A.M.B.

Anyone know what happened to Takayuki Ueki? Saw a pray for Ueki graphic and have no idea what the deal was

I won’t debate who won on the scorecards and how to weigh things like control time vs. damage, but I was bummed Yan didn’t get the decision as I think he overall looked like the superior fighter.

Uchigatana and moonveil are both fantastic weapons for int builds with some Dex investment as well. I’m using both (currently 20 Dex 40 Int) and switch between them depending on what does more damage. Meteorite staff for casting as well. Moonveil has a fantastic ranged attack and it seems to be really popular. You have to beat a tough boss to get it though, which Id recommend you be around level 50 for. Uchigatana could hold you over until then, and only that can be buffed with magic armament. Margit is the first major skill check of the game, I’d recommend clearing out the majority of Limgrave first, and being at least level 30. You’ll want your main weapon at +3 as well. Using a summon to draw attention away from yourself is a great idea, the jellyfish is very tank and helped me a lot. And make sure to use heavy R2 and/or jumping attacks to deal major posture damage, as well as guard counters, though they can be trickier to time. The longer you wait between these attacks the more an enemy will regain its invisible posture meter. Rock Sling can also break posture. Having a shield that has 100% physical block has been a game changer for me in this game, unlike other Souls games where it’s much easier to roll through everything. With a good amount of enemies, big ones especially, it’s usually best to actually fight them really close and strafe to one of their sides as opposed to fighting from a distance, though that’s sometimes necessary for magic casting. You can also grind up a bit, there’s a Boulder spot that’s really easy to farm, as well as two big enemies very close to it that give 45K and 75k runes with zero skill to beat. Best of luck, this is honestly the worst Souls game to start with.

I don’t think you get it, because I don’t like hard games and never touch hard mode, and a huge amount of Souls fans are the same way. Hard mode is usually just tankier enemies with less player HP, while Souls strikes the perfect balance of most enemies being able to die in a few hits, but you as well. It’s not a hack and slash, it’s a position and stamina management game. A lot of Souls fans are just long time gamers who were unaware with how sick they were of handholding video games where victory was guaranteed. I can’t play games like Cuphead for more than 30 minutes without my eyes hurting. I don’t like the easy mode and don’t want to play it since it’s too easy compared to normal, and I don’t get to see the full phases of bosses. It’s just not a game for me, it’s hard for the sake of memorization, Souls games are hard for the sake of figuring out creative ways to solve problems. I don’t feel the need for Cuphead to do more to be accessible to me, I can just respect that the creative vision for it doesn’t align with my taste. What specifically makes you feel like you “can’t fucking play” a Souls game? Which ones have you tried and what were your sticking points?

Have you played Souls games before? I’m not sure how an easy mode would reduce strain in your case. An easy mode would ultimately have to come down to taking less damage and doing more damage yourself, but you’re still going to have to use complicated reflexive button inputs, this game especially compared to the first Dark Souls has much more complex controls. But I ultimately come back to play styles in these games. You can get 300k souls without even fighting a single boss at the start. You can pump your HP up as well as Int and get an S Scaling magic staff and a spell that will wreck everything in your way. If your reaction times are slow you can play a heavily armored tank with a huge shield. You can summon friends or NPCs to help you with all the bosses. There’s endless possibilities in how to make the game easier.

Alright now I’m back. This game is making me flip-flop in the best way possible. It’s getting a lot easier to see when I should and shouldn’t persist through a boss fight. Some bosses are obviously meant to be fought on your mount, which I should have realized earlier. Getting a 100% physical reduction shield has also illuminated how some bosses should be approached, instead of mindlessly spam rolling, which was viable in DS1-3, Elden Ring not so much. There was one boss in Gael Ruins who was wrecking me until I realized I could just stand directly in front of him with a shield and slowly work in shots as he pushed past me. Getting stance breaks is so addicting, especially with my recovery from critical attacks talisman. Gael Ruins boss weapon is perfect for my Int/Dex build, plus I’ve got an uchigatana that’s amazing on its own, and an S scaling staff with some boosted gravity magic. Feeling a little OP since I found a couple easy enemies that can get you 120k runes, but that’s the point of an RPG, I don’t feel bad. Morne Castle and Stormveil Castle are everything I had hoped for with the classic, old school dungeon design, except they’re also huge, and downright intimidating to try and memorize. Part of my frustration was just getting too adventurous, I was neglecting Weeping Peninsula which definitely seems like the proper second area after Limgrave, then the area after Stormveil seems to be 3rd.

Can people cheer yet?

The game is transition back from fun into overwhelming as I seem to have run out of areas I feel appropriately leveled for. Mergit wrecked me at first so I went back and cleared out a lot of the Limgrave areas with little difficulty, slowly building myself up. It felt like I was playing the game how it's designed to be played. Now I keep dying at Stormveil Castle so I'm looking for other places I build my character up and am starting to feel a little defeated. I think I've given up on the last 5 or so bosses I've tried facing. Like, couldn't even take one hit, or get them below 80% health, so it's hard for me to imagine it's just a matter of skill. My DPS is absolute ass and I'm using a +7 Spear when I see +3 weapons are about what's normal for where I'm at. Morne Castle was awesome but I cannot make much of a dent in the boss, the weapon I'm looking to use is guarded by another boss I can barely even scratch, and Stormveil Castle is getting tiring to go though the same section over and over again, only to get stunlocked by some hordes.

This game is quickly transitioning from overwhelming to absolutely incredible the more I internalize the mechanics and control changes and piece together the map. Hit a major roadblock with the first main gate keeping boss so I decided to mess around and grind up more in Limgrave and every area I’ve come across has been fantastic and perfectly rewarding. I ended up ditching the wretch and started a new game as an astrologer. It has made things a lot easier, though I sometimes feel a little guilty with how trivial magic can make certain battles. Only complaint is that my main worry is very much apparent in the first part of the game. That is, nothing but open, flat battle arenas. I’d love some boss arenas with more traps, holes, or bottlenecks. The first 3 bosses in DS all had vastly different arenas that were integral to how one had to approach combat.

Well I just got my first crash, without saying too much, I somehow ended up at a far end of the map with red skies and the game freaked out apparently. So far the only word I can use is overwhelming. I can’t say I’ve fully internalized the mechanics or have the confidence in my play style to be in a fun flow state yet. I am enjoying it, it’s just A LOT to take in. I am starting to regret picking the wretch a bit, the world is so huge it just feels like it might take forever to work a coherent build out. Plus I’m not upgrading my club yet since I’m hoping I’ll find a better weapon any minute, but that’s yet to happen. The tutorial section boss was incredibly easy, heavy R2’s are really useful apparently. Second boss I found made me really question how I’m approaching this game. Really can’t tell if I’m supposed to upgrade my equipment more, fight it now, or if the wretch was just a horrible choice. I’m also running past like 90% of enemies. The hordes are pretty frightening. This is definitely not Dark Souls 4, those games are looking ridiculously simple in comparison right now.

Eddie/Jericho segment was fantastic besides the insider verbiage from Jericho. Why not just say Eddie’s become beloved or a fan favorite instead of having to drop the babyface line. Part of me wants to see Eddie lose even more matches and turn him into a Honma figure of sorts. Not quite to that extreme, but you could have him lose this big one, then start to wallow the few weeks/months after and “quit” or disappear. Then have some NYC show with a title match, (would be perfect if MJF was champ by then) run an injury angle that takes the challenger out the day of, all the other top 5 are booked or unable to compete, so they announce an open challenge title match substitution during the show, then Kingston comes back and wins the big one, clean finish. He can lose it (back to the same guy even, MJF could turn it into bragging rights that he’s a 2 TIME champion, the first in company history) not long after, I just need to see him win the big one once, and I want it to be as unexpected as possible. Anyway, thanks for reading my ultimate AEW armchair booking. Also I’d book Eddie vs. Ishii.

What specific part of the game made you feel that way? It’s quite simple with a walkthrough to make an OP build, sorcery especially, and you can simply run past most enemies and areas if you know where to go. That’s why it’s so addicting, once you understand the game you look back and feel comparatively invincible. But I won’t try and convince you to love it, not every game is for everyone, it’s just a lot easier than it seems at first glance. There’s always a simpler way to do things. and it’s definitely not difficult for the sake of difficulty, it’s difficult for the sake of the story being about the hero being the only one who perseveres through numerous deaths and rebirths in dark, seemingly hopeless times. It’s the only thing that separates you from the hollows you encounter, your willingness to not give in to the feeling of being overwhelmed. Every item you find is on a hollow, and hollows are characters that simply gave up along the way. Don’t you dare go hollow.

I think you’re thinking of Kanemoto vs. Kaz Hayashi from ‘98 BOSJ https://youtu.be/d-MIG81edes

I mean it’s hard for me to say now, but from the impression I get this game won’t be any different than the other SoulsBorne games in how it tells its story. The story and lore is there, and incredibly deep, but it’s not told explicitly in a linear narrative through cutscenes like most games do. It’s much more about piecing little bits of info together from NPCs and item descriptions. Some theorize the item descriptions are the thoughts of the main character. It’s not for everyone, but I really like it, since I mainly just play games for fun gameplay and can try and fill in what I missed with fan made lore videos on YouTube. Sounds like George RR Martin’s role wasn’t much beyond some character and world design, it’ll be a Miyazaki story through and through. It might be worth a try if you couldn’t get into DS1 (that’s the Switch one), personally I find DS1 the best game of the series to start with, but to some it feels a bit dated. If you’re not into the cryptic game mechanics, a walkthrough can make all the difference. Understanding what a viable build looks like is probably the first step to success, and eliminating lots of trial and error. Every game has basically the same system of an HP stat, stamina, endurance for managing equipment weight and how fast you can move with certain gear, strength for heavy slower weapons, dex for lighter fast weapons, attunement for how many spells you need, intelligence for mostly offensive sorceries, and faith for mostly support miracles.

Wonder what the main event will be. Though I don't think it'll be as good of a match (It might even be mediocre) as Adam vs. Adam, DMD vs. Rosa is the biggest women's match they can do right now, and if they are trying to put the women's title on the level of the men's, this is likely their best chance to give them a PPV main event spot for the next few years till a bigger feud comes along. Given my apathy towards Cole I wouldn't mind, but then I also think no one would think Cole has a chance if him and Page aren't on last. I think Bucks/JE/ReDragon is most likely, but I really want to see Santana and Ortiz win the tag belts ASAP. On top of just being overall fantastic, they've been on the backburner a little too long for my liking and after leaving Inner Circle they could use it to further the story that they were being held back by Jericho.