Weekly Report - 02/01/2013

I've been a laggard the past few weeks. Rather, I've spent my free time gaming instead of writing about it. What have I accomplished over the past two weeks?

Black Ops is done, as are two play-throughs of Black Ops 2 on normal and veteran. I collected all worthwhile achievements and put the game away. Normally I spend a few months post-campaign playing multiplayer, but I let my Xbox Live subscription expire in July and just have no interest in playing with herds of prepubescent ten-year-old whiners. I'm really just not that interested in Call of Duty multiplayer anymore.

I enjoyed Black Ops 2, but as I've mentioned before the franchise is really growing long in the tooth. My favorite Black Ops 2-ism? The fact that you can customize your gear loadout at the beginning of each level. My least favorite Black Ops 2-ism? The storyline had such potential but was just poorly told. Most of the celerium subplot is utterly senseless if you fail to rescue Karma - in fact, it is never explained at all if Karma is kidnapped.

After Call of Duty, I picked up Dark Souls again after a four-month hiatus. I was roughly halfway through a NG+ play-through. I spent the past weekend polishing off a few achievements, cleaning up the last few bosses, and blasting Gwyn into a pile of cinder (yay pun). I'm ready to begin my NG++ play-through. This time around I merely have to defeat Sif once again and reach the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo to pick up the remaining two achievements.

Going back to Dark Souls has taught me some things about gaming that many players never seem to realize. The game has some technical problems (most notably a low framerate in certain areas), little plot to speak of, and little direction, but it still manages to be - in my opinion - a more engaging game than the last three Call of Duty titles (that would be back to Modern Warfare 2, which was amazing). Why? I suspect it's mostly because the player is forced to explore on his or her own. There's a sense of wonder and investment that Call of Duty has lost.

Don't get me wrong - Call of Duty is a solid franchise and I still enjoy the games. They are all of impressive quality. I'm just yearning for some innovation.

Dark Souls II

The Dark Souls II trailer is out now. The game is evidently set in a different world (universe?) at a different time. As far as one can tell, the new game is totally unrelated to Dark Souls. So, really, it's more of a spiritual successor (a la Demon's Souls -> Dark Souls) than a proper sequel. Sort of like Final Fantasy (sans the weird true-sequels like FFX-2).

That said, I'm really excited for a new Souls game. I skipped Demon's Souls and my backlog is so large it's unlikely I'll ever get back around to it. A new game with Dark Souls' focus on dog-eat-dog multiplayer and brutal difficulty is something many players are really looking forward to.

I'm starting to wonder what system(s) Dark Souls II will be released on. PC, hopefully, but if this game is one year or more out in the future, there seems to be a chance it could also ship as a launch title for a next-generation console such as the successor to the Xbox 360.

Weekly Report - 10/12/2012

In between long hours of Elite Hardcore sessions in Torchlight 2 this week I finally squeezed my Normal Engineer through the game, so I can at least consider it beaten.

Riff died at level 31 last night. She was smashing through an infinitely spawning horde of sand rats when a vile gnasher showed up. Suddenly the two dozen sand rat corpses became vile gnashers and Riff was literally surrounded and couldn't physically remove herself from the situation. It was an atrocious set of circumstances.

Kya still lives at level 19, but she's a terrible build and I don't think I'll play her much anymore. I may push forward recklessly just to see how far she can make it.

I started Riff II last night with a new build; more details on that soon.

There has been no progress on Dark Souls this week. I'm still standing outside New Londo, ready to battle the Four Kings boss.

I've been extremely tempted to purchase Arma 2 and download the DayZ mod this week. I'm spending so much time on other things right now, though, that I might be able to wait for the standalone DayZ game.

Weekly Report - 10/05/2012

This was a light week for gaming. I spent the entire weekend outdoors followed by a week full of birthday dinners and around-the-house chores. That said, some progress was made after all.

In Dark Souls I'm about to face down the Four Kings in New Game Plus. Last time I ended up fighting five four kings, so who knows what I'll run into? After that I'll try to crash through the rest of the game more quickly; I've really lost steam on this title over the past two weeks thanks to Torchlight 2.

Speaking of Torchlight 2, I became so frustrated with Kya, my Elite Hardcore Outlander, that I quit playing her and created a new Elite Hardcore Engineer, Riff. It's going so much easier this time around; I've spent less than half the amount of time as I did on Kya and I've already passed her in the game. I'm eager to reach Act II in Elite Hardcore for the first time.

I haven't played much multiplayer Torchlight 2, but I'd really like to. A Hardcore group run could be fun, though time-consuming and dangerous (I'm loathe to leave a friend behind).

Weekly Report - 09/21/2012

This is a busy one.

Last weekend three of my friends and I got together for our first in-person Battlefield 3 LAN. It's incredibly fun with a full, four-player squad of sane, communicating, non-troll humans. I think it was one of the best BF3 sessions I've had in my 61+ hour multiplayer career. What's amazing is that I quit playing the game about six months ago because I had earned a service star in every class and had no interesting weapons left to unlock. I really look forward to playing this with friends again - it was awesome (our group has a boss helicopter pilot by the way).

I also made tons of Dark Souls progress. In fact, I beat the game on Monday and moved on to New Game Plus (it's going much faster this time around - I'm already in Anor Londo). I need a handful more items and a second copy of every boss soul to clean up some achievements, but I'm also really interested in starting from scratch with a completely different type of character. The game definitely has some frustrating technical problems, but it presents a fun user experience unlike anything I've ever played before.

And, of course, Torchlight 2 came out yesterday. I pre-loaded it that morning before going in to work so I could play as soon as I got home. About two hours in, I have a lot of positive thoughts and several topics to post about. Torchlight 2 doesn't totally revolutionize the hack-n-slash RPG genre, but it's definitely worth playing (I plan to skip Diablo III altogether for a variety of reasons).

More Dark Souls Tips

Some more tips after having spent a few hours in the game:

• The stability stat of your shield is crucial; it determines the amount of stamina required to block an attack.
• Spears and like weapons allow you to attack while keeping your shield up.
• The kick attack works wonders in disrupting shield-bearing enemies. Tap Fwd and quickly hit RB to kick.
• You can jump. Run by holding B while pointing LS in any direction, then release the button and tap B again.
• You can slide down ladders by pressing B.
• Keep an eye on your equipment weight. If you have less than 50% of your max weight, you can roll dodge (very useful). If you have less than 25% you're even quicker.
• Note that most weapons scale with certain stats (e.g. a given greatsword may scale with strength at grade C and dexterity at grade E; focus on strength if you want to use this weapon).
• If you die, make a priority of retrieving your bloodstain (all of your dropped humanity and souls) before dying again. If you die twice in a row without retrieving your bloodstain, it will all be gone.
• When you reach the first blacksmith, upgrade your gear. It's cheap and you can always farm for plenty more upgrade materials. Upgraded gear will often strengthen your character more substantially than simply leveling up.

Weekly Report - 09/14/2012

I made significant forward progress in Dark Souls this week. After passing through Anor Londo I confronted the Four Kings (and defeated five of them) and stepped into the Demon Ruins. My character now faces Lost Izalith and whatever lies beyond. I'm sensing the end coming within the next three or four areas of the game, but already I have plans for a second (and third, at least partial) playthrough to collect some achievements and accomplish some story-related tasks I missed the first time through.

In other news, I'm looking at EVE again with a closer eye. I'm interested in a number of the changes CCP has made since I unsubscribed (again) early this year and the balancing and ship updates for this winter look rather appealing. I may have to resubscribe to check it out.

It's looking like a good weekend for gaming!

The Black Knights

The Dark Souls bug has bitten me, hard. I'm hooked and totally enamored with this game. It's challenging, mysterious, and, above all, rewarding. Everything in the world poses a significant risk, but the game designers made excellent choices in terms of loot drops. Risks are often worthwhile.

Take, for example, the Black Knights. Early on these enemies are quite difficult, especially for players who aren't familiar with the game yet. Fortunately, they can be beaten (try parrying and backstabbing, or just play it safe and slowly chip away and their health by hiding behind your shield and poking them with a spear).

'tis but a scratch!

Every Black Knight offers a potentially awesome loot drop: sometimes they drop their weapon! Hint: to improve your drop rate, you need to be holding humanity.

Once I defeated my fourth BK he dropped the BK Sword which deals 220 base damage, besting my Drake Sword by a fair amount. Furthermore, the BK Sword scales with both strength and dexterity. It's a little slower than the Drake Sword but well worth it.

Just when I started thinking the BK Sword was the bee's knees, I stumbled upon another BK early in the Darkroot Garden area. With zero humanity I chopped him down with my BK Sword: lo and behold, he dropped the BK Halberd. The BK Halberd has a base damage of 245 and also scales with strength and dexterity. It seems to be quicker to boot, and it has a great range. I immediately focused on leveling my character to wield it.

It was worth it. Man, the BK Halberd blows the Drake Sword away. I currently have it reinforced to BK Halberd +4. A bit expensive, but it's really opening up the game for me: I now stand a chance against enemies and bosses that used to give me fits.

P. S. Check out the Dark Souls video walkthrough series by Gaming as a Surrogate Religion. It's entertaining as well as helpful. Honestly, I prefer this man's videos over TV.

Weekly Report - 09/07/2012

As you may have noticed, I picked up Dark Souls for the Xbox 360 last weekend for $12. Aside from getting an awesome bargain, I'm absolutely thrilled with this game. It has kicked aside everything else I've been playing lately (no Skyrim this week).

I have just progressed through Sen's Fortress and my character now rests in Anor Londo. I'm led to understand this is about halfway through the game, but I don't want to read FAQs or watch video walkthroughs unless I get really stuck and frustrated.

I got lucky and found a Black Knight Halberd early on. I don't think it's game-breaking but it certainly makes bosses less of a trial. I recently acquired my first pyromancy but haven't used it yet. I'll be posting some more Dark Souls tips as I progress through the game.

Beginning Dark Souls

I waited two days after finding Dark Souls for $15. When I decided to buy it, I went back in and discovered the shop was having a 20% off sale so I landed my Xbox 360 copy of Dark Souls for $12. You just can't beat that. So there's my first tip for new Dark Souls players: shop around for a good deal; you don't have to pay $60 plus tax at Best Buy. The PC version on Steam is $40 which is a bargain itself.

The game doesn't give you much information due to the way it's delivered. The story is sparse and there is little to no tutorial content; you're essentially thrown directly into the fire. Some tips to get you started:

• Proceed with caution; don't aggro groups of enemies. You want to pick one-on-one fights until you have a good sense for the combat system.
• Keep your shield up. Look for a shield that has 100% physical damage protection so you can rely on it to protect you from most attacks.
• Learn your weapons' attacks. Each weapon is quite different but they all have a quick attack (RB), strong attack (RT), and jump attack (tap Fwd and quickly hit RT).
• Don't watch a bunch of walkthrough videos before playing. Half the fun of the game is figuring out what to do and where to do it (remember Dragon Warrior).
• When leveling up, don't put points into resistance. Focus on vitality, endurance, and one or two stats depending on the weapon(s) you want to use.
• The game doesn't give you much information explicitly, so spend time and pay attention to item descriptions and stats.