Hello everyone. Ive been out of town most of the week so ive been away from my normal gaming options, but i have fiddled away with some emulated Pokémon emerald on my phone. I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

  • insurgentrat [she/her, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    ng+2 on sekiro. Did the shura ending last cycle, isshin ashina might be the best fight in the game.

    Just the default ending and some skill unlocks and I’ve wrung all the fun out of the game. It’s so fun.

      • insurgentrat [she/her, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
        5·
        1 month ago

        It’s very enjoyable. I have done 4 playthoughs but this is my only time ng+ing to try get every skill and upgrade.

        I got very absorbed in it and god the homecoming ending on my first playthrough blind.

        If I have one criticism, the beginning of the game is not a gentle new player experience. My wife droppes it because of the stairway ogre and multi enemy minibosses at hirata and stairway. I think the game opens up at ashina castle amazingly with multiple zones, lore, prosthetics, exploration, verticality, and enemy variety. Putting a mandatory miniboss with a noobtrap grab that doesn’t reward deflects in front of it is… a decision.

        That it’s mandatory also gets people in a headspace to stick on the next guy, instead of handling it more confident later with more tools/experience.

        • comrade_pibb [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          3·
          1 month ago

          do not under any circumstances use the dancing dragon mask, the skill grind is brutal as it is

          e: yeah the chained ogre is a big departure from how the game has been taught until that point, though the flame tool makes him a lot easier. IIRC there’s an eavesdropping opportunity that tells you that the ogre is weak to fire

          • insurgentrat [she/her, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
            4·
            1 month ago

            She did get the fire thing but found it very frustrating. I think it’s trying to teach too much.

            At that stage you’re learning:

            • be aggressive
            • deflect everything
            • eliminate enemies 1 by 1 and use the environment

            He is very intimidating and the grab sort of undermines the first 2 points. Also he’s trying to teach:

            • reactionary grapples
            • keeping track of positioning in the environment
            • big dudes can be deflected too
            • some enemies have multiple different perilous variations
            • use tools on specific enemies
            • sometimes deflecting is bad and whittle health instead
            • positioning around enemies is important for punishing
            • grabs can be wide range

            They put the tree nearby for a safe place to heal midfight but a lot of noobs don’t even think to use it just because they get overloaded.