It's a pretty good game, but also frustrating

[Polaris2013]

When I first started this game a while back I just started "New Game" as one does, and thought the starter level was quite hard for "Normal" difficulty. I kept getting stuck because I didn't realize there were some unorthodox controls which are only explained in the tutorial, nor that the tutorial was a separate game mode from "New Game."

I came back the next day to give it another shot and the game made a lot more sense now that I knew about the grappling hook, but it was still tough to learn because it's so finicky to use and the punishment for falling in a pit is so devastating- it's much more deadly than the enemy bots.

Finally I got to the home base and talked to everyone and when I got to the level select screen I realized "Oh this is gonna be like a Mega Man game!" Except once again there was an absolutely vital piece of information that I wasn't aware of, the "Map" meter and "Pow" meter. What I now know is that these are intended to be representations of the difficulty of that level, but on my first level selection I either didn't notice them or just thought they were graphical flair with no gameplay significance. Well, with that introduction, I bet you can probably guess which level I randomly picked first, can't you? That's right- the hardest one- Ice Blade's Mountain. After an hour I had only gotten to the second checkpoint, and I finally realized I just couldn't beat it. When I started feeling like decorating my wall with a controller-shaped hole I realized I needed to just stop playing. Too many traps, too hard to get the grappling hook to fire in the direction I want it to go, too little health to try and get better.

And that would have been the end of my Gravity Circuit story, along with a negative review. Except a few days later, I just decided to give it another shot. I never give games a 3rd chance, but for some reason this time I did.

I had enough rescue tokens from the mountain that I could afford the chip that cuts trap damage in half. This item instantly cut the game's difficulty from "frustratingly too difficult" to "reasonably challenging." The only time I've ever unequipped it since has been just before a boss fight. This item is like -1 difficulty level by itself (normal->easy), although it felt more like hard->(halfway between normal and easy) with regard to what these difficulty labels mean in a "typical" platformer.

So the next level I selected was one that had a combination of low "Map" and low "Pow," and the Junkyard looked like it met those criteria. I beat it in about 25 minutes and only missed 1 rescue and the palette chip. I bought the Hardware Barrier chip, which turned out to be another staple, and another item that drastically reduced the game's difficulty level. The game would now be "somewhat easy" the rest of the way thru & circuit bosses extremely easy (just stand next to them and punch as much as possible- they will run out of health before you do). How can this stupidly easy game be the same one that made me want to break something a few days ago??

I went back thru all the levels looking for the items I missed and once I could establish a flow getting thru the levels was no longer an exercise in frustration, except in the parts where you have to chain grapple, since the grapple hook has such inconsistent behavior. It doesn't shoot upward without holding up, but when you hold up it shortens the cords as soon as it attaches and then you lose your momentum for the next jump. I wasn't able to find any way to get it to work the way it seems like its "supposed to" work. At least double jump + air slide is an option.

The levels have some interesting mechanics and novel challenges to unlock some of the hidden things. It's fun to see how many ideas were packed into this game's levels! It just feels inaccessible until you get a few of the game's upgrades. But then once you get those upgrades the game almost feels TOO easy, like you're not even playing the same difficulty level that you started out on anymore.

This game is close to a "Strong Recommendation" from me, but the initial difficulty before acquiring the hazard protection chip and the clunky grappling hook controls hold it back enough that I only give it a "Recommendation". I know those 2 things are relatively minor details in the overall scope of things, but they have such an outsized impact on the overall experience of this game that I can't ignore them either. Otherwise, it's a platformer with a lot of interesting levels and challenges, but with a starting difficulty level (i.e. without items) that is so high that I think it causes players to set the game's difficulty level to a setting which will be inappropriate for that player once they get certain key items. There's really no "right" setting that provides a good experience throughout, it's either too hard at start or too easy at end.

[Thiago]

Indeed. The existence of this difficulty chart should be emphasized. I didn't even notice it was there.

As a result, playing on hard difficulty, I ended up facing many overly difficult bosses (given my character's current state) and others that were way too easy (with my more evolved character). It would have been a much better experience if I had followed the difficulty level in a progressive manner.

[PrimeSonic]

There was a badge on the stage itself marking its difficulty relative to the others?!
Well shoot.... THAT would have been good to know early on.

To your other point, I also agree: The game's difficulty shifts wildly once you start equipping upgrades.
And yes, that shift can totally be felt over the course of a single run.

With the right equipment load-outs (which you can change mid-stage) you could make what would be a very challenging section MUCH easier than it could have been.

I still recommend this game for any Mega Man X/Zero fans.
It's got a very high skill ceiling to chase.
But yes, the difficulty is very inconsistent given how it starts hard and only ever gets easier as you unlock more equipment.

[「黒蓮」]

dude you suck... BIG TIME fr

[Codc]

peak gamer brain awareness in this thread

[❀♥.°Rocio°.♥❀]

After playing "Megaman Unlimited" the difficult of this game in normal mode was a total joke for me, and it was pretty easy and chill to play it.

The secrets items are obtainable with a low effort if you watch carefully something i really liked. Compared to megaman where you have to need something special to get it.