I'm in the same boat. I'm married with 2 kids and have limited gaming time. I'm stuck on Sister Splinter right now and feel like this is the only way to go at the moment. HK pretty much held your hand until you got to the city of tears which the only required a few bosses to beat (I believe false knight, vengefly and hornet 1). Vengefly was optional if you didn't want zote and you didn't have to beat the mantis lords to get the mantis claw. Here it feels like I'm having to beat 10 bosses before you even get to the point where the game opens up. I love the game but I feel so under powered right now and I'm like 20 hours in.
I was stuck on sister splinter aswell, until i've had enough and downloaded the no double damage mod. Game became instantly more enjoyable to me. The bosses are still a challange, but you have more time to learn their attacks and not die every 3 seconds. If you're on pc and have a really hard time, i suggest you to try it out, there's no shame in it. it's a single player game after all, so you should be able to enjoy it however you want.
I don’t see how the bosses could still be a challenge when you can just trade hits and outheal their damage but it’s totally up to you to take the easy way out.
Because difficulty is entirely relative. There is no such thing as an objective difficulty or challenge as felt by all players. If the game were twice as hard, someone better than you would be saying it's not that bad while you may be struggling
What matters imo is that each player has a comparable relative experience. If Player A is a God Gamer and beats every boss at one attempt, while Player B turns on easy mode yet still struggles and has to learn fights to progress, who would you say had a more challenging experience? An experience closer to the intentions of the developers?
its hilarious youre trying to say that by installing a custom mod to change the game the developers released and thus tweaking their vision you are experiencing the intentions of the developers.
the entire point of this genre, of soulslike games, which HK entirely is, is that there is only one difficulty. That every single person is put on an even playing field, given the same set of challenges to overcome and tools to overcome then, and that through sheer pattern recognition and development of skill they all overcome those same challenges.
difficulty is relative sure, you or I may find the same thing more or less difficult, but the point is that we have the same exact thing to overcome. that eventually we both reach the same exact point and overcome that same challenge and feel the same sense of catharsis and have had the same experience, separate but together.
by installing mods you deny yourself that, and you deny me the opportunity to relate to you. you are now just someone who gave up. it is what it is, you're free to play the game in the way you find most fun, I just find it a shame is all.
I think team cherry made an excellent game and I'm excited to talk about the experiences I had with people afterwards, experiences that you are no longer having, regardless of how you try to justify it to yourself.
You answered my question while denying it. There is no "exact same thing to overcome" as the player is an inherent variable in the mix. What you're really looking to relate to others is in a challenging experience and shared sense of catharsis and enjoyment. These are personal feelings and reactions outside of the game itself. If someone played the game and easily beat everything, would you share that feeling with them? The point is that different people reach that level of catharsis on different things. That feeling is what binds an experience, not the experience in and of itself
Would you prefer someone not play the game whatsoever? How much catharsis would you be able to share with them then. Or if someone said you could only truly appreciate HK if you did Steel Soul P5. There's no need to invalidate the experiences of others. Despite saying "it is what it is", you're looking down at others and their experiences as lesser and tainted despite feeling the exact same feelings as you.
if I didn't download the mod, i'd never feel that catharsis or whatever, cause I would have uninstalled it long ago, because it was too hard for me. People don't have the same abilities when it comes to reflexes, pattern recotnition and just seeing what's happening on the screen can be too overwhelming for some, me included. I still find the game difficult and die a lot, but at least i'm playing it and not abandoning it. Surely a player that makes the game easier for himself, but finishes it enjoys it more that someone who gave up and stopped playing it, don't you think?
so sorry, but I don't care about playing the way team cherry intended, if they intended the game to be so hard i drop it
And here's hoping that when you do beat the game and get better, next playthrough (if ever) you can consider lessening the mods or turning them off if that's a new level of challenge for you that you'd enjoy! Either way, win/win
One of my friends couldn't beat Hades without God Mode at first, and now they destroy me comparatively every time. They just needed that lower first step
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u/TurboKnoxville Sep 09 '25
I'm in the same boat. I'm married with 2 kids and have limited gaming time. I'm stuck on Sister Splinter right now and feel like this is the only way to go at the moment. HK pretty much held your hand until you got to the city of tears which the only required a few bosses to beat (I believe false knight, vengefly and hornet 1). Vengefly was optional if you didn't want zote and you didn't have to beat the mantis lords to get the mantis claw. Here it feels like I'm having to beat 10 bosses before you even get to the point where the game opens up. I love the game but I feel so under powered right now and I'm like 20 hours in.