Hello,

I heard the game is extremely hard (a guy indicates 50 deaths for the 1st boss). Is it really hard?

Gilou

The game is deffinitly not easy.

I died 3 times on the first boss. But 10 times during the level leading to it ;)

The first couple of levels are quite easy, but the difficulty ramps up.

So I would say: easy enough to fool around with at first, but then it becomes really challenging.
If you plan to beat all levels, you are in for quite a bit of learning and figuring things out.

Doh! Now I don't know if I want to play the game or not.

Try the demo :)
http://project-giana.com/download/

It is a great game deffinitly worth it.

Though in my previous post I meant to type "The first couple of levels are quite easy" not "hard" :)

The Demo has two levels. The first one is the first level of the game, the second should be a later one. So you get an idea of difficulty.

Note: the initial demo was an early build with a few bugs. So issues you run into will have likely been fixed.

It's decently tricky, I'd say. I did run into a couple of hit detection problems (my attacks not killing enemies-indeed the other way around!) that sent me back to checkpoints more then I'd like, Didn't download the patch immediately, though, and I haven't seen a lot of reference to that, so your mileage may vary.

Overall it's nothing too unmanageable-especially on the standard setting where you have infinite lives and checkpoints are well-placed, for the most part. Bit of practice should get you through to the end without a whole lot of aggravation.

I am still within the 1-X world and so far it's been tricky. There are jumps that you can "barely" make especially when trying to get into secret areas. Trying to 5 star all levels would be no easy feat to say the least. I'll have to see how things go when I hit the first boss eventually.

It's hard, even a little vexing at times, but it's not... I don't know. You want to carry on, but sometimes you need to take a break and come back with a clearer head.

I'd definitely say give the demo a try, but it does have a difficulty "curve" rather than a vertical rise, so it does ease you in a little.

That would be me :P

I don't even know how I ended up dying so many times, but I just did. Not the game's fault though. I was playing at a pretty languid pace, and wasn't taking it too seriously.

Come to think about it, once you know how to dodge its attacks, it's really quite manageable. Haven't reached the second boss yet, so can't comment on that.

Right now, I'm getting trashed for indicating extreme difficulty in my review for the game.

But I do think it is rather hard, and most of all: VERY time consuming.

On the topic of deaths, the designers obviously have a completely different opinion on what players should be able to manage than I do. At the end of each level, you are awarded up to five stars. Three stars for collecting gems; two for the amount of deaths. You can complete the first few levels with four or even five stars, but as three deaths is enough to cost you that fifth star, just forget about star four or five for the later levels. Don't get into a hope spiral that you can do less than 10 deaths per level and get even one of those two 'death stars'. Focus on collecting gems.

Maybe I'm stupid, maybe the keyboard is completely the wrong control method, but I haven't completed a level above 1-5 with less than 40 deaths. The last level I beat was 3-6, where I accidentally collected ALL gems; 130 deaths, I'm not kidding, and of course my eternal three stars.

Unfortunately, you will need to collect a mean three stars per level to advance to the boss levels. If you don't, they remain locked. But what you need for those three stars per level is mainly a whole lot of patience and time and a bit of an exploratory nature. Thankfully, you don't need ALL gems per level to get those three stars, just MOST. This is the bit of fairness you get, but that's all.

The first real step stones are levels 1-6 and 2-6. These are the first two boss levels. Getting to the first boss was HARD and LONG, but beating the first boss is comparatively easy (watch a youtube video for a bit of the strategy and you will be fine). Getting to the second boss was comparatively easy, but beating that mofo was just plain crazy. I think it took me 40 minutes with deaths about every minute.

I would really love to hear how this is working out for others, so just give me your opinions please. The additional modes the designers have added make the game even harder, that is their only purpose - does ANYONE here find these modes attractive, honestly?

I'll try to do the hardcore mode but the überhardcore is deffinitly not meant for people with my lack of unlimited spare time.
Mind you, I haven't gotten as far as you. I try to get full stars in all levels. Hardest level I managed to do that at is 2-2.
this play style means though that I spend more than a day per level :)

I do not find the hard levels frustrating. I do find them daunting. The game is deffinitly not something I play when I only have short time. It's more something I'll keep for a two hour playing session.

Who's trashing you?

No one in particular. I'm getting negative votes because I gave two stars to the game for its difficulty balance. If you played the game yourself and think that it really isn't THAT hard, that's an OK thing to do though - my opinion doesn't have to be everyone's.

For reference here:

First boss: ~19 deaths, which is probably my most so far, with two stars for the level. I died on him more then the level itself.

Second boss-I believe five or six deaths? Not bad at all. An upward dash will evade his bigger tentacle slam and the first two rounds with the smaller ones are easy enough to dodge.

Third boss-not gotten him yet, admittedly. Mostly I was exhausted when I tried, but the nature of his attacks and his arena means it's pretty easy to make a mistake and get yourself killed. I've had no problem getting to the third loop, though, and this patch that'll bring the Halloween level should also bring a few alterations to his moves and an extra shield charm after you hit him the second time. I've gotten close enough times that it shouldn't be a problem after GOG gets that update available. The level's long and has a couple of rough spots, don't have a death tally.

I'll agree the difficulty curve is a bit all over the place, and that is a legit problem with the game. I think it's entirely surmountable if the player has a fair bit of experience with the genre, though.

That is impressive! The second boss that is. His attacks do not really follow a foreseeable pattern much.

I did not yet see the final boss - but I have seen the beginning of the last level just now. I obviously needed that sick day to muster up the patience (113 deaths total in 3-9). BUT I got my three stars as always and did not have to replay any level to advance. ;)

Patch out, last boss down. Beat him on my first try (it's worth noting that I tried quite a few times the other day-they made him easier, definitely, but I was going in with plenty of practice), with five deaths through the level and 433/469 gems, for a total of five stars. Beating the first boss again with a couple of deaths also gave me five stars, so it seems like they've relaxed the requirements for that.