Darksiders Series

D1 and D2 have XBox One Remastered versions on Game Pass plus you can play the regular BC 360 version if you own them. I’ve been wanting to play the first two for years. I think I will since they got 4K updates.

Haven’t played the first one BC but the second one is just awesome with the 4K update.
 
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Darksiders III

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Darksiders 3 Patch #2 (December 20th) Public Release!
20 DECEMBER - MEGALOMANIACNG
Changelog
Improvements:
  • Added new option for Combat. Upon loading a save or starting a new game, players will be prompted to choose between “Default” and “Classic” combat. “Classic” mode should feel more like previous Darksiders titles allowing Fury to dodge interrupt her attacks as well use items instantly. “Default” mode is the original combat mode for Darksiders III. The option can be changed at any point in gameplay options while playing. This has no other effects on difficulty or achievements.
  • Improved ledge grab detection on Fury so she can more consistently grab ledges.
  • Additional optimizations to help stuttering while streaming.
  • Added “Health Lurcher” item to Vulgrim that allows player to purchase refills for Nephilim’s Respite .
  • Added “Echo Mark” item to Vulgrim that allows player to refund their spent attribute points.
  • Added a few new checkpoints.
  • Raised the level cap to 200. Also, rebalanced leveling curve post level 80 as well as stat rewards..
Fixes:
  • Fixes for random crashes
  • General performance improvements.
  • Fix for Force Coral where it wouldn’t break correctly. This will also fix previous saves with this issue.
  • Fix for some checkpoints that weren’t registering.
  • Cycling difficulty options while in game will not affect actual difficulty unless it is changed.
  • Fix for Abraxis Health bar showing up but he is missing.
Balance Changes:
  • Fury will no longer take damage while performing an Arcane Counters.
  • Havoc Form does more Damage.
  • Increased Havoc Generation on Obscurus Enhancement.
  • Increased Health and Damage amounts on Fortifier Enhancement.
  • Increased Health Regeneration on Leviathan Enhancement.
  • Increased Lurcher Reward from destroying breakables on Leviathan Enhancement.
  • Increased Chance to Spawn Wrath when killing an Enemy on Rage Enhancement.

Enjoy and keep the feedback coming. The easiest to track feedback and reports is our tracker here: https://redmine.thqnordic.com/projects/darksiders-iii-public-tracker/issues/new
 
I'm thinking I'll pick this up to play over Christmas.
 
All round good changes. But I need to finish rdr2 which is taking me forever.
 
So I picked this up and I’m liking it. The reviews of it seem a little on the harsh side after I’ve played it myself. That said, I didn’t like it at the very start the way it put you right into a boss fight where you had to use the environment to reach attack range. I kept falling or missing a jump and then she does that unavoidable attack that wrecks you. I found that fight very frustrating to have it so immeadiately in the game from the start. After that though it settles down nicely and flows long at a good pace. I did find it easier to control once I reduced the sensitivity as well.
 
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20% discount on steam right now for the game, (not sure for how long), for anyone on the fence.

I got it myself, & downloading now.

I am not done with RDR2, but pushing into the epilogue seems to push the game a bit too far. I need to take a break. I probably need to adjust back to playing other games that provide some challenges, as RDR2 is so ridiculously easy.
 
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I really love the use of elements in this and the way you can swap to different powers on the fly. It’s particularly great on the water levels, using ice to walk on the water and then swapping to power so you can sink the bottom. It’s adds a whole other dimension to the gameplay. It reminds of Legacy of Kain from back in the day.
 
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The game has been downloaded (steam), but I need to finish RDR2 first.
 
I put some time into the game. The game is hard, but it feels cheap rather than design like spider-man or GoW. The camera angle can be god awful, especially in the tight areas, which is 1/2 the area, & if you get swarmed or cornered, you can die in a few hits. There is no mechanic that helps you get out of being cornered.
For a game that is third in the series, I am expecting better combat. The best strategy is to lure out enemies one by one, but it does not fit the theme of the character which is supposed to be badass and all powerful.

Also, there is a general lack of moves- I think a nice thing about combat, is you can swap weapon to attack on the fly. The game is crying for finishing moves, more move sets & maybe block. Shame, the combat can be much improved with simply added combat tools.

The animation is decent, the level design is okayish, but let down by combat, the core of the game. It wasn't not fun, but its give you button macherish moves, while the enemies moves is design for soul like combat.
If you look at a good combat system. like spider-man. Different enemies required different approach, but the game gives you enough tools to do that.
 
Anyway, I think one thing good about the game is you can keep grinding to level up, as most enemies will respawn.
 
I clocked 11 hours now into the game.
Updated feedback.

The combat does improve with more weapons, enchantment & upgrade. I am enjoying it more than at the start. The camera is definitely a problem, especially in very tight areas. A simple solution reduces the number of enemies at tighter areas.

Some checkpoints are still too far apart (thankfully there is normally a checkpoint near boss fight), & it can be bad when you are stuck, either unsure where to go, or stuck at a puzzle. In my opinion, if you are making a single player game, have the option of multiple save files, as well as let people save & restart where they let off. Allow multiple save files actually save developer ass, in case the save file gets corrupted or bugged, players can return to another save or an autosave. I am never a fan of the checkpoint system. To be fair, it saves action you have done like open a gate or solved puzzle, so if you died & restart from a checkpoint, you do not have to redo them again.

Visually, it's decent though at times the game looks like a last gen game, with last gen assets, & PBR(Physical base rendering) barely visible at all. The game was developed in UE4 which default PBR. It seems only the most basic material & texture map (which is plasticish) is applied for most objects. I have a feeling the game was design last gen & polish for current gen. But anyway, it wasn't bad looking, it just wasn't near the polish most AAA game I played recently. Coming back from RDR2, this looks like last gen.

Level design is pretty good so far, with some bonus areas you need to be attentive to the spot. Puzzles are decent, but the game can do a better job to let you know certain areas are not accessible due to lack of tool/weapons/power. Tomb Raider, for instance, let you know when you don't have the tools yet for certain areas. The game is also begging for a map. No need to be super detail, but an overview map of where you are in the world & the location of checkpoints would be nice. Its also often confusing to me, where to go next. The game doesn't provide a single hint. Most areas are linear in nature, but I did have to look at the walkthrough a few time to know where to go next. GOW & Tomb raider solved this issue by a marker on the map, so you have a general direction to go.
 
I am done with the game. Clocked 28 hours on steam. Fairly decent length for a hack & slash game.

I rated it 7.8/10. The game provides too little clue where to go next, & many occasion I need to rely on a guide. There are a few frustrating timed puzzles, one of which you can die when failed & have you fight some tough enemies again. There is one particularly tough boss, & its 2nd-second phase is bogus (hint, involve some swimming). Once you figure out the pattern, & exercise a bit of patience. it wasn't too bad.

Ironically, the most frustrating boss is the 1st one, which is supposed to be the easiest, due to the jump-swing. The first time you need to learn the timing of the grapple (which isn't the most intrusive, compared to Tomb Raider for instance), is the boss fight!! I almost wanted to refund the game, but persisted.

I don't like that once you consumed an item & you died & respawn, it's gone. Which means if you used them & died, the next refight started with less items! You can buy them, but the price INCREASE each time you buy, so forget about buying at all.

So I end up NOT using any item except the Main healing one (the only one that regen upon respawning). If you ask me, the simple solution is consumable items have a cooldown, so you wouldn't have to worry about saving them.

Anyway, some tips for those intend to play.

Upgrade Chaos gem (or whatever its called) to max, & socket it to your main weapon of choice ( I socketed the whip) & it gives life steal which is very helpful in boss battles, & against a long stretch of tough enemies between checkpoints.
There is also a gem Levithian that regen life. You can use it when traversing for some life regen. Also helpful when you ran out of healing items, & there are tough enemies ahead. It takes a long time to heal though.

Other useful gems are Juggernaut and shade which reduce physical damage & Arcane (magic) damage respectively. I put one of them in my secondary weapon. The effect is passive.

Explored! Many of the upgrades require exploration, & I find them quite fun. Exploration also often loop back to the previous area which can be a time saver & save some frustration to return to another area from a Serpent hole (fast travel/shop).
 
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Finished it. I really liked it overall and to be honest, the three games together probably make for one of the best game trilogies out there as all three are really solid. I hope they decide to do number 4 with Strife so we can see the end of the story because this ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and there is plenty of references back to what Strife is up to.
 
They said this would only need to sell 100k to get a 4th and it did 70k on steam in its first week so that plus the console sales would tell me it's happening.

Dare say sales picked up over Christmas. Was silly releasing so soon after RDR2
 
They said this would only need to sell 100k to get a 4th and it did 70k on steam in its first week so that plus the console sales would tell me it's happening.

Dare say sales picked up over Christmas. Was silly releasing so soon after RDR2

You’d have to think they broke 100k so here’s hoping for the final installment so!
 
On to the 2nd game now.

Prefer War to Death at the moment but im still early in
 
On to the 2nd game now.

Prefer War to Death at the moment but im still early in

I still haven’t finished the second one. I’m close enough to the end. I need to go back and clear it. It’s just massive compared to the first and third one though.
 
Only played a little bit of the game, but it bothers me that the focus is on combat but the combat may be the worst of the series.
 
Only played a little bit of the game, but it bothers me that the focus is on combat but the combat may be the worst of the series.

I didn’t like it at the start either but the combat is really good once you get into the swing of it. It’s all about counter attacks and combo moves.
 
There isn't a lot of choices for 3D hack & slash, more so if you do not have an PS4, so Darksider is pretty much the most decent one until DMC5 launched.

The combat is fairly basic, & its mostly just dodging & positioning, which every hack & slash game can do, but other games provide more tools. There is this havoc form, but it takes so long to build up, its not a reliable source of combat tactics.
 
There isn't a lot of choices for 3D hack & slash, more so if you do not have an PS4, so Darksider is pretty much the most decent one until DMC5 launched.

The combat is fairly basic, & its mostly just dodging & positioning, which every hack & slash game can do, but other games provide more tools. There is this havoc form, but it takes so long to build up, its not a reliable source of combat tactics.

You have wrath attacks and havkc attacks. If you build up your arcane and max out the runes that generate havoc and wrath, you can pop that bad boy about every 8 minutes.
 
You have wrath attacks and havkc attacks. If you build up your arcane and max out the runes that generate havoc and wrath, you can pop that bad boy about every 8 minutes.
The wrath certainly has a more reliable regen rate for sure, though it wasn’t change the gameplay much. Havoc even with max out rune (that you need to equip over another more useful ones), still takes 8 mins. You just explained the issue. Not a reliable source for combat. Games like GoW or spider-man allow you to generate focus & reduce cooldown of runic attacks that you can rely upon when engaging in most combat while not sacrificing much of other abilities.



Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the game, but I am not pretending the game can be much better with just a little polish in combat compare to recent releases, & even classic like ninja Gaiden.
 
There isn't a lot of choices for 3D hack & slash, more so if you do not have an PS4, so Darksider is pretty much the most decent one until DMC5 launched.

The combat is fairly basic, & its mostly just dodging & positioning, which every hack & slash game can do, but other games provide more tools. There is this havoc form, but it takes so long to build up, its not a reliable source of combat tactics.
Greatest hack and slash ever made is on xbox BC in 4k.
 
Ninja Gaiden black
Agreed. It was way more advanced than any hack & slash of its time. Very few games give the satisfactory of slashing the enemies to the air, then air combo follows by spinning file driver (Izuna Drop) down. Never gets old.

 
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