The infamous last level on PS3 - questionnaire - SPOILERS

[FB_Lauri]

SPOILERS AHEAD! please complete game before reading on.

I'd like to hear some experiences from people who have completed the game on PS3 (no PC please). The purpose of the questionnaire is to help us understand better what went wrong in the last level, and is there a possibility of doing similar mechanics without having the level to feel as nasty as it is.

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
2) what difficulty you started with?
3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

Please do not derail this thread to a rant thread.
If you absolutely MUST complain, use existing thread: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1783

[sui99]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )

i HATED it. no fun at all, just annoying

2) what difficulty you started with?

hard

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change?

no

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?

i discovered it but didnt use it

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

main char: thief with ressurection - tactic: to make as much progress as possible by the use of the grappling hook

i ALWAYS needed to sacrifice a char towards the end where dropping trash disturbs the balance of a spinning platform - everything else was at least doable

[Sipu]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )

It ruined the entire game (I got really angry after finishing it... games are supposed to make you feel good). Any way to get my €20 back?

2) what difficulty you started with?

Normal (?)

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change?

No and I tried about 200 effin times until I realized you can "win" the platform reaction game by just keeping with the thief.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?

There was a wall jump?

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

The thief fire arrows can destroy the objects that main antagonist throws at you with one shot. -> Realizing that (and memorizing the level) works.
But WHY would you have a game based on co-operative puzzles end in such a way. WHYY!

[Rapante]

Edit In retrospect: After completing it on very hard I have to say it is not as bad as I thought. still the other levels were more fun. playing that level for some time I got used to the all spawn points for the different magic objects in the level which made it easy to learn some kind of pattern. once you're on top of the tower it becomes super easy - after fighting of the first wave of skeletons and bats I just made a triange with the mage pushed it a little further up (out of camera reach) switched back to the thief with which I did the entire level apart from that triangle) and grappled up.

1) absolutely dreadful... at first, now I have to say, with little training it is possible and gives a you a good feeling of accomplishment

2) hard (I do play all my games in the highest setting initially available as I want a challenge...)

3) yes i did to normal, but redid everything on very hard after

4) walljump?!?!? <-- first playthrough, second playthrough i figured it out

5) did most of the stuff with the thief to gain height faster with the grapple move and to get around the spike balls also with the grappling hook.

[Wess']

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
-Yes, the last level just kept chewing me up until I finally nailed it for the first time, no problem with it after that.

2) what difficulty you started with?
-I started and finished with hard.

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
-First time I finished the level I insisted to keep the difficulty up, but later on I did try it on easy, noticing that the speed the lava rises below you is drastically slower, giving player much more room for small errors.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
-Nope.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
-I mostly used the Thief with her flaming arrows and grappling hook, but for the spiky balls I switched to Wizard and used the levitation to guide them off my way.

[FluFFey]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
It was disappointingly easy. Took me three or four tries to beat it. I had hoped it was something more epic. Like obstacles where you had to use all three characters to get past(!).

2) what difficulty you started with?
Normal

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
Nope. I did not change the difficulty.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
Nope. I'm not sure what you mean by wall jump. But I don't think I used it or discovered it.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
I only used the thief with fire arrows, grappling hook and ressurection. I jumped over the spike balls. I tried to time the arrows so they would hit the conjured obstacles just as they spawned.

[Waikiki]

(PC-Version, but i had to tell you ; )
1) It didn´t fit the pace of the game. I found it annyoing and disturbing and it was at no means a satisfying last level.
2) Hard.
3) Nope, and I realized you could change difficulty.
4) Nope
5) Use the rogue and use grappling Hook to pull you up beside most of the obstacles. To destroy obstacles I used the Fire Arrows. As i rember i had to use the wizard near the end to summon some boles and the knight for the few last enemys. (I kept on hitting the skellies for like 20 minutes before i realized i had to go up one more level.)

[Meradanis]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
2) what difficulty you started with?
3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

1. I've been surprised by the total change of gameplay. The level was ok, but I think it should have ended with a real bossfight.
2. Hard.
3. Didn't change the difficulty. I had noticed the option, but didn't need it.
4. Wall jump ?? Definitively a big NO here.
5. Well, the thief died pretty much at the beginning, because I've been taken by a total surprise. I used the knight to destroys those boxes/bridges and get up as fast as I could. Eventually he died, but I had the item to revive him once. Near the end he died again, so the wizard had to finish (no problem with only few jumps left until the checkpoint). At the very end, I used the wizards triangle and the grapplehook to get up to the game finishing platform. As mentioned earlier, I expected some kind of bossfight, which didn't come.

[Agriel]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
I liked it after I beat it.
2) what difficulty you started with?
Hard
3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
Yes, I changed to easy
Yes I noticed the lava was moving a lot slower then it was, but even on easy it took me a number of trys
4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
No I never discovered this technique
5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
used the kinght as much as I could using his sword to break anything, my thinking on this was to save my thief for the hard parts so that I would have the grappling hook later on. I would kill off the wizard if I felt either the knight or the thief were going to die.

[Nerix]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
2) what difficulty you started with?
3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

1) It was okay, but other levels were much more fun. Especially in the beginning it was a little bit frustrating, but later on... Especially the objects which appear in front of you in the air above some movable platforms, so that you had to destroy them during your jump were a little bit too hard...
2) Medium
3)No, I managed it in Medium and later in very hard with no death to obtain the "Better than developers"-Trophy (which was really hard...)
4)Wall jump? What wall jump? ^^
5)Later on, I just tried to jump as fast as possible without holdup.

[Rapante]

I've made a edit of my post after completing the game (platinum ) to give a better insight

[Weaky]

1) did you like or dislike the last level?
I liked it a lot. It was very different from the previous levels, and reminds me of the "Sonic the Hedgehog" water zone boss on Genesis! Remember?

2) what difficulty you started with?
Normal.

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level?
I did know i could, but i didn't.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
I'm not quite sure of what you describe as "wall jump", so i guess my answer is "no".

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
I mainly use the thief with fire arrows, with the knight and wizard here and there. I didn't had an actual tactic, it was more about trying again and again until being able to anticipate everything. The level IS difficult, but it's the last one, so it makes sense, i don't see anything to whine about.

[adhinchen]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
LIKE, mixed things up nicely although i thought the last bit with infinite enemies was bad, a boss fight would have been nicer ending

also there is a slight glitch the 2nd square box when going up left side (after first spike ball falls) can't be arrowed if you get up there too quickly as
auto-target sends arrows flying down and right until lava engulfs something on right hand lower side

2) what difficulty you started with?
normal

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
no, but after completeing level on my 3rd try I swapped to very hard to get the "better than developers" (woot) trophy took me an hour and a half lol
and didn't notice any difference in lava part difficulty ( died twice to infinite enemies at end )

and yes I noticed difficulty change.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
no I have no bloody idea what that is lol

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
in short tactical masterpiece ( well almost) 60% thief for fire arrow use on boxes and occasional grapple (3 or so times total)
30% warrior used shield to move and let spike balls roll over when necessary
10% mage for last part with 2 revolving woods (used a plank to stop upper right one from revolving)

I also hung left the whole way i.e. whenever a choice of paths left or right I would go left, didn't sacrifice (on purpose) at all, oh and I ignored experience things
figured I will get them later

Also found Patience was key even though there was lava e.g. someone said they found big revolving wood that box is dropped on hard, I would jsut wait for it to revolve twice then go over when it was slower.

btw co-op on the level is epic fail lol, though Trine is still an awsome game both single palyer and co-op.

[cloud66]

1) did you like or dislike the last level?
I liked it, it reminded me of old classic platformers. But I would have liked if there was a boss at the end,like I was sure I was going to fight that huge undead witch and was a bit surprised when it just ended after reaching the top. I would have liked that level also to make full use of all the three characters' abilities, but you just needed the thief to go all the way up (then the knight to fight the undead).

2) what difficulty you started with?
Normal.

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
No.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
I didn't know there was a wall jump!I will try it on my second playthrough.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
I used only the thief to go all the way up to the tower, where then I fought the undeads with the knight. The thief's grapling hook and fire arrows are all that you need for this level. I sacrificed sometimes a character (mainly the wizard) to get some difficult-to-reach experience bottles.

[smithy]

1) did you like or dislike the last level?
I really liked it. Saw it as a great change of pace and it focused more on what I enjoyed about the game - platforming rather than sections of enemies constantly spawning.

2) what difficulty you started with?
Medium

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
No - completed it first time on medium and later first time on very hard.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
Yes I did. I used it when trying to obtain the trophy for doing the level on very hard without dying. Found the wall jump very handy to avoid the last group of spinning platforms.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
Primarily the thief, making use of grapple and fire arrows. Used the knight to block damage from the spiked balls whilst making my way up. Once on top I ran all the way to the right and cleared skeletons, buying enough time to create a triangle and platform with the wizard. I then used the thief to grapple to the triangle and jump up from the platform.

[jahernan]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )
Honestly it was a bit annoying at first (specially the Better than the Developers trophy), but seriously, it's nice to work for a trophy and feel like you just conquered a really hard task for it (a nice badge of honor if you will)

2) what difficulty you started with?
Hard

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
Did not change it on first play through. After beating it I immediately proceeded to get the Better than the Developers trophy to get that out of the way. It was HARD but as I stated previously, very satisfying! I love games that don't hand out every single trophy since you can actually brag about getting the really hard ones.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
No, but I'll be sure to try it once patch 1.01 hits North America and I decide to replay the game for the fun of it (currently done with trophies!)

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)
I'll describe my tactic for hard: used thief to pull myself up and knight to smash things / prevent spiked balls from hitting toon. Only used mage a few times to stop planks from spinning. I did sacrifice a char. on the last spinning plank jump.

Tactic on Very Hard while working on Better than the Developers Trophy: Only used the thief w/fire arrows maxed out and a few energy trinkets (for the climbing part)... wanted to be certain! Managed to swing myself through most of the level, hit crates and jumped on very precise intervals in order to prevent planks from spinning. I even had to do it twice (without getting killed!) since I managed to climb once to the top and accidentally fell in the lava when I was trying to swing towards the goal

Finally let me add that this is my first post on the FB boards. I have to applaud you guys on a superb game and I sincerely hope to see a sequel or more Frozenbyte games in the future! Cheers and I hope your sales keep going strong!

[aphexLOX]

I'd like to hear some experiences from people who have completed the game on PS3 (no PC please). The purpose of the questionnaire is to help us understand better what went wrong in the last level, and if there is a possibility of doing similar mechanics without having the level to feel as nasty as it is.

1) Did you like or dislike the last level?
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I thought it was a refreshingly new experience and an interesting take on a final level. No other previous levels implemented any timed element into them, so the pressure of swiftness and punctuality was an added bonus in my opinion. Any complaint found in this level would result from the player's lack of tolerance for a cosmopolitan game-play, and lack of patience and strategy development through trial and error. This level was not meant to be beaten the first play-through, and the only complaint I have, personally, is having to listen to the narration every time I had restarted the level. A more swift replay would have been nice. But aside from this, three cheers my Frozenbyte friends!

2) What difficulty you started with?
First play-through was on Hard.

3) Did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? If yes, to what? If yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? If not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?
No, I did not change the difficulty to complete the level. However, once I had completed Tower of Sarek on Hard I immediately changed the difficulty to Very Hard and continued to play until I had achieved the "Better Than Developers" trophy.

4) Did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?
Unfortunately I never realized that there was a wall jump feature, and I'm sure it would have added to my options as I traversed the final level. However I don't feel as though it is crucial for the completion of this level; I am almost smug with the idea that I achieved Better Than Developers without using it . I am most definitely interested in trying out wall jumping next time I launch the game though!

5) In short, describe your tactic of the level.
Thief, thief, and more thief. Without the thief the Better Than Developers trophy would have been almost impossible. I grappled and fire-arrowed my way all the way through with the exception of summoning a Triangle and a single Plank once you reach the skeletons in order to swing and jump to the very top. I did however go back on easier difficulties and played through the level with varied combinations and tried to traverse Tower of Sarek without the thief for my own enjoyment. However I believe that the thief is primarily the most appropriate option for this level. I clung to the left-side of the level for the most part (excluding exp. runs) simply out of memorization of the spawning objects. Something interesting that could have been done in this level would be a series of random item spawns throughout each play-through; eliminating rote memorization and preparation of falling objects. This may however may prove to be too difficult for most gamers.

Anyways I can't thank you guys enough for, honestly, one of my most beloved games (I still play it all the time even though I have the Platinum trophy) and I am extremely dismayed at all of the negative comments you seem to be receiving on these forums; I don't understand why so many people dislike this game!

Keep up the fantastic work guys and don't let the Debbie Downers get to you. Once a level editor is published I am sure to purchase this game for PC as well, I can't wait!

[drealmer]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )

I played through the whole game in coop with my girlfriend, but the last level had to be done solo, that was disappointing.
I managed to beat the level in five tries or so, it was stressful and not the best part of the game imho, but I enjoyed it.

2) what difficulty you started with?

Normal.

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?

We didn't change the difficulty, neither for the last lever nor any other level. We were aware of the option, but didn't feel the need of using it.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?

The what? Damn, no.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

I used the thief to get started, then I used the warrior all the way up so I can break the obstacles the boss was throwing at me.

[HeinzKetchup2008]

1. Hated the last level. I must have retried over 20 times constantly dying at different parts.
2. Started at Medium difficulty
3. Yes, changed to easy. I gave up. The rising lava is significantly slower than medium. This actually gave me time to try out different paths. GO LEFT! Hmm, more enjoyable? Does being glad it's over count?
4. Wall jump? What? Geez, you tell every other move in the game, but you leave this out. Thanks.
5. Use the Thief for as much as possible (Grapple, Grapple, Grapple), and make sure she has resurrection. Kill off the knight, thief, wizard (in that order) to zoom up troublesome areas. This happens on the right path where the spikes roll down the side. Yeap, I let those buggers die to get to the top.

Overall, the game was enjoyable. I'm glad I bought it at 14.99

[combo]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )

This is actually the reason i came to this website. Trine is by far the BEST fun i've had for 10 euros in my life! I played it co-op with 2 of my friends and we had an absolute blast. Until we reached the last level. And until we retried the last level for about 100 times before giving up and labelling it undoable. We switched off 2 of the controllers and my cousin nailed the level on the first try of solo play. It was just dissapointing that we couldnt complete it together.

2) what difficulty you started with?

Hard

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?

No

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?

No, i dont know what you mean by that

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

For solo it was just faceroll

[FB_Lauri]

I'd like to thank everyone who have answered so far, it has been really helpful! I think we have now a better understanding regarding many issues of the last level, especially that our so-called "failsafe" mechanics have clearly failed.

However, I'm pretty confident that we can avoid this kind of mistakes in the future .

[sstein]

1) did you like or dislike the last level? (simple answer please, not a story how the level ruined your life )

Hated it. Ruined the game and I'm not exaggerating one bit. Based on just this last level I won't buy Trine 2 and wouldn't recommend it.

2) what difficulty you started with?

Very hard

3) did you change difficulty in order to complete the level? if yes, to what? if yes, did you find the level easier or more
enjoyable after the change? if not, did you notice that there is a difficulty change option?

Had to. Still trying to beat it on very hard and very hard without dying, but really, for me it seems impossible.

4) did you discover wall jump in the game and did you use it in the last level?

No.

5) in short, describe your tactic of the level (main character, did you sacrifice characters to get past a spot, etc?)

Speed with the thief, and gave her gem of resurrection. Thought the wizard seemed useless and didn't feel like on very hard I had time to mess around switching characters. There was one bit where I found I could let someone die and got teleported ahead on the level. Think it was at the bit with see-saws ????

[thenewguy]

I was running Trine on PC, so my input may not be valid. That being said...

1. I disliked the last level. It felt quite a bit different from the others (vertical instead of horizontal play, time limit, enemy wizard).

2. I started with normal difficulty.

3. I did change the difficulty level to beat the last level my first time through. Without the lava it was much easier.

4.I did not discover wall jump.

5. Mostly I used the thief to advance and the fighter to smash through things. Upon reaching the top I used the wizard to build platforms so I could reach the top.


For what it's worth, I was happy there wasn't a final boss fight. The rest of the game allowed the player to fight, trick or run from boss monsters. I think this was a good varied approach. Having a goal to reach instead of a boss to fight fit with the rest of the game. I hope the boss monster at the end of Trine 2 is also trickable/avoidable. And I am planning to buy Trine 2. One unpleasant level in an otherwise awesome game still makes for a great experience.

[FB_Lauri]

Thanks everyone for the input, I'm now sure we have enough data for correct conclusions and all issues experienced are fixed to Trine 2