Slow-reflexed Tuji playing Dandara (3)
After a long hiatus, Tuji plays Dandara again. It felt the names and the deco and the sparse dialogues have meaning, but the meaning is elusive. According to the introduction, a golden idea was the root of all evils that disrupted creation and intention. My gut feelng was that Creation was art. Intention was like how you use art. Then it got tainted by the golden idea of commersialisation.
Thus Tuji came back to the techno-rooms via the swamps and then made it past the rice-beads squirting turrets! Maybe it was because Tuji had better reflex this time or the increase in the power and screen size of iPad helped. Keep moving, time the jump just as the witch-ball enemies commit their next direction of move. If the health is low, there is a small window to take an health vial as one enters the next room. When one gets hit, try to ground fast as one cannot even defend floating in the air.
Tuji took cautious steps in the rooms and died a few more times, but he did not panic. He learned from past deaths how enemies behave and how to eliminate them effectively or how to evade them. Thus he made steady progress.
He peaked at a playthrough on Youtube which was really bad for morale. The player blazed through the chaos and it just felt utterly impossible for Tuji to execute. Low-skill people cannot emulate high-skill people. They have to rely more on strategy. For example, the triangle guys won't attack you if you are behind them or overhead, so one strategy is to get on top of them fast if there is a ledge you can jump to. Elimiate enemies using long-range shots before they are in range to detect you.
However whatever your strategy, there is no way to go through the wild rice-bead rain unscathed. If you enjoy the rain, please come to Dream Land. This is however for later.
After getting the treasure that enables turning platforms, Tuji felt cheated. Lazúli!!! Why did you tell me that once I crossed the one-way bridge there was no way back to Creation?! I got back via the primal woods! When Tuji left creation he thought he had made a really important decision. ;_;
The treasure enabled Tuji to travel to the Dream Land. It was very confusing in the beginning. Why was I in Artist's Village again? Lazúli!!! Tuji went out of the door he came in but he didn't get back to the previous scene. He bumbled around, going through whatever door the enemies chased him to. There were many moments of WTF. Enemies hiding in crates or enemies spawning in the ash of dead enemies. Gradually Tuji figured out which doors to go through. The screen shook more and more and the map also started to indicate that Tuji was indeed in Dream Land. OK. Lazúli. Finally the scene changed and then Tuji was killed by the scythe-guy. That was totally unexpected. In panic, Tuji spammed missiles which missed...
The second time Tuji shot anxiety shocks, but the enemy did not keep still for them to feast on. :( Tuji died in the havoc of changing missile types. This strategy did not work out. OK. Back to camp. Ahhhh, my precious salt.
The third time was golden. It was actually easy. Time the jump as the enemy committed the move to get out of harm's way and shoot using your powerful 5-arrowed pistol.
The 6 whirlwinds in the crux of dreaming work in an interesting way. The room you get to does not depend on how you get to the crux. For example, if you turn back you always end up at the entrance of dreaming.
To be continued.