Well_known_bear's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentSeeing how the story turns out is still discovery to me, so I don't think it would if there was some form of story or even lore reward. If I got nothing from it except the satisfaction of...Seeing how the story turns out is still discovery to me, so I don't think it would if there was some form of story or even lore reward.
If I got nothing from it except the satisfaction of mastering the boss, though... yeah, I'd probably pass on that. For the same reason, I don't generally play challenge runs or boss rush modes.
It's an interesting question, though. I mean, there's nothing stopping me from just watching the ending on YouTube, right? So maybe there's an element of not wanting to be defeated by the game too.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentThanks! I definitely understand on the frustration and had to put it down a bit myself. I feel like maybe that's even the best way to enjoy these difficult games - just play a bit each day and...Thanks! I definitely understand on the frustration and had to put it down a bit myself. I feel like maybe that's even the best way to enjoy these difficult games - just play a bit each day and enjoy the moment to moment gameplay rather than the focus on progress or beating it within X tries.
All the recent debate about the difficulty in Silksong lately has definitely gotten me thinking more about difficulty vs punishment and mastery vs discovery in games. I consider myself a 'discovery' person at heart - I'm motivated by finding out what's in the cave behind the dragon, who the culprit is or how the puzzle is solved - but repeatedly going through the cycle of failure, analysis of what I did right and wrong and eventually becoming able to execute on the right approach in these 'mastery'-based souls games has kind of expanded my horizons!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkSekiro I beat the last boss! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I took a short break from the game after last week's post, then started practising in the evening after work. I don't think I...Sekiro
I beat the last boss! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement.
I took a short break from the game after last week's post, then started practising in the evening after work. I don't think I ever had any real "breakthrough" moment where I was suddenly Neo seeing the Matrix - it was just a gradual improvement in how well I played each day (although I did experience a kind of Tetris effect when trying to sleep where I could only think about attack patterns and deflection timings).
All up, I probably died on this fight 70+ times, which is a ton to be sure, but any defeat that I learned from is one I'm happy to own :P
Shuten Order
The newly released mystery VN from Tookyo Games. This is the 16th game in my playthrough of the Kodaka / Uchikoshi catalogue.
The basic premise is that the protagonist must obtain a murder confession from one of 5 suspects, but can only choose one of them to investigate. The route you choose then determines the genre of the game.
The genres are:
1. Mystery / deduction
2. Escape / death game
3. Multi-perspective / flowchart novel
4. Dating sim
5. Stealth / horrorI have to admit, I was worried when I heard that this game was going in so many different directions. This is a studio that's constantly short on funding, and it's easy to imagine the game becoming over scoped and ending up half-assed on all fronts.
So far:
The good
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The setting - a theocracy run by a doomsday cult - is pretty unique and gives the game a distinctly different vibe from any of their other games. The Danganronpa composer Takada Masafumi is also on board and his synth tracks are instantly recognisable.
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There's a lot of art. For most VNs, the text does the heavy lifting to describe what's happening and the player has to use their imagination, but in this game, anything beyond people just holding a conversation is specifically shown in panels like a comic book (even in the very text heavy flowchart novel route). All of the named characters are also given a good range of expressions (some of which are pretty funny/creative), which is no mean feat given each route has a different cast and many characters appear only briefly.
The bad
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The style of writing feels very 'to the point' and lacks a lot of the dark/silly humour and character back-and-forths that Danganronpa, Rain Code and The Hundred Line had so much of. I wouldn't have picked it out as something written by Kodaka at all if his name wasn't in the credits.
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The overarching plot is interesting, but the individual routes are pretty short, with the route-specific gameplay mechanisms never really being built upon to a point where they shine before the route is over. The degree to which the routes shed light on the main story also varies quite a bit, and on the routes which are only tangentially related, it can feel like you're just wasting time on something unrelated to your main objective.
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Not sure if it's the game or just my system, but I couldn't get my controller to work with it (I prefer a controller for VNs as it's easier on the fingers) - and yet, you can't play entirely with a mouse like most VNs either. It's not a big deal to play with mouse and keyboard, but kind of weird coming from devs with decades of experience in VNs. Maybe they're not used to using Unity?
Will keep playing, but keeping my expectations in check for this one.
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Comment on What can I do with my old Pixel 3 phone in 2025? in ~tech
Well_known_bear Link ParentI believe they're similar but not identical batteries, but it's more a general risk with continuing to use old batteries in general. I had the same issue with my Nexus 6P, PSP, etc. I keep all my...I believe they're similar but not identical batteries, but it's more a general risk with continuing to use old batteries in general. I had the same issue with my Nexus 6P, PSP, etc.
I keep all my old phones in a metal tea tin now so the damage is contained if they do decide to catch fire.
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Comment on What can I do with my old Pixel 3 phone in 2025? in ~tech
Well_known_bear LinkI upgraded to my current phone after the battery in my old Pixel 3a ballooned. Just wanted to flag that you should keep an eye on the battery or replace it if you plan to keep using it, especially...I upgraded to my current phone after the battery in my old Pixel 3a ballooned. Just wanted to flag that you should keep an eye on the battery or replace it if you plan to keep using it, especially if it'll be unsupervised by a human.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentAgree with @Monte_Kristo's comment. Although more is revealed about the backstory as you go and there's a ton of lore / cool references and homages / subtle subplots, the meat and potatoes of One...Agree with @Monte_Kristo's comment.
Although more is revealed about the backstory as you go and there's a ton of lore / cool references and homages / subtle subplots, the meat and potatoes of One Piece is the adventure and dudes fighting each other with superpowers and special techniques, and there's only more of that stuff as you go. Knowing more about the story (and even the more complex drama plots in the later arcs) won't turn it into a different kind of experience in my view.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentI definitely found the umbrella useful in the spear phase, but I would often get hit right after going for the projected force counter because he just doesn't stop attacking after I shield the...I definitely found the umbrella useful in the spear phase, but I would often get hit right after going for the projected force counter because he just doesn't stop attacking after I shield the initial couple of hits with the umbrella.
I feel like I could win if I learned the openings for safely doing that a bit better because the umbrella is very inexpensive to use.
Another part of me feels like maybe I'm just taking the long way around by relying on the umbrella and I should just grit my teeth and learn to deflect / mikiri his spear phase, with the umbrella only used to stay close during the charge attacks. It seems to me that the fight can actually end quite quickly if you can sustain the high-pressure posture damage focused approach, but this obviously:
- requires internalising all the deflections / mikiris, which is harder than the 'just whittle his vitality' approach; and
- puts you at risk of getting destroyed very quickly if you mess up the deflections and get your posture broken / eat the perilous spear attack after failing the mikiri.
On top of that, I haven't worked out when it's safe to heal when fighting close up, and running away to heal just resets his posture - but if I don't heal, my posture will just build that much faster!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentIt's definitely a challenging game, and they really use everything from the enemy design, the music and the SFX to the flashy attacks and dramatic camera angles to try and intimidate the player,...It's definitely a challenging game, and they really use everything from the enemy design, the music and the SFX to the flashy attacks and dramatic camera angles to try and intimidate the player, but in the end, the player has the ultimate advantage - being able to retry unlimited times and coming back more experienced each time!
Conversely, however strong a boss is, they are defeated for good if they lose even once.
When you think of it that way, you could even say that these games are easier than those old NES games with limited lives / continues.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentAbsolutely. I also appreciate that the checkpoint is right outside the boss door, so there's no runback and really no friction to just practising until you learn every part of the fight inside...Absolutely. I also appreciate that the checkpoint is right outside the boss door, so there's no runback and really no friction to just practising until you learn every part of the fight inside out.
Might work out better for me to just practice a few runs every day rather than bang my head against it for long periods on end.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkSekiro I'm at the last boss!* ...but I need a break from this game. I've enjoyed the game so far and beaten most of the optional bosses, but even the hardest bosses so far have only taken a couple...Sekiro
I'm at the last boss!*
...but I need a break from this game.
I've enjoyed the game so far and beaten most of the optional bosses, but even the hardest bosses so far have only taken a couple of hours to beat. In the case of this last boss:
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My skill level is not where it needs to be to beat this guy, and it's going to take a substantial time investment to get it there - significantly more than just a couple of hours.
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I'm burned out. Although I'm still making progress when practising, it's starting to feel like studying for an exam rather than fun. I can't be spending my limited gaming time like that, and it doesn't feel like a mindset conducive to winning either.
To be clear, though:
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I don't consider this last boss to be a BS difficulty spike and he hasn't soured me on the game at all - I still think it's great. The fact that I'm struggling on him is on me for not having completely mastered consistent deflection and perilous attack responses, both of which the game has been teaching since the tutorial. If you can pull those off instinctively and on demand, there's no doubt in my mind that he is totally beatable - but conversely, he is tuned to basically 2-shot you from full health if you screw up, and this is a long, unforgiving fight with many opportunities to screw up if you haven't mastered those skills (unless you cheese him with AI exploits, but I'm not going to do that just to say I 'beat' him :P).
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I definitely haven't given up. I will come back when I'm in a more receptive frame of mind, do the Rocky training montage and beat this guy. I just need to mix it up for a bit with something other than just playing this fight.
*I know you can potentially get a different last boss. This is
Spoiler
Isshin, the Sword Saint -
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentDefinitely agree that a lot of the routes would have benefitted greatly from a shorter day count / removal of the 'free time' padding days (I guess this is in there for you to grind social links /...Definitely agree that a lot of the routes would have benefitted greatly from a shorter day count / removal of the 'free time' padding days (I guess this is in there for you to grind social links / resources, but you can just repeat days so it's totally unnecessary). Sometimes they even do a 'we did X for Y days' timeskip without you necessarily passing out - I wish they'd used that way more.
It's such a major contrast to the main route where you're constantly dealing with some kind of major problem (sometimes multiple problems) and there's very little waiting around.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentDS1 and Sekiro are the only Fromsoft games I've played. I think I've kind of grasped the right mindset to enjoy these games now, so definitely plan on checking out the other ones at some point!DS1 and Sekiro are the only Fromsoft games I've played. I think I've kind of grasped the right mindset to enjoy these games now, so definitely plan on checking out the other ones at some point!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentInteresting to hear about the better rolling in the sequels. I definitely often felt like it would have been nice to roll just to the left or right of an enemy when targeting, as rolling right...Interesting to hear about the better rolling in the sequels. I definitely often felt like it would have been nice to roll just to the left or right of an enemy when targeting, as rolling right into their face was often not optimal if they had a follow up attack. I'll play around more with that if I get around to playing the other games.
Ultimately it wasn't a major issue just because the game felt surprisingly lenient in other ways - e.g. most enemies have terrible tracking, so I could often just circle-strafe them once lured to a somewhat open area.
I would love to check out Demon's Souls at some point too, but I don't have a PS5 and the PS3 version is selling at a considerable premium now that the series is popular. I should have picked it up back when it was obscure and going for $5!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkI've completed Dark Souls Remastered. It turns out that last week was a weird spot for me to write up my thoughts, because the game design does - if not a 180 - then at least a grudging 90 in Anor...I've completed Dark Souls Remastered.
It turns out that last week was a weird spot for me to write up my thoughts, because the game design does - if not a 180 - then at least a grudging 90 in Anor Londo and beyond.
Up until this point:
- You're essentially using whatever trash equipment you pick up and upgrading it with whatever materials you can scrape together. If by some miracle, an enemy actually drops something decent, you won't have the stats needed to use it.
- Souls are not easy to come by and mostly expended just on leveling up. It's hard to afford anything beyond the bare necessities (repair box, etc) from vendors, assuming you can even find them.
- As a result, you're usually poorly armoured with limited damage output, resulting in plenty of long, sweaty boss fights where rolling is mandatory and you can easily be 2-shot the moment you lose focus or make the wrong call.
But in this second half of the game:
- It becomes feasible to farm souls at a sane rate. Grinding for levels becomes easy.
- Because you now have souls, you can afford to buy stuff from vendors, including upgrade materials. This allows you to:
- Upgrade whatever weapons you want. This fully resolved the issue I had last week with being stuck with my starter weapon since it was the one with all the upgrades.
- Upgrade shield and armour, greatly increasing your ability to block and tank hits.
- Buy decent heavy armour (or you can just find sets of it lying all over the place).
- You'll now have the stats needed to use the good gear, some of which is pretty busted and will melt through boss health bars in a handful of hits when upgraded.
- It becomes a lot easier to travel the world and explore branches / get gear and upgrades you might have missed or just forgone to safely get to the next bonfire.
As a result, because your setup can now carry you pretty hard, the game just flat out becomes much easier. Some routes can still be a pain initially due to not knowing where to go or what the game wants you to do, but you're also taking less damage and equipped with more heals, so simply running past all the enemies is completely feasible once you know where you're headed. Similarly, most bosses can just be facetanked without learning their attacks if you go in with decent armour / weapon / heals.
Other closing thoughts:
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I got a better handle on the main story once the game introduced NPCs who were willing to give exposition, but anything outside the main story still feels like trying to piece together a narrative out of MTG card flavour text.
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Even though the polygon count is clearly PS3-era, the visual design for the enemies and environments is still really beautiful and impactful. The presentation is also top notch, with lots of care for how the enemies are animated and levels often being set against big dramatic vistas.
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It's crazy how many well hidden secret items, bosses, mechanics and entire areas they managed to pack into this game. If you're playing offline without the community messages, there's no way you'll find even half of this stuff without reading a guide. I kind of wish they also had more in-game hints for finding it organically, since playing with the garish messages from the internet everywhere kind of detracts from the mood set by the game.
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It's often said that this game is tough but fair, and for the most part I agree when it comes to fighting the enemies. However, there are also a good number of deaths due to janky physics activating the moment you're on a surface that's just a little too slanted / suddenly falling to your death when fighting in water where it's impossible to see the edge / suddenly getting yeeted when your model box is clashing with an enemy's model box, all of which very much feel unfair.
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You can (and I did) spend half the game without finding a bow, which makes some encounters needlessly hellish. If you don't start with one or get a drop, I believe there's one vendor who sells one, but he's pretty easy to miss. Naturally, there's also no tutorial for using the bow once you do find one or any indication that you can fire it in first person (basically a must outside of Z-targeting range, unless you want to be shooting MGS1 style the whole game).
Overall, I'm glad I bit the bullet and went back to this game. There was a lot of fun hiding behind that learning curve.
Back to playing Sekiro this week.
I've now beaten
spoilers
Lady Butterfly and Gyoubu. The latter was a walk in the park after having been repeatedly taken to school by grandma.-
The former was the first fight which really demanded that I shift to defence as soon as the enemy deflected me, and then back to attack as soon as I deflected them. I feel like this kind of fight is where the game really shines - when you're locked into those long exchanges of blows, you really can 'feel the rhythm' and enter an exhilarating flow state.
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On the other hand, I'm still not a fan of the ninja stealth parts. The stealth feels inconsistent as heck and sometimes guards (particularly anyone with a ranged weapon) will spot you from miles away and remain aggroed until you leave the area, even after you're behind cover. At other times, you can walk right next to them or noisily kill a dude behind them without being noticed.
It's tolerable if you're just clearing the area once to get the items, but stealth killing a big bunch of clustered mobs (with frequent running away to de-aggro) becomes an absolute chore when you have to do it repeatedly to fight a boss - and you can't just fight them regularly either, because the game isn't designed for quickly fighting groups of enemies and you'll almost certainly get ganked (or at least lose health that you're supposed to save for the boss) before you can break all their postures.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentUnfortunately, I haven't found any silver bullet either. For me, it's a combination of the following: Recommendations from friends. Occasionally checking what's currently running in weekly /...Unfortunately, I haven't found any silver bullet either. For me, it's a combination of the following:
- Recommendations from friends.
- Occasionally checking what's currently running in weekly / monthly magazines I like.
- If I read something I like, checking out the author's other work and noting them down so I can follow up again for their future work. Really easy to do on Bookwalker, and I find their feature for previewing the first chapter or so to be really useful too.
- Reading the manga recommendation threads which occasionally pop up on those aggregator sites with the edited 5ch threads.
- Sometimes if a series really grabs me, I'll do some reading about its background and there'll be references to other series which were influential for the author / that genre, which is a great way to segue to checking those out.
- If you live near a brick and mortar store with a decent selection, going there in person once in a while and making a note of what looks cool is fun too (and you might be able to see staff recommendations, etc). There's a Books Kinokuniya not far from me which I'll go to sometimes. I believe there are also Book Offs in the US which might be fun to trawl too.
- Hanging out on smaller forums like this one. I'm also on a Japanese forum for a Japanese social game I no longer play (really just use it to practice Japanese now) and people will sometimes just talk about what manga they're enthused about lately.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentGlad to hear you enjoyed it! I remember hearing a fair few people compare this series to Steven Universe when the anime first aired, but they really could not be more different apart from the...Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I remember hearing a fair few people compare this series to Steven Universe when the anime first aired, but they really could not be more different apart from the whole anthropomorphic gemstones thing. I don't think I've seen any other series that manages to strike quite the same tone (and the track record for serialising weird stuff like this is why I love Afternoon so much).
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Comment on Which directors have a flawless filmography? in ~movies
Well_known_bear Link ParentCompletely agree. I would say that it's unfair of me to expect Miyazaki, an 84-year old man, to still have that fire in him to innovate, but Takahata was 77 when he directed Kaguya! Ufotable is...Completely agree. I would say that it's unfair of me to expect Miyazaki, an 84-year old man, to still have that fire in him to innovate, but Takahata was 77 when he directed Kaguya!
Ufotable is great of course (also the stuff that Mappa has been doing using composition / 3D software like Blender on shows like Chainsaw Man is amazing), but that style is very much a refinement of where mainstream Japanese animation has been headed over the last 20 years and these days I find myself more excited about people trying to go in different directions altogether. The combination of western-style 3D CG and 2D anime in the Chinese show To Be Hero X is a recent example that immediately jumps to mind - it doesn't always hit, but it's an interesting idea!
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentRead the manga for this when it originally made waves a couple of years ago. Loved the choice of theme and the humanness of the story. One thing that really struck me throughout the story was how...Read the manga for this when it originally made waves a couple of years ago. Loved the choice of theme and the humanness of the story. One thing that really struck me throughout the story was how driven all of the characters are by their ideologies and beliefs. Basically everyone is a maniac of some kind willing to go to extraordinary lengths for their worldview.
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Comment on Which directors have a flawless filmography? in ~movies
Well_known_bear Link ParentI did. I get it, there are valid criticisms in relation to the story, the characters and the sound mixing. There's enough good in there (memorable action scenes like the kitchen fight; interesting...I did. I get it, there are valid criticisms in relation to the story, the characters and the sound mixing. There's enough good in there (memorable action scenes like the kitchen fight; interesting SF idea even if they don't stick the execution) that it's not a bad movie in my book.
Happy second-to-last week of the season!
This is usually when I check out next season's lineup and decide what to watch:
One Punch Man S3
Yeah, it's still JC Staff instead of Madhouse, so the animation is not going to be up to the stratospheric standards of S1. Still a good show to watch with your brain switched off.
Boku no Hero Academia Final Season
This final arc has dragged on for way longer than necessary, but I'm on board if they wrap it up for real this time.
Fumetsu no Anata e S3
Loved the first 2 seasons of this show. Truly weird and original character-driven fantasy which isn't just lifted straight from Tolkien and JRPGs.
For anyone on the fence, check out the first episode in S1. Really sets the mood for the series and had me hooked.
3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei
Gintama spin-off based on the dumb school skits. I have no doubt this will be unwatchable for anyone not already a fan of the original show.
Honorary mentions for stuff which will probably be good but which I won't be watching since I read the manga:
Spy X Family S3
No idea where the anime is at, but the manga is still great.
Kind of surprising how few other series there are with a setting like post-WW2 spy vs spy Berlin. The closest I can think of is Princess Principal.
Ranma 1/2 S2
Hands down my favourite Takahashi series. Just the perfect blend of action, drama and comedy.
Shuumatsu Touring
Slice of life series about a girl and her android companion who emerge from a shelter after an apocalyptic event and tour across a ruined Japan on a motorbike in search of survivors. Close to a travel / camping manga in terms of vibe (think Yuru Camp) and not grim at all.