The high points of the game are very good. The low points ruin it, in my opinion. I get that frustration might be fun for some people, but I find it discouraging and I don’t feel like Silksong wants me to be successful. It feels like it wants me to feel frustrated and angry, and that’s not an experience I want to have. I doubt I’ll finish the game, which sucks, because I loved Hollow Knight, and I love the parts of Silksong that aren’t just making me mad.
I think twitch drives this a lot. Streamers getting annoyed with the game they’re playing tend to do better on their vods and bring in more people. As a result, people become more and more tolerant to games that are just annoying.
Like I understand that some people enjoy the gameplay of soulslikes, but who enjoys run backs?
… I do? They’re like the most basic manifestation of mastery over a particular section meaningfully impacting my experience. Not only does getting good at a run back let me focus on learning the boss more, but it also increases my general mobility throughout the map as a whole and drastically improves how cool it feels to replay the game and just blow through previously challenging sections.
It really wouldn’t take much. Just some accessibility options to address some of the most punishing mechanics would do it. Would be great if mods solved this.
Several Soulslikes I’ve played have hidden in accessibility options things like not hitting you for falling into a pit, or not taking resources when you die.
I had a fantastic moment with this in Another Crab’s Treasure; I was doing some platforming when Krill glitched off the geometry and fell, killing me in the process. When I respawned, I knew I had tons of microplastics (souls) out there I wanted to save, but also felt frustrated because it wasn’t my fault I died - just bad game coding, as many games have. Plus, the odd positioning meant I might not be able to reach the death spot.
Instead, I just went to Accessibility and recovered them that one time; the game was nice enough not to even invalidate any achievements from the brief use.
I think the point at which I decided I hated Symphony of the Night was when I could go a whole session without finding anything new, or learning anything. The map is just so wide, with no clues as to where you can next explore.
I’ve played 7+ total hours and I’ve only managed to get Greenpath and Forgotten Crossroads. The fact that my ghost can (and has, many times) kill me is infuriating. How am I supposed to progress if after 30 minutes I want to throw my controller at the wall?
The problem is not the game… its getting mad. You’re supposed to be having fun. If you’re not having fun you’re doing it wrong. Either enjoy overcoming challenges or find something else to do.
Me after beating
a specific boss
Savage Beastfly for the 2nd time
only to immediately lose all my rosaries in
hard location
Sinner’s Road
and then spending the next 3 hours barely failing to
complete hard wish quest
deliver the courier’s rasher on time
The high points of the game are very good. The low points ruin it, in my opinion. I get that frustration might be fun for some people, but I find it discouraging and I don’t feel like Silksong wants me to be successful. It feels like it wants me to feel frustrated and angry, and that’s not an experience I want to have. I doubt I’ll finish the game, which sucks, because I loved Hollow Knight, and I love the parts of Silksong that aren’t just making me mad.
You’re describing the horrid souls-like experience embraced by every gamer in these times.
It’s unpopular to dislike being annoyed and frustrated with your game, didn’t you hear?
I think twitch drives this a lot. Streamers getting annoyed with the game they’re playing tend to do better on their vods and bring in more people. As a result, people become more and more tolerant to games that are just annoying.
Like I understand that some people enjoy the gameplay of soulslikes, but who enjoys run backs?
… I do? They’re like the most basic manifestation of mastery over a particular section meaningfully impacting my experience. Not only does getting good at a run back let me focus on learning the boss more, but it also increases my general mobility throughout the map as a whole and drastically improves how cool it feels to replay the game and just blow through previously challenging sections.
God, all the people that can’t imagine that people don’t enjoy things the same exact way they do.
Exactly.
Imagine being ridiculed for not enjoying frustration and games designed around failure. It’s a damned shame.
Then the game is not for you, saying that is not ridiculing you. At all.
It’s not a 70€ AAA game that’s trying to cater to everyone either.
Ok.
Maybe mods could be a solution to this?
It really wouldn’t take much. Just some accessibility options to address some of the most punishing mechanics would do it. Would be great if mods solved this.
Several Soulslikes I’ve played have hidden in accessibility options things like not hitting you for falling into a pit, or not taking resources when you die.
I had a fantastic moment with this in Another Crab’s Treasure; I was doing some platforming when Krill glitched off the geometry and fell, killing me in the process. When I respawned, I knew I had tons of microplastics (souls) out there I wanted to save, but also felt frustrated because it wasn’t my fault I died - just bad game coding, as many games have. Plus, the odd positioning meant I might not be able to reach the death spot.
Instead, I just went to Accessibility and recovered them that one time; the game was nice enough not to even invalidate any achievements from the brief use.
That’s me with Hollow Knight. I want to finish, but it’s frustrating to the point that I give up after 30 minutes with no progress.
I think the point at which I decided I hated Symphony of the Night was when I could go a whole session without finding anything new, or learning anything. The map is just so wide, with no clues as to where you can next explore.
That’s definitely a rookie amount of time with no progress for this style of game in general.
I’ve played 7+ total hours and I’ve only managed to get Greenpath and Forgotten Crossroads. The fact that my ghost can (and has, many times) kill me is infuriating. How am I supposed to progress if after 30 minutes I want to throw my controller at the wall?
The problem is not the game… its getting mad. You’re supposed to be having fun. If you’re not having fun you’re doing it wrong. Either enjoy overcoming challenges or find something else to do.