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I did not expect myself to enjoy playing NG+ but it kinda sorta made the game into one of my favorites of the year, even when i already had a pretty high opinion of it
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Aug 27, 2016 06:47
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I really think that the success of NG+ says a lot about how good the battle system in HLD is. You can basically make a few alterations to the numbers, and suddenly it's a VERY DIFFERENT GAME, but still playable, still FUN, and has it's own flavor. I find myself using different moves, thinking more strategically, etc. etc. It only makes my crippling grenade addiction worse, though.
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Aug 27, 2016 07:10
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Bacter posted:I really think that the success of NG+ says a lot about how good the battle system in HLD is. You can basically make a few alterations to the numbers, and suddenly it's a VERY DIFFERENT GAME, but still playable, still FUN, and has it's own flavor. I find myself using different moves, thinking more strategically, etc. etc. In fairness, given as the game's bringing its A - uh, game, there's no reason for you to hold back either.
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Aug 28, 2016 03:45
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Oh BOY. Glad I caught the thread before it got too far into the game. Absolutely loved HLD, the combat is fast, brutal and satisfying and the atmosphere is great. I have to recommend playing the game yourselves if you're just watching, the combat really has to be experienced first-hand. I gotta echo going North first and then East being the easier route. Other than birdmage being harder than toadboss, having a couple of upgrades (particularly the sword projectile reflection) makes the ninja and toad enemies on the East so much easier to deal with. I guess voting is basically over anyway, but with a 'do like that it's no surprise that coolbot-senpai will always be prom king every year.
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Aug 28, 2016 13:03
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To me, at least, a "hard light" sword implies something different than "lightsaber." A lightsaber is a laser sword, that burns poo poo (as lasers are wont to do) for cutting, but "hard light" suggests that the light is somehow compressed into a virtually physical object (light having properties of particles, as well as waves, and this being sci-fi, that's good enough for me). It's used (amongst other places) in Red Dwarf, when Rimmer gets a hard light upgrade for his hologram, making him physical. --- The phrase "major module" has me curious. Does that mean there are "minor modules" that come into play, or is that just some tech phrase I don't know? --- Lastly, this is probably me overthinking things, but when our character lands from a teleport, there's this purple square around him that reminds me of the bird wizard explosions a bit:
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Aug 28, 2016 14:55
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An important thing to know is that literally nothing in this game is named in the game, so the community has come up with various names for a lot of items/bosses/characters themselves, and it can be a bit tough to talk about the game without making sure you agree on them Oddly enough the steam achievements have the most complete list of "official names" for various item types (and the diamonds are just called modules) but really you can call them whatever you want as long as your audience understands. Even outside of the game only 3 of the bosses even have names, and they're not really their names, just convenient tarot cards
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Aug 28, 2016 15:34
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Got the northside closeup done, as well as our first foray into THE GREAT DARK (the western part of the map). The boss of this section is kind of a bugbear of mine. I'm anxious to see how well that'll hold up!  
Bacter fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Sep 4, 2016 |
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Sep 4, 2016 08:00
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Gee, I really liked the west. My first playthrough accidentally went really well - I happened to choose at random the optimal path for collecting major modules, and had an ok time with the boss of this one. I also just like the whole crystal aesthetic - the fact that the enemies are immediately aggressive indicates to me that they weren't frozen against their will, instead they're just biding time until some hapless schmuck blunders into their woods.
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Sep 5, 2016 03:45
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So Hyper Light Drifter is currently on Sale on Steam at 33% off! Anyone who's fancying trying it for themselves and don't mind a price tag of £10.04 it's there for the taking.
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Sep 27, 2016 20:47
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Indeed it is, AND with a 60 FPS upgrade fresh for the taking! Sorry for the break, incidentally, the job got a bit hectic for a few weeks. But there's more to explore, and the forest is SERIOUSLY heating up! Crystallizing up? After this update, we'll have all the dash and all the sword enhancements, meaning I can start on the NG+ section of the LP - heaven help us all. I'll explain once that gets going!
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Oct 1, 2016 07:52
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This video ended really abruptly. Was that supposed to happen?
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Oct 1, 2016 09:20
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Bacter posted:Got the northside closeup done, as well as our first foray into THE GREAT DARK (the western part of the map). At about 5:00 in part 7 the little floaty robot pings and you ignore it did you miss something there? E: Actually you might get it later I should watch the whole video first
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Oct 1, 2016 09:34
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cant cook creole bream posted:This video ended really abruptly. Was that supposed to happen? As ever, I have no idea what you're talking about. The video has always been 24 minutes long! Heh. Bacter fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Oct 2, 2016 03:01
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As a (not terribly hidden) side note, i think it's important/relevant that the samurai cats can come out of their crystal stasis unharmed, but blue dudes like the one on the bridge always shatter. Incidentally, i assume that, by virtue of hue, our Drifter is of the same... clan, shall we say, as that poor fossilized chap?
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Oct 2, 2016 05:59
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Buncha dang HLD news, folks! There was a new 60 FPS update, and, I mean, not to get in the middle of the FPS wars or what have you, but I can absolutely notice the difference. It doesn't RECORD well, but it LOOKS great! At least not on Bernadette, the 'ol war-torn lappy. This is the boss I was dreading - the one that took me a WHOLE bunch of tries my first time, and for good reason! This game follows the dark souls technique of having normal-sized be bosses be just as mean, and significantly quicker, than your big-sized ones. This update finishes the forest, leaving only the southern area to be pried apart! 
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Oct 19, 2016 04:27
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That boss is incredibly tough, if you decide to go to the west first. I don't think it took me 20 times, but it was a lot.
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Oct 21, 2016 09:14
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I find it interesting that as you enter the arena the boss just lunges at you. No start-up, no posing, just "oh hi SWORD TO THE FACE". Matches the kind of frantic pace I feel this area has with the crystal traps, the dogs, and the other enemies.
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Oct 21, 2016 13:46
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His persistence was especially threatening to me. Oh, ALSO: on review of this footage, I think that either a) in normal mode, or b) ever since the update his third projectile doesn't actually drain your special meter! Further experimentation is warranted in NG+. I DID tackle the guy in NG+, which convinces me that I'll be able to finish the game in it. cant cook creole bream posted:That boss is incredibly tough, if you decide to go to the west first. I don't think it took me 20 times, but it was a lot. I shudder to imagine fighting him without the special moves. RedMagus posted:I find it interesting that as you enter the arena the boss just lunges at you. No start-up, no posing, just "oh hi SWORD TO THE FACE". Matches the kind of frantic pace I feel this area has with the crystal traps, the dogs, and the other enemies. It is super interesting. He's also able to call enemies forth from the crystal, shoots crystal at you, his sword and part of his body are... but then his death has crystal kind of envelop his body, as it gorily slides off. I wonder if he was one of the crystalmancers that stopped a giant, but caused this whole crystal mess? Bacter fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Oct 22, 2016 |
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Oct 22, 2016 00:39
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The blue guys the crystalmancer was fighting looked an awful lot like our protagonist.
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Oct 22, 2016 03:08
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Hmmmmm..... ANYWAY: So getting 12 keys unlocks a door in the main village. It's the arena! There is one arena per level, so if you absolutely don't want to see any of the enemies from the south before we go there, hold off until I do that segment. There aren't any HUGE PLOT TWIST enemies though, like you won't get a sneak peek ahead in the story, so I'd recommend it. Music is all Chillwave. I can't say I'm in love with the name of the genre, but it IS what I like to listen to to calm my raging nerves down as I play the arena, so watching this video is an Authentic Bacter Experience! (tm) 
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Oct 22, 2016 03:52
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Dang, hardest part of that arena was the drat dogs. I swear 80% of the hits I took were due to their weird attack timing and zero windup.
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Oct 22, 2016 08:23
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Three of those machine gun tank goblins may sound bad. But try 4 with a few rocket launchers mixed in! I was so sure I had it, but that wave ate all my health. The tank goblins are definitely the hardest regular enemy in the game. Also I disagree with regards to fat birds. I found that getting really close to them is the best tactic, since you can take them out with a loaded swing or a shotgun blast really easily .
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Oct 22, 2016 09:28
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Mate, I have to praise your music choice for this. Fantastic. Also the arena looks like fun esp. when they start just mashing it all together.
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Oct 22, 2016 10:15
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Spudd posted:Mate, I have to praise your music choice for this. Fantastic. Yeah it was great I'd be interested in like a playlist/highlights/artist names is that good fucked around with this message at 11:47 on Oct 22, 2016 |
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Oct 22, 2016 11:43
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The arena is SUPER fun, unless you're determined to actually beat it, and keep dying on level 9-10. They said that putting different enemy types together made the game too hard, so they had to scale it back. And I get it, but the arena fights are the most frantic/fun ones in the game, probably! Music: Home - Resonance Lazerhawk - Star Hustler Vector Graphics - DESTINE 18 Carat Affair - Modus Operandi Cyberlust - Rome Home - On The Way Out ID Chief - Honey Kodak Cameo - Mirage MAITRO - Snake Way Prism Lite - With You Kodak Cameo - Oceaan
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Oct 23, 2016 06:32
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Going back and doing some NG+ recording, I noticed there's a new baby mode for infants and soft babies. I don't plan on showing it off, unless it's really funny. I AM glad they put it in, as I don't think difficulty should be a big barrier to enjoying this kind of game. There's a whole dark souls debate about if baby modes for soft gurgling babies enhances or takes away from the experience, but I dunno, I kind of don't like the FOR HARDCORES ONLY club mindset. I guess if I had to argue against it, I'd say climbing the steep difficulty curve is a genuinely enjoyable part of the game, and sanding it down takes away from that enjoyment? But man, not everybody wants to do that, so I see having new modes as only opening up the game to more players.
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Oct 26, 2016 06:05
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Alright! Let's roll with some NG+ action.  What's really remarkable to me about the NG+ is how a few small changes heavily, seriously impact how you play. This is about as good a NG+ as I could ask for. Essentially, you spend the main game learning a set of skills, how to make the most of your dashes, gunshots, grenades, etc. You get better, you learn the cadence of the enemies and the pacing of the game. The way you play in the end is very different from the way you play in the beginning, and that's a super-satisfying arc for me. What NG+ does, for me, is puts you back to square one, WITH all your skills and abilities intact, and says "You know the game? You've learned the lessons? Show me." In a skill-heavy game like this, tweaking skills and health seriously changes the layout of fights. Now everybody is a threat. Now you can't rely on your health to tank a couple hits and keep whistlin'. The game is supposed to be about being this fragile speedster, running on the razor's edge, and NG+ makes you be just that. It's a lot of fun, and I'd love to hear from people who've played it how they enjoyed it!
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Nov 7, 2016 09:22
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You mentioned that it would be possible to beat the whole game without upgrades, but do you ever need the multi-dash for that? There's at least some major modules I know that require it, (see: 19:30 in the NG+ video) and some of those boss attacks would be awful to dodge without it.
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Nov 7, 2016 20:59
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It would be just horrible, but I don't think ever absolutely REQUIRED in main gameplay. I could be wrong - maybe there's some multi-dash requirement in the southern area, but I think not. The biggest mark against it, as far as I can tell, is how BORING it would be.
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Nov 8, 2016 03:37
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Bacter posted:It would be just horrible, but I don't think ever absolutely REQUIRED in main gameplay. I could be wrong - maybe there's some multi-dash requirement in the southern area, but I think not. There is indeed no requirement to ever use the chain-dash unless you're trying to get everything in the game. I know this because I absolutely could not reliably chain-dash ever for the life of me; the timing was just such an incredible awful unfun bitch that I finished the game, got every single non-chain-dash-required thing in the game, spent a full day beating my head against the chain-dash segments without ever successfully completing any of the ones where you have to change course midway through, and gave up on the game in disgust. Other than that I thought it was an incredible game though! One of my absolute favorites really. Iny fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Nov 8, 2016 |
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Nov 8, 2016 12:03
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Your audio balancing in this video is kinda inconsistent; the song that starts at around 10:10 almost completely drowns out your voice at times, for instance. Also, while I appreciate you speeding up the exploration bits, at times it seems like there's some actual slowdown during the fights. It might just be me, but some of the action (not all of it) seems to stutter some. Lest you think I'm only going to complain, hot drat! That's some impressive drifting there! I would not enjoy playing this mode. I might enjoy Scrub-Lords Who Need To Git Gud mode, but I'm not even sure about the main game. Anyone have experience for SLWNTGG mode?
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Nov 8, 2016 15:03
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Glad you liked it! The audio stuff should be fixed, I did some mic tuning. I tried out the SLWNTGG, and it's not really THAT different? You get an extra health, and enemies are maybe a LITTLE less attacky but, it's not a huge difference. I'd still give it a whirl, it's probably a gentler introduction. I also tested the boss rush, which was just barrels of fun. It drove home how much you have to "learn" bosses - I cleared the bosses we've already beaten in a REAL hurry, struggled a bit on the ones we haven't seen yet, and literally doubled my time on the final boss. Oh well!
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Nov 12, 2016 10:03
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Let's slam dunk the west side, because there are some Interesting Tidbits! Preserved history, on account of the crystals. Only one area to go! 
Bacter fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Nov 19, 2016 |
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Nov 19, 2016 06:33
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Bacter posted:Let's slam dunk the west side, because there are some Interesting Tidbits! Preserved history, on account of the crystals. Video stops in the middle of a sentence at 21:17.
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Nov 19, 2016 16:51
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Ahh, that's a shame. I just said "and that was great - see you next time for the southern area!" after that.
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Nov 19, 2016 21:39
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It might be related to the desync caused by the "and I'm at 7:27 and 3, 2, 1, go" thing.
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Nov 19, 2016 23:13
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Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! HLD is having a GREAT sale right now, so if anybody was wanting to pick it up... now's good!
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Nov 25, 2016 06:36
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 SOUTH AREA: I've had one of those colds that just goes on forever, and tried to outwait it to do this video, but that didn't work. See if you can detect the EXTREMELY MINOR change in my voice for bonus points!
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Dec 3, 2016 05:28
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Dang man sounds like you got yourself a little bit of Black Death going on. Have you been seeing any be-haloed jackals around? Anyway, I didn't mind the south that much. It's a decent masterclass with some solid encounter design, even if it feels a bit like a mishmash.
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Dec 3, 2016 08:57
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Yeah, agreed. I hope that came through - what I like is that they set up a basic formula: get in the level -> find a friendly being -> find the Place of Rest -> find Doog -> find Cool Guy -> get three major modules -> 3-module door -> final boss -> pillar, and they really subvert it. Three times is kind of a "magic number" for repetition. The improv formula is that callbacks and repeated jokes are funnier each time for two repetitions, and don't tell a joke more than three times. After three level setups, we've learned it well enough that the break from tradition is welcome and feels fresh.
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Dec 4, 2016 03:18
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