Hallownest Beckons - Let's Play Hollow Knight Blind

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Hallownest Beckons - Let's Play Hollow Knight Blind

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Yeah, for the most part charms are a cool bonus rather than something crucial. Sometimes it does matter, but if a fight is hard enough for you to want to take out the compass charm, then it�s also hard enough that you should be switching to a set of charms tailored to the fight anyway. Same deal with the geo collecting charm.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2021 11:28

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 00:36

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

You stumbled into Fog Canyon, explored it as much as you could, and it didn�t kill you once? That�s impressive - those explosive jellyfish are nasty. I pretty much got pasted by the first two I killed and then decided to come back later.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2021 01:38

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Frankly, Nat being so good at this is win-win. Either the eventual schadenfreude will be magnified by his early success, or I�ll get to see him complete the one part of the game I never managed.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2021 03:30

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Hollow Knight has full mod support. Why not just install a godmode mod? Why do the developers themselves have to be the ones to accommodate you? Also, this

Twelve by Pies posted:

Aside from the example of releasing works in some dead language that was given (and is pretty rare), it is kind of problematic to an extent that video games are the only entertainment you can buy that you are prevented from fully enjoying unless you're "good enough," books and movies don't do that.

is just laughably false. Mainstream books and movies don�t gate your ability to enjoy them based on how good you are at engaging with them on their own terms, just like mainstream video games don�t, but good loving luck if you try to read something like Joyce�s Ulysses casually.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2021 09:32

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Black Robe posted:

Of course. There are no visual, nerve or motor control issues that would impact someone's ability to play platformers. None at all. Anyone struggling is just bad.

People are suggesting an option. As in, you do not have to do it if you don't want to. It's not instead of anything, it's not changing the default game. Nobody's Hollow Knight experience would be altered by there being a completely optional setting to change the difficulty slightly.

Developers would have to invest more time, money and resources to do it, obviously. But the end result is a game accessible to more people that will therefore sell better and make more money back.

The reason it�s dumb is that disabled people, by and large, don�t want to be shunted into the same mode as people who are just generally bad at video games. Most of them want to be able to fine-tune the game so they can get as close to the intended experience as possible subject to their disabilities. Someone with fine motor control issues needs fundamentally different accommodations to someone with an intellectual disability, or poor reaction times, or an inability to navigate spatially, or colour-blindness, and only some of these accommodations map to difficulty in the conventional sense. These are two different problems with different solutions and you�re trying to lump them together because they have a couple of elements in common.

And surprisingly enough, game developers are not magical beings of infinite power, and rebalancing the entire game a second time to make a second difficulty setting feel satisfying to play does in fact take a large amount of time and effort that would otherwise go to refining the intended experience! Whether they feel that�s a trade-off worth making in exchange for reaching a wider audience is a decision that�s up to them, not you.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2021 13:32

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

I wish there was some way to have a betting pool on what will cause Nat�s first death without turning the thread into a CIA document. (I mean, my money is on a platforming mishap at this point, but there are plenty of other plausible candidates.)

# ¿ Apr 10, 2021 01:06

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

I don't know if I'd call the zone Nat's in right now my favourite, because there are so many good ones, but it's definitely up there. That music!

# ¿ Apr 10, 2021 13:49

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

I�m sure there�s nothing wrong with the Deepnest. It�s probably where the Mantis Lords are keeping the really good treasure, and that�s why they were trying to keep you out of it!

# ¿ Apr 17, 2021 02:14

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

I feel like the Mantis Lords are the first fight that really shows off Hollow Knight's potential. You've got some mobility in the form of the dash, you've got just enough flexibility in how you choose your charms to make a difference, everything is telegraphed once you work out how, and it feels so good when you pull everything off. The boss fights are the best part of Hollow Knight, and that's saying a lot.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2021 14:48

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

rastilin posted:

The first part of Hollow Knight is great. I had loads of fun with it. The problem is that you need to beat those spoilered bosses in order to actually win the game and their nasty moments can be really bad. Which in some ways is worse, because you've now sunk in loads of time before the hammer drops on you.

I beat Nosk on my first try and the traitor lord on my second try, thanks to a lot of experience with similar games, and I expect Nat to do similarly well. They�re hard fights while you�re learning their patterns, but they�re certainly not bullshit. Even the absolute hardest optional bosses in the game aren�t bullshit, although they took me a lot more than two attempts and I never beat the very last one. After you work out the attack patterns and choose appropriate charms, you�ll only take damage on making a mistake, so it�s a matter of practising until you stop making mistakes.

pumpinglemma fucked around with this message at 09:38 on May 2, 2021

# ¿ May 2, 2021 09:29

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Catching up from video 22, thinking about Nat's "leeway build": it's definitely a good build, and for a lot of fights like No Eyes it's one of the best builds possible. But it's not a game-breaking super-build, and there are fights where it makes sense to switch away from it. Two very general strategic considerations that should be safe for Nat to mouse over:

- The nail extension charms like mark of pride are great for fights like Hornet or No Eyes where you're going up against a small, highly-mobile target, and they're wonderful for pogoing. But they're a lot less useful in fights where you're going up against a large slow-moving target that's rarely vulnerable, or in fights where a lot of your damage is coming from spells.
- The healing-focused charms like baldur shell or grubsong are great for fights like No Eyes where it's relatively easy to back off and heal, but a lot less helpful for fights like Hornet where healing opportunities are few and far between.

# ¿ May 8, 2021 13:03

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

From that fight and the discussion afterwards, I unironically think Nat is going to love the hardest challenges of Hollow Knight. This is like seeing someone discover your favourite TV show for the first time. :3:

Nice thinking with the Soul Tyrant as well - knowing that he wasn�t going to be able to work out how to dodge the attack before dying and instead latching onto an alternate strategy that still let him recover health. I think he actually would be able to beat the Tyrant with a few more attempts, although it�s also very valid to come back later with more health, soul, charm notches and experience.

# ¿ May 11, 2021 01:47

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Dareon posted:

The dream bosses are a great place to use the Fragile ___ charms from Leg Eater. Since defeat there doesn't count as a death, the charms don't break.

So, question for everybody who is not Nat or otherwise blind (Seriously, no one look at this if you're coming in blind): How are we going to make sure he gets the reaction to Millibelle stealing his money on camera?

You should be wary of looking at this even if you've played Hollow Knight - it's a spoiler for an event a lot of people won't know about. (I've been resisting the temptation to post about it for a little while now...)

# ¿ May 11, 2021 18:46

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Pogoing off spikes in the platforming sections is basically training for pogoing off enemies in combat, which feels amazing when you can do it consistently.

# ¿ May 11, 2021 22:08

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Don�t listen to Tea, Nat, I never unequipped the compass except when optimising my charm loadout for very specific situations like boss fights I�d already died on multiple times. And I regret nothing. :colbert:

(I also can�t navigate for poo poo, so you�re not alone there either.)

# ¿ May 13, 2021 15:42

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Natural 20 posted:

In retrospect I should record my offscreen work and just cut stuff like that into a quick highlight before the next set of episodes air. Because I was pretty surprised.

Yes please!

# ¿ May 14, 2021 00:20

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

You should use the crystal dash more often on those long hallways - it�s not just a tool for going over pits, it�s really fast at backtracking as well. You should also remember that you can pogo off spikes even in combat situations.

The Colosseum actually isn�t DLC, it�s been in the game since launch. I know you�ve already recorded by now, but the second challenge is a) harder than the first and b) entirely doable for you at this point, so I�d say go for it. The third challenge� I�d really like to see you try it once or twice to see how far you get, but I wouldn�t recommend seriously trying to beat it yet.

# ¿ May 18, 2021 00:22

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 00:36

pumpinglemma: Apr 28, 2009; DD: Fondly regard abomination.

YggiDee posted:

In a dark, dangerous world full of dead bugs and various hazards, Deepnest still feels uniquely hostile. I could probably go up to anyone who's played this game and just say "gently caress Deepnest" and I'll get a back.

Fantastic Foreskin posted:

Like I said before, Deepnest is Team Cherry's greatest accomplishment, for crafting a space so viscerally unpleasant to be in. Its emotionally resonant in a way I don't think I've experienced in any other videogame. Exploring it alone, in the dark, with headphones on was probably instrumental in such, but I contend its the "proper" way to do Deepnest anyways.

That's missing one thing from the true Deepnest experience: you didn't miss Cornifer by the entrance like I did. :gonk:

# ¿ May 25, 2021 02:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Hallownest Beckons - Let's Play Hollow Knight Blind