i think i'm done with a 31/36 gems found. it was a lovely game but i can't find any guides online and the final 5 gems feel like they're way beyond my patience. spoilers below, feel free to reply with spoilers if you know the path thru my struggles and wanna drop hints or solutions or even just to commiserate if you're stuck at these parts, too:
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everything below is going to sound like a bunch of complaining because instead of talking about what i liked about the game (a lot!) i am talking about what i didn't understand.
i found my way to the mimic chest and the dragon boss, but there is nothing there to teach me what i'm supposed to do. i can dodge their attacks, bounce the chest off my head, or drop the falling platform on to the dragon's head all i want, but it feels like i'm in an infinite loop. idk what i'm supposed to do in these situations, super frustrating.
the moles bothered me, too. i'm told they're shy, so i've gotta wait around for them to appear in the correct location. one of the hints is "near the factory gate". this one feels like the easiest hint to me, so i rush to the room called 'factory gate'. i wait around in 3 different spots in this room until my character falls asleep. nothing. i wait until i fall asleep in the two adjacent rooms, because maybe near means next to instead of in the 'factory gate' room. nothing. super frustrating. i give up on the moles because if i can't figure out what feels like the easiest hint, i see no point in attempting the others.
according to the node map in the ice cave by the weird pot, there's 7 rooms in the grid that don't exist/aren't enterable: a 2x2 group of four in the top left, and a line of three in the middle bottom. assuming these will always be empty on the map, there are only 6 rooms i haven't entered: one on the far right closer to the top, one on the far left in the middle, and a backwards L shape near the dragon boss. none of the rooms adjacent to any of these have an opening in the node wall to indicate an entrance, so i'm assuming they're only accessible by some sorta secret? the one on the far left is marked on the weird pot map, so i'm assuming it's enterable somehow. this is a little less frustrating than the bits i talked about above because i don't feel stupid about it, like there's something obvious that i'm supposed to get that i'm missing. instead i just feel like i don't have enough patience or wit to puzzle out these zones, which is fine. i never figured out what to do with the arrows from the room named "illegible" next to the lantern, so that probably factors in somehow. i think a flame buddy said there was another code somewhere else, and each code gets entered at the site of the other? i never found another code though :(
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all that aside this was a super charming game. the way there's no music in the beginning and you have to puzzle out how to grab the radio is super cool and sets an eerie vibe. i like how you have the option to NOT pick up the radio after loading a save if you want to return to musiclessness.
i love the weird voxelly world map. it almost has a claymation vibe to it.
there are a lot of charming moments in npc dialogue and with level design or room titles. quirky and cute :- )
ty for making and sharing!!!!