DarbyDear
He/Him, with a tendency to ramble on about any given topic.
What’s really funny about this image is that the implication is that Beehaw mods are trying to keep us from seeing content from other instances, when they’ve said in multiple ways that 1) if you don’t agree with the decision, you can go elsewhere, and 2) it’s about keeping trolls from spamming up Beehaw, not preventing Beehaw members from venturing outside of the instance. I don’t even know why people think Beehaw’s admin/mod team cares at all about where it’s users go beyond making sure they’re not trolls trying to infiltrate. They’re providing a free service where they’re trying to build a community, not create an Orwellian dystopia where all thought is policed. If anything, mods here have been way more tolerant of dissenting voices than I’ve seen elsewhere as long as those voices are civil and not actively promoting bigotry/harm.
Thank you for the transparency! I definitely understand the original decision to defederate (especially looking at the troll’s post, which was linked to in The Dude’s side of things), but I also look forward to better, more granular moderation and administration controls to come out so that refederation can happen.
I would also like to give kudos to the admin team and users over at sh.itjust.works - there’s some good discussion going on over there in the thread linked here. I love that, despite the fundamental difference in views on how an instance should be run, it seems to be respectful on the whole. Even the people that firmly disagree with Beehaw’s vision essentially leave it at “I think it can be done better, and want to demonstrate how.” I think that’s perfect, and encapsulates the benefit that Lemmy has over centralized platforms. There is also no support for the troll that triggered this situation to begin with.
I don’t know why people can’t be bothered to click the “register” button to see for themselves. I’ve spent more time writing each individual post I’ve made on Beehaw than I did the questions for registration. Granted, I also read all of the literature discussing the philosophy and goals of Beehaw beforehand and had the answers in my mind by the time I saw the questions, but it was really just a line or two per prompt. Basically the bare minimum of user vetting. Imagine my surprise when I see people talk about it like we were asked for an in-depth literary analysis of the themes behind “Great Expectations” and how they can be translated to the modern world.
Same exact situation for me, down to putting Jerboa where RIF used to be. I think the appeal to Beehaw for me is its emphasis on community. I’ve been on the internet for a hot minute, and I didn’t realize that I actually missed having a sense of community online. Reddit was basically a source of content for me, and I would lurk almost exclusively. With Lemmy, I’m finding myself commenting and responding far more often. I’m not entirely sure what the difference is here, but I just feel more inclined to actually participate here.
There’s also the criticism that I’ve seen multiple times about “having to write an essay to be allowed in” when 1) I wrote maybe 3 sentences total for all of the questions, 2) it’s kind of a bare minimum vibe check to make sure you aren’t going to raise hell, and 3) even setting all that aside, anyone from an instance that is federated with Beehaw can interact with us so it’s not like they’re missing out on anything. It’s literally people being upset at nothing if they really are interested in participating in the community in any way. They just resent the smallest of obstacles (which aren’t even obstacles since, again, you can still interact as a member of another instance). It just reeks of bad faith arguments that can be discarded out of hand.
I agree. Beehaw has a different goal (which is thoroughly explained in the stickied FAQ post), and it is not to be a Reddit replacement. I’m actually a fan of the environment and goal here - I’ve actually found myself responding to posts from a week or two ago because I actually wanted to contribute, whereas I wouldn’t bother on a Reddit post more than a couple of hours old because it would just get drowned out by a flood of low-effort content.
This was the moment that cemented my choice to move away from Reddit. My plan initially was to see how the blackouts would play out, but this showed even more clearly than the initial thread about Apollo’s woes with Reddit just how garbage the decision-making at Reddit is.
Hollow Knight is a solid contender for my favorite game, so good choice! I’m going to try to keep things spoiler-free as much as I can since a huge part of the experience is exploring and slowly unraveling things. Here’s a list of (hopefully spoiler-free) tips that I think might help.
Not much will make sense at first.
Hollow Knight follows the Dark Souls school of lore: You don’t get an exposition dump in the beginning giving you the whole background behind what’s going on. It’s perfectly fine to be confused about what you are doing and why. In fact, I’d say that’s an intentional choice that winds up making a ton of sense after a certain point in the game.
Careful looking up info
Because of this fact and how long it’s been out (as well as how popular it is), it’s unfortunately very easy to spoil things. Be careful with that, and make sure to tag on “spoiler free” to any searches you do on the game.
It’s difficult, but fair
You’re likely going to die a lot, that’s true. That being said, there aren’t really any situations that I can think of where I had no way to avoid dying. The nice thing is, the game sort of sets itself up in a way that you (hopefully) learn different techniques over time, and the fact that it’s a metroidvania means you get upgrades drip-fed to you, so you don’t have a million things to try to learn at once. I’m not great at games nowadays, but I did still manage to beat the game. I never completed the boss rush stuff, but that’s more because I’ve never been a huge fan of boss rushes in general.
It’s methodical
You don’t have a time limit during fights. Feel free to take your time learning an enemy’s attacks; there are generally tells you can keep an eye out for so you can prepare to react appropriately. Don’t be afraid to keep your distance as much as you can while in a fight.
Don’t forget your Soul
Soul is the game’s “magic” system, and it’s a pretty big help in keeping you from dying. You recharge it a bit each time you hit an enemy, so as long as you’re able to run in, hit an enemy, and get away without getting hit, you can recharge enough for another use. There are also generally minor enemies in each area that are relatively easy to deal with - these are basically prime candidates for recharging Soul if you’re low.
Be sure to explore
There are going to be quite a few dead ends during your journey. These are usually places you just don’t have the tools to deal with yet, so if it seems like you can’t progress, try somewhere else and come back later! Another thing to keep in mind is you’ll sometimes hear or see weird stuff on your journeys - it can be worth putting in some extra effort to see what the source is. Something that I would say is important for this is the map and quill you can buy in the shop in the first town. It updates when you sit down at a bench, so don’t worry if it doesn’t seem to “work” right away.
If you’re having money troubles…
Grab the “Gathering Swarm” charm from the store in the first town, go sit on a bench, and equip it. It won’t make your money problems disappear, but it’ll help.
Enemy spawn mechanics
Enemies only respawn when you sit on a bench. Yes, that goes for the entire map. Yes, I have cleared a significant number of enemies across multiple zones without sitting on a bench and verified this (it was to help me finish a specific side quest). No, bosses will not respawn.
Hopefully this gives you a decent set of tips to get you started! I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I did when I played the first time!