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Gerblyn posted:What's the general feeling on the DLC? I got the season pass, and I guess and some point I really should reinstall and give it a go. I just read this article in PCGamer though where the guy really hated them all tho: You can get Storm fairly early. I dunno what that reviewer is on about, but I enjoyed all the DLC. It sounds like he wanted the complete DLC season to add up to something like Enemy Within or War of the Chosen, which... they don't but they're also DLC and not an expansion pack. If you enjoy the Abbey stuff and want to punch Dracula then you'll probably like the DLC.
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# ? May 21, 2023 16:47 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 03:52 |
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Great, thanks guys!
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# ? May 21, 2023 16:51 |
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Gerblyn posted:What's the general feeling on the DLC? I got the season pass, and I guess and some point I really should reinstall and give it a go. I just read this article in PCGamer though where the guy really hated them all tho: Story-wise, the review isn't totally wrong (although I find the reviewer unduly harsh) - it's not very inspired, nor are the story beats very surprising ; and yeah every single mission of the 4 DLCs is "kill vampyres" or "kill hydra AND vampyres". There's a side mechanic with timers (either on vamps themselves, or vamp spawners) that try to curb some of the most egregious cheese (like Iron Man's endless card-cycling, or abusing Dr. Spooky's buffs), and sometimes the best option is to end you turn early instead of triggering a spawn with no more card plays. It's neat the first couple times, but it gets old once you've figured the tricks. Thankfully, you can spread and weave these missions with regular ones however you like, so you can keep them fresh (or like a change of pace) some. That being said, the undisclosed boss is probably un-doable before you've reached a certain point in the story and can research "move to Cure". As for the characters, personnality-wise they're all pretty cool except Storm who's just stoic, no-nonsense woman of a few words. Card-wise, they don't bring anything really new but sort of mix-and-match mechanics of existing heroes (again, except for Storm, who has her own shtick) and they're reasonably powerful. The only issue is that 4 more characters mean 4 more friendship meters to top off before you get their ultimate attack ; and they have far fewer random interactions than the main cast to sneak a point here and there (although they do comment on the main story). They also come with their specific research projects and combat items : Deadpool lets you toss cards for Move (and later Move+Shove once per battle) ; Morbius lets you use money to permanently buff characters the way training sessions do (which gets really gross over time) ; Venom has a lovely thing where you get to spend gloss to ... turn down a mission's difficulty (when you could just... lower the difficulty in the options ? IDGI) but his item is cool. Storm improves the Danger Room by letting you have group sessions instead of solo battles which... OK. Who uses the Danger Room ?! All in all, I'm not sure I'd recommend a buy except for fans of the characters themselves ; but if you've already splurged for the season pass then you might as well give it a shot - it's still Moar Midnight Suns.
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# ? May 21, 2023 17:24 |
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I thought the DLC told a coherent, cohesive (or as cohesive as comic books can be) story with fun characters and villains leading to a mostly satisfying conclusion (with a killer final battle). Dracula was absolutely no pushover as a boss especially on the harder difficulties. I don’t care for Deadpool or Morbius gameplay but Venom and Storm are both strong as hell. All in all I’m glad I got the Legendary edition because I’d feel a bit ripped off if I paid the standalone amount for the DLC, but the premium for the Legendary edition felt just right.
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# ? May 21, 2023 17:25 |
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Skippy McPants posted:You can get Storm fairly early. I dunno what that reviewer is on about, but I enjoyed all the DLC. It sounds like he wanted the complete DLC season to add up to something like Enemy Within or War of the Chosen, which... they don't but they're also DLC and not an expansion pack. Oh yeah this is more on par with the XCOM 2 DLC that came out before War of the Chosen. I'd like to imagine that if the game had done better they were planning to do a similar model, a season pass DLC thing and then a nice chunky expansion, but I doubt that'll happen now.
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# ? May 21, 2023 21:44 |
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They should have cast Michael Jai White as Blade in the upcoming movie.
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# ? May 21, 2023 23:15 |
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Skippy McPants posted:Huh. I just now noticed that Hunter cards have different variants for male and female. That's a nice little detail. The game has an amazing attention to detail, coupled with some baffling mistakes: Little hidden jokes (Hunter's hand when playing cards; the position when Tony and Strange play chess; the characters who play piano). Giving most of the characters unique dialogue if you choose them for story missions, that they deliver when you head for the portal. Multiple, sometimes lengthy side-conversations you can overhear, like at the end of Shop class after the reconciliation, or the banter with Tony and Wolverine watching the Suns practice after Blade gives a speech. Little dialogue choices that have effects much later (advising Spiderman on how to join the Suns; advising Nico about what to do with her feelings for her parents). Little moments where character dialogue changes depending on whether you just brought them on a mission or not (most obvious with Strange after the Wanda rescue mission, or with Wanda after the mission following that). Even character/worldbuilding stuff like picking Wanda to channel Magik's energies during that ritual, having her thank you afterward, and then being able to pick a dialogue option that explains why it actually helped the ritual, too. But then there's weirdness that never got fixed. Worst, for me, is the ongoing story of Hunter's cracking collar. You can tell Sara and Strange about the cracks, you can overhear Sara having a conversation with everyone else about the collar, you can overhear another conversation concerning the collar, you can mention when it cracks again, and there's still a late-game conversation where Sara chews you out for never telling her about the cracks. There's oddnesses, too, with the information you get through completing the Explore the Grounds part of the game and the things certain characters say throughout the game that assume you never completed that strand at all, culminating in the "so now you know" conversation at endgame when you probably knew since early Part II. (There's obviously a conversation with Sara that only happens if you didn't do the exploration strand to its end, meaning I've never heard that conversation.) And why didn't someone suggest that once you own a specific gift, it shouldn't show up in the shop again?
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# ? May 22, 2023 01:05 |
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Narsham posted:And why didn't someone suggest that once you own a specific gift, it shouldn't show up in the shop again? My latest Hunter has SO MANY Iron Man fanfics. It's probably creeping Tony out, because he's never asked to hang out once.
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# ? May 22, 2023 08:41 |
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I changed my Hunter's looks around a little and now she's a Wisconsin soccer mom. Oh God what have I done.
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# ? May 22, 2023 18:33 |
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Venom's upgraded Legendary is loving bonkers. Had a "Kill Vampyres" mission led by Venom that was labeled as Hard, took him, the Hunter and Nico. Opening hand has Assimilation+ in it, so I figure, "What the hell, let's see how far we can take this." Venom proceeded to basically solo the entire map in a single turn. The only things I played that weren't his cards or items were my Hunter's two Inspires, one of which is modded to give +1 Move for the turn, the other modded to redraw the last attack played. I think I may have had Nico shove someone or use an environmental attack at some point? But uh, yeah, Assimilation. Busted as hell.
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# ? May 27, 2023 19:36 |
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It’s one of the best Legendaries, no doubt. The you can even get the Free mod on it.
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# ? May 28, 2023 04:01 |
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Yeah, Spidey isn't as offensively loaded as Venom, but I think his ultimate has a similar "go wild for a turn" vibe to it, especially if used in tandem with his bonuses to environmental attacks. I really like the thematic similarities between the two.
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# ? May 28, 2023 19:38 |
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It has the same vibe, but Venom's is way better. S-tier character if you can get his Ultimate in-hand on turn one.
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# ? May 28, 2023 20:21 |
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Yeah, environmental attacks not scaling like everything else and the wild variability in environmental interactable make Spider-Man start out fairly strong and get progressively weaker as the game goes on. Especially if you're bumping difficulty where he becomes mostly a liability.
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# ? May 28, 2023 20:28 |
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Zore posted:Yeah, environmental attacks not scaling like everything else and the wild variability in environmental interactable make Spider-Man start out fairly strong and get progressively weaker as the game goes on. Especially if you're bumping difficulty where he becomes mostly a liability. At higher difficulties I'd think some of his other bad-on-paper abilities like the stuns get more valuable, but I honestly haven't pumped it up that high myself. The somewhat poor scaling on environmentals is definitely an issue for him. He's got pretty low heroism costs so he's still useful in certain combos, especially since you can use the cheap environmentals as free chip damage, but I'd agree he falls short compared to other damage heroes.
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# ? May 28, 2023 20:36 |
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Like all of Solomon's games, damage is king, so the goal in Midnight Suns is to kill everything on the first turn. Spidey does suffer from poor scaling, but I don't think he's a liability in the late game. He's still quite card efficient, and you can do a lot with his bonus moves. I'd say he's still a solid mid-tier. In the late game, I'd split the cast, High: Hunter, Strange, Iron Man, Venom Mid: Magik, Captain America, Hulk, Nico, Spider-man, Storm, Wolverine Low: Captain Marvel, Ghost Rider, Blade, Scarlet Witch, Morbius, Deadpool Edit: I think Morbius and Deadpool are maybe my least favorite characters, mechanics-wise. Neither one really does anything fun or unique. They both feel like a worse Wolverine. A Worsverine. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Jun 10, 2023 |
# ? May 28, 2023 20:49 |
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As far as I'm concerned the "solved" part of the game is that Quick Knockback cards is the one true strategy. One weak enemy or minion + one stronger enemy lets you burn through cards quickly without wasting plays, while still bringing down the tough enemies. The fact that a knockback into a friendly character results in bonus damage on top of the knockback damage AND gives a free card draw just clinches it. The only character low on that tier list who I've had a surprising amount of success with is Morbius - his Shadow Strike is really cheap on heroism and can quickly apply a bunch of status effects and draw cards simultaneously. It makes for very good turns.
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# ? May 28, 2023 22:00 |
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Infinite Karma posted:As far as I'm concerned the "solved" part of the game is that Quick Knockback cards is the one true strategy. One weak enemy or minion + one stronger enemy lets you burn through cards quickly without wasting plays, while still bringing down the tough enemies. The fact that a knockback into a friendly character results in bonus damage on top of the knockback damage AND gives a free card draw just clinches it. Wanda’s Quick Toss solidifies her as top tier for me. Max her strength, toss a mook into a minion who’s somewhere near other non-minion enemies, then mark them all or chain hex them with some strong debuff. She’s one of my favorites. Any non-straight-back knockback attack (Ghost Rider, Wanda, Spider-Man) make them strong in my opinion. Still don’t like Captain Marvel, Captain America, Deadpool, or Morbius. I also find that Nico’s utility falls off a bit on the higher difficulties when you really have to crank out the damage every card play. Strange plus battlefield scanner mk. 2 or utility belt and zinger protocol with the combat item-restoring ability (I run two copies because why not) means an easy win.
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# ? May 28, 2023 22:32 |
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The Midniter posted:Strange plus battlefield scanner mk. 2 or utility belt and zinger protocol with the combat item-restoring ability (I run two copies because why not) means an easy win.
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# ? May 29, 2023 00:58 |
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I'm having trouble on the Captain America story mission where you have to stop Crossbones from setting off a bomb on a bridge. Any advice?
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# ? May 29, 2023 05:36 |
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Stockpile bonus redraws in the first half of the mission (Iron Man is good at this if you don't have any mods in your deck to provide redraws, otherwise pack a Greater Clarity Charm item card for 3 free extra redraws), then in the second half, prioritize knocking out the guy with the "delay bomb" card and spend all your redraws on it to give you a massive turn buffer to let you deal with Crossbones without having to worry about the bomb going off.
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# ? May 29, 2023 06:36 |
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Skippy McPants posted:Like all of Solomon's games, damage is king, so the goal in Midnight Suns is to kill everything on the first turn. Spidey does suffer from poor scaling, but I don't think he's a liability in the late game. He's still quite card efficient, and you can do a lot with his bonus moves. I'd say he's still a solid mid-tier. Magik is REALLY good in two-part missions where she's present in both parts, because her +damage through portals carries over, and that poo poo ramps up FAST if you have both of them with some decent mods. She's godly if you manage to scrounge a Quick Kick or two to go with it. Ghost Rider is A+ godtier in any mission involving Soulless (which is quite appropriate), since he can heal for "free" all the time (I still think it's dumb you can't upgrade the card he gets from filling his soul meter. If anything it should be +'d if you have one or two copies of the upgraded card in the deck). Morbius I'd say is solidly midtier, but with Blade on the team the two of them go apeshit, stacking bleed then resolving it immediately for high spikes (not quite as high as Dark Hunter being silly, but higher than most). Bleed also gains in value in missions that have those soul-linked mobs who target anything with bleed - you can waste their turn making them attack their mates, ensuring they don't spread that soullink too much. There's also value in having Lifesteal on all of your cards without wasting an action to set it up - making him Betterverine IMO. Hulk I'd put in top tier simply because he stuns the poo poo out of everyone you can't kill. He's strangely made of papier-maché for a notoriously unkillable rage monster, though - I don't know why he doesn't have a copy of Darkchylde. I kinda like Deadpool simply on the back of his Quick card which I find really good ; but it's true he isn't spectacular - considering how hard it is to stack En Fuego consistently, I reckon the bonuses it gives should be higher (and it's weird that En Fuego works opposite his passive regen. A confused design for a confused character). Kobal2 fucked around with this message at 11:33 on May 29, 2023 |
# ? May 29, 2023 11:29 |
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Infinite Karma posted:Strange is always good but not great to me because no matter how much value he generates, he still needs at least 1 action spent on pure setup. On a straight "kill everything" mission you can usually spare an action point, but the most difficult and frustrating missions are the ones where the enemies drop cards you need to play to meet objectives. Those "open a crate" etc cards are the worst part of the game design since you can't really work around them tactically. Strange can get Free on his setup cards, but even without that the mere presence of Astral Meditation makes him the best non-Hunter hero by leaps and bounds. The ability to reuse stuff like Zinger Protocol and Major Strength Tonic twice per mission is unmatched. Kobal2 posted:Hero Stuff Magik is good, just not quite on par with the really broken characters. She needs a couple of Limbo's Grasp to get rolling, while Hunter or Tony can start the murder party right from the jump. Ghost Rider's issue isn't his self-damage; it's his bad card selection, and the fact that his passive fills your hand with one of the worst cards in the game. He has some powerful cards, but he's one of the few heroes who doesn't have a solid deck of 8. Bleed is just a bad mechanic. Even with Blade and Morb together, I find it too slow and too card dependent. And even when it fires perfectly, it still barely matches the output to top tier damage dealers. Hulk lacks quick and/or card draw in his kit. That alone knocks him out of the top tier, for me. I actually like Deadpool's Quick card less, because I use Draw 2 on OK for my Quick attacks, which he can't get because of how mod restrictions work. So he usually ends up drawing fewer cards than my other heroes. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Jun 10, 2023 |
# ? May 29, 2023 11:46 |
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Ghost Rider is the best because Hell Ride is the most metal thing I've ever seen.
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# ? May 29, 2023 12:06 |
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My lone beef with the DLC characters is their achievements being broken. Deeply annoying.
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# ? May 29, 2023 13:27 |
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Skippy McPants posted:Ghost Rider's issue isn't his self-damage; it's his bad card selection, and the fast that his passive fills your hand with one of the worst cards in the game. But it's fine on Soulless missions, because those jokers make every card Quick, so his generating A poo poo Card every once in a while becomes Good Actually because that poo poo card still lets you pop a goon or two and do token damage to a real enemy, again and again. Or you can just redraw it, of course. Most of his attacks being AoEs is very good too in that particular context, for the exact same reason.
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# ? May 29, 2023 15:00 |
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Kobal2 posted:But it's fine on Soulless missions, because those jokers make every card Quick, so his generating A poo poo Card every once in a while becomes Good Actually because that poo poo card still lets you pop a goon or two and do token damage to a real enemy, again and again. Or you can just redraw it, of course. Most of his attacks being AoEs is very good too in that particular context, for the exact same reason. For a while, it's okay, but you reach a point in the end-game where hand size becomes a serious issue. Like, it's common to have a full 11 cards in hand, and Drain Soul is never the one you want to play so it sits there clogging up a spot. Even if it's free there's generally something better to do with the 1 Heroism. Magik has a similar problem with Relay, but at least you can always cycle those out of your hand at zero cost.
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# ? May 29, 2023 15:18 |
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Skippy McPants posted:For a while, it's okay, but you reach a point in the end-game where hand size becomes a serious issue. Like, it's common to have a full 11 cards in hand, and Drain Soul is never the one you want to play so it sits there clogging up a spot. Even if it's free there's generally something better to do with the 1 Heroism. You have good Midnight Suns opinions. Drain Soul is one of the worst cards in the game. I’m currently working through NG+ and my super powered Hunter is making quick work of everything. Dark Hunter is just such a steamroller. I sincerely hope the DLC achievements pop this time through.
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# ? May 29, 2023 20:23 |
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Ooo, a new mod that removes Combo cards. drat, I might do another playthrough just to enjoy that. Edit: related, the guy who made the mod has a ton of QoL stuff that basically eliminates the grind from any part of the game you find annoying. Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 03:28 on May 30, 2023 |
# ? May 29, 2023 23:24 |
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W.T. Fits posted:Stockpile bonus redraws in the first half of the mission (Iron Man is good at this if you don't have any mods in your deck to provide redraws, otherwise pack a Greater Clarity Charm item card for 3 free extra redraws), then in the second half, prioritize knocking out the guy with the "delay bomb" card and spend all your redraws on it to give you a massive turn buffer to let you deal with Crossbones without having to worry about the bomb going off. Thanks. That worked.
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# ? May 30, 2023 06:35 |
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I don't think I'm ever going to get full light or dark balance in this - I just can't be a prick to my Tik Tok house of slightly maladjusted supermodels and muscle men who I go fishing and painting with.
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# ? May 30, 2023 11:02 |
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Disco Pope posted:I don't think I'm ever going to get full light or dark balance in this - I just can't be a prick to my Tik Tok house of slightly maladjusted supermodels and muscle men who I go fishing and painting with. There's a few things you can do to stack the numbers one way or the other, but it'll take a while. First, the obvious one is to tailor your deck towards light or dark, which will generate points and tip the balance. Second, if you take a dip in the pool at night during a full moon you get a light point, and if you do so during a new moon you get a dark point.
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# ? May 30, 2023 11:17 |
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Can also use the mod that boosts your Dark/Light gain by 5, 10, or 100x. It's worth going down the Dark path to unlock its collar and Annihilation, which is Hunter's best Legendary. But you don't have to, Bladestorm is fine and you can totally beat the game with a balanced Dark/Light gugage.
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# ? May 30, 2023 12:48 |
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bobtheconqueror posted:if you take a dip in the pool at night during a full moon you get a light point, and if you do so during a new moon you get a dark point. this loving game, I swear
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# ? May 30, 2023 14:17 |
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Shrecknet posted:WHAT The book in the library that’s under the witch portrait tells you this, as well as telling you exactly how the offering bowl works, but it’s easy to miss the clues on a first playthrough.
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# ? May 30, 2023 14:23 |
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Shrecknet posted:WHAT I know a lot of people don't like the stuff outside the Abbey, but I think the teenage goth-style scavenger hunts and witchy nonsense add a lot of charm. The game feels closer to being a comic book than any other comics game I can think of. Edit: they also didn't go too overboard with the collectibles. Once you have all the traversal stuff unlocked it doesn't take but an hour or so to do everything out on the grounds.
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# ? May 30, 2023 14:26 |
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Shrecknet posted:WHAT In a similar vein, you will only find Wundagore herbs to pick on a Waxing Moon. I don't know what the Waning Moon does though.
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# ? May 30, 2023 18:03 |
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Disco Pope posted:Ghost Rider is the best because Hell Ride is the most metal thing I've ever seen. The main story cutscene where Crossbones is chasing Johnny and then turns around to see the Ride leaping over a canyon, with the cut inside to Robbie looking like he's having the time of his life and the Hunter clutching the dashboard looking TERRIFIED was one of my favorite moments in the entire game. That shot was a perfect comic book panel.
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# ? May 30, 2023 18:23 |
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Just got to Mephisto. drat! Jason Isaacs sound like he's channeling the late David Warner. Great delivery.
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# ? May 30, 2023 19:47 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 03:52 |
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Skippy McPants posted:I know a lot of people don't like the stuff outside the Abbey, but I think the teenage goth-style scavenger hunts and witchy nonsense add a lot of charm. The game feels closer to being a comic book than any other comics game I can think of. The parts where you're actually exploring and seeing new stuff were fine, but the orb/ingredient picking absolutely should have come with a "harvest all" button.
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# ? May 30, 2023 19:54 |