#summoning hans tutorial

[trinityprocessing]

Was looking for Hans at the devils den

Couldn't find Hans at the devil's den

See Samu

Say hi to Samu

*Boom* Hans appears

Hans walks into Samu and Henry

[bustedassgames]

Chaos Legion

Man.

Fucking Chaos Legion.

It's an hack and slash made by Capcom, it's not Devil may cry, but it's kinda close.

The plot is... I don't know how to describe it, it feels good enough, but it isn't delivered very well; it's about two edgy anime dudes, Sieg Wahrheit , which, by the way, is named after a fucking painting, and Victor DeLaCroix. Sieg ( the dude you control ) killed Siela, a girl who was very important to Victor, we don't know how or when, but now Victor has gone mad and wants to bring about the end of the world and bla bla bla bla

And, you know, this isn't THAT BAD, i mean, there's a little bit of mistery going on since we don't know why Sieg killed Siela or what's Victor’s plan etc, but it feels soooo clichè and it kinda makes it hard to take it too seriously, since fucking EVERYONE can't stop from making cringe anime poses in every single cutscene.

But enough of that shit, now for the gameplay. In this game you kill stuff, a lot of demon stuff and man does it feel great to kill stuff in this game. It controls like a standard third person hack and slash, you've got your standard 4 hits combo, a dodge roll, you can sidestep etc, but the interesting part comes with the legion system, your legion is basically your stand, you can choose up to 2 legions per level, there's about 7 of them and they all feel cool to use. You can use your legion by eiether performing an assist (your legion comes out for a single attack) or by just summoning them, which makes Sieg weaker and slower but the price to pay is well worth it. Sieg in general controls pretty well, the dodge roll is kinda trash and jumping away is always the better solution for dodging attacks. Also it feels sooooo cool to just walk around with your legion following you, makes for great screenshots too!

The levels are super linear, you go in a room, enemies spawn, you kill them, go to the next room, repeat. BUT, surprisingly, it doesn't get boring! Killing shit just feels good and there's enough room for you to experiment and play around with your legion to see what works and what doesn't, and it's something that you'll have to do cause this game doesn't fuck around, even on the standard difficulty some levels will kick your ass for a while, but the game isn't very long so it doesn't get too frustrating. Bosses are also pretty good for the most part, even if a bit gimmicky.

*im too cool to look into the camera* This leads me to talking about something else; the lenght of Chaos Legion. It's pretty short, about 5 hours to finish up the campaign, but you can also get back on the already completed levels to get more exp and high scores etc etc. The thing is, those 5 hours will feel much, much longer than what they really are. I would normally be able to finish a game that lasts 5 hours in one sitting, but Chaos Legion fucking EXHAUSTED me, after every couple levels i just had to close the damn thing cause i was phisically getting tired, but in a good way! Im not sure how to describe it, you should try this for yourself. One of the things that can make the whole experience feel frustrating is the lack of a decent tutorial for most of your moves, or any kind of explanation on how to level up your damn legion really. For example, at one point i kept on bumping into items that i just couldn’t reach with my normal jump, i went into the menus and found out that i was supposed to be able to jump higher thanks to one of my legions but it didn’t really tell me how, turns out you have to level up the ‘’enchant’’ attribute to get passive bonuses for Sieg, which kind of fucking sucks. Speaking of level up, there are two ways to get stronger, exp ( which is used for your legions only ) and items, items straight up increase your attributes permamently, and there’s no end to them, so in theory you could just repeat a level over and over again to farm stat-boosting items to get stupidly op, but there wasn’t really a need to do that. You can see that as a kind of last resort, if the game is getting too intense, you’re taking too much damage or not dealing enough, just retreat and farm a bit, it can only get easier. To wrap this up, there are two last things i want to mention At one point in the game you get to play as another character, Arcia, who duel wields guns, and honestly, despite her having a single level, she’s just so much more fun to play as than Sieg! The whole time i was playing her level i kept on thinking ‘’man i wish there was a whole game where you play as her’’ which i found pretty interesting, given how usually games throw at you ‘’alternative’’ levels (such as the ones with vehicles in crash bandicoot) and they can be total trash or just boring, when here it’s just better than the base game!

And now, for the audio. The audio is really fucked up. The voice acting is... decent, about what you would expect from a sunday morning anime, the sound effects are way too fucking loud, i really suggest turning them down first thing after you boot up the game, but the music is FANTASTIC, honestly, the boss themes are absolute banger and they immediatly ended up in my playlist, if you’re not sure about playing this try to look up the boss theme, you’ll want to play this after hearing that!

Oh, an by the way, this is painting after which the protagonist is named, it’s called  Allegory or The Triumph of Justice, 1598, by Hans von Aachen

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Guide to Raising Servants for Beginner Masters

You thought this was going to be an Utsumi analysis! You fool! This guide will give you an idea of what Servants to raise as soon as possible, and your eventually goal as to why their skill levels should be for maximum efficiency. The main section will be for 1-3 stars, ignoring post Septum story-locks, and the 4-star tutorial summon Servants. This will not cover welfares. There will be different sections for NA and JP as well, due to notable differences in pools. 

NA sections will also cover JP, with the exception of the Tutorial Summon. JP will cover sections exclusive to JP. I use 10 and x as notation for skills for brevity.

10 will mean that this skill should be heavily prioritized. This does not mean that the Servant needs that skill at level 10 to perform, but that you should level this skill as high as possible. 

x will mean that this skill should not be heavily prioritized. This can range from a skill like Mozart’s 2nd skill which shouldn’t be raised at all, to Euryale’s 2nd skill which is useful but should only be considered later. 

1-Star (NA): Mozart, Level 50/60, 10/x/10 Arash, Level 60/60, x/x/10 Mata Hari: Level 50/60, x/10/10 Spartacus: Level 60/60, x/10/10 Paul Bunyan, Level 60/60, 10/x/10

2-Star (NA): Georgios, Level 65/65, 10/x/10 Leonidas, Level 65/65, 10/10/10 Hans Christian Anderson, Level 65/65, 10/10/10 William Shakespeare, Level 55/65, 10/x/x Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Level 65/65, x/x/10

2-Star (JP): Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Level 65/65, 10/x/10 Gareth, Level 65/65, 10/10/10 Chen Gong, Level 65/65, x/10/10 Paris, Level 65/65, x/10/10

3-Star (NA): Euryale, Level 70/70, 10/x/10 Robin Hood, Level 70/70, x/10/10 Cu Chulainn, Level 70/70, 10/10/x Gaius Julius Caesar, Level 70/70, 10/10/x Ushiwakamaru, Level 70/70, 10/10/x Alexander, Level 70/70, 10/x/10 Cu Chulainn (Caster), Level 70/70, 10/10/x Lu Bu, Level 70/70, 10/x/10 Medusa, Level 70/70, 10/10/10 David, Level 70/70, x/x/10 Charles Babbage, Level 70/70, 10/10/10 Hassan of the Hundred Faces, Level 70/70, 10/10/10 Tawara Tota: Level 70/70, 10/10/x Billy the Kid, Level 70/70, x/10/x Avicebron, Level 70/70, x/x/10

3-Star (JP): Boudica, Level 60/70, 10/x/10 Romulus, Level 70/70, x/10/10 Paracelsus von Hohenheim, Level 70/70, 10/x/10 Fuuma Kotaro, Level 70/70, x/x/10 Mandricardo, Level 70/70, 10/x/10

4-Star (NA): Mashu, Level 80/80, 10/10/10 Siegfried, Level 80/80, 10/x/10 Chevalier d’Eon, Level 80/80, x/x/x EMIYA, Level 80/80, x/10/10 Elizabeth Bathory, Level 80/80, 10/10/x Marie Antoinette, Level 80/80, x/10/x Martha, Level 80/80, x/x/10 Stheno, Level 70/80, x/x/10 Carmilla, Level 80/80, 10/10/x Heracles, Level 80/80, 10/x/x Tamamo Cat, Level 80/80, 10/x/x

4-Star (JP): Suzuka Gozen, Level 80/80, 10/x/10 Atalanta, Level 80/80, 10/x/10 Parvati, Level 80/80, 10/10/10 Marie Antoinette, Level 80/80, 10/10/x Nursery Rhyme, Level 80/80, 10/x/10 Helena Blavatsky, Level 80/80, 10/x/10

[fgodestinyawakenings]

EOR Shinjuku Singularity: Section 17~END

And... I’m fucking done!!!! I’m FUCKING DONE FROM THIS TUTORIAL STAGE OF HP BAR! But most importantly, I’m done with Shinjuku story!! Emiya Alter now unlocked and can be spooked anytime... I’m... Going back to grind for QP OTL

Section 17

Greeted by Other James upon entering... Though there’s not much difference between the two, Other James commented he’s surprised that he even had a good side that opposed him. While Guda commented our James is a good friend, Other James doesn’t care as it was meant to be thrown away.

His focus was onto the Gudas, who got captured yet rescued with Holmes help. And now, returned back here to face him for the final fight. Wait? 3000 years? We only just met like now? Why would you have a 3000 grudge against us?

Either way, the meteor is definitely on its way into the gun barrel. A strange thing he chanted that he doesn’t want to die but yet values his plan more than his own life... Regardless, our first round of fight with Moriarty is here!!

Merlin definitely died at some point... But Leonidas’s taunt been keep both Vlad and Merlin alive for a long while! The RNG for skill and np seal, is not as headache as compared to JP.  However... The Buff Removal RNG can still be shitty when it landed on the wrong person OTL

The defeat of the Evil Moriarty... Now the meteor shouldn’t be coming any closer to Earth! Huh? What do you mean it’s not over?! That’s right... There’s no Holy Grail around powering the meteor to come... What the... Da Vinci? What’s going--?!

A laughter from an unknown being appeared before them. And he knows the Gudas?! Goetia!!!?!?!! No, that’s not him, he’s definitely defeated... A DEMON GOD PILLAR?!?!?!!?!?!?! Yeah, I thought those were gone when we defeat Goeta!!

The Demon God Pillar before them confirmed they were indeed wiped out. So, the reason it came back was because... It hated us, a normal human like Gudas, destroyed all their plans. A normal human Guda that chanced upon joining Chaldea and eventually saved Humanity. Because of that, it wanted to destroy the whole world to kill us...

Apparently, Charles Babbage of this world was supposed to be one of the Demon God vessel! From there he calculated the knowledge he received of when the incineration of humanity will take place.

With its hatred, Demon God Bael planned and gained powers from 3000 years so this would happen. And for James... What...? James...? What are you...? He shot Holmes and...

Everything from this from the start... All of this... Even his splitting himself into two... Was to... HOLMES!!! He was shot right into his spirit Origin... HOLMES!!! What? His Spirit Origin isn’t gone? Moriarty took his Spirit Origin... And now he’s more complete than ever

Betraying us until this point... From the start with Shinjuku being told like out of a storybook, cutting off from the world and humanity. A fictional city when anything impossible can happened and exist... From there, both met and forged alliance in making their respective goals to get what they want.

Using the logic behind the 21 game,  Holmes win by going second that’s how in their story James always lose. A story in their world, good always win and evil always lose. Because of their story that restricted them, that’s when James created the plan in joining us so he could win from there

As Artoria Alter vexed at not seeing sooner, something that no one could see. He erased his memory, hence resetting his own existence. Creating two version of himself, or using Bael was the evil one, they both played their role. Well, thanks for the help as always, Jerk!

Emiya Alter arrived and shot at Bael! Which... That was his goal all along?! Among the league that was summoned, he was without a doubt still on his role as the counter guardian to defeat the evil in this Singularity! With Emiya Alter joining us... He handle Bael, while we, got a round 2 to settle a score with Moriarty!

While I’m lucky most NP of them both hits either on Invincibility or Taunted target... The longest and worst is still fighting Bael himself. AOE Berserker could’ve been preferred... But I’m not risking it with James and Bael gimmicks in this

The defeat of the Demon God Pillar Bael is done! As Moriarty bid farewell to Bael... Bael too lament in regret and furious that he can’t killed the Gudas, yet laugh...? What do you mean the fate is sealed?!

It disappeared now leaving James who’s still on his plan for the meteor. It’s here right at the sky!! And we’ve moved?!!

Section 18

As James comments about this Singularity being a story... He mentions again about Der Freischutz being able to hit his target with six out of seven bullets. The seventh bullet was the grim reaper that killed the one he loved, one bullet that he was forced to shoot even he doesn’t want to.

The meteor confirmed being the seventh bullet and James with his Phantom Spirit... So the bullet.... IT WILL HIT THE GUDAS?! From his plan that involve Bael needing to kill him seriously... That way he earned Guda’s trust, and considered Gudas to be someone very precious to protect... AND THE SEVENTH BULLET WILL HIT THEM NO MATTER WHAT!

Now that it’s really coming towards Gudas, and Holmes is still being inside James... Both Emiya Alter and Artoria Alter left to intercept the bullet. The latter consoling they did nothing wrong, while Emiya Alter complimented at their calm determination despite what they learned

Chaldea is now able to force rayshift onto the Gudas now that the Shinjuku has a locked on their existence with the incoming bullet. Gudas asked if Moriarty regret this, both having no regrets to everything that come so far... A breeze... And blue-black flame with a well known laughter.... It’s the real Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond!!

And Jeanne Alter too! Thanks to Holmes’s advice in watching her feet, she saved herself by diving into the manhole to escape from Lobo! Not only that, Shakespeare is rescued! Hans is also here!! And something for us?

Confirming from James that Sherlock’s power is still within him, both William and Hans uses their Noble Phantasm to summon all the Detective spirits they could summoned to help us! Wait us? Sherlock planned for you guys in aiding us one way or another to defeat Moriarty?!

... Understood. As James finally took out the Holy Grail of this Singularity, the final battle of this Singularity began... James Moriarty, this is the end, it’s time to face your defeat! Your giant ghost of riddles vs our phantom ghost of detective to solve this mystery!!

Thank god for Xuangzang’s NP twice in killing Enigma first! That thing is a pain in the ass after my lesson learned in JP... But the real MVP of this fight, Leonidas. Cu helped in being the DPS later... But Leonidas is the real man, tanking and criting James until his death!

Compared to the fight Bael... Yeah, this one is more easier compared to Bael. Though near end... Merlin died since I ran out of options to stall James from his NP.

Overpowering him, we can defeat him this time! But, he uses the Holy Grail one last time to give him more strength... Not like we’re going to let it happen! By the power of the detective given to us as a borrowed Noble Phantasm... James Moriarty....

THE CULPRIT BEHIND THIS WHOLE FICTIONAL SINGULARITY IS YOU! Now that he’s been forced to admit he’s the culprit... The magical energy is now leaving him! James knows that even with all the detective on Gudas’s side, he could’ve win. Yet... Because he pretended to be a good guy, he acted so deeply into it... Without realizing, he became the mask of a good guy and had fun from it

The memories of their shenanigans from James, made him attached the feeling what was it like on the side of Justice. 

And at Artoria’s and Emiya’s end, both are now able to destroy the meteor coming to them. Chaldea’s end, they still can’t get the Gudas out from the Singularity. A single shot imbued with his Noble Phantasm, Emiya’s bullet fired and destroyed the large meteor into smaller ones! Artoria Alter’s Excalibur Morgan blasted away the remaining pieces into nothingness! They saved the whole world!

Now at the League, James chuckled at even if they’re able to reach their goal. They were still content at what was the end result. James is about to return to the Throne of Heroes, apologizing for his action and admitting he really does enjoy their time together in his anmesia self. He also cursed at the Detective Spirits for causing his downfall

The detective spirits also took their leave too. James wondered if one of them meant sarcasm on finding happiness in the future. Though, that’ll mean you coming home to people’s chaldea despite being a fucking limited Servant here! YEah, we’ll entertain you big time so do come home then, James!

Now that he left, both Shakespeare and Hans left with their work overdue again. As for Edmond... He returned back to his tower, assuring if we need his help, he’ll come down again.

Leaving Jeanne Alter now... Well, you can be summoned anytime if you also don’t make yourself limited to. But oh well... Emiya Alter returned with giving message Artoria already riding off to somewhere once their mission completed. Emiya Alter bid us farewell not without saying we’ll need to pay him a fee if we needs his help once he’s summoned

On purpose without attempting to be honest herself... She’s finally honest in getting a dance with the Guda. Don’t even try to lie you want to get back at Artoria Alter. She’s doing a favor of trying to get what she wanted.

With a dance entertained, we rayshifted back home at last... Guda left off without telling Mash what happened, so she chase after them. Da Vinci orders the staff to analyze the Singularity now that it’s cleared... HUH?! WHAT THE HELL?! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE, HOLMES?!

Wait... Okay while he gets to stay... There’s still other pillars out there?! Three or rather four with an event counted as the main story.. They survived and escaped after the last Singularity. Even with Incineration of Humanity and this solved... is this foreshadowing of Part 2?!

Oh well, at least you can go do a favor in falsifying data to keep the Gudas safe. Even the staff agree on having genius will be a handful here...

Now in Shinjuku street, Artoria feeds Cavall II one last time before leaving. Here’s hoping a new owner or a free life will give him happiness! After than a narration about Shinjuku and the world ordeal itself... It’s over, Shinjuku Phantom case is finally solved!

Thoughts & Observation

Aniplex, couldn’t you just fucking give us this Singularity first instead of that fucking spartan lesson?!

Expected of tutorial stage, if you got majority of your Servants level at a decent one, it shouldn’t be that hard to fight against the gimmicks for this Singularity

The second round of Singularity with the use of Avenger Servants as enemy before a certain class kicks in. By the time with practice against Kingu and Gorgon... There should be ideas for team composition to deal neutral damage

Phantom & Christine

Apparently HP break for Christine doesn’t really equivalent she’s changing her class to shorten NP gauge

But dealing with both Berserker is hell regardless what version you’re in

Amusing that Phantom’s charm keep landing on the male support instead of Ishtar right there

Servants wise:

Your best AOE NP Servant from either Welfare or 3* should suffice to wipe them one shot

Healers definitely needed or support that buff defense because the moment Christine turned into a giant ghost, it’s when things start going shit when she fucking crits

CEs:

Kiyohime CE: I equipped this on Ishtar, so it helps a lot in killing Phantom once Christine is down

Charm resist CE: I don’t use it but well either skill of debuff resist or anything should suffice if Phantom’s charm does land on your Female Servant

Yan Qing

My only problem with him is his sudden NP tick. The front mobs weren’t an issue with Leonidas killing them asap

Gimmick on draining wasn’t also that much of a problem... Well except I need to start afresh because of needing Leonidas NP taunt to do so

Crit damage still a little painful... But whole problem is his NP charge giving either less time to get taunter ready or Merlin to pull up his AOE invincibility because no one where he’s going to hit

Servants wise:

If you don’t have Xuangzang, your best Servant in this is Medea. With the right team, you can get her to spam her NP often to remove his crit buffs. Her first skill also gave instant full NP charge when Yan Qing activated his gimmick upon entering his wave

For the front mobs, AOE Lancer or so should do the trick in wiping them out

AOE Caster can still work though their damage wise may not be as effective ST Caster

Taunters are definitely preferred in this fight, more or less to avoid Yan Qing’s NP to hit on your support & DPS

Support wise... I’d say 1 staller if you have, more or less to either stun or drain his NP if your taunter or AOE defense Servant isn’t ready

CEs:

Kiyohime CE: Practically this CE is mostly needed for this Singuarity

NP Seal: Works well for me, especially stalling wise on his NP

Taunts CE: In the case if you want him to focus on your taunters longer

Lobo

For his first round, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE AND BRING A FULL TEAM FOR BOSS FIGHTING OTL

Even if his gimmick on defese down debuff failed, his normal attack let alone his crit hurts like a fucking bitch for an Avenger

Second round thank god being Rider still... Jeanne is my savior to protect from his NP + healing from Jeanne Alter’s burning field

Third round and fourth round... Taunters are really your best friend

This is definitely one of the most difficult fight thanks to his Avenger class and gimmicks

Servants wise:

Rider version: Shiki or your best ST NP Assassin to do the job in killing him. But taunters is needed still, because majority Assassin evasion isn’t effective with his NP effect.

Jeanne is viable for only Rider version with her NP to keep your team alive + healing together

Avenger version:

Euryale: Your best bet by far with Charm + NP staller, she can helped in delaying from his NP activated. But with her low HP on the problem, a good Caster support and Taunter can keep her alive

Proto Cu: My own Cu isn’t that good and needs more work... But effectively with his skills at the decent level + stats maxed out, he should be your best DPS against him

ST Berserker: At your own risk as the moment an Avenger crits.. It can be insta-death on them

CEs:

Kiyohime CE

NP Seal CE

Taunt CE: Because sometimes a normal attack will kill your support Caster in a blink of an eye

Insta-death resist CE: This is mostly if your RNG screw you badly on the final round... But otherwise if you’re lucky, it’ll always be a miss.

Emiya Alter

A one-time boss fight but... Don’t waste your time kill ALL 200 Hornets

Unlike a certain event coming, he doesn’t have any gimmicks. The battle ends with his HP bar break

Servants wise:

AOE/ST Lancer: Take your pick as your main target is to clear off his first HP layer

AOE/ST Berserker: Same as the reason above... Though the Hornets with Emiya Alter will kill them quickly before they can kill him

Taunters: With his NP being an ST type, bring one in to keep your DPS alive for this whole fight

CEs:

Kiyohime CE

Taunts CE

Defensive CE: If needed against the Hornets together

James Moriarty & Bael

NA feels easier... But among the 3 round, the worst one is still the one with Bael

Enigma was actually better this time unlike NA, but the party cost gave me limited setup choices for this fights

Bael:

The first unique Demon God Pillar that becomes the Avenger class in this EOR Singularity

His AOE normal attack helps a lot in buffing your team’s NP quickly, along with his crits too

I don’t remember him charging his NP by 1 tick... But at least thank god his NP has always landed on the taunted targets before the effect runs out

Servants wise:

AOE Lancer/Berserker: Being the second round fight with James, your AOE Lancer is preferred to fight with Bael and James. Unlike Berserker, if you picked Lancer for DPS, put your focus onto Bael since AOE NP from your Servant will hit James at the same time. But also unlike Berserker, they aren’t prone to dying faster from the class affinty

Taunters: His NP is immediate insta-death unless you got permanent Guts buff on your Servant. Use them as suicide scapegoat to avoid your support and DPS dying

CE:

Taunt CE

Attack Boost CE: This is before a certain class arrival, basic damage increase is welcome to deal against him

Defensive CE: For your AOE Berserker in this fight

Enigma:

I got no comments since I immediately two-shotted this giant ghost before anything can happened

Though thanks to this ghost, it’s the reason the final fight my party is having limited choice for Lancer DPS

Other than its AOE attack, it acts as Moriarty support for this whole fight. From draining your party’s NP, sealing them and their skill to charging James’s NP full when needed... Your main priority is to get rid it first before going after James

Servants:

Medea if you don’t have Xuangzang. Xuanzang is more of together with borrowed support Merlin + Shakespeare to 2 shot it gone

But Medea wise, can either double Tamamo (if you do have your own), or borrowed Waver to support her attack damage to kill it

AOE Caster also works... But not that recommended as preferred most damage will hit on Enigma to kill it quickly

AOE Berserker: If you’re using them, you’ll definitely want Enigma dead immediately or ASAP because class affinity

Martha Ruler & Scathach: For the Undead Trait it has for stronger Neutral damage

CE:

Starting NP CE: With the gimmick buff of charging your NP by 20% every turn + borrowed Support’s NP charging... It helps to use 

James:

After JP’s lesson learned... He isn’t that difficult once you can keep your whole team alive against him

The first round is really RNG that’s thankfully kind to me... Skill and NP seal on random front-line Servant is tricky if you don’t where it lands.

But the main thing you want to spam often is your support’s NP rather than your DPS’s NP in all three round

Of course there’s buff removal by RNG luck.. Yeah, even Leonidas/George’s taunt are removable at that point

Second round, other than draining your stars, he isn’t much of a threat except acting like a support to Bael. With a good AOE DPS, you can focus on killing Bael first while the NP will then deal the damage on him

Third round with him being the DPS, he’s still a threat but as said above, your main focus is the massive ghost before going after him.

His HP Break will give him two times unexpected NP charge by 1 tick, so prepare your defense once he’s close

Servants wise:

Cu Chulainn: Everyone’s favorite doggo! Though I didn’t use him for this whole fight against James. I have Vlad that hit harder, but Cu is definitely the budget choice... Except be careful of his one turn that spams his ignore invincibility

Leonidas: My MVP for the whole fight with him. His own taunt NP and generating stars... He’s the real DPS before Cu kicks in the final round with his nice crit dealing damage at James

Other ST Lancers: Benkei (budget staller) & Diarmund (buff remover ST DPS, his second skill against female will definitely not work on him)

ST Berserker: First round should be fine.. But it’s still at your own risk, especially the second round onwards he has an ally with him on the field

Other Taunters: You definitely need them especially from his NP

CEs:

Kiyohime CE

His Rightful place/starting CE: This is mainly for Leonidas if you do plan to bring him on the field. He was initially a support just to get his NP start while generating stars... But become a DPS once Xuangzang died in the final round, with Merlin + Waver 2030 CE generating hell lots of stars for crit fest

NP Seal: For second round especially, if you can land it on James to delay his NP while killing Bael

 And... I need QP because CBC is going to be very expensive or not if anyone is coming home. Or using that for Nobunaga event rerun because I got Waver and Dantes to raise!

[terryblount]

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey – Review

I never understood why people would say that a game “won them over”, or that they hated a game when they started playing, but then they grew to love it. I am more much more binary when it comes to my opinion of what I play. Either I like something or I don’t, and it has never taken more than twenty minutes to make up my mind. That is, until I reviewed Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.

After playing for about an hour, I had originally vowed to write an utterly scathing opinion piece on this trash. I hated it, and such a poorly-made game deserved to be thrown to the wolves. Still, in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something which made me pick it up one more time just for the sake of being objective. To my absolute surprise, I now find myself… a little obsessed, really.

Monkey see, monkey do.  The green orb at the bottom is a general indication of your current character’s overall vitality, including thirst, hunger and sleep.

I still don’t think Ancestors is a masterpiece, and I will mention some of the lamentable (but inexcusable) booby-traps that Panache Digital Games have stumbled into. However despite the cryptic nature of the gameplay, I eventually found an interesting and refreshingly original rendition of the survival genre here once I was willing to dig deep enough.

A monkey’s tale

Be honest, we all bolted upright like a dog hearing its food bowl at the mention of Patrice Désilets’s name. He’s the guy who left Ubisoft from the Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia franchises and founded Panache Digital Games to make Ancestors.

Unlike Patrice’s previous undertakings though, Ancestors is not an action RPG. This is a purebred survival and crafting game set in prehistoric Africa where our forefathers first walked the jungle.

The game opens with an exhilarating cut scene of fearsome animals like crocodiles, razor-beaked birds and sabre-toothed cats ravaging one another as just another day in prehistoric Africa. The message is clear; this is a hostile and dangerous world for the early humanoids. Yes, the word is ‘humanoid’ and not a monkey or a gorilla as people who don’t know their evolution keep saying on YouTube!

As someone who lives in Africa, I can attest this happens every day… when you go on safari

I took on the role of an alpha female as part of a clan that have settled at the foot of the waterfall, and I was instantly impressed with the world that the developers have set their game in. The vast, lush jungle (complete with day/night cycle) was enormous filled with gigantic trees, lakes and rocky cliffs probably rendered to scale. It is all yours to explore, to look for food and for gathering resources.

Unfortunately, the camera handles like it was being held by a an ADD 5-year-old chugging Red Bull. If it’s not bobbing like a cork or veering off, the player is constantly staring up our early ancestors’ arses. Throughout my entire playthrough, I felt like I always had to fight a bit with the game to aim the camera where I needed it to go. It felt like Ancestors was training me to be a primate proctologist.

I started following the first and only objective that the game will ever give you: Find and rescue the clan’s lost baby. These early humans possessed a heightened sense of smell, hearing and vision which the player can use to identify most of their surroundings. After locating the baby, I slid down a tree with all the dexterity of a seasoned primate and proceeded towards the objective marker.

Son, please don’t run off again while your mother and I mate in front of you, okay?

Mistakes were made

The little guy was hiding underneath a rock and I gave him a piggyback ride back to the nest just like the monkeys I saw on BBC the other day. It was then, once I returned to the nest, that I experienced exactly what about 95% of all day one players ran into: Absolutely no indication of what to do next. No further objective markers, no tutorials and no stats meters. Bugger-all.

Suddenly I appreciated the true gravity of these words in the opening scene

I get that this experience of the unknown was meant to replicate the situation of our actual ancestors, but it is all just too much too soon and the game punishes you severely for getting it wrong. Every now and then I like a game that doesn’t hold your hand, but it needs to happen more organically and logically through the gameplay. I cannot say that is the case here.

This is even more bizarre when you consider Ancestors actually lets you adjust how much on-screen info you want before starting your new lineage (or clan). Why even bother if players who stipulate they prefer some help are not going to be assisted anyway? No wonder so many people were put off.

I would be equally happy for discovering this egg if I knew what it was for. Also, notice how dark this game is? I wish they had gone for a more vibrant colour scheme.

Okay, I thought, my overgrown chimpanzee must want food, right? There is a green orb at the bottom of the screen that was beginning to fill with red, which means it has to eat or drink I’m guessing. Either that or it is preparing to fling poop at something. I spotted some berries hanging from a bush and followed the prompt to gorge myself on the red fruit.

Big mistake. Turns out the berries give you an upset stomach, meaning the humanoid looked like it was REALLY about to fling poop everywhere. Here Ancestors also committed one of the Seven Deadly Sins of gaming: It makes the screen go all wobbly and wonky to simulate the ape’s churning gut.

In fact, whenever you get poisoned, high off mushrooms, cold, frightened, or for no particular reason, Ancestors simply loves to make your screen go bonkers. I HATE it when games do this since this is a hopelessly outdated way of simulating a characters experiencing trauma. Too many other games have found better ways of conveying these situations to the player.

The only thing I could see around the nest was more berries, so I broadened my search to find some primordial antacid. It was then with my poor visibility that I missed a jump, causing my already suffering alpha female to plummet off a high branch and break a bone when she hit the ground. So now my clan leader is both sick and limping. The human race is really off to a rocky start.

I finally figured out that water helps with the stomach problems at least, so I waded deeper into the river to settle in for some drinking… which is when a green mamba locked its venomous fangs on the ape’s arm from behind a tree. Now I can add poisoning to my list of woes, and the screen looked like vomit at this point making it really hard to see anything.

“No,” I said as I hit exit, “no, no, no. Screw this. Maybe the human race was meant to go extinct. You’ll thank me later mother earth.” I left the game, and didn’t play again for a day as I plotted my review vendetta.

Let’s do the monkey

Before I munched on those deadly dingleberries, I did some exploring around the settlement and noticed a variety of interactions and crafting options that I did not quite understand (because the stupid game failed to explain them). Perhaps the answer lay here. Perhaps there was something more beneath this horrid first impression and the developers’ pathetic attempts to help you in their game.

It was at this point that I stumbled upon a streamer by the name of TagBackTV on YouTube. If my attempt at playing Ancestors was a patient in the head injury ward doing a cowbell solo, he played like a symphonic orchestra conducted by Hans Zimmer. This guy had evolved the hunched little clan of simians into a bipedal army holding hunting expeditions through the Savannah wielding stone tools and weapons.

According to my friends, this is still pretty much how I cook today. Seriously though, bashing the leaves with a rock makes a medicinal paste.

Confident that it could be done I spent hours on Reddit, watched instructional videos and finally summoned the courage to try again. This time, Ancestors felt like a completely different game. Now I was watching my clan grow and survive because I was teaching them to adapt and become smarter. Suddenly, it was 2:30 in the morning and JUST ONE MORE GENERATION AND I PROMISE I WILL GO TO BED.

Like all good survival games, Ancestors has this internal rhythm and momentum for the player to fall into. Once you learn a set of basic gameplay mechanics, you gain the confidence and knowhow to apply them in more complex tasks. In other words, once you understand the law of the jungle, it becomes a place of exploration and opportunity rather than one big death trap.

See, the aim of the game in Ancestors is to help your little clan of humanoids survive the harsh landscape of prehistoric Africa by building up their neuron cells. In other words, the player must give the early humans bigger brains, which in turn makes each successive generation (the babies) smarter and more capable in their environment.

Ancestor’s version of a ‘tech tree’. The white orb in the middle is how much neuronal energy you have to make links to other neurons. More babies makes you gather neuronal energy much faster.

In the opening sections, players will mostly learn the ABCs of just getting around the jungle, what to eat and avoid, and how to keep a keen eye out for predators. While the latter becomes annoying at times, the developers have programmed their AI really well since they can sneak up on you completely silently. I needed to change my underwear a few times after a crocodile lunged at me out of the water, or a sabre-toothed cat suddenly jumped out of the undergrowth.

Example of an upgrade as you develop the brain of the apes

After those neurons have been developed and you have passed through a few generations, you find that you can eat even the most poisonous foods and kill even the most intimidating predators with a self-made spear. Players will learn how to use stone tools not just to make weapons, but also to grind plants into paste for making medicinal products.

After every major evolution the distant descendants of the clan you started off with will find themselves in a new environment. From the jungle the player will eventually move to grass planes, the arid savannah, and even the sea shore. Again, these environments are HUGE and each one presents a unique set of challenges which is a great way to keep the repetitive gameplay fresh and engaging.

Staying in touch with your roots

The survival genre is an exciting area to explore for gamers these days. Games like Subnautica, the comeback of No Man’s Sky, and now Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey show that studios have a unique confidence here to turn some interesting concepts into games. As a community we should consider supporting these flawed but ambitious projects so that they can evolve into bigger and more refined products, and Ancestors is no exception.

That’s what you get for attacking my clan. Oh crap… did I just cause cats to go extinct!?

Do try this game if you have the means or the time, but make sure you do a substantial amount of background research before you click that icon. While the developers were morons for not easing the players into this complex experience, all gamers should try their hand at witnessing the very birth of our species.

Big world to explore

Vast and engaging skill tree

Rewarding exploration

Interesting concept

Decisions matter

Needs more player guidance

Frustrating camera

Screen distortion effects

Mediocre graphics

Can be repetitive at times

        Play time: About 27 hours total. Most players should reach the final stage of evolution between 35 – 40 hours

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

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