With the best will in the world here, I'm going to go ahead and say something you might not like. You got to stage 3.something, right? I'm not entirely sure you're in a position to talk about game speed. If you complete much more of the game and still feel the same, then okay, but you haven't really even scratched the surface yet. Here are a few things you can expect in later levels:
1. Complex platforming where stepping the wrong way will send you to a nasty end (down a gap to the floor below, remember that falling more than 20-ish squares is instant death)
2. Fire stones which spawn fireballs; these explode when they hit you, and in later levels they can come in groups
3. Enemies that barrel across the screen (you've seen boulders already, but imagine stuff that moves faster, hits harder and will seem even quicker if your max running speed is higher if you're moving toward one another)
4. Bombs/bomb platforms. yes, stuff can and will rain down from above sometimes. Extra speed can be a godsend, as most of these target your last position, but if you're moving too quickly it's entirely possible to dodge right into one. Take it from me. I've done it.
5. Soldiers. These are pests at a distance, and sort of dangerous up close because of a different attack. Feel like having one pop right up in front of you?
Yeah. There's more, too, but that should about cover it. At the game's current speed, these are all very copable if you figure it out. And I should let you know that the fair majority of the game does not, in fact, use tricky platforming. You're only going to see the nastier stuff in stages 1 (for a very, very brief while), 2 (again, very brief while, with the lamps), 7, 9 (I think?), 17, 21 and 24-25 (not at 25 yet so I can't say).
Speaking of...
I'm now about to start 24.4. 24.3 was a lot of fun, after I figured out when to use the hook in order to not go splat at the bottom. I worked my way up from the bottom; not sure if that's the way you're supposed to/the way it was programmed, but either way, it works. The level with the switches and cylindrical containers was also very clever. Well done.
So can anyone give me a rough idea of what overall stats/items should look like before I try 24.4 and beyond? I feel semi well-prepared, but I could be better. Also, best levels to grind on, particularly coins. I'll buy hundreds of fruit if that's what it takes. Looks like I may, in fact, be finishing this game sooner than I thought.
And while I do not retract my prior statements about this game not entirely being for me, I appreciate what it's trying to do. I think, for me personally, the game could have some of its levels taken out/combined/made a little easier, and it would hit the sweet spot. There are just a few too many skyracer levels for me, overall, and some of the exploration levels could've been combined. Might've ended up with a game that had a total of 60-70 levels instead of 101. I feel like 11-12 and 15-16 get really repetitive, for the most part, for instance. Anyway, aside from those gripes, it's a neat game. Can't say that I'll be going and unlocking absolutely everything, but you never know.
If and when I do beat the game, by the way, how does upping the difficulty work? Do I keep my stuff? Do I keep my stats? Will I be able to see how much monsters get boosted before I choose, and if so, would I just want to take the next highest difficulty? Or can you jump from normal to something two or three levels up to speed things along, for instance?
I know this is a lot of stuff to ask, but hopefully someone can weigh in. I have been pretty well ignoring BlindNinja's stat distribution, btw, because I think I'm higher level than he was at this point.
Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1