Chrono Trigger not being present in the toss-up here is nearly a crime. If you like the others that you've mentioned, and haven't played that one, definitely do. I don't know if I'd call it my favorite game ever, but it's very easily top 10, and might be my #1 top choice for the SNES.
That's a fair point I guess about Vancian magic. I'm still not a fan, but I suppose I understand the reasoning behind it a little better. Because I am the kind of wizard that will find the most efficient mana-per-damage spell in my arsenal and sling that almost exclusively. Elden Ring got a whole lot of Carian Slicer and Glintstone Arc out of me.
Avelyn
Avelyn is a banger, that one used to be a monster in PvP. I kind of forgot it existed though lmao. Don't think I've ever used it myself, even once. But for someone who wants to off-main a crossbow, it's probably the best one you're going to get your hands on. There's an argument to be made for the Sanctum Crossbow I think, that one was my go-to, but it loses out on raw damage per trigger pull and you don't get it until about halfway through Shulva which if you don't do that DLC first may as well be postgame.
After poking the wiki about this, I also learned today for the first time ever that you can dual wield powerstance a pair of crossbows. I guess it makes sense that you can, I just never thought to try. John Wick akimbo build incoming.
His katana is funny but I'm not a fan
Aw, lame, that's the exact reason I like Darkdrift lol. It's a bootleg Hidden Weapon that you don't have to cast all the time, or do a no-death-no-bonfire run for the illusory rings. It's not really useful, that effect does nothing in PvE and in PvP your opponent can still see that you're swinging Darkdrift if they're paying attention, it's not like Hidden Weapon where you could be swinging anything with any amount of range under that spell. But it's cool as hell though. Darkdrift is mediocre as katanas go in DS2 but a mediocre katana is still head and shoulders above most other weapons. It's also possible to get a matched pair of them in the same NG+ cycle by abusing a bug, so long as you don't mind having to murder Agdayne once your business is complete with him. Suppose that doesn't help you much on this build, but maybe next time? Dub katanas is an easy dex build win.
The ore seller finally got them chunks!
I believe she upgrades one more time to unlimited chunks after you beat Watcher and Defender. It's worth hitting them as early as possible for that reason. You'll still have to go hunt down elemental stones and titanite slabs though, stay stingy with those.
... Matter of fact, now that I think about it, now that you have the King's Ring in your pocket I think you can go fight them right now and just get that out of the way. You'll need the Ashen Mist Heart and etc. to actually complete the game but I don't think that comes into play until after Nashandra.
I completely forgor that special equipment can only be upgraded to +5 so I spent most of my twinkling titanite maxing out the robe and kilt haha.
And frequently end up with as good or better stats than a whole +10 regular item. Special items scale a ton per upgrade. A +1 special weapon will often carry me just as far as a +3 or +4 regular weapon. This extends to armor too. Don't be afraid to invest in them, they're "special" for reasons. Twinkling Titanite is also relatively infinite so long as you don't mind farming for it, so it's not like you'll run out. If you don't plan on going into NG+, ascetic the Dragon Aerie a few times when you get there and just sprint through it destroying all the crystal lizards and ignoring everything else, you'll leave with a few dozen twinklies and elemental stones.
If you do plan on going into NG+, uh, don't do that. Ask me how I know. 😅
Wouldn't matter if they're never in there anyway
Hah, return to ~~monke~~ mana might be my favorite change Fromsoft made for DS3. I was very glad to see it carry forward into Elden Ring. I have a whole rant and a half about Vancian magic, I never liked it, I don't like it in D&D and I don't like that they brought it to Dark Souls. I am a wizard, and I can cast exactly three fireballs. I'm not out of magical power after that, I've still got lightning bolts and magic missiles that I can sling at you, but I've completely forgotten how to cast the fireball I just cast 18 seconds ago. Gonna need a lil nap to address that.
Mana bar just makes more sense to me. I stop casting fireballs because I've exhausted my innate supply of magical power, not because "i forgor 💀"
job hunting
Ughhhhhhh. Yeah, been there. Best of luck to you my friend. Imagine a big "Unemployment Defeated" banner coming up when you're finished, that's from me.
One of my old coworkers at a previous job, I forget the exact context, but when he was asked to do something:
"Hey [Name], can you get this done?"
"Can the Pope's dick fit through a donut?"
".... I don't know?"
"Exactly 😎 👉 👉"
Durability technically exists in every main line Souls game as well as Bloodborne, it's just mostly a non-issue (until you forget about it entirely and your main weapon breaks mid boss fight). I think it mostly just serves as an annoyance in Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne, because the game never really goes out of its way to tell you that you need to repair your weapon, and in DS1 you have to go out of your way to buy a whole smithbox about it or go visit a smith in person.
2 solves this by making your gear repair at bonfires, which was a GREAT change and I was a big fan of it. Many people were not. It also didn't help that durability was bugged for a while to be even worse than it was intended to be. In response to that backlash DS3 technically shares the same mechanic, but durability was buffed to such an extent that I don't think I've ever actually been in danger of breaking any of my gear, unless being hit by acid attacks, so in practice they just removed durability but in truth it's still there hiding in the background.
In Bloodborne they went back to having to repair your weapon at the smith station in the Hunter's Dream and the decision baffles me, but you also only ever have to do it like once every 7 hours so it was whatever.
How's the Crypt been treating you? Did you light the torches?
We're reaching heretofore unheard of levels of abstraction sir, perhaps we should abort.
Nice!!
I never liked the estoc much, myself. I'm not sure why, really, I just never used it over other thrusting swords I guess. I liked the rapier for its parry and mostly stuck to that one when I wanted to go fencing.
Estoc is good though! Nice and fast, and long. Speaking of,
Washing Pole is crazy
Lmao, no kidding. "I am the boss fight now" is a great way of describing it, actually, lol. Watch that durability though. Thing snaps like a twig at the slightest provocation, DS2 is really the only souls game that I find myself actively worrying about my equipment durability sometimes. Keep those repair powders on deck.
Funny story, actually, durability loss used to be WAY WAY WORSE and got patched down. Something to do with how the game calculated durability combined with now running at 60FPS meant that you could break certain weapons literally on a single hit. I think it was because the weapon spent a lot of time inside the enemy model and subtracted durability for every frame it was intersecting. It was REAL bad.
Re: Twinblades, they are definitely 2H weapons. You can swing them one handed but generally you shouldn't, I wouldn't advise them unless you're ready and willing to put both hands on it regularly.
I like the rust swords, I don't think they're the best in their respective weapon types but I like wearing them as a paired set, they're neat.
Shield crossbow I think is just bad, unfortunately, lol.
Nice job on Amana! I don't hate it as much as I think most of the playerbase does because I've learned to game it pretty effectively by now, and I think it's really pretty. It's rough going in unfamiliar with it though, and I still usually have some trouble with the big arena near the end with all the red phantoms and snipers. This place also got nerfed in difficulty in a patch, lol.
Crypt is not my favorite area in the game but the boss fight there might be. Good luck! And remember to come back and see Agdayne after you're finished here to buy a cool sword.
Releasing the same game for the third time isn't done to death?
We all clowned on Bethesda about it for Skyrim, Nintendo doesn't deserve any different. Besides which this is an obvious ploy to try and regain control over their game after the decompilation projects.
I'll pass. I can continue to play the game just fine, upscaled in 1080p 60FPS like we've been doing.
Sekiro remains my favorite almost solely because of the lack of a stamina meter. It increases the speed of the game a ton, and it's very cool to have a 30 second back and forth wild swordfight with someone instead of roll-roll-roll-R1-roll-roll. You just can't do that in other Fromsoft games.
So this fine is being paid to... The French government?
Look, I'm all for trying to punish the corporation for bad practices, but that money should be distributed to the people impacted by those practices, i.e. Joycon owners. Not disappear into the pockets of a regulatory board who had largely nothing to do with this situation and just sees an easy opportunity to profit.
Twin Pursuers..... That was a fight that I did once, just to prove that I could, and I think I completely skipped past it every time after that. I have never found myself in dire enough need of an extra 15 AR to put myself through that again, lmao. It's amazing the difficulty spike you get with two Pursuers versus one. Solo, they're some of the easiest proper boss fights in the game. Duo, they'll slap your shit silly.
Oh, I know you can dual wield them, I didn't realize you could powerstance them. There is a difference. You can dual wield two of anything, but if you want to stance them, there are some conditions. Wield two of the same class of weapons and have 1.5x the required stats, and hold down your 2H swap button. You'll get a unique paired moveset.
Again, it totally makes sense that you would be able to do this with crossbows, I just never thought to try. You can't do it with bows or magic staves, so it just never crossed my mind that it could be a possibility.
Very fair and valid. The game has two dozen weapon types to choose from for just such a reason.
I once again recommend that you check into the Crypt Blacksword, if that's what you like. I know you're not big on two-handing your weapons this run, so maybe next time. But CBS' two hand moveset is exactly that, and one hand is also quite good for an Ultra weapon. It stays one of my top 5 pieces of gear in the game, I love it dearly.