Harm Bunnies in Yahtzee's Newest Game

[baba44713]

Just wanted to say - thanks Yahtzee for this great game.

I must admit my first impressions weren't that good, and I almost gave up on it really quickly. But I stuck with it for some reason and it grew on me - I think it was in the Library, when I realized Yahtzee didn't shy away from making bits of the game slightly challenging and requiring actual skill. Now I finished the game (didn't see the secret ending, but I think it's bloody obvious how I get it so I'm starting my 2nd playthrough very soon), and I love every bit of it. Well, almost every bit of it. Things I kinda disliked:

- unskippable cutscenes (especially those that precede difficult parts so you need to watch them second, third and umpteenth time)
- bats
- not being able to shoot diagonally
- I kinda don't like shooting bunnies, it just rubs me the wrong way for some reason
- grenades->health powerup being just a bit too good
- bats
- entering the new screen and game not acknowledging me holding the move button, so I need to re-press it
- coins disappear way too quickly, sometimes while cutscene is going on (the magnet power offsets this almost completely though)
- shopkeeper not letting me through when I go from right to left
- did I say bats?

Overall, I hope this is not the last Yahtzee's venture in this type of game. I'm even willing to pay for Poacher 2, if it's as good as the original. And keeps the same level of difficulty. I mean, I don't get all the complaints about how hard this game is - have you guys ever played an old-school platformer? If you want pampering in your platformers, there's plenty of that to choose from, leave at least a few games for us who enjoy actual challenge and do not consider repeating a 15-second section for more than two times a capital offense in game design.

P.S. I remapped my shoot key to "X" so I needed to press "X" to not die countless times. Felt good.

 

[Julien Brightside]

Finished the game today and I must say, it is quite the neat game. It is also rageinducingly hard as well, but not enough to pull me away from wanting to know the next thing that could happen.

Could anyone describe the bad ending or the alternative ending? I am not really in the mood to finish the game again.

 

[Diego Floor]

Woohool! I have the good ending and the better ending. How do I get the bad ending?

 

[Harker067]

Woohool! I have the good ending and the better ending. How do I get the bad ending?

Go to the evil emperor monster thing (can't remember the name) without having seen all the tea ladies.

 

[Alakaizer]

So I'm working my way through the super-secret-ultra-tough ending, and I have one little question.Am I supposed to shoot the Judge while I'm climbing???Also, can somebody tell me how to get the spoiler to say something different?

Captcha: the cat's cradle

 

[Harker067]

So I'm working my way through the super-secret-ultra-tough ending, and I have one little question.Am I supposed to shoot the Judge while I'm climbing???Also, can somebody tell me how to get the spoiler to say something different?

Captcha: the cat's cradle

At the very end when he's below you after the lightning eyes bit ? Yes just be careful not to fall while doing it. It only takes a few shots compared to other stages.

Hope that helps.

 

[baba44713]

Is the bad ending worth my while? I got the good one and the secret one and don't feel like a third play through until I'm really really bored.

Oh and btw - secret boss fight was epic. Infuriating, unfair in certain aspects, but probably the best thing in the game. It makes the "regular" final boss so pale in comparison - not only challenge-wise, but aesthetically too.

 

[snave]

True, I really like the boss battle's first section and I've never played bullet hell games before it is really, really fun and rewarding to see through the crazy patterns.

However, the 2nd section of the boss I'm stuck on and basically pulling out my hair. Once I finally learned how to dodge the lightning, the controls keep screwing me over when the Impact Shot just WON'T WORK for some reason and it's automatic death if you fall.

That's just cruel, but maybe some day I'll beat it.

I have to agree with this. For me, it's got into the tedium stage, not the frustration and reward cycle. It takes two minutes on the first form before I even reach the second for another shot and unlike, say, Cave Story's Ballos and the level preceeding it, theres no tangible reward for perfecting the first form to keep me going (because health is pretty much meaningless afterwards). This alone stands in contrast to the guidelines for a challenging game Yahtzee himself outlined this week.

What has tipped me is that I'd wager 90% of my deaths to the boss (and this includes the ones to the first form whilst still learning its patterns) have been due to borked double jump instant-deaths, usually when pulling back from a two platform-gap jump into a single gap jump because the control scheme problems with jumping left. The two times I've reached form three, I've not even got to see it because the game pause-jumps when the audio tracks change which sends me hurtling to my insta-death.

Yes, I could download the new version and the problem will dissipate with customisable controls, but save files don't transfer so I honestly can't be bothered. The only thing keeping me at it is the fact that nobody has put up a recording of the boss and ending on Youtube yet.

This isn't the first retro-styled indie game where audio and control glitches have rendered the final boss (and only the final boss) unbeatable without extreme luck (Eternal Daughter springs to mind) but the disappointment doesn't get any better each time.

Pro tip to Yahtzee if he's reading: I'd be very wary of introducing insta-death (or high damage attacks with a single way to avoid them) in a final boss without any warning earlier in the game. Heck, I'd avoid it completely unless you're 100% certain the game is glitch free. It's far better to just give the boss double the hitpoints and allow for recoveries with a small penalty if the testing is too much of a pain in the arse. The 2D Zeldas have always been an outstanding example* of this approach. The challenge should remain about equal for those playing as intended, but for those who aren't, the game difficulty should just ramp up a bit more rather than spike to "practically impossible".

* Except that worm boss with the falling bit, but they let you jump back into a second attempt immediately Super Meat Boy style, so its not bad.

 

[baba44713]

Yes, I could download the new version and the problem will dissipate with customisable controls, but save files don't transfer so I honestly can't be bothered. The only thing keeping me at it is the fact that nobody has put up a recording of the boss and ending on Youtube yet.

The end boss isn't really THAT hard. Insta-deaths are kinda irritating, and occasionally random platform placement can royally screw you over, but once you figure out the patterns (and start recognizing moments when you actually need to stay and suffer the lightning instead of doing a wild jump which will insta-kill you) the boss is a push-over. I can now beat him 2 times out of 3.

I could put the boss fight and ending on youtube if I knew a good free software for this (and if Yahtzee didn't prefer it stay exclusive).

 

[snave]

The end boss isn't really THAT hard.

As I can imagine. I've actually since managed it. Beaten the second form countless times, but only reached the third form properly (as in the boss appears) three times (third time lucky). When the music switches, the game sometimes bugs out, leaving Derek to fall through the platforms before the final form even appears. Occasionally, the music even glitches out completely and necessitates the game be rebooted. Extremely frustrating, and I hope this does get fixed for future players (because up until this point, the game had been pretty sweet).

The extra ending is really neat. Thank you very much Yahtzee.

controls keep screwing me over when the Impact Shot just WON'T WORK for some reason

If you have the latest version, remap the controls. If not, do a little testing outside of the boss if you have a spare savefile and try to isolate the invalid keystrokes. For my laptop, it was left, down (or up), Z and Space together: so no double jumps left. Once you've got this figured, you can kinda change your strategy a bit to compensate. Baba's suggestion to just suck up damage if the only other option is a risky jump is very good advice (thank you). For the third and final form, I found you could just jump around normally until two platforms in a row popped up. Then, hop on the lower one and just double jump directly up. This way, without any lateral movement until after you release the trigger, you don't risk invalid keystrokes.

 

[AgentNein]

Woohool! I have the good ending and the better ending. How do I get the bad ending?

Go to the evil emperor monster thing (can't remember the name) without having seen all the tea ladies.

Hate to be a bother, but I'm missing a tea lady encounter or two, the locations don't happen to be fresh in your memory do they?

She just finished telling me the story of the first spirit war, but hinted at the second spirit war. Not sure if that tells you how close I am to finishing her little sidequest.

 

[AgentNein]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[The Crazy Legs]

I just beat it. Best game I've played in a while.

 

[vengerofthelight]

So.

Good game. The things the game makes me hate (but not enough to ragequit) are signs of strong design, in my opinion. Bats being one of them. I can't believe how many times with a huge string of health at this late stage of the game I've died/failed because of freaking BATS.

Precision platforming with a shotgun is... well, hilarious.

I will say this, though: I will not be playing Poacher today. Not because it's a bad game or I don't like it, but because my blood pressure is already high enough, and (to borrow from Yahtzee) this game is garment-rendingly frustrating at times.

Good stuff, Yahtzee. A lot of hard work went into this, and you offer it for free. AND the Escapist happily hosts a download. Kudos.

 

[Tormuse]

I just finished the game for the first time today and I love it! I'm definitely going to give it a second go soon and see if I can unlock the rest of the achievements and maybe find the secret ending.

I'm happy to say that I found all but three of the secrets by the time I found the treasure map and all but one of the story points. Also, I knackered the Bargest on my first try.

The only parts I found frustrating were the tombs, which were just tedious, with lots of standing around, waiting for the Dead Men to pass by so I could continue, (although, I have to give credit for how spooky and atmospheric that place was and how much it made me jump every time the Dead Men came into view) and how long and drawn out the ending was. I mean it makes sense that it takes Derek so long to

Spoiler

climb out of the abyss,

but it didn't stop me from ragequitting when I got almost to the top, got hit by a grenade, stunlocked, and fell all the way to the bottom... three times... Grrrr!

All in all, a very well put together game that was quite enjoyable and I hope to see more from Yahtzee in the future.

And on an unrelated note, July 28th was the other day; Happy belated Chzo day, everyone! (It hurts!)

EDIT: I found the secret final boss! Unfortunately, it was in a game in which I was trying for the achievement of winning with max 3 health, so now he's *extra* hard! :| (And I saved over the slot when I still had access to the extra health; stupid me) Although, maybe that doesn't matter because

Spoiler

his stage two form instakilled me with its first shot, which was apparently unavoidable. Yeah, fuck you too, Yahtzee!

 

[Tormuse]

RAAAAAAAGE!

Spoiler

I beat the secret final boss! I got the achievement for it and everything, and then... I died while making the final climb out of the abyss and now it's making me fight all three stages of him all over again! (Did I mention how difficult it was to beat him with only 3 health? UGH!) And this attempt came right after getting to stage 3 of the boss battle for the first time and immediately dying because the game didn't register my pressing of the down key for the impact shot and so Derek missed his jump on to the downward-moving platforms. AAAAaaahhhh!

(Sorry for the double post; I accidentally pushed "quote" instead of "edit" and now I can't figure out how to delete it)

EDIT: YAY! I did it! All achievements! (Including the unmarked "You Mad Bastard" one!)