Originally posted by EgaddCons:
Too Long
Secret Exit revolved around percise item babysitting
Half-Blind Falls
Lots of tedious retrying in the second half
Cramped
Okay, I'll have to discuss:
- Too long: it takes me 400 "seconds" to get through the whole level getting all the Yoshi Coins (and falling some times too): 400 + 100 "seconds" for the sake of the player = 500 "seconds". For me 500 "seconds" stand for a fair length. I left more 150 seconds just in case someone falls too much, but that's not the case here.
- Secret Exit revolved around percise item babysitting: item babysitting? Where? The only item you really need to carry is a throw block in order to defeat a Volcano Lotus (which is unnecessary if you got a cape), and even if you do have to carry it, it's for about 2~3 screens. You don't have to carry the P-switch nor the springboard: you can use them practically instantly and you'll get the secret exit just fine. As for the key, hell of course the key had to be carried, but again, for only 2~3 screens. @Edit: And besides, this part is rather easy: no gaps, some enemies, and it's a bit linear too. Oh yeah, forgot about the vine block. It requires either a throw block or have a cape, but even if you have to use the block, you have to carry it for about 1 screen.
- Half-Blind Falls: okay, I admit I was a bit harsh forcing the player to land on 3~4 single-tiled ledges, but aside from those, most of the "lengthy" gaps had coins to help in the jumping. And there's also the cape, that if you manage to keep it, the second section will be less "dangerous".
- Lots of tedious retrying in the second half: lots of? There's only one time that you have to go some way down to get a P-switch for a Yoshi Coin. There's another area that you have to jump 2 ledges to get a throw block, go down, throw it on a block and that's it. Both of them are optional btw. If you were referring to the difficulty of landing on slopes and jump right after it, I guess you're kinda right, but anyway, I don't consider it that hard if you played, for example, the slopes area with red para-koopas in Chocolate Island 2 in SMW.
- Cramped: looking in LM for one more time, I came to the conclusion that only 20~30% maximum of the whole level has narrow areas. If you divide the level in 2 halves: the first horizontal part, and the second vertical part, you'll see that: the first part has considerable amount of narrow passages, but not enough to say it's filled with narrowness, while the second one is narrowness-free.
I must admit that some parts of the level really give these feelings, but after a deeper analysis, I can't see that much problem in those. I hope you understand my point of view.
@Edit: reading this once more made me think that, all the small issues that I admit were really there, together make a somewhat solid impression. So yeah, I won't deny I was a bit harsh with this level. x(