Reading that last one made me tear up towards the end. Alex, I've always had a great amount of respect for you as a writer. They say the best things written are those that come from the heart. This came from the heart. Thank you for being so open and memorializing your uncle and dear pet. I know people that lost people to COVID and unrelated things in 2020.
An older friend of mines recently lost her adult son unexpectedly and has to reckon with the loss. I'll give her all the time she needs since grief is such a complex emotion. When comes life comes at you, it comes at you hard when you least expect it.
I remember paying my respects to my relatives in the Dominican Republic two years ago. Particularly to my grandmother (not my biological maternal grandmother) and my paternal grandfather. When I found my grandmother's resting place, I kneeled, silently read her epitaph, then the emotions welled up in me like a wave. And I cried like I never did before in my adult life as the sun seared my skin in that cemetery.
I think it's part of the reason why I don't want to start RDR2. Because I read the spoilers and I'm not ready to quite go there yet. But Spiritfarer is a game I will definitely have to check out and play. Even if it's hard.
And Shawn Alexander is super cool. I got the pleasure of meeting him at PAX East and ended up volunteering for the Game Devs of Color Expo 3 years ago. I'll definitely have to check out Treachery In Beatdown City if not wishlist it to keep it on my radar. I'm glad to see Yakuza: Like A Dragon on your top 5 as I found myself agreeing with all your points.
Anyway, keep on trucking and keep on drumming, Alex. And thanks for being so candid. I'm sorry for your loss.
@bradAs a fan of the series since 2005, Yakuza has always been a balance between a serious (albeit melodramatic) main plot and wacky side quests. On the one hand, shirtless, tattooed men brutally beat each other up in cutscenes. On the other hand, said tattooed men partake in debauchery and can get caught up helping out fictional famous people.
And as Alex said in the quick look, fans of the series will always go with Japanese dub, English subs (myself included). The thing that disappoints me about the English dub is that like Judgement, the game isn't 100% dubbed outside the main characters and villains like say in anime.
That said, I hope Like a Dragon is a gateway drug for you to retroactively check out the rest of the series. While the brawler combat does get repetitive and loses its lustre in the Dragon Engine games (Kiwami 2, 6, and Judgement), man if it doesn't retain the spirit of Renegade/River City Ransom of yore. And if you're really feeling adventurous, Yakuza: Dead Souls is a third person shooter that would influence Binary Domain.
At the 46-minute mark was Jan so close to victory before the long silences of defeat that would follow the rest of the run. You gotta love when you're close to beating a boss only to lose for a small mistake or bad RNG. Solo or not, this run would have extended into at least three more episodes of grinding at the lecture hall for souls, buying blood vials, and fighting Kos. As such, I'm okay with co-oping the fight in the name of progress. But Jan nearly had the fight down to a science. At a certain point with repetition, muscle memory kicks in.
As for the shark giants in the well, I did it a different way. I'll spoil this just in case Jan reads the comments:
I used the ledge past the Winter Lantern to aggro the first shark giant with a combination of the monocular and pistol. Because the ledge clips, this means hits go through it. So I smacked the giant, backed off as needed, and eventually triggered the second one. It took me two tries but on the second try, I threw a combination of oil bombs and molotov cocktails to finish the job. Safe and cowardly but efficient nonetheless. And a totally viable method!
But I think Jan is strong enough that he can take them out on his own. It requires some elaborate kiting to keep them apart. Plus their attacks are unpredictable with the dive attack being particularly nasty. I hope Jan goes back to the blood river and gets the goodies he missed on the other side. They're cool if nothing else.
Otherwise, the rest of the run should be smooth sailing considering how OP Jan is for the main game bosses. This for sure isn't a 100% run considering Jan went in blind and missed a bunch of NPCs/items in the process which means no Moon Presence fight.
@janman Sorry to hear about the finger pain. Carpal tunnel and arthritis are no joke. Wearing a wrist splint would certainly help. As someone with big hands and long fingers, I find many controllers aren't ergonomically designed. Especially Nintendo's handhelds. I have PTSD from experiencing searing pain on my thumbs from long sessions. In those cases, I had to get a grip accessory for it.
Regarding Filipino-American authors, I read a few books in undergrad. One of them was Leo@fergusrules.com by Arne Tangherlini. It's a post-modern Alice In Wonderland but set in an MMO video game. The protagonist is Filipina-American and there are references to Philipino culture things and mythology. I won't say any more so as not to spoil it. But you'll probably enjoy it.
The other Filipino-American author is R. Zamora Linmark. I read a book called Rolling The R's that takes in Hawaii and features protagonists of various orientations. He wrote another novel called Leche and The Importance of Being Wilde. I haven't read either of them but that's something you might be interested in.
Lastly, I think the Bloodborne comics written by Ales Kot and Piotr Kowalski are okay. Each volume is a different story set in Yarnham. The art was critically panned. They're nothing super amazing. If anything, they just flesh out the world beyond the scope of the game. But that's a lot like any video game tie-in comic really where it's optional to read it.
If another stimulus check gets approved, I would certainly love to get a decent PC rig. But roaches and ant infestation currently make me think twice.
Lin-Manuel Miranda got heat on Twitter for supporting Puerto Rico Oversight and Stability Act (PROMESA) in 2016 whilst he was live-tweeting about Hamilton last weekend. Puerto Ricans haven't forgiven him for hosting Hamilton in PR two months after Hurricane Maria hit on the promise of bringing tourism money. Nevermind the fact that the 17 day run of the show catered to affluent people. Plus he touted himself as bringing hope to PR. He had to change his Twitter account to private.
I personally have mixed feelings about LMM as someone who lives in the same neighborhood as him. One the one hand, I appreciate what he's done for the community with supporting and hosting local arts programs at United Palace For the Arts. Additionally, his dad co-founded the weekly community newspaper in 2005. But on the other hand, he's the richest guy in my neighborhood who couldn't persuade the NYC Landmarks and Preservation Committee to landmark Coliseum Theatre. It's going to be demolished and replaced by a shopping mall complex. You gotta love gentrification!
Anyway, solid stream Jan. To think you came so close to defeating the Orphan. I think Sekiro would be a solid transition post-Bloodborne. But you also have three Dark Souls games as an option with 3 being a sequel to 1. Or if you decide to dive into the Yakuza series, 0 would be the perfect place to start at. Although I'm being biased because I love the series.
Storytime with Jan is always a good time. He makes Kratos' stories in GoW (2018) look good. That said, George is an incredibly messed up person. Jerry is basically a sugar daddy in all but name. Whether he knows he's being taken advantage of or not is a different story. I think anyone would kill for a benefactor who does things out of the goodness of their hearts. It reminds me of Akiyama from the Yakuza series but without the whole creepy/odd test as his catch. The fact that George shamelessly asked Jan if he wanted in on it says a lot about the guy. But karma always comes back around.
Anyway, holy crap! I can't believe Jan beat Laurence! And at a lower level (I'm at 91 versus Jan's 87). Now I need to dust off my PS4, pop Bloodborne in, and give it another shot. If he did it, then so I can. And speedrunning through all those sections that took me way longer (I was using a guide to get everything) is incredible. Jan got lucky that Laurence didn't move around and Valtr stayed alive during the last phase. The stunlocking lava is nasty if Laurence crawls around the entire arena.
My few notes to Jan are to remember to use the Quicksilver bullets with Bone Marrow Ash to buff up the attacks to play it safe. Orphan is easily the hardest boss in the game due to his variable hitbox and super aggressive AI. Maria was a warmup for this battle. Every move has to have a response like chess. Additionally, you missed a bunch of items in the DLC you might want to go back for. Lastly, the Chalice Dungeon contains an optional boss if gunning for 100% of the trophies. But that requires copious amounts of dungeon crawling.
While I'm bummed out the vids don't get uploaded to YouTube due to its useful features (I'm one of those people who watch vids at 1.5x speed if a video is dragging. Sometimes 2x speed), I understand the reasoning. I just wish the native video player had the aforementioned options. But I digress.
I loved Lady Maria as a boss along with Martyr Logarius. She didn't give me too much trouble considering the remaining 2 bosses brought my progress to a screeching halt. Jan, when in doubt remember to shoot her as much as possible in the last remaining 1/4 of health she has left. You can play it safe and mitigate so much damage. It's what I did to defeat her IIRC.
Phase 1: dodge around her, parry.
Phase 2: heal, dodge, parry her attacks.
Phase 3: dodge around her, get a few hits in, shoot to finish the job off. Heal when you can.
I used a fully upgraded Saw Cleaver +10 though so different weapon but the same strategy. I echo the sentiment to use bolt paper if you're struggling since most bosses are weak to it. I'll also add to use Bone Marrow Ash to buff up your gun damage. The worst is yet to come. You got this Jan.
Holy crap! @janman, you made Ludwig look easy. Then again, I was using the Saw Cleaver +10 at that point. The Saw Cleaver while a solid weapon that took me through the game, attacks vertically when transformed. Ludwig took me several times solo before I was finally able to defeat him. It was a tough battle but it had great music. The wonderful thing about BB is that every weapon is viable for getting through the game. Sadly, BB never got a respec option retroactively patched to allow for experimentation between different builds. I'm currently stuck on 2 bosses in the DLC so I'm curious to see how you do against them. I want to get into BB but those bosses burned me out. I'll spoiler tag which ones for BB vets-- Orphan of Kos and Laurence. The former is incredibly aggressive thanks to its moving hit box, the latter's stun locking lava in the second phase drove me insane.
I would go back to the blood river area full of bloodlickers (AKA the bloodsucking fleas) since you missed a bunch of items. That includes two new weapons and materials so I would do that before proceeding to the next area beyond Ludwig's arena. You saw an item surrounded by that small mob of them so I would take them out one by one. Use pebbles to kite them up to the bridge then take them out as they're retreating. Otherwise, remember to take your time going through each area so you don't miss anything.
It's nice to see you come a long way from Father Gascoigne where you had no idea what you were doing through the DLC more confident. Week after week, this remains my favorite Lockdown stream I look forward to during quarantine/curfew.
Welp, you tried Jan but NPC hunters don't mess around. They're very aggressive. The chat got it right. Equip the Moon rune that gives you more Blood Echoes to make grinding for materials and armor much easier. That NPC hunter is weak against poison. While poison knives are pricey, they're worth getting. I would buy at least 10 of them for this fight since they really do help fo this fight. If you stand near the entrance of the cathedral after poisoning him, he'll eventually turn around and go back to his spot. Watch the numbers go up and hopefully he'll eventually die if not be close to death.
Because this NPC is using the Chikage, in the tricked out form he sacrifices some of his HP to use it. Hence why you saw his health decrease and heal up. If you want to stop him from healing, throw a Numbing Mist at him. I'm sure you got this so no worries.
As for what to do next, you still got the Nightmare of Mensis to do (where the freakish looking wolves are). You'll have to take cover behind pillars as you make your way to the other side of the bridge. You'll probably several times as you make progress but it's all good. As far as I know, you beat all the optional bosses in the main game.
As for when to access the DLC, you have two more bosses to go before the end game so you have time. But make no mistake, the DLC is harder than the base game. The enemies hit harder and the bosses are VERY aggressive so be prepared. Best of luck.
@janman You've been doing incrediblygood coming from way back when you first began. It's too bad Judgement's combat is nowhere near as demanding as Bloodborne's. But to be fair, they're very different games. Although Yakuza 3 Hard was the peak of the series being challenging before later Yakuza games got easier (including the Dragon Engine games).
Anyway, I'm glad you finally used the Bold Hunter's Mark after commenting about it here. It's SUPER useful so make it your best friend. I don't think it works in Chalice Dungeons though.
FYI, I know the Threaded Cane stopped being your main weapon. But it's pretty useful against those pesky worm monsters you ran into in that cave since they can be hard to hit otherwise. Especially in whip mode. Personally, I enjoyed fighting Martyr Logarius even if it took me several tries to beat him. I thought it was a fun fight once you learn how to punish/dodge his tells. But I can see why many people had a hard time since it's an aggressive boss fight (like many BB bosses). FYI, once you're done with Logarius, you might want to go back to the place where the lesser Amygdala dropped you off at post-Rom.
As people mentioned, the DLC has harder bosses and harder regular enemies that hit like trucks even on NG. I'm currently stuck on the last main boss of the DLC and the optional boss at NG. But some of the best bosses From Software has ever designed are in the DLC. That and there's some cool weapons/gear. Good luck and happy hunting as always. :)
@mobiusfun To be fair, CDKeys currently has PS+ subs on sale for 30 USD, the cheapest it's ever been. There's never been a reason to get it for $40+.
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