I have watched many new players start playing SRB2 and get hit to Crawlas. I know this might annoy a lot of you but our control scheme takes a bit of getting used to and we cannot expect someone picking this game up to have any idea how to use FPS-style controls. I have watched people struggle with basic hazards like the bridge over the lake.
Yes, maybe this kind of introduction isn't necessary for YOU, and it's certainly no longer necessary for you, but it is important to have that there and we are not going to make GFZ1 any harder than the piss-easy stage it currently is. The last thing we want is a new player, struggling with the controls on the first level, to get a Game Over, say "fuck this", and quit right there and then because the beginning of the game wasn't easy enough for his skill level.
Especially since FPS style control isn't at all usual FOR A PLATFORMER.
When I started, I expected a platformer, I expected it to control like a platformer, I didn't expect a game where using the mouse to steer is actually easier than the keypad. But then again, I didn't know how much harder it is to make analog-style movement for a computer. SRB2 took getting used to, going in a straight line was hell for me at first, and I started on the old version, the old version is so much harder to control than the newer version so at least someone's trying to make a platformer play like a platformer.
Personally, I like it that the level isn't flooded with enemies that are hard, I like it that SRB2 doesn't have alot of focus on enemies except in Castle Eggman where there's way too many of them, but maybe when the level is finished they can be replaced with hazards more fitting for the fourth level, if not for the enemies I could buzz through that level AS SONIC. That's pretty bad, but the swing things are a cool gimmick, I think, I actually gave up flying over pits to play with them as Tails, I like figuring out how stuff works in levels.
Arid Canyon's pulleys can screw off though, there's something wrong with the jumping mechanics, they fling you forward and make it hard to grab onto another, I think as Sonic that would be cheap death city. Maybe do something about the jumping without having to move the pulleys, I think their placement is fine but the 'grab box' seems too small and doesn't feel very natural.
Red Volcano os a deathfest of rising lava that makes Hilltop from Sonic 2 look like Tourquise Hill Zone from Sonic Chaos.
But as Tails that leve's really cheap, it needs more going for it besides rising lava traps. And there's way too many rising lava traps, maybe some moving platform action as Sonic would make the level less repetitive. Rising lava is frightening in any platformer but it loses it's effect after a while. The waves of lava near the end made me shit a brick when I saw it, but again, it's not very hard as Tails.
I'm not saying I like a challenge, I don't, in fact, I was relieved to know I wasn't Sonic when I saw that, but there aren't very many things that stop you from flying over everything and it made the level really short. At least one or two things should give Tails a hard time in a level. I know Tails is supposed to be easy mode, which is why he's the first character I'm completing the game with (and he's my favorite... if it's not obvious by my av) but that far in the game, his flying should stop being as cheap.
I think that level would be short as Sonic as well since it has you running through the entire thing and I couldn't see much in the way of alternate paths... Maybe it was because I wasn't looking, I don't know.
If I have to be perfectly honest, Techno Hill Zone Act 2, this was the first time I'd ever played it. I never got past THZ1 because I didn't play SRB2 as often. There were no interesting levels until this update.
And I'm telling you there IS a difficulty spike. If you make the level longer it might be a good idea to add something that's a bit harder around the end, the level feels flat to me, and other than a few places, it just doesn't feel that difficult compared to Deep Sea Zone.
I believe he's talking about Castle Eggman. Granted, the old Act 2 was more playable, but only because the new one suffers from unplayable framerate issues.
I actually don't have a loathing for the new CEZ2, because thankfully this new laptop is awesome enough to handle it without a single stutter.
The lag isn't an isolated issue? It killed my computer this morning... I thought it was just my computer. Glad to know it's not just me so someone can fix it.
YOU try navigating under water with a lag! I hate water as is, now just flood the stupid level and then I'll officially hate it more than Deep Sea Zone.
I think I'm getting used to these initials...