Raxivace is Losing at Street Fi-TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER UPPERCUT

[Eva Yojimbo]

Glad to hear the new Tomb Raiders are fun. The gamplay and environments were the biggest appeal of the original PS1 games. I really loved the first one back in the day--there was nothing quite like it back then. The sequels weren't quite as good, though.

I will say that I miss the old TRs just on account of how challenging and difficult they were. I remember being lost in never-ending, complicated mazes of the earlier games (including the sequels, which I quite liked too!). The newer ones are fun and polished, yes, but they aren't nearly as challenging as they used to be.

I do remember getting a bit lost frequently in the early games, but don't remember them being too difficult beyond that. Shame the newer ones aren't as challenging, but I've come to expect that!

I played but never finished San Andreas. I kinda got into GTA a bit before it was released and played GTA III and Vice City first, so by the time I got to SA I was a bit GTA'd out. I have similar memories of VC, driving around Miami listening to... well, lots of different 80s songs! Thought it was really cool they even included a track like Slayer's Raining Blood.

Aw man, wish you'd played it! RG really does improve upon every element imaginable in SA so much that every new GTA game now barely has anything new to offer - with the exception of better graphics of course.

I might get back to SA at some point as well.

What's this "crack the code" and "the fix" stuff with Dark Souls? Is it some kind of gameplay mechanic that just makes everything easier or something? I'm honestly not sure if I want to know or not!

Hahah, Raxi explains it. Each enemy has a certain attack pattern. That's the code you have to crack. The key is patience! If you go for one extra lick, you might not have enough stamina to dodge away from the enemy's next attack. Word of warning: play on Normal first (that's what I did as a Dark Souls noob).

BTW, one game I didn't see you mention is God of War. I think you (and maybe your dad!) would really love that.

Yeah, I'll definitely tackle it on Normal first. Gotcha on the patience/patterns thing.

I did check out God of War but it's still pretty pricey at like $30. I guess I can go ahead and grab it. This is the last day of the sale. Looks like the original trilogy is dirt-cheap too, guess I'll get them while I'm at it.

[Raxivace]

Ah, so it's just a "be patient, watch for/memorize patterns" type of thing. Gotcha. TBH, though, this is mostly what old-school hard games were as well, though they had some other components (like lack of save points) that often added to the difficulty.

I think a lot of those older games were more demanding and didn't necessarily have strategies that could cheese a lot of the encounters. Dark Souls has a relatively high barrier to entry compared to other games, but is probably easier to master than a lot of others out there...still relatively speaking, anyways.

To an extent all action games are about exploiting enemy AI's and patterns, learning their tells etc., though this is just easier in some games than others.

[maz89]

I did check out God of War but it's still pretty pricey at like $30. I guess I can go ahead and grab it. This is the last day of the sale. Looks like the original trilogy is dirt-cheap too, guess I'll get them while I'm at it.

Haha, man, your no-holds-barred approach to buying stuff! I haven't played the original trilogy (cue: collective gasp) but I've heard they're pretty great too.
Btw, I played GoW on Hard, except when I turned down the difficulty to "Easy" for some insanely difficult optional bosses.

[maz89]

Ah, so it's just a "be patient, watch for/memorize patterns" type of thing. Gotcha. TBH, though, this is mostly what old-school hard games were as well, though they had some other components (like lack of save points) that often added to the difficulty.

I think a lot of those older games were more demanding and didn't necessarily have strategies that could cheese a lot of the encounters. Dark Souls has a relatively high barrier to entry compared to other games, but is probably easier to master than a lot of others out there...still relatively speaking, anyways.

To an extent all action games are about exploiting enemy AI's and patterns, learning their tells etc., though this is just easier in some games than others.

Indeed, this is just harder to do in Dark Souls because the window is much shorter, and the cost of failure is grand. You also have to deal with stuff like limited stamina, so timing (and not getting greedy) is everything.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Ah, so it's just a "be patient, watch for/memorize patterns" type of thing. Gotcha. TBH, though, this is mostly what old-school hard games were as well, though they had some other components (like lack of save points) that often added to the difficulty.

I think a lot of those older games were more demanding and didn't necessarily have strategies that could cheese a lot of the encounters. Dark Souls has a relatively high barrier to entry compared to other games, but is probably easier to master than a lot of others out there...still relatively speaking, anyways.

To an extent all action games are about exploiting enemy AI's and patterns, learning their tells etc., though this is just easier in some games than others.

A lot of older games were extremely demanding on timing and precision, so even when you did master/memorize patterns the correct move was often difficult to execute well enough to survive. This is especially true with action-platformers. So if Dark Souls isn't that demanding then I can see how it would be easier.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I did check out God of War but it's still pretty pricey at like $30. I guess I can go ahead and grab it. This is the last day of the sale. Looks like the original trilogy is dirt-cheap too, guess I'll get them while I'm at it.

Haha, man, your no-holds-barred approach to buying stuff! I haven't played the original trilogy (cue: collective gasp) but I've heard they're pretty great too.
Btw, I played GoW on Hard, except when I turned down the difficulty to "Easy" for some insanely difficult optional bosses.

I'm a sucker for sales! The entire original trilogy was like $8 with the sale! Thanks for the difficulty tip; I'll probably start it on Hard too.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Finished the third and final Spider-Man DLC. I'll tentatively say it's the best of the three if only because of its variety and the fun of watching Spidey and Silver Sable team up. I was disappointed they kinda dropped Yuri out of the story after the last episode's climax, but she is involved in a very interesting side-quest that hints at something for the next game. Other complaints: Hammerhead's a really dull villain (especially after Doc Ock in the main game) and the Screwball ending is rather anti-climactic (but still quite fun, I thought). Besides that, I had a blast playing it as usual. Combat's still as fun and addicting as ever, and after a month's lay-off it seems more challenging as you have to get back into the groove of things. Overall, the DLCs are a nice addition to the main game, but the story isn't as compelling. I'd probably rate them a 7 overall.

Also started Final Fantasy XV, but didn't get a lot of time with it yesterday. I like how it starts on this grand note with you as a prince setting off on an epic adventure with your friends to find your bride-to-be, and the next thing you know you're pushing your car down the road to the tune of Stand By Me! Pretty funny stuff! Though I didn't get much play time, I can already see what Raxi means by the chill, hang-out vibe of it. Will probably take a little time to get the hang of the combat mechanics, and I'm really not sure yet what I should be focusing on as far as Ability Points go... any advice here would be appreciated.