: At the same time, it takes the challenge out of a level if a pattern buffer
: or recharger is readily available around the next bend. There's no sense
: of urgency or tension because you don't feel that you're in any danger,
: and creating that kind of emotion is I think important if you're trying to
: imbue a palpable atmosphere into a level. Still, I understand that not all
: people like that in levels.
You're confusing abundance with ease of access. One single PB/Recharger centrally located will save a lot of headaches in a non-linear level. As I said before, distance or difficulty in reaching the PB/Recharger will not prevent anyone from doing so when one need it, it'll just piss me off more. Nobody should use annoyance as a barrier in a map, period.
: Generally though, I thought recharrger/PB placement was fair - I can remember
: 2x and 3x rechargers and power ups were present when the situation really
: called for them, like fighting the AMDDs. If there's one scenario which
: really suffered from insufficient save/recharger points, it would be RED.
: Still, I agree with some of the earlier points you make. I ended up totally
: hating Frog Blasting/Blasting Frogs because for the longest time I was
: stuck not knowing where to go next - I ended up having to consult the old
: spoiler guide for help. And then there was Beg, Borrow and Steal which
: reminded me a lot of how I'd often I'd get lost in Come and Take Your
: Medicine.
I agree with you, which is why I never tried to complete RED. And, in most cases, RX's PB/Recharger placement was reasonably good; certainly it kept enough of the game challenging. But Frog Blasting, to name one example, is absolutely hellish with those; not only are they not next to eachother (again, not preventing me from using both, just irritating me) but they're in the middle of frickin' nowhere. In fact, this is true of almost all of the earlier Pfhor Plank levels: sprawling, blandly-textured levels with really buried goals and distant PB/Recharger/terminal placement. Very, very bad. Salinger is a lot better in this regard.
