Victory: Grand Slam COMPLETED (Darkest Dungeon II)

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Darkest Dungeon, both games have gotten pretty extensive coverage on my blog. The above achievement is one of the most elusive achievements for Darkest Dungeon II that I have ever attempted and I can proudly say, last night I did it.

I called in a lot of help but the main thing is I defeated all 5 of the major bosses (or as they are known in-game, the Confessional bosses) and the funniest part is it was not with the team I was attempting with it the most. That team was a Plague focused backline hitting team of Plague Doctor/ Occultist/ Flagellant/ Man-at-Arms squad but a lot of time this team would fall apart due to either Occultist notorious low health or us running into death a lot because of Flagellant. Some of these failures was talked about in my previous blog series featuring Darkest Dungeon II last year. It became so hard and made me feel so downtrodden that I stopped attempting the Grand Slam and I started playing other games. I rarely give up on something I dedicated this much time too (63 hrs since picking it back up 2 weeks ago) but at the same time, it felt impossible.

Fast forward to 2025, with the DD II 'Kingdoms' expansion and the 'Inhuman Bondage' DLC coming out I knew I wanted to get back into DDII eventually and got back into it I did, 'Kingdoms' itself was a very unique experience and finally completing that campaign even on the 'easiest' difficulty was some hard work but me and my heroes got it done (I think after I complete my second Kingdoms' run I'll write a full blog about that too). One of the biggest take-aways from Kingdoms is it is hard to keep running your favorite team because of the 'Fatigue' mechanic and basically Fatigue means if you keep using the same heroes they eventually lose up to 50% of their health if you push them too hard. Because of this I started experimenting with some new different team compositions that was not my team above. It was during this experimenting phase I finally found a team that did everything I needed and more. So with a little fanfare, let me introduce you to 'Holy Fyre' the Squad that helped me finally obtain the Grand Slam trophy.

Bringing up the rear is my trusty Vestal who I named Kassie.

Every squad needs a healer and whilst Vestal is not as strong in that department as she was in Darkest Dungeon, she is still gets the job done. Surprisingly what was previously my favorite path Seraph was not what I needed. I came to find the Confessor path was much better since her re-work. Sure, she could still heal when called upon but the 'Mantra' skill change meant I could finally get rid of de-buffs and her 'Illumination' could get rid of buffs on my enemies, especially annoying ones like Riposte and Dodge. Top that off with a hit anywhere skill like 'Judgement' that does good damage as well as stuns at higher levels of power helped me hit annoying rank 4 enemies pretty hard which is definitely a much needed skill in this game. Since her re-work, Vestal no longer feels like an after-thought like she did when the game first came out which is awesome because I feel she was unjustly nerfed too hard mainly because she was such a popular character (due to healing spam) in the original DD.

Holding it down for the third rank is my favorite character, the Occultist, whom I named Eli.

As stated above, the Occultist is my favorite character in Darkest Dungeon II and in running for my favorite character in the original as well (going toe to toe with Shieldbreaker) so you know I wanted him in a team that was going to obtain the Grand Slam. I didn't play around with his classes tho and went with Warlock like I usually go for and just did what I always did. Slam folks in the back rank with 'Abyssal Artillery', pulled folks closer and put a combo token on them for my front rank people to exploit with 'Daemon Pull' and of course, drop a bomb on them when possible with 'The Burning Stars'. Much like Vestal, Occultist being such a flexible support unit is what made him work in this team. However the MVP is surprisingly going to someone else. 

As mentioned, the MVP of 'Holy Fyre' is none other than Runaway, whom I named Jasper

Now I will not front. I did not know about Runaway's true potential until I was deep into Kingdoms. After a pretty steep learning curve when I tried her originally I did not like her. I did not like that despite being a 'fire' based character she was still vulnerable to fire like everyone else, her skills were counterproductive in the Sprawl aka where everyone is basically immune to fire damage and I did not like how she had to dance when she attacked. Then, I discovered 'Smokescreen' and everything changed. Smokescreen being a move you can use at any rank and it can hit ranks 1 to 3 on the enemy and inflict blind, vulnerable and combo? Blind being a key component in winning runs and avoiding damage since stuns were made into a 2 part process instead of instantly like in Darkest Dungeon? Smokescreen was also amazing because of how it works on so many enemies, even bosses. 'Ransack' was also a less effective version of 'Daemon's Pull' but it got the job done in getting enemies away from the back ranks and 'Cauterize' healing bleeding folks came in useful too. Finally her last key component was her role as the set up for my front line, with 'Smokescreen' as mentioned but her 'Firefly' cause combo and put burn on folks which my # 1 rank loved to exploit. Speaking of...

Finishing out the squad and my all rounder is my Crusader, whom I keep as his default name, Reynauld. I actually think his default name suits him so we ran with it.

I never knew until I did more research just how much Runaway and Crusader have so much synergy. Much like how Jester and Vestal formed Jestal in the original Darkest Dungeon, I feel Cruaway is a perfect pairing. I choose the Aggressor path which specializes in holy fire and low-key inspired the name for the squad. Of course, he is also our main stress healer and could pitch in with some healing when needed. In later runs when I realized he could be pushed into rank 3 by Runaway's dancing, I got to use my favorite skill of his 'Holy Lance' to get back to front and slam opponents as well but his main call to fame was 2 specific skills. 'Stunning Blow' took full advantage of the combo placed on enemies by Runaway and Occultist and put them to sleep and I found a lot of use for his 'Reap' skill which by-passed many enemies annoying death armor if they were on fire which Runaway supplied in spades and sometimes I was able to kill 2 enemies at once. Crusader was really the missing piece of this puzzle and because of how well he exploited the burn status that all 3 other members of the squad put on enemies they were truly a unstoppable team. Also I killed 2 birds with one stone (much like Reap does) and I got the Battle Hardened achievement too which requires you to apply 5 memories onto the Crusader and that was easy since we were doing the Grand Slam anyway.

There you have it, 'Holy Fyre' the team that helped me perform the impossible.

Grand Slam COMPLETED.

AV

P.S It goes without saying the narration of Darkest Dungeon I and II really helps enhance the experience and one of the reasons I love playing it with my sound turned up and not play background music like I normally do. The man who provided the narration, Wayne June is such a important part of the atmosphere of Darkest Dungeon series that it is sad to say we as a fanbase lost him on January 2025. I just wanted to acknowledge the sadness we all share and thank him for his contributions. It goes without saying, the DD games won't be the same without him. 

Rest In Peace Mr. June.

Week 3 of Darkest Dungeon II: Deja Coup

     Welcome to Week 3 of Dungeon Diving; our ongoing exploration of Darkest Dungeon II. This blog is written chronologically and basic summarizes my thoughts and experiences as I play Darkest Dungeon II. Now I know this is going up on Thursday but I have come to realize my Wednesday are actually pretty busy mainly due to Bible Study which I attend every Wednesday. However Bible Study is taking a break as of this Wednesday so I might have more time now however that might be up in the air as well. More about that in the WHAT'S NEW section at the end. On that note, let's Dive.

Wednesday

- Started off a new week with a pretty good runs however they both feel apart near the end against Leviathan and then hitting a Oblivion Ingress into the Collector.

- Collector is such a rough fight without an back-end damage dealers (Future Phil: This will become a re-occurring theme of this week)

- Re-reading my previous blog I realized that I had Occultist as my Number 4 position and that makes so much more sense.

- Daemon Pull is so in-disposable.

- Since the deck is always stacked against you I have taken to quitting and restarting when I use Inn items that are supposed to get rid of quirks and they do not do it. Like 67% and I can't get rid of Anemic. C'mon game.

- At first I was annoyed they re-purposed the Cannon boss from Darkest Dungeon as a random encounter boss. However I realize it thankfully is nowhere near as tough as it was in DD and most of the time you get a cool item when you beat it that strengthens your stage wagon.

- Whilst he is a cool character, Leper really sucks if he gets moved out of position 1 or 2. He already has the built in weakness of being blind 80% of the time and he has no way to big damage to the back-end. If he could at least move forward 2 spaces (something he was able to do in DD) it would be so much better if he is pushed out of position 1 or 2.

Thursday

- I think it might be time to make a change, team Power Creep (the MVP team of my last blog) just is struggling a lot. Either that or I might change the time positions.

- New team has a built in name, Deja Coup (hence the name of this blog). Also it is nice to bring back the ol' Jestal team aka Jester/ Vestal. Deja Coup is made up of Vestal/Jester/Duelist/Man-at-Arms

- This team is built to deal with stress it appears, they did not struggle at all with it and I think it is mainly due to Jester.

- Team was doing good until we made the mistake of taking on the Shambler and MaA died. 3 on 4 for area's final node was too hard. Pretty much made a rule if I lose a character I will just abandon the run.

- Beginning to notice a annoying trend, the final area always have tons of road hazards and most of the time I find myself getting ambushed at the worst time.

- Resentment boss seems much more do-able now. Lost Jester but we able to beat it.

- I must admit when Deja Coup work, they work well. It really is a testament that all characters work so well together, well with the exception of Leper.

- Denial is much more beat-able with any team as long as we stock some debuffing items for the back-end. Also note to stock a lot of holy water to get rid of all the debuffs it puts on me.

- The Profane Scroll wants you to run a front row Vestal... haha... no.

Friday

- Understand speed and being able to move before the enemy is super important especially when it comes to using items.

- Getting ambushed by the Antiquarian and being able to smack her around the globe was a good feeling. Like call an ambulance but not for me!

We used to be friends... a long time ago.

- Realizing Duelist potential is really nice especially her dying so much on me in the early days using her.

- After a nearly flawless run Deja Coup falls apart against Resentment due to... you guess, lack of back-row damage. I must have got lucky in a previous run because it felt inflating it's front 'lung' which was much easier to hit but  this time it was mainly the harder to reach back one.

- Really need to think out my routes better, sure pleasing the squad is good and all but running a Stress Relieving team means I can get rid of small ticks of stress much easier. Saying this because following their 'requests' keeps leading me down hazard roads and Cannon ambushes yay *sarcasm*.

- Starting to notice a weird trend, everything I try a new team they do well for a couple runs but subsequent runs things fall apart a lot faster. Weird that.

- Vestal is a key component of Deja Coup, not only is she the healer of the team she is also our main consistent back-row damage dealer. A lot of folks say she was nerfed and she is no longer brain damage hit heal every turn character now she is much more nuance and about setting up consecrations.

- Going back to a previous post, I am required to kill the boss of this area and characters are telling me to go a separate patch. Trolling I tell you.

- After a good run with so many close calls we lose Duelist simply because we forgot to equip MaA with his 'Bellow' ability to hit the back row of the Sleeping General lair boss. SMH.

- I must say, previous DD was fixated on killing you with Stress and Heart Attacks, DD II is more everyone does a million Damage Over Time (DOT) effects every attack. Going to try running a Resistant (RES) stage wagon build to counter it.

- I feel the run after losing to DOT is a apology run aka a run where the game just throw good items at you. I already have 4 pieces of Road Gear for my anti-DOT station wagon.

- Realizing that Combat Items are basically free attacks and not just healing is changing my game approach a lot.

- Apology run is going well. Time to stock up on my own DOT items for the final boss.

- Wow. Despite having a amazing run up till the boss, we barely win with only MaA surviving. Going to change his name to MVP.

- I did not re-equip Duelist's Coup De Grace for her back-row damage so it was on me.

Saturday

-  Also worthwhile  noting that my anti-DOT team still had good/ great relationships at the end.

- I do enjoy a good Daemon Pull as mentioned above. Clearing bodies whilst getting the enemy in front of the front line damage dealers with Combo status? Chef Kiss.

- After a particularly bad run that ended with a Warlock ambush I think I am done for today. Going to play some anime fighters instead.

Sunday

- I am a private person so I will not go too much into it but today was a really sad day for me. Definitely a break night.

Monday

- The Grand Slam achievement requires you to beat all the confessional bosses without losing anyone. It really is one of the hardest things to pull off for sure.

- Nothing beats turning around tons of negative affinities to positives one.

- Still trying to get the Grand Slam, I have been quitting as soon as I lost a character. I really do not like replacing characters at the Inn because they always come in with no affinities and seem to have bad traits off the bat.

- Was hesitating pulling the trigger on completing the Altar of Hope but now I see you can use excess candles to either try to either pull good items before a run (rarely happens) or re-roll quirks. Pretty good because some quirks are game breaking aka Head Injury (50% chance of being Dazed) or the Yips (15% of being Blinded).

- New squad is 'Pulling Flames' with Occ/Due/Run/Lep with Duelist using the Instructice class. Trying something different with her.

Tuesday

- Had the most insane run, arrived at Act 1 boss and instantly got hammered by DOT and more and everyone was on Death's Door by Round 3. However we also inflicted tons of DOT on the boss and somehow we still won and not just won, everyone survived! A insane moment which I wished I recorded.

- After this epic win, I proceed into the game without equipping my winning team with memories. Realizing I missed up I quit before reaching the Inn and I lost everyone. After this hard earned win I messed up big time. I am such a dummy.

- 'Monarch' class Leper is supposed to do big damage against Cosmic foes and they appear a lot in the game so I thought this was a great idea, however his regular damage blows and he still has all Leper's normal flaws. Unless they buff this class in the next update, I do not think I will ever use it again.

- Pulling Flames is losing points for me. Struggle bus and all the seats are filled. Giving it one more try before moving on.

- Yeah this team lacks a lot. Occultist tries to heal Leper and instead bleeds him and he dies. I need a more consistent healer? Maybe Plague Doctor? Besides I do not need Daemon Pull if Plague Doctor can clear bodies and Runaway can put Combo tokens for Leper.

- Yep. P.D was the missing link. Being able to heal multiple DOTs is invaluable as well.

- Stress seems to be this teams biggest weakness. Anti-stress stage wagon?

- Team was doing great until we reached the boss. DOTs do not harm the back lungs so the Seething Sigh boss just keeps wiping us out. I need to re-think my teams to include someone like Highway Man, Crusader or Grave Robber who can actually hit the back row.

WHAT'S NEXT

    Another week, another blog. However as I mentioned in my Sunday entry, my family has had a pretty bad tragedy and I might be taking some time off from writing this blog. I might come back next week but do not be surprised if we do not have a blog next week because I will be pretty busy with family obligations. 

    I am still playing Darkest Dungeon II tho so I will eventually return to this. Till next time.

AV

Week 2 of Darkest Dungeon II: Power Creep

     Welcome to Week 2 of Darkest Dungeon II or as we are going to call it, 'Dungeon Diving'. This will be an ongoing blog discussing our experience with the game. It is presented chronologically and normally updated every Wednesday. Now I said normally because Wednesday has come and gone and yes, I do know today is Friday lol.

    It was a pretty busy week so I am only now getting around to writing this blog. This will discuss my experience with the game up until the Wednesday. We are now deep in the game so this will be much more extensive than the previous one. With the house keeping out of the way. Let's Dive.

Wednesday

- Was pretty busy today ( which might be a re-occurring theme lol in hindsight) but I was able to squeeze in some late night gaming.

- Decided to try out Duelist, the new character introduced in Darkest Dungeon II specially the DLC update 'The Binding Blade'. She reminds me of Shield Breaker in design with how she moves back and forward.

- I do have slight beef that beating the game with a character allows you to add 'memories' which are persistent character buffs and also the traits the characters picked up in their previous run but you do not keep any of the relics/ items you obtained. I know it is probably balanced so you need to start over but obtaining a really cool item and having to start over again to get it again is a pain.

- Turns out Plague Doctor/ Grave Robber/ Duelist/ Highway Man has some sauce. They steam rolled the Denial boss with no issues, funny enough I was actually going to retire earlier in the same run because they were all not fans of each other and relationships are important in DD II.

- Rage Quitted on the Foetor boss, 'Harvest Child'. I was stuck in a loop where everyone was constant eating and tanking all my character relations.

- Ambushed by the Antiquarian. Funny how they made her into a mini-boss in this one after being the best way to farm for resources in the original. Thankfully she is not that hard and once you kill her bodyguards she became red paste.

Thursday

- Had a pretty awful run where I had to fight the lair boss and I was sent down a path with multiple road hazards. Ended up getting ambushed and than the fire breathing minions keep pelting me and watched as every member succumbed to it.

- Need a break after that B.S

- The B.S ramped up for the subsequent run too specifically on the final node before the Inn. First my Duelist gets one shotted when One Shot Protection aka Death's Door should exist. Then it was just my Man of Arms and he kept missing not only his attack which would have healed him but also would have killed the Cosmic Evangelist. I just wanted to get to the Inn and I would have cashed out but nope.

- This team of Vestal/ Crusader/ Duelist/ Man of Arms is fun but sometimes it is a struggle.

- Duelist being made of paper is the real issue here, even with health buffs and trinkets she gets sneezed on and she is at half health.

Friday

- Team 'Locked On' aka Occultist/ Crusader/ Highway Man/ Man at Arms is cooking now. Defeated the Denial without an issue.

- Break Night. I occasionally like to take a night off from gaming as anyone who followed my 'Learning AF' know. Just rested tonight and did not play much at all.

Saturday

- Saturdays are a mixed bag for me. Either a lot happens or nothing happens at all. This was a nothing happened at all one.

Sunday

- I skipped my normal Sunday afternoon nap to get wrecked by the second confessional boss 'Resentment'. It was a decent run until we lost my Occultist and had to replace him with a 'rookie' Plague Doctor. Occultist really was the engine and without him it was a struggle.

Monday

- Getting frustrated now, started a new run and my first encounter was the now infamous Warlord mini-boss. My team was super weak with no good equipment and we got destroyed.

- I think it is because we are constantly trying to clear the second confessional boss because the game is much harder now. Having a lot more bad runs compared to good ones.

- Thinking part of the frustration is me trying to use Locked On no matter what. Think I might do some experimenting with some other teams/ combos.

- Occultist/ Crusade/ Duelist/ Leaper is not working. Crusader wants to use Holy Lance from rank 3 but when he does that combined with Duelist moving forward as well Leaper ends up in Rank 3 with nothing to do. Wasting a move on just getting into position without buffing or hurting the opposing team is not a good strat.

- Thinking of re-visting this team with Man at Arms instead. MaA can at least get from the back ranks to the front with his Hold the Line skill

- Just realized, have I been calling him Man of Arms/ MoA instead of his proper name which is Man At Arms in previous blogs. My bad. I'll try to use MaA going forward.

- Wiped out in the third act again due to Duelist's health. I am okay with it because this team felt really frustrating to play with.

- Switching to MaA was the best idea, he fits so much better in this team. Occultist/ Leaper is still a great team but they need a stable 2 and 3 position to work and not dancers aka character whom like to move back and forward a lot.

- Prime dancer characters are Jester, Highway Man, Grave Robber and now the Duelist.

- LOL we need to talk about the prizes some of these Lair bosses give out, The Lair boss gave out the book for the Tangle which I was currently already in, why would I need a book for a area I am already in and can not use?

- Also speaking of loot, some of the character specific trinkets draw-backs are so bad I rather use strong no character trinkets instead. The MaA trinket I keep getting asks him to be rank 2 instead of 1 which he never is and if he is at 1 he gets punished for it.

This Trinket is Booty.

- Okay, so it appears you can go back to areas you have already beaten? I guess that was the point of getting a Tangle book within the Tangle.

Tuesday

- Thinking my new team, 'Power Creep' nicknamed after the term people use when new DLC characters replaced previous characters by doing what they do but better might be the one. Occultist/ Crusade/ Duelist/ MaA made short work of the Leviathan lair boss. Most of the times we walk away from boss battles barely alive but this was dominance, pure and simple.

- 'Power Creep' did it. We finally dusted the Obsessions confession boss on our second try. Looked up a strat that told me to stack all the debuffs on MaA to tank it and boss folded. 2 more confessional bosses to go.

- Hah, as our narrator loves to remind us, overconfidence is most insidious killer. We tried to keep going and felt we could take on Chirurgeon mini-boss in a Ambition run and whole team is quickly wiped out cause we were under-levelled. Back to start I guess.

- I do like how certain 'Quirks' make more sense in DD II, DD had some really annoying ones which also made no sense and removed so much player agency.

- DD II has kept Darkest Dungeon tradition of focusing on a poor character when they are already falling apart. Combined that with a no health Duelist and well, game over man, game over.

WHAT'S NEXT

    So again apologies for the lateness of this blog, I will try to keep it most consistent like how I did with my 'Learning AF'. Also I know I keep promising an impressions blog about DD II but I am too busy playing it so its hard to crave out the time I can to write it. At this point we might be just putting it all into Darkest Dungeon II eventual RAVE (which I know I'll give it one).

    Next blog we will explore more specifically with my brand new team which I've really enjoy using and finding the missing piece of the puzzle I needed to use the Duelist the way I want to use her. Spoiler: she is a amped up Crusader spamming Holy Lance lol. Till then.

AV

    

Week 1 of Darkest Dungeon II: Burn Bright

     Welcome to Dungeon Diving! Our ongoing blog about our Darkest Dungeon II. Similar to the style I employed for my Learning Anime Fighters, this will be a chronological 'diary' of my thoughts whilst playing the game. I will have a much longer and detailed impressions videos later this week but right now we will be talking about mostly my gut reactions whilst playing the game. This blog is designed to be ongoing and I will update it every Wednesday.

Wednesday

- I finally got Runaway's first memory unlocked. I have been playing this game for at least 3-4 days now and every time I tried to unlock her memory to get more of her skills and I kept failing. I even had to look up a video online to get an idea on how to beat it, it was that annoying.

- Fortunately Runaway's default skill set is actually pretty good and I got pretty far with just using that. As the brand new character to the Darkest Dungeon franchise I like what she brings to the table.

- I was playing this game originally with a controller which is possible but I have defaulted back to Mouse and Keyboard (M&K). There is just so many menus to navigate and constant need to figure our what moves do what and how this token affects me that doing it with a controller just wasn't doing it for me. I exclusively playing the original DD with M&K as well so that makes sense.

- Damn. I thought had a good team and everyone had good relationships and then I got destroyed by the Denial boss. I really thought I was onto something too.

Thursday

- Okay, I've found a better team lol.

- Got to the second boss, Resentment. I was focusing on it's core but it turns out its 'lungs' should be the focus. Good to know.

- Realizing I do not need to fix my wagon for the final run up to the mountain is saving me time and currency. I can focus on getting a final item instead.

- All the lair bosses aka the big bads of the region have some nasty tricks to ruin your run. I thought the easiest one was the one in the Foetor and even that thing has teeth.

Friday

- I wish there was a way to sell unwanted items, so many times I'll be a couple currency short at the Hoarder/ Hospital but I have tons of items I would love to get rid of. Just throwing stuff away is so wasteful. Sure this is a hold-over from DD but man I wished they consider changing it.

- I have beaten the first boss Denial so many times now, the second boss, Resentment however? Not so much. It feels doable tho.

Saturday

- I think I've found my go to team. It is Occultist/ Highway Man (HWM)/ Grave Robber/ Man of Arms (MoA). I have taken to calling them 'Target Locked'

Sunday

- Looking at my Darkest Dungeon wallpaper for the original game and I realize I do miss some of the original classes. Surprisingly the character I miss the most is the Arbalest/ Musketeer. DD 2 has so many annoying backline enemies which are hard to reach with most of the cast.

- Thank goodness Occultist has his 'Daemon Pull' skill which brings them close to the front ranks. When I have teams with out him I actually miss that ability so much.

- I finally beat Resentment with team 'Target Locked' I was right, focus on the lungs, interchanging with attacks on its core. Did not even lose a squad member.

- Having the same team get wiped out on the first boss in a Obsession run is very humbling tho lol.

Monday

- Tried to take down the Shambler mini-boss with Target Locked and lost the whole team except Man of Arms. Tried to complete the objectives to at least get some extra candles and the next area is another alter to Shambler and this time I can't reject fighting it. WTF man.

- This game is so addictive. I constantly tell myself I am going to play something else but I keep coming back.

- Yoooo you can get rid of positive traits at the hospital too? LOL I forgot that was a thing.

Tuesday

- Getting jumped by the Collector mini-boss after a long lair boss fight is dirty pool Red Hook. I need you guys to know that.

- Okay, did I accidentally turn on hard mode? New run, first boss is the Warlord mini-boss and my time is not strong enough for that. This is some b-s.

- Occultist 'Anamnesis' skill might not be worth it. You need two 'Unchecked Power' tokens and be in position 1 or 2. This might work for front row Occultist but who runs that combo?

- 'Obsession' is tough as well and it has 2 stages. I was having a great run and even took down Fanatics' pretty easily. Also it appears on later runs you have to fight more back to back battles to get to the boss.

WHAT'S NEXT

    So on that note, we are done with our first Darkest Dungeon II ongoing blog. I think we will be here for awhile because right now we are loving DD II. I have other team combos to try, other characters to learn and at least 3 more major bosses to conquer.

    Also we still have the upcoming Kingdom update still coming soon as well. Check back in next Wednesday for another installment of 'Dungeon Diving'.

    AV

He Rises... Again

 

Iratus: Lord of the Dead RAVE coming soon.

AV

Fire On High: Remnant 2 Initial Impressions

As promised, we are now beginning our Remnant 2 coverage. When this game was initial annouced I was super hyped for it. It was probably the game I've been looking forward to the most this year and also a rare game when I actually bought it for full price instead of waiting for a 'Complete' edition or when it was on sale. Nope, I wanted to play Remnant 2 as soon as it was released. A lot of this stems from the fact I got the original (Remnant: From the Ashes) for free thanks to Playstation Plus but I had such a fun time playing with my fellow 7B homies Mr. J and Blythe that we all brought the DLC and played that together as well. It is rare for a game to capture all of our attention that is not a fighting game. After multiple playthroughs, we all moved on but the memory remained and when Remnant 2 was announced I announced this was going to be a day one title and Mr. J was down as well. Blythe said he'll play catch-up but he will eventually join us too. 

So the wanting game begun and I watched all the content Gunfire Games produced for the game. From trailers showing off the worlds we would be exploring to the classes aka Archetypes that were available. Ironically I think I changed which Archetype would be starting one a couple times but it was the last one revealed that sealed the deal for me. I was going to be a 'Hunter'.

The Hunter is a sharpshooter/ sniper class which caught my eye (mainly because I played too much Railgunner in Risk of Rain 2 and wanted that playstyle again). The Handler with their dog also appealed to me but when I found out you could use dual archetypes I knew I would pair the two. Now after 45 hrs so far, I've become comfortable with my choice but the fun in Remnant 2 is you are not locked into your initial Archetype and you can change it anytime. In all honesty, I feel I might switch out the Handler class for the Gunslinger as soon as I unlocked it because A) gunslingers are cool and always have a big appeal to me and B) I kind of not like watching my doggo get hurt and C) and He seems to not help as much as I hope against bosses. 

 However to get to the fun, we had to do some stuff so I need to talk about my initial problems. First, this game really pushes my Steam Deck to the limit and it sometimes struggle to stay at 30 fps even on low settings. Graphic fidelity suffers a bit too, when I initially started with no changing of settings the game looked very rough and ran worse, however after change some settings it became much better. Now it is nothing that's going to stop me from playing it but yeah, it can be rough sometimes even with optimized settings. I, however heard the game has trouble running smoothly even on the best computer rigs so it might not even by Steam Deck related and might be down to optimization. 'Lies of P' can run at very high frame rates (sometimes above 40) and feels much smoother on the Steam Deck for example. It is heartening to hear through that Gunfire Games will be working on the performance for all rigs through so this experience might improve as time goes on. 

 My second moment of doubt of my day one purchase was a rather strange input bug that seemed to disable my healing and turned it into another melee attack. This was super strange and was very frustrating because I was now playing a Souls-like game without a healing function. This input bug strangely seemed to only affect me so I eventually had to find a solution so I could play the game with the controller instead of being forced to use the built-in Steam Deck controls, mind you, the SD does have good controls it just rather awkward to hold for long play sessions. Honestly I've never used my built-in SD controls for any action game so I did not want to start with this one, especially one I had been really looking forward to playing. I however figured out that if I switched the heal for a similar button it would work as intended so now I heal with Right Bumper instead of Left Bumper and I've gotten used to it. 

 However after conquering fuzzy graphics, less then optimum frames and weird input bugs on my controller I've really got into Remnant 2 and now I'm playing it non-stop. Me and Mr. J even revisited our From the Ashes days and did some co-op as well which was very fun. The game itself is amazing and running around and shooting and rolling past dangerous attacks and the wealth of weapons, items and secrets (THE SECRETS!!) are a hard pull and I no longer regret getting in on ground floor. Some of these bosses tho, that is another story, which we may talk about in a subsequent blog.

For now, I'm enjoying the ride and ready for some more Remnant 2! 

 AV