Hollow Knight

I can officially say f*ck Watcher Knight's, I've spent the guts of 90 mins & about 20+ attempts without joy to defeat these bouncing hunks of metal, got down to the last 2 & keep getting hit between one doing a high roll & one doing a low roll. The most frustrated I've been since Vicar Amelia in Bloodborne.

I'll come back another night, its 3am & I desperately wanted to beat these assholes before I went to bed

Came back to Watcher Knight's today & another 8 or 9 efforts done the job, pure relief at the end.

I've since blitzed another 4 or 5 bosses, feels like I'm back in the flow! I'm still getting abilities that are surprising me. It still is quite unbelievable how big & detailed Hollow Knight is, the world building is exquisite, the music of each area just adds so much to the atmosphere of the game.

Got all 6 notches opened up to put charms on now.

Ah yeah, the Watcher Knight. That was definitely one of the toughest fights in the game for me too. I think I ended up going with a heavy magic build with the flukeworm charm to nuke it down quickly. Glad to see you managed to get through it.

Dyni wrote:

Ah yeah, the Watcher Knight. That was definitely one of the toughest fights in the game for me too. I think I ended up going with a heavy magic build with the flukeworm charm to nuke it down quickly. Glad to see you managed to get through it.

Cheers! You finished the game Dyni?

Team Cherry has set a new standard for Metroidvania games, I thought Steamworld Dig 2 was outstanding last year but this is even better, it shows you what an unknown indie developer can pull out of the hat. The new DLC is out soon?

Spikeout wrote:

The new DLC is out soon?

24th?

Spikeout wrote:
Dyni wrote:

Ah yeah, the Watcher Knight. That was definitely one of the toughest fights in the game for me too. I think I ended up going with a heavy magic build with the flukeworm charm to nuke it down quickly. Glad to see you managed to get through it.

Cheers! You finished the game Dyni?

Team Cherry has set a new standard for Metroidvania games, I thought Steamworld Dig 2 was outstanding last year but this is even better, it shows you what an unknown indie developer can pull out of the hat. The new DLC is out soon?

Yes I did I ended at 104% (out of 107%) at a few minutes shy of 40 hours played.

It's easily one of my favorite games in years. I can't think of any Metroidvania with better world building, level design, or artistic direction.

I think I'm going to wait until the August DLC is out before attempt the last few challenges I'm missing, which include a particularly difficult DLC boss and a platforming challenge.

The Gods and Glory DLC is out today. I am hoping to get to it over the weekend.

Also, Hollow Knight is 33% off for ever platform to celebrate its release. Grab it if you haven't yet!

Does the game have an easy mode? I'm getting a vibe that it's challenging, which is fab for me, but terrible for the wife.

Jonman wrote:

Does the game have an easy mode? I'm getting a vibe that it's challenging, which is fab for me, but terrible for the wife.

Sadly, no easy mode or difficulty options. It is definitely a challenging game.

The challenge would be not so harsh if the checkpointing was more frequent. It can really take a while to get back to a boss if you die.

Suvanto wrote:

The challenge would be not so harsh if the checkpointing was more frequent. It can really take a while to get back to a boss if you die.

I've read that in a few places, but I only recall feeling that way about maybe one or two fights.

Did you play at launch? I've read that there were a few extra benches and fast travel locations added post launch, so maybe a few of those were meant to directly addressed that complaint.

I jumped in on Switch with the sale. Love this.

Finally got what feels like my first real upgrade last night, the cape dash.

Somehow I screwed up when I first entered that third area, Greenpath, and just missed the map guy. I think I was even in the same room but didn't stumble on him. I wandered through a ton of stuff, beat a couple of tough enemies, and then promptly lost about 5-600 geo. Ugh. Without the map I couldn't find my way back to my shade.

At that point I ended up looking up a map just to find the damn map. I want to explore myself but I felt like I had wasted an hour and not made that much progress.

I also ended up reading a tips article and didn't realize how effective down attacks could be, bouncing off enemies or even spikes to avoid damage. So I tried to practice that and things started going smoother too.

Game is beautiful, combat is interesting, and it looks like the world is huge. I think this one is going to consume a lot of time and I'm looking forward to it.

So good. I played it a bunch when it first came out on Switch. Need to get back to it and try the new dlc. And it's one of the few games I feel like trying to find everything in.

I've finally got the

Spoiler:

shade cloak after besting Hornet for the third time at Kingdom's Edge & getting the Kings Band

which meant I could down into

Spoiler:

The Abyss

to acquire an upgrade I've been looking forward to since way earlier in the game.

Out of interest Dyni which 3 bosses give you the most trouble in the game?

The deeper you get into Hollow Knight the more you appreciate how much detail & diversity are in its gorgeous mysterious world, the music too encapsulates each area so perfectly. Kingdoms Edge is musically one of my favourite area of the whole game.

One of the coolest most unexpected upgrades I got in the game was

Spoiler:

Isma's Tear, I just for whatever reason never expected to swim in the acid water

think I'm 40 hours in & still entranced with this.

Stele wrote:

Somehow I screwed up when I first entered that third area, Greenpath, and just missed the map guy. I think I was even in the same room but didn't stumble on him. I wandered through a ton of stuff, beat a couple of tough enemies, and then promptly lost about 5-600 geo. Ugh. Without the map I couldn't find my way back to my shade.

At that point I ended up looking up a map just to find the damn map. I want to explore myself but I felt like I had wasted an hour and not made that much progress.

Just in case you weren't aware yet, there are two ways to track down map man.
1) Listen for his humming, and follow it to him.
2) Watch for scattered paper on the ground. They should serve as a breadcrumb trail to him.

Spikeout wrote:

Out of interest Dyni which 3 5 bosses give you the most trouble in the game?

Adding a couple more since I'm having trouble choosing These gave me the most trouble:

Spoiler:

Elder Hu - I had so much trouble dodging the falling light attack for some reason. Took me quite a few tries.
Lost Kin (Dream version of Broken Vessel) - This one took me many attempts, but once I equipped the right charms, it became significantly easier.
Watcher Knight - for reasons previously discussed
The Radiance - So much to dodge, and so many attacks to memorize.
Nightmare King Grimm - Double damage attacks, relentless attacks, and almost zero windows for healing. I still need to come back for this one when I come back for the Gods and Glory DLC.

Also, I apparently missed one other tough one related to a quest line. I have to see if I can still access it.

Spoiler:

Grey Prince Zote

Yeah I've been mostly playing handheld while my wife has the TV. So I didn't have the sound up enough to hear the map guy I guess. After the fact I read about the paper tip. Having trouble again today in a new area.

Just a bit annoying that even though I have the pen or whatever to draw my own map I can't do that until I get his...

Hey everyone! Just popping in to say that I've finally picked up Hollow Knight. I've only played about 5 hours and I'm taking my time so I'm only in my second area. I'll probably spend more time in this thread once I'm a bit further into the game and I've figured things out a bit better. I'm loving it so far though. I'm a big fan of Metroidvanias so I'm going to really take my time with this one.

I'm now tempted to pick this up for The Switch since I just got it, with Hollow Knight on sale and all. I planned on getting this for PC and I don't double dip - but maybe I should just get it now so I can play it.

I just beat Hornet. It felt like the Moss Knights prepared me for Hornet, and the Husk Guards prepared me for False Knight; I like that.

I also like the reward I just got... It's backtracking time!

So I did turn the volume up a bit. I hear Cornifer singing in Fog Canyon, but there's a Shade Gate in the way, which I apparently can't pass until a much later upgrade.

Seems odd that this area is between two areas I've found already but I can't get a map for it yet. Apparently I need to go somewhere else for a while...

Stele wrote:

So I did turn the volume up a bit. I hear Cornifer singing in Fog Canyon, but there's a Shade Gate in the way, which I apparently can't pass until a much later upgrade.

Seems odd that this area is between two areas I've found already but I can't get a map for it yet. Apparently I need to go somewhere else for a while...

I've found the entrance to that area but I haven't explored it yet. I'm currently going back to all the markers I've dropped so far to see if I can do anything about them now. Are you freeing the baby grubs? I'm also enjoying filling in the Journal, some of the entries are quite funny.

About the sound, I'm actually finding that I'm relying on audio cues in combat to a greater extent than in other games - plus the music adds so much - so I'm playing with earphones as much as I can.

Stele wrote:

So I did turn the volume up a bit. I hear Cornifer singing in Fog Canyon, but there's a Shade Gate in the way, which I apparently can't pass until a much later upgrade. :?

So for Fog Canyon in particular, you need one of two abilities in order to access the map. It was a while before I got either one. I remember being perplexed by that too.

Usually, if you can access the zone, you can get to the map. Fog Canyon is the one exception that I can recall.

Dyni wrote:

So for Fog Canyon in particular, you need one of two abilities in order to access the map. It was a while before I got either one. I remember being perplexed by that too.

Usually, if you can access the zone, you can get to the map. Fog Canyon is the one exception that I can recall.

Yep, that one needled me for a good long time, as I was committed to not getting any outside info until the late game. I'm 40 hours in now, and I think it was only in the last 8-ish hours that I finally got in there.

I recently acquired

Spoiler:

the grub map

which has me revisiting a bunch of areas and finding so much I'd missed or forgotten to come back to. Still haven't even stumbled across a chunk of the DLC content that I know is out there, not that I'm even hurting for things to do yet.

I expected to get some enjoyment out of this, did not really expect to find one of my favorite 50+ hour experiences ever and the perfection of everything that draws me to Dark Souls without most of what always drives me away.

Dyni wrote:
Stele wrote:

Somehow I screwed up when I first entered that third area, Greenpath, and just missed the map guy. I think I was even in the same room but didn't stumble on him. I wandered through a ton of stuff, beat a couple of tough enemies, and then promptly lost about 5-600 geo. Ugh. Without the map I couldn't find my way back to my shade.

At that point I ended up looking up a map just to find the damn map. I want to explore myself but I felt like I had wasted an hour and not made that much progress.

Just in case you weren't aware yet, there are two ways to track down map man.
1) Listen for his humming, and follow it to him.
2) Watch for scattered paper on the ground. They should serve as a breadcrumb trail to him.

Spikeout wrote:

Out of interest Dyni which 3 5 bosses give you the most trouble in the game?

Adding a couple more since I'm having trouble choosing These gave me the most trouble:

Spoiler:

Elder Hu - I had so much trouble dodging the falling light attack for some reason. Took me quite a few tries.
Lost Kin (Dream version of Broken Vessel) - This one took me many attempts, but once I equipped the right charms, it became significantly easier.
Watcher Knight - for reasons previously discussed
The Radiance - So much to dodge, and so many attacks to memorize.
Nightmare King Grimm - Double damage attacks, relentless attacks, and almost zero windows for healing. I still need to come back for this one when I come back for the Gods and Glory DLC.

Also, I apparently missed one other tough one related to a quest line. I have to see if I can still access it.

Spoiler:

Grey Prince Zote

.......I've only fought & beat 1 out of the 5 toughest bosses in the game (in your opinion), sh*t!

I've tried a few that I've marked on the map with pins that absolutely obliterated me. Think it was

Spoiler:

Failed Champion & possibly a dream version of a boss down in the ancient basin

they seem to have ridiculous attacks at speed to try & evade.

Still I'm progressing bit by bit.

Spikeout wrote:

I've tried a few that I've marked on the map with pins that absolutely obliterated me. Think it was

Spoiler:

Failed Champion & possibly a dream version of a boss down in the ancient basin

they seem to have ridiculous attacks at speed to try & evade.

Still I'm progressing bit by bit.

Yeah, all the bosses with dream variants are tough. It didn't mess with most of those until I was cleaning up near the end, so I was pretty much fully powered up by that point. They will be very difficult if you are missing useful charms, charm slots, and especially nail upgrades.

Come back later if they're giving you too much trouble. Upgrades make a big difference.

Hearing about everyone having such a great experience with this game is making me miss it. I started playing it while I was also trying to do Pillars of Eternity for the CRPG Club and SMT IV for the JRPG Club, and I really just did not need a third game that allowed for endless hours of exploration. But I felt like the exploration was so tight and rewarding, and I could always go in and find a little something new, or progress just a bit further down the path. It doesn't help that a good friend -- the one who convinced me to buy it -- keeps asking, "have you gotten any farther"?

Spoilers for where I am in the game (from what I remember):

Spoiler:

Most recently, I defeated the Mantis Lords and the Dung Defender. I have the dream nail and 200 essence, and unlocked the graveyard. I've also beaten the Soul Master and gotten that ground-pound move. Still plenty to do, I'm sure!

Dyni wrote:
Stele wrote:

So I did turn the volume up a bit. I hear Cornifer singing in Fog Canyon, but there's a Shade Gate in the way, which I apparently can't pass until a much later upgrade. :?

So for Fog Canyon in particular, you need one of two abilities in order to access the map. It was a while before I got either one. I remember being perplexed by that too.

Usually, if you can access the zone, you can get to the map. Fog Canyon is the one exception that I can recall.

Thanks for the tip! I'll steer clear of that area for a while, that sounds frustrating.

You don't really have to avoid the area. For most of the game it just functions as a vertical passage between queen's Station and greenpath. So there isn't too much need for a map

This freaking game.

I kept doing this one part of a certain area over and over and over. All the while, right near the start of it was the first Nail upgrade.

Could have really saved me a ton of time if I'd have just went left instead of right. Or paid more attention to the signs.

Oh well.

Not ashamed to check a guide now. I could have struggled for hours more without that against tougher enemies and would have really hurt my enjoyment of the game.

For what it's worth, I think the nail upgrade is more important for exploring than fighting against tougher enemies. I don't think it does half damage or anything like that. Instead, as I was exploring, it seemed like everything took one fewer hit to kill. That had a noticeable affect on some of the weaker monsters, but the tougher ones seemed to take almost as many hits as before. I haven't looked up the effects of the nail upgrade, though.

Of course, the psychological impact of just barely missing out on something that can help your power level -- or even make you feel more powerful -- is huge.