A lot of the choices in the game make it annoying, not hard

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

I mostly love the game, but it's very clear the dev went out of its way to make the game as hard as it could. But the game isn't hard. The mechanics just make playing it tedious and annoying. Due to the one-hit mechanic, the game's combat and platforming doesn't ever get truly difficult because it has to say simple enough for the one-hit thing to work. So all it does it keep the game simple and aggravate players through the whole "lol, you made a slight error" thing. Nowhere is this more clear than in dying from slightly bad landings or flips. It adds nothing.

It doesn't make the game harder, it just blows. The souls-like "you drop currency on death" is so horribly unnecessary in a one-hit-kill game, but even it gets trivialized once you get more bags. This is a great game turned into a good one by virtue of simple annoyance. If you pay someone to lightly poke a player in the arm while playing, that DOESN'T make the game harder. I wish the devs understood the difference. It would have been cool for the game to have actually been challenging without relying on cheap gimmicks. I'm still having a lot of fun but the dev really shot itself in the foot here (and died instantly).

[Snobby Hobo]

Just claiming something as if factual doesn't constitute any argument... What does it "not add" to?

I can agree that the dropping of resources is a strange choice here. In the Souls series it's a mechanic to add "tension", but this game clearly rewards trying to pick up the pace. It feels conflicted. The 1 hit deaths however make perfect sense to me, and don't take away from the pace at all. Similar to e.g. Hotline Miami.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by Snobby Hobo:

Just claiming something as if factual doesn't constitute any argument... What does it "not add" to?

I can agree that the dropping of resources is a strange choice here. In the Souls series it's a mechanic to add "tension", but this game clearly rewards trying to pick up the pace. It feels conflicted. The 1 hit deaths however make perfect sense to me, and don't take away from the pace at all. Similar to e.g. Hotline Miami.

I feel that the one-hit kills actively detract from the game, though. For instance, the Lighthouse boss is so boring, dull, and easy. It just takes minutes and, if you make a single mistake, back to the beginning. Because you can only take one hit, the devs had to massively hold the difficulty back. If the bosses were actually hard, the one-hit kill thing would have been too much for most. There are checkpoints everywhere and dying when you've got multiple viscera sacks just isn't a big deal. So most of the game just kind of has this even difficulty. It could have been a lot better.

[>-FISH-D]

I see where you guys are coming from. The game is very spawn die, spawn die oriented. There is no real risk vs reward as the current mechanics revolve around unlimited lives and instant respawn in a spot just just prior to death. Dieing really means nothing as you die dozens of times in very easy manners. Just a different game design theory in practice here. Some will love it and some with hate it.

I could see someone doing a no death run eventually though. Would be insane but perhapa possible. Would also be cool if some achievements centered around actually trying not to die much. This could give the player incentive to repeat the game and perhaps get better.

[Big Sloppie]

I can count a few instances so far where dying was an annoyance due to the landings or flips. All those instances was because I didn't pay attention, so it may have been avoidable in the first place. In my experience, once you get used to it, the game becomes a whole lot less annoying.

That said, I understand what the issue is. There are better instances of it. Amnesia: The Dark Descent has this same philosophy of trial and error on your first playthrough because there's possibly no way you can react to or understand the mechanics without looking at a guide. Yet the game understands this and makes it less frustrating with every death.

Was there a better implementation of this? Yeah, but I personally don't think how it's handled is dreadful at all.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by Nishikiyama Official:

I can count a few instances so far where dying was an annoyance due to the landings or flips. All those instances was because I didn't pay attention, so it may have been avoidable in the first place. In my experience, once you get used to it, the game becomes a whole lot less annoying.

That said, I understand what the issue is. There are better instances of it. Amnesia: The Dark Descent has this same philosophy of trial and error on your first playthrough because there's possibly no way you can react to or understand the mechanics without looking at a guide. Yet the game understands this and makes it less frustrating with every death.

Was there a better implementation of this? Yeah, but I personally don't think how it's handled is dreadful at all.

The issue gets bigger as the camera pans out further. It can be extra hard to land properly because you just can't see what you're doing due to how small the character is. And that goes double for when she's drenched in blood and you can't see her white helmet. Even then, yeah, it's not hard at all, you just have to get used to it. But I just don't think it adds much. Again, not hard, just annoying.

[E-Drago]

Originally posted by Doctor TacoChocolate:

Originally posted by Nishikiyama Official:

I can count a few instances so far where dying was an annoyance due to the landings or flips. All those instances was because I didn't pay attention, so it may have been avoidable in the first place. In my experience, once you get used to it, the game becomes a whole lot less annoying.

That said, I understand what the issue is. There are better instances of it. Amnesia: The Dark Descent has this same philosophy of trial and error on your first playthrough because there's possibly no way you can react to or understand the mechanics without looking at a guide. Yet the game understands this and makes it less frustrating with every death.

Was there a better implementation of this? Yeah, but I personally don't think how it's handled is dreadful at all.

The issue gets bigger as the camera pans out further. It can be extra hard to land properly because you just can't see what you're doing due to how small the character is. And that goes double for when she's drenched in blood and you can't see her white helmet. Even then, yeah, it's not hard at all, you just have to get used to it. But I just don't think it adds much. Again, not hard, just annoying.

There is an arrow on your aiming reticle. It tells you how Laika is orientated. It even turns red if you are about to die from a crash.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by E-Drago:

Originally posted by Doctor TacoChocolate:

The issue gets bigger as the camera pans out further. It can be extra hard to land properly because you just can't see what you're doing due to how small the character is. And that goes double for when she's drenched in blood and you can't see her white helmet. Even then, yeah, it's not hard at all, you just have to get used to it. But I just don't think it adds much. Again, not hard, just annoying.

There is an arrow on your aiming reticle. It tells you how Laika is orientated. It even turns red if you are about to die from a crash.

While you're aiming, sure. I don't tend to aim when I'm not shooting at things. Also, I tend to focus my eyes on the character while doing the platforming sequences, so instinctively remembering to aim and THEN snap my eyes to the indicator just doesn't come naturally to me. It's an inelegant solution to a fairly large problem that doesn't do enough to address it.

[Ace_Kuper]

This is anecdotal since i'm right at the start, but i also died to not sure what exactly in the caves area, when i drove behind a pillar. Since i literally couldn't see my character i'm not even sure what happened. Maybe boost triggered and i accidentally touched left stick. Boost seems to happen spontaneously sometimes, even tho i'm holding the trigger.

Blur also doesn't help with visibility of the character and environment.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by Ace_Kuper:

This is anecdotal since i'm right at the start, but i also died to not sure what exactly in the caves area, when i drove behind a pillar. Since i literally couldn't see my character i'm not even sure what happened. Maybe boost triggered and i accidentally touched left stick. Boost seems to happen spontaneously sometimes, even tho i'm holding the trigger.

Blur also doesn't help with visibility of the character and environment.

There have been so many times where I've suddenly died and gone "what just happened?" because I either couldn't see or my character was too small to be sure.

[Snobby Hobo]

Originally posted by Doctor TacoChocolate:

Originally posted by Ace_Kuper:

This is anecdotal since i'm right at the start, but i also died to not sure what exactly in the caves area, when i drove behind a pillar. Since i literally couldn't see my character i'm not even sure what happened. Maybe boost triggered and i accidentally touched left stick. Boost seems to happen spontaneously sometimes, even tho i'm holding the trigger.

Blur also doesn't help with visibility of the character and environment.

There have been so many times where I've suddenly died and gone "what just happened?" because I either couldn't see or my character was too small to be sure.

I agree, this happened quite frequently to me as well. Even mentioned it in my review.

The visual clarity in this game is not good. I also found myself dying a few times to geometry I couldn't distinguish from the background at all.

[ELDEN LORD]

Originally posted by Doctor TacoChocolate:

Originally posted by Ace_Kuper:

This is anecdotal since i'm right at the start, but i also died to not sure what exactly in the caves area, when i drove behind a pillar. Since i literally couldn't see my character i'm not even sure what happened. Maybe boost triggered and i accidentally touched left stick. Boost seems to happen spontaneously sometimes, even tho i'm holding the trigger.

Blur also doesn't help with visibility of the character and environment.

There have been so many times where I've suddenly died and gone "what just happened?" because I either couldn't see or my character was too small to be sure.

i ffeel that

[AcidSweat]

I almost never die due to the bad landing. It is mostly because of the aiming. Dead bodies blocks the shot, innaccurate auto aim when afar. But the most annoying when you approach the combat from a different side that it was intended. Some places has poor enemy placement that when approaching from a different side of the screen. At some I was softlocked in mines. I just couldn't kill all the birds on my way out when on my way in I had no problem.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

Originally posted by AcidSweat:

I almost never die due to the bad landing. It is mostly because of the aiming. Dead bodies blocks the shot, innaccurate auto aim when afar. But the most annoying when you approach the combat from a different side that it was intended. Some places has poor enemy placement that when approaching from a different side of the screen. At some I was softlocked in mines. I just couldn't kill all the birds on my way out when on my way in I had no problem.

I've noticed that too with the enemy placement. I went back to the starting area and it was a pain in the ass having to do it backward, which is a very odd issue for a Metroid-like to have. The dead bodies blocking shots thing is a ridiculous inclusion. It's another thing that adds nothing but annoyance.

[vampos]

Originally posted by Doctor TacoChocolate:

I mostly love the game, but it's very clear the dev went out of its way to make the game as hard as it could. But the game isn't hard. The mechanics just make playing it tedious and annoying. Due to the one-hit mechanic, the game's combat and platforming doesn't ever get truly difficult because it has to say simple enough for the one-hit thing to work. So all it does it keep the game simple and aggravate players through the whole "lol, you made a slight error" thing. Nowhere is this more clear than in dying from slightly bad landings or flips. It adds nothing.

It doesn't make the game harder, it just blows. The souls-like "you drop currency on death" is so horribly unnecessary in a one-hit-kill game, but even it gets trivialized once you get more bags. This is a great game turned into a good one by virtue of simple annoyance. If you pay someone to lightly poke a player in the arm while playing, that DOESN'T make the game harder. I wish the devs understood the difference. It would have been cool for the game to have actually been challenging without relying on cheap gimmicks. I'm still having a lot of fun but the dev really shot itself in the foot here (and died instantly).

So you want to complain about a 1 hit game being a 1 hit game?
Maybe its just not your game. Maybe just dont play it, genuinely.
The game isnt hard, yes. And no, "lol you make a slight error" is a "You messed up, and it is completely your fault" If you actually look at it. Its not laughing at you, every mistake you make, thats fully your own. Those flips you failed and say "dont add anything"... well... its your fault. You failed the flips, you didnt stick the landing. What do you want the game to do? Tell you "Oh its fine that you want an easy mode and us to correct your mistakes, sure we will do that." Get better and you will not have this issue anymore.
The game wants you to get better.

Litteraly the same with the Viscera bags. You dropping money when you die is an incentive to not die, so the game is punishing you for playing badly, and then rewarding you for not dying where you dropped your money, because that means you played better.
The game wants you to get better.

And youre complaining about that.

The game is challenging, and what youre complaining about, is the game being challenging and you... not playing well enough.

[Proper Skux]

Honestly aside from wanting a slightly lower amount of currency loss on death and the bosses lacking checkpoints the game's felt very reasonable.

Indeed the bosses lacking checkpoints is one of the weirder aspects given the game is *full* of checkpoints to break it down into little bite sized chunks of challenge.