Post B0mjpduVOLspYzanCa by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
(DIR) More posts by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
(DIR) Post #B0ljnPgR7cIzhazMtU by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-28T23:49:09.946202Z
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Silksong beat. 65 bloody hours. Opinions will follow once I've written them out.
(DIR) Post #B0ljnQVq2VQEH12Q0u by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T00:05:44.545192Z
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Silk Slog
(DIR) Post #B0ljnRGdEWquc8vmwy by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:33:42.972300Z
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Mega huge big post of mostly-negative Silksong thoughts, incoming.
(DIR) Post #B0ljnS3YIdz53rorCa by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:35:09.809500Z
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So, silksong is weird. The game has great exploration, writing, music, art, atmosphere, and combat. But the bosses are - painfully - frustrating. Nono of them have taken more than 15-20 tries except one of the Act 3 fights, and the true final boss, in the 20-30 range. Compared to Bloodborne's Orphan of Kos that took me a full week to beat, that doesn't sound so bad. But Orphan was fun and almost none of these fights are. So what's the difference?I feel genuine dread at the prospect of losing a fight in Silksong. Hollow Knight could also be frustrating when your checkpoint was too far from a boss or something, and Silksong has that too, but I think Silksong has a lot more luggage thrown on the camels back. A lot of fights have waves of enemies to clear before you get to fight the boss, and you have to fight them every time you retry. And that sucks. A lot of enemies can deal 2 HP of damage, and bosses almost exclusively deal 2 HP hits, which makes your health pool kind of abysmal. Its also a pain to upgrade because the materials to upgrade are hard to find. And then when you finally get enough, if you're upgrading from an odd number to an even number, you effectively haven't upgraded anything for a boss fight. And that sucks. Then there's the tools they added for combat. Literal tools, you can throw them and they hurt the baddies. Replenishing the ammo for tools takes a resource that you have to grind to get more of. So every failed attempt is grinding away at your resources and might force you away to go kill enemies somewhere for a half hour if it goes on long enough. Bloodborne did something similar with its health items, but I think there's a reason FromSoft tried that idea and hasn't gone back to it. Even then,you can hold 600 of those, and you only use one at a time. In Silksong you can hold 800 crafting items, but crafting one tool can cost between 3 and 10 units, so if you're unloading your tools into a boss at the end and still die, you might be losing 100-200 units. And that sucks. Of course, you could just do every fight with your regular sword and skip using the tools, but the fights are balanced around tools that deal a lot of damage very quickly, and that can hit a boss when there's no opening for a sword attack. So skipping tools means the fights will drag on for ages because you're just missing damage. Add to that that the bosses effectively cut your HP in half by dealing double damage, and any mistake feels huge compared to the tiny, infrequent hits you get to deal. And that sucks.
(DIR) Post #B0ljnZntUkDF5cYSuG by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:36:29.324227Z
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Additional negative points. Your weapon's damage feels undertuned for most of the game. The last upgrade makes it feel pretty decent to use, but in the early-, and especially the mid-game, it feels weak. Like you're hitting things with a toothpick. This is part of why boss fights seem to drag on so long without tools. The music that was so good gets worse in Act 3. I get why, it fits the atmosphere they wanted to make, but I was losing one of the few things I unconditionally enjoyed.
(DIR) Post #B0ljr6qd5tWiRWWF4i by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:37:59.147136Z
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Like I genuinely can't stand this game, even though it had some really standout moments. It's a great game, but it sucks. I don't ever want to replay it because after nearly every boss or gauntlet or arena, I'm just glad the shitty part is over. But when the shitty part is over I get to go back to an amazing world with fun characters and rewarding exploration. The scene before you unlock the final boss had me choking up a little. The final boss, like almost all the others, left a bitter taste in my mouth. In conclusion: Silk Slog.
(DIR) Post #B0ljuqiqzR9naafJAG by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:39:27.722513Z
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Positive things. The First Sinner, The Phantom, and Shakra were fun fights. No sense of dread during if I used tools, no sense of relief after if I beat them. The little bug who sings is great and made things better wherever she went. Bellhart is nice and I love the music. And ignoring the tool economy, tools feel really good to use. It's satisfying to line up your shots and land a hit, they all have punchy animations where you expect, and they're supported by great sound design. It's really a shame that they're artificially made to feel terrible. I actually really liked Bilewater. I found it pretty early and enjoyed wandering around. I had a hard time with Sinner's Road before it, but Bilewater itself wasn't too bad. Chalenging, but the regular enemies aren't the worst, and it made me feel like I was going off the intended path, and that's great. But it got even better. I found the ghosty area after some thorough exploration and solved the puzzle to find The Phantom, then had a great boss fight and unlocked a huge new area to explore. That process was the highlight of the game for me. It felt almost like a sequence break, the puzzle was satisfying to solve, the boss was fun, the spell you get for beating him is useful, and you gain access to the place everyone's been talking about the whole time. Really excellent stuff. Then there was more Bilwater later, and it paid off that feeling that I was doing things out of order. To be clear, I wasn't. The path to The Phantom is an intended way to enter the citadel. But it felt like a late game area when I found it, and I got confirmation for that when I returned in the mid-game. That's a dopamine hit I won't forget. And the second set of exploration was also fun. More challenging, but lots to find. Aside from the boss fight with Groal, it was just great, and I hope more devs put cheeky progression paths in their games that feel rewarding like this.
(DIR) Post #B0lk8I8WNPduNQ54K0 by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:40:19.778703Z
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I think part of my issues might be that I'm at a weird skill level? Like I didn't have to adjust my strategies to beat most things, I could mostly get by on reacting and knowing my moveset. Other games force me to think a little more and that's a fun kind of challenge I guess? In silksong when I can't plow through a boss in a few attempts with basic "hit them and don't get hit" I usually just resort to tool spam or submit myself to the eventuality of it. "I'll get it one of these attempts." And I would. The final boss made me adjust my strategy a bit because it can counterattack from a few different angles, and I didn't realize for a while. And for the attack where it shoots some globs in the air, I had to figure out how to work around that. Groal I also adjusted my strategy for. I went from fighting him to cheesing him. He can't hit you much if you're in the maggot water. I didn't have the anti-maggot equipable, and it still made him a non-issue.
(DIR) Post #B0lkOhhR6Kr4IDEoRE by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:41:25.621565Z
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Oh and a bunch of the equipable upgrades are worthless if you aren't already a master of the game. Some things only activate if you're at full health, and almost every buff has a drawback or punishment of some kind. Better healing leaves you vulnerable longer, cheaper magic will take an equipment slot but is only available at full health despite that. And even then, a lot of the equips, drawback or not, provide underwhelming bonuses. The only equips that were consistently good were the poison pouch and the one that extends your weapon's reach.
(DIR) Post #B0lkQjrO2VgJZYrXRQ by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:45:33.876950Z
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Wrapping up, my last thought for the game is I should have gotten it on PC so I could mod it. I couldn't mod because I played on Switch. If I were modding the game, here's what I would look for. - rarify 2 HP damage sources. A very few non-boss enemies should have these. Some bosses can and should have scary attacks to watch out for. No boss should have every attack deal 2 HP.- increase your damage by 1.4 to 1.5 times. A .txt file with a multiplier you can edit would be ideal so folks can adjust it to their best experience. - get rid of the tool economy and keep the limited number of shots you get per checkpoint. Alternatively, another editable file for adjusting the economy. You can buy bundles of 80 crafting units for 50 money. It should be half that price or a bit lower. Those are the most pressing issues I would mod out if I could. If I think of more I'll add them.
(DIR) Post #B0lkQlFAtYItrd039s by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:49:47.316917Z
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If this wasn't the sequel to Hollow Knight, I don't think it would be reviewing so well. It's a great game aside from the bosses, it's just a shame that there are 48 of them. :akko_why:
(DIR) Post #B0lkuvFWG7hVaDXjJg by solidsanek@outerheaven.club
2025-11-30T11:10:02.448391Z
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@CheetahFluff It truly is the Dark Souls 2 of its series and it's as divisive as Dark Souls 2 was, it's kinda crazy to witness that all over againI feel like the way we play are actually similar, that we're all reaction time, not much planning. I'm abusing of this so much that I use the tool to reduce the healing charge time, and combining it with (mister) beast mode, so I can just berserk my way through bosses (it works well, in fact)I'm somewhere in act 3, but my conclusion might be real close to yours in all points, except maybe the economy in general. I feel like it's fine so far, but then again I don't use tools because I just never use consumables in general (even in Bloodborne it was the case)I do agree with the comparison to Bloodborne too :nod:
(DIR) Post #B0lkvB6XJI1QkzSmXI by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-29T09:56:01.327769Z
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I'm glad it's done. I didn't enjoy the game so much (like I had to stop playing it at home because I got so frustrated with it if I played more than an hour. I started playing it on the train to work; a game that's only playable in short bursts is not a good time), but I did enjoy /thinking/ about it and writing all of this up. It was a really interesting game to think about. I'll probably get it on PC some day and try it with mods to see how it feels. This is all just my feelings, you can like the game, I don't want to spoil your fun.
(DIR) Post #B0mQ08qvCq4xLEe3sW by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-30T18:28:47.806612Z
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@solidsanek the Hollow Knight 2 of the Hollow Knight series is definitely the Dark Horse Souls 2 of the pair. :ablobcatnod: But yeah. I definitely play games thinking about my approach to fights as a puzzle to solve sometimes, but only if they push me to. Sekiro did that, and the DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3. HK did it with Grimm, and Godhome. Silksong is definitely harder overall than HK, but like, nothing took me as many tries as lost kin or true radiance. I think my problem then is that Silksong's bosses are just way more annoying. :cirno_sip:Maybe I should've used beast crest more. I didn't click with it and dropped it pretty fast. I used wanderer's crest for most things, then hunter or the tool-heavy one when that didn't work. I used witch for a while and it felt genuinely OP until I came across something that hard countered it. Maybe I should've stuck with beast The heal time shortening thing was a staple for me too though. :blobcatmeltthumbsup:I know my Bloodborne! And I love it so. ;w;
(DIR) Post #B0mQ0IRPYXcB50mpVI by solidsanek@outerheaven.club
2025-11-30T18:50:23.650190Z
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@CheetahFluff I'm not sure if I prefer my fights to be a puzzle to solve. All I know is that Silksong bosses annoy me so much it's insane lol, and I feel no satisfaction whatsoever in beating them 90% of the time (First Sinner is probably the only boss I've truly enjoyed so far). Which really is the Dark Souls 2 experience: tedious exploration, so many bosses that aren't as challenging as the way to access them that you've most likely forgot by now except for 25% of them, which were also really chaotic for some reason (remember DKS2' chariot where you have to run through that hippodrome? Yeah...)Oh Wanderer has been my pick the whole time for sure. Beast mode sucks for exploration, I only use it for bosses, where I still believe it's more powerful than what people seem to think. Wanderer's perfect for bosses because usually the bosses have staggers depending on amounts of hits rather than damage, so you can stagger them a lot more oftenI mean, look at what the wiki says about Beast crest's Bind:>Bind is performed much faster than normal (about 1 second), but instead of healing Masks directly, Hornet enters a fury state, indicated with a red visual effect on the edges of the screen and the Crest HUD.>In this state, each Needle attack that hits an enemy heals 1 Mask, up to 3 Masks per Bind. The Masks that would be healed this way are outlined in red while fury is active. During fury, Needle attack range and speed are increased by 20%, Needle damage is increased by 25%, and attacks pierce through enemy guard stances, shields and armour.>Fury ends after 4.7 seconds. The duration is extended by 1 second when a mask is healed, 0.5 seconds when a second mask is healed, and 0.25 seconds for a third. If Hornet does not have empty masks to heal, the duration will not be extended. Taking damage reduces the duration by 2.35 seconds.EVEN if you take damage, it's still about 4s of usage at 20% speed 25% damage, up to +6s, which you know is a long time in those boss fights that last a minute at most
(DIR) Post #B0mQIX9RbQGNuo4x1M by solidsanek@outerheaven.club
2025-11-30T18:53:43.390224Z
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@CheetahFluff Think about it:- 9 silks for activation- 4s bind activation at the minimum. That makes for, what, 10 hits maybe in that timeframe? - bind again as soon as Fury mode vanishes
(DIR) Post #B0mTwHvvtxECACPIjQ by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-30T19:15:59.829875Z
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@solidsanek yeah beast crest works great if you can get frequent hits. I couldn't manage it for most of the fights because they give you so few chances to hit them, so I just stuck with wanderer to try and get more than one hit per opportunity. The crits also do some WORK when they happen. When I do that eventual modded run I'll have to try beast crest more often. :neocat_woozy: ... I really hope they adjust some things or add some kind of easy mode or adjustable sliders for the things that just really... Don't work. ;-;
(DIR) Post #B0mU7IOuVJdinZD4aG by solidsanek@outerheaven.club
2025-11-30T19:36:29.521588Z
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@CheetahFluff I have a mod for you :nod:
(DIR) Post #B0mjpduVOLspYzanCa by CheetahFluff@nyan.network
2025-11-30T22:19:27.046459Z
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@solidsanek oh baby a triple :cirno_cry: