I am but a humble Shrimp.

[Dragon Lord]

Happy Birthday, DL! Hope you're not working either night but you might be just last night, but even if so it doesn't really matter when you can just think of the money coming in for it. Haha, enjoy gaming as usual though.

Thanks, Elite. I did work the night of the 12th into the 13th, but Sundays are one of my normal nights off, so I had that off. 

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a good one in whatever way you choose to spend it!

Sadly I spent it not doing a whole lot of anything. Slept in way later than I wanted, which caused me to miss my usual Sunday night Phasmophobia stream, and also a chance to do any voice chatting with friends. So pretty much just spent my birthday alone, haha.

Congrats on making it another year on this hellscape!

Hope you got some good gaming in today at the very least

Thank you. I did do some gaming, but not nearly as much as I wanted/didn't play what I intended. A wasted night for sure, but hopefully tonight will be different.

I took a week off of work to "celebrate" my birthday, so I end up with nine straight days at home, so hopefully I'll get plenty of great gaming done in that time. Got Tactics Ogre Reborn to start and play through (intended to start it last night but never did). Might try to squeeze in Star Ocean: The Divine Force as well if Tactics Ogre doesn't take me too much time. Sadly even nine straight days doesn't feel like nearly enough time to make a dent in this collection of games to play, haha.

[Mr EliteL]

Sweet, nine days off work to do what want. Ah, you laid in yesterday which is all good anyway, best to get that rest in when your body wants it. We can play Phasmo in the week or next Sunday. May the nine days go slow! (even though they probably won't)

[Maniakkid25]

Aw, jebus, I guess I missed the appropriate date (and knowing me, the last ones as well). Still, hope you had a good birfday.

[Karo]

Happy Birthday Night Lord! I am late by a few days for this one! I hope you had a great one! <3

[Moonface]

I took a week off of work to "celebrate" my birthday, so I end up with nine straight days at home, so hopefully I'll get plenty of great gaming done in that time. Got Tactics Ogre Reborn to start and play through (intended to start it last night but never did). Might try to squeeze in Star Ocean: The Divine Force as well if Tactics Ogre doesn't take me too much time. Sadly even nine straight days doesn't feel like nearly enough time to make a dent in this collection of games to play, haha.

Did you get either of those for your birthday or were they just backlog games you hadn't got to yet?
If they weren't birthday gifts, did you get anything for your birthday or was it just the self-gift of time off work?

[Moonface]

@Dragon Lord: Not sure I've ever asked this one or seen you say it anywhere before, but what build/class do you tend to go with in FromSoft games or other games that have class/build systems (i.e. Genshin)?

[Moonface]

Would you like to participate in fitness boxing with Miku?

[Dragon Lord]

I forgot to answer your previous question I see. In Souls games, my first play throughs always tend to be either a pure DEX build, or a DEX/INT build. Overall those are my favorite builds as well, as I love shredding bosses with a super buffed, extremely fast DEX weapon. Painting Guardian Sword + Crystal Magic Weapon will always be my favorite combination to use in Dark Souls 1.

The only exception to that rule is Dark Souls 2, where they actually made STR builds feel fun with the Power Stance system, and I love doing a Dual Greatsword build in that game. My other favorite build in DaS2 is a Dex/Faith build using a Lightning Rapier buffed with Sunlight Blade. Just shreds everything and having a Faith build lets you utilize some really nice buffs as well.

As for that Miku thing, no, I'm good. I'm just hoping that's not going to be the last gaming related announcement for Miku for her 16th anniversary, and I'm really hoping to see the announcement of a new Project DIVA game.

[Moonface]

If you've never done it, would you ever consider running a primarily magic focused build in a FromSoft (or similar company) game?

Also have you played the Yomawari series? I feel like I saw you mention it years ago on here but I might be mistaken. I'm curious since I played the demo for "Lost in the Dark" a while back and it's been in the back of my mind since then.

[Dragon Lord]

I have used magic builds in Fromsoft games before. The Dex/INT build is probably my all-time favorite in Dark Souls. Crystal Magic Weapon on a Painting Guardian Sword absolutely shreds bosses, and for when you don't feel like doing melee and just want to 1-2 shot a boss, you have Dark Bead at your disposal too.

I don't remember if I've ever done an INT build in Dark Souls 2. I was more about Faith in that game, because you could buff elemental weapons in DaS2, so dual-wielding Lightning Rapiers with Sunlight Blade was ridiculously overpowered (also thanks to the powerstance system in the game). It was also a HUGE pain to get some of the better spells in that game (Crystal Soul Spear was locked behind beating the NG+ version of one of the bosses, for example).

Never did an INT build in Dark Souls 3. I didn't like the switch to the MP system and having to split your flasks between healing HP or healing MP. Also with how much faster the combat in Dark Souls 3 felt compared to the first two games, I just felt like going pure melee was the #1 way to go in this game. DEX builds really shined in this game for how fast you were able to play with them. Don't think I ever even did a STR build in this one either. It's always DEX build or Quality Build (equal amount of STR/DEX).

Bloodborne's "magic" system was butts and I never cared to use it and never will care to use it.

My first character in Elden Ring is a DEX/INT character as well, utilizing the wonderful Moonveil katana with a plethora of spells to back me up. I went with this build first because I figured magic would be really fun in Elden Ring, and it kind of is, but at the same time a lot of the spells are super underwhelming, and the best one of them all (Azure Comet) basically begs you to use Mimic Tear so that the boss won't interrupt you using it/will stay still more, and I just don't really like that. I started my second character to be a pure STR character using the Greatsword, and so far the game has been like ten times more fun for me this way. Normally I'm not a fan of STR builds because I prefer speed over one big hit, and Dark Souls 2 was the only other Souls game that made STR builds fun (thanks to Powerstancing dual Greatswords -- another thing these two games have in common, the Greatsword is OP as fuuuuuuuuck). Elden Ring has now made that two Souls games that I seemingly prefer STR builds over any other (I'll have to play with Dex builds a bit more to be sure though, a Dex/Faith build might over take it).

As for Demon's Souls, I know magic is pretty busted in that game, but for whatever reason I never really felt the need for it. Maybe because overall the game doesn't offer many challenges, so I never felt I needed the extra punch. I prefer to fun a DEX build in that game too, especially since Bows are actually pretty godly in that game thanks to the Thief's Ring (lowers the range at which enemies can detect you) and the Rat Ring (huge damage boost when in critical HP). These two rings combined could make it so you could kill all enemies in a level in 1-2 arrows, and even made it super viable to use a bow on bosses. Demon's Souls is one of the two Souls games I completed a "bow only" challenge run in (the other Being Dark Souls 2 which also made bows REALLY good).

As for the Yomari games, yes, I know about them. I have the Limited Editions for all of them, haha. I just haven't gotten around to playing any of them yet... on the backlog that is probably impossible for me to complete in my life time at this rate, haha.

[Moonface]

^^Not ignoring this, just need to take longer to formulate my thoughts on it all.

Anyway, for what I am here for, is to say Happy Birthday @Dragon Lord! I hope you have a good one!

[Dragon Lord]

Thanks broski, it was a fine day. Got lucky this year that it was on a Monday, so I had the night off. Though I am still taking my usual birthday vacation this year, it just won't start until the 16th though. Taking eight days off of work to rest, relax and binge the hell out of Star Ocean 2 R and Super Mario RPG Remake.

[ShiraNoMai]

Fuck yeah, well deserved. I feel like I should've done the same. I took the Monday off (it was on a Sunday) so I could recover from the weekend away celebrating
Anyway, hope you got to enjoy your evening and have an enjoyable time playing for 8 days straight! Happy birthday!

[Mr EliteL]

Ah darn it was the start of birthdays in a row month and I missed the first one, frick.

Happy belated birthday DL and enjoy these bunch of gaming days!

[Dragon Lord]

Fuck yeah, well deserved. I feel like I should've done the same. I took the Monday off (it was on a Sunday) so I could recover from the weekend away celebrating
Anyway, hope you got to enjoy your evening and have an enjoyable time playing for 8 days straight! Happy birthday!

Oh I will! The fun starts tonight. Time to see how many games I can finish in 12 days. Don't need no 12 Days of Christmas when I have 12 Days of Gaming.

Ah darn it was the start of birthdays in a row month and I missed the first one, frick.

Happy belated birthday DL and enjoy these bunch of gaming days!

Thanks, Elite! No worries on being late, I'm not much of a birthday celebrator anyways, haha. Appreciate it though, and I will certainly be enjoying those days. Hopefully can get some gaming with friends in as well.