Hollow Knight - Dark Souls Metroidvania... with bugs!

[peachlover669]

finally beat lace, boss run backs are terrible game design and im tired of pretending they aren't. lace doesnt even have a particularly egregious one but the fact that i cant just get back into the fight and have to do a pointless run around just to get back to where i was is disgusting, and yes i know you can get a bench right below her arena but shes an easy enough boss that there is no point to having to fight waves of the gayest enemys ever created just to get a bench (total flying molten ball throwing nigger bug death)

other than that im enjoying the game so far, i never beat hollow knight as i got lost halfway through and couldnt figure out where i was supposed to go next so im hoping that doesnt happen with this game, it seems very linear thus far which makes me hopeful that i wont get lost.
also contact damage is really annoying especially since you dont push enemys back very far when you hit them

 

[Cave Fisher]

As a positive, I find it really funny how the cornifer lady constantly addresses Hornet as a child even after being corrected when chances are, going by the timeline, Hornet's probably one of the oldest characters still standing at this point in time.

 

[Balanced Boomer]

finally beat lace, boss run backs are terrible game design and im tired of pretending they aren't. lace doesnt even have a particularly egregious one but the fact that i cant just get back into the fight and have to do a pointless run around just to get back to where i was is disgusting, and yes i know you can get a bench right below her arena but shes an easy enough boss that there is no point to having to fight waves of the gayest enemys ever created just to get a bench (total flying molten ball throwing nigger bug death)

other than that im enjoying the game so far, i never beat hollow knight as i got lost halfway through and couldnt figure out where i was supposed to go next so im hoping that doesnt happen with this game, it seems very linear thus far which makes me hopeful that i wont get lost.
also contact damage is really annoying especially since you dont push enemys back very far when you hit them

I just wanna make sure I'm understanding correctly. You don't like running back to fight a boss because it's annoying. The devs apparently put a bench close to said boss fight that you could choose to activate to circumvent the run around, but you're ignoring it because the fight is too easy even though you apparently keep dying and get aggravated that you have to backtrack to the boss fight each time?

 

[Croaking Spider]

When you've been stumbling blindly through an area for 15 minutes getting by on the skin of your ass and you finally hear this little ditty:

It's honestly starting to grow on me. If you're going to take any inspirations from India, a character using chakri (named Shakra, well done Team Cherry, very clever) isn't the worst inspiration. I like the little detail of her chakri staying on the maps next to dead enemies in the places you encounter her. She grew on me from that one segment before the Lace fight.

 

[Strangolapreti]

infantile game design

That's a spicy take... No wait my bad its completely retarded.

ooh what's this thing dangling from the ceiling, guess you'll have to come back later with a new macguffin, oooooh isn't it so mysterious?

Game's a metroidvania, you have a vast interconnected map so clearly showing you stuff that requires an ability to unlock later promotes you to backtrack and either find hidden treasures you may have overlooked early on or shortcuts for new areas. Super metroid had that too and people still praise it as the best game on the SNES

small bugs are hiding in small skulls, which means big bugs must be hiding in big skulls!

You fucking NiGGER thats how it works in real life. If I see a giant snail shell I'm not gonna say "Duh I bet the snail/hermit crab that lives here was smaller than a zoophile's dick." If it was viceversa what were I bet you were gonna complain again because its OH SO SUBVERSIVE or some other dumb shit.

India

I really hope team cherry didn't took inspiration from literal hell but rather Silat from Berserk when making that character.

 

[Croaking Spider]

I really hope team cherry didn't took inspiration from literal hell but rather Silat from Berserk when making that character.

Devil's advocate, I'll do you one further.

Spoiler: Speculative Bug Sperging

I'm not positive of this or reached any point in the game that identifies this, but I believe Shakra is supposed to be a scarab, specifically a dung beetle. Rainbow dung beetle pictured.



My reasoning behind this is that these beetles use mental "maps" of celestial bodies to help orient themselves, like how people follow the north star. I can see how they could spin in into a character who serves as a cartographer, especially since she's a hunter first and a cartographer by necessity/tradition. I'm just spitballing here though, food for thought. I'm probably putting more thought than I should be into this, but it seems sound.

 

[Strangolapreti]

My reasoning behind this is that these beetles use mental "maps" of celestial bodies to help orient themselves,

African dung beetles do that too.

 

[Croaking Spider]

African dung beetles do that too.

I meant it moreso as a trait overall. They're found all over the world but (I believe?) they all share that trait. I just used that particular picture as a visual reference for the head shape.

I know, riveting shit, right? I don't have much to say that hasn't been said already in the last pages or want to spoil anything, so I'm sperging on bug species in a video game. Maybe I'll be vindicated when the long-form video essay lore dumps drop in a month or so.

 

[Tealeaf]

You can unlock a honest to god downward pogo through a crest in the midgame.

 

[Newcomer 42]

Some of the takes read here are interesting, and with interesting I mean retarded: "What do you mean that enemies are trying to kill me?" ; "the lady bug is weaker and more agile than the male bug of the first game!*"; "Help! There's a place I can't reach right now with my set-up, the game is dumb!"; "The game feels like a sequel with similar themes!"
And so on. I see that Blasphemous gave a lot of inspiration/ripping off, as it has a similar premise (a religious kingdom full of zealot psychos). Zealot enemies are a bit more dangerous than the zombies of the first game, though, if only because Horny takes a lot of damage from too many sources, and her pain frames are too short so she can be stunlocked to death by multiple enemies/traps. Still a shame you can't have her say "shaw!" at will.

*Which is a bit of a surprise in Current Year, when the woman is always superior to the man, or at least the latter is made to be a weakling to prop the former. The African-esque beetle is not insufferable to boot, nor does she belittle you, for one. Moreover, she fights with a ranged weapon, making her hunting focus more plausible.

 

[Strangolapreti]

I know, riveting shit, right? I don't have much to say that hasn't been said already in the last pages or want to spoil anything, so I'm sperging on bug species in a video game. Maybe I'll be vindicated when the long-form video essay lore dumps drop in a month or so.

It's funny how the poop bugs from africa and india are far more intelligent than the humans from said continents...

Edit: @Jotch the crest system is pretty great if you are not a fan of regular the downward thursts, if you still want to complain about the new moveset, then pay 500 rosaries for the simple key, go right above bonebottom and traverse the void on the left by jumping on the cages (eitehr via dashing or doing the last pogos on those 2 enemies), skip the large miniboss, and proceed to the next room where you need the key. there you'll get a new area, descend at the first hole you see and immediately fall down once you re-enter the mosscave. There's a chapel that hold a crest that, once equipped, you can get the old downward slash, and even if it requires a little of grinding, you get it before even the bell beast.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The game is really fucking stringy (pun unintended) with the save and transport locations. I have 800 beads and there are no stores or sane ways to get back to the rest of the map without it taking more time than grinding for those. In the meantime I just hope I won't fuck myself and lose everything. Should find a hook and double jump abilities eventually.

At least there isn't WE WUZ BUGZ and her damned singing

 

[Balanced Boomer]

I don't get the singing bug hate like God damn every bug in this game has a vantawhite face how the hell is the singing bug with the chunky bracelets that sells you maps triggering your nigger senses? I feel like I'm hearing that Cob guy bitch about DEI in a game about bugs right before he goes off on a tangent wondering if Hornet has a dick.

 

[Croaking Spider]

The game is really fucking stringy (pun unintended) with the save and transport locations. I have 800 beads and there are no stores or sane ways to get back to the rest of the map without it taking more time than grinding for those. In the meantime I just hope I won't fuck myself and lose everything. Should find a hook and double jump abilities eventually.

At least there isn't WE WUZ BUGZ and her damned singing

You can buy Bead Threads from the merchant in town for 80 beads that breaks into 60 on use. It's a 25% penalty, but it's a way to keep them safely saved.

I thought chasing loose Geo was annoying, but chasing Geo that is a round physics object is even worse. I keep finding myself losing a few rosary beads every couple of strands where they'll roll out and away from me to who the fuck knows where.

 

[ArthuriusMartyrius]

I haven't played the game itself but just by watching some snippets on YouTube here and there it looks...a bit unfinished? I dunno, it seems like for something that has been cooking for 7 years, even for a team of 3, it should be a hell of a lot more...expanded compared to Hollow Knight.

I might get it once TC are done with all the DLC content they're planning and it's on sale but right now it's not even worth 20 bucks IMO.

 

[Safir]

It's very clear that you are killing pilgrims that have became feral as they are going on their pilgrimage.

Yes, but it's fiction, it's not fucking real, they choose to write it. It's like there was a plot, American primary schoolers are going feral and it's up to brave trannies to shoot them up as a public service. I'd rather be a templar and protect the pilgrimage route from monsters and beadless bandits and earn beads that way. But the currency system rewards killing pilgrims and leaving monsters and bandits alone.

Also, "why can't you just leave"? Idk, maybe there would be no fucking game if you just left?

Do you know what a plot is you dumb nigger?
I am a 4th generation atheist, why am I forced to defend religion against IQ 50 poasters?

Yeah its established very early on. That something is controlling the feral pilgrims like the Radiance did in the first game

They're not dead, though, they're just mind controlled. The bugs in HK were already dead before the Radiance got them moving again. The moral options are
- reach the spire and kill the bad guys, killing as few as possible pilgrims on the way
- turn around and leave
Seeking out and hunting down pilgrims for their beads and even rags fucking sucks.

the lady bug is weaker and more agile than the male bug of the first game!*";

She's less agile for now. She's drawn gracefully but the mechanics aren't there. The genderspecial bug of the first game (yes the devs are insistent he's genderspecial) was moving effortlessly and his dash was immediately stronger.

You can buy Bead Threads from the merchant in town for 80 beads that breaks into 60 on use. It's a 25% penalty, but it's a way to keep them safely saved.

I'm not losing any beads and I still don't have anywhere enough.

I thought chasing loose Geo was annoying, but chasing Geo that is a round physics object is even worse. I keep finding myself losing a few rosary beads every couple of strands where they'll roll out and away from me to who the fuck knows where.

Wear the magnetite amulet.

---
Anyway:
- the dash sucks, it's less powerful than HK's and now seems to be mandatory. The same problem as in Ender Lilies: the first ability is the double jump, and now all gaps are exactly two jumps wide.
- no money. I've never lost any money, and I suck at the game so I must have more money than a typical player. I now have a locked travel point, a locked bench, a 500-bead item to buy, and three fucking beads.
- the angled downward strike isn't that bad. I found a relevant challenge area, wasted all my health, and noped out of there. But it wasn't required anywhere on the main route for now, hopefully I'll git gud when it is.

 

[Professor Donger]

You can unlock a honest to god downward pogo through a crest in the midgame.

You can also get it from a different crest early as well

"the lady bug is weaker and more agile than the male bug of the first game!*"

Not to be that guy, but the Knight wasn't male. The Void basically erased any individual traits the vessels had outside of their masks during development, so they are literally "its". This isn't a "Lmao I'm non-binary" bullshit either, they don't have male or female distinguishing parts because the vessels died during development and never formed those things. That's why Hornet is specifically called the Gendered Child and why she calls the player a "ghost"

The Knight is basically a robot in the first game.

 

[Jarch6]

Besides the chorus of execration from indie developers about the price, I've seen braying from a purported increased difficulty. Having just started the game, the removal of the direct downward slash and the wall slide/jump from the OG game already substantiates the claim in my eyes. My first impression of that and the beginning areas are quite positive thus far, may haps the claim of being stuck in developer heaven, rather than developer hell, were true...

 

[Deus Exica]

I just wanna make sure I'm understanding correctly. You don't like running back to fight a boss because it's annoying. The devs apparently put a bench close to said boss fight that you could choose to activate to circumvent the run around, but you're ignoring it because the fight is too easy even though you apparently keep dying and get aggravated that you have to backtrack to the boss fight each time?

Runbacks are gay and annoying though. One of the worst modern trends courtesy Dark Souls, and even Fromsoft has sort of realized it with their latest games.

I am only a few hours in. Much like the first game I feel I am missing key upgrades but at the same time feel like I am being thorough. These games keep you at level 1 a lot longer than most it seems.

Bosses are a bit overtuned, doing 2 damage out the gate, which means you need to get two health upgrades before you see any actual benefits.

I prefer playing as Hornet for the sake of having a bit more personality. It feels nice to talk with NPCs rather than be talked at.

 

[Strangolapreti]

Having just started the game, the removal of the direct downward slash and the wall slide/jump from the OG game already substantiates the claim in my eyes.

Like I already said above, if you don't like the new thrust or prefer the original downward slash, there's an item that restores it that can be accessed before the first major boss (boss that grants you an achivement on defeat.)

Wall slide was not instantly unlocked in Hollow Knigga either, you need to beat at least hornet and explore fungal cavern to unlock it.