Code Vein

Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
15,721
14,447
Rajaah Rajaah

I'd say 25 hours to finish is more or less correct. I can never tell b/c of my habit of walking away from a game and leaving it idle for conference calls. A lot of the reviews had people complaining about getting hung up on the Cathedral level. My experience there was that it was my favorite level b/c it was more reminiscent of a Souls stage. And it was also easy to get through and manage b/c of the built-in learning from previous games.

The other levels range from dystopian cities, various caves, and a snow level... mostly.

The game is interesting from the "recover memories" and start building the backstory and figure out what is going on in the world and how your characters fit in to that fabric. The unlocking of memories and experiencing the flashback stuff was cool from a story perspective but it also directly takes you out of direct gameplay. And there's a lot of it if you want to unlock all your companion's memories. Doing so unlocks abilities for your "equipment." So it isn't just a waste of time.

Gameplay just mostly fell flat to me. Could have been because I used Polearm the whole game, I don't know. Juggling multiple codes, weapons, Gifts (magic) and everything just seemed cumbersome and unnecessary since most of the bosses were easy and not interesting. Pretty sure I 1-2 shot most everything except one of the side dungeons.

For $15 and 25-30 hours it was fine. Just wasn't a great as it could have been or I wanted it to be. So maybe that is a problem with expectations.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Intrinsic said:
Rajaah Rajaah

I'd say 25 hours to finish is more or less correct. I can never tell b/c of my habit of walking away from a game and leaving it idle for conference calls. A lot of the reviews had people complaining about getting hung up on the Cathedral level. My experience there was that it was my favorite level b/c it was more reminiscent of a Souls stage. And it was also easy to get through and manage b/c of the built-in learning from previous games.

The other levels range from dystopian cities, various caves, and a snow level... mostly.

The game is interesting from the "recover memories" and start building the backstory and figure out what is going on in the world and how your characters fit in to that fabric. The unlocking of memories and experiencing the flashback stuff was cool from a story perspective but it also directly takes you out of direct gameplay. And there's a lot of it if you want to unlock all your companion's memories. Doing so unlocks abilities for your "equipment." So it isn't just a waste of time.

Gameplay just mostly fell flat to me. Could have been because I used Polearm the whole game, I don't know. Juggling multiple codes, weapons, Gifts (magic) and everything just seemed cumbersome and unnecessary since most of the bosses were easy and not interesting. Pretty sure I 1-2 shot most everything except one of the side dungeons.

For $15 and 25-30 hours it was fine. Just wasn't a great as it could have been or I wanted it to be. So maybe that is a problem with expectations.
Click to expand...

I also keep games on pause a large portion of the time for various reasons and it's one big reason why I'd probably never try to do a game stream.

Sounds like I just need to temper expectations with this one. I like some of the level themes.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Finally got into this. Wow, this is totally a Souls game, from the world design to the combat to the button mapping...mostly. I had to move the attacks to R1/R2.

You can really see the difference between a Soulsborne game made by From and one made by a different dev, but I think these devs got about as close as they could. It's also much easier to make your character a babe than it is in From's Soulsborne games:

20211014_212804.jpg


I like that one of the outfits is Literally A Towel:

20211014_213814.jpg


Not the biggest anime fan but I don't mind that visual style either.

Going through this at a slow careful pace and have yet to take a death. Playing it exactly like I'd play a Souls, and it's definitely easier than that, so I'm probably overdoing it. I like that there are no difficulty levels in this game so I can't be tempted to turn it down to Easy and have a cakewalk. Keeps me a lot more involved.

Is the $25 season pass worth it for the 3 DLCs and whatever else? I'll probably wait and assess that after the main game is over.
 
Last edited:
Hatorade

Hatorade

A nice asshole.
8,684
7,600
Rajaah said:
Finally got into this. Wow, this is totally a Souls game, from the world design to the combat to the button mapping...mostly. I had to move the attacks to R1/R2.

You can really see the difference between a Soulsborne game made by From and one made by a different dev, but I think these devs got about as close as they could. It's also much easier to make your character a babe than it is in From's Soulsborne games:

View attachment 377329

I like that one of the outfits is Literally A Towel:

View attachment 377330

Not the biggest anime fan but I don't mind that visual style either.

Going through this at a slow careful pace and have yet to take a death. Playing it exactly like I'd play a Souls, and it's definitely easier than that, so I'm probably overdoing it. I like that there are no difficulty levels in this game so I can't be tempted to turn it down to Easy and have a cakewalk. Keeps me a lot more involved.

Is the $25 season pass worth it for the 3 DLCs and whatever else? I'll probably wait and assess that after the main game is over.
Click to expand...
No, the DLC at least at launch was a lazy mess. Enjoy the base game and call it there.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Am I right that you can't choose what to level up in this game? I can only do a generic level up with my souls when I go to a not-bonfire. No speccing? Half the fun of Souls for me is trying different builds, or figuring out what kind of character I want and gearing things in that direction.

At least my CV character is 400x hotter than anything I could make in Bloodborne.
 
D

Droigan

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,632
1,357
Rajaah said:
Am I right that you can't choose what to level up in this game? I can only do a generic level up with my souls when I go to a not-bonfire. No speccing? Half the fun of Souls for me is trying different builds, or figuring out what kind of character I want and gearing things in that direction.

At least my CV character is 400x hotter than anything I could make in Bloodborne.
Click to expand...

Haven't played it since launch, but from what I recall your "build" isn't tied to the base level, but rather what weapons you use, what blood veil you equip then the blood codes which add different abilities. You unlock more blood codes as you level up and find them in the world.

Not sure if it entirely like this, but think you find blood code A, B, C and/or D in the world, then you can talk to the girl in your base to unlock them. Once you find and unlock all the ones in a set, you get that "code" which has abilities you can level up using "souls" instead of leveling up your main level. Fairly sure they used the same souls?

Once they are unlocked, you can swap at will, and also believe you can swap skills around from different codes. So easier to try different things as you don't need to respec your entire char and abilities. You just swap out to try different combinations or level up new ones.
 
Last edited:
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
15,721
14,447
Yeah you can change everything around at will on a whim with no penalty. Once you collect enough of those fragments go back to your base and unlock whatever version you have all the prerequisites for by watching the memory. It was actually a cool part of the game and seeing each characters arc through them. Although load times and waiting for the dialogue and bridges/paths to move through them was somewhat tedious.

You can also “master” those skills and swap them around. One thing I didn’t realize until later was that you can upgrade them as well with one of the buttons. Somehow I missed that until like 50% through the thing. Not that it ever mattered really since the difficulty wasn’t high.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Hitting this pretty hard now that Dread is done and Far Cry 6 fell apart. I really like this game. It's surprisingly complex but not too difficult compared to Nioh or Souls.

Main thing I don't like is that I can't seem to unequip armor, so my hot lady character has been running around wearing some dude's giant jacket. Also, being stuck wearing a gas mask isn't optimal, and reminds me of how the Souls games usually instantly ugg up your character after you finish creating them.

Other than not being able to unequip stuff, the game is fine. Very Japanese in a good way (lots of femininity). The setting is cool and reminds me of the better Devil May Cry games. Got the Sunset Sword early and I've been going to town with that.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Just beat Argent Wolf Berserker. How far along am I, 50%? Been playing this in short doses for weeks but now I'm trying to beeline for the end.

Got the Zweihander and beefed it up to +6 and Fortified so it has 100% physical damage block. In Atlas form I basically turtle up and then unleash double-damage charged hits.

It's a fun game but it feels very much like a fanmade Dark Souls made in RPG Maker or something. For what it is I'm liking it quite a bit, just have other things to get to this week. Weds through Sunday off.
 
Phazael

Phazael

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard
<Gold Donor>
15,054
32,894
My biggest complaint with the game is there were some pretty big missable things that there was little to no clue on, unless you were playing with a guide. Found out after I beat it, but did not feel like going back and replaying it again. But yeah the big swords and spears are where it is at in this game.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
15,721
14,447
Rajaah said:
Just beat Argent Wolf Berserker. How far along am I, 50%? Been playing this in short doses for weeks but now I'm trying to beeline for the end.

Got the Zweihander and beefed it up to +6 and Fortified so it has 100% physical damage block. In Atlas form I basically turtle up and then unleash double-damage charged hits.

It's a fun game but it feels very much like a fanmade Dark Souls made in RPG Maker or something. For what it is I'm liking it quite a bit, just have other things to get to this week. Weds through Sunday off.
Click to expand...

I don’t think you’re close. You’ve gotta do all the successor’s and the last boss guys, plus some mini bosses. Maybe I’m remembering wrong because the game kind of went in one ear and out the other, but it seems you’re far off. Now those other bosses could be back to back, that for sure I don’t remember.
 
Phazael

Phazael

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard
<Gold Donor>
15,054
32,894
Might be misremembering, but wasn't the end of the snow world like about the half way point? Seemed like once I got my prefered class and weapon I sailed through the rest and that was around when that occured for me, at least.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
15,721
14,447
Phazael said:
Might be misremembering, but wasn't the end of the snow world like about the half way point? Seemed like once I got my prefered class and weapon I sailed through the rest and that was around when that occured for me, at least.
Click to expand...

Snow place is where I was trying to place it also. That did seem like a marking point in the progression.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Just reached the ice area, Successor of the Ribcage is down. This Atlas+Zweihander build seems to be working really well so I expect the second half to be quicker than the first. Is it worth going for Yakumo's 50 trade point two-hander, or should I stick to the Zweihander? Cause I might have enough things to trade to get 50 points...maybe.

Looks like I can detour to the Memory of Player before the ice area. Not sure if it's an optional area or not but I'm heading there first.
 
Vorph

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,738
5,575
Oni Bane is better... eventually. You need pretty much all strength passives and other stuff to take advantage of the better scaling, and you also need to have gotten to the 'git gud' point where you're not using Zweihander as a crutch (100% block).

Nothing wrong with just using Zweihander the whole game either. Or making a fully upgraded Oni Bane and only breaking it out for certain fights where the Zweihander is annoyingly slow.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Vorph said:
Oni Bane is better... eventually. You need pretty much all strength passives and other stuff to take advantage of the better scaling, and you also need to have gotten to the 'git gud' point where you're not using Zweihander as a crutch (100% block).

Nothing wrong with just using Zweihander the whole game either. Or making a fully upgraded Oni Bane and only breaking it out for certain fights where the Zweihander is annoyingly slow.
Click to expand...

I haven't been able to get Oni Bane because I keep spending trade points on Atlas Chrome (probably a mistake because they'll probably be farmable later). Got the Fortified Queenslayer Hammer and I'm using that instead of Zweihander now. When fortified it has a 96% block which is close enough, plus the charged attack pancakes enemies. Also swings a little bit faster than Zweihander. I might use this for the rest. Atlas seems to work great as a class, don't know if I'll find anything better unless there's an uber physical class. Also learned everything from the Queen's Ribcage blood code. Has some strong magic spells that I might try if I run into a boss that I need range for. Hell I think I learned every skill Ithat wasn't locked) from every blood code. Just finished the snow area.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Invading Executioner was the big roadblock early on, then I breezed through the rest up to Gilded Hunter which is now kicking my ass. Other than these two fights, I'm surprised at how easy the game has been. I know there's an Ornstein and Smough later on that'll probably bring some pain.

Edit: Beat him with the Zweihander by just turtling up a lot. Back to the Queenslayer Hammer now. Might try to beat the game today since I'm home all day.
 
Last edited:
Vorph

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,738
5,575
Rajaah said:
I'm surprised at how easy the game has been.
Click to expand...
That's the build more than anything. Zweihander in particular and 2H in general remove almost all of the challenge.

Trade points aren't hard to get, especially for Yakumo. Just give him lots of boutique sake which you can buy for 1 old world material each.
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
13,379
19,045
Vorph said:
That's the build more than anything. Zweihander in particular and 2H in general remove almost all of the challenge.

Trade points aren't hard to get, especially for Yakumo. Just give him lots of boutique sake which you can buy for 1 old world material each.
Click to expand...

Got Oni Bane and switched from Zweihander/Hammer to that for a while, the damage was outstanding. Got to Ornstein and Smough and lost a bunch of times so now I'm trying a halberd (Obliterator Axe Fortification) build that can dish out mega-damage. Requires skills from Queenslayer, Hephaestus, Heimdal, Dark Knight, Assassin, and some other classes I already mastered. I thought I'd beat the game today with ease, but it took a few hours to stop and get everything I needed to configure my new build.

This same thing usually happens in Souls games. I stumble my way through, hit a roadblock, then find a strong build meta to carry me through the rest and spend a few hours reworking everything around that.

I'm guessing once I get past Ornstein and Smough I'll be able to plow through the remainder without much trouble, given that I had almost no trouble with anything in the game between Invading Executioner and O&S (with the sole exception of Gilded Hunter).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.