Incredibly Long Words

[aeryn_sunsinger]

I really enjoyed this game up until I finished it. Then I made the mistake of trying to find all the landmasses to fill out the map more. Behind the moutain there were some extra rings, and one of them openend up a panel of black stones and lava. I was doing fine with the fight there until what I presume to be the last monster shows up. You can't even see the word you need to type until it's practically on top of you.

First time through the word was: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. One of the longest words in the English language. The second time I got to the ring and that monster, it was equally long and tortorous word - something about aquaciousaline...something.

There is absolutely no way I can finish typing the word from the time it's fully displayed to the time the bug/snake thing rolls over me and kills me. That is not a challange, that iinstant frustration because the word is too long to be completed in the time allotted unless you already know how to spell it.

Not nice to ramp up the difficulty like that especially since you can't even push it back with Wind or use another smaller bug to zap it with Spark to buy you some time to complete typing it.

[Flem]

i defeated the long word on my second attempt. Its totally doable imo.

[deedlydeedlydee]

Yeah, I'm not usually one ot complain about difficulty, but the long word monster is absurd. It would be one thing if he were the only enemy in the area, but he seems to spawn right in the middle of a wave of already pretty tough monsters.

(It's doubly frustrating to die by that monster and then have the reload text be, "Is that really the best [you] can do?" Yeah, lady, kind of!)

EDIT: Just beat him. It really seems to be a matter of luck; the first few times he spawned right in the middle of a torrent of midsize words coming from the west and east, and by the time I was done dealing with those he was already on top of me. This time he appeared while mostly slow-moving long words were spawning far in the north of the map, so I could pick them in relative ease and then put all my focus on him. (Wind magic is your friend.) So it's doable, but it's still annoying that by the time you can even see what his word is, he's halfway across the map.

[CoastalHaze]

I didn't really tinker with the difficulty settings all that much in my run, but did you try disabling adaptive difficulty and putting it on easy or medium (specifically for the area where you encounter the boss)? I recall the devs saying something along the lines of only one setting is applicable at any time (either adaptive ON -or- OFF w/ a difficulty setting). I just don't know if it actually impacts the words that pop up.

If that is meaningless here, my only other suggestion is to practice typing the words in a notepad program or something and maybe that could help you develop a rhythm (I know this sounds silly but unless something is changed it might be the best option for now). The word you are referring to is:
Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic

You can try breaking it down by root words if that helps you visualize it as you type:
Aequeo + salino + calcalino + ceraceo + aluminoso + cupreo + vitriolic

There is continuity in which mobs move at which speeds and have certain lengths of words, and I think the purpose of this was to create familiarity across both game modes (story and arena). In actuality it does seem to only punish players with average typing speeds, since arena as it stands is not particularly difficult for a fast typist. If it doesn't already, the story mode should have it's 'boss word' adjusted based on difficulty, since I think that could help alleviate frustration. End game bosses are supposed to have a fairly high difficulty for the average player though, and that's what gives completing the game a feeling of accomplishment.

[Kitwsien]

Having an especially high difficulty here is deliberate, as it is the last of the bonus combats.

But not having enough time to type the very long word because of the way it spawns is not. It will be fixed in the next update.

[Vardis]

I encountered the same thing with that word. It didn't appear for me until well after the monster did and was halfway to me, although I luckily got it with a spark.

[mreed2]

Hmmmm...

For me, the word appeared more or less at this point:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/271713845549741673/AC60F3E9A06DAC4DB1AC7F53F12CED35AF58174F/

Which is, quite a bit after the monster spawned, but not "one second away from killing me". Is the word appearing much later than this for other people?

[aeryn_sunsinger]

Thank you all for the suggestions, and thank you to Calo for looking into it. It's appreciated. It truly is a good game, and I have very much enjoyed it until I got to that point and wanted to toss my keyboard :-). Maybe if it came from the back rather than the side there might be enough time for those of us not gifted with flying fingers?

mreed2, on my computer, the word appears when the worm/snake is further past that lava pool that it is just starting to go by in your screenshot. Maybe a tile or so? However the word it gave me when I just tried it was:

Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

The other word is a bit shorter and might appear earlier since it has fewer characters? I hadn't noticed until I put them one on top of the other.

Thank you all again for the suggestions and the help. It's appreciated.

[mreed2]

I that the monster was somewhat closer for you than it was for me.

I'm pretty certain that the root of this problem is adapative difficulty -- to ensure that the word is challenging to all players, the word doesn't appear until the game calculates that you have /just barely/ enough time to type it. You obviously had a higher WPM than I did, so the word appears later for you. The problem is that, given that it is a very unusual word, the WPM for /this/ word may be signficantly different than the WPM for every other word that the game throws at you, which can leave you in a situation where "just enough time" turns into "not quite enough time".

If you turn off adapative difficulty and set the difficulty to "Medium", I suspect that the word will spawn much, much earlier and you'll be able to complete the combat easily (probably /very/ easily).

[Misha]

"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" this.
just wow.
problem is that I dont have enough time to type it either. But its challenging. second try tho. cant wait to see more

[Chewable C++]

Not saying that it shouldn't be updated so that the cobra thing doesn't have to walk halfway toward you before the word appears, but it's certainly quite doable as is for fast typers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-000mGpErc#t=3m30s

Although not shown here, I can do it when it's coming from the side as well, though just barely.

[Younecorn]

I have been able to beat every single enemy except the final boss. It spawns with four or five other long-worded enemies, and by the time I defeat them (using different methods, including trying to use wind to blow him back) he's still too close to the area to attempt to defeat him. Someone posted a screenshot showing him alone with just the final boss. Is he supposed to spawn alone?

[theninabird]

@Horse with a horn, he didn't spawn alone for me, but spawned in the same general area as a couple others. I used wind to eliminate the shorter words around him and also push everyone back. By the time he's alone, he's pretty much to the edge of the screen. Then take a deep breath and start typing. :)

[darkdisciple1313]

I love this game, but I've yet to see any of the longer words mentioned yet. Good thing I crack my knuckles a lot.

Speaking of, when I was still teaching, pneumonoultramicroscopasiliconvolcanoconisosis was the punishment word I'd make kids write for mouthing off or whatever. I'd only make them write it until their hands siezed up, then give them a break and let them quit, which I wouldn't tell them about until they'd already written it about ten times. I am evil. If I get that word in the game, 'twill be my just desserts.

[Younecorn]

Originally posted by darkdisciple1313:

I love this game, but I've yet to see any of the longer words mentioned yet. Good thing I crack my knuckles a lot.

Speaking of, when I was still teaching, pneumonoultramicroscopasiliconvolcanoconisosis was the punishment word I'd make kids write for mouthing off or whatever. I'd only make them write it until their hands siezed up, then give them a break and let them quit, which I wouldn't tell them about until they'd already written it about ten times. I am evil. If I get that word in the game, 'twill be my just desserts.

This word appears in one of the last nest battles. It's the one in a sort of lava-like zone. The final enemy appaears with that word.

[Foxfiend]

huh, it took me several tries to actually beat the lava area, but the one time that I got it down to the last word, being the really long one, I managed it that one. the element I used the most was spark, though I am fairly dynamic in my element use, switching them almost on the fly as I need. I believe it was the aqueo word that I got. Basically what I did was instead of trying to read and interpret the entire word I just kept hitting the next letter in the word, seeing I think up to 2 letters ahead of where I was typing so I could keep moving quickly.