The final boss music is one of the most fun to play on Theatrhythm: Curtain Call.
Broken Age (Act 2)
Nearly completed it, but it took SEVERAL attempts and a lot of reading through SEVERAL walkthroughs just to understand what I had to do in certain puzzles. Some of them are so confusing and maddeningly unintuitive that it's honestly ruined a lot of my feelings on the game. I won't spoil it, but I'll say this much: the puzzles involving pipes, knots, and wires (ESPECIALLY the fucking wires) is the kind of overly complicated, confusing puzzles that made many consider adventure games dead in the first place.
*sigh* The first act of this game was so promising. Yeah, the puzzles were easy, but at least they weren't this confusing and this maddeningly unintuitive. These puzzles alone honestly make me regret backing Double Fine in the first place.
Nearly completed it, but it took SEVERAL attempts and a lot of reading through SEVERAL walkthroughs just to understand what I had to do in certain puzzles. Some of them are so confusing and maddeningly unintuitive that it's honestly ruined a lot of my feelings on the game. I won't spoil it, but I'll say this much: the puzzles involving pipes, knots, and wires (ESPECIALLY the fucking wires) is the kind of overly complicated, confusing puzzles that made many consider adventure games dead in the first place.
*sigh* The first act of this game was so promising. Yeah, the puzzles were easy, but at least they weren't this confusing and this maddeningly unintuitive. These puzzles alone honestly make me regret backing Double Fine in the first place.
I played too much Monster Hunter again ... I have to get up for work in less than 5 hours.
But at last, I made G rank.
But at last, I made G rank.
Didn't Ron Gilbert leave production partway through development of the first half? That might be an explanation of the different tone of the second half.
Could be. I finally beat it, but it was mind-boggling impossible without guides. Worst, if you screwed up, you had to re-do the goddamn wiring mini-puzzles, which just made things all the more infuriating.
I guarantee, those goddamn wire puzzles will go down in infamy alongside the worst adventure game puzzles in history.
Worse than chasing a cat through a hole lined with scotch tape so you can stick fur to it and use it to disguise yourself with a fake mustache... so you match the fake ID you got... and then drew a mustache on with pencil?
... I've gone crosseyed just remembering that.
They went WAY too far in the other direction. There's hard puzzles and then there's infuriatingly unintuitive puzzles.
Like, these puzzles reminded me of the maze at the end of Gabriel Knight 2. Only way to win was through trial and error.
figmentPez
Staff member
Speaking of things resetting. One of the early puzzles in Vella's side was pretty simple, but I didn't feel like writing anything down (I'm just done with making paper notes for games, 95% of the time, I never liked having to make maps for games, and I appreciate games that have systems for taking notes in-game). So when the dialog came up asking, essentially, "What was the number you saw on the clue earlier?" I rolled my eyes and guessed. When I failed enough, it dumped me out of the dialog, and warped me to the location of the clues, had the character pull out a sheet of paper and make up a logic grid of the type you'd use to solve the puzzle. For a brief moment, I thought "Oh, hey, this is cool. Instead of just letting me trial and error my way through, they're going to make me fill out the logic grid in-game." NOPE, it's just a completely non-interactive clue. They still expect you to pull out pencil and paper and write all this shit down. Well, my desk is a mess, and I'm getting over bronchitis, I don't feel like digging around for a blank scrap of paper. So I went back to try one more time (and had to backtrack because one of the puzzle conditions was reset by the warp), and got lucky on my next guess.
TLDR : I don't like writing stuff down, never have, and I take points off of games that try to force me to. Extra points off for teasing me with the possibility of an in-game option for note-taking that didn't actually exist.
Right now I've temporarily given up because I've wandered around with barely any inventory, and nothing obvious to do. I suspect I've hit a bug, because of something that seemed to have triggered out of order earlier in my run, but I honestly don't have any clue yet.
Yep. Basically, here's my issues with the puzzles for the pipes, boots, knots, and wires.
Spoilers for later-game puzzles.
Pipes: (the start of Vella's side in Act 2) You get by purely by annoying trial and error. Even when I got the right ones connected, I still had no idea what I was doing.
Boots: The cheat sheet should fill itself in with what you've discovered.
Knots: F'ther should've given better descriptions.
Wires: They shouldn't GODDAMN RESET every time you mess up. Worse, like you with the boots, I had to write down the codes for them just to figure out how it works. Even having the symbols on or near the screws you needed to connect would've saved a LOT of time and writing down. But the fact that they keep resetting every time you don't do something in a certain order and then have to do them all again? Monumentally frustrating. If you've solved them all once, why not reward the player by being allowed to skip it? Give a dialogue choice, where the character asks themselves, "Okay, I know how to rewire them now, so do I want the arm flailing mode or swinging mode?" And then give the player the option.
Boots: The cheat sheet should fill itself in with what you've discovered.
Knots: F'ther should've given better descriptions.
Wires: They shouldn't GODDAMN RESET every time you mess up. Worse, like you with the boots, I had to write down the codes for them just to figure out how it works. Even having the symbols on or near the screws you needed to connect would've saved a LOT of time and writing down. But the fact that they keep resetting every time you don't do something in a certain order and then have to do them all again? Monumentally frustrating. If you've solved them all once, why not reward the player by being allowed to skip it? Give a dialogue choice, where the character asks themselves, "Okay, I know how to rewire them now, so do I want the arm flailing mode or swinging mode?" And then give the player the option.
Cainhurst Castle seems to be Bloodborne's homage to Dark Souls. It feels somewhat like The Painted World of Priscilla, except much less frustrating and you can leave.
@Terrik that warning about being locked out of the place was actually not a big deal. You get a cutscene, arrive there, and then you just have to hit the lantern first thing. So long as you don't dive off a cliff or go get killed by enemies until after hitting the lantern, you're fine.
@Terrik that warning about being locked out of the place was actually not a big deal. You get a cutscene, arrive there, and then you just have to hit the lantern first thing. So long as you don't dive off a cliff or go get killed by enemies until after hitting the lantern, you're fine.
It's actually their homage to a different genre of horror movie. Each area is re-inventing a different genre of horror... changing the monsters and making them new.
Playing the Witcher 2 for shits and giggles before Witcher 3 releases. The auto-settings tool it comes with decided that my PC should play the game on medium settings. I loaded it up and the game is running at about 30000 fps. So, I go out and turn EVERYTHING to max (with the exception of Ubersampling). Back into the game, and I'm still at 60 fps locked. So, fuck it, let's try some Ubersampling. Finally, an fps hit, down to around 45-50 fps. I remember when this game was a PC crushing hard-ass. It's going to spoil me before Witcher 3 beats the shit out of my aging PC.
I'm sure you're right. It just feels very Dark Souls-y, especially the cutscene revealing the boss. He kicked my ass and I was entirely out of blood vials, so I'll have to go farm those before I can come back and beat him.
That's one of my few complaints with this game. In Dark Souls, you could risk more since Estus flasks regenerate. Here, blood vials run out, so when you're low or empty, "welp, time to go back to the beginning and mow through streets of enemies a few times."
Well the entire town of Yharnam and especially Yharhagal, the Unseen City, are heavily inspired by the Tower of Latria in Demon's Souls more than any other location.
Number 1 Epic Name Bro* Tip: Don't be afraid to spend boss blood echos on just a big pile of blood vials. If you have to choose between grinding an area for vials/echoes and losing maybe 1-2 levels in the short term to pick up 50+ vials in the shop, it's just usually worth it to buy the blood instead because that can help keep you progressing instead of getting stuck in one area for awhile.
*One of the Guide Writers and prolific youtubers
MFPallytime had similar advice.
Nothing has made me want a PS4 until Bloodborne. Now, If I had the money, I'd plunk it down on a PS4 so fast your head would spin.
I do have a ton of blood echo-giving items, so maybe I'll do that.
figmentPez
Staff member
Playing Broken Age. I hate this knot puzzle. It's horribly designed. Absolutely horrible.
figmentPez
Staff member
If you think THAT puzzle pisses you off, just wait. Oh, just wait.[DOUBLEPOST=1430605394,1430605363][/DOUBLEPOST]
Yeah, I discovered the "teleport" trick after several frustrating minutes. It made going back and forth at least easier.
When I started Fallout 3, I accidentally started right out on a DLC mission, which I didn't realize until much later. I told myself I would be more careful with my GOTY edition purchases.
Fast forward a couple of years, and about four hours in I start the Dominatrix mission of Saints Row 4. Immediately realized my mistake, but can't stop myself from progressing now. Beat several people to death with a three foot, purple dildo last night. Still not sure how I feel about that.
Fast forward a couple of years, and about four hours in I start the Dominatrix mission of Saints Row 4. Immediately realized my mistake, but can't stop myself from progressing now. Beat several people to death with a three foot, purple dildo last night. Still not sure how I feel about that.
But what did you do in the game?
GasBandit
Staff member
Bloodborne: Had two points of elation tonight. One was going through a death trap about 20 times, followed by many, many spiders, and finally reaching a checkpoint--that was the "I can't believe I made it through that, phew" point.
The other was after one of the more bizarre boss fights I've had--"Yes! YES! FUCK YOU, I GOT YOU! FUCK YOU, USELESS ONLINE GUIDES, I DID IT MY WAY! AHAHAAAAAA!"
The other was after one of the more bizarre boss fights I've had--"Yes! YES! FUCK YOU, I GOT YOU! FUCK YOU, USELESS ONLINE GUIDES, I DID IT MY WAY! AHAHAAAAAA!"
I finished Bloodborne tonight. I had no intention of beating the game. I didn't even know I was on the final boss. I joked to my wife, "Haha, what if this was the final boss?" and she replied, "That'd be really stupid."
Except it was, and it was.
Without getting into spoilers, I reached the end of the game still having barely an idea of what was going on. I think there's a problem in the game's design if I reach the final boss without knowing I've done so, and problems with the story when I'm unclear about my goals, the present situation, or what any of this even was meant to achieve. I started over, because there's no way I'm braving New Game+, and looking at the beginning, still I'm at a loss.
And it's not like we weren't paying attention. We knew the story wasn't going to be handed to us, so my wife and I kept tabs on things, gleaned, scrutinized, hypothesized. I feel in structure and motivation, this was a drop from Dark Souls. In that game, there's a lot about the world you have to glean and pick up on small details to understand, but the basic plot was still clear.
Now for spoilers
From looking at guides, I didn't miss any areas. A couple bosses in some areas, but overall, I played most of the game. So, far as the story goes, I just didn't get it all, I guess. Hopefully in this next run, I'll be able to pick apart the plot a little more beyond "go kill beasts; it's what hunters do."
The game itself is great, I loved exploring, the combat is slick, it's challenging, it's punishing--I'm just a little irritated that I did a bunch of optional stuff and suddenly that stuff was gone because I'd unintentionally finished the game.
Except it was, and it was.
Without getting into spoilers, I reached the end of the game still having barely an idea of what was going on. I think there's a problem in the game's design if I reach the final boss without knowing I've done so, and problems with the story when I'm unclear about my goals, the present situation, or what any of this even was meant to achieve. I started over, because there's no way I'm braving New Game+, and looking at the beginning, still I'm at a loss.
And it's not like we weren't paying attention. We knew the story wasn't going to be handed to us, so my wife and I kept tabs on things, gleaned, scrutinized, hypothesized. I feel in structure and motivation, this was a drop from Dark Souls. In that game, there's a lot about the world you have to glean and pick up on small details to understand, but the basic plot was still clear.
Now for spoilers
I know there is a true ending and true final boss if three umbilical cords are found. I had two, so it feels like I was robbed of the progress I made thanks to auto-save, but nonetheless, I wish the ending I had made any sense. I can accept my character's motive being unclear, but I have no idea what the villain was trying to achieve in transcending the hunt, tapping into Byrgenwerth's rituals and cult ... I don't know.
From looking at guides, I didn't miss any areas. A couple bosses in some areas, but overall, I played most of the game. So, far as the story goes, I just didn't get it all, I guess. Hopefully in this next run, I'll be able to pick apart the plot a little more beyond "go kill beasts; it's what hunters do."
The game itself is great, I loved exploring, the combat is slick, it's challenging, it's punishing--I'm just a little irritated that I did a bunch of optional stuff and suddenly that stuff was gone because I'd unintentionally finished the game.
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SNAKE EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GasBandit
Staff member
Now in new flavors: FIZZBITCH, MANANA, and GUN.
"You'll just say FUCK YOU and kick her in the head with your ENERGY LEGS!!!!!!"[DOUBLEPOST=1430886671,1430886610][/DOUBLEPOST]God help me, I can't stop reading the train wreck that is the Steam forums for Mortal Kombat X. It makes us look downright civilized.
figmentPez
Staff member
Finished it. This second act was just a train wreck. It's just this huge mass of bad design decisions. Some of these puzzles are only "hard" because they keep resetting, and it's tedious to keep trying. That's annoying, and completely unnecessary.
Also, the ending to the story left me flat, but that could be just my annoyance keeping me from connecting to it.
I... I'd actually consider us rather civilized, on the whole. And without having to rely on draconian moderation to achieve it, either.
Unless the draconian moderation has been very draconian! And unnoticed thus far!
Hmmm... tests...
I just realized that this is one of the reasons I have been part of this group in its various forms since 1999. There are children out there legally driving whose births post-date my involvement in this community.
Good grief.
I've been involved with this group for about half my lifespan. Y'all taught me my online manners, practically
This explains so much.I've been involved with this group for about half my lifespan. Y'all taught me my online manners, practically