In the last post, I gave my quick impressions on the game Ravenswatch by Passtech Games. I also updated on my onebro run in which I’m only doing it for fun. As soon as I stop having fun, I’m done. I talked about my apprehension fighting the Capra Demon because of the ridiclously tiny fighting arena and the two doggos who do bleed. Normally, my way of dealing with him is to run past him and up the stairs if I’m not blocked by the dogs. Then, kill the dogs as quickly as possibly before magicking the Capra Demon to death.
I was concerned this time because I hadn’t leveled, so I didn’t know if I’d have enough stamina to do all that. I did have the Grass Crest Shield, which is the stamina regen shield. It only blocks 95% physical. It works even if you put it on your back, and it’s the go-to shield if you can’t level up. At least it should be.
This shield is in an area that most people won’t go to in the beginning ,but you can get there fairly early. I got the shortcut unlocked, which meant I had access to the Flink Shrine and ten Estus Flask sips. I’m still wearing the pyromancer togs, which is one of tthe lightest armor set in the game. I’m contemplating getting the Havel ring in order to wear heavier armor, but I don’t want to deal with him yet.
I had a bit of trouble with the ninjas because I usually just get them from afar. For whatever reasons, they were on me more quickly this time (probably because my endurance is crap), and I ran back in order to find the end of their leash and then cheese them in that way. I think they got me once, but I made it through the second time round. I opened the shortcut and then went to face the Capra Demon.
I bought 98 Firebombs beforehand (you can hold 99 at a time and I picked one up on the way). I had a long bow from a pickup, and while I could not use it, I only wanted it ofro the crosshairs. I got to the Capra Demon with nine Estus sips ready to go. I decided to try it once before resorting to the Firebomb cheese. I took a deep breath and traversed the white light. I had my shield up and raced to the left. Much to my surprise, I got up the stairs and quickly dispensed of the dogs. I had 60 of the basic Soul Arrows because I saved the sorcerer, and once the doggos were gone, I just followed my usual M.O. of spelling the Capra Demon from afar from the ledge as he slowly comes towards me. Then, when he gets up the stairs, I hug the wall next to me with my shield up, take the hit as he jumps down and swings at me with his two massive cleavers, and then heal up before spelling him again.
I didn’t even come close to running out of Soul Arrows, and it was a one-and-done for me. Now, I have 99 Firebombs that I don’t need (one of my RKG buddies called them Minnatov cocktails, which I loved), but I’m sure Ican find a use for them. Next up is the Depths and saving my boy, Laurentius, so I can upgrade my pyro flame. Plus get the Large Ember so I can upgrade my Battle Axe to +10.
Let’s talk about Ravenswatch. The first time I met the boss, I died without taknig anything of their health. See, the thing is that you want to kill each tentacle first and then the main boss will get stunned for five to ten seconds. You go ham on it and take off a quarter of its health. Then it revives and you have to do the same cycle again three more times. There is usually a health globe for each tentacle killed, which is a really nice treat.
I have read that you need to get your ult before beating the boss. Ian has told me this as well. I have yet to get the ult, and it’s in part because Ican not do the damage needed to level up that many times. In the video I included with this post, Zoe says that you should choose to do different things on each run. Such as getting upgrades for one or helping out one of the three pigs. That, by the way, is something I have given up doing. The point is to gather 20 of a certain material to shore up their house for an attack. I can never get enough in the five minutes allotted, and I give up halfway through.
I know I sound very negative about this game, but it’s more frustration because it’s just about what I want to play. It juuuuuust falls short, which is the frustrating part. I am much more sanguine about a game that just sucks in generalIt’s easier to write off nad say, “Eh, that’s a terrible game.” It’s much harder when it’s a game that is stronrg in many ways, but just isn’t quite hiting the spot. It just needs a few minor tweaks to make it a banger. It already has that ‘one more run’ feel to it, but it’s tinged with an edge of ‘ugh’ to it.
To be clear–this is not just sour grapes because I can’t beat the boss. Because I have beat the boss. Wtihout unlocking my ult. And I have to say, one strong thing about the game is that the boss you thought you could never beat, indeed, that you could barely touch, becomes almost trivial.
Wait. That’s not quite right. The boss still beats me more often than not, but that’s because of the bullet hell-y nature of it. I can’t dodge the quick darts at me, so I just don’t even try. This is how I play games, by the way. I need to have enough health in order to take a few hits. I could never do a no-hit run. Probably not even a no-death run (in Souls games).
But when I finally beat the boss, it was because of the skills I had. It was The Snow Queen, of course. It is all about the synergy. I would hit the tentacles with the iced run and then smash ’em with the explosion before hitting them with the hail storm. It’s all about DPS, and I’m so not good at that. Ian’s biggest piece of advice was to up the damage as much as you could as fast and early as you could.
This is hard because my impulse is to buffer up my defense and health regen. But in a game like this when it’s really meant to be co-op, damage is king. Or in this case, queen. When I switched from defense to offense, that’s when I started to have more success.
I have to say, though, that I have not clicked with the other characters. I thought I would like Beowulf because he has a dragonling as his ranged option and he has a massive honking sword, but…yeah, he just doesn’t gel with me. Then there’s The Pied Piper who is also ranged. You’re supposed to be able to amass a huge rat swarm, and I feel that I’m not using the character optimally or correctly. I like Scarlet a great deal, but she’s another I need to figure out how to use her (and the werewolf) in the best manner. Finally, Aladdin. I have no idea how to use him, but I feel like he’s a low-key OP character.
As I mentioned before, the tutorial is horrid. Ian mentioned this, too, that for the first few hours, he felt like he was flailing about and was not enjoying it. I will sayI like it much better now, but I’m not sure that’s good game development. You’re trusting your player to stick with it for several hours, which is a dicey proposition these days. There’s a Final Fantasy game, I think it’s 9, that it’s well-known for being trash for the first two dozen hours. Same with Persona games. Not that the beginnings are trash, but that you have to hang with it for quite some time before it really kicks in.
To be fair, FromSoft games can be like that, too. Elden Ring was the most n00b-friendly of their games (some hardcore From fans thought too much so), but you still had to know the basic From tropes in order to play. When a friend of mind stressed out over picking a character and then the tutorial, I realized how much I took for granted because I’ve played all their games. Well, all their Soulslikes, at any rate. (Dark Souls and on.)
More in the netx post.