Anyone else disappointed?

[Doc]

I love blasphemous and had basicly a lot of fun with the 2nd too.
I'm 11h in and I'm at 92%... It's so short and easy aswell. There were so many bosses i just got first try. some of them you can just spam attack and facetank their dmg. I would call my skills in these kinds of games average. Some of the enemies dont even bother attacking at all, like the skeletons with the wheel. I was excited about this game for a long time. They just made it way too easy, almost uncomparable to the first one...that on top of a 10h game...

[Ghin]

Press X to doubt

[Doc]

Originally posted by Ghin:

Press X to doubt

a guy like you would take 30h for it. doesnt change the facts

[ZexxCrine]

you clearly don't remember blasphemous.

the games take roughly the same amount of time to beat. the "issues" if you want to call them that are 2 fold.

1. blasphemous 2 is not as obtuse as blasphemous 1. I mean that very deliberately. blasphemous 1 has a large amount of things strewn across the map in obscure locations that will pad out your time to complete. blasphemous 2 just has the cherubs, sisters and daughters. b1 has a large amount of npc interactions that can be completely missed or have fail states, b2 has a single npc with a fail state and you can still get the items from it due to a vender who's purpose is to have items that you locked yourself out of getting otherwise. i feel like in general b2 just has more actual playing the game rather than scouring the map for that 1 bone/cherub/quest item you missed

2. blasphemous 2 had many free content updates after its realease. new game plus, the 3 penances, additional areas and bosses, boss rush mode, new true ending. these things were drip fed into blasphemous over a decent chunk of time. what we have is almost comparable to b1 before all of that. whether it gets added later or not is anyone's guess

whether you enjoy the moment to moment gameplay more is another argument to make, but even with all the content that was added to b1 a single play-through was about as long as a single play-through of b2. b1 just had more incentives to play it again

[dq333]

I am. The original playthrough without the DLC felt more fun than this. But it's not only the gameplay that I find dissapointing.

[Gunaraj]

Disappointed? Not at all, I'm having a great time with it. I don't consider it better or worse than the first one, they are at the same level, and regarding the difficulty the first one never seemed difficult to me and this second part either, for me both are well balanced, neither too easy nor too difficult.

[jaderpansen]

Well, it has its own identity and that's all right. I think i liked the darker tone of the first better, but that's just a matter of taste.

I think it's safe to say that part two is more of a traditional metroidvania and less souls-like than one, in terms of tone, qol elements, general obscureness etc.

Switching between weapons / counterpicking is super smooth, enjoyed that aspect alot.
Platforming including weapons felt good, but got repetitious rather fast and was generally so easy it became something of a rather mindless ritual tbh.

I think objectively i'd rate them quite on par overall (considering B1 vanilla version for comparison), but if there was one major gripe with part 2 it'd be the level design:

In general areas didn't feel as distinctive as in B1, quite alot seemed somewhat similar (crown of towers / elevated temples eg). Also they didn't feel like an actual world but rather just blocky frames for the same kinda platform puzzles. B1 made more use of different environmental hazards, also giving the stages more character.
Yes, some had their twist and turns alright, but most seemed kinda cliched for the genre tbh (mirrored castle anyone?)

This became more apparent the closer i got to 100% (98 atm). Revisiting places in search of stuff i missed i noticed how little of an impression most of them left and how hard it is to navigate from memory accordingly.

Thinking back to B1 i have multiple level layouts still in my head even years after playing (that "bell place", the snowy mountain, the "lava cauldron" palace, the dungeon, the library(!)). On the other hand revisiting B2 there were rarely any "ah yeah right, THIS place"-effects even after only 5-10 hours.

But yeah, both great games overall.

[Richie]

Not disappointed at all. It is a sequel. We are now more familiar with the Blasphemous universe and you should feel more overpowered as a protagonist with experience. Blasphemous 2 offers variety. Sure, someone who excels at this type of game play will find it easy but to someone who just plays and grabs what's on the way might have a difficult time since they are probably not optimizing their damage output. I found that at the start you actually hit like a wet noodle. I found it is when you get marks and figures to be the point that you really see your damage ramp up just like Blasphemous 1. My experience was really good with Blasphemous 2. I wanted more mobility and game kitchen delivered!

[jaderpansen]

Originally posted by Richie:

I wanted more mobility and game kitchen delivered!

Right, another big pro for B2!

[Hayz]

I don't really enjoy my time on Blasphemous 2 it's a good game just not for me, i prefer the first one for the exploration, the way you uprgrade your sword that make the biome already explored easier

In this one i'm pretty disappointed of the finish move for exemple and some feeling about the way to fight some ennemies who feel like a PV bag

I'll guess this one is good for people who don't really like to return in precedent biome for exploration

I probably miss some mechanic in this one i guess

[blackbeard]

I am disappointed in how the game progresses and flows.

I have discovered 25% of the map, but I have no idea where to go because I keep finding dead end after dead end, requiring some kind of upgrades/skills i have yet to discover. Ther's barely any collectibles, I have only found like 4 items.
And I feel incredibly weak because I still haven't found a way to upgrade my damage.

In Blasphemous 1 it was very clear how to get stronger AND there were multiple paths to explore without dead ends.

In Blasphemous 2 I spend 10-15 minutes exploring a new way only to hit a dead end.

[.wolf]

I'm disappointed because:

Both endings can be acquired in one run.

Yarma dying has zero impact on either of those, nor is it a setback really.

The donation system was replaced with essentially another cherub collection (the sisters), which is lame if you were willing to farm for bonuses. So they hardlocked this feature.

Every single boss was using normal telegraph and interactive combat states, save for the second to last boss, who literally aimbotted every single one of his attacks at you - creating a massive difference between the average boss fight and itself, not through progressive challenge, but through simply being obnoxious. Then there's the spell that pauses time that affects bosses, making this fight trivial.

There were NPCs in this game that had interactions that were either diluted or completely void of interaction. You would take a single item to them and bam, done.

The skin system wasn't implemented, which is kind of a shame since that was a neat little side gig.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the theme of coming into the game 1000 years later to see some parts of the world still existed and some didn't. I also really liked that we had various weapons to use on top of that.

[.wolf]

Originally posted by blackbeard:

I am disappointed in how the game progresses and flows.

I have discovered 25% of the map, but I have no idea where to go because I keep finding dead end after dead end, requiring some kind of upgrades/skills i have yet to discover. Ther's barely any collectibles, I have only found like 4 items.
And I feel incredibly weak because I still haven't found a way to upgrade my damage.

In Blasphemous 1 it was very clear how to get stronger AND there were multiple paths to explore without dead ends.

In Blasphemous 2 I spend 10-15 minutes exploring a new way only to hit a dead end.

I'd be happy to share some things.

1. Each weapon has a varying amount of stagger starting with the flail being the highest, then the rapier being the weakest.

2. Ruego is easily the best all around weapon and the game even tells you this outright. It has good sweeps, and good upgrades that will make you feel very strong. Spend a couple points on this weapon for that reason.

3. Which weapon you start the game with will change the way you approach the earlier maps because each weapon has an exploration ability.
a) Ruego can slam wooden walls away with enough height.
b) The flail can ring bells which open certain doors and create platforms
c) The rapier can send you flying through mirrors which can go through certain gates or get to certain platforms

In all, I also feel that the map design was a bit choppy, but it is with these weapons in mind .... Still. I much prefer B1 over B2, but it wasn't a terrible game.. just ... some things were bad.

[KingDragoon]

Originally posted by Doc:

I love blasphemous and had basicly a lot of fun with the 2nd too.
I'm 11h in and I'm at 92%... It's so short and easy aswell. There were so many bosses i just got first try. some of them you can just spam attack and facetank their dmg. I would call my skills in these kinds of games average. Some of the enemies dont even bother attacking at all, like the skeletons with the wheel. I was excited about this game for a long time. They just made it way too easy, almost uncomparable to the first one...that on top of a 10h game...

I died way more in this one than in any of my multiple B1 runs. Mostly on challenge rooms though.

[Onoda]

I did the original game blind with no healing and with "Heart of the Holy Purge" equipped the entire time since I found it in Jondo pretty early, but I was so enamoured by this item that I restarted and went there first, equipped it and never took it off.

Back then the platforming was also hardcore with precision jump timing. It made secret finding and trap navigation tense and rewarding. Then they patched in "coyote time" which let you float a bit in the air before falling, meaning the precision platforming they designed originally was sort of for nothing. It was almost frame perfect, but not in an annoying way at all.

I remember doing a certain hidden challenge where you had to traverse from one far side of the map to the other without dying and I was unable to heal as well due to self-imposed challenge item. The tension and feeling of reward when it was completed was absolutely fantastic. One of my all time best experiences with a video game.

I would go on the Blasphemous Discord and nag asking them to add more challenge items or a mode which made the game even more cruel. I gave up for a while then one day penitence Mode arrived and I will always hold the first Blasphemous game as the best in the genre.

That said, I feel the platforming in Blasphemous 2 is so easy that I am disappointed, but I have tried as hard as I can to overlook that and appreciate the game. I was feeling that the violence was toned down as well as the severe and raw atmosphere of the first game just isn't here any more. However, I started to feel better when I found this skeleton boss and proceeded to die around 10 times and the game got me swearing out loud and sufficiently immersed quite similar to the first game.

Then i beat him and I'm hoping with all my heart that there are more challenging bosses, but I don't think there are many monsters this time around. Bosses are more people in armour etc.

Here's hoping for insanely evil DLC content that made the first game the cream of the crop.

[WTFlo]

"Disappointed" would be the wrong expression as it's still a great game imho, more like "unexpectedly easy". Wether that's due to the new movement tech, new weapons, improved controls or skills we aquired in B1, I'm not really sure. Maybe a combination of all of these. As crazy as it sounds, but I kinda miss the insta-death spikes and pendulums. Also, the bosses felt pretty tame. I think it took me like 5 tries for the boss that gave me the most trouble. Some of them I even killed first try and even the last 2 bosses I fgured out pretty quickly.

I also spent way more time on my first B1 playthrough than I did on B2. I finished B2 with 98% and the good ending (I admit I had to look that up tho, who the hell would ever figure that out lol), but the time on my save slot says I've only been playing for 4h 55min. And while this doesn't seem right (bug?), I was still a lot faster this time. Maybe so fast I barely remember anything lol.

Blasphemous 2 is to Blasphemous 1 what Mega Man X2 was to Mega Man X. Mega Man X2 had the better gameplay with flashy new movement tech and just more of everything, but Mega Man X will always be the more memorable, classic experience that left the bigger impression when it came out.