08/09/2013 - The Last of Us Platinum and Bamboo Blade

This is a late post since I forgot to change it from a draft (derrrrrp).My bad!

IT'S OVER! IT'S FINALLY OVER! This morning I finally finished the multiplayer on The Last of Us and promptly began playing Demon's Souls. It's kind of sad really, considering I did incredibly well on my last six or so matches. What really sucks is that I finished Week 12 with less than 85 survivors... Which isn't enough to get the skull mask. Lame, but, oh well. Here's a photo!

The Last of Us - Platinum Trophy (It can't be for nothing) - FINALLY!

I'm hoping that when they release the DLC for this game that it is purely singleplayer content - maybe explaining a bit more about when Joel met Tess or some of the past between Bill and Frank, that would be cool right?

But, this is Naughty Dog we're talking about, and considering what the DLC trophies were like for Uncharted 3, we probably know how it will actually pan out. Getting the platinum trophy also means that now I have to write a review on the game, not sure how well I will keep my polite demeanour when it comes to reviewing the multiplayer, but I'll try!

As I said before, I've started Demon's Souls and though the difficulty is incredibly punishing, it's still very much enjoyable. I was actually tempted to do it via the glitching route and duplication which makes the game much easier, but now I'm not so sure about doing it that way. The main thing that is tempting me to do it, is how easy it is to execute the duplicating glitch.

Another thing to look forward to is that I've ordered my copy of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD from the UK and got a deal to save £5 on the Prima Walkthrough. The only reason I decided to buy the walkthrough was because of the exceptional quality of Prima's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Legendary Edition walkthrough.

I'll make sure to upload a picture once the package has arrived! Unfortunately, I still don't have enough funds to build my new PC, which is sort of hindering my plans considering how limited I am with the functionality of this laptop.

Finally, I started watching Bamboo Blade! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a very good version so the subtitles are not spectacular, but it does not take much away from the plot. I would prefer 720p or 1080p, but I can cope with 480p if I have to. My girlfriend is trying to get me to watch Cowboy Bebop next and I think I've given in. I wouldn't normally, but it has been reviewed many times as an 'anime masterpiece' so I don't have much to lose.

Speaking of my girlfriend, it's her birthday tomorrow! I'm not sure I'll get much work done on the reviews, but I'll make sure to post a daily update as always (and not forget to change it from draft status).

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07/09/2013 - The Last of Us Multiplayer & One Piece 609

Well it's almost over, I'm now on Week 12, Day 2 of my Hunter journey and I actually had fun playing today. I'm still slightly irritated by the facemelting ability of the Flamethrower, but so few people check the forums for updates that not many people are using it.

I actually adjusted my main loadout slightly as well. By switching the Silenced SAR to the standard one and setting the Shotgun as a purchasable weapon, my scores have improved dramatically and I actually have a use for the eight 'cheaper purchased weapon' boosters that I have accumulated over the past few weeks.

As I stated in the first paragraph, today was my first enjoyable experience on this multiplayer in the last week or so. There were a few moments that got me midly annoyed. All of those moments involved either rushers, poorly matchmade teams or ludicrous amounts of molotovs and nail bombs flying through the air.

If you've ever paid The Last of Us forums a visit (and you should, they're hilarious), you will have noticed that pretty much one in five posts consists entirely of bitching about how overpowered Molotovs with Explosive Expert 2 are. Don't get me wrong, the nerf on the aforementioned perk has reduced them slightly, but it still covers an obtuse area when thrown.

Also, lag makes players pixel incarnations of God. I was involved in a 1v1 on Bill's Town in the early afternoon and ended up being smokebombed, luckily I was quite far away from the player who threw it, so I recovered and fired 4 point-blank shotgun shells in to his chest, only to be stabbed in the front and lose the game. Now please, my dear readers, if you can find evidence of a man surviving even two shotgun shells to the chest, let me know. For you One Piece fans, Devil Fruit users don't count! ;)


Warning: Spoilers ahead!

The other part of today was taken up watching One Piece (and fixing a bathroom faucet after it blew up in my face, but we'll gloss over that). Episode 609 seemed to flow incredibly slowly. It was a bit strange seeing Law get his heart crushed (literally, not metaphorically) but we barely saw Luffy fight at all. The next episode looks like it will be good though, with the upcoming fight between Smoker and Vergo! I'm looking forward to the Zoro vs. Monet scene as well, but I believe that will air in episode 612, not 610.

Overall, not a bad episode, but it could have been better. Yibis fansubs always make the series more enjoyable.

That's all for today! There be as many as three posts tomorrow so look forward to that! Goodnight!

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06/09/2013 - The Last of Us Multiplayer and World War Z

Good evening! It's been another day of multiplayer on *that* game, and as usual it hasn't been particularly fun. I've spent a good portion of the day trying to finish up this wretched multiplayer and in all honesty, I'm losing the will to live.

The most recent live update has tweaked the Explosives Expert perk, the Hunting Rifle and the Flamethrower. Let's evaluate these one-by-one, shall we?

1) Explosives Expert - This ability has been nerfed from 15% for stage one and 30% for stage two to 10/20%, and rightfully so. As a forum poster stated on the official Naughty Dog forums the other day "Factions mode should be renamed to Molotov Dodgeball". Even with the reduced radius from the nerf, molotovs are still far too easy to come by. Not to mention pretty much every player that has unlocked the perk uses it. I'm going to be a whiner here but today in a single match of Survivors consisting of six rounds I saw twenty-seven molotovs and twenty-three nail bombs. This is ridiculous, there were more explosives than bullets.

2) Hunting Rifle - The buff for this gun was actually needed, considering the average player who wanted to try sniping would just get annihilated by someone using a semi-auto on the other side of the map. They increased the scope speed and reduced the reload time, thus making the gun more feasible during high-level matches. I still prefer the semi-auto and burst rifle, but I do like the improvements.

3) Flamethrower - Another buff that was probably needed, however I think ND went a bit overboard considering the speed that the flamethrower inflicts damage now can destroy all your armor and kill you in less than three seconds. Ouch. Still, it's more avoidable than a molotov and rarely used, so I guess I can't complain.

The next screenshot (followed by even more whining) will display how terrible the matchmaking system still is. <sarcasm/>Enjoy my pro photography skills!

Naughty Dog and their 'much improved' matchmaking process... Yeah, no.

As you can clearly see by the above photo, it still sucks. I wonder if their system couldn't grasp that sticking the four highest ranked players on the same team was a really bad idea, especially in a 'no parties' match.

Although all the above information is negative. I have one that really takes the biscuit. Today I was one shot (instant KO) by a 9mm pistol to the chest while wearing full body armour. I think some people might be exploiting a bug. Has this happened to anyone else? If so, let me know!

In other slightly happier news, I pre-ordered my copy of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix! Unfortunately it won't arrive here until the 24th of September, but I can live with that.

No news on finalizing my PC build either. If I had the money I'd be tempted to buy one of the new 8Pack systems from Overclockers UK. The guy who is designing and building them has a damn good reputation and several records under his belt.

I also watched World War Z today which wasn't actually that bad, although it was pretty much the plot for every other zombie movie and novel. I don't really have any gripes with the movie, but some of the plot had flaws. The entire opening scene looked as if it had been ripped from The Last of Us intro.

Well that's enough ranting from me. The Mirai Nikki review is almost ready and I'm very sorry for the delay, but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing these reviews.

As usual, let me know any of your opinions and thoughts on the topics discussed today. I'm very interested in talking to some other people who have watched Mirai Nikki to get their opinions on the series and the Redial OVA.

Overclockers/8Pack Builds: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2474&subid=2642
The Last of Us Live Update Notes: http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/The-Last-of-Us-Multiplayer/Live-Update-to-Multiplayer/m-p/41533903#U41533903

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04/09/2013 - Finished Mirai Nikki and The Last of Us Multiplayer

So it happened... I finished Future Diary. I can't say that it's a good thing either since I was really enjoying it. But I'm glad I didn't have to wait two years for the 'Redial' OVA, unlike the people who originally watched the series did. That must have really sucked.

Since the series is now finished, I guess I'll be doing my first anime series review tomorrow. That should be interesting since it will probably take a long time to write/proofread. The next series I'll be watching will most likely be Bamboo Blade, that said I also have Cowboy Bebop on standby as well.

As the post title states, I also did some TLOU multiplayer today, getting up to Week 4, Day 2 of my second journey. The sad part is that it has by far been the most infuriating day ever since I started playing the multiplayer. No less than five times was I kicked from the game at the end of the match when a team had won/lost. I lost approximately 22000 parts and five days of progression. It gets more annoying when you calculate it further as I might have to play the multiplayer for an extra hour. The sensation of rage is similar to that which you feel when you die in a Final Fantasy after not having saved it for the entire area. AAAARRRGGGGHHH!
Still I guess I can't complain, at least the game has given me my moneys worth, even if it was sort of a crappy way of going about it.

Oh and there was a live multiplayer patch released for The Last of Us today in an attempt to make the matches fairer. You can guess the impact it had, almost zero. I think another think that the phrase 'almost zero' can be attributed to is the number of times Naughty Dog has acknlowedged that they have failed.

I need to focus intensely on finishing TLOU so I can get around to playing Kingdom Hearts HD and One Piece Pirate Warriors... I'm pretty bored of Fireflys and Hunters. Oh and molotovs, can't forget the molotovs.
Sadly I don't have any more updates on my PC as I still don't have the finance to finish the entire build. Of course the disaster that occured only a few hours ago involving the chemical explosions that engulfed two of the Hynix plants also put a damper on that project, as they are some of the biggest manufacturers of DDRM on the planet. I'm not sure how much of an impact it will have on the end-consumer, but I highly doubt it will be positive.

That's all for the evening guys. Don't forget to subscribe to the thread and follow my profiles. You might have noticed I also added a gallery page, feel free to check it out whenever you read these posts!

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30/08/2013 - The Last of Us Multiplayer

Well it's my first daily update and definitely not my last. The majority of the day has been spent playing The Last of Us online, specifically 'Survivors' mode.

Warning:  May contain spoilers!

Essentially today was my last day on the Firefly journey as I finished my 12th week with 72 clan members remaining at the end. Unfortunately it was not enough for me to receive the Skull Mask but it got me the gold trophy so I'm not particularly bothered.

Survivors mode is a great choice for when the high risk situations arise (60% and 100% population threats). Each game of Survivors typically lasts around 15-20 minutes and usually yields between 3000 and 5000 parts, so it is great for increasing your clan as well as completing the mission requirements.

I'd also advise for anyone wanting an easy ride through the 100% missions to take the Crafter 2/3 perk and select the gifting allies challenge, it's incredibly easy to get the tier 3 mission stage done in the three days allocated.

Although I enjoyed The Last of Us mutliplayer for the most part, I can't say I'll enjoy doing the same 84 matches again to finish the Hunter journey. Thankfully patch 1.03 released today has added a much needed third multiplayer mode, it's still kind of boring playing the same 6 or so maps, but I'll go into that on my platinum review which should arrive within the next week or so.

A big problem with this game is the matchmaking system. The 1.03 patch supposedly improved the situation, however the second game I entered I was placed in a team consisting of the following ranks: 0 - 9 - 13 - 11 while the opposing team consisted of 114 - 223 - 174 - 153 ... Seeing the problem? This just adds insult to injury when the players with extreme lag can shoot you through a wall with an arrow when you've been hiding for five seconds already.

The most worrying thing is, Naughty Dog's track record for breaking multiplayer games is certainly higher than their record for improving them (take Uncharted 3 as an example).

Anyways, another update tomorrow and I'll hopefully do something other than play The Last of Us... I have a fair few anime episodes to catch up on!

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