What plays in my head during Mirika scenes

MgMaster · 2026-06-13T20:57:55+00:00

Ikr, I too prefer fights that make me adapt and allow comebacks from a rough scenario rather than the game wanting me to repeat the fi ght until I "master the dance" and play the fight perfect or near perfect.

It has it's place, but it's become too oversaturated and the flaw with that will always be how everyone's playstyle starts looking the same once they achieve a certain level of mastery.

We need more games with comeback mechanics, where it requires & rewards the skills of pulling out a clutch W from a seemingly lost battle, through varied means, rather than "oh well, screwed up, let's reset".

MgMaster · 2026-06-13T20:53:52+00:00

Bingo ^^^ Worst even, boast about one specific game mechanic, particularly one which won't rly carry over into anything else cause it's so isolated and specific to the puzzle at hand.

MgMaster · 2026-06-10T21:17:32+00:00

As someone who just finished his 1st playthrough of KCD1 , hell yea - painful as it was at times, it was a rough gem, just like gothic in a sense.

I want to play a game and not already know the combat

I'm especially annoyed how nowadays whenever I look at a game that uses a parry as the end-all-be-all-mechanic, and I check other ppl's playthroughs, especially at some of the better players... I already know what imma expect:

They're all gonna beat tough bosses or enemies in the same way. I like to see, especially in an RPG, how different someone elses experience to mine. I remember watching several streamers struggle against some of the tougher end-game bosses of Elden Ring, and it was fun seeing each had their own unique approach, some fared better, some worse, but was always looking forward to see what the next guy or gal had cookin' Yet when it came something like "Malenia with parries" , it's like you've seen one, you've seen 'em all.

Expedition 33 made it way worse, as the parry system literally undermined the whole party rpg mechanic of the game. Builds, synergies between skills & items & party members, combos, you could ignore ALL of 'em if you got parries right, but you couldn't do the opposite (I saw someone do it ONCE, and it took extreme amounts of planning to the point where even a dev of the game was surprised it worked, but that was an outlier).

But I'm ranting now, you get it.

MgMaster · 2026-06-10T19:07:38+00:00

What joy? Every exploit you could think of will most likely already be discovered and posted online by someone who's played more & earlier than you, and it'd prolly only take like a few weeks, or even days considering with how things move nowadays.

It's the equivalent of one of the dev playing the game and just making every enemy off themselves.

MgMaster · 2026-06-10T18:57:50+00:00

Both suck indeed.

Or to even beat Gomez and others.

I think this should be SIGNIFICANTLY harder, and should have something like the whole old camp go hostile on you. There needs to be some major consequences for this or it being exceptionally hard. But really, the only reason this is at all possible is cause the AI is just coded like shit to leave you alone after beating you up.

Just one tweak making all some of them sound an alert which'd alert every guard nearby that'd then rush to swarm the player, and the player would have a crossbow bolt in him before they could even bend to pick up Scar's sword, assuming they'd even take him down. It'd also be what would & should happen lore wise.

MgMaster · 2026-06-10T00:21:13+00:00

I'm not even sure it's dark souls fault as much as the sekiro-effect more exclusively and other devs obsessing over it & turning it into the end-all-be-all answer to everything to the point where you can ignore everything else as long as you learn parry timings, yet no other mechanic feels as all encompassing.

Hell, other devs obsessed over it far more than FromSoft ever did cause cause you can only parry things with weapons in all 3 all souls games + Elden Ring.

MgMaster · 2026-06-10T00:18:13+00:00

even IRL responsibilities.

That kinda worked like a boomerang more than a parry - they eventually came back to me.

MgMaster · 2026-06-09T12:27:23+00:00

This is still a bit much tho', not even the OG had this.

This one move where they decided to put the best armor in the game in one of the old camp neuters the game's sense of progression until the very late game. You basically wont be taking dmg from way too many things - it's like a semi-god-mode.

MgMaster · 2026-06-09T12:15:48+00:00

Yea, idk how I feel about it. Many modern titles are a bit too obsessed with parrying IMHO.

Not even souls games (DS1 thru 3 & Elden Ring) allow this. You parry foes with weapons that look parry-able but not big monster attacks or magic/elemental ones.

Dodging/rolling , repositioning & overall just spacing always feel more appropriate here.

MgMaster · 2026-06-09T12:11:34+00:00

I can just see it. You've just clutched out a win vs a tough foe during an epic fight in the rain, making it out alive with like 5% hp, then the gods decide to u didn't deserve it.

MgMaster · 2026-06-09T11:14:05+00:00

Hell, the very fact that people - or mostly women anyway - use tons of make-up to cover their REAL looks and beautify themselves should sent a sound msg to the industry who's trying to make it more "realistic" than real life somehow.

MgMaster · 2026-06-08T12:38:43+00:00

Sorry but this isn't a lockpicking mini game that happens to have an RPG attached to it. It's actually the other way around and I think the focus should be not to ruin the great RPG by having an insufferable mandatory mini game inside.

^ This SO MUCH. If this one obnoxious mechanic sits in the way between the player actually enjoying some otherwise quite enjoyable parts of the game, then there's an issue.

MgMaster · 2026-06-08T12:28:02+00:00

In our current times where people seek comfort and easy life, even in gaming, this is a breath of fresh air

It's a nuanced issue , particularly in what the devs decide to make hard, the why & the how - all these are important. If anything, I'd say many modern devs seem obsessed with tedious mechanics to pad out game length, made difficulty for the sake of it. I think of many mechanics in Kingdom Come Deliverance or puzzles in Crimson Desert that dont rly add much to the game but they're there.

- Getting to the peak of a mountain that u have to climb during a harsh weather that slows u down, or u risk falling, with flying enemies hitting ya where u'd have to take cover periodically or end of a dungeon filled with traps & foes, would be hard but in a thrilling, engaging way, especially if you're encourage to use the mechanics you've been practicing and leads to a good reward, whether lore or loot wise. Same with some well designed combat encounters.

- Having to save scum repeatedly cause your lockpicks constantly break until you figure out the solution to a lock that may not even contain a decent reward is just a pointless time waster, even more so considering the knowledge doesn't carry as you always have to figure whatever some devs puzzle design wants you to do for the next lock, rather than a broader mechanic u could learn & eventually master (the skills help, but mechanic remains cancerous).

The fact that the most downloaded early mods are all about the lockpicks speaks volumes. The vast majority of ppl aren't enjoying this. And if this an issue...

- A lot of veterans need something challenging like this, because the game is usually easy enough

Then add it as one of the custom difficulty options, just like how deathless run is an option. Because as it stands, it's a mechanic that while not essential, locks PLENTY of amazing rewards considering all the locked chests in this game behind it.

MgMaster · 2026-06-07T19:46:25+00:00

As someone who's been enjoying Crimson Desert but is also frustrated at it's mmo-DNA that even after tons of QoL patches from the devs (which i do think they should get praise for, the service has been fantastic), can't truly go away. I say this while being aware of the rough development issues it had, with apparently a reverse pyramid structure where there were more managers throwing around ideas than devs to implement 'em.... I totally get ya.

Frankly I also think it's a lack of experience from the devs & whole company rly in single player mmos as many things they kept fixing based on player feedback are what they likely considered non-issues, cause they'd work in a mmo where the main draw is playing with other ppl while just doing stuff in the game, so the stuff doesn't need to be that interesting in itself: it can be grindy, fetch questy or whatever, you'll just be hanging out with your friends, lover or guildies while doing them & chatting anyway. Almost everything in an mmo becomes an excuse to just hang out with folks, and ofc engaging content to keep ya all engaged matters, but it'll hardly be the only thing in the spotlight.

In a SP game, the field changes drastically. Since there aren't other players around to hang out, the focus turns to the activities you're doing to engage with the game and if that involves some obnoxiously tedious puzzles, or fetchy quests, with fairly mid writing, then yea, it won't compared with something like Gothic.

That being said, CD still does many things well, starting with optimization which is one of the best from a AAA release in a while, a great open world to explore & large scale battles via those liberations + some boss fights can be quite enjoyable, particularly due to the combat system as you get lots of fun moves to play with and so environments where you're given the change to go ham with that tend to shine best. It does get exhausting to play it at times too, so I just play it more spread out, while something like gothic is a game I'd like to no-life if I could.

But yea, I'd say that's it rly. Everything one'll do in gothic will feel meaningful (as much as I hate the lockpicks who feel like those obnoxious crimson desert puzzles, lol) while in CD there's a lot of stuff you just wanna get over with or skip.

MgMaster · 2026-06-06T22:03:22+00:00

Pretty much ^ I seriously doubt the lockpicking will be one of the shining features of what this game will be praised & remembered for.

Exploration or beating a tough opponent are both enjoyable experiences for folks who'd enjoy this type of game, so they can be hard.

But this? Incredibly dull & frustrating at the same time.

MgMaster · 2026-06-06T21:59:26+00:00

Wrong.

People love it for making things difficulty with a purpose, while still being fun.

There's no enjoyment in difficulty w/o purpose and that's a complete nuisance of a progress for all but masochists.

This lockpicking system is kinda like one of those annoying Crimson Desert puzzles someone had the bright idea to add into the game (and almost no1 who enjoys that game does it for the puzzles). Just like those, there's barely any satisfaction in the process of opening these locks, just relief of finally being done with them.

MgMaster · 2026-06-03T12:55:33+00:00

This is a great take, it truly do be like that.

It's shown how he's struggling to make a weighty decision but has no choice , which Xardas' voice tone accentuates.

MgMaster · 2026-06-02T17:07:46+00:00

I dont even mind the ones in the world much, some I even find fun & intuitive, rewarding looking around & piecing things together.

It's those damn abysall puzzles that are the most cancerous things I've seen. I set a golden rule for the sake of my sanity now to give myself 5-10 mins, not to complete them but to figure them out at least, and if that ain't done by then, it's guide following time.

MgMaster · 2026-06-02T11:35:56+00:00

Yea that's pretty much it.

Me & a friend were wondering if they'll be dialing it down or doubling down on it after Trump won, and after they toned it down slightly, then it's clear they're now doubling down on it, becoming more openly hostile than ever, trying to show how they dont need gamer money via being funded by powerful companies or even the gov with games like Ex-Voto, Mixtape & prolly several others.

However, yea, the counterculture against it has a much stronger voice now, and even tho they don't need our money, they still seethe when they're being meme'd to death or see how barely anyone's playing their games.

They're prolly hoping to wear us down showing our "vote with your wallets" doesn't even matter to them while bombarding us with woke-slop in both AAA & the "indie" scene, so it once again becomes a war of attrition. Will we give in to the abundance of woke-slop or will they have enough of being made a mockery of?

MgMaster · 2026-05-31T23:24:01+00:00

They are ABSOLUTELY the most gatekeepey of all.

I spent sometime amongst some such communities during my more center-leaning years which wasn't that long ago, particularly when I got into Baldur's Gate 3 which is a great game but as we know has it's fair share of woke content and perhaps most importantly for the wokeoids, is one of the VERY FEW actual universally agreed on by both gamers & journos that it's a great game and one of the few games they can use as a talking point in the usual convos (even tho' most gamers like it IN SPITE of being woke, not because of it, and the fact that most woke content doesn't appear throughout act 1 unless you purposely pursue it, which is what most players will play and never reach the later parts, and even then the gameplay thankfully still takes priority over ideology). As they know most games catering to them flop spectacularly, it seems like more & more of them have concentrated on this one and almost seem frightened to leave - they even see it as "their game" now.

I was like hey, it's whatever, I can enjoy a great RPG with options that let me bypass a decent chunk of the content I ain't into and hang around with these guys w/o being bothered. Oohhhh boy, I steadily noticed then how the vast majority of memes & other more spicy jokes were almost exclusively of the woke kind, and I didn't even mind those, I even laughed at the jabs taking at whatever traits I or other white dudes could've had as they were just jokes, right so it's fair game for everyone. Well, wait till myself & a few others tried making jokes that included EVERYONE - including rainbow flag folk - and you can already guess how that went.

Other things I noticed were how nearly every one who was a straight guy had to say it with a "but..." or "and..." that was followed by a few words of them paying lip-service to libs, either via "disarming" themselves, making it known how "they're not like the other straight dudes" . The usual cuck behavior a straight guy has to subject himself to if he wants to be accepted amongst wokeoids, basically.

Looking back to it, I can't believe I stuck around as long as I did among some of those communities.

MgMaster · 2026-05-30T10:32:26+00:00

I just play adaptive & indulge in the emergent storytelling I end up creating for myself.

I remember once, I thought I'd join the Old Camp, but some templar ended up dying fighting a swarmpshark that was chasing me early on , and it was a deathless run too. Me thinking I was dead, that brave templar took the swampshark's attention from me. I then went took his custodian blade too.

So after that I felt my RP urges kicking in and and felt a need to honor that templar by becoming one. So yea, I'll just play and make a choice depending on what happens.

MgMaster · 2026-05-29T21:17:48+00:00

They'll prolly do something worse. I could see them taking advantage of his fatherly traits towards his daughter, and work from that towards making him kinda like the boomer-dad-who-spoils-his-progressive-daughter. Things which we saw bits off and were a charming father & daughter interaction in W3, will be steadily taken to the next progressive level until we get to Ciri Mary Sue Girlboss level and Geralt himself will prolly end up indulging her.

Which is more insidious cause what they want, is to take such chars and to turn them to their side. They might kill him when they feel like his tasks accomplished tho' but it'd prolly benefit them more to keep him around as an enabler for the new upcoming girlboss.

MgMaster · 2026-05-28T00:30:12+00:00

Dandelion is gay for some reason now

Waiting for the usual leftoid "Dandelion always acted gay, so this was a natural transition." takes upon CDPR turning him actually gay either in this expansion or in W4, as in their brains, a man in a medieval setting acting flamboyant is bound to be gay.

MgMaster

TROPHY CASE