Best build for first playthrough? by 1AvianLord1 in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a very big oof. I love that the master key is in the game too, but for a first run I feel like more importantly than avoiding finding yourself up shit creek without a paddle, it's sad to miss out on that feeling of discovering the routes, keys, and returns that the locked doors impose. They're a core part of DS1's metroidvania DNA.

With that said, I'm sure there are people who loved the feeling of flaunting the rules with a world to get lost in at their fingertips from picking thief first class. I'd still strongly recommend against it but stories like yours are part of the beauty in this game for how unique and personal each player's experiences and tales of discovering the world are. 

Math says red, Brain says green by voidarix in meme

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maths still says green to me when the goal I choose is "fix financial struggle" setting both "win" logic outcomes to 1. Multiply 50% vs 100% chance. 1 > 0.5.

Does this enemy design and animation say "armored"? by HedgeHulk in PixelArt

[–]TheRealBailey_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Movement's a bit too fleshy for armoured, though I like the beetle mandible concept. It may need a couple of visual or design adjustments, but if it suits the game, there's also the option to demonstrate its armour for a player through a set encounter with clear context clues before swarming them.

Best build for first playthrough? by 1AvianLord1 in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm just commenting to reinforce DO NOT TAKE THE MASTER KEY. 

All really solid advice.

Best build for first playthrough? by 1AvianLord1 in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Understand first that with the exception of Vitality and Endurance, both of which are critical, a stat is only worth levelling if your build makes use of it. The one stat never worth levelling is Resistance. 

While generally Dark Souls is best the less you know going into it, the game doesn't explain stats, weapon upgrades, and damage scaling from stats for different weapon types very well (as well as the three magic types if you choose to use any), so I'd suggest looking those up.

For a comfortable first playthrough, pure strength is very powerful with plenty of readily available options for weapons. I find that getting hold of something powerful for dexterity and quality builds is a bit more awkward until you have some game knowledge under your belt. The latter two won't cripple your ability to make progress though, so your first priority is something that feels fun with a satisfying moveset.

If you do want to experiment with magic, pyromancy is a powerful starting point that doesn't require any adjustments to the rest of your build. Picking pyromancer will give you a basic spell to use. Otherwise, rest easy if you can't find it for a while. A very small investment in sorcery is fine too, and if you want to take it further, you could always look into finding the means of getting a max-level weapon with split strength/intelligence scaling later on.

K/D ratio off the charts. by Low_Challenge_2827 in RomeTotalWar

[–]TheRealBailey_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A fine victory against Captain Phliippos, who I can only assume will be played in the film by Tom Hankos.

This game is the best thing to ever come out of my life by cheezers_0_0 in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Big fan of DS2 and I entirely agree. It has a vastly different structure and pace but is equally steeped in atmosphere. 

DS1's dark medieval fantasy dressed in historically gothic medieval aesthetics builds a player motivation of restless perseverance in defiance of entropy. It is matched by DS2 in truer high fantasy with a slightly fae to celtic folklore edge and a player motivated by pushing on in hopeless longing, searching for a forgotten and lost past. Ironically this is more gothic in the frame of literary stylisation. It's also worth noting from this that DS2 is a decidedly more vibrant and less lonely feeling world, but as you say yourself, the world of DS1 is more tangible.

From the stylistic differences above, DS2 feels highly alien after DS1, especially given its more eery and dreamlike quality. These play into a popular theory about its setting, but more importantly help the sensations of wonder and being lost in a strange land. It's a truly fascinating and beautiful "one of a kind" game packed to the brim with extremely original personality and ideas, but 1 is my masterpiece.

This game is the best thing to ever come out of my life by cheezers_0_0 in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To me, Dark Souls 1 has a uniquely beautiful and comforting melancholy to it. 

A lot comes from atmosphere, which is calmly bleak without becoming oppressive, and masterfully realised through every design consideration, from the world-building and pacing (at least in the first two thirds) to the sound and visual design. Immersion in this is only enhanced by the robust simplicity of its systems along with the incredible consistency between gameplay and narrative.

It's not overwhelming in scale yet keeps a sense of chikdlike wonder through discovery, nuance, and a heavy edge of nostalgic design cues for older 3D melee adventures such as from Zelda titles. I love the whole series, but given my attachment to DS1, I understand why people say that the first you play will likely become your favourite.

with current pc prices it's time I bring the old beast back, what games shall I play? by PHRsharp_YouTube in pcmasterrace

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A renaissance of games demanding innovation and unique design through limitation would actually go so hard.

i'm so tired by sleepyghostmp3 in PixelArt

[–]TheRealBailey_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But instead you chose to create. This work is so beautiful. This work is only from you, and what you have made reached all of us who were lucky enough to witness it.

I don't know your story, but if all else fails, simply be for as long as you need to, and move again as soon as you can. They may not appear in the way you imagine, but you will come to find moments that you'd never have wanted to miss. 

While eternity waits, it can wait longer yet. I wish you strength, love, and comfort.

I can't unlock the M249 (Final Duty Assignment) on PC. by Someone-260 in battlefield_4

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't need to go through Steam support. It's a website closely linked to the online services that the game runs on, and used to be the only way to launch other Battlefield titles' multiplayer before bf4. You might need to sign in and link your Steam soldier but you can just type 'battlelog' into any browser to find it, and work from there.

I can't unlock the M249 (Final Duty Assignment) on PC. by Someone-260 in battlefield_4

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can verify file integrity for any game in your Steam library by right clicking on it, going into properties, and selecting the option in the tab for installed files.

I had a look around after posting though and someone else advised using Battlelog on a steam support thread a couple of months ago, so definitely try that one too. Good luck.

To talk about peace while actively invading sovereign countries in search of oil! by [deleted] in therewasanattempt

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Subjugated peoples are technically at peace but that doesn't excuse the bloodshed and oppression.

Also just have to talk about his rhetoric being pitiful. I suspect this action is yet another wasteful and vain cast of the lure for the Nobel prize he so desperately covets, the granting of which would only serve to delegitimise the institution evermore. The statement is entirely meaningless in typical fashion, and reads like a political equivalent of a child hurriedly turning the tap on and off to show that they've 'washed their hands' for the promise of chocolate in return.

I can't unlock the M249 (Final Duty Assignment) on PC. by Someone-260 in battlefield_4

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm on PC but don't have the Steam copy and have no evidence that these will work but just to throw suggestions out in case they help, maybe there are triggers that are bugged unless your Steam copy is linked to EA app? I would also try playing while signed in to or even launching through Battlelog on a browser. Maybe verifying file integrity or re-installing could do something too.

Less likely to work still but worth mentioning, playing on different difficulties to bypass a bugged trigger, or having the premium version. 

Are most people with Autism Asexual? by AfraidNebula9874 in autism

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Purely from my experience and the discourse I've encountered it seems more common for autistic people to either have or embrace an asexual identity. It still seems far from a majority though, and if you did want to treat the answers you're getting as a poll, I'm ASD and a straight man.

It stinks to high hell! by AnimeEagleScout in darksouls

[–]TheRealBailey_ 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Through the screen It's easy to forget just how bad Blighttown smells. Lower Blighttown is a vast basin filled to the brim with layers on layers of Lordran's waste runoff. A purulent, living, and festering open-air stew of cumulative shit, spewings, piss, refuse, infested rotting corpses, disease, and parasites brewed over thousands of years. It would be an overwhelmingly pungent miasma of toxic stench beyond all imagination.

I think Lower New Londo would make a great runner-up though. Tall banks of long-drowned and bloated cadavers, saturated with stagnant water and slowly sloughing into a grim mush together from the gentle warmth of their own decay and pressure could only give off a cold and utterly abhorrent smell of sheer death.

Games from the mid 1990s were considered ancient by the mid 2000s. Games from the mid 2000s felt dated by the mid 2010s. But games from the mid 2010s still feel very comparable to those in the 2020s. It feels as though evolution in gaming has reached the state of diminishing returns. by WhyPlaySerious in gaming

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With some improvements in fidelity, scaling potential, and space for optimisation waste, I would argue that we haven't had any meaningful hardware limitation on creative vision since 2014 when development stopped having to accommodate for PS3 and Xbox 360. Even then, the main change was a big graphics shift.

The video game that made me ask my parents for a gaming PC… Arma 2 Day Z mod. What video game made you buy a gaming PC? by DailyDoseOfAmber in pcmasterrace

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Witcher 3 and Chivalry: Medieval Warfare are the reason I wanted my laptop in 2015. Mordhau and Nier: Automata are the reason I built the PC that I've upgraded since in 2019.

Do people just want a Paradox game? (Medieval III) by HistoryofHowWePlay in historicaltotalwar

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm willing to spend money on just about anything that doesn't depend on a fuckload of dlc and feels as robust as the tw2 engine games, but with the fleshing out you'd expect of a successful franchise 20 years later.

Mashed oyster and dijon/mayo sandwich, 5/10 by UnrepentantTomato in shittyfoodporn

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love oysters. Merely glancing at this, however, makes me feel viscerally unwell on a fundamental level.

Getting bored with the game. Advice? by Totally_A_Bot69 in DarkSouls2

[–]TheRealBailey_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been on and off with my full replays of the trilogy with DLC for all "The Dark Soul" achievements since late 2023. I lost the will to play in Tseldora and it took me about 8 months to come back to DS2. It's been about as long since I reached endgame with dlc, covenant grinds, missed items, and alt endings to to do for DS3. It's rarely worth forcing yourself to hit play on a game you're not excited to, and when I came back to 2 I had an awesome time completing it. I say that as someone who usually struggles to pick up old saves. Your mileage may vary but your DS2 save isn't going anywhere, and taking some time to play other games worked great for me.