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How many people can you summon at the same time? I thought you just could summon one person, but today I was summoned and we were three hunters. Vicar Amelia got a serious spanking.

It was also weird that it read "summoner" (or whatever it says in English) on both of the guys I found there.

Futurepress twitter says ignore Amazon they will begin shipping this week, next at latest.

But yeah I've never seen this with a guide before. Wondering if anything has attempted to be kept under wraps...

As I am sure you know already from Gaf, nothing was kept under wraps. The guide is INSANELY detailed though, it is crazy and I see why it took so long to release.

As I am sure you know already from Gaf, nothing was kept under wraps. The guide is INSANELY detailed though, it is crazy and I see why it took so long to release.

Yeah I seen. Still getting it to read as it looks awesome.

I'm giving bloodborne a rest until the patch hits and then I'll get my plat. Onto DS2 on PS4 just now lol. Scholar of the first Sin is a great upgrade over vanilla.

That was my plan as well. I still haven't beaten Bloodborne, due to work crunch time. I think I'm very near the end, I only have Cainhurst and the Mensis Nightmare to do. I dunno if anything is after that, but at this point I'll probably just wait for the performance patch.

Patch is up

Main points of UPDATE 1.03

- Reduced loading times (approx. 5-15 seconds; may vary by circumstance)

- Fixed bug that left certain lifts and elevators inoperable

- Fixed bug that resulted in bosses becoming immobilized

- Fixed bug that left players unable to advance NPC events during multi-play

- When the PS4 is put into Rest Mode during online play, the game will now return to the main title screen upon resuming play

This will resolve matchmaking issues related to Suspend/Resume.

- Other various bug fixes

We will continue to make improvements to better the play experience.

http://www.jp.playstation.com/op/bloodborne/news/2015/04/103.html

They've added item descriptions to loading screens as well.

That's a good update. Improved loading times AND the loading screen is more entertaining. (Y)

 

I also like the fix to rest-mode killing matchmaking. I put my PS4 into rest mode out of habit, and having to close the application and restart it every time, upon resuming, was getting really annoying.

 

I never noticed the elevator or boss issues though, but doesn't matter now anyway.

As I am sure you know already from Gaf, nothing was kept under wraps. The guide is INSANELY detailed though, it is crazy and I see why it took so long to release.

Got my guide today, it's a beast! Probably the heaviest guide I own lol.

Got my guide today, it's a beast! Probably the heaviest guide I own lol.

It's insane, it really is. Overwhelming even. My intent was to start playing the game again once I got it, instead I am still reading the damn thing as it it is so detailed.  :wacko: I honestly had no, no idea the game got as in depth as it does with everything. I already read a lot of stuff that should make my experience much better once I play. I do just have to stop reading it and start playing again, but I am in a bit of a funk right now with playing anything also, just no real desire. I feel like I should be doing more productive things with my time so starting to draw again and reading a lot (not counting the guide LOL).

 

  • Like 1

It's insane, it really is. Overwhelming even. My intent was to start playing the game again once I got it, instead I am still reading the damn thing as it it is so detailed.  :wacko: I honestly had no, no idea the game got as in depth as it does with everything. I already read a lot of stuff that should make my experience much better once I play. I do just have to stop reading it and start playing again, but I am in a bit of a funk right now with playing anything also, just no real desire. I feel like I should be doing more productive things with my time so starting to draw again and reading a lot (not counting the guide LOL).

 

 

Yeaaah, Souls games for fans affect the mind and there goes study/work lol.

 

The theme is pretty cool as well. Subtle, and my Plasma thanks it for being dark (unlike that free white theme).

I honestly never really put much thought into it. I just went with it.

 

I mean, who cares why the hags drop pebbles? Does this person also wonder why werewolves and giant fatties drop vials of blood when they clearly have no place to hold them and no reason to have them? Trying to use logic to make sense of the, often times, ridiculous items in a Souls game seems like a waste of time.  :rofl:

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/04/29/feast-your-eyes-on-these-bloodborne-maps

Bloodborne Chalice dungeons are kicking my behind, I'm at level 70 so I can keep invading so I won't be leveling up anymore, but getting through Depth 4-5 Chalice dungeons is a pain. Has anybody have success in these Chalice dungeons?

Level 100 is the PVP meta? 70 is going to be really rough for the lower chalices. Especially defiled as it halves your health.

Bloodborne Chalice dungeons are kicking my behind, I'm at level 70 so I can keep invading so I won't be leveling up anymore, but getting through Depth 4-5 Chalice dungeons is a pain. Has anybody have success in these Chalice dungeons?  

 

Well i am doing well in chalice dungeons , but i am at 198 ... so i guess that's why :p

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/04/29/feast-your-eyes-on-these-bloodborne-maps

Level 100 is the PVP meta? 70 is going to be really rough for the lower chalices. Especially defiled as it halves your health.

Is that true? People are settling on level 100 for pvp? I guess I'll stay at 75 to avoid all of that nonsense.

I finally started playing again the other night, and let me just say the guide sucks for people like me.  :laugh:

It is seriously convoluted, especially since every damn paragraph the walkthrough constantly says refer to page 505 on what this means, which roughly translates to refer to page 505 to try and determine what you might want to do.

There also just seems to be whole areas that are totally missing in the walkthrough.

With that said, the hour or so I played, I amazingly only died one time, so the guide must have given me a few decent tips and tricks.

  • Like 1

I'm hoping to finally finish the game this weekend. I was busy last weekend with the Parkinson's Walk in Central Park, and Yankees-Mets game on Saturday, but I don't have any plans this weekend.

 

If I can distract my girlfriend long enough to get some game-time in, I should be able to finish Cainhurst and Mensis. (Y)

I'm hoping to finally finish the game this weekend. I was busy last weekend with the Parkinson's Walk in Central Park, and Yankees-Mets game on Saturday, but I don't have any plans this weekend.

 

If I can distract my girlfriend long enough to get some game-time in, I should be able to finish Cainhurst and Mensis. (Y)

 

Cainhurst boss can be pretty tough. Mensis is a bitch.

Just killed ROM on the third attempt. I have seem that boss being mentioned so many times (probably for other reasons) that I thought it would be a tough fight.

It hits hard, but slow and telegraphed.

The next area seems to be a bitch on it's own, though :(

 

Rom can be hard the first few times. Just a tip, bolt paper works a treat ;) Next area is tough due to the bell ringers.

 

Finished my skill build

 

SL 100
 
Vit 40
End 25
Str 10 (to use burial blade) 
Skl 50
Bt 10 (to use reiterpallasch) 
Arcane 15 (to use hunter tools) 
 
I have a good range of flexibility between blades of mercy, burial blade, threaded cane and reiterpallasch. Hunter tools aren't great but 15 arcane let's me use most and arcane scales a little with bom and burial. I used the blood rock on blades of mercy as they rock. Threaded cane and reiterpallasch can both be buffed with paper or arcane shell thingy. 

 

 

Posted it on GAF so just copy/paste.

 

Rom can be hard the first few times. Just a tip, bolt paper works a treat ;) Next area is tough due to the bell ringers.

 

 

That next area just feels overly hostile: bell ringers, variety of enemies, unsettling huge things  :pinch:

 

Tonitrus did the work nicely against Rom, along with Ludwig's sword to one-hit it's annoying minions.

Now, Ebrietas... that's an actual PITA, quite probably the hardest boss I've found so far... and disturbingly ugly, while at that. There's definitely a strong lovecraftian vibe in some of the game concepts.

That next area just feels overly hostile: bell ringers, variety of enemies, unsettling huge things :pinch:

Tonitrus did the work nicely against Rom, along with Ludwig's sword to one-hit it's annoying minions.

Now, Ebrietas... that's an actual PITA, quite probably the hardest boss I've found so far... and disturbingly ugly, while at that. There's definitely a strong lovecraftian vibe in some of the game concepts.

Hardest boss for me. Could not do it alone. Even with co-op my helpers died a lot, followed by me. Not looking forward to it in NG+ as bloody hell boss health pools are massive.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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    • I actually got to use one of those so called "backup codes" once. It was for a customer, I choose the backup code option, and by the grace of god, they actually hade them printed out. Imagine my surprise, when after using the backup code, Google then told use we had to enter a code they just sent to the gmail address we currently did not have access to. I was not amused, Google backup codes should be the end all get out of jail free card, because you had to have access to the account to even get them.
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