bikini armor feels way too OP

[Nei]

It an upgrade that pretty much doubles your hearts just not visually

[Annie Blue]

Pfff. Magical Tiara literally makes you invincible forever, plus unlimited healing and levitation.
Eat your heart out, bikini armor.

[BasiliskEye]

There is a reason all the powerups have toggles.

Though I tend to notice people that complain about games being too easy tend to leave the handicaps on because to them the only ligit way to be challenging is to not give the option to have those handicaps presented at all because otherwise they can't stop themselves from exploting them.

[BlueAura]

While it's OP for you it's fantastic for people who are bad at platformers and need all of the small help they can get. Plus not everyone has a lot of free-time to play the games and have limited free hours in the day, letting them have items like this allows them and everyone to beat the game regardless of your skill.

[Azure]

Definately should have been a late game item or specific unlock. There are plenty of healing items and it just felt like I had cheats on for some bosses.

[BROLY 32]

Shantae isn't supposed to be a hard game.

[FoulOne]

It definitely does make the game easier, and I appreciate them giving the option to turn them off and set your own difficulty.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by Nei:

It an upgrade that pretty much doubles your hearts just not visually

Technically it's even better than that, because it effectively doubles all healing too.

As others have said, it's optional. Really nice.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by Chicory Blue:

Pfff. Magical Tiara literally makes you invincible forever, plus unlimited healing and levitation.
Eat your heart out, bikini armor.

And screen nukes, don't forget about those. Also infinite money if you have the patience for it.

[FoulOne]

Originally posted by Cheese:

Originally posted by Chicory Blue:

Pfff. Magical Tiara literally makes you invincible forever, plus unlimited healing and levitation.
Eat your heart out, bikini armor.

And screen nukes, don't forget about those. Also infinite money if you have the patience for it.

You can infinite money by just using it in the bath house.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by FoulOne:

Originally posted by Cheese:

And screen nukes, don't forget about those. Also infinite money if you have the patience for it.

You can infinite money by just using it in the bath house.

Yeah, but a lot of the gems will fly too far away to be collected without transforming and wasting some time. Now you can set up near a wall and just mash buttons.

[BlueAura]

Originally posted by FoulOne:

Originally posted by Cheese:

And screen nukes, don't forget about those. Also infinite money if you have the patience for it.

You can infinite money by just using it in the bath house.

Which is a much needed item for speedrunning purposes and makes the speedrun achievements more easily obtainable. Not to mention it feels better than grinding enemies again and again.

[FoulOne]

Honestly, I found using Harpy to gather the otherwise unreachable pots above the first section of the desert to be a faster method than using the pot in the bathhouse. Might sit down and compare times to get some real numbers on that.

Finished the speedrun with nearly an hour to spare using that method to get the more necessary items to finish.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by HexCaster:

Though I tend to notice people that complain about games being too easy tend to leave the handicaps on because to them the only ligit way to be challenging is to not give the option to have those handicaps presented at all because otherwise they can't stop themselves from exploting them.

Well, yeah? If the game offers a ton of items (not "handicaps", just regular in-game items) which are insanely powerful and easily purchased with a relatively small amount of the gems the game shovels into your inventory in the shop you are forced to visit and pass by constantly over the course of playing the game normally, in what way can you call the game challenging?
Obviously for there to be challenge you cannot have obvious, easily accessible, low-effort tools or methods to subvert all hazards and obstacles.

"It's optional" is just excuse making.
Picking up the sword in the original Zelda is "optional".
Using abilities in Kirby is "optional".
Visiting Pokemon centers or using potions in Pokemon is "optional".
Pressing A in Super Mario 64 is mostly "optional".
The "option" to purposely gimp yourself does not mean a game itself offers challenge. What you're playing is something different from the game, with its own set of rules on top of the in-game rules.

HGH is easy. Just accept it. It's still a good game either way.

[Annie Blue]

I like the optional difficulty in Mega Man Zero best. The game gives you all the resources you could possibly need to beat the game at any skill level, then chastizes the crap out of you and calls you a murderer and a failure for using them. That's incentive, right there.

[Cheese]

I like the optional difficulty in games like Kid Icarus: Uprising or The World Ends With You.
Set it so you die in a couple hits and enemies are more aggressive, and in exchange you get better drops/higher drop rates/more experience/etc.