Day…uh…three? Three, I think, of Ravenswatch (Passtech) and my onebro run. No, those are not the same things, obviously. Well, at least obviously for anyone who is a From fan. A onebro run is starting as a Pyro in Dark Souls (yay!) and then never leveling your character. That is the basic gist of it, and the details are vigorously debated as are everything else in these games. For me, it’s just a way to have a fresh take on the game because I’ve played it so many times. I’m going to go as far as I can without getting too frustrtaed and then quit. I have a hurch that will be Sen’s Fortress, but we’ll see.
My bona fides. I’ve played this game at least a dozen times. I have the hundo chievo, and I’ve seen everything there is to see in the game. I always start as a Pyro and then take it in whatever drection I want. Which is usually a strengthcaster. Zweihander +15, Pyro Flame ascended, and a few other bits and bobs. That’s how I like to play. That’s what my regular character is doing. I’m in the second half of the gam ewith her.
With my onebro character, I’ve grinded to get my Battle Axe +10. I saved my boy, Laurentius, who is the first pyro trainer, from the Depths. I got my Pyro flame up to +9, and now I’m ready to take on the Gaping Dragon for lulz and the Souls. You get 25 large for beating it, which is mad cash at this stage. I’ll probably upgrade my Pyro flame even more and…uh…not sure. Oh! Buy the Crest of Artorias for twenty thou. It’s funny because in grinding for the Large Titanite I needed to upgrade my Battle Axe +10, I got enough to level up my Pyro flame several times. Killing 6 slimes in roughly thirty seconds netted me 1200 Souls each time.
In the community, there is a lot of discussion as to what a true onebro run must include (or not include). I have an RKG buddy who has no qualms about summoning. Others in the community think that defeats the purpose. I’m somewhat torn. I understand that whatever you can do, you do in a onebro run. I mean, it’s to have fun–that’s the bottom line. But, it’s also about the challenge. I have to say that you’re severely limiting yourself in summoning if your’e onebroing it, but still. Having any human helping you is a big help, obviously. Yes, the boss gets a bump in health, but still.
Anyway, I’m up to the Gaping Dragon and I think I’m ready to take it on. Solo. For me, I’m about the solo life. If I’m going to onebro it, I’m going to solo it. Until I can’t any longer. Then I’ll either summon or I’ll just quit. I would like to summon Solaaire for this, but I also want to do it on my own. But I have three soft humanities so I feel like I don’t want to lose them.
At any rate, it’s been fun so far. The Bell Gargs were a bit of a bump on the head, but only a small one. It took me four times to beat them, I tihnk. It’s just funny because in my ‘normal’ run, I took in Solaire and Lautrec, and we killed the first one before the second one even spawned. I had the drake sword and more powerful magicks. I didn’t have to do much of anything. I have my Zwei up to +13, I think .I’m a beast as usual in that run.
Switching to Ravenswatch. Skill Up talks briefly about it in his weekly round up (included above), and how people’s biggest negative reaction is that there’s not enough content. Which is true, but that’s not my biggest issue with it. It’s just not meant to be a solo game. Which is fine. Not every game is. But this is purporting to be able to be played solo, and, yeah, you can, but it’s not really enjoyable.The one time I acually beat the boss (or is it two? I can’t remember. I know I’ve beaten it once for sure. My short-term memory is shit now). As I mentioned in the last post, the reason I beat the boss was because of the skills I had–not because of my skills. I had all my rezzes, and I had enough damage to beat the boss before it beat me. I will say it’s cool to go from ‘how the hell will I ever beat this boss’ to ‘oh, yeah. This guy’. But it doesn’t feel good taht I don’t think it has anything ot do with my personal skill. It’s just if I have enough damage to beat it down.
I will say if I die once before I reach the boss, I will now just restart. It’s not worth it because I need all the rezzes for the boss. I can afford to lose one, but no more than that. In addition, it’s just…tedious. It’s not fun to beat down hordes and hordes of enemies. Again, that’s why I think it’s for a party and not a solo player. The timed events are impossible to beat solo, so I don’t even bother. I just go by them without even stopping.
I’ve been getting into Beowulf more. With the right skills, he can be very powerful. The Snow Queen is still my favorite, though. And I still haven’t been able to get the ult yet. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong, but it’s frustrating. I fully acknowldege that it could just be that I’m terrible at these games. At games in general. I am, but I don’t think I’m that terrible! Everything I’ve read/watched/heard has indicated that the first few hours of Ravenswatch are grueling and not fun. I will acknowledge that it’s hard with roguelikes. Every run is different so you have to find a way to make that loop satisfying. You have maybe ten minutes the first several times to catch someone. In Passtech’s first game, Curse of the Old Gods, I just could not get into that loop. It’s brutal and it’s way too much in the dark. Ian said he recently went back into it and really liked it.
That’s another thing. How much time you’re willing to dedicate to a game. Sometimes, I will only give a game five minutes. Other times, I’m all about giving them as much time as I can. And in some very elite cases, such as FromSoft, they have earned the right to almost unlimited time. Like, Supergiant Games with Hades II. I am willing to give them an hour to pull me in. FromSoft, of course, gets all the time in the world. That’s rarefied air, though. I really want to like Ravenswatch, but I may wait until there’s more and better content, and it’s better balanced.