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

[Shakira Flabbergasted]

Well fuck, I got stuck.

I broke through the assrape area. The place beyond was easy and fun, I found a useful item, I found part of a useful item. Thought I'd been wrong and the game was actually very well designed, one thing I miss in modern games (including Hollow Knight) is difficulty spikes where you have to survive, get out, and come back later, instead of methodically destroying everything.

One thing it lacked? A travel point. Now I can't go back. I have all the money in the world and I can't go back.

The game has autosaves. I'm on 8 hours 10 minutes. The last autosave when I'm not stuck is 4 hours 3 minutes in. Fuck this shit, I think that's enough time wasted, I'll wait for a trainer. The game by now cost me $130, pure AAA wallet molestation.

I'm having a hard time believing you haven't found a bench, died, beaten a boss/gauntlet, or done anything else to make the game autosave in 4 hours. Regardless, quitting to menu saves the game so you don't lose your progress.

Edit: Reread the post and realized you said "autosave when I'm not stuck" i.e. before you entered the area you're talking about. It would be helpful if you gave the name of the area so people can advise you on how to get unstuck, instead of just complaining. If you're truly softlocked without a travel point (and not just sucking), it's likely you're failing to find an upgrade that lets you traverse to where you can find one.

Also, which ass backwards country do you live in where Silksong costs $130 instead of $20? Holy hyperinflation Batman.

 

[peachlover669]

Did you ever beat the boss? Nevermind you already said you did. Did you ever unlock that bench?

I refuse out of spite, and another thing! these bird enemies are the worst things i have ever seen in any game. there is a section where you are locked into a room and have to fight through waves of the birds and it is pure aids. its also one of those rooms that once entered you cannot leave without killing the birds meaning once you go here you are forced to fight these faggot ass birds over and over again or else you lose all of your money. AND NOW IM STUCK ON AN EVEN BIGGER BIRD!!!!!!! TEAM CHERRY YOU NIGGERS!!!!!!!!1

 

[Shakira Flabbergasted]

its also one of those rooms that once entered you cannot leave without killing the birds meaning once you go here you are forced to fight these faggot ass birds over and over again or else you lose all of your money.

I am once again reminding everyone that you can quit to menu from the pause screen at any time, including during a fight, and you will be back at the bench with all your money

 

[Gimmick Account]

Difficulty of the game has been greatly exaggerated. Starting to realize there's likely a generational gap or something to that effect involved with the complaints.

Agreed. There was a moment of adjustment where I realised I had to shed some habits from shittier games (hyperagressive combat where you need to overextend and probably fucking parry constantly is the current fashion) and discovered the way the game wants me to play is the way I prefer to play anyway. After that the only time I've felt a struggle has been gang fights with too much shit on the screen, like map girl "helping" you in the ant nest early on.
So it could be flawed expectations, or it could just be infants never owning a NES I guess.

It's not like it's a unique game in this century though; it kinda reminds me of Isaac where "just don't get hit bro" is genuine and feasible advice (and even enforced with some characters). Although you maybe have to pick your openings more here.

I'll grant that it could use better feedback on big hits, or maybe a grace mechanic where your last heart can't get double-hit (in return for starting with one fewer heart, you casuals).
Otherwise everything I've read has turned out to be nonsense. Even the economy complaints, like there was a guy a couple pages ago complaining because he couldn't afford a chair after popping all his rosary strings to buy the most expensive item in the store, that you're obviously meant to come back for later since it's a hub store and you can't have that much when you arrive, in order to unlock the area. Oh dear, how could you have possibly seen the situation coming that you were actively putting yourself into? What a bad video game. Nevermind that the game strongly suggests that direction isn't critical yet by having shortcuts you open on the way require an ability you don't have, or the other direction containing an upgrade you can get to justify the price. What were the designers thinking when they made you bad with money and unable to project the pattern of the game being full of chairs you pay for.

 

[Jotch]

The game is really good at making you feel super cool when you pull off cool parkour tricks. The sounds and animations are fantastic for it. There are probably multitudes of ways to attack something. Definitely rewards highly skilled players way more than the original, but leaves the less skilled behind...
It feels really cool when you make a series of jumps with the sprint.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

or it could just be infants never owning a NES I guess.

Damn nigga I'm sorry my first console wasn't the Magnavox Odyssey.

I didn't know you had to have 40 years of elite gamer cred to justify not liking the damage suddenly doubling between games.

 

[Gimmick Account]

I didn't know you had to have 40 years of elite gamer cred to justify not liking the damage suddenly doubling between games.

It's not mandatory but apparently it does help a lot when it comes to being able to actually consider why the change exists and not whining about something on the basis of it being different.

 

[Professor Donger]

It feels really cool when you make a series of jumps with the sprint.

There's a boss that I've gotten really good at doing the runback without getting hit or stopping, it makes me feel cool before I get sodomized, so there's that.

 

[Terror Sandwich]

I was okay with most double damage I'd seen so far, but the "spikes" in Blasted Steps dealing 2 masks damage is just nigger design.
What the fuck were they thinking?

 

[Sigg Kyle]

Played till lace, game is really proving itself as fun. Became somewhat obsessed with the diagonal dive and the sprint attack, it’s hard to learn even after all this time playing HK1 but it’s too satisfying landing a pogo off of these things.
Two mask damage might not be that bad since hornet’s heal lets you tank two hits instead of just one like the knight.
Seems hornet focuses on comboing. I miss how small the knight was though, his size made the environments seem grander.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

whining about something on the basis of it being different

I mean that would be pretty retarded, but I'm complaining on the basis that it feels less fun when directly compared to the experience I had with the first game, not "because it's different".

That doesn't even make sense, if it was different but still an equally enjoyable experience then I wouldn't have anything to complain about unless I was literally autistic.

I'm not a game reviewer calling the devs retards that made a bad game and people should boycott it on Steam, I just don't like how the change to the damage baseline feels on my end. It doesn't feel like a necessary change compared to all the other gameplay changes that already shake up how you play.

My opinion is almost certainly going to change when I get used to it and actually finish the game, but that's just where I'm at right now.

 

[Sigg Kyle]

I mean that would be pretty retarded, but I'm complaining on the basis that it feels less fun when directly compared to the experience I had with the first game, not "because it's different".

That doesn't even make sense, if it was different but still an equally enjoyable experience then I wouldn't have anything to complain about unless I was literally autistic.

I'm not a game reviewer calling the devs retards that made a bad game and people should boycott it on Steam, I just don't like how the change to the damage baseline feels on my end. It doesn't feel like a necessary change compared to all the other gameplay changes that already shake up how you play.

My opinion is almost certainly going to change when I get used to it and actually finish the game, but that's just where I'm at right now.

i think you’re probably overthinking things, but thats my gut intuition

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

You know what? You're probably right.

 

[Balanced Boomer]

Hornet taking more damage makes sense to me considering she isn't wearing armor like the knight from the first game. Probably doesn't even matter; I'm sure there's a damage reduction upgrade at some point.

 

[Tago Mago]

I have another criticism for the game: Way, WAY too many gauntlets of enemies. Look, I always hated them, I hated them in Hollow Knight, in Blasphemous 1 and 2... And I thought Blasphemous 2 was bad enough with its gauntlets but holy shit this game makes it look so tame. The worst part? You don't even get any rewards or even currency, at least HK rewarded you for beating a gauntlet.

The early game being so much harder than HK's early game and feeling almost like late game HK areas makes more sense once you realize this was originally a HK DLC, they feel like late game HK areas because they originally were. I heavily suspect Hunter's March in particular was one of the first areas they made for this back when it was still a DLC, because it does feel like you were meant to go there after proving yourself in White Palace or whatever, and I also suspect many of the hard-hitting complex moveset regular enemies were originally meant to be either bosses or minibosses.

 

[Dave.]

So I decided to cave and purchase this game after waiting and seeing. It's been a while since I've played Hollow Knight OG but I distinctly remember that game having a problem with enemy encounters being a "pause and wait" type deal rather than mitigating it with various tools. It's why Hollow Knight was such a tough sell for me when I had played through the first couple hours of the game. Here it's more of the same, but the enemies feel just 1 hit overtuned. It's not bad and it's not unplayable by any means, but it does make the combat feel a little off. I believe this was done to compensate for Hornet's more faster attack speed, but I'm not sure. I'm only an hour into the game so I don't know if this problem gets further exasperated. It's also an easy fix, just shave 1 hit off and it'll feel fine.

 

[Crippled Polnareff]

Found a really good spot to grind rosary beads once you reach the citadel.

Spoiler: Location

After you defeat the Cogwork Dancers, the left hallway from the arena always has a Grand Reed, the right hallway has three, when you get the rhythm of defeating them efficiently you get 128 beads that resets with every bench visit.

 

[Cactuar King]

The tack tool you get from Sinner's Road is great, really makes the gauntlet rooms a whole lot easier, as long as you're not dealing with flying enemies. Absolutely shreds even the tankiest enemies since you can throw them right where they'll stand and they continously take damage.

Anyone know where the Bone Bottom merchant goes after you buy all his stuff though?

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Another terrible design in the game - Parrying enemies. Parrying for the player character in games is straightforward - Risk vs. reward, you need to time it right and the result is a good chunk of damage. The original game, as far as I remember, didn't use it and rather used pogoing as an alternative. HK2 gives the enemies the ability to parry which is absolutely retarded design, as they don't have the same risk factor due to having several times the health the player character does, and the only thing the player can do is wait until those parries are over so he can actually play the fucking game.

But it gets worse because flying enemies also parry, even more so than ground based enemies, so not only are you jumping like an idiot towards the enemies, but you can get to them only for them to start parrying as you get close, in which case even gamble you can put a hit in during the parry animation. The nail throw is absolutely pointless as the animation is so long and brings you so close to the enemy you can't even respond to a parry.

 

[FatR]

Every single boss in Elden Ring attacks with slow, wide swings, most "Try hards" hated it. So i don't know where you're getting this from.

What a fucking delusion. Godskin Apostle quite literally has an attack that is impossible to avoid with an average human reaction time, unless you learn its (slight) tell and start pushing the button before its animation begins. He appears as a part of a dual fight too.

And when some boss attacks appear slow, it is intentional delays, timed to bait you into rolling prematurely against an attack with gigantic reach/area, as can be clearly seen here, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNE_aWyY08w

Note also how this is a mid-game story boss, and you need to go for DLC superbosses of previous games, like Friede, Orphan or Gael, to find someone who attacks faster or more persistently (and then not by much).

Back to Silksong. Doesn't seem as difficult, actually. There are a few fuckfests, but most of the times you're fine, as long as you don't get greedy and wait for openings. I'm not far in the game yet, though.