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Cocktail is egregiously unfair if eaten on accident, it becomes, by far, the most dangerous action in the game, much much worse than getting caught by a ghost. Players just leaping in to play expecting a fun game will get caught by it, since the only place its behavior is documented is in the “Paclopedia.” Please consider changing it to something less terrible.
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My first game lasted three hours, and only ended, on Round 158, because I was getting sick of playing it. I think it should probably ramp up in difficulty a bit faster.
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Two themes always left me groaning in annoyance, and both times it was from the graphics used. The tall grass theme can make it practically impossible to tell where the last dots are, and the similar jungle-ish theme has flowers in the maze wall graphics that make it less clear where the barriers are. They made the game rather less fun. Of course fun is in the eye of the beholder, but I feel like I should chime in that I didn’t like that element. Maybe others will agree with me, and combined our impressions will accrete into a snowball of change. Who knows.
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I was disappointed that Trog didn’t appear in the one game I’ve had so far. How long does it take Trog to show up?
1. Not every item has to be good all the time. The cocktail is an item that is good under certain circumstances but not others. If you see a new item you haven't encountered before in the rotation, you can check the paclopedia from the pause menu to read what it does before you pick it up. This is a game that is meant to be played and replayed and so you will ideally learn things as you go along.
2. Difficulty balancing is one of those things I will have to continue working on as I improve the game. I think I'm making progress on that front, so stay tuned!
3. The tall grass obscures dots and items as part of its behavior, it's a gimmick specifically meant to be obtrusive. Even then, grass which is "concealing" items will be parted and darker. I can't speak on the flowers in Jungly Steps, I have never heard of anybody else struggling with that.
4. Trog is a playable character you can pick in the player options menu, not an enemy. Just press the button with Pac-Man on it and you can swap to him if you want.
My point about Cocktail isn’t that it’s a bad item, it’s that it’s an EXTREMELY bad item, in a superfast action game where you often have little time to react to, sometimes, over a dozen pursuers at once. As I said: it’s much more perilous to collect a Cocktail that to be caught by a ghost. I’ve picked it up accidentally, which is even easier to do since powerups rotate through items. And new players won’t even think to check the encyclopedia. I think my point stands.
I understand the obtrusive gimmick, I think it’s a little too obtrusive. I’ve stared at the board after losing a life and waiting for the next life to begin, unable to find the remaining dot in the short time available, or else confusing it with an untriggered boost panel or banana peel. (In one case, the dot was beneath or beside the peel?)
I’m not sure Jungly Steps was the level in question, if that’s based on the Pac-Mania map then I never had the problem in that game. I can only speak to my own experience. Others might not have it, but then again, it is a problem I have. To not mention it would negate my own perspective. I suggest that superfast maze games are best served when the layout can be easily and instantly perceived.
Anyway, no one says you have to abide by any of this, I’m not the final arbiter of game quality. I just hope my input is helpful.