not sure about this one

>haven't experienced it yet
All in good time. You'll get an idea for why it is considered the worst of the series. It's just sort of bland

I’m kinda expecting it just because it’s a handheld sequel. Usually the handheld versions of a series are always a bit lackluster, especially with a different developer. The Ratchet and Clank PSP games paled in comparison. So did the Jak PSP game. I’m guessing the Uncharted game is too but I doubt I’ll play it unless they port it (R&C and Jak came out for PS2 also). The Castlevania DS games, by contrast, are quite good.

>game store ban
I'm sure there is a lovely story to go with this.

Oh, nothing they did. Just me preventing myself from going to the store because I tend to pick up games that are at a good deal and before I know it, I have a pile of ten games to play. I’m trying to finish the ones I have before I buy more. I go through this faze every few years.

>check out
By all means.

I shall. I may wait for a Wii U to come out. I planned on getting a Wii for cheap but the Wii U is backwards compatible so there’s no reason to get a Wii at all. Of course, I’ll have to check reviews to see how good this “backwards compatibility” works since the MS/Sony versions were quite poor. But it’s Nintendo and they tend to screw over the fanbase a bit less with more quality hardware that usually works how it’s supposed to and doesn’t break in a year so I’m guessing it’ll work a bit better.

>spoilers
Bah. Get through the game once so the show can begin.

I’m working on it but taking my time. Doing each of the trials in the levels as I go so I’m basically playing each level twice. It works out as it’s just extra EXP for the moves.

>nailed mid-dive
Darksiders still has no i-frames in the evasions. Silly.

To be fair, it’s not like it needs them though I haven’t played the second one yet. It’s on the list.

>no attack cancels via block
Not a fan of this

Me neither but you can adapt. Just have to be careful before I attack…I’m used to it by now. Maybe it’s me but I don’t see the game as a straight-up hack-and-slash like GoW/Bayo/DMC. Seems it wants to be more of a hybrid with more adventure elements which I’m fine with…I didn’t think it would stand up with the hack-and-slash greats. There’s even a few bosses that are directly lifted from Shadow of the Colossus with the climb up/hang on/attack runes gameplay. I thought it would be just one fight but there’s been two now…

"It was incredible in that it looks like a slide show running at the low 20-ish frames per second, just to accommodate all the pretty effects and lighting. Sometimes I wonder if this had anything with the lulzy input lag.

My eyes always tend to roll into the back of my head when people bring up framerate when talking about a game. Input lag only seems an issue for me for the blocking lag I mentioned but that’s because of the animation…I find everything else is pretty responsive. These comments always seem like someone obsessively nitpicking.

But then the combo doesn't have much variety, and enemies don't get stunned enough by most basic attacks to work properly.

Yeah, relying on stuns doesn’t seem to be the way to go. I tend to observe attacks and either look for pauses in the attacks or attack while they’re in an attack animation...or maybe just get some distance. Besides, there is the “dark” power you can fire up which greatly increases stuns if you want them. If in a jam, the T,t attack is great for a quick stun and can be pulled off pretty quickly. In the end, I’ve always been a “hit and dodge” player so I don’t mind.

The most disappointing is the aerial attacks…launching an enemy is easy enough but you’re a sitting suck in the air to any attack…no air dodging and unless you use the dash move to zip back down, it’s even slow to fall back down. Plus it seems like even every ground enemy has a way to hit you in the air. I’ve really not done a lot of air moves since they’re too dangerous…this is outside of the air S,S move which is a ground slam followed by a ground attack (which is great damage) which only has me in the air for a short moment.

Plus the attacks resemble too closely each other, with only a handful being useful. It was just boring.

I’ll agree that I tend to focus on a small few but I do find it’s fun to try out new stuff…I’ve been surprised by a few.

which were basically Shadow of Colossus bosses and not done any better and differently

They’re a little better as I enjoy the Titans actually trying to smash you at certain points rather than just shake you off…plus they have better attacks.

Story wise, we have this angry and huge dude on a journey

Indeed. I didn’t expect much but him supposedly killing folks in his sleep is at least intriguing…I’ve heard some hype about the ending being decent so we’ll see how it goes…I have an idea of what the inevitable “twist” is at the end so we’ll see if I’m right. I don’t expect much from the plots of these action games so anything decent will be appreciated. In fact, this is probably more plot than we’ve gotten from any CV game…it’s not exactly a focus for the series.

We kinda have that already, though it gets points for having Patrick Stewart

A fine point though, sadly, he couldn’t save Oblivion…probably because they kill him off in the first few minutes.

recall the Ultimate Light/Dark attacks and the Holy Jump *blinds foes and next hit deals 4x damage* plus charge punch destroying the game pretty badly.

I don’t think I have Holy Jump so we’ll see how it goes with that. The charge punch does seem a bit too effective for stuns…especially with dark powers on…it even worked against the Black Knight boss when I tried it. Overall, the power boost alone makes Dark powers worth it as I can turn it on to crush enemies and get loads of stuns on them if I’m in a jam…a mini-Rage, if you will. I don’t much care about New Game + as I don’t need to own the game and I agree the combat options are limited…I’ve already bought all the advanced moves available and I’m wondering if I’ll get more.

If it gives me another reason to harp on DmC, I'm all for it.

I don’t think we need any reason outside of the intro movie to rip on that one. No matter to me; I was out on the series once I read reviews on DMC4.

Holy Jump

You apparently don't need to upgrade to get it. So that breaks NURs.

Just looked it up…it comes when you get the double-jump and I don’t have double-jump yet so I’ll check it out when I get there. Though I’d think that a NUR wouldn’t be enough…gotta do a no-magic run…not being able to heal would likely be the biggest challenge.

It's the Shadow exclusive magic attacks (Shadow Flames, Exploding Quake, the claws, etc) I've heard don't measure up to their Holy counterparts

Ah, I see. I really don’t use the magic attack and haven’t bought much of any of them…I focused on getting all the regular attacks first. I have them all now so I’m looking to the holy ones now. I mostly only use light for healing and then dark if I need stuns or just want to rape enemies with high damage.

It forces New Game+ on you. There's no option to start from scratch on Very Hard.

Oh. That’s strange. Can’t just select it from the New Game menu? How weird. Puts a damper on challenge runs a bit…you’d basically have to a do a NUR run on hard before you can get a NUR/no magic run on VH….you could just ignore most of the new plot-related relics that they give you. Unless, of course, they hand you full health on VH even if you didn’t pick up the upgrades on the first playthrough.

>not enough reason to buy
Not at full price, certainly.

I say this for basically every game. LoS took longer to drop in price than most games…it lingered in that $40 range for quite a while. It’s down to about $20 these days.

>Unholy doesn't compare to Holy
Where have I heard that before?

To be fair, this kinda makes sense. It’d be weird to have shadow attacks be really effective on shadow creatures.

Yep. Very engaging game. Oh look, a boss. *activates Divine Armor and mashes circle* "That was easy."

Or, (hold circle, blast enemies, they get knocked back, hold circle, blast enemies, repeat).

And yes, DI became so ridiculous when I played it that I changed my first playthrough into a no-holy run after getting about 1/4 of the way through…it’s amazing how much more difficult a few enemies (and especially the bosses) are when you don’t use holy. I did allow myself to use the holy armor at times but only for places where I was dying like crazy and just wanted to get through it. Only used it once to take down sweet Lu.

I will say I had quite a war with the first “Lord of Shadow” in the Lycan Lord. Died quite a bit as you can only take about three hits before dying and he doesn’t leave many openings…at least not on Hard anyway. He’s the first really big challenge in the game that I’ve ran into so far which was cool…even with healing, it’s quite easy to get nailed. I wanted to go toe-to-toe with him with blocks and counters but one of his melee attacks is randomly unblockable and by the time you notice it, you can still get hit in the middle of your dive so it trying blocks was inconsistent…not to mention that the lag on the blocking animation also makes it annoying. I also like that for both of the melee/non titan bosses I’ve faced, the “trial” is to beat it without light powers so there’s no healing allowed. The second time was a bit easier as I was more careful and there’s a couple moves he does that are ideal for hitting him right after them...even then, it's easy to screw up.

SBK: >tempted to buy it
By all means.

At the cheaper price it’s at, might as well. I will say they’re getting quite creative as it goes…and loading with different boss fights…even if one isn’t so up to snuff it’s not a big deal as it’s one of many. Just went through a titan boss, then regular boss, a short level, then hardcore boss, then level with environment boss, then regular boss….all within six stages or so.

>Divine Armor
Holy sure was 'hard mode' *huurrrr*.

Yeah, why break your own game by that amount? LoS has a healing concept but you’ve gotta get combos to pull it off.

Hotel: >no heal
After your run, feel free to look into the chaps I'd noted for you.

Well I’ve done a number of them already. Many of the “trials” have the requirement to beat a boss without light powers (i:e: healing) so you have to limit damage anyway.

>weird if
But unholy is so edgy and cool.

Only if it results in a “fallen hero ending” where he succumbs to the darkness and becomes evil himself.

more difficult
Some are pretty well tucked away with infinite air grabs, ring-outs, etc.,

I was thinking more the case of the tougher bosses and those annoying flying demons who are 50 times tougher without the cross.

>Lulu
2hardcore4u

FFX Lulu? I’ve come across some futa Lulu lately. Hardcore, indeed.

NOTE: Recall Franchise's boast for this title?

Yes, I shot it down nicely since it was fresh in my mind. I believe it was my first visit to the GoW3forums. Speaking of which, I haven’t been back there in a while. Just only so much time to BS on message boards…

>come across
Not so hard. Magical times, we live in, don't you agree?

Indeed. We need a rule in addition to Rule 34. Rule 35: If there is a game, there is a Futa of it.

>gow3forums
You only missed the fall of Ghost and Lord. Otherwise, it's just me doing what I do.

Ya, can’t post on it from work but will try to peek in.

>on its way
Noted.

On it’s way? Go to the store. Save on shipping. Local economy and all that.

being either too costly or too weak (Infamous springs to mind).

It doesn’t hurt that healing is always associated with holy side as well. I’m actually straining to think of a game where unholy is better.