LogFAQs > #951557494

Lightning Strikes posted...

The Aphrodite scene was originally supposed to end with her pulling a knife and trying to kill you. Im kind of glad we didnt get that, but whats left is still embarrassing.

Glad this topic is back!

Yeah, I think embarrassing is a good way to put it. I'm glad they didn't add that too, I thought it was kind of nice that they had at least the one god who didn't try to kill Kratos and who he didn't kill either.

And thanks!

BetrayedTangy posted...

So I beat Dark Souls awhile ago, but kept delaying my write up because I was continuing to play the game, going so far as to actually get every achievement. Which is something I've done with only a handful of games. As you can tell I really liked it!

Glad to hear you liked it! Yes, I definitely agree that Dark Souls is a deeply artistic game. I've always found the "entropy" theme very interesting and emotionally resonant, but I think what particularly impresses me about Dark Souls is how its story is conveyed. It's a game that makes great use of the medium, in part because the player has to dig to get the details of the lore which lends to the feeling of exploring a dying world, but more importantly because Dark Souls is ultimately a game in which your character is being manipulated. It's easy to complete the game and go along with what Gwyndolin and Fraampt want you to do without ever finding out that Anor Londo is an illusion and that they're lying to you. Of all the secrets you mention, I think my favorite is the existence of Darkstalker Kaathe, who is hidden behind really obscure conditions but completely recontexualizes the game's story when you find him. But even though he serves to expose what Fraampt is doing, Kaathe himself is still trying to manipulate you, which is why both of those characters are serpents. It's hard to tell which of the two endings is actually the better outcome.

I do think Dark Souls is a (mostly) excellently well-designed game and one of the rarer examples where both the story and gameplay are awesome. I think my favorite thing is just how open-ended the game is, both in terms of the exploration (it really nails the sort of 3D Metroidvania idea) and build paths. I love just how many different weapon options are viable and how they can change up your playstyle.

The larger "Soulsborne" franchise feels kind of iterative which can make the individual games feel less special, definitely. I think it's okay to skip DS2 but I personally thought Bloodborne was really great and gripped me more than most other games I've played in years, though it may have helped that it had been a long time since I played any of the Dark Souls games when I started it.

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I played a little further into Terraria, mostly spelunking to hunt down life crystals. I did manage to find a few and extend my life meter to a just under twice its original size. I found out that the corruption was beyond the jungle to the far east and that there was a frozen biome in the west, but I still haven't made it to the boundaries of the world yet. I played around a little with the minecart system, which I don't think was implemented last time I played. There's a really long mine track running through the underground in my world, which can be helpful for getting around quickly or navigating cliffs but leaves you a little more exposed to enemy attacks. It's kind of fun. I think you can expand the cart railway but I don't see myself bothering with that, even though I found a ton of iron again today.

There are a lot of significant power-ups just lying around in chests. I found a pair of flippers that let you jump infinitely in water and a cloud in a bottle which grants a double jump, but I think the most amazing thing I got was a Finch Staff, which summons a baby finch to fight for you. It nests on your head when you're out of combat, which is cute, but I wasn't expecting it to be very useful at first. It turns out the baby finch is invincible and does contact damage to anything it touches, and it also stays active for an unlimited amount of time once used. It can absolutely tear apart the otherwise-annoying worm enemies underground because they consist of many components that each get damaged on contact, and it was also a huge help when I went up against the first boss, the eye of Cthulu. You just use the suspicious-looking eye item at night time to summon the boss. I think it's crafted by taking a bunch of lenses to a corrupt/crimson altar, but I just found one in a chest. It's a fairly tricky boss to hit at melee range without getting smacked in return, so most of my damage on it came from the finch and the blowgun I found yesterday. I also made soup out of a mushroom and a goldfish, which apparently gives you an 8 minute buff to all stats. I'm not sure how important it was. It dropped demonite ore, which I used to craft a sword called the Light's Bane.

My base hasn't really changed much since last time. I completed the third room and the merchant moved into it, and then I started on a forth. I think I could be getting NPCs to show up faster if I were to build with more common materials, but I'm not too worried about it because I remember the NPCs not being very important to the game's progression.

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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 17/129
Currently Playing: Terraria