Phewww! I'm not even up to the Dragon stage yet, and I gotta say I haven't seen a game this harsh since Ninja Gaiden.
Just curious, what is up with that? Why the design decision to make every encounter that isn't below your level a desperate, tooth-nail-and-claw fight for your life? Multiple +1 enemies are a 50/50 chance of survival, multiple +2s? Boyy-howdee, hope there's some geometry abuse available in the room (as in, a nook or a cranny to wedge yourself in and hope the enemies lose the aggro), and the game LOVES tossing multiple +1s/+2s at you in tight spots (Laiken's study, I'm looking at you). What's worse is that there's no forewarning: I had the misfortune of going into Maxos' Temple at level 9, and got my arse walloped seventeen ways from Sunday. If not for good ole' geometry abuse, I'd be stuck in the "Eternal Maze" with no way to fight out of it, and no way to go back to the open world to level some more...
For that matter, why the choice of a sarcastic dungeon master? In certain places, the narrator voice seems to snicker at your misfortune under his breath.
It's almost as if the devs wanted an ego contest with the player, or at least wanted to make us pull a handful of hair out every single play session. Don't get me wrong, challenge is good in moderation, but does anyone else feel that the designers went a touch overboard here?
