I’m back to talk more about Hades II (Supergiant Games). It the last post, I ended by talking about the relationships and how I wanted to bonk certain characters. My tongue is firmly in (my own) cheek, but it’s also not a joke. The characters are insanely hot in this game (and in the original), and the artist (Jen Zee, Art Director) deserves a lot of cred for bringing Greek sexy back.
I have been able to make more progress with my main romantic interest (so far). I think I’m in bit now where I’ll just have to wait for the story to progress before I can do anything more with this character. They (generic they, not gender-specific they) used to be the first character I talked to when I got back to The Crossroads, but now I hold them until the last because I’m savoring the wait.
I have talked about how I don’t like the way most games do relationships. It’s usually me having to do things to for that person and it felt very transaction-y. I can’t even be that mad at it because it makes sense for a video game. You can’t just have two (or more) characters interacting and talking for minutes on end. Well, I mean, you can, but then it might as well be a movie.
For as down as I sound on romance in games, I’m pretty sanguine (read, resigned) about it. I know that it’s not going to be as rich as it is a novel or even a movie. I’m fine with that. Mostly. It’s only when a game tries to go further that I get frustrated. If you’re going to go for it, then it damn well better be great.
Supergiant Games neatly sidesteps that thorny question by doing the transactions, yes, but also having decent dialogue and appropriate activities to go with the gifts. This is different than the first game. In that game, you just gave enough Nectar until you reached Ambrosia, if I remember correctly. In this game, yes, you start with Nectar, but then there are other area-appropriate gifts to give (including the Ambrosia), which I thought was cool.
I will say that I’m a bit overwhelmed with how much there is to do in the game. I thought there was a lot in Hades (which there was), and it’s easily doubled in this game. That’s what I’ve heard, and from what I’ve seen so far, I buy it.
I’m going to include some mild *SPOILERS* in this post, but I’m still very early in the game–and the thing I want to focus on was revealed very early on, anyway. In the original game, basically, you were Zagreus, son of Hades, trying to get out of Hell. That’s the basic premise, though there is much more to it than that.
In this game, you play as Melinoë, daughter of Hades, sister of Zagreus. She’s much younger than him, and you can infer that she was conceived as a direct outcome of the first game. I’m being intentionally vague here in order not to spoil that game. She’s serious and almost grim whereas he was playful and jocular. Most people seem to prefer him to her, but I’m the other way around. Don’t get me wrong. Zag was a great protag; I just like Mel a tad bit better.
Anyway, the basis of this game is that Chronos has kidnapped Hades, his wife, and Zag–along with Nyx and other people in the Hades household when Melinoë was a baby. I don’t quite know how Melinoë escaped–well, no. I know how she escaped, but I don’t know how Chronos didn’t catch it in time.
Anyway, Hecate, who saved Melinoë, raised her and taught her how to fight with only one goal in mind–Death to Chronos. That is their constant montra and how they greet each other. Her single-minded goal is to fight Chronos and liberate her family–the family she didn’t even remember.
In the game, she looks pretty young. Mid-to-late teens would be my guess. She’s slender and seems emotionally fragile, but she’s tougher than she looks. She’s the daughter of Hades, damn it. Of course she’s got some grit to her.
I have unlocked five of the six weapons. I have no idea how to unlock the last one, but I do have a hunch what it is. I have also unlocked the different aspects of the weapons (this was possible in the first game as well). This is a neat move, in my opinion. It’s a way of upping the number of weapons without adding actual weapons. Each aspect of the weapon acts very differently. I have not yet played around with that (though I have upgraded each weapon mightily, which is part of the unlocked aspects of said weapons) because it takes resources to upgrade things.
I think this is one of my minor negatives about the game. Everything you want to do takes so many resources. Some of the resources, you get tons of, but others, they are much more precious. Yes, I know that’s how it is with most games, but the balance is not quite right in this game. In fact, I think this is something that is difficult to get right in any game, and that’s the case in this one.
Some of it is that you get one of a resource whten you beat any of the big bosses. I have plenty of the first one–well, at least for the underworld. This is the spoiler that is revealed very early on: my relatives, the Olympiad gods, ask me for help in Olympus. They showed up in the first game, and they’re back again, all glowed-up. Some are new, but the core gods from the last game are here as well. Fairly early in the game, I unlocked the ability to go up as well as down. Which means double the levels. They are each so different and well-written, but it’s overwhelming. It’s too much. There. I said it.
The wild thing is that I know there’s more. I have seen flashes of more. In addition to the four levels down and the three levels up, there’s even more. Wait. I’m assuming that four down and three up are all there is for those two directions, but I don’t know if that’s true because I did not meet the big boss of either of those levels. I know who I’m assuming it’ll be down below, but I have no idea who it might be above. Or even if there is one. Or if there are even more levels.
I also know that once I beat the big bosses, both up and down, that won’t be the end. Beating the big boss of the first game was just the beginning, and I have no doubt that it’ll be the same in this game.
That both excites me and scares me. When I get into a game, I get into it hard. I play one game to the exclusion of other games. Oh sure, I might play another game a bit here and there, but mostly it’s the one game. Pair that with the fact that I’m terrible at games, these kind of games in particular, and this is my life for weeks to come. Am I going to hundo chievo it? Not sure. I haven’t looked at the list of achievements (I don’t like to look at them as I’m playing, even though that’s bitten me in the ass several times).
That’s all for now. More tomorrow.