I love these little touches in HoF2!
I'm really intrigued by HoF2, and am tempted to pick it up whilst the (small) discount promotion is on offer. I keep wondering if the game is entirely luck based though, or if you have any agency over what it happening?
Obviously the combat comes down to a degree of skill, but are you stacking the odds in your favour in general gameplay (similar to the way you might in an RPG etc, where it may not be immediately apparent, but odds are being tipped in your favour through actions and choices).
Any views appreciated!
There's quite a lot of player agency in the game. Off the top of my head:
- your weapon (class)
- your companion (sub skills)
- your gear (effects stats, perks, etc in and out of combat)
- where you choose to go on the board
- choices in scenarios, sometimes you can even walk away clean
- Campfire between any board movement (trade for goods, cook food to heal)
- Economy balancing (health, food, gold & equipment that can be sold for gold if necessary)
Mini games I've encountered:
- "shell game" (cards are shown, flipped and shuffled. Choose the right card, if you could follow it)
- dice roll for target (game allows you to reroll dice of choice. One campanion offers an addition die)
- spinning wheel (stop the wheel on a good card. One companion offers a retry)
- arrow-stopping metronome (try to stop arrow on small moving blocks)
- real-time combat of various criteria
- real-time trap-filled obstacle course where you can navigate around hazards for gold and food while seeking exit. No combat.
On top of that, the game allows you to choose from a few different challenges (what the game calls its "stages" or "levels") to pursue at any given time, so if you're stuck failing one you can choose to do a different one and come back later.
And of course you can literally stack the deck in your favor by manually choosing what encounter (events, not always combat) and equipment cards will be in the deck before starting a challenge.
A lot of bad luck can be mitigated by smart resource management, knowing when not to take risks and doing better in combat. Combat can be made easier with practice and the right equipment (the game tells you what you'll be fighting and what they are weak/strong against).
My advice to people having trouble with counter timing is to just dodge roll constantly.
(I hope you like reading)
It seems like an expectations thing. People are describing it as a fun pick up and play, and others are finding it frustrating.
This game seems to be more like Yoku's Island Adventure: a casual, chill game, to jump in and play around a little but not meant to be taken too seriously. I think people have been getting frustrated trying to "be good" at the game rather than just letting it be silly and play casually.
Oh, i disagree. You can definitely get better at HoF2, it's not all RNG. I'm not just talking about combat, you learn the whims of the game the more you play.
And as far as pick up and play vs taking it seriously, I've been hardcore sucked into it since I first fired it up.
It definitely is pretty chill, though.
Yeah I am torn between this and HoFII as a potential game to pick up in the next week, and I've been lurking this thread for impressions. I've heard good things as well but the feedback seems inconsistent.
Feedback is inconsistent in what way?
Game is great all-around.
Yeah it's more polished and it's a gret game.
But maybe it is just me but i find it more difficult than the first one.
Combat seems harder with a counter window than seems to be quicker, Events are harder to "validate" (to gain the tocken)
I think it feels more difficult in a way that is also more satisfying. Compared to HoF1, HoF2 gives you more control and agency, it has more depth and variety. I suppose to balance that they had to tighten up some aspects.
It's not
hard hard (not for me yet, anyway). It's just putting up more of a fight than a lot of modern games seem to do these days.
Even though the genres are different, if someone asked if I would recommend HoF2 to someone who found Hollow Knight too hard I would certainly say yes. It's not that kind of hard.
Plus, being able to do a completely different challenge when you get stuck on one really helps.
