Topic: Crimson Desert

I’m not sure I’ve ever been so on the fence about a game. I just don’t understand what this is, despite being totally intrigued. At the point now where I think I’ll just take the plunge and see for myself. At the very least, I’ll have supported something ambitious and original. Wish me luck!

@Elodin ganging up is definitely a problem on this 😅 You can get stunlocked easily like that, for sure. Best to avoid being surrounded is all I can suggest there as they really pile on you at that stage 💀 pretty sure the enemy AI uses that moment so they can all get a shot in on you, too haha.

There may well be a green spirit move for that exact situation, though, allowing you to repulse anything surrounding you. Definitely one i'm going to look to get, as there is probably only a limited amount of AOE moves.

Back to it today and I think I just fought maybe like 400 bandits 😬 (possibly an exaggeration, but compared to other games it was next level. The game is literally insane on that front 😭😁
But luckily you can kind of tackle them in chunks, and any time they swarmed like zombies I definitely had to run away and circle back to split them off again to deal with them 3 or 4 at a time away from each horde group to avoid the swarming.

I also did a thing... (visited the optional boss I had left)

...It exploded 🤷‍♂️

If anyone needs help with this fight then one specific move helped me out a lot as I was really hanging on in there. I'll include in a spoiler how I managed to stun it.

@McSavage I know, right? I keep meaning to save clips of my best moves in open combat so far, but I always forget. I'll try and get the giant swing going in a pack of enemies at some point. I forgot to even use that move in my latest horde fight.

The art in this game is such a meme 💀

I don't know if this is a case of AI assets again or just an example of the awful taste of the nobles in Pywel. But I kind of love how bad it is 😁

This same mansion also had a picture puzzle lockbox which was actually a really cool thing to interact with in the game, and was far more tastefuly done than the pale, eyeless monstrosity they had hanging by their bed 😁

@Ravix the subject is looking far to the right but the immediate countenance gives Hag Witch Cataracts, and that lipstick is a choice.

I really want to get this game for my partner's birthday. Has anyone had troubles getting it to run smoothly on standard disc PS5? It looks like something we'd both be interested in playing but I have concerns based on what others have reported.

@DemonStar89 ah, yes. I see it now, it has a certain. .. je ne sais quoi

And the eyes really do follow you around the room... 😁

Honestly, the game is absolutely bananas, plenty of fun to be had. And i've seen people say they are happy enough with the base ps5, but it always depends on how you/they define it running smooth, I guess. They have patched the crashing issues, I think.

DF have a video up if that helps? They usually go into all kinds of details and sum up each mode on the console, so you'd probably be able to get an idea depending on your personal preferences for playing games.

@DemonStar89 Hey! I’m on a base PS5 and was concerned about this as well. I’ve put a couple of hours into it now. I’ve played around with all of the graphics settings and am pretty settled on balanced mode. I honestly think it runs well. It’s obviously not 60fps smooth on balanced but it’s crisp and stable. If you’re looking for an absolutely cutting edge presentation, this isn’t it, but it’s totally acceptable to my eyes.

As for the game, after a short time with it I can already confidently say that this is something you just have to try for yourself. It’s a lot and you’ll either get on with it or not. If the interest is there, might be worth just going for it. I’m glad I did.

Played a bit more last night. Not the most exciting session cause I was doing some of the main quests in chapter 2.

Are standard attacks kind of contextual by the way? Up until now I was tapping R1 to attack but it seemed to be different attacks depending on where the enemy was in relation to Kliff. I then started holding R1 and it does standard attack combos in a kid of automatic way. In my head I thought standard attacks would be like attacks in souls games but it doesn't seem to be the case. It seems the skill moves like R1 + X are the moves that are done manually.

@McSavage I was wondering this too. One of the first things I’ve done after skydiving is button mash my way through some 50 bandits at a camp…I didn’t have any real skills yet but Kliff was still slicing and body slamming his way through the fodder like I was a seasoned vet. In the fight I apparently learned how to drop kick folks but I can’t seem to get it working. Haven’t had the chance to troubleshoot why yet. Think I might need a corresponding skill to activate it 🤷‍♂️

@McSavage @Metonymy I believe they mentioned basic strikes are contextual based on body positioning, but it's that mad a game I genuinely haven't noticed what does what as there is always the need for multiple strikes and combos. It definitely does contextual finishes to combos where it does all kinds of slams and impalements, though.

I do tend to have a bunch of moves I manually do, but then hold r1 for the quick combo chain rather than doing individual r1 strikes. It's best to just keep experimenting, I think. I know with the current sword I have if I roll then tap r1 it does the special sword ability rather than waiting on the third hit of a combo, so there's a bunch of stuff you just have to find out by repetition and seeing what happens when.

I honestly don't know how I've beaten each boss, so far, first time, as i'm still very much learning on-the-fly.

A combat simulation arena would actually be a really nice feature where we can train on a dummy boss enemy that can be programmed to attack, evade, defend etc. I half expect it will be in the game, somewhere though... because absolutely everything else is 😅

@Ravix That makes sense, as I only felt partially in control of all of the cool stuff Kliff was doing. I don’t know how I made it through that fight - it’s crazy how many enemies the game throws at you - but it was exhilarating nonetheless. By the end of my session I had some cool skills and am starting to find a style. It’s nice that you can just reset skills with a button press (though it looks like a blanket reset?) Some fellow on a horse ended up joining the fray as well - never had a chance to thank them but I’m pretty sure I interacted with them earlier in town.

Nice work on the bosses. Does the learning experience ever end or is the game just always throwing new stuff your way? One of your previous posts had me thinking, “Of course there’s a Big Daddy in the game too, why wouldn’t there be?” All I know is I’m excited to get back home and play around in the sandbox.

A combat arena feels like a must. If it’s not already there, maybe it will be coming. Feels like they could add to this world endlessly. Looking at how ‘Phantom Liberty’ was integrated fills me with all kinds of wonder as to this games potential.

@Metonymy it feels like there will always be new stuff to learn, but I don't know. I assume at some point combat will be maxed out and you just choose to play however you feel most comfortable, but, honestly, I'm still in the first area so it's hard to know what lies ahead and what it could introduce in terms of challenges and skills. I haven't really done puzzles yet, but I know there are puzzles based on the intro and some locations. There's absolutley bloody loads of things to see in the distance, too, and i'm still kind of wondering how they managed to make such a huge game. Red Dead Redemption is an awesome world, but it is a normal world based on small towns and the odd big city, but this is literally like Tears of The Kindgom but in more realistic graphical style, and with, I assume, some more towns/cities with far more detials and mechanics. It's utterly bonkers. I think people got drawn in to the few complaints people had (especially those who werent playing it) and forgot to respect how bloody ambitious this game really is. It's just like the trailer we all saw and were like "what?" but not only is it the world that is massive, it's the mechanics. A lot of things are interactive, way more than I expected. And I hope it will inspire other devs to push the limits of game design once again. Not every game has to work the same way, and I hope the spirit of this game inspires people remembering that, at least.

My own latest surprise with the game was actually lore based, a character later on has a decent bit of depth to it if you are prepared to observe, listen and read, which is far more than I expected tbh. I just assumed some things would be designed based on look and vibe to be cool, rather than have any depth or logic. It isn't super cinematic, but there is more of a depth to it than expected, and it seems like the lore is growing on me as I play.

@Ravix That great to hear. The wildly polarizing discourse around the game did little to paint a clearer picture for me as to what exactly this thing is. After trying it, I think that’s kind of the point. There appears to be enough here that you’re just meant to go on a journey and see where it takes it you. That’s it. Sometimes it’s difficult to wrap my head around the simplicity of something 😆 Hopefully I can jump back in shortly here and add some more experiences to the thread.

Honestly (& excuse the vernacular) but this bird seems to get it on the weekly:

@JohnnyShoulder holy f***ing sh*t 🤣🤣🤣 he's only gone and nailed it, once again.

I wonder how much they have spent on Marketing this? It's creeped into parts of my youtube I wasn't expecting.

I just scared some geese off. Their chicks, which I didn’t initially see, chased after them. I followed them out onto a nearby pathway where a man was carrying a basket of apples. The chicks startled him, causing him to drop his basket. The apples spilled out everywhere. An approaching wagon had to stop and wait while the guy began to pick them up. A beggar came out of the woods and snagged two of the apples behind the man’s back while he was distracted by the wagon.This game is wild.

@Metonymy awesome 😁 This is the kind of reactivity The Witcher 4 was showing off in their tech demos! And possibly the best story i've read so far, haha! The game engine is great.

I don't know why it took me so long to realise I can throw meat to animals, too (or anything out of the inventory at anything), so i'm about to have Kliff retire as the owner of an animal sanctuary, I think.

Also when you drop items like spiders and centipedes they skuttle and crawl around the area, so i'm going to store a bunch just in case anyone pisses me off, and if they do... infestation at their place of work or residence!

My last big event came at a time I was just messing around as the main quest had a wait and see timer. I was just mopping up some blockaded outposts for some noble, and then I was met with some weird, evil, smoky boss cube (yeah, me either 🤷‍♂️) it feels like I should have beaten it later as it dropped a bunch of items and felt pretty difficult. And when I went back to the main quest it was like "deliver some hides and talk to a guy" and I was like.. i've just killed another 5 military camps worth of bandits and some devilish spawn, but okay, sure, i'll deliver this pelt for some guy 😁

Also, Yann is the most accurate british character i've ever seen in a game. The mouth on him 💀 (obviously he isn't British, but he is voiced as if he has been sent to this world on a diplomatic mission from 'The North')

Also: Shoot watchtowers with powered up arrows... very satisfying

@Ravix Oddly enough, I never thought of throwing meat to animals either! Of course they would account for it here though. I’m in awe of the world Pearl Abyss has created. How’s the animal sanctuary coming, anyway? And did you infest anyone’s residence? I’d half expect the food chain to start working its way into the situation. May come back to a residence full of bats or birds 😬

It’s almost hard to talk about the game without feeling like I’m spoiling things, the sense of discovery is crazy. That said, there’s just so much to stumble across so I suppose I can share that my latest session comprised of me getting consistently knocked unconscious by invisible forest children who collectively felt that I was getting a little too close to their hidden village, until I helped them find something. Turned out that something was an item off the top of this creature’s head.

That was just the latest session 😂

@Metonymy I just got distracted by stuff again, for the most part, so only Brown Dog has been acquired as a pet, and cats run away too much, even in Pororin where there is an abundance, but, saying that, they toppled over someone carrying a massive sack and scared some people so I recalled the goose tale and moved on with a laugh.

I've done some main quest, up to chapter 5 I think, but i'm also building up the camp and doing little side quests. I saw those parts which you mentioned, too. And i'm glad we didn't have to have a long conversation with the Ent to get the item back and we could just nick it off his head, because if it involved talking to an Ent plus the extra pauses that are in dialogues we'd still be on that quest days later.

Some of the actual voice acting in the game is top tier, though, even if sometimes you have to wait for it (i'm assuming the gaps are for native Korean voice over and not just weird paused for no reason) the kids/sprites piling on in the middle of a conversation was pretty funny and was a stand out moment for me thinking the VA's are actually doing great work in the game

And i've seen all the memes about the game being renamed Hernand. And I understand them. I feel like i've explored a lot, and done a lot, and i've still not explored some whole counties/ducheys and towns in Hernand.

I don't think i've fought another boss yet, either, but I have done some puzzles.

I won't mention specifics of what i've done as i'm sure you will be a bit behind me, but I finally had a reason to go to a place I saw when I first started the game. And that was a relatively near place, and i've seen many further places than that, so... 💀 The game is huge