I started having fun after around 20 hours. Before that it was grinding and dying and learning.

Originally posted by THE LORD:

I started having fun after around 20 hours. Before that it was grinding and dying and learning.

I hope it gets better with time

I personally preferred Hades 1's story and music, but I strongly prefer Hades 2's gameplay *shrug*.

Hades 1 did maybe have more charm, but I think that's mostly because it was totally new. The setting, the tone, the characters, the gameplay, the art, the music, the writing, the voice acting, all of it was totally novel and like nothing I'd encountered in decades of gaming. By nature of being a sequel, it's impossible for Hades 2 to hit those notes as strongly.

That said, for some reason the gameplay of Hades 2 clicked much better with me. It also feels much deeper and wider than Hades 1. Just a way bigger game. I'd recommend sticking with it.

Originally posted by DuckAndCower:

Hades 1 did maybe have more charm, but I think that's mostly because it was totally new. The setting, the tone, the characters, the gameplay, the art, the music, the writing, the voice acting, all of it was totally novel and like nothing I'd encountered in decades of gaming. By nature of being a sequel, it's impossible for Hades 2 to hit those notes as strongly.

That said, for some reason the gameplay of Hades 2 clicked much better with me. It also feels much deeper and wider than Hades 1. Just a way bigger game. I'd recommend sticking with it.

I totally get you, like if we had Hades 2 before 1 it would've been different and gave the same feelings and same vibe you talked about, but I'm not complaining, I like the game and so far it's fun and that's what matters.

Story maybe worse to most but the gameplay is easily doubled over the first quite literally.

You just need to unlock it first.

It might help as you progress and open up some of the weapons and their variants. Mel's starting Staff never grabbed me as much as Zag's starting sword.

But then, later on, her Staff variants are ridiculously better and way more fun.

Maybe try going for: Mel blades, the Axe, the Skull, or Torches.

The Axe is essentially a Hades 1 throwback, it's a big bruiser weapon, it would fit perfectly in the hands of Zag.

Don't worry about the game presenting a challenge yet, you're still starting out on normal/story mode/0 Fear.

It's tuned to be very accessible and somewhat easy, so folks can enjoy the story. You know what you're doing from Hades 1, so that helps a lot.

I don't wish to spoil anything, but the game's difficulty can ramp up to much, much higher difficulty.

Story mode/0 Fear is shallow water, 24-32+ Fear runs with all the fixings is the proverbial deep end of the pool. 32+ Fear runs is swimming out into the ocean.

I don't mean to diminish you clearing Scylla on your first try, that's really cool, clearly you have some experience. But don't worry, but there's a lot more to Scylla (and other bosses) than her first story mode encounter.

Especially if you go for 100% achievements, completing all Prophecies, unlocking all Fear statues. Let's leave it at that.

You may enjoy the game more as you progress further into the story. The fact that you've played Hades 1 will help, since the events of Hades 1 play directly into Mel's story in Hades 2.

It's hard to reply without spoiling anything, so I'll just say keep pushing through, unlocking more weapons, and see how you feel.

You also haven't met the full cast of characters yet, either, give it some time.

Originally posted by MAS:

Originally posted by THE LORD:

I started having fun after around 20 hours. Before that it was grinding and dying and learning.

I hope it gets better with time

I've already beaten the game. I'm just short of two achievements to 100% Hades 2.

Originally posted by THE LORD:

Originally posted by MAS:

I hope it gets better with time

I've already beaten the game. I'm just short of two achievements to 100% Hades 2.

You've made really awesome progress dude, congrats. Been cool to see you progress so far.

Originally posted by Crow Buddy:

Originally posted by THE LORD:

I've already beaten the game. I'm just short of two achievements to 100% Hades 2.

You've made really awesome progress dude, congrats. Been cool to see you progress so far. :zaggrin:

The last and final achievement is near impossible to get even with god mode on.

Only 4% of players have beaten the great chaos trial below.

Originally posted by THE LORD:

The last and final achievement is near impossible to get even with god mode on.

Only 4% of players have beaten the great chaos trial below.

It's a tough one for sure. You'll get it! I'm confident you'll win.

Don't think of Great Chaos Below/Above as 20 Fear, it's way more challenging than that, they're closer to 40 Fear, imo.

This recording is a bit dated, but I did a full commentary track while running Great Chaos Below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-Q0cXAtkY

Granted, I did get pretty good RNG on this run, which helps a ton.

To me, it seems like rolling a weapon you're comfortable with, and getting Vows that aren't crippling/awful are the biggest factors. Plus, I didn't roll the White Antler keepsake, either. If you can meet those three conditions, you're half-way to a win.

If you're unlucky and roll very limited 5 minute Fear timers, a bunch of Vow of Rivals bosses, plus extra health/extra enemies (Vow of Hordes, Vow of Grit), it's possible to lose by attrition from the clock running out.

I'd recommend 7 minute Fear timers (like in my video).

It's quicker to restart your run than try to deal with horrible rolls. If you start the run and your Arcana, Weapon, and Vows all suck, I'd reset. You can see in the video it's the first thing I check before running the first biome.

It's all in the protagonist for me...
Zagreus was charismatic, funny and even for a god he was kinda relatable!
His sister is a major downgrade and the rest of the cast is also bland and forgettable.

But obviously the game is awesome and I doubt I'll play this one has much.

Originally posted by The Barely Good Gamer:

It's all in the protagonist for me...
Zagreus was charismatic, funny and even for a god he was kinda relatable!
His sister is a major downgrade and the rest of the cast is also bland and forgettable.

But obviously the game is awesome and I doubt I'll play this one has much.

To be fair I guess I can’t really blame people for liking hades 1 cast and main character over 2s, but I do think some characters can definitely be funny, like Mel’s and Scyllas banters, slowly seeing Nemesis open up and chill out a bit as you progress her relationship, and the pretty cute relationship Mel and Icarus has going on.

I think what really makes the characters from each game feel so different is that the games do have pretty different tones. In hades 1, while the story was very personal, it didn’t really have that high of stakes all things considered, so the main character and the cast were allows to be written a lot more relaxed and funny sometimes. Hades 2 ok the other hand obviously have way higher stakes, thus everyone needed to be written more seriously and wasn’t exactly allowed to come off as laid back.

Originally posted by Rebell1193:

Originally posted by The Barely Good Gamer:

It's all in the protagonist for me...
Zagreus was charismatic, funny and even for a god he was kinda relatable!
His sister is a major downgrade and the rest of the cast is also bland and forgettable.

But obviously the game is awesome and I doubt I'll play this one has much.

To be fair I guess I can’t really blame people for liking hades 1 cast and main character over 2s, but I do think some characters can definitely be funny, like Mel’s and Scyllas banters, slowly seeing Nemesis open up and chill out a bit as you progress her relationship, and the pretty cute relationship Mel and Icarus has going on.

I think what really makes the characters from each game feel so different is that the games do have pretty different tones. In hades 1, while the story was very personal, it didn’t really have that high of stakes all things considered, so the main character and the cast were allows to be written a lot more relaxed and funny sometimes. Hades 2 ok the other hand obviously have way higher stakes, thus everyone needed to be written more seriously and wasn’t exactly allowed to come off as laid back.

Scyllas is awesome no arguing there! I love her song where she trashtalks the MC it's so funny!

i beat hades 1, i feel like im never gonna beat this