Hollow Knight

TheGameguru wrote:

Wow when is that coming out??

Doesn't sound like they have set a hard release date yet. This was just a reveal trailer saying it's the sequel rather then dlc like everyone intially thought.

Day 1. That looks so good! I'm thrilled that it's a full sequel.

Tyrian wrote:

If you were a backer of the original, you get the new one for free.

Wow, talk about showing customer appreciation. That's so cool of them.

Dyni wrote:

Day 1. That looks so good! I'm thrilled that it's a full sequel.

Tyrian wrote:

If you were a backer of the original, you get the new one for free.

Wow, talk about showing customer appreciation. That's so cool of them.

It IS cool. I imagine it's due in part to the fact that the Hornet playable DLC was part of the kickstarter campaign, but still! The amazing thing to me about that is there were only 2158 backers on the kickstarter (as well as some later paypal / other methods backers). It's gone on to be pretty successful beyond that.

And it's a 3 person team! Crazy!

To say I'm thrilled about Silksong is an understatement, this should have been headlining the Nintendo direct just passed there, another masterpiece in the making. Hornet is such a good character too, loads of personality & ninja like in combat.

Is it still a 3 person team? I just can't comprehend how they have created something so big but with so much detail & polish.

Spikeout wrote:

Is it still a 3 person team? I just can't comprehend how they have created something so big but with so much detail & polish.

It looks like it. Three developers plus Christopher Larkin creating the soundtrack again.

Spikeout wrote:

To say I'm thrilled about Silksong is an understatement, this should have been headlining the Nintendo direct just passed there, another masterpiece in the making. Hornet is such a good character too, loads of personality & ninja like in combat.

Every game on the Direct was scheduled to come out this year. I get the feeling that is not the case here.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

To say I'm thrilled about Silksong is an understatement, this should have been headlining the Nintendo direct just passed there, another masterpiece in the making. Hornet is such a good character too, loads of personality & ninja like in combat.

Every game on the Direct was scheduled to come out this year. I get the feeling that is not the case here.

Yeah. You wouldn't know it from how robust that trailer was, but they haven't announced a date yet. Silksong might be a 2020 game.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
Spikeout wrote:

To say I'm thrilled about Silksong is an understatement, this should have been headlining the Nintendo direct just passed there, another masterpiece in the making. Hornet is such a good character too, loads of personality & ninja like in combat.

Every game on the Direct was scheduled to come out this year. I get the feeling that is not the case here.

Yeah fair point, I'd point to 2020 also.

Sadly, I must agree. I would love for it to drop this year, but I don't see that happening.

Come on Team Cherry! Prove us wrong!

I played about 6 hours and have 3 areas mapped out but I'm starting to have trouble figuring out where the game wants me to go next. I'm finding the flow pretty similar to Ori but Ori's map was much better at letting you see the types of obstacles you would have to overcome with newfound abilities. If the world gets much bigger I can see this getting out of hand especially after putting it down for any period of time. Does this change or are you expected to keep a "mental map" throughout the game?

Other than that I'm enjoying it so far. Also, I found switching to an external controller actually made it feel more responsive / tighter so I looked pretty funny on the plane with my setup.

I'm 21 hours in my first playthrough and pretty solidly hooked.

Spoiler: Progress

Just beat the Broken Vessel and got the Monarch Wings - have to go back around to all the new places I can get now! I think I've done a pretty good job of backtracking and picking up extras so far - I have 1.75 mask upgrades and 1 soul upgrade and two nail arts. This stupid game is going to have me 100+%-ing it, isn't it?

EvilDead wrote:

I played about 6 hours and have 3 areas mapped out but I'm starting to have trouble figuring out where the game wants me to go next. I'm finding the flow pretty similar to Ori but Ori's map was much better at letting you see the types of obstacles you would have to overcome with newfound abilities. If the world gets much bigger I can see this getting out of hand especially after putting it down for any period of time. Does this change or are you expected to keep a "mental map" throughout the game?

I have found that it's up to you to remember what you can newly access. Buying markers from Iselda at the map shop helps out, but you have to remember what each meant. Watch the edges of the rooms on the map for doors you may have missed. I've considered keeping a notepad... Also, talk to the Elderbug if you're not sure where to go next.

On the subject of 100%ing, here are some spoiler-free tidbits I wish I knew, while playing. You might already know this stuff The tags contain only very light spoilers:

Eventually, you'll get an ability to see your completion percentage on one of the pause menus and in your save file. You acquire this very close to the end of the game:

Spoiler:

Specifically, you need to be basically on the doorstep of the game's final boss. But it's possible to get here with a pretty low completion percentage. I felt like I had explored a lot, and was at 60-something percent when I unlocked this ability.

With the DLC content, the maximum completion percentage is 112%. 5% of this is from the Godhome DLC, which includes some VERY tough boss rushes -- I attempted the first, of these, almost finished it, and decided it would not be fun to continue.

On the subject of maps: yeah, unfortunately the game does rely on you remembering where you need to go. For the most part I was able to identify unexplored sections of my map just from looking at the map, but there were a couple of times when it was not clear where I needed to go next. I think, for me, this was made worse by taking off a month or two in the middle of my play.

On the subject of map markers:

There are a few markers you'll eventually access, which give you very specific information:

Spoiler:

Checking one landmark, once you find it, will reveal the location of the final boss. Another landmark (again, once you find it) will reveal the location of three things you need to accomplish before you can tackle that boss.

Also, eventually, you will get a marker that specifically tells you where to find any grubs you haven't saved. Unfortunately, there's nothing similar for charms you haven't found!

Hmm, OK. I'll see what Elderbug says since I'm kinda lost at the moment. This might be a tough one since I tend to play single player games 1-2 times a week at most. At the least $15 bucks for 6 hours of killed plane time is worth it.

I started HK this past week, and am frankly a touch disappointed. I don't mind exploring but being blocked at every turn then getting lost then retracing the same tricky platforming areas three times gets kinda tedious. The beauty of the areas eventually wears off once you've seen the same screen a dozen times I guess, and they start becoming pure mechanical hindrances.

It could really use an item to let you teleport back to a set waypoint.

There is, in fact, such an item, but it probably unlocks too far into the game.

And it appears to have limited charges, so for a while I didn’t use it. But really, the charges aren’t limited.

I definitely reached a point where I got tired of all the searching for things I had overlooked and, probably, would have continued to overlook. So I started using a wiki guide and I’m glad I did. The platforming and combat was so tight and enjoyable that I had plenty of fun with that element, even if I spoiled some of the exploration for myself.

EvilDead wrote:

I played about 6 hours and have 3 areas mapped out but I'm starting to have trouble figuring out where the game wants me to go next. I'm finding the flow pretty similar to Ori but Ori's map was much better at letting you see the types of obstacles you would have to overcome with newfound abilities. If the world gets much bigger I can see this getting out of hand especially after putting it down for any period of time. Does this change or are you expected to keep a "mental map" throughout the game?

Other than that I'm enjoying it so far. Also, I found switching to an external controller actually made it feel more responsive / tighter so I looked pretty funny on the plane with my setup.

Sadly, HK is a tough game to play with large gaps between. It does rely quite a bit on remembering where you've been and what you've done. If you're open to consulting walkthroughs, this is a good guide that outlines a clear path through the main game.

imbiginjapan wrote:

I started HK this past week, and am frankly a touch disappointed. I don't mind exploring but being blocked at every turn then getting lost then retracing the same tricky platforming areas three times gets kinda tedious. The beauty of the areas eventually wears off once you've seen the same screen a dozen times I guess, and they start becoming pure mechanical hindrances.

It could really use an item to let you teleport back to a set waypoint.

The beginning of the game is comparatively much slower than the rest of the game. I remember wandering around for an hour or two in Greenpath before figuring out what to do to progress. Once you get to about the 3rd or 4th area, the game really opens up and gives you several different paths choose from.

That said, the game is always somewhat aimless. That's part of what I love about it, but it's not for everyone.

I’ve already bought this game twice at $20 each, and I still want to get the collectors edition they just announced...

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03...

EvilDead wrote:

I played about 6 hours and have 3 areas mapped out but I'm starting to have trouble figuring out where the game wants me to go next. I'm finding the flow pretty similar to Ori but Ori's map was much better at letting you see the types of obstacles you would have to overcome with newfound abilities. If the world gets much bigger I can see this getting out of hand especially after putting it down for any period of time. Does this change or are you expected to keep a "mental map" throughout the game?

Other than that I'm enjoying it so far. Also, I found switching to an external controller actually made it feel more responsive / tighter so I looked pretty funny on the plane with my setup.

imbiginjapan wrote:

I started HK this past week, and am frankly a touch disappointed. I don't mind exploring but being blocked at every turn then getting lost then retracing the same tricky platforming areas three times gets kinda tedious. The beauty of the areas eventually wears off once you've seen the same screen a dozen times I guess, and they start becoming pure mechanical hindrances.

It could really use an item to let you teleport back to a set waypoint.

This was exactly the problem I had with it and why I eventually bounced after six or seven hours. It felt like many of the map's branches were cul de sacs, so you'd get to the end, discover that you didn't have the right power-up, then have to work back through to a central point to try the next one, and repeat. You could leave a map marker at the endpoints you reached, but it was often impossible to know which map marker to leave because you didn't know what powers you would acquire that would get you past the barrier.

I felt like the intended loop for the game was to get a new upgrade and then try every possible direction until you figured out which one would work. Kinda like having a row of locked doors and periodically being given an unmarked key that opens one of them; there's not really any system that works except to try the key in every door. It's just tedious and frustrating.

Right now that wandering and backtracking is my jam, plus since I've been mainlining it remembering what is where hasn't been too hard. And Mr. Dragon's remembered a couple branches I've forgotten. But I can certainly see this getting tedious - I made it down to one area a bit before I was supposed to go there and getting back out was a pain.

Spoiler:

It was the Ancient Basin, before getting the Super Jump, so I couldn't pick up the Monarch Wings. No accessing the stag station yet, so I had to climb back up the elevator shaft with all the spikes. It was incredibly frustrating and I died several times, with difficult shade placement.

Spoiler: Further progress

I didn't know how to handle one Watcher Knight. Then the second sprung to life...

So I've gone wandering instead of heading to Crystal Peak like I should, found the Queen's Gardens, but I'm very bad at fighting the mantises. Was also shocked to find the crossroads infected - it was actually an adrenaline-pumping moment! What on earth am I doing to this place?

Yes, that was quite a surprising moment! Really made an impact on me as well.

Thanks for the guide link and the input all. Haven't had a chance to go back to it yet but I'll give it a shot. If it's not for me, I won't sweat it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a key element.

Just killed my second boss. I'm definitely into the game. It's my first 2D game of this sort so I wasn't sure if I'd get into it. I'm in 'see how far I get' mode thought.

Beat Hornet *Flex*

What a charming little character.

Spoiler:

Not quite got the hang of Dash yet. I.e. I died on the way home.

I suspect a disproportionate percentage of the tears in the City of Tears reside in the room where that guy set up his map shop.

*Clutches 'City of Tears' map to his tiny chitinous body.*

Spoiler:

I adore the little 'deploy bench' animation. That whole section was worth it just for that.

Just posting to say that Hollow Knight is in the Xbox PC Pass and it is also currently $7.50 on Switch!

I finally picked it up and beat the first 3 bosses last night. Couldnt sleep this morning because it was too hot and spent about 2 hours flailing around a bit. Explored a lot of a few zones and unlocked the wall jump but didnt get much else done except die a lot.

Feels like I got super competent at the earliest areas and then had nothing left to do there.

That's the main problem with Hollow Knight, in my opinion. The opening hours are strange because you can easily end up with a lot of dead air where you wander around mostly finding places you can't go and things you can't do, even after you beat some bosses and get some upgrades. Once you get past that, the game opens up in some really exciting and interesting ways. My hope is that the sequel has better pacing through those opening hours.

I looooove Hollow Knight, but I agree with Clock about the opening hours. The game feels slow and constrictive because there really is only one correct way to go. Figuring that out for the first few hours can be tedious, and it is not a good indicator of what the rest of the game is like. If you can make it over that hump, it really opens up.

I didn't mind bumping into obvious "you can go here later" points constantly in the first few hours.

What I didn't like is how hard it was to accurately and meaningfully mark them on that god. damn. awful. MAP.

I read about the frustrations everyone was having here so decided to use Dyni's guide just to show me where to go next. I suspect I've had a better experience as a result. I certainly think it would have taken me forever to find the area where you first meet Hornet without it.

Interesting impression of Silksong from Easy Allies: