Griddlelol

Oh yeah I forgot about the elevator. I'll mess around with that once the demon is dead.

I have an issue with the first point, it doesn't fit my ideology. I'm not saying there should be no buffer to protect the most vulnerable, I just don't see why I should pay for something I get no use from, just in case. Seems like Pascal's Wager to me. I also have an issue with the 3rd point. The money that is taxed goes directly back into the NHS (and funnelled to projects that I don't support at all, I'm sure - like Trident), so I don't really see the difference between that and it going into privatised companies. if it means better care for people, why should it bother me that some people are getting rich off it? I think that's probably fairer, but I wasn't pointing out why I thought that. It's more to do with an increasingly ageing population. If that problem doesn't sort itself out (and I don't see how it can, without making people wait until they're 80 for retirement, which sounds gross to me), I think the NHS will implode as the money required to keep it running will be even more astronomical than it already is.

Huh. Interesting...I didn't see anywhere else to go. I want to beat the boss now though. It's a grudge match, especially as he has 30K souls sitting in his room that I can't just ignore. Levels are so rare now that I can't miss out on the opportunity. I'll have to go back a bit and see what I missed.

It's an unpopular opinion, but healthcare insurance has the potential to be great, while the NHS is destined to fail. It's so ingrained in Britain that the NHS is the best thing ever, that it'll be almost impossible to swing that direction. I certainly haven't gotten my money's worth from the NHS, I had to go for a broken foot which amounted to 4 consultations, but that's pretty much it. I'd be better served by insurance and having regular check-ups to see if there is indeed anything wrong with me, and catch it before it happens. It's easy for me to have that opinion though. I'm never seriously ill and I have enough money to live comfortably.

I work with a lot of NHS medics in the research area, and they're all nice, competent people, they are just over worked when they're at the hospital. The waiting times are (unsurprisingly) thanks to poor funding. The NHS also has a huge problem of not bothering with preventative medicine. They don't get funded to treat things before they occur. They're all about reacting to symptoms. It's not at all cost effective to be reactionary, but trying to get funded to check up on healthy people would be immediately dismissed by the non-medics who hold the money. Maybe in the grand scheme of things it's not a lot, but there are homoeopathic and acupuncture divisions that receive a non-trivial amount of funding (in the order of millions) thanks to our well educated, intelligent, down-to-earth, Royal Family. Edit: I should also mention that it doesn't help when you're at a hospital for something serious, that every idiot with a grazed knee or cough goes to A&E instead of their GP because it takes a week to get an appointment. Then there's the massive lack of A&E staff because they don't get paid more, and have one of the most stressful jobs in the field. There's no incentive to stay in A&E unless you're crazy.

My man. They are the best, no substitute. They've recently become more available in the UK, I've never been fatter happier.

I came across the first boss in Iron King. Was not happy.= One of my most hated bosses with a palette swap and more HP. I must have missed a short cut, because the run back to the boss is long and very dangerous. I have to use one or two estus thanks to a mage putting a slow spell on me at the worst times. I've heard the final boss of Iron King is great though. I will certainly slog through this to get to experience that.

So I don't think I'm trying to be objective about this. I thought the fight wasn't fun, and it never occurred to me to re-explore. There are tons of examples I'm sure where people thought shit was obtuse, and I thought it was obvious - I recently saw someone complain that the Rom fight in Bloodborne was dumb because they had no idea you had to jump in the water. I on the other hand went straight in as though I knew I was supposed to. I guess my main issue is that I've not experienced that feeling of being lost due to a mechanic in Dark Souls before. The sunken king "new" mechanic was awesome because of how it was introduced. I was fighting someone, I hit a switch, I thought "OH!" That was great, it made me smile. The killing the statues seems so obvious in Iron King because there's a prompt and an immediate reward. No I didn't fight the cat invisible, because I explored right first. I went everywhere I could, then when I couldn't do anything else, I went left. I didn't even know the cat could be invisible until you mentioned it! I know that the reason I don't like the mechanic is my fault, I assumed I'd find an item to melt the ice. I was in the Zelda mind set for that, but seeing a fog gate makes me want to tackle the boss. I probably should have noticed that there were more chairs for more knights, but I was so focussed on fighting the boss that I didn't notice it. Honestly, out of those examples you've given, the only one I agree with is Mytha. I had to ask for help on that because I had no idea, and I believe they fixed that in SotFS by putting and enemy on the ramp that won't attack until you attack them, making it far more obvious that the windmill is important. I also thought that was bullshit in the vanilla game. All the other fights I came across the "trick" naturally, or someone had thrown a message down which caused me to explore something else (the example there is Four Kings and "Ring Needed"). I'm not saying everyone should have my opinion on how to progress in Dark Souls, I'm saying that my attitude is why I didn't like the mechanic of what to me, was re-exploration. I should probably reiterate, that I'm not saying it's bad, but that it's my opinion it's bad. I feel like that should be obvious though. I'm still not a fan of the DLC areas in general. The enemy variety is low and the bosses are at the end, not scattered throughout. I feel like I'm slogging through the same enemies with different colour palettes for hours before I get to the bosses. Despite my dislike of the Ivory King boss, all the others I've experienced (the sunken and ivory, not made it to a boss in iron) have actually been good, even though there's been some recycling of mechanics. They all feel fresh enough and difficult enough to hold my attention. I'm pretty sure I felt that way about the original DS DLC too. The bosses were amazing, but everything else was kinda boring. Maybe it's because it's extra. I'm only playing it to get to the bosses and not progress the story.

Very interesting replies. I agree with parts and disagree with parts but trying to write coherently on a phone is hard. The one thing I will say, is that the "gimmick" fights in souls have for me been much more obvious. Maybe this particular puzzle just didn't sit with me like the others which I never had trouble with.

You had to go back to see that. It unfroze a door allowing me to go forward, why would I go backwards when there's a fog gate there? The reward of Dark Souls is more bosses. Avoiding a boss doesn't make sense to me. Sure I was curious about the chests, but there was a boss I had to kill. There was literally no reason displayed for me to go backwards and explore that area again. The chests generally contain junk anyway. I don't think I've ever been excited about opening a chest in a souls game. That's not what I play for. Give me a sword or a mace and I'm happy. Other loot is superfluous. When it comes to "find the lost Knights" I assumed it meant the ones in the boss room. Lost often comes with "damned" and those Knights looked like they were in hell. Not a hint that shouted "go back the other way and engage in a mechanic you've never seen before in a souls game." And no, I don't do that. I find a boss, I beat it. If I wasn't meant to win that fight, it wouldn't be placed there. Even so the idea of having NPC help in that fight left a bad taste.

A PS3 is £50 on eBay. Demon's Souls is £10, dragons dogma is £2 and uncharted 2 is £1 (!!!) vanquish is £5. I'm seriously considering buying a PS3 again since the price is so good. Are there any other gems I could get too? The only one in that list I've played is DeS but I'd like to play it again.

I just didn't like how there was no obvious sign saying I should explore the other way first. If anything you're discouraged from it because there's ice in the way right up until that boss. Ds2 is a fantastic game though. I couldn't be more happy with SotFS. I feel like I should have made a dex or at least quality build since the dex weapons are so varied and fun, while the strength are rather bland. Mace, big mace or big sword.

I love emergent narrative. Xcom (and pretty much every tactical rpg) has it in shed loads, but they have other stuff too. I guess I need more than just emergent narrative, and I loathe mobile game design. It always just feels like a chore to me.

You'll be fine. Take some aspirin and get back to squatting. (It's inflammation caused by tiny tears in muscle fibres. Normal if you're doing something intense that you've not done for a while - I get it every time I go to the gym after I come back from a holiday. It's not even a representation of a good or bad workout.)

I've been thinking about combat in difficult games after playing a bunch of dark souls 2. My character has toppled giants, stabbed dragons to death and pummelled great knights into the ground. Yet she runs away when there are 3 sword wielding nobodies charging. It doesn't make sense! How can a designer get around this issue without making individual hollows/goblins/whatever trivial? Bayonetta has you annihilating multiple small enemies without issue, and they only become a threat in large numbers, or when accompanying something more substantial. It makes sense within the narrative, but loses the difficulty. I feel like it's s little closer to how it should be, but the game is so different that it can't translate to others. I wonder if designers think about this when making such a game. I wonder what unfeasible options they came up with that were never implemented were.

Me too. Although I've taken a break from MH for a while to work on my back log. It was distracting me from all the shiny games I bought.

I'm not sure why everyone raved about the dlc. It's good, but not great. Two sections in and I feel like it's a bunch of recycled boss mechanics and the basic enemy design is the same, just with a palette swap and a different status effect. It's harder, that's about all it has going for it, I one shot most of the bosses in the main game and these guys are actually challenging. I do like the level designs though. They're pretty awesome, especially for dlc.

Yeah you can do that, but it's too late for me now. The ivory king has one of the worst bosses in dark souls. Bleh.

I made my way into the dlc and have done 2/3 bosses in the crown of the sunken king and 1/? Bosses in crown of the ivory king. I was breezing through the main game too, but this stuff is difficult. Really difficult. It's incredibly enjoyable though. I think I have one boss left in the main game, I'll save it for when I'm done with the dlcs. Kinda irritated I can't get 2 achievements though. Apparently you have to summon them three times to finish 2 NPC quest lines. I've missed that opportunity, but I guess I can do that in NG+. Still can't settle on a weapon. Constant switching between an ultra great sword (either zwei or persuer's) and a basic mace. I don't know why I keep switching, but once one gets stale the other feels fresh and powerful, then the cycle repeats.

I keep trying Fallout Shelter every time I hear the segment on the show. I end up quitting about 5 minutes after the tutorial because I can't be bothered to do all the bullshit busy work it wants me to do. I don't really see what "game" there is in Fallout Shelter, but Chris always makes it sound so much fun.

Yup, that is just delicious. My Dad used to prep chicken parmigiana and eggplant parmigiana and keep them wrapped up in the fridge. A chicken/eggplant parmigiana sandwich is the best. You're disgusting. After talking about ketchup here I had a flash back to being a kid and having a friend around for a sleep over. He was completely incredulous that we didn't own a bottle of ketchup for him to put on his chips. He told everyone at school and I was treated like a weirdo for a week until everyone forgot about it.

I've gotten to the point where the vita version is unplayable. The frame rate is so slow at the higher levels that you can't do a thing. On the bright side, bugs are amazing. They completely negate the stress of failure and allow access to all the upgrades.

Ketchup is the devil. The smell of it makes me gag. Hamburgers either have mustard or BBQ sauce.

I can't watch it. It's like when a friend who's never played a game before is trying one. I just want to take the controller away and say "NO, this is how you do it."

I don't get it.