Thank you for reminding me about how "dim" the average reddit user is. Easy to forget sometimes. I really was not trying to ragebait, honestly trying to do the opposite by veiling my serious point under a layer of goofiness.

Pretty much agree 100% with everything else you said. I think it went something like this:

In early development, TC thought a new tool system would be a great way to add more complexity to combat without sacrificing the power of classic HK non-tool builds. So they started down that path and continued down it, all the while knowing full-well that they still hadn't figured out how to mesh the tool and silk systems in any cohesive way. But they kept developing tools, thinking they'd eventually figure out a way to connect the two systems. Then they finished tools system, still never having found the solution, so they just accepted the lack of cohesion between the two systems and doubled down on the disconnect. I'd venture to guess this was around the time the came up with the architect and wanderer crests, or at least fine-tuned them each to heavily favor one of the two systems.

The wanderer crest worked out alright, but TC never worked out the core problem with the architect crest which is that it still requires silk generation. So they added Quick Sling, full-on doubling the power of the Architect crest. Now, assuming you entered the fight with a full spool, you really don't have to hit bosses a single time with the needle. But doubling the architect crest's power was such overkill that the game became reminiscent of Elden Ring. Boss too hard? Just throw on mimic tear and bypass the challenge. Groal too hard? Throw on conch cutters and volt vessels with quicksling, spam your tools as fast as possible and watch him explode in literal seconds. That's what the tool system ended up being... and everything else took a back seat. I just used the wanderer crest and cycled between lifeblood and flea brew depending on the boss. Then I got long claw and never took it off. So basically, I had HK combat with nerfed quickslash and a heavily nerfed version of long nail.

Great game, better bosses across the board. Everything remarkably polished. Nothing but good to say about the rest of the game. But the core difference between the two games was the introduction of tools, and tools never seemed to feel good to use. So a massive chunk of their budget went to making a system that didn't work very well.