[Mentalist]

Winter is officially over- spend 2 hours after work at an outdoor practice.

Gaming time's gonna get cut drastically now. Given I already put in 40 hours into this game and have not a whole lot of progress to show for it, it might be an all-year game.

EDIT because FUCK YEAH!!!

45 min session. Got the purple ninja in Hirata (new toy to figure out) AND Lady B!

Shit gonna get REAL now. Seven Spears, I'm coming for your blood!

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 23 April 2019 - 03:42 AM

[Mentalist]

Man, seeing that boss posture bar getting redder and redder is way more satisfying than watching a life bar drain. That was a brilliant design choice by FromSoft.

I was totally not expecting to get that far. I wasted all but one shuriken in Phase 1, and I only managed to pick up 2 spirit emblems from hitting ghosts. But somehow that just made me more focused on dodging and blocking. Then I saw her posture enter the red... and I started to get excited.

Shit. I spent like an hour and a half yesterday doing this. And it only took 6 runs today!

[Traveller]

Goddamn crazy ape.

So, I've from going from a fight that relies on careful deflects and parrys, to an all-out monkey rampage in a swamp with shit-flinging and wide unblockable grabs.

Got him to 2nd phase using firecrackers, but it gets really messed up when

Spoiler

you cut his head off using the sword through his neck; he then picks up his head and starts swinging it around, with the sword in his other hand! So it then becomes a sword fight, with a scream attack that puts so much on the terror metre that you die if you're too close.

I was getting wrist cramps after about an hour last night, so I'll have to come back to it later.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 23 April 2019 - 01:02 PM

[Mentalist]

I'll start the next session by practicing jumps against slash attacks. That's my big issue right now- I have attack, block and dodge buttons on my mouse (along with the lock on on the other thumb button), but jump is on spacebar, so I forget to use it all the time.

Both Seven Spears and Extendo-sword love the wide slashing attacks, so I need to work on the jumps.

[Traveller]

That head jump is great for posture damage too.

I might have to leave Ape for a bit, I think there are more bosses I need to do first. I went to Senpou temple before defeating Genichiro - apparently there's one there if you go after.

Also, I read that if you beat the ape before travelling to Mibu village, there are TWO apes that spawn on the way there that you have to beat to get past. So I might have to go do that part first.

I'm torn between not wanting spoilers and not wanting to miss stuff by choosing the wrong path.

[D'rek]

Traveller, on 23 April 2019 - 07:57 AM, said:

Goddamn crazy ape.

So, I've from going from a fight that relies on careful deflects and parrys, to an all-out monkey rampage in a swamp with shit-flinging and wide unblockable grabs.

Got him to 2nd phase using firecrackers, but it gets really messed up when

Spoiler

you cut his head off using the sword through his neck; he then picks up his head and starts swinging it around, with the sword in his other hand! So it then becomes a sword fight, with a scream attack that puts so much on the terror metre that you die if you're too close.

I was getting wrist cramps after about an hour last night, so I'll have to come back to it later.

Yaaaaaaaay! Amazing!

[Traveller]

There's an update that nerfs a couple of skills - the kicks and monk move - powers up some prosthetic tools, and slightly reduces the posture of the blazing bull!

They want to encourage players to 'experiment more' apparently, and maybe the bull was putting some people off early.

D'rek - that ape fight

Spoiler

is insane! And creepy... theres a good pause after you kill him - there's even the Shinobi execution screen you get when you end it. So just when you think you've done it, he slowly gets up.. and picks up his head! The music is awesome, and his movements are all different, not beast like but staggering and controlled.

Such a weird, disturbing but fun showdown.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 23 April 2019 - 06:52 PM

[Traveller]

Bound to be some comments, but there are only a couple of changes, the game stays the same apart from a few tweaks to tools that were getting ignored as they didn't really do much.

[Mentalist]

RIP Seven Ashina Spears. Third time's a charm, you mofo.

Edit: Sayonara, Armored Warrior. Have a nice flight!

Now I gotta buckle down and find some more minibosses so that I can get 2 more beads before facing Genichiro.

-made my first visit to the Sunken valley, found a bead and a Gourd seed
-also went deeper into the temple, saw a centipede boss, but did not engage.

I picked up a bunch of divine confetti from the samurais in Ashina, maybe I could try facing that ghost in Ashina outskirts now? Hmmm..

But first, I need to finish the grind towards Flowing Water...

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 24 April 2019 - 04:18 AM

[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 24 April 2019 - 03:19 AM, said:

Anytime I make any progress on Katana he gains the ability to quasi teleport straight up my ass before I can clench. Annoying

The thought of playing this game with a mouse physically makes me ill. Don’t think I could figure that out. Hell can barely handle the controller most times.

Which one is Katana?

Mouse is actually easier (imho), cuz you have 4 buttons, and a single finger responsible for each.

With a controller, when you have 4 buttons next to each other and only your thumb to choose between the 4, I inevitably mess things up and get frustrated.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 24 April 2019 - 04:22 AM

[Traveller]

I went back to Senpou, killed some easy monkeys for another prayer bead. Also good cut scene, got myself another

Spoiler

sword there too

Then headed back to Ashina depths. Didn't realise how far down it went! Should have guessed based on DS. Avoided spirit magic guy for now, but got 2 more prayer beads, one from another snake eyes gun mini boss, another just sitting up on a statue!

Kept going into depths, found the misty, atmospheric Hidden Forest. Hunting for more prayer beads, can't believe I missed this whole area. My health bar is looking seriously good now; 3 resurrect nodes now too since Genichiro, but only 7 gourds, think I may have missed some of those too.

Ment if you keep going to the gun fort theres a good grind area and an easy boss for another bead.

[Mentalist]

Nice.

Yeah, I'm already on 7 gourds and I just started Sunken Valley, so you must've deffo missed something.

I stopped the temple yesterday at a point where the game tried teaching me aerial deathblow- I was low on supplies at that point, so didn't want to fight the Nightjar monks.

[Traveller]

Well I know I missed an entire area; I'm down in the hidden forest now after going through Ashina Depths. I should probably have a go at Headless or that spirit throwing guy in the cave, I just went past them.

There's another headless down in the forest, and I'm pretty sure there will be another boss or two. It looks so different again, I love the different environments to explore in between bosses.

Some of the gourd seeds I found have just been sitting on random ledges, so I expect I'll have to backtrack and search in case I missed any.

Found a good way to deal with the guys with the big guns - the umbrella upgrade literally spins them round to face the other way, and gives you a red spot to kill them instantly.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 24 April 2019 - 12:25 PM

[Mentalist]

Traveller, on 24 April 2019 - 11:14 AM, said:

Well I know I missed an entire area; I'm down in the hidden forest now after going through Ashina Depths.

Theres another headless down here and I'm pretty sure there will be another boss or two. Some of the gourd seeds have just been sitting on random ledges so I expect I'll have to backtrack and search in case I missed any.

There's one early on in Sunken Valley. Once you leave the under-valley Idol and get past the 1st cave, look for a way up- there's a series of ledges that take you to another cave and then a little tent that has a few enemies around it as well as yellow gunpowder and a Gourd seed.

Did you grab the bead in the little nook at the Sunken Valley entrance? Once you get to that first idol, turn around and head the opposite way. You'll get to a little ledge you have to shimmy on and then a small bit of Ashina Outskirts with 3 mini ziggurats and a lake. The bead's just sitting there.

My current fave grind spot is the first section of Senpou. There's 13 monks there, more than half can be stealth-killed, and you can farm not just good XP (87 per monk!) but also loads of red and blue candy. The giant up top is worth almost 200, and there's loads of freebies from the crickets as well.

Ofc, still nothing beats Hirata for number of quick kills when I need to get a resurrect back.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 24 April 2019 - 12:01 PM

[Traveller]

Yes got those ones thanks. My favourite farm spot at the moment is the fort as you can backstab 3 gunners in about 2 minutes, for around 120 exp - it still seems too little though as I'm guessing it takes more to level each bar as you go up?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 24 April 2019 - 01:15 PM

[Mentalist]

Traveller, on 24 April 2019 - 12:38 PM, said:

Yes got those ones thanks. My favourite farm spot at the moment is the fort as you can backstab 3 gunners in about 2 minutes, for around 120 exp - it still seems too little though as I'm guessing it takes more each bar you go up?

Yeah, Each next point takes more XP. I'm at a point where I need over 6k per point. It's pretty crazy, which is why I'm getting cautious about tackling bosses until I lock my points in.

[Traveller]

Yeah I think I need to get further to find some bigger exp drops - there are a lot of skills I've not got yet and I've now unlocked a new skill tree.

You should be able to get snake eyes gunner and the long arm centipede behind the fort now, then go for Genichiro.

I could probably take the Guardian Ape now if I had a few goes, it's not more skills I need, it's just practice.

Having fun exploring new stuff though. I'll have to wait until this eve before I get to play though. Work sucks.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 24 April 2019 - 01:30 PM

[Traveller]

I think I went through the door at the top to stealth-hit him for one. Then killed the gunners. Then backed down the steps, blocking and hitting him, and healing when he heads back up. Does he do a thrust you can mikiri counter?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 24 April 2019 - 01:35 PM

[Mentalist]

Traveller, on 24 April 2019 - 01:33 PM, said:

I think I went through the door at the top to stealth-hit him for one. Then killed the gunners. Then backed down the steps, blocking and hitting him, and healing when he heads back up. Does he do a thrust you can mikiri counter?

Yeah, hit and run on the gunners is key.

I don't think he's big on thrusts.

I just whaled on him while souped-up on red candy.

[Traveller]

Are you going up the steps, or down through the castle beams, through the door and up behind him?