This morning should be the beginning of a return to normality for me. The flood related stuff seems to have wrapped up for me and with it my weird alternating work schedule. I still feel somewhat jet lagged from the experience of having to rapidly shift around my schedule for a week and some change. I am sure as I return to my normal rhythm of getting up at 5:30 each morning and going to bed around 10-ish each night those effects will fade. Last night did not help since it was both the return of Fear the Walking Dead and a documentary series on a local murder mystery and we wanted to watch both.
This weekend also signaled the return of the “flowerbabies” in our back yard, as well as the return to having to add another step to my morning routine of watering them. We are getting a really late start to the season in part because our nursery of choice was flooded. We went by on Memorial Day but they seemed to be cleaning up and not actually open for business. Saturday however they were ready to go and we picked up a number of hanging baskets to go on the hooks that we set out around the pool. You never quite know what you are going to get until you go and then sorta pick out whatever happened to speak to you at the time. I am quite partial to the Purslane because those orange and magenta combination is stunning. Also a big fan of the white petunias with the eggplant centers. We have a mix of colors but they now need tending so I will have to start cutting my blog time a little short each morning.
As far as gaming goes I spent the vast majority of my weekend running bounties. I’ve reached the point where I can easily survive Torment XVI so I am now chaining my way through objectives. I finally realize how Grace always seems to know exactly where she is going in these levels, and I feel like once I have reached my final objective… I will have most of the semi-random map layouts nailed as well. At the very least I will hopefully stop going the opposite way given that for the most part the areas around the warp pads are somewhat static. This is not something that I had caught onto in all of my hundreds of hours playing this game. I am sometimes pretty dense.
At this point I have gathered up 25 bounty caches. The majority of these are from Torment 15 with some of the more recent additions to my pile from Torment 16. The caches apparently have a memory for what level you were on when you got the cache even though I can’t seem to see any external indicator of this. Ultimately I am working on knocking out the Conquest of Avarice which is to loot 50 million gold in a streak. Since I don’t want to have to do this insane amount of farming twice… I am probably going to significantly overshoot my target but i am loosely following this guide I found on the forums.
A T14 bounty cache contains 1,440,000 gold. 35 T14 caches contain enough gold to achieve the conques
A T13 bounty cache contains 1,190,000 gold. 43 T13 caches contain enough gold to achieve the conquest.
A T14 bounty cache contains 1,440,000 gold. 35 T14 caches contain enough gold to achieve the conquest.
A T15 bounty cache contains 1,540,000 gold. 33 T15 caches contain enough gold to achieve the conquest.
A T16 bounty cache contains 1,640,000 gold. 31 T16 caches contain enough gold to achieve the conquest.
So in theory right now if I figure everything I have looted at this point is a T15 even though I know some are not… it would get me to 38 million gold. I think my goal is going to be to farm up about a page and a half of caches in my vault and then do the mass open. Basically I don’t want to have to do this grind twice so I figure well overshooting my target is the best course of action. 52 caches would be roughly a page and a half and that should in theory net a minimum of 80 million gold… so MORE than enough to hit my target.
It was probably nonsense for me to pick this one as my first conquest… but in doing so it has given me a sense of purpose to grind out an incompatible number of items that have ultimately bolstered my ability to take down content. While I have only picked up a couple of primal ancients… they have seemingly made a difference. The weird thing about this season is that I have yet to see a single Ramaladni’s Gift. I have an ancient Pigsticker waiting in the bank for me to get one since I don’t want to have to re-roll to get a socket… although I guess I could just re-roll one of the stats that I would have re-rolled anyways and roll to something other than the socket when I finally find one.
Whatever the case… I am super into Diablo 3 this season and have been more driven to solo grind than I think I ever have. This somehow transitioned from a social game experience for me… to something that I am finding even more deeply relaxing than it previously was.
Featuring: Â Ammo, Belghast, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen
We start the show off with an explanation of what exactly happened to the end of Episode 253 and why Tam had to build a brand new server for us to record on. Â From there we dig into the Shadowbringers class design tweaks and how they tend to land on the side of making things less janky and more accessible to players. Â Bel also has another revelation that the expansion is right around the corner. Bel talks briefly about the weird decisions Nintendo is making surrounding Super Mario Maker 2 and stopping us from playing with our friends. Â This is a continued version of a long topic that is Nintendo Still Does Not Understand the Internet. They do however understand product promotion which is part of a whole discussion about the fact that E3 is starting next week. Â Lastly we wrap up with a discussion about Modern Horizons and how Magic seems to be making some really interesting decisions that are paying off for them.
Another game that I have been messing around with a bit this week is Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Backer E3 Demo. I am assuming this will be the version of the game shown on the E3 floor starting in two weeks. I only know about this existing because I got curious because I could not quite remember which version of the game I had pre-ordered as part of the Kickstarter. When I got to the key redemption page it informed me that I had a yet to be redeemed steam key, which turned out to be for what appears to be a largely finished version of the game.
If you have read this blog for very long you will likely know that possibly my favorite game of all time is Castlevania Symphony of the Night. The very similarly named Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is effectively a spiritual successor designed by the same person, Koji Igarashi. Konami losing their mind ended up stranding a bunch of really excellent properties and we have already seen several of the creators going out and creating new intellectual property. So far I am super on board with the path that Koji has taken in resurrecting the spiritual core of Castlevania in a brand new universe… that quite frankly has a way better story.
In Bloodstained you play as Miriam a Shardbinder, or a human being who has been experimented on with Alchemy to allow them to infuse into themselves the abilities of the enemies that they defeat. Warning this may contain spoilers to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon the 8 bit honorific title that released before Ritual of the Night as a kickstarter stretch goal. The setting is one of magic blended with burgeoning technology, and one where up until the industrial age the alchemists were treated with almost god like reverence. However with the influx of technology, the common people started relying less and less on Alchemy and more on machinery.
In an act of desperation the Alchemist flung wide the gates of hell letting loose demons and all manner of other creatures. The reasoning here is a little thin but at the same time there was a hunting down of the Shardbinders so that you as Miriam represent one of the last ones. Which makes it super convenient that you now have to kill all of these demons that will ultimately allow you to steal their powers. If you have played Casltevania Circle of the Moon this entire process will feel really familiar. At some point while killing a monster a shard of their energy will infuse itself rather violently with Miriam and from that point on you get a new ability to play with in the menu system. These serve as both attacks and ways to grant new abilities that will help you traverse new areas metroidvania style.
Your character also has a wide variety of weapons available to them, which give you a slew of different ways you can tweak the gameplay to fit your desired style. I’m personally playing a lot with the “katana” style family of blades which have a wide blade flourish and are pretty hard hitting… but also very slow give the extra flourish animation. These are great for taking down bigger monsters, but pure hell for chains of bats or any of the other tiny annoying enemies. Something like the Rapier which hits extremely rapidly would be far better suited for the modern equivalent of the medusa heads. If you want to just feel like a Martial Arts bad ass, you can always stick with the Kung Fu shoes family of weapons which are essentially just boots that you equip and then kick literal ass with.
I am not certain I could be more on board with this game. Sure there is some weirdness at times with it effectively being a 2D parallax side-scroller built in a 3D engine… but this also lets the game do some really nifty things. There is a point I encountered in the third area where you are effectively walking along the base of the castle… and then to denote that you are turning a corner the scenery in the background begins to rotate as your character shifts heading slightly still following what is a 2D path. I have a feeling as I get deeper into the game they are going to do more interesting things with this same sort of mechanic.
The fidelity of the gameplay experience so far feels perfect. It is immediately comfortable and recognizable to someone who has played a lot of Symphony of the Night and it feels like they have taken all of those RPG element aspects that I loved so much and cranked them up to eleven. In SOTN it takes awhile before you reach the library… the area that effectively allows you to manipulate a lot of things about your character. In Bloodstained you are introduced to this aspect after the very first intro level on the ship. Everything about the game feels deeply familiar but also new at the same time.
My backer copy of the game is on Steam, but I fully expect to pick this up for every platform it is available on if for no reason other than supporting the team. I mean I do own a copy of Symphony of the Night for pretty much every platform it was available on. I think this is going to be awesome on the switch, as I think it will be another excellent pick and play intermittently experience given the game has scattered a generous number of save points throughout the game. If you were a fan of Symphony of the Night or any of the modern GBA and DS tittles that were in that same metroidvania style… then I highly suggest you check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night when it releases in June.
Another game that I have been messing around with a bit this week is Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Backer E3 Demo. I am assuming this will be the version of the game shown on the E3 floor starting in two weeks. I only know about this existing because I got curious because I could not quite remember which version of the game I had pre-ordered as part of the Kickstarter. When I got to the key redemption page it informed me that I had a yet to be redeemed steam key, which turned out to be for what appears to be a largely finished version of the game.
If you have read this blog for very long you will likely know that possibly my favorite game of all time is Castlevania Symphony of the Night. The very similarly named Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is effectively a spiritual successor designed by the same person, Koji Igarashi. Konami losing their mind ended up stranding a bunch of really excellent properties and we have already seen several of the creators going out and creating new intellectual property. So far I am super on board with the path that Koji has taken in resurrecting the spiritual core of Castlevania in a brand new universe… that quite frankly has a way better story.
In Bloodstained you play as Miriam a Shardbinder, or a human being who has been experimented on with Alchemy to allow them to infuse into themselves the abilities of the enemies that they defeat. Warning this may contain spoilers to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon the 8 bit honorific title that released before Ritual of the Night as a kickstarter stretch goal. The setting is one of magic blended with burgeoning technology, and one where up until the industrial age the alchemists were treated with almost god like reverence. However with the influx of technology, the common people started relying less and less on Alchemy and more on machinery.
In an act of desperation the Alchemist flung wide the gates of hell letting loose demons and all manner of other creatures. The reasoning here is a little thin but at the same time there was a hunting down of the Shardbinders so that you as Miriam represent one of the last ones. Which makes it super convenient that you now have to kill all of these demons that will ultimately allow you to steal their powers. If you have played Casltevania Circle of the Moon this entire process will feel really familiar. At some point while killing a monster a shard of their energy will infuse itself rather violently with Miriam and from that point on you get a new ability to play with in the menu system. These serve as both attacks and ways to grant new abilities that will help you traverse new areas metroidvania style.
Your character also has a wide variety of weapons available to them, which give you a slew of different ways you can tweak the gameplay to fit your desired style. I’m personally playing a lot with the “katana” style family of blades which have a wide blade flourish and are pretty hard hitting… but also very slow give the extra flourish animation. These are great for taking down bigger monsters, but pure hell for chains of bats or any of the other tiny annoying enemies. Something like the Rapier which hits extremely rapidly would be far better suited for the modern equivalent of the medusa heads. If you want to just feel like a Martial Arts bad ass, you can always stick with the Kung Fu shoes family of weapons which are essentially just boots that you equip and then kick literal ass with.
I am not certain I could be more on board with this game. Sure there is some weirdness at times with it effectively being a 2D parallax side-scroller built in a 3D engine… but this also lets the game do some really nifty things. There is a point I encountered in the third area where you are effectively walking along the base of the castle… and then to denote that you are turning a corner the scenery in the background begins to rotate as your character shifts heading slightly still following what is a 2D path. I have a feeling as I get deeper into the game they are going to do more interesting things with this same sort of mechanic.
The fidelity of the gameplay experience so far feels perfect. It is immediately comfortable and recognizable to someone who has played a lot of Symphony of the Night and it feels like they have taken all of those RPG element aspects that I loved so much and cranked them up to eleven. In SOTN it takes awhile before you reach the library… the area that effectively allows you to manipulate a lot of things about your character. In Bloodstained you are introduced to this aspect after the very first intro level on the ship. Everything about the game feels deeply familiar but also new at the same time.
My backer copy of the game is on Steam, but I fully expect to pick this up for every platform it is available on if for no reason other than supporting the team. I mean I do own a copy of Symphony of the Night for pretty much every platform it was available on. I think this is going to be awesome on the switch, as I think it will be another excellent pick and play intermittently experience given the game has scattered a generous number of save points throughout the game. If you were a fan of Symphony of the Night or any of the modern GBA and DS tittles that were in that same metroidvania style… then I highly suggest you check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night when it releases in June.
