SAGA FRONTIER MAFIA (GAME END)

[Rylai and Lina]

@FA LET'S MAKE THIS A THING

We will hydra in ALL Varsoon games. No exceptions

[Varsoon]

<3

[Varsoon]

Space Dandy II has gone into signups, folks:
http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65769

[Cerberus v666]

I learned last night that dodge rolls have i-frames. Bloodborne just got way easier, and my plan of stacking endurance to maximize maneuverability is better than I thought. ^^

[Varsoon]

Yeah, almost every build can really benefit from about 20 Endurance and at least 20 to 30 Vitality.
You really only need to take your Strength and Skill up the the minimum amount to use whatever weapon you want.
If you're building for Bloodtinge, take it to 50. Guns typically scale with more damage from Bloodtinge, and some weapons have a trick form that scales from Bloodtinge.
If you're building for Arcane, take it up to 50. Most weapons DON'T scale with Arcane well, but if you ever change a weapon's damage type to doing non-physical damage (later in the game, you can alter weapons with Blood Gems that you 'slot' into them) then the non-physical damage will scale with your Arcane Slot.

Whatever you decide to be your 'primary' stat out of STR, SKL, ARCANE, or BLOODTINGE, take it up to 50. Going beyond 50 starts to give diminishing returns.
I typically go up to 20 VIT, 20 END, then take up my 'primary' stat to 50, then start upgrading VIT to 50 as well.

STR builds use big, crushing weapons focused on singular, strong attacks.
SKL builds use fast-striking weapons focused on several smaller attacks.
BLOODTINGE builds focus on powering up their guns and various ranged attacks and typically make use of 'bloody' weapons that can drain the user's health.
ARCANE builds focus on non-physical damage and can make use of almost all weapons but Bloodtinge ones--they also get to use the various 'Hunters Tools' which double as spells with Quicksilver bullet costs. These spells are very useful for ranged damage.

I typically like to take my ARCANE up to 15 just to use the Old Hunter's Bone (gives you a better dodge) and the Empty Phantasm Shell (which enchants a physical weapon with flat Arcane damage).

If you're not taking advantage of Blood Bullets, I suggest doing so. Click UP on the directional pad and you'll hurt yourself for a little less than what a single vial heals you for. You can actually hit an enemy after this effect to 'rally' back most of the health you lost. Doing so will give you 5 'Blood Bullets' that function as Quicksilver Bullets. You can do this so long as you have health, so, if you use all 20 vials, you can essentially get upwards of 120 bullets within one respawn. This is VERY useful for any build that relies on bullets, but it can also be a good way to help manage your Quicksilver Bullet resource.

[Varsoon]

One thing to keep in mind is that every single weapon is viable and that you'll eventually be able to purchase Bloodstone Shards and even Twin Bloodstone Shards. Don't upgrade a weapon you might not use with Bloodstone Chunks, since those are much harder to amass. If you've got the DLC, you can feasibly get about four weapons to +10 before the end of the game. You only get a single Blood Rock in the game, a single Blood Rock in the DLC, and you can spend 60 Insight to buy Blood Rocks near the end of the game.

Otherwise, upgrading weapons is a fantastic way to deal more damage and is typically much better than simply upgrading your stats.
Also, Blood Gems make a massive difference in weapon performance, possibly giving you at least three times as much damage.
For this reason, Chalice Dungeons are important--they reward the best Blood Gems in the game.

Your armor sets don't matter as much. The difference of 'gearing up' for a specific defense only gives you a handful of extra points. Just wear what you think looks cool.

[Varsoon]

Remember to check your shops (both the Bath Messenger and Insight shop) periodically--obtaining different 'Badges' will give you more items in the Bath Messenger shop and defeating different bosses will give you different items in the Insight Shop. You can usually buy the outfits of various hunters you defeat from the Insight shop.

[Cerberus v666]

Ooh, nice.

I'm still quite early in the game, Found the first boss, but I'm gonna keep exploring the remainder of the first area and then...time to start throwing myself at it until I stop sucking Pretty sure I could beat it at level 10, since I've managed to dodge all of it's attacks and do damage to it...but I always screw up and end up pwned.

It doesn't help that I'm super averse to resource usage, to the point where I'm not going to be willing to actually use a blood vial during the fight until I've managed to get it down to half health or something and start to feel there's a good chance I'll beat it on that attempt.

I'll get it though. ^^

[Varsoon]

...when you say 'First Boss', which boss do you mean? There are two different bosses you can go to at the starting area.

One VERY IMPORTANT feature of Bloodborne is to play aggressively. Almost every boss (and enemy!) relies on you being too scared to stay up close to them. Most enemies swing attacks in wide, long-reaching arcs or can pulverize you from far away, making staying back more dangerous for many reasons. Furthermore, the AI is built to punish using items and healing, so 'falling back' to heal is far more dangerous than dodging an attack and healing while the enemy is floundering.

It's also important to 'Rally'--whenever you get damaged, you can restore a large part of that health by attacking enemies. You can even 'Rally' off of an enemy for a second or two after you've killed it, although cleaving up corpses is a bit bloodthirsty. I guess that's the point!

Also; use Molotovs! They do really great damage to beasts.
Of course, they are a pretty limited resource.

And exploration is always rewarded! Explore every nook and cranny.

[Varsoon]

You can also determine a lot of information from reading the descriptions of the weapons, consumables, and Key Items that you receive. I always make sure to inspect any new thing I pick up--you get a lot of lore and even some indication on the different uses of the various items and weapons this way.

[Cerberus v666]

...when you say 'First Boss', which boss do you mean? There are two different bosses you can go to at the starting area.

One VERY IMPORTANT feature of Bloodborne is to play aggressively. Almost every boss (and enemy!) relies on you being too scared to stay up close to them. Most enemies swing attacks in wide, long-reaching arcs or can pulverize you from far away, making staying back more dangerous for many reasons. Furthermore, the AI is built to punish using items and healing, so 'falling back' to heal is far more dangerous than dodging an attack and healing while the enemy is floundering.

It's also important to 'Rally'--whenever you get damaged, you can restore a large part of that health by attacking enemies. You can even 'Rally' off of an enemy for a second or two after you've killed it, although cleaving up corpses is a bit bloodthirsty. I guess that's the point!

Also; use Molotovs! They do really great damage to beasts.
Of course, they are a pretty limited resource.

And exploration is always rewarded! Explore every nook and cranny.

Really? Two different bosses at the starting area? I'm talking about the Cleric Beast.

And yes, this is why my discovery of the i-frames makes things way easier. I thought I had to get out of reach of things, but now I know I can roll diagonally around them and keep wrecking them.

It's just DMC enough for me to be okay with it, even if I can't quite do the same ridiculous sorts of combinations DMC allowed.

[Varsoon]

Cleric Beast is a dead-end, but he rewards you pretty handsomely and gives you some experience fighting the larger types of bosses you'll encounter in the future. If you're building STRENGTH, beating Cleric Beast is really quite important. It also lets you skip an entire section (or two!) of the game later on, provided you purchase the Chief Hunter Emblem afterwards. Regardless, if you're explorative like I am, you won't miss anything even if you do purchase the Chief Hunter Emblem.

You get a different roll if you're locked on--the locked-on dodge has better i-frames and resolves faster.

Yeah, you can't be SSStylish! but you can still pull of some very impressive combinations. Have you been working transformations into your attack chain (use L1 after an attack or after rolling)? Have you used Leaping Attacks (moving forward suddenly and pressing R2 at the same time)? Howabout Back-step attacks (Circle to backstep, then immediately attack afterwards)? These various attacks can be very useful and can make weaving into and out of combat more exciting and powerful, while proving strong finishers.

[Cerberus v666]

Cleric Beast is a dead-end, but he rewards you pretty handsomely and gives you some experience fighting the larger types of bosses you'll encounter in the future. If you're building STRENGTH, beating Cleric Beast is really quite important. It also lets you skip an entire section (or two!) of the game later on, provided you purchase the Chief Hunter Emblem afterwards. Regardless, if you're explorative like I am, you won't miss anything even if you do purchase the Chief Hunter Emblem.

You get a different roll if you're locked on--the locked-on dodge has better i-frames and resolves faster.

Yeah, you can't be SSStylish! but you can still pull of some very impressive combinations. Have you been working transformations into your attack chain (use L1 after an attack or after rolling)? Have you used Leaping Attacks (moving forward suddenly and pressing R2 at the same time)? Howabout Back-step attacks (Circle to backstep, then immediately attack afterwards)? These various attacks can be very useful and can make weaving into and out of combat more exciting and powerful, while proving strong finishers.

Well, since skill builds are more my style generally, I do suppose he isn't the most useful, but I will have a good time wrecking him anyways.

And no, I haven't been messing around with various combinations nearly as much as i should be, clearly.

[Varsoon]

Bloodtinge often couples very well with Skill. There are a lot of useful skill weapons, and you can even get a fabulous pair of daggers very early if you decide to kill Eileen the Crow.
Of course, she does have an entire questline that you can follow--doing so will reward you with the ability to buy this weapon but it is much later in the game (about 2/3 through rather than, literally before any boss).

[Cerberus v666]

Yeah, I can see some good potential with bloodtinge+skill builds and timing attacks staggering enemies and setting up for visceral attacks.

Right now I'm playing it pretty lazily, but I see a lot of potential for bad ass play when you're more dedicated.

Do dodges cancel animations?

[Varsoon]

Some weapons scale off of both Bloodtinge and Skill, with their trick form being a Bloodtinge scaling weapon. Rifle Spear is one of the earlier ones you'll get your hands on.

I think that some animations can be cancelled, but it's not really as much a thing as it is in DMC, where animation-cancels are the cornerstone of stylish and effective play.

Saw Spear (which scales better with Skill than Strength, it's a good alternative to the Cleaver) has a transformation attack is pretty useful to just keep using in tandem, allowing for some effective staggering. A lot of the time, the 'Trick' or Transformed version of a weapon will stagger enemies, hit harder, but attack slower. It's a good idea to get familiar with both of the weapon's forms and its various attacks, as well as how to effectively slip between both forms.

[itlepip]

god you are already writing in flavor mode...

[Cerberus v666]

Pip, Varsoon has a masters in creative writing or some such. He thinks in flavor mode.

[Varsoon]

Yeah; this is basically my normal.

[Jeanne11]

^Marry me?

[Cerberus v666]

Yeah; this is basically my normal.

Varsoon, we should DnD. I know you've played! Roll20, voice only, I'll bully Drixx into running a 5e game(even though he's already planning on running one(his first))...I'd do it myself, but I'm too lazy to be a DM.

[Varsoon]

Nyeh, I'm going to be a bachelor forever! Forever!

Make it Pathfinder and we have a deal.
I'm not a huge fan of 5e, or 4th, or even 3.5 that much, but I'll play 'em regardless.
I've been running a Legend of 5 Rings game for the last year, and it's been fun, but that's with people from meatworld.
I ran some Pathfinder for a group of Aussies on Mafiascum awhile back, but had to drop it due to Grad School getting overwhelming.

[Cerberus v666]

I really like 5e....and don't wanna dive into the mess of pathfinder...



pfft. I might consider joining such a game, but I shan't be organizing it.

[Varsoon]

I'm sick of running games for now. I'd rather play in 'em. Even if they're a system I'm not crazy about.
I just don't like 5e's resources. Although I heard they finally got a working online SRD, so maybe it won't be so bad?

[Cerberus v666]

MMM. I have pm'd you sir. ^^ If I used site chat, i'd bother you there, but whatever. Too lazy.