Video Games

[Aleksi]

Finally beat Groat. Probably the worst run back in the game I've found yet.

Spoiler

I started messing around with different crests but ended up doing the side quest to get Longclaw because I couldn't hit him without getting hit myself. Then I tried a bunch of different crests and ended back up with the Reaper.

I ended up cheesing the boss by staying in the water. Got really lucky because he knocked me down to one mask right away but somehow I never got hit after that. I used those sticky spikes to hit him and then it was just cautiously doing one hit at a time between attacks.

Now I need to find all the rest of the fleas.

Groat sucked. No way I would do it without cheese.

Some of the fleas are really well hidden and I had to google them even with the locations marked on the map

 

[Devin]

Meanwhile, PSA: Hades II is awesome. I’m completely hooked.

I need to go back and play it again to see what all's been added. I did absolutely everything there was to do in early access

It def fuckin rules

 

[Devin]

Just remembered I never did beat the little mini-challenge where you start off with the movement speed buff and have to clear the area and kill infernal cerberus before the (extremely short) timer runs out

That shit seemed basically impossible

 

[Jarick]

I made it to act 3 and just getting my ass handed to me. Right when I was feeling like I got the hang of the game at 55 hours in.

 

[Aleksi]

I made it to act 3 and just getting my ass handed to me. Right when I was feeling like I got the hang of the game at 55 hours in.

This is one reason I'm taking a break

 

[mbenigni]

Just remembered I never did beat the little mini-challenge where you start off with the movement speed buff and have to clear the area and kill infernal cerberus before the (extremely short) timer runs out

That shit seemed basically impossible

I hope it's optional, because it sounds like a nightmare. :)

 

[mbenigni]

This is one reason I'm taking a break

Me too. Forever.

 

[bucephalus]

Me too. Forever.

I'm not even starting it because HK was bad enough and I only made it just past first Hornet then gave up.

 

[Devin]

I hope it's optional, because it sounds like a nightmare. :)

Yeah unless it's changed idk if those challenges really did anything besides provide personal bragging rights or maybe an achievement

 

[Jarick]

Now that we're about a month into Silksong, I will say the initial difficulty was much higher than I expected as a pretty seasoned Hollow Knight player, but the game actually seems to get easier as you go along and get more powerful and get more power ups. When you're into Act 2 the challenges are much more on the boss side than mid/late Act 1 where you're basically trying to not die the entire time.

I think they could have balanced the early game a little better honestly, offering some power ups for sale (that way you can grind for currency and then buy the upgrades), nerfing some early game boss damage, etc. Difficulty is still part of the game though, where you need to die to find all the ways NOT to do something. But there could be a better balance between casual exploration (including routine enemy battles) vs difficult bosses. I found there was too much of the game limited early on by very difficult fights.

As for the game itself, I think the level design, artwork, music, etc are all on par with the first game which is some of the best of all time. Lots of interesting regions to explore with a lot of character and charm. The world is definitely much bigger but I found it to feel a bit linear for the first act. I think that's again where the exploration would be more intriguing.

The mechanics of the game are really different than Hollow Knight as well. In HK you had charms which were the way you could power up and change the strategy of the game. In Silksong you have crests that really impact the mechanics and feel, but are much more pros/cons than charms which were straight power ups. But you have tools now which are kind of power ups that need to be replenished. It feels overall a little more clunky to use the tools rather than integrating charms to gameplay.

I definitely feel a lot better about the game than I did at the end of the first week. I'm not sure if it tops HK overall because my first playthrough on that game was more fun and less stressful. But you definitely get a ton of game for $20.

 

[Jarick]

I'm at a part in Act 3 that would make Hollow Knight lore fans super excited. I kind of forgot about the original game due to the scale of Silksong.

 

[Devin]

I been playing that silly new roguelite game Megabonk lately


For $8 on steam it's def worth grabbing; crazy simple yet strangely addicting

 

[Jarick]

Following up on the lore, despite having played Hollow Knight for probably 100 hours I had no understanding of what was actually going on in the game. A few weeks before Silksong came out, I watched this video:



Yes it's long but it was really entertaining. And while some of it was conjecture, it actually fits 100% with Hollow Knight. I replayed the game last month and took the time to read the dialogue and explore artifacts and it made way more sense.

Then playing Silksong, again the lore was helpful to know ahead of time. Once you know that Hornet was half bug half spider (not a spoiler), and then thing about silk coming from spiders, the game makes way more sense.

 

[Aleksi]

And I'm back to playing Silksong

I'm on act 3 and just beat

Spoiler

the asshole bug who took over the bellway. Again I felt like it was super hard first until I realized that I was rushing it.

Mario Galaxy 1+2 is on the way and I'm looking forward to relaxing with video games for a change! I still have them on the Wii, but haven't had it hooked up in a while.

 

[Jarick]

Dude you’re in for a treat pretty soon. That boss kicked my ass hard by the way.

 

[strings2000]

 

[Jarick]

Got the final nail upgrade and chipping away at side quests trying to git gud against these tougher enemies.

 

[ChordInversion]

I never play video games, but I kind of enjoy watching friends play them for an hour or so at a time. I have to look at something else for the rest of the day after that, though. I can appreciate all the creative work that goes into them.

 

[Aleksi]

Got the final nail upgrade and chipping away at side quests trying to git gud against these tougher enemies.

Getting the last oil was pretty much the first thing I did in act 3 but

Spoiler

the flea games were crazy hard at first. I kind of felt like they were programmed to get easier the more you failed My final tries felt like the game was just feeling sorry for me

I also visited the

Spoiler

abyss and got my first heart from the coral tower. The pile of gauntlets was annoying but manageable but the boss was one of the best in the game IMO

 

[strings2000]