Hades - by Supergiant Games (Bastion, Transistor, Pyre)

Saw credits last night. Immediately completed another run and unlocked the first hidden aspect. Earlier in the weekend I unlocked my first summon too. Have at least 1 win with each weapon. After 37 hours, I might be done for now. Fantastic game and I still have a lot to accomplish but I'm on an 8 run win streak. Might keep going until my streak is broken.

Made it to the final boss, second form! I just couldn't quite hold up.

I was having an odd, but good run, with the bow. It took me forever to get any Olympian boons, and I played through Tartarus and Asphodel with practically none. But, I got the hammer upgrade early which let my bow auto-fire; that one was great. Between that and Festive Fog, I was great at staying at range and sniping. That proved especially helpful in the maze, where I could keep away from the plague rats.

Stele wrote:

Fist win!

I read this as First win!... thought I was in some sort of time displacement for a minute.

LastSurprise wrote:

Made it to the final boss, second form! I just couldn't quite hold up.

I was having an odd, but good run, with the bow. It took me forever to get any Olympian boons, and I played through Tartarus and Asphodel with practically none. But, I got the hammer upgrade early which let my bow auto-fire; that one was great. Between that and Festive Fog, I was great at staying at range and sniping. That proved especially helpful in the maze, where I could keep away from the plague rats.

Autofire on the bow with either Artemis' boon that shoots an arrow every time you attack, special, or cast is killer. It's my favourite way to play the game.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Stele wrote:

Fist win!

I read this as First win!... thought I was in some sort of time displacement for a minute.

Hah yeah that was 9 overall. And I got 10 today right after lunch to see credits! With the spear hidden aspect finally. Beat A&T with full defiance still. 4-win streak going all the sudden. And 48 runs total. Switch clock says 45 hours.

Also got the unlock for fists during that run from a certain NPC. So I need a couple more blood to equip that. I'm also close on a couple of other side quests. I think I'll do at least a few more runs before I take a break. Vector had a good idea, play until streak broken.

I actually managed to 100% the achievements on PC over the weekend. Became my go-to when I just needed to zone out. It was amusing to see how the builds kept things fresh for me, as well as upping the challenges via Heat.

Their previous games have had the various difficulty modifiers, but I never really felt incentivized to try them for much. Glad this one broke that trend in me.

And a few minutes after my near-miss with the bow, I jumped back in with the Twin Fists. Again, made it to the final boss -- this time with one Death Defiance and the Tooth -- and, again, bit it in the second form, after getting his HP down about 50%. I was so close.

It was a very different build, too, with magnetic cutter and a focus on getting up close and personal. I felt good that, in the shops right before the end, I was able to pick up a couple boons that mitigated damage. But I had no deflection, which hurt. And I also switched up my dash from the Greater Reflex to Ruthless Reflex. It was my first time ever using Ruthless Reflex. While I'm sure I got some good damage boosts, the inability to gain those extra invulnerability frames -- especially without deflection -- felt like it hurt in the end.

Also, Aphrodite and Dionysus really need to give me that final boon to finish off my prophecies.

I’ve stopped playing after five wins, mostly for a kinda strange reason: I’m tired of hitting so many buttons. I’d really prefer if there were an accessibility option to let you hold a button to attack. As it stands, if I reach Elysium with the spear and I don’t have the rapid-fire hammer enhancement, I tend to lose interest because I just don’t feel like hammering the Y button 1500 times to beat the bosses.

Antichulius wrote:

Best part "Hand full over time appropriate weapons, or a machine gun.

Whew! Made it out. What a ride.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MgRM4n5.jpg)

The first of many? The first of many.

Congrats!

I can't stop myself. Unlocked hidden bow aspect last run and haven't even used the fist one from a couple runs ago. I'm short on blood again so need more runs to keep upgrading.

Picked a fight with Charon again and lost. Derailed a decent run, oh well. I want to see all these weapon aspects so I'll keep going a few more runs.

Thanks! I was really proud of myself. I put together what felt like a really solid build, with a lot of deflection, and actually made it to Hades with a full complement of Death Defiance (2 charges, + the tooth; I hadn't then unlocked the third). I had to restock one along the way. Even then, I only just survived.

Loved the story sequence after the fight, by the way. I can't wait to see where things go from here.

Bought this game ages ago and waited for release. Played and quickly got hooked. I played until I got the final ending which was a good challenge.

At this point the gameplay was done for me. Which of fine since it was after forty hours. I watched the rest of the dialogue that I missed online. Mostly side stuff.

Overall a great game with maybe their best story, characters and game. Although transistor has a special place for me.

With run 40 I finally beat Hades again at heat 1. I'm a bit frustrated with myself, since I feel I'm playing too recklessly and dying even with strong builds. It feels like the story has slowed down too, although I gather that I need to beat Hades several more times before I reach credits.

I'm looking for some gentle hints about these questions, because feel I may be be missing something. If the solution is to just beat the game severe more times, then just let me know.

I heard there was some romances, but nothing has opened up.

I heard there were companions, but nothing has opened up.

I want to get two people together, and I have a quest to do so, but there doesn't seem to be anything to do.I have another music related quest, but I don' think that's related.

The answer to all of those is to gift nectar to various characters. At 6 nectar you’ll usually get a quest and won’t be able to advance with that character until you’ve completed it.

Aristophan wrote:

I heard there was some romances, but nothing has opened up.

I heard there were companions, but nothing has opened up.

I started playing when Hades hit Steam, so a few months before the 1.0 release. I rolled credits shortly after it was possible to do so. I am only just recently seeing the UI bits that indicate a Romance. I am missing some companions too. The two systems are related, though the romances have a narrower field than the companions.

Just keep playing, and keep giving people things when you have the opportunity to do so.

You can read stuff on the wiki if you don't mind mild spoilers. Like it doesn't tell you the dialog but you can find out which pets and which romances are available. I'll point it the technical things here.

There are 6 companion pets and 3 romances. All 3 romances give pets when building their relationship and doing a favor (quest) for them, before you start the romance. Around 5 nectar to get to the favor, and then varying numbers of ambrosia to continue after that, for romance. Also it takes ambrosia to increase the amount of times you can use a companion during each run.

So keep playing and earning more materials, as you'll need lots of them.

For most of the other non-companion NPCs there's little reason to give them more than 1 nectar to get a keepsake. A few do have favors that give rewards from prophecies or are just cool side quests. So that's why I suggest looking at the wiki a bit, so you don't waste nectar.

The wiki is out of date on a few things that were updated in 1.0.

Vector wrote:

The wiki is out of date on a few things that were updated in 1.0.

Then get to work updating it please.

Had my 13-win streak broken yesterday. The end game stuff is pretty grindy with the need for resources. Going to take a break for a bit now.

Minor hidden aspect spoilers:

Spoiler:

The Aspect of Arthur on the Stygian Blade is cool as hell. Very slow but hits hard as hell and the aura that is created on special is very neat. Not a fan of Guan Yu's aspect, though. It's different but the -70% life on unlock is a huge downside.

Looking ahead, I think I've fulfilled all the requirements to unlock the other hidden aspects and just need to keep playing.

Oh yeah I beat Heat 5 with the bow hidden aspect last night. It's fantastic. That's also 5 wins with the bow. Seems to be my favorite weapon. Although I only started winning with it after I got aspect of Chiron. First 4 wins were with that.

I agree with your spoiler Vector. Although with each upgrade, that downside gets 5 or 10% less, so the weapon gets better and better. But yeah, that's a lot of blood farming.

I started a run with the hidden aspect of the fists last night too. It's pretty damn cool. Had to take a break in 2nd area, but I decimated the first boss.

So sword, spear, and bow hidden wins. Fist hidden equipped and in progress. Still need shield and rail hidden to unlock. But I've got to spend 1 more blood on each I think. That spend 5 on some other aspect just to unlock the hidden aspect really is a material grind. And then you can only use one aspect at once, so if the hidden one is good, I wish I could reallocate points to it. I've spent a couple points in all of the Zagreus ones that I'll probably never use just to unlock other ones.

I'm loving the game.
Can't seem to get any companions or romance.
I know I need to keep giving nectars to just about everyone.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

I'm loving the game.
Can't seem to get any companions or romance.
I know I need to keep giving nectars to just about everyone.

Yeah you need a lot. I straight up only started to get there near the end of the game for me.

I think companions and romance are meant as spice for late game runs for after the story has mostly played out. Props to the devs for having something extra/new at nearly every turn.

Yeah I've started turning in keys for nectars and still don't have enough.

Lots of sidequests apparently depend on Nyx too, and I've been talking to her every chance I get, but she keeps talking about other things than what I need, so I'm stuck on a couple of favors.

In good news, I unlocked and won with the hidden rail aspect last night. So I have every weapon hidden quest finished except the shield. Still can't seem to get the key to unlock it, even though I've talked to the proper NPC multiple times with the shield equipped. Not sure what's up there.

But still having fun alternating weapons and trying new heat challenges. I failed miserably the first time I tried the timed one. Took too long on first boss, and lost all 3 defiance charges from the time penalty. Then made it to 2nd boss no problem with 4+ minutes left, but slipped up and died. That was not fun. But others are interesting. I'll keep tinkering. No achievements on Switch though, so I don't have a set number in mind or anything. Just trying to grind more materials.

Silly question:

Spoiler:

I’m playing on Switch when in Elysium, every button on the right controller kept not responding. I couldn’t attack, cast, call, or dodge. It would wear off like an effect, but it kept coming back. Eventually , this ended my run (damn Bright soldiers kept reviving).

So is this a status effect I just haven’t seen before, or is it time for new joycons?

There is a stone status effect, but I think that's in Asphodel, with enemies there. Not sure it's in Elysium.

Antichulius wrote:

I think companions and romance are meant as spice for late game runs for after the story has mostly played out.

I must be playing it wrong.

Rolled credits! Just got to look for all these elusive extras i've clearly missed now