The exit portal from Rosecore should always be there unconditionally.   I don't think it's possible to backtrack out except through that portal until you have the cape. 

The catacomb water actually turns crystal not dream.  So you would need to at least meet the Angel after Nyx and get the Ring from Angel Shoppe for the feather in Catacombs and to go to the Spire for the last feather from winning the tournament.   

I think since the Scorian map changes upon Consecrate not Astral I had to set it so you need buy Dream Sphere and have Astral to open the portal.  I could only set it so you need Scissors+DreamSphere+Astral, or Dream Sphere+Astral otherwise the portal at the start of Scorian would already be open to Rosecore as soon as it changes from Consecrate but before doing Astral.  But I think I can change it so the Flag 1 resets  (Since Bus Pass only has one spot I can think of) upon doing consecrate instead of Astral like it does currently that way you only have to buy the Scissors+Astral (cheaper) to open the portal shortcut instead of Sphere+Astral or Sphere+Scissors+Astral. 

It might be best to have the Rosecore shop be locked until after Nyx as that is the only way to guarantee that 'Act XII' always shows up for everyone.  It only shows up after beating Nyx and entering Rosecore but if you were to have already bought the Scissors before then but after Astral Act XII wouldn't show up upon entering Rosecore again.  Plus it gives at least a little time to potentially see Dream Water and not yet know how to overcome it.

I think I'm just going to have the rosecore shop closed until after Astral.  The scissors shares the flag with bus pass and that and Dream Sphere really have no use until after astral.  I don't remember actually having any dream water pre-astral. The Glassland vale has Crystal water but it and eventide/catacombs water gets changed to dream water after astral.  I dont think it can softlock but people could get confused why theres no scissors and not know when to come back later to get them and no point letting people waste the coins on dream sphere so early.

Having the level autosave when exiting the tents was how it worked for  a bit right before release but i changed it back.  Because of how the flag shifts work if you exit a tent and die it will place you back in the pre-astral or non-cape versions of those zones even if you have those.   Sometimes if you ctrl r yourself on the world map it can zone you back to the pre-astral map too.  It should fix though upon actually entering the zone or moving to a different zone on the map.   Also not sure if I can
always have it save directly on the exact tiles due to 3 shift limits.

The cemetery insides dont get fully lit until after consecrate. 

the autumn village background came that way on the tiles but becomes even more destroyed after astral.  Lol. 


Everything else > next version

Nice. Will check it out at some point. Regarding Sunset Village, perhaps it would theoretically be possible to have that screen use a version of the Mount StarFlame tileset that has the filter baked into it? I don't blame you if that's too much work for such a minor cosmetic alteration, though.

Edit: I think the first bus trip could benefit from a save halfway through. The second half is notably harder, so it's a bit annoying you always have to repeat the slow, yet easy first half when you die. Didn't notice it much the last time, but I died a few times on this playthrough.

Also, the semi-final phase of the Paladin Temple recapture mission has a shining orb where its green button is, yet the final one doesn't. IIRC, the earlier ones didn't have those either, so that seems like an accident.

Edit 2: Why is the Flowering Swamp named Swamps in the guide. If there's only one swamp there, shouldn't it just be called Swamp?

Edit 3: Lacewing Skies has certainly become easier to handle compared to my first playthrough, but there are two phases that stick out as notably harder than what comes after them. The first phase with the side shooters is tough because most of the blocks are placed in the middle. Side shooters are significantly easier to dodge at either a short or long distance, so being forced to spend most of the time at the distance where they're at their most dangerous isn't easy. I actually found the later side shooter phase notably less challenging because it allowed me to spend more time near the edges of the screen. The other difficulty spike is the phase that introduces black birds. I think the time limit is a bit too high. There are enough blocks, but dodging this many homing projectiles for 15 seconds is tricky. I often died a few seconds short.

Edit 4: Is the underground part near the beginning of Silverwood Cemetery still supposed to not be fully illuminated when I have all seven candles? I understand that the dungeon to the right is that way, since it's so dark it requires all seven candles to be traversed at all, but that mini dungeon at the beginning doesn't have that restriction.

Edit 5: Is there really a point in Scarlet Hillside still having the girl who warns you against climbing to the top after the consecration spell has been cast? I assume her purpose is simply to discourage people from going there before the additional save points are there, so why is she still present at the point where you actually should go there?

Edit 6: Found an incorrect tile in the Sand Ditch.

Edit 7: Is Autumn Village supposed to have some destroyed buildings in the distant background even before it actually gets destroyed?

Edit 8: This spot and the one to the right in the Valley of Dust don't seem to allow diving by simply pressing down. Instead, I need to also press the jump button. (Side note: The challenge below this was what almost broke me during my first playthrough. I'm truly glad I now know I can postpone it until I have the flippers because I'd have never replayed this level if it meant doing this challenge with just the snorkel again. It's totally doable with the flippers, but nigh-impossible without them.)

Edit 9: It would be a bit more convenient if the evil wizard tents also saved your game when leaving them. I like to use them as additional save spots, but when there's something inside of them, I always have to enter and leave them an additional time just to make my save include the item I just got. It's not big deal. Just a bit annoying.

Also, there are some occasions where saves on the world map don't place you directly at the location where you died, but right next to it. I understand why these particular saves work this way, but it confuses my muscle memory. A few times, I ended up moving to another location and back first just to make a more convenient world map save.

Edit 10: When I jump on this ledge from below and keep walking, I sometimes end up falling down a tile automatically. Seems the diving mechanic doesn't quite work right here. Not that it's a big deal in this case.

Edit 11: You can't swim above this bank even with the flippers.

Edit 12: You can dive below this spot and start wall-swimming.

Edit 13: I just noticed that the full guide image still claims there's an ingot in Luminous Haven. Wasn't that moved to the Consecrated Cemetery? There are now eight ingots in that image.

Shreeps saw how I handled the endgame, I started not using holo, then used it as a green button checkpoint, then used it more and more as my patience was running dry in the last parts.

Overall, it's pretty hard, some luck is required on top of solid execution at times, but it's the randomness that kept me going, telling me that I can have better opportunities.

On the topic of lunatic diff, the level "The Safety Sequal" by SecretGlitch made me quit on the second challenge screen of each of the 2 routes, there was no possibilty of lucking things out and demanded way too much skill that I could not provide.
I would also consider 50 regular creatures to be the lunatic side with its extreme RNG fest, even with the save.

This level though ? "very hard" is reasonable to me. Obviously requires a lot from the player, but at no point I thought things were hopeless.

Change the difficulty to lunatic. I saw Anton play the final portion. There's no way around it. Lunatic.