I have reached the final level of Zero Reflex.

[exmarquina]

For the past 4 days I have been trying to complete this game nonstop. I have figured out and mastered every possible pattern. I am capable of flawlessly completing every stage with the exception of those which rely heavily on RNG, such as "Octopus", "Trapezoids", "Snake", and "Red Triangles" - and even these levels I can beat, though less frequently. The last level of the game is fixed, the "Rockets" level, and is actually one of the easiest levels in the game - only requiring a couple of well-timed keystrokes. The problem here, is that the game has an incredible issue when it comes to input detection. Meaning, I can press a movement key identically two times in a row, and the distance I travel is going to vary. This makes the "Rockets" level simply impossible, unless you have an insane amount of luck - even more so than any RNG-based level, as it requires perfect movement. When you die, of course, you get sent back, and have to again make your way to the top without knowing if the game is going to let you pass at the very end.

I have been recording my journey thus far, and will continue to try to get past the final level. In my mind, though, I have beaten this game already, for there is simply nothing I can do that would prevent the game from killing me in the last level - it all comes down to "luck."

Hopefully the developers fix the extremely shoddy input detection, as it is preventing me from legitimately finishing this.

Thank you.

[Hollywood]

I beat the game using pause abuse before the update so take what I say with a grain of salt but the rocket level isn't that hard. You don't want to move to dodge rockets, you want to stop moving to dodge them if that makes any sense. Also the movement engine isn't RNG but it is very precise and even the slightest extra time holding down a key will cause you to move differently. I got around this by pausing but you don't have the luxury anymore.

[exmarquina]

@Amaklav

You've actually completed the game and think the controls are "precise"? You're joking, right? Either you haven't yet played a game with tight, responsive controls, or are also one of those people who, for instance, seemingly "can't" tell the difference between 60 and 30 fps. Some things should be obvious - the faulty input recognition, the delayed controls. They weren't this much of a problem in previous levels, as most of them allowed more room for error. The last one has been kicking my ass for some time. It's painfully apparent when the game doesn't register an input properly and you die, even though you SOMEHOW managed to PERFECTLY dodge the previous 80 waves (exaggerated) of rockets. The game has killed me anywhere from 5 - 15 seconds before the end of the game, at random. Honestly, how else can I prove myself to these developers? By surpassing lackluster design, I guess.

All in all, I've probably made it to the last level about 10 times. Here's hoping the game will let me pass in a future try as I've no intention of quitting.

[Hollywood]

I've experienced a problem similar to what you describe but that was when I left the game on for more than a few hours and just restarting the game fixed the issue, though I feel like this was due to my computer being not good as this isn't the only game that does this to me. The movement engine itself I've never had an issue with outside of that, besides for the little slide you do when you take your finger off which is just something I got used to.

Though when I would pause abuse, I would pause then take my finger off in order to ensure the precision I wanted. Very long and tedious process but it worked until the devs said that wasn't fair play. Being able to properly line up with the pixel percision you need without pause abuse does seem rather inhuman to me but it's not random.

Edit: Rereading your comment I think there is some misunderstanding with what I meant. When I said precise I meant little changes in input cause greater changes in the output. Precise was probably not the best word to describe what I meant, I apologize for the confusion.

[MTaye]

After reading these posts I was curious to see, how precise the input detection really is. There is definitely a delay between the key press and the action on screen, even with vsync disabled and in windowed mode. Another thing I've noticed is that sometimes, if you press the key just barely and the timing is low enough, the input gets skipped altogether. Maybe there's something wrong on my end.

[Felicity]

The input delay and the floaty precision is my primary issue with the game; I have zero interest in playing a precision-based game like this if the main difficulty is not in the patterns of the levels, but in how frustrated you can get with the controls. It's actual true artificial difficulty.

[exmarquina]

Alright... after more than a week of playing this game more or less nonstop, I have finally managed to complete the final level of the game.

I never thought that a game could crush me psychologically as much as this game did. Over the course of my playtime I've probably made it to the last level at least two dozen times, dying repeatedly. During these last few days, every death made me feel like giving up. I was pretty much a zombie. My whole Christmas was basically this game, as was New Year's, and all the days in between. It was an obsession, to say the least, and I'm glad it's over. I've recorded almost everything till now, and I'm going to upload a video soon. This is actually the second time I've finished this game now - the first being a couple of hours into the testing period introduced with the first patch, making my completion understandably obsolete.

This time... EYE have prevailed.

Also, ask me anything.

Update: Going to upload the video later today.

[Woke]

Will you show proof of their paypal transfer to you
Also was there anything easy?

[Exordium Games]

Hey @CreamyBubble - press the little medal and send us your contact info so we can verify the data.

[exmarquina]

Originally posted by Exordium Games:

Hey @CreamyBubble - press the little medal and send us your contact info so we can verify the data.

Already have. Will do it again.

[exmarquina]

Originally posted by Sparcz:

Will you show proof of their paypal transfer to you
Also was there anything easy?

Easy? Hahahahah, maybe two or three levels once you learn the patterns, otherwise this game is difficulty incarnate.

[Hollywood]

Congrats I hope everything goes well for you and that you didn't somehow "cheat".

[Skywind]

Nice. I pretty much gave up around 2 days ago as I've already poured so many hours in the game and could never get past the fast rockets part. Figured you would beat it eventually considering the slow rockets are pretty easy and seems like you've gotten past fast rockets.

I would say the entire game was easy once you memorized the pattern... except for the water, snake, triangle, clock, rocket levels.

[exmarquina]

Originally posted by Skywind:

Nice. I pretty much gave up around 2 days ago as I've already poured so many hours in the game and could never get past the fast rockets part. Figured you would beat it eventually considering the slow rockets are pretty easy and seems like you've gotten past fast rockets.

I would say the entire game was easy once you memorized the pattern... except for the water, snake, triangle, clock, rocket levels.

Yeah, the water level is negligible, your level sequence just has to start with it as the first one. The clock level is somewhat simple, once you learn how to get a decent start - to properly get ahead of the main dial as soon as possible. Can't argue with the Snake and Triangle levels, those two are for me the hardest levels in the game. The newer Rockets level can't even compare to the old one - much harder, and this time the level's fixed as the last one. You'll get an idea of how I struggled during the final quarter of levels as soon as I upload the video. (render time is taking way too long)

[Hollywood]

Snakes and Triangles were definitly the worst for me. The number of times two triangles would spawn next to me then a large one would spawn filling the whole area between them was way to many.
It'll be interesting to see your video. I was going to record one myself then they updated the game to remove pause abusing and I got stuck on bouncy balls, combined with the fact that I just wanted to move onto better games, so I just quit playing.

Seriously though, congrats on the completion. My method may be considered scummy by some but you did it the most legit way I know how, if you don't win the prize then no one will.

[MTaye]

Amaklav, I don't consider your method scummy. It was a perfectly viable method within the framework of the game. I used it myself in some levels.