, Sega Saturn Magazine commented that the game's premise is interesting but the actual gameplay is poor, especially the "unrealistic" movements of the player's vehicle. They gave the game a 65%.[5] It's clear the world of 1994 didn't know quite what to make of this game. This proto-Let's Play. I want to show it off in all its glory, so please join myself and CJacobs (of Bubsy and Fallout 3 fame) in experiencing this wonder:  OFF-WORLD INTERCEPTOR EXTREME - EXTREME UPDATE 1 - PLANET SCORCH 7 & FERRO LUPUSI've included a no commentary version in case you want to hear the two in-game LPers talk over the cutscenes without CJacobs and myself talking over them talking over the cutscenes. Sally fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Apr 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 07:26
|
|
|
Lizard Wizard posted:
This is a converted C64 game which is why it feels different from your average NES game. The music is pretty typical for a lot of C64 titles, it had a better name though - Caveman Ughlympics. The control responsiveness is probably a result of trying to figure out what to do with all the NES controller buttons since your average C64 joystick had a whole one button. It wasn't very good on C64 either, if that helps Sloober fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Apr 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 13:23
|
|
|
Hey, remember Turok: Dinosaur Hunter? From the N64? Yeah, it was pretty cool back in the day. Some dev released a remastered version of the game for the PC and it's really good. It's the best PC FPS I've played in a long time. Like, seriously, it's really, really good. I think the review that best encapsulates the experience of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered was this guy from Rock Paper Shotgun who had never played the original game. It's awesome that this has come out because the N64 version has not aged well. Like, at all. It's kinda trash. SA forums user PSWII60 has recently completed an LP of the N64 version, which while really good, really shows off how poorly that version aged. Furthermore, SA forums user Phenwah recently completed an LP of the most recent Turok game which is pretty much abject garbage. Also a really good LP, but it really doesn't put the Turok series in a good light. With all that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to jump into the Remaster to show just how awesome this game still is. There are a bunch of differences from the original game (power-ups in different locations, small changes to maps, better draw distances, etc.), so if you're interested in seeing them I recommend you check out PSWII60's LP as well. Without further ado, though, here is Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered:  Sally fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Aug 27, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 04:17
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:Hey, remember Turok: Dinosaur Hunter? From the N64? Yeah, it was pretty cool back in the day. Some dev released a remastered version of the game for the PC and it's really good. It's the best PC FPS I've played in a long time. Like, seriously, it's really, really good. I think the review that best encapsulates the experience of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered was this guy from Rock Paper Shotgun who had never played the original game. It's awesome that this has come out because the N64 version has not aged well. Like, at all. It's kinda trash. SA forums user PSWII60 has recently completed an LP of the N64 version, which while really good, really shows off how poorly that version aged. Furthermore, SA forums user Phenwah recently completed an LP of the most recent Turok game which is pretty much abject garbage. Also a really good LP, but it really doesn't put the Turok series in a good light. With all that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to jump into the Remaster to show just how awesome this game still is. There are a bunch of differences from the original game (power-ups in different locations, small changes to maps, better draw distances, etc.), so if you're interested in seeing them I recommend you check out PSWII60's LP as well. Without further ado, though, here is Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered: drat, its nice seeing them remaster the game like this. I hope it leads to Turok 3 getting remade
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 05:56
|
|
|
I would love Turok Rage Wars to be a thing again. I played the absolute poo poo out of that game.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 06:08
|
|
|
Leal posted:drat, its nice seeing them remaster the game like this. I hope it leads to Turok 3 getting remade They're in the process of remastering Turok 2 for sure. If that does well as well, who knows! I, too, would like Turok 3 and Rage Wars to get remastered--if for no other reason than they were the two N64 Turok games I never had the opportunity to play.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 06:31
|
|
|
NGDBSS posted:What about you, Wayne? What do you normally expect from a New Game Plus mechanic? Well, there's a difference between what I'd "expect" and what I'd "like to see." I mean, I think the Tales games handled NG+ the best: you play through the game again, but each time you beat it you get more "points" you use to decide what features you unlock in NG+, whether that's cosmetic (costumes, titles where they don't do anything), convenient (recipes), or for powergaming (x10 XP). The game isn't automatically easier, you don't come in with the level you win at and thus breeze past everything; but you can make it so. And honestly, I'd like more games to do stuff like that. Like Symphony of the Night; if I could just start a new game keeping all my swag but starting over at level 1 (so I could play around with gimmicks like maxing Int and using subweapons only with Brilliant Mail or whatnot) I'd much prefer that to "You can do whatever content was left besides Dracula."In the specific case of the Souls games, I think a hybrid of Demon's and DS2 would be best. In Demon's, the amount of souls it takes to level up ratchets up at certain breakpoints, so there's a "soft cap" on levels based on the souls you're likely to get; and so far 2 has been the only Souls game to do anything new in 2nd cycles, like with the new phantoms (and I heard in Scholar they mix up which chests are mimics or something like that). If the game helped ensure you were a "reasonable" level for the increased difficulty in later cycles, and the games gave you a reason to play it again with the same character (granted, Soul Vessels help immensely, until of course you get characters as powerful as yours that can do anything anyway), then I'd be happy. Blind Sally posted:This game is, of course, the well-known and beloved OFF-WORLD INTERCEPTOR!!!!!  Man, that's a blast from the past, I actually remember seeing that GamePro article. It's always fun to see games I read about but never saw in action show up on LP.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 06:35
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:Hey, remember Turok: Dinosaur Hunter? From the N64? Yeah, it was pretty cool back in the day. Some dev released a remastered version of the game for the PC and it's really good. It's the best PC FPS I've played in a long time. Like, seriously, it's really, really good. I think the review that best encapsulates the experience of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered was this guy from Rock Paper Shotgun who had never played the original game. It's awesome that this has come out because the N64 version has not aged well. Like, at all. It's kinda trash. SA forums user PSWII60 has recently completed an LP of the N64 version, which while really good, really shows off how poorly that version aged. Furthermore, SA forums user Phenwah recently completed an LP of the most recent Turok game which is pretty much abject garbage. Also a really good LP, but it really doesn't put the Turok series in a good light. With all that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to jump into the Remaster to show just how awesome this game still is. There are a bunch of differences from the original game (power-ups in different locations, small changes to maps, better draw distances, etc.), so if you're interested in seeing them I recommend you check out PSWII60's LP as well. Without further ado, though, here is Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ouebDoA3U
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 07:08
|
|
|
Wayne posted:In the specific case of the Souls games, I think a hybrid of Demon's and DS2 would be best. In Demon's, the amount of souls it takes to level up ratchets up at certain breakpoints, so there's a "soft cap" on levels based on the souls you're likely to get; and so far 2 has been the only Souls game to do anything new in 2nd cycles, like with the new phantoms (and I heard in Scholar they mix up which chests are mimics or something like that). If the game helped ensure you were a "reasonable" level for the increased difficulty in later cycles, and the games gave you a reason to play it again with the same character (granted, Soul Vessels help immensely, until of course you get characters as powerful as yours that can do anything anyway), then I'd be happy. But funny enough, the odd man out that is Dark Souls 2 actually does use (lenient) exponential scaling and also changes that scaling based on breakpoints. But by and large, that scaling tends to relax at breakpoints, and in any case the breakpoints themselves are almost all situated in NG territory. Specifically, they're 13, 25, 41, 56, 71, 91, 116, 171, 181, 201, and 251. And out of those, only 201 actually ratchets up the scaling, and after that 251 makes the exponential scaling really lenient anyway. It's hard to notice that because the numbers are so large, but the net effect is that Dark Souls 2's scaling is more lenient only because its actual parameters are more so. In any case, keep in mind that the Souls games have a significant learning curve and skill cap. Thus a major component of balancing things to the player in NG+ and higher is likely to be that player's own skill in learning the inner workings of the game. Recall, after all, that in theory it's possible to never take a single point of damage in a Souls game. Doing so is obviously stupendously improbable outside of a TAS*, but regardless a given player new to the game has probably gone from always holding up their shield regardless of reduced stamina regain to ruthlessly dodging/outranging/blocking the final boss at just the right time. The numbers get larger, but that's so they can grow with you. This isn't terribly idle speculation, since I've personally had a blunted version of this with DS2. When I started out in NG and proceeded up through NG++, I'd been sticking with sword and board the whole way. (Dark Souls 1 had taught me some lazy lessons on the value of greatshields.) But I'd eventually been reaching a point where a number of attacks were just doing too much stamina damage to rely on a shield in a consistent manner, even with the Baneful Bird Ring. I ended up attempting to not care about shields, instead employing weapons either with two hands or dual wielding. And that ended up working pretty well - since then (on the same character or others) I've had fewer deaths relative to play time, and in general have gotten more enjoyment out of the game. Anyway, that's a lot of words and I should probably take a look at the Turok remaster or something. *A TAS of any Souls game would probably be equal parts terrifying and fascinating as someone slaps around the code like it's Super Mario 64. NGDBSS fucked around with this message at 06:42 on May 28, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 09:05
|
|
|
  Continuing on the above subject, it turns out that there are certain hacks you can pull with Excel to force it to perform polynomial regression. After doing so, I found that the level-up formula for Demon's Souls/Dark Souls 1/Bloodborne is indeed cubic, though there's also a subtle non-polynomial parameter involved as well. The second above graph shows the same differences after I gutted the first few levels with obviously linear scaling and shifted down the data points based on removing the repeated value. In this case, R2 is even better at ~.999996, and the regression function is instead Souls ≈ .019981 * LVL^3 + 3.14322 * LVL^2 + 103.499 * LVL + 2.90922. While this also looks cubic, my best revised guess for the nonlinear component is some sort of hyperbolic function. (If it were actually cubic then Excel's regression would already have considered that.) Maybe it's some sort of sinh - tanh graph? Dark Souls II, NG++ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fud1A5vBC8w This episode went notably more smoothly than before, primarily because I was experimenting with faster weapon styles.  I decided to cheese the boss this time since the arena permits it. But in any case it's not terribly difficult to the point where it shows up later as a miniboss.
NGDBSS fucked around with this message at 06:42 on May 28, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 03:06
|
|
|
Oh hey, I forgot to post these! Part 23: SO CONFUSED  Part 24: THERE'S A FIRE TRUCK Watch the rest of the Duke Nukem 3D series over here! Also, as a way to celebrate the 100 videos we've made for the channel, we had some champagne and played Kirby's Dream Course for 80 minutes because clearly people would want to watch that! I can't remember the last project I stuck around with for so long other than a job, so this feels like an accomplishment. A stupid, stupid accomplishment.  100th VIDEO One-off: Kirby's Dream Course Watch our older (shorter D:) one-offs!
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 15:10
|
|
|
 Part 4: Dagobah Does not contain spoilers for Force Awakens. But that's probably the high point of this level.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 15:37
|
|
|
Trizophenie posted:
i wish it DID contain spoilers D;
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 16:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 10:26 |
|
|
Blind Sally posted:i wish it DID contain spoilers D; I asked you. You never got me a recoding. So it's totally your own fault!
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 16:50
|
|