|
Post by mikegarrison on Jun 21, 2024 14:41:52 GMT -5
Generally speaking, I hate boss battles. They are such a cliche.
Games probably do need some way to climax the game, like the finale of a fireworks show (also a cliche), but IMO boss battles are the lazy way to do it.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 21, 2024 17:58:41 GMT -5
Generally speaking, I hate boss battles. They are such a cliche. Games probably do need some way to climax the game, like the finale of a fireworks show (also a cliche), but IMO boss battles are the lazy way to do it. I think boss fights are fine in theory and often in practice. The issue is that many games have poorly-designed boss fights.
|
|
|
Post by mln59 on Jun 21, 2024 22:12:31 GMT -5
i think i just beat dead island 2. ending just kinda happened. beat this dude and now credits. thought there would be more
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Jun 23, 2024 6:11:08 GMT -5
Shadow Tactics: got a badge I had never gotten before, for avoiding water in Mission 11. The main difficulty is getting across a guarded bridge, but there are also ways to enter the water after that point.
I kind of cheesed it by letting Aiko get seen by civilians, then changing to her disguise, and then waiting for the guards to arrive. When they did, she would talk to one in a safe spot until the rest got bored and went back to their posts. Then she would kill that guard, hide the body, and start the whole thing over again. I cleared out a whole big area by doing that again and again.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 23, 2024 11:14:37 GMT -5
Shadow Tactics: got a badge I had never gotten before, for avoiding water in Mission 11. The main difficulty is getting across a guarded bridge, but there are also ways to enter the water after that point. I kind of cheesed it by letting Aiko get seen by civilians, then changing to her disguise, and then waiting for the guards to arrive. When they did, she would talk to one in a safe spot until the rest got bored and went back to their posts. Then she would kill that guard, hide the body, and start the whole thing over again. I cleared out a whole big area by doing that again and again. This is the one right after the prison escape mission, right? I just started it. In the prison escape, Yuki was heavily nerfed due to not having her whistle until the very end of the mission, though she still did much of the early work, since I had her escape first with Takuma's help. Once I rescued Aiko, she handled most of the rest of the mission. Her disguise would either let her get into position to kill enemies undetected or distract enemies so someone else could. And even before she got her disguise, her sneezing powder did a lot of work for helping her move into position to take out the enemies on the towers.
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Jun 23, 2024 12:18:35 GMT -5
Shadow Tactics: got a badge I had never gotten before, for avoiding water in Mission 11. The main difficulty is getting across a guarded bridge, but there are also ways to enter the water after that point. I kind of cheesed it by letting Aiko get seen by civilians, then changing to her disguise, and then waiting for the guards to arrive. When they did, she would talk to one in a safe spot until the rest got bored and went back to their posts. Then she would kill that guard, hide the body, and start the whole thing over again. I cleared out a whole big area by doing that again and again. This is the one right after the prison escape mission, right? I just started it. In the prison escape, Yuki was heavily nerfed due to not having her whistle until the very end of the mission, though she still did much of the early work, since I had her escape first with Takuma's help. Once I rescued Aiko, she handled most of the rest of the mission. Her disguise would either let her get into position to kill enemies undetected or distract enemies so someone else could. And even before she got her disguise, her sneezing powder did a lot of work for helping her move into position to take out the enemies on the towers. As usual with the snow missions, I did most of the luring by letting them see my footprints.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 23, 2024 12:34:02 GMT -5
This is the one right after the prison escape mission, right? I just started it. In the prison escape, Yuki was heavily nerfed due to not having her whistle until the very end of the mission, though she still did much of the early work, since I had her escape first with Takuma's help. Once I rescued Aiko, she handled most of the rest of the mission. Her disguise would either let her get into position to kill enemies undetected or distract enemies so someone else could. And even before she got her disguise, her sneezing powder did a lot of work for helping her move into position to take out the enemies on the towers. As usual with the snow missions, I did most of the luring by letting them see my footprints. I did a fair amount of that myself. Sometimes, it was unintentional, but since the enemy was out of position, it was a good opportunity to take them out.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 23, 2024 14:41:12 GMT -5
Also, I keep having to get used to Aiko not being able to crouch or climb ladders while in disguise. Kate had no such issues in Desperados 3.
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Jun 23, 2024 15:04:35 GMT -5
Also, I keep having to get used to Aiko not being able to crouch or climb ladders while in disguise. Kate had no such issues in Desperados 3. What always gets me in trouble is that she loses her crouch while in disguise, and so when she comes out of it, she is standing up. You need to hit that crouch button ASAP or else she'll get seen.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 23, 2024 15:35:54 GMT -5
Also, I keep having to get used to Aiko not being able to crouch or climb ladders while in disguise. Kate had no such issues in Desperados 3. What always gets me in trouble is that she loses her crouch while in disguise, and so when she comes out of it, she is standing up. You need to hit that crouch button ASAP or else she'll get seen. For me, it's usually that I crouch out of force of habit, so I would accidentally crouch while she was in view of enemies, and they'd instantly spot her. I did this several times on the first mission where she has a disguise before I trained myself out of it, but it still happens occasionally.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jun 23, 2024 16:15:39 GMT -5
i think i just beat dead island 2. ending just kinda happened. beat this dude and now credits. thought there would be more Yeah, I watched a youtube video of the best short games (or maybe it was something like "the best games you can finish on the same day") a couple weeks ago and it listed Dead Island 2. I couldn't believe it because I had this preconceived notion that it was similar to Dead Island which was a fairly long (25-30 hours) game.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jun 23, 2024 16:27:02 GMT -5
Estimated time/length of games
I've found that the time/length estimates people give on gaming forums (and the like) are too low. I usually take much longer to finish games. Obviously, they give multiple estimates:
a. number of hours to do just the main story, b. number of hours to do main plus all the side missions, c. 90-100% completionist
I'm not a completionist guy because I don't find it fun to do all the little things like, "pick a lock while an enemy is nearby" (which is a thing in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy).
However, I'm in the (b) group where I do the main and all side missions. I've found that my time of completion is several hours more than the most conservative estimates given. For example, for Horizon Zero Dawn, IIRC they gave estimates in the 20-25 hour range for the main story and about 60-70 hours to fully explore the map and do all missions. I think I spent nearly 100 hundred hours.
Right now, I'm playing Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Estimates range from the 7 hours (for the main story) and 18 hours (for 100% completionist). I have about 2 chapters remaining and I've already put in 9 hours. I suspect it's because they also count the time I pause the game to use the bathroom, eat snacks, take a shower, go for a walk, etc.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Jun 23, 2024 16:39:48 GMT -5
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
What a fantastic game! Similar to Uncharted games but shorter because it's a standalone DLC. The shootouts are standard. I kinda love the fact that I don't have to worry about collecting weapons, ammo, and other gear unlike, say, Borderlands or other RPG/FPS type games. All the weapons I'll need for the battle scenes are right there for me to take and use. If there's a heavily armored truck or guy, there'll always be plenty of grenades/C4/RPG shoulder guns lying around. It's also a breath of fresh air that I'm not burdened with collecting leaves and sh!t to craft healing kits and potions. My health just regenerates over time (LOL!). I go back and forth on whether I prefer auto health regeneration vs. the manual use of health kits.
Lots of environmental puzzles. Two puzzles gave me trouble -- (a) the puzzle where you have to jump from one platform to another while avoiding the statues from pummeling you with their staffs/axes, and (b) the shadow puzzle. My biggest issue with environmental puzzles is that I can't clearly see everything in front of me. For puzzle (a), I couldn't really tell how the statues were striking with their weapons.
There's also a lot of parkour which is fine with me because they give me a chance to "rest" in between battle sequences. It's like, I need to rest my brain a bit.
I have 2 chapters remaining. Almost near the end.
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Jun 23, 2024 23:29:53 GMT -5
I did the Shadow Tactics version of the abduct DeVitt mission from Desperados 3. The target has two samurai bodyguards that accompany him as he goes back and forth between getting massages and taking baths. You can separate him from his bodyguards by overheating the bath water or taking out his masseur. But that's not necessary. I read a tip from someone saying that you can shoot the two samurai and then knock the target out with one character while the other finishes off the samurai. That seems possible, but they're all moving targets, and there's no pause in shadow mode like in showdown mode from Desperados 3. I then saw another tip to leave a body in view of the samurais patrol, which will cause them to investigate and leave the target. This worked, though the execution could have been better, as Hayato got himself shot three times after the alarm. But he still had one HP left when he got to the boat.
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Jun 24, 2024 4:14:54 GMT -5
I did the Shadow Tactics version of the abduct DeVitt mission from Desperados 3. The target has two samurai bodyguards that accompany him as he goes back and forth between getting massages and taking baths. You can separate him from his bodyguards by overheating the bath water or taking out his masseur. But that's not necessary. I read a tip from someone saying that you can shoot the two samurai and then knock the target out with one character while the other finishes off the samurai. That seems possible, but they're all moving targets, and there's no pause in shadow mode like in showdown mode from Desperados 3. I then saw another tip to leave a body in view of the samurais patrol, which will cause them to investigate and leave the target. This worked, though the execution could have been better, as Hayato got himself shot three times after the alarm. But he still had one HP left when he got to the boat. I'm pretty sure I did the massage thing once, but if so it was only once. The bath thing is easy and fun. I guess I don't play these games to want to use the speedrunner tactics. I play them because I like the challenge of figuring out the Jenga puzzle of which guard to take down first, which opens up the next guard, etc. I got the disguise from the brothel, and then went to the courtyard to overhear the conversation. (I left everyone alive in the courtyard this time. It really is just easier to sneak for that one.) Then I figured out how to cross the bridge. Aiko can simply walk across, in disguise, but to get Hayato across I had to kill a couple of the straw hats and distract a few others. I took out the few lonely guards on the outside of the compound. The two samurai on the front door can be snuck past and vines can be climbed to enter near the bath. There are no samurai there except when the target brings his guards, so Aiko has free rein. I took out the guards down by where the cold water is, then did that "get-spotted-get-disguised-hold-a-guard-and-then-kill-him-when-the-others-leave" thing until there were pretty much no other guards on that side of compound. Then I took out those around the back door, including the samurai by using the standard shoot-then-stab thing. I had Hayato wait by the boat, because his night was done. Aiko got the fire hot, then went to wait by the cold water. The target gets scalded and then runs by himself to the cold water. Aiko knocked him out. There is a convenient linear hedge she can use to drag the target out to the back door right under the eyes of the samurai wandering around looking for him.
|
|