I really think Hylics 2 is divine in that it doesn’t really do anything new with the baseline jrpg mechanics. Hylics knows that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it; instead, Mason chose very wisely to innovate in areas that have been lacking in recent years; art direction, OSTs, originality, and most importantly, PASSION. It’s been a long time since I saw a labor of love that shines this bright.
The party character all have their own distinctive walks, i especially love Dedesmuln's cool stride with a hand resting on his sword. And pongormas funny little close-fisted trot (he seems like a weird guy)
hes a presumably evil ancient dark knight locked away in a vault, but he just sorta fights you, becomes your friend, and is generally chill honestly its pretty goofy that he just wears an ENTIRE suit for collecting static electricity just to fight enemies with his lightning, and he doesnt really act like an ancient evil knight at all hes just a silly boy
I think it's always fun and interesting when a game has secret combinations of underwhelming abilities and items that can form a really powerful strategy. In Hylics 2, Link Mollusc (the gesture that applies the negative status effects from a party member to an enemy) doesn't seem to be that reliable or useful, but there's a unique garb you can find and equip called the Cursed Gloves that applies Fragile (the egg that makes you take more damage) and Burning to the character wearing it. This also seems terrible, but using Link Mollusc while wearing this item can allow you to apply those annoying effects to ALL your enemies. AFAIK, this is the only way for your party to apply Fragile in many encounters, and it makes a lot of tough fights way more manageable. Burning is just the cherry on top.
Yeah, I found this tactic helps a ton. A fragile link mollusk and a shot of poolwine can make a charged-up lightning bolt do an insane amount of damage
A lot of people pass over Damage over Time effects because most RPGs make bosses immune to status effects, which is a bad choice. But piling Dissoultion with other skills that inflict damage over time effects can seriously quicken a boss fight in this game, including the final boss. They also don't just do that, but loads of these effects weaken stats as well, allowing you to pile damage with regular attack strategies while your enemies take more damage and deal less.
@@arknark that's a great strategy, but I've found a way to make it even better that I used all the time in my latest playthrough: Equip the cursed gloves, which give you permanent burn and vulnerable Use Nematode to bleed yourself And then you can use Mollusc Link, which transfers all the debuffs you have to every enemy in the fight and bingo, you've dealt at least 3 different debuffs in only 2 turns by a single character! For even stronger effects, drink some pool wine beforehand to squeeze yet another debuff out of it
True, if I remember correctly, when an enemy is dissoluted, they not only get damaged overtime, but they also lose attack power. It's like their clay body gets more melty and harder to control, almost like it becomes mud or something.
@@majorghoul9017 honestly, Mollusc Link, together with the existence of Cursed Gloves and other regenerative items that give you debuffs, might be one of the most clever ideas for an RPG I've seen. It makes for a new type of risk vs reward strategies!
Yeah I actually think it helps establish Wayne's role as the Warlock/Bard of the team. He has high speed naturally and can debuff the most dangerous enemy on the first round of combat. He's the most balanced in terms of base stats, so after he uses Dissolution he can kind of do everything else decently, but he won't have as much Will or Power as some of the other members.
I love Hylics 2 so much and the phrase “it oozes with style” is so perfect for this game. Though I must admit I think besides the 2 most obvious choices, them are fightn words and prevailing westerlies, fancy meat computer just tops the whole game off with a big red cherry, I absolutely love listening to it both as the finale boss music and outside of the game. I’m glad to see that hylics 2 is getting the attention it rightfully deserves
Disclaimer: references to Undertale are included within this video--but I am aware that it is not a true J-RPG style game. I wouldn’t say Hylics 2 is either; both include some elements of J-RPGs, so I thought it was appropriate to make a few references to it considering its popularity. Also, even though it is used at points to demonstrate how Hylics’ combat stands out, I still loved Undertale’s combat and I want to make that clear. I also have been told the intro portion sounds a little demeaning towards J-RPG's--that wasn't the intention. The main point was that I wasn't very interested in the genre and this game reinvigorated my interest in it. - Aaron
I don't think it matters honestly, given the moniker is flawed and not at a representative of what a game genre would actually be. A crpg ported to a console is still a crpg, and a game genre being distinguished by where it's developed is a bad distinction that doesn't speak to anything that has to do with the game itself
5:19 Fun fact: In the original Hylics, Mason had already planned to add the mazes in the first person, but apparently he couldn't do it, maybe the RPGmaker was not enough to do that he had in mind. There is even a video! Video: th-cam.com/video/r7HUWB1yhYM/w-d-xo.html
That's so interesting, thanks for sharing! On another note, thank you so much for posting the walkthroughs of Hylics 2 and the archive of the instagram livestream! The gameplay used in the video was our own, but I relied on your walkthrough when I got stuck at a few points and I used clips from the livestream archive within the vid. Cheers, Aaron :)
@@TopSpecMedia You're welcome, I'm glad that my walkthrough has been helpful to you, and I was lucky that it recorded the livestream as Mason had an error recording it.
A little strange to use a mega-difficult one-off optional boss theme like Megalovania to convey the point that Hylics has a chill battle theme compared to other JRPGs, but that's just a minor nitpick. Very cohesive by-the-facts video and great analysis.
really hope hylics 3 gives each spell to one lindroth-determined character instead of just having each character have only one unique one. the decisions you make would be a bit more intense if choosing one action came at the cost of other important actions. i tried my hand on it and i def think it could make combat more interesting: wayne: dissolution, soul crisper, time sigil, charge up you'll have to choose between lowing their power, lowering their speed, or trying to kill them pronto. that's pretty interesting! time sigil is themactically cool with wayne being a moon and the moon being a big clock. plus its themed around being tired, which is also very moon. the damage over time fits the time theme as well. stats: low snap damage, high mp (encouraged to use your status) dedusmuln: foam armor, fate sandbox, bombogenesis, charge up you're stuck choosing between physical protection and status protection, which i thought was an interesting choice. bombo is balanced a tiny bit by leaving you defenseless for a round. stats: medium mp, low speed (encouraged to be strategic about who to protect and when) somsnosa: wave artifice, poromer bleb, teledunudate, charge up crowd control while you can, but she's also your panic button with poromer being emergency healing and tele being emergency everything. stats: low hp, low speed (since she's your panic button, keeping her alive should stay interesting) pangorma: lightning, nemotode interface, link mollusc, charge up even if he gets shut down with status, you can still counter. being able to inflict himself with leak means he can inflict everyone with leak. this sort of sacrificial attack fits his theme imho. stats: medium hp, low speed (encouraged to rack up a bit of damage over time before blasting, but theres a bit of risk there) the sacrifice angle of pangorma would be more interesting without lightning, if he could rack up more damage over time status to inflict on others. not sure if similar moves should be lumped into the same character to make them have a domain vibe or spread out as back up variants for when you want to double down on something specific. if there /too/ many characters with similar actions, you don't add the benefit of tough choices, and if each character's moves are too similar, you'll always use the best one. tough to balance! it was very difficult to justify too diverse of stats because the abilities are already so diverse. i went through SEVERAL versions of this before i settled on this one. no wonder he decided to give everyone everything lol.
Great video! I finished Hylics 2 as well and I feel like there's a lot that other jRPG style games could learn from it in terms of gameplay. I especially agree on the afterlife, as I think it's probably the single best implementation of a save/death system in an RPG that I've seen; it feels like the sort of concept you'd see in like, I dunno, a Soulslike game except a lot weirder. One thing that you didn't touch on though is the enemies, or how they behave. There's about 25 or so types in the game, which is pretty small compared to most other RPGs, but I think where the games shines is giving every enemy a distinctive role they play in combat. For example, poolmen will multiply if you don't cast burning on them, there's an enemy with a telegraphed supermove (the umbilical cord one) that hits the whole party, and another that will heal the entire enemy party to full if you don't take it down first. It means you have to prioritize which enemy you'll focus on depending on how much trouble they can potentially cause. I also really enjoyed the game's focus on status effects. One big problem with a lot of older jRPGs (this trend seems to have died out recently though) is status effects having a chance of failing or most enemies being outright immune, but in Hylics 2, they always apply and they're almost always useful. Dissolution also isn't that bad; a 20% power debuff is always gonna be a no-brainer to cast on bosses.
Hi! Thanks for watching the video and leaving a really well thought out comment :). I'm glad the afterlife mechanic resonated with you as well.. there's something about it that just feels so right. You die--which would normally be incredibly frustrating--but the game manages to lessen the impact of "losing your progress" without taking away from the difficulty of the combat. You also make a super valid point about the enemies; I should have mentioned them in some greater capacity, but there were so many other things to talk about it seemed to slip past my mind. I also agree with your argument about dissolution; I played the game on an easier difficulty for my first playthrough, but I could totally see it being great for bosses. I just never had to use it that way. Cheers! - Aaron
Great video! It's always refreshing to find more people who enjoyed Hylics as well as JRPG mechanics. I found it interesting that you found Wave Artificer useful as I found it better to target high priority enemies rather than AOE damage; for that reason I focused Power on Pongorma to chunk down those healers as quick as possible haha. I also found Dissolution to be very useful for those enemies that got Angry or Hasted themselves which meant less turns healing. I think when I compare it to Dragon Quest XI battle mechanics, I focused more on AOE damage in that game since spells were cheap and it's possible for all your party members to do some sort of AOE or group damage. But in Hylics where Gestures take 1/3 or 1/2 of your Will and enemies do a lot more damage in comparison, my play style was definitely more defensive and more drawn out.
As a nonbinary person, I really appreciate Dedusmulns existence. Anyway, I think it might be connected to vibe of the character. Their head and armor seems inspired by sea invertebrates, which are usually unisex.
The game has a lot of little nuances that needs to be polished, mostly platforming and outside of combat movement. it is still impressive considering it is a game done by one man.
The platforming mini games were certainly my least favorite part of the game, but in my opinion it didn't take away from the core of the game to the point that it made me enjoy it less. I agree it is an impressive effort from a solo dev :) - Aaron
Definitely wanted to mention that first person is very common in classic rpgs. Wizardry is a prime example, but jrpgs adopted the first person dungeon crawler aesthetic with phantasy star 1 and notably, shin megami tensei. The actual first person segments for battle are also done in common jrpg fashion, as seen in dragon quest. The biggest game to compare hylics to? Earthbound.
Gotta quickly mention, Paper Sorcerer did the first person casting thing too, but only with your main characters abilities. That game was released 2 years before hylics 1 too. anyways this was an very interesting video to watch!
I definitely used Fate Sandbox a ton once I got Somsnosa and realised she can 1-shot everyone with Charged Wave Artifice after giving her Poolwine. Since Hylics 2 had fewer "overpowered" gestures like Mystic Meat, which shielded EVERYONE from negative status effects (and while the sequel also places a higher emphasis on status effects, and being very strategic in using and mitigating them, which I really appreciated), that move became more valuable, which I would always use to protect Somsnosa so she couldn't be hit with an effect that reduces her damage
I actually found Wayne to be incredibly useful as a debuff/status spreading support character I forgot the exact name (my bad lol) but there's a Garb that permanently Burns and Shatters the wearer, sounds bad right? Wrong! By using the Nematode gesture you can add on bleeding to Wayne, and on the next turn you can use the Squid/Cephalopod gesture to spread _all 3 status conditions to _*_EVERY_*_ enemy!_ All you really have to do is keep him alive, but charged Foam Armors got that covered, and on top of that once Wayne fully spreads his debuffs across the field you can simply take an opening to Dissolute the strongest current enemy, helps everyone else set up To me, Wayne is the main support, always will be, and I love him for that. Gg's Wayne, rock on
The only bad thing about the Hylics games is that they're not long enough in my opinion. The early battles are easy and I just ploughed through them, and the final zones are too short. Also, I completely forgot about the antennas, so I never upgraded my charge at all :|
This is a really good video! Your points were really clear and well put together. Subscribed! (Also, about Dedusmuln's gender, I don't think anybody in the game referenced them with any sort of pronouns, though I could be wrong. I've also heard that that wiki is somewhat unreliable sooo...)
Glad you enjoyed the video :). You may be right about the wiki.. it didn't seem to be updated for quite awhile when I was doing my research for the vid--oh well haha. - Aaron
There are two hylics wikia hubs. Neither are very helpful. I would know, I filled out the second one's page on Gestures from the second game. Dedusmuln is androgynous by absence. Make 'em whatever you please. I say it's a guy because it makes somehow more sense for Somsnosa to be the only girl about.
I'd say the more apt comparison for the combat ui design would be with Dragon Quest or Mother, not Doom and Wolfenstein. Especially Mother considering that game also has some pretty surreal moments and chill battle music. Even the original Shin Megami Tensei games were like this. First person RPGs have been around for a while.
I recently played through Hylics 2 and I found that charged foam armor applies it to your entire team, so I’d just spend the first turn charging with everyone and on the second I would have buffs for everyone which would make up for getting hit on the first turn
Kinda surprised you didn't mention link mollusc or how some of the garbs you get can REALLY change your playstyle. I actually managed to ko the car boss in 2 hits using the permavulnerable garb (I forget its name it's been a while since I've played) and applying that using link mollusc, then hitting it with Pongo's charged lightning attack for over 300 damage... Gotta go back and play this on hard now
Getting close to finishing the game and while it's defitnely unique and interesting, the combat is starting to feels fairly dominant-strategy favouring. Usually the best course of action is to just charge everyone's signature move and then use any of the other skills/snapping to pick off the remaining enemies without much thought. If we get a Hylics 3 I'd love to see variety in the combat be expanded, either with various enemies being weaker/resistant to certain elements/statuses (though this might already be a thing, an NPC says burning is effective against Poolmen but honestly I cant tell a difference) or having a sort of customisable moveset for each character. That way you have to swap out each characters moveset to best suit the current troops of enemies for an area. As an aside, I kinda like the idea of using the clay theme with being able to attach and swap different clay limbs for each chatacter which would give them different abilities and skills.
One thing I find interesting in this combat system that most classic RPGs didn't do is that you don't plan out your team's actions to then see the battle unfold. You instead are given the turn of the character with the highest speed value, and after doing their thing, it immediately goes to the next one. I know JRPGs also do this with Action meters that fill up overtime and let you execute a character's actions, but it feels different here. It feels more chill, since you have all the time you want to strategize. Also, it's funny you say Pongorma is the least interesting character in the game, as not only he's the character with the biggest design changes from the first Hylics... but he's also the one with the biggest lore reveals about himself and the world, which is kinda funny. But he did live before the times of the Accretion, after all.
I vehemently disagree about Pongorma being uninteresting specially if you payed attention to the plot and little lore drops even in the first game not only reveal he is easily the oldest member in the party, but also his dialogue with Gibby implies he is the only one beside Wayne that might had a prior type of relationship with Gibby before the 2 games happened, also the fact that Pongorma willingly joins you in the sequel over doing it over a battle like in the first game also implies he either likes Wayne and the rest of the party or/and he prefers the world being how Wayne changed it after Wayne removed the incomprehensible dialogue that came with Gibby's rule.
someone probably already said this, but i think dedusmuln being "unisex" is in reference to them being some kind of bug or arthropod creature. the way they talk about their biology makes it seem like they might be a species of creature that either reproduces hermaphroditically or asexually. and so their sex is either "both" or "none," and their gender (presentation, not biology) seems to be masculine or androgynous. i think it's pretty cool, because biology and bugs are cool. :) also, wayne's gesture is quite useful, especially charged. just imo, at least.
Thanks for making this video! I haven't played Hylics 2 yet, but it's on my wishlist and I plan to buy it this month. I really enjoyed your critique. I would have enjoyed a section on enemies and bosses. Also, I would really enjoy a follow up video where you play through on the hardest difficulty and talk about how combat changes.
A bosses/enemies section was an afterthought I had after making the video too! I may make a follow up video at some point and I would definitely keep these suggestions in mind :) Thanks for your support! - Aaron
9:50 i think its cool that there's a unisex/ possibly non-binary character because it honestly is more accurate and adds layers because a small but relevant part of our population is unisex and i also think it helps normalize the concept in general even if it wasn't meant that way and the creator simply couldnt decide fr
@@nicholasthompson9196 well obviously a majority of people won't care,(especially people that already have widespread representation in media). But for people who don't have representation, they tend to look for characters to relate to(because they have no other option). Of course I understand where you're coming from, and it should be totally irrelevant, but it just isn't, bc there are people who look for media(just like everyone else on the planet), that they can relate to, even if that isn't the intention of the creator).
I liked this video up until you're just explaining the game. I watch videos to see what I wanna play I don't need a detailed rundown of each of the games' systems. Like it way better when you're purely expressing your enthusiasm and what makes the game special to YOU. Otherwise, why would I be watching YOUR channel? Anyone can give me a rundown.
I really like how the soundtrack kept the spirit of the sort of garage jam, aimless style the original had with a lot more melodic structure and composition
good video, but it feels kind of strange to use the Gym Leader Battle (pokemon SWSH) and MEGALOVANIA (undertale) as examples to contrast hylics' laid back music style when neither of those examples are the actual default battle themes. i get where you're coming from- Fancy Meat Computer is incredibly unique for a boss theme- but it isn't a matching example when you didn't use SWSH's trainer battle theme or Enemy Approaching from undertale, which is kind of funny because even if you did use the trainer battle theme it'd have made the point anyway because of how unnecessarily hype that song is
![[Vinesauce] Vinny - Hylics](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/R9B_QT_9s9Q/mqdefault.jpg)
![ละลาย (LALALYE) - DAOU PITTAYA ต้าห์อู๋ พิทยา [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wo6r9TgausI/mqdefault.jpg)
I really think Hylics 2 is divine in that it doesn’t really do anything new with the baseline jrpg mechanics. Hylics knows that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it; instead, Mason chose very wisely to innovate in areas that have been lacking in recent years; art direction, OSTs, originality, and most importantly, PASSION. It’s been a long time since I saw a labor of love that shines this bright.
>Pongorma
>uninteresting
Pick one.
poNgORMA
He's like, third best boy in my opinion
Wait is dedusmuln a boy?
@@ijustlikebees I'm pretty sure Dedusmuln is canonically neither male nor female.
@@skin_lizard ah okay? Their gender always confused me
11:13 did i freaking overheard it ?!
Did he just said "least interesting"!?
I thought Pongorma was the coolest
:(
The party character all have their own distinctive walks, i especially love Dedesmuln's cool stride with a hand resting on his sword. And pongormas funny little close-fisted trot (he seems like a weird guy)
Pongorma is always ready for violence.
hes a presumably evil ancient dark knight locked away in a vault, but he just sorta fights you, becomes your friend, and is generally chill
honestly its pretty goofy that he just wears an ENTIRE suit for collecting static electricity just to fight enemies with his lightning, and he doesnt really act like an ancient evil knight at all hes just a silly boy
I think it's always fun and interesting when a game has secret combinations of underwhelming abilities and items that can form a really powerful strategy. In Hylics 2, Link Mollusc (the gesture that applies the negative status effects from a party member to an enemy) doesn't seem to be that reliable or useful, but there's a unique garb you can find and equip called the Cursed Gloves that applies Fragile (the egg that makes you take more damage) and Burning to the character wearing it. This also seems terrible, but using Link Mollusc while wearing this item can allow you to apply those annoying effects to ALL your enemies. AFAIK, this is the only way for your party to apply Fragile in many encounters, and it makes a lot of tough fights way more manageable. Burning is just the cherry on top.
Yeah, I found this tactic helps a ton. A fragile link mollusk and a shot of poolwine can make a charged-up lightning bolt do an insane amount of damage
A lot of people pass over Damage over Time effects because most RPGs make bosses immune to status effects, which is a bad choice. But piling Dissoultion with other skills that inflict damage over time effects can seriously quicken a boss fight in this game, including the final boss. They also don't just do that, but loads of these effects weaken stats as well, allowing you to pile damage with regular attack strategies while your enemies take more damage and deal less.
In my playthrough I've mainly used stacks of effecsts. Dissolution, then soul crisper, then the one nematode. Enemies drop pretty quick with that!
@@arknark that's a great strategy, but I've found a way to make it even better that I used all the time in my latest playthrough:
Equip the cursed gloves, which give you permanent burn and vulnerable
Use Nematode to bleed yourself
And then you can use Mollusc Link, which transfers all the debuffs you have to every enemy in the fight and bingo, you've dealt at least 3 different debuffs in only 2 turns by a single character! For even stronger effects, drink some pool wine beforehand to squeeze yet another debuff out of it
True, if I remember correctly, when an enemy is dissoluted, they not only get damaged overtime, but they also lose attack power. It's like their clay body gets more melty and harder to control, almost like it becomes mud or something.
@@majorghoul9017 honestly, Mollusc Link, together with the existence of Cursed Gloves and other regenerative items that give you debuffs, might be one of the most clever ideas for an RPG I've seen. It makes for a new type of risk vs reward strategies!
I found this game because instead of sleeping i was drunk one night and my buddy was: “yo, you wanna see something wild?” And I said yes
Dissolution is great when charged
Dissolution is great in general.
What does it do when charged? I've never figured it out.
I have the necessary context for this comment, yet I still have no idea what it means!
@@ValekHalfHeart Wayne's dissolution doubles the effectiveness of the dissolution and does more damage.
Yeah I actually think it helps establish Wayne's role as the Warlock/Bard of the team. He has high speed naturally and can debuff the most dangerous enemy on the first round of combat. He's the most balanced in terms of base stats, so after he uses Dissolution he can kind of do everything else decently, but he won't have as much Will or Power as some of the other members.
I love Hylics 2 so much and the phrase “it oozes with style” is so perfect for this game. Though I must admit I think besides the 2 most obvious choices, them are fightn words and prevailing westerlies, fancy meat computer just tops the whole game off with a big red cherry, I absolutely love listening to it both as the finale boss music and outside of the game. I’m glad to see that hylics 2 is getting the attention it rightfully deserves
Disclaimer: references to Undertale are included within this video--but I am aware that it is not a true J-RPG style game. I wouldn’t say Hylics 2 is either; both include some elements of J-RPGs, so I thought it was appropriate to make a few references to it considering its popularity. Also, even though it is used at points to demonstrate how Hylics’ combat stands out, I still loved Undertale’s combat and I want to make that clear. I also have been told the intro portion sounds a little demeaning towards J-RPG's--that wasn't the intention. The main point was that I wasn't very interested in the genre and this game reinvigorated my interest in it. - Aaron
I don't think it matters honestly, given the moniker is flawed and not at a representative of what a game genre would actually be. A crpg ported to a console is still a crpg, and a game genre being distinguished by where it's developed is a bad distinction that doesn't speak to anything that has to do with the game itself
5:19
Fun fact: In the original Hylics, Mason had already planned to add the mazes in the first person, but apparently he couldn't do it, maybe the RPGmaker was not enough to do that he had in mind. There is even a video!
Video: th-cam.com/video/r7HUWB1yhYM/w-d-xo.html
That's so interesting, thanks for sharing!
On another note, thank you so much for posting the walkthroughs of Hylics 2 and the archive of the instagram livestream! The gameplay used in the video was our own, but I relied on your walkthrough when I got stuck at a few points and I used clips from the livestream archive within the vid.
Cheers, Aaron :)
@@TopSpecMedia You're welcome, I'm glad that my walkthrough has been helpful to you, and I was lucky that it recorded the livestream as Mason had an error recording it.
vamo alaaaaaan vamoooo sos famososoooooo
@@phommonteros No puedo con tanta fama
Prevailing westerlies and "look ma I fly now!" are my two favorite songs. Insanely good.
"Spraing a party member with foam to heal them..."
So basically Hot Pants from Steel Ball Run?
I assumed Dedusmuln was some sort of plant person, hence their androgyny.
A little strange to use a mega-difficult one-off optional boss theme like Megalovania to convey the point that Hylics has a chill battle theme compared to other JRPGs, but that's just a minor nitpick. Very cohesive by-the-facts video and great analysis.
Yeah in retrospect that may have not been the best example, you’re right :) thanks for the comment!
really hope hylics 3 gives each spell to one lindroth-determined character instead of just having each character have only one unique one. the decisions you make would be a bit more intense if choosing one action came at the cost of other important actions.
i tried my hand on it and i def think it could make combat more interesting:
wayne: dissolution, soul crisper, time sigil, charge up
you'll have to choose between lowing their power, lowering their speed, or trying to kill them pronto. that's pretty interesting!
time sigil is themactically cool with wayne being a moon and the moon being a big clock. plus its themed around being tired, which is also very moon.
the damage over time fits the time theme as well.
stats: low snap damage, high mp (encouraged to use your status)
dedusmuln: foam armor, fate sandbox, bombogenesis, charge up
you're stuck choosing between physical protection and status protection, which i thought was an interesting choice.
bombo is balanced a tiny bit by leaving you defenseless for a round.
stats: medium mp, low speed (encouraged to be strategic about who to protect and when)
somsnosa: wave artifice, poromer bleb, teledunudate, charge up
crowd control while you can, but she's also your panic button with poromer being emergency healing and tele being emergency everything.
stats: low hp, low speed (since she's your panic button, keeping her alive should stay interesting)
pangorma: lightning, nemotode interface, link mollusc, charge up
even if he gets shut down with status, you can still counter.
being able to inflict himself with leak means he can inflict everyone with leak. this sort of sacrificial attack fits his theme imho.
stats: medium hp, low speed (encouraged to rack up a bit of damage over time before blasting, but theres a bit of risk there)
the sacrifice angle of pangorma would be more interesting without lightning, if he could rack up more damage over time status to inflict on others.
not sure if similar moves should be lumped into the same character to make them have a domain vibe or spread out as back up variants for when you want to double down on something specific. if there /too/ many characters with similar actions, you don't add the benefit of tough choices, and if each character's moves are too similar, you'll always use the best one. tough to balance!
it was very difficult to justify too diverse of stats because the abilities are already so diverse.
i went through SEVERAL versions of this before i settled on this one. no wonder he decided to give everyone everything lol.
Great video! I finished Hylics 2 as well and I feel like there's a lot that other jRPG style games could learn from it in terms of gameplay. I especially agree on the afterlife, as I think it's probably the single best implementation of a save/death system in an RPG that I've seen; it feels like the sort of concept you'd see in like, I dunno, a Soulslike game except a lot weirder.
One thing that you didn't touch on though is the enemies, or how they behave. There's about 25 or so types in the game, which is pretty small compared to most other RPGs, but I think where the games shines is giving every enemy a distinctive role they play in combat. For example, poolmen will multiply if you don't cast burning on them, there's an enemy with a telegraphed supermove (the umbilical cord one) that hits the whole party, and another that will heal the entire enemy party to full if you don't take it down first. It means you have to prioritize which enemy you'll focus on depending on how much trouble they can potentially cause.
I also really enjoyed the game's focus on status effects. One big problem with a lot of older jRPGs (this trend seems to have died out recently though) is status effects having a chance of failing or most enemies being outright immune, but in Hylics 2, they always apply and they're almost always useful. Dissolution also isn't that bad; a 20% power debuff is always gonna be a no-brainer to cast on bosses.
Hi! Thanks for watching the video and leaving a really well thought out comment :).
I'm glad the afterlife mechanic resonated with you as well.. there's something about it that just feels so right. You die--which would normally be incredibly frustrating--but the game manages to lessen the impact of "losing your progress" without taking away from the difficulty of the combat. You also make a super valid point about the enemies; I should have mentioned them in some greater capacity, but there were so many other things to talk about it seemed to slip past my mind. I also agree with your argument about dissolution; I played the game on an easier difficulty for my first playthrough, but I could totally see it being great for bosses. I just never had to use it that way.
Cheers!
- Aaron
Charged Dissolution is a must on higher difficulties.
Great video! It's always refreshing to find more people who enjoyed Hylics as well as JRPG mechanics.
I found it interesting that you found Wave Artificer useful as I found it better to target high priority enemies rather than AOE damage; for that reason I focused Power on Pongorma to chunk down those healers as quick as possible haha. I also found Dissolution to be very useful for those enemies that got Angry or Hasted themselves which meant less turns healing.
I think when I compare it to Dragon Quest XI battle mechanics, I focused more on AOE damage in that game since spells were cheap and it's possible for all your party members to do some sort of AOE or group damage. But in Hylics where Gestures take 1/3 or 1/2 of your Will and enemies do a lot more damage in comparison, my play style was definitely more defensive and more drawn out.
As a nonbinary person, I really appreciate Dedusmulns existence. Anyway, I think it might be connected to vibe of the character. Their head and armor seems inspired by sea invertebrates, which are usually unisex.
The game has a lot of little nuances that needs to be polished, mostly platforming and outside of combat movement. it is still impressive considering it is a game done by one man.
The platforming mini games were certainly my least favorite part of the game, but in my opinion it didn't take away from the core of the game to the point that it made me enjoy it less. I agree it is an impressive effort from a solo dev :) - Aaron
Early to mid fights are also way too long and sometimes hard
STELLAR PRESENTATION! it's such there's a lot of love here, with such polish despite such a niche topic.
Definitely wanted to mention that first person is very common in classic rpgs. Wizardry is a prime example, but jrpgs adopted the first person dungeon crawler aesthetic with phantasy star 1 and notably, shin megami tensei.
The actual first person segments for battle are also done in common jrpg fashion, as seen in dragon quest. The biggest game to compare hylics to? Earthbound.
Didn't ultima also do a psuedo first person grid based perspective?
Wasn’t Megami Tensei in the NES a first person?
I like this guy. You're underrated and have a very nice voice. Keep up the good content man.
wow, this is some really nice editing!
thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Gotta quickly mention, Paper Sorcerer did the first person casting thing too, but only with your main characters abilities. That game was released 2 years before hylics 1 too. anyways this was an very interesting video to watch!
I definitely used Fate Sandbox a ton once I got Somsnosa and realised she can 1-shot everyone with Charged Wave Artifice after giving her Poolwine. Since Hylics 2 had fewer "overpowered" gestures like Mystic Meat, which shielded EVERYONE from negative status effects (and while the sequel also places a higher emphasis on status effects, and being very strategic in using and mitigating them, which I really appreciated), that move became more valuable, which I would always use to protect Somsnosa so she couldn't be hit with an effect that reduces her damage
I actually found Wayne to be incredibly useful as a debuff/status spreading support character
I forgot the exact name (my bad lol) but there's a Garb that permanently Burns and Shatters the wearer, sounds bad right? Wrong!
By using the Nematode gesture you can add on bleeding to Wayne, and on the next turn you can use the Squid/Cephalopod gesture to spread _all 3 status conditions to _*_EVERY_*_ enemy!_
All you really have to do is keep him alive, but charged Foam Armors got that covered, and on top of that once Wayne fully spreads his debuffs across the field you can simply take an opening to Dissolute the strongest current enemy, helps everyone else set up
To me, Wayne is the main support, always will be, and I love him for that. Gg's Wayne, rock on
This is a very good video for the attention it got.
Off-topic but Its so cool to see The Neverhood games as the first when you search claymation games
The only bad thing about the Hylics games is that they're not long enough in my opinion. The early battles are easy and I just ploughed through them, and the final zones are too short. Also, I completely forgot about the antennas, so I never upgraded my charge at all :|
This is a really good video! Your points were really clear and well put together. Subscribed!
(Also, about Dedusmuln's gender, I don't think anybody in the game referenced them with any sort of pronouns, though I could be wrong. I've also heard that that wiki is somewhat unreliable sooo...)
Glad you enjoyed the video :). You may be right about the wiki.. it didn't seem to be updated for quite awhile when I was doing my research for the vid--oh well haha.
- Aaron
There are two hylics wikia hubs. Neither are very helpful. I would know, I filled out the second one's page on Gestures from the second game.
Dedusmuln is androgynous by absence. Make 'em whatever you please. I say it's a guy because it makes somehow more sense for Somsnosa to be the only girl about.
@@DJ_Kuroto i just think Dedusmuln is more a male name than female
@@luccabritto2566 Y.. you too.
@@luccabritto2566 you would think wrong. It is made up.
I'd say the more apt comparison for the combat ui design would be with Dragon Quest or Mother, not Doom and Wolfenstein. Especially Mother considering that game also has some pretty surreal moments and chill battle music. Even the original Shin Megami Tensei games were like this. First person RPGs have been around for a while.
I recently played through Hylics 2 and I found that charged foam armor applies it to your entire team, so I’d just spend the first turn charging with everyone and on the second I would have buffs for everyone which would make up for getting hit on the first turn
Kinda surprised you didn't mention link mollusc or how some of the garbs you get can REALLY change your playstyle. I actually managed to ko the car boss in 2 hits using the permavulnerable garb (I forget its name it's been a while since I've played) and applying that using link mollusc, then hitting it with Pongo's charged lightning attack for over 300 damage... Gotta go back and play this on hard now
Getting close to finishing the game and while it's defitnely unique and interesting, the combat is starting to feels fairly dominant-strategy favouring. Usually the best course of action is to just charge everyone's signature move and then use any of the other skills/snapping to pick off the remaining enemies without much thought.
If we get a Hylics 3 I'd love to see variety in the combat be expanded, either with various enemies being weaker/resistant to certain elements/statuses (though this might already be a thing, an NPC says burning is effective against Poolmen but honestly I cant tell a difference) or having a sort of customisable moveset for each character. That way you have to swap out each characters moveset to best suit the current troops of enemies for an area. As an aside, I kinda like the idea of using the clay theme with being able to attach and swap different clay limbs for each chatacter which would give them different abilities and skills.
Pretty sure the only thing burning does to Poolmen/magne is make them unable to divide, which is incredibly valuable in my experience
Hylics 2, aka Baby's first SMT (in terms of gameplay).
this was a sick ass video^^ nice job!
Have you ever played Jimmy and the pulsating mass? It's a pretty long indie rpg but I think you may enjoy it.
One thing I find interesting in this combat system that most classic RPGs didn't do is that you don't plan out your team's actions to then see the battle unfold. You instead are given the turn of the character with the highest speed value, and after doing their thing, it immediately goes to the next one. I know JRPGs also do this with Action meters that fill up overtime and let you execute a character's actions, but it feels different here. It feels more chill, since you have all the time you want to strategize.
Also, it's funny you say Pongorma is the least interesting character in the game, as not only he's the character with the biggest design changes from the first Hylics... but he's also the one with the biggest lore reveals about himself and the world, which is kinda funny. But he did live before the times of the Accretion, after all.
Is the soundtrack analysis coming out soon? Great content BTW, subbed to both your channels :D
Some Shining Force games on Sega Saturn did this kind of first person JRPG combat.
I will always be an advocate for slower, groovier battle music in games.
How could you not mention Fancy Meat Computer?
Spoiler
I vehemently disagree about Pongorma being uninteresting specially if you payed attention to the plot and little lore drops even in the first game not only reveal he is easily the oldest member in the party, but also his dialogue with Gibby implies he is the only one beside Wayne that might had a prior type of relationship with Gibby before the 2 games happened, also the fact that Pongorma willingly joins you in the sequel over doing it over a battle like in the first game also implies he either likes Wayne and the rest of the party or/and he prefers the world being how Wayne changed it after Wayne removed the incomprehensible dialogue that came with Gibby's rule.
Where is the soundtrack review on your second channel, man?
Killer video
I am still waiting on that soundtrack rank video.
👀
👄
@@TopSpecMedia gimme dat soundtrack video!
@@TopSpecMedia it’s been twenty years. Now I will share a song.
This song is called best song.
th-cam.com/video/j0WuipeFHR4/w-d-xo.html
So, i’m looking forward to the soundtrack review on the second channel, but there’s been no uploads for 10 months, is everything alright over there?
1:41 this part is in hylics 1 ?
Nop, it's other game that Mason did
@@AlanDaniel500 oh okay ! thanks
Hylics 3 will be made by a 3 person team
Wayne used Dynamite
Cool video! Subbed to your channel 🔥
Im suprised you didnt mention xeno arcadia or fancy meat computer
what’s the intro song? The url for the video is deleted :(
Dedusmuln is a non-binary icon and I love them dearly.
yeah okay this is a pretty good video
someone probably already said this, but i think dedusmuln being "unisex" is in reference to them being some kind of bug or arthropod creature. the way they talk about their biology makes it seem like they might be a species of creature that either reproduces hermaphroditically or asexually. and so their sex is either "both" or "none," and their gender (presentation, not biology) seems to be masculine or androgynous. i think it's pretty cool, because biology and bugs are cool. :)
also, wayne's gesture is quite useful, especially charged. just imo, at least.
How did you get that bombo Genius gesture? This is the first I've heard of it.
i too am looking
Will you do more videos like this?
Planning on it!
“This is the first time someone has mixed 3D elements in a 2D RPG” COUGH COUGH SMT
The intro music link seems to be dead
nice jonb
soooo nice
Thanks for making this video! I haven't played Hylics 2 yet, but it's on my wishlist and I plan to buy it this month. I really enjoyed your critique. I would have enjoyed a section on enemies and bosses. Also, I would really enjoy a follow up video where you play through on the hardest difficulty and talk about how combat changes.
A bosses/enemies section was an afterthought I had after making the video too! I may make a follow up video at some point and I would definitely keep these suggestions in mind :) Thanks for your support! - Aaron
This game looks like something someone who did a lot of drugs would make and as a result various demons crossed the veil and ended up in the game
Hylics 2 isn't 2d, its fully 3d as seen with the chair in the start (you called it 2d when taking about the first person battle system)
16:50 HOW?? SHARE THE SECRETS
9:50 i think its cool that there's a unisex/ possibly non-binary character because it honestly is more accurate and adds layers because a small but relevant part of our population is unisex and i also think it helps normalize the concept in general even if it wasn't meant that way and the creator simply couldnt decide fr
dumb, its a game he made from his heart that he viewed as art, who cares what gender they are
@@nicholasthompson9196 well obviously a majority of people won't care,(especially people that already have widespread representation in media). But for people who don't have representation, they tend to look for characters to relate to(because they have no other option). Of course I understand where you're coming from, and it should be totally irrelevant, but it just isn't, bc there are people who look for media(just like everyone else on the planet), that they can relate to, even if that isn't the intention of the creator).
I imagine their aliens on a planet with a stuffy atmosphere.
Hirthe Ferry
This game slaps
I liked this video up until you're just explaining the game. I watch videos to see what I wanna play I don't need a detailed rundown of each of the games' systems.
Like it way better when you're purely expressing your enthusiasm and what makes the game special to YOU. Otherwise, why would I be watching YOUR channel? Anyone can give me a rundown.
I love this video fully but I'm *so* happy you used Dedusmulns correct pronouns!!
So, does Dedusmuln use they/them?
yes, they’re the only character in the cast that does not use masculine or feminine pronouns
Dedusmuln is not a human with human sex/gender, so yeah
I really like how the soundtrack kept the spirit of the sort of garage jam, aimless style the original had with a lot more melodic structure and composition
Comparing Hylics music to the final boss music of Undertale isn't really a fair comparison.
Why is there so little people watching this video?
My dude, Dragon Quest’s battles are first person.
good job bro. Gave you the 666th like.
Wait this is a reviewing channel...???
just a sad and alone video for few to hear
good video, but it feels kind of strange to use the Gym Leader Battle (pokemon SWSH) and MEGALOVANIA (undertale) as examples to contrast hylics' laid back music style when neither of those examples are the actual default battle themes. i get where you're coming from- Fancy Meat Computer is incredibly unique for a boss theme- but it isn't a matching example when you didn't use SWSH's trainer battle theme or Enemy Approaching from undertale, which is kind of funny because even if you did use the trainer battle theme it'd have made the point anyway because of how unnecessarily hype that song is
First
poop? lol.
pretty cool game but video essay format is so boring.