What are you playing right now?

[spurraider21]

god of war DLC was pretty awesome. took some getting used to until you really learned whats going on. with that said, i didnt have the patience to play it on Give Me God of War difficulty, so I played on Give Me No Mercy instead. was still quite a challenge. was fun because it really incentivizes/forces you to use and master all 3 weapons, incentivizes you to try out all the different shields, different relics, etc.

got all the trophies and maxed out the available stats. still gonna do another run or two just so i can finish topping off all the available upgrades. if i feel the urge to get into god of war combat, i'll definitely just jump back into this mode, hike the difficulty, and do a few runs. but in no way intend to start the DLC from scratch in give me god of war. i imagine that would feel like complete when your character is underleveled

another hour or so of this, then onto Horizon forbidden west

generally speaking, even though the axe has been my favorite weapon in the god of war franchise, i found it to be the weakest of the 3 in valhalla when it came to potential builds. the spear definitely had some easy mode builds if you get the right upgrades for the spear throws since you can just play everything safe and try to cheese at a distance

the blades had probably the single nastiest build, if you get all the upgrades for the triange > r2 attack where you spin the chain and then slam the blade down. the DPS on that is unmatched, but requires you to stay in melee range and tank hits here and there.

the other biggest surprise was discovering a completely OP relic that i completely overlooked in the main game. in the main game i usually just used the realm shift relic until i unlocked the broken hilt from the berserker king. but theres one that gives you more or less immunity for about 10 seconds, called unstoppable aura or something. you take basically chip damage from everything and become very hard to stagger. so i would just proc that, mash triangle + r2 blades attack. tank a few hits but just eliminate anything in front of me. completely bonkers build, and if you get the perks that give you a lot of relic refresh opportunities, you basically cant die as you can keep that aura on for a majority of the match.

[baseline bum]

god of war DLC was pretty awesome. took some getting used to until you really learned whats going on. with that said, i didnt have the patience to play it on Give Me God of War difficulty, so I played on Give Me No Mercy instead. was still quite a challenge. was fun because it really incentivizes/forces you to use and master all 3 weapons, incentivizes you to try out all the different shields, different relics, etc.

got all the trophies and maxed out the available stats. still gonna do another run or two just so i can finish topping off all the available upgrades. if i feel the urge to get into god of war combat, i'll definitely just jump back into this mode, hike the difficulty, and do a few runs. but in no way intend to start the DLC from scratch in give me god of war. i imagine that would feel like complete when your character is underleveled

another hour or so of this, then onto Horizon forbidden west

generally speaking, even though the axe has been my favorite weapon in the god of war franchise, i found it to be the weakest of the 3 in valhalla when it came to potential builds. the spear definitely had some easy mode builds if you get the right upgrades for the spear throws since you can just play everything safe and try to cheese at a distance

the blades had probably the single nastiest build, if you get all the upgrades for the triange > r2 attack where you spin the chain and then slam the blade down. the DPS on that is unmatched, but requires you to stay in melee range and tank hits here and there.

the other biggest surprise was discovering a completely OP relic that i completely overlooked in the main game. in the main game i usually just used the realm shift relic until i unlocked the broken hilt from the berserker king. but theres one that gives you more or less immunity for about 10 seconds, called unstoppable aura or something. you take basically chip damage from everything and become very hard to stagger. so i would just proc that, mash triangle + r2 blades attack. tank a few hits but just eliminate anything in front of me. completely bonkers build, and if you get the perks that give you a lot of relic refresh opportunities, you basically cant die as you can keep that aura on for a majority of the match.

LOL weren't you just talking a few pages back when I said I played through the game on Give Me No Mercy?

[spurraider21]

LOL weren't you just talking a few pages back when I said I played through the game on Give Me No Mercy?

the game itself yeah

the game itself is a different experience imo, with the enemies that enrage on gmgow, on top of the fact that in gmgow+, the berserkers and gna have entirely different movesets. that doesnt seem to be the case in valhalla

to be fair, i did my first playthru on give me no mercy. but immediately did gmgow before ng+ dropped

im also gonna use the excuse that i got a 7 week old so i cant grind as many hours

[baseline bum]

the game itself yeah

im also gonna use the excuse that i got a 7 week old so i cant grind as many hours

Quit acting like you're the one who pushed him out lol

[spurraider21]

Quit acting like you're the one who pushed him out lol

nah but i get a lot of the night duty and the er wont sleep. i still gotta work during the day but dont get nights to myself anymore so time to play is harder to come by. and on weekends got the 2 year old running around and im never gonna play games when i got a kiddo wanting to around

[baseline bum]

nah but i get a lot of the night duty and the er wont sleep. i still gotta work during the day but dont get nights to myself anymore so time to play is harder to come by. and on weekends got the 2 year old running around and im never gonna play games when i got a kiddo wanting to around

WTF the boy's not ready yet?

[spurraider21]

WTF the boy's not ready yet?

he still cant even wipe his own ass

realistically my window to game is weekdays between about 10am-12pm when i start work (live on east coast but work on PST). i can squeeze in time on some nights but at my own peril of being sleep deprived the next day

[baseline bum]

he still cant even wipe his own ass

Better watch out before he runs off back to LA

[spurraider21]

Better watch out before he runs off back to LA

one of my wife's residency interviews was in riverside. right now thats our only avenue back to socal if it works out. find out in march where we're going

[spurraider21]

i was able to do clear a full run on show me mastery (valhalla's version of gmgow), but yeah, i dont intend to replay the whole thing from scratch on that difficulty before being leveled up and all that.

ive unlocked everything in the dlc but there is one cosmetic shield rong that is only unlocked if you clear a full run on show me mastery while also carrying the burden thing that slowly drains your health over time

i tried it once, got stuck with a crappy build and got my pushed in right before final boss. its a for sure... but i think doable with a decent build. one thing is with that burden, DPS matters a lot more, and cheese spear builds just dont kill fast enough to make it work.

[spurraider21]

Forbidden West is nice so far. forgot how much i like horizon. playing on Very Hard like i did with the first game (2nd hardest setting they offer) and the combat feels about right. spending my early upgrade points to get all the stealth strike damage upgrades and will kinda go from there.

with that said, for a game that emphasizing climbing, platforming and such, i still find the jumping to be wonky. like when theres a wall/ridge that i should be able to hang on or climb over, ill have to jump toward a couple of times to get it to work. as opposed to the more tomb raider/uncharted type stuff where you kinda easily lock-on to the intended jump target

probably the biggest upgrade from the first game is the facial expressions during dialogue. was pretty awful in the first game, and distractingly so, but they did much better this time around

[ElNono]

Forbidden West is nice so far. forgot how much i like horizon. playing on Very Hard like i did with the first game (2nd hardest setting they offer) and the combat feels about right. spending my early upgrade points to get all the stealth strike damage upgrades and will kinda go from there.

with that said, for a game that emphasizing climbing, platforming and such, i still find the jumping to be wonky. like when theres a wall/ridge that i should be able to hang on or climb over, ill have to jump toward a couple of times to get it to work. as opposed to the more tomb raider/uncharted type stuff where you kinda easily lock-on to the intended jump target

probably the biggest upgrade from the first game is the facial expressions during dialogue. was pretty awful in the first game, and distractingly so, but they did much better this time around

That game has waaaaaay too much dialogue tho... After the first 20 mins, I found myself skipping all of it.

[spurraider21]

That game has waaaaaay too much dialogue tho... After the first 20 mins, I found myself skipping all of it.

This is true. I usually just pay attention to main quest stuff (even though i try to attack all the side content). Skip through the rest. Did the same with Witcher 3, Assassins Creed Odyssey, etc

[baseline bum]

TLOU Part II, PS5 native version barely looks distinguishable from TLOU Part 2, PS4 version in BC on PS5 in performance mode. Just like Ghost of Tsushima, no reason to blow $10 for the PS5 native upgrade.

[Joseph Kony]

TLOU Part II, PS5 native version barely looks distinguishable from TLOU Part 2, PS4 version in BC on PS5 in performance mode. Just like Ghost of Tsushima, no reason to blow $10 for the PS5 native upgrade.

i'm going to regardless so i can play the "lost levels" and the no return mode which looks pretty fun tbh. that's worth the $10 for me

[Joseph Kony]

in anticipation of LoU2R, I am playing thru LoU again but on PC for the first time. i was worried given all the terrible reviews on performance but it's not as bad as i thought. some framerate drops here and there and some weird character glitches but nothing egregious thus far. whats annoying is i bought this game from the Epic store because of the coupon and points I had but for some ing reason it wont backup the save to the cloud so I cant play between my PCs which is one of the reasons i got it on PC to begin with

[spurraider21]

i still havent played part 2 yet

my self imposed deadline for that is to finish the game before the next season of the show comes out

[baseline bum]

in anticipation of LoU2R, I am playing thru LoU again but on PC for the first time. i was worried given all the terrible reviews on performance but it's not as bad as i thought. some framerate drops here and there and some weird character glitches but nothing egregious thus far. whats annoying is i bought this game from the Epic store because of the coupon and points I had but for some ing reason it wont backup the save to the cloud so I cant play between my PCs which is one of the reasons i got it on PC to begin with

The PC port of TLOU Part 1 is awesome now. At launch it was horrendous, worse than Arkham Knight PC at launch.

[Joseph Kony]

i still havent played part 2 yet

my self imposed deadline for that is to finish the game before the next season of the show comes out

gotta get on that man. LoU2 is my GOAT. i assume you know what happens in the golfing scene already?

[Joseph Kony]

The PC port of TLOU Part 1 is awesome now. At launch it was horrendous, worse than Arkham Knight PC at launch.

yeah hence why i waited. glad i did because i got it for less than $20. i wonder how it runs on the handhelds. I was thinking of getting an ROG Ally

[spurraider21]

gotta get on that man. LoU2 is my GOAT. i assume you know what happens in the golfing scene already?

yeah couldnt really avoid it

im currently playing Forbidden West. ill get on TLOU2 at some point

[Joseph Kony]

yeah couldnt really avoid it

im currently playing Forbidden West. ill get on TLOU2 at some point

figured. didnt want to spoil anything if not

but i cant imagine anyone playing the first game thinking Joel was going to never any feel any repercussions for his actions, especially considering how ed up the game is and how almost everyone you meet along the way dies. he kinda had it coming tbh. what sucks is I wish it had never leaked, because it would have been 100x better if i never knew and saw it unfold without any pre-knowledge. even still, 10/10 game for me.

[spurraider21]

figured. didnt want to spoil anything if not

but i cant imagine anyone playing the first game thinking Joel was going to never any feel any repercussions for his actions, especially considering how ed up the game is and how almost everyone you meet along the way dies. he kinda had it coming tbh. what sucks is I wish it had never leaked, because it would have been 100x better if i never knew and saw it unfold without any pre-knowledge. even still, 10/10 game for me.

if you asked me before TLOU2 came out, i probably still would have guessed he died, but differently

after already having the Winter chapter mostly playing as Ellie, in addition to Left Behind, it was pretty clear the second game would have a lot of Ellie playtime, and that could allow them to have Joel die. after all, TLOU was never about happy endings and fairness, etc.

i would have guessed that ellie found out about joel's lie, basically told him to off, he shows up anyway to help when she needs it, she still tells him to off after he saves her in some manner, and then she sees him die and regrets it, or something along those lines. a little more hollywood-y

[baseline bum]

gotta get on that man. LoU2 is my GOAT. i assume you know what happens in the golfing scene already?

Is it bad that my mind went to darker places when I first heard about Joel and a golf club?

[spurraider21]

Is it bad that my mind went to darker places when I first heard about Joel and a golf club?

lovers quarrel, maybe?