Brilliant game up til Level 9. I won't be finishing it.

[Sabatasso]

I agree with the OP to a certain degree, well everything but the starving bit, really. I never starved, but somewhere in the latest levels the game made a drastic drop in quality.

[Arracht]

If there's something unusual and you can take it with you, take it with you.

Words to live by in this genre.

As a scrounger and a pack rat I felt adequately rewarded at that point.
Shame the blue and green gems had no other uses.

I really hate all the handholding in the contemporary cRPG. The gear and inventory is streamlined to a point where what you are wearing and whether you take your time to look through the loot stops making any difference - exploration aspect killed.
As if you couldn't put a secret in a game without a huge neon sign pointing to it - we can't have players miss out on the content, can we?

[jfunk]

Did these guys completely miss the fact that the dino area had doors you can close? I went through it a couple times and didn't have to kill more than one or two each time. It's like 20 steps to run through it, it's not a huge area. Also, respawning mobs and starving seem to be mutually exclusive problems.

Anyway, level 9 did happen to be the only place in the game I had to resort to a hint to proceed. I found myself completely stuck after the long hallway. I had replaced the scroll in the alcove near the beginning because I didn't need it, never thought about it again even after walking past it several more times. Doh. Kind of disappointing to have to resort to a hint only once and have it be that stupid.

I missed plenty that I will try to find or not skip on a second play through, but that was the only point that I became stuck.

[Loktofeit]

He didn't say anything about the game being too hard. His point was a valid one, which was that the rules of the game changed drastically once the player reached level 9. Now, you can Hi-five each other over your various levels of condescension (he said something negative so he must be a child or WOW player or want everything handed to him) all you want if that makes you feel better, or you can take a step back and acknowledge that he does have a valid point about the design of the game.

[t0tem]

*eats popcorn*
Good show today...

[jfunk]

He didn't say anything about the game being too hard. His point was a valid one, which was that the rules of the game changed drastically once the player reached level 9. Now, you can Hi-five each other over your various levels of condescension (he said something negative so he must be a child or WOW player or want everything handed to him) all you want if that makes you feel better, or you can take a step back and acknowledge that he does have a valid point about the design of the game.

Except it's already been pointed out why the "rules" didn't change. The majority of the OPs points are "I don't like the ice raptors", however most of their "problems" aren't real. They in no way impede exploration, they exist in a small area that can be completely closed off. You can open a door, close it, run through, then open and close another door in a few seconds, often without having to kill any.

All of the items you need are available nearby, you needn't have carried them around forever with you. If you need to backtrack because you carried none of those things, it's not very far.

[rakenan]

He didn't say anything about the game being too hard. His point was a valid one, which was that the rules of the game changed drastically once the player reached level 9. Now, you can Hi-five each other over your various levels of condescension (he said something negative so he must be a child or WOW player or want everything handed to him) all you want if that makes you feel better, or you can take a step back and acknowledge that he does have a valid point about the design of the game.

You left out the alternative, that of examining his points and deciding that they lack validity. Believe it or not, people can disagree while being completely honest with each other and themselves. The only subject on which the OP is unambiguously correct is that he did not enjoy the experience of level 9 and further in. While he has my sympathy - I too have encountered games that I enjoyed until near the end and found to be unbearable at that point and never finished - that does not make his assertion that the things bothering him are bad game design correct.

I, personally, never noticed the rules of the game changing drastically at that point. The ice lizards were no worse than the spiders on level 3, and in fact were much better in that they did not inflict a probably-lethal status attack when they hit and did drop delicious food. The respawn rate was easily handled, and represented no more threat than the occasional spiders or other monsters released form hidden chambers when you explored earlier levels. Legend of Grimrock "best practices" include closing doors behind you from level 2 onward, expressly to avoid having monsters from behind you murdering you while you are not looking - this practice further reduces the threat of ice lizard respawns.

As for the "horrible" puzzle, the items it requires are readily available trekking no more than 1 level back. That is not an abusive puzzle design by any stretch of the imagination. Now, I'd be singing a different tune if the puzzle required 4 gems to open, since those would take you back to level 1 if you didn't pack-rat them along. A puzzle that requires you to go that far back in order to complete the core game is, frankly, absurd in a modern game. That sort of requirement is only marginally acceptable for secrets and iron door solutions. This is probably why the designers did, in fact, restrict the need to pack-rat things from many levels above you to purely optional puzzles.

I don't mind the OP disliking levels 9-13. That's his prerogative. I don't object to people agreeing with him, and asking that Almost Human take their feedback into account in future games, either. Again, that's the prerogative of current and potential future customers. My objection to your post, and my major reason for replying to it, is your assertion that responses to the OP are properly divided into two categories: trollish mockery, and agreement. Sorry bud, you're dead wrong there. Calling disagreement "trolling" is the first recourse of a poster devoid of critical thinking skills. There certainly have been many people mocking the OP for being "bad" or otherwise trolling him. In the main, however, they're just pointing out that the problems he states are hard to take seriously as reasons for his dislike of the game, as they are quite minor problems, except in cases where they are so crippling that they would have kicked in well before he claims to have stopped enjoying the game. It is hard to take seriously somebody who has trouble with ice lizards on level 9, trouble with starvation beyond level 9, and didn't have trouble before level 9. The nature of the game makes such arguments hard to credit.

[Darklord]

I have to agree with OP to some degree. There's nothing I hate more in games than endlessly respawning enemies, especially when it defies all logic

It certainly something I wouldn't want everywhere but personally once I'd killed the majority, two respawning lizards were no biggee and in fact I was pleased to get the steaks!

Daniel.

[RMariano]

I have to agree with OP to some degree. There's nothing I hate more in games than endlessly respawning enemies, especially when it defies all logic

It certainly something I wouldn't want everywhere but personally once I'd killed the majority, two respawning lizards were no biggee and in fact I was pleased to get the steaks!

Daniel.

True.... and that's the bottom line - A food source.

[Darklord]

You know if those two lizards didn't respawn we'd get people moaning, "Oh I have no food and I have to go all the way back to level 6!"

Just can't please everyone...

Daniel.