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Knytt Stories Level Releases / Re: "Devil's Triangle" [KS+][Challenge/Maze][Normal/Very Hard][Large] - TigerNDV
« on: December 28, 2021, 12:36:47 »
I have played a bit of V2, with what I assume 30% of unlocks / definitive changes in the map until the first encounter (Normal).
The scenery is gorgeous and story installation (with a few typos and no ' for some reason) is great as always coming from big man Tiger.
The gimmick is nice and you can figure out some pathing easily in various way, giving an open world feel.
The change of enemy sprites and encounter is interesting and unusual from casual plays in standard KS(+) levels.
Because of the large nature of the level, the evolution of travelling + shortcuts makes it even better to go back to places and progress further.
It's very useful as some of the pathing does not look obvious for how progress can be made at first.
It's also a very technical and challenging achievement to make such a level, which must involve a high degree of testing to make sure each piece goes along well.
In this case, details can matter a lot and can be easily overlooked.
A very hard maze with story elements would assume that clues on what to do next can be given (un)explicitly, which I guess is also done well here... maybe ?
*This will go a bit further in detail and can contain some slight spoiler on gimmicks / story while staying evasive*
At first it's very intuitive to go through and choose different options for progression. If you are lost you can use some help in the pathing.
However, after the first deer encounter, what to do next is highly unclear. I really have no clue even with the different routes.
It may be a bug because even after unlocking areas I only have access to the first area map routes to help out.
Everything was pretty much done in the shown routes, even after backing up my save and doing some extra exploration for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
This is where the maze + story aspect might be conflicting with each other.
Shouldn't there be extra maps, at least after unlocking the fast travels in those areas ? Like an extra map item nearby that point ?
Something that's also bothering are the "?" on them. Yes, they point out requirements for a few routes, but once they have been unlocked, shouldn't they disappear from the map ?
We do have route progression after a few unlocks, but things that are related to past events, mostly the shortcut unlocks, don't need to exist anymore.
Yet there are missing things on the other hand. The story has implications with a few of the locations and should be point of interest for the characters.
Shouldn't there be markings for the (mysterious) points of interest to better remember their locations from a story standpoint ?
Especially when you can't do progress and have to go back later for those ?
It could be done on the KS+ map feature of course.
Even though you usually only have access to part of it and would probably render visibility much more difficult.
I guess it would be confusing if you can't add something to mark what are the colors corresponding to in those cases.
Another point is the difficulty, I go for normal because I like exploring and occasionally get challenged for some tense action.
I disagree with the "Normal" aspect, it should be "Hard" in my opinion.
I do consider everything I have done in that regard, not just platforming or just the maze, but truly everything.
Of course some of the setups for the pathing aren't obvious and you can go back to check that yes, it was actually doable for someone else and it's not difficult.
It's not always the case though, since I only had access to one map, there were setups that would have required some prior knowledge to do those, like in the "Winds" area.
And still, there are precise and difficult setups that require some precise and / or timed jumps, multiple times on a single save.
Despite of course knowing the setup to make things easy(er).
Potential level breaking bug, if you restart inside home after looking at the Fast travel map, it's possible to start with extra tools that should only be accessible to Edward with Randall and Janet.
I might have to give up on this since I feel like I am softlocked without any inside help from the level and exhausted the intuitive thoughts for progression.
Maybe in the future I'll restart a new save, but I feel like that something is missing to make this level another marble in the KS level for the community.
I know all the efforts that have been put in there and how long it took for this project to be born.
But doing things almost all alone is a heavy task, and knowing all the possibilities that can happen is exhausting but have to be considered to be sure that nothing (almost) gets unchecked.
Especially sotflocks, or potential level breaking bugs.
I hope I was not too harsh with this review, but I felt the need to express my concerns on this from my experience with the level.
The scenery is gorgeous and story installation (with a few typos and no ' for some reason) is great as always coming from big man Tiger.
The gimmick is nice and you can figure out some pathing easily in various way, giving an open world feel.
The change of enemy sprites and encounter is interesting and unusual from casual plays in standard KS(+) levels.
Because of the large nature of the level, the evolution of travelling + shortcuts makes it even better to go back to places and progress further.
It's very useful as some of the pathing does not look obvious for how progress can be made at first.
It's also a very technical and challenging achievement to make such a level, which must involve a high degree of testing to make sure each piece goes along well.
In this case, details can matter a lot and can be easily overlooked.
A very hard maze with story elements would assume that clues on what to do next can be given (un)explicitly, which I guess is also done well here... maybe ?
*This will go a bit further in detail and can contain some slight spoiler on gimmicks / story while staying evasive*
At first it's very intuitive to go through and choose different options for progression. If you are lost you can use some help in the pathing.
However, after the first deer encounter, what to do next is highly unclear. I really have no clue even with the different routes.
It may be a bug because even after unlocking areas I only have access to the first area map routes to help out.
Everything was pretty much done in the shown routes, even after backing up my save and doing some extra exploration for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
This is where the maze + story aspect might be conflicting with each other.
Shouldn't there be extra maps, at least after unlocking the fast travels in those areas ? Like an extra map item nearby that point ?
Something that's also bothering are the "?" on them. Yes, they point out requirements for a few routes, but once they have been unlocked, shouldn't they disappear from the map ?
We do have route progression after a few unlocks, but things that are related to past events, mostly the shortcut unlocks, don't need to exist anymore.
Yet there are missing things on the other hand. The story has implications with a few of the locations and should be point of interest for the characters.
Shouldn't there be markings for the (mysterious) points of interest to better remember their locations from a story standpoint ?
Especially when you can't do progress and have to go back later for those ?
It could be done on the KS+ map feature of course.
Even though you usually only have access to part of it and would probably render visibility much more difficult.
I guess it would be confusing if you can't add something to mark what are the colors corresponding to in those cases.
Another point is the difficulty, I go for normal because I like exploring and occasionally get challenged for some tense action.
I disagree with the "Normal" aspect, it should be "Hard" in my opinion.
I do consider everything I have done in that regard, not just platforming or just the maze, but truly everything.
Of course some of the setups for the pathing aren't obvious and you can go back to check that yes, it was actually doable for someone else and it's not difficult.
It's not always the case though, since I only had access to one map, there were setups that would have required some prior knowledge to do those, like in the "Winds" area.
And still, there are precise and difficult setups that require some precise and / or timed jumps, multiple times on a single save.
Despite of course knowing the setup to make things easy(er).
Potential level breaking bug, if you restart inside home after looking at the Fast travel map, it's possible to start with extra tools that should only be accessible to Edward with Randall and Janet.
I might have to give up on this since I feel like I am softlocked without any inside help from the level and exhausted the intuitive thoughts for progression.
Maybe in the future I'll restart a new save, but I feel like that something is missing to make this level another marble in the KS level for the community.
I know all the efforts that have been put in there and how long it took for this project to be born.
But doing things almost all alone is a heavy task, and knowing all the possibilities that can happen is exhausting but have to be considered to be sure that nothing (almost) gets unchecked.
Especially sotflocks, or potential level breaking bugs.
I hope I was not too harsh with this review, but I felt the need to express my concerns on this from my experience with the level.