I have subtitled this, “I think I’m done”, but I’m really not. It’s more that I’m dealing with the frustrations that I have while continuing to play the game. I found out what the last incantation I unlocked does.
*SPOILERS*
It makes it so that you can change the seed of run you’re on when you’re at the Oath of the Unseen (the statue that lets you add different hardships to your run in order to up the Fear factor). When I first found out what it did, I thought to myself, “That’s it?? That’s what I needed five of the items from the upper path last boss for?” So I could choose a different seed? Who the fuck cares about that?
Then, I was trying to unlock the last aspect of a Nocturnal Arm I needed (the staff, Descura), and I soon realized how this ability (to quit a seed) was handy. With the staff as my weapon, I had to make it to the second biome of the upwards path. I had to find the NPC of that level, and she was usually to the back of the level. I had to talk to her with the staff in hand. It didn’t have to be her aspect activated, but that’s the one I liked to use, anyway.
I knocked the difficulty down to minimal because I was just trying to get to her. Oh, wait. I first did it for the aspect I needed for the skull. The NPC I needed to talk to was in the first biome of the upwards path, so I thought I could get there pretty quickly. First run, her room wasn’t there. I could tell at a glance of the map (the NPC rooms are marked with two clasped hands), so I undid the night (how to get back to The Crossroads as if run had never happened), and then realized I would have to reset the seed to get a different run.
That was the reason for that incantation! Was it worth it? Ultimately, yes. It would have been nice to know before doing the incantation, though, or at least right after. It is useful because if I quit and go back, I’m in the same run. The only way to get out of that run is to die. That can take a long time with all the Death Defiances I have equipped.
I was able to get the skull aspect fairly easily. It did take several runs, but at least it was quick. I would look at the map as soon as I got into the city. If I did not see the NPC room, I would quit the night and change the seed. The first time I got into her room, I didn’t actually have the skull equipped so I quit out, but did not change the seed. When I went in, she noticed the skull and told me the wakening phrase I needed to use back home.
Easy-peasy! I naively thought it would be that simple with the staff as well. Spoiler: it was not. I did several runs to the second-level boss in which I did not see the NPC. Once I reached the second boss, I undid the night and changed the seed. I have killed the first level boss enough that I don’t care that I lost a few rewards from doing so.
This is when the joy is completely out of the game–for me, anyway. When I’m doing something I have to do (again, only because I feel compelled to. Not because anyone made me, of course), I became very mechanical about it. I’m not savoring the experience or enjoying it–at all. I just need to get to this NPC and get. the. damn. aspect. And hope I have enough materials to unlock it.
I was getting impatient. About the fifth or sixth time (yes, I killed the boss, er, guardian, of the first floor that many times. Was I happy about it? No. Oh, and I had knocked the Fear down to zero by this time (I think)), I was so grim. I just wanted to get to the NPC as quickly as possible (if I was ever going to get to her). I lost the thread with all the parenths I have in this paragraph.
Before I was making a concerted effort to unlock this aspect, I ran into her every third or fourth run (I want to say). Now that I needed her? She was nowhere to be found. I finally got to her around the seventh or eight run (maybe more). And because we had had a meaningful talk the time before about my headmistress, we had to talk about that. Which meant that I could not unlock the aspect of my staff.
Brah. Bro. My brother.My sister. My kin.
I was so pissed about this. And I could not start the run over because I would get that same dialogue again. So I finished that run (I could have let myself be killed, but I didn’t want to do that). I did have one of my familiars I never use with me so at least I would get credit for that (another quest on the list was to beat one of the two ultimate bosses with each of the five familiars. Now done), but I was still fuming.
I went back to trying again, and I think I got to her the first or second time after that run. By that point, I was just resigned to whatever fuckery was happening. When I finally, finally got the goddamn phrase of wakening, I wasn’t even happy about it–I was just relieved that all the fuckery was done.
This is not how it should be. And, I will grant that I probably had really bad luck in getting to the NPC when I needed the phrase. Like I said, I saw her every third or so run prior to needing to find her, so it was just a string of bad luck. I was fortunate, too, that I had what I needed to wake up that aspect because it would have really annoyed me otherwise.
I will say that this aspect is not easy to grasp. I didn’t like it at all when I tried it out, but it was the weapon I ended up with on my random Chaos trial (don’t ask), and I actually won a run with it (downward path). This was a zero Fear run (I’m assuming) with a random weapon, a random keepsake that changes every level, and a random familiar. Or in this case, a themed familiar. At first, I thought it was just one level, but, no. It’s an entire. I did it because it’s part of the Fated List of Minor Prophecies, though it’s horribly worded. At any rate, it’s half of what I need to do.
Apparently, I got to keep the Arcana cards I drew, which I was thankful for because that included three Death Defiances. I needed every one of them in order to beat the final boss. I also got to cross of getting to the final boss with that hidden aspect of a weapon, which was nice.
I think I would have been happy with the true ending being the actual ending of the game. I’m definitely flagging, especially with the two sisters I’ve mentioned before. Any time I see them in the field now, I heave a big sigh and just do whatever I need to do to get away from them. I don’t talk to them in The Crossroads unless they have new dialogue, and even then, I’m clicking as quickly as I can to get it over.
I feel like the writing in this game is not quite as good as it is in the first game overall. Even my second-favorite NPC in this game is reminiscent of one of my favorite NPCs in the first game. My favorite NPC is just himself, so that is nice. And I’m always excited when I see him on the battlefield.
I have more to say about that, but I’m done for now.