You can use the right stick to move the camera a little. Maybe that helps?
Congrats on finishing the game and probably saving the princess. (Lol)
Well I at least saved myself. Maybe. An argument could be made that I didn't even accomplish that. And yeah, I actually only noticed the ability to move the camera in this room! I hadn't otherwise ever really needed any such thing. Guess what, it barely helps here too. You can maybe just barely make out candles at the lower edge of the screen that'll clue you in to some platform locations, but that doesn't even work with all of them since some are just too far down. I really don't see any way through this place without a lot of blind and probably fatal jumps. What the hell, guys? (It's an entirely optional room, but still, what the hell?)
Seriously though, Salt and Sacntuary is not filled with moments like that, it's mostly good stuff. It's fairly cheap and I had twenty hours clocked by the end, which I'd say is neither too short nor too long for this kind of game. It lifts a lot of design decisions directly from Dark Souls, but it translates them into another gameplay context pretty effectively. Which is to say: excuse plot gonna be excuse plot and the game's never all that concerned with making sure you understand why the hell anything is happening and even though some old dude infodumped on me at the last minute that didn't really help at all, but combat's fun, platforming actually exists and is a core element of level design that you get special abilities to enhance instead of just press run button while you're running oops YOU MISTIMED, and there's a ton of area to explore. Basically, if you dislike the deliberate vagueness of Fromsoft games but enjoy the core exploratory experience of 2D Metroidvanias, I think this game is worth trying on the likelihood that the latter component there will shine brighter for you. Like, I'm really curious to see the reaction of someone other than Fenrir and myself to this game, you know, people who weren't initially told that they should be interested in this because it's just 2D Dark Souls, right? (I was actually kind of wary of playing this based on that initial description, because imitation doesn't score any points with me, but Fenrir made it sound too fun.) The world's pretty huge, but you move fast, teleportation's cheap and readily available early
even though the game doesn't outright direct you to how to do this, and load times don't exist, so it rarely feels like a drag even if you have to backtrack for something. Here's a world map, for reference:
http://saltandsanctuary.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Salt-and-Sanctuary/salt-and-sanctuary-world-map-walkthrough.jpg?v=1458190766810Man, look at all the space the Red Hall takes up. Fuck that place! (The pit of hide and go fuck yourself is at the lower left. Blackest Vault looks bad, but the right spots to fall are actually very obvious there.) I have no idea how some of these geographical relationships work out, how there is a forest underneath a crumbling ziggurat, etc, but it's a
handwaved excuse plot point that places from different ages and nations are getting smashed together so don't ask stupid questions, just roll with it and enjoy your crazy dungeoneering experience. There are so many secret doors and shortcuts and connections that you wouldn't practically ever need to use just because warping is so easy, but it's nice that they're because it means that "Oh, so
that's how you get up there!" moment is happening pretty much constantly. I've always found it very satisfying to make geographical connections like that. (Like, those level maps you'd see in Nintendo Power back in the day, I was all over that shit as a kid you guys. I was similarly pleased by the SOTN map image Grefter posted a while back.)
Graphically, I have to admit that I don't really dig the style they went for with the PC sprite. But there are some nice-looking clothes to put on it, so I guess I can forgive some mistakes in light of fashion. Makes it almost a shame your character takes up such a tiny piece of visual real estate (I couldn't imagine playing this on a handheld, you wouldn't see anything in detail). I mostly ran with the Queen of Smiles' outfit, but the ninja suit + youkai mask was a favorite too. Anyway there were multiple nice dresses so you know I was happy, and I guess there's also a pumpkin head if you're into that kind of thing (you weirdo).
Music basically doesn't exist! I am not sure if this was a budget thing or another Dark Souls did it so we are doing it too thing. I lean towards the former because even what's there barely makes an impression (and Dark Souls at least went all out when it did want to use music). There's like six tracks in this game? Let's see: 1) boss theme; 2) unobtrusive sanctuary theme; 3) barely noticeable background noise that plays in random dungeons every few hours or something; 4) organ music for the last dungeon; 5) last boss theme; 6) I guess some music played over the credits? Yeah that's pretty much it. Considering my past posting tendencies when appraising games I've played, it should be considered a credit that I enjoyed something in spite of a complete lack of quality noise.
But man, those Souls parallels, I guess I should really address what's in Salt and Sanctuary and what isn't:
-The entire chargen aesthetic, and character-building system in general is complete Dark Souls (although you do have some capacity to reverse and reallocate your previous leveling choices)
-You don't know goddamn anything about the world outside but you could learn some if you feel like reading item descriptions (I didn't)
-Also notable is the lack of incidental music outside of a hub or a boss fight
-The weapon upgrade system as well as consumable items in general pretty much straight copied
What notably isn't present:
-Invasions! Apparently you can arrange local PVP but I have no idea why you would want to do this
-Online co-op. Again, can be arranged locally but I have heard it is buggy
-Equipment durability (good riddance)
-An item sort button (oh god why not, please at least let me store all my junk somewhere wait what I can't do that either, what do you expect me to do, SELL this useless but one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable armor that I'm not even capable of equipping?)
-The general stiffness of past Souls' combat. I don't actually consider that a problem in those games, just pointing out that S&S melee weapons come with a pretty healthy array of combo options
But ultimately the most regular and prominent similarity is just that yeah, as should be expected of something consciously aping Souls, you're gonna die, and you're gonna die a lot. I sure did, probably moreso than first time running Bloodborne, and almost definitely more during exploration than to bosses, because there are platforming challenges here as well combat challenges and when those intersect you're gonna have a bad time (ARCHERS). I got punted off platforms into death pits a whole helluva lot, but that may partly be my fault for ignoring that Balance (presumably poise) stat. I never ever wore heavy armor and consequently that stat stayed jammed at zero all game for me. I don't care, Cids gotta Fashion Souls. What's the point of survival if you can't look good doing it, eh. But the funny thing is? Falling's not really the worst death you can have in this game, because levels are so vertically stacked that you often get previews of entire zones flashing by you as you plummet. "Oh wow, this place just goes down and down forever!" And while marveling at that we ignore that we just lost a couple levels' worth of resources or whatever. Something about seeking out an adversary in the deepest recesses of the earth pretty much always works for me for some reason.
Some of these enemies though, wow, I had to keep adjusting my verdict of who was the most annoying prick in the game:
-Axe bandits
-Jumpus interruptus archers
-Those goddamn teleporting skeletons
why are you allowed to follow me all the way across the zone-UNICORNS
And then bowling ball fish appeared and the contest was over.
Bosses are kind of a mixed bag, there's a couple that were straight up Jabba tier, but I'd say more often than not they had something going for them either challenge-wise or just conceptually. Actually, if there's one consistent oddity with the bosses, it's that almost none of the stage designs make use of vertical movement. A couple have minor raised platforms at the left and right, but most boss encounters just happen in a flat, open arena. It seems like an odd oversight to so thoroughly ignore a whole axis of movement that's available to you as a designer. But then again the one boss that does use platforms is also the most obnoxious one in the entire game, so I guess this isn't really a thing I should ask for more of.
Speaking of--boss deathcount! Because it wouldn't be a proper post about a Souls-ish game if I didn't include one. Skip over if you don't like being spoiled about the names of plotless bosses I guess.
Unspeakable Deep: 1*
Sodden Knight: 2
Queen of Smiles: 3
Mad Alchemist: 1
False Jester: 0
Kraekan Cyclops: 2
Kraekan Wyrm: 0
Untouched Inquisitor: 1
Third Lamb: 5
Dried King: 1
Tree of Men: 12-15. I lost count amidst screams of rage. This is the Capra of the game.
Disembowled Husk: 1
Murdiella Mal: 3. This is the best name, isn't it?
That Stench Most Foul: 0
Bloodless Prince: 0
Coveted: 0
Ronin Cran: 1
Witch of the Lake: 3
The Unskinned and the Architect: 5. This doesn't count the first time, when I blindly ran into the boss room trying to escape from bowling bowl fish and then bowling ball fish killed me before I could 'port out or the bosses could even move. That's how much fuck fish.
Carsejaw the Cruel: 0
Kraekan Dragon Skourzh: 2
The Three: 1**
The Nameless God: 0
*This is the tutorial boss, and can be compared to that in Demon's Souls: it's overpowered for a starting character that has no chance to bulk up and you only get one chance at beating it. Blow it and this thing's gone forever on that file. There is of course a trophy attached to beating it. Fuuuuuuu--
**This is the boss I had to beat twice because the game crashed before saving after the first victory. Isn't that fucked up?
Last boss unfortunately pretty sad, but I can still respect a game that puts its final battle in the upside-down castle from Utena.
~
Anyway now magic build is go. Since this time I know where everything is and what I ultimately want to equip, I get the Queen's sword as quickly as possible and am almost immediately overpowered. Seriously, I'm already putting out the kind of melee offense it took me all game to hit last time, and I've barely even had a chance to pump my damage stat because I had to make a beeline up the skill tree to unlock swords instead. I'm also having to veer way out of my starting quandrant to unlock higher-tier light armor, because fuck I must fashion properly, and that's eating like half of my levels but it's so worth it to be wearing something other than starting gear, right? So I expected to build a walking nuke but instead so far I'm a greatswordswoman with some crappy ranged offense. S&S makes it kind of impractical to run hybrid builds, I guess is what I'm getting at here. Seriously though, this sword, what the shit. Guys, whoever else picks this up, get a blacksmith and an alchemist at your main sanctuary as soon as you find the items to hire them, because pretty much everything you can make is a huge boost over starting equipment.
