Hollow Knight

And some more progress: I've destroyed the Teacher and walked into the temple, just far enough to get a pretty meaningful exploration upgrade. Specifically, I can now see my completion percentage, which stands at 70% after this weekend. I also got Isma's Tear, entered the Queen's Garden, mapped out most of it, found a couple more grubs, and found several (3?) dreamer bosses across the map. I also finally, finally beat Lost Kin. For some reason, I was able to take him down on my first try of the weekend. Not really sure what was different.

I really found myself at an impasse going into the weekend and had to look up some information on how to proceed, which led me to the Tear. I was mad that I had to do it, as I had been avoiding spoilers on purpose. That's unusual for me, as I often feel the need to learn more about the game world as I play something, and will end up spoiling some elements for myself by accident. But I just love the sense of exploration and wonder in this game, and feel like it (mostly) does a good job of showing you where you might be able to go next and then lets you figure out if you can get there. I found the way into the area with the Tear pretty easy to overlook, though, and might not have found it on my own.

Trying to decide if I should keep the Hollow Knight Steam key I got from Humble Bundle since I have the Switch version. If I play though it again for some reason I'd prefer to do it on PC, but don't sure if I would.

I'm probably about 50% done on the Switch.

I haven't played Hollow Knight in about 2 months and boy do I feel rusty. When I started the game up I was in Crystal Peak but not sure if I was trying to get anywhere in particular. So, I just headed in an unexplored direction.

After several attempts I found myself in the Resting Grounds and got

Spoiler:

the Dream Nail

. I feel like I've put a lot of hours into the game but a peek at the table of contents of a walkthrough makes me think I've got a long way to go. I believe I've already played longer than the average main story completion time on How Long To Beat. So, I'm pretty sure I suck.

I've been to:

Spoiler:

King's Pass, Dirtmouth, Forgotten Crossroads, Greenpath, Fungal Wastes, City of Tears, Crystal Peak and Resting Grounds.

. I like the game, but my progress feels slow. It's hard, not Cuphead hard, but hard. I mostly think that is a good thing.

I've given up on Hollow Knight. I like it a lot but it's just too time consuming to advance. I currently don't know where I should be heading and just end up checking various unavailable spots just to find out that yeah they're still unavailable.

The traversal is fun but I sure would appreciate some kind of quick travel that is more lenient than the current transport service.

It's a great game, I adore almost everything about it but it's just too aimless for me at this time.

Have you been getting the maps for each area? It can be aimless but the maps certainly help.

Get the maps. Open the stagways and you do get a quick teleport ability which is handy when you think carefully about how to use it.

Suvanto wrote:

I've given up on Hollow Knight. I like it a lot but it's just too time consuming to advance. I currently don't know where I should be heading and just end up checking various unavailable spots just to find out that yeah they're still unavailable.

The traversal is fun but I sure would appreciate some kind of quick travel that is more lenient than the current transport service.

It's a great game, I adore almost everything about it but it's just too aimless for me at this time.

In the last few days, I've come to the conclusion that I've had my fun with Hollow Knight but I'm ready to move on too. I get that I'm in the minority, but I'm just not enjoying playing it... I love Metroidvanias, and I can see that every aspect of this game is of a much higher quality than its price tag would suggest, so on paper I should love it. For whatever reason, I just don't. I think I'm getting increasingly frustrated that a game which is all about exploration is so punishing in situations where you're not fully sure what you're doing or where you're going...

Stevintendo wrote:

I think I'm getting increasingly frustrated that a game which is all about exploration is so punishing in situations where you're not fully sure what you're doing or where you're going...

VERY much agree with you.

I've hit a sticking point, maybe 5 or 6 hours in. No idea where to go next, feel like I've explored everywhere I can, and re-exploring them in the hopes of finding whatever I've missed has limited appeal. Walkthroughs aren't a lot of help given the non-linear nature of the game.

I get the appeal of a game of a that doesn't hold your hand, but it's a double-edged sword, in that sometimes you NEED your hand held over just one obstacle.

I, too, bailed on this game around that amount of time and for the same reasons. I understand why some people like it the way it is, but I would have a much better experience if the map autocompleted as you explored. Oh well.

I hit a similar wall as well, but managed to push past it and was glad I did. I managed to get another 12 or so hours out of this gem and found it quite enjoyable. I however, probably won't be going back to it any time soon to finish off specific bosses, or 100% it.

Whats funny is I ran into some similar issues in Yuka's Island Express ( Pinball Metroidvania that is awesome), but they world map there was so forgiving, that you would just look for the icon and it pointed you in the right direction without making it feel like a big giant arrow saying GO this WAY!.

Axiom Verge is next on my metroidvania list, so we will see where that lands.

DanB wrote:

Get the maps. Open the stagways and you do get a quick teleport ability which is handy when you think carefully about how to use it.

I have the maps - that's how I can see which places have open spots - but when trekking to said open spots it's clear that I'm missing an ability to reach whatever is there. Exactly same problem as Jonman is describing. A way to annotate the map would go a long way, then you could easily point out what you need at each location.

There are the map markers you an buy in that initial town. There are multiple colors so you can try to use different colors for different things. It's not perfect, but it helps a little.

Suvanto wrote:
DanB wrote:

Get the maps. Open the stagways and you do get a quick teleport ability which is handy when you think carefully about how to use it.

I have the maps - that's how I can see which places have open spots - but when trekking to said open spots it's clear that I'm missing an ability to reach whatever is there. Exactly same problem as Jonman is describing. A way to annotate the map would go a long way, then you could easily point out what you need at each location.

Can you tell what kind of ability you’re missing, or what would be helpful to reach the next thing? One of us might be able to give you a nudge in the right direction, so you won’t have to look up a guide and risk spoiling things.

I do agree though that the general lack of direction in the initial half of the game is poor. My second pass has been quite a lot more fun given that I know where I'm going.

Man I'm torn about this game. I've made some progress as in I've explored some new areas - soul sanctum, royal waterways. Getting to the top of soul sanctum was hard. Died quickly once up there.

The game is good but exhausting. I don't know if I can continue. Maybe I'll take a break from it. I'm supposed to be getting 200 essence, but I can't find any more - even with the pins.

It also would have helped if I had taken notes.

Urggg, Soul Master - why do you torment me so?"

Spoiler:

Last play session I unlocked the path to get to him quickly, but died. So tonight I decided to try again. After losing 5-10 times, I got him so he flew around like a popped balloon. I thought I won and celebrated.

We fell through the floor and he was bopping around. Thinking I killed him I tried to catch him. I lost a bunch of health before I realized he was harming me. So I try again. I can't get him to that stage again for another 10 tries. I manage to get him to that stage maybe 4 times and can't win. I did last longer one of the times.

I mean, I have fun fighting this guy but it is wearing on me. I decided to switch out my charms so I had to trudge back to town. I'm now using the one that increases health, one that gives me a protective shell, and the one that extends my blade. Next time I play I'll trudge back and try again.

I must have missed a couple bosses before this area. I wonder what loot I missed.

I switched to the Dreamshield and the thorn thing (plus the sword range increase charm) and won on my 2nd try. Was a relief!

Just picked this up on Switch, thanks to a discounted eshop card. The last thing I did was get the dash ability.

I've played some more over the past couple of days and climbed to 83%. Some solid achievements from the long weekend so far:

  • Got the tram pass. I'm amazed that I missed this.
  • Beat the Hive Knight and bees' healing charm.
  • Got the dash upgrade that lets me go through the black barriers -- FINALLY.
  • Cleared the Trial of the Warrior.
  • Attempted the Grimm Troupe leader a couple of times, but couldn't beat him.
  • Defeated the Collector and got his map. Grubs, here I come!

I loved this game when I started it, and I'm still really enjoying it, but I'm playing it the wrong way: I've gone through big stretches without playing it. For a game that doesn't give you too much direction, this can be really dangerous, as I've been stuck a few times with no idea where to go. Somehow I missed a couple of things necessary to get into new areas and advance the game, one of which was the tram pass, another I alluded to above (Isma's Tear), and a third, actually getting into Kingdom's Edge, I had no idea how to do without looking up. But now that I have a rhythm going again, I think I'm going to press on to completion. I'm not sure what that'll look like for me; I probably will not actually 112% the game.

I have a suspicion that I missed the tram pass too. I don't think I'm as far along as you - not sure of my percentage.

robc wrote:

I have a suspicion that I missed the tram pass too. I don't think I'm as far along as you - not sure of my percentage.

When you get past a certain point in the story, and enter a certain area, your percentage will display on your save file and in one of the pause menu screens. I think when I first triggered it, I was at 67%.

Pretty sure you're can get the tram pass any time after you kill the mantis lords so you could get it very early in the game. Around 30/40%

LastSurprise wrote:
robc wrote:

I have a suspicion that I missed the tram pass too. I don't think I'm as far along as you - not sure of my percentage.

When you get past a certain point in the story, and enter a certain area, your percentage will display on your save file and in one of the pause menu screens. I think when I first triggered it, I was at 67%.

To be a little less vague: the percentage will start showing up when you are at the door to (what I believe is) the final boss.

I'm pretty far away from there I think. I've opened up around 6 or 7 areas I believe. I have a feeling I missed some bosses along the way and need to backtrack.

I suspect you could get there it more quickly than you think, and without confronting a lot of the game’s bosses. There’s actually an achievement for speed running the game in 5 hours, and I’m sure that would require skipping a lot of content. I was actually able to unlock the final boss without several of the ability and travel upgrades, though I haven’t fought it yet.

Have you been to the Resting Grounds yet? That area has something that you’ll need to make your backtracking fruitful.

I believe I have been to the resting grounds - sounds familiar. I can't remember how much I explored of it though.

After a lot of Thanksgiving hours, and some time this past week, I've beaten Hollow Knight with the "basic" ending. I'm now sitting at 105%, and maybe will get to 112%, but before I put this one in the books I want to finish off a little bit more of the content:

Spoiler:

Specifically, I want to: beat the Trial of the Fool and get the endings that are available to me now -- which is everything but the ones associated with the Godmaster DLC. I'm not sure if I'll beat Nightmare King Grimm or take on the Godmaster boss rush challenges. There are a few other things I haven't done, like fighting the White Defender or the different iterations of Grey Prince Zote, but I don't need those for the 112% and probably won't do them.

Early on, I was aggressively avoiding spoilers for this game. I wouldn't even come on this thread, much, because I just felt that the game's take on exploration was so good, and the game rewarded paying close attention, learning about environments, watching for visual and sound cues, that I wanted to immerse myself and find things on my own. My play style totally changed in the past month or so. It was a combination of the fact that I took a long break during my playthrough and that I had been all over the map, but I just got so exhausted by the idea that I would get a new item, then have to travel all over the map to figure out what I could access in the areas I already had explored. This was especially pronounced near the end of the game, as I would get a new story item that would unlock one particular thing, and then the game would give fairly vague clues about where to go next. And beyond that, I knew that I would have driven myself crazy trying to find the breakable walls, or false walls, that I missed.

So, I found a completion checklist, made a list of all the things that I hadn't done, and started looking up where to find them. I've still enjoyed doing this, because the art and music is so great, and the platforming and combat so tight and rewarding, that I want to experience all the great content in this game even if I can't (or don't want to) find it on my own.

Yeah I've taken a long enough break now I'm going to be lost when I go back. But it was a really great time.

How far in did you make it?

LastSurprise wrote:

How far in did you make it?

Last string of posts in Sept

Looks like I got some nail upgrades and beat Watcher Knights. Had the Shade Cloak too. And some dream bosses. Felt like I was getting near the end. Dunno though.