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Incline Hollow Knight

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,715
Fair. The platforming obstacles are mostly only of moderate difficulty, only getting somewhat demanding on a few occassions, however platforming also is heavily involved in the combat, which can be fairly intense. With both these considerations, calling it "challenging" (and not hardcore, just challenging) is perfectly adequate.

Also wow, Darth Rat does play real, genuinely good console games from time to time. Yeah, technically a PC game, but the design origins and style is console of course. Have you played the OG behemoth Symphony of the Night?
 

Maxie

Wholesome Chungus
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hollow knight is unplayable not because it's too ezpz but because in the case you die you have to backtrack like a retard in a limp attempt to recreate the equally asinine dork souls fad
 

Ash

Arcane
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Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,715
That is standard game design since forever, only starting to die out in the mid 2000s due to mass selling out. Live under a rock much? Loss of progress & consequences for failure is important. Only coddled tards can't handle gaming without their lamesaves or checkpoints every 2 mins.
 

Maxie

Wholesome Chungus
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That is standard game design since forever, live under a rock much? Loss of progress & consequences for failure is important.
Dark Sneeds idea is that you never really see a GAME OVER screen, instead backtrack from a fucking bonfire (or a bench) like a troglodyte
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,715
It's...the same thing as using a continue/password/game save and starting from the beginning of a level in an 80s or 90s game. Slightly more lenient in fact. Most of the challenges respawn, and that is what is important.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,125
This game has absolutly no pacing. I understand that it's a Metroidvania but I simply don't have the capacity or the attention to memorize all interesting locations.

I have all the map's upgrades but the pacing is like this: new area -> good gameplay for an hour -> then go around aimlessly until I find something unexplored -> repeat.

I did not want to consult a manual but blind playing this game is simply not fun for me. I don't hate it but I don't have fun for more than a couple of minutes.

I appreciate the environmental storytelling but it's quite a mediocre platformer.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
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15,067
I feel like if curiosity about unexplored paths isn't gnawing at you constantly the genre isn't for you. Like, I hit a point where I was wandering aimlessly looking for stuff I hadn't done yet, but that was like... 40 hours in. The rest of the time I was in a constant state of excitement about either exploring a new area or exploring the potential of a new item I had just acquired.

Like... why do you even play these games? Why not just play a normal level based platformer instead if you don't care about exploring and just want to jump good and hit things?
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,623
Location
Nottingham
This game has absolutly no pacing. I understand that it's a Metroidvania but I simply don't have the capacity or the attention to memorize all interesting locations.

I have all the map's upgrades but the pacing is like this: new area -> good gameplay for an hour -> then go around aimlessly until I find something unexplored -> repeat.

I did not want to consult a manual but blind playing this game is simply not fun for me. I don't hate it but I don't have fun for more than a couple of minutes.

I appreciate the environmental storytelling but it's quite a mediocre platformer.
Found the same myself, I ragged it in after around 12-ish hours.

It's been a while since I played it so my memory on it is a little hazy, but I seem to remember most enemies standing off you and you only having to engaging with them if you chose to. That's just too frictionless for my tastes, and makes for boring play.

Metroidvanias aren't my cup of tea in general though bar the odd exception. Even Super Metroid suffers from having popcorn enemies essentially there to replenish health, and little more.
 

toro

Arcane
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Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,125
Well, I finished it because I've invested too much time in it.

The world is interesting, there are even characters with story arcs and there is lore. Not much but it's ok.

On the other hand, the design of most areas is obfuscated on purpose to make their traversal as tedious as possible. Also with few exceptions almost all areas are forgettable.

Every aspect of the game was designed to be as tedious as possible. Some benches are located too far away from bosses which is not fun in areas with mobs equiped with homing missiles. Your attacks don't interrupt enemies however their attacks interrupt you. There are 2-3 seconds of vulnerability every time you resurrect. There is a knockback each time you attack (it's fixable with a charm). You cannot simply gather your souls, you have to fight your dead soul. Retarded design choices intended to waste the player's time.

The game's first few hours are a complete mess. I cannot imagine playing again those areas without any upgrades. The only reason I stuck with it was that I wanted to get a better feel of the game. At some point the exploration and combat become more fluid but the first impression is garbage. Any sane player will find few incentives to continue after the first few rooms.

The weapon upgrade mechanic is a joke (!?). I managed to find 3 chunks of Pale Ore but I could not find more than that. I refused to read hints.

The game economy is non-existent. In the beginning you are forced to grind to get the map upgrades and then you can grind to get some charms and then ... nothing. At the end of the game I had 12k Geo/money and nothing to spent them on. It's like the devs forgot about the economy in the game. They could at least implement some potions.

There are some decent bosses but most of them are not very good. Dream bosses were bullshit. There is no point in fighting them without a fully upgraded character. The last boss fight is peek retardation. I used CheatEngine to end it cause I was basically done with the game.

Bottom line: I expected a soulslike experience with soul and some interesting characters instead I got a mediocre platformer with tedious backtracking and lame bosses. The game has no pacing. Most fights have no natural flow. It's a mediocre game.

57D8B4A2A29FB0ED67A237EB6903BF30D62AB9A6
 
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toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,125
I feel like if curiosity about unexplored paths isn't gnawing at you constantly the genre isn't for you. Like, I hit a point where I was wandering aimlessly looking for stuff I hadn't done yet, but that was like... 40 hours in. The rest of the time I was in a constant state of excitement about either exploring a new area or exploring the potential of a new item I had just acquired.

Like... why do you even play these games? Why not just play a normal level based platformer instead if you don't care about exploring and just want to jump good and hit things?
Maybe your brain is fried and you are easily distracted !?

the genre isn't for you
Judging from his posts of late, no genre is for him anymore.
Still butthurt about Lords of the Fallen? :P
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,556
Location
Djibouti
I'll be the first to say Hobo Knight is generally overrated but bro your wall of text is not only stupid, it also has 'git gud' written all over it.

It's particularly absurd to say its locations are forgettable because visuals and shit are objectively one of this game's greatest strengths. I can still name a lot of the levels even though I played this 5 years ago or something.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
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Messages
14,125
I'll be the first to say Hobo Knight is generally overrated but bro your wall of text is not only stupid, it also has 'git gud' written all over it.

It's particularly absurd to say its locations are forgettable because visuals and shit are objectively one of this game's greatest strengths. I can still name a lot of the levels even though I played this 5 years ago or something.
I beat all bosses (except the last one) using only the basic slash attack, heal and dash therefore I think I can recognize what's a fair fight and what is not.

Hornet and Mantis Lords are fair. Galien or Enranged Guardian are not fair. Basically there are boss fights in which you will take damage no matter what because the boss attack starts outside of the visible area or some shit is spawn right above you and so on. In the end, even after you beat a boss you don't know for sure that you have won only because of your skills or you were lucky and personally I get no satisfaction out of that.

The last boss simply required too many hits with my approach and I simply gave up knowing that there is no payoff for me. I don't really care about "git gud".

I can also name most areas from the game but my point is that most rooms layout is forgetable so much that without a map it's hard to say where you are within an area. During the end game backtracking I was surprised to traverse the same rooms and not recognize them despite the fact that I've already cleared them a couple of hours before.

I don't know. Maybe this happened because I didn't approach the game with the right mindset. Honestly I think the whole pace thing broke me more than anything.
 

Hag

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It's particularly absurd to say its locations are forgettable because visuals and shit are objectively one of this game's greatest strengths.
It's up to each player's taste. I was actually put off by the visuals but still tried the game, and I reached that lush green place. It was better but the art simply did not click with me.
 

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