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Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: March 25th, 2020, 12:56 pm
by DrLitch
Retro STrife wrote:Barring some unforeseen event, I don't think Hollow Knight will replace Castlevania SOTN as my favorite Metroidvania, but it's been a really good game so far and I'm glad everyone here mentioned it.


Hard to beat a Koji Igarashi metroidvania. Something about the soundtracks as well that stirs the emotions. He used Michiru Yamane in several titles (she created the outstanding soundtrack to Bloodlines along with Symphony, Aria of Sorrow, and Bloodstained). Hollow Knight features nothing memorable in the sound department, the game may as well be silent. A few dulcet tones hardly stir the emotions, it is just background ambiance. When I turned on Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, the first thing that hit me like a sledgehammer was the opening track. These little details are what make or break it for me, Hollow Knight is a good game but has nothing memorable to make it great. Even though I would be resistant to the concept of playing Symphony of the Night again, all you would need to do is play one or two tracks from that game and I would immediately acknowledge it as one of the greatest games ever made.

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: March 25th, 2020, 1:13 pm
by Retro STrife
With you 100% on that SOTN soundtrack. It's the only game that I've ever played where, literally halfway through, I just had to own the soundtrack and imported it for like $30 from ebay. I'm sure that played an important role in making the game so great. I like Hollow Knight's ambiance music, and I think it suits the game well, but you're right that it isn't anywhere near as memorable.

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: April 21st, 2020, 12:41 pm
by Retro STrife
Update:

I officially finished Hollow Knight this week. My completion rate was 108% (out of 112%) and I played it for around 70 hours.

Thanks for all the recommendations on this one. It was definitely worth playing. It's one of the best Metroidvania games I've played, even if there's still a couple Castlevania games I'd rank over it, and maybe Shadow Complex too. (I still need to try Axiom Verge for comparison.) I don't have much to add that hasn't been said already by the Critic's review and other posts here. During the early and middle stretches, Hollow Knight had me downright addicted and I could easily play for a 3 or 4 hour stretch - few games can do that for me these days. It creates a pretty amazing world that's fun to explore and meet new characters.

Some of my complaints:
-Too long for a Metroidvania game. It starts to become too much at the 40 and 50 hour mark, and you're going to have to play that long if you're any sort of the completionist type. Still, that’s impressive because even the best Metroidvania games usually wear thin by the 15 hour mark.

-I'm disappointed by the endings, all of them. I won't spoil them, but I hate playing a 70 hour game and then getting a 30-second ending. Why do developers do that? This isn't 1989 anymore. Give me some substance for my time investment. None of the endings gave me the closure I'd hope for, and they're all as cryptic as the rest of the game's lore.

-The cryptic story is part of its appeal to big Hollow Knight fans. They love mapping it out and debating it online. But without reading about the lore online, I would have no clue what was going on. The game feeds you little nibbles of story here and there, and you have to be a cryptologist to figure out what half of it means, and I'm not a fan of that approach. A cryptic story for a 7 hour indie game? Fine. But after 70 hours, please just tell me what's happening...

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: April 21st, 2020, 3:49 pm
by DaHeckIzDat
Retro STrife wrote: A cryptic story for a 7 hour indie game? Fine. But after 70 hours, please just tell me what's happening...


*laughs in Dark Souls*

Also, Critic, what ending did you get? I got the first ending (*SPOILERS*) where the Knight kills the Hollow Knight and takes his place. (*END SPOILERS*) I'm going to try for all of them, but the dream bosses you need to kill for Essence are so hard that that might take awhile. Taking a break from it for now, not sure when I'll come back, but I know I will eventually come back.

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: April 21st, 2020, 5:45 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Yeah that's the ending I got. Not going to go any further. I'm not the kind of person who has any desire to unlock 110% of the game or whatever.

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: April 22nd, 2020, 1:22 pm
by Retro STrife
DaHeckIzDat wrote:Also, Critic, what ending did you get? I got the first ending


VideoGameCritic wrote:Yeah that's the ending I got. Not going to go any further. I'm not the kind of person who has any desire to unlock 110% of the game or whatever.


After that first ending, it only takes a little longer to open the "true ending", which involves a few more hours of work and then beating the true final boss. With the first ending I felt like I wasn't really beating the game, since the final boss was real easy and I got the bad alternate ending.

But I agree, the 110% is just for crazy people like me that have trouble leaving a game with areas going unexplored - honestly, I wish I wasn't that way sometimes, and try to do it less and less these days. Unless I love a game, it feels like a bad habit that eats away at other gaming time. That extra 10-20 hours to get 108% happened by fully exploring all the areas and doing almost all the side tasks - you learn a little more that way, but that isn't really necessary to finish the game. Important to note- you get the true ending without going anywhere near 110%; I imagine 75% or less might be enough.

However, even after the ending I got, people could still go further: there is ANOTHER ending that opens up by beating the Godmaster DLC (that DLC is free and automatically integrated into the game). Godmaster is a long series of really hard boss battles that takes hours to complete, and I had no interest in trying it. At that point, I just saved myself the trouble and watched that ending on Youtube. And again, I think even that Godmaster ending is too short, too cryptic, and not worth it. Thank god for Youtube these days.

Re: 2019/4/20: Nintendo Switch: Hollow Knight

Posted: April 22nd, 2020, 10:51 pm
by Paul Campbell
I'm normally right there with you, but Hollow Knight was probably harder for me to stop playing than any game since Half Life 2. I honestly didn't want it to end, and I got halfway through the Godmakers part before I realized I just wasn't good enough to beat it. I'm actually about ready to start the whole game over again. I really miss the music and atmosphere.