I had a terrible time with DAO until I read one thing that helped improve the whole game:

‘Get Wynne’

Once you unlock her character you will actually be able to progress at a reasonable rate without incredible headache allowing you to enjoy more of the story.

I broke through the exact same situation you had and finished the game beyond what most Hollow Knight players will achieve just so I can legitimately criticise this game that so many people apparently love.

You’ve picked out the exact same mechanic that I also criticise. It wastes the players time and is anti-fun.

I’d also add that the map mechanic is also terrible.

My fun factor increased 10x when I found a hollow knight map online to use that had key locations marked. Ironically it was a very soft touch map that just gave general guidance without too many spoilers and this improved my experience of the game.

I’d question whether hollow knight is really a skill issue on your part.

I’ve done the ‘path of pain’ and I still don’t understand why people love the game so much.

It has solid combat, true, but some of the fundamental game mechanics (like save points and the map system) are designed to pad the game time and frustrate the player. Its poor design and the fact they weren’t called out on it is disappointing.

Making a save point 40 seconds from a difficult boss fight doesn’t make me or any player git gud. It’s needlessly frustrating.

Reminds me of this story which I still regularly quote:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240627233128/https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertarian-police-department

The greens standing in the way of the HAFF showed me exactly what they are.

Willing to play politics on a demonstrably good piece of policy just so they can crow about how leftist they are while denying people housing.

No I won’t be joining anytime soon.

lol at thinking Americans are mostly centrists…

I’m not empathetic to people who practice a religion where they believe homosexuals are morally wrong.

My adult brain comprehends that just fine.

S is next to D on the keyboard.

Twitter was always shit.

Like all social media.

If I broke down and you came to help me I wouldn’t care if you were wearing a full fursuit.

I’d be thanking you to no end.

Yes words can mean different things.

Airbus pilots hear the removed call-out all the time.

This is a work of art.

It’s early in the morning, I didn’t see the ! In your original comment 🥲

Except the timelines they have for all the course are as if he was a full time student…. Something isn’t adding up here.

There are all female lodges though.