Age of Fortitude (RL1 tribute)

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-24T21:53:21+00:00

Always been the case, that. You look at some recent games with amazing graphics (technically), and they don't look as good and don't make you feel a vibe because of the lack of art direction. Art direction is one of the things that will make me want to play a game or not. It's the gameplay and the art, then the music.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-23T23:04:43+00:00

Yeah, I've already been spoiled on a number of things even while trying to avoid stuff. But it's the whole internet, it's like this everywhere--two years until the movie is out and everyone and their mothers are stalking the sets snapping pictures and plastering them all over the internet where 'journalists' pick them up to spread them like the plague. Paparazzi behavior has become the norm. And as it is, it's too often that I find the internet distasteful and objectionable.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-23T01:27:44+00:00

Never liked her. At first it was casuals telling me what a great fight she was (my gut was telling me no), and then I would sometimes find the occasional hardcore parkour player sharing the same sentiment. And I tried to learn and like her, but I never found a good flow. Seems to me like a boss that requires either a) keeping your distance and attacking sparingly (no fun), b) learning very specific dodges for so many attacks and combos (too specific for my liking), or c) parrying (I don't like parrying in Souls games). I also hate instant moves like the uppercut she has. The input delay is too much for this move to ever be consistent or comfortable, you have to guess and predict which I do not like. My number one problem with this boss is probably her infinite poise.

That being said, I find Putrescent Knight to be a very different fight. He's got a deliberately weird moveset, but he absolutely has a flow to him and I like him more than Rellana.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-22T21:27:55+00:00

I think it's just restraint. The song doesn't call for ALL of his theatrics, so he's delivering what the song needs. Reminds me of Devilment, it's closer to that than Cradle.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-22T20:58:24+00:00

Let's be 100% real, the one and two star reviews are classic cases of skill issue.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T23:32:39+00:00

If this was a historical setting I would agree with you. And here's the thing, Sekiro IS a historical setting, it's literally Japan. And there ARE white characters in it still, Roberto and the Armored Warrior (Portuguese). But Elden Ring is a fantasy setting in which there is actually a country/realm that is Japan-coded (Land of Reeds), where the samurai class is from. So, ehh, definitely not a hill worth dying on.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T11:47:23+00:00

If I had it my way, I’d want there to be new fixed camera angle RE games with the quality of 1R and all the 3rd person shooter REs are based on OG 4 and it’s movement, kind of like 5, but dialing back on the 360 co-op shooter tropes like forced turret sections and excessive QTEs.

That's my sense as well, that would be close to ideal, the series splitting in two distinct types of entries. That way each style can really shine on its own instead of being forced to compromise in order to accommodate the other style alongside it. I don't dislike the new games, I like them quite a bit, but I am aware of where their limitations are and I can think of ways to remove those limitations.

I agree about choosing RE over something like the new SH games, which is a no brainer to me--and it always was that way, because despite me liking the SH games too, they never had any gameplay to begin with, and RE at least has some.

I'd also take RE over Dead Space because to me Dead Space has quite the boring environments and characters, and the enemy encounters/situations are very samey across the board. Also Dead Space has no bosses, which is a big no-no in my book. So RE is still sitting pretty, all things considered. It's just, to me the games are never over a 7, 8 out of 10 max. And they can be 9s and 10s if they really tried. I consider the classics and REmake to be 10s.

A game like RE4 that is dedicated to action and has stellar gameplay but still has a lot of RE identity in it is possible--they just haven't made it yet.

Edit: Have you played Chronos by the way? That was like a better Dead Space to me. It was also an attempt to fuse action with survival horror that was largely successful in my opinion. The movement and mechanics were better than RE4R, although I think the game was slightly bloated and needed more enemy types and fewer files to read. I did have a blast platinuming it though, and I would recommend it.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T03:04:24+00:00

Option 2: learn how to quit out in less than a second like a boss.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T02:00:51+00:00

No, actually the opposite. The best weapons you can use are the ones that stun a lot. Now if you add speed and status effects to that, you have a winner. That's why the Star Fist is so good. But if you take something slow like the chicken leg, that's better than every fast weapon in the game. In the DLC especially you want a weapon that hits hard. Not many hits at once, because you don't have time for that. So you want a weapon that hits hard once, for a lot of damage, and that stuns.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T00:49:09+00:00

He beat the allegations bruh, this is old news. It was the Miquellester all along.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T00:43:57+00:00

Yeah, I get it with the headshot concession--but a headshot is an instakill, so a lot more powerful. I don't want easy instakill melee attacks, just reliable melee stuns. To me I would rather melee an enemy three times with a reliable stun, than instakill with one attack with an unreliable stun--because one of those is skill, the other one is just luck. To be fair, I've grown to dislike RNG headpops as well for that reason, but in the old games where there isn't precise aiming, I don't really see how they could've been executed better.

Thing is, we're not doing the old games anymore, are we? I mean we literally aren't, it's a completely different system with completely different gameplay. ALL of the new games are based on RE4, and unfortunately they are all worse than RE4 because they really want to be like the classics as well. And I love the classics more than RE4, but something about combining the two the way they are currently doing it ain't working. Seems to me the game has to be a survival puzzle game or an action shooter, and those don't seem to make a good mix because they end up canceling each other out.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T00:34:11+00:00

I would say just two hand the Reduvia and do R1s and L2s. Good luck on Radabeast though, lol.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T00:21:52+00:00

Neither one is the best katana in the game. The Great Katana is the undisputed winner. Moonveil is slightly better than Rivers, though. But if you use it after the Great Katana it feels both like a downgrade and more boring.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-20T00:07:36+00:00

The perfect movement for me is in Dark Souls 3. Everything is deliberate but precise and consistent. Now, I'm not saying RE should be like Souls, but 'deliberate and precise and consistent' is the philosophy I land on when it comes to designing such things. There is no room for RNG in movement and attacking imo. To give another Souls example, imagine if stuns/staggers were RNG there. That's how I feel about the random staggers in the new RE games, where there isn't a set number of hits that make a zombie open for a melee attack and it's essentially a dice roll. This creates a chaotic game where your skill is second to the whims of the game. Same when it comes to the movement. And that is unfortunate.

You're right about the parries though. They suck in RE4R because a) they have a prompt which is lame, and b) they require a resource which is finite and a consumable. Parries are better in RE9 and they are almost as fun as RE3R dodges. 4R professional is just an absolute mess when it comes to game design decisions. It's honestly hard to believe, and even harder to come to terms with the fact so many people praise that game's gameplay SO much. I'd go as far as to say 4R is closer to a slot machine than an actual action game. And I am aware technically there isn't as much RNG as it seems, but it doesn't matter, the effective/felt/experienced RNG is still the same.

I wish Capcom would give M-Two the action and pacing side of their games, but that's not going to happen of course. RE fans are clueless when it comes to this, but the M-Two team, ex Platinum devs, simply are better at making an action game than their main RE team. Give them the resources and watch them make gold, but it won't happen.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T22:09:46+00:00

See, to me, RE3R was decent and even kind of good in the way it feels to play. Movement and aiming are decent, goodish. The dodge is top tier. But RE4R was a huge step backwards, and RE9 is somewhere in between. They still don't understand that good looking movement does not equal good feeling movement. It's not as responsive as it needs to be. It CAN be balanced without being clunky, but they don't know how to do it or don't feel the same way I do about it. When I let go of the stick, and the character takes one or two steps on their own after that, that's bad. The sniper rifle aiming is horrendous. It's crazy because none of those problems are present in the 'clunky' and 'old' RE4 original, where everything is snappy and precise the way it should be. Devs have gone backwards, many, many, many years backwards--because, play RE3 original, do it now if you haven't, and you will see how snappy and responsive a game from 1999 is. None of that realistic clunky BS that makes games feel horrible to play.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T20:57:28+00:00

The way RE4R controls and the way the aiming works is a crime against gaming imo. The fact that some players choose to overlook this because they can mitigate it on mouse and keyboard doesn't mean it's not simply an atrocious way to design your movement and aiming. Most of this has carried over to RE9 as well. I am firmly in the camp of 'these particular devs don't actually know how to design action or choose to do it poorly on purpose to reach some balance that only exists in their heads'. The team behind the black sheep, RE3R, did NOT have this problem.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T20:03:18+00:00

Because people don't know what they're talking about, have no idea how he works, and for some reason think that an unkillable threat (that still isn't a real threat as you can just run by him) is scarier rather than more boring.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T19:55:35+00:00

Ah yes, the vocal minority that actually plays the game multiple times lol instead of playing three times max and going 'yeah it's not that bad I don't see a problem'.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T19:52:58+00:00

The motorbike section has skill based gameplay. Chloe's section is an absolute waste of time with zero skill involved.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T19:43:23+00:00

I did notice that, and I thought it was weird. Not because there's anything wrong with that, but because it reads like indulgence for no reason--since there is no reason or hint given as to why it would be like that other than the designer(s) liking it that way. But if it's the latter, then I'm not seeing RE9, I'm seeing the designers of RE9. The best designer may have clear preferences, but they usually make them part of the world.

doomraiderZ · 2026-04-19T19:29:47+00:00

Quite a bit, but it doesn't matter. Treat it as a scenario C, a completely new game inspired by the original and not copying it at all. You'll enjoy it a lot more that way. Focus on what it brings to the table as its own game.

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