Only played for about 90 minutes, and enjoying it so far (I just beat the tank mini-boss and activated the music boxes). My only real gripe so far is that I'm not feeling a sense of urgency or goal-setting; I'm wandering around, looking for places to go, but it's not "I need to do X" and more like meandering for its own sake. I also need to get better with the combat; I'm overthinking my aiming and end up missing enemies more times than I'd like -- some sort of lock-on attack mechanism would help a lot. Still enjoying it overall.
Our review went up today as well. I gave it an 8 out of 10 and it's really a fun, if sometimes brutally difficult game. I really dig the art direction and the it's very pick up and play so it's perfect on the go.
I'm stuck in the room Buritis. I assume I need to approach in a manner that brings the music-activated platforms out in a way that allows me to jump up to the upper middle exit, but I can't figure it out...
I'm stuck in the room Buritis. I assume I need to approach in a manner that brings the music-activated platforms out in a way that allows me to jump up to the upper middle exit, but I can't figure it out...
Tempted as I am to get the game, the whole 'lose your EXP points upon death' is kinda offputting the game for me a bit. What can Salt be used for again? Upgrades, weapons etc.?
If you got to the tank mini boss, skip the green (forest) areas on the map. What you're looking for is the abilities (and ultimately the boss) in the pink/orange area of the map.
Tempted as I am to get the game, the whole 'lose your EXP points upon death' is kinda offputting the game for me a bit. What can Salt be used for again? Upgrades, weapons etc.?
If you got to the tank mini boss, skip the green (forest) areas on the map. What you're looking for is the abilities (and ultimately the boss) in the pink/orange area of the map.
Salt is used for character upgrades, such as hearts, strength, energy. There's a 4th character upgrade slot that I haven't unlocked yet.
I think the intended direction is first entrance upwards on the map directly after the bridge. The enemies are fairly easy there and there's another camp site appearing after a while.
First of all, I need to say I picked this game up on account of the 20% preorder discount and watching one gameplay video, and I'm having a blast with it thus far. The difficulty is definitely present, but for someone who loves the challange/gameplay of the souls games, I really think the jump movement mechanic is a great 2D representation of rolling/dodging in the souls series, at least in terms of risk/reward. It takes some skill to jump to the right place while avoiding attacks, especially when you have projectiles coming from multiple directions. However, once you are comfortable with jumping, you can use more daring positioning to take out enemies quickly and zip through rooms.
For anyone who is lost about the items/upgrade system in the game (which is understandable, as it never provides an explanation, except vaguely through item descriptions), here's a quick crash course, with some [analogues] to the souls series, if you are familiar with that terminology. Keep in mind, I am only through the first two areas, so this may not be accurate to the end of the game.
Salt [souls] - Dropped from enemies when you defeat them (auto collected), lost when you die, but can be recovered on the next life if you return to the exact spot of death and touch your ghost figure. Is only used (so far) at Camps to upgrade Dandara. Camps [bonfires] - Places on the map with a tent, bonfire, and flagpole (raised flag indicates the last one you stopped at, and where you will respawn after death), where Dandara can rest and refill hearts and *spoilered things below*. When you rest here, and open up the option menu, please note that all enemies respawn. I haven't unlocked the third option yet, but Glossary lets look at descriptions of items you have found. Choose the Dandara option to use salt and upgrade the following 4 things in the order listed:
1. Hearts [health] - Number of hits before Dandara dies. Simple enough, lots of room to upgrade.
2. Infusion (ie, the scarf image) [magic] - Length of bar for using special weapons (first such weapon found not long after first mid-boss)
3. Salt Essence sphere [estus flask] - Number of hearts refilled when using a salt essence sphere (first sphere findable in treasure chest before first mid-boss)
4. Salt Infusion s̶t̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶e̶t̶r̶a̶h̶e̶d̶r̶o̶n̶ sphere [blue estus flask] - Number of magic bar segments refilled when using salt infusion sphere (first sphere findable in treasure chest either before or after first area boss)
I find it really strange that they never tell you that the (item 3 and 4 spoiler)
spheres are not one use items, and are all restored at Camps, or when finding new ones.
I was really afraid to use one the first time, but was glad it hadn't been a one-time use.
Interesting...didn't know they did preorder sales. That's actually a pretty good idea for most devs to take advantage of if you're on the cusp of being a popular title or not.
First of all, I need to say I picked this game up on account of the 20% preorder discount and watching one gameplay video, and I'm having a blast with it thus far. The difficulty is definitely present, but for someone who loves the challange/gameplay of the souls games, I really think the jump movement mechanic is a great 2D representation of rolling/dodging in the souls series, at least in terms of risk/reward. It takes some skill to jump to the right place while avoiding attacks, especially when you have projectiles coming from multiple directions. However, once you are comfortable with jumping, you can use more daring positioning to take out enemies quickly and zip through rooms.
For anyone who is lost about the items/upgrade system in the game (which is understandable, as it never provides an explanation, except vaguely through item descriptions), here's a quick crash course, with some [analogues] to the souls series, if you are familiar with that terminology. Keep in mind, I am only through the first two areas, so this may not be accurate to the end of the game.
Salt [souls] - Dropped from enemies when you defeat them (auto collected), lost when you die, but can be recovered on the next life if you return to the exact spot of death and touch your ghost figure. Is only used (so far) at Camps to upgrade Dandara. Camps [bonfires] - Places on the map with a tent, bonfire, and flagpole (raised flag indicates the last one you stopped at, and where you will respawn after death), where Dandara can refill hearts and *spoilered things below*. I haven't unlocked the third option yet, but glossary lets look at descriptions of items you have found. Choose the Dandara option to use salt and upgrade the following 4 things in the order listed:
1. Hearts [health] - Number of hits before Dandara dies. Simple enough, lots of room to upgrade.
2. Infusion (ie, the scarf image) [magic] - Length of bar for using special weapons (first such weapon found not long after first mid-boss)
3. Salt Essence sphere [estus flask] - Number of hearts refilled when using a salt essence sphere (first sphere findable in treasure chest before first mid-boss)
4. Salt Infusion s̶t̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶e̶t̶r̶a̶h̶e̶d̶r̶o̶n̶ sphere [blue estus flask] - Number of magic bar segments refilled when using salt infusion sphere (first sphere findable in treasure chest either before or after first area boss)
I find it really strange that they never tell you that the (item 3 and 4 spoiler)
spheres are not one use items, and are all restored at Camps, or when finding new ones.
I was really afraid to use one the first time, but was glad it hadn't been a one-time use.
Great walkthrough! I need to prepare such a list and add it to the top post..
In addition to this, the camps respawn enemies, so you can use this as a method to farm salt (if you find a camp nearby enemies with good "salt value").
In addition to this, the camps respawn enemies, so you can use this as a method to farm salt (if you find a camp nearby enemies with good "salt value").
Feel free to use or cherry pick any or all of my post if you want to add it to the top post. Hope I didn't mess up any terminology, as I wrote that just from memory, without verifying with the game.
Finished this up last night. Really enjoyed my time with it. I was a little nervous about the jumping mechanic going in but it was integrated really well to where it felt naturally pretty quickly. The ending kind of came out of nowhere though, I didn't know I was so close. I wouldn't have minded if it had another boss in it. But still a real solid game.
can be bypassed on the way back in order to explore previous areas? Having too much trouble with him and prefer to get some some upgrades first by going through one of the other branching paths at the previous camps.
I picked this up on Switch based on the impressions of Danielle over at Waypoint. I'm enjoying it but so far I have two problems with the game: the movement is a little bit clumsy which I attribute to the Switch's analog sticks I guess, I find it hard to accurately move around and a lot of time end up somewhere I didn't intent to jump. The other is that I think you should be able to "dash" through enemies. It would make combat feel much more dynamic to be able to time the movement as if it's a dodge mechanic. I legitimately thought I would be able to dash through enemies and it took me a little bit to knock myself out of that line of thinking.
Other than that, it's a pretty neat little game. It's got the Metroid-like exploration but with a puzzle element to navigation and the Sously stuff works pretty well too.
I'm aware. But when things get hectic and you're trying to quickly jump from platform to platform I'm not finding it very fluid getting from point to point accurately.
I was expecting something nice with a fun unique mechanic, but holy fuck this game is legit as hell.
Level design is great and really challenging, while the movement mechanic is somewhat clunky but i got used to it i guess. It manages to get the classic Metroidvania vibes while offering something completely new gameplay wise, and that is pretty incredible. Also loving the OST, the boss theme in particular is pure bliss.
The major boss fights are easily the best thing in the game so far, i think. The first one was pretty tough and wild, if somewhat simple, but the second boss...holy shit it's a fucking masterpiece of a boss design, maybe top 20 material for best boss fights in a videogame. I was so not expecting this, i'm really impressed.
Not really sure if the player meet the bosses in a linear order, so by second boss i mean Belia
Well, that's it, pretty great game so far, easily on the same level as modern classics like Hollow Knight or Axiom Verge, though i'm still early in the game and stuff could get a nosedive in quality. Sorta worried that this movement gimmick will get repetitive towards the end, but let's see.
With the skull upgrade, you can now access a lever in the same big room that leads to the one you want to enter. The lever will open the way to that room.
I'm enjoying the game so far (haven't made it to the first boss yet) but there are some significant gripes that hopefully get resolved the more I play with upgrades or something. I find it extremely hard to dodge bullets sometimes when they're coming my way due to the movement system. It feels like you have to just... take the hit, which kinda sucks. Same goes for having to charge the weapon before you fire.
Well, that's it, pretty great game so far, easily on the same level as modern classics like Hollow Knight or Axiom Verge, though i'm still early in the game and stuff could get a nosedive in quality. Sorta worried that this movement gimmick will get repetitive towards the end, but let's see.
With the skull upgrade, you can now access a lever in the same big room that leads to the one you want to enter. The lever will open the way to that room.
I'm enjoying the game so far (haven't made it to the first boss yet) but there are some significant gripes that hopefully get resolved the more I play with upgrades or something. I find it extremely hard to dodge bullets sometimes when they're coming my way due to the movement system. It feels like you have to just... take the hit, which kinda sucks. Same goes for having to charge the weapon before you fire.
I'm still putzing around in the first area, but there's one thing I'm still confused about -- how do I get more Essence of Salt? I will sometimes find it when I open a chest, but other times I'll just be moving around, collecting salt from breaking crates or killing enemies, and then see that I have another Essence. Is it "collect 200 Salt and get an Essence"? Or is it random? Or something else?
(And I wish "use Essence" was mapped to a different button; I sometimes hit "B" by mistake and use it when I didn't intend to...)
I'm still putzing around in the first area, but there's one thing I'm still confused about -- how do I get more Essence of Salt? I will sometimes find it when I open a chest, but other times I'll just be moving around, collecting salt from breaking crates or killing enemies, and then see that I have another Essence. Is it "collect 200 Salt and get an Essence"? Or is it random? Or something else?
(And I wish "use Essence" was mapped to a different button; I sometimes hit "B" by mistake and use it when I didn't intend to...)
They're essentially like estus flasks from Dark Souls, they're permanent in the sense that you can refill them infinitely upon use but only after either dying or visiting a camp site.
They're essentially like estus flasks from Dark Souls, they're permanent in the sense that you can refill them infinitely upon use but only after either dying or visiting a camp site.
I could be way off because I've only played up to after the first real boss, but yeah, I only have 3 essences, all found in chests, they recharge upon death and after visiting camps and I've never seen the counter higher than 3.
I just killed the first boss, really loving it so far. Do any of you guys know how to open the locked door on the campsite screen in Artists village? I feel as if I'm not supposed to cross that big bridge past the forest yet.
EDIT: Found out what its for, the answer is on the steam forums. Anyone know how to pass the purple door in the upper part of the forest?
I just killed the first boss, really loving it so far. Do any of you guys know how to open the locked door on the campsite screen in Artists village? I feel as if I'm not supposed to cross that big bridge past the forest yet.
If you find a new one in a chest, it refills all of your containers of that type, as if you rested in camp. Also, while I found out that picking up your ghost/spirit refills your hearts, it might also give you a refill on containers as well. Need to double check this, but it's hard to remember at the time because usually I'm trying to pick up my ghost and not die to whatever killed me :P
I was expecting something nice with a fun unique mechanic, but holy fuck this game is legit as hell.
Level design is great and really challenging, while the movement mechanic is somewhat clunky but i got used to it i guess. It manages to get the classic Metroidvania vibes while offering something completely new gameplay wise, and that is pretty incredible. Also loving the OST, the boss theme in particular is pure bliss.
The major boss fights are easily the best thing in the game so far, i think. The first one was pretty tough and wild, if somewhat simple, but the second boss...holy shit it's a fucking masterpiece of a boss design, maybe top 20 material for best boss fights in a videogame. I was so not expecting this, i'm really impressed.
Yes, yes, yes, YES, totally agree with all of this, especially about the second boss. I don't think this game is getting the traction and exposure it deserves, possibly because of all the other fantastic 2D games coming out lately (Celeste, Iconoclasts, etc).
A related question to this map (since the original question has been answered): is there a camp soon after this point? I've got myself killed quite a few times now in the corridor that appears just after the entrance on the map.
Currently stuck on Augustus. I know what I need to do, it's the execution that's the trick. Trying to decide if I want to keep at it, or farm more Salt and level up first.
And I agree that it's a satisfying boss battle, the kind where success or failure is not down to the RNG or cheesy attacks, but your own ability to master the fight.
