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A system of cells interlinked
Cool figured as much, but at the time I was so hollowed it made no visual difference. Happy to stay a lass now tho as a transformative episode. Lord knows what wifey from the opening cinematic would think tho

Yeah I fancy the forest but couldn't figure the statue on first peek. Also got a touch peeved at the parkour opportunities on the way back. With so many invitations to explore its a shame you cant seem to leap onto apparently accessible stuff. The smith's shack has a window that looks blatantly scaleable too. That'd be about my only complaint so far tho

And now I see the wee wickermen restore allll your humanity, not just one death's worth as I assumed, I'm letting myself be more cavalier again
Statue....You mean the petrified person near the dude with the big blue sword? Yeah, not that way! If you went that way at low level, things would go badly, fast!

Fallen Giants Forest is sort of...let's see...If you are at the Majula fire, and the Herald is standing on the side of the fire closest to town (she move from time to time), stand in front of her as if to talk to her and then turn sort of leftish, instead of going up the incline towards the start area/dude with blue sword, cling to the cliff and head through the archway on the down-slope - that should lead you through some tunnels and then to the forest area. It's key because you unlock a merchant there fairly quickly.

I hope to play some more this eve!

Where are you in the game, Taccy?

This game is huge!
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



The People's Republic of Clogher
Yeah, games or movies don't turn people into murderers (but murderers may well like violent games or movies) but they do turn a lot of people into arseholes. I've really only enjoyed online games on private servers or at the very least in a team with a group of friends.

I've never thought deeply about why this occurs but it's surely to do with the cloak of anonymity meaning they can get away with it.

I love art and have been a serious appreciator of it for 25 years yet I've never wanted to paint.
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



The People's Republic of Clogher

I hope to play some more this eve!

Where are you in the game, Taccy?

This game is huge!
The third boss, Dragon Rider. I've tried him a couple of times, failed then did a bit of farming to raise a few stats. I'll have a crack at him again this weekend.

I'm still having fun trying out various builds but the only thing I've learned is that I much prefer playing as a nimble character than a tank or magic user.



The Bib-iest of Nickels
I bought Cold Fear and Tomb Raider: Legends for the Xbox recently.

I had a chance to play Cold Fear some, but I didn't get too far. However, it reminds me of a hybrid between Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 4. We'll see if I like it though.

Other-wise, I recently beat The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. I did a review over it. I liked it. I liked it a hell of a lot more than Sherlock Holmes versus. Jack the Ripper. I am looking forward to the next game that comes out for the series in September.



A system of cells interlinked
The third boss, Dragon Rider. I've tried him a couple of times, failed then did a bit of farming to raise a few stats. I'll have a crack at him again this weekend.

I'm still having fun trying out various builds but the only thing I've learned is that I much prefer playing as a nimble character than a tank or magic user.

The key with Dragonrider for me was having that 100% block shield that was just on the other side of the pursuer. I was having trouble dodging all the rider's attacks, so I started blocking his attacks if I was far away from him, and then circling around to his left once I got up close. This is the fight I had to learn to work my stamina just right; if he depletes your stamina, it's crucial to drop shield for a few seconds to refill the gauge as fast as possible. I couldn't pull it off trying to circle right, and if i kept my distance, he owned me.



I just did my first Gang Hideout mission on Watch_Dogs, and I liked it. I died a few times, and I suppose it's a little annoying that in situations like that you really can't afford to be seen unless you've already picked off a few of the gang members...but picking them off can be pretty fun. There weren't an incredible number of ways to do things in this instance, but it was still pretty fun and reasonably challenging, and gave me a nice little taste of what the game can be.

I like the cover system a lot more than I have in other third person games, where it's felt far more unwieldy. I've heard people complain about sticking to things they don't want to, and that certainly happens, but that kinda feels inherent to the idea of even having a cover system. So far it's mostly done what I've wanted it to and I've started to get comfortable with it pretty quickly.

Definitely liking this more as I go.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Statue....You mean the petrified person near the dude with the big blue sword? Yeah, not that way! If you went that way at low level, things would go badly, fast!

Fallen Giants Forest is sort of...let's see...If you are at the Majula fire, and the Herald is standing on the side of the fire closest to town (she move from time to time), stand in front of her as if to talk to her and then turn sort of leftish, instead of going up the incline towards the start area/dude with blue sword, cling to the cliff and head through the archway on the down-slope - that should lead you through some tunnels and then to the forest area. It's key because you unlock a merchant there fairly quickly.

I hope to play some more this eve!

Where are you in the game, Taccy?

This game is huge!
Ah ok cool, will try in next sesh. Next tier armour already feeling desirable!

I'm still stuck in WiFi-less Wales tho at a wedding do, where the closest I've got to gaming is getting a MacBook pro to work with non-Mac kit (Xbox controller etc). Still haven't found a polite time to sneak off and play the portal 2 I downloaded in advance tho
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The People's Republic of Clogher
The key with Dragonrider for me was having that 100% block shield that was just on the other side of the pursuer. I was having trouble dodging all the rider's attacks, so I started blocking his attacks if I was far away from him, and then circling around to his left once I got up close. This is the fight I had to learn to work my stamina just right; if he depletes your stamina, it's crucial to drop shield for a few seconds to refill the gauge as fast as possible. I couldn't pull it off trying to circle right, and if i kept my distance, he owned me.
Yeah, the problem I'm finding is I'm not playing a blocker and dodge timing with him has to be exact. I'll nail it soon though.



I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!
I wonder how the rest of the gaming year is gonna look. So far, I've got 3 contenders for the top prize of Game of the Year. the nominees are:

Dark Souls II - It's pretty much a more refined version of the original, even if the enemies aren't quite as massive this time around. They sure are intimidating though, and the deep mechanics and systems involved with making yourself a stronger warrior are all here as well. Sure I've died a lot (more times than I'll readily admit), but that's all part of the Dark Souls experience, right? You learn from your mistakes as you make your way through yet another mysterious fallen kingdom with as deep a hidden lore as one would expect. It's a fantastic title that's definitely worthy of its predecessor and of gaming in general.

South Park: The Stick of Truth - well this came almost out of nowhere, didn't it? I was surprised by how well this game adapted the most irreverent TV show on the planet. The humor, the characters, the location is all there with the same sharp and witty writing the show has become (in)famous for. The RPG part of it is there too, with a surprising amount of depth in its classes, abilities, and mission variety, even if the combat difficulty isn't exactly what I'd call challenging. I couldn't ask for a more faithful South Park game.

Watch Dogs - okay, I've come to realize something: I don't think this game is actually trying to say anything, nor was that its intention. The only reason people were expecting it to is because of how close to home it hits on many issues regarding surveillance and our decreasing sense of privacy. Ubisoft even said they didn't realize how relevant the game's themes would be when they created this game. With that said, as a digital sandbox, with Aiden Pearce controlling an entire city network in the palm of his hand, the game becomes a densely packed playground where no electronic is safe from exploit against Chicago's most dangerous criminals. It's the kind of fun you can't quite put your finger on, yet also makes you uncomfortable at its voyeuristic implications (at least I feel that way).



A system of cells interlinked
Yeah, the problem I'm finding is I'm not playing a blocker and dodge timing with him has to be exact. I'll nail it soon though.
All characters are blockers as long as they own a decent shield.

It's hard to get used to, but character classes just don't exist in Dark Souls. They have starting class templates so people have something to latch onto at first, but every character can cast sorceries, miracles, pyromancy, wear any weight or type of armor and use any weapon - it's all completely stat-based and there are no limitations. You just have to make sure you don't go over 70% encumbrance or you start fat-rolling (slow, clunky roll). People play like that! I just like to be speedy, so I avoid the fat-roll by mixing gear.

So, for instance, I may start a level with sword and board, then using pyro to knock moths out of trees, then using holy lightning to do pulls when I want to draw out enemies one at a time or when the game trolls me with a guy in a place I can't reach spamming spells at me, and when they come over to me, I toss my shield up on my back and hold my sword two-handed for extra damage while I roll all over the place dodging.

That's what I love about the combat engine - you can switch things up on the fly, changing approaches and styles to suit the situation, and never being locked into a class that only lets you say...block with a shield and swing a sword OR hold a chime and cast miracles OR Conjure a Pyro flame and use fire magics...Just do it all!

In many games, this would unbalance the game and make it too easy, but this here is Dark Souls! Even using multiple methods and powers, I still get completely decimated frequently, so I need to reassess my approach, maybe change some gear and spells around, and do some observing of the enemy I am stuck on. Sometimes drastically changing your approach is the only way to get by a difficult section of the game.

I just don't want you getting frustrated by this boss or that boss because they may be especially hard to dodge or something, because the designers change up the skills needed for each encounter to keep players on their toes! I tried that Dragonrider like 10 times trying to dodge, and he kept catching me with this really wide swing that seemed to have an extra large hit box. I was getting pretty fired up about it, when my GF said "Can you block that swing and then counter or something?"

Oh...yep, that works! I got him down in 1-2 more attempts after that and was on my way to more content. Then later, you will run into a multi-boss fight where blocking just doesn't work well, as half their moves stagger you if blocked... I was rolling and running during that fight!

Best o' luck!

EDIT: By no means am I telling you my ways are best and all that, but simply to keep an open mind when approaching any given fight, as there is a rich, deep combat system in the game.

Also: Lightning owns.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Thing is ... I don't want to play this character with any tank traits. I'm funny like that in most rpgs - I'll play a mage and never use weapons, a fighter and never use magic etc if I can help it.

If it makes Dark Souls extra difficult for me, so be it. The return of the super difficult game (and I'd say Demon's Souls was one of the first games to take this approach in recent memory) fills me with joy.

I've never been much of a fan of ramping up the difficulty level in a game which has Easy, Normal & Hard modes because all Hard usually means is you getting less hit points and enemies having more. When the game's designed to be unforgiving I'm all for it.

As long as it's fair, and the Souls games are.

I'm having a blast with heavy Bullets at the moment. Very simple premise - Your gun holds 6 bullets and you've got to collect them after you fire. It's super tense and you've got to be super accurate but, boy, is it fun.




A system of cells interlinked
Tis an RPG, so that makes sense! I was very strict about my DS1 character being focused on a certain style, as well. once I got to the end and started doing a lot of PVP, I had to get into some magic or I didn't stand a chance! I was able to melee my way through the single player game, though.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Yep, I got through Demon's Souls using various strategies but I think that was because magic seemed much more powerful early on than in the Dark Souls games so I started off with a mage then increased his melee as time went on.

I gave Demon's Souls a bash again a few weeks ago and have to say it's aged really well. The menus are a lot clunkier than in Dark Souls but the framerate (compared to the DS console versions anyway) is much more consistent. The detail on the character models suggests to me that it's running at a higher internal resolution too, so I'm wondering what the trade-off is?

More constrained levels in Demon's Souls? I wouldn't say lower resolution textures because they're pretty awful in Dark Souls too.

EDIT - Was round at my mate's house today and he'd bought a new graphics card which came with a free copy of Watch Dogs. His PC (with the new card installed) can barely it, we're talking single figure framerates.

It's a quad core Intel (one of the older, pre i5/i7 ones though) with 8GB of RAM and the card's an Nvidia 750TI.

Either the game has more brutal min specs than I thought or there's something very wrong with his rig. A 750TI should run the game fine at Min/Med settings so maybe it's the CPU.

That's the problem with PC gaming - So many variables. If Valve could make something happen with the Steam Machine it might standardise a lot of requirements for games and thus lower the barrier to entry for someone who's thinking about trading up from a console.



-KhaN-'s Avatar
I work for Keyser Soze. He feels you owe him.
IMPORTANT!
Battlefield 3 is free on Origin,if you download it,it belongs to you forever!This is ending on June 3.I'm not joking,it is very easy to check it out. https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/b...andard-edition
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“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”



there's a frog in my snake oil
First time playing it? Already played the first?
Will be my first time with the sequel, loved the original (It's my go-to game for getting people into modern gaming )



I don't remember asking you a ******* thing!
The first Portal was fantastic, one of my top 20 favorite games ever. I honestly wasn't too fond of Portal 2. It just felt like a deconstruction of the first game, which actually didn't help out its story. It was longer than it needed to be, and I honestly feel it was more a piece of fan service. The puzzles were fun, sure, but I was more bored than anything playing it.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Wasn't as big a fan of Portal 2 either - The first one was more or less perfect and all the second really gave us were different puzzles and other narrators.

What P2 did do brilliantly was offer up massive amounts of user generated content via Steam Workshop, but they could just as easily patched that into the first game. It's still a great game but whenever I fancy a bit of Portal action, I reach for Portal 1.



I love Portal 2. I can agree that the first was basically perfect, and the second isn't, but I think that's because the first is less ambitious, story-wise. It's exactly the size it needs to be. And while there's a lot to be said for that, I'm equally impressed by their ability to expand both the story and the gameplay at 90% quality. I think the difficulty curve on that makes it as good as its predecessor.

I'll wait until Golgot's done to talk about my favorite moments/things about it, but yeah, I was just totally smitten by it. Come to think of it, I might even play it again, which is a ridiculous rarity for me with puzzles games.




The People's Republic of Clogher
I'd agree with what you say but would argue that they didn't need a more ambitious story. It's like your favourite band hiring a keyboard player...

A cash-grab sequel is not Valve's style so I can totally get why they decided to tinker with things and it's not as if it detracts from the core experience. I just preferred the original.

EDIT - Any Dead Island fans out there?

I was gifted a copy of Dead Island Epidemic on Steam (I think anyone who owns one of the other games got one) and have no interest in it.

It doesn't say which pack the game is but I'm assuming it's the cheapest £12.99 one.

Hit me up if you want it, otherwise it'll sit in my inventory gathering dust or I'll eventually redeem it and never play the thing.