Dark Souls 3 Progress
I finally made it to NG+7! That is Journey 8, and I'm heading toward Crystal Sage boss. I'm not sure if this is indeed the hardest difficulty. Most sources say it is, whereas another feels that it continues to scale up in difficulty through NG+9, or Journey 10.
I saw a YouTube video demonstrating that NG+7 is indeed the limit, but since I can't find it, I'm going to continue past 10 just to make sure, but also so I can level up. Dark Souls 3 has this brilliant mechanic, that's built in Yoel of Londor's questline, where you can level up 5 times, so you don't have to grind souls to increase your Soul Level.
In fact, if you take on this NG+100 game challenge, you can get to max or near max level, instead of grinding literally billions of souls. Perhaps that will be my next challenge, because I always wanted to legitimately have a max level character, but the grinding was too much. Though, I think I should work on my backlog of games. I'll see how I feel!
At any rate, the fascinating thing I found finishing through NG+6 is that I had to change strategies on a few of the Bosses. In the past SoulsBorne series, I never had to change the strategy up through the highest difficulty, using the same equipment, spells, weapons, and so forth.
I found out that poise and armor were, in fact, important from NG+4 onwards, which was very interesting indeed, as I followed the general consensus' advice to do "Fashion Souls" since "armor doesn't matter", and that poise was "broken" and non-existent in the game. I was more than happy to do Fashion Souls, as the heavy armor is ugly, dare I say, hideous, whereas the light armor can be actually stylish.
I'll write more about my experience through NG+9 (just to make sure I'm actually playing the hardest difficulty level) once I finish, as well as tips and advice regarding strategy and the easiest way to beat the bosses on highest difficulty.
Crash Bandicoot Trilogy
I might very well get the game, since the other issue was that using the CronusMax, and its random disconnection, and character walking straight with no input, I was afraid that as I'm just about to beat the most difficult level, Crash would fall off platform. It didn't bother me in Dark Souls 3, because if I get killed due to disconnection, or character going straight, I just see it as another opportunity to practice the boss again, practice that I sorely need. I guess I can say the same about Crash, that if I die, it would be more practice, but I can see the aggravation of having to do the level multiple times, and it may not be as intrinsically fun as a Dark Souls 3 boss.
However, since the revelation of the XIM 4, and thus far, NO disconnections or wonky mis-inputs, I can comfortably play ANY game without these fears, so I might get Crash.
Monster Hunter: World
Out of all the games coming out, my absolute most anticipated game is Monster Hunter: World, finally coming to more powerful consoles, the PS4 and XBox One, and PC, that is, since their first, which I believe was on the PS2.
Of course, as with a lot of Monster Hunter fans, we hope that the game-play is just as challenging, as well as specialized for each weapon category, where each weapon category is completely different. Even more so than the SoulsBorne series, it really takes hundreds of hours to "git gud" with each weapon type, to the point where using a different weapon feels like an entirely new game in of itself.
Indeed, the SoulsBorne series have taken elements of Monster Hunter game-play (as well as Horizon: Zero Dawn), so yes, Monster Hunter is an extremely influential series, but for some reason, it never gets the credit, and not nearly referenced as much as the SoulsBorne or Zelda series for having impact in melee and ranged game-play.
In fact, I would say the game mechanics of Monster Hunter was revolutionary as it focuses on exacting, deliberate movements, dodging, traps and so forth, as opposed to the usual hack and slash method.
At any rate, upon watching the newest game-play, the game is going to make us Monster Hunter fans happy and entice newcomers, as it appears to have the same exacting game-play, but with quality of life improvements and more intuitive game-play to make the game even more fun and less tedious. Therefore, it'll be the best of both worlds.
Some members of the community are upset that damage dealt with monsters will show hit numbers, but this is a welcome change. Before, I would have to look up each monster to see which parts of their bodies are the weakest, which is very immersion breaking. Whereas, now, through experiencing the hunt directly, you can find out on your own their most vulnerable spots. No more putting down controller, Googling the monster, before even getting to the hunt. You can now just plunge in and discover on your own, and discovering things is extremely satisfying.
I don't believe the monster's health bar will be listed, so you are supposed to be able to tell if the monster is about to die when it starts limping, and/or through appearance such as the Kut-Ku's feathers on its head getting torn with bruised eyes (poor Kut-Ku), which mimics hunting.
In that sense, I hope they do NOT have health bars (or at least have the option to turn it off). Part of the fun is to determine when they're about to die so you can trap them, and that adds to the game-play.
It's intrinsically satisfying to upgrade your weapons, and one thing that I love about Monster Hunter, is that your weapon changes in appearance when you upgrade (which more games really should follow), as well as being able kill the same monster faster and faster. It's extremely appealing to see your weapons getting bigger and badder upon each upgrade.
In Monster Hunter: World, I believe it keeps the same weapon upgrade mechanics, but it will be even more gratifying to see the hit damage points increasing upon each upgrade. It will make players motivated to keep upgrading, because frankly, at some point, I get tired of grinding for upgrade materials for both weapons and armor (Rathalos Ruby, I'm looking at you, which still never dropped for me).
But if I have concrete proof through numbers, I would certainly plow through. I can see myself saying, I want to do x more damage, so being compelled to get the materials.
The other welcome change is that upon upgrading the weapon, the menu will show the upgrade tree, which also helps with immersion. Before, you have to Google to see what the upgrades were, and which branching paths the weapon can take, otherwise it's very confusing.
Indeed, the beauty of Monster Hunter is the complex, deep and rich weapon upgrade pathways, and it would be nice to see the branching trees in the menu. Revealing the hit numbers and the upgrade tree will demystify these aspects of game-play, and in turn, entice newcomers, who are very much welcome and needed.
I'm also relieved that we're going to have Palicoes, little Feline hunters who will accompany you on hunts if you want them around. The original trailer shown at E3 2017 didn't show the little fur-balls, so I was happy to find out they'll be present.
One of the things I wished they kept, though, was how to track the monsters. I like the concept of using paintballs to track each monster, as it feels more like hunting, and you have to be prepared to make sure you have enough paintballs coming into the hunt.
Also, there are gems that you can add to your armor set that can automatically track the monster, but you have to waste slots for that feature. So, I like how you have to strategize between throwing paintballs (which I'm awful at, and often miss), or wasting slots for tracking.
However, in Monster Hunter: World, you follow this very convenient lightning bug, which is a bit unfortunate. In the gameplay clip, your instructor tells you to follow the slime of the monster (and I'm sure in other monsters, you can follow their footprints, feathers, dung, etc), which is even more brilliant than the paintball system because this is exactly what hunters do.
It made no sense to me why we also have lightning bug to follow, so what's the point of tracking the monster's slime? This is an example where what is supposed to be quality of life improvement is NOT, and actually detracts from game-play. Whereas quality of life improvements in showing weapon upgrade pathways actually improve immersion, and are improvements that make sense.
I'm praying they'll reverse course, and just have you track monsters the way hunters do in the real world, by following tracks and monster's by-products.
The other thing that made me groan was the series will keep the egg collecting quests, ugh. Being completionist, I felt that I MUST complete these quests, but I don't find them fun, and I'm sure quite a lot of fans also feel the same way.
On the other hand, you don't have to do them, and they're there for nostalgia perhaps. But if they're necessary for Achievement/Trophy, that would be unfortunate for us Achievement/Trophy hunters (pun intended).
In general, from watching the game-play, it looks exactly like the Monster Hunter that we all know and love: just as challenging, difficult and specialized, but with better graphics, more textures and details, more intelligent AI, monsters interacting with each other and in the environment more naturally, beautiful, varied topography, quality of life improvements (except for the monster tracking aspect), and smoother game-play.
I'm impressed that this presentation is the Alpha, unfinished version, and it already looks polished, so it will get even better over time.
Monster Hunter fans: what do you want to see different or kept the same?
The How of Happiness Review
I finally made it to NG+7! That is Journey 8, and I'm heading toward Crystal Sage boss. I'm not sure if this is indeed the hardest difficulty. Most sources say it is, whereas another feels that it continues to scale up in difficulty through NG+9, or Journey 10.
I saw a YouTube video demonstrating that NG+7 is indeed the limit, but since I can't find it, I'm going to continue past 10 just to make sure, but also so I can level up. Dark Souls 3 has this brilliant mechanic, that's built in Yoel of Londor's questline, where you can level up 5 times, so you don't have to grind souls to increase your Soul Level.
In fact, if you take on this NG+100 game challenge, you can get to max or near max level, instead of grinding literally billions of souls. Perhaps that will be my next challenge, because I always wanted to legitimately have a max level character, but the grinding was too much. Though, I think I should work on my backlog of games. I'll see how I feel!
At any rate, the fascinating thing I found finishing through NG+6 is that I had to change strategies on a few of the Bosses. In the past SoulsBorne series, I never had to change the strategy up through the highest difficulty, using the same equipment, spells, weapons, and so forth.
I found out that poise and armor were, in fact, important from NG+4 onwards, which was very interesting indeed, as I followed the general consensus' advice to do "Fashion Souls" since "armor doesn't matter", and that poise was "broken" and non-existent in the game. I was more than happy to do Fashion Souls, as the heavy armor is ugly, dare I say, hideous, whereas the light armor can be actually stylish.
I'll write more about my experience through NG+9 (just to make sure I'm actually playing the hardest difficulty level) once I finish, as well as tips and advice regarding strategy and the easiest way to beat the bosses on highest difficulty.
Crash Bandicoot Trilogy
I might very well get the game, since the other issue was that using the CronusMax, and its random disconnection, and character walking straight with no input, I was afraid that as I'm just about to beat the most difficult level, Crash would fall off platform. It didn't bother me in Dark Souls 3, because if I get killed due to disconnection, or character going straight, I just see it as another opportunity to practice the boss again, practice that I sorely need. I guess I can say the same about Crash, that if I die, it would be more practice, but I can see the aggravation of having to do the level multiple times, and it may not be as intrinsically fun as a Dark Souls 3 boss.
However, since the revelation of the XIM 4, and thus far, NO disconnections or wonky mis-inputs, I can comfortably play ANY game without these fears, so I might get Crash.
Monster Hunter: World
Out of all the games coming out, my absolute most anticipated game is Monster Hunter: World, finally coming to more powerful consoles, the PS4 and XBox One, and PC, that is, since their first, which I believe was on the PS2.
Of course, as with a lot of Monster Hunter fans, we hope that the game-play is just as challenging, as well as specialized for each weapon category, where each weapon category is completely different. Even more so than the SoulsBorne series, it really takes hundreds of hours to "git gud" with each weapon type, to the point where using a different weapon feels like an entirely new game in of itself.
Indeed, the SoulsBorne series have taken elements of Monster Hunter game-play (as well as Horizon: Zero Dawn), so yes, Monster Hunter is an extremely influential series, but for some reason, it never gets the credit, and not nearly referenced as much as the SoulsBorne or Zelda series for having impact in melee and ranged game-play.
In fact, I would say the game mechanics of Monster Hunter was revolutionary as it focuses on exacting, deliberate movements, dodging, traps and so forth, as opposed to the usual hack and slash method.
At any rate, upon watching the newest game-play, the game is going to make us Monster Hunter fans happy and entice newcomers, as it appears to have the same exacting game-play, but with quality of life improvements and more intuitive game-play to make the game even more fun and less tedious. Therefore, it'll be the best of both worlds.
Some members of the community are upset that damage dealt with monsters will show hit numbers, but this is a welcome change. Before, I would have to look up each monster to see which parts of their bodies are the weakest, which is very immersion breaking. Whereas, now, through experiencing the hunt directly, you can find out on your own their most vulnerable spots. No more putting down controller, Googling the monster, before even getting to the hunt. You can now just plunge in and discover on your own, and discovering things is extremely satisfying.
I don't believe the monster's health bar will be listed, so you are supposed to be able to tell if the monster is about to die when it starts limping, and/or through appearance such as the Kut-Ku's feathers on its head getting torn with bruised eyes (poor Kut-Ku), which mimics hunting.
In that sense, I hope they do NOT have health bars (or at least have the option to turn it off). Part of the fun is to determine when they're about to die so you can trap them, and that adds to the game-play.
It's intrinsically satisfying to upgrade your weapons, and one thing that I love about Monster Hunter, is that your weapon changes in appearance when you upgrade (which more games really should follow), as well as being able kill the same monster faster and faster. It's extremely appealing to see your weapons getting bigger and badder upon each upgrade.
In Monster Hunter: World, I believe it keeps the same weapon upgrade mechanics, but it will be even more gratifying to see the hit damage points increasing upon each upgrade. It will make players motivated to keep upgrading, because frankly, at some point, I get tired of grinding for upgrade materials for both weapons and armor (Rathalos Ruby, I'm looking at you, which still never dropped for me).
But if I have concrete proof through numbers, I would certainly plow through. I can see myself saying, I want to do x more damage, so being compelled to get the materials.
The other welcome change is that upon upgrading the weapon, the menu will show the upgrade tree, which also helps with immersion. Before, you have to Google to see what the upgrades were, and which branching paths the weapon can take, otherwise it's very confusing.
Indeed, the beauty of Monster Hunter is the complex, deep and rich weapon upgrade pathways, and it would be nice to see the branching trees in the menu. Revealing the hit numbers and the upgrade tree will demystify these aspects of game-play, and in turn, entice newcomers, who are very much welcome and needed.
I'm also relieved that we're going to have Palicoes, little Feline hunters who will accompany you on hunts if you want them around. The original trailer shown at E3 2017 didn't show the little fur-balls, so I was happy to find out they'll be present.
One of the things I wished they kept, though, was how to track the monsters. I like the concept of using paintballs to track each monster, as it feels more like hunting, and you have to be prepared to make sure you have enough paintballs coming into the hunt.
Also, there are gems that you can add to your armor set that can automatically track the monster, but you have to waste slots for that feature. So, I like how you have to strategize between throwing paintballs (which I'm awful at, and often miss), or wasting slots for tracking.
However, in Monster Hunter: World, you follow this very convenient lightning bug, which is a bit unfortunate. In the gameplay clip, your instructor tells you to follow the slime of the monster (and I'm sure in other monsters, you can follow their footprints, feathers, dung, etc), which is even more brilliant than the paintball system because this is exactly what hunters do.
It made no sense to me why we also have lightning bug to follow, so what's the point of tracking the monster's slime? This is an example where what is supposed to be quality of life improvement is NOT, and actually detracts from game-play. Whereas quality of life improvements in showing weapon upgrade pathways actually improve immersion, and are improvements that make sense.
I'm praying they'll reverse course, and just have you track monsters the way hunters do in the real world, by following tracks and monster's by-products.
The other thing that made me groan was the series will keep the egg collecting quests, ugh. Being completionist, I felt that I MUST complete these quests, but I don't find them fun, and I'm sure quite a lot of fans also feel the same way.
On the other hand, you don't have to do them, and they're there for nostalgia perhaps. But if they're necessary for Achievement/Trophy, that would be unfortunate for us Achievement/Trophy hunters (pun intended).
In general, from watching the game-play, it looks exactly like the Monster Hunter that we all know and love: just as challenging, difficult and specialized, but with better graphics, more textures and details, more intelligent AI, monsters interacting with each other and in the environment more naturally, beautiful, varied topography, quality of life improvements (except for the monster tracking aspect), and smoother game-play.
I'm impressed that this presentation is the Alpha, unfinished version, and it already looks polished, so it will get even better over time.
Monster Hunter fans: what do you want to see different or kept the same?
The How of Happiness Review
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