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NOPE
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Hollow Knight |OT| Cute Insects That Just Want to Burrow Into Your Heart | Now on Switch
- Thread starter Dancrane212
- Start date
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NOPE
When I finished White Palace in my first run I felt like I aged 5 years in a couple of hours. I was so fucking exhausted lol
Doesn't help that I completely forgot about super dash in one of the first or mid sections and tried to do some parts in a completely suboptimal way.
And then I saw this and felt even worse lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHBqTqUywNE (some of these got patched)
Regarding Trial of the Fool, your best bet there is the Nailmaster's Glory charm. If you have the nail at max level you can one-shot most of the flying enemies with a charged attack. Thorns of Agony also helps a lot (if you take damage you counter with a very generous aoe attack that does 2x nail damage). Both charms only take 1 notch.
LOL the first section entirely skipped. Man. I'd totally have done it tbh. >.>
I actually did the skip at 1:12! Completely accidentally, but it worked out.
Yeah I often used Thorns early on, but lately I prefer Grubsong instead to get more Soul. Hmmm. Maybe I could swap out Longnail for these two.
Yeah I think that in my first run I basically never removed thorns and grubsong, they offer so much value for just 1 notch each. When you take a hit you receive 15% soul and deal double damage... can't say no to that.
Can't remember exactly what charms I used when I did that Trial but those, nailmaster glory and quick focus were there for sure.
You can try using Hiveblood here as well. It's a little cheesy but you can easily scale the walls and dodge back and forth till the 10 secs are up to heal.
I just finished the game a couple of hours ago and thought it was time to venture into this thread.
The game was great and I really enjoyed my ~24 hours with it. I played without a guide for most of the game, but did need it for 3 things: reaching an optional area (friend recommended I check it out), finding my last pale ore, and finding my last nail art.
I finished the game on 83% and have had a look at the Wiki. I've missed a chunk, primarily because I never got the 1800 essence reward (1785!). I could go back and take an optional boss, but I think I'll park the game until some more DLC hits.
Overall I think the game was extremely well put together, which was even more impressive when you look at the size of the team and the sheer amount of content game. I can't really think of too many games that I would have advocated charging more for - but $18 AUD was an absolute steal.
The game has a bunch of flaws (as they all do), but my primary issues were:
- Exploration is needlessly confusing and frustrating. Obviously the map system was deliberate and while I wasn't the biggest fan of it, it didn't cause too many dramas. However the general design of the areas, particularly the main hubs - are very confusing. Essentially I felt that far too many rooms had too many paths linked. This is great towards the end of the game where you can get around, but it made early-mid game a cumbersome exercise. I would go to X, think I'm heading to a boss, backtrack to Y, run into a deadend, backtrack again, find another path for a crap reward (geo-deposit) and go back - start all over in the next room or two. I've played a ton of Metroidvanias and enjoy the exploration phase, but this one drained me quite a bit - to the point that I was ready to head to the boss and end the game as soon as I could. It's only that I decided to try the Coliseum that my interest was revitalised.
- The above is also compounded by another issue - the environments. The game looks fantastic, and certain areas were done very well e.g. Green Path and City of Tears. However the vast majority of the game consisted of dark cave like environments. There may have been some different enemies, or different types of geodeposits - but for the most part, it was the same. This again caused issues with exploration, because I struggled to tell where I was going - backtracking way more than I should have. It becomes less of an issue later, where you've mapped the areas and you know your way between some key vendors and rest areas. But in the mid game, I was frustrated. Just endless caves and pathways that made no sense to me.
- The general design of the layout and fast travel points wasn't great either. Some areas have a bunch of benches in close proximity, others need more. Fast travel points were scattered in a way that made some areas a chore to revisit. Even later when you have all of your abilities, nearly all of the rooms have far too many obstacles and enemies that you're unable to reliably use your abilities to shoot straight through. I thought the teleport ability would help, but of the <10 times I tried to use, at least half blocked me from leaving a portal behind.
- Boss design. As you'll read below, the combat system was great - however a few bosses were truly awful. A prime example was Lost Kin - I enjoyed the fast, frantic boss battles - but adding randomly spawning blobs into the battle was a poor decision. For the most part, I was getting bosses on the first or second try - a few of the more difficult ones in 3-4 goes. However the bosses that caused me the most frustration were projectile spawning ones. Anything that was spawning randomly generated projectiles in the arena (e.g. the roof) - were not fun.
- Switch port. I never played the game on PC, so can't talk to the performance there. However in some areas, namely areas with many enemies or alot of geo dropping - the game would stutter. Not sure if it's an issue with the game, or perhaps the fact that I left the game is sleep mode whenever I wasn't playing. However it did cause me some issues in a few areas, where I felt the game wasn't as responsive as I needed it to be. This was pretty rare, but worth noting.
My favourite parts of the game were:
- Platforming. Some excellent platforming throughout the game. It never really felt too hard or too easy, just enough to keep you on your toes. Often the rewards weren't great, but the satisfaction of getting through - getting a shortcut and looping back round was very good. I'm led to believe that an optional area that I've missed has a trial, but I'll get to that another time.
- Combat. The combat just felt snappy and mechanically excellent. I couldn't fault the controls at all, it just felt right. Many of the enemies were just nail fodder, but it just felt that much more satisfying when I hit a difficult boss and smacked the shit out of them. Perhaps my favourite battle was with Mantis Lords (I did very early) or Traitor Lord (I did very late). They just felt good in terms of difficulty - making you use more of your abilities and forcing you to think about your openings - for both healing and attacking.
- The Coliseum. I got tired of the combat mid game, where I started hitting optional bosses with a weaker nail and less HP than I probably needed. At that point I was pretty much ready to sprint to the end and put the game down. However the Coliseum revitalised the game for me. I managed to complete all 3 trials with the 2nd nail upgrade, and got the Trial of Fools after 5-6 attempts. There were probably too many annoying, flying enemies - but 3 solid challenges just felt right. I'm glad the game didn't go bullshit with boss rush type arenas and just focused on steadily paced, normal-ish enemies in waves.
- Art & Music. The game looked and sounded amazing. Again, this a credit to the team - particularly given the sheer amount of content and variety within. I don't know how long they worked on it, but to have so many animations, enemy types, effects and distinct environments is truly impressive in a title like this. Well done Team Cherry.
- Hornet. I really liked this character. I don't know why, because you don't do much. The music, the battle, the moveset and just general design - perfect. I'll be there day one for the DLC.
Anyway, those are my thoughts - not sure if anyone cares, but thought I'd write it all down for the hell of it. It wasn't my favourite Metroidvania - I'd probably give that to SOTN still (perhaps a nostalgia thing). But in terms of mechanics and content, this was right up there with the best.
Edit: Added a note about the Switch port.
The game was great and I really enjoyed my ~24 hours with it. I played without a guide for most of the game, but did need it for 3 things: reaching an optional area (friend recommended I check it out), finding my last pale ore, and finding my last nail art.
I finished the game on 83% and have had a look at the Wiki. I've missed a chunk, primarily because I never got the 1800 essence reward (1785!). I could go back and take an optional boss, but I think I'll park the game until some more DLC hits.
Overall I think the game was extremely well put together, which was even more impressive when you look at the size of the team and the sheer amount of content game. I can't really think of too many games that I would have advocated charging more for - but $18 AUD was an absolute steal.
The game has a bunch of flaws (as they all do), but my primary issues were:
- Exploration is needlessly confusing and frustrating. Obviously the map system was deliberate and while I wasn't the biggest fan of it, it didn't cause too many dramas. However the general design of the areas, particularly the main hubs - are very confusing. Essentially I felt that far too many rooms had too many paths linked. This is great towards the end of the game where you can get around, but it made early-mid game a cumbersome exercise. I would go to X, think I'm heading to a boss, backtrack to Y, run into a deadend, backtrack again, find another path for a crap reward (geo-deposit) and go back - start all over in the next room or two. I've played a ton of Metroidvanias and enjoy the exploration phase, but this one drained me quite a bit - to the point that I was ready to head to the boss and end the game as soon as I could. It's only that I decided to try the Coliseum that my interest was revitalised.
- The above is also compounded by another issue - the environments. The game looks fantastic, and certain areas were done very well e.g. Green Path and City of Tears. However the vast majority of the game consisted of dark cave like environments. There may have been some different enemies, or different types of geodeposits - but for the most part, it was the same. This again caused issues with exploration, because I struggled to tell where I was going - backtracking way more than I should have. It becomes less of an issue later, where you've mapped the areas and you know your way between some key vendors and rest areas. But in the mid game, I was frustrated. Just endless caves and pathways that made no sense to me.
- The general design of the layout and fast travel points wasn't great either. Some areas have a bunch of benches in close proximity, others need more. Fast travel points were scattered in a way that made some areas a chore to revisit. Even later when you have all of your abilities, nearly all of the rooms have far too many obstacles and enemies that you're unable to reliably use your abilities to shoot straight through. I thought the teleport ability would help, but of the <10 times I tried to use, at least half blocked me from leaving a portal behind.
- Boss design. As you'll read below, the combat system was great - however a few bosses were truly awful. A prime example was Lost Kin - I enjoyed the fast, frantic boss battles - but adding randomly spawning blobs into the battle was a poor decision. For the most part, I was getting bosses on the first or second try - a few of the more difficult ones in 3-4 goes. However the bosses that caused me the most frustration were projectile spawning ones. Anything that was spawning randomly generated projectiles in the arena (e.g. the roof) - were not fun.
- Switch port. I never played the game on PC, so can't talk to the performance there. However in some areas, namely areas with many enemies or alot of geo dropping - the game would stutter. Not sure if it's an issue with the game, or perhaps the fact that I left the game is sleep mode whenever I wasn't playing. However it did cause me some issues in a few areas, where I felt the game wasn't as responsive as I needed it to be. This was pretty rare, but worth noting.
My favourite parts of the game were:
- Platforming. Some excellent platforming throughout the game. It never really felt too hard or too easy, just enough to keep you on your toes. Often the rewards weren't great, but the satisfaction of getting through - getting a shortcut and looping back round was very good. I'm led to believe that an optional area that I've missed has a trial, but I'll get to that another time.
- Combat. The combat just felt snappy and mechanically excellent. I couldn't fault the controls at all, it just felt right. Many of the enemies were just nail fodder, but it just felt that much more satisfying when I hit a difficult boss and smacked the shit out of them. Perhaps my favourite battle was with Mantis Lords (I did very early) or Traitor Lord (I did very late). They just felt good in terms of difficulty - making you use more of your abilities and forcing you to think about your openings - for both healing and attacking.
- The Coliseum. I got tired of the combat mid game, where I started hitting optional bosses with a weaker nail and less HP than I probably needed. At that point I was pretty much ready to sprint to the end and put the game down. However the Coliseum revitalised the game for me. I managed to complete all 3 trials with the 2nd nail upgrade, and got the Trial of Fools after 5-6 attempts. There were probably too many annoying, flying enemies - but 3 solid challenges just felt right. I'm glad the game didn't go bullshit with boss rush type arenas and just focused on steadily paced, normal-ish enemies in waves.
- Art & Music. The game looked and sounded amazing. Again, this a credit to the team - particularly given the sheer amount of content and variety within. I don't know how long they worked on it, but to have so many animations, enemy types, effects and distinct environments is truly impressive in a title like this. Well done Team Cherry.
- Hornet. I really liked this character. I don't know why, because you don't do much. The music, the battle, the moveset and just general design - perfect. I'll be there day one for the DLC.
Anyway, those are my thoughts - not sure if anyone cares, but thought I'd write it all down for the hell of it. It wasn't my favourite Metroidvania - I'd probably give that to SOTN still (perhaps a nostalgia thing). But in terms of mechanics and content, this was right up there with the best.
Edit: Added a note about the Switch port.
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While I didn't try Path of Pain, I did do everything else and never touched a d-pad either. I thought most people used the analog stick? I feel it's perfectly fine in this game.
Just had a few tries against NKG... This guy looks easier in the videos :p I'd try more if you got full soul at the start of the fight. I have a gate at the bench but even then it's kinda annoying going back every time
He's actually really fun. I got rolled on my first 5-6 tries until I had seen all of his attacks, but after that I got into a flow with him. The dodge windows are fairly generous once you know what's coming.
My Switch just fucking broke :( dock won't send a picture to the monitor any more.
I'm too addicted to this game to stop though, handheld it is. This might make it into my top 10 GOAT list honestly. It still seems neverending, after 25 hours playtime! I just found the upgraded magic spell, the black one. Hoping there is one for the dash as well!
I wish the keys and stuff you can buy woulf have more explanatioms regarding which door they unlock, like Dark Souls does it is the best where the item explanations has good hints.
I'm too addicted to this game to stop though, handheld it is. This might make it into my top 10 GOAT list honestly. It still seems neverending, after 25 hours playtime! I just found the upgraded magic spell, the black one. Hoping there is one for the dash as well!
I wish the keys and stuff you can buy woulf have more explanatioms regarding which door they unlock, like Dark Souls does it is the best where the item explanations has good hints.
They're totally different games, so I don't think we have enough to answer that.
They're completely different games so this doesn't help much.
The keys all have names or descriptions that'll point you straight to what they unlock. It's just up to you to remember where the door's at if you happen to find the door before the key.
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I beat the game the normal way yesterday and finished the White Palace. Today, I just beat the Path of Pain a bit earlier and I'm just loving it. It's the best when devs include things like this, and while it was very challenging, nothing beats that feeling of coming out on top in the end - this is why we play games!
Now I just have to do the real end stuff and see what the other DLC stuff is about.
This game felt good to play entirely with the analog stick, whereas with Shovel Knight I was switching between the dpad and analog, and when I played it with a PS3 controller the first time years ago it was strictly D Pad.
What should I play next? Do Ori or Celeste have more challenging platforming similar to White Palace and Path of Pain?
Now I just have to do the real end stuff and see what the other DLC stuff is about.
This game felt good to play entirely with the analog stick, whereas with Shovel Knight I was switching between the dpad and analog, and when I played it with a PS3 controller the first time years ago it was strictly D Pad.
What should I play next? Do Ori or Celeste have more challenging platforming similar to White Palace and Path of Pain?
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You should go an play Celeste immediately if that's the case...
...I only use the analog stick. I'm about 85% of the way through now. Don't see the problem with it.
My 5 year old agrees. Loves it. He also likes the Moss Prophet - Go On!!! Go Onnnnnn!
I just beat the game in 2.5 hours (game clock, not actual time spent), using a route that I plotted and executed all by myself.
I watched a world record speed run in preparation, but that was less helpful than I expected because I don't have the skill or enough of the map memorized to pull off a lot of that stuff. I think I was only able to actually use two or three tips and tricks from it.
The only traversal upgrades that I skipped were the Down Smash and the Shadow Dash.
I am psyched. Next up is a Steel Soul run, where I plan to really take my time. It'll be nice not to have to rush everywhere!
I watched a world record speed run in preparation, but that was less helpful than I expected because I don't have the skill or enough of the map memorized to pull off a lot of that stuff. I think I was only able to actually use two or three tips and tricks from it.
The only traversal upgrades that I skipped were the Down Smash and the Shadow Dash.
I am psyched. Next up is a Steel Soul run, where I plan to really take my time. It'll be nice not to have to rush everywhere!
It's not happening for me. Sometimes I do ok with dodging, but his attacks are way too annoying. Like the falling fireballs for example. They seem so easy to dodge yet I get hit more often than not. After 80 hours over 2 complete playthroughs I don't think I have it in me anymore to get him.
I am sure this is elsewhere in the thread, but--any advice on completing the final coliseum of fools challenge?
I totally lose it every time when you get to the air-juggle portion where you cannot get on solid ground. My healing strategy relies on Spore + Form of Unn so when I have no ground to land on to gain some masks back, I kind of choke.
Currently, I have the Shadow Dash with the Dash Attack badge enabled. Are there any other badges I am not thinking of that can help here? Dashmaster didn't seem to significantly help me out much.....
Or, do merely need to git gud?
Currently, I have the Shadow Dash with the Dash Attack badge enabled. Are there any other badges I am not thinking of that can help here? Dashmaster didn't seem to significantly help me out much.....
Or, do merely need to git gud?
What is this game? How come I can't stop playing? I often play through a game and think about how long until I beat it. This is one of those games where I just don't care and am getting lost in it. Such good atmosphere!
Completed the game at 70% and 36 hours.
I was shocked when I saw the completion percentage, thought I did more. I guess I should take on those dreamer bosses to get 100%.
Anyway, this was well worth the money. A very entertaining game. It shows that you don't need a huge budget to make very compelling games. This game was practically made by 3 people and its the best in its genre. Finally a game that surpasses Super Metroid in my opinion.
I was shocked when I saw the completion percentage, thought I did more. I guess I should take on those dreamer bosses to get 100%.
Anyway, this was well worth the money. A very entertaining game. It shows that you don't need a huge budget to make very compelling games. This game was practically made by 3 people and its the best in its genre. Finally a game that surpasses Super Metroid in my opinion.
Getting good would probably help ;) I used mostly attack related charms (like quick nail and the one that let's you charge attacks faster), with quick focus I believe. I think you just have to survive that section and then heal right after; the charged slash can kill most of those enemies in one hit, so I found it pretty helpful.
Use Nailmaster charm. With a maxed Nail it allows your normal and dash charged attacks to one-shot the most annoying flying enemies and the regular charged attack covers a large area and lingers for a second or so. So you can eliminate the mosquitos and co. before they can even do anything.
That said, once those 4 quad-directional fire spewers spawn it gets really difficult because they're tanky and, depending on how spread out they are, it's near impossible to dodge all the attacks.
I went from not knowing a thing about it to having 50 hours in and being obsessed. I can't stop playing.
Most obnoxious regular enemy award goes to:
Primal Aspid
Though, only because there is no upgraded version of these bastards:
Crystal Hunter
The triple-goo attack from Aspids, with the center ball always targeted directly at you, makes it impossible not to get hit if you go for an attack while they're shooting. At the same time, with their high firing frequency and tendency to keep you on distance it's hard to find some timing.
At least they die in 1-hit to Shade Soul with Shaman Stone charm or Charge attacks (with maxed Nail).
Meanwhile, Crystal Hunters are just pure bullshit in platforming areas already filled with spikes. That path to the Descending Dark upgrade in Crystal Peak is just the worst. On my first playthrough, I immediately attempted this after getting the Crystal Heart and, boy, did it cost me a bunch of lives.
I love how you can actually reflect their projectile...only for that to barely matter because they don't get hit by it and you still can't jump into the crystals it creates.
Primal Aspid
Though, only because there is no upgraded version of these bastards:
Crystal Hunter
The triple-goo attack from Aspids, with the center ball always targeted directly at you, makes it impossible not to get hit if you go for an attack while they're shooting. At the same time, with their high firing frequency and tendency to keep you on distance it's hard to find some timing.
At least they die in 1-hit to Shade Soul with Shaman Stone charm or Charge attacks (with maxed Nail).
Meanwhile, Crystal Hunters are just pure bullshit in platforming areas already filled with spikes. That path to the Descending Dark upgrade in Crystal Peak is just the worst. On my first playthrough, I immediately attempted this after getting the Crystal Heart and, boy, did it cost me a bunch of lives.
I love how you can actually reflect their projectile...only for that to barely matter because they don't get hit by it and you still can't jump into the crystals it creates.
Oh no! I do have Nailmaster installed, so I guess I just need to keep practicing. It's tough because it takes so long to get to that particular section, it feels like such an investment to try to master the air combat. There isn't really any other point in the game that forces you to be in the air for so long, so it's quite a unique challenge.
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Yep, I'm struggling there too. Tried that challenge 3 times and died at that place all 3 times. Sigh...
You should try practising pogoing on the earlier enemies too, so that you're more prepared for it.
Lol, I am at 7 or 8 times myself. Much like other parts of the game though, I do feel myself getting "better" with each attempt so I am sure we will get there with time....
Played about 2.5 hours at work last night. So far I'm really digging it. Just got my first ''spell''. I love the mana mechanic or whatever it's called.
Took me many attempts to get past that airborne part, too, only to then fail at the very last part.
Having a boss fight that takes a bit of pattern learning again at the very end of that long trial was rather mean. Now, where I've fought against it 10 times or so I find it ridiculously easy but the first 3+ attempts were bad.
Anyone care to let me know where I should be headed at this point? Pretty early on still:
I got the Wall Climb ability, then got wrecked by the (boss?) of Mantis Village. So I went and explored City of Tears, got a single upgrade to my nail and eventually unlocked the tram and elevator at the top. I didn't fight a boss in either City of Tears or Fungal Wastes...should I be looking for one there? Or am I to go back to the Mantis Village for now?
There is a very good guide located at: https://holdtoreset.com/hollow-knight-guide
There are some spoilers, but I've found that this guide will normally tell you only what you need to know and leaves some things for you to discover on your own.
but to answer your question without spoiling too much...
You need to return back to City of Tears and go into the Soul Sanctum to defeat a boss, after you defeat said boss he will give you a new ability that you will need to progress into the next area.
No problem! However what I said in my post above assumes that you already received the
ability from Fungal Wastes
Trying to be vague here as to not spoil this amazing experience for you... but if you want to know specifically what it is check this spoiler
you will need the Mantis Claw upgrade that will allow you too wall climb and access new areas to progress story
Yep, I did get that!
Though I didn't yet beat the boss at the bottom of Mantis Village, and I didn't encounter a boss in Fungal Wastes (not sure if there is one...I just assumed there is a boss in each area but I could be wrong
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