Continuing on from: https://hexbear.net/post/6064592
I have been neglecting my work and playing anyway. Probably 10 or so hours in at the moment.
I'm curious how your impressions are changing as you play? I've unlocked a new moveset that seems to knock enemies back more with wider sweeps which has gelled with me better, and I'm struggling in combat less.
Overall I would still say I'm really mixed. The game seems to get easier the more I play which is a curious decision, the music is still very much taking a back seat which seems tragic to me given how strongly the HK music shaped my impression of zones. I have discovered a handful of tools but would say that experimenting with them seems actively discouraged, I'm always out of shards and a combination of the enemy types and level design mean I'm just not getting many anymore.
Emptying my set in a boss fight is about 80 shards, which to stock up for would be ~20 minutes of traversal and farming. Consequently I'm mostly just sticking with the "safe" set I'm used to. Bummer.
The world is beautiful, maybe a bit spread out. Hornet is more expressive than the Knight, something which shone in a particular involuntary sequence (if you know you know). Still very minimalist though.
Boss difficulty seems to swing wildly around, my experience is that the final phase often comes down to a DPS race and luck, particularly when ads are a feature. There's just so much on screen and enemies move in more complex patterns, I get mind-flooded something I rarely felt in HK where almost every boss fight felt like a careful dance.
How are you finding it?
I love it so much.
I really do love this difficulty, it's exactly my level, so it's great for me, but i feel bad that many people are struggling and not having fun. I think a difficulty or accessibility option would have been great.
I do share some of the criticisms but none of it is fundamental or makes it less enjoyable for me, just slight frustrations that are easily overcome. Yes I do think some attacks/moves/enemies/contact with enemies shouldn't do 2 damage, but i'm generally OK with it.
The 2 damage on environment hazards is weird tho. I get having one that makes sense and that you can reduce with a charm, but i'm in the middle of Act 2 and it is kinda strange how almost every environmental hazard does 2 damage. Again i'm OK with it but I don't really understand the purpose, it feels weird design-wise.
I think the difficulty curve needs to be tuned, I accidentally skipped the boss everyone hates in Greymoor and fought it later, and even with the upgrade I had by then I agree it has too much HP. It hasn't really made me struggle too much but I see what other people are talking about. It feels like game gets more open and more options after a certain point late in Act 1.
I love Act 2 so much, and I just realized
(act 2 map design)
the map/area concept is basically like a Hollowknight Castlevania, with tons of dense sub-areas compacted into the Citadel, you've got the equivalent of the Clock Tower, of the Library, of the fancy ballroom/aristocrat place, and of the gardens. It's great!Have not had this much fun in a long time, i can't stop playing it and i'm taking my sweet time, doing everything, finding everything, re-visiting places regularly to see what changed, trying interactions and finding lore, etc. It's so good.