- At 239 DKK, I couldn't resist buying this Souls-like game.
- After a short tutorial, your disgusting form is dumped into a very open world, with plenty of weaker enemies to fight. As usual, I went in the wrong direction, and ended up running past a bunch of enemies into a cave, ending up in meeting Sester Genessa there for the first time.
- In another potentially sequence-breaking detour, I ended up finding the Eredrim shell at the big tower. He's a big heavy tank, now I just need a greatsword, and I'll be ready to go.
- I'm enjoying playing with Eredrim. I have to play very tactically, but he can both give and take a lot of punishment. I defeated the big werewolf-looking Grisha.
- I defeated Hadern twice and got the 'Smoldering Mace' and the 'Martyr's Blade'.
- I played through the first of three dungeons, the Crypt of Martyrs. It was an intense and challenging area, very reminiscent certain areas in Dark Souls. I defeated Tarsus, and the world has been plunged into a green mist, replacing the normal enemies with weird ghouls. It's a cool way of reusing the same assets in a different context, to great effect.
- I think this game has a few neat innovations on the Dark Souls formula. First of all, the 'Harden' ability works great, and adds an interesting layer to the combat, asynchronous with the usual dodge, attack-routine. Another innovation is death: When you die in a shell, it freezes in place, and you get a second chance to pick it up. When you die a second time, you start from a 'bonfire' again, but the shell will be left in place. When you pick it up, you retrieve your resources like in other games, but you also get a full health refill. This means that you have to manage an added risk-reward mechanic of waiting to pick up your shell (and retrieve your resources), and get full health, while risking death and losing your resources forever.
- I travelled to the Shrine of Ash and fought my way to Imrod the Unrepentant, who I defeated on my first try. I think the shrines all have a fixed difficulty. On my way back to Fallgrim Tower in the Mist carrying 10,000 tar (souls), I got jacked by Nocteserpers. I was lost in The Mist, and now I can't find my tar.
- After comparing the recording from yesterday to another recording where The Mist is not active, I figured out that I died in Archer's Canyon on my way to the Seat of Infinity, where I'm going anyway.
- The game does *not* pause when you're in the inventory.
- I went to the Seat of Infinity, found my shell, and started working my way through this enormous and confusing area, full of difficult enemies. At the end, I fought the tough boss Crucix, The Twiceborn, a conjoined set of twins. Like several Dark Souls bosses, killing one of the twins causes the other to go nuts, here in a very ridiculous looking cutscene. Getting back out into the world after beating him was tricky, especially a spot that was guarded by 8(!) crossbow guards.
- Completed the game. I defeated the big chicken (The Unchained) on my second attempt tonight. It was mostly a cool boss fight, and with a reasonable difficulty. I liked this game.
2020-08-19
2020-08-20
1 - Body Snatcher2020-08-21
2020-08-22
2020-08-26
2020-08-30
2020-08-31
