Hades (PC, Switch)

[LazyBoy]

20 hours ago, bob said:

Urgh. Was doing really well on a run; got loads of cool boons and powerups; went into the Boney Hydra fight; died.

It's not mega-frustrating, because you kind of feel like you're getting stronger with each death, but I'm starting to wonder how long I'm going to have to play to get all the way through.

How many runs do people usually do before they reach the end? How long do they play for?

I think I was at maybe 30 runs when I first beat it, but I'm now at 50 and haven't beat it since.

Trick with bone hydra is having a strategy for getting through the 2 stages of minion hydras as quickly as possible. So if I have a good cast boon I make sure I have all my bloodstones ready for that stage (and not lodged in the bone hydra), or if I have a damage dealing dash then I am lined up, ready to dash end to end through them. When you just have the single bone hydra head to deal with you can pace yourself and take your time. 

The next boss is a whole different kettle of fish.

Edited April 5, 2021 by LazyBoy

[bob]

I think I was at maybe 30 runs when I first beat it, but I'm now at 50 and haven't beat it since.
Trick with bone hydra is having a strategy for getting through the 2 stages of minion hydras as quickly as possible. So if I have a good cast boon I make sure I have all my bloodstones ready for that stage (and not lodged in the bone hydra), or if I have a damage dealing dash then I am lined up, ready to dash end to end through them. When you just have the single bone hydra head to deal with you can pace yourself and take your time. 
The next boss is a whole different kettle of fish.

Oh, I've just been ignoring the little ones and focusing on the main one. Attacking minions always seems like wasting good attacks. I'll try it your way next time.

[LazyBoy]

Just completed my 2nd & 3rd runs back to back, sword and spear. My sword run was full try hard, 4 overlapping status effects, sweaty cast>dash>special>attack combos and button mashing to the max. Then on the spear I just upgrade the special, get a boon that regens health after a revive and do little else but kite, and breeze the thing. Funny how’s that works.

[Sheikah]

Oh, I've just been ignoring the little ones and focusing on the main one. Attacking minions always seems like wasting good attacks. I'll try it your way next time.

Some tips with this game - if you can take the Athena keepsake you can fairly reliably get deflect dash at the beginning, which makes a lot of the game easier. Also the gun weapon is very strong, especially if you can upgrade to the aspect that does damage after a reload, then pair that up with Ares boons (doom). Having those in place can make a run very trivial.

[dan-likes-trees]

On 4/5/2021 at 6:16 PM, bob said:

On 4/5/2021 at 1:53 PM, LazyBoy said:

I think I was at maybe 30 runs when I first beat it, but I'm now at 50 and haven't beat it since.
Trick with bone hydra is having a strategy for getting through the 2 stages of minion hydras as quickly as possible. So if I have a good cast boon I make sure I have all my bloodstones ready for that stage (and not lodged in the bone hydra), or if I have a damage dealing dash then I am lined up, ready to dash end to end through them. When you just have the single bone hydra head to deal with you can pace yourself and take your time. 
The next boss is a whole different kettle of fish.

Oh, I've just been ignoring the little ones and focusing on the main one. Attacking minions always seems like wasting good attacks. I'll try it your way next time.

Probably a bit late for this but im pretty sure you can't actually damage the main hydra when his minions are out. Might be where you're going wrong! (If I remember correctly). Early game just finding ways to get more death defiances (one of the trinkets + the mirror and you can effectively get 4 lives or so) helps a lot. The boss at the end of the section after bone hydra was a bit of a choke point for me for ages.

Similar to lazyboy I first finished a run at around 30 runs. Polishes off the 9 or whatever you need for credits by 50-something. I would describe my gaming skills as bang average so you'll get there fo sho

[bob]

Probably a bit late for this but im pretty sure you can't actually damage the main hydra when his minions are out. Might be where you're going wrong! (If I remember correctly). Early game just finding ways to get more death defiances (one of the trinkets + the mirror and you can effectively get 4 lives or so) helps a lot. The boss at the end of the section after bone hydra was a bit of a choke point for me for ages.
Similar to lazyboy I first finished a run at around 30 runs. Polishes off the 9 or whatever you need for credits by 50-something. I would describe my gaming skills as bang average so you'll get there fo sho

Thank you for this! Would have taken me many many tries to figure that out on my own.

I finally managed to defeat the Bone Hydra, thanks to purchasing a second Death Defied in the room before. Got through some of the next level to, and got to the next boss, who promptly squashed me.

I think I'm on 23/24 runs now? No way I'm going to escape by run 30, but at least it feels like I'm making progress.

I assumed there were at least 7 levels (circles of hell, I guess), but I found out that there are fewer than that, which makes it seem even more achievable.

 

[LazyBoy]

I'm having so much trouble beating the game with the twin fists. I can breeze through every part of the game, even Ornstein & Smough, but I just destroyed for damage by the final boss. I've tried a deflect build, and a damage build, but no luck so far. I think I'm just going to try a tank build with a heal next.

[killthenet]

I started this in the week and it took me about 20 attempts just to get out of Tartarus but when I did I made it most of the way through Elysium before my luck ran out. I've been mixing it up every time, mostly just going out to earn keys and darkness, so I haven't gone all out to see how far I can get for a while. Even so I've managed to beat the Bone Hydra a few times now and reached the boss in Elysium a couple of times but got wrecked pretty quickly in both of them. 

I'm having a really good time with it though, wouldn't say I'm addicted just yet but it's pretty captivating - might be the best contextualised roguelike there is in how it explains the constant shifting of the realms and how Zag keeps coming back to life. The boons are such a great addition, adding so much potential for variety and making combat more complex but the biggest surprise for me is how good all of the weapons feels. I think the bow is my least favourite but I've still got quite far once or twice while using it - I generally stick to melee so thought I would ignore the bow and the gun but both still feel effective and fluid to use. I think the spear suits me best though, pretty sure that'll be the one that gets me all the way eventually.

[bob]

I've reach Theseus and the Minotaur three times now (well Theseus wasn't there the first time for some reason...), and got stomped each time. Decided to switch things up a bit, so I bought back all my purple gems from the mirror and used them to get 3 x Death Defiance instead, so effectively I now have three lives.

Currently about halfway through my next run, and managed to get halfway through the fire level without using any of my lives. Looking good!

[Sheikah]

1 hour ago, bob said:

I've reach Theseus and the Minotaur three times now (well Theseus wasn't there the first time for some reason...), and got stomped each time. Decided to switch things up a bit, so I bought back all my purple gems from the mirror and used them to get 3 x Death Defiance instead, so effectively I now have three lives.

Currently about halfway through my next run, and managed to get halfway through the fire level without using any of my lives. Looking good!

Yeah you can encounter the minotaur on his own as a miniboss in that region - but then still have to face him with Theseus at the end of the level too. If I recall though, he turns up slightly weakened for the end of level boss fight if you fought him earlier.

[killthenet]

Yeah, on my last run I faced the Minotaur on his own first so when I got to Theseus the Minotaur had about 2/3 of his normal health. 

I managed to make it all the way to the end last night but I was on my last life so I fell short - feels like it's within touching distance though! I was surprised I got so far because I was using the fists, wasn't as hampered by a lack of ranged attacks as I thought I would be

[bob]

On 22/04/2021 at 2:43 PM, Sheikah said:

Yeah you can encounter the minotaur on his own as a miniboss in that region - but then still have to face him with Theseus at the end of the level too. If I recall though, he turns up slightly weakened for the end of level boss fight if you fought him earlier.

Oh yeah, so I sought out the Minotaur on my last run, and managed to kill him. Went into the Theseus fight with three Death Defies, and a Minotaur on 3/4 health.

Still died.

[killthenet]

I got so close to completing a run the other night, going into the final boss I had 3 lives to play with and I got them down to just a sliver of health when I misjudged a dodge and got wiped out. Utterly demoralising to say the least, my attempts since haven't even got beyond Elysium. 

Oh well, I'll make it eventually.

[LazyBoy]

Just seen the end credits roll (which comes after a certain number of completed runs). What a game. The kind of achievement which restores faith in the industry. The sort of game that I will point to in years to come and go “that’s what video games can do”. Not because it was particularly poignant or groundbreaking, but because it could only be done as a video game. The way the narrative unfolded, the way the complexities builds in layers, the way the world deepens the more you explore it. A top 10 of all time for me. 
 

Im going to go through the developers back catalogue now, starting with transistor. Cant wait. 

[Hero-of-Time]

22 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Im going to go through the developers back catalogue now, starting with transistor. Cant wait. 

Have you not played any of their games before? I loved both Bastion and Transistor but Bastion was the I enjoyed more. Both are cracking games though and well worth playing. Those two games alone solidified Supergiant Games as a fantastic developer. I’ve yet to play Pyre (sat on my PS4 for years now) and haven’t picked up Hades purely because I dislike the rogue-like/lite genre. 
 

It seems weird that Pyre isn’t on the Switch when all of their other games are. 

[LazyBoy]

43 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Have you not played any of their games before? I loved both Bastion and Transistor but Bastion was the I enjoyed more. Both are cracking games though and well worth playing. Those two games alone solidified Supergiant Games as a fantastic developer. I’ve yet to play Pyre (sat on my PS4 for years now) and haven’t picked up Hades purely because I dislike the rogue-like/lite genre. 
 

It seems weird that Pyre isn’t on the Switch when all of their other games are. 

Nope, but picked up Transistor in the latest sale and will start it tomorrow. Monster Hunter can wait. 

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, LazyBoy said:

picked up Transistor in the latest sale and will start it tomorrow.

You're in for a treat. A sublime game.

45 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I’ve yet to play Pyre 

Can't count how many times I've started and dropped it It's a good game and I enjoy the gameplay, but somehow I'm never in the mood to actually finish it

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, LazyBoy said:

Nope, but picked up Transistor in the latest sale and will start it tomorrow. Monster Hunter can wait. 

Did you pick up Bastion as well? It’s only £2.00 and I think the sale ends soon.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, drahkon said:

 

Can't count how many times I've started and dropped it It's a good game and I enjoy the gameplay, but somehow I'm never in the mood to actually finish it

At least you actually started it. That’s further than I’ve ever got with it.  

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It’s only £2.00 and I think the sale ends soon.

Get on that, @LazyBoy. Easiest money you can spend right now

Edited April 24, 2021 by drahkon

[LazyBoy]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Did you pick up Bastion as well? It’s only £2.00 and I think the sale ends soon.

I will do. As soon I'm in the new house I'll get Pyre downloaded on the PS4 too - love the concept and a heard one of the songs the other day and had a right giggle.

But mate get Hades. Seriously. It exceeds its genre.

[dan-likes-trees]

Pyre is.. a weird one. Enjoyed it, but the dialoague is pretty weird / lots of strange writing styles in the mix, and a lot of it isn;t voice acted. Strange going back to that compared to Hades which is a lot more relateable.

 

Enjoying seeing y'all writing up your progress as you go - the first 20 hours or so of this game, getting a little further each time, are so much fun

[Sheikah]

15 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Did you pick up Bastion as well? It’s only £2.00 and I think the sale ends soon.

I don't think Bastion is reduced, still displaying at full price for me. And the sale is still on.

[LazyBoy]

Bought Bastion early this morning for £2.

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

I don't think Bastion is reduced, still displaying at full price for me. And the sale is still on.

Just checked it now and it’s still on sale for a few hours. Price is £2.19.