So I posted recently about something with Hollow Knight and how I was too fat fingered to do the white palace
Well before I wrote that I got as far as the room that has the secret wall to the Path of Pain. I resigned myself after going at the normal way it for hours and getting stuck there.
After writing , I tried to have a go at it again and reading guides to what to do, I finally got through it after an embarrasing amount of hours... now I know it is a skill issue I have with platformers and I was hating myself the whole way through while using a keyboard.
I hated doing it, felt like the game was going to break me but I carried on cursing the game for every inch of progress I made. I can acknowledge that the White Palace was well made ( although the saws and spear mechanisms will probably give me nightmares) , felt a bit overtuned on the timings, but again what do I know I am horrible with platforming in general.
If the normal white palace gave me this much trouble, then I will probably get aneurysms trying to do the path of pain and give respect to those that have will to do it
I don't wish to discourage anyone from playing the game though, my embarrasing amount of hours I put into completing the White Place is more an effect of me literally brute forcing my brain to get timings right and then playing a section at a time that the many sections on an obstacle becomes one set piece action when I stop thinking and let muscle memory take over
It was a very confusing mish mash between loathing and appreciation and trying not to let it beat me. I guess my pride refused to let it get the better of me. I was relatively calm as I was going through it this recent session as I was making a mistake, I see I was making a mistake and then just repeatedly trying to get past a section, and feeling exhausted realized it wasn't finished yet.
It was a very "Are you winning, son?" Moment.
There is one thing I have acknowledged about Hollow Knight is that the controls are on point and the frame rate is smooth, so the mistakes I am making is me not getting that sweet spot on the controls and not understanding the timings. So for me to compensate for my poorer platforming skills I had to almost preload myself with the sequence to get through a section.
Kept repeating to myself this must some kind of bdsm torture ( not going to specify what exactly) and bless the people who make the game but screw the person who did this area.
So I guess I hated it that it was doing this to me but at the same time it was a mentally stimulating experience because I had to actually knuckle down and focus. And when push came to shove I actually have to engage with the game. It is not something I would want to do regularly, but it was a different type of experience
Also considered looking into it on a second playthrough once I complete the current one to see all the stuff I missed for a less stressful experience once I can tell myself I did this the way the developers intended.