What games are you playing 2: The revenge
- Thread starter GenocideHeart
- Start date
Dust an Elysian Tail.
I had played through a sizeable portion of the game previously and just stopped. Probably due to another release distracting me.
It's been long enough I just started over.
It's a fun furry themed hack and slash Metroidvania made up of hand drawn art. Was mostly done by one dude, I think the only thing he had help with was the audio. It's super impressive considering that.
I had played through a sizeable portion of the game previously and just stopped. Probably due to another release distracting me.
It's been long enough I just started over.
It's a fun furry themed hack and slash Metroidvania made up of hand drawn art. Was mostly done by one dude, I think the only thing he had help with was the audio. It's super impressive considering that.
Danganronpa Chapter 5
Well, I think Nagito has earned his magnificent bastard status. Managing to grit his way through that much pain to set-up a murder, as well as the sheer amount of planning required to distract everybody, and then his video message at the end...
Saying that, I sort of did key in to that there was a set-up here where one of the remaining students would have been an 'accidental murderer', and my gut instinct said I was right because Case 5 is probably the penultimate trial so of course there'd be some set-up like that. However, I thought it had something to do with the oil lighter specifically, where Akane forces the door open, unintentionally starts the fire, and it burns some sort of mechanism holding the spear in place. I completely forgot about the poison.
In a way, this case makes me wish even more that Chapter 3's case went the way I originally theorised - that the murderer would not commit any of the direct killing actions, merely setting up the stage for it. That way, between Chapters 3, 4 and 5, Monokuma's rules and interpretations would be twisted and stretched to its very limits to put the bear himself in a tight spot, where he has to weave between interpretations so he doesn't accidentally end up breaking another rule.
Now, saying that...I kind of was expecting the traitor to be Sonia, if only by process of elimination. I sort of expected it might be Chiaki because the heroine being the traitor seems like the type of twist I should expect from this game, but dang. The game didn't say it in so many words, but she was an A.I., wasn't she?
And yes, I say it's an A.I. because the end of the case when everyone's gathering together at the restaurant makes it blatantly clear this is a simulation. Chiaki was certainly human enough for Hajime to fall in love with, though. She'll be missed. 11037 pretty much confirms Makoto Naegi had a part in building the simulation too, and that the Future Foundation are the good guys and Monokuma the bad guy for sure.
You know, something that had bothered me throughout the entire case was 'Why was Nagito so intent on outing the traitor?' It wasn't as if Monokuma had said a single thing throughout the game that would have really honed their focus on finding a so-called traitor. He just obliquely mentions it on several occasions, but there's no thing like 'find the person who doesn't fit or else I'll kill you all.'
But finding out at the end that Nagito intended for everybody BUT the traitor to be killed is something different. The traitor would have still been outed, after she survived the class trial. So clearly something he received after clearing the Evil Dead Room was sufficient enough for him to want to kill everybody else. I think I'm getting it now too, that Monokuma is actually forced to obey some set of rules given this seems to be a game they're in. Heck, like how he was afraid of mice at Nezumi Castle, when it seems an odd phobia to actually stop him from going in. I wonder if in the unaltered game if Usami was supposed to give somebody whatever Monokuma gave Nagito.
Saying that, I sort of did key in to that there was a set-up here where one of the remaining students would have been an 'accidental murderer', and my gut instinct said I was right because Case 5 is probably the penultimate trial so of course there'd be some set-up like that. However, I thought it had something to do with the oil lighter specifically, where Akane forces the door open, unintentionally starts the fire, and it burns some sort of mechanism holding the spear in place. I completely forgot about the poison.
In a way, this case makes me wish even more that Chapter 3's case went the way I originally theorised - that the murderer would not commit any of the direct killing actions, merely setting up the stage for it. That way, between Chapters 3, 4 and 5, Monokuma's rules and interpretations would be twisted and stretched to its very limits to put the bear himself in a tight spot, where he has to weave between interpretations so he doesn't accidentally end up breaking another rule.
Now, saying that...I kind of was expecting the traitor to be Sonia, if only by process of elimination. I sort of expected it might be Chiaki because the heroine being the traitor seems like the type of twist I should expect from this game, but dang. The game didn't say it in so many words, but she was an A.I., wasn't she?
And yes, I say it's an A.I. because the end of the case when everyone's gathering together at the restaurant makes it blatantly clear this is a simulation. Chiaki was certainly human enough for Hajime to fall in love with, though. She'll be missed. 11037 pretty much confirms Makoto Naegi had a part in building the simulation too, and that the Future Foundation are the good guys and Monokuma the bad guy for sure.
You know, something that had bothered me throughout the entire case was 'Why was Nagito so intent on outing the traitor?' It wasn't as if Monokuma had said a single thing throughout the game that would have really honed their focus on finding a so-called traitor. He just obliquely mentions it on several occasions, but there's no thing like 'find the person who doesn't fit or else I'll kill you all.'
But finding out at the end that Nagito intended for everybody BUT the traitor to be killed is something different. The traitor would have still been outed, after she survived the class trial. So clearly something he received after clearing the Evil Dead Room was sufficient enough for him to want to kill everybody else. I think I'm getting it now too, that Monokuma is actually forced to obey some set of rules given this seems to be a game they're in. Heck, like how he was afraid of mice at Nezumi Castle, when it seems an odd phobia to actually stop him from going in. I wonder if in the unaltered game if Usami was supposed to give somebody whatever Monokuma gave Nagito.
Finished Dust.
Was cool. The game parts are great. The plot parts are not. The character interactions are hit or miss for the most part. Usually when Dust and his sidekick are interacting with NPCs things are okay. It largely goes for laughs and it mostly works. It's when things get dramatic and plot exposition happens that things tend to fall apart.
It's truly impressive that this guy did most of the game on his own, but writing is the weakest part.
We're supposed to "ship" with one of the characters, and her character is basically "I'm depressed and moping about the background" and the game also kind of fails in developing the villain much, but the ending is a very dramatic an personal fight that we have no real context for outside of the general's repeated mention that he and your character used to be buddies.
Pulls from a lot of games. Plenty of references to old school platformers and other indie titles. Also breaks the 4th wall a bit from time to time. It also has a furry version of the animated Lord of the Rings thing going on.
Overall, it's worth playing. Just don't expect to shed any tears over the melodrama in the story. It tries to do feels sometimes, but is too simplistic and hamfisted to pull it off.
The gameplay, art, and level design are great. That's the important thing here.
Was cool. The game parts are great. The plot parts are not. The character interactions are hit or miss for the most part. Usually when Dust and his sidekick are interacting with NPCs things are okay. It largely goes for laughs and it mostly works. It's when things get dramatic and plot exposition happens that things tend to fall apart.
It's truly impressive that this guy did most of the game on his own, but writing is the weakest part.
We're supposed to "ship" with one of the characters, and her character is basically "I'm depressed and moping about the background" and the game also kind of fails in developing the villain much, but the ending is a very dramatic an personal fight that we have no real context for outside of the general's repeated mention that he and your character used to be buddies.
Pulls from a lot of games. Plenty of references to old school platformers and other indie titles. Also breaks the 4th wall a bit from time to time. It also has a furry version of the animated Lord of the Rings thing going on.
Overall, it's worth playing. Just don't expect to shed any tears over the melodrama in the story. It tries to do feels sometimes, but is too simplistic and hamfisted to pull it off.
The gameplay, art, and level design are great. That's the important thing here.
This does hit the nail on the head. He got something that made him realize something about the group and he went about his own interpretation of destroy-all-enemies-of-hope thing.
Odd thing is, by the end of the game, I was feeling that his motives, while twisted, were justified.
WARNING:
-chronodekar
Odd thing is, by the end of the game, I was feeling that his motives, while twisted, were justified.
WARNING:
Kind-of like many years ago, before modern medicine, if you caught a deadly and infectious disease, you might consider killing yourself to prevent your loved ones from getting infected.
-chronodekar
Still playing The Stick of Truth... oh god, the Underpants Gnomes mission. I knew the juvenile humor would be over the top when I bought it, and some of what I've seen surprised me... this one took the cake.
That final battle with the Gnome Necromancer - that had me laughing my ass off. (Silently, of course. It's 5 am ATM.)
Okay, can't wait to see what's next.
That final battle with the Gnome Necromancer - that had me laughing my ass off. (Silently, of course. It's 5 am ATM.)
Okay, can't wait to see what's next.
Valdis Story: Abyssal City.
Devil May Cry meets Metroid. Pretty much literally that.
Pretty neat. Nice difficulty. The regular enemies aren't much of a threat, but the bosses are brutal. Combat is fun and stylish.
There are some infuriating platforming segments. It likes to throw timed platforming challenges at you. All of them are doable, but can be very frustrating as some of the later ones are pretty unforgiving. Some of them it's possible to do earlier in the game, but it's better to come back later when you have more abilities.
Unfortunately I ran into a game breaking bug and had to hack my save file to get around it.
I got stuck in the mines area due to an event not triggering that opened the exit, and the entrance closes when you enter. Had to circumvent a boss and give myself a key and a power that I would have gained fighting it. Seems to have fixed the problem, but it was annoying.
Gonna give this one a cheat runthrough later just because it's so easy to hack the save files, but I want to beat it as legit as possible at least once.
Devil May Cry meets Metroid. Pretty much literally that.
Pretty neat. Nice difficulty. The regular enemies aren't much of a threat, but the bosses are brutal. Combat is fun and stylish.
There are some infuriating platforming segments. It likes to throw timed platforming challenges at you. All of them are doable, but can be very frustrating as some of the later ones are pretty unforgiving. Some of them it's possible to do earlier in the game, but it's better to come back later when you have more abilities.
Unfortunately I ran into a game breaking bug and had to hack my save file to get around it.
I got stuck in the mines area due to an event not triggering that opened the exit, and the entrance closes when you enter. Had to circumvent a boss and give myself a key and a power that I would have gained fighting it. Seems to have fixed the problem, but it was annoying.
Gonna give this one a cheat runthrough later just because it's so easy to hack the save files, but I want to beat it as legit as possible at least once.
Danganronpa 2 Chapter 6
And now to play some of the School Mode in the original Danganronpa and clear up some achievements.
That was quite a ride. Didn't really see Junko coming because she was, you know, dead. I wonder if she built her own A.I. then or if she swiped something off of Chihiro after wiping his memories in the first game, because some of Chihiro's Free-Time Events have him talking about developing strong A.I. When you consider that his memories of that time are all pre-Hope's Peak, it means he had another two years to work on it, easy for her to steal something. Since Alter Ego took after Chihiro after only a couple of days of interaction, it would have been easy for Junko to do the same with her own A.I. I wonder if this Alter Ego was the same one from the first game, or something Chihiro had programmed and forgot about with his two years' worth of memories (and now I have the random thought that Chihiro might have participated in the creation of the prototype of the Neo World Program to give him a place to either make him more confident about being male in public or a place where he could be an actual female, whichever side of that he actually fell on. The former I think).
In fact, it basically makes the game to some effect a battle beyond the grave between Chihiro and Junko, and Chihiro won. Since the whole Killing School Trip was broadcast to the Future Foundation at a minimum, it means Junko is 2 for 2 for taking control of a situation and pitting students into killing one another, but 0 for 2 when she tries to completely crush the notion of 'hope'. If it was broadcast to the world at large as well, or somebody leaks a recording, it would probably crush the morale of any other stragglers.
It really is a little difficult seeing most of the cast as members of the Ultimate Despair, if only because it's such a huge turn-around from their personalities. I suppose some of them could have wrecked serious damage. Like Kazuichi, whose FTE about building a rocket is suddenly more auspicious now that I remember the headmaster's execution from the first game. And Sonia's kingdom has probably been wrecked by now, with her possibly being disinherited from the throne. No wonder Nagito tried to kill them off and leave Chiaki as the only survivor previously. If he had, then (I think) Junko's plan would have been ruined since I don't think she could upload if there was nobody left to 'Graduate'.
Still, the ending feels a lot more optimistic than the first game. Junko's back-up plan has been routed, they have a pseudo-de-brainwashing technique that works, and everybody that has been killed off was only sort-of killed off and could potentially wake up.
Well, except for Chiaki. Noooooo, my precious cinnamon roll. Unless her data wasn't fully deleted by the execution or the shutdown, merely shuffled aside.
(Oh, and I guess Usami too)
I liked how Monokuma (and then virus!Junko) were being sly about leaning on the 4th wall, since it was a game-within-a-game so they were referring to the Neo World Program when they were just as easily referring to Dangaronpa 2 itself.
So, you know. There's one big, massive disappointment I have. It's that when Hajime goes through the simulated Hope's Peak Academy (I wonder who built that. Makoto and crew or did virus!Junko do it), that room 5-C is blocked off and you aren't ever able to go in. That was the only room in the original game where they had red blood instead of pink blood, and multiple bodies. Junko I think said something during the trial about Izuru killing a bunch of the student council, which would basically have to be that room there. Plus 'EYE FOR AN EYE' was written in blood on the wall in that room, which was one of Fuyuhiko's things he said momentarily at the conclusion of Chapter 2.
Also, holy crap Izuru had long hair.
In fact, it basically makes the game to some effect a battle beyond the grave between Chihiro and Junko, and Chihiro won. Since the whole Killing School Trip was broadcast to the Future Foundation at a minimum, it means Junko is 2 for 2 for taking control of a situation and pitting students into killing one another, but 0 for 2 when she tries to completely crush the notion of 'hope'. If it was broadcast to the world at large as well, or somebody leaks a recording, it would probably crush the morale of any other stragglers.
It really is a little difficult seeing most of the cast as members of the Ultimate Despair, if only because it's such a huge turn-around from their personalities. I suppose some of them could have wrecked serious damage. Like Kazuichi, whose FTE about building a rocket is suddenly more auspicious now that I remember the headmaster's execution from the first game. And Sonia's kingdom has probably been wrecked by now, with her possibly being disinherited from the throne. No wonder Nagito tried to kill them off and leave Chiaki as the only survivor previously. If he had, then (I think) Junko's plan would have been ruined since I don't think she could upload if there was nobody left to 'Graduate'.
Still, the ending feels a lot more optimistic than the first game. Junko's back-up plan has been routed, they have a pseudo-de-brainwashing technique that works, and everybody that has been killed off was only sort-of killed off and could potentially wake up.
Well, except for Chiaki. Noooooo, my precious cinnamon roll. Unless her data wasn't fully deleted by the execution or the shutdown, merely shuffled aside.
(Oh, and I guess Usami too)
I liked how Monokuma (and then virus!Junko) were being sly about leaning on the 4th wall, since it was a game-within-a-game so they were referring to the Neo World Program when they were just as easily referring to Dangaronpa 2 itself.
So, you know. There's one big, massive disappointment I have. It's that when Hajime goes through the simulated Hope's Peak Academy (I wonder who built that. Makoto and crew or did virus!Junko do it), that room 5-C is blocked off and you aren't ever able to go in. That was the only room in the original game where they had red blood instead of pink blood, and multiple bodies. Junko I think said something during the trial about Izuru killing a bunch of the student council, which would basically have to be that room there. Plus 'EYE FOR AN EYE' was written in blood on the wall in that room, which was one of Fuyuhiko's things he said momentarily at the conclusion of Chapter 2.
Also, holy crap Izuru had long hair.
And now to play some of the School Mode in the original Danganronpa and clear up some achievements.
Hmm... I left those. Got distracted with other games. And ... all the best to you to AVOID spoilers about V3. There is a MASSIVE one out there, which ... well, you really should play to find out.
Tangentially, I think V3 is priced too high. But bougth it anyway to avoid accidental spoilers. Grumble... grumble..
-chronodekar
Tangentially, I think V3 is priced too high. But bougth it anyway to avoid accidental spoilers. Grumble... grumble..
-chronodekar
It's almost as fun. It doesn't have any setpiece sequences that have the same impact as the Gnome area or the Lemmiwinks sequence.
It also uses a similar battle system, but adds a grid based strategy element.
If you liked this one it's worth a look when it goes on sale, but don't expect it to be as good as the first game.
It also uses a similar battle system, but adds a grid based strategy element.
If you liked this one it's worth a look when it goes on sale, but don't expect it to be as good as the first game.
Back into Breath of the Wild.
Started it in December to play through the new DLC and Master mode, but went home for Christmas and never finished it.
I'm liking Master Mode, and the only thing DLC wise I've messed with yet is some of the new costumes. It's nice to be able to get some of the buffs a bit sooner, particularly having an early level attack boost for Master Mode with the Phantom Armor. Also really like the Evil King stealth suit. It makes nights a lot more bearable as it has the added bonus of stalfos enemies ignoring you when you wear it. The Korok mask is also nice and helps make upgrading your inventory a bit easier to do.
Scratch not trying anything. I did attempt the Master Sword Trials, but decided to come back to it later as I was only just powerful enough to obtain the sword, and haven't done any of the Divine Beast quests yet. Keep in mind I'm playing in Master Mode, so all the enemies have been upgraded to the next tier up. It's like an extended version of that island where you lose all your gear, having the Divine Beast powers will help with dealing with that a lot. Particularly the desert beast and water beast.
Currently working on upgrading the Ancient Armor and nabbing some more Korok seeds. I want to clear the Major Test of Strength shrines and having a full set of Ancient Armor upgraded so that I get all the buffs for it makes that much easier to do. I like to farm them for Guardian++ weapons, and it's nice that you can stack on that damage bonus with attack bonus food, unlike the Phantom or Barbarian Armors.
I also find myself avoiding enemies more frequently, not because they are tougher, but because they have crap weapons and I don't want to waste good ones taking them out and end up with what they are carrying. I did this before, but even more so in master mode as the higher level enemies eat through even good weapons faster than they used to. The durability issue is even bigger when every enemy is one tier above what they used to be.
I like the new monster placement and some of the other new stuff, but I don't know that I'll ever play Master Mode again after I 100% it this time because of this. It seems like I'm actively avoiding playing the game sometimes. It's still more good than bad, but I'm ignoring a lot of stuff I'd have charged in on before just because of the weapon durability thing.
On the plus side, it is easier to upgrade stuff as the higher tier monsters drop more rare materials.
Started it in December to play through the new DLC and Master mode, but went home for Christmas and never finished it.
I'm liking Master Mode, and the only thing DLC wise I've messed with yet is some of the new costumes. It's nice to be able to get some of the buffs a bit sooner, particularly having an early level attack boost for Master Mode with the Phantom Armor. Also really like the Evil King stealth suit. It makes nights a lot more bearable as it has the added bonus of stalfos enemies ignoring you when you wear it. The Korok mask is also nice and helps make upgrading your inventory a bit easier to do.
Scratch not trying anything. I did attempt the Master Sword Trials, but decided to come back to it later as I was only just powerful enough to obtain the sword, and haven't done any of the Divine Beast quests yet. Keep in mind I'm playing in Master Mode, so all the enemies have been upgraded to the next tier up. It's like an extended version of that island where you lose all your gear, having the Divine Beast powers will help with dealing with that a lot. Particularly the desert beast and water beast.
Currently working on upgrading the Ancient Armor and nabbing some more Korok seeds. I want to clear the Major Test of Strength shrines and having a full set of Ancient Armor upgraded so that I get all the buffs for it makes that much easier to do. I like to farm them for Guardian++ weapons, and it's nice that you can stack on that damage bonus with attack bonus food, unlike the Phantom or Barbarian Armors.
I also find myself avoiding enemies more frequently, not because they are tougher, but because they have crap weapons and I don't want to waste good ones taking them out and end up with what they are carrying. I did this before, but even more so in master mode as the higher level enemies eat through even good weapons faster than they used to. The durability issue is even bigger when every enemy is one tier above what they used to be.
I like the new monster placement and some of the other new stuff, but I don't know that I'll ever play Master Mode again after I 100% it this time because of this. It seems like I'm actively avoiding playing the game sometimes. It's still more good than bad, but I'm ignoring a lot of stuff I'd have charged in on before just because of the weapon durability thing.
On the plus side, it is easier to upgrade stuff as the higher tier monsters drop more rare materials.
A co-worker got me hooked onto Factorio. I convinced my brother to try it out and have rented a server with Nitrado. The initial impressions (after paying) are a bit disappointing. I started up a Factorio server, but the message on their web interface kept telling me that the server was rebooting or in some kind of weird state. In desperation, I clicked around the different options and one of them was for a debugger console. Just opening and closing that fixed things up for me.
We're planning to play this Saturday (He's an ocean and a sea away, so I needed a mid-point to keep our pings at reasonable levels). Hopefully things will go well. And I have another game with the co-worker who originally introduced Factorio to me tomorrow. Things are looking good.
-chronodekar
We're planning to play this Saturday (He's an ocean and a sea away, so I needed a mid-point to keep our pings at reasonable levels). Hopefully things will go well. And I have another game with the co-worker who originally introduced Factorio to me tomorrow. Things are looking good.
-chronodekar
Contra, for Trial of the Sword in Master Mode, the first set will easily be the hardest. If you can get past that, you'll be in the clear for the rest of the trial, it's a cakewalk. Some tips I can recommend for you for it is to make liberal use of bombs and set your pinger to look for Treasure Chests. Another tip is to make 30-minute buff food and consume that before entering the Trial, since those effects carry over.
Also, Majora's Mask is a lifesaver in Master Mode.
I recently completed the Champions' Ballad on Master Mode--all I have left now is to take down Ganon and do the postgame bonus crap. Ballad's ultimate reward'll be handy for all that.
Also, Majora's Mask is a lifesaver in Master Mode.
I recently completed the Champions' Ballad on Master Mode--all I have left now is to take down Ganon and do the postgame bonus crap. Ballad's ultimate reward'll be handy for all that.
I've done all but one Shrine at this point, the island one where you lose all your gear. I'll be getting into the DLC once I clear up a few things. Still have to get the shield from the castle, and upgrade a few armors, plus a couple of side quests and Gannon's horse. I know I don't need them, but just for the sake of doing it. Might do some dragon farming to buy a bunch of ancient arrows to make guardian farming a little easier as well. I have the mats for them as I've been killing guardians for a while. I also need to do some Lynel hunting to finish up the Soldier's armor and Barbarian Armor. I've got enough Star Fragments, and a ton of Silent Princess.
Usually I get the shield sooner, but I haven't needed it since I'm good at parrying. I kill most walkers by just hitting their beams back at them. The Guardian shields have done well enough.
Plus, Korok seeds. I've got my weapons filled out, but want to get my shield and bows to max. Both are almost there anyway. The mask is nice for doing that.
Still need to get the Xenogears armor as well. You get the Zora Armor early on just by showing up and the rest is easy to find immediately after, so I haven't bothered with it yet.
It's also much easier to farm for materials in Master Mode, as I mentioned before, getting drops goes much faster when you don't have to deal with the base level enemies that don't drop the upper tier mats all over the map anymore. I've been using time stop more frequently with enemies to make this a bit easier to do.
Bombs also aren't terribly useful against enemies in Master Mode. I still use them, but they really only work well when dealing with the blue enemies. Most everything is black and above at this point. They are good for dealing with Chuus and wolves still, as well as general hunting. They work okay for crowd control, but aren't terribly useful for dealing damage like they were in normal mode.
I tried doing the trials right away and that wasn't happening in Master Mode. On the regular difficulty I'd have had a go of it, but it not been a big deal as I rarely use the Master Sword anyway. I level up the Ancient Armor right away and use guardian weapons mostly. I farm them from the Major Test of Strength shrines. I actually use the master sword as a general purpose tool so I don't have to carry around rock breakers and axes for woodcutting.
Yes, you can use bombs, but I've found you get a better yield using tools. You'll get more bundles of wood on average cutting down trees with an axe than you do with bombs. Same goes for rock breaking tools and ore deposits. You'll also get more stuff out of boxes by breaking them as opposed to blowing them up. It also doesn't send stuff flying all over, making it easier to grab.
The description on Majora's Mask sucks. I haven't been using it because I wasn't sure exactly what it did. Looked it up and honestly, I haven't missed it. I have all the masks and use the one best suited to the situation and it's worked out pretty well. Apparently it's a combination of all the Kilton masks, plus the Radiant armor. That's convenient for my next playthrough, but at this point it doesn't do me a lot of good.
Also, I love the Ganon armor. It makes running around at night a lot less of a pain. Plus, it's stealth armor. I've used it a lot more often than the Shika armor and am still using it in the endgame to run around at night. It's great for nighttime gathering.
The Phantom armor is also really nice. It's much easier to get than the Barbarian armor, has a decent starting game armor level, and made getting through the early game areas much less of a pain. I was able to do some things sooner because I nabbed it early on. I've actually been putting off upgrading the Barbarian Armor because I've just been using that instead. Even at a total of 12 armor it's been enough to deal with pretty much anything.
I also noticed that even the blight bosses regen health. They still stay in their stages and won't regen past a certain point, but you have to press being aggressive with everything or you'll run through a ton of weapons in Master Mode just killing even standard groups of enemies. It's important to stay focused on one, even when you're dealing with a mob. It's worth dealing with the Yiga in order to get the divine beast reward power early on in Master Mode just for helping to clear out those enemy camps.
I also really love that they let you get heart containers instead of that second stamina wheel now. With the climbing trick and Revali's Gale I don't need the second wheel at all, and I don't need to use food to get those extra hearts. The high level horses are the only thing that needs much stamina to do, and they can both be caught with only two wheels. If I really need more, I can just use food. Stamina shrooms are easy to find, there's a bunch under Impa's house.
Also, the healing power is a lot more useful in Master Mode as there is more that can oneshot you for a lot of the game. As I recall fairies were used up first, but they seem to have fixed that. Even the Goron power has been more useful.
There's also more stuff in general in Master Mode I've noticed, as a lot of new chests have been place on those floating platforms. Plus, enemies have better weapons sooner.
In the end, it kind of balances out to be honest, especially if you factor in the new gear. It's not that much harder once you get past the starting area. I still fight less often than I did before, but that's more to save my weapons beating on the tougher enemies. I tend to not fight anything that doesn't have something I need.
I figure a week maybe until I'm done with it again, if that. Not sure what I'm going to play after.
Usually I get the shield sooner, but I haven't needed it since I'm good at parrying. I kill most walkers by just hitting their beams back at them. The Guardian shields have done well enough.
Plus, Korok seeds. I've got my weapons filled out, but want to get my shield and bows to max. Both are almost there anyway. The mask is nice for doing that.
Still need to get the Xenogears armor as well. You get the Zora Armor early on just by showing up and the rest is easy to find immediately after, so I haven't bothered with it yet.
It's also much easier to farm for materials in Master Mode, as I mentioned before, getting drops goes much faster when you don't have to deal with the base level enemies that don't drop the upper tier mats all over the map anymore. I've been using time stop more frequently with enemies to make this a bit easier to do.
Bombs also aren't terribly useful against enemies in Master Mode. I still use them, but they really only work well when dealing with the blue enemies. Most everything is black and above at this point. They are good for dealing with Chuus and wolves still, as well as general hunting. They work okay for crowd control, but aren't terribly useful for dealing damage like they were in normal mode.
I tried doing the trials right away and that wasn't happening in Master Mode. On the regular difficulty I'd have had a go of it, but it not been a big deal as I rarely use the Master Sword anyway. I level up the Ancient Armor right away and use guardian weapons mostly. I farm them from the Major Test of Strength shrines. I actually use the master sword as a general purpose tool so I don't have to carry around rock breakers and axes for woodcutting.
Yes, you can use bombs, but I've found you get a better yield using tools. You'll get more bundles of wood on average cutting down trees with an axe than you do with bombs. Same goes for rock breaking tools and ore deposits. You'll also get more stuff out of boxes by breaking them as opposed to blowing them up. It also doesn't send stuff flying all over, making it easier to grab.
The description on Majora's Mask sucks. I haven't been using it because I wasn't sure exactly what it did. Looked it up and honestly, I haven't missed it. I have all the masks and use the one best suited to the situation and it's worked out pretty well. Apparently it's a combination of all the Kilton masks, plus the Radiant armor. That's convenient for my next playthrough, but at this point it doesn't do me a lot of good.
Also, I love the Ganon armor. It makes running around at night a lot less of a pain. Plus, it's stealth armor. I've used it a lot more often than the Shika armor and am still using it in the endgame to run around at night. It's great for nighttime gathering.
The Phantom armor is also really nice. It's much easier to get than the Barbarian armor, has a decent starting game armor level, and made getting through the early game areas much less of a pain. I was able to do some things sooner because I nabbed it early on. I've actually been putting off upgrading the Barbarian Armor because I've just been using that instead. Even at a total of 12 armor it's been enough to deal with pretty much anything.
I also noticed that even the blight bosses regen health. They still stay in their stages and won't regen past a certain point, but you have to press being aggressive with everything or you'll run through a ton of weapons in Master Mode just killing even standard groups of enemies. It's important to stay focused on one, even when you're dealing with a mob. It's worth dealing with the Yiga in order to get the divine beast reward power early on in Master Mode just for helping to clear out those enemy camps.
I also really love that they let you get heart containers instead of that second stamina wheel now. With the climbing trick and Revali's Gale I don't need the second wheel at all, and I don't need to use food to get those extra hearts. The high level horses are the only thing that needs much stamina to do, and they can both be caught with only two wheels. If I really need more, I can just use food. Stamina shrooms are easy to find, there's a bunch under Impa's house.
Also, the healing power is a lot more useful in Master Mode as there is more that can oneshot you for a lot of the game. As I recall fairies were used up first, but they seem to have fixed that. Even the Goron power has been more useful.
There's also more stuff in general in Master Mode I've noticed, as a lot of new chests have been place on those floating platforms. Plus, enemies have better weapons sooner.
In the end, it kind of balances out to be honest, especially if you factor in the new gear. It's not that much harder once you get past the starting area. I still fight less often than I did before, but that's more to save my weapons beating on the tougher enemies. I tend to not fight anything that doesn't have something I need.
I figure a week maybe until I'm done with it again, if that. Not sure what I'm going to play after.
Finished episodes one and two of Life is Strange. Fun to play this blind, without knowing the consequences of various choices. About half way though episode three, I think, and so far so good. Game really seems to reward you for talking to everyone and paying close attention to various small details.
