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Latest Thing: NG+ part 2 South Side Closeup Woooooooo Update 1 note: Containing as it does both the intro and a section of gameplay, update 1 is a little longer than future updates will be!              Getting this out of the way up front: SPOILER POLICY Man, I dunno. This game is kind of like walking through a big, super-impressive Christmas display. You really need to see it. Ideally, play it, but I know the gameplay and difficulty and etc. isn't everybody's cup of tea. That's why I'm here! So you could MAYBE ruin somebody's enjoyment if you're like "let me tell you in detail what all the light displays are", but it's probably fine to be like "you've gotta wait for the big light-up santa-bot. He's amazing!" I mean... let me spoil this CRAZY SPOILER for you. We go to different lands, fight some jerks, then fight a big jerk, and once we've repeated that enough, then we fight a real big jerk. So let's say you can discuss anything you'd like to, but if you're referencing some story point that we can't have known, put that sucker in spoiler tags. I know this is kind of vague, but I think you'll get the idea. Feel free to discuss any particular boss, for instance, but don't say "oh, and if you translate the runes in such and such a chamber you'll learn that the real story is __________". Make sense? If not, ask for clarification! I guess what I'm getting at is, I'd rather we be discussing what's being shown on the videos than everybody swapping final boss stories TO START WITH. We'll get there. And of course, any time anybody wants to heap abuse on the soccer goblin, man, be my GUEST. Bacter... Bacter I'm scared. What is this? What is Hyper Light Drifter? Well, in the words of the development studio, Heart Machine: Heart Machine posted:Hyper Light Drifter is a 2D Action RPG in the vein of the best 8-bit and 16-bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale. Find out more on our Kickstarter page. Kickstarter?! Man, I'm no rube, those things never work out, I'm outta he.. Wait! Hold on, this is one of the RARE SUCCESS STORIES of heavily-backed, and totally delivered kickstarter games! And it's a barrel of fun at that. Bacter, I can only understand games if they're described as amalgamations of other games! Can you help? Sure. Legend of Zelda meets Dark Souls is the usual comparison, and not to be a SNOB, but that's two swings and two misses, in my opinion. The combat is basically 100% dodging, emphasizing speed and dashes rather than letting you be a big tank, so Bloodbourne is closer than Dark Souls, and you don't REALLY go around collecting items from donjons like you do in Zelda. Instead you level up weapon and movement abilities, and the combat in SNES Zelda games is pretty drastically different. So my take is Bloodbourne meets Secret of Mana! Whatever, snob. Hey, you asked. Speaking of asking, what is there to recommend this game? Oh MAN. Beautiful, beautifully scored (my very favorite music from a boss battle in recent memory, tightly competing with The Decisive Battle from FF6, and when you're able to overthrow 90's Squaresoft Nostalgia, you're doing SOMETHING right), very tight controls, which in a Difficult Game(tm) is super important. A story that's communicated through visuals in a look-don't-tell way. Not to mention, you know, all that HYPER LIGHT. Yeah, what is hyper light? And how may one drift 'pon it? Gentle reader, simply follow along to learn the answers! Difficult game, huh? Are you any good at it? I've beaten it, and gotten pretty far in NG+, which is much more of a challenge in this game than it is in even DS/BB. I even passed what, to my mind, is the greatest hurdle the Western Boss, so it's really mine to lose at this point. Expect me to die as much as somebody playing a Dark Soulsian game would if they had beaten the game once or twice. Anything in the game that you can't do at all? It's been a few months, so I don't know if they patched it or not, but that soccer goblin. OH, that SOCCER GOBLIN! UGH. Bacter fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Mar 24, 2017 |
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Jul 8, 2016 22:26
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BONUS STUFF 800 drifts in a row challenge: SUPER INTERESTING TO WATCH:  Music is "Innocent Deception", available from OCRemix.  Music is "One hour of Chillwave", available on youtube.  Music is from 6th Sense, available on Free Music Archive Closeup looks at the history and influences of the various areas     NG+ Is a serious challenge for serious drifters - play back through the game with all dash and sword skills unlocked, but only two health!   Music: East Side: Chris Zabriske - Divider Dexter Britain - Seeing the Future Chris Zabriske - Readers, Do You Read? Silence is Sexy - Holiday Instrumental North Side: Broke for free - Golden Hour, Melt, As Colorful as Ever Bacter fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Mar 24, 2017 |
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Jul 8, 2016 22:26
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Man, that's no good about the audio. I've had this before, and I dunno what to say except "it sounds fine when it's an mp4 on my computer"? I'll try to work some alchemy, otherwise, just, sorry!
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Jul 8, 2016 23:28
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Got a new audio track workin', should be up later tonight!
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Jul 9, 2016 00:28
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No, it's just that roguish Bacter charm we all... love, right? Ha ha right? Anyway, here's the first video NOW WITH SOME POST that's a bit more on target!
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Jul 9, 2016 16:17
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thecluckmeme posted:This game looks fantastic and its ambience seems to be just enthralling, but man, Bacter, you gotta shut up more. Upon review, the survey team agrees. I've got the next episode recorded, I'm about to do some commentary, and we'll see how it goes - lord knows I have trouble not yammering on for two seconds.
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Jul 18, 2016 05:16
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Well, as luck would have it, I was fightin' off a cold when this was recorded, so that kind of kept my commentary down by itself! It does occur to me that I need a consistent name for the money. Anybody have a good suggestion? So far I've called them pennies, #2s, numerals... I think that's it. My favorite suggestion WILL BE CANON.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:59
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Skippy Granola posted:The "correct" name for the sparkly gubbins is "gearbits" That's incredible. Though dubloons will probably roll off the tongue a bit easier.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:03
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Alright, I reserve the right to change this, but I think dubloons for the pieces and deuces for for the spendable units is the winner thus far! LPs push us as gamers, sometimes just to get good enough to be entertaining, sometimes to slow down, or learn more about a game, or to try thing we haven't done before. I'm proud to say I've joined the ranks of the top 5.4% of Hyper Light Drifters in this Music is "Innocent Deception", available from OCRemix. Bacter fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Jul 23, 2016 |
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Jul 20, 2016 02:52
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Ahhh I feel so dumb about missing that one - there's even the little square indicating what it does! There was one specific reason I went for big sword before grenades - I've found it to be more effective against bosses, and we're about to tangle with big frog, but as far as everyday utility, yeah I agree grenades are SO GOOD.
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Jul 20, 2016 03:07
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CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
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Jul 20, 2016 08:27
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Conversely, I don't think I really ever used it at all - I was all about that railgun and 'nades. So this is a good challenge! And not at all delayed by the fact that The KR0 finally meant what they said and released their latest update!
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Jul 20, 2016 22:39
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omeg posted:Now do it with a controller "Fun" fact about that video - I didn't actually intend to crash immediately after leaving the dashcircle: I was like ok, let's just dash regular, using the mouse to guide me. And instantly crashed. Recording tonight!
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Jul 21, 2016 21:17
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Einwand posted:I beat and 100% this game, excepting NG+, before any of the patches came out, and wish to confirm that soccer goblin was by far the worst part of the game. There wasn't even an achievement for it at the time, either. Beating the soccer goblin and realizing there was no achievement was the low point of my life so far. Bacter fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Jul 23, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 22:43
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Air is lava, you're going to have to let go of your destructive and obsessive notion that I somehow CHEATED at that challenge eventually. I'm worried for you. AS FOR THE REST OF US: TIME TO TOAD  (ttt) PLEASE NOTE The use of music to introduce this Toadboss is just... it's just about my favorite musical score. I'll discuss it in depth in a day or so, but just note I'd HIGHLY recommend having on headphones when I enter the boss chamber to fully get the effect. Bacter fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Jul 23, 2016 |
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Jul 23, 2016 07:14
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SWMadness posted:i've heard of this game but I've never seen much of it before now. Kind of thinking of getting it to play through for myself but I know I'm so poo poo at games that I'd get frustrated and give up really soon into it. I'd encourage you to, actually. Part of my thing is that I'm Bad At Videogames (and I make no bones about it, I did NOT beat Mr. Toad on my first try the first time I played through, but retrying isn't too frustrating. Unless it's the Western Boss or Soccer Goblin. Air is lava! posted:I really like the design of this big old frog. He looks great. Agreed! He's both of the enemy types combined into one. Which leaves you with the question - who's REALLY in charge? Is this a parasitic plant driving a big 'ol toad? A big 'ol toad who got even bigger and stronger through getting plant infected?
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Jul 23, 2016 07:58
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Ok, I guess all the zones got opened at some point? Because I SWEAR the western and southern zones were protected by those directional blocks when I first beat the game. Which, you know, given the Western boss isn't a bad idea.
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Jul 23, 2016 08:31
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Tenebrais posted:The eastern zone looks to me like some sort of pumping station in the old world. Lots of pipes and pumps and vents for this purple flame. The stoat guys seem to have built themselves a temple on top of it before the frogs invaded. I presume the plants are plants that adapted to the volatile chemicals the station continues to be pumping. I think this is my favorite explanation so far, incorporating as it does both the Mysterious Precursors (assuming the stoats didn't have the titans), the stoats, and the amphibian bandits.
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Jul 24, 2016 02:54
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So, because there isn't dialogue in this game, the story has to be told by the settings (and, to a limited extent, characters). In service of discovering what happened, what went wrong, and what we're after, I'm thinking of doing some more in-depth looks of the various areas after we're finished with them. Here's the first one: I'd love to hear if there's a particular detail that stood out to you, or if you have a different theory. My take on the Eastern area deviates from the story idea you can find on the wiki. Basically, They think that the stoats (otters, to them) were running the land peacefully, and the invading lizards and toads disrupted the natural order in search of the flame. I'm not so sure. Because the invaders don't seem to have any real significant level of tech, I think it's safe to assume that anything we see is the result of the stoat's engineering. That includes bodies burned in the great glass lanterns, and a seemingly placid temple storing basically a huge munitions factory. I think the stoats were the isolated and fearful people mentioned in the obelisks, and gave into their temptation to try to arm themselves by creating plasma with the flame, which they distilled from some quirk of the local water and plant life. Their civilization may have been smashed in the great conflict involving the titans, or they may have been overrun by the amphibian bandits, but the bandits are just there for plunder. No need to spoiler any competing theories you might have, I just didn't want to reveal details about the video in the same post as the link to the video itself! Chris Zabriske - Divider Dexter Britain - Seeing the Future Chris Zabriske - Readers, Do You Read? Silence is Sexy - Holiday Instrumental Edit: This is ALSO the first peek you'll get at me using grenades and the shotgun. Spoiler: I take back every bad thing I ever said about the shotgun. Bacter fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Jul 27, 2016 |
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Jul 27, 2016 17:26
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Fedule posted:So the PS4 version dropped and I snapped it up mostly because of the first few videos in this LP. Keep eyes peeled for upgrades, especially at first. The last few upgrades won't matter as much as the first few will - get chain dash, and PROBABLY a grenade first two.
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Jul 27, 2016 21:55
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Fedule posted:
Last I knew Kotaku or something posted:Heart Machine, the developer behind Hyper Light Drifter, took the comments personally, and issued an update on April 15 called “The Invincibility Patch” with a brief note about the “significant amount of changes to make you feel like a more badass drifter than ever before.” As far as the chain dash goes, I admit it might have mostly been good for my preferred style my first playthrough - which was to basically go berzerker and almost never use ranged weapons. Which is dumb. I think I said earlier, I never EVER used the shotgun in my first playthrough, and my GOODNESS is it good. So i just used it to get distance from big AOE attacks, or, for instance, to get a comfortable distance from the big plants when they charged. Bacter fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Jul 27, 2016 |
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Jul 27, 2016 23:29
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> You are in TOWN. > Exits are N,S,E,W > Go E > You've already been E, Dummy! > Go S > What, do you want to DIE? > Go W > I'm too afraid of the boss there > Fine, Go N. > I'm sorry, can you rephrase? I don't know what "Fine, Go N" means >  > Go N
Bacter fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Aug 6, 2016 |
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Aug 6, 2016 21:14
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Response time!monster on a stick posted:As far as I know they never bothered putting in a difficulty mode which would solve this problem, but it was these two updates that made me realize that the designer really didn't put that much thought into this. Games have had difficulties for 30 years, they've had a "won on unpossible mode" achievement ever since achievements were introduced, how the gently caress do you not think about this while developing a videogame, or think about it afterwards when you are getting clear feedback that different people want different difficulties. Maybe I'm just mad because I'm a babby and found losing health while falling off invisible ledges while trying to explore the world, forcing me to go health kit farming, boring as hell and not why I backed the game. I do wonder if this is problems with balance. I guess you could give more health / make enemies do less damage, but honestly, if you're bad at movement, 10 extra hits wouldn't really get you THAT much farther. Fedule posted:Oh my god the shotgun. I thought I appreciated it before I had every other weapon in the game. I really tried them all. I gave them all a fair shake. But no. It always came back to the shotgun. Only the last, greatest, most secretest gun in the game comes close to making a more compelling case for combat applications, and even then. A properly done shotgun should always be the best weapon in a videogame with mostly conventional guns (and even in some with unconventional guns) and Hyper Light Drifter certainly delivers on this requirement. Not using the shotgun is becoming my obvious blind spot on my first runs. But hey: even with crippling myself, I still beat the game! Fedule posted:Even by the usual standards of games that make you do this kind of thing, honk hunting down the one last whatever. Especially keys. PREACH. Honestly, the only sensible way to do it is to play through once, just playing for fun, then play through again using a guide for getting everything. Note I didn't say the only FUN way, the only SENSIBLE way. Fedule posted:Having a trophy for finishing the game without dying is baffling. Dying already constitutes checkpoint reloading in HLD, so this proves absolutely nothing about players except their ability to back out to the main menu in order to savescum. I don't understand how devs keep on doing dumb trophy stuff like this after the things have been around for ten years. Deadbolt actually got this one right, their award is for not dying OR quitting a level ever. And guess what, when implemented correctly, this kind of achievement is still just condensed awful. It at least makes more sense in deadbolt, a game that should take under an hour for a real power player, but in a multi-hour affair like HLD, it's just... what? Fedule posted:The enemy type balancing in this game is goddamn near perfect. Every area has a nifty little ecosystem of small, medium and large enemies, any of which are trivial to fight one-on-one and all of which combo with all others in interesting ways in clusterfuck melees. Only the poo poo-tier swarm enemies feel weak and that's only when you disregard the swarm; anyone else will gently caress you up in seconds if you take your eye off the ball. The best part is none of the enemies from any area are completely incompatible, balance wise, with any other enemy, as one certain part of the game demonstrates. Fedule posted:I don't understand why there aren't I-frames when you take damage. There are situations in which taking a single hit basically means death. A few areas put you in a literal Sonic 1 Spikes situation. What a horrifyingly bad design choice. This is my big disagreement with the GIT GOOD HAR HAR HAR HAR HARDCORE folks. If you really wanted that, you could make a one-hit kill. If there's no way to get out, it's just a one-hit kill plus added frustration. Fedule posted:Having to dash 800 times in a row is one of the single dumbest challenges I've ever seen in a videogame. The chain dash has no real utility beyond the second or so dash. The dash chamber is the only place in the entire game where you even can do more than twenty without resting; what is the point of proving you can do this? That entire room should have been removed from the game and the costume put somewhere else. I'll be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that the Snake Eater remix made it funny for me, there was no way that video was going to get posted. And that was me doing it perfectly, on the like second try. Just try doing that challenge, and failing at 742 or something. It's so dumb. Fedule posted:I don't see what everyone found so hard about the Soccer Goblin Then I GUARANTEE you it got nerfed or something. I... I hope so. Bacter fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Aug 6, 2016 |
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Aug 6, 2016 21:23
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Man, there are even really obviously little secret icons by those. No, skipping secrets is basically never intentional. Thanks!
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Aug 7, 2016 16:00
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I'll be recording the next bit soon, but I've got enough deuces for a new THING of our choice! And I say "our" choice, since I'll let you all decide. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances with what I've got, so every new addition is gravy from here on out. That being the case, instead of showing you all the upgrades and making you pick, let's go this way: Who deserves our money the most? 
Bacter fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Aug 12, 2016 |
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Aug 12, 2016 03:17
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He looks so pleased with himself about that feather!
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Aug 12, 2016 04:22
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I should point out that there's technically a fifth shopkeeper. We don't...  we don't discuss 'Ol Snapper. Not if we can help it. Ottersama (thanks AiL for the better name) is the winner! Prepare to see me hilariously whiff at trying to show off our NEW POWERS.
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Aug 13, 2016 07:49
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Next update! There are a bunch of big arenas in this level, making it super fun to play! I promise I'll try to leave off using the grenades so much, they're just... well, look and see. (Also, happy birthday to Bacter! Fweeee)
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Aug 14, 2016 07:52
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I'll be getting all the keys for sure - I'm much less sure about all the doubloons.
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Aug 15, 2016 07:00
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Time to challenge the boss of the peaks, the leader of the Crow Cult!
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Aug 21, 2016 15:16
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Well that's 0 for 2 on my "is this gun worth it" quotient. I'll give the diamond-shooter a bit more play!
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Aug 22, 2016 18:24
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Total coincidence about our names, I ASSURE you. Ha ha who knew! Also, yeah, NG+ is rough. It really wouldn't be bad, except for the bosses - you'll see when we get there. Jury's still on out if I can get all of them. In a side-playthrough I've been doing I just cleared out the eastern zone. Toadboss + the 8-module challenge. Still, I think wizard crow will be the big diving line. More on that later! For NOW: it's PICK THE SHOPKEEP TIME! Who wins prom king this year? Or.... siiiiigh..... ALSO: Between last update and the next one. One of the FEW things I don't like is having to go back to old areas and remember the one door you can't open until later. With that in mind:  Once we have 8 keys, go south from the eastern warp zone...  ...we made this platform appear earlier after clearing this room out.  There's a hidden area up here, with...  ...an 8-key lock, and a skellington! And ON the skellington?  A new outfit, sword, and buddy! It, uh... decreases the time it takes to interact with stuff. That's a pretty butts upgrade, but it's a new outfit, so we'll be donning it next time!
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Aug 26, 2016 09:02
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It sounds funny, yes, but there is an ENORMOUS difference. Unless you want to stay a REGULAR light drifter.
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Aug 26, 2016 22:18
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Yeah, Coolbot seems like the winner. SIDE NOTE: My concurrent "can I actually pull off a NG+" run resulted in a successful bird wizard fight tonight, and I think that was my proof of concept hurdle. I won't reveal EVERYTHING about NG+ if you don't know already, but that does mean I had to do a perfect fight with him. There's a lot bad you could say about NG+, but it absolutely trains you to be much, much better at the game!
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Aug 27, 2016 06:23
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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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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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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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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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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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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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