That looks pretty cool. If it comes to PS4 with couch co-op, I'd probably get it. L4D was one of the best times I had on the X360. And the most online gaming I ever did, outside of some Call of Duty with my ex.

I played Shadow of the Colossus for about 37 minutes last night (thanks stat page ). As I said, never played the original. God daaaaamn it's so powerful at capturing scale. And mood.

The first boss fight took some trial and error as I wasn't totally confident with the controls yet. The second one was WAY faster/easier/more exciting. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and running/jumping/climbing all over him was exhilarating. Both the first two Colossi were incredible tame, I'm expecting that to ramp up significantly.

Shadow of the Colossus was already gorgeous on the PS2--I couldn't imagine what its remaster looks like on the modern consoles. I'll have to revisit it soon since it's been so long.

It's fucking stunning player, straight up.

edit

I never cared for SotC, even the original. What it does is cool I guess, but the game felt way too shallow for my taste, like unfulfilled potential. I completely beat the original on PS2 so I have experienced the entire thing.

Obviously I can't say yet, having only played for 40 minutes, but here's my hot take: It's a really pleasant experience, compared to other stuff I'm playing right now like Dark Souls 2 and Nioh, where you are constantly harassed by smaller mobs trying to make your way to the BOSS.

There is a cleanliness to this game, a focus of purpose, that I really love. The atmosphere is also spurred on by the lonely landscapes. The drop-dead gorgeous graphics and remapped controls probably don't hurt either. (there's no way I could have played this game with the OG controls...triangle as jump? GTFOH)

Shadow of the Colossus made me feel like I was playing a modern version of the original Legend of Zelda at times, I instantly fell in love with it when it was first released. Can't wait to play the remaster.

MH World is legit

That's all I'm gonna say so far. BRB playing for 13534534 hours

^^^I was wondering who here has played MHW so far...been looking into taking on a new game, was trying to decide between Horizon, Nioh, or Monster Hunter, not sure what other bigger titles are out now that I'd be interested in.

Holy shit the control scheme for UFC 3 is stupid.

Yeah, lit the braziers, cleared the whole level out (and the level itself was huuuuge - funnily enough one of my mates saw it and reckons he's been to the place, it's that authentic) and tried a few different weapons/stances. It's just that second phase is so close to pot luck at times. I'm not under-leveled or anything for the area, probably just comes down to skill. In any case, now that I've complained about it online I'll likely beat it next time I turn on the playstation, as that's what seems to happen every other time - die 100 times, rant online, beat boss easily straight afterwards, wonder wtf I was thinking haha.

I used to think Shadow of the Colossus was too shallow as well. Then I turned 15.

Though if they released Shadow of the Colossus today, you'd need an arbitrary stamina meter and climbing a colossus to hit it once would take 15 minutes. :V

Good taste! All 3 are amazing haha.


That's pretty awesome that the place is mostly accurate (minus the yokai prowling around haha). Yeah Umi-Bozu can be a pain in phase 2. Make sure that you don't use the lit braziers as fire-buffing tools (use your own fire scrolls to buff your weapon if you must), or it will extinguish the brazier and then smaller umi-bozus will spawn and harass you, which makes phase 2 a living hell haha.

A fire-elemental living weapon can help with phase 2. I think I've always won that fight in that way...

Yeah a lot of 15 year olds did seem to think it was the greatest thing ever when it came out, so that makes a lot of sense.

I think SotC is best thought of as a really weird and epic puzzle game rather than the action adventure title many seem to expect when they grab it. Not saying it's the case with rexxz, but over time I have seen a lot of people who seem disappointed that the game has no regular enemies or dungeons or whatever. I think it works just fine the way it is, and hell, the experience would probably feel diluted if you had to deal with anything other than the gorgeous landscape and gigantic bosses. Like Jonpo said, it's a very streamlined experience; nothing but the meat.

It's a very simple puzzle game wrapped up in the dopest robes. Exactly. The third Colossi was the first real one I guess. So fun. The tense moments when your grip is failing and you just need a moment to stand and recover and you're SO close to surefooting but he won't stop shaking....

Y'all play The Last Guardian at all? It's so dang cute. I haven't spent much time with it though. Playing it now, and I love the way this team animates. It's a joy to scramble amd jump and climb as this little guy.

I found the Collosus I had the hardest time with was also one of the smallest. The one in the cavern with the braziers that you have to scare with the torch, that bastard one hits you and unless your lucky somehow it will not allow you back up. Also the huge turtle looking one you have to get over the geyser was intense. As far as games go Sotc is starne in that the world is vast and very peaceful but the boss fights are just edge of the seat, blood pumping fun. And also that score, damn man, some of the best music to go with any game.

This, the contrast between the tranquil exploration moments punctuated by nerve wracking confrontations with massive creatures was what made the whole thing work so well. And as said above, it's best approached as a puzzle game with excellent atmosphere rather than an adventure game. Been years since I played it and it still gives me chills when I watch footage of it, or listen to the OST.

Yeah, the first two are basically a chance to learn the basics on how to slay them. After that though it's a pretty wild ride; can't wait for you to get to the fifth colossus

I can tell from a few other posts it gets real. I shouldn't have said simple maybe

The basic idea is simple. Great game.

After killing the fourth one I'm starting to feel bad. These things are totally chill until I show up just climbing all over them and stabbing the fuck out of their glowy spots.

The fifth one was absolutely the most fun so far by a mile. Felt awful when he died though. Never listen to a voice in the sky. They're always dicks.

That one was annoying. The other small one (number 14) was also tricky, but the platform traversing to expose its weak spot was fun to run.

Number 7 sorta freaked me out at first because I do tend to have the inclination to avoid bodies of water in games if there's a giant monster swimming through it. Then I realized it doesn't actually have an eat-you-alive move and it felt easier. Number 10 though, not in water but similar, does have something of an eat-you-alive move and that was a weird psychological experience. I just don't like big things in water that can eat me alive.

haha yeah, I have a fire-elemental by default but I got sick of getting the meter filled back up.
But in the end I beat Umi-Bozu about 15min after I wrote my last post, as predicted.
Made it to the third area this morning and I realised I'm starting to fall behind in the mission levels etc - I'm going to have to grind to keep myself levelled with the game. Or at least playing more of the sub-missions and reskin jobbies.

In terms of the "hardest" colossi, my vote would probably go to 9 and 15, mostly because those were the ones that by far took me the longest to even get to their weak points in the first place. 9 never fucking cooperated and stood where I needed him to stand in order for the environment to kickstart the whole process, and the first three times it did I wound up climbing something incorrectly and got launched off as soon as he stood up. 15 was hard enough to figure out how to get where you needed to get to, but he just never stops shaking you off. I actually recall reading somewhere that colossi's defensive behavior like that is tied to however many frames elapse between Point A and Point B, and since the PS3 remaster ran at a higher framerate but this coding went unchanged, 15 in particular could just sit there and wriggle around for a trillion years if you landed on the wrong spot (this also made 3 needlessly difficult before going back to being fairly easy until the second half starts to ramp up the challenge). So yeah, the first time I played through on PS3 it took me well over an hour to finally beat that fucker. The small ones can be a bitch too but I got lucky enough to beat 14 on my first try, which I'll just attribute to the most profound luck of my life.

If we're talking which are the most difficult because you're in the most danger of dying, it's Dirge by far. I think he's 10 but I often get the stretch between 10-12 jumbled around, but he's the bastard in the cavern. I think only three of the colossi ever wound up actually killing me in the first place (like others have said it's ostensibly a puzzle game so you're much more often in danger of losing your grip than life), but that guy easily killed me two or three times as often as the other two combined. Dude is relentlessly on the offensive. It's an exhilarating fight but you will not get out of that one unscathed. I guarantee it.

haha yeah, I have a fire-elemental by default but I got sick of getting the meter filled back up.
But in the end I beat Umi-Bozu about 15min after I wrote my last post, as predicted.
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Haha, sometimes you really just need to take a breather.


Oh, don't pay too much attention to the mission levels. They are not accurate/representative of your character level, they're essentially just an indicator of the level of the loot that will drop in that level.
That said if story missions do get too hard, doing a couple of side-mission might help to get some better loot and amrita. But normally it shouldn't really be necessary.

All this Nioh talk has got me wondering (and I apologise in advance for my ignorance)... is it good on a similar level to the Souls games? I don't play a huge variety of games right now, largely Payday 2, Madden 18, and any Games Workshop title I can get my hands on, but that does get stale somewhat quickly. Is it worth picking up?

Well... it's my GOTY 2017
The combat is better than in Souls games and that's saying a lot. But, Soulsborne games have better level design, art direction, enemy variety, and RPG mechanics, among others. Overall Souls games are better but Nioh is still great. It's all about combat, exploration, and looting, though. Don't expect story or whatnot.

... I was thinking, I might as well post my 2017 GOTY list that I posted on ResetEra? I didn't actually post it here, but if anyone's curious to see it, there's a long write-up about Nioh (don't worry the comments are shorter for the rest haha).

~~Morri's 2017 GOTY List~~

Thanks for sharing that. Good read.

Yeah, uh, buy Nioh. Just do it. It'll be a million years before I beat it but I've already had my money's worth in fun. It is 100% about the combat and boss fights, as well as loot-grind if you're into that (I am!). The co-op mode is hella fun too.

The level and game design doesn't have that Soulsfeeling. That moment of blessed "ah ha!" when you discover something new. The Souls games have a way of making you feel like an explorer, a genius, and a buffoon all at once. Nioh is a lot more straightforward, design-wise.

But it has BAR-NONE the greatest combat system/controls I've ever touched. You never feel cheated or wronged. If you died, its cause you fucked up. And you will. A lot.

There's also the joy of switching back to Souls and accidentally chugging estus when you meant to swing your sword....which is always super fun.

I've never had the luck to play Shadow of the Colossus in full, that game is cursed.

A friend of mine bought it when it came out and we were awe-struck, it was so beautiful, so original, so immersive.. we did toghether three colossi, and then he finished the game by himself and borrowed it to another friend he met the week before.. Wich disappeared from the face of the earth, taking with him the game.

So, when the ps3 version came out i bought it immediately. Did six colossi and then went on vacation.
In the meantime my brother played it without my consent, and when i came back, he was at the final one.

I reluctantly ended the game to start over again. I killed five colossi ..and one day the game disappeared and i was never able to find it again, even if i've searched in every corner of my house. Turns out he borrowed to a friend that disappeared.

So.. this is the story of how i only played one-third of the game that impressed me the most as a kid

I only understood one thing, the real enemy is the horse.

Right, that's roundly convinced me that buying Nioh is a great option

There's an Ys VIII now? Shit man, how did I miss it?

I got it the other day. I suck dicks at it, but I've been plugging away. I've died near 80 times between the first two bosses that I ran into. The Hino Enma boss had me literally wondering if I had wasted my money on the game, because I was never going to beat her, but I finally did it.

I don't know how much of a fan I am of how it seems you just keep going back to the same places?

CoconutBackwards: Once you beat a few more bosses a whole new map opens up. I imagine this happens a few times. With that said, I get what you're saying. The location and level design is nowhere near as clever as Dark Souls.

It's funny how god damn difficult Hino Enma is at first! I've probably killed her 20 times now, through the co-op. It's crazy how predictable and easy she seems after awhile. This game will make you think something is impossible until you find just the right window for your attacks and then you wonder how you ever struggled to begin with.

Dark Souls journal entry:
I played a SHIT TON of DS2: SOTFS this weekend. It's like a brand new game all over again, now that I've pushed through a few sections I was getting jammed up in. I think I must have really gone out of the "conventional" order for some of these locations. I'm assuming it had something to do with taking that god damn bird-ride to the Lost Bastille.

So this weekend I've doubled-back and cleared out Scorpioness Najka, those 3 giants underneath Black Gulch, Royal Rat Authority/vanguard (lol), Skeleton Lords, and Prowling Magus/congregation. Whoo! I'm really interested in this Pharros Room area where all the mobs seem to be in a stasis. I wasted two lockstones before I found a message that I think lets me know which one to use. If you have to put a lockstone in all of them: Fuck that.

I'm currently rocking Alva's set (chest +8, legs +6) with Vengarl's helm, the Drangleic shield and Drangleic sword (+3). The Drangleic sword's moveset took some getting used to coming off mostly poking-tools, but god damn the damage is silly. It scales for Dex and that's my highest stat at 35, because I was originally planning on dual-wielding primarily.

I've been getting my weight up though, in the hopes of playing around with some really poise-y armor sets.

Oh, I wasn't laughing. I was losing my mind with rage at ol' Hino.

Yeah, I meant it's funny AFTER the fact. Especially if you end up fighting her a few times. It gets goofy-easy. I love headshotting her with the giant fuck-off cannon.

Obviously it's frustrating as shit in the moment lol. Speaking of which: I never went ANYWHERE in Bloodborne. Nowhere. I felt really restricted by the combat while playing it alongside Nioh. Now though, I think I'm ready to give it another try. I tried to watch some people on Twitch to understand what I was doing wrong but it was all speed-runners and shit. In general I think I need to work on 1) Setting up critical strikes with the pistol 2) Figuring out the pacing of combat. It feels a little faster paced that Souls. Infinitely slower than Nioh. No shield to lean on though...

I'm amazed when I watch other people play it. The level design and Fashion Souls options really get ahold of me. I can tell it has TONS of depth. I just suck so bad at it!

Finished Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice over the weekend. Wonderful, haunting game. Great story segments, wonderful tellings of Norse mythology, surprising boss battles, and satisfying combat. Slower segments, puzzles, and non-combat sections are varied and fascinating for the most part. Absolutely stunning visuals, and a hallmark of the Unreal engine and the PS4 Pro. Featured the kind of interface I've long wanted to see in a game, that is, no HUD at all, no on-screen button prompts. Just a game you play and logically approach. Also got the Platinum Trophy for it.

I really like Bloodborne, but I've picked it up and put it down twice now without finishing it. I don't know what my deal is, but I still plan on going back and finishing it.

I bet you're better at Bloodborne than I am at Nioh.

What weapons have you been focusing on in Nioh? I think finding something you really love is a huge part of the game. I went in FIRED up regarding dual-swords but I ended up hating the movesets. I always felt out of control.

Now a regular katana, heavily focused on low-stance? That's my bread and butter. It comes alive as you unlock new moves and can customize your combos. I also adore the kusarigama, heavily low/high stance focused. I really don't use mid-stance much at all.