Softlock
So, the softlock was in a room where you’re supposed to use the web-boot thingies to jump up, the backwards momentum on them got me accidentally stuck under the corners you’re supposed to use.
I was stuck under one corner, then I’d use the backwards momentum to try to get out, and then get stuck under the other corner. It was kinda funny, in a way.
I never did figure out how to get those boots to work on the first time, it was always a bit of a fiddly thing.
Thinking over the early game a bit
So, using enemies to block off paths is totally valid, it’s mostly the dodging difficulty that makes it harder to parse which enemies are meant as blocks, and which are just there to add some challenge. I think the jump height is fine enough for dodging the floor enemies, it mostly becomes an issue when the ceiling is so low that you can’t take advantage of it, and are bonking into the ceiling. Then the jump is a lot more precise, in the sort of way I’d use as more in a secret-hiding troll area, more than the main path. This is probably where the large character against a low resolution probably hurts the most.
As far as having a hard time guessing where the pole is, there’s 5-6 doors between you and the pole, many of which involve likely taking damage the first time you go through them. And the intended path still has enemies and a death pit (because the likelihood that players reach it with more than 2 HP is slim). Like, it’s almost as blocked off as many of the other paths when it comes to “Danger == Dead End”. It’s almost less risky to go to the Blue Realm (and I went there before I got the pole at least once), even though you can’t make much progress once you get there. And then, after all of that, you have to do a dance of tricking an enemy to destroy blocks to let you at a pole, which also risks health. Like, damn, you’ve got yourself a whole mini-dungeon before the player even has a sword.
It’s a lot to expect out of players up front. The sequence could work, if the mechanics and level design were opened up a bit and tuned to be a bit more generous. Like, maybe get rid of the damaging water, and only have one or two spike enemies on the walls? I think with that, and adjustments to low ceilings, having to clear a miniboss without a weapon would be a cool encounter.
In fact, having things be a lot more generous up front gives you a lot of room to tighten them up to ramp up the difficulty later. Early areas staying easy and becoming easier isn’t a bad thing to have in a Metroidvania.
The Legend of Zelda NES starts you off without a sword, but puts it in the first cave you, so that you have to go out of your way to avoid it.
Miscellaneous other thoughts
And, at first, it’s not clear that your door-opening move doesn’t also do at least something damage-wise, I did try to use it to attack enemies a couple of times. (Especially with a player character that looks a bit of a magical girl, what with the crown and such). It’d be kinda cool if you could stun enemies with that move.
Another thing that seems like it’d be handy is to have a bit of a lower hitbox with the pole to make it easier to hit the fishy/spiky enemies? It still felt a bit hard to hit them.
I also think that it’d be awesome to have a variable jump height, so that once the player lets go of the jump button, they go into the fall state, rather than always going as high as possible.
Health pools being red, and danger water also being red felt a bit of a troll, though it did mean that I didn’t die in a place I expected to, so there’s that.
Alternative starting sequence that came to mind, but could be used elsewhere
- Put the pole at a dead end
- Have a bunch of enemies spawn after you pick it up
- Make the first checkpoint only available using the pole after you clear enemy room