Guys.

The PS4 works again!

And Wife is pregnant.

Jan 3, 2020 19:55:35 GMT 🤯 said:

Guys.

The PS4 works again!

And Wife is pregnant.

Is the console the father?

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix HD Remix (2013; SquareEnix)

Since my last update, I've managed to watch the credits sequence on three seperate playthroughs. Although I didn't set out to, I decided to treat myself to a Platinum playthrough. That meant on top of my complete playthrough, I had to play again but this time I had to complete the game in 15 hours (not the 8 hours I had previously thought) and to make it interesting, without changing any of the starting equipment.

Ordinarily that would be difficult, but for the sake of making it relatively easy I set it to Beginner. Not only does that give you a +8 stat upgrade on attack and defence, but you also start with an Exp Amplifier and a strong defensive weapon. Even still, in a six hour run through the game got incredibly difficult at the end as my characters were barely doing any damage.

Despite the tedium, it was actually an interesting experience. After years of being so over-powered, I was able to destroy enemies with a single keyblade stroke, I actually had to learn their patterns and find openings. The Ansem battle that had been a walk in the park in the previous playthrough all of a sudden became a real war of attrition. The final boss is notoriously one of the longest slogs in history consisting of around a dozen phases, but it's his third phase that's his most memorable. It pits you in a 1-1 match up, with a boss that likes to draw you in before either charging into you, or using it's minion to possess you. On an earlier playthrough, I barely broke a sweat and simply mashed away. On this outing though, I had to actively time the dodge roll effectively, get in as many hits since I didn't have the resources to outlast the boss.

It was a watershed moment for me, because before all that, Kingdom Hearts had been merely an overdose in dopamine. At a certain point, I'd be strong enough where I could force large sways of enemies to burst into bright colourfuls green, yellow and blue orbs with the odd treasure chest inside. It was satisfying, but it hardly made me engage with the action like the challenge run allowed.

Finally I switched the game over to hard and tried to find a happy medium between doing enough side content to make the experience enjoyable without dragging the action down. One decision I made was to make Sora as strong as I could at that point in the game, which meant farming for Titan Bangle. They're Synthesis exclusive items, which require you to tackle the most annoying enemy in the game, the Sniperwild.

These buggers are found in the middle of the opening town of the game, Traverse Town. On the surface, they look relatively harmless as they take the form of a weak enemy from the Tarzan level. However, they're a unique enemy where if they detect you and you can't eliminate the enemy in time, it will constantly respawn and keep firing shots at you forcing you to leave the area ASAP. They start off simple enough, there's only one enemy patrolling the area and you can take it down without much trouble. Then two spawn which can be taken care of fairly quickly, but three is virtually impossible because by the time you've taken down the second, the third will have been triggered.

Before I would pick them off one by one, and it would be a painstaking process as I waited for them to jump into my location. It could be a time consuming process depending on the AI and there was nothing more infuriating than getting through the fifth Sniperwild, only to be picked off by the sixth who had seen year from half-way across the map. I found out there was a much simpler way of dealing with them, albeit riskier. The trick is to take care of the first two waves as soon as they spawn and then quickly move out of the way to summon Dumbo before they spawn. With Dumbo, you turn in a circle splashing all three sniperwilds stunning them until they eventually die and hand off the Power Gem.

It's risky because the third wave can pick you off before you get the summon underway, but once you get the hang of it, it makes it so much easier to deal with.

Never the less after fulfilling that challenge, I once again had made the game into a tap x to make the enemies explode. It was cathartic, especially with how long certain portions of the Beginner playthrough had been. The End of the World section went well over an hour because each enemy was like a seperate boss fight given how weak Sora was.

Still despite pouring at least a 100 hours over the past 17 years I've played the original, I can't help but feel I've played Kingdom Hearts all wrong. While you can just tap x and execute these smoothly animated combos, that style of play isn't suitable for every occassion. If you look at the design of Sora, he isn't necessarily a classic warrior in the mould of a Samonosuke from Onimusha or even Dante from Devil May Cry. He's actually a mage-warrior hybrid, with a lot of his special techniques costing MP to use.

This is an important distinction to make because there comes a point in time where your magic becomes so powerful you can use magic in tandem with physical based attacks to take down large enemies without much of a sweat. By sacrificing strength, you can actually make Sora stronger in the sense that his spells can deal more damage and cover bigger ranges. If you watch a skilled player, you can see how effortlessly the fights are.

While I gloated before about being able to tap x and take down a single enemy, with magic you can take out waves of enemies. It's the one piece of the puzzle I wouldn't mind to explore at some point, but after 65 hours, it's time for a new game or at least a new entry in the series.

For the record, I made a point of calling this the 2013 release because so many changes were made to the game that I feel recognising it as a 2002 release would be doing it a disservice. Not only is this the former Japan exclusive version with additional content but it has so many quality of life changes that it fixes a lot of issues the base game already had. Improvements such as a better control scheme, skippable cut-scenes, better textures and resolution gives off the impression that simply wasn't around in 2002. I think it's a great way to introduce modern audiences to the game, but you can't retroactively call it the best game from 2002 based on this version.In fact I could even call it the 2017 version since it was designed for the PS4 in lieu of KH3. I own both copies of the game and while the 60 FPS is nice, it hardly changed my experience with the game.

Played through a game called the Messenger, another great little throw back indie game. Actually a pretty great schtick too, go back and forth between future and past, past is 8 bit, future is 16 bit.

Great game, tight controls, funny, enjoyed from start to finish. A few annoying spots that require 100% exact precision that end up taking trial and error to finally get through, but nothing too bad. Solid boss fights all around, though nothing too difficult. I just wish a physical version wasn't so expensive, as I'm old and prefer my discs; but I may have to settle for digital to buy this one.

I'd give it a 8/10, third act drags a bit.

So I finally got around to starting Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. I've been looking forward to playing this for a while now, just been busy with a few other games. I also have Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy, waiting to be played as well.

Both games should keep me busy for a while.

Forgot to mention, the Messenger also had a FANTASTIC soundtrack, which also shifted stylistically between the 8-Bit and 16-Bit eras.


Either way, started the Outer Worlds, fun game so far, not mind blowing, but does everything well enough. It's basically "Hey, remember this thing you like and complain there's not more like it? Well, here's more like it." Only just got off the first planet.

I did it!!! I finally beat Sekiro!

After about 1,000 attempts at the final boss but I finished it nonetheless 🥳

Jan 9, 2020 17:10:03 GMT System said:

I did it!!! I finally beat Sekiro!

After about 1,000 attempts at the final boss but I finished it nonetheless 🥳

Nice going, I was spitting chips when I learned that the lightening reversal technique played a crucial part. I thought it was going to require all sorts of complex button inputs and perfect timing, but it's actually incredibly simple.

Did you get a chance to play any of the optional bosses? Owl 2 and the Demon?

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw

I recently played as Rob Van Dam in a Steel Cage match against The Big Show at Vengeance 2004. Speaking about Dark Souls, Sekiro, Ghost n Goblins - the Big Show in this match was all those games wrapped in one. Actually he was dumb as bricks, but the problem was, there was nothing I could do to keep him down long enough so I could scale the cage and finish the match. Since the Five Star Frog Splash has an automatic pin attempt, it wipes away the entire stun animation, and none of RVD's other moves were strong enough to get the job done. After three resets, I decided to get crafty and teach RVD the Sweet Chin Music to get the job done. 2 minutes later and I was WWE Champion. Those first few playthroughs though were ridiculous. Big Show was taking prat falls on top of the cage, he should have destroyed the ring, but no dice. At the very least, I got a healthy dose of Breaking Benjamin.

Kingdom Hearts II

I just completed the old school Disney world on a Critical (Very Hard) run of the game. I'm trying to explore the game more this time because I'm far more familiar with the original than the sequel.

Kingdom Hearts III

Was just messing around with the Gummi Ships, the Verum Rex mini game and some battles. I was having a blast just running through hordes with massive AOE magic attacks.

I'll get KHIII whenever they drop the inevitable "Final Mix."

Goat Stimulator is not at all what I was hoping it would be.

Finished up the Outer Worlds, initial impression holds, a good example of the genre without anything to set itself apart. I enjoyed most of my run time, even if not much of it sticks with me, everything was perfectly...fine. Only real complaint, there was a handful of times in the game I got this:




Made it a decent chunk into the game before anything that bad (occasional expected hiccup), had it happened 10 hours earlier, I might have never finished. That wasn't even the worst offense, one time it practically became a clip show. Definitely some issues in there running on a PS4 plain.

Finished Code Vein and got the neutral ending. Not as hard as a From Software game, but some boss fights were enjoyable. Definitely like the story a lot better. Ran through it again for the bad ending. And the bad ending felt bad and the neutral ending felt ok which probably makes sense. I only bring that up because Bloodbourne the supposedly bad ending was the least screwed up to me. And true ending in that game was awful. So I am hoping on the true ending for this game will be great following the pattern.

I’m playing Code Vein currently, I think I’m about half way and I’m honestly loving it. I love the Souls games and this plays similar but not as hard which I definitely like about it. It’s also much easier to change blood codes/weapons and change your fighting style in this rather than the Souls games.

It’s cool having the different companions, and finding their memories/backgrounds/walk through it. Rather than them using a million cutscenes to tell the story like a lot of other games can rely on.

Jan 19, 2020 16:56:58 GMT sandylea said:

I’m playing Code Vein currently, I think I’m about half way and I’m honestly loving it. I love the Souls games and this plays similar but not as hard which I definitely like about it. It’s also much easier to change blood codes/weapons and change your fighting style in this rather than the Souls games.

It’s cool having the different companions, and finding their memories/backgrounds/walk through it. Rather than them using a million cutscenes to tell the story like a lot of other games can rely on.

If you are in the Cathedral make sure complete the vessels of the area before the boss fight with the barrier.

Jan 19, 2020 17:45:14 GMT X-zero said:

Jan 19, 2020 16:56:58 GMT sandylea said:

I’m playing Code Vein currently, I think I’m about half way and I’m honestly loving it. I love the Souls games and this plays similar but not as hard which I definitely like about it. It’s also much easier to change blood codes/weapons and change your fighting style in this rather than the Souls games.

It’s cool having the different companions, and finding their memories/backgrounds/walk through it. Rather than them using a million cutscenes to tell the story like a lot of other games can rely on.

If you are in the Cathedral make sure complete the vessels of the area before the boss fight with the barrier.

I’m just about to do the cathedral now I’m pretty sure, I have to go and get Jack. Thanks for the heads up

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix (2017; Square Enix)

I'm currently working through the post-game content, specifically the boss fights. Whereas the original Kingdom Hearts had five post-game fights, KH2 has fourteen, albeit 13 of them are just harder versions of previous bosses. Despite the frustration, I actually found the challenge quite thrilling since you had to study the attack patterns and learn about the core mechanics in a way the main campaign didn't allow.

Arguably the most memorable encounter is the Lingering Will. It serves as a preview for Birth By Sleep and refers to a piece of armour that has access to advanced techniques that will only become available in that title. It's an exciting glimpse into the future, but also makes for one of the toughest fights in the game as it comes at you with a lot of gimmicks and requires you to master evasive techniques to succeed.

If there's one complaint to be made about Kingdom Hearts it's that the game can be incredibly spammy. You can win a lot of fights by spamming x and triangle at just the right time and it makes for relatively repetitive gameplay. Here, you really have to watch your opponent and time your button presses effectively to earn your openings.

This becomes apparent in the second phase where the Lingering Will barely offers up any openings and will spam a new attack that's difficult to avoid. You learn relatively quickly you have to confront the attack, find the right time to bail and then block five successive attacks until you finally get your opening. It makes for a thrilling conclusion, especially since you can barely be afford to get hit.

I've always been more familiar with the original entry and whenever I try to play KH2 or 3 I feel so far away from the action. I recently went back to the original and I found the combat so cumbersome by comparison. There's still things about the original I prefer, but after all these years I feel I'm beginning to shift from the original.

Finished up DBZ: Kakarot, not sure how it appeals to a non-DBZ fan, but I rather enjoyed it. The combat is simplistic, and as repetitive as pretty much any beat 'em up, but I thought it decently captured the expanse of DBZ combat. Zipping all over the screen with lightning quick strikes, punctuated by the frequent big power Ki attack. Somehow never get tired of dodging an opponents move and laying into him with a kamehameha. Even captures the frequent charging of DBZ to keep your Ki topped off (usually to not revert from super Saiyan and the like).

Granted the open world is relatively useless, don't even need to worry about the endless orbs scattered about, you get so many from combat, you'll never be hurting for them (except maybe the very start of the game). Didn't fuck with food, didn't need it. A whole bunch of things that were just unesserary.

Though a small feature, I did enjoy the community board, you unlock character tokens as you progress, and the different boards offer differ perks. Take the time to just level them up and put them where they do the most good, mix and match for special additives, like Goku+Gohan being a father son pair (though some that you'd think would make sense aren't included).

My main grievance, even with completing all major missions and side quests...still need a dozen to dozens of levels per character to finish unlocking all their moves. Just way too much grinding if you wanted to clear the character sheets.

All of this together, the games is just not great. It's good, arguably even very good, but it never rises to the level of must play, except maybe for the most die hard of DBZ fans. I think it is the most comprehensive version of the story in game form, even throwing tons of loving nods to things from the original Dragon Ball that DBZ just forgot about...but nothing much we haven't see before. I'd give it a 7/10

I was having a look at the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 roster and it maybe the worst yet in terms of cut content. Judging by the arenas, the cut-off date was Vengeance 2006 and yet they're missing an entire brand from the roster.

By the time the game came out in early November, 75 wrestlers failed to miss the cut including the tag team champions London & Kendrick, one of the main event acts at that time the Spirit Squad and most surprisingly Vince McMahon in one of his most active in-ring years. At least nowadays with disc space and NXT you're basically guaranteed to have the majority of the roster and the few missing pieces are either DLC or easily downloadable online.

It is fun though to see Kid Kash and Vito in a WWE game. Those were always the guys I'd try and main, those one year wonder guys because they at least played differently. From memory, Mick Foley was my guy in this particular iteration, after missing out on Backlash 2004 I was all in on Foley that year. The game also had one of my favourite soundtracks of that time, I was all in on Nonpoint and Three Days Grace.

Playing Skyrim for the 834th time. But it's only my second playthrough on PC. Before this, I was a console guy. After playing on PS3, PS4 and then the Xbox One version, it's nice to play the game on PC with no restrictions outside of what your game or computer can handle. Currently playing through the Beyond Skyrim: Bruma mod. Love it. Can't wait for the next Beyond Skyrim expansion to come out.

Before this, I started Octopath Traveler and it held my interest for a good 30-40 hours but it lost me when I noticed how repetitive the chapters were with their formula. That's too bad because I loved the characters, the graphic style, the music but the repetitiveness halfway through just began to bore me, unfortunately.

Got through Valfaris, nice little throwback action title with a metal (the music, not the substance) aesthetic. Challenging while not being overly cheap, except a couple bosses, few cheap fuckers in there. Really enjoyed the brisk playtime, can get through it pretty quickly, levels aren't too long, and no real padding. Solid assortment of weapons (you get a melee, primary fire with infinite ammo, and power fire that uses entry), though you only have enough to fully upgrade a single set, so you better decide early on what you want to go with. Soundtrack rocks. 8/10

Just finish the platinum for Outer Worlds. I am happy playing different leads to different endings. Mass Effect 3 pain still hurts. I feel it should be slightly harder on normal. Supernova though was definitely hard especially since I did it underleveled and skipped a lot of content.

I know some people loved SAM but they didnt really feel like a companion to me.

So I'm trying something a little different and I'm playing through a few games on the fly.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - On my last playthrough I found the library with the shopkeeper who allowed me to unlock blue doors. I made my way through the sewer and beat the crazy mutated boss down there before climing the top left tower and beating the giant bird up there. I think I'm going to keep exploring up there but feel I need to unlock some transformation in order to explore a bunch of areas of the castle.

Metroid Prime - Rebooted an old save that was all the way to the end but I needed to collect a bunch of artifacts. I believe the last couple I collected were in the mines where I had to defeat some giant lab creature and another was in the middle of one of those morph ball sections.

Yoshi's Island - I completed a playthrough I started when the SNES VC hit the Switch. Just a routine playthrough where I challenged myself to collect any collectable I saw in sight without combing through each level and spending hours to complete it. I forgot how much the difficulty ramps up in the later levels and how difficult the enemies become, those Ryu type Bandits had completely escaped my memory. Still an absolute joy to play after all these years.

Super Metroid - Just fired this up after Yoshi and had one marathon session where I got up to the Abandoned Ship. The level design is amazing and just when I think I'm stuck, I'll find one graphical detail that I'll blow up and it'll open up the entire game again.

Bloodborne - I thought after playing Nioh and Sekiro I'd have a decent feel for this, but I feel completely taken aback. So during my initial run through, I didn't see the short-cut and made my way onto the first bridge the long way where I was torn to shreds by those were wolves. I was able to retrieve my EXP and explored the sewers for a bit before eventually finding that short-cut for that initial area. Then I think the game throws a curve ball at you where after the first boss presumably kicks your ass, you unlock the ability to level up. That was good, but it sucked because I lost so much EXP and had to farm those giants for vials and exp. That was basically an entire playthrough and I still feel like I didn't fight the boss properly as I just brute forced my way through, took my lumps and healed up whenever I could.

My character build at the moment is mostly focused on endurance so I can actually get a feel for the attack patterns without dying after every hit. I also selected the cane which can transform into a whip which I really like. Any hints or tricks? I'm trying to play this relatively blind but if there's something a beginner ought to know I'm all ears.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix -Up to the Gummi Ship section of the complete playthrough that could be a whole game by itself. It's just about building the right ship to clear each mission and the trial and error involved. It kinds of reminds me of the slot cars in Yakuza 0.

Just started replaying Red Dead Redemption 2. I almost beat it the first time around near launch but never finished it. I restarted it a few days ago and am completely amazed at how different the game can play upon a second play through. Finding things I never stumbled across before and just having a totally different experience. Rockstar really is one of the last shining beacons in story driven one player games in the era of online multiplayers.

Been playing a couple of games....

Got my Last of Us+Left Behind playthrough out of the way, had been a good couple of years since embarking on this quest. I tried to man through this in Survival mode(Screw Grounded LOL) but the detection on runners makes it unfun because there's seriously no way to even sneak up on them without alerting them and the eventual clicker and given ammo is understandbly scarce, it's frustrating. I gave up and turned the difficulty down to hard mode which is PERFECT for me because you don't have all the resources in the world yet at the same time aren't getting screwed over with items and the enemies aren't going to 1-2 shot you. I was deadset on survival until the part that Joel has to clear the basement floor level in the building for Tess and Ellie to progress, room full of 4-5 runners and a clicker and the first runner you can sneak up on and kill but the next one magically knows your there even if you stand still. Killed the immersion for me. Otherwise, glitches aside(Amazing this wasn't cleaned up on the remastered edition on PS4, the PS3 one's glitches stopped this game from getting a 10/10 for me) including shooting the tank where the guy does not pop up to advance the game, some shotty AI programming with enemies running around in loops.....this game still holds up very well and I am ready for Tlou2 in a few months. Think I am starting that on hard mode. Left behind while padded with minigames is still a pretty decent DLC even if short a tad bit.

Got my DLC for the NiOh 2 Last Chance BETA which is all I wanted. I am ready for this game but I am afraid this game will force you to utilize the game's full game mechanics to beat bosses. The first boss you MUST counter to do dick of any damage to it so I am worrying that you can't just simply do a lot of what you did in the original and rely purely on simple mechanics to succeed. It takes some time to get the yokai counter down to pat and the bosses are absolute damage sponges. I did the first area and don't want to tackle the optional two, saving it for the full playthrough in a few weeks. Otherwise, the game is more of the same which is certainly fine for me.

I finished up Batman: Arkham Asylum back in December, spent some time in February with Batman: Arkham City and I think City's combat, more open world availability with side missions and different types of enemies makes it the better game....something I wasn't sure I felt was the case heading into my revisits of this great series. I just finished up Ra's part of the game, not sure if I 100% the game like I did with Asylum but will do all side missions and main story, just a matter of if I find the time to do all the riddler challenges. Going to spend some more time on this game with Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing and NiOh 2 all looming for me in March. 

Got my DLC for the NiOh 2 Last Chance BETA which is all I wanted. I am ready for this game but I am afraid this game will force you to utilize the game's full game mechanics to beat bosses. The first boss you MUST counter to do dick of any damage to it so I am worrying that you can't just simply do a lot of what you did in the original and rely purely on simple mechanics to succeed. It takes some time to get the yokai counter down to pat and the bosses are absolute damage sponges. I did the first area and don't want to tackle the optional two, saving it for the full playthrough in a few weeks. Otherwise, the game is more of the same which is certainly fine for me.This

The Last Chance Beta felt more like a tutorial than a challenge. They were very generous with shrine locations and each segment felt designed around teaching the players mechanics (eg. crystals and yokai realms, burst counters etc.)

The boss was easily the most challenging part because the average player will need to do some prep before facing it. Namely collecting enough elixers to stay alive on top of everything else. In base Nioh 2, I expect we'll have more access to buffs by that point so we'll have more freedom to play our style of play.

You're not wrong about the boss. In the end my strategy was to stay in low stance, keep a healthy distance so it didn't go long range but didn't spam grabs and wait till it decided to go all Sekiro and then wail in high stance. Rinse/Repeat until I got my spirit up, pick the right moment to wail and move on. It felt shorter than the first boss in Bloodborne which I only just faced earlier in the week.

What build did you go with? I went Spear/Axe and went all Tank which was a departure from my sword build where I'd try and trap enemies so I could just one shot them from behind.

I don't think you'd spoiling much if you played the Twilight Mission, it was like a side stage from Nioh teeming with Yokais and Revenants. It certainly stood in contrast to the first level with a lot of challenging segments. I constantly found myself returning to the first shrine levelling up or converting items into elixers since I'd get double team. In the end, I got impatient, just ran through and unlocked the short-cut before dying. I kind of hate those cheese strats, but I was running out of time and wanted to finish up.

I am always a heavy weapon guy so I blasted through the stage on high stance axe but I am LOVING the Odachi giantsword and went with mid stance on the boss. High stance axe was my go to in NiOh 1 and the two swing high risk/high reward combo is my bread and butter, eats up enemies Ki and provided you don't miss does good damage. I rode with Odachi for last demo vs the snake boss so I think it's my weapon for bosses. I always go full strength/stamina in the Souls esque games if I can. I did try to utilize the poisoning of my weapon but don't find it worth it given it takes too long of a windup on the boss especially when in blue form with the quick ice arrow shows that do stupid damage.

The boss took me about 40 minutes and loads of tries, I finally picked up on the counter on that crazy red glow spin which was the only opening I saw to even try this as everything else failed. There's just too much shit on the arena and it's such a small arena that the crystals actually screwed me over and stopped me from running around. I know red crystal/fire is meant against the ice side of it, and vice versa but I didn't feel that the crystals really mattered though I left this demo with a good 12K of Amrita I believe which is like 5 level maybe LOL. The Yokai realm is too long IMHO, I felt like I needed to be on the defense for a majority of that mode especially since both parts of the body can attack with the ice arrows hitting a portion of the level if he isn't casting the minion fireball or ice angels. I baited certain attacks and got 1-2 shots in after a failed windup, the blue form has not enough openings IMO so I baited for the fire form. I felt the snake form's Yokai mode is ridiculous as well, I think it's very punishing to have your ki go at such a small rate that you can't get anything more than a single shot in because a hit even if you block means your vulnerable for easy pickings. I finished the boss up with Living Weapon/Yokai Weapon by the end as he went into yokai realm again because that mode is too unpredictable with the ice arrows. Happy to get my DLC item and said lets get ready when it comes out. Saw the other boss, said lets wait


Oh and the character customization is MUAH. Got my dude ready, love that it is carrying over. Saving me a good 10 minutes is appreciated! So much detail! This is the mode that they hit an emphasis on here, really wanted to show customers that they aren't'messing around.

Feb 26, 2020 12:18:25 GMT Big Pete said:

Bloodborne - I thought after playing Nioh and Sekiro I'd have a decent feel for this, but I feel completely taken aback. So during my initial run through, I didn't see the short-cut and made my way onto the first bridge the long way where I was torn to shreds by those were wolves. I was able to retrieve my EXP and explored the sewers for a bit before eventually finding that short-cut for that initial area. Then I think the game throws a curve ball at you where after the first boss presumably kicks your ass, you unlock the ability to level up. That was good, but it sucked because I lost so much EXP and had to farm those giants for vials and exp. That was basically an entire playthrough and I still feel like I didn't fight the boss properly as I just brute forced my way through, took my lumps and healed up whenever I could.

My character build at the moment is mostly focused on endurance so I can actually get a feel for the attack patterns without dying after every hit. I also selected the cane which can transform into a whip which I really like. Any hints or tricks? I'm trying to play this relatively blind but if there's something a beginner ought to know I'm all ears.

I would recommend not using the cane until you are use to game more. I started with that weapon because it looked cool and got messed up. I recommend the Hunter Axe in 2H mode.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayham - It's alright. I've never been into those Diablo style ARPGS, but I wanted a game that I could just mindlessly grind while listening to podcasts or whatever. It fits that purpose well with satisfying combat and it's quite the looker. I've been lucky enough to avoid any of the game breaking bugs so far.

It's mainly been a backlog year so far other than that and DBZ Kakarot, which itself was sort of a mediocre game, but hit me hard in the nostalgia. Things are picking up soon with Ori and Doom Eternal though!

Giving Bioshock a shot since it was free. So far, it's fun and interesting. Like the aesthetic and theme.