Cave Story: Jenka's Nightmare

Well, don't know it anymore, it was at the Genesis area, after you felt from Grasstown and the Door at the Pool in the mimiga village isn't working!

 

Just finished it, the right way this time. I like this a lot, though I do have a few more comments:

An odd thing about the Pooh Black battle, after his first form is defeated, you can jump on top of him and stay there for the rest of the battle without taking any damage! It makes the fight very easy. It also lets you reach the blocks at the top of the room, though it doesn't seem like that does anything except provide an even safer spot to snipe from.

At the entrance to Genesis: Sky, if you save and then immediately reload, then jump down to the middle platform, the "You dropped your weapons" event will replay. Also amusing is the fact that you can actually sometimes grab the experience triangles that that generates. Level 2 Nothing is indeed more powerful than Level 1 Nothing.

Figuring out where to jump to get to the blade was actually the easy part (although it seems like if you save at the very last save point and then reload it is impossible to get the blade, because the platforms going backwards will not be generated. I think that's kind of unfair given how easy it is to die in the attempt). The hard part was getting to the far right platform. I don't think I did it the right way: what I did was jump on the moving block that activates on the lower path, riding it all the way to the left, and then riding it back all the way to the right, which was very difficult. If that is the correct way to get to the blade, it seems a bit counterintuitive to me.

Deconstructor was much too easy with the blade, though probably just about right without it. Maybe giving it a second form or something to make the battle a bit longer would help.

Getting through the labrynth was definitely easier without riding Monster X. Also a couple things I noted, the first set of moving blocks when you reach the labrynth were very difficult to get past on the way back from Chaba's shop, which was all the more frustrating because reloading meant going through all those other moving blocks to get back to that point. Once I figured out the trick to walking past them it was easy, but it would have been better to have to learn that trick on my way in (with the save point right by); the problem is that walking over to Monster X sets them all to the top position, which you can just walk under. I don't know if that was intentional, but I think it would be better if those blocks did not move whenever you walk above them.

Second thing in the labrynth, getting to the Dead End was a lot easier than getting to the Great White Critter - in fact, if I hadn't been reading all the posts here I probably would have given up looking there altogether. Doing something to make it a bit clearer that there are lots of different variations of Labrynth B would help, like slightly different enemies in each copy of that room or something. I liked the Critter boss, though it was a little easy with the level 2 blade (remember against Ballfrog all you had were Polar Star, Missile, Fireball and maybe Bubbler), maybe adding a couple of moving blocks, or having it spawn Power Critters would help.

I really do like this mod, you've done some awesome work with it.

 

I'm going to beef up a few of the bosses. Great White Critter is even easier with level three super missiles than with the blade. While I don't want to make the game too hard for those who have missed secrets and weapons, as someone mentioned earlier, I also don't want to make the game boring for those who have gotten everything along the way.

 

I liked that Labyrinth was a maze.

Of course, when I went through, I got "dead end" as the very first room I tried, so I already had the all-important hint about going in circles.

 

I found another potential issue: it's possible to miss the Blade and the Bubbler, entering the Sand Zone with no weapons at all. It doesn't make progressing impossible - I was able to get all the way to Deconstructor without picking up a weapon, so the Fireball and the Missiles are both still available - but it might make some things more difficult than they should be, e.g. getting through the blocks at the end of the Sand Zone. It is currently rather easy to leave Genesis without picking up the Bubbler, so you might want to make it required somehow.

 

I think I'm leaning towards making the way to the Blade more obvious rather than more subtle. I'm working on the Gaudska-teer fight currently, and I'm finding it very difficult to balance it so that you could beat it with the fireball/bubbler but not make it so you could sword spam for ten seconds and have it beat. There will be less of a gap in potential firepower if I can assume most decently intelligent players have found the sword.

To that end, I'm putting a signpost where you need to jump in Genesis: Sky, and hoping that curiosity will lead the majority of players to investigate. Also, I've made it so that the important platforms between said location and the nearby savepoint will also trigger when going back, should you save at that spot and then die making the attempt.

 

The blade by itself makes ANY boss easy as crap, unless the boss has a fail safe in place to prevent excessive damage(Misery, Core, Undead Core etc.) because it's very easy to take a small hit and then pounce on your enemy during the invulnerabilty and spam blade like no tomorrow.

 

The thing with the Blade is if it's going to be that much more powerful than any other (semi-)required weapon, you may as well *force* the player to get it. It's too much of a handicap if a player misses it (Gauskateers aren't much of a problem, because Fireball still creates decent havoc against them, but it's more of an issue for the other bosses), and seeing as how none of the other weapons given up to this point have unlimited block-piercing ammo at all power levels (Fireball never breaks, Missiles are limited, and Bubbler is soft until level 3), it's really hard to justify the Blade as an optional pick-up. Players can survive without the Bubbler and Fireball, but the Blade (and Missiles) are ones that shouldn't be missable (especially permanently missable).

Maybe give King some dialogue there as well. He's too stubborn and proud of a character to just run off (maybe explain how he's still alive).

 

Shmitz, might I suggest instead of making blade easier to find / get... Just put another one somewhere later in the game. That way the reward isn't just having blade, but instead its having blade early. You could change the flying guadi who gives the speech to a armor, then when you kill him blade pops out. I don't expect you to do that but... just something to consider.

 

Well, that was just my idea i have for my Mod!
A Gaudi Balde! I build it in!
So please don't use that!

 

Maybe give King some dialogue there as well. He's too stubborn and proud of a character to just run off (maybe explain how he's still alive).

Note the name of the area he appears in ;P

 

Maybe, i can add Jenka's Nightmare to my modding page for download?

 

When it's done sure, or even maybe when it reaches "beta" (all content in, not tested or tweaked). It's too incomplete right now to put up for download other than here on this forum though.

 

k, thanks!
Call me if its ready!
But sure, i can link a alpha version too, my mods are currently early alpha versions...
Well, if its ready i must have a 16x16 picture! wich do you want, Jenka?

 

When it's done sure, or even maybe when it reaches "beta" (all content in, not tested or tweaked). It's too incomplete right now to put up for download other than here on this forum though.

You should test the content as it's being made if you have events that depend on other events it might be harder to fix glitches if you dont know the source of them. The glitched source event could glitch other events & you won't know witch event is the source of the glitch.

 

You should test the content as it's being made

I consider that "alpha" stage, which is currently in progress. =P

 

Hi, first off I would like to say I love this mod so far, and I'm really looking forwards to the final version.
Some suggestions I have are:
* Make it so the player has to pick up the snake in Start Point. I found it quite easy after a couple of tries to leave it where it was and get through First Cave to the polar star without taking much damage, so I could pick it up later. Perhaps put 2 birds in the Gunsmith's home, or make the bird that's already there impossible to jump over?
* Make it more obvious how to get the life capsule near the top of Mimiga Village. I can't for the life of me figure out how to get to it.
* Please don't hide things in walls where you can't see them. If I could see what I was trying to get at, then I was happy to spend a bit of time figuring out how to get to it (for example the map system, or the life capsule near the bottom of Sand Zone).
* Don't make it too obvious how to get to the Blade, but make it more obvious than it is. It took me a long time to realise that I was meant to make the blocks towards the non-Blade door appear before I tried to jump to the platform that led to the Blade.
* I'm in two minds about the teleporters puzzle in Sand Zone. It took me quite a while to figure out what I was supposed to do, and I tried several approaches before accidentally hitting the right one (but I then figured out what I had done to make it work), but maybe that's my fault for trying to over-complicate it - I am a MYST player, after all.
* Make it more obvious how the doors in the Labyrinth work - I found Dead End by accident, and then got the hint about circles, and kind of figured out what to do with that, But I still had no idea how I got to dead end.
* I think your best bet for stopping the player skipping the monster X fight is to put spikes here. I found that, with some very precise Booster-ing I could get over those deathtraps and land on that block. I doubt very much that I'd be able to get over it and onto the little step next to it (where I'm standing in the picture).

Sorry if it sounds like I'm bossing you around or ripping into the mod, I really did enjoy it and I'm just trying to give some constructive criticism to make the experience more enjoyable. I also have some questions:
* How am I supposed to get the explosive after the fight in Grasstown? Those fans just before it always seem to be on when I fall. The Cthulhu said to turn the fans off, but I can't see a way of turning them off and getting back to where I was.
* Where was the super missile upgrade?

Again thanks for a really fun mod, I am really looking forwards to the next update.


EDIT: I also found that it's possible (and quite easy) to get back through the corridor in the labyrinth once you've got to the Revolutionarium, except when you get to the other end (where Monster X was before) the boss fight gets triggered again, although Monster X isn't there. After a few seconds, those homing missiles seem to fly in from above the roof, but there's no sign of the actual boss itself. I don't know if this would have happened if I had killed Monster X at the end of the Labyrinth. You might want to put something in that corridor to stop the player getting back, or to stop the boss fight from starting again if they do.

 

I'm finally at Grasstown, but i can't make it to the upper terminal (the one above the set of fans that need Auxilary Flow)! What is the trick? I can't use the rightmost fan because i fall before getting in its range, and the alternative, i can't make it because the other fan pushes me rightwards!

What it is?

Screw this, i made it thru.

The Genesis Sky makes me remember of the old platforming games i already played.

 

Genesis: Sky is awesome!

I'm pretty stuck on the Sand Zone, can anyone fill me in? I know:

Gaudi eats Mimiga
Mimiga eats Flower

Mimiga eats Red Flower
Gaudi and Mimiga eat each-other.

Also, barking dogs are bad, tailwagging's good.

I'm still stuck though, the signs, and the green people baffle me. What's going on?

 

Hint: With the teleporters and puppies, barking means the tele is "connected," and quiet means the tele is "disconnected." When the teleports are connected, you can travel between them, but you ultimately want to break one apart from the other two, and then you want to find a way to reach the third "disconnected" teleport. Yes, at most one teleport can be "disconnected" at a time. And in a physical sense, the Mimiga area is blocked off by sunstones, and Gaudi is above Flower.

Partial Solution: Ultimately, there's really one teleport you can disconnect from the other two and still be able to reach, so separate Flower (you will know it's separated because the teleporter will only go between Gaudi and Mimiga; feed the dogs in the right way to make this happen). Once you've done this, then from the Gaudi area, you should be able to reach the Flower area. Take this teleport to a new area. Other events will happen that will allow you to disconnect and use other teleports.