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I can see where you're coming from, though personally I didn't really run into that problem, I found the latter areas to be pretty consistent with the rest of the game, honestly.GAH I missed the end of the old ST and lots of cool discussion and stuff just because I was doing something DUMB like working.
@Suswave Your ST was wonderful, it will go down in history for its glorious abyssyness (which is a word... totally!)
@NabiscoFelt I missed the Ender Lilies hot take! And I say: I loved Ender Lilies a lot, it was in my top 3 GOTY for 2021, but it's not the best Igavania, it definitely has some flaws. Mostly due to the last few areas:Basically for me, Ender Lilies was a 10/10 until around halfway through, then steadily dropped to around an 8.5/10 by the end. The ending itself is good, though!The latter third of the game relies way too much on combat, particularly those "lock the door and make you kill everything to advance" rooms. Too much of that, and not enough exploration. The balance between the two was much better in the first half of the game. I also thought that it got a little too grindy/gauntlet-y near the end, as in the fun of exploring the atmospheric melancholy world was replaced by just having to push through sections of the world to try to get to the next save point.
And that last area where the literal atmosphere damages you was just bad, IMO. It was tense and difficult, which I assume was the goal, but it also just wasn't very fun.
I think that while the atmosphere, music, and vibe of Ender Lilies is pretty much unparalleled, there are lots of Igavanias that are overall better games. Hollow Knight for sure, and probably most of the literal Igavanias. But still a great game!
I can't actually think of many "lock door until you kill all the enemies" rooms. Like, maybe one or two, and those mostly in the mid game castle areas. Maybe I didn't realize some of them though
As far as my actual hot take goes, I wouldn't really call HK an Igavania, and personally I'm not enamored with the Igavania design philosophy. The two actual Castlevania ones I've played, SoTN and Aria, have been excellent, and honestly considering them in totality I'm not sure my hot take stands. I really didn't like Bloodstained so I'm confident that Ender Lilies is better than that at least
My original take was mostly coming from a gameplay standpoint, since I think Ender Lillies has a better take on the Spirit/Soul/whatever system that became a staple of Igavanias, since it removes the RNG and grinding elements. Also it just has more involved and (imo) straight up better combat, so each new skill feel more meaningful.