Fumanstu it’s definitely it’s own game, moreso than Bloodborne was, there is also still From DNA pulsing through its veins. I like what I’ve played of it a lot so far.

      DrDamn Yes, that’s what I was alluding to last night in my message. I’m looking forward to digging in tonight for another couple of hours.

        Oh it is a bit tasty hard. General mini boss after you get your arm killed me write a few times, even though I worked out the initial attack first time through. Got him in the end, there is an extra “hint” in that area which is very From.

        As a “general” guide I’d say I found I really wasn’t being aggressive enough at first.

          DrDamn and you can skip past him over the rooftops if it’s the same guy I’m thinking of.
          Loving it so far but yeah quite tough but I think it’s still a progress a little and run back type game to skill up.

            Yeah, it’s worth taking him on for the rewards though. 🙂 Extra tip.

            The item pick up in the same area as the General is very effective against him too - you’ll want more though if you have them

            Also early From moment (just after getting grapple) …
            Whizzing about like Spiderman I snuck round and stealth killed one mob, two more up some steps, one just by a grapple point. I thought I’d grapple to him, take him down with a flourish and then move on to the other. It went down like … Grapple! Boom! Dead! Oh they have guns 🙂. Classic From to set up a situation you feel like you have a plan for and then they mix it up.

            Making some progress. Got round to the next mini-boss (red-eyed-ogre). Also very tough. I’ve found a way to take the first bar quite easily, and got some tactics for the second part of the battle but he’s tough. I find I go back and try the tutorial guy to learn the techniques but as soon as I have to use them in a real fight - especially mini-boos - it all goes to crap and I panic 😃.

            Something helpful for the fight …

            There are two fire based prosthetic mods you can get to help in this battle. One is from the Memorial vendor - just after the General fight look for a high point with crows sat on a tent on the left. The way up is round the other side after you have tackled the first set of mobs post General. He sells lots of useful stuff including a Firecracker add on for 500 coins.

            The other add-on is accessed in another area … need to talk to a lady about a bell.

            I hate to say it but I’m bouncing off it at the mo. I can’t get my head round the combat.

            It might need me to do away from it and come back when souls isn’t so fresh in my mind.

              Brave how far have you got? When you come back spend some good time with the training dude. I’ve found it’s also an extra step up from Bloodborne in being more offensive - though I balance that with stealth divide and conquer gameplay too - which I’m really enjoying.

                  Brave Yeah, I’m back and forth on it. I really enjoy the stealthy or exploring sections. And then I hit a proper fight and I struggle with the speed of it but I’m finding that there are tricks and tactics that help with even the full on fights. But it is frustrating to spend 15 minutes being a ninja badass clearing an area, only to be humiliated in about 10 seconds by a mini boss.

                  DrDamn The training dude is useful for figuring out timings etc but obviously isn’t going to help you learn a particular enemies patterns - which I think is fundamental to anything above the pure fodder.

                  To be fair, I’ve been down with the lurgey since it launched, so I’m playing under a slightly foggy haze of decongestant and stuffiness. So maybe when I’m free of the cold I’ll start to react quicker, but it does feel to me like this kinda odd hybrid of a stealth game combined with Souls combined with a fighting game.

                        Fumanstu There does seem to be a lot more of a specific easier path to defeating the mini-bosses so far. Key skills or prosthetic attachments that make things easier and even then you still need to learn timing and application.

                        Stuff I’m really enjoying.

                        • Verticality and variety of approach to level design. It feels a lot less funnelled down a route with more open areas you can work around and plan you attack …
                        • Which brings in the Stealth Shinobi bad ass, divide and conquer element. Areas become puzzles as to how you best approach them, the order you take mobs out and when to fight head on and when to brave-sir-robin it.
                        • The movement - aside from some non-standard button combinations - and the grapple add a lot to the ways you can move about the areas.
                        • No stamina! This is one of the big changes to Soulsborne games and means you can really wail on enemies a lot more than you previously would, be relentless, jump and dodge all you like and then run away when you need to.
                        • Timings are mostly generous, much easier to pull off in general than Soulsborne.
                        • A lot of the stuff surrounding the combat and traversal changes are still very From. Level design, narrative, mystery and gameplay mechanics all based in Soulsborne DNA.

                        Stuff which is not so good?

                        • It’s a bit tricky 🙂
                        • No multiplayer / co-op - this is always a big part of the Souls games for me. Solo I love exploring the game world and the discovery side of things, but big bosses I always enjoyed bring in help rather than spending too long repeating and learning the moves for them. I understand the enjoyment in that, but my understanding and my skill levels are not aligned 😃
                        • Traversal and movement controls are not quite as slick as they could be. Hanging on to ledges, hugging walls, not hugging walls are not quite right and when panic sets in it can cause unnecessary deaths.

                            DrDamn That’s a pretty good description of how I feel about it, thanks. 🙂

                            Had a quick session on it at lunchtime today and beat the General after the Ogre. I’d done the Ogre within a couple of attempts yesterday but the General was a bit more of a pain. At least until I realised there was an Idol just past him so he wasn’t actually gating progress. Weirdly, then I was able to relax knowing that I didn’t have to beat him and, of course, beat him straight away. So that’s put me on 3 prayer beads and I need 4 to get a buff to life and damage. I’d hit another miniboss in the memory, so I went back there to have a go at him but he wrecked me. He did seem to take a lot of posture damage reasonably easily though, so I think that’s the strategy for him. Had to leave it there though because it was all my cold-addled brain could take. I’ll have another few tries at him tonight or tomorrow and hopefully get that next prayer bead.

                                Jogort Nope, really wanted that extra health, so made that my priority. 😃

                                  Fumanstu I did wonder about the first mini boss in the memory. Looked deceptively small so was probably for the best I saw that as a bad sign and left him. Do you have the thrust counter skill you can buy for two points? Assume that can be used for him?

                                    Yup, could do it every time against the training dude. Against the miniboss? Not once. I’ll get ’im though.

                                      I think it’s the double-threaded nature of the story that is really doing for me. My souls instincts are leading me to bang my head against a brick wall trying to beat mini-bosses that actually need something from the other thread of the story.

                                      Has anyone reached the mini-boss in the fiery area of the memory yet? The poison one?

                                        Fumanstu Got ’im. 🙂 Wasn’t too bad in the end, kept the pressure on him, dodged what i could and soon enough his posture was maxxed out.

                                          Brave nope, you must be ahead of me, just reached the Idol in the fiery bit.

                                            Brave yeah I’m at that boss now, not defeated him yet though, too many minions with him

                                              Chained Ogre down, back to spear dude shinobi in the memory. Ogre only took two more attempts. First one cut short after he threw me off the cliff, second one I ran out of prosthetic uses but then discovered dodging left all the time seemed to work just fine 😀

                                              Had one try on the spear dude. Almost had him but I panicked too much. It’s a bit of a trek and quite a few mobs to tackle on the way for this one (obviously have door open).