Games Beaten 2016

Post by **isiolia** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:57 pm

Xeogred wrote:Yeah so dude, I went into The Old Hunters on my NG+++ character after getting the Platinum when the game launched. Let me tell you... that was basically a recipe for sheer insane punishment that made me wanna cry. I was stuck on Laurence for about a year literally, I just gave up but it always bugged me because I wanted to get the DLC trophies for that 100% again. I finally destroyed him after going back to it this year actually, after Dark Souls 3.

Nice videos. Madness...maybe? :lol:

That seems somewhat low level for that game cycle? I mean, I definitely leveled more than I needed to in both my first playthrough, and in this one - I think level 96 for both beating the first time and heading into the DLC, and then grinding out to like 122 or so for Orphan of Kos. Still, that'd wind up putting me a little over what I've seen as the recommended minimum NG+ level for the DLC, no idea what NG+++ "should" be.

Then again, I tend to be quite content to overlevel for things >_>; Going back and stomping stuff is what makes the leveling satisfying.

The other bosses (other than Living Failures...because I mean, come on) took a decent number of tries, but were more ones I saw mistakes and was able to get better. Laurence I nearly took down within my first few tries, but kept getting greedy in his final phase and dying with a hit or two left.
None were quite as much of a fun/learning process as Friede in Ashes of Ariandel though - that fight basically rolls Sister Maria and Ornstein and Smough together. It was pretty epic, but I was probably overleveled for that too.

I did end up with 100% of the trophies for The Old Hunters, but that's not really much past doing the bosses and such anyway. Those fish...ogre... things hoarding Maria's weapon though, yeesh. :shock:

I'm half inclined to just wait and actually do a NG+ cycle instead of back up/restore my save to get both endings...if only so I can collect some of the chalice ingredients again to get down to the trophy boss. Main reason I'm looking at the platinum is that, unlike the Dark Souls games, Bloodborne doesn't seem to require multiplayer (or insane grinding) due to not really having a need to rank up in covenants for it. I thought that it might for the whistle hunter tool, but I got that achievement already despite not having it.
Still, no rush, so I might just put it aside for a while and try to get back to some of the other games I've started in the meantime.

HLTB · Post by **Xeogred** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:09 pm

Hard to say. Since I listed my levels there, you can see I only leveled like 10-15 times throughout all the DLC. Kind of hit that wall eventually and then hit all the soft caps on the stats, it doesn't seem to really do anything. I don't tend to power level much in these either so that might be a little difference in our styles heh.

I was planning on waiting for DS3's second DLC to release, then I'll hit them both up!

Yeah Bloodborne's platinum is the easiest. I've done the platinum for both DS2 and DS3 and half those runs are indeed probably Covenant related. The chalice dungeons are going to be pretty time consuming though and boring. It also gets way harder than the base game. But there ends up being a lot of unique enemies and new bosses, so that keeps it interesting a bit. Nothing I'd ever want to dig into again with a replay though. It's unfortunate that the entirety of the chalice dungeons had like one new unique weapon? The claws I think. It's a good way to stock up on blood vials though, I have some friends who had to grind for those, but I never did since I plugged away at the chalice dungeons off and on. People have it easier thesedays too with the patches that increased the stock limit, I think you could only tuck away 99 blood vials compared to the 600 or whatever now haha.

The Demon's platinum was insane. You have to get this one specific stone from a certain enemy that has like a .1% of dropping or something, lol. Took forever but I finally did it.

I doubt I'll ever bother getting the platinum for DS1. This one requires you to have maxed out a weapon of like every elemental type and I'm sure there's a lot of Covenant stuff that might be hard to do if the player base is smaller now. It pains me I can't say I have the platinum for ALL of them, but oh well haha. Nothing to stress over.

isiolia wrote:I'm half inclined to just wait and actually do a NG+ cycle instead of back up/restore my save to get both endings...if only so I can collect some of the chalice ingredients again to get down to the trophy boss.

Yeah I never once used the save/backup trick people do on these. You can seriously beat Bloodborne in a few hours if you just book it and only go for the required bosses. I didn't really notice a huge spike after some NG+ runs either, outside of the DLC.

Post by **dsheinem** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:18 pm

Games Beaten 2016

First 50:

Battleborn - PC
140 - PC
Last Duel - Arcade (PSP)
Alien on the Run - 3DS
Undead Bowling - 3DS
Chain Blaster - 3DS
Runny Egg - 3DS
Bound - PS4
Parasite Eve - PS1
Destiny - PS4
Destiny: The Dark Below - PS4
Destiny: The House of Wolves - PS4
Destiny: The Taken King - PS4
Otomedius Excellent - 360
Crimsonland - PC
Planet of the Eyes - PC
Destiny: Rise of Iron - PS4
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut - PC
Eve Valkyrie: Gunjack - PSVR
Elegy for a Dead World - PC
SOMA - PC
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill - PC
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR
Actual Sunlight - Vita
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Jackal Assault VR - PSVR
Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered - Vita
Thumper - PSVR
Burrito Bison: Launcha Libre - iOS
Trackmania Turbo (VR Campaign) - PSVR
Gears of War 4 - Xbox One
Caladrius Blaze - PS4
Dariusburst Chronicles - PC
Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet - PS4
ABZÜ - PC *new*

Total: 85

Previously: 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

ABZÜ might be about the most beautiful game I've ever played, and it is a magnificent marriage of sound and vision coupled with easy to grasp controls and a compelling presentation of an ancient creation myth. I imagine it would rank high in the "best games of the year" list for anyone who enjoyed thatgamecompany's work on Journey or Flower, or who generally enjoys aquatic-themed games. (The art director of Journey created the studio that made ABZÜ). I couldn't stop taking screenshots.

Post by **noiseredux** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:23 pm

Abzu has been on my want list for a while. Do you know if it has VR support? That would really bump it up.

Post by **dsheinem** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:26 pm

noiseredux wrote:Abzu has been on my want list for a while. Do you know if it has VR support? That would really bump it up.

I don't think so - I don't know that it would really work very well in VR as it is in third person with some specific camera angles and panning that have to take place. Of course, I didn't think Bound would work in VR either and it is fantastic.

I think I've seen it for $10 recently. It is well worth it at that price, VR or no.

Post by **Sarge** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:35 pm

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:
159) Rise of the Tomb Raider - Lara's Nightmare (PS4) (DLC)
160) Titanfall 2 (PS4)
161) Soul Blade (PSX)
162) Axiom Verge (PC)
163) Owlboy (PC)
164) Nitro Ball (ARC)
165) Desert Breaker (ARC)
166) Dead Connection (ARC)
167) Crystal of Kings (ARC)

Cleansing the palate with some Mercs-style run-and-guns. Nitro Ball is a weird Data East arcade game that takes place on various pinball boards, and sees you blasting through them. You can even morph into a ball with the right power ups. It's a weird conceit, but it's a pretty decent time. Just expect to do some quarter-feeding. I'm sure there exists someone out there that can 1CC it, but it ain't me.

Ditto Desert Breaker. Hailing from Sega's "we're just gonna copy everyone else's hit games!" era, it's about as blatant a Mercs clone as there is. You do get to ride a few vehicles, though. It feels kinda perfunctory. You do get a nice invincible dash move that I'm sure is necessary to avoid dying. I never could quite nail it all down, though, so I died a lot. I think I'm going to look up both of these and see if someone has 1CC'ed them.

EDIT: Briefly described Dead Connection and Crystal of Kings in a later post.

Post by **noiseredux** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:35 pm

I wouldn't have thought a 3D platformer would work in VR until I played Lucky's Tale, so you never know. But yeah, it's still on my list. I've just had no shortage of games to play, yet an unfortunate shortage of time. So then I just play Rocket League. Which you bought me last year incidentally. So thanks, haha.

Post by **isiolia** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:57 pm

Xeogred wrote:Hard to say. Since I listed my levels there, you can see I only leveled like 10-15 times throughout all the DLC. Kind of hit that wall eventually and then hit all the soft caps on the stats, it doesn't seem to really do anything. I don't tend to power level much in these either so that might be a little difference in our styles heh.

I didn't wind up leveling much actually doing the DLC content, since it wasn't very good XP at that point. I pretty much just go back up to the stretch right before Mergo's Wet Nurse to farm the piggies (or the ones outside of the jail area pre-Rom). Either way, I don't know what levels people tend to end up with, and it seems higher than whatever the meta would be, if there is one. Just seemed lower than I would have thought.
I think continued leveling would still slightly help, including boosting defenses/resistances.

I was planning on waiting for DS3's second DLC to release, then I'll hit them both up!

Probably wise, since they could very well continue the story in the second one, and the first...is half a PvP arena that I didn't care about. The PvE section is great for what's there, but on its own merits it's a little expensive (I bought the season pass on sale).

Nothing I'd ever want to dig into again with a replay though. It's unfortunate that the entirety of the chalice dungeons had like one new unique weapon? The claws I think. It's a good way to stock up on blood vials though, I have some friends who had to grind for those, but I never did since I plugged away at the chalice dungeons off and on. People have it easier thesedays too with the patches that increased the stock limit, I think you could only tuck away 99 blood vials compared to the 600 or whatever now haha.

Yeah, the Beast Claw is only available in them (though I guess alternate versions of other weapons count if you didn't get them elsewhere).
Unless something changes, I found it a ton more efficient to just farm blood echoes to buy vials instead of farming vials themselves. Still annoying to have to go do, but it only really took a few minutes to get a decent stock built back up.

isiolia wrote:I'm half inclined to just wait and actually do a NG+ cycle instead of back up/restore my save to get both endings...if only so I can collect some of the chalice ingredients again to get down to the trophy boss.

Yeah I never once used the save/backup trick people do on these. You can seriously beat Bloodborne in a few hours if you just book it and only go for the required bosses. I didn't really notice a huge spike after some NG+ runs either, outside of the DLC.

I've mostly just figured I'd do it because I've already done the most involved ending, so one of the remaining ones is just literally a dialogue choice to not fight. It might be interesting to see how quick I could get through it though, just not really in the mood to replay it right away. When I have replayed these games, I've been both more comprehensive, and a -lot- faster (usually half the time or so). Still nowhere near what can actually be done though.

HLTB · Post by **Xeogred** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 4:34 pm

21 minutes? :lol:

Post by **Sarge** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:28 pm

True, but you also had stuff like Master of Darkness and Golden Axe Warrior. Sega had original stuff for certain, but they also weren't above brazenly ripping off a particular style of game if it suited them.

EDIT: Ran through Dead Connection, a sort of Godfather / Untouchables-inspired single-screen shooter. It's kind of like what you'd get if you combined Mercs with something like Cabal. Pretty neat for what it is.

EDIT 2: Aaaand Crystal of Kings, a hack and slasher that's apparently pretty rare. It sports a bunch of pre-rendered graphics and a soundtrack that sounds like it's being run through a phone line. I mean, the music is fine, but the sampling frequency is terrible. It was a decent enough experience, although there are definitely better hack and slashers out there.

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