i really love the style of this game: its colorful palette, its sense of humor, the music and sound design, the smooth, zippy text boxes and menus.. it looks and feels great. but i've been having a difficult time getting a foothold on the gameplay side. i've run out my timer twice now without feeling like i was coming even close to being able to survive the end, so i feel like i'm starting to know my way around the game okay. but i still haven't found any good strategies for shaving my time down, and i'm not sure where to look for them, either. the main thing that has worked out for me is to prioritize not dying, which means focusing on grinding and only exploring or taking risks once i've gotten as strong as i reasonably can for the area. this is especially true in the first world, where i feel especially dependent on gold to progress, but a poorly timed death can set me back as much as 5 minutes in cash losses. i can relax a little bit more in worlds 2 and 3, since by i have a bit more power to protect myself better cash rewards from battle - but it's hard to psych myself up for another attempt when i expect to spend the first 15 or 20 minutes on the same slow, disciplined grind as the last run.
the way accumulating and exploiting knowledge has taken a back seat to gruntwork in my own experience feels contrary to the spirit of the game as described, so i sense i'm missing something. it often feels like there's something better i could be doing, especially in the first world, but i'm having a hard time seeing it. do you have any advice for how to approach my next run? techniques to employ or things to pay extra attention to? i'm really curious to see what this play space looks like once i've mastered it, but i think i'll need some help getting there.