A miserable little pile of micro-maps

Concluding the Dominus Collection, Order of Ecclesia thankfully brings back collectible enemy souls - as "glyphs" - and ups the sidequest ante with a village's worth of NPCs to run errands for.

But it's surprisingly hard, especially in terms of survivability; and the fragmented world map is...

Oh you know what? Unlike Portrait of Ruin, my opinions on Ecclesia haven't changed since I played the original. And I love lazily quoting my own previous posts.

... there are too many statistics. [...] Each enemy has its own weaknesses and strengths, ... the fact that some aren't [obvious] is a real stumbling block.

The pinnacle of this game's frustration is, in a late stage of a boss fight, or deep in a level trying to find the next save point, being blind-sided by something that instantly takes half your health away. [...] it's clear that OoE is a stalwart of the old-school Die And Retry game design mantra.

... most of Ecclesia is instead filled with comparatively boring micro-stages.

Seriously, look at these trivially tiny map areas:

Portrait of Ruin's sub-maps were, I assume, an attempt to build more geography than could fit in one screen-sized map. But all the miniscule maps that Ecclesia carves out, some for insignificant locations (like that pointless forest), just feel like boring filler in the way of the castle I really want to explore.

Well, at least this game (especially its NPC village) was a clear learning opportunity for IGA on his way to Bloodstained.

Progress: gave up after the Lighthouse.