It's funny the first time, and then it's just an unnecessary nuisance afterward, in its current state.

If you're playing from PC, alt-tabbing away from the game will freeze it completely, allowing you to exploit around the no-pause gimmick. I don't know if there's a similar exploit if you're playing from Steam Deck.

Um...you should've thought about the Chronos fight BEFORE you decided to have kids. Us childless singles can't relate (just kidding btw).

It's fine as is, though. If you can't set aside 2 minutes to not be interrupted to do the fight that's solely your problem. I feel like the mechanic gives the fight a lot of character and would hate to see it go.

Aye I feel maybe keep it for the first time but after that maybe give us an option to disable it cause it's not like a skill thing or anything, there isn't some huge advantage gained by pausing.

Originally posted by Calamity Heart:

It's funny the first time, and then it's just an unnecessary nuisance afterward, in its current state.

If you're playing from PC, alt-tabbing away from the game will freeze it completely, allowing you to exploit around the no-pause gimmick. I don't know if there's a similar exploit if you're playing from Steam Deck.

On Steam Deck you just press power to suspend games like a Switch.

Surprised to see no one has mentioned that you can perform a Hex to be able to pause.
You're all complaining about a feature that already has a solution in-game.

Originally posted by GuiSapito:

Surprised to see no one has mentioned that you can perform a Hex to be able to pause.
You're all complaining about a feature that already has a solution in-game.

There's no Hex for that.
There's an incantation which appears to have some crazy requirements to appear on the list. It took me like 160 nights before i could see it.

Originally posted by hilfazer:

Originally posted by GuiSapito:

Surprised to see no one has mentioned that you can perform a Hex to be able to pause.
You're all complaining about a feature that already has a solution in-game.

There's no Hex for that.
There's an incantation which appears to have some crazy requirements to appear on the list. It took me like 160 nights before i could see it.

Yeah yeah incantation. You just need to pause a few times in a single fight, enough to get him pissed.

Originally posted by GuiSapito:

Surprised to see no one has mentioned that you can perform a Hex to be able to pause.
You're all complaining about a feature that already has a solution in-game.

That there's a solution for it doesn't really stop the problem from being fundamentally player-unfriendly design that's better off just not existing at all the way it does. Especially given how easy it is to break the gimmick without the incantation.

I think it's unreasonable for a game to try to say "You can pause this roguelite whenever you want except at the very end of a run when the value of being able to pause at a moment's notice is highest." and then not only that, but to also hide the solution to this problem behind the problem. Unless this changed recently and I don't know, because I've stopped playing, that incantation requires Z-Sand to cast, which only comes from beating Chronos.

Personally, I think the entire gimmick should just be gone, as funny and thematically appropriate as it is. But even if they keep it in, there's better ways to go about it than how it's currently implemented. One free pause per Chronos fight, and he warns you when you do it that you can't pause again afterward or he'll automatically unpause you, would go a huge way toward making the mechanic easier to swallow.

There's a million and one reasons why someone might have to take their focus away from a single-player video game for more than five seconds. Regardless of how trivial those reasons may or may not be, I can't get behind a mechanic that deliberately disrespects a player's time like this for no real reason. It's not fun.

I loved the gag, and felt the same way as you. I feel it's a Kojima-like feature. I learned - accidentally - if you pause enough times, you get the ability to pause as a recipe in the cauldron. Be funny if that becomes part of how you kill him 'for good' when they update the game later.

I got a phone call just as the fight started. It is difficult to describe just how aggravating that can be, and you cannot really plan around a phone call.

I get the joke. I am mild about it. Got the incantation so I don't have to worry about a repeat of that experience. But on the balance I think the humor of it isn't worth the grief. Let Chronus break the 4th wall to comment on the fact you're pausing, sure, that's funny, but people only pause exactly when they need to pause, which is the exact moment you really don't want to get blindsided by a joke like that.

In essence it got anti-comedic timing.

As multiple people have mentioned, there is always an OS-level method to pause the game, whether it is a Home/Sleep button on console/steam deck, or a keyboard shortcut to switch application focus (alt-tab) on PC, so you should never be in a situation where you have to fear starting the fight.

Whether or not there is a workaround doesn't change that this gimmick is a fundamentally bad idea.

Originally posted by Songbird:

As multiple people have mentioned, there is always an OS-level method to pause the game, whether it is a Home/Sleep button on console/steam deck, or a keyboard shortcut to switch application focus (alt-tab) on PC, so you should never be in a situation where you have to fear starting the fight.

we get that. but the first time you run into it you have no idea, and it may very well ruin your run, that's where the salt comes from. it feels like you paused your game for whatever unforseen reason, such as a phone call or doorbell ring, and when you come back someone unpaused your game just for giggles.

ide take a single ruined run over the loss of personality flat out removing it would cause.. its not that hard to just... get a few free minutes. im specifically not using the cauldron spell to remove it cuz i like the vibe it brings, but im glad there is an ingame solution.
maybe it should show up after 1 pause attempt, maybe it should be cheaper, i dunno. but i prefer it existing over not. it makes him feel like a threat and an actual titan of time, able to un-freeze time in your face.
maybe there should be a "hell mode" and normal mode, like h1, and the pause-breaking effect could be a hell mode thing. it feels like it would be a shame to discard it completely, but i also understand people not liking it.