What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

[Lord Raziere]

Any mods you recommend for starbound? I enjoyed the first 20 hours or so, but it got pretty samey after that. Every planet feels very similar, and the gear isn't very diverse either.

It's probably unfair because I played it after Terraria which is basically the same game but much better.

I've never palyed terraria and never played Starbound without mods. I knew about the game from watching Zito's stream some time ago, and I installed the mod Frackin' Universe as soon as I bought it, which is the biggest mod of them, it does a lot to introduce more planet types, environments, weathers to defend yourself from and equipment to buy to protect yourself from them, just a whole bunch of stuff- thing is you have to do a lot of science-like logic when crafting because the extra stuff and machines added in has complex requirements to make, as well as the fact that you must traverse planets with often deadly environments so you have to figure out how to protect yourself.

aside from that I have...checking.....wow. thats seven pages of subscribed steam mods for my starbound. anyways, a lot of my mods are new races that I haven't actually tried yet because I'm still on my first character who is a cat person, a few weapon packs and clothing stuff, like adding WH40k weapons, Star Wars stuff or Doctor Who races and things, tech additions (like morph ball, dash and stuff), some mods that add in a starry planet, or a crystal planet, music packs, a thing to get rid of fall damage, some mods that add in strange magma or moonstone furniture, mods for borderland weapons and shields, melee aiming, making sure seas can be strange and not bound to only water, mods to make sure food never expires, stuff like that. any mod list is going to be a bit personal because it depends on what you want.

but if there is one I recommend most its Frackin' Universe simply for all the things it does, but beware, FU is a one way trip, you supposedly can't uninstall it once its put in according to itself, its very extensive, and does not play well with some mods that it has a long list of on its own page to take note of and you might want to check other options depending? FU adds a lot of new planet types and gear so thats not going to be a problem, its just that I haven't played any mods its incompatible with and trying find out what they're like can't be done because of how FU works and I accepted that when I put it in. thats all I can tell you, like I know some people want the game to be more sandbox and have mod for that, but its not compatible with FU because FU for some reason requires the main quest to function, and that some people dislike FU for how every other mod needs to account for it, so you know just warning you. I recommend it, and its real big, real good and still supported, but its not all the mods out there.

[Anteros]

I dunno...at least in Starbound the NPCs inhabiting your village(s) can use ladders and stairs, which (unless something has changed recently) they never could in Terraria!

They can use stairs but not ropes. Terraria just felt a lot more diverse than Starbound. There's a ridiculous amount of enemy and gear diversity. In Starbound everything feels the same with a few different reskins.

I still got a solid 20 or 30 hours out of it though. It's a good game.

[factotum]

Oh. My. God. I thought the Renne fight was bad, but I managed to get through it--both times. But Loewe? This guy is a whole 'nother level of absolute codswallop. I have a level 88/89 party, all with more than 10k health, and he can wipe me out in a couple of turns--even with both him and his pet robot attendants slowed down. So, what are my choices here? Grind up my existing party to level 99 and hope that helps? Go and fetch Kevin or Kloe--who I'm not currently using, so they're both *way* lower level than everyone else and would require even *more* grinding to get up to speed? Or just give up and uninstall the game? Very seriously leaning towards the latter at the moment, because this IS NOT FUN. And frankly, if Trails of Cold Steel has anything similar in it, then that won't be going on my play list either.

[EDIT] OK, turns out there's a hella useful feature in the game I didn't know about called Retry Offset. Basically, if you die and are forced to retry a battle, it makes it easier for you. Was still tough to get past Loewe after a retry, but I managed it...just Weissman to worry about now!

[Razade]

Consistently getting to Elysium now in Hades but man is it a pretty high jump in over-all enemy health and just general difficulty. The butterfly orbs, and the mini-boss version, are probably my least favorite thing in the game. Especially when combined with the Elysium Archers who are all sorts of irritating. Theseus and the Minotaur have stomped me pretty much every time but I'm making slow progress against them. I dread what the Hades fight will be like. It's been, if not fun, an interesting time learning to use the arena against Theseus. The last fight might even have been a win if I hadn't gone in after that mini-boss butterfly and lost my first extra life against it and taken a real thrashing. It was a nice "a-ha" moment when I realized you're supposed to use the big barriers to keep from being sniped and there's a lot of really good lead up in teaching you that that I was just too distracted to notice. The archers teach you Theseus's trident mechanic, in needing to dash and hide and the mini-boss fight against the Bull teaches you about smashing things into the various barriers.

I've also fought, and generally destroyed, the other two Furies when I met them. Alecto did get me the first time we ran into one another but subsequent fights have been a curbstomp. Even beat Megaera the last time without taking damage. Tisiphone is the easiest of the three, I've found, in that she just lets you beat on her with a minimum requirement to dodge or keep on your toes. Her closing the area as Man mentioned is a cool change of pace but I've found it just makes her that much easier to push around. The Hydra has pretty much stopped giving me problems at all, he's just been a fun little fight.

[Cygnia]

Finished "Sumatra: Fate of Yandi". Not bad, but I liked the surrealness of "Legend of Hand" better. Got back into "Gris", got help from the hubby to make progress in one annoying level.

And Steam has now got "Untitled Goose Game" for the PC...

HONK

[Man_Over_Game]

Consistently getting to Elysium now in Hades but man is it a pretty high jump in over-all enemy health and just general difficulty. The butterfly orbs, and the mini-boss version, are probably my least favorite thing in the game. Especially when combined with the Elysium Archers who are all sorts of irritating. Theseus and the Minotaur have stomped me pretty much every time but I'm making slow progress against them. I dread what the Hades fight will be like. It's been, if not fun, an interesting time learning to use the arena against Theseus. The last fight might even have been a win if I hadn't gone in after that mini-boss butterfly and lost my first extra life against it and taken a real thrashing. It was a nice "a-ha" moment when I realized you're supposed to use the big barriers to keep from being sniped and there's a lot of really good lead up in teaching you that that I was just too distracted to notice. The archers teach you Theseus's trident mechanic, in needing to dash and hide and the mini-boss fight against the Bull teaches you about smashing things into the various barriers.

I find the trick about Elysium encounters is they require you to deal high DPS.

The Elysium heroes aren't hard individually, they just become a major challenge when they are able to surround you. Even the damn fairy orb miniboss continuously spawns more Elysium heroes until you destroy the orb. So while there isn't really a "time limit" per se, you'll find that those encounters will be easier the faster you can dish out damage. But from my experience, anything that isn't the Sword seems to be fairly low on damage when it comes to conventional attacks (the Spear's basic used to be friggin' stellar, but it seems like it got nerfed).

You can try swapping out your Death Defiance feature for the one that revives you once per room with reduced HP. It has allowed me to play more aggressively in earlier chambers, to forgo HP and Darkness (as I use the option that getting Darkness heals me) for other bonuses. There have been a few times where I was about to clear a room with ~5 or so HP left and just let the last guy kill me to jump back up to 30%.

For the Minotaur+Theseus fight, I'd suggest trying to split them up and then fighting the Minotaur while Theseus is on the other side of the room. Theseus on his own is a bitch and a half, as his own god boons add a frustrating level of chaos to the fight that, combined with his shield and snipe combo, is absolutely infuriating.

If I had to describe Hades, it's like a combination of Theseus's lethality and speed with the Minotaur's predictability and melee range. Mostly, he requires you to be patient and calm, as reacting too soon with your dodges or not focusing on dealing with his projectiles/bombs results in getting yourself killed. More than anything else, Hades makes me feel like losing was my fault, because there was something I could have easily paid attention to if I wasn't panicking so much. All of the telegraphing you need is very obvious (even more so than Tisiphone), it just requires very precise counter actions to deal with, or the payment of 1/4 of your HP.

A cold sweat. That's how I'd describe it in a nutshell. At least, for the first half, anyway. Haven't gotten past the second yet.

When you reach him, there's two important things you need to learn:

• He'll telegraph a melee circle slash with devastating damage and reach. When he does that, dash TOWARDS him, as he'll dash towards you as he does it which will displace it just like a charged Spear attack.
• When he shoots you and misses, his projectiles will turn into bombs that need to be destroyed.

[Silverraptor]

Just wondering, who here plays among us and would like to get invited fairly regularly to games hosted in discord group chats daily?

[Razade]

I find the trick about Elysium encounters is they require you to deal high DPS.

The Elysium heroes aren't hard individually, they just become a major challenge when they are able to surround you. Even the damn fairy orb miniboss continuously spawns more Elysium heroes until you destroy the orb. So while there isn't really a "time limit" per se, you'll find that those encounters will be easier the faster you can dish out damage. But from my experience, anything that isn't the Sword seems to be fairly low on damage when it comes to conventional attacks (the Spear's basic used to be friggin' stellar, but it seems like it got nerfed).

You can try swapping out your Death Defiance feature for the one that revives you once per room with reduced HP. It has allowed me to play more aggressively in earlier chambers, to forgo HP and Darkness (as I use the option that getting Darkness heals me) for other bonuses. There have been a few times where I was about to clear a room with ~5 or so HP left and just let the last guy kill me to jump back up to 30%.

For sure, which is kind of a shame. I was liking that the other two levels were more about how you played and not what choices you made. A little frustrating to have a DPS limit test. It's something Roguelikes have often though so it's not surprising. It sounds like what I suspected was the case as well, I just have hit the grind hard enough yet on some options. I'm not even at 30 Escape Attempts and I'm consistently hitting the end of Elysium. From my minor searching, that seems on the low end of upgrades. I've also been prioritizing ambrosia and gems so probably not playing that optimal grind either.

For the Minotaur+Theseus fight, I'd suggest trying to split them up and then fighting the Minotaur while Theseus is on the other side of the room. Theseus on his own is a bitch and a half, as his own god boons add a frustrating level of chaos to the fight that, combined with his shield and snipe combo, is absolutely infuriating.

Absolutely agree here. I've got both of them almost dead in the last run. So I know it's just a matter of time with good practice and getting a good sum of gear. Does beating the Minotaur as a mini-boss remove him from the boss fight? I was wondering that and it'd be a neat mechanic. I fear that that's probably not how it goes though. I try to take the Fated choices when they come up, especially when they're the co-op God Boons because I adore those to pieces but skipped it this time. Might further edit if this build carries me to Hades but I really doubt it will. I further doubt I'll win even if it does. But I'm giving it a shot.


Edit: And, as predicted with the above help (which I appreciate greatly) and the aforementioned tactics I got my first slotted win off Elysium. A good feeling, all told. A pretty good run and my 31st Escape Attempt. Some good Boons and general upgrades though I admit I've prioritized getting my Death's Defiance back at each turn. Lost it once off the Hydra some how and then off those tiny little exploding Chariots which I hate in Elysium.

If I had to describe Hades, it's like a combination of Theseus's lethality and speed with the Minotaur's predictability and melee range. Mostly, he requires you to be patient and calm, as reacting too soon with your dodges or not focusing on dealing with his projectiles/bombs results in getting yourself killed. More than anything else, Hades makes me feel like losing was my fault, because there was something I could have easily paid attention to if I wasn't panicking so much. All of the telegraphing you need is very obvious (even more so than Tisiphone), it just requires very precise counter actions to deal with, or the payment of 1/4 of your HP.

A cold sweat. That's how I'd describe it in a nutshell. At least, for the first half, anyway. Haven't gotten past the second yet.[/quote]

I happened to see a gif of the fight with him today, sadly. Tips and all is fine with me but seeing the fight was a spoiler I wasn't looking forward to until I got there myself. Part of the fun is figuring things out like my example with the Elysium boss fight. Knowing the patterns prior takes away from that initial challenge.

[Anteros]

Most of the time by the time I get to the end of Elysium my build is online and I'm just rolling over everything. I don't think I've ever actually lost to Hades if I get to him. Elysium is probably the hardest part of the game, and owns most of my deaths. Beating the Minotaur mini boss doesn't remove him from the fight but it does weaken him.

My favorite combo was the Hermes extra dashes along with Athena's invulnerability during a dash. Basically invincibility for the vast majority of the time since you never stop dashing.

One thing I like about Hades is that you have to trade off on which upgrades you want. I vastly prefer the multiple death defying talent since if I'm losing a fight I don't think an extra 30hp or so will save me very often. I can easily see why someone would prefer the other though.

[Cazero]

Just wondering, who here plays among us and would like to get invited fairly regularly to games hosted in discord group chats daily?

I'd be down for that, but living in europe might cause some timezone/ping issues.

[factotum]

OK, I completed Trails in the Sky SC last night. My thoughts: the combat in this game can get *really* frustrating sometimes, with it being possible for your entire party to get wiped out in a single turn without you being able to respond in any way. And yet, and yet...I still wanted to finish it. It's been a very long time since I've played a game so compelling to me that I would get over the frustration. I just liked the characters and wanted to see their story to the end.

Now, as I said before, I'm probably going to skip the third Trails in the Sky, because it looks like it has loads of individual small bits of character story rather than a single story following just a couple of people, so it doesn't immediately appeal. Trails of Cold Steel will probably be next, and there are four games in that series (albeit 4 hasn't been localised to English yet), so if it drags me in like Trails in the Sky did, that'll be me sorted for a few months.

[Razade]

Most of the time by the time I get to the end of Elysium my build is online and I'm just rolling over everything. I don't think I've ever actually lost to Hades if I get to him. Elysium is probably the hardest part of the game, and owns most of my deaths. Beating the Minotaur mini boss doesn't remove him from the fight but it does weaken him.

My favorite combo was the Hermes extra dashes along with Athena's invulnerability during a dash. Basically invincibility for the vast majority of the time since you never stop dashing.

One thing I like about Hades is that you have to trade off on which upgrades you want. I vastly prefer the multiple death defying talent since if I'm losing a fight I don't think an extra 30hp or so will save me very often. I can easily see why someone would prefer the other though.

I've reached Hades now and both times I feel like I've like it was my bad. Got closer the second time but he just appeared and wollped me. If the other bosses are much of an indication, it's less a matter of how and a matter of when. I've consistently beat Theseus and his pal every run since the last edit. The run up to Hades has done me in a few times, that poison is no joke but I just learned through trial and error there's a cure pot there. The RNG conspired to make me go down all three of the paths and a mini-boss the last run or I'd have had a full win under my belt.

I also like most of Athena's Boons. Demeter's are also a neat addition, I'm enjoying hers as well.

[Cozzer]

Just completed the Crash Bandicoot Remake trilogy, opened Steam and saw Hades at a discount, so I guess I know what I'll be playing later after work.

[Cespenar]

OK, I completed Trails in the Sky SC last night. My thoughts: the combat in this game can get *really* frustrating sometimes, with it being possible for your entire party to get wiped out in a single turn without you being able to respond in any way. And yet, and yet...I still wanted to finish it. It's been a very long time since I've played a game so compelling to me that I would get over the frustration. I just liked the characters and wanted to see their story to the end.

Now, as I said before, I'm probably going to skip the third Trails in the Sky, because it looks like it has loads of individual small bits of character story rather than a single story following just a couple of people, so it doesn't immediately appeal. Trails of Cold Steel will probably be next, and there are four games in that series (albeit 4 hasn't been localised to English yet), so if it drags me in like Trails in the Sky did, that'll be me sorted for a few months.

You aren't alone in the frustration since SC is probably the hardest one in the franchise. Cold Steel will probably feel like a breeze after that, but story and character-wise, it's even a step up. My only suggestion would be to not chain-play the games one after another since they are 80+ hours affairs, but you seem to have burned through how many Persona games (I think?) so you might have a different method than mine.

I've reached Hades now and both times I feel like I've like it was my bad. Got closer the second time but he just appeared and wollped me. If the other bosses are much of an indication, it's less a matter of how and a matter of when. I've consistently beat Theseus and his pal every run since the last edit. The run up to Hades has done me in a few times, that poison is no joke but I just learned through trial and error there's a cure pot there. The RNG conspired to make me go down all three of the paths and a mini-boss the last run or I'd have had a full win under my belt.

I also like most of Athena's Boons. Demeter's are also a neat addition, I'm enjoying hers as well.

Oh man, the poison just wasted an incredibly steamrolly run I was having the first time I encountered it. Full hp to zero in a couple of rooms, while I'm just scampering desperately around.

[factotum]

My only suggestion would be to not chain-play the games one after another since they are 80+ hours affairs, but you seem to have burned through how many Persona games (I think?) so you might have a different method than mine.

Hmmm, let's see: since the release of Persona 4 Golden on Steam earlier this year, I've played: P4G (97 hours), Persona 5 Royal (127 hours), Persona 3 Portable (90 hours), Persona 1 (50 hours), Trails in the Sky FC (40 hours) and Trails in the Sky SC (65). I may have a problem...and considering the only JRPG I even completed before those was Octopath Traveler, something of a surprise!

Anyway, I've ordered the PS4 version of Trails of Cold Steel because it was slightly cheaper than the Steam version, but I may well give it a bit of a rest before I start it. I do have Chrono Trigger and FF9 in my Steam account looking accusingly at me, for a start!

[Man_Over_Game]

I feel like the poison maze in the last segment of Hades requires you to have some sort of ranged aspect to your build. Without that, you're going to have a hard time.

I've learned that the hard way from the Witches' Circle encounter in Asphodel. There was a point where I struggled to hide behind a pillar and just got poked to death while doing nothing. You might think you're a tough mothersucker, until you realize you don't have anything in your Gauntlet/Sword run that can actually deal with a real bullet-hell.

I've beaten Hades twice so far, both times prioritizing kiting effects and mobility. The extra mobility you get from Hermes is probably one of the biggest deciding factors towards success against Hades.

I've noticed that when it comes to high-damage, massive telegraphing bosses like Hades himself, speed isn't a requirement, but it basically lets you screw up. That extra bit of mobility basically buys you that little bit of wiggle room, allowing you to read the room for a second or two to accommodate your poor gamer skills.

In a nutshell, mobility lets you suck more and get away with it. What it does not help with is chaos - reacting to multiple moving parts that are difficult to track - so don't pick up Hermes boons if you're struggling in wave encounters.

And he does get easier. Since you have time to figure out what he's doing, and he really only has like 3 attacks (he gets one more later, and some upgrade over the course of the fight), he eventually becomes predictable until you're more likely to die to Theseus+Asterios (as they're just chaotic as hell and never seem to get much easier).


And I definitely agree, Demeter's abilities are pretty cool. I particularly like her Cast, as it's an ice turret. Just pop 3 of those suckers all at once, add one other status effect, and get that sweet 40% damage buff from Privileged Status. Wait a few seconds and pick up your turrets to do it again. It has absolutely terrible damage, but it feels fun, and that matters more than just popping Festive Feast and sitting in your cloud arena all day.

I recently discovered that Duos have some unique requirements. To be eligible, you must have a boon from both gods that are a part of that duo, and they must be related to the possible duo between those gods. Usually, eligibility comes from status effects (for example, being able to afflict Ares's Doom and Dionysus's Hangover makes you eligible for Curse of Nausea duo, which upgrades your Hangover effects).
However, there are several duos that require specific Cast upgrades to be aquired. Notably, Poseidon's (a generic, knockback rocket launcher) and Ares (summons a spinning chainsaw that slowly moves forward) have the most Cast duos, so keep a look out for those.

It is possible to get a Duo without the usual banter of the gods (which means you can buy Duos from Charon and can even get multiple choices for Duos from the same Boon selection).

Legendaries are a little different, generally requiring you to have both the standard mechanic of that God and an upgrade to that mechanic. For example, if you want Ares's Legendary, you need both a Blade Rift boon and another Ares boon that modifies your Blade Rifts. Not all God mechanics have legendaries (like how Ares doesn't have a Legendary for Doom effects), so it's a bit awkward as to what exactly you need to get a Legendary in the first place.

The most interesting one is one of Poseidon's (he has two), which requires both of his reward-gaining passives. It increases your chances of getting fish spots. That's it.

On that note, don't discredit fishing. Getting 10 keys or 100 gems is a hell of a lot easier through a quicktime event than getting them through killing stuff.

[warty goblin]

I finally ground my way up to the Gneisenau in World of Warships a while ago, and I officially love this ship. Instead of the actual Scharnhorst class's armament of 9x11 inch guns, WOWS went with a proposed but never implemented 6x15 inch conversion, presumably so the progression from the 15 inch Bayern to the 15 inch Bismarck didn't have a weird subcaliber stop en route.

Everything about the Gneisenau just works
The guns are accurate so longer range engagements are practical. Sure there's things that have more and/or heavier guns, but they pay for it in reload times, while Lady G reloads in a sprightly 26 seconds. This also works well for close range engagements, where getting that next salvo out 2 seconds faster really matters. The secondary battery does a solid job at battering things into burning hulks at moderately close range. Very useful against people who are tired of you reaching out and giving them a 15 inch armor piercing tokens of your regard. And it has torpedoes, a fact silly battleships keep forgetting. Right before they mysteriously explode, flood and sink.

Totally worth grinding through the Bayern, aka the SMS Missalot.

[Cespenar]

I feel like the poison maze in the last segment of Hades requires you to have some sort of ranged aspect to your build. Without that, you're going to have a hard time.

Just had my first win, and to my experience so far, having some range is just bonkers overall. I did it with the gun, so I'll be trying to win with the other weapons as well, but I have no idea how I'll even pass Elysium with the sword or the gauntlets, let alone traverse the poison-filled mazes afterwards. The shield, I can see though. The shield looks pretty powerful.

Hmmm, let's see: since the release of Persona 4 Golden on Steam earlier this year, I've played: P4G (97 hours), Persona 5 Royal (127 hours), Persona 3 Portable (90 hours), Persona 1 (50 hours), Trails in the Sky FC (40 hours) and Trails in the Sky SC (65). I may have a problem...and considering the only JRPG I even completed before those was Octopath Traveler, something of a surprise!

It's not really surprising. Persona and Trails stand head and shoulders above other JRPGs in my experience as well, at least in terms of story and writing.

[Zevox]

Been playing DBFZ and Persona 4 Golden.

DBFZ: I rather like Master Roshi. He's got a definite learning curve compared to a lot of characters - especially since you don't have a homing dash to just throw out at random - but I like the big toolbox of options he's got to work with. And honestly, he makes me feel like the game in general would probably be better if homing dash worked like his reverse kamehaha across the board, so people needed to aim it rather than having it home in on their opponent no matter where they are, resulting in you needing to be constantly wary of it, and occasionally leading to wonky interactions where it might randomly cross you up depending on the angle it moves at. Maybe I can hope they do something like that in a sequel? Probably won't happen, but I can hope nonetheless.

Been playing him with Videl and Yamcha for full team human. I love Roshi's win quotes with them. For Videl, he praises what a good team she and Gohan make. For Yamcha, he just offers one piece of advice: "Try not to die." Very appropriate.

P4G: First off, damn I love returning to this game. It's probably been longer since I played P4 than any of the other Persona titles (since I'm pretty sure I played P3P more recently than original P4), so it's just great to be back with these characters, or hearing the game's music in its native environment again. Cleared Yukiko's Castle, and honestly, I remember Shadow Yukiko being tougher. She only threw out her big fire AoE once, and didn't double up on it with the 1 More when it hit Chie's weakness. Maybe they deliberately toned her down in Golden? Or maybe I just played on Hard last time I played P4, and forgot because it's been so long.

Looking forward to seeing the new parts, though I already have some experience with Marie from the Persona Q games (and P4AU, technically, though I don't recall if she showed up in that game's story mode, or was just a playable character). Don't think she'll be as much of a standout as the main cast based on that, but we'll see.

There is one problem I'm having, though. They changed the normal battle theme?! Reach Out to the Truth only plays when you ambush shadows now?! The hell! I mean, the new theme isn't bad, of course, but this is Reach Out to the Truth, the most memorable, iconic song in the game, how can you change it out for anything? Damn, that one annoys me. Wouldn't be a bother if ambushing shadows were as easy as in Persona 5, but without that game's stealth mechanic to make it dead easy, and with shadows' movement seeming to be kind of random, you just can't get ambushes nearly as often in P4.

[Man_Over_Game]

Just had my first win, and to my experience so far, having some range is just bonkers overall. I did it with the gun, so I'll be trying to win with the other weapons as well, but I have no idea how I'll even pass Elysium with the sword or the gauntlets, let alone traverse the poison-filled mazes afterwards. The shield, I can see though. The shield looks pretty powerful.

The Sword and Gauntlets take advantage of the fact that most enemies have a facing lag before they unleash their attack, so dashing around enemies causes them to constantly whiff while you beat the hell out of them.

Although, to be honest, the strongest build I've ever made was stacking Doom on the Shield ricochet throw and just kiting. Got lucky with the Daedalus upgrade that causes an explosion each time I catch my shield, and just got a crapton of Hermes mobility buffs and just ran around in circles blowing stuff up. Got my first win off of that.

[Cespenar]

The Sword and Gauntlets take advantage of the fact that most enemies have a facing lag before they unleash their attack, so dashing around enemies causes them to constantly whiff while you beat the hell out of them.

Although, to be honest, the strongest build I've ever made was stacking Doom on the Shield ricochet throw and just kiting. Got lucky with the Daedalus upgrade that causes an explosion each time I catch my shield, and just got a crapton of Hermes mobility buffs and just ran around in circles blowing stuff up. Got my first win off of that.

Yeah, I know that's the theory, but in practice, most enemies and bosses seem to strike in melee much more than they do at range. The melee combat seems like the actual game, where you need to learn the attack patterns, etc. while with bow or gun you just kite.

Might be luck, but my gun win was my first gun run ever. I'll see to the other weapons, though. Maybe it just depends on stacking the most OP boons.

[Anteros]

I haven't won a run with the sword yet that wasn't heavily reliant on casting. I can't seem to make it work. The gauntlets are incredibly broken though. Get the ability that reflects damage on attacks and the one that gives I-frames on dashing and just never stop dashing or punching. It works especially well with the upgrade that extends your combo. You're basically invincible. You don't even have to pay attention.

[Spacewolf]

I'm up to pact 13 with the Gaunlets and 8ish with the spear and sword. I honestly find the bow and gun worse than any melee weapon by a large amount.

[Lord Raziere]

I haven't won a run with the sword yet that wasn't heavily reliant on casting. I can't seem to make it work. The gauntlets are incredibly broken though. Get the ability that reflects damage on attacks and the one that gives I-frames on dashing and just never stop dashing or punching. It works especially well with the upgrade that extends your combo. You're basically invincible. You don't even have to pay attention.

Yeah gauntlets+that+Aphrodite damage was winning my strat he last time I played, beat Hades and I'll be doing it again now the game is fully out.

[Resileaf]

Did the tutorial for Hearts of Iron IV.

I still have no idea how to play this game. I have no idea what your resources are, or how many of them you have, how producing units work, or even how battle plans function.

Paradox tutorials really are the worst.

[factotum]

I played a couple of hours on FF9 last night. Not sure about it, TBH--I'm not a fan of the ATB battle system, because to my mind it's just a really effective way of forcing you to wait around for several seconds doing nothing before you can take your turn. The way the game starts in medias res and doesn't really explain anything doesn't help--I mean, Zidane wanted to kidnap the princess for unexplained reasons, she wanted to be kidnapped in turn, and the Queen didn't appear to care much about the wellbeing of her daughter when she fired grappling hooks and a honkin' big cannon at the flying ship she was aboard! Overall, I have no idea who these people are or why they're doing what they're doing, which makes it hard to get invested in them. Compare to Trails in the Sky FC, where you're given a very clear objective pretty soon in--you're trainee bracers and are trying to qualify as full-on seniors.

Oh, and it does that old classic of giving you the detailed explanation of the game's systems over an hour in when you've already been using them for a while, which is about as useful as the proverbials on a bull.

[Razade]

Last update for Hades from me, since I'm now generally beating the old man every time we run into one another. The story's great as expected, and while I think the loop's a bit contrived it has to be there somehow and it's nice that they tie it into a successive story. Athena's boons are just too good, I feel my runs are a bit same-y if I run into her. Which is a shame since a lot of the other boons are just fun. But when you hit the witch coven room and don't have deflect it shows just how nice it is to have. And I run into it often. Like every other run and it's a pain.

[Cespenar]

Last update for Hades from me, since I'm now generally beating the old man every time we run into one another. The story's great as expected, and while I think the loop's a bit contrived it has to be there somehow and it's nice that they tie it into a successive story. Athena's boons are just too good, I feel my runs are a bit same-y if I run into her. Which is a shame since a lot of the other boons are just fun. But when you hit the witch coven room and don't have deflect it shows just how nice it is to have. And I run into it often. Like every other run and it's a pain.

Trying out new boons can be the cure, there. I don't even pick the Athena dash-deflect any more, now that I've tried it a couple of times to great effect.

I played a couple of hours on FF9 last night. Not sure about it, TBH--I'm not a fan of the ATB battle system, because to my mind it's just a really effective way of forcing you to wait around for several seconds doing nothing before you can take your turn. The way the game starts in medias res and doesn't really explain anything doesn't help--I mean, Zidane wanted to kidnap the princess for unexplained reasons, she wanted to be kidnapped in turn, and the Queen didn't appear to care much about the wellbeing of her daughter when she fired grappling hooks and a honkin' big cannon at the flying ship she was aboard! Overall, I have no idea who these people are or why they're doing what they're doing, which makes it hard to get invested in them. Compare to Trails in the Sky FC, where you're given a very clear objective pretty soon in--you're trainee bracers and are trying to qualify as full-on seniors.

Oh, and it does that old classic of giving you the detailed explanation of the game's systems over an hour in when you've already been using them for a while, which is about as useful as the proverbials on a bull.

Eh, going into FF right after Persona and Trails might be a losing prospect whichever way you cut it.

[Man_Over_Game]

Eh, going into FF right after Persona and Trails might be a losing prospect whichever way you cut it.

Said it before and I'll say it again: Lightning Returns on Hard is probably one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. The story is a bit out-there, but it doesn't really have any relation to the previous Final Fantasy XIII games, and it takes a ton of risks that I think pay off.

[Zevox]

Eh, going into FF right after Persona and Trails might be a losing prospect whichever way you cut it.

Eh, I'd give FF7R a passing grade there. Its writing isn't as strong as Persona (can't speak to Trails, haven't played it), but it's good enough that you wouldn't be terribly disappointed by it just because you recently played something with better writing.

The rest of FF though, yeah, can't argue there. Haven't played it all, but when my experience with it otherwise ranges from "decent but nothing special" (4) to "some of the worst writing I've ever seen" (13)... well, I'd say that range speaks for itself.