Board 8 > Hollow Knight is a pretty fun game so far

(+) Yeah! (+)

masterplum posted...

I would probably play pokemon again if I couldn't beat everything in my sleep. I would kill for actually tactical team decisions

The free Arceus DLC that dropped like a month or two after release scratched that itch! Specifically, the Eternal Battle Reverie. It was awesome.

azuarc posted...

* People who say HK is hard (besides the Watcher Knights. Fuck those guys.)

htaeD posted...

Oh god Traitor Lord

It will never cease to amaze me what bosses people find hard in this game. And that sounds like a lot of people having different play styles, which sounds like good game design!

also maybe they didn't do the post-game stuff where the real crazy bosses exist lol

I never did bother to kill <REDACTED> to see <REDACTED>.

I assume anyone in the know can fill in the blanks on that one. I'm trying not to mention anything that Rose will likely remember later.

Traitor lord got buffed. But also the walkback to him being murderous was more my subject.

i should mention I'm not a pro gamer so like, I'm dying to regular enemies sometimes still. Every boss has killed me.

I think I died to a lot of the bosses on my first try but also a lot of those are cases where it was smooth sailing after 1-2 attempts to learn their attack patterns.

There are also some I got stuck on for longer, of course.

I died on almost every single boss on my first attempt and now I don't find 95% of them difficult at all. Maybe some people are just ~god gamers~ but IMO the game really is tough the first time through.

i miss rabi ribi giving me save points conveniently before bosses

I think one of the reasons I find Traitor Lord a shocking answer for "toughest bosses" is that he's one of the only ones that didn't kill me my very first try! I can certainly see why he would be hard though. If you mess up his pattern, he'll beat you into a pulp fast. I just find his pattern so damn easy.

I only ever played the buffed version too (which I don't think changed his pattern at all).

RoseChevalier posted...

i miss rabi ribi giving me save points conveniently before bosses

Yeah this is another thing that really bugged (haha) me about Hollow Knight. Hard bosses AND annoying run backs when you die = not fun.

I've never played Rabi Ribi but I've been kinda wanting another Metroidvania soon so maybe I'll give it a try.

tcaz2 posted...

Yeah this is another thing that really bugged (haha) me about Hollow Knight. Hard bosses AND annoying run backs when you die = not fun.

I've never played Rabi Ribi but I've been kinda wanting another Metroidvania soon so maybe I'll give it a try.

ooh this makes me happy! I'm a big fan and want to share the love

Hollow Knight was a 7/10 for me that probably goes up to a 8.5/10 if its checkpoint and fast-travel system wasn't so bad. I need to retry it with that mod that makes benches fast-travel points.

_Blur_ posted...

I think one of the reasons I find Traitor Lord a shocking answer for "toughest bosses" is that he's one of the only ones that didn't kill me my very first try! I can certainly see why he would be hard though. If you mess up his pattern, he'll beat you into a pulp fast. I just find his pattern so damn easy.

I only ever played the buffed version too (which I don't think changed his pattern at all).

Anything that hits for 2 with every attack is automatically a hard boss. The miniboss guys that teach you how to fight False Knight are harder than False Knight himself. But the dream version of False Knight is generally regarded as the hardest of the bunch in large part because of the damage dealt.

As for your other comment, there are certainly bosses that I've had very different reactions than I've seen from others. Youtuber Rusty claimed Dung Defender was one of the hardest bosses (he's the easiest in the game unless you count Gruz Mother and Supercharger) and that Nosk is completely trivial (he kills me every time unless I cheese it). I am inherently a defensive player. Avoid and counterattack. Avoid and counterattack. Anything that doesn't lend to that and forces me to be aggressive to get hits in is going to be challenging. I can beat Watcher Knights like they're nothing...now...but by god I was ready to rage quit after running back from that boss for the 20th time.

alright, i thought it was neat that a mantis locks the door by hitting a switch. Then I went and on my 3rd try I beat the Mantis Lords. Super fun fight once I had it down!! and it's very very awesome that now the mantises respect me so I can go into their vault! i love it

I find it odd that people are discussing lategame stuff and having extensive debates about other games in a first time HK playthrough topic.

RoseChevalier posted...

i should mention I'm not a pro gamer so like, I'm dying to regular enemies sometimes still. Every boss has killed me.

Don't worry this is very common, this board just has lots of progamers/speedrunners I guess! I'd definitely consider it a tough game. Congrats on getting Mantis Claw, that fight is really fun and now the world is your oyster!

andylt posted...

I find it odd that people are discussing lategame stuff and having extensive debates about other games in a first time HK playthrough topic.

Yeah, I think this topic kind of became an extension of the last Hollow Knight discussion. As someone mentioned, a new Hollow Knight playthrough topic seems to pop up every six months or so on this board. But agreed, let's keep it where Rose is at and let the magic unfold for them.

Mantis fight is the git gud moment of Hollow Knight. The perfect opportunity to really get a grip on the combat. And it's probably around when I started falling in love with the game.

I started to really like the game at the Hornet fight.
I fell in love at the Mantis Lords fight.

Congratulations!

RoseChevalier posted...

alright, i thought it was neat that a mantis locks the door by hitting a switch. Then I went and on my 3rd try I beat the Mantis Lords. Super fun fight once I had it down!! and it's very very awesome that now the mantises respect me so I can go into their vault! i love it

Yeah Mantis Lords is one of the best bosses in the game imo.

mumbles about not fighting the Mantis Lords until close to the end of the game...

azuarc posted...

mumbles about not fighting the Mantis Lords until close to the end of the game...

Wasnt quite that bad for me but it was definitely after I was supposed to have fought them.

okay I ended up in deepnest still riding the high after the mantis lords. My wallet was feeling heavy but I couldn't find any way out! I tried desperately not to die and explored until I found the tram pass. A quick backtrack and... now I'm in the Ancient Basin? I'm so nervous cause now I have enough geo to afford the Lumafly Lantern but I just haven't found a way back to the surface!!

I'll return later...!

That's quite the adventure...especially without the lantern. Hopefully you got out with your geo intact and can find a tram station back to Dirtmouth soon.

Tell us about Deepnest!

It was very nice to have that hot spring + bench. It was a good central location to explore from and return to.

The problem is I'm terrified of mukade. And now they're everywhere here??

There's one room I died in a couple times, where you have to bounce on a mukade slowly moving to the right, and I failed the transition from a bounce to a wall jump too many times. Took awhile to get the feel for that tech. But it was easy to recover my body each time.

Other than that I basically just took it slow and steady. My attack range is increased a lot thanks to the Mantises' treasury so enemies haven't been as bad lately!

oh i did run into a room that was pitch black, so I just left that for later. Really need to go buy that lantern!!

Memorial to the Hollow Knight

In the Black Vault far above.
Through its sacrifice Hallownest lasts eternal.

omg YES a stag! King's Station!! Thank god

okay so I met Hornet again and she's still awesome. This rainy area is super atmospheric

but um... i'm not feeling great about killing these... like normal townspeople?? the giant knights are fun to fight though. Still, I wonder if I should like, not kill the normies. I was already having doubts and then I went in a house and it was like a whole family! and a glowing guy in the back that exploded into tons of geo. I felt really bad.

god i'm so lost

found map guy so I know I'm in Kingdom's Edge now

so unfortunately I was curious what happened with the well where you throw all your money in, and the answer was nothing

then just now I found this guy that wants to teach me a nail move but I don't have enough money! :(

oh man dash slash

decided to do some backtracking and found a dash puzzle from ages ago that leads to a statue where i could insert the "City Crest"? but the door slammed shut behind me! so now I'm BACK in this rainy city but maybe this was the correct way?? and I came the back way last time?

wowwwww there's a blacksmith!! I am SO MUCH STRONGER! I kill those big knight guys so fast now omggg

okay note to self

TO PROTECT THE VESSEL THE DREAMERS LAY SLEEPING

Monomon the Teacher
In her Archive, surrounded by fog and mist.

Lurien the Watcher
In his Spire, looking over the city.

Herrah the Beast
In her Den, amidst the deep darkness beyond the Kingdom

THROUGH THEIR DEVOTION, HOLLOWNEST LASTS ETERNAL

this is sooooooooo coooooool

*DREAM NAIL*

RoseChevalier posted...

wowwwww there's a blacksmith!! I am SO MUCH STRONGER! I kill those big knight guys so fast now omggg

Life is good once you beef up that nail

...is Moss Prophet so friendly to me because I have the lantern? he says he just loves light...

okay phew I got the map of the city of tears. This place is HUGE! Gotta go to bed here, but I'll explore the rest of the city now that I have the map next time I play

You really went all kinds of places today. Nice work

RoseChevalier posted...

now I'm BACK in this rainy city but maybe this was the correct way?? and I came the back way last time?

The City Crest entrance is the primary path that most people follow after Mantis Village because there are some breadcrumbs leading you that way, like a few appearances from Hornet running off the screen like she does in Greenpath. From there players typically splinter off in one of two directions, depending on if they <REDACTED>, <REDACTED>, or <REDACTED>.

The thing is, if you come in City of Tears from that side, you can't reach the right side of the city because there's a gate you have to open from the right. The farthest they get is the shrine. So even if it feels like you did things the hard way, there was definite gain for taking the long way. Plus you had one heck of an adventure! I can only imagine how much fun you must have had exploring.

Its like watching my own journey with this game again.

Oh, shit I can upgrade! Wait, did I go the right way? Thank God, a map!

The tendrils of the greatness of this game are seeping into your brain

RoseChevalier posted...

so unfortunately I was curious what happened with the well where you throw all your money in, and the answer was nothing

then just now I found this guy that wants to teach me a nail move but I don't have enough money! :(

Something happens eventually, it's just a lot of geo! Eventually you'll have more geo than you can do anything with, so I actually wish there was more stuff like this.

azuarc posted...

The City Crest entrance is the primary path that most people follow after Mantis Village because there are some breadcrumbs leading you that way, like a few appearances from Hornet running off the screen like she does in Greenpath. From there players typically splinter off in one of two directions, depending on if they <REDACTED>, <REDACTED>, or <REDACTED>.

The thing is, if you come in City of Tears from that side, you can't reach the right side of the city because there's a gate you have to open from the right. The farthest they get is the shrine. So even if it feels like you did things the hard way, there was definite gain for taking the long way. Plus you had one heck of an adventure! I can only imagine how much fun you must have had exploring.

oh cool to know!!

Last night I also fought some knight that floated up in the air and threw swords at me like some kinda Gilgamesh. He was really really easy compared to the Mantis Lords, though.

That's funny, because I one-shot the Mantis Lords and I lost to that guy like twice.

I'm going to imagine I'm an anomaly, though, because most people seem to find the Mantis Lords challenging initially.

Mantis Lords are a fun fight, I think it's the first boss that actually really exposes how clean and fun the combat system is.

Hollow Knight is proof that good artstyle and characters can elevate a game from decent into great. If this game looked Environmental Station Alpha or something I wouldn't care. That kind of applies to that new game Earthblade that was just announced. It looks ugly and I don't care

DeepsPraw posted...

Hollow Knight is proof that good artstyle and characters can elevate a game from decent into great.

The biggest complaint I hear about this game is the art style

Really? Never heard anyone say anything about the art.

The only complaint I've seen is that the some of the environments look kind of similar. Like I kinda get it, there's a lot of black wrought iron all over, but that's still not giving it enough credit

azuarc posted...

Really? Never heard anyone say anything about the art.

Nah like the actual art and I really haven't heard it much - but I've heard zero other complaints about this game basically! (Okay maybe the Souls death stuff being pointless.) I dunno, I watch the Game Scoop podcast (actually a great podcast even though lol IGN) and 3 of them were all like "yeah I want to play the game I just hate the character art so much"

And I mean I kind of agree myself that the enemies and characters aren't that great to look at but also nothing I would aggressively complain about or not play the game because of.

The environments are gorgeous though; that would be an even wilder complaint.

omg that fight with the soul master was suuuuper fun! and desolate dive is AWESOME. Not only opens new areas but it looks and feels so cool.

man I was exploring with a full wallet like an idiot and fell into the waterways and ran into... was his name Dung Defender? but it was a pretty fun fight! Got him in 1.

idk about that badge he gave me...