Black Myth: Wukong gameplay; I don't get the hype?

CriticalGaming

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 28, 2017
11,207
5,676
118
Have you tried experimenting your build with skill point respec? The game is incredibly open letting players build however they want. Also don't forget to find every meditation spots and find every celestial pills for an increase in HP, mana, and stamina.

And as much as I understand your frustration with bosses, it turns out there are some hidden ones that unlocks more spells. Turns out there are three tiger bosses in chapter 2, with 2 of them being hidden. One of them giving your their spirit which increase your attack at the cost of max HP reduction. Some hidden bosses also drops exclusive crafting materials for your staf as well
I've beaten every boss with the except of the giant beatle in chapter 2 because I was sick of the fucking desert. I have the best possible staff after beating three of the 7 secret dragons. My gear isn't the issue, and I don't think my skill tree layout is the issue either. It's my inability to react to enemy movesets that's the issue, not my dps or anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FakeSympathy
Jun 11, 2023
2,871
2,102
118
Country
United States
Gender
Male
I've beaten every boss with the except of the giant beatle in chapter 2 because I was sick of the fucking desert. I have the best possible staff after beating three of the 7 secret dragons. My gear isn't the issue, and I don't think my skill tree layout is the issue either. It's my inability to react to enemy movesets that's the issue, not my dps or anything.
So, basically Sekiro again lol.
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,303
12,216
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
When Sun Wukong claps back.
 

Dreiko

Elite Member
Legacy
May 1, 2020
2,909
985
118
CT
Country
usa
Gender
male, pronouns: your majesty/my lord/daddy
So this game has a thing that it doesn't explain as clearly. You know the variable combo from the pillar stance, where you stab the staff on the ground and spin around? Well, normally you just tap the heavy attack and he keeps spinning and spinning, but if you unlock the followup attack (which is great for when you're getting crowded) you need to hold down the heavy attack to keep spinning, otherwise he will jump back after a single spin and do the preparation for the followup. It doesn't explain this in the spark menu but it's true.


I've beaten every boss with the except of the giant beatle in chapter 2 because I was sick of the fucking desert. I have the best possible staff after beating three of the 7 secret dragons. My gear isn't the issue, and I don't think my skill tree layout is the issue either. It's my inability to react to enemy movesets that's the issue, not my dps or anything.
I find that gear in this game is of minimal importance when it comes to things like defense or attack power, the staff that does lightning damage with the light attack ender is prolly the biggest impact you will see cause it synergizes with the spirit that increases lightning damage and if you get something shocked then the focus attack will blow it up, but all that is minor. I say go for a focus-generating build, cause all the damage and cool stuff comes from spending focus, especially the fourth focus attacks, those are incredible.

As for reacting to stuff, that's more to do with memorizing the patterns and getting a feel for them than just seeing em and reacting. The key to reacting to something is expecting it correctly, so it's less reacting and more responding to the preparation before the attack. This is why those regular enemies on chapter 3 that grow tentacles and spin around for example are very hard to react to. They have very little "tells" before they suddenly do their tentacle thing. Most bosses have kinda huge tells for most things so just look for those.
 
Last edited:

CriticalGaming

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 28, 2017
11,207
5,676
118
As for reacting to stuff, that's more to do with memorizing the patterns and getting a feel for them than just seeing em and reacting. The key to reacting to something is expecting it correctly, so it's less reacting and more responding to the preparation before the attack. This is why those regular enemies on chapter 3 that grow tentacles and spin around for example are very hard to react to. They have very little "tells" before they suddenly do their tentacle thing. Most bosses have kinda huge tells for most things so just look for those.
I dont think that is as simply as you say, because Bosses will string together additional combo attacks and several moves on most bosses have almost the exact same tell but with a dramatically different timing and resulting attack. The final boss in Chapter 2 was guilty of this when he would sometimes end his staff swinging combo with a smash explosion, and sometimes just a stomp. Neither attack has any different animations leading up to it but both attacks have a dramatically different dodge timing. So expecting one thing, will get you hit a lot of times.

The forementioned boss on the bridge had zero openings normally. There isn't any time between attacks to hit him, and he goes from neutral to combo too quickly to dodge imo. The only way I beat him is just smashed him with every spell I had one after the other and basically hit stunned him to death. even then i had to deal with his last 20% on my own and sort of trade blows to finish him off.

Later bosses start to get gimmicks which I also really hate. There is a boss on the frozen lake that looks awesome, but the fight is such a weighting game that it drives me crazy. Thankfully it's a very easy fight. There is a mid boss in chapter 3 that's has you break it's foot, so you can then beat on it's face, and that fight sucked. I also think some of the AoE's these bosses are getting now are just flat out unavoidable. That being said, Chpater 3 is long as fuck, and it doesn't feel like it needs to be because there are far fewer enemies here overall than the first two chapters, but there is more story. Odd because I hear the final Chapter is extremely short.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Ezekiel

Elite Member
May 29, 2007
1,301
615
118
Country
United States
It's not though? You don't even lose anything on death or need to do corpse runs.
It is.

It's Souls. Can tell just by looking that you lock on with the shitty R3 toggle button*, that the cam gets locked behind the character (blinding the player), that it's another "figure out the dodge button timing or die" game** (as opposed to finding your spacing like in Streets of Rage) and that the protagonist can't jump (which FromSoftware did not dedicate a button for until Sekiro). Attacks are obviously under the finger(s) rather than the thumbs again, since you will need as much access to the camera as possible with one so close.

*Prefer Z-targeting because you actively feel when you are in that mode as you hold the button down. Strafing is just built in even when there is no target, allowing you to move defensively before you see them. I don't want to be locked into that movement by a toggle.
**Betting attacks will seek you again, making you have to dodge all the time anyway. System like Streets would be impossible because of tiresome seeking.


You can surely customize the controls, but of course there is no hold option for the lock-on. They never put one in, because they don't understand the older system. Might have had some directional attacks with Z-targeting, like the thrust and upward swing of Devil May Cry and what older Zelda did. DmC and Soulstice players have to double-tap the stick towards the enemy in order to thrust, a recipe for screw-ups, because the former has no lock-on and the latter uses that shitty R3 button. Soulstice also has so much happening on the screen that it's hard to even notice the lock symbol (and know that it's active without the cam also locking behind the character). Attacks set to R1 and R2, as I thought, because the player again can barely see anything and needs as much access to the right stick as possible. You probably switch targets like in Souls as well. Zelda dropped the locking of the camera behind the player while targeting as soon as there was a second stick, in The Wind Waker, because it sucked. I would rather strafe while controlling the cam, switching to the other frontward target with perhaps L3, like in Devil May Cry. Drawback of not being able to choose between left and rightward targets is less than the lack of visibility and locking out of camera controls that causes players to keep falling and backing into walls. If you want to disengage the lock for a look, you can't even do that without potentially turning your back to the enemy.

Checking a video, looks like there's an estus flask equivalent whose animation you have to find windows for and looks like you time the one dodge half the time like in later Souls games. Well, there's a guard button too. I would offer more options, more mobility.

At least there's a jump button.

There is more Souls DNA in gaming now than people like to admit. I don't know why they try to deny it so much, as if Souls is only about recovering your remains, summoning help and being invaded.
 
Last edited:

Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
Legacy
Feb 7, 2011
8,574
3,098
118
Country
'Merica
Gender
3 children in a trench coat
It is.





You can surely customize the controls, but of course there is no hold option for the lock-on. They never put one in, because they don't understand the older system. Might have had some directional attacks with Z-targeting, like the thrust and upward swing of Devil May Cry and what older Zelda did. DmC and Soulstice players have to double-tap the stick towards the enemy in order to thrust, a recipe for screw-ups, because the former has no lock-on and the latter uses that shitty R3 button. Soulstice also has so much happening on the screen that it's hard to even notice the lock symbol (and know that it's active without the cam also locking behind the character). Attacks set to R1 and R2, as I thought, because the player again can barely see anything and needs as much access to the right stick as possible. You probably switch targets like in Souls as well. Zelda dropped the locking of the camera behind the player while targeting as soon as there was a second stick, in The Wind Waker, because it sucked. I would rather strafe while controlling the cam, switching to the other frontward target with perhaps L3, like in Devil May Cry. Drawback of not being able to choose between left and rightward targets is less than the lack of visibility and locking out of camera controls that causes players to keep falling and backing into walls. If you want to disengage the lock for a look, you can't even do that without potentially turning your back to the enemy.

Checking a video, looks like there's an estus flask equivalent whose animation you have to find windows for and looks like you time the one dodge half the time like in later Souls games. Well, there's a guard button too. I would offer more options, more mobility.

At least there's a jump button.

There is more Souls DNA in gaming now than people like to admit. I don't know why they try to deny it so much, as if Souls is only about recovering your remains, summoning help and being invaded.
I would say that a big part of something being a Souls-like is being punished for death. In fact, I would say that's a bigger part of something being "Souls" than how the default controls are set up. I mean obviously there's other things that make a Souls game a Souls game (like themes, densely layered level designs, the way the game saves progress, the way characters and weapons are leveled up, etc) and those are the things that Souls-likes are usually trying to ape. The game's control scheme and camera aren't what makes a game a souls-like.

I mean, you're complaining about the souls camera, but there's plenty of games that are 2D, or have an isometric top down perspective that are considered to be in the Souls-like category.

By your thought process, any shooter that uses Left Trigger to aim and Right Trigger to fire (or L2 and R2 on the playstation) is a Call of Duty clone just because CoD popularized that control scheme, regardless of any other differences.
 

Ezekiel

Elite Member
May 29, 2007
1,301
615
118
Country
United States
Disagree. Controls are a big deal, because they affect so much.

RMB/LT to aim reliably and LMB/RT to shoot is lame in shooters. So is only being able to run forward in first-person shooters, like the character's arms, head and eyes are in a vise. I hardly ever play first-person shooters anymore, in part because of this combination. Shooters lost so much mobility. You would obviously want to use the iron sights in real life, but in a video game you always know where the center of the screen is, making the sights redundant. The most that RMB/LT should do is bring the camera closer and reduce gun shaking as you keep shooting, but for that you don't need obtrusive iron sights, and not every game should have those features. Every game shouldn't be "stop/slow and shoot" like the genre is basically now. Yeah, there IS a lot of Call of Duty imitation going on, sadly.
 

Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
Legacy
Feb 7, 2011
8,574
3,098
118
Country
'Merica
Gender
3 children in a trench coat
Disagree. Controls are a big deal, because they affect so much.

RMB/LT to aim reliably and LMB/RT to shoot is lame in shooters. So is only being able to run forward in first-person shooters, like the character's arms, head and eyes are in a vise. I hardly ever play first-person shooters anymore, in part because of this combination. Shooters lost so much mobility. You would obviously want to use the iron sights in real life, but in a video game you always know where the center of the screen is, making the sights redundant. The most that RMB/LT should do is bring the camera closer and reduce gun shaking as you keep shooting, but for that you don't need obtrusive iron sights, and not every game should have those features. Every game shouldn't be "stop/slow and shoot" like the genre is basically now. Yeah, there IS a lot of Call of Duty imitation going on, sadly.
But would you call every game that uses those controls a "Call of Duty game" the same what that you just called Wukong a Souls game for its choice of default controls and camera placement?

Would you look at Titanfall, Borderlands, Bulletstorm, and Destiny and declare that they are all just "Call of Duties?"
 

Ezekiel

Elite Member
May 29, 2007
1,301
615
118
Country
United States
But would you call every game that uses those controls a "Call of Duty game" the same what that you just called Wukong a Souls game for its choice of default controls and camera placement?

Would you look at Titanfall, Borderlands, Bulletstorm, and Destiny and declare that they are all just "Call of Duties?"
I wouldn't use the word "just" before, and I never used the word "just" for Souls imitators like Black Myth and Phantom Blade Zero, but "They're all Call of Duty" would be accurate to a degree. Sick of both.
 

Dirty Hipsters

This is how we praise the sun!
Legacy
Feb 7, 2011
8,574
3,098
118
Country
'Merica
Gender
3 children in a trench coat
I wouldn't use the word "just" before, and I never used the word "just" for Souls imitators like Black Myth and Phantom Blade Zero, but "They're all Call of Duty" would be accurate to a degree. Sick of both.
I think that viewpoint is rather silly and reductionist, but I can at least respect the consistency.
 

Ezekiel

Elite Member
May 29, 2007
1,301
615
118
Country
United States
Speaking of only running forward, I could also live without Mirror's Edge mechanics in other first-person shooters. Some in the upcoming Perfect Dark. Like Faith Connors, the parkour protagonist in Dying Light can't look to the side while running, as if his neck is in a vise, making navigating the speeding environment robotic and horizontally myopic. I would rather use such mechanics in third-person view, where looking around and foot movement are separated and you can see the position of the character's feet.
 

Dreiko

Elite Member
Legacy
May 1, 2020
2,909
985
118
CT
Country
usa
Gender
male, pronouns: your majesty/my lord/daddy
I dont think that is as simply as you say, because Bosses will string together additional combo attacks and several moves on most bosses have almost the exact same tell but with a dramatically different timing and resulting attack. The final boss in Chapter 2 was guilty of this when he would sometimes end his staff swinging combo with a smash explosion, and sometimes just a stomp. Neither attack has any different animations leading up to it but both attacks have a dramatically different dodge timing. So expecting one thing, will get you hit a lot of times.

The forementioned boss on the bridge had zero openings normally. There isn't any time between attacks to hit him, and he goes from neutral to combo too quickly to dodge imo. The only way I beat him is just smashed him with every spell I had one after the other and basically hit stunned him to death. even then i had to deal with his last 20% on my own and sort of trade blows to finish him off.

Later bosses start to get gimmicks which I also really hate. There is a boss on the frozen lake that looks awesome, but the fight is such a weighting game that it drives me crazy. Thankfully it's a very easy fight. There is a mid boss in chapter 3 that's has you break it's foot, so you can then beat on it's face, and that fight sucked. I also think some of the AoE's these bosses are getting now are just flat out unavoidable. That being said, Chpater 3 is long as fuck, and it doesn't feel like it needs to be because there are far fewer enemies here overall than the first two chapters, but there is more story. Odd because I hear the final Chapter is extremely short.
So the idea is you don't dodge the full string of those bosses which may include new moves, you dodge early and then the variable combo has long-lasting invuln and will stagger the enemy out of his combo if it lands right.

As for the huge AoE moves, you're right, those you avoid either by doing the pillar stance focus move and just staying up (those that look like energy waves coursing through the ground) or by just tanking them with the rock hard spell, or, in the case of the lake boss which flies up and starts nuking you and you can't do anything, using the stone form transformation where you turn into those big slow enemies made of rock and skulls and just tank it. .
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
29,303
12,216
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
Speaking of only running forward, I could also live without Mirror's Edge mechanics in other first-person shooters. Some in the upcoming Perfect Dark. Like Faith Connors, the parkour protagonist in Dying Light can't look to the side while running, as if his neck is in a vise, making navigating the speeding environment robotic and horizontally myopic. I would rather use such mechanics in third-person view, where looking around and foot movement are separated and you can see the position of the character's feet.
Good luck with that. You might as well tell everyone to stop breathing. Considering how perfected wall running FPS has become. I can't blame people for using that standard template from Mirror's Edge, it's reboot, or Titanfall 2. I have no stake in most of these types of games, but a majority people love them, and I ain't 🌧 on their parade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NerfedFalcon

CriticalGaming

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 28, 2017
11,207
5,676
118
you dodge early and then the variable combo has long-lasting invuln and will stagger the enemy out of his combo if it lands right.
i dont know what the variable combo is, i've never knocked anyone out of an attack string in my entire time playing.
 

Dreiko

Elite Member
Legacy
May 1, 2020
2,909
985
118
CT
Country
usa
Gender
male, pronouns: your majesty/my lord/daddy
i dont know what the variable combo is, i've never knocked anyone out of an attack string in my entire time playing.
Variable combo is the thing where you press strong attack during a light attack string while having focus points available, and in the first and third stances, those variable combos when upgraded can see through enemy attacks, which basically means you become invuln and hit them through their hits, and then those things also have followups too for additional focus points, which is what will usually knock a boss out of most regular attack strings and sometimes even floor them entirely letting you hit em as they get up. You know when you did it right because you become briefly enveloped in red energy and there's a particular electric sound accompanying this, and after doing this, the enemy becomes more susceptible to being staggered which is what knocks em out of their attack strings that you otherwise can't interrupt.



Watch this for a more visual approach:

 
  • Like
Reactions: CriticalGaming
Jun 11, 2023
2,871
2,102
118
Country
United States
Gender
Male
^ So basically in layman’s terms this would be the “going apeshit” mode.

Oh wait, technically Wukong is monkey, so maybe just “monkey business” mode fits better.


Anyways, neat articles -



Ain’t it funny this game of all things might be the best thing to happen to China in decades.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan