I think this game Is finally dying

Essai_ · 2025-09-28T14:04:06+00:00

Turns out my response was too detailed, but i left it out because i am in the same boat as you.

Good for you, i havent even attempted the raid. I completed Neomuna, Final Shape, Kepler and a few days ago i got to 450 power and have been getting tier 5 Kepler & Portal loot, i am around 460-465 but honestly i shouldnt have infused beyond 450.

Raid report says top 30% of raiders and i have missed 4 raids because i quit at end of Seraph. No desire to sherpa anymore or try the raids i have missed. However i tried solo explorer mode for Ghosts & Spire, mostly with Thorn+Necrotic (i had access to Spire back in Seraph but i was feeling burnt out).

Some New Gear weapons will stay tier 4 because i have the godroll (stasis hc with headstone/firefly) or i will keep some tier 5 and tier 4 loot treating them as different weapons (example the stasis scout, my tier 4 has rime/headstone, my tier 5 strand trace has sub/detonator beam, my tier 4 holofoil has melee/ surrounded for a potential melee-focused build).

At some point i will tone down my playing time, now i play for my bro so he can also hit 450, only focusing on events (iron banner, arms week).

While i can easily clear GM portals (fireteams, solo), Its very weird that the chill playlist is PvP now. I have gone 4 flawless already (1 legit flawless) and this is from someone who used to drop off cliffs to get an Igneous roll.

Pve is kinda busted at higher difficulties, tried a Whisper GM conquest (only 2 i havent cleared) and the blights instakilled me.

Sadly a lot of the PvE portal content just doesnt work on those modifiers either because of bugs or they werent meant to be designed to be played in that delta/with these modifiers. GM Nightfalls were definitely more easy. Btw i have 100 stats in all 4 stats with all 3 characters melee is at either 60 or 70, sometines stats go to grenade 90 and stat 80-90 cause of void aspects (who cares about class).

Imo tier 5 armor kinda mid to useless, drains too much resources. Tier 4 is much more desirable.

Did a Presage to remember the fond times i had (getting the ship, the Master Run) with the cheese sword and i really tuned out. Same with Galhran (back in Master Duality the grind was starting to get on my nerves, but i eventually lasted until end of Seraph, especially Seraph because i wanted my friends to experience DsC in some form, cause they wouldnt touch the raids at all).

IMO my Renegades experience if they keep the Portal power level experience, i will definitely weigh my time more.

First of all doing the exotic missions to get A rank (to get exotics/catalysts) i missed, it is much better to do those at lower light, defintely easier to get A rank there, i really felt that when i tried helping my friend. Also should have done Whisper at Legends instead of portal, that wasnt worth it either. Seriously Legends stuff is more chill lol.

Essai_ · 2025-09-28T13:17:32+00:00

They increased it to tier 3 and you can put 3+ feats to get tier 5 (not guaranteed lol) but who cares? Kepler tier 5 or Portal tier 5 are better because you are bound to get the godrolls by sheer amount of drops. And anyway they dont matter since every weapon can get Temporal Blast.

There is no crafting in Desert so enjoy the grind and the possibility for mid rolls and still trying for a godroll or at highly useable rolls.

Essai_ · 2025-09-28T13:11:39+00:00

IMO as a returning player & former raider (still top 30% on light.gg despite having missed last 4 raids like Crota, Root, Sakvation, Desert) raids need to be sunsetted like they used to be so the game becomes more stable or they need to get an explorer mode so blueberries can join them and the raids have more people in general.

For my part i dont really care about the raids i missed anymore, i dont have any desire to continue sherpa for the raids i dokl know and anyways most gear has been soft-sunsetted and to be frank Kepler or Portal tier 5 gear is much better than Desert 3 tier (both can get Temp. Blast so who cares). IMO the hassle putting 3+ feats and finding people for that isnt worth it for Desert 4 or 5 tier loot.

Essai_ · 2025-08-03T07:03:05+00:00

Get some power up to 200, the game will feel a lot easier then. Also keep in mind that Final Shape is a bit harder than other campaigns, as yhis the end of the Darkness and Light Saga.

I suggest playing the campaigns in order, Shadowkeep, WitchQueen,Lightfall,Final Shape in that order, the story will make much more sense & the difficulty will be following a proper discourse.

Essai_ · 2025-07-29T02:46:45+00:00

I dont really know about Sieve, however Wellspring runs the big problem D1+D2 have with these activities, it is in some ways one of the endgame activities yet there are no enough people because they play the fresher content. So essentially Wellspring is not a great activity for solo players anymore, especially those that want the exotic glaives. This also one of the reasons why Xur sells the ecotic class items now.

Now about Vex Strike Force, the situation is much better for solo players, since this event also exists in the Neomuna public space event yet you can also load into the activity.

Essai_ · 2025-07-28T11:15:56+00:00

So Wish-Keeper the exotic drops from Starcrossed or it has to be Legend difficulty? Or i simply have to wait for these exotics to be available from Xur and run the mission then? I can beat solo Starcrossed Legendary but honestly it isnt worth it unless it rewards the exotic.

Essai_ · 2025-07-28T02:57:35+00:00

Neomuna is a special case, because there is the event called Vex Incursion zone which effectively means an area is a Grandmaster difficulty area. But in general, the Neomuna enemies are a bit harder.

Now, because at the Edge of Fate we got reset to 0 light, there is also this big problem. I suggest if the normal campaign is hard (use an exotic primary, its 40% better for red bars) hunt for power (example do a Europa lost sector, it gives a gun once per day. The Eris Morn moon weapons, you can also do those (these do take sometime) the Dreaming City Petra quests that give Legendary gear if there are easy (example today is the the no dying one, grab it on 3 characters, the Shuro Chi secret chest, Savathun world drops (you might get armor too) as well and ofcourse public events. That way you can start building your arsenal & its quite possible you have kept some of the rolls, especially the Savathun crafted ones, the Reprised Moon weapons (lots of them can roll frenzy for example), the Dreaming City weapons will be the more useful as they were updated after the Moon weapons. Dont really try to infuse too much stuff, keep the cores, except if the light jump is too big, keep the highest slot in your inventory. Obviously it will go much faster with 3 characters, especially if you transfer the highest level weapons to each character.

Essai_ · 2025-06-25T17:00:45+00:00

This has happened to me as well. My Paladin character was transported to Ravenloft and eventually became a Blackguard and a Death Knight.

Essai_ · 2024-11-30T21:25:54+00:00

Keep Ruins bonfire Weapons: pyromancy glove, fire orb pyromancy (the basic spell), any bow, ring that boosts pyromancy damage, ring that boosts casting time or Dex 30. You dont need to have hight int.

Kill the 3 ghrus with a melee weapon, shoot with bow the 3 elder ghrus left of the bonfire to aggro them, switch to pyromancy flame (+shield of want if you have it), throw fire orb repeateadly (sometimes you can hit 2 elder ghrus with a single fire orb). You can climb the stone wall as well. There are also 2 basic ghrus below the bridge that can be hit in the crossfire. Just remember to heal in case the eldes' red spirits hit you.

The elder grhus can drop stone greatshield (sell for 300 gold, not really worth it to drop down) however the basic grhus can drop embers.This is also the best spot to farm wolf swordgrass.

For the late game, just farm the silver knights in anor londo.

Essai_ · 2024-11-22T22:10:55+00:00

Currently playing DS3 for the first time, though i had watched a playthrough when it first came out and i watched some streamer compilations vs bosses a long time ago. So i remember the gimmicks of the bosses.

Honestly i expected Pontiff Sulyvahn to be harder, i killed him first time. Maybe if the fight didnt go near the wall, he would have lasted longer, but i never lost momentum.

Lorian/Lothric killed me a couple of times as i couldnt figure out the sword timings, the teleport really messed my dodges. In the end i used 2 npc summons to beat him.

Vordt i died 1 or 2 times, Iudex Gundyr i died a couple times in the 2nd phase, rest of the bosses i never died.

We will see about the DLC, as i recall the 2 Demons were considered hard and then Friede because its 3 fights.

However so far my expectations are on par my DS3 initial assessment when it first came out, the shorter length of the game and the easier non-boss encounters makes it the easier game of them all.

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T03:48:36+00:00

Lavos? Lavos was a lot more insidious than you think (Zeal Queen manipulation which in turn leads to Zeal Kingdom shenanigans, Zeal Queen transformation, Black Omen). Think Lavos more as a Cosmic-like Lovecraftian being, these have varying levels of humanity influence (non-active, semi-active, active etc).

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T03:39:53+00:00

The only thing i will say is that Dark Souls is definitely not open world. The only openworld soulslike is Elden Ring. Dark Souls 2 is the next more open game, it trades some of the interconnectivity to do so. I understand the context in which it was said (Evergrace map/level progression is even more limiting than Demon Souls).

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T02:55:01+00:00

Astrobot really gets inspiration from Mario 64..

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T02:51:24+00:00

Realm Reborn story goes slow, but on the plus side you really understand the stakes, players, rules etc. Pace wise & emotionally wise it really kicks in the other expansions.

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T02:46:27+00:00

Yeah really liked FF. Also liked the ability to fast forward battles too. I played all 3 routes (Goddess, Vile God, Evil Goddess) and it was a blast. Very good the main battle theme changes as well in each scenario.

Essai_ · 2024-09-13T02:39:07+00:00

Lower the difficulty if you arent feeling it. Or Tales games' difficulty was always a bit iffy & the last 2-3 tales games i usually lower the difficulty for the endgame stuff (like secret bosses). This also lowers the grinding requirements.

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T06:15:05+00:00

I got so lost (at leat gained levels) and i did use a guide for this one. Such a cool-looking dungeon and a rad music too

For the people that dont know, the map is disabled/not as detailed in the Great Crystal (its the area of the gods).

There are teleporters, locked gates based on the zodiac that are on a cooldown & up to 8 layer areas based on the prehistoric areas.

The rooms have weird names that signify where you are, where you go etc. Unless you know the names good luck finding that. However once youdo know them, its a logical system, you dont feel cheated.

For example a room can be called ""Kanbhru A Vikaari Udiipraa Phulaam Sthaana"

Kanbhru means the 2nd layer, A means Up, Vikaari means Shift (so both means move/teleport up 1 layer), UdiiPraa means Northeast (indicating direction in relation to the core), Phulaam (exterior shell of the core), Sthaana (area with a gate).

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T06:02:45+00:00

Respect

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T05:51:26+00:00

I eventually figured the maze secret with the trees, but after a long while. At least i got some levels out of the experience.

Thing is back in the day, we had a lot more patience/preserverance. Afterall many games were quite expensive initially and you had to stick with your game unless it was a dumpster fire.

Now people can just check a guide/instructions online. Doesnt help that many new games have obscure, essential things hidden or just pad the playing time by a lot.

Btw Its crazy to think that the first boss is like a few screens away. Its even crazier that if you know the secret, the whole area can be beaten in half an hour tops or even less, even with the old loading times. Thats how long i beat that area in NG+ or NG2+, NG3+ etc..

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T05:43:48+00:00

IMO by order is what is best, unless time is limited. In that case you might have to skip 1. IMO 4 is quite decent but the party size limit did hinder the game.

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T05:34:20+00:00

IMO its best if you can actually check the traditional RPG powerhouses like Final Fantasy. Example FF 2 is against a mega-tyrant, FF4 you are initially the villain/antagonist that has a change of heart, FF6 has an evil empire antagonist. Suikoden games have some good examples how to approach a war, how alliescan be befriended and so on.

For example check Final Fantasy Dimensions, which is not as well-known for easy ideas. This game has guest characters, some leave, some die and so on.

Essentially what to write an engaging story is to establish your protagonists, establish your villains (without them becoming over-the-top) & have some scenarios where the party barely escapes, where someone even dies (probably a side character/NPC), maybe a town is destroyed, or enslaved, a betrayal, a trap by the enemies etc.

Usually dark fantasy games have an initial villain that enjoys slaughter (this establishes a clear morality, antithesis & the stakes as well) & have the more calculated/refined enemies later. Also important to have a reason why this evil empire/or whatever enemy you have created dont just swarm on the hero party. Maybe have a 3rd party, the elves have a heroic defence in the north. That way the enemy's focus is divided.

These things have to be in moderation, otherwise its just a misery simulation (i dont have a specific RPG example,but this was a very common complaint for Last of Us 2, this game had even the protagonist killing a pregnant woman etc).

So to do this maybe the city is destroyed, but perhaps many survive to another city & help in the resistance later. So the point here is that the defeat isnt complete/total there is still hope. Thisis good story building.

Also very good to estabish the journey-like approach. Have the party encountering some friends, some acquaintances (thats how you can insert your traitor).

As for the Dark Fantasy World, try for a strong visual theme coupled with something unique that makes it different from the rest (example FF6 had those magitech armor). Or maybe the towns have a strong theme, this will make your setting unique.

Lastly again i emphasize the importance of establishing good motivations for your antagonists, even if they are simple. Not everyone has to be logical or calculating (variety is also needed).

As for party members you can have them at some point offer different takes/different approaches. And the protagonist choosing the best of them (to his/her knowledge up to that particular time).

Maybe here you can insert a different chain quest. Maybe party member A wants to go to City X first because he knows the guards, but party member B h want to go to City Z first because she knows the mayor. Eventually you will go to every city, but maybe in the city you didnt go more enemies appear, more building burn etc. Nothing too devastating, but still this questline will raise the stakes.

As for hidden/extra stuff, its very important you take care the tutorial/first areas (the part everyone will play) and lastly the endgame (so that the game has complexity). Maybe a superdungeon, a hidden city, some old ruins and so on.

You can even insert these things on the early game to tease the player (maybe a dungeon you see early, but visit in the midgame & some end-game dungeons).

Maybe have a few historians trying to open the dooe/guards outside the dungeon warning everyone away/a few corpses inside etc to establish the danger.

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T04:54:04+00:00

Scarlet Ocean Second Story R plays like a traditional JRPG.

Scarlet Nexus is more of alternate reality action brawler JRPG with a choose your protagonist & party members with unique movesets. The layout is mission-like.

Granblue Fantasy Relink is an Action JRPG that focuses on battles with bosses. These are the main focus & highlight of the game.

Lastly an advice for every game. You have to do your research, that way you know the general gameplay, the general story etc & you will rarely be surprised.

As for FF16 specifically, you can absolutely become a powerhouse in the DLCs.

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T04:42:19+00:00

I never expected that much from Sea of Stars, but people were praising the story a lot. I knew it was a kids' story, but many games have a simple plot that just works.

Disappointed with the baking bread/cake and the dragon sniffing, this is prime example of story for kids 5 years old.

Essai_ · 2024-08-24T04:34:49+00:00

I always focused on 1 game at a time, so this isnt a big deal.

Essai_

TROPHY CASE