BadgerFarmer

3 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Thanks @BadgerFarmer!

I had a sniff around the steam forums and one of the devs was saying 12 hour story, 25 hours to 100% the game.

Yeah, that sounds about right, not that I did 100% it.

10 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

How "story rich" is this?
Is it infinitely replayable, like can you just sail around fishing and levelling up, or is it very much just a one and done short story thing?

You can spend as much time as you like exploring and fishing, and if you want to find all the different fish types or unlock and fully upgrade all the gear, that'll certainly take a while. I wouldn't say it's infinitely replayable, though, in the sense that you'll run out of meaningful things to do eventually.

The Tweet mentions the print issue isn't due in newsagents till the 25th.

The digital edition hasn't appeared on Pocket Mags yet, so I can't help with scores.

All I know is it features a Studio Profile on Asobo (Flight Sim, A Plague Tale).

I don't know if anyone's noticed, but Wireframe has relaunched online, under the umbrella of Why Now Gaming: https://whynowgaming.com/

I was actually in the process of writing a feature about Alien/Aliens games for the magazine when it closed, so it's good to see it appearing online now:

https://whynowgaming.com/alien-why-the-xenomorph-is-perfect-for-games-and-so-hard-to-get-right/

You don't have to sell/dismantle everything one at a time either. Use triangle/Y to highlight the items you want to sell then press cross/A to get rid of the lot.  

I have all that 90s nostalgia for the SNES era RPGs, and it is absolutely comfort gaming for those of us of that vintage. However, that also makes it rather conservative. When it comes to the visual style and the combat, they do a good job in keeping the essence of the old while modernising. But when it comes to the storytelling, it just feels old, as if we haven't moved on in the last 30 years. While it occasionally touches on some more 'mature' themes, it doesn't do anything with them.

I do like the combat systems, especially when it comes to some of the bosses, and I still think that visual style is lovely, along with the soundtrack. But it is all rather ordinary beyond that, when it comes to the plots, characters, writing and anything you have to do that isn't combat.

3 hours ago, Uncle Nasty said:

I'm amazed that they're actually publishing this stuff:

It's strange because it's the opposite of premium content. It's filler or an easy click between more serious articles, and I wouldn't begrudge it being on the site generally (although I agree it could be better written).

I rather liked it as well, some technical shortcomings aside. 

Oh, so you can damage him when he's on his horse. Didn't realise that was possible.

I've moved the recent discussion re potential legal issues to the A&F thread.

13 hours ago, thesnwmn said:

The more I reflect on it the more I think the worst thing about any of the comments about the way people post is that they result in more discussion about how to post than raising the actual issues or discussing the game. Probably 25% of this thread is about how we post. Which obscures the meat of the discussion for all.

 

Which of course this post is part of too 🤦‍♂️

It's likely a much higher percentage than that, honestly. I feel like this thread could work, if everyone actually ignored the parts of the discussion they didn't want to engage with, rather than commenting on their appropriateness. 

24 minutes ago, MardiganX said:

How is everyone managing the inventory? Every few checkpoints I find myself carrying a monumental amount of shite and so spend a few minutes selling stuff. It’s the only weak part of the game but calling it weak is an understatement. It’s awful.

 

I’ve still using the pommel type sword and switching it up to whatever better version drops but want to try out some of the dual wield and cudgel weapons as their move sets look brilliant.

Once I got the blacksmith, I visited her between each level and either sold or dismantled a load of stuff. Dismantling anything that's upgraded gives you some upgrade materials back, so you should never be short.

My policy is that anything that's 1 star goes, and any duplicate goes. I arrange them by type so I can see if I've got more than one of anything. Worth noting that you can use the triangle (Y?) button to highlight everything you want to get rid of, then hit cross (A) to sell it all in one go. It saves some time.

It's all a pointless pain in the arse though. 

1 minute ago, HarryBizzle said:

What are people’s thoughts on the sub missions? I’ve only done one but wasn’t impressed. It was basically a remix of part of a level. I think I won some elixir or something, which I haven’t even tried using once. 
 

Also what does it do when you offer a dragon pot to a little purple flag? I think it increases your morale? Does it stay if you rest at a flag? Because there have been bits with loads of purple flags and I imagine I could gain like 7 morale ranks if so.

It's a temporary morale boost. Sometimes worthwhile if you're about to take on a tougher enemy, but it doesn't last very long.

55 minutes ago, Kromeo said:

It might feel like a misstep, but people said the same thing about the nunchuck boss in Ninja Gaiden back in the day, despite just needing to learn how to block properly. They said the same thing about Demon's Souls (the red-eyed knight and the HP loss), etc. All things that are looked back on with nostalgia now.

Mark my words, the fight is going to stay the same. If anything changes, it'll merely be a bigger emphasis on the jade activating in the second phase.

From has been rebalancing its Souls etc. games all the time, or adding extra hints to help you through. Even Ninja Gaiden added an easy mode when it was updated for NG Black.

I think the first boss would be fine if it was a skill check for a really tough experience overall, but actually Wo Long is fairly accommodating for the most part, so it feels like a misstep. It's simply a balancing issue, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was altered a little in the coming weeks.

4 hours ago, Kromeo said:

 

Excellent review, btw. Was a joy to read.

 

Shame that the game outstays its welcome a bit, like the Niohs before it, though. How long would you say your playthrough took you?

Probably getting on for 40 hours. It's a similar size to the Nioh games.

I like dual halberds a lot for quick attacks and sustained pressure. Then some sort of spear or javelin as the second option, for range or sweeping attacks.

8 hours ago, Kromeo said:

Will I like this if I adored Sekiro, liked Nioh, but never really got on with Onimusha or Ninja Gaiden?

It's pretty much a blend of Nioh and Sekiro, so probably, yes.

1 minute ago, HarryBizzle said:

So far my build is 7/5/5/1/1. That seems like a thin enough spread as it is but the spirit generation of Fire is good and Earth seems to scale my current weapon so I’m sticking with it. 
 

I don’t really understand the magic system but the Earth level 1 spell that boosts your armour stops normal attacks from staggering you which is really handy. 
 

Also what’s the deal with weapons having different levels of stars? I have three Pommels of the whatever which all look roughly the same but they’re *, ** and ***. 
 

Bit annoyed; I upgraded the ** and then switched back to the *** and upgraded that as well. 

Stars give weapons mini-perks and bonuses, so the more stars the more of those. You can tailor the bonuses to your liking later as well, but it's not really worth bothering with unless you get deep into it. Generally, just use the one with more stars if you've got two of the same weapons, but don't worry too much about switching if you've already upgraded one.

1 hour ago, HarryBizzle said:

I think one of my companions died because I didn’t bother to heal him, assuming that he would stand back up one I beat the big baddie. Now I can’t summon him back. If they die in a level are they gone for the duration of that level? It’s the chonkyboi who tries to kill you but is then on your side. 

If it's one of the ones that accompanies you by default, they'll respawn once you rest at a flag. If it's one you summoned yourself, you need to summon them again each time they (or you) die.

Video of fight against one of my favourite bosses (around mission 7). Quite Sekiro like in terms of learning the timings of his various attacks and combos. In the end, I parried just about everything, although still only just about made it.

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

The current boss I'm on is 1-shotting me if each and every parry isn't bang on perfection. Doesn't help he has maybe 8 different moves and he never does them in the same order. 

 

I'm not under-levelled and I've upgraded my gear best I can with the materials available at this point in the game, it's just feels a little too harsh.

 

I'm taking a breather and having a beer cause I'm not having fun.

Have you got all the flags in the level to start at 20 morale each time?

Or maybe use the earth spell that boosts defence if it's one-shotting you.

That was also one of the bosses that I found easier to do solo.

15 minutes ago, Timmo said:

did you review it?

Yeah, for Gamesradar. I think it's pretty great overall.