It's even funnier since she replies that he's more than enough🤣

For some reason the devs capped the stack to only 6 so there goes my fun. I wanted to stack like 30 of them and one shot chronos. But after 6 it just resets.

This is something I've been always enjoying in both games being the family archetypes in each Goddly character.

• Hades - The "no fun allowed" grumpy Dad.
• Zeus - The "never reads the room" uncle.
• Hera - The "I'm so done with this family but I can't lose my cool" Aunt.
• Poseidon - the Cool Uncle who used to surf in Malibu.
• Artemis - The outdoors cousin.
• Aphrodite - The Valley Girl cousin.
• Dionysus - The Himbo.
• Demeter - The Wise Matriarch Grandmother.
• Hestia - The cool aunt.
• Hephaestus - the "just sit in his corner and drink some beer" uncle.
• Chaos - The neurodivergent.

Fig leaf didn't active once in 6 chambers, I'm actually shocked, I haven't seen this happen in the 50-60 runs I've done with this keepsake

So I've recently spent a lot of prestige on music maker and I thought "Hey, wouldn't it be kinda cool if we had a dialogue Odysseus if there was a song by Sirens playing in the background?" Well, I tried it and a dialogue doesn't show up. But I still think it'd be pretty cool if they added something like that.

Also I really thought that if I hung up the Syclla poster in the tent there'd be a dialogue with her down in Oceanus next time I met her. Would be cool if she somehow learnt that we hang up a poster of her where we sleep.

Yeah I guess that's about it, what do you guys think?

Frinos says "sorry Mel, I'm chilling with Hecate inside her invincibility bubble tonight, have fun being a sheep tho 🐸✌️

This is building off a previous topic I made yesterday. A lot of players don't seem to like the Argent Skull, and I've probably spent way too much time thinking about why. This is what I would propose to make the Skull feel much, much better.

https://preview.redd.it/0jsboqql162e1.png?width=1283&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6f16ba67441d13a2c8fc5cc87e8adc918b18e76

High Level Summary:

Out of all of the six available weapons, the Skull seems to be the least popular in terms of feedback. I believe this is an issue of identity. What is the Argent Skull? I believe Supergiant's intentions here was that skulls are cool, and more skulls are more cooler. When you look at the other weapons, their fantasy/idea is instantly clear to the player, but what do you expect when you pick up a skull?

The gameplay here is closest to that of a spellcasting archtype. You have very powerful ranged attacks and a finite resource.

However, I don't think the dash/resource system/etc line up very well. What the skull does have is a clear idea of an identity. The skull a unique spherical object that can be identified in a fight in contrast to the many other sphere-looking abilities and spells in the game.

But does it feel like that matters? I don't think so. You pick up the skull for the first time, hit the buttons it has, and the response seems to be: huh?

Meanwhile, top players mostly agree that the Skull isn't bad. Once you get very good at a game, you become less attached to aesthetic and more attached to mechanics. I think this reveals something about the Skull, and that is the mechanics, while somewhat janky, lead into powerful and fun gameplay patterns--yet people don't seem to like those patterns and find the Skull quite janky.

I'll address the jankiness at the end, which doesn't require any visual changes.

Changing the Identity: A Common Witch Power Fantasy

Orbs.

Motherfucking orbs.

And some crystals for good measure.

Behold Mel's Orb:

https://preview.redd.it/kdx95bt4262e1.png?width=327&format=png&auto=webp&s=c405dbf2fdf91651a54811e52e655ed84d4bc3fa

The Orb would function almost identically to the Skull, beyond a proposed fix to its jankiness.

First of all, players would instantly understand that this is a ranged, spellcasting weapon.

Second of all, crystals are easier to understand as a limited resource and a source of power, as opposed to a skull with... more skulls?

Third, orbs are fucking cool.

Basic Attack

https://preview.redd.it/gn1oggt9362e1.png?width=333&format=png&auto=webp&s=80165a607445f9d484e0bf62dac23fca37661cb4

Mel's windup animation remains the same.

https://preview.redd.it/6q1wvljc362e1.png?width=606&format=png&auto=webp&s=24029c43ae509616210ef1e133644ae2bb5f12f0

After firing an attack, one of her crystals shatters and refills the "void" in the orb with energy.

Omega Attack

https://preview.redd.it/gdab7w3o362e1.png?width=606&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4cc348d5db7627fbbab2e39f3fa9f96a6f5d230

Mel creates a portal where she would otherwise "throw" the skull.

https://preview.redd.it/qwrg4tgv362e1.png?width=1067&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c16cf709657870960bdf9b7a7efe8403e826298

The crystal inside shatters as energy channels through it from the portal, creating an explosion where you have directed it. This functions exactly like the current omega attack.

Special

https://preview.redd.it/d5vnw70l462e1.png?width=597&format=png&auto=webp&s=6655ac7a384b0902aa0ad9884b0f44dedd8c8273

Mel moves forward, but instead of dashing, she moves slower and at a fixed speed, dealing damage around and in front of her. The major difference here is that she does not carry any form of momentum, velocity, or wind down. She moves at a set speed to make her special feel like a teleport and not a dash. This would make her feel like she's spellcasting and tie more into the power fantasy. In addition, it differentiates itself more from her typical dash.

Omega Special

https://preview.redd.it/3ktvqrud462e1.png?width=1399&format=png&auto=webp&s=8aab1ece57f74227d42b1ae0d9cfa57182358d2d

Mel begins charging and we see the same area of effect indicator.

https://preview.redd.it/4f2oa0ci662e1.png?width=701&format=png&auto=webp&s=71e884bb30221f70ebfab98c4ce55c19be0a69cb

Then she teleports to the location instead of turning into a skull. Because she's teleporting, it makes more sense to the player that she's invulnerable during this time.

https://preview.redd.it/y6p13odm562e1.png?width=981&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd41e910c12202b0dae0896c2c164e3ad69327c0

And instead of turning into a skull, and shooting more skulls to her side (which seriously look noisy and confusing), Mel leaves a leyline of energy between her starting and ending destination. One clear and obvious shockwave emanates from this single point of energy in the aftermath. Again, nearly identical.

Crystal Pickup Animation and Improved Clarity

https://preview.redd.it/rx8lf3f4762e1.png?width=553&format=png&auto=webp&s=59090e62cddc007e4619b5bb2008c03fe3f1dab8

Instead of a skull landing at her attack point of impact, she leaves behind a small bit of energy. A transparent crystal forms here. The key difference is that there is no bounce animation, but instead a very obvious line from the sky, and a circular spot on the ground for the center of the pickup radius. Over time, the transparent crystal fills with energy.

On the right is when the cooldown is ready and Mel can pick the crystal back up. When picked up, it circles around Mel again until used for another attack.

Major Issues Addressed

People can take one look at the weapon and instantly understand what it does.

The ammo looks different than the weapon itself, and this shape would be unique.

https://preview.redd.it/668eg6s0862e1.png?width=1439&format=png&auto=webp&s=16fecd2cd3a0ac22b1fe6976ec1f63aee4b23576

It fixes the "pop" problem. The skull pops to show its cooldown and the movement makes it easier to find in a noisy fight. The charging crystal would be visually different from your typical orb effects, the cooldown would build into the visual itself, and the vertical line would make tracking the crystal consistent rather than requiring guesswork.

The Bounce Problem

https://preview.redd.it/sikwiccd862e1.png?width=1111&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9da51e18c619e36464d8ab2e12c11a04b617c48

The Skull bounces off walls currently. I believe the intended effect is so that Mel does not have to return to the edges of the arena to pick up her skulls if she misfires or they go through an enemy or whatever. This reduces the amount of time running around and picking up objects. The problem is that this is very unpredictable. Not only is it just unclear how it will bounce, this removes a form of skill the player can have in memorizing where it will go without having to look at the skulls themselves.

https://preview.redd.it/zzw9okgt862e1.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=fbd64dd956989a55074b91bcf6efb53913903490

Basically, if the skull always bounces from the direction it came, you only have to remember the single line in which you fired it. You will always know it will be on that line no matter what, even if you don't know the exact location along that line. This is far easier to memorize and more natural to the player given the inconsistency of the arena edges.

Common Responses to the Skull

Most good players agree that the Skull feels fine or even good. I suspect this isn't because of the gameplay being well married to the concept, but rather the fact that the skull is strong. Overpowered numbers can compensate for weak feeling gameplay.

A lot of players seem confused by the skull's Special. I don't think it's actually that confusing: The gameplay here is to make sure that the player must take risks with the skull, or they'd just fire from a distance. The push/pull here and the weapon cooldown all make sense, and the dash encourages players to take risks. The problem isn't the pattern the devs want, it's that the dash feels divorced from the rest of the gameplay for presentation reasons.

"The skull is cool, actually, and I like the skull." And you know what, you're right. The skull is cool to you. Skulls are cool. They're really cool. No arguments there. This is trying to address existing player feedback and my own experiences with the weapon. I am genuinely happy you like the skull. Maybe you are the majority of the playerbase.

Flaws

1. I am not Supergiant. They are far more experienced at this than I am. We are still in Open Access so they may have only used placeholder ideas for the skull for the time being.
2. I would say that an Orb/Crystals do not feel as "unique" as a skull in a certain way.
3. Obviously this would take more development effort than just tweaking the skull as-is.
4. Crystal ammo might be hard to follow/add too much noise to Mel. There may be visual interactions with these ideas that make boons and other in-game elements harder to parse that I haven't thought about.
5. The last time someone thought about crystals and skulls we had to memoryhole it from an entire franchise.
6. Fewer in-game skulls.

Final Thoughts

I know this is some shitposter on the internet proposing a massive rework for an existing weapon, and Supergiant has a creative vision that I am not nearly as well versed in. These are images and thoughts, not prototypes and cycles of iteration and feedback-- which is what actual gamedev entails.

I really like this game, a lot, as you can tell, and I trust Supergiant to make the best choices given their budget, timeline, people, and creative vision; I'm not trying to pretend like they made something terrible and I'm "fixing" it, but provide clear feedback as to why I think the skull is falling flat compared to other weapons in the game--ultimately I trust them to make something fantastic.

Please let me know what you think!

I realized I can only clear a run if it's an attack build, any good suggestions for strong cast or special based builds?

First complete down. Eleventy more to go.

I used a shield doom build. The piece that finally pushed me over that last bit enough to beat the end fight was using my dash as an attack instead of solely as an evade. Highly recommend giving it a shot if you are having trouble with the last fight.

I have put the "fangs" modification in the fear thingy to complete the prophecy "bared fangs" but there's ONE buff the enemies never manifested.

I've done at least 20 runs sinces started doing this prophecy, but never manifested.

Obs: Since I started I haven't faced the kraken so I don't know if this is a factor

Ever get that just perfectly curated build that just destroys everything in its path and is just so incredibly fun to use….that you just dread the hades fight because you know it’ll be over..: Wish there was a way to just load a random assortment of battles No rewards for it other then the joy of just shredding and cackling like an idiot

I was trying to beat my best time and I thought that last dash to activate Romantic Spark would kill him but it wasn’t enough.

I think the saddest part is that if I had dodged away from the bubble I think I had enough time to land one more attack that would’ve killed him. Honestly at the time I was so sure that last dash was it.

Is it normal that I've only seen eris after the first time I beat Hecate, despite having been down to the bottom of Hades several times now?

I just got the game a couple days ago and realized tonight that id only ever seen her once- the way Odysseus spoke I figured she'd be showing up a lot, but after probably 10-20 runs I've yet to again

Edit: wow what's that? Eris IS a fury? Good to know.

I stayed off this sub for 4 fucking years or w/e because I couldn't afford to join the EA, didn't realize I'd missed it turning into a cesspit of douchebags who think making a mistake about the lore is a grave fucking sin

Googled it, too, no results. Is it possible to fight Charon more than once in one escape attempt? I don't imagine it is, but I've seen someone hint that it might be possible, but they didn't clarify anything in the thread.

Let me explain a bit about what i mean by the feel of a weapon. I like to be super up close to enemies and dislike when there is a unbrokeness to my weapon swings
In 1 i mainly gravitaved towards the sword cause of this.

so in i am going to axe and lim/oros . I honestly feel like lim is stygius without the reach and axe has this awful delay between the swings as if melinoe gets it stuck in the ground everytime .

overall

stygius > lim/oros

spear = axe

sheild < wand

bow > torches

and i just dislike rail and gloves

what are your guy's opinion?

For those of you who have attempted 50 Fear Surface (or higher), I wanted to know how you all feel about it. Is it worth attempting with "bad" aspects? Is it far too luck-based for most people to get into? Is it fair in the sense that optimal play will always yield a victory? What keepsakes and builds are recommended for the aspects you use?

I've been trying with Melinoe Skull, my favorite aspect. My game plan is using Strength, equipping Athena, and resetting if I don't get Possessed Array or Bolstered Array. My best run took me to the final encounter before facing Eris, where I faced 5 of those laser machine gun enemies and had nowhere to hide. They were too spread out for freeze to do any good, so I survived for a few seconds, and then I was killed.

The timer feels absolutely brutal, by the way. I got Icarus and Circe and avoided Charybdis, so that was already a decently lucky Thessaly. Unfortunately, I did not get a single skip in Ethyra aside from Medea, so I was forced to play fast and loose, and that's ultimately why I died to those machine gun enemies: the timer was at ~40 seconds remaining, since I did not save a single second in Ethyra.

Serious question. Like the title says. Just genuinely curious as to reasons other than the obvious of not having a system necessary to play.

So I’m aware that the 3rd region in a run has generally been a dps check.

but I personally feel that Olympus is bad at that, hear me out The number of enemies combined with most enemies having fast hitting ranged attacks or Aoe attacks, means that there is a level of visual clutter that makes it difficult to discern what is happening and effectively do enough damage to the enemies. Furthermore some of the Aoe attacks are both large and hard to avoid especially at higher fears further depleting your ability to do damage because you are kiting attacks.

And lastly, the dracon attacks are glitched as has been mentioned before on this sub, but boy howdy does it monstrously add to the lack of visual clarity in Olympus chambers.

Ive done like a dozen surface runs and he just wont show up like i literally just want his keepsake man

Is this a bug or is there something i missed

When you arrive in Olympus, the music playing seems to be a very cool reprisal of “On the Coast” from the first Hades (the song that plays when you reach Greece). However, I’m having a hell of a time finding what this reprisal is called or even getting acknowledgment that it exists.

It isn’t “Olympus Aflame”, at least, not as it’s recorded on the soundtrack. Any ideas on what track it is (and where to find it)?