Gripe about the crimson cape

[VanEinstein]

I just wanted to vent about this. I had a moment during the game where I was tired of being locked out of all the red barriers, and despite being late into the game still having no way through. It was then that I turned to the internet to see if I had missed anything.

My reaction to discovering that the crimson cape could be used to bypass them was one of extreme annoyance. All through the game I had been seeing these barriers, and found no means to bypass them. When I received the crimson cape it did not once occur to me that this was the item meant to bypass them. The in game text describing it (after the flavor text) reads as:

"Allows the bearer to dash in specific forms and avoid damage from the material realm."

Awesome. I don't know what "dash in specific forms" means, but it sounds like an invincibility frame. Sure thing, I fade out briefly, take no damage. Of course the hint was staring me in the face. There's a red door just past the boss, and this item is one of the primary afterimages on the top of the relevant screen. Trouble was, I had seen those damn doors all the time. What made this time any different? I turned back and marked my map, thinking I was still yet to find the solution. Perhaps if the developers could be bothered to more accurately describe or translate the text for this afterimage I would have actually understood the importance of what I had.

I dunno, did anyone else out there have this same experience?

[azuarc]

No, for two reasons.

1) Literally on the far side of the boss arena, there's a red barrier and a pop-up on screen to tell you to use it.
2) It's identical to an upgrade in Hollow Knight.

[VanEinstein]

I received no such pop-up when approaching said barrier. I can only assume then that I've experienced a bug. Also, I have not played Hollow Knight, so I cannot say I would make that connection.

[azuarc]

Maybe I assumed there was a pop-up and I just understood intuitively what the devs were expecting, but having played HK certainly made a difference.

[花园骑士]

The place has way too many red barriers, especially with the triple barrier on the other side of the boss area(I think?), so I was led to assume that’s foreshadowing I would get the ability to pass through here, which upon obtaining the afterimage I didn’t consider was it since the boss was quite easy and looked like a reskinned knight enemy indicating a miniboss. But after seeing the identical red sfx on the dash I was inspired to dash through the barrier. The lesson here is to always try your new abilities on previous ability gates I guess.

[VanEinstein]

I just feel like I had a realistic expectation that the ability would be accurately described in the menu. "Dash through certain forms" feels like an oversight or translation issue.

Get the ability to slide? It says exactly that. I see a smaller opening, I see that my animation fits that opening, it makes perfect sense. It also helps that I have prior exposure to this concept from countless games, but even without it I would have understood it.
Get the Double jump? Sure, it's not *called* double jump, but in the description is says exactly what it does. Same as above.

Each and every other upgrade I've come across is quite clear about its purpose. You're right though, they do seem to have been trying to provide context clues, and I failed to pick up on them because I felt like the red barriers were just such a common sight across the whole game by the time I'd reached that destination.