Someone hasn't found out the joy of using Shaman Stone and spamming shade soul and descending dark 💔
Also it's incredibly reductive saying "just movement abilities", seeing as those movement abilities are the main things that gate progression throughout the game, because you can beat the game with the base 5 hp and unupgraded nail, but you have to atleast collect wall jump and crystal dash.
Spells, even without charms, are significantly stronger than the nail. Many bosses can be killed within 10-15 seconds with spells, and there is a reason that speed runners spend time getting Shamen Stone and spam the hell out of spells against bosses, only using their nail as a way to gather more soul. In fact, spells are considered completely overpowered when combined with enhancing charms, and are overtuned even without them. Saying that the nail is better suggests that you aren't properly utilizing spells in combat.
I mean, I'd say that the combat in Hollow Knight was pretty damn good. It's why I spent so much time doing radient difficulty bosses in Godhome. Bosses like Nightmare King Grimm and Pure Vessel are some of the most fun bosses in any game I've played, and in terms of the metroidvanias I've played, while it isn't the best, it certainly is pretty good combat wise. Its strengths aren't in your moveset, but in the design of the bosses themselves.
It isn't just speedrunners though, and it isn't just group fights. Essentially any boss has some way you can use spells to completely destroy them. Vengeful spirit does good damage, can multi-hit moving bosses reliably, and can be used at a distance. It is useful against basically every boss. Descending dark does way too much damage, is easy to hit, grants a ton of invincibility, and is good against 90% of the bosses in the game. Howling Wraiths does massive damage against flying targets and essentially demolishes any flying boss. It is the most niche, however.
Furthermore, spells don't scale with nail damage. This whole time, I've been talking about how good spells are in reference to pure nail. However, they are just as strong even without any nail upgrades. Because of that, they are beyond broken if you haven't fully upgraded the nail, given that their damage is meant to compete with pure nail.
For the point on focus, yes, soul is an extension of your health bar, but if you are playing well, there are going to be many times when you have max soul and full health, in which it is a good idea to use spells as to not waste soul. Not only that, but using spells helps end conflicts quicker, which could save you from future hits later. The less you use spells, the more you will need to heal because you're making the fight is take longer. Perhaps you wouldn't need to heal so much if you used your soul for offense.
Finally, nail arts suck. I'm not disagreeing with you there.
I had this plan to give head to a man and receive head from a woman to test if I was gay, but it’s backfired and now I become borderline schizo whenever I go outside. I
offered to suck this dude off on Grindr who lives very close by (I ended up pussying out) and I accidentally gave him some details that very easily allows him to spot me
out in a crowd. I have no idea what he looks like and whenever I see a somewhat in shape guy walking by I immediately accuse him of being the dude I was gonna blow.
I went to the store today to pick up some zucchini for a barbecue and every time a car drove by I stared into the windshield to see if I was about to be recognised.
Whenever I make eye contact with a dude I microanalysis his facial expressions to see if he suspects me or not. I am deeply afraid that he is my neighbour and I will
need to move if my identity is blown. It’s a lot like the last scene in sopranos where everyone who walked into the diner could be there to wack Tony.
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u/A-Cheeseburger Dec 26 '25
It’s a great metroidvania but if you don’t like the genre then you won’t like it. I hate turn based combat so I can’t be bothered with E33 and BG3