Mezmero

I've gotten into the habit of using regenerating casts for my runs since many clears ago. I was getting tired of collecting my bloodstones so this has become the preferred method for me. Hermes can decrease the regen time even more and if you get an extra cast from Charon or Chaos it's huge for that cast option.

I always use Extreme Measures first to fill my heat for weapon bounties. The other day was the first time I fought Elysium's boss under that effect and got my ass handed to me. I got use to beating it every time afterwards but I love that the game can still throw me a curve ball like that even when I've gotten consistent at clearing runs. This game is SO GOOD!

@bigsocrates: Gotcha. Like others in the thread I prefer Athena's dash but there's pretty much no downside to having some kind of dash boon as it's free damage when you weave your way out of enemies. Just about all of them have some usefulness. It's almost that way with casts as well although as we discussed blade rifts seem like a difficult one to make useful without the boon that pulls in enemies. It's probably a testament to the game's design that I'd rather use blade rift casts over the default cast.

@bigsocrates: Funny because I've found that augmented doom builds have accounted for some of my easiest runs. It creates a much easier hit and run strategy that lets you stay out of harm's way more often. If you want to get into high level doom builds, for one there's another Ares boon that lets doom stack. There's also one that makes doom do more damage but take more time to trigger. That may seem like too much of a downside, however there's a duo boon that lets deflect damage trigger doom immediately. So you can chew through the health of elites, mini-bosses, and bosses with relative ease.

I may be with you in regards to blade rifts not being preferable. Enemies often move around so much that the average damage you get from a casted blade rift can be hard to take advantage of. Also you can't use them to stack bloodstones on enemies to gain the benefits of certain mirror upgrades. That also applies to Dionysus' cast but at least that has sizable initial damage and the stunning fog for crowd control. If blade rifts could also inflict doom that might be worth it but ultimately I get slightly bummed when I have to settle for them during a run.

I've seen credits for the first time. Currently at 20 clears according to my stats (that's before and after 1.0 launch combined). I'm at the point where I have enough upgrades and renovations that I've become confident in consistently finishing runs with a variety of weapons and builds. My focus for a while has mainly been completing prophecies as I continue to make progress with pact bounties and those really do keep the encounters interesting in unexpected ways. I can't say enough good things about this game, never mind just this year it's quickly become an all-time favorite for me personally.

@zeik: Well sure I wouldn't call it bad, it's definitely got some cool stuff. I've been kind of underwhelmed by it personally. I'll admit it's better than average particularly when I imagine it being a Breath of Fire prequel. Perhaps I'm just spoiled for choice in this exceptional era of cartoons as of late.

Haven't watched it but based on the preview w/blurb I guess the main character is a generic fantasy muscle man. Fuck dat shit! How dare they not use MY game's canon of the main character being a big beautiful buff chick. Yet another victim of the man-o-centric male-ocracy.

Between this and The Dragon Prince Netflix doesn't have a great track record with dragon shit. Though in fairness I haven't seen Dragon Pilot which I think is suppose to be good?

I commented about it elsewhere but as of now this is my game of the year in a walk. It's been a roller coaster to have gotten very into the game mere weeks before 1.0. Two months ago I downloaded it, played just a tiny bit and thought I could commit to waiting until launch. Three weeks ago I couldn't resist and started diving deep into it. Then two weeks ago I got to the "end" of the early access build and I've been playing it off and on ever since. Now to see just where they were going with the story has been spectacular. They took my new found enjoyment of Rogue-esque-ish-lite-likes plus my long time love of Greek myth and created a gorgeous piece of fiction and game play.

Hades is officially out of early access so I did a run through to see the ending. So now I can make it official, Game of the Year front runner right here. Best game Supergiant has put out that's for sure. The use of Greek mythology is fabulously done.

Just a friendly reminder if you're having trouble with the premise of the thread feel free to reference the OP. ;)

Didn't know about this game so consider me intrigued. Looks very pretty visually, gotta love that Vanillaware flavor on character models. This trailer does make it look like a side-scrolling otome game which is not exactly a genre I'm into but hopefully the tactical mecha portion is enough of an interesting hook for the different story lines.

Deception is a tricky thing in games, both in video and table top. The hard part is making a successful lie skill not result in outright mind control. I think the best example of this in recent memory is Disco Elysium. Famously at the start of the game there's a female who you can make a pass at with a dialogue choice along the lines of "Wanna fuck?". Even if that roll succeeds it's like: "Yup...she believes that you want to have sex...so?" There are loads of characters who can and will lie to you and you to them and there's not really any reason anyone should trust nor mistrust anyone else beyond face value. You make a value judgment based on the dialogue presented and act accordingly depending on what kind of character you play and it's a game that handles the consequences remarkably well.

@undeadpool: I'm a wizard...and THAT sounds fucked up.