Usually when I pick up my Switch lately I'm going for Demon's Tier+ or something else quick like Maze Blaze or Wizodd. But tonight I wanted something different, more involved (but not Diablo - I know, weird, right?) so I settled on another Torchlight II run. Figured it's almost the end of the year, it's about time.
Moved the hacked PS1 mini (it has like 80+ games on it now thanks to Autobleem, the most important of them being Diablo) to the living room to start up a new Diablo run. I beat it two years ago in September and I started my run(s) in August 2021. Something about August and fall, I guess. Last time, I tried a sorcerer but struggled til I switched to fighter, which I beat it with. This time, I'm trying a rogue. Never tried rogue before. Should be wild. Time for tons of saving and leaving all my gear on the ground in town! 🤣
Alathra's now level 16 and I'm starting in on floor 9, which is of course where that difficulty ramps up! However, I just went back to kill the Butcher and now I'm gonna take out Leoric. The Butcher was SO easy to take out with a level 16 rogue 🤣 I figure Leoric will be too. Diablo tip - wait to kill these two til later, when you're stronger! 🔥
Finally making some damn progress on level 9 in Diablo with my rogue run.
A big key for the rogue here is firing arrows toward where you know the monsters are (once you've died from them enough times to learn, ffs) to taunt them to come over near one of these wood enclosures with the door.
Then, you run inside, close the door, and fire out, chugging health potions. It works. They run over fast and want to surround you. My rogue Alathra is level 18 now, and pretty tough (Arkaines Valor etc) but if the monsters surround you on floor 9, they'll just kill you over and over. You can't even chug potions fast enough.
So I fully filled my inventory with health potions, had a town portal ready to go, kept saving every time I killed a few more, and I think I'm finally getting somewhere now.
I mean, I kept dying here a LOT. Was even trying Stone Curse, melee weapons, anything. It was brutal. Maybe now I can progress some more.
Did a little Path of Exile on the Series X this morning. PoE is a beautiful, fun game but it certainly lends itself to playing in short bursts because of how damn frustrating it can be. Just getting killed over and over at the same spot, STRONG enemies that are FAST despite me finding the best gear possible, socketing, etc.
As always in games (including Diablo II, despite me loving it), I hate how some games have enemies that respawn when you leave or re-enter an area. I've always thought that's a total garbage mechanic in games. If I kill you once, that should be it. Unless it's an animal or something, the specific monster enemies should STAY DEAD.
Anyway, trying as a witch this time in PoE and it's interesting. Brutal. But I'm gonna keep going. Carefully and slowly, apparently. 🙄
It figures, I recently uninstalled (the very fun and excellent for casual play - I played it a LOT) Diablo Immortal from my phone just to make a little more room in my storage, and now they're gonna put out this new Blood Knight class on July 13th. Looks like I'll be reinstalling Immortal. Sigh. This is too badass. 😂
"The Blood Knights are a supernatural, melee-hybrid class that are vampiric in nature. Blood Knights are warriors that have been bitten by vampires, but through using an ancient ritual, haven't been fully consumed by the vampire's curse. They don't age, can smell blood from miles away, and have supernatural strength and agility.
...Blood Knights can transform into powerful vampiric beasts to slay their foes. It's a transformative skill that requires players to kill enemies to keep the transformation going, and grants players new skills. When not transformed, Blood Knights also wield halberds alongside blood and shadow magic."
Looking back through some old games I bookmarked and Dreadhunter here is coming soon. It looks AMAZING. Like a roguelike or dungeon crawler but also a bit isometric and arpglike, like Diablo? Check this one OUT. Coming later this year maybe?
Got back into playing Colt Canyon this weekend and this morning a little. I loved it so much on Switch, I just put it on my Series X because it just went on sale for less than $5 (might still be on sale - seriously, try it, it's a killer roguelike). It's such a good game for quick runs. Now I have to unlock all the characters and weapons. It's a blast.
But over the weekend I couldn't stop thinking about og Diablo. I want to start up a new run of that sometime soon. Gonna try being a rogue (as I realized the other day I've never tried a rogue in any Diablo game), although I'm kinda worried about some tough spots. I beat the game a couple years back for the first time (I played it a bunch as a kid but never beat it) using a warrior, after not being able to get anywhere as a sorcerer. Especially the Butcher fight, that's a brutal early one it's easy to get stuck on if your character isn't strong enough. Best thing about og Diablo though, it's the only Diablo you can save anywhere. That's the best way to beat it, too. Just keep portaling back to town and healing/restocking.I had all my inventory just lying on the ground in town, since there's no stash. 🤣
Diablo Immortal has some of the most beautiful loading screen art I've ever seen in a game. The other Diablo games do too in some ways, but these are just BEAUTIFUL.
Also, the game is free to play, which is cool, and it doesn't have in-game ads or anything. I feel like it's the most fun, immersive mobile rpg I've ever played. You'll need a strong phone to run it, though. It's big and resource heavy. I have a new Samsung S21, these are screenshots from that. My old Samsung S7 could NEVER have run this properly.
I don't usually, but today I double dipped on both Bit Dungeon Plus and Torchlight II and put them on my Series X (I already have them on Switch). They're both on crazy sale right now. For less than $2 and $7 respectively, I couldn't resist. They're only on sale for a couple more days on the Microsoft store if you wanna grab em, and yeah, they're THAT good of games (at least to me) that I want them on more than one console.