05-02-2010, 05:24 AM
(Extremely) HARD
So hard it should be in a new category - FIENDISH maybe. I spent a few days making my way through this one. In the end I cheated twice to get through. Once, just by looking at a room in the Level builder (11278) - no modifications made, and once to make the last jump hard instead of nearly impossible (10680). I was almost tempted to do something in Room 10290, but resisted... barely. I was all set to make the bat platform go down rather than up, when I managed to make the jump from the vanishing platform to the fast one. I was highly frustrated by this move.
I discovered that I missed a whole series of rooms on my successful run, but went back and played them from the level builder. I liked the design of this section, but I thought there were a few cheap deaths. (Snake in 10884). Areas where I couldn't see where there was ground to walk on (110844, 11284).
In a few places it crosses the line (for me, anyway) of being too difficult to be fun.
Some room-specific comments below:
11876 - Significant problem here! I can crash the game from this room, and can do it consistently and easily. Ride up the platform, and when you're jumping for the ledge on the left with the purple door, purposely mis-time your jump so you miss it, and let Jack fall downward towards the left side. He never lands because the game crashes! (I've already sent the resulting dump to Vern via email)
11278 - Didn't particularly care for the section in the upper right where I couldn't see where Jack was. That seemed a bit too stacked against the player. I edged very carefully, yet still lost track of Jack.
Also, the hidden key in this level is too obscure. Yes, I know it's a hard level, but I still think that keys shouldn't be hidden without some sort of clue. I had gotten here without any red keys left so finding the extra key would have been pretty important. I think there should have at least been a message about it.
12081 - OK, that was one of the most challenging save points to get to that I've played so far. The room itself was easy... it was all the rooms leading up to that was tough. You might consider either adding some more gold or adding another save point.
10680 - That bat platform could be moved just a hair to the right without completely removing the difficulty from this room. I burned through about a dozen Jacks trying to make that last jump (and a few making the others, but it was the last one that was the killer.)
10480 - Bat platform disappeared when I died (on return trip). Was that supposed to happen? I guess it doesn't matter in any case, since it's possible to get down without it.
10484 - Does the blue bat platform need a blocker to prevent it from going into the ceiling?
10280 - I think that the number of trolls should be reduced or there should be a few more shields scattered around in some of the previous screens. The trolls movements are unpredictable enough that having them run (mostly) out of sight seems like cheap deaths. Personally, I have little patience for rooms where the majority of the obstacles cannot be seen... (Dark rooms are an exception) Then again, I may have simply gotten lucky on this screen - most of the trolls exited the room through the ladder in the upper left. They must have been intimidated... or something. Not sure if this was intended. If so, then all that's required for this room is to wait, which isn't as bad as I thought (unless you're going for some sort of fastest time... and good luck with that in *this* mansion)
10084 - I really notice a slow down after a short time on screens where snow is falling. It's not immediate, but there's definitely a cumulative effect.
10290 - Jumping onto that fast moving platform from the vanishing block was a little over the top in terms of difficulty - at least for me. It crossed the line into fiendishly hard.
10089 - Cheap death entering room from right, bottom floor.
10090 - Considering the rooms around this area, you could have reasonably had a save point in this room.
10884 - How is snake on platform avoidable? Cheap death?
So hard it should be in a new category - FIENDISH maybe. I spent a few days making my way through this one. In the end I cheated twice to get through. Once, just by looking at a room in the Level builder (11278) - no modifications made, and once to make the last jump hard instead of nearly impossible (10680). I was almost tempted to do something in Room 10290, but resisted... barely. I was all set to make the bat platform go down rather than up, when I managed to make the jump from the vanishing platform to the fast one. I was highly frustrated by this move.
I discovered that I missed a whole series of rooms on my successful run, but went back and played them from the level builder. I liked the design of this section, but I thought there were a few cheap deaths. (Snake in 10884). Areas where I couldn't see where there was ground to walk on (110844, 11284).
In a few places it crosses the line (for me, anyway) of being too difficult to be fun.
Some room-specific comments below:
11876 - Significant problem here! I can crash the game from this room, and can do it consistently and easily. Ride up the platform, and when you're jumping for the ledge on the left with the purple door, purposely mis-time your jump so you miss it, and let Jack fall downward towards the left side. He never lands because the game crashes! (I've already sent the resulting dump to Vern via email)
11278 - Didn't particularly care for the section in the upper right where I couldn't see where Jack was. That seemed a bit too stacked against the player. I edged very carefully, yet still lost track of Jack.
Also, the hidden key in this level is too obscure. Yes, I know it's a hard level, but I still think that keys shouldn't be hidden without some sort of clue. I had gotten here without any red keys left so finding the extra key would have been pretty important. I think there should have at least been a message about it.
12081 - OK, that was one of the most challenging save points to get to that I've played so far. The room itself was easy... it was all the rooms leading up to that was tough. You might consider either adding some more gold or adding another save point.
10680 - That bat platform could be moved just a hair to the right without completely removing the difficulty from this room. I burned through about a dozen Jacks trying to make that last jump (and a few making the others, but it was the last one that was the killer.)
10480 - Bat platform disappeared when I died (on return trip). Was that supposed to happen? I guess it doesn't matter in any case, since it's possible to get down without it.
10484 - Does the blue bat platform need a blocker to prevent it from going into the ceiling?
10280 - I think that the number of trolls should be reduced or there should be a few more shields scattered around in some of the previous screens. The trolls movements are unpredictable enough that having them run (mostly) out of sight seems like cheap deaths. Personally, I have little patience for rooms where the majority of the obstacles cannot be seen... (Dark rooms are an exception) Then again, I may have simply gotten lucky on this screen - most of the trolls exited the room through the ladder in the upper left. They must have been intimidated... or something. Not sure if this was intended. If so, then all that's required for this room is to wait, which isn't as bad as I thought (unless you're going for some sort of fastest time... and good luck with that in *this* mansion)
10084 - I really notice a slow down after a short time on screens where snow is falling. It's not immediate, but there's definitely a cumulative effect.
10290 - Jumping onto that fast moving platform from the vanishing block was a little over the top in terms of difficulty - at least for me. It crossed the line into fiendishly hard.
10089 - Cheap death entering room from right, bottom floor.
10090 - Considering the rooms around this area, you could have reasonably had a save point in this room.
10884 - How is snake on platform avoidable? Cheap death?