Delphouneso

Aston Villa: Inside Emi Martinez’s bid to be world’s best goalkeeper. Article on the Beeb this morning, mostly an interview with Cutler.

Fulham will probably drop off, pretty sure they've got the highest xGA in the league as well as facing the most shots, so either Leno is having a blinder or they're getting lucky. Things like Forest losing both CBs within 5 mins would suggest the latter.

Yeah that kinda sums it up, it made the devs input feel more present in my playthrough. Found a tiermaker to do the job for me (link for anyone who wants a go) : I'd be intrigued to hear how and why other peoples' lists would differ from mine, I know these games and their bosses can be polarising. I got a bit bored by the time I got to 'Average' and below (man did DS2 have a whole load of forgettable bosses), they're all a much of a muchness from there down so some of them could probably shuffle around a bit but I couldn't be bothered to consider the difference in quality between the likes of Demon Firesage and Demon of Song. I also didn't intentionally skip Lud and Zallen, didn't realise they existed and once I'd looked them up I decided there was no way I was going back into DS2 just for that.

Gael is such a good boss. Halflight was.. interesting? Maybe there's more to it if you don't just poke her with a stick. Gael was a really good end to the game and series though, might already be up there with my favourites. And with those two down my first playthrough is done, besides some platinum clean-up. I've enjoyed this one, as with all these games there were definitely parts I didn't enjoy, but it's considerably more polished than the previous two games - which was particularly noticeable coming straight from DS2. Barring a couple of minor nitpicks the gameplay and combat felt pretty solid and you can tell a lot more time and effort has gone into the bosses this time, for the most part each boss is a unique and interesting experience and not just a scaled up normal enemy (DS2 I'm looking at you). The bosses can be weirdly inconsistent though, I mentioned it in a previous post but it's almost like because they tend to have more varied and complex movesets it can end up making each attempt vary wildly in difficulty level depending on which they choose to use. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, should keep subsequent playthroughs interesting for longer I guess. One kind of slightly weird criticism I have - which may change as my opinion often does on these games after a few more NG cycles - the first two games each felt unique, they were obviously two games in the same series but each had its own identity and atmosphere, DS3 at times can be a bit like playing a DS1 tribute. Sometimes it works (Soul of Cinder phase 2, revisiting Anor Londo) but sometimes it doesn't and comes across a bit forced (Izalith re-imagined, poundshop Artorias and Sif - particularly as they made up one half of the bosses in a £20 DLC). Maybe it's a personal thing, maybe all the games would've been like this if Miyazaki was more hands on with DS2, I just thought it was a little less immersive than the other two. Might have a go at ranking some of my favourite bosses of the series later now I've finished all three. Oh and a little tidbit of DS1 trivia I only discovered recently that some of you may already know, if you move each letter of the name 'Sif' one to the right on a standard keyboard you get 'Dog'. One of the most iconic characters in the series and that's how they named it.

Midir is the exact type of boss I really don't enjoy fighting in these games. It's much better than some of the previous attempts at dragon bosses but it's that perfect combination of small margin for error, rare attack windows, difficult to hit and loads of hp that make it a bit of a slog. There are so few windows to punish (and when you do get in its head moves half an inch and you miss) you end up trying to force it and making more mistakes or because it's such a long fight you get distracted trying to find windows to re-buff your weapon multiple times and end up dying that way. Reminds me a bit of defiled Amygdala in that respect, that fight wasn't all that difficult it was just a trying 10 minute exercise in concentration, Midir is like that only he's also actually quite difficult. And wouldn't you know it after all the grief he gave me I beat him without being hit.

When he scores the winner in the play off final against Norwich.

That's an issue for sure, but the biggest problem for me (other than frame rate chugging when he's flying) is camera center being tied to the same button as lock on, so when you're following him with free-look then try to lock on if he's out of range it'll just spin the camera 180. It's a problem for the game in general but it particularly annoying in this fight.

I kinda hate the Nameless King's first phase, I can feel my neck aching whilst I'm playing it, however it's pretty funny that if you get lucky you can just do this to him.

Can't decide whether Twin Princes is one of the best or worst bosses in the game. It's a cool fight, but the first phase is either the most fun thing ever if you nail every dodge or the most annoying if you don't. It's also one of those fights where the difficulty can vary massively from one run to the next depending on what the boss decides to do. I've had runs where he barely teleported and it's the easiest fight in the game, and others where he spams teleport, it's always off-screen so you have to re-center, and it's always into that near-instant slam attack, or even worse he'll alternate that with his delayed attack just to throw you off. Not sure I'm a fan of him being able to teleport mid-attack either, seems a pretty cheap mechanic. Anyway, it's over now. Pretty sure I would've died if I hadn't recently equipped the Prisoner's Chain.

I got her. Main difficulty was figuring out where she could be punished in phase 3, once I learned her openings I stuck a carthus rouge on and she actually goes down pretty quickly. Also once I got confident enough to pop an ember after phase 2 I could actually tank more than one hit with some of her attacks which made a pretty big difference. Such a punishing fight though, definitely one of the more difficult in the series, maybe only Manus and Kalameet even come close. Still got a few left in this game yet though. Not looking forward to doing it again in NG+ cycles.

Yeah the third phase is what's giving me difficulty, or rather it's kinda difficult to learn it when it takes so long to get there and then I die in one hit having barely seen any of her attacks.

Sister Friede is kicking my arse. Might actually have to go elsewhere for a bit.

The framerate in this game is pretty unforgivable considering how heavily the gameplay relies on precise timing. Pontiff was really bad but it was at least mostly contained to when his clone was up, Yhorm was pretty choppy but it didn't seem to affect the fight much, Dancer however was just stupid. The whole fight must average <20fps with spikes in single figures. I appreciate I'm on outdated hardware but it wasn't outdated when this game was released. Shame 'cause I'm really enjoying it otherwise. Revisiting Anor Londo in particular was a nice nostalgia trip.

Smouldering Lake is like they thought the Chalice Dungeons and Lost Izalith were both such big hits with the player base that combining the two couldn't possibly go wrong..

Four bosses in and I'm enjoying DS3 so far. Nice to get back to a bit of a faster paced game. Though I will say the frame rate is choppy as balls on PS4 and man are stored inputs back with a vengeance. Once again came at it with the best intentions of trying something different yet here I am at level 24 with the trusty Grass Crest Shield on my back and 30 points in Dex..

I think if I'd known how easy it was to farm the Rotten and skip half the game it wouldn't have been so bad. There's just more annoying stuff in DS2 than any of the other FS games I've played.

Quite possibly the worst experience I've had in gaming. There was a 7 month break between starting and finishing the platinum after I reached my wit's end at the first attempt (probably somewhere around Iron Keep). Pretty sure I won't be picking this one up again. Onto DS3..

I don't speak Spansh but I'm fairly certain I heard a 'loco loco Dibu' in there.

Full article: https://theathletic.com/3898894/2022/11/16/emi-martinez-argentina-world-cup/

Interesting comments from Cutler on Emi about how seriously he took the responsibility of being made vice captain - and now captain - to the point where he was annoying people with how full on he is. Full vid:

build him a **** statue.

Pretty sure it's the same ball they used last time we beat them.

I can only assume if we're appointing Ayestaran our next step will be to activate Ganso's release clause then pick up Keisuke Honda on a free in January.