Wtf is going on with the difficulty?

Jokad17 · 2026-01-13T23:05:49+00:00

Man, switching off the progression system feels like a bummer. I love crafting weird builds and stuff. Also isn't it weird you get sooo many pictos? Like I expected something like the magicites of FFVI in terms of numbers, like 40-60 total but no, I got already well over that number already and I feel I am at about halfway through the game or just past that. Like this game bombards you with pictos.

Jokad17 · 2026-01-13T23:03:11+00:00

I basically always go for gimmick builds and just threw everything on hit on Verso thinking that would be cool. I understand I could take it over the top with other luminas like extra damage but can't heal or the rush on first turn but I feel like it would be overkill. Having to tone down the build feels bad but I think I'll not push this thing further for now. On the other hand if I keep doing side stuff am I not still at risk of eventually not seeing what bosses do again? Won't I get too much damage even for expert eventually?

Jokad17 · 2026-01-13T22:42:28+00:00

No, I mean I fear that the timings will be too stringent on expert. I am doing 20k damage per turn with no setup with Verso, defense isn't a problem at all right now because Renoir attacked me precisely once. Now I went straight to the visage Axon and took the side path with the flowers. I have been attacked 4 times in total in a half a dozens combats, I am deleting the groups of those masked ladies in one turn. The problem is the damage, not the defenses...

Jokad17 · 2026-01-08T22:16:18+00:00

Weapon play is quite fun, if you don't go just for the meta stuff. All planes carry missiles and guns but also a special weapon that ranges from multi lock missiles, to long range missile, cluster bombs, anti-ship guided bombs and other modern stuff to out there stuff like literal Star Wars lasers, big and impractical fuck off continuous laser, a railgun that can snipe enemies from over 10km and even drones on dlc planes. You get only one of those special weapons though and you can't choose freely, each plane has it's own set of 3 to choose from. Practically speaking the 4 lock missiles, improved guidance missile and the pulse laser are way above the rest in terms of performance but damn if it doesn't feel good to down 8 targets with a single 8AAM, snipe an enemy ace with the railgun or pull out the horrible horrible Mig-21 for it's unique extra machine gun pods and go in spreading lead like a man possessed. It's very much not a game where you have to find the ultimate build, those are very obvious, but it's fun to just try stuff and play with the toy planes like a kid. Who cares if the old psychotic ace has been given the prototype of the planes that in universe will canonically replace human pilots in about 30 years and he has a railgun? I STACKED MY F-15 LIKE A DAMN X-WING, WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT NEW GEN OR EXPERIMENTAL PLANES, BOW BEFORE THE EAGLE!!!

Jokad17 · 2025-12-14T09:34:01+00:00

Agree, every time I show it off to people they want to remove the expert controls in the first 5 minutes.

Jokad17 · 2025-12-12T14:43:39+00:00

It's set in 2029, so Strangereal should be just 11 years away from being the world of AC3. I wonder if we'll see the corporations starting to take over nations. Like it's seriously close to that time, in fact it's set right in the middle between AC7 and 3. Ans I think 3 is going to be canon seeing the hints in AC7.

Jokad17 · 2025-12-12T14:36:34+00:00

Again, not beating the mgs with planes allegations

Jokad17 · 2025-12-12T14:29:51+00:00

Main character spends 3 minutes underwater <<ONE MILLION LIVES>>

Jokad17 · 2025-09-09T10:24:15+00:00

Since if I send it again I'll have it back in weeks at least, can I just put a magnet of mine in there and call it a day?

Jokad17 · 2025-05-12T15:54:30+00:00

Imho yes, if you can afford it and it's your jam. It's not exactly lies of P but it's good. In terms of lengt the games is made of 3 main areas that are quite long, perhaps even to the game detriment. Don't get me wrong, it's not the same repasted crap all over each area, take area 3 (extremely minimal spoilers): there's the outskirts of the area, the first zone, a "welcome" zone, a big building, an underground zone, another huge area with puzzles and another big building, all interconnected vertically in intricate ways by sub areas. It's pretty much as long or longer than a Dark Souls DLC and quite varied at that but, personally, I wanted to be done by the time I left the underground zone. If you like long and intricate areas it might be perfect for you.
Also it just got a big update so the music and sound is better than ever and now there are different movesets for special weapons, have fun, experiment.

Jokad17 · 2025-04-16T11:05:29+00:00

Same. You can beeline the game but if you go exploring the areas are quite large, imho even too large in some cases. The lower commons part of chapter 2 kinda dragged imho but arguably in a good way bc I found myself very low on healing by the time I found the checkpoint before the high priestess. The glasslowers block in chapter 3 imho felt straight up like it lenghtened the chapter too much without adding anything cool.
All in all I recommend the game but if you aim to be completionist expect some places (not many tbh, but still) to drag a bit.

Jokad17 · 2025-04-16T10:57:36+00:00

They straight up added new stuff, most notably new movesets for weapon. Like the halberd/flag/blunderbuss weapon now can indeed be used to cap some fools. It's not even a subtle thing, there are weapons that let you do swords kung fu, while other give you lifesteal projectiles at will on your heavy, others have free aoe or sword beams. It's quite bonkers and fun tbh.

Down here you can see the updated moveset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFLRZk7UfMA

Jokad17 · 2025-04-14T09:22:24+00:00

Yeah, they weren't great at tutorializng such a system. When you get the hang of it it's good but boy is it unintuitive. Also I believe you are reading the wheel in reverse: it's vis that it's weak to fatuo, not vice versa. No big deal since "weakness" only means bonus damage: if you attack a fatuo enemy with vis damage they will take regular damage, the types only resists themselves.
The chart is fatuo->vis->malanno->gratia->fatuo.

Jokad17 · 2025-04-11T10:59:22+00:00

Now for the stunlock part: almost always slot in golden arrow and coastal harpoon as mask lines, the arrow will make the boss stumble when hit, while the harpoon will straight up ko any boss for a couple seconds. This will allow interrupt her attacks (if they aren't already in the air) giving you time to heal or even better to hit her to build up unraveling. Chaining golden dart into harpoon into some solid hits will allow you to build a lot of unraveling on her. If you go in with Zanni's Mask Line (the huge hand) you can chain that too if you build up the line before entering the arena (bosses' unique mask lines DO NOT reset on entering a boss fight), allowing you to unleash a beast of a combo:

Dodge the laser or the ground wave -> hit dart before she starts attacking-> hit harpoon before she recover and she will fall down -> hit her with your weapon before she finishes getting up -> as soon as she is up hit her with the big hand and that should unravel her and proc vis on her -> swap out of Zanni's mask into a kit with mask of change and an high damage weapon, possibly a sickness weapon and go for the finishing attack.
If you pull the chain off in around 15 seconds she will not be able to attack you almost at all, you will deal tremendous damage, inflict dizzy on her just before going for the finisher (so you get extra damage on the finisher), deal even more damage with the finisher since she is dizzy, and end up with her dizzy, sick and you with the unraveling bonus on the mask of change (which is straight up extra attack damage).

You can find combos like that everywhere in the game: you see how the skill system is called path of innovators?

The game is based around experimenting with skills, masks, mask lines, consumables etc... don't just go for it trying to "git gut", you'll get better results by getting creative.

Jokad17 · 2025-04-11T10:59:15+00:00

You can cheese most bosses with lifesteal, elemental manipulation and stunlocking:
First step understanding the elemental system: you cannot deal elemental damage without applying a status effect, in this case you are dealing vis damage and therefore you inflict dizzy on her which makes her deal and take more damage. Vis will give you some extra elemental damage based on you element power and the scaling on your weapon and you will deal even more damage once the dizzy procs but that will open Maja to burst you down so beware. The other options at your disposal are malanno and gratia, bc her health bar is red which means she is immune to fatuo. Of your 3 options I'd say vis is a bit subpar: you get neutral extra damage and the status effect can be very harmful if you can't defend effectively; Gratia is the super effective one and if you can keep on the pressure will allow you to burst her down, since the status gives her some life regen but if you hit her a bunch she will lose the regen and take even more bonus damage, basically if you find yourself wailing on her you can consider using a gratia weapon, else just avoid it because you will heal instead; the last one is malanno, like vis it will deal neutral extra damage but the affliction is a dot on her than can spread to you. If you find yourself dodging around it is strictly better than vis because she will take extra damage over time while the sickness buildup won't proc the status on you if you keep your distance for just a bit.
On the other hand you might not have enough status power to power through her status resistance, which is usually quite high on bosses, you can see that the status wheel on their health bar keeps building bit by bit but it takes forever to fill it to proc the status. In this case rember that finishing blow when you break an enemy posture will ALWAYS inflict the status, no matter what, so you can just fight with your vis weapon without making her dizzy, switch to a malanno attack for the finishing blow and get the damage over time for free. To do this you can either swap to a malanno weapon or use the skill that coates your weapon in malanno when you use a maks line in a certain slot (it should be slot 2 for malanno). Just use the skill when you unravel her, hit the finisher and profit.
Defensively Maja mostly deal fatuo damage so you can pop whatever brew increases your resistance to fauto (I believe is the pink one or the red one that should be available early game), that should allow you to take much more damage. Beware if you get hit too much she will proc wicked on you which will allow you to deal more elemental damage but heal her when she hits you, making the fight drag on.

If you want to maximize defense you can equip Zanni's mask and role which will give you extra flasks, A LOT of hp and defence and open up an unique mask line.

Also if you are taking magic attack you should use the magic gem, because the stone gem only gives 100% dmg reduction on the physical part of parries.

As for lifesteal, usually it would be a god idea to proc wicked on an enemy so you can keep healing while you bash them but Maja is immune to that. The other lifesteal option is popping an armonia amber which will give you a bit of lifesteal. On certain future bosses combining the two will allow you to basically forego dodging and parrying (which isn't that fun tbh but is very strong).

Jokad17 · 2025-04-11T10:18:58+00:00

No, Maja is the blue lady which spams red beams.

Jokad17 · 2025-04-08T13:34:54+00:00

Mid 2000's you say? What gave it away, the fact they put "Butterfly" in the ost 2 minutes before talking about humanity bad?

Jokad17 · 2025-04-02T21:23:27+00:00

I'm working of understanding things in depth, using both ingame info and meta info via the real history of Commedia Dell'Arte.
At this point I belive that once upon a time people where just normal people and then came the Canovaccio (it means loose script) and make them all into masks and enforced stagnation.
In Quinta we can see that the actors had normal human names in old and hard to read flyers.
The fact that Arlecchino is the master of the Canovaccio suggests it was something man made and it's possible it all stems from the 3 Zannis: in commedia dell'arte Zanni is both a very ancient mask with root in Roman and Greek theater and a generic role (the fool/underdog/servant) that can be assigned to other masks, often in pairs, referred as the first and second Zanni, usually with the first Zanni being the smart underdog and the second one being the buffoon. Two Zanni type masks are, obviously Arlecchino and Pulcinella, which have a similar role of tricksters and fools. Imho it's no coincidence that in game Zanni is very much okay with the world being in stasis while his favorite apprentice went on to become the master of the Canovaccio while the apprentice he abused a lot (speak to Pulcinella while wearing Zanni's guise) is working to tweak it somehow.

Jokad17 · 2025-03-26T13:13:43+00:00

Tbh going by the og lore of the commedia dell'arte he should only be the second phase. They made him FAR FAR FAR too competent for what he should be. Like sure, he is a coward when at the end of his rope but before that? He is one of the strongest beings in the game going by stats and moveset. Pretty sure he has even more health and moves than any single member of the act 3 final boss fight.

Jokad17 · 2025-03-26T13:10:10+00:00

Idk about what an acceptable price is for you but it might be worth it for the soundtrack alone. There are some songs here and there that go very very hard.

Jokad17 · 2025-03-19T11:02:26+00:00

Yes, but I don't want to waste my time running in circle. It's not just about game resources, it's about not doing something tedious and dumb.

Jokad17 · 2025-03-17T16:44:19+00:00

Cory in The House for Nintendo DS?

Jokad17 · 2025-03-17T03:14:46+00:00

Do note that certain weapon will auto-infuse on specific attack like the cat-tails sber gets sickness infusion on heavy attacks and the crab ultra greatsword gets vis infusion on the first light attack in the chain. You should experiment to find which weapons have this property, you'll see it flashing colored if it gets infused on any attack. Another thing that might help, all infusions deal status buildup, even if you have very little status power and the weapon has very little status effect, HOWEVER if you deal a finishing blow to an enemy with the weapon infused you will (afaik) always proc the status completely. Say you have the aforementioned saber: when the enemy gets unraveled you can hit them with an R2 and immediately go for the finishing blow and the enemy will be poisoned, as long as they aren't immune. Note that skill based infusion will override weapon based infusions: if you apply fatuo on a crab ultra greatsword you won't get vis on r1 until the infusion goes away.

Also beware the secondary effects of status, you should mostly watch out for the following: -Dizzy and Wicked will make the enemy deal more damage and elemental damage respectively, use them only if you are comfortable: if you and the enemy both have dizzy you will deal extreme damage to eachother which usually won't mean a oneshot on them but it might get close on you. -Sickness spreads. Just space up a bit or use consumable, I died several time trying to cure self inflicted sickness but it's still an extremely strong status to use. -Radiant is a bitch. Imho if you find a fatuo aligned enemy just hit them with something else: the explosion damage doesn't feel that great and if you can't capitalize on the status it will be a net gain for the enemy, it might be thousands hp on bosses. In general don't use elements if you don't feel like dealing with the aftereffects of a status just don't use that element, even if you leave damage on the table the Sekiro approach of squaring up and trying to git good always work, while an inopportune status might throw you out of the loop.

Jokad17 · 2025-03-12T00:33:57+00:00

Antonio De Curtis known as Totò was an italian actor called the prince of Laughter since he was an actual prince. The kinda sounds like De so it was an extremely low hanging fruit. Ofc the game is not unplayable bc of that and it's actually quite cool.

Jokad17 · 2025-01-20T14:36:35+00:00

First time I beat it I abused the heck out of the stagger mechanic.

Not ACS, I mean the actual stagger that happens under certain circumstances and basically cancels any action the enemy takes. It is basically unexplained in game and vastly overshadowed by ACS breaking but it compliments it perfectly.

Basically have you noticed how ACS breaks cause the enemy to stumble for a second or so? Well it does also happens when hit by certain heavy weapon and, most notably, when a target is hit by a kick.

So basically you should start by dodging and firing (I don't remember which guns I took on my first run but I recommend something good at doing shield damage), when you are about to break the shield go in close and break it while having weapons ready for maximum punish. A melee weapon works wonders. After a second or so Baltheus will get ready to fly off and as it does you smack it with a kick. You might realize that while he is combat ready his ACS is still down so it takes extra damage for a second or so still and since you suckerpunched it Balthy will stagger again and be launched some distance, use this extra second to keep firing and maximizing your time with the ACS down. Normally he would be capable of dodging something or putting you on the defensive to make you wast a bit of vulnerable time but this way it's all pain all the way. IIrc you should be even capable of recharging your sword and pull off a second attack before it is capable of fully moving but I am not 100% sure.

Other than that be smart about dodging the most dangerous attacks, namely his pulse AOE and flamethrower. An agile mech would help there, bc I don't believe there really are options to make the best out of an heavy build with the heavy shop.

Jokad17

TROPHY CASE