Cracked Soul Flask

[Luckytime]

Is it just me or is this game terrible at explaining its own mechanics? Obviously the best way to experience the game is going in blind, because everything is new and mysterious. But when I died the first time, I didn't know the game would permanently nerf my soul flask until I killed my shade. Not only that, but I was rocking 900 Geo and all of it was lost. As you can imagine I was pissed.

But the game did nothing to clue me in on the fact that I could get it all back by walking to where I died and pressing X twice.

So.... I died again. And by the time I came back to where my shade was and killed it, the 900 Geo I spent hours collecting was gone. WOOSH! Just vanished! WHOOPS!

So thanks Team Cherry. Thanks for wasting my time.

[arejang]

Yeah, I didn't noticed the cracked flask until I had already died several times. It's whatever. The game doesn't hold your hand through most of the experience outside of the very beginning when they're walking you through the basic actions of the game. I suppose they could've forced you to die at the beginning then introduced you to the death mechanic, but maybe it didn't cross their minds or they just didn't agree with that approach.

The only other way to teach you this is to wait until you die then teach you the details via popups which would be a little jarring since the whole tutorial aspect of the game is scripted--they're tied to a specific location or item that does not change-- and this would be one case where it wouldn't be, and quite would be the only place the popup would serve a purpose.

That said, really 900 geo isn't too bad. I finshed the game with around 6k geo lost total. I lost 2k geo before getting the lantern, and still got the lantern without grinding, and finished the game with around 13k geo to spare. So the only other aspect of death that's bad is the cracked soul thing, which is easily solved with rancid eggs, or just simply retreiving your shade.

It sucks that you have to find out the details the hard way, but once you realize what's going on, then it's a minor inconvenience at best. Especially with dream gates and the aforementioned eggs.

[Funpire]

Oh so that's what that black shade was lol

[YeAhx]

Originally posted by Luckytime!:

Is it just me or is this game terrible at explaining its own mechanics? Obviously the best way to experience the game is going in blind, because everything is new and mysterious. But when I died the first time, I didn't know the game would permanently nerf my soul flask until I killed my shade. Not only that, but I was rocking 900 Geo and all of it was lost. As you can imagine I was♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

But the game did nothing to clue me in on the fact that I could get it all back by walking to where I died and pressing X twice.

So.... I died again. And by the time I came back to where my shade was and killed it, the 900 Geo I spent hours collecting was gone. WOOSH! Just vanished! WHOOPS!

So thanks Team Cherry. Thanks for wasting my time.

I had killed black shade many times without knowing i was killing my past self... sadlife

[Saint Hellion]

I never actually had this problem. The cracked flask was one of the first things I noticed, and I ended up opening my map relatively quickly and noticing the ominous marker in the general location of where I died.

[Laati]

Originally posted by Luckytime!:

Is it just me or is this game terrible at explaining its own mechanics? Obviously the best way to experience the game is going in blind, because everything is new and mysterious. But when I died the first time, I didn't know the game would permanently nerf my soul flask until I killed my shade. Not only that, but I was rocking 900 Geo and all of it was lost. As you can imagine I was♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

But the game did nothing to clue me in on the fact that I could get it all back by walking to where I died and pressing X twice.

So.... I died again. And by the time I came back to where my shade was and killed it, the 900 Geo I spent hours collecting was gone. WOOSH! Just vanished! WHOOPS!

So thanks Team Cherry. Thanks for wasting my time.

That was a problem? I noticed it the first time I died..

[palace neon]

I had know idea that you had to kill the shade until I got to Greenpath. Up until that point, I had just avoid the little guy because he was so much of a hassle to have to kill and I ended up loosing most of my masks. It would have been nice if it had been explained before hand, but I'm not complaining

[FDru]

Originally posted by coconut enthusiast:

i figured it out quickly but i get your point OP, for example it took me 20 hours to realize you can nail pogo on spikes. the game could do a better job explaining a few things

Hah, I was just about to comment the same thing. It also was about 2 hours in before I knew about swinging up and down. The soul flask thing I noticed visually but didn't realize it was actually reduced capacity until 15+ hours or something. So I agree with the premise of the thread but as for the ghost thing... I thought the ghost popping out when I died was enough of an indicator, and it very clearly shows up on the map too. And this is such a common mechanic in games that I just expected it to work that way.

[Luckytime]

The map isn't even explained either. For example I didn't know that the map wasn't updated until you sat at a bench. It didn't help that this game doesn't start you off with a traditional map so you're forced to re-learn how to use the map once you buy the compass... and then a third time once you buy the quill.

Things just seemed to pop up on the map randomly and I didn't even realize that the shade was indicating where I had died. I thought it was just another boss which I wasn't interested in after I had lost all of my money.

Of course now I understand what's going on, but only after much trial and error. It's not a bad way to teach, but the player needs to be able to see an immediate effect before they make the connection.

I did realize you can bounce off the spikes after I saw puzzle where spikes where laid out like platforms which indicated to me that I had to use them. But that was probably the only room where I had a chance to bridge the gap.

[arejang]

Well...from what I can gather, while the game didn't have on-screen textual instructions on any of those things you listed, you were able to figure them out eventually. I realize the trend in many AAA titles is to hold your hand every step of the way and spoonfeed you every little detail of the game, and you might come to expect that same treatment for all games. Unfortunately, that's not the case for all games and it isn't the case here. But luckily for you, all of those things don't require that much mental finesse to learn and much of it happens naturally. The map updating will happen no matter what because you're highly unlikely to finish the entire game without resting once on a bench, at which point the words "MAP UPDATED" flashes on screen and it's not hard to put 2 and 2 together.

Secondly, the black shade on the map is a rather compelling point to visit at some point during your play time. If you're the type to avoid anything that looks ominous for fear it may be too difficult before even checking it out, then you'll start coming across one boss after another, blocking all entrances until you're forced to at least check out that darn black shade since you've exhausted all other routes. Then you'll find your shade, kill it, do some other stuff and eventually check your map and see that the shade is gone. You might not make the connection there, but if you keep dying (and you probably will), you'll eventually connect the two incidences together naturally.

I really have no idea what you're complaining about right now though. So the game didn't spoonfeed you information you found out naturally on your own, and indeed all of us found them out naturally as well, without much difficulty either mind you.

Maybe it's just not your game. I usually do try to give sympathy for anyone struggling with the game, but the things you're having trouble with aren't even bosses. 'git gud' doesn't even apply here. I think it's best you find a different game to play. Unfortunately, AAA titles nowadays are more interesting in your money than providing a fun experience, and indie games probably won't hold your hand and spoonfeed you like you raelly want, so...maybe it's time to give up on video games altogether and give real life a chance?

[Serathis]

kek

Hey, to kill the enemy target their limbs.
target their limbs.
target their limbs.
target their limbs.
target their limbs.
Did you know that you have to target their limbs?

You are welcome.

[Luckytime]

These replies got interesting pretty quickly.

I'm having a great time with this game, don't worry.

All I'm saying is... how hard would it be to program it so that your money isn't lost if you die before killing your shade? It's a perfectly legitimate grievance.

[FDru]

Originally posted by Luckytime!:

The map isn't even explained either. For example I didn't know that the map wasn't updated until you sat at a bench. It didn't help that this game doesn't start you off with a traditional map so you're forced to re-learn how to use the map once you buy the compass... and then a third time once you buy the quill.

Actually this is explained early in the game. Either by conifer or the tutorial popups (or both, can't remember).

[Sawworm Brando]

The game doesn't need to explain you anything. It's all about experience.

[Dazza]

Originally posted by Luckytime!:

The map isn't even explained either. For example I didn't know that the map wasn't updated until you sat at a bench.

Just chiming in to say that is explained in the purchase description from the bug wife.
Oh someone else said this already haha.

I myself guessed dying while the shade is present would lose all my geo. One time I quit the game on one heart trying to get my shade. Besides this exception, I've always managed to get all my geo back.

[The Renderer]

Originally posted by Luckytime!:

These replies got interesting pretty quickly.

I'm having a great time with this game, don't worry.

All I'm saying is... how hard would it be to program it so that your money isn't lost if you die before killing your shade? It's a perfectly legitimate grievance.

Of course it wouldn't be hard at all but that's just the way it works, it pushes you to go get it and to be careful while doing so. Also, don't want to spoil it for you but pretty soon you will probably find something that will make that whole "getting stuff back after dying" process much simpler.

Also, don't worry about money. By mid game you'll have more than you can spend.