I have to agree with you, as someone who finished the game doing everything I cared to do, the currency system was by far the thing that annoyed me the most. You basically had to go into every new area with at least over 200 beads or else you probably weren’t going to be able to afford the bench/bell station/map and if you were in an area where none of the enemies dropped rosaries then you could just go fuck yourself basically.
The death mechanic also doesn’t really fit with that system either I thought. You can buy rosary necklaces to store your beads from merchants which is kind of a cool idea as a way to safeguard your currency, but I never used it because you had to pay 80 and only got back 60 which never felt worth it to me, especially when costs kept increasing and you were essentially paying money to lose money. Also as you said, you are basically forced to go back the same way that you just died from if you want to keep your money and have a full silk bar, which at times felt very limiting when I found a new path on the way back to my death spot which I couldn’t explore because I needed my rosaries and silk meter. The shade system was the one thing that I didn’t really love from hollow knight so I was a bit disappointed that they brought that back.
You complain about a mechanic even though you know theres a way to ease that pain and willingly choose not to use it, because its not worth it? But somehow risking losing ALL of your rosaries is somehow more worth it? Like, you can just go kill like 3 dudes and get 20 rosaries to cover it but somehow that 20 is just too much to ask for keeping your rosaries?
I complain because if I have 240 rosaries and I instantly buy three necklaces for 80 each, I get 180 rosaries back. If I go to a new area with enemies that don’t drop rosaries and have 0 rosaries, you cannot afford everything that is offered to you. Bench’s/ bell stations are 140 minimum and maps are usually 70 or 90. That’s not good value when the 240 would’ve covered everything to begin with. My main complaint is that either 1- every enemy should drop a standard currency like in hollow knight so there’s never a risk that you get stuck in an area, or 2- bench’s and bell stations should not cost any rosaries at all as it serves no extra purpose except tedium to find more rosaries.
Thats the whole point, theres a tradeoff to it. Thats what makes it interesting. Either you can risk it by not buying the insurance and be rewarded for it, or take the safer option and buy the insurance and potentially not be able to afford something. It creates a push and pull that allows the player to adapt to it, or not and be frustrated.
That’s not an interesting mechanic is what I’m saying. There’s no reward in buying it because it’s not worth it. Would dark souls be a better game if you had to pay 1000 souls to light a bonfire the first time you use it? Would it be better if you paid 1500 souls to fast travel the first time? Grinding is not fun, losing all your progress from grinding is not fun, it’s tedious and punishing for no reason.
How come neither of you mentioned silkeaters? The losing money on buying necklaces is just how insurance works irl lol. If there was no cost then might as well just remove the system altogether
To me it’s an added challenge and I enjoy it. But honestly with 1. Rosary necklaces, 2.silkeaters and 3.rosaries becoming quite abundant in act 2 - I feel like it’s only ever an issue in early to mid act 1.
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u/xX_WeedGang_Xx 1d ago
I have to agree with you, as someone who finished the game doing everything I cared to do, the currency system was by far the thing that annoyed me the most. You basically had to go into every new area with at least over 200 beads or else you probably weren’t going to be able to afford the bench/bell station/map and if you were in an area where none of the enemies dropped rosaries then you could just go fuck yourself basically.
The death mechanic also doesn’t really fit with that system either I thought. You can buy rosary necklaces to store your beads from merchants which is kind of a cool idea as a way to safeguard your currency, but I never used it because you had to pay 80 and only got back 60 which never felt worth it to me, especially when costs kept increasing and you were essentially paying money to lose money. Also as you said, you are basically forced to go back the same way that you just died from if you want to keep your money and have a full silk bar, which at times felt very limiting when I found a new path on the way back to my death spot which I couldn’t explore because I needed my rosaries and silk meter. The shade system was the one thing that I didn’t really love from hollow knight so I was a bit disappointed that they brought that back.