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[conman]

I'm genuinely surprised by the claims that this game is unusually challenging. I held off buying initially because so many people whose opinions I usually trust (RPS, Idle Thumbs, etc.) were all complaining about how tough it is.

I just don't see it. And I'm not very good at tough games, nor do I like exceptionally tough games. And it looks like a bunch of others in this thread agree with me. I can't help but think that people who are finding it tough are trying to muscle their way through. I've beaten the East and West bosses and gotten nine triangle pieces (four east, five west) and I haven't hit a wall of any kind. I honestly don't understand the complaints.

Fantastic game. Loving it.

 

[MartyStu]

Just beat it with all the Modules.

Spoiler

I'd need a description to know if what we saw was different, but I kinda doubt it.

It is not.

 

[80s Bad Guy]

It is not.

Huh. Not to ask a dumb question then, but what's the point? Shouldnt there be a narrative hook to get that stuff, even a minor one?

Regardless this is currently my goty. I love everything about this and still going back to get that stuff anyway.

 

[Mister Negative]

Beat my first boss today in the East. Was super proud of myself when I figured out how to play that fight. The tactic didn't feel cheap either, in fact it felt better than what I thought the tactic might have been.

After two hours, I've finally figured out that you don't have to aim your gun before you shoot it...total game changer for me.

 

[Tizoc]

Started this yesterdqy and everything is kicking my ass
I went to the w stern area first but is that really where i should go? These samurais are irritating @_@

 

[JonCha]

Started this yesterdqy and everything is kicking my ass
I went to the w stern area first but is that really where i should go? These samurais are irritating @_@

You can go anywhere. I think the western area is definitely harder than the eastern; I can't speak for the others as I haven't been there yet.

I also found once you've completed the first area and upgraded once or twice the difficulty drops dramatically. That's partly due to the abilities gained but you'll also be learning how the combat works.

 

[Lain]

Started this yesterdqy and everything is kicking my ass
I went to the w stern area first but is that really where i should go? These samurais are irritating @_@

Go north first is my suggestion. I went east first, they kicked my ass around, went north after completing east and it was a cakewalk in comparison (opposite for bosses, east was easy, north was a pita). Though others say east is easier so I guess it's a toss. Don't be shy about going back to buy upgrades if you have enough coins.

 

[Robiin]

Beat my first boss today in the East. Was super proud of myself when I figured out how to play that fight. The tactic didn't feel cheap either, in fact it felt better than what I thought the tactic might have been.

After two hours, I've finally figured out that you don't have to aim your gun before you shoot it...total game changer for me.

WHHAAAAAAAT?

 

[Tizoc]

Ok will restart and try north or east thanks gamg

 

[Joyful]

I'm genuinely surprised by the claims that this game is unusually challenging. I held off buying initially because so many people whose opinions I usually trust (RPS, Idle Thumbs, etc.) were all complaining about how tough it is.

I just don't see it. And I'm not very good at tough games, nor do I like exceptionally tough games. And it looks like a bunch of others in this thread agree with me. I can't help but think that people who are finding it tough are trying to muscle their way through. I've beaten the East and West bosses and gotten nine triangle pieces (four east, five west) and I haven't hit a wall of any kind. I honestly don't understand the complaints.

Fantastic game. Loving it.

they've nerfed the difficulty with patches

 

[Robiin]

I really like games like these where they don't tell you everything explicitly, and instead let you learn and figure out at your own pace. Yet I have one question - I am walking around activating stone pillars now and then, do these serve a purpose? I have found two so far in my first area (east).

Edit: oh, and am I supposed to try and jump through the platforms that hurts you with fire the first time I see them? If so, how, if not, don't tell me more than a simple 'no'.

 

[JonCha]

Edit: oh, and am I supposed to try and jump through the platforms that hurts you with fire the first time I see them? If so, how, if not, don't tell me more than a simple 'no'.

You mean the ones that shoot fire when you stand on them? You just have to be quick about it, really.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Ok will restart and try north or east thanks gamg

Not sure if it's too late, but there's no need to restart. Just head back to the warp at the center of town and go in whichever direction you please.

 

[Robiin]

You mean the ones that shoot fire when you stand on them? You just have to be quick about it, really.

Oh, alright. There was a section I tried to go through with like 10 of them and every other one hurt me. Maybe I'm not suppoed to go through there (it was in the South section of the East area) until I get more health (I assume you can upgrade your health meter?).

 

[ravn0s]

Oh, alright. There was a section I tried to go through with like 10 of them and every other one hurt me. Maybe I'm not suppoed to go through there (it was in the South section of the East area) until I get more health (I assume you can upgrade your health meter?).

You need to get the chain dash upgrade.

 

[Gbraga]

You need to get the chain dash upgrade.

You don't actually need it, you can do it with regular dash and two heals. That's how I did it, anyway.

 

[Justinian]

I am walking around activating stone pillars now and then, do these serve a purpose? I have found two so far in my first area (east).

Those are written in the game's fictional language which needs to be deciphered first. It's a bit challenging but you can find the translations online quite easily.

 

[Messofanego]

I'm genuinely surprised by the claims that this game is unusually challenging. I held off buying initially because so many people whose opinions I usually trust (RPS, Idle Thumbs, etc.) were all complaining about how tough it is.

I just don't see it. And I'm not very good at tough games, nor do I like exceptionally tough games. And it looks like a bunch of others in this thread agree with me. I can't help but think that people who are finding it tough are trying to muscle their way through. I've beaten the East and West bosses and gotten nine triangle pieces (four east, five west) and I haven't hit a wall of any kind. I honestly don't understand the complaints.

Fantastic game. Loving it.

I only trust John Walker of RPS's opinion on adventure games. That's more his speed. His condescending cringe towards anyone who plays the game well in that 1st impressions article is embarrassing. He went back and did a 2nd impressions article, still blaming the game rather than himself for wanting to have his hand held on everything from navigation to figuring out the visual language.

"Hyper Light Drifter has a firmly established fanbase born of its Kickstarter, and within their ranks are those who will not hear a negative word about the game. Nothing any games critic writes is ever for them."

yikes

 

[CHC]

I only trust John Walker of RPS's opinion on adventure games. That's more his speed. His condescending cringe towards anyone who plays the game well in that 1st impressions article is embarrassing. He went back and did a 2nd impressions article, still blaming the game rather than himself for wanting to have his hand held on everything from navigation to figuring out the visual language.

"Hyper Light Drifter has a firmly established fanbase born of its Kickstarter, and within their ranks are those who will not hear a negative word about the game. Nothing any games critic writes is ever for them."

yikes

Haha he's so ridiculous. He recently just did the same exact thing for Enter the Gungeon as well, which is another really good game.

 

[Gbraga]

It's alright. As long as the devs are able to just shrug it off, that's what matters.

The problem is that it seems like they're not, and started to patch the game's difficulty in the first week.

If Capcom listened to players' complaints before they even learned how to play, they would have buffed R Mika.

Buffed. R Mika.

Anyone who plays SF V nowadays knows exaclty how fucking insane that thought is. She would be beyond broken today if she was buffed back when peopel didn't figure out the character yet.

They need to be able to trust their guts, and believe in their vision. Not every game is for everyone, and as long as the people who are exactly your target audience think it's fine, then there's nothing to worry about.

I think plenty of well loved games are trash, but I don't go around implying shit about people who enjoy them, or asking for the game to be changed to accomodate me, that's what's irritating. He can think the game is garbage, he can blame the game instead of himself, but at some point he has to be able to realize that it's just not for him, rather than a broken game that needs fixing.

Even individual parts of the game, I, for example, think the whole language deciphering aspect of the game is shit, I absolutely hate this kind of stuff, unless it's just flavor text, like the shop names, but having important lore related information behind this kind of thing is definitely not something I enjoy.

That said, a lot of people really enjoyed that aspect, so instead of saying bad things about them and demanding it to be removed from the game and changed to english, I can just have my opinion that this kind of thing isn't very interesting and use the codex these passionate fans created in order to read the messages.

 

[PaulloDEC]

It's alright. As long as the devs are able to just shrug it off, that's what matters.

The problem is that it seems like they're not, and started to patch the game's difficulty in the first week.

If Capcom listened to players' complaints before they even learned how to play, they would have buffed R Mika.

Buffed. R Mika.

I'd be interested to hear from the devs exactly how much changed in the "difficulty" patch, whenever that was. I've seen several people in the last few days commenting that players aren't finding it hard because "they made it easier", but there's actually been people disputing the difficulty since day one.

I know they changed some health pack placement, but have we heard anything else? I feel like maybe I read a patch note about changing a combat move by a frame or two as well.

 

[Galang]

Really my only complaint is that New Game + is only two health bars. I don't really have much interest in a one hit to live mode and would have just enjoyed stacking up all the upgrades on a normal playthrough.

Yeah no way I'm completing this game on NG+ lol. The difficulty in the game is just right otherwise. My only complaint is the auto save function. Not sure if it was patched, but saving when you're low on health can definitely screw you over.

 

[Justinian]

I'd be interested to hear from the devs exactly how much changed in the "difficulty" patch, whenever that was. I've seen several people in the last few days commenting that players aren't finding it hard because "they made it easier", but there's actually been people disputing the difficulty since day one.

I know they changed some health pack placement, but have we heard anything else? I feel like maybe I read a patch note about changing a combat move by a frame or two as well.

To my knowledge (and experience) the only things they've changed is increase the number of health pickups slightly and increase the rate that gearbits drop from enemies. Both are fairly minor and I haven't noticed any changed to the gameplay itself.

 

[fierrotlepou]

I hope this game does well sales wise.

Also: the soundtrack is amazing. Disasterpeace needs to be the one doing the Blade Runner 2 score.

 

[Arkanius]

Just finished the game

Loved every second of it.
Just very curious about the lore and the backstory. Still so many blanks to fill.

Are there multiple endings?

 

[robotzombie]

Anyone have any suggestions on optimal upgrade order? So far I only got one, which was the chain dash, now I have enough to get another...

Spoiler

Gbraga plz. Mika could use a buff or two

 

[MrHoot]

"Hyper Light Drifter has a firmly established fanbase born of its Kickstarter, and within their ranks are those who will not hear a negative word about the game. Nothing any games critic writes is ever for them."

yikes

Yeah I've seen that line and I couldn't roll my eyes any harder. The level of condescension is off the hook, and also why it's usually annoying to talk about difficulty and challenge in games.

I don't think the recent patches really made the game that easier. The healing is 2 frame faster which I could say compensates for the 30fps, and I think they just did some healing box placements (which were alreadyp retty generous before) and responsiveness which is nice. But yeah I do hope they stick to their guns on that one cuz it's far from being insanely difficult like that RPS writer tries to believe

I hope this game does well sales wise.

Last time I checked it neared 90k sales. I think it'll soon pass the 100k mark and will probably have some legs in future sales and whatnot. Let's hope it's actually enough to cover their budget !

Anyone have any suggestions on optimal upgrade order? So far I only got one, which was the chain dash, now I have enough to get another...

I usually go chain dash first, then bullet reflect. After that I go for all remaining dash upgrades, and then remaining sword upgrades. After that, grenades and health pick ups and I keep guns for the very last with maybe the exception of the shotgun due to how incredible it is against bigger ennemies and bosses

 

[conman]

Just finished it. Beautiful game. Beautiful ending. Beautiful experience.

they've nerfed the difficulty with patches

Surprised to hear that. Whatever the devs did, though, I felt like the game was perfectly balanced from beginning to end. Great, great work. I may go back in and try to find everything (got 5 or 6 triangles in each area, a handful of keys, and a half dozen tablets, so plenty more to find).

 

[Jharp]

Goddamn phase 3 on the final boss is awful. I can't beat this fucker. A fucking attack that does FOUR damage? Thanks, guys.

edit: Literally beat him first attempt after posting this. Still man, that flame thrower attack that hits twice for two damage each? Fuck that. Overall though, pretty great game. I kinda wish I had found everything, but the racetrack dodge minigame was obnoxious and I couldn't find any more crystal than I did. At some point using a guide felt like defeating the purpose and I was growing bored of running into literally every wall in the game looking for something.

 

[JonCha]

Just finished it. Beautiful game. Beautiful ending. Beautiful experience.

Surprised to hear that. Whatever the devs did, though, I felt like the game was perfectly balanced from beginning to end. Great, great work. I may go back in and try to find everything (got 5 or 6 triangles in each area, a handful of keys, and a half dozen tablets, so plenty more to find).

I didn't play the game pre-patch so I can't comment. However, the difficulty feels fine I think. It's still challenging even with three upgrades and the super-OP shotgun (seriously, I'm getting close to many enemies and killing/almost killing them outright with that thing).

Oh, alright. There was a section I tried to go through with like 10 of them and every other one hurt me. Maybe I'm not suppoed to go through there (it was in the South section of the East area) until I get more health (I assume you can upgrade your health meter?).

I don't actually know if you can upgrade your health meter via the skill points but I know you

Spoiler

can upgrade how many heals you can hold

.

 

[Jintor]

i got a credits roll. What do i need to start on alphabet stuff

also where's my boss rush room

 

[conman]

There was something especially satisfying about opening doors in this game. Of all things. Wonderful stuff.

What a lovely reaction. Some wonderful details in this game, like the little screen that appears and you type onto whenever you warp. Or the bomb-toting frogmen who are just sitting around chilling before you show up.

 

[Gbraga]

What a lovely reaction. Some wonderful details in this game, like the little screen that appears and you type onto whenever you warp. Or the bomb-toting frogmen who are just sitting around chilling before you show up.

Yeah, I love these!

It's great that not every encounter is DMC style "door locks, enemies spawn", allows you to even take one or two out before they start attacking you if you're careful.

 

[afternoon delight]

Beat it yesterday too, I just call the boss

Spoiler

Cyberdemon

. After the game ended, I immediately went to NG+ and I'm pretty sure I have a grasp of what the story and world are.

Perfect from start to finish, 11/10. A master's class in 2D combat and exploration.

Edit: wish we were still in pre-patch bit drop rates and healing items, but I digress.

 

[aggienader]

So how on earth do you do upgrades in this game? I've collected a bunch of those square shards and some of the triangular ones too and it's not giving me any options to upgrade anything. Probably about to fight the first boss to the east too.

 

[zeox]

Got to the western boss and I'm having MASSIVE input lag problems. Have the devs said anything about looking into this? playing on pc

So how on earth do you do upgrades in this game? I've collected a bunch of those square shards and some of the triangular ones too and it's not giving me any options to upgrade anything. Probably about to fight the first boss to the east too.

There are vendors in the hub area that sell upgrades

 

[Gbraga]

So how on earth do you do upgrades in this game? I've collected a bunch of those square shards and some of the triangular ones too and it's not giving me any options to upgrade anything. Probably about to fight the first boss to the east too.

Should have explored Firelink Shrine more thoroughly

 

[Justinian]

Got to the western boss and I'm having MASSIVE input lag problems. Have the devs said anything about looking into this? playing on pc

Is your frame rate dropping from 30? If it is, the whole game will run slower, thus feeling like input lag.

 

[zeox]

Is your frame rate dropping from 30? If it is, the whole game will run slower, thus feeling like input lag.

I don't currently have any fps overlay, but that might be it. should this really be dropping with a 970 and a 4790k?

 

[FrankHowley]

I had an hour long conversation with the game director Alex Preston about his inspirations, production process, design philosophy, and artistic choices behind Hyper Light Drifter. We also check out his game collection and talk about 16-bit JRPGs. It's great insight, check it out and enjoy!

https://youtu.be/lYcE8bajdjY

 

[Noogy]

I had an hour long conversation with the game director Alex Preston about his inspirations, production process, design philosophy, and artistic choices behind Hyper Light Drifter. We also check out his game collection and talk about 16-bit JRPGs. It's great insight, check it out and enjoy!

https://youtu.be/lYcE8bajdjY

Fascinating, will watch the rest tonight when I get a moment, thanks for sharing!

 

[Amir0x]

I hope this game does well sales wise.

Also: the soundtrack is amazing. Disasterpeace needs to be the one doing the Blade Runner 2 score.

Disasterpeace is a treasure. This and Fez have some of the best game soundtracks period. This game is amazing, few quips so far... but I'm at the point where Disasterpeace is such an appeal for me that I will probably buy a game just if he was involved now lol

 

[Arkain]

I was loving this game. Beat one boss, the one in the west, without upgrades. The perfect amount of difficulty - not too difficult, not too easy.
Then I unlocked Chain Dash. I absolutely hate the timing on it. It doesn't seem to work half the time - which is getting me killed a lot in this building where you need get through loads of continuous crystal traps.

 

[OricWindstar]

Not sure if I'm missing something or if my game isn't properly triggering an event. I'm at the section of the game in this video in the East section. Like in the video, I've killed all the enemies, but where in the video a new platform pops up for him to continue, for me nothing happens.

Did I maybe miss something?

EDIT: Nevermind. It just fixed itself, haha.

 

[BraXzy]

Hopped back into the game after "completing" the east area. Working on the North now and I've got up to the

Spoiler

final boss I guess. Crazy big pink bird dude. Struggling like crazy on this even with three health vials ready.

It starts off okay but once the later stages come in with multiple things to dodge and the birds attacking I just lose it. I wish dodging was infinite without having to be well timed on top of it all, that'd be too easy then I guess :3

 

[solidsnakeiv]

Have they announced PS4 release date?

 

[Justinian]

I don't currently have any fps overlay, but that might be it. should this really be dropping with a 970 and a 4790k?

No it shouldn't. I can play it on a much lower spec system without frame rate drops. In which case I have no idea what's happening... unless the input lag is an illusion because the boss is quite fast?

 

[BraXzy]

I got there in the end.. North and East down, West and South to go

Question: What upgrades should I try and get? They don't exactly come easy and I don't want to waste my yellow things on something bad. So far I've got chain dash, the projectile deflecting sword one and I upgraded my health pack count, thinking it was my actual health bar.

Bomb? Gun upgrade? Other?

 

[PaulloDEC]

I got there in the end.. North and East down, West and South to go

Question: What upgrades should I try and get? They don't exactly come easy and I don't want to waste my yellow things on something bad. So far I've got chain dash, the projectile deflecting sword one and I upgraded my health pack count, thinking it was my actual health bar.

Bomb? Gun upgrade? Other?

I didn't grab any gun upgrades until quite late in the game, but more shotgun shells are always welcome.

The grenade is pretty useful for clearing out smaller enemies, which'll leave you free to take out the big guys more easily. I didn't regret grabbing that one.

As for moves, I found the sword charge move really, really useful. Great for taking out even the mid-sized enemies in a single hit.

 

[conman]

Question: What upgrades should I try and get? They don't exactly come easy and I don't want to waste my yellow things on something bad. So far I've got chain dash, the projectile deflecting sword one and I upgraded my health pack count, thinking it was my actual health bar.

Bomb? Gun upgrade? Other?

After you get the dash combo and bullet deflection, my suggestion is to hold off on upgrades until you feel like you need them. Regardless, I was thorough enough in my exploration that I was seriously overpowered for the last two areas and the final boss. I'm kind of glad I didn't do the shotgun upgrade until the end. The game would have been way too easy.

I don't currently have any fps overlay, but that might be it. should this really be dropping with a 970 and a 4790k?

I'm on a 970, and it definitely dropped below 30fps for me regularly. So much so that I had to turn off adaptive v-sync (I was getting serious screen tearing throughout). I'd make sure you don't have too much going on in your nvidia control panel that might be contributing to input lag. But I could never tell if the reason my dash chains never worked in boss fights was because of input lag or because of nerves...