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Delta Don said:
Heath this is what PTO is for , in addition to telling friends and family you “can’t. I will be staying in this weekend”. Let me know if you need any more life hacking tips !
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What's this "PTO" you speak of? Is that when your client goes on vacation so you finally get to focus on all the crap they want you to do without being interrupted by emails constantly? But yeah, it's the end of year push for hours (for me) and for everyone to get transactions done before year end (for clients), so it's been pretty busy.

After the complaining I did about it last night, I was able to get the resources I needed for the two buildings without too much trouble, so I guess I forgive them (even though the missions that the buildings gave me were buggy AF).

And one of the festival events is a fist fighting tournament where you drink mead in between each round and gain some health but also get more drunk, and well it's just nice to get a taste of home since I won't be able to see my extended family this Christmas.
 
Heath said:
What's this "PTO" you speak of? Is that when your client goes on vacation so you finally get to focus on all the crap they want you to do without being interrupted by emails constantly? But yeah, it's the end of year push for hours (for me) and for everyone to get transactions done before year end (for clients), so it's been pretty busy.

After the complaining I did about it last night, I was able to get the resources I needed for the two buildings without too much trouble, so I guess I forgive them (even though the missions that the buildings gave me were buggy AF).

And one of the festival events is a fist fighting tournament where you drink mead in between each round and gain some health but also get more drunk, and well it's just nice to get a taste of home since I won't be able to see my extended family this Christmas.
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Happy Christmas holidays , Heath
 
After hemming and hawing, I've picked up Yakuza: Like a Dragon (my first yakuza game) as my winter break play. GoG is also giving away Prison Architect, which sounds like it may scratch my management/organization itch. Also considering getting Crusader Kings III on sale, but that's only if I lose interest in the other two.
 
Bull Shannon said:
After hemming and hawing, I've picked up Yakuza: Like a Dragon (my first yakuza game) as my winter break play. GoG is also giving away Prison Architect, which sounds like it may scratch my management/organization itch. Also considering getting Crusader Kings III on sale, but that's only if I lose interest in the other two.
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I loved Yakuza 0 so have fun!
 
Solid job with this new console Cyberpunk patch. Went into the settings to see if HDR is still completely broken, and there's no way out. Now you can't even exit the settings menu. Hilarious.
 
Heath said:
So there's a seasonal Yule event in AC Valhalla, as I discovered today when I opened my game up...kind of frustrating that in order to do some of the quests, I need to have built 2 buildings in my settlement that I haven't built yet. So now I need to go find raids outside of my skill level to try to pull together enough materials to build them.

I like when games do seasonal events (hello, Animal Crossing), but damn, give me some time to progress first, I don't have 8 hours a day to sink into this thing so pardon me if I haven't finished the game yet!
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They added settlement building to Assassin’s Creed??

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Hades is a blast so far. Only done a few runs, furthest I made it to was the Hydra boss twice. I thought I was going to win with a build that cut health but added healing everytime I hit an enemy, but I dodged the wrong way and got double tapped by two of the heads. I love how much lore is added regularly, hoping this keeps up throughout. Really glad I completed Mario Sunshine before I played this, because I probably would not have finished it otherwise.
 
Fillip J Phry said:
Hades is a blast so far. Only done a few runs, furthest I made it to was the Hydra boss twice. I thought I was going to win with a build that cut health but added healing everytime I hit an enemy, but I dodged the wrong way and got double tapped by two of the heads. I love how much lore is added regularly, hoping this keeps up throughout. Really glad I completed Mario Sunshine before I played this, because I probably would not have finished it otherwise.
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Had a couple of play sessions. Furthest I've got is up to Meg, and I've nearly got past her - just need to work on my tactics and I'll be there. Working on building up the purple stuff to get the second continue, if that makes sense...
 
Thackeraye said:
Had a couple of play sessions. Furthest I've got is up to Meg, and I've nearly got past her - just need to work on my tactics and I'll be there. Working on building up the purple stuff to get the second continue, if that makes sense...
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The continues are great, but at some point if you’re dying it’s likely you’ll just get killed again quickly
 
Hades is absolutely crazy with how much there is to keep you coming back.

I've completed it once, and
the addition of the heat meter adds so many layers. Not to mention all the stuff you can unlock from the contractor to vary runs. Or the upgrades you can do for the weapons. I hear the "true" ending is after defeating Hades 10 times, but in theory you can really keep playing this game forever.
 
Thackeraye said:
I always like having that kind of backup when it comes to games in general - I’m lazy at learning tactics, so need it if I’m just button bashing!
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Right but if you die it's likely you will die again pretty quickly if it's a boss, whether it's tactics or just bad build luck.
 
I'm at about 80 hours in Hades and I think nearly completed: there's an epilogue and a couple storylines to tie up. 80 hours for $20 is a great deal.

My start was the same. Meg was a huge challenge and I don't think I got past her for a good 5-10 runs. At some point, it'll start to get easier (especially as you build up mirror skills and weapon capabilities and get a grasp on what yo need to succeed), but even this far in they can still be challenging at spots which is really nice.

The game is just impeccable at building on itself too in every aspect. I'm still discovering boon combinations that really work for me this far in.

A couple early tips/thoughts with no spoilery items involved but I'll hide it anyway

  • I found it really helpful to auto-choose the +20% Darkness weapon just to build darkness/purple stuff. It's super useful in the mirror upgrades
  • Mirror upgrade wise, a ton of them are useful. I would say focus on to start
    • Death Defiance (Continues): By the time you get to the end, they matter a little less, but I found it essential in the early game and there's also opportunities in the game later to replenish them mid-run which can save run). I've never used Stubborn Defiance, just seems weaker.
    • Boiling Blood (Enhanced Damage Against Foes With Casts in Them) -this will help you get used to using your casts and is HUGELY helpful against bosses where you are using your casts on them a lot more. Of note, some cast types don't have the bloodstones land in an opponent.
    • Infernal Soul (You want your full casting options pretty soon, having three bloodstones / casts at a time is basically free damage)
    • Thick Skin (50 HP is insanely low as a starting point, the full upgrade is functionally two hearts to start off)
    • Greater Reflexes (The extra dash is pretty much a necessity)
  • Early on, I get focusing on living and accumulating Boons, but don't sleep on the necessity of money (coin with !) and POM (big red ball) rooms. The POM upgrades are fairly substantial early on existing boons and having money just makes runs a ton easier with shops: buying health, buying a new boon, buying darkness which can be health, etc.
  • Personally, I would focus on accumulating resources in early runs to make future ones easier. My rankings are as follows in terms of resource collection from most desired to least in the early game
    • Chthonic Keys (unlocks weapons and mirror upgrade options) ->
    • Nectar (gifting nectar unlocks essential keepsakes and progresses the plot), ->
    • Darkness (purchase upgrades in the mirror) ->
    • Gemstones (purchasing house upgrades which can improve the landscape in the run and progress the plot.
      • Note: As the game progressed, I feel nectar becomes more important and gemstones may pass darkness, but you may also get upgrades to add side bonuses to each of these as well. Once you get enough keys for your weapons and mirror, they become a lot less useful except for trading up.
  • Boon Wise, in the beginning I'd just take whatever and try it out and see what you like playstyle wise. With that said, here is my favorite "newbie" boon for each of the available options from the opening of the game: not the best necessarily but those good for most builds and for people working their way around the game. I tried to choose ones that don't have pre-requisites - your late game success will likely rely on Duo Boons and those boons that require other boon to build off of it, but this is all stuff you could potentially find in the first world or two.
    • Athena: Divine Dash: The dash is borderline broken with reflect. It makes projectile opponents a joke most of the time which are some of the more obnoxious early game villains
    • Aphrodite: Aphrodite's Aid (Call): I love weak in general as a status effect as it just, well, let you take more hits and learn more about attack patterns and strategies,, but the call is great for other reasons. At one bar, you can charm an opponent and get out of a sticky situation. The full charge is a damage bomb that can end a phase of a boss battle quickly.
    • Ares: His best boons really depend on your playstyle and build - I'd generally use his on your wider spread/less used attack, but I really like Curse of Vengance for newer folks: inflicting straight damage in a radius when attacked can really get rid of those obnoxious hordes.
    • Artemis: True Shot - it's a no frills cast: more damage, higher crit chance, ignores shields, really darn nice to have.
    • Dionysus: Drunken Strike/Flourish (whichever hits more times for you): hangover is a great status condition that you want to inflict over and over again on many builds. Several of his "non-core" boons (Positive Outlook, Premium Vintage, Strong Drink, After Party) are all good too as support.
    • Poseidon: A bit like Zeus it's playstyle based, but Tidal Dash is a monster. Deals damage and knocked opponents away with a chance of stunning them. It can get amplified really quickly with other boons from Poseidon other sets.
    • Zeus: The thing about Zeus is that Zeus really benefits from more Zeus in many cases. With that said, a basic attack with jolted on a faster attacker is strong in its own right
  • Edit: Keepsakes. There's a ton of them. Avoiding any spoilery characters, most give you their keepsake after one nectar. Some to prioritize early include: Skelly (extra death defiance), Cerberus (extra health to start), and Hypnos (getting 100-150 gold to start is basically a free boon, several Charon buys, health, etc.). After those three, I'd probably start giving nectar to gods whose boons you like the most and want to start with. I went Athena early since Divine Dash was my crutch early on and getting a good shot at that in the first chamber was really nice.

 
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