i honestly think the fact that the most mentally exhausting thing is considering all the ways you can move around while flying is on purpose. here's why: hylics (or somatics) refers to that which is made of matter, ie entirely unconcerned with anything relating to the realms of the psyche or of the spirit, but rather materially concerned in every possible way. this can be symbolized as it is in the game with clay, rather fittingly, but it is embodied in another series - homestuck - as the Aspect of Blood. Blood is concerned with matters of the flesh, with romance, connections, obligations, and teamwork. they tend to be stubborn, but can be very inspiring and well suited for leadership roles. interestingly, each of the hylics games sees you, the player, personally recruiting your team in the manner you see fit to achieve the ends you desire. in gnosticism, matter itself is considered evil, as it obscures the truth of the world and is itself a product of the blind Demiurge who carved their way out of the limitless Light of the Pleroma 7 Absurdities Deep, creating the 7 Hells at the bottom of which the material world itself resides and above which now lie 7 Heavens that can lead one back to the Pleroma, where all life, truth, and thought are said to originate. i will note here that being 7 Absurdities deep does fit a world with randomized dialogue more than one that tries to have inherent meaning and a coherent story, though I'm sure incorporating aspects of higher thought is as intentional as it is comparatively mentally exhausting. which leads me to... the psyche. above hylics are psychics - those who are concerned with matters of the soul, which acts as the mediator between the realm of matter and the realm of the spirit. since there's a lot of variance in this and the ground has been tread extensively by many other forms of literature and fiction alike, I'll keep this relatively brief. everyone has a soul, a True Self, that is a unique combination of your material circumstances and your immortal spirit. most people are either somatics or psychics, as being fully made of spirit would be essentially divinity incarnate and therefore unattainable to most if not all of us. this leads me to the final category... the spiritually enlightened ones who have received a perfect form of the light of truth, and who are utterly detached from material concerns, known as pneumatics. as in, of the pneuma, or spirit. you might see where I'm going with this at this point as well as why i invoked homestuck here! the opposite of a hylic is a pneumatic, and accordingly, the opposite of Blood is Breath. heroes of Breath are associated purely with the realm of thought, ideas, and free-spiritedness, and tend to be weakest when it comes to worrying about material concerns such as taking care of oneself and those around them, maintaining a sense of consistency with the world and their obligations, and as a result, the bonds that keep them anchored and give things weight and meaning. they supposedly make only correct decisions in a cosmic sense, but given that this is achieved by abandoning all things physical, these often fail to make sense and will seem directionless and unmoored from reality, aimless and disorienting in scope. just as hylics make decisions that make only material sense, pneumatics make decisions that are coherent purely in a spiritual manner and have little to no correlation with material circumstances. ie, they slip the surly bonds of solid ground and simply float around without any particular meaning or purpose, seeing fit to land when they land and follow the breeze at all other times. it's exhausting to think of, isn't it? even the word "exhaust" implies an emptiness of air, of spirit itself, which ties in really well to how taxing it is to rely on those senses to exclusivity. you might even find yourself wanting for more air as you read this and yawning ;3 so yeah while it is a barrier to enjoying the game i feel like the choice of allowing players to fly around literally anywhere and, simultaneously, making the story more coherent is a deliberate choice, though nevertheless an absurd one like anything else in this world that seeks to understand the concept of enlightenment. kinda funny, this video just came out as i was starting on another gnosticism kick, and circumstances conspired to ensure i was warmed up and refreshed just in time for this rant! just Lucky, i guess ;3 thanks for making these videos, and for sticking this one through to the end! i absolutely agree that the relative lack of meaning to the experience leading to the understanding that not only is everything meaningless, but by that very virtue, everything is equally meaningful. it seems that might be the point of these games and for that matter the process of attempting to achieve gnosis, even if it's not personally enjoyable. after all, learning can be fun, but it's unrelentingly difficult and can make you miserable if you don't have properly calibrated expectations (which with these games seems to be impossible lmao). it's really fun to see these games through the lens of one who isn't obsessed with gnosticism yet nevertheless seems to experience the game in a way perfectly consistent with gnostic principles. hope this comment didn't put you to sleep, and have a great week! happy (w)odin's day :3
Wow wow wow! Thanks for going out the way and typing all of this! Comments like this are always so great to see! Even if I'm not very good at processing things, I always enjoy reading these kinds of comments, it gives a lot of value to the experience and helping me understand this game more. I'm glad throughout all of this I could learn about something I knew nothing about, so thanks for typing all this out!
Despite you not enjoying the game you still went head and gave your honest thoughts on everything, I can agree with you on things like the battles that do make me want to grind my teeth down to powder at some points, wonky collision in the arcade minigames, and a bit too much freedom in movement. I still enjoy the game for some reason. The fact you gave your honest thoughts and talked about why you didn't enjoy it is very respectable. Your probably one of a few people I've come across who made a video on the second game and actually talked at length about the issues the game has, of course I wish some of these issues were fixed but the creator is currently working on a new project. I do hope the creator takes stuff like this into account for his next project.
A part of me was kinda nervous of releasing this video, because a lot of people wanted to hear my thoughts on the game, and I didn't like it, but that's okay! It's important to know I still thought the game was good! I'm glad I got to experience it, I wasn't going to let my enjoyment get in the way of how cool it is. I don't need to enjoy playing a game in order to appreciate it, because not every game is designed for everyone, it's neat to play one that contrasts with so many ideas of mine, and see other people who love it! That's cool! I don't know, I don't like the idea of calling a game "bad" just because I wasn't having fun playing it, there's more value to find in games than that! But it does kinda make for a harder playthrough I'm more willing to drop haha.
reviewer's bizzarre existencial adventure also i cared a lot about your opinion, i just always defaulted into "this game is good" but hearing you say you don't like made me go back to neutral and be able to acknowledge that it as it's problems. so thanks!
Your line about Drugs strikes a cord with me. Whenever I talk or show someone Hylics they just go :" Oh, man this looks like drugs." I should not care but it frustates me. Anything abstract and colorful can not be just something creative and fun but some drug filled meaningless halucination. Meaybe I am just a no fun artistic snob but I would love to have an actual discussion about Hylice's art
it's kinda funny that your main criticism is that encounters drag for far too long because the more dedicated players are more on the side that the combat encounters are way too easy it's not mutually exclusive, but I think it just shows that there is an underlying problem but it's not a much of a balance/timing one and I think that instead it's also just how obscure the explanations for mechanics are, both for gestures and enemy reactions feels like the encounters made to kill you are there to replace instakill from enemies but it just feels cheap unless you recognize you can't win and use perish sidescroller sections are way too buggy tho yeah
Hylics is one of my favourite things ever, and it brings me joy to no end to see that it has succeeded in creating such a lovely fanbase, which can think about and discuss these games in such depth. Keep up the fantastic work, and have a wonderful day.
yo, this slaps. your perspective will always have value. i may have a little ligma in my brain that makes me care about these characters and world more than ever intended (mostly, in the creative comfort of adding to them as an artist and storyteller, and many others would say the same!) but i appreciate grounding back to the games inherent jank and looking out for what could be done better later in this next game, and even our own game. i DO love how the game focuses on "status cheese" to defeat enemies and the order you learn to do so being its on little puzzle that the game hands you in different configurations and new elements, but ur damn right. IT IS slow. i hope whatever we personally make can do some of what i like without it bein slow. i probably shouldve put more thoughts down as we were watching it, lmao. im sure we have some extra trivia as well, like how the god mode for the 2d platformer was added after the fact in a patch, same with perishing in battle (i dont remember what order, but around the time vinesauce was playing it). i really like god mode because of a fun movement you can do with the doublejump+dash that can let you patiently fly anywhere, but like as much as that amused me and made it fun and easy, that isnt how it was meant to be done, and how it was meant to be is rough, especially the second platforming level. the extra problem in that one personally is a lack of spatial awareness on platforms that i believe imply themselves to be old sage airships in the sky. cool in concept, but god im lost. only flying around with that movement gave me remotely any spatial awareness and getting everything in that level was still nonsensical.
Heh, I get what you mean. When it comes to characters that feel like they have very little time to showcase their personality, I always love to step on and make up a whole story for them. Mixed with the knowledge from both a these games, I came up with a whole headcanon background story for Gibby and Wayne! It's always fun to come up with these.
i loved this game's combat, mostly for the same reasons you hated it, so much so i ended up playing through the game a second time on hard mode. a lot of fancier JRPGs like octopath traveler or deltarune spice up their combat with some sort of gimmick - and i love those games, don't get me wrong - but i really like how hylics 2 makes combat really strategic and interesting by stripping things back rather than adding more. spells like pongorma's lightning or somsnosa's big AOE would be way stronger in any other game, allowing you to just brute-force your way through encounters with big damage numbers, but hylics 2 deliberately makes them more situational so they don't become the obvious best way to handle everything. they become just another tool in your toolbox. hell, pongorma's lightning does _less_ than just attacking twice in a row, so instead its main appeal is big damage _right now_ when letting an enemy live another turn might cost you the fight. the combat system feels like it does more with less, because despite the simplicity it makes every decision point matter. there's rarely an obvious right way to handle any situation. i like how varied and nasty a lot of the enemies can be because having to strategize around all the crazy stuff they can do is a struggle. i think the only things i'd change would be letting the player see the turn order so you have more information to strategize with, and removing/reworking the big screen-nuke spell you can get at the end of the game, because even with all the limitations on that spell it just becomes the strongest way to handle every fight, and removes all that careful decision making i love about the combat. i get why you hate it, though. it really can be exhausting if that's not what you're into. and i 100% agree on the pacing thing - it feels like it's designed for you to take on every fight at full strength, and i think it would've been better if you just restored to full between each fight instead of having to scrounge for bugs. there's some parts of the game like the underground maze that actually work like that, and i kind of wish they just made it that way for the whole game. really liked hearing your thoughts, even if the game turned out to not be your thing i can tell you really appreciate the effort that went into it.
I have yet to play this game, but the fact it's so simple in the things it tells you, yet so complex and vast in the amount of options you have and how it all interconnects, looks really interesting to me. It feels like a combat system I'd be a lot more engaged than the usual stuff. Plus, the fact the battles aren't randomized always helps. And I do like how the turns play out on the moment, individually for every character, instead of as a team. I know the combat is actually quite slow, but that feels a bit more fast to me for some reason. Maybe it's because I haven't played it yet. Oh, speaking of the underground maze, as cool as that is, it kinda looks like the most insufferable part of the game to me, with the crazy abundance of unhinted at secret passages and stuff. I dunno, what do you think of it?
I think its pretty interesting that literally every reason you listed for hating the battel system is why I thought it was great. I even think its tiring when the battles are too easy and everything dies in a turn or two. It just makes me think "whats the point."
Yeah I feel like I may have missed the mark with what I said about the battle system, I've looked at games with longer fights, (hell, I'm making one myself), I think the problem was I just didn't find the strategy of the battles to be that fun to me, and maybe the frequency of encounters. I think RPG battle systems can be so varied and stretch in so many directions, I think this one was on a path that I just didn't personally jive with, but it's def one a lot of people like. But I may just be waffling because I haven't the game in awhile so my memory is a little foggy, but I look back at the game positively, and would like to revisit it in a few years time to see how I feel about the battle system then, if my tastes have changed and what not.
I haven't played this game yet, so I don't think I can add anything worthwhile to the commentary. All I can do is talk about what I've heard others talk about it. Folks love the setting and the graphics, I certainly do too, that's one of the two things I can give feedback on. The other is the music, I think it's all great in its own setting, but there's more tracks I listen to casually, like Them's Fighting Words, Xeno Arcadia, and all four of the character themes, especially Wayne's. I know the platforming opens a lot of possibilities... but it's a bit janky too. Now, the combat system. I'll admit, I'm no RPG nut, so I have very little to absolutely no idea of what makes a combat system good. I guess I can theorize about it tho. I could say the fact the turns being taken individually per each character could make the fights more dynamic and "on the moment", instead of planning the moves for the whole team at once without knowing for sure their order of attacking. It takes away the pre-planning stuff, but on the other hand, it's more reactive, and a bit more engaging I'd assume. But you also said the battles are a slog, which probably is due to both the sheer amount of enemies per fight, and the amount of turns you spend countering the status effects. Most of the Gestures you get this time, instead of being a mix of healing spells, stronger attacking spells, and buffing, debuffing and status inflicting spells, as in, support spells... they're all mostly support spells. From what I've seen others talk about the battles, you kinda have to get a different mindset to approach them, and not just in a way that's encouraging you to go all out on them, with the bugs on the overworld and stuff. Like you said, it's kind of like a puzzle where you have to be clever about what moves you should use, developing a strategy for fighting which enemies with which status effects. For instance, Poolmen. "We all hate Poolmen. Me and my homies burn Poolmen." Memes aside, since I haven't played the game, I ultimately can't give much insight in this. I can say that most people only found two specific bundles of enemies irritating, aside from some of the last ones: the aforementioned Poolmen, but especially the Poolmagne, and the Warpos, the Wayne Larvae that were strictly on a Poolwine diet. I think the fish enemy was a tough one too? I dunno. I do think that dying to these enemies ain't that bad of a problem tho. You died and have to try again? Well, just re-strategize for the next time. The Afterlife does encourage that sorta mindset I feel. I do agree that having all battles being tough is kinda unneeded, though I wonder if, with all the Muscle Appliques and Power enhancing garbs and stuff, that would stop being a problem to at least the weaker enemies. But the enemies get tougher as you go along, so that's not really a point anyways. In terms of the Charge Up, I do like the mechanic, and the fact it takes a turn makes me think this battle system is a lot more like chess than one would think. Even with the more reactive approach, it has a lot of strategizing. Do you do this AoE attack while suffering a counter? Or do I equip the items with status ailments and pass them to the toughest enemy? Maybe now's the time to strike with a charged up lightning. It does a lot with what one would assume is little. But I can see how it's a type of battle that's not everyone's cuppa tea. Heck, in the way you described it, it may not be my cuppa tea after all. I don't even like chess. On a side note, it's funny how you found Wayne's spell, Dissolution, the most useful one, when I've seen at least one dude finding that one the least useful spell. I guess it shows that it all depends on the mindset one has when approaching these RPG battles. It does genuinely suck that you can't use items outside battles, that one was kinda baffling. I know bugs remove the need for that, but still having the option would be neat, especially since you now have limited inventory space for a lot more variety in items. I also agree that the Garbs could've had more variety. Maybe two spots for gloves, a right one and a left one, as well as a spot for a garment/accessory and another for... I dunno, boots? would've gone a long way for customization. I do think Gibby is indeed more intimidating, even if his fight is overall easier... because he keeps killing all the enemies he spawns, and leaving your party at 1 Flesh, giving Dedus plenty a time to Foam everyone up. But hey, he looks more imposing, and Fancy Meat Computer (aka the definition of a brain technically) does make it sound a lot more epic. It's just funny how some enemy combos can end up being tougher than the bosses. Except the worm I heard, that guy can seriously mess you up if you don't use Time Sigil on him pronto. But again, it's all about experimentation. Heck, I remember doing some experimentation myself on Hylics 1. It's not like I was carefully master planning everything, but I appreciated that I did have to put some thought if I wanted to deal with the Horrid Projection, and the Ghosts, and the Tomb Shrub, and especially Gibby, he too messed me up on my first try HARD. But with the whole Afterlife thing... it was all a super enjoyable process, y'know? I'm a bit divided on how Hylics 2 lets you enter it at will. For fast travel purposes, it's pretty useful. But for leveling up, it turns it into a mandatory stop, instead of one you end up taking out of necessity. The first game made it so that, if you don't die, you don't really need to level up, which I find a very interesting and gnarly approach. When you die, you're like "well, clearly I gotta prepare myself a bit better next time" and pronto! All this sums up to, both games do some cool stuff, and both games do some jank stuff, and both games do some stuff that's neither here or there, and depends mostly on players' tastes. But above all, it depends on how forgiving of the flaws the players are in favor of the things they do right. No game is perfect, some flaws are undeniably impossible to defend, so folks compromise and take it, for the sake of all the other good stuff in a game. It kinda sucks that this game really didn't speak to you, but I appreciate a lot your honest opinion. It's a lot more constructive than just "yeah, this game on drugs, pretty cool because everyone else says it's cool". It's another side of the coin of other in-depth reviews I've seen that praised the game, like James from the Nitro Rad channel, and I feel it helps present a bigger and fuller picture. So, thanks a lot for this review! Edit: forgot to add, the 2D platforming does look quite janky, but the 3D maze just looks a bit nightmarish to me. Look at the amount of not hinted at secret passages! What is this, Wolfenstein 3D??? I know most of it is optional, but sheesh Louishe, in a game that's harder than the average RPG, all help is needed...
I've been watching your channel for a while, and I love hearing how passionately you talk about such obscure games. You even got me to try some games I've never heard of before, like Monolith and Underhero. I even tried to convince a friend to get the 2nd ever footage of Memoirs of Magic multiplayer(though it doesn't help that I never figured out how to play) All I've ever heard about Hylics 1 and 2 before were the visuals, and I enjoyed hearing you talk about the game play, and what the games mean to you. And I relate to hearing about a game everyone's raving about, trying it, and just not getting it. On paper the metriodvannia genre sounds amazing to be due to my love of exploration, so I tried Hollow Knight which I've heard so many people praise. But when I actually play it, I'm just not enjoying it. Instead of feeling like I get to explore it often felt like I was stuck in a store, trying to find everything on my list, and getting frustrated over not being able to find the one very specific thing I have to find. That combined with an atmosphere so bleak I found it difficult to care about anything that was going on. I beat the game's true ending, wanting to experience what everyone loved about it, but I just, never got it. The same goes for most turn based RPGs. I really don't like filler battles when it comes to them, and so often I hear someone hype up how cool one is. Hearing you talk about Soma Spirits, and Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass made me so tempted to want to play them. But I know, even after hearing about how you dealt with battles, that I'll just find them too samey and it'll just drag the entire experience down for me. But that's okay. Even if I didn't enjoy a game myself, I still enjoy hearing people go into detail about their passion and experiences with games. Hearing the problems with Hylics 2's is actually kind of relieving. Pretty much all I've heard about this game is "It good and has cool visuals", which made it feel like another turn based rpg I'm just not getting, and I shouldn't try because I won't get the battle system. But hearing you go in detail about the game's issues, it's just kind of relieving that I'm not the only one "not getting it." Keep up the good work SpaceySoundy. Your channel is criminally underrated, and I enjoy watching you talk in detail about games I've never heard of.
I think hylics 2 is better than hylics 1 in the art direction but yeah i agree the gameplay especially battles. As much how limiting the rpg maker engine can be atleast it has better battle system to use even if its very generic. I hope hylics 3 has a battle system because the graphics and ui are perfect just not the battle system.
hey me again. i know it's a bit early for making requests but i found this game i you MUST check it out! it's called fear and hunger made by miro haverinen. it is HARD but worth it in my opinion. again sorry for requesting another thing just wanted to share.
i understand your opinion and i watched the whole vid and i dont say this often but friend, you have a skill issue Edit: except for the dungeon crawler section i hate the dungeon crawler section
How many games have you fallen asleep playing, are you OK? Have you seen a doctor? I’m kind of concerned, sleeping in chairs can do awful things to your neck
i honestly think the fact that the most mentally exhausting thing is considering all the ways you can move around while flying is on purpose. here's why:
hylics (or somatics) refers to that which is made of matter, ie entirely unconcerned with anything relating to the realms of the psyche or of the spirit, but rather materially concerned in every possible way. this can be symbolized as it is in the game with clay, rather fittingly, but it is embodied in another series - homestuck - as the Aspect of Blood. Blood is concerned with matters of the flesh, with romance, connections, obligations, and teamwork. they tend to be stubborn, but can be very inspiring and well suited for leadership roles. interestingly, each of the hylics games sees you, the player, personally recruiting your team in the manner you see fit to achieve the ends you desire. in gnosticism, matter itself is considered evil, as it obscures the truth of the world and is itself a product of the blind Demiurge who carved their way out of the limitless Light of the Pleroma 7 Absurdities Deep, creating the 7 Hells at the bottom of which the material world itself resides and above which now lie 7 Heavens that can lead one back to the Pleroma, where all life, truth, and thought are said to originate. i will note here that being 7 Absurdities deep does fit a world with randomized dialogue more than one that tries to have inherent meaning and a coherent story, though I'm sure incorporating aspects of higher thought is as intentional as it is comparatively mentally exhausting. which leads me to...
the psyche. above hylics are psychics - those who are concerned with matters of the soul, which acts as the mediator between the realm of matter and the realm of the spirit. since there's a lot of variance in this and the ground has been tread extensively by many other forms of literature and fiction alike, I'll keep this relatively brief. everyone has a soul, a True Self, that is a unique combination of your material circumstances and your immortal spirit. most people are either somatics or psychics, as being fully made of spirit would be essentially divinity incarnate and therefore unattainable to most if not all of us. this leads me to the final category...
the spiritually enlightened ones who have received a perfect form of the light of truth, and who are utterly detached from material concerns, known as pneumatics. as in, of the pneuma, or spirit. you might see where I'm going with this at this point as well as why i invoked homestuck here! the opposite of a hylic is a pneumatic, and accordingly, the opposite of Blood is Breath. heroes of Breath are associated purely with the realm of thought, ideas, and free-spiritedness, and tend to be weakest when it comes to worrying about material concerns such as taking care of oneself and those around them, maintaining a sense of consistency with the world and their obligations, and as a result, the bonds that keep them anchored and give things weight and meaning. they supposedly make only correct decisions in a cosmic sense, but given that this is achieved by abandoning all things physical, these often fail to make sense and will seem directionless and unmoored from reality, aimless and disorienting in scope. just as hylics make decisions that make only material sense, pneumatics make decisions that are coherent purely in a spiritual manner and have little to no correlation with material circumstances. ie, they slip the surly bonds of solid ground and simply float around without any particular meaning or purpose, seeing fit to land when they land and follow the breeze at all other times. it's exhausting to think of, isn't it? even the word "exhaust" implies an emptiness of air, of spirit itself, which ties in really well to how taxing it is to rely on those senses to exclusivity. you might even find yourself wanting for more air as you read this and yawning ;3
so yeah while it is a barrier to enjoying the game i feel like the choice of allowing players to fly around literally anywhere and, simultaneously, making the story more coherent is a deliberate choice, though nevertheless an absurd one like anything else in this world that seeks to understand the concept of enlightenment. kinda funny, this video just came out as i was starting on another gnosticism kick, and circumstances conspired to ensure i was warmed up and refreshed just in time for this rant! just Lucky, i guess ;3
thanks for making these videos, and for sticking this one through to the end! i absolutely agree that the relative lack of meaning to the experience leading to the understanding that not only is everything meaningless, but by that very virtue, everything is equally meaningful. it seems that might be the point of these games and for that matter the process of attempting to achieve gnosis, even if it's not personally enjoyable. after all, learning can be fun, but it's unrelentingly difficult and can make you miserable if you don't have properly calibrated expectations (which with these games seems to be impossible lmao). it's really fun to see these games through the lens of one who isn't obsessed with gnosticism yet nevertheless seems to experience the game in a way perfectly consistent with gnostic principles. hope this comment didn't put you to sleep, and have a great week! happy (w)odin's day :3
Wow wow wow! Thanks for going out the way and typing all of this! Comments like this are always so great to see!
Even if I'm not very good at processing things, I always enjoy reading these kinds of comments, it gives a lot of value to the experience and helping me understand this game more.
I'm glad throughout all of this I could learn about something I knew nothing about, so thanks for typing all this out!
@@SpaceySoundy no problem! it's the least i can do as thanks for the hard work you put into these videos, so thank *you*!
how do i keep finding homestuck on every platform, i mean i like it but its starting to scare me
yeah me too and im literally a cherub
@@bisexualBiznasty oh you sweet summer child
Despite you not enjoying the game you still went head and gave your honest thoughts on everything, I can agree with you on things like the battles that do make me want to grind my teeth down to powder at some points, wonky collision in the arcade minigames, and a bit too much freedom in movement. I still enjoy the game for some reason. The fact you gave your honest thoughts and talked about why you didn't enjoy it is very respectable. Your probably one of a few people I've come across who made a video on the second game and actually talked at length about the issues the game has, of course I wish some of these issues were fixed but the creator is currently working on a new project. I do hope the creator takes stuff like this into account for his next project.
A part of me was kinda nervous of releasing this video, because a lot of people wanted to hear my thoughts on the game, and I didn't like it, but that's okay!
It's important to know I still thought the game was good! I'm glad I got to experience it, I wasn't going to let my enjoyment get in the way of how cool it is.
I don't need to enjoy playing a game in order to appreciate it, because not every game is designed for everyone, it's neat to play one that contrasts with so many ideas of mine, and see other people who love it! That's cool!
I don't know, I don't like the idea of calling a game "bad" just because I wasn't having fun playing it, there's more value to find in games than that! But it does kinda make for a harder playthrough I'm more willing to drop haha.
thats very cool of you to be honest and still appreciate it, and a couple of us are gonna get together and watch it soon
@@LucillePalmer (im the same person) we watched it!!
reviewer's bizzarre existencial adventure
also
i cared a lot about your opinion, i just always defaulted into "this game is good" but hearing you say you don't like made me go back
to neutral and be able to acknowledge that it as it's problems.
so thanks!
Your line about Drugs strikes a cord with me. Whenever I talk or show someone Hylics they just go :" Oh, man this looks like drugs."
I should not care but it frustates me. Anything abstract and colorful can not be just something creative and fun but some drug filled meaningless halucination.
Meaybe I am just a no fun artistic snob but I would love to have an actual discussion about Hylice's art
it's kinda funny that your main criticism is that encounters drag for far too long because the more dedicated players are more on the side that the combat encounters are way too easy
it's not mutually exclusive, but I think it just shows that there is an underlying problem but it's not a much of a balance/timing one and I think that instead it's also just how obscure the explanations for mechanics are, both for gestures and enemy reactions
feels like the encounters made to kill you are there to replace instakill from enemies but it just feels cheap unless you recognize you can't win and use perish
sidescroller sections are way too buggy tho yeah
Hylics is one of my favourite things ever, and it brings me joy to no end to see that it has succeeded in creating such a lovely fanbase, which can think about and discuss these games in such depth. Keep up the fantastic work, and have a wonderful day.
yo, this slaps. your perspective will always have value. i may have a little ligma in my brain that makes me care about these characters and world more than ever intended (mostly, in the creative comfort of adding to them as an artist and storyteller, and many others would say the same!) but i appreciate grounding back to the games inherent jank and looking out for what could be done better later in this next game, and even our own game. i DO love how the game focuses on "status cheese" to defeat enemies and the order you learn to do so being its on little puzzle that the game hands you in different configurations and new elements, but ur damn right. IT IS slow. i hope whatever we personally make can do some of what i like without it bein slow.
i probably shouldve put more thoughts down as we were watching it, lmao. im sure we have some extra trivia as well, like how the god mode for the 2d platformer was added after the fact in a patch, same with perishing in battle (i dont remember what order, but around the time vinesauce was playing it).
i really like god mode because of a fun movement you can do with the doublejump+dash that can let you patiently fly anywhere, but like as much as that amused me and made it fun and easy, that isnt how it was meant to be done, and how it was meant to be is rough, especially the second platforming level. the extra problem in that one personally is a lack of spatial awareness on platforms that i believe imply themselves to be old sage airships in the sky. cool in concept, but god im lost. only flying around with that movement gave me remotely any spatial awareness and getting everything in that level was still nonsensical.
Heh, I get what you mean. When it comes to characters that feel like they have very little time to showcase their personality, I always love to step on and make up a whole story for them. Mixed with the knowledge from both a these games, I came up with a whole headcanon background story for Gibby and Wayne! It's always fun to come up with these.
i loved this game's combat, mostly for the same reasons you hated it, so much so i ended up playing through the game a second time on hard mode.
a lot of fancier JRPGs like octopath traveler or deltarune spice up their combat with some sort of gimmick - and i love those games, don't get me wrong - but i really like how hylics 2 makes combat really strategic and interesting by stripping things back rather than adding more. spells like pongorma's lightning or somsnosa's big AOE would be way stronger in any other game, allowing you to just brute-force your way through encounters with big damage numbers, but hylics 2 deliberately makes them more situational so they don't become the obvious best way to handle everything. they become just another tool in your toolbox. hell, pongorma's lightning does _less_ than just attacking twice in a row, so instead its main appeal is big damage _right now_ when letting an enemy live another turn might cost you the fight.
the combat system feels like it does more with less, because despite the simplicity it makes every decision point matter. there's rarely an obvious right way to handle any situation. i like how varied and nasty a lot of the enemies can be because having to strategize around all the crazy stuff they can do is a struggle.
i think the only things i'd change would be letting the player see the turn order so you have more information to strategize with, and removing/reworking the big screen-nuke spell you can get at the end of the game, because even with all the limitations on that spell it just becomes the strongest way to handle every fight, and removes all that careful decision making i love about the combat.
i get why you hate it, though. it really can be exhausting if that's not what you're into. and i 100% agree on the pacing thing - it feels like it's designed for you to take on every fight at full strength, and i think it would've been better if you just restored to full between each fight instead of having to scrounge for bugs. there's some parts of the game like the underground maze that actually work like that, and i kind of wish they just made it that way for the whole game.
really liked hearing your thoughts, even if the game turned out to not be your thing i can tell you really appreciate the effort that went into it.
I have yet to play this game, but the fact it's so simple in the things it tells you, yet so complex and vast in the amount of options you have and how it all interconnects, looks really interesting to me. It feels like a combat system I'd be a lot more engaged than the usual stuff. Plus, the fact the battles aren't randomized always helps. And I do like how the turns play out on the moment, individually for every character, instead of as a team. I know the combat is actually quite slow, but that feels a bit more fast to me for some reason. Maybe it's because I haven't played it yet.
Oh, speaking of the underground maze, as cool as that is, it kinda looks like the most insufferable part of the game to me, with the crazy abundance of unhinted at secret passages and stuff. I dunno, what do you think of it?
Thx for vid man, appreciate it. Have a happy holidays
You make such underrated content, thanks for doing it!
I have nothing to add, this comment is merely feed for the algorithm, which you deserve the gaze of more often
I just discovered your channel. and binge watching it....I like what I hear.
what a good video
I couldn't get into this game either, liked Hylics 1 tho
I think its pretty interesting that literally every reason you listed for hating the battel system is why I thought it was great. I even think its tiring when the battles are too easy and everything dies in a turn or two. It just makes me think "whats the point."
Yeah I feel like I may have missed the mark with what I said about the battle system, I've looked at games with longer fights, (hell, I'm making one myself), I think the problem was I just didn't find the strategy of the battles to be that fun to me, and maybe the frequency of encounters.
I think RPG battle systems can be so varied and stretch in so many directions, I think this one was on a path that I just didn't personally jive with, but it's def one a lot of people like.
But I may just be waffling because I haven't the game in awhile so my memory is a little foggy, but I look back at the game positively, and would like to revisit it in a few years time to see how I feel about the battle system then, if my tastes have changed and what not.
I haven't played this game yet, so I don't think I can add anything worthwhile to the commentary. All I can do is talk about what I've heard others talk about it.
Folks love the setting and the graphics, I certainly do too, that's one of the two things I can give feedback on. The other is the music, I think it's all great in its own setting, but there's more tracks I listen to casually, like Them's Fighting Words, Xeno Arcadia, and all four of the character themes, especially Wayne's.
I know the platforming opens a lot of possibilities... but it's a bit janky too.
Now, the combat system. I'll admit, I'm no RPG nut, so I have very little to absolutely no idea of what makes a combat system good. I guess I can theorize about it tho. I could say the fact the turns being taken individually per each character could make the fights more dynamic and "on the moment", instead of planning the moves for the whole team at once without knowing for sure their order of attacking. It takes away the pre-planning stuff, but on the other hand, it's more reactive, and a bit more engaging I'd assume. But you also said the battles are a slog, which probably is due to both the sheer amount of enemies per fight, and the amount of turns you spend countering the status effects.
Most of the Gestures you get this time, instead of being a mix of healing spells, stronger attacking spells, and buffing, debuffing and status inflicting spells, as in, support spells... they're all mostly support spells. From what I've seen others talk about the battles, you kinda have to get a different mindset to approach them, and not just in a way that's encouraging you to go all out on them, with the bugs on the overworld and stuff. Like you said, it's kind of like a puzzle where you have to be clever about what moves you should use, developing a strategy for fighting which enemies with which status effects. For instance, Poolmen.
"We all hate Poolmen. Me and my homies burn Poolmen."
Memes aside, since I haven't played the game, I ultimately can't give much insight in this. I can say that most people only found two specific bundles of enemies irritating, aside from some of the last ones: the aforementioned Poolmen, but especially the Poolmagne, and the Warpos, the Wayne Larvae that were strictly on a Poolwine diet. I think the fish enemy was a tough one too? I dunno. I do think that dying to these enemies ain't that bad of a problem tho. You died and have to try again? Well, just re-strategize for the next time. The Afterlife does encourage that sorta mindset I feel. I do agree that having all battles being tough is kinda unneeded, though I wonder if, with all the Muscle Appliques and Power enhancing garbs and stuff, that would stop being a problem to at least the weaker enemies. But the enemies get tougher as you go along, so that's not really a point anyways.
In terms of the Charge Up, I do like the mechanic, and the fact it takes a turn makes me think this battle system is a lot more like chess than one would think. Even with the more reactive approach, it has a lot of strategizing. Do you do this AoE attack while suffering a counter? Or do I equip the items with status ailments and pass them to the toughest enemy? Maybe now's the time to strike with a charged up lightning. It does a lot with what one would assume is little. But I can see how it's a type of battle that's not everyone's cuppa tea. Heck, in the way you described it, it may not be my cuppa tea after all. I don't even like chess.
On a side note, it's funny how you found Wayne's spell, Dissolution, the most useful one, when I've seen at least one dude finding that one the least useful spell. I guess it shows that it all depends on the mindset one has when approaching these RPG battles.
It does genuinely suck that you can't use items outside battles, that one was kinda baffling. I know bugs remove the need for that, but still having the option would be neat, especially since you now have limited inventory space for a lot more variety in items. I also agree that the Garbs could've had more variety. Maybe two spots for gloves, a right one and a left one, as well as a spot for a garment/accessory and another for... I dunno, boots? would've gone a long way for customization.
I do think Gibby is indeed more intimidating, even if his fight is overall easier... because he keeps killing all the enemies he spawns, and leaving your party at 1 Flesh, giving Dedus plenty a time to Foam everyone up. But hey, he looks more imposing, and Fancy Meat Computer (aka the definition of a brain technically) does make it sound a lot more epic. It's just funny how some enemy combos can end up being tougher than the bosses.
Except the worm I heard, that guy can seriously mess you up if you don't use Time Sigil on him pronto. But again, it's all about experimentation.
Heck, I remember doing some experimentation myself on Hylics 1. It's not like I was carefully master planning everything, but I appreciated that I did have to put some thought if I wanted to deal with the Horrid Projection, and the Ghosts, and the Tomb Shrub, and especially Gibby, he too messed me up on my first try HARD. But with the whole Afterlife thing... it was all a super enjoyable process, y'know? I'm a bit divided on how Hylics 2 lets you enter it at will. For fast travel purposes, it's pretty useful. But for leveling up, it turns it into a mandatory stop, instead of one you end up taking out of necessity. The first game made it so that, if you don't die, you don't really need to level up, which I find a very interesting and gnarly approach. When you die, you're like "well, clearly I gotta prepare myself a bit better next time" and pronto!
All this sums up to, both games do some cool stuff, and both games do some jank stuff, and both games do some stuff that's neither here or there, and depends mostly on players' tastes. But above all, it depends on how forgiving of the flaws the players are in favor of the things they do right. No game is perfect, some flaws are undeniably impossible to defend, so folks compromise and take it, for the sake of all the other good stuff in a game.
It kinda sucks that this game really didn't speak to you, but I appreciate a lot your honest opinion. It's a lot more constructive than just "yeah, this game on drugs, pretty cool because everyone else says it's cool". It's another side of the coin of other in-depth reviews I've seen that praised the game, like James from the Nitro Rad channel, and I feel it helps present a bigger and fuller picture. So, thanks a lot for this review!
Edit: forgot to add, the 2D platforming does look quite janky, but the 3D maze just looks a bit nightmarish to me. Look at the amount of not hinted at secret passages! What is this, Wolfenstein 3D??? I know most of it is optional, but sheesh Louishe, in a game that's harder than the average RPG, all help is needed...
Hey I saw your Yume Nikki and couldn't comment on it :c, just wanna say I really liked it thank you:D
I've been watching your channel for a while, and I love hearing how passionately you talk about such obscure games. You even got me to try some games I've never heard of before, like Monolith and Underhero. I even tried to convince a friend to get the 2nd ever footage of Memoirs of Magic multiplayer(though it doesn't help that I never figured out how to play)
All I've ever heard about Hylics 1 and 2 before were the visuals, and I enjoyed hearing you talk about the game play, and what the games mean to you. And I relate to hearing about a game everyone's raving about, trying it, and just not getting it. On paper the metriodvannia genre sounds amazing to be due to my love of exploration, so I tried Hollow Knight which I've heard so many people praise. But when I actually play it, I'm just not enjoying it. Instead of feeling like I get to explore it often felt like I was stuck in a store, trying to find everything on my list, and getting frustrated over not being able to find the one very specific thing I have to find. That combined with an atmosphere so bleak I found it difficult to care about anything that was going on. I beat the game's true ending, wanting to experience what everyone loved about it, but I just, never got it. The same goes for most turn based RPGs. I really don't like filler battles when it comes to them, and so often I hear someone hype up how cool one is. Hearing you talk about Soma Spirits, and Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass made me so tempted to want to play them. But I know, even after hearing about how you dealt with battles, that I'll just find them too samey and it'll just drag the entire experience down for me. But that's okay. Even if I didn't enjoy a game myself, I still enjoy hearing people go into detail about their passion and experiences with games.
Hearing the problems with Hylics 2's is actually kind of relieving. Pretty much all I've heard about this game is "It good and has cool visuals", which made it feel like another turn based rpg I'm just not getting, and I shouldn't try because I won't get the battle system. But hearing you go in detail about the game's issues, it's just kind of relieving that I'm not the only one "not getting it." Keep up the good work SpaceySoundy. Your channel is criminally underrated, and I enjoy watching you talk in detail about games I've never heard of.
Happy new year woo! Hope you keep up the cool videos and you complete your game the way you want to woo!!
I think hylics 2 is better than hylics 1 in the art direction but yeah i agree the gameplay especially battles.
As much how limiting the rpg maker engine can be atleast it has better battle system to use even if its very generic. I hope hylics 3 has a battle system because the graphics and ui are perfect just not the battle system.
"Chuck Sallamonei"
hey me again.
i know it's a bit early for making requests but i found this game i you MUST check it out!
it's called fear and hunger made by miro haverinen. it is HARD but worth it in my opinion.
again sorry for requesting another thing just wanted to share.
i understand your opinion and i watched the whole vid and i dont say this often but friend, you have a skill issue Edit: except for the dungeon crawler section i hate the dungeon crawler section
How many games have you fallen asleep playing, are you OK? Have you seen a doctor? I’m kind of concerned, sleeping in chairs can do awful things to your neck