jakob187

I would love for it to be on PC, but I would be curious if that would split the player base a lot or not. I also kind of like the idea of the console exclusivity. It just FEELS like a PS4-only kind of game.

MIND. FUCKING. BLOWN. GAME CHANGER! HOLY SHIT!

Nuclear Throne and Let It Die are fucking awesome. That's all I need to say.

@boozak: I ended up finding out that I needed to go backwards through floors. It's a weird path, but I made it there eventually.

@redyoshi: Funny enough, it was something to do with NAT type. Worked it out and it's going fine.

I'm now on Floor 20, and I have to say that the boss fight there is handily one of my favorites in video game history. Incredibly well-designed, and it felt like a BOSS FIGHT. I like the idea that the major boss fights also involve a level in and of itself.

Someone mentioned machetes, and yes, they are OP. If you dual wield them and alternate with L2 and R2, you can do an infinite loop until you run out of stamina. It's fairly absurd, and it can make doing raids really annoying. However, if that is annoying, I can only imagine how bad it'll get whenever Battle Machetes are introduced for me. I can upgrade to one now, but I need to get some Candle Wolf Red Metal and Steel. That thing is 405 flat damage with fire damage added. That's over QUADRUPLE what the damage is on the Jungle Machete E +4!!!

I didn't play at all today, but I've had a ton of shit to do. More tomorrow...

I've now put about 25 hours into the game, and it just keeps growing and growing. I'm slowly falling in love with it, and it's basically become the only thing I want to play.

First of all, I've made my way to floor 13...aaaaaaaaand a TON of secret areas between the first floor and there. Mind you, I haven't fought the (I'm assuming) boss on floor 11 yet, and it's because...I can't figure out how to get past the 13th floor. I've been going everywhere I can think of, and I've had nothing so far. Escalators are locked off, the boss area on the 11th floor is locked, and I don't know what to do. Because of that, I've just been grinding out quests and just getting my bank and SPLithium tank upgraded as much as possible, buying as many fighter slots as possible, grinding as much money as possible, and setting up those fighters to defend because I FINALLY jumped into the raid mechanics.

Holy. Shit. The raid stuff has to be one of the coolest setups in a video game in a long while! Building up defense at your own base, invading someone else's base and taking their kill coins and their SPLithium AND THEIR FIGHTER, locking him up in an old urinal converted into a cell, draining SPLithium from him until he becomes YOURS or he's taken back...or they pay a ransom for him? THAT IS SERIOUSLY AWESOME, and hopefully, they expand on it in the future.

However...HOWEVER...I have not been able to ENGAGE in raiding someone. I've only BEEN raided. Every time I try to invade someone, it gives me one option, and it says that person was already attacked and that I can't attack them. What the fucking fuck? I want to raid. I also had one of my fighters captured, aaaaaaand I don't have the option to go into that person's waiting room, kick the shit out of them, and then take my guy back? That's pretty fucking weak! Maybe I'm missing something. I don't know. Nonetheless, it's led me to farming floor 1-3 a ton to get money and mats, upgrade shit loads of gear, and equip fighters so that I can defend my turf as best as possible.

Regardless of ALL this, I'm having a ton of fun. When you die, it is FUCKING DEVASTATING, especially when you're on a solid run, picked up a ton of stuff, and then just...BLAM...and you have no Death Metal? It's simply the worst feeling, but it's also the BEST feeling. I haven't had that feeling in a while. Even in Dark Souls, when I would die, it was "eh, I can get that many souls again, whatever." This just feels like it can be SO BAD!

THAT IS...if you don't have the kill coins to salvage the body. Luckily, if you are a farming machine, then you can salvage the body AND that fighter will have all the kill coins you had farmed up. Hence, I typically just run like a madman, get naked on whatever floor I'm on, die, then salvage my body. Sure, it's more expensive than the elevator, but it's far more time consuming, and I'm at the point where I go "I farmed up 30k coins on this run, it'll cost about 7k for me to bring this guy back...so yeah, it's worth it."

Of course, if I have an Express Pass (which the devs have been gracious in offering THREE 24-hour passes so far), I don't do that. Elevator rides are free, and as fucked up as it sounds, that chick in the elevator has a sweet ass.

Hope everyone is still enjoying it, and if there are any tips on how to get up to the 14th floor, I would love them. Gonna be adventuring most of tonight, though.

AAAAAHHHH. I didn't know, solely because that wording did make it seem like it was just added.

I'm on the 7th floor right now. Been taking my time and just taking it in. I kind of hate how hard they reuse level assets, but it's understandable. It also gives me a sense of familiarity in the areas, which helps to think of where enemies could possibly be.

Also, dropkicks....are....AWESOME! Fuck me, it's so fun.

Everything about Death Stranding feels the same way I feel about Metal Gear Solid: it's just Kojima's wet dreams manifested into some kind of reality. I don't know what the fuck's going on, but for the first time since Metal Gear Solid 1, I'm interested.

Rise of the Tomb Raider. That counts, right? = D

I gave Let It Die a try last night, and it seemed super dense. I felt like I was going to need to dedicate a bit more time to figuring shit out. There were tons of paragraphs and tutorials, and it was a lot to soak in while I was halfway ready to go to bed.

This morning, I had about four hours before work, so I messed around with it. That game is pretty fucking sweet, AND they just added online mode! It seems like they are going to be releasing new stuff for the game, which seems cool. You need those kinds of frequent updates to keep an F2P game going.

I have a couple of inherent issues with the game at the moment:

1. Only having three-hit combos is kind of the worst.
2. Recovery time vs reaction time can be really problematic when dealing with more than one enemy.
3. Enemy aggro range is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.
4. Inherent lack of staggering with most weapons you use.
5. The need to farm and grind for currency, just to get minimal upgrades in the end.
6. Small variety of weapons and enemies.

Mind you, I've only been to level 5 so far, which means there's a lot of game that I haven't seen yet. However, it just starts feeling like it stacks against you in some pretty ridiculous ways that are difficult to do anything about. The "death rooms" are some of the worst things ever. They are basically rooms with three enemies that show up and a briefcase with (usually) a rare crafting material inside. What makes it rough? Bad camera angle possibilities in a small space with difficulties of handling crowds, alongside the inability to switch lock-on targets, causes you to dodge weird and miss attacks that you needed to land.

Here are ten tips that I can offer anyone new to get some better runs:

1. BLOCK! Blocking reduces your damage a ton, but it also reduces your recovery time from animations. This gives you an advantage against someone swinging wildly.
2. ALWAYS TAKE THE FROGS! Don't step on them. Seriously, healing items start becoming pretty scarce, and if you step on them, they may not give you any type of healing item at all. I would go so far as to say that you should probably stock up about 5x or 6x of those things (easily obtained in Ikegara, the first floor), take them back and cook them, and have them in your inventory.
3. RED HOT IRON RAGE MOVE IS YOUR FRIEND! The Red Hot Iron does some decent damage, but its rage move will send out steam that staggers as well as blinds your opponent. This works really well against high-level haters.
4. GYMNAST DECAL! Buy it. 30% reduced stamina usage on your dodge makes a world of difference in that game.
5. FARM IKEGARA AT LEAST THREE TIMES BEFORE FLOOR 2! I say this because the enemies are easy to defeat, there are a ton of useful items (which a chance at some rare weapons like the Apocalyptic Hockey Stick or the Jungle Machete from boxes), and getting the Kill Coins to get full durability weapons stocked up is a huge boost for you. You'll also level up at least once, and dump it all into HP and Stamina.
6. USE YOUR FISTS! Your own two hands are some of the best weapons in the game. Why? They swing fast, they are easy to level up for mastery level (as you always have them), they have 100% durability at all times, and the special attack (L1 or R1) is a bit overhead pummel move that does some serious damage.
7. RAGE MOVES ARE IMPORTANT! Rage moves are used when you hold Triangle and then attack. Weapons have all kinds of different rage moves, but they can go beyond the properties of what the weapon itself would normally do. For instance, if you are using the buzzsaw melee weapon, you can get a pretty serious ranged move out of it that shoots blades and deals damage over time to someone while locking them up. This means you can Rage Move Buzzsaw, and then while they are staggered a bit, get in and melee the shit out of them. Red Hot Iron, as I stated above, is some great crowd control. The Fireworks gun shoots a big explosion out (and make sure it doesn't hit you!). The Metal Bat does a forward lunge, which is REALLY REALLY REALLY good. Play around with them and learn what they do to make situational combat easier.
8. FARM OUT YOUR QUESTS! Most of these quests will give you Kill Coins, which is great. 5k Kill Coins can get a little bit of stuff done. However, there are some that will give you Death Metal, which is the real-money currency of the game. This is also what gets you Death Insurance. That leads me to my next thing...
9. USE YOUR DEATH METAL FOR A SOLID RUN! If you are doing poorly on a run and die on, say, the second floor, don't use your Death Metal for death insurance. Just don't. It's a waste. Get really good at running those first two or three floors, and THEN start using your death insurance.
10. ALWAYS PICK UP BLUEPRINTS! It doesn't matter what is in your Death Bag at the moment - it's not as important as that blueprint. Turning the blueprints in can get you some seriously good gear that will start at 100% durability when you equip it. If it is something you already know, then it is worth some serious Kill Coins (mine were around 400-600 KC each). Trust me - that cotton or scrap metal is not nearly as important (unless it's rare).

I have a feeling I'm going to play quite a bit of this game. It's simplistic in its design and its gameplay elements, but there are nuances in that gameplay which make a world of difference and offer some unique playthroughs.

Hope everyone enjoys it!

P.S. - I'm REALLY hoping that the Giant Bomb staff include Uncle Death as a late addition to Best Character discussions. Seriously, he's doooooope as fuuuuuuck.

HOLY. CRAP.

So this guy is going to get hired by GameBomb immediately, right?