Tentacles - No real changes after update?

[Dark Mirage]

Has anyone else played this through since the Mango update? Yeah it has 60fps and app switching, but I think that's all they fixed. The game is still as aggravating as ever IMO. As far as I can tell, they didn't address any of those concerns brought up in that thread from ages ago

 

[Paul Acevedo]

Oh joy! I'm returning to the game soon to work on our review, but I just dread the punishing difficulty. Did you try Easy mode?

 

[Dark Mirage]

Sure, but it's completely broken so far as I can tell. Rather then employing regenerative health across the board, easy mode simply makes you nigh invincible while normal mode is unchanged. Also, beating a level in easy mode automatically fails you for the "Don't die" challenge in every level, meaning you have to replay them in the normal, frustrating mode to get the achievements.

None of the other problems were addressed, as far as I can tell, either, including being unable to move while taking damage (which kind of makes easy mode's health pointless in several situations), and water flow that makes the platforming haphazard and difficult to control.

I'm grateful the team took time to listen to community feedback, but I think it's clear the game will remain locked in its frustrating, haphazard state. I'm guessing they either couldn't implement the fixes that were requested, or they didn't feel it was worth the time to go back and change so much when they could be doing other projects.

 

[Paul Acevedo]

Ouch at that Easy Mode.

The real problem is that everybody ate it up the way it was. With the majority of the critical and fan feedback positive (except for WPCentral and one other site, BestWP7games I think), the devs have no incentive to try to fix it more. If we didn't have these difficulty fiends loving it for its harshness and everyone had raised their voice, maybe the devs would have had a change of heart.

 

[1jaxstate1]

I'm stuck on a level where with the water flow being so vigorous, it's damn near impossible to move from one platform to another. It's real *#&{# annoying.

 

[Dark Mirage]

I don't know if I'd say a majority... I mean several people here seemed to like it, and it got some decent reviews on the Live service, but I'm sure a good number of those stars were set after playing only a tiny portion of the game (much like how people review titles based on the demo). And we all know how misleading the first portion of it is :/. How many people actually go back and change their reviews too? I know I had my review sitting at five stars until I just now remembered it and changed to two.

I found a few mobile review sites that said the game was too difficult and the platforming haphazard, so I'm thinking what we're seeing here is a seriously conflicted review space.

And I agree jaxstate. That was on my list of complaints in the last topic. The water flow is a huge annoyance, and it rips control of your character from you. There's a really frustrating section on one of the final levels where the water moves so fast that the platforms you need to reach aren't even really visible on screen, and their the kind that disappear soon after you touch them.

It's disappointing more than anything IMO. I realize the developers might have intended the game to be challenging, but this crosses the border into something aggravating. And they really shouldn't have punished players for playing on easy mode. The entire point of an easy mode is to allow gamers of all types to enjoy a game fully in the same way someone with a more advanced skill set, or masochistic streak, would. This is a slap in the face, not gentle encouragement.

 

[Paul Acevedo]

I'm telling you, I saw a lot of praise for the game at bigger places like Kotaku and such.

Anyway, I finally beat the game today and ended up with 145 GamerScore from it. I could probably go back and get the collectibles Achievement at least, but I currently have no desire to ever play it again.

 

[Dark Mirage]

Hahaha, well we feel the same there .

I'm wondering just how much those guys played it then :/. I did see a few WP sites that felt the same as us though. Oh well... It doesn't matter either way. We both bought and played it and that's the end of it.