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I tell you, I definitely agree the overhead bits were pretty weak in the original. I mean, for all its flaws, I thought Fester's Quest was far superior in that regard.

Fester's Quest is a whole other can of worms. Redeemable with some hacking, though, I suspect.

Original Blaster Master has some terribly designed stages with awful combat. It just isn't fun. Wish it had used the bump system.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Wish it had used the bump system.

I mentally insert that to the end of every comment Bone makes on a video game.

The complete lack of a save or password feature, coupled with extremely limited continues is my primary complaint with Blaster Master. Considering its age, the game is relatively well-designed; it controls well; and it still looks and sounds good. Some of the later bosses are insanely difficult without fully-powered weapons, however, and having to beat it in one sitting is just unforgivable. I finally beat it using save states - saving after I defeated each boss - and I don't ever see myself getting through it I one sitting on original hardware. (I have beaten Battletoads, and that is another brilliant NES game that would have been greatly improved by a password feature...and the bump system, of course.)

There needs to be a DLC for BMZ that sets it up so you're a midget riding a giant during the vehicle parts and just a midget during the on foot parts. It can be called Master Blaster Master.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Original Blaster Master has some terribly designed stages with awful combat. It just isn't fun. Wish it had used the bump system.

prfsnl_gmr wrote:The complete lack of a save or password feature, coupled with extremely limited continues is my primary complaint with Blaster Master. Considering its age, the game is relatively well-designed; it controls well; and it still looks and sounds good. Some of the later bosses are insanely difficult without fully-powered weapons, however, and having to beat it in one sitting is just unforgivable. I finally beat it using save states - saving after I defeated each boss - and I don't ever see myself getting through it I one sitting on original hardware. (I have beaten Battletoads, and that is another brilliant NES game that would have been greatly improved by a password feature...and the bump system, of course.)

I love its brutality. When I think of Hell, I picture (and hear) level 8 from Blaster Master.

MrPopo wrote:I mentally insert that to the end of every comment Bone makes on a video game.

Not just video games...

1. DKC Returns (3DS)
2. √ Letter (PS4)
3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC)
4. Spec Ops: The Line (PC)
5. Fire Emblem Heroes (Android)
6. Gears of War Ultimate Edition (Xbox One)
7. Onechanbara Z2 Chaos (PS4)
8. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)
9. Nioh (PS4)
10. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
11. Dark Souls III: The Ringed City (PC)

The Ringed City is the second piece of DLC for Dark Souls III, and effectively the last (announced) of the series. I think EU and JP regions are getting all-inclusive discs for Dark Souls III next month, but I don't think it's announced for the US (we similarly never got the complete Bloodborne disc).

I picked up my New Game game on PC to play this, and I think I added around 8-9 hours of playtime to it with some fairly comprehensive exploration and taking down the four bosses present.


A rare arrow-free moment.

Generally speaking, this DLC is fairly comparable to the size/scope of one of the DLCs for Dark Souls II. Getting to the new areas is simple, but getting far into them is rough - whether constantly respawning mobs or one of a couple types that will flood the area with projectiles if they see you, it was slow going for me at first. Thankfully, there are some tricks to them, but initially I was pretty frustrated.

Once I got past that initial wall, there was a good bit of cool stuff to find. Many of the staple rings have +3 versions hidden around, and Fashion Souls is in full swing (Desert Sorceress set is back ), and there's some good lore and questlines to be found.


You just know that'll break if you touch it...I'mma touch it...

Despite the patch that added the DLC effectively nerfing the weapon I had been using on that game until now (Barbed Sword, because Bleed was OP) I was still able to stick with it for nearly everything.
The bosses added seem to tick almost every box for what fans wanted to see. You have...

- Fight against two similar bosses that sees the second killed revived into a more powerful version, which is different depending on the kill order. Like the baby of the Gargoyles fight and O&S.

- Fight that may pit you against a member of the new covenant (if online, if you play offline, like me, you fight an NPC). The summoning period seems masked better than the Demon's Souls fight that does this...but the helper mobs are kind of annoying.

- Optional fight against a dragon that has just, so much HP and defense...I swapped weapons for this since having reach is good. I managed to cut the questline for it short though, which mostly meant I had no option for NPC help :/

- Final boss that's probably a combination of Artorias and Orphan of Kos.

While I may have been saying otherwise at the time, objectively, they're all pretty fair (if challenging) fights.
There are also a number of NPC invader types that (like in DS2) appear whether or not you're Embered and drop some nice items.


At least he does stay on the ground a lot more than other dragons in the series...

While there are references to plenty of things for the series as a whole, mostly, The Ringed City continues the side-story started in Ashes of Ariandel. It doesn't have a complete conclusion, but then again, little in Dark Souls tends to.

Overall, it's a solid entry, albeit probably still a touch short of the bar set by Artorias of the Abyss or The Old Hunters. I think the combination of the two DLCs rounds Dark Souls III out well though, and the final boss encounter does bookend the series nicely.