Risk of Rain 2: The Final 4

 It is funny that after my last post about trying to beating 'Risk of Rain 2' on Monsoon and escaping the moon aka beating Mitrix and not just obliterating myself we finally did it.

It also unlocks the Purity item which is the second last item I need to collect before having all items. The last one being the very illusive Iridescent Pearl. It's amazing how close we are to completely 100% the game. However, at almost 200 hrs, I am still having way too much fun and I can see myself playing RoR2 still. The last game I 100% was 'Thymesia' and that was a fun time but once I unlocked everything, I felt I did all I need to do. Now I set waiting for it's DLC and hopefully we will get some this year. 

Ironically, I feel the same about 'Elden Ring'. I did as much as I could possibly do in my first playthrough and the only things I need to do to get the 100% completion for that is to get the remaining endings, nothing else. I fought all the bosses, explored 95% of the dungeons and got all the spells and weapons. Like 'Thymesia' I await the eventually DLC before heading back to it. I would love to play 'Elden Ring' again and the craziness is it has just celebrated it's 1 year anniversary. 1 year and it is still a hotly discussed game and From is still doing patches and balances but I think since I did so much the first time around I can wait for the DLC before I start another full playthrough. Plus this is From Software we are talking about. the DLC for all their games are always amazing and well worth the wait. 'The Old Hunters' anyone? Yeah I thought so.

Anyway, this all to make a point that normally when I go in for a game and get 100% I normally start playing something else and well, I do not see that happening for 'RoR2' anytime soon. I think once I get the 100% the RNG Roguelite nature of it will make me want to do another run for fun occasionally or try a new set-up I've never done before and that is even after I finish all the challenges for the remaining 4 characters. Hence the name of this blog. I think I've decided to go in this order; Mercenary, Engineer, REX and to finish off with the final character released for 'RoR' the Void Fiend.

Also as previously mentioned, now I'm playing modded 'RoR2' on Windows via my Steam Deck's Dual Boot, so many of the mods are really amazing and some of the Quality of Life ones really change the game for the better. However some of the mods are purely aesthetic and as a man addicted to skins, some of the custom skins are next level.

The above left is a Mod for MUL-T and the right is the actually Mastery skin for him and well, I use the Dino skin to earn the one on the right. The story is I originally did not want to play MUL-T because he just aesthetically does not appeal to me. As I used him and earned his other skills (most of them during one run ironically) I got more use to his gameplay loop and I enjoyed a couple things. I enjoyed the fact he can carry 2 equipment so you can care a utility equipment and a pure damage one or if you wanted to get nutty, both damaging ones. I enjoyed once they were unlocked you could change his primary attack skill as well and you had choices! He really lived up to his name MUL-T. However I could not ignore his actually design just did not do it for me. Each character before MUL-T had a cool aesthetic I could bond with. When ether it was the big robot arms of the Loader or the cool Captain trench coat and hat. The Commando's distinct fishbowl helmet to Acrid's almost primal look. All of them made me gravitate towards them and try them. With MUL-T it was more due to the fact I need to play someone I didn't want to be too technical with which the remaining 4 have in spades. I honestly just wanted to point and shoot and MUL-T allows that.

However as I mentioned, here the mods saved him because a cool mod made MUL-T look like a dinosaur, tail and all and well if you know me, I love dinosaurs LOL.

So yeah, this one was a no-brainer for me and well just having a different look made me enjoy playing him more and well as you can see, I earned his Mastery skin which is a nice homage to HAN-D from the original Risk of Rain which is cool in itself. Now the final 4 characters remain but I do not see myself stopping any soon. If you are enjoying the 'RoR2' content, there will be much more to come.

However the next 'planned' blogs will be different. Of course the previously mentioned Roguelite one, a upcoming one dedicated to the Steam Deck and one dedicated to Chris Christodoulou

 aka the mastermind composer behind Hopoo's games which I've become obsessed with. Of course, we will throw in some updates like this one too. Blogs are back baby.

You Know... I Tried

 So the title of this blog is kind of has a triple meaning.

1st: I tried, to post a blog last week but it was not meant to be. This would have kept my commitment to blog at least once a week. I however had a busy week life wise and was sick with a cold for a couple days and I honestly did not have much to chat about. I'll try to get back on schedule starting with this one but we shall see. At most, a blog a month if we can't keep a weekly schedule.

2nd: As promised in one of my last blogs, I was going to give 'Sundred' another try and well... I tried. When I first played it I was rather new to Rogue-lites/ Rogue-likes (RL) so it did not gel with me but now I've played a couple of RLs (that blog is still coming) I decided to give it another honest try and sadly it still did not excite me at all. The opening moments of a RL to me is the most important and to me I found a lot of traversing and getting lost and then a massive group of enemies would swarm me and eventually I would die and I was back at the beginning.

With most good RLs I would want to jump back in and do another run but with 'Sundred' when I died I was happy that I did not need to play anymore. The enemies were pretty tanky, our main characters attack lacked a bit of oomph and most of my time was spent exploring empty places.  The skill tree looked large but none of the upgrades seemed that exciting at first glance. Unfortunately, none of this appealed to me so I have decided to give it one more honest try and I'll make a decision after that. I will probably give an update and how it went in previously mentioned RL blog.

3rd: The final I tried was beating 'Risk of Rain 2' on Monsoon and well, I've gotten close a couple times (made it all the way to Mitrix's final stage) and sometimes I had no hope at all. This one I know I'll eventually get because so far I've been pretty successful in all my ventures in 'RoR2'. Speaking of its time for 'RoR2' updates. Since our last 'RoR2' update we have beaten the secret hidden boss, the Twisted Scavengers a couple times now, we have played a couple new characters and earned their mastery skins including Loader (just fun), Acrid (unique/ enjoy just jumping around with him) and Railgunner (probably my fave of the three/ very satisfying gameplay loop with scoping and getting perfect shots). Her mastery skin is also amazing especially because its not a simple color swap but a homage to the Sniper from 'Risk of Rain'.

We also beat the game with the Heretic, the hidden character too and that was different. Heretic definitely feels pretty strong but the fact you can not start as her makes her a more different experience. Basically, your current run sucks? Buy up all the Lunar items you need to change into the Heretic and change your approach completely by changing your character.

Sadly the above picture is missing some of my now favorite characters like Bandit and Captain but that is because they came out much later in the game's life cycle however its so awesome its actually my current computer wallpaper. Looking at it sometimes also helps me figure out whom my next character will be after I complete this Monsoon completion run and I'm debating MUL-T or Mercenary. I am not that sold on The Engineer's turret/ tower defense playstyle and REX seems like a weird sell as well. However I will eventually get to them as well and of course the other DLC character the Void Fiend. Speaking of 'RoR2', I am now playing it exclusively on Windows via my Steam Dual Boot feature and it so I can use the mods and boy, I can't go back to playing it without certain mods now. The Better UI, Expanded Bazaar and HistoryFix alone made it worthwhile to mod my Risk.

On that note, this Monsoon run is not going to complete itself. 

Going back in.

Now I Am Become Death

Keeping the ongoing blog content commitment whilst I wait for KOF XV to finish its download on my Steam Deck. Man, this thing is taking forever even hardwired. Also definitely a RANT about the Steam Deck (the big RAVE is coming tho) is how it does not do background downloads aka the minute your Steam Deck goes to sleep. It just stops and it is very annoying and surprisingly something Playstations and Xboxs do much better in this regard.

Enough about that through, we are here to talk about two things and both are sort of tied together which is nice. First is our title. Yes I know its not grammatically correct, however that is the title of this song by my new favorite video game composer Chris Christodoulou

Feel free to play it in the background if you want some music whilst you read this blog :D

I, of course stumbled on the insanely talented Chris whilst I was doing research on Risk of Rain 2. If you have read my previous RAVE about Risk of Rain 2, you'll know Chris' 'The Rain Formerly Known as Purple' was one of the reasons why I really wanted to play it and to this day, it is top 5 in my favorite tracks from him and boy I've been listening to some tracks. I found out he collaborates a lot with Hopoo games aka the makers of RoR series. Hopoo also made the game which the above song and title of this blog comes from, 'Deadbolt'. 'Deadbolt' is unique and I feel the best way to describe it is to let it speak for itself so... the trailer!

Well, now I'll be experiencing it myself. I was in two minds in what Hopoo game I should get next and surprisingly I decided the original 'Risk of Rain' would not work because it'll be remade soon in 'Risk of Rain Returns' and I'll definitely get that one. That left me with 'Deadbolt' and I think we will have fun playing it. I see a longer blog/ RAVE about it after I get into it. Speaking of future RAVES expect a longer one about Chris Christodoulou too.

Now this nicely ties into my second topic of discussion in this blog. More Risk of Rain 2!! Now I know you guys might be like damn Phil can you talk about something else but sorry, I can not. This is my blog and I am not getting paid for it so I can get to talk about what I am passionate about and with a 129.2 hrs into it, it is Risk of Rain 2.

Since our last update I've unlocked all the artifacts and their respective challenges, some which were pretty unique and challenging and I've unlocked the Commando, Artificer, Loader and Bandit's mastery skins.

Speaking of, in a roundabout way, we are back to the beginning of this blog

This is the Bandit and his mastery skin which he actually cosplays the main villain from 'Deadbolt' Ibzan and well, let me just say, Bandit kind of rocks. I love his playstyle and he has a passive where he does more damage if he hits something from the back. He has a cool shotgun and a precise rifle that reloads all his skills when he kills something with it. I actually feel like a reaper dealing out death with his acurate shots and the sound they make when you get them is like audio candy. His gameplay loop is probably the most fun I've had with a RoR 2 survivor since Captain. In all honesty, he is now probably my third favorite character to use coming just behind Huntress and of course, Captain.

It is also rare but I think I might switch between his skins too cause unlike the normal color palette swaps it changes his look completely and I like his original skin too. I've always enjoyed Gunslingers (I even have a KOF combo video called 'The Gunslingers') which kind of ties this back to the beginning of the post too funny enough.

So this blog is a whole ass Genesis Loop (RoR 2 item, told you I am obsessed) now. Crazy enough tho, I have 'Deadbolt' I have a backlog of other games including other Rougelites I promised I would play for my Roguelite blog but I still want to play more RoR 2. I have other Survivors to learn and master. I have secret hidden bosses whom are the only thing that I have not beaten yet and well, I am just having too much fun.

INTERMISSION: Update to a... Update.

 So we were going to do a RAVE this week about my slow decent into Roguelite/ Roguelike madness but I've made up my mind to delay it slightly. I've played a couple of Roguelites (Rl) now but I feel I might need to play at least 2 more. The first will be Sundered

I played Sundered pretty early in my Rl descent and I do not think I gave it as much as a chance as I gave other Rl so I'm thinking of going back in, at least for a couple more plays. After all, at first I thought Risk of Rain 2 was not for me after the first 3 hours and now I love it. So yeah, Sundered is getting another shot... or two.

The second game and the main reason why I've decided to delay this Rl blog is Hades.

What some people have called the pinnacle of Rl and I own it but I have not played it. Now the crazy thing is I enjoy Supergiant games, the people who made Hades. Bastion by them is one of my favorite action rpgs of all time and it had me entranced. However when I recently told myself I would do a Supergiant marathon of their games, I finally launched Transistor by them a game I really wanted to play for the longest and it did not gel with me. At least not like how Bastion did. I also tried their other game Pyre which I did enjoy a lot more and one I am thinking of going back to when my backlog will allow it. So one great, one meh and one okay. I do think Hades is more like Bastion tho but with a Rl feel so I guess we shall see when I try it.

Anyhow with that in mind, Rl blog will now be delayed until we played a couple more Rls. Make sense right?

Also as an update to our Risk of Rain 2 update, we have now unlocked Huntress mastery skin, beaten the DLC boss and have unlocked our last 'true' survivor the Void Fiend. I said 'true' because I have not unlocked the Heretic yet but that is more of a character upgrade then a legit pick-able character. Another danger to these blogs might be me just wanting to talk about RoR 2 non-stop which might happen. Next up through, learning some more new characters like Loader and Acrid.

Mini-Update: More Risk of Rain 2 and Roguelite blog

 Keeping up the my unspoken commitment to myself to blog at least once a week.

I've dived even deeper into Risk of Rain 2 (RoR 2) and now I've gotten even more invested. I'm taking on all the hardest trials, unlocking alternative movesets by completing some individual tasks and even playing the game on its hardest difficulty and looked what I got.

Yep! I've beaten the game on Monsoon (the hardest difficulty) and unlocked the alternative skin for Captain. Mind you, I did not 'beat' the game per se, I obliterated myself at the Obelisk but that counts as a 'Mastery' and a skin unlock. The Captain is now my favorite survivor but I really relate back to Skill Up's RoR 2 review where he said ever character he tried out later on became their favorite once they got the hang of them. Speaking of, tonight I also beat the game for the first time (on drizzle of course) with the Artificer and I must admit I enjoyed using her too. 

I am aiming to give every character a legit try so I have many more playthroughs and tons of extra challenges left. The Loader looks particularly fun to use and the Bandit interests me as well. Also Acrid has been described and playing as the poison Hulk so I know that'll be fun too.

On that note, a much longer RAVE is coming probably be the end of this week, beginning of next where we discuss my new found love for the Roguelike/ Rougelite genre. I've played a couple now and I think I figured which ones I enjoy and which ones I did not.

Also speaking of Roguelike and also Risk of Rain 2 because of my heavy investment in RoR 2 I am now very interested in Hopoo's upcoming Risk of Rain Returns which is a complete remake of their first Risk of Rain with tons of improvements. I might even get into streaming some of my early runs and really get involved in the RoR community.