Good news! This next level isn't so difficult either, especially if you take the boring route (which will make this write up pretty long). The main objective is to stabilize the light system via typing commands into two terminals. Our load outs were:
Me: Pistol/Shotgun/C-foam/Spear
Archer: Carbine/Scatter Gun/Mines/Hammer
DL: DMR/Sniper/Mines/Hammer
Jim: HEL Revolver/Shotgun/C-foam/Hammer
It's an easy clear and loot until you get to the Class V cluster alarm. Enemies will exclusively be coming from the small door you entered in which makes it easy to prep (make sure all doors are closed anyway). Note the first scan is a team scan downstairs though, so icers have to run quick to catch the door before it breaks. We used all the ice here to complete the scans and the bad guys then all died to a single mine.
Afterwards is more stealth bopping until you reach a regular non-alarm team scan. A few seconds after the door opens the lights will fail, so I suggest flash lights on going in, stacking on the right corner turn 180 to watch the security you just came from and getting ready for invisible enemies! That's on top of anything that was sleeping inside the room, which will come from your right if you are facing the door.
Invisible enemies can either be regular or giant strikers who basically have no graphic. Not even a "predator" shimmer. While a bio tracker will find them turrets won't spot them. They DO shriek and cast a shadow though, so have your lights on and prepare to spray and pray continue head shotting like a pro. Also, they are slower than regular enemies in all aspects so if you need to tango with them in melee, circle strafing is amazing (less so against a giant shadow though).
Luckily there are only the small type here so deal with them and hold for a wave or two and the lights will come back on. Proceed to the non alarm team scan Apex door and enter the well stocked "central" chamber that contains both terminals you need - one easily found on the central bridge and one hiding away in a hidey-hole corner only accessible from a ladder upstairs. I recommend finding that one before continuing just so your team knows where to go later. Alas both terminals are password locked.
If you want to be safe and boring skip down to "BRUTE FORCING". Otherwise, to proceed as the game intends, you need to open the flanking doors to get those passwords. One door has a class IV cluster alarm which will take you all over the terminal room followed by a room of double scouts. In that chamber is a terminal to open the locked security door within, but it also kills the lights and summons endless waves of shadows (in addition to the shadows sleeping in that zone) so guard your "hacker" as he runs between terminals whose LOG files give only one letter of the password, and the position of said letter each. Eg. "--r-".
I recommend once you have two of the letters that you head back to the terminal on the bridge and start guessing. There are only so many English words with four letters. Once unlocked, turn the lights back on, clear leftovers and go back in to loot. Then go over to the other door, a regular team scan which also turns lights off and summons shadows. The terminals in this zone are behind the three blood doors (which all have shadows) with two being behind the blood door to the left. Get the pass code (or enough of it to guess) then go to the hidey-hole terminal, unlock it and turn the lights back on. Clear stragglers, loot the zone.
START BRUTE FORCING
Because there are only so many English words with four letters, you don't actually have to open the side doors from the central chamber. I reran and won this mission with bots (tools were mines and three sentries) just to verify that if you are patient you can just "brute force" (aka continually guess) I'll put a list below to help you out. The only penalty for doing it this way is that it takes longer and is freaking boring.
END BRUTE FORCING
Once done you can finally use that last door in the central chamber which is a slow Class S I scan where in the whole team must hold the central bridge as enemies come from three (or one if you Brute Forced) doors. Ice and mine both sides and fight well against the hordes. If you survive, you get to use the checkpoint scan and find the next zone full of supplies, a bulkhead key and bulkhead control, and the choice to do MAIN or SECONDARY. Since we're only doing MAIN, you are basically done. Just open the final non-alarm door and GTFO. :)
--POSSIBLE PASSWORDS--
able acid aged airy ally anti area army atom auto axis
baby back bait bake bald ball band bank bark barn bath bead beak beam beef beer bell belt bend bent best beta bias biff bike bill bird bite blow blue blur boat body bold bolt bomb bone book boot born boss both bowl brag brow buck bull bump burn busy
cage cake call camp card care case cash cast cave cell chef chew chip city clan clap claw clay clip club clue coal coat code coin cold coma comb cone cook cool copy core corn cost cozy crab crew crop crow cube cuff cure cute
damp dare dark dart dash data date dawn dead deal deck deed deep dent deny desk dial diet dime dine dire dirt dish diva dive does doll done doom door dose down drag draw drip drop drug drum dual duck duel duet dull dump dune dunk dust duty
earn ease east easy echo edge edit eery else envy epic etch ever evil exam exit expo
face fact fade fail fake fall fame fang farm fast fate fear feed feel feet fill film find fine fire firm fish fist fits five flag flak flap flat flaw flew flex flip flop flow flux foam foil folk food fool foot fork form fort foul foxy frat free frog fuel full fund funk fury fuzz
gain game gang gasp gate gaze gear germ girl give glow goal goat gold golf gone good grab grid grin grip grow gulf guru
hack half hall halo hard hawk head hear heat hell help hemp herd here hero hide hill hint hire hiss hive hoax hold hole holy home hood hook hope horn host hour huge hulk hunt hurl hurt husk hymn hype
idea idle idly idol iffy inch iris iron itch item
jack jail jaws jazz jeep jive jobs join joke jolt jump junk jury just
keep kick kill kilo kind king kiss kite kiwi knee knob know
lack lady lair lake lama lamb lame lamp land lane lard lash last lawn lazy lead leaf lean leap left lend lens less levy liar life lift like lily limb lime line link lint lips list live load loaf loan lock logo long look loop loot lord lore lose loss lost love luck lump lush lynx
made mail main make mark mask mass mate math maze meal mean menu mesh mess mild mile milk mini mint miss mist mojo monk mono mood moon more most moth move much mule muse must mute
nail name navy near neat neck need neon nest news next nice nine none noon nose nosy note noun nuke numb
oboe odds oily omen omit once only open oval oven over
pack page paid park pass past path pawn peak peel pelt perk pest pick pipe plan play plot plug plum poem poke pole pony pool pope pork port pose post prop puck pull pulp puma pump punk pure push
quit quiz
race raft rage raid rail rain ramp rank rant rare rash rate rear redo rely rent rest rice rich ride riff rift ring riot ripe rise risk road roar robe rock roof room rope rose rosy rude ruin rule runt ruse rush rust
safe salt same sand sane save scan scar seal seed seen sell semi send shoe shop shot show sick side sift sign silk sing sink site size skin skip skit slam slap slay slim slip slot slow slug slur snag snap snip snow snug soak soap sock soda sofa soft sold some song soon sort soul soup sour spam span spin spit spot spur stab star stay stem step stew stir stun such suit sure swan swim
taco take tale talk tall tame tank task taxi tear teen tell tend tent term test text that them then they thin this tick tide tidy tier ties tile tilt time tire toad told toll tone took tool torn town trap tree trim trio trip true tsar tuba tube tuna tune turk turn twig twin type tzar
ugly undo unit urge used user
vase vast verb very vest vibe vice view vine visa void volt vote
wage wait wake walk wall want warm warp wart wash wasp wave weak weed week were west when whip wife wild will wind wine wing wire wise wolf wood wool word work worm yank
yard yarn yawn year yell yeti yoga your
zone zoom
Showing posts with label Cheat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheat. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 May 2022
GTFO: R6CX - Flux (Main)
Monday, 28 March 2022
Legends of Andor 2 - Legend 8 - The Storm Begins
[A board game session from The Legends of Andor]
Once Merrik the cartographer comes to, he thanks his rescuers by requesting they take him around the islands so that he can redraw his maps. At least this time, he and the heroes Juris the wizard, Rose the fisherlady, DL the warrior, Mom the archer, and Joe the guardian are all together to get on the boat.
They spend the first day simply slaughtering all the monsters they can to get a "fame buffer", taking only a minor break for Juris to stop and pick up a horned cat (which he also found last game). This randomly placed horny cat is one of the three artifacts in this game and can be used once a day to steal one dice from the enemy (final foes are immune) to be used by the hero instead!
Day two is more focused one hitting all the spots Merrik wants to draw, which is pretty quick thanks to some creative gaming to make the most of Rose's free "nudge the ship one space" action which turns out to be really handy. With all the locations mapped, the ship can now sail through the rocky crags that previously blocked it. The team celebrates by spending the night at the (mino)Tauri 14 Willpower town just as a massive storm arrives and floods it, removing the 14 willpower bonus!
For some reason as the storm gets worse, the monsters get stronger.
The heroes are then tasked to ferry three groups of refugees all the way across the map to the Sea-shell dwarves which turns out to be extremely easy. Everyone except Rose simply "sleeps" (can take no more actions that day) which leaves the fisherlady enough time for the 8 hour round trip three times though she does have to burn will power towards the end (an exploit introduced with the black time markers when playing with 5+ characters). Once the last of the refugees is delivered, this legend ends in victory! Must be noted, we got lucky with the wind cards as there were no severe storms that sent the ship flying across the map this time.
Monday, 22 July 2019
AC Odyssey: Cheated at the End
[Part of the AC Odyssey journal]
The Ghost of Kosmos, leader of the now nearly memberless cult, watched the battle from a safe distance. Like many battles before it, the blue armored Athenians clashed against the red themed Spartans but this time the cult's top enforcer, Deimos, had taken the field. On the opposing side was Alexios the Eagle Bearer, now renowned for all his previous adventures across most of the Greek world.
It was a sight to behold the two of them locked in mortal combat. Even some of the other soldiers on the field stopped fighting to watch as explosive heavenly light erupted from the ground while each champion took turns doing even more and more amazing feats of agility and strength... It was as if two demigods were fighting in their midst. Neither had the upper hand.
And then, the unthinkable happened. Two large flaming trees fell right on top of them, abruptly ending the fight in the most comical way possible. This result stunned everyone in silence with each army losing an appetite to continue the battle that day. Only the Ghost could think of something to say.
"Malaka!"
Insight: While I'm ending this story here for now, the game certainly has more quest plots going on (and a much better ending) - most of which I avoided writing about! Speaking of Stories though, there is a capability to for players to generate their own quests for everyone to play. As expected, there are numerous XP farms (just keep replaying them without leaving the mission) if the level grind is too much for you. And yes, that totally counts as cheating!
The Ghost of Kosmos, leader of the now nearly memberless cult, watched the battle from a safe distance. Like many battles before it, the blue armored Athenians clashed against the red themed Spartans but this time the cult's top enforcer, Deimos, had taken the field. On the opposing side was Alexios the Eagle Bearer, now renowned for all his previous adventures across most of the Greek world.
It was a sight to behold the two of them locked in mortal combat. Even some of the other soldiers on the field stopped fighting to watch as explosive heavenly light erupted from the ground while each champion took turns doing even more and more amazing feats of agility and strength... It was as if two demigods were fighting in their midst. Neither had the upper hand.
And then, the unthinkable happened. Two large flaming trees fell right on top of them, abruptly ending the fight in the most comical way possible. This result stunned everyone in silence with each army losing an appetite to continue the battle that day. Only the Ghost could think of something to say.
"Malaka!"
Second flaming tree incoming... in three... two...
Insight: While I'm ending this story here for now, the game certainly has more quest plots going on (and a much better ending) - most of which I avoided writing about! Speaking of Stories though, there is a capability to for players to generate their own quests for everyone to play. As expected, there are numerous XP farms (just keep replaying them without leaving the mission) if the level grind is too much for you. And yes, that totally counts as cheating!
Monday, 24 June 2019
KCD: Leash Killing
[Part of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance journal.]
When you lead a bad guy far enough from his spawn point he will eventually shrug and give up, putting his weapons away and begin casually walking back or standing still. This is the best time to ride back to said bad guy and put an arrow into his back or butt which usually kills him. If not, just repeat.
Yes, it's super cheap and more problematic is that if he was a random roadside encounter chances are his buddies have long de-spawned along with their loot. It does work wonders for enemy camps though, especially at the start when you aren't yet a master of anything.
Speaking of enemy camps, you have way more options to mess enemies up there and I found it was super fun to assassinate them! That's coming up next.
Note: Keep an eye on your arrow count. Early in the game you are in danger of running out and later on you are in danger of suddenly carrying hundreds of a type you never use - be sure to sell off that waste of weight!
When you lead a bad guy far enough from his spawn point he will eventually shrug and give up, putting his weapons away and begin casually walking back or standing still. This is the best time to ride back to said bad guy and put an arrow into his back or butt which usually kills him. If not, just repeat.
This trick is easiest done on horseback.
Yes, it's super cheap and more problematic is that if he was a random roadside encounter chances are his buddies have long de-spawned along with their loot. It does work wonders for enemy camps though, especially at the start when you aren't yet a master of anything.
Speaking of enemy camps, you have way more options to mess enemies up there and I found it was super fun to assassinate them! That's coming up next.
Note: Keep an eye on your arrow count. Early in the game you are in danger of running out and later on you are in danger of suddenly carrying hundreds of a type you never use - be sure to sell off that waste of weight!
Saturday, 10 February 2018
Bad Design: Unenforced Laws
It encourages crime.
[Part of the Design Folder]
Cheaters in games are not a new thing. There are always people looking for ways to go one-up on the rest of the population. While my own description of cheating probably encompasses things others might gloss over, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that having unauthorized, near admin rights for around 3 years is one of those no-no's.
As reported by MassivelyOP, this is the case with Ark. Even though I don't play that game, I can guarantee that I won't even bother trying anything from that developer: Studio Wildcard. Why? Because after finding these cheaters their decision is to simply not do anything to them. No bans, no wipes, no rollbacks.
There is no point in making rules that you don't / won't enforce, regardless if the criminal number is 1 or 100% of your player base. Granting amnesty just shows a lack of spine, and would probably serve only to encourage more cheating. That's not an environment I'd like to experience.
I imagine this will be their stance in all their games henceforth, and even if it isn't "officially" - the fact they've done it once removes -all- doubt in my mind that they will do so again. Good luck Ark, may the best cheater win.
[Part of the Design Folder]
Cheaters in games are not a new thing. There are always people looking for ways to go one-up on the rest of the population. While my own description of cheating probably encompasses things others might gloss over, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that having unauthorized, near admin rights for around 3 years is one of those no-no's.
As reported by MassivelyOP, this is the case with Ark. Even though I don't play that game, I can guarantee that I won't even bother trying anything from that developer: Studio Wildcard. Why? Because after finding these cheaters their decision is to simply not do anything to them. No bans, no wipes, no rollbacks.
There is no point in making rules that you don't / won't enforce, regardless if the criminal number is 1 or 100% of your player base. Granting amnesty just shows a lack of spine, and would probably serve only to encourage more cheating. That's not an environment I'd like to experience.
I imagine this will be their stance in all their games henceforth, and even if it isn't "officially" - the fact they've done it once removes -all- doubt in my mind that they will do so again. Good luck Ark, may the best cheater win.
Monday, 27 February 2017
TESO: Summon Cheese
Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
After a side track to (re)apply for membership to the Fighters, Mages, and Undaunted (dungeon delver) guilds, it was time to defend Davon's Watch - Not that the city needed help - the Dunmer warmage and region general, Tanval was here and he summoned a flaming bone golem, called "a brother of Strife", who simply cannon balled out to the Covenant fleet and destroyed most of them.
A few ships managed to dock further up the coastline but dealing with them was not as bad as dealing with the now rampaging Strife golem who was happily destroying the rest of Stonefalls - not because the scamp summoning pussy was hard to beat. Getting up to the part where you can rebind him was the tough part.
Once re-imprisoned in his volcano we could then focus on the main Covenant general who moonlights as a necromancer. He wasn't very hard either, especially when he transformed into a more hideous but weaker form. The douche somehow still managed to kill Tanval's son in the battle which enraged the war mage - causing him to depart and summon the second brother of Strife because anger clouds judgment. Sigh. This one was a lot tougher and only when Tanval realized his error did he sacrifice himself so that the monster could be sealed like its brother.
With that the Covenant advance was halted in the most "shoot your own foot" method possible.
After a side track to (re)apply for membership to the Fighters, Mages, and Undaunted (dungeon delver) guilds, it was time to defend Davon's Watch - Not that the city needed help - the Dunmer warmage and region general, Tanval was here and he summoned a flaming bone golem, called "a brother of Strife", who simply cannon balled out to the Covenant fleet and destroyed most of them.
A few ships managed to dock further up the coastline but dealing with them was not as bad as dealing with the now rampaging Strife golem who was happily destroying the rest of Stonefalls - not because the scamp summoning pussy was hard to beat. Getting up to the part where you can rebind him was the tough part.
Good thing he's not a walking cheat code when I fight him!
Once re-imprisoned in his volcano we could then focus on the main Covenant general who moonlights as a necromancer. He wasn't very hard either, especially when he transformed into a more hideous but weaker form. The douche somehow still managed to kill Tanval's son in the battle which enraged the war mage - causing him to depart and summon the second brother of Strife because anger clouds judgment. Sigh. This one was a lot tougher and only when Tanval realized his error did he sacrifice himself so that the monster could be sealed like its brother.
With that the Covenant advance was halted in the most "shoot your own foot" method possible.
Monday, 13 February 2017
Dark Souls III: Vilhelm's Doom
Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Apart from the very first "strong" birdman, the rest of the powered up freaks are easily avoided by some rooftop parkour. This leads me to some sort of cemetery around a library where Sir Vilhelm awaits with his dark sword and an ominous speech. I knew I'd be fighting him!
It is quickly apparent that a noble duel is bad for my health so I fall back to cheap tricks of corner attacks and climbing up a ladder. The ladder actually proves to be his downfall as he thinks he's clever to not follow me up, since that would leave him open. He also has a healing ability to negate my ranged attacks anyway so he's safe right? Wrong.
This makes him extremely open to a plunging attack from pretty high up, which when chained with my foreva-swingin-axe which stuns on every hit results in his dismemberment. Can't out cheese a cheeser! :P
I open up a secret passage in his library which opens up some stairs leading to a young girl with long white hair. This prisoner is a budding painter, Sir Gael's niece, and reminds me a lot of another white haired girl I met in a snowy painting so very long ago.
She also asks that I show her fire... which is a little disturbing.
Apart from the very first "strong" birdman, the rest of the powered up freaks are easily avoided by some rooftop parkour. This leads me to some sort of cemetery around a library where Sir Vilhelm awaits with his dark sword and an ominous speech. I knew I'd be fighting him!
It is quickly apparent that a noble duel is bad for my health so I fall back to cheap tricks of corner attacks and climbing up a ladder. The ladder actually proves to be his downfall as he thinks he's clever to not follow me up, since that would leave him open. He also has a healing ability to negate my ranged attacks anyway so he's safe right? Wrong.
This makes him extremely open to a plunging attack from pretty high up, which when chained with my foreva-swingin-axe which stuns on every hit results in his dismemberment. Can't out cheese a cheeser! :P
P0wned.
I open up a secret passage in his library which opens up some stairs leading to a young girl with long white hair. This prisoner is a budding painter, Sir Gael's niece, and reminds me a lot of another white haired girl I met in a snowy painting so very long ago.
She also asks that I show her fire... which is a little disturbing.
Thursday, 26 January 2017
Dark Souls III: Disconnect
Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
After using a familiar rotating tower I'm back looking at the palace of Anor Londo, only this time the knights are the ones guarding the place. It takes some practice to slay the first pair (at once), and there in his old side room I find the corpse of the friendly giant blacksmith. At least there's some advantage to having been here before, as I know exactly where the mechanism is to open the main door in the now pitch black hall guarded by fire cultists, like the ones in the Cathedral of the Deep.
I'm definitely glad I ran back out towards the bonfire after opening it though, because said cultists brought their terrifying furry pet with them! Yep, the massive spider chased me all the way down the stairs and ... into an invisible wall? Hurrah for flawed AI! Thanks to that barrier I just arrowed the beast to death. Yes it took long, but it was worth it.
With a relatively clear run to the Smough and Ornstein's old boss room where someone rebuilt all those non-weight bearing pillars, I soon find myself facingPetrus Aldrich, who has eaten so many things he's now a sludge like beast that happens to use a whole slew of attacks: the favourites of mine are the magic missile lights (which track) and the instadeath arrow volley which you can take cover from in phase 1, but not in phase 2, which also happens to follow you as you run around the room. Hope you have enough stamina! Lol. I recruit Myria (player) to try assist me here but midfight I crash out due to all the special FX Aldrich is using which is really annoying. Looks like I'll have to do this solo. Sorry about that Myria! :(
De ja vu.
After using a familiar rotating tower I'm back looking at the palace of Anor Londo, only this time the knights are the ones guarding the place. It takes some practice to slay the first pair (at once), and there in his old side room I find the corpse of the friendly giant blacksmith. At least there's some advantage to having been here before, as I know exactly where the mechanism is to open the main door in the now pitch black hall guarded by fire cultists, like the ones in the Cathedral of the Deep.
I'm definitely glad I ran back out towards the bonfire after opening it though, because said cultists brought their terrifying furry pet with them! Yep, the massive spider chased me all the way down the stairs and ... into an invisible wall? Hurrah for flawed AI! Thanks to that barrier I just arrowed the beast to death. Yes it took long, but it was worth it.
Vengeance!
With a relatively clear run to the Smough and Ornstein's old boss room where someone rebuilt all those non-weight bearing pillars, I soon find myself facing
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Dark Souls II: Silly Little Human
Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
The shrine is a pretty cool place. There are tons of dragon guards around, but they just bow and salute me as I pass. The few giant warriors aren't as nice, but at least I can handle them since they come individually. During my exploration I nab a petrified egg which angers one Dragonfang Villard whom I have to kill. I then find my ninja buddy Bashful Ray in a lower courtyard - he's here to kill the dragon!
Well, since he helped me before I decide to return the favor but those dragon guards are onto us immediately - swarming Ray in the final ascent. I can only sprint past as he uses his last lightning jutsu before being impaled by twenty different things. Somehow I reach the ancient dragon and he is massive! He also tells his guards to piss off and senses I'm a candidate for the throne.
After giving me a strange heart which he tells me to use on "the withered ones", he tells me to go away too. So I take a few selfies then draw my sword and attack in true heroic knight fashion! "This is for Ray!" I yell, just before the dragon sighs and insta kills me with his little toe. Undeterred I do it all again, the dragon guards letting me go this time (provided I duel the big warriors on the way). Obviously I need to be more agile!
The dragon is unimpressed and stomps on me again. "Damnit, this isn't over!" I whisper at him as I vanish back to the bonfire. Looks like I need to level up a bit.
The shrine is a pretty cool place. There are tons of dragon guards around, but they just bow and salute me as I pass. The few giant warriors aren't as nice, but at least I can handle them since they come individually. During my exploration I nab a petrified egg which angers one Dragonfang Villard whom I have to kill. I then find my ninja buddy Bashful Ray in a lower courtyard - he's here to kill the dragon!
EEEP!
Well, since he helped me before I decide to return the favor but those dragon guards are onto us immediately - swarming Ray in the final ascent. I can only sprint past as he uses his last lightning jutsu before being impaled by twenty different things. Somehow I reach the ancient dragon and he is massive! He also tells his guards to piss off and senses I'm a candidate for the throne.
That's right, it's me!
After giving me a strange heart which he tells me to use on "the withered ones", he tells me to go away too. So I take a few selfies then draw my sword and attack in true heroic knight fashion! "This is for Ray!" I yell, just before the dragon sighs and insta kills me with his little toe. Undeterred I do it all again, the dragon guards letting me go this time (provided I duel the big warriors on the way). Obviously I need to be more agile!
The dragon is unimpressed and stomps on me again. "Damnit, this isn't over!" I whisper at him as I vanish back to the bonfire. Looks like I need to level up a bit.
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Dark Souls II: Weakness: Woman therefore try rear
Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
My forays into the fortress don't go too well, though on a lower floor I meet Lucatiel, a lady wearing a bearded mask. She is impressed that I still want to talk to her even though she's actively trying to get people to stay away. I also find an anti-poison ring near her which is handy, but the local sorceress guards are simply too much for me so I withdraw back to Majula. Interestingly, Chloanne is here too now - and it turns out she is blacksmith Lenigrast's missing daughter.
Taking another path from town leads me to a small jail house where I meet the warrior, Benhart of Jugo. Apparently he can't advance since the lever is stuck. Stuck because a person got turned to stone right in front of it. There have been a few petrified people around, and it requires a special item to release them. Since I had one I freed the woman, who introduced herself as Rosibeth - apprentice mage to the great Carhillion. Can't be that great if he couldn't unpetrify his own student. That and/or he's a dick.
After giving her some better rags I send her off to Majula and pull the lever which opens ALL the jail doors. Zombie swarm! Yeah, that didn't go well for me. Much better on the second attempt. Beyond the jail was a crossroad with two paths leading to locked doors and one into a misty forest of cheaters. Cheaters who have the same color as the fog. My best defense? No defense! Just sprinting!
Are you this game's Solaire?
Player messages never fail to amuse.
My forays into the fortress don't go too well, though on a lower floor I meet Lucatiel, a lady wearing a bearded mask. She is impressed that I still want to talk to her even though she's actively trying to get people to stay away. I also find an anti-poison ring near her which is handy, but the local sorceress guards are simply too much for me so I withdraw back to Majula. Interestingly, Chloanne is here too now - and it turns out she is blacksmith Lenigrast's missing daughter.
Taking another path from town leads me to a small jail house where I meet the warrior, Benhart of Jugo. Apparently he can't advance since the lever is stuck. Stuck because a person got turned to stone right in front of it. There have been a few petrified people around, and it requires a special item to release them. Since I had one I freed the woman, who introduced herself as Rosibeth - apprentice mage to the great Carhillion. Can't be that great if he couldn't unpetrify his own student. That and/or he's a dick.
After giving her some better rags I send her off to Majula and pull the lever which opens ALL the jail doors. Zombie swarm! Yeah, that didn't go well for me. Much better on the second attempt. Beyond the jail was a crossroad with two paths leading to locked doors and one into a misty forest of cheaters. Cheaters who have the same color as the fog. My best defense? No defense! Just sprinting!
I can't see them, but they sure can see me!
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Skyrim: The Boiling Foundry
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
The Boiling Foundry is a dangerous place, filled with environmental hazards that liked to either spin or push you into the insta-death boiling water below so I let Sofia set out of this mission deciding to tackle it solo. Most of it was guarded by relatively weak robots, but one named the welding soldier was a definite test of patience. His room had pushing mechanisms to force him (or me) into the death hole in the center but that was a lot harder to do than it sounds. Especially since you needed to push him into it four or five times.
After that challenge I was greeted by an old friend: the steam dragon. He was the final guard to the titanium drill bit and while he did let me just take it, I couldn't leave the room without slaying him. He too had upgraded to god mode armor, but showering him in lava was enough to render him vulnerable to a fast kill. Finally I could take the elevator back to Lull-Mor.
Back at the outpost I was tasked with fixing random things like monitors and clockwork guardians while waiting for Sofia. She successfully sabotaged Archeron's main mining operation while I was busy in the foundry. It wasn't long before Numinar had a job for both of us again: the drilling had run into an unexpected snag - undead fabricants (also cyborgs). This place just gets weirder and weirder.
The land of gears and pistons...
The Boiling Foundry is a dangerous place, filled with environmental hazards that liked to either spin or push you into the insta-death boiling water below so I let Sofia set out of this mission deciding to tackle it solo. Most of it was guarded by relatively weak robots, but one named the welding soldier was a definite test of patience. His room had pushing mechanisms to force him (or me) into the death hole in the center but that was a lot harder to do than it sounds. Especially since you needed to push him into it four or five times.
His god mode means there's no other way to beat him.
After that challenge I was greeted by an old friend: the steam dragon. He was the final guard to the titanium drill bit and while he did let me just take it, I couldn't leave the room without slaying him. He too had upgraded to god mode armor, but showering him in lava was enough to render him vulnerable to a fast kill. Finally I could take the elevator back to Lull-Mor.
Sorry old pal.
Back at the outpost I was tasked with fixing random things like monitors and clockwork guardians while waiting for Sofia. She successfully sabotaged Archeron's main mining operation while I was busy in the foundry. It wasn't long before Numinar had a job for both of us again: the drilling had run into an unexpected snag - undead fabricants (also cyborgs). This place just gets weirder and weirder.
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Dark Souls: Knight Land
Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Past the Lesson Knight was an old stone tower, the bottom of which was guarded by a knight wielding a massive club and heavy armor, who I dub Club Knight. Despite my improved parrying this guy had a whole different set of very punishing (near 1HKO) strikes so I decided to avoid him for now. Instead I went to the top of the tower to face... a bull demon! I wasn't having much luck against him either though, so ultimately I decided to cheat. He was a lot easier to kill after buying all those explosives from the merchant. :P
Beyond him on the parapets I met Solaire of Astora, who was praising the sun and suggested I try some jolly cooperation when the opportunities present themselves. Well I certainly could have used some assistance crossing the main bridge guarded by a red dragon! It took a few goes before I managed to run past it to the bonfire it guarded. The hollows attempted to guard this district with an armored boar, but it was easy enough to encourage it to charge into the nearby fires - effectively killing itself.
It looked like the church was the main structure here, judging from the suddenly awesome looking guards around it, so I skipped it first and was rewarded with another bonfire. This one was near an "old but built like an ox" blacksmith named Andre and nearby waiting at some closed gates is another knight I call Ser Chubby (for obvious reasons). The last inhabitant near this bonfire is a giant headless stone snake thing with a large staff that shoots lightning. Yeah, I ... just stayed away from that one.
Past the Lesson Knight was an old stone tower, the bottom of which was guarded by a knight wielding a massive club and heavy armor, who I dub Club Knight. Despite my improved parrying this guy had a whole different set of very punishing (near 1HKO) strikes so I decided to avoid him for now. Instead I went to the top of the tower to face... a bull demon! I wasn't having much luck against him either though, so ultimately I decided to cheat. He was a lot easier to kill after buying all those explosives from the merchant. :P
Have some cheese!
Beyond him on the parapets I met Solaire of Astora, who was praising the sun and suggested I try some jolly cooperation when the opportunities present themselves. Well I certainly could have used some assistance crossing the main bridge guarded by a red dragon! It took a few goes before I managed to run past it to the bonfire it guarded. The hollows attempted to guard this district with an armored boar, but it was easy enough to encourage it to charge into the nearby fires - effectively killing itself.
Sprinting towards a dragon - not usually a good idea.
It looked like the church was the main structure here, judging from the suddenly awesome looking guards around it, so I skipped it first and was rewarded with another bonfire. This one was near an "old but built like an ox" blacksmith named Andre and nearby waiting at some closed gates is another knight I call Ser Chubby (for obvious reasons). The last inhabitant near this bonfire is a giant headless stone snake thing with a large staff that shoots lightning. Yeah, I ... just stayed away from that one.
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Skyrim: Ewok Slayer
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
After inadvertently reopening the local mine, much to Raven Rock's benefit, I decided to hire a local sellsword named Teldryn Sero for the low price of 500 gold and began exploring the island - discovering more of those strange mind-controlling obelisks, hostile blue ewok goblins called reiklings, and that bandits here prefered to be called reavers, because it sounds cooler. We also take down a local serpentine dragon, massacre the reikling ice castle, and find hints of some pirate treasure.
We also help some reiklings whose chief can speak broken English. At least up to the point where he asks us to kill Nords, the same "weak ones" that ran from their own meadhall. We instead ally with said Nords to slaughter the blue dwarves and given that there was only one friendly casualty in the encounter - and that Sero and I hung back and watched - I'm wondering how the they lost to the reiklings in the first place. Getting their leader banished afterwards is a step in the right direction I think.
Obviously I'm also collecting a bunch of new shouts and boosts from the ever entertaining black books. The ones where its really dark and that "the darkness hurts you" are my favorite ones. Also all the moving corridors are great, but the collision detection sucks balls requiring me to learn the power-hack tcl (no clipping mode) to get through those areas without falling through the floor into the acid muck below.
Before I knew it we had explored around 75% of Solstheim!
After inadvertently reopening the local mine, much to Raven Rock's benefit, I decided to hire a local sellsword named Teldryn Sero for the low price of 500 gold and began exploring the island - discovering more of those strange mind-controlling obelisks, hostile blue ewok goblins called reiklings, and that bandits here prefered to be called reavers, because it sounds cooler. We also take down a local serpentine dragon, massacre the reikling ice castle, and find hints of some pirate treasure.
We also help some reiklings whose chief can speak broken English. At least up to the point where he asks us to kill Nords, the same "weak ones" that ran from their own meadhall. We instead ally with said Nords to slaughter the blue dwarves and given that there was only one friendly casualty in the encounter - and that Sero and I hung back and watched - I'm wondering how the they lost to the reiklings in the first place. Getting their leader banished afterwards is a step in the right direction I think.
Obviously I'm also collecting a bunch of new shouts and boosts from the ever entertaining black books. The ones where its really dark and that "the darkness hurts you" are my favorite ones. Also all the moving corridors are great, but the collision detection sucks balls requiring me to learn the power-hack tcl (no clipping mode) to get through those areas without falling through the floor into the acid muck below.
Before I knew it we had explored around 75% of Solstheim!
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Skyrim: The Deadliest Dragon
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Turns out I had missed one of the ascended, a blood marked zealot who wasn't really anything special. Zuna took care of him while I executed his bandit buddies. He did have a book marking the location of the ascended shrine though again hidden on an isle in the North sea. Must be the spawning ground of crazy up there. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the familiar roar of a dragon - Vithdovah the bombardier and HP sponge. Can you tell I'm making up their titles? Fun fact: This is now the dragon who has killed me the most times.
Since the shrine is on a tiny isle, Vithdovah's usual attacks were to stay in the air and explode the ground beneath. Competent adventurers like myself would only get minor damage from this while side stepping. This is actually much worse when he is landed as I don't think you can fully avoid the rapid fire exploding spheres he spits out from close up. Still a little less painful than Auszeimrahgol's though.
His most powerful skill was that if I attacked him up close - I would instantly die. And not the "my health drops really quickly but I have time to press I to open the inventory screen to effectively pause and consume health pots" type with the previous dragons. Nope. One second you are alive, the next second you are dead. It took me awhile to realize the reason for this. In short - he reflects ALL melee damage. So yeah, power striking with a 900+ damage sword and a 600+ damage dragon slaying katana at the same time was killing me instantly. The clever scum managed to turn my own gear against me!
Turns out I had missed one of the ascended, a blood marked zealot who wasn't really anything special. Zuna took care of him while I executed his bandit buddies. He did have a book marking the location of the ascended shrine though again hidden on an isle in the North sea. Must be the spawning ground of crazy up there. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the familiar roar of a dragon - Vithdovah the bombardier and HP sponge. Can you tell I'm making up their titles? Fun fact: This is now the dragon who has killed me the most times.
If only I could ram it with this boat.
Since the shrine is on a tiny isle, Vithdovah's usual attacks were to stay in the air and explode the ground beneath. Competent adventurers like myself would only get minor damage from this while side stepping. This is actually much worse when he is landed as I don't think you can fully avoid the rapid fire exploding spheres he spits out from close up. Still a little less painful than Auszeimrahgol's though.
Aiming through explosions is pretty tough.
His most powerful skill was that if I attacked him up close - I would instantly die. And not the "my health drops really quickly but I have time to press I to open the inventory screen to effectively pause and consume health pots" type with the previous dragons. Nope. One second you are alive, the next second you are dead. It took me awhile to realize the reason for this. In short - he reflects ALL melee damage. So yeah, power striking with a 900+ damage sword and a 600+ damage dragon slaying katana at the same time was killing me instantly. The clever scum managed to turn my own gear against me!
Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Skyrim: Battle of Experimentation
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Our return to civilization was short lived as another dragon sighting led us to the Southern mountains this time, where we faced a reverend dragon (easy normal type) and Auszeimrahgol, the f-ing cheating dragon of bastardly-ness. Much like Ziisizaan, he had an invulnerability shield too - only his was on 100% of the time. What the what? Also his melee and breath attacks were tremendously strong. I couldn't blame Zuna for running to a corner and wetting herself from fear.
It became a battle of experimentation. Arrows (exploding and not) didn't do damage. Magic didn't do damage. Swords were dangerous. How the heck do I hurt this thing? But something in my attacks did hurt it as his health bar was down a tiny sliver. But how? Can you guess what it was? If you said "a weak spot" then good work! You are a true dragon hunter!
Where is this weakspot you ask? In his fricking mouth. Yep. Not the jaw, or the nose, or the chin, or the teeth. INSIDE. So to hurt it I needed to shoot into its open maw, which is only open when it is dealing insane damage to something. Right. Tried that for a bit but it didn't take, so instead I had to shout it down (because it prefers being airborne and constantly moving) and ... face tanked it.
Yep. I walked into its deadly fire, drank around 50 full health potions and hacked the inside of his face (while it was still breathing at me, so no time for screenies again sorry) until he died. Zuna couldn't believe it. Neither could I, but it was dead and we weren't. I call that a win.
Our return to civilization was short lived as another dragon sighting led us to the Southern mountains this time, where we faced a reverend dragon (easy normal type) and Auszeimrahgol, the f-ing cheating dragon of bastardly-ness. Much like Ziisizaan, he had an invulnerability shield too - only his was on 100% of the time. What the what? Also his melee and breath attacks were tremendously strong. I couldn't blame Zuna for running to a corner and wetting herself from fear.
Oh and exploding arrows did NOTHING.
It became a battle of experimentation. Arrows (exploding and not) didn't do damage. Magic didn't do damage. Swords were dangerous. How the heck do I hurt this thing? But something in my attacks did hurt it as his health bar was down a tiny sliver. But how? Can you guess what it was? If you said "a weak spot" then good work! You are a true dragon hunter!
He's vulnerable now! Sort of... :P
Where is this weakspot you ask? In his fricking mouth. Yep. Not the jaw, or the nose, or the chin, or the teeth. INSIDE. So to hurt it I needed to shoot into its open maw, which is only open when it is dealing insane damage to something. Right. Tried that for a bit but it didn't take, so instead I had to shout it down (because it prefers being airborne and constantly moving) and ... face tanked it.
Yep. I walked into its deadly fire, drank around 50 full health potions and hacked the inside of his face (while it was still breathing at me, so no time for screenies again sorry) until he died. Zuna couldn't believe it. Neither could I, but it was dead and we weren't. I call that a win.
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Skyrim: Dragon God Mode
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Before hunting the next dragon I made sure to pick up the final surviving follower from Death Mountain: Zuna. She was terrified to come with me knowing the fate that had befallen all the others that did, but she agreed provided I'd help her look for her brother Xuru at some point. I agreed and so, we confronted Ziisizaan the stamina eater. Because he'd literally sap all my stamina away just by flying over head. This was only part of the problem though. The other problem was he was invincible. Yep! Nothing could hurt him!
It took a long while before finding out that his invincibility was some sort of shield. When he shimmered white, he was on god mode. The trick was getting him to land where I wanted when the shield was off. This is more challenging than it sounds since it's like he's invincible 90% of the time and prefers to be airborne. It also doesn't help that at half health he flies off out of sight and returns fully healed.
This made for a very long and annoying battle. Finally I just had to resort to convincing him to land without using "dragonrend" (by running around like a fool) so I could instead "Slow Time" and power strike him, drinking a gallon worth of stamina pots to actually deal enough damage to kill the scum before he flew off to regen to full health. Phew, obviously the enemies were learning to cheat too!
Before hunting the next dragon I made sure to pick up the final surviving follower from Death Mountain: Zuna. She was terrified to come with me knowing the fate that had befallen all the others that did, but she agreed provided I'd help her look for her brother Xuru at some point. I agreed and so, we confronted Ziisizaan the stamina eater. Because he'd literally sap all my stamina away just by flying over head. This was only part of the problem though. The other problem was he was invincible. Yep! Nothing could hurt him!
It took a long while before finding out that his invincibility was some sort of shield. When he shimmered white, he was on god mode. The trick was getting him to land where I wanted when the shield was off. This is more challenging than it sounds since it's like he's invincible 90% of the time and prefers to be airborne. It also doesn't help that at half health he flies off out of sight and returns fully healed.
The silvery glow is actually his shield.
This made for a very long and annoying battle. Finally I just had to resort to convincing him to land without using "dragonrend" (by running around like a fool) so I could instead "Slow Time" and power strike him, drinking a gallon worth of stamina pots to actually deal enough damage to kill the scum before he flew off to regen to full health. Phew, obviously the enemies were learning to cheat too!
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
MMOs: Cheaters in the Third Party
[Part of my MMO Design Folder]
"It's ok to cheat if you don't get caught." That line of thinking seems to extend into MMO's.
In most MMO EULA's I seem to recall a line wherein "the use of third party software" is a punishable offence. This might not be the case anymore (I tend to gloss over EULA's these days) but if it is then there would be a lot of people who commit that crime (ooooh cyber crime, so futuristic). I think we should pop on some definitions though for clarity. Let's define "third party software" as code created by a company or person, unaffiliated to and/or not endorsed by the game publisher/creator, which gives the user an advantage over someone without the same software while playing the game. That's pretty fair isn't it?
I think we'd all agree that someone who has code to give them god-mode would be pretty unfair (happens regularly in GunZ the Duel I might add), and the guy that runs faster on foot than someone flying in a jet plane is probably hacked. Throw in the farmbot plague which is impressively far reaching when you think about it. These are usually very obvious and no one, other than the exploiters themselves I imagine, would really have an issue with the game masters going after these particular players (or robots, whatever).
But what about that program that changes the font for your client so you lag slightly less, or the one that lets you see the specific durability value of items, or the mod that changes your HUD to make it less cluttered than the vanilla version? Do they give you an advantage over someone who doesn't use it? Let's blur the lines further and ask - what about teamspeak? Or that program that lets you monitor the real time auction house prices (like gw2spidy)? What about youtube walkthroughs? They are all technically software.
Ofcourse the game might actually endorse some 3rd party stuff (eg. GW2 put Dulfy -in- the game, so I take that as an endorsement) in which case those should be absolutely fine - but as for the rest? Guess justice isn't so much a solid line and more a wavy faded noodle, around which the "cops" tread lightly and are fearful or are simply too impotent to go uphold their own laws when it becomes difficult or inconvenient to police (mirrored in real life). That leads to the question - if something is not policed, is it still "cheating"? At what point does "being resourceful" cross the line? I guess the answer to that comes down to you.
"It's ok to cheat if you don't get caught." That line of thinking seems to extend into MMO's.
In most MMO EULA's I seem to recall a line wherein "the use of third party software" is a punishable offence. This might not be the case anymore (I tend to gloss over EULA's these days) but if it is then there would be a lot of people who commit that crime (ooooh cyber crime, so futuristic). I think we should pop on some definitions though for clarity. Let's define "third party software" as code created by a company or person, unaffiliated to and/or not endorsed by the game publisher/creator, which gives the user an advantage over someone without the same software while playing the game. That's pretty fair isn't it?
I think we'd all agree that someone who has code to give them god-mode would be pretty unfair (happens regularly in GunZ the Duel I might add), and the guy that runs faster on foot than someone flying in a jet plane is probably hacked. Throw in the farmbot plague which is impressively far reaching when you think about it. These are usually very obvious and no one, other than the exploiters themselves I imagine, would really have an issue with the game masters going after these particular players (or robots, whatever).
But what about that program that changes the font for your client so you lag slightly less, or the one that lets you see the specific durability value of items, or the mod that changes your HUD to make it less cluttered than the vanilla version? Do they give you an advantage over someone who doesn't use it? Let's blur the lines further and ask - what about teamspeak? Or that program that lets you monitor the real time auction house prices (like gw2spidy)? What about youtube walkthroughs? They are all technically software.
Ofcourse the game might actually endorse some 3rd party stuff (eg. GW2 put Dulfy -in- the game, so I take that as an endorsement) in which case those should be absolutely fine - but as for the rest? Guess justice isn't so much a solid line and more a wavy faded noodle, around which the "cops" tread lightly and are fearful or are simply too impotent to go uphold their own laws when it becomes difficult or inconvenient to police (mirrored in real life). That leads to the question - if something is not policed, is it still "cheating"? At what point does "being resourceful" cross the line? I guess the answer to that comes down to you.
It's ok, she's not looking anyway.
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