Unsolicited Gestral Beach Rankings

[Talbot]

Did all the damn Gestral games. Had I think a pretty similar overall level of frustrating to most people, but maybe not on the same games. From least annoying to most, for me:

Not annoying at all: Beach 5, the climbing game. Done in like maybe two or three minutes. Possible I just got lucky RNG based on other comments here but even by my second attempt I was consistently getting more than halfway. Maybe it just lends itself to my skillset better.

Mildly annoying: Beach 2, volleyball. This seems to be the one most people hate, and it took me a minute to get the hang of it but I think I was in and out in maybe 20 or 30 minutes? It's really just a boss battle parry pattern with a silly coat of paint, once you learn the rhythm of it it's not too bad.

Annoying: Beach 1 and Beach 4, platforming and parkour. First beach took me way longer than it should have. I am uniquely bad at jumping between the logs. Second half of it isn't bad, only failed post-logs maybe twice? But I fell off the logs dozens if not hundreds of times. Particularly the second jump tended to throw me.

The race was perfectly reasonable to beat at a Bronze/Silver level, but pretty punishing to get the gold. I think it's fine conceptually but the necessity of camera management + the inconsistent ledge-grab mechanics made it more frustrating/difficult than I think was intended (or at least for reasons other than intended).

Jail in Hell Forever: Beach 3, the platforming climb. Took longer on this sumbich than the other four combined, probably by a factor of double or triple or more. Hate it hate it hate it hate it. Special FU to the green boat early on where the ledge grab mechanic only sometimes works, to the the ionic pillar right before the accordion/first pirate ship, and to the two or three times there's statue or Gestral that makes you think you're almost done but is just lying to you. The real nutpunch is length, though. It takes a good 5-10 minutes to complete, and has no checkpoints, so it just demands a level of mistake-free consistency that's generally beyond my clumsy ass. Being able to save at every third rope or grapple point or whatever would make this so much less annoying, but hey, the people bought a JRPG with rhythm mechanics, so obviously they want a punishing, long, unforgiving platforming segment with inconsistent mechanics and no checkpoints, that's what they signed up for, right?

Admittedly the dance party at the top is delightful, though.

This concludes my ranking of Gestral Beaches.

[king_of_jamaica]

The volleyball one was such ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that I just used Cheat Engine to give myself infinite health for it.

The other ones were easy, aside from the giant tower parkour. Whoever made the collision boxes on some of those things, especially that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bench in the middle, needs to take a second pass on those things before putting them in the game.

[Tenshu]

Originally posted by king_of_jamaica:

The volleyball one was such ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that I just used Cheat Engine to give myself infinite health for it.

The other ones were easy, aside from the giant tower parkour. Whoever made the collision boxes on some of those things, especially that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bench in the middle, needs to take a second pass on those things before putting them in the game.

Catherine Obscur

[Seisachtheia]

For me, from least to most annoying:

1. Gestral Wall Climb
2. Gestral Only Up
3. Gestral Volleyball
4. Gestral Race
5. Gestral Parkour

That first course was so much more difficult for me than any of the others that I found every one after it mildly enjoyable. Volleyball was a little rage inducing until I figured out how to position the character for the parry. Race was harder than it should have been because I kept getting stuttering in my run animation, which happens sometimes

[DaxiraxJr]

Am I the only one that didn't struggle on anything other than the tower of floating junk? 1st beach, did it in like 10 minutes, race got gold on 3rd try, volley ball did hardest on 4th try, wall climb got it in like 5 minutes. This isn't a brag, this is me confused why people are struggling with so much of this game, including the dodge/parry.