Man, wish I could find more time for this game! Three stages into it (two of which I already played at PAX) and I love it! I think what is keeping me from playing more is I have such short bursts to game in at the moment that I gravitate to stuff like Mario Kart 8 and Pushmo World where I can play 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there. Shovel Knight is a game I want to delve into when I play.
You need a good 20-30 min per level I'd say anyway. So I definitely feel your pain. Though that's an argument for the 3DS version with sleep mode, well not for you wanting to devote time.
I could just leave the Wii U on and such but it's not that so much as it just doesn't feel right to play this game in small bursts. I don't want to do half stages and such, I want to sit down and PLAY.
On the one hand, I can understand complaints about the levels being too long. On the other hand:
a.) The music is so good, I don't want it to stop. b.) I feel like they basically utilize the level length with fresh ideas throughout (or mixing up ideas they've introduced). c.) I think if you let yourself rely on the magic items more, the levels become way easier and don't feel as long. I haven't been doing that out of spite, but in New Game+ I might use them more.
They don't feel too long to me. I'd say they're maybe 33% longer than Mega Man levels. You don't die as much though... which actually probably makes them feel longer since you can do them in one sitting, as opposed to Mega Man where if you die three times you might give up and try a different one for a while.
Beat the main game today. Great ending. I thought the difficulty was perfect, though admittedly I didn't get all the health upgrades and items. I did cheat a little on the end with one of my Ichors, but I was REALLY close a couple times and didn't feel like fighting the boss again. Hopefully I can beat New Game Plus at some point.
FYI my game was a little over 5 hours with 75% item completion. Is there any way to see what I missed? Or do I have to comb every level? I might just go for new stuff in my NG+.
I've been playing in short burst (on 3DS) and it's totally fine, if I don't feel like I have enough time to complete a level maybe I'll just mess around in the towns or do one of the mini-games or challenges, but it's been running on my 3DS pretty much non-stop since they day it came out. Open the lid, play a little, close the lid, open the lid, play a little, close the lid, and thus does the story of my life unfold.
BTW I'm like halfway through and I don't think the game is too easy at all? I think I died like 30 times on Plague Knight's stage.
Mind you, I could have been buying more upgrades than I have been. But then again, maybe not that many more, because I've lost a ton of treasure through dying.
I know there is some cheap move you can exploit or something, but I haven't really found that yet, and I guess I will just try not to use it?
The Kickstarter stretch goals mentioned adding in playthroughs with some of the boss characters. Can't find any mention of that in the final build. Future DLC?
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but boy, is this game impressive. Besides some MK8, this is all I've been playing lately (which isn't really all that much.) I'm 4 or 5 levels in and am enjoying the heck out of it. And it's super gorgeous! Way better than the videos.
Just beat the game. I'm not gonna say they don't make games like this anymore, but they definitely don't make endings like that anymore. Wow, that was incredible.
I'm very close to the end, about 7 hours in, loving loving loving it, and the more I play the more I appreciate the 3-D visuals on the 3DS, the game just looks so damn sharp. Still want to play the TV version some day too, but loving the 3DS version.