What game are you playing?

[StevenC]

What game(s) are you referring to?
Donkey Kong 64 sure comes to mind with this! F that game.

Hollow Knight

I've done literally everything else in the base game and most of the DLC (the rest is as hard or harder).

 

[Werecow]

Managed my first no damage on Corrupted Monk: True Monk, with just basic moves and no quick items or anything else again. No idea why Owl and Monk suddenly clicked this time.
The only bosses or minibosses left on my no damage list are the two versions of Isshin and Emma from the Shura ending. If i'm to do that it'll have to be one hell of a training session, because i think the closest i've got with Isshin is using two or three gourds. Not sure if i'm in the mood for that this playthrough, but will see when i get there.

 

[TedEH]

The problem with games that have really good but challenging final bosses is that you get to the end of the game and only have one thing to do, so when you keep getting your ass kicked for an hour you just get fed up with the game and stop playing.

I definitely did this with Skyward Sword the first time I played it. I vaguely remember a time when it was just a gamer-y thing to have a boss at the end of every game, and it would do nothing to build on or test the skills you'd been working on all game. Good times.

As far as ER progress - I'm back to work this week so progress is slower - but I've made it into the snow-y area and it's kicking my ass once again. I got jumped by the Beast Clergyman guy unexpectedly (I must have done something to trigger him being aggressive?) so I killed that guy. Managed to take down the tree avatar that splits itself into two. There's a ruin area with a boss that summons two guys - I attempted it a few times but I'm failing pretty miserably at that one. Looks like I'm back in the "explore all the things until I'm strong enough to actually tackle this stuff" mode. I'm hoping to come across the cave that'll have the bells for the better smithing stones 'cause I think I've capped out how far I can upgrade my weapons without having a lot of the [7] and [8] level stones.

 

[wankerness]

I definitely did this with Skyward Sword the first time I played it. I vaguely remember a time when it was just a gamer-y thing to have a boss at the end of every game, and it would do nothing to build on or test the skills you'd been working on all game. Good times.

As far as ER progress - I'm back to work this week so progress is slower - but I've made it into the snow-y area and it's kicking my ass once again. I got jumped by the Beast Clergyman guy unexpectedly (I must have done something to trigger him being aggressive?) so I killed that guy. Managed to take down the tree avatar that splits itself into two. There's a ruin area with a boss that summons two guys - I attempted it a few times but I'm failing pretty miserably at that one. Looks like I'm back in the "explore all the things until I'm strong enough to actually tackle this stuff" mode. I'm hoping to come across the cave that'll have the bells for the better smithing stones 'cause I think I've capped out how far I can upgrade my weapons without having a lot of the [7] and [8] level stones.

The bell for the 7 and 8 is tied to the main story progress so you can’t miss it. The 5 and 6 one is inside the Zamor ruins in that area you’re in.

You KILLED the clergyman?! You’re supposed to get him to like 80% health upon which he surrenders and is friendly and you resume his quest next time you come back. That should make things interesting later in the game. Or maybe it doesn’t.

 

[StevenC]

Final boss attempts are now a significant portion of my overall play time in Hollow Knight. I'm improving, but damn it's brutal.

 

[CTID]

Hollow Knight

I've done literally everything else in the base game and most of the DLC (the rest is as hard or harder).

yeah, that's where i'm at with it as well. all i have left is the pantheon of hallownest which i've probably grinded for 10-20 hours alone and it's just batshit. i can reliably get to Failed Champion/NKG but it's just such a slog to even get that far that i kind of don't care anymore

 

[TedEH]

You KILLED the clergyman?! You’re supposed to get him to like 80% health upon which he surrenders and is friendly and you resume his quest next time you come back. That should make things interesting later in the game. Or maybe it doesn’t.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Unless I'm remembering wrong, he died. I never got anything that looked like a surrender, I think. Or did I? Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember at one point he started retreating back, but I thought it was an AI flub so I kept attacking. But nah, he's dead. I went back and checked and he's gone. Oh well.

 

[CTID]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Unless I'm remembering wrong, he died. I never got anything that looked like a surrender, I think. Or did I? Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember at one point he started retreating back, but I thought it was an AI flub so I kept attacking. But nah, he's dead. I went back and checked and he's gone. Oh well.

he also disappears once you give him all of the deathroot, so it may be that as well

 

[wankerness]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Unless I'm remembering wrong, he died. I never got anything that looked like a surrender, I think. Or did I? Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember at one point he started retreating back, but I thought it was an AI flub so I kept attacking. But nah, he's dead. I went back and checked and he's gone. Oh well.

Oh well. I just looked it up cause I’ve never killed him. He drops the good item from the end of his questline, so you only miss out on a couple incantations and a big hammer (none of which I’ve ever used).

 

[TedEH]

I certainly didn't give him all the deathroot. I'm not worried about whatever I might have missed. There's SO MUCH gear and random drops and content you have to dig for - I only have so much time in my life to try out every piece of cool-looking gear, etc. At almost 100hrs in, I can afford to miss a few details here and there.

 

[Demiurge]

Final boss attempts are now a significant portion of my overall play time in Hollow Knight. I'm improving, but damn it's brutal.

It's one of my favorite games of all time, but I just can't beat Radiance. Get completely fucked-up every single time, with a combination of the yips, always being in the wrong position for whichever attack, and the bloom/glow effect in the room makes it hard to see. So I stopped trying. I also banished the Grimm Troupe in my main save file. I don't necessarily have to be good at something to like it. I still play guitar, of course.

 

[wankerness]

I certainly didn't give him all the deathroot. I'm not worried about whatever I might have missed. There's SO MUCH gear and random drops and content you have to dig for - I only have so much time in my life to try out every piece of cool-looking gear, etc. At almost 100hrs in, I can afford to miss a few details here and there.

The game also makes it very difficult to switch weapons regularly since even if you do every sidequest there's like 10 of the stone that gets weapons to +25 and 8 that get weapons to +10 per playthrough. Though +24 and +9 are almost as good and very easy once you get all the bell-bearings.

The reason killing that guy is unusual is that generally if you're doing a lot of exploration, he'll attack you when you're a low enough level that you get 1 or 2 shot by all his attacks and it's a serious struggle to chip him down to 90% or whatever threshold makes him stop attacking. If you were really high level (like you) you could easily knock his health down and probably kill him without registering the dialogue he's giving you.

Just make sure you bother unlocking the Haligtree in northwest mountaintop of the giants (you have to get the secret medallion and use it on the lift of rold by following the button prompt - one half is in the castle in mountaintop of the giants, the other half comes from an old guy hiding in a pot in the creepy dark albinauric village in Liurnia - you have to hit the suspicious pot that's up on a ledge before you cross the bridge that goes to the world boss). It's a very big and elaborate area, possibly the best looking area in the game, even though you can technically skip it and beat the game. Just beware that first section of it in the trees, I remember thinking it was impossible at first on my first playthrough.

 

[MFB]

The game also makes it very difficult to switch weapons regularly since even if you do every sidequest there's like 10 of the stone that gets weapons to +25 and 8 that get weapons to +10 per playthrough. Though +24 and +9 are almost as good and very easy once you get all the bell-bearings.

The reason killing that guy is unusual is that generally if you're doing a lot of exploration, he'll attack you when you're a low enough level that you get 1 or 2 shot by all his attacks and it's a serious struggle to chip him down to 90% or whatever threshold makes him stop attacking. If you were really high level (like you) you could easily knock his health down and probably kill him without registering the dialogue he's giving you.

Just make sure you bother unlocking the Haligtree in northwest mountaintop of the giants (you have to get the secret medallion and use it on the lift of rold by following the button prompt - one half is in the castle in mountaintop of the giants, the other half comes from an old guy hiding in a pot in the creepy dark albinauric village in Liurnia - you have to hit the suspicious pot that's up on a ledge before you cross the bridge that goes to the world boss). It's a very big and elaborate area, possibly the best looking area in the game, even though you can technically skip it and beat the game. Just beware that first section of it in the trees, I remember thinking it was impossible at first on my first playthrough.

Once you make it INTO the Haligtree, it's much more ...inviting for lack of better word, but holy fuck is that root portion insufferable to go through while being sniped by fucking BUBBLES. I'd say Lyendell Capitol is probably the most aesthetically pleasing place in the whole game, it's just the right level of decadent but not too gaudy that it looks like it's entered into the "oh, these guys fell because they were clearly self-indulgent" trope area.

 

[wankerness]

Once you make it INTO the Haligtree, it's much more ...inviting for lack of better word, but holy fuck is that root portion insufferable to go through while being sniped by fucking BUBBLES. I'd say Lyendell Capitol is probably the most aesthetically pleasing place in the whole game, it's just the right level of decadent but not too gaudy that it looks like it's entered into the "oh, these guys fell because they were clearly self-indulgent" trope area.

Leyndell seems to be widely considered the single best area in any Fromsoft game. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's very good. I think I like the look of the Haligtree more with all the falling leaves and colors, but Leyndell is definitely a better-made instance and doesn't have all the bullshit that is in Haligtree (ex rot pools you have to use bloodhounds step to get through at a reasonable speed, those goddam battle mages, all the miniboss enemies everywhere, the giant bubble sniper that can 1-shot you with 50 vigor if you mistime a roll and take counter damage, etc).

You'll like the first part of Haligtree more as a caster. It's really funny shooting those little bubble guys with Loretta's Greatbow and having them go flying off the branch to their deaths if they don't die from the damage. Still really stressful and annoying and you'll have to chug mana flasks, but wayyyyy better than doing it as melee. On my last few playthroughs I've just rushed through only killing the few bubble guys you could backstab and then killing the mega sniper and getting to the second grace point. Depending on build I'll backtrack and get stuff like the bubble damage helm, but god, trying to do a full clear of that first grace point area is miserable.

 

[StevenC]

It's one of my favorite games of all time, but I just can't beat Radiance. Get completely fucked-up every single time, with a combination of the yips, always being in the wrong position for whichever attack, and the bloom/glow effect in the room makes it hard to see. So I stopped trying. I also banished the Grimm Troupe in my main save file. I don't necessarily have to be good at something to like it. I still play guitar, of course.

Yeah, I'm grinding away at The Radiance. My other current brickwalls are Grimm, Soul Tyrant, Zote and the third Trial.

So I'm in the Hall of Gods currently having fun instead. Interestingly I last posted about getting stuck on Watcher Knight, and yet I've gotten enough better that they were super simple this time (with not a lot of upgrades since).

 

[CrushingAnvil]

Yet again I'm playing a heavily modded Fallout 4 playthrough. It's pretty incredible on my rig - RTX 3080 12GB, Ryzen 7 5800X3D, ASUS ROG XG439C 3440x1440 144Hz. Framerate/physics engine fixed by a mod. Still the game is extremely poorly optimised but my rig tries its darndest.

 

[CTID]

still working through Cyberpunk while i'm waiting for my start date at my job. CD Projekt's management really fucked up, man. there's definitely some shallowness in spots that games like Deus Ex don't have in the immersive sim genre, but there's so much love and detail put into so many of the quests. i'm going through so many side gigs and jobs that i didn't touch my first time through back in Dec 2020 because the game was such a fucking mess that i just wanted it to be over, but there's so much evidence that the people who were making the game really loved and gave a shit about putting the work in, just like Witcher 3. they just needed more time to work on it and they weren't given it.

it's kind of sad that here, 2+ years on, it's now sitting roughly around "Bethesda game on launch day, or maybe with a patch or two" levels of buggy, but it's miles better than it was. i think they've irreparably damaged their reputation in the industry, though

 

[TheBlackBard]

still working through Cyberpunk while i'm waiting for my start date at my job. CD Projekt's management really fucked up, man. there's definitely some shallowness in spots that games like Deus Ex don't have in the immersive sim genre, but there's so much love and detail put into so many of the quests. i'm going through so many side gigs and jobs that i didn't touch my first time through back in Dec 2020 because the game was such a fucking mess that i just wanted it to be over, but there's so much evidence that the people who were making the game really loved and gave a shit about putting the work in, just like Witcher 3. they just needed more time to work on it and they weren't given it.

it's kind of sad that here, 2+ years on, it's now sitting roughly around "Bethesda game on launch day, or maybe with a patch or two" levels of buggy, but it's miles better than it was. i think they've irreparably damaged their reputation in the industry, though

If the devs of No Man's Sky can redeem themselves, CDPR can as well. We can only hope that this was a lesson learned, and many people are coming around to Cyberpunk after the fixes. Hell this was their first major blunder and other companies, including FromSoft have had them and they're doing great.

 

[StevenC]

still working through Cyberpunk while i'm waiting for my start date at my job. CD Projekt's management really fucked up, man. there's definitely some shallowness in spots that games like Deus Ex don't have in the immersive sim genre, but there's so much love and detail put into so many of the quests. i'm going through so many side gigs and jobs that i didn't touch my first time through back in Dec 2020 because the game was such a fucking mess that i just wanted it to be over, but there's so much evidence that the people who were making the game really loved and gave a shit about putting the work in, just like Witcher 3. they just needed more time to work on it and they weren't given it.

it's kind of sad that here, 2+ years on, it's now sitting roughly around "Bethesda game on launch day, or maybe with a patch or two" levels of buggy, but it's miles better than it was. i think they've irreparably damaged their reputation in the industry, though

It's for sure an all time hall of famer. I am really hoping to hear more about Cyberpunk 2077 at E3. CD Project Red are the best devs in the business at the moment imho.

I swear this is the last time I ever bring this up

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I never got around to trying the newer Prey game, so I'm prob gonna play that all weekend.