PIT STOP: Darkest Dungeons II Kingdoms thoughts

The irony is this is 3/4th of the team I actually used

We have just finished 'Secrets of the Coven'; the second of three Kingdoms expansions and I enjoyed the heck out of it. We also have 4 of the 6 new achievements as well so there is that.

This was originally going to be a commentary and my thoughts on it and then I realized I never did one for the first Kingdoms expansion, 'Hunger of the Beastmen'. I was then in two minds whenever to just wait for the third one, the one involving the Crimson Court and go all in or to write about the initial two expansions first. I was still under decided when I started writing this blog lol.

However looking at the release dates for the expansions so far, with 'Hunger...' coming out in January and 'Secrets...' coming out in April, I have a feeling the third and maybe final one will be out before the end of the year so we are going to just wait and do a big RAVE of all three.

Overall, this mode is really fun and the fact that its all free content blows my mind. I would have definitely paid money for a 'season pass' of DD II content. Speaking of; Red Hook is offering a ' Infernal Supporter' pack with special made skins for the heroes and the wagon which I am definitely going to buy when I have the money because 1) I love to support them for all work they have done and 2) it is not egregiously charged at all at only $5 and 3) I mean look at them!

The tiny details are also amazing in how they change not only their looks but their weapons as well.

So yeah; I have also realized I never wrote a RAVE for Darkest Dungeon II so I endeavor to make a much longer RAVE for Darkest Dungeon II and Kingdoms once the final expansion drops and I'll keep posting updates about my achievement journey in this blogs side bar.

AV

Mashing with Monk and Melty Blood

     What a week. Yesterday I was so tired for some reason I could not really get out of bed but today is another day and a different story. As I mentioned, this week has been non-stop since losing that one hour to the final boss Daylight Savings. This boss is so tough, no-one has defeated him and every year they always take an hour from us. Wait, maybe that's why I've been so tired on and off this week? We still got a lot to chat about so lets get to work.

    Even through he came out on Thursday, a lot of this week was focused on getting back into DNF Duel and playing around with the latest DLC character Monk.

    As his trailer and other media since has implied he is a straight up boxer with hands blessed by God. I was able to go through his skills and magic attacks, his basics and most of his combo trials pretty quickly. Being a boxer he has movement options 'Ducking' aka 6S and 'Sway' aka 4S which can be cancelled after neutral into a couple strong dashing attacks with a big portion of them being projectile invincible (cough DLC privileges perhaps cough). He also has a extremely blessed (hah) jumping S called 'Skywinder' which has a amazing hitbox and great for combo extensions too. I bet Monk mains will be abusing the heck out of this one cause it just gets the job done. He also has a very satisfying regular throw which really looks like it hurts. However it is magic attacks that where things get a bit hectic. First he has, an I hate to say it cause the term is so over-used in the FGC, a 'neutral skip' move in the form of M aka 'Big Bang Punch'. This lunging special covers the screen, is projectile invincible and he can chain at the end of certain moves for extra damage. The aerial version is just as amazing and this one is a overhead and can be cancelled into Ducking or Sway on hit. Basically this is Ralf's Diving Punch special in KOF (jumping 236C) which is one of my all time favorite moves lol but you can combo after it. Specifically, you can cancel it into Sway, 'Chopping Hammer' (4M if done normally, 5, M if done within Sway) and this move not only juggles for some crazy damage but you can also do it in neutral and its ARMORED. One of his missions actually encourages you to use it to armor through another attack lol. This move is going to give folks fits I already see it. His other neutral attack from Ducking, 'Demolition Punch' is also great in combo extensions, is projectile invincible and just has Big Dick Energy attached to it. Speaking of BDE, his Awakening Skill 'Execution of Justice: Holy Seat of Lemidios' has a nice build to it and the last blow hits hard. I must say I do enjoy Arc System works when they use the black and white filter for certain attacks like with Bang in Blazblue or Soriz in Granblue that showcase the impact of something.

    On top of all this, his Awakening Effect; One True Justice (aka the buff he gets at less then 30% health) first he gets a buff on the damage he does which is already crazy high and it also allows him to cancel moves into Sway or Ducking on hit or whiff and when I say it can get a bit crazy. Just mucking around I was able to cancel Demolition Punch into itself 3 times for some STUPID damage. Now do I think Mr. Monk (lol just the TV show) is a bit over-tuned? Hell yeah but man is it fun. I might even find out for myself since I actually plan on going online since this probably the best time to find matches in DNF Duel with the release of a new character.

    As anyone who frequents this blog knows, we are DNF Duel supporters here so any excuse to play this game again is welcomed by me but I might be playing it along with UNI2, GranBlue Rising and very soon, Melty Blood: Type Lumina.

    The last big piece of the Anime Fighters puzzle, Melty Blood aka French Bread's other fighter that is not Under Night In-Birth, has always peeked my interest but it was only recently that I decided to do more research and I made a decision since I am going all in for Anime Fighters (AF) I would get into Melty Blood too. The path to it is very wacky tho. First Arc System Works had their yearly publisher sale on Steam as I tempted to pick Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code cause it was cheap, however I was told this by my homie Cinn that this was not the current one so I held out. Seeing the latest version was $50, I decided to hold out and thankfully I did. The second time I was tempted was when I learned about a Playstation sale and the game was 50% off! I, of course wanted the Steam version but that one was not on sale and yes I would be playing it on a system I barely use anymore and do not have Playstation Plus so I would have pay extra if I wanted to go online. 50% off tho was tempting so I decided to even put it in my cart and waited for pay day. Then it happened.

    Yep, another Steam sale, this time the Spring one so I'll be buying this and a couple other games too (my poor wallet). So because of fate and me not getting paid till this weekend, I avoid a massive mistake and actually will get the latest Melty Blood for my preferred platform. Tying this all back to Monk ain't God good? I've also done some seriously Tsukihime research (aka the manga/ light novels Melty Blood is based on) and boy that was a trip but we will talk more about that when we dive deeper into Melty Blood itself.

    With that in mind, 'Learning Anime Fighters' will now have a 4th game but I do not know how long I can stick with all 4 games as 'main' games so I'll make a decision soon which ones to focus on.

AV

    

Worth the Wait?! Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree Thoughts

 As I mentioned in one of my UPDATES, I decided to do my Top 5 Fromsoft games earlier this month (where it got a respectable 3rd place out of 5) and than boom! As if on que, From Software drops the full length Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC trailer. Heck, we can not even call it DLC anymore because at a $40 price point and what we can assume will be all the content Fromsoft will put into it, simply calling it DLC does not seem sufficient. A lot of folks is calling it an expansion and I agree. Speaking of, look at this wonder.

Back in February 2023, almost a full year after Elden Ring's original release date, SOE (Shadow Of the Erdtree of course) was announced on twitter. This was original a big thing because it had taken a full year from Elden Ring was released for them to announce the expansion and normally going by From's previous track record, DLC were announced much quicker. Dark Souls 3 for example had a season pass attached to it which promised the 2 follow up DLCs (Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City respectively). However with SOE, From took time to cook and cook they did. Now almost a full 2 years after the original games release we have the trailer and a release date... June 21st, 2024.

There is so much to unpack in this trailer but the main thing is, Elden Ring is back. All the new attack animations, all the new spells, weapons and new enemies including the named boss Messmer, the Impaler.

Now I am just saying, the last time From Software presented a boss as a key piece of art and they were sitting down, we got Lady Maria from Bloodborne, one of the most popular Fromsoft bosses of all time. I think they might be trying to tell us something with this person too. On top of that, we have been getting little bits of information like, how he might tie into the lore, how big the expansion is going to be and of course the return of toxic swamps which creator Miyazaki seems to have a unhealthy obsession with. One of the things I was excited to see was in the trailer, our player character using some Sekiro/ martial arts moves to take down a new knight foe and it looked sick. If you follow this blog, you know Sekiro is my favorite Fromsoft game so to see some of its DNA in here was a treat for me.

So I just really wanted to get my thoughts out there. This is not a deep dive into the possible lore or characters because much better writers are doing that. I just wanted to talk about how much this is going to mean to me. From Software over the course of a couple years has become the gaming studio I can rely on to not miss and combined it with their track record for putting out some of the best DLCs known to man also gives me much hope. I KNOW this is going to be great and I know it'll be worth the wait. I can not wait to die and die again to this big burning wicker man thing and go damn... From, you did it again.

Hoping more Fire Giant and less Demon of Hatred

All I know is, June 21st onwards we will be dedicated to diving back into Elden Ring and ALL the craziness that follows. This expansion might even push Elden Ring to the top place or second in my all time favorite Fromsoft games.

AV

PIT STOP: I'm in Love: DNF Duel DLC Spectre Overview

 

    Spectre may be favorite girl character in a fighting game since Zafina in Tekken 6 and I do not even main her anymore so my last favorite female character I actually like using is probably KOF '96 Leona. Normally I do not favor female characters in fighting games, the last one that got close was probably Master Raven in Tekken 7 but I passed my love for her onto someone else *wink*. However Spectre has aesthetics for days, wields BIG swords, flies around on a wire like a superhero which she uses in other inventive ways as well. On top of that she is a technical character that requires good execution and just hits like a truck. In a game where I find myself flip flopping whom I wanted to consider a 'main', Spectre has the bean counter tipped in her favor and the cherry on the top, is the fact she yells "disappear/ vanish" in Korean as she does her Awakening. Of course I still love me some Swift Master but co-main? Maybe.

Now she might have already ticked all my boxes before I started using her but now I owned the DLC and gotten used to her playing style and combo structure and I loving her even more. This will be a quick breakdown and she'll of course get the combo trial breakdown treatment like the previous DNF Duel characters I liked.

    One of the things I'll really enjoy about Spectre is her mobility options, one of her signature moves is not an attack but a movement option called 'booze' (you'll soon see all her moves have some reference to drinking lol). This gives her infinite movement options in the air that even Swift Master would be jealous of. The closest video game equal I would say would be Spider-man but Spectre has attacks after dedicating to the forward movement (so up forward, forward or down forward) and the booze wire does not have a hit box like Spidey's web trail did. A lot and when I saw a lot I mean  A LOT of her actions are even jump cancellable or dash cancellable too keeping with her always moving philosophy.

    Some things so far I've noticed through is she is a execution heavy character and you need to be on point to not accidentally do unwanted wall jumps and drop combos because of missed inputs. Her timings are also unique due the nature of her multi-hitting special moves. Also one of her best combo extenders 'Shaker Blast' or 6M can be very fickle and cause unwanted side swaps especially near corners. When primed though, she can does a truck load of damage (breaking my old combo damage limit with almost 820 dmg) and in her Awakening state: Licence, her ability to constantly cancel specials into specials and her spectacular Last Order (just M when Awakened, M after priming with an initial M in normal state). Her projectile requires her to do a small hop back and no DP reversal either which maybe an issue in this aggressive game but we shall see if that really effects me.

    

    She also has some amazing color palates but the one I am riding with is this all white number which I affectionately call 'Umma' which means 'Mother' in Korean but also plays off the fact she looks like Emma Frost from the X-Men. I mean c'mon!!

So yep... this is where we are and we are sticking it out with DNF Duel. I'll probably drop a much smaller overview for the other 2 DLC characters Brawler and Battle Mage but right now its Spectre's world and I'm just living in it.

AV

Risk of Rain News: Festival of Gup is a SUCCESS

 

So we had a little tidbit with the Festival of Gup announcement that today 11/8 on the 10 Anniversary of Risk of Rain, that Hopoo and Gearbox will have some big news for us.

Being a massive Risk of Rain 2 fan and Hopoo fan in general, I eagerly awaited and they blew us all away. Our Risk of Rain journey is not at the end, it is only beginning!!

Lets talk about it (in terms of enthusiasm).

Risk of Rain 2 Survivors of the Void (For Console)- Being a PC player (wow, I never thought I would use that sentence but hear we are) I've been enjoying Survivors of the Void for awhile and as followers of this blog know, my favorite survivor is from the DLC (Rail Gunner baybee) but the console Risk of Rain 2 players have been waiting patiently for this. I am happy for them, honestly. Also it means they can stop spamming Hopoo's social accounts with the same meme over and over again which I am thankful for. They can now really enjoy RoR 2 the way it was always intended.

Risk of Rain: Hostile Worlds- this is the worrying one, whilst its in the RoR universe it is also a mobile game and it is built like a mobile game (aka pay to play and gatcha elements). It is also isometric which neither RoR games are and not produced by Hopoo or Gearbox. However, it does look cool and has the RoR aethetics and an ability it appears to use 3 survivors at once seems like a fun twist on the formula. I am mildly interested about this one and will probably give it a try at least. No release date either.

Risk of Rain Returns- Okay, now we are cooking. The 2D remake of RoR is made with Hopoo and some of the finest modders who understand RoR best. It has an extensive rebalance, 2 new survivors so far (including one I really want to try), new tracks and remastered tracks by Chris Christodolou and it is out today. As a person who never experience the original and when I went to buy it realized the remake was coming and decided to wait, this will be a real treat for me. I must admit it might take a minute to playing RoR in a 2D setting but it seems the bones are still the same and I bet it'll be a blast.

On top of that, each countdown video teased multiple color palates, new shrines, Providence trials to unlock stuff and it got me more and more excited for it so I think I'll will play this one a lot whilst I wait for the final announcement.

Risk of Rain 2: Seekers of the Storm- An official in-universe expansion/ DLC is on its way and we are getting more Risk of Rain 2!! According to the developers, it'll be on par with Survivors of the Void in terms of content and as we know that was a pretty sizable expansion. My jaw was on the floor and the fact that this literally came out of nowhere with the exception of one or two small teases is the best part. This seems in its early stages and its done mostly by Gearbox (not Hopoo) but the Gearbox team also did parts of the Survivors of the Void and that turned out well so any fears it is not a wholly produced Hopoo joint might be unwarranted. They gave a breakdown of the new antagonist and they seem on a similar level as Providence and Mitrix which is exciting as well.

Also with it being done from the ground up by Gearbox, this might be what console gamers have been wanting so it can launch at the same time on all platforms (one can hope). The only bummer is no announcement date but it does have a Wishlist option on Steam which you know we did.

All in all, what a time to be apart of the Hopoo/ Risk of Rain franchise. I will be buying Risk of Rain Returns as soon as I get paid and expect some blogs about that and even more blogs once we hear more about Hostile Worlds and Seekers of the Storm. A festival and a celebration indeed!

A-V