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The compass charm is one of those things where while you have it you can't live without it but once you get used to not having it you'll never need it again. That latter step comes much more easily once you've already mapped out most of the world, though.
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Mar 25, 2021 16:32
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Alxprit posted:tbh I'm actually really happy he is using the magic because so many people ignore it as an option (me included) when it's actually really strong and useful. Yeah, I've been really happy to see the magic get used so much. I had a bad habit of treating my mana pool as just a backup health bar (and thus afraid to cast any spells since I'd be spending precious survivability) rather than the use-it-or-lose-it resource Nat 20 treats it as. I look forward to seeing what he does with magic once the options open up more.
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Apr 3, 2021 18:44
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There's definitely a case to be made where if you only learn to fight an enemy with soul shots, you're going to run out when you have to fight several of them in a row. But at the same time there is clearly no harm in using them liberally. Using one health's worth as an attack to avoid taking three health's worth in damage in a sword fight is a good outcome.
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Apr 8, 2021 16:32
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Bug facts: It's cockroaches and termites that are quite closely related. It was abdomen you were thinking about; an insect's anatomy is typically head-thorax-abdomen. In ants, bees and wasps, the thorax is split in two and the lower thorax/abdomen combination is called the gaster. I do picture the knight being an ant of some sort. Although... the reasons why are probably spoilers, save for them being quite small. There's something about this new area that makes it a welcome reprieve from the loneliness of the rest of the game so far. After three zones of abandoned ruins and wilderness, you're here at the city, you get to rest and hang out with your friend Quirrel, and even if it's not in any better a state than the rest of the world, the architecture feels a bit more lived in.
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Apr 10, 2021 01:26
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Mantis Lords is such a fun fight. Even when they only really have three moves, the flow of the battle is one of the most satisfying in the game.
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Apr 17, 2021 11:51
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If I remember right from reading through the Hollow Knight thread back in the day, the team got their voice actors (which was mostly themselves and their friends) to just spout random garbage in the right tone of voice. A lot of the bugs sound Eastern European because their actors are. Same for why Hornet sounds Japanese. It's kind of interesting how your native language affects random syllables in ways other people can pick up on.
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Apr 20, 2021 16:25
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Oh wow, I had no idea you could get thoughts out of the dreamshield shrine. I guess the purpose of having you already have missed Cornifer is to push you to go back to the shop and discover there are new pins for you to buy for the new collectables.
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Apr 23, 2021 23:37
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Marluxia posted:Yeah, I think that is the "intended" way to first get into Resting Ground. That was how I found it on my first playthrough. It's one of them. The game is pretty clever - if you're just following a linear sort of "what is the next apparent area to go" then the route will take you the way Nat 20 mostly went, through City of Tears to the Waterway to the right-hand half of the city up to the resting grounds. On the other hand, if you prefer to explore off the beaten track and backtrack , you'll fairly quickly end up at Crystal Peak (either through unlocking the lantern or getting the other upgrade that lets you in) since it's the first closed gate you're likely to have encountered and sticks out in the memory, and you end up dropping down that hole. Both ways funnel you into the Resting Grounds to get given your next objectives without ever explicitly telling you to go there or actually gating much behind it.
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Apr 27, 2021 14:10
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Dareon posted:Yeah, the fall of Hallownest was within living memory, Elderbug as well talks about how the city used to be busier. How long that actually is is sort of up in the air, since we don't know how long these bugs live and there seems to be no way of marking the passage of time. The fun thing about using bugs is that some bugs live for weeks while others live for decades, so you could easily have characters that remember Hallownest's height while there are others whose ancestors' ancestors were there for the fall. Assuming they're running off real bug biology, which the game largely isn't. Still fun to think about.
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Apr 29, 2021 13:52
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C-Euro posted:Love that you went out of your way to go to the bank, had the menu open, decided to go buy something first, and then just forgot about going to the bank. To be fair once you're under 500 geo in hand it doesn't feel quite as urgent to squirrel it away. Passing through the Fog Canyon again, I admit I don't understand the decision not to let you get a map for it on the Greenpath->Queen's route. Is it just to get you paying attention to the shadowy black barrier? I'm not sure what benefit that provides that's worth making you deal with a hole in your map until you can get to the other side.
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May 4, 2021 00:41
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Legend tells of a mysterious beetle, lurking in every shadow. His only goal to ensure every sign and lamp post in Hallownest is as pristine as the days the great king walked its paths. Most will never catch sight of this reclusive artisan, or ever know he was there, but when they turn their backs for even a moment they will find every broken sign silently replaced without a hint of damage. This lone legend has a name spoken only in whispers. It does not translate cleanly out of buglish, but the best efforts have translated it to "We're Not Dedicating Memory To Every Destructible You Break, gently caress Off".
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May 4, 2021 14:16
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No Eyes is definitely the worst of the warrior dream fights. Not necessarily the hardest, just the one that's least fun to play. It's just awkward platforming, and if you don't rush through it she usually teleports away before you reach her, so more often than not you're just waiting for her to come near you.Tylana posted:The Fog Canyon map 100% requires either Isma's Tear or Shade Cloak. . With Cornifer telling you he used a version of the former method. EDIT : Barring a weird glitchy trick that I'm not aware of. I am reasonably sure you need the monarch wings too, once you're near him, although you might be able to get around it with some careful enemy pogoing.
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May 6, 2021 00:21
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Soul Master is such a fun boss. And so cheeky. I love his fakeouts.
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May 7, 2021 23:48
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C-Euro posted:Love the visual storytelling in this are with all of the bug corpses and journal tablets strewn about, and exits hastily blocked off with furniture. Some bad poo poo went down here for sure. One touch I always liked is that the bug corpses are, from the outside, visibly intact. That doesn't mean they're fresh - they're skeletons. But bugs have exoskeletons, so you wouldn't see the difference except close up. It manages to make things like the huge charnel pit in the soul sanctum both less edgy and more horrifying than if it were bones and skulls.
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May 11, 2021 22:14
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Desolate Dive is what the first ground pound spell was called. I was gonna congratulate you on how well you managed to fight those large hoppy boys until, well, you struggled.
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May 12, 2021 23:51
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Only a true fool would continue fighting in the colosseum! Pretty good showing, only one death on your first try. Even for the "easy" challenge that's a good run. It looks to me like you're letting your soul meter sit at full a lot more than you were early on. Are the more intense enemies getting into your head, trying to maximise your heal potential? Or are your spells just starting to lag behind the power curve and don't feel worth it?
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May 17, 2021 23:50
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Name your cat after your best and most loyal friend, The Last Stag. It only now occurred to me we never actually learned the stag's name. Or, possibly, that he never had one. Tenebrais fucked around with this message at 22:15 on May 20, 2021 |
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May 20, 2021 18:01
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On which note, I'm not sure you could get outward through that spike corridor without the crystal core, since there's an overhang on the left end of it that I don't think you can get up without already having the monarch wings. Some speedrunner has probably proved me wrong on that, though.
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May 22, 2021 01:18
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Ah, Deepnest. It's such a good study in making an area feel threatening and foreboding. Other than those hot springs, nowhere in it feels comfortable to hang around. I'd never really noticed that it focuses on creatures with more legs, but it does kind of make sense. Especially since most of the bugs you encounter are stylised with four limbs. Makes the whole place feel very alien and primal. Those burrowing enemies remind me of silverfish, which are insects, but a fairly distant branch of them. Again, kind of primal.
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May 25, 2021 00:27
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Nat had exactly the right response to the Grey Mourner's quest.
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May 29, 2021 00:25
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Can't believe you got them on your first try. If you're having this easy a time, you're gonna have to do all the DLC fights too... I do really like Millibelle's twist from a game design perspective. She'll only steal your money once you've given her a large amount - I think it's around 2000 geo? - which is more than any of the early-game purchases cost and the majority of the late-game ones. The bank provides a nice saftey net for your money until you've saved enough to prove money isn't a big concern for you. At which point, that safety net gets taken away. You no longer have a bank, so the stakes for death are now higher, as dying without first collecting your shade will lose all of the money you've saved. The ground state of tension becomes higher for the late game entirely separately from the design of the actual late-game challenges. It's very clever.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:52
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Nat 20 at least seems to be keeping up with the story so far. Tea occasionally prompting him to say what he thinks is going on probably helps - if there's one big flaw to this style of presentation in a game like Hollow Knight it's that the gameplay often distracts you from trying to piece together the clues you have to figure out the plot. If there's one other thing worth noting it's that the plot is best understood playing the game twice. This game, like Dark Souls before it, has a tendency to tell you what is going on with things without telling you what those things are or what they mean. It's then on you to remember what was said about them once you do actually find them. The opening cutscene shows you what happened to the Hollow Knight, but you won't know this is what you're seeing and the first you hear about what the Hollow Knight actually is is in the City of Tears, after you've had 3+ early-game zones to forget all about the contextless opening. Hornet's speech to you in the City is similar; she basically tells you why you'll be doing the optional endgame stuff which isn't going to be relevant until you've done most of the rest of the game. Unless you're doing an LP and have past recordings to look back on and realise, oh, that's what they were talking about, then you're probably going to have to play the game again to see how it all fits together. Dark Souls' obscure storytelling is, as I understand it, designed to invoke its lead designer's nostalgic feelings for playing RPGs in english when he barely understood english and had to figure out what was going on from context and the vague clues he could pick out of the english dialogue. And there's definitely room for that kind of storytelling; proper mysteries aren't common in video games so getting to really puzzle out a plot is a rare treat. Plus it's good for engagement as players can collaborate and help each other to understand. I can understand someone not personally liking it, though, if you're not up for that kind of mystery.
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Jun 5, 2021 14:07
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Tea isn't wrong that half the fun of a blind LP is seeing the player get Millibelle'd, haha. I imagine geo is chalk fragments. Fossilised shells of ancient creatures.
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Jun 7, 2021 23:52
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You definitely don't need the monarch wings to navigate deep Deepnest. I don't think you need anything but the dash and the claw. Although a strong enough weapon to comfortably fight the devouts is very helpful.
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Jun 10, 2021 00:05
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I think initially Nosk's moveset was such that sitting in the nooks by the platform there was 100% safe. It would just charge over you back and forth and you could attack at your leisure.
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Jun 10, 2021 00:37
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The Enraged Guardian is a very "healing is for chumps" kind of boss. You get slim, unpredictable windows to heal and if you don't nail the timing you're outright worse off for trying. Better to just fill him with a face full of void and have less chances to take hits. I had no idea you could get back up to the howling cliffs from that direction! I thought it was just the drop down around there. Despite having played through this game fully a couple of times, I still have no idea what exactly those messages are referring to as Higher Being. Tenebrais fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 16, 2021 23:43
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I dream-nailed Joni too. Although in my case it's because she was the first ghost I encountered and I didn't know what the dream nail did to them...
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Jun 18, 2021 22:41
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Is Divine a termite? Her lower body reminds me of a termite queen.
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Jun 22, 2021 00:17
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Congrats on getting the Link The Fire ending! 
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Jun 26, 2021 01:45
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The Dark Souls influence definitely shows here. The Temple of the Black Egg has a very similar feel to the Kiln of the First Flame - and if you haven't been down the Abyss and haven't been thinking about the plot much you probably won't have any idea why you're fighting the Hollow Knight or what's going on in the ending, just like you don't know why Gwyn is a withered old man sitting in cinders and why you end the game setting yourself on fire. Although it is at least easy to pick up the gist of what's going on. A big problem was sealed away (the whole plot is about breaking those seals), despite the seal Hallownest fell anyway, and finally you end up re-sealing it all inside yourself. All you're missing is the fact you were specifically made to do this. And, for that matter, what the big problem specifically is, which Nat hasn't found out yet either. Tenebrais fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Jun 27, 2021 |
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Jun 27, 2021 01:50
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You finally got the third spell! The reason you didn't before is that you needed the mantis claw to get up there, and you never came back that way after the very first time you came to Fog Canyon before even finishing the greenpath. I think with the acid swimming upgrade you can get into Queen's Gardens without the shade cloak, but I'm pretty sure you need the shade cloak to finish the area. Surprised to see Cornifer had already moved on when you got there. I wonder what triggers him to leave. Could it be a consequence of reaching the Hollow Knight first? Either way that certainly didn't help in your quest to find the stag station that defines half of Queen's Gardens.
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Jun 29, 2021 01:15
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For all the talk about Dreamgate not having a lot of places where it's really helpful, the death run for Traitor Lord is probably the place I've used it the most. Getting there is just kind of a pain, especially when you're frustrated and impatient.
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Jul 1, 2021 00:45
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The Hive is absolutely my favourite place aesthetically. It does make me sad the game doesn't do anything with ants, despite being a setting about bug societies. Very little of termites too. Maybe Team Cherry thought they were low-hanging fruit? Either way, it's a beautiful area. It's cool to see a place that's both a grandiose construction and still in good repair. A shame it's so easy to go the whole game without actually finding it.
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Jul 6, 2021 00:30
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I don't think Markoth is the only one to recognise that he's dead after you beat him. Galien also noticed his own corpse, although he didn't recognise it as himself. Most of the warrier dreams are at graves, though, so there isn't a corpse there to see. He definitely is a moth, though - he wields the same dreamshield that you got from the hidden chamber near the seer. And he does seem more aware of both his own relationship with the world and yours.
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Jul 8, 2021 00:39
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Eeepies posted:Actually, what's left in the main game? There's also the rest of the charms in their various hiding places.
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Jul 10, 2021 13:09
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It is possible to get the required essence threshold without doing any refights. One of the sources of essence needed for that is missable but you passed the point where you could have locked yourself out of it. The refights are much quicker, though. And let's be honest, they're fun.
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Jul 13, 2021 00:46
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I think having Essence as a direction to pursue is justified by the story - you're told that it's making your dream nail stronger, and the dream nail has been your main way of interacting with the main plot (taking on the dreamers and all that). It would help if your actual target in doing this was better signposted though. As for why certain bosses have dream fights, my theory is that all of them had unrealised ambitions - you've fought the things that they were, now fight what they wanted to be to claim the power of their dreams. It's definitely in speculation territory though, that's one of the points without a definite answer.
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Jul 13, 2021 13:02
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Ah, White Palace. If I recall correctly the devs took advantage of it being technically optional (in the sense that the other ending is technically optional) to go ham on making the penultimate platforming challenge. Personally, I enjoy it. But then I enjoyed Super Meat Boy and Celeste a lot too. Just a little thought, but I don't think those soul totems in the palace resemble the King.
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Jul 17, 2021 01:03
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Yeah it's definitely time to start pointing Nat to the remaining things to do, if you ask me. Although the Hall of Gods helps with that a bit with its boss hints. I hope you point him toward the secret in the Hall Of Gods too
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Jul 19, 2021 21:56
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Oh yeah, Oro and Mato are a great fight. Mechanically they're very solid, for one thing. Plus the satisfaction of actually getting to face off against one of these great nailmasters that you trained from. And then the escalation of it being a surprise double battle, which really sets the bar for what the end fights of the other pantheons are going to have to be. Also, even if you never picked up on the brothers having drama between them, there's a great sense that seeing them fight together is the end of some sort of personal arc for those two. It's so good.
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Jul 19, 2021 22:44
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