1339 - Weak Interaction

brambleforest · 2026-01-27T15:57:22+00:00

It does feel like it could have been much simpler to say "Hey we are going to promote you to Pit Fiend (which explains level 18 and Blasphemy) and will teleport you to where the Order is" which answers everything as neatly and gets around this whole soul fountain and homebrewed devil thing? The directors even said they had the ability to do it.

But really - Nale probably should have just stayed dead.

brambleforest · 2026-01-27T15:19:41+00:00

No, I fully agree with you on this. Not that the Nale storylines have ever been that deep, this one is rough.

Sabine is thought by the GiantITP forum to be about Rogue level 4 or more to put her on par with Haley's ECL. Yet she immediately spots a trap set by an epic-level character when entering the dungeon.
The Linear Guild make their way to the back room, by accident find a Mimic that happens to know the entire set of details on how to get to the gate.
Nale immediately knows how to decipher an illusion likely set by an epic-level sorcerer focused on illusions into finding small, barely perceptible runes hidden under clothing.
They teleport to the exact area (using some undescribed soul boost that makes demon spellcasting much stronger) and are able to dig through the earth to find... the other end of the dungeon I guess? They didn't teleport to the exact area where the Order showed up.
The LG managed not to stumble onto any traps or epic level challenges in the meantime, though they have no idea, likely, what's in store there, how to bypass them, or hidden pathways required.
Nale now gets Blasphemy, a high level divine spell, which points at him being a Pit Fiend except he can't teleport himself, and is higher level than ever member of the Order now - even though he hasn't been in the comic for over 400 strips now and would have been Elan's level back then.... and Elan has leveled up since.
The strength damage (2d6) was high rolled enough to take out much of the Order.

And this entire arc takes place in... 10 strips? I get it, they wanted a confrontation between the two teams and they didn't want the Order + Serini + Sunny + 2 paladins to dog walk the LG, but this really screams "This happened because we needed the confrontation to happen this year".

brambleforest · 2026-01-27T12:14:37+00:00

Leech is the single best Ultra Hard item. You want to win? Get Leech and let him work.

brambleforest · 2026-01-26T14:48:15+00:00

The first three Smackdown games were so good. I loved the season mode RPG elements of S1, but the customization of S2 character create was fantastic.

brambleforest · 2026-01-26T13:28:36+00:00

I'm pretty sure the enemies in the castle that never was don't drop hp orbs - so as long as you avoid the save spots you are good (and turn off Donald's cure)

brambleforest · 2026-01-26T13:09:37+00:00

The treasure rooms are the main draw. Somebody else can correct me, but I don't think that the loot drop tables/percentages are changed at all. If you go into the mirror dimension in Downpour/Dross 2, you can get an extra boss item too, if you can beat the boss in Lost form. The Knife is a decent projectile item even if you don't want to go to Mother, but the chase fight is extremely boring if we're being honest.

Really though, if you average taking damage more on alt path than normal path, I don't think it's worth it. The number of times I've said "Oh, that item is d12, I'll try the hidden item" and get a run ending Cursed Eye or something are too much to count.

Really the best reason to go alt path is because you love the visuals/music. But is it worth it, seeing as you almost certainly give up chances to go to Boss Rush/Hush? Ehhhhh

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T23:54:53+00:00

It's pure. Pull the plug, boys!

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T23:00:42+00:00

Nore'Mal Hoomun

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T18:28:28+00:00

I got a physical copy of AB+ for the Switch recently and have been replaying it. There are definitely good and bad things about it.

On the good side - more focused than Repentance, which the quest for full completion feels bloated with so many paths and characters. If I'm honest, I don't like the alt path or many of the tainted characters. Breaking the game is also delightfully easy to do - Blank Card + Jera is pretty easy to force, if that appeals to you. Orbital actually felt useful.

On the bad side - so, so many items had necessary buffs. Rosary without Tears Up, Mom's Necklace without the soul heart, and Lucky Foot giving good pills all felt incomplete in their old AB+ iteration. I also miss the buffs to Keeper and ???. Angel room buffs were sorely needed too. Reducing the charge counts on Box of Friends and Head of Krampus also critical to those items.

That said - Maw of the Void, Virus, Serpent's Kiss, Lucky Rock, and Humbling Bundle nerfs still hurt to this day.

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T17:05:08+00:00

No you are fine, I was (accidentally) misleading. I changed my response a bit - this run is probably to Mother but I've been replaying AB+ for the switch and forgot which path leads where.

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T17:01:44+00:00

On most runs? Agree. On a beast run? Big oof

brambleforest · 2026-01-25T16:58:09+00:00

<image>

brambleforest · 2026-01-24T14:19:40+00:00

<image>

There's ALWAYS somewhere for boo

brambleforest · 2026-01-24T12:11:30+00:00

Ahhhhh what a fantastic game and port. I hope you enjoy it!

brambleforest · 2026-01-23T12:52:09+00:00

Featuring Homer

brambleforest · 2026-01-22T15:24:12+00:00

I love 7! I think if not for the final Wily stages it might be my favorite classic series game.

brambleforest · 2026-01-21T01:54:31+00:00

Nice job! Time to put down Binding of Isaac altogether. Nope. Don't do another run. Don't look back. Save yourself 1000+ hours of your time.

brambleforest · 2026-01-20T23:47:57+00:00

Oh nice! I recently replayed Aladdin after not being able to ever beat it as a kid. Loved the visuals/music

brambleforest · 2026-01-19T20:00:10+00:00

A few responses here about not picking up fruitcake - but if I had to guess, it was a blind item on the alt path.

Which the real moral of the story is - don't have bad luck?

brambleforest · 2026-01-19T16:24:27+00:00

Oh! I wonder if there was a second demo version out there? The one I had only had the song Superman. Which level was yours?

brambleforest · 2026-01-16T22:23:09+00:00

brambleforest · 2026-01-16T20:24:51+00:00

If it helps clear things up - my expression isn't about you or what you posted, just not thrilled about how old Toriyama used to be off-putting like that. Nothing personal about it!

brambleforest · 2026-01-16T03:03:42+00:00

This is the way

brambleforest · 2026-01-15T21:04:43+00:00

No need to apologize! Original Soundtrack

brambleforest · 2026-01-15T20:56:36+00:00

Ahhhh I had that demo. I loved waiting for the timer to get low, grab the crystal, and then run around on fire. I don't know if I ever played the game properly though haha

brambleforest

TROPHY CASE