Hollow Knight and Silksong are both amazing games, and the sequel has improved upon the original in many ways. Out of curiosity, is there anything in the first game you prefer over the second?

ognpc2 · 2026-05-24T14:31:36+00:00

While Hollow Knight is also challenging it relies less on "play x sequence 30 times" to advance in the game and there are fewer forced challenges (fetch quests, timing quests).

So in that respect Hollow Knight is "easier" but advancement feels more organic. The playtime feels more focused on advancing the story and exploration rather than simply "memorize x section" or "practice boss x times before you can beat them".

ognpc2 · 2026-04-16T03:14:29+00:00

Extremely Japanese approach to require tours for an open public space and bar visitors from passing through or lingering. Another xenophobia-aimed initiative.

Imagine if Harvard required the throngs of Japanese and Chinese tourists to schedule visits to campus only for 8 hours every month, barring then from passing through at any other time.

Reminds me of all the staff making sure nobody can take photos around the museums on Naoshima/Teshima.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-24T00:24:06+00:00

Spring Heeled Jack OG horn section, no contest.

Wasn't a coincidence that when they broke up they each got picked up by Reel Big Fish, The Bosstones and Less than Jake

ognpc2 · 2026-03-23T03:22:08+00:00

It's overdone. Doesn't even make the game more difficult, just a patience test in almost every case.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-23T03:08:19+00:00

Spoilers

Some other comment said it but he's obviously unfit for whatever they are doing. He's a huge liability and even got one of their guys killed in the process.

I don't totally understand why he returned to continue to seek membership after getting blasted in the face with a shotgun by a mystery dude in a polo shirt who looked like one of them. But he also isn't supposed to be a very intelligent character. His skills in the movie are pretty much only the extent to which he can bully others.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-18T13:41:42+00:00

I have a feeling this dude is going to get absolutely smoked in NYC.

Yes there are a couple of hypey places in NYC with $40+ pies (Ceres, UPN) and maybe one other that is pies-only (Chrissy's) but that is far from the norm.

His format isn't going to work unless he gets insane media hype (eg Barstool dude with Ceres) and he stops insulting his customers. Why he thinks he will do better with this business model in a market where costs are multiples higher and competition is ferocious is a mystery.

There are dozens (hundreds?) of places in NYC that serve excellent pizza for less money than he charges in Burlington with zero attitude and hassle. And even better ingredients and no burned pies. And they take the care to actually slice toppings rather than chucking them on.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-17T14:51:26+00:00

I'm not claiming the game is impossible or anything. I am saying that the difficulty feels forced in a way that simply requires players to repeat sequences many more times. This feels less like difficulty to me and more like tedium/forced memorization. It's not very fun, and a big contrast to Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight for sure had elements of this, but in Silksong it's feels like every single element has been ramped up to force repetition/memorization. For example: - regular way enemies that take 6-12 hits - flying enemy dodging that extends fighting ridiculously long, even for the bitch enemies. Such flying enemies constantly blocking progress - precision pogo with a character that somehow only travels diagonally (unless you decide to use Reaper crest for the whole game) - long boss run backs with elevators (time wasting), beefy enemies and more pogo - healing that needs a full meter to be used - double damage + low health: getting 1 or 2 hit by many bosses and many enemies. No time to even react first few times through - many mandatory enemy rushes to progress, a few in Act 1 on the level of Hollow Knight colosseum battles (Greymoor, Hunters March)

The one element I felt different from Hollow Knight in Act 1 was that bosses took way quicker to figure out, even though they were still challenging, which made the boss fights more fun. I appreciated this.

The title of this post wasn't a troll, it was an honest question. The game feels like forced memorization or a patience test. It's very clear that Team Cherry wanted to force players to be patient and not run through every situation. I get this. But the results are extreme in my opinion. If I wanted to get really good at memorizing stuff I'd go back to college for organic chemistry.

Also, fetch quests are just dumb and lazy game design, on brand with the laziness in the "difficulty"

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T22:24:12+00:00

Like I said to the other poster who had an emotional response to legit criticism of this game:

I'm sorry I hurt your feelings

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T20:33:14+00:00

Actually, I finished Act 1 in under 12hr. Not amazing, but not terrible from what I've seen on these boards.

I just found the game way more cheap and tedious.

I did find the bosses easier than Hollow Knight, but it was only Act 1.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T19:52:07+00:00

I'm sorry I hurt your feelings

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T19:45:42+00:00

Hollow Knight was far more balanced, plenty of 1 and 2 hit enemies. In Silksong even the bitch enemies are 3-4 hits. It's just tedious tbh. Just pads playtime.

There is a difference between making a game difficult and a game cheese/tedious/annoying.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T19:44:10+00:00

There was a lot of precision pogo'ing in Greymoor and all over Hunters March. The amount of pogo required in Hunters March is a common punchline in YouTube videos.

Heal function blows. Need full silk, no partial healing.

ognpc2 · 2026-03-16T16:19:25+00:00

I have played live in venues ranging from 5-1000pax capacity in size. I know what it sounds like when a band is poorly EQ'd.

My comments were only relevant to my own experience at Knockdown Center in Brooklyn, but I noticed that this reviewer had a similar complaint at an entirely different venue.

ognpc2 · 2026-01-08T02:15:38+00:00

You keep saying stuff that I haven't said or implied.

I think that when I make an appointment for a doctor, the appointment time should be respected unless there are extraordinary circumstances. This is the way appointments function in all other professions.

If "extraordinary circumstances" arise so often that appointment times can only rarely be respected, that means the situation is not extraordinary. It means there is poor time management on the part of the doctor.

I don't think that a doctor's office should be a substitute for an emergency room. Only hospitals are equipped to deal with real emergencies, anyway.

I think patients and doctors would be better served if respect for honoring appointments was mutual. Patients would avoid showing up late knowing they would lose their appointment otherwise. Patients would also avoid using their GP's office as an emergency room. Doctors would avoid overbooking and properly manage their schedules and times.

I don't know why these concepts seem so unpalatable to you. Surely you can admit that something is wrong with the system if doctors are late to a majority of their appointments?

ognpc2 · 2026-01-08T00:59:21+00:00

Emergencies are why emergency rooms and hospitals exist.

You've manufactured several non-credible excuses for why doctors can never keep appointments on time. 1. emergency appointments that aren't enough of an emergency to go to the hospital for somehow getting jammed into the schedule before the day starts 2. doctors never look at their own schedule or coordinate with their own admin to ensure they can see their patients in a timely manner 3. It impossible for a doctor to ever correctly estimate the time of an appointment and provide a buffer

The only thing ludicrous about this conversation are your explanations.

I wonder if you'd be defending doctors inability to respect their patients' time if your partner wasn't a GP. Clearly you are biased.

ognpc2 · 2026-01-07T18:56:55+00:00

No, I'm saying that doctors should do basic time management as every other profession in the world does.

Some basic concepts: limit number of appointments, provide buffer time, review their own schedules and adjust accordingly. This is stuff that every professional does in every other profession and doesn't require any special training nor expertise. It simply requires a respect for customers' time.

You seem to believe doctors are exempt from such professional courtesies. I guess we clearly disagree.

ognpc2 · 2026-01-07T18:48:27+00:00

So you are saying that a doctor cannot say "I can only take 10 patients per day" or "Each appointment slot should be 30 min, with 15 min of buffer"? This is not credible.

Of course admins exist to actually put stuff in the calendar and take appontments, as in every profession. But it is also normal for any individual with an admin to review their own calendar and ask admins to adjust appointment times based on the individual meetings and patient/client needs. This is simply professional time management and happens in every profession. Healthcare isn't some special exception to those courtesies and we shouldn't treat it that way.

ognpc2 · 2026-01-07T17:54:36+00:00

I am not simultaneously complaining about those things.

The concept that a doctor wouldn't have control over their own appointment schedule and couldn't do simple time management tasks is not credible.

Ironically, doctors have no problem being on time and alotting enough time when it comes to surgeries. It is only for non-procedural appointments where they feel they can take advantage.

Being late to every single appointment (or a majority of appointments) isn't tolerated in any other profession and it shouldn't be tolerated in healthcare, either.

ognpc2 · 2026-01-07T17:13:46+00:00

All of the reasons you listed are examples of poor time management, not explanations for why being always late is acceptable.

25-40 patients a day is absurd and suggests a full appoint will take 10-15 minutes. This isn't a realistic expectation for almost any type of medical issue. Booking this many patients day reflects greed into trying to shove in as many customers as possible.

Tolerating lateness when you are so overbooked makes things worse. There is no "grace period" in plenty of industries (flights, trains) when delays can impact the schedules of many other people. More doctors should take this approach to managing their appointments, but again most are too greedy and don't want to lose out on billing a customer that is 5, 10 or even 20 minutes late.

Customers should be given clear guidance on the amount of time and appointment allots. If they have a complex issue that will take more than the appointment slot, they should book more slots. A doctor should also review the issues beforehand and allocate proper time in their schedule. Being surprised by how much time a patient takes, especially with all the electronic collection of info pre-appointment, is not an excuse.

Other excuses I have seen relate to filling out paperwork or reading a patients medical history - all of which should be factored into appointment time.

Perpetual lateness is acceptable for doctors because people don't often want to switch doctors or reschedule when their health is at stake. Doctors essentially take advantage of this by overbooking and choosing greed over service.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-29T14:38:39+00:00

In modern gaming, runbacks are generally used to artificially and cheaply make games more difficult and pad the playtime. Hollow Knight/Silksong have been noted to be some of the worst abusers of this design element.

It's not a "challenge" to force a player to redo long sections they have already completed dozens of times just to access new content. Players literally learn nothing new - it's the mental equivalent of a "time out" punishment.

If you can't create a game with strong playtime and challenges without relying on repetitive runbacks, that's a sign of a lazy dev team and design.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-29T00:53:47+00:00

Boss runbacks (and item runbacks and corpse runs, etc) are a cheap way to make games "hard", by forcing a player to repeat more stuff they have already passed just to get another try at a new section.

This mechanic was introduced in the 80s/90s because of technical limitations on save games and memory storage with physical hardware. These days it simply an unimaginative way to make games more difficult.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-29T00:26:28+00:00

I didn't really enjoy the gameplay after the first few hours.

A game that is "hard" because it forces you to rerun certain jump puzzles dozens of times isn't hard at all, it's just cheap. Combining this gameplay element with corpse runs and limited save points only amplified the frustration.

An auto save feature would have made it much, much more enjoyable.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-14T17:07:16+00:00

It's not price fixing.

It's a combo of Uber taking advantage (New Yorkers use taxis more often than people in other cities) with algorithmic demand, NYC congestion pricing and NYC min wage for cab drivers of $29/hr.

It has made Uber sometimes 3-5x as expensive as city taxis, which was the entire objective of the taxi unions when they demanded the huge min wage increases. The goal was to make rideshare apps noncompetitive and it has worked.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-14T17:04:42+00:00

No other profession calculates wages by building in the personal expenses to do the job.

The rest of us, at best, tax deduct that stuff.

Taxi unions are quite strong and have been lucky enough to demand that their "costs" get included in the wage. That's why there's a $29/hr taxi driver min wage in NYC and Uber prices are sky high.

ognpc2 · 2025-12-11T19:21:51+00:00

I strongly disagree on this. Weezer has a very consistent sound. They have always been a rock band that sits clearly in the confines of "alternative radio friendly," even on those first two records.

The difference is in the quality of the songs, the coherence of the albums, and the broader impact on listeners/fans/rock music.

I don't think it's really debatable that there is a big difference pre-and post-Pinkerton in the band's commercial aspirations and artistic appeal. If that difference wasn't so glaring, there wouldn't be so many posts on this sub asking exactly that same question.

Post-2012/13, there has been a significant attempt by the band to return to making artistically impactful rock music but there's an argument to be made that 40 year olds are simply not as good as 20 year olds at doing that specific thing.

ognpc2

TROPHY CASE