I’m back to Hades II (Supergiant Games) after the newest patch went live. I held off on playing it in the beta because I did not want to fuck up my save. I did copy it, following the instructions I found, but I was still hesitant because I have tried to do it before to no avail. I booted up the game for the first time in three weeks, I think, and I immediately fell back into the rhythm. I turned the game back to the time before I first beat–oh, spoilers.
*SPOILERS*
Chronos, the main boss on the downward path. That meant I had to beat both the ultimate bosses umpteen times again. Also, two of the items on the Minor List of Fated Prophecies became undone. One made sense because it’s the one that leads to the Epilogue–by the way, I’m glad that I still have my plat. I’ll pprobably do the two Fated Prophecies because I want to see if the epilogue is any different. The other is one I’ve talked about at length how it involved one of my favorite NPC from the first game who was done dirty in this game.
He’s asleep for the entire game, and I did several things to wake up. The way he wakes up and what happens after is just a joke. It’s insulting, really, and it was a crushing disappointment. If I have to do his again, it better not just be to do the exact same thing. There were theories as to why it was the way it was, but I think they just ran out of time. Or it was a placeholder for the real idea and they just could not get it in.
Either way, they had to undo that one as well because the last bit you get is after you see the credits. I’m hoping they improved that mission as well, but I’m skeptical.
I have done half a dozen runs. I was alternating downward path and upward path, but then started focusing on the downward path because if I remember correctly, you have to talk to Zag several times to get the weapon you need in order to do the thing with the upward path boss. And this time, he’s really pushing back on giving you the weapon needed to kill Chronos because he’s unesay about permanently slaying a family member.
You know what? He’s right. He was also right in that what happened to him in the first game was similar to what was happening now. Well, not really, but it was a family dispute. Zag had to do a lot to get out. And, he’s right in that Melinoë was acting like their father. For her to get huffy and self-righteous about the mission was pretty rich given that she was whisked away when she was a baby and never knew her family.
I understand that Supergiant probably wanted to comment on the nature of family grudges being handed down generation to generation so that the younger generation will feel it in their bones. I like that she’s sassier in the added content because she was a bit too doe-eyed in the base game. To be fair, Zag acquiesced rather easily in the base game when his sister asked for their father’s spear.
I have to admit that I’m pretty meh so far. It’s not great to be playing just to get to a certain point, especially when I don’t know exactly when that point is. There’s supposed to be added context on this journey, but the new dialogue is rather bland. I also think that one of the NPCs’ new lines was done by a different actor. The voice really didn’t match the NPC’s voice in the base game.
The two female NPCs that anonyed the fuck out of me before annoy me even more now. Although one did offer me an apology for her behavior. I’m hoping that means she’ll be chill from now on. I hate meeting her in the battleground and her challenging me to some kind of contest. I beat her every time, and she’s still so boastful. I just want to get away from her as quickly as possible because she’s annoying AF.
I have the game on with no modifiers because I’m trying to zip through the runs as quickly as possible. I’ve been using the weapon with the added gems or thirst or whatever, and I’ve been fortunate enough that it’s been one of the three I like best. The staff, the jet pack, and the axe. I have used the double daggers once, but I have not had to use the torches or the skull.
I feel like they’ve made the runs easier, too. By that I mean that there are less enemies. I’m not complaining, by any mean, but it’s been jarring. I applaud that move, though, because if you’re making me do this, then the least you can do is make it easier.
It doesn’t make sense, though, because if people who haven’t gotten the true ending yet just went right into this, then they would be doing much less suddenly. It could be that I’m misremembering, especially since I was doing fear runs at the end of my time with the game. One of the fear factors I added was more mobs, so, yeah, it might just be me.
I’m not even halfway done with what I need to do for the true ending, and I am already flagging. I burned myself out on the gameplay already, and I’m slightly resentful that I’m back to it. That’s on me, obviously, as I don’t have to play it. Now that I’m in it, though, I feel like I have to slog my way through.
I mean, half of me thinks I should bump upp the fear because I’m bored, but the other half thinks I should just plow through as quickly as possible. I just want to get it done. That’s my goal. I saw someone label their video on the new content something like, “New ending, no notes”, which, I mean…
Here’s the thing. I know the true ending itself will not be changed. Supergiant was very careful to note that the new content was just context for the true ending. I understand that because it would have been too difficult to change the ending, and I’m not mad about that. I’m just curious as to how they will be able to make the true ending not be hot trash.
I’m not optimistic, by the way. The true ending was shockingly bad, and I don’t know how they’re going to fix that.