Stellar Blade

[mfnick]

I know 😞

 

I almost downloaded it earlier but don’t want to play anything like that before Stellar Blade now in case I burn out. 

[Maryokutai]

5 hours ago, DANGERMAN said:

I think Metal Gear Rising is closer to a DMC or Bayonetta than it is to this. It was such a good game though, shame we didn't get another but I'm glad it exists regardless

 

Looking back at how that one came to be it's a small miracle it even came out eventually, so I think we'd be pushing our luck wishing for a sequel.

 

But yeah, it was excellent. Platinum was really at the top of their game during that gen, most other action titles from that time are sluggish and messy.

 

Ew, very off-topic, my bad, semi-forgot what topic I clicked on.

[DANGERMAN]

Don't worry about it,, Rising is always worth talking about 

[one-armed dwarf]

This guy's video has some really crunchy audio, maybe he should check out what's going on with his capture card. But it shows some of the interesting frame data around the prebaked combos in this game and what they actually have to differentiate each other. The yellow text is the name of the combo in the skill screen, white text is what it actually does. The cross up is one I used quite often (it's a cross up, so it's use case is fairly obvious, hit them from behind) as well as the gap closing AOE interrupt (hold triangle, then hold triangle circle).

 

But there's other ones like aerial dodges and stuff. So it requires you to actually look at what the individual combos do, whether it's manipulating Eve's hurtbox (eg, putting her character model in the air or dodging to avoid damage) or hitting an attack with a high stun value, so you can actually interrupt things

 

 

Still would much prefer a system where you just make your own combos, than this prebaked stuff, but it's there at least. This is how you're supposed to interact with these enemies

[mfnick]

Supposedly turning off HDCP in the PS5 HDMI settings reduces the input lag in this. Didn’t bother me so not tried it but a FYI for anyone who may be interested. 

[Nag]

Doing fairly well review wise...

 

 

 

Good news as I have it pre-ordered, bad news for my Fantasy Critic score.😅

[one-armed dwarf]

The reviews for this have been quite good, and the demo turned me around on it in a way even though it's really janky so I think I'll buy it. It's Metal Gear Rising 2 at home so maybe that will do

 

Besides the reviews though, I found this writeup from Gene Park interesting for while it doesn't necessarily defend its character designs it gives some important context that isn't really included that often in the culture war around it.

 

If you want to get around paygate

 

https://archive.ph/v5g00

[Nag]

That’s a good article and something I was completely oblivious to.

[mfnick]

Wow, I’m surprised at the scores. I was really looking forward to this & expecting to like it but was expecting critics to rip into it or at least score it average. 
 

TBH this worries me more than if it scored badly. Is it full of loot, crafting and have a large open world I don’t know about or something? Or secretly a roguelike? 
 

Im not reading a review to find out BTW. Want to go in blind when it comes through the post. 

[Nag]

There is looting (as far as I know) but you can turn on auto loot in the settings... something I'm planning on doing.

[mfnick]

From the demo that was more just normal action game collecting stuff kind of thing. Like red orbs in DMC. & yea I turned that on it was loads better. 

[Nag]

Ah, fair play... you meant more a Borderlands thing.

 

I've decided I'm playing this on little girl difficulty... I think I'll ruin the game for myself if I'm repeatedly smacking my head against the wall with enemies... I've read you can kind've tailor the experience a bit... plus there's no difficulty related trophies which is nice.

[Maryokutai]

Good shout with the article above. I remember reading years ago about the whole plastic surgery bonanza going on there but would never have connected the dots in this way. Definitely a more reasonable look at the whole thing than the skull-bashing black and white discourse over the last few weeks. 

 

Also kind of glad to see it turned out decent enough, because for the longest time I thought it looked like high-end poop. 

[one-armed dwarf]

In terms of visual communication of its gameplay, the demo has a handy 'screen shake' toggle which makes the combat look a bit more 'flat', but much easier to parse cause it's not juddering constantly. Plus the dualsense implementation is actually really solid so it makes up for that feedback anyway.

 

Screen shake on a game like this feels fucking awful when you're trying to push its combat beyond a passive to and fro, and play more aggressively. So it's great it has that, FFXVI didn't have that and it was horrible in its late game

 

 

[Maf]

This game looks really good, but not sure I will get it. I just don’t have it to play these kinds of games anymore.

 

Maybe later in the year when it’s cheaper. £60 to shout at it is probably not worth it