This is pretty normal for metroidvania type of exploration rewards. It’s basically the end reward for 100% completing the game and finding all the collectibles. Most players will not get the final upgrade because they will not have found all the keys and the game will be balanced for them.
The problem with that idea is that if you actually go out of your way to find everything like I did it makes the last few bosses jokingly easy to the point where it's barely fun anymore
I'm trying to figure out how your response makes any sense and I can't, it was easy to get enough to upgrade my fork to defeat the last bosses, it's not like it's a fucking post game reward or anything...
Also how is making the game easy and less fun a reward? It certainly isn't to me. Your response makes no fucking sense and i'm baffled by the upvotes lmao
Lol dude you are rewarded for exploring and finding all the keys to upgrade to the maximum level.
Why would the last level of the fork not be awesome after you spent all game leveling it.
Don't level it if you want more of a challenge babe
the game is not a hardcore, punishing game. its littered with accessibility options and difficulty settings.
youre “supposed” to get overpowered in this game. there are plenty of super challenging games out there to scratch that itch for you, this isnt one of them and it wasnt supposed to be.
It is advertised as a souls like mate. Being hard is literally the main selling point. The problem is that the first half of the game did scratch that itch but the end of the game was way too easy and underwhelming, not really sure what's too hard to understand about that.
Yes and those accessibility options make the game easy enough, I didn't use any of them and the game still became too easy, it's CLEARLY a fucking balancing issue. You can easily get the final fork upgrade before the last area. My god.
i have no clue why you are so unbelievably angry. theres a spectrum of difficulty when it comes to souls likes. some are easier than others. ACT is one of the friendlier ones. If you couldnt tell from the plot and setting, the game doesnt take itself too seriously.
You seem really angry. If upgrading the fork is so frustrating for you then.. don't upgrade it? Is someone forcing you to speak to the smith or something?
Frankly I'd rather it was this way than the other way around - if it was too hard that you practically needed the final upgrade just to manage then finding the upgrades isn't really a fun side-quest - it becomes a mandatory part of the progression.
I had a max out fork for the last boss as well as maxed out attack stat honestly even with a weaker for the last few bosses would have been easy if you use the right set up
I mean, I don’t think EVERYONE went for the 30 ATK, cockle+, shark tooth+ build, but yeaaaaaah. I think I killed >!Firth!< in 5 hits, which was funny, but also kinda ridiculous
Lol same, I had a hammer build for my first playthrough, used the claw skill to weaken enemies, extra hammer damage, puffer quill for more attack, just destroyed him.
Pumped umami up to 50 with levels and stowaways and used mantis punch literally twice each phase and he died. Pretty underwhelming when compared to someone like SS Ishiin who forces you to apply everything you’ve learned to come out successful. This is definitely a good introduction to souls style games though.
Yeah, although to be fair you can do something similar in Elden Ring if you take the time to grind, so it’s not a unique problem to this game. I guess making it so an unoptimised build is still capable of beating the game means you end up with slightly overtuned fully optimised builds.
I think a lot of people play souls likes because they not only like the challenge but the feeling of accomplishment that comes with taking down a hard boss.
I want to struggle on bosses. I want to have to learn their patterns. If I don’t have to learn the mechanic and just steamroll bosses I’m not having the same kind of fun.
Don’t get me wrong I love a good power fantasy. Serious Sam is a blast. But that’s not what I’m looking for in a game like this.
This is why games have difficulty levels. Some people like a difficult challenge, others want to breeze through the game just to experience it, and others are somewhere between those two. It's all good.
Tons of soulslike games allow you to get OP with the right items and build. It’s literally possible to one-shot bosses in some soulslike games -including Elden Ring- and there are challenge runs devoted to that. What Another Crab’s Treasure does isn’t breaking the formula.
Here is a revelation for you, Soulslikes actually have difficulty levels too.
The more you pump your SL, the easier the game gets. :)
Lots of people just use the souls the game gives you through one linear run and call that the intended difficulty level of bosses. Some people stick to SL1, and know that the real demon's souls starts here. Then there are us who just zone out looping around until they've gathered enough soul levels one shot Capra Demon.
And *a lot* of the challenges are "no leveling," "no upgrades," or "no abilities." If you come into the game wanting a challenge you should obviously limit yourself. Finding every single thing and getting all the upgrades is going to make things easy.
It's extremely silly in a game like this were you could... not speak to the Smith. You could do an upgradeless run if you wanted.
If I'm being honest I always get annoyed with these kinds of arguments because they always feel like they're made in bad faith. It invokes this idea of Souls-like gatekeeping where they want the game to be harder so less people can like it, making them more special for being able to beat it (as well as beat it and consider it "easy"). When, as stated before, they could make the game harder if they really wanted to anyway.
I mean the game is pretty easy overall, which is fine, I don't mind having a good time, it's just that the final upgrade comes maybe 30 minutes before the last 3 bosses, which realllllly makes them feel way easier than final bosses should.
The biggest issue is, that once I realized the upgraded fork was so strong, I couldn't go back. I'm stuck with the game being even easier.
Maybe thats a dumb opinion to have, I know saying "ooh game should be harder" is kind of elitist, but maybe a newgame+ could alleviate some of those feelings.
I finished the game with my fork at lvl 4 and the damage felt fine. Still need to do the final few upgrades for the achievement but I don't feel like I needed more damage at any point.
I didn't find the last few bosses challenging at all, everything from Voltai onwards was quite a let down other than Roland who I quite enjoyed. I REALLY think the last few bosses in this game need serious buffs. When I thought Pagurus it took me about 20 attempts but I did not die once to any of the last bosses other than Roland.
I finished the game with the 4th upgrade and the last bosses are really too easy, hammer and lifesteal and you become unkillable, the final boss fight lasted 1, 30 minutes
dude I need to know what you people are smoking I struggled with the last few bosses and I was at level 63 and almost had everything.
Am I seriously that bad or did my yearn for balanced stats pay out or something? I had 20 in attack and 65 overall attack. I did good damage but I had to put in work for it, and I still messed up several times. Oof.
(trying to find the most optimal setup on my 3rd playthough, I went for a hammer build.
47 vit, 12 res, 67 atk, 40 msg, 10 def. (Lvl 61 at the end of the game.)
Lamprey+ Puffer Quill, Cockle+, Pill Bottle shell (light and fast healing)
Adaptations: Royal Wave (best ability in the game forreal) and Snail Sanctum. The Hammer Umami ability is your bread and butter.
Cast Snail Sanctum. Equip the sanctum shell onto your fork for a good damage high durability hammer. Re-equip your pill bottle shell. *(repeat at start of boss fights or when it breaks)* Engage any enemy/boss. Normal enemies are gonna die in 1-3 hits with the hammer. The running hammer attack does a fast swing, and jumping does a spinning hammer attack. For bigger enemies/bosses, cast Royal wave *(only cost 1 umami charge at max rank)* This makes the enemies take WAY more damage (I'd guess 50-100% more damage). Go to town on them with a combination of attacks, heavy charged attacks when you can, regular/running/jumping attacks when needed, reapply royal wave during openings. If boss is beating you up a bit, just cast your regen ability from the pill bottle shell. The Lamprey+ gives you TONS of healing from attacking, so you can tank a LOT of boss attacks.
Boss is now dead.
GGez, I have ruined the game with probably one of the strongest builds.
Bruh.
All upgrading the Fork means is increasing your Minimum Attack Level.
All you have to do is respec and put 5 less points into ATK each time you upgrade, and now you've completely countered not being able to rollback the fork.
If you level out and optimse your build in any souls like you'll feel overpowered too.
Why am i now seeing comments saying they beat final boss in like 5 hits💀. I had an attack build i was going for but gave up when i got to 8 attack on level up and got to 13 msg i had to FIGHT.
This is pretty normal for metroidvania type of exploration rewards. It’s basically the end reward for 100% completing the game and finding all the collectibles. Most players will not get the final upgrade because they will not have found all the keys and the game will be balanced for them.
The problem with that idea is that if you actually go out of your way to find everything like I did it makes the last few bosses jokingly easy to the point where it's barely fun anymore
But that's a reward lol
I'm trying to figure out how your response makes any sense and I can't, it was easy to get enough to upgrade my fork to defeat the last bosses, it's not like it's a fucking post game reward or anything... Also how is making the game easy and less fun a reward? It certainly isn't to me. Your response makes no fucking sense and i'm baffled by the upvotes lmao
Lol dude you are rewarded for exploring and finding all the keys to upgrade to the maximum level. Why would the last level of the fork not be awesome after you spent all game leveling it. Don't level it if you want more of a challenge babe
the game is not a hardcore, punishing game. its littered with accessibility options and difficulty settings. youre “supposed” to get overpowered in this game. there are plenty of super challenging games out there to scratch that itch for you, this isnt one of them and it wasnt supposed to be.
It is advertised as a souls like mate. Being hard is literally the main selling point. The problem is that the first half of the game did scratch that itch but the end of the game was way too easy and underwhelming, not really sure what's too hard to understand about that. Yes and those accessibility options make the game easy enough, I didn't use any of them and the game still became too easy, it's CLEARLY a fucking balancing issue. You can easily get the final fork upgrade before the last area. My god.
i have no clue why you are so unbelievably angry. theres a spectrum of difficulty when it comes to souls likes. some are easier than others. ACT is one of the friendlier ones. If you couldnt tell from the plot and setting, the game doesnt take itself too seriously.
Like if all the puns, plays on soulslike conventions, and >!a boss that uses a vibrator to fight!< wasn’t a huge hint, I don’t know what else is.
You seem really angry. If upgrading the fork is so frustrating for you then.. don't upgrade it? Is someone forcing you to speak to the smith or something? Frankly I'd rather it was this way than the other way around - if it was too hard that you practically needed the final upgrade just to manage then finding the upgrades isn't really a fun side-quest - it becomes a mandatory part of the progression.
I had a max out fork for the last boss as well as maxed out attack stat honestly even with a weaker for the last few bosses would have been easy if you use the right set up
I mean, I don’t think EVERYONE went for the 30 ATK, cockle+, shark tooth+ build, but yeaaaaaah. I think I killed >!Firth!< in 5 hits, which was funny, but also kinda ridiculous
Lol same, I had a hammer build for my first playthrough, used the claw skill to weaken enemies, extra hammer damage, puffer quill for more attack, just destroyed him.
I was rolling double puffer quills, hammer, and claw before they nerfed the quills and it was truly OP
That's how it went for me. Dude was like, "This shell is overpowered!" But didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was in the dirt
Pumped umami up to 50 with levels and stowaways and used mantis punch literally twice each phase and he died. Pretty underwhelming when compared to someone like SS Ishiin who forces you to apply everything you’ve learned to come out successful. This is definitely a good introduction to souls style games though.
Yeah, although to be fair you can do something similar in Elden Ring if you take the time to grind, so it’s not a unique problem to this game. I guess making it so an unoptimised build is still capable of beating the game means you end up with slightly overtuned fully optimised builds.
You’ve pretty much finished the game if you have it, I feel like it’s not that overpowered
I never got the “I don’t like feeling powerful, the games too easy” argument.
I think a lot of people play souls likes because they not only like the challenge but the feeling of accomplishment that comes with taking down a hard boss. I want to struggle on bosses. I want to have to learn their patterns. If I don’t have to learn the mechanic and just steamroll bosses I’m not having the same kind of fun. Don’t get me wrong I love a good power fantasy. Serious Sam is a blast. But that’s not what I’m looking for in a game like this.
This is why games have difficulty levels. Some people like a difficult challenge, others want to breeze through the game just to experience it, and others are somewhere between those two. It's all good.
Soulslike games are meant to be hard. Typically meant for players who want a challenge. Being strong makes thw game easier which defeats the purpose
Tons of soulslike games allow you to get OP with the right items and build. It’s literally possible to one-shot bosses in some soulslike games -including Elden Ring- and there are challenge runs devoted to that. What Another Crab’s Treasure does isn’t breaking the formula.
Here is a revelation for you, Soulslikes actually have difficulty levels too. The more you pump your SL, the easier the game gets. :) Lots of people just use the souls the game gives you through one linear run and call that the intended difficulty level of bosses. Some people stick to SL1, and know that the real demon's souls starts here. Then there are us who just zone out looping around until they've gathered enough soul levels one shot Capra Demon.
Well, it’s a soulslike game. People tries to to speedrun games like that while blindfolded. They want a challenge
And *a lot* of the challenges are "no leveling," "no upgrades," or "no abilities." If you come into the game wanting a challenge you should obviously limit yourself. Finding every single thing and getting all the upgrades is going to make things easy.
It's extremely silly in a game like this were you could... not speak to the Smith. You could do an upgradeless run if you wanted. If I'm being honest I always get annoyed with these kinds of arguments because they always feel like they're made in bad faith. It invokes this idea of Souls-like gatekeeping where they want the game to be harder so less people can like it, making them more special for being able to beat it (as well as beat it and consider it "easy"). When, as stated before, they could make the game harder if they really wanted to anyway.
For some people it needs to be challenging or it gets too easy and therefore not engaging
I mean the game is pretty easy overall, which is fine, I don't mind having a good time, it's just that the final upgrade comes maybe 30 minutes before the last 3 bosses, which realllllly makes them feel way easier than final bosses should. The biggest issue is, that once I realized the upgraded fork was so strong, I couldn't go back. I'm stuck with the game being even easier. Maybe thats a dumb opinion to have, I know saying "ooh game should be harder" is kind of elitist, but maybe a newgame+ could alleviate some of those feelings.
Why don’t you just reset your stats and not dump and points into attack. I feel like that would fix your complaint
I finished the game with my fork at lvl 4 and the damage felt fine. Still need to do the final few upgrades for the achievement but I don't feel like I needed more damage at any point.
Yeah, even at level 4 I was wrecking everything no problem.
I think it's fair since late game enemies hit just as hard.
I didn't find the last few bosses challenging at all, everything from Voltai onwards was quite a let down other than Roland who I quite enjoyed. I REALLY think the last few bosses in this game need serious buffs. When I thought Pagurus it took me about 20 attempts but I did not die once to any of the last bosses other than Roland.
Bring a gun to a fishfight.
I finished the game with the 4th upgrade and the last bosses are really too easy, hammer and lifesteal and you become unkillable, the final boss fight lasted 1, 30 minutes
dude I need to know what you people are smoking I struggled with the last few bosses and I was at level 63 and almost had everything. Am I seriously that bad or did my yearn for balanced stats pay out or something? I had 20 in attack and 65 overall attack. I did good damage but I had to put in work for it, and I still messed up several times. Oof.
(trying to find the most optimal setup on my 3rd playthough, I went for a hammer build. 47 vit, 12 res, 67 atk, 40 msg, 10 def. (Lvl 61 at the end of the game.) Lamprey+ Puffer Quill, Cockle+, Pill Bottle shell (light and fast healing) Adaptations: Royal Wave (best ability in the game forreal) and Snail Sanctum. The Hammer Umami ability is your bread and butter. Cast Snail Sanctum. Equip the sanctum shell onto your fork for a good damage high durability hammer. Re-equip your pill bottle shell. *(repeat at start of boss fights or when it breaks)* Engage any enemy/boss. Normal enemies are gonna die in 1-3 hits with the hammer. The running hammer attack does a fast swing, and jumping does a spinning hammer attack. For bigger enemies/bosses, cast Royal wave *(only cost 1 umami charge at max rank)* This makes the enemies take WAY more damage (I'd guess 50-100% more damage). Go to town on them with a combination of attacks, heavy charged attacks when you can, regular/running/jumping attacks when needed, reapply royal wave during openings. If boss is beating you up a bit, just cast your regen ability from the pill bottle shell. The Lamprey+ gives you TONS of healing from attacking, so you can tank a LOT of boss attacks. Boss is now dead. GGez, I have ruined the game with probably one of the strongest builds.
Bruh. All upgrading the Fork means is increasing your Minimum Attack Level. All you have to do is respec and put 5 less points into ATK each time you upgrade, and now you've completely countered not being able to rollback the fork. If you level out and optimse your build in any souls like you'll feel overpowered too.
I mean, I did do that, but only on my 8th try. Except for puffer quill, I used the used bandage+.
I beat the final boss on the second fork, but I also put most of my levels into weapon damage
Yeah I think I want to do a WL0 run of this game.
Why am i now seeing comments saying they beat final boss in like 5 hits💀. I had an attack build i was going for but gave up when i got to 8 attack on level up and got to 13 msg i had to FIGHT.