Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 29: Hollow Knight

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Todays game is Hollow Knight. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest?
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Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.82 (19 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.73 (24 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.72 (27 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.28 (50 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.21 (31 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (37 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.91 (29 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.73 (20 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.68 (25 votes)
Bioshock - 7.6 (22 votes)
Celeste - 7.5 (23 votes)
*Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.38 (28 votes)*
Tales of the Abyss - 7.34 (27 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7.14 (18 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.86 (19 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.77 (15 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.62 (25 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.43 (26 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.62 (27 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.41 (26 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.77 (24 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name> <rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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I have no idea why Hollow Knight was nominated. The game barely has a story and what's there is like Dark Souls--.

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Nominate Steins;Gate

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5

*shrug*
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KamikazePotato posted...

I have no idea why Hollow Knight was nominated. The game barely has a story and what's there is like Dark Souls--.

But Dark Souls doesn't have funny map bug

8/10 for funny map bug

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KamikazePotato posted...

I have no idea why Hollow Knight was nominated. The game barely has a story and what's there is like Dark Souls--.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDiWYFGGqY

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I nominated Hollow Knight. I love its story! 10/10

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KamikazePotato posted...

I have no idea why Hollow Knight was nominated. The game barely has a story and what's there is like Dark Souls--.

It's like Dark Souls except the dialogue isn't stilted and bad.

7/10 for me

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HK is a weird one for me to evaluate, because when I found out how much depth there really was to the story, I was mystified and also transfixed...but at the same time, a lot of it is kinda weird. The Pale King's plan to deal with the corruption was to birth a bunch of soulless kids and hope one of them could serve as a vessel to contain it? And oh look, it didn't work. What a surprise.

It's also incredibly easy to miss, as KP pointed out, so you really have to go digging to find it. In that regard, it's very rewarding for the people who uncover it, and very irrelevant to anyone who doesn't. Team Cherry certainly decided rather than presenting the story, to simply suggest at it enough that eventually the fanbase would come together to figure it out. Personally, I think it's obscure enough that it deserved to be docked a bit for that.

Where HK really excels is its ambiance. The game reeks of a vibrant, breathing world. The story serves to further enhance that, but I'm not sure how much of a two-way street it is. That's a funny thing to say, considering the discoveries you make through the world are the inferences you mostly need to draw any conclusions at all about the story, but seeing as it's possible to reach and defeat the final boss without even finding the most important parts of the story -- I thought I had done a pretty solid job of exploring Hallownest and had a lot of trouble finding a way to access one of the three required sub-bosses that forced me to explore even more, and I still never completed several important components of the "full game" until prompted by an online guide -- I understand why someone might not fully embrace this story.

That said, it is rather interesting and unique, and the delivery is one that reinforces the curiosity that should drive the entire game, so I think there's certainly something of value here. Supposing that you find it.

8/10

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azuarc posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDiWYFGGqY

Lore is not a story. Dark Souls already pushed the limits of hiding its world under easy-to-miss details, and Hollow Knight goes ever farther in that direction to its detriment. I never felt a sense of curiosity when playing Hollow Knight. There has to be some overt story to draw you in. Otherwise what's the difference between playing the game and watching a youtube video or reading a wiki?

4/10

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8.5

It will forever be funny to me that the devs had not played Dark Souls, played Bloodborne instead, and then accidentally recreated most of Dark Souls's plot independentl6. I think I gave Dark Souls an 8, so it's fair to add +0.5 for cute bugs.

In all serious, the lore being distributed mostly via NPCs does add a lot to the coziness of the game despite the bleak atmosphere which creates a nice feeling. There's a lot of neat concepts and speculation aspects too. It's a little more "fun" that way which makes me give it a slight edge.

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9

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Hollow Knight has a story? Haven't played, so I can't rate.

Nominate Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

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9/10

that one point docked is for how easy it is to miss the best parts of the game's story. it's a 10 otherwise

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8/10

It's not really as obscure/hard to find as some people are saying it is.

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colliding posted...

It's not really as obscure/hard to find as some people are saying it is.

Definitely agree with this. A lot of the smaller details are very, very obscure, but the basic story of who you are, what the plague is, how they tried to stop it in the past, and how you're going to try to stop it now is pretty hard to miss.

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7.5/10

Story not really the main appeal of the game imo but I do like what's there. Also gives a sense of meaning to the exploration you're doing which I think is quite important.

Nominate Persona 3
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7

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7

It's a difficult one, because the game's story is so hidden that it makes Dark Souls look transparent, but what's there is great. Not sure if I'd consider the ambiance part of the story or not, but the way you see the world evolve as the story progresses is interesting, and the characters are mostly fun and memorable

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2

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6.5

Story isn't the draw here. There's not much to it, but what's there helps set the atmosphere. Not a big fan of the Dark Souls-style hidden lore based story structure.

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1

I really didn't care about the story and lore in this one. It was trying so hard to be 2D Dark Souls or Bloodborne in it's presentation and it misfired on all cylinders.

The game is the single most overrated thing to come out in the last generation of video games. The map is horrid. It is inexcusable that a map system is this bad in 2017 especially for a Metroidvania. After I beat the game I had no desire to pursue the DLCs or have to do anything with future sequels. The boss battles were the only thing that gripped me and I had a pretty good time with. Exploration was a nightmare.

Sorry it went off topic from the 2nd paragraph.

Kenri posted...

It's like Dark Souls except the dialogue isn't stilted and bad.

7/10 for me

I resent this post so much. It is like the literal opposite of what you said.

Nominate Silent Hill 4: The Room

Plot is not the same as story.

Story can be told through environment, gameplay, lore, etc.

Thus I give Hollow Knight an...8!
Because as intriguing as it was I didn't quite get it all! But the characters were cool too.

nom Kingdom Hearts

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Axl_Rose_85 posted...

I resent this post so much. It is like the literal opposite of what you said.

I like Dark Souls but the dialogue is really bad, didn't realize this was a controversial opinion!

Hollow Knight definitely has some stilted dialogue (mostly Hornet and the Dreamers) but I thought most of it was pretty natural and well-written. To each their own I guess!

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pjbasis posted...

Plot is not the same as story.

Story can be told through environment, gameplay, lore, etc.

There are a LOT of different definitions for Story and Plot.

Story is usually defined as a work that expresses meaning/ideas through character conflict.

Plot is usually defined as the sequence of events within the story. ("This happens, which causes this to happen, which causes this character to react, etc.")

I once read a flash fiction story that consisted of a grocery list and nothing more. There was no plot at all, but the items on the list told a story.

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Kenri posted...

I like Dark Souls but the dialogue is really bad, didn't realize this was a controversial opinion!

Shit-Ass Dead Dude... Know'st thou of Hell Fuck Castle, high in the mountains...? (laughter). It was once the domain of King Big Sad Guy, who did the Flame Thing.. Legend tells of the castle's steward, the great and terrible HorseDog, but who is to say if it still roams the halls... (solid minute of laughter). Oh, how silly of me; but of course, a new arrival in Drangranthric wouldst know not such tales... One such as thee... wouldst be better suited to sharpen the blades of the dreaded wraith of Why'd They Put Anorher FUCKIN SWAMP LEVEL Marsh..... Armor Type of Dude. That is... ifst thoust canst livest thatst longst... (five minutes of laughter; unskippable)

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Axl_Rose_85 posted...

1

I really didn't care about the story and lore in this one. It was trying so hard to be 2D Dark Souls or Bloodborne in it's presentation and it misfired on all cylinders.

The game is the single most overrated thing to come out in the last generation of video games. The map is horrid. It is inexcusable that a map system is this bad in 2017 especially for a Metroidvania. After I beat the game I had no desire to pursue the DLCs or have to do anything with future sequels. The boss battles were the only thing that gripped me and I had a pretty good time with. Exploration was a nightmare.

Today, on Hot Takes, where we bring you all the most divergent, minority viewpoints from around the internet...

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7

Story is decent, similar to dark souls so it loses some points in that regars, and you gotta look for it which always makes it lose some points too


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Surprised about some of the responses on this one, I didn't find the story too obscure or buried (there's a couple awkward bits here and there to find tho) and I loved the atmosphere from start to finish. Well discovering different people's views is what this topic is for, I guess!

Nominate: 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

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I havent really been that big a fan of HK either. Ill play for like an hour and drop it for a few months, just isnt really gripping me enough at all

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how could this game of such middling story even come close to beating the Final Fantasy XV

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LeonhartFour posted...

how could this game of such middling story even come close to beating the Final Fantasy XV

Have this topic series rate FF15 and you'll find out pretty quickly !

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FFXV was like, a year away from losing that match. Kind of embarrassing that it won - but not as embarrassing as it winning GOTY!

Incidentally the next topic will be on one of 2016s best stories.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Incidentally the next topic will be on one of 2016s best stories.

Trails of Cold Steel II is an odd first choice for a Trails game but sure

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LeonhartFour posted...

Trails of Cold Steel II is an odd first choice for a Trails game but sure

Whoa, you liked CS2's story more than Spirit of Justice? Color me shocked!
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I was going for a joke response more than what I actually thought

I guess I could've said Color Splash or something to make it more obvious

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8

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