Sientir's Blog

In the first video this weekend, I analyze the design of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's food and cooking system, which does a lot to add micro-reward structures to the game. My Guild Wars 1: Eye of the North adventures continue in the second video. Direct video links: Food & Cooking in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Thinking about Game Design - https://youtu.be/d8jUm4NWCZs Guild Wars 1: Oola's Lair & the G.O.L.E.M. Project - https://youtu.be/Yd7inpwy4CE

I find a couple of very useful abilities in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night this week. The first is the ability to sink in water, which proves most useful. The other is the ability to invert Miriam's gravity, which has some very interesting visual implications. Both open up a bunch of exploration! Direct video links: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 16: How did a Desert get lost underground anyway? - https://youtu.be/jTxiuCnW0Ts Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 17: Sinking in Water is MAGIC! - https://youtu.be/QilKLMT-EW4 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 18: Spike Armor is AMAZING! - https://youtu.be/f7xt7ZMkr6s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 19: Into the...err, underground Magma Area! - https://youtu.be/gvqvtW57sh0 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 20: Falling UP! - https://youtu.be/EThVwg1vHfA

I wanted to talk about trade-offs in game design—things that force the player to make choices—and I chose to do this by using Dark Souls 1. Hopefully this is the first in many weekend videos about game design or game analysis, as that's something I think can be my channel's niche. The second video is some more Guild Wars 1 stuff. However, much of the first part of the video is the process of me constructing a team build, and going over my thought process. I also discuss some skills, which I suppose is game designery? Regardless, I had fun playing the game again! It'd been too long. Direct video links: Dark Souls and Trade-Offs—Thinking about Game Design - https://youtu.be/--JOdXEQ3aA Guild Wars 1: Making a Build & Helping Gadd - https://youtu.be/zi9Y4VLe6G0

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night continues! The most significant advancement was in the last episode, as gaining the ability to (sort of) swim really opened up a lot more areas. This week also marks the beginning of some experimentation with thumbnails. I'm curious to see if the seem to have an impact. Direct video links: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 11: Bloodless - https://youtu.be/9BDejQNyHXE Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 12: Chair Mimics?! - https://youtu.be/tvcQsq3D-sw Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 13: Not the ending I'm looking for... - https://youtu.be/FfuJP31XHxY Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 14: Benjamin is LOADED! - https://youtu.be/lK-eNCyrEVk Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 15: Learning to Swim (kinda?) - https://youtu.be/uBziifpAhoI

This weekend is one of conclusions, as it has had both the last episode of the Hollow Knight Epilogue as well as the final episode of the Dark Souls II retrospective. In the Hollow Knight episode, I give a try to beating The Radiance again, but I just do not enjoy the fight. I decide to go poking around at a few other odds and ends (such as the Coliseum of Fools), where I find some other stuff. But I think I've gotten out of this game all I care to, so it's time to go ahead and set it down. Speaking of odds and ends, that's mostly what the Dark Souls II retrospective episode covers. There's a bunch of smaller things I talk about in it. I end the episode with some of my final thoughts from the series. Direct video links: Hollow Knight Epilogue Ep. 11: Knowing When to Quit - https://youtu.be/dWzDZ-k__Ag Dark Souls 2: A Retrospective—Part 5: Odds, Ends, & My Final Thoughts - https://youtu.be/pdjJ0Jik3O0

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night continues! I found a lot of movement abilities this week, and figured out about how more systems function. Also, this game continues to make me hungry! Direct video links: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 6: What's Shovel Knight doing here? - https://youtu.be/jsWI9xfuBUc Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 7: The Library - https://youtu.be/DI9AWLC-PAk Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 8: Where can my Double Jump take me? - https://youtu.be/DKGungWyvgw Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 9: Monster Train Pass - https://youtu.be/zm0zbZQ30WI Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 10: Laser-Powered Movement! - https://youtu.be/VTLD3ZqSU74

A tragedy struck, and unfortunately a bunch of boss fights failed to get recorded. So this week's Hollow Knight episode is a search for all of the grubs. I find a lot of other stuff along the way, so it's got some nice exploration in it, too. The Dark Souls II retrospective episode (with a name change because a check on Google Trends has shone that "Dark Souls 2" gets searched for far more than "Dark Souls II" does) is about the world design and level design of the game, along with a bunch of adjacent concepts (like torches, enemy respawn limits, etcetera). Direct video links: Hollow Knight Epilogue Ep. 10: Hunting for Grub(s) - https://youtu.be/mSKVpdKKGDk Dark Souls 2: A Retrospective—Part 4: World & Level Design - https://youtu.be/OH_5Wbq3CJA

I was a backer of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and now that the game has released (just a few days after I recorded this, anyway), I'm excited to get to finally play it! Direct video links: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 1: It Begins! - https://youtu.be/y3RK90w_Y4o Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 2: NPC Introductions - https://youtu.be/k9p7ShwqN18 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 3: This game makes me hungry! - https://youtu.be/SjXyroYcL_g Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 4: What is style? - https://youtu.be/kj9voVb6o7Q Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night—Ep. 5: Finding a GIANT HAND! - https://youtu.be/duUuhAKZhyU