So in this game we are coding a drone to collect stuff. The Syntax is very close to python, I thought this might help me practice a bit of coding.
So at the start we only have harvest() which is a function to well harvest, with a 1 by 1 grid. Soon after we get a While=True loop. Where things get interesting is later on the gird expands, and some plants start having requirements.
Without further adu lets look at the first script
]]>So I cleared a good part of the DLC up to the second time up to Eirene boss fight. I was extremely surprised we have a roguelite mode in well a soulslike, but I guess Elden Ring also did it.
How it works is that there is an initial linear stage, selected randomly between two different layouts. The enemies are usually the same with the exception of a few rooms that have 2 choices. After this segment, there are a few maps of pseudo open world where the player can choose the order to tackle the enemies. Each zone has a symbol showing the specific rewards they give.
For a roguelite I find that it is surprisingly similar, the only random element is what the game decides to bestow upon the user. I eventually memorised the entire layout. There were a few bosses though they are optional.
For the gameplay… I felt like with RNG on your side the roguelite suddenly becomes zero skill. There were a few runs where I got rewards that only activate after a skilled play (for example parrying giving armor), and I get absolutely destroyed by anyone I can’t fight reliably. On my winning run the stars aligned and I got a special attack that activates with charged attacks, complete with a speed up charging and weapon swapping triggers spells while attacking with spells triggers a follow up, and I nuked everyone so hard that I barely had to dodge anything. I guess this is a function of the roguelite, though it feels a little sad that I am beating these cool new bosses by virtue of being unkillable.
In regards to the other game mode which I am kinda confused about, they introduced a boss rush and boss rematch mode, however some bosses are just kinda missing. Including the final bosses as well as some of the secret bosses in the roguelite mode which I find confusing, I would like to fight them with my regular kit in the future.
For a free DLC it is pretty damn good… but becomes repetitive quickly as I memorise everything. Not that I mind though because the gameplay is relatively fun and I get to try out all the weird weapons I never had a chance to do so in the campaign. This is perhaps the one saving grace (even if I felt like quite a few weapons aren’t present).
]]>I didn’t write the previous post because it looks like we are in the mid game, so I was surprised when the game just ends. In the meantime these are the developments.
Phase 1 is a magic focused fight with the boss using ranged attacks, while phase 2 the boss uses more melee attacks. I think the fight has some good variety, most importantly the boss doesn’t run away all the time. Most of the difficulty meanwhile comes from the camera where I cannot see the boss in phase 1 because it is so damn huge. Phase 2 is much better because the boss is crawling, so I can see the boss. The boss is relatively ok once I get the timing down. The boss has a nuke upon death, but it is extremely telegraphed and enough time is given to get away. Pretty fun fight.
This is a gimmick fight which mostly involves hiding from the wind blowing you halfway across the arena. A relatively easy fight once I figure out the gimmick, though this is a fight with an ally, Stone. Though I basically saw him once at the start then he shows up here, I think I missed his quest or dialogue.
This is technically a 3 phase fight, however there is a checkpoint at the final fight. The first two phases are more cinematic, while the final phase is the actual fight. Now I have an ally, Feylia, helping me with the fight and we stunlocked the boss, but seeing the ally fly around with her greatsword like a witch on a broom is really funny. Though thanks to that we are able to stunlock the boss.
Another 2 phase fight that was relatively fun, she is pretty hidden though. Phase 1 is the same as the hunter of bladers and phase 2 adds some new fast attacks. I like phase 2 for its frantic nature compared to phase 1 duel. Ironically it is also easier to parry her despite having some extremely insane AOE and attacks if you let her actually attack. And she is relatively easy to parry which interrupts her attacks. Still it was enjoyable trying to not die and figure out her attacks.
She looks like the Nameless King’s daughter, down to the lance and the lightning attacks. The arena is rather beautiful, and the fight actually reminds me of the nameless king a lot. This is a second duel fight and she has a lot of lance attacks with delays, lightning follow-ups, and attacks to close distance. Phase 1 isn’t that difficult, and there is not a lot of fast attacks. Though I think I was a little overlevelled for the fight as I can take around 4-5 hits before being in trouble. One thing I notice is that the boss has some of the same church talent frames as the player which is a nice touch, specifically Thunder Stop where she leaves a clone that explodes. Phase 1.5 at mid health isn’t much to talk about as it just gives her attacks some lightning
Phase 2 meanwhile is a fun fight, she technically has 4 phases here denoted as 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4. Where she starts at 2.1 and if her sync bar gets too high, she will bump up to the next phase which grants her more attacks. Where I quote on my reaction to 2.4 “HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT’S THAT” then I died. I thought it was a cool idea though the logical conclusion I find myself in is that while I haven’t figured her out I am fighting her at her hardest since you know she gets to hit me and build her sync bar, while on the run where I succeeded she died at 2.1 the easiest form. I felt like they could have given her the same item they gave Ursula to restore her sync bar so she actually has a chance to enter her other forms.
For the final fight we have a really cool cinematic fight with a giant old man sending purple man after the player. It was really cinematic and flashy though the boss is indeed relatively readable and easy to predict.
I think I got the bad ending which is to be expected when half the camp just vanishes, there are some optional areas that I didn’t bother with (that platforming segment) that I assume I actually need to do to get a better ending. I will probably go for it again in the future.
]]>So I was exploring for more weapons and stuff when I come across the infinite Respec crystal, in contrast to other similar games this game has infinite respec which is a dream come true. I felt like more games should just do this or do away with stats altogether. Thanks to this I was able to try all sorts of weird weapons like a literal road sign, and some of the high stat spells. Thanks to this I was able to explore quite the build variety and improve my damage.
Dying to her the first time gets you locked up in jail, kinda cool. Though the color palette is rather similar. Death:54 The most notable thing is this boss has her own sync meter as well making this the first official duel boss, where she feels like the player character. I suspect that she is the flashback we see earlier, but it was a really challenging and fun fight. She is capable of parrying the player, and her attacks are fast but readable. I suspect that I could have beaten her a lot faster if I don’t insist on parrying her as she kills me in 2-3 hits. Compared to other bosses the parrying return isn’t as great as well, because if she hits the player or parries the player she regains a good chunk of her sync bar, I think each parry drops it by 35%, so to bring her down to the first fatal attack it takes 3 or so parries, and she is at 50% sync meter necessitating 1-2 parries. There wasn’t any point where I felt that I died unfairly, and I was able to defeat her at the end. When she is near death she does start using items to restore her sync, so I find no point in parrying from here on.
]]>Usually in these games the healing item upgrades are kinda hard to miss because you know, they are important. I instantly knew something is up when I am trying to clear the next location and my healing item (called life dew) heals me for a pathetic 40% of my health bar. So I went on a massive manhunt to find what the hell I am missing. As I find out, I failed to explore one of the rooms, that contains a shortcut back to a checkpoint, and to its left the entrance is hidden under some crates. However I find a giant snail underneath, after beating the shit out of it I got my first dew. Due to standard video game rules, I suspect that each map has exactly one, and I was right. However they are not consistent, in map 1 it was the snail, in the next map it is some butterfly thing, while on map 3 it is some mini boss. I guess this does provide the incentive to fight everything at least once but I felt like at least the first one should be free so I actually know that this is how I upgrade my potion. Now to cover how things went.
The Area: Kinda boring, dead trees Death:23 So this occurred at the forest, and it is essentially a gank fight. I am pretty sure there is no special AI since if I am doing too well against the brute both of them spawn and the three of them send me back to spawn. The fight didn’t really feel fun and I spend more time running in circles praying that I get my turn. In the end I find that the approach to simply focus down on the new guy that joins the fight to be the most consistent, as the first boss is relatively slow, the second boss is a ranged enemy with relatively low health while the third is an assassin type enemy that moves very fast. At least it will be a non-memorable fight if this is it.
Enter phase 2 which is an actual new boss that reminds me of the abyss watchers with the sheer amount of fire. I find that he has a completely new moveset and feels like two different fights tossed together for some inexplicable reason. The end result is that the first phase is a slog to get to the actually fun fight. For the second fight he is relatively fair, and his attacks are readable. The phase 2 transition was pretty cool and some of the big fancy attacks took some time to get used to. It is a relatively manageable fight…if not for the gank squad I have to slog through first that drains my resources. Fight Rating: Slog, followed by mediocre
The area: Meh Grey swamp Death: 6 The first challenging fight I feel, compared to the previous it is not predictable, and I needed some time to get the parry timing down. The boss does come with a big flashy instant kill attack, which is fair enough. Overall I found the fight to be quite fun as he provides a reasonable window to punish. I was surprised to learn we can parry ranged attacks here as well. Its speed also keeps the tension up. Despite being relatively fast it is extremely predictable, it comes with huge wind ups, and I think due to its hitbox but the parry window seems very generous. Despite dying a few times it is a relatively fun fight. Fight Rating: Will fight again
The area: Meh grey streets Death: 0, first try This is the first mage boss where I spent more time chasing it than actually fighting it, I was able to dodge almost all attacks, with one exception being the laser beams because I mistook them for the floating ball. It is overall a pretty mediocre fight, all the attacks are very predictable and can be dodged without much fuss. I did it first try. Fight Rating: Will bully again
The Area: Was cool, a change of pace, until I have to run through it again and again Death: 20 I think this is the first boss where the runback is annoying, not only is there no branch (so no upgrading, I have to teleport to the previous location, run 30 seconds to get to the branch then run back), the church robots will make Captain America proud. I have lost track of how many times I ran past a guy only for them to yeet the shield and shave off a good chunk of my health bar. There are about 4 of them to run past taking around 30 seconds or so to arrive at the boss room. Unless I am missing something there is no checkpoint.
So how about the boss? This boss is a summoner archetype, where he can summon the apparitions of some of the knights to attack the player which was a cool concept. However, since I don’t think attacking the apparitions do anything, most of them essentially turn into me running as fast as possible to the boss. The boss itself uses a lot of magic attacks and uniquely does not open up for a fatal attack once parried. The main challenge of the fight is to not dodge into a random lightning bolt that he spawns, many attacks have an aftereffect where storms strike the ground. The magic attacks are relatively easy to dodge so nothing novel here, I was able to dodge the attack with lots of projectiles by running in a perfectly parallel line some distance away. Also the boss teleports, turning the fight into a game of tag.
I can see what they are going for but the boss is a little of a mess, the summons in phase 2 sometimes occur off screen and I only see it if I am already hit. To be honest I don’t think this boss is that difficult, it is just that it is very punishing. There are a few times that I am simply hit by a residual lightning and combo to death. Also there are two attacks that do a truckload of damage, I am not sure if I am not investing enough in health but I get one-shotted. The first is the phase transition nuke where I simply didn’t realize what is going on, and the second is a ground slam that forces you to run away. It doesn’t play well with parry heavy or quick attack playstyle when there is no opportunity to parry.
Fight Rating: Never again
All in all I think it is firmly in the all right category, all the fights so far. They aren’t exactly not fun, but I am not going to be defending them anytime in the future.
]]>So the game is a soulslike, except with cute anime girls. Honestly I was hoping for a game that is easy on the eyes and executes it well. The necros are some biological monsters attacking everyone as well as bandits. For the game itself I have went through a few bosses, the combat is simple to understand and quite easy to learn. There is no stamina management but each attack needs to be committed. Anyone who has played Dark Souls games will find themselves familiar here. While I don’t think the game is breaking any new ground or introducing the next revolution to the soulslike genre, it does what already exists well.
The main mechanics introduced are essentially quite similar to stability, it is a bar that goes up if you attack enemies and goes down if you are hit or you use skills. A benefit of this is that it becomes more feasible to spam the “magic” spells, which I was always reluctant to do in most soulslike as I might run out before needing them.
Now the game is explicitly named AI Limits, but so far I haven’t found out why it is named as such. Maybe it is a spoiler. But the story is really cryptic so far, to be honest I have no idea what is going on, just like the protagonist who is amnesiac. Of the NPCs I think Feylia was the most memorable simply because of how big her sword was and was taller than her. The others are cryptic just like soul’s NPC.
I am glad that they did not go with the gritty serious tone compared to the rest, I was able to put the main character in some funny outfits. The above is a rabbit outfit and it looks ridiculous along with the scythe. Here is to hoping for more funny outfits, I will be switching outfits with every post I put out there.
So I think I went through the starting area, which is mostly sewers, a desert town, sewers and more sewers. When I left off I am at some woods. Now obviously the first few locations aren’t exactly expected to be awe inspiring, but I felt they succeed a bit. At the desert town we see the church walls and I am instantly curious what is inside the walls. Inside the walls there are some random floating stuff. Though the main objective is to collect branches that literally nobody knows why they are doing. I think all the bladers (the term used to refer to our character) have found a new hobby in the meantime.
The enemies so far are rather generic, so nothing to say here. And so are the bosses. But hey they serve a purpose to get me used to the game. I am getting better at the parrying as well. I was able to learn how to parry most of them, even if they aren’t exactly memorable.
Going forward this is what I am expecting: At least one duel boss that uses a similar moveset instead of wild beast At least one awe inspiring location that screams beauty An explanation of what the hell is going on.
Until the next time
]]>The evil pupil and his 5 associates killed your master, who is also your father. So go and kill them. The premise is extremely simple to understand. Which is fine as it isn’t the focus anyways. So let’s get into the focus which is the gameplay.
The game has some gorgeous design, all 5 locations have a color schemes and themes making them distinct, on top of that all the mooks involved are also dressed differently. Even though the core concepts are the same, the dialogue is able to make everyone feel different, from the slurring among the initial druggies, to the professional bodyguards hunting down the player later. The visuals are outstanding making use of camera angles, such as the replication of the corridor fighting in the first stage, or the second stage with a narration of rain.
Many stages also have shortcuts later on, allowing you to skip past the stage to fight the bosses. I like the dilemma here as it is possible to clear stages using the shortcut to avoid potential death, however it means not being able to access upgrades at certain parts of the stage. It ensures that later on it doesn’t become skip the entire stage and fight the boss.
Overall I felt that the game difficulty curves relatively well. The game starts off with druggies who come in groups but use big telegraph attacks, then it moves on to introduce special enemies, finally it combines the special enemies as one. It uses an aging system that acts as the time limit of how many times you can die and generously saves the lowest age. This incentivizes me to try to clear previous stages with less deaths so I can die more in the later stages when the difficulty rises, however this also makes the player better at the game and improves their skills later on.
For the game duration I am really happy to say that all the bosses feel distinct. Even if I feel that the bosses’ difficulty is not that well balanced. In my playthrough, I will rank the bosses’ difficulty as 5th Boss>3rd Boss»4th Boss»1st Boss>2nd boss
To cover each, the first boss uses relatively basic attacks, with some bladed attacks mixed in at phase 2. Whereas the second boss essentially acts as a more advanced version of all the mini bosses that the player likely fought in the entire stage. The third stage new enemy type does not feel related to the boss. I think she has some very long attack chains, as well as a mix of lower and upper swipe attacks. Surprisingly, her second phase is easier than the first because her attack chain becomes easier to read. The fourth boss uses long range attacks, however she is relatively fragile, I was able to beat her.
The fifth boss, in my opinion, strictly enforces a single playstyle that is contrary to how the mooks teach the game. For both the first and third boss, the bladed weapons encourage dodging instead since missing a parry means either blocking and taking chip damage, or taking damage. In the regular game group fights, parrying isn’t the best because most of the time there is too much shit going on to focus on one enemy. The fifth boss is much easier using parrying compared to everything else.
I really enjoyed my time with this game, because it taught me patience and a variety of playstyles. It is a game that truly rewards skills over all else, and everything is in service of the gameplay which I am glad to say feels good to play.
]]>The story feels like a modern day James Bond movie. It taps into some of the anxiety of 2026, however felt rushed at the end.
The game is a linear action/stealth game, with semi open world segments.
The difficulty of the game is low, with little variation in combat or skill involved.
I finished the main story on normal difficulty in 16.5 hours.
The story that is told is basically that of IOI’s own take on James Bond, the famous spy. The story is serviceable, with a strong start that falls off midway through. It taps into the theme in 2026 (which is AI) and the villain motive is compelling, at the end they are clearly setting up a sequence hook. However the final segment felt very rushed.
Stealth is what Bond is known for, on top of gadgets to distract potential watchers, Bond is also able to activate distractions. He also has the ability to lure enemies or bluff them, in practice I rarely remember to use these.
There are two type of stealth here Social Stealth - For these types it is not possible to turn to combat, it usually occurs in the public and if caught Bond just teleports away. Usually for these there are a few solutions which all lead to the same outcome. Combat Stealth - These are more traditional stealth experiences as the player tries to finish some objective without getting seen. It is reasonably well implemented and the bluffing ability makes it possible to get away with non perfect play. Both of them ensure that the game never gets stale during stealth sections as the game switches between both as we go from a social camouflage to sneaking around high security.
Melee combat is what you turn to if stealth fails, there is a parry and a dodge. James Bond also has a grab he can use as well as certain environmental objects. It starts off strong, however Bond never gets any new moves, and the enemy types are limited. So combat becomes boring after a while.
In terms of the shooter element, it is a fairly generic shooting game. One notable thing is that James Bond never carries a lot of ammo, making it necessary to switch weapons.
The driving segment is really handholded, if you are able to inconvenience some poor pedestrian the car will auto steer out of their way. Except for a chase near the start, driving never felt exciting as the path is always linear with no possibility of failure.
The bosses are a disappointment and do not take advantage of the game system fully. Only the first boss fight at the basement makes use of Bond’s hacking tool extensively, after that the fights fall off into overly gimmicky fights. I don’t feel like a spy outsmarting the opponent, I feel like John fucking Wick shooting a continental soldier, where unless you fulfill its gimmick it does nothing.
To discuss the dialogue options I am pretty confident there is 0 variation in what happens. It does not matter what Bond replies things turn out the same. There is only a single moment where you can fail if you didn’t choose correctly. It really puts a dent in the mode knowing the dialogue choices do not matter.
Finally I must talk about this, there is a ridiculous amount of handholding. I don’t need my mission control to tell me to check out X where X is always the solution. I was trying to solve a puzzle to get past a door and my partner just shows up and tells me to get over. Is it that bad to struggle on a puzzle? If I cannot figure it out let me google it, not have the NPC point it out.
I felt that the story is the only reason to play the game, if a James Bond style story isn’t for you it is a safe skip. The gameplay is not strong enough to justify the time spent. Tac Sim mode seems promising… but it is quite barebones at the moment.
Personally I felt that the game has a very strong start, it starts strong escalating as Bond goes from a regular soldier to getting recruited then to the mission in Slovakia. The car chase feels straight out of a Bond Movie, taking shortcuts to catch up and ending in a badass segment where we get to control the tilt of the plane to get through the baddies. At this point the Slovakia mission has a few options, from burning a bin to swiping an employee key card.
After the above mission, we get to go to a pirates’ market. There are several activities possible here, in a full exploration where you need to earn money for the auction. I did the boxing ring, and the art deal. Once I get my goal ALL activities instantly become unavailable. I wanted to do the cup game, or the phone hacking, or the shooting range, the game disagrees and thinks I should go back to Greenway.
On top of that with exactly one exception, the dialogue options do not matter. You know in Casino Royale where Bond won with trickery and insight? I don’t feel like Bond when none of my options matter. The only part where this is implemented is taunting Damien to get him close so we can hack his phone, this is the only smart part. Meanwhile when we have a contact that is blown, or when we are about to be lowered to alligators, regardless what I cannot lose. It takes the tension out.
The formula of the game is essentially doing social stealth, then regular stealth, and ending with a shoot out. The enemy does not actually change, the enemies early on down at the laundry bay feel exactly the same as the guards in the penultimate area. The guns can be summarized as pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, submachine gun and a sniper rifle, with suppressed variants. The enemy type can be summarized as normal and armored guys. All in all I felt like I was doing the exact same thing in a loop. Also the sheer amount of walking or following a character isn’t helping, just make it a cutscene if I cannot deviate from the path.
The only boss fight is the fight against Monroe. Literally the first fight, it is a cool CQC fight spanning across multiple locations. A strong start, however all other bosses aren’t that unique. Tero Murto requires the usage of traps to damage him, however it just ends after 3 hits. The subsequent CQC is completely cut scene based. Meanwhile the other Murto twin is a standard CQC fight in the same building, yes it gets set on fire later on but the boss himself is unchanged. The fight against Damien is extremely similar to Tero Murto, where it is completely dependent on the surroundings. The final boss has a phase 1 which involves the same thing as Tero, while a phase 2 that is basically the Anor Londo archers. It takes place… in the sewers. So the visual sucks, and it is not interesting or difficult. The story should have ended after Antarctica, not only does the final boss NOT use melee combat which the game does well in, it is barely a fight.
Overall this game is not my thing, it felt tailor-made to the most casual of audiences. It is definitely not worth the almost $70 price tag. The Tac Sim seems to be the intended post game but it is really underbaked. After a year or so maybe it will be worth the price.
]]>This was a most challenging journey, I was extremely reluctant to take up the role as I am aware I will be away from August to January. However, the circumstances forced me into it. This is how I became the club president.
While in Spain, I continue to hold exco meetings with my club. I am glad to have some reliable lads who are able to update me on the situation. However, my lack of physical presence is indeed an issue. During this period we are able to hold the club in stagnation, ensuring it stays as per usual. I took the role to try to mentor the Vice President of Education…but he just dipped on me halfway. I also took the role to contact people and ensure the club program sheet is well planned so the people on the ground have an easier job.
When I return in January, the first massive issue is that the club home grounds are closed for renovation. I had to come up with some creative solutions in order to maintain things. The first thing we did was zoom meetings, however I made a crucial mistake and delayed the January meeting as there is a lack of people interested. This mistake resulted in the momentum of the club halting, and I had to work hard by talking to people, coming up with interesting themes in order to revive the momentum.
For several months we will continue online meetings, the limitation of online meetings makes engagement challenging.
]]>It has dawned on me that I have forgotten the common route that connects all the paths, so I thought I should cover it first.
I will first talk about the first half which is introducing everyone, and the second half which is used to establish the story.
One of the most surprising parts is that the protagonist, Ryosuke Hino…has hopes and dreams. I know very high bar to clear, however the sheer amount that is just a nice guy blank slate or a backstory that serves to justify them being overpowered means that this actually makes the protagonist interesting. We see the POV character is interested in Architecture, and this actually drives some of his actions later on. Most importantly, this means that I can actually see myself falling for him.
Afterwards we are introduced to the characters basically in this order, I think.
Sora Ousaka is the shy, quiet lass who loves astrology.
Natsuki Segawa is an energetic lass who loves photography.
Azuma Morio is a figure of admiration and mature despite being airheaded.
Marika Shinozaki is the sweet childhood friend who recovered from an illness.
Nirasawa Shuuichi who is a childhood friend with a friendly fierce competitive streak with the protagonist.
Rikka Narusawa is cold and stoic while being good at the piano.
Misa Okihara is a knowledgeable and sisterly lass about marine life.
Touko Yukimura who is a bit of a rebel.
I felt that the introductions did a good job at establishing who everyone is and the type of interest and personality they have. So I have no issue with the first segment at all.
For the second segment we are introduced to the Tanabata festival, and the town’s unique celebration. This sets up the core driving force for most of the actions taken in the school segment.
For this segment I felt that it was alright, it did its job to make the introduced characters into a group. Narusawa-san is the only one that felt like she is literally dragged there by the party. This segment was not the most interesting since they still include more information for every character, and at this point I felt like the elaboration isn’t really necessary. This entire segment is basically the “checkbox” to decide whose route you are romancing.
My biggest issue is that the choices do not feel like they matter. Early on Shinozaki-san has a choice to wait for her or go home, regardless of what you choose you still wait for her. It is probably used to count which part to put the player on but why not just…skip it. As a result I wasn’t aware that these choices affect who we are pursuing later (since the outcome is exactly the same). I think it will be fine to skip it, so if we don’t wait for Marika we skip the entire segment, which makes more sense into the romance part since well we spend less time with her.
The group scenes however are great, and the conversation at the end paints a good picture of what to expect from each girl when pursuing them. All the silly games they play do help in creating the atmosphere.
I like the establishment of all the characters, as well as the story. I will appreciate if the game is not in fear that I will miss their brilliant writing.
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